Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2016 20:59:24 -0700
From: Douglas DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Survivors (Revised) Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22
DESERT PLANET

This story contains sex between minor boys.  If such things offend you, or
you are not at least 18 years of age, then please don't read on.  This
story is not true, but who knows, maybe someday it will be.

Welcome back. The boys are now on what looks like an uninhabited desert
planet. Their big question is, now what do they do?

This is my story. Permission required to repost.

Please donate to the Nifty Archive. It takes green to keep the site and the
stories going.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Alex sat in his seat shaking. He looked over at Robert Charles, who was
white. The nose of the "Moonduster" was buried in the sand. The shuttle was
tilted down and to the right.  Neither boy moved or said a word until Mike
stumbled into the cockpit.

"Are you guys okay?"

"I think so," Alex said, his voice quivering. Robert Charles sat in
silence, staring at the now blank viewport.

"Well, I think you might need some retraining in the landing part," Mike
said with a thin smile.

"Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing," Alex said. "How is
everything back there?"

"Everybody is shook up and there are some bumps and bruises. Matthew banged
his head, I think he's..."

Ryan poked his head into the cockpit. "I think Matthew is hurt pretty bad."

Mike turned and re-entered the cabin and Alex followed him out. Robert
Charles sat motionless in the copilot's seat. Not knowing what to expect,
the boys had put their clothes on before the landing. Now Robert Charles
was looking down at a pair of wet pants.

In the cabin Matthew lay unconscious in the aisle. His head was bleeding
and his left leg was at a strange angle. Scooter had a towel on the young
boy's head pressuring the wound. Alex looked sick; the last thing he wanted
was somebody hurt. He cursed himself and his lousy landing.

"What happened? How did he get hurt so bad?" Alex asked.

"He unhooked his seat belt when we started over the mountains and was
looking out the window," Jeremy said.

"The ship lurched and he went flying," Mike continued. "I had him and lost
him. Jeremy grabbed him and managed to hold him for a moment."

"When we started falling, I started losing him," Jeremy said. "Then we hit
the ground and he crashed against the seats."

"Why did he unbuckle?" Travis asked. "What a dumb thing to do. If he'd kept
buckled, in spite of everything nobody gets hurt."

"Well, it happened," Douglas said. "Now we need to see how bad it is."

Scooter had received advanced first aid training. He was always thinking
between medicine and astronomy as careers, but as much as he liked
astronomy his heart was really into medicine. He loved his first aid
courses, he loved health class. Now he was going to be called on to use
what little he had learned.

 Matthew had shorts on and Scooter could see that he had a broken bone in
his lower leg.  The bone wasn't pushing out of the skin, but he could see
it was off line. The broken bone was the tibia, the shin bone. He wondered
if the fibula, the smaller bone in the lower leg, was broken, too. There
was no way he could tell. He sent Ryan and Travis to the galley to get
splints from the first aid closet.

The walk to the galley wasn't easy since the shuttle was resting at an
angle.  The galley was a mess; that part of the bulkhead had a wide gash.
They could look right out into the desert and feel the heat coming in. In
fact, the entire shuttle was starting to rapidly heat up.  They found the
splints and brought them to the cabin.

Scooter worked to put the splints on. Matthew moaned in pain.  Mike was
seated on the seat above him.  "It's okay little bro, just hang on."

With help from Ryan, Scooter got the splint on the leg. He didn't know if
it would help— all the splint was going to do was keep the break from
getting worse. What he really needed was a cast, and that wasn't going to
happen on a crashed shuttle in an empty desert. He bandaged Matthew's
head. Scooter knew he had done about all he could do.

"You did great, Scooter," Douglas said. "Or is it Doctor Scooter now?"

"I don't know if I helped at all. I don't know how bad his head is. I don't
know if he has internal injuries. I just don't know. I did the best I
could."

"You were awesome."

Matthew moaned and opened his eyes.

"He's awake," Mike said.

Matthew looked at Mike. "Green," he moaned.

"What?" Mike asked.

"Green...green...horsey...green..."

"What did he say?" Brandon asked.

"It sounded like green horsey," Mike said.

Matthew pointed to the back of the ship, toward the mountains. "Green," he
whispered.  "Green...horsey...green...it hurts." He passed out.

"There are pain killers in that kit," Scooter said. "We need to give him
some."

"It's starting to get hot in here," Travis observed. They could all feel
the temperature rising in the cabin. The climate control system wasn't
running.  The desert heat was rapidly raising the temperature inside the
ship. The group was slowly realizing that they were all alone on an empty
desert planet, millions of miles from where they had left the "Starkeeper",
and that their chances of being rescued were beyond nothing. They had no
idea what supplies survived the crash, since almost everything was below in
the hold.

Even if all of their supplies survived the crash, there wasn't enough to
live on for more than a year or so, no matter how careful they were, and to
keep the food preserved, they needed electrical power.  There was also the
issue of water, which was even more important than electricity. If they
were going to survive, they would have to find a way to do it on what the
planet had to offer, which appeared to be nothing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Travis and Jeremy opened the airlock hatches. The heat outside was
overwhelming, well over one hundred degrees. They needed to get power in
order to get the HVAC started, or they would roast to death before they
starved or died of thirst.

 But at least the air was fresher than the muggy heat of the cabin. Travis
and Jeremy took off their clothes and set them on a seat.  If they didn't
need them, why wear them? was how they saw it. They would need those
clothes at some later time and not wearing them would keep them in better
condition.

The outer hatch of the airlock was about ten feet off of the ground.
Travis remembered seeing a rope ladder in a locker in the galley. He went
aft to retrieve the ladder. He peered through the jagged metal opening
created by the crash. Because the ship was nose down it was a long drop to
the ground from the rear, plus it would be difficult for the bigger boys to
squeeze through the opening. Travis decided it would be easier to get out
through the airlock. He took the rope ladder to the open airlock. Then he
connected the ladder to two of the handholds by the bottom of the airlock
and let it drop to the ground.

Now the question was, who would be the first person to step on the planet?
After all, whoever it was would be the first human to ever set foot on
it. The consensus was that it should be Douglas.  But Douglas said no, he
thought the first person to set foot on the planet should be Alex. He was
the one who had landed them safely. They instantly agreed with
Douglas. Alex blushed and didn't say anything.

Robert Charles finally came out of the cockpit. He was happy that everybody
was naked.  Now he could walk out and nobody would see that he had wet his
pants. He had used the dry part of his pants to wipe himself off. He went
to the airlock where most of the boys were hanging by the open door.

"What's going on, guys?" he asked.

"Well, it's about time you came out," Alex said.  "You finally get your
bladder under control?"  Robert Charles glared at him and wondered how much
Alex knew. Well, it didn't make much difference because the first time Alex
was alone he was going to establish who would be running the whole show on
this planet. He'd had enough of Alex and his big mouth.

"We're deciding who gets to make history and be the first person to set
foot on the planet.  We all wanted Douglas, but he said it should be
Alex. We all thought that was a great idea," Mike told him.

"Why wasn't I asked about this?" Robert Charles asked.

"Well, we didn't see you around."

"I think as the leader of this group I should be the first one to set foot
on this fucking planet."

"I think as the asshole of this group you shouldn't set foot on it at all,"
Alex retorted.

Robert Charles sneered at Alex. "You know something? Most people would go
kick the shit out of you right now. But I have to lead and set an example,
so I am just going to let that thing slide. Now, maybe you should just
chill out little boy and let someone who has earned the privilege be the
first person to touch the planet."

Once again Alex looked up at Robert Charles. "The only thing you're going
to put on the planet first is a big pile of bullshit."

Robert Charles shook his head and walked to the open airlock. "So who is
going to argue with me being first? I mean other than little
Mr. Bigmouth. Mr. I Can Fly but I Can't Land, who would love to stop me? "

Alex moved in on Robert Charles, but Mike grabbed him.

"Alex did an awesome job getting us down here and you know it, RC," Douglas
said.

"Whatever you say, Dougie. Now, I'm going to walk down the ladder and set
foot on the planet."  He walked to the opening and nobody stopped him.  He
got on the ladder and climbed down. His foot touched the sand, and he
screeched and pulled it back up.

"Looks like Mr. Brightboy forgot to wear shoes. It would seem that the sand
is a little bit hot," Alex told Mike laughing. "Hey, RC," he yelled, "does
that count as setting foot on the planet?"

"Get my shoes!" he bellowed.

"Get them yourself, big boy," Alex yelled back.

Robert Charles knew Alex was goading him into losing his temper. He was
determined to keep that from happening. But he wasn't going to forget
Alex's behavior, either. Alex's behavior was going to be dealt with
soon. Robert Charles looked over the situation on the ground. The shadow of
the wing wasn't very far away from the bottom of the rope ladder.  He
stepped down again, held his squeal in and took four steps to under the
wing. The sand was still hot there, but it didn't burn. "The water's great,
guys. Come on in."

"Boy, are those words going to go down in history," Alex said.

Robert Charles hopped quickly to the ladder and climbed back up to the
"Moonduster".  "And now it's time to get ourselves organized," he said.

"That would be a good idea," Alex said. "What do you suggest first?"

"I don't know. We need to get power first I suppose."

"Stevie is already working on it," Alex said. "And Jordan and Brandon are
helping him."

"I gave the okay to start," Robert Charles said. "And who put Stevie in
charge?"

"We needed to get started," Douglas said. "We need the climate control
working fast or we're in deep shit."

"Look, Dougie, I think we better establish that I'm in charge."

"I haven't challenged that. I agree that you're the leader and I thought
you and me had been working pretty good as a team. But you kind of
disappeared and I thought we better quit playing around and get things
started.  And Stevie knows electronics inside and out...he worked with the
roadies when he toured with his father. Jordan has been taught a lot about
how the systems work by his dad. And Brandon knows a lot about machines and
systems from his mother. The temperature is climbing quickly in here in
case you haven't noticed."

Douglas knew in his heart, just like everyone else did, that Robert Charles
was a lousy leader. But he also knew that he still didn't want to be in
charge and to be responsible. He had cooperated with Robert Charles as much
as possible since the moment they found themselves lost in space.  Douglas
understood that the entire group had to work together or they all would
die. If he challenged Robert Charles it could tear their group up.  Granted
Robert Charles had no support, but by keeping him in charge he was less
likely to sabotage what they were doing. The group didn't need any fights
right now; the animosity going on between Alex and Robert Charles was bad
enough. Douglas knew he needed to have a talk with Alex about curtailing
his criticism of Robert Charles to help ease the rising tension between the
two.

"Well, I think Jordan should be in charge," Robert Charles informed them.

"Yeah, like he was during the spacewalk," Alex said. "RC, he's twelve and
is having some problems.  Stevie is a whiz at making things work, and
Jordan can give him all the help he needs."

"You're saying that because he is your brother," Robert Charles said.

"Robert Charles, just let Stevie do it, okay?" Douglas pleaded, stepping in
for Alex. "Let him try."

"What...ever."

++++++++++++++++++++++

Stevie was doing something he loved. He had handled a lot of electronics
for their band, even when he was smaller. At age thirteen he knew more
about electronics than a lot of college graduates.

Jordan wasn't nearly the expert at working on things as Stevie, but he did
know a lot about how the systems of a ship or shuttle were set up.  His
father had shown him a lot about engineering systems.

Brandon loved science and knew a lot about astronomy and planets because of
his mother. He'd got pretty familiar with the Moonduster's computer systems
looking for their position and getting them to the planet: now he thought
he might be a real help. He had seen the gash where Travis and Jeremy had
glued the heat tiles, and he knew that losing those tiles was a big factor
in Alex losing control of the shuttle. But Alex and Douglas had both told
then that losing the tiles wasn't their fault and that if it wasn't for
their repair job they never would have made it to the planet's surface
without being burned to a crisp.

"There is a power chip under the control panel. It supplies power when the
engines are shut down," Jordan said. "That's how we get power when we're
drifting. The chips can be recharged when they run down."

"How?"

"Solar power. There is a solar panel on the top and bottom of a shuttle."

"But what if there's no sun around?" Brandon asked. "How does it get
charged then?"

"It can be charged by starting up a rocket, too, even a retrorocket. It
keeps the charge for a month."

"Will the thrusters charge it, too?" Stevie asked.

"No."

"Well, then we should be in good shape," Stevie said, "except that this
control panel is a mess. It really got smashed up in the crash landing." He
crawled back under the panel and did some looking around. He needed to get
the computer running first, because the computer controlled everything
else.  He could see that the board the computer was connected to was
knocked loose from the control panel. He started working to get them
reconnected.

While he was working, Robert Charles and Alex squeezed into the cockpit.

"You mean the miracle worker isn't done yet?" Robert Charles asked.

"Man, just shut up, RC, or I'll kick your ass right here," Alex said.

"Tell me about it, little man," Robert Charles laughed

Stevie hooked two wires into the bottom of the panel and the computer lit
up. At the same time all the cabin lights went on. The HVAC did not start
up, however.

"Looks like the miracle worker is doing okay," Alex said with a smile. They
could hear a cheer coming from the cabin and a "way to go, Stevie!"

Stevie was checking the climate control system on the computer. The
computer was telling him what the problem with the HVAC was. The problem
was simple—it had come unhooked from the power chip. The question was
where did it hook in? Stevie asked Alex if there were any manuals; Alex
responded by entering his code into the storage box.

"Where the fuck did you get that code from?" Robert Charles asked.

"It pays to know people in high places," Alex grinned.

Stevie and Brandon traced the circuits and found a broken circuit board.
Stevie then checked to see if there were any spare circuit boards. The
computer didn't show one of the kind he needed, just generic ones that had
to be set up to work in the area for which they were chosen.  It was a task
a master crewman could do quickly, but it took Stevie almost five hours to
figure out the circuits and get the HVAC circuit connected. While he had a
manual for the shuttle, most of his work was by trial and error. As he
worked to connect the circuit board, the cabin, the lower deck, and the
cockpit became unbearably hot. Everybody was sweating rivers and some of
the boys sat outside in the shade created by the shuttle. Even in the
desert, the heat was cooler than the hot stuffy shuttle.

Stevie had all kinds of wires and cables hooked up to the circuit
board. The board was sitting on top of the instrument panel since it would
never be used again. He touched the start icon on the computer screen for
what seemed like the thousandth time and suddenly he heard the hum of the
fans coming on full.  He touched another icon so that the system would use
outside air instead of the recycled air of the life support system. Pretty
soon cool fresh air was blowing through the shuttle. The boys who were
outside boarded the shuttle and shut the airlock hatch, cheering for Stevie
and hugging and kissing him.

Stevie's next job was going to be getting the radio going.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

While Stevie had been working on getting the climate control functioning,
some of the other boys were busy, too. Douglas decided it was time for him
to talk to Alex regarding Robert Charles.  They met at the rear of the
cargo hold. Basically, Douglas told Alex he now had a responsibility almost
as big as piloting the ship. Alex did not like a lot of what he was hearing
and was more than willing to express his opinion to Douglas.

"We need to work together, Alex," Douglas pleaded. "We can't survive
otherwise."

"We can't survive with RC leading us, either. It's time for you to quit
kissing RC's ass and fucking lead us." Alex glared straight at
Douglas. "Look, I may have missed a lot of school at times, but dammit I
still know some shit. I kinda like history and I remember reading about
this English president or somebody way back in some olden days war who kept
giving in to this dude named Hitler. Doing that ended up not getting him
shit."

"We were just studying that at my old school. The guy's name was
Chamberlain and what he was doing was called appeasement."

"Yeah, well, whatever, you're appeasing him. You sit back and let the
asshole treat us all like shit while you stay in the background doing all
the hard work. That's not working together either, because sooner or later
there's gonna be a revolution to get rid of the bastard. Talk to Mike if
you don't think so."

"The way I see it, Alex, is that we're better off having him doing his
stuff with us watching him than having him stabbing us in the back when
we're not looking."

"I'd rather get stabbed in the back than watch you saying, `Yes, Robert
Charles, whatever you say Robert Charles.' Fuck, you even have Mike doing
it—at least for now."

"Look, Alex, I can see your argument, but for right now we have to stay
with what's been working for us."

"Well, I don't think it's working...at least that's my opinion."

"Look, how about doing me a favor."

Alex said nothing, waiting to see what Douglas wanted. Alex loved Douglas
and respected him, but right now he felt Douglas was letting the whole
group down by not assuming leadership.

"Just give it a week," Douglas went on. "Give things a week to settle in. I
mean we've just survived a crash landing we shouldn't have survived. This
isn't the time to be making decisions—we need to get organized first."

"Okay, Douglas, you get your week and I guarantee you that in a week
everybody will be ready to elect you leader whether you want it or not."

"Or, they could elect you, Alex. After all, you're the one making all of
the noise."

"I don't want to be leader," Alex sputtered. "I wouldn't make a good one."

"And right now you're saying the same things you complain about me saying."

"You know, you can really piss me off at times," Alex huffed. He turned and
walked away, leaving Douglas wishing he'd never heard of the word
leadership.

Up above in the cabin, Scooter was trying to make Matthew
comfortable. Matthew would go unconscious and then wake up. Scooter had
undressed him and was wiping his head and body with a wet cloth to keep him
cool.

"Water...thirsty....green green horsey green...horsey green..."

"What's he talking about?" Scooter asked Douglas, who was still fuming from
his talk with Alex.

Douglas squatted down next to Scooter and Matthew. "I have no clue. I just
wish we could make him more comfortable. I hope Stevie gets that A/C
going."

As soon as Douglas and Alex left the hold, Mike and Ryan went down to check
on supplies and see what damage the crash did there. When they got down the
ladder they stepped into water.

"Shit," Mike said.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked.

"I think we have a water leak somewhere," Mike said. "There are three water
tanks down here. The water recycles through one of them. One holds
drinkable water that has been recycled, and the other holds the water that
we can't drink. I'm hoping the last one is the tank that is leaking. And
I'm hoping the recycling system is working. It's part of the life support
system, which isn't working right now."

Mike walked across the wet floor to the tank. The water was about an inch
deep and the bottoms of his feet were wet. The deck was bent and warped
from the crash. He looked at the main water tank and saw water dripping out
of the side. They were losing their potable water.

Mike and Ryan searched for a shutoff valve.  He thought he read the water
tank was in sections like the fuel tank was for safety, but there appeared
to be no valves. Maybe they were on the life support control panel that was
on the wall. The panel was dark. There had to be a way to close off the
bottom part of the tank, Mike thought. The water wasn't leaking very fast,
but if they didn't get it stopped they would lose all their water.

Travis, Warren, and Jeremy left the hot cabin and went out of the airlock
and down the ladder.  They walked around the shuttle, amazed that they had
survived the crash. They silently thanked Alex for getting them close
enough to the ground to land safely before the fuel ran out. The only boy
who was badly injured was Matthew, and that was because he had unfastened
his seatbelt.

 Jeremy and Travis saw where their patch had blown out. That had been the
cause of the shuttle running out of control. The "Moonduster" had gotten
them this far.  They wondered now where they would go from here without it.

As evening came they got more and more things fixed. After Stevie got
climate control and life support going, Brandon was able to get the bottom
part of the water tank shut off.  While they hadn't lost a lot of water,
what they had lost was irreplaceable. They also lost some food; some of the
boxes on the floor had been soaked.

The sleeping bags that had been on the floor had gotten soaked as
well. Mike, Ryan, Alex, and Douglas carried the wet items outside. They
hung what they could on a broken wing to dry.

Mike cooked up dinner—single helpings only. Only one of the microwaves
was damaged. It had broken loose from the wall and was smashed. But there
were plenty of microwaves left to cook meals for the thirteen of them.

Matthew refused to eat, and fell asleep. The rest of the boys ate, and
after dinner the long day caught up with them. They were all sound asleep
before it got dark.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



The sun was up before any of the exhausted boys woke up. Scooter awakened
with a start and looked at Matthew, who was laid out in the aisle.  He
couldn't see him move and got scared.  Scooter had slept in the aisle
head-to-head with the ten-year-old.  It was the first night since they got
blasted from the "Starkeeper" that he and Douglas hadn't slept together.

Scooter put his head on Matthew's chest.  He felt the young boy's heart
thumping and Matthew's breath on his cheek.  Scooter's heart slowed down.
His fear left him, but not his worry.  Matthew's head wasn't bleeding any
more, his leg was in a splint, but he was never fully awake and was often
delirious.  He kept talking about the green horsey— Scooter pondered
what he was seeing in his mind.

Once everybody was awake, Mike and Ryan fixed breakfast for them. The boys
ate in the galley and in the cabin.  Scooter tried feeding Matthew, but
Matthew wouldn't wake up to eat or drink.

After breakfast Robert Charles called a meeting.  It was time for them to
talk things over about what to do next.  They seated themselves in the
front of the cabin. Because of the angle of the shuttle, some of them
fastened their seatbelts to keep from sliding down their seat. Scooter was
worried about Matthew, and planned to go back to look him over often.

"I guess we better figure out what we're going to do to survive," Robert
Charles said. "It looks like we're going to be here for a while...this
place is going to be our home for a long time."

Warren was sniffling a little.  He was worried.  His father had put two
weeks worth of allergy meds in his pack, which he had with him.  They were
about to run out and he was afraid of what was going to happen when they
did.  He didn't want to be on the floor next to Matthew.  Plus he really
was lonely and missed his dad.

All of them were feeling the sadness that came from being alone and lost.
All of them wanted to feel safe again and knew it might never happen.  They
were all afraid they were going to die alone on this planet.  Ryan called
the planet Inferno and it stuck.  It was boiling hot in the day, and while
it cooled off at night the temperature remained warm.  They were all afraid
that Inferno would be the last place they would ever see, that they would
die alone there.

"Why do we need to stay here?" Douglas asked.

"That's kind of a stupid question isn't it, Dougie?"  Robert Charles asked.

"Come on, RC," Alex said.  "Let's make this a meeting and get things done,
and stop attacking people."

"Thanks, Alex," Douglas said, "but I can stand up for myself.  Let's just
get things done and not argue."

"Gotcha, Douglas.  Sorry."  Alex smiled and Douglas and Douglas smiled
back.

Douglas looked at Robert Charles.  "We can't stay here, Robert Charles,
because we will never be rescued here.  It will be just like when we
drifted in space.  If we'd stayed in one place we would have died.  We have
only so much water here, only so much food, only..."

"First, you don't know we would have died where we were...we just might
have been rescued there. In fact, I'm willing to bet we would have been
rescued.

"Second, we have climate control here with temperatures we can live with.
We know how hot it gets in the daytime.  We have water here.  Have you seen
any water on this fucking planet?  We have food here.  Have you seen any
farms anywhere?  A supermarket?  A McDonalds?  A trace of life?  Get real,
Douglas. There is nothing here.

"And we already listened to you about coming to this planet.  That sure
doesn't look like such a bright idea now, does it?  We've gone from
possible rescue, to no chance. And even you admit that."

"You want to tell him Scooter?  You are the one who told me."

"Well," Scooter said. "It's the atmosphere."

"What does the atmosphere have to do with it?" Jeremy asked.

"Think about it.  How do you get an atmosphere you can breathe?"

Brandon slapped his head.  "Of course.  How could I be so stupid?  I mean
this is what my mom was an expert in."  He paused and shook his head.  "I
mean IS an expert in.  Sorry."

What Brandon said hit everybody.  Because as much as they worried about
themselves on the planet, they kept forgetting that they didn't know what
had happened to the "Starkeeper."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Robert Charles asked.  "This
hellhole has an atmosphere.  So what?"

"It means there has to be life here," Scooter said.  "You can't have an
atmosphere like Earth does without life. We talked about this before we
decided to land here, but we all seem to have forgotten because it's so hot
and dusty."

"There is no life on this planet.  You saw it from space, there isn't even
any water.  We saw no oceans, no seas, no lakes, hell, not even a fucking
mud puddle. Your thinking is fucked, Scooter."

"Chill out, Robert Charles," Douglas said.  "There are two ways this planet
can get an atmosphere like this.  One is a biosphere like Earth with lots
of plant life to make oxygen and animals to use it and make carbon
dioxide."

"Well, that sure isn't here," Ryan said.

"Exactly.  And we all know the second way it can happen.  Because it is the
reason we can go live on a planet like Alpha Orion IV—the atmosphere was
man-made," Douglas said.

"That's even bigger bullshit than the biosphere crap for two reasons,"
Robert Charles shot back.  "First, we are light years from any planet we've
put a colony on.  Second, to make the whole planet like this you would need
to cover most of it with farmland and get an ocean started.  I mean even I
know that.  It can't be done."

"Let me answer the second one," Brandon said.  "Right now we need big domes
on planets like AO IV to hold the atmosphere in until we get the planet
terraformed.  So far there is only one planet where the domes are
completely gone, and I guess a second one is close.  My mom was working on
Mars on a way to create an atmosphere years before the planet is
terraformed.  Mars never worked well for an atmosphere because it is small
and far from the sun.  The way things were it would always need domes.  But
Mars already had an atmosphere so all she had to do was change it so humans
could live in it.  That project is started and AO IV was going to be the
next big experiment.  So creating an atmosphere without domes and
terraforming can be done."

Scooter thought, Wow, I've known Brandon for years and that is the longest
speech he has ever given.  He was impressed and smiled at his friend.

"Which brings us right back to these facts: your mom's system hasn't been
used on an entire planet yet, and we haven't even explored this far out
into the galaxy. So just who would be creating an atmosphere?" Robert
Charles asked.

"You know something, Robert Charles, you're right," Douglas said.

"Huh?"  The ship was quiet except for the hum of the climate
control. Robert Charles stood in front of the group with a stunned look on
his face and finally uttered, "Shit."

"Yeppers," Douglas said.

"I don't get it," Jordan said.

"Think about it," Douglas said.  "If this planet doesn't have a natural
biosphere like Earth, and humans haven't ever come this far, and this
atmosphere was created by somebody, well then, who created it?"

"Well, um, um.....oh shit," Jordan said.

"Do we all get the picture?" Douglas asked.  "Do we see that maybe there
really is other intelligent life?  And do we understand that they could be
our only way home?  We have to find them."

"How do we know they aren't dangerous?" Travis asked.

"We don't, but we don't have any choice."

"We have the radio," Jeremy reported, "Stevie got it working".

Stevie took over from Jeremy. "The locator is working and the signal seems
to be pretty powerful, but none of us knows enough about radios to be
sure. We can send messages, so if anybody is nearby they should be able to
hear us. I think we're safe here.  Like Robert Charles said, we have food,
water, and air conditioning.  And besides, it's a big planet and we saw
nothing that looked like civilization from out in space.  We don't even
know where to begin looking."

"I've been thinking about that too," Douglas said.

"God save us all from thinkers," Robert Charles groaned, "they are
dangerous. You just happen to have a place figured out?"

"I kind of do, yes."

"Where, up in those mountains?  Do you think aliens are sitting up there
staring at us right now?"

"Maybe, but there is something to the other side of those twin peaks we
flew through."

"I suppose you saw it," Robert Charles sneered.

"No, but Matthew did."

"Fuck, I've had enough of this bullshit.  Matthew has been delirious since
we landed."

"Hear him out," Alex said.  "What he says makes sense."

"Scooter and I talked about it during breakfast.  It's the green.  Mike,
how did Matthew come unstrapped from his seat belt?"

"He was looking out the window just as we were coming close to the
mountains," Mike said.  "He saw something and unbuckled to get a better
look.  He was looking out the window when we lurched and he got thrown
across the aisle.

Douglas went on.  "I think he saw something green, like farmland through
breaks in the clouds and dust."

"What about the horsey?" Jeremy asked.  "He keeps saying green horsey."

"I don't know.  I mean we were too high up to see any horses.  We haven't
figured that part out yet."

"Well, if the horsey is from his imagination, then so is green," Robert
Charles stated with certainty. "But let's say he did see something, Dougie,
what do you say we should do about it?"

"Simple.  Head over the mountains and find the green.  If there is green
then there is water.  And we not only lost a lot of our water yesterday, we
lost a third of our storage capacity. The entire environmental system was
damaged, so who knows how long we recycle the water.  It might be nice and
cool here with the climate control going, but no matter what, we can't live
here without water."

"But don't forget the radio.  They have to send some kind of signals.  And
we can radio them," Jeremy said.  "We can't leave here because of the
locator."

"Tell them, Stevie," Alex said.

"Tell us what?" Travis asked.

"Like I said, the radio is in good shape and I think it makes a strong
signal ", Stevie said, "But the transmitting equipment is in the nose of
the shuttle and the nose is smashed.  So is the main transmitter.  What we
have can broadcast maybe 20,000 miles up and around with the transmitter
built into the radio according to the manual, but that's about it. When I
said somebody has to be nearby I meant nearby."

"Can't you just build another transmitter?" Robert Charles asked. It was a
question that said everything about how much respect Robert Charles now
held for Stevie.

"It would take me weeks, even if I had the parts, and I don't have the
parts."

The cabin was quiet, with only the hum of the HVAC disturbing the silence.
Scooter went back to check on Matthew.  The boys sat quietly in their
seats, teary eyed.

"What should we do, Robert Charles?" Jordan asked.

"Sit here until something happens, I guess. Douglas can go find Matthew's
imaginary green patch with a horse in it.  Anybody volunteer for a suicide
mission?"

"We can't split up," Douglas said.  "We gotta be together on this no matter
what we decide.  We split up and we may never find each other again."

"What about Matthew?" Travis asked.

"We find a way to take him with us.  But we can't stay here.  We will end
up dying here if we do nothing," Douglas said.

"So if we vote ten to two to leave, it means we stay?" Jeremy asked.

"What it means is, we don't go unless everybody goes, no matter what the
vote."

"Then let's vote," Robert Charles said.  "After the vote, we stay here
since my vote will be to stay."

Scooter came into the galley.  "He ate a little bit."

"Did he say anything?"  Alex asked.

"Same thing as always."

"See.  A kid who is out of it talks about a fucking green horse, and Dougie
here wants to go trekking across the desert and mountains in 110 degree
heat.  What a brilliant idea.  Let's vote now," Robert Charles reiterated.

"I think we should vote tomorrow," Scooter said.  "We need a night to think
about it.  Whatever we decide it won't be easy."

"And if we decide to stay," Travis said, "we can always change our minds."

"Well, there is one more thing," Scooter said.

"What's that, my love?"  Douglas looked at him with love in his heart.

"All I did was bandage up Matthew.  If we don't do something for him, I
don't know if he will live much longer."

And one more time there was no noise but the fans.  None of them wanted to
think of somebody dying.

"Guys, what it comes down to is this," Douglas said.  "We can sit here in
72 degree temperatures with nice microwaved food and fairly fresh water,
and wait for all of that to run out hoping somebody will find our ship in
the middle of a desert planet.  Or, we take a risk, we fight, we do
something to help ourselves, and find the farms across those mountains."

"Right," Jeremy said.  "The farms that might be there.  And every time
we've moved to supposedly help ourselves, we've just gotten farther and
farther away from our...our...home."  Jeremy fought back the tears that he
saw were flowing down Warren's face.  "I vote we stay here.  If we die, we
die being comfortable, not dying of thirst and hunger and from the heat and
being lost and miserable."

"I agree with Scooter," Brandon said.  "Let's vote tomorrow."

"I don't think it will change a thing," Robert Charles said.  "I'll agree
to waiting, though.  Now you guys go wipe off the tears.  For now, this is
home, and we don't need to all feel sorry for ourselves.  I'm going to
assign jobs to keep you babies from thinking too much.  We are going to be
here for a long time."

While he didn't agree with how Robert Charles stated it, Douglas agreed
that they needed to be kept busy.  They even talked about having a guard at
night, but Stevie said since they would be keeping the airlock closed he
could rig up an alarm so nobody would have to stay awake all night.
Rigging the alarm now was his newest job.

Douglas wasn't surprised when Robert Charles assigned him to cleaning duty
on the "Moonduster".  In fact he liked it, because he could move around the
ship dusting and picking up garbage while he talked to each person about
his vote.

 He was totally convinced that they would have to leave their comfortable
ship and walk to the other side of the mountains—that they had to fight
in order to live. Not everybody agreed with him—in fact it was beginning
to look like the next day's vote might be a close one.

The boys spent the day doing the busy work Robert Charles assigned along
with needed work like helping Stevie rig his alarm for the hatches. Douglas
had to give Robert Charles credit for finding ways to get everybody's mind
off of their predicament. He knew busy work wouldn't help them beyond a day
or two, because it would simply become boring and nobody would want to do
it.

Douglas talked to everybody making a joke or telling them what a great job
they were doing while he went about cleaning. Everybody worked at
something, except Matthew, who was hurt and sick, and Robert Charles who
sat in the galley writing things down and giving orders.

As Douglas did his cleaning job, he decided he needed to find out how
everybody felt about their future plans, about staying with the
"Moonduster" or leaving. He was coming to the realization the choice of
leader was going to be more important than who the leader was on the
"Moonduster".  In reality Alex had been the leader on the "Moonduster"
because he was the pilot.  All Robert Charles had been was a big mouth who
thought he was the head honcho.  Now he was a big mouth with a big ego
pushing people around when they needed to make some hard decisions that
could affect whether they lived and died.  In his own way he was beginning
to think that maybe he really was the right choice to lead the group. But
they didn't need a mutiny, they needed to be united, even if it meant
following Robert Charles.

Scooter told Douglas he agreed with him—that they had to leave.  Staying
here where it was comfortable probably meant dying here. Their supplies
were limited, their equipment was broken, and it wouldn't take long for the
things Stevie had been able to fix to breakdown permanently.  Splitting up
the group would probably mean they would never see each other again.  He
told Douglas he would follow him anywhere, which Douglas knew would be true
no matter what was decided.

Warren told Douglas he wanted to stay with the "Moonduster."  He said that
without his medication he that he would be too weak and sick to travel in
the heat and dust and he was certain to run out of medication soon.  He
also said that they needed a strong leader.  Since Douglas kept saying he
didn't want to lead and because he favored leaving the "Moonduster," he
couldn't support him.

Jeremy couldn't see trekking across the desert and the mountains to try to
find something that probably didn't exist.  Nobody knew what it was Matthew
saw and he wasn't risking his life to find something imaginary.  Douglas
pointed out that the mountains were not that tall, more like bare hills
with tall rocky peaks.  Jeremy said they would still have to climb.  He
agreed they needed to stick behind one leader, and as much as he didn't
like Robert Charles, he had been making decisions.

Mike and Alex were behind Douglas all the way.  They agreed that staying
with the "Moonduster" meant they would die with the "Moonduster." They
needed to get out of the desert.

Douglas discussed a few ideas with Stevie.  Stevie liked them and said he
would talk it over with Travis. But Stevie also told Douglas that he hated
Robert Charles, but RC supported his idea that he could fix the radio
transmitter to send their signal far enough to attract rescuers. Douglas
knew that Stevie was so wrong in so many ways, but he didn't argue—right
then he just wanted an idea of where everybody stood.

Brandon was positive there was some kind of life on the planet.  Life meant
water and food.  He thought Matthew did see something green and they had to
trace their flight back and investigate.

Jordan said he just wanted to be left alone, which meant staying with the
"Moonduster".  He was behind Robert Charles all the way.

Travis wanted Douglas as leader, but wasn't sure yet what he thought about
leaving the shuttle.  Ryan said he felt the same way.

Douglas already knew what Robert Charles thought.  And Matthew wasn't
saying anything now, not even about green horseys.

Douglas had only three positive votes plus himself, giving Robert Charles
an eight to four edge. Douglas was surprised by the amount of support
Robert Charles had—he was stronger than he had been on the "Starkeeper".
Douglas called for another meeting after dinner.  Robert Charles announced
that he was the leader and called meetings, so Douglas said then he would
call it a party instead of a meeting.

At the "party" Douglas asked if they could put the vote off another day. It
wasn't like they were in a hurry. He told them he wanted to investigate a
few things and needed another day for that.  Robert Charles and Jordan
didn't attend the get-together .  The ten who did attend voted 10-0 to put
the vote off. Robert Charles was furious when he found out what was
decided.

"You said you were having a party not a meeting, so your vote doesn't mean
shit," he fumed.

"It will be hard to have a vote if nobody votes," Brandon pointed out.

"That just means Jordan and I will be the only votes and we will win two to
nothing."

"Don't you need to have something like a quorum for a vote to count?" Mike
asked.

"Maybe we don't need to have a vote at all...maybe we just stay here
because I said so."

"And maybe we have a vote because we're all in this together," Travis
asserted.

What Robert Charles didn't know because he hadn't bothered talking to
anybody was that he was actually in a position of strength. While Douglas
had the group agreeing to put off the election for a day, the majority
still favored supporting Robert Charles and staying put with the
"Moonduster." The mutiny was starting whether Douglas wanted it or not.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

The next morning Robert Charles started assigning jobs.  One of the jobs
that had been assigned the day before was to get the water out of the lower
deck.  It was dry now.  Robert Charles assigned Jordan, Ryan, Douglas, Mike
and Jeremy into making a special area for him.  He told them that as the
leader he needed his own private area for his planning.  He gave them their
instructions, then watched as they cleared out a corner of the hold for
him.

When Robert Charles talked to Alex, Stevie, Brandon, and Travis about their
tasks, they said they already had a list of things to do.  What they didn't
say was that it was an agenda that Douglas had asked them to work on.

Scooter was watching over Matthew, who would sometimes wake up and drink
water. He still wasn't eating, however.  Scooter was getting very worried.

Warren's meds were gone and all he did was sit in the cabin on a seat
waiting to get sick.

Douglas did the task Robert Charles had given him because right now wasn't
the time to stand up to him.  He needed Robert Charles to lay off of the
others, so he went along with him—for now.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

That evening Douglas had his group meet him outside.  After the sun went
down it was still pretty warm, but much more tolerable than the daytime
heat.  They sat on a tarp that they laid out in a flat area of
sand. Douglas had a deck of cards that he'd found in an overhead bin full
of games. If Robert Charles asked them what they were doing, they could say
they were playing cards. All of the boys knew it sounded as phony as the
"party", but at least they had some kind of excuse for being together.

Stevie, Alex, Scooter, Travis, Douglas, Brandon, and Mike sat and talked.
They each told what they had found out during the day.

Stevie was able to partially retrace their route.  They knew they had come
out of the mountains between the twin peaks on the horizon.  He had used
the computer to trace them back as far as the middle of the mountains.
From that point back the only thing he knew was they had entered the
mountains from the west side.  Where the spot that Matthew thought he might
have seen the green fields was he couldn't tell.  But at least they had a
direction in which to travel.

Brandon had grabbed Mike from Robert Charles's "castle" building brigade,
saying he needed a pair of strong arms.  He and Mike worked for two hours
moving boxes and cases that had collapsed in the landing.  They found the
three sleds that Commander Benson had told them were stacked in cases
toward the stern.

Since the cases had been stored in the tail section, the cases were damaged
as were two of the sleds.  Brandon thought they could fix one of the
damaged sleds by using parts from the other one. That meant they would have
two sleds with which to carry water, food, and miscellaneous supplies, as
well as Matthew strapped to a stretcher.

The sleds were powered by electric motors fueled by solar chips.  With the
intense sunlight in the desert, they wouldn't be in danger of running out
of power.  Each sled had two seats. That meant three of them would be
riding, and Matthew would be hauled along on his stretcher. The other eight
would walk alongside the sleds. It was agreed that their leader would need
to set up a schedule for rotating the walkers with the riders.

They also found more water bottles.  Mike had saved a lot of the leaking
water in bottles, and now they had more. They found boxes to put food into,
more first aid stuff, a compass, radios to communicate with each other and
the sleds.

The sleds had runners that could slide along the sandy surface or even dig
through small sand mounds.  The runners could be raised and then the sled
would run on tracks like a tank had for operating on harder ground.
Whoever invented the sleds seemed to think of everything.  The question
was, how would they get the sleds out of the lower hold?  The cargo hatch
was jammed shut by sand and debris.

Later in the day it was Travis who came up with the idea of using the space
welder to open a wider gap in the tail section.  They could then maneuver
the sleds through the new hole.

One of the cases was packed with tents.  There were twenty small four man
tents.  They wouldn't need all of them, but they now had shelter.  They
found adjustable hats, winter gear, which they didn't need, sunscreen,
which they did need, and cooking gear, including four small microwaves that
could run off of the power chips in the sleds.

The sleds were each about eight feet long and built to be as light weight
as possible.  They had storage boxes on the side and a flat bed.  One sled
could carry most of the gear the thirteen of them would need. The other
would carry Matthew and whatever didn't fit in the first sled.  The trip
wouldn't be fast, but it wouldn't be as difficult as it had seemed when
Douglas first came up with the idea.  Even Jeremy admitted later in the day
that the idea didn't seem as crazy as it did when Douglas first came up
with it.

"Don't the sleds seem kind of strange to you?" Mike asked Douglas later in
the day.

"Strange how?"

"The `Moonduster' has seats for 60 passengers, plus two crew seats in the
cockpit, and enough seats in the galley for maybe six more crew
members. But if all of the sleds worked, there is only room for six. That
seems weird."

"Maybe they were meant to carry crew members on a trip to find rescuers,"
Douglas speculated.

"Just like us then," Mike mused.

"Except in our case, we're taking everybody."

Scooter worried a lot about Matthew, but he knew they couldn't just let him
lie on the floor of the shuttle and die.  They would have to try
something. They were all trying to convince Douglas that, if needed, they
should split up the group.  And they were trying to convince Douglas that
he should be the one to lead them.  He was the person coming up with the
ideas and giving them important things to do that might help them survive.
All Robert Charles was doing was giving out busy work, most of which was
for his own comfort.  He was already talking about having an outdoor
shelter built for him and whomever he wanted with him.

They sat there quietly saying they were ready to make a good argument for
going before the vote took place.  And then they drifted to their
boyfriends, Douglas making love to Scooter, Mike to Alex, and Brandon to
Stevie. Before they finished, Travis had brought Ryan down and joined them,
giving Ryan pleasure too.  They thought about sleeping out there on the
tarp, but the eight naked boys were starting to get a little chilly.  It
might be scorching hot in the daytime, but the air in the desert got cold
at night.

The boys folded up the tarp and shoved it under the fuselage.  It was too
heavy to carry back up the ladder.  They climbed up, found a place with
their partner and fell asleep.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The next morning Matthew woke up Scooter saying he was hungry.  Scooter
smiled and woke up Mike to cook up some food.  Mike microwaved pancakes
figuring they would digest easily.  He hoped he was right.  Matthew ate and
drank with help, but didn't say anything.  Scooter asked him once after he
finished eating about what the green horsey was, but Matthew drifted off to
sleep and didn't say anything.

Douglas went down to the hold to find Robert Charles.  It was now time for
Robert Charles to "shit or get off the pot," as Alex put it. Douglas found
their leader asleep in his little "castle" with Jordan lying next to
him. Douglas woke them up.  Robert Charles complained, but he crawled out
of the sleeping bag, telling Jordan what a great girl he made.  When they
got up to the galley, Robert Charles made a big deal of rubbing and kissing
Jordan, who seemed to be embarrassed by it, but didn't say anything.

"Don't ever wake me up again, Dougie," Robert Charles commanded after they
finished eating breakfast.

Douglas ignored the command and gave close to one of his own. "It's time
for our meeting, Robert Charles. We've got a lot to get done before we
start our trip."

"There ain't gonna be no trip," Robert Charles smirked.

"Just call the meeting." Robert Charles had gotten so out of touch he
hardly realized that the power in the group had slowly shifted from him to
Douglas.

After everybody finished breakfast, Robert Charles called the meeting.
They agreed that it was time to take a vote to see who wanted to stay and
who wanted to go. It was agreed that a secret ballot would be used.  Mike
had already cut up twelve ballots.

Douglas and Robert Charles each gave their arguments about whether they
should stay or leave.  Douglas reminded the group that he felt they
shouldn't be split up—either everyone stayed or everyone left. He said
that just because they voted to leave didn't mean they had to depart right
away.  It meant they could start getting ready to go, that they could be
prepared.  He thought Matthew, who used to be a Boy Scout on Earth, would
like that idea.  Then they voted, writing either yes, no, or abstain on the
ballot.  After they voted they would drop their ballot into a box on the
microwave counter. Once again the group voted, only this election was far
more important than the one on the "Starkeeper".  And there would be no
cheating on this one. Yes, meant go.  No meant stay and the vote would most
likely determine if the group would survive or die.

Jeremy and Warren counted the votes, but everybody watched them do it. The
vote ended up much differently than Douglas's poll: nine yes and three no.
Only Robert Charles, Jordan, and Warren had voted to stay.

Robert Charles gave his immediate opinion of the result. "That is total
bullshit. Nobody is going anywhere, not as long as I am the leader of this
group."

This was the opening Douglas had been waiting for. The group had put up
with Robert Charles as leader on the "Starkeeper" because he had the
backing of adults and because they thought he had won the election. They
had put up with him on the "Moonduster" because it was easier than deposing
him. But now the moment for the mutiny or revolution or whatever anyone
wanted to call it had arrived.

"Then maybe we need a new leader," Douglas said. There was a long moment of
silence as everyone took in what Douglas had just said.

"Who?  You?"  Robert Charles asked.  "The only solution you have to
problems is tears.  You couldn't hack it on the "Starkeeper" when it was
easy.  What makes you think you can do it now when the going is tough?  I
mean you're the guy who was assigned to cleaning out the toilets.  At least
I found the right job for you."

"RC," Alex said.  "You're so full of shit.  Douglas was the one who
organized the scavenger hunt to find the crap we needed.  He's the one who
told Stevie to use the computer to back track as much of our landing route
as he could.  Douglas has led us since we landed here.  You've been a bunch
of hot air trying to get people to build you your own private castle to
make your sorry life easier.  You know why you want to stay here?  Because
leaving would be hot dirty work. You'd rather die here in your air-
conditioned castle with people kissing your ass than work up a sweat to
live.  I call for an election.

"Fine, tomorrow morning—first thing. You guys better think real hard if
you want somebody with balls or somebody who can't figure out which hand to
use to wipe his ass."

"It has to be settled once and for all, RC.  I can live with any vote.  Can
you?" Douglas said.

Robert Charles told them they would all be sorry if they voted for Douglas
and went down the metal ladder to the lower deck. After he left the group
formally decided they would vote for their new leader after breakfast the
next morning. Nobody had any doubt how the election would turn out and
almost all of them called for the election to take place right then.

"We'll do it right," Douglas said. "Robert Charles gets his say and his
vote just like anybody else who might want to run." He looked at Alex as he
said that.

After they all split up, Warren came up to Douglas.

"I voted no to going.  I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Warren.  You have to vote the way you feel is right."

"I just wanted to say that if we go it's okay with me. I'm not going to
stay here with Robert Charles and Jordan.  I voted no because I'm afraid of
being too weak and sick and I won't be able to do the walking."

Douglas said, "I think you will be very strong.  And don't worry, we will
look out for you.  How do you feel now?"

"I feel fine.  I haven't missed my meds yet."

Douglas gave him a quick peck on his cheek and asked him if he could help
sort out things they would need when they decided to go.  Warren smiled and
went downstairs.

It had now become not "if" they would leave the shuttle, but "when" they
would.  Douglas's being prepared changed the vote from what it would have
been when he took his poll to the final result.  The extra day for him to
prepare helped.  Douglas was confident he would beat Robert Charles in the
morning election.  He was not confident that he was capable of doing the
job. He was only thirteen, he thought, and no thirteen- year-old should
have to make decisions that could cost the lives of his friends and of
himself.

But if he were elected he was prepared to do everything he could to somehow
get them to Matthew's green area safely.  He just hoped what he did was
good enough.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++


That evening the boys were all outside after the sun set.  Inferno had
three small moons.  They could see two of them, one full and one a
crescent.  The sky was full of twinkling stars, and they even saw a few
meteors streaking across the sky.  They were out in the cooling desert,
naked.  The boys started wandering into the "Moonduster" as the air cooled
down.  After a while only Alex, Robert Charles, Douglas, Stevie, and Mike
were left.  Stevie motioned to Douglas and Mike to go up the ladder.  They
understood and climbed up, with Stevie following them.  Robert Charles and
Alex were the only boys left outside of the shuttle.  They stood there
looking up at the night sky, saying nothing. Finally, Robert Charles broke
the silence.

"Well, little boy, you're pretty quiet.  You usually have some smart ass
comment to make.  Are you a little nervous because your friends went and
left you all alone with me?  Because let me tell you something, asshole,
we're gonna settle things tonight.  Tonight I'm going to make you pay for
all the shit you've said to me.  I've been waiting for this for a long
time.  After tonight there will be no doubt who has the power here and who
will keep leading, because you will end up doing everything I tell you to
do.  Don't expect your buddies to help, because they won't.  They all went
up that ladder scared and they aren't coming back. They just hung your ass
out to dry—I bet they're as tired of your act as I am—from your
crappy singing to your fucking potty mouth. What do you have to say to
that, pecker head? "

Robert Charles brought himself up close to Alex and looked down at
Alex. While both boys were fourteen, Robert Charles was six inches taller
and fifty pounds heavier than the mop-haired boy in front of him.

Alex gave Robert Charles a bored look, stifling a yawn.  He was tired of
Robert Charles's bullshit.  He knew Robert Charles was waiting for an
answer.  Well, here is your answer, RC, Alex thought.  Alex cocked his arm
and slugged Robert Charles hard in the gut.

"That was for me, asshole."

"You cheated," Robert Charles croaked.  "I wasn't ready."

Before he could do anything else, Alex slammed him again, and Robert
Charles doubled over from the pain.  "That one is for Ryan on Mars."

Alex brought his foot up and kicked the doubled over Robert Charles in the
gut.  "That was for Matthew in the elevator."

Robert Charles was staggering.  Alex yanked him up straight and hammered
him again.  "That was for molesting Matthew."

Then Alex raised his fists, hitting Robert Charles in the bottom of the
jaw.  Robert Charles stumbled backwards. "That was for Stevie."

That brought Robert Charles up enough that his belly was exposed again and
Alex rammed his fist into it.  "That is for cheating on the election and
working to make Douglas and everybody else miserable, and for just being an
all-around asshole."

Robert Charles groaned and leaned over and puked into the sand.  Alex got
behind him and kicked him so he landed in his own puke.  Then Alex rubbed
his face in it.  "That's another one for me and for you thinking your shit
doesn't stink."

Alex rolled Robert Charles on his back and kicked him in the balls. "That's
for making guys build your fucking castle when you should have been finding
ways to make things better for everybody."

Then Alex stood over him and started peeing.  He peed up Robert Charles's
belly and to his chest, then with his full stream hit him in the face and
hair.  "That's for you being a piece of shit leader and to remind you how I
will vote tomorrow.  Don't talk to me about your fucking power, because
after tomorrow you won't have shit for power." Then he spit in the older
boy's face. "My friends didn't abandon me, you moron. They left me alone
with you because they knew I've spent my life fighting and you're just a
soft, weak, whiney piece of crap nobody."

With that Alex climbed up the ladder into the shuttle. Robert Charles
watched him disappear with hate-filled eyes.

Next: Chapter 23 Into the Inferno

Comments are welcome.  E-mail me at TheHakaanen@Hotmail.com. Douglas DD