The Battle for Earth (Teen Superheroes Book 3) (21 page)
Read The Battle for Earth (Teen Superheroes Book 3) Online
Authors: Darrell Pitt
“You told me how you die has got to be at least as important as how you live.”
Tears were streaming down my face. “Ferdy...no…no...”
“Ferdy is lucky to –” He stopped. “I am lucky to have had such friends.”
Then I heard the sound of shearing metal as he put all his strength into bending the titanium rods. The ground shook again as the entire building started to collapse.
“The Tagaar ship is moving into position,” he said. “There is one chance in 3,472 that –”
Light exploded from the room. A brilliant surge of yellow that infiltrated every crack and every crevice of the structure. In that light was power. A pure burst of energy that threw me backward from the chamber. Hitting the ground, I felt the earth give a final shudder beneath me.
And then – nothing.
Silence.
A final piece of masonry fell from the ceiling and hit the floor behind me. The Solar Accelerator was off. Nothing moved. The terrible shaking of the ground had ended. The brilliant yellow light had disappeared. Stumbling to my feet, I crossed to the concrete bunker. Everything was gone from it. The titanium rods. The bowl. Even part of the floor had been gouged out by the force of the explosion. Everything was gone. Including Ferdy.
Stumbling from the building, I looked up into the sky and saw the terrible yellow light had dissipated. I watched as the Tagaar ship slowly spiralled to earth and landed in the ocean. It looked like it would be underwater within minutes, but I didn’t care. I looked beyond it, past the multitude of ships and airplanes, and I saw the distant horizon. A brilliant sunset spanned the sky.
It took me almost an hour to find my friends. They were making their way back from the shoreline with Dan. Mr. Brown lay unconscious on a makeshift stretcher.
“You did it!” Chad raced up to me. “You saved the world!”
“Ferdy did it,” I said. “Ferdy saved the world.”
“Where is that little hero?” he asked. “I’ve got to –”
Brodie stopped him with a wave of her hand. She saw the expression on my face as she drew close.
“Axel?” she said.
“Ferdy’s gone.” I looked slowly from one face to the next before I told them the news. “He’s dead.”
Chapter Forty-Three
I’d like to say that we were treated like heroes, but it was not to be the case. Certainly, General Clarke and The Agency were pleased that the world had been saved – who wouldn’t be? – but too much had happened for everything to go back to normal.
Three days passed before I was called into a meeting with General Clarke. He motioned me to a seat. Armed guards were located both outside his office and on either side of his desk. A lot had changed in a very short time. The alien known as Twenty-Two was nowhere to be seen. We had been told that The Agency would forever be under US government control. What that meant for branches outside the US was anyone’s guess. I only knew that this facility, which had once been populated with scientists, was crawling with soldiers. The times were changing. And fast.
“It’s time to have a conversation about your future,” he said.
“It’s nice to know I have one.”
He did not smile. “You may not be pleased to hear what I have to say. You are to be tried by a military tribunal for your crimes.”
“That sounds serious.”
“There are several charges,” he continued. “Theft of a classified weapon. Invasion of Russian air space. The kidnapping of the Russian Premier.”
“What will all this mean?”
“You’re going to jail,” he said. “You’re going to jail for a long time.”
I nodded. I had expected as much. I glanced over at the soldiers. The general caught my gaze.
“I would suggest you adhere to the rule of law,” he said. “It will go much better for you.”
“And what about Chad?”
“We have been able to minimise his role in this episode. He will receive a severe reprimand, but no charges will be laid against him.”
“Good.” I thought for a long moment. I was pleased about that. He would not have to pay for my actions. “How long will I spend in prison?”
“That will be up to the judge to decide. I would hope –”
“You mean there’s hope?”
The general shuffled some papers in front of him. “This is the United States. You will be in a clean and well-maintained facility –”
“When?” I interrupted him.
When
turned out to be
now
. I was marched back to my room by a team of soldiers where I was allowed to pack a few meagre belongings. When I reached The Hub, I found the rest of the team had assembled. They didn’t look happy.
“Where do you think you’re taking him?” Brodie demanded. Her eyes shone with tears. “You’re not taking him away. He helped to save –”
“Brodie.” I held up a hand. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.” She pushed the guards aside and threw herself into my arms and wept. I looked past her and caught Chad’s eye. He looked ready for a fight.
He began. “You’ve only got to give the word –”
“I know.” The guards shuffled nervously at my side. “There will be no fighting today. Now we just have to look ahead.”
“To what?” Ebony was crying. “With Ferdy dead and you gone –”
“You have to make up your own minds,” I said. “It looks like things are changing around here.”
“But you’re part of the team,” Dan said. “We need you.”
I ruffled his hair. “Come and visit me. I won’t be hard to find.”
Epilogue
My first month in prison was the hardest.
A lawyer was assigned to my case. He was a pleasant guy by the name of Phips. I could tell he wasn’t too hopeful about the outcome. Whenever I asked him how long it would take for my case to be heard, he always had the same reply.
“These things take time. Could be weeks. Might be months.”
Contemplating the months ahead was probably the least of my worries. It was the years that most concerned me.
The facility I was held in was a maximum security prison in the heart of the Las Vegas desert. There were about a hundred men here – all mods. One was a vampire. Another guy had the strength of five fully grown men. Another guy had six arms. All of them were here for a variety of criminal offences. Some were thieves. A couple were murderers. They were all destined to spend a long time in jail.
My powers had returned, but they were useless here. Ankle bracelets stifled my abilities. I could not have escaped even if I wanted to.
The days were long and I did my best to stay busy. There was a fully equipped gym that I visited every day, but that was the only place where I mingled with the other inmates. Mostly I read a lot and wrote in my diary. The first book was almost full. Soon I would need another.
I wondered how many I would fill by the time I left this place.
I thought a lot and sometimes I cried. I thought of the friend I had lost. Losing someone makes you realise how your own life has been influenced by them. I would have died at Cargall Island if Ferdy had not stepped into that chamber. The whole planet would have been destroyed if not for him.
He saved the world and no one even knew.
But would Ferdy have cared? He probably would have said that praise was not important and started spouting some information about the length of a piece of string. That’s just how he was.
As one month became two, I was awoken late one evening by the sound of alarms. The entire prison was surrounded by an electric fence and armed guards. Peering blearily through the bars of my cell, I saw a ship descending from the sky.
A Tagaar fighter ship.
It landed. A section of the vessel opened up and a group of figures burst out into the enclosure. The guards started firing immediately, but a protective ice wall had formed around the ship. As I peered at the guards I saw the barrels of their guns bending backward upon themselves. The figures drew close and one of them placed her hand against the wall of my cell. It turned to air.
A girl stepped inside.
“Brodie,” I said.
“Come on.” She grabbed my hand. “No ifs or buts.”
I grabbed my diary. She dragged me out of the cell and we hurried across the prison ground. Now the guards had found bigger guns and explosions were happening all around us. We scrambled aboard the alien vessel and Brodie dragged me onto the bridge. The ship lifted up into the air. It looked like Dan was doing most of the flying.
I looked around in amazement. “Where did you get this?”
“We stole it,” Chad said. “You want to complain?”
I shook my head.
Chad stabbed a button and a view screen sprang to life. I watched the lights of the prison grow smaller and dimmer until they faded completely from sight.
“You shouldn’t have done this,” I said. “I’m a criminal and now –”
“If being a criminal is good enough for you,” Brodie said, “then it’s good enough for all of us.”
“Besides,” Ebony joined in. “We missed you.”
A sob collected in my throat. It was a moment before I could speak.
“So we’re all criminals now,” I said. “On the run from the US government, The Agency –”
“From everybody,” Dan said.
“So where are we going?” I asked.
“That depends on where Ferdy and his friends want to go.” The voice came from all around me. It seemed to emanate from the ship itself. “The largest city in Texas is Houston.”
I tried to speak, but no words would come. My mouth fell open in amazement and I saw Chad laughing at me.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “We looked like that too when it first happened.”
“When –” I was completely lost for words. “What the hell –”
The voice from the ship continued. “It is good to see you again, Axel. Ferdy has missed you.”
“Ferdy?”
“Ferdy’s body was destroyed in the bunker on Cargall Island,” the voice continued. “As the chamber exploded, Ferdy’s consciousness, his memories – his essence – were caught up in the particles that intersected with the Tagaar warship.”
“So where –”
Brodie put her arm around my shoulders. “Ferdy’s in the ship’s computer.”
“He
is
the ship,” Dan said.
Ferdy is the ship.
The words went through my head without comprehension. Ferdy had become one with the ship. He was dead, but he wasn’t because he was now in the ship’s computer.
Ebony spoke up. “Every thought. Every memory. Every idea. Plus he still plays a mean game of chess.”
“Although throwing the ball around has gotten a whole lot more difficult,” Brodie added.
“Ferdy tried to mention it as a possible outcome of halting the Solar Accelerator,” Ferdy continued. “The chances of Ferdy’s survival were approximately one in 3,472.”
“Those aren’t good odds,” I said.
“Ferdy had assistance,” he said.
“What sort of assistance?”
“The will to live,” he said. “It is a powerful force when someone has friends and family. Possibly the most powerful in the universe. Ferdy did not want to lose the people he loved. It gave Ferdy an edge in surviving that which could not be survived.”
“There’s only one problem,” Chad said.
“Which is?” I asked.
“Technically, we’re outlaws on a ship.”
“So?”
“So we’re pirates.” He shook his head in mock dismay. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting a parrot.”
We all laughed. Finally Brodie showed me my position on the bridge. I was seated at a console next to her. There were instructions on the touch display, but as yet they were unreadable.
“It’s written in Tagaar,” Brodie said. “It takes a little getting used to.”
“So where are we going?” I asked.
No one said anything at first. We all looked at each other in silence before Dan pointed to the view screen. All I could see were stars.
“That-a-way,” he said.
A Few Final Words
I hope you enjoyed reading The Battle for Earth. The other books in the series are:
Diary of a Teenage Superhero (1)
I love to hear from my readers! Please email me at:
I’m writing new adventure novels all the time. If you enjoy steampunk and mysteries you might enjoy another one of my books –
And if you like horror/fantasy/suspense, you might also enjoy my book –
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Thanks again and happy reading!
Darrell
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