by James Porter
“I guess it’s not that hard to kill a planet after all.” Jake said it solemnly, but Star couldn’t help but let out a short burst of laughter.
“What?” Jake just looked at her like she was crazy as the wild display of yellows and orange from the cataclysm below reflected off her skin.
Chapter 38
The rocket ship glided through the nearby space of the catastrophic demise of the purple planet towing the refugees behind it on the huge metal sled.
“Where to now, Star” Tin Can looked at her and so did everyone else. She was their leader now and the decision of what would happen to them was left to her. She wasn’t sure that she really liked that level of responsibility, but it was a responsibility that she had resigned herself to fill. She looked around at her people and at the humans that had accompanied her on this dramatic adventure. They were all wounded and haggard looking, tired from fighting for survival.
“Let’s head over there to that large asteroid. We can assess the damage and think about our options without wasting any of our fuel.” Nearby was a large asteroid that had survived the destruction of the planet, its orbit seemed to be stable from what Star could predict. Tin Can gently guided the ship and the escape boat to an almost smooth landing. The boat hit the ground with a loud thud, but otherwise it was uneventful. The rocket itself, after detaching the chain, swung around for a proper landing nearby. Its pointy nose aiming toward the stars as its thrusters eased it down for a landing. Robots hopped out of the boat and immediately scoured the area for any signs of aggressive orange men, but none were found. For the moment they felt safe and like there was hope for the future.
“So, President Star, what’s the plan for your people?” Bud pulled out Dip and took a leaf and started chewing it. “Sit.” Dip looked at his master and sat down as directed.
“I’m not sure. We have to find a new home, but we’re almost out of fuel. That’s the biggest problem right now, then we need to get you humans home.” Star looked at Bud, Alan, Lori and Jake, but she only really saw Alan. There was no way for her to tell him how she felt, as the emotion was new to her. She only knew that she didn’t want to be anywhere but by his side. “I have to go talk to my people. Stay here in the galley. The air is good and the food and drink machines still work. Make yourself at home”
“Guess we’ll have to make do” Jake gave her a smirk and headed over to the machines to get some coffee. Star walked to the exit and left the stranded humans behind her. She wasn’t happy about the predicament she had dragged them all into, and especially wasn’t happy that they faced the possibility of dying out here alone, because of her. As she climbed down the ladder of the ship her people saw her coming and soon the word was spreading. She reached the bottom to a small mob of robots all clamoring for directions from her.
“Please, everyone. Calm down.” The people were just excited to see her, the one who had brought them to their salvation. She couldn’t hear anything, the vacuum around her preventing any sound from travelling. She switched to the communication frequency they all shared and broadcast out to them all. “Please.” The voices in her head died down and soon she had silence again. “We need to assess our situation and figure out where to go from here.”
“But what now? Where are we going to go?”
“How will we survive?”
“What about our dead?”
The voices bombarded her with questions until her head was spinning.
“Enough! I know you all have questions, but we have some humans here who have given everything to save us. Without them we would all be scrap on that planet. We owe it to them to try and get them home.” Star focused her thoughts and tried to formulate a plan, but there wasn’t one. “Without the mining rig, we have no fuel or resources. We may be stuck right here.” She wasn’t real happy about the prospect, even if the robots would be fine here for hundreds of years the humans would not. Their food and air would last for about 6 months tops. They had no way to replenish the food stores without the proper resources.
Bud and Jake tended to Alan’s wound while they waited for word from Star. Tin Can sat in the pilot’s seat going over the instruments, one of the only places his legs weren’t needed.
“So, whatcha think? We gonna make it home?” Bud found a cup to spit into not wanting to spit directly on the floor of the only living space they had within a billion miles.
“I don’t know.” Jake wasn’t real sure what he would even do back on Earth. Being in space and living the epic adventure of surviving a killer planet was hard to beat. Nothing seemed like it would be even close to exciting after that. The thrill of being in space was something he was never going to experience on earth, only here, now. “I’m not sure I even want to go…..”
“Hey what s that light on your vest for, it’s blinking like the devil just asked it out?”
Jake looked down to his vest and saw the blinking red light.
“Oh, that just means the vest is synced to the mining rig” He paused for a second as his own words sank in. “Synced to the mining rig! Do you know what this means? I’ve got to get Star!” Jake looked around the room in a daze for something to get Star’s attention.
“Easy, buddy, I got this. Tin Can, tell Star we need to talk to her immediately.” Bud spat in his cup and stood there like nothing in the world could phase him.
“She is on her way, Sir Bud.”
“Good, she’s gonna love this.” Soon the door opened and Star came into the room.
“What’s wrong? Is Alan ok?” She rushed to Alan’s sleeping form and checked his wound. Seeing nothing amiss, she turned and faced the humans. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Star, just thought you would like to see this.” Jake pointed a stubby finger at the blinking light, a smug grin across his face.
Stars eyes lit up. “Your suit is synced to a mining rig! That means it’s within a two mile radius of here. That’s great. We have to begin searching for it at once.”
“Won’t be necessary princess. I’m going to fly the suit to it and pilot it back to here. No need to uproot everyone to get to it, when I can just bring it here.”
“Jake that is incredibly dangerous. I can’t let you risk your life again for us.”
“Actually I’m kind of getting used to flying through space, and I think it’s my choice who I risk my own life for.” He smiled as he turned her own argument against her. Jake stepped to the door. Star took a step forward as if to stop him but pulled short. She pushed her shoulders back and straightened up into a very formal position.
“Jake Wonder, you humans have proven to be much more than I had given you credit for. Even when the odds aren’t in your favor you stubbornly shake your fist at adversity and push on. Thank you.” She opened the door for him and walked into the airlock with him.
“Wait!” Lori’s voice cut through the rumbling. “Where are you going? Will you be back?” Lori’s concern wrinkled her forehead. Jake looked at her and winked.
“Of course, I’ll be back…just you wait.” He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the lips. Lori beamed at his back as he and Star left.
As the galley door shut and the outer door opened, Jake pushed the button on his suit activating it. Out the door he flew and up into space, Star couldn’t see his goal and wasn’t sure how long they would have to wait.
Jake flew through space at a decent pace, it was exciting and boring at the same time. The view was spectacular, the planet’s dust and rubble was still spiraling into the sun creating red and brown swirls of light. The stars around him were brilliant and bright. He never saw them so clearly or as many of them as he did when he was out here. The colorful nebulas of gasses looking like distant lakes in the field of stars. Up ahead he could see the small mining rig startup pack moving toward some distant objective. The device was the size of a small car and had thrusters on the back guiding it to its destination. Jake suddenly realized he didn’t even know how to get it back to the asteroid he just left. He looked ar
ound to orient where he was. He relaxed a little once he identified the asteroid he had just left. He needed to be sure he could get back. The small mining pack wasn’t equipped with a bay for him to go into, but as he got closer he saw a seat with a harness appear on the top, presumably for him to sit in while the pack reached its destination. Jake however was not going to be using that. He collided with the mining rig and snapped a safety cable to his harness then moved toward the thrusters. He still had his wrench from his earlier fiasco with the toad, albeit a little melted on the handle. He examined the thrusters and made some adjustments to change the little craft’s trajectory. It wasn’t easy but he managed to keep adjusting the thrusters until they were close enough to his starting asteroid for the auto pilot to recognize the new target and take over. He collapsed into the little seat and buckled in for the flight home.
Star and her people got the mining rig set up and operating and input priorities of food and water with rocket fuel next. Alan had awakened and at this point didn’t seem like he was going to die from his injuries, much to Star’s delight. Jake had expressed interest in staying with the robots in their quest to find a new home, stating that space had become his new home. Bud was the only one still torn between staying or going home. He enjoyed the adventure, but still missed a lot of things, he had a home to go to, but not someone calling to him. He told Star he would wait a while and see where things led them. Alan and Star looked out the captain’s window at the scene below them. The robots had already made a basecamp and the mining rig was going full steam. Her people were working hard at building a new ship. A ship that would take them all beyond this place and to a new home. Alan reached over and took Star’s hand and for the first time she felt hope about her future.
Epilogue
Swirling in the cold void of space, half of the killer planet spun further and further away from the sun that had given it life. Its killers had fled, and most likely rejoiced at their victory, while the planet itself slowly froze to death. The chunk that spun away was roughly half of the planet. A half sphere, with one side looking like a normal planet and the other side a rocky metallic mess. The core had formed a new crust over it. Streams of hardened core jutted out from that crust, sprays of nickel blood frozen metallic reminders of being violently torn apart. The outer layers of metal cooled in the void of space, but it would still be hundreds of thousands of years before the entire core cooled to a solid ball of metal. The atmosphere and water of the planet had frozen forming an insulating shell over the surface that would slow the cooling process. Underneath this shell of ice a large chasm crossed the surface of the planet side of the wrecked ball. The mass of the planet had been reduced, but it was still a massive object and therefore still had significant amount of gravity. This gravity trapped some of the atmosphere in the canyon, the only breathable atmosphere left. The crack went deep enough to receive heat from the core. For now, this was a place that could support life. Trees and plants were still alive in the darkness, surviving on the heat and atmosphere trapped here. Life had found a way to carry on, the plants began sprouting glowing flowers providing dim light in the darkness. The quickened evolutionary ability of this place was the key to survival now. Small animals grew thick fur, as the plants turned off their photosynthesis. They would have to find other ways to feed. Orange men moved through the plant life carrying torches and building shelters. The children of Misty and Moot carried on and made their homes in the last inhabitable place on the planet. Hundreds of them survived to carry on a legacy of hate against the robots and humans that killed their life-giving planet. They all moved with purpose. All of them focused on the survival of the group and the hatred of their enemies. They weren’t distracted by petty squabbles or individual wants or cares. The Sons of Moot all shared the same goals, to seek vengeance. In the center of their hastily built village was a large tree and under it sat the form of a woman. It was Misty, their mother fused to the tree and alive, sustained by the life-force of the planet. Her children were building a structures around her to give her shelter, a shrine for their Goddess. Another group dug into the earth, tunneling deeper into the ruined planet. Misty cradled a man in her arms, Moot, her lover. He was not quite alive, but not quite dead. Her hands had tentacle like vines growing out of them leading into Moot’s back feeding him from her essence. His eyes were the same goo orange that seemed to infuse everything on the planet. A soft moan escaped his lips causing Misty to cradle him tighter.
“Shh be at peace my love, we have many children to make and you will need your strength. Many children to seek revenge against the metal devils and their human helpers.” The orange in her eyes glowed as she laughed into the dark, cold expanse of space.
“Keep digging my children! The roots of the world trees reach even here! We will find them and we will escape this place and have our revenge!” Her heart was now as cold as the dead frozen rock that was their prison, and her eyes twinkled with glee as she plotted her revenge.
