Deadly Mission (2 page)

Peri sighed. They didn't have time for this. He turned the ship's internal com-unit volume to maximum and blasted through the speakers, “Stick an asteroid in it, both of you!”

Diesel and Otto turned to face Peri. Their arguing stopped.

“Why didn't you tell me we'd reached Xion?!” demanded Otto, using his massive body to force Peri from the control panel.

“Because you were too busy fighting,” Peri said, pushing back.

“To the planet surface, now!” Otto ordered.

Diesel elbowed between Otto and Peri. “Who died and made you supreme
commander? I'm the oldest cadet on this ship and ranked top in my class on leadership qualities and I—”

Otto interrupted, “Don't you want revenge on the Xions for attacking your galaxy?! I know what I'm doing.”

Peri snapped his fingers and the control panel flew across to him. “How do we cross the Cos-Moat?” Peri yelled to be heard over Otto and Diesel.

“Just blast your way through it!” Otto said. “Do I have to tell you everything?!”

“What if,” Diesel paused, running a hand through his now purple hair, “we use the
Phoenix
's pulsar-cannon belt?”

“No, you cosmic dope!” Otto snapped. “Pulsar-cannons are totally unstable weapons! You'll blow us up too! Don't you have any nuclear devices?! They're much safer!”

Peri raised his hands to silence them.
“Isn't this an undercover mission? Don't we need the element of surprise to rescue the prince? Maybe we should find the thinnest section of moat—then our shields will stand a chance of surviving the acidic ooze.”

Otto stared at Peri without blinking his beady eyes. “That's what I said! Blast us through the thinnest section of moat! That's an order!”

Peri clenched his fist—the sooner this mission was over the better. He activated a photonic sweep of the moat and set a course for the thinnest stretch of sludge. As the ship neared, the dark-blue liquid sparkled as if it was reflecting sunlight. But it shouldn't have. It was on the dark side of the planet. “The Cos-Moat is electrified!” Peri exclaimed. “We'll be fried.”

“If the space-sharks don't get us first,” Diesel added.

“You don't
really
believe in space-sharks, do you?!” The Meigwor's lipless mouth twitched into what could have been a smile. “I forget. Inferior species still believe in these myths.”

Duurrr-iiiing!
An alarm sounded and a com-screen whirled up from the middle of the control panel. Selene's face flickered as the monitor came to life.

“Hello, Peri and Diesel,” Selene said. “I am being treated well … by our Meigwor friends …” Selene sounded like a robot.

It's like she's reading from a script
, Peri thought.

“Selene, are you okay?” Diesel asked.

Before she could reply, the crimson face of the Meigwor general Rouwgim pushed her aside. “Otto, give mission report now,” he demanded.

Otto smacked his hands together over his head in salute. “We have reached Xion,
General! I was just briefing the Milky Way monkeys about my cunning plan to rescue the prince …”

The screen went dead, whirring back into the control panel.

“You!” Otto boomed, pointing a finger at Peri. “You cut the general off on purpose!”

“It wasn't me,” Peri replied, checking the controls. “The Xions are jamming all signals around the planet.”

“Cloak the ship before they notice us!” Otto ordered. “Full speed through the Cos-Moat!”

“It's not that easy, Otto,” Peri said as he steered the
Phoenix
closer. “If we're to stand a chance, we need to find the Cos-Moat's thinnest and most vulnerable spot.”

To the right of them, a small blade-class ship was racing toward the rippling blue
moat. His chest filled with hope; it was the type of ship preferred by smugglers. And if they knew a way into Xion, then Peri could follow them. He steered the
Phoenix
into the smugglers' slipstream, tucking in as close as he dared. Jets of sticky sludge arched from the moat like monstrous tentacles and latched on to the smugglers' ship. In the blink of an eye, the small ship was gone, sucked down into the gooey Cos-Moat.

Buuuurrrrppppp!
A giant bubble erupted from the moat and popped, spraying the outside of the
Phoenix
. The goo hissed and smoked as it ate through the ship's outer shell.

A frenzy of warning lights lit up the control panel.

“The moat's shorted the cloaking device,” Peri shouted.

“Get out of here!” boomed Otto, his scarlet skin paling to pink. “Th-th-that moat just ate a ship.”

Peri lunged for the controls. He tried to pull the levers to maximum thrust, but it was as though they were covered in caramel. He hit the emergency boosters. The
Phoenix
still struggled to pull away. The moat was tugging harder, dragging the ship back.

“Peri …” Otto's voice was nervous.

“Not now, Otto!” Peri cried, still struggling with the levers.

Eee-ra, eee-ra!
Sirens erupted around the bridge.

“
Peri!
”

Something in Otto's voice made Peri tear his eyes away from the controls. The alien bounty hunter was pointing at the only part of the monitor that was not covered in goop.

Fear filled Peri's chest like liquid fire.

“Space-sharks!”

Eight huge space-sharks surged toward the spaceship. They had giant red heads and beady black eyes. Instead of tails, pulsing masses of tentacles powered them, flicking Cos-Moat slime as they moved. The sharks opened their hideous mouths, showing rows of jagged purple teeth. Bits of the smugglers' ship were caught between them.

Thuuuddd. Sccrrraatcch.
The sharks' teeth gnashed at the
Phoenix
's hull.

“I told you they were real!” Diesel shouted as Otto hid behind his chair.

Crrraaack!
Huge cracks were appearing across the 360-monitor. The
Phoenix
's shell had been damaged. Peri's Expedition Wear flamed red, as a cold sweat made him shiver.

If the monitor shatters
, thought Peri,
we're shark bait!

“What's that smell?” Diesel cried.

Peri sniffed, looking around. “Oh no …” The Cos-Moat had pulled the
Phoenix
to its electrified surface, and its blue goo was oozing through the cracks onto the bridge. It stank worse than uranium-toe jam and cosmic-liver ice cream combined. As the goo mixed with the ship's atmosphere, it erupted into sparks as bright as stars.

“We need shields,” Peri shouted, but before he could reach the control panel a hood sprang from his collar and encased his head in a transparent armored bubble.
Click.
It sealed him from the air in the ship.
Whoorrrl.
The protective helmet's filtration system started.

Peri and Diesel were both sealed in their Expedition Wear, but Otto had dropped to his knees and was gasping for air. Despite the countless blaster holsters, grenades, and survival packs strapped to his body, he had nothing to protect him against the smoke and gas filling the bridge. The Meigwor's eyes bulged out of the black patches on his crimson face.

“Hang on,” Peri shouted over another
twaaack-craaack
. A space-shark was trying to gnaw its way through the 360-monitor. Every gnash of its teeth was showering the bridge with white-hot sparks. Peri's hands danced across the control panel. “Now the shields aren't working.”

“We've got to blast the sharks, or we'll get sucked into the moat,” Diesel yelled.

“We've got to use the
Phoenix
's pulsar-cannon belt.”

“Isn't it dangerous?” Peri asked.

“You know what they say,” Diesel said, a twinkle in his yellow eyes. “‘You can't hunt Venusian crabs without losing a toe.'”

Thwack
. Two space-sharks hammered against the craft. Peri knew they had to do something.

“Go for it,” he yelled.

As Diesel pulled a lever on the gunnery station, massive spikelike cannons shot out from the side of the ship. The sharks peeled away from the hull, but not far enough.

Peri realized the sharks had to be farther away for the cannons to target them. He had to scare them off. Diesel was halfway around the bridge when Peri slid into the captain's chair. The floating astro-harness snaked around him.

“I hope this works,” he muttered.

Peri shouted, “Hold on. It's time to play spaceball!”

He nudged the ship into the middle of the swarm of space-sharks, then jammed the Nav-wheel hard, spinning the
Phoenix
in a tight circle. He slammed on the steering thrusters, blasting more power into his maneuver. The ship twisted violently like a vortex, throwing everything that was not tied down into the air. Peri had to fight against the G-forces. His astro-harness tightened, crushing him against the chair.

Thud.
“Oooof!” Otto crashed into Peri's chair, tossed by the spinning ship.

Smaaack!
The metal cannons punched the sharks in their ugly, slimy mouths. Peri nudged forward again.
Smaaack!
The sharks swam farther away.

“Yes!” Peri cried.

An angry Diesel sailed by.

“
Mars'rakk!
” the gunner shouted.

“Sorry!” Peri jammed on the brakes, wrestling the
Phoenix
to a standstill.

Diesel lunged for the gunner's chair. Cracking his knuckles, he yelled, “Eight shark soups, Martian-style, coming up!”

He twisted a zip-dial. Bolts of fiery green electricity burst from the ship straight for the sharks.

Kaa-blam!

The sharks exploded, their entrails spewing across the ship's hull. The 360-monitor was splattered with dark-blue goo, shark flesh, and bloody lumps.

“Space-shell repair activated,” said the measured voice of the
Phoenix
.

The monitor fizzed as a megawatt charge surged through the outside of the vessel. The dark goop evaporated to reveal that all the cracks had fused together and the ship was back to normal.