The Armoured Ghost (9 page)

It was an ordinary-looking ship, the kind that were used in their thousands, making deliveries all over the planet. It was sleek at the front, but boxy at the back, where the main hatch lowered to form a ramp. Its wings jutted out from the two
engines
either side of the grey and blue body of the ship, with the tail protruding from the third engine mounted on top. A U-shaped windscreen wrapped around the front and there were two windows at the back, on either side of the hatch.

‘The only technology we can use is the stuff that belongs to the Academy,’ Salt told them as he strapped them in. ‘I fly all over the place in this thing, so we don’t need to worry about being spotted. I have ways of disguising it too, if I have to.’

Rake shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The armour was like a second skin, but the seat wasn’t made for an armoured passenger. Oddball, in his yellow and black armour, was bigger than Rake and was having a similar problem. Snow looked quite content in her blue and grey suit. Salt sat down in the pilot’s seat and started the engines.

‘The trick will be to find Hoax and get you in close to him without the White Knights getting suspicious about the shuttle. I can’t go with you. If something goes wrong, I’ll have to fly in fast and pick you up.’ He looked back at them. ‘With my leg, I’d only slow you down anyway. Once
you’re
on the ground, you’re on your own. Do you understand?’

They all nodded. But the fear was finally beginning to set in. Things were about to get real. Dangerously real.

Salt hit the button on his control stick, setting off the thrusters and blasting the craft out of the bay and into the night sky.

The city lights stretched for kilometres in every direction. Some of the buildings were over a thousand metres high. Some were straight and tall, others were weirder, curving shapes. But they couldn’t see most of the buildings – it was just a maze of lights and streets, stretching off to the horizon. Below them, the crowds from the Arena were still spreading out through the streets, on their way home or hoping to make the night last a bit longer.

‘It’s enormous,’ Snow gasped, looking out of the window. ‘How are we going to find him down there?’

‘I told you before, I’ve been watching all of you for a while,’ Salt replied. ‘Hoax has broken out a few times before – but he always came back before they discovered he was missing. There’s one place
he
always goes. I think he’ll head for there first.’

Rake said nothing, but was shocked to hear his friend had been leaving the complex without telling him. Hoax must be a better liar than he thought. They flew out over the edge of the sea, where the lights stopped, except for a few scattered boats out on the dark water. Then they swooped back in over a beach and saw the bright coloured lights of a fairground, with roller coasters and other rides, as well as a huge Ferris wheel. The three cadets gaped in amazement.

‘I thought you said Nu-Topia was a prison!’ Snow cried. ‘What kind of dunking prison has a funfair? I’ve never been to a funfair in my whole life! No wonder Hoax kept breaking out!’

‘Don’t be fooled by appearances,’ Salt told them. ‘These rides are all still being tested. Some of them are downright dangerous. Hoax came here, all right. But all he could do was watch. He had no clearance to go inside. Hang on . . .’

He banked hard to the right, using the shuttle’s sensors to pick a figure out of the crowd on the ground. The sensors zoomed in on a boy running through the crowd.

‘There he is! Look!’

The boy was being chased by four tall white armoured figures. White Knights – Nu-Topia’s armoured enforcers.

‘They’ve found him!’ Rake shouted. ‘We have to help him!’

Salt was already flying back towards the beach. The thrusters kicked up sand as he came in low, stopping to hover over a grassy bank. Here, they were hidden from the funfair by some trees.

‘Listen to me,’ Salt called to them as the rear hatch lowered down, forming a ramp out of the back of the shuttle. ‘If they thought he was from the Academy, there’d be ten times as many Kettles here. He probably just tried to sneak in and got spotted.
But they must not get a good look at him
. Grab him and get out of there. And above all,
do not try to make a stand against the White Knights
. You aren’t knights yet – you’re not ready. And as soon as they see you, we’ll have an army of them down on top of our heads in minutes. Do you understand?’

They all nodded. Seizing their weapons and shields, they got ready to jump.

‘If you can’t make it back here, I’ll pick you up over there!’ Salt pointed at a building shaped like
a
giant fist, not far from the edge of the funfair. ‘In the car park on the far side. Now, go! And remember – Stand Together . . .’

‘Battle as One!’ they all called back.

Then the three armoured cadets were leaping from the back of the shuttle, landing in the long grass. Rake looked around quickly and started to run towards the Ferris wheel with the others following. The android police were right behind Hoax. He was weaving through the crowd, but the White Knights just charged through, shoving people out of their way.

As they passed under the Ferris wheel, one of
them
reached out, nearly getting its fingers on Hoax’s collar. He twisted aside, kicked out at it and ducked back between its legs. It turned round, snatching at his tunic. But just at that moment, a large hammer smacked into the side of its head, sending it flying. Oddball jumped in between Hoax and the next android, ready to swing his hammer again. The White Knight paused, waiting for its two comrades to catch up. They never did.

It turned to see Rake drop from the Ferris wheel. The cadet crouched, ducking under one robot’s sword and deflecting it with his shield. He swiped the legs from under it with his sword. Then he used its head as a springboard, flying over the swinging sword of the fourth White Knight. His knee cracked into the android’s cheek, sending it sprawling to the ground.

‘Dunk, I’m good!’ Rake shouted as he landed, laughing with the thrill of it all.

The one he’d hit in the legs rose up behind him. It raised its sword over his head. Then its own head was cut off by a shield that came slicing through the air. The shield swooped away in a long curve and came spinning back into the hand of Snow, who stood several metres away. The
robot’s
head bounced across the ground, leaving a trail of sparks.

The White Knight that had stopped to wait for back-up was so surprised by the attack on its comrades that Snow and Oddball were able to finish it off easily. Snow swung her baton down alongside Oddball’s hammer.

Two of the androids were starting to get up again.

‘That’s it, we’re out of here!’ Rake shouted.

‘Who the clack are you?’ Hoax gasped. He couldn’t see their faces through the visors. ‘What are Gladiators doing out here? And since when did they let robots join the White Knights?’

‘Later!’ Rake snapped, looking back at the androids. ‘And we’re not Gladiators – we’re knights . . . sort of. Come on!’

They ran through the fairground, but all around them sirens started up. More White Knights appeared among the rides and stalls. The way back to the beach was blocked. They would have to make for the building Salt had showed them.

‘We need to go this way,’ Snow said suddenly, pointing off to the side.

‘What? Why?’ Rake asked.

‘I . . . I just think it’s the best way to go,’ she muttered.

Rake stared at her for a minute. The way she was pointing out wasn’t the most direct route. It would take longer. For reasons he didn’t understand, he nodded to her.

‘Over here!’ he called to the others, jumping onto a roller-coaster car as it passed them.

It was just starting to slow down as it hit an upward slope. They all leaped on board and it rolled up to the peak of the track. Rake used the height to take a good look around, noting the
dozens
of androids appearing in the park. They were blocking all the exits.

‘Where are they all coming from?’ he muttered.

Then the breath was taken out of his lungs as the car plunged down the steep slope on the track, tilting round a sharp bend and racing through a loop-the-loop. They whirled out the other side.

‘What are we doing?’ Oddball shouted over the noise of the wheels on the tracks.

‘We’re going to jump!’ Rake yelled back.

‘What?!’ the other three shouted back.

‘There – where it passes the fence!’ Rake roared again. ‘Jump!
Now
!’

The roller coaster slowed down . . . a little. Leaping from the car, they flew over the fairground fence and tumbled and crashed into a large clump of bushes on the other side. The sirens were still blaring. This was just as well, for Hoax had no armour and he yelled his lungs out as he landed in a bundle of thorns, swearing at the top of his voice.

As the four cadets dragged themselves out from the bushes, brushing twigs and leaves off their bodies, the sirens got louder and faster. Suddenly, all the fairground lights went off, the rides froze
in
place and floodlights came on.

‘Citizens,’ a voice spoke over huge speakers that carried the sound all over the funfair. ‘There are criminals in the area. Stay right where you are. Have your identification discs ready. Do not move and you will not be hurt.’

Gun turrets started rising out of the ground at the corners of the funfair. The tramping of armoured feet grew steadily louder, as more and more troops marched into the area. The four cadets looked around desperately, then ducked under the arch of a low footbridge for cover. The noise seemed to be coming from every direction.

‘We have to get over to the building Salt told us about,’ Rake panted. ‘They’ll have us surrounded in no time.’

‘I think we’ll have to scratch that plan,’ Oddball said in a cold voice. ‘Look!’

Their eyes followed his pointing finger. A huge ship was moving across the sky. It was packed with weapons, shielded with heavy armour. This was one of the famous White Knight airships. A Flying Fortress.

Nearly fifty metres long, it looked like an upturned battleship, with most of its heavy
weapons
pointing towards the ground. The machine was mostly white, with black and silver detailing. It had wings, but most of its lift came from the six engines that were now pointed straight down so it could fly slowly, searching for its targets.

It passed right over the building that Salt had chosen and hovered there. Dozens more android police dropped from compartments in its belly.

‘Well, that sucks,’ Rake sighed.

‘Japes, they’re sending an
army
after us!’ Snow groaned. ‘Don’t you think they’re overdoing it a bit?’

‘I don’t think it’s for us,’ Rake said to her. ‘It’s to control all the people in the funfair. They don’t know what’s going on, so they’re trapping the whole crowd. It still leaves us pretty dunked, though.’

‘This is why we need technology,’ Oddball complained. ‘We need to call Salt, tell him there’s a change of plan. Anybody see a web console?’

‘They listen in on all the phones,’ Snow reminded him. Then, in a quieter voice, she added, ‘I think it’ll be OK. I think help is nearby.’

‘You guys know your way round the city, right?’
Hoax
asked them. ‘I only know one way home from here. I’m already lost. You’ve got somewhere to go if you don’t get picked up, right?’

That was when it dawned on them how much trouble they were really in.

They had no way of getting home.

They were lost.

And they were being hunted by an army of battle androids. They could still hear the tramping sound of feet all around them.

Nobody said anything for a moment.

‘Hey!’ a voice called out in a hoarse whisper.

They looked around, but didn’t see anything.

‘Over here!’ the voice said again.

Less than twenty metres from them, they saw a head and an arm sticking up from the top of a litter bin. The arm was waving at them. Not knowing what else to do, they went over. It was a girl – the same girl Rake and Oddball had caught in Salt’s workshop. Rake had to think for a moment before remembering her name – Tea-Leaf.