Steph Bennion - Hollow Moon

“Reboot me,” the spider walker whispered. “Reboot me…”

“You idiot!” shouted Taranis. The priest tried to turn but his metal legs refused to budge. Smoke poured from beneath his seat and the smell of short-circuited wiring and melting plastic filled the air. “What have you done?”

“This stupid thing will eat anything!” cried Fenris. He scooted around to face Taranis and held Ravana’s electric pet up high. “And now it has eaten its last!”

“zz-eeaateen-iits-laast-zz!” echoed the twelve.

“No!” cried Ravana. “Leave my poor cat alone!”

“Thraak! Thraak thraak!”

The sudden cry cut though the air, piercing yet jagged as the creature in the cage finally found its voice. As one the clones turned their heads, for what they heard was not a plaintive call for help but a fierce demand to shut up and listen. The grey’s defiant cry died as abruptly as it had begun, only now the twelve were staring at Fenris and the struggling pet in his arms. They had heeded the scolding tones of their mother, for she was not happy.

“What is this?” demanded Fenris, as the clones moved to surround him.

“You’re a bully and a coward,” Ravana said calmly. “I don’t think they like you.”

Fenris gingerly lowered her electric pet to the floor and backed away. Behind, Taranis wriggled helplessly in his seat as he tried to get his metal legs to work. The cat looked up at them both, gave a self-satisfied meow, then trotted calmly towards Ravana and burped.

“The cat?” said Fenris. “Right as rain! Such a sweet little kitty.”

His words became a strangled yelp as all twelve clones suddenly reached forward and placed their outstretched fingers upon his head. Fenris tried to look away but was drawn into their emotionless expressions. His own hands fell weakly to his side.

Ravana felt an odd tingling sensation via her implant. In her mind’s eye she pictured a warm glow cascading from the clones’ fingertips, seeping down through Fenris’ body. The visible thumping of his chest eased and an angry grimace became a gentle smile. Cleansed of his fears, Fenris looked as if every one of his senses drank their fill of utmost bliss.

“Rapture!” he murmured. “It’s beautiful!”

Still the twelve kept their hold upon him. His chest no longer heaved and Fenris began to waver, his breathing now too shallow to take in air. A brief expression of panic flickered in his eyes, the blood drained from his face, then suddenly he fell and with a thump landed lifeless upon the floor.

“zz-uunbeeliieeveer-zz!” chanted the twelve. They lowered their hands. “zz-aall-thaat-iis-paart-dooees-beeloong-zz!”

“Behold the might of my disciples!” cried Taranis. “The power of the greys!”

“Is he…?” asked Surya, staring wide-eyed at the fallen body.

Ostara nodded. “They killed Fenris!”

“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” muttered the Maharani. In the shock of the moment she saw an opportunity to escape and pulled a dumbstruck Surya towards the stairs.

“Jones has an alien AI chip for a brain,” Ravana whispered, realising what had happened as she scooped her cat into her arms. “Taranis said they care for nothing but the mind. The clones were just trying to protect their own kind!”

Taranis’ creations slowly advanced to where Ravana and Ostara stood. As Ravana stepped back, her foot caught something upon the floor and she glanced down to see a discarded red birdsuit. The Flying Fox himself was nowhere to be seen.

“This is the first time I would really like my implant to be made of alien brain cells,” murmured Ravana. Her cat started making retching noises.

“Yes, but where does that leave me?” wailed Ostara.

Ravana dropped her pet into Ostara’s arms and stepped towards the twelve. She had caught sight of Zotz in a vest and shorts, looking incredibly small and vulnerable without his superhero costume, as he scurried around the back of the empty vats towards the reactor. Behind her, Ostara clutched the cat to her chest, stroking it frantically as if that were the only way to stop it exploding. Her heart pounding, Ravana stood before the clones and held up her hands. She had never felt more terrified in her life.

“All that is part does belong,” she declared. “Do I belong?”

The twelve stopped. Taranis scowled at her from his immobile perch. Behind him, the caged mother of the clones once more gesticulated wildly towards the book on top of the crate. Zotz had reached the reactor and Ravana’s glance caught his own as he started to pull at the conduit that ran down the side of spherical chamber and into the floor.

“zz-beeliieevee-zz!” the clones chanted. “zz-oonlyy-theen-wiill-yyoouu-truulyy-beeloong-zz!”

“You learn quickly,” Taranis growled approvingly to Ravana. “You would have made a formidable leader of men. It is not too late for you and the Raja to be at my side! A vacancy has arisen, as you can see,” he added dryly. His glare flickered to Fenris’ prone body.

Ostara stifled a yelp as she was tugged from behind. Surya had returned and was pulling at her sleeve, eager for her to follow. Meanwhile, Zotz had opened the cable conduit and was haphazardly pulling lengths of wire free. Ravana tried not to stare in a way that would alert Taranis to the attempted sabotage, but there was something about the reactor she found oddly familiar. Inspiration struck her as she realised Professor Wak had used schematics of the Dandridge Cole fusion plants in her engineering classes.

“Do you really think we would join you?” she remarked loudly. “That would be like joining the orange wires on a temperature sensor. Things would quickly get out of control.”

“An odd and irrelevant metaphor!” retorted Taranis. Zotz however took the hint and after selecting the correct cables from the bundle in his hand began to feverishly scrape at the orange insulation with his fingernails. “The ethics of youth are foolish and untamed,” the priest continued. “Yet your spirit is strong. That can be broken!”

Ravana winced as a blast of pain tore though her head and smashed away all rational thought. Suddenly, she was back in her virtual-reality nightmare, seeing walls of grey books squeeze towards her, their pages spilling out thousands of miniature mechanical priests on spider-walker legs. In her mind the arachnids were all over her once more, crawling up her limbs, over her face and in her hair, then amidst it all she saw the real Taranis, standing behind his alien clones, laughing at her.

Close to exhaustion, she concentrated upon the cruel grin of the priest and crushed the illusions in her mind. The clones stepped forward to surround her with all hands outstretched. Ravana caught sight of Zotz frantically trying to join the bared wires together and failing miserably.

“For Frigg’s sake, Zotz!” she cried wearily. “Tie a knot in it!”

Taranis snapped his head around and saw Zotz holding two orange wires.

“Stop, puny child!” cried the priest. “You are powerless before me!”

“I am Zotz Wak,” the boy declared. “I may not have the badge, but I can tie a knot!”

With a last defiant twist, he knotted the wires and stepped back. The engine room instantly came alive with flashing red beacons and the sound of sirens. Startled, the twelve clones shuffled to a halt, unsure of what to do. Zotz, knowing perfectly well how to react, dashed across the chamber and was back with Ostara halfway up the steps before Taranis could muster his disciples. The control desk near the hatch began to recite a warning in carefully-modulated tones.

“Reactor coolant failure. Engine room ejection in thirty seconds.”

“What!?” Taranis roared. “This is a trick! The reactor is stable!”