Deep Space Dead (28 page)

Arianna dashed across the room as the door behind them bulged and dented obscenely as the revenants crashed against it. The doors were strong but without the asteroid shield they would be breached in a matter of seconds. Still, a matter of seconds was all she needed.

The orbiter was before them at last. Still carrying Ambra, Arianna charged over and leapt inside. At that moment there came the tearing of metal as the revenants charged through. Quickly Arianna began smashing buttons on the keypad. In the nick of time the force-fields came on. The revenant’s fists bounced harmlessly against the reinforced titanium of the little craft. Arianna closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no need to hurry anymore. The glass of the pod was made of stronger stuff than that of the rover, being designed for orbit. It would not break so easily. Arianna stared one last time into the eyes of the furious revenant as it vainly pounded upon the orbiter in a bid to devour them. Now Arianna began blindly pressing buttons; she had only the vaguest idea of how the thing was supposed to work. The hatch above them opened. The orbiter rose up through the roof and into the sky beyond.

Arianna saw the revenants climbing over the starship like they were ants, weaving in and out of the smashed in windows and doors, ripping the metalwork from the sides and carrying it off as obscene trophies. She knew that by now there would not be one person left alive inside. Guya had won. He and his humanoids had either killed or enslaved every human on the planet. All those human hopes and dreams she had once dared hold dear now seemed so petty and empty. She looked down at Ambra, who had remained almost silent since the commotion had begun and now the little girl looked up at her with wide and innocent eyes. “Daddy is dead, isn’t he mummy?”

“Yes Ambra,” replied Arianna, her eyes filling with tears. “Yes I’m afraid he is.”

“Will he turn into a monster, mummy? Will he become like them?”

“No,” replied Arianna quickly. “Your daddy was too clever for that. He’s just gone to sleep, that’s all.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Try to forget what you just saw, Ambra,” said Arianna soothingly. “Sweet dreams only. We are going to sleep for a while. Not forever, you understand; just until somebody finds us. And they will find us, Ambra. Somebody will most certainly come.”

Arianna reclined the seats and lay back, taking Ambra in her arms. Her daughter snuggled into her chest. They were in space now.

“Mummy?”

“Yes Ambra?”

“I wish we could stay like this forever.”

Arianna smiled. “Maybe we will, sweetie,” she said gently.

Arianna looked towards the planet Hearthfire, which turned so serenely in its orbit, looked at the pure white clouds, the deep blue oceans and green land streaked with the grey of the mountains, the polar caps to north and south. After witnessing so much death and destruction she would not be sorry if this was the last sight she ever saw. Arianna pressed the button to begin stasis. In a few moments it was as though something had lifted her cares out of the orbiter and evaporated them into the endless nothingness of space. Their sleep would be constant. They would not wake up again until somebody opened up the pod. What she was doing was desperate, but if they were to die here at least it would be on their own terms and with their humanity intact. Maybe a mining ship would pass by. Maybe their distress beacon would be picked up in time. Maybe there was a pocket of survivors down there who would find a way of defeating Guya and his humanoids, taking the Suki II for themselves before coming up to rescue them. Or maybe their sleep would be eternal. With bleary eyes Arianna looked towards the stars that shone so brightly behind her, imagined she could see the star of the Confederation, of her old home so distant and faraway. There was enough fuel powering the thing to keep them alive for a thousand years. Right now they were orbiting a planet in a star system some one thousand three hundred and forty-four light years away from home. Soon the lack of messages home would be noted, soon the Confederation would know that they were missing and they would act accordingly, but would they come looking? Perhaps it would only be another eight years before the search party came, and perhaps too the stasis pod would be found before the rescuers set foot upon that hellish planet of death and met the walking devil that was Guya. It was okay, thought Arianna as she held her daughter close and slowly slipped away into unconsciousness, they would be found if only luck were with them.

If only luck were with them.