Space Rats Read online

  TWO

  A spaceship, small compared to a lot of the ships out there, was parked at the back of the shipyard. Troy felt his throat tighten and tears came to his eyes. His stomach clenched and he couldn’t decide whether he was going to cry or throw up.

  It was such a familiar sight as he had spent his first nine years of life inside this ship while his parents explored planets and star systems. It was also where his father had died and his mother had been so terribly injured. The image of his mother slumped over the console, her blood seeping over the control panel flashed in his mind and he gasped. He had kept that memory firmly buried but standing this close to their old home brought it raging to the forefront of his mind and he struggled not to become overwhelmed.

  Tristan watched his little brother, aware of the different emotions chasing each other over his face. He knew what he was feeling, he had felt it too and his heart went out to him. He squeezed Troy’s shoulder in sympathy.

  Ziggy hovered behind not really knowing whether he should be here or not. He knew how Tristan and Troy had come to be here and knew Troy had never been down here since they’d landed. Looking at the spaceship he thought it looked quite pretty.

  It was a teardrop shape slightly flattened with a long cylindrical shape attached at either side. Four chunky feet held it off the ground. It had a shimmering silver colour and painted along one side of it was a picture of a shooting star in red and yellow and in blue lettering the name Star Chaser.

  “You’ve fixed her,” Troy noted in a flat voice.

  “Yeah,” Tristan said, unable to stop the pride from creeping into his voice. “I’ve been coming down here every night and working on her with Old Ted helping me.”

  “Who’s Old Ted?” Ziggy asked curiously.

  “He works nights down here as a guard but he used to be a mechanic for the police, a really good one actually,” Tristan told them smiling.

  “Why?” Troy asked so quietly they almost couldn’t hear him.

  “Because Star Chaser is our home, not here!” Tristan said frowning at his brother, “Because Mum and Dad would have wanted it this way! Do you want to stay here for the rest of your life?”

  Troy looked at his brother finally understanding what he had been doing, “Are you planning on leaving Goramir? On Star Chaser?”

  “We’re leaving Goramir,” Tristan corrected, “Troy, we can’t stay here! This isn’t home - up there is!”

  Troy looked up to where Tristan pointed and noticed how bright the stars were away from the streetlights. They shone like beacons and for the first time since arriving on this planet Troy realised how much he had missed them. Being able to look out of his window and see the stars sliding past was how he used to fall asleep and he realised with a jolt he wanted to see that again.

  “Can Ziggy come too?” he asked.

  Tristan grinned and slapped his brother on the back. “Of course, Krista is already coming – she’s brilliant with computers! I’ve fixed the engines and made a few improvements as well!”

  “Krista’s coming?” Troy said frowning slightly.

  Tristan sighed, “We can’t run the ship ourselves, we need others. I’ll be the mechanic, fixing the engines and such. Krista will handle the computer and all the other systems.”

  “What will I do?” he asked Tristan.

  Tristan grinned and placed his hand on his shoulder, “You’re the pilot of course!”

  Troy’s jaw dropped slightly and it was a moment before he could speak, “What? You want me to pilot Star Chaser?”

  “Why not?” Tristan shrugged, “You were always the one up with Mum, watching her and getting her to let you pilot. Plus you’ve been playing that stupid computer game!”

  “What’s that got to do with it?”

  Tristan sighed again, “Haven’t you noticed that it’s very similar to the controls on Star Chaser. She’s a great little ship but she is pretty old and basic.”

  Troy looked from his brother back to the ship and tried to think of a reason he couldn’t do it. His heart went a little faster at the thought of once more being amongst the stars and away from this place and he couldn’t stop the grin from spreading over his face.

  “Okay, let’s do it!” he said, “What about inside? Have you changed it much?”

  Tristan hugged his brother quickly and Ziggy sniggered behind them. Troy scowled at him as his brother pulled a small black disc out of his pocket and pointed it at the ship. There was a whooshing noise and just underneath the nose a hatch opened and came to rest on the ground. Just as they started up the ramp a voice cried out behind them.

  “Wait! You’re not going without us!”

  Lena came running up dragging a sleepy Orla behind her. She stopped just before the ramp and glared at Troy.

  “You were going to leave without us? After all the help I’ve given you – I thought we were friends!” Lena tried to look angry but the hitch in her voice at the end proved she was more upset than anything.

  “We’re not!” Troy said then hastily added at Lena’s incredulous expression, “We’re not leaving that is! I’ve only just found out myself!” He looked round at his brother who had a disgusted look on his face.

  “Is there anyone you didn’t tell about this?”

  Troy smiled weakly, “Lena and Orla helped us with the plan. I don’t suppose they could…?”

  Tristan flung his hands in the air and said, “Why not? Might as well ask everyone!”

  “Don’t be silly!” Lena said sharply, “The ship isn’t big enough!”

  Tristan scowled at her and asked, “I don’t suppose there is anything useful you can do?”

  “Oh yes!” Ziggy exclaimed, trying to help, “Lena’s very good at…um…she’s good at…well, she’s good at fighting!”

  Troy groaned inwardly and looked at Tristan. But his brother just stared at Ziggy then turned away shaking his head as he continued up the ramp. Troy hurried after him followed closely by the others.

  They entered into a large open space that was the cargo bay that had a flight of stairs at the opposite end directly in front of them. Beyond the stairs they could see doors lining the corridor and one at the far end.

  “These are the sleeping quarters,” Tristan explained to Ziggy, Lena and Orla, “Beyond the bedrooms at the end of the corridor is the engine rooms which I would rather you stayed out of, if you don’t mind!”

  Tristan led the way up the stairs eagerly followed by everyone except Troy. He was feeling a whirl of emotions, a mix of grief and happiness.

  He was happy to be back in the one place he had always thought of as home but dreaded seeing it at the same time. He walked slowly up the stairs and barely heard Tristan telling the others where the kitchen and the bridge were. He turned towards the bridge alone and stepped into the doorway.

  He gazed around at the familiar seats and panels with their flashing lights, buttons of all different sizes and little screens that told you how the ship was operating. Of course, the ship was shut down just now with only the doors and the overhead lights powered up so they could see.

  He walked slowly over to the front and stopped just in front of his mother’s chair. Looking down at the console he could see it had been replaced with a different control panel but in his mind’s eye he could remember what it looked like the last time he had seen it.

  “I had to replace it,” his brother said quietly behind him, “I couldn’t bring myself to try and….you know.” Tristan shrugged.

  Troy looked up at his brother and knew he had meant he couldn’t bring himself to clean the blood off. Their mother’s blood. Looking down at the console again he ran his hand over it.

  “It’s almost exactly the same,” he said in wonder, “Where did you find it?”

  Tristan grinned, “There’s another ship here almost identical to Star Chaser! Same engine systems, same electrical…!”

  “Okay, okay!” Troy smiled, “So you took parts from that ship and put them in Star Chaser?”


  “That’s right!” Tristan said, his chest visibly expanding with pride, “Old Ted helped me some but I managed to get everything either repaired or replaced. I did have to spend some of our money that was hidden in the cargo bay though, for some parts and fuel.”

  Troy nodded and said, “I’m glad you did.”

  “Really?” Tristan said placing a hand on his shoulder, “Are you going to be okay? It took me a while to feel comfortable about this, especially since all the damage was still here.”

  Troy looked around the bridge and nodded slowly, “I’ll think I’ll be okay.”

  “Good,” Tristan smiled, “There’s one other thing though. If all these kids are coming with us we’re going to have to clear out Mum and Dad’s room.”

  “I don’t think Mum would mind,” Troy said thoughtfully, “I think they would like it that Star Chaser was someone’s home again.”

  Tristan stood thinking for a moment while watching their friends walk towards the bridge while looking around at everything with wonder. Indicating for his friends to stay on the bridge while he and Tristan stepped out into the corridor, Troy smiled reassuringly and closed the door for some privacy.

  “Seriously Troy, what are all these kids going to be doing? It’s going to be hard enough to keep the fact a bunch of kids are flying a space ship without us having to baby sit as well.”

  Troy nodded thoughtfully, “I’, sure we can find something for them to do. We’re going to be living here so there will still be chores needing done, like cooking and cleaning!”

  Tristan nodded in agreement, “True, I guess some chores you just can’t get away from!”

  Troy grinned, “Yeah, but we can get someone else to do them for us!”

  Tristan laughed and patted his brother on his arm, “I like the way you think. Okay, I guess this is it! Everyone will have their own assigned duties but we all still need to work together when needed. Agreed?”

  Troy nodded then asked, “Shouldn’t we run this by the others first?”