SEVEN
When they got back to Star Chaser with their heavily laden cargo cart Troy was a bit annoyed to find that Tristan wasn’t there yet and they would have to stand around waiting. But the others were quite happy to watch the comings and goings of the other spaceship crews around them although the most noticeable thing was that there were no more kids about, which left them feeling a little incongruous and very noticeable.
So it was with some relief that Troy saw his brother and Krista hurrying towards them but the look on his brother’s face worried him. When Tristan reached them he didn’t even say hello he simply opened up the bay door and ushered them in quickly.
When they were inside Troy turned to his brother and demanded to know what was wrong.
“It seems Calhoun is a bit cleverer than we gave him credit for, he’s sent a description of all of us out to all the nearby planets that we might have stopped at – including this one!”
“What!” Troy, Lena and Ziggy all said at once.
“But don’t worry, I think we’re okay just now. They only just sent them so hopefully the authorities haven’t got around to doing anything about it!
“Hopefully?” Troy asked aghast.
Tristan put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “We’ve got everything we need and now we’re leaving. So no need to worry, okay?”
Troy nodded in agreement then turned towards the cargo cart. “We had to buy this to carry all our stuff,” he informed hi brother, “but we got it at a really good price!”
Tristan grimaced slightly, “That’s fine. I never thought of it myself!” He looked at the stacked boxes and packages with a shocked look on his face. “Just how much stuff did you get?”
Troy pulled himself up proudly, “We got everything on the list with a little extra too! We didn’t even go over the limit you set!” He gestured at Lena, “She’s really good at haggling, Tristan! We got everything for the plants at a really good price so that meant we could buy a few more supplies and get some treats for everyone too!”
He picked up a large bag and opened it up triumphantly, showing Tristan the brilliantly coloured selection of sweets they had bought. Tristan leant forward and dutifully looked into the bag then sighed loudly.
“I hope you also got new sonic toothbrushes!” he remarked.
Troy frowned but then smiled when Tristan laughed. They secured the cargo cart then everyone went up to the bridge to ready for take off. Before Tristan went off to the engine room Lena asked how they had found out about their descriptions being broadcast.
Troy looked at his brother expectantly but it was Krista who replied. “While we were paying for our fuel I suggested to Tristan that while he went to get those parts he needed I might find a computer somewhere and try to find out if there was anything about us.”
“You mean you hacked into the official computer systems?” Lena asked appalled.
Krista shrugged with a slight smile, “It’s easy enough to do and if you’re careful you can go undetected. Particularly in a rather sloppy security system these kind of planets have!”
“So what did you find?” Lena asked her.
“What Tristan told you. Our descriptions have been circulated and a vague description of Star Chaser too but obviously Calhoun isn’t too familiar with spaceships!”
“Yeah, but the name isn’t exactly common,” Troy remarked.
“That’s why I changed it!” Krista said with a smile. “I didn’t have the time to change our descriptions but I thought I could confuse things enough by changing the name and description of Star Chaser!”
Troy thought for a moment then had to smile too. “I guess that just might confuse things enough to work!”
“For a little while anyway,” Tristan agreed, “Now let’s get out of here!”
As Tristan left the bridge Troy hurried after him so they could speak alone.
“Remember the weird looking man Old Ted mentioned? I think I saw him outside in the docking area looking at the ship.”
Tristan looked at him sharply, “Did you see if he had a tattoo?”
“I could see something but we were too far away to see clearly.” He paused for a moment, licking his lips nervously, “Tristan, you do realise what bird the tattoo could be?”
“Troy,” Tristan began but stopped, thinking, “I thought it too. That maybe the tattoo is a raven and this man works for Red Raven. He’s been in the news so much lately it’s hard not to think of him. But, Troy, why would Red Raven be interested in Star Chaser?”
Troy sighed and shook his head. He had no answer to give his brother. Every time he thought of the man responsible for their parents’ deaths he felt a mix of fear and anger.
“Look,” Tristan said, putting a hand on his shoulder, “Let’s not think about it just now, we have got more important things to think about.” He started to turn away then looked back at Troy. “I really think Mum and Dad wouldn’t want us thinking about getting revenge. Especially Mum, she would just say it was a waste of our lives. We have a chance for all of us to find better lives than we had on Goramir.”
Troy nodded and Tristan went to the engine room while everyone got strapped in and they waited for processing to leave. This took a little longer than it did for their landing and Troy began to worry that just maybe they had been found out but eventually the command came through and they were on their way. Troy looked at his friends behind him and noticed they didn’t look as worried this time and he even got a thumbs up from Ziggy.
The take off went smoothly and in no time at all they were away from the planet Andala and on their way. Setting the controls to autopilot Troy followed his friends down to the cargo bay where they began to unload their provisions.
It took three trips each to get all the foodstuffs up to the kitchen where it was decided that a proper clean up was needed before the goods could be put away. Even though the cupboards were all cleaned out at the shipyard everything got a good scrub, amidst lots of throwing of wet cloths and laughter. Finally the kitchen was done, everything gleamed and the cupboards fairly bulged with food containers, along with a fridge and freezer that practically overflowed.
Tristan looked around when it was all done and shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t think we could get any more into these cupboards!”
Troy grinned, “I told you we did well!”
Tristan slapped his brother on the shoulder and said, “At least we won’t have to worry about stocking up for a while!” He turned to Lena and Orla who were washing their hands. “We’ll help you get your stuff up to the spare cabin and you can set everything up.”
Lena smiled eagerly and rushed ahead of the others. All except Ziggy who wanted to start something for dinner although he wouldn’t tell them what he had planned only that it was a surprise.
It wasn’t until they had begun to carry up Lena’s equipment that it dawned on them that they hadn’t cleared the room first. Thankfully this particular cabin had never been used regularly so there was a minimum of furniture in it. With a little swearing and a lot of effort they moved the bed and the rest of the furniture, namely a wardrobe and a dresser out into the corridor then down to the cargo bay to be stored.
Once Lena had everything in the room she shooed them out with a distracted air before she began to sort through the equipment, seeds, plants and soil. They weren’t even out the door before she was sorting and moving it into place.
“I didn’t know she was into gardening,” Tristan mused.
Troy shrugged, “She’s mentioned it before but I never really paid attention, to be honest! It’s kind of boring!”
Tristan laughed and said, “I don’t care how boring it is. If it means we get something fresh to eat instead of preserved stuff I’m all for it!” He wandered off to the engine room whistling merrily.
Troy went back down to the cargo bay and took out the last few packages from the cart then made sure it was secured properly. Carrying the packages to the kitchen he went to the small din
ing area and dumped everything onto the table and began to sort through it, separating what was who’s into separate piles and then putting them into their own bag.
While he was doing this he surreptitiously watched Ziggy and smiled to himself when he saw how happy his friend was as he pottered about in the kitchen. Whatever he was making the aromas were making Troy’s mouth water.
“Glad you came along?” he asked a busy Ziggy.
Ziggy paused in what he was doing and looked up with a big grin, “Oh yes! There’s no way I would have stayed behind! And anyway, I thought that…” He stopped a moment and looked at Troy, blushing slightly, “I thought that maybe we might find others.”
“Others?” Troy asked but he knew what Ziggy meant, he just didn’t know what else to say.
“You know … others like me,” Ziggy explained quietly.
Troy looked at his friend and struggled to find something to say. He knew Ziggy really meant he was hoping to find his parents, find out why they hadn’t wanted him but he just couldn’t find the right response.
“You know, Ziggy,” Troy mused, “there are places we could go to that would have records of all the different races out there. I’m sure in no time we could find out something to tell us where you’re parents are.”
Ziggy looked up from what he was doing and Troy had never seen such a serious look on his friend’s face. “I really just want to know where I’m from, to find others with as many fingers as me!” He grinned as he waved his four-fingered hands at him the grew serious. “I don’t think I want to find my parents.”
Troy shifted uncomfortably, “Don’t you want to know why they left you there?”
Ziggy shrugged and Troy could see he was upset by this. “I don’t know if I want to find out it’s true they didn’t want me.”
Troy opened his mouth and closed it again without saying anything. In truth, he didn’t know what to say.
Ziggy flushed again when he realised he had made his friend uncomfortable and held up the spatula he was using and waved it merrily at Troy. “You’ll be pleased to know that I actually know what I’m doing so it should be edible!”
Troy grinned, silently relieved the subject had been changed. “I’ve sorted all this stuff, ”he explained, “so I’m going to dump this lot in everyone’s rooms and I’ll be back to help if you want?”
Ziggy looked around the kitchen at the progress of his preparations and said cheerfully, “Nope, I think I’ve got everything under control here. You could maybe set the table for me?”
Troy smiled and assured him he would be back then made his way to the sleeping quarters to put the last of their stuff away. He looked with interest around Krista’s room in the hope of finding something he could tease her about but it wasn’t particularly girly. It was very neat with everything packed away already and the bed all made. The personal effects were practically zero, all he could see was a hairbrush and an old mirror hanging on the wall above her dresser. He put the bag of her stuff down on her bed next to another bag that was already there, obviously left by Lena. He was tempted to take a peek but didn’t really want to know what ‘girl stuff’ was in there so left quickly.
Ziggy’s room was much as he thought it would be, clothes dumped in a pile on the floor as if they had been put on the bed and then pushed off. He shook his head with a smile and dumped the bag on the messy, unmade bed.
Lena and Orla’s room was tidy but there were a lot more personal effects in here than in any of the others, including his and Tristan’s who still had some of their old things in them. In amongst the crystal and rocks that had been moved to a set of shelves along one wall were the cute faces of a variety of cuddly toys and dolls. Troy looked it over and decided that it was quite disturbing to look at so left quickly, vowing to never step foot in the room again.
With everything put in the rooms now he went back to the kitchen and set the table while laughingly telling Ziggy how creepy all those toys looked amidst the crystals and rocks making his friend so curious he then had to go and look for himself.
The rest of them came into the kitchen to hear Troy and Ziggy laughing uproariously and making up horror stories about killer teddy bears. They all sat down while Ziggy and Troy brought the food over and they helped themselves to the heaped dishes in front of them, enthusing over the sights and smells of the small feast Ziggy had prepared until he blushed furiously.
After the initial hunger pangs had been sated Tristan asked everyone if they had any idea as to where they should be heading. This got a few confused looks from around the table but it was Krista who spoke up first.
“I’ve been wondering what we’re actually going to do? I mean, we can’t just travel around indefinitely, our money just won’t last forever so we need to be able to make a living somehow. Or we won’t be flying for much longer!”
“Krista’s right,” Tristan agreed, “We have a lot of supplies and plenty of fuel for now, but then what? We’ve used over half of our money to get this lot and it will last a while. But there will come a time when we will need to earn some more, so – any suggestions?”
“We’re just kids,” Lena pointed out, “Who is going to hire us? I mean, none of us are even trained in anything!”
Tristan frowned at her but he couldn’t argue with them just being kids. He was about to say something when Troy spoke up. “What about our parents’ old work? We could contact their old bosses and see if they have any work. They never even had to meet the people they just sent in their findings and got paid automatically. They didn’t even have to land!”
Tristan nodded slowly as he thought, “That might work, and we won’t even have to change our names I wouldn’t think as the people there never knew much about us. They were only interested in what our parents could find.” He ate some more as he thought then put his fork down to look at everyone. “Okay, well, that’s one idea to try out but just in case things have changed there, has anyone got any other ideas?”
“The most simple idea would be as a delivery service,” Krista said, “That way we travel around and stay one step ahead of whoever might be looking for us.”
Ziggy looked from her to Tristan and then to Troy, “How long do you think it will be before they give up looking for us?”
Troy looked at his friend’s worried face but it was Tristan who answered him. “It depends. I really don’t think it will be very long though, we left so much for them to deal with back on Goramir that they probably won’t bother looking for long.” He paused a moment in indecision. “Calhoun might be a different matter though. We did stuff him pretty good with Fairfax and he’s just the sort of person to hold a grudge.”
They ate in silence for a while, the good mood ruined by a worried pall that covered them all, until Lena loudly clattered her fork down onto her plate and sighed loudly.
“There’s no point in worrying about Calhoun until or if he actually finds us! And we can’t put everything on hold until he does so there’s no point in worrying about it! Let’s make a plan and stick to it! If Calhoun finds us we’ll find some way to get rid of him I’m sure!” She crossed her arms defiantly and looked around the table.
“She’s right,” Krista said after a moment of silence, “We have to get on with what we need to do if we want to stay on this ship. We’ve no choice, there’s no one else to help us but ourselves.”
Tristan sighed, “Yeah, you’re ri….”
Suddenly an alarm sounded and Tristan and Troy stared at each other for a brief moment before diving for the doorway. “Proximity alert!” Troy shouted behind him in explanation as he headed for the bridge right behind his brother. The others followed in a rush, fear making them clumsy as the chairs got knocked aside.
On the bridge Tristan and Troy dashed to the control console and punched a few buttons to bring up on the screen in front of them an image of another vessel approaching them rapidly. It wasn’t a large ship but it was larger than Star Chaser and from the looks of it, it was also armed.
r /> “Who is it?” Lena asked fearfully.
“Don’t know yet,” Tristan said distractedly as he pushed a few more buttons on the console. “I’m scanning them now to see if there is a signature.”
“Signature?” Ziggy asked, confused.
Troy turned to his friends to explain when Tristan remained silent. “Every spaceship has to be registered to be able to fly, which means that when it is scanned people will know who the owner is.”
“Doesn’t that mean when we’re scanned people will know who owns this one?” Lena said in alarm.
“I fixed that too,” Krista interrupted, “If we get scanned the name of John Atlas will be in the signature. Just like our cards!”
They smiled in relief at this but the smiles quickly disappeared when Tristan turned to them.
“It’s Calhoun!” he said in shock, “He’s found us!”