Secret Weapon (9 page)

Daxx pointed a finger at her, his face stern. ‘And if you don’t throw it to me, I send him straight back – right?’

Selene nodded. ‘Right.’

‘I’ll count to three,’ Peri said. A plan was forming in his mind. As soon as the swap was made, he would dive for the control panel and hit the touchpad that controlled the Exo-Zoological Specimen Container, trapping Daxx in an unbreakable transparent cylinder. ‘One . . . Two . . . Three!’

Daxx hit the teleportation button.

A shimmering patch of light appeared on the Bridge. It materialised into Jaxx. He blinked, looking around him in surprise.

‘Are you all right, Dad?’ Selene asked.

Jaxx rubbed his head, which Peri guessed had been made sore by the pirates. ‘I think so.’

Selene threw the Heart of Mars to Daxx, who caught it one-handed.

‘What was that?’ Jaxx said. He sounded alarmed. ‘You haven’t given him –’

Peri hurled himself at the control panel.

Daxx slammed his free hand down on to a button.

Peri rose into the air and flew right past him. He didn’t stop until he hit the far wall of the Bridge and bounced off.

Twisting around, he saw Selene, Otto, Jaxx and Diesel all floating helplessly in the air.

Daxx’s feet were planted firmly on the floor.

‘What have you done?’ Otto shouted.

‘Didn’t I tell you I’m the smart twin?’ Daxx said. ‘I just disabled the
Phoenix
’s artificial gravity, that’s all. No problem if you’re wearing the right footwear, of course!’

He did a couple of gliding dance steps. Peri saw that he was wearing magnetised spacewalk shoes.

Diesel was still laughing, even as he slowly spun in the air.

‘This isn’t funny!’ Jaxx said to him. ‘You don’t realise how serious –’

‘Yes I do!’ said Diesel, in between snorts of laughter. ‘It’s a total disaster!’

Peri frantically beckoned to the control panel. It started to move towards him. Then Daxx intercepted it and tied the astro-harness of the pilot’s seat around it. The control panel strained at the harness like a dog on a lead.

‘Time for my exit line, I think,’ Daxx said. He waved at them. ‘So long, suckers!’

‘Don’t be stupid, brother!’ Jaxx said. ‘You can’t get away with this! Give yourself up to the IF authorities.’

‘Let me see,’ Daxx said, stroking his chin. ‘Get locked up in prison, or get clean away with the Heart of Mars? It’s a tough one, but I think I’ve made my decision.’

He took out his communicator and flipped it open. ‘Can you get a fix on me? I’m on the Bridge of the
Phoenix
. Beam me on board the
Space Wolf
as soon as you can!’

Peri managed to twist round and aim his phaser at Daxx.

Daxx looked horrified. He raised his hands. ‘Please, don’t shoot!’

Peri pulled the trigger.

The phaser made a low, farting noise.

An electric surge of pure frustration flowed through Peri’s circuits.

Daxx smirked. ‘Did you really imagine I wouldn’t have thought of that?’

‘We have to stop him!’ Jaxx said. He began to swim through the air towards his brother.

Diesel was nearer to Daxx. Still giggling, he made a desperate lunge and grabbed hold of Daxx’s wrist.

‘Get off!’ Daxx said.

‘Drop the Heart of Mars, wastoid!’ Diesel laughed.

Daxx’s body began to shimmer. ‘The Heart of Mars is coming with me. If you choose to come too, that will be your funeral. Literally!’

Diesel’s body began to shimmer and fade like Daxx’s.

‘Let go, Diesel!’ Peri shouted.

Diesel was desperately trying to prise Daxx’s hand open. ‘I can’t!’

‘If you don’t,’ Peri called, ‘you’ll be teleported on to the pirate ship with him!’

‘I can’t lose the Heart of Mars –’

‘Let go, Diesel!’ shouted Peri, Selene, Otto and Jaxx all together.

Peri summoned his bionic power, kicked off against the ceiling and sailed straight for his friend. He peeled Diesel’s hand from Daxx, finger by finger, and jerked him free. Diesel screamed as if he was in agony.

‘Hang loose, guys!’ Daxx said and disappeared.

‘You don’t know what you’ve done?’ Diesel cried.

‘I saved your life,’ Peri said and shoved Diesel away from him.

‘What do I press?’ Otto said. He had used his long arms to pull himself within range of the control panel.

‘The grey button!’ Peri said.

Gravity was restored. They all hit the ground, with five simultaneous bumps.

‘
Aaaaaagh
!
’
screamed Diesel again. He was not laughing any more. ‘You total dumboids. You’ve just given away the Heart of Mars!’

‘I know it was a beautiful stone,’ Peri said. ‘But it’s still only a stone. You don’t believe in the curse, do you?’

‘It’s worse than a curse,’ Diesel said. ‘Worse than you could ever know!’

‘What do you mean?’ Selene demanded.

Diesel scowled. ‘I won’t tell you! I made a solemn promise to the emperor that I would never reveal its true powers!’

‘What true powers?’ Otto boomed.

Diesel’s mouth shut in a stubborn line.

‘I think I have an idea what he means,’ Jaxx said slowly. His face was pale and his forehead was furrowed. ‘On the
Space Wolf
, I heard the pirates talking.’

‘What did they say, Dad?’ Selene asked, looking as worried as Peri felt.

‘The Heart of Mars is an awesome source of energy. They plan to use it as the final element in a weapon so deadly that it could destroy the whole Milky Way.’

There was a long silence.

Peri felt sick. He blamed himself. Diesel had told him the Heart of Mars had to be saved at all costs – and he hadn’t believed it.

‘Does anyone want to say sorry to me?’ Diesel demanded.

‘Don’t blame me!’ Otto boomed. ‘I said we shouldn’t let the space pirate have it!’

Peri put his hand on Diesel’s shoulder. ‘We’ll get it back.’

‘We’ll get it back!’ echoed Selene.

‘We
have
to get it back,’ Jaxx said grimly.

‘But how?’ Diesel wailed.

Peri sat at the Nav-wheel. His astro-harness snapped around him. On the 360-monitor, he could see a tiny dot flying away from them. He zoomed in on the image and the
Space Wolf
came into view – with its masts and solar-wind sails and its Cranky Roger.

‘Follow that pirate ship!’ he said as he jammed the thrusters to ‘Max’.

Can Peri and the crew get the Heart of Mars back and save the Milky Way?

Will they make it through the deadly booby traps in the Astro-Void?

Find out! In . . .

Turn over to read Chapter 1

Chapter 1

‘Daxx is escaping!’ Peri shouted as the
Space Wolf
blazed away from the
Phoenix
.

The space pirates’ vessel had every solarwind sail unfurled like an ancient galleon. The skull-and-crossed-swords flag, the Cranky Roger, streamed behind the ship. Daxx had stolen the Heart of Mars and planned to use it in a secret weapon that could threaten the entire galaxy. It was the Star Fighters’ mission to get the priceless gem back.

Peri smacked on the emergency boosters. ‘We need more speed!’ he shouted.

The g-force knocked Diesel to the floor as the
Phoenix
surged forward, but the half-Martian scrambled up and pushed past Otto to reach the gunnery station.

‘Where’s Jaxx?’ Peri asked, scanning the Bridge.

Jaxx was the IF’s Space Enemy Number One. They had captured him when he had nearly crash-landed on Saturn only to find out he was Selene’s father. She was sure he was innocent, and that his identical twin brother, Daxx, was the real space pirate.

‘I sent my dad to Engineering to try and improve the plasma flow to the thrusters,’ Selene said, checking over the engineer’s console. ‘If anyone can make us go faster, my dad can!’

Without warning, Daxx’s ship plunged towards a fiery red dwarf star.

‘What on Mars is he doing?’ Peri said, twisting the Nav-wheel and diving after the
Space Wolf
.

‘Perhaps he’s using the star’s gravity field to slow us down,’ Diesel suggested.

Gravity!
The word lit up a bionic circuit in Peri’s head. ‘No, he’s going to use the gravity field like a slingshot, to catapult his ship even faster out the other side of the star.’

The gauges on the control panel went haywire as they got closer to the star. The
Phoenix
began to shake. Peri knew their
ship
would be pulled apart and they’d be burnt alive if they got too close. But if they were too far away, they wouldn’t be able to swing round the star fast enough to catch up with Daxx.

Peri watched as the space pirates’ ship caught the gravitational pull of the dwarf star and zoomed away. Daxx had timed it perfectly. Now it was Peri’s turn. He gripped the Nav-wheel and yanked the thrusters to ‘Max’.

Shhhwooosh!
The
Phoenix
whipped round the dying star. It shot them after Daxx’s ship at astonishing speed. They hurtled through entire solar systems in the blink of an eye, right on the space pirates’ tail.

Fssssshhhhwooor!
They skimmed past a planet, narrowly missing two moons.

‘
Dung y’r’ah
!
’ Diesel gasped. ‘That was cosmic-close!’

Peri dodged left and right, copying Daxx’s moves. His brain buzzed with excitement. It wouldn’t be long before Daxx would have to stop – then they would swoop down and bring him to justice.

Narrrooa!
They slipped past comets and asteroids.

Suddenly, Daxx zigzagged and whipped sharply to the right.