Survivors

CHAPTER 55

 

 

Rikers glared at Thraller. He knew Thraller from when his father, Urland, was an Ancient and Thraller was starting in his position as head of security. He remembered Thraller was a typical Shkah, a man with a little brain and a big mean streak. Actually, as Shkah went, Thraller was cunning and observant—he was not one to be underestimated.

 

Thraller looked inside of Riker’s vehicle.  "Where did you get this fancy van? Last I heard motorized vehicles were illegal except with the consent of the Ancients. Or is the son of an Ancient, even a dead Ancient, above the law?" Thraller asked.

 

"I have permission to use this," Rikers said.

 

"Oh? And why haven't I heard about this?"

 

"You can't hear everything, even if you think you can." Rikers pulled out some papers. His father had them made in case he ever needed them. He handed them to Thraller.

 

Thraller looked the documents over and handed them back. "I probably should radio in to check these. Your father was a good person, even if his son didn't turn out like his old man. It was a sad day when he died." He looked into the van. "Who is this with you?"

 

"This is Norad, my Meshanna, my two sons, Dralkan and Shamene, and my daughter Vionna. We are testing this vehicle for possible future official use. Taking it to a mountain cabin we rented seemed to be a way to mix business with pleasure," Rikers said with a smile.

 

Thraller knew that Rikers worked in the Technology Department. Their job was to ensure that the Ancients had working technology, just like his own job was to make sure nobody else had it. As a result, Rikers’ story sounded plausible. He also had the technology permit signed by his father, who had been a trusted Ancient.

 

Thraller decided to do some fishing. "Did you hear about the shuttle from the lost colonies?" he asked.

 

"Yes. I heard it crashed with no survivors. Amazing, isn’t it, that all these years, somebody should come for a visit." Dralkan felt his heart pounding so hard he was sure that the man at the window could hear it, even with him sitting in the back seat. Why was he asking about the shuttle? Did he suspect something?

 

"The Ancients think we all should get vaccinated for the plague,” Thraller said. “Who knows what those fools brought with them. I heard that they were children. Things must be rough in the lost colonies if children are doing the piloting. It’s amazing they learned how to operate a starship. In fact, it makes you wonder if anybody is still out there in the starship," Thraller looked up at the sky.

 

"Children? Interesting. It makes you wonder what has been going on at the colonies over the last twenty-five years.  Well, we probably should be heading up to the cabin. We want to be there before dark."

 

"Of course. Whose cabin are you using?"

 

"My father's old cabin. It's in disrepair like almost everything on Hakaan. But it is something different and the mountains will test this van."

 

"Of course."  Thraller started walking back to his truck, then stopped and turned around.  "You know, I thought you owned condo space at the old spaceport terminal."

 

"I do. This is just something different."

 

"And you didn't go check to make sure your condo was undamaged? You weren't curious about what crashed next to your vacation home?"

 

"I heard you were going to fly over. I figured if there was something I needed to know I would find out from our ever vigilant policeman."

 

"Indeed."

 

"And just exactly what brings you up here into the hills, Thraller? A vacation of your own? Oh, those are military trucks.  What a foolish question."

 

“I happen to think that somebody survived that crash. I happen to think they just might be coming up the road to these mountains. Lots of places to hide in these mountains, but it helps to have good transportation to get up there."

 

"True. Well, we'll keep our eyes open. If we see anybody strange, we'll drive back and let you or one of your minions know."

 

"No radio? The Department of Technology doesn't have enough radios to provide you with one?"

 

"I was in a hurry. I forgot to check one out."

 

"I see. Well, have a good trip Rikers. We'll talk more when you return."

 

Thraller walked away and Rikers started the van. He looked much cooler than he felt. As Thraller watched the van drive away, one of the patrolmen came out of the bushes.

 

"What do you think, sir?"

 

"He's lying. He knows more than he is saying."

 

"Shouldn't we follow him?"

 

Thraller took a device out of his pocket, then pointed to the other side of the road. One of the patrolmen was standing there grinning.

 

"No need. We'll find them whenever we need to.  Hallmore was busy on the other side of the van while you were talking. Give them a half-hour head start, then we'll follow. I have a feeling there are going to be some interesting things for us to find up in those mountains.  Rikers may work in the Department of Technology, but he doesn't even begin to know about all the real technology we have in Security. When we want him, he is ours!"

 

 

Rikers started the van up the twisting road. He stopped the van around a turn, not far from where Thraller had stopped them. The six Earth boys, and Trundall came climbing up the side of the hill, sweaty and out of breath. Urland was a couple of minutes behind them, but seemed remarkably fresh. He was in excellent shape for a man nearing sixty. Just the fact he was breathing meant he was in better shape than the Ancients had been led to believe. They climbed into the van and Rikers started driving up the mountain again, hoping that Thraller wasn't following right on their ass.

 

As they headed up the road Dralkan looked at the map. "We have to turn off in about five miles, dad," he said. The Earth boys were amazed that the Rikers wasn’t simply using GPS. They learned later that the Hakaanen had once used the technology. But, like so much Hakaanen technology, it was no longer useable. 

 

"Okay," Rikers said. "That was pretty smart thinking back there, Dooglas. Since the road had tire tracks, but there were no unicorn prints, that meant whatever left the tracks had to be motorized." Douglas had seen the tracks on one of the unpaved portions of the deteriorating road.

 

"Well, Urland knew there were trails along the road where you could hide us. We got lucky all the way around", Douglas said. "We can't rely on luck forever."

 

The Earth boys had jumped out of the van when it was hidden behind a rock formation and climbed up a trail. Urland knew the trail would meet the road less than a mile ahead. Trundall guided them up the steep trail until they met the road again.

 

"Dad?" Shamene asked.

 

"Yes, son?"

 

"What was that one guy doing on the other side of our van?"

 

"What guy?" Rikers could feel his heart thumping hard again.

 

Shamene told him about seeing the patrolman sneak up to the van and get under it, then go away.

 

"I wonder what that could have been about?” Rikers asked. “Maybe we better stop to check."

 

He stopped the van at a location that provided a good view of the road. Rikers, Urland, Dralkan, Douglas, Scooter, and Mike got out. The Hakaanen didn't think whatever the patrolman had done was serious and gave a cursory glance over the van. The Earth boys were more suspicious. They'd watched enough action vids to know that patrolmen didn't crawl under cars for no reason. The Hakaanen had had peaceful lives for so long they didn't understand things the way the Earth boys did.

 

Scooter crawled under the van and saw something clean attached to the dirty frame.  He pulled it off and showed it to everybody else.

 

"What is it?" Rikers asked.

 

"It looks like a tracking device," Scooter said.

 

"A what? What does it do?"

 

Scooter explained to him what it was and what it did. Douglas was looking over Dralkan's shoulder at the map. He sent his thoughts to Scooter, who asked Dralkan a couple of questions. He relayed to Douglas what Dralkan had answered. Douglas was coming up with a plan. He called everybody together and told them his idea. Scooter translated the plan for Rikers and Urland. Both men looked at the boys with even more respect. They liked the plan—they liked it a lot.

 

 

Thraller looked at the screen in the back of his truck. Rikers’ van had stopped a couple of times while going up the hill. He thought about going after it to find out why, but he knew he had to be patient. He wanted to find out where it ended up, not where it stopped. He was certain that wherever it ended up would he would find some kind of rebel treasure.

 

While the Ancients didn't believe in the citizens of the planet having access to technology, they believed in having it for themselves. This tracking device was a recent invention and had already proved to be an incredible asset for the patrolmen. Thraller knew that Rikers’ technology department had no knowledge of its existence—he had made sure of that. Son of an Ancient or not, he didn't trust Rikers.

 

It looked like the arrival of the shuttle was bringing Rikers and his resistance out into the open.  If Rikers was getting more willing to take risks, the other rebels would be too. It didn't surprise Thraller that Rikers was driving that van. He was sure Rikers and his rebels were hiding technology, and he was going to find out what it was and where it was stashed.  He was going to end any plans for a rebellion before it even started. 

 

 

It was almost dark by the time van got to the old mine. The entrance was well hidden and Douglas couldn’t see it until they’d actually walked on a rocky path that appeared to end in a growth of large shrubs. Urland stuck his hand behind one and flicked a switch, moving the shrubs out of the way and revealing the adit. Like the runway at the spaceport, it was a clever job of camouflage. They entered the mine and Rikers flicked on a switch lighting up the mine passage.

 

"Solar batteries run our power here," he said.

 

They kept going deeper and deeper into the mine, passing a lot of side passages. None of the Hakaanen children had been to the mine before and they were as amazed by it as the Earth boys were.

 

Rikers took them into a room full of tall shelves stacked with boxes. He took them down another passage and to another room. The only thing in that room was an empty box on the floor. The boys walked past the box and then stopped, noticing that Rikers was had stopped at the box. He turned and took four carefully paced steps. Then he bent down and lifted a part of the stone floor. There was a control panel under the rocks, hidden like the runway at the cargo port had been. Rikers pushed a button and a panel of rocks slid open. They went through the opening and into another room. It was dark and Rikers flicked another switch to get light.

 

That room had another single box in it, but this one was full. Inside was what looked like a radio.

 

"What's that?" Scooter asked.

 

"It's the ticket to your rescue. And maybe a way to get our Hakaanen way of life back," Rikers answered.

 

Then Rikers told them what the mine was all about.

 

 

Hakaan had been ruled by a Service Council for hundreds of years.  Members were elected for six-year terms.  They had a limit of two terms on the Council.  The Council had allowed Hakaan to become a peaceful, prosperous planet. They encouraged growth and space exploration, while seeing that the ecology of the planet was protected.  Hakaan was able to combine technological growth with care for the environment. 

 

Hakaan was a beautiful planet.  The fact that its inhabitants respected her showed, even in its cities.  After the plague hit Hakaan, a caucus made up of some of the senior members of the council took control, calling themselves The Ancients.

 

The Ancients advocated the strong form of government that history told them had ruled Hakaan centuries earlier. They felt the time for that strong government had returned.  When the Ancients started taking control, Urland knew how afraid they were. He knew how afraid everyone was.

 

Space travel was blamed for the plague which was killing so many people. As the plague raged out of control, some groups started blaming all technology. The Ancients got enough votes to end term limits on the Service Council. They ran for third terms on Council, saying they would end space flight and control technology. After they won they brought an end to all space flight immediately. Urland convinced them to send a starship to each of the two colonies to tell them the news.

 

Urland also saw that the ruling council wanted to do more than just control technology, they wanted to eliminate it, except for when it helped them keep their power. Their emergency powers had given them a taste of power and the Ancients started behaving like Shkah—they wanted even more power.

 

The way of Hakaanen government was to do as little as possible. Hakaanen weren't interested in power, they were simply interested in governing. Members of the council were elected to serve the people, not to rule them. But with the election of the Ancients that philosophy was changed.

 

When the council started going to Shkah villages to recruit members to be in their police force, Urland knew the Hakaan way of life was being threatened by more than just the plague. As a member of the council, he followed the majority, but he started his own secret program.

 

When the next election arrived, the Ancients had themselves elected council members for life to "protect the Hakaanen culture". Urland responded by seeing that a sample of every important piece of Hakaanen technology was stored in a secret mine. More importantly, he had every book and article on technology, plus the history of the Hakaanen, their government and their way of life, downloaded the information into a super computer and then backed it up a dozen times, including three places in the cloud.

 

Many books were stolen from libraries or donated by Hakaanen who supported Urland’s cause. All of the books were hermetically sealed and hidden in the mine. Only a few people knew where the books, computer programs, and machines were stored. Rikers was one of them. Most of the people helping thought they were assisting a project for the Council of the Ancients, but a small number knew that they were participating in an act of rebellion that was the only chance to save the real Hakaanen way of life.

 

When the plague was defeated most people thought the council would return everything to normal; however, the Ancients had fallen in love with their power. In truth, things would never be normal again until the Ancients' rule was brought to an end.  Urland knew that he was falling under suspicion by police force The Ancients had created. He was soon found “dead” by two of his supporters. Rikers took his father to a safe house near the old space port. Rikers had become the de facto leader of the rebellion, although he relied heavily on the advice of his father.

 

With the arrival of the round-eared boys it looked to Rikers and the rebel leaders that they had been presented a way to change the direction of Hakaanen history. His father was in complete agreement.

 

 

Thraller was furious. He had watched the blip stop late in the previous afternoon, not moving from its location. This morning the blip was in the same place. It was obvious that Rikers had reached his destination.

 

He had heard rumors about a rebel hiding place for a long time, and now he knew where it was. He was sure it was near Urland’s old vacation cabin. 

 

Thraller had hoped the arrival of the shuttle would bring the rebel leader out into the open. He wasn't at all surprised that the leader was Rikers. Ancient or not, he had never really trusted Urland, which automatically cast suspicion on his son.

 

Thraller now wished he had trusted his instincts earlier.  Someone in high office had obviously been helping the rebels and Rikers was obviously that man.  Maybe it was a good thing the old man died—he would have been much more difficult to smoke out. Thraller drove up the side road to where it ended at a narrow trail. There was nothing there except trees and Urland’s old abandoned cabin that had fallen into ruin.

 

He found the homing device stuck to a tree with a note saying, "Have a nice day." He took the device, threw it to the ground, and smashed it with his foot, forgetting it was the only one in existence.

 

How had they found the device? Nobody even knew it existed, so how did they know what it was? Did Rikers have a spy in his office?  They obviously had come this far, but where did they go from here? It had to be back down the road since the van was gone.

 

Rikers must have followed the side road back to the main road. But where did he go from there? There were many side roads branching off of the main road, but he had never looked for tire tracks going off on one of them since he was certain the tracker would take him right to Rikers’ hiding place. Now he would have to investigate every road and trail wide enough for the van until he found fresh tire tracks.

 

Thraller stomped back to his truck. He could wait at the bottom of the main road until they came back, but that wasn't what he wanted.  He wanted to know the location of their hideout. He wanted to confiscate or smash everything they had. All he knew now was it was someplace in the mountains. And the mountains, even the parts served by roads, covered a lot of territory.

 

 

Douglas and Shamene had their cots pushed together. Some rooms of the mine had been remodeled and furnished for long term stays if needed. Douglas ended up next to Shamene and Mike next to Trundall, while Scooter slept with Dralkan. They all did their best to help interplanetary relations by using their mouths in creative ways. Travis, Jeremy and Alex jerked each other off while watching the bedroom diplomacy.

 

Douglas thought about their escape earlier in the day. Douglas told Rikers and Urland his plan for leaving the tracking device behind somewhere and then covering their tracks. Rikers loved the plan and picked Urland’s old cabin as the place to leave it. The fact that it was left at the cabin of a former Ancient would no doubt anger Thraller, as would the snide note that Mike suggested they leave behind. After that there were plenty of side roads that Thraller would have to search if they did a good job of covering their tracks.

 

His thoughts ended when Scooter woke up and came over to him. They kissed deeply.

 

"How was Shamene?" Scooter asked Douglas.

 

"He is eleven years old and knows sex like you can't believe. You gotta love the Hakaanen way of life. How was Dralkan? He has a crush on you, you know."

 

Scooter laughed, “I know…he makes it pretty obvious”. He gave Douglas a quick kiss and hug. "I love you, Douglas."

 

"I love you, Scooter."

 

It was time to wake everybody else up so they could put their next plan into action. They all met for breakfast and then, after they ate, they moved everything they needed outside of the mine.

 

Four ATVs were parked together. They each could seat the driver and a rider behind the driver. Dralkan, Trundall, Alex, and Scooter were the four drivers. They all had experience driving those or similar vehicles. Everybody agreed that if Alex could pilot a space shuttle he could no doubt drive an ATV.  Scooter, Trundall, and Dralkan had experience driving ATVs on mountain roads and trails. Those joyrides were now going to come in handy.

 

Shamene was the passenger on Scooter's ATV. He had his arms wrapped tightly around Scooter.  Travis was wrapped around Alex, Douglas around Trundall, and Norad around Dralkan. They were part one of the next part of the plan.

 

The boys started their engines and soon the ATVs were bouncing through the woods heading to a meadow about five miles away. Even using the trail it would take at least twenty minutes one way carrying a passenger.

 

When they got to the meadow, the four drivers dropped off their passengers, then raced back to the mine. They made good time going back since they didn't have any passengers and knew the trail a little better.

 

This time Rikers got into a driver's seat and tied a large package to the seat behind him. It was the item they had found in the secret store room. Dralkan’s sister rode on his ATV, Alex carried Urland, and Scooter was driving Douglas. That left Trundall and Jeremy behind. The four ATVs took off down the trail.

 

Trundall and Jeremy watched them leave. Jeremy couldn't speak Hakaanen and Trundall couldn't speak English, but they both could speak the language of sex. They understood they had forty minutes to wait. They knew what the other boy's boner meant. Trundall hadn't touched one of the circumcised Earth boys yet and couldn't wait to see how Jeremy's strange cock felt inside his mouth.  The mountain air was cool. They found a place in the grass, lay down a blanket, and took care of keeping each other warm.

 

Trundall made the first move, taking hold of Jeremy’s boner and running his fingers over the shaft. He examined the uncircumcised head and marveled at how it glistened in the moonlight. As he ran his finger over the slit, he realized there was a light liquid forming on the head. He took a quick lick with his tongue and decided that he loved what Jeremy was producing. That was enough for Trundall. He took Jeremy’s erection deep into his mouth and began to bob his head up and down, giving Jeremy thrill after thrill as he felt the sensations of an orgasm beginning to build. Jeremy moaned sounds of pleasure and joy, encouraging Trundall take him deep into his throat.

 

Trundall was completely absorbed in sucking Jeremy while Jeremy had taken Trundall’s boner and was stroking it rapidly, giving Trundall more feelings of excitement. Both boys were sensing that their orgasms were imminent but couldn’t stop or slow down. Trundall’s tongue moved rapidly over Jeremy’s slit that resulted in a sudden swelling of his entire penis, followed by the first of several pulses of semen directly into Trundall’s throat. Simultaneously, Trundall couldn’t hold back any longer and spurt several shots of his jizz over Jeremy’s chest and belly. Both boys had worked up such a sexual passion, it took them several minutes to come down from their high. They cuddled together, kissed and enjoyed rubbing each other’s body as they waited for Alex and Scooter to return.

 

Alex returned to the mine with Scooter. When they arrived they saw Trundall and Jeremy hugging tightly on the blanket and smiled knowingly at each other. Trundall and Jeremy had heard them coming, but just lay there in their after sex glow. Trundall was Hakaanen and wasn't embarrassed by sex and Jeremy was becoming more comfortable with Hakaanen ways.

 

They made it to the meadow in fifteen minutes. Scooter and Alex were on their third trip and had quirks of the trail figured out. When they got to the meadow, Rikers got on his radio. A half hour later a flier showed up and they boarded it. It could hold a dozen passengers, and with the pilot, they filled it.

 

The flier headed back the way it came, which was from the opposite direction of the old spaceport. They weren’t flying there, yet. By making the meadow its landing place,  the flier to use the surrounding hills to shield it from Thraller and his patrol.

 

 

Thraller walked a tenth of a mile up the side road. It was the fourth road he'd tried.  The dirt on the road looked like something had disturbed it recently, and a short walk up the road confirmed his suspicions. Tire tracks were visible. He waved to his truck. It was time to follow the tracks to their destination. He was ready to close in on the rebel hideout. 

 

 

xxxxxxThe flier landed at a farm in a large valley. The owners of the farm were part of the resistance movement. The farmers plowed their fields behind large oxen-like animals. They had used modern equipment before the plague and knew how much better things had been. They wanted their tractors back. They wanted the rich farms they used to have.

 

They hated the Ancients, like so many on Hakaan did now, but unlike most of the population, they were willing to do something about the problem. Most of the Hakaanen now realized The Ancients had used the fear of the plague to acquire their power, and now they used fear and intimidation not only to retain power, but to increase it. For the most part the Hakaanen way of life was one of acceptance and the majority grudgingly accepted their fate at the hands of the Ancients and their Shkah co-conspirators.

 

The farmers tended to be somewhat more rebellious than the city dwellers. They wanted the same life for their children and grandchildren that they had had. The city dwellers still had just enough comforts that they didn’t notice the decline in their lifestyle as much. Rikers and Urland saw the coming of the round-ears as their best chance to get the Hakaanen way of life back for everybody.

 

The flier was hidden in a large barn. Kraekan, the owner of the barn, welcomed everybody into his large farm house. Some of the neighboring farmers were there as well. The farmers had been told about the round-ears. They were also told that a group of teenagers and pre-teens had formulated a plan for starting a small rebellion against the Ancients. Rikers, Norad, Urland and the farmers sat on chairs while the boys sat on the floor in the crowded living room as they went over the final plans.  It was time to move to the next phase.

 

 

Thraller followed the narrow road until its end. He saw the van parked in a clearing. They were here and he had them! The maps said that there was an old mine in this area. He was willing to bet they were in that mine, and that the mine was where the rebels had hidden their illegal technology.

 

He and his patrolmen searched the area. One of them went around a rock and yelled that he had found something. The other patrolmen ran to where he was. What they saw was an avalanche of rocks along the side of the cliff. If there had been a mine there it was now buried. And if anybody was in it, they weren't going to get out anytime soon. They looked for signs of footprints and found none. They didn't think anything of the leaves and dirt that had been kicked up, thinking it was done by the wind or by animals.

 

Most of the Earth boys had played baseball. Mike remembered the metal drags that were attached to the back of a small tractor to drag the infield. It was no problem to find something similar to attach behind one of the ATVs on their last trip from the mine.

 

Thraller was frustrated.  He didn't know if Rikers and his group were trapped in the mountain, or if they had left. He still didn't know why the shuttle went to the old spaceport to crash. He didn't know a lot of things he wanted to know, but it was time for him to go to the spaceport to find out some answers.

 

 

"I'm sure Thraller will visit the spaceport,” Rikers speculated. “As soon as we get word he's inspected it and left we will take the flier there. We've delayed him some, but we won't fool him forever. He is a very smart man, not to mention ruthless. He is a big reason why the Ancients have been able to maintain their power," Rikers said.

 

Rikers started telling the boys about the radio they had loaded into the flier. They remembered Rikers’ trip to the meadow. It had taken him twice as long as anybody else. It wasn't that he wasn't able to keep up with the boys, it was that he couldn't take a chance on damaging the only radio like it on Hakaan, maybe in the entire galaxy.

 

"Do you understand what to do when you get back to your starship?"

 

Douglas nodded his head. "Stevie said we have enough warp fuel for four days’ travel. So we warp out on half the fuel, and then come back. The whole time we are in warp we use the radio."

 

"I'm just amazed," Alex said. "A radio that is faster than warp. We never did figure out how to make one."

 

"We completed ours just as the plague broke out. It's never really been tested. It should work, but we still don't know for sure. It only works from one ship in warp to another ship in warp, or we would have been using it to contact the lost colonies. In theory it should do what it is intended to do, but we simply don’t know if it will.”

 

"And the other ship doesn't need a special radio?" Alex asked, trying to confirm in his mind what had been previously discussed.

 

"We don't know.  We don't think so. We think that the warp radio can be received by any radio in warp space. But it's never been tested. We just don't know—it is all theory. The big problem for you is, the radio on the other end has to be turned on to have any chance of receiving the signal, and from what you tell me your starships usually have their radios off because they don't need them when they're in warp. I believe our starships did the same thing."

 

"What we said is, we think they have them off, not that we knew they have them off. You guys had yours off so it makes sense we did the same thing," Alex told him. Scooter was glad he was translating. It took a little of the edge off of Alex's words.

 

"Even if we get hold of a starship, who's to say they will help your rebellion, or even help us," Douglas said. "We can't guarantee that. I know we will be telling them what we think, but we're just kids. Who says they will listen to us.  They might just elect to stay out of your politics."

 

Rikers wondered about a society that didn't listen to their children, but he kept quiet. If the radio didn't work, or they couldn't find a radio on a starship that was turned on, then the issue of who would help whom was moot.

 

"Dad?" Dralkan asked.

 

"Yes, son?"

 

"Do you think Trundall and I can go with them? Into space I mean."

 

"Me too," Shamene cried out.

 

Rikers was stunned by the question.  He immediately answered with a resounding no. He said the round-eared boys didn't need the distraction of people who couldn't help. The boys and Rikers argued back and forth for a while. 

 

Finally, Dralkan said, "We can help. Dooglas keeps saying how they needed more help on the watches. Well, we can do that.  We can read instruments on the ship without needing translations taped to it—all they have to do is tell us what to look for. And besides, we may never get a chance to go again," he smiled.

 

Rikers was willing to concede that his son had some viable arguments. "Son, you may never make it back."

 

"Dad, it's only four days. They aren't going far. And we may never get a chance again," he repeated.

 

“It’s going to be dangerous.”

 

“So was waving off the shuttle at the airport.”

 

Rikers thought about it. And he remembered what he had just thought about a society that didn't listen to their children. The round-ears had endured a lot worse than taking a trip two days away from Hakaan. After all, they had piloted a starship between two solar systems. What they were about to do was child's play compared to what they had accomplished.

 

He decided that Dralkan should have a chance to go, and so should Trundall. But not Shamene. He was still too young. Shamene might not think so, but there was a big difference between eleven and thirteen.  But his real reason for saying no to Shamene was that he wasn't risking both sons even if it did seem fairly safe. So he approved of Dralkan and Trundall going, but not Shamene.

 

Dralkan hugged his dad, but Shamene went off to sulk.

 

Later Scooter found Shamene all curled up on a bed, crying. He sat down next to him.

 

"If we succeed you will have lots of chances for going into space. And I bet we will succeed. I bet you will be one of the first ones up into space after we get back, because you helped us a lot down here."

 

"You think so?"

 

"I know so. And I know we will succeed. I feel it." Scooter hugged Shamene, who hugged him back. They both decided to check out the barn and see if the flier was still there. They knew it would be there, but it made for a good excuse to enter the barn.

 

Scooter let the little Hakaanen boy make love to him. Like most Hakaanen boys, the eleven-year-old was a skillful lover, even if he wasn't very big yet in all departments. He had learned his sexual lessons from older boys and from his brother and Trundall.  When their love making was over Shamene felt better. He thanked Scooter and told him that one day he would meet him in space. Scooter gave the little Hakaanen a final kiss and they returned to the farmhouse.

 

 

Thraller arrived at the spaceport just before sunset. He decided he would wait until daylight to inspect the area, so he had his patrol set up camp.  He also posted guards around the area to make sure nobody left after dark. The resistance members in the terminal had detected their arrival and they were prepared. Three men from the resistance were in the terminal along Dralkan’s mother and Rikers’ wife, Corrinna, who was in charge of the operation. Her Meshanna was also there and was in charge of communications.

 

When morning arrived Thraller and his men walked to the crash site. The entire shuttle was burned out. Parts were strewn along the runway. There was no way of knowing if anybody survived.

 

Thraller and two of his senior patrolmen went to the terminal.  Corrinna and one of the men met them at the door. They told Thraller that they had no idea why the shuttle decided to try to land at the spaceport. They were just happy it hadn't crashed into the terminal. They said they had searched for survivors, but they found none—the explosion had completely obliterated the shuttle. The entire incident had surprised, frightened, and saddened them.  Rikers had come by to check the damage, they told Thraller, but he had left for the mountains with his children not long after his arrival. That was all they knew.

 

Thraller was certain they were lying, but he couldn’t prove it short of torturing them and that was something the Ancients hadn’t approved of—yet. He had found out all he was going to find out for now, so he took a cursory look around the terminal and then left. The trucks drove off to the south toward the capital.

 

After a couple of hours had passed the rebels radioed Rikers.  Rikers and the pilot pulled the flier out of the barn and the boys boarded it. The pilot flew it at low altitude across the fields and forest until they went over a wide river and toward the clearing where the old spaceport was. He set down next to the terminal.

 

Everyone agreed they had to get the shuttle into the air as fast as possible. They also would need to evacuate the cargo port, because they would need to be hiding when the shuttle was launched. Rikers had a feeling that Thraller hadn't gone too far away, and he knew that the launching of the shuttle would give away many of their secrets.

 

The door to the hidden hangar was opened. Thraller had gone right past it and hadn't even noticed it. The shuttle was backed out using a small tractor.  Then Rikers and the other three men fueled it while the Earth boys, Dralkan, and Thraller boarded it.

 

Dralkan hugged his little brother. "Next time, we'll go together. If it was up to me it would be this time. I love you, little brother."

 

"I love you. I'm gonna be with you next time."

 

Dralkan wiped a tear off Shamene's cheek. Trundall gave Shamene a hug. They both hugged Rikers, then climbed up the steps onto the shuttle.

 

Dralkan was amazed by the shuttle. It was far bigger than one of the fliers. He sat down in a seat and Douglas showed him and Trundall how to buckle in. Dralkan had flown in the air for the first time on the flier and now he was going into space.  It had all happened so quickly it was almost overwhelming.

 

Scooter explained G forces to Dralkan and Trundall and told the boys how to deal with two Gs of gravitational pull. He showed them the features on the seat that helped to absorb the forces.

 

Rikers and Corrinna hit the switch that opened the runway cover. Dralkan and Trundall had seen the cover moved when he and Trundall were old enough to understand that they could never tell anybody outside of dad's group about it. It was just being tested then; this was the real thing.

 

Rikers watched as the runway was uncovered. He and Corrinna went out on the balcony that wrapped around the control tower. The runway was uncovered and would probably never be covered again.

 

Rikers knew the engines on the shuttle would start up any time. He wondered if he would ever see Dralkan and Trundall again. There was no way to hide the shuttle's takeoff, which meant landing again could be close to impossible. He had been prepared to use that argument to keep the boys from going. But, he was certain that the boys understood the dangers, and once Trundall’s father approved of his son going into space there was no stopping them. Nobody wanted Dralkan and Trundall to appear to be cowards when compared to the round-ears.

 

Once the shuttle took off, Thraller and his men would be at the spaceport in a flier within a matter of hours. They would take it over, because its function would no longer be a secret. When he arrived, Rikers and his followers would be long gone in his own flier, heading for one of their hideouts.

 

When that shuttle takes off a lot of lives will change, Rikers thought.  The entire planet will change. The round-eared boys carried the future of the Hakaanen way of life in their shuttle.

 

 

The runway was clear. Alex started the shuttle's rockets and taxied to the end of the runway. Rikers watched the shuttle make a U-turn at the end of the runway. He remembered when he was a boy and used to watch the space shuttles take off from here and the airliners take off from the airport. Now the Kana airport was weeds and broken concrete. The forest spaceport was the shape it was because of a lot of hard work by his small group and because they were able to keep it secret.

 

The arrival of the shuttle had potentially exposed that secret. Thraller and the Ancients were suspicious. They had been able to fool them for a few days, but Thraller would find everything out soon.  As soon as the shuttle took off, the secret was over. It was time to act now while they could. If they didn't take advantage of this chance the Hakaanen way of life might disappear forever. Right now they had working Hakaanen technology and knowledge of how to use it. The resistance had members who knew how to make and use machinery, but in a few days that all could change.

 

Alex peered down the long runway. They had fueled the shuttle from a tank hidden under the hangar. It had enough fuel to reach the starship and return. He knew that returning might be impossible. Once they took off this secret runway was no longer going to be secret. The fake crash bought them the time they needed, but now the secret would be gone.

 

He went through the checklist with Travis. Scooter was in the cabin. He wasn't going to be needed in the cockpit since they weren't going to be using the radio. They finished the checklist and Alex revved up the engines, let go of the brake, and the shuttle surged forward. He watched the trees race by, and then the terminal. He got the shuttle to lift off speed, pulled back, and let the huge space craft lift into the sky.

 

Dralkan looked out of his window hoping to see his mom or dad or little brother. He thought he saw somebody waving, but he wasn't sure—they were racing by too fast. The feeling was exhilarating as the thrust of the shuttle pushed him against his seat.

 

He felt the "Survivor" leave the ground and looked out and saw the trees get smaller below them. He could soon see the mountains underneath them. Trundall had his own window seat on the other side of the aisle and he was as enthralled as Dralkan was.

 

Alex hit the super thrusters, pulled back until the shuttle pointed straight up, and gave it full thrust. The "Survivor" blasted straight up into space, leaving a trail of white smoke behind it. Dralkan was now being compressed against the seat, almost feeling crushed by the Gs forcing against him as the shuttle headed out of the atmosphere of Hakaan and into the blackness of space.

 

Thraller was half way back to Kana. He was on a rise in the road. He heard a low roaring in the distance, then a louder sound. He saw a small spot rise into the sky, then saw a streak of white shoot out behind it and rise straight up behind the dot. He had no doubt what it was he was looking at. He had been fooled, but he knew who had fooled him, and he would go back to find him. If that shuttle ever returned, there would not be a rebel waiting to meet it. He would be there to meet it.

 

Rikers also had his thoughts as he watched the shuttle roar up into space. For Rikers, all the hopes of Hakaan were rising on that trail of smoke. He watched it disappear, then gathered everybody together to get them into the flier. There was no need to cover the runway now. The secret was over. One way or another, Thraller would know the runway was there. If he wanted to destroy the runway, there was nothing to stop him, and he was sure that Thraller would do just that.

 

Rikers knew that the Earth shuttles, if they came, probably wouldn't need a runway. Most of them could land vertically, just like the flier. Dooglass had told him that shuttles with warp drive didn’t have vertical take-off and landing capability, but ship to planet shuttles did. Rikers knew that if the round-ears didn't get hold of an Earth starship he would never see his son again. He left the space port wondering what the future held for his family and his beloved home planet. 

 

 

The "Paxton" rippled into warp space.  Dralkan sat in the observation lounge watching the bright colors go by as the starship made the transition. He thought about what he had seen in the past few hours. He thought about how beautiful Hakaan looked from space. The greens and browns of the land, the blues of the oceans and seas, and the whites of the clouds were all so bright. He and Trundall both cried. Their home planet was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. Dralkan couldn't take his eyes off it as it retreated from view, until it was a bluish speck and then vanished as the starship blasted into warp space.

 

The feeling of going into warp, of seeing the colors of warp space, were sensational. No matter what happened from here, Dralkan and Trundall were both glad that they had asked to come along.

 

Before the “Paxton” even left orbit, Stevie and Ryan got the warp radio hooked up. All the lights were green, so all the right wires were hooked up. The only question was, would it work? Once they got into warp space they would send a message to the “Paxton’s” radio as a test, but what the test would prove wasn’t known.

 

When the "Survivor" docked with the "Paxton" there had been some excited reunions. The boys had wondered if they would see each other again or how long it would be before they did. That night was going to be a night of reunion fun.

 

Trundall and Dralkan were welcomed by everybody. All of the boys could speak enough Hakaanen so that they could all communicate. Trundall and Dralkan were asked after dinner if they wanted to be with anybody for whatever sexual fun there was to be had. They said not that night. They knew the round-ears wanted to be with their partners. They sensed in the way Hakaanen can sense things that this night was one for the joining of partners.

 

The Hakaanen boys were given their own cabin. Six cabins of boys had the sounds of hard hot boy sex. Up on the bridge Brandon and Stevie had the watch since they had been together on the starship.

 

When they sent a message to the “Paxton’s” radio, it was received. But that could have been because both radios were on the ship. The only way of knowing if the warp radio would work was to use it as intended.

 

The radio was set on auto-repeat. The message was, "This is the starship 'Jordan M. Paxton'. We carry survivors from the 'U.S.S. Starkeeper'. Please reply on this frequency."

 

The loudspeaker was set to high volume, so any reply would be heard. Stevie had also hooked up an alarm, so any signal back would set the alarm off. If a reply came, they shouldn't miss it. If they heard nothing it would be either because the radio didn't work or that nobody had a radio on to receive the message, or no radio was within range of the warp radio.  The problem was, nobody knew what its range was.

 

That morning Mike made up a huge pancake breakfast. Big pancakes, cooked on a large griddle, stacked three deep and covered with thick helpings of butter and buried deep in syrup, were not something that was a Hakaanen recipe. Dralkan and Trundall fell in love with them, and Mike had to make them each another stack. They stuffed themselves with pancakes until they couldn't move. 

 

Douglas sat at the table staring at his stack of pancakes. He thought about all the Saturday mornings on Earth when his mom had served up her wonderful pancakes to Douglas and his friends after his sleepovers. Scooter saw the faraway look on his lover's face.

 

 Scooter touched Douglas with a thought, 'Where are you?' 

 

`I'm frightened for all of us.  If this doesn't work, if we're not rescued, we will have to return to Hakaan and we will spend the rest of our lives there.  The Shkah police will see us land, they will come to arrest us, and we will probably end up in prison.  And there might not even be anyplace to land and we can never return. We've come so far, and now here we are relying on a radio that nobody has ever tested, on the off chance that an Earth exploration ship is somewhere within its range. After all we've gone through, it could all end up being for nothing.' 

 

`Not nothing. We're alive, and as long as we're alive there is hope.  You've kept us alive and you are still going to lead us home.  I feel it in my soul.' 

 

Douglas kissed the cute little blond boy he loved so much and said aloud, "I'm so happy I have you here with me. You give me my strength.  I love you."  The other boys smiled as they watched Douglas walk out of the dining hall.  They could tell Douglas was full of confidence, and it made them feel confident too.  It was a good thing they weren't aware of Douglas's inner fear and insecurity.  Like any good leader, he had learned to hide those well.  The day ended up being long and a little boring. They were going to warp two days out and then return. At the moment the ship was running itself. The boys were sitting around waiting for a reply to their message.

 

Mike put together a dinner of beef stew. Then they watched a Hakaanen vid. It helped having Dralkan and Trundall along to help explain it.

 

That night Mike and Alex took the bridge watch. Dralkan asked if he could be with Scooter and Douglas. Trundall was invited by Brett and Jeremy.

 

Brett hadn't had a lot experience with Hakaanen boys. When Trundall sucked him, it was as good as any blow job he'd ever had, and when Trundall entered his ass while Jeremy watched, Brett almost fainted from the feeling. Hakaanen boys knew their stuff when it came to sex.

 

Scooter got the same feeling. Douglas told him it was okay to have Dralkan make love to him, While Douglas made love to him in totally incredible ways, Dralkan gave Scooter feelings he'd never had before. After he finished with Scooter, Dralkan did the same for Douglas, and Douglas knew he would need some lessons from the Hakaanen boy. All of the boys were amazed at how sex helped to relieve their tension.

 

Alex and Mike were snoozing on the bridge when the radio alarm started blaring. Both boys sat up in their chairs.

 

The alarm stopped and they heard a voice from the bridge speaker, a voice speaking in English. "This is the 'U.S.S. Starfinder' replying to the 'Jordan M. Paxton'."

 

NEXT CHAPTER 56 The “Starfinder”

 

 

Comments are welcomed.  E-mail me, Douglas DD, at TheHakaanen@Hotmail.com