Round the world they go
In
nineteen sixty five
Orbiting
the earth
So
high up in the sky
Dashing
round the world
Above
the earth they race
Jingle
Bells the song, was
The
first one played in space
O
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle
all the way.
Oh! What fun it is to ride
In
a space ship far away hey
Sung
to the tune of Jingle Bells
The harvest moon appears
In an Amethyst sky
The centre piece
Amidst the heavenly
array
Of jewelled stars on
display
Where such brilliance
captivates
With spiritual delight
As you stand in awe
And imagine life
Beyond the stars
Dark clouds concealed
The firmament
The moon and stars
Still shone
Though not apparent
And heavens jewels
Remained, unseen
A dazzling array of stars
Carpet the night sky
Enlivening the heart
And making spirits fly
I see the bright stars high above me
I almost feel they are
a part of me
But as each one
sparkles like a gem
I know one day I will
be part of them
After dropping Coll at his house Lyris and
Zerrad Skeet found themselves a comfortable hotel on the classier side of town.
They spent much of the next day mooching
about Ditton doing not very much at all, and later in the day they sat in a
restaurant and over a meal discussed what to do next about Coll.
“He’s definitely hiding something” Lyris said
“I agree, but we don’t know if that’s a
murder or not” his brother responded
“Well I think there’s one sure way to find
out and that’s to go and ask him” Lyris added
“Ok let’s go and see him now” Zerrad said
It was quite late when they pulled up in
Coll’s neighbourhood, and everything was quiet, so they parked in the first
available space, it was only as they walked along the alley that they noticed
the front door was ajar.
The Skeets drew their weapons and Lyris
pushed the door open slowly and stepped inside the dark hallway.
“Coll!” he called
Coll Musak heard the call just as he aimed
the Pulsar Laser at Knarf, who, on seeing Coll momentarily distracted took his
chance and sprang up off the sofa and launched himself at him, then he fired the
fully charged Pulsar Laser, and the bolt hit Knarf squarely in the chest
throwing him back onto the flexible alloy covered sofa, but because the Laser
was discharged at such short range the Laser bolt went straight through the
Adnarian before continuing its flight, and hitting the wall by the door just as
Lyris opened the door.
Lyris burst into the room and heard something
hit the wall about twelve inches from his head, he wasn’t sure what it was
until he saw the Pulsar Laser in Coll’s hand, then he looked at the scorched hole
in the plaster and said
“That was too close for comfort”
He tried to put the fact that he had narrowly
missed being killed from his mind and quickly surveyed the scene, a motionless
body, the flexible alloy sheet, a Gold Watch on the table and a Pulsar Laser.
However, while he was surveying the scene his
brother pushed past him and took the weapon from Coll who relinquished it
without argument then he checked the motionless body for signs of life, before
he turned and said.
“He’s dead”
“Good” Coll retorted
“What the hell happened Coll what’s going on
here?”
“I set a trap for him, ambushed him if you
like,” He pointed at the faux Gold Watch
“I lured him here with that and then executed
him”
Lyris sat down on the vacant chair and Zerrad
sat on the arm of the sofa and looked at the corpse, while Coll filled them in
on the events of that evening and the previous months which lead up to it.
He told them everything, seeing Knarf leaving
Sonda’s house, the call to the Prefecture, the lying, the intimidation, the
vandalism and the brain tumour, right up to the point when the Skeets entered
the room.
“You can call the prefects now” Coll stated.
Lyris sat in the arm chair with his head back
and his eyes closed and said nothing.
“Lyris you must”
“I’m not going to call anyone” Lyris replied
leaning forward.
“But I killed him, you know I did” Coll said
“We’re not calling the Prefects” Zerrad confirmed
“But you have to, I killed him, and I’m
prepared to take my punishment” Coll said
“If they arrest you for murder you will spend
your last days in prison awaiting trial” Lyris said
“And you don’t deserve that”
“I don’t want you two throwing your lives away
to save me” Coll said
“We wouldn’t have lives if it hadn’t been for
you” Zerrad said “So what’s our next move Ly?”
“We need the Spider Hawk” Lyris replied and
then to Coll he asked
“Is your Runabout driveable?”
“Yes, I just keep it in the lockup to stop it
being vandalised” he replied
“Ok we’ll sort things here, while you return
the Runabout and get the shuttle to Rendon, pick up the Spider Hawk and the
meet us….” He paused as he consulted an electronic map “This old derelict
quarry workings”
“Ok I’m on my way” Zerrad said “Rendezvous in
5 hours”
The first hour following Zerrad’s departure passed
largely in silence, as Lyris and Coll wrapped the corpse in the flexible alloy
sheet which they then carried out to Coll’s lockup, fortunately it was possible
to access it from his back yard reducing the risk of being seen, and they
managed to get to the garage unnoticed.
Once in the garage they put the body in the back,
then paused for breath.
“What now?” Coll asked breathing heavily.
“Go back to the house and get all your
belongings together, you won’t be coming back to Ditton again” he replied
It only took Coll about half an hour to throw
what he wanted to take into a couple of bags, and another twenty to gather
together his most precious belongings into a third.
The three bags were loaded into the Runabout
and then Lyris went back to the house to make sure there were no signs of foul
play and then he turned out the light and closed the back door and joined Coll
in the lockup.
“Ok let’s go” he said
A thick fog had descended which was something
of a blessing and a curse, a blessing as it was good cover if you were up to no
good but a curse when the people you’re rendezvousing with are unable to see
the ground.
So they drove carefully away from Coll’s house,
away from his neighbourhood, through the industrial district and beyond to the
old derelict quarry workings.
They drove off the main road and followed the
rough track that lead towards the quarry and continued on round to the back of
the abandoned buildings, to a spot that couldn’t be seen from the main road and
pulled up in a cancelled spot some fifty yards from where the Spider Hawk could
land.
They had about an hour to wait before Zerrad
was due and Lyris was relieved to see that the fog was thinning as a light
breeze began to blow.
It was half an hour beyond the agreed time
for the Rendezvous and Lyris was beginning to get concerned but then the comms
crackled into life
“Spider Hawk calling Chic’s, come in Chic’s”
Zerrad said
“Chic’s receiving Zer, loud and clear” Lyris
replied
“Visibility poor, can you give me a target”
Zerrad asked
“Received Zer, look for my lights” he replied
and turned the Runabout lights on full”
“I have visual, coming down”
The Spider Hawk landed and Lyris drove the Runabout
closer to reduce the distance they would need to carry the body.
They got Coll and his bags aboard first and
then opened the boot and transferred the body into the Spider Hawks hold.
Finally, once Zerrad was at the controls
Lyris set the timer on a burner and tossed it in to Coll’s Runabout.
A burner was an incendiary device with a time
delay which would give them time to get airborne before it went off, so Lyris
got in the Spider Hawk and Zerrad took off.
They hovered just above the quarry until the
burner ignited and once the Runabout was well ablaze they sped off at speed
directly towards space, and as soon as they left Eikon Majors atmosphere Zerrad
slowed down.
“Shall we let him go here?” he asked
“It’s as good a place as any” Lyris said and remotely
opened the hold, and they watched as the alloy covered bundle tumbled through
the outer atmosphere and burned up as it went.
“Good riddance” Coll said
There was real relief in Coll’s face as they
left Eikon Major, even though he had no notion where he was going.
For the Skeets it was a no brainer, like all
the Tornado’s lame ducks, like Duff Tarver and Ambor Etra, they took him to
Montrose, but unlike Duff and Ambor there would be no recovery, but he would be
able to end his days in peace and dignity among friends new and old, and
attended by the Tornado’s healer, Terrell Vorton.
Coll Musak’s passing coincided with Ambor
Etra’s recovery from her Pulsar wound and the Tornado’s readiness to resume its
duties for Golbolt Interstellar, so it was decided Ambor could
tag along aboard the Tornado until such time as Ferro Scanner returned from protective
duty on Andraxis and Captain Merionwen Strong returned to the Eikon Cluster
after her sabbatical.
