by Max Chase
The leader of the guard produced a thick shiny cylinder from a holster on his belt. He took aim and fired. A blue flash lit up Diesel and Otto.
And then they were frozen into statues.
Chapter 6
Diesel and Otto toppled to the ground. They didn’t move. Diesel’s legs were still bent and his fists still clenched. Otto’s tongue was still sticking out of his mouth.
The leader of the guard aimed his weapon at Peri.
‘Wait!’ Peri cried. ‘We come in peace. Look – we’ve brought your prince back!’
‘A likely story,’ said their leader. Then he looked more closely. ‘Bubbling sludge! It is the prince!’ He spoke into a com-clip attached to his helmet. ‘This is Captain Grinkox at Archway One. We have Prince Onix here. Repeat: we have Prince Onix at Archway One.’
Peri grabbed Selene’s arm and started to back away.
‘You’re going nowhere!’ said Captain Grinkox.
Peri reached into his pocket. If he grew the Phoenix to full size now, he and his friends might be able to use the surprise and confusion to escape.
Captain Grinkox saw the movement. He blasted Peri with his strange weapon. Peri felt as if he’d been covered in a cloud of freezing blue gas. He couldn’t move a muscle.
The captain blasted Selene too. She froze and keeled over, her arms and legs sticking out at odd angles.
‘Search them!’ the captain said to his men.
One of the guards pulled the Phoenix from Peri’s pocket. ‘Found this toy egg, Captain.’
‘That’s a funny little thing,’ said Captain Grinkox, inspecting it. ‘I’ll give it to my little boy to play with.’ He tucked the Phoenix under his helmet.
Peri wanted to shout that it wasn’t a toy, it wouldn’t be safe to play with, and anyway it wasn’t the captain’s to give to anyone.
But he couldn’t utter a sound.
The guards loaded Peri, Selene, Diesel and Otto into hoverbarrows. Dumped on his back, Peri could see nothing but sky, and the bobbing antennae of Captain Grinkox’s helmet.
‘What have you done to my friends?’ he heard the prince say.
‘They’re not your friends, Your Highness.’
The guards began to push the hoverbarrows towards the palace. Peri watched the orange sky pass by above. A jolt sent Otto tumbling against him, so that his tongue touched Peri’s ear. Peri strained to move away, but couldn’t.
There was a fanfare of Xion trumpets, which sounded like someone sitting on a set of old Earth bagpipes.
‘Your Majesties!’ Peri heard Captain Grinkox say. ‘Your son is here – and I have arrested his kidnappers.’
Peri was just able to see the royal couple as they stepped closer. They were humanoid, except for the webbed hands and the squid-like smell. They had sharp, pointed noses and teeth. The king wore a crown of some dull grey metal with huge spikes sticking up out of it; the queen wore a similar one in white.
‘Oh, my precious Onix!’ said the queen.
‘Welcome home, son!’ said the king.
‘Who are you?’ the prince asked.
The queen moved out of sight. Peri heard a scuffling sound, as if she was trying to hug Onix and he was pulling away. ‘Don’t you remember me?’ she asked pleadingly.
‘Should I?’
‘We’ll get your memory back, my boy,’ the king said. ‘Top doctors will work on it. And never fear – your abductors will be punished. We will show them no mercy! Captain – take them to the dungeons!’
‘Can I go with them?’ asked the prince.
‘Don’t be silly,’ said the queen. ‘You are coming home with us!’
‘I don’t want to go with you,’ the prince said sulkily. ‘I want to go with my friends.’
The king came and stood over Peri. ‘We Xions are a fair people. You will have a fair trial. And after the fair trial, you Meigwor-lovers will wish you had never been born!’
The guards tipped Peri and his frozen crew down the palace steps and let them bump to the bottom. The palace dungeons were dark. And damp. And dreary.
Two guards followed them down and clamped Otto’s wrists in a pair of massive steel cuffs. The cuffs were then chained to the wall, so that Otto had to stand with his arms above his head. They covered Otto’s neck-bumps with stick-on patches, so he wouldn’t be able to use the hypnotic powers Peri and Diesel had seen him use when they kidnapped the prince.
‘Stay there, Meigwor scum!’ said one of the guards. ‘The rest of you, keep quiet or you’ll be chained up too.’
He left, banging the huge metal-studded door behind him. Peri heard the key turn in the lock.
The effect of the Xion weapon was beginning to wear off. Peri rubbed his arms and legs, which had pins and needles. He looked round. There was a tiny barred window, high up. A few feeble rays of light sneaked in. Apart from that, nothing but stone walls.
Dark shapes moved across the floor. One scuttled over Otto’s feet. He shrieked. ‘Was that a rat?’
‘No,’ Selene said. ‘Just a giant cockroach.’
‘You’d better enjoy these delightful surroundings while you can,’ said a quiet voice.
Peri spun round and saw a figure sitting hunched in the corner. It had a grey, cement-like body, but no head. It was holding up its hands, palms outwards. In the centre of each palm was a single, staring eye. A Zaxonian. From Zaxos. Peri had never met one before, but had learned about them at the IFA in the intelligent life-forms module. They had mouths where you’d expect their bellybuttons to be. He looked – sure enough, there was a mouth set into its middle. ‘What are you in for?’ the Zaxonian said, turning its hands over. On the back of each hand was an ear.
‘Kidnapping the prince,’ Peri said. ‘But we didn’t do it.’
‘I’m in for being a space highwayman,’ said the Zaxonian. ‘And I did do that.’
‘Cool!’ Diesel said. ‘You robbed spaceships, yeah?’
‘That’s right. On my last raid I robbed a banking ship and got away with fifty-seven million creds and a hat – which I couldn’t wear, obviously, but it was a really nice one.’ The Zaxonian sighed. ‘I’m Tambo, by the way.’
‘So what’s going to happen to you now?’ asked Selene.
‘Same thing that will happen to you. A big live public trial. It’s their favourite entertainment. First they watch the trial, then the punishment.’
‘What if the accused gets off?’ asked Peri.
Tambo opened his belly-mouth to answer but, before he could, a hole in the floor suddenly opened beneath him. He slid down a chute, screaming the whole way. Peri thought he could hear distant cheering. The trapdoor snapped shut. All was quiet again.
‘We have to get out of here!’ Diesel said. He examined the brickwork, searching for gaps with his fingernails.
‘What about me?’ Otto said, rattling his chains.
‘You deserve the trial,’ Diesel said. ‘This is all your fault!’
‘We can’t leave him!’ Peri said. Otto was not exactly his favourite alien, but they were in this together. ‘We’re a team. We have to free Otto and take him with us. Don’t you agree, Selene?’
‘Er – yeah, I suppose,’ Selene said uncertainly.
‘I’ll call the Phoenix!’ Peri said. ‘That’ll get us out of here.’
He closed his eyes and tuned into his bionic half. He sent out a telepathic message: Phoenix. We need you. Come here now!
Nothing happened.
‘Maybe the guard’s helmet is blocking the signal,’ Selene said.
Peri felt sick with disappointment. But he didn’t give up.
‘Let’s try the door,’ he said. He ran up the steps. Before he got to the door, he hit an invisible force field which almost knocked him back down the steps.
‘Let’s try the window!’ Selene said.
Peri ran back down. He and Diesel hoisted Selene up so she could reach for the bars, but another invisible force field pushed her backwards. All three of them tumbled to the floor.
Peri rose to his feet. He seized Otto’s chain, trying to wrench it from the wall. It gave him an electric shock which zapped him right across the dungeon.
He braced himself to hit the floor hard. But he didn’t.
Because the floor had opened up again . . .
Chapter 7
Peri went whirling down a curly slide in total darkness. He landed with a bump on a sandy surface. Selene, Diesel and Otto tumbled on to the ground next to him.
A spotlight hit them. Peri saw the other three, looking as bewildered as he felt. Beyond the circle of light it was pitch-black. He heard the buzz and murmur of a crowd. It grew louder as a man stepped into the spotlight.
The man was dressed in a black gown and wore a white wig. He looked to Peri like the old-time planet Earth lawyers that he had seen in time-travel simulators in his history lessons at the IFA. But the webbed hands and squid-like smell revealed him as a Xion.
‘I am your lawyer,’ he said.
‘Great!’ Selene said. ‘So you’re going to try to get us off?’
There was a burst of laughter from the unseen crowd.
‘Excuse me,’ Peri said. ‘But why are you in that costume? That’s how lawyers on Earth used to dress –’
‘They copied it from us!’ the lawyer said. ‘Lawyers have dressed like this for at least a hundred years on Xion.’
‘But they used to dress like that on Earth thousands of years ago!’
The lawyer looked sternly down his pointed nose at Peri. ‘As I said, Xion lawyers have dressed like this for many thousands of years. Everyone knows that Earthlings are the biggest copycats in the universe!’
There was a roar of approval from the crowd.
‘Now,’ the lawyer said, ‘if you plead guilty to the charges, I can possibly get your sentence reduced to twenty-five years in the sludge mines.’
‘What are the charges?’ Diesel asked.
‘That,’ said the lawyer, ‘is none of your business.’
‘But how can we plead guilty if we don’t know the charges?’ Peri protested.
‘You’re being difficult – very difficult!’ said the lawyer. The crowd hissed and booed. ‘Do you plead guilty or not?’
Peri looked at the others. Selene shrugged. Diesel pointed at Otto. ‘He’s guilty!’
Otto glared at him.
‘We all plead not guilty!’ Peri said. It wouldn’t help to try to make Otto take the rap. Anyway, it wouldn’t be fair – it wasn’t Otto’s fault that the prince had lost his memory. They were all in this together now.
The lawyer smiled, exposing two rows of shark-like teeth. ‘Then let the trial begin!’
Suddenly the whole area was drenched in bright light. Peri gasped. They were in the middle of a vast arena. There were banks of tiered seating all around, filled with thousands of Xion spectators. Flags fluttered from tall poles. Above the highest seats were giant monitors, which showed Peri and his friends from every angle, standing small and isolated – and surrounded.
The king and queen of Xion sat in the best seats, in a raised box in the front row, decorated with Bio-Cloth, which swirled with constantly changing living colours. Prince Onix, looking completely confused, sat between his mother and father. He caught Selene’s eye and waved. His father pulled his arm down.
In front of the royal box, at ground level, were three judges, sitting behind a bench. They all wore black robes, and had even longer wigs than the lawyer.
The lawyer sat on a chair to one side of the judges. ‘Take it away, boys,’ he said.
A judge jumped to his feet. He came out from behind the bench and paced up and down in front of the accused. He pointed a webbed finger at them. ‘What made you decide to become sworn enemies of Xion?’
‘Nothing,’ Selene said, ‘because –’
The crowd booed. They threw tiny pebbles. One hit Peri on the back of the neck.
‘“Nothing?”’ screeched the judge. ‘You became sworn enemies of Xion for no reason?’
‘Wait!’ Peri shouted above the crowd’s roar. ‘This isn’t fair!’ He appealed to their lawyer. ‘Aren’t you going to defend us?’
‘Why should I?’ said the lawyer. ‘You said you weren’t guilty, so you must be liars. I don’t defend liars.’
The crowd roared. They threw more pebbles. They had it in for Otto particularly. He covered his head with his double-jointed arms.
The first judge sat down and the next jumped up. ‘When did you Earthlings start obeying the orders of the evil Meigwors?’
‘We didn’t!’ Diesel said indignantly. He started towards the judges’ bench. Peri grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
The second judge sneered. ‘So the kidnap of our beloved prince, and the deliberate erasing of his memory, was your own idea?’
‘That’s not what I said!’
‘Yes it is!’ screamed the first judge.
The crowd’s roar rose to a frightening level. They threw more pebbles.
The third judge jumped up. He had a bigger wig than the others.
Maybe he’s the chief judge, Peri thought.
‘Call the first witness!’ the judge shouted.
The first witness was Prince Onix. He stood up in the royal box.
‘Now,’ said the chief judge, ‘tell the court, in your own words, about the terrible mistreatment you suffered aboard the spaceship of these evil criminals.’
‘I don’t remember much . . .’ the prince began.
‘Because they wiped your memory!’ said the judge.
The crowd hissed. A storm of pebbles rained down on the crew of the Phoenix.
‘But I do remember they were nice to me,’ went on the prince. ‘Especially Selene.’ He pointed at her. ‘But they’re all my friends.’
The crowd hushed, then started to mutter uncertainly. The judges looked angry. Peri felt a twinge of hope.
The lawyer jumped up. ‘The prince has just given cast-iron evidence that they brainwashed him!’
‘Hey!’ Peri said. ‘You’re supposed to be on our side.’
‘I’m on the side of justice,’ said the lawyer, with a wave to the spectators. The crowd cheered.
‘The witness may stand down,’ the first judge said. ‘Next witness – the evil Meigwor! Approach!’
Otto approached the bench, flinching as if expecting more stones to rain down on him any moment.
The second judge pointed at him. ‘Question for the evil Meigwor! Why do you hate Xion so much?’
There was a sudden hush. Otto licked his lipless mouth nervously with his super-size tongue. ‘I don’t exactly hate Xion –’ he began.
A pebble whizzed through the air and bounced off his head.
‘Ow! If the Xion coward who threw that comes down here, I’ll push his pointy teeth down his throat!’
The spectators gasped.
‘I’ve just remembered something!’ Prince Onix called out. ‘It was him – he was the one who kidnapped me.’
A hail of pebbles descended on Otto.
‘No further proof is needed of this prisoner’s hatred for Xion!’ screamed the chief judge.
‘Hold on!’ Peri said, fighting to make himself heard above the roar. ‘If we’d meant any harm to the prince, we wouldn’t have brought him back –’
‘Silence!’ shouted the chief judge. ‘No more of your lies. Time for the vote!’ He surveyed the spectators. The other two judges stood up beside him. ‘Ladies and gentlemen of Xion. You have heard evidence which proves that these criminals are guilty of kidnapping our beloved prince. He cannot even remember his own people now. Please touch the panel in front of you to deliver your verdict. Remember: green means they’ve got away with it, and red means they are guilty.’
Peri looked hopelessly at the other crew members. They looked hopelessly back.
The whole arena was lit up in a blaze of red.
Except, in the middle of the sea of red, Peri saw one solitary green light.
It was kind of comforting that one person in
Xion didn’t believe them to be guilty.
Not that it did them much good.
Chapter 8
‘Miserable wretches – choose your punishment!’ the chief judge said. ‘You may toil in the sludge mines for fifty years. Or you may fight to the death with . . . the Xio-Bot!’
There were oohs and aahs from the crowd.
‘You may confer!’ the judge said.
Peri and the other crew members formed a huddle in the centre of the arena.
‘What are we going to do?’ Peri asked. He couldn’t believe this was happening.
‘If we go down the sludge mines, at least we stay alive,’ Selene paused and lowered her voice. ‘And have a better chance of escaping.’
‘I say we face the Xio-Bot!’ Diesel said. ‘We have a fighting chance of winning and getting off this horrible planet straight away.’
Otto spoke through gritted teeth. ‘I . . . I . . . I agree with Diesel!’
‘But we don’t even know what the Xio-Bot is!’ Selene said.
‘We don’t know what the sludge mines are, either,’ Peri said. He turned to the lawyer. ‘What’s it like down the sludge mines?’
Their lawyer smiled. ‘Hell.’
‘So you’d choose the Xio-Bot?’
‘That would make you more popular with the crowd,’ the lawyer said.
‘Come on!’ Diesel said. ‘It’s our only chance!’
‘Yeah!’ Otto said. ‘Let’s do it!’
‘Ladies and gentlemen, the evil aliens have chosen to fight the Xio-Bot!’ said the chief judge. ‘Give them a round of applause for being such good sports!’
There was cheering and laughter from the crowd. Hooters blared. Fireworks exploded in the sky.
‘How many people have defeated the Xio-Bot?’ Peri asked the lawyer.
‘None,’ the lawyer said, taking his seat.
A short, squat Xion man came pedalling into the arena on a golden tricycle. He wore a sparkly red jacket and a mirrored top hat. He must be the master of ceremonies.