Lethal Planet by Rob May Page A

almost fell forward into the lasers trying to reach out and hug her. ‘Sis! You’re just in time! We were just thinking of breaking out of here!’
    ‘Oh really!’ she said. ‘That’s good then! Better hurry though—I can’t stay long!’
    There was a pause … and then Jason finally admitted defeat. ‘Alright! We need rescuing, of course! Just tell me you have a plan for getting us out of here!’
    Kat shook her head. ‘Are you crazy? Break you out of here? The most secure prison in the galaxy? This isn’t Guardians of the Galaxy , Jase; there’s no battery for the lasers up on the wall just out of reach. Getting out of this place is impossible. I just came to say goodbye!’
    Jason’s jaw dropped. ‘Goodbye? I’m sorry … what ?’
    Brandon had raised his head when he heard the conversation. He came over now, the happiest that Jason had ever seen him since … well, since the last time Kat had been around.
    They held hands through the bars and talked in hushed whispers. Watching them, Jason wondered if he had been wrong about their relationship; he had thought it was doomed, but maybe there was something special between them after all. But either way, what difference did it make now? If what Kat said was true, Jason was watching their last moments together.
    ‘I brought you something to remember me by,’ Kat said to her boyfriend. She reached inside her top and pulled out a necklace: a small curved piece of bone on a twisted, fraying string.
    ‘A real catron’s claw,’ Kat said. ‘The very tip of one, anyway. I heard you destroyed the bionoid version. Well, that’s too bad, but you did what you had to do, I guess.’
    ‘I did,’ Brandon said, absent-mindedly rubbing his thumb over the curve of the claw.
    ‘The real things are a lot harder to damage than your nanobots,’ Kat went on. ‘You can cut diamonds with this. It will last a lot longer that we will. I thought that maybe it could symbolise eternal friendship or something. Well, maybe more than friendship, if you know what I mean, but I don’t know how to say … I’m not very good with …’
    ‘Thank you,’ Brandon said simply.
    ‘Yeah, thanks ,’ Jason said sarcastically. ‘Maybe we can use it to scratch out a tunnel all the way back up to the surface.’
    Doo came over next. ‘Kat!’ she exclaimed. ‘How did you get in here? Are you alone? Are you with any of my people?’
    ‘Don’t worry,’ Kat said. ‘The balaks are safe. Everyone’s gone deep into the jungle, to a secret, ancient place a hundred miles north of here called Brightroot Cave. Your uncle Bung is leading them now. I guess he will be the next king after you … well, you know.’
    ‘But how did you get in here, Kat?’ Jason asked impatiently. ‘And where’s Hewson and the other survivors?’
    Kat took a deep breath. ‘The others are with the balaks. They’re safe. Me and Hewson and two of Doo’s other cousins managed to get inside the city. Ha, you’ll love this—we cut strips of rubber off the lighting trees and wrapped ourselves up in them to get through the force field!’
    ‘That was my idea!’ Jason protested.
    ‘We’re twins, we think the same!’ Kat said. ‘Anyway, the cousins tracked down one of their friends here inside the city: a balak slave whose job it is to refill the food dispensers in the prison. He let us in here. Oh, you guys—I’m so glad I got to see you one last time.  If you want me to carry messages back … your last words, if you know what I mean …’
    Kat had tears in her eyes, and Doo looked like she was about to crack, too. Brandon looked calm and sad at the same time. But Jason was incredulous, furious, bewildered … he couldn’t honestly believe what he was hearing.
    ‘Kat, are you crazy? You came all this way, got all this far, just to say goodbye? You have to go find a way of deactivating the laser beams! There has to be a control room with a switch nearby. Go and have a look!’
    Kat turned to her brother