eco-hazard. The point being that there could be an entire battalion of stormtroopers concealed
below decks and his helmetcam would never pick them up. Very reassuring. Even Holly's beacon
was a few shades below par, and that had a micro nuclear battery sending out the pulses. Root didn't
like this. Not one bit. Keep calm, he derided himself. You're shielded. There's not a human alive
that can see you now.
Root hauled open the first hatch. It swung easily enough. The commander sniffed. The Mud
People had greased the hinges with whale blubber. Was there no end to their depravity?
The corridor was steeped in viscous darkness, so Root flicked down his infrared filter. OK, so
sometimes technology did come in handy, but he wouldn't be telling Foaly that. The maze of pipes
and grilling before him was immediately illuminated with an unnatural red light. Minutes later, he
was regretting even thinking something nice about the centaur's technology. The infrared filter was
messing with his depth perception and he'd whacked his head on two protruding U-bends so far.
Still no sign of life - human or fairy. Plenty of animal. Mostly rodents. And when you're just
topping a metre in height yourself, a good-sized rat can be a real threat, especially since rats are one
of the few breeds that can see straight through a fairy shield. Root unstrapped his blaster and set it
to level three, or medium rare, as the elves in the locker room called it. He sent one of the rats
scurrying away with a smoking behind as a warning to the rest. Nothing fatal, just enough to teach
him not to look sideways at a fairy again in a hurry.
Root picked up his pace. This place was ideal for an ambush. He was virtually blind with his back
to the only exit. A Recon nightmare. If one of his own men had pulled a stunt like this, he'd have
their stripes for it. But desperate times required judicious risk-taking. That was the essence of
command.
He ignored several doors to either side, following the beacon. Ten metres now. A steel hatch
sealed the corridor, and Captain Short, or her corpse, lay on the other side of it.
Root put his shoulder to the door. It swung open without protest. Bad news. If a live creature
was being held captive, the hatch would be locked. The commander flicked the blaster's power level
to five and advanced through the hole. His weapon hummed softly. There was enough power on tap
now to vaporize a bull elephant with a single blast.
No sign of Holly. No sign of anything much. He was in a refrigerated storage bay. Glittering
stalactites hung from a maze of piping. Root's breath fanned before him in icy clouds. How would
that look to a human? Disembodied breathing.
'Ah,' said a familiar voice. 'We have a visitor.'
Root dropped to one knee, levelling the handgun at the voice's source.
'Come to rescue your missing officer, no doubt.'
The commander blinked a bead of sweat from his eye. Sweat? At this temperature?
'Well, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place.'
The voice was tinny. Artificial. Amplified. Root checked his locator for life signs. There were
none. Not in this chamber at any rate. He was being monitored somehow. Was there a camera here
somewhere, concealed in the maze of overhead plumbing, that could penetrate the fairy shield?
'Where are you? Show yourself!'
The human chuckled. It echoed unnaturally around the vast hold.
'Oh no. Not yet, my fairy friend. But soon enough. And believe me, when I do, you'll wish I
hadn't.'
Root followed the voice. Keep the human talking.
'What do you want?'
'Hmm. What do I want? Again, you will know soon enough.'
There was a low crate in the centre of the hold. On it sat an attaché case. The case was open.
'Why bring me here at all?'
Root poked the case with his pistol. Nothing happened.
'I brought you here for a demonstration.'
The commander leaned over the open container. Inside, in snug foam packing, were a flat
vacuum-packed package and a triple-band VHP transmitter. Resting on top was Holly's locator. Root
groaned. Holly wouldn't willingly give up her equipment; no LEP officer would.
'What sort of demonstration, you demented freak?'
Again that cold chuckle.
'A demonstration of my utter commitment to my goals.'
Root should have started to worry about his own health then, but he was too busy worrying about
Holly's.
'If you've harmed one tip of my officer's pointy ears ...'
'Your officer? Oh, we have management. How privileged. All the better to make my point.'
Alarm bells went off in Root's head.
'Your point?'
The voice emanating from the aluminium speaker grid was as serious as nuclear winter.
'My point, little fairy man, is that I am not someone to be trifled with. Now, if you would please
observe the package.'
The commander duly observed. It was a nondescript enough shape. Flat, like a slab of putty,
or…Oh no.
Beneath the sealant, a red light flicked on.
'Fly, little fairy,' said the voice. 'And tell your friends Artemis Fowl the Second says hello.'
Beside the red light, green symbols began to click through a routine. Root recognized them from
his human studies class back in the Academy. They were…numbers. Going backwards. A
countdown!
'D'Arvit!' growled Root.(There is no point translating that word as it would have to be censored.)
He turned and fled up the corridor, Artemis Fowl's mocking tones carrying down the metal
funnel.
'Three,' said the human. 'Two ...'
'D'Arvit,' repeated Root.
The corridor seemed much longer now. A sliver of starry sky peeked through a wedge of open
door. Root activated his wings. This would take some fancy flying. The Hummingbird's span was
barely narrower than the ship's corridor.
'One.'
Sparks flew as the electronic wings scraped a protruding pipe. Root cartwheeled, righting himself
at MACH 1.
'Zero ...' said the voice. 'Boom!'
Inside the vacuum-packed package, a detonator sparked, igniting a kilogram of pure Semtex. The
white-hot reaction devoured the surrounding oxygen in a nanosecond and surged down the path of
least resistance, which was, of course, immediately after LEP Commander Root.
Root dropped his visor, opening the throttle to maximum. The door was metres away now. It was
just a matter of what reached it first - the fairy or the fireball.
He made it. Barely. He could feel the explosion rattling his torso as he threw himself into a
reverse loop. Flames latched on to his jumpsuit, licking along his legs. Root continued his
manoeuvre, crashing directly into the icy water. He broke the surface swearing.
Above him, the whaler had been totally consumed by noxious flames.
'Commander,' came a voice in his earpiece. It was Foaly. He was back in range.
'Commander. What's your status?'
Root lifted free of the water's grip.
'My status, Foaly, is extremely annoyed. Get on your computers. I want to know everything there
is to know about one Artemis Fowl, and I want to know it before I get back to base.'
'Yessir, Commander. Right away.'
No wisecrack. Even Foaly realized that this was not the time.
Root hovered at 300 metres. Below him the blazing whaler drew emergency vehicles like moths to
a light. He dusted charred threads from his elbows. There will be a reckoning for this Artemis Fowl,
he vowed. Count on it.
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