Deep Space Dead (18 page)

But there were more immediate concerns to be taken care of. Jak rushed into the office, closely followed by Barra Herr. “Close off the doors to the outside,” ordered Jak urgently. “At least stop any more from getting inside.”

“They may be trapped inside with us but they’re far too close for comfort. For crying out loud they’re actually inside the ship!” Wailed Col Gayze piteously.

“They cannot get through,” said Barra Herr as he took charge of the control panel. “Bol turned the emergency shields on. We’re just as safe.”

“That’s not the point,” muttered Jak bitterly. “Thanks to Bol’s little stunt we’ve lost an entire section of the ship as well as thousands of good people.” He swallowed hard as the enormity of what had just taken place finally hit him.

“What Bol has done cannot be forgiven,” said Dr Palk darkly.

“Nonetheless we somehow need to move on from it,” said Jak. “And we need control of the arboretum back as well. Turn off the airlocks and let the creatures suffocate. And if there are any people still alive down there I daresay they will be in enough of a state to welcome death with open arms.”

Throughout the rest of the ship the scenes on the holoscreens had sent the colonists into a blind panic. Many of them took their families and rushed back to their quarters, locking the doors behind them lest the vengeful Council allowed the creatures into their section as well. But a hard core, led by Hari Shorr and others who felt themselves with nothing left to lose, were filled with more outrage than before and resolved to tear the ship apart in a bid to wreak a final vengeance on the murderous Council. Meanwhile in the arboretum the creatures twisted and retched in final desperate grimaces as they suffocated. Under normal circumstances it would have been a satisfying sight to the colonists, but only the Council were watching the holoscreens now.

14

“Rioting throughout the ship,” said Barra Herr with alarm as he looked into the holoscreens.

“We need to lock the doors,” said Col Gayze. “We need to get ourselves to the arboretum. The revenants are all dead now. We can hold out there for as long as we need and use what food there is as a bargaining chip.”

“They’re already inside the arboretum!” Exclaimed Barra Herr with horror. “Somebody must have accessed the western control room and opened the doors. See how they flood back in, led by that accursed Hari Shorr.”

“What of the revenants?” Demanded Col Gayze in a panic.”
“The revenants are all dead,” replied Jak. “And Shorr is smart enough to take the risk. He knows holding the arboretum is the key to controlling the ship. He knows even if we were of a mind to wipe them all out we could not seal off the arboretum with creatures indefinitely.”

“In the meantime three of the rangers have deserted plus seven of the officers,” said Ramp Profut gravely. “Or at least I have picked them up amongst the throng of protesters.”

“Ten armed men to join the massed ranks of the colonists,” muttered Sol. “Bol knew this would happen. He has sold us all out.”

“They still need us,” said Prima Blak. “We’re the experts. I’ve worked with some of these colonists for years.”

“They won’t be considering that right now,” muttered Jak. “Their anger is too strong.”

“We need to compromise,” said Sol. “I’ve had enough of bloodshed.”

“We need to have another plan,” said Banda Ure.

“They won’t listen to any plans,” muttered Sol. “They want action and they want it now.”

The holoscreens flashed to the arboretum. Gan Cuk looked on in askance as he saw people hurrying up to the half grown crops and ripping them from the soil. “If they eat that they’re going to have stomach cramps for the rest of the week,” said Dr Palk.

“They’re desperate,” replied Sol. “They’ve got no reason left after what Bol has done to them.”

People were chanting and shouting. Arianna saw Hari Shorr gesticulating with his fists. Every face in the crowd was fixed in anger as they stood over the bodies of their fallen, ripped up comrades. There were no tears now, just defiance.

“Let me do the talking,” said Sol, going over to the intercom. “We’ve got all the administrative instruments here. From here we control the ship. How much food do we have in here? Come on, don’t act coy. I know some of you are stockpiling.”

“Enough to keep one person fed for a month,” said Barra Herr, swallowing hard.

“Then you stay here,” Sol told him. “Without this room they cannot control the ship. Lock yourself in and stay there no matter what. The rest of us will go down to meet the representatives.”

“They’ll rip us apart,” protested Col Gayze, and his tone was hysterical. “They won’t care about this room; all they want is vengeance for their fallen comrades.”

“They’ll listen to us,” said Sol. “Just stick with me. I have an idea.”

Arianna and the others started to make their way towards the arboretum. Those officers who had stayed loyal formed a protective cordon around the Council. Evidently somebody had made the protesters aware of the imminent arrival for a small crowd now thronged to meet them and had to be repelled by shots fired in the air.

“Sol has certainly stepped up to take the lead,” said Jak wryly as they walked.

“It isn’t as though anybody else wants to take charge,” replied Arianna.

Hari Shorr stopped speaking in mid flow when he noticed the Council converged at the front of the arboretum and seemed about to order the crowd to tear them apart. Then he saw the guns being held by the rangers and police officers and held back. He was not about to instigate yet another massacre of his people.

“Magnuj Bol acted on his own,” said Sol, stepping forward and speaking without preamble. “He locked himself in the control room and there was nothing we could do to stop him. You saw how he blew his own head off afterwards. He was unhinged.”

“You acted as one as well you know,” spat Hari Shorr. “Bol was set up. You have betrayed us and will do so again.”

“We cannot betray you,” said Sol. “You have the arboretum whilst we have the engine room.”

Hari Shorr may have been a rabble rouser driven mad with grief but he was canny enough to realise that without the control room the revolt was nothing. He knew too that Barra Herr could open the doors of the starship and let the revenants is at any time. It was the ultimate doomsday scenario.

“Are you in charge?” asked Hari Storr, his tone softening slightly.

“Not entirely,” replied Sol, knowing he was acting without the authority of the Council. “All I am asking for is a chance. We got all those things out there trying to rip us apart. Let’s not do their job for them, huh?”

Hari Shorr thought for a moment. “Very well,” he said at last, a thin smile playing about his lips. “We will give you two days to prove yourselves, and I would estimate we have around four days of food left. After two days the action will become more drastic. It so happens we have arranged a little collateral of our own.” Hari Shorr looked down from the stairs and beckoned. To Arianna’s horror Jen Henna came up the steps holding a weeping Ambra by the hand. “Your daughter, Chief Sol,” said Hari Shorr, his tone taunting. “I notice she was not amongst the protesters butchered by the revenants earlier. I notice she has been kept safe from us paupers in the luxury of the administrative quarters. Until now that is.”

“Ambra!” Cried Arianna, surging forwards. But the crowd surged forwards to hold her back. Jak came forwards and detached her, half dragging her away as Jen Henna pushed her way through and glared accusing at Sol. “You let them die,” said Jen Henna, tears flowing from her eyes. “My husband was among those protesters who were ripped apart. You let him die!”

“It was not us!” Cried Sol, struggling to control his emotions, hand tight upon the handle of his pistol. “And this has nothing to do with Ambra. If you will not let her go for me do it for Arianna. What kind of people rip a mother from her only daughter?”

“What kind of leader would betray their own people to monsters?” Retorted Hari Shorr.

“Nobody is going to sell anybody out,” replied Sol. “This is completely unnecessary.”

“Would you like to watch whilst we feed your daughter to the revenants?” Taunted Hari Shorr. “Shall we sacrifice her like you sacrificed all those thousands of people?”

“No!” Cried Arianna. She made to rush forward to seize her daughter back was prevented from doing so by Jak who held her back.

“We will take the rover out,” said Jak desperately. “If you force us into it then this is the only thing we can do.”

“We will go,” said Arianna desperately. “We will go now if you like. We will risk the revenants and we will come back with food. Why I would walk out there myself, unguarded and unarmed and face the revenants alone for my daughter.”
“Many of us, myself included, did exactly that the other day,” replied Hari Shorr darkly, a pained expression upon his face.
“Look Hari,” said Sol desperately. “I’m sorry for what happened to your family but this is no reason to…”

“Two days,” interrupted Hari Storr, his expression steely. “And if you think things are bad now they will be as nothing compared to if you come back empty handed.”

“They’re going to kill her,” sobbed Arianna hysterically after Sol and Jak had all but dragged her back to the Council chambers.

“If they harm so much as a hair on her head I swear I’ll open every door in this starship and damn us all to the revenants,” vowed Sol darkly.

“They know that and that’s why they won’t hurt Ambra,” said Col Gayze. “They can’t control us.”

“No but they can starve us out,” said Jak. “And that isn’t something any of us want. Even after all that’s happened I still want to save as many people from this mess as we can.”

“We would be better off working on a plan to rescue your daughter then going back to the original plan of opening up the doors and saving ourselves,” said Col Gayze. “The only thing Chairman Bol did wrong was not killing enough people. He had a golden opportunity to salvage something from this catastrophe and instead he chose to put us all at one another’s throats.”

“And I suppose by that you mean you would have closed off the doors to the Council chambers only and allowed the rest to go to hell?” Said Jak archly.

Col Gayze shrugged. He did not attempt to deny the accusation.

“We can argue about this later,” said Arianna, trying to compose herself. “Right now we need to go out and get supplies.”

“Only I need to go,” said Jak with determination. “You should stay here, Arianna.”

“It may be my only chance of getting Ambra back,” replied Arianna. “If they see I’m prepared to risk my life they may look better on us, and if we come back having saved everyone with food it’ll be even better.”

“What if you don’t come back at all?”

Arianna swallowed hard. “I’m going to have to take that chance. After all, half of the rangers seem to have gone over to Hari Shorr and his group. We can only trust one another.”

“Your main hope is over here,” said Banda Ure, pointing at the spherical map towards a part of the continent far to the south west. “There are some forests of nut trees which should provide us with protein for the foreseeable future and can presumably mashed down to make a stew which will keep us for a while. If you fill up the net they’ll be enough for a week.”

“A week,” repeated Jak, rubbing his chin with worry. “And even if we are successful, what then? We risk our lives every time we set out in that thing and if we lose it we’ve got just one rover left. We’ll have to go back week after week. One day we won’t be so lucky. One day we’ll get there and found the revenants have beaten us to it.”

“We just need to be lucky for a few weeks until the crops come up,” said Gan Cuk. “Presuming the rebels haven’t completely ripped them apart by then.”

“Take the explosives,” said the mining Councillor Jared Bynce. “I know they don’t do much but they should come in handy against a few revenants and at the very least they’ll create a distraction.”

“I don’t trust Col,” muttered Arianna under her breath as the meeting was dispersing a little later. “Whilst we’re gone it is a sure bet he’ll be lobbying to open the doors and let the revenants in whilst saving himself.”

“Not unless he has the control room, he won’t,” said Jak. “Let’s just hope we can trust Barra not to do anything stupid.”

“Let’s go now,” said Arianna. “Get this whole thing out of the way and over with. Maybe the revenants won’t be so quick in the dark, although I doubt it. They’ve foreseen every other trick we’ve tried to pull. I have a feeling a quick death might be the easy way out.”

“Tomorrow,” said Jak firmly. “I know you’re keen to see Ambra free, Arianna, we all are. But there’s no use risking ourselves in the dark in unfamiliar territory. And besides, it has been one hell of a day. We need to get some rest.”

Arianna did not sleep at all that night. She could not get Ambra out of her mind, for this was the longest she had ever spent away from her daughter. An hour before dawn she rose and went to the launch pods where she was surprised to find Jak and Sol already there, making last minute preparations for the mission ahead. “Is everything in place?” She asked nervously.