by Nick Evans
* * * * *
With only minutes to spare, they arrived back in the room they had left only an hour or so before, to find it badly messed up, but still largely intact. Glitch ran across to the big screen on the far wall and logged into the controls once more. Everything seemed to be operational.
"Now, young people," said Wiglet, with a serious expression, "we have one chance at this. My understanding is that the programming we have put in place for the course change will update on current position parameters. Therefore we should have no need to recalculate. Am I correct?"
There were some nervous nods around the room.
"Melody, Xalata? Can you confirm that is the case please?"
Melody responded nervously, "Yes, Mr Wiggins, I believe it is the case." She glanced at Xalata who nodded firmly. They both knew the importance of what they were doing and didn't want to foul up at this point.
"Very well," continued Wiglet, "in that case we shall activate the programme that we have already tested. Glitch, if you please ..." and he indicated to Glitch that he should prepare the sequence for activation. With a few swipes on the screen, all elements were in place and the Activate button glowed red under Glitch's hand.
"Ready to go, Mr Wiggins."
"Very well, let's do it!"
Glitch touched the screen and the button faded to show a progress vector that indicated how the course would change in the coming minutes and hours. "Let's call up the on board cameras," he said and, so saying, brought up the screen that gave the view of the ever-swelling Earth.
"Nothing seems to be happening," said Melody, anxiously.
"That's because the signals need to arrive there, then be processed. Then the effects of the engines firing will only take place very gradually," responded Glitch. "Let's check the engine view." Sure enough, the engines could be seen, leaving a trail of plasma from the increased thrust that was pushing the rock away from its former trajectory and on to a new path. "We'll see the change in about half an hour, I would guess. Let's focus on the left edge of the Earth's disk and put a marker on the screen that shows its relative position, then we can see what's happening. How do I drop a marker on there?" he asked no one in particular.
Searching through the on screen toolkit, he could not find anything that would do the task. Wiglet scratched his head and Melody furrowed her brow as they tried to address this simple, but infuriatingly baffling puzzle. Suddenly, Xalata jumped to her feet, picked a pen off the table and walked over to the screen. "Low tech is sometimes better," she said as she drew a line exactly on the edge of the Earth's left-hand horizon.
"Indeed it is," agreed Wiglet and they all laughed. "Now, we just need to wait."
* * * * *
"So what happened to Fark and his evil henchwoman?" asked Xalata as they sat and waited.
"Who cares?" said Glitch, "They're out of our hair and I for one would like never to see the two of them again."
"Yeah, that's all very well, but we're better than them, aren't we?"
"Well, yeah, duh!"
"So, shouldn't we be concerned that they may be injured or worse ...?"
Glitch shrugged, "I dunno, we've got enough on our plates here without watching out for the bad guys too."
"You're quite right," said Brett, joining in the conversation from across the room. "We should find out what's happened to them, now that we are fairly certain we have succeeded in foiling their plan."
"Indeed, we have succeeded," said Wiglet, "because I can now see that the Earth's disk has moved to the right away from Xalata's mark on the screen. We are on track! Now we just need to ensure nothing happens to stop that process. I've informed Mission Control down in Beijing and I think we have managed to hand over control to them now - we're just waiting for confirmation of that. Then our work here is done and we can discover how best to get back home."
"Surely, we'll just jump using the portal?" said Melody.
"Definitely not, Melody. I think it would be unwise for us to challenge the portal this much at this point. Each jump is literally a gamble, particularly with so many of us. I am not convinced that we would be safe in making such a significant jump back home."
"So how are we going to get back then?" said Xalata. "We can't take a TransTrak because it's not out here any more since the habitat was closed off."
"There may be another way," said Wiglet, mysteriously. "Meanwhile, I think we should send out a mission to check on the Control Room - what's left of it."
Between them, they worked out that Brett was probably strong enough now to tackle the trip back to the Control Room and he would take the two girls with him while Glitch and Wiglet looked after the asteroid. The three of them trooped out of the home and picked up the truck that stood outside and, with Melody in control, swept off to see what had happened to their foes.
* * * * *
As they stepped off the truck at the shattered Control Room entrance, a deep sense of foreboding fell over them. Xalata now felt awful that she had sent the Cryomorph to continue its destruction, knowing that Fark and her mother were still inside. What had become of them? She soon found out.
The devastation of the entry and the area immediately inside was massive - great blocks of material had been dashed from the walls, melted metal was spattered on the floor and a smell of burning plastics hung in the air, leaving an unpleasant choking feeling in their throats. They covered their mouths and noses with their hands and walked forward. The lighting had been damaged and Melody pulled out a tiny torch that lit the way down the exploded corridor, over rubble and into the now devastated Control Room.
It was barely recognisable - the huge screen at the far end had melted into streaks that layered the wall in fanciful colours, like some abstract artist's unhinged work; the large units behind which they had hid had also been shattered and there was no sign of any of the smaller items of equipment which appeared to have been vaporised in the blast.
Xalata looked around anxiously, hoping against hope that the two villains had made good their escape. There appeared to be no sign, but, as they split up to search the wreckage, there came a shout from Brett, "Over here!" As they dashed over, Xalata could see an arm pushed out from underneath some rubble, clad in a torn Scramsuit - black, with silver markings. It was her mother's, Castrana's.
She gasped and a torrent of mixed emotions hit her, "I ... oh no ... she's," and she bent down to feel the bloodied hand that was the only sign of the body lying trapped beneath. "It's cold," she said flatly, knowing the implication of what she had discovered. "I've killed her."
Brett stood up and gathered her to him in a big hug, trying to comfort her, but the tears were pouring down her face and she pushed away, desperately trying to keep control of her emotions.
Melody moved towards her, "Xalata, you couldn't have known ..."
"Don't be stupid! Of course I knew. I just touched the command and that beast killed them. I killed them. No one else."
"They were going to destroy the world, Xalata," Melody continued. "If you plan crimes as big as that, then the ending's never going to be good, whichever way it goes. You helped stop them ..."
"Yes, by killing them," sobbed Xalata, "Is that the right way? Is it?" She turned away, unable to speak any more while Brett tried to move some of the rubble that had buried Castrana.
"We've not found Fark," he observed, "although he may be in here somewhere, under the broken walls and equipment."
Xalata turned and looked at Brett, "I don't feel bad about him. He was an evil worm and if he's had his come-uppance, so be it. But, I've killed my mother and, even though she was an evil witch who didn't care about me, how do you think that makes me feel? How does it make you feel?"
There was no answer that Brett could easily give, no comforting words, so he chose to remain silent and now, with relief, Xalata came to him and allowed herself to be comforted. They stood, a silent tableau: Xalata and Brett, with Melody watching quietly as her friend dealt with the turmoil in her head.
/> * * * * *
Fark crawled. He couldn't walk. When the beast had attacked the Control Room he was struck dumb with horror at the thought that the Cryomorph was out of control. He had searched his pockets for the control unit, but it wasn't there and he had quickly realised that it must have fallen out during the attack by Brett. But who had grabbed it and then turned the beast on its own master?
He was too tired and in too much pain to care at this point as he crawled. He had pulled himself away from the Control Room and further down the corridor that led away from the damaged airlock entry. He had no clue what was down there, but he knew that he had to be out of the way or risk being discovered. He looked back and saw that, although he was leaving a few small spots, there was little blood showing where he had dragged himself. The dust that was in the air was settling rapidly so his tracks were being covered as he moved away.
What could he do now? The controls for the asteroid were set, but he wasn't certain that Wiglet and the interfering kids couldn't break into the code to stop the asteroid's progress toward the Earth. He had no way to communicate, no way to know whether his mission had been successful. He was injured, without equipment and without a means of escape.
He had no idea what he could do. But he was about to find out.
* * * * *
"So, what happened, Dad?" asked Xalata, as she pushed away gently from him. "How did it all go wrong ... with Castrana, I mean?"
"Hmm. Long story, Xally. I'm not sure you're ready for it yet."
"I just killed her, Dad. I think I'm probably ready for most anything at this point, don't you?"
"Yes, I see what you mean. Well, your mother was stunningly beautiful when she was in her early twenties ... and knew it. She could be with any man she wanted and she seemed to be with a lot, over the time I knew her before we got together. Why she got her hooks into me, I'm not sure. She seemed to be lured by the fact that I worked at the LunarBase, although at that time I was on furlough on Earth."
"Where were you living then?"
"In the United Kingdom, in a little village about 10K away from my work. She suddenly appeared in the village and had her sights set on me. What was I supposed to do? She was more beautiful than any other woman who had ever showed any interest in me. We began dating and the inevitable happened. Then she declared that she was pregnant - I was horrified. I'd no way of supporting her, I lived a fairly chaotic life, between Earth and the Moon and I couldn't see how it would work.
"Anyway, we got married and you were born not long after. At that point, everything seemed to change. She had always been very interested in talking to me about my work, which struck me as odd because what I do is completely different from her field of expertise - she's brilliant ... was brilliant - and so I had the impression that she was always pumping me for information. We would have awful rows about it ... and about everything else. We were not even a little bit compatible and she made it clear that she hated being with me.
"Basically, we split up; you went to your Aunt's who was delighted to look after you and I returned to the work I was doing. But it didn't stop there. She and Fark tried to blackmail me into diverting lithium products to their camp on Farside so they could, now I realise, continue to build their monsters like the Cryomorph."
"Why the lithium?" asked Xalata.
"It's a very valuable element that is used in a whole raft of things here on the Moon, not least of all in purifying the air, but also in nuclear fusion and in the production of a much rarer element, Tritium. The fusion reactors are essential to deliver all the power that these two, along with their accomplices, needed to go on with their evil projects."
"So did they get the lithium?"
"They had been progressively stealing it over a couple of years. Because Fark was in charge of security, he could arrange to divert supplies and cook the records so that no one would know. But then it became evident that there were quantities of the stuff going missing and everything had to be clamped down. That's when they came up with the plan to get me to provide it through my legitimate channels. Naturally, I said no and that's when the whole thing kicked off, they kidnapped you and at the same time, were undertaking their insane plan to destroy the Earth."
"Quite how they would have survived without the Earth to support them, I don't understand?"
"They didn't care. They believed that the Lord Asttar would look after them and all would be well. He would provide a place on Earth that was free from the devastation. Utter nonsense, but they believed it."
Xalata nodded her head, smiled at her father and then went across to where Melody was sitting, waiting. "Sorry, my friend, but I'm a bit fried by all of this."
"Not surprising really."
"No, I s'pose not, but you've been amazing. What's with the 'scared of her own shadow' act and then coming on like a superhero?"
"I don't like my friends and family being threatened and I guess that in those circumstances you forget about being afraid and you just do it. Come on, you're the same."
"Nope - I'm not. I just have a big mouth and don't engage my brain before I speak ... or act. You're the real hero here, Melody. Thanks, um, y'know, for being a good mate."
Melody smiled and gave her friend a hug. This was going to be a lifetime friendship.
* * * * *
Fark struggled and sat up, the pain in his legs getting worse, where he had been hit by a piece of flying debris as the Cryomorph destroyed the Control Room. He managed to rest himself against the blank surface of a corridor wall and reviewed his options. He was immobilised, had no communications because he'd lost all his devices in the explosions, was injured and had no clear way of getting back to the LunarBase. And even if he did manage to get back there, he would probably be arrested on sight as the do-gooder, Brett Orbit, would have blabbed his name to the authorities.
He felt grim. His mood was low, his legs pained him and he had no options. What was he to do? As he sat there, feeling sorry for himself, he noticed a dim light coming from further down the corridor - possibly a room or an entry into another atrium. As he had never explored this end of the area, he was reluctant to expend the energy and suffer the pain of moving in that direction, but what else was there to do?
So, pulling himself over onto his stomach again, he continued to drag his body along the corridor by the strength in his arms and by pushing with one foot that could still take some pressure. As he got nearer to the light, he could see that it was an atrium and, on rounding the corner of the entry, he saw something that made his heart leap.
It was a plain double door - operated electronically, but able to take a reasonably large number of people through the entry. This sort of door was only ever used in one place throughout Luna - the TransTrak! He knew that the TransTrak didn't run any more, but it was a route away from where he sat currently, so he pulled himself across to the doors, operated their lock mechanism and, to his surprise, found that the doors slid back to reveal a staircase down to the TransTrak 'tube' which was sited below all the other structures on the LunarBase.
The steps were a challenge, but he discovered that his best way of tackling them was to sit down and bump down on his bottom. They didn't descend very far before he came out into the single line station of the deserted track. There was dim emergency lighting but that afforded enough light for him to see that the tunnel was still all intact.
It was spooky down in that dimly-lit sub-lunar burrow, every sound he made echoing down the tube in front of and behind him, every flicker of light imagined or real dancing up like ghosts in front of his eyes. The optical tricks grew to such an extent that he had to close his eyes momentarily in order to steady his senses. It was then that he noticed another door, set back into the curved wall of the tunnel and on the other side of the track from him. In all his journeys on the TransTrak, he'd never seen a door set into the tunnel before and he was intrigued.
He cursed his injured legs and shuffled over to the trackside so that he could see the door more
clearly. It was curved, like the wall and it bore a symbol which he recognised as the universal sign for 'Keep Out. He couldn't see how the door opened, but he was determined to find out so, shuffling his legs over onto the track, he lowered himself down and then crawled across the guide rails before ending up in front of the door. No one was likely to have ever opened this portal while Habitat 14 was running and populated, because it was forbidden to step onto the TransTrak tracks.
Now he had the opportunity and he pushed himself against the door to see whether it would move inwards. To his great surprise, it did and he fell forward and tumbled down a set of around ten steps, landing winded, angry and in pain, even more. Looking around him, an idea came to him and his face brightened. "I know where I am!" he exclaimed, although there was no one to hear.
Chapter Forty-four
"What do we do next and how do we get back to LunarBase?" Xalata was starting to come back to her normal self a little, although every time she had seen that hand sticking from the rubble, her face had darkened and her mood had dropped. But now they were back at the home, with Wiglet and Glitch. They had told them the whole terrible tale and the mood had been sombre for a while, but had lifted when it was clear that the asteroid was now heading around the Earth and would slingshot using the Earth's gravity to send it on its path to Mars. "We are on Farside, for Frank's sake. How do we head back to Nearside?"
"Not with the portal, I'm afraid," said Wiglet. "I risked it twice because we were in danger, but tempting fate with a third jump, particularly that far, would be unwise. However, I have an idea, as I mentioned earlier." Everyone paid rapt attention and gathered round him as he spoke.
"I had mentioned that the TransTrak ran while this habitat was in operation. When it was abandoned - this happened for a number of reasons, but mostly because certain parts of it had become unusable because of faults in the construction - the TransTrak of course was stopped. It had never run between LunarBase and here in any case as this had been a separately supplied base which received its own missions from Earth to provision it."
