“Carina, behind you!” Heen appeared alarmed.
Carina spun, her heart thumping against her chest, she instinctively clenched her fists. Yet there was nothing there and Carina felt annoyed that her sister had caught her out.
“Heen don’t scare me like that!” Carina grumbled.
Her sister didn’t reply, but stood frozen and frightened.
“I saw something. I don’t know what it was. I don’t know how to describe it, it was a blur. It went right for you and I thought it was going to attack you, but then it disappeared into the wall.” Heen pointed at the mirror building.
”And now look at the wall, the hole’s gone!” Heen stood frightened and confused. She waited for her big sister to give her the answer.
What was she talking about? Heen wasn’t making much sense. Then she turned and examined the wall behind her. There was no longer a cavity, but like most of the other walls it now displayed the colourful image of a robot. Carina ran her hands over the new picture but it gave no clue as to what had happened except it was now warm to her touch.
“What is it? How did it get there? Carina, I’m scared.” Heen wailed.
“Shut up Heen,” Carina snapped. She was confused and unable to offer an explanation. Why should she be the one to come up with all the answers? What could it all mean? She walked to the bench. The strange coloured symbols that decorated the panels on the cavern wall behind had resumed their lazy flickering.
“It must have come from here,” Carina concluded smugly.
“What must have come, from where?” Heen replied.
“Well whatever it was, it had to enter the cavern from here,” she pointed at the bench.
“Then it brushed past me before filling up that hole in the wall. But how can a picture move?”
Carina paused, deep in thought for a few moments. Then she smiled, “I know it sounds crazy but do you think the pictures could actually be robots? Perhaps they do their work and then maybe they return here until they get called out on another job. Yes that’s it! If we could follow a robot it could show us how to escape.” Carina sounded pleased with her idea, but Heen remained unimpressed.
“OK, so you think of a better explanation,” Carina gasped with annoyance.
“Maybe I will!” Heen retorted. Truthfully she didn’t have a clue where to begin and besides Carina’s idea somehow made sense, but why should she give Carina the satisfaction.
They sat with their backs against the bench still unable to decide how to make a robot show them the way out. If Tapper and Gibran had survived the slemon’s bite would they have raised the alarm or would they keep quiet knowing a confession would land them in deep trouble? She suspected that despite his outward show underneath Tapper was a snivelling coward and wouldn’t say a word to anyone, but if Gibran was badly hurt he might have to tell the whole story and then their rescuers might be on their way. If that were true it would be better to stay where they were.
Suddenly Carina stood up waving her arms wildly in the air with excitement. “Heen listen. What if this new robot was called out to mend that wire I cut? Then it returned here after it had done its job.”
“You mean the robot picture, I saw a blur and a picture, not a robot” corrected Heen.
Carina gasped in annoyance, her sister was becoming a real pain.
“Nice idea Carina, but does that mean we have to wait for someone else to cut the wires before we can follow a robot out of here?” Heen added unimpressed.
Not knowing the answer, Carina felt all her recent optimism wash from her. She turned from Heen and stood watching the lights on the cavern wall performing their slow dance. Dreamily she brushed her fingers against the bench top and immediately the lights on it started a manic jig. She took her hand away and they moved lazily again. She repeated this twice more and each time her fingers touched the bench the lights took on a wild life of their own.
Heen watched the light show as Carina’s fingers hovered over the bench. After a short hesitation she joined in. Two pairs of hands made them flicker wildly and the sisters began to laugh and joke. Above them a large green button stayed lit while its smaller neighbours flashed.
“What do you think would happen if I could reach that green button?” Heen asked standing on tiptoes and stretching towards it. Her fingertips touched against the button as the green light reflected feebly off her body.
Carina panicked.
“Heen get down from ...” but before she could finish her sentence she was blinded by a sudden flash of light.
Bright blotches filled her eyesight and Carina had to rub her eyes as she tried to extinguish them, but they hung there refusing to move. She grabbed at the space where Heen had been standing but now there was only emptiness. When at last the blotches cleared Carina stood staring at the bench and knew that she was alone.
She gritted her teeth to stave off panic and wiped her eyes to stop the flow of tears that had begun to slip down her cheeks. She knew she only had one option, she had to climb up on the bench and follow Heen whatever the consequences. She wished that she was as brave as her sister even if it frequently led her into danger. Carina knew that she was too sensible and too willing to find an excuse why not to do things. Maybe she was getting old, maybe she was growing up.
The one thing that had spurred her on was the need to care for her sister. Now Heen had vanished Carina lost her confidence. What if a robot was even now repairing the fence? The robot they saw could have come from anywhere. Heen could be anywhere! How could she return home without her little sister? Carina forced herself to wait until she felt calmer. Then taking a deep breath she climbed up onto the bench and reached for the green button. Multitudes of coloured lights chattered and a bright flash followed.
****
For several minutes there was silence except for the occasional water droplet falling from the cavern roof. Then the area above the bench flared, but this time there were no living witnesses. A repair robot fresh from repairing the fence that Carina cut earlier returned to its dock to recharge. It merged into the surroundings and soon was merely a picture on the wall.
Chapter 7
The Beach
There was total darkness, Heen couldn’t see a thing. Her lungs were empty and she was unable to breath. With what she had just experienced Heen could find nothing else in her short life to compare. It was the strangest of sensations that made it harder to make sense of what had happened. The only way to describe it, which didn’t come close, was being punched hard in the stomach then sucked feet first into a slemon’s mouth (minus the teeth of course). At last she gasped as air flowed into her lungs. She had the strange sensation of falling, toppling uncontrollably forwards before meeting the ground with a thump. Unable to stop, she rolled down a short slope, finally collapsing onto her back. Anxious and exhausted she was desperate to make sense of her surroundings. She clawed beneath her body feeling tiny gains of powdery sand collect under her fingernails. The musky odour that had filled the cavern had gone, replaced by the taste of salt on her lips and a touch of sea breeze on her face. She lay motionless hoping to catch some familiar sounds, but there was only the crash of waves breaking on a nearby shore.
“It’s still night,” she thought to herself as her eyes made out a few nearby objects. It was too dark to see exactly where she was, but she was able to pick up some clues. There was the foul smell of rotting seaweed pillowing her head and sea birds squawked in the distance as they weaved their wings in and out of the surf. This couldn’t right, she knew her town was a long way from the sea. It was impossible to travel so far so quickly.
Heen raised her body slowly taking care not to alert anyone or anything to her presence. She turned to face the direction from where she had come. At the apex of the dune, covered with a thin layer of sand, was an identical bench to the one in the cavern and above it a similar panel covered in flashing lights. Below, in slope of the dune, were several Heen sized indents betraying the pa
th from where she had recently tumbled.
High above the bench and towering above them, the skytugger cables shone an eerie luminous green as they rose into the sky. For a short while the skycart was visible until it became lost in a sky full of stars. The anchor where the cables were joined to the ground could be no more than a couple of kilometres distant, but how was that possible? Earlier that evening, when she and Carina had watched the skycart rise into the heavens, the cables had been more than a hundred kilometres distant.
For all her infuriating faults Heen wished her older sister was with her now. She could explain what was happening, but more importantly she would know what to do next. What should she do? Perhaps she would find help at the skytugger depot, but more likely she would find trouble.
Heen gazed towards the sea. She could scarcely make out the white caps as the waves broke against a nearby cliff. Down by the shoreline something was moving, two dark shadows gliding through the air bobbing and ducking as they went about their unknown business. As the cool night breeze hit her she thought she caught the sound of chatter and laughter as it mixed with the sounds of the sea. Was it Tapper? There was no way he could have followed her here. If she ran towards the voices they might be able to send her home, or maybe if she curled up tight and ignored them they might go away. Heen didn’t know what to do. She would be in so much trouble if they found her alone, but what if Carina was in danger? She had to get help.
“I’ll gut the fish if you get the driftwood and make a fire,” a shadow spoke.
“I’m starving, this time it had better be tasty, the one you caught this morning tasted dis-gusting!” replied the other shadow.
“It’s not my fault we had to eat it raw. You know we mustn’t draw attention to ourselves during the day. But there’s no one about now to stop you building a fire and cooking us a fabulous meal.”
“Oh, so I build the fire and I cook the meal. What will you do?”
“I’ll be watching out for the police and be keeping you safe.”
“Well I’ll be glad when we get off this planet. They’re so backward here they still use wheels on their trucks. How primitive can you get?”
As the dark shapes separated one came towards Heen. She pressed her head into her chest and wished she was elsewhere. Her knees pushed up into her body and her arms clenched over her legs.
“Go away! Go away!” she thought.
She might need help but these people didn’t sound like the ones able to offer it. They were frightened of the police so maybe they were criminals, pirates or worse. Perhaps they were murderers stalking the beach for victims. Then Heen felt a foot whack against her ribs, followed by a startled cry as a body tumbled over her.
“What the..? What the...? Jaime come here, I’ve hurt my ankle,” complained a young boy.
“You stupid idiot, Tycho! What have you done now?” The reply came from the darkness.
It was too much for Heen who jumped to her feet and let out a long loud scream while the body on the ground started to yell with fright.
“Tycho, shut up! Stop screaming you sound like a girl. You’ll bring the police,” reproved the older voice, again from the darkness.
Heen kept screaming, she screamed as loud as she could.
“It’s not me. It IS a girl!”
“Let me see,” the older boy replied, with a note of panic. He held up an arm in the darkness and with a touch of his wrist the palm of his hand began to glow shining a pale yellow light into Heen’s face. Startled, Heen cried even more, she had never seen such magic.
Two young boys stood staring at her. The older one, Jaime, let the light shine onto his own face and placed a finger against his lips. Getting over her initial shock Heen stopped shrieking and except for a few sobs felt calmer as neither boy appeared to be as dangerous as Tapper or his gang. Examining them they were only a little older than Carina or herself. To Heen, Jaime looked clownish, his shoulder-length hair patterned with black and blue diamonds.
“It’s rude to stare,” Jaime snapped.
Heen frowned in defiance “You frightened me. Coming out of nowhere and tripping over me like a clumsy oaf.”
Jaime’s harsh expression turned to a grin while Tycho turned red. Heen could see that the younger boy was much shorter, skinnier and his short badly-cropped hair was a plain mousy colour.
Jaime introduced them both. “Hi, I’m Jaime and this sure-footed athlete is my brother Tycho. Do I call you Screamer or do you have a name?”
Heen wasn’t in the mood for talking. After the events of last few hours she would have given anything for a nice warm bed to appear on the beach. Failing that she shut her eyes and wished Carina was here to sort out these irritating boys. Jaime and Tycho started to argue again, and for the moment left Heen alone. Maybe now would be a good time to slip away, but as she took her first step she felt something from behind taking a firm grip of her shoulder.
“This is Heen and I’m her big sister Carina.” Carina’s head seemed to float out from the darkness.
Shocked at her sudden appearance the boys turned to run but Tycho cried in pain as he stood.
“Ouch! Ouch! Ow-ow! My left foot! I can’t walk!”
Carina leapt forward and took a firm hold of Tycho’s bad foot.
“Leave me alone you bully.” Tycho pleaded as he tried to wriggle free.
“If you let him go we’ll not bother you anymore.” Jaime begged as he pulled at one of Tycho’s arms. “We’re late as it is. We’ve a skycart to catch and honestly we’re no trouble.”
Carina relaxed her grip on Tycho and examined the driftwood at his feet. She also noticed the fish that Jaime was carrying under his arm.
“Pull your brother any harder and you’ll damage our dinner.” Carina pointed at the fish and licked her lips. “That’s big enough to feed us all,” she added.
Tycho was relieved but Jaime frowned.
“We don’t share our food with strangers. Who are you and what are you doing here? Do you work for the police?” he snapped.
“Let us share your meal and I’ll tell you,” answered Carina.
They sat together on the sand. Tycho nursed his ankle while Carina talked about their adventure, though she deliberately missed out the possibility that by now the police could be searching for them. She had a feeling that the mere mention of the law would send their new friends running. Jaime sat as motionless as a mesmerised bug absorbing each word, but when Carina reached the part where Heen had scrambled onto the bench and found herself sent here both brothers exchanged glances and shook their heads in disbelief.
Tycho was unable to contain himself any longer.
“But that’s for robots, people don’t use the roboports.” He stared at Heen, then at Carina, noting the freckles that covered her face. He took hold of Heen’s hand and ran his fingers up and down her arm.
“Your arm’s warm and I can feel a pulse yet you’re both about the right size for robots. However I feel bones not metal under your skin.”
“Do you think this backwards planet has developed real-looking robots?” Tycho gave his brother a quizzing glance, his eyes then followed the girls watching for any tell-tale sign of a mechanical movement.
Heen was growing increasingly annoyed at being scrutinised so closely.
“Who’s backwards? And we’re not robots, we had to escape the slemon and we couldn’t find any other way out! What’s wrong with using a roboport? Maybe it was uncomfortable for a few seconds, but it didn’t hurt us,” Heen was getting angry.
“OK. I believe you’re not robots, but it was a stupid way to escape the cavern. Many people have died trying to travel by roboport especially without wearing a special suit. I’ve heard that the trick is to breathe in as you enter, but even then it’s too risky. When robots use it they leave the sending station enclosed in a vacuum bubble. It stops anything else mixing with their atoms when they arrive at the receiving station – where there’s an
other vacuum. I’ve heard that if you breathe at the wrong moment your guts turn inside-out and then they burst leaving blood everywhere. Nasty!” Carina frowned, she thought Jaime was enjoying the thought a bit too much.
“I’ve seen the pictures,” boasted Tycho.
Carina pondered this, she didn’t understand the bit about atoms but she did understand that both she and Heen had been incredibly lucky.
“So that explains why it felt like I was being sucked into a slemon’s mouth.”
Jaime sniggered, “I guess so, but me, I’ve never done anything so stupid!”
Carina was uncomfortable recalling her recent journey so changed the subject.
“So do you two live here? And if you don’t, how did you get here? Where are your parents?”
“I hear four hungry and grumbling stomachs,” Jaime replied equally keen to avoid answering questions, “Let’s cook the fish and eat it, then we can talk more on our way to the skytugger depot.”
Carina’s eyes opened wide, she had no intention of going anywhere near the skytugger. Like Heen all she wanted to do was to curl up in her nice warm bed, but she was feeling hungry and what they did next needed careful thought not possible on an empty stomach. She helped collect together the firewood Tycho had scattered over the dune and place it in a heap ready to be lit.
Chapter 8
The Skycart
“Has anyone got a match?” Carina asked the boys.
“No need for one. Watch this!” Jaime held up his outstretched palm already glowing with a soft yellow light. The girls watched him vigorously stroking his wrist. With each rub the brightness intensified until a tiny ball of fire spun a few centimetres above his hand. A quick flick sent the glowing ball among the kindling setting it alight.
“It’s magic!” Heen’s eyes grew large with respect she was so amazed with Jaime’s trick.