Mulciber kissed the woman again. Martin wondered what their relationship was. It would have been strange to see his granddad kiss such a young woman—that is, if he didn’t look so young himself.
“So what do you want, Mulciber?” said Jaz Jazz. “I know you didn’t come all this way to see me.”
“I need to use Rapport,” said Mulciber.
The woman crossed her legs. “You don’t need permission for that.”
“And I don’t need permission for this either,” said Mulciber, taking the woman in his arms to kiss her again.
Martin stood there awkwardly.
“I’ll wait outside,” he said finally.
Mulciber and Jaz Jazz didn’t hear him. He stepped outside the office and waited outside the door.
“He really meant ‘access all areas’,” Martin muttered.
Then he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Martin tensed. A man appeared. It was a face that Martin recognised.
“You? Why are you—?” Martin began, but before he could finish the man lifted up a gun and shot him in the chest.
*
Martin groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He was sitting in a dark room. A bright light made his eyes water. Martin tried to stand up, but he was tied to the chair.
“Oh, you’re awake,” said a cold voice. “I’ve confiscated your gun.”
A man stepped out from the shadows. It was the man that had shot him. It was the Reverend Alexander Howell.
“Why are you here?” said Martin.
The Reverend smiled. “It’s quite a long story, but I suppose you’ve got the time to listen.”
Alexander Howell pulled up a chair and sat facing Martin. Martin was confused. Why had the vicar come to the Switchboard?
“Once upon a time,” said Howell, “I used to be a police officer. I worked for the Axis Justice Department, and I was the very best officer they had. My brother—Zorus—worked alongside me. The Justice Department sent us on all the most dangerous assignments. We took down the White Mutineer, Asvurd, the Dancers of Spartum-3, the Purple King, the Bearded Thief. Zorus and I were famous on Hope.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” said Martin, blinking in the brightness.
“You are involved in the story indirectly. Now listen. One day, Zorus and I walked into the office and our boss told us that we were going to be sent on our most dangerous assignment yet. We were to arrest one of the worst criminals our race had ever produced—an infamous murderer. The murderer’s name was Mulciber.”
Martin’s heart started to beat faster. “Mulciber?”
“Yes. But we weren’t worried about the assignment. We were strong and courageous. We had already defeated hundreds of villains. So we took our ship to the planet Melyzza, where Mulciber was hiding.”
Alexander Howell smiled bitterly. “We thought it would be easy. But Mulciber was ready for us. Somehow, he knew we were coming. So he set an ambush for us. It was a massacre. Over 50 of our men were killed as soon as they stepped out onto the planet. And…” Mulciber’s eyes filled with angry tears. “And he killed Zorus. He killed him. Your grandfather killed my brother.”
Martin swallowed. He felt a terrible sinking sensation. Surely it couldn’t be true.
“But why have you captured me?” he said finally. “Where do I come into all this?”
The Rev. Alexander Howell smiled. “I’m going to kill you, of course. Zorus was everything to me, and Mulciber destroyed him. I’m going to destroy everything that Mulciber holds dear.”
“I hadn’t even met him until this morning,” said Martin. “What makes you think he’ll even care?”
Howell smiled. “Oh, he will care. I’m going to tear apart the lives of everybody directly or indirectly associated with Mulciber. The more people I hurt, the more satisfying the revenge.”
Martin had a sudden thought. “It was you. It was you all this time. Controlling Darcy’s mind, trying to make us split up.”
The vicar smiled. “Well done. I also hacked into the Time Sphere that I gave you so it sent you to the day of Pyridos’ destruction. I’ve tried to kill you a few times, actually, but you keep getting lucky. Tommy managed to survive one of my attacks too, in fact. I tried to open up a portal to a black hole to suck him in, but he survived.”
“Stay away from my friends,” said Martin angrily.
“Can’t do, I’m afraid. Sorry. I’ve got to get as much revenge as possible. I would have loved to kill your mother, too, Martin. It’s such a shame she’s already dead.”
Martin had never felt so disgusted by a person in his life. But he was also confused about something.
“I don’t understand why you helped us,” said Martin.
“Simple,” said Howell. “I wanted you to use the recall device to summon Abaddon. The Axis Lords have been trying to arrest me ever since I deserted my post. With a bit of luck, Abaddon will obliterate the fools.”
“Why don’t you just kill me, then?” said Martin.
“Oh no, that wouldn’t work at all. You see, any grief you feel will also affect Mulciber. If I killed you now, it would cause Mulciber a lot of pain. But it will cause him more pain if I kill Darcy and Tommy first, and then you. Do you see?”
“You’re insane,” said Martin.
He spat in Howell’s face. The Axis Lord didn’t even look angry; he wiped the saliva away with a smile.
“Nothing you do can upset me, Martin,” he said. “I do not have anything against you. I’m only going to kill you to hurt your grandfather.”
“That’s all I needed to hear,” said a voice.
A door opened, and light flooded into the room. Martin realised that the room was actually a small spacecraft. Mulciber was standing at the entrance.
“You!” said Howell, leaping to his feet.
“I heard everything,” said Mulciber. “A very touching story.”
“It’s not true?” said Martin. “You’re not actually a criminal?”
“It’s all true, Martin. All I can say in my defence that everybody I have killed was a murderer. It was my mission to bring down the corrupt Axis government.”
“My brother wasn’t a murderer!” shouted Howell. “Zorus never killed a single person—not even when we were on assignments.”
“Your brother betrayed you,” said Mulciber. “How do you think that I knew about your arrival? Zorus was terrified of me. He knew he would die if he stood against me. So he informed me about the attack, in exchange for his life.”
“Liar!” Howell spluttered.
“It’s true. The thing is, Zorus had a change of heart. He realised that he couldn’t live with himself for betraying you, and he pulled a gun on me. So I killed him.”
Alexander Howell slumped to the floor. It was like he was broken. But he slowly got to his feet.
“Well, he did the right thing in the end,” he said. “And that’s what matters. This doesn’t change anything. You still killed him.”
“Calm down,” said Mulciber. “We can talk about this.”
“No!”
Howell pulled out a gun and pointed it at Mulciber. Mulciber’s eyes flashed green, and the Reverend Alexander Howell fell to the floor. Martin took his pulse.
“No pulse,” he said faintly. “He’s dead. You killed him.”
Mulciber nodded. “I did. Even if he hadn’t tried to shoot me, he would still have had to die. He hated me too much to live. He would have killed my entire family.”
“You’re probably right,” said Martin reluctantly.
“Speaking of family,” said Mulciber. “Let’s see if we can find my daughter.”
CHAPTER 11: THE ICE PLANET
“What is this place?” said Martin.
They were standing inside a black room. In the centre of the room was a silver chair, which was lit by a single directional light. It gleamed in the darkness.
“This is Rapport,” said Mulciber. “I designed it as the quickest way to access the Universal Switchboard. It’s
hardly ever used, though—creates more paperwork, you see. Go on, sit down.”
Hesitantly, Martin sat in the cold silver chair.
“Now,” said Mulciber, “Rapport allows you to track any person in the universe, providing that you have a sample of their DNA.” He held up a small hairbrush that had hairs tangled up in it. “This was your mother’s.”
Martin took the hairbrush.
“So what do I do?” he said.
“Simply close your eyes.”
Martin closed them. As soon as he did so, he felt like he was falling. He opened his eyes again. The Rapport room had vanished. It was like he was floating in space… he tried to control his direction, but he couldn’t. Something was making him move. He suddenly began to soar involuntarily towards a nearby galaxy. Stars rushed past him as he hurtled forwards. He flew past comets and constellations, heading towards a single planet.
He stopped. He was floating in front of a white world. The surface was covered in ice.
“What do you see?” said Mulciber’s voice.
“An ice planet,” said Martin.
“Go closer.”
Martin began to move again, but he had control this time. He flew towards the planet and landed on the surface. It looked cold, but Martin felt warm. The planet was covered in snow.
“What do you see now?” said his grandfather.
“Lots of snow.” Martin squinted; the flakes were falling over his eyes. “And there’s some sort of building… a kind of palace… made of ice.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. There are… two suns.”
Martin felt a hand on his shoulder. Instantly, the planet vanished. He was back in Rapport.
“Styxa,” said Mulciber grimly. “You saw Styxa. It’s a prison planet.”
Martin swallowed. Was everyone in his family a criminal?
“But… what’s she doing there?”
Mulciber shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“But she’s alive?”
“It seems so. If she is, we know where to find her. There’s no point waiting. We’ll go to Styxa right away.”
Martin nodded. He got up out of the silver chair and followed Mulciber out of the black room.
*
Martin and Mulciber stepped out onto the icy planet. It looked exactly the same as in Rapport. But this time, Martin could feel the cold. And it was extremely cold. He pressed a switch on his spacesuit, and warmth flooded through it.
Without them, Mulciber had said, we would freeze to death less than five minutes after setting foot on the planet.
Mulciber pointed towards a tall shape that was jutting out of the snow. It was a kind of sculpture— a stick with a serpent wrapped around it.
“That pole marks the entrance to the catacombs,” said Mulciber. Martin could hear him because they had communication devices built into the spacesuits. “The prisoners are all kept underground.”
They made their way through the knee-deep snow. It was hard to see through the flurry of white. Mulciber stopped next to the pole.
“I’ll go first,” he said, “and deal with the guards.”
The Axis Lord took hold of the pole and pulled it towards him. It was a lever. A hole opened up in the ice; it started to suck in the snow like a plughole vortex. Mulciber paused, and then jumped into the hole. Martin waited a few seconds; then he jumped down after him.
It was a strange experience. He was caught by some kind of air current. He felt like he was floating on warm air. He drifted down the hole very slowly; it took almost a minute before he reached the bottom. Mulciber was standing at the dark entrance to a tunnel, helmetless. Two Axis Lord guards were lying on the floor.
“You didn’t…?” said Martin, quickly removing his helmet.
Mulciber shook his head. “They’re not dead. Just stunned.”
The Axis Lord accessed a computer panel on the wall, and pressed a few buttons.
“We’re very close,” he muttered. “Come on.”
They left their helmets on the ground, and the Axis Lord led Martin into the dark tunnel. They walked in darkness for a few seconds before being plunged into light. Martin blinked. The corridor was brightly-lit, and had a polished wooden floor.
“It all looks a bit posh,” said Martin.
Mulciber nodded. “As a rule, Axis Lord criminals are treated with respect and courtesy. Before the defences were breached, most prisoners were sent to the City of Serenity. Styxa was reserved for those deemed too dangerous.”
Martin swallowed. “Why was mum dangerous?”
“I don’t know, Martin. But I can’t wait to find out.” He grinned. “They were going to send me to Styxa, but I escaped.”
“What did you do?”
“I killed people, Martin.” He paused. “Does that upset you?”
“No.”
“Good. Because they deserved it, I promise you. Ah, here we are.”
They had reached a large oak door. The door had no handles.
“She’s in there,” said Mulciber.
“Mum? Mum’s in there?”
Mulciber nodded. “The question is—how do we get in?”
He touched the door and his eyes flashed green. It immediately swung open.
“After you,” said Mulciber.
Martin entered. It was another corridor. But this time it was different. There was a thick cream carpet, and the walls were covered in photographs. Martin realised that they were pictures of him as a baby, and pictures of his dad.
Martin took a deep breath, and made his way down to the end of the corridor. Then he stepped out into a living room. Aurora was sitting on a battered leather sofa, watching an old-fashioned television set. When Martin and Mulciber entered, she jumped to her feet.
“It… it can’t be.”
The Axis Lady had straight white hair and shining purple eyes. She looked very young. She was wearing human clothes—blue jeans and a sweater.
Martin smiled. “Mum?”
“Oh, Martin…”
She embraced Martin, her eyes filling with tears, and turned to Mulciber.
“Father… I can’t believe you came… it worked…”
Mulciber took the Ring of Last Resort from his pocket.
“The message was corrupted,” he said, “but we still managed to find you.”
“One of the guards sold the ring to me,” said Aurora.
There was a brief silence. It was weird—suddenly meeting his mum again after years thinking her dead. He felt unbelievably happy about it, but he was lost for words.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Martin, glancing around at the room.
“Prisoners on Styxa are allowed to choose their own decoration,” she explained. “This is modelled on the house that your father and I once lived in…” She tailed off. “How is he? How’s Charles?”
Martin wondered what to tell her. He could hardly point out that his dad had been an alcoholic for years.
“He’s fine,” said Martin. “Got a new job recently.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to see him… you look so much like him.”
“Martin looks more like you than Charles,” said Mulciber, smiling.
Aurora turned to her father. “You are getting me out of this place, aren’t you?”
The Axis Lord nodded. “Of course, Aurora. But I want to know something first. Why were you imprisoned here?”
Aurora sighed. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
She shook her head. “I was in a spaceship crash in the Helical Galaxy. I thought I was going to die. There was a white flash… and I ended up in this prison.”
“But what were you charged with?” said Mulciber. “What did they sentence you for?”
“I wasn’t charged with anything,” she said. “I was never even taken to court. The Custodian has never explained why I have been kept in here.”
Mulciber looked amazed.
“Is that surprising?” said Martin. From his experie
nce of the Axis Lords, it sounded like exactly the kind of thing they would do.
“The Axis Lord legal system is corrupt,” said Mulciber, “but they always have a show of legality—always. For someone to be imprisoned without a trial… it’s unheard of.”
Aurora shrugged.
“Well,” said Mulciber. “Looks like we need to make a little detour before leaving this planet.”
“Why?” said Martin.
“Because I want to know what’s going on…”
*
They were standing at the entrance to the dark tunnel. Above them was the hole leading back out on to the planet. Martin and Mulciber put their helmets on.
Mulciber’s eyes flashed green, and another spacesuit appeared. Aurora put on the spacesuit, and looked up.
“How do we get out, father?”
“Simple.”
Mulciber’s eyes flashed green again, and the circle began to get wider. Martin felt his hair standing on end. Suddenly, a force pulled him upwards and out of the tunnel, and dropped him onto the snow.
“Now,” said Mulciber, pointing at the palace made of ice. “That is the Justice Palace. That’s where we’re heading.”
“Can’t we just leave?” said Aurora.
“No. I want to find out why you were brought here first.”
They eventually reached the Justice Palace. Three Pendulum Officers stood guard outside it. They raised their guns when the trio arrived. Mulciber’s eyes turned green, and the robots were thrown into the air and flung towards the snowy trees.
“The snow will soon cover them,” said Mulciber. “Won’t you come in?”
Martin and his mother uneasily followed Mulciber into the building. He closed the door behind them. The entrance hall was grand—it was lit by gleaming chandeliers, and the floor was covered with a red and gold checkerboard pattern.
“This way, I think,” said the Axis Lord, pointing towards a staircase.
“Why are we here?” said Martin, as he followed his grandfather up the steps.
“I want to have a word with the Custodian.”
“The who?”
“The Custodian is a legendary figure. He is an Axis Lord, but the myths say that he can never die. They also say that he has remarkable powers of prophecy.”
Martin King and the Prison of Ice (Martin King Series) Page 10