Xanatos aimed his laser pistol at Moriarty’s head. “I don’t mind getting my hands dirty, Jim,” he said. “Bye-ie!”
“That’s a very heroic move for an arch-villain,” Moriarty said. “Allow me to even the odds just a bit.” The laser dots targeting Goliath shifted to Xanatos. “Goliath, please take his gun”
The gargoyle looked surprised. After a moment, he said, “No.”
“Goliath, be smart about this. I’m offering you chance to rid yourself of your nemesis once and for all. I’ll let you walk away scott-free, even give you safe passage back to Manhattan. Take. His. Gun.”
“You have proven yourself to be just as untrustworthy as Xanatos,” Goliath growled. “Even if I could take you at your word, I would not be party to murder.”
“Suit yourself,” Moriaty said, but before he could give a command to his snipers, Goliath’s arm darted out and grabbed him around the throat. Moriarty didn’t think that a creature so large could move so fast.
Hoisting Moriarty off his feet and letting him dangle, Goliath hollered to the snipers in the jungle. “I will snap his neck unless you lower your guns! If you think your bullets can stop me before I do, you are welcome to try!”
Unable to speak due to the massive hand around his throat, Moriarty was only able to wave his hand in a downward motion. Slowly, the laser dots lowered to the ground, no longer targeting Sherlock and Xanatos.
“Owen,” Xanatos said into a concealed microphone in his lapel. “Now.”
The roar of rocket boosters filed the jungle. Within seconds, Xanatos’s personal robot army, the metal gargoyles he called the Steel Clan, descended on Moriarty’s concealed snipers. Before the snipers could raise their weapons, the Steel Clan had disarmed and subdued them. The robots frog-marched the snipers out into the jungle, followed by Xanatos’s aide-de-camp, Owen Burnett.
“Well done, Owen,” Xanatos said. “Goliath, please put Mr. Moriarty down. He’s no longer a threat to us.”
Goliath let go of Moriarty’s neck and let the man fall to the ground. The criminal landed on his posterior in the dirt. “Do you mean you were holding your robots in reserve the entire time, when we were almost devoured by that creature and its offspring?”
“I was. I had to be sure that I had an ace up my sleeve when Mr. Moriarty played his hand. When Mr. Holmes here informed me of Mr. Moriarty’s penchant for snipers on the helicopter ride over, I instructed Owen to be on the lookout for an ambush. I think it all worked out perfectly, thanks to Goliath’s courageous gesture.”
Sherlock slapped a pair of handcuffs on Moriarty and pulled him to his feet. “I’m afraid you’ve ruined your Westwood suit.”
“Try not to gloat, Sherlock,” Moriarty said. “It’s quite an infuriating trait you have.”
“I’ve been told that before.”
“My apologies, sir,” Owen said, holding his phone. “Something just came over the news. Apparently, the Arecibo Radio Telescope intercepted a distress signal from outside the solar system. SETI has decoded the transmission, and it appears to relate to a space station called the Citadel. It’s been invaded, and SETI believes that Earth may be next.”
“We can’t have that,” Xanatos said. “I trust you remembered to pack my Steel Clan exoframe?”
“Yes, sir,” Owen said.
“Excellent. Goliath, I hope we can set aside our differences to stop this invasion.”
“Very well. I’d prefer to return home to my clan, but I agree that this new threat takes precedence. Will you help us, detective?”
“It seems the game is already on,” Sherlock said. “I can’t resist an interesting challenge.”
“What do we do about him?” Goliath asked, gesturing at Moriarty.
“He comes with us. I’m certainly not turning him loose. Once we return home, we can turn him over to the authorities. I’m sure that Mr. Holmes should be able to provide a character reference sufficient to get him put away for life.”
“And what about his henchmen?”
“We leave them here,” Sherlock suggested. “I’m sure they’ve been instructed to help free Moriarty. so bringing them along would be a liability. They can’t do much if they’re marooned on an island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea.”
“Makes sense to me,” Xanatos said. He instructed his robots to collect the snipers’ weapons, pile them up in the center of the clearing, and destroy them with their lasers.
“I’d be happy to provide you all with transportation,” Xanatos said. “My jet has been been rigged for interstellar flight, and we need to get there as quickly as we can.”
Owen led them to a Xanatos jet that had landed on the far side of the island. The jet, which had vertical take-off capability, was soon airborne.
Xanatos began to don his red and black Steel Clan armor. Sherlock shoved Moriarty into a seat as far from the cockpit as possible, where he hoped the criminal wouldn’t be able to do any harm. Goliath found a spot in the corner of the cabin and struck a majestic pose. As the jet gained altitude, the first rays of dawn appeared on the horizon. In seconds, the huge gargoyle had turned completely to stone.
“That’s… inconvenient,” Sherlock commented. He had been counting gargoyle’s help to defeat their new adversary.
“Their stone form heals most wounds and extends their lifetime to twice that of a human,” Xanatos said. “It has its advantages. Once we leave that atmosphere, he should revert to his gargoyle form.”
“How do you know?” Sherlock asked.
“Gargoyles are magical creatures,” Xanatos said. “However, even magic has certain limitations. Just as the spell that bound them as stone for a thousand years was broken when they there raised above the clouds, my studies of the mystical tome called the Grimorum Arcanorum have indicated that only solar rays filtered through Earth’s atmosphere can turn a gargoyle to stone. In space, the unfiltered rays of the sun should have no effect on Goliath, and he should revert back to his living form.”
“Won’t that prevent him from healing?” Sherlock asked.
“It may,” Xanatos allowed. “However, I’m hoping that this mission won’t take too long.”
As the Xanatos jet left the atmosphere, Goliath’s stone skin began to crack. With a roar, Goliath flexed and stretched, scattering bits of stone to the corners of the cabin. Owen emerged from the cockpit.
“Sir, I’ve managed to triangulate the origin of the distress call. We’re ready to go to FTL,” he said.
“FTL?” Sherlock asked. “You mean faster-than-light? That technology doesn’t exist. It’s not possible!”
“Oh, Sherlock,” Moriarty said from his seat in the back on the cabin. “Is your mental capacity so limited that you’ve never solved the problem of faster-than-light travel? Even as a theoretical exercise, I found it simplistic to the point of tedium. What have you got? An Alcubierre drive? Primitive but effective, I suppose.”
“Very good, Mr. Moriarty,” Xanatos said. “It took my best scientists years to solve the problems inherent with building a functioning Alcubierre drive, once we had discovered the formula in the alien relic on Easter Island. Take us to warp speed on my mark, Owen.”
“Yes, sir. Standing by.”
“Engage!” Xanatos said with great flourish. After a pause, he turned and said, “I’ve always wanted to say that.”
The Citadel hung in space, a massive five-armed space station silhouetted against the luminescent dust of the Serpent Nebula. As their vessel approached, they were intercepted by a ship of the Citadel Fleet. The station’s defenses were clearly on high alert, given the recent invasion.
The dreadnought’s commander appeared on their comm screen. To the surprise of the humans on board, the alien commander most closely resembled Goliath. Despite the fact that Xanatos was in command of their ship, Goliath elected to speak for them.
“We cannot allow you to dock with the station,” the alien commander said apologetically. “We are currently dealing with a matter of internal security.”
“We’ve come a great distance to offer aid. If you allow us to board your facility, we will help in any way we can.”
“We appreciate your offer, but I assure you that we have the situation well in hand. We’ll let you dock as soon as matters are resolved.” The dreadnought commander severed the comm link.
“We obviously aren’t going to get their permission to board the station,” Sherlock said. “We’ll have to find some other way to get over there.”
“I may have a solution,” Xanatos said. “Owen?”
Xanatos’s stoic aide-de-camp slowly removed his glasses and placed them in his shirt pocket. He began to twirl in circle, faster and faster, until he spun about in the air like a whirlwind. Suddenly, the spinning stopped, and in the air hovered the mischievous sprite Goliath knew as Puck. Sherlock and Moriarty could not help but stare with their mouths agape. Xanatos simply donned the helmet to his robotic armor.
“It’s a long story, gentlemen,” the child of Oberon said. “I’ll fill you in on the way home. For now, we’ve got some magic to do!” He raised his hands as lighting crackled from his fingertips and began to chant.
“Before me stand two heroes and their foes most grave,
“For a common cause, they have joined on a quest so brave,
“Let them speed their way across the gap of airless space,
“And gain a measure of trust, as they arrive in each other’s place!”
In a blinding flash, Sherlock, Goliath, Xanatos and Moriarty disappeared from the cabin of the space-jet. In the same instant, they materialized in an empty cargo hold aboard the Citadel.
“What the…” Goliath said, stumbling to catch his balance. He flailed his tail and flapped his wings for support.
Xanatos wrenched off his helmet, staring at his reflection in the steel, his jaw slack. “How… how can this be?”
Sherlock and Moriarty glared at each other.
“I’m you,” Sherlock said with Moriarty’s voice.
“And I appear to be you,” Moriarty said from Sherlock’s body. “How bloody awful.”
TO BE CONTINUED
