‘What did you say?’ Dan yelped.
Ferdy was annoyingly calm as he repeated his news. ‘Friend Dan,’ he said. ‘It appears a Tagaar battle fleet has reached Gastara. Ships are on route to this surface as we speak.’
Dan was so astonished he sat up and hit his head on the underneath of the engine housing. He had spent hours completing the repair work on Liber8tor. The vessel was now ready to fly except for recalibrating the engines. The process still had another hour to run.
‘Are you sure?’ Dan asked.
‘Ferdy is never wrong,’ Ferdy said.
‘How many ships are there?’
‘Six hundred and forty-two.’
‘What?’
‘Six hundred and—’
‘I heard you the first time!’
Dan raced from the engine room to the bridge. He groaned as he brought up a display on the main screen. Ferdy was right. Hundreds of ships surrounded the planet.
‘How long till they get here?’ Dan asked.
‘Ships are already heading for the surface. And the square root of sixty-four is—’
‘Eight! I know!’
A beep came from the communication system.
‘Liber8tor,’ Garan’s voice came over the intercom. ‘This is Sorcerer.’
Dan opened a channel, and the alien’s face appeared on the screen. Chad pushed him out of the way. ‘Hey Dan,’ he said. ‘We’ve got some good news and bad news.’
‘You’ve found Ebony?’
‘That’s the good news. The bad news is that we have a problem.’
‘Like a six hundred and forty-two ship kind of problem?’
‘That’s the kind.’
‘Where are you?’
‘On the outskirts of the Gastara system. How’re the engines?’
Dan explained what was happening. ‘They won’t be ready for another hour,’ he said.
‘I’m not sure you have an hour. The Tagaar are already sending ships down to the surface.’
Dan thought. ‘There’s no point in you guys getting caught too,’ he said. ‘We’ll meet at Tagaar.’
‘We can’t just leave you,’ Chad said. ‘You’ll be alone.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ Dan said, although he didn’t feel that way. ‘And I’m not alone. I have Ferdy.’
Ferdy chirped up. ‘Ferdy will look after Dan,’ he said. ‘And the most portrayed non-human fictional character in film is Dracula.’
‘I’ll be sure to mention that to the Tagaar,’ Dan said.
‘We can’t leave you,’ Chad said. ‘You’ll—’
‘With Ferdy onside,’ Dan interrupted, ‘I can do just about anything.’ He saw the concern on Chad’s face and was touched. ‘I’ll be fine—and the mission needs to be accomplished. That’s what counts.’
‘You be careful, squirt,’ Chad said.
‘You be careful, too. And try not to be too obnoxious.’
‘I’ll try—but I can’t promise anything.’
The screen went black, and Dan fell back in the seat. Liber8tor seemed terribly quiet.
‘Ferdy,’ Dan said. ‘Speak to me.’
‘What would you like Ferdy to say?’
Dan sighed. ‘How many ships are landing on Gastara?’ he asked.
‘None, so far. However, more than a hundred are crisscrossing the planet.’
‘Why?’
‘Records indicate it is a standard maneuver when invading a world.’
‘Are any of them near the market?’
‘One.’
‘Can they detect Liber8tor?’
‘It seems so. The vessel is heading in this direction.’
‘How long till the engines are ready?’
‘Twenty-seven minutes.’
Dan’s mind was in such turmoil that he couldn’t think. There seemed to be no way out of this. One ship couldn’t defeat an enemy armada. He buried his face in his hands. ‘Ferdy,’ he groaned. ‘What are we going to do?’
‘Ferdy and Dan must stop them from entering Liber8tor.’
‘But how do we do that?’
‘Ferdy can encrypt the door mechanisms so they do not open.’
‘Will that stop them?’
‘It will slow them down.’
‘Then do it.’
While Ferdy worked on devising encryption for the doors, Dan returned to the engine room. The recalibration still had several minutes to run. The ship couldn’t reach maximum velocity or engage the FTL drive until it was completed. He started back to the bridge.
‘Ferdy is finished,’ Ferdy said. ‘And only two percent of humans on Earth have green eyes.’
‘Wonderful,’ Dan said, reaching the bridge. ‘Where are the Tagaar?’
‘They have landed approximately five hundred feet from Liber8tor. Several of their men are headed in this direction.’
Dan brought up Liber8tor’s external cameras. Ferdy was right. About ten Tagaar warriors were headed towards them. He shivered. The Tagaar were both ruthless and deadly. They would kill him without hesitation.
The men paused outside the ship. Dan understood their confusion. They had to be wondering why half a Tagaar warship was here on Gastara. How did it get here? What had happened to its crew?
The men tried activating the lower doors—without success.
‘It looks like your encryption code is working,’ Dan said.
‘Apparently.’
Dan didn’t like the sound of that. ‘Apparently?’ he said. ‘What do you mean?’
‘The Tagaar have attached an advanced encryption device to the door. It seems to be decrypting the locking code faster than Ferdy anticipated.’
‘How long do we have?’
‘Approximately three minutes.’
‘What?’
‘Approximately—’
‘I already heard you!’
Dan rubbed his chin. He had his powers. He could fight off the Tagaar, but doing it in Liber8tor’s closed quarters might cause a lot of damage. There had to be a way to stop them from entering. He furrowed his brow. There was something he had seen in the Liber8tor schematics. Something about the hull...
He asked Ferdy about it.
‘You have remembered correctly,’ Ferdy said. ‘The outer hull is designed to repel positive ions in the case of a solar storm. Although usually designed for outer space, it is possible to simulate that environment.’
‘Then do it.’
A low hum rang through the ship. Dan watched the warriors staring at the ship in confusion. Then they were catapulted into the air as if hit by an explosion.
‘Wow,’ he breathed. ‘I think we did it.’
He was just starting to feel better when a blast rocked the ship.
‘What was that?’ he yelped.
‘A second ship, a Tagaar warship, has closed in on Liber8tor and has fired on us.’
‘We need to escape. How long till the recalibration is finished?’
‘Twelve minutes.’
‘Can we fly without it being finished?’
‘It is not recommended as the engines will not engage at full capacity.’
‘But can we do it?’
‘Yes.’
Dan leaped into the pilot’s seat and started the engines. They lifted off, but the engines were sluggish as another blast rocked the ship. The instruments were telling him that the engines were at full strength, but they were barely responding. He increased acceleration and brought the ship around as another blast rocked the vessel.
‘Ferdy,’ he said. ‘I need you to fire on that Tagaar warship.’
‘Unfortunately, we cannot do that until the engines have finished recalibrating.’
‘How long now?’
‘Nine minutes.’
Dan poured as much energy into the engines as he could. Suddenly the vessel gained power—and headed straight for the other ship. He yelled, but there was no avoiding the other craft. They slammed hard into it, and Dan was thrown from the chair.
Dragging himself back i
nto the pilot’s seat, he applied full thrust again. This time the ship started to ascend. It still wasn’t fast enough. The Tagaar vessel was already in pursuit.
‘How long?’ Dan asked again.
‘Six minutes and the height of the Eiffel Tower is—’
‘Never mind!’
Boom!
The ship jolted again. Dan tried to ignore it. He wouldn’t stand a chance unless he could reach orbit and could jump to FTL speed.
Unless...
‘Ferdy,’ he said. ‘Is it possible to engage the FTL drive while in the atmosphere of the planet?’
‘It is not recommended.’
‘But is it possible?’
‘The chances of destroying the ship are twenty-six percent.’
Hmm.
The calculations were already finished for the FTL jump. All he had to do was enter them into the system.
Another blast rocked Liber8tor.
‘I’m entering the coordinates for Tagaar,’ Dan said, furiously stabbing his console. It only took a moment. His finger poised over the FTL ignition button. ‘If we don’t make it, thanks for everything.’
‘Thank you, friend Dan,’ Ferdy said. ‘And the Great Barrier Reef—’
Dan pushed the button.
Chapter Twenty
It was further than I expected to get to the temple, and my sense of doom increased with every step. Tagaar were everywhere. They outnumbered the slaves fifty to one. One wrong move or glance, and it would be the end of us. There would be no way of explaining why our collars weren’t working or how we ended up on the planet.
We approached the temple’s front entrance. I wondered if there were a side door we could—
‘Oof!’
I was so focused on looking for another entry that I walked straight into the back of a Tagaar. I didn’t hit him hard, but his reaction was instantaneous.
‘What?’ he roared, turning in fury. ‘You dare touch me?’
‘I...I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean—’
He drew back his hand and slapped me to the ground. I started to get back up, apologizing, but the expression on his face stopped me.
‘You dare to rise against me!’ the Tagaar raged. ‘You’ll pay for your insolence!’
He then started kicking into me. I tried scrambling away, but that only infuriated him more. He started aiming for my head, and I covered myself as best as possible.
Brodie took a step towards him.
‘No!’ I cried. ‘No! Don’t!’
The Tagaar thought I was crying out to him, but it was actually Brodie. If she intervened, this would be the end of our mission. Reluctantly, she stopped herself and looked away.
Other Tagaar walked past, hardly giving me a glance as I was beaten. One even laughed. The assault seemed to take forever. At some point, I lost consciousness, and then there was darkness. When I awoke next, I found myself peering up at a deep purple sky with Brodie hovering next to me. We were in an alley.
‘Are you all right?’ she asked.
‘Great,’ I grunted. ‘Never been better.’
I tried standing, but the pain was too bad. Every part of my body ached. My face felt like it had turned into a balloon. My left leg wouldn’t straighten—the agony in my knee was crippling.
‘Don’t move,’ Brodie advised. ‘It might not hurt as much.’
I wasn’t sure that anything was going to make me feel better. ‘How did it end up?’ I asked. ‘I bet the other guy ended up looking worse than me.’
‘Not exactly. Actually, he and his friends walked away laughing.’
‘But I’m sure there was fear in the laughter.’
‘Yeah. I’m sure.’
Brodie took my hand. That made me feel a little better, but not a whole lot. My superpowers would enable me to heal faster, but I would still be sore for some time. I weaved to my feet.
‘Where are we?’ I asked.
‘Around the corner from the entrance. It’s too risky to get through the front door, but I think there’s another way in.’ She pointed to a spot on the ground further down the alley—a manhole. ‘That might lead to the temple.’
‘It’s worth a try.’
I lifted the manhole, and levitated us down into a round sewer tunnel. A trail of water ran down the middle. We stepped around this, heading in the direction of the temple. My whole body ached, but we had to keep moving. We were so close and yet still so far. A million things could go wrong—and still might.
The lights from our comm bracelets lit the tunnel ahead. A creature scrambled out of sight.
‘Was that a rat?’ Brodie asked.
‘Probably the Tagaar version of one,’ I said.
A distant sound came reverberating down the tunnel.
‘Is that chanting?’ I said.
‘I think so. Must be some kind of religious ceremony.’
It was strange to think of the Tagaar having religious faith. They seemed so intent on taking over the universe that it was easy to think of them as merely sadistic monsters. Still, Mister Okada had said they had a rich set of powerful beliefs. It was sad to think that violence and faith could be so intertwined.
The chanting grew louder until it sounded like it was overhead. We continued on for another hundred feet. A flush of running water spurted down the middle of the tunnel.
‘That’s soapy,’ I said. ‘Maybe it’s someone’s bathwater.’ The idea brought a smile to my lips. ‘Can you imagine that? Surprising a Tagaar warrior in the middle of taking a bath?’
We both started laughing. Within seconds we had slid to the floor of the drain, helpless with laughter. Finally, I sobered as I realized my body was hurting too much to laugh.
‘That was painful,’ I said. ‘But I needed it.’
‘Are you ready to go on?’
I nodded. We reached a juncture where a dozen tunnels met a primary tributary, and a metal staircase led upwards. We climbed the staircase, pausing at a door at the top. Trying the handle, the door creaked open an inch, but then stopped. I heard the rattle of a chain, but no other sound. I manipulated the air around one of the links and gently snapped it. Pushing the door open, we found ourselves in a dank underground chamber. It looked like some kind of storage room that hadn’t been used in years.
A door on the opposite side opened onto a winding corridor as big as a railway tunnel with torches set shoulder-length along the walls. The ceiling lay in darkness. A delicate, green moss covered the stone floor and walls. The distant sound of chanting was coming from far behind us, but in the opposite direction I spotted a faint yellow glow.
Starting in that direction, Brodie followed me as we made our way towards the light. The air around us was still and cold. I wondered how many Tagaar had walked this corridor over the centuries. Thousands? Tens of thousands? Millions?
The rattle of conversation echoed down the corridor.
Brodie grabbed my arm, and we started back in the direction we’d come. Reaching a corner, I peered around and saw two Tagaar walking towards us. They were wearing dark brown robes with hoods over their heads. I started back to where we were, but the sound of voices was louder now.
We had to hide.
But where?
Chapter Twenty-One
‘Where are we?’ Dan asked.
They were hovering over a green world. There were no signs of civilization. Seven moons creased the horizon. As far as Dan knew, Tagaar only had two.
‘Ferdy and Dan are in the Laniakea Supercluster,’ Ferdy said. ‘One of the many galaxies it contains is the Milky Way, as well as—’
‘Can you be more exact?’
‘Unfortunately, friend Dan, the navigational array is offline.’
Dan frowned. ‘Offline?’ he said. ‘Was it damaged?’
‘Ferdy is unsure, and is running a self-diagnostic to discover the cause.’
As Ferdy fell silent, Dan peered gloomily into space. Without the navigational system, they had no way to find Tagaar, let alone Earth.
/>
Ferdy spoke up. ‘It appears the Tagaar were able to inject a virus into Liber8tor’s computer system before entering wormhole space,’ Ferdy said. ‘It is creating a gradual cascade failure of all systems.’
‘How do we get rid of it?’ Dan asked.
‘There are overrides that will need to be manually removed. Once taken out, a partial reboot of the mainframe will purge the virus.’
‘What do I do?’
Ferdy directed him to a chamber adjacent to the engine room. Smaller than a broom closet, one wall was made up of hundreds of switches that could be flipped either up or down.
Dan frowned as he stared at them. ‘How many of these need to be changed?’ he asked.
‘Ninety-two.’
‘What?’
‘The longer Dan waits, the more systems that will fail.’
‘Are you sure this is the only way?’
‘It is.’
Ferdy started listing the switches that needed to be reset. Dan wished the others were here to double-check his work. If he made one mistake...
He worked diligently for fifteen minutes. Then one of the switches started flashing.
‘Friend Dan,’ Ferdy said. ‘That is the wrong switch.’
Dan stopped. ‘Er...what is?’ he said.
‘The last switch you turned off has disengaged the automated systems. Without those—’
The ship jolted, throwing Dan against the wall. ‘What’s going on?’ he yelled.
‘All automatic systems have been turned off.’
‘How do I turn them back on again?’ Dan yelled.
‘You must reset Liber8tor’s power systems.’
Dan had done that once before. It took ages for the entire ship to power back up again. ‘We can’t do that now!’ he yelled.
‘Friend Dan, you have no other choice.’
Dan scrambled back to the bridge. By the time he reached it, his feet were barely touching the floor.
‘Artificial gravity has failed,’ Ferdy said.
‘Tell me about it!’
Dan reached the command chair just as he started floating in mid-air. Without artificial gravity, he would eventually float around the ship like a balloon. Strapping himself into his seat, he stared at the viewscreen. The green planet that had been so far away now looked perilously close.
‘Ferdy,’ he said. ‘Are we getting closer to the planet?’
Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 88
