Planet Earth is blue 15

As the pale sun rose for the last time, we encountered a couple of patrols. They sent out the alert as we brought them down (the forest fire was enough of a beacon in itself) but by then we had reached the entrance to the caves beneath their base. Born in the sun’s furnaces, the angeli hated the darkness and the few they sent in after us did not make it far.

The intelligence was reliable and we made contact with the small band of earth-folk who had been sheltering there – the last remnants of their kind, half-blind but excellent guides through the dark labyrinth which had once been streets and apartments in a bygone age.

All the while, our enemies were still fire-bombing the entrance, believing we were nothing but a couple of fugitives in hiding. By the time the next alert went out, we had penetrated their base from below, annihilating all in our path.

At the threshold of the control centre I saw the triumph in Lily’s eyes, but I caught her off guard and wrested the gun from her hand as their troops closed in.

‘It’s over,’ I said. ‘I made a bargain with them. Sorry.’