Chasing the Stars (8 page)

‘Mum!’ My heart sank down to my boots. Mortified, I closed my eyes momentarily, but that wasn’t going to change this situation, much as I might wish otherwise. The faint whirr of the environmental control unit and the low hum of the ship’s engine that reverberated throughout the entire ship were the only sounds on the bridge. It was as if we were all holding our breath, waiting to see what would happen next. Aidan observed my mum with a great deal of interest and very little concern. He wore the same strange smile he’d had on his face after Darren decked him. Vee, however, was somewhere north, south, east and west of severely pissed off.

‘Seriously, Mum? Vee risked her life to rescue us and this is how you repay her?’ I asked furiously. ‘By taking her ship?’

‘Don’t argue with me, Nathan. This is far too important to leave in the hands of a child,’ said Mum. ‘We need to travel to Mendela Prime.’

‘I’ve already told you, I’m eighteen, nearly nineteen, not a child.’ Vee’s tone was clipped and concise. ‘Plus Aidan and I have survived just fine for the last three years without any of you.’

‘Mum, this is so out of order.’ I shook my head, my embarrassment growing in leaps and bounds. How could Mum do this? I know we were all shaken up and still in shock over what had happened to us, but this was all kinds of wrong.

‘Nathan, stay out of it,’ Mum snapped.

She looked stressed and, worse than that, guilty. I doubt if anyone but me could recognize that in her expression but I was her son and I could read her like a picture book.

‘Well, thank you for that demonstration,’ said Vee quietly. Her contemptuous gaze slid from me to Mum. ‘At least we now all know exactly where we stand.’

‘Vee, the rest of these people are wandering all over our ship,
touching
things,’ said Aidan, irritated. He was bent over his panel analysing something I was too far away to see but he was obviously tracking everyone’s movements and activities around the ship.

‘Direct the ones who aren’t already here to come to the bridge to be scanned and registered. Impress upon them that none of this ship’s utilities or functions will work for them until they do,’ Vee ordered.

‘I tried to tell you this was a colossal mistake but you never listen to me,’ Aidan muttered in a stage whisper.

Vee wasn’t the only one to scowl at her brother. ‘Aidan, enough.’

‘They can’t be trusted, Vee,’ said Aidan.

Vee’s gaze swept around all of us on the bridge, her disdain obvious but mixed with something else. She regarded me, making no attempt to mask her expression, and her disappointment was a cord that stretched taut between the two of us, pulling at my insides. All the hurt she felt at that moment, I wore as if it were my own. If this was a test, then we’d all spectacularly failed.

‘Aidan, I’m going to my quarters and then I’ll be in the hydroponics bay if you need me.’ Vee didn’t wait for a response, but walked towards the exit, her head high, her back straight. Those before her parted like the Red Sea to let her pass. We had all been effectively summed up and dismissed, even though Vee was the one who was leaving.

‘I don’t understand,’ said Mum to no one in particular as Vee left. ‘That override code should’ve worked.’

‘After the rest of our crew died of the mystery virus, Vee extensively modified this ship, including the computer,’ said Aidan. ‘She put new protocols in place to make sure that no one but her and me could ever run this ship. It was a precaution to stop others – coming from any direction – from trying to take our ship or from turning it against us.’

‘Aidan, you don’t understand. We need to get to Mendela Prime, regroup and warn others about the Mazon threat,’ said Mum.

‘Then maybe you should’ve led with that, Mum,’ I said, still furious with her. ‘Instead of trying to take Vee’s ship away from her when you’ve only been on board for a few minutes. Apart from anything else, that was plain rude. Why didn’t you just tell her the truth? The whole truth?’

‘As Commander of this colony, I have to do everything in my power, no matter how distasteful, to ensure our survival,’ Mum tried to defend the indefensible. ‘The Mazon threat—’

‘As far as my sister is concerned, you and your friends pose the bigger threat at the moment,’ Aidan interrupted. ‘So accept the fact that you’re going to be dropped off asap. Now if you’d all like to line up, I will scan you and assign you to your quarters on the mid deck.’

‘And if we refuse to be scanned?’ asked Mum.

‘Then you won’t be able to use any of the ship’s facilities,’ said Aidan. ‘And that includes obtaining food and clothes from the utility dispensers. You won’t be able to enter the medical bay or the hydroponics bay which are both on the mid deck. You won’t have access to the science or astrophysics labs on this deck. You won’t get sleeping quarters assigned so you’ll all end up sleeping in the corridors or the cargo hold. You will not be able to—’

‘All right! We get it,’ Mum said tersely.

‘Ready?’ Aidan asked evenly. And as far as he was concerned, that was the end of the discussion.

As for me, I wanted to run after Vee and apologize until my voice was hoarse. Mum should’ve just told her and her brother the truth. I headed over to Aidan to be first in the queue as no one else was showing any inclination to move.

‘I know you have no reason to believe this, but we’re not your enemy,’ I told him.

‘Didn’t your commander state that actions speak louder than words?’ said Aidan. ‘Look at the panel over there face on.’ He indicated the screen to his right. ‘Then turn to give a left and right profile please.’

I did as directed, saying, ‘Yes, Mum did say that, about proving to the Mazon that we weren’t a threat. So?’

‘Could you place both hands on this panel now?’

I placed my hands on the panel before him. A light shone beneath my hands followed by a sudden, almost painful warmth. My fingerprints, a palm print and a DNA sample had been taken.

I moved aside for Mum who was next in the queue behind me. Slowly others got into line behind her.

‘What about what Mum said?’ I prompted.

‘From where I’m sitting, you are all far more dangerous than the Mazon ever could be,’ said Aidan.

‘How so?’ I frowned.

‘The Mazon are an external threat. You people are on board,’ said Aidan. He turned to my mum. ‘What’s your next move if Vee won’t give up our ship? Are you going to bundle my sister and me out of an airlock, or do you intend to slit our throats whilst we’re asleep?’

‘We would never do anything like that.’ Mum was outraged, but what the hell did she expect?

‘No?’ Aidan challenged my mum. ‘Well, you’ll forgive me if my sister and I don’t turn our backs on any of you. And, Commander, you in particular don’t strike me as someone who gives up in a hurry. You’ve already proved you can’t be trusted.’ Aidan turned to me. ‘Like mother like son?’

I glared at him, bitterly resenting his words. Aidan might think he knew Darren and my mum and the rest of the settlers.

But he certainly didn’t know me. Nor did his sister.

Right about now she was probably wishing she had ignored our distress beacon and continued on her way. Worse than that, she thought each of us was a real threat. As far as I was concerned, nothing could be further from the truth. I was going to make it my mission to convince Vee of that. I didn’t want her to think badly of me . . . I mean, us. I wanted to get to know her, to see her smile at me again – and often. There and then, I made a vow. If Darren or any of the others wanted to harm either Vee or her brother, they’d have to go through me first.

The thought startled me, not just because I’d thought it but because I meant it. Every word. And that worried me.

Why did I feel so protective of someone I’d only just met?

Not good.

Sigh
. I sat cross-legged on the metal bench amongst the
tomtato
plants at the far end of the hydroponics bay. Another few days and I’d be able to harvest tomatoes from the top of the plant but it’d be at least another couple of Sol weeks before the potatoes at the bottom of the plant were ready to gather. Not that my tomtato plants were the highest priority at this moment. Shoulders slumped, I sat with a bowl of chilli con carne, my favourite meal, in my hands. Normally, the smell alone was enough to cheer me up but for once it failed to weave its usual magic. I put a spoonful in my mouth and chewed slowly. The fiery taste wasn’t doing much for me either.

Earlier, after I’d stripped out of the protection suit in my quarters and put on my work clothes, I’d stopped off at the medical bay to treat my burns, only to find the doctor, Liana Sheen, already making herself at home. She was attending to a number of people who’d been injured back on Barros 5, but the moment I entered the medi bay, she was at my side.

‘How can I help?’ she asked, dredging up a tentative smile.

‘You can’t. I have some burns but I’ll tend to them myself, thank you.’

‘Let me do that for you,’ insisted the doctor. ‘It’s the least I can do.’

‘I can manage,’ I said icily.

The doc sighed as I applied the skin regenerator for myself.

No doubt I came across as churlish but I was still smarting from all that had happened since she and her friends had come on board. Injuries taken care of, I left without saying another word. Incredibly rude, I know, especially when she’d spoken up for me back on the bridge, but quite frankly by that point I’d had enough of all the refugees, colonists, settlers, whatever it was they called themselves. And though my body was almost back to normal, my mind wasn’t. My thoughts were racing. The corridors of my ship were full of strangers who moved to one side as I passed and looked at me like I was a hydra with offensive body odour as well as nine heads. God knows I wasn’t expecting to be lifted up onto any shoulders and hailed as a conquering heroine, but what had I done to deserve such angry suspicion?

And I still couldn’t believe it. That . . . that woman, Commander Catherine Linedecker, had tried to take my ship away from me.

My ship.

She’s lucky I didn’t lock up her and the rest of her friends in the detention cells on the lower deck for attempted piracy. From my quarters, I’d DNA locked all the weapons on board so that they wouldn’t work for anyone but me and Aidan. Too little, but at least not too late. But now, for the rest of the journey back to Earth, I’d have to listen to my brother singing ‘I told you so’ at me in every available octave.

Oh joy!

The door to the hydroponics bay hissed open.

‘Aidan, I’m not in the mood for company. And don’t leave the bridge unattended,’ I snapped, long before he came into view. ‘I don’t want that lot wreaking havoc on my ship.’

My visitors stepped out from behind the hybrid
plupple
trees close to the main entrance. Nathan I recognized. He stood before two girls, one of whom was Erica, and another guy, all around the same age as Nathan and me.

‘Nihao, Vee,’ said Nathan. A slight, hesitant smile was trying – and failing – to land on his lips.

‘Hello,’ I replied more formally. Friendly didn’t work with these people. What were they all doing here? What did they want?

‘D’you mind if we join you?’

‘We?’ I said pointedly.

Nathan frowned but then his expression cleared. ‘Ah! OK. Let me introduce my friends.’ He pointed at the tall, stocky guy who looked like he was of Chinese heritage. ‘This is Mike. He’s a plant freak. Anything that grows and he’s there ready to give it a hug. He also works with Doctor Liana when needed. He’s a trained medic. The surly bastard to my left is Erica. There hasn’t been a weapon invented that she can’t handle. She also loves animals and is going to have her own farm one day.’

Erica scowled at him with a look that could halt an incoming missile at two metres. Nathan was introducing his friends like they were contestants in one of those matchmaker reality shows I sometimes watched as a child back on Earth. I pressed my lips firmly together to stop myself from smiling at Erica’s expression. I’d hate to be on her bad side.

‘Nathan, I’m sure Vee couldn’t care less about my feelings towards animals,’ said Erica.

I turned back to Nathan, wondering what was the point of all this?

‘And this is Anjuli,’ said Nathan, indicating the girl on his right. Her long, jet-black hair was streaked with burgundy and tied back in a ponytail. She had a tattoo of what looked like a moth inked on the brown skin of her neck. ‘Anjuli is a genius with all things cybertronic – second only to me of course.’

‘Is there anyone in the universe who adores you as much as you love yourself?’ asked Anjuli seriously.

‘You?’ asked Nathan.

Anjuli snorted. ‘You wish!’

I pressed my lips together even more firmly to suppress a laugh at the unimpressed look Anjuli gave Nathan. These were his friends?

‘So now that you know who we all are, may we join you?’ asked Nathan.

A moment’s pause then I shrugged. ‘Help yourself.’

I uncrossed my legs and shuffled further along the bench to sit at one end of it, giving them plenty of room to sit where they liked. Nathan moved with impressive speed and to my surprise sat down next to me. And I mean right next to me, with his thigh touching mine. I could feel the heat radiating from his body.