by William Wood
“No,” Jax answered. “But I have bad news. The crew is gone. They left in the escape pods. They cleaned everything out when they left. We’re lucky they missed these flashlights. Did you find anything on the bridge?”
“No, nothing, and no indication of what made them abandon the ship.”
“Why did they leave without us?” Jax asked.
“Our door was stuck. I had to use the manual-release valve to open it. Maybe they tried but felt they didn’t have time.”
“So they left us,” Jax said. “What do we do now?”
“Well, we’re not floating in space anymore. Another ship must have captured us. If we crashed there would be more damage. Our first priority should be to find a communications terminal and contact Space Command. With any luck, they will know what to do.”
Feeling much safer because of the new source of light, and happy to have a friend, Calvin followed Jax toward the airlock.
Suddenly, a loud tapping noise filled the air. They stopped in their tracks. He couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but it was very loud, and it echoed throughout the ship. The tapping wasn’t the only sound. They could hear scratching, or clawing. It stopped after a few moments. Calvin held his breath and waited. He heard no more sounds.
“Do you really think it’s such a good idea to leave the ship?” Jax whispered.
“Would you rather wait for whatever is out there to come in here and find us?” Calvin said.
“Well, no, not really,” Jax said.
Before they made it to the end of the corridor, another loud bang broke the silence. This time it sounded louder and closer. Calvin wheeled around, wildly shining the light in all directions. The sound echoed and then disappeared. He didn’t see anything.
“What’s out there?” Jax said.
“I don’t know,” Calvin said nervously. “But I have a really bad feeling we’re about to find out.”
“I wish we had some weapons.”
“Yeah, me too, but we didn’t bring any on this trip, did we?”
“Just two, and the crew took them when they left.”
“Of course,” Calvin muttered. “Jax, I think we should try to be quiet.”
“I won’t argue with you,” Jax whispered.
They made their way carefully and quietly to the airlock. The silence was wearing on Calvin’s nerves. Each footstep sounded louder and made him more scared. When they got there, they found the doors were heavily damaged. Although damaged wasn’t really the right word for it. The inner and outer doors were crumpled on all sides. Calvin was sure they wouldn’t open, but he tried anyway. He wasn’t surprised when nothing happened. Jax examined them too, and his assessment didn’t take long.
“There is no way to fix this without taking the ship home. Anyway, there’s no power.”
Calvin felt trapped. He paced back and forth in the corridor, trying to think.
“How are we going to get out? Is there another way?”
“Yes,” Jax said. “We could use the escape hatch on top of the ship.”
“Great idea.”
“Follow me,” Jax said, leading the way to the center of the ship, where there was a ladder recessed into the wall. Jax went first; Calvin followed. They only had to climb up three decks to the escape hatch, but it took longer because they had to climb with one hand, and hold their flashlights with the other.
“OK, this is good,” Jax said when they reached the top. “The hatch isn’t damaged, but I’ll have to use the manual-release lever. It might be noisy.” He grabbed the lever and pulled as hard as he could.
The door slid open slowly with a very loud scraping noise that seemed to echo for hundreds of miles. Calvin cringed, and he listened as the echo reverberated. Complete silence followed.
Calvin took a deep breath. This was it. He followed Jax up through the hatch to the top of the ship and was deeply shocked to his core at what he saw.
CHAPTER FOUR:
SEARCH AND EVASION
Calvin and Jax were in the middle of a huge junkyard full of spaceships. There must have been hundreds of them, maybe thousands, all shapes and sizes. They were all piled on top of each other. The junkyard stretched out of sight in all directions except one. There was a large wall that ran off endlessly in both directions. There was a large door built into the wall. The ships must have been pulled in through it. A massive metal arm with long, sharp claws hung on the wall near the door.
“Oh, wow,” Calvin whispered. “Look at that. It’s a spaceship graveyard.”
“Yeah, and look at the Sorenia,” Jax said, walking to the side and looking down. “It looks like it was grabbed by that arm, and pulled into this ship, or whatever it is.”
“So we were attacked, and taken by force,” Calvin said.
“And the crew escaped while the ship was being pulled inside. Look, the cracks down the side of the ship were caused when the claws from the arm cut into the hull.”
Several large lights above him dimly lit the giant chamber. It wasn’t completely dark, but it was hard to see.
Hoping to find a way down without getting hurt, Calvin walked to the edge and looked down.
“It’s definitely too far to jump. Or is it?”
“Don’t even think about it. I think we can get down on the other side. There is a lot of damage, and there should be a lot of things to hold on to.”
They heard a noise that sounded like very loud metallic footsteps.
“What’s that?” Jax whispered. “Is that a robot?”
Calvin looked around but couldn’t see anything. Whatever it was, it was being careful to stay out of view. There was too much debris and damage in the way.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go down there. I don’t want to come face to face with whatever that is.”
“Then we need to find another way.”
Calvin and Jax walked around on top of the ship, and they studied the wall in both directions.
“Do you see that?” Jax asked. Far off in the distance, near the top of the wall, was a row of dark windows.
“They look like windows. Can you see if there is anyone inside?”
“No, they’re too dark.”
“There could be someone watching us right now.”
“Get down!” Jax hissed. They dropped to the deck and lay flat.
“Did you see someone?” Calvin asked, suddenly very scared.
“No,” Jax said. “But think about this for a second. Should we be anxious to meet whoever is in charge? If they were friendly, why did they attack us? If it was an accident, or a mistake, why are we trapped down here with the trash? Wouldn’t they be down here trying to help survivors?”
Calvin thought about it; Jax had a very good point. The claw that tore into the Sorenia was compelling evidence that they weren’t friendly.
Lying on his back, Calvin looked up at the ceiling high above. There was a small grate with a ladder under it, and it looked like it was open.
“Jax, look at that. Do you see that vent up there? Do you think we could get up there?”
Calvin examined the nearest spaceship. It was black and was covered with millions of little bumps. Large holes were spread across one side, as if a barrage of weapons fire had hit the ship. It must have put up a fight, but it clearly lost. It had the same claw marks in its hull that the Sorenia had. It was a much larger ship, and it was sitting on its end. It stretched up almost to the ceiling. It was extremely hard to see, but it looked like the ship was very close to the ladder that led up to the open vent.
Jax crawled to the edge and looked across at the ship. “We can jump over to that ship,” he said, pointing to the other ship. “It’s close enough. There’s a flat space and a door, just on the other side. It looks like an airlock.”
“Can we get across without being seen?”
“No, as soon as we stand up again we’ll be in plain sight,” Jax said. “But the good news is once we get over there, we should be able to climb to the top on the other side.”
/> “OK, good,” Calvin said. “On three, let’s stand up and jump across.” He took a deep breath, and got ready to stand.
“One, two, three,” Calvin whispered loudly. On three, they both stood up. Calvin took a few steps back and watched Jax cross over. Then it was Calvin’s turn. He ran and jumped off the edge. It wasn’t very far, and he made it across easily. However, when he landed on the alien ship, there was a loud crack. He felt a stab of fear. Calvin looked down, afraid that the small platform was about to break off and fall. At the same time there was another sound; the metal footsteps moved again, somewhere below. It sounded like it was moving around in a big circle, as if it was trying to find a place where it could see them. Calvin was afraid to move, afraid to make noise. The platform cracked again, and he felt it move.
“Get off of it!” Jax hissed loudly.
The ship was lying at enough of an angle that Calvin was able to climb off of the platform and join Jax on one of the protruding bumps. He sat still for a minute, listening to the footsteps below. They moved very quickly, frantically running in circles. Then they stopped, and total silence returned.
“Is that thing responsible for attacking us and dragging our ship in here?” Calvin asked.
“I doubt it,” Jax said. “I think it’s more like a guard, sent in here to finish off the survivors.”
It was good to be out of view of the dark windows, but Calvin wanted to get out of the open all together. They climbed to the top of the alien spaceship.
Climbing was easy, thanks to the bumps, which weren’t very far apart and were easy to get a grip on. They reminded Calvin of the climbing walls he used to train on in the school gym. Calvin was starting to feel confident. The top of the ship looked very close.
“That was easy,” he said. “I didn’t even break a sweat.”
He let out a giant cheer inside his head as he reached the top. He was about to raise his hands in victory, until he found what was waiting for him. His inner cheer died quickly.
“Yeah, that was too much to hope for,” Jax said. “It’s not going to be that easy.” They weren’t at the top. There was another ship smashed into the top of the one they were on. They looked identical, and they didn’t look very stable. There was another problem. Blocking their way was a giant hole. Debris covered the ground around the hole. Calvin carefully walked up to the edge and looked down, but all he could see inside was pitch-black darkness. He shined his flashlight into it, but there was too much damage to see anything. They would have to jump across.
“What a mess,” Jax muttered. “We’re going to have to be very careful getting across that. The ground on the other side doesn’t look very strong.” There were burned cables coming out of the hole, and several large cracks running across the hull.
“We don’t have a choice,” Calvin said. In his mind the only other option was to go back down, and he really didn’t want to do that. “I’ll go first this time.”
He moved back about ten feet and got a running start. He jumped over the hole and landed on his feet, but the hull disintegrated as soon as he touched it. Calvin screamed as he fell through, and he landed on his back with a loud crash. He was instantly enveloped in darkness. He jumped up, ignoring the pain radiating through his back and legs. Fortunately he was still holding the flashlight. He turned it on, and he shined it around wildly. He was in a long, filthy, dark corridor. When he hit the floor, a cloud of dirt billowed in the air, making him cough violently.
“Calvin!” Jax said loudly. Calvin looked up and saw Jax’s face peeking over the side. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, get me out of here,” he said between coughs. He froze. Far away, down the corridor, he saw two dark red circles. Calvin shined the light toward them, but they were too far away, and dirt in the air was blocking the light.
Calvin stared at the red lights, unable to look away.
“What’s that?” he wondered. He nervously dismissed the idea that they were eyes. There wasn’t something alive in here, was there? Calvin became aware of a soft hissing sound. Then the lights flickered out for a second, and they were back as solid and as red as before. They were eyes, and they just blinked.
“I’m not alone down here,” Calvin whispered. He looked up, desperately looking for a way out.
“Here, use this,” Jax said. A thick cable fell through the hole. He turned off the flashlight and stuck it in his back pocket. Then he jumped as high as he could and grabbed onto the cable.
Without looking back he climbed. From down the corridor he heard the sounds of heavy footsteps. It was running toward him. Calvin frantically pulled himself up, higher and higher. The footsteps were getting louder. The thing was getting closer! Calvin pulled himself up to the top and fell onto his back, breathing heavily. The footsteps stopped below him. Calvin didn’t move. Was it a robot, or some kind of monster? He didn’t know, and he didn’t want to find out. From down below they heard a deep growl.
“Robots don’t growl, do they?” Calvin asked in between gasps for air. He was tempted to peek over the side, to get a good look at the monster. Instead, he crawled away from the hole and stood up.
“That’s not a robot,” Jax said.
“We need to get away from here,” Calvin said. “Quickly.”
Getting onto the second ship was easy. They used debris sticking out of the ship to climb all the way to the top.
An incredible view was waiting for them at the top. Piles of spaceships stretched into the distance, without an end in sight. Some ships looked very old, but all were heavily damaged. They all looked very different. Calvin wondered how far this ship had traveled to collect so many ships. Were there other monsters lurking around in the darkness?
They walked along the top and examined the ladder.
“I was afraid of this,” Jax said. Calvin noticed for the first time that there was a five-foot gap between the ladder and the ship, over open air.
“We’ll have to jump,” Calvin said. “And hope the ladder doesn’t break.”
“Do you want to go first again?” Jax asked, half joking. He didn’t want to, but Calvin was ready. In the back of his mind he knew if the ladder broke he would never survive the fall. It was a very long way down. He got ready to jump, but hesitated. Before he had a chance to go, Jax ran forward and jumped across. He hit the ladder with a loud grunt. His feet slipped, and he almost fell, but he managed to grab middle rungs and hold on tightly. The ladder creaked, but held firm. Jax hurried up the ladder, into the hatch. His head peeked over the side.
“OK, your turn.”
Calvin took a deep breath, trying to work up the courage to jump. Better not to wait too long, he figured. He moved back a few feet to get a good running start, and he ran toward the edge of the ship. He jumped as hard as he could, but too soon. He thought he was going to miss it and screamed. He barely reached the bottom rung of the ladder, and he held on for dear life until he stopped swinging.
The footsteps down below pounded again, like a hammer, and there was a low humming noise. Calvin recognized the sound. It reminded him of a scanning beam. With a great deal of effort Calvin pulled himself up to the next rung, and then the next. The ladder creaked and moved back and forth. Then a loud crack filled the air.
“Calvin!” Jax cried. Calvin’s arms were getting tired. Finally he stood on the lowest rung just as his strength was about to give out. Calvin wanted to stop for a few seconds to catch his breath but was afraid to. The ladder continued to crack and shake. He scrambled the rest of the way up the ladder. Jax grabbed Calvin’s arms and pulled him up. Just as he got off the ladder, it broke away and fell to the floor with a crash. Calvin got down on his stomach, and he looked down. He could still hear the robot walking around, like it was looking for him. A red light darted across the floor, moving in wide circles.
“Is that the robot?” Calvin asked.
Jax, who was looking down from the other side, said, “I don’t know of anything else that can run that fast.” The robot ran
into the distance. He could see the red light darting away rapidly. Calvin listened for a long time, trying to catch his breath. The sound of the robot mesmerized him. Where was it going?
Calvin and Jax stood up. They were in a long, dimly lit air duct that disappeared out of sight in both directions. The top was just out of reach. The duct was made out of a highly reflective metal. Small, narrow slits on both sides let in small amounts of light, but lit up the duct nicely due to the reflection.
“Which way?” Calvin asked.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Jax said. Calvin picked a direction and started walking.
It was eerily quiet, and their footfalls had an odd “trapped in a tin can” sound. Small hatches were evenly spaced in the duct above. They passed one every ten minutes.
Calvin felt his pocket to see if his medallion was still there; it was. They walked for a long time. Calvin wasn’t sure how long, maybe thirty minutes. Then they reached an opening in the duct. Calvin looked down into the spaceship junkyard. He still couldn’t see the end of it. At the bottom of one pile of spaceships, one silver-and-black one caught his eye. It looked intimidating, but obviously it wasn’t a match for this ship.
Suddenly a line in the wall appeared. It spread from the top to the bottom. A huge door, so massive that most of the wall slid apart. The blackness of space spread out in front them. Calvin was terrified of being sucked out into space, but nothing in the cargo bay was sucked out. There must have been a force field keeping the air inside. A giant arm that had been hidden in darkness extended out through the door and into space. Calvin and Jax were shocked, and they stood frozen in fascination. The arm made several rapid movements—left and right, up and down.
Finally it moved back in. At the end of the arm was a series of claws. All of the claws were wrapped tightly around a strange-looking spaceship. The claw pulled the spaceship in through the door, and dropped it on top of a pile of spaceships. There was a huge crashing sound, and thousands of small pieces of metal flew in all directions as the spaceship crushed everything underneath it. The arm moved back into the darkness and disappeared. Slowly, the massive doors slid shut. The edges of the door blended into the wall around it and disappeared.
