Steph Bennion - Hollow Moon

“Most odd,” she murmured, pursing her lips.

“Does mine look like that?” asked Surya and put a hand to the bump on the back of his own neck. He had tried to find it earlier using the mirror in his room but with no success.

“Is everything okay?” asked Ostara. Yaksha wore a perturbed expression.

“I’d like to do a scan to get a read-out of the implant,” said Yaksha, clambering to her feet as she spoke. “Don’t worry,” she reassured Ravana. “It won’t hurt.”

She stepped to a nearby cabinet and retrieved a black rod-like device with a switch on the side. Pointing the wand at Ravana, Yaksha pressed the switch and a small red light on the tip flashed once. Ravana instinctively closed her eyes and gripped the edge of the chair, bracing herself against the expected sudden headache, but nothing happened.

“Is that it?” she asked, cautiously opening her eyes.

“That’s it,” Yaksha confirmed, now scrutinising the screen of her wristpad. “My word! Did you know you’ve got a military-grade implant in there? Unregistered, too. You could cause all sorts of trouble with a thing like that.”

“We already have,” Ravana said, smiling weakly as she recalled how they had set free the creatures from the secret laboratory. “Is my implant different to others?”

“It’s very similar to those issued to Que Qiao special forces operatives,” Yaksha told her, a note of awe in her voice. “Why on Yuanshi would you have one?”

“Why has she got a special implant when I haven’t?” Surya demanded, deeply offended. “I should have one! I am heir to the throne of Yuanshi!”

“Little boys shouldn’t be given big boy’s toys,” came a voice from across the room. Hanuman leant casually against the doorway, wearing a huge grin. “Sorry to interrupt, but Kartikeya has requested your company in Hemakuta,” he said to Yaksha, pretending not to notice the Raja’s sulky expression. “He leaves in ten minutes.”

“I’m not his personal assistant!” Yaksha grumbled, but knew she had little choice. She gave Hanuman a quizzical look. “Has he come to his senses?”

Hanuman shrugged. “I put it to him again that he has a duty towards Ravana and her father, but he was adamant in his refusal to help.”

Ravana’s face fell. Her electric cat, having found and eaten a box of vaccination syringes carelessly left within its reach, decided it was a good moment to bound back into her lap using Surya’s legs as a launch pad, causing him to shriek.

“Is there really nothing you can do?” asked Ostara.

“After I left our beloved leader, I had a private talk with Fenris,” Hanuman told her, looking sly. “I wanted to make sure he understood the error of his ways. You’ll be pleased to hear that Fenris deeply regrets what happened and is now ready to help us.”

“Really?” Ravana sounded surprised. “I don’t believe it.”

“He is the religious type,” said Ostara. “He must appreciate honour and duty.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” murmured Yaksha. Her eyes were upon a suspicious scuff mark on the butt of Hanuman’s holstered gun. “How exactly did you make him change his mind?”

“That’s not important right now,” Hanuman said hurriedly. He turned to Ravana. “This is a promise I mean to keep. We must do what we can to rescue your father.”

Ravana’s eyes shone. “You really mean to help me?”

Hanuman nodded. “Namtar and Inari have sighted the Platypus at the private landing strip at Sumitra,” he told her. “They’ve agreed to arrange a diversion so that Fenris can lead you to where Quirinus is being held. However, we need to move quickly. We must get Fenris and the Raja to Daode before Kartikeya starts wondering where we are.”

Ostara was impressed. “You seem to have thought of everything.”

“There is one more thing,” Hanuman said to Ravana. “I’m afraid we will need to call upon that piece of special-forces hardware in your head. Security at Sumitra is tight but I have a feeling you should be able to walk straight in without any problems.”

Ravana nodded. “Of course.”

“Be careful,” said Yaksha, pausing at the door to address both Ravana and Surya. “Fenris is not to be trusted. He is firmly under the spell of Taranis and I fear all this is part of something bigger. The mad priest revels in tales of divine destiny that suit his own ends.”

Surya looked at Ravana, then shrugged. “We’ll be careful.”

“A rescue mission!” exclaimed Zotz, excited. “What do you want me to do?”

“Stay out of trouble,” Ostara said firmly.

Ravana pushed her cat aside and climbed to her feet, her tears forgotten.

“I don’t know how to thank you for this,” she said gratefully, giving Hanuman a hug. “You have been more than kind.”

“You can thank me when you and your father are safely away from this moon,” said Hanuman. “The Sun Wukong leaves in an hour!”

Ostara sat in front of the holovid console, acutely aware that the alcove in the palace basement was cosy enough without Zotz and Surya leaning over her shoulders. It had taken all her powers of persuasion to get the go-ahead for a call to the Pampa Palace hotel, but now she was here she was not so sure it was a good idea. Before she could change her mind, the screen lit up and an image appeared of a holovid booth that looked even more crowded than their own little room. Endymion sat before the console, with Bellona and Philyra perched on the arms of his chair either side. All three looked slightly stunned and out of breath, for it had been barely ten minutes since Zotz had sent a hurried wristpad message to Endymion asking him to wait by the hotel holovid booths.

“Endymion!” greeted Ostara. “Good to see you again! Does your teacher know you are here?” she asked cautiously. The second part of Zotz’s message had urged secrecy, for much as she liked Miss Clymene, Ostara did not trust her not to say something to Governor Atman or his colleagues that could make things difficult for their rebel friends.

“She thinks we’ve been in the games room all evening,” Endymion reassured her, which was exactly where they had been ten minutes ago. “Where are you? Is Ravana there?”

“We’re on Yuanshi,” Ostara told him, smiling as she saw their eyes widen in surprise. “Ravana is fine and having her implant calibrated, or something like that. We’ve made some new friends, found the kidnapped Raja and had all sorts of adventures.”

“Hello there,” greeted Surya, feeling he should say something.

“That’s the Raja?” Philyra remarked. “He looks just like his cyberclone.”

“That’s why they’re called clones,” retorted Endymion. “Stupid.”

“When will you be back?” asked Bellona. “The music competition happens for real tomorrow evening. This morning’s rehearsal sounded awful without Ravana and Zotz.”

“Music competition?” asked Surya, pricking up his ears. “Some mad priest has banned song and dance in Lanka and I’m going mad here having nothing to listen to.”

“Ravana and I are supposed to be there with the rest of the band,” Zotz explained, gesturing to the screen. “Loads of schools are playing at the peace conference.”

“The entire band in a holovid booth?” Surya quipped, not realising it was the truth.

“Don’t you start,” Bellona warned. The memory of the dreadful dress rehearsal was still fresh in her mind. “If Zotz and Ravana were here we’d win the competition, easy!”

“Do you want a violinist?” asked Surya, genuinely interested.

“We’re getting off the point!” snapped Ostara. “We’ll be with you again soon, but I need to warn you about Fenris in case he gets back to Daode before us.”