A whole galaxy lay on the other side of the glass. Planets and nebula and red giants and comets and binary stars. Worlds of fire and worlds of ice, all waiting to be discovered. And somewhere, out among all that coldness and radiation, across thousands of light years, he was going to find his father.
Chapter Three
The Upper Stratosphere
“We’re going to stop!”
Zeke swivelled in his seat. Sparks of electricity were dancing in Pin-mei’s eyes.
“Sheesh!” Scuff exclaimed. “She’s a pre-cog.”
Zeke had done his research on all of the psychic senses. Pre-cog was short for ‘precognition’, people who were able to see quick flashes of the future. But that meant—
“We’re going to stop!” she wailed again.
“Miss!” Zeke called out.
“Tsk, tsk, what’s up with you two?” Stella snapped, hurrying over.
“We’re going to stop,” Zeke and Pin-mei cried together.
“Nonsense! This vehicle is unstoppable.”
At that very moment the grinding noise of the engines died. The Cruiser slowed, hesitated, and dropped a few feet. It stopped with a loud clang.
“We’re going to fall!” the pimply boy shrieked, running his hands through his spiky hair.
A voice boomed from the speakers.
“This is your captain speaking. Do not be alarmed. We are experiencing a minor hitch and have come to a temporary stop thirty miles up. Our magnetic brakes activate automatically at times like these. So lay back and relax while we fix this little inconvenience.”
Zeke’s stomach churned. The tower was swaying.
“Refreshments anyone?” Stella said a little too loudly, and scurried off to find the hover-trolley.
Pin-mei’s eyes had returned to a healthier shade, but she hadn’t finished.
“It’s in First Class.”
“What?” Scuff asked.
“The thing’s that stopping us. It’s in the bad man’s case.”
Scuff and Zeke traded baffled looks.
“We’d better tell the attendant,” Scuff suggested.
“She won’t listen,” Zeke replied. They all knew he was right.
“Zeke, why don’t you check it out?” Scuff said, biting on his knuckles.
“Me!”
“Well…you’re the oldest.”
“Um, I suppose, okay.”
Zeke unclipped his safety belt and stood up.
“Be careful,” Pin-mei said, in an anxious voice.
“Don’t worry about me,” Zeke replied, in the bravest voice he could muster.
He made a feeble attempt at a carefree grin and began to walk away. After a few steps he hesitated. Scuff had no idea when his birthday was! But it was too late to turn back. Zeke took a deep gulp and walked on.
~~~
It was easier than he expected. The crew were too busy to notice him sidle up to First Class. Professor Magma burst through the doorway as Zeke approached.
“Where’s the Captain? This delay is unacceptable!”
He pushed Zeke to one side and stormed off. Zeke checked the coast was clear and slipped inside. He found himself alone in the roomy, leather-bound interior. Luckily the archaeologist was the sole passenger in First Class.
The crocodile case was lying on the Professor’s seat. Zeke edged towards it cautiously. He paused. Should he retreat while he had the chance? Magma’s magnopad lay adjacent to the case, beeping quietly to itself. He picked it up and pressed the scroll symbol. Words shuffled across the screen. It was an academic report.
Deciphering Martian Runes
By Doctor E. Enki
One: The Significance of Dthoth in Hesperian Mars.
Dthoth was both Alpha and Omega and usually depicted as
Zeke frowned. Martian runes? He’d never heard of such a thing. His curiosity was hooked, but the risk of being caught was too great to read any further.
“Better get on with it,” he told himself and opened the case. “Wow!”
A smooth, round stone the size of a football was sitting inside, glimmering with a radiant purple lustre. An intricate maze of grooves had been carved into its upper half. Zeke’s scalp tingled as he examined the pattern. A strange desire to hold the stone boiled up inside him. It wanted his touch. He knew it, as if the thing were whispering to him.
He placed his finger at the beginning of the pattern, on the side of the globe. Slowly he traced along the complex path, upwards and inwards. The stone seemed to pull on his fingertip. He was sweating although the cabin wasn’t hot. Then, at last, Zeke came to the very top.
The globe flickered like a candle going out.
With a crackle it collapsed into nothingness. Zeke, the Televator and the rest of the universe fell into this void. Voices echoed through darkness. Senseless voices that sounded like scraping rocks. A hideous inhuman face appeared out of nowhere and rushed towards him. Then came a lightening-white flare. Fire scorched his eyeballs and faded.
Zeke was standing in a rust-coloured desert. A black cloud hovered over distant mountains. What could it be? Smoke? Sand? His throat turned dry. The cloud was moving towards him.
Zeke wanted to run but his legs felt disconnected from the rest of his body. The thing in the air was travelling at a fantastic speed. Countless black particles were swirling inside. Insects?
Desperately Zeke glanced around for help. The desert was empty. The swarm was very near now and with a terrible swift movement, it swooped down and engulfed him.
Thousands of soft, furry bodiesbattered against him. Squirming, crawling, writhing, they quickly covered Zeke. He frantically tried to wipe them off, but there were too many. They weren’t insects but symbols, living symbols!
Blinded, he fell into the sand. The shapes slithered up his legs, snaking through his hair. Zeke tried to scream but they flew into his mouth, forcing their way deeper. The creatures surged around his veins before, finally, flooding up into his brain.
~~~
He was lying on the floor of First Class. Thunder raged inside his skull. Had he fainted? The engines hummed in the background. The cabin was moving again.
Professor Magma was bending over Zeke, ranting furiously.
“How dare you interfere with the Orb of Words!”
Zeke struggled to speak over the throb of pain.
“Crthrf gsh gaa nuk?”
Magma pulled back.
“What did you say?”
Zeke rubbed his aching head.
“What is that thing?” he asked again.
Magma didn’t reply.
Zeke took a deep breath and gathered his wits. First he glanced at the stone, sitting in its case as though nothing had happened. Then he stared into Magma’s huge, burning eyes.
Oh no, he’d been caught red-handed!
“Are we okay in here?”
Both Zeke and Magma turned to the doorway. Stella Gates had poked her head into First Class.
Magma smiled at her through gritted teeth.
“Just peachy. Little Blue Boy here tripped and banged his head. I think he should lay down here for a while. I’ll take care of him.”
“You will not,” said Zeke, suddenly afraid. Mustering his strength he stumbled to his feet. Their eyes met, Magma flashing his tiger glare again.
“And I’m fifteen, not a little boy.”
Zeke staggered off to find his seat.
~~~
The gold ring spun up around the never-ending column, higher and higher. The landscape fell away. The horizon curved to the arc of the planet. The atmosphere chilled and thinned.
Inside Zeke slouched back in his chair.
“What happened?” Scuff demanded.
Zeke said nothing, nursing his tender head.
Scuff asked Pin-Mei, “So what did you see? In your premonition?”
Pin-mei’s baby face clouded over.
“I’m not sure. Something dangerous.”
Scuff gestured impatiently for her to conti
nue.
“That thing in First Class made us stop and then made us start. I don’t know how, I just feel it.”
“Are you sure nothing happened while you were in there?” Scuff asked Zeke again.
“Nothing,” he groaned.
What had really taken place? It seemed too crazy to confide to his new friends. And Martian runes? Zeke figured an archaeologist studied dead cultures. Did this mean non-human civilisation had once existed on Mars? If so it was the best kept secret in the Solar System. But why?
Pin-mei fiddled with her teddy bear.
“I’ve never had a premonition as clear as that before. Do you think it’s because we’re leaving the Earth’s magnetic field?”
Scuff stroked his chin.
“Doubtful, sis, we weren’t that high. And we’re inside the magnetic field of the Televator.”
Zeke looked up.
“Huh?”
“You didn’t know? Any magnetic field disrupts psychic powers. That’s why they only work at their best in Outer Space. Surely you’d heard that?” Scuff sounded surprised.
Pin-mei interrupted, “That’s why the Chasm was built on Mars. It’s geologically dead. No magnetic field.”
Pin-mei and Scuff gave him a baffled look.
“Oh, I knew that,” Zeke replied quickly, and cursed himself under his breath.
He turned his attention to the window and the tapestry of stars beyond. The sooner he got away from Magma the better. He checked his watch again and again, but the minutes crawled. The journey seemed never-ending.
Yet nothing lasts forever, not even the Televator. Although from the ground it appeared endless, it terminated eighty miles up. A crown-shaped satellite topped the tower, glittering with solar panels.
“Boys and girls, we’ll shortly be arriving at the Hyperbola Spaceport,” Stella bellowed into the microphone. “All change here for Luna Alpha, Luna Beta, Mars and the known universe. Do not undo your safety belts until the vehicle has come to a complete halt.”
She forced a garlic-reeking smile at the passengers and dived into the galley.
A shadow engulfed the cabin. They had arrived.
Chapter Four
Hyperbola Spaceport
Zero gravity proved a clumsy business. At first the students found bouncing off the ceiling a giddy thrill. But weightlessness quickly became a drag, quite literally. Accidentally bumping into somebody was all too easy. Cries of ‘ouch!’ and ‘watch out, moron!’ rang out as they pulled themselves through the docking chamber.
They emerged into the huge steel gallery known as the Transit Deck. One by one they grabbed onto the guide cables, wondering what would happen next. A young African man with a cascade of dreadlocks and the white uniform of the Star Mariners floated gracefully towards them, as if by magic.
“Greetings newbies,” he said in a slow lilting voice. “My name is Edward Dayo. It is my honour to perform today’s translocation.”
“I don’t like being called a newbie,” protested the pimply boy.
Dayo’s broad smile sparkled in response. “I think it’s preferable to the names you will be called at School. The older students will christen you Earthworms. If you are lucky.”
“Whatever for, Mr Dayo?” Pin-mei asked, horrified at the very thought.
“Well you are from Earth. And you will live in the bowels of Mars. Perhaps like a worm?”
“I’ve been called worse,” Scuff remarked sourly.
Pin-mei turned to Zeke. “We’re hardly invertebrates, are we Zeke?”
Zeke didn’t answer, his attention was fixed on Dayo. While the students had to push and pull themselves through the weightless environment he appeared to glide by willpower alone.
“Are you a Star Mariner?” he asked.
“Absolutely, young man. Third Class.”
Zeke’s heart leapt. He had never met a Mariner before. And here was one, a man who could leap across the galaxy in seconds. He could outrun a supernova or escape a black hole. Perhaps it was Zeke’s imagination, but Dayo’s eyes seemed to twinkle with stardust. Just as he imagined his father’s did.
“Third class? Is that why you’re on a cushy number?” the pimply boy asked.
“Cushy number?” Zeke repeated, surprised at such a cheeky attitude.
Dayo’s enigmatic smile did not waver.
“The trip to Mars could be considered a trip around the block,” he explained. “After all we Star Mariners are famous for piloting colony ships to the deepest parts of Outer Space.”
Zeke frowned.
“Yes, about that, is it true they never come back?” the pimply boy asked.
The tiniest hint of uncertainty flickered on Dayo’s face. He shifted in midair. “And whom do I have the honour of addressing?” he asked, beaming at the pimply boy.
“Snod. Jasper Snod,” the boy said with an aloof pout.
“The Mars flight is my apprenticeship. My turn at the big wheel will come when I clock up enough flight hours. Now, everyone, if you will be so kind as to follow me, my Go-Ship awaits.”
And then, quite effortlessly, Dayo pirouetted and glided away. A chorus of gasps escaped the new years.
“Psychokinesis,” Scuff explained to an awestruck Zeke. “Happens to be my personal gift.” His face contorted. With a quiver he started rising. Unlike the nimble Dayo he swayed like a buoy in rough waters.
“Psychokinesis. The power to move objects by thought?” Zeke asked.
“Very big objects,” Pin-mei stated matter-of-factly as they watched Scuff’s hefty backside drift past.
With a screech Scuff tipped upside down and rammed into Snod.
“Watch it, yak boy!” Snod barked.
Scuff blushed and grabbed onto a bulkhead, too embarrassed to speak.
For a quarter of a mile they hauled themselves along guide ropes. Edward Dayo bobbed ahead, encouraging them.
“Excellent. Much better than last year’s intake.”
“Why can’t we move our bodies by mind power, like you?” Zeke called out from the back. His biceps were beginning to ache.
Dayo shrugged gently.
“Ah, that has taken me years of study, young newbie, years!”
Dayo’s Go-Ship was docked at departure gate twelve. He opened the airlock and ushered them in.
“WAIT!”
It was Professor Magma, who was desperately trying to catch up. “I demand you take me to Mars. My tickets are all in order.”
“No can do,” Dayo said, politely but firmly. “This is a chartered flight, Professor, in the name of the school. There’s a scheduled ship later. You can take that.”
“Damn the Chasma School and its deviant brats. My work is of the highest importance. Top government clearance. Now let me in.”
“No way, Professor. My ship is strictly for newbies.”
Dayo stepped inside the airlock.
“Do you realise who you are talking too?”
“Totally!” the Mariner replied, and pushed a button. The airlock swished shut.
Magma pressed his nose to the window and caught sight of Zeke. The Professor shot him a carnivorous glare before reluctantly moving away.
“Why is he going to Mars?” Zeke enquired.
Dayo grinned. “There are times, little newbie, when it is safer to be the ostrich with its head in the sand. Now, please sit down and prepare yourself for Mars.”
~~~
“I need a volunteer,” Dayo said.
“Me, Sir, please me, me!” pleaded Snod.
“No, me!” Scuff begged.
A forest of hands shot up around the pyramid-shaped flight deck. Dayo was standing on the Mariner’s Wheel in the centre while the students buckled their safety belts. His large unblinking gaze surveyed the scene.
“You, young Mariner.” He pointed a long finger at Zeke.
The boy’s heart sank. The last thing he needed was attention.
“Come and help me.”
Zeke strode up to the Wheel, a podium full of computer co
nsoles. A mass of wires dangled down around a man-sized scaffold covered with safety straps.
“Please fasten me in while I upload to the motherboard.”
Dayo began tugging specific wires from the jumble and pressing them to his skull. The sensors were coated with nanocells that bonded painlessly to his skin. Zeke, meanwhile, strapped the Mariner onto the scaffold’s foam cover.
Dayo spoke softly, so only the two of them could hear.
“Do you know why I chose you, my blue-headed friend?”
Zeke looked into those stardust-shimmering eyes. “Not really.”
“There is something about you, something that separates you from to these other newbies.”
Zeke reddened. Had Dayo caught him out? Some Mariners were telepathic. Could he read all the lies inside Zeke’s brain?
“What was your score, in your ESP exam?”
“I- I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember? How peculiar. Yet there’s something about you. What is your name, little Earthworm?”
“Zeke Hailey.”
“For you, Zeke Hailey, Mars will be a revelation!”
Dayo had finished wiring himself into the ship’s controls. He stretched out his arms and Zeke secured the Mariner’s upper body.
“What’s it like, Sir, translocation?”
“You will find out soon enough, young newbie.”
“For you, I mean, doing it. Is it painful?”
“The Chasma School will teach you about such things and how to bear them. Now is not the time.”
“Well then, how is it done?”
Dayo laughed. “How does an atom split? The atom doesn’t know. But that doesn’t stop it. You just calm your mind and think where you want to be. You will learn meditation techniques at the school, my inquisitive Earthworm.”
Zeke finished the last strap.
“Please retake your seat,” Dayo said. For the first time there was an edge of anxiety in his voice.
Zeke scurried back to his place.
Dayo surveyed the battery of dials. “All safety protocols checked and running to optimum proficiency,” he announced to the ship’s computer. Then he peered back at his passengers.
“Boys and girls, it’s my honour to be translocating you today to the Red Planet. From here on in, may all your landings be lucky ones!” His wide smile lit up the compartment.
The Infinity Trap Page 2
