‘How big?’
Mulch shrugged. ‘Dunno. Maybe five metres. At its widest point.’
‘That’s still a pretty big fissure to be sitting there all I day.’
‘Only it’s not there all day,’ interrupted Artemis. ‘Is it, Mulch?’
‘All day? I wish. I’d say, at a guess, this is only an approximation mind. .'
Root was losing his cool. Being one step behind all the time didn’t agree with him.
‘Tell me, convict, before I add another scorch mark to your behind!’
Mulch was injured. ‘Stop shouting, Julius, you’re curling my beard.’
Root opened the cooler, letting the icy tendrils play over his face.
‘OK, Mulch. How long?’
‘Three minutes max. Last time I did it with a set of wings, wearing a pressure suit. Nearly got crushed and fried.’
‘Fried?’
‘Let me guess,’ said Artemis. ‘The fissure only opens when the rock has contracted sufficiently. If this fissure is on a chute wall, then the coolest time would be moments before the next flare.’
Mulch winked. ‘Smart, Mud Boy. If the rocks don’t get you, the magma will.’
Holly’s voice crackled over the com speakers. ‘I’ve got a visual on something. Could be a shadow, or it could just be a crack in the chute wall.’
Mulch did a little dance, looking very pleased with himself. Now, Julius, you can say it. I was right again! You owe me, Julius, you owe me.’
The commander rubbed the bridge of his nose. If he made it through this alive, he was never leaving the station again.
Koboi Labs was surrounded by a ring of B’wa Kell goblins. Armed to the teeth, tongues hanging out for blood. Cudgeon was hustled past roughly, prodded by a dozen barrels. The DNA cannons hung inoperative in their towers, for the moment. The second Cudgeon felt the B’wa Kell had outlived its usefulness, then the guns would be reactivated.
The commander was taken to the inner sanctum, and forced to his knees before Opal and the B’wa Kell generals. Once the soldiers had been dismissed, Cudgeon was back on his feet and in command.
‘Everything proceeds according to plan,’ he announced, crossing to stroke Opal’s cheek. ‘In an hour Haven will be ours.’
General Scalene was not convinced. ‘It would be ours a lot faster if we had some Koboi blasters.’
Cudgeon sighed patiently. ‘We’ve been through this, General. The disruption signal knocks out all neutrino weapons. If you get blasters, so will the LEP.’
Scalene shuffled into a corner, licking his eyeballs.
Of course, that was not the only reason for denying the goblins neutrino weapons. Cudgeon had no intention of arming a group he intended to betray.
As soon as the B’wa Kell had disposed of the Council, Opal would return power to the LEP.
‘How are things proceeding?’
Opal swivelled in her Hoverboy, legs curled beneath her. ‘Deliciously.
The main doors fell moments after you left to. . negotiate.’
Cudgeon grinned. ‘Good thing I left. I might have been injured.’
‘Captain Kelp has pulled his remaining forces into the Operations’ room,
ringing the booth. The Council is in there too.’
‘Perfect,’ said Cudgeon.
Another B’wa Kell general, Sputa, banged the conference table. ‘No,
Cudgeon. Far from perfect. Our brothers are wasting away in Howler’s Peak.’
‘Patience, General Sputa,’ said Cudgeon soothingly, actually laying a hand on the goblin’s shoulder. ‘As soon as Police Plaza falls, we can open the cells in Howler’s Peak without resistance.’
Internally Cudgeon fumed. These idiot creatures. How he detested them. Clothed in robes fashioned from their own cast-off skin. Repulsive.
Cudgeon longed to reactivate the DNA cannons and stop their jabbering for a few sweet hours.
He caught Opal’s eye. She knew what he was thinking. Her tiny teeth showed in anticipation. What a delightfully vicious creature. Which was, of course, why she had to be disposed of. Opal Koboi could never be happy as second in command.
He dropped her a wink.
‘Soon,’ he mouthed silently. ‘Soon.’
CHAPTER 13: INTO THE BREACH
An LEP shuttle is shaped like a teardrop, bottom heavy with thrusters and a nose that could cut through steel. Of course our heroes weren’t in an LEP shuttle, they were in the ambassador’s luxury cruiser. Comfort was definitely favoured over speed. It had a nose like a gnome’s behind. Bulky and expensive-looking, with a grill you could use to barbecue buffalo.
‘So, you’re saying this fissure is going to open up for a couple of minutes and I have to fly through. And that’s the entire plan?’ said Holly.
‘It’s the best we’ve got,’ said Root glumly. ‘Well, at least we’ll be in padded seats when we get squashed. This thing handles like a three-legged rhinoceros.’
‘How was I to know?’ grumbled Root. ‘This was supposed to be a routine run. This shuttle has an excellent stereo.’
Butler raised his hand. ‘Listen. What’s that sound?’
They listened. The noise came from below them, like a giant clearing its throat.
Holly consulted the keel cams.
‘Flare,’ she announced. ‘Big sucker. It’ll be roasting our tail feathers any minute.’
The rock face before them cracked and groaned in constant expansion and retraction. Fissures heaved like grinning mouths lined with black teeth.
‘That’s it. Let’s go,’ urged Mulch. ‘That fissure is going to seal up faster than a stink worm’s —’
‘Not enough room yet,’ snapped Holly. ‘This is a shuttle, not one fat dwarf riding stolen wings.’
Mulch was too scared to be insulted. ‘Just move it. It’ll widen as we go.’
Generally Holly would have waited for Root to give the green light. But this was her area. No one was going to argue with Captain Holly Short at the controls of a shuttle.
The chasm shuddered open another metre.
Holly gritted her teeth. ‘Hold on to your ears,’ she said, ramming the thrusters to maximum.
The craft’s occupants clutched their armrests, and more than one of them closed their eyes. But not Artemis. He couldn’t. There was something morbidly fascinating about flying into an uncharted tunnel at a reckless speed, with only a kleptomaniac dwarf’s word for what lay at the other end.
Holly concentrated on her instruments. Hull cameras and sensors fed information to various screens and speakers. Sonar was going crazy, beeping so fast it was almost a continuous whine. Fixed halogen headlights fed frightening images to the monitors, and laser radar drew a green 3D line picture on a dark screen. Then, of course, there was the quartz windscreen.
But with sheets of rock dust and larger debris, the naked eye was next to useless.
‘Temperature increasing,’ she muttered, glancing at the rear-view monitor. An orange magma column blasted past the fissure mouth, spilling over into the tunnel.
They were in a desperate race. The fissure was closing behind them and expanding before the craft’s prow. The noise was terrific. Thunder in a bubble.
