by Max Chase
‘Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean there’s nothing there,’ Selene answered. ‘We’re being sucked into a planet.’
Peri felt a tingle of electric dread. ‘And we can’t do anything to stop it!’
Chapter 3
Eeeeee-rraaaaraa!
As alarms blared across the Bridge, robotic arms shot down from the ceiling. A pair of pinch-grips yanked Peri away from the controls. ‘Preparing for crash landing,’ the ship announced.
‘Get off,’ Peri shouted as the Phoenix hoisted him into the air. He tried to wriggle free, but the ship held him and the others tightly. Otto and Selene were slipped into Expedition Wear. Sleek survival podpacks were strapped to everyone’s shoulders.
Light steel cable snaked down from the ceiling and darted towards the podpacks. They attached themselves with a sssurpt! Transparent helmets sprang from the suit collars, sealing them in. A huge portal as large as a spaceball goalmouth opened above them. The sound of roaring air filled the Bridge.
The cable attached to his podpack was twitching. Peri had a bad feeling about this.
‘Ohhh nooo!’ he screamed, as a hatch opened and the cable threw him and the rest of his crew out of the Phoenix. The ship must have calculated that their chances of survival would be greater if it ejected them before impact.
Peri’s Expedition Wear hissed and whirred, tightening as it inflated to form a bubble of translucent material. He could now see that the Phoenix was speeding towards a small moon-planet. The combined radiation of its twin suns must have made it dark to the ship’s sensors. Peri was floating down towards its flat sandy surface. He looked for signs of civilisation, but saw none – the moon-planet seemed uninhabited.
Neeaaawww-Kaaaccchhhaaam!
Peri watched with horror as the Phoenix punched a crater in the surface before gouging a trench into the sand. He hoped the landing hadn’t damaged the ship beyond repair, but it was the least of his worries. He had picked up speed and was falling fast. He looked to his crew for help, but they too were plummeting towards the ground.
Peri closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact.
Boin-n-n-g!
He risked opening his eyes. ‘Cosmo-cool!’ He laughed. In his inflated Expedition Wear, he had bounced like a spaceball, spinning as he moved over the moon-planet’s white sand. He could see the others bouncing close by.
‘Isn’t this great, Peri?’ Selene crackled across the radio. ‘The suits are . . . crrrrk . . . designed to withstand the impact. The surface tension creates –’
‘Awful way to travel!’ boomed Otto, his bubble bashing into Peri’s. ‘The sooner –’
A loud groan cut him short. ‘I think I’m going to puke,’ Diesel said over the radio.
‘Not in your helmet,’ Selene retorted. ‘You don’t want . . . crrrrk . . . over your face.’
Peri’s survival bubble deflated so he could land on the planet’s powdery surface. Hissssss. The Expedition Wear returned to its normal shape. Instantly, the suit turned red which meant the planet was colder than the interior of the Phoenix. His boots widened to stop him sinking into the sand.
Diesel was doubled over with motion sickness. His narrow band of hair had turned green and was lying flat on his head. ‘Let’s just get back to the ship,’ he moaned, pinching his lips together tightly.
Peri spotted Otto. Even though the Expedition Wear had expanded to accommodate Otto’s strange shape, his spacesuit looked as if it was bursting at the seams. His neck was squashed in his helmet and his arms folded awkwardly in his sleeves. Otto shivered. ‘The space-monkey’s right . . . Too c-c-cold!’
For once Peri agreed with the gunners. ‘We’d better find the Phoenix and see what the damage is,’ Peri replied. ‘Luckily, we’re still connected to the ship like space-pets on a lead.’
Peri followed the cable connected to his podpack over the shifting sands. He saw a plume of black smoke rising over the next sand dune and broke into a run. As he scrambled down the dune, he could see the shell of their once sleek white vessel was blackened and dented. It creaked and made strange electrical crackling sounds.
Peri put his hand on the ship’s charred surface and waited for the ghostly green light to trace his palm. Nothing. ‘This is bad,’ he muttered.
‘Let me try,’ said Selene, but as soon as she touched the ship she leapt back. ‘Ouch. It just stung me. The Phoenix doesn’t want us to go inside.’
‘It doesn’t want you to go inside,’ said Diesel. ‘I’m the most important person on the crew. It won’t refuse me.’
Diesel took a step towards the ship, walking straight into a bolt of electricity from the spaceship’s hull. His hair fanned out from the static.
‘Serves you right,’ Peri chuckled.
‘Self-repair activated,’ the Phoenix reported calmly. ‘Energy levels critical. All power diverted to essential subroutines.’
‘Until the damage is repaired, we’re stuck out here,’ Selene explained. ‘Using life support would just drain the Phoenix’s energy reserves.’
‘But what about Prince Onix?’ Peri asked. ‘He’s still on board.’
‘Alien specimen from Xion placed in rejuvenating coma,’ the ship answered. ‘He will remain unconscious until fully recovered.’
‘Thank you, Phoenix.’ Peri looked over the sandy dunes surrounding them. ‘Well . . . let’s find some shelter.’
‘No, let’s explore,’ said Selene.
‘Explore what?’ Diesel asked. ‘Moon-planets are never inhabited. I vote we stay put.’
‘I ag-ag-agreeee!’ Otto stuttered. His freakishly long neck had shrunk to half its size. The Meigwor was not suited for the cold. ‘Expedition Wear not w-w-warm enough.’
‘Stay here, then,’ Selene said, ‘But the Phoenix won’t be repaired for a while, and how often do you get to explore a moon-planet?’
Peri and Selene walked along the trench created by the Phoenix. They were still tethered to the ship, so they wouldn’t be able to go far. Diesel and Otto were behind them. The Meigwor’s normally brisk walk had been reduced to a shuffle.
Peri was amazed at the vast emptiness of the moon-planet. The two suns were setting, casting a strange red glow over the horizon.
‘Look at that crater,’ Selene exclaimed.
Peri stared where Selene pointed. It was as though a giant moon-eating grub had bitten into the planet. Debris was piled all around it. ‘This is our fault,’ Peri muttered. ‘When the Phoenix crashed into the planet, it punched a crater into the –’
‘We didn’t make this,’ Selene interrupted. ‘Look around you. Someone’s been drilling for fuel here.’
Peri looked up and saw a sea of craters stretching out towards the horizon, dotted with hunks of rusting machinery. He ran to the nearest crater to have a closer look. Strange, jagged black stones stuck out of the crater’s edge. An electric charge of anger surged through Peri. ‘Drilling for fuel! Why can’t species just leave places like this alone?’
Peri stared into the hole. It was still crumbling inwards and getting bigger.
A strange rumbling came from deep within the crater, followed by an eerie cry.
‘Can you hear that?’ Peri asked.
‘It’s probably the ground shifting,’ said Diesel, pushing Peri aside to look. ‘The gravitational pull of the twin suns must have destabilised its core. Basic astro-geology, for which I have a natural talent.’
Otto finally lumbered up next to them, muttering, ‘H-H-Hate . . . c-c-cold!’ He bent over, stretching out his hands. ‘Black rock! Very valuable.’ He tucked a handful of shiny black stones into the pocket of his Expedition Wear, before extending his arms as far as they would reach for more. But the rock was still another hand’s length away. As Otto edged forward, the sandy edge of the crater collapsed.
‘Scrofa-ahhhggg!’ he screamed as he tumbled into the hole.
‘Well that solves one problem nicely,’ Diesel said, smirking, before the ground gave way beneath him. ‘Mh’nak!’
‘Diesel!’ Peri shouted, holding out his hand and leaning over the edge. He felt Diesel’s fingers slip through his own, before he too was falling down the stony sides of the crater.
Chapter 4
Peri clawed against the tumbling rocks and sand, but nothing could stop him.
Ooomph! Peri hit a hard black surface and continued falling. He had landed at the top of a chute in the wall of the crater made from the black stone. He turned on to his back and picked up speed, sliding feet-first. He zoomed faster and faster until he was swooshing down the tunnel, in which he was thrown left, then right, then spun 360 degrees.
‘Whooo-hooo!’ Peri cheered. Then, a second later: ‘Oh no!’
Suddenly, Peri was dropping faster than a lead spaceship in a gravity-hole. He screamed as his circuits crackled with fear. His stomach felt as though it had been left behind as he plummeted through the pitch-black.
Hummppff! Peri jerked to a halt as the cable connecting him to the Phoenix tugged him back. It had reached its maximum length, but before he could get his breath back, he heard the cable snap.
Peri tensed his muscles and prepared to smack into the ground, then he heard a whirr and hum. His Expedition Wear sprang into action, inflating into a giant bubble again.
He still couldn’t see where he was falling. It was too dark to know if the Expedition Wear could save him, or if he would end up impaled on a stony spike. But as he hit the ground, the inflated suit flung him up into the air again, unharmed. He kept bouncing, unable to do anything until the momentum from the fall ran out and his suit deflated.
It was totally dark. He ran his fingers over the suit’s control panel, but didn’t know which button to press. Before he could figure out which one would help him see in the dark, he heard something landing nearby, followed by the hiss of more Expedition Wear deflating.
Otto’s voice was the first he heard. ‘I told you w-w-we should have stayed with the sh-sh-ship!’
Diesel gasped. ‘Something just brushed against me! Monster alert!’
‘That was me, you dumboid,’ Selene said.
‘How do I activate my suit to see in the dark?’ Peri asked.
‘I think they got damaged in the fall,’ Diesel cried. ‘Wait, something’s happening to mine, it’s lighting up like a Zero-G firework display.’
Whatever was happening to Diesel’s suit was happening to Peri’s too. His helmet hummed as dark green clouds of pixels flickered over his visor. As they danced across Peri’s vision, the electronic cloud grew steadily brighter like watching a star explode in ultra-ultra-slow motion. Shapes began appearing in the darkness until he could see Selene, Diesel and Otto standing next to him. Except – they were green.
‘Night-vision-coated visors!’ Selene cheered. ‘Expedition Wear can do everything.’
Peri was pleased the Expedition Wear had saved him again, but they were still stranded at the bottom of a gigantic cavern. The walls were made from the same black shiny stone Otto had spotted at the surface of the planet, but this rock was worn smooth. Paths led in every direction, disappearing into black openings in the cavern wall.
‘We must be in a vast network of underground tunnels,’ Peri said as he peered around. He looked up and saw the four steel cables dangling over the edge of the hole, but the severed cables were too high to reach.
‘Any ideas how we can reach them?’ he asked.
‘Let’s bl-bl-blast our way back to the s-s-surface!’ Otto boomed, trying not to shiver.
‘And cause another cave-in?’ Peri shook his head. ‘While I’m in charge, we’re going to find a less dangerous way.’
‘Who put you in ch-ch-charge?!’ Otto demanded.
‘Yeah,’ Diesel said, pressing a button on his Expedition Wear. A stick of Eterni-chew gum sprang from the edge of the helmet into his mouth. ‘I should be . . . schliip . . . in charge. I scored the . . . schliip . . . best on my leadership . . . schliip . . . exams at the Academy.’
‘Don’t talk and chew,’ Selene snapped. ‘It doesn’t matter who’s in charge. We still need a –’
A deep noise echoed around the cavern. It was a cross between a rumble and a low-pitched squeak. It made Peri’s circuits tingle with fear. ‘I don’t like the sound of that.’
‘We should check it out,’ Selene said. ‘You never know what we could discover. Maybe a brand-new species, unknown to science.’
‘That’s probably because the scientists get eaten before they find out,’ Diesel muttered.
‘No one in their right mind g-g-goes towards scary noises inside dark c-c-caves!’ Otto said irritably. ‘It’s the w-w-worst suggestion I’ve ever heard! No wonder your sp-sp-species is so inferior – you have no survival i-i-instincts!’
‘Don’t speak for me . . . schliip . . . lamizoid,’ said Diesel as he chewed. ‘I’ve got enough survival instincts to fill a galaxy.’
‘We should concentrate on getting out of here, not discovering new species,’ said Peri.
‘What if the creature making that noise can help us?’ Selene asked. ‘We don’t have any better ideas right now.’
She had a point. ‘OK,’ Peri said. ‘Set your SpeakEasy to scan. If the creatures can talk, the SpeakEasy will translate for us.’
Peri pressed his fingers against the bottom of his helmet. The Expedition Wear softened and moulded around his hands, allowing him to press the bulge under his chin. A roar of static filled his head as the SpeakEasy was activated. The standard-issue implant for IF cadets allowed him and Diesel to talk and understand every language in the universe. Selene had a makeshift SpeakEasy device strapped to her chin that she had rigged herself. She might not have been a real IF cadet, but Peri thought she deserved to be.
He listened as the static faded, but nothing else seemed to come through the device.
‘Sorry, Selene,’ said Peri. ‘I don’t think –’
‘Heat.’
Peri winced at the chorus of voices echoing around his helmet. He looked at Diesel, trying to see if he had heard it too. The half-Martian had his mouth open in surprise, a wad of Eterni-chew hanging from a tooth. Selene looked shocked as well. Otto either hadn’t heard or didn’t care.
‘What was that?’ Peri asked.
‘Heat,’ the voices chorused again, this time accompanied by the crackle of the radio.
‘It’s coming through the SpeakEasy device,’ Diesel exclaimed.
‘It seems to be coming from down there.’ Selene pointed behind her.
Peri peered down the tunnel for the source of the voices. A strange flickering white-green cloud appeared from the darkness. But when it got closer, Peri realised this was not a single, writhing shape. It was many, many creatures – heading right for them.
Selene gasped. ‘Moon-bats!’
Chapter 5
The swarm of moon-bats swooped out of the tunnel with ear-splitting screeches. Thousands of them filled the cavern, swirling and turning in tight circles to stay aloft. They created gusts of wind which buffeted Peri’s Expedition Wear. Their wings were lined with spikes. Their hairless, wrinkled faces opened to reveal fangs the size of Peri’s fingers.
Peri ducked as a bat sliced past too close for comfort. ‘Let’s get out of here!’
‘This way!’ Otto yelled, heading down the nearest tunnel, leading Diesel and Selene.
Peri set off after them, knowing their suits would tear and they would suffocate if the moon-bats got too close with their sharp spikes and razor-like fangs.
His SpeakEasy crackled. ‘Heat!’ It screamed straight into his brain.
The closer the bats came, the louder the voices got.
He could see Selene ahead of him. The wind nudging him from behind was getting stronger. The bats had nearly reached them. They were going to crash straight into him and his crew.
Peri dived forward. He grabbed Selene, tackling her to the floor. Like dominoes, Selene toppled Diesel, who floored Otto in turn. As the Phoenix’s crew crashed into the ground, the swarm of moon-bats pas
sed overhead.
‘That was close,’ Peri said, helping Selene and Diesel to stand.
But he spoke too soon. The bats had swerved around like cosmic-boomerangs and were spinning fiercely back towards them.
‘Retreat!’ Peri shouted and sprinted as fast as he could back the way they had come. A narrow shaft of sunlight was now streaming into the cave through the hole in the ceiling. It sliced the cave in two, one side lit and the other dark. Rock and sand were still crumbling down as the hole above them got bigger.
‘The planet must have rotated to the perfect angle for one of the suns to shine in,’ Selene said.
‘Against the w-w-wall!’ Otto boomed. As he stepped into the light half of the cave, it made his helmet shine like a halo. He pulled his weapon from his belt. ‘Let’s bl-bl-blast the bats!’
‘No, Otto!’ Peri cried, pulling Selene and Diesel into the beam of light next to the bounty hunter. ‘Don’t shoot.’
Although the swirling mass got larger and larger, not a single bat crossed the beam of light. Their screeches grew louder.
The whole swarm hovered in the air as though suspended in zero gravity. Peri wondered what the bats were trying to do. What if they weren’t attacking? Perhaps they were scared. They hadn’t actually hurt him or his friends.
That’s it! Peri realised. The bats were not crossing the beam of light. The light was as scary to them as the dark was to him. The creatures started repeating a new phrase: ‘Frightened, frightened.’
Peri gestured for Selene, Diesel and Otto to come closer to him.
‘I don’t think the bats are trying to attack us,’ Peri told them. ‘They’re frightened and scared of the heat from the sunlight. I think they’re asking for help . . .’
‘I don’t understand,’ Diesel said. ‘Why don’t they just tell us what’s wrong instead of repeating the same words over and over again?’
