The Betwixt Book One (15 page)

Seven days, three hours, and fifteen minutes? I had forgotten
just how long and boring space travel was, being on the station.
But that was the thing about space – it was big. And Crag was only
several systems away – practically next door when it came to the
galaxy. Still, what was I going to do for all that time? Drive
myself crazy worrying about what would happen next, most likely,
that and spend far too much time going over my last moments with
Jason – over and over and over again.

‘
I suggest you spend this time in reflection, ‘Od continued,
hands still held so primly, ‘for your coming quest. Though I am by
no means an expert in this, I feel at a time like this a warrior,
such as yourself, should imagine the qualities that will help her
to succeed—’

‘
You want me to pool together all my resources and make an
action plan, right?’ I cut in.

‘
Something like that—’

‘
Well that's simple – I don't have any resources, and I don't
have a plan.’

‘
Well then,’ Od got up to pace the tiny, windowless room, ‘you
have seven days, three hours, and fourteen minutes to come up with
such things.’

It took us exactly seven days, three hours, and six minutes to
reach the Crag home world. From there we took a chartered cruiser
to our moon. The whole time was . . . unforgettable.
Going from working in a diner on a fairly tame space station, to
the Crag home world, was about as big a jump as leaping across the
Atlantic. I had been jostled so many times my arms were just
massive bruises. Not to mention I hadn't really eaten anything in a
week – I didn't fancy rotting fish or steaks of meat as big as my
own leg.

Life on the freighter had been torture – boring,
claustrophobic torture. Od had spent long hours discussing god
knows what with Crag'tal. So I had simply stayed to my ‘quarters’,
far too afraid to venture out into the rest of the ship. I was
starting to reaffirm my stereotype of Crags as rude, aggressive,
and willing to pick a fight with anything technically classed as
life. I had been growled at so many times the first day I had
ventured out, that I'd almost burst into tears. Twixts were one
thing – I was built to manage those. But Crags were another, and
the safest way for me to get through this alive, I had discovered,
was to hide in my service closet and hug Hipop.

But the Crag home world hadn't afforded me a nice, safe
service cupboard to hide in, and our transit there had been
hellish. I had felt so small, so easily squashed, when we had
landed at the main city's planet dock. The looks, the shoves, the
growls – I could see why Od and I looked like the only aliens to
have bothered to come here.

My little trip to the Crag moon had thus hammered home just
how much of a galactic innocent I really was. Seriously, I had
almost fallen apart visiting one alien home world (even if it had
been the Crag home world), who the hell would pick me to save the
galaxy? The Milky Way needed someone like Jason Cole to fend off
the Twixts – someone who could hold their head up high no matter
who they had to face off. Instead, everyone would have to rely on
me – the girl who got a nosebleed just by looking at a bull Crag
soldier in full riot gear (he had belonged more in a nightmare than
in the food court of the planet dock).

In my more lucid moments, I wondered whether Od and Crag'tal
had realized how thoroughly overcome I was by the whole thing. The
constant wringing of my hands and quiet mumbles must have given it
away. But they didn't accuse me of going crazy or even bother to
tell me to 'calm down'. No, Crag'tal just stuck with us, fulfilling
his bodyguard functions like a whole army rolled into one. And Od
just continued to be odd.

By the time we arrived on the moon, I was exhausted. I needed
a holiday, and quick, if I was to be expected to see this thing
through to the end. But I didn't see a day off anywhere in my
future. And to top things off, I had to leave Hipop in dock until
we returned from our ‘adventure’.

Crag'tal was right about one thing, though, I realized as we
walked from the moon dock, hardly anyone visited this place. It was
low atmosphere and you had to wear class one space suits outside
buildings, but apart from that, it was perfectly pleasant. There
was a basic level of plant life (not too much considering the low
level of atmosphere), but enough that it wasn't a bowl of brown
dust like the Earth's own moon.

It was strange, but out here it felt like I could be anywhere
in the galaxy – there was hardly a Crag insight. Even in the sparse
buildings of the space dock, there wasn't the press of the giant
lizards that there had been on the home world. And with more space,
apparently, Crags became more civil. There were less shoves,
rumbles, and warning growls all round.

But we hadn't stayed in the buildings long. ‘We do not have
the time to wait,’ Od had reminded us as soon as our feet had
reached dry dock, ‘we must leave for the outside at
once.’

We had just been traveling continuously for the past twelve
hours – and the little guy wanted to get right to it like a
sadistic boy scout. I just wanted a shower and lie down somewhere I
could pretend I wasn't the only half human in a system full of
lizard warriors that wanted to squash me flat.

But I hadn't had the breath to protest, and soon we were
suited up and out the airlocks. Fortunately, the low-level
atmosphere meant that a cheap standard space suit would suffice.
Crag'tal hadn't even needed that. He managed to get away with an
Oxy Helmet and a dense coat – his people being far more suited to
the ravages of a cold, low atmosphere planet.

‘
Spent lot of time here,’ Crag'tal had admitted as we'd bounded
from the airlock, ‘used to it.’

The second my feet had lifted in the low gravity of the moon,
I'd let out the first smile I'd managed to find in days. There was
nothing like low gravity walking, nothing. It lifted up the
spirits, literally.

I was like a rookie GAM on her first space walk. For at least
ten minutes, I jumped around doing the longest of strides, a giggle
at my lips.

But we hadn't the time for low-gravity-walk shenanigans,
apparently, and soon we were off. To where, I couldn't tell, nor
had I bothered to ask. I was starting to realize Od and Crag'tal
weren't here to be my tour guides – instead they were here to
frustrate me and keep all important mission information from ever
reaching my ears. It was like I was on the Mystery Bus Tour of
Saving the Galaxy. Where we were going, when we'd get there – these
were secrets. All I had to know was that I'd be fighting Twixt,
eventually, at some point.

Yay diddly.

We were on the light side of the moon when we set off, though
we wouldn't be for long, as Crag'tal pointed out. ‘Moon spins fast
- day, night, day, night. Be prepared.’ He'd pointed to the
Personal Light Sources we all had in our Oxy Helmets. They were
little, but powerful lights that were mounted just above our
visors.

Walking on a Crag moon at night with nothing but a fancy
torchlight . . . that would be fun.

It was beautiful though. The moon was craggy and pock marked,
with great mountains and hills rising up on all sides. The rocks
were dusted very lightly with brown and yellow mosses and lichens
(or whatever alien equivalent). You could also see the Crag Home
world on the horizon – a big, beautiful blue ball that glistened
like a sapphire under direct light.

It was startling, and such a change from the station. This was
what exploring the galaxy felt like, this little kick in the pit of
my stomach as I stared at the strange world around me. I could
almost get used to this – well, the exploring happy bit, not the
looking for weapons to fight monsters from the in-between
dimensions, anyway.

We walked for some time, till the buildings of the dock were
no longer visible – hidden amongst the crags and lips of jutting
rock.

‘
Where are we going?’ I asked eventually, knowing I wouldn't
get a real answer. I was traveling with a Kroplin who only talked
in flowery prose, and a Crag who hardly talked at all. Neither of
them could give me a straight answer. I would need someone like
Commander Cole if I wanted a real travel plan – and even then, it
would be brief and to the point.

But we wouldn't even be on this moon if Cole was here – we'd
be . . . . well, I didn't really know. I was
trying to imagine how he would deal with this situation, if he knew
the truth and actually believed it. If he knew for sure I was the
last of The People and it was up to me to stop the Twixt from
overrunning the galaxy – what would he do? Would he pile me aboard
a cruiser and go skipping around the galaxy looking for ancient,
probably lost weapons? Or would he take me straight to the great
libraries of Central and start crawling through them for mentions
of the People. Or would he throw his hands up and tell me 'game
over – we can't win this one'? It was unlikely to be the last one,
but . . . it would have been nice to
know.

‘
There is a new dig site between the Crag'e'lath and 'beth
peaks. My sources suggest it is a good place to start,’ Od said,
voice slightly crackled as it bounced around the earpieces of my
helmet.

A new dig sight, ha? Sounded vaguely interesting. ‘But I don't
get it – we can't just walk in and start scouring the ground for
ancient guns. How are we going to get in if people, or Crags, or
whatever, are there at the site?’

‘
The site is unguarded, as far as I know. Plus, it is not being
run by the Crags, it is a human expedition.’

‘
Really? A bunch of humans actually wanted to co—’ I cut myself
short. I wanted to say that they must be mad for traveling all the
way to this god forsaken system just for a bit of ancient history,
but I didn't want to insult Crag'tal into breaking my arm. ‘I mean,
why would the Crag let another race dig up one of their moons,
don't they have their own archaeologists?’

‘
No interest,’ Crag'tal's voice was like a mini explosion
through my earpieces, which amplified the volume to an unholy
level. ‘Humans pay.’

I held my helmet, trying to get to my ear to give it a good
shake. Eek, that was loud, maybe my com was slightly broken. ‘But
even if they're human, and especially if they're paying, they
aren't just going to let us walk in and steal their
stuff.’

‘
We don't intend to steal anything, just take what is
rightfully yours.’

Od couldn't see me through my helmet, but I was giving him a
dead eyed, supremely sarcastic look. ‘I don't think they'll see
that distinction. I think we need a better plan than just showing
up and seeing what we can rightfully retrieve. Call me crazy,
but—’

‘
I do not think you are insane, Mini, though perhaps
emotionally . . . challenged at times.’

Oh, ouch.

‘
Nor will we just walk in. We will offer our services, and see
what they offer in return.’ Od didn't seem to get tired, and
bounded ahead with the determination of a combat robot.

‘
Probably a slap around the ears and a ticket back to the home
world. But,’ I squeezed in before Od could say something obvious,
‘at least that's more of a plan than just walking in.’

By the time we'd reached the dig sight, night had settled. And
Crag'tal had been right – it really was night, day, night, day. It
had happened so fast, that before I had noticed the dwindling
light, my PLS had flicked on to cut through the darkness. But it
didn't remain dark for long. As soon as we'd crested the hill that
led into the valley where the dig site was, the dark no longer
mattered. The whole place was illuminated with these massive
stand-up lamps that must have had enough voltage to run a small
cruiser.

‘
Whoa,’ I rested one foot on the lip of rock beside me, and
looked down into the valley. So much light. It was like they were
afraid of the dark.

A strange thing happened when Od saw it too. I could see his
little helmet swivel to each of the tall lights – right in a circle
around the dig, which was sunk deep into the ground. ‘Perhaps we
will have a far more valuable service to offer than I thought.’ He
then snapped his head back to face us.

Crag'tal reached behind him and grabbed one of my rifles,
which he'd been carrying on his back.

I had no idea what was going on.

‘
I think we should hurry,’ Od turned back to the
dig.

‘
Why? Is there something wrong? I mean, they look like they're
wasting a fortune on lighting, but maybe they don't like the dark
on this moon.’ It was strange hearing my own voice reverberate
around my helmet, and it made it feel much more like I was talking
to myself.

‘
I don't think it's the dark they are afraid of.’

Well that was . . . ominous.

I managed to just keep up to Od and Crag'tal as they virtually
skidded all the way down the sharp face of the mountain and into
the valley below. I kept thinking we'd start a rock slide, or
worse. Who knew what the humans at the site would think if they saw
three figures scrambling towards them, gun at the ready, from one
of the peaks above.

But as I neared the dig site, the blinding lights sending the
prettiest lens flare through my visor, I realized there wasn't
anyone around. Not a single soul on the surface, just the lights
trained on the round cut in the earth.