The Map Collector

Zak and I found the spaceship when we ran away from the Dumpers into the desert. Boss had gone on the Mother-of-All benders after coming back flush from Trader’s Day. Zak had taken a beating that morning for no good reason other than Boss being in a extra foul Morning-After temper. All of us were whisper-quiet in our work on Morning-After days but almost anything could set Boss off.

Zak was still bruised and sore the next day and he got angry when he discovered that Boss had come back with a box of bottles for himself and not much in the way of food. We were always hungry and didn’t expect much different but Zak said we should at least be able to eat well on days after Trader’s Day since we were the ones doing the work. He got into the food while Boss was sleeping off another stint and he shared it around so we all had full bellies for a change. 

When Boss saw what he’d done he was furious and he hit Zak hard with his fists. Then he pulled off his belt and everybody scarpered. I’m usually pretty fast but Zak had gone down too easily and wasn’t moving. I hesitated and Boss came after me. As soon as he’d turned his back Zak rolled over, grabbed a length of pipe, jumped up and hit him as hard as he could. Boss went down with a thud and lay there like he was dead. 

Zak wasn’t hurt bad and I’d only taken a couple of licks. Boss was out cold and his head was bleeding. He was usually okay after a bender once he’d recovered. If you could disappear or lay low for a while after a beating you could sometimes sneak back to work he might not pay much attention especially when he was flush and business was good. 

Zak said he didn’t think that was going to happen this time. I could see the shock and fear of what he’d done in his eyes. He wanted to get away. So we filled up a couple of water bottles and took off. Zak wanted walk into to desert to the high rock that was just visible from where the sand started and the plants grew scruffy and weak. Zak said he’d rather die of thirst in the desert than spend one more day stripping parts from old tech for a Mother-Hating old drunk.

We didn’t plan to go all the way that day, Zak was still sore from the beating, but we wanted to be well away so we hustled and made it to the gully while there was still lots of light.  We’d found the gully near the edge of the desert years ago. It had a tiny stream, barely a trickle in the dry season, but this time of year it gurgled and there was lush cool greenery growing up the sides. There weren’t many plants I recognized but the the blackberries here were always bigger and juicier here than the ones that grew in thorny tangles all over Dump. It was too early for berries yet. We’d tried eating some of the other stuff. Lots of it was too bitter and some of it would make you sick if you ate much of it but there were some pale green leafy things growing by the creek that were okay. Not much flavour but crunchy and fresh.

We'd been sitting by the creek and munching leaves for a while when the noise of something big moving through the bushes downstream sent us scrambling up the far side of the gully. We weren’t ready to be found by Boss or anyone else. 

We ran flat out toward the rocky outcrop hoping whoever or whatever it was would stay by the creek. It wasn’t long before our feet were pounding on hot sand. We were almost out of breath and I was beginning to get a stitch in my side when our feet were suddenly making a hollow kind of booming sound and then we were whooshing down the smooth curved side of the spaceship. The shock of landing on the hard sand on the other side drove my breath away. We’d just missed a pile of jagged metal that would have set Boss’s eyes gleaming and put him in a good mood for days.

We scrambled to our feet gasping and turned to see a long metal tube as big as a ‘scraper lying on the ground almost completely buried in the sand. On this side the sand was nearly up to a long row of small windows and more sand spilled out a couple of bigger gaps like missing teeth just above a wrecked wing. A piece of old stairs stuck out of the sand near a big gaping hole that must have been the main door and the tube was sort of bent in on itself like an dented old tin can. 

“What is it?” I whispered. 

“It’s a spaceship,” said Zak. “Mother-of-All, a spaceship!”  

His voice was low with awe and disbelief as he put his hand out to gently touch the metal. We stood and looked at the pile of wrecked metal and the enormous tube of the spaceship for a long time. We could see where our feet had started to skitter in the sand on top and the trail of our slide down the side. It had been completely invisible from the other side. 

On this side the dark gaps and the corroded metal made it look scary but it looked sad too: like the old dumpers who gave up and just sat down waited for death to take ‘em. “It’s a ghost” said Zak. “Mother-of-All.” I repeated and made the warding sign.

We walked back and forth looking for long time before Zak climbed up on the broken wing to peer into the dark gaps above it. I don’t know how long we stood there as the sky darkened. Suddenly huge drops of rain were pelting down on us. “Come on!” said Zak and he boosted me up so I could scramble up the wing and into the spaceship. The inside was dry and sandy. There were rows and rows of seats in some places and jumbled piles of junk in others where the seats had been torn out. The floor was angled down slightly toward the buried back side and there was another long row of windows covered by the sand. There were piles of sand here and there where it had seeped in through the cracked windows and door gaps. 

It was kind of spooky and the rain pounded on the roof like thunder but it was dry inside and we hunkered down well away from the places where the water was coming in to wait out the storm. I fell asleep and my dreams were filled with people in strange clothes moving in and out of the spaceship. There were more people than I’d ever seen in my whole life and they glittered with jewelry and gadgets. Lots of them had bags slung around their necks or tied to their waists. They filled the shelves above the seats with fancy boxes with special handles; then pulled them out and down again, murmuring to each other as they slowly crowded in and out. 

It was strangely quiet when I woke up bleary eyed and thirsty. I stared at the curved ceiling above me for a long time before I remembered where we were. I’d just focused on Zak standing at the door of the spaceship with the morning light coming in all around when he shouted. “Oh Gin!  Gin! Quick, come and look at this!” and jumped down. Shocked fully awake, I scrambled up quick and ran to the door where he had just disappeared. He sounded excited not frightened. 

When I looked out I couldn’t believe my eyes. The bare dry sand around the spaceship was covered with fresh new plants. Tiny white flowers like little stars dotted the ground as far as I could see and the air shimmered in the light like it was alive with delight. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. 

“Mother-of-All,” I breathed.

The star-flowers were gone in a few days but we stayed. We’re going to live here forever and ever, and never, ever, ever go back to Dump. The desert has gone back to being a sea of sand but I know the stars are still there under the sand. They’ll come back. Someday.