THE PLANET THAT LOVED PEOPLE (standard:science fiction, 1464 words) [8/15] show all parts
Author: Danny Raven	Added: Mar 08 2016	Views/Reads: 1813/1369	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
PART 2 - CH 8

EIGHT 

His friends were gone. All his friends were gone. It ran through his
mind over and over again as he stumbled through the dark, empty Modas 
countryside. He had dematerialized continually for almost fifteen 
minutes after he left the cabin and was now away on the other side of 
the planet, lost and confused. 

His friends were gone. Corthan, Kane, Muslik, Miller and Talis. Corthan
was gone. He would never see him again. Never. Tears poured down his 
face and he stumbled blindly on. He fell headlong over rocks and down 
gulleys, cutting and bruising himself then dragged himself up and 
staggered on. Rain fell, soaking him but he never noticed. As the first 
streaks of pale blue lightened the sky he crawled exhausted into a 
small cave. 

‘Corthan's gone,' was all he could think of before he fell into a
restless sleep. 

In his dreams he was back on Birth Colony Unton again. On that
artificial sterile planet created to provide a slave labour force for 
Earth. 

Living in that white controlled world. Watched constantly by the black
punishment robots. Every action planned. The endless sameness of it 
all. The very air they breathed carefully monitored. 

Soon he would be fifteen and it would then be time for him to leave and
start work as a slave. How he hated it. Hated the other zombies who 
walked the planet with him. 

It was during a spell in the correction cells that he discovered he
could dematerialize. He was lying on the stiff hard bed thinking about 
a wild part of the planet he'd seen one day. He was concentrating on it 
completely, wishing he was there. When he opened his eyes, he was. 

He looked around at the rugged land, afraid and excited at the same
time. He strolled about, breathing in the fresh cold air, the barren 
wastes of the planet a wonder to him. Then he became afraid one of the 
punishment robots mind find him. He sat down and closed his eyes and 
thought hard about his cell. When he opened them he was back in it. 

A few days later he did it again and after that it got easier – he only
had to picture in his mind where he wanted to go, close his eyes and 
concentrate briefly and he was there. He tried to work out how it 
happened but he never could. Finally he just accepted it. 

Nights were the best for exploring after they were locked in the
sleep-rooms and the robots were patrolling the corridors and grounds. 
He discovered the Landing Bay one time and used to watch in wonder at 
the Ships coming and going. 

Eventually his curiosity overtook him and he dematerialized at the Exit
Bay of a Ship when no-one was around. He made his way inside and hid. 
He visited other Birth Colonies a few times and no-one knew anything 
about it until the time he arrived back slightly unwell. 

The common cold virus he'd picked up and introduced on Birth Colony
Rouse had wiped out the entire slave population before they discovered 
how it had started. That it had been him. The punishment robots tracked 
him for days until they caught him exhausted in the countryside and 
managed to sedate him. There was no trial and he was dumped on Sirene. 

And now they were coming for him again. The black robots with the
electro-prods and he was running and dematerializing but still they 
came after him and Muslik appeared in the near distance, smiling and 
beckoning to him and he could hear him saying over and over, ‘Blaze! 
Blaze! Blaze!' but the robots were gaining on him and he couldn't run 
anymore and Muslik got further away and the robots got closer and he 
yelled out in fear as the electro-prod jabbed into his— 

Blaze woke up screaming and sweating and looking round in panic. He
sighed with relief when he discovered he was in the cave, not back on 
the Birth Colony. It took him a few moments however to realize he could 
still hear Muslik calling him. 


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