The view across the coastal plains was something else.
She had been to Ascension before, having previously accompanied her father on
trading runs to the small community of Lan-Tlanto on the far side of the
planet, so was used to seeing the bloated red sun hanging high in the sky.
However, this was the first time she had set eyes upon the Tatrill Sea and the
sight of so much water stretching to the horizon was awe-inspiring.
“Amazing,” murmured a voice behind her. “I’ve never seen
anything like it.”
Ravana smiled. Ostara, a slender Chinese woman just a few
years older than herself, stood nearby, looking at the same view with a
similarly stunned expression. She liked Ostara a lot and had been pleasantly
surprised when she had joined them on this trip. A random selection process had
recently awarded Ostara the dubious position of head of security on the
Dandridge
Cole
and other than an ongoing
investigation into some stolen laboratory equipment, the kidnap of Raja Surya
was her first real test in the role. Quirinus and Fenris, the other half of
their contingent, sat uneasily at the other side of the arrivals lounge under
the watchful eye of a silent security guard.
Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, all four of them
turned and saw two women enter the lounge, one of whom was accompanied by a boy
and two girls of around Ravana’s age. Ravana guessed from her smart attire that
the woman leading the group was in charge. Ostara stepped forward to greet her.
“Ostara Lee,” she said, holding out her hand with a
hesitant yet calm confidence Ravana had not seen in her before. “Head of
security on the
Dandridge Cole
.”
The woman took Ostara’s hand and shook it carefully. As
Quirinus and Fenris came over, the woman’s smile faltered at the sight of the
faded and old-fashioned flight suits the four visitors wore, all of which had a
blank space at the shoulder where a space agency flag was usually displayed.
Her companion and three young followers grinned nervously, perhaps out of
relief that the four strangers from space were undeniably human.
“Administrator Verdandi, at your service,” the woman
replied. She seemed relieved that Ostara at least was a natural speaker of
English and not relying on the often-erratic wristpad translator. “Glad to see
you made it down in one piece.”
“Thank you!” Ostara smiled. “This is Quirinus, pilot of
the
Platypus
,” she said, indicating the
pilot, who nodded. “Ravana, his daughter,” she continued, putting a hand upon
the girl’s shoulder, “and this is Fenris, chief of staff to Maharani Uma.”
“Hello,” chirped Ravana, giving a little wave. Behind
her, Fenris grunted.
“We are honoured,” said Verdandi, eyeing Fenris coolly.
“This is Rosanna Clymene, one of our gifted tutors here at Newbrum, along with
some of her students.”
“Rosanna!” The gleeful murmur came from the pale slim
girl at the tutor’s side. Ravana smiled, recognising her surprise upon
realising that even teachers had first names.
“This is an unexpected pleasure!” exclaimed Miss Clymene,
sounding both apprehensive and genuinely excited. “This is Bellona, Philyra and
Endymion,” she added, introducing each in turn.
“Please, take a seat,” Verdandi said, indicating the
nearby chairs. “I had arranged for us to use the security office, but an
incident with the fire sprinklers has left it full of some wet and very angry
people. However, as you can see we have the lounge to ourselves.”
“Thank you,” said Quirinus. Ravana’s father seemed
pleasantly at ease, unlike Fenris who had taken on the appearance of a wallaby
caught in an oncoming shuttle’s landing lights.
The window next to the seats looked through to the dome’s
hangar and the berthed
Platypus
.
Settling into her seat, Ravana watched as a spaceport technician started
hammering at the jammed undercarriage, trying to free the stuck wheel. Inside
the lounge, the security guard stood quietly by the door to the hangar, his
hand resting upon the grip of his regulation stun gun. As the others took their
seats, Ravana became aware that Bellona was staring at her in a most unsettling
way and self-consciously pulled her hair across to hide her scar.
“We were very surprised to receive your message,”
Verdandi told Ostara, once they were all settled. “We had no idea anyone still
lived on the
Dandridge Cole
, though we
have suspected for a while it was possibly in use by smugglers.”
Quirinus dropped his gaze. “We do need to fly supplies to
the hollow moon from time to time,” he said. “I admit we rarely seek official
clearance for flights to Ascension.”
“A few of my staff did recognise your ship,” Verdandi
remarked. “Though they tell me the illegal spaceport at Lan-Tlanto is your more
usual port of call.”
“Illegal?” Quirinus raised a surprised eyebrow.
“‘Independent’ is a better word.”
“But that’s not why we are here,” interrupted Ostara.
“Indeed,” replied Verdandi. “Your news was disturbing, to
say the least.”
“It is a tricky political situation,” said Fenris,
breaking his silence. “I must ask all of you not to breathe a word of this to
anyone. Should news of the kidnapping reach Yuanshi, it would only add fuel to
the bitter fire of rebellion burning on the moon.”
“Who’s been kidnapped?” asked Philyra, curious.
“Don’t interrupt,” scolded Miss Clymene.
“It was the Raja,” Ravana told Philyra. “I saw it happen.
He’s just a boy.”
“Raja Surya, heir to the old throne of Yuanshi,” Quirinus
added. “He was taken from his home on the
Dandridge Cole
and we think he was brought here to Ascension.”
“We have little evidence to substantiate that,” Verdandi
said cautiously.
“Quirinus and his colleagues tracked an unidentified
spacecraft following a course to Ascension,” Fenris pointed out. “Alas, by the
time we were ready to send a ship in pursuit it was too late.”
“I’m in charge of the investigation,” Ostara told her,
then glared at Fenris, who rolled his eyes in an obvious display of contempt.
“But my experience is limited.”
“So now you have decided to come to the proper
authorities,” remarked Verdandi. “Which, I may say, you should have done long
ago rather than hide away on the fringes. We have had a couple of security
incidents recently,” she confirmed. “A stolen spacecraft, a mysterious explosion
in the Eden Ravines; but I repeat there is precious little to suggest that the
Raja is anywhere on Ascension.”
“The Ravines?” chirped Endymion. “Is this about the
Nellie
Chapman
?”
He gulped. Verdandi was staring at him with a look that
could freeze a supernova.
“Endymion,” said Miss Clymene gently. “Is there something
you’d like to tell us?”
“Didn’t see nothing,” mumbled Endymion, suddenly reticent
to say more.
“That’s a double negative,” Bellona pointed out. “And
therefore not a lie.”
Miss Clymene produced an empty foil-wrapped carton from
her pocket and showed it to Endymion. “And this looks suspiciously like a
zero-gravity food pack from a spacecraft,” she declared. “I found it near your
sleeping bag just before we left the Ravines.”
“A clue!” exclaimed Ostara. She took the empty wrapper
from Miss Clymene and examined it carefully. “See the teeth marks? Maybe some
strange alien creature stole this morsel of food from somewhere then found its
way to your camp, seeking warmth.”
Endymion nodded enthusiastically. “Yes!”
“Or a certain someone was out and about in the jungle
when he shouldn’t have been and took the rations from a possible crime scene,”
suggested Miss Clymene. Bellona and Philyra blushed and shuffled along the seat
away from Endymion, who stared at his shoes. “Someone with the annoying habit
of opening packets with his teeth?”
Ostara considered this. “That is a possibility,” she
admitted.
“We suspect the wreckage in the Eden Ravines is indeed
the
Nellie Chapman
, but that hasn’t as
yet been confirmed,” Verdandi said slowly. “Young man, are you saying you saw
the ship before it was destroyed?”
“We all saw it,” Bellona told her, when it became clear
Endymion had lost his tongue. “We were looking for the meteor the scientists
said had fallen nearby. Endymion was the only one to go inside, though.”
“Thanks,” muttered Endymion.
“So what makes you think this ship was involved in the
kidnap?” asked Ostara.
“The flight computer,” Endymion replied sullenly. “I
checked the coordinates and saw that its last flight was from the
Dandridge
Cole
.”
“Clever boy,” remarked Quirinus.
“Not really,” retorted Verdandi. “The scientist at the
Ravines who found the spacecraft noticed an explosive device attached to the
main console. By the time our bomb disposal expert arrived, there was not a lot
left for her to examine. This young man was lucky not to blast himself into
orbit. Anyone would think he was on egg!” she said, looking at Endymion.
“Egg?” queried Ravana, confused. Ostara shrugged.
“What sort of ship was it?” asked Quirinus.
“Asteroid miner,” replied Endymion. “With an Astromole
digging machine.”
“Astromole!” exclaimed Ravana. “That’s the name I saw on
the side of the machine that took the Raja and the men down into the ground!”
“If the boy’s testimony is to be believed then it seems
the young Raja may be on Ascension after all,” said Verdandi, looking
thoughtful. “I will personally…”
Endymion held up his hand. “Excuse me, Administrator,” he
said. “There’s more.”
Verdandi looked most displeased at being interrupted mid-flow.
“Well?”
“There was another ship,” he said tentatively. “There
were marks on the ground where it had landed next to the mining ship.”
“More witnesses!” Ostara said excitedly. “This Ravines
place is a tourist area, right? The other ship could be a coach party from
Earth, or one of those flying souvenir shops which sell ice-cream, or…”
Quirinus held up his hand to stop her. “Has anyone got a
more sensible theory?”
“The Maharani believes her son has been taken to
Yuanshi,” Fenris declared, glaring at Quirinus. “The symbol left upon the
palace wall was that of the freedom fighters of Lanka. You have to take me to
Epsilon Eridani. We need to continue the search from there!”
Miss Clymene looked at Quirinus. Ravana heard her murmur
something about her and the band being dropped off on Daode along the way.
Quirinus however had other ideas.
“How dare you ask that of me!” he retorted. “Ravana and I
went through hell on that moon. Your crack-pot religion has torn Yuanshi apart.
There is no way I am going to risk my life going back to Epsilon Eridani just
to hunt for some third-rate prince!”
“Father!” exclaimed Ravana. She had never seen her father
so angry.
“Crack-pot religion?” exclaimed Fenris. “You dare to mock
the followers of Taranis?”
“I am not going to Yuanshi,” said Quirinus. “I’ve escaped
your stupid holy war once already and I have no intention of throwing myself
back into that madness again.”
“Madness?” shrieked Fenris. “Stupid holy war?”
“It sounds even more convincing when you say it,”
Quirinus told him.
“So you’re definitely not going to Epsilon Eridani?” Miss
Clymene asked.
Fenris stood up. “I am not taking any more of these
insults!” he declared. Glaring once more at Quirinus, he strode away through
the arrivals lounge and was gone.
Ravana stared after the departing figure in shocked
disbelief. Her gaze met those of Verdandi and Ostara, who both looked equally
stunned.
“Are all you people this highly strung?” Verdandi asked
Ostara.
Ostara shrugged. “I don’t think the Maharani is an easy
woman to work for.”
“He’ll be back,” mused Quirinus. “He’s got no other way
of getting home.”
Chapter Four
The return of the prince
RAJA SURYA gazed through the porthole at the planet
hanging in space before them. The gas giant was truly immense, with bands of
turbulent clouds in various shades of brown from cream to rusty red, dwarfing
the tiny moon that had moved into view to add a sense of perspective. He had
been barely four years old the last time he had gazed upon such a sight with
his own eyes, yet the view was all too familiar and somehow comforting.
The tall man sitting opposite, who like Surya was held
into his seat by a harness to stop him drifting away in the zero gravity, was
captivated too by the view of the distant planet. The man had previously
admitted that his own feelings were born more of relief that the end of what
had been a busy week was near.
“Shennong, the divine farmer,” the man said. “A Chinese
name, but one somehow appropriate. The gardens of Yuanshi and Daode have indeed
proved bountiful to the intrepid adventurers who have made these distant moons
their home.”
Surya stared at him. “Do you always talk like that?”
“Namtar does like his fancy words,” retorted the fat man,
who sat by himself on the other side of the cabin. “He acts all swish but he’s
no better than scum like me.”
“If I am scum, I am merely guilty by association,”
replied Namtar. “It is regrettable that circumstances have forced me to
associate with miscreants of your ilk, my dear Inari. Rest assured that once I
have taken my rightful place in the brave new world we are building on Yuanshi,
standing shoulder to shoulder with my fellow elite, no one will call me scum.”
Inari gave a derisive snort. “You’ll always be scum to
me.”