The Plague of Pyridian (The Other Worlds Book 2) Read online

  ‘My identity?

  Issturo gave him a knowing look. ‘My dreams are lucid and they do not lie. I have entered the world of dreams a thousand times over in my lifetime and I have come to understand much of what they have shown me.’ He shook his head as if tired. ‘The same cannot be said for all.’

  He got up to leave. Connor followed him out. He gave him some final words of advice. ‘Never put your trust in one Citizen. We are a race of gamblers. We gamble with our lives and we scramble for power. Tell no one about your gift, Connor. No one.’

  Connor stared at the door long after Issturo had gone through it. He felt as if Issturo had glimpsed his future and past and didn’t like what he saw. Issturo had spoken about his own race as if they were traitors. An unknown number of Peltarcks looked upon them with scorn and envy. If he were to draw up a list of his enemies based on what Issturo had told him, it would include almost everyone on the planet.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  Much to Ted’s irritation, Kane’s eyes lingered on him and not his deceitful young nephew.

  Ted dropped his phone and swung the laptop behind his back. He didn’t want the C.E.O to see what he had taken from the vault. He and Kane were close in height, but he still felt as if the man was looming over him with his broad head and shoulders. He resembled a hunk of rock in his dark suit.

  Luke was just as startled to see Kane standing there in all his brutish glory. His mouth flapped open, but he made no attempt to conceal his loot. ‘Uncle!’

  ‘What are you doing here?’ asked Kane. He looked pale and distraught in the white torchlight. His gaze drifted to the stacked shelves.

  Ted tried to think of an answer. How easy would it be to talk his way out of the building, if he could only find the right words? What was the C.E.O. doing on the seventh floor anyway?

  Luke spoke for the both of them. ‘I should ask you the same thing.’

  Kane gave Luke an answer. It wasn’t the one he was looking for. ‘Where’s Connor?’

  Ted thought about the conversation he had overheard between Kane and the boy’s mother. They were running from someone. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know who. He decided it was his cue to exit. ‘I’ll make myself scarce,’ he said, trotting sideways towards the mirrored entrance and crunching his phone underfoot in the process. He had got all he needed from the vault. There was no need to hang about. They could keep their laptops and their fake gold for all he cared.

  Kane strode up to him. He placed a firm hand on his shoulder. ‘You’re not leaving until I get some answers.’

  Ted almost collapsed under the weight of Kane’s massive hand. When Kane released him, Ted picked up his phone and slid it into his pocket without the C.E.O noticing.

  Kane glared at his nephew. ‘Where is he?’ he asked again. ‘Tell me, for your mother’s sake. She’s worried out of her mind.’

  ‘You tell me,’ said Luke, his tone nettled. He rammed the tattered book he had been holding into Connor’s bag.

  It wasn’t the first time Ted had seen that book. He recognised the coffee stains. It was The Plague of Pyridian gaming guide, the one he had thrown in the bin – twice. Luke must have fished it back out, or he had found it in the vault along with everything else.

  ‘If I knew I wouldn’t ask,’ Kane replied. ‘Is he still in this world?’

  Ted’s ears pricked up, his fears and doubts forgotten. The Braileys secrets would at last be revealed. He took out his phone. The screen had cracks running all the way through it but it still worked. He placed it on voice recorder and returned it to his pocket.

  Luke gave a bitter shake of his head.

  The colour drained from Kane’s cheeks. He cupped his chin. ‘How long has he been gone?’

  ‘Not as long as the last time,’ replied Luke. He gave Kane an appraising look, uncertain of his involvement.

  Ted saw Kane’s jaw twitch and noted how he slipped his hands into the pockets of his suit to conceal the fact that they were shaking. ‘I don’t understand. How’s that even possible?’

  How indeed, wondered Ted.

  ‘About a month ago, the laptop you gave to my mum transported us to a place called Narrigh. It was not on this planet, nor was it in this era. It’s a fantasy world located on an unknown galaxy. We were able to secure transportation back to Earth. I saw Connor disappear shortly after accessing another one of Tridan’s games, The Plague of Pyridian. I believe he’s on Pyridian now, probably scared out of his wits.’

  Ted grasped a shelf with his fingers. All his nightmares and conspiracy theories had come true! He knew enough about the solar system to know there wasn’t a planet Pyridian in the Milky Way.

  He should have known they were aliens, living breathing aliens, posing as humans walking around on Earth, stock-piling an arsenal of weapons to destroy the galaxy.

  A coldness crept over him. There was only one reason they didn’t care about him overhearing their exchange, they were going to kill him or worse take over his body, modify it somehow, like the laptops. Was Steve one too and Professor Hatleman? Everyone in the frigging building could be an alien for all he knew. He wanted to run. Fear had rooted him to the spot. And how far would he get if he did run? There were more of them out there waiting for him. He gave a squeal of terror as his horrific imagination took hold. Luke ignored him. Kane spared him a cursory glance before returning his gaze to Luke.

  ‘Is Connor safe?’ asked Kane. ‘Do you know how to get him back?’

  ‘You know I can’t follow. I thought about it, but the risk is too great. We have allies on Pyridian. I have to trust they’ll keep Connor safe until I can find a way to bring him home.’

  Ted still held the laptop; the portal between this world and the other worlds they spoke of. If they thought he could bring back Connor, it would buy him some time to escape. He tried to say the words, but his tongue was locked inside his mouth and his lips seemed to be clamped shut. He didn’t know if he should take a risk in opening his mouth just yet. He didn’t want to upset Luke. He could see he was angry. He didn’t want the kid to tell his uncle that he had blackmailed him. He had taken enough beatings for the week.

  ‘You haven’t told your mum about all this,’ said Kane.

  ‘No. I don’t want her to panic. As far as she knows Connor and I are staying at a friend’s house. Tell me what you know.’

  His uncle nodded. ‘I wished you could have trusted me and come to me sooner. I told your mum and I’m telling you, I’ve had no contact with any of our kind, since I arrived here and like you, I thought we were safe. Do you honestly think that I would let Connor walk out of my office with your laptop, if I knew what the machine was capable of doing?

  ‘Your mum wanted to buy you a new computer, Steve Lepton, our Head of Production, told me they had some spares lying around. He picked up one for me. I didn’t think anything of it.’

  ‘And you didn’t find it odd that a game has been written about Pyridian,’ said Luke, his tone cutting, ‘a planet within our own galaxy. How could you not suspect anything?’

  ‘Has it ever occurred to you that we’re not the only ones here?’ Kane hissed, ‘that there are others out there who been exiled to this planet to serve their penance or for their own protection? Or there could just be others. Tridan’s created hundreds of games. Most of them don’t even make it off the Beta block. I don’t sign off on the games that do, that’s the job of the production team.

  ‘So in answer to your question Luke, yes, I find it odd. But what you’ve failed to comprehend is that I don’t technically own this company. It was given to me by our benefactors, the twelve minority shareholders, two of whom remain anonymous. They are the ones who accepted us into this world.’ He pointed to the medallion on the floor. ‘You see their emblem here. Your mother may not have discussed them with you, but she knows.’

  Kane’s admission left Luke scowling and speechless.

  Ted wasn’t expecting the kid to splutter an apology to his uncle. He was too smug for that. He had a bet
ter understanding of the company dynamics. Kane had no control. He was nothing more than a figure-head, with no real authority: a finger-puppet to these benefactors.

  Luke finally spoke. ‘Is Steve Lepton a benefactor?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes,’ said Kane. ‘I considered him a friend. He’s never given me cause not to trust him.’ He paused, nodding. His eyes pierced Luke’s. ‘You think this is about you.’

  ‘I know it is,’ said Luke. ‘There were Citizens on Narrigh. Others who had been exiled. The Quest of Narrigh, made reference to our race and our planet in the backstory on the game I installed, but not on any of my friends who installed the same game on the same day as I did. Whoever wrote Citizens into that backstory, knows we’re here and they work in this company. Tell him what Steve told you.’

  Ted realised Luke was looking straight at him. He hoped they would have forgotten he was there. It took a while for him to remember what Steve had told him to do. Ted had told so many lies, he wasn’t sure how much of the truth he could recall in the wake of all he had just learned. He had to remind himself he was in the presence of aliens and from what he had learned from the movies, the ones who ran stood no more chance of surviving than the ones who didn’t.

  ‘Steve told me to offer Luke an internship,’ said Ted, breaking from his thoughts to address Kane, ‘he then told me to install the Beta version of The Plague of Pyridian on Luke’s laptop and to make sure he accessed the game, except he didn’t because his brother got there first.’

  ‘And?’ said Luke.

  And hell! Ted’s mind raced through the long list of orders Steve had given him in the past two months. ‘I saw Beth Crosswell, a senior level designer here, disappear like she went into the laptop. I think it happened to my friend Howard Collins too, but Steve wouldn’t let me talk to you. He said I was seeing things. If you’re trying to get back home, I’ll do all I can to help.’ He proffered his service with a slight bow, and then snatched two more laptops from the shelves: one for Luke, one for Kane. Geez, he didn’t want any more of them landing. He could herd them into the capsule in the basement, lob in the laptops, and then it would be bye-bye Earth for them, and hello galaxy far, far away.

  His hands were shaking. He wiped his face. His hands came up wet. Was he crying or sweating? His hand found a gun that looked as if it was straight out of a Star Trek movie. He thought for one wild moment that he could do it, that he could kill them all. Then he would truly be a hero−

  A hand clamped his shoulder. He screamed, dropping the laptops he was holding. ‘Plea-please don’t kill me.’

  ‘Pull yourself together,’ said Luke. He plucked up one of the laptops and pushed it into Ted’s arms. ‘We’re human just like you.’

  ‘What are you going to do to me?’ asked Ted. He held the laptop in one limp hand.

  ‘Nothing,’ said Luke. ‘But if you really want to help you can play The Plague of Pyridian like I asked you to.’

  Ted looked from Luke to Kane. They wanted to send him to his death.

  ‘You can play it here,’ said Kane. He nodded at Luke. ‘I want to see what happens. How this whole thing works.’

  Ted let out a little laugh. They were both bat crazy. They wanted him to disappear the same way Connor did − to the world of aliens.

  A high-pitched alarm went off. Ted slammed his hands over his ears, sending the laptop crashing into a shelf.

  Kane and Luke yelled at each other.

  Ted didn’t hear what they said. He charged through the mirrored wall and ran straight into one of the lock walls, bashing his chin on one of the handles. He stumbled back and turned to see Luke and Kane dashing through the barred-gate. Ted hurried after them, afraid he would get locked in and left to rot.

  As soon as he left the vault, he wished he was back in it. Steve Lepton stood on the other side of the door holding a gun. It didn’t look like an ordinary gun to Ted. Not that he knew what an ordinary gun should look like. Steve pointed the gun at Luke. Ted was about to step back into the vault when he heard it lock behind him.

  Kane’s arm shot out, shielding Luke. He then walked in front of the kid, protecting him with his bulk.

  As if it would help, thought Ted.

  ‘What are you doing, Steve?’ asked Kane.

  Ted thought it was a stupid question. It was obvious what Steve was going to do. It was what he had feared all along.

  ‘Sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to. I had a mission to complete and now I intend to fulfil it on my own terms.’

  He’d got that right, thought Ted. ‘I was trying to stop them,’ he said. ‘They forced me to open the vault. They blackmailed me.’ He stepped forward, raising his hands above his head to show Steve he wasn’t a threat.

  ‘Oh shut up,’ said Steve, aiming the gun at his chest. ‘You really screwed this up for me Ted and you’re not going to get away with it.’

  Ted backed off, slowly lowering his hands. His shoulders drooped. This was it. The end. He was going to die.

  ‘Listen,’ said Kane. ‘I’ll give you whatever you want, just drop the gun.’

  ‘You can’t give me what I want. Ideally, I’d like this company. I’ve made it what it is today, while you sit at the helm doing sod all. But we both know that will never happen. You can’t hand me the company. You don’t have the right. It’s yours, and then his,’ he stared at Luke, ‘in that order. The system works in much the same way as your Presidential Elite, so you would know.’

  ‘Then you should have stayed at Hion Tech,’ said Kane.

  Ted thought it was a rash statement given that Steve was the one holding the gun. He didn’t understand what Steve meant by Presidential Elite. He guessed it was a kind of pretentious slang used by aliens to describe the higher echelons of their government.

  ‘I came here to feel the sun on my skin, to attain wealth that was denied me by the nature of my birth. I came here to be free of citizen scourge.’ His malevolent eyes rested on Kane. ‘I’ve waited years for this moment. I’ve followed Professor Hatleman’s teleportation work for a long time. I gained his trust. His confidence. I took his tech and was able to turn standard laptops into teleportation devices that could transcend to other worlds. I’ve already yielded some good results with two test subjects from the company. Though I suspect they were less grateful for the opportunity.’ He stared around the vault. ‘Amazing isn’t it?’

  It truly was, thought Ted, if Steve were normal, which he clearly wasn’t.

  Beads of sweat erupted on Kane’s face. ‘I want to talk to Professor Hatleman. Where is he?’

  ‘I’ve no idea. He keeps his own schedule. If he were here, he wouldn’t help you. Professor Hatleman trusts me. And if the day comes when he decides I am not to be trusted, then maybe he can join you.’

  Ted didn’t see the bullet Steve fired from the gun. Maybe it was invisible or it moved too fast to catch his eye. He saw Kane drop to the ground. His eyes and mouth were wide open and there was a hole in his forehead. A black smoking hole.

  Luke charged at Steve, slamming into his chest. Steve pitched forward dropping the gun.

  It was a brave assault, thought Ted. Stupid but brave. He made some effort to move. Slow at first; his limbs felt weak and heavy. He was scared to go around them, afraid the gun with the invisible bullets would go off again.

  Luke kicked the gun out of Steve’s reach with such force, it smashed into the skirting board, dislodging the barrel from its frame. He swung his fist into his chest and gave him a sharp kick in the shin. Steve cried out. He tried to reach for the gun with one hand; he clutched the leg Luke had bashed with the other. Luke slammed his foot down on Steve’s hand, making him squawk.

  Ted scuttled down the corridor, determined to get out. The kid could save his own sorry self. The lights came on. The power was back. It could only mean one thing…

  He came to the cubicle partitions. He saw Alec approaching, brandishing his own gun. He took one look at Ted and fired.

  Ted swung himself into
an empty cubicle, dodging the bullet.

  Alec was shooting to kill.

  If the security guard had called for back up, he would never get out. He could have done with a weapon of his own. He should have stolen one from the vault instead of taking stupid photos and voice recordings that only a lunatic would believe. He heard running footsteps. Another shot rang out. Fraught with panic, Ted peered around the partition.

  Luke limped past, clutching a bloody leg. He still had a tight grip on his brother’s rucksack. What he didn’t have was Steve’s gun. Before Alec could fire another shot, Ted seized a staple gun from one of the desks and tossed it over the partition as he raced past.

  Ted gathered the staple gun had hit the security guard when he heard him curse and yell. He peered through a narrow slot in the partition. Luke had disappeared.

  ‘Is that you Ted?’ Alec said in a shaky voice.

  He sounded scared. The security guard knew he had unwanted blood on his hands and there was nothing he could do to change it.

  ‘Come out. I wo-won’t hurt you.’

  Ted crawled on his hands and knees, ducking and manoeuvring between each cubicle. He came to the door and slipped through it just as a second shot was fired. Breathless, he staggered to the lift. He took it down to the basement and made straight for the exit doors. He stumbled up the stairs. He let himself out of the building with his key card.

  Once he was out in the open, he took a deep breath. This was not his day to die. He had escaped death once. He would escape it again.

  A black car with tinted windows pulled up outside. The car’s back window opened.

  ‘Get in Ted,’ said Professor Hatleman. ‘It’s all right. I’m on your side.’

  THIRTY-FIVE

  The Octane Resistance’s teleportation control room lies in a shadowy corner of the south wing compound. Few venture there. Off-planet teleportation is not essential for fleet soldiers. Citizens who want to leave the planet do so by airship.