Virus Attack (18 page)

The
Nematode
discreetly emerged from the ground a few miles from their target, and the four villains crouched low in the rocky terrain so they could get a clear view of the technological marvel in front of them. The space shuttle sat on its pad, vapors streaming from its multiple couplings as it was readied for launch. But this was no ordinary space shuttle.

The growing interest in space tourism meant that private investors had bought Russia's scrapped Buran space shuttle. Originally developed in the 1970s as a direct rival to the American shuttle, the Buran looked similar. It was marginally larger, as it sat on a powerful
Energia rocket. Only its four enormous boosters and tall fuel tank set it visibly apart from NASA's vehicle.

The entire rocket sat on the launch pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, adorned with sponsorship logos. It housed four astronauts, or cosmonauts, as the Russians preferred, and two billionaires who had spent millions of dollars on their four-day holiday aboard the International Space Station. The launch had already been delayed because a herd of yaks had invaded the fertile launch area.

“Are you sure about this?” Viral said in a low voice. He looked paler than ever, if that was physically possible.

Basilisk shot him a look. “Surely you're not frightened?”

“Of course not,” Viral lied, and smiled weakly at Trojan. He had to try to impress the girl. “I just thought there could be
another
way we could do this.”

“The satellite needs to be under our control and your powers only work in a one-hundred-foot radius. Even if we could get past the firewalls, there's no way you could transmit your virus to the satellite. But if you're close enough, Worm can get you directly into the system.”

“Surely I can do that from the ground?” asked Worm. He was making no pretense of bravado. He was terrified.

“Impossible. The satellite has an internal network that, for safety reasons, is not accessible by computer from the ground. The only way Foundation technicians
can reach it is to fly up there and access it wirelessly. Trojan will get us on board the shuttle. Once we're close, you will bypass the satellite's electronic systems and open it up for Viral to infect. And I need to be there to make sure you don't mess everything up! So
yes
, we all need to be there.”

“Happy little team,” quipped Trojan. She was excited about the journey ahead. It sure beat robbing museums and dusty bank vaults.

A siren whooped across the complex followed by a countdown in both Russian and English. “T-minus sixty seconds.”

“This is it, Trojan. Get us inside—we're about to perform one of the most daring hijacks in history.”

Inside the cockpit of the shuttle, the three crew members were strapped to their seats, flat on their backs, facing the clear blue sky above them. American commander John Mather, Russian pilot Irenus Markov, and British flight engineer Rebecca Syms went through the final checks before launch. Their mission specialist and two tourists sat in the payload bay section of the shuttle during takeoff.

“T-minus forty seconds,” said the voice of Mission Control over their headsets.

“All systems go,” Commander Mather reported,
unaware of the new additions that had quantum tunneled into their payload.

Trojan had misjudged their position—and the four villains fell several feet to land on the rear wall, which at the moment was the floor due to the craft's vertical position. The payload bay was filled with supplies for the International Space Station, and partitioned so that a passenger cabin at the front could accommodate tourists. Worm sprained his ankle when he landed and yelped in pain. Viral fell next to him. Only Trojan reached out and attached herself to the wall, demonstrating another of her powers, the ability to cling to sheer surfaces like a lizard.

“Wait here and prepare for launch by lying flat,” Basilisk commanded Viral and Worm. He pointed to a computer terminal recessed in the wall next to them. “Worm, connect Viral into the system. Override Mission Control's remote access to the ship.”

Basilisk then flew up to the bulkhead door and smashed the pressure hatch open with a single punch. Trojan quickly climbed after him.

The mission specialist looked around in alarm as Basilisk entered. She barked something in Russian. One of the two tourists pulled out his camera and took a picture, the flash creating spots in front of Basilisk's eyes.

“Trojan, deal with them!”

Basilisk powered through the cockpit door, yanking it
off its hinges. The door fell back down the entire length of the ship, where it smashed between Worm and Viral.

The tight harnesses prevented the crew from turning fully around as Basilisk levitated into the cockpit to collective gasps of amazement.

“T-minus thirty seconds,” said the oblivious Mission Control. “Countdown handed to Buran. Godspeed, guys.”

Commander Mather reacted instantly. “Abort! Abort! Mission Control—”

“Tough luck, Commander. Mission Control is out of the loop. You're taking us straight up.”

Flight Engineer Rebecca Syms thumped the quick-release on her harness and lunged for Basilisk. She slugged him across the face, and Basilisk, caught off guard, stumbled into a control bank. The pilot and commander both moved to free themselves—but Basilisk snapped out with lightning speed and grabbed the woman around the throat.

“No! You move and she dies! I suggest you cooperate and we all get ready for launch.”

“T-minus twenty seconds.”

It was pure luck whose glitching powers enabled them to fly, and luck was with Toby and Pete. Once again Grimm reminded them that the powers could wear off or take on unwanted side effects at any moment, but
they had insisted that they follow Lorna's hunch and head to Kazakhstan rather than Mongolia.

Mr. Grimm had canceled the stabilizing effect of the wristbands and after giving new ones to Lorna and Pete, had given them the last vial of artificial teleportation powers so they could jump to the launch site. The Foundation had been frantically trying to get through to the Kazakhstan mission control, unaware that Viral had infected and blocked all outside communications.

Now Toby and Pete were flying straight for the mighty Buran shuttle poised for launch on the pad.

“Wow! It's just like the real one!” said Pete in awe.

“It
is
a real one!”

“You know what I mean. Look! Basilisk!” shouted Pete as they neared. Sure enough, through the cockpit windows they could see Basilisk and Trojan lying flat against the bulkhead, in readiness for launch.

“T-minus sixteen,” echoed the voice over the PA system. A water tower adjacent to the pad unleashed more than 250,000 gallons of water, which would absorb the sound of the boosters igniting.

Both heroes landed on the nose of the shuttle—using one of their stealth powers left over from Mexico, the ability to stick to walls. It was the same power Toby had experienced the first time they'd logged onto Hero.com. They peered through the window at stunned faces. The crew couldn't believe that two children had
climbed up the shuttle seconds before launch—and Basilisk was brimming with fury.

“I just hope Lorna and Emily can stop the countdown in time,” shouted Toby, “or this will get really complicated!”

Lorna, Emily, and Mr. Grimm had teleported directly into Mission Control. The technicians had panicked—and armed security raced into the room.

“Stop the launch!” Lorna bellowed.

The guards raised their guns and Emily pointed a hand at them—and hoped her erratic powers wouldn't harm the guards too much. Instead the metal guns jerked from their grip and flew toward her—as did many other metal items not bolted down. Emily was struck to the floor by a cascade of flying metal objects that buried her.

“Listen to the girl,” said Mr. Grimm in his ever-calm tone. “There are hijackers aboard the shuttle.”

The Mission Controller stared at him. He'd worked many years for NASA before taking on this private, and better paid, job. He'd seen many weird things in his time—although people teleporting into his Command Center was certainly high on the list. But his professional sense overruled any alarm he felt.

A technician called out. “We've lost contact with the
shuttle. It looks like we have a computer virus overriding the system!”

“You've got to do something!” Lorna said desperately.

“T-minus ten.”

A technician looked up. “The noise suppression system is activated!”

The Mission Controller shook his head as the automated countdown continued.

“She's going to launch—and there's not a thing we can do about it!”

Basilisk's eyes shone brightly—but both heroes ducked away from the cockpit windows before the petrification could affect them.

“Get out there and stop them!” he shouted at Trojan.

She reacted in surprise. “Me?”

“I can't have them ruining the plan! We've come too far!”

“I don't think it's stopping,” Pete said with a tremor of apprehension as the entire spacecraft rumbled with pent-up power.

“T-minus eight—” The voice was drowned out as hydrogen igniters activated in each of the powerful engines.

“I don't think we thought this through,” exclaimed Pete. “How are we going to stop it?”

“I don't know!”

“You're supposed to be our fearless leader!” yelled Pete.

“You can't stop us, boys,” said Trojan as she appeared from thin air. She scuttled across the nose cone like a gecko.

Pete snarled. He remembered the experience of being imprisoned with Trojan. He lashed out and was happy to see an energy blast shoot over her head—exploding against the steel gantry supporting the shuttle.

Everybody's next move was cut short as the countdown reached six seconds and the main engines started. Stuck on the nose cone of the shuttle it sounded like the Big Bang, and they could feel their insides vibrate in a nauseating fashion.

“What do we do?” screamed Toby. But he couldn't hear his own words. He also didn't see Trojan throw her plasma disk at him. It slammed into Toby's chest with such force he rolled off the nose cone.…

And was only saved from falling as his hand attached him like a limpet to the side of the shuttle. He had trouble breathing and wondered if he'd broken a rib.

Then his whole world blew apart.

Water from the sound suppression system had hit
the flames from the main engines and sent colossal clouds of white steam around the base of the vehicle. Toby felt a wave of heat roll across his body. Then the launch pad swung away and the shuttle punched forward into the sky.

Inside, Basilisk, Worm, and Viral were thrown flat against the bulkheads. They felt a great weight on their chests as the g-force increased. Basilisk possessed a greater strength than most humans, so the acceleration was not as bad for him.

In the Command Center, Lorna and Emily watched the launch with a sinking feeling. The numerous video cameras around the site clearly showed Trojan and Pete crushed flat against the nose cone and Toby dangling from the side.

Pete was right over the nose cone as it cleared the tower. He unconsciously mustered superstrength from his random powers and the pain he felt from the g-force immediately subsided. He was now able to look up.

Trojan was not too far away, and it was only her adhesion power that prevented her from falling off. She gathered her strength and laboriously crawled toward Pete.

Toby felt as though his arms were popping from their sockets. He glanced down to see the ground spiraling as the shuttle rolled onto its back so that the giant rocket carrying them up was now
above
his head.
He secured his hands and feet. Like Pete, some inner reserve of power welled up and took the g-force pressure away, allowing him to scuttle back up the shuttle in time to see Trojan's plasma disk smash into Pete's face, almost dislodging his glasses.

Pete rolled uncontrollably off the nose cone—and managed to stick to the flat black underbelly of the shuttle—falling into the gap between the Energia rocket and the shuttle. He glanced down and realized that, had he slipped down the full length, the powerful rocket thrusters that were carrying them to the heavens would have vaporized him. And he was certain
none
of his superpowers would have saved him from that.

Toby unleashed a lightning bolt from his fingertips that bounced from the shuttle's heat tiles. Trojan threw herself aside, only just avoiding it.

The shuttle rolled again, and both she and Toby flailed for balance as they saw the ground move below them. Neither knew it, but they had just breached the sound barrier, and only their superhuman powers kept them attached to the side of the shuttle. The intense rush of wind made it impossible to talk, so Toby settled for another lightning blast—just as Trojan threw a plasma disk. The two projectiles collided in the air with a loud bang as they canceled one another out. Toby blinked because of the flash—and Trojan was gone. He assumed she must have been thrown off.

Toby frantically tried to think how they could bring the shuttle down without injuring the crew inside. It seemed like an impossible task. He didn't notice that Trojan had scuttled to the side of the fuselage so she could approach him unseen. She threw a punch.

Toby felt his jaw click and stars flashed before his eyes. He skidded down the side of the shuttle—and was alarmed to discover he had no grip left.

His adhesive ability was gone!

Trojan didn't think she had hit the boy that hard—but Toby slipped from the side of the shuttle and fell.

He caught the lip of the shuttle's delta wing. His enhanced strength was the only thing preventing him from plunging to a fiery death among the boosters. He was briefly aware that the sky was becoming darker above him and a rich blue beneath him. He knew they must be seconds away from both suffocation and being fried in the atmosphere.