Tom was appalled now, and his fear had been replaced by anger. During periods of danger he had learned that there were forces that could be tapped into – outside, and beyond every day things. He had learned how to awaken the power-within. Earth people called it magic. He called it energy.
They were slowly drawn into the ship, and then were dropped hard on the floor of a huge hanger. Calvan woke suddenly, in time to see two huge doors closing behind them. The lighting within this space was almost blinding. Then out of the other windows they saw that a squad of Zaarks was approaching their craft. Suited-up, in what looked like full body armor, and carrying weapons, they appeared ready for anything. Calvan just stared, as if this were a bad dream.
“Where are we?” he managed to ask.
“Don’t even ask. Just act scared, like you’ve given up, and leave the rest to me,” Tom said.
“That won’t be a hard act,” Calvan replied.
The door was hit hard, and opened inwards with a crash. Tom, ever the actor sat back smiling. “Why didn’t you just knock gently? I would have opened it,” he said in a friendly manner. This was cool thought Calvan, knowing he couldn’t have said it.
Both boys were roughly dragged from the craft, and rushed across the hanger, so fast that only their toes touched the ground. A door opened in the side, and they were bundled into a vehicle. After a short drive, they were placed in a lift, and seemed to plunge down for miles before coming to rest. The door opened, and they were dragged into a huge room. In the center of the room, on a raised dais sat a huge Zaark.
It looked different from the others. Even more ugly, if that was possible. It’s bloated features were a mask of malice. Calvan imagined that this creature had always had its own way. There was something in its manner, as it held its head back in a twisted kind of aristocratic pride.
Calvin searched for a word to describe it, and uttered “Repulsive!”
They were hauled before this hideous creature, and flanked by a dozen guards. The alien leered down at them drooling. “I must tell you that I hate all of your kind,” he said laughing. “You are just so ugly. I wanted to thank you in person for bringing us all this lovely fire crystal, and want you to know that we will put it to good use. As my commander has told you, we’ll soon be blowing your friend’s ship out of space.”
“They’re following us in the same orbit. Once we have the fire crystal loaded, our defense shields will be so strong that we won’t even get a scratch, when we engage them with a broadside. That’s if there is even anything left of them to return fire.”
All the rest of the Zaarks were grinning and nodding. It was the stuff that nightmares are made off.
Calvan glanced sideways at Tom, as if asking for help. Something about his friend had changed. His expression was relaxed, confident, and somehow proud. It was a side of Tiberius that Calvan had never seen before. Tom stared directly at the alien.
“You pathetic creature,” he sneered with contempt now, “go back to your Zaark salt picking, and fleas. You’ve played right into our hands.”
Calvan has to admire Tom’s last remark - he had nerve. The Zaarks faces twisted with rage. Then their leader began to laugh, a great grunting slobbering noise. All the other picked up on this, and they were rolling around bumping into each other, with uncontrollable mirth. The leader stopped laughing abruptly, and held up a hand. The others stopped instantly, as if a switch had been thrown. Except for one dumb creature that continued to laugh.
“Enough! Guards, drag these two to waste chute and eject them into space,” he shouted, “and take him along for the trip,” he added, pointing to the unfortunate Zaark,
Then suddenly all of the action had stopped. It was like an old-time movie Calvan, thought. One when the projector stops on one frame, and there is a frozen image on the screen. Not one of the creatures moved a muscle. A strange blue light had surrounded Tom, and filled the room with a glow. A high-pitched vibration was making Calvan’s ears hurt. The Zaarks started to pant now, their tongues hanging out.
Tom had hit his stride. “Now feel my wrath,” he said, raising his hand and pointing the index finger at their leader. A bolt of energy shot across the space between them, and the Zaark leaped up. Smoke was beginning to leak from his filthy clothes. There was a smell of burnt meat, and hair. He started to scream now and ran around in circles, knocking over anyone in his path.
“Quick let’s go, this won’t last” Tom said, pointing to the panting Zaarks. They ran to the elevator, and Tom punched the button. “Lets hope that I’ve picked the right direction.” he said
After a long climb they bumped to a stop, and the door opened. There across the hanger was their small craft. Even Tom hadn’t expected to get this lucky. “RUN!” he shouted. They had been spotted! Across the opposite side of the huge room, about the same distance from the craft as themselves, stood a group of Zaarks. Maybe part of the ship’s maintenance crew, they wore no armor, and didn’t carry weapons.
Calvan needed no encouragement. They raced towards the ship. Then they were at the door, but the Zaarks were close. Calvan could hear their slobbering, and could even smell their fetid breath. Even in this moment of peril, his mind flashed back to a pile of dead and rotten oysters he had once found on the beach, before the incoming tide did its job.
“Quick in you go,” Tom said, knocking back the damaged door.
Calvin had frozen, and so he almost threw him in. The Zaarks were right behind now. One even grabbed his shoulder. Wrenching it free, and jabbing back with his elbow Tom slammed the door hard in their faces. There was lots of banging and shouting from the outside. The door hadn’t locked properly after the earlier mistreatment, and started to give way!
Tom gripped a can of emergency sealer from the tool locker, and sprayed it around the seal. They threw their weight on the door, as the foam set almost instantly on contact. It stretched a bit to start with, but didn’t give way. There was some loud banging on the hull, and the craft began to rock. The alien Zaarks had gone completely ballistic now. One thing about their kind Tom thought, they show a lack of control. Through the small porthole they could see a crowd of slavering primate berserkers.
“What will we do? They’re going to open this tin can and tear us to bits,” Calvan said, “we can’t escape to space, because the hanger door is locked.”
“Trust me” Tom said, “we’re going to accelerate so fast that instead of crashing against it, we’ll punch through it like a speeding bullet.”
The nose of the craft was pointed directly at the huge airlock.
Suddenly there was more rocking. “Here goes,” Tom said, and punched the GO button, pulling the acceleration lever full back. They were thrown back, hitting the seats hard as the craft punched through the airlock with a shudder, and shot into space. The hull was buzzing with vibration. An alarm sounded. Tom looked anxiously at the dials. “Its OK, a slight pressure loss, the automatic seal system kicked in for a short while, we may have sprung a leak, but it seems to be fixed.”
Tom craned his neck and looked back through the small window. There was a gaping hole in the Zaark’s ship, and they could see a great cloud of mist on the outside. Air must have been escaping at a great rate. “It’s going to take more than automatic sealer to fix that one,” Tom said with satisfaction. “That’ll slow them down for a while.”
“But how will we find the SPs mother ship. Will you use magic?” Calvan asked. He had obviously been impressed by Toms display in the Zaark ship.
“Magic is really energy,” Tom said, “that and faith,” he continued, showing off and tapping his locator. “It’s partly recharged, after being close to all that fire crystal in the cave.”
“So it wasn’t really magic,” Calvan asked, a bit disappointed now.
“Well” Tom said. “Think about it like this. We had to have this technology, and that’s how I zapped their leader. But how could it pick out the Zaarks and make them freeze, and yet leave you be?” Some things were best left to the imagination, and
Calvan knew this was one of them.
Calvan glanced at the locator that Tom held. “It still has some charge,” Tom said thankfully. “And now we’ll send a signal for a short distance. If the SPs ship is in range they’ll be able to lock onto our transmission beam - and find us.”
Tom activated the beacon-mode on his communicator. Now there was nothing to do but wait -maybe forever he knew. If the signal were not received, they would drift helplessly in space, maybe for trillions of years, until they fell into a black hole, or were cooked into subatomic particles by a supernova. Tom dismissed that thought straight away. They were on a roller coaster, and he was still full of optimism.
13 Conflict in Space
They hung in space, locked into a holding orbit. Both boys sat silently, gazing out of the window, lost in their own thoughts.
Calvan spoke first. “You know Tom, no matter how this ends up, it’s been great knowing you, and I wouldn’t have missed this adventure for anything.”
“There’s a lot more to come yet,” Tom answered cheerfully. He was feeling just the opposite.
Calvan changed the subject. “By the way, the needle on this dial in front of me is creeping into the red. Should we be worried?”
“It’s the cabin air, we’re about to run out,” Tom flatly replied.
It was getting hotter in the cabin, and both boys were finding it hard to breath now. “Never give up,” Tom said. It was about all he could manage, and sounded a bit dumb.
Then suddenly, as if by a miracle, the cabin was lit by a blinding of light, and at the same time Tom’s communicator was bleeping urgently. “It’s my people, they’ve found us,” he shouted.
There outside the window, they saw the ship some distance away: What a sight! It was almost as big as the Zaark ship. They watched a small craft detach itself, and a few minutes later come alongside. Another minute and a hatch opened, as two suited figures left the craft, and carefully steered the short distance over to them, peering through the window. Tom and Calvan were frantic now.
“No air left – no air!” they mouthed through the window.
One of the suited figures leaned his helmet on the outside of the window, and shouted, “Put your space suits on.”
“Why do they want us to do that?” We’ve used all the air from them as well,” Calvan mumbled.
“Just do it,” Tom replied. He was feeling faint.
After much fumbling, their suits were on. Almost immediately the person waved them away from the door, just before it came crashing in. They were almost dragged out by the rushing air. The two rescuers pulled them roughly from the craft, and grasping them firmly fired their suit jets, and shot across the space to their own craft, bumping the side gently. They threw the half-dead boys in, slammed down the hatch, and quickly pumped up the airlock pressure.
Tom and Calvan visors had completely misted up in the cold of space – it was impossible to see if they were still breathing. Their helmets were quickly pulled off. The two boys were still alive though, and for several minutes, gasped great breaths of air. One of the rescuers handed them both a drink.
Both boys were transported across to the SPs ship. If was if they had gone to heaven. They were in a huge hanger. Calvan noticed that the wall and roof was almost entirely made from a shiny golden material. However, what really stunned them both was the reception.
The interior doors of the hanger were flung open, and they left the parked shuttlecraft to a hero’s reception. There were hundreds, of people, cheering and clapping. A path parted through the middle of the crowd, and the boys were taken through, gently assisted by their smiling rescuers. Tom couldn’t believe it, and still thought he must have died.
“Let me through to meet these warriors,” a voice boomed out. There at the end of the long row of cheering people was a person who looked like an Elder should look, - an older dignified man, in flowing white and gold robes. He came forward smiling, and greeted Tom first.
“And who is this heroic looking boy?” he asked, turning to Calvan.
Tom had to explain how Calvan had volunteered to join him on the quest, and had helped to deliver the fire crystal to the ship. “It will be used well - my thanks to you both.” He turned to the crowed with raised arms. “Today we fight and win,” he declared. They all cheered.
Calvan felt a shiver of excitement. Crowds generate energy he knew, and for a moment he was back in the lead- up to a big football match. He was back in the stadium with his father.
The Leader turned to face them “Now we have spoken enough,” he said. “The Zaarks are preparing to attack. They hope to catch us off guard, before we can employ the fire crystal.” He shook his head, “but you and I know they are too late, my brothers and sisters.” There was another great cheer.
Suddenly all hell broke loose. There were alarms going off everywhere. “The Zaark’s ship is approaching at full speed, and they’ve launched fusion torpedoes,” the Elder heard in his earpiece. He remained calm, and spoke softly into a hidden microphone.
“Hull armor to full, and activate cloaking. Place the ship at battle status.” He continued, almost without pause, “Lock targets, and set missiles to intercept - two for each threat.”
He looked down at Tom and Calvan. “And now you two, relax, they can’t match our weapons now we have the fire crystal. Your job’s done, but now we have work to finish. We’ll decoy them out to open space, away from Earth and when they’re a safe distance from your planet, Calvan - we’ll finish this business.”
They were both checked over by medics, and then shown to a comfortable room to shower, eat and rest. There was a viewing screen covering one wall, and despite their exhaustion neither boy could take his eyes from it. The Elder called in briefly to say, “The fight will take some time. You can watch it from here. The fire crystal is installed in a power core already. Today we will beat the Zaarks – it’s good against evil.”
Tom and Calvan sat back in their comfortable seats, as their heads started to nod despite the excitement.
As the Zaark's ship grew closer the torpedoes were still racing ahead of it, like deadly fireflies, and closing the gap to the SPs ship. Everyone was watching on giant monitors.
Suddenly there were some blinding flashes, as their own missiles found the enemy targets. The screen went dark, and when it cleared there was no sign of any incoming torpedoes. They had been destroyed! The watching crowd cheered and clapped, as the crew smiled and tracked the huge cloud of hot vapor – all that was left of the threat.
Tom woke suddenly, as if shot upwards from a deep dark well. It took him a couple of seconds to get his bearings, and then he sat bolt upright with a jolt. Shaking Calvan roughly, he said, “quick wake up, lets see how the battle is doing.”
The news was good. The Zaarks had surrendered, and all their weapons had been taken. Their leader had surrendered, and would be held hostage for a while, so that the rest of the Zaarks remained peaceful.
14 BeaconA wind blew cool on his face. Calvan was back on Earth, in a spot close to his home. After a week of celebration, he had ridden on the scout craft with Tom, first to meet the Eagles again, as the cave’s computer was collected, and delivered to the SPs mother ship. Then they had returned Calvan back down again, and close to his own home.
Tom had told the Leader about the desert people and their legend of the Ancestors – waiting as the generations changed, and the centuries rolled on.
“Each of them will have the choice of coming with us to Two Stars,” he told Tom.
Tom shook hands with Calvan, as they stood at the bottom of the short exit ladder. The SPs mother ship had remained in orbit. The Leader had insisted that they kept the missile shield up, as a precaution. He told Tom that these Earth people would be a threat if the mother ship were mistaken for a hostile object, so they needed to be careful.
“It’s a shame that you didn’t see our world, but you choose to come home, and we respect that decision,” Tom said. He handed a small device to Calvan. “Lo
ok after this. If you ever need help call me, by just pressing these buttons, like I showed you,” he said.
“Here’s something else, from the Leader himself.” It was a small bag of precious medicine, he explained. Calvan didn’t seem to understand this, or its worth. “Take only tiny bits every now and again, and it will stop you from growing old.” Tom had explained. “That’s so you will be around, when I call again next time.”
Then Tom saluted, and then spun around quickly. He climbed the ladder, and entered the craft without looking back. Calvan stood back and waved, as the small craft lifted upwards. He was still waving when Tom’s craft became a speck in the sky, and then disappeared from view.
His parents would be pleased to see him, and would want to know all about his holiday. Calvan needed a story; there was some explaining to do.
15 Contact
It had been an uneventful two years for Calvan, but what did he expect? This was everyday life, and as it should be. He was making progress with his college work though, and studying science now.
Tom and Calvan had had been good friends, and he missed the adventures that they had been through together. In some ways these experiences, and the knowledge they had brought, separated him from his friends now. If he told anyone else about them, they would laugh, and think he was either a bit crazy or a liar.
Each day he would take the beacon from its secret place in his room, and roll it around in his hand. This was a link to other worlds up there, and if he ever started to think it was all just a dream, then here was the proof that it was real.
He was sitting on his bed thinking about this, and then suddenly it happened. First he wondered if the device had simply sprung a fault. The thing was glowing softly.
Before Tom had left for home, he had told Calvan how to use the beacon. He knew that the glow was a message, waiting to stream. His imagination was running wild now. Maybe there was a ship in orbit, and it had gone below the horizon, so couldn’t communicate. If it were Tom he would try again.
The Fire Crystal Page 5
