The Spark (White Gates Adventures Book 4) Read online

  For some reason Jay and Kay had gone from the pond that morning. Perhaps the rain had encouraged them to forage further afield. Yeka sighed. The flame-birds hadn’t visited for days either. Yeka felt abandoned. She missed them all but especially Shaun and Kakko. For some reason, and Yeka made no secret of it, Shaun was her favourite. It may have been because Kakko had been hands-on since she was born and shared the mothering with Jalli. And Bandi was mostly away on Planet Earth with his girlfriend, Abby, where they were both studying at a sixth-form college. But Shaun didn’t get involved with the practical things. He was a playmate who played with her, making the dolls jump and talk, always ready to read to her and join in her tales to the wild creatures. Shaun did have friends but not like Kakko with Tam, and Bandi with Abby – Yeka claimed him for her own.

  There had been a girl in Shaun’s life for a few weeks around his eighteenth birthday – Wennai – but it hadn’t lasted. Apart from his family, the one big interest in Shaun’s life was football where he had made a name for himself as a skilful midfield player.

  Yeka returned to finish her breakfast.

  “When’s Shaun coming back?” she moaned.

  “It has been a long time this time,” sighed Jalli. She spoke lightly but secretly she worried. Mothers always do. But it was not Shaun she worried about so much as Kakko because Kakko had so often returned from her white gates adventures worse for wear as Matilda put it. She had had a broken arm on one occasion and a lump of shrapnel in her leg on another.

  “Everybody gone,” mumbled Yeka.

  “Not everyone. You have your mummy and daddy and nan. I only had Grandma when I was your age… and I didn’t have brothers or sisters either.”

  Yeka couldn’t imagine that. So she thought of what she hadn’t got.

  “Kammy has a baby. A real baby. I haven’t got one. Will we be getting one soon?”

  “No, I don’t think so, Yeka. You already have a sister and brothers. It’s just that they are older than you.”

  “But I want a baby, too.”

  “I think,” smiled Jalli, “that our little cottage is full up. No room for any more babies.”

  Yeka sighed. Far from being full up, the house seemed to be empty. None of her older siblings were around.

  “Baby can share my room.”

  “That’s very nice of you but babies grow up.”

  “Like Kakko. She was the first baby.”

  “Yes. That was twenty-one years ago. It doesn’t seem possible… Now, it’s time to drink up and get ready for kindy. You will have lots of friends to play with there.”

  ***

  A week after crossing the river, the eleven refugees trudged into the outskirts of the city and were stopped at a makeshift barrier across the road. Seeing the foreigners with paler skin, the police asked for papers.

  “We have nothing,” protested Shaun.

  A quick examination revealed they had indeed nothing but the rags in which they stood.

  “Westerner?” demanded one of the policemen.

  “No,” replied Shaun truthfully. “Planet Joh.”

  The policeman didn’t want to show his ignorance and looked across at his mate.

  “You work where?”

  “In a hospital.”

  “Missionary…? God…? Church?”

  “Yes,” answered Shaun decisively. “We were at the hospital because God sent us.”

  The policemen were satisfied. Missionaries never had any money. They were a peculiar breed and there was clearly little to be gained by detaining them; they allowed them to proceed.

  Some sort of normal life was visible in the streets of this place. Shops were open, and people at wooden stalls with corrugated metal roofs were selling fresh produce. For the past week, the party had existed on what they could find in the bush that lined the road and the kindness of others in the same situation. The alien volunteers had nothing with which to buy food for themselves. A little further along the street the refugees were being herded into a turning that led to a tented compound beyond a wire fence. Soldiers with clean, smart uniforms ushered them into a reception area. Here, the five aliens were taken aside without having a chance to say goodbye to their colleagues.

  They were treated with kindness. It was soon clear they were not expected to remain at the camp. They had no papers – clearly anyone fleeing as they had done was unlikely to carry any form of identification – but their appearance and foreign intonations, despite the special translation the Creator provided, marked them out. To their amazement, they were driven off in a comfortable, air-conditioned vehicle to a hotel where they were greeted by a smiling uniformed official. He did not share the appearance of a local man.

  “You will not be permitted to leave until your organisation claims you,” he explained. “And we will also require full statements from you. In the meantime, you will find clean clothes to choose from in your rooms.”

  He ushered them to a reception desk where they were asked to sign their names. The forms were totally unreadable but, despite his instinct never to put his name to anything he didn’t understand, Shaun didn’t resist. Kakko had already signed – she always got to doing things first.

  They were led along air-conditioned corridors and into lifts that took them to two rooms somewhere high above the street below. It was like stepping out of one world and into another, just like a white gate. It reminded Kakko that they did not belong to this place, even if they were away from the violence.

  “I don’t know how we are going to get back home,” she reasoned. “But I am going to take advantage of that shower right now!”

  “Will we need to get back to the hospital grounds to find our white gate?” asked John.

  “No idea,” said Shaun. “Better go with the flow for now. Not that we seem to have much choice.” Tam was already searching through the pile of clean used clothes that had been put on the table. Kakko rummaged with him.

  Two hours later, reasonably presentable in fairly nondescript clothing that fitted where it touched, the party were summoned to a meal. They had been without proper food for so long they had forgotten to be hungry, and the rich fare they were offered turned their stomachs. They munched the bread, slowly.

  “We need to eat the greens,” insisted Kakko. “We need the vitamins.”

  Once they had started, eating came easier.

  “How long do you think they are going to keep us here?” wondered Dah.

  “I shouldn’t think it will be for long,” answered Shaun. “Someone’s got to pay for this.”

  He was right. That evening an official came to ascertain their nationality and status. They were truthful – they were not from anywhere on the planet.

  Kakko, who was always good at turning the conversation to what she wanted to talk about, managed to discover that the town they had had to flee from had now been retaken by government forces. It had taken another bloody battle but the criminal rebels had left. How much the government forces could be trusted was another question – still, it meant that the possibility of returning to the hospital grounds and the white gate was open.

  “We do not belong here,” stated Kakko firmly. “Will you take us back to the hospital?”

  The morning came incredibly quickly; all of them had slept like babies. An army sergeant arrived as they were consuming more of the breakfast than they had of the previous evening meal. She told them they were to be returned to the town from which they had fled, and she had transport waiting for them. She issued them papers in a language that meant nothing.

  “Pack your bags,” she ordered; “we leave in half an hour.”

  That won’t be difficult, thought Shaun. They begged a plastic bag and filled it with additional clothes from the pile, and toiletries. Life was improving – they had more than they stood up in.

  This time the transport was not an air-conditioned upholstered vehicle but an army truck which they shared with soldiers and sacks of foodstuffs – some kind of grain, Shaun guessed. They travelled
between two other vehicles through the streets of the city and across the bridge that spanned the river – it was the same river they had first encountered but narrower here than it was downstream. Then they were out in the country, bumping along the open road. Shaun was aware he had lost weight from his bottom – the bones of his pelvis felt just under his skin as he sat, or tried to sit, on the hard bench he had been allocated. He winced as he looked at his sister opposite him.

  “What’s wrong with you, Shaun?” shouted Kakko over the roar of the engine. “I thought you were a tough football player.”

  “OK. It’s just that my hips are not as wide as yours.”

  Kakko looked daggers at him.

  “I mean proportionally,” he continued. “Girls have wider pelvises… and I’m heavier than you,” he added to try and sweeten the atmosphere.

  But Kakko knew that in fact that was only marginally true, well, when they last got weighed at home on Planet Joh… Planet Joh; that felt light years away. It was. Kakko shivered, despite the heat, the dust and the hot fumes from the truck.

  “How far is it?” asked John. “It took us a week to walk.”

  “It’ll depend on the road,” said Tam. “If it stays like this, it could be a few hours. If it worsens it could take all day.”

  “They have given us provisions and water for a day,” said Dah. “The sergeant said so.” She gestured to the box containing some kind of rations and a dozen bottles of water. “The road is not that comfortable but I’m glad I’m not walking it – I couldn’t do that again.”

  “Sing us a song, Dah,” asked John. Back on Atiota, Dah had become a popular folk singer. She struck up with something and soon they were all singing, their spirits lifted. Compared to the previous few days, things were looking up. They were not going to die of exhaustion or starvation and these army personnel seemed to be well trained.

  They were still singing when the air was split with the loudest bang Shaun had ever heard, and the floor of the truck swung up and smashed into them. Then they were airborne amid a jumble of people, sacks of grain, metal tools and anything else that was not tied down. The whole world tipped over and kept tipping over for what seemed an eternity. Shaun’s foot caught on something and pain shot through his ankle as it twisted. Then everything stopped with an almighty jolt. Shaun gasped as the side of the truck thudded into his back and Kakko’s flying body landed with a heavy thump on top of him. He felt his leg crunch and he yelled in pain but he had saved his sister from colliding with metal. She rolled off him in one piece and Shaun tried to call out again but all the air had been driven from his lungs. Then the roar of the engine and din of the crash ceased.

  “You OK?” It was Tam. At least Tam had survived.

  “Yeah,” said Dah, “I don’t think anything is broken. John?”

  John moaned, “What the hell happened?”

  “I’m OK,” said Kakko. “Shaun, sorry I landed on you… I’m sorry… Shaun?”

  “W… winded,” gasped Shaun. Then, “My leg… My ankle…”

  “Oh, Shaun, what have I done?”

  “I’ll live… I think…” muttered Shaun. “You OK?”

  “Yeah. Soft landing with you underneath… We seem to be on our side. I don’t know how many times the vehicle rolled. Like being in a washing machine.”

  Tat-tat-tat-tat. Small-arms fire sounded from somewhere.

  “Keep down!” ordered Tam.

  They were quickly surrounded by the sound of machine gun fire on all sides. A volley of bullets tore through the tipped-up roof of the vehicle just above their heads. Bits of the floor flew around them as the rounds bit into it. Through the rear of the truck they could see the open vehicle behind them containing soldiers attempt to make a U-turn. Bullets were puncturing it but it completed the manoeuvre and began driving away. Then it was hit by some kind of rocket-propelled grenade. The five were never to forget that sight. The vehicle exploded, and then lay dead – a ball of flame.

  The shooting stopped. The firefight seemed to be over. More silence.

  “Better get out of here,” said Tam softly. “We could catch fire.”

  All but Shaun pushed themselves to the back of the truck. John put his hands under Shaun’s armpits and pulled. Shaun shouted, “Be careful!”

  “Sorry, mate. Got to get you out of here.”

  Tam came and helped take some of Shaun’s weight. Kakko lifted his legs.

  “Ow!” uttered Shaun. They slid out of the vehicle which lay on its side in a ditch. A motley-looking boy, who could not have been more than twelve, strolled up to them and poked a semi-automatic rifle into Tam’s chest. He sneered, and called to his comrades. One of them walked up to the cab of the truck, looked in and then raised his gun and sprayed it with bullets. Their driver and the sergeant, if they hadn’t been up till then, were now clearly dead. Dah uttered a cry of horror. Tam hoped the men would finish them all off quickly and not torture them. He could not bear the thought of what they might do to the girls.

  An older man barked an order from behind them. He seemed to be in charge. Turning to the group still clustered around Shaun, he ordered, “You, on your feet!” He motioned to a rough-looking soldier to search them. Apparently they were not to be killed… well, not immediately. Shaun wondered whether the gang had begun to see their trade value. Foreign nationals from better-off places could be ransomed – rich relatives, even governments, would produce handsome sums to ensure their safe return.

  “You walk!” bawled the leader.

  “I… I…” stammered Shaun.

  “Can’t you see he’s injured?” rounded Kakko, aggressively. “His leg—”

  The commander thrust his rifle into Kakko’s face. “You shut your mouth. You will not speak!” But it was obvious, even to him, that Shaun was not able to go anywhere. “You leave him!”

  “No!” Kakko’s anger blazed, despite the gun. Tam winced. The man methodically lowered his gun and put his face right up to hers until their noses touched. His breath stank of rotten food or perhaps some kind of chewing drug. He spat on her face. “Last warning. Women are nothing. You hear?”

  Tam put his arm round his girl and pulled her back. He did not have to say: Not now, Kakko. You’ll get your chance. She knew him too well. Tam was right. Reluctantly, Kakko subsided and bowed her head. The commander rejoiced in his apparent victory, pleased with his ability to cow upstart foreign women. Later he would take her for himself. “Good,” he said. “Now leave him and walk.”

  The four walking wounded were forced at gunpoint across the road and into the trees. Shaun remained standing on one foot, leaning against the upturned truck. Were they going to carry him? The commander turned to the soldier who had fired into the cab. “Kill him,” he ordered.

  The ragged assassin grinned. It would be a pleasure. He strode across, his weapon on his shoulder. Perhaps he could make Shaun scream before he finished him off.

  “No!” shrieked Kakko.

  “Don’t mess. Just do it!” bellowed the bossman.

  The assassin raised his gun, savouring the moment.

  Tat-tat-tat. The soldier swung round as a bullet struck his shoulder. His mouth opened in shock and the gun fell from his grip. Then another volley tore into him, spattering bits of him across Shaun’s body.

  Tam yanked Kakko down into the ditch on the far side of the road. The first volley had drawn her attention to the road behind them and she had looked away from her brother. John and Dah dived after them; the man holding them fled into the bush. The rest of their captors hit the road, firing wildly in the direction from which they thought the shots had come. Then one tried to make for the ditch, too but was felled instantly. Bullets ricocheted off the hard road in clouds of dust. One of the gang raised two arms high and shouted something that was tantamount to a surrender. The leader, however, attempted to get off the road by rolling towards Tam and Kakko but a new volley ripped into the road beside him, and he too surrendered, wounded. A vehicle sped forward and the rest of the
gang, flat on the road, held up their hands.

  It was the soldiers of the lead vehicle in the convoy. They had escaped the ambush and had returned – just in the nick of time to save Shaun. It was impossible to say who was the most dazed: Shaun who had at that moment reconciled himself to being shot, Kakko who hated being out of control and terrified as she saw her brother about to die, or John who was shaking violently, being comforted by Dah. John had signed up for a peaceful life with a lovely singer, not a war on an unknown planet where everyone was killing each other.

  In the silence that seemed to follow the noise of gunshot and screams, Kakko was the first to get to her feet. She didn’t hear the orders of the soldiers as they attended to their captives. The hot still air, charged with gun smoke, dry dust and the stench of torn flesh assaulted her lungs as she struggled to breathe again. She leapt to her brother’s side across the blood-soaked road.

  “Shaun!”

  “My leg. It hurts,” he mumbled.

  Tam joined them.

  “We’d better get you a splint, mate,” he said in as calm a voice as he could muster.

  ***

  Six hours later they were back at the hospital where they had started. The place was a mess. The bodies had been removed but nothing else had been done to put it to rights. Smashed furniture lay everywhere. The drugs cupboard had been pulled from the wall and was lying open; glass was scattered around it. Bullet holes could be seen in almost everything. In a wistful moment, Kakko had thought that the hospital might be able to do something about Shaun’s leg which was clearly broken above the ankle. She had tied him together with a rudimentary splint made from a baton they had found lying on the road but he needed something for the pain and especially to prevent any infection. But the hospital was no different from any other building in the town – even the church had been completely wrecked. All but two of the two dozen people killed there had been women. They had been the social glue of the town, keeping families cared for, tending the newly born, comforting the bereaved – working for God in a place that had known so much violence over so many years. Now they had died a horrendous death.