Chasing the Stars by Malorie Blackman Read Free Book Online Page B

only apologize for the behaviour of my second-in-command,’ said Mum. ‘I assure you, we are all . . . grateful for everything you did to rescue us.’
    Wow! Mum’s gratitude was a meagre dish, watery at best. I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Aidan and Vee exchanged a pointed look before Aidan sat back down. Vee stepped further away from me to stand closer to her brother – and I couldn’t say I blamed her. As first impressions went, we were all making a pretty piss-poor one. A tense hush reigned for a few moments as we all waited for someone else to break the silence.
    ‘How long were you all on Barros 5?’ Vee asked at last.
    ‘Just over three Sol months,’ Mum replied.
    ‘Had the Mazon ever attacked you before?’
    ‘No,’ I answered before Mum could. ‘They only became aware of our presence a day ago. That’s when they warned us to leave their planet immediately and go back to where we came from or suffer the consequences.’
    Vee looked at me. ‘Which you took to mean . . .?’
    ‘You’d have to ask my mum that,’ I replied. No way was I jumping in front of that question.
    Looking deeply unimpressed, Vee turned to Mum and waited for an answer.
    ‘I was hoping that with our actions we could persuade them that we were no threat to them,’ said Mum on the defensive. ‘That we might even be a benefit to their community. And besides, we had no way of leaving the planet surface.’
    ‘How did you get there then?’ asked Aidan.
    Mum and Darren exchanged a swift, calculated look, but not swift enough because Vee caught it. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
    ‘A transport left us there,’ Mum answered.
    ‘Why would a transport ship deposit you on a planet in hostile Mazon space with no means of escape?’ Vee looked to me for answers. Answers I couldn’t give her. I met her gaze directly but didn’t say a word.
    Was that disappointment I saw in her eyes? I’d only just met her and yet I felt that in some way that I’d let her down by not being honest with her.
    ‘When you first arrived on Barros 5, why didn’t you send out an emergency signal immediately so that you could be rescued a lot sooner?’ Vee asked. ‘I know you could do that because that’s how my brother and I managed to track you down.’
    Another look exchanged, between me and Mum this time. No one spoke.
    ‘When the Mazon started firing on you, why didn’t you fight back?’ Vee asked.
    Darren frowned. ‘How d’you know we didn’t?’
    ‘I was monitoring the situation as we approached the planet,’ Vee replied. ‘All the weapons fire was coming from one direction.’
    Mum’s lips thinned. ‘We were trying to establish a non-violent colony, to prove to the Mazon that they had nothing to fear from us. All we wanted was a safe haven and peaceful co-existence.’
    ‘Are you serious? You do know that the Mazon hate us humans – right?’ Vee said scathingly. ‘They’re the worst xenophobes in the quadrant. You can’t preach peace to those who revel in hatred and hostility towards anyone who is different.’
    ‘We had to try,’ said Mum. ‘Actions speak louder than words. We wanted to prove to them that they had nothing to fear from us. Besides, with no way off the planet, we had no choice.’
    ‘You had a choice between living and dying,’ Vee pointed out. ‘And another thing, when this ship landed on the planet, some of you initially ran
away
from us, not towards us. What was that about?’
    No one said a word.
    ‘Well, Aidan, break out the dictionary. We have a ship full of scintillating conversationalists,’ said Vee with enough sarcasm to make me wince.



11
    Disillusionment was rapidly setting in. Is this what I’d risked my life for? Each and every one of them was hiding something. I didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure that one out. Catherine asked a lot of questions but answered very few, Darren did his thinking with his fists and none of the others had much to say about anything. And the