the flight (jay)

We started getting ready the very next day. It was easy to find this oxygen back-pack thing that connected to a helmet, but finding a space suit to fit me was quite a lot harder.

On the very first night, after we came back from England, I came back in to the Apartment and found Thia flicking through the channels on the Telly.

"What are you looking for, Thia?" her dad was asking."

"Oh, nothing really." She said looking up at him.

"it's just, when I was in England, I got super addicted to this Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine, and I just wondered if they show it here as well."

I laughed.

"If you find it call me and I'll come and watch it with you."

"Where are you going now?"

I was on my way to the room I shared with Sam. Before I went in, I stopped and looked round.

"Drawing." I said, simply. "Photos from the wedding."

"You can do that here you know." Said Noaba laughing. "we're not ganna stop you."

I tilted my head giving her a look.

"But you've got the telly on, and I won't be able to concentrate."

Then I went into my room, got out my sketch pad and the photos and began to copy them.

I love to draw. It keeps me calm when I'm angry and keep my mind off things, and that night I certainly had a lot on my mind.

After that I spent quite a lot of time outside with Buddy. Sometimes I took him into the wood for a practise flight, just to get used to it before the time came. I wasn't very good at it at first, but it was a lot of fun, and I soon got the hang of it.

When we weren't out flying, I was in the yard of the base feeding him, or just stroking and talking to him.

"I wonder when we're actually going to be doing this thing." I kept saying to him.

"I'll go whenever you're ready, master." He replied.

"So, you're actually going to be doing it then?" Said a voice behind me.

I turned to see Thia walking up to me.

"Of course I am." I told her. "I know you think this is all too dangerous and risky, but it's actually quite adventurous.

"And you like that sort of thing?"

I smiled at her. "I think you've known me long enough to guess that."

She smiled, then tilted her head in the direction of the base.

"They say they're ready."

I nodded, "they got the suit ready?"

She nodded. "It's all ready, though the suit will still be a bit baggy."

I looked back to Buddy. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Then we save the world."

It didn't take long for me to get into the suit, but attaching the oxygen back-pack and helmet was a little harder (and rather uncomfortable.) But we got it all done in the end.

I didn't put the helmet on at once but James laughed and said I looked like one of those Power Rangers form kid's shows.

"Should take a photo and send it to your dad."

I laughed.

"Oh, I don't think we've got quite enough time for that."

"No, no paparazzi today." I mounted Buddy, and looked back towards the others. "Wish me luck." Then I put on the helmet and we took off into the sky.

It was quite different from when we were flying in the forest. Then, we only flew a little higher than the trees, but now we were going higher and higher, until we were above all the clouds, and it was surprising how fast he can really fly. Coming out of the Earth's atmosphere was both the strangest and most amazing feeling ever. Suddenly there were all these stars coming out of nowhere. I stared in awe, relying on Buddy to guide me. I knew he wouldn't let me fall at any rate. We went past the moon and all the other planets in the solar system. As we passed each one, I would stare at it making a mental note that if ever I got a chance, I'd draw it and show Thia. She always loved the stars and planets.

We began to wander around the edge of the galaxy, looking for the Tru-beein ship. It didn't take us long to find it, just hovering outside.

So it hadn't yet entered. That was a good sign. It was quite a big ship, though not very modern. It looked quite old and worn. I wandered if this was the same ship that attacked my planet when I was just a baby. I shook the thought from my head. I had a job to focus on. We flew up to the ship and landed on the top of it, and as dad had said, no one seemed to have detected us.

Wondering if the ship had its own oxygen force-field, I risked taking off the helmet. I was breathing a little heavily, but that was probably just because I was nervous. It didn't seem to change much when I took the helmet off. I struggled to get the back-pack off, and laid them both down next to Buddy,

then started crawling around looking for somewhere for me to creep into. It didn't take me all that long to find something. At the very end of the ship there was a large hatch, probably for pods and things to come in and out of. In the middle of that there was a small window. Inside it wasn't that big a drop, but the room looked spacious enough (get it.)

I began pushing to see if I could open it. I could. I listened, but the place seemed quite empty. I couldn't hear or see anyone. Then I looked back at Buddy.

"You stay here until I get back. Look after them." I nodded towards the back-pack and helmet. "Don't make a sound, don't let anyone know you're here. If you see anyone coming,

call me and I'll see if I can get to you before everything goes wrong. But don't leave without me, at least that way, if we do get caught, we can find a way out together. If I need you I'll call you. Got all that?"

He nodded, but stayed silent. I smiled.

Bracing myself, I jumped in the window.

I landed on a hard floor, and looked round. It wasn't very well made. There were gaps between wall and floor here and there. I sat there for a while, thinking. Of all the time spent focusing on trying to get in the ship, I'd never thought of what I'd do once I was inside.

There was a door, right in front of me, but it didn't have any windows, so I couldn't see through it.

I crept up to it anyway, and hid just to the side of it, as a kid hides behind an open door. Then, building up my courage I flung the door open and burst through it. I'd half expected there to be a room full of ugly monsters all staring at me, but it was a corridor, and it was completely empty.

I tried to steady my breathing, thinking that if I breathed too loudly, they'd be able to hear me. Slowly and cautiously, keeping to the walls, I crept along the corridor. Round each corner I would prepare to turn back and run back to the pod-room if there was any one there. But I saw no one. Starting to get a little anxious, I got down on my hands and knees and began crawling, then I started to hear voices and stopped...

There was a deep, male, evil sounding voice, saying something about taking things from a planet and then destroying it. Holding my breath, I dared to go a little closer. Now he was saying something about a force-field around our galaxy. Saying that his ship couldn't get in, but that a robot could.

Something went crash beside me and I gasped. I must've knocked something over, that in my anxiety, I didn't even realise was there.

"There's someone on the ship." The voice was saying.

Without stopping to think, I turned and sped off as fast as I could.

"INTRUDER!" Another voice was calling. "STOP HIM!"

I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, back to the pod-room. Just before I got there, I could hear Buddy calling for me.

"I'm coming, Bud!" I called back, scrambling though the door. I tried to climb back up to the window, but it seemed higher now, than it did when I first got in.

I could hear the others getting closer, and for a moment all I could do was stare in their direction. Then they were right at the end of the corridor.

They certainly did look like robots "There he is!" one of them called.

With one last effort, I pulled my eyes away from them and jumped as high as I could, only just managing to get hold of the end of the window.

"But he's just a boy, what harm can he do?"

Thankfully, the corridor was quite a long one, and also thankfully, the window was just at the end of the room. I was able to use my feet to scrape at the wall, and get myself out of the window. I could see Buddy standing nearby. When he saw me, he galloped up to me."

"Master! They've been preparing battle ships."

"Never mind that, just get us out of here." I said, climbing onto his back. We were off flying before I was even sat on him properly. It wasn't quite enough though. Battle ships were chasing us, and firing at us.

Before long I noticed, that it was becoming harder for me to breath. I'd left the oxygen back-pack on the ship. Not long after that, I started see the Earth again, then something hard, cold and sharp had hit me in the back and seemed to run through my very bones. It hurt. What was it? Had I been shot? Was I going to die? But we were so nearly there.

Just a few more minutes, and we'd be back in Earth's atmosphere, and I'd be able to breathe again. It didn't make much difference though. Once were back in the Earth's atmosphere, the battle ships pulled off, but nothing much else changed. Buddy seemed to be flying at past his highest speed. My sight began to blur as I started see the base again. As it got closer, it began to black out. All I could hear was my own breath and heartbeat, then as if from, a distant realm, Thia screaming.