Deadly Mission Read Online Free Page A

was offering himself up to a firing squad.
    A guard raised a webbed hand to warn Otto back. “Don’t come any closer.”
    â€œStay behind Otto,” Diesel whispered to Peri. “If they shoot, they’ll hit him first.”
    Otto stopped beside the nearest guard, who looked as surprised as Peri was. What was the Meigwor up to?
    Otto pulled down his collar. Before theguards could react, Otto uttered a low, guttural sound. His neck bulged and twisted. He sounded a bit like a giant Martian wildcat purring, and it made the circuitry in Peri’s head buzz.

    Peri clamped his hands over his ears. It was a horrible noise. He wondered why Otto was doing it. But then he noticed that the guards had stopped moving. It was as ifOtto had turned them to stone. Peri couldn’t believe his eyes.
    Diesel prodded one of the guards. “Cool, guard-cicles.”
    â€œStop messing around!” Otto unhooked a communication device from a guard’s belt.
    Peri expected some sort of explanation from the bounty hunter. Instead, Otto pushed the gates open and walked into a huge courtyard of polished orange marble. Peri looked at Diesel, but the gunner just shrugged and followed Otto. Peri ran after them both.
    The courtyard was surrounded by a dozen buildings that dripped with gilding, statues, and ornate decorations. Otto made for the most imposing of the palace buildings. Above the palace’s massive wooden doors was the inscription:
Respect the King or DIE PAINFULLY
.
    Otto pulled Peri and Diesel to the side of the door. The Meigwor peered inside. “Listen, space-monkeys!” he said, turning to them. He was trying to whisper but his booming voice carried. “Xions can’t handle low-frequency noise! If we can break into their communications channels, we can frazzle their entire nervous systems! Watch this!”
    Peri and Diesel peeked around the door. A group of guards stood in the corridor. An officer was issuing orders. Otto raised the communications device to his neck and pressed a button to communicate on all channels. His neck throbbed again and a deep noise rumbled from his throat. The officer seized up in midspeech, along with the other guards.
    Peri felt an electric shiver run through him. “You mean you’ve frozen everyone in the palace?”
    â€œOf course, how else can we get our hands on … I mean,
rescue
the prince?!”
    Peri smiled at the bounty hunter, but he felt a little uneasy about Otto’s ability. If he could do that to Xions, what could he do to humans and Martians?
    Otto led them through the ornately carved corridors. The walls and ceiling were covered in gold leaf. Holograms of Xion battle victories lined the walls, as well as empty suits of their fearsome black-shell battle armor. Peri couldn’t help imagining the suits’ bulging eye slits watching them.
    â€œHere we are!” Otto stopped them at an intersection. “According to my sources, the prince may be locked in a cellar!”
    What sources?
Peri wondered, as Otto pulled off his cloak and uncrossed his arms. He stomped up and down the orange-tiled corridor until he heard ahollow thud. He traced the tile with his finger and levered a trapdoor open. A rancid smell of dampness and decay wafted up from the dark hole. It smelled worse than the farting swamps of Venus.
    â€œYou two go down and rescue him!” Otto ordered them.
    â€œYou’re not in charge,” Diesel sneered. “And he’s
your
prince. Why don’t
you
do it?”
    Otto shook his head. “I will search for the prince too, but I must stay up here in case the guards unfreeze! I will fight the Xions!”
    â€œFine,” Diesel growled, seeing that Otto did have a point.
    Peri followed the gunner down the slime-covered rusting metal rungs.
    If only it was galactic glow-in-the-dark slime
, thought Peri.
This cellar’s darker than a black hole.
    Peri stepped off the ladder into something very