With sickening speed a celestial object filled the heavens. Zeke felt a flash of fear. The great shape in the sky paused. It was Magma.
Zeke remembered his dreams, of giant monsters stomping across landscapes. This was far worse. Magma was on a scale way beyond that, with a head larger than any moon. His shoulders and chest dropped beyond the horizon. He was wearing an electron-microscope eyepiece, obviously to see Zeke. The antenna attached to the earpiece was probably a micro-sound receiver. This meant Magma could also hear him.
The giant moved nearer eclipsing the electric sun and plunging the Orb-world into shadow. Magma’s lips were speaking. His words rolled across the perfect plain like thunder.
“Well, I certainly cut you down to size!” The immense head cackled.
Zeke scanned his surroundings. He felt horribly vulnerable, with nowhere to run, nothing to give cover. At any moment Magma could reach down with his colossal thumb and squash an area the size of England.
Chapter Eighteen
On a Small World
“I call this one the Orb of Can Do,” Magma boomed. “Because I can do this.”
He pursed his lips and blew across the surface of the orb-planet. A gale rose in the distance and howled towards Zeke. Before he could run the wind tumbled him to the floor. He skidded along the shiny-smooth surface by the seat of his trousers, choking on Magma’s bad breath. The storm of halitosis faded as quickly as it came.
Zeke stood up, unsteady and scared.
“Or this!”
Magma tossed a one-dollar coin. It spun across the sky like a flattened moon and crashed out of sight. The shockwaves threw Zeke back onto the ground.
“How about this one?”
The archaeologist dragged his fingernails down the side of the orb. The high-pitched sound screeched into Zeke’s eardrums.
“I could play this game all day,” the gigantic face smirked. “But duty calls, sadly.”
Magma moved away, out of focus. He returned and held up a note card the size of Africa.
“Mr Hailey, translate this Hesperian and I’ll free you and your little girlfriend. Space Scout’s honour.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Magma brought the card nearer to the planet. Zeke recognised the words although they were too cryptic to make sense.
The key is a brain, for thoughts alone unlock the Infinity Trap.
“Come on my little blue-headed boy, tell me.”
“What do you need me for? You translate it.”
“I told you already. You’re fluent. Compared to you, Earth’s brainiest linguists are moronic beginners. I know the passage is about the Infinity Trap but no more. NOW TELL ME!”
Magma’s raised voice caused the tiny landscape to tremble.
“Why don’t you use the Orb of Words on yourself? Afraid?”
“You’re even more stupid than I suspected. I’m not psychic. The orbs only work on psychics. The Hesperians had great intelligence way ahead of Man’s current stage of evolution. Only Psychics have brainwaves sophisticated enough to trigger the Hesperian technology.”
Zeke was dumbfounded. He was about to tell the Professor he wasn’t psychic when he realised there was no point. But how had two orbs worked on him? Magma must be wrong. Still perhaps it was better the archaeologist didn’t know that.
A sudden earthquake shook Zeke off his feet once again. Magma was rocking the Orb case.
“Wakey, wakey! Tell me what I need to know.”
“And then you’ll kill me! What’s the point?”
Magma stamped his foot, the impact reverberating like a sonic boom.
“You WILL tell me—oh drat. Someone’s at the door.”
He flipped the case lid and night fell in a straight line. Zeke sat in the starless dark and desperately reviewed his options. There didn’t seem to be any.
“What was that?”
Faraway in the blackness something was making a scratching noise. Faraway but getting closer. It sounded like feet, lots of feet, scampering in Zeke’s direction. A horrible thought occurred to him. Maybe he wasn’t alone on this planet? Hadn’t the archaeologist said the Orb was gathering dust for years back on Earth? Supposing it had gathered microscopic dust-mites as well? Dust mites were hardly psychic, so they wouldn’t have shrunk. Didn’t they feed off discarded skin cells? And what was he now but a skin cell?
Fear clawed at Zeke’s throat. But then a new day dawned. A wall of daylight zoomed up from the horizon. Zeke was almost glad to see Magma’s vast face.
“That policeman friend of yours is being most annoying. Says I won’t be allowed out of this horrid school until you’ve turned up. I have no choice but to let you go.”
Magma had a malicious twinkle in his eyes as he spoke. Strangely, Zeke fancied there was something more Magma was keeping to himself. But Zeke was in no position to argue.
“Actually you could escape at any time. Just jump,” Magma went on.
Zeke immediately leapt six feet. With the Orb’s weak gravity it was easy, but nothing happened.
“Try harder,” Magma said.
Zeke summoned all his strength and kicked off. Six feet, ten feet, fifteen feet, he felt himself flying upwards. He looked back to see the glossy ground falling away. The horizon curved. The landscape became a circle, as big as a continent, but rapidly shrinking. Zeke flew higher. The Orb-world became smaller and smaller. Above him the square sky was contracting inwards. Magma was reducing to his normal height.
And it was over. Zeke was back in the side room, next to the table. The Orb was no larger than a football.
“Tell anyone about this and the girl ends up in a shallow Martian grave,” Magma said through a leering smile.
There was something in his hand. A gun! He aimed it at Zeke.
“Nooooooo—”
~~~
Zeke felt as if a trillion volts had zapped his brain. He opened his eyes. It took a moment to focus. He was in his room! He tried to speak but his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth.
“Take it easy, kiddo.”
It was Lieutenant Doughty, mug of tea in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He handed Zeke the water, grinning ear to ear.
“Was it one of those psychic fits?” he asked.
“What?” Zeke replied, rubbing his sore head.
“I found you on the stage. What knocked you out? A psychic fit?”
“Magma shot me. You’ve got to arrest him. He admitted he’s got Pin-mei.”
“Hold your horses, cowboy, what do you mean you were shot? Where’s the bullet hole?”
Zeke quickly ran his hands up and down his body. Apart from a hurricane force headache he was fine.
“It must have been one of those guns the police use. At least they do on Earth.”
“You mean a neural disruptor. We have them here too. Wipe out the old synapses long enough to cause unconsciousness but no serious damage. You’re saying Magma used one on you?”
“Totally!”
“You’d better start at the beginning.”
In between sips of water Zeke poured out the whole incredible story. Magma’s confession, the Orb of Can-Do, the note card in Hesperian runes.
“Hesperian writing? And you understood it? Amazing!”
The Lieutenant pulled his magnopad from his briefcase and began taking notes.
“This is very important, Zeke. Tell me exactly what it said.”
“The key is a brain, for thoughts alone unlock the Infinity Trap.”
Doughty scribbled furiously.
“Are you sure that’s what it said? Absolutely?”
“Yes, Leo. But what does it mean?”
“Haven’t the foggiest old bean. But I need to bring this to the Governor’s attention a.s.a.p..”
“But you are going to Magma’s dig? You’ve got to. He’s holding Pin-mei.”
“I can’t do anything until I get a warrant from the Governor. That’s why I need to present him this evidence. Hopefully I can persuade hi
m to act.”
Zeke was distraught.
“You’re not…leaving me?”
Leopold Doughty looked him in the eye.
“Listen, boy. Saving your little friend is my top priority. But I have to act within the law. Can’t go storming into Magma’s camp guns blazing. Now have faith. I know it’s tough for you here, but stay put and keep an eye on what’s going on. I’ll be back in a few days and we’ll take it from there.”
A few days! Zeke wanted to rush out into Mariners Valley right now. The policeman saw the disappointment on Zeke’s face and ruffled his hair.
“Well, better go, old chap. Sooner I leave the sooner I return. I have to take my squad back with me too. Now chin up.”
The huge man squeezed himself through the door to Zeke’s cave and was gone. Zeke fell back against his mattress, sinking in an ocean of depression. Pin-mei had been gone three days. At least he knew she was alive, but for how long? He missed her terribly. In fact he was missing a lot of people, Pin-mei, his mother, Scuff, even Doughty who had only been gone two minutes.
Zeke curled up in a ball.
“I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to do something,” he repeated over and over, long into the Martian night.
Chapter Nineteen
The Cranny
Zeke sat alone, poking two Martian sausages with his fork. How he yearned for his mum’s egg and bacon. But even more he yearned for her smile. He glanced around at the other sleepy students, yawning over their cold fry-ups. Everyone was ignoring him.
“Finished, Sir?” droned a dishwashomac.
“No, not yet.”
“Very good, Sir,” the robot said, stacking dirty plates inside its cube-shaped body. It closed the flap. The sound of whooshing water rumbled inside its belly.
Two lanky girls in Zeke’s year strolled over with their trays full of food. They threw Zeke poisonous looks and sat nearby. Although Zeke was free he was still Suspect Number One as far as his co-students were concerned.
“Here,” Zeke said, pushing his uneaten meal towards the mac. He couldn’t face food this morning. At that moment the ketchup bottle levitated off Zeke’s table and glided over to the next.
“You’ve got a nerve. Stuffing food down like nothing’s happened,” one of the girls called over, plucking the ketchup from midair. Zeke groaned.
“What?” he asked after a long pause.
“Don’t ‘what’ us. You know full well. The disappearance. You had a hand in it, didn’t you?”
“I was not involved in Pin-mei’s disappearance.”
“Don’t play innocent. We’re not talking about her. We mean Jimmy Swallow!”
Zeke’s face clouded with confusion. Jimmy Swallow was a senior, top of his class at remote viewing and captain of the school basketball team.
“Door to his room found wide open this morning and no sign of him. Somebody broke in through the fire exit. Lutz is hopping mad.”
Without another word, Zeke leapt up and dashed from the cafeteria.
“See, guilty as hell,” one girl chirped, and stabbed at her sausage.
~~~
When Zeke reached Swallow’s room in South Wing, he found one Mariner standing guard and several more inside searching for clues. Zeke knew they were wasting their time.
He crouched down. Sure enough there it was. A telltale trail of ochre sand! Zeke stood up and followed its track. It led straight to the nearest fire exit and down the outer escape, where it merged into the Martian soil.
The Dust Devil had sneaked into school and made off with another victim. Zeke had no doubt it was all part of Magma’s plot. But why kidnap another student? And were Jimmy and Pin-mei chosen on purpose or merely in the wrong place at the wrong time?
A hundred voices crowded his head.
Zeke had come to Mars searching for his father. But now Pin-mei was missing and nobody seemed to be lifting a finger to help. He remembered the night they arrived. He’d promised to look after her, to be her Martian big brother. He couldn’t let her down. His father had vanished years ago, somewhere unbelievably far away. The Chinese girl had vanished right now, right here on Mars. And she was in terrible danger.
“I can’t wait any longer,” Zeke muttered, and clenched his fists.
~~~
Zeke moved a few electrobooks down from the shelf and peered through the gap. He had a perfect view of his ex-friend, sitting alone at a workstation. Zeke gulped and walked out into the soft light of the school library.
“Hi,” he said, taking a seat.
Silence.
“So, you’re not speaking to me?”
Scuff glared at him, eyes wide with scorn.
“Look Scuff, I’m sorry, really, really sorry about leaving you in Lutz’s office. Don’t you see? I had to save Pin.”
“If you saved her where is she then?”
“You don’t think I’m involved in these abductions, do you?”
“There’s a lot that think you are. Teachers and students.”
“And what do you think?”
Scuff frowned. “That you’re a user and a liar. After all, you cheated your butt off to get here. Who knows what you’re capable of!”
Zeke was too stunned to speak. Why was Scuff reacting like this? What had Trixie Cutter said to him? A lump began forming in Zeke’s throat. Their friendship was truly dead.
“Listen. I’m going tonight.”
“Going?”
“To the Noctis Labyrinthis—”
“Magma’s dig? You’re still harping on about that old coot? Trixie says he’s as sweet as a Cherry Crater chocolate.”
“Right, Trixie the school psychopath. Since when was she an authority on good character?”
“Whatever, bro.”
“Finally. I’m your bro again.”
“Slip of the tongue, you’re no brother of mine.”
“I’m that evil?”
“You’re that stupid. The Noctis Labyrinthis must be a thousand miles away. And you’re going to peddle it?”
Scuff chuckled coldly. Zeke flushed. He hadn’t realised how far it was.
“I’ll borrow a Glow-Worm from one of the Mariners.”
The Glow-Worm brand of scooters were very popular among the teachers. Their rechargeable engines could be powered, not only by solar power, but any light source, even starlight. They came specifically designed for the Martian environment, with spherical wheels, super-shock absorbers and survival gear.
“Steal, you mean. Why don’t you go the whole hog and make off with the School Millipede.” Scuff couldn’t stop laughing.
A moment ago Zeke had been close to tears. Now he wanted to punch his former friend in his piggy face.
“No, a Glow-Worm will do just fine. I can stop at Yuri-Gagarin Freetown, then Tithonium Central to stock up on food. Shouldn’t take more than, um, four days.”
Scuff guffawed so much he clutched his sides in pain.
“You’ll be dead before the nightfall. What do you know about survival Mars style?”
“Why don’t you come and help me?”
“Ah, cutting to the chase are we now? Like I said, you’re a user. You need my help and suddenly you’re my friend again.”
Zeke couldn’t take any more. He threw back the chair and jumped to his feet.
“I AM your friend. And I thought you were mine. Seems I was mistaken.”
Scuff’s laughter died. Zeke turned and stormed away. But he didn’t get far. A sudden pinching in his ear lifted him onto tiptoes. Despite his struggles an unseen force dragged him deep into the towering bookshelves. Trixie Cutter was waiting.
“Afternoon Earthworm,” she began, her pretty face twisted into a wolfish leer.
“Let me go you psycho—!”
The stinging intensified, almost lifting Zeke off the ground.
Trixie’s eyes weren’t even glowing. The harder the psychics used their mind powers the more their brains heated up. This caused the small sparks of electricity that crackled through
their retinal blood vessels. But Trixie’s beautiful, merciless eyes had no light. For her this act of psychokinetic bullying was routine.
“You’re a persistent creepy-crawly, aren’t you, bluey?”
Zeke was hurting too much to answer.
“Well, let me spell things out for you. Number one, you will not speak with Barnum again. He’s under my protection now. Number two, no more accusations about Professor Magma. Shut it! Otherwise things could get nasty.”
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“Let’s just say I’ll keep your secret if you keep ours. We wouldn’t want the Principal to discover you’re a fake now, would we? First Go-Ship back to Earth that would be. You’ll never track down your father then!”
She knew his secret!
Trixie released her psychic grip. Zeke fell to the floor.
“What about Pin-mei and Jimmy Swallow? What’s happened to them?
Trixie simply winked and faded into the shadows.
Zeke stood up. She knew! And only one person could have told her—Scuff Barnum!
~~~
Zeke disliked the uncanny quiet of the Martian dawn. On Earth there would be the comfort of birdsong and traffic. He crept through the parking lot examining the Glow-Worm scooters. After a moment of indecision he chose the newest, smartest looking vehicle. Thankfully there was little security. Few students would dare steal a teacher’s means of transport. With a screwdriver he undid the lid to the hard drive, replacing its chip with Albie. He threw on the switch.
The scooter purred. Its console flickered into life.
“All systems operational, Master Zeke.”
“You’re a solar scooter now, Albie, not a mountain bike.”
“Confirmed, Sir. The upgrade is operational.”
“Cool. Then we’re off. The Noctis Labrynthis. Do you have the coordinates?”
“Yes, Sir. Optimal route already programmed.”
Zeke sighed with relief. That was the best thing about robots, they never argued back.
“Open the storage compartment please.”
A hatch at the rear popped open. Zeke stuffed his backpack inside.
“Just a few essentials until we reach Yuri-Gagarin Freetown. Nosh and dosh mostly.”
The Infinity Trap Page 9
