Men and Angels (Seraphs book 1)

Chapter fifteen

For a long time Hazel followed Stewart along the corridors. Reaching a junction they started along another one. Although they all looked exactly the same to him, as Stewart seemed to know where he was going, he decided the best thing to do was keep close to him. "There it is," Stewart said, speaking telepathically and stopping near an opening in the wall of the corridor. "I knew it must be somewhere."
Hazel looked through the doorway and down the stairs that seemed to spiral down in to blackness. "Are we going down there?" Hazel asked silently.
"No, we're going up, not down," Stewart silently replied.
Hazel stared over at the stairs. As far as he could tell, the spiral staircase stopped on this floor. He couldn't see any steps going up from here. "Up where?" Hazel silently asked.
Stewart turned and looked at Hazel. Although he could see the steps spiralling upwards, it was clear Hazel couldn't. Stewart took hold of Hazel's hand. "I assure you, there are steps there, Hazel," he silently said. "All you have to do is trust me and step up when I do, then we will both get up these stairs."
Hazel took a deep breath. Still feeling a little apprehensive, he followed Stewart over to where he said the steps up started. Holding tightly to Stewart, he took a step up.
After a few steps Hazel found the best way of coping with going up steps that didn't seem to be there was by closing his eyes. Closing his eyes he let Stewart guide him up the steps which he could feel beneath his feet, but even with his eyes wide open he had been unable to see.
"This is as far up as we are going," Stewart said silently after they had been climbing for some time. "I think you ought to open your eyes again, Hazel."
Hazel opened his eyes. Not much to his surprise, they were in yet another corridor. "Which way do we go from here, Stewart?" he asked.
"That way," Stewart said, pointing along the corridor. Turning and keeping hold of Hazel, he began walking rapidly in the opposite direction.
Hearing an odd noise, Hazel turned and looked behind him. He thought that was most peculiar. Although they hadn't gone around any corners since they started walking there was a bend in the corridor a few yards behind them. One he was sure hadn't been there before. "What is going on?" he asked silently, turning and following STewart along the corridor.
"I think those who run this ship can move the walls around to alter the position of the corridors. That's probably one reason why most of the rooms are empty. I think that's what they've just done," Stewart silently said. "I also don't think they wanted us to be on this side of the sliding door they put across the corridor. So I think we're going to have to be even more careful from now on."
For a while they continued walking along the corridor. "This isn't getting us anywhere, Hazel," Stewart said telepathically. "Do you see the door way a little ahead of us? We've been this near to it for some time now without actually getting any closer to it. When I say, I want you to jump forward as far as you can manage."
Although Hazel thought this was an odd thing for Stewart to ask him to do, he didn't argue with him. Instead, as soon as Stewart gave the word, he bunched himself up and leapt forward. Hazel landed near Stewart and not far from the door. After getting his balance he looked over at Stewart and asked what was going on.
"The place where we were before was a stretch of moving floor," Stewart said silently. "So although we seemed to be getting somewhere, we were actually just walking on the spot. I suspect this isn't the only stretch of such floor. I also suspect that this ship, although large, isn't as big as you might think." Looking over at the door, he went on. "Now I think we should see what is on the other side of that door."
Hazel put his shoulder against the door and gave it a push, but nothing happened. "I think it must be locked," he said silently after trying pushing the other edge of the door. "I can't get it to budge."
Stewart stood looking at the door. "May be it slides along rather than opening out," he said telepathically. Stewart leaned against the door. "I think I know which way it goes."
The door slid open easily. As soon as it was open, Stewart and Hazel stepped in to the room beyond. Like most of the rooms Stewart had been in, this one was devoid of any furniture. Although it wasn't entirely empty. Lying on the floor a little way off was what looked like a pile of old clothes. Walking across the room Stewart crouched down and took a closer look at the heap on the floor. "Frances," Stewart said telepathically, "its time to get up."
Frances sat up,. Taking his jacket off his head, he stared over at Stewart and Hazel. "I thought we were the only ones who'd survived," he said telepathically as Star Fish sat up and stared around her.
"How did you two manage to find us?" Star Fish asked.
"oh I just followed my nose," Stewart said, tapping his nose and grinning over at Hazel. "But why were you two curled up on the floor like that, Star Fish?"
"When we heard the door opening we thought it was more of those horrible creatures coming in," Star Fish said. "We curled up like that so they wouldn't be able to attack us."
"What are these creatures like?" Stewart asked. "You obviously don't think they are very bright if you think curling up as you did will stop them attacking you."
Frances sat thinking about this. The creatures he and Star Fish had encountered earlier had been large hairy creatures with long fangs and sharp claws. Monsters straight out of his worst nightmares, he thought. He wondered why he and Star Fish had thought hiding as they had done would be a good idea. Now, thinking about it he realised it didn't make any sense at all, even to him. Frowning over at Stewart he told him about the creatures. "I don't know why we thought hiding like that would help, it just felt like the right thing to do, at the time."
"It probably did, Frances,," Stewart silently said. "Now we must go and find the others. I know where they are, and despite those running this ship, I intend to find them. All you have to do, Frances, is follow me and trust me rather than your own senses. You should also not believe everything I say out loud," he added. Stewart waited for Frances and Star Fish to stand up. "Now I think we should go and find our craft, I want to get out of here as quickly as possible," he said out loud.
"But what about the others?" Star Fish asked.
"Oh them, they are probably all dead," Stewart said, leading the way out of the room. "Even if they're not, I'm not going to waste any more time looking for them."
Star Fish stared at Stewart for a moment. Then, realising he meant what he'd said, he followed him and the others along the corridor.
They hadn't been walking long when they came to the end of the corridor. Stepping out of it they found themselves in a wide hall. Stewart counted five other corridors coming off it. "Which way do we go now?" Star Fish asked.
"I'm not sure," Stewart said. "I suggest we take a look down all of them before we decide."
Apart from a few doors there was nothing to see down the first few corridors they looked down. The fourth one they looked down was somewhat different. Not only was it a lot wider than the others but near the end of it they could see their space craft.
"Are we going down there, Stewart?" star Fish asked.
"in a moment," Stewart said, "but before we do, we must go and find Hazel, he has wandered off."
Hazel was standing in the entrance of the last corridor when they found him. "That's good," Star Fish said when he saw Hazel, "now we can go back to our craft."
As soon as Stewart and Hazel started running off along the corridor, Frances caught hold of Star Fish. Dragging her after him, he followed them. Only when they'd gone some distance and Stewart and Hazel had slowed their pace to a fast walk did Frances let go of Star Fish. "Why have we come down here?" Star Fish asked once she had got her breath back. "This isn't the way to our space craft."
"No, it isn't," Stewart said. "But that isn't where we are going. We are going to look for the beings that control this ship. Finding them is the only way we're going to get out of here."
A little further on Stewart stopped again. Going over to where he and Hazel were standing, Frances understood why they had stopped. A few feet in front of them was the lip of a hole. From the look of it,, it seemed to be very deep and very wide. "Is that hole as large as I think it looks, Stewart?" Frances silently asked.
"Although I suspect it is as deep as it appears to you to be," Stewart silently replied, "it isn't very wide. I'm sure we'll all be able to jump over it."
"What are we going to do now?" Star Fish asked, coming over to where the others were and looking over at the hole.
"We're going to jump over that," Stewart said, pointing to the hole. "All together, I think," he said, preparing himself to spring.
Following Stewart's silent instructions, Frances lept forward. Then almost bent double, he ran up the steeply inclined slope on the other side of the hole. Only when he reached the top of the slope and felt he was safe did he turn around and look back. As he'd known, there was now no sign of Star Fish. Frances was fairly certain her jump hadn't got her across the gap and she had fallen down the hole. He was sure he'd heard her cry out not long after they had all jumped. Frances turned around again. Knowing there was nothing he could do for Star Fish, he followed the other two as they began walking off along the corridor.
A little further along the corridor they came to a door way. Sitting near it, looking extremely annoyed, was Angela. "Where have you lot been?" she asked, "I have been sitting here waiting for you for ages." Then, speaking telepathically, she said, "some of the others are in the room behind me, Stewart, but I'm not sure if all those in there are who they seem to be."
Following Angela in to the room Stewart stood looking at those sitting in there. Looking down at the seven people sitting on the floor, it looked liked they'd found all their companions. Sitting there, there was not only Debbie, Maria, Loran, and Moth, but also Simon and the two boys.
"Now we're all back together, what are we going to do?" Simon asked.
Stewart looked over at Simon. "Do you have any idea where the Star Seeker is, Simon?"
Simon shook his head. "I'm afraid I have no idea where she is," he said.
"I suppose that means you can't find your way back to it?" Stewart asked.
Simon shook his head again. "I'm afraid it does," he said.
"We'll just have to go and look for it again," Stewart said. "As I and the other two have already seen it, if we retrace our steps we should be able to find it again. Although, I should warn you getting to it that way won't be at all easy."
Walking in twos and threes, they made their way back along the corridor. Simon was walking with Stewart and Hazel. Stopping and turning to Stewart he asked, "when will we be getting to the hole you spoke about?"
"A hole?" Stewart asked. " I don't remember saying there was a hole anywhere along this corridor." Stewart shook his head. "But be assured, Simon, we are going in the right direction," he said. "To find Star Fish, that is," he added. "I think Frances should lead us the rest of the way there."
Simon stood looking at them for a moment. Then leaving Stewart and Hazel standing waiting, he followed the rest of the group past them. Having waited till they had all passed them, tagging on behind, Stewart and Hazel followed them along the corridor. For some time they went on walking. Although they past several rather inviting looking doorways, they didn't stop.
Slowing his pace, Stewart allowed a small gap to grow between him and the last pair in the group. Silently signalling to Hazel, he turned and ran back along the corridor towards the last doorway they had past. It was beginning to close as they reached it. Being a little way behind Stewart, Hazel found he had to squeeze through the increasingly narrow gap to get in before the door closed. "That was close," Stewart said looking back at the door. Stewart looked over at the man standing leaning against one of the walls of the room. "Are you alright, Simon?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," Simon said grinning over at Stewart. "I'm also very pleased to see you two. I was beginning to think I'd never find anyone else."
Going over to the door, Hazel tried to open it. "It looks like we're locked in here," he said, turning back to the others.
"We'll just have to wait until who ever closed that door, opens it again," Stewart said.
For a while the three of them stood close to the door watching for it to open. As they did, Stewart and Simon spoke telepathically together. But they were all ready to run out as soon as the door was wide enough for them to get through. Stopping just outside the door, they stood looking over at the rest of the group.
"He's an imposter," Simon said pushing his way to the front of the group and poking a finger towards the man standing next to Stewart. "I'm the real Simon, not him. You ask Maria, she'll tell you I'm telling the truth."
Stewart looked from one Simon to the other, apparently trying to decide which of them was the real one. Stewart shrugged his shoulders in resignation. "As I'm not sure I know which of you is the real Simon, perhaps you should both come along with us. That way we can be sure we have the real Simon with us."
Taking Hazel's hand, Stewart strode back to the front of the group. Then for some time they all continued along the corridor.
Stewart didn't stop walking until they came to a sharp bend in the corridor. Stopping outside a door, he pushed it open and told the others to follow him through it. "I'm sure this is where we'll find Star Fish," he said as he led the way in to the room.
As soon as Frances saw Star Fish, he rushed over to her. "Are you alright, Star Fish?" he asked, putting his arms around her and stroking her back. "I was worried you might have hurt yourself when you fell down that hole."
"No, I'm fine," Star Fish said pulling herself away from Frances. Stewart thought she was looking a little flustered.
Stewart waited until everyone was where he wanted them, and then he looked over at the four now standing in the middle of a circle. One of these was the first Simon they had found, the others were Maria, Ricky and the Star Fish they had just met up with. "You are not who you say you are," he said pointing to these four.
"Yes we are," Simon said, glaring over at Stewart and looking very angry. He pointed over at the Simon standing in the circle. "I told you when you first found him that he was an intruder. I don't know why you think these other three aren't who they say they are."
Stewart looked over at those in the middle of the circle. "If you are who you say you are, will you take us all back to the craft, Simon?"
Looking very perplexed, Simon stood staring at those standing around him. "How can I do that?" he asked, "I don't even know where our craft is."
"Then I was right," Stewart said, "you are not the real Simon. If you had been you'd have known how to get us all back to our craft." Stewart paused and glared angrily at the group in the centre of the circle. He felt like destroying them all. But he knew doing that wouldn't get him and his companions out of here. So instead he took a deep breath and did his best to calm his anger. "I'm getting really fed up of playing your silly games," he said, his voice calm and level. "I'm fed up of being treated like a laboratory animal you and your associates can study. Now, this moment, I want it to stop. Then I want you to let me and my companions leave your ship and go on our way."
"What will you do if we don't do that?" Maria asked.
"Although I could easily do it, I won't kill you," Stewart said. "But I will make things very uncomfortable for you,. In the process, I'll show all in this circle what you really look like. I have a feeling you wouldn't like me to do that."
"But that won't get you away from our control," the Simon in the circle said. "There are others of us here, they are all around you, if you turn around you will see them."
"I can't see them," Stewart said without turning around. "If they are all around us, I should be able to see them." Stewart paused. "you must think we are very stupid if you think we would fall for a trick like that. There are no more of your kind here and both you and I know that. Not, that there aren't others of your kind aboard this ship," he admitted, "but they are not here. I've been reliably informed they are guarding the craft we came in. Although I have a feeling what they'd really like to do is get aboard and take a good look at it. The trouble is so far they haven't been able to do that. Instead they are standing around menacing those still aboard it." Stewart paused again. "Are you going to let us go, or shall I show everyone here what you are really like."
"Doing that won't get you out of our ship," the Simon said, his face gremasing with anger.
"May be not," Stewart said. "But if you don't let us go, we will not let you leave this circle."
The Simon in the circle glared at Stewart. After looking around at all the others making up the circle, he made a dash for Deedee. But although he'd imagined he could do this easily, he found he couldn't push past Deedee. Blinking in surprise, he discovered something was stopping him doing this. He'd been stopped by a barrier he could feel but not see.
for a while the thing that looked like Simon stood pushing his hand against the invisible barrier. Then he turned around and rejoined his companions.
"How long do you think you can keep them in there?"
The voice came from outside the circle. Stewart guessed this someone was standing not far behind him. Turning his head a little, Stewart took a look at the new comer. He was a Thesan. This didn't really surprise Stewart. Only a Thesan could have messed up his mind as he had. But looking at the tall man, he decided he wouldn't give him the chance to do anything like that again. Now he was aware of him and could protect himself from any attack from this rogue.
As the man began to walk towards him, Stewart turned away,. Even when he became aware the man was standing very close behind him he didn't turn around.
"Sooner or later you'll have to let them go," the man said in a quiet voice close to Stewart's ear. "Why don't you do that now? They're weak feeble creatures. They can't hurt you. Keeping them here won't help you get away. So why don't you just let them go." Although the man waited for Stewart to reply, he remained silent. "Why don't you turn around and look at me, Stewart? Are you afraid of me? Do you fear I'm stronger than you? I think you do. I think you are afraid if you face me I will destroy you. Is that not so, Stewart?"
For a while Stewart stood holding Hazel and Loran's hands. Then pulling them close together, he got Hazel and Loran to link hands. Only when he'd done that did he turn around and face the man who'd been taunting him. "No," he said, looking straight at the man, "I'm not afraid of you. I don't think you'll be able to hurt me again."
For what seemed to be a very long time, hazel watched Stewart and the stranger stare in to each others eyes. Seeing the sweat running down the strangers face, he wondered what was going on. What ever it was, he thought Stewart seemed to be doing better at it. Hazel thought he was looking very calm. Unlike the other man who was now looking rather worried.
In the end it was the man who blinked and turned away. Looking at him, Hazel got the impression he'd shrunk in some way. He was certainly not standing up as straight as he had been. Standing with his head bowed and his shoulders hunched he looked a rather pathetic sight.
"Kneel down, Rosh," Stewart commanded.
Rosh stood for a moment staring at the floor. Although he'd controlled this ship and all those on it for some time, now he knew he'd lost all the power he'd had. Knowing he couldn't disobey Stewart's orders, he knelt down with his forehead on the floor.
Stewart stood looking down at the prone man. Making sure those at the centre of the circle could see what he was doing, he unfastened his trousers and urinated over Rosh's head. He then turned back to those standing in the circle. "I'm sure you know how to do what is needed to let me and my companions get away from here," he said. "All I need to know is if you are now prepared to help us."
"Of course we are," the Simon said as they all knelt down and looked up at Stewart. "You are our master now, we will do anything you ask of us."
Stewart thought about this. "I think two of you should take charge of Rosh, what you do with him is up to you. As for you other two, I'd like you to show us the way to our craft. Although it probably isn't far from here, I expect you know the best way to get there."
"My companion and I will take care of Rosh," the Simon said as he and the one that looked like Maria stood up and walked towards Stewart.
Releasing Loran's hand and stepping aside, Hazel watched the two metamorphs walk over to where Rosh was still kneeling. As they hauled him to his feet and dragged him away, he wondered what they'd do with him.
"We will take you to your ship," the metamorph that looked like Star Fish said as she and her companion stood up. "You don't need to worry about those guarding your craft, Stewart, they will do what ever you tell them to."
The craft wasn't as far away as Hazel had thought it would be. After going along a fairly short corridor and through a couple of doors, they found it in a large high ceilinged room that looked unlike anywhere he had seen aboard the ship. With its walls lined with racks of tools and such, it looked more like the inside of an ordinary space ship than anything else he had seen so far. Hazel thought the four creatures guarding it looked like a cross between a wolf and a lion. Not creatures that would be able to use any of the tools. But he also didn't think they were the sort of animals one should pick a fight with. For a while the four beasts stood bearing their teeth and growling menacingly. But as soon as Stewart told them to ly down, they all colapsed on their bellies and without changing their shapes, became quiet, docile, and biddable. Stewart glanced down at them and looked over at the metamorph that looked like Star Fish. "Do you need there help to get our craft out of this ship ?" he asked.
"No, we don't need their help," the metamorph said. "We have a truck to pull your craft in to the air lock,. Once it is in there and the inner doors are closed, all we have to do is open the outer doors and your craft will be pulled out along with the air in the lock." The metamorph paused and watched the last of Stewart's companions climb aboard the craft. "Before you go, Stewart, there is something I need to ask you. You are now our master, what do you want us to do once you have left our ship?"
Stewart told the four beasts to go. After watching them bound away, he turned back to the metamorph that looked like Star Fish. "What I'd like you to do is take command of your own lives," he said. "If you can, you should try and do a little good. I also have a little advice for you. Don't let Rosh get back in control. He certainly won't be a good leader for you and your companions."
"I don't think you need to worry about that," the metamorph said, "those beasts were all very hungry. They were also very angry about what Rosh did to those of our companions who refused to cooperate with him. I have a feeling when they've finished with him there will be very little of him left."
Stewart stood looking at the metamorph. He wondered what would become of him and his companions once they'd gone. He didn't know,. But at least now free from Rosh's tyrannous control they were free to do what ever they wanted. He knew he mustn't try and dictate what they did. If he did, he'd end up being as corrupt as Rosh had become. Saying good bye and good luck to the metamorph, he turned away. Going up the steps, he went in to the craft and closed the door behind him.