Chasing the Stars

by Malorie Blackman

  ‘And we both know why you can’t,’ I replied.

  He wasn’t happy, but there was nothing either of us could do about that. If I went into the Mazon core, there was a minuscule chance I’d succeed. In there, Aidan stood no chance at all.

  A moment’s silence. My brother looked at me, a strange expression on his face. ‘Don’t die, Olivia.’

  ‘Not part of my plan,’ I tried to assure him. ‘You don’t get rid of me that easily. Think of this as—’

  ‘Please. Not another film reference failure,’ Aidan begged.

  He turned towards the console, but not before I deciphered his expression. He was scared. Actually scared. That shook me. I went over to him and hugged him from behind, around his neck, which he accepted for a couple of seconds before pulling away.

  ‘Get off. Are you nuts? Oh wait, we’ve already established that you are!’

  I smiled, though it didn’t last long. ‘Aidan, if something happens to me, do your best to rescue the people on the planet. OK?’

  ‘You want me to rescue the ones who’ll have brought about your death?’ he said, aghast.

  ‘Aidan, this is my choice. My decision. It’s the right thing to do. So promise me you’ll do what you can to save all those on the planet surface.’

  ‘I promise I’ll try. But that’s all I promise.’ Before I could reply, he added, ‘Vee, on my mark.’

  I crouched down, my protection suit in place, the visor of my helmet down. This was insane. The chances of this working were—

  ‘Three. Two. One. Mark.’

  A shrill whistle, an intense dragging sensation, and less than a second later I was on the Mazon ship. I had to close my eyes for a moment against the intense, blinding light. Even with my visor down, it felt like my retinas had been seared. I adjusted the light input of my visor to a more comfortable level. The urge to throw up was overpowering. That’s why I hated this kind of transfer, but luckily I’d done it before so I knew what to expect. Even so, my mouth filled with saliva and I had to keep rapidly swallowing or I would’ve puked in my helmet. The heat in the core was almost unbearable, even wearing my protection suit and there wasn’t a thing I could do about that. Sweat was already dripping from my forehead and my skin felt like I was standing inside an erupting volcano.

  With no time to waste, I looked around. The engine core of this massive Mazon ship was cylindrical in shape and about four metres in diameter, covering at least four levels, each roughly three metres or a storey high. Each level contained a narrow metal gantry, in the shape of a cross, to get from one side to the other, with what looked like fine metal cargo nets fixed vertically to the walls at regular intervals to allow access from one level to the next. From the look of the gantry I was standing on, it hadn’t been used since the ship was first built. In this core, energy was a tangible thing, stinging my skin in spite of the suit I wore.

  Ten.

  I scanned the huge engine core all around. I had two more levels above me and one below. And beneath the lowest level was the reactor. Instant death. There wasn’t a protection suit in the universe that could protect me from that if I fell into it.

  Nine.

  There they were. The core cells I was looking for. Two levels directly above. I had no time to climb. I’d have to jump, using my suit’s limited propulsion system to move me up.

  Crouch down.

  Eight.

  Jump! I leaped, reaching out with both hands above my head. Grabbing the underside of the metalwork, I swung myself round, crouched and jumped again, but this time I aimed not at the next horizontal gantry above me but the net next to the core cells I needed to sabotage.

  Seven.

  A frantic grab with both hands at the metal net. My left hand slipped, but my right hand managed to find purchase. My momentum swung me round and my back banged into the burning hot wall. I clung on for dear life – literally.

  Six.

  Dangling like a fish on a line, I tried to regain my equilibrium. I kicked out and swung back around to face the array of energy cells, by which time my right arm and shoulder were screaming in protest at having to take my full weight. Time was ticking by.

  Five.

  Looking straight up, I reached out with my left arm and grabbed hold of one of the energy cells directly above me. My visor readings told me I had hold of one of the right kind.

  Four.

  Pull! Now that my feet were supported by the metal net, I could lean back slightly and lend my whole body weight to the task. I tried to pull the appropriate energy cell out of its housing. The thing wasn’t budging. I wasn’t going to make it.

  Three.

  It was moving! I held on tighter and yanked. Then grabbed hold of the one next to it and yanked that out too, allowing them to free fall around me.

  Two.

  I pulled the anti-energy unit off my belt and rammed it into the core, replacing the cells I’d just removed.

  One.

  A rush.

  The dragging sensation was back.

  An absence of light.

  I couldn’t see a thing.

  ‘Vee, are you OK?’ Aidan’s voice came from directly in front of me.

  Pushing up my visor, I blinked rapidly, my eyes readjusting to the normal light on the bridge of our ship, which was considerably more subdued than in the engine core of the Mazon ship. I took a deep breath, quickly followed by another. The cooler air on my face and in my lungs was most welcome. Now I just needed to stop feeling nauseated.

  ‘Did it work?’ asked my brother.

  ‘We’ll soon find out. Send me to the second ship. Same deal.’

  ‘You should wait at least seven minutes to fully decontaminate,’ Aidan said. ‘If you go back now, you’ll have even less time to sabotage the Mazon ship.’

  ‘I can’t wait. No time. I’ll be fine. You’ll keep me safe. Send me to the second ship.’

  Aidan opened his mouth to keep arguing but the expression on my face obviously made him think better of it. I knew I was being terse with him, but if I didn’t do this now, if I stopped to think about it for even a second, I’d bottle out. I pushed my visor back down, sealing it in place.

  ‘Good luck, sis.’

  A moment later and I was back in the engine core of the second ship – except Aidan hadn’t managed to get me into the middle of the relay core as before. Instead my feet were on the very edge of the gantry on the lowest level and I was tipping backwards. My arms spun like fan blades as I tried to regain my balance.

  Ten.

  I was slipping.

  Oh my God! I was going to fall.

  Nine.

  I lurched forward, and fell to my knees.

  Eight.

  I looked up. I needed to be on the topmost level, three storeys higher. It would take at least six seconds just to climb up that far, even using my suit’s propulsion system, leaving me no time to sabotage the ship.

  Seven.

  What were my choices? No way could I make it to the right cells of the energy array in time to do any good.

  Maybe if I . . .

  Six.

  Vee, don’t second guess yourself. Do something. Fast.

  A rapid recce: the cells which provided energy for the navigation and targeting systems and the cargo bays were the only ones within striking distance.

  Five.

  I raced along the gantry to the navigation system relay cells.

  Four.

  Any sabotage here would be fixed in less than forty minutes. Thirty minutes, if I was unlucky.

  Three.

  Then I’d better make every moment count.

  ‘Aidan, I need a few more seconds.’ I spoke into the communications unit that was part of my helmet as I removed the closest cell and let it fall into the reactor.

  Two . . .

  ‘You don’t have a few more seconds . . .’

  ‘Hold on.’ I reached for the adjacent cell to the one I’d just destroyed and dished out the same treatment. I pulled the ant
i-energy pack off my belt, but my fingers – my whole body – were on fire and my focus slipped to the pain zigzagging inside me rather than the anti-energy pack. The display data inside my helmet was frantically flashing red. My suit was about to fail. The anti-energy pack fell from my fingers. I watched in dismay as it vanished into the energy reactor beneath me.

  Searing light.

  Unbearable heat.

  I couldn’t take much more. My protection suit wasn’t going to last much longer, but I had to keep trying. I was just reaching for the next energy cell and had half pulled it free when the lights went out.

  I was back on our ship, blinking as my eyes took longer than before to readjust. I fell to my knees, gasping against the intense pain ricocheting around my body. My stomach was heaving. I only just managed to unlock and pull off my helmet before vomiting with spectacular violence all over the floor. I vomited so hard and for so long that I’m sure there was a bit of cake from my first birthday party in amongst the smelly mess. The bridge’s cleaning robot immediately emerged from its charging unit by the door to vacuum up the stuff and sanitize the area.

  ‘Aidan! Why did you pull me out?’ I asked, when at last I managed to straighten up. ‘I didn’t have enough time—’

  ‘One more second and you would’ve been vaporized,’ Aidan told me. ‘You left it too long as it is. You have a number of second-degree burns and need to get to the medical bay.’

  ‘No. The medi bay will have to wait until we’ve rescued the people on the planet surface,’ I argued. ‘You didn’t put me down in the middle of the relay core like I asked. I had to improvise.’

  ‘And I had to save your life. By the way, you’re welcome,’ Aidan said with attitude.

  Justifiable attitude, I conceded.

  I took a deep breath. ‘Sorry, Aidan. I reckon we have maybe ten minutes max to evacuate all those people on the surface and it’s going to take at least three minutes just to get down there.’

  ‘You won’t be able to save them all.’ He was scrutinizing the planet surface scanner. ‘They’re too scattered and the damage to the landscape is too great. Plus a number of them are already dead.’

  ‘Put us down where we can rescue the greatest number,’ I ordered. ‘And let’s do this quick, fast and in a hurry before the Mazon have the chance to fix their ships. Every moment counts.’

  ‘For heaven’s sake, Vee, why’re you doing this?’ Aidan asked.

  I smiled, giving my brother an answer I knew would just aggravate him more. ‘My gut is telling me it’s the right thing to do.’

  Aidan groaned. ‘I swear one day your gut is going to be the death of me.’

  6

  I’d prayed for a miracle. What we got was the Earth vessel which had landed outside our compound. It wasn’t quite what I’d expected or wanted, but hell, I’d take my miracles any way I could get them. The explorer-class ship was hovering about four metres off the ground to the east of our compound, blotting out the landscape.

  And I’ve never seen anything so welcome.

  Or so dreaded.

  The bomb drops and DE bursts seemed to have ceased, which struck me as odd, but I barely had time to think about it. Pulling my arm out of Mum’s grasp, we both sprinted for the ramp which led from the ground to the belly of the Earth ship.

  Mum and I weren’t the only ones with the same idea. All around us, people were racing for the ramp. On the ground, the wounded were shouting for help and those in a worse way screamed in agony. The ones who really got to me were the severely wounded who didn’t scream at all. A few stopped to help others to their feet before making their way to the ship. I slowed to help one of the silent wounded just to my left. Blood and more spilt from a wound in his gut as I tried to help him up. Mum looked at him, then at me, and shook her head. Gritting my teeth, I reluctantly released the guy as gently as I could. He lay on the ground, his eyes closed, his breathing laboured. And then, just like that, his breathing stopped. I stared.

  ‘Come on, Nathan,’ Mum urged.

  With no time to even close the dead settler’s eyes, we carried on running. There were so many around us who needed help, but when I slowed again, Mum turned to shout at me. ‘Sort yourself out, Nathan. Then you can help the others. Keep moving!’

  So for once, because it was convenient to do so, I did as I was told.

  Darren, Mum’s second-in-command, was on the ramp pressing people to hurry up. Now the bomb blasts had stopped, I could hear him call out.

  Then I saw her. Anjuli. About five or six metres to my right, my best friend Anjuli was on her knees, blood trickling from a wound on her head. I sprinted over, pulled her to her feet and placed her arm around my shoulders and my arm around her waist as I urged her on towards the ramp.

  ‘Ellie! ELLIE? Has anyone seen my wife? Where’s my son?’ Darren ran down the ramp only to stop abruptly at the bottom of it. ‘ELLIE? Has anyone seen my son Martyn?’

  No one replied as they ran past him into the belly of the ship. Mum, who was now ahead of me, slowed her pace so that Anjuli and I could catch up with her. When we didn’t do that fast enough, she ran back to us and placed Anjuli’s other arm around her shoulders. We practically dragged Anjuli up the ramp. When I knew she and Mum were safe and on the ship, I turned, ready to offer what help I could to those lagging behind.

  ‘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.

  7

  ‘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.