Star of Hope

by Moira McPartlin

  ‘My bones, you know,’ he said. ‘They hurt. No padding.’ He rubbed his elbow. ‘That Transport ride. Was he deliberate?’

  ‘Probably.’ She knelt down beside him.

  ‘Stay low while I get this started.’ he said. From his jacket he produced a small handheld device. Ishbel couldn’t understand why he didn’t have it installed in a communicator then realised that he had been in the wilderness for years and didn’t have access to the techs in Vanora’s empire.

  He took the back off the device and then pulled an ancient comms from another pocket. She knew from old movie-casters that it was called a mobile and at one time even natives had owned them, before they were replaced by native command bands. He linked the two devices together and from his shoe took out a pin. This he inserted into the side of the mobile and a small green light winked.

  ‘Lie down,’ he said.

  They both lay on the edge of the lavender field. Ishbel closed her eyes and drank in the perfume. The bees buzzed and sun beat on her face. She could feel it burning; her hair frizzed. She wanted to bask a little longer but knew her skin would damage if she didn’t get out of this strong sun soon. And she had a mission to complete.

  ‘What are we waiting for?’ she asked.

  ‘Listen? Do you hear that?’

  ‘The bees?’

  ‘Beyond the bees.’

  She heard a small whirl like a mechanical wheel going round. And stones being disturbed. It came closer. Behind her she heard rocks tumbling into the canyon and she knew Merj was making his way back up the cliff. She shifted. Skelf placed a bony hand on her arm.

  ‘Don’t move,’ he said between gritted teeth.

  ‘But Merj.’

  ‘This signal’s weak. It cannot be disturbed.’

  ‘I have to stop him.’

  She heard a tumbling and then. ‘It’s a Noiri canoe right enough,’ Merj called. ‘…what the snaf’s going on here?’

  The whirring stopped.

  ‘Shite,’ Skelf said. ‘Well thank you, Merj. Maybe we can sit here and wait for the Military to come get us now.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’ve just sabotaged my retrieval, Wonderboy.’

  ‘Don’t blame me. How was I supposed to know what you were up to?’

  Skelf arched an eyebrow. ‘You didn’t know? Really?’

  Ishbel rose to her knees. ‘Look, can it be recovered? The retrieval?’

  Skelf peered across the lavender field. A shiny small black dot winked incongruous amongst the bright plumes.

  ‘I needed the drone to reach the full distance.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘To bring me the code.’

  ‘Why can’t we go into the middle of the field and get it?’

  ‘Wrong co-ordinates.’ He thumped the earth. ‘I set up a highly sophisticated system of retrieval to make the site secure and this goon breaks it.’

  It didn’t seem very sophisticated to Ishbel, but what did she know. ‘Well, can’t you redo it? Make it start over. Reload or something?’ She felt stupid using words she’d only ever heard Sorlie use in the Games Space.

  Skelf scowled at Merj. ‘Why didn’t you just shoot it? That would have been just as plausible.’

  ‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’

  Skelf lay back on the earth and closed his eyes.

  ‘What do we do?’ Ishbel’s senses were tingling. What was it he said about the Military? ‘They’ll have picked up that signal won’t they? The Military.’

  Skelf nodded. ‘Maybe.’

  ‘How far are the Military?’

  ‘Not far, but far enough.’

  ‘Can we break in through other means?’

  ‘You mean violence?’

  ‘Yes, blow the door off.’

  His eyes blinked open. She saw his face drain.

  ‘This is a highly technical unit, honey.’

  ‘Do you have any charges? Merj?’ Ishbel asked.

  ‘No. I won’t allow it.’ Skelf thumped the earth again, sending up puffs of dust which he quickly rubbed from his hand. ‘All that dust and debris will ruin the machines.’ Again Ishbel was reminded of Sorlie. Of how, as his native, she’d been roared at by him to keep the Games Space free of dust.

  ‘I should be able to work something out,’ he said, pulling at the flesh under his chin.

  ‘Like a puzzle you mean? And how long will that take?’ Merj asked.

  ‘You should have thought about that before you sabotaged my retrieval.’ He lay back on the field but Ishbel pulled him up.

  ‘No. Can we at least get nearer to the unit? You can think on the hoof.’

  ‘Think on the hoof indeed.’ He snapped his fingers at Merj.

  ‘Give me your comms.’

  ‘No way.’

  ‘Give it to him, Merj.’

  ‘You give him yours.’

  ‘I’m in command of this unit. Give it to him.’

  ‘I need it,’ said Merj.

  ‘What for?’

  His face paled and he searched the ground as if for the answer. ‘The Prince…’

  ‘The Prince knows you’re with me. Give it to him.’

  ‘No.’

  Ishbel pulled her gun. She’d had enough of this. ‘Give him your snafin comms or I’ll blow your brains out. I should have finished you off at Black Rock.’

  ‘I’m The Prince’s confidant.’ His hand went to his belt.

  ‘Don’t even think about it or I’ll shoot you.’

  Merj handed over his comms and stomped off towards the mound. Skelf had a quick examine and stuffed it in his pocket with the rest of his gear before he hobbled off into the lavender field.

  Ishbel still felt exposed despite Skelf’s reassurances so she huckled him along. When they reached the trees Skelf leaned against one, wheezing hard.

  ‘Well, what happens now?’ Ishbel asked. He flapped his hand at her.

  ‘A minute.’

  While she gave him a minute she knelt down and tried to work out where the opening was in the mound. It just looked like a natural feature. No way could anyone guess what was inside.

  ‘Well?’ she said, failing to hide her impatience.

  Before he spoke Skelf gave a sly glance to Merj who was standing with his back against the farthest tree. He took Ishbel’s arm and drew her to the side.

  ‘Hey!’ Merj said. ‘I need to be in on the plan too.’

  ‘You, Wonderboy, do not deserve our trust.’ He leaned into Ishbel. ‘Help me sit. I think I can do it from here.’

  ‘No, stay standing,’ Ishbel said. ‘If you can open it from here, we need to move quickly as soon as we can.’

  Skelf nodded and leaned back against the tree. He repeated the assembly of his component and took off his scarf.

  ‘Place that on the earth and try not to get any dirt on it.’ He looked at Merj. ‘You don’t move.’ Ishbel waved her gun at Merj then placed the scarf on the ground. Skelf gave her the components which she laid on the scarf. He took Merj’s comms and pointed it at the components. A red light flicked on.

  Merj’s eyes narrowed at the scarf. Ishbel had one eye on him and one on the scarf.

  ‘What does that mean?’ she said. ‘It was green before.’

  Skelf said nothing, just stared at the ground. The red light flashed. She could see his knuckles turn white as he gripped Merj’s comms. The red light flashed rapidly then changed to green. Skelf let out his breath and all three turned towards the mound. A boulder rolled. Sand shifted. And a black shape appeared in the side of the mound.

  ‘You did it.’ Ishbel could have hugged him.

  She flashed the gun at Merj and told him to move first. Then she helped Skelf negotiate the small dip to reach the mound.

  They went through the door. Sk
elf stabbed the mobile with his finger and the door clicked closed behind them. It was pitch black and cold. Not just cold from being out of the sun but as ice-cold as Bieberville had been.

  ‘Will the outside entrance be visible now we’ve disturbed it?’ Ishbel whispered.

  ‘Why are you whispering? There’s no one here. But the answer to your question is probably, but then it doesn’t matter. They won’t get in.’

  ‘They could blow us up.’

  ‘Why would they do that? Waste precious resource on an unknown.’ She couldn’t argue with that.

  ‘Where are the lights?’ she said, still whispering.

  ‘Why would you need lights? This is a fully automated unit. Robots don’t need lights.’

  ‘Robots? A word from the movie-casters. Fiction, right?’

  ‘Truer than fiction, my dear Ishbel.’ Skelf’s voice held wonder that infected her. Her mouth blotted and she tasted the fear of the unknown, but the fear was alive and she was ready for whatever was in this freezing dark mound.

  Her comms was fully charged from the strong sun. She fired up the torch. Merj had disappeared.

  Sorlie

  ‘What do we do now?’ Reinya asked.

  Dawdle found some plastic ties in a cupboard, laced them together to form a strong rope and secured Jake to the corner post of the desk console.

  ‘He’ll no be goin anywhere fur a while. But, Sorlie, ye’ll hae tae decide what tae dae wi him before we leave here fur good.’

  ‘We could just leave him.’

  ‘Aye we could, ‘specially coz our supplies are thin.’

  ‘That would be pretty cruel though. But I can’t think of that now. We’ve a job to do here first.’ My head was louping.

  I checked the comms. The instruction had come through aeons ago. Just as well these things don’t disappear until you’ve read and deleted.

  ‘Well, what does it say?’ Reinya asked.

  I pointed at the huge unit through the glass. ‘We’ve to get that thing started.’

  ‘’ow?’

  ‘It says it needs a huge amount of energy to start the whole thing at once.’

  ‘Aw great. Ah’ll just nip out and procure a few generators will ah?’ Sarcasm didn’t suit Dawdle but it seemed no one had bothered to tell him that in the past.

  ‘It says it is modular. We get one running and then use that energy to start the next, then use them to start others. Like a chain reaction.’

  ‘Makes sense.’ Reinya peered over my shoulder at the instruction. ‘Does it say ‘ow?’

  ‘It says we’ve to activate the key NE1705. What’s that?’ I clocked the room. There were labels with letters and numbers everywhere but nothing that matched NE1705.

  ‘There’s a manual, too.’ I opened the document on my comms and almost wept with dismay. All kinds of weird diagrams, lists and numbers jumped out. I let Reinya take a better look.

  ‘What the snaf? Do uh look like the type o person who understands that? Uh grew up in u refugee camp, remember.’

  Noni looked over my other shoulder and shook her head so violently I thought it would fall off.

  I moved to show Dawdle. He held up his hands. ‘Don’t even try tae ask me.’

  ‘I don’t understand it. Why would The Prince send us here if he knew we wouldn’t be able to complete the final stage?’

  ‘What is it anyway?’ Reinya asked.

  ‘It’s a fusion reactor.’ Dawdle answered before I had a chance. We both whirled on him.

  ‘You knew.’

  He shrugged. ‘Of course.’

  ‘What’s a fusion reactor?’ Reinya asked.

  ‘It produces pollution-free energy fae hydrogen isotopes,’ Dawdle said. Jupes sake, he knew all about it. ‘It’s a bit like turnin on the sun, or a star.’

  ‘The Star of Hope.’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘Then what do we do? How will we start it? Surely Pa knew this would happen?’

  ‘Aye, but is it The Prince sendin the instruction or somebudy else?’

  ‘What d’yu mean, Dawdle?’ Reinya asked.

  ‘Where are the instructions comin fae, Sorlie?’ he asked again.

  I checked my comms. ‘I don’t know. I just assumed.’

  ‘Never assume onythin in this life, young Sorlie. They’re comin through Vanora’s satellite channel. Right?’

  ‘Yes, but The Blue Pearl have taken over her operation.’

  ‘Well in that case ye should contact them.’

  ‘I can’t. I’ve to use incoming only, and you know that. If I send a message, the Military will pick it up. Even if they can’t interpret it they can still recognise it as alien and pinpoint our whereabouts.’

  Dawdle clocked the room. ‘Ah dinnae understand why they’re no here awready. Why’s there nae guards? Just an empty buildin and a crazy kid.’

  Jake glowered at us.

  ‘How’d ye get in, kid?’

  He snapped his mouth shut and turned his face to the wall.

  ‘Ah’d search him if ah wis you, Sorlie.’

  Jake dug his heels into the floor and half-scuttled, half-bum-shuffled as far into the corner as his ties allowed. Reinya crouched in front of him.

  ‘Don’t worry little boy, uh won’t ‘urt you.’

  ‘Little boy?’ he spat at her. ‘I’m at least three years older than you.’

  ‘Well you won’t mind me searchin you. And if you do uh’ll just ‘ave to get Noni, ‘ere, to do it. In case you ‘adn’t noticed, she’s u Neanderthal. She’ll snap you.’ Reinya pulled her finger, making her knuckle crunch. Jake winced. ‘Oops. She won’t mean it though.’

  He pushed his back into the wall and stared at her. Girls were a foreign species at the Academy and I’m sure fearsome Reinya terrified him. I put him out of his misery.

  ‘I’ll search him.’

  ‘Spoilsport.’

  ‘Stand up.’

  But he could only pull his wrists halfway up the desk posts. I patted his trouser pockets and found a tatty Military issue hankie. His jacket held the prize. A spare ammo clip for his gun. I threw it to Dawdle. A small pill box containing some capsules, a disposable mask and some pins. I laid them on the ground.

  ‘He gassed the guards,’ I guessed.

  ‘Where d’ye get yer hands on this gear?’ Dawdle asked.

  ‘I’m Military,’ he hissed. ’Forgotten had you?’ Dawdle moved to hit him but I stayed his blow with my arm.

  ‘And they’ll hunt you down if you damage me.’

  ‘Ah doubt it. You’ve been runnin around after Sorlie fur the past wee while. Ah reckon you’re AWOL fae the Military, stolen that Transport fae them. They’re probably mair interested in you than they are in us.’

  ‘Court martial,’ Reinya hissed in Jake’s face.

  ‘Naw, they jist shoot deserters these days, hen.’

  Jake was hunkered back down. When I leant towards him I detected the whiff of pisshap.

  ‘You know, Jake, you’re either pretty brave or pretty stupid to attempt this on your own.’ A satisfied smirk crossed his deluded face. How could I ever have considered him my friend?

  ‘Uh vote stupid’. Reinya quipped. ‘Or crazy.’

  I hauled him to his knees. ‘Where are they?’

  He nodded to the door at the other side of the control room. ‘Through there, in the turbine hall.’

  ‘How long since you gassed them?’

  ‘Six hours.’

  ‘Six hours? They’ll be coming round now.’ I could hear my voice rise.

  ‘Don’t worry, they’re all dead. I saw to it.’ There was pride in his voice.

  ‘What’s happened to you, Jake?’ He was a psychopath.

  Dawdle answered for him. ‘That’s easy tae answer, Sorlie. Gie a boy a gun and he’ll even
tually kill someone.’ I pushed away the bad thoughts of the time I’d held a gun, and my grandfather’s death.

  I pulled his mask on. It smelled of bile and somehow, even though it make me gag it also heartened me to think he might have felt some horror at his murders. Dawdle handed me Jake’s gun, now fully loaded with the spare clip and I eased the door open. It led out to a metal gangway traversing the width of another hall with steps leading both up and down. This hall held more cylinder-shaped machines, more numerous but smaller than those in the reactor hall. I looked over the edge and about thirty metres below, four bodies lay at odd angles, their limbs pointing all airts. They must have climbed the stairs to escape the gas and once they succumbed he’d pushed them off the gangway. Three men wore guard’s uniforms and the other, a woman, wore a lab coat. So Pa hadn’t sent us in here with no hope of reading the instructions. Chances were that the lab coat body was the engineer. I held my face up to the glass ceiling, closed my eyes and let the cool air brush my face. A slight hum and a grinding sounded nearby. I closed my eyes again to locate it. The cylinder, two down. Something was working in there. Some small thing. Maybe to keep it turning, maybe to keep the temperature even. I don’t know how, but this once-dead giant was merely hibernating. I bounded back to the control room. Jake looked at me like a wild animal caught in a trap.

  ‘You’re on the wrong side.’ I told him. ‘There’s a dead engineer in there who could have helped us, but you killed her.’

  ‘So what now?’ Reinya was hopping from foot to foot. I could tell she wanted to punch Jake but we still had a problem to solve. I looked at the unintelligible manual again. I thought back to Vanora. How when she was orchestrating the escape of Black Rock prisoners, her stupid plugin had welded me to the control panel. It had nearly cost me my life when I could not escape my grandfather’s murder spree. There was always a missing piece. Just for once I wished things would go according to plan.

  ‘Sorlie?’ Reinya brought me back to the problem. ‘Are you OK?’