It wasn’t long before the elevator entered the cargo bay. Although Deneb had taken the Sparrowhawk, the Antiquarian still had one other shuttle aboard. Called the Concorde after a famous Old-Time plane, it was a small shuttle, hardly used and not in very good condition. However, Andi had been popping down to the cargo bay over the five days since Deneb disappeared to check on the shuttle and make sure it was in good working order. Her basic maintenance training with the Astronaut Training Academy had come into its own as she carried out a few minor repairs on the old Anti-Matter Drive, and she had also put the doomed star systems lesson to good use as she programmed in Thoume’s solar system, with its huge red sun and scatter of planets.
Unfortunately, as the elevator doors slid open to reveal the cargo bay, she stepped out and was immediately spotted by the chief technician, a human called Pavo born on one of Jupiter’s moons. Her heart began to thump in her chest as he walked across the floor of the large hanger to her. Was her plan about to be foiled?
“Still working on the old Concorde?” the chief technician asked.
Andi slid her bag around her back so that he couldn’t see it, stifled her impatience, and gave him a sad little smile. “Yes. Because of course, now Dad’s taken the Sparrowhawk, the Concorde’s the only shuttle we have left.”
“Ah, yes.” His broad grin sobered at the thought of Deneb’s disappearance. He coughed uncomfortably. “I’m sorry that he’s gone. I understand that we’re leaving soon, too. It’s such a shame…”
“Yes.” Andi’s lip quivered. “I’d really rather not talk about it. Do you mind if I just get on with my work? It takes my mind off... my loss.”
“Yes, of course.” He stepped back awkwardly and Andi walked by him to the shuttle steps, head down.
Once she was inside the shuttle, she blew a loud raspberry at him, which he couldn’t hear but made her feel better, shut the door and locked it securely, then made her way through the small cabin to the flight controls at the front. The shuttle was already facing the main cargo bay doors, and through the LCD screen she could see Pavo sweeping the floors, casting the occasional eye over at her.
She gritted her teeth. There was nothing she could do about him. He was going to have to find out about her escape. As long as she made it out of the Antiquarian, there was little that Jack could do about it, as the Waiter had no control over the shuttles. He wouldn’t risk setting the main ship down on a planet still scarred by war, and there weren’t any other shuttles on board.
Glad that she had done as much preparation as she had, Andi began to power up the controls. She quickly plotted in her destination: a small field behind the forest several miles to the west of the Ruvalian city that she and Deneb had visited the week before. She had watched the fall of the city from the Antiquarian following his disappearance, and Andi knew that she had to see if there were any Ruvalians still alive hiding out in the forest, in case any would volunteer to help her.
Everything ready for take-off, she finally engaged the Anti-Matter Drive. Pavo’s head snapped round in shock at the loud hum and he dropped the brush and put his hands over his ears. He looked up as the Concorde began to move slowly and shook his head, mouthing something at her. Andi put up her hands helplessly and pointed to her ears. “Can’t hear you!” she mouthed, moving the shuttle forward.
Surprisingly stubborn, Pavo stood in her way and refused to move. Presumably he realized what Jack would have to say to him if he let her go. His hands still over his ears, he stood there and glared at her.
Andi continued to pilot the shuttle forward. She flipped the switch to activate the speakers in the cargo bay and leaned forward to talk into the microphone. “I’m going to decompress the bay, Pavo, whether you’re here or not.”
Still, he refused to move. He didn’t believe that she would really go ahead with it. She bit her lip, but she had to do it. She just couldn’t leave Thoume without at least attempting to rescue her father.
Enough talk. She flipped off the communicator switch and then pressed the button to decompress the cargo bay. Pavo’s head snapped round as he heard the deafening hiss of the air beginning to escape out into the atmosphere. He looked up at her in alarm. Andi continued to pilot the shuttle forward. He turned back to look at the bay doors and then, realizing she was calling his bluff, raced past the shuttle and out into the main corridor. Andi watched him disappear through the safety doors just in time before they locked, disallowing anyone to come through while the cargo bay was being decompressed. She smiled grimly. Deneb would not be pleased to hear that she had escaped using his own sneaky methods.
The doors were open wide enough now for the Concorde to pass through. She pushed the flight controls forward and the shuttle picked up speed, moving through the hangar.
The control panel bleeped. She cursed as she saw the Antiquarian’s communication link flashing. She pressed it, her hand still on the controls. It was Jack.
“Don’t do it, Andi,” he yelled.
“I’m going, Jack, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“We’ll see about that!”
With alarm, she realized he’d overridden the cargo bay door controls from the bridge. Why hadn’t she thought of that five days ago? The doors had ceased to open, and were now beginning to lower once again.
“I’m not stopping, Jack!” she yelled back, increasing the shuttle’s velocity.
“I’m not going to let you go,” he snapped, his voice crackling above the sound of the Concorde’s drive and the hiss of the bay doors.
“It’s not up to you,” she said softly. She was done with being told what to do. Her hand on the controls, she jammed the thrusters down to maximum. The Concorde leaped forward like a sprinter out of the blocks. It sped down the last bit of the runway as the cargo bay doors passed the halfway level. Time to bring all her Astronaut training into practice. She wasn’t a Polaris student for nothing, Andi thought, lifting the nose of the Concorde to pass over the rising bottom door.
The shuttle slipped through the doors with just a gentle scrape on the top wing, and then she was free, the twinkling Galaxy splayed out before her like a scatter of diamonds on a black velvet cloak.
“Andromeda!” Jack screamed into the controls.
“Bye Jack,” she said coolly. “Next time I see you, I’ll have Deneb with me.” And then she shut off the Antiquarian’s communicator, surrounding herself in the quietness of space.
*
Deneb had let Andi handle the controls on the Sparrowhawk occasionally, and she had flown dozens of ships in the VR Playdeck, but this was the first time she’d taken one of the shuttles out on her own. Andi tried not to be nervous, however. She checked the controls automatically as she’d been taught at the Academy, and pretended it was just another routine practice flight on the VRP, watching the trajectory so she wasn’t too shallow, adjusting the speed so she didn’t come in too fast.
With a firm but gentle hand that Professor Watson would have been proud of back at the Academy, Andi set the Concorde down in the small field behind the forest to the west of the fallen Ruvalian city. She turned off the shuttle’s drive and opened the hatch door and listened for a moment to the quietness of the Thoume night. Although it had only been sixteen-hundred-hours on ship, here on this side of Thoume—which had a thirty-four-hour rotation cycle—it was already night-time.
Putting her bag over her shoulder and resting it on her hip, Andi made her way stealthily down the shuttle steps and jumped into the field of ripe yellowcorn. The rich earth beneath the plants sucked at her boots as she crept towards the forest. After a few steps, she turned and pressed a button on the small communicator device she held in her pocket. The Concorde began to emit its camouflage shield, a reflective device that mirrored its surroundings back into the night. With a shimmer, the shuttle disappeared.
Was the Sparrowhawk around here somewhere, she wondered, camouflaged in a similar manner? Had Deneb landed here, or had he flown straight to the heart of the enemy, in
tending to be captured and taken into the Black Hole? Hopefully he hadn’t been killed before he even had chance to set foot on Thoume.
She wasn’t going to think about things like that. Andi gritted her teeth, focusing on the ground, and continued to creep along towards the forest. Then she stopped, holding her breath. Was that a rustling she could hear in the corn? She listened for a moment and then continued, hoping it was her imagination.
Before long, she found out that it wasn’t. After a few more paces, there was another, more obvious rustling from behind her, and then something appeared out of the darkness and knocked her to the ground. She fell heavily, her breath knocked out of her, and struggled as someone quickly tied her hands behind her back.
“I’m a friend,” she snapped as she peered over her shoulder and saw the distinctive green glow of a Ruvalian face. “I’ve come to help.”
“Shut up.” The Ruvalian pulled Andi to her feet. “Come with me.”
Andi stumbled along beside the soldier. “I was here six days ago,” she said in a hushed voice. “I met with Clios, the captain of the resistance. Is she still alive?”
Her captor stared at her for a moment. “Yes, she is alive,” he said finally, or was it a she? “That is where I am taking you.” But he still didn’t release her hands. Keeping one hand under her armpit to stop her from falling over the undergrowth, he led her through the closely-packed trees on an invisible path, until eventually they reached a small clearing in the heart of the forest.
Another soldier carrying a rifle challenged her guard, and then the second soldier stepped aside, allowing her captor to lead her into the clearing. Several Ruvalian soldiers wearing yellow sashes were gathered around a small fire in the center. Through the trees Andi could just see other soldiers huddled in groups, scattered throughout the woods.
One of the soldiers stood as the guard approached, half-dragging Andi with him. Andi saw the yellow sash, and the captain’s lime-green hair, which she had rubbed with mud to try and dim its luminosity. She wasn’t sure how she recognized her, but she was in no doubt. “Clios, it’s me, Andi,” she said urgently. “Deneb’s daughter.”
Clios stared at her in surprise. She nodded to the guard, who quickly untied her hands. “So it is,” she said, beckoning her towards the fire. “What on Thoume are you doing here?”
“Deneb hasn’t returned from the Black Hole.” She took a deep breath. “So I’ve come to rescue him.”
There was a ripple of laughter among the soldiers gathered around the fire. Clios looked over at them and said something harshly, but when she looked back at Andi, she, too, was smiling. “I see.” She reached out and touched a green hand gently to Andi’s shoulder. “I’m very sorry that Deneb did not return. I cautioned him about going into the Hole. I said that he would not come back. But he was determined. I see that you are like him, too. It is very brave of you to think about rescuing him.” Her hand dropped to her side. “But it is a foolish notion. Why do you think that you would have a chance where he did not?”
Andi lifted her chin as the soldiers all stared at her, curious to hear her answer. It went against the grain for her to admit the operations she had had, but she had no choice. “Because I am an upgrade. It is what we call people on Earth who have had implants,” she explained at their confused stares. “Sometimes if our organs break down, or we have an accident, it is possible to replace the damaged part of the body with synthetic materials. It has been done for centuries with limbs and even things like eyes. But the technology has now been developed to replace the heart and brain.”
She waited for them to show expressions of revulsion and disgust. However, although they all looked startled, the general emotion seemed to be interest rather than horror.
Clios frowned. “Are you saying that’s what has happened to you?”
“My brain is half computer, yes.”
“So what does that mean?”
Andi shrugged. “I have many improved… qualities.”
Clios tipped her head. “Like what?”
“I have a greatly expanded memory and I can recall books word for word after only reading them once. I have a talent for figures and patterns and I can break almost any code. I can fly any sort of ship. I become fluent in a language after only hearing it spoken for a while. I am talking Ruvalian to you now, am I not? And I only met you a week ago.”
Clios nodded. She looked impressed. “I see. Why did Deneb not take you with him? You would have stood a greater chance of rescuing the Golden Star together.”
Andi bit her lip. “He doesn’t know about my… abilities.”
Clios look surprised. “What do you mean? How could he not know?”
“I was always fairly bright, even before my upgrade. I’ve always been good with languages and gadgets and I think that Deneb hasn’t really paid any thought to how much better I’ve got. The other things I can do… Well, I don’t tell him about them.”
“Why ever not? He seems like an understanding sort of man.”
Andi sighed. “Sometimes a gift can also be a curse. I find it a hard burden to bear, and it would upset Deneb to know that I wish I hadn’t had the upgrade.” She nodded at Clios’s Indigo Quartz necklace. “You must feel the same about your abilities. Although it can be useful to improve your talents, it is not always a good thing.” She was thinking of Sphere.
Clios smiled wryly, indicating that she understood. “So what do you propose to do now?”
“I thought I would enter Hoshaen territory and get captured. Hopefully they’ll send me to the Black Hole. Once I’m there I can find my way to Deneb and release him.” Andi spoke more confidently than she felt.
Clios nodded. “Okay. I will come with you, if you want me.”
Andi’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
Clios shrugged. “We are trying to maintain a resistance in these woods but we have little chance of holding out for long. If our people truly wish to survive these terrible wars, we must act now to bring them some hope.” She took Andi by the shoulders and held her firmly. “But I will only come with you on one condition.”
“What’s that?” But Andi already suspected what it would be.
“That we try to rescue Lydia, and the Golden Star, too.”
Andi nodded. “Okay. But Deneb comes first.”
“Agreed.” The two women shook hands. Clios gave a little shiver of excitement, her eyes filled with hope for the first time in days. “Let us prepare for our adventure.”
*
Andi watched as Clios got herself ready. “We shall make our way towards the city, and will probably be picked up not far from the walls,” the captain said as she strapped on a belt with a knife and other weapons attached.
“What if we become separated?” Andi asked nervously.
“We will do our best to avoid that. The Hoshaen, for all their faults, have a strong family unit. From what we understand they keep families together in the Hole.”
Andi laughed. “Haven’t you forgotten one thing?” She indicated her hands and face. “We hardly look like we’re related.”
Clios grinned, the strip of brown bone that replaced her teeth hardly visible in the darkness. “We’ll have to camouflage you, Andi. It will be safer that way.” She nodded to one of the other soldiers, who came forward with a wooden bowl. “Thank you, Jarl,” she said softly. It was filled with a dark earthy substance that slopped against the sides as Jarl placed it on the ground.
“This is granala,” the male Ruvalian said. “It is a mixture of a special type of Thoume earth and a chemical compound that turns the earth to a viscous liquid. It will make your skin green in a matter of minutes—but it will wear off, don’t worry.”
“How long will that take?” said Andi, trying not to show alarm as Clios pulled her arm straight and began to spread the horribly sticky liquid onto her skin.
“Several days. It will gradually fade.” Clios pushed the sleeves of Andi’s suit and jacket up so that the mixture covered her arms up to her
elbows. Then she smoothed it onto Andi’s face and neck. The rest of her was covered and, unless her clothes were removed, her white skin would not be noticed.
The captain then accepted a bowl of water from Jarl and proceeded to wash off the earthy mixture. Andi gasped as her arms were revealed. They glowed a beautiful iridescent green, the phosphorus in the soil interacting with the chemical compound to change the pigment in her skin. Clios washed her face and neck, then stood back to admire her handiwork. “Only the hair left to do.”
“Can’t I just wear my hat?”
“It might get taken or knocked off, and your hair is very distinctive. Better to color it.” Clios made Andi kneel down, and then gathered her blonde hair in one hand and began to ladle the earthy mixture onto it.
“Your hair is a very strange color,” Jarl commented as Clios covered the blonde locks with a smile. “Do all Earth women have the same shade?”
“No. Very few, in fact. Most are dark brown or black. Some used to be red, but that’s virtually extinguished now, too.”
Clios finished, waited a moment and then washed the earth off. Andi watched her wet, shoulder-length hair swing back around her face, startled to see it a bright lime-green, very similar to Clios’s.
“There,” said Jarl. “You look like a true Ruvalian!”
“One more thing.” Clios took a small strip of thin bark from Jarl. On one side it was smeared with a sticky substance. “You must put this on your teeth. It will feel strange, but it is quite effective. It will cover up your enamel blocks.” Andi smiled as she realized Clios meant her teeth. “To remove it, you must wash your mouth with an alkaline liquid.”
Andi slipped the bark over her teeth. It felt very strange, but when she smiled the two Ruvalians nodded grimly and she assumed that it must look authentic.
“What about that?” Jarl gestured to the small clip on the front of her clothes that transmitted the translation of other languages to the earpiece in her ear.
Andromeda Day and the Black Hole Page 6
