KAIDAN groaned. Everything hurt, and his head was pounding. He tried to lift it, and a wave of nausea struck him and he fell back. The surface he was lying on was hard and unyielding, and his body protested loudly, jammed as it was into a small space. He groaned again, completely disoriented. The hard surface underneath him seemed to be in motion. It escalated his nausea, and he dry retched, which made the headache sharpen almost unbearably. For some time, all he could do was to lie as still as possible, bracing himself on the sides of the space against the lurching and rolling of the floor.
Bit by bit, memory returned, and as he attempted to move his left arm, pain sliced into him again and he remembered what had happened. Cautiously, against the pounding in his head, he opened and closed his hands. They worked, as did his elbows, although he could feel the sting of grazes on his knuckles and his left shoulder seemed to be stuck. The right one moved, but every time he tried to move the left one, the pain returned, and he finally lay still and began to explore his lower limbs. Both legs seemed bruised, and one ankle was uncomfortably swollen, but they were both functional. There were bruises everywhere on his body though, and dried blood seemed to have caked itself down the side of his head. He wondered dazedly if his shoulder was dislocated. It seemed likely, and he had no idea how to fix it if it was.
Slowly the pounding and dizziness subsided and he began to explore the space he was in. It was dark, and the movement seemed to be more rhythmic than it had been. He felt around with his good arm and both feet. There was space above him, but the space around him was barely longer than his body and just wide enough for him to fit into it. As he sat cautiously, his throbbing head brushed something hanging above him. He jerked reflexively back and had to wait for the pain in his head to subside slightly before he ventured upwards again, carefully cradling his injured arm. Whatever it was seemed like some kind of fabric. He felt around, but was none the wiser, and finally propped himself up against the cold metal wall behind him. The coolness was soothing to his bruises, and seemed to give some support to his injured shoulder. In front of him, he could faintly see a small crack of light. He pushed tentatively at it with his feet, but it didn’t budge, and so he pushed harder. Still nothing. His shoulder began to throb in time with the headache, so he rested his head back against the coolness of the metal and tried to calm the thudding so that he could think.
Finally he drifted off again, and when he awoke, the headache had dulled to a background murmur, and he finally had enough brain space to think. He came to the conclusion that he was inside the Garsal vehicle. For some reason he was still alive, and he hated to think what that reason might be. His time tutoring Anjo had given him more knowledge about the Garsal than most, and Anjo had talked about his time as a slave quite frankly. He tried to still a shudder of fear, and put his mind to trying to escape. The first step would be to escape this box, which on reflection was likely to be some kind of cupboard.
He sat quietly, thinking. Until he had some idea of what the vehicle was like, or how he might get out, or even where he was, there was no point planning anything. All he knew was that if an opportunity presented itself, he needed to take it. Although with a dislocated shoulder he wasn’t certain he’d be able to escape, or in fact do anything at all – every time he tried to move, he was almost incapacitated by the pain.
It seemed like hours he’d sat there before the vehicle finally stopped moving. For a while he just sat, panting, trying to gather enough will to stand. He was just gathering the scattered threads of his courage when there was a small noise from the crack and it widened abruptly, silhouetting a dark Garsal form against the light. The creature gestured, and barked a command which was recognisable, though strongly accented. Kaidan stayed where he was, fearful of what might happen next, and terrified of what the creatures might do to him.
Without warning, the creature stepped forwards, grabbed Kaidan by the left arm and dragged him out of the box. The pain was sickening, and Kaidan nearly passed out. A sudden crunching sensation sent the pain skyrocketing, and then his shoulder popped back in, and he dropped face down onto the floor with a scream. He gasped with relief, but it was short lived, as a booted Garsal foot slammed into his side, igniting the bruises and rolling him onto his back.
“Up!”
Kaidan coughed and pushed himself half upright with his right hand, unwilling to trust the still faintly throbbing left arm and eased himself to his knees.
“Up!” The foot prodded him again, and with a groan, Kaidan pushed himself to his feet, desperately trying to balance against the spinning in his head. “What do you want with me?”
“You will answer all questions immediately, and do precisely as you are told.”
“Where are you taking me?”
The Garsal soldier spun Kaidan about and shoved him towards a narrow doorway. The touch of the chill chitin of the creature’s appendage sent goosebumps drifting across Kaidan’s skin, but he judged that resisting while inside the vehicle was futile. He just had to hope that somehow the situation would change and he would be able to escape. As he limped through the door, and saw the windows he realised that it was already night, and that the illumination was completely artificial. Two other Garsal reclined in the seating around what appeared to be a small living area flanked by covered pods. He wondered if that was what the Garsal slept in. He couldn’t imagine what else they were for. He staggered to a halt as one of the creatures lifted an appendage.
Its faceted eyes were inscrutable as it looked Kaidan up and down. He tried not to tremble, or faint from the pain in his head. He felt dizzy, and very tired. “You are fortunate. The Overlord wishes a specimen for examination, so you will be fed and watered.” He motioned to his companion. The other Garsal produced a pair of orange bands, and with a quick movement locked them around Kaidan’s ankles. The boy’s heart sank – he remembered what Anjo had said about the bands. He knew how his sister and Allad had removed them, but he’d never seen a flotter, and he had no idea if he was on the plateau or Below. “These will allow us to locate you, no matter where you are, so any attempt to run will result only in your apprehension.” The Garsal motioned to a bowl of something mushy. “You will eat now. We will resume travelling in the morning. You will attend me as we travel and indicate dangerous plants and animals.”
Kaidan took the bowl. Whatever the food was, it had minimal taste, but it was food and he needed to make sure he was prepared for any eventuality should the opportunity arise. His stomach was still unsettled, but he forced himself to begin to eat, scooping it out of the bowl with his fingertips. He was kept standing to eat, and when he’d finished, he was shoved back into the dark closet. Alone and frightened, he lay on his back in the dark, cradling his arm, hoping against hope that Anjo and Ember had survived, and someone knew that the Garsal had taken him.
If no-one knew he’d been taken, then there would be no rescue, and he would most likely live a slave of the Garsal until he died. Exhausted, his head and shoulder throbbing, he finally admitted to himself that the dampness on his cheeks was tears, and not perspiration. It was a long time until he finally slept.
***
Hoth lounged in his command chair and completed his meal. The living quarters of the climber were quite cramped, and he enjoyed the solitude of the command area when he was on his watch. He pondered on the human they’d taken. He was very young, as far as Hoth could tell. Nearly all humans looked the same to him. There were minor differences in skin and eye colour, but they all had the same appendage arrangements, and the strangeness of a creature with only four limbs had never left him.
He tapped the screen in front of him, replaying the image of the Starlyne. Their old Enemy was legendary, not only because of their size, but because of their tenacity. Only the Garsal’s overwhelming numbers had allowed them to prevail. The sight of the glowing creature unsettled him, but he tapped again, and began to compose an update on the human captive for the Overlord.
***
Anjo woke with Ember draped across him. The black cat’s red tidemarks were still dimmed with sleep, but he opened one eye a crack to observe his partner. Seeing Anjo awake Ember rolled slightly so that his front paws were waving kitten-like in the air, and his belly was exposed. Anjo extended a hand and rubbed his cat’s belly, and Ember’s purr rumbled through his body.
He wriggled slightly to move out from under the cat, and realised that his leg was no longer screaming at him. “Move over Ember.” He pushed the starcat gently, and Ember rolled over slightly so that Anjo could move. He looked around at the smooth walls of a Starlyne habitat curving next to him, and he remembered. Remembered that Kaidan had been taken by the Garsal. Remembered that he’d have to explain it to Janna and Adlan. And hoped desperately that Kaidan was still alive. His last memory was of falling over the habitation’s threshold, utterly spent, unable to do more than blurt out the sentences he’d memorised as he and Ember had made their slow, painful way from the ambush site.
Hastily he rolled back to his starcat and looked him over. The swelling and lacerations were gone from the sleek hide, but one ear tip was missing still, although the skin looked well healed. Relieved, he checked his own leg. It was covered in some kind of spongy dressing, but all of his other injuries appeared to have healed. The noise of his stirring must have alerted someone, because the door opened and a Starlyne glided in, accompanied, to his horror, by Kaidan’s parents. Their cats followed them in, and then they were at his bedside, and all he could do was stammer. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop them!” Tears of shame slid down his cheeks, as he struggled to a sitting position, and he dropped his face into his hands.
An arm slid its way around his shoulders, and to his surprise, Janna’s voice came, rough with emotion. “We know you did everything you could, Anjo. Singer here has told us of your injuries, and that you arrived after travelling by yourself at night, worried only about Kaidan.” Her voice broke, and Anjo looked up to see her red-rimmed eyes mirroring his own grief. “Master Cerren broke the news to us himself. A Scout Patrol has found the ambush site, and are following the tracks of the vehicle, but it looks as if it may have already left the plateau.” Adlan put an arm around his wife’s shoulders as she dissolved into tears again.
“Will they follow them?” Anjo asked.
“We don’t know,” Adlan replied. “We would go, we have starcats aplenty, but we’ve never been Below, and we don’t have the skills to survive there. The Scout Corps is stretched very thin already ...” He broke off abruptly, and sat heavily in a chair to Anjo’s left, pulling Janna down with him. “We hope that Shanna’s group might be sent after them if they can locate them, but,” he shook his head slowly, “at this stage we don’t even know where to begin looking.”
“Yes we do!” replied Janna. “They’ll be taking him to theirship – nothing else makes sense.”
“It does seem most likely, but we can’t send the whole of our planet’s defences after just one person,” said Adlan patiently. He didn’t look happy, Anjo thought, just resigned and exhausted. “We’ve talked about this, Janna. You understand Master Cerren’s reasoning.”
“I understand his reasoning, but it isn’t his son!” replied Janna hotly. “If I could, I’d be off Below with every cat we own, hunting them down!”
“And I’d be with you, but the fact is, we can’t.”
“Surely someone will go after them?” asked Anjo.
“Anjo, we’re at the limit of our resources already, just trying to protect the plateau,” replied Adlan. His eyes were desolate, and he had the look of a man who’d already argued the point with himself. “Kaidan’s our son, and we love him desperately, but we can’t risk the lives of everyone else by chasing after him.” Adlan’s voice trembled on the last word, and Anjo’s heart almost broke. He didn’t think he could have coped, had he been the one sacrificing his own child for the greater good.
“I could go,” he said, steeling himself. “I’ve been Below.”
Adlan placed a hand on Anjo’s shoulder, eyes glittering with unshed tears, and shook his head. “And you’re not equipped to survive Below either, although I thank you for the offer.”
The Starlyne, Singer, silent up until then, glided closer. “Our fellows Below are on watch for the Garsal. They will tell us if they locate the vehicle. For now, I must remove the dressing on your leg, and then you are to leave with Adlan and Janna. There is a horgal cart outside to take you.” Singer removed the dressing with delicate hands, and despite his surprise at the Starlyne’s last statement, Anjo leaned forwards with some trepidation to look at his leg.
Where the blackened skin had been, was now a red and shiny scar. He moved his ankle experimentally. It felt tight and the skin pulled firmly against the movement.
“You will need to stretch the new skin and exercise the ankle before you are able to return to your duties,” Singer said. “Adlan and Janna have offered their house to you for this time.”
Anjo looked silently at Kaidan’s parents, overcome with gratitude, and astounded at their generosity. Janna spoke slowly. “You’re Kaidan’s friend. He would not have wished for you to be alone, among strangers, at a time like this.”
“Thank you.” The words were almost impossible to articulate.
“Then we’ll be on our way,” said Adlan. “You’ll keep us informed, Singer?” His voice was an entreaty full of emotion.
“We will.”
***
Kaidan groaned as he rolled over on the hard flooring beneath him. His bruises seemed no better, and his shoulder continued to throb, despite its relocation. He’d tried moving it gently, and it was stiff and very painful. He’d finally learned to wedge himself into a corner of the closet when the vehicle was under way. It was much less painful like that. He thought it was probably now three or four days since his capture. He was allowed to stand and move out of the closet several times a day, for eating, and using the in vehicle waste facilities. Each time, he’d been closely guarded. He’d attempted to look around to try and gauge whether there was an easy escape route, but his captors insisted that he keep his eyes down. Several heavy blows had reinforced the lesson. He pulled and rubbed at the bands on his ankles, and searched his pockets once again for anything he might be able to use to cut them away. But the Garsal had removed everything; his knife, compass, map, and the other tools he carried – leaving him nothing.
He lay on his back, wondering how Anjo was, how his parents were, and how Shanna was. By now, his parents would know that something had happened. He and Anjo were well overdue. Surely someone would have investigated. The vehicle must have left tracks behind it. He’d wondered how the Garsal had scaled the plateau until the previous day.
Halfway through the day, the vehicle had halted its motion for a brief period. There had been a series of clunks, and the sounds of machinery adjusting itself, then it had lurched back into motion. This time the vehicle had tilted upwards and then vertically, and Kaidan had been hard pressed in the darkness of the closet to orient himself. He’d finally had to wedge himself between the narrow sides, only to have to reorganise himself a short time later when the orientation changed drastically again. The vehicle was a climber, which explained its odd configuration.
The time locked away in the dark had worn thin very quickly, and the hours of travel without being able to see what was happening, became boring in a terrifying kind of way. Kaidan fluctuated between fear, boredom and despair. He had no idea where he was, and no idea what would happen to him when he arrived at the ship. All he knew was that he hurt, and that he was more alone than he’d ever been in his life. He wriggled again, closed his eyes, and tried to imagine that he was somewhere else. It was very difficult, because every time he managed to create the requisite mental image, the vehicle would lurch and he’d lose the picture. Eventually, he settled on attempting to calculate how far he thought they’d travelled based on the glimpses he’d had through the windows on his brief forays with the guards.
For hour after hour, Kaidan lay there, bracing himself against the motion of the climber, wincing as his bruises contacted the hard surfaces, and trying to cushion his aching shoulder. Finally the vehicle stopped moving and he could hear a flurry of the harsh sounds of the Garsal communicating in their own language. He strained his ears, but it remained gibberish to him.
There were hurried footsteps outside the box, then as the door opened a Garsal trooper yanked him out. He stumbled slightly as he was shoved towards the living area. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light.
“What do you know of the Starlyne?” The question came without warning, and Kaidan didn’t know what to say. “What do you know of the Starlyne?” The question was rapped out again, and Kaidan stood dumbstruck, as he struggled to decide what to say, or whether to say anything at all.
Something heavy struck him in the back and he toppled to the ground, frantically trying to protect his injured shoulder. “What do you know of the Starlyne?”
“Nothing!” He made a snap decision to deny any knowledge.
“Tell me everything you know of the Starlyne!” The phrase was emphasised with a kick, and Kaidan felt the air explode from his lungs. He spent the next few moments struggling for breath. The question was repeated, time after time, after time. Each time it was punctuated with a blow or a kick, and Kaidan was soon sobbing with pain. His nose was bleeding heavily, and he was curled around his shoulder, trying to make sure none of the blows landed on it and dislocated it again. Each time another blow landed, he gritted his teeth and refused to speak.
Finally, the blows and the questions stopped. Kaidan lay sobbing on the floor, faintly aware of the throbbing roars of some of Frontier’s nastier predators reverberating through the thick steel of the vehicle’s walls. There were several spates of Garsal conversation, and then one of the troopers hauled him to his feet. “You will tell us – eventually.” The senior trooper flicked an appendage and Kaidan was dragged away and thrown roughly into his closet.
He ached, badly, and rolled slowly onto his uninjured side, shivering and shaking. His stomach rumbled, and he resigned himself to a long night of pain and hunger.