NICOLAI’S
PLANET
by Andrew Hawcroft
Outline
At a secret location, deep within the freezing
forestland of Eastern Siberia, Valentin and Mischa Valenko, two of Russia’s
most brilliant scientists in the field of electro-magnetism, prepare to
demonstrate their life’s work before a gathering of the Russian government’s
most high-ranking officials.
The Q-Drive will entirely replace the internal
combustion engine, that clunky, filthy relic of the twentieth century. Today, deep inside their highly-classified research
centre, this loving couple will attempt to finally change the face of the
planet for the better, with the pressing of a single button.
Instead, a jealous colleague, ousted from their team
weeks earlier, decides to sabotage the demonstration. It all goes to hell in a hand basket, as the prototype
Q-Drive detonates, and the attending dignitaries, along with Valentin and his
pregnant wife, barely escape with their lives.
The base, flooded with electro-magnetic radiation, is closed forever.
Barely escaping jail, Valentin and Mischa are
blacklisted by the Russian scientific community, and banned for applying for a
patent for the Q-Drive under threat of imprisonment. With no choice, the Valenkos decide to head
to the West, settling in London, England
Thirteen years later, and life is very different. Living in a leaky house in a low-end suburban
neighbourhood, Valentin works in a huge
toy store, selling over-priced toys to spoilt brats, and Mischa works long
hours in a fruit factory. Their only joy
is each other and their beloved son, Nicolai.
Mischa’s pregnancy was not unaffected by the accident,
it seems. Nicolai Valenko was born only
with only his left eye intact, the other is simply missing. It never developed. To keep staring to a minimum, he wears an
eye-patch to school, where he excels at softball and Art. Remarkably sanguine and at ease with himself
considering his disfigurement, Nicolai has become a popular and cheery young fellow. Despite his parents’ difficult lifestyle,
their love for each other carries the family through.
And then one day, his mother collapses.
The doctor’s face is grim when he announces it is a
form of accumulative radiation poisoning, her body finally succumbing to the
effect of millions of electro-magnetic particles embedded in it after the
explosion. She has only weeks to live.
What makes this tragedy somehow worse is that there is
a cure. Colobium, the infamous ‘anti-metal’,
and the most precious substance on earth. (Only seven pounds of it exist on the
planet, shared amongst various governments’ scientific bodies and held under
the tightest security.) It’s strange
polarity would absorb and eliminate the radiation in her body.
But a disgraced former Russian scientist in exile
holds no sway, and no amount of pleading to various governing bodies will see
him provided with the barest milligrams he needs to save the life of his
beloved wife.
With no hope, the devastated family try to make their
peace with Mischa’s forthcoming demise.
Except....
Except that one day, a friend in the Russian
equivalent of NASA, informs Valentin that a small planetoid is drifting close
to the Earth within the coming month.
This planetoid, jokingly labelled Eden’s Folly, has aroused great
interest in the scientific community due to the strange and fascinating
information their sensors and telescopes are providing them with. There is evidence of vegetation, bodies of unidentified
liquid, of mountain ranges containing unrecognised chemical elements, strange
weather patterns, strange thermal sources and unidentified radiations....and in
one localised area, large traces of Colobium.
Valentin, a man who loves his wife more than his own
life, embarks on an insane plan. He will somehow cobble together the components
and materials to build a spaceship, complete with a Q-Drive, in their front
room, blast off to Eden’s Folly, collect samples of Colobium, return to Earth,
and treat his wife before the radiation poisoning takes her from him.
Maxing out every credit card, selling every
conceivable item that anyone would buy, Valentin and Nicolai quit their jobs
and school, and embark on building the Ship in their front room, (cutting
through the ceiling for additional height) trying to avoid the sneering,
peering gaze of their troublesome neighbour, cobbling together a spacesuit out
of a customised wetsuit and aqualung.
With a desperately short time window, all obstacles
are overcome, and Valentin races home to blast off at the optimal launch-time.....only
to be arrested seconds from reaching his home.
With his disabled son being only too aware that the
Ship is about to be discovered, and that the launch window is fast
disappearing, he does the only thing a loyal and courageous son would do. Nicolai shrugs on the far-too-big
‘spacesuit’, closes the hatch, and blasts off.....
Seeing the Ship smash through the roof of their
suburban home, Valentin knows immediately (and to his horror) what has
happened. The Police agree to let him
speak to his son through the radio transmitter that Nicolai was supposed to man
back on Earth, doing his best to keep his son alive, and guide him to the best
possible landing site on Eden’s Folly.
With wretched technical problems even on its brief
fiery flight, Nicolai manages to somehow crash-land on Eden’s Folly, but far
from the mountain range where the Colobium lies. To get there, he must trek on foot, over nine
miles of the surface of this strange and terrifying place.
For Eden’s Folly is a deadly treasure-trove of dangers
that Nicolai’s child-mind gives names to; Starfish, Thornballs, Blue Mist and
Porridge Pits to name but a few.
Young Nicolai Valenko, twelve years-old, running out
of air in a hastily-built, homemade spacesuit, is weary, frightened, and a long
way from his damaged spaceship.
Still, he continues to survive terror after terror, to
finally arrive at the dark, hulking, metallic blue mountain range, only to make
the most shocking discovery of all....
Another Ship.
