Chapter 6
I wanted to beg and plead for my life, try to restore some of the love I knew Davis still held deep in his heart. But it was impossible. The Davis I knew was gone, replaced by a demon capable of nothing but vengeance.
My throat was crushed, my lungs burned for oxygen. My head was swimming with dizziness as the last of my breaths were squeezed from me. I closed my eyes, accepting my fate and refusing to look at his twisted features any longer.
And then… it all stopped.
My eyes flew open as my airways struggled to open again. Davis was staggering backwards. He no longer wore a mask of anger, but one of astonishment.
His body glowed, an orange light – the same color as the comet – emanated from within him. It was so bright I could barely watch. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away either. I had to see, I had to know what was happening to him.
“The spell, Lacey, keep going with it,” Mandy urged from somewhere behind me.
The words were now so familiar to me they were like a warm blanket. “Inspir perai shudo bren. Gra theus incai perai. Inspir perai shudo bren. Gra theus incai perai.”
“Frickin’ witch bitches,” Davis said, just as the light flashed as brilliant as a million diamonds catching the sun. It burst forth before it started to shrink again.
When the light disappeared, so did Davis.
He was gone.
An eerie hush fell over us in the woods as we all stopped our incantations. I tore my gaze away from the spot where Davis had been standing to where my coven was waiting behind me.
“Is he really gone?” I asked.
Heidi nodded, her smile warm and gentle. “Thanks to you. What was that spell?”
“It was to send someone to another dimension. It could only work with the power of Merrick’s Comet.” I pointed to the sky, the comet now making its way across the galaxy. It had visited us only to lend its power. Now its job was done, it could leave and not return for another hundred years.
Davis wasn’t dead, he would probably spend the next hundred years in another dimension planning his revenge. His rage would continue to build, as would his plans to inflict pain on everyone that had wronged him.
But his return could only happen when the barriers of the dimensions were weak again. And only Merrick’s Comet would be able to do that. By that time, I would be gone and so would everyone he wanted to kill.
Heidi finished our ceremony by casting a purification and protection spell. I don’t think she had planned on doing that originally, but it seemed appropriate after ridding ourselves of the Aethien demon.
Back home, I slept better than I had in months. It was like a dark shadow had been lifted from around me. I was no longer under Davis’s watchful gaze.
He couldn’t hurt me anymore.
For months, I had been living with the fear of what he would do next. I had altered my life to avoid him and was never prepared for whatever he threw at me. Davis had lived in every shadow, every nightmare, around every corner.
Not anymore.
I awoke refreshed, in the best mood I could possibly be in. The future that had flashed before me was now possible. I would have it all and I would be happy. Davis was my past and I refused to dwell on him. The Davis I knew had gone along with his partner, I accepted that like Davis should have.
Pulling up at school, my eyes didn’t scan the lot searching for the dreaded face. I knew he wouldn’t be there. All I saw were kids that were completely oblivious to everything supernatural that happened in our town.
I jumped out of the car and headed for my locker. It felt like a brand new era, one where I could be a normal teenage girl for once. I was definitely not going to get involved with any more demons. I was going to listen to my coven more closely.
“Hey. So the school is doing a charity bake sale. Can I count you in? I just need your signature and phone number.” Caden placed a clipboard with a signup sheet in front of me, blocking access to my locker.
Hope had planted itself in his smile, making his eyes sparkle with mischief. There was something so joyous about his face that I couldn’t help but return his smile.
“I’m not falling for that,” I replied. “A bake sale? Seriously? How long have you been working on that one?”
He took the clipboard back and hugged it to his chest. “Hey, I’ll have you know that it took all morning getting all these numbers and signatures to make it look real. Sarah Mackintosh is planning on baking red velvet cupcakes. She spoke about them for ten whole minutes.”
A laugh escaped my lips. The first real laugh I’d had in a very long time. “Maybe you should call one of those girls then.”
“Nah. They don’t hold a candle to you, Lacey.”
I held my hand out. “Give me the list.”
His brow momentarily wrinkled with confusion before he carefully handed me the clipboard. I studied the names of the girls – and guys – he had managed to convince there was a real bake sale coming up. There had to be at least a dozen names.
I added mine to the bottom, including my phone number. Handing it back, I didn’t say a word. I left Caden standing there, his face a picture of shock.
With my books in the crook of my arm, I headed to class. I wasn’t even sitting down before my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Just making sure it works,” Caden said. He hung up.
Smiling and shaking my head, I saved his number in my phone. I got the feeling he might be calling a lot. And I was already looking forward to the next one.
About Jamie Campbell
Jamie Campbell discovered her love for writing when her school ‘What I did on the Weekend’ stories contained monsters and princesses – because what went on in her imagination was always more fun than boring reality.
Primarily writing Young Adult Romances of all kinds, Jamie also delves into murder mysteries and ghost stories. Basically, whatever takes her fancy - she lets the characters decide
Living on the Gold Coast in sunny Queensland, Australia, Jamie is constantly bossed around by her dog Sophie who is a very hard taskmaster and lives largely on sugar.
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The Greenhouse Gas
Ariele Sieling
It was dark – ever so dark – and all she could think about was the vast emptiness of space that she knew surrounded them. The space inside the pod was cramped and uncomfortable; her foot had long ago fallen asleep, and every time she tried to move it sent a bolt of pain shooting up her leg. But for now – the darkness, the emptiness, and the space – these things were not important.
“Fedya,” she said. “Fedya, wake up.”
Her brother groaned slightly, and he tried to roll over. She gasped as he knocked against her foot and the tingling and pain started up once again.
“Fedya!” she exclaimed again. “Wake up!”
“I don’t want to, Galya. Leave me alone.”
“Fedya, this is not your cot. We are not on board our ship. Remember? Papa put us in this pod to keep us safe, and then he launched it. Fedya, you must wake up. I need your help.”
“Why is it so dark?” Fedya asked, reaching out and touching her shoulder. “It is very tight in here, is it not?”
“I can’t figure out how to turn on the engine,” Galya said. “Do you know how?”
“Papa showed you,” Fedya replied, and he reached out and took her hand. “Do you not remember Papa teaching you how?”
“I know he did,” Galya said, “but I can’t remember!”
The darkness of the pod was becoming deeper. What if no one came? What if they never saw Papa again? What if they died here?
“It is because you are feeling fear,” Fedya said calmly, though Galya could hear a slight tremor in his voice. “You must not feel fear. You must feel hope. You must remember. I need you to remember, or else we may never find out what has happened to P
apa. Take a breath.”
Galya took a deep breath, pushing aside the little voice which said, “if you breathe too deeply, the oxygen in the pod will not last as long,” and remembered. She remembered being woken in the night by Papa. He was whispering rapidly to her – something was wrong, men had boarded their ship. He made her put on her coat and took her to the pods – but they were the only ones. Where were the other families? Where were the other children?
He showed her the controls. This one does this, he said, and this one does that. But which ones did what? Galya couldn’t remember.
“I can’t remember,” she whispered.
“Try harder,” Fedya said.
As they walked through the corridors, Papa had said to her, Galya, my beautiful, I need you to take care of your brother, Fedya. And Fedya, you must help your sister take care of you. I will find you as soon as I can, but for now we must hurry. And then Galya felt a moment of fear as she heard the booted footsteps of many men running down the corridors.
“He showed you the blue one first,” Fedya said.
“The blue one, it was for…” Galya strained her mind.
“And then the black ones,” Fedya added.
“The yellow button!” Galya exclaimed. “The yellow button was the lights.”
“Where was the yellow button?” Fedya asked. He climbed over her towards where the control panel was.
Papa had said, The blue lever will… that memory was blank. The black levers… this memory was blank, too. The yellow button, above the right black lever, that will control the lights, and the red button controls the shields. Do not put down the shields unless you have no other choice – please, my beautiful. Be careful. Take care of your brother. Then Papa had closed the door behind them and launched them into the big, empty darkness. Galya had no idea how long she had slept.
“He said it is above the right black lever,” Galya said.
Fedya fumbled around in the dark for moment, and then the pod began to glow in a soft blue light. Galya smiled, and leaned forward to hug her brother.
“Do you remember anything else?” he said.
“I remember that the red button is for the shields,” she replied, “but Papa said only to put down the shields when we had no other choice.”
“We have no other choice,” Fedya stated, and then without hesitation, he pushed the red button.
The shields slowly lowered around the ship, clearing up the windows so the two children could see through. Galya gasped. All around them were ships – each one dead, a corpse, a husk. The one above their pod had a massive hole blasted through it; bits of debris floated in the vacuum of space silently, the wreckage of a once majestic fleet. Other ships hung at odd angles; a gas sprayed from the side of a great black Warrior class, pushing it slowly away from the others. This had long ceased to be a battlefield – it was now a burying ground.
“Papa!” Galya gasped. “Oh no!”
“Shhhh,” Fedya said. “We don’t know what has happened to him. We don’t even know what part of the fleet we have ended up in. We need to go find him.”
Galya gulped and nodded. He was right. They needed to find Papa, and she needed to take care of her little brother.
For a few more minutes, the sister and brother stared out the window. Stars twinkled far in the distance – if Galya knew how to read them, she would know where they were. An asteroid or some other kind of massive rock was floating on the opposite end of the destruction. Their pod didn’t seem to be moving; or if it was, it was keeping pace with the debris around them.
“We should see what supplies we have in the pod,” Galya said. “Because we’re going to have to figure out how to drive this thing, and we’re going to have to figure out how to get back to our ship.”
“Okay.” Fedya crawled into the back end of the pod, and opened the storage cavity. “I see twenty-five packets of food, a rope, a small tool box, a de-pressurizer, heat packs, a med pack, two oxygen tanks, and two suits.”
“So, enough food to get us—”
Galya was interrupted by Fedya.
“Ewww,” Fedya pulled back from the storage cavity and plugged his nose. “It’s bad. All the food has gone bad.”
“How?” Galya asked. “Aren’t they supposed to replace it every two weeks?”
“This didn’t get replaced recently, that’s for sure.” Fedya closed the cavity and crawled back towards Galya.
“Well, I guess that means we have enough food for… never,” Galya finished grumpily.
“Maybe if we can figure out how to drive the pod, we can find food from the wreckage,” Fedya suggested. “What else can you remember?”
Galya gazed out at the sea of metal in front of her. She wondered if there were bodies floating in the mess, if there were other children looking for their parents. She wondered if anyone survived. Then, she saw a flash of light at the other end of the debris field.
“Shields!” she gasped.
Fedya leaped forward and pressed the red button. The outside disappeared, leaving them in the blue glow of the pod’s interior lights.
Closing her eyes, Galya saw the flash of light again – but this time it was Papa.
The blue lever will signal anyone that is there to save you – but be careful that you are sure the enemy is gone. He pulled the lever and a bright, white light flashed outside the ship. The black levers are for steering. It’s just like when you play video games! And the button on the top of the left black lever turns it on and opens the driving screen, to show you where you are, where you are going, and what detectable elements are around you.
“I remember,” Galya whispered. She pulled herself into the seat in the front of the pod. Fedya took the seat behind her. “The black levers are to steer, the button turns it on…” A flood of memories rushed through her head – Papa had really taught her everything. All the levers and what they did, how to control the internal atmosphere of the pod, how to drive and steer, how to lock the magnetic clamps, and so much more. A small smile of relief spread across her lips. She could do this.
The pod began to hum lightly – a barely imperceptible noise, but enough that both children felt a strong sense of relief.
“You did it!” Fedya exclaimed.
“And you need to remember everything,” Galya replied, “In case I’m not here to do it someday. Do you understand?”
“Yes!” Fedya nodded rapidly. “Can we go find Papa now?”
Galya thought for a moment. In school they had learned that before rushing into a decision, you had to consider both the likelihood of success, and the ultimate consequences. She recited to herself the rhyme: What is around you? What will hound you? And how can you attain your goal and return to home completely whole? The older kids’ version was simply the four Es: Environment, Enemy, End-Goal, Execution.
“First we have to figure out what we’re up against,” she said to Fedya.
“But everyone is dead.”
“We don’t know that. I suggest that we take a quick trip into the nearest ship, see if we can find any food, and find out if everyone really is dead or not. We can also look for a fleet map, so maybe we can figure out how to get back to Papa. Get the suits.”
She took a deep breath and lowered the shields once more, gazing out at the graveyard around them. She squinted, searching the darkness until she found it; the light that had startled her before was simply a comet, its tail a glowing wake in the vacuum around them. She pushed the black levers and the pod began to move slowly towards the nearest ship. It loomed, a massive black shadow lit only by the faint rays of the nearest star. She pulled up slowly to the closest opening, and attached the pod to the larger ship with magnets. When she turned around, Fedya stood with the two suits in hand.
“They’re in good condition,” he said. “I ran the internal diagnostics for both.”
“Good,” Galya said, pulling the suit on. When both were dressed, Galya released the pressure from inside the pod and shut down the oxygen. T
hey made their way to the hatch, and slipped out into the vacuum around them, hanging onto the rope, which they had secured inside the pod. Slowly, they steered their suits towards the bigger ship.
Galya landed feet first, the magnetic soles of her boots locking onto the massive ship immediately. Fedya followed closely behind. The corridors of the ship were littered with fallen beams and broken glass. The first body they found was ripped to shreds. Galya gagged and turned her face away – this was not going to get easier, so she had to get stronger. When she looked at Fedya, he was pale, and stared at the body as if unable to tear his eyes away.
“Fedya,” Galya stated into the suit communicator. “Don’t look at him. Keep moving.”
They walked slowly towards the ship’s bridge. They passed innumerable corpses. The ship was cold and dark – it was as if the ship had been dead for centuries, even though they knew it had only been a few days. When they reached the bridge, the computers were down, and no hard copy map of the fleet could be found.
“We should look for food now,” Fedya said. “I don’t think we will find any maps.”
“I agree.”
The two walked towards where they thought the mess would be, but the path was blocked by fallen beams and bare electrical wires. They turned back, and headed towards the pod.
“There are more ships,” Galya said. “We will find something – we just have to keep looking.”
“Keep looking” turned into hours, which turned into days. Every third ship or so they found enough food and water to keep them going – with careful rationing, the food began to turn into a small stockpile. They found additional oxygen tanks and clothing, and their little pod began to get cramped. The two children slept when they felt tired, ate when they felt hungry, and after the initial fear of running into aliens and their revulsion at the dead bodies, they began to enjoy their excursions onto the ships. It was like treasure hunting. But fear for their father began to wear on them, and they still could not find a map.
“Fedya,” Galya said one day. “What if we never find Papa?”
“We will keep looking until we do,” Fedya replied.
“But what if we don’t?”
“We find him or we die trying.” Fedya was reading a comic book they had found on the last ship. It was a collectible – worth a lot of money – and he was thoroughly engrossed.
“But shouldn’t we come up with a Plan B?”
“Look,” Fedya said huffily, putting down his comic book. “We haven’t been out here very long. For all we know, there are pockets of people hiding all over this ship graveyard! Give it some time. We’ll find Papa. I know we will.” Then he picked up the comic book again.
“But what if Papa is dead?”
Fedya just glared over the top of the magazine and then kept reading.
Galya sighed and turned back in the pilot’s seat. So far, they had been wandering aimlessly through the rubble, without trying to pinpoint where they were. True, she had never had much experiential knowledge about the fleet organization, but she remembered a few things. For example, the mining ships were all in a line in the back of the fleet. They were huge ships, and since she and Fedya hadn’t seen any like that, they were probably on the opposite end from the mining ships. Somewhere in the middle were the high class ships – she didn’t care much about those, except that they might be good places to find food. But the greenhouse ship – if that came through with minimal damage, it would be an ideal place to set up camp. Maybe they could live there – with green plants to produce oxygen, fresh food and vegetables, and lots of space to store the treasures they collected from their hunting trips. And chances were it was close.
She looked around them. Although many of the ships drifted in a higgledy piggledy fashion, most seemed to be pointing in generally the same direction. If she could fly the ship up, to get outside the bubble of ships, the greenhouse ship would be very visible as it would have a big glass dome on the top and bottom. And maybe, instead of hunting for a fleet map, they could make their own!
The pod hummed as she flew upwards slowly, higher and higher until she reached the tops of the biggest ships. Then she continued upwards, until she could see everything when she angled the ship downwards.
“Fedya!” she exclaimed, lowering the shields. She pointed. Below them the ship graveyard spread out in every direction, rubble, metal, glass, and wood, the debris field extending as far as the eye could see.
“Whoa!” Fedya exclaimed. “Is that the whole fleet?”
“We can make our own map!” Galya explained. “We know where we’ve been, and we can figure out what’s where and make our own map!”
“That’s a really good idea,” he said, putting the comic book on the floor.
“And look,” she pointed below them, “it’s the greenhouse ship! If we’re lucky, there’s still food left!”
Fedya nodded eagerly. “Let’s look! Maybe we can set up camp there.”
Galya slowly guided the ship back down into the ship graveyard, and began to maneuver through the lifeless ships. The shields were still down, and Fedya gazed out the windows in awe at the massive floating buildings that surrounded them. It took a while, but eventually Fedya exclaimed, “Look! There it is!”
In front of them, the great dome of the greenhouse ship rose in front of them, shining glass. In addition, the lights were on.
“It has power!” Galya exclaimed. “And the glass is intact!”
The children grew more and more excited.
Galya parked the pod on the edge of the closest docking ramp. The two donned their suits, and using the rope system which had worked so well before, floated into the ship. Their magnetic boots moored them solidly to the ship, and they began to walk up the ramp. Both were extremely hopeful.
“Where should we go first?” Galya asked. “To the bridge or the vegetables?”
“Vegetables,” Fedya said. “I’m hungry for something besides food powder.”
Galya grinned. “Me too!”
This was the cleanest ship they had been in yet, and it seemed to have the least damage. There were no corpses, and most of the mess seemed to be the result of many people rushing from one place to another, or hurrying to escape from the vessel.
“Maybe some of these people survived,” Fedya suggested as they headed down the corridor in what they assumed was the general direction of the main greenhouse center.
“Maybe,” Galya agreed. She frowned slightly. There seemed to be some sound coming from up ahead. She motioned to Fedya to remain quiet.
Then, out in front of them stepped the biggest, meanest looking man they had ever seen.
“Children,” he said. “I’ve found children!”
From behind them came the sound of cheers and clapping. Galya and Fedya turned to see more men, just like the man who had spoken, standing in a crowd behind them. Galya paled. These men – she recognized them. They were soldiers – the soldiers from the army that had attacked their fleet. They were the enemy.
“Bring them here,” the leader said. “We have great plans for them.”
Another cheer rose from behind them.
The lower class of soldiers, big lizard-like aliens with long snouts and beady eyes, came and picked the children up, carrying them quickly, deeper into the ship. Galya began to cry softly. She had forgotten all of the rules of engagement: Environment, Enemy, End-Goal, Execution. She had forgotten to check the environment for signs of the enemy and she had forgotten to consider where the enemy might hide. Why hadn’t it occurred to her that the lights being on in this ship might be a bad thing? Papa would be so disappointed. She silently berated herself as the enemy soldiers carried her and her brother deeper and deeper into the ship.
Finally, they entered the primary greenhouse. It was still beautiful. Big trees grew up around the edges of the circular room, and acres of crops were spread out in massive beds, separated by narrow paths. The far end contained the hydroponic horn torus beds which, as far as Galya reme
mbered, grew lettuce and other green vegetables. The lizard soldiers set them down in the workspace in the center of the room.
“I am Sa,” the leader said, coming to glare at Galya and her brother. “And this is occupied territory. You are trespassing. Now tell me, why are you wearing that suit?”
“So we can breathe,” Galya said hesitantly.
“The air is fine in here! Remove their suits!” Sa commanded.
Galya and Fedya felt the suits carefully being taken by a pair of soldiers.
As soon as the helmet was removed, Galya and Fedya took deep breaths of air – it will be nice to breathe something besides oxygen from a tank, Galya thought, but something was wrong. She took another few gulps of air and started to feel dizzy. She coughed, and crouched over, grasping her stomach. Nausea threatened to overwhelm her; then she noticed that everything looked blurry. She looked over at Fedya – he was suffering, too. There was something wrong with this air.
“Put their suits back on!” Sa commanded. “What is wrong with you weaklings?”
When the suits had been replaced, Fedya coughed, and then said in a strained voice, “Too much oxygen. We need different concentrations of oxygen than you. Less.” He coughed again.
“How would you know that?” Sa demanded.
“I learned in school.”
“School!”
The soldiers surrounding them began to laugh – it was sinister and strange, and not at all kind.
“School is for weaklings. Our young learn by living life!” The leader turned and began to pace back and forth in front of them. “You two are quite a treat. But before we go any further, tell me: where are the rest of you?”
Galya shook her head, still feeling dizzy from her attempts to breathe outside of the helmet. “We don’t know. It’s just us.”
“You lie!” Sa exclaimed. “You expect me to believe that two children—” he spat the word out, “—are out on your own and surviving after a battle that we won?”
“Not for long,” Fedya mumbled.
Galya shot him a glare. “We don’t know where anyone else is.”
“Go search their ship!” He pointed at one of his soldiers, who went scurrying off.
The next few moments were excruciating. No one spoke. Sa paced back and forth in front of them, and the soldiers that stood behind the children were eerily quiet. They didn’t sniffle or shift on their feet or cough. They said nothing; they made no sound. Even Sa’s pacing feet seemed completely silent. Then, the soldier returned.
“Food,” he reported. “Oxygen, clothes. An escape pod, not enough room for more than two people.”
“Alone,” Sa said, turning back to the children. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to make the best of it.”
The soldiers began to stomp their feet rhythmically and hum, as if in response to Sa’s declaration.
“Prepare the meal!” Sa finally shouted, after a few moments of the stamping and humming. “And put the children to work – we will make the most of it!”
Galya and Fedya were dragged to the back of the room, to the controls of the lab. One of the soldiers stepped out of the group and pointed at himself. “Ja,” he said. “You have learning.”
The brother and sister nodded furiously, desperate to stay alive for as long as possible.
“Good. See this? This is for the food here. Food is dying – it is turning green. Good food is brown and yellow. Fix the food.”
Fedya stepped forward and eyed the controls. He motioned to Galya.
“This is how it’s supposed to be,” he whispered. “No one has changed the settings since the attack.”
“But it sounds like they want it…” She glanced over her shoulder, hesitant to say the word “dead.” “…they want it opposite of our food. You know. Opposite.”
“Yeah…” Fedya glanced over his shoulder, too. “We’re going to need some time to fix these controls,” he said to Ja.
Ja nodded. “I will watch you.”
They began playing aimlessly with the controls – turning the water up and down, the phosphorus up and down, and the nitrogen up and down.
“There are oxygen and carbon dioxide valves, too,” Galya pointed out.
Fedya nodded. “I think I have an idea.”
At that moment, Sa strode up to them. “You and you,” he said, pointing at each. “You will be ready for dinner soon. How long until you finish fixing the food?”
The children glanced at each other.
“An hour?” Galya offered.
“One hour,” Sa conceded, turning and striding away.
“Why are they feeding us?” Fedya asked.
“Probably fattening us up,” Galya suggested.
Behind them, Ja began to laugh, or at least make a noise vaguely reminiscent of a laugh. “Give you precious food? Waste precious resources?” he began to laugh harder. “No, my alien bugs, you are dinner.”
Galya’s mouth dropped open. “You’re heinous! That’s… that’s cannibalism!”
Ja tilted his head in confusion.
“Actually, it’s not,” Fedya offered in a sort of intellectual daze, “because we’re a different species.”
“Well, it’s still awful! You’re a horrible, terrible…!”
Sa appeared behind his subordinate with a scowl on his face. “Is there something wrong here?”
Galya shut her mouth quickly and shook her head.
“They thought we were feeding them, instead of them feeding us,” Ja explained.
Sa began to laugh uproariously, and soldiers all around the room, as they learned what happened, joined in.
It wasn’t fair, Galya thought. All she had been trying to do was to take care of her brother, like Papa asked. How could Papa leave them like this? How could he? And what was she supposed to do now? Get eaten by a bunch of… of primitives? She scowled at the aliens and turned back to the greenhouse controls.
“Why should we fix this for you now?” she asked, not looking at them. “If you’re just going to eat us?”
“Because if you don’t…” Ja leaned his face in very over her shoulder, “we will eat your brother first, and make you watch!” The soldiers around him began to laugh again.
Galya swallowed and her eyes drifted to the massive fire they were building on the other end of the room. Not only had she gotten Fedya into this, but now she was going to have to watch him burn and die for her mistake. “Did you eat all the other people on this ship?” she asked.
“Yes, and they were delicious. But we’re starting to get hungry again.”
“How are two of us going to feed all of you?” she asked.
“We have an amazing chef who can make a little bit go a long, long way.” Ja’s grin spread across his face like a massive crack opening in a green iceberg.
Fedya came to stand over by Galya. “We’re going to need some room, here,” he called, “so we can work.”
The soldiers surrounding them stepped back.
Galya looked at the controls. She had no idea how to properly mix any of this to do any good... or bad. Fedya pointed to the carbon dioxide. “If we turn this way up,” he leaned forward so Galya could see his face. “Then…” he winked, “the plants will increase in the brown oxide…”
Frowning, Galya blinked at her brother. He wasn’t making any sense. Brown oxide wasn’t a real thing. He was making things up. “What do you mean?” she asked.
He rolled his eyes. “I mean, if we increase this, it will slow down the speed at which the plants, can oxidize and cause napping syndrome…” He pointed at the oxygen valve. “Then if we set the timer on this to flood the plants, all we need to do is get out of their way, and they will burn up all that green in their systems and turn a nice healthy brown.”
Galya tipped her head and thought for a moment. Changing the quantity of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the room wouldn’t have any immediate impact on the plants as far as she knew – of course, her plant biology was limited.
Fedya tapped f
irst his helmet and then her oxygen tank. “Can we begin?”
Galya’s eyes widened in understanding. Increasing the carbon dioxide in the room would have the same effect on the lizards as if she and Fedya didn’t have enough, and because they needed a higher concentration of oxygen, it wouldn’t take much to make them start to feel drowsy. Then she and Fedya could run back to their pod. The timer on the oxygen would be set shortly after, and the whole ship would go up in flames when the additional oxygen reached the fire.
“Don’t you think the carbon dioxide itself would do the trick?” she asked Fedya, winking back.
“No, because we don’t know if there is enough of it left in the systems to have the full effect,” he replied.
If the carbon dioxide ran out too soon, the soldiers would wake back up and come after them again. She nodded. “That could work.”
“Get on with it!” Ja exclaimed. “It’s almost dinner time!”
“Timer first,” Fedya said.
Galya reached out and set the timer on the oxygen release after twenty minutes. Fedya opened the carbon dioxide valve. A slight breeze blew through the room.
“What did you do?” Ja demanded.
“What you asked us to!” Fedya replied in an irritated tone of voice. “And we’re done now. So you can cook us or whatever. The plants will be brown by tomorrow morning. But remember, you promised to kill us at the same time.”
“I promised no such thing,” Sa boomed from behind them. “I just said if you didn’t do as I asked, I definitely would make your girl watch you die. Now, take them to the cook!”
The soldiers around them began cheering and chanting, stomping their feet on the ground in a loud thumping.
Galya’s hands began to tremble. What if their plan didn’t work? What if they got killed before the oxygen was released? What if the carbon dioxide put out the fire? What if they got blown up trying to escape? She closed her eyes and prayed to her father. Dad? she thought. If you’re dead, please send your spirit to rescue us. And if you’re not, please come rescue us in person. And Dad, if we die, I’m sorry I failed you.
When she opened her eyes, she noticed an odd thing happening. All around her soldiers were drooping – like plants without enough water. Ja led them to the cook, who glanced at them briefly and then said, “I’m exhausted! I think I’ll sit down for a minute.” Behind them, Ja nodded in agreement.
“Me too!” Fedya exclaimed, giving a big, fake yawn. “Maybe we can just take a quick nap before dinner.”
“That’s a good idea,” Ja mumbled, slumping down on the floor behind them.
The two children stood silently as the large alien beasts began sitting down all over the room. As soon as they heard a snore from Ja, they began to carefully pick their way over the sprawled out bodies of their enemy. They quietly and quickly made their way back the way they came, but as soon as they reached the docking ramp, Sa appeared from nowhere. He was gasping for air, and clutching his throat, but he still managed to carry his massive body forward.
“Run!” Galya exclaimed. Fedya was a few feet in front of her, but he was slowing and turning. “No! Run!”
Sa made one last leap forward and grabbed Galya’s arm.
“Let go!” Fedya yelled.
“Keep going!” Galya yelled back. “I’ll be right there!”
“You won’t get away with this!” Sa yelled.
Galya turned on her magnetic boots and dragged Sa forward, one slow, agonizing step at a time. He was coughing, but his grip was still as powerful as a machine. Fedya had reached the pod, and was standing with the door open, waiting for Galya to reach him.
“Hurry! We only have a few minutes left!” he called.
Taking a deep breath, Galya paused and looked at Sa. “You know you’re going to die, don’t you?” she asked.
“So… are… you!” he began to gasp for air.
“The closer we get to that door over there, the faster your death will come,” she said. Inside she trembled. All she wanted was to escape. “The vacuum will kill you in less than twenty seconds. Or if you last longer, you will experience your body expanding and the moisture in your mouth boiling – vomiting, defecating, seizures – it won’t be pretty.”
“You… won’t… scare…” Sa took several deep gulps of nearly non-existent air. Then, without warning, he collapsed, letting go of Galya’s suit. Galya ran as fast as she could. Time slowed – she saw Fedya in front of her yelling, she could hear a large sound erupting behind her… and the next thing she knew, she was in the pod and they had launched themselves away from the greenhouse ship as quickly as the pod would move.
Both children turned to look behind them as the ship burst. Flames licked out of the ship; glass exploded and shattered into a billion fragments. But, rather quickly, the fire died down as all the oxygen was burned up, and vacuum quickly took the place of any atmosphere that had been in the ship only moments before.
Galya began to cry as she and Fedya removed their space suits.
“I only wanted to find Papa,” she whispered, “and keep you safe.”
“We will find Papa,” Fedya said. “We will find him and anyone else who is alive in this fleet, and we will keep each other safe.”
Turning, Galya gazed at the greenhouse ship. Aside from a slight glow from some still-burning chemicals, it now looked no different from the rest of the fleet – blackened, shattered, and broken. As she gazed out over the ruins of her city, she saw the light of the comet drifting through the wreckage, and she knew that this was her home; she knew that she would rebuild and repair; and she knew that one day, they would find Papa.
About Ariele Sieling
Ariele Sieling has been a writer for her entire life, writing her first book as an eleven-year-old, called The Mystery House. Since then, she has pursued the art of writing in a variety of forms, from short stories and essays, to newspaper articles, newsletters, classroom curriculum, and novels. Sieling writes science fiction, and works to blend the potential for human capacity and future technology with a little bit of humor. She is author of The Clock Winked and The Lonely Whelk. She lives in New Hampshire with her two cats.
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Project Number 45
Marijon Braden
For over two years now, Amy set her alarm so that she would wake up in the middle of the night, just to make sure the world hadn’t ended. Again.
Of course, she was still alive, so the world hadn’t really ended. But The Brightness had seemed like the end, to her and to most of the people on Earth. So she set her alarm for two-oh-seven in the morning, just to make sure it was still dark outside. She flipped on her light and went to the window, looked up to the moon and said a silent prayer of thanks. Sometimes, she leaned her head out of the window to see other lights on, up and down the street. She wasn’t the only one checking. Then, she went back to sleep.
It made it tougher to get up in the morning to go to school, but she didn’t care. She was so grateful for school again that nothing could have kept her from going. In the weeks and months following The Brightness, there was no school for her and her brother, no work for her parents. There had been chaos. After all, it had been the end of the world, right? Why bother with going to school? Or work? Why bother doing any of the everyday things that made up a normal life when it was all about to end?
Her family had been lucky. For years, they had spent the summers at a sprawling cabin in the mountains, right on the lake, with rest of the Howard’s. It was there they ran to, in the first, frantic days, and had stayed for almost six months. They lived off the vegetables in Gram’s huge garden, fishing every day, Dad hunting for the occasional deer. Not all of Mom’s family had made it to safety in the mountains. Aunt Marie and Uncle Dave had been killed in the riots. All of Dad’s family had simply disappeared. They didn’t find out until almost two years later how they all died. Dad’s brother and his family had been killed on the road, trying to make
it to the cabin. Someone—most probably a gang —had killed them for the minivan they had been driving. His sister’s house had burned to the ground, and no one could say if the family had escaped or not. She was just never heard from again. His parents had killed themselves after the eighth day.
That’s how things had been, after The Brightness.
“Amy, honey, get up.”
Amy opened her eyes and looked gratefully at the pale speckled sunlight on the wall. “Coming,” she called.
She could hear her brother in the bathroom. He always was awake before her. He never got up to see if the night was still dark. She glanced over. His bed was neatly made. Bear-Bear, the one remnant of his childhood that had made it through The Brightness, was sitting on the pillow, fake fur faded and turning gray, one eye missing.
She and Matt shared a room now. When her family finally returned to their home, it had been requisitioned by the government. They could still live there, of course, but they were only allowed two rooms, and access to the shared bathroom and kitchen. For over two years, the government had been trying to get the destroyed homes rebuilt, but it was slow going. While half of the population was eager to put The Brightness behind them, and try to move forward with some sense of normality, the other half had given up, did not go back to work, and lived on the streets, begging and preaching that the End was still Nigh.
Amy did not mind sharing her bedroom, although she was starting to feel awkward about her thirteen-year-old body. Matt was eight, and didn’t care about walking around in his underwear. She did not mind sharing her house, either. She felt safer, surrounded by other families. Besides, she and Marianna had become friends. It was good to have a friend.
There were five families living in the house now. It was a big house — five bedrooms and three baths. Amy’s family lived in what had been the dining room and den, on the first floor, right next to one of the bathrooms. Amy’s dad, Paul, likened their situation to living in Russia after the Revolution, but without the cold. Paul had remained cheerful and optimistic throughout The Brightness and all that came after. Her mom, Susan, had clung to his strength and managed to come through relatively whole.
Amy was beginning to forget what it was like Before. She didn’t know if Matt felt the same way. He didn’t talk anymore.
The eight children living in the house gathered around the table, all crammed together. They held hands and bowed heads in silent prayer. Marianna’s mother had wanted them all to pray out loud, but Steff and Billy Calder had objected. There was no God, Steff had said loudly. No God she wanted to worship, anyway. So prayers were said in silence.
Today was Billy’s day to supervise, so everyone at the table was relaxed and chatty. Some adults insisted on silence. Some, like Amy’s mom, read to them as they ate. Billy didn’t care what they did as long as there was no food wasted or, as he joked, ‘arterial blood spilt’. By now, they all knew and liked each other well enough. No more arguments over who sat where, or complaining about one child getting a larger serving of food. They had all become, after a fashion, one family.
Justin leaned towards Amy. “Want to know what JamButt said?”
Justin, at fifteen, often said he deserved to eat with the adults. He was too old and mature, he insisted, to have to eat with the ‘little kids’. The adults in the house had all stood firm, mainly because when the adults ate together, the thing they talked about the most was The Brightness, and Amy’s mom had told her that children should be children as long as they could, and knowing too much about The Brightness would choke the innocence away.
Justin, having been repeatedly told he was still too young, would often try to bring The Brightness to the kid’s table, and the easiest way to do that was to quote Jameson Butterick, one of the loudest and most colorful theorists to emerge after The Brightness. No one with a lick of sense, Amy’s mom had said, would listen to a word Butterick said, which was why Justin liked to quote him the most.
Amy, her mouth full of oatmeal, shrugged.
“JamButt,” Justin said, “thinks that The Brightness wasn’t about the end of the world at all. He says it was aliens checking out our planet.”
Marianna frowned. “Checking us out? For what?”
Justin looked smug. “For possible annexation into their federation, of course.”
“Are they going to?” Clark Winston asked. Clark was fourteen, and worshipped Justin. “Do this annex thing?”
Justin shrugged elaborately. “Who knows? Maybe we weren’t good enough.”
“Why would they take so long to check us out?” Amy asked. The Brightness had lasted almost two weeks—twelve days of continuous light that filled not only their solar system but also the entire galaxy.
Justin looked thoughtful. “Well, they were checking out, like, the whole universe, right? Not just us. That takes time.”
Amy was not convinced. Like every other person left on Earth who had lived through The Brightness, she had her own set of ideas, but no one, not even the scientists or government, knew the real reason why—or how— it happened.
“Well, then where did they come from? If they were checking out the universe, does that mean they came from another universe?”
“Course,” Justin said, caught off guard. Usually, his pronouncements went unchallenged.
“But scientists say it was everywhere. The whole galaxy,” Amy argued.
Justin shook his head. “They think, Amy. No one knows.”
“’Cept JamButt,” Marianna said, and giggled.
Amy caught her eye and giggled too. The littler kids all started chanting, JamButt, JamButt. Except for Matt, of course. He just smiled and rocked back in forth to the rhythm of the words.
“Okay guys,” Billy finally said, loudly. “Don’t get me in trouble here.” The table quieted down, and breakfast was finished in silence.
Amy ran in to get her coat, and she and Marianna walked to school. Matt walked with the rest of the boys. No one seemed to mind that he never spoke. After The Brightness, a lot stranger things happened to people.
“Do you think it was aliens?” Marianna asked.
Amy shrugged. She liked talking about it, but knew her parents would disapprove. “Who else?”
“God?”
“Why?”
“’Cause it was time, and he promised not to send another flood,” Marianna said seriously.
Amy remembered all the Bible stories too. Gram had read them to her every night, by candlelight, when they lived at the cabin. But when they finally came down off the mountain and saw what the rest of the world was like, Gram put the Bible away and Amy never saw it again.
“I don’t think God did this,” she said at last.
She and Marianna crossed the street and walked up the drive to their school. It wasn’t a real school. It had been the recreation center for the neighborhood. But since there were no buses (there was no more gas—the oil fields were still burning) communities set up classrooms close enough for the children to walk to. Amy knew they were lucky to have such a large, sunny place to go to class. Her parents had told her of other places set up as schools, in the basements of churches, or smelly gas stations.
“So, if God didn’t do this, who did?” Justin asked, coming up behind her. Amy found herself tongue-tied. It was one thing to talk to Justin in the house, where he was like a cousin or something. But at school, he was someone different. He was tall and super—cute and smart, and all the girls had a crush on him.
Amy swallowed hard. “Well, I don’t know, but I don’t think it was aliens.”
Justin laughed. “No, I don’t either, but JamButt says crap that’s too good to pass over.”
Amy lowered her voice. “What do the grown-ups say?”
Justin stopped on the stairs, and Amy and Marianna stopped with him. He shrugged. “Most of them say it was God. Some think it’s all a government thing. The Calders? They’re really weird. I mean, I like Billy, but Steff?” He glanced around. No one was paying attention to
them, but he still leaned in. “She thinks it was Satan.”
Amy felt a chill. It was one thing to talk about what happened to other kids, and laugh about all the crazy theories. It was something else to hear what an adult thought, and to realize the grown-ups had the same ideas.
“Hey, don’t worry,” Justin said, laughing easily. “I’ll keep you safe.”
“How?” Amy challenged.
He looked at her, his eyes crinkling with his smile. “Tell you what. Walk with me to the Reading on Friday night, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Marianna nudged Amy with her elbow, so hard Amy almost yelped. But instead, she lifted her chin and said casually, “Sure. It’s a date.”
Justin nodded. “Cool,” he said, and ran up the steps.
Marianna grabbed Amy by the shoulders and shook her. “Oh, my God, Amy! Justin asked you out!”
Amy found herself grinning. “Yeah. I know.”
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