The Enemy's Lair (6 page)

A bare, smooth-walled oval chamber like the inside of an egg was revealed.

‘In you go!’ Otto said and gave his prisoners a shove.

As they staggered in, the wall slid shut again.

‘Now what?’ Diesel asked.

Peri sank to the floor. He put his head in his hands. He felt as if all the hope had drained out of him. He, Selene and Diesel might well be the last survivors of the Milky Way galaxy, if Xion’s earlier attack had succeeded. But they weren’t going to survive for much longer.

Chapter 7

‘What the
prrrip’chiq
are we going to do?’ Diesel asked.

Peri roused himself. ‘Well, we could untie the prince,’ he said.

‘Don’t waste your time on that Xion lamizoid!’
Diesel said. ‘We’re at war with them, too. Don’t you remember how their battleship destroyed the IF Space Station?’

‘That’s not
his
fault,’ said Peri. He turned to Prince Onix. ‘We kidnapped you by accident.’ Peri explained the mix-up to the prince properly before he ungagged him.

‘Thank you,’ the prince said. ‘I am sorry about the war.’

‘Sorry’s not good enough,’ said Diesel. ‘Why did you attack us?’

‘My planet was desperate,’ the prince said, backing away from the puffed-up half-Martian. ‘We are running short of our most important fuel – carbon dioxide. For centuries our enemies the Meigwors have been stealing this precious resource from us. They use it to heat up their atmosphere – they can’t stand even the slightest cold, as you know.’

‘Skip the exobiology lesson,’ Diesel snapped. ‘Why did you attack our galaxy?’

‘Because our own CO
²
resources were so depleted we had to look elsewhere. Earth pumps large volumes of CO
²
into its atmosphere, so we began to drill holes and secretly siphon off some of it.’

Peri started to untie the prince. ‘That explains the holes in our ozone. It’s puzzled Earth scientists for centuries. We used to have global warming, then global cooling . . .’

The prince nodded. ‘It would have such an effect, yes. Anyway, our situation did not get better. Siphoning off small quantities from Earth was no longer enough. Our politicians said we had no choice but to attack and take it all.’

‘Seems to me there must have been lots of other choices,’ Peri said. ‘Why didn’t you talk to Earth and the other Milky Way planets – try to make a trade? We are a fair people, you know.’

Prince Onix hung his head. ‘I know it was wrong. But there was no time. We thought we were threatened with extinction. Intergalactic negotiations and treaties take years.’

‘Yeah, OK, whatever. Enough of that,’ Diesel interrupted. ‘We have to get out of here.’ He pointed at Peri. ‘Come on, bionic guts – use that special connection of yours to help us escape.’

Peri shook his head. ‘I’ve lost the connection.’

‘What?’ Diesel shouted.

‘Ever since I was zapped by that electric mace,’ Peri explained, ‘it’s as if my circuits are jumbled.’

Diesel squinted. The strip of hair on his head spiked straight up in the air. ‘Maybe you need a reboot, robot.’

Peri frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

Diesel didn’t answer. Instead, he curled his hand into a fist and punched Peri in the jaw.

Peri saw stars and then his world went black. The next thing he knew, Diesel and Prince Onix were helping him to his feet.

Peri shook his head. He rubbed his sore jaw. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Manual reboot,’ Diesel said with a smile. ‘Did it work?’

Peri did feel as if something had clicked back into place. He wiggled his jaw to make sure nothing was broken. ‘You didn’t have to hit me so hard.’

Diesel smirked. ‘If it worked, that’s all that matters.’

Peri took a deep breath and walked to the section of wall that had slid back to admit them. It was completely smooth, no sign of a join. He placed his palms on the wall. It was warm to the touch. A humming noise began in his head. Yes, he could feel something beneath his fingertips, a network of energy lines, running through the wall like arteries and veins. There was a place where the energy lines converged – a hot spot. He pressed. A panel slid silently open. Beneath, he saw a pattern of pulsing lines, red, yellow, blue and green, like spaghetti made of light. He knew, somehow, he had to place his thumb just
there
, breaking the connection between the red light and the blue.

He felt a mild tingling in his thumb as he touched the spot. There was a soft hum. The cell door slid open.

‘Well done,’ Prince Onix whispered, looking up and down the corridor.

‘Took your time about it,’ said Diesel.

‘We have to beam down to Meigwor to rescue Selene,’ Peri said. He felt his energy surge. An idea was forming. He was getting back to his old bionic self. He touched another section of wall. ‘Bits and bobs,’ he said to the
Phoenix
. ‘Unlock.’

The bits and bobs drawer slid out. From a jumble of string, gaffer tape and laser screwdrivers, he pulled out the Xion teleportation band. ‘Lucky we’ve got this!’ Peri turned to the prince. ‘But you’d better not come. Meigwor isn’t safe for you.’

‘It isn’t safe for us either,’ Diesel added.

‘If I stay on the ship, the Meigwor and the Fooswaylian will find me,’ said Prince Onix, nervously chewing his lip.

‘No, they won’t,’ said Peri. ‘Follow me!’

He set off at a run along the corridor. The others followed.

They came to a green-glowing, oval panel set into the wall. ‘Com-pad,’ Peri explained. ‘It’s where I talk to the ship.’

He moved his hands over the panel, pushing buttons and flipping switches. The green glow intensified. From somewhere deep in the ship, Peri heard crackling and popping. Then a noise like the twanging of a super-loud and out-of-tune guitar. The ceiling rushed away from them, rising higher and higher until it was far above them like a mauve-tinted sky.

‘
Phawwada
!
’ said Diesel. ‘
Ambahl’eevabaw
!
’

‘What is happening?’ the prince asked.

‘I’m expanding the ship,’ Peri explained. ‘Max dimensions – it grows to the size of a small planet. Otto will never find you now.’

Prince Onix smiled. ‘Impressive.’

‘It will also slow the ship so that it won’t reach Meigwor any time soon.’ Peri strapped the teleportation device to his wrist.

Prince Onix fiddled with a few tiny, nearly invisible dials where the orange button met the band. ‘You have to be touching,’ Prince Onix explained. ‘Then you can go together.’

Diesel took a step away. ‘It works on humans and Martians, doesn’t it?’ he asked.

‘I cannot say for certain,’ Prince Onix said.

‘Come on, Diesel – there’s only one way to find out,’ Peri said and pressed the button to make his helmet pop up again. Diesel did the same. Peri tapped a few more buttons on the com-pad and typed in a pass code he didn’t even know he knew. ‘Lowering shields.’

‘We want to go here,’ Peri showed Prince Onix the long string of letters and numbers that were the coordinates for Selene’s last location.

The prince fiddled with the teleportation device again. Peri couldn’t see exactly what he was doing. ‘I’ve done the best I can,’ the prince said. ‘I’ve also reprogrammed the
Phoenix
as the home base for the device.’

Peri took hold of Diesel’s arm.

‘Ready?’

‘I don’t know about this –’

Peri pressed the teleportation button.

Chapter 8

Peri felt a tingling in his guts, like he’d once felt when jumping off the twenty-metre board into the Maelstrom Gelpool at the IFA gymnasium. He seemed to be in a black sky full of stars. Then he realised he
was
the stars. He’d exploded into tiny fragments,
but all the tiny fragments were him, somehow.

Then the stars rushed back together –
Whoooomph!
He was in one piece again. He couldn’t see or hear anything, but knew that he was falling, falling, falling from a great height . . .

No he wasn’t.

He was standing on firm ground. Somewhere very, very hot.

He opened his eyes.

He and Diesel were in the middle of a jungle. Steam rose from the trunks of the tangled, twisted trees with their purple-and-green leaves. Sweat poured down Peri’s face.

‘
Af-kyot
,’
Diesel said. ‘It’s boiling.’

On the Plexiglas visor of the Expedition Wear helmet was a tiny, blinking red dot. It indicated Selene’s whereabouts – she was directly ahead. They began to march towards the dot. Peri felt relief as cool air coursed around his Expedition Wear. The automatic aircon had kicked in.

The going was still difficult. The ground was soft and squelchy. Evil thorns spiked from the branches of the trees. If one of those ripped their suits, they’d be in trouble – the poisonous atmosphere would choke them, even before the heat cooked them.

The cries and shrieks and whistles of Meigwor wildlife rang through the forest. Peri hoped they wouldn’t meet anything a) big, b) carnivorous, and c) hungry.