Grunt grunted.
Okay, I’ll take that as a yes…
Jack imagined something that he'd always wanted but had never had.
A super-duper king size triple meat feast pizza from Giuseppe’s Italian restaurant in Rockingdale.
It was bigger than a table.
Steam oozed out of the melted cheese and all the various toppings and swirled about the room.
It smelt gorgeous.
“What’s that?” asked Vyleria, licking her lips, only to see Grunt attack it like a lion would a zebra.
Within seconds it was gone.
Jack imagined another.
Still the lion ate.
He dreamt-up one more.
Same result.
Jack couldn’t believe it. He was like a garbage bin on wheels. Whatever you put in front of him went straight down his gullet. He put away six pizzas all in all.
Eventually Jack and Vyleria were able to have a few slices too.
It was delicious. The best pizza ever.
“What do you think?” asked Jack.
“It’s nice. We have something similar on my planet. Only they are sweeter.”
“What as in sweets, sweeter?”
“Yep. You’ll have to try it some time.”
“Okay,” he said. “It sounds a little gross though.”
“Trust me, you’ll love it.”
“Okay, we can try some later. I’m pretty full now.”
Jack looked at Grunt again.
“Hey, does Grunt look bigger to you? He seems like he’s grown and put on a little weight since I last saw him.”
“Well, he has been eating a lot of food,” she said, pointing at the little bits of fish, chips and pizza crusts that were strewn about the floor.
“Yeah, but could he have put on weight that quickly? And he looks like he’s grown an inch or two.”
“Does he? I hadn’t noticed. Maybe you’re right. Or maybe he was always that tall to begin with. Your memory could be playing tricks on you Jack. Too much space racing!”
“Yeah, maybe you're right,” said Jack, not entirely convinced. “Hey Vyleria, shall we go back to the control room?”
“Nah,” she said, “I can’t stand to be near HIM. Let’s look around the spaceship first.”
Jack smiled. He was starting to get used to this crazy spaceship and he wanted nothing more than to explore it further. And on top of this, he was making friends like Vyleria and Grunt and that was new too.
They hadn’t been exploring long when they saw a whole new world in one of the rooms.
From the open doorway they could see a swathe of jagged mountains, covered in a carpet of long, green grass. Two suns hung in the sky like liquid gold.
Jack had never seen grass so green. Not in Rockingdale and not in any of the nature documentaries he often watched on TV.
As well as the knife-like cliffs there were also a series of gigantic plateaus that towered up from the valley below. They looked to be thousands of feet high and like the cliffs they were covered in rich green grass as well as a few scraggily trees. In the distance a volcano spewed-out out red hot lava, smoke curling high into the violet sky.
Before Jack could even think about asking Vyleria to have a look around this new world she had already stepped into it.
“Hey, wait up,” he said, following her. “Come on Grunt. You too.”
Together they walked to the edge of a huge drop that looked to be one thousand feet straight down.
Jack felt his heart race. Like with Vyleria’s planet he could imagine himself tumbling off the edge. But he wanted to follow Vyleria and be brave. If she could do it then so could he.
In the valley below he could see a wide river that bent and curled around the foothills of the mountains, the tip of which nuzzled snake-like to the base of the cone-shaped volcano.
“Whose planet do you think this is?” asked Jack.
“I don’t know. It’s obviously not yours or mine. I don't think it's Xylem’s either. From what you said about his world it sounded a lot different to this. I don’t know why but it doesn’t strike me as Ros’ either. He doesn’t strike me as the beauty type. I think he would be more at home in a cave. That leaves Grunt and Padget.”
“I don’t think its Grunt’s. When we first found him he was covered in bits of ice. I think his world is much colder than this one. When I found him sleeping earlier he was in some kind of snow hole and it’s almost tropical here,” he said, wiping beads of sweat from his brow.
“That leaves Padget.”
“Yeah, well maybe… I just think.”
“You think what?”
“I spent a lot of time with Padget in space. He only talked about his home planet a little, but it didn't sound anything like this. He talked about robots and konsortiums and its bustling cities. It doesn't look like there's anything even remotely resembling that here.”
“Perhaps you're right. But how else can you explain it?”
Jack remembered the little girl he saw a few days ago in the corridor.
“Hey, this sounds like a silly question but have you seen anything strange around here?”
“Jack, EVERYTHING on this ship is strange, you'll have to be more specific than that,” she said.
“Okay well, when me and Grunt were on one of the lower levels earlier the ship for some reason became invisible, then we lost gravity, and then we found ourselves stuck to the walls like they were made of glue or something.”
“Oh, sorry about that, I think that must have been me. I was trying to work out how to operate the spaceship and I was just randomly pushing buttons. Xylem said they were non-important functions.”
“What? You don’t think being stuck to a wall is a big deal? I've never been so sick in all my life.”
“Oops sorry.”
“It’s okay, never mind, It was a little fun, I guess. Anyway, the thing is after normal gravity was restored I could have sworn that I saw what looked like a little girl appear and then disappear.”
“Really, what did she look like?”
“I don’t know. It all happened so quickly. I think she had brown hair and light brown skin. That was all I saw. She was gone again in a flash.”
“Maybe you imagined it. You were under a lot of stress at the time and you’ve seen a lot of weird things these last couple of days.”
“No, I don’t think I did imagine it. Anyway, I’m just wondering – what if this world is her world?”
“Well then, where is she?”
“Well like I said, she became invisible after I saw her. Maybe she's here now watching us.”
“That’s ridiculous Jack. No one can become invisible. Sure we have cars and planes that can do it. But that’s technology. People can’t just appear and re-appear when they want to.”
“Well, your cheeks go purple when you’re angry or embarrassed and mine go red, so if that can happen to us why not something similar with her?”
“Because it’s different...”
“Vyleria, what’s wrong?”
“Look,” she said. “Over there.”
Jack looked to where she was pointing. Some large black shapes were circling over one of the plateaus. There were at least twenty of them twisting and turning in the air. Then they changed direction.
They were coming their way.
“What do you think they are?” asked Jack, eyes glued on the horizon.
“I don’t… know,” said Vyleria. “But I think we should leave… quickly!”
“Yes... I think so too, RUN!”
Jack ran as fast as his feet would carry him, swiftly followed by Vyleria and Grunt. He turned around to get a better view.
“They look…”
“BIG!” She said.
“VERY BIG!”
“KEEP RUNNING!”
They ran as fast as they could down the slope. But it made no difference; they were getting closer all the time. And bigger too.
“We need to find somewhere to hid
e!” screamed Vyleria.
But there was nothing: only an endless landscape of grass, cut-up by a series of cliffs and jagged escarpments.
And then they heard it.
“RORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
A long, penetrating scream that cut right through them like a knife.
They all turned around.
Jack saw a host of dim silhouettes flapping in front of the bright, yellow sun.
They looked to be some kind of bird or vulture or worse.
Each one had to be as big as a house.
“RORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
A sound like thunder. A sound that seemed to say I’m hungry and you’re for dinner!
They tried to run again, but Vyleria tripped over.
“Come on! Get up!” shouted Jack, running towards her.
“Go!” she said, holding her leg. “Get away. Leave me!”
Two or three days ago he would have done just that. But not now, not after all he had gone through, not after she had helped him out with Gaz, not after she had become his friend.
And then they came upon them, a murder of shadows eclipsing the evening sun.
Their talons had to be at least a foot long.
All three of them were being carried across the wide valley, chasms of air gaping beneath them.
It looked like they were being taken towards the plateau they had seen earlier.
Vyleria was desperately trying to wriggle free from the tight clutches of her captor.
“Vyleria, NO!” Jack yelled. “You’ll fall!”
“Better than being EATEN Jack!”
“EATEN?”
“That’s right, what do you think they are going to do to us, ask us round to babysit?”
Jack tried to think of an escape plan. But he didn’t have time. No sooner had Vyleria said this when they were thrown headlong into a huge nest of yapping chicks.
Each one was as big as them and they were covered in tough, white feathers. Armour.
They looked at Jack, Vyleria and Grunt hungrily.
“What do we do now?” asked Jack.
“We RUN!” she yelled. “Quick this way.”
Vyleria ran up the side of the nest, grasping hold of the large branches and snapped-in-half trees, trying to yank herself out of the nest.
Jack and Grunt followed, grasping at whatever they could get their hands on.
They managed to clamber out finally, hands cut in several places. Luckily for them though there was no sign of the adults. Evidently they didn't expect them to last that long.
“Now what?” asked Jack.
“Rorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”
“We keep going,” said Vyleria as a tide of famished chicks poured out of the nest after them. “Before it’s too late.”
“Rorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”
More running. Panting heavily.
But there was nowhere to go. They hadn’t got far when they came to the edge of the plateau - all five thousand feet of it!
Behind them was a flock of murderous chicks, hungry for supper.
Jack gulped hard.
The chicks were closer now, nipping at their arms and legs with their razor-sharp beaks. A free fall into oblivion beckoned.
This is it, Jack thought. GAME OVER. THE END.
Then everything froze. The chicks stopped squawking and biting; even the wind stopped blowing.
It was as though someone had pressed the pause button.
And then they heard sniggering.
“Vyleria you are ssso ssstupid. It’s just a sssimulation.”
Of course, why didn’t I think of that? Thought Jack. They'd all been so caught up in the drama and excitement of this new world that they hadn't stopped to think.
He looked at Vyleria. Her cheeks had turned as purple as one of her sunsets. She was fuming. She switched the program off as quickly as she could and stormed out of the room.
Jack was about to follow her when he turned around.
It was her.
The little girl from before.
She looked in his direction for a second. Then she disappeared in a crackle of electricity.
Chapter 18: Light Speed
They were all laughing at Jack and Vyleria.
Xylem was telling Ros and Padget all about their close shave with the birds.
“But, I didn’t realise. We don’t have these things on Earth,” said Jack.
Jack looked at Vyleria for help. Her cheeks were glowing again. The volcano was about to erupt.
“LOOK IT WAS A MISTAKE OKAY! ALL OF THIS IS NEW TO US. I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU DO BETTER!”
“You forgot to sssay captain!” hissed Xylem, smirking at the others.
Vyleria gritted her teeth and clenched her knuckles. Her eyes burned. She looked like she was about to punch him again.
Seconds slid by like knives.
“Okay captain,” she said finally, gritting her teeth.
“You forgot to add Sssir,” rasped Xylem, to yet more howls of laughter.
Vyleria moved like a whirlwind, running across the room and throwing Xylem to the floor.
She looked wild, insane.
“Help me!” screeched Xylem. “She’s crazy. Get her off me!.”
Ros and Padget wrestled Vyleria off him as she kicked and punched away.
“You sssee what she’sss like!”
“No, I’m not! No I’m not!” she yelled, eyes burning. “It’s you. You’re doing this on purpose.”
“Look at her!” he hissed. “Who do you believe?”
Everyone, bar Jack, nodded their heads, agreeing with Xylem.
“Fine. Have it your way then,” spat Vyleria, brushing past Xylem on her way out of the room. “Good luck running the ship without me.”
“Vyleria!” shouted Jack. “Come back.”
“Want to run off with your girlfriend?” hissed Xylem.
“She's not my girlfriend,” said Jack, cheeks reddening. “But she is my friend. Leave her alone.”
“What if I don't?” said Xylem, his eyes yellow fire. “What if I don’t?”
Jack didn't know what to do. He'd never been good with confrontations. Once more the old fear returned. “I… I…”
“Yesss?”
“I'm going to stay,” he gasped.
He desperately wanted to go with Vyleria. She was his only true friend and she had helped him out many times. But something told him that she wanted to be alone for a while, besides he was sick of being pushed around by creeps like Xylem and Gaz Finch. It was time he faced up to his problems.
“Look Xylem,” said Jack, returning his stare, “you can say what you want about Vyleria, but you're not pushing me away. Not now. Not ever.”
“Well I don’t want you,” he said. “Nobody doesss.”
“Err… I do,” said Padget. “He saved my life earlier.”
“He sssaved my life captain sssir.”
“Err… yes sorry, my captain,” he said, his large eyes fixed to the floor.
“He only saved your life because it suited him at the time,” said Ros.
“No, I didn’t!” said Jack. “I did it because it was the right thing to do and he needed my help.”
“That’s what you lot always say. I’ve heard enough. We should lock him up.”
“WHAT?”
“You can’t be trusted,” said Ros, his black eyes burning. “And that’s what happens to untrustworthy people. We should make one of these rooms into a jail cell. Jack can be the first prisoner.”
“Please I… I can help.”
“How can YOU help?” asked Ros. “What do you know about this ship, about space?
“I… I can fly it.”
“Fly it, can you? Okay, show us how.”
“What now?”
“YES NOW!”
Jack didn’t have the faintest idea what to do, but he had to try something. It was either that or rot in space jail.
He walked over towards the control panels,
watching their searching eyes all the time. They gave nothing away.
He went from one panel to the next, looking at each one in turn, trying to see if they had any clues like: Press this button if you want to fly.
There were none.
But he had to try something. He couldn’t just keep walking around forever. Xylem and Ros were getting impatient.
He picked one of the floating panels directly in front of the view screen, guessing that the controls for movement must be there.
But which button to press?
He pushed down hard on a big, fat, blue button, though it was so light it barely felt like he was pressing anything.
They were plunged into total darkness, the room lit-up only by the ocean of stars poking through the view screen.
“Look what you’ve done you STUPID BOY!” shouted Ros. “You’ve only gone and found the light switch.”
“Well, how should I know?” he shouted back, surprised at the anger in his own voice. “It’s not my fault. No one showed me what to do and yet you just expect me to be able to fly the spacecraft in and out of supernovas and the like.”
“You can’t go in and out of supernovas,” said Ros sniggering with the others. “See this is what I mean. You have no idea about space. Why don't you just go home?”
“I would if I could,” said Jack, “but I’m stuck here with you, aren’t I? Anyway, what did I ever do to offend you?”
“What did you do?” said Ros, the lights flicking back on. “I’ll tell you what…”
“Take the prisssoner away,” hissed Xylem.
“No wait,” said Jack. “I can be of use to you, I swear.”
“No you can’t,” screeched Xylem.
“Yes, I can. Look if you are all such space geniuses then tell me why are we going so slowly?”
“What do you mean?” hissed Xylem.
“Yes, what are you on about?” asked Ros. “This is as fast as the ship can go. We’ve all tried. You can’t go to the stars like they do in your movies.”
“It’s not the fastest the ship can go,” said Jack, not entirely sure how Ros knew about Hollywood.
“How do you know?” asked Ros. “You don’t even know how to work this thing.”
“Because it doesn’t make sense for this ship to be so slow when it is perfect in every other way. This ship has to be quicker. How long have we been flying since escaping from the black goo, a day maybe two?”
Jack Strong and the Red Giant Page 12
