Chapter Twenty-three

All guns blazing

‘ATTAAAAAAACK !’ yelled Harvey.

Fearlessly, the Bin Men of the Toxic Spew charged into the cargo hold with all guns blazing.

ZING, ZING, ZING, ZING!

SPLAT!

PING, PING, PING, PING!

SQUIIIIIIIIRT!

The Bling Bots just laughed and shot back.

P’TOING, P’TOING!

Harvey threw himself to the deck to escape a pounding from a Heavi-Metal rivet and ray gun. He lay on his belly and fired straight back with his AstroForce blaster crossbow.

SQUIIIIIIIIRT!

ZAP-A-ZAP-A-ZAP!

A Sting-Stun zapper smacked Maxie on the elbow and gave her a dead arm, but she just grabbed her Meteor-Storm pellet gun with her other hand and kept on firing:

PING, PING, PING, PING!

ZIP, ZIP, ZIP, ZIP, ZIP!

A direct hit from a shoulder-mounted NuroBlaster knocked Scrummage’s legs from under him and he crashed to the ground.

OOOMPH!

Ouch, thought Harvey, that’s got to hurt. But Scrummage scrambled to his feet and launched a Jellyfier bomb back at his attacker.

SPLAT!

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

The supercharged beam from a Disintegrator Ray walloped Gizmo full in the chest and winded him. But he bravely kept firing his NovaBazuka Mark 3.

ZING, ZING, ZING, ZING!

Outgunned and outnumbered

Harvey was astounded by the bravery of his crew. They gave it their best, and more. But they were outgunned and their weapons were useless.

The Jellyfier bombs just slid off the Bling Bots’ plasti-glass helmets. Gizmo’s NovaBazuka Mark 3 couldn’t break through their metal exoskeletons, and the pellets from Maxie’s Meteor-Storm pellet gun just boinged back and hit the crew.

‘RETREAT!’ yelled Harvey, and throwing himself between his crew and the Bling Bots he let rip with his AstroForce blaster crossbow, desperately trying to give them enough cover to get back through the doors.

SQUIIIRRRRRT!

‘Close the doors,’ he yelled, and the huge metal doors began to slide shut. He made a dash for the gap and just managed to dive through before they clanged shut. Frantically, he locked the doors.

Then, sweaty and panting, he joined his crew in a collapsed heap on the deck. No one spoke. They were too busy recovering and thanking their lucky cosmic stars they were still alive.

Doomed and done for

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

The Bling Bots started on the doors again. The thick metal began to crumple and buckle. The horrified crew realised it was only a matter of minutes before they disintegrated altogether, leaving them at the mercy of the Bling Bots.

(Except of course, Bling Bots have no mercy. They don’t see the point.

Actually, can I just say that I was wrong in Chapter Twenty-One? There is something worse than having a bunch of brutally vicious Bling Bots in your cargo hold.

It’s having a bunch of brutally vicious Bling Bots in your cargo hold, trying to get out.)