They continued past the window and soon reached an intersection where the corridor split in two. Ben sniffed about.
‘He went thisaway,’ he said confidently, taking a step down the right-hand corridor, but then added, ‘I think. Unless he didn’t. Anyway, we may as well try it.’
They continued down the corridor, which now gently curved to the right. Up ahead the passageway opened up into a large foyer, from which more windows showed more outer space. On the far side of the foyer was a large metal door, in front of which stood four person-shaped things. It was hard to tell what they were as they were covered in body armour, helmets and facemasks, but each of them had something that looked extremely gun-shaped hanging from their belt.
Daisy motioned to Ben to retreat back down the corridor. When they had backed up far enough to be out of sight of the guards, Daisy stopped.
‘I’m sure Gamion’s scent heads right towards those doors,’ whispered Ben.
‘Gamion said that he was going to an intergalactic council meeting,’ whispered Daisy. ‘It must be being held on this spaceship. That’s why the door’s guarded. We need to get in there too.’
‘What about the guards?’
‘Hmmm. We need a distraction. Something that will get them out of the way while we sneak in.’
‘Yes, I know what a distraction is, Daisy.’
‘Sorry. Let me think. I know! We can start a fire! That worked in the hotel.’
‘Got any matches?’
Daisy turned out her pockets. ‘No.’
‘Good. I’m pretty sure that starting a fire on a spaceship is a really bad idea.’
‘Maybe you could run around again, like you did in the hotel foyer,’ suggested Daisy. ‘Then the guards might chase you and you could lead them away.’
‘Wouldn’t they just pull out those gun-shaped things on their belts and shoot me?’
‘Good point. Bad idea, then.’
‘I’m glad you agree. How about we try this?’
And Ben told Daisy his plan. But I’m not going to tell you what it was because that would take all the excitement out of the next bit.
Daisy and Ben walked towards the guards.
‘Remember,’ whispered Ben. ‘It’s only going to work if they believe you. Sell it!’
The guards saw them and immediately pulled out their gun-shaped things and pointed them at them. ‘Stop!’ ordered one.
(By the way, because the guards all have identical uniforms and their faces, hair and all other distinguishing marks are completely covered by their body armour, I’m just going to refer to them by the very boring names of ‘Guard 1’, ‘Guard 2’, ‘Guard 3’ and ‘the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards’. But even though they have these very boring names and you can’t see their faces [or in fact even know for sure if they have faces], remember that these four guards are all living creatures [of some sort] and, just like the rest of us, have their own hopes, dreams and fears. It’s just that we won’t find out much about what those hopes, dreams and fears are. But they do have them.)
(By the way, it was Guard 1 who said, ‘Stop!’)
‘You have to help,’ cried Daisy in a panicked voice, raising her arms above her head but still walking towards the guards. ‘They’re coming!’
‘Who’s coming?’ said Guard 1, ‘And stop!’
‘Rebels!’ said Daisy, slowing down but still walking forward. They had decided she would use the word ‘rebels’ because, if the intergalactic council was meeting through the doors that the guards were guarding, then surely, somewhere in the universe, there were bound to be some rebels that they were worried about. And even if there weren’t, Daisy knew that every council in charge of anything, whether it be organising the school fete or running the universe, was scared of rebels.
‘They’re coming!’ cried Daisy again, trying to inject real panic into her voice. Their plan depended upon Daisy convincing the guards that the rebels were real.
‘Please!’ cried Daisy. ‘They’re dangerous! They’re going to raid the meeting and kill everyone!’ She pointed behind her. ‘They’re down that corridor! You must stop them! Please hurry!’
The guards looked at each other in what Daisy hoped was confusion.
‘But who are you?’ asked the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards.
‘There’s no time!’ screamed Daisy. ‘Don’t you understand? They’ll be here in a minute! They’ll kill us! You’ve got to do something! Please!’
‘How many of them?’ asked Guard 1.
‘Six, maybe. Or seven.’
The guards looked at each other then Guard 1 pointed at the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards and said, ‘You stay here with them.’ He pointed to the other two guards. ‘You come with me.’ He raised his gun-thing and led the way towards the corridor Daisy and Ben had emerged from.
‘Be careful!’ called Daisy.
The guards disappeared into the corridor.
But there was still one left.
Daisy put her face in her hands and started to sob.
The Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards took a step towards her and then stopped, as if unsure how to deal with a sobbing girl. Which is fair enough. Hardly anyone in the entire universe knows how to deal with a sobbing girl.
Daisy covered her face with her hands and sobbed louder. Then she opened her arms and let out a long series of sobs that she tried to make as sad and scared sounding as she could. The guard looked around and then holstered his weapon and stepped towards Daisy. Daisy threw her arms around his waist and blubbered (actually pretend-blubbered) into his stomach armour, which was not at all comfortable as the armour was very hard. Daisy blubbered with her mouth while doing something tricky with her hands and a few seconds later she stepped back, holding the guard’s gun-shaped thing. She brought it up and pointed it at the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards.
‘Hands up,’ she said, wiping away her tears. (She was very impressed that she had been able to produce tears. Maybe she had a future in acting. Then she remembered that she wouldn’t have a future in anything if she didn’t get that red stone back and save the world.)
‘And get down on your knees,’ Daisy commanded as the guard slowly raised his hands.
‘But …’ started the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards. Daisy raised the gun and tried to put on an ‘I-really-am-going-to-fire-if-you-don’t-obey’ look. It must have worked because the guard dropped to one knee. As soon as he did, Daisy whacked him on the top of his head with the gun. The guard crumpled and as he hit the ground made a sound similar to that of a really big apple hitting the floor after it rolls off the kitchen bench (or the living room bench, I suppose, but why would you have a bench in your living room?).
‘Sorry,’ said Daisy, but of course the guard didn’t hear because he was unconscious. Daisy knew that, but she just said it to make herself feel less guilty. And it worked.
They turned their attention to the big metal doors. Daisy hoped they weren’t locked. She tried the handle on one of them and it opened. That made sense. Not many people lock themselves in a room, especially when they are on a spaceship and have four armed guards outside.
Inside the door was a short but wide corridor. At its far end was an open doorway.
‘Lock the door from the inside,’ suggested Ben. ‘In case the guards come back.’
‘But they’ll probably have a key,’ said Daisy.
‘There’s a bolt,’ said Ben. Below an elaborate lock was a simple bolt. Daisy drew it across the door.
They crept down to the other end of the corridor and cautiously peered through the doorway. The room inside was large and dominated by a huge oblong-shaped conference table, around which sat about twenty creatures in ornate costumes. Several lo
oked nearly human, a few looked kind of vaguely human but also a bit non-human, one looked like a giant lizard, another had a face like a panda, and several others looked so weird that in other circumstances Daisy could have stared at them for ages, but right now she didn’t have time. The table was so big it had a smaller oblong hole in the middle of it, so that it resembled a large oblong doughnut. (To look at, that is. Not to taste. If Daisy had tasted it, it would have resembled wood, because that’s what it was made of.) One wall of the room was glass, and out of it Daisy could see more outer space and another planet.
At the far end of the table stood a creature with a big, grey, crinkled, hairless head. It was about the size of an adult and its head had two very large eyes, between which sat its nose, which was shaped like a normalish nose at the top, but which then widened dramatically across the creature’s face to make room for eight nostrils. The mouth had bright blue lips.
‘It’s him,’ whispered Ben.
‘Who?’
‘Gamion. That thing up the end of the table is Gamion.’
‘It is?’
‘Same scent, different body. It’s Gamion in a different shape.’
‘Of course! He’s an alien too,’ said Daisy.
The creatures around the table seemed transfixed by Gamion. As he talked he waved his hands about and Daisy saw that in one of them was a red stone.
‘So let’s be clear,’ he was saying. ‘You, the intergalactic council, thought I did something wrong and you put me in gaol. You were able to do that because you had more power than I did. But now I’ve got a red stone which means that I have more power than you.’
‘How did you get it? No one can have a red stone!’ said a creature who looked humanish, except that he or she had an extra nose and eye, and gigantic drooping ears.
‘Oh, I got it from a small planet in quadrant 8,’ said Gamion smugly. ‘It was controlling a structural fault there.’
There was a collective gasp from around the table. ‘But taking the stone will cause the planet to be destroyed,’ said the drooping-eared alien.
‘Boohoo!,’ sneered Gamion. ‘Anyway, I didn’t take it because I wanted to destroy the smelly little planet. I’m not that evil.’
‘Our planet is not smelly,’ whispered Ben under his breath.
‘But I do have to admit,’ continued Gamion, ‘that when I found out that removing the red stone would cause the planet to be destroyed, I didn’t care one little bit! In fact, I even felt a little bit happy about it. So, maybe I am that evil. Anyway.’ Gamion smiled his not-very-nice-smile. ‘What do you think happens next?’
‘You must give us the red stone,’ said a short, dumpy creature with a head that looked like a pavlova. ‘It is forbidden for anyone to have one.’
‘You weren’t supposed to answer,’ snapped Gamion. ‘It was a rhetorical question. This is what happens: I’m going to do your job. See, it must be so hard to make decisions about how to rule the universe when there are so many of you. You spend all your time discussing and disagreeing. Don’t you think things would run more smoothly if just one person was in charge? Me, for example?’ Quickly, Gamion held up his hand. ‘Don’t answer! It’s another rhetorical one.
‘So if I’m going to rule the universe, what will become of you? You’re not really needed anymore, are you? Hmmm. It’s a tough one. Either I could lock you up in prison – after all, that’s what you did to me – or …’ Gamion smiled brightly, ‘… I could kill you all. Two options then. Gaol or death. I know. Let’s vote!’ Gamion raised the red stone. ‘Who wants to go to gaol? Hands up? This one isn’t a rhetorical question.’
Gamion slowly pointed the red stone around the table and Daisy sensed the power coming from it. She could see a few of the council members struggling to raise their hands, but they seemed unable to.
‘No votes. All right, then. Anyone who wants to get killed by me, raise your chair really fast until your head crashes into the ceiling.’ Gamion pointed the red stone again and instantly everyone’s chairs went flying towards the ceiling. There was a chorus of ‘Oww!’ and screams as heads hit the ceiling. Then the chairs descended to the floor.
‘That seemed to be a unanimous vote in favour of death,’ said Gamion. ‘Odd choice, but so be it. Let’s get it done!’
Daisy had an idea. She backed up, returned to the door, unbolted it and cautiously poked her head out. She then disappeared through it and a few seconds later returned with the helmet of the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards. She rapped it with her knuckles. It was hard. Then she pulled out her pocket-knife.
‘Daisy, no,’ hissed Ben. ‘You’ll never get anywhere near him. As soon as he sees you he’ll use the red stone to stop you.’
Gamion’s voice came from the big room. ‘Who wants to go first? Non-rhetorical, that one.’
Very deliberately Daisy drew the knife across the back of her hand. It really hurt and she had to stop herself from crying out.
‘Daisy,’ hissed Ben. ‘What are you doing?’
‘How about you, uglyface?’ came Gamion’s voice. ‘Shall I kill you first? How would you like it to happen? With my stone I can induce a heart attack, make your head explode, turn your liver into a carving knife or many, many other things. Any preference?’
Daisy bent and whispered urgently into Ben’s ear. When she had finished he nodded and said, ‘I get it.’
Daisy pulled out one of the heartstones Sinclair and Dennis had given her. Its glow had dimmed, but it still shone a dull yellow. She wiped it along the back of her hand, smearing her blood onto the stone, then she spread the blood around so that the stone was evenly covered. It now glowed red. She held it out in front of Ben.
‘I really don’t want to carry that in my mouth,’ said Ben.
‘This is no time to be squeamish,’ said Daisy.
Ben wrinkled up his nose.
‘Wait!’ said Daisy. She dug into her pocket and emerged with the clear plastic bag the parchment had been in. Carefully she placed the stone in the bag.
‘Thanks,’ said Ben, taking the bag in his teeth.
Ben walked slowly forward through the doorway into the big room, then dropped the bag containing what looked like a glowing red stone on the floor. He looked up at Gamion and said loudly, ‘I’ve got another one.’
Daisy stayed behind in the corridor, just to one side of the doorway, holding the helmet. She slid her head slowly out so she could see what was happening.
‘You’re that dog from the cave. What are you doing here?’ asked Gamion, moving around the table and up the room towards Ben.
‘I’ve brought you another red stone,’ said Ben.
‘Have you?’ asked Gamion curiously, but also cautiously as he slowly walked towards Ben.
‘I wondered what you might give me for it.’
‘Oh, my lovely little friend. I’m sure we could work something out that would please you.’
‘Actually, I’ve changed my mind,’ said Ben. ‘See you later.’ He picked up the bag in his teeth, turned and trotted back through the doorway.
‘Wait!’ cried Gamion, and ran towards the doorway. Daisy’s heart leapt. Gamion could have used the power of the red stone to freeze Ben, but luckily, as she had hoped, his first instinct had been to chase him.
As Gamion came through the doorway, Daisy gathered all her strength and smashed him as hard as she could in the face with the helmet. Gamion screamed and fell to his knees, clutching his face. Daisy raised the helmet high and hit Gamion on the top of his head. Gamion screamed again and fell onto his side. Ben leapt forward and barked ferociously into his face. Daisy saw that Gamion was clutching the red stone in his right hand and bashed the helmet down on his hand. Gamion rolled away, twisted his body and lashed out with his foot, kicking Ben in the ribs.
Daisy hit Gamion’s hand again and the red stone popped free and ro
lled across the floor. Daisy dived after it, grabbed it, and then stood over Gamion, who was on his knees, trying to get up. She hit him hard on top of the head again and he fell back to the floor. As Gamion lay moaning in what looked very much like agony, Daisy searched his pockets until she found the two blue stones. Then she stood and took two steps back.
Gamion’s nose was squashed flat into his face, five of his eight nostrils were bleeding and he had a cut cheek and a black eye. Daisy really wanted to kick him again for good measure, but he looked like he was already in plenty of pain.
She looked around for Ben. He was crumpled against the wall, chest heaving.
‘Ben,’ she cried, and backed towards him, keeping her eyes on Gamion. She knelt and stroked his tummy. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Think so.’
Some of the council members were starting to creep slowly through the doorway. Daisy stood, picked up Ben and turned to them. ‘Umm … hello, I’m Daisy,’ she began. ‘Gamion hasn’t got the stone anymore, so I guess you can do whatever you like with him. Personally I’d recommend a very big, very unpleasant punishment. But we have to go so, umm, goodbye.’
‘Wait!’ said a tall alien with lizard-like features and three legs. ‘You have the red stone now. You cannot leave with it. It is forbidden.’
‘I need it,’ said Daisy, backing away. ‘I’m not going to do anything bad with it. I’m just going to put it back where it belongs and save my planet. Besides, I just saved your lives. And anyway, I’ve got it, and I sort of know how to use it so, no offence, how are you going to stop me?’
The lizard-headed alien digested this. ‘I see. You are right. There is nothing we can do to stop you. But please, be careful with it. And thank you for saving us.’ He indicated Gamion. ‘We will ensure that he causes no further trouble.’
Daisy nodded. While at another time she may have been curious to discover what the intergalactic council thingy actually was and how it worked and who all the creatures on the council were, she knew that every second was vital. They had to get back to Earth and replace the red stone before it was too late. She looked down at Ben. ‘Let’s go home. If we’ve still got one to go to.’
Daisy Malone and the Blue Glowing Stone Page 19