Out Of Orbit

Chapter 7

REBECCA

"Who are you?"

"Jarryd Denver. I'm...human."

Rebecca took a shaky breath, amazed at how confident Jarryd seemed. Taking a step closer to Michael, she tried not to feel the hundreds of eyes trained on the back of her head. Glancing to the side, she met Naytan's eyes. He gave an encouraging nod.

"That's Marston Fen. He's the head of the Council."

Rebecca nodded. "He's...Dysantyll?" Her tongue tripped over the new word. Naytan nodded.

"You are not from this planet."

Rebecca turned her attention back to the conversation. It was more of a statement than a question, but Jarryd replied,

"No. We're from a planet called Earth."

Before he could continue, he was interrupted by another member of the council, a large man with what looked like two sets of arms.

"Why have you come?"

Rebecca winced at his suspicious tone.

"That's Kendon Rai, the army general," Rebecca heard Naytan in her ear.

"He has four arms." Rebecca kicked herself for the comment but relaxed when Naytan grinned.

"He's a Plette. You should see the ones with more than one head. Rai is pretty normal."

"We didn't mean to come here. We didn't even know this planet existed. Our ship crashed."

The murmuring of the crowd was cut short by the question of the green-skinned man sitting at one end of the table.

"And humans all have the power you have shown?"

Rebecca shot a look at Naytan who answered the unspoken question in a whisper. "Alexei Nueva. He's a Kirien."

"Humans don't have any powers," Alexei opened his mouth to argue but Jarryd continued, "on Earth. Here...something has changed. We don't know any more than you do."

There was a moment of silence as the members of the council assessed this information. Finally, Marston Fen spoke. "Maybe you should tell us your story from the beginning. Why is it that you left Earth?"

Rebecca saw Jarryd take a deep breath, considering how to explain the cycle of events that had led to that moment.

"A long time ago the Earth was a lot like this planet, full of life with plenty of water and the perfect atmosphere to support life. At least, that's what we were taught. By the time we were born humans had damaged the planet so much that most of the species had become extinct. There was very little clean water and the atmosphere had begun to break down. About five years ago the surface of the Earth became uninhabitable. Scientists created biodomes and found ways to create oxygen and water so we could survive until we found a new planet. When they finally found one, they started evacuating the most important people on Earth. After that, they sent the children and teenagers. Ours was the 22nd craft to leave Earth. On our way to find this new planet something went wrong with the space craft. The pilot lost control and we landed on the edge of a cliff."

Jarryd paused and Rebecca swallowed the bile that rose in her throat as she remembered the sight of the bodies filling the seats and the smell that had hung in the air long after the craft had toppled over the edge.

"We were the only people to survive. We searched the ship for anything we could use then decided to try find a safer place to spend the night,"

"So your craft is still there?"