by Darrell Pitt
“How do we get there?” Bax asked.
Ferdy brought up a schematic on the wall displaying a diagram of the ship. While Bax and Zena studied it, Brodie assembled her friends. The last few hours had been so chaotic it seemed a million years since they had been able to speak.
“How is everyone holding up?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” Dan said. “I’m part of a rebellion taking place on an alien ship orbiting the Earth. What more could a boy want?”
The group laughed.
“I’m okay,” Ebony said. “A little tired, but still on my feet.”
“What about you, Ferdy?” Brodie asked.
“Ferdy is having fun,” he said.
“Fun?” Dan said.
“Ferdy likes to be with his friends.” The boy placed his arms around them and they all huddled closer together. “We will meet later with our friends Chad and Axel. We will play some games.”
“I’m sure we will,” Brodie said.
The mention of Axel’s name made Brodie realise how much she missed him. During the last few, crazy hours she had not had a chance to think about him. He had been sent on a mission by the Tagaar to create disharmony. What did that mean? Was he all right? Was he even alive?
She wondered sometimes about her feelings for him. He had never used the L word. What did that mean? Maybe they weren’t in love. Maybe they were just friends. Certainly, he often seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts. She had noticed he spent a lot of time with Ebony. Maybe that meant –
She stopped herself.
Shut up, she thought. And focus!
Bax and Zena rejoined them.
“We have a plan,” Bax said. “We will make our way through the ship until we reach Engineering.”
“Why Engineering?” Ebony asked.
Zena spoke. “If we control the power supply, we control the ship.”
“Then we need to advance.” The voice came from behind them. It was Ragin. “You should know that I regret my previous actions. I can see we should not have agreed to hand you over to the Tagaar.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Brodie said. “You were doing what you felt was right for your people.”
“I think we need to keep moving,” Dan said. “This room is getting pretty full.”
He was right. The surge of people from Sartaria had not slowed. The armory was almost full to overflowing. More and more people were streaming up the makeshift ladder into the room with every passing second.
Zena yelled a few commands to several of the armed citizens. Someone carefully opened the door leading to the corridor beyond. It was deserted. The crowd swelled through the gap and started pouring down the corridor. Brodie found herself being carried along with it. She caught sight of Ebony and grabbed the girl’s arm.
“Stay close,” she said. “I’m not sure if this is such a good idea.”
“What do you mean?” Ebony asked.
“There are too many people,” Brodie said. “We need to –”
At that moment she saw the light above the elevator flash at the far end of the corridor. A cry went up among the people and several armed resistance fighters readied their guns to fire. The doors opened to reveal – nothing.
“What’s going on?” Dan asked. He was shorter than the others and could not see over the sea of heads.
“It is empty, Dan,” Ferdy said.
The crowd continued to drive them forward.
“We need to stop,” Ebony said, feeling claustrophobic in the confined area. She turned around to yell. “Stop! Everyone stop!”
At the same moment, Brodie saw someone step into the elevator. There was a sudden flash and then bodies and pieces of metal were flying toward them. The shockwave of an explosion followed. Brodie felt the impact of the blast hit her and throw her sideways. Everything went dark for a few seconds. When she opened her eyes she realised she was on the ground, surrounded by bloodied and screaming people. She struggled to her feet and saw Dan.
“What happened?” he asked. The boy had a mixture of tears, blood and mucus on his face.
“It was a bomb.” Brodie’s ears were still ringing. “A trap.”
People were all over the ground and all over each other in the confined space of the corridor. Screams and crying emanated from every direction. Blood covered the floor. It seemed everywhere Brodie looked, she saw death and pain.
“We need people with medical knowledge!” she screamed. “We need doctors! Please, we –”
Ebony grabbed her arm. “Breathe,” she said. “Just try to breathe.”
Brodie realised she was on the verge of hysteria. And only barely conscious. The world shifted around her and she fell back into Ebony’s arms. She realised she was staring up at the ceiling. Someone moved past her field of vision. It was Tomay. He looked down at her.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “The blast has killed many people, but –”
Brodie forced herself out of Ebony’s arms. She gave her friend a grateful look and struggled back to her feet. Somehow, medical care was being given to the victims of the blast. People were still working together in the midst of the carnage. The people of Sartaria were amazing.
“I’m okay.” She searched for Bax. The woman had survived the blast unharmed, although she was covered in someone’s blood. Brodie stumbled over the field of bodies to her.
“It was a bomb,” Bax said. “A trap laid by the Tagaar.”
“I thought so,” Brodie said. “Where’s Zena?”
Bax’s face fell. “Zena is dead. She was directly in the path of the blast. She was trying to stop them from entering the elevator, but –” The woman’s face threatened to crumple into tears. “Anyway, we must regroup. We must continue.”
At that moment an alarm began to sound in the corridor. It stopped after several seconds and was replaced by a growling voice.
“This is Commander Graal,” it said.
The moaning and crying in the corridor subsided enough for them to be able to hear his voice.
“I have taken command of this ship,” he continued. “You will return to the lower decks. You will be treated fairly if you resume your work.”
“And if we don’t?” Bax asked.
The commander’s next words could have almost been in response to her question.
“You will return within the hour,” Graal continued. “If you do not we will kill every slave aboard this vessel.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I grabbed Chad’s arm. I was so disoriented by our journey toward the ground that I dared not try to save the vessel. Forming an invisible barrier, I aimed it at the nearest wall. At the same instant Tasker started toward us. Dragging Chad out of his path, I flew us toward the gap. One second we were in the heart of the twisting, out of control vessel. In the next we were out in the freezing cold air and soaring into the sky.
I peered back to see the Lifter slam into the ground. A roar of flame erupted from the ship. I tried not to think of the men aboard the craft. We landed among a clump of trees a short distance away.
“You did good, Axel,” he said.
“Thanks.” I was still thinking of the men aboard the jet. “Do you think anyone got out?”
“Who cares?” His face hardened. “They were going to use us for medical experiments.”
“Who do you think was behind it?”
“No idea.” He shook his head. “Just another weirdo.”
Another thought occurred tome. “And where did you get that gun? Since when did you start…”
“Packing?” he laughed. “You know how many times we’ve been taken down by those zeno emitters?”
“Lots?”
“Dan helped me with his Jedi powers to buy it from a pawnbroker in downtown Vegas. I thought it might come in handy.”
Peering into the sky, I could just make out a tiny dot in the sea of blue. “We’ve got to get going.”
“How are we doing for time?”
My eyes shot to the display on the
wrist compass. I stared at it in horror, unable to make a sound. I could not believe my eyes.
0:00
We had been unconscious for a lot longer than I realised. More than six hours. The rendezvous time had come – and gone. Chad grabbed my arm as I reeled on my feet.
“You did your best, man,” he said. “You risked everything for her.”
“I know.”
Brodie was dead. I could not even conceive of it. I did not feel hatred or anger. Only shock. An all-consuming numbness.
“Axel?” Chad’s voice came from a million miles away. “There’s still the Russian Premier.”
Alexi Kozlov? Of course. I had dragged him into this mess. Now I had to get him out of it.
“I’d better move,” I said.
“It looks like the Lifter was using some sort of tractor beam to tow our Flex behind it,” Chad said. “I saw it crash into the woods as we came into land.”
“Do you think you can find it?”
He nodded. I rose up into the air without another word and sighted the second Lifter. It was an amazing vessel, but it didn’t have the speed of one of our Flex Fighters. Before long I had almost caught up with it. Drawing near, something erupted from the rear of the craft.
A missile.
I fired an invisible projectile at it and the device exploded in mid-air. Its remains tumbled to the ground. More missiles fired from the vessel and I spent the next few minutes destroying them as I closed in on the aircraft. Finally I damaged one of the wings and the vessel went into a slow dive. I placed a platform under it and gently lowered it toward earth. It looked like they had either run out of missiles or motivation because no more weaponry erupted from the craft.
Landing several feet away from the craft, I heard footsteps behind me.
“I found the Flex,” Chad said. “It’s ready when we are.”
We cautiously approached the downed vessel.
“Don’t forget about that other mod who was with them,” I said.
“You mean the guy with the energy beam?”
Almost in response, the rear doors of the vessel were blown outward. Chad and I dove to one side as a beam of purple energy cut through the air.
“That’s who you mean?” Chad asked.
“That’s him.”
I threw up an air shield and hoped it would work. Jumping to my feet, I started forward as Purple’s energy beam slammed into my shield. It held, but the impact still threw me backward into the undergrowth.
Chad fired a barrage of icy cannonballs straight at Purple, but he simply blasted them out of the air. Chad ducked and hit the ground next to me as the energy beam cut through the air again.
“We need a plan,” I said.
A moment later Chad retreated into the forest behind us as I stood up again and threw a mini-hurricane at Purple. He staggered and fell, but quickly retaliated with that beam of his. This time I stood my ground and increased my shield strength. I slowly advanced as he redoubled his efforts. Within seconds I found myself struggling against a purple haze of light and energy.
I couldn’t keep this up much longer. If Chad didn’t move in soon –
The energy beam died.
It took a number of seconds for my eyes to clear, but I realised Purple had not moved; now he was completely encased in a block of ice. Chad was advancing on the rear of the Lifter. I opened my mouth to yell a warning to Chad, but at that instant gunfire broke out.
Chad fell.
No.
No!
Racing forward, I threw a series of invisible cannonballs into the rear of the craft as well as a blast of hurricane air. By the time I was finished, the vessel lay on its side. A single gunman leapt from the back and fired a few times, but I took him down with a single shot of air. I turned back to where Chad had fallen. To my amazement he was on his feet and laughing.
“Worried?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “A couple of holes in you would let out some of that hot air.”
He laughed again. We made our way to the rear of the Lifter. At the same time we heard a racket from the front of the vessel. We saw a group of three men scrambling through the shattered front window. They raced across the clearing and disappeared into the forest.
Alexi Kozlov was alive and well. And still handcuffed to the floor of the craft. He looked at us with an expression of intense hatred.
“I’m glad to see you’re all right, Mr. Kozlov,” I said.
“You Americans are insane,” he said.
“Hey,” Chad protested. “I’m not American.”
“Let’s not get into that now,” I said. “We need to get moving.”
We freed Alexi and helped him from the rear of the vessel.
“What are you doing with me?” he asked. “When will this insanity end?”
That was a good question. We had reached a turning point. I had missed the meeting with Graal. He had made himself clear that Brodie would be killed if I did not use the Stonekiller weapon on the Premier and deliver him on time. It was impossible to contact the alien. I was standing in a forest in the middle of nowhere with Chad and the Premier of Russia. It was time to face facts.
“Axel?” Chad peered at me.
“It’s over,” I told him. “I’ve failed Brodie completely.”
Chapter Thirty
“It’s not over yet,” Brodie said. “Not by a long shot.”
The floor of the corridor was covered in blood and broken bodies. Smoke from the explosion filled the air. First aid was being administered to the injured. Those who had been hurt by the blast and could still move were stumbling back through the mass of people to the rear.
Yet at the same time, Brodie felt a determination in the air. Everyone was working together. Graal’s announcement that everyone should simply return to the slave city below had been greeted by silence at first, but within minutes angry shouts had begun to erupt throughout the crowd.
They’re not giving up, Brodie realised. We’ve got to keep moving forward.
Tomay was at her side. He looked pale and confused.
Brodie gripped his arm. “Our plan was to reach the engine room. That hasn’t changed.”
“But the explosion –”
“People have been killed,” Brodie said. “But everyone will die if you return to Sartaria. It won’t happen all at once. It might take years. But you need to make a decision. Do you want to live as a free man? Or do you want to die as a slave?”
Bax joined her. “She’s right, Tomay. The only path to take is forward.”
“But how –”
“My friends and I will make for Engineering,” Brodie said. “We will signal you when we’ve taken it.”
By now Dan, Ferdy and Ebony had joined them. Tomay looked at them critically.
“I know you have powers,” he said. “But can you do this alone?”
Ebony spoke. “Sometimes a smaller force can do more than an entire army.”
Tomay slowly nodded. “Then I’m going with you. The time for waiting has ended. We will either live or die today, but we’ll do it as free men and women. Not as slaves.”
“And I will join you,” Bax said.
“Okay,” Brodie said. “This is what I like to hear.”
Ferdy brought up a schematic of the ship on one of the wall displays. They examined it closely. Engineering lay at the heart of the ship. It was only two levels up and about five hundred metres from their current position.
“There is a Backup Engineering Section,” Ferdy pointed out. “Possibly the Tagaar will switch to the backup supply.”
“Not if we’re fast enough,” Tomay said.
They made their way down the corridor to the remains of the elevator. There wasn’t much left. It looked like it had operated via some form of gravity propulsion as there didn’t seem to be any cables in the shaft. Brodie peered upward. She could see the doors leading to the levels above.
“First we need to get up the elevator shaft,” Ebony said.
&nbs
p; “Ferdy can do that,” Ferdy said. “Ferdy likes to climb.”
“Are you sure?” Dan asked.
Ferdy did not wait for an answer. He jumped across the gap and grasped the framework encasing the elevator shaft. Without pausing, he started ascending. Dan found himself looking downward. The shaft seemed to continue on forever.
“That’s a long way down,” he said. “I wouldn’t like to fall.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Brodie said.
She looked up the shaft and saw that Ferdy had rapidly ascended. He was almost at the second level.
“Wait there!” she called. “I’ll climb up after you!”
“Ferdy is fine,” he replied. “Ferdy will take care of everything.”
Brodie was worried.
“There is one thing.” Ferdy’s voice reverberated down the shaft.
“Yes?”
“The largest city in Brazil is San Paulo.”
“That’s great, Ferdy.”
They peered anxiously up the shaft, watching Ferdy punch through one of the doors on the upper level. They heard cries and yelling and the firing of weapons. And silence.
“I’m going up there,” Brodie said. “I never should have let him –”
A Tagaar warrior fell past them and down the seemingly bottomless elevator shaft. Two others followed him in quick succession. Nothing happened for a long moment. Brodie and the others leaned back into the shaft.
Ferdy’s head appeared from high above.
“The way is clear,” he called.
A moment later Ferdy dropped what appeared to be some sort of electrical conduit down the shaft and they ascended to the upper level. Dan was the last to arrive. He looked back down into the darkness of the shaft. And gulped.
“The Tagaar warriors are bad,” Ferdy told them. “They tried to hurt Ferdy, but Ferdy hurt them instead.”
“I’m glad you’re our friend,” Dan said.
Ferdy grasped his arm. “Friends are important. Ferdy is lucky to have such good friends.”
“I feel the same.”
“Soon Ferdy will speak to his friends Chad and Axel. Ferdy misses them.”