by Steve Voake
The pressure on his throat suddenly relaxed and as he stared up he saw Zip’s astonished face silhouetted against the grey winter sky. His eyes shone with amazement.
‘Sam?’ he said. ‘Sam Palmer?’
Sam grinned, which isn’t easy when you’ve just had the wind knocked out of you.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘It’s me.’
The next thing he knew, Zip was pulling him to his feet and grabbing him in the biggest, roughest, most welcoming bear hug he had ever experienced.
‘Sam, my man!’ he said, lifting Sam up so that his feet were several centimetres above the snow. ‘I don’t believe it! You’re alive!’ He set Sam down on the snow again and took a step back to take a proper look at him. ‘Oh boy, this is just incredible. I can’t… I mean, this is amazing. Unbelievable. We heard you got killed in the attack.’
Sam shrugged. ‘I don’t really remember much about it. All I know is – here I am.’
Zip scratched at his stubble and shook his head in disbelief.
‘And you look… oh, just you wait ‘til Mump hears about this!’
He looked at Sam and then they both turned towards the snowdrift where the boots had started to flail and kick at the air with a newfound urgency.
‘Uh-oh,’ said Zip. ‘Time we defrosted him, I reckon.’
Running across to the snowdrift, they each grabbed a boot and pulled. For a few seconds there was only the muffled sound of grunting as Sam and Zip tugged determinedly at his legs; Mump had obviously been travelling at high speed when he hit the snow and drilled himself down deep. But then, in a slither of ice, Mump emerged swearing and spluttering into the light. He tried unsuccessfully to stand up but lost his balance and fell down again, wobbling around on all fours like a baby polar bear. Finally deciding it was all too much effort, he rolled over onto his back and lay with his arms by his sides, gazing up at the sky.
Sam leaned over and looked down at him.
‘Hello, Mump,’ he said. ‘Are you OK?’
Mump stared at him for a moment or two, shut his eyes tightly and then opened them again.
‘Am I dead?’ he asked.
Sam heard Zip start to chuckle behind him.
‘No,’ he said, smiling down at the wet, bedraggled heap of confusion that was Mump. ‘But I’ve seen you looking better.’
Mump sat up and threw a quick glance at Zip.
‘Zip,’ he hissed from the corner of his mouth. ‘I think I’m having a vision!’
Zip sighed, slapped Sam on the chest a few times and tapped his knuckles against his forehead.
‘Look, you great wally. Hands do not go through chest, knuckles do not disappear through head. This boy’s as real as you and me, Mump. He’s as solid as a rock.’
Mump was silent for a long while, seemingly unable to move his gaze away from Sam’s face. Then, without saying a word, he turned and walked away toward the trees.
‘What’s the matter?’ Sam asked. ‘Is he all right?’
Zip shrugged. ‘It’s been quite a day what with one thing and another. He’ll get over it.’
Sam looked at the dark tracks in the snow and saw that Mump was some way off with his back to them, leaning against a tree.
‘He thought you were dead, Sam,’ said Zip. ‘We both did.’
Sam nodded thoughtfully. ‘To be honest I don’t know what I was,’ he replied, ‘or why I’m here exactly.’
He watched Zip stamp the snow from his boots and saw that his dark hair was full of ice crystals. ‘But there’s one thing I do know.’
‘What’s that?’ asked Zip.
‘It’s good to see you both again.’
Zip nodded.
‘Yeah, you too, Sam,’ he said. ‘You too.’
When they had finished digging Mump’s flea out of the snowdrift, Mump produced a small stove and began to brew up a pan of acorn coffee.
‘So tell us,’ he said, ‘what happened to you and Skipper after you took the mosquito back to Earth? Last thing we heard, you were Missing In Action.’
Sam shook his head. ‘That’s the weird part. I remember taking off at the start of the mission. And I know I found my way back to Earth again, although my memory’s a bit hazy. Last thing I remember is crawling out of the lake and meeting up with you and Mump.’
As he studied Zip’s long hair and rough beard, he saw then how he had changed; how the angular features and muscular forearms had replaced the figure of the freshfaced youth that Sam remembered from the last time he was in Aurobon. It was still the same Zip all right, but somewhere along the line he had become a man. Glancing across at Mump he saw that he too seemed older than before.
‘I’ve been away a long time haven’t I?’ he said quietly.
Zip nodded.
‘You went missing about four years ago.’
‘Four years?’ replied Sam incredulously. ‘But how can I have lost all that time?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Zip. ‘But you still look the same as you always did, which is weird. Maybe it’s got something to do with Salus. I heard a rumour that he’s been seen around these parts recently.’
‘Who is Salus exactly?’ asked Sam.
‘Salus is the Guardian of Worlds,’ Zip explained. ‘He watches over Earth and Aurobon, making sure that everything is kept in balance.’
‘Yeah right,’ said Mump. ‘Of course he does. That’s the story they used to tell us when we were kids. But if you ask me, the guy’s either nodded off or died.’
‘No one is asking you,’ said Zip. ‘And anyway, you shouldn’t say things like that, Mump.’
‘Don’t see why not,’ said Mump. ‘I’m only saying what everyone’s thinking.’
‘Well, I know this is going to sound stupid,’ said Sam quietly, ‘but I think I might just have seen him myself.’
‘Seen who?’ asked Zip.
‘Salus,’ Sam replied. ‘Although the way my mind is at the moment, I can’t be certain – it could have been some kind of hallucination. But when I was by the lake he gave me this robe to wear, I’m sure of it. And he said that Aurobon needed my help.’
‘He certainly got that right,’ said Mump. ‘Aurobon needs all the help it can get.’
‘Why?’ asked Sam. ‘What happened here exactly?’ ‘That,’ said Zip, handing Sam a mug of coffee and a hunk of bread, ‘is a long story.’
As Sam warmed his hands on the hot mug and listened, Zip began to recount the events that had occurred in the years since Sam’s disappearance, and told the story of how the Vermian insects had attacked and overrun Vahlzi. When he had finished, Sam shook his head in disbelief.
‘That’s terrible,’ he said. ‘So what happened to all the others?’
‘Well,’ said Zip. ‘Skipper went missing the same time as you, Firebrand was captured a few weeks ago and the rest of us are hiding out with the Resistance movement up here in the mountains. There are still enough of us around to cause the Vermian Empire a few headaches, but without control of the skies we’ve got no real chance of being anything more than a nuisance. They’ve got total air superiority.’
‘What about the wasps?’ said Sam. ‘Surely you’ve got some of those left?’
‘Sure we have,’ said Mump. ‘In fact, we’ve got a whole squadron of them tucked away, for what it’s worth. But you even try and take a wasp up there and those robber flies will just tear it out of the sky. Believe me, I’ve seen it happen.’
Sam frowned. ‘What about Skipper?’
Zip shrugged. ‘What about her?’
‘Well, she’s the best, right? When she’s flying a wasp, no one can get near her.’
‘She’s just one person,’ said Mump. ‘One person against thousands. What could she do?’
‘She’d think of something,’ said Sam. ‘I know she would. She always used to say that anything’s possible.’
‘You’re forgetting something,’ said Zip.
‘What?’
Zip put a hand on Sam’s arm.
‘We don’t ev
en know if she’s still alive,’ he said gently.
Later, when they had finished their coffee, Mump wiped the seat of the flea with his jacket and slapped it a couple of times with his hand.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Time for your first lesson.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Sam uncertainly. ‘I don’t want to break it or anything.’
‘Oh, I shouldn’t worry about that,’ said Zip. ‘These things are pretty much unbreakable.’ He looked across at Mump who was giving one of the handlebars a quick polish with his sleeve. ‘As our friend here has so recently demonstrated.’
‘Oh yeah,’ said Mump. ‘Remind me, who was it who smashed into the side of a bombardier beetle last week?’
‘That was different,’ said Zip. ‘It was dark and he didn’t have his lights on.’
‘Course he didn’t have his lights on,’ retorted Mump. ‘There’s a war on.’
‘Exactly,’ said Zip with a wry smile. ‘Which is why I cunningly took advantage of the conditions to carry out a surprise attack.’
‘Oh I see,’ replied Mump sarcastically, ‘it was a surprise attack.’
‘Yeah,’ said Zip, winking at Sam. ‘Surprised the hell out of me.’
He roared with laughter and Sam began to laugh too. But Mump just patted the seat of the flea and Sam saw that there was a twinkle in his eye.
‘Come on, Sam,’ said Mump. ‘If you’re going to join the Resistance, you need to be able to ride one of these.’
Sam looked at the lean, powerful-looking insect crouching on its side-stand and felt excitement hum through his blood. The world of Aurobon was opening up to him once more and for a moment he became acutely aware of all the possibilities, dangers and adventures that lay before him, like a secret pathway hidden beneath the snow.
Walking over to the flea, he threw a leg across it and plonked himself down on the seat, grabbing the handlebars and feeling the insect bounce gently up and down as the suspension in its legs took his weight. The seat was soft and comfortable and, leaning across the smooth, segmented back like a motorcyclist over a fuel tank, he peered out between the antennae and saw Mump grinning back at him.
‘How’s it feel?’ asked Mump. ‘Reckon you could handle it?’
‘Not sure,’ said Sam. ‘How does it work?’
‘I’ll show you,’ said Mump. ‘Slide off a minute.’
Sam jumped down as Mump slung his leg over and pulled the insect off its side-stand, balancing it with his toes on the ground.
Sam leant over and saw that a bright green light was shining from a small instrument panel behind the creature’s head.
‘What are the other lights for?’ asked Sam. He saw that a blue one was winking slowly on and off and another was glowing a dull yellow. A red light remained unlit.
‘The red one means you’re low on fuel and it’s time to fill up.’
‘Where’s the fuel tank?’ Sam looked towards the back of the insect to see if he could spot a filler cap anywhere.
Zip smiled. ‘Doesn’t work quite like that,’ he said. ‘Remember, these things are biological, not mechanical, so food is the fuel.’ He pointed to a sharp tube which protruded from the flea’s mouth. ‘See that thing?’
Sam nodded.
‘Well, this insect works on a dual fuel system. It can function using either the sugary juices from plants or the blood of mammals. Show him how it works, Mump.’
‘OK,’ said Mump. He pressed a button and Sam jumped as the tube in the creature’s mouth suddenly flew forward and drove deep into the snow.
‘If we were on Earth now and that was a dog, a cat, or a human, then that thing would pierce the skin and suck up a nice warm gutful of the red stuff.’
Sam grimaced. ‘Yuck,’ he said. He looked at the long tube and imagined what it would be like to be impaled on the end of it. ‘So how do you keep them alive here on Aurobon? Surely if this thing tried to suck the blood of any animal here it would kill it?’
‘True,’ agreed Zip. ‘That’s why we generally feed ’em on tree sap when they’re not taking part in Earth missions. Those tubes can cut through bark like butter and the sap has enough nutrients to keep them functioning for weeks.’
‘Mm,’ said Mump. ‘Trouble is, these things actually prefer blood. So you have to be a bit careful. Always make absolutely sure that the tracker system is disabled when you’re not using it.’
‘Tracker system?’ asked Sam. ‘What’s that?’
‘Watch,’ said Mump. He flipped a switch and Sam noticed that the blue light immediately began blinking quickly on and off while the other light glowed bright yellow. The flea twitched a couple of times and then suddenly jumped round so that its little black eyes were staring straight at Sam. Its back legs tensed and it quivered all over. Then Mump flipped the switch off again and immediately the tension seemed to drain out of the creature as it sank down on its legs once more.
‘Jeepers,’ said Sam. ‘What happened there?’
‘Fleas bite animals, right? Animals are warm, they breathe and they move. So in order to track them down, fleas are very sensitive to nearby vibrations, to heat sources and to concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air. This blue light indicates the presence of carbon dioxide; the more there is of it, the faster it blinks. The yellow light indicates a heat source and it glows more brightly the nearer you get to it. When I switched the tracking system on, the flea sensed the warmth of your body and the carbon dioxide in your breath. It was getting ready to bite you when I turned it off. Do you want me to show you how it works again?’
‘No thanks,’ said Sam hurriedly, turning rather pale. ‘I think I get the idea now.’
‘You’ll probably never need to use it,’ said Zip. ‘But it’s handy if you ever need to find someone in a hurry.’
‘All right,’ said Mump. ‘Now for the really good bit. You see this?’ He tapped his fingers against the lever on the right handlebar. ‘That’s the jump lever. All you do is make sure your harness is done up good and tight, squeeze the lever and then hang on for dear life. I’m telling you, this baby’ll do nought to a hundred metres in less than half a second. Want a try?’
‘Whoa there,’ said Zip, holding up his hand. ‘Don’t you think you’d better talk him through the vision goggles first?’
‘Oh yeah,’ said Mump. ‘Nearly forgot. Hop on a sec, Sam. It’s easier to show you if you’re sitting on it.’
Sam made himself comfortable on the seat again and saw that Mump was holding out a pair of black rubber goggles which were linked to the flea’s head by a curly, blue plastic lead.
‘Here, put these on.’
‘What are they for?’ asked Sam, pulling the goggles down over his eyes. He stared through the lenses and saw that there was now a bright red cross in the centre of his vision.
‘Head-up visual display,’ said Zip. ‘It’s linked electronically to the flea’s optical nerve, so that whatever you look at is exactly what the flea’s brain sees. It’s also got a zoom function so you can check out what nasty things are waiting for you in the distance. But basically it makes steering the thing a whole lot easier. You just look in the direction of where you want to go and the flea goes there. Clever, eh?’
‘Amazing,’ said Sam. He looked at Mump dubiously. ‘Do you think it’s safe for me to have a go then?’
‘Yeah why not,’ said Mump. ‘As long as you hold on tight and don’t let go, you’ll be fine. Don’t you think, Zip?’
Zip nodded. ‘Should be. Experienced pilot like you, shouldn’t have a problem. Only thing is, if you’ve never been on a flea before you might find your first jump a bit of a shock. Just be prepared for that, OK?’
Sam buckled the straps of the leather harness tightly across his shoulders and swallowed nervously.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘If you’re sure. How do I stop it?’
Flea motorbike
‘Easy,’ said Mump. ‘Just release the jump lever.’
‘Or alternatively,’ said Zip with a wry smile, ‘y
ou could just crash it into a snowdrift.’
Pretending not to have heard this last comment, Mump reached over and turned the ignition key.
‘OK, Sam,’ he said. ‘She’s all primed and ready to go.’
‘Right,’ said Sam.
He took a deep breath and looked at the dark green pine trees that stood tall against the cold winter sky.
Then he squeezed the lever.
With a loud click, all the compressed energy in the flea’s legs was suddenly released and Sam found himself flung high into the air with such extraordinary, breathtaking acceleration that he felt as though his insides had been ripped out and left behind in the snow. As he rocketed up into the sky at an incredible speed he looked down and noticed the two tiny black dots below him. One of the dots appeared to be waving.
Hanging on desperately to the handlebars, Sam released the lever. He immediately felt the speed of his ascent begin to slow until, just for a moment, he seemed to be hanging perfectly still above the frozen winter landscape. Looking down he saw that he was high above the trees.
Seconds later he dropped through the air like a stone, his stomach flipping as the treetops rushed toward him at a frightening rate. He was just wondering if he would be killed quickly and whether it would hurt a lot when there was a snapping of branches, a prickling of pine needles and he found himself sitting at the top of a very tall pine tree, watching two small black dots run across the snow towards him.
‘Help!’ he shouted as the tree began to sway slightly in the wind. ‘I’m stuck!’
He looked down and saw Zip cupping his hands around his mouth.
‘Pull the jump lever again!’ he shouted. ‘Look towards us and pull the lever!’
‘Oh no,’ muttered Sam queasily, looking at the long drop to the ground and feeling the soles of his feet tingle at the prospect of falling. But he moved his head around until the centre of the red cross in the goggle display was positioned directly between Zip and Mump, then squeezed the jump lever again. There was another loud click, a rush of cold air and suddenly the flea had landed neatly (and surprisingly softly) on the snow and Sam was staring at the figures of Zip and Mump who were lying sprawled out on either side of him.
‘Hi, fellas,’ he said, smiling happily now that he was safely back on the ground again. ‘What are you doing down there?’