Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7

by Pitt, Darrell

  ‘Oof!’ Chad grunted. Quinn had landed on him.

  ‘We’re in an asteroid field,’ Garan said. ‘I’m losing them.’

  ‘Keep them in sight!’ Chad yelled.

  They scrambled to their feet, but by now, the Braxius had disappeared from view. The asteroid field was filled with thousands of lumpy rocks. Some were the size of mountains, while others were no bigger than a book. In the distance shone the cold light of a red star.

  ‘Where are they?’ Chad asked. ‘Where’s Ebony?’

  ‘I...I don’t know,’ Garan said, staring at his controls. ‘She’s gone!’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘They’re hiding somewhere in this asteroid belt, but it’s impossible to know where.’

  ‘Don’t you have some kind of scanners?’

  ‘Of course—but there are thousands of asteroids where their ship could be hiding. It would take years to find their hideout.’

  ‘So what can we do?’

  ‘I don’t know where to start.’

  ‘There must be something!’

  Mister Okada intervened. ‘We must let Garan work,’ he said. ‘Yelling at him will achieve nothing.’

  Chad fumed.

  They’re all in this together! This is one big conspiracy!

  Then he saw Quinn’s face. She looked ready to burst into tears. Mister Okada looked worried, and Garan’s face was filled with fear. Their expressions were like water on his fiery temper. He swallowed and turned away from them.

  I’m an idiot. The only conspiracy is the one taking place in my own head!

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he muttered, facing them. ‘It’s just that I’m worried.’

  ‘We all are,’ Mister Okada said. ‘But we must not let our emotions get in the way.’

  ‘Then what can we do?’

  Mister Okada turned to Garan. ‘We were seconds behind the Braxius when we dropped out of FTL,’ he said. ‘They must have sought refuge nearby.’

  ‘I agree,’ Garan said.

  ‘How many asteroids are there within range of our ship?’

  Garan studied his instruments. ‘Three hundred and twenty-eight,’ he said.

  ‘And large enough to hold a ship the size of the Braxius?’

  ‘Eighty-two.’

  ‘Then we must search them all.’

  ‘That will take some time.’

  Mister Okada sighed. ‘Time is something we seem to have in abundance,’ he said.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ‘We’re there,’ Brodie said.

  The stars returned to tiny pinpricks in the night sky. From here, we had a clear view of the Tagaar system. There were six planets in view. Three of them were huge gas giants, similar to Jupiter, but mottled purple and blue, and surrounded by vast indigo-colored rings. One of the other planets was red and so close to the Tagaar sun that anything on the surface would fry in seconds.

  One of the other two worlds was gray and swimming in dense, dark clouds. It looked heavily industrialized. The other was covered by a pattern of green and brown squares. A patchwork of crops, by the look of it.

  Space stations surrounded each of the worlds like strings of tiny pearls. The rest of the system was filled with tens of thousands of tiny silver dots. Spaceships. Even at a distance, I could see they were identical to Liber8tor, although most were much bigger. Many were moving in long lines from the surface of the patchwork planet across to the industrialized world. It was like watching a line of ants at work.

  ‘This is the Tagaar system,’ Ferdy said. ‘Tagaar is the gray, heavily populated planet. The other world is Pantara. It operates as the food basin for the homeworld. Crops cover much of its surface. Areas that are not used for food production are used for mining.’

  Brodie had gone pale. ‘How are we going to do this?’ she asked, her voice hollow. ‘It’s all so...big. I never realized...’

  ‘One thing at a time,’ I said. ‘Ferdy. Are we in sensor range of those ships?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ferdy confirmed. ‘We’re receiving a transmission. They are awaiting a standard response.’

  ‘Send them an answer.’

  The seconds passed as we waited for their response. If this didn’t work, we were in serious trouble.

  ‘Ferdy?’ Brodie said. ‘Are they accepting our code?’

  ‘They have not sent a response.’

  ‘Brodie,’ I said. ‘Is Pantara the closer world?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Set a course for it.’

  She swung the ship towards the patchwork world. ‘I’m no expert at this,’ she said, ‘but I’ll try.’

  ‘A response has come back from the Tagaar ship,’ Ferdy said. ‘They are instructing us to cut our engines.’

  ‘Tell them we’ve got problems with our engines,’ I said.

  ‘The ship is closing on us.’

  ‘Brodie—’

  ‘I know,’ she said. ‘Make it fast.’

  We zoomed towards the planet. Brodie was one of the better pilots in our team, but she wasn’t as deft as Dan in operating the controls. Then as we reached the atmosphere—

  Boom!

  The Liber8tor shook violently.

  ‘They’re shooting at us,’ Brodie said.

  Another blast hit the ship. And another. The smell of smoke filled the bridge.

  ‘We need to shoot back,’ she said.

  ‘We can’t risk them knowing why we’re here,’ I said. ‘We need to make this look like we’ve crashed.’

  ‘We won’t need to try too hard,’ Brodie said. ‘We’re going to crash!’

  She kept her eyes focused on the controls. Soon the patchwork world gave way to more detail. Vast swathes of it had been converted to farmland, but there were still some regions of forest. Obviously, the Tagaar hadn’t gotten around to wrecking those yet.

  ‘Aim for those forests,’ I said.

  ‘Aye, aye, Captain,’ Brodie snapped.

  ‘I’m just saying—’

  ‘Shh! This is hard enough already!’ Brodie’s brow was furrowed into complete concentration. ‘I wish Dan or Ebony were here.’

  We tore through thick cloud cover. The console showing the ship’s status was lighting up like a billboard. A dozen systems were damaged.

  ‘Number two engine has been hit,’ Ferdy reported. ‘Efficiency is down to thirty-two percent. Switching power to number one.’

  The vessel shook again with another blast.

  ‘We’re going to hit hard,’ Brodie said through clenched teeth. ‘I’m not sure we’re going to make it.’

  ‘Try to keep her steady,’ I said. ‘Ferdy, how far behind us is that Tagaar ship?’

  ‘Ten miles.’

  That was far enough. I raced from the room and made my way to the airlock. ‘Open the external doors, Ferdy!’ I yelled.

  The doors opened, and I was hit by a wall of wind. It screamed into the airlock like a banshee. I leaped from the vessel and into the atmosphere of the alien world. The Tagaar vessel was out of sight, but the bigger problem was Liber8tor’s condition. A line of smoke was trailing behind us. The ship was in bad shape. It had been through a lot in a short period, and one of those shots had caused severe damage to the engines.

  I slowed Liber8tor’s descent as we flew over the thick jungle. Finally, I eased it between trees into a small clearing and lowered it to the jungle floor. The ship was smoldering in a dozen places. I momentarily removed the air from those areas, putting out the fires. The trees above rebounded into place. I doubted anyone would see we had landed.

  If it could be called a landing. Our ship was in no condition to fly. I climbed back on board and found Brodie slumped over the pilot’s console.

  ‘Brodie?’ I said. ‘Are you okay?’

  She was crying.

  ‘No,’ she said.

  ‘What is it?’

  It was Ferdy who spoke. ‘Ferdy’s systems are severely compromised,’ he said. ‘While Ferdy’s operating system on the other half of the ship is still functio
ning, this version will soon cease to exist.’

  ‘You mean...you’re dying?’ I said.

  ‘Ferdy’s physical body died on Cargall Island...some time ago. It is simply the program onboard this half of the ship that is ceasing to exist.’

  I swallowed hard. I had been present the first time Ferdy had died. He had sacrificed himself saving the Earth. What Ferdy was saying made sense, but it still amounted to the same thing. He was dying—and if anything happened to the other half of Liber8tor, then he’d be gone forever.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Brodie said, wiping away angry tears.

  ‘Do not cry, friend Brodie,’ Ferdy said. ‘Death is only a concept. The entire universe...sits within an inversion that is both finite and infinite.’

  Whatever that meant.

  ‘If I’d been a better pilot—’ Brodie began.

  ‘Do not blame yourself,’ Ferdy said. ‘And the rhombus is a quadrilateral parallelogram with...’

  Ferdy said no more.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ebony felt sick.

  After landing inside an asteroid, she had been led to a cell deep within the rocky interior. The asteroid had some kind of artificial gravity, meaning that she wasn’t about to float off the floor.

  The cell had been carved from rock. A metal door with an electronic lock secured it. The only light was that entering through a tiny peephole in the door.

  Tears came to her eyes.

  No, she thought. I’m not going to cry.

  But the tears came anyway. Sobbing uncontrollably, Ebony couldn’t stop thinking of her terrible predicament. She was locked in a cell on an asteroid in some lonely corner of the galaxy. Her friends were far away and had no way to find her. To make matters worse, Ebony had just helped a group of mercenaries steal a weapon that was going to cause the deaths of billions of people.

  If she could be in a worse situation, she couldn’t imagine what it would be.

  But I’ve got one thing on my side—my powers.

  Ebony angrily wiped away the tears. She had made a mistake in helping Tardon and Feliton, although she wasn’t sure what she could have done differently. Still, the damage was done. Now she had to stop them from using Breakthrough. Even if it cost her life, and those of Chad and the others. She couldn’t allow an entire world to die.

  Being brought to this cell, she had taken note of the asteroid’s internal construction. She was several floors below the main deck where the spaceport and central offices were located. On her way here, she had seen fewer than half a dozen guards. Two of them were situated outside the door of her cell.

  Ebony was sure she could take them out if necessary. Still, she had to do more than escape this place, if that wasn’t already difficult enough. She had to steal Breakthrough from the mercenaries.

  Focusing on the ceiling, she dissolved it until a gap appeared. Creating a metal staircase, she climbed the stairs and found herself in a storeroom with boxes lining the sides. She peered into the hallway outside.

  Good. No one was about.

  She had been brought down several sets of stairs on her way to the prison. She found one and made her way up to the next level. A faint humming filled the air. That must be the power generator. Reaching the main level, she looked out onto the spaceport, a cavern the size of a small stadium.

  The place looked artificial, as if something had carved it out from bare rock. In the middle sat a building on long legs like a control tower at an airport. The Braxius sat at the ready, the ramp lowered. Another ship shaped like a blunt arrowhead sat nearby.

  Bizarrely, the spaceport appeared to be open to the cold, hard vacuum of space, but there must have been an invisible force field in place. Ebony took refuge behind a pile of boxes. She glanced up at the office. Most likely, the Breakthrough virus was being held up there. Tardon had held the small, black box in his hand when he left the ship.

  This won’t be easy, Ebony thought.

  Not only did she have to get to the office undetected, but she also had to retrieve the virus and escape the base in a ship she didn’t know how to pilot.

  Why does it always have to be so hard?

  At that moment, a patch of the force field flared purple. What’s that? A meteor must have struck the invisible barrier. Clearly, the barrier must do more than stop objects from entering—it must vaporize them.

  An idea began to form in her mind. When she had first gotten her powers, it had been challenging to change the state of anything unless she was in physical contact with it. Since then, she had trained hard to transmute objects at a distance.

  The barrier was about two hundred feet away. Ebony had never changed the state of anything at this distance, but if she could create a diversion...

  She focused on creating a lump of iron near the top of the barrier. For several seconds, she strained without success. Then she saw the lump of metal beginning to form. It grew from the size of a football to a basketball, and then the size of a small child.

  By now, beads of sweat were running down her back. Just a little larger...

  When it was the size of a motorcycle, she focused on hurling it at the barrier.

  Bang!

  The barrier flashed purple.

  For one horrifying second, Ebony thought she had broken it, and the entire spaceport was about to be exposed to the cold, unrelenting vacuum of space. Then the barrier returned to normal as the massive lump of iron slammed into the deck of the spaceport.

  Cries came from the office, and Feliton and Tardon appeared at the top of the stairs. Ebony felt a surge of joy as she saw the terrified expressions on their faces.

  Serves them right!

  As the men raced towards the barrier, Ebony scampered from her hiding place and ran up the stairs. The door of the office was still open—and the room was empty.

  Fantastic!

  Except there was no sign of Breakthrough. Her eyes swept the office in panic. It had to be here somewhere. She was sure that Tardon had carried it up here with him. But where was it? She glanced out the windows. The two men were still occupied as they examined a panel on the wall near the barrier.

  Then she caught sight of a safe set into the corner of the office under a bench. Of course! They wouldn’t just leave it lying around! It was locked away! The safe wasn’t unlike one on Earth. She turned the door to oxygen—and there was the Breakthrough virus!

  Yes!

  She resisted whooping with joy. Cramming the box into her pocket, Ebony created a rough copy of the door. It wouldn’t fool anyone who looked closely, but it would do.

  Ebony glanced back through the windows. The two men were now examining the lump of rock. As quietly as she could, Ebony raced down the stairs to the ramp leading into the Braxius.

  Her heart was pounding. Now she just had to launch the ship and escape. She made her way to the bridge and studied the controls.

  Uh oh.

  These bore no resemblance to Liber8tor. Still, she thought, there had to be some similarities. Sitting down, she glanced through the bridge window to see Feliton and Tardon running back up the stairs to the office.

  I don’t like the look of that, she thought.

  Her eyes swept across the controls. She had to get out of here—and fast—but first, she had to close the cargo bay hold. Where was the control? Where was—

  There!

  A small diagram in the bottom right corner showed the ramp. Ebony stabbed it desperately as the communicator crackled to life.

  ‘Girl,’ Feliton’s voice broke the silence. ‘You will leave the ship, and you will return Breakthrough to us.’

  Not likely.

  She pushed a few buttons on the console, searching for the ignition switch. Nothing happened, and then she heard the gentle hum of the engines. She gripped the steering column and gave it an experimental tug. The ship did not move.

  Through the window, she saw Feliton and his partner race down the stairs and disappear into the other ship.

  Ebony pushed more buttons
, but the Braxius remained stationary.

  What am I doing wrong?

  The communicator came to life again. ‘You will exit the ship,’ Feliton said. ‘We’ve got Xavier’s weapons locked on you, and we’re prepared to fire. The Breakthrough box will survive an explosion. You won’t.’

  Wait a minute, she thought. If this were a car, it would still be in park. Maybe I need to switch it to drive.

  Ka-boom!

  The ship rocked from side to side.

  They weren’t joking, Ebony thought.

  ‘I only need to give the word, and we can have your friends killed,’ Feliton said. ‘Surrender now.’

  I can’t do that. Not with a billion lives at stake.

  She pushed another switch, and the Braxius tilted sideways. Ebony cried out as she seized the control stick. The ship was sliding sideways across the spaceport. She tried bringing it around, but now it was aimed for another wall.

  Where are the weapons?

  She stabbed another button, and this time, more through pure luck, a volley of weapon’s fire erupted from the vessel. The control tower’s legs were blasted out from under it and crashed to the floor.

  Oops.

  Now she headed towards the force field again. She continued to fire, and this time struck the panel on the wall. It exploded, and the barrier faded. At the same moment, another volley struck the side of the Braxius. Ebony was flung from her seat as the blast threw her ship into space.

  She desperately dragged herself back into the pilot’s seat as the Braxius veered into the void. Now she was in the middle of the asteroid belt with vast chunks of rock floating around her.

  Gripping the control stick, she tried to bring the ship around, but the controls weren’t responding. Alarm bells went off all over the ship. The console was flashing. Nothing was working.

  This is bad, she thought. Really bad.

  Another blast struck the Braxius.

  ‘You will surrender Breakthrough to us!’ Feliton screamed. ‘Or we will reduce you to atoms!’

  I think he means it.

  Ebony pulled the Breakthrough box from her pocket. If Feliton was telling the truth, they would destroy the ship, but this box would survive. If she were about to die, then she had to at least destroy Breakthrough as well.