Mitchell's Revenge
Orlov homestead, at Noo on Tarasov

Anja’s life settled into a rhythm of dance practice days interspersed with the occasional school day. She squeezed in as much study as she could around her dance practice. When her school work was done she plugged away at mathematics and read science journals that Anton bought for her. She refused to give up on the idea that her family would rescue her and that she would eventually fulfil her dream of being a pilot.

In the meantime, there were worse things she could be doing. Aleks came to the homestead three days a week to dance with her in the small ballroom attached to the homestead. With their combined talent and Daria’s coaching they made rapid progress. Alek’s mother usually came with him. Sometimes she watched their practice, but mostly she read quietly in Daria’s small home office. Irina never interfered.

The day Anja looked forward to most was the day she spent in Achernar at Givi’s ballroom in the warehouse district. It gave her a break away from Daria and the homestead once a week. Elena travelled with her and Petr always drove. She got used to Petr’s taciturn nature and enjoyed Elena’s company despite the fact that they could not talk about anything of note. They were always monitored by Anton from his coms bunker at the homestead.

Aleks and Irina met them mid morning at the ballroom and they worked with Givi until late afternoon. His teaching style was very different from Daria’s. Anja discovered that he was the polar opposite to his sister. Givi was fun to be around. He laughed and teased them mercilessly, all the while getting them to learn and execute complicated steps.

They had several discussions about how her dresses were going to look. He knew everything that was going on in the Tarasov dancing fraternity and shared his knowledge freely with them. They both knew the price of not succeeding at the competition on Tiberion. Aleks was resigned to it and Anja was determined that he was not going to end up in Lake Ladogat.

She liked him. He was kind, helpful and funny. He knew how to lead and understood the figures, body positioning, and the myriad other things a competent dancer needed to know. She felt safe with him, and wanted to do the best she could. He was very musical and often lost himself in a beautiful piece of music. When that happened their choreography vanished and all she could do was maintain her body shape and follow him around the floor as best she could.

They worked together with Givi for four or five hours and returned to the homestead at Noo just before dusk. Anja was exhausted at the end of her Givi Day, as she called it, and tumbled into bed very quickly after eating a hasty supper in the kitchen with Anton and Daria. Daria always wanted a de-brief on what Anja had learned with Givi so she could follow it up in the next session.

Today was different. Today Anja had the first fitting for her ballroom costume. She was looking forward to seeing what Givi had designed. Elena watched her in the dressing room as she squeezed in to the skin tight lycra suit.

“You’ve grown more,” observed Elena, as Anja wriggled with discomfort. The suit was too short in the body and pulled tight in places she’d rather not think about. Anja screwed up her face at Elena and shook her head.

“I’m going to be tall like my mother,” she said.

“Yes, you are,” replied Elena. “It’s going to need another five centimetres in length by the look of that.”

Givi tapped on the door and then came into the dressing room. He looked Anja up and down.

“Oh dear,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Another five centimetres at least. But at the rate you’re growing I’ll need to allow more than that for the competition. I’ll have to start again. If was too big it’s easy to change, but when it’s too small it’s another story. Bother!”

“Has it got the pattern in it?” asked Anja.

“No not yet,” Givi said. “There’s no point melding it until I know the base fits properly. But I can show you how it’s going to look on my handipalm. Here.”

He held the unit in front of her. Anja watched the fireflies dancing across the screen, exactly as she had described to him some months ago. They were silver dots on a sky blue background. It was very pretty. Elena nodded at her over Givi’s head.

“Alright,” said Givi. “Get into a practice dress and we’ll start todays’ lesson. I’ll re-work this by next week so we’ve got enough time to refine the pattern. Alek’s suit fits perfectly. I don’t think he’s going to grow too much in the next few months so I can finish the programming for his.”

Anja smiled at Elena as Givi hurried back to the ballroom. She peeled the suit off and eased into her practice dress.

“It’s very pretty,” she said. “The pattern is going to look wonderful. But I don’t know what style of dress he is going to make. And we’ll need to practice in costume before the competition.”

“Don’t worry!” advised Elena. “Givi will sort it all out. Growing taller doesn’t matter; it’s the pattern that counts.” She winked at Anja.

Anja realised then that Elena had managed to send a message to her mother. She smiled at her again.

“Thanks,” she said quietly. “Better get on with this then.” She put her shoes on and headed after Givi.

It was a long afternoon. Nothing seemed to be right after the disappointment with her costume. Aleks was cranky and out of sorts. Irina made some suggestions which Givi rejected out of hand. By the time they finished Elena was very agitated. She hurried Anja to change so that they could head back to the homestead at Noo. As they climbed aboard the land carrier, Anja realised it was dusk. They had always travelled in daylight up until now.

“Sit up front with us,” Elena said as she climbed into the front seat with Petr.

“OK,” Anja said and settled between the two of them. “What do you do all day while we’re inside Petr?”

“I sit here and read,” he said as he started the vehicle. “Philosophy mostly.”

“Now you have to put aside your thoughts and take action!” said Elena. “Get us home quickly. Or you know what kind of trouble we’ll be in!”

She glared at him over Anja’s head. Petr gunned the engine and the vehicle shot forward down the street between the warehouses. The daylight was fading fast. Petr switched on the headlights. Anja felt their tension in the cabin. Elena activated a control board in front of her and held her hands loosely above the command keys.

“What’s going on?” Anja asked.

“Keep still, and don’t talk,” Elena instructed. “I’ll explain when we get home.”

As they neared the end of the street a massive dark shape loomed up in front of them blocking the exit to the road to Noo. It was ill defined and it seemed to grow larger and darker as the headlights struck it.

“Ready?” asked Petr.

“Always,” replied Elena.

Petr powered the lights to full strength as they plunged forward towards the darkness. Elena’s hands flew across the control board and the shape suddenly disintegrated. Golf ball sized pieces flew through the air and bounced off the vehicle’s surface. They skidded around the corner on to the road to Noo. Petr dialled the headlights back. Anja sat terrified between the driver and the mercenary. She had a hundred questions to ask but knew better than to speak while they concentrated on getting home.

They encountered three more of the shapes before they left the city. Each time Petr and Elena calmly destroyed it. Anja saw that they had done this many times before. It reminded her just how dangerous these people were. Each time she opened her mouth to speak Elena signalled her to silence. Neither she nor Petr spoke as they hurtled towards the homestead at Noo.

The landscape faded into the darkness around them as they travelled. She lost all sense of time. The night felt oppressive and Anja was convinced they were being watched. Soon she could see the lights of the homestead in the distance.

The hum of the engine suddenly turned to a growl and the vehicle began to slow. Petr shook his fist in frustration and pointed at the propellant gauge. Elena craned her neck to see the gauge now read empty. And they were almost home. They ground to a halt. Elena activated her coms channel to the homestead and spoke quickly to Anton.

“Out of fuel within one kilometre of EM field. Come and get us!” she whispered.

Their headlights faded as power drained from the vehicle. Elena reached under the dashboard and handed each of them a device that looked like a blunderbuss. In the remaining light she quickly showed Anja how to use it, indicating that she not say a word. Anja watched carefully, realising that her life might depend on it. Now they were in darkness. Her eyes adjusted to the gloom.

Something heavy flapped against the windscreen. It flapped again. And again. A crack appeared in the plexiglass and snaked its way slowly across the screen. Elena and Petr sat braced against the seat with their weapons facing forward. Anja did the same, the weapon heavy in her hands. Another thump against the glass and it shattered all over them, covering them in tiny spalls.

Elena calmly switched her weapon on as the vehicle began to vibrate around them. The darkness hesitated where the windscreen had been. Dark tendrils snaked their way along the edges of the shattered window as Elena kept her weapon facing forward at the larger mass. Petr pulsed his weapon at the tendrils and they shrank back from the edge of the window. Anja copied him, aiming her weapon at the other side of the window.

The three of them sat silently for what seemed like an eternity, keeping the creature at bay. Anja’s weapon failed first. Petr and Elena wriggled closer to her and kept her shielded between them as they continued to fend off the creature.

A tendril snaked its way towards Petr as he moved closer to Anja. It touched his arm before he had time to aim his weapon. He grimaced in pain as his blood bloomed from its touch and ran down his hand. Anja helped him steady the weapon to force the tendril away.

Elena was shaking with fatigue from holding the heavy weapon. The homestead security team had to reach them very soon or they would all die. Blood dripped steadily from the wound on Petr’s arm.

Another tendril struck him above the first wound. He groaned in pain. The creature seemed to get energy from the sound of his voice and moved closer. Anja was now jammed between Elena and Petr helping the wounded man to hold his weapon steady. The creature came steadily closer. Their weapons power sources were running low.

Anja could feel the vibration of the vehicle getting worse. She thought the creature must be going to turn them over. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of white light as they were engulfed in the EM field which surrounded the homestead. Petr passed out. Anja and Elena snapped their eyes shut. They slumped back against the seat as the creature fell away from the vehicle and onto the ground around them. The vibration stopped.

Anja opened her eyes to see Anton standing on the bonnet of the vehicle in a wash of white light. He held a larger version of the same weapon she had used. He held it expertly as he scanned the area around them. Several vehicles surrounded them with their headlights on full. Yuri had climbed into the cab with a med kit and was staunching the flow of blood from Petr’s arm with a tourniquet. Elena lay back against the seat next to her with her eyes closed. She was trembling.

Her eyes popped open. She glared at Anton. He glared back and put his finger to his lips. When Petr’s arm was bandaged and he had regained consciousness, Yuri helped them out of the shattered vehicle. The ground was covered in golf ball sized dark matter that oozed a viscous purple fluid. It stank. Elena roused herself and followed them slowly from the cab.

They piled into Yuri’s vehicle and drove silently to the homestead. Anton adjusted the EM field as they drove, pulling it back with them and leaving the land carrier to the mercy of the night creatures. Now Anja understood why they always travelled in daylight and were home before dusk. Tarasov was a dangerous place.