1. The Blue Space Swallow

Introducing the villain of the piece.

Orbiting like a giant, spiked bird. The cyber-organic melding of a space swallow and The Governor's mining ship 'L Zero' could be seen from the planet's surface as an electric, zaffre blue smudge.

The four-man crew of the drill-pod were teetering on a ledge half way up a steep incline on one of the planets numerous and massive crevices.

Indications were that this was the location of a sizeable deposit of lizard crystal. With the properties of the crystal ranging in effects depending on colour. It was the most valuable substance in the known universe.

The Governor had taken precautions. After all, the mining crew were on their last chance. If they couldn't prove they could be of at least some benefit to life in the galaxy then they would be obliterated, blotted out, and not allowed to continue on to another existence. They had all failed to pass any trials, in any of their previous incarnations. He was giving them just enough rope to hang themselves with this task. They had shown only hostility, hate and evil intent up till now. The Governor had the power to ensure that one wrong move and they would cease to be.

"Must be green, must be green" Deller muttered to himself.

He was a small person. His ears were disproportionately large. His head round, his jet black hair shaven close to stubble. His eyes were black, which contrasted with his pallid complexion. Unable to fit in with people, he held an angry defiance of life, which came as close to comradeship with his fellow crew mates as it was going to get.

They knew he had some plan. Kane, Beko and Steff could care less. They had given up. Their world had shrunk and the only enjoyment left to them, in the grasp of The Governor was to squash insects and torture small mammals. It led to a bleak outlook for them and they guessed their time would soon be up. Maybe if Dellers plan worked they could move up to creating more chaos and pain but that was a pipe dream.

All four had spread out into a large fissure. They remained attached to the drill-pod by individual, malleable, wire woven lines.

The planet was inhabited by small lizards that lived in the porous volcanic rocks.

Kane found the lizard eggs first.

"Over here, we got it!" They gathered round the group of four yellowish green speckled eggs. Kane picked up each egg and threw them at the side of the fissure. "Don't need that, don't need that, don't need that, don't need that." Steff and Beko chuckled at the mindless display.

The eggs had been laid in gravel with larger rocks towards the outside of the nest.

Deller didn't chuckle with the others. He was more intent at checking out the formation of the fissure they were in and held his breath as Kane rummaged in the gravel beneath the nest.

"There! We got some." Each of the eggs had over time produced a tiny crystal beneath it. Kane picked up the small crystals to show the others. Deller let out a gasp......They were green.

Steff reached for her com.

"Don't." Deller stood to face her.

"What? We got to report to The Governor." Steff looked confused.

"I have a better idea. You with me or not?" Deller raised a rock in his right hand.

"But if we don't that's the end of us...He will finish us now. No, I am not with you. I want out of here."

The rock came crashing down on Steffs' skull with a loud crack.

Without a second thought, Deller looked at the other two.

"Well? You two in or out?" They both nodded looking curiously at the body of Steff.

"Right both of you get into the drill pod. We have very little time to get out of here. Do as I say and we may have a small chance."

Deller took the crystals from Kane and put them carefully into his belt pouch. He ushered both of them into the craft and collected a small detonator with a long fuse. The kind they used to crack boulders with. He tapped the end of the fuse on a rock and it started to fizzle. He went to the back of the crevice and threw the detonator as far into the crack as he could.

Then he ran. Scrambling towards the drill pod, stumbling on his way but his black eyes were full of determination. It was not long before he was in the cockpit of the craft. Looking behind him he ordered the others to swallow one crystal each.

"But we don't know what these crystals will do to us! Even the Governor is still researching them. They could kill us......Painfully?" That was the longest sentence Beko had ever put together thought Deller. He sure picks his moments.

"Look. There is no time to argue. Just swallow them and strap in. I have some knowledge of these crystals. We're dead anyway. Just do it."

The drill pod lifted slowly....too slowly for Deller but its thrusters blew into the crevice and dislodged Steff's dead body. It fell down the side of the ravine.

Deller popped two crystals into his mouth, pulled back the joystick and waited for the momentum drive to kick in. He was really counting on this bucket to lift him clear of the atmosphere and away from L-Zero and the confines of The Governor.

Three things then happened at once.

There was a flash of light from the crevice, the small craft leapt forward at a phenomenal rate and the craft and his two remaining crew-mates seemed to disappear. He could still see the joystick in his hand, part of the seat he was sitting on and the floor of the drill-pod. It was like sitting in a bubble. Everything outside that bubble was gone. The combined bubbles of all three of them had rendered the drill pod completely invisible from any significant distance away.

Hidden from the sight of L-Zero it would now be impossible to tell that the craft had escaped the thunderous avalanche that now consumed the place they had found the crystals.

Thrusting at half the speed of light, Deller manoeuvred through the alien canyon. He knew he was heading away from the blue space swallow and the L-Zero and would soon be clear.

As soon as he felt he was out of range he headed for the atmosphere. Kane and Beko could not be seen but he heard snivelling and gasping from behind him. The sensation was strange as if he was flying on a joystick but without the expected rush of the wind in his maniacal face.

Could this pod break the atmosphere of the planet? He knew luck would be on his side but just how much luck could one green crystal bring? Well, there were three of them maybe this tripled the luck? He hoped so.

The pod was warming up. Sweat trickled down his grimacing face and dripped onto his miner's shoes. Thank the stars for that little bit of floor. Complaints were coming from the other two but he just ignored them. Pulling back on the throttle the once invisible nose of the pod appeared as a line of red-hot sparks. Then white hot. The shuttle slowed with the pressure of breaking through then like the birth of a sea mammal it popped into space. The nose turned back to red and then invisible again.

He gave a whoop. He was still alive and the pod intact.

*****

The Governor was in his study. The walls were studded green leather and he preferred to be surrounded by books and manuscripts rather than computers. His large mahogany desk held many artefacts from many different times and worlds. In the centre stood an art nouveau nude figure of a dancer twirling a ribbon. He was reading a book by Asimov.

He was disturbed by a screen appearing in the middle of his desk. The ship wanted to speak with him.

"Okay, go on." He said in a calm and polite voice.

"It looks as if the miners down there are in some difficulty. There has been an avalanche. We can only detect one body. The body seems to be in a poor state."

"Oh dear, well it was probably going to end badly for them anyway. Could you send down another team to recover the bodies, they must be deep if you can't detect them?"

"Yes very unusual. Must be very deep." The ship sounded thoughtful.

*****

Deller was becoming frantic. The effects of the crystals had worn off the other two but his double dose was still making him invisible. Kane and Beko had not said a word. Their ordeal had left them speechless. The drill pod was still supporting life but Deller had a feeling that when his crystal ran out so would his luck.

The nearest trade route was weeks away. Deller had headed towards the centre of the universe rather than head outward to try and hide. His best bet was to find the trade route and lie low on some quiet backwater planet. The problem was food and water. The pod could supply them for about a week, that's all........

Gazing at the stars Deller found, even more, hatred for the races of the universe. He was definitely going to live through this little hiccup. No one would be safe when he set foot on a planet again.

As if to answer his call, a worm loop appeared right in front of him. As the force of it sucked him in, he smiled in relief.