Star Blaze (38 page)

Johnny didn't know exactly what was happening, but could see it wasn't good. He hardly had the energy to react and wished Alf could take the orichalcum covering off him, but the android stood alone on the far side of the courtroom, fingers stuck in his ears as if he didn't want to hear the worst. All other eyes were on the giant tank which lit up as the Judge began to speak.

“Terran, Johnny Mackintosh, and your Second, Captain Valdour of the Imperial Navy—you have been weighed upon
the scales of justice and found guilty of High Treason, one of the most heinous crimes in the galaxy. The evidence of your guilt was clear and compelling—as a result of your treason, many trillions of lives have been lost. That blood is on your hands and you will atone. You will be taken from this place to the steps of the Senate Platform, where you will be led before a firing squad and shot.”

The commentary from above only served to reinforce the terrible unfairness of it all. “As is the custom, the accused will be executed first while the Second watches—
contemplating their misguided support
. The accused's body will be cut down and his Second's put in its place. Once dead, both will be left as carrion—
a reminder to the people of the punishment for these crimes
.”

The Judge concluded, “I hereby delegate authority to the Regent to oversee the execution. Approach and take the prisoners away—court is dismissed.”

The audience rose as one, clapping and cheering. The giant Phasmeer also stood, before walking forward on its long, spindly legs. Guards flanked it on either side and Johnny's chair, together with Captain Valdour's stretcher, left the ground and followed. The party turned in the direction of the side exit and was almost out of the courtroom when, far faster than an Olympic sprinter, Alf appeared beside the Regent and attached something to the creature's long neck.

Everybody stopped and the armor-clad guards encircled the android, pointing their blasters at him.

“You would be wise not to fire,” said Alf. Johnny had never seen the android look so steely and determined. “I am sorry … truly, but I have attached my neural detonator to the base of the Regent's brain stem.”

The Regent and its escort exchanged glances—none seemed to know what this actually meant, but the area of the Phasmeer's robes close to the device had turned white.

“The curse of being a, rather well-constructed, artificial lifeform,” Alf went on, “is that I might have the misfortune to live forever. So, when the Emperor made me, he built in a fail-safe … the chance, before the darkness comes, to destroy my own brain—my own consciousness.”

The guards closed in, their weapons now practically touching the android's pinstriped suit.

“A brain comprising seventeen quadrillion positronic neurons,” Alf continued, raising his voice. “And all it needs is for me to think one simple thought and you, sir, will die.”

“No one saw this coming—
even with two pairs of eyes
,” said Z'habar Z'habar Estagog who was now hovering above.

“This is an outrage,” said the Regent.

“I could not agree more,” the android replied. “This trial makes a mockery of the word—faked evidence and biased witnesses. It is not justice.”

“It was necessary,” said the Phasmeer. “If your brain were as large as you claim, you would understand that.”

“As this is necessary,” said Alf. “You will release Johnny Mackintosh and Captain Valdour or you will die.”

Even Z'habar Z'habar Estagog had fallen silent. Johnny watched as his android friend and the Regent fixed eyes on each other, neither one blinking. Surrounding them he saw the soldiers' fingers twitching around the triggers of their blasters. He hoped none would panic and open fire. Finally, as if out-stared, the Regent turned slowly to its guards and growled, “Do as the robot says.”

The bands holding Johnny prisoner in his chair slid away and he was able to push the suffocating orichalcum blanket to the floor—he felt better at once. Captain Valdour groaned. Johnny stood, shakily, and went over to the stretcher. Half the guns followed him while half remained trained on Alf.

“Are you OK?” Johnny asked.

“I've been better, but I'll live,” Valdour replied.

“That remains a matter of doubt,” said the Regent.

Johnny ignored it. “Can you walk?”

“If I have to.”

With a little help, the captain swung his legs over the side of the stretcher and, leaning heavily on Johnny, got to his feet.

“Alf,” said Johnny quietly. “I think we should go.”

“Master Johnny,” the android replied, not taking his eyes off the blasters trained on him. “The
Spirit of London
is on her way back to Melania and will land within the hour. Take Captain Valdour and find somewhere to lie low. Miss Clara will come for you.”

“I'm not going without you—I'm not leaving you here.”

“I … I will be fine,” said the android, “but I need to maintain my proximity to the Regent.”

“I assure you, you will most definitely not be fine,” said the Phasmeer. “I will have your head for this, robot.”

“When His Majesty Emperor Bram Khari returns, I will place myself under his protection.”

A chirruping came from the Regent's middle as it shook with laughter. “The Emperor has shown himself here once in a hundred years. He will not help you. It's over—he's finished. You have chosen the wrong side.”

“You are misguided,” Alf replied. It was strange for the android to be so calm when the tiniest thing would normally excite him. “Go, Johnny—now.”

“I'll come back for you,” said Johnny. “With Bram—we won't be long.”

“You are not to return to this place, Master Johnny. If His Majesty were here, he would say that is an order.”

“We'll see,” Johnny replied as, reluctantly, he turned away and, from somewhere, found the strength to half-drag, half-carry Captain Valdour out of the door.

Some of the soldiers made to follow but, after a warning look from Alf, the Regent said, “Let them go. They won't get far.”

With a last backward glance to his android friend, Johnny hauled Captain Valdour out of the courtroom and down a short corridor, past the little room they'd been in before. With the strong Melanian gravity and the captain weighing him down, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep going for long—already his muscles were burning with the effort they were being asked to make. Another door slid open in front of him and the pair stepped outside into stale air. Johnny marched his friend forward, while scanning their surroundings for signs of danger.

High in the sky above them was the second, translucent surface that had been added to the planet early in Bram's reign. Looking back, the courthouse was the dull red of orichalcum, but its shape was hard to make out. It took a moment before Johnny realized it was like a giant three-dimensional Mandelbrot set, infinitely detailed and complex. In front was the square he'd seen earlier, thankfully deserted apart from the large black domes scattered randomly like half-buried Krun shuttles. He struggled past several of these, until he thought he could hear Z'habar Z'habar Estagog's voice coming from inside one. He froze and tried to listen, but the captain began to speak.

“You must flee, Johnny—go without me. I'm only holding you back.” Just speaking the words seemed to have taken the last of Valdour's strength. His legs stopped moving altogether and he would have fallen without Johnny holding him up.

“Shut up—I'm not leaving you too,” said Johnny, even though he knew that, carrying his injured friend, they wouldn't even make it to the edge of the square. “Rest here, get your breath back,” he added as he tried to prop the captain against the nearby dome.

Instead of leaning against it, Valdour fell backward and disappeared inside, with just his boots sticking out at the
bottom. Johnny touched the black surface and found his fingers, after a moment's resistance, passed straight through. Behind he heard the trampling of feet and looked to see a group of soldiers marching out of the courthouse. Desperately hoping he'd not been spotted, he jumped into the black dome—it felt like leaping through a spider's web—and found himself inside with Captain Valdour and Z'habar Z'habar Estagog itself. He lashed out at the presenter, who simply vanished—they were in another Vermaldome. He pulled at Valdour's feet so they were completely inside the bubble, and then turned to face the spot where the two-headed presenter had reappeared and began to speak.

“More breaking news from the trial of the century—
the Regent is safe and the robot defense counsel has been disarmed.
”

Johnny watched, aghast at the three-dimensional image of Alf lying motionless, surrounded by guards on the floor of the courtroom.

“I said I would have his head,” said the Regent, peering down from above the circle of soldiers. “As a government official, it is important to keep my promises. Chop it off—now. And bring me Johnny Mackintosh.”

“Sir,” said one of the guards. “Request permission to … to bring cutting apparatus.”

“How long will that take?” asked the Regent, raising itself up to its full height.

“Ten minutes, sir. No more.”

“You have five,” boomed the Phasmeer. “What are you waiting for? Go! And the rest of you—find the Terran.” As one, the guards ran from the courtroom.

“We might have missed one execution, but it seems that here, live on the Milky Way News Network, we can bring you another—and I do love an impromptu beheading.
So long as it's not one of ours
.” The two faces looked at each other, smiling, before one
added, “We'll return after these special messages.”

“I've got to go back,” said Johnny.

“It's suicide,” whispered Valdour, who tried to hold onto Johnny's arm, but it was easy to brush him away.

“He's my friend—we've been through a lot,” said Johnny. “He's not going to die in my place.”

“Then let me give you something,” said the captain. He lay back, opened his mouth wide and began unscrewing one of his front teeth, but even that effort now seemed too much for him. “Help me,” he whispered. “Pull it out—you'll see.”

Johnny looked inside Valdour's mouth at the prominent, half unscrewed yellowed incisor. He hesitated for a moment, but took a deep breath and then did as he was asked. The tooth came away easily in his hand and began to vibrate.

“Put it down,” said the captain.

On the floor of the dome, the grimy incisor began to change shape. Soon it had been replaced with something very similar to the particle beam disruptors carried by the armor-clad guards.

“I am a soldier,” whispered Captain Valdour, “and never without my weapons.” He smiled weakly at Johnny, his gaptoothed, scarred face looking horribly disfigured.

“Thanks,” said Johnny, picking up the disruptor. He had no idea what, but he had to do something.

From inside the Vermaldome it was just possible to see out into the square. He watched and waited as several soldiers in their blue armor ran past. As soon as the coast was clear, he stepped out of the bubble. Johnny sprinted between the black domes, using them as cover, to reach the outer wall of the courthouse. Up close it was made of thousands of miniature copies of the larger structure. He sidled along the bumpy wall until he was standing in front of the main doors, which opened automatically, onto an empty corridor. He ran inside, pointing the disruptor ahead of him, and then darted into the little side
room where he'd been taken with Alf. The blue armor hanging there looked far too big but, when he threw a set over his tunic, it molded itself to fit his body shape making him look quite muscly.

Placing the disruptor into an empty holster, Johnny returned to the corridor. A couple of short aliens who were probably court officials were coming the other way. He held his breath, but they scuttled past without even glancing up at him.

He entered the near empty courtroom. The audience had left. The Regent and Chancellor Gronack were standing in front of the wall which obscured the brain's tank, peering over Alf's body which was strapped to the same stretcher that, not long before, had held Captain Valdour. The android's bowler hat lay discarded on the floor nearby. A single soldier stood by Alf's head, holding the ends of what looked like a rope made of pure blue light in its two hands. As it stretched its hands wide, the beam went taut above Alf's exposed neck. Above the scene hovered the figure of Z'habar Z'habar Estagog.

The aliens around Alf's stretcher didn't notice Johnny until he came quite close—it was Z'habar Z'habar Estagog's shriek that alerted the others.

“Nobody move,” Johnny shouted, taking the disruptor from its holster and waving it at the assorted aliens gathered around Alf. He ran to the far side of the stretcher, took the cord from the soldier and tossed it away. Then he stood with his back to the wall so he could also cover the side exit.

“Oh please,” squealed Chancellor Gronack. “This is too good to be true. You came back for this sub-sentient mechanoid? Not even I thought you were that stupid.”

“Shut up,” said Johnny as he waved the others away from the stretcher with the end of the gun. “You too,” he added, looking up at Z'habar Z'habar Estagog who had begun whispering renewed commentary. Hoping it would work, he fumbled for
Alf's left ear, pulled it out and rotated it three hundred and sixty degrees, all the time keeping the blaster moving between the different aliens.

“Master Johnny,” came the voice from the stretcher. “I told you not to return.”

“I wasn't leaving you behind,” said Johnny. “We're … family.” He pointed the disruptor at Chancellor Gronack's face and said, “Release him.”

“Or what?” asked Gronack. “You'll shoot me? You haven't got the nerve.” Behind the Phasmeer, a dozen soldiers ran into the courtroom, fanned out and took up aim.