“Taranis!” he exclaimed. “But how?”
“Who gives him beauty tips?” Ostara muttered, her face curled in disgust.
Ravana stared in horror at the gnarled figure on the screen. After all she had heard about the mysterious priest, she had been expecting a warrior-like firebrand preacher, not someone who looked like a crippled mad scientist. The priest pointedly ignored herself, her father and Ostara and instead fixed his steely gaze upon Surya.
“Raja Surya,” Taranis declared, his tone cracked but strong. “I have been watching your progress for a while. You disappoint me, my prince.”
“What do you want from me?” asked Surya, his voice wavering.
“You speak as if afraid of what I offer,” Taranis remarked. “What I desire is for you to embrace your destiny! Your public spat with the fool Kartikeya is regrettable though not unexpected, for he is a man of limited vision. Great things are in store for you, but you must heed those who seek to guide you.”
“That doesn’t really answer Surya’s question,” Ravana interjected.
Taranis turned and looked at her coldly, not at all impressed by her interruption.
“The girl who cried wolf,” he said. “Perhaps Fenris should have silenced you at the start. You are yet another who failed to heed their calling, my so-called Ravana.”
Ravana looked startled. “How do you know my name?”
Taranis ignored her. “Fenris will take you back to Lanka,” he instructed Surya. “The peace conference may not have ended the way we planned, but fate has decreed this encounter and fortuitously provided the means to depart this wretched asteroid. The time has come for our disciples to take the word of the greys across the five systems!”
“I do not understand,” Surya protested weakly.
“You’re not the only one,” mumbled Ostara.
“Fenris will collect you shortly,” Taranis replied. “We will meet soon enough!”
The holovid screen went blank, then switched back to showing Fenris and Hanuman on the flight deck of the Sun Wukong. Fenris looked slightly stunned and Ravana was left with the impression that he had not expected Taranis to personally intervene in such a way. Nevertheless, he soon regained his composure.
“Captain Quirinus!” Fenris barked. “Prepare to be boarded!”
“Don’t be foolish,” snapped Quirinus. “I will not permit our ships to be linked whilst you have a gun to Hanuman’s head. I suggest you request landing clearance from Wak and we’ll continue this conversation on the Dandridge Cole.”
“I don’t think he was asking for your permission,” Hanuman said cautiously. “Ganesa was trying to warn you. Fenris has planted a bomb on your ship.”
“What!?” cried Ravana. “A bomb?”
As one, she and her father looked at the panel covering the AI unit, removed by persons unknown whilst the Platypus was at Hemakuta and hurriedly shoved back into place by Ravana after they left Yuanshi orbit. As quick as a flash, Quirinus tugged at the panel and pulled it free, leaving it to float away across the cabin. The computer had given the all-clear prior to take-off. It had not occurred to either of them that something may have been placed inside.
Looking now, Quirinus cursed as he spied an unfamiliar orange cylinder attached to the console power feed. The device was small, yet positioned in such a way that when detonated would leave the Platypus incapacitated but otherwise undamaged.
“Crap,” he muttered. “There’s something there alright.”
“You should listen to your friend,” said Fenris, showing them what they now guessed was the bomb trigger, his thumb still hovering above the red button. “I order you to power down your ship and prepare for boarding. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”
“Taranis said he has been watching my progress,” Surya murmured, looking warily at the holovid screen. “How is that possible?”
“Do you want to meet with him and discuss it?” Quirinus asked Surya, glancing up from where he had been peering into the hatch.
Surya shook his head. “Not on your life!”
“There’s your answer,” Quirinus told Fenris. “Your prince wants nothing to do with you or your mad priest. Put the gun down and behave.”
The watchers on the Platypus suddenly saw a third figure move quietly out of the shadows behind Fenris and Hanuman, unseen by the two men. Ganesa had a nasty bruise forming around her right eye, but her glare was defiant. In her hand, cautiously held at arm’s length, was what seemed to be a bundle of rags.
“This is your last warning,” Fenris declared, holding up the trigger in his hand.
“There’s innocent people aboard!” exclaimed Ravana. “You can’t be serious!”
Fenris opened his mouth to reply. His next words were lost as Ganesa lunged forward and clamped her hand across his face. With a gurgled cry of disgust, Fenris tore off his safety harness and tumbled from his seat, releasing the plasma pistol as he scrambled free. Caught by the force of his departure, Ganesa reeled backwards in the zero gravity.
Hanuman had not moved. Still strapped into his chair, his gaze went to the pistol and pair of socks spinning lazily above his head. The pilot reached up, plucked the gun from the air and pointed it at the fallen Fenris, who had come to a halt entangled in a rack of spacesuits. Ganesa ricocheted off the ceiling, twisted and grabbed a handrail.
“Are those my dirty socks?” asked Hanuman. He sounded offended.
Seizing his chance, Quirinus ducked into the maintenance hatch and gingerly began to undo the wire clips securing the bomb to the console power conduit. On screen, Fenris scrambled free of the rack and faced the holovid cameras once more. The trigger device remained in his grip.
“Go to hell!” Fenris spat, ignoring the gun in Hanuman’s hand. “The lot of you!”
“No!” cried Ganesa, lunging towards him.
She was too late. With a final determine grimace, Fenris pressed the button.
“Father!” yelled Ravana.
A sudden explosion ripped through the console of the Platypus. Quirinus flew across the cabin in a shower of sparks, then the flight deck was plunged into darkness as the lights, controls and holovid screen went dead. The deafening noise of the blast gave way to Ravana’s anguished cry as she frantically scrambled to her father’s side. Hers was not the only scream, but the wail of anguish burbling from the wrecked console was a cry of pain from the Platypus itself, born from the blackened tendrils of the AI unit.
“No!” screamed Ravana. She reached for her father’s unconscious form.
The emergency lights came on and the darkness was replaced by a smoky red glow. Ravana’s heart sank when she saw the bloody mask that was her father’s face, but he was alive and breathing. She barely noticed the pain in her own shoulder, but could not ignore the red globules floating from her blood-soaked sleeve where she had been caught by a piece of shrapnel. Ostara and Surya also sported cuts and bruises but it was clear Quirinus had caught the worst of it. Ostara grabbed a fire extinguisher and had just doused the minor blaze in the console when a panic-stricken Miss Clymene appeared at the entrance to the flight deck.
“I turned on the coffee machine and something went bang!” she exclaimed, then saw the wounded Quirinus. “My word! What happened?”