Space Rats on Monster Planet

By Jacqueline Kirk

After landing on a planet that does not even show up on their computer the crew of Star Chaser believe it's uninhabited. They're wrong. The inhabitants are big - very big - and are not at all happy to see them!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jacqueline Kirk
• Release date: Aug 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476371948

Jacqueline Kirk

Where to begin? My parents met when they were children although at that time ... What do you mean that's too far back? Okay, okay!I began reading fantasy and science fiction when I was young and have loved it ever since. So much so that I decided I wanted to write my own and with this wonderful world of indie authors it was really a matter of time! : )

Book preview

SPACE RATS ON MONSTER PLANET

Jacqueline Kirk

Published by Jacqueline Kirk at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Jacqueline Kirk

Other books in the series:

SPACE RATS

http://www.jacquelinekirk.com/

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SPACE RATS ON MONSTER PLANET

By

Jacqueline Kirk

CHAPTER ONE

Troy opened his eyes slowly, savouring these last few moments in bed before he had to get up and get on with his assigned chores. Things had settled down quickly after they had said good-bye to Captain Lin and Troy was particularly disgruntled to be told that he still had to do certain chores. He had thought doing something as important as piloting the ship might have gotten him a pass on them, but no such luck.

Troy didn’t mind really, although he complained about it every now and then. All he really had to do was switch on the vacuuming bots and they zipped about the floors, polishing and cleaning happily. They had acquired the little bots when Captain Lin had taken it upon himself to have the ship fixed. When the little semi-spherical contraptions were found inside they had no idea what they were until Krista researched them on the computer. A long time was spent after that dropping crumbs on the floor and watching the little bots zipping around cleaning it all up.

After tripping over them a few times, though, their amusement factor plummeted and they were stored in a cupboard and brought out in the mornings as part of Ziggy’s chores. He found them particularly useful in the kitchen as he still didn’t quite have the knack of cooking neatly instead of the mess he normally made.

A buzzing sound just outside his door made Troy sit up in his bed as he realised one of the little cleaning bots was working in the corridor, which meant Ziggy was up and preparing breakfast. At the thought of food, Troy threw back the covers and got out of bed. Debating whether or not to shower first, he decided food was more tempting and pulled on some trousers before stepping into the corridor, pulling a T-shirt over his head.

Hello, One, Troy said to the busy little bot that ignored him and continued its polishing of the corridor floor.

Troy and his friends decided to give them names but couldn’t come up with anything so the four little bots got numbered and were called by their numbers. Lena had decorated each bot with his number adding a little artistic flourish, as she called it. So bot number one had its number painted on with all these little curly bits Lena said was calligraphy, but Troy just thought it looked as if the paint had run a bit.

Entering the kitchen he saw Lena and Orla were already there while Ziggy was sitting at the table tucking into a plate of cereal. Troy smiled and then looked at what Ziggy was eating.

What is that? he asked his friend. What he thought had been cereal looked like a mixture of nuts, grass, and some weird orange lumps.

Ziggy swallowed the mouthful he had been chewing and pointed with his spoon at the contents of his bowl. Found it in the cupboards after Captain Lin’s men had restocked them. Not sure what it is but I think it’s absolutely delicious! Try some.

I wouldn’t if I was you, Lena warned from across the table, I did and it’s the foulest thing I’ve ever tasted!

Troy looked closely at the contents of Ziggy’s bowl and decided he might actually side with Lena on this case. Whatever Ziggy was eating did not look appetising at all. Troy patted his friend on the shoulder and informed him he would give it a pass and headed for the kitchen to get something more appealing to eat.

I made some scrambled penta eggs with agga beans, Ziggy informed him with a smile as he continued eating his weird cereal. It’s in that saucepan on the cooker.

Troy grinned and went to the cooker, lifting the lid off the saucepan and taking a deep inhalation of the wonderful aroma coming off the contents. Penta eggs were green in colour and that put a lot of people off them, along with their spicy flavour, but Troy loved them, especially with the orange agga beans. It certainly made for a colourful breakfast and although Lena had refused to try it at first, Orla had went ahead and helped herself the first time Ziggy had made them. Since her constant companion had seemed to enjoy them, Lena had taken a small portion and with obvious reluctance tried it. Much to her surprise, she thought it was delicious and scrambled penta eggs with agga beans had become a regular breakfast meal.

Ziggy had taken to being the ship’s cook with such relish that no one felt guilty about letting him be the one to always prepare the meals. Lena had taken her duties seriously as well and the little cultivation room, as it had been called, was a hive of growing vegetables and fruit. They hadn’t managed to harvest anything yet as it was too soon, but Lena was confident it would only be another couple of weeks before some things were ready.

She and Ziggy had already been discussing what could be done with them, a conversation that always had Troy zoning out as he had no interest in fruit and vegetables apart from eating them.

Where’s Tristan? Troy asked the others.

Unlike you, Lena said with a sharp look his way, your brother was up early and is already in the engine room, he said something about needing to run some checks or something.

She shrugged to indicate she didn’t really understand what he had been talking about, which was the problem most of them had when Tristan got technical. Even Krista glazed over a little when he went on for long, and she was his closest friend on board.

And Krista? Troy continued. I suppose she’s in the engine room too? He wasn’t sure how he felt about Krista. She was a nice person, super skilled with the computer and certainly a useful part of the crew, but she seemed to always be with Tristan when Troy wanted to talk with him like they used to. It annoyed him and the others felt a little uncomfortable about the situation so tried to ignore it, although Lena had, in her usual blunt way, told him to stop being a baby and that he was just jealous.

Troy had been angry at that but secretly thought she might be right. He only disliked Krista because she took his brother’s attention away from him and so lately he had tried to make an effort to get on better with her. It didn’t always work.

She’s on the bridge actually, Ziggy told him before Lena could say anything. Something about a weird planet that shouldn’t be there or something like that.

Dangerous planet, Orla said, her large violet eyes looking directly at Troy as if speaking to him alone.

We don’t know that, Lena replied, placing a hand on her adopted sister’s arm. It’s probably just some kind of computer glitch.

Troy carried on eating in silence, watching Orla as he did. The strange girl had become more talkative since they’d been on the ship but every now and then she would say something weird or just seemed to know something. It was disconcerting at times but they were getting used to it. It hadn’t been as obvious back at the Home with so many other kids, but here where it was just the six of them her behaviour stood out more. He had also caught Tristan watching her with a thoughtful look on his face as if he was trying to remember something but couldn’t quite manage it.

After clearing away his breakfast dishes, Troy headed for the cargo bay. It was his job to empty the waste compactor every week, although he couldn’t figure out what he had done to deserve this particular job. Even though it was essentially pressing a button on the side of the large metal machine to make sure everything was as compacted down as it could be and then press another to send it out into space. Sometimes, actually frequently, something would get stuck and he would have to switch it all off and then open it up to fix it. It was all he could do at times not to throw up when the smell hit him.

Once in the cargo bay, he wandered over to the waste compactor and listened to its low hum of industry. Crossing his fingers before he pressed the compacting button, he smiled when he heard it working properly and efficiently, squeezing the contents until they were as small as possible. When that was done, he pressed the next button and listened as the little cube of waste was jettisoned into space and then the compactor was back to idle mode waiting for more waste.

My lucky day! Troy grinned.

Suddenly Star Chaser lurched as if the engines had coughed and then continued on smoothly. Troy froze for a moment, waiting to see if it would happen again, and when it didn’t he hurried out of the cargo bay.

He met the others as they had come out of the kitchen and were heading for the engine room too. Tristan looked around in annoyance at the sudden intrusion into his domain and went back to working at one of the panels along the wall he had pulled open, exposing a part of the engine.

What are you doing? he asked over his shoulder.

What was that lurch before? Troy demanded. Is there something wrong with the engine?

Tristan paused in what he was doing. Oh, that, he said calmly. It’s nothing really. When the ship was fixed I don’t think all the parts were compatible with my … adjustments.

Troy felt his mouth go dry at this news. What do you mean by ‘adjustments’ exactly? Troy asked his brother as calmly as possible.

Tristan shrugged and frowned at his brother. How else could I get Star Chaser flight worthy? What parts I couldn’t get I had to find something else and modify it to fit the ship. It was all fine until Captain Lin’s men starting working on the engine. I did tell them about it but I suppose just being a kid I didn’t really know what I was talking about.

He spoke calmly but Troy could hear the underlying bitterness in his voice. Tristan was gifted when it came to anything mechanical but he was also only fifteen years old and with no official training. Adults weren’t going to credit him with knowing what he was doing, probably better than they