The whole world seemed to explode into purple brilliance behind him.
He saw Petra throwing herself to the ground and he dropped down beside her. They huddled together on the dark granite of the plaza, unable to move as they watched the stupendous forces of nature at work. Lightning bolts struck down out of the sky, dancing and marching and counter-marching around the broken lines of tanks to the accompaniment of deafening thunderclaps.
The wire-covered alien monster, highest point in the vicinity, became a dreadful focus for unimaginably ferocious electrical discharges. Jan’s and Petra’s overloaded retinas gave them a bleached-out image of frenzied lightning strikes blazing around the alien hulk, cleaving and searing and ripping its living tissue, exploding and ripping it apart. They felt the alien’s telepathic death-scream—then all was silent.
The Killer Planet had lived up to its name.
Verdia had, at last, avenged itself on the alien invader which had desecrated its surface.
Chapter Ten
Jan and Petra stood up, trembling in every limb. Their vision was obscured by a screen of jagged after-images caused by the lightning, and they had to blink vigorously for a moment until something like normal vision returned. When it did Petra opened her arms to him and they clung together for a reverent minute, savouring the simple joy of being alive and under no threat. The air had an after-the-storm freshness to it, making it unexpectedly good to breathe.
“I never want to go through anything like that again,” Petra said in a slightly shaky voice.
“Neither do I—and we won’t have to,” Jan replied. “Everything’s going our way now. You know, a little while ago I thought that fate had turned against us—against me, in particular—and I felt really sorry for myself, but I’ve just realised something. Remember how I was going to kill that black gorilla-thing when it was running away from us, and I changed my mind?”
“I remember.”
“Well, just now I had only one arrow left to fire up into the clouds to trigger the lightning storm—but if I had shot the gorilla I wouldn’t have had that arrow in reserve. So it looks as though luck was with us all along.”
“You call it luck, but other people might have a different explanation,” Petra said. “You gave mercy, and you received mercy in return.”
“You could be right, but this is getting too metaphysical for me—and we have a couple of practical matters to deal with before we get back to the Seeker.” Jan released Petra from his embrace and tightened his belt in a businesslike manner. “One unpleasant job, and one pleasant one.”
Petra nodded, making ready to leave the scene of desolation. “What’s the first job?”
“As you said earlier, we’ve got to go back to that temple we sheltered in and collect Major Haines’ recorder. People back home are going to find it hard to believe all that went on here, and we’ll need the recorder for back-up evidence.”
“That’s true,” Petra said. “And what’s the pleasant job?”
Jan was unable to repress a grin as he spoke. “We need to make some kind of a flag to plant here. The Council of Empire gave up on this world—so I’m going to claim it on behalf of the Hazard Line. You can have a chunk of it as well of course.”
“You’re very generous,” Petra laughed. “But seriously—do you think the Council would ever recognise the claim?”
“I very much doubt it, but we’re bound to get some kind of reward—enough to take care of my Dad’s debts and put his business on its feet again.” Jan found he was looking forward to the future with keen anticipation. “There’s going to be a lot of traffic between Earth and Verdia when the development gets under way, and I’d say the Hazard Line is bound to be awarded a bunch of good contracts.”
“I’m glad about that,” Petra said sincerely.
“Now that I think about it,” Jan went on, “it will probably be worth Dad’s while to set up a permanent office on Verdia. How would you like to have a summer job here?”
Petra gave a little shiver. “I’ll have to think about that.”
“I’ll be back anyway,” Jan said with a note of anticipation in his voice, aware that he was entering a brand new and exciting phase of his life.
All at once, the Killer Planet had begun to seem quite a good place in which to live…