“Yes, Mom. I’m ready.”
“No warm up on the engine. We are going cold.” Ekka worked the levers and dials and the transmogrifier hummed to life as the ship shuddered and vibrated from the sudden power of the engine. She winked at him, then the ship lifted.
The Ten Legs hung onto the nose of the ship for a moment, but dropped back after it was twenty feet above the ground. Ekka veered the ship and saw the other three creatures scurrying toward Billy and the others, now free of the fence.
She banked the ship and slammed the side of the Argent hard into the Ten Legs and sent them sprawling. They were slow in rising and it gave Ekka time to slide the Argent to a stop in front of Billy.
The others were aboard in seconds and Ekka lifted off, hovering between the floor and the cave roof not far above them. The four creatures were focused on the ship and hurried toward it. Ekka spun the Argent in a circle and saw a dim light far ahead in the darkness that she hoped was the opening. She started forward, working hard to keep from hitting the floor or the walls or the ever-lowering roof.
Billy put his hand on her shoulder, startling Ekka because she was concentrating so hard on not crashing. He said, “Not to add any pressure on you, but they are gaining.”
“I love you, too,” she said.
The Ten Legs closed the distance and were only yards behind the Argent as they raced through the long cavern. Avi called through the speaking tubes fr
om his position at the rear of the ship. “We must be hurrying most fast because the creatures are almost touching the integrity of the Argent!”
The Argent lurched suddenly and the tail section dropped hard, amost striking the ground. Avi yelled, “They are touching it! They are most assuredly touching it!”
The cave mouth was approaching but Ekka wasn’t sure they would make it, for the opening was smaller than the rest of the cave and she would have to fly through it. Billy sat with Dakota in his lap and said, “Push it. You can do it.”
Ekka gritted her teeth and pushed the levers forward just as Avi yelled, “They are on us!”
[ 68 ]
The Argent shot out of the cave and four enormous Martian spiders leaped from the darkness and crashed to the ground inches short of the fleet ship.
Ekka banked the Argent and they saw the Ten Legs stand up and watch the ship flying through the Martian sky, then the creatures disappeared inside the cave.
Billy asked Ekka, “How is it flying with the web on it?”
“Sluggish, the turns are not crisp. We need to cut it away.”
“You’re the pilot, where do you want to land?”
Ekka pointed ahead. “Just ahead. At the start of the gold.”
“And Koothrappally will be somewhere close ahead..”
“Yes. I think we will find him soon.” Ekka flew above the canal but several hundred feet above the rim as she spoke.
Bixie approached Ekka and Billy, getting between them and speaking low, “I be feelin’ dangerousness close by. Down low in de canyon may be safer, I’m tinkin’.”
Billy said, “We’ll go a little bit further and set her down.”
Bixie looked at him, but didn’t argue. “If dat be yer choice, den.” She left and set beside Dakota.
Ekka squinted at something on the rim of the canal and said, “What are those, Billy?”
At that moment Guthrie spoke up from the hallway. “I am operational again, Billy, and there seems to be some action I missed.”
Billy called up Guthrie, who looked through the viewing window and said, “Those appear to be some sort of armament. There are several dozen on the other side of the rim as well, although the sigils are different for them.”
“Their banners?”
“Yes. The ones on the left hand side are green and yellow. The ones on the right are red and black.”
They saw the blossoms of flame from both sides, and the shells came straight for the Argent.