THE PLANET THAT LOVED PEOPLE (standard:science fiction, 1572 words) [5/18] show all parts
Author: Danny Raven	Added: Mar 04 2016	Views/Reads: 1864/1298	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
PART 1 - CH 4

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

broken skeletons dotted round Sirene which would never be found. 

Others, the endurers, lived on. Gambling, eating, sleeping, fighting,
Dreamtabing. Waiting and watching. Maybe one day out of that endless 
grey sky...... 

Muslik Gra and Miller had been sitting for over an hour in the same
spot. On a dull grassy bank where the narrow path had ended and there 
stretched a desolate plain of jagged rocks, thick mud and pools of 
blackish water. There was a wind blowing across the plain, a chill wind 
that ruffled the surface of the pools and carried the threat of rain 
but they didn't seem to notice or care. 

Muslik was in the same faded dark blue prison clothes he'd worn since he
arrived on Sirene. Miller was in a pair of filthy denims, a mud-stained 
jumper and a long brown coat he'd picked up somewhere. 

For a while Muslik had been sitting motionless, gazing out over the
plain but now he was glancing up at the grey sky occasionally as if 
drawn to something. Miller, who was idly tossing pebbles into a pool, 
didn't notice the change in him. 

Muslik looked up at the sky again. A long probing look this time then he
turned to Miller and said, like it was no big deal, “You'd better find 
Kane. Tell him there's a Ship coming.” 

Miller froze in mid-throw. He turned to Muslik and stared stupidly at
him. Muslik didn't usually say things twice. This time he would have to 
or Miller would sit there all day with his mouth hanging open. 

“I said you'd better find Kane,” he repeated, trying not to laugh at the
stunned expression on Miller's face, “and tell him there's a Ship 
coming.” Then as if he made statements like that every day he turned 
and resumed his contemplation of Sirene's bleak landscape. 

Miller looked from Muslik to the empty sky. It remained empty. He looked
back at him and rose slowly to his feet, the pebbles in his hand 
falling to the ground unnoticed. The message hadn't really sunk in but 
he turned and started walking away along the path anyway. 

A little way off he stopped and looked back. Muslik hadn't moved and was
still gazing calmly out over the plain. 

‘Did he really say there was a Ship coming?' he thought, pulling at his
scruffy brown beard. ‘Yeah, he said it. Twice. I heard him.' 

He started walking again, faster this time, the doubt beginning to leave
him. Further along the path, the message really sank home. “Jesus! A 
Ship!!” he yelled. 

He broke into a run along the narrow path, his brown coat flapping
around him in the wind. 

Kane was sitting on a massive flat boulder which lay at the edge of a
hill with a sheer drop under it. In front of him stretched a wide, 
rugged, empty valley. This was one of the spots he came to when he 
didn't want company so it was with some irritation that he heard 
someone coming up the hill. He listened awhile, annoyed by the 
intrusion, hoping whoever it was would turn back but they didn't. He 
tried to block out the noise but the sound of boots pounding on stones 
grew steadily louder. Cursing, he slid off the boulder, walked over to 
the other edge of the hill and looked down. 

About half-way up the zigzagging path, Miller was bent over catching his
breath. Kane stared down at him, folded his arms and waited. Eventually 
Miller straightened and glanced up. He saw the familiar figure in the 
faded dark brown leathers staring down at him and he cupped his hands 
together and shouted something but Kane couldn't make him out. He 
pointed at the sky and yelled. Kane glanced up but there was nothing. 
He searched round, horizon to horizon. Still nothing. He looked back 
downhill but Miller had started trotting up the path again. 

He shrugged and strolled back over to the boulder and climbed up. If
this was another of Miller's lunatic ideas he would go down the damn 
hill a lot faster than he came up. 

He was gazing out over the valley again when Miller appeared a few
minutes later. He stumbled over to the boulder and slumped against it, 
chest heaving from the run. 

“What is it this time?” Kane asked without looking down at him. 

“Muslik...says,” Miller panted out, “Ship...coming.” 

Kane rapidly calculated. Two months since the last Transporter. Four
months till the next. He spun round, slid off the boulder to the ground 
and grabbed Miller by the lapels of his coat. 

“Muslik said what!?” 

Miller was just about to answer when they heard it – a sharp crack high
above them. They both looked up and searched the leaden grey skies. It 
was Miller who saw it first. 

“There!” he yelled, pointing a shaking finger. 

Kane followed his direction and saw it. They stood in stunned silence
for long seconds as the black dot high in the sky slowly grew larger. 

“Christ, a Ship!” Kane hissed, releasing Miller's coat. 

They watched as it slowly descended towards Sirene. 

“The moor near the Block!” Kane yelled, running for the path. “It's
coming down on the moor!” 

Miller watched it a little longer then turned and trotted after him on
still shaky legs. 


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