Secret Weapon (3 page)

‘What’s that?’ Selene said, her voice suddenly urgent.

‘Oh my . . .’ Jaxx said.

Peri looked up. He could hardly believe his eyes. Two huge pincers had sprung from the body of the comet like cosmic crab claws. They snapped threateningly.

The comet was alive!

The claws loomed larger on the monitor as they moved towards the
Phoenix
.

‘Aaagh!’ Otto squealed.

Diesel’s strip of hair turned a terrified grey.

One claw snipped right through the laser lasso. Peri felt the slight jerk as the
Phoenix
broke free.

The other claw swiped towards the ship. Peri grabbed the Nav-wheel, but he was too late.

The impact sent a shudder through the
Phoenix,
and the crew fell, sprawling across the floor.

The 360-monitor filled with a whirling pattern of blackness and stars, then a jumble of silvery rocks and dust as the
Phoenix
tumbled headlong into the tail of the comet.

Chapter 3

Huge rocks from the comet’s tail crashed against the
Phoenix
.

‘
Ach’ baxbr!
’
Diesel cried, as the ship was knocked crazily from left to right.

The crew were hurled back and forth across the Bridge. Peri’s hands flew across the control panel as he switched on the shield. But even that did nothing to stop the ship from shaking with each new impact. He grabbed the Nav-wheel and pulled hard away from the comet.

Finally the
Phoenix
was clear of the debris. The stars stopped spinning. They were safe but the comet zoomed away from them, its claws still snapping at outer space.

Diesel drew a deep breath. ‘That thing is fast!’

‘Can the
Phoenix
catch up with it?’ Jaxx asked.

‘This ship can catch anything,’ Peri said. ‘But I’m not sure I want to catch
that
!’

‘Let’s follow it at a safe distance,’ Selene suggested, ‘until we find out what it is.’

‘OK,’ Peri said. He turned the Nav-wheel and engaged the thrusters. The comet – or whatever it was – grew larger as the
Phoenix
got closer. ‘Let’s check it out in the
Space Spotter’s Guide
.’ On Peri’s command, an InfoBox appeared:

‘There are so many,’ Diesel said. ‘How are we going to figure out what this thing is?’

‘Yeah, I bet there are thousands of species of copper-coloured life forms the size of spaceships that whizz through space like comets and have giant claws,’ Peri said.

‘There won’t be thousands, you dumboid!’ Diesel said.

Martians don’t really get
sarcasm
, Peri thought.

‘Come on, Peri,’ Selene snapped. ‘We haven’t got time for this. Just find out what that thing is!’

Peri typed in the ‘Observed features’ of the life form he wished to search for. A picture of the copper-coloured ‘comet’ with protruding claws appeared on the 360-monitor. Below it was an InfoBox:

‘That’s why everyone thought it was a comet,’ Jaxx said.

‘Let’s get a bit closer,’ said Peri. ‘I want to have a better look.’

Peri eased the
Phoenix
forward. The Trojan Crab loomed up in the 360-monitor. An eye on a stalk popped out and swivelled round until it spotted the
Phoenix
. Then its massive claw swung their way again.

Peri jerked the Nav-wheel. The giant claw missed. But only just.

‘Let’s get out of here!’ Otto boomed. ‘We’ve completed our mission – we’ve captured Jaxx.’

‘No – we have to find the Heart of Mars!’ Diesel said.

‘If only there was a way to get close and search it,’ Selene said.

‘What about the rocket packs?’ Peri asked. ‘We could jet down and land on the comet – um, I mean crab.’

‘Are you crazy?’ Otto shouted. ‘You want to land on a giant, flying crab-comet?’

‘We’ll be fine,’ Peri said.

‘Well,
I
will be,’ Otto said. ‘Because I’m staying right here.’

‘A one-man rocket is probably too small for it to notice,’ Peri said. ‘Plus, we’ll be wearing the rocket packs – if we need to, we can jet out of trouble!’

Peri was starting to feel excited. He had always wanted to use the rocket packs. He wished, though, that they had been trained to use them at the IF Academy. Trying them out for the first time while landing on a humongous Trojan Crab zooming through space was not going to be easy.

It was going to be ultra-dangerous.

‘I’m up for it!’ said Diesel. ‘I’ll do anything to get the Heart of Mars back.’

‘I’ll come too,’ Jaxx said.

Otto’s long crimson arm coiled round Jaxx’s neck. ‘No you won’t!’ he boomed. ‘You are still our prisoner and I’m not letting you out of my sight.’

Selene took a step towards him. ‘Get off him, or I’ll –’

Otto stuck his long neck out so his face was close to hers. ‘Or you’ll what?’

‘I’ll set the ship’s thermostat to zero degrees,’ Selene said.

Otto’s eyes widened. The Meigwor hated cold temperatures. ‘No need for that,’ he said. He removed his arm from round Jaxx’s neck, but remained standing close to him.

‘I’d better stay behind,’ Selene said, ‘so that I can make sure this freak doesn’t do anything stupid.’

Jaxx gave Otto an angry look and moved away from him. ‘You’ll need a portable Elemental X-Ray Detector,’ he said to Peri. ‘Let’s see what we can rig up. Is there a workshop on this ship?’

Peri pulled out the Bits and Bobs drawer from the wall again. ‘You’ll probably find what you need in here,’ he said.

Jaxx sorted out a heap of junk and spread it on the floor. ‘Let’s see, this bit of tungsten will come in handy, and this biotic battery, and this length of spectro-cable, and this Moebius strip . . .’

Selene, who loved messing about with gadgets, leaned over his shoulder and was soon helping him put it all together. In a couple of minutes they’d rigged up a strange box. It had various rods sticking out like little arms, a miniature screen and a sort of funnel on top. Selene plugged it into the ship’s computer.

Download Complete
, flashed on to the machine’s screen less than a minute later.

‘It’s ready,’ Jaxx said. ‘This will use the Elemental X-Ray Detector programme from your computer. I’m afraid this one won’t speak to you though.’

‘Good!’ Peri smiled at Jaxx.  ‘Ready?’ he said.

‘Ready,’ Diesel replied.

They stood in the
Phoenix
’s air-lock, in their Expedition Wear, with the rocket packs strapped on. Peri held the Detector. Around his shoulders Diesel was wearing a garish flag with red, green, yellow, blue, orange and turquoise stripes. The flag of Mars. It was made of Bio-Cloth, and the colours shimmered and moved.

‘Do you have to wear that thing?’ Peri said. ‘I get a headache just looking at it.’

‘Of course I have to wear it,’ Diesel said. ‘I’m a royal prince on a mission to recover the Heart of Mars – obviously I have to wear the flag of Mars!’

‘Suit yourself,’ Peri muttered.

‘Well, what are we waiting for?’ Diesel said.

‘Open outer portal,’ Peri commanded.

The outer air-lock door obediently slid open.

‘Let’s see what this baby can do,’ Peri said, touching the control of the rocket pack.

The next thing he knew, he was whooshing through the air-lock and jetting through space.