The Enemy's Lair Read Online Free PDF Page B

ended in a gaping mouth filled with sharp, curved teeth. It sensed Diesel and Otto somehow and came swinging in their direction, grunting.
     

     
    Peri’s SpeakEasy tuned in and the grunts turned into words. ‘YUM! DINNER! LOVELY DINNER! TWO DINNERS!’
    ‘ Run!’ shouted Diesel.
    The Meigwor mud sucked at their feet. Trees and thorny bushes loomed up before them. The hideous creature’s excited grunts were getting louder. There was no way they could outrun it – it was built for the jungle, they weren’t.
    Suddenly, Peri knew what to do. He reached down for the sparkling button at his ankle and touched it and rose straight up into the air, through the trees. He looked down and saw the creature right behind Diesel.
    ‘ONLY ONE DINNER NOW! BUT STILL YUM!’ Peri heard the creature grunt.
    ‘Diesel!’ Peri shouted. ‘Press the Zero-G button! On your ankle!’
    Diesel fumbled for the button. The creature reached out three of its six arms to grab him.
    Diesel touched the button. The creature’s paws grasped empty air as the half-Martian sailed up through the trees to join Peri.
    Peri heard the creature grunt in disappointment, ‘NO DINNER!’
    ‘Good job I found that button in time!’ Diesel said.
    ‘Yes,’ said Peri, wondering if Diesel might thank him for thinking of it. He wasn’t surprised when Diesel didn’t.
    Walking in Zero-G mode was not easy. They were just above the tree canopy, and their feet had nothing to touch except air. They had to make swimming motions with their arms. Peri remembered learning in science class at the IF Academy that air was a fluid. But it was a very thin fluid. They had to make huge arm-sweeps and take huge strides to get anywhere. But they gradually got the hang of it. Soon the tree canopy was scooting by beneath them.
    The blinking dot on Peri’s visor got bigger. And bigger. It took shape.
    Peri looked down into a clearing below and saw that the dot had become Selene herself.
    ‘There she is!’ Diesel said, seeing her too.
    Peri touched the Zero-G button again. He began an angled descent into the clearing. The ground came up to meet him and he landed at a run, keeping his balance. Diesel landed beside him, more heavily.
    ‘Selene!’ Peri shouted.
    Selene turned and stared at them. She didn’t say anything. The sunlight shone off her visor, so that Peri couldn’t see her face.
    ‘It’s us, you dumboid!’ Diesel yelled. ‘We’ve come to rescue you.’
    Selene raised a small, hand-held laser and fired it at Diesel.
    Peri reacted the quickest, diving at Diesel’s legs to tackle him clear. The laser beam passed overhead and hit the tree behind them. It burst into flames.
    ‘What’s the matter with her? Has she gone crazy?’ Diesel asked.
    As they scrambled to their feet, Selene aimed the laser again.
    Peri rolled to the ground. Another laser beam zipped past.
    ‘Looks like it,’ he said.
    Zigzagging wildly – as recommended in the chapter on evading enemy fire in The IFA Field Survival Guide – they made it into the cover of the trees. The leaves around them flared up in flames. Selene was still firing.
    ‘The heat must have turned her brain,’ Diesel said, still running. ‘Let’s go back to the ship and leave her behind.’
    ‘No,’ Peri said. ‘If we can just disarm her, we can reason with her –’
    ‘How are we going to disarm her?’ demanded Diesel.
    Peri felt in his pocket. ‘With this,’ he said. In the palm of his hand was the one Paralyside pellet left over from the fight with the Xion guards. ‘Activate your Atmos-Filter.’
    With his nostril plugs in place, he broke cover. Selene instantly turned the laser on him. He dived to the ground, hurling the pellet at her feet. It detonated with a crack. Grey smoke arose. Selene reeled and fell over.
    Peri ran to where she lay and grabbed the handlaser from her. Diesel ran up to join him.
    ‘Selene,’ Peri said. ‘It’s us, Diesel and Peri. Don’t you remember? We’ve come to take you