Puffin Books Australia

1.

MONSTERS

Dece stared at the reflection in the polished steel of the small transport, and snorted. With his swollen head, his eyes gleaming in the dim red glow, his polished claws, solid body, heavy legs, and the little sparks flying everywhere, he looked scary enough to frighten Seps.

Then he saw her Skimmer parked against the rock wall. The Skimmer was covered in frost and looked like a large green crystal.

Well, he would have frightened Seps when she was little. With a blackout and a meteor storm.

Dece clanked up to the transport.

All right, he knew there were better suits than this creaking thing he had on, lighter ones, that almost felt like a new skin. Seps wore the light one when she drove the Skimmer – but she had to make sure the Boss didn't see her. If Boss saw Seps she would murder her. The light suits weren't as protective as this one.

Dece snapped his right claw onto the transport's handle. The transport's name was Telp, but 'Dumb Box' would have suited it better. Dece shoved himself into Telp and clicked on the engine. Telp coughed. Dece touched the controls.

No, he thought. That would really annoy Cap. He would shout at Dece for months. So Dece moved his arm away and waited. Telp's motor always needed warming up, otherwise the cold would destroy it – even here, inside the hangar.

Dece wiped his helmet's visor with the back of a claw and turned on the headlights. The blaze threw shadows across the cave, the metal door, the rock walls and the side of the Tug.

The Tug looked frightening in this light. Its four thick legs lifted its body from the pocked floor, and its swollen black back almost scratched the roof. One of its engine nozzles was twice as big as Dece, and all together there were three of them. The Tug looked like an immense bug hatching in the rock.

Boss owned the Base but the hangar was Cap's place – and they were a perfect match.

A shiver ran down Dece's back, even though he knew that the Tug was nothing but a tender, a lifeboat, something that ships carry in their holds.

Dece glared at the fat transport. 'Stop leering at me. I once flew you.'

Seps didn't pay much attention to the Tug. She called it a rattling ferry and complained about the reek of fish oil.

Like she said, the real monsters are outside.

Seps' Skimmer was parked near the lumbering Roller. Dece looked at it and shrugged. The Skimmer and the Roller were nothing but junk.

Looking up for a moment, Dece noticed Boss and Seps watching him from the Base's window. He waved one of Telp's arms at them.

Dece figured Boss was at the window because she worried about him, but that wasn't why Seps was there. If he fell into a crevasse it would be a week before she'd notice he was gone. She was only there because she wished she was the one driving Telp, and Dece would have preferred that too. But Cap wanted Dece to be some sort of warrior – because that's what Dece was supposed to be. But he wasn't.

Dece sighed, finally gripped the controls and moved towards the small yellow metal panel on the wall. When Telp got closer, the panel slid up and away and ice particles scurried into the hangar.

Dece watched the particles dance around Telp.

There were two places here. The Quarter was the safe place. Even with the cold hangar and the crouching Tug. But the Base was also part of the Quarter, and that was warm, had hot meals, computer games, Seps' holograms and the calm sea from Home. The Quarter was home, but they never called it 'home' because that would confuse it with Home. Especially for Cap. But 'Quarter' just sounded like a slice of pie.

Then there was the outside.

As Seps said, there were monsters.