The Sewer Rats

by JT Griffiths

  “No, there’s no such thing as magic.” Jaime laughed. “It appears to be magic until you know how it’s done. It’s all science. Bet you’ve never seen a tattoo like mine!”

  Carina thought of her father’s tattoos, colourful and fun, but they were just pictures. They couldn’t glow or light a fire.

  Jaime stroked his wrist the opposite way and the tattoo on his hand dimmed to a gentle glow. Using the light of her own torch Carina could see a dark blue shapeless blob tattooed on Jaime’s wrist.

  “It’s a bioluminescent tattoo controlled by my touch. Lots of microbes feed on sunlight during the day storing up energy for when it’s needed. If I want to see at night or when I want to start a fire I increase the intensity by stroking my wrist.”

  “That’s nothing, look!” Tycho gently rubbed his wrist sending a jumble of numbers floating into the air and then pointed to an unremarkable orange splodge on his wrist.

  “This is my tattoo. It can tell me the date and time or give me any information I want about anything. It can even tell me never to travel by roboport,” he giggled.

  He gave his wrist a gentle tap.

  “This is Tycho, champion of the galaxy, games master and genius at work.”

  Heen watched fascinated as little red rectangles shot from his wrist, into the air and sped towards his fingertips. Raising his other arm he clicked his fingers together making tiny blue dots race towards them until they collided and disappeared in flashes of yellow and orange. After a frantic few minutes of gaming one red rectangle snuck through.

  “Oh black hole!” Tycho exclaimed, “Game over.”

  “Tycho’s tattoo is much more complicated than mine,” Jaime explained. “It’s an intelligent computer made from a mix of living cells and circuits. Both our tattoos create an image which is partly hologram and partly real. We don’t exactly understand how they work, but we do know that we were lucky to get them and even luckier to still have them,”

  Heen wanted to know where they got the tattoos though she was sure her dad would never allow her to have one.

  “So can you help us get home?” Carina interrupted more concerned with their immediate problem.

  “Certainly not back the way you came. Roboports are too risky,” Jaime scolded.

  Twenty minutes later with the fish still sizzling the fire Carina divided it into four. Everyone was so hungry that for the next few minutes no one spoke. Heen savoured the saltiness of each mouthful and wished she had something to drink. Jaime pulled a flask from his backpack and offered it to her.

  “Take a couple of swigs. We have to make the water last until we get to the skytugger,” he explained.

  “You’re going back to the skytugger?” Carina was puzzled, “so, what world are you visiting next?”

  “With luck somewhere far away from here,” Tycho sneered.

  “My world isn’t such a bad place,” countered Heen. She was going to add that during the school holidays it could get a bit boring, but then she remembered the last few hours.

  “We must reach the skytugger depot before dawn. We’ve run out of favours on this world, and the skycart guards aren’t so watchful when it’s dark.”

  “Have you used the skycart a lot?” Carina inquired.

  “Loads of times,” boasted Tycho. Jaime gave him a reproving glance.

  “You could join us, if you want to,” he added, ignoring his older brother’s obvious disapproval.

  Carina and Heen turned to face each other. A trip up to the orbiting space platform would be an experience they would never have the chance to do again. Carina tried to avoid Heen’s pleading, so quickly her sister had changed from the terrified little girl back into an adventurous tomboy. She wanted to say “yes” but the older sister in her said “no”.

  “Please Carina, please,” begged Heen.

  Maybe they could extend their adventure for a day or two. After all they couldn’t be grounded forever more than once.

  “I bet floating around in space weighing nothing is fun,” Heen thought out loud.

  “I’m afraid there’s no chance of that happening. Unless something goes seriously wrong,” answered Jaime. “As the skycart rises it begins to spin creating enough gravity to keep your feet firmly on the floor. Even the space platforms at the top have artificial gravity to prevent the people and robots that man it from taking off.”

  Heen was disappointed, but then she saw a smile spread across her sister’s face.

  “OK, let’s go,” Carina couldn’t believe she said those words even as she spoke.

  As they walked together along a sand-swept road they took turns to help Tycho balance his injured foot as he hopped along between them. Finally they reached the perimeter fence that enclosed the skytugger depot. There were no signs of activity and the whole place appeared to be bathed in darkness. Jaime warned them to be careful. There would still be many robots working their shifts or patrolling the grounds and unlike people they could see in the dark.

  They were able to walk into the main entrance without being challenged, and Heen was impressed by the way the boys appeared to know their way through a maze of passageways until Jaime pointed at a pencil-thin green line painted along the ground.

  “The line starts at the front gate and continues all the way to the skycart. The robots know where to go by following it, we need to do the same.”

  The green line led them into a huge crate-filled hangar where goods of all descriptions were waiting to be exported to a dozen different worlds.

  Jaime hurried over to what at first glance appeared to be a large barrel-shaped building at the far end of the hangar. Its walls were painted the same electric blue colour as the lasertram and the slemon. As they got closer Carina spotted the large pulley sat on the roof; long thin ropes extended skywards. Carina realised that they had at last arrived at the skycart itself.

  “In here!” Jaime whispered.

  The door was wide open. Jaime entered and the others followed. Carina reached into her backpack and pulled out her torch.

  “No light in here please,” scolded Jaime. “The robots mustn’t know we’re here. There’s a tap and a toilet the workers use outside. You can fill up your flasks and then come and lie on the floor and try to sleep. We’ll be lifting-off in a few minutes so be quick!”

  Shortly the children settled into a gap between some large wooden crates. For a while Tycho sat nursing his ankle prodding it and occasionally wincing with pain. Heen and Carina, both exhausted, slept. Jaime kept watch for as long as he could, but soon all four were asleep.

  ****

  Robots finished their tasks and returned to their docks for a recharge. With a slight rocking sensation the skycart rose slowly and for many minutes it was hard to tell if it was moving. Gradually accelerating it began climbing the cables on its eight hour journey to the space platform. By the time they woke the skycart had reached its destination. The lights turned on and the crew of the space platform had begun to unload the cargo.

  Chapter 9

  Stowaways

  Carina did not sleep easily; when her dreams came she fought against blotch-shaped monsters with fang-filled mouths and tiny chisel teeth. In one dream the monster resembled Tapper and in another the monsters resembled Jaime and Tycho. The message in each of her dreams was clear, they must return home before they got into serious trouble. The skycart could rise into the sky at any moment, so she and Heen had to act now. There wasn’t much time to get as far away as they could before the boys discovered they were gone.

  Shaking Heen awake, she pointed towards the exit, and keeping a finger over her lips she gently took her sister’s hand. Tycho was snoring as they tiptoed past. Following the green line from the skycart they turned into a corridor where they met a robot busily loading a large crate onto a trolley. When its head swivelled in their direction they had to freeze every muscle in their bodies. After what seemed forever the robot turned and resumed its duties.


  At last they reached the open air where they ran until they were far beyond the perimeter fence. Carina joked how close they had come to getting into real trouble and how nice it would be to go home. By the time they walked along the sand covered road the sun was high in the sky and the air was warming around them.

  As they neared the seashore they heard sirens wailing over the sound of the breaking surf. Police cars straddled the road ahead and uniformed officers held back a crowd of reporters. Right in the middle of that crowd stood her mother.

  “Mum. Thank goodness you’re here. I took care of Heen, look she’s safe,” Carina called out with joy.

  The voice that replied wasn’t her mother’s, but it was small and gnat-like.

  “Carina, why did you and your sister murder Gibran? He was a good boy and you killed him.”

  With the wind howling against her face Carina shouted her innocence.

  “You killed that innocent young boy who had never harmed anyone,” the gnat-voice replied.

  Memories of Tapper, Gibran and Derain attacking Marac came to Carina’s mind, but the gnat-voice roared with laughter.

  Carina shielded her eyes from the bright sun and was surprised to see Jaime and Tycho standing between two tall officers. Her arms were forced behind her back and cold metal cuffs bit into her wrists. Then she heard Heen cry out as her sister was pushed into a police car. Carina tried calling out to her mother, pleading their innocence, but the gnat-voice laughed even louder.

  Carina tried to wriggle free from the cuffs but they gnawed into her wrists. It was impossible yet when she looked up again Jaime and Tycho had escaped their bonds and were hiding under a truck. Jaime was calling for her to come and join him.

  ****

  “Quick Carina, hide under here,” Jaime pleaded. He gripped Carina’s wrists tightly as he dragged her underneath the nearest container and out of the sight of a team of labourers and their robots.

  It took Carina a few moments to realise that she had been dreaming. They were still aboard the skycart, there were no police and her mother’s anger had just been her vivid imagination. What about the gnat-voice? That was the second time she had heard it, or was that a dream too?

  Heen lay next to Tycho and stared worryingly at her sister.

  “That was some dream you were having Carina. You were shouting so much that we thought we’d be discovered,” she whispered.

  Before Carina could reply she thought she heard one final guffaw.

  “What do you want from me?” Carina complained out loud. She was getting extremely fed up with that tiny voice.

  The others looked puzzled.

  The Skycart rising towards its space platform

  “All we want from you at the moment is to keep quiet,” hissed Jaime. “We’ve arrived at the space platform and now we need to get to the star-hopper room before we’re discovered.”

  They watched eight workers and four robots as they started unloading the crates. Oblivious of the children they laughed and grumbled as they laboured. The youngest worker, who was not much older than Jaime, amused himself by shouting impossible orders at the robots and swore at them when they began to spin out of control.

  “Watch and learn!” Jaime whispered. When a robot moved within a few arm lengths he patted his wrist sending a narrow beam of light blinding its sensors.

  CLUNK.

  The robot, unable to see the green line that guided its path around the skycart, spun. It teetered at an angle, and finally with a resigned whine and whistle tipped onto its side.

  The labourers stopped their loading and made their way to where the robot was happily spinning in rapid circles. They cursed at the young labourer blaming him for the trouble. Meanwhile, led by Jaime, they crept from their hiding places and away from the skycart and the commotion. Carina placed her hands over Heen’s ears while the air was filled with loud and angry cries.

  “Quick or they’ll see us!” exclaimed Jaime as he signalled for the others to follow.

  He disappeared behind a curtain in to a cubicle where eight silver suits hung on eight silver hooks. By the time the others entered Jaime had unhooked the nearest suit and was slipping a leg into the trousers. Knowing the procedure Tycho grabbed a suit and started to dress. Jaime signalled for the girls to copy.

  “These are the jumpsuits I mentioned earlier. They stop our atoms from mixing with the surroundings when we hop between worlds,” he instructed the girls in a rather patronising tone, but it was lost on the sisters who looked at him blankly.

  “Never mind, but you must put them on,” he sighed.

  The outfits hadn’t been designed for children and Heen whinged that her toes wouldn’t even reach the knees.

  “Next attach your faceplates. That’ll allow you to breathe air during the voyage.”

  Carina’s heart thumped the same as it had when Jaime first spoke of using the skycart. Now there was talk of hopping and of a voyage. How long was this madness going to last?

  How far would they travel? She wanted to protest but was frightened she might scare Heen, so welcomed the distraction when Tycho waddled around with his feet in the knees of his suit. Heen followed him making quacking noises. Yet even as they moved their suits shrank, soon they fitted snugly to their bodies.

  “Take an extra jumpsuit each,” Jaime instructed as he removed an extra suit from its peg.

  “Why do we need an extra suit?” Carina quizzed. It seemed an odd request.

  “It will stop anyone from following us. Grab it and come with me!”

  The smoked glass of Jaime’s helmet meant that Carina could no longer see his features but she could still hear him clearly and he was filled with impatience. Soon all eight pegs were empty and they followed Jaime into a tiny room with three dull green walls. Taking up the top half of the fourth wall was a window facing on to the huge multi-coloured orb of their planet.

  Vast blue oceans, white polar ice caps, green rainforests and orange deserts. While half were bathed in sunlight the ground directly below them was in darkness and covered like fireflies with thousands of tiny points of light marking the towns and cities of Carina and Heen’s home world. One tiny dot would be their home town and an even tinier dot would be their house. Maybe the tiniest dot of all would be from their father’s torch as he searched the tram tracks for his missing daughters.

  Heen gasped with wonder at the mauves and dark blues of the atmosphere. A rainbow surrounded the curve of their world and it in turn was encircled by the rich blackness of space. She had seen pictures of this on the computers at school but real life was much more exciting.

  Angry shouts interrupted her thoughts and they were all heading her way.

  “Listen. I think they’ve discovered we’ve taken their suits,” Jaime shut his eyes and pushed at the dozens of buttons that topped a consul below the window. The lights flashed like Carina had witnessed in the cavern.

  “Your eyes are shut! Do you know what you’re doing?” accused Heen.

  “Yes and no. I do know how to operate it that’s easy I’ve done it loads. All you have to do is push this button.”

  His fingers pointed to a large green button set in the middle of the consul. He paused and then added with a grin, “Only problem is... I don’t know where we’ll end up. Now make sure your faceplates are secure. Good. Now prepare for the ride of your life. Here we go.” Jaime pressed a thumb hard against the big green button.

  Chapter 10

  Newton

  The whole world spun. Not from side to side or round and round but with a strange inside outside motion. They remained on their feet but it was as if they had climbed a high mountain. One moment they stood in a dull green cubicle the next moment the walls were bright red. The large window had become a small circular porthole looking onto a world that had no seas, oceans or icecaps. There were tiny grey lakes that looked like dots and huge areas covered by reddish blotches that were possibly desert. Behind the pl
anet sat a fireball, a nearby star bathing them in a harsh yellow radiance much brighter than the sun the girls had always known. Perhaps the strangest thing Carina noticed about the new world was that there were almost no clouds.

  “Be careful, the porthole glass cuts out most of the radiation, but if you stare at the star too long it will damage your eyes,” Jaime warned.

  He removed his helmet and gestured for the others to do the same.

  “Take off your jumpsuits and bring them and the spare ones with you. Come on! Let’s go!” he ordered curtly.

  “Is he always in a hurry?” Heen grinned.

  “You should see him when he’s really in a rush,” laughed Tycho.

  Carina, Heen and Tycho climbed out of their silver suits and followed Jaime into a narrow passageway where they found eight pegs each supporting a green spacesuit. The boys carefully placed their silver suits over the top of the green ones.

  “Why did we have to wear a spacesuit as we didn’t go into space? And I still don’t understand why we had to have a spare and shouldn’t we keep the suits for emergencies?” asked Heen puzzled.

  “They aren’t spacesuits. These are jumpsuits, or more correctly hop-suits to protect us when we star-hop,” replied Jaime. “If we hadn’t taken the spare suits the workmen would have followed us, but more importantly if you don’t wear one your arms and legs or even your head and bum might have swapped places during the journey. We try our hardest not to steal and we know the robots will eventually return the suits to their rightful owners.”

  Heen didn’t understand what Jaime was talking about and aside from imagining what she would be like with all her body parts muddled up she wasn’t that interested. She shrugged her shoulders and turned towards the planet below.

  “So where are we Jaime?” Carina expected an answer but it was obvious from the blank expression on Jaime that he had no idea.

  “I suppose you’re going to tell us that there’s only one way to find out? I bet we’ll have to ride the skycart down to the planet,” Carina guessed.

  “There is an easier way to find out where we are,” beamed Tycho. He patted his wrist with an outstretched finger and then spoke with a slight pause between each word.