Polly Pippin and The Tunnel of Death (27 page)

~

'Zack, how many times do I have to save
you?'

Zack felt a bit groggy but was coherent
enough to know he was back in the Dark Universe and standing over
him was Commander Pope.

'Do you realise what you've done?'

'What, sir?' Zack said, and from the look on
the Commander's face, whatever he had done was dire.

'Come with me, Zack. I don't know whether to
be so angry with you I could break your neck or if I should feel
sorry for you.'

'Sorry for me? What do you mean sorry for
me?'

Pope opened a door and waved Zack in.

Lying on a cold mortuary slab was Knox.

'What? No! No! Knox! Knox!' Zack looked at
the Commander. 'What happened to him?' He screamed.

'You encapsulated him, Zack, did you
not?'

'Yes, but!'

'There are no buts, Zack. You were angry
when you encapsulated Knox. You had a fight, and you doubled the
charge. Knox was gone before the process started. He never even got
to the encapsulation chrysalis.'

'No, no!' Zack fell to his knees and sobbed.
'I've killed my best friend,' he said.

'I'm so angry! I feel like making you suffer
longer,' the Commander said. 'Get up, you idiot, and listen very
carefully to what I have to say.' Zack was pulled roughly to his
feet. 'Knox is not dead, and we can get him back.'

'I will fight anything alive,' Zack
said.

'It is not anything to do with fighting,
Zack. He has gone to the twelfth dimension.'

'What? The twelfth dimension? How did that
happen? I can't believe it.'

Zack was still sobbing. 'Knox, Knox, please
come back, please, I'm sorry.'

'Zack listen to me. As I said, we can get
him back.'

'How? How can we?'

'Not we, Zack, you.'

'You have to get his twin Miles to
co-operate.'

'But he's not his real twin,' Zack said,
wiping his face with his sleeves.

Commander Pope had to think quickly, Zack
did not know that Knox and Miles really were twins. 'Yes, of
course, you are right, but it will work while you are under the
exchange change.'

'I can do that. I can get him here. I will
de-pneuma him.'

'Zack, for the devil's sake, that won't
work. He has to come here voluntarily.'

'You have to be kidding,' Zack expostulated.
'That's not going to happen.'

'I thought Knox and he were bonding.'

'No, they were not. How can you say such a
thing? They hate each other.'

'Who do you think told the Freeflyers where
Miles was?'

'I don't know.'

'We know Zack, it was Knox.'

Zack strode round the room, occasionally
glancing at Knox. 'Oh my friend, my mate Knox.' He finally broke
down and fell to his knees, sobbing his heart out.

Commander Pope left his captain to give Zack
the orders. 'Leave him for a couple of hours.' The Commander took
the Rebel aside, and then tell him what he has to do.

'Yes, sir,' said the Rebel.

The bottom of the waterfall

When Piers finally opened his eyes, he was
lying on his stomach on the edge of a slow-moving river. He turned
over, propped up on one elbow and sat up. He was coughing so much
he thought he would never get his breath back. He got to his feet
and looked round for Miles.

'Miles! Miles!' He saw what he thought was a
body further up the bank. He started to run but soon slowed down,
his body was not responding. He called again. 'Miles!' He was
walking as fast as he could, but it seemed that, with every step he
took, he felt he had taken two steps back. The sun was blazing down
on him, and he was so thirsty he felt like drinking the river
water. As he got to within two yards of Miles, Piers saw him
slightly move.

'Miles!' Piers threw himself down on the
bank next to Miles and turned him over. Miles mouth was full of
mud. Piers rolled him back onto his side and scooped out as much of
the mud as he could. He pulled him up and held him bent over his
knees as he slapped him hard on the back.

After what seemed like an hour, Miles
finally coughed and spat up the rest of the mud.

'Where the bloody hell are we?' Miles said
between spraying mud all over Piers.

Piers was so relieved Miles was okay he had
forgotten they had jumped over the waterfall.

'Do you remember what happened after we
jumped, Piers?'

'I will never forget it as long as I live.
But right now Miles, I might go for a bit of a forage and try and
find some fresh water. I'll drag you up to the shade of those
trees, and then I'll find out where we are.'

Miles pushed Piers away and struggled to his
feet. 'I think not! United we stand divided we fall.'

As they staggered away from the river, they
did not notice that the mud was turning to sand and the sand was
getting decidedly wetter.

'I don't like the feel of this sand, it's
very boggy,' Piers said as he led the way. 'Oh no, Miles! I think
I've trodden in quicksand. I'm sinking fast.'

Miles leaned forward and tried to grab Piers
hand. 'Can you move over to me?'

'No, I can't move my legs at all.' Piers was
already nearly up to his thighs.

'Look, I have an idea. I'm going to lie over
the quicksand so I can reach your hand. Then we both pull the
orange ejection knob.'

'Miles, no, don't do it.' But it was too
late. Miles was already on his stomach with only his legs on dry
sand.

Piers was now up to his waist in quicksand,
and Miles was sinking fast.

'For God's sake, Piers, give me your hand.'
And with only seconds to go before Piers disappeared under the
quicksand they managed to grab hands. 'Here's hoping, Miles said,
and he pulled the orange knob.'

~

Polly woke with a start, to Fifi barking
with joy as her two favourite men had suddenly landed right in
front of her.

'I can't believe it Polly,' Piers said.
These rebel uniforms are smarter than we are.

Polly jumped up crying. 'Piers! Miles! Where
did you get to? I've had a terrible time.'

'Thank goodness you are safe. We ran after
you, but you were nowhere in sight. We came to a waterfall, and the
only way past was to jump in.'

'And we ended up in quicksand,' Miles
interjected.

'The how did you get here?' Polly was
intrigued.

'Miles suggested we pull one of the knobs on
the Rebel suit.'

'Well, why don't you pull another knob to
get us out of here?' Polly suggested.

'Before we do anything, can we make a plan?
I'm a little fed up of being involuntarily moved around. And I want
us to stay together,' Piers added.

'I agree,' said Miles. 'But what I would
like to know first is, what button do you press for food?'

'I think I can help you with that one,'
Polly said. 'While I was sitting here, I played with the
transparency watch. If it feels the wish is deserved, it will grant
it.'

'Well, we're bloody starving and dying of
thirst, so that has to be deserving.'

'Well, we had all better hold hands, and
I'll switch the watch on,' Polly ordered. She picked up Fifi, and
they all held hands. 'We would like some food.'

Poof! Three people and a dog ended up in a
corner of a dining room, watching Gemma serve Commander Rekrap his
tea and toast.

Piers put his finger to his mouth, 'Shhh.'
He indicated to Miles they should get out from under the energy of
the watch. He let go of Polly's hand and pulled Miles with him.
Suddenly, they appeared. They walked over to the Commander.

'Zack and Knox, what are you doing here?
It's good to see you. The place is overrun with Freeflyers.'

'Commander,' Piers said, and both boys
saluted. 'Where are the prisoners, sir?'

'In the Crypt. Pope and Bean have gone down
there to await reinforcements so we can dispatch them to the outer
regions.'

When Gemma saw the Rebel uniforms, she ran
into the kitchen to tell Event. Polly saw what was happening and
chased after Gemma. She switched off the watch and blocked the
doorway. She arrived just in time to stop Event and Salute from
attacking Piers and Miles.

'Polly, where did you come from? And what
happened? And how come you allowed those two Rebels to follow you
here?'

'They are not Rebels Event. That's Piers and
Miles, they were sent here to rescue me,' Polly protested.

'How do you know? They could be Zack and
Knox organising a trap for all of us.'

'No, you're wrong, it's Piers and Miles.
I'll go and bring them in here, and you can speak to them
yourselves.'

'No, you can't Polly. You know Rekrap is out
to get you.' Salute took hold of Polly's arm.

'Let go of me Salute. I'm not an idiot. I
was going to suggest Gemma goes. That's her brother out there, and
he is in as much danger as I am.'

Gemma did not have to be told twice. Alison,
who was listening in, pushed forward. 'Come on Gemma! Let's see
what the two Rebels want to eat.' They smiled as they walked into
the dining room.

'Oh, Commander, how nice! You have two
visitors.' Alison smiled at Miles.

'And what would you like, Sir? Please sit,
and we will bring you whatever you order.'

Piers and Miles looked at the girls. Do they
think we are really Rebels?' Piers whispered to Miles. 'We will
have what the Commander is having,' said Miles, smiling. 'Is that
alright with you, Zack?' He turned his attention back to Rekrap.
'Commander, do you know when the reinforcements will arrive?'

'Actually, Old Nitty told me to organise it,
and I forgot. Anyway, there's no rush with you two here now. I will
do it after I've had my tea.'

'That's okay Commander. I'll do it for you,'
Piers said.

'Thank you Zack. Very kind of you.'

'What's your favourite food, Sir?' Gemma
said to Piers. 'I will get it for you.'

'Now let me think,' Piers answered. 'When I
was a child, I used to love peanut butter and honey on burnt toast.
My sister loved it too and kept pinching my share.' Gemma put her
arm behind her back and gave the thumbs-up signal. It could only be
Piers and Miles.

Event and Salute breathed a huge sigh of
relief, now the odds were even.

~

Hamish, Steve and Lucy slept fitfully,
thinking this would be their last hour on Earth.

'I hope Polly has just run away,' Hamish
said. 'I don't want her to come back here, with or without Piers
and Miles. I don't want her to share our fate.'

'Are you crazy? She has to come back. I
don't want to die!' Steve raved.

'Shut up, Steve! You haven't lived caring,
so try to die caring,' Lucy said.

'I only care about myself… Always have,
always will!' Steve shouted back.

'If that's true, why should Polly help you?
You have been nothing but dreadful to her.'

'Because I'm with you two. You are my
insurance.'

'I could tell her to leave you behind.'

'Hamish face it. She's not going to get
Piers and Miles here in time, and why would she come back anyway.
We're doomed. I suggest before the time is up, we should see if we
can escape.'

'Shhh,' Hamish said. 'What's that?'

'What's what?' Steve had not lowered his
voice.

'Shut up, idiot, and listen.'

They all held their breaths as the sound
became louder.

'What is that?' Hamish walked to the far
corner and beckoned Steve to follow him. The noise was like chalk
scraped on a blackboard, it sounded like a monster too big for the
tunnel, so was scraping his back on the roof. This was more
frightening than anything the Rebels could do.

'Could you slow down?' a voice followed the
noise. 'The metal on this Rebel uniform is scraping the roof.'

'It's Rebels. Stand up!' Hamish said. 'I'm
going to die with honour.'

'You might want to,' said Steve, who
crouched behind Hamish, 'I don't.'

'God, I hope we're in the right tunnel this
time. I've had the worst day of my life. Hamish, Steve, Lucy, are
you here?' A voice called.

They were all too scared to move.

'I don't think they are here. Hurry, Selim,
we have to find them. If the Rebels come back before we do, they
will be gone forever.'

Pendragon flew straight to Hamish, sat on
his shoulder and cooed.

'Sreip, we've found them!' Selim called.

'I think we must be on the same side,'
Hamish said as he walked towards the Freeflyers.

'Hamish, Steve, Lucy! It's good to see you.
And you can thank Pendragon she led us here. So where's Polly?'

'The Freeflyers sent her out to find Piers
and Miles and to bring them back here to save our lives.'

'Right. Now here's our plan of attack.
Pendragon here will take you two to safety, and we will wait here
for Polly or Commander Pope.'

'No bloody way!' said Hamish. 'I was in the
SAS. I'm an experienced fighter, and I'm staying with you.'

'And I'm with you, Hamish,' Steve said.

Hamish was so surprised at Steve's bravery,
he threw his arms round Steve and hugged him. Steve was so
surprised he hugged Hamish back.

Pendragon growled. She had heard something.
Whatever it was seemed to hold no fear and was whistling as it
walked down the tunnel.

'That has to be a Rebel - it's too
comfortable. Back, everybody, back,' whispered Sreip. 'Selim, cover
me! You boys, stay behind Pendragon.' And as Sreip inched his way
along the wall towards the whistling, Pendragon increased in size
and shielded Selim, Hamish, Lucy and Steve with her wings.

As the whistler came round the corner, Sreip
leapt out screaming. 'Ahhh!'

'Christ, Sreip! You frightened the life out
of me.' It was Jamie Brummell.

'Attention Freeflyer.' Jamie jumped to
attention.

'We could have immobilised you. What the
hell are you doing here?'

'Sir, Commander Rhettnor sent me, Sir. He
told me the area was secure, sir.'