Space 1999 #3 - The Space Guardians (16 page)

‘John!’ called Helena behind him. She had fallen, and two men were trying to kick her in the stomach. Koenig yanked out the stun-gun and pole-axed both of them. The nearest men and women sighted him, though, and suddenly there was purpose in their actions.

This way!’ roared Koenig, yanking Helena to her feet.

‘Destroy Commander Koenig—kill!’ the girl screamed. She did not see Koenig and Helena Russell as they bounded up the dais ahead of the roaring pack. ‘Long live the Peace of Piri!’ she screamed.

‘Keep out of the way!’ Koenig shouted to Helena. ‘Stop!’ he roared to the advancing men and women.

‘Destroy Koenig!’ the girl screamed, and still she had not turned in his direction. Behind her, the great white Tower of Piri became a glowing, incandescent rock, terrible in its majesty. The Alphans reeled from its renewed radiance.

Koenig knew his life-span could be measured in seconds. He ignored the anguish of his broken ribs and grabbed the shrieking Pirian girl.

‘See what passes for life on Piri!’ he roared, and he took the light figure in his hands. Bodily he raised her high above his head. His rib-cage creaked, and the half-healed bones snapped. Sweat streamed from his face. ‘See!’ he roared, and with the last of his strength he hurled the screaming girl at the incandescent Tower of Piri.

A huge sighing expostulation came from the crazed Alphans. The body arced out and down, and then it seemed to dive straight through the fabric of the mysterious tower. Immediately, a sharp violent detonation crashed around the bowl of hills. The glaring whiteness gave way to furious flashes of broken light. The ground shook, and the great Tower of Piri trembled.

The Alphans clung to one another for support. Koenig caught sight of Bergman’s face: there was fear there, but intelligence too. Then shock-waves tumbled him to the ground. Koenig swayed.

‘Eagle Six—look!’ Helena Russell yelled.

Koenig looked and saw the Eagle complete its interrupted crash-dive. Time had begun again. The tower’s light blazed and then faded. Koenig saw, incredulously, that the Guardian’s hold was gone.

‘Run!’ yelled Koenig. ‘Run—it’s breaking up!’

The stronger spirits heard and acted. Koenig pushed and kicked the unwilling. Helena Russell helped, and then Bergman joined in. Deeply shocked though he was, he made the effort of will to adjust to the new situation.

‘John, I tried to kill you!’ someone was yelling.

Koenig saw David Kano at his elbow.

‘Get the Alphans moving—it’s over!’ he roared.

Kano’s dazed expression vanished. ‘Yes, Commander!’

The tower began to break up as the last Alphan was bullied into movement. Great blocks of metals showered the dais. Fragments of intricate machines rained down on the gritsand and smashed against the rocks of long-dead Piri.

The Alphans stared at one another with curiosity and wonder, as if seeing one another for the first time. Eventually, they turned to Koenig for instructions.

When the ground was still and the tower a total ruin, Koenig indicated that the quiet and awed Alphans should follow him. He led them to the body of the girl he had thrown into the white light. The face was in shreds. Part of one leg had been torn loose. Beneath the skin-like covering, they saw a complex of circuitry.

‘That was the last Pirian,’ said Koenig quietly. ‘The Pirians faded away because they made their wills over to the machines. The last and greatest of the machines remembered what the Pirians had looked like and created this robot to beguile us.’

‘So it’s finished for us?’ Morrow said. ‘See—the Moon’s held in orbit!’

The Alphans looked up at the glittering Moon. Suddenly, it seemed precious.

‘So we’re trapped,’ sighed Bergman.

‘Not while we have Moonbase Alpha! Come on! Koenig said. ‘Let’s go home. Now that the machines of the Pirians are wrecked, there’s nothing to hold the Moon in orbit around Piri. Let’s move!’ he called.

The Alphans moved purposefully towards the waiting Eagles.