Jack Strong and the Red Giant

by Heys Wolfenden

“That!” said Jack pointing to where he’d seen the light earlier. “It looks like there’s something shining on that asteroid over there. It might be the spaceship.”

  After muttering to himself about respect and rules and privilege, Padget looked over to where Jack was pointing.

  “It looks like nothing.”

  “Nothing? It’s not nothing,” said Jack. “I think I might go over there and take a look. Are you coming with me?”

  “You must be joking! Over there? With you? It could be dangerous. Besides I'm tired, all this adventure is draining stuff.”

  “There could be food.”

  “Food?”

  “Yes, plates and plates of it and all for you, my prince.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And it’s all for me?”

  “Yes, but only if you come with me now.”

  “And you’ll give me all the food if we find any?”

  “Yes.”

  “You swear?”

  “Yes.”

  “Even if you are on the brink of starvation?”

  “Yes, I swear. Now come on!”

  “Even if you were on the brink of starvation and you were about to die horribly?”

  “Yes, now stop fooling around and follow me!”

  Jack and Padget hurtled through space at thousands of miles per hour, the asteroid behind them shrinking with every second. They neared the place where Jack had first seen the glowing yellow light. It ballooned out at them like a huge, lopsided potato.

  “I can’t see anything from here. I’m going down for a closer look,” said Jack arrowing towards the surface as Padget grumbled after him.

  Like all the other asteroids this one was made up of a dark grey rock, rising up and down into a series of peaks and troughs. A fine dust covered everything. There were craters everywhere. Thousands of them. Some were as small as a one pound coin, whilst others were as big as an entire city.

  Jack surveyed this scene of desolation with a hint of desperation in his eyes. There were no lights anywhere.

  The fear in his chest rose again. He was tired, hungry and he wanted all this to just end.

  Maybe they had landed on the wrong asteroid? Or maybe he was having some kind of space mirage, like he had feared?

  “Where's my food?” snapped Padget. “I'm not moving another inch until I get some FOOD!”

  “I'm sorry… I thought...”

  “You thought what, Jack?”

  “I thought that we would find something, I swear,” he said. “Look Padget, I'm going to circle round and check that this is the right asteroid.”

  “But what if you never come back? What if you get lost? Or what if your boots stop working?”

  “My boots won’t stop working. We’ve been using them for hours now. If they were going to stop working I think they would have stopped by now.”

  “But…”

  “Listen, just wait here. It’ll be fine, okay?”

  “Whatever,” said Padget mumbling under his breath.

  Jack blasted off into space like a human comet. He flew all around the asteroid as well as several others nearby. But he couldn’t see the light anywhere.

  He turned around and zoomed-in towards the asteroid and looked again. It was definitely the right one, but there was nothing there, just Padget fooling around on the edge of a giant crater.

  Maybe it was a mirage…

  Jack set off again. There was no point in wasting any more time. They would just have to go back to the original plan and wait. There was nothing else they could do.

  Jack landed at the edge of the crater with a soft thump. He looked around for Padget. He was nowhere to be seen. Where had he gone to now?

  “Padget!” he shouted, wondering how he could’ve gotten lost in a few seconds, “Padget where are you?”

  Silence.

  “Padget!”

  “Jack…” He sounded weak, scared.

  “Yes, Padget. Where are you? Are you okay?”

  “Help me.”

  “Okay. But first tell me where you are.”

  “Here.”

  “Where’s here?”

  “In the crater. I fell. Please. Come. Quick.”

  Jack looked down into the crater and gulped. It was like an atomic bomb had gone off. You could have fitted the entire town of Rockingdale in there and still had room to spare. Its slopes were steep and rocky, plunging into murky darkness at the bottom. According to his space glasses there were lifeforms everywhere, though he couldn’t tell which one of them was Padget.

  “Padget,” he called out again. “Where are you? I can’t see anything from here.”

  There was no reply.

  “Padget!”

  Still nothing.

  He tried again and again, but Padget didn’t so much as murmur. The crater hummed with an eerie silence.

  He stood there for a while not knowing what to do, thoughts and fears whirring around his head like sharpened knives. Should he go down there? Would he be able to get out? Was Padget even still alive?

  But if he didn’t go down there, no one else would. “Okay Padget” he said, “I’m not sure if you can hear me but I’m coming down to get you. Sit tight.”

  Jack scrambled down the rim of the crater in between two steep cliffs, kicking-up boot loads of dust on the way. He would’ve flown, but he was unsure what was lurking in the shadows.

  His forehead was damp with sweat and his heart hammered like thunder.

  The further down he went, the gentler the slope became and the deeper the dust.

  Eventually, he reached the bottom of the crater, the other half of which was shrouded in shadow.

  Padget was nowhere to be seen.

  “Padget, it’s me Jack. Can you hear me? Where are you?”

  Silence.

  “Padget…”

  Still nothing.

  He turned around and looked up at the crater’s edge. Safety beckoned. He could just go back up there and hope that the spaceship would find him. It wasn’t his fault that Padget had fallen down here was it?

  But he couldn’t do it. Padget was down here because of him. If he hadn’t introduced Padget to the equipment room then he would still be up there on the spaceship eating away to his heart’s content. He was his responsibility now.

  Jack took one last lingering look at the daylight and then plunged into the shadows.

  He couldn't see anything at first. It was the darkest darkness he had ever seen. Pitch black.

  Then he saw something slumped over in the distance.

  He stepped closer, his breath quickening, his heart racing; the silhouette becoming clearer, more defined, more life-like. Then he heard mumbling.

  “Padget!” Jack shouted, rushing over to him.

  He was slumped on the floor of the crater and covered in some kind of dark, black material. It was the blackest thing he had ever seen, darker even than space.

  “Padget,” said Jack, “can you hear me?”

  He didn’t move.

  “Padget!”

  That was when he saw it move.

  The rock-like substance attached to Padget’s spacesuit suddenly started to wriggle and vibrate, morphing into a black, glue-like material. It oozed towards Jack.

  For a second Jack stood frozen, not knowing what to do.

  Then all around him the whole crater began to come alive as puddles and blobs of this black goo began to wake from their slumber and inch towards Jack.

  A piece as big as a giant’s hand crawled towards his right foot.

  He stepped away quickly, only to see it stop, wriggle around and come back in his direction.

  He moved again.

  Still it followed him.

  Then it was joined by another clump and another and another as they coalesced into a big puddle of black sludge.

  He backed away, colliding with something behind him.

  “Aaaaaarrrgghhhhhhhhh!” Padget shouted, rearing up and rubbing his belly.

/>   “Padget you’re alive!”

  “Yes, no thanks to you. If you hadn’t left me I wouldn’t have fallen down here.”

  “Padget, quit it. Let’s leave the recriminations for later. We need to get out of here. FAST!”

  All around them pools of black goo were coming together, merging into a seething black mass, its waves creeping ever closer.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Padget, his voice quivering.

  “I… I don’t know.”

  Jack's mind was whirring. Giant arms were now reaching out of the sludge, trying to grab them, clawing for their bodies.

  Then Jack remembered his space boots.

  “Padget!” he shouted, “use your space boots. NOW!”

  Jack and Padget rocketed up just in time as the black sea flooded their little island at the center of the crater.

  Jack was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when the sea of space sludge suddenly became a fountain, exploding upwards, spraying them with droplets of goo.

  About twenty landed on Jack. The outside of his spacesuit fizzed with electricity, his skin tingling. When he looked again they’d disappeared.

  “Come on Padget!” he said, flying to the next asteroid. “Let’s get out of here.”

  But no sooner had they landed when that asteroid erupted too.

  The space sludge was everywhere.

  Faster and faster they flew, trying to outrun it, giant balls of goo catapulting after them.

  All around them volcanoes of gunge erupted from the asteroids, until space itself was one big, black blur.

  And then they saw it.

  Their spaceship.

  It exploded out of one of the asteroids, zooming past them at an incredible speed.

  “HELP! COME BACK! VYLERIA! PLEASE!”

  Jack watched helplessly as it disappeared like a great big silver arrow into the far depths of outer space.

  His heart sank.

  “I’m sorry Padget,” he said. “I… I tried. They didn’t hear us.”

  For once Padget didn’t complain or try to blame Jack, he just looked at him blankly as a tornado of gunge whipped and whirled around them, raking their bodies with its tendrils and claws.

  Chapter 12: Lost and Found

  Jack opened his eyes to a strange room full of blinking lights and floating panels.

  “Welcome back!” said Vyleria, jumping out in front of him. “I wasn’t sure it would work at first. I thought you might have been too far away, but this spaceship seems to be capable of anything.”

  “How did you do that?” asked Jack, gasping for air and struggling to his feet. “I thought we were dead for sure.”

  “I opened a wormhole in space. I’m not exactly sure of the science behind it; the ship takes care of most of it really. I just pressed a couple of buttons. But even I thought that it was impossible at first - you were millions and millions of miles away and surrounded by all that black goo. If it wasn’t for Xylem having switched off all off-ship communication, we might have found you sooner.”

  “Excuse me, there's someone else in the room you know!” said Padget, staggering to his feet.

  “And who might you be?” asked Vyleria.

  “I’m…”

  “This is Padget,” said Jack. “I found him on one of the lower levels. It was his fault that we…”

  “How did you manage to end up off the spaceship in the first place?” asked Ros, green canals popping up all over his skin. Jack hadn’t missed him one bit. “We can’t leave you alone for one minute, can we?”

  “It was an accident,” said Jack. “Padget went out into space by mistake, so I tried to rescue him.”

  “Some rescue!” said Ros.

  “I was only trying my best. What would you have done?”

  “I would have left him!” said Ros, looking directly at Padget. “Anyone too stupid for space deserves the consequences.”

  “Oi! I could have your head for that on my planet.”

  “Well, we're not on your planet are we?” said Ros. “We're in space. On a strange spaceship, with no idea where we are or how to get back. If we are to have a chance of getting out of this mess then we all have to contribute. But YOU! By the look of you - all you have been in is your daddy’s kitchen. What use are you going to be?”

  “Leave him alone!” said Jack.

  “What did you say?” spat Ros, his eyes and teeth as big and as sharp as ever.

  “I said leave him alone. It's not fair. What has he ever done to you?”

  “He came aboard this ship for a start.”

  “Look, I know he can be a bit spoilt sometimes, but that’s just his upbringing. It's not his fault. He’s okay really. Once you get to know him…”

  “I don’t plan to!”

  “Well, that’s up to you isn’t it? But look Ros, we are all on this spaceship together so I suggest we all try to get along. Otherwise we’ll end up killing each other.”

  “Oh yeah, are you threatening me now?”

  “No. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Fine. Have it your way,” said Ros, storming off to the other side of the room. “Deal with him yourself. See if I care.”

  Jack was about to continue the argument when he saw the most hideous creature he’d ever seen.

  It looked like some kind of giant, mutated centipede. Its teeth looked like stalactites, its skin the colour of blood.

  “WHAT IS THAT?” asked Jack.

  “That’s Xylem,” said Vyleria with a worried look on her face. “Be careful Jack, he is a very strange boy.”

  “BOY?” blurted Jack.

  “Yes boy, Jack. He's not an animal, not all life looks alike.”

  “Oh, o-okay,” he said, not entirely re-assured by the idea that there could be billions upon billions of creatures out there as ugly and as terrifying as this one.

  Xylem however seemed oblivious to Jack’s insult. Indeed, he seemed to be ignorant of the whole room. He just stood there in the corner tapping away feverishly at one of the consoles, hissing to himself.

  Jack was just about to introduce himself to Xylem when he heard Padget whining behind him. “I'm HUNGRRRRYYYYY!”

  “Again?” said Jack. “You only ate a few hours ago and you had a tonne at that.”

  “Yes, but I only filled one of my stomachs.”

  “One? Why, how many do you have?”

  “Three of course.”

  “THREE?”

  “Well, yes. My people normally have two stomachs. But I had an extra one implanted last year. It's all the rage now you know!”

  “How many times a day do you eat then?”

  “Ten.”

  “TEN?”

  “Yes I know; it's not nearly enough is it? If I carry on like this I might starve. I've only eaten five times since I arrived here and after all the excitement I've had...”

  “FIVE TIMES! I haven't eaten once yet.”

  “Yes, you're right leave it all to me Jack, that's my boy.”

  “But what about the rest of the people on your planet – do they all have three stomachs?”

  “No, of course not they only have two. If they weren't so lazy like my father says, then they would earn more money and be able to afford three or even four stomachs.”

  “FOUR STOMACHS?”

  “Yes, but even that's not so impressive. My father has six, and some of the other Direktors have been known to have over ten. But my father's work keeps him very busy so he has little time for eating.”

  “Ten stomachs? But how? Where do you fit them? I mean you're not exactly a giant are you?”

  “The maximum after surgery is four. After that they have to be external. I will get my fourth stomach on my sixteenth birthday.”

  “I've heard of external hard drives, but never external stomachs. So what do you do then, do you just wheel them around everywhere you go?”

  “Yes exactly, although some of the latest designs can fly. This way we can keep on eating for days, weeks even.”
/>
  Jack thought about constantly eating for a few weeks. Despite his love of food, he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea.

  “Listen boys,” said Vyleria, “all this talk of food is making me very hungry. Let’s talk about this over dinner.”

  “Yes me too,” said Jack “Let’s see what this spaceship has to offer, I'm starving!”

  Jack had never seen anything so elaborate. It was like being in a castle or one of the chateaux that he’d seen on TV. It was bigger, grander and even more luxurious than the one where he'd found Padget earlier.

  They were now stood on a dark mahogany floor surrounded by huge tapestry-lined walls. A large fire burned lazily at one end of the room, its orange sparkle reflected off the giant diamond chandelier dangling from the ceiling. A host of lanterns and candles flickered in the twilight like a hive of bees. In the centre of the room hundreds of plates and glasses were hovering in mid-air, stacked on top of each other in the shape of a pyramid, each one of which was overflowing with all different kinds of food and drink.

  Jack darted towards the banquet immediately, swiftly followed by everyone else, an ornately-carved wooden hover-seat rushing up to greet him as soon as he arrived.

  He was so hungry. They all were. It was like an inter-galactic eating competition.

  Before Jack was a huge plate of fish and chips, a bowl of hot sticky chocolate pudding and custard and a cool glass of Vimto. The chips were easily the warmest, chunkiest and crispiest he’d ever eaten, and this was rivaled in taste by the shark-like cod next to them. Steam and vinegar oozed from them both as he cut and shoveled fork load after fork load into his famished mouth. It was easily the best food he had ever tasted. He only wished that his mum and dad could try it too.

  Jack looked around to see what the others were eating.

  Vyleria had some kind of salad, with many brightly-coloured vegetables, plus a side plate of raw fish that glittered in the candlelight.

  Ros seemed content with just a few brown beans on his plate, washed down with a bowl of grey gruel. That and rocks. At first Jack thought he was seeing things, that it must be some kind of odd-looking meatball, but the closer he looked the more rock-like it became.

  “Hey Ros,” he asked. “What's that you're eating?”

  At first Ros refused to even look at him, never mind answer. “Ros, what food is that?” Jack repeated.