Sorcha The Alien Book One

Chapter Eight

My heart beats like a sparrow's in the claws of a cat, but I'm no timid bird, my anger roars like a lion. Trust has always come too easily, no matter how many times I'm bitten. I never learn. I never wise up. The door shuts behind Ramet as she strides deeper into the room.

"You're going to sell us!" I shout, and my fists clench by my sides.

Ramet tears her eyes from Shazna and stares at me. "What?"

"Don't bother lying, I've seen the flight path you planned!" I say and Sask stands protectively beside me. "Shazna, tell me how to uncode the ship."

"I don't think so." Ramet takes a step to me, but Sask's snapping teeth stall her. "Please, just hear me out ... then if you want to uncode the ship you can ... please?"

"Sorcha," Shazna says, "she's going to lie to you, this is what Ramet does—"

"Ramet," I snap, my eyes close, "you have one chance."

"No! do not give her the chance to lie," Shazna shouts.

I step to Shazna's screen and hit mute. Privacy from her prying ears and then I lower the volume of her voice, until I hear nothing. Until her anger cannot find me.

"Okay." Ramet perches on a swivel chair, bolted to the floor, she leans forward and her hands wipe over her face. "That was my initial flight path. I planned it whilst you slept in my office, and I was going to sell you to the Gracan—"

I bite my lip. "How—"

"Please, just listen?" Ramet pleads. "I saw selling you as a way out of a life I hated. But, after I healed Sask, I couldn't follow through, and when we returned to the ship I plotted another route—" she nods to the screen "—swipe across, look at the time stamps, they'll back up my story."

I do as Ramet says, another flight path flashes on the screen and the time stamps do indeed support her story. She planned to sell Sask and I, she never landed with the intention to help. But she changed her mind, she did the right thing. Is she bad for what she planned, or good for not following through?

"If you uncode this ship Fendan's entire fleet will surround us in minutes. He wants Sask and neither of you will ever be free again ... I'm sorry, sometimes being an awful person comes too naturally to me—"

"It doesn't," I say. "You changed your mind. I ... trust you."

Ramet smiles, she stands and her palms rest on my shoulders. "I don't deserve a second chance, but thanks for giving me one. I won't mess up, this time." She moves to the screen. "Let's put Shazna out of her misery."

Ramet presses unmute and raises the volume. The flashing lights that enticed Sask to push them are still now and Sask's body presses against my side as she leans against me.

"Shazna," Ramet says, "please consider this my resignation from service. Inform Fendan and Cantral, it's been a pleasure, but it's time we part ways."

Shazna looks to me and I feel the full force of her powerful personality. "You believe her lies, how disappointing. You will regret your choice... Oh, and before I go, I'd like to express my gratitude, it was very useful to see that second flight path." Shazna smiles. "Ramet, Sorcha, I'll see you shortly." And the screen goes black.

A look of horror spreads across Ramet's face. "Main command, now!"

We sprint down the corridor and Ramet takes the lead. The booming thud of every step threatens to throw me from my perilous precipice and into a raging pit of emotion. But with Sask's help, I hang on. The door at the end of the corridor opens and Ramet slips into main command, shortly followed by Sask and I.

Ramet's fingers fly over a screen, and she races to a compartment that opens in the wall. A singular spacesuit stares back. Shiny, new, black metal made for a person my size.

Ramet beckons me to the suit, she clips it over my body, encasing me in a second skin and hands me the helmet. I take the offering, but it resists my head, for now.

"Why aren't you suiting up?" Tears threaten.

"Because there isn't one that will fit me, this is a science ship, made for science entra, not entra like me."

"No!" Tears fall from my eyes. "I'm not leaving without you."

"You are. You must." Ramet wipes away my tears. "But it's okay, because I'm going to find you. Fendan won't hurt me. I'll escape, and I'll come straight to you."

"We could just change course, right? Stay in rapid travel, they wouldn't catch up ..."

Ramet shakes her head. "I've changed course, but it will only buy us minutes, nothing can outrun a Battle Cruiser."

"But how will you find us?"

"I've uploaded a map into your suit. Head to Jebnah ... Cantral sent me some info. She thinks Sask may have been held on planet Jebnah. We'll meet there. It's not far from our current location. Land on the southern hemisphere. That's not occupied with entra, and scans can't detect Sask."

"You'll meet us there?" I confirm. "And then leave with us?"

Ramet nods. "Yeah, we'll start a new life, together. Your suit, it's simple to use, and I've concealed it from entra scans. See this?" She points to the computer on the sleeve. "You'll get a message from me as soon as I'm able. Stay hidden on Jebnah, it might be a few days, but I'll meet you there. I promise."

"Okay," I whisper.

"Follow me," Ramet says, and she jogs from main command.

Sask and I follow, and we pause by Ramet. Her fingers race over a touchscreen. My breath comes quick, my heart beats rapidly, the speed at which everything is happening jars my senses. An access hatch in the wall opens and Ramet ushers us inside.

Ramet places her hands on my shoulders. "You'll be okay. I will find you." She pulls me into a hug, and I wrap my arms around her waist. "We're friends, remember? I'll find you."

We part and I stare at Ramet through the porthole as the hatch closes on Sask and I. Sask's tail wraps around my waist as the hatch to space opens and we're blasted into the cosmos. Through spins and somersaults, I watch as the ship Ramet commands speeds away in the opposite direction, ready to intercept the Battle Cruiser tailing us.

Ramet fades away ...

Sask rights herself and grows to the size of a blue whale. She moves swiftly and I sit on her head too stunned to talk, too jarred to process the change of events. I curl up in the foetal position and silent tears fall.

"I'm sorry," Sask whispers in my head, her guilt expands, but I can't soothe her. I can't condone her actions. "It's going to be okay," she says confidently, "we'll see Ramet again."

But I'm not so certain. Negativity plunges me into a hopeless spiral. There are too many hurdles. Too many what-ifs. We're out here alone and all I have is a promise and a spacesuit. A promise Ramet wasn't authorised to make. How does she know she'll escape? How can she predict an experience so unique?