by C. G. Hatton
That night at the crash site, I crouched there in the darkness under the APC, listening, needing to concentrate to understand some of the accents, but getting the gist of it clear enough. Scary stuff. It just made me want to get closer.
I waited until they were getting ready to make their move then scrambled out from under the APC and ran behind the guard post. The next few minutes were a blur of frenzied activity, units getting into place as they prepared to approach the crashed vessel. Something had happened to the rescue teams they’d sent. No one knew what the ship was. And all comms were being jammed. I heard that clearly enough. They were using runners, hand signals and whistles.
They moved out. I watched as they hustled into position, waited a heartbeat and moved forward, creeping up behind them, keeping to whatever cover I could to keep close. I wanted to see if there was any insignia on the ship. I wanted it to be Aries. I wanted to think that a big corporation as cool as Aries could be interested in our little corner of space. Like, maybe if they were here, there might be a way out.
The hull of the ship was intact, damaged, but intact. But there was no way it was ever going to lift and fight its way out of our gravity. Whoever it was trapped in there, they were gonna have to negotiate their way out, and I wanted to see it.
But as the Imperial troops worked their way forward, guns up, and tension sky high, it started to feel like they weren’t the ones on top there. They were hesitant, arguing with each other, freaked out and nowhere near in control.
The metallic tang and cloying smell of burning fuel in the air was making me feel sick. There were bodies on the floor, in that no man’s land of open ground around the crashed ship, wreckage strewn everywhere. I followed them as they moved past massive chunks of debris that were hissing steam and got close enough to see the detail on the hull of the ship, black twisted metal, slumped on the desert floor in a way you never wanted to see any vessel. It made me feel cold. There was no insignia to see, no badges or name plates. I started to back off, feeling an unease deep inside that I couldn’t have explained to anyone. I didn’t want to be there any more. There was no curiosity or temptation to know more, I just suddenly needed to get away.
I was already backing off when the shouts from the Earth troops around me got louder. A deep thrumming noise reverberated from the crashed ship. I turned and ran. Rifle fire opened up all around me, sharp cracks that rattled my ears. The sound coming out of the ship deepened, resonating deep inside my chest. I couldn’t move fast enough to get away from it. I skidded in the dirt, lost my footing and fell, scraping my elbow and scrambling to get away. The vibration deepened again. It felt like my skin was on fire. The shouts were turning into screams. The pressure in my ears was getting unbearable. It was like the worst thunderstorm I’d ever been in, times a million. I stumbled, ran and threw myself under the nearest cover I could reach, scraping and burning my arm on the twisted metal as I dived in behind it. There was a flash, heat, pressure, then nothing.
I didn’t even know what had happened until someone grabbed my wrist. A weight was lifted off me. I blinked.
“We got a live one,” someone was yelling, foggy like they were miles away or shouting through a muffler. There was cursing. “It’s just a kid.”
They pulled me out. I hurt everywhere and I had to squeeze my hands tight, fingernails raking into my palms, to stop myself from crying out. I could see lights around me but they were swirling in mad spirals so I shut my eyes and tried to pretend it wasn’t happening. The voices had Earth accents so I gave in to them, no choice but to trust them, more scared about what Latia was going to say.
They lifted me and I thought I was going to throw up but everything just whirled around for a minute then someone was holding my hand and saying my name.
Charlie. I thought it was Charlie and I tried to say something but nothing would work. There was a cold sting against my neck followed by a rush of warmth. Inviting but I fought it. Delirious. It felt like I was sinking into soft mud. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to know what was happening.
I found out soon enough. Back at the Imperial Garrison.
I can vaguely remember someone arguing that they should take me to the city hospital but Charlie said not and they didn’t argue with him. I blinked open my eyes in a medical bay. Charlie was standing there with his arms folded.
He said, “Hey,” as he saw I was awake, not impressed and not hiding it.
I wanted to ask about the others but I didn’t want to let on that they’d been out there as well so I kept my mouth shut, except to mumble, “Hey,” back at him. Our game.
I tried to sit up but my head went spinning off and it felt like my eyeballs were going to drop out. Something was in my arm, a line snaking out to a pouch that hung overhead.
“What were you doing out there?” he said.
It wasn’t comfortable to talk but I managed to say, “Wanted to see what was going on.”
“Did you see anything?”
“No.”
Charlie shook his head as if he was really pissed at me. That hurt more than the headache. “You’re good to go as soon as you feel okay,” he said.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not,” he said. “Get some sleep.” And he turned, muttering something I didn’t catch as he left.
I didn’t mean to sleep but I must have because it was dark when I opened my eyes again. There was a medic there, checking something or other. She was stressed out, I could tell that.
I sat up, trailing wires, the line in my arm catching with a tug. My head was pounding but the room didn’t spin. That was something. “What happened?” I said quietly.
She turned, looked down her nose at me and said, “That’s classified, kid. Now lie down, close your eyes and go back to sleep. You understand what curfew means, right? Or do you want me to read it out to you?”
I stared at her for a second, weighed up my chances and lay back down, watching as she injected drugs into the pouch that was dripping fluid into me. Something really bad had happened and I had a feeling I was lucky to be alive.
As it happened, it was worse than that.
Chapter 8
They let me go the next morning. Maisie was waiting for me, hovering at the corner. She took my hand without a word as I walked up, just walking next to me as we walked away from the garrison.
My eyes were hurting. I narrowed them to a squint and stared at the ground, counting each step and each block until we got home. Two of the others were on watch duty. They stood and stared as we walked up. She nodded to them as they let us pass and she steered me inside. I couldn’t manage the stairs so she grabbed me a blanket and we sat on a mattress in a corner, huddled together, on the ground floor.
“Do you know what happened?” I asked eventually.
She shook her head. “We just saw the blast.” She shivered. “They’re saying it must be Aries to have stuff like that.”
I didn’t shake my head because it was hurting too much but I muttered, “They don’t know what it is.”
I’d woken up a couple of times in the night when there were people in the corridor, talking. Harsh, raised voices. People asking why the hell this scrawny kid was the only one they’d pulled out of there alive. They had no idea how I could have survived it when no one else had, except someone said I’d been found under wreckage from the crash. Ten metres from the nearest body, someone said, as if there’d been a calculated radius to the effects of whatever weapon it had been. I must have been just outside its range.
I’d lain there in the dark, listening to them hustle and yell, waiting for the next shot of painkillers. I wasn’t scared. It wasn’t as bad as the night we got bombed when I was five. Nothing could ever be that bad. I’ve not been scared of anything since that night.
At one point, someone had shouted out orders to get all the defunct auto sentries out of storage… anything, everything they had, to make a new perimeter further out. They’d been blindsided and they were furious. The language I’
d heard would have made Maisie blush.
She twisted round and looked at me intently. “We thought you…”
I thought she was going to cry but she didn’t. She pulled herself together. She leaned in, kissed me on the cheek and whispered, “Nice bruises there, panda boy,” then she grinned, got up and threw the blanket back over me.
“Where’s Latia?” I said as she walked out, trying to stop my eyes closing, eyelids feeling like lead weights.
“Trust me,” she called back, “you don’t want to see Latia right now.”
My great-grandmother was sitting next to me when I opened my eyes. I must have fallen asleep because it was dark outside, different kids on the door.
She had hold of my hand, tight, her thin parchment fingers stroking gently along mine, reaching every now and then to touch the knotted band around my wrist.
I sat up, aches pulling at every muscle in my entire body.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“You’re lucky.” There wasn’t much sympathy in her voice.
It wasn’t often that Latia came out to our hidey holes. Someone must have gone to get her.
We sat there and I ended up with her arm around me, snuggled into her side, like I hadn’t since I was tiny.
I almost fell asleep again except there were loud voices outside, shouts, someone banging on the door.
Latia stood, gesturing me to stay put, Maisie flying down the stairs and both of them reaching the door at the same time.
“No,” Maisie said to whoever was out there. “Whatever you want, it’s no.”
I watched as she planted herself there, next to Latia.
One of them tried to push past. “Where’s the blond kid?”
I got to my feet carefully, my body feeling like it didn’t belong to me, nausea swirling as my head threatened to spin away. It was the first time I’d ever had a really bad concussion and the worst thing was not knowing if it would ever go away. It felt like never.
“Whatever it is,” Latia was saying, calm and firm, “it can wait.”
That didn’t go down well. I’d never before seen them react to her the way they did that night. The voice got low and threatening. “Dayton wants to know what’s going on and that kid was there. Where is he?”
Other kids were running down the stairs by then. They got between me and the door, some of them turning and grinning.
It was exciting for them.
But then there was pushing. Shouting.
I heard Maisie protest, heard her cry out. The little ones started to scream. The high pitched squealing was driving knives into my head. I wanted to curl up in a ball on the floor. But I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. I walked forward instead and managed to say loud enough, “I’m here.”
One of Dayton’s thugs had Maisie by the scruff of the neck. They shoved her away and backed off. Everyone shut up then, glancing back at me like I was mad. Calum was standing on the stairs, up a couple of steps, watching.
Latia stepped aside, shaking her head slightly.
“I didn’t see anything,” I said.
“Yeah,” one of them grumbled, “I’m sure you didn’t. Dayton will be the judge of that.”
They beckoned me forward, pulling out guns to make sure no one else tried anything.
My great-grandmother wasn’t going to take that. “Really?” she said, holding up her hand to make me stop. “Guns? Here? In a room full of children?”
They weren’t going to back down but they glanced at each other and it was one of the others who said, more respectful, “I’m sorry, Ms Cole, but Mr Dayton wants to talk to the boy. He needs to come with us.”
She was determined but there wasn’t much she could do. “There is no need for the guns, gentlemen.”
They looked at me, made a show of putting the weapons away and beckoned again.
I had no choice. I walked forward, feeling the stares on the back of my neck. They grabbed my arm and marched me out.
They kept to the dark streets and even then they were paranoid and kept to the deepest shadows. I could see headlights moving through the city, the Earth military still mobilising, on high alert as if what had happened could trigger the KRM into making a move to take back their territory.
Maybe that’s what Dayton had in mind.
I kept my head down and tried to keep up with them, the impact of each footstep sending spikes of pain shooting through my head.
I was fairly sure that Maisie would be following us but I didn’t look behind in case I gave her away. Dayton’s guys were thugs but they weren’t stupid.
By the time we got down to the tunnels and through to the command bunker, I could hardly see. I sat where they told me to and tried not to throw up.
Dayton wasn’t there but the rest of them were buzzing, hyped that the Imperial forces had lost so many in one swoop. I tried to shut it all out but every time I started to doze off, someone would shake me awake or slap the back of my head.
I could feel Benjie watching me from across the room. He brought me a drink over eventually and asked if I was okay.
I wasn’t but I didn’t say anything.
He pulled out a chair and sat opposite me, leaning forward. “What is it? Concussion?” He looked like he hadn’t slept in three days.
“Something like that,” I said.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see anything.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to go outside the city? You were out there messing about at the processing plant, weren’t you?”
I just stared at him. I was still feeling flaky as hell.
“Did you get in?” he whispered.
“Yeah.”
He shook his head with a laugh. “I knew you could.” He looked up as Dayton walked in. “Just watch yourself, Luka.”
I took a sip of the water.
Benjie gave my shoulder a squeeze and sloped off back to whatever he’d been doing.
The atmosphere in the room changed as Dayton entered. Subtle. But there was an undercurrent of uncertainty suddenly, as if everyone was on edge, waiting to see what he’d do.
He checked some stuff spread out on the central table then he looked over at me. Right at me and said something I couldn’t hear.
Someone grabbed my arm, pulled me to my feet and pushed me towards him.
They were all watching.
Dayton didn’t even speak to me, just stood there looking down at me.
It was one of the other guys, an older man, who said, “What’s going on out there?”
Meaning at the crash site, with the Earth forces, with whoever it was in that ship. They were assuming it was Wintran, I picked up that much. It felt like the entire future of the rebellion rested on what I said next.
I stared back at them. They’d just threatened my family and I had a splitting headache. I opened my mouth to say maybe it was aliens but I could almost feel Benjie willing me not to be an idiot, almost hear Maisie saying don’t be a smartass.
“What is it?” someone else said.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see anything,” I said. I could still hear an echo in my ears as if my brain hadn’t finished rattling.
Dayton stared back like he was having to stay his temper. “You were with the Earth forces,” he said finally, with forced patience. “You were taken into the garrison. What are they planning?”
Comms were down. He had no way of snooping so he was relying on a thirteen year old kid to tell him what was going on. He must have hated that.
I was slouching, not feeling great and not bothering to impress. “I don’t know.”
He glanced to the side and a door opened. Maisie was pushed through, protesting, trying to shrug off the guys to either side who had hold of her arms.
Benjie stood up.
I straightened up.
Dayton turned away from me and regarded Maisie as she was brought before him.
“Welcome to the resistance,” he said.
She started to
argue but he got in first.
“You’re a very impressive young lady. Understand this – the situation has changed. The rules have changed. What happened last night is just the start. We need all hands on deck. You’ll be a great asset to us.” He turned away. “Take her for orientation.”
I started to step forward but someone grabbed my shoulders, fingers digging deep.
Maisie looked right at me, jaw set, staring right into my eyes as if she was trying to tell me not to do anything stupid. She didn’t fight them as they led her away.
Dayton looked back at me. “Now. You don’t know what they’re planning?” He leaned down and almost whispered to me. “Go find out.” He narrowed his eyes. “What we do here is dangerous. You want me to make sure she’s safe? You do as I say. Now listen…”
I bit my tongue.
I wanted to argue that she wasn’t old enough but I wasn’t stupid. He could do what he wanted. They had the guns. They could do whatever they wanted. And like he said, everything had changed.
They gave me provisions and medical supplies as if that made it all okay, but somehow that made it worse.
Calum was waiting outside, loitering there just out of sight.
I walked past him without even acknowledging that he was there.
He caught up to me, scowling. “What do they want?”
I didn’t stop.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me round. “What do they want you to do?”
I shrugged him off. He moved faster than I could think right then and he pushed me, hard, before I could duck out of the way.
“Where’s Maisie?” he said, aggressive like he thought it was my fault.
I kept on my feet, just about, and squinted at him. It was difficult in the half light of the alley to make out what mood he was really in, if he was worried about her or if he was glad she was gone. I could guess.