The Labour Planet - A Working Title - Part Eleven - 1131 Words

The Labour Planet – A Working Title – Part Eleven – 1131 Words

While Jamie stood still trying to assess his situation another Grusalien stepped forward and transferred his thoughts.

‘You need to find a different place to hide.  The Templars suspect someone from your holding area is here.’

‘How could they know that?’

‘You have been betrayed.  Four Guardsmen Templars have been despatched to find you.’

Jamie decided to heed the advice to leave the cave area so that he could take possibly his last  chance to investigate the layout of the ship.  From what he had seen so far it seemed to have three main corridors and by the looks of it his own containment area was in one corridor, the Grusaliens’ area in another, which left the third corridor as possibly the place where the children were being kept. 

Jamie was about to test his theory by taking a look, but just as he was entering this third corridor he felt a gun being pushed hard into his back.

‘We’ve been looking for you.  How long did you think you could evade capture?  There is no escape from this ship.’

‘I just wanted to see what was going on.’

‘You are lying, but no matter we will soon know everything.  We will scan your brain, and that will tell us what we need to know.’

‘How did you know I had escaped?’

‘We didn’t, but one Guardsmen Cadet from a group of Cadets reported that on their way to their posts he sensed that someone was in the corridor with them.  If it were a Guardsman Templar or another Guardsmen Cadet, he would make himself known, so it had to be an escapee from one of the containment areas.’

At that moment, there was another almighty explosion, and it hurled both Jamie and his captor into an iron support structure. The Templar died instantly, but Jamie was still alive, although unconscious with blood gushing from a head wound.  Then he heard a familiar sounding voice seemingly coming from a distance, and he felt himself being shaken.

‘Jamie, Jamie, we must get you away from this place.  If they find you here the consequences could be very grave.’

Jamie’s eyes flickered open just for a second, but he couldn’t move.  The next thing was he felt himself being carried before once again sinking back into unconsciousness.

When he came to he found himself back in the containment area.  A concerned Whittaker stood  looking down at him with Georgia trying to stem the bleeding from the wound to his head..

‘What happened out there Jamie?’  And did you find anything out?’

‘Sir…sorry.  Give him a chance to come round.’

‘It’s all right Georgia’ said Jamie weakly.

‘No, it’s not.  You’re in no fit state to answer questions.  You need to rest.’

‘Yes, you’re probably right, we’ll let him rest and come round in his own time.’ 

‘Jamie are you all right?’ came into his brain.

With that Jamie sat bolt upright.  He could hardly believe it, but the Grusaliens could communicate with him still even though they were now separated.

‘They are still transferring,’ he said. 

Whittaker looked at Georgia.

‘Is he concussed do you think?’

‘It’s possible.’

‘No, you don’t understand…It’s the Grusaliens.  They are still communicating with me.’

‘The Grusaliens?’

‘Still communicating?’

‘Are you all right, Jamie?’

‘Yes, I am back in our containment area,’ he transferred back.         

Whittaker and Georgia stared down at him perplexed by the sudden change in his demeanour as he had gone from barely conscious to a totally animated state.

‘Jamie, how do you feel now?’

‘I’ll be all right, Tom.  Just give me a minute.’

‘I need to speak with my friends, so please excuse me.’ Jamie transferred.

‘Jamie do you feel strong enough to tell us what happened out there?’

He nodded.

‘Right, first off, could you see any reason why Georgia and I couldn’t follow you?’

‘No.’

‘When you realized we were not following, what did you do?’

‘I was a bit scared, and I needed to gather my thoughts, so I was lucky to find a small recess to hide in until I felt sufficiently brave to leave and try to work out the layout of the ship.’

‘Go on.’

‘No, there is something more important to tell you.’

‘Oh.’

‘The people from earth are not the only captives on this ship.'

‘What?’

‘There are people from another planet also confined as we are.’

‘Another planet?’

‘Yes, it‘s called Gruse.’

‘What are they like?’

‘The Grusaliens are peaceful and they can do remarkable things.’

‘In what way?’

‘They can communicate without speech which they did by transferring their thoughts into my mind. But what was even more remarkable is that I not only understood them but found I could transfer my thoughts or answers back.’

‘How did you get back in?’ said Georgia, pointedly ignoring Jamie’s previous remark.

‘That I’m not sure of, but, and I know this may sound ridiculous, I have a hazy recollection that I was carried here by Black.’

‘What gave you that idea?’’

'I must have been unconscious although seemingly from a distance, I heard someone  trying to get through to me but I couldn’t move.  Then I felt myself being carried and for just one tiny moment my eyes flickered open and that’s when I thought the person carrying me was Black.’

‘We will continue with our plan to try to get some idea of the layout of this ship but we must trust no one, least of all Black because if it was him that carried Jamie back then it looks like he can come and go as he pleases.’

‘Yes, but if it was him, what was his motive?  Why would he rescue him?’ 

‘I don’t have the answers anymore than you do Georgia, but I think we must at least be wary of him until we know for sure that he is not working for them.’

‘One thing though, Tom, Jamie has at least provided us with positive evidence that this is not the work of our government.’

Whittaker and Georgia stared down at Jamie because from being only just conscious suddenly his face took on a look of complete animation.

‘Be careful, Jamie, you have a shape shifter in your containment area.’

‘Do you know who it is?’

‘No.’ came back.

‘Tom, one of the Grusaliens has warned me that there is a traitor in here, a shape-shifter, but he does not know who.’

‘Remember who it was Oldcastle pointed the finger at.’ said Whittaker.

‘Yes, but I wouldn’t take anything he said at face value,’ Georgia replied.

Whittaker and Georgia left Jamie to sleep for a bit because he looked exhausted, but as they walked away Georgia turned to Whittaker and said,

‘What do you make of all this talk of Grusaliens?’

‘I think he may be suffering from concussion.  By the looks of it that is a nasty blow he took to the head.’