Martin King and the Prison of Ice (Martin King Series) (8 page)

“What do you
mean?” said Darcy.

“Well, think
about it. That poison was in the relay device, ready to be distributed to all
of the Axis planets. The poison must have been developed
specifically
to
poison Axis Lords. Someone wanted to commit genocide.” He sighed. “I assume the
poison is what killed all of the Axis Lords on Wormwood. The plan must have
gone wrong, so the poison was never distributed, but still managed to wipe out
thousands of my people.”

“I’m sorry,”
said Martin.

Slater waved a
hand. “Oh, it all happened a long time ago. We will probably never find out who
was behind it.”

The man fell
silent and fixed his purple eyes on Martin.

“The question
is,” said Slater quietly, “why were
you
affected by the poison?”

Martin
shrugged. “Just unlucky, I suppose.”

Suddenly, Michael
Slater cried out with pain.

“What’s wrong
?” said Martin.

“The poison did
more damage than I thought,” said Slater weakly. “It is starting.”

“What is?” said
Martin.

“It is time for
me to start my second life,” said Slater.

He cried out
again. Martin tried to go to him, but he held out a hand.

“No, stay
back.” Slater closed his eyes. “This body was getting a bit old, anyway.”

The man’s face
began to glow. And then the glow faded. He looked the same, except he was…
younger.

Michael Slater
leapt to his feet, and grinned at Martin and Darcy.

“Now
that
feels excellent!”

Tommy and Fire Opal were riding
on horseback through Colorado. The trees were becoming sparser as they neared
the Elk Mountains. The sun was hot and bright; it was almost mid-day.

“I need to rest
soon,” said Fire Opal. “And so does my horse, I think.”

“OK,” said
Tommy. “You’re such a girl.”

Fire Opal pretended
to look offended. They rode towards Maroon Bells. The place, which was the most
photographed spot in Colorado, was made up of two peaks, Maroon Peak and North
Maroon Peak. But Tommy and Fire Opal were not there to take photographs. The
year was 1849, and they were there to find some gold.

They stopped
the horses by the glassy lake to let the horses drink. Tommy knelt down by the
water and cupped his hands to take a drink. As soon as he touched the water,
the entire lake shimmered strangely, becoming pixelated.

“Ha!” said
Tommy. “I found a bug!”

“Well, it’s
still in beta,” said Fire Opal.

They were
actually still sitting in Fire Opal’s house in Florence. Her father, Laser
Wolf, had become fascinated by the history of the American West, and had
written a new program for the VDS machine. The VDS was a sort of virtual
reality system invented by one of the Axis Lords in the City of Serenity.

“I just hope
there are no dragons this time,” muttered Tommy.

Last time he
had entered the VDS, it had been hijacked by Moonstone, who had tried to kill
them by sending a dragon after them.

Fire Opal
laughed. “No, no dragons.”

As soon as the
horses had finished drinking, they sat in the shade of a row of trees, waiting
for the hottest part of the day to pass.

“This is really
cool,” said Tommy. “I can’t believe your dad designed this whole thing.”

“The system’s actually
quite simple once you get the hang of it,” said Fire Opal. “I’ve been dabbling
with it myself, actually—I’ll have to show you one of my programs some time.”

“Cool,” said
Tommy.

They lied down
beneath the trees in comfortable silence. Fire Opal rested her head on his
chest. There was hardly a sound except for the light rustle of the breeze
through the orange trees. Tommy sniffed.

“I found
another bug,” he said, grinning.

“What?”

“I can smell
pine trees, but look—there aren’t any pine trees. Just those weird orange
ones.”

Fire Opal
glanced at the trees without moving her head.

“These are
Nissen trees,” she said. “They’re really common on Hope, but they don’t exactly
belong in Colorado. Looks like father’s been cutting corners with the design.”

He laughed, and
they fell silent again. Tommy stroked her hair slowly. Fire Opal raised her
head to look into his eyes. Her eyes were bright and innocent, and her face was
perfectly symmetrical.

“You’re
perfect,” said Tommy, and kissed her.

Fire Opal
blushed. “Tommy?”

“Yes?”

Then Fire Opal
said the last thing that Tommy expected her to say.

“Will you marry
me?”

Tommy choked.
“What?”

“I… I’m sorry…
I didn’t mean to…” The girl sat up suddenly. “Did I say something wrong? I
don’t really know much about human marriage customs.”

“Well, usually
it’s the guy that asks the girl,” said Tommy. “And usually when people get
married they’re quite a bit older than 16.”

“I’m sorry,”
said Fire Opal, turning away.

Tommy put a
soft hand on her arm and she turned back to face him.

“I didn’t say
no
,”
said Tommy. “I would
like
to… you just took me by surprise, that’s all.
I’m still at school. What would people think? Plus I hardly think my parents
would—”

“Marriage is
different on Hope,” said Fire Opal. “On Earth when you get married you’re
expected to start living together straight away, maybe get a mortgage and think
about having children. But we aren’t like that.” She held Tommy’s hand. “Axis Lords
from the City of Serenity often get married when they are 15 or 16. For us,
marriage is simply a way of making a promise to a person we love very much.”

Tommy stared at
her, enchanted. He knew that he loved Fire Opal; there had never been any doubt
about that. All throughout his life, Tommy had always felt somehow… unreal. As
if he was just a caricature drawn by someone else, or an actor in someone
else’s play. It was only after meeting Fire Opal that he finally felt like a
real person; it was as if she
completed
him somehow.

“Yes,” said
Tommy suddenly.

“What?”

“Yes,” said
Tommy. “I would love to marry you, Fire Opal.”

Fire Opal’s
eyes moistened with happiness.

“Oh, that’s…”
She tailed off. “How old do you think I am, Tommy?”

He paused.
“Dunno? About my age, I suppose. I’ve never really thought about it. 16?”

“I’m 21.” She
looked down. “Does that… change anything?”

Tommy grinned.
“If anything, it just makes you even hotter.”

They kissed
again, and lied back beneath the alien trees.

*

Tommy and Fire Opal were riding
through the wilderness, heading towards Treasure Mountain. Its original name
had been Citadel Mountain. However, legend tells of a mission financed by
Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1700s. In need of funds, Napoleon had sent around 300
men on a mining expedition. The men had left New Orleans and passed through
Kansas towards the Rocky Mountains. Legend says that the men found a large
amount of gold near Wolf Creek Pass. However, they were hunted by Native
Americans who wanted a share of the gold. The Frenchmen had buried all of the
gold near Treasure Mountain, which was supposed to be an easy marker to help
them find it again. However, the Native Americans unthinkingly killed all of
the Frenchmen, and so the secret of the treasure’s location died with them.

At least,
that’s how the legend goes. Either way, Laser Wolf had designed the VDS program
with the assumption that the legend was true. That was the point of this
particular game—find the treasure and you win.

Eventually,
Tommy and Fire Opal arrived at Treasure Mountain. They put down their packs by the
nearby trees, and Tommy pulled the map from his pocket. It was an interactive
map; an “X” marked the area where the treasure was buried, and a small blue
arrow marked their current position.

“It’s really
close,” said Tommy, “look.”

He rotated the
map, getting his bearings. According to the map, the treasure was buried only a
few metres away. He walked a few paces north, and stopped when the blue arrow
was right on top of the “X”.

“It’s here,” he
said, grinning.

“Here?”

Tommy nodded.
“Right beneath my feet.”

Fire Opal
pulled a pouch from her pocket. Inside were two small blue discs.

“I have two
Tokens left,” she said. “Shall I use one?”

“Yeah, OK.”

Fire Opal
crushed the Token between her fingers; it crumbled into pixels, and was
transformed into some kind of glowing blue spade.

Tommy took the
spade and pushed it into the dry earth. It was like magic; the spade slipped
through the ground as if through tissue paper. Within a few seconds, Tommy had
dug a very deep hole, and he could see a wooden box poking through the dirt. He
scraped away the earth, and pulled the box out of the hole.

“I’ll let you
open it,” said Tommy.

Fire Opal
smiled, and opened the wooden box. It was filled with rocks. Tommy picked up
one of the rocks. There were clearly large pieces of gold in the rock. He
smiled.

“Looks like we
did it.”

Suddenly, there
was a rustle from the nearby trees. A man stepped out. He had a thick beard, a
shiny belt, and leather-heeled boots.

“What’re yah
doin’ with mah gold?” said the cowboy.

Tommy shrugged.
“Stealing them, I suppose, if they’re yours.”

“Yah… yah…
yah…” The man stuttered, his head jerking strangely. The game was obviously glitching
again. “What’re yah doin’ with mah gold?” he repeated.

Tommy grinned
at Fire Opal. “He’s not very realistic.”

“Realistic
enough to point a gun at you,” said Fire Opal.

Tommy looked
back; sure enough, the cowboy’s pistol was pointed straight at Tommy. Quick as
a flash, Tommy whipped his gun from his holster and raised it.

But the cowboy
was too fast; before Tommy could shoot, the man had already fired. As soon as
he heard the gunshot, the world shimmered, and was replaced by the familiar
sight of Fire Opal’s bedroom. Tommy groaned, and removed his yellow VDS helmet.

“So close,” he
said. “Ah, well, I suppose we can give it another go some time. I need to be
quicker on the trigger. But I’ll be ready for him next time.”

His girlfriend
smiled. “Well, it was fun.”

“Yeah, it was.”

They sat back.
Tommy still felt a rush of adrenaline. It was amazing how terrifying it was to
have a gun pointed at you, even in a game.

“Sorry I didn’t
have your back,” said Fire Opal. “I’ll have to use one of the Tokens to get a
gun of my own next time.” She paused, smiling. “Do you still want to marry me
even though I let you die?”

Tommy took both
of her hands and kissed her.

“Of course. I
love you, Fire Opal.”

“I love you,
Tommy.”

They kissed
again, and when they finally broke away from each other Tommy had a thought.

“What are they
like? Axis Lord weddings, I mean. And where do they take place? Not a church?”

“My father
tells me that normal Axis Lord weddings are more full of pomp and ceremony than
human ones. But weddings in the City of Serenity were never like that.” She
smiled. “They’re not about rituals, or showing off. They really are just about
two people being in love, a simple expression of faithfulness.”

“So… where do
they take place?”

“Anywhere,
really. They’re quite quick events, and usually nobody is invited.” She paused.
“If you wanted… it would be…”

“What?” said
Tommy gently.

“It would be
nice to have a second wedding… in a few years, I mean, when we’re both ready. A
human wedding—the kind of wedding with guests, a cake, dancing.”

Tommy smiled.
“That sounds good. So where are we going to have our first wedding?”

“Well, there
was a special place in the City of Serenity. We could get my father to take us
there… if you wanted.”

“It sounds
perfect,” said Tommy.

Tommy and Fire Opal were sitting
in the back of Laser Wolf’s small spacecraft, heading towards the City of
Serenity. The ship was about the size of a car, and it had circular windows
looking out over the clouds.

“Sorry if it’s
a little cramped,” said Laser Wolf. “I still need to get around to building a
proper-sized ship; this little cruiser is just something I put together last
night.”

Tommy glanced
around the interior of the tiny ship, impressed.

“You built this
in one night?”     

“Yes.”

“Wow.”

Tommy didn’t
mind about the size; after all, it was an excuse to be huddled up with Fire
Opal on the back seat. He glanced out of the window; they were high above the
clouds now. It was a surreal experience. He had the strange feeling of being
inside a flying car.

“I’m glad you
are getting married to my daughter,” said Laser Wolf. “I would be happy to see
many more Axis Lord and human relationships.” He paused. “None of us really
know how all this will work out, yet. I mean, with all of us Axis Lords living
on Earth. It can only be a matter of time before the human governments realise
that we are here.”

He paused, and
added darkly, “Looking at Earth’s history it doesn’t seem that you react very
well to newcomers.” Laser Wolf turned, and smiled at Tommy. “No offence.”

“None taken. I
suppose humans must look pretty backward to you.”

“No, no,
backward isn’t the right word. I mean, you humans have many admirable qualities
that Axis Lords do
not
possess. Maybe a mingling of Axis Lord and human
blood is the best way forward—quite literally, the best of both worlds.”

The Axis Lord
paused reflectively, and Fire Opal turned to Tommy.

“Sorry about
father,” she whispered. “He’s just happy about the wedding. He always gets
philosophical when he’s feeling emotional.”

Laser Wolf
didn’t hear her. Tommy stroked her white hair and kissed her on the cheek.
After about ten more minutes, the ship began to descend.

“Nearly there,”
said Laser Wolf.

The little ship
passed down through the clouds and Tommy could see the City of Serenity. It
looked exactly as he remembered it—the colourful buildings, the dark gothic
structure dedicated to the Wheelmaster… There was only one difference. It was deserted.

Laser Wolf
landed the ship on the beach. They climbed out. Fire Opal immediately took her
shoes off so she could feel the warm sand beneath her feet.

“It’s strange
to be back,” she said. “I’ve become so used to Italy.”

“I miss the
city,” said Laser Wolf. “But it would be too risky to stay here for a long
period. If the Axis Lords managed to reactivate the shield we would be trapped
again.”

Tommy saw
something in the corner of his eye. He turned his head. A small boy—he could
only have been eight or nine—was running past them over the sand. He was
wearing strange clothes: a velvet jacket and a waistcoat, along with a pocket
watch chain.

“He’s human,”
said Laser Wolf, frowning. “I wonder how he got here…”

Tommy had
already started after the boy; his legs were much longer and he quickly caught
him up.

“Stop!” said
Tommy. “I’m trying to help you.”

The boy stopped
running. He turned to Tommy, confused, ready to run again.

“It’s OK,” said
Tommy gently. “I just want to help. Now, how did you get here?”

The boy
suddenly began to cry. “I was… I was… playing with my friends and I suddenly
appeared here,” he managed, between sobs.

Tommy frowned
at the boy. His clothes were very old-fashioned.

“What year are
you from?” said Tommy.

“Pardon, sir?”
said the boy.

“I mean… what
year do you think it is?”

“1850, of
course,” said the boy, blinking at Tommy with tearful eyes.

“1850,”
repeated Tommy blankly. “Right, OK. Well, what’s your name?”

“Arthur, sir.”

“OK, Arthur.
Let’s find out what’s going on.”

Tommy led the
little boy across the beach back towards Laser Wolf and Fire Opal. Tommy
explained what had happened, and Laser Wolf frowned.

“Do you
remember where you appeared on the beach—the exact spot?”

The boy nodded
faintly.

“Show me.”

Arthur led the
three of them across the beach towards the waves, where the sand was damp.
There was a small rock pool on the beach, filled with shrimps and other sea
creatures.

“About here,”
said Arthur.

Laser Wolf took
his pocket watch out from his pocket to scan the area. He flicked a tiny switch
and the air shimmered; there was some sort of portal right next to the rock
pool.

“What’s that?”
breathed Tommy.

“A time fissure
of some sort,” said Laser Wolf, “a fracture in reality.”

The Axis Lord
put a hand through the portal, and then his entire head.

“Look,” he
said.

Tommy put his
head through the portal. On the other side, he could see a Victorian street. It
looked like a wealthy area. A horse and cart was riding past and young
well-dressed boys were playing by the side of the road.

“Looks like
your friends are waiting for you,” said Tommy.

The boy stared
suspiciously at the portal. “Through
there
?” he said.

Laser Wolf
nodded. “It’s perfectly safe, I promise. You stepped through a rip in the
fabric of time. Back through that tear is your home.”

The boy still
looked reluctant. Laser Wolf took his hand.

“Come on, I’ll
go with you.”

The boy nodded.
Laser Wolf led Arthur through the gap, and a few seconds later returned alone.

“He’s safe
now,” said Laser Wolf, fiddling with his pocket watch. “Let me see if I can…”

The portal
began to shrink, until it had vanished completely.

“There,” said
Laser Wolf. “I closed it.”

“But I wonder
what opened it,” said Fire Opal.

At that moment,
a man came striding along the beach, panting breathlessly. He was wearing a
black suit jacket; his hair was white and his eyes were purple.

“Ah, you’ve
closed it,” he said. “Good, good. Did you check where the portal had opened
this time?”

Laser Wolf
frowned. “This planet, London, 1850.”

The other Axis
Lord sighed. “Always this planet… always this damned planet… sorry, I’m
forgetting my manners. My name is Agamon.”

Tommy
recognised the name, and suddenly realised that he recognised the man, too. He
had met Agamon when he was travelling with Martin and Darcy to, supposedly,
save the Axis Lords. But it had been a trap, and they had ended up being
captured by pirates. Agamon clearly recognised Tommy as well.

“Oh, it’s
you
!”
he said, and shook Tommy’s hand. “Good to see you again.”

“Good to see
me? Last time we met you tricked us into being captured!”

“No, no.”
Agamon shook his head. “The Wheelmaster had deceived me—I genuinely believed
that my planet was under attack. I am very sorry for what happened.”

Tommy turned to
Laser Wolf.

“Is he telling
the truth?”

Laser Wolf had
an ability called Soul Sight—he could see the condition of a person’s heart. He
nodded.

“Agamon has a
good heart,” said Laser Wolf.

Tommy nodded.
“OK.”

“What happened
to Martin?” said Agamon.

“Oh, he’s
fine,” said Tommy.

“Excellent,”
said Agamon. “Er, why are you all here, exactly?”

Tommy smiled at
Fire Opal. “We’re getting married.”

“Oh, really?”
Agamon didn’t sound very interested. He turned to Laser Wolf. “I am glad to
have you here, actually. I could do with another Axis Lord mind. What is your
name?”

“Laser Wolf.”

“Well, could
you come with me, Laser Wolf? I have a bit of a dilemma.”

“Do you mind?”
said Laser Wolf, to Tommy and Fire Opal.

They did
mind—they were eager to get married—but they shook their heads politely.

“Excellent,”
said Agamon. “Let us go to the Wheelmaster’s temple.”

*

The temple was very dark. The
high ceiling looked like a black spiral, and ten supporting pillars held it up.
A tall black statue stood in the centre.

“That is the
Wheelmaster,” said Agamon, “our deity.”

Tommy grinned.
He knew that there was a different Wheelmaster now, one that was an exact copy
of Martin King. Tommy had promised Martin that he wouldn’t tell anyone—it could
only put them in danger. Tommy vaguely wondered what had happened to the old
Wheelmaster. Presumably he had simply ceased to exist…

He approached
the statue of the old Wheelmaster. In the statue’s black palm was a glowing
shape. Tommy squinted. Millions of tiny bright specks were moving around inside
it.

“That is a
scale model of the known Universe,” said Agamon. “Impressive, isn’t it? The
Axis Lords living in the city seem to have surpassed even mainstream Axis
technology.”

Tommy looked
around at the rest of the temple. It was extremely dark; nearly everything
inside—the altars, the symbols, the statue of the Wheelmaster—was made from the
same sort of glistening black stone.

 “I expect you
want to know why I have been opening up portals to different moments in Earth’s
history?” said Agamon.

Laser Wolf
nodded. “Well, I must confess to being a little curious.”

“Sit down,
please,” said Agamon. He clapped his hands and four gleaming white chairs
appeared in the darkness. Agamon sat down to begin his story.

“I used to be
known as Prince Agamon. That is, until I renounced my royal title. You see, the
Axis Lords have started upon a course of action that I simply cannot support.”

The former
prince clapped his hands again. A star map appeared above their heads. Tommy
immediately recognised the golden points of light that were dotted over the
map.

“The ships,”
said Tommy.

“You know about
them?” said Agamon, astonished. “How?”

“We met another
Axis Lord,” Fire Opal explained, “but not by chance. He found us. Well, he was
looking for Tommy and his friends.”

“Who was he?”

Tommy
hesitated. What was the name? Something beginning with “M”.

“What was his
name?” said Agamon, more urgently.

“Mulciber,”
said Tommy, finally remembering.

Even in the
darkness, Tommy could see that Agamon’s face had become paler.

“You know him?”
said Tommy.

“Yes, well… he
is an old acquaintance of mine. Well, you could even say that he was a…
friend
of mine. But that was before he turned renegade.” Agamon cast his eyes towards
the ground. “Although, I suppose that I am a renegade now, too.”

“What
happened?” said Laser Wolf. “What did he do?”

“He was a
murderer and a poet,” said Agamon. “Two of the worst crimes it is possible to
commit on Hope.” He shook his head. “Never mind. There are more pressing
matters. These ships will be arriving within the week.”

“But who
are
they?” said Fire Opal.

“The occupants
of those ships are the most evil people in the five galaxies,” said Agamon
slowly. “They are heartless, conscienceless killers. And worst of all—they have
a great sense of moral superiority. They will squash this planet as you would
squash a fly, and then congratulate themselves on their valour.”

“These people
sound terrible,” said Laser Wolf. “Who are they?”

“Us,” said
Agamon, with a dark smile.

“It… can’t be,”
said Laser Wolf.

Agamon nodded.
“When Moonstone took down the barrier around the City of Serenity, the Axis
Council decided almost immediately to purge the Earth.”

“Our own
people?” said Fire Opal.

“Well, think
about it from our—well,
their
—point of view,” Agamon went on. “In their
eyes, the Earth is full of dangerous criminals, and they know it can only be a
matter of time before someone manages to disable the satellite. They are
worried about a possible attack.”

“We need to do
something!” said Tommy.

“I have been
trying. Look, come and see.”

They all stood
up. Agamon took a small white globe from his pocket and threw it into the air.
It instantly lit up, and floated above them, following them as they walked to
the corner of the temple.

“That’s
interesting,” said Laser Wolf. “A sort of gravity lamp. How did you make it
follow like that? A motion sensor?”