Chasing the Stars Read online

  I stared at him, stricken. My last comment replayed in my head, destructive as an earthquake. The space between us opened up and grew wider with each passing second.

  I winced. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.’

  ‘Didn’t you?’ Nathan asked.

  We regarded each other, the only two people in our world at that moment, with a chasm as wide as the Earth between us.

  16

  There it was – that look I’d seen so often and knew only too well. Why shouldn’t I recognize it? I’d worn it on my own face often enough before Mum and I were exiled when I was fifteen to that shithole, Callisto. After we’d been exiled, all I had to do was look at the faces of the non-drone supervisors in the mining colony to know exactly what my place was in this galaxy. I was nothing in a place called nowhere. It didn’t matter that we drones were human, we just weren’t considered quite human enough. The supervisors had been physically and sexually abusive. Abusive? They’d been brutal. Every day was a fight for survival. I was one of the lucky ones. I quickly learned to fight back, plus I had my mum and Darren and a number of others surrounding me to try and keep me safe.

  But not always.

  I was born on Earth and lived there for the first ten years of my life. The next five years had been spent on board the EV Eachern, the ship my mum had commanded. But then we’d been exiled to Callisto. That had been a baptism of fire. Just trying to survive there had given me a lot of time to view life from a different perspective. And from Callisto the view had been through shit-tinted glasses. Earth’s history was scattered with artificial divisions – class, colour, culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation – all the things that made us truly human. Now in 2164 AD, it was all about credits – those who had them and those who didn’t: namely us drones. Not only did we have no credits but we had little to no chance of acquiring any either. The Authority made sure of that. So effectively, once a drone always a drone, unless you had the one million credits required to buy yourself out of that life. And if you didn’t have a spare one million credits with which to buy a life, then guts, determination, friends and a plan were a more uncertain, not to mention precarious, alternative. Failing that, the common choice was acceptance of life and death as a drone.

  The latter wasn’t an option as far as Mum or any of us who had escaped was concerned.

  ‘I get it now. That’s why none of you want to go back to Earth,’ Vee mused. ‘That’s why your mum questioned me about the last time I’d docked at an Authority spaceport. If I had recently docked at one, this ship’s computer would’ve been updated and would’ve immediately recognized all of you as fugitives.’

  ‘Well done, Nathan,’ Erica slow-clapped me, her expression thunderous.

  ‘She didn’t need to know that,’ said Mike quietly.

  ‘Yes, she did,’ I argued. ‘Whether we like it or not, we need her help. The best way to get it is to tell her the truth.’

  ‘Don’t talk about me as if I’m not here,’ Vee protested.

  ‘Stop looking at us like we’re Mazon then,’ snapped Erica.

  Vee’s expression set hard. ‘I’m not looking at you like that because that is one hundred and eighty degrees away from what I’m thinking.’

  ‘You’re the one who said we ain’t “normal people” – remember?’ Erica reminded her.

  ‘And I apologized for that,’ said Vee. ‘I’ve never met any drones before and the Authority drums it into us that drones are a certain type of person – that’s why they’re drones.’

  Erica was still glaring but Vee met her gaze without flinching.

  ‘Erica, calm down,’ I said.

  ‘Didn’t you hear what she just called us?’ Erica fumed.

  ‘Yes, I did. And I also heard that she said sorry afterwards. So calm the hell down. You’re being a pita.’

  ‘How am I being a pain in the arse when all I’m doing is . . .?’

  ‘Erica . . .’ I warned.

  Still irate, Erica clamped her lips shut. I knew from past experience that that wouldn’t last long.

  Vee turned back to me. ‘Aidan scanned all of you so how come we weren’t alerted to your drone status?’

  ‘What d’you mean?’ I asked.

  ‘Your drone microchips. The computer should’ve been able to detect those at least,’ said Vee.

  ‘The first thing we did when we escaped Callisto was to have the drone chips removed from the base of our skulls,’ said Mike.

  ‘I thought that couldn’t be done,’ Vee said.

  ‘You thought wrong then,’ Erica informed her.

  Vee turned back to Erica to do some glaring of her own. ‘Listen, I don’t know what your problem is, but it sure as hell isn’t me.’

  ‘Yeah? Well, I saw the way you looked at me when I shook your brother’s hand,’ said Erica. ‘Even before you knew our status, you thought you and your brother were too good for us.’

  Vee’s eyes widened. ‘Excuse me? Are you high?’

  ‘What was that look you gave me earlier all about then?’ asked Erica.

  ‘Oh. My. God! You obviously liked the look of my brother and I was admiring the way you straight out let him know. Plus I was wondering how he’d respond to you and I was hoping he wouldn’t hurt your feelings or make a fool of himself or show me up. Or all of the above. And that was it.’

  ‘So you say . . .’

  ‘Listen,’ said Vee. ‘You don’t want to like me, that’s fine. You want to put the worse light on everything I say and do, that’s your prerogative. But I don’t appreciate being called a liar.’

  By which time they were both on their feet.

  I stood up, as did Anjuli, and we both eyed Vee and Erica warily. Things were about to kick off, and when they did I wasn’t looking forward to getting between the two of them. Mike stood and headed for the nearest plant that had caught his attention. He was making sure he was well out of it. Thanks, mate!

  ‘You can’t deny that our drone status has entirely changed the way you think about us,’ said Erica. ‘I mean, Nathan shared your spoon to eat some of your chilli. Bet if he’d told you his status beforehand, you’d never have let him do that.’

  ‘You don’t know me,’ Vee replied icily. ‘You don’t know anything about me, so don’t you dare stand in judgement. Besides which, you were the one who didn’t want him to share my spoon in case I was the one with lethal germs – remember?’

  Erica blushed, then went on the offensive. ‘I’m not wrong about sharing your food with Nathan though, am I?’ she challenged. ‘No doubt you’ll be heading to your quarters to scrub your mouth out at the first opportunity. It’s well known we drones carry a lower class of germs—’

  Furious, Vee turned to me, locked her arms around my neck and kissed me – like her life depended on it. My mouth fell open in surprise, at which, Vee’s tongue darted between my lips. Only for a moment, but it was long enough. I wrapped my arms around her waist and returned her kiss with interest. I mean, it wasn’t as if there was anything else I’d rather be doing. We kissed like we’d done it a million times before and were looking forward to the next trillion. My heart began to race, pumping blood at light speed all round my body. I would’ve been more than happy to keep going for another week or so, but Vee was the one to pull away first.

  She and I looked at each other. I’m not sure what she was feeling but I knew I wanted more, a lot more. God, she really was beautiful. And the way she was looking at me . . . like she could see me, not the infamous Commander Linedecker’s son, not a drone, not a victim. Me. I’d spent my whole life searching for someone to look at me that way. Anjuli coughed delicately behind us.

  The strange expression on Vee’s face cleared as she turned to Erica defiantly and said with a flourish, ‘So screw you!’

  17

  Oh no! What had I just done? Kissed Nathan? Someone kill me now.

  ‘Is this a Manihot esculenta?’ asked Mike from somewhere behind us.

  Huh? I turn
ed to Mike. ‘Pardon?’

  ‘A Manihot esculenta? I’m right, aren’t I? It’s a cassava plant,’ smiled Mike. ‘I notice all your plants in here have to earn their keep. You’re growing only plants that yield edible fruit. Right?’

  What in the galaxy was he talking about?

  ‘Computer, could you display a Manihot esculenta please?’ Mike called out hopefully.

  ‘If you want to activate the ship’s computer, you need to start your sentence with “Aidan”, not “computer”,’ I told him. ‘And yes, it is a cassava plant.’

  Oh God! How could I just launch myself at Nathan like that? What must he be thinking? But Erica spouting her nonsense had so annoyed me.

  ‘Your ship’s computer is called Aidan?’ said Anjuli. ‘That’s different!’

  ‘Not really,’ I replied. ‘Aidan is the name of this ship which is just metal and plastic without the computer to run it, so it made sense for the computer to have the same name as the ship.’

  ‘Is that something you implemented when . . . you know, your parents and the crew died?’ asked Anjuli.

  I nodded. ‘I also gave the computer Aidan’s voice.’

  Just keep looking at Anjuli. Don’t look at Nathan. Oh God—

  ‘Doesn’t it get confusing, your brother and the computer having the same name and voice?’ said Anjuli.

  ‘Not really,’ I said. ‘If I’m not in the same room as my brother and I say his name, the ship’s computer knows I’m addressing it, not my brother. Besides the computer is sophisticated enough to figure out from the context of my comment or question, whether or not I’m speaking to it.’

  ‘Aidan, could you display a Manihot esculenta please?’ said Mike, unnecessarily projecting his voice.

  Immediately a number of 3-D holograms of cassava plants appeared before Mike.

  He turned to the rest of us, a grin almost splitting his face in half. And just like that the pissed-offness that had been burning through me at Erica and her comments, faded away like vented plasma. I couldn’t help smiling back at him. Yeah, I got why he’d asked the question in the first place but he had managed to defuse the tension in the room.

  Come on, Vee. Turn and face him. Get it over with.

  A deep breath later, I forced myself to look at Nathan, who to my surprise wore an amused look on his face.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Nathan. I shouldn’t have pounced and kissed you like that. That was out of order. I hope you’ll accept my apology.’

  ‘I didn’t mind, so any time. And I really do mean that!’ said Nathan with a wink that made me laugh.

  He was a drone.

  My smile faded, as did his.

  Normal people.

  The memory of the crass words that had fallen from my mouth made me wince. Normal people!

  Dahell, Vee!

  But how was I supposed to have guessed the truth? None of them had given me any clue as to their real status. Except . . .

  ‘Wait a minute . . . when your mum tried to take over my ship she told the computer she was Commander Catherine Linedecker . . .’ I said, still trying to make sense of it all.

  ‘Years ago, Mum used to be the commander of her own Earth ship – EV Eachern – but she made the mistake of trying to operate above board,’ said Nathan quietly. ‘Mum couldn’t be bribed and spoke out once too often about the corruption happening all around her, so over four Sol years ago, some of her enemies in the Authority framed her for some bogus crime she didn’t commit and demoted her to drone status. She was sent to Callisto to work the mines and I was given the choice of an Authority military school or going with Mum to Callisto. I insisted on going with her.’

  ‘You chose Callisto over military school?’ I asked, astounded.

  ‘She’s my mum,’ shrugged Nathan. ‘My dad died when I was nine and Mum is the only family I have left. And even though she tried to convince me to stay on Earth and go to military school, she needed me.’

  I nodded slowly. I would’ve done the same in his shoes. At least, I like to think I would.

  ‘Even after she was demoted, Mum still had some loyal friends so, after a lot of planning, she, Darren and some of the others were put in contact with the captain of an illegal transport,’ Nathan continued. ‘The captain took our credits and just about everything else we had of value in return for helping us to escape from Callisto. He was supposed to take us to Mendela Prime, but he forced us off his ship when we got to Barros 5 and left us just enough equipment to survive and to signal any Earth vessels in the area for help if needed. But that was all he left us. Most of us didn’t even realize we were in Mazon territory, to be honest. Mum and some of the others decided that living on Barros 5 was our chance to make a better life for ourselves. Anywhere was better than Callisto.’

  ‘Was it really that bad?’

  ‘Vee, you don’t have to die to be in hell,’ Nathan replied.

  I nodded slowly. If that was the case then Callisto was a place I never, ever wanted to see.

  ‘I’m glad you escaped then.’ I didn’t know what else to say.

  God, this was hard. I’d grown up ‘knowing’ certain things, like once a drone, always a drone. People who were born drones died the same way. Criminals and those who were traitors to the Authority had their citizenship status stripped away from them and were relegated to drone status – and there they stayed. Once you slid down that slippery slope, there was no way back up. Born in that class or demoted to it, every drone was chipped to ensure they could never escape from their designated area. I’d never been in contact with a drone before, never mind a whole group of them.

  And now they were swarming over my ship.

  No! Not swarming. That was the wrong word. But I had a ship full of drones and what appeared to be eighteen years of miseducation and misinformation to re-evaluate. Even this short amount of time spent with Nathan and the others was enough to convince me of that if nothing else.

  ‘So now you know the truth about us and why we can’t return to Earth,’ said Nathan. ‘What happens now?’

  18

  This had been a rollercoaster of a day and it wasn’t finished yet. Vee now knew the truth about all of us. Her words ‘normal people’ still rang in my ears.

  But then she’d kissed me.

  Was that purely for Erica’s benefit? I mean, it’d been me she kissed, not Mike. Was that because I’d been closer to her at the time? Or was there more to it than that, like her being the North Pole to my South? From the moment I saw her, I felt strangely drawn to her, I admit it, and I had no idea why. I mean, I barely knew her.

  ‘What happens now, Vee?’ I asked again.

  Vee shook her head. She sat back down. ‘I need to think.’

  ‘What’s to think about?’ asked Erica. ‘Either you’re gonna help us or you’re gonna tell the Authority where to find us.’

  ‘I need to think,’ Vee repeated.

  My heart sank. Had I made a colossal mistake, hitting Vee with the truth so soon? God, I hoped not. It’s just that I didn’t want any lies between us. The fact was, she was our one and only chance to get out from under once and for all. If she dumped us at a neutral space dock she might as well just dump us back on Callisto. We had no more credits to pay for the trip to Mendela Prime, so it was guaranteed that sooner rather than later we would be betrayed for the bounty the Authority were bound to have put on our heads. The Authority would appear weak if it became known that some of us had escaped and made it to Mendela Prime. They’d never stand for that.

  Unlike most, I wasn’t born a drone so I’d experienced life from both sides. I knew which side I preferred. Those on the inside, who had a lot, had no clue what life was like for those of us who had nothing, and what’s more, they didn’t want to have a clue either. The Authority used us as cannon fodder in their conflicts, as test subjects to experiment on, as cheap, expendable labour. We were more plentiful and cheaper to produce than the robots who were prized by those on the inside as status symbols. Plus we drones served
as a perfect way to keep those on the inside in line. We were a constant reminder of how far they could fall.

  Vee’s gaze was thoughtful as she studied me. Had she heard and understood anything I’d said after I’d admitted to being a drone? Drones, to those on the inside like her, were synonymous with the very worst criminals and scum-sucking lowlifes. Hell, I’d thought like her once. If I ruled the world I’d make it compulsory for those on the inside to swap places with a drone for a week. Just one week. Most of them wouldn’t last one day if they had to survive the kind of existence that we did. But there were some lines that didn’t get crossed, or if they did it was via a one-way ticket. I’d met a number of people who’d been demoted to drones. I couldn’t remember hearing of a single drone who’d managed to buy their way out of their drone status.

  ‘What happened to the captain who dumped you on Barros 5?’ asked Vee, as we all sat down again.

  Not one of the questions I’d been expecting.

  ‘No idea,’ I replied. ‘He’s probably fleecing more credits off desperate people and dumping them God knows where in the galaxy the very first chance he gets.’

  ‘What’s his name?’

  ‘Stefan Jersecky. He’s captain of a rustbucket called the Galileo,’ said Anjuli.

  ‘Why d’you want to know?’ frowned Erica. ‘He’s long gone by now.’

  ‘He needs to be reported to the Authority. He needs to be stopped,’ said Vee. ‘He’s profiting from the misery of others and not even giving them what they pay for. At least I can try to stop him. I can send a sub-space message back to Earth and report him.’

  I grabbed her arm. ‘No, you mustn’t.’

  Vee pulled away from me immediately. ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because Stefan knows the names of most of the ships that will help drones escape for a price. If he goes down, he’ll make sure he’s not alone,’ I replied.

  Vee frowned. ‘It’s not right.’

  ‘Welcome to life as a drone,’ I replied.

  ‘If I do drop you off at the first neutral starbase, what will you do then?’ asked Vee.