"What?!” I said stunned, thinking that I hadn't heard him properly.

"I know where your father is.” Jonty repeated, this time with more emphasis on the word ‘father’.

I pushed him away, losing my balance as the skip swung again.

"We are in mortal danger and you decide to tell me this now?" I said, scrambling back to my feet. "You have had multiple years and opportunities to tell me, why now?”

"Because he gave me this.” Jonty said as he pulled back his sleeve to show me a device that looked like a cuff on his wrist.

"What is that?" I asked, shaking at the thought that my father knew Jonty and vice versa.

Jonty didn’t answer but tapped some buttons on the cuff and it came to life, little lights positioned along the side of it began to glow and throb.

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We were swung again and I realised that the claw had carried us over to the main pit where garbage was compacted and then reduced to ash before being spat out into space via the air lock. The air lock was connected at the end of a long conveyor belt that was attached to the side of the main furnace. I gulped as panic began to rise and my heart beat faster at the thought of falling into it.

Creaking, the claw began to crank open to tip the skip and empty it and us into the pit, which meant that we were about to become compressed toast.

I screamed as we tumbled over the side of the metal container with the rest of the garbage, Jonty grabbed me and pulled me to him.

Brightly colored laser beams shot past us as we fell, and Jonty clasped me tighter. My hair flicked into my face and eyes with the velocity we were falling.

He smacked the light on the top of the cuff and it exploded into bright radiant light, engulfing us.

As I closed my eyes to prepare for impact, I felt a strange buzzing sensation…

…then nothing.