He looked down at his orange boiler suit, a stabbing reminder of his brief time spent locked up. He shook his head and told himself that he wasn’t going back there, ever! He’d done nothing wrong anyway and thought of his arrest.
The Jenta Police came and, without any explanation, took him away. What had he done that was so bad to send him to Skytraz Prison of all places? He broke away from his thoughts and took a deep breath.
‘Okay, where is the food kept?’ he wondered.
The dawn would have been enough to guide him, but there were enough lights speckled around the deck and along the inner buildings. Red didn’t know a lot about sky ships; he didn’t really need to. He’d only known about the comings and goings of the city since he’d been born.
He’d watched the ships though, on many occasions, delivering supplies and then disappearing across the sky to another city. He never thought he’d actually be on one, one day.
He loved Valusha and never intended to leave; why would he? He’d made friends there and thought that would be his life. His stomach groaned again and he pushed all other thoughts to one side.
‘Where would the galley be?’ he mumbled. He wandered aimlessly without any idea of where the kitchen was situated on a ship. He did eventually find a small door, turned the handle and pushed it open to reveal a set of steps. There were lights above that shone a beam to the bottom, but it looked a bit dark beyond. Rhidian had checked this area earlier, looking for stray crewmen, and now Red realised that he had to go down alone. He cleared his throat, which echoed a warning.
‘Come on, Red, you’re a man, for God’s sake,’ he reassured himself.
The wooden stairway took the boy down into the bowels of the ship. To his utter surprise, it also took him to the kitchen. There was another door, and once he stepped inside, he saw an oven and a greedy grin engulfed his face. He could feel the saliva rise in his mouth.
There was only minimal lighting down here and he didn’t even care at this point – food was his only goal. The teenager didn’t waste any time and moved along in the dimness of the room. He urgently began searching the cupboards. He delved into the stainless steel units, banging and clattering as he searched. The look of distaste consumed him when he only found pots, pans and cutlery. He clenched his teeth and grunted, childishly tossing a frying pan along the floor. It came to a stop with a clatter.
‘Where is the food?’ he demanded. His voice echoed in the empty cylinder of the galley. He urgently looked beyond the cupboards and noticed there was another door. It’s got to be in there, he assumed. His mood worsened and the groans in his stomach turned to stabbing hunger pains. He hurriedly shuffled to the back of the kitchen. There on the door was a plaque with the title “Food Store” written in big letters. A bright smile brightened his mood.
‘Yes.’ He felt himself punching the air. The boy eagerly twisted the handle and pushed it open, excitement spilling over. Inside were shelves with tins and packets lined up along the inside walls. Red urgently scoured the room and to one side he noticed a freezer and a FRIDGE!
The soft orange glow of the lighting in the pantry reflected in the stainless-steel panelling. He’d made it. He didn’t need any more encouragement and went directly for the cold food cabinet. He threw open the door and the white light hurt his eyes for a moment. It was only temporary though, and he soon focused on the full-to-bursting shelves. The brilliance of the inside lit his pale face. There was an array of cold meats and cheeses, pastries and desserts, drinks and fruit. The aroma of cooked ham and orange juice overwhelmed his nostrils. The saliva almost dripped from his mouth and he had to swallow back not to dribble over his boiler suit. He was just about to pounce!
‘Don’t move, kid!’ The deep gravelled voice of a man bore into the back of his head. Red almost choked, his body stiffened, mouth dropped open – his breath came in sharp bursts and the loud pounding of his heart impaired his hearing. He was physically shaking.
‘Wha…’ he couldn’t speak. Then he felt something jab in between his shoulder blades – he let out a short gasp.
‘Don’t try anything stupid.’ The voice came again, harsh and low. ‘Who are you, kid? What are you doing here?’ Red didn’t know what to say; he was stunned.
‘I-I…’ But it was impossible for him to speak. The revelation of a knife penetrating his skin terrified him. I’m going to die right now, he thought, and tears welled up.
‘Come on back from there,’ the man demanded, and pulled at his collar. Red was jerked away from the treasure trove of foodstuff. He was too scared to even think of his stomach any more. He trembled and felt that his legs wouldn’t hold his body weight.
‘Ok-ay,’ he stuttered, trying to catch his breath. The boy stood with the man still behind him, terrified to turn and face whatever was coming. The door to the fridge left open and the stupidest feeling of shutting it gripped him. He’d always been told to keep the cold air in, but that was the least of his worries. Red took a deep breath and plucked up the courage and spoke.
‘P-lease don’t kill me,’ he pleaded and tried to catch his breath as he sobbed. ‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’
‘Leave him be.’ Another voice filled the room and Red recognised it straight away as being that of Rebus. All of a sudden a huge sigh of hope lifted his spirits, but this was far from over. Red felt the intruder physically shake. Was he scared too? ‘And take that spoon from away from the kid’s back,’ Rebus added.
‘SPOON?’ Red’s reaction changed from frightened to downright annoyed. ‘SPOON?’ he repeated. ‘You’ve been threatening me with a spoon?’ He spat the word as if it were a bad taste in his mouth. He spun around to face his attacker and came face to face with a meek-looking middle-aged man. He stood roughly five foot nine and quite thin. Red was mesmerised by his steel-blue eyes. He also had a scar on his left cheek, which was in the shape of a half-moon and it was quite a prominent feature.
‘Who are you?’ Rebus questioned abruptly, his eyes not deviating from the stranger’s look of dismay.
‘I-I…’ It was the stranger’s turn now to fumble his words. He didn’t have the husky gravelled voice that he’d put on earlier. ‘I’m Caleb,’ he finally answered, as if he’d been introduced at a party.
‘What are you doing here?’ Red butted in, but Rebus raised his left hand in an attempt to stop the youngster talking. ‘I’ll deal with this, shh,’ he said sternly, putting his finger to his lips.
‘What are you doing here?’ Rebus probed asking exactly the same question. Caleb placed the dessertspoon on the nearest shelf and sighed.
‘I’m a stowaway,’ he admitted. ‘I’ve been hidden away on here for a week or so.’ He raised his hands and gestured where he’d stayed.
‘Why?’ Rebus continued, before Red could open his mouth to speak again.
‘Things were getting bad on Valusha and I had to get away,’ he spoke honestly. ‘I stowed away on here thinking it would take me to somewhere to start a new life. But I didn’t get away immediately; they’d delivered supplies on Valusha and the crew took some time off. Then eventually they boarded again, but had one more stop and went onto Skytraz Prison. That scared me. I didn’t want to end up there, so I kept hidden as the crew off-loaded supplies. This particular ship was then, I hoped, going onto somewhere where I could get off and disappear. But, that’s when I heard voices. They didn’t sound like the usual voices of the crew and there were only a couple of you, I presumed. I didn’t know what to do. I realised that you were escaped prisoners when I saw the orange boiler suits. I panicked when the boy came into the kitchen. I apologise for that, boy,’ he said.
Rebus looked deep into his eyes; he seemed genuine enough. Why would he be hidden on this ship otherwise? He would have raised the alarm straightaway if he’d been one of the crew.
‘Okay, let’s go see Rhidian,’ Rebus announced. ‘Come on.’ He pointed to the exit.
‘Who’s Rhidian? How did you manage to get past the guards? Where are we headed?�
� Caleb was full of questions.
‘Don’t you worry about that. That’s our business,’ Red chipped in, not being able to keep quiet and trying to sound older than his years. He got a stern look from Rebus, but that was all.
‘Food,’ Red uttered, side-tracking the comment. ‘There’s plenty of food in here,’ he said, pointing to the open fridge. Again, his eyes lit up at the array of delicious things on display.
‘Good, grab a bit of everything and let’s go,’ Rebus instructed. He waited for Red to put a few things in a canvas bag that he found hanging behind the door. When it was full, all three walked out of the galley, up the stairway and onto the deck. It was almost full daylight now and they could see the stranger in all his glory.
Rebus kept a sharp eye, suspicious to the last.
‘You go in front so that we can keep an eye on you. Make your way to the control room. Rhidian is there,’ Rebus remarked. Red followed behind Rebus, chewing a mouthful of meat, not being able to wait any longer.
Chapter 10
Team Hope
They all gathered in the control room.
‘Who’s this?’ Rhidian said, and he looked deeply curious and surprised to see an extra person on board.
‘This is Caleb,’ Rebus announced. ‘He’s been a stowaway on here, apparently. He’s escaped Valusha and is trying to find safety.’ Rhidian eyed the stranger, still not totally convinced by his story.
‘You believe him?’ Rhidian gave a concerned look at Rebus.
‘I am in the room, you know,’ Caleb interrupted, feeling a little hurt.
‘Well, why would he lie?’ Rebus said, slightly siding with the stranger – Caleb looked surprised. ‘I mean,’ Rebus continued, ‘he could have raised the alarm at any time, couldn’t he? But he didn’t. And he didn’t know anything of our attempt beforehand either… to be a spy, I mean, and report it back to someone.’ Rhidian considered this for a moment, then his face lit up.
‘Great, we could do with some extra help on this trip,’ he said.
‘I don’t trust him,’ Red cut in sharply. ‘He jumped me in the kitchen and used a, uh, err, weapon to attack me.’ Rhidian arched his eyebrow and peered back at the youngster.
‘You don’t trust me, kid? I understand that, but the weapon—’ Caleb attempted to go on, but was interrupted by the irate teenager.
‘You tried to stab me,’ Red added quickly, ‘and I’m not a kid. My name is Red.’
‘A spoon, Red. He attacked you with a spoon!’ Rebus corrected.
‘A spoon, eh?’ Rhidian said, smiling. ‘He certainly is a dangerous customer.’
‘It’s not funny, Rhidian.’ Red was getting annoyed. ‘He could have killed me.’
‘I do apologise, young man,’ Caleb relented. ‘It would have taken me a while to spoon you to death though.’ This made Red even angrier and his embarrassment showed in the pink tinges in his cheeks. Rhidian could see that the boy was getting too agitated and pulled the conversation on a different heading.
‘What have you got in your hand, Red?’ Rhidian asked; he’d noticed the bag he was holding.
‘Oh, it’s food. I picked a load of stuff from the fridge,’ Red said, and for a moment lost track of the conversation.
‘Well, let’s all have some food and drink and discuss where we’re headed,’ Rhidian announced.
‘Makes sense to me,’ Rebus added and Caleb nodded in agreement.
‘Oh, okay.’ Red suddenly remembered how hungry he was. All four of them sat, as there was a couple of chairs and a counter in the control room. Red emptied his bag of goodies for all to tuck in.
‘It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get rid of these prison uniforms,’ Rhidian said, staring at the material with distaste.
‘I agree,’ Rebus said. ‘It’s been far too long for me wearing these horrible orange boiler suits. They must have had someone who was really depressed to pick the worst colour they could think of.’
‘The crew have fresh clothes on board. I’m sure we can all find something to fit us,’ Caleb added. ‘I’ve been in these clothes for a while, too. They have a shower room on board too, but I never had a chance to use it, obviously not wanting to get caught,’ Caleb said honestly.
‘Look, there’s no fear of them catching up with us anytime soon. So we can relax, just for a bit. After we’ve eaten, we can go and look for something more comfortable to wear,’ Rhidian said as he swallowed a mouthful of orange juice. ‘What do you say Red?’
Red had been quiet while the others talked and it felt good being included in the conversation. He had taken a liking to Rhidian from the start because he treated him mostly like an adult. Rebus, on the other hand, was older and had that old-school way about him, which annoyed the hell out of Red. And he hated being called a boy, which Rebus used towards him regularly. Red was also getting a bad vibe from the newly found Caleb, who took every opportunity to take the mickey.
‘Yeah, wearing something different to this old thing would be great.’ The suit Red was wearing was really baggy and not meant for a boy to wear. In fact, he looked more ridiculous than the others.
‘Let’s get cleaned up and changed. I’m sure we could all do with a nice shower,’ Rhidian assumed. ‘We’d have to take turns though to steer the ship. It’s quite easy really.’ Caleb and Red looked on reluctantly. ‘We obviously have to keep an eye out just in case someone does spot us,’ Rhidian said.
‘That would make sense,’ Rebus added with encouragement. ‘We don’t want anyone sneaking up on us,’ he said, as he partially eyed Caleb and smiled. Caleb peered back and gave a grin.
They all mostly found something that fitted them, and when it was Rhidian’s turn to shower and change, Rebus steered the ship for a while.
Luckily, for the boy, there was a crewmember with his size and he found a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that kind of suited him. He also managed to find a pair of black trainers. The others also found something to wear and they all met up in the control room, where Rhidian had taken back over from Rebus.
‘Why don’t you all get some sleep, and I’ll keep a look out,’ Rhidian said.
‘How are we going to do this, Rhidian? You’re going to have to rest at some point,’ Rebus said. ‘You’ll have to show the rest of us how to pilot this ship properly in order for you to get some sleep too,’ Rebus added.
‘Wake me in a couple of hours, Rhidian, and I can take over from you. I’m not sure if I’m any good,’ Caleb added, ‘but you can show us all the proper way to guide this ship tomorrow.’
‘Oh right, that’s great, we can share the job.’ Rhidian was delighted; he had thoughts of navigating for hours on end with no relief.
‘Err, wake me instead, will you? I can pilot the ship.’ Rebus looked at Rhidian with a penetrating glare.
‘What’s the matter, old man? Don’t you trust me?’ Caleb questioned with suspicion, and gave Rebus a look of distaste.
‘Look, Caleb, we can’t be too careful. We don’t know you from Adam,’ Rebus added honestly. ‘We were all locked up in Skytraz and you weren’t. It’ll take us a bit of time to get used to having you on board.’
‘I understand. That’s fair enough. I could be a spy and turn this ship around, taking us all back to the authorities,’ Caleb said. ‘But, Rebus, I’m not. I honestly do not want to get caught either. I’m in the same boat as you three. I’m running away from something too, and I don’t want to go back.’
‘Understood,’ Rebus agreed, ‘but what are you running from?’
‘Rebus,’ Rhidian interrupted, ‘that’s not our business really, is it? We should respect one another or this trip is going to be a long one. With no respect for each other things will get very awkward, very quickly.’
‘I know,’ Rebus said, ‘but I’d still like to do this shift on my own.’
‘Well, look, after tonight we can share the shifts in pairs. We will all have to trust one another at some point, don’t you agree, Rebus?’ Rhidian urged, and Rebus nodded reluctantly. ‘
You and Caleb can do one and Red and I can do the other. Is everyone happy with that?’ There were general nods from each of them.
‘I suppose so,’ Rebus agreed reluctantly.
‘We do have another problem though,’ Rhidian added.
‘What’s that?’ Red asked with curiosity.
‘Where exactly are we headed?’ Rhidian said, as he looked at Rebus. ‘We’ve broken away from Skytraz Prison, but we’re just drifting into nowhere really.’
‘Just keep us on this path and I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll know where to head,’ Rebus assured them. Rhidian shrugged his shoulders and nodded; he realised that he had to trust the wizard.
‘Go and get some sleep you lot,’ Rhidian urged, and everyone went off to separate cabins, leaving the engineer alone in the control room to ponder.
Chapter 11
Ghost Ship
Evening casually wafted in and with it a dense mist that engulfed everything in its path. The air was warm but the fog carried a fresh and instant dampness that coated the ship in a glistening, silver skin. It was virtually impossible for Rhidian to see where he was going. The swirling grey shapes danced and caressed the ship’s hull and spattered the windows with its spray.
‘Where did this come from?’ Rhidian whispered to himself. The others were sleeping in their quarters. ‘I can’t see a damn thing,’ he grunted. ‘I’ve got to stop before I crash into something.’ He reluctantly switched off the engine and let the vessel drift along at its own pace – the propeller at the rear slowed to a stop.
The engineer lent forward and wiped the window using his sleeve as a cloth. He half closed his eyes and tried to see beyond the ship’s bough. The lights that peppered the vessel’s outline were just a decoration and didn’t seem to penetrate the weather.
‘This is useless,’ he groaned and rubbed harder as if it made any difference. Rhidian could just about feel the last motion of the ship before it settled. All that could be heard now was the creaking timbers and hiss of a breeze.
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