Down, down, down.

I had to stop myself from screaming as I flew backwards and slid down the garbage chute. I kept banging into the sides as I went around corners and I could hear Jonty doing the same in front of me.

It was like experiencing a ride on the waterslide at a waterpark, except there was no water and we were in complete darkness. The stench was so bad that my nose felt like it was burning from the inside and I had to refrain from throwing up in my mouth.

We finally reached the bottom and given the length and duration of the fall, we must have made our way down through the gut of the whole ship. Dim light began to break the darkness around us and I heard Jonty groan as he slid out into the skip collecting the garbage at the end of the chute.

I tried to slow myself so that I didn’t come hurtling down on top of him, my boots skidded along the walls of the tube as I worked to brake my speed. My attempts were in vain as I careened out of the end of the chute, our bodies colliding on impact.

“I knew you were falling for me.” Jonty groaned as I moved off him, rubbing my side where I’d connected with one of his knees.

“Falling into you would be a better choice of words.” I said as I tried to stand up amongst the garbage. “Cmon, we’ve got to find help and get you to the medical centre.”

Jonty tried to move, but fell back into the pile. We were both covered in dirt and grime and who knew what else. The smell was permeating my senses and I had to get us out of there before my stomach emptied itself.

I looked up and saw that we were in the garbage collection area. It was a huge space at the base of the ship, with the ceiling high above us, it was cavernous in size. The sound echoed around us, accentuating the expanse of the large warehouse style room. The ship itself carried 150,000 survivors and was basically a floating world unto itself with every amenity that you could possibly think of, so they needed a collection area big enough to manage all the waste.

Something rubbed against my leg and I flinched, looking down I saw a rat skittering back into the depths of the rubbish pile we were in. My skin crawled.

“I didn’t realise rats had made it into space too.” I shuddered, moving as far away from it as I could.

“Lots of undesirable things made it into space along with us.” Jonty said, holding his shoulder.

Pulling together some of the discarded boxes, which looked like they’d come from the lab, I made some makeshift steps up the side of the skip and gently stood on them hoping that they’d hold my weight. Wobbling, I climbed to the top and peered over the side, slowly rising so as not to be seen.

A beam swept past my head, grazing the top of my ear.

“Speaking of undesirable things, we have company.” I said through gritted teeth as the pain of the shot flooded my head. Shaking it off, I slid down the boxes landing back in the filth.

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“How many?” Jonty said as he pushed himself away from leaning on the side of the skip just as two more shots hit the outside. The burn marks from the beams showed through, luckily they hadn’t penetrated the side and compromised the integrity of the steel which acted as a shield.

"I only saw one but there could be more." I said, wondering how we were going to get out of the skip or if we would ever escape. I did not want my final resting place to be in a rubbish tip, I looked through the bits and pieces around us to see if there was anything that I could use as a weapon.

Jonty raised himself slowly up the boxes and carefully lifted his head so he could quickly glance at the attackers to gauge the situation that we were in.

Another shot fired above his head and he slid back down, landing awkwardly and grimacing in pain.

“Who are they?” I asked as I helped him sit up.

“I'm not sure, but by the way that they're dressed, I think they could be Manarian.” Jonty said, following my lead and looking through the rubbish with his free hand. I saw that the blood flow from his shoulder had eased but he still looked pale and in pain.

Blasts pinged off the metal sides again, making a low rumbling sound within the skip on impact. It felt like our attackers were getting closer.

"Who are the Manarian.” I asked quickly, as my hand connected with something sharp. Grabbing it, I pulled the object up from under the rest of the waste and saw that it was the end of a broken spear.

"The Manarian are one of the civilisations that are after your father, and I guess, now they're after you." He explained, as he pulled up a large piece of broken mirror.

A large thump hit the outside causing the skip to move and Jonty and I to lose our footing. I looked up to see a large metal claw coming towards us from above. It tried to grab the top of the skip but missed, hitting the rim.

"Jonty! We need to get out of here now, before that thing picks us up!” I said, starting to feel panicky and enclosed.

"If we do, we'll be shot. "Jonty said. “And I can tell you, it’s not as much fun as it sounds.

"If we don't, we'll be put into the compactor." I cried, scrambling to get up the boxes again.

Waving backwards and forwards above us the rusted iron claw came down again, opening, ready to grab on to the rim above us. It swung again, missing, but on the next swing it made contact, connecting with the skip and as it grasped on it's grip tightened and it began to raise the skip and us up into the air.

Jonty and I were jolted into the sides and banged into each other. I grabbed hold of Jonty's arm to steady myself and widened my stance to keep my balance. He wrapped his good arm around me and held on tight as we were lifted high above the ground.

“Ariah, There's something that I need to tell you.” Jonty said letting me go and stepping back slightly to look at me, wobbling in an attempt to remain upright.

"Now is really not the time Jonty.” I said, slightly annoyed at his lack of urgency. “Help me think of a way out of here.”

We were getting taken higher and higher, and the ceiling was getting closer and closer. Frantically scrambling up the boxes, I tried to pull myself up so that I could peer over the top to see if there was something we could jump into without hurting ourselves in the process.

As my head lifted above the rim, more shots were fired from below and they sent me flailing backwards, falling once more into the mess we were in.

Jonty reached in and pulled me to my feet just as the skip started to swing wildly. He braced himself and quickly held onto my shoulders so that he looked into my eyes.

He had my full attention.

“You need to listen to me.” He said, his voice firm.

I went to argue but he stopped me.

“Ariah, I know where your father is."