Lethal Combat (7 page)
Authors: Max Chase
‘Miserable wretches – choose your punishment!’ the chief judge said. ‘You may toil in the sludge mines for fifty years. Or you may fight to the death with . . . the Xio-Bot!’
There were
oohs
and
aahs
from the crowd.
‘You may confer!’ the judge said.
Peri and the other crew members formed a huddle in the centre of the arena.
‘What are we going to do?’ Peri asked. He couldn’t believe this was happening.
‘If we go down the sludge mines, at least we stay alive,’ Selene paused and lowered her voice. ‘And have a better chance of escaping.’
‘I say we face the Xio-Bot!’ Diesel said. ‘We have a fighting chance of winning and getting off this horrible planet straight away.’
Otto spoke through gritted teeth. ‘I . . . I . . . I agree with Diesel!’
‘But we don’t even know what the Xio-Bot is!’ Selene said.
‘We don’t know what the sludge mines are, either,’ Peri said. He turned to the lawyer. ‘What’s it like down the sludge mines?’
Their lawyer smiled. ‘Hell.’
‘So you’d choose the Xio-Bot?’
‘That would make you more popular with the crowd,’ the lawyer said.
‘Come on!’ Diesel said. ‘It’s our only chance!’
‘Yeah!’ Otto said. ‘Let’s do it!’
‘Ladies and gentlemen, the evil aliens have chosen to fight the Xio-Bot!’ said the chief judge. ‘Give them a round of applause for being such good sports!’
There was cheering and laughter from the crowd. Hooters blared. Fireworks exploded in the sky.
‘How many people have defeated the Xio-Bot?’ Peri asked the lawyer.
‘None,’ the lawyer said, taking his seat.
A short, squat Xion man came pedalling into the arena on a golden tricycle. He wore a sparkly red jacket and a mirrored top hat. He must be the master of ceremonies.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ he bellowed, ‘what a wonderful spectacle we have for you this afternoon. Four criminals versus the Xio-Bot! How long will they last?’
The noise of the crowd was deafening as everyone answered at once.
The Xion on the trike smiled. ‘Place your bets on how long the criminals can stay alive in the ring with the terrifying Xio-Bot. We’re offering one minute at evens, two minutes at odds of five to one. Or there’s five minutes at a hundred to one. If you fancy a
really
long shot, we’re offering odds of fifty-three billion, four hundred and ninety-two million, six hundred and seventeen thousand, six hundred and twenty-eight to one on them actually beating the Xio-Bot! You’ll find official bookmakers to take bets in every row, easily recognisable by the windmills on their hats!’
There was a lot of toing and froing in the crowd as the spectators hurried to place bets.
‘Without further ado, let’s get on with the action!’ said the master of ceremonies. He raised his hands above his head and clapped. The crowd joined in. The clapping grew louder and faster.
‘We’ll shut that crowd up!’ growled Otto. ‘We’ll smash their precious Xio-Bot!’
‘We need a plan to fight it,’ Selene said.
‘We should split up,’ Diesel said. ‘So it can’t go for us all at once.’
‘And when it goes for one of us,’ Otto said, ‘the others attack from the sides and from behind.’
‘Good plan,’ Peri said. He held out his fist. Diesel, Selene and Otto did the same. They all bumped knuckles.
Two massive gates swung open. The crowd stopped clapping and roared instead. The master of ceremonies hastily pedalled to safety.
Peri felt his blood turn to iced water as a gigantic creature lumbered into the arena. It had to be six metres high. It looked something like a gigantic mutant grizzly bear from back home on planet Earth. It was covered in blue fur and had two robot arms and two robot legs. It had eyes on stalks which roved around, searching for prey. Two huge fangs, like giant walrus teeth, but made of metal, stuck out from its mouth.
The creature’s eyes swivelled in their direction. It took a lumbering step.
‘Split!’ Diesel yelled.
Each of the crew ran to a different corner of the arena. The creature hesitated, then lumbered towards Otto. The crowd howled.
Diesel ran up behind it and tugged at its fur. It couldn’t have hurt the beast, but it was enough to make it stop and turn. It lowered its massive head towards Diesel.
Peri picked up a handful of the pebbles that had been thrown and hurled them at the beast. One hit it in the eye, which retracted. The creature hissed. It lifted one of its huge metal feet. Peri dived to one side. The foot smashed down, making a massive dent in the ground where Peri had been standing just one second earlier.
The beast lifted its foot to try again. Peri saw the foot above him like a metal stamp about to descend. Selene caught his arm and pulled him clear.
At the same time, Otto sank his teeth into the Xio-Bot’s flesh just above the monster’s robotic leg. The Meigwor’s powerful death-bite venom quickly began to take effect. Diesel ran to join him. They pushed together.
The creature was already off balance. It swayed, tottered and crashed face first to the ground. Peri heard the thud even above the noise of the crowd. Sand flew up. So did the creature’s twin fangs, which had snapped off on impact.
But the beast was far from finished. It squealed with pain, and struggled to get to its feet, its robot legs kicking out wildly. Peri felt a pang of sympathy for it.
He snatched up one of the metal teeth and stood by its head. One of its eyes swivelled round and looked at him. It seemed to be pleading.
Peri stroked its fur.
Poor creature
,
he thought.
A misfit, put together in a laboratory. Like me. Sent into the arena to fight without even knowing why.
‘Get on with it, Peri!’ roared Otto.
‘I – I don’t think I can –’
The creature’s robot arm rose up and swiped quickly at Peri. He ducked. Before it could strike again, he plunged the metal fang deep into its neck.
The creature gurgled. Its life blood ran out on to the sand.
The crowd went quiet.
‘I’m sorry,’ Peri whispered, wiping a tear from his eye. He turned to the judges. His voice was not quite steady as he said; ‘Well – we fought and we won. Now you must keep your side of the bargain and let us go.’
The three judges stared back expressionlessly.
The crowd roared with laughter.
Hooters blared. Fireworks exploded. The master of ceremonies pedalled back in on his golden tricycle. ‘Great warm-up, guys! Fantastic! And now it’s time to face . . . the Xio-Bot!’
‘Is this really happening?’ Peri said to Selene. ‘Or are we in a nightmare?’
Selene was dusty and out of breath. Her face was scraped and bruised. ‘I think it’s real,’ she said.
‘Hey!’ Diesel shouted to the judges. ‘This isn’t fair – we just beat the Xio-Bot!’
The master of ceremonies chuckled. ‘That wasn’t the Xio-Bot! That was the mini-Xio-Bot! Now, for the
real
Xio-Bot!’
Peri heard giant, crashing footsteps approaching the arena, just before the massive gates flew open.
The Xio-Bot appeared.
Peri gazed in disbelief.
‘How the
prrrip’chiq
are we supposed to defeat that?’
Diesel said.
It made the fallen creature look tiny in comparison. The real Xio-Bot was twenty metres high. It was so big it didn’t look like an animal. It was more like a moving, intelligent building.
Its roving eyes landed on the lifeless mini-bot.
The Xio-Bot let out a wail, the sound so furious and agonised that it made the hairs on the back of Peri’s neck stand on end.
The Xio-Bot rushed into the arena with amazing speed for such a huge creature. Its metal arm extended and grabbed Otto. The Meigwor howled as the Xio-Bot hurled him at the far wall.
Otto reacted fast. In midair he stretched out his double-jointed arm and grabbed a flagpole. He whizzed round it three times, then lost his grip and fell straight down into the royal box.
He crashed into Prince Onix, making one side of the royal box collapse. Otto and the prince fell sprawling on to the sand.
The Xio-Bot had already turned on the rest of the crew. It brought its giant metal foot crashing down on Diesel – or where Diesel would have been, if he hadn’t dived out of the way. Selene got behind the beast, grabbed a handful of fur and began to climb up. Peri was impressed by her daring – but what was she trying to do? He didn’t have time to wonder. The beast stooped and made a grab for him. He ducked beneath its clutching hand and flung himself to one side.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Otto and the prince had got to their feet. They were looking at each other. The prince was holding his head, which had a bump from his fall.
‘I remember!’ the prince shouted. ‘Stop the fight! These guys brought me home. They shouldn’t have been put on trial.’
The crowd hushed. Everyone turned to stare at the prince. Peri felt a stab of hope.
‘But they’ve been found guilty,’ the king said. ‘Justice must take its course.’
‘Think how disappointed the spectators would be if we called off the fight now,’ said the queen.
‘But it’s not fair!’ shouted Prince Onix.
Distracted by watching this, Peri hadn’t noticed the Xio-Bot come up behind him until its metal hand closed around his middle. The pressure would have killed a normal human; but Peri’s bionic inner shell held good.
For the moment.
The beast tightened its squeeze. Peri could hardly breathe. The Xio-Bot’s eyes goggled at him. Any second now, and Peri knew he would crack.
