by Rob May
She tore through the final knuckle, and the weight and pain instantly vanished as the thanamorph fell away.
‘… the captain always goes down with his ship!’
The tragic monster only howled in rage and despair as it smacked into the swell of the sea below. Its burning red eyes never left Kat’s as it vanished beneath the waves.
19—APPLE
When they were all inside, with the hatch sealed, it was immediately a different world: like waking up after a really, really bad dream. The sea, the storm, the screams … all of them had now vanished, and been replaced by the warm, softly-lit interior of Discord. The raging elements barely troubled the spaceship’s stabilising systems. Kat felt like she may as well have been at home in London, alone in the house on a still and quiet night.
Lieutenant Hewson just sat and waited while they all flopped on the hard—but dry and level!—floor of Discord’s midsection. When Kat finally caught her breath and propped herself up on her elbows, the MI Zero soldier gave her a smile and a friendly wink.
‘Nice work, Agent Brown,’ he said.
Kat tutted. ‘Not you too,’ she said, throwing Gem a look.
‘I keep telling her she’d make a great new recruit,’ Gem said. ‘She’s never once lost her cool, despite the scrapes we’ve found ourselves in.’
Even Jason seemed to agree. ‘Just don’t give her a position that outranks me,’ he said. ‘I’m not taking orders from my sister!’
Military Intelligence: Department Zero: a secret organisation that dated back to the 1950s, who devoted their time to chasing down suspected alien hardware and biology, and then either capturing or destroying it.
Kat had no interest in either. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I’m not joining your little gang. Good job getting the ship up and running again, but we can’t stay here and fight. Me and Brandon really having to be getting back to his homeworld now.’ She looked over to where Brandon was picking himself up off the floor. ‘Right?’
Brandon dug into his jeans and pulled out the five thousand Euro gaming chip from the Casino Royale. It held the superluminal drive: the one thing they needed to turn Discord back into a true spaceship again. ‘Right!’ he confirmed, and made his way to the connecting door that led to the cockpit.
‘We need to leave as soon as possible,’ Saoirse agreed. ‘There are a million things that could go wrong if we stay here for much longer. The extreme weather is only going to get worse, and there are bigger thanamorphs out there than those we’ve seen so far. The ones that originally escaped from the saucer … well, I’ve not seen them myself, but don’t forget: a thanamorph can only infect a creature smaller than itself, so the thing that bit the whale that sunk your parents’ ship …’
‘… must have been bigger than the whale itself,’ Kat finished, a chill returning to her body at the memory. She turned to Hewson. ‘You and your team were with Bran and Jason on the saucer before it crashed. They saw some strange dinosaur-like creatures running loose, didn’t they? When I was on board the first time—the time we got captured by the balaks—they were growing them in a lab!’
Hewson looked troubled. ‘I saw them,’ he said. ‘Are you saying they might have kept on growing?’
‘The engineers of the thanamorph project were always interested in creating the biggest thanamorph possible,’ Saoirse told Hewson. ‘Something that would be the largest predator on any planet it was unleashed upon. They wanted to make sure that no native species would be safe from it. I was only the guard at the research lab, remember, but I heard the scientists talk about it sometimes. It was only a theory back then, but they called it the Thanamorph Prime.’
Hewson was staring at Saoirse open-mouthed, probably wondering who the hell this new girl was, with her flashing eyes, shiny jumpsuit and ominous news. As the alien girl filled him in on the troubles brewing on her home planet, and the need to escape Earth as soon as possible, Kat studied Hewson’s face. He looked older and more careworn than he had done when they first met him; he had tried to stop them leaving St. Pancras Station the day they fled London after the meteor strike. Now he had grey hairs in his stubble and in his closely-cropped hair. How old was he anyway? Forty-something?
Jason and Gem were banging and clattering around in the small kitchenette at the back of the ship. ‘I could have sworn there were some Dr Peppers still in the fridge when we dumped the ship in France,’ Jason was complaining. He found a packet of something. ‘What’s this?’
‘Something alien,’ Gem said, examining the packaging. She ripped it open. ‘Smells like coffee though!’
‘It’s catron coffee!’ Saoirse said. ‘Very expensive back on Corroza.’
Five minutes later they were all sitting around sipping the hot sweet drink, and Kat felt some warmth return to her body. It felt strange, having a coffee break like they were shop assistants halfway through a long shift: fifteen minutes, then back into the action! Not that Kat had ever done a day’s work in her life to know what that really felt like. She had always meant to go and ask about Saturday jobs in the comic shop on Camden Road. Oh well; that career path was now closed to her forever.
They had stripped off all their wet clothes and changed into whatever oddments they could find on board: Gem was wearing a dressing gown, Jason a black MI Zero flight suit, and Kat a big fluffy towel. Saoirse’s jumpsuit apparently had self-drying properties.
Brandon hadn’t come back from the cockpit yet. Kat started to get suspicious.
‘This coffee has a sort of … nutty flavour,’ Jason was saying.
Kat caught Hewson’s eye and nodded towards the cockpit door. Hewson sighed and shook his head, and Kat understood in an instant: they weren’t going to be leaving Earth just yet!
‘Catron coffee is made from beans picked up off the jungle floor,’ Saoirse was explaining, ‘after the catron has eaten the coffee berries, digested them, and deposited them in the jungle again.’
Kat put down her mug. It wasn’t just the coffee that had left a sour taste in her mouth. She got up and went to the front of the ship.
———
In the cockpit, Brandon was talking to Tank and Lucky. The big man and the small woman had been Royal Marines, the only two soldiers other than Hewson to survive the assault on the balak saucer. With the rest of the armed forces in disarray, and royalty itself finally wiped off the face of the planet, they were now de facto members of MI Zero—the only other members of MI Zero, as far as Kat could see.
‘Hi, Kitty Kat!’ Lucky said, getting out of the co-pilot’s seat to give Kat a hug. Kat noticed that both Lucky and Tank were wearing gold rings. They had got engaged in the aftermath of the saucer mission, and had evidently tied the knot in the weeks that Kat and the others had been away.
Kat had other things on her mind than congratulations though. She looked at Brandon: ‘We should be going soon,’ she said. ‘We’re not safe so long as we stay on Earth.’
Brandon spread his hands and shrugged.
‘Permission to leave the planet denied,’ Tank said firmly.
‘We need to go and help out a few people first,’ Lucky elaborated. ‘They might want to come with us. We might be the only group of people to leave Earth, so if we want to secure the future of the humanity then we need a few more couples. Otherwise, Kat, it’ll be down to just me and Tank, and you and Brandon.’
Kat went bright red. ‘So we’re heading for the rendezvous point?’ she guessed. ‘In the middle of the ocean?’
Tank shook his head. ‘There are millions of refugees heading that way, sure, but the real important people have holed up somewhere a lot safer. We should be there soon, so you’ll see!’
Kat went over and took Brandon’s hand. Together they stared over Tank and Lucky’s shoulders at the view ahead. Discord was cutting through the dust and rain at speeds of over five hundred kilometres an hour, and every now and then they broke through into calmer, clearer skies. In one such pocket of tranquillity, Tank pulled back on the throttle and th
ey hung in the air, overlooking an incredible sight.
A city of dull smashed-glass skyscrapers rose before them on an island of rock. Twin chasms cut it off from the rest of the world. The ocean would have poured into one of these chasms, if it wasn’t for the fact that the ocean had frozen over, forming a crystalline waterfall down one side. Over on the other side of the city was a white wasteland of ice and snow. As they passed over the twin voids in the ground, Kat saw the bottom was piled with wreckage: ships, boats, trucks and trains … and a giant green copper statue: a woman in flowing robes, now lying on her back but still thrusting a flaming torch skywards.
A fragment of a phrase once heard at school popped into Kat’s mind, something from an American history class:
From her beacon-hand, glows world-wide welcome …
‘Welcome to New York!’ Tank announced.
20—POTUS
Kat and Brandon could only watch wordlessly as Tank guided Discord to a spot between the remains of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, then dropped down into the chasm that used to be the East River. He skilfully brought the spaceship to an opening in the Manhattan side of the canyon: an old sewer outlet, by the looks of it. Tank squeezed the spaceship into the narrow space without hitting the sides.
‘Well, you’re a better pilot than I ever was,’ Brandon said begrudgingly.
Tank’s tongue was sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on keeping level as they passed slowly down the brick-lined tunnel. ‘He was practicing on the simulator even before we recovered Discord from France,’ Lucky said. ‘He was very good at it—got all the achievements.’
Kat laughed nervously. The tight, dark passage was not the sort of place she really wanted to be right now. Did Discord even have reverse thrusters if they wanted to beat a hasty retreat? ‘Keep your eyes peeled for thanagators or thanaturtles,’ she cautioned.
Tank pointed out some gun installations mounted in the ceiling of the sewer. ‘They told us that Manhattan Island is free of alien infestation. Now I know why: those look like the new Metal Storm machine guns. Thirty-six barrels! Fastest rate of fire in the world!’
Kat didn’t care about the tech specs. ‘They?’ she asked.
‘We got a call,’ Lucky explained. ‘When most other communications were down, we received a message on an ultra-high-frequency channel. It was from our counterparts in the US.’
‘Who are they, then?’ Brandon asked. ‘The Men in Black?’
Lucky laughed and shook her head. ‘No, they go by the more anonymous name of MJ-12. They offered to share resources and information. They have a large secure base here, weapons and supplies …and we have—’
‘—us,’ Kat stated flatly.
‘No, no,’ Lucky said. ‘It’s not as simple as that. You’ll see—we’re almost there!’
The sewer tunnel ended, and Discord’s powerful xenon lamps lit up a round metal hatch that was thirty metres wide. It looked old and rusted, but Kat could just about make out a faded design engraved on the hatch: an eagle hovering behind a shield that bore the stars and stripes. In one claw, the eagle gripped an olive branch; in the other, a sheaf of arrows. War and Peace, Kat figured. Which would they find inside?
They hovered in front of the hatch for a while, then without warning it opened, splitting down a zigzag divide, each half rolling to one side, accompanied by the noise of heavy machinery. The hatch was at least a metre thick, and there was another further down the tunnel. Discord slipped inside, and the first hatch closed behind them before the second opened up ahead.
The tunnel beyond was wider and constructed from massive concrete blocks. Smaller tunnels intersected it at right angles, and Kat could see vehicles—trucks and vans—at ground level, and people moving around on gantries. ‘This is a fallout shelter!’ she said.
‘That’s right,’ Tank confirmed. ‘The biggest in the world. Thousands live here now, including some very famous and important people.’
Brandon looked thoughtful. ‘We can’t take many with us …’ he began.
‘Obviously,’ Tank agreed. ‘Perhaps they want you to stay here with them instead.’
The door to the cockpit opened and Saoirse came in. She looked agitated. ‘We have to turn back,’ she said to Brandon. ‘We can’t stay here; we have to get back to Corroza.’
Brandon shook his head. ‘We have to see what they want. The people here might need my help … the bionoids’ help, I mean.’
Kat was torn. On the one had she wanted off this planet. ASAP. She wanted a fresh start on a new world. Surely there was no point in lingering here? No matter how secure this place was, it couldn’t possible survive both the thanamorphs and the violence of the elements. But then, of course, this was as close as she was going to get to realising her dream of a safe and secure city under the sea.
Discord emerged into a large central concrete chamber. In the middle was a giant shining metal cube. It was sixty metres tall and wide, and stretched from floor to ceiling of the chamber that housed it. The bulletproof core at the centre of the vault, Kat guessed. All the top guys and VIPs would be holed up inside.
They drifted closer. The cube was patterned with hundreds of triangular panels that caught the light and threw it around at all angles. An entrance—also triangular-shaped—opened, and Discord drifted through into a large hanger that seemed to take up one whole level of the cube’s interior. There were lots of military vehicles parked up everywhere: fearsome-looking black helicopters and heavily-armoured tanks. A squad of soldiers were performing a drill on the hanger floor. They dispersed to clear a space for Discord to land.
Lieutenant Hewson opened the hatch to let them all out. ‘I only agreed that I would bring you here,’ he told them. ‘Nothing more. So whenever you want to leave, just give me the nod.’ He then led them down the ramp to where the soldiers had formed up in two ranks to greet them.
Jason fell in beside Kat. ‘Looks like they’re fully equipped here,’ he said excitedly. ‘Maybe they’ll let us stock up on firepower for our trip across the galaxy!’
If they let us leave in the first place, she thought.
‘Stop thinking about guns!’ she snapped at her brother.
A tall woman in a green jacket and peaked cap was marching down the line of soldiers to greet them. Her troops visibly straightened up as she passed, and as she got nearer Kat noticed all the gold trim and medals that marked her out as someone pretty high up the chain of command.
The woman had a fixed smile that meant business, and stuck out her hand to Gem, who was standing at the front of their group. ‘Howdy! I’m General Stormkopf. Heard you guys took down a whole cruise liner full of bugs. Good job!’
‘Well, that’s not exactly how it went down—’ Kat began, but Gem was already pumping the general’s hand and asserting her own authority. ‘Gem Walker, MI Zero. We were happy to help out. It would have been a tragedy if that ship got near any survivors strongholds.’
Kat glanced over at Hewson, who just raised his eyebrows and shrugged.
‘We’ll help out in any way we can here,’ Gem went on. ‘And then we’ll be out of your hair and on our way. We would, of course, appreciate the chance to restock our supplies … and of course get a good meal and a hot shower.’
Stormkopf put her hands on her hips. ‘Well, you’ll have to ask the Commander in Chief about that.’
Commander in Chief?
A radio blooped on the general’s belt. She listened for a second, then looked back at Gem and said, ‘He’s coming down right now.’ She turned to her troops. ‘Okay, gang, prepare for POTUS!’
The open space of the hanger was supported by a central shaft, at the base of which was a series of elevators. A triangular-shaped light glowed yellow above one of them, then the doors slid open and a tall man stepped out, flanked by two security guards. He wore a shirt with no tie, and his sleeves were rolled-up. His hair was greyer than Kat had last seen on TV, but that was fairly understandable, considering what had happened
since, she thought.
The first words out of the mouth of the President of the United States were, ‘Hi there.’
Brandon didn’t waste any time. ‘Is this place secure? Have you got any thanamorphs hidden away anywhere?’
The President flashed an easy smile. ‘I guarantee this place is secure. Okay then, would you like to …’
He tailed off. Kat noticed Brandon giving the president the concentrated stare that meant he was trying to read his mind with the bionoids. The President did a good job of looking cool and unruffled, though. Brandon let out the breath he was holding in with a gasp. ‘He’s hiding something,’ Brandon said to his sister, turning away from the President and heading back to the ship. ‘I don’t know what, but whatever it is … we’re done here.’
Saoirse gave a faint smile and fell in beside Brandon.
Kat was left standing with the President. ‘I guess the better you are at hiding something, the more likely it is you are hiding something,’ she said knowingly.
The President sighed and turned to Stormkopf. ‘General, go and liquidate the … specimen in secure zone B.’
The general looked put-out. ‘Sir?’
‘Now, General.’
The general gave a crisp salute and marched off, flicking her fingers in a signal for her squad to follow.
Brandon paused on Discord’s ramp. ‘Alright then,’ he said, turning back. ‘Now we can talk.’
Kat was still buzzing at the stand-off between them. One of them was the most powerful person on the planet
… and the other was the President!
21—MAJESTIC
Tank and Lucky stayed behind to keep an eye on Discord, whilst Kat and the rest entered the elevator. The President tried to order his own security detail to turn back at the doors.
‘Let’s not all try to squeeze in here,’ he told them. ‘Why don’t you fellas take a break. Meet me at the basketball court in an hour to shoot some hoops.’