Andromeda Day and the Black Hole

by Charlie Jackson

  “One day you will fight back, Clios,” Andi said firmly. “And everyone in this terrible place will be free.” She nodded towards the door. “Beginning with us. It looks like we have a few hours before they come to get us for the mines. We’ll wait until our tray has been collected, and then we’ll make our break.”

  “Do you truly think we can do it?” Clios stopped eating for a moment. Her young face showed eagerness and hope. “Do you really think we can escape, and find Deneb, and Lydia?”

  “I am certain of it. I will not die in this place, Clios, and I will not let Deneb die either.” Andi reached over to grasp her friend’s hand. “And if it’s the last thing I do, I am going to rescue the Golden Star and help your people to regain their lands, so that, one day in the future, they will return to destroy the Black Hole.”

  *

  About an hour later, someone rapped on the food hatch and Andi passed the empty trays out. She returned to her bunk, exchanging an excited glance with Clios. She felt her heart thumping in her chest, the metal organ pumping the blood through the rubber tubes and into her veins. For once, she didn’t feel disappointment and shame at the thought of her enhanced abilities. Instead she hoped that she would be able to stay true to her word, and use her improvements to help them escape.

  They waited about fifteen minutes to make sure that the guards had stopped passing by, collecting trays. Then, finally, Clios nodded to Andi. “It’s time.”

  Andi got up and went over to the lock. There was a small metal panel on the inside, with the red light that indicated that the door was secure. There was a slot for one of the metal cards to be swiped, but no figures or buttons.

  “It must be some sort of combination,” she said finally. “The card that they slide through randomizes it every time so that it can’t be learned.”

  “Does that mean we’re stuck here?” Clios said in dismay.

  “Not at all. Now we just have to apply a little ingenuity.”

  To Clios’s surprise, Andi began to take off the top half of her prison uniform. She looked up to see the Ruvalian girl watching her and grinned. “There is a method to my madness, Clios, I promise.”

  She slid the jacket off and revealed the item that she had taken from the museum on board the Antiquarian. It was an Old-Time brazier, commonly known, she had read, as a bra. Awkwardly, unused to the constricting elastic, she flipped the catch at the back and slid off the underwear, quickly replacing the scratchy jacket.

  “An interesting piece of clothing,” Clios remarked, examining the cups and straps. “We wear tunics made of a thin, silky material beneath our military uniforms. They have no support like this item.”

  “So do we. Women used to wear these hundreds of years ago, and they are really uncomfortable. I took it from our museum because I thought it could be useful.”

  “How?”

  Andi grinned, took the bra from Clios and turned it over. With her teeth, she carefully made a small hole in the top of the seam under the cup.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Look.” Andi wiggled the seam and out slid the thick piece of wire that served as the support for the cup.

  “Oh.”

  “Exactly.” Andi took the wire and went over to the lock on the door. She knelt down, examined the slot where the card should go, and then inserted the wire.

  “Don’t you worry about electrocuting yourself?” Clios remarked.

  “If my hair stands on end, you know I’ve hit the wrong spot.” Andi smiled over her shoulder. “I’ve done this before, don’t worry.” She wiggled the wire until she short-circuited the mechanism behind the wall. There was a snap, a click, and then the light went from red to green as the catch was released.

  Slowly, the door swung open.

  Clios gasped. “You’ve done it!” She hugged the younger girl in a hard grip.

  “Thanks Clios, but I want to keep some of my ribs intact.” Andi laughed, freeing herself. She pulled open the door and peered out. “The corridor’s empty. Let’s go.”

  “Do you want this?” Clios was holding up the rest of the bra.

  Andi grinned. “Let’s leave that here for Sphere to wonder about.”

  Laughing softly, they exited the cell. They had already discussed what they were going to do, providing Andi could get them out. Shutting the door behind them, they made their way quietly along the main tunnel, back towards the computer station at the head of the cells.

  When they neared the lip of the tunnel, Andi let Clios go in front. Light from the computer illuminated the Hoshaen guard sitting at the station. From where they were, they could see he was asleep.

  Clios nodded to Andi and they exited the tunnel. Softly they went up to the guard and stood behind him. Andi looked down and saw his metal card sticking out of the top pocket of his coveralls. She pointed and mouthed, “There it is,” and then slid her hand under his body to retrieve the card. As quietly as possible, she then fed it into the slot on the computer.

  A menu came up, but of course, it was in Hoshaen. Their spoken language, she had found, was almost the same as Ruvalian, which is why she and Clios had been able to communicate with them, but would the written word be the same too?

  “You’re going to have to help me, Clios,” she whispered. “I can’t read it. Can you?”

  Over the top of the snoring guard, Clios came forward to read the screen. “It’s similar enough to Ruvalian, just a few vowel differences.”

  “Can you type in ‘Deneb Day’?”

  Andi held her breath as Clios did so, pressing her green fingers on the screen. Andi’s throat tightened with tension. Would Clios be able to translate the awkward Earth name well enough to locate him? She bit her lip as the computer processed the information. In seconds she would know if her father was dead. But what if he had given a different name to the Hoshaens? There were other ways in which she could identify him in the computer, but these would take too much time.

  It did not take long, however, for the results to show. The Hoshaen for ‘Deneb Day’ flashed on the screen, under a code number. “It’s a solitary cell, several levels down,” Clios said, her eyes shining triumphantly.

  Andi’s heart—albeit made out of metal—lifted with joy. She wanted to scamper down the corridor immediately and find Deneb, but she saw the eagerness on Clios’s face and knew that they had another job first. Quickly she programmed Deneb’s location into the card. Then she knew it was time to look for the Keeper of the Golden Star.

  Clios typed in Lydia’s name. The Ruvalians didn’t have surnames, which made it more difficult, and the computer threw up several Lydias. However, there were sub criteria for locating individuals and Clios accessed the menus to search for the one with the correct age and birthplace. One name flashed on the screen.

  “She’s here!” Clios let out the breath she had been holding.

  “Check the cell number.”

  “She’s several levels down from Deneb. Near the mines.” Clios cleared the screen. “Okay, let’s get going.”

  “One more thing,” Andi whispered. She pressed the button on the computer that had a diagram on it. As she was hoping, it brought up the plans of the prison. As fast as she could, she programmed them into the card.

  “Andi…” Clios warned. The guard had twitched, and was showing signs of rousing.

  “One more minute…”

  “Now, Andi!” Clios slipped into the tunnel opposite the station. Andi snatched the card out of the computer and joined her, just as the guard’s eyes opened. He cleared his throat and looked around to make sure that nobody was aware he had been napping, then picked up the notepad of files he was supposed to be updating.

  Sighing with relief, Andi beckoned to Clios, and they went deeper into the tunnel. “Do you think he will miss his card?” Clios whispered as they jogged along in the murky half-light.

  “Hopefully not for a while, maybe not even until he has to unlock the doors when it’s time to go to the mines.” They slowed as they ca
me to a junction, the metal box visible on the wall.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Back up to the central cavern, then we’ll have to take an elevator down to Deneb’s level.” Andi slid in the card. The light above the right-hand tunnel came on, and the two young women continued down it.

  After a while they found the central cavern, and here they had to wait a few minutes to find an elevator that was empty. The cavern was still quite busy with Hoshaen guard and prisoners who were busy transporting Indigo Quartz over to the cargo elevators. It didn’t seem that there was a ‘lights out’ time in the Hole, and Andi guessed that everyone worked on a rota, so that the prison was never officially closed. Eventually, however, they managed to slip into an empty elevator, and Andi swiped the card to descend to Deneb’s level.

  When they exited the elevator, they entered a similar set of tunnels to those on their own level. It was a long and complicated way to Deneb’s cell. Andi’s brain was processing the Hoshaen language but her vocabulary was not yet complete and she had to hope that the card would lead them to the correct destination. Down they went, down and down, left tunnels and right tunnels, some of which seemed to double back on themselves. Clios was soon terribly lost and clung to Andi’s hand, desperate not to lose her. It grew warmer the deeper they went into the prison, and at regular intervals Andi saw ventilation shafts with spinning fans, trying to keep the air moving.

  Eventually they came to a tunnel junction with a computer station. They flattened themselves against the tunnel wall and Clios peered around the lip, looking for the guard.

  “There’s no one there,” she hissed.

  “Where’s the guard?”

  “He must be patrolling.”

  “What shall we do? Shall we wait?”

  Clios shook her head. “We’re wasting valuable time. Come on, let’s try and find his cell.”

  They slipped out of the tunnel and through the computer station to the cells beyond. Andi looked at the Hoshaen symbols on the doors. She was starting to recognize some of the letters and numbers, and as she had memorized Deneb’s cell destination, it was not long before she located the correct room.

  “He’s here.” She felt taut with tension and excitement. Carefully she slid the card through the slot on the outside of the door and the light turned green. Cautiously she opened the door.

  “I’ll stay here and keep a lookout,” Clios said. “Be quick.”

  “Okay.” Andi slipped into the room.

  There was no light in the cell, and for a moment Andi couldn’t see anything. She stood there for a moment to let her eyes adjust. After a few seconds, she began to make out the dim shape of a man on one of the beds.

  “Deneb?” She walked over to the figure, wondering if they had the right cell. What if it wasn’t him? “Deneb?”

  Suddenly an arm shot out and grabbed her around the wrist. “Come to beat me again?” a hoarse voice snapped as the figure sat up.

  Andi almost cried out, his grip was so tight. “Deneb?” she whispered, staring at him. “Is it you?”

  The figure sitting on the bed looked so different to her father that for a moment she didn’t recognize him. He had a week’s growth of beard, which looked so odd because he was always clean-shaven, and it gave his face a wild, angry appearance. This was echoed in his eyes, which blazed in the small amount of light that glimmered dimly just outside the door. He had a large wound on his forehead that was covered with a rather dirty bandage, and from the way he moved so stiffly, and his words as she entered the cell, she guessed that the guards had beaten him.

  “A Ruvalian?” Deneb said suddenly, spotting the color of her skin and hair, and the strip of bark across her teeth. He released his grip on her arm and frowned.

  Andi rubbed it and whispered, “Dad, it’s me.”

  He stared at her for a moment. Then, slowly, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, realization set in. “Andromeda?”

  “It’s me, Dad.”

  “Andi?” He ran his hands over her skin and touched her hair, as if his fingers could tell him the truth that his eyes denied him. Suddenly she was enveloped in his arms. To her relief he smelled like Deneb—a rather unwashed and dirty-clothed Deneb, but still with the same underlying musky aftershave. She threw her arms around his neck and for a moment they clung together tightly.

  Then, just as suddenly, he released her. His eyes were angry again, blazing like supernovae. “What are you doing here?” he snapped. “I thought you’d be well on the way back to Earth! It’s been the only thing that kept me sane here, knowing you were safe.”

  “I’ve come to rescue you, Dad.”

  “I don’t need rescuing. I would have escaped on my own,” he insisted stubbornly.

  “Yes Dad.” Andi smiled. She knew him well enough to know not to argue with him, even though it was clear to her that there was no way he could ever have got out by himself. “Clios is here—she’s waiting outside.”

  “Clios?”

  Andi helped him stand up. “The Ruvalians have been overrun. I think she realized that I might just have a chance at rescuing you—and Lydia.” She put an arm around him. “Can you walk?”

  “I’d do an assault course if it meant getting out of here.”

  “Dad…”

  “I’m fine, Andi. A bit stiff. But I’m better now you’re here.”

  Andi smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly outside the cell there was a loud shout and a scuffle, a sound like a piece of meat being slapped onto a table, and then the door opened and Clios appeared. “We must go,” she urged. Behind her, they could see a guard lying on the floor. She grinned at Deneb. “Hello again.”

  “Hello too. Thank you for rescue me,” he said in his stilted Ruvalian.

  “I’m only here for Lydia,” she said, but her smile belied her words. “This guard will be out for a while, but we’d better get a move on in case anyone comes and finds him.” She flexed her fingers, her knuckles a bright red from the contact with the guard.

  Deneb put his hand up to his forehead as he stumbled out of the cell. Clios looked at the wound, covered with the dirty cloth. “Is it painful?” She mimed a wince as she touched her own forehead.

  “No,” he lied.

  She smiled. “Come here.” She went up to him and put her hands on top of the wound. He winced just as she had done, but didn’t move. She closed her eyes. Deneb’s blue ones met Andi’s for a moment in question, then he, too, closed them.

  Andi watched, breathless, as the Ruvalian girl concentrated. Clios was still wearing her Indigo Quartz necklace. The guards had forgotten to remove it from her. Andi had never asked Clios what her skill was that the Quartz improved. She had assumed it was something to do with fighting talents, but now she realized it must be some form of healing skill.

  Clios took her hands away. “That’s all we have time for. I could take away your other pains given time, but I’m afraid the guards might return. But you can take off that filthy cloth now, at least.”

  Deneb peeled the bandage off the wound, grimacing. However, as he put his hand up to feel his skin, his eyes widened in surprise.

  “There’s nothing there,” Andi said, touching his forehead with light fingers. “Just a bit of a red mark. It’s gone, Dad.”

  His eyes met Clios’s. “Thank you.”

  “You are welcome.”

  He caught her hand. “Now let us try and rescue your friend. Do you know where Lydia is?” he asked Andi as they left the room and walked down the tunnel.

  “Sort of—I know she’s in a much deeper level.”

  “That would make sense. I think they move you lower as you become more attuned to the atmosphere. The air gets very dense down in the mines and it’s hard to breathe, but it becomes easier the longer you’re here.”

  Andi held her father’s hand as they walked in the half-light. “Are you going to be alright, Dad?” she asked, aware that, in spite of his wound disappearing, he was limping slightly. Sh
e recalled Clios’s words: I could take away your other pains, given time. “Do you want us to come back and get you when we’ve found Lydia?”

  “I’m not letting you out of my sight now you’re here,” he said, squeezing her hand. “I’ll be all right, love. I’ll be even better when we’re out of here.”

  Once again they began to make their way back to the central cavern. It was a long process, as Deneb seemed quite stiff and sore, although he didn’t complain about his aches and pains. Andi tried not to hurry him, but she kept thinking about the injured guard, and worried that someone might raise the alarm. She sensed that she would only have one chance at rescuing Lydia. If they were found, and the Hoshaens realized that Andi had somehow worked out a way to escape, she would be imprisoned in a special cell under continual guard and they would never find a way out.

  At one point she thought she heard something in the corridor behind them. They stopped, staring back into the gloom, waiting for a guard to appear, but no one came and eventually they continued along the tunnels.

  Soon they reached the central cavern. Once again they were lucky in finding an empty elevator. This time the descent to the lower levels took an interminable amount of time. When the elevators opened, however, the three of them gave a small gasp, surprised at the view before them. Here the tunnels weren’t carved out of the same gray stone as the levels above—the rock was a strange light purple color, and it glittered faintly in the semi-darkness.

  “We’re nearing the mines,” Clios said, confirming Andi’s thoughts. Even as she said the words, however, a huge figure loomed up before them, taking them all by surprise.

  “Get down!” Deneb yelled to Andi, who ducked behind her father. There was a scuffle, and Andi heard her father say several words that would have earned her a severe reprimand had they come out of her mouth, and then the large figure was lying on the ground, and Deneb was also nursing a set of bruised knuckles.