Chapter Nine

The Zs reached the end of the passageway before the sound of the explosion had penetrated through the dungeons to the guard room, however the Cossacks were quick to respond when the noise did reach them. The Zs heard the rumble of feet and looked frantically for somewhere to hide. The only place was a small table on the far side of the door, out of eye-range of the soldiers. They hid beneath it.

The hastily donned jackets of the men brushed the table, but no one noticed the Zs, for their eyes were firmly fixed on the dust and flying debris down the end of the passage.

‘What happened?’ hissed Zoltan.

‘The explosion must have caused a rock fall in the cell,’ Zara whispered.

‘Deity,’ gulped Zoltan.

Zara didn’t give them time to dwell on the near-fatal catastrophe. As soon as the last soldier ran down the passage, she climbed from under the table, followed quickly by the others, and hared past the empty guardroom and up the stone stairway.

It was not long before they were at the entrance of the palace prison. The door was locked. Zara turned to Zoltan, who was still carrying the powerful wad of explosive in his hand.

‘Can you fix this door?’ she asked.

Zoltan nodded and worked the tiniest piece of explosive into a ball. ‘I don’t want to overdo it this time,’ he said, frowning. The trio moved behind a wall as Zoltan tossed his pellet at the door. The explosion was not as fierce as the previous one, but it was enough to blast the door open.

Zara led the boys away from the prison and back through the linking corridors, which were still devoid of people, into the palace. There was only one place Zara could think of where they might hide - in the laundry.

After a while, the three of them, breathing heavily, threw themselves down on the pile of dirty clothes. Even in the cold, they were perspiring heavily. Zoltan rubbed his sweaty forehead. ‘If anybody had said to me a week or so ago that I would be exercising like an athlete and perspiring like a sportwarrior, I’d have laughed my head off. What do we do now?’

‘Nothing,’ said Zara. ‘There’s nothing we can do until we get back into Darkon’s sleeping quarters and rescue the Trekker. Without it, we’re completely powerless. Darkon can do anything he likes and we won’t be able to stop him. All I can do is wait and keep track of him. At the moment everything is quiet.’

Disappointing as it was the Zs had to sit and watch Zara concentrate. It went on for hours, but it seemed like days before Zara opened her eyes.

‘He’s up and about,’ she said. ‘He’s left his sleeping quarters. Come on, let’s get that Trekker.’

As they made their way upstairs once again, the only people they saw were servants who kept their eyes firmly on the floor. Once inside the room, Zara, heart in her mouth, hurried to the windowsill and ripped back the curtains. The Time Trekker sat where Zara had left it. The tiny crystal was glowing, but not blinking. She strapped it to her wrist and shook it, but the crystal stayed unblinking. She frowned.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Zoltan.

‘The crystal,’ she said, showing him the Trekker. ‘You don’t think the power source has worn out?’

‘Never in a million years,’ said Zoltan. They all laughed at his unwitting joke. ‘Let’s have a look.’

He inspected the machine carefully. ‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘It’s just the cold. ‘The frost got into the works. It’ll be fine once it warms up.’

‘Will my body heat be enough?’ asked an anxious Zara.

‘I don’t know,’ admitted Zoltan.’ Let’s hope so and be grateful the cold hasn’t affected your thought processes. Where’s Darkon now?’

‘He’s feeling jubilant,’ she said. ‘He’s ready to set off on his final journey - or so he thinks.’

‘Off to Alaska,’ said Zac. ‘And even if his Trekker copes with the cold, he can’t time-travel. What he’s about to do hasn’t happened yet in any zone of time or space.’

‘So he’ll have to travel in present time,’ said Zoltan. ‘Which means so will we; unless we stay here.’

‘It might be safer,’ said Zac. ‘We’re fairly well known now. Darkon and his friends would soon spot us if we tried to follow them. Besides we’d never survive a trip to Alaska in the open air.’

‘Zac’s right,’ said Zara. ‘It will be safer if we stay here and trek to him before he settles the Alaska deal.’ She looked at the Trekker again with its dim, unblinking light. ‘It’ll also give us time to get this thing working properly.’

It was Zoltan who came up with the solution - crude electric power.

‘I’ll make an acid battery,’ he said. ‘There’s enough material around this place to make a fairly efficient one. All we need is lead, acid, a touch of gold plating and a brass rod. It’s simple enough and, with a few adjustments, I can make one that will have a lot more power than the old-style ones.’

‘So,’ said Zara. ‘We stay here.’

‘Where?’ asked Zac. ‘If it’s going to take Darkon a week to get to Alaska, we have to find somewhere very safe. Remember we have to eat, sleep - and stay warm.’

Zara thought. ‘It’ll have to be down in the servants’ quarters,’ she said finally. ‘There must be some empty room where we can hide away safely. With Zoltan’s electricity and the proximity of the kitchen, we ought to be able to survive for a week, surely.’

‘Okay,’ said Zoltan. ‘It’s agreed, but keep a close fix on Darkon’s position.’

So they set off to find a safe haven to hide away until it was time for the final show-down with the mutant.

Darkon was finding the trip far from tedious. He had copious amounts of wine and the company of fine minds, beautiful women, and excellent food. The steam pipes, as Militov had said, kept the royal carriages comfortably warm.

During the day, the company mainly snoozed or watched the snow-covered countryside rushing by as the train sped over the tundra of Siberia. The relaxation was having a strange effect on Darkon.

With his plans neatly laid and it being just a matter of waiting, his mind began to investigate other fields. Every now and then, he would feel that he was more than human. It was not his usual feeling of superiority, but an urge to change. If he closed his eyes, he could almost see his molecules swirling and bouncing, elongating, shrinking, changing. He imagined his hand turning into a claw and when he looked he could almost see it.

Never before had he wished so strongly that he had read his file in Kane’s laboratory. He made up his mind: once he had signed the contract for Alaska, he would go back, read his file and then return. Then he would know everything about himself and the powers that remained so stubbornly hidden.

The Zs had no trouble in avoiding discovery and soon found an empty room in which to hide until they were ready to trek to Darkon.

Zac and Zara took advantage of darkness to collect warm fur clothing for Alaska while Zoltan began assembling the material to make his battery. It didn’t take him long to find everything but the lead. Zac’s nose for minerals pointed towards the roof of the palace.

‘They used it to keep out the water,’ he explained. ‘So I have to go out onto the roof of the palace?’ said Zoltan.

‘If you want lead, yes,’ said Zac.

‘It’s freezing out there,’ grumbled Zoltan. ‘I’ll probably slip and break my neck... then where will you be?’

‘I wonder if you can transport a dead person back to the living,’ mused Zara.

‘It would be interesting to find out,’ said Zac, with a twinkle in his eye.

‘That’s lovely,’ said Zoltan. ‘Oh well, better get it over with. Come on, I’m not going on my own.’

The trio made their way carefully to the top storey of the palace. The attic rooms were mainly deserted, so they had no difficulty in finding one that opened out onto the roof. Zoltan climbed from the window out onto the ledge and perched precariously, the wind howling around him. He came back in, teeth chattering.

‘I don’t know if I can do it,’ he said. ‘It’s so cold.’ Zara held out the Trekker, it’s light still unblinking. ‘No lead, no Trekker,’ she said simply.

Zoltan gritted his teeth and went out again. He found the lead sheeting that covered the roof joints. It was soft and malleable, so, despite the cold, it was easy enough to strip off.

He took what he considered enough and passed it back through the window. The one thing they hadn’t counted on was the weight of the material. They were sweating yet again when they arrived back at their hideaway. Zac then searched his memory banks for the instructions.

With careful folding, joining, and adjustment, Zoltan made his battery. Then, using the brass rod, he charged it from the static electricity in the atmosphere. He tested it and it worked. He created folding rods of the lead, mixed with thin strips of iron which he made by adjusting the molecular structure of the lead that remained and finally set antigravity in motion to lighten the load.

He fitted the contraption onto his back, using cotton strips torn from the jacket he had been wearing. It was simple, but it worked. Contact with the brass rods heated the metal elements and heat flowed into them. Then, following Zac’s instructions, he shaped the metal into a series of switches to control the heat up and down.

‘Now we’re ready to go,’ he said.

Zara brought her Trekker to the warmth and the Zs watched silently until the light began to flash once more. They all breathed a sigh of relief when it did.

Zara looked upwards. ‘Now, Darkon,’ she said, ‘we’re ready for you. ‘

The Russian party arrived on the border of Alaska and Russia ten days after leaving St Petersburg. It was daylight and very cold. The air was so clean that Darkon could see for miles. He breathed in, almost choking on the crisp air and thinking of the treasure his new country held.

But he could also see clouds building up in the West. A storm was coming, a fact that the servants were well aware of as they hurried to set up the tents and dwellings for their masters.

The feverish activity and the change in Darkon’s vibrations told Zara all she needed to know.

‘They’ve stopped,’ she told the boys as they sat huddled by the heating elements. ‘I think this is it.’

The Zs put on the heavy fur clothes they’d acquired, and Zoltan fastened the battery and equipment to his back. The Zs looked at each other and smiled grimly. Each held out a hand and they formed a chain.

‘We’re coming, Darkon,’ muttered Zara as she pressed the transporter button on the Trekker.

It was night and a blizzard was howling when the Zs reached Alaska. They hugged their furs around them, but the cold was so intense they found it difficult even to breathe as they adjusted to the new situation.

Zoltan shaded his eyes and peered into the blackness. ‘I can’t see a thing,’ he said. ‘I wonder if we’re in the right place.’

‘The co-ordinates were right,’ said Zac. ‘Unless the cold affected the machine,’ added

Zoltan.

‘No,’ said Zara, pointing through the snow. ‘There’s a light. It must be Darkon and the Russians.’ She closed her eyes tightly and furrowed her brow in concentration. When she opened them, her eyes were shining with excitement. ‘That is the place,’ she said. ‘Darkon is there and we’ve got him. He can’t escape this time. He doesn’t know how to shape-change and his Time Trekker won’t work in the cold.’

Zoltan hitched the battery pack higher on his back. ‘That’s one thing we don’t have to worry about,’ he said.

Zara shivered in spite of her furs. ‘We must find somewhere to spend the night. Somewhere the battery can keep us warm. There’s no way we can do anything before daylight. What sort of shelter is there, Zac?’

‘According to my references,’ he said, ‘we are on the mountainous side of the country, near the boundary of this place and what used to be called Canada. There should be caves at least. You should be able to find us one, before we freeze to death.’

In the Russian camp, things were much more comfortable. The fur-lined tents had huge braziers inside, which servants fed with neatly-hewn lumps of wood whenever the embers glowed too low.

Darkon was sitting on a pile of cushions with a glass of wine in his hand. He was smiling in triumph as he watched the final chapter of his campaign coming to its conclusion. The next day, they would mark the boundaries on the map and the contract would be signed. The Tsar would have his treasuries filled again and he, Darkon, would have full title to an entire country - one he knew was overflowing with gold yet to be discovered.

His plan was to leave it in the ground until there was a desperate shortage of the precious metal and then mine it to bring him many millions of dollars more in profit.

‘Kane would have been proud of me had he allowed the experiment to continue,’ muttered Darkon. ‘I’ve succeeded even better than I imagined.’ He raised his glass, smiled and said: ‘To Professor Kane.’

‘Who are we toasting?’ asked the Tsar’s Chief Minister.

Darkon smiled again. ‘No one you know. Just an old friend who helped to make me what I am today.’

Darkon’s eyes gleamed and he broke into laughter. It was loud and evil and it put shivers up the backs of the superstitious servants who worked busily at preparing the food. Even the Minister felt uneasy and the hair on the back of his neck bristled.

Darkon stopped laughing abruptly when he saw the effect he was having.

‘Tell me,’ said the Minister. ‘What do you intend to do with this frozen piece of land? You can hardly grow crops, and the only useful things here are the animals; bears, beavers, seals and deer. The fur business, perhaps?’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Darkon. ‘I have plans for this country - Alaska. From tomorrow it will be called Darkonia. The maps of the world will be changed forever.’

His eyes gleamed madly again, but he stifled the laugh that was about to bubble from his lips. His emotions, however, were strong and the vibrations ranged out through the storm that raged outside. They were so strong that Zara gasped when she picked them up.

The Zs were huddled inside a shallow indentation in the rock face. It was small, but it sheltered them from the wind. Zac and Zoltan saw Zara stiffen and gasp in the dim light from the battery.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Zac.

‘You’ve picked up Darkon, haven’t you?’ said Zoltan.

Zara nodded. Her face was pale.

‘His vibrations are so strong, so violent,’ she said, almost in a whisper. ‘We have to stop him. He must go back and be locked in Sanctuary for the rest of his life.’

‘So how do we do it?’ asked Zac. His leg was starting to cramp up and he moved it quickly, accidentally hitting the battery that was supplying them with light and heat.

‘Careful,’ said Zoltan. ‘It’s not very well put together, you know.’

‘Sorry,’ said Zac. ‘My leg was going to sleep.’ He looked closely at the makeshift battery. ‘Seems okay,’ he said. ‘So, what do we do?’

‘It’s quite simple, really,’ said Zara. ‘We set the time co-ordinates and then get Darkon alone. Zoltan will grab hold of him; we’ll all link up and press the transporter button. Then we’ll all be back home.’

‘He’s always managed to escape before,’ said Zac ‘What’s so different this time?’

‘He doesn’t know we’re here, for one thing,’ said Zara. ‘And when he finds out, he won’t be able to do anything because his machine won’t work in this cold.

‘If I know Darkon, he’ll want to savour his moment. He’ll go off somewhere on his own to look over his new kingdom. That’s when we’ll grab him. All we have to do is follow him, keep well hidden, and then jump him the moment he’s alone.’

‘Nothing can be that simple,’ said Zac.

‘All the best plans are simple,’ said Zoltan. ‘It’s a good plan, Zara. So let’s try and get some sleep. Tomorrow we have to be fresh.’

‘Well, turn the heat up,’ grumbled Zac. ‘I’m freezing.’

Zoltan looked at the battery and adjusted the switch. ‘No wonder you’re cold,’ he said, laughing. ‘You must have knocked the switch into reverse when you kicked it.’

‘Reverse?’ questioned Zac.

‘It’s part of the design you gave me to make the battery. It’s a reverse cycle. Push the switch up high enough and you’d be snap-frozen.’

‘That seems to be a thermal thing in a place like this,’ said Zac.

‘Don’t blame me,’ said Zoltan. ‘You gave me the design.’

‘Will you two stop bickering and settle down,’ said Zara.

The heat from the battery slowly warmed them and they fell into a deep, refreshing sleep. Only Zara whimpered and tossed and turned.

Darkon, however, could not sleep at all. His fearsome excitement kept his brain buzzing and it was these vibrations that disturbed Zara.

The next morning, the blizzard had blown itself out and the sun bounced blindingly off the snow that covered the entire landscape. Snow-covered pine and fir trees spread around the sharp incline, and when they looked upward the Zs could see the ridge of the hill. Zara scrambled quickly around the outcrop of rock that had sheltered them and scouted out the Russian camp.

She could see the party, dressed in rich furs and high leather boots, sitting in a sledge. Reindeer were harnessed to the front. A race memory stirred in her.

‘Christmas,’ she muttered, ‘Father Christmas.’

‘What was that?’ Zoltan had scrambled up beside her.

‘The reindeer,’ she replied. ‘In the past there were legends about an old man with a long white beard who dressed in red. He had a sledge pulled by reindeer and he took presents to each child in the world once each year. They called it Christmas.’

‘It’s amazing the things you have stored away in your genetic makeup, isn’t it?’ said Zac, who had joined them.

‘It might be,’ said the ever-practical Zoltan, ‘but that won’t help us catch Darkon and take him back to Sanctuary. Come on, the sledge is moving off, we don’t want to lose it.’

There was no need to take special precautions, for the party in the sledge moved quickly and it was all the Zs could do to keep up with the jingling of the bells on the reindeer’s harness. The party rode on, over the top of the rise where they stopped, white steam coming from the nostrils of animals and humans alike. The Minister pointed and Darkon began to climb down.

The Zs could see clearly in the brilliant sunlight.

‘Now we’ll have to be careful,’ whispered Zara.

Slowly and quietly, they climbed through the soft snow. Zoltan hitched the battery pack higher on his back and followed, with Zac close behind. Sticking to the cover of the trees, they reached the top of the rise. Zara dropped to the ground and peeped over the edge.

‘They’re talking,’ she whispered. ‘There’s a river. It must be flowing fast to stay unfrozen. Now the Minister’s taken a piece of paper from a servant. Darkon’s giving it a good look over.’

The paper was the final contract for the sale of Alaska to the man who was going to change the future of the world. Darkon’s eyes gleamed and a smile creased his face.

‘Shall we sign?’ he said.

The Russian Minister took the paper and called for a servant to bring over a table and chairs from the sledge, as well as pen and ink. While this was going on, Darkon, as Zara had predicted, wandered away from the party. He stood out of sight of the Russians by the swift-flowing river, looking into the whiteness that stretched out before him. The mountains dipped down into a white plain that reached out to infinity.

‘As far as the eye can see,’ he muttered. ‘It’s all mine.’ He broke into maniacal laughter and the wind carried it far away. The sound drifted back to the Russian camp and made the Minister shiver. What sort of man, he wondered, laughs like that?

The Zs crept slowly closer to Darkon, hidden by the denseness of the mountain undergrowth, until Zara could see they were close enough to capture their enemy.

‘Now,’ she shouted, as she made a final check on the Trekker co-ordinates. The three of them leapt out to confront Darkon. The mutant jumped back, startled, onto a rock by the river.

‘You,’ he screamed in fury, spittle shooting from his lips. ‘How...?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ shouted Zara, closing in. ‘We’re here and we’re taking you back.’

‘Oh no you’re not,’ said Darkon menacingly, ‘there’s no way can you make me.’

‘Don’t make it difficult, Darkon,’ said Zoltan, moving closer. ‘It’s three against one.’

‘Your Time Trekker won’t work in the cold,’ cut in Zac, ‘and you don’t know how to shape-change.’

Darkon stood stock still. ‘Shape-change.’ His eyes lit up and he looked at his hands, remembering the visions he’d had on the train. ‘So that’s what...’

Before he could say another word, Zoltan lunged forward and got a hard grip on Darkon’s arm. The mutant jerked away violently and threw the boy to the ground. Then he started to run, but lost his grip on the rock.

He teetered slowly, his hands grabbing wildly at the air before he toppled over and fell into the swiftly flowing river.

Then something incredible began to happen.

Darkon’s feet began to meld together, turning slowly but surely into a fish’s tail.

‘We’ve lost him,’ yelled Zara. ‘He’s shape-changing.’

‘No,’ shouted Zoltan, who had scrambled to his feet and was now racing down the river bank. He had seen an outcrop of rock that narrowed the river further down the bank. Darkon, gasping for breath in the icy water, and still only half a fish, hit the rocks and was stunned.

Zoltan reached the outcrop just as the current was about to pull the mutant away. He plunged the battery rod into the water and rammed the switch hard over from hot to cold. Instantly the water turned to solid ice and enclosed Darkon, just as his eyes re-opened. Only the head and arms remained unchanged. The rest of his body had turned into a large fish.

Zoltan ripped the battery pack from his back. ‘Quick, help me,’ he cried.

He plunged into the freezing water and grabbed the huge ice block. Helped by the buoyancy of the water, he gave a great heave and hurled the block clear from the water into the air. It landed with a thud on the riverbank, where Zara and Zac secured it. Teeth chattering, Zoltan dragged himself out of the water.

‘What now?’ said Zac, staring at the ice-enclosed monster that now was Darkon.

‘We’ll take him back and hand him over to the cryolab,’ said Zara. ‘They can keep him frozen until the authorities decide what to do with him.’

‘Cccan wwwe dddo it nnnow?’ asked a shivering Zoltan.

‘Instantly,’ said Zara. She checked the Time Trekker on her wrist and held out her hands. Zac took her hand and linked arms with Zoltan, who was turning blue with cold. Zara pressed the transporter button and quickly placed her free hand on Darkon.

There was a brilliant flash of light and they were gone. The flash brought the Russians running over, but there was nothing for them to see. They put the occurrence down to reflections off the water.

‘Where’s Mr Konrad?’ asked the Minister. ‘We’re ready to sign.’

The party searched for an hour before deciding that the mysterious Westerner had been lost in the river. The as the Minister was concerned, that was the answer.

‘So close to closing the deal, too,’ he said matter-of-factly. He sighed. ‘Now I suppose we’ll have to get back to negotiating with the Americans. It’s a pity; we had a much better deal with Mr Konrad.’

Back home, warm and dry in the temperate climate of their time, the Zs looked into the cryogenic chamber the engineers had chosen for Darkon. They could see him clearly through the ice. More fish than man, the mutant’s open eyes stared out of a scowling face. It was almost as if he could see them. Evil gleamed still from his eyes.

‘Let’s hope they leave him here forever,’ said Zara, shuddering.

Zac looked closely at the frozen mutant. ‘They’d better,’ he said. ‘He’s still wearing his Time Trekker.’