Martin King and the Prison of Ice (Martin King Series) Read online

  Mulciber shook his head. “Peaceful it isn’t.”

  “What do you mean?” said Fire Opal.

  “Something is coming. A fleet of ships is approaching the Earth, shielded and invisible.” Mulciber pulled a Truthful Eye from his pocket. “Even this thing won’t let you see them. Whoever owns the ships has remarkable technology.”

  Mulciber smiled at Tommy. “Do you want to see them?”

  Tommy nodded. “Yeah.”

  “I have a special ability,” said Mulciber. “I was experimenting with Axis Dust when I was a child, and I ended up with a few little tricks.”

  Tommy looked up at the night sky. Mulciber stood behind him and touched the back of his head with one finger. The moment he did so, Tommy could see them—thousands and thousands of golden dots, slightly bigger than stars.

  “So they’re ships?” said Tommy.

  “Yes,” said Mulciber. “They are not quite as close as they appear—I have magnified the signal. But they will still be here in a matter of weeks.”

  “And you don’t know what kind of ships they are?”

  Mulciber shook his head. “Not yet. I’ll be able to identify them when they get slightly closer. But—whoever they are—I don’t think they have good intentions. A fleet that size can only be an invasion fleet. Or possibly a destruction fleet.”

  Tommy swallowed.

  “So why tell me this?”

  “Oh, come on now,” said Mulciber, laughing. “Your name is a legend throughout the five galaxies. I know all about what happened last year—all about Moonstone and XO5.”

  “That was mainly Martin and Darcy,” said Tommy. “I just… sort of helped out a bit.”

  “Well, I want to see Martin in particular,” said Mulciber.

  He took out a packet of Marlboro and lit one of them, taking a deep drag. The smoke from his cigarette rose up towards the invisible ships.

  “Who are you?” said Fire Opal.

  “A friend,” said Mulciber.

  “So how do we stop the ships?” said Tommy, staring up at the stars.

  “We fight, of course,” said Mulciber. “Sometimes war is the only answer.” He smiled at them both. “But do not worry about that just yet. Relax. Enjoy the rest of your holiday.”

  Mulciber led Tommy and Fire Opal back down to the front door and stepped into the street with them. He touched Tommy’s arm.

  “It was good to meet you,” he said. “And do enjoy your holiday. Forget about the ships for the time being. We will meet again, I promise.”

  Mulciber smiled, and stepped back inside the old house, closing the door.

  “Well, that was weird,” said Tommy.

  “He put a tracker on your arm when he touched it,” said Fire Opal. “That means he’ll be able to find you now whenever he wants.”

  Tommy inspected his arm.

  “You won’t be able to see it—it’s invisible to the naked eye. You won’t be able to take it off, either.”

  “Oh, brilliant.” Tommy smiled at Fire Opal. “Well, we might get blown to bits by those mysterious ships any second, but I’m still going to take Mulciber’s advice and enjoy the rest of my holiday. Come on.”

  Fire Opal smiled, and took Tommy’s hand. They began to walk, but Tommy suddenly stopped.

  “That’s weird,” he said.

  “What?” said Fire Opal.

  “You said the lights were flickering because someone was tracking me, right?”

  “Yes—it must have been Mulciber.”

  “Well, if it was Mulciber, the lights should have stopped flickering now?”

  “Of course.”

  Tommy pointed up, his face ashen. The nearest streetlight was still flickering violently. Fire Opal shuddered.

  “Looks like someone is still looking for me,” said Tommy.

  CHAPTER 3: THE TIME MACHINE

  “That’s a Time Sphere.”

  The Reverend Alexander Howell had black hair and grey eyes. He was wearing a black suit with a dog-collar. Martin and Darcy were standing in his spacious study. The large golden sphere was in the centre of the room.

  “I built it myself,” said the vicar. “I didn’t invent it, of course. A certain race has had time travel technology for millions of years.”

  “It’s pretty,” said Darcy.

  “No it isn’t,” said Howell bluntly. “It’s just a machine. It is functional.”

  Darcy scowled. After leaving Xavier College, they had both caught a bus to Abingdon—Alexander Howell’s village—to pay him a visit. The vicar had been delighted to see them, and had taken them straight to his study.

  “It’s impressive,” said Martin. “But what’s this all about? Why did you want to see us?”

  “Come on, we’ll find somewhere to sit and I’ll explain everything.”

  The Reverend led them out of the vicarage. They followed him across the freshly-cut lawn and into the church. It was quite big for a village church, and it was empty apart from Howell and themselves. The Axis Lord closed and locked the door and pointed them towards a pew. They sat down.

  The Reverend walked towards the pulpit, his shoes clicking on stone, and removed his Deceiving Necklace. He was instantly visible in his true form—his hair became white and his eyes purple. The Axis Lord stood at the pulpit. He waved a hand and the church ceiling was replaced by an image of space.

  “This is the region of space directly above Planet Earth,” said Howell, his voice echoing through the church. “What do you see?”

  Martin looked up. He could see thousands of little golden dots.

  “What are they?” he said.

  “Ships,” said the Reverend. “Thousands of ships. They will be here very soon. The Earth is in terrible danger, and we need to do something about it.” The Axis Lord paused. “Have you ever heard of Abaddon?”

  Martin shook his head. The vicar picked up a leather-bound Bible and opened it up.

  “In the book of Revelation, Abaddon was an angel, the bringer of destruction.” He lifted the Bible to read. “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon.”

  “I’ve never been very religious,” said Darcy.

  The Reverend smiled. “Neither have I. But I’m on the run from my people. A vicarage is the perfect place to hide. If you work for God you are not accountable to men.” He paused. “Time for a little history lesson. How much do you know about my people, the Axis Lords?”

  Martin shrugged. “Not much.”

  The Reverend took a deep breath, as if ready to begin a sermon.

  “A long, long time ago, the race of the Axis Lords was born. The actual circumstances of this birth are shrouded in legend, but the thousand years following it came to be known as the Dark Times. Axis Lords had great intelligence, cunning, and physical strength. But their society was still in its infancy. Axis Lords did not have any police or justice system. Crimes went unpunished, and the Axis Lords cruelly dominated virtually every known species.”

  The Reverend clapped his hands, and a hologram of a golden statue appeared next to him beside the pulpit.

  “But the Axis Lords also dominated one another. Every Axis Lord was perpetually terrified that all the wealth he had amassed would be stolen by an even stronger Axis Lord. So they created all manner of weapons to protect themselves. The most famous of these was Abaddon.”

  The Rev. Alexander Howell pointed at the golden statue.

  “Abaddon was designed to be the perfect bodyguard. He had virtually unlimited strength, and was immortal. Abaddon accompanied his Axis Lord master on dozens of trips to Earth. A few times, Abaddon and his master time-travelled to various points in Earth’s history to plunder gold and other resources. That is why Abaddon, in several different forms, appears in many human myths.”

  “This is all very interesting,” said Martin, “but what does it have to do with us?”

  “I’m getting there. Please be patient. You see, Abaddon was powerful, but he w
as also unpredictable. Once, on his last visit to Earth around 3,000 years ago, he took a shine to the humans. Abaddon left a recall device with the High Priest of the Hebrews, and promised to return to Earth if they ever needed his help.”

  Martin frowned. The vicar smiled.

  “Well, don’t you see? We do need Abaddon’s help!” He pointed to the star projection. “When those ships arrive, the humans will be powerless to resist them. But Abaddon could easily defeat them.”

  “So where is this Abaddon?” said Darcy.

  “Well, his creator finally decided that Abaddon was too unstable, and freed him as a last act of kindness. Abaddon built his own spaceship and disappeared. No-one has ever seen him since.”

  “So how are we supposed to find him?”

  “By activating the recall device, of course. You must find it. The trouble is, it doesn’t exist anymore. The recall device was destroyed. And that’s where my time machine comes in…”

  *

  Martin’s dad was putting on a stripy tie when Martin sat down at the breakfast table the next morning. He was wearing his grey work suit.

  “Oh, morning, Martin,” said Charlie.

  For years, Charlie had been an unemployed alcoholic. However, after the near-destruction of the Earth he had stopped drinking—eventually—and had managed to find himself an office job.

  “Running late, as usual,” he said.

  Martin smiled. He would never say it to his face, but he was so proud of his dad. He had achieved so much in the last few months.

  “I wish I had your power, Martin. Then I could just fly to work! Anyway, see you.”

  His dad grabbed a slice of toast and left the flat. Martin frowned. When he had told his dad about his special power, and about how he had saved the world, he had expected not to be believed. But, strangely, his dad had accepted every word, even before he had seen Martin use his power… Martin shook his head. It was nothing. His dad just trusted him, that’s all.

  He heard the doorbell ring twice, and he knew that it was Darcy. He left the flat and took the stairs. Darcy was standing outside the door of the apartment building, chatting to a boy that Martin didn’t recognise. The boy had dark eyebrows and a deep tan. He was tall, muscular, and standing very close to Darcy. When he saw Martin, he smiled.

  “Well, I’d better be off,” he said. “Nice talking.”

  Darcy smiled at the strange boy. “Yeah, yeah it was. See you.”

  The boy sauntered off.

  “Who was that?” said Martin.

  “Tyler.”

  “How do you know him?”

  “He goes to our school,” said Darcy. “He started a few weeks before we broke up, remember?”

  Martin shook his head. “I don’t remember. But I don’t like the look of him.”

  Darcy grinned. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

  “No, no, not jealous.”

  “Good.”

  Martin sighed. “Sorry. I know you wouldn’t… I mean… I just don’t want to lose you.”

  “Don’t be silly,” said Darcy. “Tyler’s just a good laugh, that’s all. It’s not like I fancy him or anything.”

  No, thought Martin, I can’t imagine why any girl would fancy a guy like that—tall, well-built, and tanned.

  No, he was being stupid. He trusted Darcy completely. Martin smiled.

  “Come on. We’ve got an alien planet to go to.”

  *

  The dim lights flickered in the gloomy cellar, and an irregular trickle of water was dripping somewhere. They were standing in the basement of Martin’s apartment building—the area was hardly ever in use so it was a safe place to keep the time machine. Martin had bribed the site caretaker so he wouldn’t ask any questions.

  The Time Sphere was tucked away in a corner of the basement; a tungsten bulb bathed the golden sphere in yellow light. The Rev. Alexander Howell had rigged Martin up to a speed-learning device to give him a full working knowledge of time machine operation.

  Martin touched an invisible panel on the machine; it scanned his handprint and opened. It was actually fairly spacious inside the sphere. They sat quite comfortably before closing the top. Martin turned to Darcy.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  She kissed him. “Yes.”

  He smiled. “OK, hold tight.”

  Martin set the time and space coordinates and activated a button. There was a humming sound for a moment. Then the noise stopped.

  “Are we there?” said Darcy.

  Martin nodded. “I think so.”

  He took a deep breath and opened the capsule; immediately, he felt the sunlight on his skin. They stepped out of the capsule into the city of Florence.

  “That was quick,” said Darcy.

  Martin had piloted the Time Sphere very accurately; it had appeared near the back entrance of the St. Regis Florence, the hotel at which Tommy was staying. Darcy stayed with the machine as Martin went around to the front entrance of the hotel. The entrance hall was extremely luxurious.

  “Buongiorno. Can I help you?” the receptionist asked.

  “Er… hello. I’m looking for Tommy Walker.”

  “I can try to call him, if you like, sir.”

  “Ok, thanks.”

  The receptionist picked up the phone and dialled a number. She looked at Martin.

  “What’s your name, sir?”

  “Martin King.”

  “OK.” The receptionist paused. “Good morning, Mr Walker. I have a gentleman here to see you—a Mr Martin King.”

  The receptionist put the phone down. “He hung up,” she explained.

  A few seconds later, Tommy came climbing down the main stairs, wearing a bath robe. His hair was soaking wet.

  “Martin!” Tommy looked bewildered. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “It’s good to see you, too!” Martin smiled. “Darcy’s waiting around the back. We need you.”

  “I’m on holiday, Martin. How did you even get here so fast?”

  “Well, to tell you the truth, an Axis Lord gave us a time machine.”

  Tommy couldn’t resist a smile. “Yeah, that figures.” He paused. “But I’m still on holiday.”

  “The Earth’s in danger, Tommy. There’s a fleet of ships coming our way.”

  Tommy frowned. “That’s funny. He said that.”

  “He? Who’s he?”

  Martin glanced at the receptionist. She was looking a little confused by their conversation.

  “Come on,” said Martin. “I’ll explain everything.”

  Tommy sighed. “OK—just wait for me to get dressed.”

  “It’s a nice hotel,” Martin shouted.

  “Yeah,” Tommy shouted back. “Designed by Brunelleschi, apparently. But then again everything here seems to be…”

  *

  Tommy and Fire Opal stood with Martin and Darcy beside the Time Sphere.

  “I’m supposed to be on holiday…” muttered Tommy. “How did you find me, anyway?”

  “The Time Sphere has tracing technology built into it; it helped me pinpoint your location. We were going to pick you up last night but you were moving about and we couldn’t home in on you.”

  “Oh,” said Tommy, “so that’s why the lights were flickering everywhere near me last night…”

  Fire Opal ran a hand along the sphere. “This is astonishing technology,” she said. “Who built it?”

  “An Axis Lord called Alexander Howell,” said Darcy. “He’s a vicar in Abingdon. He warned us about a fleet of ships heading to Earth. We have to stop them.”

  “Another Axis Lord warned us about the ships last night,” said Fire Opal. “It was a man called Mulciber.”

  “Now I come to think of it,” said Tommy, “he wanted to see you in particular, Martin.”

  “Who was he?” said Martin.

  Tommy shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

  “But why did he want to see me?”

  “Dunno.”

  Martin frown
ed. Something strange was going on.

  “Anyway,” said Darcy. “Howell gave us the Time Sphere so we could travel to a planet called Pyridos to find some sort of recall device. There’s a warrior called Abaddon that we need to call for help.”

  “But I’m on holiday!” Tommy turned to Fire Opal. “I promised you I’d be here for another 5 days.”

  The young Axis Lady smiled. “It’s OK, Tommy. You should go.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Fire Opal nodded. “I understand. I would come with you myself but I can’t leave the planet because of that stupid satellite.”

  “Well… all right,” said Tommy.

  Fire Opal took Tommy’s hand. “But you will be back?”

  “I promise,” said Tommy.

  “Well,” said Martin. “Time to go to Pyridos…”

  CHAPTER 4: THE PYRAMID PLANET

  “It’s beautiful,” said Darcy.

  “It’s hot,” said Martin.

  The sand dunes stretched on for miles, the yellow bleakness broken only by several scattered pyramids. The artificial sun was bright and fierce.

  As Howell had explained, the planet had been commissioned many years ago by the Axis Lords to be used as an archive planet. The Axis Council had hired a galactic firm to build the planet to their exact specifications. However, they had hired a rogue contractor, who (unfortunately for the council) had both a great hatred for the Axis Lords and a great love of Earth history. The contractor had built the entire world as a planet-sized replica of Ancient Egypt—complete with pyramids. The council had already exceeded the allocated budget for the planet, so they had executed the contractor and called the planet Pyridos to make the best of a bad situation.

  “I thought it would busier,” said Tommy.

  “Yeah, it is a bit deserted,” said Darcy, grinning at her pun.

  Martin rolled his eyes and glanced around at the desert. A thin wind stirred the sand.

  “We need to head over to one of the pyramids,” said Martin. That’s where the entrances are.”

  The three teenagers walked away from the Time Sphere along the hot sand, the artificial sun beating down upon them, towards the nearest pyramid. When they approached it, Martin circled it slowly, looking for…