by Rinelle Grey
How had she forgotten about the meteor?
Well, it’s not like anyone from Tadig had ever seen the damage. Sure, a few people had set out for the city to search for survivors before the fuel had all ran out, but so much debris had been thrown up into the atmosphere that it had been as dark as night for nearly a year.
And no one had had a vantage point like this.
The city was laid out below her, rather like one of her maps. But an overlay of her map would have showed one significant difference. The ocean should have been twenty kilometres past the city. Instead, the enormous crater filled the distance between the two, its circumference biting into the edge of the city. The sunlight glinted off the brilliant blue of the ocean it had let in. Her mouth fell open.
When she could drag her eyes away from the water, back to the city, her heart sank. She could see nothing but crumbling ruins.
What if her father’s ship had been destroyed? Her eyes searched the damaged buildings, but at this height, it was hard to see much. No sign of a ship having been exposed anyway. Hopefully it was somewhere undercover, protected from the blast. It had to be.
On this side of the crater, one large building still stood, its steel and concrete construction strong enough to survive the blast. She knew what it was. Its purpose was marked clearly on all her maps. The ship building yards at the Space Force base. It had to be there. An engineer who worked on this planet would work there. That’s where her father had to have gone, and he would have taken his ship with him.
She pointed. “We need to get as close to that building as we can. My father is probably in there.”
Kerit frowned. The ship circled around the building, giving them a better view. Up closer, there was some blast damage, but the majority was intact. The top doors were open, but it was impossible to see anything inside. “We can’t land here, there are too many buildings. We’ll have to go to the edge of the city and walk in.”
“Can’t you just land in the building? The roof’s open and there’s plenty of room.”
“No.” Kerit’s voice sounded strained and irritated. “There are too many buildings nearby and I’m not used to this, okay?” He swung the nose of the ship around and headed for the edge of the city.
He wasn’t used to this? What was that supposed to mean? She wanted to ask more, but the concentrated furrow in his brow stopped her.
She tugged on the seatbelt, testing its strength. She wasn’t sure how it was supposed to protect her in the event of a crash, but Kerit had refused to fly until she had put it on. All it seemed to do was restrict her view out the front window. She longed to be able to see more of the city as they flew over it, to look for any sign of the ship.
She remembered what the man on the radio, had said earlier. He’d detected someone in the old city. Her father, of course, was long dead. There’s no way he could have survived the asteroid’s impact. There’s no way anyone could have. So what was someone doing there?
She reached inside her jacket and patted Chicken distractedly, and the little creature’s shivers eased. Had someone from the caves come looking for her father’s ship? It was hard to believe anyone in the caves was either convinced enough, or resourceful enough, to come all this way on the basis of her stories. No one had ever believed them.
But what else could it be?
Well, when she found them, she’d give them what for!
There was a bump, and the spaceship settled carefully into the dust. Beside her, Kerit heaved a sigh, and took his hand off the controls. “We’re down.” He turned to her and gave a smile.
There was something about his smile that completely disconcerted her. It took her a moment to realise what it was.
He was the first person who had looked at her without concern, suspicion, or disbelief in their eyes.
He just smiled, openly and honestly.
Despite the fact that she’d used blackmail to convince him to help her. Guilt wriggled uncomfortably in her stomach.
She wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t so important. Even aside from the fact that she wanted to find the ship to prove that her father wasn’t a fool, the technology it contained could help the rest of the galaxy. And it would go a long way to making sure she had a place in whatever world she went to.
What a strange idea. Going to a whole new planet.
Somewhere where people were like Kerit, and smiled at her instead of staring like she was a freak.
He was still staring at her, and his expression had changed slightly. His head was tilted to one side and as she brought her focus back, he raised one eyebrow.
She felt heat sliding across her face. “What?” she asked defensively.
“I said, sorry about being so short back there, this trip is actually the first time I’ve flown a shuttle.”
“Really?” Thank goodness he hadn’t mentioned that while they were in the air. “You haven’t flown a ship before?”
He shrugged. “It was never something that particularly interested me.”
“Then why did they choose you for this job? Surely they could have found someone who knew what they were doing?” That came out wrong. She blushed. “Not that you didn’t do a great job,” she added hurriedly.
He didn’t seem upset, just grinned. “Thanks. No one on the Resolution really has flight experience other than my brother. And his wife is going to give birth any day now, so it seemed a bad idea for him to come.”
Folly wrinkled her nose. “What sort of an organisation are you part of, that goes on a trip like this with only one experienced pilot?”
Kerit laughed. “We’re a bunch of rebels actually.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Rebels? Really?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “You don’t look like a rebel at all.”
“Sometimes, even those who aren’t normally rebellious get bothered enough by oppression that they can no longer stay silent.” His voice was serious, solemn even. His eyes met hers, and Folly suppressed a shiver.
She’d never met anyone like him.
“What was so bad that you had to say something?” she asked, curious.
“It wasn’t any one thing. More a string of incidents that added up. The Colonies banned a lot of people from having children, which I suppose was reasonable in the face of the overpopulation they’re dealing with. The problem was their methods for deciding who could and couldn’t have children were rather discriminating. That, and they had very tough rules for the spate of accidental pregnancies that eventuated.”
Her mind connected his comments with what he’d said earlier. “And your brother’s wife wasn’t supposed to have a baby?” she guessed.
Kerit nodded. “She wasn’t. His contraceptive chip was damaged when he crashed landed on Zerris, the next planet in this system actually, and Marlee fell pregnant before he even managed to get home. That, combined with the fact that the Colonies were going to cheat her and the rest of the people on her planet out of the home that was rightfully theirs, was enough to convince me that I couldn’t just stand by and watch anymore.”
“Besides,” he added with a grin, “my whole family was coming, and there didn’t seem much point in staying behind on my own.”
His voice sounded impassioned and convinced. It was almost enough to convince Folly.
Almost.
“So what? Instead you’ve come to take our planet?”
His eyes widened. “No, of course not! We had no idea this planet was occupied. Of course we won’t do anything without your people’s permission. But it’s a big planet, I’m sure we can come up with something that everyone agrees to. If, of course, I ever get to meet them.”
Folly gave an unwilling smile. “You will. I just need to do this first.”
And she would. Whether they managed to find her father’s ship or not. He deserved that. Not that she was sure he could convince everyone in the caves to work with him. None of them seemed to believe in a dream, or something be
tter than what they lived with. They were all just obsessed with the animal and plant life in that cave. She was the only one who even thought that they could escape this planet, and find something better.
She and Kerit. Both of them believed in something and were prepared to go against their people to fight for what they believed in.
She shook herself.
She needed to stop thinking like that. No good would come of it. She’d been fooled before.
No, they didn’t have anything in common at all. He’d just run away. She was trying to fix her problem. When she found the ship, her people would see that she had been right all along.
She needed to keep her focus on finding her father’s ship. “Let’s go.”
“Right,” Kerit said with a nod. “We should be able to see that big building from here, and make our way towards it.”
Then he paused. “Perhaps we should get Ty to give us a direction on his life-sign, just in case your father’s moved. We won’t be able to contact him once we leave the shuttle, since my portable radio is broken.”
“You only brought one radio?”
He shrugged. “Why would I need more than one? I didn’t know someone was going to crash into me and break it. The shuttle has its own radio.”
Folly was torn. She could probably fix his radio, but did she want to? Yes, she was itching to find whoever was in her city taking her stuff, but that wouldn’t help her find the ship. And what if the person was nowhere near the ship building yards? What if they were on the other side of the city?
If they had a radio, Tyris could keep his brother informed, and Kerit was intent on finding her father, not the ship. No, it was better if the radio stayed broken.
To Kerit, she said, “Well, knowing where my father is now isn’t going to help us without a radio. If he’s on the other side of the city, he could have moved by the time we walk there. I arranged to meet him at that big building, so we should wait for him there.
Kerit gave her a long stare, and Folly tried to smile back innocently. He had to buy her story. Relief washed over her when he nodded.
“Okay then.” He reached for a backpack and filled it with various packets of stuff, a compass and a torch. Then he picked up the gloves and strange face mask he’d been wearing earlier.
Folly raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that a bit awkward? I don’t know how you climbed with it on.”
He gave a low laugh. “Without a doubt. But I promised my mother I’d wear it. She’s convinced I’ll be burnt to a crisp without appropriate protection. And given how quickly my wrist burnt, I have to admit she has a point, much as I dislike it.” He poked his finger through the hole in his jacket, frowning.
“Your mother?” Hmm. Maybe she’d misjudged his age. Folly pulled the end of a roll of duct tape out of her pocket and pulled off a strip, covering up the hole with it.
Kerit grinned. “Thanks. Yeah. She’s our head scientist, so I can’t really ignore her in this instance. Besides, you seem to be being pretty careful of the sun yourself. You have to admit, it’s hot out there, so she probably has a point.”
“Without a doubt. I just prefer a less awkward form of protection.”
Kerit grinned. “Can’t say I blame you, but this will have to do for now. We’d better get going. This shouldn’t take more than a few hours, then you’ll take me to your people. Agreed?”
A few hours? Folly hesitated. A few hours was nothing compared to the size of this city. If the ship wasn’t in the Space Force base, it could take weeks, or even months, to find it.
She was here now, she didn’t really need Kerit anymore. He would just get in her way. “Look, I can probably take it from here. How about I tell you where my people are, and you go talk to them. I don’t want to hold you up.”
Kerit hesitated, and she held her breath. Part of her wanted him to agree, wanted to get him away from her so she could get on with looking for the ship on her own. And part of her wanted him to stay. She didn’t want to know why. It wasn’t as though she couldn’t handle searching the city, and even dealing with whoever that lifesign belonged to, by herself.
“No, this won’t take long. I’m sure discussions with your people will go much better if you’re there to introduce me.”
Folly snorted. “I doubt it.”
His eyebrow raised. “Why’s that?”
Crossing her arms, she stared him in the eye. “I’m a bit of a rebel myself. And so’s my dad. We’re not exactly popular with everyone else. They think we’re crazy.”
There, she’d said it. Now that he knew she was crazy, he’d probably run a mile.
He gave a short laugh. “Their loss then. I’m not leaving you to wander around this city on your own.”
He shouldered his backpack, put on the stupid looking face mask, and pressed a button to open the door of the spaceship. Dust and heat instantly swept in, burning her nose and making her eyes water. She pulled the scarf up over her face and stared at his retreating back, disconcerted. She’d thought he’d jump at the chance to get on with his objective rather than staying with her.
She didn’t know what to do about that, so she just followed him out of the ship.
Kerit held the compass out in front of him, turning a few times, trying to orientate his mind to the different magnetic field of this planet. “Right, this way.” He turned to the shuttle, pressed some numbers on the number pad, then tapped the cover to slide it closed. Then he walked confidently into the city.
Folly followed him, glad that the dust, combined with the wind whistling through the ruined buildings, meant that they couldn’t talk. She didn’t know what to say.
Why was he staying here with her? He’d only come because she wouldn’t tell him where everyone was if he didn’t. And yet, he was staying now, even though she’d offered to tell him.
It was going to make her life more difficult, but she couldn’t be upset.
She kind of liked his company.
That didn’t bear thinking about.
She needed to keep focused and find the ship.
Chapter 5
The wind howled and threatened to push him off his feet. Dust swirled up under his mask, sticking to the sweat and fog that had built up quickly. His mouth and eyes felt like sawdust. Beside him, Folly didn’t pause, just pressed on, her head down, the tails of her scarf flapping behind her.
Trouble was, the storm was throwing so much dust around that he could no longer see the ship building yards, even though at more than six stories high they had dominated the skyline. They’d been so close, but they could be walking in completely the wrong direction now.
They couldn’t keep going like this.
He could just make out the shadowy shapes of houses around him. They looked relatively intact. Perhaps one of them had a room that would offer a little protection. At least they wouldn’t be getting more lost.
He tapped Folly’s shoulder, and when she looked over, he pointed to one of the houses. He didn’t bother trying to speak, there was no way she could hear him over the wind.
She glanced once more in the direction they’d last seen the ship building yards, then nodded and followed him towards the nearest house.
Kerit was surprised to find it in relatively good condition. The door hung off its hinges, but most of the walls were still standing. Perhaps the huge ship building yards had protected this area a little from the blast. They were certainly large and solid enough.
Was there any chance he could put the door back on its hinges, or at least jam it into the doorframe to protect them a little? A quick glance removed that idea from his mind. It looked like it had been… smashed to pieces?
It didn’t look like impact damage and he’d seen enough of that to know. But what else could it have been? Looters? Folly couldn’t be the only one who scavenged items from the ruined city.
Folly pushed past him into the room.
After glancing once more at the door, Kerit followed.
And almost ran into her.
Even in the darkness of the dust storm it was clear that this room had been trashed. There was no other way to describe it. A large lounge chair had been overturned and the cushions ripped to pieces. A table had been broken in half. Vases and plates smashed on the floor. But the most alarming damage in the room was the large scratches tearing the wallpaper off the wall. The cooler air inside now seemed chilling rather than welcoming.
Kerit swallowed. “I don’t know.”
Folly walked into the room, lifting the ripped cushions and looking under them, picking up the strips of wallpaper that had been torn from the walls, as if there might be a clue to what had happened hidden somewhere in the trash.
Kerit looked over his shoulder. Had whatever done this also torn the door off its hinges? Was it still around here somewhere? “We should move on.”
“This doesn’t make sense,” Folly said as though she hadn’t heard him. “All the animals of any size on the planet died pretty soon after the impact, as all the food disappeared. I’m not sure any of them were big enough to do this anyway.”
“Well what else can it be?” Kerit asked. “Perhaps one of them has been hiding out here in the city, eating anything it can find in the buildings?”
Folly shook her head. “I don’t think so. The canned food has survived, but there isn’t anything else that’s really edible left.”
Kerit swallowed. “Maybe it was after… bodies?”
She frowned, not showing any signs of being disconcerted by his suggestion. “No, I don’t think so. This damage is more recent. There’s not enough dust for it to have happened years ago.”
She might not be bothered, but he certainly was. “Well, what else could it be?”
“I don’t know. But… I don’t think it was a human. Do you?”
Kerit shuddered. “No, not a human. Those tears were made with claws. Big claws.”
That caused even Folly to shiver. “Let’s get out of here.”
Even the dust seemed welcome after the destruction he’d seen in the house. Except that now, his eyes strained to see beyond the dust, his ears tried to listen for any out of the ordinary sounds over the wind’s howl. And he couldn’t help but notice the smashed doors and windows of every house.