detonate the bio-bomb. Nice, isn’t it? How do you like the design? Eight separate boosters, you know. It’s what happens after the detonation that’s important.’
Holly’s law-enforcer curiosity was piqued in spite of the circumstances. ‘What happens then, Koboi? Don’t tell me, world domination.’
Koboi laughed, the volume distorting the sound through the bomb’s micro-speakers. ‘World domination? You make it sound so unattainable. The first step is simplicity itself. All I have to do is put humans in contact with the People.’
Holly felt her own troubles instantly slip away. ‘Put humans into contact with the
People? Why would you do that?’
Opal’s features lost their merry cast. ‘Because the LEP imprisoned me. They studied me like an animal in a cage, and now we shall see how they like it. There will be a war, and I will supply the humans with the weapons to win. And after they have won, my chosen nation will be the most powerful on Earth. And I, inevitably, will become the most powerful person in that nation.’
Holly almost screamed. ‘All this for a childish pixie’s revenge.’
Seeing Holly’s discomfort cheered Opal immediately. ‘Oh no, I’m not a pixie any more.’ Koboi slowly unwound the bandages circling her head to reveal two surgically rounded humanoid ears. ‘I’m one of the Mud People now. I intend to be on the winning side. And my new daddy has an engineering company. And that company is sending down a probe.’
‘What probe?’ shouted Holly. ‘What company?’ Opal wagged a finger. ‘Oh no, enough explaining. I want you to die desolate and ignorant.’ For one moment her face lost its false merriment and Holly could see the hatred in her huge eyes. ‘You cost me a year of my life, Short. A year of a brilliant life. My time is too special to be wasted, especially answering to pathetic organizations like the LEP. Soon I will never have to answer to anyone ever again.’
Opal raised one hand into camera shot; it was clutching a small remote. She pressed the red button. And, as everyone knows, the red button can mean only one thing. Holly had milliseconds to come up with a plan. The monitor fizzled out, and a preen light on the missile’s console winked red. The signal had been received.
Detonation was imminent.
Holly jumped up, hooking her helmet over the spherical bomb. She put her weight on the helmet, bearing down on it. It was like trying to submerge a football. LEP helmets were composed of a rigid polymer that could deflect solinium flares. Of course the rest of Holly’s suit was not rigid and could not protect her from the bio-bomb, but maybe the helmet would be enough.
The bomb exploded, spinning the helmet into the air. Pure blue light gushed from the underside of the helmet, dissipating across the cement. Ants and spiders hopped once, then their tiny hearts froze. Holly could feel her own heart speed up, battling against the deadly solinium. She held on for as long as she could, then the concussion wave flung her off. The helmet spun away and the fatal light was free.
Holly flipped her wing control to rise, reaching for the skies. The blue light was after her like a wall of death. It was a race now. Had she gained enough time and distance to outrun the bio-bomb?
Holly felt her lips dragged back across her teeth. G-force rippled the skin on her cheeks. She was counting on the fact that the bio-bomb’s active agent was light; this meant that it could be focused to a certain diameter. Koboi would not want to draw attention to her device by wiping out a city block. Holly alone was her target.
Holly felt the light swipe her toes. A dreadful feeling of nothingness crept up her leg before the magic banished it. She streamlined her body, arcing her head back and folding her arms across her chest, willing the mechanical wings to accelerate her to safety.
Suddenly the light dissipated, flashed out, leaving only a dozen squirrelly flares in its wake. Holly had outrun the deadly light, with only minor injuries. Her legs felt weakened, but that sensation would recede shortly. Time enough to worry about that later. Now she had to return to the Lower Elements and somehow warn her comrade what Opal was planning.
Holly glanced down at the roof. Nothing remained now to suggest that she’d ever been there, except the remains of her helmet, which spun like a battered top. Generally, inanimate objects were not affected by bio- bombs, but the helmet’s reflective layer had bounced the light around so much internally that it had overheated. And once the helmet had shorted out, so had all Holly’s bio-readings. As far as the LEP or Opal Koboi were concerned, Captain Short’s helmet was no longer broadcasting her heartbeat or respiratory rate. She was officially dead. And being dead had possibilities.
Something caught Holly’s eye. Far below, in the centre of a cluster of maintenance buildings, several humans were converging on one hut. With her bird’s-eye view, Holly could see that the hut’s roof had been blown out. There were two figures lying in the roof timbers. One was huge, a veritable giant. The other closer to her own size. A boy. Artemis and Butler. Could they have survived?
Holly threw her legs up behind her, diving steeply towards the crash site. She did not shield, conserving her magic. It looked likely that every spark of healing power she possessed would be needed, so she would have to trust to speed and her revolutionary suit to keep her hidden.
The other humans were metres away, picking their way through the debris. They looked curious rather than angry. Still, it was vital that Holly get Artemis away from here, if he were alive. Opal could have spies anywhere, and a back-up plan just waiting to spring into deadly operation. It was doubtful whether they could cheat death again.
She landed on the shed’s gable end and peered inside. It was Artemis all right, and Butler. Both breathing. Artemis was even conscious, though clearly in pain.
Suddenly a red rose of blood spread across his white shirt, his eyes rolled back and he began to buck. The Mud Boy was going into shock, and it looked as if a rib had punctured the skin. There could be another one in his lung. He needed healing. Now.
Holly dropped to Artemis’s chest and placed a hand on the nubs of bone protruding under his heart.
‘Heal,’ she said, and the last sparks of magic in her elfin frame sped down her arms, intuitively targeting Artemis’s injuries. The ribs shuddered, twisted elastically, then rejoined with a hiss of molten bone. Steam vented from Artemis’s shuddering body as the magic flushed impurities from his system.
Even before Artemis had finished shaking, Holly was wrapping herself around the boy as much as possible. She had to get him away from here. Ideally she would have taken Butler too, but he was too bulky to be shielded by her slim frame. The bodyguard would have to look out for himself, but Artemis had to be protected. Firstly because he was undoubtedly the prime target, and secondly because she needed his devious brain to help her defeat Opal Koboi. If Opal intended to join the world of men, then Artemis was the ideal foil for her genius.
Holly locked her fingers behind Artemis’s back, hoisting his limp body into an upright position. His head lolled on her shoulder, and she could feel his breath on her cheek. It was regular. Good.
Holly bent her legs until her knees cracked. She would need all the leverage she could get to mask their escape. Outside, the voices grew closer, and she felt the walls shake as someone inserted a key in the door.
‘Goodbye, Butler, old friend,’ she whispered. ‘I’ll be back for you.’
The bodyguard groaned once, as though he had heard. Holly hated to leave him, though she had no choice. It was either Artemis alone or no one, and Butler himself would thank her for what she was doing.
Holly gritted her teeth, tensed every muscle in her body, and opened the throttle wide on her wings. She took off out of that shed like a dart from a blowpipe, kicking up a fresh cloud of dust in her wake. Even if someone had been staring straight at her, all they would have seen was a dust and sky-coloured blur, with possibly one loafered shoe poking out. But that must have been their eyes playing tricks, because shoes couldn’t fly. Could they?
Chapter 5: Meet the Neighbours
E37, THE LOWER ELEMENTS
Foaly could not believe what was happening. His eyes were sending information to his brain, but his brain refused to accept it. Because if he were to accept this information, he would have to believe that his friend Holly Short had just shot her own commander and was now attempting to escape to the surface. This was completely
