Free Secret Weapon by Max Chase Page A

said. ‘So the comet, travelling through deep space, must be pretty close to absolute zero. We just need to do a heat-scan – if a warm spot shows up, we know it’s the Heart of Mars.’
    ‘Brilliant!’ Selene said.
    Peri clicked his fingers. The control panel glided across the Bridge towards him. His special connection to the Phoenix meant that he knew instinctively what to do. His fingers moved rapidly over the console as he activated the infrared scanner.
    An image of the comet appeared on the monitor. The body was a uniform dull red.
    ‘That can’t be right,’ Peri said. ‘It looks like the whole thing’s warm.’
    ‘Maybe the Heart of Mars heated the comet up,’ Selene suggested.
    Diesel shook his head. ‘It’s far too small to warm up a whole comet.’
     

     
    ‘It’s weird,’ Peri said slowly. ‘I wonder if the scanner’s not working properly.’
    ‘Whatever your instruments tell you,’ Jaxx said, ‘the Heart of Mars has to be on that comet. Trust me.’
    ‘That’s just the trouble,’ Otto grunted. ‘We don’t.’
    Selene glared at Otto. ‘The only thing we can do is land on the comet and look for the stone ourselves. When we find it, that’ll prove my dad is innocent.’
    Peri didn’t see how this would prove Jaxx’s innocence – especially since Jaxx had been planning to intercept the comet before the Phoenix came along. He didn’t say any of this aloud though. It would only upset Selene. Besides, right now the important thing was to recover the stone, whoever had stolen it.
    ‘We’ve got to try,’ Peri said. He had to prove General Pegg wrong. The general had made it clear that he wasn’t sure if Peri and Diesel were cut out to be Star Fighters.
    ‘The comet is very small,’ said Jaxx. ‘You won’t be able to land the Phoenix on it. And it’s travelling towards us at about fifty kilometres a second,’ he added. ‘It’s going to be very difficult to land anything at all.’
    ‘Well, we’ll think of a way,’ Peri said. He wasn’t about to fail – not when his future as a Star Fighter depended on it. ‘We’ve just got to.’

 
    Chapter 2
     
    ‘There must be a way to do this,’ Peri said. ‘Jaxx, how were you planning to intercept the comet?’
    ‘I had a one-person stealth craft – it was small enough to land on the surface,’ Jaxx replied.
    ‘Couldn’t we just shrink the Phoenix ?’ suggested Selene.
    ‘Not when it’s in motion,’ Peri said.
    ‘Even if you had landed on the comet,’ Diesel said to Jaxx, ‘how were you going to look for such a small stone?’
    ‘I had an Elemental X-Ray Detector,’ Jaxx said, ‘but it was left behind when you teleported me off the stealth craft.’
    ‘Not a problem!’ Peri said. ‘The Phoenix has an Elemental X-Ray Detector too.’
    ‘We would need to fly very close and remain at a constant distance to get a good reading,’ Jaxx said.
    Otto yawned noisily. ‘Boring!’ he said. ‘There’s no way we can search that comet, so it’s a waste of time talking about it.’ He yawned again and stretched, flexing his long rubbery arms.
    ‘Wait a minute,’ said Diesel, staring at Otto’s limbs. ‘What about a laser lasso! If we let the comet pull us along, we’d maintain the same speed.’
    ‘That might work,’ Peri said, slapping Diesel on the back. Maybe they were finally beginning to work as a team.
    ‘Yes,’ Jaxx said. His whole manner changed. He seemed to take control of the Bridge. ‘Peri, if Selene and I plot the coordinates, can you pilot the ship and bring it in close? And, Diesel, can you fire the lasso?’
    ‘What about me?’ Otto grumbled. ‘What am I supposed to do?’
    Jaxx shrugged. ‘Try not to get in the way.’
    Peri sat down in the captain’s chair and took hold of the ship’s Nav-wheel, as Otto moved to the back of the Bridge. Peri glanced across at Selene and her dad standing together, bent over a computer screen. The family resemblance between them was obvious now. He