Evil Star
Page 5
The general paused and frowned. ‘You youngsters have achieved something remarkable. I sent you out on a very simple mission – to capture Jaxx. Not only did you accomplish this and return the Heart of Mars, but you also found the time to bring down the Mezzoka Clan, something we’ve been trying to do for years! Peri, Diesel . . . Selene, I know you probably want to take a well-earned rest after all your adventures. But I need my best young Star Fighters back on the job immediately. Your next mission is even more dangerous and important than the last one. There’s no time to lose.’
Peri shared an excited look with Diesel and Selene. He couldn’t wait to get back on the Phoenix and defend the Milky Way once more. Now that all three of them were officially Star Fighters, he felt ready to take on an entire galaxy.
He looked at the general. ‘What’s the mission?’
Join Peri and the crew of the Phoenix on their next mission!
Can they outwit a gang of outlaws on a remote desert planet?
Find out! In . . .
STEALTH FORCE
COMING SOON!
Turn over to read Chapter 1
Chapter 1
‘I’ll tell you something interesting,’ Anurack said, his four heads bobbing enthusiastically. He held up his fork. ‘Something very similar to this green vegetable – which you call a “pea” – grows on Torganora, one of the planets of the Shantanian system in the Crab Nebula. But on that planet it’s called a “blarp”. That’s very interesting, isn’t it?’ One of his heads looked at Peri, another at Diesel and another at Selene. The fourth just smiled at nothing in particular.
‘Erm,’ Peri said. ‘That’s quite interesting.’
‘Yes, I knew you’d find it interesting,’ Anurack said. He popped some chips into the mouth that had just spoken and began speaking from a different head. He was always switching his voice from one head to another. Keeping track of them made Peri dizzy. ‘Now, you see this fork? On the planet Sklomp, they don’t use forks – they use hollow wooden tubes to suck their food up. Of course, they eat porridge mainly. Isn’t that just fascinating?’
Diesel rolled his eyes. Selene snorted, trying to suppress a giggle.
Peri shot her a warning look. It was very important not to offend Anurack: General Pegg had told them that Anurack’s Galactic Federation were old allies of the Milky Way. The Star Fighters’ assignment was simply to return him to his home planet of Koring, keeping him safe and happy. At cruising speed the trip took five days, but there were times when it had seemed more like five months to Peri. Anurack talked non-stop, and was surely the most boring sentient lifeform in the universe. And that was including the Talking Worms of Betelgeuse.
They had almost reached Koring and were having their last meal together in the Phoenix restaurant: a classic Earth-style feast of steaks, chips, peas and tomato ketchup, with fruit and ice cream to follow.
‘This tomato ketchup,’ Anurack said, as he dipped a chip, ‘is red, which I believe is the colour of Earthlings’ blood. On Jangananx they have a strange superstition where they can’t eat anything the colour of their own blood, which is yellow. That means they can’t eat bananas. What do you think of that?’
‘I think it’s really boring,’ Diesel muttered.
Oh no! Peri thought. Diesel’s cracked – and we’re so close to the end of this endless journey!
General Pegg had promised that if the Phoenix crew carried out this mission on time and without incident, there would be another, much more exciting mission for them. But if they offended Anurack they’d probably all be grounded indefinitely.
All four of Anurack’s heads swivelled in Diesel’s direction. One of the heads looked puzzled, one looked suspicious and one looked hurt. The fourth looked all those things at once as it spoke. ‘What did you –’
‘Diesel said it was really, really enthralling!’ Peri said, with a burst of inspiration.
Anurack’s four heads smiled.
‘That’s it!’ Diesel said. ‘And very useful. If I ever go to Jangananx, I’ll know not to go around offering everyone bananas!’
‘Oh, but you could offer them bananas if they were peeled,’ Anurack said. ‘They love fruit on Jangananx. Do you know, it’s been calculated that they eat 5,734 varieties of fruit there?’
Peri stole a look at his watch. They would be docking in fifty-three minutes. Fifty-three long minutes, each filled with sixty long seconds.
‘Here we are!’ Peri said, fifty-two minutes later. The grey-and-brown sphere of Koring filled the 360-monitor. ‘Soon we’ll be landing on Planet Boring – I mean, Koring.’
Selene snorted, just managing to contain her giggles. Diesel had gone and locked himself in his sleeping quarters on Peri’s orders because they couldn’t risk him upsetting Anurack.
‘Koring’s a very interesting planet,’ Anurack said. ‘It orbits our sun at a mean average distance of 121 million kilometres. The atmosphere is composed of 17 different gases . . .’
Peri tuned Anurack out as he concentrated on easing off the boosters and adjusting the Nav-wheel to line the Phoenix up with the docking bay below. His special bionic connection with the ship made the tricky move feel simple and instinctive, as though he was manoeuvring his own body into position. A few moments later, the Phoenix came to rest neatly between the gates of the docking bay.
Peri breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Welcome home, Anurack.’
He and Selene led Anurack off the Bridge and down a mauve-lit corridor. Peri sent a telepathic order to the Phoenix and watched the wall open noiselessly. A ramp extended itself down to the floor of the docking bay, where a group of four-headed Koringers were waiting.
‘It’s been a pleasant voyage,’ Anurack said. ‘I’ve enjoyed talking to you.’
Peri raised his voice to cover Selene’s giggle. ‘We enjoyed it too.’
‘I’ll let General Pegg know what a good job you did,’ Anurack said. ‘I only wish you could come and visit for a little while – I know everything there is to know about Koring, so I could give you a guided tour of the whole planet. You’d find it really interesting.’
‘I’m sure we would, but we don’t have the time,’ Peri said.
He noticed a small timer had appeared in the bottom corner of the Mission Update screen on the control panel. It said, 120 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds and 0 tenths of a second. As he watched, it began to count down, the tenths flickering away at lightning speed, the seconds ticking away steadily after them.
‘Well, goodbye, then,’ Anurack said.
Peri and Selene waved as Anurack walked down the ramp and the Koringers came forward to greet him.
‘Welcome home, Anurack. Did you come back via the Horsehead Nebula?’
‘No,’ said Anurack, shaking all four of his heads. ‘We used the Intergalactic Highway as far as Rigel, where we turned left on to the hyperspace bypass.’
‘You should have gone via the Arcturan Wormhole,’ another Koringer said, his heads frowning. There were so many heads now, Peri lost track of who was who. ‘That’s a quicker way. And there are more interesting things to see . . .’
Peri sent another telepathic order and the Phoenix’s wall closed, blocking the Koringers from view.
Selene punched the air. ‘I’m glad that’s over!’
Diesel emerged from hiding. ‘Thank the Spirit of the Universe – Anurack’s finally gone!’ Diesel kicked his legs in the air for joy.
There was a light tap, and the Phoenix’s wall opened again silently. Anurack was standing at the end of the ramp.
Diesel, who had his back to the wall, carried on his high-kicking dance, chanting, ‘He’s gone, gone, gone!’
Two of Anurack’s heads coughed. Diesel turned around and stopped laughing. His strip of hair turned pink with embarrassment.
There was an awkward silence.
‘Erm, Diesel was just . . .’ Peri faltered for a moment, before his bionic circuits buzzed with an idea. ‘Performing a traditional Martian farewell!’
‘I�
�m acquainted with the customs of Mars,’ one of Anurack’s heads said, while the other three frowned. ‘And I’m not aware of any such dance.’
‘We do it all the time,’ Diesel said. ‘But only when the visitor has left . . . that’s why you wouldn’t have seen it.’
Three of Anurack’s faces smiled. The fourth said, ‘Ah, that explains it. An interesting fact to add to my collection! Well, I just forgot my hoverbag.’ He beckoned, and the hoverbag rose up and floated along beside him as he exited once more.
Peri closed the wall. ‘Let’s get out of here before he comes back!’
Soon the Phoenix was cruising through outer space.
Peri spoke into the com-system. ‘Bridge to Otto – the coast is now clear.’
A section of wall slid open and Otto came slouching on to the Bridge. He had had to hide while Anurack was on board because he was still technically a stowaway.
‘Has he gone?’ Otto said. ‘It’s been really boring cooped up in my quarters all this time.’
‘Not as boring as being with Anurack!’ Selene said.
‘What’s that?’ Otto pointed with his long black tongue at the timer ticking down on the Mission Update screen. It now said, 119 hours and 47 minutes.
‘That’s the countdown until our next mission,’ Peri explained. ‘We have to get back to the IF Space Station before it reaches zero or General Pegg will give our next mission to someone else.’
‘Should we go Superluminal?’ Diesel asked.
‘No need, it’s a waste of energy,’ Peri said. ‘We’ve got plenty of time, even if we travel at cruising speed.’
‘We’d better!’ Diesel said. ‘I’m looking forward to another mission.’
‘I hope I don’t have to hide out on this one,’ Otto grumbled. ‘It’s about time I got the chance to use my skills.’
‘You haven’t got any skills,’ Diesel said.
‘Oh, haven’t I?’ Otto boomed. ‘Well, let me tell you, you Martian misfit . . .’ He hissed and uncoiled one of his long arms, twirling it above his head.
Diesel squared up to him, jutting his chin out and clenching his fists.
‘Ssshh!’ Peri said, holding up his hand. ‘What’s that noise?’
Strange, low, rhythmic knocking sounds filled the Bridge.
Peri closed his eyes and tuned into the Phoenix’s computer. He felt an electric tingling as the noises gradually began to make sense. Peri had never learned Morse code, but the Phoenix knew it.
Dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot . . .
‘It’s an SOS!’ Peri said. ‘Someone’s calling for help!’
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in August 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
This electronic edition published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Text copyright © Working Partners Limited 2012
Illustrations copyright © Sam Hadley 2012
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