by Mark Lawson
Not wishing to waste a second he ran to the entrance opposite his cell, collecting his stones from the floor. Nate peered around the corner and along the corridor. There wasn’t a single guard in sight.
Nate rushed up the corridor towards the lift.
As he passed a particularly large, heavy door he stopped. Nate could feel an intense heat radiating from behind the door into the corridor.
“That must be the furnace,” he thought as he pushed the panel on the wall to open the door. As the door slid up into the ceiling, a wall of heat almost knocked Nate to the floor. Keeping as low as he could he battled his way into the room.
In front of Nate stood a large metal furnace, its belly glowing red with the heat from the fire that burned within. Nate looked around the furnace. A single steel grate stood on one side about a metre or so from the main chamber.
“That must be the air intake,” realised Nate, remembering from his science classes that fire needs oxygen to burn. The grate was half closed; Nate could see the light as it flickered through the narrow gaps between the heavy iron slats. He reached out towards the grate, but the heat of the furnace caused him to draw his hand back. He tried again, but the fire was too hot.
“Polyester! Thank goodness for man-made fibres,” exclaimed Nate as he tore his school shirt off his back and threw it onto the furnace. He watched as the shirt melted, forming a perfect seal over the grate. Nate could see the flames through the walls of the furnace. As the red glow became dimmer and dimmer, Nate turned, wearing only his shoes and socks, trousers and a singlet, to resume his mission. As he left the room containing the giant furnace, Nate slammed the panel near the exit and the heavy door slid closed.
Nate reached the elevator in no time. Without his suit he was, of course, considerably slower than he would otherwise have been, but his desire to complete his mission filled him with fresh energy.
As he reached the elevator, he pressed himself up against the side of the wall near its door, sensing that someone was about to exit. As the doors opened a guard strode out into the corridor. As it passed by, Nate silently slipped into the elevator and pressed the panel corresponding to the symbol that he had noted on the bridge.
The elevator sprung to life and began its ascent.
As the elevator approached the bridge, Nate concentrated hard, trying to sense if there was any danger awaiting him when the doors opened. He sensed none and, when they did spring open, he immediately dived for cover behind a bank of control panels.
On the other side of the room, Dargon stood looking out of the window at his weapon. Four Lisaurians stood at various places around the bridge engaged in their work.
Nate waited behind the control panel for what must have been two or three minutes.
Another elevator door flew open to the right of the elevator from which Nate had escaped. Nate felt a cool breeze drift across to where he was hiding.
“Lord Dargon, the Ionium,” declared one of the grotesque lizards as it held out a large, silver box.
“Careful with it,” hissed Dargon. “It’s unstable and very powerful. A single sudden movement and you will blow a hole in the planet. Give it to me you fool.”
Dargon gently took the box from his sub-ordinate’s claws and held it up before his eyes.
“What power!” he mused.
Nate waited patiently behind the control panel for his plan to come to fruition.
Suddenly Nate heard a thud. One of the officers working on the bridge had fallen over at his post.
“Get up!” hissed Dargon.
A fellow officer nudged his companion, only too aware that Dargon would not tolerate insubordination. After a brief attempt to rouse his friend, he too fell to the floor.
Nate rushed out from behind his hiding place at the corner of the bridge. He raced towards Dargon and the remaining Lisaurians, snatching away the Ionium and the orange crystal from Dargon’s belt in one smooth action.
“Earth,” shouted Nate as he held the silver box just beyond the reach of Dargon’s claws “I’m from Earth.”.
As the other beasts fell to the floor Dargon raised himself up on his hind legs and bellowed, “Then you will die a very slow death Earth man. I will see to that.”
Dargon stumbled and, reaching out to the instrument panel behind him for support, barely managed to maintain his balance.
“What have you done?”
“I figured that as lizards you were cold-blooded, and that you needed heat from an external source in order to maintain your energy levels. I saw your furnace when I escaped from my cell and took the liberty of switching it off. Sweet dreams!” Nate looked on as Dargon slumped to the floor.
Nate scooped up the container on the large control panel and opened the seal. His suit leapt out and wrapped itself around Nate’s body. He hurriedly grabbed his laser knife and his watch from the instrument panel. Placing the plans for the Ion ray in his pocket he raced out of the ship with the Ionium container safely tucked under his arm. Nate knew what he had to do, and he had very little time left in which to do it.
Scaling the walkways around the mine, Nate swung himself up and onto the fifth floor. The platform was littered with Lisaurians, deep in sleep.
Nate flung open the door to the mine and stood over the cavernous hole. He fidgeted with his watch, arming the explosive, and then set the timer to five minutes. He flung the watch into the hole and ran for his life.
As he ran across the littered yard to the ship, Nate heard the grind of the black dome opening overhead. It was night time again on Sultron. Nate quickened his pace. Soon the warm air from the planet’s surface would flow into the dome and awaken the Lisaurians from their sleep.
Nate made it to the ship in a moment and began his search for the escape pods that Farden had told him to look for.
The timer on Nate’s watch counted down as it continued to fall through the shaft. Four minutes until it exploded.
Nate ran from floor to floor in the ship, desperately searching for the pods.
Two minutes and thirty seconds until the watch exploded.
Nate came to the doorway of what he recognised as an escape pod.
Ninety seconds until the watch exploded.
He slammed the panel on the door and the pod door opened.
Nate went to step in, but felt something grab his ankle. Nate looked down and saw Dargon firmly gripping his leg with his right claw. With his left hand Dargon grasped at the silver box containing the Ionium.
“You won’t escape me that easily, Earth boy,” hissed the hideous creature. “I will have my revenge.” Nate had been so intent on finding the escape pods that he hadn’t been paying any attention to what was happening, or, more correctly, what was about to happen, around him.
Nate kicked at Dargon, but the beast remained locked onto Nate’s ankle.
Nate’s watch ticked down to 1 minute.
Nate reached down with his free hand and slowly pried Dargon’s claws from his ankle. He lifted the upper part of the Warlord’s body into the air, aided by the suit as it flooded his arms with energy. “I don’t think so,” shouted Nate emphatically as he threw Dragon across the room. Dargon’s body crashed into the far wall and slid down onto the floor.
Nate jumped into the escape pod. The walls were lined with buttons and computerised displays. Nate looked frantically around the pod as his watch counted down to 30 seconds.
“One red button, one red button,” he repeated over and over to himself.
25 seconds until the watch exploded.
“Where is the red button?”
20, 19, 18, 17 …
Nate desperately scanned cockpit.
10 seconds, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 …
Nate’s suit flew from his right arm across the pod and slammed into a large red button behind Nate’s head.
The pod burst into life and shot from the side of Dargon’s ship and into Sultron’s night sky. Nate fell against the rear of the pod as it propelled itself into space.
Below, a column of flames rocketed up the main mine shaft. The explosion spread as it burst out onto the surface of Sultron. The shockwave from the explosion shook the escape pod as it continued its ascent into the blackness of space.
Chapter 17: Mission accomplished
Nate stepped triumphantly onto the makeshift podium on the bridge of Big Sister.
“Congratulations Nate,” said Farden his chest bursting with pride. “We knew you could do it.”
Nate’s new friends stood below the dais looking up at the Earth boy.
Commander Arl passed Farden took a small box. Farden opened it revealing another Confederation badge. Farden placed the emblem on Nate’s chest. As it had done before, Nate’s suit took the insignia from his hand and positioned it over his cadet’s badge. The perimeter of the emblem began to glow blue. “Officer graduating with first class honours,” declared Farden, “you are now a fully qualified officer in the Confederation Security Force.”
Those assembled on Big Sister’s bridge shouted and clapped their congratulations.
“Thank you,” whispered Farden to Nate as they stood together before the assembled crew.
Nate looked proudly at his reward. He raised his eyes to the crowd that was gathered on the bridge of Big Sister and smiled.
The crowd burst into a spontaneous cheer.
“Congratulations from me too,” Big Sister’s soft voice echoed in Nate’s head.
As Farden led Nate to the transport beam he explained: “If we ever need your services again, then the badge will glow to notify you.”
“Here,” said Farden, as he handed Nate a small disk.
“A replacement holograph compass. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You may need it. Be very careful not to use your suit, the compass or any other technology that we’ve given you while you’re on Earth. There are spies in all corners of the Universe looking for ways to bring Confederation Security Officers down. We don’t know for certain, but there may be spies even on your Earth.”
Nate thanked Farden for his advice.
As though attempting to both warn and comfort Nate further, Farden continued: “Your identity will be kept a secret, no one is allowed to disclose who our covert operatives are, not even to other officers within the Confederation. Even our coverts remain secret to each other.”
As Nate and Farden approached the teleport beam Nate felt a deep sense of sorrow at leaving his new friend.
“We will meet again.” promised Farden. “Soon.”
Nate grabbed Farden and hugged him. Farden, who was not used to such displays of affection among Security Officers, looked a little surprised. Cautiously, Farden wrapped his large hands around Nate’s shoulders and squeezed.
“When you get home, your suit will blend in with the objects that you have in your bedroom. A model aeroplane, a toy car or something ordinary so as not to look out of place. Don’t forget to take it off as soon as you get home. Goodbye my friend,” farewelled Farden.
“Goodbye,” Nate uttered as he stepped into the transport beam.
A flash of blue light burst into Nate’s room. Pink and silver particles shot out from the beam and quickly formed into the familiar shape of Nathaniel Armstrong. Nate’s bedroom light flashed on and off and his clock radio spun through all of the AM and FM frequencies while the digital display flashed a series of random patterns. Just as suddenly as the beam had entered Nate’s bedroom, it disappeared. The lights stopped flickering and his bedside clock and radio returned to normal.
Nate took his suit off and placed it on his bed side table. The suit began to contort as the metal fabric sculpted itself into a familiar object. Nate looked at his suit as it slowly transformed into a scale model of the Hope. A familiar blue glow emanated from the centre of the model as the fine fibres pulsed both within and on the surface of the suit. Nate was pleased with the shape that the suit had chosen to adopt in order to disguise itself. Whenever he looked at the model he would think of his adventures with Turg and his first successful mission on Sultron.
“I am shutting down until needed again,” explained the suit.
Nate watched as the blue light and the fibres faded, leaving a typical, metal-looking model of a space ship, the kind of toy that any space mad boy might have in his room. His metal Security Forces badge fell to the dresser below. Nate quickly scooped it up and put it in his pocket.
Nate bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” declared Betty Armstrong, “Are you hungry? I have some sandwiches for afternoon tea.”
Nate’s sister Georgiana ran to hug her big brother, “You’re home, you’re home. Do you want to play jumping?”
Nate’s elder sister Victoria sat at the kitchen table eating an apple. “Good day at school short stuff?” she enquired, not really expecting an answer.
“Lost my shirt today Mum, sorry about that,” Nate confessed as he mused upon the fact that a single polyester school shirt may have saved the Universe from destruction. Nate was too taken up with the thoughts that were spinning around in his head to take much notice of his mother’s stern rebuke. “How could you lose your shirt? It’s not like it can fall from your back without you noticing,” Betty scolded.
After she had finished lecturing Nate on how he should be more responsible she turned to her husband, “Roger, will you check the fuse box, there must have been a power surge. The lights and the kitchen appliances went on the blink a few moments ago, though they seem be fine now.”
“Sure honey,” replied Roger Armstrong as he sat down on the couch somewhat confused.
As Nate sat down to his afternoon tea, a small escape pod hurtled away from the planet Sultron carrying a single passenger, a rather weak, but determined, Dargon. “I will have my revenge, Earthling” he hissed to himself. “Your planet will pay for what you have done. I’ll find this Earth of yours and tear it apart.”
The End
