by William Wood
“No, I can’t leave it,” Astra said desperately. “I think it’s right there, I just can’t get it out,”
“Let me see,” Wexton said, moving to her. Astra pointed inside the console. It looked like a mess of broken circuits and wires, but a silver box at the back could be clearly seen. Astra moved aside, and Wexton put his hands inside the console. He pulled hard. It took a few pulls, but he managed to rip the box out of the computer. He handed the silver box to Astra, who put it in her backpack.
Calvin hoped he hadn’t damaged it, but knew there was no choice.
They ran to the door and opened it. Light flooded into the room. They were hit almost immediately by a wall of thick smoke and sulfur smell. Calvin led the way away from the building, through the outskirts and up the rim of the crater on the other side. They found Nils and his group waiting for them on the edge of a thick forest. They were just above a thick canopy of trees. At that moment there was a large quake. The ground shook and there was a series of loud crunching sounds. The ground around the power station disintegrated all at once, and all the buildings careened into the massive hole.
Large crevices spread outward in all directions. The ground under their feet began to break apart.
“Come on,” Calvin yelled.
Suddenly the ground gave way and a rift formed directly under Barouke. The woman fell in, but managed to grab a hold of the edge.
“Barouke!” Nils shouted. Calvin and Freks were closest to her, threw themselves on the ground to grab her, but it was too late. The edge that she clung to was unstable. She lost her grip and disappeared into the darkness with a scream. Calvin would never forget the look of pleading in her eyes, and the terror of knowing she was about to die, and he couldn’t do anything to save her.
The shaking got worse, and all Calvin could hear were screaming voices but he couldn’t tell what they were saying. He felt weak, and powerless to move, in shock over what he had just seen. At first he was unaware of hands grabbing him and pulling him to his feet.
“Calvin!” Wexton shouted. “We have to go, now!”
“We can’t leave her!” Nils shouted, fighting with Petori to get back to the edge.
“No!” Wexton yelled. “She’s gone!”
“Barouke, I’m sorry!” Petori screamed, wiping tears from his eyes.
Wexton had grabbed Nils by the arm and pulled him along.
They turned, and ran down the hill and into the trees. They walked under the trees for thirty minutes, and then the path led them to higher ground, just above the tree line, which was on both sides of the trail.
The ground stopped shaking. Calvin wanted to stop for a minute to make sure everyone was all right, but he was afraid to. He wanted to get away from the area as fast as possible.
Calvin approached Nils.
“I’m sorry about Barouke,” Calvin said gently. “Did you know her long?”
“No,” Nils said. “I only knew her for a few days, but I was growing fond of her. She was very kind.”
“I’m sorry,” was all Calvin could say.
They walked along a ridge for the rest of the day. As the sun began to go down, they found a place to stop for the night, a wide open spot next to a small stream, and under a huge tree. They camped out under a completely clear sky. The stars above were bright and beautiful. They were able to wash themselves in the stream before going to sleep, which brought a small amount of comfort.
Lying on his back, Calvin looked up into the night sky. Astra, as usual, put her bed roll near Calvin’s.
“You want to know what I miss most of all?” She asked. “I miss my bed on the Frost. I can’t wait to get back there.”
Dev overheard. “All I have to say is Ion needs to wake up and get the ship repaired. I miss it too.”
“I want to take a hot shower,” Calvin said. “And eat in the dining room.” They all fell asleep, dreaming of being back on the Azure Frost.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO:
THE MOUNTAIN
The next morning, they woke up, made a fire, and ate breakfast. They refilled their water bottles in the stream before beginning another long day’s walk.
All that day and through the next the path took them through rolling hills with small, sparse trees and small winding streams. The mountain slowly grew larger each day until finally, on the sixth day of walking; with their food running very low, they reached the foot of the mountain. At night, the sky glowed red from the fires that grew out of control in all directions.
It was late afternoon. The sky was dark gray with scattered dark clouds. They could barely see the sun; it was a big hazy red spot in the sky.
Astra stood next to Calvin, looking up at the next, and hopefully last challenge between them and freedom.
“I didn’t realize the mountain was so tall,” Astra said. “That’s going to take a while. Do you think we’ll make it to the top before nightfall?”
“I really hope so,” Calvin said. “I don’t want to get caught up there in the dark. We might not find a good place to sleep on the mountain side.”
“Do you want to make camp here?” Astra asked. “Start early in the morning?”
“No, we need to get to higher ground,” Calvin answered. “The sooner we get to the hangar the better. We can use our lights, if we have to. Come on you guys, let’s go.”
Wexton tightened the straps of his backpack and helped Dev when he struggled to stand up.
“Come on buddy,” He said. Dev didn’t just look tired, he looked like he was getting sick. The path looped around the side of the mountain. At first it was a gentle winding slope. The trees were thick and gave them lots of shade. When they reached a clearing, they were rewarded with a spectacular view. Half a dozen volcanoes were exploding on the horizon, spewing fire and ash into the sky. Great rivers of lava were pouring down their sides. The planet was dying, and they all knew it.
The path above looked very difficult; steep and treacherous. Looks were very deceiving. It was worse than it looked. It was very steep, and the going was slow. They had to climb over large rocks and fallen trees, but worse was having to cross a wide slope of loose rocks and gravel. They all had to hold hands to keep from sliding down. It took a long time. At first they tried taking turns pulling each other up, but they ended up pulling themselves down further. The loose rocks made it hard to get a firm grip and gain traction. In the end they had to inch their way up, very slowly.
After hours of sweating, cutting themselves on sharp rocks, and clawing their way up the mountain, they finally reached a place where the path leveled out. They stopped for a break when they found a large rock large enough to shield them from the wind. Calvin wanted to rest long enough for everyone to catch their breaths. The wind was very loud, and beat against the mountain.
On the way up the mountain, Calvin had been so focused on the ground, on finding a safe way up that he hadn’t looked at the view in a while. He let out a gasp as he surveyed the world from their higher vantage point. There were large seas of lava everywhere, getting bigger and merging. Calvin looked down; a wide river of lava surrounded the mountain they were on. They were cut off; on an island surrounded by lava, which was slowly rising after them. The tops of other mountains were consumed in colossal fires, and the air was choked with thick black smoke. Calvin was shocked to see it. He’d never seen such a horrific sight in all his life. The planet’s end was very close. Even if it didn’t explode, it wouldn’t be able to support life much longer.
Calvin was exhausted and desperate; he could see it reflected in the faces of his friends, but this was not the time or place to rest. They were never going to completely catch their breaths because the air was too thin and smelled of sulfur and smoke. Calvin resolutely determined they had to finish the climb, so he stood up. He felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, and almost felt like passing out. He didn’t realize how tired he was. Astra put her hand up, and Calvin helped her to stand. He motioned for everyone to follow.
They struggled up the
side of the mountain on a bare landscape that offered no shelter from the blistering sun or the dry hot wind. The heat radiating from the ocean of lava was stifling. Visibility dropped to just a few feet around them, blocked off by smoke. Breathing was difficult. They tried to cover their mouths and noses with their hands, or whatever they had, but Calvin couldn’t find relief and coughed frequently. It was a nightmare, and Calvin was terrified it wasn’t just the end of the planet that was coming; their deaths were coming too. The nightmare would soon end; one way or another. Calvin worried about Astra. He desperately wanted to protect her; but now realized how powerless he really was.
After another torturous hour fighting for each step, they found the entrance to a cave, smoothly cut into the side of the mountain. They instantly felt free; the oppressive wall of wind that was blasting into them was gone and they could move more easily. The cave was lit with bright white lights. The walls were smooth and the floor was level, but the air was full of dust and smoke.
Ten minutes later they became aware of a new sensation; the temperature was rising drastically. The farther in the mountain they walked, the hotter it got. Soon, the tunnel walls started to glow with a bright red light.
“Calvin, do you have any water left?”
Calvin shook his water bottle. It was light, but there was still a little left. He handed to Astra.
“You can have the rest of it.”
“Are you sure?” She asked.
“Yes, please drink it.” Calvin insisted. He watched as Astra quickly finished it and handed the bottle back to him.
They emerged from the tunnel into a vast chamber, thousands of feet above a massive sea of boiling lava. A metal bridge crossed over the emptiness at the shortest gap; the top.
“It’s a volcano,” Calvin said, but not loud enough for anyone to hear. “That figures; and it’s about to erupt.”
Calvin turned to look at his companions. He yelled at them to follow, but wasn’t sure if they could hear over the roar of lava below, so he waved them on. Calvin went first onto the bridge. He was hit by a blast of intense heat when he stepped over the edge, and tried to suppress a surge of panic. His common sense voice was screaming at him that it wasn’t wise to step out over a sea of lava on a bridge he didn’t know was going to hold his weight or not. Fortunately, the bridge was quite solid. Halfway across, he couldn’t stop himself from pausing and looking down over the side. The inside of the mountain was a sea of lava, and it was rising towards them.
Calvin felt something on his arm and looked back. Astra was gently pulling him to keep moving.
On the other side they walked into another tunnel, up a gentle slope and into a huge brightly lit chamber. The room was round, and completely open to the sky above. There were tiny cracks in the floor. Sitting off to the side was a single space ship.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE:
DESPERATION
The space ship was a medium sized cargo vessel. Not an elegant design; it had glass windows on the front, and a large bulky square hull. Calvin walked closer to it, overcome with a feeling of euphoria. Yet in the back of his mind there was a deep fear that if the ship didn’t work, there was no way to escape. They were trapped at the top of the mountain and the mountain was about to explode, along with the rest of the planet.
There was a short silver lever on the side of the ship. Calvin pulled it down, a hatch slid open and a short ladder slid down.
Suddenly the ground began to shake violently. Instead of subsiding after a few seconds, it got worse. Larger cracks appeared on the hanger floor and webbed out in all directions.
“Go, go!” Calvin shouted. Astra climbed the ladder first, followed by Dev, Wexton, Nils, Petori, and Freks. The entrance to the ship was too narrow for Wexton to get through with Scribbles on his back, so he had to take her off and hand her up to Dev. Calvin boarded the ship last. Inside the ship, at the top of the ladder was a flight deck. The air inside smelled stale, the equipment looked old and Calvin seriously worried that the ship would still fly. He didn’t say it out loud, but there must have been a reason the Goremog left it behind. At the back of the flight deck was another short ladder that led down into a spacious cargo area. Dark green benches and webbing lined the walls.
The earthquake grew worse; the ship shook violently. Calvin and Astra sat down at the two pilot stations in the front. The rest strapped themselves in seats in the cargo hold.
Calvin looked at the computer panels. The layout was not overly complex, but he didn’t recognize the configuration; he couldn’t find the engine controls.
He started to panic, but took a deep breath and forced himself to stay focused. He looked at Astra; she looked very relaxed, confident and was smiling. She shook her head up and down as she examined the controls.
“I’ve seen this layout before,” she said, pressing a series of toggle switches. There were soft clicks, but nothing happened. Astra ran her hands across the controls, pressing and repressing buttons. Finally she put her hands down and exhaled loudly.
“I can’t believe it,” Astra said. “I knew this was going to happen.”
Calvin felt a deep stab of fear. He was afraid it was going to happen too, but told himself all along that it wouldn’t. His mind raced.
“Can we fix it?” He asked, almost afraid of the answer.
“We don’t have a choice,” Astra said. Calvin could see the terror in her face, and knew that’s exactly how he felt; completely scared. The ship was shaking harder now as the mountain began to tear itself apart. “We need to check everything, fast.” Astra said.
“What’s going on?” Dev said, climbing up the ladder and standing behind them. “Why haven’t we taken off yet?”
“We have a problem,” Calvin said. “The ship is dead.”
“Dev,” Astra said sternly. “You’re good with engines right?”
“Yes,” Dev answered. “Tryvellen design only.”
“Well, this isn’t Tryvellen. Go check the engines,” Astra said calmly. “I’m going to find the power generator.”
Dev hurried back down the ladder. “Wex, help me find the engines,” he said. Astra got up and went to the back. Again, Calvin felt useless. He wanted to ask if there was anything he should be doing, but he didn’t want to slow them down. So he sat down and looked out the windows. The cracks in the ground were slowly spreading; getting larger.
After a minute, Calvin got up. He couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. He went down to the cargo hold. Nils and the others were sitting on the side seats. They looked scared.
A small hatch in the floor was open. He peeked down to see a tight space, full of mechanical equipment.
“I found a couple of problems,” Dev said from somewhere in the room. “Calvin, do you think you can find me some tools. I need a bolt adjuster and a circuit analyzer.”
“Sure, I’ll look around,” Calvin said. Finally, something to do. But he was going to need help. Nils, Petori and Freks gladly helped search the ship. When they couldn’t find anything, they went outside and spread out to look in the hangar.
Astra was already outside. She had an access hatch open on the side of the ship and was examining a generator near one of the external engines. Scribbles was standing next to her.
“This is a mess,” Astra said. “I can’t get the generator started.”
“No power?” Calvin asked.
“No, the batteries are dead,” she said. “I only need a little bit of juice to get the engines started.”
“Well, Dev found some problems with the engines,” Calvin said. “He needs tools.” He turned to begin the search, but stopped when he saw Scribbles slowly walk around Astra and put her hands on the metal leads coming out of the generator. A small electric charge came out of the robot’s fingers. Several lights on the generator lit up, and there was a soft hum.
“Scribbles!” Astra exclaimed. “You did it.”
“What happened?” Calvin asked, feeling a sliver of hope.
“She gave the bat
tery a power boost, the generator is now charging. Don’t stop Scribbles!”
With a renewed sense of urgency, Calvin hurried off to find some tools. The hangar was not very large, so the search was brief. Freks found a locker that had four strange looking tools in it, which he quickly took to Dev. Calvin climbed a catwalk at the top of the hangar that ran around the open roof. There he found an observation deck overlooking the planet from the highest vantage point he’d seen yet.
The world was on fire. There were only four tall mountains visible now, and they were covered in flames. The rest of the planet that he could see was under a sea of molten lava. The air was choked with black smoke. It was like a scene out of his worst nightmare. A strong quake rocked the mountain. The hangar tilted slightly.
“Calvin!” Astra yelled. “I need you! Get down here!”
The view was the most amazing and horrible thing he had ever seen, but he managed to pry himself away and run full speed back down to the ship.
When he got back, everyone was already back inside. He found Astra at the top.
“I need you to stay here,” Astra said. “Sit in the cockpit. Dev and I are going to get the engines working. Keep an eye on the instruments. Let me know when something is working; take off as soon as you can. Don’t wait for me to get back up here.”
“OK,” Calvin said and sat down. Astra hurried down the stairs. She left Scribbles on the bridge, strapped into one of the chairs.
He didn’t waste time and fastened his own seat harness. He looked at the instruments. They were all dark and the needles were all the way to the left. Ancient controls, Calvin thought.
He looked out the window. The ship was clearly leaning to the left. There was another strong quake. This time he felt the ground shift and drop out from under them. The ship fell two feet and hit with a bang.
“You might want to hurry!” Calvin shouted.
Just then there was a loud whoosh and the cockpit lights all turned on, dials rotated to various numbers. Half of the red lights turned to green across the control boards.