‘You don’t sound happy about that.’
‘I’m not.
*****
The days became weeks, and having an inquisitive Erdean giant around kept Sep in a regular grumpy mood. Since Hal had finished his course of Trikcyliate and reduced his Furrding consumption, he’d started on and off bouts of sneezing in reaction to the dust that even permeated down to his bedroom. Sep had been living alone for too long and Hal was driving him to distraction with all his questions.
After Hal had asked one too many times about what Sep did each day, Sep finally relented and took Hal with him to the surface for the first time since being found in Sep’s store.
‘Won’t I get poisoned again?’
‘As long as you stay less than six hours and take this, you’ll be fine,’ Sep replied as he gave Hal a yellow pill.
‘What is it?’
‘Questions, questions. It’s Trikcyliate. Now shut up and swallow it.’
‘Yes Sep,’ Hal said obediently and swallowed the pill then followed Sep into the elevator. Once on the surface, Sep limped off with Hal in silent tow. They passed the store where Hal had hidden himself, and walked for another fifteen minutes, weaving around slag piles until Sep stopped near one particular slag pile that looked exactly the same as all the others. Except this one had a door.
Sep opened it and stepped inside. ‘Close the door behind you.’
Hal did, then followed Sep through a black curtain that Sep had brushed through. Hal immediately noticing an array of instruments clustered around the walls of the small low ceilinged room. Sep was already making some adjustments and reading a data list scrolling on a screen.
‘I know young Hoop. You’re going to ask me aren’t you? So I’ll save your breath. It’s my little communication and monitoring room. This is how I keep in touch with the Brotherhood and monitor all the traffic at the landing field.’
‘And the black oval thing you play with connects to here?’
‘Very good, you’re learning. But it doesn’t transmit, so I need to come here to do that. All I can do is monitor that all the equipment is functioning.’
‘But why here? I mean on Titania. There must be nicer places to do this.’
‘Titania’s location and elongated orbit makes it the only place in Sun System One that can relay communication to Sun System Two and Three.’
‘So you’re like a repeater station?’
‘Yes. We can also monitor some communication from Glothic High Command.’
‘So you’re a spy too Sep?’
‘Sit over there and be quiet for a while. I’ve got things to do,’ Sep said in a return to his normal grumpy self and Hal complied. He watched as Sep busied himself pressing buttons, turning dials and checking a number of screens.
‘Make yourself useful, the coffee pot is over there,’ Sep snapped without looking up, and pointed a finger in the general direction of his right hand side. Hal finally saw what Sep was pointing at and got to work. Once prepared, he took a cup to Sep and was about to place it beside him.
‘Not here!’ he barked. ‘Over there away from the instruments,’ and pointed at a small clear workbench. Hal put it down, went to get his cup, and returned to the safety of his chair. Meanwhile Sep was muttering something about needing to get new power cells, and a delayed landing. After an hour of muttering, cursing and drinking his cold coffee, Sep flipped a large orange switch, turned to Hal and said, ‘Right, let’s get back before you have a relapse.’ Sep then guided Hal out and locked the door behind himself before trudging off with Hal in tow.
‘A relapse? You mean the surface poison?’
‘You don’t have any immunity young Hoop, so no more than two hours exposure for you.’
‘But you said six hours.’
‘I said less than six hours. You don’t listen, do you?’
Hal plodded along silently with Sep on the way home.
That evening Hal read and pondered. Trying to calculate how long it had been since he was in London. Time was becoming irrelevant and increasingly difficult to keep track of as his concept of Earth years were not used this far away. The days were simply days with no names and time simply passed. With no watch or clock, calendar or agenda, time just fused into a fog of infinity. He recalled thinking that he’d spent just over a year on Terranova Two, but now wasn’t sure as he realised that the days he had counted were probably different in length to Earth days. With his time on Titania now merging into an incalculable period, he knew he had lost all concepts of time, his age and his life.
Another Day
Every day was just another day. Some a little different, most exactly the same. Hal could feel that his presence annoyed Sep, and as each day passed Sep’s attacks of grumpiness lasted a little longer. Hal too could sense despondency within himself and was losing any sense of hope of ever being able to return home. The best that could be hoped for was a slim possibility of being shipped off to Lacertilian if and when it was safe. Spending the rest of his life on a planet inhabited by reptile descendants may not have seemed attractive to Hal before, but compared to his life on Titania, it sounded like bliss.
So he waited, vegetated, slept longer, grew fatter and generally gave up. Lethargy, apathy and boredom taking their daily toll on him with the passing of each destructive day. Even his sneezing attacks gave up in boredom and subsided. Until finally, another day arrived.
‘Get out of bed you big lazy Erdean! Things to do,’ Sep shouted from Hal’s door.
‘What’s going on?’ Hal yawned.
‘You’re leaving! Now move!’
Hal shook his head and tried to wake up. He had no idea what was going on, and had taken a particular dislike to Sep’s loud wake up calls, but this one did have a positive ring to it. ‘Leaving,’ he thought. Was he being kicked out onto the surface, or being sent to Lacertilian? Or somewhere else? He finally moved his body to a vertical position and started the slow process of waking up all the pieces.
Sep had made coffee for him, which was totally out of character.
‘You must be pleased to get rid of me.’
‘Drink your coffee and wake up,’ Sep snarled. ‘I’ve got to get you to the landing field.’
‘The landing field?’ Hal repeated hazily.
‘Are you deaf or just plain stupid?’
‘Sorry,’ Hal said and sipped his coffee. ‘Where am I going?’
‘It depends.’
‘On what?’
‘How lucky you are. Now go pack your things. Move!’ Sep barked and Hal moved off slowly to his room to change and pack his very, very few possessions into his hippie sack. He returned ten minutes later to find Sep waiting at the elevator.
‘Take these,’ Sep ordered as he passed three Trikcyliate pills.
‘I’m going to be on the surface for a while then.’
‘Let’s go,’ Sep snapped as the door opened.
When they arrived on the surface it was eerily dark, and Sep strode off towards the landing field. ‘C’mon, quickly,’ he said and Hal followed. Trudging around slag piles until they reached the edge of landing field, where walking became easier on the smooth tarmac, even in the gloom. There was little chance of being seen by anyone in such darkness as Hal had a hard time keeping Sep in sight as he hobbled quickly towards where ever it was that he was heading. Finally he stopped and lifted a cover plate on the ground.
‘It’s a cable pit.’
‘Great observation. Now get in, wait and don’t try to open it. You’ll attract attention and it’ll all be over for you. A shuttle is due at first light, and when it lands, the retro blasters will fry you to a crisp if you’re not protected. So stay down there. When you hear the shuttle, wait until someone opens the cover.’
‘Who?’
‘Doesn’t matter. Just do as you’re told, and stay put and quiet. You’ll be collected before the ground crew arrives, so when you see the cover open, be ready to move quickly. Now, get in.’
Hal dropped his legs into the
pit, then braced himself with his arms and lowered his body slowly until he felt something solid beneath his feet. He recognised it immediately as a rolled up cable the same as the ones he worked with on Terranova Two. He looked up to see Sep about to lower the cover.
‘Thanks for everything Sep.’
‘Goodbye young Hoop. Good luck,’ was all Sep said as he promptly closed the cover plate and Hal was in total darkness, crouching in the centre of a rolled up metallic cable. There was hardly enough room for Hal to move, but soon found that rolling himself into a ball and lying on his side was the most comfortable. He waited. Numbness started to form in his legs, and he wriggled his body to try to get some circulation moving. All he could do was move his hips a little and change position slightly. He bumped his head on something hard, and put a hand up to feel what it was. Something like a large bolt protruding from the side wall. He felt around and found two more to avoid. It had only been a short while, but already he was feeling very uncomfortable in such a small confined dark space. He felt the minutes passing slowly on their way towards becoming hours.
Hal was tempted to push the cover open a little and look at was around, but resisted the temptation by wanting to believe that Sep was helping him. All the while, listening to silence. Hal broke the silence by involuntarily sneezing and banging his head on one of the protruding bolts. He yelped in pain. Then spent some period of time rubbing his sore head. He now had two painful lumps on his head. With some difficulty, he managed to fix his hippie sack onto his head with the cloth handles tied under his chin giving him a small sense of security. He waited again. Sneezing once more but without any further damage to his head, and with that out of the way, got back to waiting yet again.
The waiting became mildly easier as his headache from the two earlier blows started to fade. He thought he heard something, but then waited as nothing happened. While he definitely knew that the minutes had now surely become hours, he just hoped they weren’t planning on turning themselves into days. He thought he heard another something. This time was more productive, as a noise similar to a far off motor droned for a short while then stopped. Another short burst of distant droning and it stopped again. One more drone and silence returned. He went back to waiting.
A whisper quiet hissing sound turned into a louder quiet hissing sound and then into an audible fizzing noise. Once the fizzing became louder and turned into a sort of whoosh, whoosh pattern, he had high hopes that a shuttle was finally approaching. When the sound became a roar he was certain, but then started to feel most uncomfortable again as the temperature inside his little underground box began rising quickly and dramatically. A vision of a roast chicken sped through his mind, as he thought about being cooked alive. The roar ringing in his ears so loud he covered them with his hands for some protection. His clothes felt like they were melting and bonding with his skin. Then he held his breath, as the air felt like fire when it streamed into his mouth and nostrils.
Finally the roaring noise started to lessen, but not the heat. He took a short breath and nearly choked on the heat and fumes, then spluttered a half cough, half choke just as the cover above his head literally flew open. Hal could only see two hands wearing heavy heat resistant gloves. One of them moving towards him, then a head popped into view.
‘Lik!’ Hal spluttered and choked again.
‘Move now! Out!’ Lik ordered and grabbed Hal by an arm and half dragged him up. Hal pushed himself with his free hand and felt it being burned by the top edge of the pit. He ignored the pain and lifted himself free. Lik kicked the cover back down then dragged Hal almost bodily through a belly escape hatch. Once the hatch was secured, he grabbed Hal by an arm again. ‘Let’s go. Quickly!’
Hal staggered along with Lik as his legs were like jelly, but forced himself to keep moving. Lik stopped and opened a floor hatch in the lower deck. It was an access hatch to an area of pipes and wiring. ‘Quick. In! And don’t make a sound,’ Lik ordered and Hal slid his legs into the hole followed by the rest of his body. Lik closing it as soon as Hal’s still sack covered head was in. Then he heard Lik running off on the metal floor. Then silence. Hal’s immediate thought was that it seemed he was destined to spend a very long time in very small uncomfortable hiding places. At least this one was cooler.
Some hydraulic sounding noises were quickly followed by footsteps on the metal flooring of the lower deck of the shuttle. Then the sound of voices that became clearer and turned into barked orders. More footsteps and voices. Hal rightfully guessed that the ground crew had boarded the shuttle. He went back to waiting again, successfully fighting off two bouts of sneezing that he had the feeling would be very badly timed if they had escaped. More noise above him, but this time he recognised Lik’s voice and it sounded like he was running through a checklist with someone. Then he moved off, with the sound of his footsteps and voice fading away into the distance as Hal heard a sound that was familiar. It was a grounding cable being secured to the hull. He waited silently for all four to be secured. Then a very long silence followed.
The hatch flew open and the bright light startled Hal.
‘Why are you wearing a sack on your head?’ Lik asked with a smile.
‘Long story.’
‘Right. Out you come. It’s all clear now.’
The Long Way Round
‘Erde?’
‘Hopefully Hal. We’re waiting for confirmation, but Sep’s been working on something for a while now,’ Nox explained over lunch in the shuttle’s galley.
‘I thought it was impossible,’ Hal replied.
‘Oh, nothing is ever impossible Hal. Just some things are highly improbable,’ Lik added.
‘So how?’ Hal asked Nox.
‘No idea Hal. All we’ve been told is to be ready to ferry you somewhere near Myscopinia.’
‘Where’s that?’
‘In the outer rim of Sun System Two.’
‘But that’s not heading towards Erde, is it?’
‘No,’ Nox agreed. ‘But that’s what Sep wants us to do. And if it all goes wrong, you continue on with us.’
‘And where’s that to? Lacertilian?’
‘Got it one Hal,’ Lik smiled.
‘So when do you leave here?’
‘Later today Hal, once we’ve unloaded, so I’m afraid you’ll have to spend another session under the floor when the ground crew come back for the pre-lift off check.’
‘Again?’
‘Well, would you prefer a cell on Gloth or a return to TerraTunTun? There’s a general alert out for one Halbert Horatio Hoop,’ Nox explained.
‘I thought I was presumed dead. Crushed to bits.’
‘Yep. Says that on the general alert, but it’s still being transmitted.’
So I’m not just stranded, but still wanted as well?’
‘Gloth has long tentacles I’m afraid Hal. So even if Sep’s plan works, you’ll need to keep your head low for a long time,’ Nox warned.
‘That’s a bit hard for someone my size.’
‘Come here Hal, I’ll chop your legs off,’ Lik joked.
‘Yeah, nice one. So how long before I get off the general alert and get to be officially dead?’
‘Don’t hold your breath waiting,’ Nox replied.
*****
‘You can come out now Hal,’ Lik said as he opened the floor hatch. We’re secure and lift off is in three minutes. Come with me and I’ll get you buckled up.’
Once away from Titania Hal relaxed, as did Nox and Lik who’d obviously taken some risks in smuggling Hal aboard. Now though, it was all clear ahead and a few short weeks travelling to Myscopinia, and waiting for instructions from Sep. With no word after two days, Hal was concerned that something had gone wrong. Lik and Nox told him not to worry, as Sep was usually reliable. Then Hal worried about the word usually.
Two weeks later, with Myscopinia in sight, there was still no word from Sep. Nox warned Hal that unless they heard something within twenty-four hours, he would have to change course for Lac
ertilian.
‘I thought all your navigation was controlled,’ Hal asked Nox.
‘It is, but we can override it to avoid debris or rogue meteors and such.’
As the shuttle approached Myscopinia, Lik plotted an outer holding orbit, then navigated for Nox as he manoeuvred the shuttle into orbit. As he finalised his approach, a screen flashed with an incoming communication.
‘AGGRI12 − Rendezvous with HL0067 in Mysc orbit. Co-ords Delta78GG9876.8Zop/62. No confirm. FEXX13.’
‘Your lucky day Hal,’ Nox said after reading the message.
‘It’s from Sep?’
‘Yep. Looks like you’re changing ship.’
‘To what?’
‘HL0067 is a Heavy Lifter craft used for carting broken down space craft around the place. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the ride.’
‘Why?’
‘Because the commander is Lik’s brother,’ Nox smiled and Hal looked at Lik for confirmation.
‘So you’d better behave yourself,’ Lik warned.
‘Ok. I promise.’
‘Right then,’ Nox changed the subject. ‘Let’s get on with the docking then.’
Lik started checking his instruments and entering the coordinates Sep had sent.
‘Better get yourself packed then Hal.’
An hour later HL0067 was in clear view and the docking manoeuvre started. It was so big that it made the shuttle look like a mouse alongside an elephant. As they neared, Hal could clearly make out the cranes, rigs and grappling equipment poking out from the ship’s surface like needles on a hedgehog. Vast areas smooth and flat with bright orange markings where smaller craft were logically able to be carried. Towards the rear, an enormous tower rose high above the main deck. As they moved closer Hal could see people moving through giant windows in the tower. Their shuttle now edging closer and moving just above the main deck towards the base of the tower. When the tower had disappeared from sight above them, Hal watched as they approached. So slowly it was hard to perceive any movement, but then all of a sudden a loud clunking noise and a jolt.
The Adventures of HAL: The Second Hilarious Glothic Tale (The Glothic Tales Book 2) Page 16