by Zac Harrison
Shoving two students out of her path, the teacher squeezed her bulk through the hatch. “I’m trained for these situations,” she babbled. “I’ll just enter the launch code. Everyone line up behind Mordant.”
John frowned. Surely Doctor Graal shouldn’t be boarding the escape pod ahead of her students. The panicking teacher was hardly setting a good example.
Mordant forced himself down the aisle through a mad scuffle. “You heard her!” he screeched. “I’m first. Everyone behind me.”
John could see the Gargon inside the pod, jabbing wildly with her tentacle at a control panel. Instantly, the hatch hissed closed. With a metallic crunch, the pod detached from the shuttle and blasted away to safety.
“Escape pod away,” droned the computer. “Autopilot error. Orbit failing. Collision with planet Zirion Beta in two minutes.”
“She left us!” screamed Queelin Temerate. “Doctor Graal’s left us to die.”
“It must have been an accident!” wailed Mordant above the screams. “She would never leave us.”
“Shut up, Talliver! Graal’s gone and we’re going to crash,” spat Lishtig.
There was a flurry of activity in the seat next to John. “Not if I’ve got anything to do with it!” shouted Emmie grimly. “I just need to get to the manual override.”
As she stood up, Mordant lunged forward and pushed her back into her seat. “No. Doctor Graal is coming back for us!” he screamed into her face. “She’ll be back any second.”
“Graal’s not coming back, you idiot,” grunted Kaal, exploding out of his own seat and flinging Mordant across the aisle.
As Mordant crashed against the window, his droid immediately buzzed over and started straightening his clothes. “If you wish to fight the Derrilian again, sir,” it said, sounding as unflappable as ever, “may I suggest a quick punch to the jaw followed by a flurry of sharp jabs.”
Mordant’s only answer was a sob of anguish.
By now John, too, was on his feet. “Listen!” he bellowed into the screams. “Emmie’s the best pilot here. If anyone can get us down, it’s her. But we have to be calm and let her through.”
His words had the desired effect. Every student clutched at the tiny branch of hope that John was holding out. The screaming died down.
With a grateful glance over her shoulder, Emmie dived for the front of the shuttle, students hurrying out of her path.
“Collision with planet Zirion Beta in ninety seconds,” the ship’s computer announced.
With John close behind, Emmie stabbed at a red button by the shuttle door. A panel slid back at chest height, revealing a small control stick and flight panel. She instantly punched at a panel marked “distress beacon”.
“Need any help?” panted John. Ahead, the planet loomed even larger than before. He tried not to look at the rocky volcanic surface spinning beneath, its gravity pulling the struggling shuttle ever closer.
“No. Just keep them quiet,” Emmie said without looking at him. Her eyes fixed on the large viewing window ahead, Emmie curled her fingers around the control stick while her other hand pressed “emergency manual override”.
The craft shuddered and seemed to threaten to begin spinning again. Yanking at the control stick and cursing under her breath, Emmie fought to stabilize it. “Entering the atmosphere,” she muttered.
As the shuttle bucked and shuddered, the screaming began again. John whirled around. Halfway down the aisle, Kaal was looking after Rantoo, who was moaning and clutching her head. Even from a distance, John could see yellow blood trickling down her face.
“It’s OK!” yelled John. “We’ve just hit the planet’s atmosphere, it’s going to get bumpy. Stay calm and we’ll all get through this.”
Behind him Emmie cursed again. This time John heard fear in her voice. “Engine’s hit,” she gasped. “There are only stabilizers. I can’t slow her down.”
The floor beneath John’s feet jumped and heaved. Staggering, he shouted, “Get back in your seats. Strap yourselves in.”
“Impact in sixty seconds,” droned the computer.
“Come on, come on!” Emmie shouted. Knowing there was nothing else he could do, John threw himself into the seat Graal had left empty, pulling the harness over his shoulders. The red indicator line on the temperature gauge quivered at the very end of the dial. Ahead of John, Emmie wrestled with the controls, fingers punching at the screen, trying to restart the spaceship’s main engines. “Impact in thirty seconds.”
Steam and smoke streamed past the viewing window. Emmie wrenched desperately at the stick. The shuttle lurched to one side, setting off more screams. John’s fingers clutched, white-knuckled, at the armrests, as the lip of a huge lava-spewing crater swept past within metres of the window.
“Impact in ten seconds.”
A voice was shouting, “You can do do it, Emmie!” With a jolt, John realized it was his own.
“I can’t!” she screamed. “We’re going to crash!”
Chapter 13
“Brace for impact!” Emmie roared.
The front of the shuttle lifted as the underside hit the planet’s surface with a stomach-wrenching crash. Torn metal and rock spun past John’s window. He gripped the arms of his seat and forced himself to breathe.
The shuttle bounced back into the air. Stabilizer jets screamed.
Emmie punched at the controls desperately as the ground hit the bottom of the shuttle again. This time the craft rolled wildly. John barely heard the screaming behind him; his eyes were fixed on Emmie. With a low shout, she lost her grip and was tossed backward. John grabbed her arm as she fell, pulling her into him. “Hold onto me!” he bellowed in her ear.
In front, the viewing window was now a boiling mass of brown dust as the shuttle ploughed through the surface of Zirion Beta. Barely slowing, it hit a larger rock. There was a loud explosion, then jagged cracks appeared across the window. Emmie tightened her grip around John’s neck and buried her head in his shoulder. With the delicate cut-grass smell of her silver hair in his nostrils, John squeezed his own eyes closed and hung onto her for dear life.
Gouging a long scar into the planet’s surface, the shuttle crashed and rolled across Zirion Beta. As John and Emmie clung to each other, they could hear the screams of their terrified classmates. Gradually – so gradually, it was barely noticable – the shuttle slowed. Using only the stabilizer jets, not designed for emergency landings, Emmie had somehow managed to steer the small craft onto a flat plain. The shuttle finally rolled to a halt.
“You did it, Emmie,” John said as the shuttle exploded into cheers.
“Brilliant, Tarz!” shrieked Lishtig, leaning over the back of the seat. “That was awesome.”
“Is anyone hurt?” John shouted, releasing Emmie and standing up. “Everyone check the person next to them is OK.”
Quickly, the students took stock. Apart from Rantoo’s gashed head, Kritta’s four black eyes, and a few bruised tentacles, there were no serious injuries. Emmie, meanwhile, ran back up to the shuttle’s control panel for a damage report.
“It’s bad!” she shouted back. “Even the stabilizer jets are gone now. The auxiliary scanners are still functioning, but that’s about it. If they didn’t build these ships to survive pretty much anything, we wouldn’t even have those.”
“Have you checked the scanner for other ships?” asked John, leaning over her.
“Doing that now,” Emmie replied, jabbing at the screen. “No readings from any ships, but I am getting a beacon from a scientific station a few kilometres away.”
She paused and turned back to face the ship with an unexpected grin on her face.
“We’re in luck!” she yelled excitedly. “There’s a Galactic Council science outpost just under four kilometres from here. It’s unmanned, but Council protocol says every post must have an emergency shuttle. We can use it to fly back
to Hyperspace High.”
“Don’t be a total fool, Tarz!” screamed a new voice. Tear-stained and deathly pale, Mordant stood. Glaring at her, he spat, “It may have escaped your stupid little head, but the Mega-Eruption is going to start any moment. If we go outside, we’re dead.”
“Uh, I hate to say it, but Mordant’s got a point,” growled Gobi-san-Art. “Aren’t we better off waiting here for help to arrive? At least the shuttle will give us some protection.”
“Thanks for getting us down, Emmie,” said Rantoo through teeth clenched in pain. “But, just to check, you did send out a distress signal, didn’t you?”
Emmie nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, of course I did.”
“Well, then,” said Mordant. “That settles it. Hyperspace High will be sending out a rescue party right now. We’ll stay here until it comes to get us.”
John, meanwhile, had been doing some maths in his head. “Hang on!” he called, holding up his hand. “The shuttle took four hours to get here, and Graal said there was just over two hours until the eruption began. That was about fifteen minutes ago.”
At the mention of Doctor Graal’s name, several students began muttering among themselves.
“She took the escape pod and left us to die,” said Bareon, scowling. “Lorem should let her stay in it for ever.”
“No, she didn’t!” screeched Mordant, sounding half-mad with terror. “It must have been an accident. Doctor Graal would never—”
“For crying out loud, you really are teacher’s pet, aren’t you?” Queelin shouted, the antennae on her head thrashing furiously. “Your precious Doctor Graal was only concerned with saving her own skin.”
Although John agreed, arguing about it wasn’t going to get them back to safety. Shaking his head, he continued, “What I’m saying is, there are just two hours left until the whole planet blows. A rescue mission won’t have time to reach us. Not even the ship itself could change course and get here that quickly.”
“I’m not getting off this shuttle!” yelled Mordant stubbornly. “G-Vez, check again for other ships in the area.”
Emmie looked at him calmly. “There’s nothing. John’s right – if we stay here, we’ll be caught in the Mega-Eruption. If we start walking now, there’s a good chance we’ll make it to the science outpost in time to get off the planet.”
Several students called out their agreement.
“We can breathe out there, right?” asked Werril.
Emmie punched a few more panels. “Yes,” she said a few seconds later. “The atmosphere’s got enough oxygen to keep us alive. There are some poisonous gases, too, but we’ll all be able to breathe it for at least a few hours.”
“Don’t listen to her!” Mordant shouted, his voice trembling with rage and fear. “She’s the stupidest girl in school; why would anyone listen to what she says? She’ll get us all killed. We’ll stay here. It’s safe on the shuttle.”
Unable to stop himself, John took a step towards the whining boy, fists clenched in rage. “Shut up, Mordant!” he shouted. “You’re a coward, and your cowardice will get us all killed.”
“There’s no way this shuttle will withstand an entire planet erupting around it,” added Emmie loudly. “It’s barely in one piece as it is.”
“They’re lying. Trying to be heroes,” Mordant babbled, desperation in his voice. He looked around the shuttle for support from someone besides G-Vez. “Who put them in charge anyway? We should stay here and wait.”
“I say we go,” Lishtig cut in. “We’re all OK to walk and there’s nothing to carry. At a good pace we can easily cover a kilometre every twenty minutes. That gives us plenty of time.”
“I believe the boy’s calculations are correct,” buzzed G-Vez. “You could all easily—”
“Oh, shut up!” snapped Mordant.
The metal ball hovered silently.
“But what if a rescue party comes and can’t find us?” Gobi asked.
“Lorem will get here on time. He would never let his students get hurt.”
“You don’t know they’ll get here in time, Werril. Emmie landed us safely; she can get us off the planet, too.”
Suddenly everyone on the shuttle was shouting at the same time.
“STOP!”
There was a note of urgent authority in Kaal’s thunderous shout that brought the shuttle to an immediate hush. Everyone turned to look at the green Derrilian.
Kaal pointed to the viewing window. “Zirion Beta’s already made the decision for us,” he said quietly. “The shuttle’s sinking. We have to get off, and we have to get off right now.”
John craned his neck to look through the window. Along the length of the shuttle students gasped as they did the same. Kaal was right. Beneath the shuttle was the surface of a lava lake. Under his feet, he felt a small movement as the craft sank a little further.
For a second John stared through the viewing window, stunned. A second ago they had been safe, at least for the moment. Now they were being sucked down into a pool of deadly molten rock.
Chapter 14
There was no time left to argue – someone had to get things moving. With a tiny groan, John realized that the someone would have to be him.
Turning his head back to face the crowded shuttle, he shouted, “OK, let’s get out of here! Lishtig, you go first. Give people a hand up to the roof. Kaal and I will stay down here and push from below.” Looking round at the sea of frightened faces, John pressed a button by the door. It hissed open, letting a burst of boiling, stinking air onto the shuttle. “Let’s go!” he shouted.
A few minutes later, Lishtig pulled at Gobi-san-Art’s hand, his long purple hair blowing in the hot wind and sweat pouring down his face. “How many more?” he growled, straining to heave the massive bulk of Gobi upward.
John glanced past Kaal and down the aisle. “Eight,” he replied. His own face was red from the planet’s heat and the effort of giving his classmates a boost. Skin had already started to peel from his nose and cheeks. He looked out nervously. Slowly, the level of molten rock was rising against the side of the shuttle. Within a few minutes, it would begin pouring over the step. “We have to speed up!” he called to the others, trying to make his voice sound calm. “Mordant, you’re next.”
“I don’t need any help,” Mordant said, stepping forward and then cringing back again as the heat hit him. G-Vez buzzed around his head, one arm extending with a tiny fan at the end. It was useless in the intense heat but the droid still tried to cool its master.
“This is no time for pride!” John yelled back. “You’re slowing us down.”
With Gobi now helping, Lishtig pulled Mordant up and over the edge of the roof, feet scrabbling against the side of the shuttle. Quickly, Kaal helped the next student forward. Minutes later, only he and John were left inside.
“You go first,” said the Derrilian.
“No—”
“What did you say to Mordant? Squabbling will only slow us down.”
With Kaal boosting him from below, John scrambled up the roof of the sinking shuttle, where students huddled in the centre, as far from the lava as possible. Immediately, he turned and held out a hand to his friend. Wings flapping in the hot air, Kaal quickly joined the group.
“So what now?” Kaal asked, looking around.
John spun around, his heart pounding. The shuttle was completely surrounded by lava. Then, through a haze of gas and heat, he spotted a spit of black rock that jutted out into the burning lake. Its tip was just two metres from the shuttle. “There!” he shouted, pointing. “We’ll have to jump for it.”
“No way,” interrupted Mordant. “What if I slip?”
“Perhaps I could be of assistance, young master?”
“Shut up, you stupid piece of space junk,” spat Talliver. “You can’t carry me and I am not jumping.”
“Pah,
it’s easy,” said Lishtig. Without waiting, he ran to the side of the shuttle and launched himself into the air, arms whirling as he crossed the gap. With a hoot of triumph, he landed on all fours an the rocky ground, centimetres from the edge of the molten rock pool.
“Nice one, Lishtig!” John called over. “Who’s going next?”
“I am not—” Mordant began again. His words choked off, as strong arms caught him around the chest and massive wings snapped at the air. “Nooo!” he screamed, feet thrashing as he was lifted over the side of the shuttle.
“Don’t struggle,” ordered Kaal as he flapped across to the shore. Dropping Mordant onto solid ground, Kaal landed beside him.
“You’re loving this, aren’t you?” he hissed into Kaal’s face. “Showing off in front of everyone and making me look pathetic.”
Kaal beat his wings slowly and looked back towards the shuttle. “I can take anyone who can’t jump!” he called out.
John felt metal shift beneath his feet. Trying to keep a tight grip on his own fear, he shouted, “Anyone who thinks they can make it, come forward!”
Moments later, Queelin Temerate ran across the roof of the shuttle, only to come to a skidding halt a metre from the edge.
“I’m s-sorry,” she stammered. “I th-thought I could do it, b-but—”
John saw the tears in her yellow eyes and felt her trembling when he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s OK,” he said, pushing her gently towards the group waiting for Kaal to carry them across the lava.
Progress was slow. Aware that the minutes until the Mega-Eruption were ticking by, John did all he could to hurry the students but Queelin wasn’t the only one to look down at the bubbling lava and change their mind. Meanwhile, the shuttle sank slowly beneath the lava. By the time John’s turn finally came to make the leap, molten rock was oozing over the side of the roof.
He gulped. Pounding across the metal roof he launched himself towards the narrow spit of land. As he jumped, a grinding rumble filled the air. Ahead of him the cone of a volcano belched smoke and sparks. John’s feet touched the ground just as an earthquake began. Beneath him, the rock heaved, making his landing awkward. He stumbled, falling back towards the lava, hands flailing at empty air.