“What?” Drace hissed, looking around. Who was that? Who was speaking to him?
“Go back to the intersection, Warrior—there is one who needs your help!” the voice commanded.
For a moment Drace hesitated, wondering if he was going crazy. He had the impulse to run back to his ship but the presence in the corridor with him was so strong—so tangible—that he couldn’t ignore it.
Drawing his blaster, he stepped carefully towards the T-section and looked around the corner.
Chapter 116
“Stop where you are and let the girl go!” a deep, male voice shouted and a blaster shot fired over Penny’s head.
“What?” she gasped, ducking instinctively. Looking down the corridor, she saw that there was a junction coming up and a man who looked vaguely familiar had stepped out from around the corner.
“Let her go!” the tall male insisted, shouting at the Glorious Leader.
Finally, Penny recognized him—he was the Havoc warrior who had helped them get away on Yown Alpha. Drace, that was his name.
“Help!” she gasped and at the same time the Glorious Leader let her go and ran.
“Penelope, isn’t it?” the Havoc said, coming forward.
“Yes and you’re Drace but we can’t let him get away!” she exclaimed, gesturing at the fleeing Glorious Leader, who was running much faster than an older gentleman in a white suit had any right to move.
“What? Why?” Drace demanded.
“Because he’s got the Eye of Ten’gu and it has to be destroyed. And he’s also the one responsible for kidnapping you and taking you to Yown Alpha in the first place,” Penny babbled. “Look, just get him!”
Drace took off in hot pursuit of the fleeing Glorious Leader and Penny ran after them both. As she did, she pried at the silver button that was stuck to her left temple. She had to get it off and let V’rex know what had happened!
There was another T-junction coming up and the Glorious Leader dived into it. Drace followed him, still firing his blaster. But the other man always seemed to know how to duck or dodge.
The Eye is helping him! Penny thought, feeling a sense of despair. It’s giving him strength and speed and letting him know when to duck! How are we ever going to catch him and get it back?
The corridor curved suddenly and she lost sight of both men. When she finally skidded around the bend, she saw a sight that nearly stopped her heart.
It was Granny Two-two. The tiny old woman with the wizened peach of a second head growing out of the top of her main head was standing there and beckoning to the Glorious Leader.
“This way!” she was shouting in her cracked voice. “Come this way, so you should!”
“So you should! So you should!” shouted her second head and Penny saw that the old lady was pointing to a ventilation shaft, which was big enough to admit a grown man.
“No!” she shouted breathlessly, waving her arms at the old woman. “No, don’t help him get away! He’s a bad guy! Don’t do it, Granny Two-two!”
But the old woman continued to wave and point. She even pushed open the swinging metal flap which covered the tube, holding it wide for the Glorious Leader.
The GL, as V’rex called him, dived into the tube with surprising agility. He looked like a stuntman in a movie, he moved so smoothly, Penny thought with despair. Oh no—they would never catch him now!
Drace seemed prepared to try, though. He started to dive into the tunnel himself, but Granny Two-two stepped in front of it and held up a hand.
“Not you,” she said to him, frowning. “Not for you.”
“Not for you! Not for you!” the tiny second head shouted and made a face at the big Havoc.
“Get out of the way!” Drace shouted. “He’s getting away!”
But Granny Two-two refused to budge and Drace didn’t seem to be the kind of man who would push an old lady aside.
At this point, Penny caught up and came to a skidding halt in front of the old woman.
“Granny Two-two, why did you do that?” she gasped, trying to catch her breath. “That was a really bad man! He’s responsible for thousands of kidnappings and deaths! He—”
“Oh, Granny Two-two knows that, dearie,” the old woman interrupted.
“Knows it! Knows it!” the second head sang out.
“Hush, you!” Granny Two-two batted gently at her “twin” before continuing. “He’s the one as has been sending those nasty orange people to kidnap decent folks from the station,” she said to Penny.
“Well, if you knew all that, why did you help him escape?” Penny demanded.
“Oh, I didn’t.” Granny Two-two shook her head. “Look, dearie.”
She finally stepped to one side and let Penny read the lettering over the hatch which the Glorious Leader had dived into.
“Main Waste Chute,” Penny read aloud, her translation bacterial allowing her to make sense of the alien lettering. “Oh my!” She turned to Granny Two-two. “What does that mean?”
“Just what it says, dearie. Have a look.”
Granny Two-two pushed up the metal flap again, allowing a rank odor to seep out of the tunnel.
Holding her nose, Penny leaned forward and saw that the “ventilation tunnel” was actually a hatch. Instead of a straight path forward, there was a slippery silver ramp that tilted sharply down. It was like an old-fashioned laundry chute, Penny thought. One that led down to the room with the washer and dryer. Only in this case, it led…
“Where does it lead?” Drace demanded. “And shut it, will you? It stinks!”
“Come along, and I’ll show you, dearie,” Granny Two-two told him and then she winked at Penny. “You’ll like it, I’m sure.”
“Like it! Like it!” shrieked her second head.
Bemused and still prying at the silver button on her left temple, Penny followed the old woman down the corridor to a door marked, Station Surveillance.
The room was empty, but inside there was a bank of monitors that seemed to be showing the outside of Hell’s Gate Station from all
