CHAPTER SIX: EXILE
Jack and Mirage had wasted no time in getting ready. They had put in the hovercar a pair of backpacks filled with drinking water and high-energy food supplies. Mirage was already seated in the passenger seat, waiting on Jack who was still inside the command centre.
Stupendous Girl had unexpectedly walked up to her, apparently coming from nowhere. "So," she said, as she leaned against the edge of the door, staring into Mirage's eyes, "you're the one who's going to save us all, are you?"
Once again, Mirage had been taken back by the young girl's aggressive behaviour. "It seems that I have been selected," Mirage answered, in a calm, quiet voice. "Believe me; I hope I'll be able to help as much as I can… But to say that I'm here to save us all, I find that idea difficult to swallow."
"Well," the girl said, "if the shoe fits..."
Stupendous Girl did not say anything else for a moment. When she spoke again, it was to make her point very clear: "Jack is a good pilot. And he's a good man too... And I could see him falling for a woman like you." She frowned as she eyed Mirage, pointing a finger at her. "Listen," she said, her voice very dry, "if you hurt him in any way, I'm going to kill you." And as she said that, she flew away.
Mirage sat still in the hovercar, stunned by what she had just heard. "How wonderful," she said, sighing.
"That's it, we're off," the Lieutenant said as he had got into the hovercar and strapped himself in.
"Where are we going? Mirage asked him, not wanting to shed light yet on her recent conflict, unsure if it would have been appropriate.
"We're heading south, to the central spaceport. We'll find the ship we need there," Jack said, as the hovercar jumped forward, gaining speed as the Lieutenant manoeuvred the craft out of the ruins of the refinery and into the open desert. "The spaceport we are going to is the largest on the continent. It's one of the busiest places on earth, basically." Jack looked at her. "There is a lot of security there, Mirage. Lots of police checkpoints before we can reach our transport. This is probably the toughest part of the mission. If we succeed there, the rest will be a cinch. Now, let's just hope that the cloaking devices Dame Edna has conjured for us do their job."
"There is no way for us to know, but by trying, Jack. We'll see," Mirage said, trying to sound confident.
"I have to admit," she said as she wanted to focus away from the potential dangers of their situation, "that I find the idea of space travel very exhilarating. What king of spaceship shall we be using?"
"I don't know," the Lieutenant answered.
Mirage was somehow alarmed by his comment. "What do you mean by, «you don't know? »"
"I mean, we don't have a specific ship… We'll just have to see what's out there and what's available." He turned to smile to her. "We're going to have to steal one, Mirage."
"Judging by your expression, it sounds like it will be very easy," Mirage said, discouraged. "And how will we do that? We'll just go onto the parking lot, choose whatever spacecraft is there, open the hood, jumpstart the engine and fly away?"
"Something like that," Jack answered, still grinning.
Mirage was getting tense. "In broad daylight, with hundreds of security guards watching our every move?"
"Oh, not hundreds, Mirage. Thousands," the Lieutenant said, very calmly. He turned to look at her again, as she had not said anything else. "It's going to be ok. Relax, Sister… Just trust me. Enjoy the ride. I think you should try to rest... You haven't had much of a break since we met."
"You seem to have a lot of different cards up your sleeve," Mirage asked him. "Is there anything else you can do that you haven't told me about, Lieutenant?"
"I can cook… I've got the meanest recipe for fried desert rat this side of the hemisphere," he said, his face with a deadpan expression.
"Lovely," Mirage said, half smiling, half repulsed by the idea. "You'll have to have me over for dinner sometimes."
Mirage settled back in her seat. The wind felt good in her hair
Mirage did not know how long they had been flying, the dunes of desert around them going endlessly by, all the same. She was suddenly startled by the sound of another hovercar that had flown past them. They had come out of the desert to fly straight into a busy skyway.
All around them, dense traffic flew fast. Mirage barely had the time to spot the name of their destination on a direction panel that was written in perhaps in dozens different languages, some totally alien as their alphabet resembled mysterious hieroglyphs.
A distant rumble attracted Mirage's attention. In the distance in front of her, the Delvius First Interstellar Spaceport appeared and like anything else Mirage had seen up to now, the terminal had colossal proportions. The twenty–four lane skyway they were flying on was actually one out of dozens of pathways that lead to the spaceport.
Mirage could not get over what she saw: It would have been impossible for anyone to imagine the sheer diversity of ships that were coming or going. They had all different shapes and sizes, from the smallest sleek and stylized two-seater hovercar to the largest, in this case an awkward looking mass of steel, perhaps millions of tons, floating immobile above the ground. That ship seemed to have neither a front nor a rear end as it resembled a cluster of metallic bubbles. It had been obviously designed for long range space travel, its bizarre shape due to the fact that the laws of aerodynamics were unnecessary to uphold in the vacuum of space. Some of the ships lifted off with the rumble of combustion engines, like missiles leaving a trail of white smoke, while others silently floated up to accelerate and disappear into the blue sky.
The hovercar came to a stop. Jack had found a place in the earth bound parking, where only vehicles unfit for space travel could park. "That's it," he said, "Showtime."
Mirage was about to disembark when Jack stopped her. "I think you should tone down your colour pattern," he told her, as he pointed out to her suit which still had its Super colour display.
"Oh, sorry," Mirage said. And like a chameleon, her suit colour changed to bright white.
They walked over to the end of the large parking lot. "We'll have to go through the terminal, they're on the other side," Jack said, very quietly. "The next shuttle will take us there."
They were waiting in line amongst other travelers. No one seemed to notice them. Mirage could not help looking around her, but she did that as discreetly as she could. She studied the faces of the passengers around her.
Apart from whom she had already met, Mirage had not had the occasion to be this close to the general population of the distant future she had been thrust into: The men, women and children around her stood quietly in line, not speaking. Most of them had a neutral expression on their face as they looked down, giving the impression they did not want to attract unwanted attention.
Mirage noticed that the small shelter at the beginning of the line had embedded flat screen displays that projected endless arrays of words and images. Mirage became more and uncomfortable as she read a regularly recurring message:
Security Alert: The Delvius Spaceport Authorities remind you to be watchful for any suspicious activity. If you encounter a Super, please immediately report its position by using the nearest internal communicator located for your convenience everywhere in the spaceport.
Mirage turned her head away as the next message had an even blunter approach:
Be safe! Be smart! Report all Supers!
A shuttle had arrived, gliding silently to stop in front of them. As Jack and Mirage stepped in, a green light blinked briefly as they passed in front of it. Jack nodded discreetly to Mirage. No one spoke as they travelled towards the main terminal. Mirage still kept her head down, but her cautiousness could not stop her curiosity from making her eyes wander. As she glanced around, it took her great concentration to not let the amazement at what she saw become apparent: She was the witness to an absolutely mesmerizing variety of life forms cohabitating tacitly together, but with somehow, the same expression of sad resolve. Mirage could even see, in the myriad of blinking eyes that the strange anemone-like being that sat besides her had, an expression of quiet sadness but also of frustration, barely held back.
The shuttle glided to a stop as it had reached the terminal. None of the passengers spoke as they got out.
Mirage hesitated to move forward as she got out of the shuttle. Jack sensed her discomfort, so he took her by the hand, gently coaxing her towards the door. They both stepped inside.
Mirage felt a shiver go down her spine as she looked at the vastness of the terminal. But she had learned a long time ago to keep her composure in the face of unfamiliar situations. She straightened up and smiled at the Lieutenant who was waiting by her side.
"Well," she said to him. "Shall we?" Jack smiled.
"We have to reach one of the Level Three parking lots," Jack said to her, barely audibly. "This is where we'll find what we are looking for. But there will be a lot of security to go through before we can reach it."
Jack and Mirage barely spoke to each other as they crossed the terminal, walking determinately towards the first security area, trying to look as casual as they could, just two people eager to reach their destination.
As Mirage looked around, she now knew Jack had not been exaggerating the security level of the Spaceport. It seemed that everywhere she looked, cameras were visible, monitoring her every step: Some were placed on walls, others on top of support columns, but some of them also floated around here and there. Mirage was startled for a second as one of the monitoring devices had floated up to her, blocking her path. Its shape reminded Mirage of large soap bubble that could have had been made of some mysterious crystal. The camera floated for a second in front of her face, emitting a gentle hum. It suddenly blinked a few times to eventually turn green. It then flew away, already focused on another traveller.
"We will have to send Edna some digital flowers," Jack said, looking slightly relieved. But he tensed up immediately again as he nudged Mirage on the elbow, to show her what lay ahead.
They had reached the security checkpoint. Passengers had to walk through a small gate, stand still for a moment as they waited for a green light to blink, to be then waived to move on by heavily armed security personnel.
The guards were everywhere to be seen. They were tall, fit men with hard, impersonal features, their eyes barely visible from underneath their helmets as they gazed down at the travellers. They wore black full body armour, equipped with an array of telecommunications and detection devices. The arsenal of weapons they carried made it obvious that they had the power to subdue and arrest anyone, but also that they had the power to kill...
As Jack and Mirage stood in line, the sound of a scuffle attracted their attention. Farther down at another security gate, a pair of guards -one of them an android- were roughing up a terrified passenger. The android held a stick, similar to en electric cattle prod, pointing it at the traveller who trembled out of fear even more. The guards pushed him forward, towards an open side door. They disappeared behind it. Jack looked at Mirage. He slightly shook his head. Soon, it would be their turn to pass through the gates.
Mirage stepped in first, Jack looking on, as he tried to figure out the position of all security personnel around them, mapping out the sequence in which he would attempt to take them out of commission if something was to go wrong.
When he looked at Mirage, it seemed an eternity had gone by as she stood waiting for the light to go green. He let out an audible sigh of relief as it did. Mirage had a faint smile as she now waited for him on the other side. A moment later, they were both relieved as Jack had also passed.
They walked briskly again. "So far, so good," Jack said. "Now, all we have to do, is reach the spaceship parking area, and find ourselves a ship." He smiled as he looked at her. "And this is where your powers will come in handy, Mirage..."
They had reached the end of a long corridor. A sliding door was shut, and beside it, a magnetic keypad flashed. "This is our last hurdle before we can reach the ships," Jack said. "Could you do me a favour and cover me please?" Jack leaned his back against the keypad, holding up his wrist behind him, to put it close against the device. He anxiously waited, as his portable computer tried to hack its way into the central system to coax it into giving them the authorisation to go through.
"How long is this going to take?" Mirage asked him, getting nervous again, as the idea of them standing there and potentially attracting attention made her uncomfortable.
"One more minute," Jack said. "It can take a while to find the right combination."
Mirage froze. At the other end of the corridor, a pair of security guards had stopped as they had seen them. Looking briefly at each other, the security guards then started to walk towards Jack and Mirage's direction.
"We've got company, Jack," Mirage mumbled.
"I'm not done," Jack said, waiting for the door to open.
"They're coming closer," Mirage said, more pressing.
"Hold on."
"Jack," Mirage said again, her voice slightly choked.
Jack suddenly pulled Mirage closer to him. "I've got an idea," he said. "Kiss me."
"What!" Mirage said, surprised by the Lieutenants brashness. "I will certainly not!"
"Just do it, they're coming!" Jack said, urgently. "If you have better plans, please tell me now!"
Mirage hesitated for a second, unsure if she should push herself away. She took another look at the guards. Quickly turning again, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Jack's.
The guards had stopped a few metres away from them. "Cute couple," one of them said. "What do you think?"
His partner, a thin and tall android, glanced briefly at the passionately kissing couple. "You know I don't get off on your kind," he said in a metallic voice. "Come on, just let them be." They then turned around to walk away.
Jack and Mirage were still kissing. "Can we stop now?" Mirage said, as she still had her back turned away from them.
"I'm not sure yet," Jack said, whispering as he gently held on to her, still kissing her. "Let's not take chances." The door behind them suddenly opened.
"I think it's safe now, Lieutenant. You can let go," Mirage said, in a soft voice.
"Are you sure?" Jack said, "Are you really sure? Because, I'm not sure."
"Yes, I'm sure," Mirage said as she gently pulled herself away. "The door's open. Let's go." They stepped on the other side. As soon as they did so, the door closed behind them. Jack then smiled impishly at Mirage.
"You see?" he said, grinning. "It works every time." Mirage frowned at him. "Now, let's find ourselves a ship."
They had been walking around for a few minutes, when suddenly, Jack stopped in his tracks. His eyes had lit up, as he looked at a peculiar vessel in front of them. "There she is, that's the one, Mirage," he said quietly.
Jack had not opened his mouth that Mirage had noticed it too: The spacecraft they looked at stood out of the others. The ship had sleek and refined features. It was rather small in comparison to the massiveness some others had, but still was much larger than a standard hovercar, more the size of a small twin engine plane. Even though it had been designed for space travel, its hull had smooth, aerodynamic features. What struck Mirage the most is that the whole ship seemed to have been moulded from one piece of material that resembled a ball of golden, melted glass that would have had been stretched into a delicate flattened teardrop shape.
Jack grinned as he turned to Mirage. "Ferrari," was all he said.
He became serious again. "Now, all we have to do is get inside. And that, will be your job, Mirage." She looked at the ship, instinctively looking for an opening of any kind, but she found none.
"I don't know how I'm going to be able to get in. I can't transmutate through anything solid."
"Are you sure about that?" Jack said, sceptical. "There are lot of things that changed about you since you got your powers back… And your suit… I know Edna likes surprises. She rarely tells all there is."
Mirage did not answer. It was as she suddenly realized that something had changed about her. She looked up, and focused her attention on the spaceship.
In a flash, a silvery halo enveloped Mirage and she vanished, leaving Jack alone. "Whoa," he said, visibly impressed by her superpower display.
Mirage had reappeared inside the ship, inside the rear living quarters. She gasped in surprise as she could not believe that she had succeeded. For the first time in her life, she had transmutated through a solid object. Edna had not told her everything, obviously. She remembered Edna telling her to always remain open to new experiences.
To her immediate relief, there was no one on board. Mirage quickly found the hatch mechanism and activated it. It opened, a small gangplank lowering to the ground. Jack walked in with a brisk pace, immediately shutting the hatch behind him.
He looked at her with the widest of smiles. "Now that, was very smooth," he said as he went directly to the cockpit. "You know," he added, turning around, "I'm starting to like you, Mirage Moresso…" She smiled.
"No one on board, just as I expected," he said. "Don't worry about alarm systems, they are all on the outside of the hull. The ship's security system wasn't designed to deter Transmutators like you."
Like the rest of the ship, the bucket seats and the controls of the small cockpit were sleek and luxurious. As Jack and Mirage sat down to strap themselves in, the controls and the seats adjusted themselves automatically to fit their bodies.
Jack flicked a switch, and the engines came to life in a powerful roar. The craft lifted off the ground to hover above it, gently oscillating left and right as Jack got used to the controls. The craft now floated above the terminal, slowly rising. Mirage could not help looking outside, still fascinated with the spectacle that the diversity of the ships that surrounded them offered.
"This is good, very good," jack said. "You know, I've always wanted to try one of these." Jack put his hand on the main engine control and pushed it forward. "Here we go. Let's see what she's got." Mirage did not say anything as she felt the g forces push her back in her seat, accustomed to this effect from her training as a pilot.
Jack punched the engine throttle further. The craft immediately obeyed, accelerating with a roar. Within a minute, they had reached the outskirts of the atmosphere.
Jack looked tense again. "Ok, so far, so good… I'm surprised we didn't get hassled form the…"
An electronic voice suddenly cut him off. This is Delvius control tower to Aquiline Delta Three, we have not received your pre-approved flight plan. Please respond...
"Damn," Jack said. "I was hoping they hadn't noticed us."
"Great." Mirage said, annoyed at the seemingly amateurish methods of the Lieutenant. "So much for being discreet."
This is Delvius control tower to Aquiline Delta Three, the control tower voice repeated, your have not been authorized for free flight. Please return to your departure coordinates, turn off all engine power and prepare to be boarded.
"Lieutenant, I'm starting to hope you have a backup plan," Mirage said, alarmed.
"Sorry about this, but, no. Not really," Jack said, as he reached out to the intercom. "Let me handle this, hang on."
"Delvius control tower, this is Aquiline Delta three," Jack said, very hesitantly. "I seem to have very bad reception… Could you repeat your previous message please?" The Lieutenant leaned towards Mirage. "Just buying time," he whispered to her.
The voice coming from the control tower had a slightly more pressing tone. This is Delvius control. Please state your personal identification.
"Could you repeat that, Delvius control," Jack answered, "you're breaking up. Sorry about that…You know, I had that transmitter fixed a week ago… I just don't understand…" Jack kept their craft flying straight out, heading now for the vastness of space.
For the second time in her life, Mirage felt her body become weightless as the ship had now left the Earth's gravity. They were now flying at an incredible speed, for within a minute they had already flown past the moon. Mirage had barely caught a glimpse of the satellite that it had disappeared behind them.
Jack had not resolved his problems with the control tower. The voice one the other end had now started to threaten them with a missile intervention if they did not turn back to land. Jack was still pushing for time, as they got farther and farther away.
"I'm going to need your help in setting the coordinates for our destination," Jack said as he handed a list of numbers to Mirage. "This is our destination. Punch these numbers in, I have to fly this thing... I'm afraid they might send drones after us."
"Drones," Mirage asked him, very worried now. "What are those?"
"You don't want to know."
Mirage started to enter the code sequence on the navigation screen to her left. She heard the Lieutenant swear as an alarm from a warning device now blared in the cockpit.
"Hang on," Jack said as he pulled hard on the controls, sending the craft in a sudden spiral, at a ninety degree angle from their previous trajectory. Mirage had barely the time to enter the numbers before Jack's manoeuvre made her lose the list. As soon as he saw the numbers entered, the Lieutenant pressed the enter button. Just as he did that, two enormous missiles, coming from behind them, crossed the path of the spaceship, barely missing it.
"Jack, this is getting rather intense," Mirage said, as she gripped her seat, trying to keep her composure. "What are we waiting for?"
"Wormhole," Jack answered, as he struggled with the controls, desperate to shake off the incoming missiles. "We have to wait for it. Any minute now." The on board threat warning system blared even louder. "Any minute now," Jack repeated.
Suddenly, in the darkness of space in front of them, a flash of light became visible. Small at first, it expanded to what seemed a colossal size in comparison to Jack and Mirage's ship. The light had formed into a swirling maelstrom that spun slowly, its edges shredding away towards the darkness of space. Jack flew the spacecraft directly into its centre.
"This is it!" Jack cried out. Mirage gasped as she unconsciously grabbed the edge of her seat even harder. The ship had entered the wormhole.
Mirage felt as she had been taken on an out of control roller-coaster ride. It seemed to her that the ship had been put into a steep dive, accelerating far beyond what she thought was possible. The intense vibrations that shook the ship were so strong, Mirage thought they would tear the ship apart.
"Wormhole, Mirage" Jack said, above the noise created by the vibrating ship. Mirage noticed he had let go of the controls. "They are everywhere in space, you see, only in a different time-space continuum. All you have to do is find a way to summon the right one…" Jack noticed Mirage's unease. "Relax, the roughest part is over. Right now, everything is on auto pilot. We'll be coming out of this pretty soon. Oh, and by the way, if you haven't been in space, then may I suggest that you take a look, it's worth it. It's quite impressive."
And as he said that, the ship's dizzying trajectory instantaneously stabilized. The vibrations had completely ceased. It felt as they were completely immobile.
Mirage was stunned as she looked outside the cockpit window. They were in the vastness of space again, but nowhere near the earth. They had reached the outskirts of an unknown galaxy: Mirage could see it moving slowly in a gentle spiral, its core glowing from the massive amount of stars that it contained. As Mirage's eyes got used to the light, she could see more and more details inside the immense structure before her. Entire solar systems, were everywhere to be seen: Some had gigantic planets accompanied by minuscule asteroids that circled red giants - suns that had reached their maximum intensity in their life cycle - and some others were orbiting around white dwarves, stars that neared their death as they had consumed all of their fuel. The more Mirage stared out in the vastness around her, the more she could see myriads of other galaxies, everywhere. And even though she thought the turmoil they had left behind on earth somewhat tarnished her experience, she could not help feeling but privileged.
The Lieutenant took the controls again. "It's safe here. They can't track us through the wormhole."
"It's beautiful," she said. "I've couldn't had possibly imagined anything like this."
"Yes, very beautiful," Jack said. He had been looking at Mirage.
"What's the name of the planet we're going to, Jack?"
"It doesn't have one," Jack said. "We are still in what is mostly uncharted territory, which is an advantage for us. They won't be looking for us here... But we still have to be very discreet. The government is a force to be reckoned with, but I wouldn't want to fall into the hands of space pirates also."
"Space pirates?" Mirage asked him, slightly worried.
"Yes," Jack said. "Pretty much a common occurrence in our century. They are everywhere. If they would fall on us, there is not much we could do. They probably would kill me as they took over the ship, and you would be put into slavery," he added, very dryly.
"I think we should try to be discreet then," Mirage said, now even more eager to reach the planet.
Jack flipped a switch, preparing the ship for the next phase of their journey. "There it is, Mirage, our destination."
The ship flew towards what looked like a small grey dot that grew larger fast. They had now entered the outer orbit of a pale grey planet whose surface was completely obscured by slow moving clouds. Here and there, Mirage could see lightning bursting.
"We're going to enter the final descent stage, it's nasty weather, but it's high up. The whole planet is pretty much like a greenhouse. It's a tropical jungle down there," Jack said, as he manoeuvred the craft into the dense cloud cover. "Hope you like bugs and snakes, by the way…" Mirage did not answer.
The craft started to shake as it entered the upper atmosphere. The Lieutenant struggled with the controls as the strong winds battered the small spaceship. Mirage looked at the nose of the ship, which was turning bright red due to the high speed of their descent. And even though Jack had the described the planet's surface to be potentially uncomfortable and dangerous, Mirage now wished they had finally landed.
"So far so good," Jack said, his voice showing tension again. "I've set the coordinates to our flight path. We are on the marker." He frowned. "But there is something wrong with one of the stabilizers, though. It doesn't feel quite right. I wonder…" He glanced at the control panel.
He had barely laid his eyes on the central monitor that a flashing warning beacon lit up, accompanied by a dull but annoying alarm. A message blinked on the screen.
Maintenance alert: Rear stabilizer hydraulic system pressure falling. Failure imminent. Emergency landing procedure enabled.
Both Mirage and Jack were mortified at what they saw on the small screen.
"Maintenance?" Mirage said in disbelief, "You stole a spaceship that needed maintenance?"
"Correction," Jack said, obviously annoyed by her remark, "we stole… I didn't see you complain about it."
"You told me to go inside the ship." Mirage was furious. "This is your era Lieutenant, how was I supposed to know that we chose a ship that would eventually fail us?"
"It's the luck of the draw, Princess," Jack answered, obviously frustrated.
Mirage rolled her eyes as she looked at the control screen. "Can you still land us safely?" She asked him.
"I'm trying." Jack said as he finally found the manual override to the landing procedure. "I've got the controls again, but things have gotten worse. I don't think I'll be able to take us down where I wanted to. Let me establish our position... Ok, we're not too far. But we're not there yet…" He gave a worried look at Mirage. "There is nothing else I can do. Hold on, we have to prepare. We're going to ditch... We're going to land straight in the jungle."
Jack and Mirage both looked ahead at the same time. They had burst through the upper cloud cover now. All they could see below through shards of thick fog was dense tropical vegetation, surrounded by enormous mountain ranges, their sharp peaks steep and snow covered.
"Jack…" Mirage said, as she looked helplessly on. They were still coming in very fast.