Authors: Max Chase
The Enemy's Lair (3 page)
‘Hold it right there!’ said a loud, booming voice.
Peri opened his eyes again.
He had never imagined being pleased to see Otto. The Meigwor bounty hunter stood in the doorway, one long crimson arm coiled round Prince Onix.
‘Release those Earthlings at once!’ Otto shouted.
Diesel scoffed. ‘Excuse me, I’m half-Martian!’
The Xion general aimed his duster gun at Otto. ‘I don’t think so. Let go of the prince or be pulverised!’
Otto pushed the prince in front of him. ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea. Press the trigger and pulverise your prince!’
General Dachkor lowered his gun uncertainly, looking round at his fellow guards for help. They looked as confused as he did.
‘Slide your weapons over the floor towards me!’ Otto yelled.
There was a long, tense pause.
Otto tightened his grip around the prince.
‘Do as he says!’ the prince screamed.
The general shoved the duster over the floor towards Otto. The other weapons quickly followed, clattering at Otto’s feet.
Peri stood up and moved away from the general. He still didn’t feel quite connected to his limbs – there was a delay between his brain telling his legs to move and them actually doing it.
‘Thanks, Otto,’ Diesel said through gritted teeth.
‘Whatever!’ Otto mumbled. He picked up a duster and trained it on General Dachkor’s face. ‘Now who’s going to be pulverised?!’
‘Mo! Datta be sloopid fling to do!’ Peri’s mouth still wasn’t working.
‘What did you say?!’ Otto asked, puzzled.
Peri growled in frustration. He had to stop Otto – if Otto killed the guards, he would start an all-out intergalactic war.
If words weren’t working, maybe actions would.
Peri launched himself across the room. He crashed into Otto. The duster flew from Otto’s hand. Diesel swiftly scooped it up.
‘You stupid inferior life form!’ Otto shouted. His eyes bulged with fury. He let go of the prince and shoved Peri into the control panel.
The control panel cracked Peri in the back and he felt a power surge inside him, as if something had been switched on. ‘Ow! What did you do that for, you – Hey! I can speak properly!’
Diesel darted to the nearest guard and slapped his teleportation device. He fizzled and disappeared. The others backed away. Diesel pointed the duster gun at them. They froze.
Peri pressed the teleportation buttons of two of the remaining guards. They, too, disappeared. The Bridge was starting to feel empty.
Only General Dachkor remained. He lunged forward and grabbed the prince, holding him tightly with one arm. ‘Victory to Xion!’ he shouted as he pressed the orange button on his wrist.
Otto’s long arm snaked out and snatched the general’s teleportation band right off his wrist. But it was too late. The general began to fizzle at the edges. Otto grabbed Prince Onix’s ankles.
General Dachkor winked out of existence. So did the top half of the prince’s body.
But his legs were still on the Bridge, gripped by Otto.
‘
Ch’açh
!
’ said Diesel. ‘The prince has been torn in two!’
‘No he hasn’t,’ Peri said, stepping towards Otto and the pair of legs that were kicking and wriggling. He could see a thin ring of bright white light where the prince’s upper body would begin – if it was still there.
Peri grabbed on to the prince’s legs. ‘Diesel,’ he said. ‘Help me pull the prince back!’
‘Why?’ asked the half-Martian. ‘Shouldn’t we just let the Xion take him? They won’t attack us then!’
‘But we can’t save Selene without him!’ Peri said.
‘Good point,’ Diesel said, reaching forward to help tug at the prince’s flailing legs.
‘Almost got him!’ Otto cried as, with an ear-rattling
whoosh
, the prince came sliding through the ring of white light, back on to the Bridge.
‘Are you OK?’ Peri asked him. ‘Do your legs work?’
The prince stumbled around, his legs somehow both stiff and wobbly. ‘Yes. But that won’t save you!’ His eyes flashed bright amber. ‘You’ve kidnapped a prince of the blood royal, you’ve tied me up, you’ve torn me in two –’
‘But we put you back together again,’ Peri reminded him, as he tapped a button on the side of his Expedition Wear. The helmet retracted and his Expedition Wear armour softened. He heard Diesel doing the same.
‘You think my people will let this insult go unavenged? They will go to the ends of the universe to find you. They will throw you into the Sludge Mines –’
‘Hey!’ Diesel said. ‘Don’t blame us. If your people want to send someone to the Sludge Mines, send
him
.’ He pointed at Otto. Otto glared back.
‘It’s true,’ Peri said. ‘We didn’t know what he was up to.’ He took a step towards the bounty hunter. ‘But he’s not in charge any more.’ Peri grabbed the Xion teleportation band from the Meigwor. ‘I’ll take that.’ He placed his hand on the wall of the Bridge. ‘Bits and bobs,’ Peri said to the
Phoenix
. A drawer popped out. It held all kinds of useful things, and could be accessed from any part of the ship. Peri dropped the teleportation band into it for safe keeping. ‘Lock drawer.’
Peri started to realise just what a mess Otto had got them into. ‘We’re not going along with your evil plans any more, Otto.
We’re going to Meigwor and we’re getting Selene back. Then we’re taking the prince back to Xion. No more of your stupid tricks!’
Otto stood as still as a stone, his mouth hanging open. Peri thought maybe he was finally getting through to him.
But Diesel’s mouth was hanging open, too. His strip of hair had turned white. They were both staring at something behind Peri.
Peri turned round.
There, in the middle of the 360-monitor, hung the sinister shape of a Xion battleship. Just like the one that obliterated the IF Space Station. It was very, very, very, very, very big.
And getting closer by the second.
‘You see?’ said Prince Onix triumphantly. ‘You really thought you could get away with kidnapping me, without my people coming after you?’
‘They won’t dare blow us up with you on board,’ Diesel said.
‘No, they won’t,’ the prince agreed. ‘They’ll capture the ship and take you back to Xion, and then it’s the Sludge Mines for you.’
Peri looked again at the battleship hanging in the blackness of space. A grid of glowing white rays projected from it. He knew what it was – he had read about it in training at the Intergalactic Force Academy. A Laser Cage. In a few seconds, it would close around them.
‘Do something!’ Otto yelled.
Peri dived for the control panel. He had to engage the ship’s Superluminal speed, and fast. It didn’t matter where they went as long as it was a long, long way away from here.
His hands hovered above the controls – and stopped. He couldn’t remember what to do. What had the electric mace done to him? Something was definitely wrong with his connection to the
Phoenix
.
‘Hurry up!’ Diesel shouted.
The glowing lines of the Laser Cage now filled the 360-monitor.
Peri forced himself to think, which he’d never had to do before when it came to the
Phoenix
. His parents had designed him to operate the ship and it had always come as second nature to him. He didn’t have to think what to do; he just did it. Now he concentrated and remembered that the touchpad for Superluminal speed was the glowing red one. He placed his palm on the red screen. The panel clicked and then glided open. Inside were two switches. His trembling fingers flicked them just in time.
The Xion battleship became a dot on the 360-monitor. Then nothing.
Planets and suns flashed past. Space was mostly empty, and there were light years of nothingness between solar systems. But at Superluminal speed, light years were covered in seconds.
Peri tugged at the Nav-wheel, frantically swerving and dipping. It was much harder now his connection to the
Phoenix
was scrambled. Sweat formed on his brow and dripped down his temple. Giant spheres of rock and even gianter balls of blazing hydrogen rushed towards them.
He remembered he must check the Velocity View. A huge yellow star rapidly filled the screen. They were heading straight for it. They’d be burned to a crisp. Or to a vapour.
Peri screwed his eyes shut against the searing glare. The 360-monitor tinted. He disengaged Superluminal speed. He wrenched the Nav-wheel. Diesel was screaming. Then . . .
Nothing.
Peri opened his eyes. The star was a nice, safe distance away, still glowing. ‘Whew!’ he said shakily.
The
Phoenix
was orbiting around a planet with orange land masses, purple oceans and wisps of green cloud.
‘I thought we were goners,’ Diesel said.
Peri glanced around the Bridge and realised what was missing. ‘Where are Otto and the prince?’
Diesel looked high and low. There was no sign of the Meigwor or the Xion.
‘What’s Otto up to now?’ Diesel groaned.