“No, it’s not, it’s mine!” she shouted, struggling against her metal restraints. They dug into her wrists, ankles. “The spaceship…”
“There you go with your imagination again,” said the extractor, his teeth the colour of snot. His breath smelt like rotting maggots; she wanted to puke. “Talking of space aliens and adventure. It’s all in your mind, you know that. It’s nothing more than a construct, a fable of your own making, something to help you with the pain.”
“No, it’s not!” she shouted. “You showed me the video link of Jack and Vyleria and…”
“Did I?” said the extractor, smiling broadly.
“Yes, you did and…”
A wave of electricity surged through Kat’s body, causing her to convulse and vomit.
“What were you saying?” asked the extractor, stroking a trigger-like device in his left hand.
“I said…”
Pain tore at her like fangs, stabbing every nerve, every sinew. She quivered like a bowl of blancmange, trying as best she could not to bite off her own tongue.
“Yes?”
“Nothing,” said Kat, spitting lumps of vomit from her mouth. Her throat burned, her eyes swam with liquid.
“There’s a good girl,” said the extractor, his thin, boney fingers creeping higher up her legs. No, not that again. Kat’s body tightened, she closed her eyes, begging for unconsciousness. Please.
“Get the hell away from her!”
Kat’s eyes flicked open and looked to where the voice was coming from. It sounded vaguely familiar, like a long-forgotten dream. There was a figure in the doorway, their face obscured by a camouflage of shadow.
“What did you say?” inquired the extractor, calmly getting to his feet.
“I said leave her alone,” repeated the voice, its accent thick with familiarity.
“Guards!” shouted the extractor into his sleeve. “This is an emergency. We have an intruder in extracting room one-fifty-six.”
“They’re not coming,” said the voice.
The extractor laughed. “And why is that?”
“Because they have a new master now, the ones who are still alive that is.”
“Do you expect me to believe…”
“Yes, I do,” said the voice, stepping out of the shadows.
“Padget!” gasped Kat, tears streaming down her face. “It’s you! It’s really you!”
There was a blur of movement in front of her as the extractor launched himself at Padget. He was holding a dull metal object in his hand. It thudded towards Padget’s skull like a meteor, only to be deflected wide a hair from Padget’s forehead, the extractor’s hand flopping to the floor soon after. Blood gushed from the wound in a green torrent.
“I told you to stay away from her,” said Padget, a sword appearing in his hands. It seemed to fizz with electricity.
The extractor began to moan and thrash around on the floor like an upturned insect. Kat looked at him with a mixture of malice and pity as Padget severed her restraints. She could end him for good. Right here, right now. He deserved it a thousand times over for what he had done to her and to so many other girls and boys. Some of the old fire returned to her - the lust for vengeance, for the kill. It would be quick. No, it would be slow, painfully so. And I will enjoy it. Yes. I will roast him on a spit of pain and never let him go.
“Vyleria, why are you smiling?”
Seconds ticked by like sharpened knives. No, I’m better than that, have to be, she thought. If I give myself up to hate again I will only get captured again, or worse. “It’s nothing Padget,” she said, pulling him close, embracing his warmth, his smell. “I’m just glad to have you back, that’s all.”
“Well then that makes two of us.”
“Jack!” she shouted, spinning round. “I thought you were dead. The extractor showed me an image of you getting sucked into a black hole. How is this possible? Did he fake it?”
“I’m afraid not Kat,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t explain right now but I was fired into a black hole and I did die. But I found a way out and that’s all that matters right now. I’ll tell you the whole tale when this is over.”
“Okay,” said Kat, “but then that means Vyleria…”
“Is lost to the enemy,” said Jack. “For now.”
“But we are going back to get her,” said Padget. “All of us.”
“All of who? What are you talking about?”
Padget grinned. “Grunt, Xylem, the Xenti, a few legions of soldier-bots; we are an alliance now.”
“Wait. Soldier-bots?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. We’ve liberated the entire planet, my side AND your side. We are unified now and FREE for the first time in millennia.”
“You mean this prison camp…”
“Has been liberated. They all have. All it took was the right virus to be sent into the right computer and the whole operation was compromised. That’s how I got in here so easily and why none of the guards came to the extractor’s aid. Apart from a few who resisted, they are all under arrest. We will keep them under lock and key for now and decide what to do with them after the war is over. Until then a council of prisoners will be formed to administer them and the rest of the skavlands.”
“When are we going to rescue Vyleria?”
“Are you sure you don’t need a little rest first?” asked Padget. “A little time to take it all in? You’ve been through so much.”
Kat shook her head violently. “I just want to get off this stinking planet, away from him.”
“Wait. Where is he?” asked Jack.
Kat heard someone shouting, then she saw a large green shape barrel towards her. A gunshot sounded, followed by another. Metal whirred through the air like demented insects, grazing her cheek and Padget’s shoulder. She moved like a tornado, spinning to the right to grasp the space sword from Padget’s grasp, before she flung it in the direction of the gunfire. There was a high-pitched scream, followed by a harsh wailing sound as the extractor slumped bloodily to his knees, a stretch of metal sticking through his abdomen.
“You killed me,” he murmured, coughing up blood.
“No. You killed yourself,” she said, withdrawing the blade and tossing it back to Padget. When she turned around again the old man was dead. “Let’s get out of here,” she said looking at the thin, frail corpse. “I’ve been here too long already.”
“Right you are,” said Jack. “There’s one more piece of this puzzle left.”
Chapter Nineteen: Fight or Flight
“So, Jorge was Lava man all along?” asked Padget.
Jack nodded, hearing Vyleria’s last goodbye in his head again for the umpteenth time. Was she even still alive? What would he do if she was dead?
“I’m sorry,” said Padget.
“Yeah me too,” chimed everyone else.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Jack, more cheerfully than he felt. “What’s done is done, the past cannot be re-written, only the future.”
“Are we going back to get her?” asked Grunt, towering over him like the white cliffs of Dover.
“Yes,” said Jack, hearing Vyleria’s words to him again; he reached out through the void of space and time to touch her, feel her. “But she’s not the main target.”
“Jack…”
“The spaceship is,” said Jack glaring at Kat. “It’s the only edge we have over the Scourge. We have to get it back and re-gain control of the weapons and propulsions systems, without those we are lost.”
“But what about thisss one?” hissed Xylem, pincers stabbing at the air.
“This is just a copy,” said Jack, shaking his head. “It was only designed for rudimentary interstellar travel, with basic weapons and shielding. It’s powerful enough to take care of a few dreadnuts on an isolated planet but against the whole Scourge armada it wouldn’t last a minute. No, it’s imperative that we get the ship back quickly, scans show it has just arrived in Earth orbit.”
�
��Do you have a plan?” asked Grunt.
Jack grinned. “Of course,” he said.
“Well are you going to share it with any of us?” said Padget.
“All in good time,” said Jack. “I’ll explain it to you on the way. Though this ship is capable of interstellar travel it’ s slower than the original in that respect. My stratagem will help kill some time. Now who wants to pilot this thing?”
“You aren’t going to do it?”
“No, I’ll tell you why later, but suffice to say I need to be mobile. What about you Kat?”
“What about me?”
“Do you want to pilot the ship? If memory serves me correct you’ve barely flown a spaceship before, the practice will do you good.”
“Does that mean I get left out of whatever plan you have for the Scourge?”
Jack nodded. “I need at least one person to remain on the ship at all times, in case we need some assistance, or we need to make a quick getaway.”
“The answer’s no then; I want to be in the thick of the fighting, where I am of the most use.”
“But you’re…”
“A girl?” she asked.
“I was going to say inexperienced. This is going to be proper space combat; it could get messy, you might get killed.”
“I accept the risk,” she said.
“But I don’t,” said Jack.
“During my time on the dark side of Paldovia I’ve been in my fair share of combat. Mutes, cave snakes, soldier-bots; I’ve killed hundreds with this thing,” said Vyleria, twirling a rapidly appearing space pistol through the air. “So, you needn’t worry about me getting myself or others killed, I’m more than capable of looking after myself.”
“I’ll do it.”
“You Padget?” asked Jack.
“Yeah. Makes sense. I’m useless at firing guns anyway. On Paldovia all I did was get myself captured, then gutted like a fish. I’ll be more use up here watching you guys’ backs. You can have my soldier-bots though. All five legions.”
“Keep them.”
“But Jack…”
“I need at least some kind of reserve to fall back on if things go wrong,” he said looking each of them in the eye. “This is something we have to do alone for now; so, it’s double the danger and triple the payback if you get caught by the enemy.”
“I’m good with that,” said Grunt.
“Me too,” said Kat.
Xylem just hissed, eyes swirling with yellow fire.
“Good, now let’s get moving,” said Jack, looking at them all. “We have no time to waste, Earth’s fate is in our hands, maybe the entire universe’s.”
The first thing they saw were stars. Billions upon billions of them. Then something large and black loomed up before them like a pre-historic creature emerging from a dark lagoon.
“Do you remember the plan?” asked Jack.
“Yes,” said Grunt, “though I’m not sure if it will work; the odds…”
“It’s the only plan we have, besides emerging behind the dark side of the moon should have allowed us to evade their scans,” said Jack, looking out at the cratered menace beneath them.
“And if we haven’t?” asked Kat.
“Then we go out in a blaze of glory,” said Jack.
“What? You can’t be serious?” said Padget from the pilot’s console.
“Deadly so,” said Jack. “We are going to have to take some risks if we are to rescue Vyleria and steal back the spaceship, never mind win a war of annihilation against the Scourge. Besides, it’s better to go out swinging than cowering in a corner; you’ve seen what they do to their slaves.”
“I agree,” hissed Xylem, looking out across the star-filled void.
“You would,” said Padget, eyeing him menacingly. “You love war. Always have done.”
Xylem took a step towards Padget, mandibles twitching, eyes burning like the eye of Mordor.
“That’s enough,” said Jack, standing in between them both. “Xylem and his people have lost more than most in this war already. Their planet has been destroyed, their people either exterminated or scattered throughout the cosmos like a disease. They can’t even re-produce anymore now that the Haa’drath is gone; they are a dying people and it’s up to us to bring them back from the brink of extinction.”
“Oh, so you are taking his side now?” asked Padget.
“No, I am on everybody’s side. Your people Padget have a history of loving money, wealth and the accumulation of power. Not only did this result in the almost complete de-population of your planet but it also led to the complete subjugation of the dark half of your world, together with its economic and environmental degradation.”
“So?”
“And is that it now? Is that all you are, all you ever can be?”
Padget murmured. “No.”
“Of course not, you are better than that, WE are better than that. We have to start trusting each other if we are to prevail in this storm. This war is not about our respective histories, it’s about our FUTURE and what we can do to change it.”
Jack half-expected further arguments, but instead all he faced were silent nods of agreement. The die had been cast.
“Good, now Padget before we launch we need you to do a quick sensor sweep of Earth. It would be a good idea to hack into one of the many satellites in orbit around the planet, that way we can avoid revealing ourselves to the enemy. The Scourge should be too busy, too distracted to attempt something similar with us.”
“Done it,” said Padget moments later.
“And?”
Padget turned towards them, his face pea-green. He looked anxious. “A variety of satellites show a prolonged attack on Earth. Cities are burning, millions are dead. It looks like the Earth and Asvari fleets have been scattered and forced to regroup around Mars. Shall we join them? We might be able to…”
“No.”
“Retreat then?”
Jack shook his head. “The mission proceeds as planned. This attack is taking place precisely because they have OUR spaceship. We need to take it back if we are to stand even the slightest chance of prevailing in this war; without it we are doomed. But we need more information. We need to find out if Lava man is in full control of the ship, or if he is just merely the pilot; has he hardwired himself into the operational structure yet?”
“I can’t tell,” said Padget, shaking his head. “The spy satellites can only be used for basic information such as location and altitude. Anything in depth will have to be done by us.”
“Let’s do it then,” said Jack. Time to roll the dice.
“But what if we are seen? What if Lava man attacks us. This ship stands no chance against that thing,” said Padget bringing up an image of a silver shaped tear as it bombarded Shanghai and Cape Town. London, Paris, Los Angeles and New York were already smoking ruins by the looks of it.
“We have to take that chance, but I doubt it. Lava Man is too busy taming lions to notice a little silver fly on the horizon. Just poke the nose out, that’s all we need to get a complete scan of the space in front of us.”
“Done it,” said Padget a few seconds later. “Lava man doesn’t seem to have noticed us either. He’s attacking Moscow and New Delhi now. Why is he only targeting two cities at a time?”
“To prolong the sssuffering,” hissed Xylem. “He’sss sssavouring victory.”
“He’s reveling in our hopelessness,” nodded Jack, “in our sense of vulnerability. Scourge hubris. Well, we will show him, we will show all of them. What do the scans show?”
“The Scourge have control of the ship.”
Jack’s heart sank. This was the only way, their best hope. Without it their mission would be impossible, suicide.
“But it’s only nominal according to our computer; he hasn’t updated the controls yet. It’s just like you said.”
Jack breathed a huge sigh of relief but didn’t let it show. He couldn’t afford to show weakness, couldn’t let them know how close he had come
to ordering all their deaths. “He thinks we are either dead or else prisoners on some long dead planet; we will give them such a surprise.”
“Let’s do it then,” said Grunt.
“Yeah,” said Kat, Padget. “Better late than never.”
“Time for sssome payback,” hissed Xylem, stroking his laser rifle.
“Yes,” said Jack, staring at the bright flashes in Earth’s atmosphere. “For all of us.”
Chapter Twenty: Space Storm
Jack, Grunt, Xylem and Kat streaked through space like miniature torpedoes, their rocket boots propelling them as fast as they could. A big blue ball appeared before them, its clouds blackened, its cities strangely discoloured. This was the second attack on Earth in a few months. How were they going to recover? The damage was immense, catastrophic.
They honed-in on a silver speck hovering in low Earth orbit, just above the North Pole. Blue lightning streaked from its nose, hammering down on the planet below. A hundred cities smoked and burned. It was Toronto and Chicago’s turn this time, their once vibrant lakefronts and residential neighbourhoods reduced to ash.
They were fifty thousand miles away when the lightning streaked towards them.
Jack dodged the first burst of sonic cannon fire, then the second, the spaceship getting closer and closer with every heartbeat.
His spacesuit pinged with energy as his arm was grazed with fire. The vacuum flooded into his spacesuit, freezing his skin, boiling his blood, before it magically repaired itself, his skin instantly warm again.
He zeroed-in on the ship with his space lens’, identifying hotspots of enemy activity, likely ambush sites, vital functions… all the time coordinating, triangulating. He had to pick the right spot, locate the right room, to find him, to find her.
The spaceship got closer, larger; a big silver tear hanging over a world of desolation.
A sonic canon round narrowly grazed his torso, then his thigh, before he slammed headfirst into the spaceship at thousands of miles per hour. He was met with the cold embrace of metal, the liquid innards of the spaceship slowing him down, cooling his wrath, his anger, until suddenly he was pinging down a silver corridor. As soon as he stopped tumbling he looked up.
Jack Strong and The Last Battle Page 7
