Space Wars! (4 page)

Chapter 4

Clank-clank-clank.

The crab-bots scuttled after them, their metallic feet pounding against the ceiling.

Zap-Zap-Ssssizzz. Zap-Zap-Ssssizzz.
Laserfire snapped at Peri’s heels like Martian piranha-rats.

‘Activate your Expedition Wear armour!’ Peri yelled, jabbing a button on the belt of his suit. The surface instantly became hard and shiny. A Plexiglas helmet encased his head in a transparent bubble. He was just in time as a laser blast punched the back of his suit throwing him forward. Otto pulled him up.

‘Keep going!’ Peri yelled as a shot zinged off his helmet and exploded ahead of him. He knew their armour couldn’t protect them for ever. When he saw a split up ahead in the dingy corridor, he shouted, ‘Everyone go right!’

They tore around the corner into a junction between six corridors. ‘Quick, this way,’ said Peri, choosing one at random. There was no time to lose. ‘We keep turning until we lose them.’

‘That’s crazy!’ Otto boomed, before another blast lit the corridor behind them.

‘No time to argue,’ Peri panted and started running. They hung another left, twisting and changing directions wherever there was a turning.

‘We’ve lost them,’ Selene wheezed. ‘I think.’

Peri skidded to a halt. He listened but couldn’t hear the crab-bots’ metallic feet against the ceiling.

Diesel’s hair was bristling and his face was as red as a solar-flare. ‘Stop being such a lamizoid, Peri. We should stop and fight.’

‘If we did, they’ll raise the alarm and then . . .’ Peri started, but before he even finished his sentence the crab-bots were screaming, ‘In-troo-Dah! In-troo-DAH!’ over the ship’s tannoy systems.

An alarm sounded.
Eeeee-raaaa, eeee-raaaa!

‘In-troo-Dah Alert!’

‘Now the Meigwors know we’re here too!’ Diesel swore. ‘I told you we should have blasted those crab-bots while we had the chance.’

‘No more running like Milky Way minnies!’ Otto said. ‘We lie in wait – like mighty Meigwors!’

He jabbed a finger into the corridor wall. A door swung out, revealing a strange kind of storeroom filled with shelves and crates. Peri glanced back down the corridor; no one was in sight yet, but it wouldn’t be long before the place was crawling with guards, both Meigwor and robotic. ‘Quick, inside!’

Otto flicked a switch as he pushed the door shut behind them.

‘
Klûu’ah
,’ Diesel exclaimed, as a bright light came on. ‘Look at all these weapons.’

Peri had never seen so many weapons in his life. The wall nearest the door was covered in racks of electromagnetic zapsters, seventeen-barrelled blasters and laserpulses. There were four sets of shelves, each packed with cases of ammo and more weapons, from jellifiers to petrifiers.

Otto had brought them to the Meigwor armoury.

Selene slid out a drawer from under the jellifiers. Rows of silver probes, lasers, space-wrenches and ultra-sonic pliers gleamed back. She grabbed a few tools, tucked them in her Expedition Wear and hastily shut the drawer. ‘You can never be too prepared,’ she said.

Prince Onix was standing in front of a row of diagrams pasted to the wall. The posters showed the best ways to terminate a range of alien species, while others had cooking instructions. He stared at the diagram of a Xion as though hypnotised. ‘Best slow roasted?’ he murmured.

‘Very tasty,’ Otto grunted back. He was swapping his two blasters for what looked like newer, bigger versions of the same weapon.

‘Otto,’ Peri said, ‘how come this room wasn’t locked? It’s full of deadly weapons.’

Otto laughed. ‘Meigwors love war! Why would we want to lock ourselves out of the armoury? It just doesn’t make sense!’

Diesel picked up a laserpulse. He tested it in his hands, trying to see if he could aim with it. ‘We should stock up. These are much better than the double-barrel blasters we have.’

Selene had her ear against the door, her legs shaking nervously. She stiffened and put her finger to her lips. ‘Shhhh . . .’

Peri pressed his ear against the door too. Outside the room, he could hear the crab-bots getting closer.
Clank. Clank. Clank.

Keep going
, Peri thought.
Keep going.

But the crab-bots slowed as they got nearer.
Clank. Clank . . . Clank . . . Clank.

Even with his Expedition Wear’s auto-cool function working at the max, Peri felt sweat run down the inside of his suit. He held his breath, not daring to make a noise. He glanced around. Diesel’s narrow band of hair had turned bone-white. Otto had blasters in each hand. Prince Onix was backing away from the door.

Clank . . .

Peri glanced behind the prince at an ammo crate sticking out from the shelves.

Onix was heading straight for it. If he bumped into it, the noise would give them away.

‘Behind you,’ Peri hissed.

Onix twisted around in horror as if he was expecting to find the whole Meigwor army behind him. He knocked the crate and sent it flying.

Craaaashhhh!

Instantly, the crab-bots outside screamed: ‘In-troo-DAH! In-troo-DAH! In-troo-DAH!’

Peri heard Meigwor guards pounding down the corridor. He swore silently to himself. There was no way out of the armoury without a fight, which meant they had no chance of reaching the nerve centre undetected.

‘Where are the intruders?’ a guard boomed.

‘Arr-MORE-ree,’ the crab-bots screeched. ‘OH-pen DOOR! WEE Diss-TROY!’’

‘Stupid machine!
We
destroy! Get out of the way!’ the guard ordered. ‘We haven’t had the chance to shoot anything for ages!’

The crab-bots clunked away from the door. Fear crackled through Peri’s circuits.
Once the guards open the door
,
he thought,
we have a zero per cent chance of surviving and a hundred per cent chance of being blown to pieces.

‘What are we going to do?’ Prince Onix whined.

Diesel grabbed a Meigwor weapon and started flicking switches along the side. ‘I’m going to lock and load,’ he hissed. ‘We should fight our way out!’

Otto snatched the weapon from Diesel with one hand and, with the other, pushed him into the corner. Before anyone could react, he pushed Peri, Selene and Onix next to their half-Martian friend. Otto raised the weapon at them and ran a finger across his sinewy neck.

‘Step back!’ he growled under his breath.

Peri’s body turned ice-cold. How could he have been so stupid? He had even persuaded Otto to come along on the mission, and now the Meigwor was planning to betray them.

Chapter 5

Otto shoved Peri backwards with the tip of his blaster and reached for the door handle. As he opened the door, he swept Peri, Diesel, Selene and Onix against the wall.

Double-crossing long-necked freak!
Peri cursed silently.
Bounty hunters never change.

Selene shook Peri and pointed to her eyes, then to the door. It was blocking their view. They couldn’t see the guards or the crab-bots – which meant the guards couldn’t see the crew of the
Phoenix
either. They still had a chance to do something.

Selene pulled a small laser from the belt of her suit and pressed it against the open door. She fired. There was a faint whiff of vaporised metal. As the smoke cleared it left behind a perfect peephole.

Peri peered through the hole as Otto slapped his hands over his head in salute. Compared to Otto, the two guards were short and stocky, although still taller than Peri. The guards levelled their blasters at Otto.
Charrrruupt!
The sound of a laser blaster charging up sent a chill through Peri’s circuits.

‘What are you doing?’ one of the guards boomed.

There was a long silence. Peri’s heart was pounding so loudly he feared the Meigwor guards would hear it.

‘I wasn’t happy with my weapon!’ Otto boomed. ‘I wanted a bigger one that could do more damage!’

It was the first time in his life Peri had been so happy to hear someone tell a lie. Otto wasn’t betraying them after all!

‘With big weapons, we will all be victorious today,’ the guard replied, although he didn’t sound pleased. ‘Not that we will need them with the Extractor working.’