THE PLANET THAT LOVED PEOPLE (standard:science fiction, 3291 words) [7/15] show all parts
Author: Danny Raven	Added: Mar 08 2016	Views/Reads: 1735/1273	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
PART 2 - CH 7

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

his way to the Bridge and inspected where Kol's technicians had 
overridden the Computer to link it to the console in Blaze's cabin. 
There was nothing he could do until Muslik and Miller arrived. 

The forward scanner was operating, allowing him to see what was
happening on the Observation Screen. He sat down in the Captain's 
chair, locked in and sat back to watch the action. 

***** 

It wasn't going to be so easy for the second pod and Miller had a
feeling it was going to be him. Through the pod window he watched 
Sark's Ship go by laying a trail of time-delay mines along the south 
end of the net. Christ, suppose he received co-ordinates for a south 
exit? If those mines were too long in exploding and the Falcon suddenly 
appeared they were both in trouble. 

The first of them exploded in a shower of glittering orange and yellow
flares. Watching on the giant screen, the crowd cheered but they were 
more subdued tonight, most of them hungover from the previous night. 
Some of them were smoking Janad and clouds of the fragrant smoke 
drifted in the night air. 

All this time Blaze was keeping the green dot directly behind Sark's red
triangle which was now prowling the east side of the net. The 
co-ordinates for a south exit for the next pod came up on his screen 
and the Falcon's Cloaker cut out. He kept his nose to the red triangles 
tail and Sark weaved his Ship around trying to throw him off, growing 
frustrated at his tactics. 

The net opened for Miller but there was still another time-delay mine in
the way before he could guide the pod out. 

‘Suppose I just wait inside the net?' he thought to himself, wiping the
sweat from his face. ‘Sark wouldn't be able to get me....yeah but he 
would be able to go after Blaze and then Kane would be after me.' 

Gingerly, he nosed the pod out. On the giant screen the crowd saw it
leave the net. Away to the north they could see a shower of white 
floating out from the red triangle – Sark had just loosed off some 
cluster bombs which would drift back and explode in his wake as he 
tried to shrug Blaze off his tail. 

Blaze saw them and curved the Falcon away in a tight u-turn and raced it
down the east side of the net. Sark had accelerated his Ship as he 
dropped the cluster bombs and was now beginning to race down the west 
side. The crowd watched the green and red triangles racing down the 
long net towards the small blue square which was moving slowly along 
the south side towards the east corner. 

In his pod, Miller had also seen them. They were an equal distance away
from him and even with the slight advantage of him moving towards the 
Falcon, it wouldn't allow time for docking. He had to take a chance. 

Ahead of him, the time-delay mine had exploded about half a minute ago.
If they were all on the same delay he might just make it. He gunned the 
pod to its maximum speed and headed straight for the next mine. He 
passed it and reached the corner of the net at the same time as the 
Falcon. They were half-way through docking as Sark's Ship roared along 
the south side towards them. 

In his cabin, Sark grinned when he saw what lay ahead – a pod and
Blaze's Ship. If he could get them both he could pick the other pods 
off at leisure when they came out. He increased speed, readied his 
lasers and checked the range. Just another few seconds and he could 
fire. His finger lay impatiently on the firing button. Almost there. 
The blue square was nearly in the green triangle. Fire!! 

Just as he pressed the laser button one of the time-delay mines he'd
laid earlier exploded and the shock waves threw his Ship slightly off 
course and his fire went wild. The green triangle was rocked about a 
bit then disappeared from the screen. 

Sark cursed angrily and sprayed out laser fire in a wide arc but by then
Blaze was sneaking the Falcon up the east side of the net, well away 
from the firing. 

Two pods in. Three to go. 

In the cabin next door, Sark had had enough. He ran his hand down the
side of his console, opened the panel and flicked the switch inside. 
This cut the Modas Master Computer into his Ship. It would take over 
the rest of the game and there was no way Blaze could outplay it. The 
rest of the pods were his. He grinned and sat back, waiting for the 
next one to come out. 

On the Falcon, Miller waved to Kane as he strolled in to the Bridge.
“Made it!” he said, relief his voice. 

“So I see,” said Kane. 

Miller walked over and inspected the front of the Computer where their
Ship had been modified. 

“Can it be undone?” Kane asked, coming over. 

“Sure,” Miller replied, running a hand through his unkempt brown hair.
“It'll take some time though and we really need Muslik.” 

***** 

Muslik was now communicating with Blaze. They had known what Kol and
Sark might try and had worked out a plan beforehand. Blaze still 
operated the Falcon's controls but Muslik was guiding him. Like Sark 
had thought, there was no way Blaze could beat their Master Computer – 
but Muslik could. 

Sark's Ship was now busy laying a trail of mines diagonally along the
north face of the laser net. When it had finished it raced away to the 
west side and started laying the same pattern there. 

Watching from his pod, Muslik smiled. He knew what it was up to. When
the pattern it was laying was complete there would be a narrowing 
corridor stretching from the bottom end of the west face and the far 
end of the north face – a narrowing corridor where the next pod might 
come out, considering the other two had exited from the east and south 
sides. 

‘Bring the Ship down to the south-west corner,' Blaze heard Muslik say
in his head. 

He obeyed, nudging the joystick till the green dot lay just outside the
start of the mine field. 

‘Good,' Muslik said. ‘Hover there.' 

The red triangle was away up to the north-west, almost finished laying
its trap. Muslik contacted Corthan and Talis in their pods and told 
them to come over and mingle with him on the west face, just to confuse 
the Master Computer. They did then one cut away to the south and one 
headed up to the north. 

The co-ordinates flashed up on the monitor in Muslik's pod indicating he
was next to leave and at the same time, the green triangle appeared on 
both Blaze's and Sark's screens. 

Sark grinned. The net had opened on the west face which meant the pod
would come out inside the mine-field trap his Ship had laid. By the 
time Blaze negotiated his way through it, he would be able to pounce. 

On the giant screen the crowd could see the blue square slowly coming
out the net. The green triangle was still hovering as if uncertain what 
to do. The red triangle entered the narrow corridor between the 
mine-field and the laser net and started to cruise towards the pod. The 
blue square moved out of the net completely then turned and shot back 
inside. 

At the same time the green triangle raced away along the south face,
closing in on Muslik's pod which was now leaving the net by the exit 
Miller had used. 

The red triangle had come to a complete stop half-way down the west
face, the Master Computer uncertain what to do. The opposition hadn't 
reacted in the predicted manner. Then it realised it had been fooled 
and the red triangle began moving down inside its own mine-field after 
the green triangle. 

It was too late. The blue pod had plenty of time to dock. Blaze flicked
the Cloaker button on his console and once more the green triangle 
vanished from the screen. He grinned. They had fooled the Master 
Computer by getting Corthan to edge his pod out of the net while Muslik 
slipped out by the south exit. 

Three in. Two to go. 

On the Falcon, Muslik found Kane and Miller at work on the modified
Computer link-up. They had the outer panels removed and were peering in 
at the jumble of circuits and wiring. 

“Nice timing,” Miller said to him, grinning. 

Muslik smiled, picked up a sonic screwdriver and went to work. 

***** 

There was a short delay before the game continued. Kol had ordered all
the gaps in the laser net closed up. He didn't want a repeat of what 
happened with the last pod. 

The delay was advantageous to them as Muslik was working away steadily,
disconnecting the override to their Computer and linking it back in to 
the Ship. 

All this time the red triangle was prowling round the net laying mines,
dropping cluster bombs and time-delay bombs. 

Muslik had already found out that Corthan was due out next and where his
exit would be on the north face. He told Blaze to keep the Falcon well 
away from the spot and cruise down the west side. He wanted to draw the 
red triangle after them and it duly came tearing down the west face 
when the green triangle appeared on screen. 

The crowd saw the blue pod edge out of the exit on the north side then
slowly pick its way through the mines and hover around, waiting for the 
green triangle to come and pick it up. 

Along the west face, the chase continued with the red triangle firing
out wide bursts from its lasers and at the same time laying clusters of 
mines behind it. 

‘Take the Falcon out in a slow curve past the south west corner,' Muslik
told Blaze. ‘Maximum speed.' 

While Blaze was doing so, Muslik continued his work on the Bridge. A few
more adjustments and he would be through. 

The green triangle, curving out in a wide arc, had by now put some
distance between itself and the red triangle. 

‘Take the Ship back in towards the net and slow down,' Muslik ordered. 

Blaze complied, decreasing speed and beginning to guide the Falcon
through the outermost of the mines. The red triangle caught up a bit 
and started spraying out more fire and the explosions from the mines 
started to buffet the Ship. Approaching the net, Blaze had to slow even 
further and the Falcon took a glancing blow from a laser. 

‘Closer to the net,' Muslik ordered, picking himself up from the Bridge
floor. As Sark watched on his screen, the red triangle slowed behind 
the green, lining up for some direct fire. 

‘Closer,' urged Muslik. ‘Stay next to the net for a split second then
race along to the south east corner and up the east face.' 

Blaze edged the Falcon in till it was almost touching the net and behind
him Sark's Ship opened fire. 

The crowd cheered as an orange glow erupted on screen but it was only
part of the net exploding then they saw the green triangle racing along 
the south of the net and begin to climb the east face. 

The red triangle screamed after it and when it was far enough away, the
remaining blue pod came out the hole in the net and began picking its 
way through the mines. 

By now Muslik had finished his work on the Computer and had taken over
the Ship. He raced it round the north east corner with the red triangle 
on his trail but instead of slowing for the pod with Corthan in it, he 
continued past it. 

“Corthan!!” Blaze screamed, yanking at the joystick and trying to turn
the Falcon back but it didn't respond. On his screen he saw the red 
triangle slow as it neared the blue square. “Corth!!” he screamed again 
and yanked the joystick so hard that it came away in his hand. 

He hammered on all the control buttons but it made no difference.
Helplessly he watched as some laser fire streaked out from the red 
triangle. 

The crowd cheered and laughed as the blue square exploded in bright
yellow and red flames. Blaze wrenched open the cabin door and ran 
outside. On the giant screen, Sark's Ship was lasering what was left of 
the blue pod, making the most of its first kill. 

The green triangle by this time had picked up the last pod way down on
the south face but it was moving away from the area very slowly. The 
red triangle sped after it. 

Blaze couldn't understand it. If Muslik had taken over the Falcon why
hadn't he picked up Corthan? Why weren't they moving faster? The red 
triangle was getting closer by the second. Something had gone wrong. 
Badly wrong. 

The red triangle rounded the south east corner and sprayed laser fire at
the green but it was just out of range. Still the green was just 
coasting along. The red slid in behind it and opened up with all it 
had. 

The crowd cheered and whistled wildly as the green triangle, containing
the other four pods, exploded in a shower of bright orange and yellow. 
It was like a huge fireworks display high up in the night sky. 

Blaze ran to Sark's cabin and burst in. Sark was too busy laughing and
applauding the scene on his monitor to take much notice and Blaze drew 
back his fist and punched him hard on the side of his face. 

Sark collapsed and slid off his seat and Blaze slipped into it. He saw
the panel still lying open on the side of the console and suspicious of 
what had happened, flicked the switch inside, reversing the controls. 
He tried the joystick and saw the red triangle change direction in 
response. He was now flying Sark's Ship. 

Outside, the crowd were still engrossed in the screen, watching as the
last of the explosions died away and cheering as the victorious red 
triangle screamed past the east face of the laser net then continued 
till it was out of the picture. 

The crowd started clapping and yelling, calling for the victorious Ship
to come back. It did but not quite the way they expected. There was a 
tremendous crash and the Ship burst through the giant screen and 
started spraying laser fire over them. The laughing and cheering turned 
to screaming as the Ship sailed overhead releasing a cloud of cluster 
bombs which drifted down and exploded amongst them. 

The crowd panicked and tried to leave the arena but there was too much
confusion and too many dead and dying bodies in the way. Bombs were 
exploding everywhere and the Ship was coming in for another pass. Laser 
fire raked the arena, killing and maiming even more of them. 

In the cabin, Blaze guided the Ship upwards and flew past the arena to
where Kol's mansion sprawled. He nudged the controls down and the Ship 
screamed earthwards just as the cabin door was thrown open and a Guard 
pointed a laser rifle at him. A second before he dematerialized he 
heard the first of the explosions as the Ship crashed headlong into 
Kol's mansion. 


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