Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl. The Opal Deception

Butler poked his massive head past his charge’s shoulders. ‘Do you have any hot waffle to draw the missiles away?’

‘This is a transport shuttle,’ replied Holly. ‘We were lucky to have shields.’

‘The missiles are coming after our heat signature?’

‘Yes,’ said Holly, hoping there was an idea on the way.

‘Is there any way to significantly alter that signature?’

An option occurred to Holly then. It was so extreme that she didn’t bother running it past the shuttle’s other occupants.

‘There is one way,’ she said, and turned off the engines.

The shuttle dropped like a rock through the chute. Holly tried to manoeuvre using the flaps, but without propulsion it was like trying to steer an anchor.

There was no time for fear or panic. There was only time to hang on to something and try to keep your last meal inside your body.

Holly gritted her teeth, swallowing the panic that was trying to claw its way out, as she fought the steering wheel. If she could keep the flaps centred, then they shouldn’t collide with the chute walls. At least this way they had a chance.

She flicked her eyes towards the readouts. The core temperature of the craft was dropping, but would it be quick enough? This section of the chute was reasonably straight, but there was a kink coming up in thirty miles and they would crash into it like a fly hitting an elephant.

Butler crawled up towards the rear of the ship. On the way he snagged two fire extinguishers and popped their pins. He tossed the extinguishers into the engine room and closed the door. Through the hatch he could see the extinguishers cartwheeling, covering the engine with freezing foam.

The engine temperature dropped another notch.

The missiles were closer now, and gaining.

Holly opened all the vents wide, flooding the shuttle with cool air. Another notch towards green on the temperature readout.

‘Come on,’ she said through rippling lips. ‘A few more degrees.’

They hurtled down and down, spinning into blackness. Little by little the ship was drifting to starboard. Soon it would smash into the kink that rose to meet them. Holly’s finger hovered over the ignition. She would wait until the last possible moment.

The engines cooled even further. They were efficient energy-saving units. When they were not in use, they quickly funnelled excess heat to the life-support batteries.

But still the missiles held their course.

The kink in the chute wall appeared in their headlights. It was bigger than an average mountain and was composed of hard, unforgiving rock. If the shuttle impacted, it would crumple like a tin can.

Artemis squeezed words from between his lips. ‘Not working. Engines.’

‘Wait,’Holly replied.

The flaps were vibrating now, and the shuttle went into a tumble. They could see the heat-seekers roaring up behind them, which were now in front of them, then behind them again.

They were close to the rock now. Too close. If Holly delayed just one more second, she would not have sufficient room to manoeuvre. She punched the ignition, veering to port at the last millisecond. The bow plates sent up an arc of sparks as they scraped along the rocky outcrop. Then they were free, zooming into the black void. That is, if you count being pursued by two heat-seekers as being free.

The engine temperature was still dropping and would be for maybe half a minute while the turbines heated up. Would it be enough? Holly punched the rear camera view up on the front screen. The rockets were still coming. Unrelenting. Purple fuel burning in their wake. Three seconds to impact. Then two. Then they lost contact, veering away from their target. One went over the top, the other under the keel.

‘It worked,’ sighed Artemis, releasing a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

‘Well done, soldier,’ grinned Butler, ruffling Holly’s hair.

Mulch poked his head through from the passenger area. His face was slightly green. ‘I had a little accident,’ he said. No one enquired further.

‘Let’s not celebrate just yet,’ said Holly, checking her instruments. ‘Those missiles should have detonated against the chute wall, but they didn’t. I can think of only one reason why they wouldn’t keep travelling in a straight line.’

‘If they acquired another target,’ offered Butler.

A red dot appeared on the plasma screen. The two missiles were heading directly for it.

‘Exactly. That’s an LEP supersonic attack shuttle, and, as far as they’re concerned, we’ve just opened fire on them.’

Major Trouble Kelp was behind the wheel of the LEP attack shuttle. The craft was travelling at over three times the speed of sound, booming along the chute like a silver needle. Supersonic flights were very rarely cleared, as they could cause cave-ins and, in rare cases, be detected by human seismographic equipment.

The shuttle’s interior was filled with impact-gel to dampen the otherwise bone-breaking vibration. Major Kelp was suspended in the gel in a modified pilot’s suit. The ship’s controls were connected directly to his gloves, and the video ran into his helmet.

Foaly was in constant contact from Police Plaza.

‘Be advised that the stolen shuttle is back in the chute,’ he informed Trouble. ‘It’s hovering at one twenty-four miles.’

‘I have it,’ said Trouble, locating the dot on his radar. He felt his heart race. There was a chance that Holly was alive, and aboard that shuttle. And if that were true, he would do whatever it took to bring her home safely.

A sunburst of white, yellow and orange flared on his scopes.

‘We have an explosion of some kind. Was it the stolen shuttle?’

‘No, Trouble. It came from nowhere. There was nothing there. Watch out for debris.’

The screen was streaked with dozens of jagged yellow lines as hot metal shards plummeted towards the centre of the Earth. Trouble activated the nose lasers, ready for anything that might head his way. It was unlikely that his vessel would be threatened — the chute was wider than the average city at this depth. The debris from the explosion would not spread more than a mile. He had plenty of room to steer himself out of harm’s way.

Unless some of the debris followed him. Two of the yellow streaks were veering unnaturally in his direction. The on-board computer ran a scan. Both items had propulsion and guidance systems. Missiles.

‘I am under fire,’ he said into his microphone. ‘Two missiles incoming.’

Had Holly fired on him? Was it true what Sool had said? Had she really gone bad?

Trouble reached into the air, tapping a virtual screen. He touched the representations for both missiles, targeting them for destruction. As soon as they came into range, the computer would hit them with a beam of laser fire. Trouble steered into the middle of the chute so that the lasers would have the longest possible line of fire.

Lasers were only any good in a straight line.

Three minutes later, the missiles powered around the bend in the chute. Trouble barely spared them a glance, and the computer loosed two quick bursts, dispatching the missiles efficiently. Major Kelp flew straight through the shockwave, insulated by layers of impact-gel.

Another screen opened in his visor. It was the newly promoted Commander Ark Sool. ‘Major, you are authorized to return fire. Use all necessary force.’

Trouble scowled. ‘But, Commander, Holly may be on board.’

Sool raised a hand, silencing all objections. ‘Captain Short has made her allegiances clear. Fire at will.’

Foaly could not remain silent. ‘Hold your fire, Trouble. You know Holly isn’t behind all of this. Somehow Opal Koboi fired those missiles.’

Sool pounded the desk. ‘How can you be so blind to the truth, donkey boy? What does Short have to do to convince you she’s a traitor? Send you an e-mail? She has murdered her commander, allied herself with a felon and fired on an LEP shuttle. Blast her out of the air.’

‘No!’ insisted Foaly. ‘It sounds bad, I grant you. But there must be another explanation. Just give Holly a chance to tell us what it is.’

Sool was apoplectic. ‘Shut up, Foaly! What are you doing, giving tactical orders? You are a civilian, now get off the line.’

‘Trouble, listen to me,’ began Foaly, but that was all he managed to say before Sool cut him off.

‘Now,’ said the commander, calming himself, ‘you have your orders. Fire on that shuttle.’

The stolen shuttle was actually in view now. Trouble magnified its image in his visor and immediately noticed three things. First, the shuttle’s communications mast was missing. Secondly, this was a transport shuttle and not rigged for missiles and, thirdly, he could actually see Holly Short in the cockpit, her face drawn and defiant.

‘Commander Sool,’ he said. ‘I think we have some extenuating circumstances here.’

‘I said fire,’ screeched Sool. ‘You will obey me.’ ‘Yes, sir,’ said Trouble, and fired.

Holly had watched the radar screen, following Opal’s missiles through unblinking eyes. Her fingers had gripped the steering wheel until the rubber squeaked. She did not relax until the needle-like attack shuttle destroyed the missiles and coasted through the wreckage.

‘No problem,’ she said, smiling, bright-eyed, at the rest of the crew.

‘Not for him,’ said Artemis. ‘But perhaps for us.’

The attack shuttle hovered off their port bow, sleek and deadly, bathing them in a dozen spotlights. Holly squinted into the pale light, trying to see who was in the captain’s chair. A tube opened in the nose and a metallic cone nosed out.

‘That’s not good,’ said Mulch. ‘They’re going to fire at us.’

But, strangely, Holly smiled. It is good, she thought. Someone down there likes me.

The communications spike travelled the short distance between the two shuttles, burying itself in the stolen craft’s hull. A quick-drying sealant erupted from nozzles at the base of the spike, sealing the breach, and the nose cone unscrewed itself, dropping to the floor with a clang. Underneath was a conical speaker.

Trouble Kelp’s voice filled the room. ‘Captain Short, I have orders to blow you out of the air. Orders which I’d just as soon disobey. So start talking, and give me enough information to save both our careers.’

So Holly talked. She gave Trouble the condensed version: how this entire affair had been orchestrated by Opal, and how they could pick her up if they searched the chute.

‘That’s enough to keep you alive for now,’ said Trouble. ‘Though officially you, and any other shuttle occupants, are under arrest until we find Opal Koboi.’

Artemis cleared his throat. ‘Excuse me. I don’t believe you have any jurisdiction over humans. It would be illegal to arrest me or my associate.’

Trouble sighed. Over the speaker it sounded like a rasp of sandpaper. ‘Let me guess: Artemis Fowl, right? I should have known. You people are becoming quite the team. Well, let’s say you are a guest of the LEP, if that makes you any happier. Now, a Retrieval Squad is in the chute and they will take care of Opal and her associates. You follow me back to Haven.’

Holly wanted to object. She wanted to catch Opal herself. She wanted the personal pleasure of tossing the poisonous pixie into an actual gaol cell. But their position was precarious enough as it was, so for once she decided to follow orders.

E7, HAVEN CITY

Once they reached Haven, a squad of LEP foot soldiers boarded the shuttle to secure the prisoners. The police swaggered on board, barking orders, then they saw Butler and their cockiness evaporated like rainwater off a hot highway. They had been told that the human was big. But this was more than big. This was monstrous.