The Doomed Planet (Mastery of the Stars Book 1)

by M J Dees

  “She’s in Hygiea now, sir, with Tori and a detachment of guards.”

  “I will borrow her for a while. There is another concession on Daphnis which is going through a similar process to yours. I have promised them a shipment of arms, guards and machinery and Ay-ttho is the only individual I trust to get it there.”

  “But sir, with all due respect, we need her here. The election is tomorrow.”

  “I appreciate that Sevan, but you still have Tori and a detachment of Republic guards, more than enough to handle the locals. I need Ay-ttho to handle the Mastery of the Stars, it’s the fastest freighter in the system.”

  Sevan sighed. He knew it was no use arguing with the president of the Republic.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good. I knew I had made the right decision when I appointed you, Sevan. Everything is waiting on the Tomorrow station. Make sure Ay-ttho gets up there by the next rotation.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The image flickered and then died. Seven pounded a fist on the desk.

  *

  Ay-ttho and Tori led the guards through the narrow streets of Hygiea. Ramshackle containers stretched up on either side, obscuring all but a few solar rays.

  She felt they were being watched from the shadows. There had been reports of disturbances but so far they had encountered nothing but silence and suspicious residents. Hygiea was one of the communities, the poorest sections of society had built, workers the concession had penalised for not meeting their targets or, more often than not, because their managers just didn’t like them.

  The predominant skin colour in Hygiea was dark blue while managers were lighter shades of green. To outsiders like Ay-ttho and Tori they all looked turquoise but to a concession worker, the differences, though subtle to others were obvious.

  Ay-ttho and Tori had both known similar discrimination on their own planet, where the skin colour was purple, but both had benefited from the prejudice by being on the red side of purple where many others on the blue side of purple did not have the same opportunities.

  She had a bad feeling about the day’s expedition. They were getting further and further into the community and yet there were still no signs of disturbance.

  “What do you think?” she asked Tori.

  “Very odd, he replied. He was not comfortable being this far away from their personnel carriers. “Do you think we should turn back?”

  “Not yet, let’s go a little further.”

  Ay-ttho waved the detachment forward. They were now deep into the heart of the community, surrounded by homemade containers. She realised that the streets were quiet, not just because they had been called to quell a disturbance they were yet to find, but because a community of this size should have more hustle and bustle on the street by virtue of the number of people who lived there.

  “You’re right.” she said to Tori. “It’s too quiet and there’s no sign of any disturbance. Let’s get back.”

  It was as she signalled for the detachment to turn around that it happened. She didn’t even hear the explosion. The next thing she knew, she was on the floor in an alleyway, trying to move her limbs. Everything seemed to be working, so she sat up and looked for her weapon but couldn’t see it. She looked for Tori and the rest of the detachment. Containers were falling around them and many of them were on fire. Ay-ttho seemed to be separated from the others; it was very difficult to see because smoke and dust was combining to create a thick fog.

  “Tori.” she shouted, but the noise of collapsing structures drowned out her voice. She would have to get out of there before a container fell on her head so retreated into the alley and saw her weapon at the foot of a wall. She retrieved it just as a container fell, blocking the entrance to the alleyway. Now, her only way out would be to head further into the alley and hope that it was not a dead end.

  She tried her communications system to call for help but it didn’t appear to be functioning.

  She proceeded with care, everything behind her was in flames, ahead of her the alley narrowed even more until it ended with a wall blocking her path. The fire was spreading up the alley towards her. If there had been any residents in these containers, none seemed to making any attempt to escape.

  The wall was too high to jump. She looked around for anything to climb on but the alley was empty. Slinging her weapon over her shoulder, Ay-ttho began to scale the container nearest the wall, as she climbed the fire raced towards her. Small explosions within the containers ignited the surrounding containers which precipitated more small explosions.

  By the time she reached the top of the wall, the container she was climbing had caught fire. Ay-ttho looked over the other side, it was a long way to jump and she couldn’t see anything on which she could climb down. As she was deciding what to do, something inside the container exploded, blowing the side off which pushed Ay-ttho from the wall.

  She landed heavily but hadn’t broken anything. She thought with hindsight that she would have been better off just blowing a hole through the wall. Smoking debris was lying all around her. She picked herself up and realised she was on the edge of the community, which the workers had constructed alongside the wall, which the corporation may have built to keep them out, or in.

  Edging around the wall she could see that the whole community was on fire. Outside were the regulation concession built containers which were meant to be fire resistant. Inside the community, the residents had built the containers with whatever materials they had laid their hands on and the plumes of smoke rising above the flames were black and acrid.

  Ay-ttho tried her communicator again, but it still did not function. She assumed the blast must have damaged it. She hoped that Tori and the rest of the detachment had got out.

  By the time she reached the personnel carriers, Corporation services were on the scene and were attempting to extinguish the flames but it looked like fire had destroyed the whole community. Crowds were gathering, and these were the first workers Ay-ttho had seen since the suspicious residents they passed when they had first entered the area.

  She reached the location where they had entered the community just in time to see Tori and the guards emerge. Dust and soot covered them and were coughing.

  “Ay-ttho!” Tori shouted out when he saw her. “We thought we’d lost you.”

  “My communicator malfunctioned,” she said. “Is everyone okay?”

  “As unbelievable as it might sound, yes. We got everyone out. The first explosion seemed to come from within one of the containers.”

  “But where was everyone?”

  “We think this is one of the areas Sevan has designated for slum clearance. We think the residents had already been moved.”

  “But then why did we get the reports of a disturbance? The place was deserted.”

  “I know. It makes little sense. It was as if it was an ambush.”

  “But then who would do that?”

  “Come on, Ay-ttho, you know there is a long list of potential suspects. Former councillors, former community residents, members of the corporation still loyal to Barnes.”

  Ay-ttho had to admit Tori was right. As soon as they had accepted the president’s special appointment, they had also accepted a list of enemies.

  The crowd that had gathered was getting boisterous. Some were shouting at the Republic Guards, others were shouting at the Corporation services, still others were shouting at the shouters. Ay-ttho could sense the tensions rising.

  “Is your communicator working?” Ay-ttho asked Tori.

  “Yes?”

  “Tell Sevan what has happened and what is happening now. I don't think the guards will disperse this crowd easily. If we are not careful, we may have a riot on our hands.”

  No sooner had Ay-tyho finished speaking than the first rock was thrown. She felt the rush of air it created as it missed her.

  Find out what happens next

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  M J Dees is the author of fiv
e novels ranging from psychological thrillers, to dystopia, to historical to humourous fiction, as well as the Mastery of the Stars sci-fi novella series. He makes his online home atwww.mjdees.com/. You can connect with M J on Twitter at@mjdeeswriter, on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/mjdeeswriter and send him an email at mj@mjdees.com if the mood strikes you.

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  DEDICATION

  To Douglas Adams, my first inspiration.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I am indebted to the following for their help. My beta reading team, especially Viet Thanh, Peggy Coppolo, Wanda Jewell and Chris Wells and my advance review team.

  COPYRIGHT

  First published in 2019 by M J Dees

  E-book first published in 2019 by M J Dees

  Copyright M J Dees 2019

  The moral right of M J Dees to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Cover Design by James, GoOnWrite.com