Scuff stood at the grill, with his back towards Zeke, frying eggs.
“The toilet’s that away.” He pointed to a small concertina door. No sooner had he said those words than an urge gripped Zeke to empty his bowels.
A few minutes later Zeke hurried back, hands dripping with soapy water.
“What’s going on?”
Scuff turned around with a plateful of eggs on toast. He had the nastiest black eye Zeke had ever seen. The eyelid was puffed up and the colour of beetroot.
“Get this down you. Mom always says a good meal helps in a crisis.”
Scuff sank into a chair and burst into tears. Zeke’s appetite died. He waited for his friend to calm down.
“He did it, didn’t he?”
Scuff made a brave effort to rein in his feelings. “I woke an hour ago. I banged and screamed on the door, which was locked, till Doughty came and ‘subdued’ me.”
“Why is he doing this? Why did he drug us?”
“Oh, about that. We’ve been out for two days.”
“TWO DAYS!”
“Those so-called painkillers are some kind of military drug. Doughty called them a ‘chemical restraint’. They also slow down your bodily functions until you come to. That’s why you needed the bathroom pretty damn quick.”
“And the nano-pills?”
“At least he wasn’t lying about that. The gash on my head is fading and the headache’s all gone. Well it was till he whacked me half way across this deck.”
“Couldn’t you use your mind powers and crown him with the frying pan?”
“Good old Lieutenant Doughty has a strong magnetic field resonating throughout the Bronto. Our powers are useless.”
The two boys exchanged looks. A feeling of defeat seeped into Zeke’s heart.
“Zeke, we’re dead meat.”
The circular hatch to the bridge unscrewed. Doughty stepped inside. His presence dwarfed everything else. He had a gun in one hand while two peculiar objects dangled from the other. They were head cages, metal baskets that strapped around the neck.
“Put them on,” Doughty snarled, and threw the cages on the table.
Zeke jumped up. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?”
Doughty’s arm swung with the speed of a tiger’s paw. The back of his hand caught Zeke’s cheek. Zeke crumpled like paper. The man’s strength was terrifying.
“Little boys should be seen and not heard, got it?”
As Zeke jumped up, Doughty motioned at the masks with his gun. The boys slipped them on, and took turns to padlock the other’s neck strap.
“A simple idea. Imprison those gifted brains of yours in magnetised iron and blank out your creepy powers.”
Zeke drew a deep breath. “You’ve been working with Magma right from the start. The whole visit to the School, making sure I was left alone with him, then conveniently saving me. A dirty trick.”
Doughty stroked his square chin with the barrel of his gun. “It was Magma’s idea. I wanted to torture the information out of you. But Tiberius suggested our little charade. Better you spill the beans voluntarily to dear old Uncle Leopold. Then the old fool nearly gave the game away. Greeting me as someone he knew after I told you I’d never met him. But you were too busy being our pawn to notice. Now you’ve unlocked the Infinity Trap for us.”
He turned towards the main exit. “Open outer hatch.”
There was a grinding metallic noise and a shaft of pale light sliced into the Bronto.
Doughty bowed with mock humility. “Welcome to the Noctis Labyrinthis.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Magma’s Base Camp
The boys stepped into the orange sunlight and looked around. After four weeks in Mariners Valley Zeke was accustomed to five-mile-high canyons. But at the Noctis Labyrinthis those walls merged. Only a hundred feet separated the two twisting cliffs, each soaring heavenwards.
A wave of vertigo flooded over Zeke. He lowered his gaze sharply and focused on the ground. They were surrounded by tents, boxes of equipment, and dented old solar scooters. The site appeared deserted.
Two men in Tithonium military garb and carrying rifles sauntered from the nearest tent. They saluted Doughty with a “yo!”
“Regan, Howard, at ease,” he said. “Men, meet two of the biggest pains in our collective Martian butt. If they give you any trouble put a few air holes in those obstinate skulls.”
The two thugs leered like crocodiles.
“Yoo-hoo!”
It was Professor Magma, emerging from the largest tent with a glass of champagne in hand. He was followed by Trixie Cutter, swigging from the bottle, and an uneasy-looking Snod. They were dressed in hiking gear.
“Well, quite the cosy reunion.” Magma giggled as he drew close.
“As cosy as a pack of hyenas,” Zeke snarled. POW!
Regan rammed Zeke in the gut with his rifle. Zeke fell to his knees.
“Now, now,” Magma chirped. “This is a day for rejoicing. Keep a civil tongue in that bratty head of yours.”
“Rejoicing for what?” Scuff asked dourly.
“The dawn of a new era, naturally. The first day of the Tiberian Empire.”
Zeke pulled himself up. “How will you achieve that exactly?”
Magma sighed. “Frankly, I’m disappointed. I thought you, our freaky little Hesperian, would figure it out. This is the day we open the Infinity Trap, a day that will shine forever.”
“And release the Spiral?”
“Exactly, the Infinity Trap opens a path to the Spiral.”
“What makes you think the Spiral will help you?”
Magma gave a haughty laugh. “You make it sound like a person. The Spiral is an energy source of unimaginable power. I’m going to tap into that power and become a living God. My rule will bring peace and happiness for all. I’ll be known as Tiberius, Saviour of Humanity.”
Doughty coughed loudly. “While saving me the biggest pay cheque in history.”
“And me!” Trixie piped in. “It was me who lured the little girl out to your ambush.”
“You started with Pin because she saw what was coming,” Zeke said with a fierce scowl.
Magma grinned. “True, I couldn’t have her spilling any ancient Martian beans. After that I had the Dust Devil sniff out the most talented. Excluding Trixie of course.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting into!” Zeke protested.
Magma glared at him. “How dare you speak to a man of my genius with such insolence. I’ve been studying Hesperian secrets for years now. He who opens the Infinity Trap absorbs its infinite energy. That’s their legacy.”
“You’re wrong!” Zeke cried.
Another POW! Zeke writhed in the dirt. Yet nobody had moved.
Trixie, eyes aglow, smiled sweetly. “Forgive me. I can’t stand disobedient Earthworms.”
“An army of you and I could take the solar system.” Doughty smirked and threw her a wink.
“Well let’s press on,” Magma said. “Leopold, if you will.”
The Lieutenant fished a key from his pocket and undid Scuff’s head cage. Magma produced a small gadget, resembling a digital tin opener.
“A psychometer,” he explained, pressing it against Scuff’s temple.
“For measuring psychic brainwaves?” Scuff asked.
“Very good. This one’s been gathering dust in Lutz’s desk for years.”
“I bet she happily…gave it…to you,” Zeke gasped from the ground, clutching his bruised stomach.
His captors broke into side-splitting laughter.
“You moron. I stole it from her,” Trixie guffawed.
A sharp pang struck Zeke’s heart. “But the meeting? She’s in on the whole thing!”
Trixie placed a delicate foot on his ribcage. “That old bat proved a bigger dupe than you. We buttered her up to get the Professor into the School. Gave her a spiel about sponsoring poor kids and stuff.”
Zeke swore. All this time he’d been wrong.
Mag
ma slipped on his glasses and examined Scuff’s results.
“Hmm. I see you’re a telepathist.”
“What? Psychokinesis is my best suit!”
“Sorry, but reading minds is what you’re good at, and even then you’re rather mediocre.”
Scuff flushed. “I’m a certified gifted child. That gadget’s dysfunctional.”
Doughty snapped the head cage back in place.
“Stand up,” Magma ordered Zeke.
He staggered to his feet, still winded from the last blow.
Now comes the moment of truth, he thought. Proof beyond doubt that I’m a fraud.
The metal headgear was unbuckled. Magma pressed the cold steel of the psychometer against Zeke’s forehead. Instantly it whirred, clicked and pinged. Magma held the readout up to his eyes and whistled.
Trixie grabbed it from him. “Fatty’s right. It’s broken.”
“Let’s do a control,” the Archaeologist said, and turned it on Trixie. They both eagerly checked her results.
“Ooh!” Trixie purred. “The machine can’t get any higher than that.”
Magma repeated the scan on Zeke. He looked again, tapped the psychometer and looked a third time.
“Amazing!” he said, waving it under Zeke’s nose. The meter was all zeroes.
Zeke sighed. “So there isn’t a psychic gene in my body?”
“No, dear boy, you misunderstand. It’s off the scale. Your psychic brainwaves are beyond the machine’s capacity.”
Zeke stared into Magma’s arrogant features. Could it really be?
“This explains a lot,” Magma said thoughtfully. “Three Mariners activated the Orb of Words before I returned it to Mars. All three died within twenty-four hours, their brains scrambled with Martian syntax and vocabulary. Luckily their dying ravings were enough for Dr Enki, my translator, to master a basic understanding. But you, little blue, opened this Pandora’s box and lived. You’re formidable, and you never even realised.”
Doughty shackled the cage back on. “So Tiberius, we won’t need the fat one?”
“Nope. The four in the tent combined with Hailey more than meet our requirements. Take the fat boy to the Happy Hunting Ground.”
Scuff paled. “The what?”
Magma gave a cruel smile. “This dig was once a busy one. All manner of experts and interns staffed my camp. Sadly, professional jealousy reared its ugly head. ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that.’ My colleagues kept frustrating my plans with their ethical objections. It became necessary to, um, terminate their contracts. They’re all resting now in a nearby gully. Doughty and I call it the Happy Hunting Ground.”
“We had some good times up there, eh Tiberius?” Doughty chuckled.
“Wait!” Zeke cried. “You’ll need a hostage. Someone to guarantee my obedience.”
Magma gave an ice-cold smile.
“You’re my prisoner. Prisoners don’t bargain, boy.”
“Look, I’m new to all this extrasensory business. Scuff’s been mentoring me.”
“I-I have? No, I mean, I have! He’s useless without m-me,” Scuff stammered.
Magma looked unconvinced.
“I might be off the scale, but my confidence is less than zero. I’ve failed every test at the Chasm.”
“Is this true?” Magma asked Trixie, who was idly touching up her lipstick.
She snapped her vanity mirror shut and slipped it back into the pocket of her hiking trousers. “Well, Bluey did blow up old Flounder’s classroom.”
“That’s right. My powers either go haywire or totally fail. Scuff can be a stand-in.”
Scuff threw Zeke a look that said, ‘hey, I’m no stand-in.’
Zeke raised his eyebrows in a reply that meant ‘just play along’.
“Hmm, perhaps,” Magma replied, stroking his chin. “OK, spare the Canadian for the time being. Regan, fetch the others.”
Zeke took a deep, expectant breath. Regan marched out the missing students at gunpoint, all in head cages. First came the tall figures of Jimmy Swallow and Yong Ho Moon, next the portly Hans Kretzmer, and then, at last, Pin-Mei.
“ZEKE!” she cried and broke into a run.
Zeke caught her in his arms and hugged her. Their head cages clanked one against the other.
“I knew you’d save me,” she whispered.
“We’re in serious trouble, Pin.”
“But you’ll stop them. I know it.”
“Separate!” Doughty barked.
“Come, come,” Magma chirped. “I have an appointment with destiny.”
Howard prodded Zeke sharply with his gun. Falling into single file they followed Magma into the dark ravines.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The Noctis Labyrinthis
The Labyrinthis was dark and putrid. Magma switched on the torch in his helmet and led the way. The eerie glow revealed twisting, shadowy protrusions of rock, as though clawing monsters had been petrified in a lava flow.
Zeke and the other prisoners followed the professor, stumbling over volcanic shale. Doughty and his men brought up the rear, wearing NVG’s. The opaque lenses made them look more insect than human.
Each turn led into a deeper, narrower ravine. A sliver of light far above them was all that remained of the sky. As the gullies closed in Pin-mei tightened her grip on Zeke’s arm.
“I’d swear these walls were moving,” the normally-rather-sensible Scuff remarked.
“I thought that too. But it’s a trick of the light. Right?” It was Jasper Snod, dragging his feet.
“Why are you doing this?” Zeke hissed at him.
“Trixie’s making a mint from this—”
“I said you, not Trixie.”
“Well, Trixie said it’s good for me. She’s got big plans for the future. If I play my cards right there’ll be a place for me among her deputies.”
Zeke cursed. “You came to Mars to become a Mariner. To travel the galaxy. To save the human race. What has Trixie Cutter’s nasty little schemes got to do with any of that?”
Jasper opened his mouth to say something, realised he didn’t know what to say, and shut it again. He threw Zeke a hateful glare and hurried to the front.
Magma pointed to a seven-foot boulder blocking the trail.
“That’s it!”
“Why is it so much smoother than the other rocks?” Scuff asked.
“Ah, an observant eye! In different circumstances you’d make an excellent archaeologist.”
Scuff muttered something under his breath.
Magma puffed out his chest. “This stone is finely polished and therefore not natural. Evidently the Hesperians placed it here as a marker.”
“A marker for what?” Jimmy Swallow asked, a tall handsome boy with chestnut hair.
“The Infinity Trap of course,” Magma replied, and squeezed around the boulder.
Doughty tapped Zeke’s shoulder with his rifle. “Keep going.”
On the other side the gully ran into the mouth of a cave. Without speaking the captives linked hands and braved the blackness. The way was littered with rocky debris and, as they descended, the low roof scraped their heads.
Magma’s voice drifted through the void, “Volcanoes and ice carved these caverns when the Earth was just a ball of moltenrock. Hard to imagine, isn’t it!”
Suddenly photon lamps flared. They were standing on the threshold of a huge cavern. Clumsy steps led down into a large bowl-shaped floor. A ceiling studded with razor-sharp stalactites arced overhead. Loops of pink and green rock writhed around the periphery, like a nest of petrified serpents. Their coils formed archways into further unlit chambers.
“Mein Gott!” Kretzmer gasped.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Magma said. He was standing in the centre of the cavern, beside a small field desk, weighed down with magnopads and various items of equipment. Clearly he’d been working there for months.
“Don’t be bashful. Come on down.”
He waited impatiently for his audi
ence to catch up.
“It’s only fair you kids understand what you’re becoming part off. This is one of the most remarkable finds in the solar system. Watch this.”
He pulled out a ruby-tinted orb from his rucksack. Zeke sensed at once it was Hesperian, although much smaller than the other orbs, about the size of a large marble. Magma held it aloft on his open palm.
The cavern erupted into life! Thousands of silvery-blue symbols materialised across the rock face, shimmering like glow-worms.
Magma cleared his throat. “This is how I found it. A glittering testament to an extinct race. But what do they mean, all these signs and wonders? Can you understand them, Mr Hailey?”
Zeke examined the twisting basalt surface. “Actually no. It’s more like numbers, sums—”
“Theorems and equations is what you mean.” Magma gloated. “The linguist Dr Enki and two Nobel winning physicists studied these markings for ages. It’s all about quantum decoherence.”
“Quantity doo-dummy-whatsit?” Snod asked.
Trixie silenced him with a withering look. “A branch of quantum mechanics that explains there are endless parallel universes, but it is impossible for any of them to connect up.”
Swallow and Moon nodded.
“We studied that last term. My brain’s still aching,” Moon remarked glumly through the bars of his head cage.
Magma bounded over to a portion of the cave wall. “And this bit here show’s exactly how to break that rule.”
“That’s impossible,” Moon cried.
Magma laughed. “To our puny science, yes. But the Hesperians found a way round the problem.They captured a slice of infinity, tied it in a loop, and hey presto, an eternal moment!”
“They trapped infinity?” Scuff asked, scratching his brow.
“Yes, exactly. Making a kind of conductor.”
“Like those electric conductors on the top of tall buildings, they attract lightening?” Scuff asked again.
The Infinity Trap Page 16
