Craggy 2: Another Last Flight for Craggy (3 page)

'From what I remember of school physics, water itself is a poor conductor of electricity, but put impurities in, say salt, then it conducts much better.'

Cragg nodded. 'Sounds about right. This green stuff must work on that principle. Look. The lights in here are working, right?'

'True. Just about.'

'So, either the current isn't flowing fast enough, or the tank hasn't got the electricity stored in it to start with. Come on. I want to take another look at that tank.'

They made their way back through the hatch and Cragg studied the tank.

'Dunno why, but my instinct tells me this is the problem.' Cragg walked all around the huge tank of green liquid. 'Maybe the crash upset it.'

'Upset it? It's a tank of green stuff.'

'Craggy's number one rule when it comes to ships, even alien ones. Listen to the ship.'

He placed his hands on the tank and closed his eyes.

'Craggy.'

'Shush. I'm listening. Hmm. She isn't happy.'

'For goodness sake...'

'Ah!' He lowered his hands towards the bottom of the tank. 'Hmm. Yes. Ok.'

Had the old man lost the plot completely? 'Craggy. I just...'

'Come here. Now. Put your hands high up. Here. Feel that?'

'Just vibrations.'

Cragg said, 'Vibrations are the ship's words. It's all it has to communicate with. Move your hands lower. More than that. Anything?'

'Nothing. Oh. Maybe a little stronger.'

Cragg smiled and nodded. 'Lower.'

'The vibrations. Stronger.'

'Exactly,' said Cragg. 'She's trying to tell us where she hurts. Lower.'

Stella had to get on her hands and knees and she felt the very bottom of the big tank. 'Quite pronounced, now.'

'We're close.'

'Craggy. There's some kind of unit here. Jeez. It's hot.'

Cragg got down on the floor. 'Show me.'

'Here. Hell. This is not a happy unit.'

Cragg touched it. 'Dangerously unhappy. The crash threw it out of kilter. Damn that's hot. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't about to blow up.'

'Craggy...'

'Stand back.'

'What do we do?'

'Smack its bottom. Hurry. Move away.'

Stella got up and raced to the door as Cragg did the only thing allowable in the few seconds remaining. He rammed a well aimed boot smack bang in the middle of the unhappy unit. It rumbled and shook. It didn't look good.

'Stella. We gotta get off this bloody ship.'

He dived for the door and wriggled through it, as the whole ship started to shake. Cragg didn't have to put his hands on the ship to feel it. The shaking was such that he could hardly stand. 'Everybody out, and fast.'

Stella, Dillow, Breezy and Skye didn't need telling twice. They were well ahead of him. They were out on the ramp, and they dived across the ditch Freddie Morcurry was still digging. Freddie could see the ungainly exit and decided to move and ask questions later. Cragg was the last one out, missed his footing and landed face first in the freshly excavated dirt, and he clambered up the side of the ditch to see the others racing away.

'I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Oh. You weren't. Well. Worry a little bit, hey?'

He fell back down in the ditch. 'At least they won't have to dig a bloody grave when this lot blows.'

Suddenly, the rumbling stopped.

'That's either a good sign, or a bad one.'

D
illow looked at the ship from the safety of a pile of rocks. 'Craggy?'

'I'm going back inside. You lot stay right where you are.'

Breeze yelled out, 'You damn well dare go back in there, Craggy. I'm the project leader and I'm telling you straight. Get away from there.'

'What you gonna do? Fire me?' Cragg pulled himself up and walked up the ramp into the ship. 'You're happy, now. I can tell.' He went back through the inspection hatch to the green tank. The green liquid was bubbling slightly. It looked right. He got down to feel the unit. 'Hmm. Happy now I think you are. Hmm. Pumping green stuff I think you do. Use your feelings, Craggy, and find her you will. What the hell am I on about?' The lights seemed brighter. The ship was humming, in a good way. 'Okay. You had indigestion. Remember me, Dixon Cragg. I helped you. You're a ship. Behave like one, ok?'

Cragg made his way outside. Freddie Morcurry was somewhere in the distance on the dozer, and the young women stood together and stared at Craggy.

'Wassup?'

Breeze said, 'Wassup? What's bloody up? I told you not to go in there.'

Cragg laughed. 'Sorry. When you get to my age, your herring gets impaired.'

'Herring?'

'See? It's already happening to you, Breezy. I'm going home. Misty's probably wondering where the hell I am. Any idea what goat tastes like?'

Dillow said, 'The ship? Is she happy?'

'What? Oh. Her. Yeah. Like most females,' he said with a frosty look at Breeze. 'Gets a bit high maintenance now and then. She's happy.' With a twitch of an eyebrow, he added, 'She just needed a man's loving touch.'

'Can I work with those computers now?' asked Stella.

'You're probably the only one on the planet that can. Take a tip from me. Don't take no nonsense from her. Show her who the boss is.'

'Like you and Misty, I suppose.'

'Thanks for that, Dillow. Have fun.'

He walked off towards the buggy.

'Craggy...' yelled Breeze.

'You're welcome. See you girls in the morning.'

M
isty put the plates on the table. 'Don't forget you have a story class this afternoon.'

Cragg ate his scrambled eggs, trying hard to remember what bread, especially toasted bread, tasted like. 'I might pull a sicky.'

'Dixon Cragg. Go wash your mouth out with soap and water.'

'Why? Will that make these eggs taste better?'

'Watch it, you. Are you being a nuisance on that ship?'

Cragg was genuinely shocked. 'Me? How could
I
do that?'

'Dur! Because you are Dixon Cragg? Those girls have enough to contend with. Stay out of their way.'

Cragg got up to leave. 'I want to eat a goat. Might have a word with Foreman. If I can get a goat back here, kill it and skin it, can you cook it?'

'Senile decay. I Froogled it. You are borderline.'

'Thank God for that. I've been Froogled at last. And I'm so relieved I am borderline. I thought I'd gone over that particular edge many years ago.'

'Go.'

* * *

T
he day had been full on working with Freddie and the girls, the time flying by. And Cragg had to race away,  hardly settling in his chair in the school complex, for his shift as a child minder and story teller, when parents were pouring in with their children from their other classes.

'Well. Here we all are,' said Cragg, beaming at the children. 'I'm so sorry, I'm a little late but I've been rather preoccupied. However. Now, we are hopefully on the same page?'

Cragg looked at the slightly bewildered class, with parents giving him
that
look, wondering if a rather strange old man should be in charge of their precious offspring.

'Right. Did I tell you about the time I was on that alien ship, about to blow us to hell and back?'

Cragg noticed a few “here he goes again” and “is there another child minder we could go to?” kind of looks.

'Possibly not. It only happened yesterday.'

'Wait a minute. I heard about that,' said a concerned mother. 'Freddie Morcurry told me. That was you?'

'Oh,' said Cragg, with a slight blush and a casual wave of his hand. 'I help out where I can in my modest little way. But, I suspected the ship's problem was the electrical power transmission and if we could sort that out, we might save the ship. That ship was ready to blow.' The parents were interested now. Instead of leaving, they picked up their toddlers and found a seat and held their children on their laps. Cragg waited and when a deep silence descended upon them, he was ready. He took a deep breath, pausing for dramatic affect.

'Now, as you all know, I'm the last one to interfere. Much better for the youngsters to do their thing, I always say. But, once in a while, things happen that can't be readily explained and a little experience from an old hand is asked for. Computer Commander Stella was at her wits end, trying to get the power running properly, so naturally, she turned to old Craggy. I asked the ship what was wrong with her.  I placed my hands on the old bird, closed my eyes and became one with her. That alien ship was grumbling and groaning.' He closed his eyes and held out his hands, palms out. He opened one eye to see if any were ridiculing his little idiosyncrasies. None were. Instead, parents and children were under the Craggy spell. He continued his tale. 

'Something not quite right here, I said to myself. But that electrical power had to come from somewhere. So, we had a quick look, Commander Stella and I, and it was quite clear the ship wasn't happy. In fact, it was so unhappy, it was about to blow up, taking us with her. And we were right by the tank that held the electricity.'

'I yelled for the girls to get out and fast, but of course, with not a single thought for my own safety, I wanted to try to save the ship. Underneath the tank of electrical liquid, was a unit and that was getting hot. There was only one thing to do. Seconds away from me being blown to bits, I gave the dodgy unit a good kick. And the ship was suddenly shaking and wobbling. Oh, dear, I had better get out of here, very quickly, I said to myself, or something quite like that.'

'I ran as fast as I could, hardly able to stay on my feet, expecting any second to be blown to hell. I dived out of the ship, but I was in the ditch that Freddie had been digging, and the ship was right above my head. My old heart was beating like a drum, when suddenly, the ship settled down. Another disaster averted.'

He looked over the wide eyed audience, still mesmerized. 'Now. If you'll excuse me. I am off for a feed and a good night’s sleep.'

He walked down the corridor muttering, 'I should really charge more for this shit.'

'T
hat looks good. Freddie,' said Cragg, admiring Morcurry's dozer work. The trench made the rear of the alien ship accessible.

'Looks Like I'm all done, here. Singh will be on my case if I don't get back to the mine. See you later.'

'Thanks, Freddie.'

Cragg heard a noise at the back of the ship, and saw Skye Lewquarker, the propulsion specialist crawling out between the plasma engines exhaust ports.

'Hi, Skye. How's it going?'

'This, I'm reliably told, was your idea, blasting a hole in this ship.'

Cragg shrugged. 'If we hadn't done that, we'd have lost Dillow and Wayward along with the ship. Is it that bad?'

'Where do I start? Most of the parts I can identify, but they're hardly compatible with anything we use. I might manage to rescue it in time.'

'If she goes again, she'll be faster than anything we currently have. Seen Stella and Dillow?'

Lewquarker cocked a thumb at the open airlock ramp. 'Both hard at it in there.'

Cragg entered the ship to find Dillow and Wayward hard at work. 'Good morning, ladies.' Stella was busy on the ship's computer.

'Breezy about?' Cragg didn't fancy his ears being chewed off.

Stella said, 'Breezy's with Commander Forbes, back in the admin base.'

Korlyn Num Sedindra was on the computer screen talking in the translated English.

Dillow said, 'Hi, Craggy. At least we can work the computer, now.'

Cragg watched Korlyn, the tiny alien who had changed Mars and kept it for humans at the expense of his own life. 'Hell of bloke.' He looked around him, out of his depth with a ship so advanced. 'Doesn't look as if I can be much use, so I'll get out of your way. Just shout me if you need me.'

Stella said, 'Thanks, Craggy.'

Cragg left the ship, feeling a light breeze on his face. It was still cold, but not unbearably so. The sun was a yellow blip on the horizon, and he was convinced the greenery had spread even further. Andrew and David Foreman had chanced planting some of the hardier trees and bushes and they were still clinging on to life. It would take years for the planet to change completely, but to be able to spend time outside without relying completely on helmets and suits for air was a luxury to look forward to.

The warmer climate had freed up more of the underground water and rivers and streams were flowing. The water wasn't something to drink, and it would never sustain fish the way it was, but the frequent rains were improving the water quality all the time. One day, he could imagine sitting on a grassy bank in the shade of a tree, catching dinner. Or maybe hunting goats! He was walking slowly away, when a voice called out behind him. It was Stella.

'Craggy. Can you take a look at this, please?'

He returned to the ship and could see on the screen what Stella was excited about.

'Now that is interesting.'

Stella agreed. 'It's horrible. And very very scary.'

M
ars Commanders Potts and Forbes wasted no time getting to the ship. Stella played the few seconds of recording.

Forbes said, 'Any chance there could be more hidden away, Stella?'

'Possibly. I've hardly scratched the surface. It looks to me as if somebody, maybe Korlyn himself, wiped stuff off the hard-drive, but missed some. To be honest, it looked pretty brutal what we did see. I don't like the idea of seeing more of it.'

Cragg said, 'Hard to draw conclusions on what we saw. That wasn't Korlyn's planet Varlindra, I'm guessing. At least not at the time. They were probably just trying to take over somebody else's planet.'

'But those poor people, Craggy,' said Stella. 'Blown to pieces.'

Cragg agreed, 'The Varlindrans weren't taking any chances, just blasting them from their ships. Wholesale slaughter.'

None said it, but they all thought it. Could Mars be attacked the same way? The people on that strange planet were primitive compared to the Varlindrans or even humans. They had been fighting back with basic firearms, useless against the ships that hovered above their heads, mowing them down with laser cannon, even the infants. It was harrowing to watch again.