

Helium3.2

First published as an ebook by Nick Travers at Smashwords 2008

Copyright © Nick Travers 2008. Smashwords Edition

Cover illustrations copyright © James Young 2008

Nick Travers has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Other examples of James young's artwork can be viewed at www.artincas.co.uk

James Young can be contacted at moebius82@ukonline.co.uk
With grateful thanks to everyone who has helped me, in any small way, to write, and re-write this book.

Special thanks to my writing buddy, David, whose wisdom and honest critique kept Mervyn on the straight and narrow. To Rachel Wade of Hodder Children's Books who freely gave of her time to provided invaluable advice when I most needed it. To my readers Sally, Josh, and Angela, who provide honest, and sometimes painful, feedback. And to James Young who provided the original artwork.

I would also like to thank the members of Writers In Touch at www.writersintouch.com who provided much advice and encouragement when I first set out on this journey.

Nick Travers

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Helium3.2

### By Nick Travers

– Chapter1 –

### The Key

Mervyn felt around in the darkness. His hand connected with something gritty and jagged: another rock. He tested its weight, with his rag wrapped hands, then lifted it sideways until he bumped up against the cart. Feeling the rim of the hopper with his elbow he tipped the rock in.

He wished Loren would hurry up with the light. While he waited, he leaned against the cart and rewound the filthy rags covering his hands. Around him he could hear the other slaves digging at the piled rocks. The second cave-in today; the umpteenth this week. Somewhere under the unseen heap of rubble was their light, and the old Ethrigian who had carried it. He hoped the unfortunate slave was dead, because once the light arrived the guard would let them clear only enough space to get the cart through to the Helium3 seam. Soon Loren arrived with the glow-bag and balanced it on a ledge.

He surveyed the disaster. The pool of feeble green light showed where the roof of the narrow, rough hewn tunnel had collapsed. It would take the rest of the shift to clear a path for the cart, The Velcat growled and pointed with its blast riffle. Without a word the slaves, mostly Ethigians with a smattering of Humans and stately Zetoigs, bent to their task. They lifted each rock with their hands, shuffled to the ore cart, and dropping it into the hopper. They worked steadily and methodically not expending any more energy than absolutely necessary. Winning meant surviving in this place.

Loren pointed to a shattered log, 'Another weak prop bearing too much load'. She was right. Mervyn had learned from an early age to prop up a tunnel safely -- just one of those skills the children of mine engineers absorb from their parents. The shoddiness of the night crews, who blasted out the Helium3 seams and propped up the new tunnels, made him nervous. Every time the work party arrived in a new area, he and Loren had taken to rearranging the props to spread the load more evenly. At first, the Velcat had objected, but quickly changed its mind when it saw a colleague buried under piles of rubble . Even so, the frequent cave-ins were a constant hazard.

He awoke from hibernation in a slave compound on the planet of Pershwin: the Naga's base. Loren was with him, but they had not seen or heard anything about the fate of Aurora or Tarun since their capture. A full week passed without Mervyn seeing the surface in daylight: the line of slaves, that formed the work-party, started the long walk into the bowels of Pershwin before sunrise. They laboured all day at the rock-face clearing great piles of Helium3 ore blasted out by the night crews. After sunset, they trudged back to the surface for a meagre meal of soup and bread, and sleep. He had never worked so hard or slept so deeply in his life. It was as though his earlier life had never existed.

They worked steadily, clearing rocks where the Velcat instructed, until a horn echoed through the tunnel and everyone stopped. The Velcat waved a cattle prod to herd them into a line and threaded a rope through the rings on their collars. Mervyn had only needed to feel the electronic sting of the cattle prod once to know he never wanted to feel it again. The Velcat handed the glow-bag to the lead slave and they started the arduous trudge to the surface. On the way they stopped to let a similar line of slaves, heading in the opposite direction, pass by. The night shift. In front of Mervyn an elderly, and once stately, Zetoig sank to his knees.

'Get up,' Mervyn hissed, but the Zetoig remained on the floor. He attempted to lift the giant, 'Stand up, please.'

'It is no use, I am too weak,' the Zetoig whispered. 'It is over.'

'It's never over,' Mervyn snapped as loudly as he dared. 'Never give up hope.'

The Velcat started to walk up the line to find the cause of the commotion.

'Leave me to die,' the Zetoig sighed.

Mervyn's rage boiling inside him, 'No, I will not,'. A waste of precious energy, perhaps, but the injustice of their slavery ate at his soul. He longed to strike out against their captors, 'I'm not leaving you, so either you stand and start walking or I'm in big trouble too. Is that what you want?' Slowly, leaning heavily against the wall, the Zetoig rose to his feet. Mervyn smiled in triumph: a small victory maybe, but a victory non-the-less.

'What's going on here?' Mervyn knew better than to reply. The Velcat glared at the stationary slaves. 'Get moving'. The line shuffled forward towards the lift shaft.

As they squashed into the crowded lift cage, which would take them to the next level, Loren whispered in Mervyn's ear, 'Tarun and Aurora are held captive in a villa midway between the town and the mine complex.' It was the first time they had spoken all day. What had she traded for this information? Within days of their arrival Loren had developed a network of informants. She traded anything she could lay her hands on for information. She had a natural talent and he marvelled at her ingenuity.

At suppertime, the exhausted slaves sat at trestle tables under the warm starry sky. Mervyn and Loren sat with the elderly Zetoig who introduced himself as Rauvic.

Mervyn pushed his bread across the table, 'This will give you strength.'

'No, I appreciate the gesture my friend, but you need it more than I,' Rauvic lowered his voice still further. 'I must escape tonight or this mine will kill me as surely as if I jumped out an airlock.'

Loren dropped her voice to match Rauvic's, 'How?'

'Maybe I will just climb the wire.' A towering double fence of barbed wire surrounded the slave compound. At each corner guards with searchlights perched in watchtowers.

'You'll never make it,' Loren said. 'At night they release the dogs to run free between the fences. If you get over the first fence the dogs will track you down before you can reach the second.' Almost every populated planet in the galaxy possessed a dog like animal. It was called convergent evolution: similar conditions in the evolutionary food chain often produced the same type of animal, like rats and cattle. Sometimes scaled reptiles, sometimes feathered raptors, sometimes hairy mammals, but always fierce pack hunters, and often domesticated by sentient races. On Pershwin they were sabre-toothed, long-tailed, marsupials, though Mervyn doubted they were native to the planet.

Rauvic stared wistfully at the wire, 'How then?'

'Bide your time -- watch and wait for the right opportunity,' Mervyn said.

' I do not have long, my body grows weaker every day.'

'I'll think of something,' Mervyn said determined not to let down his new friend. That night he wracked his brain for a solution, but by morning inspiration still eluded him.

The night crew had cleared a path round the rock fall wide enough for the ore cart. Mervyn noticed the shattered prop had not been replaced which meant the roof could easily cave in again and kill more slaves. Throughout the mine numerous cave-ins remained in the same precarious condition. He hurried past. The tunnel continued down into the bowels of the planet until they reached an area newly blasted by the night crew.

'Well?' the Velcat demanded pointing its cattle prod at Mervyn and Loren. For once the new tunnel looked well constructed. Mervyn sucked air through his teeth and tut-tutted, 'Hmm, looks dangerous to me.'

'Could collapse any moment,' Loren agreed playing the game, 'Right on your head.' The Velcat winced. Mervyn wanted to grin, but knew any sign of scheming would prove fatal.

'Make safe,' the Velcat growled and waved the cattle prod threateningly.

The pair worked quickly to move props and re-buttress the roof while the other slaves collected blasted rock. As Mervyn held the last prop for Loren to hammer into position with a boulder he had an idea. 'I need someone to lean against this prop until we can find another trunk,' he lied to the Velcat. 'If it falls it could bring the whole tunnel. I don't suppose you could...'

'Pah, no,' the Velcat spat.

'The Zetoig could do it, he's big enough,' Mervyn suggested.

Without even thinking, the Velcat jabbed its blaster at Rauvic then pointed to the prop, 'Sit. Don't move.' Rauvic seated himself at the base of the post and leaned against it. He was still there at the end of the shift.

'Thank you,' Rauvic whispered at they ascended in the lift.

'If we're back here tomorrow you'll have to be our support again,' Mervyn said with a grin. 'I hope you don't mind.' It felt good to get one over on the Velcat. Each little victory lifted his spirits a bit more -- he was fighting back.

That evening, Mervyn sat in silence watching the rest of the slaves, mostly Ethrigians, but also a smattering of Zetoigs and humans. Two human children played round their mother, the eldest, a girl, with hair as black as space, wore a red coat. He wondered sadly how long they would survive -- not long. He could have gone over and played with them, but best not to involve himself: he would only feel their loss more acutely. He realised, even in this short time, how cold and insular the camp had made him; this place sucked at your soul. Defiantly, he made his way towards the children intent on joining their game. He never made it.

A slave, questioned by two Velcats, pointed in Mervyn's direction. They made straight for him. Mervyn's heart stopped. Someone must have reported the trick with Rauvic. He looked around, but there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. He waited as calmly as he could. 'You,' one of the Velcats said jabbing a clawed finger at him, 'come with us and bring your friend.' It waved its blast riffle in Loren's direction and beckoned for her to join them. Mervyn's mind began to race, he had heard stories from the other slaves of cruel punishments and executions; would they shoot him for getting one over on the working party's guard? He forced himself not to panic and grabbed his bread before the guards herded Loren and himself from the main compound. They were going to shoot him for sure.

The Velcats marched them through a corridor of barbed wire to a small wooden shack. Inside, a broad Rinhus waited for them. Its tiny reptilian eyes peered at them through thick folds of skin. Mervyn had seen the Velcats escorting this individual around the camp, he assumed it was a camp commandant. Was this reptile to be their judge, jury and executioner?

'You been propping up tunnels without authority,' the Rinhus grunted. 'You worked in mines before?'

Mervyn could not believe anyone would object to safer tunnels, 'We're from Starlight -- the mining asteroid.' It was only a small lie, an economy of the truth, since neither had actually worked in the mines.

'Homeless now then, aren't you?' the Rinhus grinned yellow peg teeth at them. Mervyn decided not to rise to the bait; instead he stared at a crack in the floor.

A door opened behind them. 'Are these the two?' Mervyn recognised the voice: Guthrik. He had last seen the leader of the humans on the spybot footage.

The Rinhus made a clumsy bow, 'These are the ones, sir.'

Guthrik looked Mervyn and Loren up and down without any sign of recognition, 'Let me see their hands?'

Mervyn held his hands out, palms upwards, for inspection. Guthrik grabbed them roughly and turned them over. As he did so he pressed something into the palm of Mervyn's hand. He glanced up in surprise, but Guthrik's face remained impassive. He closed his fist on what felt like a small card and lowered it to his side. He burned to see what Guthrik had passed him, but dare not; whatever it was the Rinhus must not see, he understood that much.

'They tell the truth,' Guthrik said, 'these hands have worked in mines.' The flaps of skin that passed for the Rinhus' eyebrows folded together in a frown. Mervyn knew the reptile did not believe Guthrik, but would he challenge the human?

A commotion in the slave compound distracted them all. A fight had broken out between two humans. Guthrik nodded towards the door, 'Does that needs your attention?' The Rinhus leaped up, as though stung, and lumbered out the door. For a few seconds they had the hut to themselves.

Guthrik's steely eyes found Mervyn's, 'When you leave you take the children and their mother with you,' he hissed. 'You know the ones?' Mervyn nodded. 'Otherwise, you don't leave the planet. That's the deal.'

Mervyn guessed the card in his hand opened one or more gates. Loren glanced from Guthrik to Mervyn and back again, clearly she had no idea what they were discussing, but wisely kept silent.

'Should we thank you?' Mervyn asked.

'I do it for another,' Guthrik said, but before Mervyn could ask who the Rinhus returned and Guthrik changed the subject. 'There are too many cave-ins,' He said clearly. 'The Naga is concerned about lost production.' The Rinhus snorted derisively, clearly there was little love between these two. 'I need a team to shore up the tunnels properly, people who know what they are doing -- that's you two. You will lead that team. If there are any more cave-ins the commandant here will have you shot.' The Rinhus flared its nostrils threateningly as if would relish nothing better than relieving the Galaxy of a few more humans.

What Guthrik demanded was impossible; Mervyn needed to buy time, and quickly, 'There are too few pit props,' he gabbled, 'with enough wood we can make the mine safe within a month, otherwise you might as well shoot us now.' The Rinhus glared at him and reached for its holster while its tiny mind struggled to cope with the challenge. Mervyn looked imploringly at Guthrik, if he wanted their help he would have to reciprocate before the Rinhus blasted them.

'It is reasonable,' Guthrik said holding a hand out to restrain the Rinhus, 'you have three weeks -- after that no more cave-ins. Take them away.'

The Velcats hustled them into a smaller compound, the home of trustee slaves, the collaborators . Here the yard boasted grass, the bunks were clothed with mattresses, and each bunkhouse possessed a tap with ice cold running water: luxury compared to their previous quarters. As team leaders they had a hut to themselves.

'What was that about?' Loren hissed. Mervyn pressed his hand surreptitiously against Loren's. Her eyes widened as the key card cut into her skin. She turned away from the Velcats so they would not see the surprise in her chima.

Outside their bunkhouse stood a motley collection of beings.

'This is your work team,' instructed one of the Velcats. 'You start at dawn tomorrow.' Mervyn studied the work detail, all Ethrigians except for two humans. He thought of Rauvic and his determination to escape. How far could he push the deal with Guthrik?

' I cannot work with this team,' Mervyn said bluntly. Velcats have a low thinking threshold so extended thoughts are best avoided. 'There are no Zetoigs in this work party.'

'The commandant say this your team, so you work with them,' the Velcat growled.

Loren jabbed him in the side, 'Mervyn, what are you playing at?'

He ignored her and addressed the other Velcat, 'It cannot be done. I need tall beings. What is your name?'

'My name? Why?'

'Because when the commandant asks why productivity has not risen, I shall tell him you would not allow me to choose Zetoigs for the team, nor children.'

The Velcat took a while to digest such a long thought, then pointed to its colleague, 'She decided.'

'Not I, he took the order,' the other Velcat snarled and her ears lay flat along her head, they looked as if they might fight.

Drawing attention to himself was not part of Mervyn's plan so chancing his life he stepped between the disgruntled guards, 'Then you will allow me to choose Zetoigs and children?'

The Velcats continued to glare at each other, but their ears relaxed. Eventually the female, and then the male, nodded in acceptance. Loren raised a hand to hide a smile. Some of the work party were less circumspect, at least one laughed out loud, which made both Velcats suspicious.

Quickly, Mervyn pressed home his advantage and strode towards the gate, 'Come on then.' The Velcats looked confused and raised their blast riffles; first at each other then at Mervyn. 'We go to choose the Zetoigs and children you have just agreed I can have,' he explained patiently as though to a child. In fact, they were very much like children, children with guns: erratic, unpredictable, dangerous. 'Or would you prefer we go to the commandant?'

The Velcats grumbled, but led Mervyn and Loren back to the main compound. Mervyn decided he had probably pushed his luck about as far as it would go tonight.

'That one will do,' Mervyn said, pointing towards the table at which Rauvic sat staring at the stars. Thinking of his home world perhaps?. The other slaves milled around busy with their night-time routines.

'That one is old,' protested one of the velcats.

'I want height, not youth. Beside, his loss will not damage mining production,' Mervyn tried to use the same language as the commandant. Then he saw the red coat draped over the young girl and boy sleeping exhaustedly in their mother's lap so he sent Loren off with one of the Velcats to retrieve them.

'You,' Mervyn said to Rauvic. 'Stand up.' The Zetoig stood until he towered over Mervyn. 'Open you mouth,' Mervyn stood on the tale to inspect Rauvic's mouth. He had no idea what he was looking for, but hoped it would impress the Velcat. That close to Rauvic he could whisper without being overheard, 'Which other Zetoig can I trust?'

'Zakric,' Rauvic coughed into his fist and nodded his head towards a fellow member of this giant race. Mervyn assumed that was Zakric.

'You'll do. Go get your stuff,' he declared in a loud voice then pointed to Zakric. 'And I'll take that one over there as well.'

Back in the trustees compound they faced the problem of where to lodge the new recruits. There were plenty of beds, but the children were part of the deal with Guthrik and Mervyn wanted to keep them close. Besides, he did not trust the work party, especially the humans. 'They are either spies or bad eggs,' Loren pointed out. In the end they moved extra bunks into the team leader's hut and divided the single room with a sheet suspended from the ceiling. Mervyn and Loren would share the hut with the mother and her children: a boy aged five and a girl aged seven. The children were soon fast asleep, end to end in the same bunk.

'Why us?' The mother asked as Mervyn made his bed. In many ways she looked uncannily like a human version of Aurora.

He decided not to mention the deal with Guthrik -- not until he knew their value to the human leader anyway, 'I didn't think the children would last long, they can have an easier life here.

'And how do you propose to do that?'

Mervyn shrugged, 'We'll have to think of something.'

'Wooden pegs,' Loren said from the top bunk. 'I'm sure we can persuade the guards we need loads of pegs to hold the props together. They can spend all day whittling them, then at we can burn them in the stove at night,' she gave a short laugh at her own ingenuity. The mother grunted and pulled the curtain across. She could at least be grateful, Mervyn thought, he'd just saved her family from certain death.

As he dozed off he saw a face peaking round the sheet, the dark-haired girl was watching him, 'Thank you,' she said shyly. 'Mummy's not crying tonight.'

Mervyn felt a lump in his throat. Now he had responsibility for these children's lives too. He smiled, 'What's your name?'

'What's yours?'

'Mervyn, and my friend is Loren.'

'My name is Rose,' a smile broke her grubby face. Then she looked serious, 'Grandpa Guthrik will come and get us soon. He is very important.'

Mervyn fingered the key-card hidden in the waistband of his trousers. So that was the nature of the deal. Icicles shivered down his spine at the thought. If Guthrik lacked the power to protect his own family how could he possibly get them all off Pershwin?

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– Chapter 2 –

### The Deal

Mervyn looked down from a wooded escarpment. Below him sprawled a fine country house in which, according to Loren's information, Aurora and Tarun were imprisoned. It had taken a week to find the house, and a further week to persuade the guards to cut props from these particulars trees.

The days had settled into a relentless routine: one day collecting wood, the next cutting the trunks to size, and the next two propping up tunnels. In the mines Mervyn and Loren now shared a blunt hand-axe to cut props to shape, though this required twice as many guards. Without sharp cutting equipment the peg making scam failed from the outset. Instead, the children twined rope from reeds and grasses. It was of no concern to Mervyn if they rarely used the rope -- the business served to keep the youngsters in the relative safety of the compound.

Rose took to following Mervyn around wherever he went. She would sit with him and Loren in the evenings, as they worked out the next day's tasks, and even shared their meal table. Loren reckoned Rose hero-worshipped Mervyn. He denied it, but Rose proved to be bright and resourceful, and he soon found himself becoming attached to the girl -- she reminded him of him of Saffi, his younger sister. He repressed the thought immediately, thinking of his family, on Zetalona, lead only to depression and ruin. To survive he needed to stay positive; 'Never give up hope,' he reminded himself. Soon Rose was running errands and passing messages. She flitted round the compound like a bird, but the Velcats, perhaps beguiled by her smallness, ignored her. The mother and son, though, kept their distance.

The fresh air felt good. Up here on the ridge the firm soil held the Ureg trees routed to the spot. The large fleshy-leafed trees looked like giant purple seedlings, but their trunks stood strong and straight -- excellent for pit props. The Uregs constantly swayed and creaked as they jostled for the best light. On their first foraging expedition, in the valley, Mervyn was shocked to see the trees shuffling away through the swampy ground as if alive. Somehow they sensed his intent: every time one of his team produced an axe it started a slow-motion stampede. The trees hauled up their roots and dragged themselves ponderously through the slimy mud flapping their giant leaves like wings. The crew returned covered in mud with little to show for a day's exertion -- cutting down a moving tree, even one moving in slow-motion, proved too difficult. On the ridge here the trees hardly moved at all.

Mervyn looked round the clearing scattered with felled trees. On foraging trips, while surrounded by armed guards, half the team wielded sharp tree felling axes. The main work-party cut the logs roughly to size and loaded them onto a wagon. The guards almost out numbered the slaves, mostly Rinhus' with a smattering of Velcats. There was a hierarchy: humans held overall command, Rinhus, slow and lumbering, stayed in the open air and supervised the Velcats at the bottom of the stack. Though wily and cunning, Velcats lacked intelligence and any pretence at working together. Their constant bickering and sniping make it easy for Mervyn to play them off one against another. Far more dangerous were the Rinhus whose beady eyes missed nothing.

Mervyn bent to select another log as a Rinhus approached, 'Where's the runt?'. It had not taken them long to note Rose's absence.

'Down the other slope collecting grasses for rope,' he said waving an arm vaguely. The Rinhus bustled off in the direction indicated, but a couple of logs later it became more persistent, 'We can't find her, where is she?'

'She won't wonder far. Human kids never stray far from their mothers,' Mervyn assured it. 'She'll be back.' The Rinhus spied Rose's mother and relaxed, but the damage was done: the other guards grew nervous, infected by the Rinhus' unease. They glance about as if expecting an assault to erupt from the undergrowth. Soon a search party started combing the far slope looking for the missing girl.

Mervyn needed to distract them quickly before they caught Rose returning from her mission, 'Ok guys, time to get this cart moving,' he yelled. 'We can come back for the rest of the wood in a few days. Let's get those axes away.' The woodcutters immediately converged on the cart. So many armed slaves in one spot always made the guards tense. They abandoned their search for Rose and readied their blast riffles -- just in case.

Mervyn collected in the axes. Once stowed in the security box the slaves would stand back while the chief guard locked the tools away. Today, Mervyn fussed over getting the axes clean and laid in neat rows. He drew the moment out as long as he dared, but Rose's mother interrupted him.

'Have you seen Rose? I haven't seen her for a while. I don't want her left behind.' Mervyn stashed another axe in the box. He tried to think of a suitable reply. She never complained when he sent her daughter off on errands even though she disapproved -- the look on her face said as much. As if on queue, Rose emerged from behind a bush dragging a bundle of reeds. Mervyn breathed a sigh of relief, shut the toolbox, and stepped back. With the box safely locked, the guards ordered the work party to take up the yoke and start the cart moving on its downward journey.

Later that evening Rose reported on her finds at the country house, 'There are prisoners in rooms behind bars,' she said.

'Did you speak to them?' Mervyn asked eagerly.

Rose gave him a derisive look, 'Of course. There is a boy called Tarun and a girl called Aurora.' Mervyn and Loren glanced at each other then questioned Rose on the layout of the house and which rooms confined each of the prisoners.

Rose drew a diagram in the dirt, 'The prisoners can use this courtyard, but at night the guards lock them in separate rooms. There is a gate to the courtyard just here, but it is guarded by Puncheon and dogs -- the scaly ones.

'Puncheon,' Mervyn exclaimed, 'what are they doing here?'

'They work for the Naga, silly' Rose said. 'Grandpa doesn't like them. Says they bring trouble.'

'How may Puncheon?' Mervyn asked.

'Loads, but Grandpas says they didn't bring any warships.'

'No, how may Puncheon guarding the house?'.

'Oh. I counted five.'

'We should assume four times that number,' Loren said.

'There was someone else there too, a human.'

Mervyn's heart skipped a beat, 'What's his name.'

'I didn't get to speak to him, but the girl said I should mention it.'

Mervyn made Rose describe the man. No doubt about it, she had seen Mervyn's father. With his heart beating he memorised the diagram of the house and wiped the dirt clean.

'You know what this means don't you?' Loren said.

Mervyn nodded, 'Yes, the Naga destroyed the Mining Federation.'

'Worse than that, the Naga's in league with the Centaph.' Mervyn looked sceptical. 'Think about the evidence, Merv -- we know the Naga's warship is Centaph, and the Puncheon would only be in league with the Naga if sanctioned by the Centaph. They're softening up Ethrigia for a full-out attack.'

'Grandpa said it was payment,' Rose said unexpectedly.

Now Loren looked sceptical, 'Destroying the Mining Federation was payment? He told you this?'

'No, I heard him talking.'

Mervyn's mind raced with possibilities, 'Payment for what though?'

'I don't know. He sent me back to bed.'

Mervyn could imagine Rose wandering round the house at night and blundering into a private conversation. Had that unguarded moment resulted in her incarceration? Nothing added up, 'But how would destroying the Federation count as payment?'

'Helium-three,' Loren said. 'It's all about Helium-three. The Mining Federation was the largest suppliers in the sector. Everyone needs Helium-three for nuclear fusion power generators -- it's all about fuel.'

'But we're mining Helium-three here.'

'Exactly. With the Federation out of production I bet the price of Helium-three has rocketed, which means the Naga gets rich quick. Even De Monsero will take a year to get the asteroid mines back on line.'

'Ah yes, De Monsero,' Mervyn said. 'Where does he fit in? Do you think he's cut a deal with the Centaph?'

'No, I think the Naga's cut a deal. De Monsero's just taking advantage: using the opportunity to boost his popularity, get the mines back for Ethrigia -- be a hero \-- he would relish that role.'

'But what about his spybot?'

'There's no proof it's his. The real question is why are the Puncheon still here?'

Mervyn could think of only one reason, 'Because the Naga's been paid in advance -- whatever it is hasn't happened yet?'

'You think so?'

'Yes, and we're the only ones who know about it'.

'Quarks, we've got to get off this planet and warn The Patriarch, Merv. And quickly.'

'I know, but I'm not leaving without Aurora, Tarun, and my father.'

Mervyn made Rose repeat everything she knew about the house, and Loren made her describe the lock on the gate and draw it in the dirt. Guthrik's key looked as if it might fit, they would just have to try it and hope.

They were interrupted by Rose's mother, 'Time for bed young lady,' Rose scurried off, but her mother remained. 'I overheard you. You're going to escape aren't you,' she said.

Mervyn realised honesty might have been the best policy after all. Now he would have to own up to his deception, 'The deal is we take you with us,' he said sheepishly.

'Deal? Deal with whom?' She looked confused and angry. Mervyn explained about the key.

'My father-in-law's is the first place they would look for us,' she said. 'We will not go with you \-- it will only make our situation worse.' Mervyn's heart sank and he felt despair clawing at the edges of his mind; he would not give in, they still had the key, their one hope.

'But you must come with us,' Loren blurted. 'If you don't Guthrik won't help us off this planet.'

'Perhaps you should have thought of that before making a deal which included my family?'

'We've kept you alive for the last few weeks,' Loren stormed, her chima burned red. 'Do you think Rose would have survived if she had to slave away in that mine every day? You owe us.'

'You helped us for your own ends. I didn't see you helping my children before you cut the deal with Guthrik.' Loren's chima faded to an embarrassed pink.

Then Mervyn had an idea, 'It's ok, Loren, they can come with us anyway. Guthrik never said anything about delivering them to him, he just wanted them out of here. We will still have fulfilled his deal. We'll take our chances...'

'Where will we go?'

'Anywhere you like.' Mervyn could see the temptation in the woman's eyes. Surely anywhere was better than the slave camp.

'All right. Now here is my deal: we will come with you, but only if you deliver us to my cousin Cephas. Guthrik can have no complaint about that.'

'And where do we find Cephas?' Mervyn asked.

'That man Rose described, -- the one in the house -- talks to Cephas regularly, he will pass on a message for you.'

Loren looked horrified, 'But that means breaking out and then breaking back in again. Double... no, quadruple the risk. We could just as easily get caught breaking in as breaking out.'

'Those are my terms -- take them or leave them.' They had no choice: it was their best chance of warning the Patriarch of the danger to Ethrigia.

'We'll go tonight,' Mervyn decided.

That night, when thick cloud obscured the moon, Mervyn and Loren made their move. They crept along the side of the main hut in total darkness. The only light came from searchlights sweeping rhythmically across the compound. When they reached the corner of the building they paused. Between the last hut and the outer fence there was no cover. Infrared cameras watching them through the darkness were the main danger. During a scout around earlier in the day neither had spotted any cameras, but they could still be there. They turned their collars up to look like guards and carried sticks that they hoped could be mistaken for blasters. They stepped out from their cover and made for a small postern gate set in to the fence which guards used during the day. There was no going back now.

'Stand tall and look confident,' Mervyn whispered. They sauntered slowly across the open compound trying to move like Velcats. Mervyn hoped he looked more confident than he felt; inside his stomach churned and he could feel himself trembling. If the guards caught them now they would be shot -- probably where they stood. The beam from the nearest searchlight swept over them and carried on.

They reached the gate without incident. Mervyn passed the key to Loren, 'You'll have to do it, my hand's shaking too much.' Loren pushed the card into the slot. Nothing happened.

'Why isn't the thing working?' Mervyn asked.

'I don't know. I'll try it the other way,' Loren said fumbling with the card.

Mervyn could see the search beam travelling back towards them, 'Hurry up!'

'You could have done it.' Suddenly, the key slipped out of Loren's grasp. She muttered a profanity and dived to the floor. She scrabbled around in the dirt to find it. Mervyn watched like a frightened animal as the light beam swung towards them. He wanted to shout at Loren to hurry up, but he knew it would only slow her down, so he bit his tongue. He leant against the gate to steady himself. They were going to be discovered. Loren found the key, knelt up, and banged it into the lock, 'Got it.'

They crowded through the gate together. 'Walk,' Mervyn commanded, as much to slow his own pace as hers. Every step took an age. His heart pounded in his ears, and the beam swung neared. Every nerve in his body screamed for him to run, but he forced himself to put one foot slowly in front of the other. He could feel the tension in Loren like a coiled spring, and knew she felt the same urge to flee.

The beam swung harmlessly over their heads and Mervyn released the tension with a sigh. He wanted to laugh with relief, but they still had to tackle the outer gate. The key worked first time and soon the shuffling of the Uregs covered their flight. As soon as they broke free of the tangled roots they ran and followed the ridge until they reached the glade they had cleared that morning. New Uregs already shuffled in from the edges to take advantage of the improved light left by their more unfortunate kin. Below they could see the lights of the big house and they scrambled down the ridge towards it.

'Psst!' Mervyn hissed. 'Anyone awake?' From the other side of the grilled window came the sound of movement. 'Aurora, are you in there?'

'Is that you Mervyn?' Aurora said sleepily. 'I guessed you sent that girl. What is happening?' Her pale face appeared behind the bars.

'We're going to escape from Pershwin, but I need to talk to my dad to arrange it.'

'Are we on Pershwin? He is on the other side of the building. You cannot get to him, but I can pass him a message.' Mervyn explained about the Puncheon, how Starlight was the Naga's Helium3 payment, and his fears for Ethrigia. Then he outlined the escape plan and passed the key through the grid so Aurora could test it on the doors. He waited anxiously for her to return.

'It works on my door, Tarun's door, and the door into the courtyard. There is a guard in the yard so I could not try it on the courtyard door itself. The guard changes sometime, but I don't know when.'

'Keep a note for when we come back,' Mervyn instructed. 'We'll just have to chance the courtyard door when we arrive.'

'This is another of your plans without an ending, is it not?'

'They're the best.'

'No they are not, Mervyn. The best plan is to wait for my uncle to pay the ransom. Then, when Tarun and I return safely to Ethrigia, we tell him about the Naga's deal.'

'Aurora, you just don't get it yet, do you,' Loren hissed. 'There is no ransom.'

'But he said I had value-- '

'Not that sort,' Mervyn said. 'You're his safety net in case everything goes wrong, but if his plan works and the Centaph overrun Ethrigia you're useless.'

Loren tugged at Mervyn's sleeve. 'We gotta get going, Merv, it's nearly dawn. Aurora can stay if she wants.

Mervyn shook his head, 'I'm not leaving her, Loren, I'm not leaving anyone. Aurora, will you pass the message to my dad?' Aurora nodded. 'Good, then we'll be back for you as soon as we can.'

'Mervyn,' Aurora said, 'how are you going to get back in to the slave compound?'

'Ah, well that's another plan without an ending,' he said with a grimace, 'see you soon.' Reluctantly the friends parted.

Breaking in to the slave compound was every bit as nerve racking as breaking out. Dawn silhouetted the surrounding hills and they had to fight against a tide of Uregs making for the early sun on the ridge, but darkness still claimed the slave compound. A search light almost caught them running the wire corridor between the gates. They threw themselves on the ground and prayed, but although the ground around lit up like daylight no alarm was raised -- maybe the shift end made the guards sleepy or maybe they believed no one would be crazy enough to break in to a slave compound. Whatever the reason Mervyn only relaxed once they made the safety of their own hut. He threw himself into bed, exhausted, and tried to get an hour's sleep.

******************************

– 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 no 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 here 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.

******************************

– Chapter 4 –

### A Lonely Way To Die

Mervyn paced.

Aurora glared at him, 'Sit down, Mervyn. You are making me nervous.'

'They'll be here soon, and before you know it we'll be on our way to Zetalona,' Tarun said, but he looked less than convinced himself.

'You said that an hour ago. And the hour before that,' Loren complained. She sulked in the corner with crossed arms. Mervyn hated waiting too. He turned and stalked back across the cramped floor of the ancient shuttle Guthrik had lent them.

'I knew that human we could not be trusted,' Aurora grumbled 'He has betrayed us, again.'

Mervyn considered it, 'But why not just shoot us when he had the chance and save himself a shuttle? It makes no sense.'

'Then the Silvin have betrayed us.'

'At least we've got plenty of air reserves,' Tarun said.

'And virtually no fuel -- a muon's good that will do us,' Loren said.

Mervyn continued pacing, 'And you're sure the heat shield's damaged?'

'I checked it on the remote cameras -- we'd burn up on re-entry,' Loren shifted uncomfortably on the spartan seat. 'We have no option but to stay here until either the Silvin freighter turns up or we suffocate.'

Mervyn turned again.

Aurora's chima burned red, 'For Quarks sake sit down, Mervyn!' He ignored her and carried on pacing.

A bleep sounded from the control panel making them all jump.

Mervyn hurried across to it, 'A ship.'

'I told you they would turn up, but none of you believed me, did you?' Tarun said with relief.

'That doesn't look much like a Silvin freighter to me,' Loren said peering at the long distance image of the approaching craft.

'A new design?' Tarun said hopefully.

'Whatever it is we have to send out a distress call,' Mervyn said. 'It's our only hope.'

The new ship responded immediately to their signal. 'Warning,' the onboard computer chimed, 'missile lock! Warning -- missile lock!'

Loren sank back onto her seat, 'Quarks, it's a warship. And there's only one warship in these parts.'

'The Naga,' they all said together.

Mervyn slumped onto a seat.

Mervyn waited for the door to open They were in the same shuttle bay where the Naga had hibernated them for the journey to Pershwin, he could see the shattered control tower on the screen. Even their sleds still sat at the far end of the bay. As he watched the Naga arrived with a gaggle of Puncheon. Without warning the shuttle door blew. The force of the blast threw him to the ground. Armoured Puncheon swarmed in to the shuttle with blast riffles at the ready. Mervyn tried to raise his hands, but the raiders pined him to the ground and strapped his hands together. Something hard dug into his ribs: Guthrik's deep space communicator, he was supposed to contact the Human leader when they completed their mission. He was roughly hauled to his feet and herded out of the shuttle with the rest of the Misfits.

'Why would a shuttle be just sitting there right in our path?' The Naga was saying to the Puncheon around him, 'This is more than a coincidence.' He turned back to the shuttle and saw the Misfits standing at gunpoint. He closed his eyes and opened them again as if he thought he might be dreaming. 'You lot again! You just keep coming back like a bad comet, don't you,' he raged. 'Throw them out the airlock! And clean up the mess this time.' He turned back to his puncheon companions. 'My apologies -- it is a coincidence.'

A guard grabbed Mervyn and dragged him towards an airlock. He tried to struggle free, but his hands were tight fast behind him and the Puncheon was just too strong. He could do nothing. This was it, the end of everything. He thought of his parents and his sisters. He hoped they would miss him. Then he thought of Rufus De Monsero, would he miss the Misfits? Who would he taunt now?

'I am still the Patriarch's Niece,' Aurora screamed. 'I am still valuable.' It was worth a try. The guards paused, waiting for the Naga's reaction. Mervyn held his breath.

'I am worth a fortune,' Aurora shouted, taking advantage of the guard's uncertainty. 'Double if you ransom us all together.' The Naga showed no sign of having heard and the guards continued dragging their captive to the airlock. All hope evaporated.

Time slowed to a crawl and Mervyn started thinking of everything he would never do: sail round the Ethrigian system, visit a black hole, have a girlfriend. Say goodbye to his Mum -- tears pricked at his eyes -- watch a sunrise with his sisters.

Where did they go wrong? Why hadn't the Silvin showed up? Why had he trusted Guthrik? Failed possibilities competed to overwhelm him. The Puncheon shoved him into an open airlock. He fought back tears of despair. He wasn't going to beg: he would take this like a man -- die with dignity, if that were possible with the blood evaporating away in his veins.

He tried to shut out the thought of dying in the vacuum of space. The pain wouldn't last long, maybe the ship's engines would vaporise him as he tumbled past. One thing though felt worse than all the rest: he would die alone. He struggled to free his writs so he could hold hands with his friends, but they were firmly bound. The inner door slammed shut and he waited in the dark for death to claim him.

They were taking their time, dragging it out most likely. Suddenly the door opened again and he was jerked back into the shuttle bay.

'Bring them here,' the Naga barked.

'He is going to ransom us,' Aurora whispered and received a cuff round the head for her trouble. 'Careful, you will damage the goods.'

'My Puncheon commanders need some sport while we wait for reinforcements,' the Naga growled when they stood before him. 'So we are going hunting.'

Mervyn was mystified.

'Your sleds are over there,' the Naga pointed to the far end of the shuttle. 'You get a head start while we launch our fighters.' It took a moment for the full horror of the Naga's proposal to sink in.

'And what happens when you catch up with us?' Asked Aurora innocently.

The Naga pointed two fingers at her like a blaster, 'Kapow!'

Aurora blanched, 'You're making a big mistake--'

'Your time s starts now.'

'Run!' Mervyn, shouted and raced for the sleds. Tarun and Loren sprinted past him, then he looked back. Aurora stood in the same spot, unmoving.

Mervyn doubled back. 'Aurora, you've got to move.'

'I am not playing.'

'What?'

'I am not playing their game. I would rather go out the airlock with dignity than be blasted from behind while running away.'

'But we need you,' he pleaded. 'Any chance is better than none, Aurora, who knows what may happen?'

'They will make fools of us, that is what will happen.'

Mervyn grabbed her by the shoulders and stared straight into those intense emerald eyes, 'We're good pilots, Aurora, we might get lucky. We might outrun them. They might get bored and give up -- anything could happen.'

'They have fighters, Mervyn -- light, fast, and enough weapons to destroy us a hundred times over \-- it's just prolonging the inevitable.'

'I still have the communicator Guthrik gave me, Aurora. Perhaps we can get close enough to somewhere to use it -- maybe get a message to Zetalona -- we could save hundreds, maybe thousands, of lives.'

Suddenly Aurora was gone, 'Come on, Mervyn, what are you waiting for?'

Mervyn sighed and ran after her, 'Girls.'

As he climbed into the sled Mervyn punched the thrusters to life and felt the comforting presence of his biolink reactivating. He had been isolated in his own mind since Revlon, now he felt the others hovering on the fringes of his consciousness. Not the same as having access to limitless information, but these were the friends who counted.

Aurora linked herself to the sleds' bionet too, _'How do we do this, Mervyn?'_

' _We hot launch,'_ he replied. _'Equal amounts of forward and reverse thrust. Then kill the reverse.'_

Without warning, the bay doors began to open. Mervyn snapped the canopy shut and strapped himself in -- this would be a rough ride. The thrusters howled in protest as he increased power and held them in balance; the sled shook as though alive. A slash of black starscape appeared between the bay doors. Freedom? Or a false hope? Anything was possible -- you just had to grab the opportunity and tag along as it passed, wasn't that what his dad had said.

' _We go as soon as that gap is large enough to take a sled,'_ Mervyn instructed.

Aurora got away first, angling her sled to slip through the doors and escape into the darkness beyond. Mervyn was hot on her tail. The G-force squished him into the back of his seat like a rubber ball. He felt sure he could feel the muscles of his face tearing off the bones. As the sled escaped the battleship's artificial gravity he felt the familiar lurch, like speeding over a humpbacked bridge, as he become weightless. The G-force lost its power over him and everything sprang back to its rightful place. On the viewscreen, at frequencies beyond the visible spectrum, the seemingly featureless space came alive with vibrant colours: vast interstellar gas clouds glowed red and blue, a Brown Dwarf pulsated with a malevolent orange glow, far off to the left a nova glowed with rainbow coloured gas clouds heated by a neutron star buried somewhere at its core -- the remains of a collapsed giant star -- now long forgotten. He sped away at full throttle, recklessly gobbling fuel, to put as much distance as possible between the sled and the battleship.

' _Valna must have refuelled the sled before we left Revlon,'_ Loren reported, _'we have a full load on board.'_

Thank goodness for Valna -- at least he remained loyal.

' _Ok, so I am a bad judge of character,'_ Aurora said. _'Just don't rub it in, ok.'_

' _What did I say?'_

Tarun tactfully interrupted, _'Where are we heading for then -- even with a full fuel load there isn't enough to reach even halfway to Ethrigia'_

' _Ok guys,'_ Mervyn said, _'what advantages do we have over fighters?'_

' _The sleds are smaller--'_ Tarun began.

' _Don't think size, think mass,'_ Loren said. _'We may be smaller, but we have more mass.'_

' _What difference does that make?'_ Aurora asked.

' _Did you asleep through all your navigation lessons?'_

' _No -- not all of them.'_

' _Having a higher mass means we can get a faster slingshot from the gravity of that Brown Dwarf. We'll need all the extra speed we can get.'_

' _What else,'_ Mervyn. asked

' _We can manoeuvrable better,'_ Tarun, suggested.

' _There's two of us in each sled,'_ Aurora, suggested, _'We can take turns to sleep on straight runs. That way we'll be fresher when we have to decide on curse corrections. And anyway, when we are sleeping we will use less oxygen.'_ Aurora was right. Although the sleds were cramped, there was a cubby hole which one person could just squeeze in to if they had a mind to sleep.

' _Is that it?'_ Mervyn asked. It was. ' _Right, Loren and Tarun, you work out the best route -- maximum speed over maximum distance -- while Aurora and I head for that Brown Dwarf.'_

Silence reigned as they worked. Far ahead the Brown Dwarf sparked and boiled in its vain attempt to spark into life as a star. What must it be like to spend an eternity in failure? Maybe one day it would get lucky and capture an asteroid with enough mass to tip the balance.

Loren jolted Mervyn out of his musings, _'Got it! You'll like this -- all we got to do is send them in the wrong direction.'_

' _This sounds bad,'_ Aurora said. _'Does this plan have an ending?'_

' _It's a good plan.'_

' _So that's a no then.'_

Loren ignored her and called up a star map on the viewscreens and marked a route. _'There's one opportunity to deceive them,'_ she marked a circle on the map. _'Here. But there's a cost -- we've gotta slow down and let them catch up. The fighters need to be committed to their trajectory before we are. That shouldn't be too difficult, they have less mass than the sleds so they'll have to fly closer to the dwarf to get their slingshot.'_

' _But that puts us within shooting range,'_ Tarun said in alarm.

' _Ah, yes... it will be tight.'_

' _How tight?'_

' _Very tight.'_

Aurora was not convinced, _'So what if we just pile on the power and head out as far as we can?'_

' _They will catch us here,'_ Loren marked a cross on the map.'

' _And if we pull off this trick?'_

Loren marked another cross much further away. Mervyn suspected by the tone of her voice she was hiding a surprise up her sleeve, but he decided not to spoil her fun, he would know soon enough anyway.

' _So what is the point, Loren? They are going to get us anyway,'_ Aurora exclaimed.

It was the response Loren wanted, _'Because, I have worked out a way to get us to here,'_ she said smugly and marked a new cross. ' _Which, you might note, is within communications distance of this relay station,' she drew another circle._

' _All right, genius, so tell us how we achieve this magnificent feat,'_ Aurora, sneered _._

Loren told her.

' _Are you mad?'_ Aurora, hissed, _'even I can't make a sled do that.'_

******************************

– Chapter 5 –

### Deathrace

Within five minutes of launching the Misfits found themselves pursued. The Naga's six fighters immediately started to gain on their prey. Ahead, the malevolent glow of the brown dwarf filled Mervyn's viewscreen offering them, if not salvation, at least a reprieve from their pursuers. Too massive to be a planet but not dense enough to be a sun, it still presented a formidable obstacle.

Mervyn studied Loren's new star map, _'If the alternative is certain death I say we go for it.'_

' _Put like that,'_ Aurora said, _'how can I refuse?'_

' _I agree,'_ Tarun said, _'and if we can save some lives by doing this I say we at least try, but I have to tell you, I'm glad I'm not driving.'_

The sleds slowed to match Loren's calculations: reeling in the fighters until committed to the false trajectory.

' _There's something else we can do to improve the odds of success,'_ Loren said.

' _What, from zero to just above zero, you mean?'_ She ignored Aurora and called up a new schematic.

It took a while for Mervyn to work it all out, _'Is this possible, Loren?'_

' _Oh yes... theoretically. But I've never actually rigged it up,'_ she said. _'Remember all those evenings I spent in the sled bay while you lot played on the simulators? This is what I was working on.'_

' _It looks fiddly,'_ Tarun said _, 'do we have time to fit all this?'_

' _I don't know, but there's only one way to find out.'_

' _Ok, I'll have a go, but I'm really not sure what I'm looking at here so you'll have to talk me through it, Loren.'_

' _We'll do it together, Tarun, step by step.'_

' _Uh oh, fighters engaging their weapons,'_ Tarun reported, ' _I hope you know what you're doing with this slowing down business.'_ No one needed reminding about the earnestness of this race.

Without warning, a photon blast erupted behind them making everybody jump. The hunters were catching up.

' _It's ok,'_ Loren assured them, _'just someone taking a pot-shot -- they're nowhere near close enough to actually hit us -- so far.'_ The hunters gained steadily, and every once in a while one of them tried a shot.

' _Those blasts are getting closer,'_ Tarun commented as the Brown Dwarf loomed under them. Mervyn could clearly see the surface now; the Dwarf's mantle broiled an angry red with orange flares licking up towards the minuscule sleds. Soon they would be mere specks crossing the vastness of the failed sun's surface.

' _They're just trying to unsettle us,'_ Mervyn said, _'get us to make a mistake. Stay focused, keep the speed steady, and trust Loren's calculations.'_ He wished he felt as confident as he sounded, but in the end what choice did he have? All that lay between them and death was Loren's brilliance.

Another photon blast, the closest so far, shook the sled. Cubby holes and cupboards burst open spewing their contents into the cockpit. Mervyn tried to ignore a pen cart wheeling lazily in front of his nose.

Suddenly, an angry buzzing filled the sled.

' _Help. Mervyn, there's something alive in here,'_ Loren screamed. _'It's in my hair. Get it out. Get it out!'_

He tried to ignore Loren's frantic screams and concentrate on the sled's trajectory: no way could he leave his seat and help her now. _'Keep still, Loren. Calm down -- don't antagonise it.'_

' _What's going on over there,'_ Tarun demanded. _'Are you hit, Mervyn? I repeat, are you hit?'_

' _No, it's your blasted Skitterbug. The blast shook it loose and it's attacking Loren.'_

' _Skitterbug!'_ Loren screeched. _'If we survive this, Tarun, I'm going to kill you.'_ More buzzing greeted her outburst, but it soon died down so she must have sat still. A scratchy sound caught Mervyn's attention and out of the corner of his eye he caught movement on the flight panel. The Skitterbug crawled slowly towards the main controls clicking its way from one pad to the next. Mervyn held his breath and watched it crawl within reach of his hand. Swiftly, he snatched it up, and holding its struggling wings closed, stuffed it into a pocket of his jumpsuit, 'Got it.'

' _It was just a parting shot,'_ Loren said regaining her composure. _'See, the fighters are falling away below us already. A few more seconds and they're committed to their course round the dwarf's equator.'_ She was right, the fighters dipped towards the dwarf's surface as its massive gravity field took hold. They sped up too.

Mervyn felt his gut sink towards his seat. Gravity. _'Hold the speed steady -- don't raise any suspicions.'_

' _On my mark,'_ Loren instructed, _'Three... two... one... dive!'_

Mervyn piled on the power and accelerated towards the broiling mass below. No graceful slide towards the surface for them, instead a roller coaster ride towards hell. He felt the lurch of weightlessness again -- free fall. Their reckless dive took them below their pursuer's horizon, and for a few precious minutes they became invisible to the hunters.

The proximity alarm sounded and amber lights flashed, 'Impact warning: altitude too low...,' Mervyn ignored the computer and race on.

' _Ready for correction?'_ Surprise was everything.

' _Affirmative.'_

' _Yes.'_

' _Three... two... one... execute!'_

Mervyn wrestled the sled out of its dive and hauled it round to the new heading. Gravity reasserted itself with a vengeance slamming him against the back of his seat.

'Red proximity breach imminent. Automated course adjustment standing by,' the sled blared.

' _Whatever you do guys don't go into the red zone. Any course correction could prove fatal,'_ Loren warned. _'Red means dead.'_

Mervyn struggled to reach the controls and hold the sled just above the red zone as gravity accelerating them round the curve of the Dwarf. The new route took them away from the Dwarf's equatorial plane towards its northern most pole. The speed continued to mount as gravity did its job. Then, without warning, the sled lurched alarmingly towards the red zone.

' _Gravity well,'_ Aurora called. It was the first of many.

Mervyn fought to keep the sled out of the red zone. Besides the gravity wells they attracted magnetic flares from the dwarf's surface. These would well up from below and blast them off course. Constant adjustments were needed to keep the sled heading on the right trajectory. Loren's warning kept repeating in Mervyn's head like a death knell, 'Red is dead. Red is dead,' until he was sick of.

When they emerged over the Dwarf's north pole Mervyn heaved a sigh of relief. The fight had exhausted him, but they were safe if somewhat battered and bruised.

' _There they are!'_ Tarun shouted excitedly as the fighters emerged from behind the Brown Dwarf on a trajectory almost at right angles to their own. _'Look, they stayed on the original heading -- they're way off course. It'll take them ages to pull back onto an intercept heading. Bunghoy -- what a team!'_

The friends whooped and shouted their relief at escaping the fighters, except Loren, who sat quietly in thought.

Mervyn knew trouble when he saw it, _'What's the matter, Loren?'_

' _We didn't pick up enough speed. The gravity wells slowed us down. I didn't allow for that. It's going to be touch and go when they catch us up. '_

Tarun, sobered up instantly, _'What can we do about it?'_

' _Nothing. We're committed to our course and they're committed to their course, we'll just have to see who gets there first.'_

' _Look,'_ Aurora cried. _'They are splitting up.'_ Sure enough, as the six fighters turned into a wide arc three pealed off on a different heading. _'Where are they going?'_

' _Oh no,'_ Loren groaned, _'they've sussed where we're headed and they're going to come at us from both sides,'._

' _Is that bad?'_ Mervyn asked.

' _Very bad. If you've got a god you'd better start praying.'_

Mervyn woke with a start and crawled out the cubby-hole that served as a bed to find Loren sitting in a web of tangled cross-crossing the cockpit. She held her head in her hands.

'Where are we?'

Loren stared at the floor, 'We've just crossed the heliosphere into the gravitational pull of the neutron star,' she mumbled.

Mervyn floated across to his seat and, just for the sake, did a back flip on the way. He could hardly believe he had slept, but he did feel refreshed. Vast billowing clouds of orange superheated gas filled the viewscreen; in the centre burned a white-hot neutron star blasting the surrounding gas clouds into ragged streamers -- the remnants of a long forgotten star. Globulous dust clouds, starkly black against the glowing gas, floated across the surface. The scene looked strangely beautify and as always Mervyn was moved by the grandeur of the Galaxy. How could such destructive forces posses such beauty? There was no sign of the heliosphere ,which marked the boundary of the star's gravitational and magnetic influence, but the instruments had detected it.

He glanced back to where Loren still sat dejectedly on the floor, 'What's up?'

Loren lifted her head from her hands -- she looked miserable, 'I doesn't work.'

'You mean linking the sled's controls to our biolinks?'

Loren nodded, 'I've tried everything -- they just won't talk to each other.'

'What's wrong with it?'

'If I knew that, Mervyn, I'd fix it, wouldn't I?' She glared at him as if it was all his fault.

Mervyn shrugged his shoulders, 'It was only a theory -- maybe it's not possible. We'll just have to cope without it.' He was not used to seeing Loren looking despondent.

'There's no reason why it shouldn't work. I've tried everything I can think of. I just wish I knew where I went wrong.' She kicked the nearest bulkhead. 'I hate bioelectrics!'

Mervyn tried to think of something sympathetic to say, but was saved by Aurora's voice echoing in his ear.

' _Mervyn still asleep?'_

' _No, I'm awake. Did you sleep, Aurora?'_

' _Like a baby. Let's hope our friends in the fighters are feeling cramped and weary. I bet they thought their sport would be over by now.'_

Mervyn reached for the viewscreen, _'Where are the fighters?'_

' _Good morning,'_ Tarun chirped, _'the fighters behind us -- the beta group I've called them -- are just about to hit the nebula's shock wave, we passed through it a while ago. They're gaining relentlessly now so let's hope it slows them down a bit and we can lose them in the dust clouds. The others -- the alpha group -- are pulling ahead of us. If they try to turn in and cut us off they will fall behind. The real danger, though, is when they slingshot round the neutron star and come straight at us. And, Loren, I think I've solved the biolink problem.'_

' _Yeh, sure.'_ Loren still sat on the floor among the cables.

' _No, really, listen -- the up-feed from the biolink is responsible for decoding the thoughts from our brains, right?'_

Loren half listened, _'So?'_

' _So we don't need to worry about coding anything from the sled, we just bunch all the controls together and plug them into the up-feed -- it'll think it's another brain and do the unscrambling for us.'_

Mervyn sighed, _'That sounds way too simple, Tarun.'_

' _Simple is beautiful, Merv.'_

' _No. If Loren says it can't be done then we give up and concentrate on surviving.'_

'Actually, Merv...' Loren jumped up and started yanking out wires, 'maybe I am making it too complicated,' more wires were ripped out, 'if I take this and this and this, and put it all in here...' The sled gave a sudden lurch.

Mervyn lifted his hands from the control panel, 'Hey, what did I do?'

' _Tarun, you're a genius,'_ Loren screamed. She jumped around and danced a little jig, _'You've done it -- we're biolinked.'_

' _I am? You are?'_

' _Ok, Tarun, here's what you do... '_

At first he found the biolink made the sled react too quickly -- moving before the thought even formed in his mind. Aurora suggested allowing the sled to prime itself, but wait for an execute order. Mervyn tried it out with small housekeeping commands and found the method worked well. He tried the major systems and soon the sled felt like an extension of his own body.

' _Look, no hands,'_ he said with his arms behind his head, and performed a victory roll, _'This is incredible!'_

' _Yahoo!'_ Aurora crowed. _'I could perform miracles.!'_

'Good, because that's exactly what you will have to do,' Loren muttered. _'Here comes the next gas cloud.'_

There was little to see at close quarters, but as they dived deeper into the gas and its loose density folded behind them the space around took on an eerie red glow. The temperatures of the gas rose around them and the glow changed to orange, and then yellow, and finally a creamy white. The outside hull temperature also rose, partly from the friction of gas particles on the hull and partly by absorbing heat from the surrounding gas. The friction produced another more serious effect: it slowed their headlong charge, only slightly, but enough to make a difference in this dash for life. Ribbons of electrostatic charge marbled the hulls of the sleds with lighting, as if flying in through some strange thunderstorm. The electricity, crackling over the hull, reminding Mervyn there was little between them and the vacuum of space.

' _At least this heat and static will conceal us from the beta group's sensors,'_ Tarun said. _'That last course correction should have confused them, and the next one will throw them right off.'_

But Tarun was wrong. When the sleds burst out into clear space, lit by the harsh white glare of the neutron star, the fighters were still right on their tails, and closer than ever.

' _How do they do that?'_ Tarun asked, _'there's no way they could have seen through that globulus. Are we transmitting or something.'_

' _Quarks, Tarun, you are getting paranoid,'_ Aurora quipped.

' _Well you can hardly blame me in the circumstances -- someone is trying to kill me.'_

' _Hang on, what's that?'_ Loren said. She worked away at her control panel.

' _You are not actually checking, are you, Loren?_ Aurora said scathingly. _'How paranoid can you get?'_

Mervyn's stomach sunk, but not from gravity this time. Whenever they made progress another obstacle always dragged them down again. How long could this streak of bad luck last? _'What have you found, Loren?'_

' _I don't know... it's very weak.... got it! Great Muons! We're transmitting, a super-luminal beacon, and it's coming from inside the sled?'_ Mervyn looked around frantically for anything that could resemble a superluminal transmitter, but everything looked normal.

' _We've got to get rid of it before the next course adjustment. What size is it, Loren?'_

' _I don't know. As long as my forearm and just as thick I suppose -- it's not a small thing -- hard to conceal, probably disguised as something else.'_

The sled dived into the next globulus. The final course correction was due any moment. Hadn't they been inside a globulus when first kidnapped by the Naga? Even before they announced themselves the Naga's pilots knew exactly who they were. How had he tracked them that time? Had their sleds been transmitting since then? If so then someone had tampered with their sleds on Academy One. A half remembered heard conversation in the star dome came back to him.

'The extinguisher!' He snapped himself free and grabbed the canister from its cradle. _'The extinguishers, Loren, -- De Monsero told Hidraba to switch the extinguishers in our sleds. Quick, Aurora, chuck yours out the airlock!'_

' _Extinguishers? De Monsero? What are you on about, Mervyn?'_

Mervyn slammed his fire extinguisher in the airlock and vacated it. The canister spun off into space. Without propulsion it dropped far behind at subluminal speed.

'You're right, Merv,' Tarun said, 'your sled's no longer trans--'

' _Final course correction coming up in three,'_ Loren interrupted, _'Tarun, ditch your extinguisher, now... two...'_

' _I've got it.'_

' _One... '_

' _Canister evacuated.'_

' _Execute!'_

They waited as a pure white light shone through the gloom of the thinning globulus like a lighthouse beam through fog: the neutron star. Ribbons of dust spiralled around them, torn apart by the solar wind streaming from the star. Then they were clear.

' _It worked,'_ Loren shouted. _'The beta fighters are still on our original course.'_

De Monsero would answer for that one, but right now Mervyn had more pressing matters to think about. He looked about for the other fighters, _'Where are the alpha group, Tarun?'_

' _Somewhere round the other side of the nova, you don't need to worry about them yet. The next time you see them though, they'll be coming straight at us.'_

He didn't like the sound of that, but at least they had eluded the beta group for the moment. They entered the gravity well of the neutron star -- he could feel it tugging at his guts. He allowed himself a brief smile -- another small victory, but the biggest test of all was still to come

The piercingly brightness of the star, hauntingly compelling in its purity, filled Mervyn's viewscreen. The star drove everything from it, sweeping away the surrounding gas and dust. Soon even the viewscreen's highest filters could not cope with the intense brightness and he had to switch them off, flying on instrument readings alone. The sensors clearly showed the gamma jets streaming out of the star's poles, gyrating like gigantic lasers attached to a crazed gyroscope. The gamma jets left the star at almost the speed of light, corrugating the fabric of space time into as they went. This was their goal. He swallowed hard, if he mistimed the crossing the jet would be shred them down to their subatomic particles. One moment there; the next wiped out ever. A high risk strategy, but their only chance of survival in this deadly pursuit.

' _Fighters dead ahead,'_ Tarun shouted, as a photon blast exploded ahead. The alpha group were early: three fighters hurtling straight towards them. The lead fighter opened fire again.

' _Stay on course!'_ Mervyn ordered, as photon blasts erupted around the sleds, making them bounce and jerk wildly. He fought the controls.

' _We're hit! We're hit!'_ Tarun screamed.

' _Quiet,'_ Aurora snapped. _'I'm trying to concentrate. We'll deal with it in a moment.'_

' _We've got a fire and no extinguisher.'_

' _Smother it with the fire blanket before it gets any bigger,'_ Aurora ordered.

Normally it would have been madness to attempt to avoid head on photon blasts, but the biolink gave him pinpoint control. He was as one with his sled. The lead fighter shot past and came about for another run. Mervyn dismissed it from his mind -- it would have to catch up again -- the two ahead were far more deadly. He no longer needed to think what he was doing, as soon as he saw the photon blasts the sled adjusted to weave between them.

Without warning a crunching noise filled his ears. He whirled round to investigate, but their sled was intact.

' _It's caving in!'_ Tarun shouted hysterically.

' _Transfer full auxiliary power to hull integrity!'_ Aurora said calmly.

' _The transfer link's out._ '

' _Re-route it.'_

' _No time, we're losing hull integrity.'_

' _Suit up!'_ A lot of scrabbling and bumping followed Aurora's order.

' _Oh quarks,'_ Loren breathed. 'They're putting their spacesuits on.'

' _What's happening over there, guys?'_ Mervyn asked. More crunching sounds, and a scream, which echoed through the biolink  it could only be Aurora.

Mervyn froze as he heard the ominous hiss of escaping air.

******************************

– Chapter 6 –

### A Fond Farewell

' _Aurora? Tarun? What's happening over there?'_ Mervyn shouted into his biolink.

Silence.

The fighters closed fast -- they could smell blood.

' _Tarun, are you there? Aurora, answer me!'_

'Someone's bumping around inside,' Loren said. 'Listen -- they're in trouble, but they're still alive.' The sound of hissing air grew louder.

'I wish I could see what's going on,' said Mervyn. 'Any way we can get over there?' Loren shook her head, _'No.'_

' _Mervyn?....Loren?.... You there?'_ Tarun's breathing sounded laboured.

' _We're here Tarun. What's going on? You don't sound too good,'_ Mervyn said, then kicked himself for not being more tactful.

' _We've got a hull breach. We took a glancing blow from one of those photon blasts. We've suited up.'_

' _What about Aurora?'_ Mervyn asked.

' _Part of panelling caved in on her and cut through her suit.'_

Ice trickled into Mervyn's heart \-- if they lost air pressure now she was as good as dead. He had to ask, but he dreaded the answer, _'How is she now?'_

' _I... I'm not sure... she's out cold. I've slapped a nano-patch onto her suit to seal it and I've re-pressurised it.. She's breathing ok, but her leg is a mess. I've injected gel into her suit to stop the bleeding and put her leg in an inflating splint. I've strapped her into the navigator's seat until I can restore hull integrity.'_

' _Tarun, it's Loren, if you lose air pressure...'_

' _I know.'_

' _Tarun, are your shield deflectors still intact?'_

' _Yes.'_ At least the sled was still protected from radiation and particle impacts, and could still travel at superluminal speeds -- provided the strain didn't tear the hull apart like a cracker.

Mervyn took another look at their position -- Tarun could not afford the time to work on his sled. To save himself, Tarun would have to fly the gamma jet without hull integrity and hope the shield deflectors alone could hold the sled together. It would be the biggest gamble of Tarun's life, and he would risk killing Aurora in the process, but it was the only option. It was a hard choice and Tarun would never make on his own _._

' _Tarun, forget the hull integrity,'_ Mervyn ordered. _'You've got fighters coming straight at you and you're right on top of the neutron star. Either way, you're both dead if you stop to repair the hull. You'll just have to fly the gamma jet as you are and hope for the best.'_

' _Oh, Quarks, I'd forgotten about the gamma jet. I can't do it, Merv, I can't fly that on my own, I'll never make it!'_

The second fighter fired, but at extreme range, and the photon blast erupted harmlessly ahead. Tarun was right: he just did not have Aurora's skill. The odds were against him.

' _You have to,'_ Mervyn said, _'it's your only chance.'_

' _If I lose air pressure I'll kill Aurora.'_

' _I know, but it's your only chance of saving her too.'_ Even with the enhanced performance of the biolink Tarun would never be able to weave his way through the gauntlet of photon blasts, 'Loren, we need to bring our plans forward -- their sled can't survive another hit.'

'You're right,' Loren said. Then over the biolink, _'Ok, guys, new course on the screen -- we're changing our plan. And we're going in three...'_ New trajectories appeared on the screen.

' _I can't do that,'_ Tarun blurted, _'I've got thick gloves on.'_

' _Forget the hand controls, Tarun, use your biolink.'_

' _Oh yeah...'_

' _Just imagine your body doing it -- you're flying along and then you're turning through ninety degrees and then flipping on to your head.'_

' _Oh, is that all -- that's fine then.'_

' _Two...'_

' _Rehearse it in your mind first,'_ Mervyn advised. Tarun obviously did, but he forgot to separate his mind from the biolink, because his sled followed his every thought. Without warning, it rolled on to it's back, righted itself, flipped through ninety degree, and cart wheeled end over end out of control.

' _Wow, help! I'm going to crash.'_

' _One...'_

Mervyn ignored Loren's count and followed Tarun. He flipped his sled effortlessly and roared after his friend, _'Tarun, use the sled's momentum to twist it into a barrel-roll. You must keep your speed up.'_ If he slowed even a fraction he would be a sitting target for the fighters.

' _I can't... I'm pinned into the seat... I can't reach the controls. Go on with out us -- save yourselves!'_

' _Use your biolink, you great muon, and stop the dramatics.'_

' _Oh.'_ Tarun's sled twisted and corkscrewed as it tumbled. Finally it slipped into a controlled barrel-roll as it flew up the neutron star's north face towards the gamma jet. Not the best place to cross, maybe, but it would do. Gently, Tarun slowed the roll until he regained full control.

' _Great stuff these biolinked controls,'_ Tarun said stiffly, _'I could never have stopped that spin otherwise.'_

' _You'd be heading the same way as that fighter then,'_ Loren said. Behind them one of the fighters cart wheeled towards the centre of the neutron star. _'Must have tried to copy us.'_

The worst was yet to come.

The gamma beam swept through a full rotation every four seconds: the difference between life and death.

' _Actually, Merv,'_ Loren said, _'Perhaps we should Suit up too -- just in case.'_ In the last moments of peace Mervyn freed himself from the seat and struggled into his full spacesuit. Five layers of insulation, integral gloves and boots, an air tank on his back, and a helmet which clipped on around his neck. The friends checked the integrity of each others suit before strapping themselves back in. Mervyn tied his helmet within easy reach. The gamma jet accelerated towards them.

' _Power back a little so you've got some reserve energy, Tarun,'_ Mervyn suggested easing up on the throttles. _'You'll have to go first. Let the beam sweep round in front of you, then follow through behind it.'_ It was frustrating not being able to help his friend, all he could do was offer advice.

' _Don't try to time it,'_ Loren suggested. _'Use your judgement and let the biolink control the sled.'_

' _You're accelerating from the neutron star's slingshot so you'll have to take that into account--_ ' Mervyn began.

' _I know! Stop bugging me -- this either works or it doesn't -- it's too late for advice.'_

They watched their viewscreens in silence as the beam of gamma rays swept round towards the lead sled.

' _Hear goes,'_ Tarun said, _'and in case I don't make it I'm proud to have been a Misfit -- best mates... and... and all that.'_ Before Mervyn or Loren could reply the sled shot forward.

' _Tarun, pull up!'_

' _You're too close!'_

The sled carried on.

' _Nooooooo,'_ Mervyn's warning came to late. The pillar of destruction swept down and his friend's sled disappeared.

A lump stuck in Mervyn throat. Tears pricked his eyes. Behind him, he heard Loren swear. But there was little time for grief. Mervyn forced his tears back, he had to concentrate on the job in hand. No doubts. He cleared his mind -- he had to cross on the next sweep if he and Loren were to survive.

The gamma jet swept towards them. He let it pass, then powered towards the centre of the jet at full throttle. The viewscreens went blank as gamma rays overloaded the sensors. He held his breath.

Suddenly, the beam swept round behind then again, and they were through.

He had done it -- he had crossed a gamma jet and lived -- but his friends had not. The lump returned to his throat, and this time he let the tears flow freely. Two of his best friends were gone -- torn apart by the cruelties of the galaxy. What would he say to Lord Tivolli? What would he say to the Patriarch? How could he possibly describe the loss of his friends or what they meant to him?

'Look, there!' Loren shouted as a viewscreen flickered on to reveal a twinkling star-field, and something else.

'They got through, they got through!' It took a moment for Mervyn's numb mind to register what Loren was shouting about. Then relief flooded through him like a gush of water, and he felt happier than he could ever remember. Straight ahead, powering away from the star, was the other sled.

' _Wooo Hooo ! '_ Tarun shouted. _'I made it.'_ A pang of guilt stabbed at Mervyn's heart -- Tarun lived, but what about Aurora?

' _Yeeehaaa!'_ Echoed another voice.

' _Aurora, is that you?'_ Mervyn could barely contain his excitement -- the gamble had paid off.

'Didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did you, Mervyn?'

' _I gave it my best shot. How are you feeling?'_

' _A little woozy, but well enough to take over the driving again. I'm sure my boot is full of blood, but if no one blows me up I reckon I should live.'_

'I though you were a gonna there, Tarun,' Loren said

' _No chance, you said to trust my judgement and my judgement said go, so I went.'_

' _I thought I'd lost you both,'_ Mervyn said and quickly wiped away a tear.

' _Sorry, Mervyn, you've still got to put up with us,'_ Aurora laughed. Despite her prickliness Mervyn had become rather fond of her.

' _There's a fighter crossing the jet,'_ Tarun called, _'Oh, it was there a moment ago, I could have sworn I saw a fighter.'_

' _You did,'_ Loren said. _'It got caught -- blasted to atoms in the blink of an eye. Let's hope the others make the same mistake.'_

' _There's another one,'_ Tarun called, _'ouch -- that could have been us.'_ The gamma jet gobbled another victim.

' _You'd think they would just give up after seeing two of their colleagues fried,'_ Tarun said.

As if in answer, a third sled tried to pull out before crossing the stream, but it was already committed and the manoeuvre ended in a fiery burst of flame from the surface of the neutron star. The remaining sleds turned back. Mervyn watched his viewscreen, anxiously, expecting them to take the long route round the neutron star's equator. Instead, the remaining fighters curved away towards a large object that had suddenly appeared -- the Naga's warship. The chase was over. They were free.

For a moment no one said anything.

' _They've gone_ ,' Tarun whispered. ' _do you think that's it?_ '

' _Don't even think about it,'_ Aurora said, _'They will come after us with the warship.'_

Loren tapped away on her consul, ' _Nope, they're sending out a homing beacon. I reckon that means they're staying put and waiting for the rest of the invasion fleet. Look, they've come to a halt behind that globulus._ ' The pirate ship disappeared behind a dense cloud of gas which reared up like a predator reading for the kill : a deaths-head taking millions of years to deliver its killer blow.

' _You mean we're home and dry?_ ' Tarun asked tentatively.

' _Home and dry, free and easy. We won,'_ Loren replied, _'All we do now is keep on this heading, send a May-Day message when our fuel runs out, and wait for someone to pick us up. I can hardly believe it. Yes, yes, YESSS.'_

' _Woo Hoo!'_ Tarun shrieked, his relief flooding the biolink, _'Bunghoy.'_

Even Aurora let go, _'Yahoo, we did it. We did it, guys, we really did it. Loren, you are a genius.'_

Mervyn said nothing.

' _We all played a part -- we're a team,'_ Loren said modestly.

' _We're the Misfit,'_ Tarun shouted. _'If you don't like the game... '_

' _Change the rules,'_ Aurora and Loren shouted back.

' _What do you think, Merv? Did we do good or what,'_ Loren asked, ' _Merv, what's wrong.'_

Mervyn closed his eyes and took a deep breath, _'We have go to go back.'_

' _No, Mervyn,'_ Aurora said firmly into the silence. _'This nightmare is over. It is finished. Now we go home.'_

' _We have to save Zetalona.'_

' _We will Mervyn. As soon as we are in communication range we will do what Loren said – give a warning and tell them about the threat from the Naga. Until then Zetalona can hide behind its famous planetary defence grid and wait for the Republican navy to come back from where-ever it's playing war games. It's not our responsibility any more, Merv. Let it go.'_

Mervyn would have loved to let is go, but her couldn't. He thought of his mother and sisters in a refugee camp on Zetalona. He though of Starlight and the destruction he had witnessed from afar, friends and neighbours homeless or dead, and the way the Puncheon callously picked off the escape pods. No way was he going to watch another world die -- not when he could maybe stop it.

' _There is no defence grid,'_ he informed the others. ' _When the Naga destroyed Starlight, the Helium-three meant to power the defence grid disappeared as well. They were saving it up for a single shipment with a military escort. My dad told me. Zetalona is defenceless._ ' He took another deep breath. They were not going to like this – he had figured it all out while they were celebrating, all the pieces were in place, to succeed it just needed courage and a good dollop of luck. _'I have a plan.'_

' _Let me guess,'_ Aurora snapped, _'another crazy plan, without an ending, that will get us all killed.'_

' _They're the best,'_ he said lamely.

' _No, Mervyn, they are not. We will make contact, give our warning, and go home. Leave it to the navy!'_

' _We have no loyalty to the Republic,'_ Tarun said quietly, _'we owe them nothing.'_

' _It my Dad's dream,'_ Mervyn said. _'If the whole sector unites under the banner of Al-Zak-Uilin's Republic, then we can stand against the Centaph Swarm. If not, they'll pick us off one by one for sure -- Ethrigia first. And think what we could do, how strong we would be if the Human's joined us. 'Give me a squadron of Humans', Cage said, 'and I'll drive the Centaph out of our sector.' If we desert Zetalona, all is lost.'_

' _That sounds like your dream, Merv, not your dad's.'_

Tarun was right. He hadn't realised until he said it, but the Republic was something he cared about, something he cared about very much; something worth giving his life for. But it wasn't just for him, if was for Valna, for Al-Zak-Uilin, for Rose, for Starlight, but most of all for his family. His father had never imagined a scenario in which Humans might join the Republic, if he had it would have been his dream too.

He tried again, _'My family is there, Tarun. I have to try and save them.'_

' _Mervyn's right,'_ Loren cut in, _'the warning will be too late. The entire fleet is on the border waiting for a Centaph attack -- we are the only hope those people have.'_

'Are you with me Loren?'

She smiled she crooked smile, 'Of course I am, Merv. You didn't need to ask.'

' _What are you two discussing over there?'_ Aurora demanded.

' _I'm with Mervyn,'_ Loren declared. _'We're going back.'_

' _Are you mad?'_

' _I think we should go back too,'_ Tarun said.

' _Not while I'm driving we don't.'_

' _They're our friends, Aurora. They'd do the same for our families?'_ Tarun argued. _'At least listen to the plan.'_

Aurora listened, while Mervyn outlined his plan.

' _How do we get out?'_ she asked. He remained silent; he knew better than to give her false hopes.

' _Oh, Quarks,'_ Aurora sighed. _'If I live to regret this, Mervyn, I will kill you.'_

In silence, both tiny sleds turned and headed for the deaths-head globulus.

******************************

– Chapter 7 –

### Falling Angels

The blinding darkness of the globulus ended abruptly.

Loren screamed, _'Look out,'_ They were right on top of the Naga's warship.

' _We're going to crash,'_ Tarun cried, being brief for once.

' _Dive!'_ Aurora shouted, but Mervyn was already ahead of her. Both sleds skimmed under the stationary warship.

The proximity alarm blared out its warning, 'Target lock! Take immediate avoiding action.'

' _Quarks, they're powering up their guns,'_ Loren said.

' _We're done for,'_ Tarun groaned.

' _Abandon ship!'_ Mervyn instructed. _'Set your pinions to fire on automatic as soon as you are clear.'_

' _No. We need a way back,'_ Tarun shouted, _'only in the most extreme circumstances Cage said.'_

' _This is extreme,'_ Aurora snapped. _'You wanted to do this. Executing now!'_

' _Aurora. No!'_

Mervyn grabbed his helmet, snapped it over his head, and lifted the cover off a red button. He stabbed his finger down hard. The mechanism would have worked just as well if he had applied a light stroke, but his adrenaline fuelled body seemed incapable of delicate actions. His seat embraced him in a vice-like grip; hugging him so tightly he could barely move his eyes. Flames filled the cockpit as the canopy above his head blew apart and his ejector seat ignited. He rocketed clear of the sled. Without propulsion he ripped back through the light barrier and passed under the hull of the warship. The force shield, thrown around him by the ejector seat, sparkled as microscopic dust particles slammed into it -- particles travelling so fast they would have killed him as surely as a speeding meteorite had the shield not protected him. Then his suit's pinion bolt fired.

Nothing in Mervyn's training had prepared him for the sudden deceleration as the pinion attached itself to the warship's hull: the line snapped taught, the ejector seat snatched backwards, and the seat struggled desperately to retain its grip on its precious cargo. The seat restrains began to give. A sudden fear of drifting all alone space filled Mervyn's mind. The immense forces at work on his body were too much and he felt his mind slipping away from him. There was nothing he could do but pray. Vaguely, two explosions registered in his mind before he passed out -- the sleds, he thought.

When Mervyn came round, pain exploded in every muscle of his body as though he had passed through a wringer. The ejector seat was gone. He glanced up quickly, terrified his pinion might have missed. With relief he saw it buried in the hull of the vast ship above, though the movement sent daggers shooting through his head.

The hard white light of the neutron star threw everything into stark relief. In front of him, he could see two pale figures attached by lines. Aurora and Tarun, he guessed. One disentangled itself from its ejector seat, and as he watched, the seat floated slowly away into space. The other was reeling in its umbilical chord towards the warship. Behind him, Mervyn could see Loren already sailing up towards the hull. He realised he should follow their example before someone started shooting at him, or worse: activated the defence shields. To have survived so long only to be locked out would be a disaster.

Gingerly, Mervyn ran through an integrity check of his spacesuit -- no damage, good. 'Thank you,' he breathed to no-one-in-particular, and fumbled for the winch control. Silently, his pinion line reeled him towards the warship. The hull loomed above like a vast grey cloud. He scoured the surface for entry points, but all he could see were smooth hull plates and grab handles. Loren reached the hull first and stated hauling herself towards him.

He waited for her, then they touched helmets to talk, 'Nothing this way, Merv, have you seen anything?'

'Nothing.'

'I guess as we have no biolink the sleds are gone.'

'I saw them explode just before I passed out.' He could see Tarun, or maybe Aurora, waving a gloved arm for them to come over. He guesses it was Aurora because one leg looked much thicker than the other -- the inflated splint, 'I think Aurora's found something. We'd better move before someone turns on the defence shields.'

Mervyn grabbed a handle and released his pinion line -- if he let go now he would drift off into deep space forever. The though made his stomach churn. Making sure at least one hand was clasped around a grab handle at all times, he hauled himself off towards the others. He felt so small against the vastness of space, just a spec on a spec, in never ending blackness. Loren followed. It took an age to crawl along the line of grab handles, but eventually the four friends clustered round a service hatch with their helmets together.

Mervyn glanced at Aurora, she looked deathly pale through her visor, she must have lost more blood then she admitted. Now though was not the time for sympathy, they had more urgent matters to contend with, 'Loren, how do we open this hatch?' This was the first gamble, if Loren's security override had been compromised they were trapped.

'There'll be a manual override under one of these flaps.' She flipped flap. Nothing. Desperately, Mervyn searched for another flap, but Loren had already found it. Mervyn could feel butterflies in his stomach. Loren keyed in a code and a lever popped up. 'I guess that means Squiggles is still good,' she said breathlessly.

Mervyn grabbed the lever, 'Once I pull this, every alarm on the ship will go off. Are we ready?' He glanced at each of his friends is turn. They all gave a thumbs up. 'Go.'

Mervyn popped the hatch and one by one they slid into an airlock. This time, for the comfort of his friends, Mervyn remembered to enter feet first. Loren brought up the rear and locked the hatch behind them. Then they waited for the chamber to pressurise and opened the inner door. Mervyn snapped his helmet off and poked his head into the corridor, 'Someone's going to come and investigate any moment now,' he pointed to an air duct. 'Come on, down the ventilation shaft.' He yanked a strap off his helmet and attacked the bolts on the grating, just as Loren had taught him so long ago. Tarun and Loren followed suit. Aurora just propped herself weakly against the wall -- she was in a bad way. He shoved Aurora in the duct first, determined to travel at the pace of the slowest -- if they were going to get through this they would do it together.

The sound of pursuit echoed in the corridor outside as they rounded the first bend.

'Keep going,' Mervyn whispered, 'follow the wind.' They passed into progressively larger ducts, but crawling through a tunnel in a full spacesuit is far from easy, even without a gashed leg and a splint. Progress slowed to a crawl as Aurora struggled to keep going. They would have to rest soon. She made it to the central service well, then collapsed in a heap by a maintenance hatch. It was far enough.

They stripped off their spacesuits and air packs, and stuffed them in another duct, but not before retrieving all the useful tools. Aurora's leg was a mess. The injected sealing gel, mixed with blood, had coated everything below her waist.

'Sorry guys,' Aurora sighed, 'I've got to rest. What now, Mervyn?'

'Now we contact Guthrik.'

Tarun opened the maintenance hatch, 'I know you've got this figured out, but how do we patch Guthrik's communicator into the ship's transmitter without being spotted?'

'We don't. What we do is re-route their sensor array to send a message, like we did on the Silvin ship. Can you remember how we did that, Loren?'

'Of course -- my finest hour until we biolinked the sleds,' She tapped away on a small panel set into the maintenance hatch. 'Hi, Squiggles. Fancy playing a game? Hey look at that, she's got a level five security clearance.'

'What does that mean?'

'No idea, but it comes with administrative privileges so I should be able to... yes.' Mervyn felt the familiar presence of a biolink.

'They'll overhear us,' Mervyn hissed.

' _No they won't, I've created our own network -- encrypted of course.'_

'You can do that?'

'Squiggles can. They'll never find it.' She tapped away some more, 'Ok, so now Squiggles is showing us in a different location and heading some place else.' She busied herself re-routing bio-circuits to patch the communicator into the ship's sensor array.

While they waited, Tarun scooped away the bloody slime covering Aurora's leg with his hands. He tore strips of insulation material from his spacesuit and used it to bind up the wound. Then he reapplied the splint and inflated it.

Loren tested her system, 'I've bounced a beacon signal back from the relay station so it must be receiving us. What do we say.'

'Here I'll do it,' Mervyn tapped in an address then a message into the communicator while Loren memorised a schematic of the ship. 'Message for Guthrik:. mission failed... pre-emptive action only course left... inserted and attempting your miracle... watch for our signal, then earn your place.' He turned to Aurora, 'You stay here and send this message every...'

Aurora's head lolled. Tarun caught her and shook her awake, 'I'll do it, Merv. Someone needs to stay with Aurora to keep her awake -- if she drops off she might not wake again.'

Aurora struggled to keep her eyes open, 'What happens if Guthrik doesn't come?'

Mervyn shrugged, 'We still stop the Naga, and that's worth doing for it's own sake.' At least their deaths would not be in vain. With that thought in his mind Mervyn turned back to Loren, _'What's our route?'_

Loren pointed to the gaping central well, _'Straight to the bottom of that, then along this passage,'_ she pointed to a schematic of the ship, _'and out this grill. It's a long, long climb, Merv, and we'll have a gale against us all the way.'_

Mervyn stuck his head over the parapet and felt a gale blast his face _'No problem. Follow me.'_ He unzipped his jumpsuit to the waist, climbed onto the parapet wall, and leaped. Spread-eagled, he fell into the roaring torrent of the central well.

For a moment he though he would fall to the bottom, but then the gale tugged at his loose jumpsuit and took hold. A rush of exhilaration caught him by surprise: he was flying. The air column from below buoyed him up -- just like the airstream rider on Revlon. He swallowed hard and looked down. At the foot of the well, so far away he cloud barely make it out, turbine blade rotated forcing the air up the shaft. His whole body followed his head, just like swimming underwater, and he plunged downwards. He swept his arms back to his sides and accelerated; floors shot past, service hatches, lights, airducts; the ladder just a smudge. Every few minutes he spread his arms and legs to slow his descent and wait for Loren to catch up.

At last, he could see the blur of turbine blades below. Almost there. Was it his imagination or was it slowing down? He spread his arms and legs to brake his headlong fall. Nothing happened. He fell faster.

With a sick gut-wrenching feeling he realised the turbine was stopping -- without the air column for support he would fall like a stone.

' _Grab the ladder!'_ he yelled in panic and snatched at the rungs set into the wall. The speed of his fall snatched the first from his grasp. He grabbed frantically at a second rung and held on long enough to smash into the wall. He fell again. A third rung caught him under the chin. He saw stars. But the impact slowed his descent enough to hook an arm over a fourth rung. He jerked to a halt. Dazed, he hung for a moment, then hooked his free arm over another rung, and scrambled to find a foothold. He was safe.

An orange blur shot past: Loren, terror etched into her face. _'Mervyn, help! Squiggles!'_ Her arms and legs wind-milled as she accelerated towards the chopping turbine blades. Mervyn watched helplessly wondering what she meant. Squiggles?

Then he caught on, _'Tarun, log in to Squiggles and speed up the turbine in the central well.'_

' _Just a sec, Merv, Aurora's fainted again.'_

' _Now Tarun. Now! It's the only way to save Loren.'_

' _I'm on it...central well? It must be here somewhere...'_

The turbine continued to slow and Loren continued to fall. Her eyes made contact and she mouthed his name. He tried to swallow, but a great lump stuck in his throat.

' _...got it, Merv... Oh no, that's the lift'_

Loren screamed.

' _Now, Tarun, now!'_

' _It's gone.'_

A thud echoed from the bottom of the well. Mervyn's heart froze and he buried his head in his arms not wanting to look down. The image of a young child, playing in a sandpit, masses of curly red hair falling over her face, sprang into his mind: his earliest memory of Loren. The two of them playing hide-and-seek round the streets of Starlight, learning to play Swot; Loren breaking up a fight among their friends, Loren standing up for the little guy; how proud she was to win the Tivolli prize, trying on their Academy uniforms for the first time. Always the piles of red hair dominating everything -- Loren, ever loyal. Gone.

Mervyn took a deep breath, there was a job to do, even if he did have to complete it alone now -- other lives depended on him. Eventually he plucked up the courage to look -- he still had to climb to the bottom of the well. Other than a red smudge on the wall there was no sign of Loren. Had she fallen right through the slashing blades? Was her shattered body lying somewhere on the other side of the turbine?

Something splattered on his arm: blood.

'Looking for me, Merv?' He turned to see Loren's pale bloodied face, framed by red curls, looking down at him. Blood poured from her crooked nose -- she must have broken it. She was floating on the air stream again, though this time he noted she held tightly to the ladder with a white knuckled hand. 'I taut I was deab for tertain dere,' she wiped the blood away with the back of her hand. _'I was so close to the turbine it threw me into the wall when the vortex started up again,'_ she tried to grin through bloodied lips, but her chima glowed a sickly green. The fall had scared her more than she would admit.

Mervyn laughed, though whether from joy, fear or dumb stupidity he could not tell.. He would have hugged her except she was bobbing around in the torrent of air above him and was clinging to a ladder. What a pair.

' _Didn't see the engine room while you were loafing about down there, did you?'_ He asked with forced casualness.

' _Two floors below. Do you mind if we take the steps the rest of the way?'_

******************************

– Chapter 8 –

### Flight of the Skitterbug

Mervyn led them through the network of air ducts until he found their way blocked by another grill. He kicked at the grill until it shattered. Before him stood the towering fusion reactor which powered the ship at super-luminal speeds. Loren opened another service hatch and logged on. _'Mervyn, there are four bolts. To undo them you turn the wheel on the bolt, wait for the piston to rise, then turn the piston anticlockwise until it clicks. Then wind the piston down again until it locks home. Got it?'_

' _Check. We'll take two each.'_

Mervyn squirmed through the opening in the grill and stood in the engine room.

The towering fusion reactor dominated the room: millions of clear marbles stacked in a hollow cylinder and held together by magnetic forces. A skeleton of lasers flickered at the column of marbles, heating the specks of plasma at the centre of each ball to millions of degrees -- a galaxy of miniature stars in a gigantic jar. Magnetic fields, around and through the centre of the column, simultaneously channelled the heat and the super-luminal particles away from the generator. This fusion engine provided the warship with power and propulsion. Four locking bolts, spaced at equal distances round the generator, held the marble column in place.

' _Come on, Loren, but mind yourself on the edges of that grill.'_

Mervyn whirled at a sound behind him. The main doors snapped opened. To his horror, the Naga stood in the open doorway backed by a squad of puncheon.

'You're good I'll give you that, kiddies, but too obvious? I could have destroyed you in the air ducts, but I need to know who you're working for.'

' _Loren, he's guessed our plan,'_ Mervyn hissed over the bionet _._

' _Hang on. Merv, let's see what a level five security can do.'_ She tapped frantically at the display. The main doors snapped shut again trapping the Puncheon outside, _'Gotcha. Uh oh, someone's trying to override my command.'_

' _You stay here and fight them off while I unlock the bolts.'_ Mervyn sprinted towards the first locking bolt. He almost made it too, but the sight of a blaster levelled at him from the other side of the room brought him skidding to a halt.

'Nowhere to run this time, Runt. Tell me who you're working for and I'll let you go.'

Mervyn doubted the Naga would ever let him go. He backed away slowly, 'Why do you want to kill me?'

'I don't, I just want to know who you are working for -- then you, and your friends, can go safely on your way,' the Naga said reasonably and followed.

'You've been trying to kill me since you first saw me. In fact, you waylaid that Silvin trader just to find me. Why? What's so important that I must die?'

'It's nothing personal, kid, just politics. Anyway, now I have your father I no longer need you.'

Mervyn backed away again; 'You'd already captured my father when you picked us up near Pershwin, yet you still wanted rid of me.'

'How little you understand. There are forces at work in this Galaxy you know nothing of, and they fear you.

'I've not done anything.'

'They fear what you might do in the future.'

'You tell me who these forces are that want me dead, and I'll tell you who I'm working for,' Mervyn lied.

'Just give me the name, Muon, or I'll finish you right now!'

Mervyn bumped up against a control consul -- trapped. Beads of sweat budded on this brow, but he felt strangely calm -- detached from the scene of his imminent death. They had tried, and so nearly succeeded -- if only they'd been a few seconds faster. He glanced down at the console and a single word leaped out from a button beside his hand: gravity. Without stopping to think he punched it.

Instantly he was weightless. So was the Naga. One moment he stood firmly on the deck the next the slightest movement sent him drifting. Surprise flicked across the Naga's giant face, chased away by fury. The Naga fired, and the console beside Mervyn exploded throwing him, the Naga, and the blaster in different directions across the chamber. The Naga flailed wildly after the blaster, desperately trying to control himself in the zero gravity. Mervyn was in his element -- the engine room had become an enormous swat pool. He pirouetted towards the wall, pushed off gently, and sailed behind the reactor, hiding himself from view.

He somersaulted down to the nearest locking bolt and turned the small wheel attached to the side of it. A shining piston rose slowly upwards. When it would rise no more he grabbed it with both hands and turned it. Clockwise or anticlockwise? He tried both until a solid clunk sounded round the chamber. He wound the piston back down until it clicked home. The top of the piston turned red -- unlocked. Without warning, a photon blast scattered a shower of white-hot marbles from the fusion column. They seared across the room like bullets -- something else to avoid. The hole filled instantly as the marble column collapsed to fill the space.

Mervyn's jump took him right to the ceiling from where he could look straight down into the white-hot centre of the reactor. It was so bright he had to shield his eyes from the glare. The Naga had retrieved his blaster, but was still struggling to control his movements in zero-g. He jerked the blaster up for a shot at Mervyn, but the movement threw him backwards into a cartwheel. Mervyn grinned and took the opportunity to sail right over the reactor and unlock a bolt on the opposite side. He was out of sight again before the Naga recovered control.

As he tried to leap to the third bolt, but a photon blast sizzled past his ear. He retreated and tried the remaining bolt. The same happened again -- this time the blast threw him into a back flip. The Naga wedged himself into a cavity where he could cover both the untouched locking bolts. For the moment Mervyn gave up his attempts on the remaining bolts: it was too dangerous. He needed a distraction -- something to occupy the Naga long enough for him to unlock the remaining two bolts. While he was thinking the door jerked open, but slammed shut again almost immediately. How long could Loren hold off the Puncheon?

'Come out, come out wherever you are,' the Naga taunted. 'Do you hear me, Runt, it's only a matter of time before that door gives.' Mervyn ignored the Naga's goading and thought. He searched the engine room for inspiration. Besides the cooling marbles an assortment of other tools hung in the air. He grabbed a passing spanner, but nothing looked as if it would distract for long.

'My Puncheon are eager, Runt -- they'll shoot you down as soon as they see you,' the Naga said reasonably. 'Best you buzz down here and tell me who your sponsor is, and I'll let you live.'

'Your Puncheon? What happened to your humans?' Mervyn had an idea and reached into a pocket.

'Unreliable -- ideas above their station. I'll deal with them when I get back. Now come here!'

Carefully, Mervyn extracted the contents of his pocket. Hardly daring to breathe, he opened his fist, and held the Skitterbug on the palm of his hand like a large jewel. The little mechanical insect looked around as if startled by the light. A superluminal Marble floated past-- now cooled to a dull red. Mervyn closed his fingers on the Skitterbug, took aim, and batted the marble with the spanner. It whizzed towards the chamber wall and rebounded with a thwack towards where he guessed the Naga was hiding. Then he steadied himself, concentrated on controlling every muscle, and gently released the Skitterbug.

' _Loren, whatever you're doing stop it. Stay perfectly still.'_

' _Why?'_

' _Just do as I say.'_

'Blast!,' the Naga's voice sounded from the other side of the generator.

The bug perked up its head, scuttled to the end of Mervyn's hand, and took flight. 'That's it, off you go,' Mervyn thought. It buzzed off round the stardrive untroubled by the lack of gravity.

'Think you're smart, don't you, Bright? Well it'll take more than a hot marble to get you out of this one. What the... Arrgh!' The Skitterbug had found its target. He just hoped it was the right target.

' _Loren, are you ok?'_

' _Yes, but the Naga's gone crazy. What's happening?'_ The door opened a crack then slammed again.

' _I'll explain later. Just keep those Puncheon outside that door.'_

Now he moved. He dived towards the remaining locking stations; turn wheel, raise piston, turn, click, wind it down, snap home. One more lock to tackle. He could hear the Naga screaming somewhere above him. He glanced up. The blaster floated tantalising close to the Naga's grasp, but every time he reached for it the Skitterbug attacked. The more the Naga struggled, the more determined the bug's attack became. Taking care to move slowly, so as not to attract the Skitterbug's attention, Mervyn reached the last locking station -- wheel, piston, turn, click, wind, lock.

'Stardrive unlocked complete. Initiate immediate evacuation,' intoned a mechanical voice, as unconcerned as if announcing the time of day. 'Ten seconds to Stardrive ejection' Mervyn glanced about to get his bearings.

'Nine.' He located the shattered grid behind which Loren still fought to secure the main door, though now a white-hot flame puncture the metal.

'Eight seconds to Stardrive ejection.' He grinned, nothing could beat Loren's computer skills and her level five security, so the Puncheon had resorted to cutting their way in.

'Seven.' Mervyn launched himself towards the grid.

'Six seconds to Stardrive ejection.'

' _Look out, Loren, I'm coming in!_ '

'Stardrive ejection imminent. Blast door unlock in five seconds.' Loren grabbed Mervyn and pulled him through the grid into the air duct.

'Four.'

' _Mervyn, we need to tie these to each other's jumpsuits -- the other end's already secured to the ship.'_ Loren handed him a bunch of fibre optic wires, their ends glowing where she had cut them out.

'Three.'

He grabbed the cables out of Loren's hand and started threading them through one of the grab handles on of her jumpsuit.

' _Brace yourself!'_ He jammed himself against the walls of the air duct and continued threading cables. Something knocked against his head. It was Loren's abandoned multi-tool, several long thin blades projected in different directions. He knocked it away in annoyance and continued tying.

Loren looked past him and screamed. Mervyn spun round and dropped the cables. The Naga's head appeared at the grill, upside-down -- his dangling mane of hair now matted with blood. One eye looked horribly mutilated, the other burned with madness. He held the blaster in one hand and the struggling Skitterbug in the other: the Naga had them cornered.

'Two.'

'Tell me who you're working for, Bright, or your friend dies right now,' he levelled his blaster at Loren's head. She ignored it and finished tying the cables to Mervyn's jumpsuit.

The Naga frowned as Mervyn too ignored him, grabbed the floating cables and continued tying them to Loren's suit: one loop, cross over, another loop, and tuck the end under. He hoped the half-hitch would work -- it was the only knot he knew. The multi-tool bumped against his head again.

'Did you hear me, Bright?'

'One.'

'I heard you, but it's too late.'

'Blast door unlock complete. Stardrive ejection in progress!'

The Naga glanced around, as if hearing the countdown for the first time. The wild look in his eye dissolved into panic. He looked desperately from the blaster to the Skitterbug trying to decide which to drop.

The warship shook as the Stardrive catapulted into space.

The Naga decided which hand to free up and threw the Skitterbug into the air duct. Then he made a wild lunge for the grill. The Skitterbug obeyed its programming and attacked the most frantically moving object: the Naga's hand. Desperately, the Naga threw away the blaster, fended off the Skitterbug, and grabbed the grill.

Anything not fastened down followed the stardrive into the vacuum of space. The main doors chose this moment to cave inwards. The squad of Puncheon flew scrabbling into the chamber and disappeared out the blast doors before they knew what was happening.

Mervyn unfroze as a hurricane of escaping air ripped past threatening to suck him along the duct. He jammed himself even harder against the walls.

' _My multi-tool,'_ Loren yelled and stretched for the tool as it rocketed along the duct in a torrent of escaping air.

' _Loren, no!'_ Too late: Loren lost her grip and followed the multi-tool down the duct like a rifle bullet.

The sudden lack of oxygen cut short the Naga's shrieks as the blades of the multi-tool embedded themselves in his forehead. In shock he let go of the grill, and still fending off the Skitterbug, followed the stardrive through the blast doors.

The breath whooshed from Mervyn's lungs, and he found himself unable to breathe. His eyes felt as if they would explode out of his head and his ears ached beyond bearing -- this is what it's like to suffocate in space.

' _Mervyn!'_ Loren tried frantically to brace herself against the air duct again, but the storm of escaping air was just too strong. She shot to the end of the duct, smashed through the grill, and tumbled into the engine room. A hollow sick feeling grasped Mervyn's stomach as he watched his friend follow the Naga towards the open blast doors -- he wished he'd spent longer learning about knots. The umbilical of bunched optic fibres snapped taut, and Mervyn's half-hitch held. In relief he watched Loren spin like a tethered kite in a hurricane: she was safe. Then, he noticed the cables rubbing madly against the edges of the smashed grill. He watched in horror as one by one they parted.

' _Loren!'_ He screamed wordlessly and launched himself down the duct. He burst through the grill, like a sled blasting into space , and grabbed the slippery cables as the last one separated. While he still had a little slack he looped Loren's umbilical round and round his wrist.

Agony lanced through his shoulder as his own cable snapped taut. He tried to scream, but there was no air left in his lungs. He knew instantly his shoulder had dislocated. He glanced down -- his hand was numb, and turning purple, but the cord had not slipped: he still held the end of Loren's kite string. Pain fizzed into every part of his body: gas escaping from the blood in his arteries as the pressure dropped -- the bends. Soon his blood would boil and he would die.

Still unable to breathe, and in danger of blacking out, he glanced up. In horror he saw the jagged grill now slicing through his own umbilical. Even as he watched the last cable parted.

' _Noooooo.'_ The pain in his shoulder abated as the umbilical yielded. The terror of open space rushed towards them.

'Stardrive ejection complete.' The blast doors ground slowly shut as the friends hurtled towards the sliver of space. Terrified, Mervyn knew the doors were too slow \-- nothing could save them now.

Lights suddenly exploded in Mervyn's mind as unbearable pain erupted in his shoulder again. The whipping umbilical had snagged on the skeleton of lasers -- now devoid of anything to heat. Agony had never been so welcome.

'Blast doors secured. Air pressure equalising. Auxiliary power diverting to life-support.'

A few moments later the ship shook again. The marbles of the stardrive, denied of the cooling effects of the magnetic helix, and able to crowd together at last, turned critical. Mervyn took great gasps of oxygen as the air pressure returned; the pain in his ears subsided, his eye's sunk back into his face, and his blood liquefied again. His throbbing shoulder floated uselessly at his side, but they were alive.

They had worked Guthrik's miracle -- they had crippled a warship. He just hoped the human acted on the signal. He needn't have had any worries on that score because a few moments later the mechanical voice calmly called the warship to battle stations.

' _Poor Skitterbug,'_ Loren panted. _'She deserved better than that.'_

Mervyn struggled to free himself from the optic cables that had saved their lives, _'Come on, we'd better find the others.'_

Suddenly, the sound of clapping, echoing round the chamber, made him freeze. He searched for the source of the applause and jumped in surprise as Lord De Monsero strode towards him.

'Bravo, Master Bright, bravo. Quite the son of your father, aren't you -- he would be proud of you.' Rage clouded Mervyn's mind and despite his useless arm he readied himself to spring at De Monsero. 'Please do not trouble yourself, Master Bright, I am not really here – though I am not far away.' As if to confirm this fact, the image flickered, then solidified again.' Mervyn relaxed, De Monsero was just a hologram. 'In fact,' De Monsero continued, 'there is nothing what-so-ever to connect me to this time, or this place, or this little misadventure.'

'Your misadventure,' Mervyn flung back.

De Monsero grimaced, 'Quite.'

'Except the spybot, of course.'

De Monsero held up an orange canister, 'This spybot?'

'You're bluffing.'

De Monsero frowned in disapproval, 'I do not bluff. That worthless rodent, Valna, was in my pay all along.' He registered the look of shock on Mervyn's face, 'Yes, he betrayed you.'

Mervyn had no stomach for a speech so he interrupted, 'What happens now?'

'The humans and pirates fight for a few hours, then the pirates surrender. Without their energy core they cannot possibly win – a stroke of genius I had not anticipated.'

'And us?'

'You can take your chances waiting for rescue, hopping this rusting battleship does not break up under the human's pounding, or you can steal my personal shuttle in bay six. Your choice.'

Mervyn could not hide his puzzlement, 'You chased us half across the galaxy trying to do us in and now you're just going to let us go? It doesn't make sense.'

De Monsero pulled his face into a grimace which Mervyn suspected was as close to a smile as that face would ever get, 'Right now you are worth more to me alive than dead.'

Loren struggled to her knees, 'It's Rufus, isn't it? You need people to stand up to him and you know we are the only ones who will.'

De Monsero ignored her and continued to address Mervyn, 'if my good-for-nothing son is to grow into the leader Ethrigia needs he must cut himself on some worthy opponents. Your so-called, Misfits, are the stones on which he will grind himself until he becomes the incisive instrument required to save Ethrigia.'

'By allying Ethrigia to the Centaph?' Mervyn scoffed, 'that's not survival, that's a life worse than death. Better to grow the Galactic Alliance until it becomes strong enough to stand up to the Centaph.

'Fool,' De Monsero snapped, 'That will only draw the Centaph's attention towards us all the quicker. Your father suffered the same romantic delusions.'

'That's because he's right,' Mervyn shouted back, losing his temper at last. 'Anyway, I ...no, we – me and the Misfits -- are going to grind your son into star dust so he never becomes Patriarch.'

De Monsero grinned again, 'You do that, Mr Bright, you do that – if you can.' Explosions rocked the battleship and the image of De Monsero looked nervously over its shoulder then disappeared.

Loren struggled to her feet, _'To the shuttle?'_

Mervyn hesitated, unwilling to accept help from De Monsero. There was no way to take De Monsero's shuttle without him knowing. It represented a defeat, an humiliation, but for the sake of his friends did he have a choice? For a moment Mervyn considered giving up the Academy just to spite Lord De Monsero, but only for a moment. He still wanted to become galactic champion and the Academy was the only way to achieve that aim. Now though it wasn't the most important thing. He had responsibilities to his friends, to his team, to the Misfits. Better to swallow his humiliation and let the Misfits fight another day – who else was going to stop De Monsero and save the alliance?

' _To the shuttle,'_ he said helping Loren towards the ventilation shaft.

' _I take it you have a plan,'_ she said.

' _What do you think?'_ and together they grimed like conspirators despite the pain of their wounds.

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– Chapter 9 –

### The New Earth

Mervyn watched a copse of ureg trees shuffling away across the valley, they disliked the noise of the crowd. He could see where they had churned up the ground round the amphitheatre earlier in the day as officials set up the ceremony. The grey dawn had unfolded into a gloriously sunny day -- the vagaries of weather still surprised him. He would have to get used to it: Lord De Monsero's occupation of the mining asteroids meant Pershwin would be his new home. Despite every urging of the Patriarch, Lord De Monsero refused to yield, 'The situation precludes an early return of civilians.' The asteroids were hideously booby-trapped reports said -- especially Starlight -- though Mervyn had seen no sign of this during the rescue mission. He suspected De Monsero just wanted to keep the Helium3 profits for himself.

The Republican President, Al-Zak-Uilin, was presenting to Guthrik, first President of New Earth. He handed over deeds of title for the planet, a membership charter for entry to the Republic, and thanked the Humans for saving Zetalona. All four of his arms appeared full at the same time. Guthrik, resplendent in the uniform of a Republican General, bowed low and received the honours on behalf of the Human race. News of the human homeland had spread like a neutron burst throughout the galaxy -- helped by Guthrik's promise of a plot of land and employment for each newly arrived individual or family. Hundreds of escaped human slaves arrived almost daily. Enterprising Silvins had set up a shuttle service from the spaceports of major planets to carry the influx -- Mervyn could see a group of them clustered on a grassy knoll downwind of the ceremony. Miners -- refugees from the old Mining Federation now worked Pershwin's Helium3 mine on a proper commercial basis. He had no idea there were so many humans in the galaxy -- virtually all third generation or more descendants of those originally snatched from their home planet -- the ever-elusive Earth.

Aurora balanced on tiptoe at Mervyn's side to get a better look at the ceremony, her leg fully healed, 'I can see my Uncle.' She pointed to a flock of platforms hovering above the green rolling grass accommodated the senators and officials from the Republic of Free Nations.

'Hey, is that your Father with the Patriarch, Tarun?' Mervyn asked.

'Yes, he's become an advisor to the Patriarch. De Monsero withdrew his objections after the Patriarch told him about the spybot -- especially the coincidence with the passwords. At least something good has come out of this for Ethrigia.' At the Patriarch's other side stood the ever-present skeletal form of Lord De Monsero, but his acidic opinions were now balanced by the measured wisdom of Lord Tivolli.

Aurora laughed, 'That and Ethrigia becoming a full member of the Republic. De Monsero had to tone down his opposition to avoid any suspicion he might have had a hand in the Naga's plot. All my Uncle and Lord Tivolli had to do whenever De Monsero spoke out against the union was give him a suspicious look and he shut up.'

Loren grinned, 'Your Uncle doesn't have many advantages, Aurora, but he sure knows how to milk the ones that do come his way. At this rate he might even survive the next enclave. We're going to have to watch out for De Monsero though, because he'll be trying even harder to unseat your Uncle.'

Mervyn felt a surge of hatred for his enemy. De Monsero destroyed his home, killed his friends and murdered his neighbours -- sold his home as a reward for an even greater evil, and all to further his own lust for power. Even with the spybot there would have been scant proof of any link between De Monsero, the Naga, and the plot to destroy the Republic. Without it there was none. As Lord Tivolli said when they relayed their story to him, 'No agreements signed, no money changed hands, and there is no record your spybot ever existed. I do not doubt that what you say is true, and I will watch Lord De Monsero's every move with renewed interest, but without proof the Patriarch can do nothing.' Actually, the Patriarch seamed to have achieved rather a lot, which was gratifying.

Mervyn searched the crowd of Academy students for the other object of his hate. Rufus De Monsero, as handsome as his father was skeletal, but alike in character. Mervyn spied him laughing and joking with his cronies. Just at that moment De Monsero glanced up and caught Mervyn watching him. The smile left his face, then, to Mervyn's astonishment, De Monsero acknowledged him with a nod, before turning his back to share a new joke -- no doubt at someone else's expense.

Aurora had seen it too, 'Whatever else may have happened this year, Mervyn, Rufus De Monsero will never underestimate the Misfits again.' They grinned childishly at each other.

'Don't kid yourself that he likes you,' Loren warned, 'if he respects you it just makes him twice as dangerous.'

The last semester of the year had been a good one for the Misfits. Hard work in their syndicate projects and end of semester exams had paid off handsomely -- they would be back next year. Mervyn recalled the fury on Rufus De Monsero's face as Cage awarded the sledding league cup to the Misfits. Beating the Raiders, in new sleds, had been a synch compared with outrunning the Naga. And running the gamma jets of the neutron star made the obstacles Cage gave them to navigate look easy -- even without the advantage of biolinked controls. When Guthrik heard how Loren had doctored their sleds to outwit the Naga he made her repeat the exercise on one of his fighters. Now the entire Republican navy was refitting, and she was earning royalties on the design.

Mervyn felt a tug on his sleeve \-- it was Rose. Since their return to Pershwin, now called New Earth, she had become an honoury Misfit.

'Show me again, Mervyn,' she demanded. Reluctantly, Mervyn produced the key hung round his neck on a chain. Guthrik had given an identical key to each of the Misfits in a private ceremony.

'The Human race is eternally indebted to each of you,' Guthrik had said as he presented each of them with a key to symbolise the freedom of the planet. 'If there is anything you ever need, anything, just let me know.'

Mervyn looked around now at his friends and in the front rows of the audience his family -- all safe and well. He smiled, he had everything he could possibly think of right now, 'Teach the Republic how to fight like humans,' he had replied. Maybe now they would have a chance against the Centaph Swarm when it came their way.

'Better than that,' Guthrik had replied with a smile, 'I am personally taking charge of the Republican Navy. This time next year it will be the most efficient fighting machine in the Galaxy.'

Loren looked bored with the proceedings, 'When do we start the party?'

'Party?'

'The final semester of the year is over, and we beat De Monsero at sledding. That deserves a party.' She offered her team-mates a high-five, 'If you don't like the game...'

'Change the rules,' they said in unison, and for a brief moment all four hands came together above their heads, then they headed off to the tumbledown farmhouse the Brights had adopted as their home on New Earth.

The End

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Thank you for reading Helium3.2, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

This is the end of the adventure for Mervyn and crew, but I hope you will keen to investigate my other books. The first part of 'NINA SWIFT: Gaia's Brood' is now available, here, and subsequent parts can be purchased – to help you on your way, I am offering you an exclusive 50% discount off the purchase price. All you have to do, is subscribe to the mailing list on my blog, which can be accessed via NickTravers.com or by clicking here. I will also send you news of new releases, occasional newsletters, and the latest discount codes as they become available (so don't worry if your previous discount codes have expired – more are on the way). If you are already on the mailing list you will automatically receive discount codes for new releases.

Nick Travers

**NB.** If you provide a book review on a site where this book can be purchased, I will send you an additional bonus code – details of the review page can be left on the subscription form.

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About the Author

Nick Travers wanted to be that mystical figure, an author, from almost the very first book he read. As a child his mind constantly buzzed with characters and adventures, fed by an insatiable appetite for stories. Unfortunately, a childhood tramping the wilds of Dartmoor, the joys of playing jazz trombone, and generally having a blast, left little time for serious writing as he grew up.

Later, an education in science and the demands of holding down a career again pushed writing to one side. Then he hit forty, and realised his imagination had never grown up. Finally, with a second-hand laptop (off e-bay), a fascination with astronomy, and a character named Mervyn Bright lodged firmly in his mind, Nick embarked on the most thrilling adventure of his life: writing a novel – this one.

Nick

www.NickTravers.com

