Magma nodded enthusiastically. “Except this conducts not electricity but reality. It makes a bridge from here to anywhere.”
“A bridge between universes?” Pin-mei ventured, her eyes wide with wonder.
Magma threw his arms in the air. “A bridge between now and any universe, any time, any reality, any consciousness, any damn place you want. Once the Hesperians created it, it had always existed, from the dawn of time till the end of space. And the entrance is located right here at these coordinates. Forever. Even when the Sun goes supernova and swallows Mars up, the doorway will still be here, lost within all that burning plasma.”
A pause fell across the party as they took it all in.
“Fascinating for the egghead brigade, but how am I going to turn this into jewellery and real estate?” Cutter asked, checking her make-up in her little mirror.
Magma ran to another part of the cave wall. He indicated a spiral emblem. Zeke shuddered.
“My research proves they also invented a phenomenal power source, which they took through the Trap and stored in a universe alongside ours. Too dangerous to leave lying around Mars. See here.” The archaeologist tapped an inscription. “Absorb the Spiral into your mind and you are all-powerful.”
“You’re wrong!” Zeke shouted. “It says ‘the Spiral’s power absorbs all minds’.”
Regan lifted his rifle but paused when Doughty held up a hand.
“Professor, who’s right?”
Magma snorted. “The boy’s grasp of Hesperian is useful. But don’t be fooled. He’s a mere child. These are affairs beyond his mental capacity.”
“As long as you’re sure,” Doughty replied, and nodded to Regan who brought his weapon down on Zeke’s spine. He stumbled beneath the blow.
Magma drew himself to his full height, his eyes sparkling like diamonds. “The Spiral is a tool! It allows matter to be controlled by thought. Unlimited amounts of matter. Imagine the Mariner’s gift of psychokinesis, but amplified a trillion times. For example, it would enable me to make or unmake things in the blink of an eye. I could create new planets or sweep away old ones. Anything would be possible for me!”
“But how do you access this Spiral?” Doughty interrupted.
Magma underlined the inscription with his finger. “Absorb the Spiral into your mind and you are all-powerful.”
Zeke sighed. Magma’s scheme for world domination hinged on a mistranslation.
Magma’s voice rang aloud. “Gnthyshi myrythrysraaia dthpzpii !”
Zeke recognised those words with a chill. ‘Awake deathless guardian.’ A breeze blew through the mouth of the cave, heavy with sand. It picked up more as it glided into the centre. The ghostly Dust Devil formed before them.
Pin-mei whimpered. Zeke put his arm around her.
“Welcome Caliban!” Magma said with a flourish of his hand.
The creature gave no reply, other than the low moaning of its wind.
“Why do you call him that?” Zeke asked.
“A Shakespearian character, you ignoramus. Caliban was a monstrous servant. Anyway, this is a servant who’s been in waiting for two billion years.”
“Is it alive?” Trixie asked, stepping towards the whirling figure.
“Define life. I see him more as a robot made from dirt and energy. A creation programmed for obedience. He was out wandering when I happened across this place. Had been for millennia. But sensing the cave was disturbed he returned in minutes. By that time I’d realised the ruby sphere was the cave’s control mechanism. I had it in my possession and he has served me ever since.”
Trixie waved her hand in front of the creature’s blank face. “Does it talk?”
“It mumbles sometimes, in the language of its long dead creators. Too advanced for me, sadly.”
“Professor, how do you communicate?” Zeke asked softly.
“By picturing my needs in my head. The creature picks up my thoughts via the ruby sphere.”
Zeke’s heart leapt. Magma couldn’t talk to it directly, the way he could! That gave him a chance, however slender.
“So how do we get in?” Doughty asked.
Magma giggled like a child. He touched a line of text amid the prehistoric calculations. “What does it say, Master Hailey?”
Zeke sighed. “The key is a brain, for thoughts alone unlock the Infinity Trap.”
“So kind. Oh, and thank you for translating it in the first place. I could have wasted years trying to figure that one out. It was due to your flare for Martian that I realised I needed to borrow a few quality brains from your revolting school.”
“I don’t understand,” Doughty said.
“The Trap is unlocked simply by thinking,” Magma explained, his voice shrill with excitement. “Assuming you have this living tornado’s permission, and that your brainwaves are strong enough. Of course, no human brain is. The Hesperians were centuries ahead of us. But the five brightest psychics on Mars, that should do nicely!”
“No way! I’d die before I let you loose on the galaxy,” Zeke shouted defiantly.
“Oh dear, that’s me finished then,” Magma said mockingly. “Men, leave Hailey to last, but shoot the rest of them, beginning with that little piggy.”
He waved at Scuff.
Regan and Howard rammed their gun nozzles against Scuff’s head and clicked the safety catches.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The Cavern
“STOP!” Zeke roared.
The thugs lowered their weapons.
“Better,” Magma said. “The slightest hint of disobedience and the hostage gets it. That was, after all, your idea.”
He smiled till he bared his gums. He signalled to Trixie and Doughty. Between them they undid the head cages on everyone except Scuff.
“Now my five little batteries, make a circle here in the centre.”
They followed his instructions.
“Now what?” Doughty asked.
“Hmm, I’m not sure.” Magma stroked his chin. “I thought the combined brain power of our, um, guests, would do the trick.”
“This better not be the wildest goose chase this side of the Asteroid Belt,” Doughty snarled, holding his rifle a little higher.
Magma was sweating. With an expression of great reluctance he turned to Zeke. “Ask Caliban. And no tricks.”
Zeke looked at the faceless twisting figure. He carefully summoned up the Martian vocabulary.
“How do we open the Infinity Trap?”
A mouth appeared in the sand.
“All think the same. Something good.”
“I understand. One more thing. Will you help me? Protect my friend from the Earthmen. If they try to harm him stop them.”
“Can I kill them?”
Zeke hadn’t expected that question.
“Try not to.”
The creature bowed.
“WHAT! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?”Magma bellowed.
“Just doing what you said, Professor. Think I’ve got it.”
Zeke took hold of Pin-mei and Jimmy’s hands. The rest copied him, forming a chain.
“Who knows the historic London Galactarium? It does a famous show about the sky at night.”
Jimmy Swallow nodded.
“Me too,” Kretzmer added.
“I’ve seen the virtual online tour,” Pin-mei chirped.
“We have one in Seoul, bigger and better than the London one,” Yong Ho said, and managed to grin.
“Good. OK everyone close your eyes and focus on the Galactarium.”
Five brows wrinkled in deep concentration.
“Hey!” Snod gasped.
A pair of red swing doors materialised from nowhere.
After a moment of stunned surprise the Lieutenant prowled around them. “They don’t go anywhere.”
“They do if you go through them,” Magma shrieked with exhilaration. “Okay, batteries, I may need you inside. Regan, Howard, stay outside with the fat boy. He’s our insurance.”
Magma winked very carefu
lly at the goons. He grabbed Pin-mei by the wrist and rushed towards the swing doors. These parted to reveal a dark hole cut clean through reality. The madman and the tiny Chinese girl vanished inside.
Doughty aimed his rifle at Zeke. “You next and no funny stuff. My trigger finger’s feeling very itchy.”
Zeke needed no encouragement, his fear overshadowed by curiosity. He took a deep breath and dived through the doors.
~~~
He was in a familiar place. An ink-blue dome curved overhead, studded with pinpoints of light. A circular floor, filled with rows of seats, sloped down to a fire exit at the bottom.
“Out of the way!” Trixie snapped, shoving him further in.
Zeke studied the artificial night above him, recognising the northern hemisphere in winter. The Twins, the Great Bear, Cassiopeia and Orion were easy to spot. Hanging low in the sky were Orion, Cepheus and Hercules’ Club.
“How splendidly old-fashioned. Why did you select this place?” Magma asked.
Before he could answer Magma went on, “I get it! It reminds you of your space-hopping father.”
“I used to come here every Saturday. I felt close to—”
“Blah, blah, blah! Okay, Hailey, you’re not the only one with a tough childhood. My parents were monsters too.”
“My father isn’t a monster!”
“Really? He was quick enough to dump you, wasn’t he?”
Zeke fell into a crushed silence.
“Is this an illusion?” Doughty asked, scratching his head.
“Not at all, it’s totally real.” Magma replied in a hushed tone. “Look!”
He took a Martian dollar from his pocket and hurled it at the ceiling. Instead of bouncing off a hard surface the coin kept going, up into space. And yet the light bulb stars seemed near enough to touch. An unpleasant touch of giddiness tickled Zeke at the back of his eyes.
Pin-mei let out a sudden piercing squeal. Two female attendants were approaching up the central aisle. But they were horribly wrong. Each woman’s head was a mess of many eyes, noses and mouths.
“They’re the usherettes, the women who show you where to sit,” Zeke said in a horrified tone. “But they never looked like that!”
“That’s what happens when five memories get mixed up.” Magma explained, stepping back.
The usherettes wore red uniforms with the Galactarium logo, complete with matching caps. They produced small torches and gestured for the party to follow them to the seating.
“We’ll stand, thank you very much,” Magma said.
The usherettes walked back a few paces and froze.
“Maybe they sell choc ices in the intermission?” Snod giggled in a very high voice. Nobody noticed.
Professor Magma strode down the main aisle to the midpoint. He fished out the ruby sphere and held it high. He looked back over his shoulder at Zeke and flashed a triumphant smile. “My name is Tiberius Magma. I claim this Infinity Trap as my rightful tool. I demand you take me to the Spiral.”
At first nothing seemed to happen.
“Look, the stars are going out!” Zeke gasped.
One by one the glassy sparks faded. As the last one died, they sensed it: a voice speaking to them, only in thoughts rather than sounds.
You are different to the last creatures.
Magma glanced around in astonishment. “Is that the Spiral?”
I am.
“Well, we’re not from this planet. We evolved on the third planet and migrated here. The originals are extinct. But surely you know that.”
I have slept for aeons.
“Anyway, I am here to claim you. To absorb your power.”
Is it safe to return? Has the Age of Comets finished?
“Age of Comets? I don’t understand. There is no age of comets.”
Magma whispered to Doughty, “It might be a cultural differ-ence.”
I must know before I come. Which one of you shall I eat?
No one said anything.
Come now, I hunger.
A small haze appeared low over the western horizon. It rose across the dome to the zenith, expanding. Sure enough it was spiral-shaped. Not a tidy symbol, but a jagged vortex, with smaller spirals sprouting from its thick underside. A bestial mouth salivated at the heart.
I will not visit till I am certain. Nourish me.
“Um, well, why not,” Magma replied. There was a tremble in his voice.
“Give it Hailey, give it goodie two shoes,” Doughty muttered maliciously.
“Regrettably, we need him. We may need all the batteries. Now let me see.”
Magma glanced at Trixie Cutter. Her eyes crackled, full of psychic threat.
“Not you. Ah, that one’s the most expendable.”
Everyone turned to follow Magma’s gaze.
“Hey, why are you all looking at me?” Snod cried.
Doughty swooped down and heaved Snod over his shoulders. He carried the boy, kicking frantically, towards the hideous phenomena.
“PUT ME DOWN! THIS ISN’T FUNNY!” Snod shrieked.
Zeke couldn’t bare it. He tore down the aisle. Magma saw him coming and grabbed him tightly.
“TRIXIE! HELP ME! WE’RE MATES!” Snod begged.
Trixie shrugged. “Easy come, easy go Jasper. Success requires sacrifice.”
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
With a grunt Doughty heaved Snod up to the brink of the mouth. Zeke tried to break free but Magma’s grip was too strong. Zeke could see the white terror in Snod’s face.
The mouth formed lips, lips reaching down from the darkness. Slobbering, the Spiral sucked him up into its folds and the boy’s screams were silenced.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Infinity Trap
Magma relaxed his grip, quite forgetting Zeke’s presence. Zeke backed away as quietly as he could.
“The boy was sufficient.” The monster spoke with Jasper Snod’s voice, only in a much deeper pitch.
“Ah, you have mastered English. Amazing!” Magma replied, holding himself high. “Now, transfer your power to me.”
The Spiral’s coils and tentacles shook with laughter. “You don’t understand, Professor. I am not a device made by those you call Hesperians. I predate your universe by an eternity.”
Magma stamped his foot. “Stop this nonsense. You are a thought-amplifier, a machine for making gods. The invention of the Hesperians.”
The tentacles slithered out further from the mouth.
“I remember the Hesperians. They prophesised the Age of Comets, a time of great risk. They were wrong. I’ve emptied all the contents of Jasper Snod into my belly. Not just his thoughts and genes, but the information stored in his atomic signature. There is no Age of Comets, it must have been a Martian myth and nothing more.”
Magma’s craggy face turned white. “But we translated the runes!”
“Incorrectly.”
There was a terrible pause while Magma and Doughty exchanged feverish looks.
Magma turned back to the Spiral, his eyes gleaming desperately. “Are you hungry for more youngsters? We can lay our hands on a whole school-full of them for you. You can start with these ones, while I go get some more.”
The Spiral began rotating slowly. “Yes…hungry. Hungry for EVERYBODY!”
A bang rocked the room. The Spiral rapidly expanded. New offshoots shot across the dome.
Zeke grabbed Pin-mei’s hand. “Come on!” He yanked her towards the entrance, where the misshapen usherettes stood shaking like rag dolls. Whack! Zeke ran face first into the doors. They were locked.
The Spiral was taking over.
“I am absorbing the Infinity Trap. This will take a few moments. Please be patient. I will eat you when we are all ready.”
The usherettes’ multi-eyes melted into spinning spirals. With a tearing noise they ripped in half, making four.
Zeke looked into the terrified faces of the others. He flung his arms around Pin-mei and closed his eyes. There was only one chance now.
/> Believe, cried his inner voice. Believe and visualise!
Zeke imagined his body stepping sideward. Not just his limbs and bones, but every cell. Not just every cell, but the very molecules. Not just the molecules but even the atoms. He pictured electrons tearing themselves from a vibrating chain of energy, sliding and slipping into a different reality. His eyeballs started to glow. Tiny sparks sizzled inside his retinal veins.
He was floating underwater. Floating in outer space. Floating between worlds.
“The cavern. The cavern.”
Zeke gasped air into empty lungs. Solid ground supported him. They were back outside!
“You did it!” Pin-mei clapped her hands.
“What’s going on?”
It was Scuff peeking from behind a slab of rock.
“Where did the guards go?” Pin-mei asked in a perplexed tone.
“They were going to shoot, Sis. I’ve never been so scared in all my life. Then abracadabra, that whirly wind thing dragged them from the cave.”
“We won’t be seeing them again,” Zeke said grimly.
He looked through the frosted glass of the Galactarium doors. Lights were flashing.
“Take care of Pin,” he said to Scuff.
“You’re not going back!” she exclaimed.
Zeke said nothing, summoning his mental energy for another translocation. It was like riding a bicycle, once you knew how to do it, you knew how to do it. He shut his eyes tightly and focused.
When he opened them the Galactarium was rumbling like an earthquake. Doughty had dived into a row of seats and was firing at the Spiral. Magma stood beneath the creature’s mouth, too dumbstruck to move. Swallow, Park and Kretzmer were being dragged down the aisle by four usherettes. Trixie Cutter was at the far end rattling the fire exit for all she was worth. Another two usherettes were advancing towards her.
Zeke charged down the aisle and brought his fists down on the back of the nearest usherette. She fell to her knees and Kretzmer broke free from her hold.
“USE YOUR POWERS. TRANSLOCATE!”
“NOT WORKING,” Kretzmer shrieked.
Zeke threw himself around the boy. The usherette stood up and stepped towards them. Then nothingness.
“Zeke!” Pin-mei and Scuff cried. The cold dry walls of the cavern surrounded him. Zeke released Kretzmer and vanished.
The Infinity Trap Page 17
