Jack Strong and the Red Giant

by Heys Wolfenden

  The first peak reared above him like a huge wave. He climbed it slowly, his arms and legs shaking, the wind buffeting and shrieking.

  He tried not to turn round and look down, but he couldn't help it. The instant he did he felt his body totter and lurch in the wind. Instinctively, he grabbed at the rock, hugging the cliff-face.

  Everything was swirling, he felt like he would fall off at any moment. He tried to turn his head, but stopped half way, too afraid to look. He could feel his heart beating like a drum as his fingers dug deeper and deeper into the rock.

  He looked up, hoping to see the top, but there was still another hundred feet left. His heart sank. He couldn’t make it that far. It was too high, too dangerous...

  What would Vyleria do? If she was in his place she would carry on regardless, no matter what. If she could do it, then so could he, even if he was scared out of his mind.

  He slowly put one hand forward, then another, followed by his legs, as he ascended the hundred feet of rock, inch by heart-stopping inch.

  He arrived at the summit an hour later, sweating and panting. One down. Seven more to go. And each one higher and steeper than the one he'd just climbed.

  Jack took a deep breath as he clambered over the edge. The cliff-face dropped almost vertically for fifty feet before rising up again into the next peak.

  He was about half way down when a rock came loose in his hand. He thrust out a hand just in time to stop his fall, the sharp rocks at the bottom grinning back up at him as he dangled in the air like a rabbit wriggling in an eagle’s talons.

  He twisted about for a few seconds, his legs scraping up and down the hard rock, seeing nothing but the big gulf of air and his own impending doom, until he managed to stretch out his right hand and grasp the thinnest of handholds. Then he slowly hoisted himself up over the edge, his arms burning, and rolled his squirming body to safety.

  Jack gasped for air as soon as he was back on the ridge, heart pounding like a cannon. Then he got to his feet and kept on going.

  Jack climbed for hours.

  The distance hadn’t looked that great at first with the ridge squashed up like a huge concertina, but the further he went the longer and more tiresome it got. Conquering one peak only led to another and another, each one of which vied for the title of the highest, steepest and most dangerous of the lot.

  Finally, after what felt like hours of climbing he stepped off the ridge and onto the slopes of the volcano. It was the most awesome, most impressive and most fearsome thing he had ever seen. It towered above the surrounding valleys and mountains, with slopes even steeper than those of the ridge he’d been climbing. At the top, huge plumes of ash and smoke as well as wild, bubbling streams of lava were spitting from its mouth.

  At first he didn’t know what to do. He was absolutely shattered. The climb along the ridge had taken so much out of him, and he was getting hungrier and thirstier by the minute. He’d been away from the spacecraft too long. His mind and body yearned for something easier, something quicker, something less tiring. The climb along the ridge had been hard, but the task in front of him seemed impossible. How was he going to find Ros now?

  Jack slumped down onto the hard, uneven rock, and wearily closed his eyes.

  He was asleep in moments. Not for long, but long enough to dream about Gaz Finch. He awoke just as a grinning Gaz was pummeling his head in with his fists, his own hands too weak, too scared to resist.

  Jack stared at the volcano. He’d always ran from his fears and never stood up for himself. Though Gaz was far away and could no longer hurt him, in a sense the volcano was Gaz, this ridge was Gaz, the creatures in the valley were Gaz, the whole of space and his entire adventure so far had been Gaz. He’d stood up to him a hundred, if not a thousand times already and won every single battle. So even though he didn’t know how to do it yet, and even though he was tired beyond belief, he would win this last battle with the volcano too. As long as he kept on trying and didn't give in to his fears, then anything was possible.

  Jack aimed for a cave a few hundred feet up the sheer black face in front of him. He guessed that from there he would be able to find a way into the volcano to Ros. Hopefully it wouldn’t erupt with him inside…

  As he climbed higher it became clear that the region he had been looking at earlier was getting vaster by the second. What he thought was a few hundred feet was actually a few thousand. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, or in this case a needle in a red hot river of molten lava. But whatever happened Jack was going to keep on looking for Ros until it was no longer possible to do otherwise. He’d come too far to let Gaz win now.

  The higher up Jack went the bigger the volcano got, until eventually its dark shape eclipsed the whole sky. He looked up towards its towering, unreachable summit. Several black shadows were circling above the rim of the crater. Birds?

  The cliff was almost vertical now. Undeterred, he climbed the rock face as skillfully and as quickly as he could, lurching from handhold to handhold, his tired legs thrusting his body ever upwards.

  The ground quickly sank away beneath him. He was hundreds of feet up now, twirling about like a fly on a wall. Where once there was fear there was now only a calm determination.

  He was about two hundred and fifty feet up when he ran out of handholds. He dangled about for a while not knowing what to do. Should he go back down or try to keep on going? The wind whistled around his ears; gravity and fatigue begged him to let go.

  He tried to lower his body down to find the hand and footholds that he'd used to pull himself up with. But everything seemed different now, more muddled. His feet searched for gaps in the rock that weren’t there. His fingers clutched nothing but air. He could try and descend bit by bit, but one wrong move and he was going to end up a bloody mess on the rocks below.

  He was trapped.

  He began to panic. He'd been so determined to beat the volcano and find a way in to save Ros that he hadn’t realised how high up he’d climbed. He hung there for at least twenty minutes, feeling the energy drain from his hands and feet as he shuffled about nervously on the rock. He was just about to give in and try to go back down anyway when he saw what looked like another cave twenty or so feet off to his right. A huge overhang of rock had hidden it from him earlier. Could he make it?

  He stretched out his right leg, searching for some kind of ledge, anything to support his sagging body.

  He found one. It wasn’t much but it was enough to take some of his weight for a while.

  Then he pushed his right arm upwards and grabbed a small knob of rock just off to the right, before swinging his whole body over.

  He slipped.

  Just as he was about to fall he jammed his knee into a small hole in the rock, stopping his slide. His knee screeched with pain. He could feel warm blood trickling down his leg.

  He was just about to attempt another leap when a gust of wind buffeted him, almost blowing him off the volcano. He tried to reverse course, but like before he found he couldn’t repeat the same movement backwards.

  There was no way back now. He was either going to make it or he was going to fall.

  But it didn’t get any easier, the foot and hand holds becoming less secure as he went.

  At that moment Jack wanted to be anywhere else in the whole universe, even on a football pitch with Gaz. He began to feel dizzy, his breath ragged. The rock and the sky began to spin and sway as the wind whistled and whirled, and he could feel his heart trying to pound its way out of his chest.

  He looked about to see how close he was to the cave, but he couldn't see it anywhere. He pressed his body as close as possible to the rock, trying to hold on, trying to survive, though his whole body yearned for rest.

  He wasn’t going to make it. He was going to fall. He was going to die.

  “Come on, Jack!” he shouted to himself. “You have to keep going. Don't give up! Vyleria wouldn’t. It's there, you know it is. It's just a few feet away – you'll see it soon!” />
  His arms and legs were as weak as he could remember, but he dug deep for one last effort, one last slog up the mountain.

  He found a knobble of rock. Then a few more. Then a small gap for his knee to rest in. Then there was a little divot for one of his legs. More followed.

  Finally, he saw the cave loom out of the rock face like the jaws of a python. He was only a few feet away now.

  Another leap and a panicked scramble and he was inside.

  Jack Strong: the boy whose last school report said: ‘A hopeless dreamer. Must apply himself!!!’ had just climbed a three hundred foot near-vertical wall into the side of a super massive volcano. He was ready for anything now.

  Chapter 33: Escape

  Vyleria listened as Kat’s life ebbed from her, one heartbeat at a time. There were Xenti soldiers everywhere now, dozens and dozens of them by the sound of it. It was over, she’d failed.

  Then she heard someone else, mumbling away from the others.

  “Padget, is that you?”

  “Vyleria?” said Padget with a sniffle. “I thought… I thought you were dead.”

  “Not yet,” she said, pushing back a wave of nausea. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “They’ve killed her, Vyleria. Whoever was hiding here, she’s dead – they’ve just shot her and I'm next, no thanks to you.”

  Vyleria had only moments to think. If they wanted to get out of this alive then she had to act fast. She summoned up what little strength she had left. “Padget, I want you to listen to me very carefully. I want you to fire the cannon.”

  “What? Are you mad? I don’t stand a chance.”

  “You do while they’re distracted. A girl appearing out of nowhere tends to do that. Do it now whilst they’re still trying to figure out where Kat came from.”

  “Who?”

  “The girl on the floor! Look, we’ve no time for that now. FIRE THE CANNON! Quick. We’re running out of time.”

  “But…”

  “Do it. DO IT NOW.”

  All Vyleria heard next was a noisy mix of heavy breathing, frantic Xenti voices, followed by the thud thud of sonic cannon fire. Never had weapons’ fire sounded so good. The rumble of a hundred explosions crashed down her ears, each one rivaling the other to be the loudest and most destructive.

  “Well done Padget. Now switch over to the pilot’s console and get out of there. Padget…”

  He didn’t respond. All she heard were more shouts and the sound of laser fire ricocheting around the control room. What is going on?

  “Padget?” she begged, feeling dizzier than ever. “Padget, are you there?”

  Moments passed, then she heard the sound of someone scrambling for breath. “Padget, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

  She kept shouting at him to answer her, but all he did was moan, cough and whimper.

  He was dying, and with him her hopes of rescue were dying too…

  “Don’t move Kat,” said Vyleria. “If they realise you’re still alive they’ll kill you. I can hear Xenti soldiers all around you, but by the sound of it they are busy with Padget now. Just hang on… I’ll… I’ll think of something.”

  What could she do all the way back here? She couldn’t even heal herself. If only she had access to the ship’s medical facilities…

  Of course! How could I have been so stupid? She thought.

  “Kat, I need you to listen very carefully. I want you to think of nothing else except being healed. Do you understand?”

  “What good will that do?” she moaned.

  “Just trust me.”

  “Okay,” she said, wincing from the pain. “I’ll do it…”

  “Kat?”

  Silence.

  “Kat? Are you there?”

  “It’s… it’s working,” she garbled. “I can… I can feel myself getting better. The wound is healing.”

  “Great, but we’re not out of the galactic woods yet. I want you to listen very closely. I’ve got an idea. It’s completely space-bonkers, but since this is some kind of super-spaceship it’s worth a try. I want you to close your eyes again and imagine all the non-crew members off the spaceship. Do you understand?”

  “But what good will that do?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not even sure if it will work myself. But it’s the only chance we have. I don’t fancy your chances if you have to shoot your way out. I just hope Xylem hasn’t had time to block us from the ship’s controls.”

  “But what if he has?”

  “We can’t worry about that now. We’re out of options...”

  Seconds ticked by like bombs. Vyleria fought back the urge to vomit. The darkness leered all around her.

  “I did it!” yelled Kat suddenly. “I did it! I don’t know how, but it worked. They’re gone. All of them. Now what do I do?”

  “Can you see the pilot’s control? It should be directly in front of the view screen.”

  “Yes.”

  “Is Padget still in it?”

  “No, he’s next to it on the floor. There are Xenti all around him. Oh no, all that blood. It looks like he’s swimming in it.”

  “Try to put him out of your mind. Focus on the task in hand. If you don’t we’re all dead. Just jump in and let the machine do the rest. Don’t worry, I’ll guide you through it.”

  Vyleria heard the sound of Kat’s footsteps scurrying over the metal floor, followed by the electronic fizz of the pilot’s control folding-up around her. Once more she managed to avoid being sick.

  “Now what do I do?” asked Kat, the dim thud of explosions once more reverberating around her ears. “Some of the other spaceships in here are firing at me! There’s so many of them.”

  “Don’t panic. All you need to do is think about going in a particular direction and then the spaceship will take you there. What can you see around you? Did Padget manage to blast a hole in the Xenti ship’s side?”

  “Yes. It’s huge. Like the mouth of a giant cavern. But there’s some strange orange light where the stars should be. It’s moving. It’s like a sea of fire.”

  “That must be a force field. I doubt it will stop you, but if it does give it a burst of sonic cannon fire – that should take care of it.”

  Seconds passed. More explosions rattled her eardrums.

  “I’m free!” shouted Kat a few seconds later. “I’m in space, but there’s more of them now. They look like giant, malformed insects. They’re shooting at us. What should I do?”

  Vyleria almost fainted. She felt so weak. She just wanted to sleep, for everything to just end. But she had to hold on. She could tell Kat to keep on firing: they probably had enough firepower to destroy their whole fleet, never mind one measly battleship. But that would have to wait for another day. Padget and her needed urgent medical attention. “Right Kat, listen to me,” she said, her breath catching in her chest. “If you look to your left you will notice a series of icons. I need you to find two of them: one is a star - that’s the star map; the other looks like a spaceship.”

  “Found them,” said Kat as another burst of laser fire crackled all around her.

  “Great, if you tap on the star map it will bring up a series of star systems from all around the galaxy.”

  “But there’s so many of them,” said Kat. “How do I know which one to choose?”

  “Just select one of the stars at random. Once you do that the spaceship will fly there automatically. Got it?”

  “Yeah, but shouldn’t I come to you first?”

  “Not right now Kat,” she said, though the exhaustion told her otherwise. “I’m not even sure where I am. Your first priority is to get away from those Xenti ships.”

  The sound of Kat’s cheering voice pulsating down her ear told Vyleria she had done it.

  “Right Kat, have a look at which system the ship went to last. It should be a red giant star...”

  Suddenly the earth around Vyleria began to shake violently as a thunderstorm of rocks tumbled down on top of her, pounding and pummeling; then t
he ground cracked open, taking her with it.

  She fell for what felt like forever, before she clattered against something hard. How far had she dropped? Twenty miles? A hundred? She could be near the core of the planet by now...

  “Kat, don’t worry it was just another earthquake, but I’m okay… Kat? Kat?”

  All she heard was garbled static.

  She was about to try again when she saw the river of orange lava bubbling her way.

  Chapter 34: The Eyrie

  Jack clambered into the cave and collapsed.

  He was exhausted. His hands were scratched and covered in blisters; his arms and legs were on fire. He'd come so far and yet there was still so much further to go. He peered into the darkness, his bloodshot eyes searching for any kind of light. There was none.

  He inched his way in, the cave developing into a long, dark tunnel. The whole thing stank of rotten eggs. Sulphur?

  Deeper and deeper in he went, unsure as to what might be waiting for him at the end. Ros, he hoped.

  The air began to get warmer, stuffier. Still the egg smell lingered. He half expected to see a stream of lava come rushing his way, but nothing happened. The darkness intensified. He felt like a mole, scurrying underground, blind. His lungs grasped at the thinning oxygen. The tightness in his chest returned.

  There were piles of ash everywhere. It got on his clothes, in his air, up his nose, in his mouth. What is this place?

  Hours slithered by like snakes.

  Just when Jack was beginning to think that the tunnel had no end and that he would be wandering it for all eternity, he saw an eerie, orange glow in the distance. The further on he went the bigger and brighter it became until the whole tunnel was flooded with it, a wave of heat scorching his face.

  He was now in a ginormous cavern, in the middle of which was a huge pit of molten lava. It frothed and sizzled, tongues of flame spitting wildly. Sweat streamed from every pore. Several thousand feet above him was the crater’s rim, its rough edges obscured by smoke. This must be the place where Vyleria thought she saw Ros, unless the scans were wrong that is…