Chapter One

Joanna - 21st Century AD - New Planet

I glare at my accusers as they argue about my fate. I try to look defiant despite the fact that my arms are tied behind my back, there is a gag across my mouth and I'm sat in the corner of a cage in the corner of a tent.

'She tried to convince the aliens to kill us,' that stupid girl, the one who calls herself Ayla says.

I try to shout at her.

How dare she talk? How dare she use the name of my mother as her own. I know who she is. I know she's my mother's descendant, the descendant of my stupid sister, but to me, she is nothing, she is less than nothing. She is worse than the scum that sticks to the bottom of my shoe.

And I am going to grind her into the ground.

And all her little friends too.

But my words don't come because of the gag, and all I do is moan.

'But she didn't,' the boy called Duck says.

Duck? What sort of name is Duck? Does he waddle when he walks? Does he quack in his sleep?

Why is anyone listening to him?

Why would anyone listen to a duck?

'She didn't manage to get us killed,' he continues to say. 'Yes I know she tried, but she failed. And now the aliens are safely confined, and will be until they realise that she was lying to them.'

Lying to them? Don't make me laugh. The things I have seen in my long life. No one would believe the things I have seen. The way man has hurt man. Or has killed other species. There might not be many humans on this planet at the moment, they might be outnumbered by the Galen, those they call aliens, for the now, but that will change.

I've seen small groups become massive ones in what seems like a short period of time.

Well to me, who has lived for thousands of years it was a short period. But one hundred years after a small group of settlers land on the land, there is a massive city, and the indiginous people are herded like cattle and either killed or put somewhere safely out of the way.

No, the humans might tell the Galen they are peaceful, but they won't be. I can guarentee that. If they aren't killed soon, then the Galen will be the ones who end up dead.

Humanity is evil.

'They're confined for now,' that girl says. 'But we can't keep them so forever. And what if they don't listen to us? What if they still believe her lies?'

Lies? Don't make me laugh.

I start to choke as laughter is cut off with the gag in my mouth and turns to coughing.

Neither of them look at me.

I glare at them, and all they do is point, never looking at me.

'They have to believe us,' Duck says. 'But they're not going to if the first thing they see us doing is hurting one of our own.'

'I know, I know,' that girl responds, and she sits down and puts her hands on top of her head. 'And I don't want to do anything to her either. For crying out loud, she's Jonayla. She's the first Ayla's daughter. And by some miracle, she's alive. And young. That girl over there, she was born about thirty thousand years ago, and she looks our age. Her being alive, well it's a miracle or it would be if she was a good person, but the way she is, the evil that is obviously within her, well to be quite honest, I think her being able to be here is a curse.'

'To who?' Duck asks.

'To us. To humanity. To everyone who's lives she has ever touched and warped because she is who she is.'

'And what about her?'

'What about her?'

'How would you like to live all that time? How many people has she loved and lost? How many have she seen die?'

'Don't you mean how many has she killed? And as to love, I don't believe that she is capable of it. She might have been at one stage. After all, she is Ayla's daughter and all I feel coming from that woman, ghost that she is, is love. But whatever feelings she was capable of feeling for people has obviously been burnt off over the years, and now…'

'And don't you think we should pity her for that?'

That thing, that girl who dares to call herself Ayla, shakes her head. 'I don't feel any pity for her. She only has herself to blame for where she finds herself today.'

Duck sits down next to her. Grabs her hand.

The sight of them sitting together makes me want to be sick.

'Ayla,' he says. 'I am not talking about now. I'm talking about her life. What happened to her so she's like what she is now?'

'She chose her path.'

'No I very much doubt that. OK, maybe she chose to hate, maybe she decided that she was going to do bad to others, but why? Why Ayla?'

She shrugs.

'She wasn't born evil.'

'No.'

'And I don't believe that she is now.'

That thing, that from now on I'm going to call It, stands up and shakes its head.

'She's not evil?' It says. 'I don't think she was born evil, and when she was alive during the Ice Age, I don't think she was probably evil either, but now? Yes, she's definitely evil. I can't believe you're sticking up for her. After everything that happened to you. Those aliens put you in a cave, and from what you've told me, they hit you with electricity sticks.'

'I do know.'

'Electricity Duck, they electrocuted you. You could have died from just one shock. People have before.'

'But I didn't.'

'That doesn't matter, you could have,' It says. 'And so could any of the others. And more than that, the aliens were planning to wipe us all out. With that weapon of theirs. And they were going to do that because of her. She is to blame. She might have once been good, when she was Ayla's daughter but now she is defintely anything but good.'

I blink. Did It just say when I was Ayla's daughter? As if I am not now? I fling myself at the bars of the cave, hoping to break one of the pieces of wood and somehow cut the ropes that are binding me and get free.

So I can put my hands around It's throat and throttle It.

How dare It say I was Ayla's daughter. I am Ayla's daughter. She is my mother. She has always been my mother, and this thing, It doesn't have the right to say I am anything else.

They glance in my direction.

Their faces pale.

I feel a glimmer of momentary satifaction.

They're scared of me.

Good.

'Look, she's the violent one,' It says. 'If she could, she'd kill us all with her bare hands.'

'Just you descendant,' I try to say.

The gag muffles my words once again into moans.

'We can't keep her in that cage anymore than we can keep the aliens confined,' It says. 'It's inhumane.'

'It is,' Duck says. 'I wouldn't like to be in there.'

'But we can't let her go, one because then she'll just cause more trouble and two because the others aren't going to want us to release her.'

'Many of the others just want blood,' Duck says. 'Especially those who were kidnapped too.'

'Then maybe…'

'We can't kill her.'

'Why not?'

'Um, because she's Ayla's daughter. She's our relative.'

'And?'

'Well okay, she might not have acted like she's related to us, in fact, I guess she wishes she wasn't, but what about Ayla, the first Ayla, don't you think she'll be rather angry if we…'

'Kill her?' It asks. It shakes its head and puts its hands on its hips. 'I think Ayla would be relieved to have her finally in the spirit world. I don't think she'd be angry at all. I think she'd be relieved and happy to have her with her.'

'I'm not so sure about that Ayla,' Duck says. 'But even if she was, there is another reason why we should find another solution.'

'And what's that?' It asks.

She sounds angry.

'If we kill her, then we will just be proving her right. The first thing humanity does on reaching this new planet is to kill one of our own. What do you think the aliens will think of that?'

It sighs.

'And even if we could somehow keep our killing her from them, and just say that she left to go back to Earth, and even if Ayla wasn't mad, there is another reason why we can't kill her.'

It raises an eyebrow. 'What's that?'

'Can we?'

'I think we can do whatever needs to be done Duck,' It says. 'Even something as unsavoury as killing another human. It's not something I want to do, but it maybe be something that has to be done.'

Duck shakes his head. 'You misunderstand what I'm talking about Ayla,' he says. 'I don't mean that we won't be able to do the act because we're basically good people, I was speaking of her long life.'

'I don't understand,' It says.

'She has lived a long long time. And she looks just like us. Yound and healthy and in good shape. But what if that long life means that she can't die? We might not be able to kill her. We might not even be able to scratch her and leave a mark. What if she is immortal?'

'No one is immortal.'

'Well I'd say at her age, she comes pretty close.' He scratches his head again. 'Didn't you say that your teacher was also from the Ice Age and lived to see you onto the spaceship?'

'Yes, she was left behind on Earth. She said it was time for her to die. That she'd done what she had to do. That she was meant to help the first Ayla, but never had, and it was only after her helping me that her mission was done and she could die. When the storm came again, she must have…'

It wipes a tear from her face.

'So she had a mission to complete and then she got to die?'

It nods.

'Then maybe Joanna, or Jonayla, or whatever is her name, is the same. Maybe she has something that needs to be done and then she'll die.'

'And what's that?'

'I don't know,' Duck says. 'Maybe we should ask her.'

'I wouldn't believe a single word that comes out of her lying mouth,' It responds. 'If you want to talk to her, then go ahead, but she'll only lie to you. As she has already lied to you. But don't include me. I'm going to talk to the other leaders about what we should do now. Including the Russian captain who I don't think is looking very favourably at her.'

'He can't blame Joanna for what happened to him?' Duck says. 'She had nothing to do with Broud, and his possession of the captain. She had nothing to do with him.'

'How can you be so sure?'

'Because…' he sighs. 'I don't think she did have anything to do with him.'

'But thinking doesn't help. We need evidence, not thinking. Evidence to prove that she and Broud were not in this together. And the simple truth is, she's already betrayed us once, and has been shown to be strange. Everyone knows that she called Ayla mother, everyone knows that she claims to be someone who was born during the Ice Age, near enough the same time as the spirit Broud was from, the strangeness of the both of them is enough to convince the settlers that they were probably in cahoots, and it doesn't really matter if they were or not. They both hurt humans. Broud is gone, and the settlers are going to want her gone too so they can get on with their lives. We might not be able to kill her, but we will probably have to try. I think the Russian captain alone is going to demand it.'

Duck looks over to me, and then back at It.

'So are you going to talk to her, or are you coming with me to talk to the other leaders?' It asks.

Duck groans, and then shakes his head, all the while staring at It. 'Fine,' he says. 'You're right. And it is important to speak to the leaders.

Questioning Joanna can come later.'

'And with the other leaders so they can hear her answers too.'

I watch them leave the tent and then start struggling against the ropes that bind my hands.

Hear my answers? They don't want to hear my answers. They don't want to know what I'm going to say. And more than that, they don't want their little secrets revealed to the other humans. Who will see them in the same light as they are seeing me.

I wriggle my hand a little, trying to ease the rope down over it.

It would almost be worth staying and answering the questions just to see their faces.

But I haven't got time.

I've got too many things to do.

And too many of the Galen to rescue.

I twist my hands a little more, feel a knot with my finger, start to pick at it. Push my finger into the little hole in the knot, and work it open.

They're going to be sorry for all they've done to me, and all that their kind has done before them.

I am going to make them sorry.

The first knot falls away, and I manage to get at the second one and pick that open, the rope falling off my wrists.

I pull the gag from my mouth.

Take in deep breaths of air.

'You are going to be sorry,' I say, my voice sounding strange and my throat feeling thick and tender from lack of speech. 'And once all the humans are dead, once I am the only one left, the only descendant for my mother to be interested in, then my mother will come, and my father and they will hug me, and stroke my hair and tell me what a wonderful daughter I am. And no descendants from my Flathead abomination brother or my stupid sister will be there to distract them and take their attention away from me.' I laugh. 'It will be just like it was when I was a young girl, before everything was taken from me, I will be the centre of everyone's worlds, and the most important apple of everyone's eyes.'

I push out one of the wooden bars and step out of the cage. Go to the flap of the tent and peer out at the guard out there.

The only person around.

I back away from him into the tent, grab one of the alien's lightning sticks that It and Duck have helpfully left by some bags, and then head pass the cage and crouch down, pulling up the canvas bottom of the tent up.

I crawl under it and look around.

No one shouts. No one comes running toward me. No one sees me.

And that's because there is no one for me to see.

Everyone must be staying away from It's tent, maybe thinking that I'll be able to turn them into toads or something if I manage to get to them.

I wish I could.

I think It would make a very good toad.

I almost snigger at the idea of It being a slimy warty toad, but manage to stop myself.

I don't want to alert anyone nearby, including that guard outside the front of It's tent, that I'm free.

Let them think I am still their prisoner, until it's too late.

I stand slightly, but bend over to keep out of sight and start to walk toward where I know they've put the Galen.

It's not far anyway, just slightly outside camp and nearer the river.

In the opposite direction to the place where It will be talking to the leaders.

But there are sure to be guards who won't take kindly to me wanting to free their prisoners.

They'll want to stop me I'm sure.

Not that they're going to get the chance.

I creep closer, hear the river water lapping against the small stones of the river bank.

And the low murmer of voices.

I lift the lightning stick, gripping it with both hands and head toward the guards.

Who are playing a game of cards.

I watch them from the shadows for a while.

There are three of them. Two with their backs to me, and one who would see me if I just walked up to them.

They're drinking from mugs, and I can only assume from how silly they're being, slamming their mugs down, shouting every so often, talking stupidly, puffing on thick roll ups, smoke curling up into the air, I can only assume that they are out of it.

They're so drunk or drugged up, that they'll be easy to take out.

Hopefully.

I keep low and start to creep toward them. Reach the back of one of their chairs without being seen. I quickly scoot under the table and listen to them.

'They need to kill them aliens,' one says. 'We don't want them on our planet, taking all our resources.'

'I hear they live like worms in the ground, feeding on whatever they can find,' another snorts. 'It would be a kindness to end their pitiful lives.'

I press a button on the lightning stick, watch as a low hum starts to build, and then push it between the two sat next to each other, their thighs touching, and zap the pair of them.

I hear a thud as they flop forward onto the table.

A thud quickly followed by a nervous laugh.

'Hey guys,' the last remainig guard says.

There is no reply.

I wait for the lightning stick to charge up.

'Guys,' the guard says again. 'You've not had enough drink to fall down drunk so you must be trying to wind me up. Guys?'

The lightning stick buzzes as it recharges, sounding unbelievable loud now the three guards aren't laughing and joking.

'What…' I hear the guard say.

And sense him before I see his face appear under the table as he looks at me. 'What are you…' he blanches. 'Joanna?'

He swallows hard as I lift the stick and push it right into his neck.

And zap him with it.

His head flops forward and I have to push him out of the way so I can crawl from underneath the table.

I creep toward the large enclosure, similar to the small cage I was kept in, hoping that there are no other slaves.

And then I crouch down before the leader of the Galen and bow down before her.

'I have come to free you and your people from the tirany of the humans,' I say.

I feel her hand, reaching through the bars, on my head.

'It is good to see you the One, and even better to know that soon we will be once again free. But tell me, the humans told me you were lying about them. They said they aren't violent, but abhor violence and do not wish to subjigate anyone.'

I look up at her. 'They had me in a tiny cage, and talked about killing me, and as for you,' I wave my arm. 'Look at where you are? They have your people confined, their freedom taken from them. If that isn't an act of subjigation, I don't know what is. YOu have your proof as to how evil they are. And believe me, this cage, it will only be the start. The humans distrust others, they will band against you, and I would say they'll only be happy when you are all dead, but the truth is, they are never happy, when the Galen are dead, then they will once again turn on each other as they have done in the past. The ways of humanity is violence.' I lift the lightning stick up. 'Move back as far as you can get so no one gets hurt,' I say. 'I'm going to fire this on the ropes and break them so you can get out.'

I wait as they move away and then blast one of the ropes trying to wood bars together.

The stentch of burning rope fills my nostrils as I hit the ropes over and over, until they are charred, some of the wood smouldering.

'Enough,' the Galen leader says, and then she steps forward, pulls at the ropes, and pushes out the bars.

Leaving a gap big enough for them to get through.

She steps through, and I watch as the other Galen follow her.

'We have to get away,' I say. 'But your home isn't safe anymore. The humans know where it is.'

'We have somewhere we can go,' she says.

I nod my head, and then gulp as I realise that maybe she's not including me.

But she puts his hand on my shoulder. 'You were born to humanity, but you are a Galen now,' he says. 'You will come with us.'

I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding, and smile. 'That would be good,' I say. 'It will be good to be with a people I can trust again.'

'Then come,' she says. 'We must hurry before the humans realise we have escaped and try to capture us again.'

'Lead the way.'

'For now, we head to the river, and follow it around.'

I walk behind the Galen leader, but in front of all the other Galen, as we walk through the short grass, burnt by the harsh sunlight.

But their legs are longer than mine, so for every step they take, I have to hurry two in.

I must admit, I probably look very silly to them.

To those behind me, but I don't really care that much about, I just care about what the Galen leader thinks of me, and she is walking ahead, her long legs effortly beating a path to where we're going.

I try to catch up with her.

'So where is this place we're going to?' I ask.

'It is the place of our ancestors, and will give us protection, at least for a while. Long enough to be able to plan what we want to do about our problem anyway.'

'You could build another weapon.'

She shakes her head. 'We were mistaken to try that way. Violence is not our way. By trying to kill the alien invaders, we turned our backs on the ancient ways of the Galen. No we have to find another way.'

'You're not going to try to make peace with them are you? You should know that it might work for a while, but ultimately the wickedness that has been bred into humanity generation after generation will surface and they will kill you all. The time when humans were peaceful is long gone.'

'They were once peaceful like us?'

'Yes, I have told you about myself. I came from a people who loved life, but tried to live peacefully with nature as much as they could. But things changed, humanity changed as my people, and others like them, started to cover the earth. I have lived a long time, almost as long as a Galen lives for. I know that you too are thousands of years old.'

'It is as you say. But my people do not change. We love, and respect our planet just as much as we did on the day I was born. But this is not so with humanity?'

'Humans don't usually live for so long. While you have lived, many thousands of generations of humans have lived and died, and each generation has been a little bit more removed from the ideals of love and peace which my people had.'

'How long do humans usually live for?'

I shrug. 'It depends on many things. But on Earth before the end, it was usually around eighty to ninety years.'

She glances at me. 'Then humans are to be pitied. But tell me, the ones in the area with the shaking caves, how old are they?'

'Shaking caves?' I frown. 'Oh you mean the tents. The camp. Well I guess most of them are less than twenty years old.'

'Twenty years old? Then they are just babies. We definitely cannot hurt babies.'

'If they're babies, then they're evil ones. If you won't kill them, then you need to find another way to get them to leave.'

'You are probably right. But it will take time.'

I look ahead at where the river flows into a lake.

And I remember another body of water, a much larger one than the lake before me, and a night which proves how evil humanity has become.