Chapter Eight

Everything Changes

Alexander slowly turned his head towards Bernice and coughed experimentally.

The noise echoed around the little dome. He opened his mouth and shouted something, but no sound was audible. Finally, he tried a whisper.

‘I didn’t understand a word of that. Are they Martians?’

‘No. We could do with a few Martians right now. They’d sort those bastards out.’

Benny closed her eyes, trying to stop the feeling of panic that was welling up in her stomach. If the fear overwhelmed her, she wouldn’t be able to think. ‘If I could reach to get the laser cutter out of my pocket, we’d also be better off. Alex, can you think of a really clever way to get out of this?’

‘Not at all.’

‘Because neither can I, and I really don’t want to think about what’s going to happen when they get back. So what do you want to think about? Women?’

‘Women? If I’m about to be killed, loved one, that’s the last thing I want to think about. Were you in love with your knight, Bernice?’

‘Oh yes. No doubt about it. Full-scale romance. We nearly got there, too. Another few feet, and⁠ — oh, sod it!’ She started to pull at the manacles, her wrists chafing white against the cuffs. ‘I will not die like this! There’s so much more to do! There’s my dad out there somewhere, Alex! And that bastard is not going to get his hands on me first! Do you hear me, Alex?’

‘I hear you, loved one,’ Alexander whispered.

Benny strained her hands against the manacles until her thumbs started to dislocate with the force of it. If your life depended on it, couldn’t you just ignore the pain and wreck your hands?

She gritted her teeth.

Probably not.

Then the metal sheet thumped her in the back.

She waggled her hands to let the blood flow back into them, and the sheet fell backwards, nearly pulling her off her feet. She pulled forward and took the weight of it on her back. At the base of the sheet was a churned-up clump of soil. Two thin metal spikes that had fixed it into the ground had snapped in half.

‘I pulled it out of the soil! I bloody pulled it out!’ Benny shouted. ‘Quickly, Alex, heave!’ She hefted the sheet of metal on to her back, still manacled to it, and stamped around behind Alex to lean all of her weight on the back of his sheet.

Together, the weight and his efforts snapped the supports on that one too.

‘My God, how do we get out?’ Alex stumbled forward, tortoise like, carrying his sheet as Benny carried hers.