Great, Dan thought. As if the place weren’t dangerous enough already!
He described the room to Ferdy. ‘I can’t see anything marked tenetron,’ he said.
‘It would normally be contained in a case the size of a backpack. The case would have a vacuum seal to keep it cold.’
‘What happens if it warms up?’
‘The tenetron explodes.’
There were no cases to be seen. ‘The other elevator must lead to the underground mine,’ Dan said. ‘I’ll go down. Hopefully, there’s a bag at the bottom.’
‘Be careful.’
Dan stepped into the elevator. Unlike the space elevator, this one was old-fashioned and run by cables. Pushing the button, it started clattering downwards. A few minutes later, he reached the bottom and saw a rough-hewn tunnel curving away. Lighting was strung along the ceiling.
Some cases lay outside the elevator doors.
Yes!
He went to the nearest, snapped it open—and groaned. Empty! So was the next one, and all the others.
‘What now?’ he murmured to himself.
Dan started down the tunnel. If it was cold above ground, down here was freezing! He rubbed his arms hard.
What if I have to mine this stuff myself? I don’t even know what it looks like!
Small tunnels branched out from each side, but he ignored them. Keeping to the central passage, he reached the end where he spotted another pile of the cases. He snapped the first one open.
It contained an oddly-shaped red rock. Dan stared at it, shaking his head.
This is it? This can destroy an entire solar system?
He tapped his wrist comm to communicate with Ferdy but got only static.
I’m out of range.
Picking up the case, he returned to the elevator, got back in, and pushed the button. The doors slid shut, then—nothing. He pushed it again.
‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ he groaned.
He tried hitting the button, but it made no difference. Peering upwards at the ceiling, he wondered how he would get back up the shaft. It was about fifty feet. He had his powers, but it was hard—
Clannnng!
The door of the elevator vibrated as something hit the other side.
‘Uh,’ Dan stammered. ‘Hello?’
Whatever was on the other side struck it again. And again. Within seconds, it was pummeling the door, and the whole elevator cabin had begun to shake.
I’ve got to get out of here!
Dan peered up in frustration at the roof. There was an escape hatch, but it was too far away for him to reach. Using his powers, he tore away a length of metal from one of the walls and formed a rudimentary staircase. Scrambling up them, he pushed the door open as the elevator door began to buckle. A white-clawed hand started to push through.
He didn’t like the look of that hand, but Dan didn’t want to kill the creature unless it was absolutely necessary.
It wasn’t possible to climb the hoist cable, but the side of the lift shaft had metal crossbeams. Dan started up these. It was difficult with the case in his hand. He heard the beast roar as it entered the cabin and pounded the walls in frustration.
Ferdy said the East wing was damaged. An earthquake must have caused some kind of collapse and allowed the creature inside. Dan shivered. The outside temperature was freezing! How could anything survive out there?
Note to self, Dan thought. Remind Ferdy to tell me if there are life forms on a planet!
He continued upwards. At the halfway point, he stopped and peered back down. The beast had stopped smashing about the interior. Maybe it had given up. Then a clawed hand gripped the edge of the escape hatch.
Or maybe not!
Dan started to climb faster. The creature gave another roar. In his haste, Dan’s hand slipped, and he almost fell. He pulled himself against the wall, his heart pounding. It was almost impossible to climb with the bag in this hand! He had to be careful. It was certain death if he fell from here. Glancing down, he saw the creature had started scaling the wall after him.
Dan redoubled his efforts and continued up again. Only ten feet till he reached the doors to the next level. Five feet.
Yes!
Focusing on the doors, he used his powers to rip them free of their housing and tossed them down the shaft. He heard one of them strike the creature, and it roared with fury. Dan tossed the bag into the hallway ahead of him, gripped the bottom edge of the shaft exit, and started to drag himself in.
He slipped.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chad fell back in horror as he saw Ebony and Quinn’s unconscious bodies on the ceiling. They had been half-swallowed by the moss as if cocooned in its grip. Beyond them were the skeletal remains of dozens of other unwary travelers.
No! Chad thought. This is what happened to the people on the other ships!
A spear of foliage—about the size of a ruler—spat out from the wall. At the last possible instant, Chad deflected it with an ice barrier, but it still ricocheted off his left leg.
Chad half sank to the ground. His legs were going numb: he could hardly feel them. In desperation, he shot fiery balls at the plant and heard a high-pitched shriek. Ebony’s body tumbled from the ceiling. He staggered over to her before she hit the ground. He fired some more blasts at the growth and had Quinn in his arms moments later.
The creature had not given up entirely. Another spear spat from the wall and narrowly missed Chad. He threw an ice dome around them as projectiles came from all directions. The spears clattered off it harmlessly.
I’ve got to get us out of here, he thought. But I can’t move my legs!
Everything from the waist down was numb, and the feeling was gone in his feet. It was as if they didn’t exist.
Can’t worry about that now, he thought.
He checked Ebony and Quinn’s pulses. They were both breathing but unconscious.
How do we get out of this?
They were now enclosed within the dome, but the plant creature was firing spears at it continuously. Although it was impossible to escape, it didn’t mean he couldn’t fight back.
‘The Chad is not getting beaten by moss!’ he snapped.
Creating a superfine blade of fire, he cut a narrow gap through the ice wall and focused on burning the creature. Like a knife cutting through skin, he ran it across the ceiling. At the same moment, Chad shattered the ice barrier and started dragging the two girls towards the doorway. This time he sent an icy wave in all directions, blasting the ceiling and walls in sub-zero temperatures.
The creature cried out again. As Chad reached the doorway, he created a second ice barrier, stopping another barrage of spears.
Chad slapped the side of Ebony’s face.
‘Chad?’ she moaned.
‘Ebony? Are you all right?’
‘I’m...okay...sort of,’ she muttered, struggling to her feet. ‘What about Quinn?’
She wasn’t moving.
‘We’ll need to carry her,’ he said.
They dragged Quinn between them as they started down the corridor.
‘What was that thing?’ Chad asked.
‘I don’t think it has a name. If it does, it’s Sir!’
‘Nice to see you can still make jokes.’
A crash came from behind them.
‘I don’t think it’s very happy,’ Chad said.
‘Really? I couldn’t have worked that out myself.’
Most of the sensation had returned to Chad’s legs. They were half-way back to the docking bay. Another crash came from behind, and they saw a voluminous green shape filling the corridor.
‘It can walk?’ Chad said, incredulous.
‘And fast!’ Ebony said. She turned the air into a steel barrier, and they kept going. They were almost back at the docking bay when they saw Mister Okada and Garan returning from the opposite direction.
‘Quinn!’ Mister Okada cried.
‘She’s breathing,’ Chad assured him. ‘But we need to
move. There’s a weird plant monster that wants to eat us.’
‘How ridiculous!’ Garan snapped. A roar came from behind, followed by the crashing of metal. ‘Or…possibly not.’
They scrambled aboard the Sorcerer. Garan worked to repair the engine as Mister Okada leaned over his daughter.
‘My beautiful,’ he said. ‘Can you hear me?’
Chad was touched by the expression on his face.
It’s hard to believe he means us harm. Maybe I was wrong about these two.
‘This is serious,’ he said. ‘She’s close to death. I think that creature was leaching an element from her blood.’ He placed his hands on Quinn’s face. Closing his eyes, his hands began to glow.
At first, Quinn’s face was pale, and her breathing shallow. Then the radiance spread from Mister Okada to her face and down her body until she was bathed in pale golden light. Her color gradually returned, her eyelids flickered, and her chest rose and fell more rapidly.
Ebony and Chad exchanged glances.
What is this? Chad wondered.
Quinn’s eyes flickered open. ‘Where am I?’ she groaned. ‘What happened?’
Before anyone could answer, the ship gave an almighty lurch. Garan hurried through the cabin to the controls.
‘Take a seat!’ he said. ‘We need to get out of here!’
They helped Quinn to a seat. At the same time, Chad noticed that Mister Okada was very pale. He took a stumbling step before half-falling into his seat.
‘I’m all right,’ he said, waving Chad away. ‘That process is quite draining. The closer someone is to death, the more it weakens me.’
Garan started the engines, and they took off just as the ship was struck again. Taking his seat, Chad stared out at the monster outside the vessel. It was almost fifty feet across and looked like a giant green blanket. It started to wrap itself around the ship.
‘Get us out of here!’ Chad yelled.
The creature gave a bellow of rage as Garan applied thrust. Sparks flew everywhere as it smashed through one of the walls.
‘It’s tearing the place apart!’ Ebony said.
The engines gave another mighty thrust of power, and they shot free. An instant later, they were back in the vacuum of space. Chad looked back at the space station and saw a section fly free. A scarlet blaze ripped across the top of the saucer, and then the whole station erupted in a massive explosion.
Quinn groaned. ‘Did I miss much?’ she asked.
‘Not much,’ Chad said. ‘Just another day on the job.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dan’s feet slipped, and his chin collided with the bottom of the doorframe. For one horrifying moment, he saw stars, and everything started to go black. He started to slip back into the elevator shaft.
No, he thought. No!
Grabbing the sides of the doorframe, Dan dragged himself over the edge. He caught a glimpse of the creature; it was now only a few feet below. Struggling to his feet, Dan snatched up the case and staggered up the tunnel.
Raaaaaagggghhhh!
The beast reached the top of the shaft, now giving Dan his first opportunity to see it. The creature was the size of a grizzly bear and stood on two legs. Completely white, the only difference was its jet black eyes. Its legs were short, but its two arms seemed too long for its body. They reached almost all the way to the floor. The paws at the end were human-shaped but covered in white fur. From the ends of its fingers were razor-sharp talons.
The creature started bounding down the tunnel towards Dan.
It won’t end like this, Dan promised himself. I won’t let it.
Focusing on one of the metal support beams, he fired it down the tunnel like a spear. The creature leaped out of the way. Dan fired a second one after it, this time angling it sideways down the tunnel. It slammed into the creature’s head, throwing it backward. Dan turned and ran for the next elevator. Reaching it, he glanced back and saw the creature was still in pursuit.
Don’t you ever give up?
He fired three more support beams at it, and this time one of them landed dead center in the creature’s forehead. It weaved for a moment before toppling sideways to the floor.
His heart pounding, Dan hit the button for the space elevator. The doors slid open, he leaped through, and pushed the up button.
Now to get out of this place!
The doors started to slide together.
A clawed hand grabbed one of the doors, stopping it from closing. No! Using his powers, Dan struggled to slam the doors shut, but now the creature was forcing itself through. The creature’s claws raked the front of Dan’s shirt. He dropped the case and threw himself backward, narrowly missing being eviscerated.
The creature’s arm was now at full extension. It continued to force the doors apart as Dan pushed the up button. Incredibly, the elevator started to rise. The creature roared again with fury, then screamed in terror as the elevator continued up towards the roof. It leaped away just before the elevator disappeared into the ceiling. If it had remained where it was, it would have been crushed by the rising elevator.
Dan fell back to the floor. He felt dizzy, sick, and needed to sleep. Then he caught a glimpse of the door.
It had closed, but there was a half-inch gap remaining. The moment he hit the outside, the frozen air would kill him. He focused on closing the gap. The metal weaved together—and not a moment too soon. A second later, he caught a glimpse of white landscape. He had made it. He was returning to the space station.
Laying his head down, Dan closed his eyes.
I need sleep. I need...
When he next opened his eyes, he found himself staring sideways at the floor. After a moment of confusion, he weaved to his feet. Planet 221B was far below, and he could see dark space.
‘Ferdy?’ he croaked.
‘Friend Dan?’
Dan had never felt so relieved to hear someone’s voice in his life. He felt like crying.
‘Is Dan all right?’ Ferdy asked.
‘Fine,’ Dan said, forcing himself to sound brave. He related everything that had happened down on the planet. ‘It’s good to hear your voice.’
‘And yours too, Dan.’
Soon the elevator had docked back at the space station. The doors didn’t open—they had become fused together—so Dan used his power to break them apart. Minutes later, he was onboard Liber8tor.
‘We’d better get to Magarath,’ he said, as he settled himself back into the command seat.’
‘We should not do that, friend Dan.’
‘What?’ Dan’s jaw dropped. ‘Why not?’
‘Dan needs sleep.’
Dan was about to argue when he stopped himself. He hadn’t slept or eaten correctly over the last few days. He needed to recuperate—especially if he was going to fire an explosive device into a sun.
At the same time, having the explosive on board was dangerous.
‘Not yet,’ he said, exhausted. ‘Let’s get to Magarath. There’ll be time to sleep once we’ve destroyed the star.’
It took several minutes, but they did the calculations and entered them into Liber8tor’s computer. Soon they were back in FTL space. Sitting back in the seat, Dan looked down. For the first time, he noticed the front of his shirt. The beast on 221B had raked his shirt with its claws. There were five cuts across the front. If they had been an inch closer...
‘Dan,’ Ferdy said. ‘We are arriving in the Magarath system.’
Liber8tor came out of FTL space, and Dan found himself looking at a star. The black outline of a planet was moving across it. The glare from the star was blinding.
‘That looks big,’ Dan said.
‘Magarath is classed as a supergiant,’ Ferdy said. ‘It is approximately a thousand times larger than Earth’s sun.’
‘A thousand times...’ Dan’s voice trailed off. ‘And this single bag of tenetron is going to destroy it and this entire solar system?’
‘It will.’
Dan shook his head in a
mazement. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘How do we fire this thing into the sun?’
‘Ferdy does not know.’
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It took a moment for Dan to comprehend the words.
‘Ferdy does not know?’ Dan said. ‘Seriously? That’s your answer?’
‘Ferdy knows the heat of the star will cause a catastrophic chain reaction, but not how to bring it about. There are far more sheep in New Zealand than people—’
‘I don’t care about sheep!’ Dan exploded. ‘How could you suggest this crazy plan and not know how to carry it out?’ He swallowed hard. Yelling at Ferdy was wrong. He was just doing his best. ‘I’m sorry, Ferdy.’
‘That’s all right, friend Dan. Ferdy knows you’re tired and stressed.’
Ferdy wasn’t wrong about that. Dan tried to force his tired mind to think. ‘The tenetron will explode once it’s exposed to extreme heat?’ he said. ‘Is that right?’
‘Yes.’
‘Does the tenetron need to be thrown into the sun, or will close by be enough?’
‘It must be no more than fifty million miles away from the sun. Any further and the explosion will not be sufficient.’
Dan nodded. He looked back at the glaring sun in the view screen. One of the system’s planets was still moving across its face. He had an idea.
‘Ferdy,’ he said. ‘What’s the name of that planet?’
‘Lydor.’
‘It’s distance from the star?’
‘Thirty-two million miles.’
‘Ferdy,’ Dan said. ‘We need to do some calculations.’
For the next two hours, Dan entered numbers into Liber8tor’s computer with Ferdy checking every step of the way. After they had finished, Dan checked and rechecked them. Finally, he sat back from the navigation console. He was so tired he felt like his eyes were going to fall out of his head—but now they had a plan.
‘Are all systems operational?’ Dan asked.
‘All Liber8tor systems are operating as normal.’
‘Then let’s do this.’ Gripping Liber8tor’s control column, he entered the final commands into the computer and peered up at the viewscreen. ‘On the count of three. One...two...three!’
Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 90
