Lethal Planet Read Free

brother’s grip. ‘Where’s the safest part of the ship?’ she said, hanging on to the rail as she went down.
    ‘No idea,’ Jason said. ‘I’m taking us down to the hanger. We’re going to sit in the cockpit of Discord , and then Bran is going to throw up one of his protective bubbles around us. Whatever happens to the rest of this ship, we know we can be invincible for a few vital seconds. Right, Bran?’
    ‘Right!’ Brandon agreed.
    ‘Right!’ The President said. He and Hewson had followed close behind.
     
    * * *
     
    As it turned out, the Majestic didn’t crash and burn. Instead, it hit the jungle at a low angle and proceeded to carve a furrow ten kilometres long through the alien trees. Only three people were killed—including Morse, who was still in the control room when the heat shield disintegrated on entry.
    The three-hundred-metre-tall tower that had once been the Chrysler Building in New York, one hundred thousand light years away, was now lying on its side. The artificial gravity—which Jason had learned had been dependent on forces generated by the movement and rotation of the ship through space—had powered down, and now everyone gathered on what was once the wall of the Majestic’s main hanger. Several vehicles—tanks and MTVs—had come free of their moorings and lay piled about like toys. The President was sat on tank with his wife and daughters, talking to Brandon who had wrapped them all up in a protective bubble of bionoids as the ship came down. Now he appeared to be conducting a medical scan on the First Lady.
    Jason turned to Kat as they wandered through the clutter of displaced weapons and supplies. ‘I hope Mister Nobel Prize doesn’t commandeer Brandon for his own family’s personal protection and healthcare. We need him more than they do.’
    ‘To fight the Arch Predicant?’
    ‘Of course.’ Jason caught his sister’s doubtful expression. ‘Come on, Sis. Don’t get all diplomatic on me too. Remember our parents. Remember Gem. We need to finish this fight for them.’
    ‘The balak king wrecked out planet and killed our parents,’ Kat said. ‘He’s dead now. And it was Saoirse who killed Gem. She’s dead now, too. Sure, this Arch Predicant sounds like a right piece of work, but maybe he will just leave us alone and let us live here. There’s no point going looking for a fight.’
    Jason heaved a machine gun from up off the floor. He couldn’t quite articulate how he felt, but he wanted to fight, whether it was personal or not. Any bad guy would do, anywhere in the universe.
    A pair of great double doors had opened in the wall that was now the floor. Jason joined a squad of armed marines who, led my Lieutenant Hewson, were heading out on a recce mission. Hewson seemed happy to have Jason come along, after first making sure he was fitted with a Kevlar vest and helmet.
    The squad dropped down a few metres onto he hard scorched ground. It was misty in the alien jungle, and there were strange phosphorescent lights floating out in the dark. Jason shone a torch back over the Majestic . He noticed that vines and creepers were already twisting through the superstructure. Weird hooting and croaking noises came from all directions. There was a strange smell in the air.
    ‘This is just too weird,’ Jason said. Every one of his five senses was being subjected to entirely new sensations: alien sensations. ‘There’s nothing to shoot. Let’s just get back inside and wait until morning.’
    ‘Yeah …’ Hewson agreed. But he seemed more interested in examining the ground. ‘This isn’t the jungle floor,’ he said. ‘This is a giant tree trunk. The Majestic is still stuck up in the canopy.’
    As if to confirm this fact, there was a long drawn-out wail as one of the marines slipped and fell to his death. From out in the mist there was another cry, a clatter of gunfire, then silence as the cry was suddenly cut short.
    ‘Fall back!’ Hewson shouted into this helmet headset.