Rigel

by Eli Ingle

  “I’ll go and hold them off.”

  “No, Rigel – ”

  But Rigel was already running off down the corridors, past the engine rooms and to the back. Climbing up a ladder, he arrived at a trapdoor and unlatched it before clambering out onto the roof. He was not exactly sure what his plan was but he had decided to use his powers only if necessary. He was interested to see whether he could manipulate the soldiers with words.

  A heavy cannon placement was positioned in front of the door. Rigel climbed up and peered down at the group from between the guns. Around twenty soldiers were firing rifles at the back of the ship, slowly manoeuvring closer towards it. The bullets were not doing much to the heavy build of the ship, but they had to be stopped in case they managed to damage any of the pipes or the engines, which were much more vulnerable than the armour.

  Standing up straighter, he filled his lungs and shouted down to them.

  “Hey! You lot!”

  They all looked up at once. If he had not been so scared, their reaction would have looked funny. At least they had stopped firing their rifles.

  “Have you ever really stopped to think whose side you’re fighting for? You’re protecting your city and the Lord Minister … but what if he is on the wrong side?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, kid,” snapped one of the soldiers.

  “He wouldn’t be Lord Minister if he was a bad man,” added another.

  “That could be exactly why he’s Lord Minister!” replied Rigel. “There are tough times out there but even though we were late, the crew of the Persefoni did manage to bring me here, and now the Lord Minister wants to keep me hostage and use all my powers and he imprisoned the people who brought me here. He’s the one you should be fighting, not us!”

  “Forked tongue sorcerer!” spat one of the soldiers, training his rifle on Rigel. Another one knocked it away again.

  “Stop it! Can’t you see he’s the one we’re supposed to be getting?” said the soldier, before turning his head up and addressing Rigel. “Hey kid! Come down from there now! You were under orders to remain in your cell for your training.”

  “That went well, didn’t it?” Rigel replied.

  “Get down!”

  “Please listen to me! We’re all in great danger because the Minister refuses to listen to reason. Please.”

  Several of the guards were listening to him but a headstrong one pushed through the crowd.

  “You left us to die!” he shouted up at Rigel. “To hell with your suggestions.”

  “Get down,” ordered the head guard. “Last warning.”

  “No.”

  “Men, resume firing!”

  The soldiers hoisted their rifles again and began shooting at the ship.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Rigel. They were not listening. “I said: I wouldn’t do that if I were you!”

  “Shut up, kid!” called the head soldier, firing his rifle again. Several of the other men laughed.

  “If you don’t stop shooting it will trigger the bomb.”

  Silence.

  “Th – th – the bomb?”

  “That’s – that’s right!” Rigel said, inventing as he went. “Before we boarded the ship we planted a bomb, just at the entrance over there. If you keep shooting it will detonate and destroy half of the building … and, er, if you do stop then we might change our minds. But we can, er, detonate it from here as well. So stay back!” He waved his arms wildly above his head. His speech seemed to have the desired effect – the men had backed down and were resting their rifles on the floor. “Good. Now, move over to the far end. It’s safest from the bomb over there. No! No! Leave the guns. Don’t want us to change our minds, do you? Good.”

  He watched as the men walked backwards from the spot, trying not to walk too quickly but obviously panicking about the idea of a bomb. Rigel allowed himself a huge grin as he watched them. He had done it! And without even lifting a finger. He was disturbingly good at it; he had no idea where the ‘bomb’ had come from.

  Lifting the trapdoor, he climbed down the ladder again and hurried to the front deck. Explaining to Laurie what had happened, he was pleased when the Captain beamed and thumped him on the shoulder.

  “Excellent! Well done!”

  “How many rifles have we got?” he asked.

  “Just the four we stole off the guards; we didn’t have enough time to get ours back.”

  “If you give me a couple of men to cover me I can get you the soldiers’ ones now.”

  “Really? Real soldiers’ rifles? Gosh, they’re high quality. Go and get them … if you can.” He instructed L’aroche to go with him.

  Jumping down from the steps, they peered around before hurrying forwards.

  “Are you sure this is safe?” asked L’aroche, looking around nervously.

  “It’s fine if we do it quickly,” puffed Rigel, sprinting forwards.

  They skidded to a halt as they reached the pile of rifles. Picking up as many as they could, they carried them away, covering all exits as they did so to avoid being rushed by the soldiers. The soldiers seemed to have no plans to come over though; they were huddled at the other end of the hall, looking too scared to move.

  Running back to the Kolya, Rigel and L’aroche climbed the ladder and moved into the cockpit, loading the rifles onto the racks on the wall.

  “Well done,” said Laurie, although he was barely looking up from the dials on the dashboard.

  “How long have we got to go?” asked Rigel.

  “About five minutes.”

  He nodded, knowing that the waiting could well be the tensest part. They had to make sure everything was up to speed whilst also checking that no-one else was attempting to board the ship.

  “Keep a look out, Rigel,” instructed Laurie. “You seem to know how to control a mob.”

  Opening the side door again, Rigel sat down on the ladder whilst peering at the various entrances into the hangar. The whirr of the engine was gradually increasing to a near-deafening burrrrr.

  Regimented thumping could be heard distantly. Rigel hoped that it was the ship.

  “Four minutes.”

  The thumping was growing louder and definitely coming in their direction. So it was not the ship then … .

  “Three and a half minutes.”

  “Captain!”

  The sound was almost upon them.

  “What?”

  “There’s something coming! I think it might be more men.”

  “More men? Well we’re nearly ready to go.”

  The huge hangar doors slid open, revealing over a hundred men with loaded rifles pointing at them and the Lord Minister walking at the front with his stick.

  “Stop!” he boomed. The sound resonated though the hangar.

  “C – c – captain!” moaned Rigel.

  “I know! I know,” Laurie shouted, sounding hysterical. He pulled a lever and the engine turned to full throttle. The air current buffeted the men backwards a little and brought the ship off the ground but it was not yet ready to take off. “Hold on!” He pulled another lever and sent the ship up higher.

  “Captain, I’m not inside yet!” cried Rigel.

  “Too late! Hold on!”

  With another wrench of the controls, the Kolya was airborne and flying through the airlock and out over the city. A hail of gunfire blasted towards the ship but it was already out of range. Rigel was yelling, hanging onto the ladder. Below him was nothing but buildings. At first he thought the ship’s semi-prepared state was having no effect on it – it seemed to be flying stably, but then he noticed that they were slowly losing height. The buildings were looming closer at hand and he could make out the details of the stonework and window ledges.

  “CAPTAIN!”

  “I know, I know.”

  Laurie spun the wheel and set them careering out of the way of a looming building just in time. Rigel slipped and fell, grabbing onto the
ladder and lying flat against it.

  “I meant: Help me!”

  “What?”

  “Help me, please!”

  The ship swerved again, sending the starboard side into a tower. It smashed the top to pieces, sending huge chunks of stone flying to the streets below. The ship dipped again.

  “Come on, come on, stupid hunk of junk!” shouted Laurie, pumping a lever furiously up and down.

  “LAURIE!”

  “Oh, right … . Someone go and get him.”

  Tink, shaking his head, moved to the door and wedged a foot somewhere nearby, allowing him to reach out and pull Rigel back into the ship with a slight grunt. The little mechanic seemed to be made of knotted muscles that were stronger than his appearance let on. Rigel lay there, panting holding onto the floor. Tink pulled a lever that sent the ladder into the ship and shut the door. The hum of the engine sounded muffled and they all felt happier now that they were less exposed. The ship was in no better shape; it was still not flight-ready and the engines were straining to compensate for the extra weight. It dipped again suddenly just as a huge domed building loomed into view. The pilots cried out, but too late – the ship collided with it, ripping the dome to pieces and sending the tiles, beams, and stone crashing across the city. Rigel was grateful that the Kolya had not been ripped to pieces due to all the collisions and seemed much studier than the Persefoni had been. The crashes were not damaging it too much, but if it continued for much longer then the repeated damage was going to either tear a hole in the hull or rip a vital piece of machinery off.

  “Someone come and increase power!”

  Quimby moved over to the pump, sending more steam from an auxiliary boiler to the engines. His efforts seemed to make some difference – the ship gained a little height, preventing it from being in danger from all but the highest buildings. Just as Rigel was thinking that they were safe and might have a chance of escaping, they heard the first cannon.

  Laurie paled visibly and stood stock still. There was a similar effect on the other pilots and their faces became so taut and pale that Rigel began to feel scared even though he did not know the danger.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  They did not say anything, just pointed out of the window. There, rising from various rooftops, were small flying craft, each manned by two guards in heavily armoured outfits; the ships themselves were each outfitted with two small but very powerful looking cannons. The convoy of these little ships was flying towards them at full speed.

  “Man the gun batteries!” cried Rigel, when he saw that Laurie was not doing anything. “Why isn’t Laurie doing anything?” he asked Tink as they all ran towards the cannons.

  “Those are Imperial interceptor ships,” Tink explained. “They’re not outside the government as such, but years ago they were given clearance to act on their own initiative. They’re answerable to no courts or authority. If they make a decision, no-one can pull them up on it … .”

  “Why is Laurie so affected by them?”

  “We had a different crew at them time,” Tink explained. “Although me and him were still together. We were doing a cargo run across to another city and we were also carrying civilians. For some reason, the Imperials had got it into their head that we were smuggling illegal items and illegal immigrants with us. They chased us and Laurie made the mistake of trying to run – he knew we had done nothing wrong but the idea of being caught by them was more frightening; we’d all heard stories about what they had done … . Anyway, those ships are lightning fast and they caught up with us and shot out our engines. Then they boarded the ship, and pulled everything to pieces looking for this non-existent illegal cargo. When they couldn’t find anything they got mad and started interrogating everyone … . When that didn’t work they started shooting the passengers.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “When they’d all been shot, they moved onto us, tied us up, overheated the boilers and left. The engines exploded and the ship caught fire. We were crashing down to the ground and the only reason we escaped was because the fire burnt through the rope. We jumped out and fell about ten feet to the ground. Broke most of our bones. The ship landed further away and blew up. You can still see the burn marks if you look closely.” He flipped his wrists, allowing Rigel to see the shiny, rippled skin there. “And it’s all up our sides but I’ll spare you that.”

  “That’s horrible!”

  “Horrific,” agreed Tink. “Part of our customer passage agreement is that we always aimed to transport our passengers safely and we failed them. Never had much respect for authority after that – either of us. Don’t worry; we aren’t going to let them get away with it this time. I’ll get to the gun batteries. You help fly. It’s not so hard if you just do what you’re told.”

  Watching Tink and Opal run off, Rigel moved over to help the others keep the Kolya airborne. Once this was done, he helped fly the craft. It swerved and ducked, staying out of the way of the enemy ships. Soon the gun batteries were pounding out rounds, making the cabin resonate with the booms whilst puffs of smoke drifted past the windscreen. Several of the small ships fell from the sky, on fire or in pieces. Tink’s gun placement was doing some damage to the enemy but several were staying out of immediate range, choosing to spend their energy firing at the ship, blowing several holes into the side.

  “We’ve got to get out of here!” cried Rigel, as another shell hit the ship.

  “You don’t say?” replied Quimby. He pulled several levers and the ship picked up speed, turning around in a huge loop over the city.

  “What are you doing?”

  “We need to pick up enough speed to break through,” the pilot replied, sweating as he pulled a huge lever on the floor. “And we’ve also got to find a portal to get through.”

  Quimby began punching co-ordinates into the dials and spinning a wheel around. Opal fired at a passing interceptor ship, hit the engine, and cheered savagely as the engine exploded and the craft twisted towards the ground, belching out an oily trail of smoke behind it. The pilots did not have enough time to eject before the craft crashed and exploded. The radar on the dashboard began bleeping and Quimby steered the ship in the direction indicated on the radar, where the next portal could be located.

  “Nearly there,” he said. “Pull that lever up, Rigel.”

  Rigel did so and the ship picked up even more speed, careering towards the outer wall. “Brace yourselves!” Quimby shouted over the loudspeaker, as he pulled a final lever.

  The Kolya shot towards the outer city wall and then, with a sound like another cannon blast, passed through the portal, sending out an explosion of white light behind it.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  With another flash and a boom, the Kolya appeared in a new sky, immediately losing speed. Quimby relaxed, sighing heavily as he leant against the control panel. Laurie seemed to have come out of his shock now that the Imperials were away from them. A siren wailed, making him jump, and he sat up abruptly again, pulling the speaker horn down.

  “Good work, crew. We’ve made it through safely,” he said.

  “No thanks to you,” muttered Quimby. Laurie scuffed the pilot on the back of the head, but did not seem too serious about it.

  “Load up the ear translators,” instructed Laurie.

  “Already on it, sir,” replied Tink. He was slotting a metal canister into pipe. After shutting the lid and pressing a button. With a whoosh the canister was launched into the atmosphere.

  “What was that?” asked Rigel.

  “Those devices you put in your ears. You know, so we can all understand each other’s language? This new person could well need them.”

  “Ah, yes.”

  Rigel had pressed himself against the window, eager to see another new world and hoping that this one was nicer than the last. He was not disappointed: the sky was a dreamy green colour with pink clouds floating by. A silvery river wound across a field and then into a glen of trees dotted
with blue blossom.

  “Wow,” said Rigel, wiping away the fog he had made by breathing onto the glass as he peered out of the window.

  “It looks beautiful, doesn’t it?” agreed Tink, wandering over.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

  Tink patted him on the shoulder. “But don’t get too carried away,” he warned. “Appearances can be deceptive … .”

  Rigel tried to bear this in mind but the scenery was so breath-taking that he could barely concentrate. Laurie at least did not seem to be suffering from this problem as he calmly steered the ship towards the outskirts of a settlement that suddenly appeared. Pulling several levers, he lowered the ship and pulled out the landing gear, allowing the ship to settle on the ground. Steam hissed as it balanced itself on the suspension. The note folded in Rigel’s pocket pressed against his leg as he rubbed the creases gently. Pulling it out again, he unfolded it and checked the instructions. They had definitely entered the right co-ordinates and there seemed to be no indication that the actual location was incorrect, but equally there was no indication of what they were supposed to do next. Flipping the paper over, he spotted more instructions.

  Do not enter the town! Look in the woods. The rest is up to you. Good luck. – I.

  Rigel ran over and showed Laurie the note. He read it silently and handed it back, nodding.

  “Very well,” he said. “We’ll have to take her word for everything here. If we get anything wrong then it could very well endanger the mission. If there’s one thing you don’t mess around with, it’s time.”

  Rallying the pilots again, he ordered them forwards, away from the town and towards the woodland instead. They approached the blue blossomed trees and then moved between them, entering the cool shade of the woodland.

  They walked forwards, hearing the sounds of exotic birds chirping from the branches above their heads. The gurgling of the silvery river could also be heard close at hand, but veils of thick moss covered the branches of the trees and hung down from the sides like thick curtains, preventing them from seeing exactly where it was.