quite heroic.
Mel started to usher the others into the cottage, their progress punctuated by sounds of hammering and sawing coming from the barn.
On the Bannermen fighter Gavrok stood before his vid screen. The blip had centred and was giving a constant regular pulse, Their quarry had obviously arrived at their destination.
‘Signal has stabilized. Prepare to blast off,’ said Gavrok, confident that the end of his quest was near. The pilot proceeded to flip his switches and the machine’s powerful motors whined into action, The craft shuddered as the thrusters surged, lifting it skywards.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Arrex and Callon carefully parted the screen of pine branches to peer at the small cottage and barn. From this distance it appeared deserted, although there were a number of vehicles parked outside. Arrex put a magnascope to his eye and nodded to Callon. Through a window he could see Delta moving about inside the cottage. Callon snapped several lengths of silver tubing together to form a high-powered sniper’s beam-weapon.
Arrex screwed the magnascope onto the barrel of the weapon and carefully took aim, waiting only for Delta to walk into shot. In the branches above them a squirrel took flight and fled into a hole.
‘Never mind those two worthless idiots. If we can dispose of the Chimeron Queen our leader will have good reason to be pleased with us,’ said Callon.
Arrex nodded in agreement. ‘He may even reward us.’
With that thought in mind they turned to the job in hand.
Inside the cottage they were all unaware of the impending danger. Delta’s daughter was sitting solemnly in her chair, staring into space. Delta was looking through the contents of her knapsack with a worried frown – a tube of the special food was missing. She hoped that the remaining food would be sufficient to see the little girl through her changes.
Burton, ever a calm presence in a crisis, entered with a steaming tea-tray followed by Mel. Hawk and Weismuller were locked in earnest conversation in a dark corner.
Hawk played his trump card. ‘It’s our patriotic duty to call Washington, Weismuller,’ he said.
‘Yeah, well you cau do it Hawk. I ain’t licked yet,’ said Weismuller defiantly. ‘And furthermore, I consider it to be my patriotic duty to see this thing through to the end. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.’ Hawk was about to respond but he never got a chance to open his mouth.
At that precise moment the little girl sprang to her feet and uttered a piercing insect-like trilling. She started to grow, and, shedding her greenish skin, she emerged a moment later about the size of a thirteen-year-old. She had perfectly clear skin with eyes and hair just like her mother’s. Her ‘singing’ went up an octave, causing everyone to clap their hands over their ears.
Delta, who moments before had been standing in front of the window, dived out of sight. She reacted not an instant too soon – the window exploded under the impact of a high-density stream of particles and a great chunk of plaster was kicked out of the opposite wall by the force of the blast.
Crouching under the window, Delta pulled her weapon from her tunic and adopted a two handed firing stance.
Suddenly she leapt up and stood in the window, taking aim at the snipers hiding in the distant trees. She snapped off a couple of quick shots then ducked out of sight again, waiting for the answering fusillade of shots from the woods.
Arrex was lying on the pine needles, his purplish blood seeping into the brown earth. Callon still had his hands clamped over his ears, the Chimeron noise having the effect of paralysing him with pain. He glanced at the cottage and forced his frozen legs into action. Leaving Arrex behind, he staggered away through the pine forest.
Branches cracked all around him as Delta fired another volley from the cottage.
The Chimeron war cry and fusillade of shots brought the Doctor, Billy, Ray and Goronwy rushing from
Mel started to usher the others into the cottage, their progress punctuated by sounds of hammering and sawing coming from the barn.
On the Bannermen fighter Gavrok stood before his vid screen. The blip had centred and was giving a constant regular pulse, Their quarry had obviously arrived at their destination.
‘Signal has stabilized. Prepare to blast off,’ said Gavrok, confident that the end of his quest was near. The pilot proceeded to flip his switches and the machine’s powerful motors whined into action, The craft shuddered as the thrusters surged, lifting it skywards.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Arrex and Callon carefully parted the screen of pine branches to peer at the small cottage and barn. From this distance it appeared deserted, although there were a number of vehicles parked outside. Arrex put a magnascope to his eye and nodded to Callon. Through a window he could see Delta moving about inside the cottage. Callon snapped several lengths of silver tubing together to form a high-powered sniper’s beam-weapon.
Arrex screwed the magnascope onto the barrel of the weapon and carefully took aim, waiting only for Delta to walk into shot. In the branches above them a squirrel took flight and fled into a hole.
‘Never mind those two worthless idiots. If we can dispose of the Chimeron Queen our leader will have good reason to be pleased with us,’ said Callon.
Arrex nodded in agreement. ‘He may even reward us.’
With that thought in mind they turned to the job in hand.
Inside the cottage they were all unaware of the impending danger. Delta’s daughter was sitting solemnly in her chair, staring into space. Delta was looking through the contents of her knapsack with a worried frown – a tube of the special food was missing. She hoped that the remaining food would be sufficient to see the little girl through her changes.
Burton, ever a calm presence in a crisis, entered with a steaming tea-tray followed by Mel. Hawk and Weismuller were locked in earnest conversation in a dark corner.
Hawk played his trump card. ‘It’s our patriotic duty to call Washington, Weismuller,’ he said.
‘Yeah, well you cau do it Hawk. I ain’t licked yet,’ said Weismuller defiantly. ‘And furthermore, I consider it to be my patriotic duty to see this thing through to the end. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.’ Hawk was about to respond but he never got a chance to open his mouth.
At that precise moment the little girl sprang to her feet and uttered a piercing insect-like trilling. She started to grow, and, shedding her greenish skin, she emerged a moment later about the size of a thirteen-year-old. She had perfectly clear skin with eyes and hair just like her mother’s. Her ‘singing’ went up an octave, causing everyone to clap their hands over their ears.
Delta, who moments before had been standing in front of the window, dived out of sight. She reacted not an instant too soon – the window exploded under the impact of a high-density stream of particles and a great chunk of plaster was kicked out of the opposite wall by the force of the blast.
Crouching under the window, Delta pulled her weapon from her tunic and adopted a two handed firing stance.
Suddenly she leapt up and stood in the window, taking aim at the snipers hiding in the distant trees. She snapped off a couple of quick shots then ducked out of sight again, waiting for the answering fusillade of shots from the woods.
Arrex was lying on the pine needles, his purplish blood seeping into the brown earth. Callon still had his hands clamped over his ears, the Chimeron noise having the effect of paralysing him with pain. He glanced at the cottage and forced his frozen legs into action. Leaving Arrex behind, he staggered away through the pine forest.
Branches cracked all around him as Delta fired another volley from the cottage.
The Chimeron war cry and fusillade of shots brought the Doctor, Billy, Ray and Goronwy rushing from
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