by Max Chase
With an almighty surge, the Phoenix took off. Peri didn’t have time to say a word before it shot out into space.
Then everything became still.
For once, Diesel was at a loss for words too.
On the screens in front of them, the alien warship loomed large, spikes out, hatches wide open. Thousands of tentacles sprang from the openings. They whipped through space and attached themselves to Earth’s force field. A deafening hum like a mega turbo engine rattled the air and made Peri’s eardrums vibrate.
“What are they doing?” Diesel asked.
“Looks like they’re trying to destroy Earth’s force field.” Peri watched as the tubes sparked white and then glowed violet. Cracks snaked through the planet’s force field until the green and blue forms underneath blurred.
Moments later, millions of armed fighter jets swarmed out of the alien ship. Each one took a different course, speeding to all corners of the galaxy.
“The entire Milky Way is under attack!” Diesel said, horrified.
“We’ve got to do something!” Peri shouted. He twisted wildly in his chair, but the floating astro-harness shadowed his every move, keeping him seated.
Just then, a monitor set into the control panel began to flicker. On the grainy screen the image of a man with a tired face and short white hair blinked in and out.
“General Pegg!” Peri cried.
The head of the IF Star Fighters was desperately trying to contact them. “Peri! … Crrrk… crrrk … Peri, can you—”
Boooom! An explosion in the background made the general flinch. Dirt and debris rained down on him. He spluttered and wiped his eyes, spitting dust out of his mouth. Sirens were wailing.
The boys strained forward to hear him over the noise. “Our Space Station … under atta—… crrrrk … aliens … ssssss-boom! … from planet Xion …” General Pegg fixed his eyes on Peri. The transmission cleared for a moment, and his voice came through in a rush. “Peri, your mission is to take Emperor Elliotte’s son to safety. The Phoenix was built for this very purpose—to save—ra-ta-ta-ta-tac!—in case of—crrrrk—a Universal War—”
The monitor went black, then disappeared into the control panel.
“Wait, come back!” Peri pleaded. His thoughts were scrambled. “Why me? Take who to safety? How am I supposed to fly the Phoenix?”
There was no time for answers. As he watched, the alien warship readied its weapons again. This time, though, it turned its awesome firepower on the Intergalactic Force Space Station.
“Nooooooooo!” Diesel roared.
Countless DeathRays and cluster missiles flashed through the sky. The space station exploded into a cloud of galactic confetti.
Chapter 4
“What are you two idiots waiting for? An imperial invitation?” a high-pitched voice demanded from behind Peri and Diesel. Peri twisted around to see a girl about his own age standing with her hands on her hips. She looked familiar. He was pretty sure he’d seen her around the space station, though she wasn’t a cadet.
The girl marched toward them and said, “We’ve got to get out of here!” When the boys didn’t move, she rolled her eyes and punched a button on the control panel. Peri and Diesel’s astro-harnesses uncrossed and slipped away.
Peri blew out his cheeks in relief. “Hey, thanks!”
“Who in the grim galaxy are you?” Diesel growled at the girl.
“I’m Selene,” she replied, pushing her hair back from her face. “I—”
Diesel cut her off: “And how did you sneak onboard our ship?”
Selene snorted. “I’ve practically lived on the Phoenix since I was old enough to crawl. So it’s more my ship than yours.”
Selene’s spacesuit was patched at the knees. A tool belt hung around her waist. There was a smudge of oil on her cheek.
“Oh, really?” Diesel sneered. “And where have you been hiding, in the garbage unit?”
Selene jutted out her chin. “Actually, I’ve just been fine-tuning the accelerator modules. My dad … he’s an, umm … he’s an IF technician, so—”
“So nothing. You’re a stowaway!” Diesel said. “The Milky Way is under attack and we’re cadets on a military mission. Anyway, I’m the oldest, so I’m in charge.”
Peri ignored them and turned to the control panel. The space station was gone. Who knew if there were any survivors? They had to manage this ship by themselves now. He swept his hands over the console buttons. They started buzzing. He felt like a magnetic force was surging through him, pulling his fingers toward a pyramid-shaped button. It was bizarre, but he was sure it would activate the engine.
Kapow!
Before he had a chance to press the button, a burst of light and a deafening bang knocked them all to the floor. Peri was lying in a dazed heap. He heard snarling and hissing.
Selene shouted a warning: “Intruders!”
“Mo’haa naroch!” Diesel bellowed, jumping to his feet.
Peri scrambled up. Three aliens had beamed onboard!
The creatures towered over them. Their eyes bulged, their mouths gaped, and their antennae twitched. Their arms were covered in bristles, and their chests were armored in hard black shells. Instead of hands they had pincher claws.
The aliens bellowed in a strange accent: “For Xion!”
All three intruders rushed straight at Diesel. He was already crouched in the cosmic-combat attack position. When the first alien reached him, Diesel arched back, spun around on one foot, and whipped the other through the air like a laser blade. The creature’s legs were knocked out from under it. Down it crashed, cracking its shell. Underneath, Peri thought he saw a humanlike body. Were his attackers wearing suits to make them look scary?
“Mars ’rakk!” Diesel roared triumphantly. He readied himself for the next alien, legs braced and muscles flexed. “Bring it on, you cosmic cretins.”
Peri lunged for the control panel. His right hand flipped a lever to activate the ship’s defense shield. His left hand spun a zip-dial for the cloaking device. At least that would stop any more unwanted aliens beaming onboard. Then he leaped into the fray.
“Aaargh!” he yelled. The nearest alien had spun around and swiped at Peri’s head. Peri flung up an arm in defense. A jagged claw tore through his sleeve and slashed his skin. The pain was intense, but he managed to yank his arm free. Blood was soaking into his shirt. The attacker had been knocked off balance, and now he pitched forward right into the hardest kick Peri had ever given.
Smash!
He felt like he was taking a spaceball penalty—while wearing magnetically reinforced boots. The creature bounced off his foot and crumpled.
Peri’s head was zinging. He felt invincible. “You keep those two down,” he called to Diesel. “I’ll see to this one!” He turned to face the last intruder. To Peri’s horror, a scorpion’s tail sprang from the back of its black shell. The tail reared up high and rattled, ready to strike. Peri was rooted to the spot. Without a weapon, he didn’t stand a chance …
Then he saw Selene. She was armed with the most amazing neon vaporizer Peri had ever laid eyes on. It looked lethal, with three gleaming titanium barrels and a galactoscopic sight … and she was aiming it straight at the alien.
“All right, you Xion creep,” she said through gritted teeth. “Step away from the human!”
The alien backed up, hissing and spitting. But all of a sudden it flicked its deadly tail—at Diesel. Selene fired. A neon beam flashed across the room and struck with lightning force. The creature blazed white, shook violently, then faded into thin air. Every molecule had been vaporized.
“Nice shot!” Peri exclaimed. Diesel’s mouth hung open.
The other two aliens were staring at Selene’s vaporizer. Then they looked at each other and hit the orange buttons on the bands strapped just above their pinchers. A nanosecond later they were gone.
“They’ve beamed off,” Diesel said in disgust. “What a bunch of cowards!” He slumped into his chair.
Sel
ene flung the vaporizer to one side. Before it clattered onto the floor, mechanical arms sprang from the ceiling to catch it, clean it, and stow it away.
The girl jumped into the other chair. “Come on!” she urged Peri. “We’ve got to get out of here, now!”
Despite everything, Peri found himself grinning. “No problem!” He raised a finger, and the control panel glided through the air to settle in his hands. He pressed the pyramid-shaped button again. The engine started to hum. A third chair unfolded from the floor. Peri sat down … and the Phoenix took off. He set them on a straight course for the edge of the solar system.
“Okay,” he said, putting the control panel aside, “we need a plan. First, let’s find out if the ship has been damaged. Selene, can you do that?” She nodded and grabbed her tool belt. “Next,” he continued, “we have to figure out everything about the Phoenix— how fast it can go, what weapons it has. And then,” Peri slammed his fist into his palm, “we go back to fight!” He held up his hand for Diesel to high-five.
But Diesel shook his head. “Nope! The general ordered you to get us to safety, and that’s exactly what you’re going to do.”
Peri stared at him. “You’re kidding! You want us to run away? Anyway, General Pegg said I had to get the emperor’s son to safety, and since he’s clearly not onboard …” His voice trailed off.
Diesel was straightening up with a smug smile. The band of hair that stretched across his head glowed royal purple.
“Oh no,” Peri groaned.
“Oh yes,” said Diesel. “I’m Diaxo Samuel Elliotte the Tenth, heir to the imperial throne.” He paused. “But you two can still call me Diesel, for short.”
Selene raised her eyebrows and cocked her head.
Peri felt sick. Of all the people in the universe, why did it have to be Diesel? He sighed. Well, if he had to protect him, at least he would do it his way. And they sure weren’t going to run away from evil aliens.
“I’m piloting this ship,” he challenged, “and I say we go back and fight!”
“Yeah, well, I seriously outrank you,” Diesel shot back. “So you’d better obey me!”
“Selene,” Peri asked, “what’s your vote?”
But there was no reply. Selene’s face was deathly pale, and she was pointing at the viewing panel.
“VORTEX!” she cried.
Chapter 5
Alarms thundered all over the Phoenix: “VORTEX ALERT! VORTEX ALERT!”
Peri was stunned. Diesel grunted in surprise. On the 360-monitor in front of them loomed the ultimate peril: a huge cosmic whirlpool. Peri remembered his one training session on Hazards and Horrors in Space. The three most dangerous threats to a spaceship were a meteorite shower, an alien attack, or a vortex.
And a vortex was the deadliest danger in the whole universe. Nothing could survive it.
They stared hopelessly at the spiraling current ahead. That same moment a Xion spaceship zoomed straight out of its churning center. The vessel’s spikes and eyeballs were retracted, and its hatches were shut tight. It looked like a smooth orb of solid metal as it sped across the starry sky.
“But that’s impossible!” Selene exclaimed.
Peri muttered, “Our instructor said that all machinery explodes or burns up …”
Diesel finished his sentence, “… when sucked into a vortex!”
“Correction,” the Phoenix’s voice said softly. “Human-made machinery always explodes or burns up when sucked into a vortex.”
“Those slime-eating Xion bugonauts!” Diesel shouted. “So that’s how they were able to ambush the Milky Way. They came through the vortex!” He pounded his fists together. “I’ll make ’em pay, if it’s the last thing I do …”
The Phoenix seemed to be listening, because Peri saw a floating console appear in front of them. It had a 3-D target tracker, a row of triggers, and ten X-plode detonators. The gunnery station! Diesel made a dive for it.
The ship lurched forward. They were being drawn into the vortex with overwhelming force, like a moth to a solar flare.
“Okay,” Peri said, his piloting instincts taking over. “Selene, you steer. Try to hold us steady.”
“Don’t worry about me,” she quipped, springing into action. “I just hope the two of you know what you’re doing!”
Peri reached for the turbo-reverse and anti-drift levers, and pulled using every atom of his strength.
But they wouldn’t budge.
He slammed on the dodge mechanism and hyperbrakes. Nothing worked. He couldn’t change the Phoenix’s course by a single space-meter.
Zing! Zing-zing! Laser beams were ricocheting off the defense shield. Peri saw that the Xion warship was fast approaching on their left flank. Its DeathRay pulverizers fired round after round.
But Diesel was ready. He had locked the 3-D tracker. He homed in on what the computer said was the enemy’s munitions store. Now he let loose a volley of xenon missiles. They scored a direct hit. A huge explosion sent fireballs and mangled machinery spewing out of the Xion ship’s hatches.
“˘Gr~a-hin,” Diesel gloated.
“Yeah!” Peri yelled, even though he had no idea what Diesel meant.
An instant later the smile slid from his face. The vortex was so close it completely filled the Phoenix’s monitors. As the terrified crew watched, a nearby asteroid was swallowed up and burned to ashes. A star the size of a space station followed.
There was no way to escape the vortex.
Selene frowned. “Hold on to your astro-harnesses. There’s only one way out of this mess,” she said. And then Peri heard her mutter under her breath: “But it probably won’t work.”
Selene gripped the controls so tightly her knuckles turned white. And then she accelerated.
“What in Neptune’s name are you doing?!” Peri wheezed, as he was thrust back into his seat by their speed.
Selene kept her eyes fixed on the velocity-viewer. “I’m going to set the ship to superluminal speed. If we’re fast enough, we might just be able to power through the vortex without exploding.”
“Nothing can go superluminal,” Diesel said.
“The Phoenix was built for it, but it’s never been tested,” Selene replied. “And it takes a lot of power, so we’ll only get one shot.”
“You’re going to fly into the vortex?” Peri cried.
“Why not?” Selene said, scanning the control panel. “What have we got to lose?”
The Phoenix began to rock in the strong astronomical current. All around it stars, asteroids, comets, and meteors were being sucked into the vortex. They blew up in multicolored fires.
Peri knew that, even at top speed, the odds of them surviving were less than nothing.
But they couldn’t give up. So much depended on them: the mission General Pegg had given them, the future of the IF—maybe even the outcome of this Universal War. They had to keep trying, no matter what the odds.
“All right,” Peri said, “initiate superluminal speed. It’s our only chance. And who knows,” he added hopefully, “if we make it, maybe we can stop more Xion ships from invading.”
Selene cleared her throat. “There’s just one problem.”
“Oh, here we go,” Diesel said. “What now, whiz kid?”
Selene gave him a withering look. “I’ve figured out a lot of the controls by myself, but I’ve always been on the Phoenix when it’s grounded, so—”
“So you don’t actually know how to take us to superluminal,” Diesel scoffed. “Well, that’s just great!”
The ship was already looping the outermost rim of the vortex. Peri took a deep breath and studied the control panel, concentrating harder than ever before. A smooth red section caught his attention. He flattened his palm over it, heard a click, then saw it glide open. Without stopping to think, he flicked the two switches inside.
“Phoenix: go faster than the speed of light!” he ordered.
The Phoenix paused, as if considering his request. Then the ship’s voice said, “Engagin
g superluminal drive … three … two … one …”
The vessel shuddered like a collapsing star. Then it leaped into the vortex at such phenomenal speed that everything blurred. When the whirling current took hold of the Phoenix, an earsplitting explosion crashed all around them.
CRACK-KADABOOM!
The spaceship spun and jolted and convulsed. Diesel and Selene covered their eyes. Peri held on to his armrest in a death grip, barely able to breathe.
Then everything went black.
Chapter 6
It was the most complete darkness Peri had ever experienced. He couldn’t see the slightest gleam in the viewing panel, or the tiniest pinprick of light anywhere.
There was nothing at all.
He was thrown forward onto his astro-harness, then back into his seat, left and right, up and down. A hard object he couldn’t see grazed his cheek. Even as he was being flung around, he caught sight of a faint glow ahead. Seconds later, he could make things out in the dimness. A loose wrench whirled through the air toward him, only just missing his forehead.
The Phoenix shot out the other side of the vortex and spun around one more time to face its churning mouth. Then the vessel came to a halt. The lights blinked on, and the air pressure inside the bridge stabilized.
After a dazed pause, they all cheered. Selene punched the air: “We made it!”
“That … was … close …” Peri panted with relief.
Diesel patted himself all over. “Yep, I’m alive …” Then he grinned and shouted even louder, “Ǒ’jhic!”
Selene glanced around for the wrench that had fallen from her tool belt. Suddenly she grabbed Peri’s arm. Peri winced in pain. He’d almost forgotten the gash the Xion alien had made with its pincher. Selene’s other hand was pointing straight at the vortex. It had stopped rotating and now hung in space, a heaving, pitch-black mass. As they stared, it started to spin in the other direction, gathering speed with unbelievable force.
