Prisoner on Kasteesh Read online

  Worst of all was the method by which he had been restrained. His wings had been pinioned to the laboratory floor. A pair of crackling blue plasma-shackles held them stretched flat, so that the noble beast could only raise his elongated head, with difficulty, but was otherwise completely immobilized.

  Ja’Prith’s great yellow eyes met Snow’s pitying gaze.

  You are much like your father, little Wingless One.

  Snow was taken aback. She had expected to have to introduce herself.

  How do you know who I am?

  Your mind, as much as your physical form, mirror his, came the reply. You are Hoshiko’s daughter.

  There was a pause, then –

  I sense that you had hoped to find your father with me.

  It was true. As much as Snow was pleased to have located Ja’Prith, her overriding sensation was one of bitter disappointment.

  Do you know what happened to him? she asked.

  Ja’Prith’s eyes seemed to cloud with pain. It was a few moments before his response came.

  When your father and I fell in battle, we were both brought to this dreadful place. For many months, the white-coats conducted tests and experiments on us both.

  The experiments were terrible. They caused us both great pain. In your father’s case, they did untold damage. But they were successful, in their way. They unlocked areas of your father’s unique mind that he had never accessed before. He began to exhibit even greater psychic abilities – ones that our enemies craved.

  One day, your father was taken from our cell. That was the last time I saw him.

  Snow could sense the desolation in Ja’Prith’s mind-voice. The separation had clearly hurt him deeply.

  I tried endlessly to reach his mind, but without success. I learned later that he had been transported to Earth, for further experimentation.

  Then recently, after all this time, he continued, I too was taken to Earth by my captors. I hoped desperately to be reunited with your father. I put my life’s energy, night and day, into generating the most powerful mind-call I could, in the hope of reaching him.

  I heard you, Snow told Ja’Prith. Only I didn’t know how to respond then.

  The effort made me weak, the creature went on. And before long, I found myself back in this cursed cell—

  The floor suddenly juddered violently beneath Snow’s feet. The sound of a massive explosion followed a split second later.

  Snow knew instinctively that the tremor was due to Oddball’s handiwork – a detonation big enough to put several shield generators out of action.

  ‘Yes!’ she cried, out loud. ‘They did it!’

  Hopefully, Ko’Drall would have seen the explosion and realized what it meant. But it was better to be sure.

  My friends have disabled the shield that protects the compound, Snow explained hurriedly to Ja’Prith. I told your comrades that I’d send a signal, once the shield was down. But I’m not sure I have the mind-strength to call them from so far. Can you?

  The giant creature’s eyes blazed brightly.

  It is already done, my friend.

  A moment later, Snow’s mind filled with a multitude of voices – the answering mind-cries of Ly’Throk, Ko’Drall and their fellow creatures.

  We come, dear brother! We come, Hoshiko’s daughter! We come!

  ‘Come on, Snow!’ Rake muttered through clenched teeth. ‘Where are you?’

  He was standing beside Tea-Leaf and Hoax at the foot of the freighter’s boarding ramp. His eyes glanced eagerly from the opening of one corridor to the next, desperate to see the figure of Snow appear along one of them.

  Even if she did show up, she was going to have a job getting to the ship. A host of White Knights had formed a semi-circle around its ramp and were slowly closing in. Only the steady stream of crossbow bolts that Tea-Leaf was sending their way, combined with Hoax’s barrage of well-aimed flash-bang pellets, were keeping them at bay.

  After they had separated from Snow, they had managed to fulfil their part of the bargain – to take out the psychic shield – without too much difficulty. Once they had dealt with the White Knight guards in the shield generator area, Oddball had taken great pleasure in blowing its main power cell sky high.

  With the shield out of action, they had fought their way back to the freight ship. They found Salt waiting anxiously for them. But there was no sign of Snow.

  Oddball appeared at the top of the ramp. His typically bright-eyed expression had given way to a look of grim despair.

  ‘The old man says we can’t wait any longer,’ he yelled flatly. ‘The Mshanga attack is starting to bring the building down. If we don’t leave now,

  he’s worried we won’t get out at all.’

  Rake didn’t reply. He could hear for himself the violent thuds, crashes and protesting groans that were evidence of the creatures’ fierce onslaught against the roof and walls of the compound. It had begun only minutes after they had knocked out the shield and had continued relentlessly since. The building wouldn’t stand much more.

  Tea-Leaf, still firing off bolts desperately, shouted over the din, ‘He’s right, Rake.’ Her face was as bleak as Oddball’s. ‘We have to go. Maybe Snow got out some other way. She might be OK.’

  Rake knew she didn’t believe that any more than he did.

  Hoax pulled another handful of red pellets from the compartment in his leg guard and hurled them at the front rank of White Knights. They exploded in a burst of noise and coloured smoke. He delved in the compartment again – then held up his empty hands to Rake.

  ‘I’m out!’

  Tea-Leaf loosed a final shot, then lowered her bow.

  ‘Me too,’ she said grimly.

  Rake’s expression was desolate. This wasn’t how their rescue mission was supposed to end. He had come to Kasteesh to bring Snow home.

  But they had no choice.

  ‘OK. Fall back,’ he cried. ‘We’re leaving.’

  As his fellow knights made their way up the ramp, Rake turned to follow. He cast one last backward glance at the hangar.

  ‘Sorry, Snow,’ he murmured.

  Then he leaped onto the already rising ramp and hurried into the belly of the ship.

  Chapter 16

  Abandoned Ship

  ‘CAPTAIN!’ YELLED THE Chairman angrily. ‘CAPTAIN!’ The Corporation boss was purple-faced and wild-eyed. ‘Get this ship out of here at once, do you hear me? AT ONCE!!’

  The Chairman was sitting bolt upright in his personal lounger chair in the deserted flight cabin of his executive spacecraft. He had a rather petulant, spoiled-child look, as though he couldn’t quite grasp the idea that nobody was paying attention to his demands.

  He knew where everyone was. The shuttle’s entire crew – White Knights and human technicians and officers alike – were outside in the hangar, fighting a losing battle against Kasteesh’s fearsome natives.

  The Chairman had been anxiously watching the battle unfold through the cabin’s viewport. A dozen of the alien creatures had now gained entry to the compound. They were advancing fearlessly across the hangar floor, lurching forward on their wing-knuckles, scattering Corporation troops and scientists before them.

  The creatures’ advance was made all the more unnerving by the fact that they fought in silence. There were no alien war-cries, howls or screeches. Not that the battle wasn’t noisy. As well as the yells of the Corporation fighters and the blasts of their laser fire, there were the resounding thumps and crashes against the hangar roof. The creatures’ airborne comrades were battering the building’s exterior with rock missiles dropped from their claws.

  The Chairman couldn’t believe this was happening. Not again. Not here.

  I build a secret outpost, clack knows how many light years from anywhere, he thought furiously, and those blasted fancy-armour-wearing do-gooders still manage to turn up and ruin things!

  He knew all too well that the Armouron were to blame for his present predicament. He had seen them himself as he fled
to his ship when the creatures’ attack first began – a group of armoured figures fighting off White Knights as though their little band was a force of forty, not four. He had little doubt that they were somehow responsible for rallying the Mshanga into battle.

  They don’t even look like adults! raved the Chairman silently to himself. Just four juvenile, jumped-up, interfering—

  His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of one of his human officers. She looked battle-scarred and breathless. She hastily threw down the damaged blaster she was carrying and hurried to the cabin’s weapon rack to grab a replacement.

  The Chairman sprang from his lounger to intercept her.

  ‘Officer! Can you fly this ship?’

  The woman pulled up short, looking rather taken aback.

  ‘Er . . . yes, sir . . . I completed my star-pilot training last year . . .’

  ‘Thank Jupiter’s moons!’ shrieked the Chairman. ‘Then get us out of this nightmare immediately!’

  The woman’s puzzled look deepened. She seemed uncertain she had heard correctly.

  ‘What are you waiting for, woman! That’s an order!’ raged the Chairman. ‘Take off this instant!’

  ‘But . . . sir . . .’ she stuttered. ‘What about the others?’ She gestured towards the viewport and the battle raging outside. ‘The compound is under attack. Its staff are fighting for their lives . . .’

  ‘I don’t care about them, you fool!’ shrieked the Chairman, eyes bulging. ‘This is about me! It’s always about me!’

  Suddenly, there was an almighty crash. One of the curving metal beams supporting the hangar roof had collapsed under the Mshanga’s fierce barrage. A section of roof came tumbling down onto the bow end of the shuttle. The Chairman dived for cover as several large fragments burst through the cabin’s shell and smashed down onto the flight consoles, sending up a shower of debris and sparks.

  By the time he picked himself off the floor, the Chairman found the female officer gone. One look at the ruptured cabin roof and mangled control consoles told him that this ship was going nowhere soon.

  There was the thud and scrape of something heavy settling on top of what remained of the cabin. A huge, elongated head thrust its way through the tear in the roof. Its yellow eyes scanned the cabin’s interior and settled on the terrified Corporation boss.

  The Chairman backed away in wide-eyed terror. He reached the narrow passageway that led towards the shuttle’s aft, turned and fled. As he ran, in blind panic, he muttered frantically to himself, ‘Must escape! Must escape! Must escape!’

  Escape! That was it! The escape capsules!

  The shuttle was fitted with several single-seater emergency escape capsules. In the event of the shuttle being struck by a meteor, or some other such catastrophe, human crew-members were able to eject and await rescue.

  Fortunately for the Chairman, the capsules were situated in the ship’s rear. He hurried to the first capsule’s tiny hatch, squirmed his way through and sealed it behind him.

  The capsule was intended for use in deep space, the Chairman knew. Exactly what would happen if he launched it while the shuttle was docked, he was not sure. But any misgivings he had were driven from his mind by the appearance of a second terrifying alien face, pressed up against the capsule’s external viewport.

  Shaking with fear, the Chairman struggled into the cramped capsule’s single seat, strapped himself in and hit the launch button.

  Chapter 17

  The Last Rider

  SNOW’S RESCUE PLANS had only ever extended as far as finding the imprisoned creature. She had never imagined that setting Ja’Prith free would prove to be the hard part. Nor had it occurred to her that once his fellow creatures had begun their siege of the research station, it would become such a very dangerous place to be.

  But she was rapidly realizing this was the case. As she paced the floor, racking her brains for some way to liberate her father’s mind-mate from his bonds, the structure of the building trembled and shook around her. If they didn’t get out soon, they would be buried in the rubble along with their Corporation enemies.

  She had tried everything she could think of to break through the transparent wall that enclosed Ja’Prith. She could make no impact on it with either her tonfa or her shield, though she had attacked it with all her might. There was a sensor in the wall, which she felt sure must cause the barrier to retract. But swiping her keycard across it had no effect.

  There is one way you might free me.

  Snow’s response to Ja’Prith’s mind-message was to press herself against the transparent wall between them.

  How?!

  As I have told you, the white-coats’ experiments unlocked new psychic abilities buried in your father’s mind. The most remarkable was his capacity to move objects with his will. As his offspring, it is possible that this power has passed to you.

  Snow’s mind flashed back to the swerving PShooter shot. It was one of several occasions in her past when something physical seemed to have been affected by her thoughts. But even if she did share this telekinetic power of her father’s, how could that help now?

  Her gaze fell on the plasma-shackle control console, on the other side of the transparent wall. Its main power switch was set to ON.

  With my wings free, continued Ja’Prith, I would have enough strength to break down these feeble walls.

  Snow felt the stirrings of renewed hope. Closing her eyes, she emptied her mind of distracting thoughts and tried to access the part of it that had willed the ball-bearing missile to swerve. She felt the Flow begin to radiate through her body from her medallion. She opened her eyes again and focused both them and her thoughts on the power switch, willing it to move.

  She felt a momentary rush in the Flow and the switch clicked to OFF, as though flipped by an invisible hand.

  As the plasma-shackles fizzled out, Snow’s mind filled with Ja’Prith’s jubilant mind-cry. Lifting his untethered wings, the huge creature reared up. His head and back burst through the roof of the cell as though it was sugar-paper. He shook his powerful shoulders violently to tear himself free of cables and sensors. A single blow from one mighty wing-tip shattered the transparent barrier.

  The hole that Ja’Prith had smashed in the ceiling was large enough to offer him an aerial escape route. Snow didn’t doubt that he could easily have lifted her to safety too, in the manner that Ko’Drall had carried her – if it wasn’t for the cruel damage to his hind legs.

  You should go, quickly, urged Snow. Fly, before it is too late. I’ll find a way to reach my friends.

  Even as she sent the mind-message, she knew it wasn’t true. The building was begining to collapse around her. And even if she could make it to the hangar, the others would have left in the freighter by now, or otherwise perished themselves. But she was an Armouron. It had been her duty to rescue Ja’Prith – and if she did not herself survive, she knew she had acted well.

  I think not, little Wingless One, came Ja’Prith’s response. His yellow eyes burned with a new intensity now. You will leave this place in the manner that befits you.

  Snow watched in puzzled incomprehension as the massive creature tucked his wings beneath him to crouch low before her on the cell’s rubble-strewn floor . . .

  * * *

  On board the freight ship, the mood was dismal.

  ‘It’s my fault,’ murmured Rake, stony-faced. ‘I should never have let her go off on her own again.’

  All four knights were mournfully watching the receding view of the research station, as the ship moved steadily away from the battle scene.

  From their bird’s-eye view, they could see the extent of the damage to the Corporation compound. The majority of its buildings had now been demolished, or were ablaze. Mshanga were still circling above, swooping low every now and then to renew their attack.

  It seemed impossible that Snow could have survived such devastation. Even the fact that their old enemy, the Chairman, might also have perished in the attack offered
no consolation.

  ‘Look!’ said Tea-Leaf abruptly. She was pointing out of the viewport, back towards the compound. The others followed her gaze and saw why.

  One of the Mshanga had broken away from its circling comrades and was rapidly pursuing them.

  ‘Master!’ yelled Rake urgently.

  Salt turned his hollow eyes from the ship’s controls.

  ‘What is it, Templer?’

  ‘One of the creatures is attacking us! It must think that we’re Corporation troops, making an escape!’

  The massive creature’s powerful wing-beats had already brought it close behind them. It swooped out of sight for a moment, then suddenly loomed up large in the viewport, flying directly alongside them.

  Hoax let out a sudden whoop of delight. His three friends stared out of the viewport in utter, delighted disbelief.

  A familiar figure in blue armour sat astride the great beast’s broad neck, holding onto the trailing edge of its head-crest as it powered its way through the air.

  As what they were seeing sank in, Rake and the others waved wildly at their friend. Snow returned the gesture, beaming from ear to ear.

  It didn’t take a telepath to know that right now, the only thoughts going through Snow’s mind were ones of pure joy.

  Chapter 18

  Mayday

  THE TINY SPHERICAL escape capsule reached the top of its trajectory and began an arching dive back towards the rocky ground below. By the time it hit, it was falling fast. The impact crushed its foremost section flat. It bounced twice, spinning wildly, then ploughed across the planet’s dusty surface and came to a groaning standstill.

  Inside the battered capsule, the Chairman took several minutes to regain his sense of which way was up, which way down. The landing had shaken him about like a dried pea in a rattle. He was bruised and breathless – but alive.

  The Chairman had always been blessed with remarkably good luck. Today was no exception. Had he selected any one of the executive shuttle’s other five escape capsules, he would almost certainly have been fired straight into the hangar’s solid wall or floor. As it was, his tiny capsule had shot upwards, rocketing through the large rift that the Mshanga had made in the hangar roof.