Martin looked at his friends. None of them were sure they could trust Slater.
‘So,’ said Tommy, ‘let me get this straight. You’re saying that Moonstone wants the Isis Crystal too, right? She wants to help us find the crystal so she can steal it from us—and use it to destroy the Earth.’
‘Precisely,’ said Slater. ‘She has only been helping me for her own ends. But she does not realise that I do not intend for her to ever gain possession of the Isis Crystal. If Moonstone ever got her hands on it the consequences would be, quite literally, disastrous.’
‘Even though we don’t know what it does?’ said Tommy.
‘We do know from the experiment you just watched that the Isis Crystal has amazing creative powers. And anything that can be used to create can—sadly—be used to destroy.’
The chiming of a bell rang out suddenly throughout the ship, and Slater leapt to his feet.
‘That’s a distress call!’ he shouted.
They followed Mr Slater as he ran to the control room; once inside, his eyes darted around at the several displays. The control room was spacious, and was filled with various wooden panels and brass switches. A large, golden-framed window looked out onto the sky.
‘A distress call from who?’ said Darcy.
‘The signature is unmistakeable,’ said Slater. ‘It is one of my people. An Axis Lord is in danger.’ He sighed. ‘Forgive me, but we cannot delay. I must set the coordinates straight away—I have to help.’
Mr Slater jumped into the operator seat and punched in some coordinates, his fingers sliding quickly over various controls. Then Mr Slater took hold of the wheel, which looked like a ship’s rudder. Through the window that lay in front of them, Martin watched as the ship began to move.
Valiant Star drifted away from the roof of Gateway School, gradually picking up speed and altitude.
‘Where’s the signal coming from?’ said Tommy. ‘Somewhere on Earth?’
Slater nodded. ‘Quite close, in fact. Somewhere in Cambridge.’ He turned his neck to look at them. ‘We will be there in ten minutes. Make yourselves comfortable in the lounge.’
‘In other words—get lost,’ muttered Darcy, out of earshot.
They returned to the lounge, sat down, and waited. Through the portholes, they could see clouds rushing past as Valiant Star sailed through the sky. A few minutes later, they heard Slater’s voice over the communication system.
‘We are about to land,’ he said. ‘Make sure you are seated for the descent.’
They were already sitting down, so they did nothing. The ship’s engines became louder as it touched down, and then the ship fell silent. Mr Slater marched out from the control room.
‘You can wait here if you wish,’ he said. ‘However, I would be much obliged if you could offer assistance.’
‘Of course we’ll help,’ said Darcy. Martin and Tommy nodded.
Slater smiled. ‘Thank you.’
The teacher opened the exit hatch, and he climbed out of the ship, followed by Martin and the others.
The ship had landed on a large, damp lawn. Two once-grand fountains lay nearby; now they were covered in moss. A Georgian manor lay fifty meters away from them; the house, too, was run-down.
‘So where’s the trouble?’ said Darcy.
Slater peered around the lawn. Everything was eerily quiet. There was no danger in sight.
And then they heard the scream.
‘I think it came from that direction,’ said Martin, pointing towards the hall.
Without wasting a second, Mr Slater, Martin, Darcy and Tommy started to run towards the crumbling manor, their feet slipping on the saturated grass. As they got nearer, they heard another scream, and realised that it didn’t come from the hall.
‘This way,’ said Slater breathlessly, pointing towards a massive greenhouse that stood next to the house. The greenhouse was about a third of the size of the main building, but equally grand. Twisted glass spires rose up towards the sky like crystal smoke.
As they reached it, Slater glanced through the glass.
‘Oh no,’ he said. ‘It’s a Pendulum Officer.’
Martin looked. Inside, standing amongst thick vines and plants, was a sleek robot, covered in a gold floral pattern. Inside its head, spinning cogs were visible. Martin had seen one of them before—it was the same kind of robot that had attacked Levanté at the end of his magic show.
Martin told Mr Slater this, and he sighed.
‘I should have known. The Pendulum Officers are—effectively—policemen. Or at least they were.’ Slater sighed again, and turned to face them. ‘Fifty years ago, the Pendulum project was discontinued throughout the Axis Belt. The thing is, the technology inside each Pendulum Officer is extremely advanced and extremely dangerous. When the project was ended, the remaining droids were captured and reprogrammed by various groups all across the Blue galaxy.’
‘What kind of groups?’ said Martin.
Slater grimaced. ‘Mainly criminal gangs and terrorist cells.’
‘So how do we stop it?’ said Tommy.
Mr Slater reached into the pocket of his tweed jacket, and pulled out a gun.
‘We don’t stop it. We destroy it.’
The teacher pushed open the greenhouse door and marched inside. The teenagers followed. A woman was cowering on the soil floor of the greenhouse, behind a makeshift barricade of plant pots, watering cans and other gardening equipment.
The Pendulum Officer’s eyes burned red, and a laser beam burst out at the sobbing woman. A bubble-like shape shimmered around the woman; Martin realised that it was a shield or force field of some kind.
‘You will come with me,’ said the robot. ‘You will come with me, or be obliterated.’
Slater approached the robot and held the gun towards it. Before it turned around, he pulled the trigger. A thin blue streak of laser light shot out; the metal creature cracked open and burst into flames. Slater fired the laser again, and the robot completely disintegrated.
Martin stared at the Mr Slater. He was becoming more suspicious of the teacher every day. Why was he carrying a gun?
‘Are you all right?’ said Mr Slater, hurrying to the woman on the floor. She was wearing a bizarre dress that looked as if it was made from leaves. She got to her feet.
‘You are not taking me,’ she muttered. ‘You are not taking me!’
Mr Slater reached out to her, but she pulled away.
‘I am not here on behalf of the Axis Lords,’ said Slater, ‘I am on this planet by choice. I am looking for something here.’ Mr Slater turned to Martin and the others. ‘We Axis Lords and Ladies always recognise a fellow member of our species. It is a kind of instinct we have.’
The woman looked slightly more relaxed. She held out a hand towards Slater. ‘My name is Kara. Thank you for saving me.’
The teacher shook her hand. ‘I am Michael Slater, and this is Martin, Darcy and Tommy. We are seeking to stop XO5.’
When she heard the name, Kara’s eyes widened.
‘Oh,’ she said.
She led them past the plants, out of the greenhouse, over the lawn and towards the old crumbling house.
‘This is Shoscombe Hall,’ she said. ‘I own the place but I very rarely venture inside. I prefer being in my green cathedral, surrounded by all the flora and fauna of this most green, delightful world.’
They stepped over the threshold into the entrance hall. It was sumptuously decorated, and despite a thin layer of dust the place was astonishingly grand. A darkened chandelier hung from the ceiling.
Kara turned to Martin.
‘I believe I know you,’ she said. ‘Ah, yes, now I remember. I saw you at the Tube station! And you, too, I believe.’ She pointed at Darcy.
Martin suddenly remembered. He had seen her. She had been watching him from the other side of the station, dressed in a garish poncho.
‘I thought I sensed something about you,’ she said, ‘an aura—as if you were carrying something from my planet.
’
Martin took the monocle from his pocket.
‘Ah,’ she said. ‘That would explain it.’
She shook his hand, and turned absent-mindedly, as if trying to remember something.
‘This way!’ she suddenly declared. ‘Into the lounge!’
*
Mr Slater lit a cigarette, and they began to listen to Kara’s story.
She had left the planet Hope for Earth around twelve years ago—wanting to settle down somewhere quiet she had purchased Shoscombe Hall and built the greenhouse alongside it.
The planet Hope was too big for her, but also too constricting. England appealed to her; she loved the green countryside.
For twelve years, she had cultivated her garden, and her greenhouse was a refuge of sorts for many rare species, including the endangered sand butterfly.
‘For twelve years I have enjoyed a most peaceful, comfortable existence,’ finished Kara. ‘Until the storms arrived, that is. Then it became apparent that something is terribly wrong on this planet. And then, things became even worse today.’
‘When that thing arrived,’ said Darcy.
‘Precisely.’
‘A few days ago we…’ Martin began, but tailed off.
Mr Slater nodded. ‘Go on, Martin, tell her.’
‘We’ve seen those robots—the Pendulum Officers—before. There was another Axis Lord, Levanté, and we saw them appear and try to capture him.’
Kara’s eyes grew bigger. She clutched Mr Slater’s hand.
‘You know what this means, don’t you, Michael? Someone is hunting down Axis Lords.’ She paused. ‘I believe XO5 is causing the storms.’
Tommy nodded. ‘We know it is.’
Kara’s face became white. ‘In my generation, we all learned about XO5 at school. Our sacred text, the Chronicle of Spirits, speaks of XO5 as the Evil One—a malevolent, immortal force that can never be crushed.’
Slater nodded. ‘But the new Charter of our people forbade any mention of the name XO5. The official position of the Axis Lords is that XO5 does not exist, even though clear evidence of its dealings can be seen right across the universe.
‘It is madness,’ said Kara, ‘and one of the reasons I wanted to be rid of the Axis Lords. No knowledge should be stifled, no matter how inconvenient.’ She paused. ‘So where do you three come into things?’
‘We’re looking for something,’ said Darcy. ‘Something that XO5 is also looking for.’
Kara smiled. ‘Well, I hope you find it.’
They spoke more with the Axis Lady for a while, and then Slater got up.
‘We should be going,’ he said.
‘You go on ahead,’ said Kara. ‘I would like a word with the humans alone.’
Slater nodded and left the room.
‘Now,’ said Kara, ‘I can speak frankly. I have to warn you about Michael Slater…’
Chapter 9: The Meteor Attack
‘I can’t hear the birds,’ said Tommy.
He tilted his neck to stare at the sky. Tommy and Martin were walking through the park on their way to school. They had awoken to find that the entire sky was coloured a stormy gold. Tommy was right. There was no birdsong.
‘Maybe the birds have just gone,’ said Martin. ‘Maybe they could sense the evil and just got the hell out of here.’
Tommy grimaced. ‘Thanks for that Martin. You always know the right things to say to cheer me up.’
They trudged onwards beneath their umbrellas; the rain was still pouring continuously from the golden clouds.
Martin kept thinking about the last thing Kara had told them, as soon as Slater had left the room…
‘Do not trust Slater,’ she had said. ‘There is a great darkness inside of him. There is something truly… evil about the man.’
Martin was inclined to believe her opinion of Mr Slater. He didn’t trust him either.
*
‘The City of Serenity,’ said Mr Slater. ‘As I said before, the great difficulty we must plan for is getting out of the city. There is nothing to stop one from entering. In fact, many Axis Lords have immigrated to the city over the years.’
Martin, Tommy and Darcy were sitting in Slater’s office, surrounded by his old books and trinkets.
‘We need to do something!’ said Martin. ‘Have you seen the sky this morning? We can’t have much time left.’
‘I understand our predicament,’ said Slater slowly, ‘but there is little point sending you into the City of Serenity before you have a plan of escape. If I do that, you may be trapped forever.’
‘But, sir,’ said Tommy, ‘you said yourself that Moonstone managed to escape from the City of Serenity. And you’re pretending to work for her. So why don’t you just ask her?’
‘A good point, Tommy. And I have asked her, but she refuses to give me any information.’
‘That is correct.’
They were all startled by the sudden voice. It was the same voice Martin had heard before in Slater’s office. A red light filled the room. It didn’t seem to be coming from anywhere in particular, and yet it was so bright it made them squint.
‘I have given you so much help,’ said the deep, inhuman voice. ‘And yet you have still failed me. Why should I give you any further assistance?’
‘Because I’m doing it for you!’ said Slater. ‘I am looking for the Isis Crystal for you.’
The voice laughed. As it spoke again, the voice transformed, until it became the voice of a woman. Martin might have imagined it, but the voice sounded familiar.
‘Do not mock me, Slater,’ said Moonstone harshly. ‘I see everything that happens on this world. I have known from the start that you have been trying to deceive me. I was simply using you. But you can consider this to be the termination of our association. You have already given me the name of the hidden object. From this point, I will proceed to find the Isis Crystal myself.’
Moonstone fell silent, and the red light died away. Slater put his head in his hands.
‘Well,’ said Darcy slowly. ‘It looks like we’re on our own.’
*
‘…reports have been flooding in about the sudden disappearance of the birds. Some scientists have speculated that the phenomenon is linked to the freak storms we have recently been experiencing.
‘Neither is there yet any concrete explanation as to why the sky has turned gold, but meteorologists are currently investigating the situation. The public are urged to keep calm…’
Martin and Tommy were sitting in the school library, watching the TV. As they stared at the screen they were anything but calm. They had a huge burden—the burden of knowing what was happening yet being powerless.
‘It’s strange, right?’ said Tommy. ‘I mean, to know something that the rest of the world doesn’t. All the politicians, all the scientists… and we’re the only humans who know what—I mean who—is causing the storms.’
‘Yes,’ said Martin, ‘it does feel strange.’
His head was beginning to throb, and he closed his eyes against the pain. They sat in silence for a few minutes.
No scientist had yet managed to explain the freak storms, and there was widespread belief of a coming apocalypse. The newspapers did little to calm people’s nerves. An article in one of the day’s papers read:
THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH?
The Rev. Alexander Howell has caused a stir recently by declaring the recent storms an act of God and a warning of a coming apocalypse.
‘It’s clear to me that God is behind this,’ said the Rev. Howell. ‘It says in the Book of Luke that ‘fearful sights and great signs’ will appear in heaven. This storm is one of the great signs Jesus prophesied.
‘The only thing that we can do is pray for forgiveness of our sins and hope that our Lord will be merciful.’
Could these storms signal the start of God’s judgement on the Earth?
Many people think so. Since the storms began, many major churches have reported an increase in membership of up to 500%.
The Reverend Alexander Howell was half right. The storms weren’t an act of God, but they were certainly the mark of an imminent apocalypse.
Darcy burst into the library and ran towards them.
‘Guys!’ she panted. ‘You have to come and see this!’
‘What is it?’ said Martin.
‘Just come on!’
Darcy led them out of the school and towards the pond near the back of the building. They took shelter underneath a tree.
‘What did you want to show us?’ said Tommy.
‘I brought you outside so nobody else sees this,’ said Darcy. ‘Look!’
Darcy raised her arm, and thrust her hand towards an old newspaper that lay in the grass. A jet of flame splayed out from her fingertips, and the newspaper was consumed by the fire. The fire was so hot that the rain hissed as it evaporated. Martin and Tommy jumped back from the fire.
Some grass had also caught fire, and Darcy stamped it out.
‘So… what do you think?’
‘Amazing!’ said Tommy.
‘You were right,’ she said. ‘I didn’t even have to think about it. The power just came to me. I felt this… heat, and then… I can’t believe it worked. I actually have a superpower!’
Martin knew he should be more excited by Darcy’s power, but he had seen so much in the last few weeks that he would never previously have believed possible. Surprises were beginning to lose their impact.
*
‘…meteors hurtling from the sky… major landmarks demolished… world is in turmoil…’
It was 10:35 PM. The destruction was being replayed on every channel of the television. At exactly 10:00 PM, smouldering rocks had plunged from the dark heavens, destroying six landmarks of human civilisation.
Martin King and the Space Angels (Martin King Series) Page 7