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Aboard the Reliance, all had gone quiet, Alice realised that the humming of the hyper drive engine could no longer be heard through the corridors of the vessel, could things be going their way at last. Partridge rushed on to the bridge smiling and resumed his seat.
“Peter has done it, he had managed to turn off the hyper drive engine and stop our mad dash through space.”
The Reliance immediately dropped out of hyperspace just as Colt returned to the bridge to resume his post. However, even before they had time to celebrate this success, their attention was caught by the large yellow and blue planet that had suddenly appeared massively upon the view screen fixed at the front of the bridge.
“Jim, look at the view screen, we have dropped out of hyperspace near to a planet with an atmosphere.” Partridge exclaimed joyfully.
Colt had already seen the planet and he was smiling, for he saw that salvation could indeed be at hand. He did not have a clue as to where they were, for the mad dash across space could have taken them anywhere, but at least they had come out near to a planet.
“Our luck might well be changing Dave, thank god we did not leave hyperspace in the centre of a star, or we would not have even had time to gulp.” Captain James Colt said in a very relieved voice.
“Amen to that Uncle James.” Alice said smiling at her uncle.
“I did not say anything Alice as I did not want to worry you, but I was worried in case we ended up inside a sun or a planet.” Colt confessed.
“That is all right Uncle James; I had sort of guessed that there was a chance of that happening, what with our uncontrolled dash through the galaxy.”
Colt now turned to Partridge. “Dave see if you can get us into a parking orbit about that planet, maybe we can find someone there to help us repair our ship.”
Peter Rawlins chose this second to appear on the bridge at a charge. “Dave, do not engage the sub light engine.” Rawlins now turned to Colt. “Jim, we may have to abandon ship and take whatever chance that planet wants to give us. Who ever it is that does not like you has ensured that you do not return to Earth for a second attempt at delivering the cargo.” Rawlins gasped out.
“What the hell is wrong now Peter?” Colt demanded to know.
“I have just found a device buried within the controls of the sub light engine, I only found it by luck while I was checking a small power drain. It activated when we came out of hyperspace, there is no way that I can deactivate it safely in the time that we have left before that yellow planet pulls us down. Unfortunately if we use the sub light engine before I do deactivate it there is no way of telling just what it will do to the ship.” Rawlins explained grimly.
Even as they all looked at the view screen, the size of the planet increased, and now, they could only see a part of it. They were moving towards it at a speed that meant that Colt had to make an instant decision.
“Ok Peter, thanks for giving us this chance, ok everyone let’s head to the lifeboat.” Colt said.
Partridge hit the automatic distress button and then followed everyone as they rushed from the bridge, and the hoped for safety offered by their lifeboat.
As they prepared to enter the lifeboat, the freighter entered the outermost edge of the planet’s atmosphere, a planet named Remus, and they were all thrown violently against the walls of the freighter as the atmosphere sought to catch their attention. Regaining their equilibrium, they scrambled into the lifeboat and prayed for enough time to launch her. Colt prepared the small craft for departure, his hand moved towards the release button that would send their tiny lifeboat away from their starship and down towards the planet’s surface. From outside of the lifeboat the freighter began to protest against the strain of re-entry.
The angle of re-entry was already proving too much for the freighter and it began to protest, loud tearing noises reached them even inside of the lifeboat and suddenly the lifeboat lurched wildly to one side. Colt hit the button and the small craft lurched violently back in to position, but they were still attached to the freighter, this should not be happening.
“Hang on everybody; this is going to get rough.” Colt called out and then he noticed that Alice was not in her seat yet. “Alice, sit down now, and put your seat belt on.” Colt shouted back to her angrily, but mostly there was the first signs of real worry in his voice. “It should prevent injury, if things do not go too smoothly.” Colt warned her.
Partridge smiled at these words, could things go smoothly now, he wondered as he rose from his seat and assisted Alice. He had been busy readying the craft for the descent, as too had Peter Rawlins, so they had not realised that Alice was not yet buckled in.
The heat inside the small craft began to rise as the atmosphere of the planet began to turn the exterior hull of the freighter red-hot. The bow of the freighter dipped through the sparse clouds of the stratosphere, high above the desert of Remus, and along with the bow of the freighter the exterior of the ship was now in flames. It was a wonder that the freighter had not broken up as the turbulence rapidly increase, the Reliance blazed across the blue sky of Remus, and down into the thicker cloud of the troposphere.
The freighter was totally out of control, and on a heading that would take it right into the side of a dark mountain that blocked its violent course. The noise of an extra loud explosion came crashing through the corridors of the freighter as a massive jolt shot the small lifeboat free, it was falling now, free of the burning wreckage that also fell all around them. Colt engaged the craft’s wings, and thankfully, they were now far enough into the atmosphere of Remus to find some lift. Colt steered the lifeboat away from the flaming wreck that had been his freighter and chose a flat area on the surface of the planet to aim for. Had they looked to one side of their falling craft they would have noticed that their luck was showing no signs of improving, for their descent was watched by an ancient tribe of nomads named the Alemanni, the watchers. Of all the people on Remus, only these people prayed to Quasar, for they had long ago degenerated into a barbaric people, a life that they embraced with their whole being.
The men of the Alemanni people were dark skinned; this was partly due to their nomadic life and partly because they lived mostly outside of their animal skin tents in which they slept. When they were not lazing around the encampment telling tall tales to anyone who would listen, they were riding beneath the hot desert sun, playing or raiding, to them they were much the same thing.
During the day, the tents were mainly used by the women while they went about their many tasks that did not necessitate leaving the shelter of their homes. This was why the women were slightly paler than their menfolk. However, even they had to endure the elements when cooking, gathering roots and herbs, bringing water for the use of their families. The longest period though was during the times that the tribe moved on to fresh pasture required by their large herds of goat-like animals. These animals provided them with almost everything that they required short of their trusty antique weapons, these they traded for, or stole, from those who still remembered how to make them.
**********
Just over one mile away from the area where the lifeboat would land, a lone prospector, Ron Willis, from the far off planet of Earth, was awakened by the sound of the burning freighter as it plunged through the atmosphere of Remus. He sat up to watch as it hurtled towards the side of the mountain upon which he was sitting. Willis did not panic though, for he could see that it would miss him by a good measure.
He had been travelling the deserts of Remus for some time now, always in search of that elusive thing named wealth. All the signs of compassion had been burnt out of him by the hot desert sun that burned the vegetation yellow and made the life of the nomads who dwelt here very hard. He sighed when he saw a lifeboat leave the doomed starship, even he felt something now, when he thought of the reception the survivors could expect from the natives who called this area their home. He recalled an earlier time when he had been taken prisoner by this band of nomadi
c creatures. He would have been sacrificed to their god, and then eaten, except for the fact that they were in a period of fasting. Once a year their religion, such as it was, called for them to fast during the first week of spring. They had therefore left him tied up to await that ordeal. Thankfully, he had managed to escape, but he did not think that he would be allowed to escape again, not if they managed once more to capture him. They would certainly remember him, for he bore the marks of one all ready to be sacrificed, they had dedicated him to their god Quasar by cutting four long wounds into the cheeks of his face. Willis did not want to hang around to see the reception the survivors would get from the Alemanni, for he wanted to reach Tent City before the week was out, that or suffer the pangs of hunger. It was a bit of an exaggeration to call the place a city, for it was made up of tents. They were there because of the oasis that provided water all year round; it was also where the locals held a monthly market. He would trade gold for food, the locals valued gold as they used it to make their jewellery.
It was then that something exploded aboard the freighter and caused it to veer much closer to where Willis was sitting, before he could even think of moving, the doomed freighter struck the black mountain of Quasar. The resulting explosion was all that would be expected, considering the amount of munitions that were packed within her holds. The black pall of smoke and dust mixed with the red-hot flames and rose quickly in to the air, obscuring the early morning sun and temporarily dimming the light. Luckily for Willis he was sitting down for otherwise he would have been knocked off his feet by the powerful tremor that followed the explosion. He sat stunned by the unfolding vision in front of him, and equally stunned by the force of the blast when it reached him. He had been expecting a loud explosion when the starship hit the mountain, but he did not expect such a powerful blast as had occurred.
The Alemanni people too were awed by so powerful an explosion so close to their encampment and the men fell to the ground to pray, lest Quasar decided to punish his people for allowing such an act of blaspheme.
Panicked, the women of the tribe also fell to the ground to wail their sorrows and asked for forgiveness from Quasar, they hoped by doing these things to demonstrate to Quasar their horror for this blasphemous attack upon his holy mountain. The men were no less god-fearing people than their women were, for while they prayed they banged their heads against the ground until they bled. The shaman of the tribe was the first to recover and his eyes fell upon the falling lifeboat.
“Stop your acts of piety my people, we must catch the ones responsible for this terrible act, look they are falling from the sky in the small flying vehicle. We must bring them back to our encampment and sacrifice them to Quasar immediately; only this deed will prevent the wrath of the great one from descending upon us. He will then forgive his people for allowing such a weapon to strike the sacred mountain. Come my people, speed is of the essence.”
The yells of his people testified to the fact that they agreed with him. “The occupants of the wondrous vehicle must be captured and sacrificed; only this will save us from the wrath of our terrible god.” They all intoned as if in prayer to their god.
These words carried up the mountainside to Willis, who was only a few hundred feet above them, but hidden behind a rock. Normally he would not have been this close, however, last night he had finished off his wood alcohol and he had slept late. Late enough not to see the nomads as they moved their encampment nearer to the Black Mountain and set it up at the foot of the narrow track that snaked up the mountainside and passed near to where he sat. That is until the freighter had first appeared on the scene and woken him from his drunken stupor. Maybe, Willis wondered, there was a god looking after him, how wrong he was. His eyes went to the lifeboat that was already landing only one mile away from the Alemanni, who were riding fast towards it in their hurry to catch those responsible for this blasphemous act.
**********
Deep within the mountain, Quasar stirred from a deep and very long sleep, it was the mountain trembling and the sound of the explosion as it echoed down through the rocks that awoke him from his slumbers. However, the sound of the explosion is not all that he heard, he heard the telepathic screams of the Alemanni, they were calling to their god in fear. Quasar smiled, or he would have done had he possessed the necessary facial muscles. He knew that he was about to be reborn into the world of the organics, for whatever had woken him had also opened a portal through which he could listen in to his worshippers. He reached out for them, but he was weak, he would have to bide his time, which as always was on his side.
**********
Their hopes soared as they felt the lifeboat surge forward, then it shot away from the doomed freighter, and only just in time, they now knew that, god willing, they would live to survive another day. Then more bad news came their way.
“I do not believe it!” Colt exclaimed as he checked the computer read out before him.
“The bastards have drained almost everything from the lifeboat, it is only because we ejected so late that we will survive.” Colt said laughing, and then he explained the joke to the others.
“You mean that if we had been able to eject when we first tried Jim, we would not have made it?” Peter Rawlins asked in wonder.
“That is right Peter, something is going our way, and maybe the prayers our little missionary said for us saved out bacon.” Colt replied.
Alice smiled across to him as the reality of the situation hit her and the others; they broke into hysterical laughter, finally Colt tried to quieten them all.
“Ok you guys that is enough. I still have to land this craft. Ok.”
This only triggered off a further bout of laughter, and it was amid this that Colt brought the lifeboat to a rest on the desert sands of Remus.
“All right you clowns, I managed to get a quick fix as we came down, and if I am correct there is a small town of sorts towards the north. It lies on the other side of that black mountain; we can get to it through a valley that splits the range in two.” Colt said smiling at his friends.
“How far away is it Jim?” Partridge asked after composing himself.
“At the speed that we should be able to walk, say a week. No quicker, as Peter and I hardly get any physical exercise and you are certainly not used to so much walking, and I do not suppose that Alice will be that much fitter.” Colt explained.
“Under that sun Uncle James, and across the rugged land that seems to prevail out there, then no.” Alice replied.
“We had better check on the supplies, if there are any.” Peter Rawlins suggested.
They found that their saboteurs had left these alone, thinking that they would not be alive to use them.
“Well we have enough space survival supplies to last us for two weeks at least and enough water for a week.” Colt estimated after had had checked their supplies. He then turned to Alice.
“Do not worry Alice, we will see that you get to that town, of that I promise.” Colt said trying to reassure her, although after surviving the last few hours she was feeling quite upbeat.
As they stepped out from the lifeboat, the heat from the sun hit them, it was hot, Colt realised that they would need plenty of water and something to protect themselves from the suns rays if they were to get to the town. Peter Rawlins, who had just been about to walk out from behind the small craft, looking for some shade, noticed that once again fate was taking a hand against them.
“It looks as if we have company Jim; they are coming from the direction of that black mountain that the Reliance ploughed into. They do not appear to be too friendly so we should all begin worrying about our future again.” Rawlins called back to the others.
Colt and the others hurriedly joined Rawlins to look at the fast approaching riders who were now only half a mile away from them.
“Dave take Alice and hide amongst those rocks over there.” Colt said pointing towards the beginning of a rocky incline some thirty feet beyond the small craft. Alice and Partridge began
to protest but Colt shut them off.
“There are at least one hundred riders coming our way fast, and as Peter said they sure do not look friendly, so will you please take Alice away Dave, and DO IT NOW.” Alice was stunned by this outburst but she and Partridge edged slowly across to the rocks where they were to hide.
“Move it Dave, for god’s sake take her out of harm’s way.” Colt pleaded and now Partridge hurried her into the safety of the rocks and pulled her down and out of sight of the approaching riders.
“Stay hidden until we know if they are friendly or not.” Rawlins called across in a more conciliatory way.
What he did not say, but everyone else thought, was that if they were not friendly then Alice and Dave might live to see another day, if they kept quiet and stayed hidden amongst the rocks. Unfortunately, the one small Phaser in Colt’s hand would not save them, for the natives were all armed with some form of antiquated homemade rifle, the sort that fired bullets. The horse-like creatures looked to have the legs of a camel, the body of a horse and a head drawn by a cartoonist, with long ears and a wide mouth, but they moved across this land at speed.
“Peter cover their tracks while I go and parley with our guests, and you take the Phaser.” Colt ordered throwing the weapon to his friend.
The Alemanni warriors whirled to a stop around the lone earthman who held up his hand in friendship. The natives were not interested in overtures of friendship though; they were here for two things. One was to appease their god and the other was for food. A mounted warrior rode into Colt knocking him to the ground. Almost immediately four of the Alemanni warriors jumped from their animals and hog-tied him before he could get his breath back.
Rawlins had just returned to the rear of the lifeboat when he saw his friend knocked to the ground. Rawlins was not a coward, and as Colt lay stunned, Rawlins charged forward and fired the Phaser pistol, which was set on its widest setting. The energy bolt whistled through the air and took out four of the riders as well as their mounts.