Robot Warriors (11 page)

“Home, sweet home,” John sighed, as the door to their dorm slid open. It was still a mess from the day before. Discarded snack packets, drinking cups, and placards lay over all the surfaces.

“It’s empty,” Kaal said, with a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I thought our fans might be hiding in here.”

“Maybe we should check under the beds?” John joked.

After he and Kaal had been discharged from the medical wing that morning, he’d half-expected a crowd to be waiting for them. He hoped now that Robot Warriors was over, their supporters had found something else to occupy their time.

“I guess we have to get used to not being famous any more,” Kaal said with a grin. “I can live with that!”

“Welcome back!” Zepp said, his disembodied voice ringing from the hidden speakers. “Sorry to interrupt the homecoming, but all students are being called to the main lecture hall. Lorem’s called a special assembly; it’s due to start in ten minutes.”

“Well,” John said as they headed back out again, “that explains where everyone’s got to!”

When they arrived, they saw Emmie waving wildly to them from across the lecture hall.

“She looks like she’ll explode if she doesn’t get to tell us whatever’s on her mind,” John said. “Come on!” They took their places in MorphSeats on either side of Emmie.

“Guess who I saw being dragged off by four Examiners last night?” Emmie burst out, like a Brucko juice foaming over the cup. “Only the biggest loser on Hyperspace High!”

“No way!” John gasped.

“Yep. Mordant Talliver!”

“That’s it, then,” Kaal said in wonderment. “He’s finished.”

“He says he never meant to blow up his robot,” Emmie interrupted. “According to
him
, IFI was supposed to go into mega-force-field mode and become completely invulnerable. He says he left the stage because there was no way either of you could win.”

“What?” John said in disbelief. “That’s total garbage! He tried to blow up all our robots at once!”

“Conveniently, IFI’s in a million pieces now,” Emmie went on, “so nobody can prove Mordant was lying.”

“The Examiners will never believe that!” John scoffed. “Will they?”

“Well...” Emmie frowned. “Mordant was at breakfast this morning, so I guess he hasn’t been expelled. But I heard he’s got a week of detention, and Master Tronic’s giving him a fail for Robotics class. That will
sting.
”

“The Examiners probably think
he
believes his story,” Kaal said. ‘He can be pretty convincing.”

“You don’t think he tried to send you into space on purpose, do you?” Emmie asked nervously.

“I’ve been thinking about that a lot,” John admitted. “You know, I don’t think he really meant to do it. When he left the stage, he looked more ashamed than anything.”

Kaal nodded. “Ashamed of being the first Talliver to ever lose a Robot Warriors’ final in the whole history of Hyperspace High.”

“Yeah. He knew he was going to lose, and he couldn’t face it. So he tried to blow up all the robots out of spite. ‘
If I don’t win, then nobody wins
!’
” John mimicked.

“Talk about being a bad loser,” Kaal grumbled. “He nearly got us both killed with that stunt.”

“Shhhh!” Emmie whispered. “It’s Lorem!”

The headmaster appeared on stage in a brief shimmer of light. Immediately, the lecture hall fell into a respectful hush.

“I don’t need to remind you all what happened yesterday,” Lorem said gravely. “You were all there. You all saw it for yourselves. I am glad to tell you, however, that nobody was hurt and school will soon continue as normal. I am very grateful to all my staff for their help, especially the Meteor Medics. And now, I believe Mordant Talliver has some words to say.”

In front of everyone, Mordant stood up. He stared at the printout in his hand and refused to meet anyone’s eye.

“I would (
mumble
) to apolo—(
mumble
)...”

“Louder, please,” Lorem said cheerily.

Mordant bared his teeth and cleared his throat. “I would like to apologize to John Riley and Kaal in front of the whole school for my appalling behaviour during the Robot Warriors’ final.” He took a breath. “I acted in an unsportsmanlike fashion, in opposition to the values of Hyperspace High. I am very sorry and I promise to do better in future.” He sat down heavily.

John and Kaal exchanged glances – and grins.

“Well said, Mr Talliver. And now, I must point out that the winner of Robot Warriors was never announced.”

“What?” John whispered. “I thought there wasn’t going to be any winner this year!”

“Me too!” Kaal whispered back.

“I am aware that the outcome of the final was... unusual,” Lorem said, his eyes twinkling. “But this is a contest, and
someone
has to win. It is a very great honour to be the Robot Warriors’ champion, and it would be wrong to deny that honour to a deserving winner. So, Master Tronic, if you would?”

Master Tronic’s robotic form stepped onto the stage.

“We have reviewed holo-vids of the final battle up to the... unfortunate incident,” he said. “We decided to award the grand prize to the contestant who scored the most points before the incident took place. And the winner is...”

The whole school held its breath.

“Kaal!”

From
the applause and cheers
, John thought,
you’d think Kaal had saved the entire school from being dragged into a black hole
. Kaal looked at John, his eyes wide, clearly at a loss for what to do next.

“Get on the stage!” John urged him. The other students agreed, nudging and encouraging him until he eventually stood up and made his way forward. The applause got even louder.

Kaal stood nervously at the front of the stage, licking his sharp teeth. A tiny robotic microphone zipped out of nowhere and hovered in the air in front of him. Moments passed, and nothing happened.

Lorem crossed the stage and laid his hand on Kaal’s shoulder. “It is traditional to give a short acceptance speech,” he said softly. “A few words will do.”

Kaal nodded and took a deep breath.

“I want to say something,” he began.

“Go on, Kaal!” yelled a voice from the crowd.

There were some laughs and a little applause.

“I shouldn’t be up here,” Kaal said in a quiet, clear voice.

The laughter stopped.

“I was proud of Laserdon, but he’s nothing next to John’s robot. If it hadn’t been for Super-Rover, neither of us would be here at all. We’d be floating out there in space.”

The crowd stared up at Kaal in total silence, open-mouthed.

“John’s robot saved our lives and brought us back home. No robot’s ever done something as cool as that before. So, erm... John should be the winner. Instead of me. That’s all.”

“This is unprecedented!” Master Tronic said. John couldn’t tell if he was angry, upset, or just bewildered. “After everything else that’s happened, the winner wants to give up his victory! Headmaster, what are we supposed to do now?”

“I suggest you refer to the Examiners,” Lorem said, with the hint of a smile. “They know the rules better than any of us.”

“Very well,” Master Tronic said slowly, as if the idea made his circuits crawl. “Could I please have an Examiner on stage?”

Immediately, a panel slid open in a side wall, revealing a waiting Examiner. It glided up onto the stage, humming softly. Kaal stood his ground as it glowered at him.

“A CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORY IS NON-TRANSFERABLE,” it said coldly.

“That settles that, then,” Master Tronic said. “Now maybe we can—”

“HOWEVER,” the Examiner continued, “ACCORDING TO COMPETITION RULES SECTION EIGHTEEN POINT THREE, SUBSECTION DELTA BLUE, A CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORY... MAY BE SHARED.”

“What do you think, Kaal?” Lorem asked. “Would you like to share the victory with John?”

“Yes!” said Kaal, beaming.

“Then, to my great relief,” boomed Master Tronic, “I declare John Riley and Kaal Tartaru joint winners of this year’s Robot Warriors’ contest! John, please join us on the stage!”

Cheers rang out as John made his way through the crowd and joined Kaal on the winner’s pedestal in front of Master Tronic. The robotic teacher presented them with a trophy, shaped like Master Tronic in miniature. It even had a flashing red beam on its little metal skull.

John and Kaal each took one side of the trophy and lifted it together. The applause seemed to go on for ever. John heard Emmie cheering louder than anyone else, and saw her jumping up and down on top of her seat. He never wanted the moment to end.

Eventually, Master Tronic had to quieten the crowd so he could speak again. “History has been made today,” he said. “This is the first time there have ever been joint champions in the history of Robot Warriors.”

Lorem came across the stage to congratulate Kaal and John and to shake their hands. He gave John a long, steady look, as if his wise old eyes could see into John’s soul.

“Congratulations to you, John. Others from more advanced worlds may have called you a ‘primitive Earthling’, but you proved yourself their equal, and more. You have showed everyone – especially yourself – that what matters in life is not where you come from, but how far you travel.”

John had a sudden thought. Maybe, when Lorem had offered him the chance to leave Hyperspace High, he’d just been tricking him into trying his very best. After all, why had he felt so determined to prove himself? It had all begun with Lorem’s words in the TravelTube...

“Your prize is waiting for you in your dorm room,” Lorem said.

With so many happy fans surrounding them, getting back to the dorm room wasn’t easy.

Eventually, Emmie stepped in. Hands on hips, she declared, “OK, you lot, go carry on the party somewhere else! John and Kaal need a little time to themselves!”

With only a little grumbling, the fans left them alone.

Waiting in John and Kaal’s dorm was an amazing device. It looked like a matt black pedestal ringed with green light, connected by glowing cables to a massive assortment of game controllers – steering wheels, laser sword hilts, joysticks, blaster pistols, and even total-surround helmets.

“Is that what I think it is?” John asked.

Kaal nodded. “A brand-new HyperDominator 9000 gaming console, with all the peripherals and the virtual-reality add-on pack!”

“Best. Prize. Ever!” They both rushed to the console and began looking through the controllers and game data crystals.

“So,” Kaal asked. “Fancy a game, then?”

John grinned. “Why not?” After all, a bit of healthy competition wasn’t going to spoil his relationship with his best friend. He knew that now, for certain.

“Excuse me, John!” Zepp called out. “You have an incoming video call from your parents. Shall I put it through?”

Kaal quickly ducked into his bed pod, out of view.

“Go for it!” said John.

John’s parents appeared on the screen, waving. They were sitting on the sofa – the webcam must be next to the TV, John realized. Next moment, a brown and white Jack Russell charged across the screen. He stopped in the middle, cocked his head, and then shot off around the sofa.

“This is the newest member of the family!” John’s mum said, laughing.

“As you can see,” John’s dad said, “he’s a lively little chap. Come on, boy! Where’s your ball? Where is it?”

The Jack Russell wagged his tail and barked as he did another wall-of-death circuit of the sofa.

“He’s awesome!” John said.

“I think your dad’s a bit smitten,” his mum said. “He’s not sleeping on our bed, though. That’s final!”

His dad leaned into the camera, hands on his knees. “So, go on then. Don’t leave us in suspense. How did you do?”

John boggled. “
How did I do
?
”

“In the competition, of course!”

John’s jaw dropped. How could his parents possibly know about Robot Warriors?

“The
science
competition?” his mum prompted him.

Oh, yes
!
He’d forgotten about the fib he’d told them. “My project won joint first prize!” he announced proudly.

“That’s brilliant news!” his mum said.

His dad clapped. “Knew that place would bring out the best in you.”

John glanced at his prize. He couldn’t wait to try out the new console. “I ought to go.”

“Of course,” said his mum. “But before you do, there’s one last thing we need to ask you. We can’t think of a name for the dog! What do you think we should call him?”

John didn’t even hesitate.

“Super-Rover!”

...for a sneak peek of the next Hyperspace High adventure.

John Riley reeled backwards, as a heavy punch smashed into his face. He slammed into the side of the fight cage, causing the metal fence to rattle. Rising to his feet with difficulty, he grimaced at his opponent. “Nice move, Kaal,” he said. He checked himself over. His armour was battered and torn; one arm hung useless by his side. His power was down to ten per cent, and his health was used up.

The fight was going badly.

The crowd roared, crying out for more. John looked up at the flashing scoreboard. Kaal was leading by eight points, with less than fifteen seconds until the end of the match. John needed a knockout to win. Staggering, he launched himself at his best friend, his remaining fist pulled back for a massive blow.

Kaal’s great leathery wings snapped out. “Come on, then, tiny Earthling!” he yelled. His wings beat the air, and he flew to the top of the cage.

John’s fist met nothing but empty air. Nervously, he looked up. The diving attack was one of Kaal’s favourites. It was totally devastating.

If he catches me...

As the green alien dropped, face grinning in demonic glee, John kicked away from the ground. With a shout of “Anti-grav!” he soared into the air, spinning. An unexpected mid-air roundhouse kick crunched into Kaal’s chest.

“Ooof!” grunted the Derrilian, falling backwards.

John crashed into the fight cage, using it to kick off back towards Kaal. “Power strike!” he yelled. An armoured fist, blazing white light, crunched into his friend’s jaw, throwing him back. “
Gotcha
!” John yelled, laughing. “Crushed like a bug, Riley-styley.”

Wings hanging limp, Kaal slid down the bars, landing in a heap on the floor.

“KNOCKOUT!” a huge voice bellowed. “JOHN RILEY WINS WITH THREE SECONDS TO SPARE!”

Around the cage, thousands of aliens rose from their seats and cheered their approval. Tentacles, hands, claws, and flippers slapped together; shouts of “JOHN! JOHN!” filled the air. Lights flashed. John put one foot on the slumped body of his friend, as a ring of stars and planets spun around Kaal’s head. Roaring in triumph, he raised a glowing fist in triumph.

“Oh for the love of Sillar, you’re going to be late for breakfast,” said a girl’s voice over the noise of the screaming crowd. “You’re not even dressed yet.”

Bowing to the vast audience of aliens, John sighed. “Quit Boxogle,” he said. The fight cage and crowd disappeared in a blink, leaving only blackness before his eyes.

Reaching up, John pulled a close-fitting helmet off his head. “Morning, Emmie.” He grinned at the beautiful golden-skinned girl leaning against the doorframe.

On the squashy black sofa opposite, Kaal removed his own helmet. He, too, grinned, revealing a mouth full of sharp white fangs. “Good fight,” he said, leaning forwards to high-five John – an Earth custom that had caught on among John’s friends. “That
almost
hurt. You were lucky, though. I’m going to totally pulverize you in the rematch... Oh, hi Emmie. What time is it?”

By the door, Emmie Tarz hooked a mane of silvery hair behind a slightly pointed ear. She rolled her navy-blue eyes. “It’s time for you to get out of virtual reality and into
reality
reality,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re playing Boxogle at this time of the morning. Class starts in less than half an hour and you’re still in your pyjamas.”

“Don’t bother telling them,” said a voice that seemed to come from nowhere. “I have been saying they need to get ready the last twenty minutes. It’s quite useless.” Zepp, the ship’s computer, sounded almost as exasperated as Emmie.

“Thirty minutes? If we skip breakfast, there’s still plenty of time,” said Kaal, leaning back. “Want a quick game, Emmie?”

Emmie snorted. “You want your butt kicked twice in one morning, do you?”

“I must remind you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and in addition, the Examiners punish lateness with detention,” Zepp said.

“OK, OK,” said John, jumping up. Hauling a silver and red Hyperspace High jumpsuit out of his locker, he looked over his shoulder. “Come on, Kaal. Unless you’d rather sit in detention than face me in a rematch later.”

“You wish,” said Kaal, reaching for his own jumpsuit as John headed into the bathroom.

“Please hurry up. I’m
starving
,” Emmie muttered.

A few minutes later the three students were running along a corridor towards the canteen. “There are more important things in life than virtual reality games, you know,” Emmie said, panting.

“There are?” John shot back. “Like what?”

“She’s talking some sort of crazy gibberish,” Kaal said, grinning. “There’s
nothing
more important than virtual reality games... Hey, what on Derril i
s
that
?” Kaal skidded to a halt so quickly that John ran into his back.

“Hey, watch where...” John’s annoyance trailed off as he also found himself glancing out the viewing window.

“Wow!” gasped Emmie, jogging to a halt beside him. “That’s incredible.”

John took a step closer to the window. Outlined by stars, an enormous pyramid of shining purple cruised alongside Hyperspace High. Its smooth sides gleamed, looking as if they were made of glass lit from within. Nothing broke the flawless expanse of purple – no sign of engines or any markings. Mysterious and beautiful, the huge pyramid slipped through space, closer and closer to one of the gigantic white wings that housed Hyperspace High’s sensors, force field generators, and hangar decks. The pyramid, however, was far too large to fit inside even Hyperspace High’s cavernous hangars. As John watched, the craft swung to a docking port.

A faint shudder ran through the deck beneath John’s feet, as the pyramid was joined to the great bulk of Hyperspace High by the huge docking clamps.

“Whoa,” John said under his breath. “Every time I think I’m getting used to weird space stuff, something even more freaky comes along.”

He had been at the space school for only half a term. Seven weeks ago one of the teachers had mistaken him for a Martian prince. He had been brought on board by accident – and then nearly thrown out of an airlock into space. The headmaster had stepped in at the last moment, giving him a temporary place as a student. The place had become permanent after John helped his classmates escape an exploding volcano planet.

Since then, while John’s parents believed he was at a boarding school in Derbyshire, he had fought warrior aliens, flown spaceships at faster-than-light speed, learned to use technologies far beyond anything on Earth, and met bizarre beings from hundreds of different worlds. He had even eaten in a restaurant that only served eyeballs. Strange things had become so commonplace that John often thought he’d be shocked if he weren’t freaked out at least once a day.

But even with all of this, the pyramid was breathtaking.

“Is that a
spaceship
?” John asked, realizing it was a ridiculous question even as he said it.
Of course it’s a spaceship, idiot,
he told himself
. You can tell by the way it flies through space.

If it was a stupid question, however, neither of his friends seemed to notice.

“It must be,” breathed Emmie, as they hurried to the canteen. “But I’ve never seen anything like it before, or even
heard
of a ship like it. And I thought I knew every model in the universe.”

“We’d better eat fast,” said Kaal, as he pulled a tray from the dispenser in the table. “Hmm, flavworms. I was hoping for klatfingers.”

John glanced over Kaal’s shoulder as he sat, realizing it was a mistake as soon as he saw the bowl of writhing pink worms. Wrinkling his nose, he tried to ignore Kaal taking his first mouthful and pulled his own tray closer.

“Ugh, you’ve got those horrible bird bottom things
again
,” said Emmie in disgust.

“Eggs. They’re called eggs. And they’re a lot nicer than... than... whatever that disgusting gloop is you’re eating.”

“It’s Sillaran slurrige,” replied Emmie. “Very tasty and full of healthy goodness. Here, try some.” She held out a spoon overflowing with lumpy goo towards John.

John rocked back in his chair. “I’ll stick with the eggs, thanks.”

“So where do you think that ship came from?” asked Kaal, through a mouthful of worms. “Do you think we’re being raided by space pirates?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kaal,” replied Emmie. “It’s an amazing ship, though. I hope it’s a new model and Jegger’s going to let us fly it.”

“It’s a lot bigger than a t-dart or a Xi-Class Privateer,” said John doubtfully. The spaceships he’d flown for Space Flight class were tiny compared to the huge pyramid.

“That’s why it would be so much fun,” said Emmie, waving her spoon about. “Imagine how much power a ship that size must have.” Her eyes glistened with excitement – Emmie was one of Hyperspace High’s top pilots and loved nothing more than trying out a new ship. “Imagine how
fast
it could go,” she finished.

“Imagine trying to
land
it,” John replied. “It’s difficult enough in a t-dart.”

“Maybe we’ve picked it up because it’s in distress,” Kaal said thoughtfully. “Engine failure or something.”

“Could be visitors from another universe,” John suggested, putting on a spooky voice. “Aliens from other worlds.” He meant it as a joke and was surprised to see Emmie and Kaal both nod their heads.

“Could be,” said Emmie. “My dad says the Galactic Fleet occasionally gets reports of unidentified flying objects. Some people think they might be ships from parallel universes or galaxies on the other side of black holes.”

Kaal nodded. “There are millions of planets with life on them we haven’t discovered yet.”

John almost choked on a piece of toast. “You mean UFOs?” he gasped. He stared at his friends: Kaal who looked like a huge, green demon, and Emmie with her softly glowing skin and pointy ears. “
You
believe in aliens?”

Emmie stared at him. “What’s so funny about that?”

“On my planet, Hyperspace High would be a UFO.
You
would be aliens. I’m talking to aliens who believe in aliens!”

Kaal patted him on the shoulder. “Yes, but your planet is a bit... umm... how can I put this?”

“Backwards,” said Emmie with a grin.

“Undeveloped, I was going to say.” Kaal patted John’s shoulder again. “But don’t worry, it should catch up in another ten thousand years or so.”

John couldn’t help laughing. Everyone on the ship, except the headmaster, seemed to think that the people of Earth were primitive, but he knew his friends were only teasing him. He was about to retort, when a chime rang through the canteen.

“Uh oh,” said Kaal quickly, shovelling in the last mouthful of flavworms. “Better get going.”

The pyramid ship forgotten, John jumped to his feet and snatched the bag that contained his ThinScreen. “What have we got this morning anyway? I’ve completely forgotten.”

“Space Survival,” said Emmie, as they hurried down a corridor. “And we’ve got five minutes to get there or we’ll all be in detention.”

As they started running to class, a pulsing ball of bright light zipped past, headed in the direction of the docking port. For a second it continued on its way before coming to a sudden stop and heading back towards them.

In a flash, the bright light changed into the shape of a bald alien wearing robes as white as snow. His skin shimmered softly, and his purple eyes twinkled with energy.

“Good morning, sir,” Kaal, Emmie, and John chorused together.

Lorem, the headmaster of Hyperspace High, raised an eyebrow. Usually, he enjoyed stopping and chatting with students he met along the ship’s passages, taking time to find out how their studies were going and swapping jokes. Today, however, he seemed to be in a rush. “The three of you are late for class,” he said, without wishing them a good morning.

“Errr... yeah,” John spluttered. “We were just—”

“Playing Boxogle?” Lorem finished for him.

There was a moment of silence. “
Well
?” the headmaster said, raising his eyebrow again.

“Yes, sir.” John knew it would be no use making up another excuse – not when the headmaster could see things that were hidden from most people. Sometimes even the future.

“Tomorrow morning you may wish to spend less time playing Boxogle and more time brushing your hair.”

With a wink of his purple eye, Lorem vanished in a flash of light. John ran to catch up with his friends, running fingers through his untidy mop of blond hair, as they watched the ball of energy disappear in the distance.

Freaky space stuff
, John thought again.

Read Warlord’s Revenge to find out what happens next!