Escaping the Sun

by Rhett Goreman

  *

  Tukarra closed her eyes, and relived the dream for me.

  This is what she said...

  I was looking down on a spaceship. It was shaped like a massive spinning top. I felt cold. The pointed bow of the ship seemed to be made of crystal clear glass. I moved in closer and then floated through the transparent walls like a ghost. I found myself in a circular room that must surely have enjoyed the best views on the ship. In my dream, the room was being used as a Bridal Suite. The air was fragrantly scented and I felt safe and warm.

  The floor of the room was carpeted with a sea of thick, dark blue, tubular fibres. I was amazed to discover that each of the tubes could be raised or lowered a metre or more. Groups of them could form armchairs, sofas, coffee tables and many other items of furniture, on demand. A constant flow of air, drawn through the hollow fibres, helped to prevent any loose objects floating away: due to the low gravity in that area.

  The focal point of the room was an extra-large circular bed, that appeared to hover, around a metre, above the strange floor surface. The curvaceous and see-through walls, converged to a single point high up over the middle of the bed.

  Lying in the bed, naked as the day they were born, two young humans, named Carilesha and Paolin, were wrapped up in each others arms. Their heads were sinking into sumptuous pillows, their bodies were being caressed by luxurious sheets, and cosseted by a plush white quilt.

  The room was delivering on its promise of ‘peace and tranquillity, far from all other passengers and crew.’ It was the perfect venue for their first night as a married couple.

  Having finished their complimentary champagne, these two happy people extended their arms out over the sides of the bed. In an instant, two bedside tables were called into being, to support their empty glasses. Soon after setting them down, the glasses appeared to sink into the dark blue fibres, and then the tables themselves melted away to become seamless patches of carpet once more.

  The bed was unbelievably comfortable, just as Carilesha and Paolin were genuinely comfortable with each other and the long journey they were about to embark on. They had at least won their tickets fair and square, whereas many of the other passengers had used fraud, bribery or deception to obtain their rights of passage. But none of that mattered any more. Money and power no longer had any meaning on the long voyage they were about to embark on. Everyone had been allocated some important role to play, either helping to run the ship or preparing for their eventual arrival on New Earth.

  Despite being presented with their tickets on the same television show, and despite showing all the signs of being head over heels in love, Paolin and Carilesha were surprisingly shy and hadn’t got together straight away.

  A few weeks after the Paricianne had been launched, leaving Earth’s orbit around the Sun behind, they had been invited to dine at the Captain’s table. This turned out to be a rather surreal experience, with the Captain being a robot who could not actually eat. However, the fact he was not served food did not seem to bother his guests; he was a good listener and was fascinated to learn more about the background of everyone sat around him.

  Paolin had spent some time on a manned weather satellite, firing high energy laser beams down to the Earth’s surface to seed and divert lightning strikes away from cities such as Vidora.

  Carilesha had helped a team of engineers to secure rocket motors onto asteroids and comets. On one occasion, she had been allowed to briefly pilot a comet, sending it away from the Earth to plunge into the Sun. Her last job had been to fit a Dark Matter Engine onto an obscure moon of Pluto, in readiness for bringing it nearer to Earth, to enable rare minerals to be extracted from it.

  It was clear Paolin and Carilesha were hanging onto every word each other said. They could hardly believe they both used to have high risk jobs saving the Earth from disaster. But for some reason, they just couldn’t pluck up enough courage to ask each other for a date at that time.

  Several days after the dinner with the Captain, Paolin noticed Carilesha taking an aerobic class in one of the gymnasiums. Carilesha also noticed Paolin, but neither let on. For a month after that, they both went back to the same gym every day, starting their workouts slightly earlier and earlier, just to make sure one would catch a smile from the other.

  Eventually, Paolin asked Carileshia if she might like to go with him to a dinner dance to be held in Observation Deck 3 (which explains why they wanted their wedding reception there almost a year later).

  Over the dinner, they discovered they had even more in common. They were both human. They had similar happy childhoods, and loved their Elite parents.

  Of course, the Ether had gradually learned from Paolin how to automate his job. Moreover, just about every rogue comet had been mopped up. This was one of many reasons why they had entered the lottery, never thinking they might actually win.

  But now they were on their honeymoon. The past and the future had vanished into thin air. Only the present mattered.

  The luxury of the Bridal Suite was all about the bed and its location. The pure-white sheets, pillows and quilt had a texture somewhere between the purest silk and soft marshmallow. The super-soft quilt embraced the happy couple and held them down onto the bed. Slight ripples in the smart material, it was made from, gently encouraged the occupants of the bed to move closer towards each other.

  The base of the bed slowly revolved, counteracting the rotation of the ship, in order to maintain a steady view of the heavens through the windows and also to provide a zero gravity experience for its occupants.

  The view, through the surrounding window, was spectacular. To one side, the dwarf planet Pluto, attended by its slowly tumbling rocky moons, was set against a backdrop of glittering stars. Directly overhead, the Andromeda spiral galaxy loomed huge and beautiful, filling a third of the sky. From this vantage point, it was easy to visualise the express highway of invisible Dark Matter, that has begun to bind our Milky Way and Andromeda together.

  As the night drew on, Paolin was gazing up at the stars, the back of his head sinking deeper into one of the pillows. He was a really good looking boy, clean shaven but with a swarthy complexion, dark brown eyes, well groomed dark brown hair and neatly trimmed sideburns.

  Carilesha had her head resting on Paolin’s chest. Her long curly ash brown hair had increased in volume in the weightless environment and was causing some amusement as she ran her fingers through the wispy hairs on Paolin’s chest.

  Turning to look into Paolin’s eyes, Carilesha was dazzled by the memory of the fireworks on the day they first met. In Carilesha’s eyes, Paolin could still see the flickering candle light from their first dinner date.

  They were suddenly overwhelmed, by their love for each other and their desire to be together forever. The sound of their hearts, beating as one, thumped loudly in their ears. And the ship’s distant heartbeat seemed to quicken and add to their own.

  Their noses touched, and their smiles turned into wide grins. After a long slow kiss, they pulled the quilt over their heads and shut out the watching universe.

  *

  Tukarra opened her eyes and asked, ‘Did you like my story?’

  ‘Very much,’ I said. ‘If only we could change places with them.’

  ‘If only,’ she sighed.

  We both fell silent for a moment whilst our minds raced through all the implications of us saying, ‘If only,’ to each other.

  Then, I think we both sighed at the same time.

  ‘That was a very detailed dream, Tukarra,’ I observed.

  She explained, ‘Detailed dreams are part of the Elite “always-on” culture. There is no opportunity missed to impart some advertising, corporate or political message to everyone connected with the Ether. Otherwise sleep would be simply down-time.’

  For once I was speechless. But despite my concerns, she did seem to be refreshed. She was now bright as a button and probably ready for another month of activity.

  *

  In all honesty, Tu
karra had revealed everything she had experienced in her dream. Of course with hindsight, both you and I now know it was not a dream as such, but real events, on the Star Cruiser Paricianne, she was tuned into. It remains to be seen whether Tukarra actually knew this for certain. However, what no-one knew, not even the Captain of the Paricianne, was that this was not the end of the story for the newly weds.

  Their heads now under the covers, Carilesha and Paolin did not notice the bed was revolving in synchronism with the rest of the ship once more. Neither did they realise the quilt was gradually tightening its embrace; although they did sense that something was wrong.

  Carilesha felt a slight movement by her side, then Paolin by his shoulder. Something was moving between the sheets towards them. Could they be imagining things? It was too dark under the covers to see what might be there. For one brief moment they froze. Neither could form any words until they were sure.

  But it was too late. Two large, squid like, flattened tentacles covered with suckers and slime, effortlessly slid over their faces and gagged their mouths. As they tried to struggle, more tentacles wrapped around their arms and legs. Hundreds of smaller feelers slipped under the quilt to join in the action, first to take hold, and then to completely engulf their bodies.

  Now cocooned in a mass of writhing tentacles, our bride and groom were separated, pulled out sideways from under the covers, and raised into the air like trophies, before finally being dragged down into the darkness under the bed.

  Over what remained of the night, the tubular fibres in the carpet rippled with concentric waves of pleasure. The whole carpet slowly changed colour from a dark blue to a healthy pink.

  The smart pillows, sheets, and quilt began well rehearsed self-cleaning, plumping and straightening manoeuvres, to make ready for their next guests.

  Chapter 17 – The Rescue

  Another argument had broken out between Woynek and Makhar. The shouting had abruptly woken all the other Scavengers and so none of them were in the best of moods.

  They were preparing to move on out, to return to their families, to their home, hidden somewhere in the tunnels. Makhar was refusing to allow Woynek to take their prisoners with them. This time, Makhar was gaining support from the others. Their patience had worn thin. Woynek had wasted enough time talking with us. It was time for action. It was time for mutiny.

  Makhar broke off from the argument and strode over towards our cave. Several men gathered around Woynek stopping him from giving chase.

  Makhar pushed the guards out of the way, and thundered down the passageway towards us. He wrapped a huge muscular arm around both our throats, clamped our heads against his rib cage, and dragged us out of the cave. Smashing his other forearm on top of our heads, and suddenly releasing his grip on our necks, he dropped us onto the floor in front of the now angry mob.

  The mutineers cheered, and they cheered even more when Makhar produced an enormous machete. This was going to be an execution.

  Fortunately, my efforts with the little stone had not been in vain. The force of being thrown to the floor was all it took to break the last few strands of cord. My wrists were suddenly free.

  Makhar’s back was turned. He was playing the crowd. I quickly rose to my feet behind him and kicked the long knife out of his hand. He turned to face me, fury in his eyes, and we started to fight. The crowd cheered again and backed away a little, to make room for their sport.

  At first, I tried some boxing moves, trying to duck, dive, and punch Makhar. But he managed to grab hold of a wrist, and began to wrestle. He twisted my arm and threw me from wall to wall. He elbowed my stomach, knocking me to the ground and then he dived on top of me, crushing my ribs, his knees pinning my arms to the floor. He sat up, rearing over me and someone threw his machete back to him. He raised it high into the air, over my head, and looked around at the ecstatic crowd for their approval. They cheered again and he stretched his arm even higher, in preparation for the downward sweep that would end my life.

  But just as the blade reached its highest point, there came the strangest and most welcome sound I had ever heard. From one of the tunnels surrounding the campsite came a screeching roar. Ear-splitting crescendos echoed around the hub, where the men stood, and reverberated down all the tunnels that led off it.

  The Scavengers must have thought they were under attack by some big prehistoric monster and ran off. Makhar took a moment longer to run. But he soon made up his mind when the sound came nearer and turned into an unknown number of voices shouting, ‘Oi-aye-eee-aye-aye-eee-aye-aaaaargh.’

  Then into the hub burst just three camouflaged soldiers dressed in combat gear. Their leader was Tom of all people, who was holding onto a strange but impressive gun, followed by Gerland and Ellie, who were brandishing rifles with fixed bayonets. Tom had persuaded the other two to copy his awesome cry. It gave all three of them a ‘do or die’ spirit, as they charged in. It had also succeeded in frightening off the natives, for the moment.

  We had just enough time to look around us and look at each other, but it wasn’t that easy to see what was going on. The lights mounted on top of Gerland and Ellie’s rifle barrels did not seem to be working, and the firelight was dying down. Still sat on the floor, with her hands tied behind her, Tukarra was the first to notice new movement in the shadows.

  ‘Look out!’ she shouted.

  From two or three of the tunnels, Scavengers began drifting back, their bows now loaded with arrows. Makhar, being the last to leave, had simply turned around and was leading the mob back towards us.

  Tom took aim and fired his unusually large gun at Makhar. To everyone’s surprise, the gun fired a tiny pellet that hit Makhar squarely in the chest. From where I was standing, it didn’t look to have made a mark on him. There might have been a tiny pimple of blood, perhaps.

  Makhar let out a deep throated laugh, but in less than a second this changed to a blood curdling cry of pain. From around the point of impact, I could see a widening ring of glowing embers, burning and enlarging the hole in his chest.

  Now covered in blood, he had hardly stopped charging towards us, when virtually all his skin had been eaten away. What was left of him, fell to the floor as a heap of offal and bone, surrounded by the few clothes he was wearing and the weapons he was carrying. Everyone stopped in their tracks to watch, open mouthed, as the pile of bloody meat, sinew, and teeth continued to wail for much longer than anyone could have thought possible.

  Shocked to their core, by this overwhelming show of force, all the remaining Scavengers turned and ran into the tunnels.

  ‘Boy am I glad to see you guys,’ I exclaimed as Ellie, Gerland and Tom ran over to me for a group hug.

  ‘Who’s your girlfriend?’ asked Gerland.

  ‘Meet Tukarra,’ I replied as I bent down to untie her hands.

  ‘Pleased to meet you,’ said Tukarra shaking everyone’s hands in a slightly strange way.

  I stated the obvious, ‘You came back for me.’

  ‘Yes, we did,’ said Ellie.

  ‘But how did you find me?’

  Tom spoke up, ‘Do you remember those tracer chips we were all injected with.’

  I nodded, and automatically touched a hand to my side where the needle had been inserted. There was no bruise there now, only the memory of the injection. Anyway, that bruise was nothing compared to the cuts and bruises my recent fight with Makhar had given me.

  Tom continued, ‘Well, I noticed a tracer chip locating device in our vehicle. So when you didn’t show up at the rendezvous point, I thought I might see if the device still worked and it did. You might also remember that you rescued Gerland and me from that basement, during our training exercise. So I suggested we should return the favour. Ellie volunteered to overpower and tie up the Elite driver and we drove back to rescue you. Of course, we found your vehicle down a dirty great hole, but the signal from your tracer led us down here.’

  ‘We have been here for a while, you know,’ said Gerland. ‘Listening to them arguing
. Trying to work out where they were holding you.’

  My gaze settled upon the awesome gun Tom was now cradling in his arms. With widening eyes, I shouted, ‘What the hell kind of weapon is that?’

  ‘That is not a actually a weapon,’ offered Tukarra. ‘It fires a ball of nanites - tiny robotic fleas. They detect whatever organic material the ball penetrates first and then they start a chain reaction that sees them multiply exponentially, until all that material is consumed by them; the fail-safe being they deactivate themselves, or die if you will, as soon as they meet another type of material.’

  Pointing at the sad pile of meat and bone she went on, ‘In the case of this poor man, the reaction started in his skin. So the nanites just ate all his skin and he bled to death.’

  ‘What on earth do you want a weapon like that for?’ I asked.

  Tukarra explained, ‘Like I said, it’s not really a weapon. We used it to clear that pumice stone like material, that completely filled the bunker we found you in. Analysis showed it was not actually stone but a type of organic compound. The gun is the new technology the High Elite developed for us.’

  Tukarra had only just finished what she was saying when the Scavengers returned. After checking out the power of the weapons they had thieved from our crashed Hippo, they came back with rifles of their own; their bullets ricocheting all around the hub. Fortunately for us, having had no time to practice using their weapons, they were terrible shots: at least for the first minute or so.

  Then a fully fledged gun battle started. Ellie, and Gerland returned fire whilst Tom, Tukarra and I ran just inside the nearest tunnel for some cover. Not wanting to risk killing everyone in sight, including himself, with his high-tech gun, Tom broke out an ordinary revolver from his backpack and then ran back over to assist Ellie and Gerland.