STAR FIGHTERS BUMPER SPECIAL EDITION: Stealth Force (9 page)

Peri snatched a rock from the crumbling well and threw it out, far away from where he was crouching.

Wild Will spun round and shattered the rock with one well-placed bullet. Peri took his opportunity, darting out from the other side of the well. He saw Wild Will spin back, pistols aimed, but Peri was too fast. A loop of laser rope shot out and wrapped around Wild Will’s body, pinning his arms to his sides. His guns pointed harmlessly down at the ground.

The outlaw struggled furiously, his scales turning a darker green as he did so. He hissed and viciously flicked his tongue at Peri. The harder he fought against the laser rope, the more it sparked and the tighter it held him. At last he stopped moving, and glared at Peri.

‘You can’t escape, Wild Will,’ Peri said, seeing his own face reflected back in the outlaw’s deep, black eyes. ‘And I won’t let you go unless you surrender your guns and promise to leave Buckskinville for good.’

A huge cheer went up all around the town square, echoing off the buildings.

Wild Will spat at him. Peri had to duck to avoid being hit – like all Westrenians, Wild Will was a powerful spitter.

‘I won’t surrender to a kid like you,’ the outlaw said. ‘My men will be back from their raid soon – then you’ll get what you deserve!’

‘I wouldn’t count on that,’ Peri said. ‘But I’m guessing you don’t want to surrender at all? Then maybe I can change your mind for you!’

Using all his bionic strength, Peri dragged Wild Will over to the well, pushed him into it and let him dangle on the end of the laser lasso. He felt the full weight of the outlaw pulling on the lasso, but the laser rope held. Only the soles of Wild Will’s boots could be seen sticking up above the sides of the well.

‘Are you going to surrender now, Wild Will?’ Peri said.

‘No!’ The outlaw’s voice came echoing up from inside the well, muffled and hollow. ‘I will never surrender! Never! Never! . . . Waaah!’ He yelped as Peri let him drop a little lower.

A burst of laughter exploded around the square. People started to come out of their houses. They were smiling and cheering at the tops of their voices and applauding Peri.

‘It’s all over!’

‘I guess that’s the end of Wild Will’s reign of terror.’

‘We should give him a new nickname!’

‘How about Useless Will?’

Peri saw three Westrenians march over to the Hole of Death, carrying a rope. Two others went over to the saloon veranda, picked up the dazed form of Stinky Stan and began to lead him away to the sheriff’s office. He hardly struggled against them.

More townsfolk gathered around the well to watch.

Peri gave a tug on the rope. ‘Are you ready to surrender yet, Will?’

‘Never!’ came Will’s muffled voice.

‘We’ll see about that!’ Peri spun the laser rope round and round, using all his bionic strength.

‘Waaaah!’ Will said, as he was flung about in the depths of the well. ‘Stop it – I feel sick!’

‘Is that a surrender?’ Peri demanded.

‘Please stop while my insides are still inside me . . . I surrender!’

Peri stopped twirling the rope. ‘Can you swim, Will?’

‘Yes, I can swim, but why –’

Peri switched off the laser lasso’s power. There was a howl and a splash – and a roar of laughter from the gathered crowd – as Will fell into the water at the bottom of the well.

‘That’s a real unusual lasso you got there!’ said a Westrenian with pale green scales that were tinted with blue. ‘A lasso that comes out of a pistol – I’ve never seen such a thing in all my life!’

‘It’s a . . . new weapon,’ Peri said, thinking quickly. ‘You can buy them in Dry Gulch City.’

More cheers and applause rose from the crowd as it parted to let through Diesel and Sheriff Lexor, who had just been pulled out of the Hole of Death. Their clothes and faces were streaked with mud.

‘Look at me!’ Diesel said. ‘I need a long, hot shower, followed by a bath, followed by another shower.’

‘I could use a wash myself!’ Sheriff Lexor said. ‘Then a big, juicy steak and some strong, hot coffee! But first things first. Where’s that no-good Wild Will?’

‘Useless Will!’ somebody shouted from the crowd.

‘He’s in there!’ Peri said, pointing at the well.

Splashing, spluttering noises came from within the well.

‘Let’s get him out,’ the sheriff said.

Some of the bystanders got a rope and pulled Will out of the well. He stood sheepishly, with his head hanging low, his fan of scales drooping, water dripping from him.

Some of the crowd moved threateningly towards him. Several aliens raised their fists. One brandished a stick. Another placed his hand on his gun. Will cringed backward.

‘No, stop!’ the sheriff told the crowd. ‘We must do everything right and proper. This town is a place for decent, law-abiding folk. We must not act like outlaws ourselves.’

The crowd backed away and Will looked distinctly relieved.

‘Will and his gang took me by surprise,’ the sheriff said. ‘But that won’t happen again.’ He looked at Peri. ‘I heard it was you who took Will down. That’s mighty impressive for someone so young. It takes a lot of guts to stand up to mean individuals like these.’

‘I stood up to them too!’ Diesel said. ‘I would have done more if Peri hadn’t run off and left me.’

‘Yes, you told me about that down in the Hole, son,’ the sheriff said. ‘About thirty-five times! But where’s the rest of Will’s band of outlaws?’

‘They’re just coming,’ Peri said, pointing.

His superhuman vision had picked them out before anyone else did. The outlaws were shuffling into the square at the far end, all roped together. They were led by Selene, Dexter, Spike and Gunner, with the four guards from the mail coach.

Peri felt a surge of relief. It looked like all the training had worked, and no one had been hurt.

He turned to Will. ‘So do you agree to leave town with all your men and to never come back?’

Will nodded, but Sheriff Lexor shook his head. ‘Oh no, no! These men will stand trial for their crimes. Westrenia has laws that must be respected and the jailhouse is going to be pretty crowded.’

‘Hey, Father!’ shouted Dexter, breaking into a run. ‘Guess what? We captured the gang!’

‘You’ve done well, son,’ the sheriff said. He gave Dexter a big thumbs-down sign, and grinned broadly. ‘I’m mighty proud of you.’

‘I didn’t do it all alone!’ Dexter said. ‘These guys helped me.’ He put his arms around the shoulders of Spike and Gunner, who had just caught up with him. Suddenly, they didn’t look so scrawny any more.

‘That’s good to hear. Maybe you three would like to be my deputies from now on!’ the sheriff said.

‘That’d be great!’ Dexter exclaimed. ‘But I must tell you that these three kids from – from
distant parts
, they did the most. We couldn’t have done it without them!’

‘I thank you all on behalf of Buckskinville,’ the sheriff said to Peri, Diesel and Selene. ‘Tonight we’re going to have ourselves a big celebration feast, and we’d be mighty happy if you would be our guests of honour!’

Peri took a sly glance at the control strip. His crew had only three days left until they were due back at the IF Space Station.

‘Thank you, Sheriff, but we were just passing through and we can’t stay,’ he said. ‘There’s somewhere we need to be – and it’s rather a long way from here.’

Chapter 10

‘I can’t wait to get clean!’ Diesel said. His band of hair was the colour of mud, and Peri knew that it hadn’t changed to that colour by itself. ‘I can’t stand all this mud on me, it’s
shunkelvr’adro
j!
’

‘What does
shunkel
. . .
shunk
. . . What does
that
word mean?’ Selene asked.

‘It’s Martian for “horrible”,’ Diesel replied.

‘Well, you don’t have long to wait,’ Peri said. ‘As soon as we’re far enough away so they can’t see us from town, we’ll enlarge the
Phoenix
. Then you can have your shower.’

‘And bath!’ Diesel added. ‘And second shower!’

They marched on over the sandy ground, with the tall cactus plants casting eerie shadows. For some reason, Peri felt uneasy again, but couldn’t quite put his finger on why. Perhaps he was just anxious about the time.

‘I hope we’re going to make it!’ Selene said, as if reading Peri’s thoughts. ‘We don’t  have much time to make it back to the Milky Way. I’ll try to find a few shortcuts.’

‘We should be all right,’ Peri said. ‘But we’ll need to go Superluminal. Anyway, it was worth the detour, wasn’t it? That was a pretty cool adventure.’

‘That’s easy for you to say,’ Diesel said. ‘You didn’t spend most of the time in a filthy, hot hole –’

Peri raised his hand. ‘Ssshh!’

He realised now why he’d been feeling uneasy – there was a rustling sound coming from the nearby ditch.

‘Somebody’s following us,’ he said under his breath.

‘Do you think one of Will’s gang escaped?’ whispered Selene.

‘Let’s not take any chances,’ Peri muttered.

He pointed to the ditch and counted down on his fingers. 3 . . . 2 . . . 1!