The Armoured Ghost Page 7

  Rake stood proudly in his red and black armour.

  ‘You carry the most weapons in the group,’ Salt told him. ‘Your suit is designed for strategy and offence. It has a range of small hand-to-hand and throwing weapons. The suit’s gauntlets can fold down into wrecking-ball-style fists to deliver devastating punches. Your armour has a selection of maps of Earth on microfilm slides that can be viewed with the helmet’s visor. The visor itself comes with a selection of magnification lenses for studying the environment – close-up and at a distance.

  ‘Your main weapon is your short sword, whose handle extends out so that it forms a lance.’

  Tea-Leaf was admiring how light and flexible her grey and black armour was.

  ‘You are the spy and scout,’ Salt declared. ‘Your armour’s light-sensitive material can change colour, reflecting its surroundings, which offers a very effective camouflage. Equipment includes lock-picks, a manual microfilm camera loaded in the helmet, and climbing gear. The suit also carries a digital storage device for carrying software for hacking and downloading viruses. But once it’s plugged into a computer, there is a serious risk of detection. Built for silence and speed, your suit is the lightest and most vulnerable suit of armour.

  ‘Your main weapon is your crossbow, which has a dagger in the handle.’

  Oddball was examining all the features of his yellow and black armour.

  ‘You are the scavenger and engineer,’ Salt informed him. ‘Your suit is the heaviest in the group. It is built to make best use of its environment. The suit carries a wide range of tools and a small selection of basic chemical compounds. It also has sockets for channelling power and electrical signals. These connections will allow you to hook into most forms of technology, but always at the risk of being detected. The vents in the helmet will enhance your sense of smell many times over, making you an effective tracker and allowing you to identify a wide range of materials and chemicals. As with Rake’s helmet, your visor comes with a selection of lenses.

  ‘Your main weapon is your warhammer, which breaks up into different tools.’

  Hoax was already fiddling with his orange and black armour, wondering what kinds of tricks it had up its sleeves . . . and any other places.

  ‘Your roles are deception and misdirection,’ Salt growled, pulling the boy’s helmet up and making him stand straight. ‘Your armour plates are sprung to give them a counter-punch quality. If someone hits them, some of the force of the blow rebounds back at them. You can also jettison armour plates in order to slip out of an attacker’s grip. The suit’s helmet can amplify your voice – so you can make good use of that overactive imagination of yours. Secret compartments in the armour will enable you to trick your opponents. You can spread oil or ball bearings on the ground to cause your opponents to slip, or toss a smoke bomb and disappear.

  ‘Your main weapon is a stick that breaks into a nunchaku.’

  Hoax pulled the stick apart, revealing that the two halves were joined by a chain. He practised swinging it around his body.

  ‘Finally you, Snow, are responsible for protection and evasion,’ Salt said to the smallest in the group. ‘Your armour is almost as light as Tea-Leaf’s armour, but is much tougher. It offers the best defence of all the suits. It can protect you against extreme heat and cold. It is light, to allow you to move easily. The low friction surfaces will make it hard to keep hold of you. A fold-away hang-glider can be fitted onto the suit’s back, and there are roller-blades in the soles of your boots. You also carry basic medical supplies and your shield can be expanded to three times its size, allowing you to shield others.

  ‘Your main weapon is your baton, which can also fire a climbing rope.’

  Snow looked at the T-shaped baton, careful not to release the safety catch on the weapon’s trigger.

  Salt stood back and stared at them long enough to make them uncomfortable.

  ‘The suits will improve your strength and speed and your senses. They will make the most of your talents. The visors will help you see through illusions and spot magic when it is being used against you. You need another few days to get used to training in your armour and to practise with their features,’ he said. ‘Then we go outside. I don’t need to tell you, that’s when things really get tough.’

  Chapter 16

  A Desperate Message

  THE DAY HAD finally come. Salt had received a cry for help and decided his young students were ready for their first mission. Carrying their armour in packs, they walked up the tunnel to the secret entrance into the Armour Department shuttle bay and sneaked on board Salt’s ship. Once the hatch was shut and they were all belted up, Salt hit the thrusters and all six of them were shoved back into their seats as the craft roared out into the night sky.

  They flew out over the maze of lights marking buildings and streets. Up there, they circled among all the other ordinary shuttles travelling across the vast city. Salt engaged the autopilot and they put on their armour. The cadets were still getting used to this – some of the pieces were tricky. This time, Salt put on his too – a green and black suit that was scarred by countless battles. His totem was already attached to his chestplate, but he took it off for some reason and fiddled with it. He held it up to his ear, then pressed something on the back, before fitting it back into its socket.

  ‘This might well be a wild-goose chase,’ he said to them, as he sat back down in his pilot’s seat. ‘But we have to check it out. For the last few days, I’ve been picking up a message on a radio channel that hasn’t been used on Earth for years. It’s the Armouron emergency channel. The message is badly broken up, as if it was sent using damaged equipment. Have a look.’

  He brought it up on the shuttle’s main screen. The image was fizzing and distorted, but they could see the face of a figure in a suit of armour. His visor was up and there was fear and determination on his face. They could tell from his armour that this was an Armouron Knight.

  ‘I’m not dead . . . not yet,’ the knight growled at the screen. It flickered, disappeared in a rush of electronic snow, then came back again. ‘There’s more to me than a suit of armour.’ The image and sound crackled into nothingness, but came back again. ‘And it takes more than strength to win a fight. But no walking kettle will ever understand that.’

  The image disappeared, but they heard a terrible despairing wail before the static took over. Salt switched it off.

  ‘It’s been playing over and over again,’ he told them. ‘There’s no telling when it was recorded.’

  ‘That guy . . .’ Rake said quietly. ‘I think I know him, but I can’t remember where from. His name is Karn. He’s really familiar somehow.’

  ‘You’ve never met him,’ Snow said, reaching out to touch the medallion on Rake’s chestplate. ‘But I think . . . I think you’re wearing his power totem.’

  ‘She’s right,’ Salt said, giving Snow a curious look. ‘Karn was the last knight to wear it. That totem has a lifetime of his memories soaked into it and you’re picking up on some of them. This man was one of my oldest friends. Karn gave his medallion to me before I came here. We had six totems and we were being hunted across the galaxy by a creature – a living robot – of terrible power. The Armournaut. An armoured ghost, centuries old, devoted to wiping out the Armouron Knights.

  ‘I was badly wounded and the Armournaut had almost caught up with us. The future of the Armouron was in our hands – we had to stop that monster from getting the totems. So Karn stood and fought the thing while I escaped with the totems. I was certain that he was dead. The Armournaut disappeared not long after the Armouron did. I heard that it had been destroyed in a huge space battle on the edge of the galaxy.’

  Salt looked down at his hands.

  ‘I’m still not sure Karn’s alive, but I have to find out. I’ve traced the signal to discover where it’s coming from. It’s right on the outskirts of the city. It could be ten years old, or he could have sent it a few days ago. There’s no way of telling.’ He raised his head
. ‘It could also be a trap. But if Karn is alive, we have to help him.’

  ‘Then let’s do it,’ Rake said.

  Salt flew as close as he dared to the area he had picked out. Then he landed in a deserted street, gliding the shuttle in under a bridge where it would attract less attention. They had to run the rest of the way, nearly two kilometres through dark streets, alleys and tunnels. Salt did his best to keep up, but his damaged leg slowed him down. The cadets stayed with him, but they were impatient to get to the source of the signal and solve the mystery.

  Tea-Leaf ran ahead, checking the way was safe. It was her job to find new ways round if the route was blocked or if there was a chance they might be seen, or spotted on camera. But she knew that people did not normally stay out late in Nu-Topia. The White Knights did not allow it.

  There were a few of the android police out, but the Armouron warriors steered well clear of them. Eventually, they came to the building Salt had been looking for. It was a factory, an enormous, long building in the shape of a woodlouse. Its roof was built of massive, curving arcs that overlapped each other. There were small windows up on the sides of the arcs, but no other easy way of seeing inside.

  ‘Tea-Leaf, Snow, check out the roof – try and get a look inside,’ Salt commanded. ‘Oddball, find a door we can open without too much noise. Hoax and Rake, keep watch. If anything happens, we meet back here. If we get split up, we meet back at the shuttle.’

  They were all heading in different directions when Salt called them back.

  ‘Wait,’ he said. ‘There’s something you might need to do.’

  He pointed to a public web console just outside the gate of the factory. The old knight gave them a phone number. He made them all memorize it.

  ‘If . . . if things go bad on us, I want you to call this number. I’ll give you a signal when you need to do it. I’ll say the words “I’m not dead yet.” Got it?’

  ‘Whose number is it?’ Rake asked. ‘Why aren’t they here now? How . . . how are they going to get here in time if we have to phone them?’

  ‘Just do as I say, boy!’ Salt growled. ‘Now, you’ve got a job to do. Get on with it.’

  Oddball quickly found a lock he could open and quietly slid back the heavy metal door. Salt went in first, with Rake following close behind. Oddball stayed just inside the door, waving Hoax in. Salt and Rake moved further inside. They drew their swords and took their shields from their backs.

  It was dark. The only light came from the windows above them, looking out on the night sky, but their visors made it much easier to see. The pair looked up and spotted Tea-Leaf and Snow coming in through a skylight high above them, ready to drop down on ropes. Salt gave his orders with hand signals. They were to stay put for now.

  He told Hoax and Oddball to stay near the wall. Rake followed his master on into the factory. It was a massive space filled with rows and rows of different kinds of machines. Conveyor belts, power tools and robotic arms.

  They heard a scream – a terrible wail. Moving faster through the machinery, they saw a figure huddled against the far wall. It was a man in a suit of armour. It was Karn.

  ‘No!’ Salt muttered.

  ‘I’m not dead . . . not yet,’ Karn growled. ‘There’s more to me than a suit of armour. And it takes more than strength to win a fight. But no walking kettle will ever understand that.’

  ‘He’s said that before,’ Rake whispered.

  ‘Look closer, lad,’ Salt grunted. ‘Your visor is not fooled by holograms. This is a recording. We’ve walked into a trap!’

  Suddenly, eight White Knights rose up from hiding places around them. They fired stun-guns at Salt and his cadet, but the weapons had no effect on their armour. The White Knights quickly drew their swords.

  ‘They should have come packing bigger guns,’ Salt said. Then he bellowed: ‘Let’s take these Kettles apart!’

  The androids rushed them all at once, but there were so many of them, they got in each other’s way. Salt cut two of them down in that first clash, his sword moving so fast it was just a blur. Rake stood with his back to his master, blocking, swinging and stabbing, as the Kettles’ blades seemed to come in from all directions.

  But then Hoax and Oddball were attacking the White Knights from behind. Oddball smashed bodies and limbs with his hammer. Hoax swept his stick right and left to clear a path, then he split it into a nunchaku. Spinning it on its chain, he cracked heads and broke joints. From high above, a crossbow bolt shot down and hit one of the androids in the head. The White Knight collapsed. Snow and Tea-Leaf dropped down on ropes, landing on the remaining android. Snow struck with her baton and shield, Tea-Leaf with the dagger pulled from her crossbow. In seconds, the fight was over.

  The warriors stood panting for breath, weapons still raised. All around them, the White Knights lay in pieces.

  ‘Don’t think much of their ambush,’ Rake snorted. ‘They didn’t know who they were messing with.’

  ‘No,’ Salt said, looking at the hologram of Karn, still flickering near the wall. ‘This was too easy. They knew exactly who they were messing with. And they’re not done yet. That was just the warm-up.’

  A monstrous figure dropped down behind him, making hardly any noise. It struck Salt on the back of the head, sending him sprawling to the floor.

  ‘THAT’S RIGHT, OLD MAN,’ the Armournaut said. ‘TIME FOR THE MAIN EVENT.’

  It was taller than any man – taller than a White Knight. Its grey armour jutted with ribs and spikes. Its head was long and seemed to be decorated with tubing and horns. Its narrow, curving, slanted eyes glowed a toxic green. It had a shield mounted on its left arm and held a sword in its right hand.

  ‘I thought you were dead,’ Salt groaned, trying to get to his feet. His head was spinning. ‘I heard you were floating in pieces out in dead space.’

  ‘THAT WAS THE STORY I WANTED PEOPLE TO TELL,’ the Armournaut told him. ‘I HAVE FEW ENEMIES LEFT. BUT IT SUITS ME TO HAVE THEM THINKING I’M DEAD. THAT WAY, THEY DON’T SEE ME COMING.’

  ‘Well, we see you now,’ Rake snarled. ‘Stand Together!’

  ‘Battle as One!’ his team-mates yelled together.

  ‘Rake, no!’ Salt shouted.

  The young warrior leaped into the air, his sword coming down in a perfect arc towards the robot’s head. The thing did not even raise its sword. It met the blow with its shield, drove the edge of the shield into Rake’s stomach and then smacked him across the head with it, knocking him onto a conveyor belt. The boy lay there, groaning.

  Oddball came at it next, his hammer humming through the air. Again, the Armournaut just used its shield, deflecting the strike. Oddball quickly reversed the move, swinging his weapon back to strike again. Before he could finish the swing, the monster kicked him in the chest. He was hurled across the floor, crashing into the wall.

  Tea-Leaf fired her crossbow – once, twice, three times. The robot let the first two bolts just bounce off its armour. It jammed its sword into the ground and caught the third bolt, flinging it back at Tea-Leaf. The force of the throw was hard enough for the bolt to pierce her armour. She only just got her shield up in time and found herself staring at the point as it punched through and stuck there. When she dropped her shield again, the robot was standing right in front of her. It knocked her out with a single punch.

  Snow jumped in to hit it over the back of the head with her baton. She swung the edge of her shield into the back of its neck. The Armournaut didn’t even look round. It reached down as she landed, grabbed her foot and swung her like a rag doll, tossing her across the room. She bounced off a conveyor belt and crumpled to the floor.

  Hoax was trembling as he came forwards. He’d had time to see all of his friends beaten. The Armournaut was growing impatient. It pulled its sword out of the ground and strode forwards. From a slot in his left gauntlet, Hoax fired some ball bearings at the thing’s feet. The robot slipped and stumbled. Hoax leaped at it, swinging his nunchaku. His weight was enough to knock it off
balance, but even as the monster fell, it seized the spinning stick and whacked it off Hoax’s head. The boy staggered back and the Armournaut kicked him into a piece of machinery.

  It was just getting off one knee when Salt attacked. The robot managed to block three lightning-fast strikes, but the fourth caught it a glancing blow across the head. Then Salt kicked its shield aside and drove his sword into its chest. The Armournaut let out a hiss and fell back onto one knee.

  ‘You let the young ones live,’ Salt sniffed, gripping his sword to try and pull it out of the robot’s chest. ‘That’s not like you.’

  ‘I HAVE USES FOR THEM,’ the thing replied. ‘AS A TEAM, THEY HAVE POTENTIAL. BUT YOU ARE TOO OLD TO BE OF USE.’

  Salt heaved at his sword again, but it would not come out of the robot’s chestplate.

  ‘YOU HAVE DELIVERED YOUR BEST BLOW,’ the Armournaut rumbled. ‘AND I AM STILL ALIVE. AND NOW I HAVE YOUR SWORD.’

  It hit him with its shield, the edge of it buckling the armour over Salt’s stomach. Grabbing its sword, it stood up and rained mighty blows down on the old warrior. Each strike of its sword cut deeper into his armour and shield. It was all Salt could do to stop the blade from cutting him in half. One by one, the five cadets began to recover their senses. They rose to find their master on his knees, his shield raised above him.

  With one sweep of its blade, the Armournaut cut a chunk off the shield and knocked the helmet from Salt’s head. The robot reached down to him, taking a grip of the old knight’s chestplate and ripping it off. Salt screamed as his armour came apart. The Armournaut still had Salt’s sword stuck in its own chestplate. It pulled the plate off and tossed it away. It replaced it with Salt’s, fitting the piece of armour into the sockets in its chest. Salt’s power totem gleamed in the setting on the chestplate. The old knight stared hard at it.

  ‘GIVE IN TO YOUR DEATH,’ the monster said.

  ‘Hah! I’m not dead yet,’ Salt gasped through gritted teeth.

  Hearing those words, Rake looked over at Oddball and Tea-Leaf, who were nearest the door. They nodded and hurried out. The other cadets crept closer, ready to help their master, but he waved them back.