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– Chapter 3 –
Delivery
Two moonlit nights had passed since a yellow patch showed at Aurora’s window, her blanket, signalling the escape was on. Now tonight, with reasonable cloud cover, they were on the move.
Mervyn and Loren, posing as guards again, marched Rose and her family across the open yard to the postern gate. Mervyn waved his stick gun while Loren unlocked the first gate -- it opened without a hitch. He waved them all into the corridor and brought up the rear. Suddenly, he heard the thud of running feet. He glanced round, looking for signs of pursuit, but the yard remained deserted. Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught movement: three dogs charging towards. Flight was Mervyn’s first instinct, then he remembered the fences on either side. The dogs could not get them, but the noise would still draw attention.
‘Keep moving, don’t run,’ he instructed his charges. But Rose stood rooted to the spot terror written across her face. ‘Move, Rose! Go!’
‘I... I can’t, I’m scared.’ The dogs began to bark and leap at the fence. Discovery was imminent. There was nothing for it but to run.
‘Jump on,’ Mervyn instructed offering Rose his back, ‘and hold tight.’ Rose obeyed and Mervyn, pursued every step of the way by snarling dogs, carried her to the far gate. Once outside they ran for the Ureg trees, their hearts pumping, pursued by the sound of the dogs. Search lights lit the stately trees and guards opened up with their blasters. They reached cover just in time. Behind them Uregs exploded in fountains of mush as photons ripped into them, but they were safe -- for the moment. They fought their way frantically through the slowly stampeding Uregs and made for the ridge again.
As they reached the clearing, almost reforested now with new Uregs, the moon broke trough the cloud cover. It revealed the silhouette of a lone figure waiting for them. Mervyn grabbed Rose, ‘Is that your uncle?’
‘I think so,’ she whispered, ‘it’s hard to tell.’
‘I will go and talk to him,’ the mother said.
But Mervyn held out his arm to stop her, ‘I’ll go,’ he handed the key to Loren. ‘If it’s a trap you’re on you own -- hole up somewhere and go back for the others another night.’
He stepped out into the clearing, alone. He felt totally exposed and clung tightly to his stick gun, more for his own comfort than anything else. If Cephas had betrayed them or the Naga had intercepted one of the messages...
He took a deep breath, ‘You Cephas?’
The figure turned and levelled a real blast riffle at Mervyn’s waist, ‘Who’s asking?’
‘I’ve got three packages for you.’
‘In that case, I’m Cephas, and you must be Master Bright -- your father speaks highly of you.’
‘Are you alone?’
‘If I were not you would be dead by now. Bring them out.’
With a sigh of relief Mervyn waved the others forward. Rose threw herself into her uncle’s arms with much hugging and kissing. Mervyn wished them well, but knew he would miss Rose. He remembered the warmth of a welcoming family and thought of his father imprisoned in the valley below -- what he would give to re-unit his own family.
Rose ran back to gave Mervyn and Loren big hugs, ‘I’m going to go to the Academy too when I’m older, aren’t I uncle.’ Mervyn knew there was little chance of a marauder gaining entry to the Space Academy, but perhaps things would change before then -- he hoped so.
‘We shall see, young lady,’ Cephas said affectionately and held his hand out to Mervyn. ‘Thank you. You are a remarkable young man, I wish you well.’
A howl, like the voice of the damned, split the night and they all glanced back towards the camp.
‘They are coming after you with dogs,’ Cephas said. ‘Now listen -- every time you cross a stream wade up or down a bit and come out in different places -- it will confuse the dogs and buy you time. Now get going.’
Mervyn turned back as they parted, ‘How do we find Guthrik?’
‘He will find you.’
‘Can we trust him?’
Cephas gave him an appraising look, ‘If what you want is also good for the human race, yes, you can trust him.’
‘And what do humans want?’ Loren asked.
Cephas laughed, ‘A place to call our own, an end to slavery, and a chance to make our mark.’
A thought popped into Mervyn’s mind, ‘You want Pershwin?’
The laughter vanished from Cephas’ face, ‘That sort of talk will get us all killed. Now be off with you.’ Rose waived as Mervyn dived over the ridge and followed Loren down a gully.
‘Aurora, are you there,’ Mervyn called through the grill. His legs ached from running in the streams, but at least the sound of pursuit had faded away.
‘At last. Do you know how many nights I have stayed up waiting for you?’
‘I don’t care,’ Loren snapped, wringing out her damp hair from a fall in a stream, ‘do you know what will happen if they catch us?’
‘Sorry, I just thought something might have happened to you,’ Aurora said sheepishly.
‘Tell us about the guards,’ Mervyn said to distract the girls.
‘The guard changes in half an hour. The new watch check the cell doors then take a tour of the grounds with their dogs -- it takes them about fifteen minutes. That is your opportunity.’
‘You mean they leave you totally unguarded?’
‘No, there is a camera in the courtyard so I guess someone is watching. It is right by the entrance to this block.’ Mervyn kicked himself, he had forgotten about camera surveillance.
‘You do have a plan for the cameras, don’t you?’
‘Yeah, sure,’ he lied. ‘See you soon.’ He led the way back into the undergrowth to watch and wait. Loren took her boots off and poured out a pool of river water.
‘What are we going to do about the camera, Loren?’
‘Will this do?’ Loren scrapped something out of her boot and held it up for inspection.
He curled his nose at the foul smelling pond weed, ‘Just the job. No, you hang on to it.’
Right on cue a new group of Puncheon arrived with their scaled dogs, and relieved the watch. Mervyn waited until the reptilioids departed for their tour of the grounds before making a dash for the side gate. The key-card opened the lock with a clunk and the door swung inwards. They crowded into a cloistered courtyard. Loren located the camera and flung her weed. She scored a direct hit. Mervyn tried the lock on Aurora’s door. It opened first time. Much to his surprise, Aurora flew at him and grasped him in a tight hug.
‘Thank you, Mervyn, I thought they would imprison me for the rest of my life,’ she gushed. Was that a tear in her eye? Mervyn prised her off and unlocked Tarun, who greeted his friend with a firm handshake, ‘Thanks, Merv.’ Leaving Loren to guide his friends outside and he charged across the courtyard to his father’s cell. He tried the lock.
Nothing.
He shoved the card in again, then turned it over and tried again, then reversed it: still nothing. ‘Is someone there?’ Asked a familiar sleepy voice.
‘It doesn’t work, Dad.
‘Mervyn, is that you?’
‘It opened Aurora’s door, and Tarun’s door, I don’t understand why it’s not opening yours?’ He had begun counting under his breath: time was running out. Frantically, he tried the key again, but he knew already it was no use.
‘Leave it, Mervyn, it doesn’t work,’ his father said. ‘You need to get your friends away from here as quickly as you can.’
‘I can’t leave you, Dad, I’ve searched the whole Galaxy for you.’ Now he would have to leave him again. The hope which had kept him pressing onwards deflated like a punctured balloon -- so close, but still a universe away.
‘I know, son, Aurora told me.’
Mervyn leaned against the cell door, ‘I don’t know what to do, Dad. We’re trapped on this planet and there’s n
o way off, yet they look to me to get them home safely, and I don’t know how.’ Everything had led to this moment: finding his dad was the answer to all his problems -- dad would have a plan, dad would know what to do. From this point forward life was a total blank -- he had no plans, no ideas, no energy left for the fight.
‘You have some good friends Mervyn.’
‘I don’t know what to do, Dad. Should I look to Ethrigia, or the Republic, or what?’
‘Look to your friends, Mervyn. You’re human -- go with your instincts and never give up hope. And never stop looking for the advantage -- it will always be there, somewhere, however small, and if you’re looking for it you can exploit it when it shows itself.’
‘Mum and the girls are safe on Zetalona,’ he said lamely.
‘I know. If anything happens... well, look after them for me, son.’
Mervyn slumped to the floor and told his father about the Helium3 and how the Naga was getting rich from Starlight’s misfortune.
‘I’m afraid it’s worse than that son, if Starlight is gone then so too is the stockpile of Helium- three we were saving for the planetary defence grid on Zetalona. We would have sent it in instalments ,but with the Naga raiding the shipping lanes we didn’t dare. We were going to put together a military escort and send it all in one batch. Now they’ll have nothing to fuel their fusion reactors. They will just have to source it from somewhere else, no doubt at an extortionate rate.’
Loren’s head popped round the corner, ‘What’s taking you so long, Mervyn?’
He didn’t even look up. ‘The key won’t work,’ he mumbled.
‘Get going, Mervyn,’ his father said from behind the thick wooden door, ‘you need to take care of your friends.’
‘Your Father’s right, we need you.’
‘Aurora can lead,’ he mumbled.
‘Not like you. However you do it, whether it’s because you’re human or because you’re just yourself, you inspire us to be more than a group of individuals. You make us a team.’
Mervyn looked up and grinned, ‘Did I hear right, Loren? You like being part of a team?’
She looked like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar, ‘Quarks, Mervyn – yes.’ She offered him her hand, ‘I like being in your team, Mervyn. I like being a Misfit.’
Mervyn took the proffered hand and climbed to his feet. Time to go. He clasped his Dad’s fingers as they poked through the door. A lump stuck in his throat, ‘Sorry, Dad, I failed,’ he rasped, ‘but I’ll come back for you, somehow.’
The sound of gunfire made them all jump.
‘Get out now!’ Mr Bright hissed.
Mervyn let Loren drag him into the courtyard. The sight of Aurora and Tarun pelting towards the exit breathed new life into him and he ran to catch up with the other Misfits. As he drew alongside Mervyn looked back towards the cell blocks, ‘That blaster fire came from your cell, Aurora,’ he panted. ‘Why would anyone be shooting in there?’ As Tarun reached the postern gate the lock exploded as though hit with a lightening bolt. The blast threw him to the ground.
‘Tarun!’ Loren shrieked and scrambled towards her friend.
‘Halt! Stay right where you are!’
The Misfits stopped in their tracks: the game was up.
‘Lift your hands where I can see them.’
Mervyn slowly raised his hands. By the door, Tarun climbed shakily to his feet, and raised his hands too -- he was ok.
‘Turn round. Slowly!’
Mervyn expected to find a squad of Puncheon holding blast rifles on him, instead he found Guthrik. The Human waved towards the open door with his blaster.
‘Out, before the guards come back, and keep your hands in the air.’ They trooped out the gate, across the open ground, and into the cover of the Ureg trees.
‘What is going on,’ Mervyn demanded. Anger and frustration boiled over, his innate sense of justice demanded action, even if a feeble one.
‘Blasting out the locks to cover my tracks,’ Guthrik said, ‘Wouldn’t want anyone to know you had used a key now, would I?’
‘What about our deal.
‘The plan’s changed,’ Guthrik said as they climbed to higher ground. ‘Now, where are my grandchildren?’
‘They didn’t want to come,’ Mervyn lied.
‘What do you take me for?’ Guthrik growled holding up a small screen in the palm of his hand. Mervyn could clearly see the postern gate in the slave compound now swarming with Velcats. The human had set up a camera to watch their escape. ‘Now where are they?’
‘You let my father out and I’ll tell you where they are,’ Mervyn said.
‘You delivered them to someone else, did you not,’ Guthrik said. ‘Cephas? Yes, I can see it in your face.’
Mervyn kicked himself for his lack of control, he was too used to Ethrigians not reading his expressions, ‘We still have a deal. Your family are safe so let us go.’
Guthrik lowered his blaster, ‘Go then.’
‘What about my dad?’
‘I made no deal that concerning your father.’
Aurora pushed past Mervyn, ‘What about getting us off this planet then?’
‘I made no deal to get you off the planet either.’
‘Mervyn, you said... ‘
Mervyn balled his fists in fury, ‘You said, if I escaped with your family you would help us off-- ‘
‘I said, if you left without them you would never leave the planet.’
Mervyn felt Loren’s arm on his shoulder, ‘Merv, that’s exactly what he said. He didn’t promise...’ The fight drain out of Mervyn’s body like a deflating balloon. She was right, but somehow he had assumed... or hoped... or maybe just deluded himself -- and everyone else.
A howl rent the air near by: the trackers had caught up at last.
‘Come on, guys,’ Tarun said, ‘at least we’re out, and that gives us a chance, doesn’t it?’ Dejectedly, they turned away from the sound of pursuit.
‘Of course,’ Guthrik said casually. ‘If you were interested in another deal--’
‘Only if it includes my father,’ Mervyn snapped, spinning back to face his tormentor.
‘Do you think I have a death wish, boy? A bunch of meddlesome kids escaping is no threat to the Naga, but a member of the Republican Senate disappearing before the attack--’
‘What attack?’
The other Misfits turned back with interest, but Guthrik clamed up.
Mervyn studied the human’s stony fade, ‘You mentioned an attack,’ he persisted, ‘what’s the target?’
‘I can get you off this planet. Are you interested?’
‘He means the Naga’s attack on Ethrigia -- to soften it up for the Centaph swarm,’ Loren said daring the Human to deny it.
Unnervingly Guthrik laughed, ‘You think the Puncheon would waste their time on Ethrigia? It will sue for terms as the first Centaph transports land.’
Aurora’s eyes narrowed indignantly, ‘The Patriarch is a brave leader.’
‘Your uncle is a brave politician, and maybe a brave negotiator, but he is no warrior. Even Lord De Monsero, the most vicious of your race, is hardly a military leader. Ethrigia is not the key to this sector of the galaxy.’
Mervyn remembered Valna saying something similar in Bar-None and recognised the truth of Guthrik’s reasoning, ‘He’s right, I should have seen it before, the Naga isn’t after Ethrigia -- he’s after the Republic. He’s going to attack Zetalona, the administrative centre of the Republic.’ He wondered if Guthrik knew about the missing shipment of Helium3.
‘My whole family’s on Zetalona,’ Loren gasped.
‘Great Muons,’ Tarun said, ‘someone needs to warn them.’ Then his chima blanched as he remembered he was talking to the Naga’s henchman.
‘Smart lad,’ Guthrik said with a grin. ‘Take out Al-Zak-Uilin’s New Republic and the whole sector falls like a ripened fruit. I would rather that didn’t happen, so h
ere is the deal -- I get you off Pershwin and you warn Al-Zak-Uilin the Naga is about to attack.’
Aurora frowned, ‘Why? What is in it for you?’
‘None of your business, young lady.’
‘He wants Pershwin,’ Mervyn said staring Guthrik in the eye. ‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ He didn’t need confirmation, he knew already, ‘Pershwin -- the New Earth.’
‘The Republic will never let you keep it,’ Tarun warned regaining his colour, ‘even if you desert the Naga you will forever be his accomplice.’
Guthrik smiled, ‘We have Helium-three and right now the republic desperately needs Helium-three.’
Guthrik had a point, but so did Tarun -- another betrayal would never endear the marauders to Al-Zak-Uilin regardless of how much Helium3 they might have. Even so, the idea of a human homeland did have a certain appeal. Had his father not said Humans were the only species who could take on the Centaph? And Cage claimed he could drive the Centaph out of the sector with only a squadron of Humans. What could the Republic do with a whole tribe of them? To stand any chance of inheriting Pershwin Guthrik would have to make the Republic eternally grateful. A plan began to stir in Mervyn’s mind, and with it the hope he thought had died.
‘Unless,’ Mervyn said with enthusiasm, ‘you stop the Naga before he reaches Zetalona. Then a grateful Republic might just reward you -- I know my dad would support that.’
‘So would mine,’ Tarun said.
Guthrik shook his head, ‘Going up against the Naga’s warship would be too costly, I would lose too many of my people.’
‘So, your new world is not worth fighting for then,’ Aurora challenged.
Guthrik shook his head, ‘It would be a suicide mission. The Naga’s warship would have to lose its power core for us to stand any chance of victory -- and that would take a miracle.’
‘A small team inserted to disable the core-’ Mervyn began.
‘Let’s stick with reality, shall we. Now, does the deal interest you or not?’
‘I’m in,’ Mervyn said, and the others, following his lead, nodded their approval.