by C. W Tickner
‘We can’t land on that,’ Tess said.
The spot where the shuttle usually landed was just a large hole. The interior decks were visible between the shifting smoke that rose up in billowing clouds from within.
Kane slowed the shuttle and they hovered over an open market area beside the ship.
Ragged weary people stumbled away from the dust cloud kicked up by the shuttle’s engines.
Before the landing legs touched the ground Tess had opened the door and was clutching her medical bag in one hand as she used the other to shield her eyes.
Leaping down, Harl followed her as she splashed through the layer of water pooling in the city and ran to an old man lying crumpled on the limecrete floor. She pressed finger tip to his neck then stood and scanned the collapsed houses nearby for the next body. A blonde woman lay face down and Harl’s heart skipped a beat thinking it was Sonora. Staggering out from the ship he breathed again when he remembered Sonora was at Veel’s house, deep in the jungle. He could only hope she was safe there.
‘No,’ Kane said, running inside Orbital’s entrance as if he could repair the damage.
‘Harl?’ Troy was beside him. Troy’s hand on his shoulder snapped Harl back to the destroyed city
A muffled cry rose nearby and Troy pointed to a thin metal roof that had collapsed into the small building that had supported it. A pair of bare feet stuck out from under the sheeting and they rushed to lift the weight off the trapped person.
Dana grabbed one end of the sheet and Harl slipped his fingers underneath the other, feeling the jagged edges cut his palms.
Troy took the middle. ‘Ready,’ he said.
‘Lift,’ Harl said straining to take his end higher than his knees. The weight doubled as Troy let go of the middle and sank to his knees, dragging the body out by the ankles just as Harl’s grip slipped and the roof crashed down.
The man sputtered, wiping the water off his face that was running down from the hillside and pooling in the streets. ‘Thank you,’ he said and limped off, calling out the names of relatives or loved ones.
Damen grabbed a young boy as he skittered through the water in an attempt to clean himself. Underneath the dirt he was pale with shock.
‘Where is everyone?’ Damen asked.
The boy stared mutely up at him. Damen shook him and the boy raised a trembling finger to his ear.
‘He can’t hear,’ Troy said. ‘Must have been deafened by the explosions.’
Damen pointed around at the lack of people and mouthed “where?”
The boy seemed to understand and poked a finger between two collapsed market stalls when the entrance to Orbital was.
‘Tess?’ Harl said, wondering what they would find inside the ship.
Tess looked up from wrapping a woman’s head wound. ‘They’ll have others to tend them,’ she said. ‘Dana, Troy, search the ruins and bring any injured you find to me.’
Dana was looking around in horror at the destruction but Troy nodded to Tess and led Dana into the nearest broken building.
An elderly woman staggered out from one of the remaining buildings.
When she saw Tess’ bag she made a beeline for her, raising a crooked hand that looked as if it had been crushed by a boulder.
Tess kicked her way through the rising water towards her. ‘Harl,’ she said. Harl glanced away from the mangled hand. ‘Go with Damen inside and see who you can find in the ship to help out here.’
Harl felt trepidation rising in him but Tess eyed him calmly.
‘And Harl,’ she said. ‘Make sure Kane helps out. I want him fixing bodies before fixing his machines.’
Harl and Damen raced off through the ankle deep water and into the ship.
They waved their arms to clear the smoke until they could see the top of the stairs. Blood splattered the ground, winding down the stairs and leaving a trail for them find the survivors. The stairway was twisted where explosions had pummelled the ageing steel and sharp buckled edges stuck out, waiting to trip the unwary.
Before they reached the central decks where Harl expected everyone to be hiding, Rose, Uman’s wife barrelled up the stairwell. Damen raised his rifle at the sudden bulk coming towards them then lowered it. ‘Damen,’ she said, stopping with a jerk as her meaty hands grabbed the rail.
‘What-’
‘No time,’ she said, spinning to run back down.‘Hurry.’
They followed her to the centre of the deck and met Uman coming the other way down a corridor lined with families huddled together. Their faces were smeared with dirt and shock but compared to Uman’s they might have been smiling.
He was ghost white, making his gaunt face seem like a skull.
‘What is it?’ Damen said.
Uman stuttered as he spoke. ‘It- it’s Yara.’
Harl knew it must be bad if Uman was acting this way.
‘Take me,’ Damen said.
Without a word Uman led them along the corridors, roaring at people to move as he raced towards the old survival section. Rose struggled to keep up the pace and dropped behind as Uman pushed on.
‘Rose,’ Harl called watching her plant her hand on her knees. ‘Find Tess outside.’
She nodded and he raced on, following Uman as he led them into a canteen.
All tables and surfaces were temporary beds for the injured men and women that had been crammed inside. Blood smeared almost every surface and the smell hit Harl like an abattoir. The wounded moaned in agony as a team of tired doctors flitted from patient to patient. A heap of bodies lay under a sheet in one corner, a charred bloody hand protruding from underneath.
Yara was sitting on the floor, her back been propped against a cabinet. She didn’t move or moan as Damen cried out and ran over to kneel beside her. A dagger of metal was embedded deep in her shoulder, the blood seeping passed the bandage bound tightly around it.
She opened her eyes and Damen put a hand on her swollen belly as if to reassure the child within.
Uman shifted beside Harl. ‘She was trying to save a group of children,’ he said, ‘I found her like this and brought her here.’
They watched in silence as Damen cradled her, talking softly about how much he loved her.
Harl had always imagined this scene in reverse, with Yara chiding the hunter about how he’d always run off in pursuit of danger which had finally caught up with him.
Her breathing became a struggle and her head rolled to one side as she closed her eyes and fell still. Damen clenched his fists and stood turning around to face them. His eyes were blood shot and puffy. He locked eyes with Uman as Kane filtered into the room.
‘Why didn’t you save her?’
Uman was so put out by the question that he let Damen continue. The hunter grew red in the face as tears rolled into his beard.’
‘You told me she’d be safe with you here.’
‘Easy, Damen,’ Harl said, seeing the irrational hatred broiling inside his friend. ‘I understand your feelings but Uman did nothing wrong, he did his best.’
Damen spun on him. ‘What do you know about it?’ His face twisted in anger, his beard bristling as spittle flung out. ‘Your happy family are safe and-’ A dark frown spread across his brow. ‘She knew.’
‘What?’ Harl said.
‘That witch Aylen. She knew this would bloody happen!’
‘Veel?’ Harl asked, knowing he was right.
‘That’s why she requested Sonora to stay at hers.’
‘That’s not true,’ Harl said but he had his own doubts. Had she known? ‘Why would she not say anything?’
‘Who knows how their minds work?’ Damen said, staring back down at Yara. ‘Veel knew something and she’ll pay for this.’
He looked up and turned to Kane. ‘Give me it.’
Kane was looking down at Yara, tears threatening to fall from behind his wire rimmed glasses. He shook his head. ‘No.’
‘If you don’t give it to me I’ll take it.’
Harl didn’t
understand, but Kane sensed danger and stepped back, plunging a hand inside his white coat.
Damen roared, grabbed Kane and hoisted him up until his feet dangled above the blood stained floor.
Kane pulled his hand free and thrust his stun stick at Damen’s chest but the hunter was ready. He dropped one hand and knocked the weapon to the floor.
Harl reached for the stubby cylinder but he was too late.
So was Damen.
Rose had returned with Tess and before Damen could put Kane down, the formidable woman snatched a frying pan off a dusty shelf and swung it full force at the back of Damen’s head.
Chapter 24
Its has taken nearly two months of intensive labour but I have done it. The floor is now covered with over a hundred tonnes of bio-enriched soil. I have started to learn how to incubate the chicken eggs and got to grips with basic apiology. Now for the irrigation system.
Damen hit the floor with a thud.
‘No one should have to see his partner die,’ Rose said. ‘But that ain’t no excuse-’
‘She was alive?’ Tess asked, tensing at the words.
‘So sad,’ Rose said, ‘and with babe too.’
Tess sprung forward, dropped the bag and began barking orders at them.
‘Bring me cloth, as clean as you can find.’
Sky bolted from the room.
Tess slipped a scalpel from her one of the pockets in her bag and knelt beside Yara. She started to cut through the clothing and spun on Troy. ‘I need an assistant.’
Troy looked around. ‘Oh no,’ he said trying to back away.
‘Come on, man.’ Tess said and he shuffled forward.
She made a deep incision below Yara’s abdomen and Harl had to look away as the procedure went on. His thoughts drifted to his own child and Sonora. Hopefully they were safe in Veel’s house, tucked deep in the forest. What if something had happened there?
A sharp cry made him glance around. Tess was cutting the cord of a wet, pink faced baby boy as Troy held the squirming child.
Sky must have raided an entire market stall of luxurious cloth as she bustled back in and began to use it to clean and wrap the baby.
Tess surprised them all when she turned, holding a second crying baby. She dropped the girl into Dana’s arms. Dana stared wide eyed at the wailing child, holding it at arms length like a smelly piece of delicate pottery.
‘Keep her warm,’ Tess scolded and reluctantly Dana drew the baby closer as Sky helped to wrap her.
‘Oh my,’ Rose said, putting a weighty arm around Uman and pulling him close. ‘They’re beautiful.’
She frowned as Damen stirred on the floor. Kane had his stun stick held loose in one hand and as Damen groaned, they all stepped back. Harl was left in front of him as he pushed himself up until he was sitting on the floor. He pressed a palm to his head and looked up through bleary eyes as Troy and Dana bent at the knee to show him the babies.
Harl expected him to say something, instead he shook his head and wept into his blood stained hands.
Tess ushered them all away and Harl sat down on the cold floor. The noise of the injured around them seemed to fade into the background. As the others left, Damen broke. It was as if he’d saved some reserve to spare them from the totality of his grief and pain. Harl took the brunt of it.
‘Why?’ Damen sobbed. ‘She only done good.’
‘I don’t know,’ Harl said, as if he might have had an answer to such a broad question. ‘We’ll never know.’
‘Should’ve been me.’
Harl nodded. ‘It was the same when my parents were taken. I blamed myself for so long.’ He shrugged remembering those dark days of childhood. ‘Even tried to finish the pain.’
Damen bobbed his head as if it was the best choice but Harl pushed on, knowing his friend’s dark thoughts.
‘Troy cut me down before…’ Harl trailed off. ‘Made me think about how they’d feel if I suddenly joined them. I think now they would’ve tried to kill me again for being so selfish. Never tried again and I haven’t talked about it since. I stopped blaming those closest. There is only one entity to blame for all this.’
Damen looked up, ‘Grakka?’
Harl nodded.
Kane, Sky and Harl stared down from the shuttle window as they approached Veel’s house. Sonora had contacted them by radio when they drew near and she’d stood waiting for Harl inside the huge archway of Veel’s front door as Kane touched down.
Harl kicked the door open before the engines shut off and ran to her, slowing just enough to not crush Elo in her arms.
‘How bad is it? She asked as they strolled inside, leaving Sky to reacquaint herself with Flick, who flew down from the nearest tree as soon as she left the shuttle.
‘Bad,’ Harl said, feeling a tightness inside at giving her the news. ‘We lost Yara.’
Sonora stopped and Kane almost crashed into the back of them, busy trying to hold a flyer in each hand. He slipped past them, clearly eager to speak to the Compassionate leaders.
‘Oh, Harl,’ Sonora said.
He stepped in to hold her. Tears wet his shoulder. They had been close friends since Elo’s birth. The child cried, sensing her mother’s distress.
‘Tess saved the babies.’
‘Babies?’ she put emphasis on the end of the word.
‘Twins.’
‘And Damen?’
‘Broken,’ Harl said. ‘Hasn’t said much since it happened and he refuses to see the children.’
‘Why would he-’
‘I don’t know. Maybe without Yara around, he sees them as a burden or a reminder.’
‘Nonsense,’ she said as Kane stopped and placed the flyers on the ground. Vax and Veel were at the far end of the room, deep in conversation. Kane began scribbling in his notepad, waiting for them to catch up.
‘At least you’re both alright,’ Harl said. ‘I don’t know what I would’ve done had it been you.’
Kane looked up as if expecting them to discuss the turn of fate that had brought her to Veel’s house.
Harl flicked on the translator behind his ear and looked past Sonora, hoping to pick up some of the other conversation in the room. Vax was chatting with Veel as he paced back and forwards, discussing how to repair the damage done by the bombs.
‘Where are the others?’ Sonora asked, drowning out their distant voices.
Kane tucked the pad away. ‘Tess borrowed Troy and Dana to help organise the survivors.’
‘And Dana went along with it?’
‘She can be very persuasive when she needs to be,’ Kane said. ‘Uman and Rose are looking after the twins while Damen….recovers.’ He handed Harl a flyer and stepped on one himself.
Harl laid it flat on the floor and placed his feet in the centre of the triangle. The six fans built into the flyer whirred into action and the machine hovered a hand-span above the ground. He kept his balance easily. All of them except Troy had mastered the machines. None had become as skilled as Dana and Harl was sure it was only because of Dana that Troy had even tried to learn. He wondered about him, knowing something was wrong with his friend but unable to put his finger on what it was. There was just so much going on.
‘What are you planning?’ Sonora said, eyeing him with a questioning look.
He sighed knowing he couldn’t hide it from her. ‘We’re going after Grakka,’ he said, looking past her to Vax and Veel. ‘We’re going to ask if we can fight back.’
‘No,’ she said and grabbed a handful of his jerkin. ‘You can’t keep doing this, Harl. You can’t win every time, eventually the odds will be against you.’
‘You didn’t see the city.’ he said, tugging her hand off him. ‘The burned bodies of children scattered under the rubble as flood water turned red with blood. Yara, bleeding to death on the floor of the canteen, surrounded by the dead and dying. Something has to be done and no one else is in a position to do it.’
‘Damn you,’ she said. ‘Always forgetting we exist.’ sh
e shoved a hand into him and forced the flyer to shunt backwards.
‘Sonora?’
She spun around and strode away as Elo started crying.
‘Harl?’ Harl looked up at Kane. He was pointing to Vax and Veel who were waiting for them.
Harl sighed and brought the flyer soaring up through the open space and stopped in front of the two heads of the Compassionates.
Veel looked exhausted. Her skin had shifted hue from its usual vibrancy to a dull washed brown.
Harl felt a terrible twist in his stomach after speaking with Sonora. He was happy that she and Elo were alive but the guilt that she had put on him made him want to get the meeting over with.
‘You know why we’re here?’ He made it half a question. The less time they were here the sooner he could get back to Sonora.
Veel nodded. ‘My guess is you want to take revenge?’
Kane nodded.
‘No,’ Harl said. ‘I want to take our freedom from Grakka and the company. We can’t live in peace under a veil of violence and racial hatred.’
Veel smiled a little. ‘And you, Kane, you will be able to find the part for your reactor?’
‘Yes. Another attack like this would cripple the island. But I must ask-’
Veel raised her hand. ‘You want to know why the turrets on the wall did not retaliate against the guns?’
‘When we modified them to fire longer distances, I assumed they would prevent such an attack.’ Kane said.
‘You already know the answer.’
‘Drake?’ Kane said glancing at the empty chair beside Vax.
Vax’s face rippled with barely suppressed anger. ‘He ordered our defenders to not return fire and during the chaos he made off. Our scouts spotted him joining the forces across the water as they left.’
Harl almost didn’t believe it. ‘He was the one who gave Grakka the plans?’
‘Yes,’ Vax said, ‘he would have needed help from someone in your city but no doubt he was involved in some way.
Harl wondered what could have tempted him to do it. Either way it was another enemy to add to the growing list.
