by Ross Welford
‘Tammy! Tammy!’ I shout, but she does not respond.
Is she dead? I can’t tell, and don’t even dare to fear that she might be. Already her head is swelling up where she hit it. I grab her shoulders and I shake her hard before gathering her into my arms and burying my head in her hair, not caring that it’s dirty, just wanting her back.
‘Tammy, Tammy …’ I say again.
Iggy is standing next to us, and when I look up there is an expression of terror on his face. I follow his gaze to see, through the smoky haze, the figure of an Anthallan coming towards us, leaping through smouldering undergrowth and getting closer with every step.
‘No, no, no,’ I groan to myself. ‘Not now. Not when we’re so close …’
Somewhere deep inside me, I figure that I am certain to be caught, and I am exhausted. Iggy has sunk to his knees next to Tammy and me, and puts his head in his hands with despair. I move back to stare at Tammy’s face and it’s like looking into a mirror.
Can Iggy and I fight off a single Anthallan? I remember what Hellyann did to Sheba the dog, and my stomach twists in fear.
‘I’m sorry, Tam,’ I say. ‘I did my best.’
This time I really think I have done my best. I sit back on my heels and hang my head, resigning myself to whatever may happen. By now the fire is getting close enough that I can feel its heat, and I do not hear when the Anthallan that has been pursuing us gets close, but I see the large, hairy, six-toed feet come and stand next to me.
‘She iss not dead, I am thinking. But we must moof quickly.’
Hellyann! I look up, speechless with relief, and I leap to my feet.
‘How … What …?’
It is definitely her, and she is holding something round and blackened in her arms.
Iggy is on his feet now too, a massive grin on his face. ‘She’s going to be OK, you say?’ And then he stops and lets out a cry of surprise. ‘Oh my word! Suzeeee! What happened to you?’
From out of Hellyann’s bundled arms pokes a tiny blackened head, and she holds up Suzy. Her feathers are burnt away on her head, poor thing, and some wing feathers are badly singed …
But she’s definitely alive! She jerks her head around to Iggy at the mention of her name. Hellyann hands her over and Iggy gathers her up, nuzzling her poor, damaged body and laughing and sobbing with relief.
Hellyann leans over Tammy with her healing stick and moves it over her skull. Seconds later, Tammy starts coughing, then she blinks and tears are streaming down her smoke-streaked face. She looks at me and blinks harder, then looks again.
Her voice cracking, she says, ‘E … Ethan? Ethan!’
And that’s when we fling our arms around each other in a huge embrace. It’s as if she’s seeing me for the first time, as if the previous hour or so didn’t happen. She puts her hand to her head and pulls it away, startled at the blood.
‘What … happened?’ she says.
‘You’re back!’ says Iggy, punching the air with delight. ‘You’re not … weird any more! How did that happen?’
Hellyann says, ‘Probably the blow to the head – the memory wipe was supjected to a cranial trauma, resulting in a—’
‘Yeah, whatever,’ says Tammy, looking at Hellyann. ‘I guess you’re one of the good guys? Carlo told me there were some. Owwww!’ She winces with pain as she scrambles to her feet.
‘Here, haf this – keep passing it over your wound,’ says Hellyann, giving Tammy the healing stick. ‘Yes. I am one of the good guys. But those are not.’
She turns and points back the way she came. Even though it is smoky, I can make out the unmistakable wide shape of Dark Streak striding through the smoking undergrowth towards us.
We’re up on our feet and running again. Iggy has tucked Suzy under his arm and is still managing to keep up with us.
‘I know a way through,’ I gasp to the others. ‘It’s near here.’
And I know it must be near because I can feel the tingling sensation from the force field.
‘Keep back!’ I warn them, as I edge along as quickly as I can.
Dark Streak and her partners are getting closer and I cannot feel the break in the force field.
Then the trees clear, and I see the spacecraft with its front open, ready for us.
‘Where is it?’ I yell in panic. Then I shout to the others, ‘There’s a break in the force field just near here – in fact, exactly here.’
I point to the spot where I came through. I can even see the scuff-marks in the soil where I lay down to hide from the perimeter patrol …
… which stopped …
… and made noises …
… exactly where I came through.
My shoulders slump when I realise that the hole has been repaired. Of course it has been repaired – that is what perimeter patrols do! Philip even told me.
Dark Streak is only about thirty metres away and they aren’t even running now. They know we’re trapped.
She shouts something in Anthallan and then in broken English. ‘Stop, ant you will liffing. Attempting further escape, ant you will dying!’
We are cornered. To our left, the flames are getting closer, while straight ahead, Dark Streak ambles towards us. I can even make out the burnt hair on her chest and head where she copped it from the burning vodka. Everything about her spells fury.
Then Suzy squawks and flaps her wings.
‘Shhh, Suzy,’ says Iggy.
Something sparks in my mind when I look at her burnt feathers, and then I yell at the others, ‘Suzy flew at the force field and burst through it! Where she went through, it left a hole for about four seconds. I threw a stone through it – it can be breached!’
‘It cannot be done,’ says Hellyann. ‘You will surely tie. Soossy was lucky, or perhaps her feathers protected her, or … I do not know what.’
Have I done my best?
Does doing your best include running at a force field and killing yourself?
This is all happening in seconds, and Dark Streak is almost upon us when a nearby tree creaks and starts to fall. It sends up a shower of sparks and smoke, which holds Dark Streak back long enough for Hellyann to come close to me. Then she turns and shouts something at Dark Streak in their own language. Dark Streak’s path is still blocked, but she shouts something back and begins to edge her way around the smouldering log.
‘What did you say?’ I ask.
‘I remindet her of when we were at school, ant we saw a human being leap in front of a motorcar to safe a child. I will be koing for a long-sleep no matter what happens. So, you know, tally-ho! And tell the Geoffs that I am sorry about Sheba.’
‘What?’
She moves away a little.
Then, without warning, she hurls herself at the force field.
‘No, Hellyann!’ I shout, but it’s too late.
There’s a blue flash and a loud crackling sound as a rip appears in the force field.
A strong gust of wind clears the smoke just enough for me to see the whitish gash where Hellyann has gone through, and her charred form lying on the other side of it.
I can’t stop to think.
‘Come on!’ I tell the others, and push a squealing Tammy through the gap first.
I’m not going to make it.
‘Go!’ I yell to Iggy, and he too is through, as I see the rip in the force field mending itself from the top.
I barely notice the loud creaking noise beside me as another tree succumbs to the fire and begins to topple. I have about a second left and hurl myself at the hole, but I’m held back.
Dark Streak is on me, her thin, strong hand grabbing the collar of my jumper.
She growls something in my ear and as I try to wriggle from her grasp I see her hideous, burnt face and smell the blackened hair.
I did my best, I think, and prepare to give in, when the falling tree connects with her back and sends us both sprawling.
There is a gap left at the bottom of the hole that’s about thirty centimetres hig
h, and I scramble towards it and roll under. My leg is out last and I feel a searing pain shoot through my foot as the force field closes around it …
But I’m free.
Panting and choking, I get up on my elbows and see Dark Streak, immobile beneath the burning tree, her blackened and burnt face in a deathly grin of agony that will – it turns out – haunt my dreams for years to come.
Iggy is on all fours, retching and coughing, while a blackened Suzy pecks at the ground next to him. Tammy is bent over, hands on the knees of her filthy jeans, panting, while the spaceship hovers a few metres away waiting for us.
Beside me lies Hellyann. I think she is motionless, and then I notice a slight rising and falling of her chest and I scramble over to her.
‘Hellyann. Hellyann!’ I say in her ear and her eyes flicker open. ‘Can you hear me?’
She blinks in response.
I’m blinking myself to try to clear my eyes of tears. ‘Why?’ I ask. ‘Why did you do that?’
‘I dit not understant, when I wass young,’ she says. Her voice is very quiet and it’s not clear if she’s speaking to me, or to herself. ‘But now I do. It iss a case of thinking that someone else iss more important than yourself.’
‘What?’ I say.
‘Sacrifice. It iss not rational. Humans are not always rational. That iss the point.’ She looks at me, and then to Iggy, who has crawled over. ‘Thank you,’ she says. ‘For being my friends.’
Her eyes are closing. Then her arm twitches. She squints with the effort of moving it as she brings her hand over her heart and touches it with three fingers. Then her eyes shut and this time I know it is forever.
‘Hey, kids! Get in. Quickly! The perimeter patrol will be around in a few seconds.’
I have never been so relieved to hear a bot’s voice.
The spacecraft hovers alongside us, and we cram together. My foot is badly burnt from the force field and I can’t put any weight on it. None of us says a word all the way back. No one pursues us from Earth Zone, although there are a lot of aerial vehicles heading in the other direction, towards the growing plume of smoke billowing into the white sky.
Tammy sits next to me, staring straight ahead and holding my hand – the unburnt one – so hard there will be a bruise there tomorrow.
Iggy is curled up, hugging Suzy.
I don’t want to say anything.
We all realise that there is only one thing to say and that is:
How are we getting back to Earth?
Obviously we want to know how, but as long as we don’t know, then we can close our eyes and pretend that everything is all right. So that is what I do for a few minutes. I close my eyes and imagine that I’m in the school taxi-bus, with Tammy next to me, and Iggy showing me his Death Ray …
It’s double history first thing, which is not my favourite, but then we have art with Miss Khan, who is OK, and the theme is space travel and I have an awesome idea for drawing an alien city …
This is nice, I think. So long as I don’t open my eyes, this is great.
And then I do open my eyes, and wish I hadn’t.
The roof to the underground chamber opens as we approach it, and the spacecraft hovers down and locks into position. None of us has said a word the entire way. The jolt makes us all sit up.
‘Are we home?’ says Tammy, wearily.
‘Not yet, kiddos. We will be here for an hour,’ comes Philip’s voice. ‘Do not disturb me. I am going, as you would say, “offline” for a little while. Minor repairs, power checks. Do not go far.’
‘Are we safe?’ I say.
There is a pause, then Philip says, ‘Probability of discovery here: eighteen per cent. Local message traffic all devoted to the fire at Earth Zone. Security presence here minimal.’
‘So we’re not completely safe?’
‘No. But when are you ever?’
I step painfully out of the GV on my burnt foot, and as soon as I do, I can hear something in the distance.
Hoo … hoo … hoo … hoo … hoo … hoo …
‘Can you hear that?’ I say to the others.
They cock their heads to listen, then follow me as I limp up the metal stairway to ground level. It’s a risk, but I have to know what is going on.
From our position, we can look down the hill at the rows and rows of Lego boxes. The sun is just beginning to dip in the sky behind us, but away on the horizon is the orange glow of the blazing Earth Zone.
‘Oh my word,’ breathes Iggy. ‘What have we done?’
The hoo-hoos continue to float up the hill to us, and as we watch, people come out of the Lego boxes and stand up, looking in the direction of the fire.
‘Are they … pleased, do you think?’ says Tammy.
‘Oh yes,’ comes a voice from behind us. ‘Very pleased!’
We swing round, and all gasp together at the Anthallan figure outlined against the darkening sky.
Iggy darts to the stairway, then the figure says, ‘It is all right. It is OK. It is I, Kallan.’
Tammy says, ‘I saw you before. When they took me away. You … you brought them to us. You betrayed us!’
Kallan shakes his head and takes a wary step towards us, holding his hands palms out. ‘No. I did not betray you. It was another of our group, old Ash. I had to pretend, though, or I would have been long-sleeped. I deceived them. It is a valuable skill. I had to trust that you would think of something. Humans are good at that. You think for yourselves – we do not.’
‘But … how are you here?’ says Iggy, warily.
Kallan looks over at the orange glow on the horizon and cocks his head at the sound of the hoo-hoos. ‘Do you hear that? Chaos creates opportunities. Like you, I took advantage of that and, well … here I am. Well done, by the way – I guess that was your doing?’
His English is much better than Hellyann’s, but I’m still not sure I trust him. By the sideways glance that Tammy gives me, she thinks the same.
She says, ‘So why did you come here exactly?’
‘Why do you think? To see Hellyann. To make sure she is safe. She and I …’ He tails off. Kallan looks me in the eye, and then Tammy and Iggy. Then he puts his hand to his heart and I realise what he is trying to say.
I cannot tell him.
It is Tammy that takes a step towards him and says, ‘Hellyann didn’t make it, Kallan.’
‘Did not make what?’ he says.
‘She … she is dead. But without her, we would not be alive.’
He stands there for what seems like ages, just staring at us, and then he nods slowly and blinks, a single tear zigzagging through the downy hair of his cheek.
‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘We all are.’
Kallan straightens up, and wipes the tear from his cheek. ‘Listen,’ he says. He gestures down the hill.
Drifting up on the air from the Lego city below us comes a sound that mingles with the continued hoo-hoos of the Anthallans. It is the orchestral music that was playing when we all met in Mad Mick’s Mental Rentals.
‘George Gershwin!’ says Iggy, grinning.
The beats and haunting wails of ‘The Rhapsody In Blue’ begin to fill the air from every public speaker and screen.
Kallan nods. ‘It might be how we remember her. This was brought back from Earth many years ago, but was immediately … “banned” I suppose you would say. Music has not been heard in public for centuries. You cannot enjoy music without feelings.’
Kallan bares his teeth in a sort of smile.
Tammy says, ‘What about, you know … the Advisor? Will he, I don’t know …’ She looks out at the city and furrows her brow. ‘Will he be angry? If he’s banned music and so on?’
Kallan gives a snort that could almost be a laugh. ‘He? There is no he. Or she. The Advisor is an it. Just a vast network that runs everything and keeps everything working just well enough – so long as everybody behaves.’
He takes a couple of steps and stands on a bench to see even further across the flat ci
ty, stretching his arms out to the side and tipping his head back to look up at the sky.
‘It goes on forever, space. Forever and ever and ever. We have explored a lot of it, you know? There are lots of other beings out there. If I had time, I would tell you about the eight types of Direenian from Direen. That is an amazing story. But why do you think Anthallans wanted an exhibit of humans, and no one else?’
Iggy, Tammy and I exchange looks but shake our heads at Kallan.
‘I cannot imagine,’ I say.
‘Wrong,’ he says. ‘You can imagine.’ He hops down from his bench, his eyes wide with sadness and enthusiasm. ‘You can imagine! That is the difference. That is why you fascinate us. Most of us lost the ability to imagine hundreds of years ago, diminished by generation after generation of automated reproduction and dependence on the Advisor. All that was needed were facts. Facts, information, formulas.
‘But you – Earth people? You dream, you lie, you cheat, you tell jokes, you tell stories, you make music. You love one another. You hate one another. And that makes you all different, which means that you fight, which means … well, you fascinate us!’ He looks up to the sky again and says, ‘Your imaginations are more vast than the whole of space.’
The chants of hoo-hoo-hoo are quite loud now, and there is something about the chanting that I have not heard before. The music is repeating, and the chants are now in time with the music, and it sounds joyful.
Kallan says, ‘Hear that? It is almost like singing!’ And again his mouth pulls back into his strange, sad, Anthallan grin.
There’s a humming noise behind us and we all turn to see the big, triangular spacecraft rising up towards us from the sunken cavern.
‘Passengers with small children or chickens have priority boarding. Please have your passports and boarding cards ready. Thanking you.’
It’s odd, but when I embrace Kallan to say goodbye, I hardly notice his smell at all.
He hugs me back. ‘Are you going to say anything when you get there? I mean, are you going to tell the truth – that is, the facts?’
‘What do you think we should do?’
