Chasing the Stars (5 page)

‘Mike, come on. Move!’ I shouted to my friend who was only just emerging from one of the few buildings in the compound that was still in one piece.

‘I’m running as fast as I can,’ he called back.

‘Not fast enough if you still have breath to argue,’ I yelled.

Firing a furious look at me, he picked up the pace. The compound was full of those who’d sought shelter wherever they could and were only just emerging now that the bomb blasts had stopped. Why they thought they’d be safer inside their dwellings than outside where they at least stood a slim chance of seeing the bombs coming their way was beyond me. Plus the fact that it was an Earth vessel which had come to our aid didn’t exactly help. With the Mazon on one side of us and the Earth vessel on the other, we were between the proverbial rock and hard place. Now a wave of people were charging for the ramp.

‘ELLIE?’ Darren who stood beside me was still yelling for his wife.

BOOOOM!

The bomb blasts started again. Not in the compound this time but on the mountain a couple of kilometres to our west. In a panic, more people raced past me, but there were far more still in the compound, only just emerging from their hiding places.

The ramp I was standing on began to slowly rise.

‘NO! WAIT!’ Darren called out.

Before us, down on the ground, the panic was getting worse. It was now every person for themselves. Those who fell were not helped back up. The shouts and screams were getting louder.

And still the ramp kept rising.

Some flung themselves at the ramp and scrambled on. Now the ship itself was beginning to rise. Liana Sheen, our commune’s doctor, jumped up to the ramp and only just managed to grab hold. The ship was rising faster now. Crouching down, I reached out to catch her as her hands began to slip.

‘Darren, help me,’ I called out.

Blinking, as if emerging from a daze, Darren grabbed my shirt and started pulling. Liana took hold of my wrists with both of her hands as I heaved her on board. She fell forward onto her stomach, only to spring up again almost immediately. The ramp was now almost horizontal and still rising. Back on the ground I saw others frantically waving their hands and begging us to come back.

The ship kept ascending.

‘Let’s get out of here,’ I shouted.

We raced along the ramp to the cargo hold, the renewed sound of exploding bombs pounding in our ears.

‘Aidan, there are still people on the ground. We can’t leave yet,’ I protested.

‘If we don’t leave now, we won’t leave at all,’ my brother argued as his hands moved over the controls. ‘One Mazon ship is still out of commission but the other one is on our tail. You only caused minor damage to their targeting and navigation systems. That’s why it took them a few minutes to pinpoint our position, and why they hit the mountain instead of us, but I guarantee they’re already correcting for that. The anti-energy cell you dropped into their reactor has bought us a few more minutes at most.’

‘But what about all those people . . .?’

‘Vee.’ Aidan swung round in his chair to face me. ‘We can try and get the twenty-two we’ve rescued to safety or we can go back for the others and all die together. That’s the choice.’

Oh my God. Only twenty-two . . .

‘No other option?’

‘No other option,’ Aidan confirmed.

Silence.

‘Get us out of here,’ I said quietly.

The force of our acceleration upwards through the planet’s atmosphere pushed me down hard into my seat.

Oh God! All those people . . .

Left behind.

Eighty-five people on the planet and only twenty-two rescued.

I should’ve tried something else.

Something more.

Tried harder.

‘Seven seconds until we leave the planet’s atmosphere,’ said Aidan, his voice subdued.

‘Once we’ve shaken off the Mazon ships, I want to swing back and pick up any survivors,’ I told him.

‘There are no survivors.’ Aidan locked eyes with me. ‘The Mazon have just detonated a proton bomb where we landed. There are no more life forms of any kind registering in that area on the planet surface.’

I stared at Aidan. ‘They’re all dead?’

My brother nodded. ‘And they won’t be the only ones if we don’t get out of here. We’re not out of the woods yet, Vee.’

‘Put the Mazon comms on audio,’ I ordered.

Aidan tapped into their encrypted communications which he’d long ago managed to decipher. I could hear the Mazon chatter between their two ships. It was a series of clicks, whirrs and chirps, but I’d been studying them for long enough to have a reasonable understanding of their language. Aidan activated the UT, or universal translator, as a backup that I didn’t need, but I guess he wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

And my brother was right. We were in big trouble.

‘The detonation of the bomb on the planet surface will not be enough to deter the Terrans. We cannot allow them to escape our star system – or our justice. If we do, more Terrans will surely follow, and in far greater numbers. They are a threat which must be eradicated, as we have learned to our cost,’ said the captain of the larger Mazon battle cruiser.

‘But look how our assault has sent them scurrying like the vermin they are. Our proton bomb has annihilated all of the cockroaches left behind. Their contamination has been eliminated. Those who have run away would be fools to return,’ argued the other captain.

‘Sister Sikess, we should press home our advantage. We should at least pursue their escape vessel and obliterate it. They started this war, not us.’

‘I agree, Sister Sorres. Let us seek them out and destroy them. We have been wronged. Shall we not revenge? I thirst for vengeance against the humans. All humans.’

I couldn’t bear to hear any more. ‘Switch it off.’

‘But Vee, we need to—’

‘SWITCH IT OFF!’

Aidan killed the audio feed.

I clenched my fists, screaming inside.
Bastards!
‘Why didn’t they just use their proton bomb to begin with and have done with it?’

‘I suspect they were having too much fun making a game of picking off selected targets until you arrived,’ said Aidan. ‘Now they want to make sure neither you nor anyone else ever has any reason to return to the planet. That proton bomb will ensure nothing can grow or live on the planet surface for at least fifty Sol years.’

‘Including the Mazon. They’ve ruined that planet for everyone, themselves too,’ I said.

Aidan shrugged. ‘They obviously believe that’s a small price to pay.’

I couldn’t take any more. The opposite end of the universe wouldn’t be enough space between me and the Mazon at that moment. What had happened in the past had been an accident, tragic and terrible, but an accident nonetheless. The Mazon however refused to believe that.

‘Get us out of here. Maximum speed.’

I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes. The Mazon didn’t have to do that, slaughter innocent people. They were renowned for their xenophobia and considered all the planets in this system as theirs and theirs alone. But to massacre so many just to make a point . . .

Those people on the surface never stood a chance.

It barely registered that Aidan was walking towards me. Before I knew what he had planned, I felt a sharp scratch against my neck.

‘Ow! What the hell, Aidan?’

‘It’s medication to counter your radiation poisoning from the Mazon engines,’ said Aidan. ‘It also contains something for your burns. You needed it now before your body goes into shock.’

‘I repeat. Dahell! I could’ve done it,’ I said, annoyed.

‘Yes, but you didn’t. And what is the point of swearing? I’ve often wondered.’ Aidan returned to his seat at the navigation panel.

Glaring at him, I rubbed my neck where he’d just injected me. I appreciated his concern but I really could’ve done it myself. My neck was beginning to hurt where I was rubbing it. My skin would be ultra-sensitive for the next twelve hours at least, but I counted myself lucky to still be alive to feel it, unlike all those poor people left behind.

‘Where are the survivors now?’ I asked Aidan.

‘In the cargo hold. Now that they’ve all been decontaminated, d’you want me to allow them to leave that area?’

‘Of course. They’re not our prisoners,’ I frowned. ‘Let them come up to the bridge.’

‘We know nothing about them,’ said Aidan. ‘Are you sure about this?’

‘I’m sure,’ I replied. ‘Direct them up here so they can be registered.’

Aidan’s fingers tapped and slid over the command console before him. He operated that thing like a maestro. He was far faster than I could ever hope to be when operating the controls and I never tired of watching him work.

‘So who are our new guests?’ I asked after a while.

‘Twelve males, ten females, including two children,’ Aidan replied.

Children?

‘Why on earth did they bring children to somewhere so dangerous?’ I said, horrified.

‘You’d have to ask them that, not me,’ said Aidan.

Two children. How many more had been on Barros 5?

Vee, stop it! You did your best. What else could you have done?

‘Vee, concentrate on the ones you
did
manage to help. They’d all be dead if it wasn’t for you.’

I took a deep breath and forced a smile. My brother was right. I had to focus on the positive. After everything that had happened, to concentrate on anything else might send me over the edge.

A strange, strangled hush had descended on the cargo hold. Darren was kneeling on the ground, with his head in his hands, grief making his whole body quake. The ship we were on was still rising, juddering and jolting as we moved through the planet’s atmosphere, leaving our friends and loved ones behind. I looked around, shaking my head. There were so few of us left. At first glance I’d say around twenty-odd. Would we get the chance to rescue the others before the Mazon wiped them out? Without warning, the ship shook violently, knocking those few still standing off their feet. That last blast had been too close. If just one DE blast were to hit us, then we’d be toast.

Mum came and sat down next to me. She put her arm around my shoulder and kissed my forehead. I let it pass as it might be the last kiss I got from her. We were on an Earth vessel. That meant we weren’t out of danger, far from it. A cocktail of emotions stirred within me. Back on the planet surface, I really thought my last moments had come. Now here I was in the cargo hold of some anonymous Earth ship. Some of my friends were back down on the planet surface, no doubt still having to endure the continuing Mazon attack. I could only hope they’d make it to the cavern in the mountains. But was I any safer on this ship which could be blasted out of the sky at any moment?

Every second counted and was precious because it could be my last. I made a vow in that moment never to squander a single second of my life again. If by another miracle we got out of this alive, I would grab hold of life and squeeze every drop out of it.

A strange mist descended from the vents above us. I knew a moment’s foreboding at the sight of it but if someone wished us harm, they’d hardly go to the trouble of rescuing us first. However, this was an Authority Earth Vessel. Had we really come this far only to be recaptured? The thought made me feel physically sick. I would fight and die before I let them take me back.

‘Mum, d’you recognize this ship?’ I whispered.

Mum shook her head.

I looked around again. What kind of captain was in charge of this vessel? Would he or she listen to the truth about us and at least give us a chance? Or had we jumped out of the frying pan and straight into the fire?