Hollow Moon (47 page)

“Mother!” cried Surya. “I thought you had abandoned me!”

“Maharani Uma,” snarled Taranis, mocking her with a
sarcastic version of a salute. “Exile has done you good. All these years and
you have not aged a day.”

“Fenris convinced me you were in genuine need of
sanctuary,” she said, looking squarely at the priest as she moved down the
steps. “To my shame I played along when he duped Quirinus into bringing you
here like a shipload of spare parts. But you must have known that once I
learned the extent of your treachery I would not let it pass.”

“You wanted to be back in power as much as anyone,”
Fenris challenged her. “You do not have the moral high-ground here!”

“You knew he was here?” Surya looked at his mother in
dismay.

“He was out of sight, out of mind,” she replied bitterly.
“It was only later I learned of Fenris’ deceit. During the evacuation I found
the tunnel and came to confront Taranis myself. I did not have the strength to
open the hatch so hid until I saw you arrive. I am glad you have found
friends,” she said. “That is the only good thing to have come from this sorry
tale.”

The Maharani reached where Fenris stood at the bottom of
the steps, regarded him coldly, then slapped him hard across his face. Before
he had time to react, her other hand closed deftly around the gun in his hand
and plucked it from his grasp.

“That man nearly murdered us all,” Ravana said angrily,
as she helped The Flying Fox to his feet. “He put a bomb on the
Platypus
. My father may never be able to see again.”

“Fenris lacks the courage to kill face to face,” the
Maharani remarked. She drew Surya close and put a protective arm around his
shoulders. “Arranging the kidnap was bad enough, but what I truly cannot
forgive is the attempts to brainwash my son! I found your secret device under
Surya’s bed, so don’t deny it,” she said to Fenris.

“That is the way of the greys,” Fenris replied,
unabashed. “In your head be it.”

“That box was a mind probe?” asked Surya. “I’m glad I
broke it.”

“What!?” retorted Fenris.

“From what Kartikeya told me, you were ready to join us
with or without mental manipulation!” Taranis said to Surya. One of his legs
limped as he clanked closer, but as yet the priest remained oblivious to the
cat munching upon his circuitry. “It seems your mother’s desire to return to a
life of idle luxury in Ayodhya has rubbed off on you.”

“What did you want with Surya?” demanded the Maharani.
“You already have a puppet to do your bidding on Yuanshi, not to mention your
devoted Dhusarian followers.”

“Kartikeya is weak and his rebel army are fools!” Taranis
snapped. “As for the so-called Dhusarian Church, it needs me in more places
than I am able to be. My congress of disciples, alien cyberclones implanted
with my wisdom and desires, will take on this burden and spread the word of the
greys!” The years fell away as his words erupted with a passion that judging by
her scowl the Maharani remembered only too well. “The first twelve are but
moments from birth. A new Maharaja on Yuanshi will put the Que Qiao plantations
in my hands and provide hundreds more!”

“You’re using equipment stolen from our laboratories!”
Ostara suddenly realised.

“The detective has finally cracked her first case,”
Fenris said mockingly.

The Maharani handed the pistol to Ostara. “Feel free to
shoot him,” she said.

“We need to get to the reactor controls!” Ravana
whispered urgently.

“It is too late for that,” snarled Taranis. “My disciples
awake!”

Ravana felt another rush of images flow through her mind.
A series of gurgles filled the air and green liquid began to pour from vents at
the bottom of the twelve cloning vats. Now she could see clearly the creations
within and stared in both fascination and horror as the inhuman figures began
to twitch and press spindly grey fingers against the glass. As the tanks
drained their last, Taranis’ twelve disciples were revealed in all their
twisted glory; strange hybrids with the muscular stance of a human but with the
haunted features of their unwilling mother. Yet the gentle composure of the
creature quivering inside the cage was lacking in the twelve, for their lizard-like
grimaces mirrored the merciless countenance of Taranis himself. Their
six-fingered fists hammered upon their glass prisons in newly-born rage.

“Greys?!” exclaimed The Flying Fox.

“Lizard men!” gasped Surya.

“She’s the mother,” murmured Ostara, pointing to the
cage. “So Taranis is the father?”

“Gross,” muttered the Maharani. “I don’t even want to
think about it.”

Ravana winced and put a hand to her head. Inside her
mind, the angry thumping of fists against glass was a thunder of hatred and
confusion. She did not know how, but she could feel the thoughts of the twelve
as their raw alien emotions bled into her implant, drenching her in fear from
within. She suddenly felt a hand shaking her shoulder.

“Ravana!” whispered the birdman. “You’re going into a trance
again!”

“I can’t help it,” she moaned. “It’s all too much!”

“Don’t worry,” he replied. “If I get a chance, I know
what to do!”

The glass vats had now completely drained, leaving a pool
of green sludge upon the floor. The steel walls of the engine room echoed with
a staccato of loud clunks, then a vertical slit appeared in each tank and they
began to split like huge seed pods. Grey scaly fingers scrabbled through the
widening gaps as the clones inside forced the vats open.

“Magnificent!” Taranis cried. “My children! My disciples!
My chosen ones!”

He turned his back upon his human audience and shuffled
through the sludge to welcome his creations. Ravana’s cat still clung to its
precarious perch on his spider-walker torso, voraciously gnawing upon the bundle
of wires caught up in its diamond-tipped paws. Now two of Taranis’ mechanical
legs were visibly dragging, yet the priest was too wrapped up in his moment of
triumph to notice.

“Jones!” whispered Ravana. “What are you doing?”

“I think your cat has bitten off more than it can chew,”
observed Ostara.

One by one, their grey scaly skin damp and glistening,
the twelve clones stepped free of their glass wombs, lifted their arms towards
the priest and in unison released a quivering howl. They were truly a terrible
sight to behold; a humanoid yet somehow reptilian perversion of nature that
moved with the cold implacable air of a snake preparing for the kill. The grey
in the cage whimpered and tugged frantically at the bars of its prison. The
clones cried out again, only this time their squealing voices sounded defiant
and almost human.

“zz-taaraaniis-zz!” screeched the twelve.
“zz-leeaad-uus-zz!”

“Do my bidding, my disciples!” the priest cried, then
whirled around and pointed to his unwilling guests. “These people are
unbelievers. Show them the path to oblivion!”

The clones instantly lunged forward and surrounded
Ravana, Ostara, the Maharani, Surya and The Flying Fox to block their escape.
Ostara gave a shriek and dropped Fenris’ pistol, then watched in dismay as it
clattered across the floor and out of sight. The twelve stood poised, their
bony grey fingers outstretched like claws as they awaited the word of the
priest. Looking smug, Fenris strode to Taranis’ side. His gloating smile
quickly faded when he saw the mess Ravana’s cat had made of the priest’s
electronic entrails.

“Blasted cat!” he yelled. “Get off him!”

“What is going on?” roared Taranis.

“Was this your plan?” Surya asked Zotz, who had finally
removed his tattered mask.

Fenris leapt forward, grabbed the electric pet and pulled
it away from the priest, then dived for cover as a shower of sparks exploded
from Taranis’ mechanical torso. A thin burbling voice drifted up from the AI
unit beneath the seat of the multi-limbed chair.

“Reboot me,” the spider walker whispered. “Reboot me…”

“You idiot!” shouted Taranis. The priest tried to turn
but his metal legs refused to budge. Smoke poured from beneath his seat and the
smell of short-circuited wiring and melting plastic filled the air. “What have
you done?”

“This stupid thing will eat anything!” cried Fenris. He
scooted around to face Taranis and held Ravana’s electric pet up high. “And now
it has eaten its last!”

“zz-eeaateen-iits-laast-zz!” echoed the twelve.

“No!” cried Ravana. “Leave my poor cat alone!”

“Thraak! Thraak thraak!”

The sudden cry cut though the air, piercing yet jagged as
the creature in the cage finally found its voice. As one the clones turned
their heads, for what they heard was not a plaintive call for help but a fierce
demand to shut up and listen. The grey’s defiant cry died as abruptly as it had
begun, only now the twelve were staring at Fenris and the struggling pet in his
arms. They had heeded the scolding tones of their mother, for she was not
happy.

“What is this?” demanded Fenris, as the clones moved to
surround him.

“You’re a bully and a coward,” Ravana said calmly. “I
don’t think they like you.”

Fenris gingerly lowered her electric pet to the floor and
backed away. Behind, Taranis wriggled helplessly in his seat as he tried to get
his metal legs to work. The cat looked up at them both, gave a self-satisfied
meow, then trotted calmly towards Ravana and burped.

“The cat?” said Fenris. “Right as rain! Such a sweet
little kitty.”

His words became a strangled yelp as all twelve clones
suddenly reached forward and placed their outstretched fingers upon his head.
Fenris tried to look away but was drawn into their emotionless expressions. His
own hands fell weakly to his side.

Ravana felt an odd tingling sensation via her implant. In
her mind’s eye she pictured a warm glow cascading from the clones’ fingertips,
seeping down through Fenris’ body. The visible thumping of his chest eased and
an angry grimace became a gentle smile. Cleansed of his fears, Fenris looked as
if every one of his senses drank their fill of utmost bliss.

“Rapture!” he murmured. “It’s beautiful!”

Still the twelve kept their hold upon him. His chest no
longer heaved and Fenris began to waver, his breathing now too shallow to take
in air. A brief expression of panic flickered in his eyes, the blood drained
from his face, then suddenly he fell and with a thump landed lifeless upon the
floor.

“zz-uunbeeliieeveer-zz!” chanted the twelve. They lowered
their hands. “zz-aall-thaat-iis-paart-dooees-beeloong-zz!”

“Behold the might of my disciples!” cried Taranis. “The
power of the greys!”

“Is he…?” asked Surya, staring wide-eyed at the fallen
body.

Ostara nodded. “They killed Fenris!”

“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” muttered the Maharani. In
the shock of the moment she saw an opportunity to escape and pulled a
dumbstruck Surya towards the stairs.

“Jones has an alien AI chip for a brain,” Ravana
whispered, realising what had happened as she scooped her cat into her arms.
“Taranis said they care for nothing but the mind. The clones were just trying
to protect their own kind!”

Taranis’ creations slowly advanced to where Ravana and
Ostara stood. As Ravana stepped back, her foot caught something upon the floor
and she glanced down to see a discarded red birdsuit. The Flying Fox himself
was nowhere to be seen.

“This is the first time I would really like my implant to
be made of alien brain cells,” murmured Ravana. Her cat started making retching
noises.

“Yes, but where does that leave me?” wailed Ostara.

Ravana dropped her pet into Ostara’s arms and stepped
towards the twelve. She had caught sight of Zotz in a vest and shorts, looking
incredibly small and vulnerable without his superhero costume, as he scurried
around the back of the empty vats towards the reactor. Behind her, Ostara
clutched the cat to her chest, stroking it frantically as if that were the only
way to stop it exploding. Her heart pounding, Ravana stood before the clones
and held up her hands. She had never felt more terrified in her life.

“All that is part does belong,” she declared. “Do I
belong?”

The twelve stopped. Taranis scowled at her from his
immobile perch. Behind him, the caged mother of the clones once more
gesticulated wildly towards the book on top of the crate. Zotz had reached the
reactor and Ravana’s glance caught his own as he started to pull at the conduit
that ran down the side of spherical chamber and into the floor.

“zz-beeliieevee-zz!” the clones chanted.
“zz-oonlyy-theen-wiill-yyoouu-truulyy-beeloong-zz!”

“You learn quickly,” Taranis growled approvingly to
Ravana. “You would have made a formidable leader of men. It is not too late for
you and the Raja to be at my side! A vacancy has arisen, as you can see,” he
added dryly. His glare flickered to Fenris’ prone body.

Ostara stifled a yelp as she was tugged from behind.
Surya had returned and was pulling at her sleeve, eager for her to follow.
Meanwhile, Zotz had opened the cable conduit and was haphazardly pulling
lengths of wire free. Ravana tried not to stare in a way that would alert
Taranis to the attempted sabotage, but there was something about the reactor
she found oddly familiar. Inspiration struck her as she realised Professor Wak
had used schematics of the
Dandridge Cole
fusion
plants in her engineering classes.

“Do you really think we would join you?” she remarked
loudly. “That would be like joining the orange wires on a temperature sensor.
Things would quickly get out of control.”

“An odd and irrelevant metaphor!” retorted Taranis. Zotz
however took the hint and after selecting the correct cables from the bundle in
his hand began to feverishly scrape at the orange insulation with his
fingernails. “The ethics of youth are foolish and untamed,” the priest
continued. “Yet your spirit is strong. That can be broken!”