Stellar Objects

Chapter 27: Tunnel Time

Shakes landed with a thud in the darkness.

A light flickered on, and then another, and another, revealing an underground cave. The cavity had four tunnels running off it and had just enough room to stand up in. The cave's walls were made of compacted rubbish, and Shakes noticed artifacts from long-ago Earth: a plastic toy airplane, shiny silver dics, and something called a 'bag-for-life.'

"So this is how you guys get around?" asked Andra.

As his eyes adjusted, Shakes spotted they were surrounded by Simmo's gang. Even in the dark, he could see they were filthy and underfed. Their leader, on the other hand, probably ate for all of them.

"This way," said Simmo, "unless you want to be laser fodder."

Laser fodder.

Shakes thought of the war, the Front. He'd seen so many young men and women, no older than him, rounded up and "recruited" into a battle they never returned from. The Raj called them 'brave,' but everyone left behind knew what they really were: fodder.

They ran the length of a long tunnel, and finally emerged in another cave. This one had two other tunnels running off it. Shakes couldn't help but be impressed with the thoroughness of their underground network. It reminded him of the stories his parents used to tell him about old Australia, when the sun and heat drove everybody underground before the water ran out.

In the flickering torchlights, Shakes spotted something shiny on Simmo's wrist: Andra's bracelet.

As they darted along the next tunnel, Shakes clasped his hand around it. "I'd like to acquire that piece of jewelry."

"You have something to trade?" demanded Simmo.

Shakes reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of Martian gold. He'd pinched it on the desert moon, just in case. This seemed like a just case.

Simmo examined the gold piece and nodded. "I hear that in some parts of the galaxy, just owning this could get you killed," he said. "I like how you roll."

He slid off the bracelet and gave it to Shakes. At the same time, knowing the etiquette of a trade, Shakes placed the gold coin in the trash leader's palm. The transaction was complete and they both nodded at each other in the flicker of the torchlights to signal satisfaction.

Another cave, another tunnel.

The subtrashranean network was a confusing labyrinth, but the Heap dwellers seemed to know it instinctively. When they reached the fourth cave, the group stopped.

"If you surface here," Simmo said. "You should be out of range of that laser."

"Thanks Simmo," said Andra. "You didn't have to do this."

"No, I didn't," he said. "And you didn't have to leave the Heap."

"I did," she replied. "I just didn't know it."

She placed her hands together and bowed. Simmo mirrored the gesture.

"Namaste" they said, in unison.

"Simmo," added Andra. "Why don't you guys come with?"

Shakes immediately hated the idea, but couldn't quite figure out why. The Ghandi could use more crew, that was clear, but something told him this ragtag group of rubbish dwellers would only spell trouble. Or was it something else? There was a level of mutual respect between Andra and Simmo that Shakes found unnerving.

"This is our turf," announced Simmo. "We'd be lost among the stars."

"But you don't have to live this way," Andra said. "Think of the young-uns."

It was hard to tell the age of Simmo's gang, but a few of them couldn't be any older than eight or nine. Andra was right, this was no place to grow up.

Simmo straightened himself, his head nearly touching the make-shift ceiling. "That's all I ever do," he said. "On the Heap, I can protect them, keep 'em safe. We're a family here, one I was hoping you'd want to join. But I guess you've got a new family up there in space or somethin'."

"Or somethin'," Andra said, giving Simmo the comms link. "In case you ever change your mind."

"Fair trade," he said with a grin. "Now git outta here before you bring more trouble."

Shakes climbed up what passed for a ladder and emerged into the daylight of the Heap. He poked his head up like a wombat and was happy it wasn't immediately lasered off. "All clear," he called down to Andra.

She followed him up, clutching the crate. Shakes hoisted it up and then reached out his hand, gripping Andra's wrist to pull her topside.

He heard a familiar hum and over their heads the shuttle passed by. It descended in front of them, but never touched down. The shuttle hovered just above the ground. Its aft hatch opened up. Shakes and Andra ran for the opening. She first slid the crate inside then jumped aboard. The shuttle was about waist high above the ground and Shakes leaned the weight of his upper body onto the shuttle's floor and heaved himself aboard.

"You two on?" called Judson's voice over the shuttle's speakers.

"What took you so long?" asked Andra.

"You don't want to know, but thanks to your brother we're pulling you back to the Ghandi."

The hatch closed and the shuttle rose into the air. Out of the window, Andra spotted Kraylx's ship, still on the ground, sitting about a mile away. Its laser cannon was twitching from side to side, searching the landscape for its target.

Andra climbed into the pilot's seat and slapped at the bank of buttons and controls.

"What are you doing?" asked Shakes, nervously.

Judson was clearly wondering the same thing. "Why am I losing remote control again?" he asked.

Andra grinned as she gripped the steering column. "I'm just going to make one little adjustment to that squid's ship."

Shakes climbed into the co-pilot's seat and watched as Andra flew the shuttle a little too low for his liking. She approached Kraylx's ship from the aft and knocked the laser cannon clear off the hull.

"Great shot!" said Shakes.

"That'll let Simmo and his kids come back above ground," she said. "I reckon they'll trade the parts they scavenged for some of that Martian gold."

"You think that's why he wanted to stay?" asked Shakes.

"Nah," said Andra. "Simmo only knows the Heap. He's a big deal down there. Up here, in the galaxy, he'd just be..."

She trailed off, but Shakes knew what she meant.

As the shuttle ascended into the sky, and broke atmosphere into the blackness of space, Shakes felt small and insignificant compared to the multitude of stars spread out before him. But at the same time, he felt comforted that he wasn't alone. He was sitting beside someone he could count on as a friend.

And a friend was probably even more valuable than gold.