Prologue
Sunlight bathed the wooden floor of the second story, delighting the brown cat which lay sprawled in the middle of the room, basking in the warm light. Curling himself tight in a compact ball of fur, he purred with delight at the perfectly warm and relaxing evening the universe had decided to throw his way.
Now, if only the human children in the floor below would stop with her infernal shrieking…
“Muum! Why can’t we take Fluffy with us? We always take him on holidays!” Kali whined as she dragged her overflowing backpack to the car.
“It’s a special vacation, dad already told you.” Her mother replied, tired. “Grandma’ll come every day to feed him. Now let’s see what you got there.”
Ignoring Kali’s vehement protests about how essential every item in her backpack was, her mother methodically separated the contents in two piles. “This” she said, pointing to the rather large firefighter’s truck, the oversized beach ball, the water gun and the lego figures “cannot go. Sorry, but we have to take only the absolute essential in this vacation. You’ll see all your toys again soon.”
Kali made an exaggerated pout “Worst holidays ever.” she affirmed with certainty.
Her mother shrugged and gently nudged her aboard the car.
Kali sat next to her younger brother and immediately began listing her many grievances with the appalling way in which this holiday was beginning. Her brother agreed enthusiastically, emphasizing the injustice inherent in keeping his holo-specs from him for more than an hour.
As the car drove away they continued to protest at their parents who seemed somewhat absent in mind and wordlessly listened to their kids drone on and one until sleep overtook them.
When Kali woke up again, the landscape outside had changed from the soft green hills that enveloped their town to a sea of rocky outcrops with patches of bushes here and there. The car rattled softly as it hovered through a narrow, unkempt road.
Kali turned to her brother and saw he too was awake and looking through his window with a distrustful look.
“Where are we mum?” He asked sleepily “I don’t like this place. I thought we were going to the beach.”
Their mother turned to look at them for a second before exchanging some whispered words with their father. Sighing she turned backed at them reached to grab a hand from each of them, caressing them soothingly.
“Kids, I’ve gotta tell you something. We’re not going on a vacation-vacation. We’re making a special trip, maybe a long trip. We’re getting out of dear old Earth for a bit.”
Kali gasped with shock “What? Mum! We’ve never even been outside of Asia!”
“I know dear” Her mother said, smiling reassuringly “But we’ve decided-”
Their father mumbled something from the front seat, prompting mother to shoot him a sharp look before continuing.
“We’ve decided to get out for a bit, while things calm down, with the new administration and all.”
Kali didn’t understand, but nodded anyway. She trusted her parents to know what to do. That was what parents were for anyway. That was why they must spend their days talking and reading about such boring things as politics, economy and money and votes.
She turned to her brother to remark on how wonderful and weird it’d be to see Earth from space, but she found herself facing his back, his face glued to the window. “Wowww! Look Kali, spaceports!” He shrieked.
Rohan was obsessed with everything to do with spaceships. How they were built, where they were built, to what end they were built. And he had amassed a vast digital library of engineering plans, brochures and interactive models which he spent hours admiring using his holospecs.
Kali peeked over his shoulder and spotted a number of grey and decaying, old looking buildings, each adorned with a signaling tower flashing a blinding red or blue light.
“Those don’t look like spaceports to me.” Kali said “They look ugly and decrepit.”
“No, you’re brother's right Kali.” Her father’s voice came from the front “This is the Baikonur Cosmodrome Complex, used for more than two centuries before the Atomist bastards closed it.”
“Faolán!” Their mother whispered through clenched teeth.
“What?” He asked, seemingly unbothered by the reprehension “They can’t do anything now. We’re-”
The car’s AI assistant interrupted with a sharp ping. “Attention” The artificial voice said in it’s pleasant baritone “Unrecognized autonomous aerial craft of small proportions is trailing us. Scans suggest it’s military in nature.”
Silence filled the car. Their father cursed under his breath. “What now?” Kali heard him wispher to mother.
Mother didn’t have to think for long. She turned to her children, and motioned for them to draw closer. “Kids, listen carefully. Me and dad are gonna talk to these people and clear any mistakes. You go ahead and secure our places on the spaceship. Take these things.” she handed a backpack to each “And run to the building with the light that alternates between blue and red.”
Kali tried to interject but mother shushed her. “This is very important kids. Just run as fast as you can until you're there, and show these” she took two id-chips from Kali’s backpack “to whoever is guarding the ship and get inside. Don’t worry about us. If we can’t get inside this ship we’ll get on the next one.”
“No mum!” Rohan shouted, reaching for her “We want to go with you!”
“Shush Rohan, you will go with us. It’s just this part of the trip we’ll have to do separated. Then we go together all the way. Promise.” She kissed him on the forehead.
“But..” Kali began.
“No buts, Kali. This is very important. I’m counting on you.” Her mother said severely, squeezing Kali’s hands. “Do this for your brother.”
She looked through the front window and whispered something to their father. The car made a sharp turn to the right.
“Ok kids, we’re going to stop on those bushes and you’ll get out. Then you wait until we’re well on our way and you run. Remember, the building with the light that changes from red to blue. You can do this right?” She smiled at them tenderly.
Both of them nodded. Kali tried to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat.
The car jerked to a stop. Mum opened the door and motioned for them to exit. “Don’t wait for us, we’ll be with you up there! Love you!”
Father ruffled their hair nervously “Love you both a great deal, kids!”
Then the door closed and the car sped off.
“Love you too.” Kali managed to whisper as they stumbled into the bushes.
Kali and Rohan stood on the bushes motionless, shocked, for a minute. Then, wordlessly, they stood up and peered at the horizon. Kali’s throat seemed to tighten as she saw their car grow progressively smaller and more distant.
Rohan sniffed back tears. “I want mum and dad back.” He whispered.
Kali took a deep breath and wiped his face with one determined movement. “They’ll be back. Come, we must find that building.” She took him by the hand and began to walk quickly across the desolate landscape, her head turning left and right in search of the promised building.
It was her brother who saw it first. “There it is!” he shouted, pointing his little finger at a half crumpled building just over the next hill.
“Let’s go!” Kali said, dragging him along as she broke into a run.
As they neared the building, she began to see hints of something metallic showing by it’s sides, something like the side of a
“Spaceship!” Rohan cried in delight.
And in fact, as they jogged round the corner of the building, they found a shiny silverly spaceship shaped like an oval with a series of tubes extending from it’s lower end. And a small queue lining up near the unfolded bridge that extended from it’s circular entrance to the dusty ground.
“There, let’s get in.” Kali said, dragging her dazzled brother in the direction of the queue.
However, before they took a dozen steps, a strong hand grabbed Kali’s backpack, pulling them into an abrupt stop.
They turned to see a tall, shaved young man flashing them an unkind smile. “Hey kids. This is my ship and only those with my authorization get in.” He said in a condescending tone.
“Our parents sent us first, they’re coming right behind us.” Kali said. “We have these.” She handed him the two id-chips. The man laughed and threw the chips into the ground.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” He grimaced “What rubbish is this? Scram kids, I have a ship to run and money to make.”
Kali stared at him wide eyed. She tried to speak but found no words willing to leave her throat. Rohan began to cry quietly. The man turned hisback to them and began to walk in the direction of the ship.
Then she saw an old woman at the front of the queue waving her purse at them. “Those are my grandchildren!” She cried, indignant “I’ll pay for them you blood-sucking parasite!”
The man turned around to them and laughed harshly. “Lucky your granny’s here to rescue you.” He grabbed each by their arms and dragged them to the old woman. “You sure these are yours?” He asked with a snort.
The old woman just handed him a handful of gold jewelry. “Whatever.” He shrugged, climbing aboard the ship.
“Let’s go.” The woman nudged them aboard.
“But we’re not you’re grandchildren!” Kali whispered.
The old woman just smiled sadly at her. The Ship shook and wobbled slightly as it took off.
“Wow, anti-gravity propulsion…” Rohan said, now taking in the sights. “So smooth…”
Kali just looked through a nearby window, seeing the ground rapidly growing farther and farther away, searching for their black car or the silhouettes of her parents.
In vain.
And as the old woman put a comforting hand to her shoulder she understood her mom had lied.
- 2
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