Last Flight For Craggy (34 page)

'You saw
it?'

'No. Just what
he told me. When his cohorts arrived there that was it. He didn't
tell them about us and the tunnel here. If he'd told them about us
they would have come here to finish us off. He managed to fool them
into thinking this was a radioactive wasteland.'

'We all thought
it was.'

'Ninety percent
of the planet is. We gathered the handfuls of survivors and came
here. Korlyn had been watching us when he was on his own. He could
see we were living in peace even though we were all different
nationalities. He made the tunnel here and just walked into the
camp.'

'That was a
gutsy thing to do,' said Dillow.

'He was an
amazing character. Mango loved him to bits. Probably because they
were the same size. Jeez, I'll miss him. Anyway, he said he would
do all he could to keep us a secret. He said he had a way to
terraform Mars. They planned to do that for their own kind, but he
was stalling them. He was the only one who knew how everything
worked.'

'He paid the
ultimate price doing that. But this place. The animals?'

'Korlyn was
fascinated by our wildlife, what little was left. He said, once
Mars was a green planet, we could bring all our creatures there to
populate the place and help keep it healthy. Obviously, it didn't
quite happen.'

'Sorry. Hey. Do
you have a radio, capable of reaching Mars?'

Mars had
settled back down after being shaken up. A couple of hundred suited
people gathered outside nervously looking up at Mons. Cragg was
with Joel.

'Mons seems
stable again,' said Cragg.

Joel said,
'Look at the mine, Craggy. It has collapsed. Fawn was in there
searching for Lance.'

'So was Berry,'
said Hellicoyle.

'No, Felix. I
got out when I heard the explosion. I only just made it. I'm having
to walk back to Base.'

Hellicoyle
said, 'Thank God. That doesn't look good for Fawn. but it doesn't
mean all the mine has collapsed. She could be just trapped inside.
We'll get dozers digging her out.'

'Hey. Can
anyone hear me?'

Cragg had heard
the open frequency call in his helmet. 'Stella?'

'That you,
Craggy?'

'You bet it is.
Stella. We've lost Fawn Dillow.'

'I'm here
Craggy. Joel?'

'Here,
Fawn.'

'Joel. We are
trapped in here, but we're safe for now, I think.'

Joel said, 'The
pathways have gone. Morgan activated the terrorforma. It destroyed
the Pathways.'

'So how the
hell do we get out of here?'

Cragg said,
'Fawn. I'll dig you out with my teeth if I have to. Just keep calm
and we'll find a way.' A freighter landed near by. 'Morgan's just
come back.'

Stella said,
'It wasn't his fault, Craggy. Don't have a go at him.'

'I know it
wasn't his fault. Commander Forbes? Pottsy? You getting this?'

'Onto it,
Craggy,' said Potts. 'We'll get them out of there.'

'Good. See that
you do.'

But as the
plans were made to save the two women from the inside of Mons, the
biggest mountain in the solar system, it shook violently.

'Jeez,' said
Stella, having been thrown heavily to the floor. 'Fawn?'

'I'm okay. Sort
of. Is this volcano going off?'

'It'll be one
hell of a way to go if it is. What the hell is going in here?'

The truth of
the dome was showing itself. The terraforma built by Korlyn Num
Serdinda was doing more than turning the red planet green and
destroying the pathways. The later modifications Serdinda made
before hiding the artefact, revealed what the dome had really
been.

The smooth
walls morphed into the interstellar ship it had always been. The
floor beneath them seemed to melt away, the end of the tunnel going
with it. The shaking was too violent to dare to stand up.
Previously concealed instrumentation materialised out of the walls,
the ceiling and even the floor. Four small seats with securing arms
appeared from out of the floor, too small to offer safety to the
two human women.

Most of those
outside had been thrown to the ground. They stared up at Mons,
waiting for the impossible; the long dead volcano was about to blow
its stack, taking them all with it. Huge pieces of Mons at the peak
cracked and broke away, falling down the side of the huge mountain,
crashing into the red iron oxide sand, sending vast clouds of dust
into the air.

As the dust
settled a little, they could see the alien ship lift off slowly and
hover above the wrecked mountain top. Nobody moved, such was the
shock of what they were seeing. Then they heard Stella.

'I think we're
in trouble, people. I can't control this. Craggy?'

'Here.'

'Craggy.
There's some kind of counter on the computer screen. I don't like
the look of it.'

Fawn Dillow
came on next. 'Craggy. This damn ship is about to take off. I'd
rather not be on here when it does.'

'I hear you,
Fawn. Morgan. You hear that?'

Morgan's heavy
breathing came back at him. 'I'm heading back to the ship.'

'I'm right
behind you, Max. Leave the airlock open and fire up.'

For a senior
pilot, Craggy found an impressive turn of foot. The way he dived
through the hatch three seconds before Max Morgan took off would
have warranted a round of applause had anyone seen it.

Cragg buckled
himself into the copilots seat as Morgan got them in the air. His
mind was working faster than a freighter at full speed.

'Rocky
Ramshorn. Get your ass out of bed.'

'Craggy? What's
going on?'

'Impress me by
getting a ship airborne inside of five minutes.'

'Big Bird?'

Cragg said,
'No. Lance Dillow's ship. The Eye. Wendy Breeze?'

'Here,
Craggy.'

'You're now
Rocky's wing man. And I don't mean tomorrow. Stella. Fawn. Don't
you two go joy riding. We are right behind you.'

Forbes came on.
'Craggy?'

'Not now, Kinda
busy.'

'Just wanted to
wish you good luck.'

'Yeah?' said,
Cragg. 'We'll need it.'

Wendy Breeze
beat Rocky Ramshorn to the black ship by fifteen seconds. As a
qualified pilot in her own right, she had her hands flying over the
controls to fire things up. Like the freighters, it had upgraded
twin plasma thrusters and the latest sensor controls.

Breeze said, 'I
never realised how damn uncomfortable these suits were with nothing
underneath.'

'Tell me about
it. Can you believe all this?'

'You mean I'm
not dreaming this?'

'Only if you
dream about flying the cosmos with me.'

There was a
slight sensation of movement as the ship lifted off.

'Amethyst would
scratch my eyes out, if I did.'

Cragg's voice
came over the ships radio. 'Breezy. The ships on the move. We're
right behind it.'

'Craggy. Can we
keep up with that ship?'

'Don't scare
me, Breezy. These aliens are well ahead of us in many ways. Stella.
Fawn. Are you okay?'

Stella said,
'We were until you reminded us how clever those little buggers
are.'

'Sorry. Me and
my big mouth. Stella. This is where your brilliance really needs to
shine. You try to get a handle on those computers.'

Stella said,
'Craggy. Those countdown things on the screen? Just vanished.'

Morgan said,
'Jeez. Look at that thing go. That is not a slow ship.'

Lance Dillow
said, 'You have no idea what it's like to walk outside without a
suit.'

Foreman said,
'Yes. I guess it must have been tough.'

'Jeez. My big
mouth. You were going through hell and I'm moaning about having to
wear a suit. Sorry.'

It seemed
somehow natural to be walking hand in hand with a chimp. Mango was
holding his hand and eating an apple as he stared up at the big man
in ill fitting borrowed clothes.

'We all had it
tough just to survive.'

Dillow sighed.
'To be honest, we didn't think anyone was still alive down
here.'

'That was the
plan. Korlyn told us to lay low, because if his kind knew we had
survived, they'd be down here to finish the job.'

Dillow said,
'What is it with those jokers? No room in the universe for anyone
else?'

Foreman
chuckled. 'I can't imagine where they got the idea from, but they
got the strange notion we are a little warlike. I mean, where did
that come from, I wonder?'

'They saw us as
a threat.'

'Too primitive
and out of control. They would never have put up with the risk. So,
no radio contact. Just do what we had to do, biding our time.'

'Biding your
time to do what?'

Foreman opened
the door to the huge main building. 'To take this lot to the new
terraformed Mars.'

Dillow only
limped slightly as he followed Foreman on the guided tour. 'Five
GenMops. The other four come and go in the jungle. Mango mostly
likes to hang around here.'

'Mango,' said
Mango.

'GenMops love
to hear their own names. We collected anything we could find.
Hardly a dent in what we should have, but better than nothing.'

'Rabbits.
Useful.'

'Lost count of
those randy buggers. A couple of cats. A few dogs to chase the
cats. Three species of butterfly. Seventeen goats. Good for milk
and meat. The cheese is an acquired taste.'

'I've forgotten
what cheese tastes like.'

'We did all we
could. The uncontaminated land is not much. But. This is what we
are really proud of. Come and see.'

Foreman opened
a back room door. It was dark and cool in there. There were
hundreds of small carefully labelled boxes.

'The seed bank.
Nuts, fruit, flowers, wheat, vegetables. But this is really
cool.'

In a
temperature controlled double cupboard were hundreds of eggs. 'We
have an aviary at the back with a variety of birds. We incubate the
eggs in here and release them back as adult birds to produce a
viable stock. Good or what?'

'Pretty damn
good, Andy. But people. How many do you have?'

'Two hundred
and seventy three, not including the fifteen unborn. We think there
may be others here and there. That's speculation. This would be the
largest settlement either way.'

'You have
radio?'

'Yes. But we
dare not use it. This is too precious to risk.' He looked at
Dillow. 'When you left Mars, what was happening?'

Dillow sighed.
'I can't say it was good. Korlyn left us instructions to destroy
the pathways to prevent his kind getting to Mars that way. I was in
the blackness trying to find out how to do that, when I ended up in
the wrong tunnel.'

'And that
tunnel was destroyed,' said Foreman. 'I see three possibilities. It
happened by accident or one of our kind found out how and did it,
or the aliens invaded Mars and found out about us and destroyed the
Earth tunnel to cut us off. Still want to risk calling Mars?'

Stella and Fawn
were fighting the ship's computers. Not much was responding.

'Come on, damn
it,' cursed Dillow. 'This is a ship. Ships want to be flown.'

Stella said,
'Sounds like something Craggy would say. Craggy? You still
around?'

'We're here,
Stella. Flat out, though. Rocky?'

'On your
tail.'

'Oh, God,' said
Stella. 'Craggy. The damn computers counting down again.'

Cragg said, 'It
must be about to speed up again. We can't go faster.'

'Craggy!'

'I'm
thinking.'

Dillow said,
'Think faster.'

'Rocky. You got
a laser canon on that bird, yes?'

Wendy Breeze
pointed at a bank of sensors.

'Yes,' said
Rocky.

'Get in behind
their ship, and be quick about it.'

Breeze said,
'Closing in. We've no speed left.'

'Okay. Put a
low power shot between the thrusters.'

'You want me to
shoot them down?' Rocky gasped.

'I need you to
take out their thrusters.'

'But...'

Stella yelled,
'Craggy. The screens gone blank again.'

'Rocky!'
shouted Cragg.

'Jeez. Firing
now.'

There was a
blast from the alien ship's twin thrusters and a burst of speed,
but the laser canon put a direct shot right between the thrusters.
The ship blasted away, then far in the distance, they could see a
flash of an explosion.

'Dillow?' Cragg
bellowed. He got no reply.

'Craggy. Please
don't tell me I've...'

'Not on my
watch, Rocky. We need to get to them.'

Reaching the
alien ship didn't take long, because it was dead in the
heavens.

'Dillow?'

'You call that
a plan, Craggy?'

Cragg burst out
laughing with relief. 'It slowed you girls down, didn't it?'

Breeze asked,
'are you two okay?'

'A bit of a
headache,' said Dillow, 'but I'll live.'

'Nice shooting,
cowboy,' said Cragg.

'That was
scary,' said Rocky.

Cragg said,
'You'll get over it. Now any volunteers for a spot of space
walking? We gotta get some lines on that bird, and I'm getting too
bloody old for that crap.'

'On my way,'
said Morgan.

'I'll meet you
there,' said Rocky.

It took an hour
to fix a whole swag of line to the dead ship. The young pilots
returned to their own ships.

'Okay,' said
Cragg. 'A nice one quarter power ride home. Let me know when we get
there. I'm off for a sleep.'

As they closed
in on Mars, Dillow put a call out to Commander Potts. 'We've a bit
of a problem,' said Dillow. 'We have no power on the alien
ship.'

'Right. I'm
just glad you are all alive. What's the issue with the ship?'