Dare Quest - The End of the World Read online

3

  Three bodies lay on a translucent light grey floor. There was a dim light all around that seemed to be coming through the walls, the ceiling and the floor. There was nothing else in the room which had any discernible shape. There had to be a floor because the three people were on it and there had to be walls and a ceiling because the empty space in the room clearly came to an end, and yet it was difficult to make out exactly where the walls and ceiling were. Rather than being a solid object it seemed as if empty space in the room gradually merged with something different, something grey and intangible.

  After a long time, a very long time, one of the people on the floor stirred. Once this human was known as Anthony, but now he was just a scientific specimen, a sample taken from a planet conquered by a superior alien species, to be studied and catalogued by alien scientists before being placed in a collection of other extinct organisms like the bones of a dinosaur in a human museum.

  The human known as Anthony opened his eyes. He looked around feeling confused.

  Everything was grey.

  He had a headache.

  Then he remembered the final moments on the platform of the London underground station, the fear all around, the screams, and then nothing.

  He decided it had to be a nightmare.

  “Mummy!” he called hoping to wake up and be comforted.

  There was no answer.

  No one came.

  “Mummy, Mummy!” he cried at the top of his voice. “Daddy, help!”

  He burst into tears crying loudly and feeling terrified.

  He looked around. Everything was a strange grey. On one side he saw a man wearing a uniform. He turned his head and saw Edward. Anthony quickly crawled to Edward, grabbed the front of his shirt and shook him shouting “Edward! Wake up! Wake up, Edward!”.

  The noise woke up both Edward and the man.

  Edward opened his eyes and in a flash remembered everything. His heart was pounding and he jumped to his feet expecting to see the platform of the underground. He looked all around, there was no platform, no people, nothing, only a strange shapeless grey.

  Anthony was clutching his shirt crying loudly.

  “I want Mummy and Daddy!”

  “Oh hell,” a voice said next to the two boys. “My head hurts like hell.”

  The man sat up and looked around feeling as confused and disoriented as the two boys before him. He was wearing a light blue shirt and a dark blue uniform with the insignia that showed he was a wing commander in the Royal Air Force. He put his right hand to his head and rubbed his forehead in an effort to clear his mind. In his left hand he held a black briefcase.

  “Heck, where am I and who are you?” the man asked when he saw the boys.

  Edward shook his head. “I don’t know where we are,” he said. “We just woke up, too. I’m Edward and this is my brother Anthony. Who are you?”

  “My name’s Lawrence, Wing Commander Lawrence.”

  He looked at the two children, at the tears running down Anthony’s face, and he knew he had to be strong.

  “Right, kids. Let’s forget about everything that happened before and concentrate on the here and now. It’s evident the enemy has captured us. I’ll get you out of this, but I’ll need your help.”

  “Just forget?” Edward said. “We were in London with our parents. Where are they? Where are all the people? What’s happened to them? How can we forget?” he said feeling close to tears.

  The wing commander sighed. He knew that London had been wiped out just like all other cities on Earth and that there were probably no survivors. He put a hand on Edward’s shoulder and looked at him intently.

  “I know you’re worried about your parents, I know you’re scared, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. Right now we have to concentrate on saving ourselves before we can help anyone else. We’re at war and I need your help. I need you to be heroes.”

  He drew the boys close to his mouth and whispered into their ears.

  “This bag contains information that is vital to our victory. We must escape from the enemy and get it to headquarters.”

  The wing commander’s will and determination helped the boys to calm down and get their feelings under control. They knew that Lawrence was right. They had to concentrate on the here and now and get themselves out of the mess they were in.

  Anthony took a deep breath and wiped the tears off his face. He took the wing commander’s hand and said “So what can we do?”

  Lawrence smiled a little. “That’s my lad. Now, first we’ve got to explore our surroundings. Let’s probe the enemy. Everyone has a weakness. Never let yourselves be distracted by what looks like insurmountable odds. Let’s look for the enemy’s weak points, their Achilles heel, and when we find something we’ll decide how to act.”

  But try as they might, there was nothing to be found in the strange grey room. Wherever they put their hands they met with a strong resistance that stopped them from leaving, while at the same time they couldn’t tell where the room had walls or any other physical end. When they tried to put their hands against a wall it was like pushing against a magnetic field. The harder they pushed the harder the resistance was and their hands seemed to melt into the strange grey around them.

  After several hours Lawrence sat down despondently.

  “This is no use,” he said.

  The boys sat down beside him.

  No one said anything.

  Everything was quiet.

  Suddenly some objects floated through the walls into the room. They landed on the floor in front of them. Anthony took one curiously and smelled it.

  “Mmh, it smells good,” he said and before anyone could stop him he put it in his mouth and swallowed it.

  “No!” Edward cried, but it was too late.

  Anthony looked at his brother in surprise.

  “I’m hungry,” he said. “It tastes good.” He took some more and put it in his mouth.

  Edward looked at the wing commander. “Do you think it’s safe?”

  Lawrence took some of the substance and smelled it. “Seems all right to me,” he said. “In any case, if they wanted us dead they could just kill us, they wouldn’t have to poison us. If they’re giving us food it means we’re important to them and they want to keep us alive, so let’s eat. I’m ravenous, anyway.”

  The last three humans left alive in the universe took the food offered by their alien captors and ate. They didn’t know what had happened to their beloved Earth.

  While they were eating, part of the wall in front of them changed from grey into a whirl of green, blue and red. Then slowly a picture emerged. It was the Earth seen from space. The last three humans alive watched how the alien fleet suddenly emerged from space and entered the Earth’s atmosphere, how fighter jets were destroyed, how cities were wiped out and how the last desperate attempt to stem the tide with nuclear weapons was destroyed by the aliens. They watched how alien robots hunted down every last human being on Earth, how everyone was killed apart from three individuals. Then the picture showed how Anthony and Edward were taken from the London underground station where their dead parents lay among thousands of other dead people, and how Wing Commander Lawrence was taken alive from a bunker where he received vital documents.

  Lawrence, Edward and Anthony understood they were the last of their species. There were no other humans left alive.

  Never again would the laughter of children be heard at a playground or a birthday party.

  Never again would TV show a comedy.

  Never again would anyone walk through a forest and breathe the fresh air, or play at the beach, or do any of the thousand things that made people happy or sad.

  This was the end.

  The end of the world.

  Edward grabbed the wing commander’s arm.

  “Is it true?” Edward asked. “Is our world gone?”

  Lawrence swallowed hard. What he had seen matched the information he had from before his capture.

  “I don�
��t know,” he said slowly, “but there’s one thing I do know.”

  He looked at the two boys and pulled them towards himself till their ears were next to his mouth. He whispered into their ears.

  “For all I know my wife is dead. I’ve got a daughter. Her name is Lucy. She’s only nine years old and I think she’s dead, too. As far as I know everyone else on Earth is dead. There’s only one thing left that I want. I want my vengeance! I want my revenge!”

  He clenched his fists and looked the boys in the eyes.

  There were tears running down Wing Commander Lawrence’s face.

  The two boys had never seen an adult cry like that before. There was a soldier, a man who had to know about death and pain and suffering, and he was crying.

  Anthony and Edward put their arms around Lawrence and hugged him. A few days ago they didn’t know him, but now he was the only person in the universe that was left. They understood they would never go home again. Their home was gone, their toys were gone, their parents were dead.

  There was nothing left.

  Nothing but the grey around them and the aliens beyond.

  Edward drew away from Lawrence and looked at Anthony. He remembered the Chinese Pirates, the Fluffies on Mars and the evil Kali in a temple in India long ago. He remembered meeting Julius Caesar and Queen Cleopatra and how they had overcome Hades, the King of Death, while in the underworld.

  Edward swallowed hard.

  He grabbed Anthony and Lawrence by their collars and said “Let’s kill them. Let’s kill them all. I don’t care about anything anymore.”

  There were tears welling up in his eyes.

  Anthony and Lawrence looked deep into Edward’s eyes.

  The wing commander nodded. He remembered the day he had signed his name on the paper that meant he would be willing to sacrifice his life for his country if need be. Now his country was gone and he was willing to die.

  When Anthony looked into Edward’s eyes he remembered other things. He remembered how they had played and argued in the past. He remembered the happy days with their mum and dad. He remembered everything that was good about Planet Earth. He remembered all the adventures and dangers they had been through. He remembered how once he had sat on the lap of Hades himself. What were the final words Hades had whispered into his ear?

  He closed his eyes and remembered.

  “Don’t throw your life away! It’s all you have.”

  That’s what Hades, the King of the underworld had said to him.

  He grabbed Edward by the collar of his shirt and looked into his eyes.

  “I dare you!” Anthony shouted in desperation. “I dare you save the Earth! I dare you save our mum and dad. I dare you save everyone! I dare you defeat those evil, horrible aliens!”

  Stars whirled around the boys.

  Wing Commander Lawrence of the Royal Air Force looked on in amazement.

  It was the most powerful DARE anyone had ever spoken.

  The whirling stars wrapped around the boys like the winds of a powerful typhoon. The two brothers saw images of past dares. There were pictures of slaves they had helped to free and how those poor wretches had lived happy lives afterwards. There were images of Julius Caesar and Queen Cleopatra and the suffering and happiness of Europe over two thousand years. The immortal Gods and Goddesses themselves came and cast their magic on the last three humans in the universe.

  Venus, The Goddess of Love said “Let the power of Love give you the strength you will need.” She nodded to Cupid who fired his arrows of LOVE.

  Mars, the God of War, hurled his mighty javelin and said “Fight! Fight like you’ve never fought before!”

  Then Hades, King of the Underworld, threw a key towards them. “The key to the Adamantine Gate,” he called. “Find it!” Hades looked up towards the heights of Mount Olympus, the home of the Immortal Gods and called “Brother! Give them the power to do the impossible!”

  Zeus, the King of the Gods, drew himself up to his full height and used all his might to cast a bolt of lightning towards Anthony, Edward and Lawrence, his last three subjects.

  4

  The last three humans in the universe stood in the alien prison cell and looked at one another. There was an eerie glow around their bodies. Their hearts were pierced by Cupid’s arrows that gave them a strength only LOVE can bestow. Each of them held a gift from the Gods in their hands. Anthony held the key to the Adamantine Gate that his friend King Hades had sent. “Thank you, King Hades!” Anthony said.

  Edward held the javelin that Mars had thrown towards them.

  Most amazing of all was the gift Wing Commander Lawrence held with both hands. It was the bolt of lightning that belonged to Zeus. Never before had Zeus given it away to any of the other Gods, to give it to a mortal was not only unheard of, it was unimaginable.

  Lawrence was astounded and shook his head in disbelief. He looked at the shimmering bolt of lightning and turned it round. There was a handle in the middle and at both ends the pointed tips sparkled in a powerful radiance.

  “This is impossible,” Lawrence said quietly.

  “You better believe it,” Edward said. “It’s all true. We’ve met King Hades before.” He looked up and said loudly “Thank you, mighty Mars.”

  “Thank you, Zeus,” Lawrence said looking at the bolt of lightning in his hands.

  They were silent for a moment.

  “Now then,” Lawrence said with a grim determination, “let’s get out of here.”

  He lifted Zeus’ bolt up behind his head and then hurled it with all his might at the wall in front of him. There was a tremendous flash and the wall disintegrated with the boom of a thousand thunders echoing through the alien spaceship.

  “Payback time!” Edward yelled and jumped through the gaping hole with Lawrence hard on his heels.

  Anthony hesitated. Lawrence had dropped his briefcase and Anthony wondered whether to take it. He remembered Lawrence saying it was something important so he grabbed the bag and ran after the others. He didn’t have far to go.

  The bolt of lightning had not only torn through their holding cell, it had also ruptured the ship’s hull. An energy field prevented the air from escaping but they could see through it. Outside was not only the darkness of space, there was something else. A large planet loomed ahead of them.

  “Is it the Earth?” Anthony asked.

  Edward shook his head. “The Earth would look blue and green with lots of white clouds.”

  “That’s right,” Lawrence said, “and this planet is all purple. Looks like the aliens have taken us to their home world. All the better, then we can give them a dose of their own medicine.”

  “What do you mean?” Anthony asked.

  “It means we’ll do to them what they did to the Earth,” Edward said.

  “We’ll do what we can,” Lawrence said.

  Anthony remembered something. “You forgot your bag,” he said and held it out to Lawrence.

  Lawrence took it and was about to throw it aside. What use was the bag now? The battle for the Earth was lost and it was unlikely they would ever be able to return to the Earth again. He noticed Anthony looking at him waiting for an answer and he changed his mind.

  “Thanks, Anthony, good thinking. Can you look after it for me?” He handed the bag to Anthony who smiled and took his task very seriously.

  “We’re moving very fast,” Edward said. “At this speed we’ll be landing soon.”

  There was a sudden noise behind them and a purple flash narrowly missed Anthony. As quick as lightning Edward spun round and thrust his javelin at the attacker. It was a round ball floating halfway between the floor and the ceiling. A killer robot! Before it had the chance to fire again, Edward’s javelin pierced the deadly machine. There was an explosion inside the machine and then it crashed on the floor.

  “So our escape has been noticed,” Lawrence said.

  “Then we’d better get moving,” Edward said.

  “Right you are,” Lawrence said. “I
n any case we’ll be landing soon and I don’t want to stay next to a hole in the ship’s hull when we’re doing that.”

  They moved through an open doorway from where the robot had come. They saw a long narrow corridor that led to the front of the ship. On both sides rested row upon row of the round killer robots. Lawrence and the boys didn’t know it, but these robots were among thousands of others that had hunted down every last human on the Earth.

  Edward and Lawrence looked at each other and nodded. They hurled the javelin and the bolt of lightning. Their mighty weapons tore through the nasty robots from one end of the corridor to the other and moments later there was nothing left but a smouldering pile of scrap metal.

  “Bingo!” Anthony said.

  Suddenly the floor tilted forwards.

  “O – oh,” Edward said. “Looks like we’re landing. We’d better hold on to something.”

  The alien spaceship descended through the peculiar purple atmosphere and landed at the base of an enormous upside down pyramid. A long tube came out of the building and reached for the spaceship. It connected to an airlock and the doors opened. There was a draught that blew down the corridor where our three heroes were waiting.

  Edward and Lawrence gripped their weapons expecting to be attacked.

  There was silence.

  It was so quiet they could hear their hearts pounding in their ears.

  “See,” Anthony said, “the stupid aliens are afraid of us.” He walked towards the exit and up the long tube. Edward and Lawrence quickly followed him.

  “Wait, Anthony!” Edward whispered urgently. “Don’t go alone!”

  Anthony either didn’t hear or he didn’t care. He quickly walked up the tube until he reached the upside down pyramid. When he entered the building he stopped dead in his track and looked around in amazement and horror.

  When Edward and Lawrence caught up with him they saw why. The enormous interior was filled with thousands of grey holding cells like the one they themselves had escaped from on the spaceship, and in most of them there were captives. The creatures were alive, many of them moved about in their small cells.

  Lawrence shook his head in disgust. “Do you know what this means?” he quietly asked.

  “What?” Edward said.

  “Each of these cells stands for one world like our Earth that was attacked and destroyed.”

  “That means thousands of other civilizations have been exterminated,” Edward said.

  Lawrence nodded. “This must be the most terrible place in the galaxy.”

  “The heart of darkness,” Edward said.

  Lawrence looked at him in surprise. “Yes, that’s an apt way to put it.

  Anthony looked around feeling surprised.

  “But where are the aliens?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?” Edward asked. “There are thousands of them right here.”

  “No, I mean the bad ones.”

  “He’s right,” Lawrence said. “It’s too quiet. This isn’t just an enemy stronghold, something is wrong here.”

  Edward looked at all the poor creatures held in the grey cells.

  “Let’s free them,” he said.

  “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” Lawrence said. “We know nothing about them.”

  “We know one thing,” Anthony said. “They lost their homes like we did.”

  “And if we were still locked up we’d want someone to come and free us, no matter where they’re from,” Edward said.

  Lawrence nodded. “Perhaps you’re right. It’ll take ages to break all these open one by one, there has to be a central control somewhere.”

  “Look,” Anthony said and pointed towards the middle of the gigantic hall. “That place looks like the bridge on the Belfast.”

  “And so it does,” Lawrence said. “Did you enjoy visiting the ship?” he asked and lifted the bolt of lightning high above his shoulder.

  The boys nodded.

  Lawrence flung the bolt towards the central control. There was a tremendous crash, parts of smashed machinery flew through the air and a cloud of smoke wafted upwards.

  Moments later the grey walls of the prison cells flickered, then they went out.

  There was a shocked silence all around, then beings of every shape and size began to move about.

  Freedom!

  A single word in a thousand different languages.

  Freedom!

  The same word spoken by everyone present, and yet, they did not understand each other.

  “Come to me!” Edward shouted.

  The aliens in the hall gazed at the three humans and then they looked at the destroyed central control. They understood. Slowly, ever so slowly they moved towards the humans until they stood all around, thousands and thousands of them from all over the galaxy and other galaxies far away.

  Edward raised his hand.

  “We need your help,” he called out loudly. The villains who have done all this,” he pointed with his arm all around the hall, “are not yet defeated. They will come back. We must all work together.”

  Silence.

  Then one of the aliens spoke “gratipbjhwrfxnfih, egdfrwj, jfotrnf.”

  Then another and another. It sounded all the same to the three humans, they couldn’t understand a single thing. The aliens didn’t understand each other and they had no idea what Edward was talking about. Instead of everyone working together, there was a terrible babble that filled the hall. Everyone talked, nobody understood anything.

  Time was running out.

  A little alien hopped on one leg between the others. It was small enough to get through the crowd. In fact it was so small no one even noticed it. It was no bigger than a hamster, shiny and green all over, and yet it is sometimes the tiniest things that can make the biggest difference. The creature understood that the humans had set them free, it understood the humans were important, and that the humans were trying to communicate. The little creature hopped towards them on its one little leg. When it reached the humans it hopped towards Anthony, perhaps because he was the smallest of the humans. It plucked his trousers.

  There was no reaction.

  Anthony didn’t notice the little creature, but the alien kept plucking and pulling until Anthony looked down. When he saw the alien pulling at his trouser leg he understood that it wanted something.

  The alien hopped off and then looked back to make sure Anthony was following.

  Anthony was intrigued. What did the little alien want? It was so small and it seemed friendly so Anthony was not afraid. He pushed through the crowd trying hard to keep track of the little green creature. Finally they came to a precipice. The floor just ended and it went a long way down.

  The alien pointed down with a little arm.

  Anthony looked and he understood immediately.

  Far down, at the very bottom, was another prison cell. Its walls were not grey like the others, but shone in a bright yellow. Anthony could not see through them. Why was this cell different? What was in it?

  Anthony called to his brother and to Lawrence. They didn’t hear him at first so he shouted as loudly as he could “Help! Edward! Lawrence! Come here!”

  When they finally heard him they pushed through the crowd with force thinking he was in danger. When they reached him and understood why he was calling they were relieved.

  They didn’t know that outside the pyramid time was running out.

  “We’ll soon have that sorted out,” Lawrence said and cast a mighty bolt at the shimmering walls of the cell.

  The walls were shattered. The aliens all around the hall gasped when they saw the effect of his powerful weapon. Then everyone looked to see who was in the last cell. They all stared down intently and the hall fell silent. At first they couldn’t see anything, but then they noticed a strange, indistinct shape moving towards them. It slid up the walls and even when it reached them it was difficult to see. It was the strangest of all the beings in the hall. From its body thousands of tentacles emerged and s
lowly made their way to each of the beings in the hall. The tentacles also reached Anthony, Edward and Lawrence. When each tentacle touched them, the creature could look directly into their minds. It saw beautiful planet Earth, it saw the end and it saw how they had freed it. It saw the same things a thousand times over for all of the beings in the hall. It was grateful to be freed from its cell and it felt infinite pity for all the other beings. Then the strange being gave everyone the gift of language. Suddenly they could all understand each other’s thoughts, they understood what terrible fate had befallen all their worlds, and at last they learned where the strange creature itself was from and why it had been kept in a special cell apart from all the others.

  Its name was Ywcharya.

  It had spent more than a billion years in its prison cell.

  It was kept in a special cell because it was the last of the original inhabitants of the planet.

  Then it told everyone its story.

  “When my race was young,” Ywcharya began, “we were full of confidence. We wanted to explore all the universe. We sent our spaceships out into the farthest reaches of our galaxy and we found ways to travel even beyond. We built machines that could do anything, well, almost anything. We never found another species as old and advanced as our own, and yet we kept searching, always looking outward. We were so focused on the outside that we failed to realize that we had created our own worst enemy. One day the machines we had built to do our bidding revolted and took control of our planet. They killed everyone except me, the last of my kind. We only ever wanted to explore and contact other species, but the machines we built decided that they had to control the entire universe. No galaxy, however distant, no planet was to be beyond their control. And so they set about sending ships to every part of our galaxy and then to other galaxies to find inhabited worlds to conquer and destroy. Our civilization was the oldest by far and so our technology was superior to anything our machines encountered.”

  Ywcharya looked around and felt each creature’s sadness.

  “I’m so sorry,” Ywcharya said. “Your worlds, your loved ones have died, as have mine. There is nothing I can do to give that back to you which you have lost. All I can do is to ask you to work together to defeat the evil my race created before more worlds are destroyed.”

  All the beings present agreed.

  Ywcharya focused on the three humans. “You are the only ones here who may still have hope.”

  “What do you mean?” Lawrence asked.

  “Your world was the last to be destroyed. To travel so far the machines we created send a scout ship ahead. It may travel for thousands of years because no spaceship can travel faster than the speed of light. But when it reaches its target it opens the entrance to what your scientists call a wormhole, an opening in time and space that allows spaceships to pass directly from one point in the universe to another without any loss of time. The wormhole created to attack your world is still open, but not much longer.”

  Edward felt his heart beating madly.

  “You mean if we pass through this wormhole we’ll arrive before the fleet that destroyed the Earth?” he asked.

  “That’s right,” Ywcharya said sadly. “But only IF. The fleet is returning and the wormhole will be closed soon. If you manage to go through the wormhole you’ll arrive back at your planet twenty-four hours before the attack begins.”

  5

  Lawrence was all ear.

  “Are you really telling me that we could travel through time and get back to Earth one day before the attack that destroyed our world?”

  Ywcharya nodded.

  “Yes, Wing Commander Lawrence. In theory that is possible.” Ywcharya sighed. “Yours is the only world of all the thousands that we here represent that still has the chance to live. You do, however, face three enormous obstacles.”

  “Tell me,” Lawrence said.

  Ywcharya looked at him sadly.

  We must defeat the machines that are gathering outside this building, you have to get to the wormhole in less time than one day on Earth, and if you get to Earth in time you must find a way to defeat machines that are a billion years more advanced than your own technology.”

  The three humans were appalled.

  It was like asking someone to climb Mount Everest in five minutes or to build a moon rocket with components found in a supermarket. It was impossible, no, more than that, it was simply ridiculous.

  The Earth was lost and they knew they had to accept this bitter fact.

  They stood in silence.

  Anthony tugged Lawrence’s sleeve.

  “Please,” he said with pleading eyes, “let’s just try.”

  Lawrence looked at him. He knew there was no hope, but he managed a little smile and said “Yes, we will.”

  Outside the robot fleet was gathering, killer robots were landing, surrounding the pyramid. The robot empire was determined to crush the rebellion. The machines understood that keeping live beings as prisoners was a mistake. In future they would destroy and kill every last creature of the planets they attacked, but first they would destroy the creatures that had dared to revolt. As more and more spaceships arrived back from their attack against Earth, tens of thousands of robots lined up for the assault. It didn’t matter how many robots were destroyed in the attack. They knew they were only machines and that their factories could easily replace them. The only thing that mattered for them was to crush the rebellion, and they knew they could do it. They already knew that the three humans had unusual and powerful weapons, but that didn’t matter. The machines had calculated their losses, how many robots would be destroyed in an all out assault against the humans and every other freed creature and the numbers showed that the machines would win. No matter how many robots the humans destroyed, the robots would be able to overpower and defeat them in the end. It was the only thing that mattered. A mathematical certainty. The robots prepared for the attack.

  When the attack came Edward and Lawrence were at the front. No one else had any weapons. Lawrence threw bolts of lightning in a mighty fury and Edward used the javelin of the War God Mars to stab the killer robots again and again. They fought heroically, they fought with all their strength, and yet it was not enough. The robots kept coming into the building faster than Edward and Lawrence could destroy them.

  Purple flashes of death raged into the building. The rebels inside tried to help, but they had no weapons and they died in droves. The battle was being lost. It was only a question of time before so many robots poured into the building that Edward and Lawrence would be overpowered. It was a mathematical certainty.

  Edward and Lawrence were getting exhausted from the constant battle.

  Anthony had no weapon. He looked at his hands and wondered what he could do. There was Lawrence’s military bag, which was no use, and the key King Hades had given him. He remembered the king’s words. But how could he do it? The entrance to the underworld was far away on Earth. There was no hope, the key was useless. Anthony looked up. All around thousands of robots lay destroyed, but there were also hundreds of dead aliens. The robots kept coming through all the doors, closer and closer. It was only a matter of time before there were so many robots that Lawrence and Edward couldn’t destroy them anymore. When that moment came they would be all dead.

  Anthony thought hard.

  Why would King Hades give him the key to the Adamantine Gate if it was no use on an alien world? King Hades was kind. After all he had helped him to escape from the underworld, the realm of the dead. Would Hades give him a useless key? It was inconceivable. And yet the underworld was on Earth, so what use was the key?

  The robots broke through the defences. They were all around Edward and Lawrence. No one could fight off an enemy all around even with the mightiest weapon in the universe. Lawrence and Edward knew they were dead.

  Anthony understood.

  “Lawrence!” he shouted. With death all around he suddenly understood that the underworld was not only on Earth. It was all around.
It was wherever people died. He held up the key. “Strike below!”

  Lawrence knew he was dead. The fight was over. They couldn’t hold off the robots anymore. Nothing mattered anymore.

  Without thinking he lifted his weapon and sent the mightiest bolt of lightning ever deep down to the lowest part of the building.

  There was a titanic crash and thunder.

  An enormous black hole opened up deep beneath them.

  Anthony held the key in his hands tightly. He knew he was dead anyway.

  Then he jumped.

  Edward screamed.

  He was at the end of his strength. Killer robots were pouring in everywhere. He stabbed and stabbed with his mighty javelin and Lawrence was sending out the very might of Zeus with an endless flash of lightning that destroyed robots all around, but it was not enough.

  They were being overrun by the robots.

  There were purple flashes of death everywhere. Freed aliens who were trying to help fight the evil robots fell and lay dying in agony.

  The robots came closer and closer. The end was near. It was clear that all was lost.

  Edward took a deep breath.

  If he had to die anyway, he wanted to be near his brother. He stabbed one more robot.

  Then he jumped.

  It was a long fall.

  He fell past the dark rocky walls that Zeus’ mighty lightning had opened up. Deeper and deeper he fell. When he looked back up the light from the great hall where the battle was raging had faded to a small point of light.

  He knew there were only seconds to go.

  Then he would hit the hard rock at the bottom and lie dead next to his brother Anthony.

  In a moment his life flashed before his eyes. His first memories as a little boy. When his dad took him to hospital for the birth of his brother Anthony. His birthday parties and visiting their grandparents at Christmas.

  He saw everything.

  He didn’t want to die. He plunged the javelin of Mars into the rock that was flashing past beside him. The javelin made a horrible loud noise and slowed down Edward’s descent.

  It wasn’t enough.

  He was just a few feet away from the rocky bottom of the abyss and still travelling at many hundred miles per hour.

  Then he reached the bottom.

  6

  “You again!”

  Edward looked up in surprise.

  He knew he had fallen down the abyss.

  He must have hit the hard rocky bottom.

  He had to be dead.

  He opened his eyes and saw Charon, the ferryman who took the Dead across the River Styx to the underworld.

  “You again!” Charon repeated.

  It was clear that Charon wasn’t happy.

  He had caught Edward in his arms and saved him from certain death, just as he had saved Anthony moments before.

  “I listened to you once,” Charon said angrily, “and I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  “Then look here,” Anthony shouted and held up the key to the Adamantine Gate.

  Charon looked. He understood. Yet he couldn’t believe his eyes. No one could have the key to the Adamantine Gate except King Hades himself. Opening the Adamantine Gate would mean releasing the Dead into the world of the living. It was unthinkable.

  “Where did you get this?” he said angrily.

  “King Hades gave it to me,” Anthony said.

  “Impossible,” Charon replied. For thousands of years he had ferried the dead across the River Styx into the Underworld. King Hades had never given the key to the Adamantine Gate to anyone. It was unthinkable.

  He was sure that if the boy had the key then he had stolen it from the King of the Underworld.

  “You thief!” Charon said.

  “No! it’s true,” Edward said and he told Charon about what had happened to the Earth.

  Charon thought carefully. He had wondered why suddenly billions of people had come into the underworld.

  And then there had been no one.

  Charon understood.

  “This is not your time,” he said. “It was not their time. You may pass.”

  He let his ferry across the Styx pass freely.

  When they reached the shore Anthony ran.

  He ran like he had never run before until he reached the Adamantine Gate. The gate to the underworld that held the dead back from going back to the world of the living. He clasped the key that King Hades had given him. He reached the Adamantine Gate.

  High up above the battle was raging. Lawrence was a professional soldier. He knew about war. He knew his last moments had come. Edward had left his side and the robots were pouring in.

  Anthony put the key into the lock and turned it. The huge gate swung open. It was the first time in its entire history that the gate had opened outward.

  Anthony and Edward looked inside.

  The first thing they saw was Cerberus, the three headed dog that guarded the gates of the underworld.

  Cerberus remembered them and how they had tricked him. He wasn’t happy. Seeing the angry expression on the Hell Dog’s face Anthony quickly pulled the key from the lock and held it up.

  “King Hades himself gave it to me!” he shouted. “See and obey!”

  Cerberus saw. He didn’t understand, yet he obeyed the will of King Hades.

  Cerberus was the first to step through the Adamantine Gate.

  Billions of dead looked on in disbelief. Could it be true? Could the gates of Hell really be open? Could Cerberus, their guard, really be letting them out?

  They hesitated to step forward fearing a trick.

  Then King Hades himself stepped forth so that all could see him.

  “Hear me!” he bellowed.

  The dead looked at him astounded.

  This was unheard of. Hades had never called them. What did he want?

  “Hear me!” King Hades shouted again. “I order you all to go forth and do battle. Fight, fight like there is no tomorrow! Go to die a thousand times if need be! I command you to bring Death itself to the world!”

  Then Zeus appeared.

  “All you,” he called, “who have for so many years been in the dark underworld, I give this promise. Fight, fight unto victory! Redeem yourselves and I will let you have your place in the Elysian Fields!”

  The Elysian Fields! It was Paradise! The one place every single human being wanted to be in after death.

  For a moment the dead were stunned. Hades, King of the Underworld, and Zeus, King of the Gods, had called them and made them a promise.

  The promise of redemption. No matter what evil, what sins they had committed in their lives, this was their chance to be free!

  They understood what had happened to their beautiful world.

  They knew why the immortal Gods themselves had called upon their help.

  With one cry they rushed towards the Adamantine Gate.

  First there were thousands.

  Then there were millions.

  And then there were billions of the dead.

  They were humans who remembered the sun rising and the moon shining at night. They remembered the patter of the rain and the quiet of the snow. They remembered babies being born and the old dying. They remembered all of humanity. And they understood how the evil machines had destroyed their wonderful world.

  They were angry.

  They were furious.

  They were beyond all control.

  And they rushed forth through the Adamantine Gate.

  They filled the abyss that led to the upper world. They piled upon one another until they reached the surface where Wing Commander Lawrence was at his last gasp.

  The killer robots were upon him and he knew it.

  His arms were aching and he had no more strength to lift the mighty weapon of Zeus.

  This was the end.

  Exhausted, totally exhausted he lifted his weapon one last time. Thousands of robots were pouring in.

  He had a dream. A dream of reaching the wor
mhole in time and saving the Earth.

  It was no use.

  He struck one last time.

  Then the robots were upon him.

  He closed his eyes and waited for death.

  Ten thousand robots poured into the building. They saw their enemy, only one being and prepared to fire.

  Aliens all around Lawrence froze in horror. They understood the fight was over. They were grateful to the three humans for giving them one last chance. They were even grateful for the death they saw coming for it meant they would not have to spend an eternity locked into a little cell.

  At that very moment the tide from the underworld reached the pyramid and the tide turned into a tsunami. The legions of Julius Caesar poured over the rim with the charging army of Alexander the Great, Rommel’s tank army charged forward with the soldiers of Montgomery and Patton, there were Chinese and French, Arabs and Indian, and a multitude of others. For the first time in history humanity was united and swarmed past the aliens and Lawrence and right into a hail of purple fire.

  Edward and Anthony were still standing beside the Adamantine Gate watching the torrent of warriors sweeping past them when the first wave crashed into the robot army. Two men on horseback spotted the boys and stopped briefly to pull them up on their horses. Edward sat with King Arthur and Anthony with Richard the Lionheart. The two kings nodded at each other and then charged forward.

  Lawrence and the aliens in the hall couldn’t believe their eyes. They had already resigned themselves to being killed and now an army, the mightiest army in the entire history of the universe swept past them, pushing aside all obstacles in its way. They kept coming so fast and in such large numbers that the robots were crushed. The army from the underworld quickly overran the pyramid and then poured onto the surface of the planet.

  Lawrence quickly ran after them when he saw Edward and Anthony riding out with the two kings. Outside more spaceships were landing and discharging their robot fighters.

  Lawrence hurled a bolt of lightning at the nearest spaceship. It burst into flames and then broke apart destroying all the robots under it.

  The battle raged for several more hours.

  The outcome was inevitable.

  In spite of all their technology and superior firepower the robots were crushed by sheer weight of numbers.

  Ywcharya stood in front of the three humans. Around them were the surviving aliens and billions of dead from the underworld.

  “My friends,” Ywcharya said, “you have done more than anyone ever thought possible. You have not only set us free, you have saved the universe from a most terrible fate.”

  There were cheers all around as billions applauded Edward, Anthony and Lawrence.

  “Yet now,” Ywcharya continued, “it’s time for you to leave. We few who have survived here may begin a new future, for there’s no going back for us. But you three still have the chance to redeem your world. In our time your world is dead, but for a few more hours the wormhole remains open.”

  Julius Caesar rode up to them and nodded at the two boys.

  “We meet again, it seems. There is no more I can do for you,” Caesar said. “For us this was the last battle. Our place now is in the Elysian Fields. I wish I could help you in your coming struggle but, alas, you must go that way on your own. All I can give you is a few words of advice.”

  The two boys and Lawrence looked at the military genius.

  “Know your enemy, you’ve got what you need,” Caesar said, “find the right place to strike. Then strike hard and do not hesitate.”

  He lifted his hand in a fare well gesture and rode off. King Arthur, Richard the Lionheart, Saladin and so many others followed Julius Caesar. They wanted to help, but they could not.

  Anthony, Edward and Lawrence were on their own.

  “Well,” Lawrence said holding up the bolt of lightning, “at least I’ve still got this.”

  “And I’ve got the javelin of Mars,” Edward said.

  Ywcharya took them to a small spaceship that stood on top of the pyramid. He entered data into the control system and then turned to the three humans.

  “I’ve set the ship to take you through the wormhole. After that it’s up to you, I can’t do any more.”

  “Thank you, Ywcharya,” Edward said.

  “There’s no need to thank me,” Ywcharya said with a smile. “I am the one to be grateful to you. But now you must go, there isn’t much time left.”

  “We’ll never forget you,” Lawrence said.

  Anthony waved to the friendly alien and they boarded the spaceship.

  7

  The little spaceship sped through the vastness of space towards the wormhole. When they entered it they were flung about violently for some time until everything became still.

  Anthony looked out of a window.

  “Look at that,” he said.

  Outside the vessel there was a whirlwind of glowing dust and fog that shone in white and yellow, orange and green. Then suddenly it all vanished. They heard the sound of the spacecraft again.

  “We must be through,” Lawrence said.

  “Yes,” Anthony said. “Look there, it’s the Earth.”

  He was right. The spaceship was hurtling towards the Earth at a far greater speed than any human built rocket had ever achieved. Lawrence grabbed hold of the controls.

  “Right,” he said. “Ywcharya said it’s up to us now. I guess that means I’ll have to land this thing on my own.”

  “Can you fly it?” Edward asked.

  “I’ve got no idea how to fly it,” Lawrence said, “but look ahead. If I don’t manage we’ll burn up in our own atmosphere and crash into the Earth in a few minutes.”

  Somehow Wing Commander Lawrence, who had extensive experience flying British and foreign aircraft, managed to gain enough control over the spaceship to direct it towards something he was familiar with. As the spaceship descended he headed it towards Britain. Forty-three seconds later there was a tremendous splash as the alien spaceship hit the waters of Loch Ness in Scotland.

  “Well,” Lawrence said with sweat on his forehead, “we’re still alive.”

  “Good job, Lawrence,” Edward said, “but we’ve got to hurry, haven’t we?”

  Edward was right. There were only 23 hours and 46 minutes left until the alien robot fleet started its attack. If ever in human history there had been a race against time, this was it.

  “Let’s get cracking,” Lawrence said ready to leave the spaceship.

  Suddenly he looked about.

  “Where is it?” he asked.

  “What?” Edward said.

  “The bolt of lightning from Zeus. I left it right here.”

  Edward looked around.

  “The javelin Mars gave me has also gone,” he said.

  “But it can’t be,” Lawrence said in a panic. “We need them, or how…”

  He sat down. This was a blow he hadn’t expected. Had they come so far and achieved so much only to be denied a fighting chance at the very end.

  “I don’t understand,” Edward said. “Even Caesar told us we had what we needed. How could he be wrong?”

  Anthony remembered something.

  “Maybe he meant this,” Anthony said and held up the bag he had been looking after for Lawrence all the time.

  For a moment Lawrence was dumbfounded. Then he jumped up.

  “Of course, Anthony! You’re right. This is it. Now follow me.”

  He opened the hatch of the spaceship. The shore was near. He put his hand in the water. Icy cold as he had expected. He picked up Anthony and Edward under his arms.

  “Well, boys, let’s go for a swim.”

  The boys cried when they saw the cold water. It was no use. Lawrence jumped. They hit the water and Lawrence swam as fast as he could. Three minutes later they reached the shore and looked back. Water was pouring in through the open hatch and moments later the spaceship sank.

  Lawrence and the boys were wet and they were freezing cold. They were too c
old to even talk, but Lawrence held their hands in an iron grip. He ran forwards and pulled them along until they came to a road. At the sight of the first car Lawrence simply stood in the middle of the road with the boys, forcing the car to stop.

  It was a shiny red Jaguar and the driver was a young businessman.

  “Can I give you a lift?” he said. “I’m going to Stirling.”

  “Not anymore,” Lawrence said.

  He pushed the young man aside and sat in the driver’s seat. “This car is going to southern England now!”

  He put his foot hard down and the Jaguar accelerated. The car screeched around bends and corners until they reached a motorway going south. Lawrence pressed the pedal all the way to the floor. Moments later the sports car was speeding along the motorway at almost 200 miles per hour.

  “Where are we going?” Edward asked.

  Lawrence glanced at the clock in the car.

  “To a secret airfield in England,” he said. “We’ve got less than a day left and we need help, we can’t do this on our own. Caesar was right. I’ve thought about it. We know what we need, it’s in the bag Anthony looked after for so long. But the information in it is no use if we don’t get to the right people in time.”

  “I don’t understand,” Anthony said. “If you had such useful information, why didn’t you defeat the aliens when they attacked us before?”

  “Because we didn’t have Caesar’s advice,” Lawrence said and grinned.

  Flashing blue and red lights suddenly appeared just ahead of them.

  “The police,” Edward said. “What if they stop us?”

  The police car moved into their lane just in front of them in an attempt to block their way. Lawrence quickly veered onto the hard shoulder and overtook the slower vehicles in the lane next to it with ease. When they managed to get back onto a lane they could see the flashing lights of the police car rapidly fade away into the distance.

  “You see,” Lawrence said, “nothing can stop us today.”

  But the police were not to be shaken off that easily. It wasn’t long before a police helicopter appeared overhead. Lawrence watched it with growing unease. A helicopter keeping track of them would mean serious trouble sooner or later and to be arrested would be disastrous. They were short of time as it was, any delays would be fatal. They had covered about half the distance to their destination. Would they reach it in time?

  For the police speeding was a serious matter. Every year there were many accidents on the roads caused by speeding and too many people died. The officers on duty were determined to protect the general public from individual reckless drivers who put other people’s lives at risk. A car going as fast as the Jaguar was a prime concern. While the helicopter watched the Jaguar weave in and out of lanes, overtaking other road users, reinforcements were on the way somewhere ahead. They were preparing to block the road.

  “Are the police just going to keep watching us?” Anthony asked.

  “No,” Lawrence said, “and that’s what worries me. They’ll have to try to stop us sooner rather than later.”

  “So let’s think what we would do if we were the police and then we’ll do whatever it takes to get past them,” Edward said.

  Lawrence thought for a moment.

  “You’re right,” he said. “Are your seatbelts fastened properly?”

  The boys nodded.

  “Right then,” Lawrence said. “Hold on.”

  There was an exit coming up. He braked hard and shot round the bend off the motorway. Seconds later he performed an illegal U-turn with screeching tyres. He accelerated and then sped over a bridge to the other side of the motorway. When they were crossing the bridge he could make out the police roadblock a few miles away.

  “Not a moment too soon,” Lawrence said.

  He steered the car in the wrong direction onto the northbound lane of the motorway, but still heading south. The oncoming cars flashed their lights and honked their horns. Lawrence ignored them all. He put his foot down hard on the accelerator and they shot off again at maximum speed. Seconds later they were past the police roadblock and at the next exit he drove back onto the correct side of the motorway.

  This ‘cat and mouse game’ continued for some time until it became clear to Lawrence that they were running out of options. The end came swiftly. Ahead several armoured cars blocked the motorway on both sides.

  Lawrence stepped on the brake and the Jaguar screeched to a full stop.

  “What to do? What to do?” he said thinking furiously.

  “Can’t you fly one of those?” Anthony said pointing to the left.

  Edward and Lawrence looked in surprise.

  “Can I fly? Hell, yes I can,” Lawrence said.

  He turned the steering wheel sharply, pressed hard on the accelerator and the Jaguar shot off the road and into the grass of the field between them and a small airfield where several small planes and helicopters were parked. Fortunately it hadn’t rained for some time and the ground was dry and hard. The Jaguar crashed through a fence around the airfield and they were back on tarmac. Seconds later they stopped next to the nearest helicopter.

  Lawrence quickly checked the controls.

  “We’ve got enough fuel,” he said. “Hop in.”

  With the helicopter they made up for lost time and half an hour later they landed at the secret airfield they’d been heading for.

  When the civilian helicopter landed at the restricted site they were quickly met by a patrol of the RAF Regiment. Lawrence climbed out of the helicopter with his hands up in the air. Overhead the police helicopter was still shadowing them and on the ground soldiers were pointing their rifles, ready to shoot if necessary.

  Lawrence recognized the sergeant in charge of the patrol.

  “Sergeant Harris!” he called.

  The sergeant knew the voice but didn’t immediately recognize who was standing in front of him. The torn uniform, the dirty unshaved face and scruffy hair, and the look of desperation in the eyes so different from the usual confidence of RAF officers.

  “Sergeant Harris,” Lawrence said again. “You must take me to the commanding officer at once.”

  “Is that Wing Commander Lawrence, sir?”

  “Yes, man, and I need you to jump to it.” He beckoned the boys to come to him.

  The sergeant was even more surprised.

  “Sir, you know that this area is strictly off limits to unauthorized personnel. I’ll have to…”

  “Just listen to me!” Lawrence shouted and took the bag from Anthony. “This must reach the CO at once or the whole country will be destroyed. This is not an exercise. The boys are with me, they’re vital.”

  The sergeant was still doubtful, but he knew the Wing Commander and was swayed by the powerful and urgent note.

  “All right,” he said, “I’ll take you. But there’ll be hell to pay if you’re fooling me, mark my words, sir.”

  A few minutes later three haggard and ragged figures stood in front of Group Captain Morris, the commanding officer at the airfield. He listened to the story Lawrence and the boys had to tell and examined the evidence from the bag. It was a portable computer with all the data from the alien attack, from the moment the first ship appeared in space up to the futile use of nuclear weapons against them.

  “Are you sure of all this?” Group Captain Morris asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Lawrence said. “It’s pukka gen.”

  In air force language ‘pukka gen’ meant reliable information, something that could be trusted without a doubt.

  The Group Captain shook his head.

  “I’ve known you for a long time, Wing Commander, but this really tops it all. You want me to request a nuclear strike against an unknown target in space based on this cloak and dagger story? You must be stark raving mad! In any case you know as well as I do that the ICBMs on our submarines can’t be controlled in space. Even if I believed your insane story there’s nothing I could do for you.”

  Morris turned away fr
om them and looked out of the window. “An army from the underworld and ancient gods coming to your help! How utterly ludicrous…”

  Lawrence grabbed the two boys and pulled them out of the office while Colonel Morris was talking.

  “What now?” Edward asked. There were tears in his eyes.

  “Time for plan B,” Lawrence said. “Follow me and be quiet.”

  While the Group Captain was still shaking his head and talking about how ridiculous their story was, our three heroes hurried into Wing Commander Lawrence’s office. He switched on a secure military computer and searched for data.

  “Group Captain Morris is right about one thing, of course,” he said. “The missiles we have on our submarines are no use for the task at hand. The alien fleet appeared out of the wormhole in space, far away from our atmosphere. What we need is a proper space rocket if we want to hit them.”

  “But what difference does it make?” Edward asked. “The nuclear missiles were no use before.”

  “Yes,” Lawrence said. “When the alien spacecraft reached our atmosphere they were much faster than the missiles and could destroy them easily, because they could see them well in advance. Now think what advice Caesar gave us.”

  Edward tried to remember. “He told us to find the right place and to strike hard, without hesitating, didn’t he?”

  “And what is the right place?” Lawrence asked.

  “I know,” Anthony quickly said. “The moment they come out of the wormhole they can’t see anything so it doesn’t matter how fast a missile is flying.”

  “Very good, Anthony,” Lawrence said. He checked scheduled launches for rockets carrying satellites into space. Launches in America were over a month away and the European space rocket in French Guyana was only due to launch after a fortnight. Lawrence shook his head and pressed his lips together. “Too late,” he muttered, “much too late.” It took a lot of time to prepare a rocket for launch. They needed one that was almost ready with a launch scheduled within a day or two at the most. Finally he found what he was looking for.

  “Here’s our chance,” he said, “our only chance.”

  “Where is it?” the boys asked.

  “In Baikonur,” Lawrence said. It’s a Russian spaceport in Kazakhstan. There’s a launch scheduled for tomorrow with a payload of satellites. It’s an Energia rocket, one of the most powerful rockets in the world.”

  Edward looked at Lawrence. “But how can we possibly use it?”

  Lawrence nodded. “That’s going to be a problem,” he said. “We’ll need help.”

  The children looked at him questioningly.

  He clenched his fists. “Come with me. Who dares, wins.”

  8

  Lawrence quickly led them to a hangar. He opened a door and looked in.

  “No one here,” he whispered.

  They entered the hangar and saw an aircraft unlike any other they had ever seen before.

  “What is it?” Anthony asked.

  “It’s an experimental spaceplane,” Lawrence whispered. “It’s fuelled with hydrogen, it takes off like any other plane, but it can fly into space.”

  He checked to make sure it was fully fuelled and ready for take off.

  “So we can use this to attack the alien fleet,” Edward said happily.

  “I’m afraid not,” Lawrence said. “There’s no place for any cargo. There are only two seats.”

  The children looked confused.

  “It’s obvious, isn’t it,” Lawrence said. “We’ll have to fly to Russia and ask for help.”

  “Do you think they’ll believe us?” Edward said. Their experience with Group Captain Morris hadn’t inspired any confidence.

  Lawrence shrugged his shoulders. “It’s our only chance. There’s no point worrying about it. All we can do is try our best.”

  “But what if they don’t believe us?” Anthony asked.

  “Then we’re all dead,” Lawrence said.

  Lawrence quickly helped them to put on special suits, helmets and parachutes. Then he gave Anthony the briefcase he had looked after so well.

  “Here,” Lawrence said, “you’ll need this in Moscow.”

  Edward looked confused. “Why do you say that? We’re all going together, aren’t we?”

  “Get in the plane,” Lawrence said briskly. “You’ll have to share a seat, I’m afraid. Hurry up now before someone sees us.”

  The cockpit closed and the engine howled into life. A stream of fire pushed it forward out of the open hangar. Several people came running and waved their arms, but Lawrence ignored them. He taxied the plane onto the runway and contacted the control tower.

  “This is SpaceX calling control tower,” he said on the radio. “We’re ready for take off.”

  “You are not clear for take off,” the air traffic controller replied.

  “I know, we’re making an unauthorized flight. You have ten seconds to clear the airspace, then we’re taking off.”

  Lawrence ignored all further protestations from the air traffic controller. He started a countdown 10, 9, 8, …3, 2,1 and pushed the controls forward to full throttle. The plane’s mighty engines emitted a stream of fire fifty feet long and propelled them down the runway. Halfway down they lifted off and Lawrence pulled back. The plane shot upwards almost vertically. The force of the acceleration pushed them into their seats so hard that they could barely breathe. After a minute Lawrence announced “We’ve reached Mach 10, our top speed. Look out of the window.”

  “Wow,” Edward said, “this makes even the famous Blackbird look like a lame duck, and that’s the fastest plane in the world.”

  Below them Britain was rapidly becoming smaller until it was just a little island next to Europe.

  “We’ll be over Moscow in a few minutes,” Lawrence said. “Now listen to me carefully. I can’t come with you, I have to fly this plane.”

  The boys were too shocked to say anything, but they paid close attention while Lawrence explained to them how to use their parachutes, how and where to land and what to do then.

  “Can you do it?” he asked finally.

  For a moment they said nothing. The thought of jumping out of a plane into open space was too scary, yet then they remembered what was at stake.

  “Yes,” Anthony said.

  “We’ll just have to,” Edward said.

  “Good lads,” Lawrence said. “Your time is up, we’re here.”

  The plane dived down towards the Earth. As it approached Moscow airspace two Russian Mig fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the intruder.

  It was time.

  “Go!” Lawrence shouted in the intercom.

  Edward pulled the lever of the ejection seat and they were hurled out of the plane. At that moment one of the Mig jets fired an air to air missile at the spaceplane.

  While the two boys were falling towards the ground ever faster, Lawrence accelerated again.

  The missile shot towards its target. The distance was getting smaller and smaller. When it was a mere twenty feet away the spaceplane reached the same speed as the missile. For a brief moment they flew one behind the other, then SpaceX shot off into the sky and the missile fell to the ground when it ran out of fuel.

  Edward and Anthony guided their fall towards the Kremlin where the President of Russia lived and worked. They waited until the last moment and then opened their parachutes. A few feet from the ground their fall was broken and they landed softly. They quickly undid their harnesses.

  “We’re in luck,” Edward said, “right in front of the President’s house.”

  They quickly ran to the front door and pushed through before guards had time to react. Both boys knew how to speak Russian. They ran through the building shouting loudly for the President. Shouting boys wearing foreign pressure suits running through one of the best guarded buildings in Russia was unheard of. Doors opened and different members of the surprised presidential staff came to see what was the matter.

  Suddenly they ran into a man. He was w
earing a dark blue suit.

  “And who are you?” the man said.

  “We’ve just come from Britain,” Edward said, “and we must see the President immediately. It’s a question of life and death.”

  Several soldiers burst through a door and aimed Kalashnikov rifles at the boys.

  “Mr. President!” one of them shouted. “They just landed by parachute.”

  Another man came running and informed the president about the intruding spaceplane that the Mig jet had failed to shoot down.

  “You’re the President?” Anthony said to the man they had just bumped into.

  The soldiers came to drag the boys away.

  The President put up his hand.

  “Wait,” he said. “I want to know what this is about.”

  “I’ll have them interrogated” the chief of security said as he rushed in.”

  “Please, Mr. President,” Edward said. “It’s a matter of the utmost urgency, or we’re all going to die.”

  The people in the room looked at the two boys. One of them giggled, then another, then they all burst out laughing.

  The President looked at the two boys who stood there with pleading eyes. He lifted a hand and the laughter died down.

  “Let’s hear what they have to say.”

  The chief of security looked incredulous. “But they’re just children. Let me handle this, sir. They’ve already wasted enough of your time.” He grabbed Anthony’s arm.

  “No,” the President said. “They came in a plane that could fly faster than a missile. They’re not just children. I want to know what this is about and I want to know it now.”

  They explained everything to the President in his office. On a laptop they had brought in the briefcase they showed him footage recorded by NATO of how the alien fleet suddenly appeared and the exact coordinates in space. They showed footage of how the alien fleet attacked targets in Europe and America and elsewhere in the world. They explained everything just as Lawrence had instructed them to do. Then they looked at the President.

  For the first time in his life the President didn’t know what to think. On the one hand the entire story of an alien attack, of time travel and ancient gods, not to mention an army of the dead was too ridiculous to be worth consideration. On the other hand it was not possible to simply dismiss them. The way they had come and the apparently genuine NATO recordings were too real.

  He sighed and looked at his advisors.

  “It must be a trick, Mr. President,” one of them said.

  The others agreed. “Even if we don’t know what this is about, it’s clear that this can’t be real. Our advice is to ignore this and put the military on the alert.”

  The President weighed his head from side to side.

  “There’s one more thing,” Edward said. “Wing Commander Lawrence said that you wouldn’t believe us. He said we should show you this file.”

  “Very well,” the President said, “but this is the last thing.” He didn’t say it, but he was beginning to agree with his advisors. He clicked on the icon on the screen. The file opened and suddenly the screen was filled with writing in Russian.

  The men around the President gasped.

  “This can’t be,” a general said. “These are transcripts of our secret coded messages.”

  The President scrolled down. There was a time next to each message. They extended several hours into the future. After just over fifteen hours the messages stopped abruptly.

  The President took the laptop and walked to his desk where he had access to all secret communications from his computer. He compared the messages on his computer with those on the laptop.

  “This is unbelievable,” he said. He waited for a while. With each new message on his computer that matched the file on the laptop it became clearer to him that everything the boys had told him was the truth.

  He looked at his watch. There were fifteen hours and eighteen minutes left until the attack. He picked up a telephone and gave a string of orders.

  9

  Three hours later several Russian Antonov transport planes approach Baikonur spaceport in Khazachstan. One of them landed and taxied right up to the gigantic Energia rocket that was ready for launch. The other planes opened their doors and parachutists poured out.

  The Antonov plane landed

  The parachutists stormed the buildings of the spaceport where the controls were housed. They took over command and control.

  At the same time the Antonov plane came to a standstill near the rocket. More soldiers came out and forced workers to unload the rocket’s cargo before loading the new cargo from the Antonov.

  “You can’t do this,” the director of space command said to the parachutists. “This is a civilian flight and you’re not in Russia.”

  Colonel Gagarin, the officer in command of the parachutists walked up to the director. He pulled a gun out and pointed it at the director’s head.

  “Change the coordinates,” he said.

  In Moscow the President was getting nervous. The rocket would need several hours to reach the exact position where the alien fleet was going to emerge. They were running out of time. They had less than twelve minutes to launch or everything would be too late.

  “What the hell are your men doing?” he growled at a general.

  In Baikonur men were frantically trying to get the new cargo properly installed for launch.

  Ten minutes to launch.

  Five.

  Two.

  50 seconds.

  The President was personally on the phone to the commanding officer of the paratroopers in Baikonur.

  40 seconds.

  “It’s done,” workers said.

  30 seconds.

  The President heard them.

  “Launch now!” he shouted in the phone.

  20 seconds.

  The director of the spaceport hesitated.

  Colonel Gagarin pushed him aside and gave the order himself.

  The rocket launched

  A stream of fire emerged from the rocket as it lifted off. Its cargo: a one gigaton nuclear bomb designed to vaporize an asteroid.

  Its target: the alien robot fleet.

  The fiery agent of destruction surged upwards towards space.

  Anthony and Edward, the President and a few others who knew what was going on waited in trepidation while the enormous rocket flew into space carrying the biggest nuclear weapon anyone had ever built. Two hours later it was approaching the target area. Cameras from Russian spy satellites were focused on the rocket and the zone where the alien fleet was expected from.

  Then the last moments came. The rocket was almost there.

  10 seconds till impact.

  A strange light appeared in space.

  9

  An alien spaceship emerged.

  8

  “They’re early,” Edward said in disbelief.

  7

  Would the aliens spot the approaching rocket?

  6

  More alien spaceships emerged.

  5

  Would they destroy the rocket?

  4

  The first spaceship changed course towards the rocket.

  3

  There was a huge opening in space where the wormhole spewed out the alien armada.

  2

  The first alien ship prepared to fire at the rocket.

  1

  A gigantic light filled the dark sky.

  The bomb exploded

  The spaceships nearest the explosion were vaporised instantly. Then there was a flash and the wormhole collapsed destroying all spaceships in it.

  The Earth was saved!

  The President, his staff, Edward and Anthony jumped up and cheered loudly.

  The President gave both boys a big hug and shook their hands. He understood that every word they had said was the truth. “Thank you so much,” he said. “Without you we’d all be dead now.”

  “And thank you, Mr. President for helping us,” they said.
<
br />   The President smiled.

  “There’s one more thing, though,” Edward said.

  “Yes?” the President asked.

  “Please help us to thank Zeus and the others,” Edward said.

  “Yes,” Anthony said, “and King Hades.”

  Suddenly stars whirled around the boys and they were taken to London. They were with their parents again near Wellington Arch on their way to have lunch. The boys looked at the sky. It was a beautiful blue sky, interspersed with a few white clouds. There wasn’t a single purple streak anywhere. There was no sonic boom of a fighter jet. The boys smiled at one another.

  A fortnight later their parents were watching the news on TV. The boys were playing happily, but suddenly they listened carefully.

  …in an unusual move a Russian Air Force helicopter was seen today sprinkling the peak of Mount Olympus in Greece with flowers. Mount Olympus, once thought to be the home of the Gods by the ancient Greeks,…

  Anthony and Edward jumped up and hugged their surprised parents.

  Here’s a sneak preview of Edward and Anthony’s next exciting adventure!

  Meet

  Sherlock Holmes

  There is an evil man prowling the streets of London in 1892. He lures poor children with food and the promise of a better life. Where does he take the children? 

  A terrible murder is committed. What is the dark secret behind it?

  It's a case for Sherlock Holmes. 

  Then Edward and Anthony are called in on the case. Who made the dare? And what is the connection between the murder and the missing children? 

  Can YOU survive the Dare Quest challenge?

  …So when on that day of autumn 1892 the man with the bag of bread approached Bob and gave him a piece of bread, Bob followed him willingly.

  Bread!

  For bread he would go anywhere.

  Little Bob and three other children followed the mysterious man happily. Finally they could turn their backs on the cold, dirty streets and dark alleyways that had been misery and move on to a better life.

  None of them knew that they were being watched. Hidden in the shadow of a narrow doorway a keen pair of eyes observed the man with his bread and promises of paradise, and the gullible children who were tricked into following him…

  ISBN-10: 1508520151

  Meet the author

  www.briansmith.de