The Enemy's Lair
Page 5
‘No way!’ said Peri. ‘It’s made of super-toughened Venusian silicate – it would hold a wild Aldebaranian Horned Fizzwoggler, or . . .’ he glanced at Otto’s crimson face and pulsing fists, ‘. . . or a hysterically angry bounty hunter.’
The voice of the Meigwor general filled the Bridge. ‘Despite our warnings you have not changed course for Meigwor! This is an ultimatum: change course or face the consequences!’
‘Hey, General!’ Selene said. ‘I’ve got a message from Otto!’
‘What is the message?’ boomed the general.
Selene grinned. ‘He says, stick your head under your armpit and take a deep breath!’
‘I did not say that!’ shouted Otto. But the transparent prison muffled his voice so that the general heard nothing.
‘Very well!’ came the general’s furious, amplified tones. ‘Faced with the choice between obedience and painful death, you have chosen painful death. So be it! Otto, the traitor, will suffer the most painful death of all!’
There was a click as the transmission was broken.
‘You idiots!’ came Otto’s muffled roar. ‘You don’t know what you’ve done!’
‘You might as well team up with us now, Otto,’ Peri said. ‘Not that you have much choice.’
‘We’re all dead!’ Otto said. ‘The general will kill us all!’
‘He has to catch us first!’ said Selene.
Otto slapped his extra-long arms on the floor of the Bridge. ‘He doesn’t have to! He’ll launch an asteroid at us! And then he’ll detonate it by remote control, and it will shatter into a trillion pieces of deadly rock and dust all around us, and we’ll get knocked and hit and smashed around – but we’ll stay alive, because of the shields. We just won’t be able to get anywhere. We’ll be trapped in a prison of floating rocks. Then he’ll send troops to board us. And then . . .’ Otto gulped. ‘I can’t bear to think about it . . .’
‘If you want to avoid that, you’d better help us,’ said Peri. ‘Put down the duster and we’ll let you out.’
Otto placed the duster on the floor. Peri lifted the super-toughened Venusian silicate cylinder off him. Diesel, keeping him covered with the laserpulse, picked up the duster.
‘We’re going to need to work as a team to do this,’ Peri said. ‘Diesel, Otto and Prince Onix – you man the guns. We’re going to have to blast a path through all this rock and dust and it’ll come at us from all sides. I’ll take the helm. Selene – stand by to engage Superluminal!’
They all took their positions.
On the monitor, Peri saw another asteroid hurtling towards them – a planet-sized ball of rock, shining silver with the light of Meigwor’s distant sun. When it almost filled the monitor screen, it exploded in a blizzard of meteors.
For a moment they all stood spellbound, watching the myriad chunks and shards of rock cartwheel through space.
As the first piece of rock crashed into the Phoenix’s shields, Peri staggered, lost his balance and fell to the floor. He saw the others hit the deck too.
Diesel scrambled to the gun turret. He started firing the xenon missiles, getting the biggest chunks of rock in his sights and blasting them before they could hit the Phoenix.
Selene joined Peri at the control panel. He expanded the gun turret. Otto and the prince joined Diesel, and they too began blasting at the deadly rocks.
Selene manipulated the Nav-wheel with breathtaking skill, making the Phoenix dive and swoop and swerve to avoid the biggest chunks of rock, which were flying at them from all directions. Some of the smaller ones got through, despite the efforts of Selene and the gun crew. The ship was rocked and jolted and shaken. Peri had to cling on fast to the edge of the control panel to avoid being thrown all over the ship.
How much more of this could the Phoenix take?
Peri couldn’t engage Superluminal – they needed a clear path through space. Hitting a big rock at Superluminal speed would smash them into a million pieces, and then smash each of those million pieces into a million pieces.
‘Concentrate fire at 270 degrees!’ shouted Selene. She steered the ship into a channel that was almost clear – just a thin belt of rocks and dust lay before them.
Diesel, Otto and the prince swivelled their cannon in the same direction. They opened fire. Xenon missiles streaked through space ahead of them. A huge rock loomed up in their path. It shattered into fragments as the missiles hit it.
‘Now!’ Peri shouted.
Selene hit the Superluminal drive.
And everything changed.
The ship stabilised. Peri released his grip on the console. The rocks disappeared. The only thing left was the blurred streaks of stars as the Phoenix shot past.
‘Deactivate Superluminal,’ Peri said.
‘Aye-aye!’ Selene said.
They were hanging in the blackness of space, nothing around them for light years. A few distant stars shone with icy beauty.
Peri burst out laughing. Selene and Diesel joined in the laughter. So did Prince Onix. Even Otto was making a strange honking noise.
Peri couldn’t believe it. They’d survived another attack, rescued Selene and saved the prince from a fate worse than death. Plus, they’d thwarted the efforts of Xion guards, a treacherous Fooswalyian, a headless jungle predator, evil Meigwors and deadly chunks of asteroid sent to kill them.
‘We made it,’ said Diesel. ‘We’re safe!’
‘Yup,’ said Peri. ‘For now . . .’
Can Peri and the crew keep the Meigwors and the Xions off their trail?
Will they survive when they crash-land on an unknown planet?
Find out! In . . .
Turn the page to read Chapter 1
Chapter 1
‘We made it!’ Diesel cheered. The gunner’s narrow band of hair was a happy shade of orange. He wiggled around the Bridge in some strange Martian victory dance.
Even Otto, the Meigwor bounty hunter, looked on the verge of a little smile. His lipless mouth curled upwards like a dying space-slug.
Diesel whooped. ‘If I wasn’t the most amazing gunner in this galaxy, we’d never have got out of that alive.’
Otto’s faint smile faltered. ‘I saved us!’ boomed the Meigwor. ‘It was my skill that obliterated that massive rock!’
Diesel stopped dancing. His eyes flashed yellow. ‘That wasn’t skill, it was luck. If it wasn’t for me, we’d have been smashed into oblivion.’
Peri couldn’t help laughing. With those two arguing, everything was back to normal. Peri high-fived Selene, it was good to have their engineer back and safe. They’d rescued her from the Meigwors, refused to hand over Prince Onix and made a lucky escape from Otto’s home planet. The vengeful Meigwor General Rouwgim had created a giant asteroid storm and it had been a team effort to guide the Phoenix through it without being pulverised. Diesel and Otto had blasted what they could, while Peri and Selene had navigated the Phoenix through the deadly shower of rocks.
‘I’ll check the damage, while you plan our next move,’ Selene said.
Peri smiled. Selene’s time in captivity had done nothing for her bossiness. She was even back in her patched spacesuit and had a smudge of grease on her cheek.
‘Otto, Diesel, stop arguing,’ she snapped. ‘I need you to check over the weapons systems to see what needs to be repaired first.’ The two gunners glared at her but knew better than to argue. They slouched to the gunnery station.
‘Onix,’ Selene continued as she pushed past the prince, ‘try to stay out of the way.’
‘No one talks to the firstborn son and heir to the throne of Xion like that!’ the prince said, stiffening, and slicked his webbed fingers through his hair. ‘Especially not a girl.’
Peri winced. Onix was in really big trouble. He didn’t know Selene. She could use most of the weapons on the Phoenix, and she didn’t like being treated like a girl. Selene’s eyes narrowed like the focusing lens on a DeathRay pulveriser. ‘I’m the engineer of this ship and you’ll do what you’re told
or you can find another ride home.’
Onix didn’t say a word, but moved as far away from her as he could.
‘Right,’ Peri said. ‘Our priority is to return Prince Onix to Xion.’
‘No! We must return to Earth!’ Diesel yelled. ‘The Emperor will be missing me . . . I mean, us! Earth needs its best Star Fighters back.’
Selene adjusted some nano-dials on the control panel. ‘Maybe the prince can tell Xion to stop attacking the Milky Way. Then we can go home.’
Peri clicked his fingers and the control panel slipped from under Selene’s hands. It floated towards him. ‘First,’ he said, ‘let’s contact Xion and explain that kidnapping Onix was a mistake. We don’t need a second planet after us.’
Peri activated the com-pad, flicking a zip-dial to scan all frequencies and automatically connect with planet Xion.
‘Hold it!’ Otto boomed. ‘The Xions will take me prisoner!’
‘I’ll make sure you get far worse,’ mumbled Onix, ‘you muscle-bound Meigwor freak.’
Otto pulled a short silver stick from his snakeskin belt and stepped towards the prince. ‘What was that, squid-breath? You think these pathetic Earthlings are going to defend you?’
‘Pathetic?!’ Diesel shouted. ‘We could beat the entire Meigwor space fleet without breaking a sweat.’
Otto’s black tongue shot out and cracked like a whip in front of Diesel’s nose. ‘Stay out of it, space-monkey!’
‘Never!’ Diesel launched himself, grabbing the two lumps on Otto’s freakishly long neck as Onix leapt on to the Meigwor’s legs. Otto staggered backwards until he lost his balance. Peri sprang from the captain’s chair to avoid being hit, but one of Otto’s double-jointed elbows slammed into Peri’s chest and pinned him against the deck.
‘Cosmic squid-brains!’ Otto roared. ‘Space-monkey slime!’
Peri scrambled free from the fight. Diesel was darting and weaving and trying to punch Otto wherever he could. Otto was trying to shake Onix from his back, but the prince clung on like a space-limpet.
‘Meigwor scum,’ the prince yelled, as gobs of fishy sweat flew off him. ‘Lumpy-necked space-freak!’
Otto was flailing around trying to hit both of them with the silver stick. The weapon was now eleven times longer than it had been. As the Meigwor waved it about, sparks flew everywhere.
Whaacckk! The stick smacked against Peri’s arm.
Craackle. A zap of electricity fizzed through him. His muscles and computer circuits twitched uncontrollably, making his eyes water as his vision shimmered. The stick is an electro-prod! he realised.
‘Stop it now, before someone gets hurt,’ Peri yelled, dodging Otto’s electro-prod, Diesel’s fists and Onix’s sweat. Otto threw Onix from his back, before knocking Diesel and Peri to the deck and pouncing on them. It was going to be hard to break up the fight alone.
‘Selene – help!’ Peri called.
Peri saw the engineer grab what looked like a ten-centimetre-square piece of pink paper from her tool belt. She dashed towards the prince as he stood up, ready to rejoin the fight. She slapped the paper on his forehead and it stuck. Onix stumbled backwards looking stunned.
‘One down, two to go,’ Selene muttered, as the prince fell face first on to the deck. ‘Sleep well, Your Highness.’
‘Who’s next?’ Selene asked and looked from Diesel to Otto. The pair stopped struggling as they glanced at Onix’s limp body.
Peri wrestled free from under them and rushed over to the prince. Onix was out cold. ‘What have you done?’
Selene snatched the sticky paper from the prince’s forehead. ‘I call it a Sleepez. Something I invented myself,’ she said proudly. ‘The adhesive is a sedative. The prince will be out for a few hours.’
‘Hours?’ Peri said, shaking the prince.
‘He got what he deserved,’ Selene replied.
‘His Royal Majesty, King of Xion,’ announced the ship.
Peri looked up. The face of the Xion king dominated the 360-monitor. For a nanosecond, the king looked curious – but then his expression changed to shock and horror. Peri’s circuits chilled as he realised what the scene on the Bridge must look like to the king. Peri was kneeling over an unconscious Onix, shaking him.
‘What have you done to my son?’ the king shouted.
‘No,’ said Peri, standing up. ‘Wait! You don’t understand.’
The king looked so angry; Peri felt as if his voice might rattle the Phoenix, even from light years away. ‘Wicked aliens! You taunt me with my son’s dead body! Xion won’t stand it! You will pay for this . . . with your lives!’
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in February 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP
This electronic edition published in February 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © Working Partners Limited 2012
Illustrations copyright © Sam Hadley 2012
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted
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ISBN 9781408815861
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