Free Andromeda Day and the Black Hole by Charlie Jackson

wasn’t a Polaris student for nothing, Andi thought, lifting the
nose of the Concorde to pass over the rising bottom door.
    The shuttle slipped through the doors with
just a gentle scrape on the top wing, and then she was free, the twinkling
Galaxy splayed out before her like a scatter of diamonds on a black velvet
cloak.
    “Andromeda!” Jack screamed into the
controls.
    “Bye Jack,” she said coolly. “Next time I
see you, I’ll have Deneb with me.” And then she shut off the Antiquarian’s communicator, surrounding herself in the quietness of space.
    *
    Deneb had let Andi handle the controls on
the Sparrowhawk occasionally, and she had flown dozens of ships in the
VR Playdeck, but this was the first time she’d taken one of the shuttles out on
her own. Andi tried not to be nervous, however. She checked the controls
automatically as she’d been taught at the Academy, and pretended it was just
another routine practice flight on the VRP, watching the trajectory so she
wasn’t too shallow, adjusting the speed so she didn’t come in too fast.
    With a firm but gentle hand that Professor
Watson would have been proud of back at the Academy, Andi set the Concorde down in the small field behind the forest to the west of the fallen Ruvalian
city. She turned off the shuttle’s drive and opened the hatch door and listened
for a moment to the quietness of the Thoume night. Although it had only been
sixteen-hundred-hours on ship, here on this side of Thoume—which had a
thirty-four-hour rotation cycle—it was already night-time.
    Putting her bag over her shoulder and
resting it on her hip, Andi made her way stealthily down the shuttle steps and
jumped into the field of ripe yellowcorn. The rich earth beneath the plants
sucked at her boots as she crept towards the forest. After a few steps, she turned
and pressed a button on the small communicator device she held in her pocket. The Concorde began to emit its camouflage shield, a reflective device that
mirrored its surroundings back into the night. With a shimmer, the shuttle
disappeared.
    Was the Sparrowhawk around here
somewhere, she wondered, camouflaged in a similar manner? Had Deneb landed
here, or had he flown straight to the heart of the enemy, intending to be
captured and taken into the Black Hole? Hopefully he hadn’t been killed before
he even had chance to set foot on Thoume.
    She wasn’t going to think about things like
that. Andi gritted her teeth, focusing on the ground, and continued to creep
along towards the forest. Then she stopped, holding her breath. Was that a
rustling she could hear in the corn? She listened for a moment and then
continued, hoping it was her imagination.
    Before long, she found out that it wasn’t. After
a few more paces, there was another, more obvious rustling from behind her, and
then something appeared out of the darkness and knocked her to the ground. She
fell heavily, her breath knocked out of her, and struggled as someone quickly
tied her hands behind her back.
    “I’m a friend,” she snapped as she peered
over her shoulder and saw the distinctive green glow of a Ruvalian face. “I’ve
come to help.”
    “Shut up.” The Ruvalian pulled Andi to her
feet. “Come with me.”
    Andi stumbled along beside the soldier. “I
was here six days ago,” she said in a hushed voice. “I met with Clios, the
captain of the resistance. Is she still alive?”
    Her captor stared at her for a moment. “Yes,
she is alive,” he said finally, or was it a she? “That is where I am taking
you.” But he still didn’t release her hands. Keeping one hand under her armpit
to stop her from falling over the undergrowth, he led her through the
closely-packed trees on an invisible path, until eventually they reached a
small clearing in the heart of the forest.
    Another soldier carrying a rifle challenged
her guard, and then the second soldier stepped aside, allowing her captor to
lead her into the clearing. Several Ruvalian soldiers wearing