seemed more oppressive the further they travelled into the vast expanding flat grassland. There was no air, no breeze and Mars seemed to find it hard to breath, his head felt hot as he wiped away beads of sweat from his brow; the heat was starting to make him feel sick as he saw the track in double vision.
‘Can we pull over in the shade, I think I’m going to pass out,’ Mars said.
Wolfe looked across at him and could see he was the same shade of white as his uniform. ‘Hang on there’s a tree coming up at the side of an irrigation channel,’ Wolfe increased the speed of the craft and glided down the track. As the tree approached the craft began to slow as if breaking on its own, but they still overshot it by a few feet.
‘Damn! I’ll get the hang of this soon,’ he said, realising he did not know where the reverse gear was, to place them fully under the shade of the branches.
Wolfe grabbed the boy from the glider, he lifted his limp body from his seat and carried him over to the base of the tree. The relief was instant, although there was no breeze, they were out of the mid day sun, It was far too hot to be travelling. Mars lay on the floor breathing heavily, his throat was dry with dehydration. Just then he realised that Sheriff was carrying the entire supply of water on his glider.
‘I need a drink,’ Mars said as he rose unsteadily to his feet.
He dusted off the red soil from his uniform and took off his top to expose his skin to the cool air.
‘I have a little left in a flask, but we have already drunk four litres on this leg of the journey, drink what’s left. Once the sun goes down we should be able to catch up with Sheriff and make it to the jungle for nightfall,’ Wolfe said.
Mars gratefully received his gift and gulped the little remaining water down; he held the bottle upside down high in the air inspecting the empty bottle through one eye. Mars could feel a little moisture returning to his mouth. He placed the cap back on the canteen, and leant against the tree. In the distance he could hear some birds chattering away and the rustle of a rabbit as it scurried on by in the dusty soil. All around him more noises came from the surrounding wildlife. ‘What is going on!’ he said to Wolfe as he walked from the tree out into the perimeter of a field. The further he ventured into the field the more noise came from the animals. A few seconds later he came across a bone dry ditch, he walked into it and crouched down to make his way nearer the commotion around its corner, to his left and right the dried trees lined the field to create an avenue within their branches more and more birds sat chirping away fluttering eagerly. He sat there a few moments examining their behaviour it was becoming an exhibition of bird song like a chorus of a symphony, deep in the field the noise became deafening, he looked away and closed his eyes listening to the variety of sounds as he sat propped himself against the ditch wall.
He reached down and grabbed a handful of hot gravel it burned his palm, he released his grasp had triggered a strange sensation in his hand. First his fingers felt cold then his hand, the cool feeling quickly reached his legs and bum as a refreshing sensation rushed around him. He laughed, his body was acting as a dam blocking the waters path to fill the irrigation ditch beyond him. As the water level raised it washed over him breaking free to fulfil its destiny like a god bringing life to the valley. Now behind him, back along the ditch he could see the wildlife sitting at the waters edge drinking and bathing like he in the fresh mountain water.
It was so refreshing Mars thought as the water deepened flowing to fill the irrigation to overflowing. He pulled the cap from the canteen and plunged it into the water; softly he heard the bubbles from its vacuum break on the waters surface. He pulled the container from the stream and drank the crisp refreshing mountain water, it danced along his tongue and cooled his inner self, and it was like putting a fire out in the core of his body. He then quickly teamed the rest of the canteen onto his head, his hair, which had sometimes felt as if it were on fire cooled his scalp, it trickled down his face and his back making him shudder with relief.
A few moments later he dived into the ditch back toward the solitary tree near the track, when he surfaced he could see Wolfe had joined him in the water. For the next two hours they laid there cooling from the unforgiving heat, drinking water and relaxing, once the sun started to dip, Wolfe made the decision to progress with the journey.
‘There’s no sign of Sheriff then? It is no surprise he has gone the distance, his glider is so fast there's no way we could keep up with him and in this heat the best place for shade would be the jungle,’ Wolfe said, as he shrugged his shoulders.
Wolfe walked back to the glider as Mars filled the canteen for the last time, he checked to make sure the cap was on tight before walking back under the tree.
‘We might be acclimatising to the planet, I do not think the heat from the sun is that bad now at this time of the day,’ he smiled.
They both jumped back into the glider and simultaneously arched their backs as a reaction to the hot seats. ‘ Perhaps it is still dangerous after all,’ said Wolfe rubbing his warm back.’
‘We better cover our heads for protection,’ he said taking Mars’s top and wrapping the material around his head like a turban. Wolfe poured a little water on top of the wet material to keep Mars cool, before adjusting his own to do the same.’
Wolfe pressed a button and the blades to the turbine started to whir, he increase the revs for acceleration and the glider lifted from the floor to hover inches above the ground. The bulky structure of the glider moved forward steadily and picked up speed. As they made progress down the track Wolfe pointed out to the front. ‘Can you see that the track continues well beyond the end of the fields?’
‘Look into the distance, there’s a lake in the middle of the open plain,’ Mars said.
Wolfe looked carefully into the distance and then laughed. ‘That's no lake. It is a mirage! He continued to chuckle as Mars looked at him with a frown. ‘It’s where the heat from the land is so hot it creates heat waves, the air rises and acts as a mirror reflecting the sky off of it’s shimmer, which makes it look like water.’
‘Wow, that is cool!’ Mars said.
They continued along the track and Wolfe began to get frustrated with the speed of the craft. ‘Why can not this thing go any faster?’
Mars looked down on the controls and could see that there was buttons at the side of the accelerator. He gently reached across and inspected it before put his hand around the control. With his little finger he pressed the side button in, there was a quick surge of acceleration as the craft moved up into a higher gear.
‘I see, it is the gear stick,’ Wolfe said, as he again pushed in the button. The craft accelerated again, this time it travelled at a high speed.
The ends of the fields were now way behind them as they approached the end of the track in the meadow. In front of them, the mirage danced on the grasslands, never getting any closer as they chased down the miles between them and the Jungle.
They continued for the next few hours and Mars began to get worried about their direction, he turned to Wolfe and asked ‘How do you know where we’re going?’
‘Sheriff said if we got separated he would direct us to a new camp at the jungles edge,’ he pointed to a flickering light above the mirage, indeed there seemed to be a signal giving coordinates to his location.
The glider homed in, eating up the distance as the craft parted the long grass like waves in a sea. Mars looked back and could see their track had left the grass flattened. At the side there was another thinner track weaved in the grass. Craft had swirled around one another to make a large circle.
Mars turned forward and scanned the tree line they were quickly approaching, he could see numerous reflecting objects blinding their sight, as a result, Wolfe had to slow the speed of the craft by changing down the gears. Standing at the edge of the Jungle they could see four gliders three with camouflage spray and figures standing guard around Sheriff, it was an ominous sight, and now it was too late to change direction.
> Suddenly danger erupted around them. Loud shots turned the air around their heads alive with danger; Wolfe reacted by pushing the boy into the bottom of the craft. Moments later more shots zipped noisily around the craft. Wolfe ducked down as the windshield smashed and glass covered them in the cockpit. Wolfe quickly pushed Mars into a concealed space under the passenger seat for more protection.
As the craft came to a smooth stop at the side of Sheriff’s glider, Wolfe looked up from his crouched position, military personnel in uniform pointed rifles at him. ‘I do not believe it,’ Wolfe said as he held up his arms for his captors to see. ‘It’s an ambushed!’ he exclaimed in anger.
Wolfe looked around the foliage, and could see men crouched down pointing their rifles at him; he gulped as a nervous reaction. Whoever these people were they meant business, it was a wonder they had not been killed already. He felt terribly exposed, he realised that at any moment the order could be given to shoot him.
With lightening speed a man who was dressed more like an officer bore down on Wolfe. He held a pistol towards Wolfe’s head.
‘Arrest this man for questioning,’ he shouted to his men.
Two of the nearby soldiers secured their weapons. The rifles hung down from a strap around their necks before; they
Space Refugees - Star Warriors Page 7