Craggy 2: Another Last Flight for Craggy

by Gary Weston

  'I wrote a story at school today, Uncle Craggy.'

  'You did?'

  'Yes. Can I read it to you, Uncle Craggy?'

  Cragg said, 'I tell you what. As soon as we've eaten, you can tell us your story.'

  'Ok.'

  Shyne told them of her busy day at school and how a boy in her class pulled her hair and how she had told him off.

  'Good for you,' said Misty. 'We girls have to show the boys who the boss is.'

  'No comment,' said Cragg.

  Armed with a full belly and another beer, Cragg sat on his old chair, Shyne on the floor in front of him.

  'I'll clean up,' said Misty. 'I've heard it three times already.'

  Cragg saw something hidden in the way his wife spoke. Something in her eyes. Misty gathered up the plates and took them away to clean them.

  'Right, Shyne,' said Cragg. 'Away you go.'

  The little girl took a deep breath. 'Did I tell you about the time...'

  'Sounds familiar.'

  'Shush. Did I tell you about the time I was very sad. And my Mommy and my Daddy was very very busy and I wasn't seeing my Mommy and my Daddy was too busy to play and Mommy didn't come home and then she didn't come home again and I never got a night night kiss from her and my Daddy had to tell me my story. And my Daddy said my Mommy wasn't coming home again tonight and that made me very very sad and I want my Mommy to kiss me night night and tell me a story. The end.'

  Shyne stared at her Uncle Craggy, her big saucer eyes on the verge of tears.

  'That was such a good story,' said Cragg. 'Much better than my old stories. Shyne, Are you staying here tonight with Uncle Craggy and Aunty Misty?'

  'I think so.'

  Misty came in and sat down. 'Yes. Don't mind do you?'

  'Of course not. Say. I gotta pop out for half an hour. Won't be too long.'

  Chapter 28

  It had been another long night, followed by another early start.

  'Now?' said Breeze.

  Commander Forbes had called Wendy Breeze on her radio. 'I want you four in Base Three immediately.'

  'But Sir, we're right in the middle of...'

  'Now, Breezy. That's an order.'

  'On our way, Sir.' Breeze quickly tightened up the fittings on the main flange of the injector inlet port and put the tools down. 'You heard the commander. Let's go.'

  Wondering what it was all about, the four downed tools and drove off at speed to Base Three. They parked their buggy outside the main airlock and entered the Base. The scent of the flowers and the birdsong hit them immediately. Commander Forbes was there to greet them and the look on his face was serious.

  'Sir? Are we in trouble?'

  'You could say that, Breezy. Follow me.'

  They followed the Mars Commander along what was left of the path that ran through the middle of the Base. He said nothing as he strode purposefully to the small dining area. It was Fawn Dillow that gasped.

  'Joel? Shyne?'

  The little girl ran to her mother who picked her up for hugs and kisses. 'Mommy.'

  Fawn noticed the table was overflowing with food and various cold juice drinks. She looked at Forbes. 'I don't understand?'

  'You have all been found guilty of working too hard. Your punishment is to have exactly two hours off, have a good feed and soak in the pool. Spend a minute less in here, you'll be docked a month's pay. We don't need exhausted people working on critical projects. Right. I have to go.'

  'Come on, Mommy. It's a picnic.'

  Breeze fixed Forbes with a look. 'Ok. Whose idea was this?'

  Forbes laughed. 'Who the heck do you think?'

  Breeze laughed. 'Craggy.'

  'Naturally,' said Forbes, as he walked away.

  Chapter 29

  It had only been two hours, but the foursome returned to their mission in a far better frame of mind. They finished the assembly and went through the check-lists three times, leaving nothing to chance. On specially adapted seating, made to be both buckled safely into whilst allowing easy access to the controls, the four of them sat strapped in, ready for a test firing up of the rebuilt plasma engine. The tank was filled with helium-3, power was flowing as it should, Stella had decided within a reasonable degree of certainty which did what in the controls. All Stella had to do was to risk using them.

  'Maybe we should postpone it until tomorrow,' Stella suggested.

  Breeze said, 'Press the damn button.'

  'Touchless sensor,' corrected Stella.

  'Fine. Right. Touchless sensor. Wiggle your fingers over the damn touchless sensors.'

  'I could do this alone,' said Stella. 'No need for you three to risk...'

  'We agreed,' said Dillow. 'Together or not at all. Let's go, Stella.'

  'Ok,' said Stella. 'Maybe a countdown...'

  Breeze almost screamed with frustration. 'I'm trained to kill with my bare hands by Dillow's father, you know. Enough with the procrastination or...'

  Stella wiggled her fingers. Nothing happened. 'Ah! Now. Hang on. I got this. I just need to do this, then err, this, no, yes...'

  Breeze was about to blow. Then the ship did a disconcerting rumble and wobble as if it were about to blow, instead. 'Too much injector input. Shut it down.'

  'It just needs regulating a little...'

  Wilder rocking and rumbling started.

  'Stella. Shut the damn thing down.'

  'I'm bloody trying to...'

  The ship responded. The rumble became a hum. The hum became a whisper.

  Skye asked, 'She's shut down?'

  'No,' said Stella. 'Ticking over. Running sweet. Now for take off and landing thrusters...'

  'Jeez, Stella,' said Dillow.

  'Oh, my God,' said Breeze. 'Are we taking off? Jeez. Are we taking off?'

  'Let's see,' said Stella. The screen flickered into life. 'We're about one mile in the air.'

  Dillow said, 'We haven't clearance. This was just a fire up trial.'

  Skye said, 'We still haven't checked all the underneath for damage. This ship might not be airworthy.'

  Stella turned and gave her friends the strangest of looks. A new found confidence was flowing through her as smoothly as the plasma was now flowing through the rebuilt engine. 'One way to find out. Hang on to your panties, ladies. Going one tenth power.'

  'How the hell can you tell?' asked Dillow.

  'I can feel it.'

  'Oh, Jeez. Another ship hugger,' said Breeze. 'It's bloody contagious.'

  'Hey,' said Stella. 'You were the ones wanting to try the engine out. One fifth power. Wow. Sweet.'

  'Up,' yelled Dillow as all they could see was the ground as the ship dropped like a very big stone. 'Take her up.'

  'This should do it. Take off thrusters off. Sweet. We are out of Mars atmosphere. Now we can really see what she can do.'

  Breeze hung on to her seat, he knuckles turning white. 'Stella.'

  'Yep. That's my name. Don't wear it out. One third power. We did fill that tank, right?'

  'Don't you dare get us lost,' growled Dillow.

  'Relax. This thing tracks our course. At least I think it does. More or less. One half power.'

  The ship was faster than anything any of them had flown in before and it wasn't even flat out.

  'Shit!' said Skye. 'The asteroid belt. Can't be going that fast.'

  'Looks like it,' said Stella, grinning. 'Slowing down.'

  'Thank God for that,' said Breeze. 'Now turn this bird around and take us home. That's if you know how.'

  'Not just yet,' said Dillow. 'We wanna see if this thing has weapons, right? Stella. Did you figure out anything that might be a weapon?'

  'Well. I've always been a little suspicious of these sensors here. I think if I...'

  From somewhere out of the as yet unexamined underbelly of the ship, a white narrow beam traced a line through the heavens.

  'I knew it.'

  Dillow suddenly got excited. 'Ok, Stella. You pilot, me shooter. Move over.'

  She didn't have
twin triggers like on The Eye, but something had fired the laser cannon. Sure enough, there were at least two independently operated lasers, a right handed flick fired one, a left flick fired the other.

  'Yeah! Let's kill some rocks. Get some speed out of this bird. Skirt the belt.'

  Stella worked the ship, Dillow played with the cannon. They raced along the outer belt, and Dillow fired at random, missing most targets, hitting a few by accident.'

  'Ok,' said Breeze, assuming control as special project manager. 'Playtime over. Home. And no arguments. I want to see a landing without smashing up the ship.'

  Dillow stopped shooting and Stella took the ship on a wide, fairly even loop, the engine in harmony with the rest of the ship and the pilot.

  'Now,' said Stella. 'I think it was either that way or...no. Maybe that way. Relax. I'm joking.'

  At a steady one third power, watching the screen track the way they had travelled, they all let out heavy sighs of relief as Mars became a speck in space, getting bigger by the second. 'I knew it. I was right.'

  'Damn,' said Breeze. 'You weren't sure?'

  'It sort of felt right. Now relax. We're getting the hang of things. Now all we gotta do is land this bird. Feel free to step in if you have any ideas on how to do that by the way, 'cus I haven't got a clue.'

  Chapter 30

  'They what?'

  'Calm down, Lance,' said Potts. 'They decided to do that themselves. No one here either instructed them or even suggested they take off. They're in big trouble when they get back, taking off without clearance.'

  Dillow growled, 'If they get back. That damn ship could be a death trap for all we know. Can we contact them?'

  'Not as yet. They probably haven't figured out that part of the ship yet.'

  Armour Dillow's face was a confused expression of deep concern and fuming anger. 'I should go up there in Eye.'

  'Except Breezy is the pilot for your ship. She's the one who knows it inside and out.' Potts shrugged. 'Maybe this is a good thing. The ship had to be tested, anyway.'

  Dillow thumped the desk. 'Not this way. Not just blasting off into space in an unfamiliar bird with a rebuilt engine. When they get their sorry asses back here, I'll...'

  'You'll what? Arrest them?'

  'Yeah. I might just do that.'

  'Including your daughter?'

  'Especially my daughter.'

  Potts' office door burst open and Mars Commander Anton Forbes entered. 'Breaking News. They're in orbit. Still no radio signal from them. Communications are still trying different frequencies.'

  'I'm going over there,' said Dillow, storming out.

  Forbes said, 'Come on, Pottsy. We need to keep him on a short chain.'

  Three communication technicians visibly cringed when the huge Dillow marched in, closely followed by the two Mars Commanders.

  'You got that damn bird yet?'

  'No, Commander Dillow,' offered one, a small man in his thirties. 'Still trying.'

  Forbes said, 'How are you trying?'

  Anna Graham, the communications director, said, 'We have no idea what, if any, frequencies they might be using. I've ordered all Ground Based Frequencies shut down to avoid any possible interference and our scanners are on auto tracking. We know the ship's in orbit, so if they attempt to contact us, we should pick them up.' She looked up at Dillow. 'That's as much as we can do this end. The rest is up to them.'

  Dillow took a deep breath and could see the “I dare you to have a go at me” look in Graham's eyes. He pulled his head in. 'Sorry I snapped at you. I'm just concerned for them.'

  'As are we, Commander Dillow,' said Graham. 'Skye Lewquarker is my niece. I know how you feel.'

  Potts said, 'I can see you clearly have the situation well under control, Anna. Just let us know as soon as...'

  'Hello? Is there anybody there? This is..shit. I thought I had it then. Hello. Stella Wayward, trying to call Mars. Come in you guys.'

  'Yes,' said Graham. 'Gottya.'

  The technician spoke into the microphone. 'This is Mars Com One calling Stella Wayward. Are you receiving me?'

  'Breezy. I nearly had them then. Stop messing. Hello? Can you hear me? This is...Breezy. Leave that alone, will ya. Jeez.'

  Lance Dillow grabbed the microphone. 'Breezy. You stop messing about and let Wayward do her damn job.'

  'Yeah,' groaned Graham, rolling her eyes to the heavens. 'Like that should do it.'

  'I heard you, Mars Com One. This is Wayward. The ship's flying great. Going to try to set her down on launch pad seven. I could see it was available last orbit. Might need a bucket of water standing by in case we crash land.'

  'Give me that, you big ape.' Graham took the microphone from Dillow. 'Wayward. I'll have all emergency services on red alert and standing by. Orbit until otherwise instructed. One moment.' She glared at the three men. 'The door's that way.'

  The three commanders meekly left Graham and her technicians to do what they did best.

  Chapter 31

  'Will ya look at that lot,' said Stella. 'They hardly left anywhere for us to land.'

  Every available emergency service vehicle, fire officer, paramedic, and even police security officers, were surrounding launch pad seven.

  'You'd better make us look good, Stella,' said Breeze.

  Stella flicked her hair and pouted at Breeze. 'Don't I always, Breezy? Right. Permission to land, please?'

  'Permission granted,' came the reply.

  'Easing back to one tenth power. Balancing landing thrusters. Thrusters in equilibrium. I think I found landing legs. Yes. Landing legs locked. Lining up on launch pad seven. Main thruster ports off. Landing thrusters fully engaged. Bringing her down. Hope you guys got beer on ice. And here we are.'

  'My Dad's going to blow his stack,' said Dillow, unbuckling her straps.

  'Just say sorry and he'll be ok,' said Skye.

  'You met my father? Come on. Let's face the music.'

  The ramp opened up and the four women nervously walked out onto the concrete pad to be greeted by Lance Dillow, Forbes and Potts. Dillow stood with his hands on his hips, a dangerous expression on his face.

  'Fawn Dillow. Come here.'

  'Oh, crap. Hi, Dad.'

  'You...I am so damn proud of you. All of you. Now come here and hug your old man.'

  Fawn wrapped her arms around him. 'Sorry, Dad.'

  'Hey. It's ok.' He kissed her forehead. 'The ship flew well?'

  'Fantastic. The speed is phenomenal. And I killed some rocks.'

  'Shit! We got cannon on that bird?'

  Fawn said, 'Two. At least. Controls are tricky, but we can master them.'

  'Mommy.'

  'Come here, sweetie. Give Mommy a big kiss.'

  'Got one for me too?' said Joel.

  'You bet. Now. I don't know about the rest of this motley crew, but I need a good feed and a lot of love from my family.'

  Leaving Stella, Skye and Breeze to handle the inevitable debrief, Fawn walked hand in hand with Shyne and Joel.

  'Mommy. I gotta story.'

  'You have, sweetie?'

  'Yes. Did I tell you about the time my Mommy was the most bravest mommy on Mars? And she took off in a great big ship and she flew and she flew and she went round and around and then she came home. The end.'

  'You made that story up?'

  'Like it, Mommy?'

  Fawn squeezed Joel's hand. 'I love stories with a happy ending.'

  Chapter 32

  The days rolled on; the activity relentless. Forbes and Potts led from the front, working eighteen hour days, overlapping so one or the other was always available. The continuous meetings, site visits and organising was tempered with ensuring everyone had one full day off in ten. Potts was with the head of engineering as one of his five teams was fitting the latest laser cannon.

  'This is the last ground fixed laser,' said Driver.

  'You've all done a fantastic job, Screwy. How are the freighters coming along?'

  Driver said, 'Two left t
o do. One dedicated team on each. My fourth team is supplying the other teams and the fifth is keeping the rest of Mars ticking over.'

  'Great. Any issues?'

  Driver laughed. 'Where do I start? We couldn't make another cannon. All these changes have sucked up every last resource. We literally have nothing to work with and I don't need to state the obvious for fixing anything else.'

  'Understood. Send me through a full inventory of everything you have. I also want a full list of all outstanding jobs, in priority order. Underscore anything critical for particular attention. I'm not promising...'

  Driver slapped Potts on the back. 'Don't make promises you can't keep. I'll make those lists, Pottsy. I'll leave it to you to read between the lines.'

  * * *

  Sanitation engineer, Ivor Potful, didn't mince anything much, especially words.

  'Anton. If you think that stinks, you wait until the plant breaks down altogether.'

  It had seemed like a good idea at the time, using one huge crater for waste treatment and usually it worked well. From that it was pumped into a treatment plant to neutralise it. As the population grew on Mars, demands on infrastructure grew with it, but occasionally problems inevitably occurred.

  'The trouble is, Anton, sanitation is always bottom of the shit pile. And now that's what we have here. One bloody big pile of sh...'

  'I get the picture. Jeez, that makes my eyes water.' It wasn't just the smell that bothered Forbes. 'If we don't get onto this, we'll have the serious risk of disease and sickness. That is totally unacceptable.'

  Potful nodded. 'We'll try to do all we can. We can only do so much with what we have.'

  'Join the club,' said Forbes.

  Chapter 33

  Forbes said, 'Sanitation. Medical supplies. Helium running low. A problem with the communication satellite. Need I go on?'

  Potts yawned. 'I can match your list and then some. Anton. Have we been reckless with our resources for something that will probably never happen?'

  Forbes pushed his empty plate away. It was his only meal in a very long day. 'Damned if we don't, damned if we do. What's top our list?'