The Sable Valley Read online

or do anything to get this ship moving.

  Caroline didn’t know why she had decided to do this. But since nothing else could be done—she might as well go on and try to save the other passengers still alive aboard this ship.

  As she got closer to the bow, she heard and saw more sign of the space pirates’ presence. She retreated one time as one of them passed by. She slashed at him.

  He fell, without too much sound—just a lot of blood. But just in case, she quickly dashed forward and grabbed his weapon. A blaster cannon—very high level, almost no one except for colonial officers ever got one of these.

  As Caroline inspected the blaster cannon, familiarizing herself with the weapon and its systems, she noticed the serial numbers—PX294.

  She stared at the serial numbers. This came from her own home-planet. The colony—the colony must have been attacked; the space pirates must have gotten bold enough to mount a full-scale attack. Nothing else could have come close to—her family, her friends, Marjory…

  Suddenly, the door opened at the far end of the hall. Lieutenant Caroline Swanson lifted her head, aiming the cannon at—

  “Marjory!” Caroline cried. “What are you--”

  She was hit with a stunning blast.

  5.

  She came to inside a small compartment, her back propped up against the wall; Lieutenant Caroline Swanson woke up, and stood, staggering to her feet as she reeled against another wall to the side. She knocked against some cleaning supplies before she rushed to the door and knocked on the screen, screaming, “Help! Marjory! Marjory, are you there?”

  She had no idea what to think when Marjory’s face appeared—she was older, yes, and more scarred than before, but it was still Majory. “What do you want, Caroline?” Majory’s muffled voice said on the other side.

  She tried opening the compartment door, but it was still locked. “Marjory? Majory, what happened to you, what--”

  “The colony is gone, Caroline—I had to survive.” Majory said; no emotion in her eyes.

  “So you--” The truth dawned on Caroline; “So you’re with the pirates?” Caroline said, stepping back against the opposite wall.

  “They destroyed us—everybody,” Marjory said, looking down. “A few of us were left, after the initial attacks had destroyed most of the base; the pirates came in, and started looting what was left.” She looked up and explained, “They found us, and asked—and asked if we wanted to join them, before they killed us. Most of us refused, but a few—including me—said yes; we would join them. We were told to kill the others before we did.”

  “I can’t—I can’t believe it…” Caroline gasped, turning away; “How long ago was this?” she finally asked, recovering her senses as she stared at the wall.

  “Two years—you wouldn’t have heard.” Marjory said, remote as ever. “You were too far away from us, on the Central Planet—you wouldn’t have heard.”

  “I’m—I’m sorry…” She turned around to stare at her. “I didn’t know, but Marjory—Marjory, you have to let me go.” She rushed to the screen, and said, “Marjory, if there’s anything left of my old friend in you, you have to let me go--” She insisted, “We can kill the pirates, if we take them by surprise, and free what’s left of the other passengers. We can save this ship, and we can take revenge for what happened to you, to the rest of the colonists on PX294.” She sighed. “They were our friends and family, Marjory, they were--”

  “Don’t you think I hadn’t thought of it?” Marjory said. “A long time ago, when I joined these pirates…don’t you think I hadn’t thought of killing them myself?” She looked away. “But no, I couldn’t…I already had blood on my hands; I was a pirate, like one of them. If I hadn’t been so determined to save myself--”

  “I don’t blame you--” Caroline said.

  “Liar!” Marjory yelled, turning back around to point at her. “I can see it in your eyes—you blame me for doing that, for turning against our own; well, you did it first.” She frowned, lowering her finger. “You joined the space program.”

  “I didn’t—I didn’t have much choice.” Caroline said; she shook her head. “But that doesn’t matter, it doesn’t--”

  “It does to me!” Marjory cried, pounding her fists against the screen. “I switched ID cards! Those records were my grades, my speed times, my accomplishments--”

  “What?” Caroline said; but then she remembered-- “But why, Marjory? Why would—”

  “Because you cared so goddamn much!” Marjory yelled, pounding against the screen one last time. “I just wanted you to be happy, I didn’t care about being the best—not until the space patrol got involved in this mess!” She apparently kicked the door, and then grimaced, hopping around on the other. “Damn it—why do they always have to take the best and the brightest,” she said, finally calming down, “And leaving us with the riffraff—like me?” She looked up, and there was a tear in her eye.

  Suddenly, there was a siren blaring—Lieutenant Caroline Swanson looked up and asked, “Marjory, what is it? What’s going on?”

  “Stay here—oh wait.” Marjory smiled. “You have nowhere else to go.” She ran off before Caroline could say anything.

  She fell back against the opposite wall, covering her head with her hands as she tried not to think about it—she was dead; there was nothing left for her. Her family, her friends…even Marjory might as well be dead, for what good that did her. And everything—everything she had ever achieved, to become a member of the space program, and to go out on patrols…had been a lie; she really wasn’t the best. If Marjory had switched the ID cards, had ‘forged’ the results—then Marjory should have been here, on this side of the compartment door, as a Lieutenant of the Central Space Program; and she would have been one of the space pirates.

  Suddenly, another face appeared—that of a pirate; he said, “Are you an expert on rockets?”

  “Enough of one to know that you must have damaged them.” Caroline said. “So what’s the problem?”

  He opened the compartment door, and forced her out, dragging her down to the rear docking/cargo bay near the rockets where several other pirates were gathered—including Marjory. They gave her the basics of the damage report, and she saw what was the problem—however, it couldn’t be fixed onboard the ship; it had to be fixed outside, on the rockets themselves.

  “You have to do it.” said the pirate’s leader.

  “Why should I?” Caroline asked.

  “There are hostages still alive—they’ll survive, if you fix the rockets for us.” The pirate said. He brought them up on the monitor, an image of them cowering in the passengers’ deck above—she saw the time stamp on the monitor; a verified image of what was taking place right now, and not recorded for her satisfaction. Lieutenant Caroline Swanson stared at the faces on the screen, some of them she recognized from her stasis pod chamber. She looked over at Marjory, who stood there without saying a word to her; just staring as hard as any pirate.

  “All right.” She said. “I’ll go—just suit me up.”

  6.

  Marjory adjusted the straps, and then picked up the visor—she stared at her image, reflected back at her on the dark-tinted screen. “Just put it on me.” Caroline said.

  Marjory turned around, and slid it over Caroline’s head. “Are you sure you have everything you need?” Marjory asked.

  Caroline patted the tool-kit attached to her space-suit. “All set—just let me loose,” she said, her voice muffled before she pushed the intercom button. “What about oxygen?” Caroline asked, loud and clear on the communication channel.

  Marjory glanced over at the pirate leader—Clive—who said, “We’ll give you all the support you need, miss—now go; and fix those rockets. We need this ship in one piece, and we need all of the hostages alive. They won’t be valuable to us if we’re all dead from being stranded out here or blown up in the meantime.”

  Marjory sighed, and stepped back as Caroline trudged forward, entering the air-lock room; the door s
ealed behind her, and then the air-lock opened. Marjory held her breath as Caroline launched out into space with her propulsion system, and the air-lock closed behind her.

  Marjory, watching all of this on the monitor, turned to the space pirate captain and said, “Clive, do you intend to keep all of the passengers alive?”

  “Sure—if they behave,” Clive chuckled, and then he said, “Now come on, Marjie girl, what’s the matter with you?”

  “Nothing—let me see the support systems of that spacesuit on the monitor,” Marjory said, and the captain complied; he brought up the statistics, the vital signs holding steady and the oxygen level at near capacity. She nodded, satisfied that they hadn’t sent Caroline out to her death, and then her old friend’s voice sounded over the intercom.

  “Okay…I’m approaching the rockets…do you have all of the flight systems turned off?”

  “They’re all turned off, miss,” Clive said, “On account of them not working properly. Make sure you get the rockets functioning again!” He slammed his fist down on the armrest of the chair he had commandeered, his blaster cannon laying at his side. Marjory flinched, but didn’t move from where she stood beside him.

  “All right, all right—don’t get angry.” Caroline said. “I’ve gone into the barrel of a rocket…it’s leaking fuel…”

  “Leaking fuel…” Clive shook his head, and turned off the intercom for a moment. “We’re never going to