There it is! The edge, the darkness, oblivion.
A curtain of blackness was sweeping over the city. He was almost upon it! The ruins rippled and dissolved. Zeke skidded to a halt, tumbling onto his backside. His elbow banged painfully against a lump of wall. The edge of the universe was only eight metres away. He heard the Beast’s roar and rolled to his side. He kept rolling. A ball hit the spot where he’d fallen. A circle of earth sparked out of existence, leaving a crater.
The Beast was almost upon him. Did it see that the end of everything was edging towards them? No, it was too focussed on killing Zeke. It failed to notice the great ocean of nothingness until it was too late. Four legs kicked wildly as the creature desperately tried to stop. It slid past Zeke, glaring at him with all the venom of hell. Straight into the black curtain. Zeke hoped to see it suffer for a few moments. But no. The darkness snuffed it out in an instant, like a candle. Too bad, he thought, he wanted to see fear on its wretched face.
The edge was seven metres away, then six. Zeke collapsed onto his back, exhausted. Not an ounce of strength was left in his body. All he could do was lay there and watch his death seeping nearer. There were no more tremors. What was left of the city, and the bedrock underneath, was now too small to generate more quakes. An eerie silence hung over the ruins. A peace.
“Zeke!” Scuff’s voice sounded far away. “Bartie!”
For a moment Zeke wondered what to do. Why not lay there and let the end wash over him? It would be quick.
The edge was four metres away.
His inner voice yelled in defiance. His father, Pin-mei, the School, the Orb, the Spiral, all these memories flashed through his brain.
No, no, no! He had to live! What was he thinking, was he crazy?
Zeke struggled to his feet. The edge was three metres away. In his haste, he lost his footing and toppled over. The edge was almost nipping at his toes. He cried out, grabbed onto a block of rubble and hoisted himself up. The blackness began eating into the block, centimetre by centimetre.
“Scuff!” he screamed.
He stepped backwards. Then another step.
“Faster!” he whispered. He was hardly able to speak, let alone run. The ache from his arm jangled his nerves. But this kept him alert. Zeke forced his legs, numb from all the exertion, to work. To walk. The end of the world yawned at his heels. It swallowed up the smashed houses. The pocket universe trickled away into nothingness. Who knew what secrets it might contain, what wonders of Hesperian technology lurked under that wreckage. Maybe even a clue as to how to defeat the Spiral?
All was lost now. The best Zeke could do was to save himself.
Every time he glanced back, the edge was gaining on him. Probably something to do with mass and gravity. The smaller the universe, the quicker its destruction. Zeke broke into a jog. He darted between cracked walls and fractured membranes, moments before the oblivion engulfed them. Dizziness swept over him, but he fought it off. If he passed out, he’d never awake.
A cloud of steam cleared to reveal Scuff, pacing up and down. Zeke had never been happier to see him.
“Where’s Bartie?” Scuff asked.
With an apocalypse snapping at his heels, there was no time for sensitivity. “Dead”
Scuff’s mouth dropped. “The Beast?”
Zeke nodded, taking Scuff by the hand.
“We go now!”
The dark tidal wave was crashing down around them. It was approaching from all directions. Reality was reduced to a tiny island of light. And shrinking smaller with every second.
As they hobbled along the road, Zeke seized one final look. “Sad, really. Ending like this.”
“Good riddance,” Scuff replied.
“Wait!” Zeke said. He scooped something from the dust. A three-dimensional star shape, as big as a tennis ball. It glittered silver.
“Really, bro?” Scuff said, raising his eyebrows. “These relics always turn out to be dangerous.”
Zeke stuffed it into his tunic pocket.
Scuff began chanting and they stumbled forward. The dying city blurred and merged into one long, grey tunnel. But the tunnel was telescoping. The exit was slipping out of reach.
“What’s happening?” Zeke cried.
A force was pulling them back, as if in the grip of a giant magnet.
“Gravity,” Scuff cried back. “Its death throes.”
Zeke gripped Scuff’s wrist.
“Think of home, think of somewhere you love.”
“I don’t know how to translocate.”
“Just do it. Think about Baron Von Burgers.”
This was Scuff’s beloved burger bar back in his hometown. Scuff closed his eyes, still chanting the mantra.
They were falling.
They were safe.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The Melas Mine
The boys staggered back to the mine.
“Knimble took Pin straight to the clinic,” Scuff explained.
Zeke gulped at the mention of her name. He had news he didn’t want to share.
The rocks opened out onto a scene of destruction.
“The camp’s had a hard time of it,” Scuff added.
The tents had collapsed into a sea of canvas. Barrels were scattered everywhere and the odd mac lay on its side, sparking and whirring. A giant crack splintered out from the borehole. Only two structures remained standing. The first was Hammoud’s prefab office, a two-storey block of black plastic. The second was the Zapper, still towering over the camp.
“Where is everyone?” Zeke asked.
“Evacuated, mostly,” came a voice. It was Mariner Chinook, sitting on a nearby boulder.
The land shuddered.
“Haven’t we had enough of this?” Scuff cried.
The ground cried out like a giant straining to break free. Ripples passed through the sand. The bedrock shifted beneath their feet. A shockwave threw Zeke forwards onto all fours. Scuff landed on his butt.
“Look!” Chinook said.
The borehole was growing bigger. The Zapper creaked and listed to one side.
“No!” Scuff cried.
The giant drill was sinking! Like a rocket in reverse, it dropped into the pit and out of sight.
“Help!” shrieked a voice. A figure desperately waved from the office window. It was Hammoud. His building was teetering on the brink of the expanding borehole.
Chinook did something incredible. He lifted into the air and flew towards the borehole. Zeke watched with baited breath as Chinook seized Hammoud, pulled him through the window and lifted him clear of the building. Just in time. The building followed the Zapper, sliding into the pit. Lost forever.
Both boys cheered.
At that precise moment the world exploded, engulfing Zeke in a storm of noise and sand. And then silence. He struggled to his feet. Dust clouds were slowly settling.
“Oh,” was all he could say.
The world was two metres lower. A huge area had subsided. The tents and macs and barrels were half buried under sand.
“There’s an end to it,” Chinook said, alighting nearby.
Hammoud fell to his knees and said, “That’s one hole I didn’t like, my boys.”
“Hailey!”
Zeke’s heart froze. The unmistakeable sound of Josiah Cain.
The man ran out from the rocks and charged at Zeke, as direct as a bullet. He grabbed Zeke by the shoulders and shook him. “Where is he? Where’s my Bartie?” he shouted.
Zeke looked to Chinook, hoping for some kind of rescue. Chinook simply stared back, impassive as ever. Nobody could get Zeke out of this one. He shifted his gaze to Cain. The man’s face was stone white, but for the dark circles under his eyes. He’d aged ten years.
Zeke’s tongue was paralysed.
Cain gripped him ha
rder. “Tell me!”
Still Zeke couldn’t speak.
Scuff glanced at his friend, then cleared his throat. “I’m very sorry Sir, your son didn’t make it.”
“What? What?” Cain screamed in a fury. “You left him there? Alone!”
Zeke managed to shake his head. “No Sir,” he said. “We didn’t leave him behind.”
“I don’t understand,” Cain cried, his voice hoarse with rage and fear.
“It was very quick, Sir. He didn’t suffer,” Zeke continued.
“What!” Cain bellowed, his nails digging into Zeke’s flesh.
Zeke took a deep breath. “The Particle Beast… it…killed him.”
Cain let go and waved his fists at the sky. “No!” He stamped from foot to foot, a bull about to rampage.
“You killed him,” he shouted at Zeke. “The Mariners killed him!”
“But Sir—” Zeke began to say.
Cain’s fist came out of nowhere.
Zeke felt the smash of knuckles against jawbone. Mars ran red.
Zeke’s skull was pounding. He opened his eyes to find himself in a cave, filled with computers and medical equipment. The School’s Medical Facility.
He was lying on a hospital bed. Doctor Chandrasar was fussing over him, scanning his body with her magnopad. Scuff sat in the corner. He flashed Zeke an anxious smile.
“How long—” Zeke started to say.
“Normally it would be a few minutes,” the doctor answered, beaming. “But I kept you out for longer, to give the nanomacs time to do their job.”
Zeke stared at Chandrasar’s feline eyes and saffron skin. He felt hot. “Am I alright?” he asked fearfully.
“You’re as right as a rainbow,” she replied. “Although your pulse is speeding up for some reason.”
“Why did I pass out?”
A frown formed on her pretty forehead. “Well, a sudden blow to the brain causes the nerves to go haywire. Result, a brief loss of consciousness. That brute will serve jail time for this.”
“Oh no,” Zeke cried, sitting up. “I don’t want that.”
“You’ll have to talk with Lutz, then.”
“What’s it got to do with her?” Zeke asked, bewildered.
Chandrasar beamed again. “She’s ordered the Governor of Mars to have Cain arrested. She was furious when she heard. She can punish you all she likes, but nobody else lays a finger on her precious students.”
“Would have thought I was the exception.”
Chandrasar laughed. “You? You’re one of her favourites.”
Zeke clucked. The doctor was making fun of him.
“Anyway, it wasn’t Cain’s fault,” he went on. “He lost someone he loves very much.”
Chandrasar’s smile flickered. She glanced at a photo on her desk. A handsome young Indian man in graduation robes, clutching a diploma.
“If the scans are okay, you’ll be good to go,” she said, brandishing the magnopad. She walked into the adjacent chamber.
“How’s Pin?” Zeke asked.
Scuff studied the ceiling. “Aw, not so good. Lutz gave her a week off school. She’s in her room and doesn’t want to see anyone. Not even you.”
Neither of them spoke for awhile. At length Scuff stirred. Did you see the way the doc looked at that photo? he thought. Chandrasar was too near to use his voice.
Yes, I wonder what the story is there, Zeke replied.
Blimey guv’nor, Scuff thought in a terrible cockney accent. You must be the only one in the school who doesn’t know.
What’s to know? Zeke thought, his curiosity peaked.
Scuff rolled his eyes. That was Chandrasar’s fiancé. They met and fell in love at Delhi University. There was some kind of misunderstanding, he broke it off and came to Mars to work on the Martian Televator. He was a super-duper engineer.
But the Martian Televator was abandoned, Zeke interjected.
Scuff nodded. Because of what happened. Apparently Chandrasar had a dream the bf was going to die. So she came to Mars and begged him to leave. Told him she would never leave Mars without him. Rekindled the romance, got engaged, the full Romeo and Juliet.
Zeke whistled.
The day they were due to fly out, something went wrong on the Televator. The fiancé couldn’t walk away from his men, so went to the top to fix the crisis.
“I don’t like the sound of this,” Zeke whispered.
The whole thing went belly-up. The structure collapsed and the fiancé was killed. Not before saving his crew though. His was the only death.
Zeke stared at the happy man in the photo.
And Chandrasar vowed she would never leave Mars. That being the promise she gave her dead lover. Got a job here, the rest is history.
Scuff leaned back in his chair, pleased with his telling of the story.
“How sad,” Zeke said aloud.
“What is?” Chandrasar asked, strolling back into the room.
“Oh, nothing,” said both boys.
She flashed a suspicious look at them. “Well, the nanomacs will have that nasty bruise cleared by tomorrow. In the meantime, Lutz wants to see you.”
Zeke gulped.
“Apparently,” the doctor said, “she’s hopping mad.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Office of Principal Lutz
Principal Lutz sat at her desk, spine straight, head up, eyes closed. Zeke could see her pupils twitching beneath the eyelids. She was receiving T-mails, telepathic messages from other Mariners.
Barnside sat at the side, magnopad in hand, poised to record the meeting. It struck Zeke that, as an android, Barnside had no actual need of the magnopad. It was all part of the charade she kept up for the world. The charade of being human. But then, maybe everyone was the same? They were all playing a charade.
Zeke and Scuff sat opposite Lutz.
Can you smell lavender? Scuff asked in telepathic mode.
Yes, perfume, isn’t it?
Guess so, Scuff went on. But which of them would wear a scent?
Zeke scratched his blue hair. My guess would be Barnside.
I’m with you on that one, bro.
“Enough!” Lutz snapped, her eyes now wide open. She slammed the desk with her ruler. “Mariners Knimble and Chinook have now briefed me in full.”
Zeke stared at the floor. Scuff tried a cheesy grin. But under Lutz’s relentless stare the grin evaporated.
Lutz drew a deep breath. “Once again you acted disgracefully.”
Zeke’s mouth dropped.
“You left the School without permission, n’est-ce pas? You associated with an assortment of dubious characters. Worst of all, you dabbled in forces beyond your understanding. Dangerous forces. A boy died. Do you deny any of this?” Lutz glared at them.
“It wasn’t like that,” Zeke protested.
“Ach so, what was it like?” Lutz asked in a fiery tone.
Zeke had so much he wanted to say. Yet words failed him.
Lutz rolled her eyes and continued. “We can be thankful this so-called pocket universe imploded. Nothing ever good comes from the ancient Martians. How many times must I knock that into your dense skull, Hailey?”
Scuff shuffled his chair a few millimetres away from his friend.
“And you, Barnum, are no less to blame!” Lutz added, almost spitting with anger.
“What will happen to the Melas Mine?” Zeke asked.
“Closed indefinitely. I believe Hubs Incorporated are now prospecting the Noachis Terra for a new site.”
“And Cain?”
Lutz cocked her head to one side, deep in thought. At length she said, “I am mindful of your wishes, Hailey. The poor man did suffer the worst kind of loss. I have dropped all charges.”
Zeke let out a sigh of relief.
“Don’t think it ends here, boy. As a result of your actions, Edenville has shifted it allegiance. It now sides with that reckless warmonger Ptolemy Cusp. War on Mars is now a distinct possibility. All thanks to you, one silly little boy.”
Zeke’s cheeks burned. How was any of that his fault?
Lutz clasped her hands together. “And what of your departure from us?”
He scrutinized her broad, black face. She had him there and he knew it. Would she take the chance to expel him? To cast him out penniless, onto the barren plains of Mars?
“As I think you know, Principal Lutz. I missed my ride. The Mariner who agreed to take me to Cepheus waited as long as he could. But we were inside the Citadel too long. He had to depart for his scheduled duties.”
A wicked smile broke onto Lutz’s face. “I see. So you aren’t going anywhere. How unglücklich! But you have resigned from the School. What plans do you have now?”
Zeke wanted to say something very rude. He tried to bite back his indignation. Suddenly tears were streaming down his cheeks.
Lutz and Barnside gave each other looks.
Lutz leaned forward. “Tears won’t work on me, Hailey. A century of naughty children has made me waterproof.”
He sniffed and wiped his eyes with his handkerchief. His mother had recently sent it from Earth with his initials stitched in each corner.
Lutz waited for him to compose himself. Zeke stuffed the handkerchief back in his trouser pocket and drew a deep breath.
Lutz’s frown faded. “After careful consideration,” she began. “I have decided not to accept your resignation.”
It was as if the weight of Mars lifted from Zeke’s shoulders. Now he wanted to give the old bat a big hug.
“There shall, of course, be consequences,” Lutz went on. “Daily detention for a month. All privileges cancelled till next term. Definitely no permissions to go off site. Ever! And someone needs to clean the toilets in Wing Three until the new mac arrives.”
“Yes, Principal.” He still wanted to hug her.
“That goes for you too, Barnum.”
“Whatever you say,” Scuff said, and bowed.
The Particle Beast Page 18
