Prisoner on Kasteesh Page 3

  ‘She can make stuff move without touching it, for starters,’ blurted Oddball. ‘I’d swear she made that PShooter ball swerve last night—’

  ‘And sometimes it’s like she knows what’s going on in someone else’s head,’ put in Tea-Leaf. ‘She saw through that creep Ulcer way before the rest of us.’

  Ulcer was a Byelon shape-shifter. The knights had recently had a near-fatal encounter with her.

  Salt paused again. Then he nodded his heavy head slowly.

  ‘I have reason to believe it likely that Alida will indeed prove to have . . . unusual abilities.’

  ‘Freaky mind powers, more like,’ Hoax murmured.

  Salt chose to ignore him. ‘But now is not the time to speculate on what those might be. Our priority is to find her and bring her home.’ He addressed Oddball and Tea-Leaf directly. ‘False-Light, Balista – get suited up immediately. I have an assignment outside the Academy for the pair of you.’

  ‘Why not me and Oddball?’ complained Rake. As always, he was keen to be at the heart of the action.

  ‘This particular mission requires your comrades’ specialist skills in stealth and deception,’ replied Salt.

  ‘Why? What are we going to do?’ asked Tea-Leaf eagerly. She could already sense the familiar mixture of nervousness and excitement rising inside her.

  ‘If Alida is out in the city,’ growled Salt, ‘our only real chance of tracing her is to assume that she is still wearing her identity belt. The Corporation police scanners in SeeBlock can pinpoint any specified ID belt anywhere within the Limits. I want the pair of you to find a way inside SeeBlock and secretly access the scanner data.’

  Hoax blew out his cheeks. ‘Is that all?’

  SeeBlock was the centre of police surveillance, from where the Chairman kept a close eye on each and every one of Nu-Topia’s citizens. It was a high-security Corporation facility. The knights wouldn’t just be able to stroll in and ask to borrow the tracking system.

  Salt looked unapologetic. ‘I have every faith that you and Balista can fulfil the mission. And we have little choice. Without using the Corporation scanners, we have no way to locate our friend.’ He raised his bushy eyebrows. ‘Unless you have a better suggestion, False-Light?’

  Hoax shook his head meekly.

  ‘So how do we get from here to SeeBlock?’ asked Tea-Leaf.

  Salt gave a wry smile. ‘You have False-Light’s . . . ingenuity to thank for my proposed solution to that problem. You will travel via refuse vehicle.’

  ‘Huh?’ Hoax frowned. ‘The slops wagon?’

  ‘Its nightly collection round takes it to most of the buildings in the city’s central sector,’ explained Salt. ‘Even SeeBlock. If you can slip on board when it calls at the Academy, you should be able to hitch a ride to the police building undetected. Find the scanner consoles, obtain a fix on Alida’s location, then make your way back here, as quickly as possible. And don’t be seen.’

  Ignoring Hoax’s dismayed look, Salt turned to Rake and Oddball.

  ‘In the meantime, you two will help me scour the Academy once more. It’s still possible that Alida is somewhere in the compound – though I am all but convinced otherwise.’

  He scanned their faces.

  ‘Everyone clear?’

  They nodded.

  ‘And remember,’ rumbled Salt, ‘Stand Together . . .’

  ‘Battle as One,’ chorused his team.

  For whatever reason, Snow had put herself in danger.

  It was up to them to bring her in.

  Chapter 4

  Operation SeeBlock

  ‘REMIND ME NEVER to let the old man sort out our travel arrangements again,’ hissed Hoax.

  His body was jammed awkwardly inside a vertical metal chute about a metre across. Tea-Leaf was wedged in just above him, feet and hands braced against the chute’s slimy walls.

  The smell inside the chute was pretty revolting. But it was nothing compared to the stomach-turning stench they had had to endure inside the slops wagon itself. They had tried to block the reek by closing the nasal filters on their helmets, but it had still seeped through. When the vehicle had finally reached the main waste reservoir of the SeeBlock building and the two young knights had been able to scramble out of the wagon and up into one of the narrow chutes leading from the giant tank, the rank atmosphere had seemed almost pleasant by comparison.

  ‘A really bad smell can eventually drive you loopy, you know?’ said Hoax. ‘My dad lost two good men that way when his special forces unit were fighting in the Ionian sulphur swamps.’

  Tea-Leaf snorted.

  ‘You just can’t help yourself, can you?’ she whispered. ‘Your father never went anywhere near Io. He was a second-hand shuttle salesman. Rake told me.’

  ‘Aaahhhh,’ replied Hoax mysteriously. ‘That was what he wanted people to believe . . .’

  Tea-Leaf gave a weary sigh. She decided to change the subject.

  ‘When is this clacking thing going to get us somewhere?’ she said. ‘Are you sure this one leads to the kitchens?’

  They must have climbed fifty metres by now, inching their way awkwardly up the cramped chute. Tea-Leaf was making full use of her gauntlets’ hi-grab fingertips, but was still finding the slimy metal surface hard to grip. Hoax was having an even tougher time. He had twice slithered back an alarming distance before managing to wedge himself in place again.

  Hoax slid the microfilm diagram of the police building’s layout across his visor, studied it, then withdrew it again.

  ‘Yup, this is the one. Unless the plans Salt gave us are wrong.’

  Tea-Leaf grunted and continued to wriggle up the chute. After climbing a few more difficult metres in silence, she suddenly gave a more encouraging sound.

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Hatch, just above me. I reckon we’re there.’

  Light leaked into the murky shaft as Tea-Leaf cautiously swung the hatch-flap open. She was silent for a few seconds, then whispered down to Hoax below.

  ‘Looks like the right place to me! And there’s nobody about.’

  Although it was the middle of the night, they both knew that SeeBlock would be far from deserted. The Chairman expected to be able to find out where anyone in Nu-Topia was, at any time of day or night. His surveillance teams worked round the clock. So the two young Armouron took care to make no noise as they eased themselves through the hatch into the kitchen area.

  Tea-Leaf grabbed a hand towel from a rail beside one of the kitchen’s several sinks.

  ‘Clean up a bit – otherwise anyone who doesn’t spot us will smell us coming!’ she hissed. She began hurriedly wiping the grime from her grey armour.

  ‘Watch and learn,’ whispered Hoax. He pressed a micro-switch on his wrist. Each separate plate of his armour instantly shed a wafer-thin layer from its surface. The slivers of muck-smeared armour fell to the floor, leaving Hoax’s orange suit gleaming once more.

  ‘I know Salt designed it as an evasive feature,’ beamed Hoax, ‘but it does have other uses.’ He gave Tea-Leaf a smug wink.

  ‘Very clever,’ hissed Tea-Leaf. As she finished cleaning herself up, Hoax gathered up his shed flakes of armour in another towel and shoved them through the waste hatch.

  ‘Where now?’ asked Tea-Leaf. Hoax checked his visor microfilm again.

  ‘According to this, there are several areas on this floor that should have a tracking console. We need to find one not in use, so you can hack in.’

  He moved to the doorway of the kitchen area and peered both ways along the grey-walled corridor that ran past it.

  ‘All clear!’ he hissed. ‘If we go right, the second room on the left should have a tracking console.’

  They moved swiftly and silently along the corridor. The colour of Tea-Leaf’s armour seemed to lighten slightly, to blend in with the pale grey walls.

  As they passed the first door, Tea-Leaf suddenly halted. She lifted her right hand to the side of her helmet. Hoax r
ecognized the gesture. Her suit and medallion heightened all her senses. Her acute hearing had picked up something.

  ‘We’ve got company!’ she whispered urgently. ‘Kettles, by the sounds of their footfalls! Three, maybe four, coming our way!’

  The corridor turned sharply to the right about ten metres ahead – just beyond the door they were heading for. If a patrol of White Knights was about to come round the corner, they were hopelessly exposed.

  Instinctively, Hoax withdrew his staff and snapped it into nunchaku form, ready for the fight.

  ‘No, you dunk-head!’ hissed Tea-Leaf. ‘Salt said in and out without being seen!’ She hastily hit the door release on the wall beside her, dragged Hoax into the room on their left and sealed the door behind them.

  It only took a moment for Tea-Leaf to realize she had made a mistake. The door had led them into the near end of the same room as the door further along the corridor – one of the tracker console rooms. At its far end, a female computer operator was sitting at an active terminal. Fortunately, she didn’t appear to have heard them enter.

  Both knights ducked down behind an empty workstation. As they did so, the door at the far end of the room slid open and three White Knights strode through it. The one with a black shoulder flash took a step forward. The operator spun round in her chair to greet it.

  ‘Yes, Captain? How can I help?’

  ‘I request a tracking scan to assist with a police manhunt,’ said the White Knight flatly.

  The woman nodded. She turned to face her computer display and spoke directly into it.

  ‘Level nine access requested.’

  There was a soft bleep, then the woman turned back to the White Knight.

  ‘What are the individual’s details?’

  ‘Citizen number 23673911,’ droned the android. ‘A fugitive, guilty of power-usage violations.’

  The operator tapped away at her keyboard for a few seconds before speaking again.

  ‘I have a fix. You’ll find your target in sector NW47. He’s in the roof space of the old hospital building.’

  The White Knight captain turned abruptly and left the room, accompanied by its fellow androids. The door sliced shut behind them.

  The woman returned to staring at her screen, her back to Hoax and Tea-Leaf. A moment or two later, she gave a loud yawn and stretched wearily.

  Hoax tapped Tea-Leaf on the shoulder guard, nodded meaningfully at the operator, then mimed the action of drawing a bow.

  Tea-Leaf nodded back. She silently slipped her crossbow from her back. Opening a compartment in its side, she took out a needle-tipped dart. She loaded the dart and took aim.

  There was a fsssh-thutt sound and the woman slumped forward onto her keyboard, the tranquillizer dart sticking from her neck.

  The two knights hurried forward to check on her. Tea-Leaf gently pulled out the dart.

  ‘She’ll be fine. There’s only enough stuff in one of these to put her out for a few minutes. When she comes round, she’ll just think she dropped off.’

  She wheeled the operator’s chair to one side and took up her place in front of the console. Flipping open a compartment in her leg armour, she pulled out her trusty computer-hacking kit.

  ‘Funny, really,’ she said, as she unfurled the roll-up keyboard and attached its hack-patch to the back of the console. ‘This is one place I can link up without worrying about being detected. Even the Corporation wouldn’t scan for activity inside its own surveillance centre!’

  ‘It’s like the calm at the eye of the storm,’ agreed Hoax.

  Tea-Leaf grinned. She cracked her knuckles – making Hoax wince – then set to work. Her fingers skipped lightly across the keyboard like those of a talented musician playing an instrument. Her keen eyes focused intently on the streams of code now scrolling across the display.

  ‘Right then. Let’s see what we can dig up, shall we?’

  But after a minute or so of non-stop tippety-tapping, her eager expression faded. She began to look increasingly vexed. She broke off abruptly, thumped the desktop and gave a snarl of frustration.

  ‘Dunk!’

  Hoax leaned in to look at the display screen.

  ‘What’s the problem?’

  ‘I can’t get past the security log-in,’ complained Tea-Leaf. ‘It’s a dual-layer access block.’

  ‘Which in ordinary language means?’

  ‘You need to clear two combined checks to get in. There’s a basic key-in password – I’ve cracked that, no problem. But to use the tracking system, you need to provide a biometric identity-check too – something specific to each individual operator authorized to use the system.’

  ‘What? A thumb-print? A retina-scan?’ quizzed Hoax.

  ‘A digital voice signature,’ said Tea-Leaf. ‘I can’t get in without an exact vocal match to this workstation’s designated operator.’ She nodded towards the slumped woman. ‘Sleeping Beauty here. That’s what she was doing a moment ago – logging in vocally. But she must have logged out after the scan.’

  Hoax waved away Tea-Leaf’s worries. He evidently didn’t see the problem.

  ‘Why didn’t you say so sooner?’ he said. ‘I might not understand half your computer-speak gobbledegook, but voice impressions I can do.’

  Of course. Tea-Leaf could have kicked herself. Salt had designed the helmet of Hoax’s suit specifically to enhance his natural talent for mimicry. His medallion too boosted his impressionist skills. It was worth a try, at least.

  Hoax leaned a little closer to the tiny microphone built into the computer display’s surround and began to speak.

  Except it wasn’t him speaking.

  It was uncanny. Modified by his helmet’s unique acoustics, the pitch, tone and modulation of his voice were exactly like those of the SeeBlock operator. It was as if he had stolen the woman’s voice.

  ‘Level nine access requested,’ he purred.

  A moment later, there was a cheery blee-blip and the display filled with the main scanner menu.

  Tea-Leaf returned her friend’s broad grin.

  ‘We’re in!’

  She swiftly disconnected her hacking equipment and began tapping away on the computer’s own keyboard.

  ‘Have you still got Snow’s ID belt code?’

  Hoax rooted about for the slip of paper that Salt had given him. As he quickly read off the chain of letters and numbers, Tea-Leaf keyed them in.

  Less than a minute after clearing the security log-in, they had what they had come for – an exact fix on Snow’s whereabouts.

  The two friends looked at one another, then back at the screen to double-check. Hoax raised his eyebrows.

  ‘Well. That’s unexpected. Wonder what old Salt’ll make of that.’

  ‘She’s where?!’ Salt looked at Tea-Leaf in pure disbelief.

  ‘Bay Three of the Nu-Topia spaceport freight terminal,’ repeated Tea-Leaf.

  ‘Or at least,’ added Oddball, ‘that’s where the SeeBlock scanners last got a fix on her ID belt. It didn’t show up at all on the most recent scans, which is a bit weird.’

  The two young knights were now safely back in the Old School. Their return trip from SeeBlock had gone very smoothly. Once Tea-Leaf had located the relevant data on the Corporation tracking system, they had made a swift and silent exit from the console room – not a moment too soon, as the doped operator was showing signs of reviving.

  A wild rubbish-chute ride from the kitchen had dumped them unceremoniously back in the building’s main waste reservoir. They had escaped the tank via one of its pressure-release outlets, then clambered down its maintenance gantry to reach ground level. After slipping away from the back of the SeeBlock Tower and attempting to clean themselves up a little, they had begun making their way back to the Academy across the darkened city.

  The last stage of their journey – reaching the secret passage in the Academy garage – had been fairly straightforward, now the Corporation shuttle had gone. Without its android guards on the prowl, it had
been simple enough to slip through the hidden wall door and rejoin Salt, Rake and Oddball.

  They had found their friends eager for news. Their own thorough search of the Academy had turned up no trace of Snow. But Tea-Leaf and Oddball’s report had put puzzled looks, not smiles, on their faces.

  ‘What’s she doing at the spaceport?’ wondered Oddball out loud.

  ‘I have no idea,’ growled Salt. He fell silent for a few seconds, lost in thought. Then he spoke to Tea-Leaf again. ‘Bay Three, you said? Is there any way of tracing recent activity in that bay? It may give us some clue to why Alida found herself there.’

  ‘I’m way ahead of you, master!’ said Tea-Leaf proudly. ‘Once we got the fix on her location, I used the SeeBlock spyware to have a quick snoop around the spaceport’s flight-scheduling server. Honestly, getting past their firewall was clacking child’s play . . .’

  ‘And?’ pressed Salt impatiently.

  Tea-Leaf got back to the point. ‘There were only two ships scheduled to depart from Bay Three today,’ she reported. ‘One of them left early this morning – before Snow went missing. Maybe Snow was interested in the other one for some reason – the one that left this evening. I copied its destination from the flight schedule.’

  She handed the scrap of paper with Snow’s ID code on one side to Salt. She had scribbled a name on its reverse.

  ‘I wrote it down in case I didn’t remember it right,’ said Tea-Leaf. ‘I’ve never heard of it before. Does it ring any bells with you, master?’

  But Salt didn’t seem to hear her. He was staring at the piece of paper in his hand. Much of the colour had drained from his aged face. Finally, without looking up, he spoke.

  ‘Templer. Sappar.’ His voice was a low, grim growl. ‘Put on your armour. Immediately.’

  ‘What is it, master?’ pressed Rake.

  Salt lifted his gaze at last. His typically calm eyes blazed with fierce determination.

  ‘We’re going after her.’

  Chapter 5

  The Creature

  SNOW’S WORLD WAS shaking. As consciousness seeped back into her mind, she was vaguely aware of something squeezing her shoulders tightly.