Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) (23 page)

“C’mon, let’s find the crash site,” Jasper said
eagerly, beckoning Miles to follow. The two men made their way through the ruins of the old Talos docks and shuttle bays in search of the new arrival. After a couple of minutes Miles spotted the shuttle he arrived in with Maxen and Landi. Miles’ smiled and ran over to it to get a closer look, desperate to prolong the inevitable as long as he could.

“Hey look Jasper,” he shouted running to the crashed craft
, “this is the shuttle I came in!”

Miles and Jasper looked inside the cabin which was now filled with sand up to about eight inches, the door blasted wide open by Maxen’s arm cannon.

“Can you believe this thing took me all the way from up there,” Miles said pointing to Carthage which hung silently in the clear blue daytime sky.

“Crazy stuff man,” replied Jasper shaking his head
, “c’mon, we’d better find this ship.”

Suddenly Miles heart sunk as he was pulled from his day dreams back to the terrible reality of what was about to be forced upon him.
That shuttle was his connection to Carthage. Proof that he didn’t belong on Gyaros.

They walked another couple
of minutes when they heard a soft banging sound. They looked at each other with a good understanding of what such a banging might be an indication of.

“It’s coming from that direction,” pointed Miles and the two of them set
off at a sprint in the direction of the sound, their revolvers held high. Making their way past several wrecked old shuttles they finally reached the source of the sound. Sure enough there it was, a fresh looking Talos shuttle still smoking from the impact, accompanied by the intermittent pounding of someone striking the craft from inside.

“Howdy!”
shouted Jasper, “we’re here to help, y’all just stay calm and we’ll get you out.”

The banging stopped and Miles raised his weapon, planting his feet firml
y into the dirt below.

“We’ve got food and water, and we will take you to shelter,” continued Jasper, shouting lies through the thick steel hull of the shuttle
as he checked his weapon, “I’m gonna blow torch a hole into the door so y’all stand back now and cover your eyes.”

Jasper winked up at Miles who stood at the door, pistol at the ready.

“You good to go?” Jasper whispered, Miles nodded firmly in acknowledgment. “Alright, let’s do this.”

Jasper started the large industrial blow torch and began cutting a circular opening into the shuttle door. Miles adjusted himself and took a deep breath.

‘This is it, just take the shot and get this fucking thing over with. This is for Hellen, this is for Chet. I can fucking do this!’ He took another deep breath and closed his eyes in order to centre himself as Jasper continued to cut open the hole. Miles opened his eyes and pointed his gun at the door holding it firmly with both hands, he then closed one eye tight to increase his accuracy, the other eye staring down the sights. Jasper had almost completed the circle. Miles cherished his last few seconds as an innocent man, a moral man, and prepared for the first time in his life to murder a human being. No trial, no jury, no justification, just plain murder.

Miles held his breath as Jasper finished welding, the heavy door fell outward with a loud
thud and a huge puff of dust which completely obscured Miles’ field of vision.

‘Shit, I can’t see a thing! What am I supposed to do
?’ Miles thought as he squinted, straining to see past the thick cloud of red sand. Miles stood there, gun raised, shoulders tensed as the cloud began to dissipate. Frantically Miles searched for a target as Jasper crouched beside the open door, his gun held high as he coughed and struggled to see.

And then he
spotted it. A human figure hidden behind the furthest seat on the shuttle. He aimed squarely at the person’s head, took a deep breath and began to slowly squeeze the trigger. The hammer leaned back further and further until suddenly it stopped. Miles’ jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Witnessing Miles’ reaction Jasper spoke.

“What the fuck are you doin’ Miles, take the shot!”
he shouted. Miles simply froze, unable to move, just like before. Jasper jumped to his feet and peered around the open doorway to see what had rattled Miles so badly. As he looked inside he saw only a single passenger. She was huddled behind the last seat at the back, shaking uncontrollably. The young girl looked to be around eight or nine years old. She had dark, almond shaped eyes and jet black hair which was styled into two shoulder length pig tails and a straight fringe that sat just above her terrified eyes. Her tears created little rivers down her soft tan cheeks which were covered with dirt and dust and she sniffed and wiped her little round nose.

“I-I can’t
do it Jasper, look at her for God’s sake!” Miles shouted at Jasper, lowering his weapon and pointing at the little girl.

“Quit your bitchin’ and take the shot Miles, it’s food, it don’t matter what it looks like!” Jasper shouted back angrily.

“Jasper I will kill, I swear I will, I promise you, but I can’t kill her! This girl needs help, she needs…”

“She needs a bullet to
the brain! She’s as good as dead Miles, ain’t no way she’s gonna survive till sundown, now do the bitch a favour and take her out!”

Miles raised his weapon
yet again as his eyes filled with tears. He took aim at the scared little girl’s forehead but his hands shook violently and he aimed his gun away again.

“God damn it, don’t you understand I can’t kill a child Jasper. I couldn’t live with myself!” Miles screamed as tears began to stream down his face.

“Miles you heard what pa said, you ain’t welcome no more if you don’t make the kill, and you ain’t gonna survive one minute in The Dustbowl without us looking out for ya! Hell I might as well shoot you right here and save you the trip back to town, shit, you’d probably make a good steak too seein’ as how well you’ve been eatin’ since ya got here!”

Jasper aimed his revolver
at Miles’ face and cocked his weapon. The little girl wiped the tears from her face as she watched the two men argue. Miles closed his eyes and accepted death. He’d had a good run, he’d lasted longer than most on Gyaros and he’d led a basically good life. His final thoughts were of his family as he calmed his breathing and waited for the shot to end his life.

“Aww fuck it!”
shouted Jasper and Miles opened his eyes in surprise, “I don’t wanna get in any shit from pa for shootin’ you God damn it. I’ll just make the damn kill and pa can deal with you later.” Jasper took his aim off Miles and turned the gun to the little girl who let out a pathetic whimper and closed her eyes tight, covering her face with her hands.

“No!” Miles yelled
, “please, I-I’ll do it. Please just give me one more chance,” Miles begged in a low voice looking like a truly defeated man.

“Fine,” said Jasper with a heavy sigh
, “just hurry the fuck up, I’m hungry.”

Miles
slowly raised his pistol toward the little girl cowering in the corner, her hands now covering her face. Miles shook his head hard and steeled himself for action.

“I’m sorry,” he said under his breath as he once again squeezed the trigger
, “I’m so sorry…Jasper.”

At the last moment Miles turned to his left and trained his sights on Jasper’s forehead
.

“What the fuck are you doin’ Miles?”
he laughed, before turning dead serious when he realised what was going on. Jasper began to raise his gun to fire but Miles shot first. The deafening blast rang out across the shuttle graveyard as the sound bounced off the carcasses of a thousand derelict space craft. Jasper’s lifeless body slumped to the ground creating a small cloud of red dust as silence once again pervaded the scene, save for the odd sniff emanating from inside the Talos shuttle.

Miles stood there unmoving, his gun still aimed where Jasper’s head was only moments ago, his arms rigid. A thousand thoughts flooded his mind.

‘What have I done? I’m a killer. I killed Jasper! What’s going to happen when Gideon finds out? How can I go back to The Dustbowl now? I’m a dead man! What about this girl? I can’t take her with me! With me where? Where can I go? I am so fucked!’ He dropped to the ground and sat in the sand, his energy drained. All of a sudden the little girl stirred, she began sheepishly making her way to the exit of the ship until she was standing at the circular opening still sniffing spasmodically.

“Th-thank you mister,” her soft
, weak voice uttered between irregular breaths. Miles looked up at the young girl and his heart ached at the sight of the helpless child. She wore a red denim overalls-style dress with a small pocket in the front, on the pocket was a yellow embroidered dandelion. Under the dress she wore a light pink t shirt. The little girl looked down at the dead body only a couple of feet away, she shrieked and quickly averted her eyes from the horrible sight. Miles reacted instinctively to this, standing up quickly and leading her away from the scene by her hand. Without thinking he walked her all the way back to the pickup truck and placed her in the passenger’s seat, out of the hot morning sun. He walked around the vehicle and sat in the driver’s seat, placing his head in his hands.

‘Think Miles, damn it!
You’ve really screwed up now, what the hell are you going to do?’ he berated himself.

“Excuse me mister, are you my
papa?” said the girl in a dry, croaky voice. Miles had almost forgotten about his passenger as he desperately attempted to think of a plan of action. What a bizarre questions he thought.

“Me? No of course not, don’t you know who your
papa is?” asked Miles, the girl simply shook her head sorrowfully.

“But you saved me, from that ugly man,
if you’re not my papa then why did you save me?” she asked, her big brown eyes glistening, looking up at Miles searchingly.

“I saved you because…well because you reminded me of someone, because it was the right thing to do,” Miles thought of Chet, and of Maxen’s Jenny, the
idea of killing a child was simply too horrific to bear. It was not something that Miles was capable of, he would have happily died before shooting the young girl and he knew it.

“What happened to your parents? Why were you put in the shuttle?” Miles asked wondering how this girl could possible think that he was her father.

“I don’t remember,” she replied as if straining to recall her parents and the events leading up to her exile.

“Well
, were you a second child? Did you have an older brother or sister?”

“I
-I’m sorry I don’t remember, I don’t…remember,” she looked visibly concerned at her inability to remember such seemingly simple details about her own life.

“Well what’s your name?” Miles asked finally, surely she knows her own name! The young girl closed her eyes tight and clenched her fists
searching her blank mind for this single piece of information. Suddenly her eyes opened.

“Lu…cy. My-my name is Lucy,” she said finally, sounding relieved to at least remember this.

“It’s nice to meet you Lucy,” Miles smiled trying to put on a brave face for the scared child. He put out his hand, “my name is Miles.”

Lucy extended her
s and they shook hands hardily.

“It’s nice to meet you too
mister Miles, but I’m going to call you papa because I feel safe with you,” she smiled back.

‘Oh G
od, as if things weren’t complicated enough, now this girl turns up. I can’t just leave her, and if I bring her back to The Dustbowl I don’t even want to think about what will become of her. I’d better keep her close until I can find some decent people to leave her with.’ Miles placed his hand on her head to comfort her and then using his shirt he dusted her cheeks, removing much of the dirt and dried tears. ‘She must be dehydrated, and starving. How long was she in that boiling shuttle for anyway?!’

“Ok
ay Lucy, we’re going to take a drive and I’m going to do my best to get you somewhere safe alright?” Miles asked with a forced smile.

“Mmm-hmm,” she nodded in an exaggerated fashion
, she then sat back and fastened her seatbelt.

Time was ticking on and the last thing Miles wanted at this stage was for Gideon to drive down to investigate. He knew he had to get back soon in o
rder to avoid arousing suspicion, and to have any chance of getting through the day alive. Hatching a plan Miles told Lucy to wait in the car as he bagged Jasper’s body and placed it in the bed of the pickup with a thud. The rest of the plan would have to be worked out on his way.

“Don’t you worry Lucy, everything is going to be okay,” Miles assured his new acquaintance, though he didn’t quite believe it himself. Lucy smiled up at him and then stared out the window at the barren red landscape
, at her new home. Miles started the engine and turned the truck around. All those driving lessons had come in handy as he began to make his way back to The Dustbowl, to Ransom’s Fresh Meat. A terrible sense of foreboding pervaded the atmosphere as large scavenger birds followed the truck, attracted by the stench of death in the still morning air.