Jack Strong and the Red Giant

Chapter 27: A New Hope

Vyleria had no idea how long she had been asleep for. Minutes? Hours? Her head was light and groggy and her skin felt a little hot. Outside, the dust storm rose and howled like a beast. She was almost out of options now, so she tried the last one available to her, even if it resulted in her own destruction.

She pushed a few red and green buttons on her holographic dashboard and dialed the spaceship. She had no idea why it had attacked them earlier, but she didn't care. If the spaceship didn't finish her off, then either the meteors or the dust storm would. She was caught between a supernova and a black hole.

She waited to see if anyone picked up her call.

All she heard was static.

She tried again.

More static.

What's going on over there? Either the ship is deserted or else they are ignoring me whilst simultaneously zooming through the depths of space to blast me into bits.

Minutes ticked by, but no spaceship came bursting through the crimson skies firing a hail of sonic bullets.

She called the ship again. "Can anybody hear me? It's Vyleria. I need help."

She didn't hear so much as a murmur.

"Xylem, Padget are you there?"

Still nothing.

"Grunt?"

After half an hour of trying she slammed her fists against the dashboard. Now what? Maybe the communication system isn't working properly? She thought. It could have been damaged in the battle, or else in the crash. She was just about to crawl out and drag herself towards the other spaceship and try their comm system when her spacecraft suddenly flooded with noise.

"Who's that? What do you want?" asked a girl's voice.

"It's Vyleria," she said, relief surging through her like a flood. "Who's this? What's going on over there? Why did you fire on us?"

"I didn't," said the girl. She sounded shy, quiet, nervous. "It was that red boy, the one with huge teeth. He would've gotten me too, but he couldn't see me."

"Do you mean Xylem?" asked Vyleria.

"Yeah, that's him."

Vyleria couldn't believe it. She knew Xylem was a bully, but she didn't think he would actually try to kill them.

"Do you know why?" she asked.

"Dunno. But there's more of them now. Thousands. I can't hide much longer."

"Okay, don't worry," said Vyleria. "Do you know what happened to Padget and Grunt?"

"They took the big green boy prisoner, but the other one got shot. I... I think he's dead."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it happened right before my eyes. There was lots of blood and everything. He didn't move afterwards. But it all happened so fast. I can't be sure. It was lucky they couldn't see me or I might've gotten shot too."

"What do you mean they couldn't see you?"

"No one can, not unless I let them that is."

"Oh, so you're the girl who Jack saw," said Vyleria. "The one who can turn invisible. I thought he was going space-crazy."

"Yeah, he saw me alright. I was going to reveal myself then but... I changed my mind."

"Why on Elaria did you do that?"

"I didn't know who you were. I couldn't trust you. On my planet not being seen keeps you alive and out of the master's chains."

"Oh, I see," said Vyleria, imagining some dark netherworld populated by demons. "Well, I hope you can trust us now. Together we may still have a chance."

"A chance for what?"

"To escape."

"But..."

"Look don't worry; I'll think of something. Just don't get caught for now. Stay hidden."

"Don't worry, I've been hiding my whole life."

Vyleria was about to find out more about the new girl when something large and heavy thudded into her spaceship. Thinking that it was another rockfall or a meteor she made part of her ship transparent and looked outside.

Hundreds of huge, hairy creatures surged over the plain, scrambling after a figure in blue. The figure dived into the other spaceship just as one of the animals leapt forward, its six-inch claws swiping desperately at thin air.

She couldn't believe it. He was alive. Everything was going to be alright.