C.J. Parker - Super Spareparts and the Nemerons from the Twelfth Quadrant

CJ Parker 2019. CJ Parker has asserted their moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing with the purpose of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under copyright laws, no part may be reproduced by any process, nor transmitted, nor translated without prior written permission from the copyright owners. Enquiries should be addressed to the publisher.

Edited by Anna Golden and Mary McCallum.

Typesetting and book design by Paul Stewart.

Cover design by Sarah Bolland.

Illustrations by The Macdonald.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand

ISBN 978-0-9951197-1-0 (pbk); 978-0-9951197-8-9 (epub); 978-0-9951197-9-6 (mobi)

Ahoy!

An imprint of The Cuba Press

Box 9321, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand

For Mum and Dad

I did it!

To all the kids

Be honest, be brave, be kind

... be a hero!

ONE

Sam stared around the huge room, wanting to appear cool, as if what he was seeing was normal even though it wasnt. People and animals, all of them missing body parts like he was, had been rebuilt using the craziest stuff ever.

A girl danced across the floor on gleaming pink robotic le

gs with glittering silver wheels for feet. A boy with racing-car-red arms and hands played catch with a Labrador dog, who galloped around on legs that expanded and shrank so that the dog could reach wherever the ball was thrown.

A harrier hawk came out of nowhere, passing so close to Sam that he could make out the nuts and bolts dotted across its steel-like wings. It landed on the back of a donkey with mechanical ears as big as an elephants, sending it careering around the room at breakneck speed.

Act chill, thought Sam, pretending to check his phone. After all, you figured out Dr Ecks was mega-weird after he told you hed performed the first ever multiple leg transplant on a centipede that had lost all of its legs in a lawnmower accident.

But there was weird and there was this.

Dr Ecks had been acting strange since Sam had arrived at the consulting room for his usual check up. The doctor had peered beneath the desk, looked behind the curtains and opened and shut all the cupboard doors. But things got really weird when he cleared his throat and got a serious look on his face.

Sam, what would you do if a two-headed alien with four tongues brought his friends into town with the intention of taking over the world?

How are they going to do that? Lick us all to death?

Affirmative.

Huh?

Do you trust me? Dr Ecks asked.

Sure I do. After the accident you hooked me up with all my fake stuff. Without my legs Id still be shuffling around on my bum. And cheers for the right hand flicking bogeys with my left hand was getting old.

Two legs, one hand and one eye you certainly were an extreme case. But you did well, remarkably so. Which is why Id like to show you something.

Thats when Dr Ecks reached into the goldfish bowl on his desk, pulled out the fish, pointed it head-first at the wall and squeezed.

Is that a good idea? Sam imagined goldfish brains splattered over the floor. Instead, a red beam of light shone from its mouth to an invisible spot on the wall, which slid open to expose a set of steel doors. Dr Ecks placed the fish back in the bowl, where it swam around as if nothing odd had just happened. He touched the doors with the tips of his fingers and they glided apart, revealing a small square chamber.

This way, said Dr Ecks, stepping inside.

In less time than it took for Sam to hide his glass eye in his sisters breakfast cereal, the doors opened again and he followed Dr Ecks onto a platform overlooking the people and animals dashing around with their super parts.

So, Sam. What do you think?

Sam put his phone in his pocket. Dr Ecks, he said. I think youve just gone from mega-weird in a strange way to mega-weird in a cool way.

Dr Ecks peered at Sam over the top of his thick-as-bricks glasses. Affirmative.

He pointed to an aquarium extending from one wall into the centre of the room. A dolphin flipped into the air, sending spray across the floor.

Thats Bella. When she came in, she had no tail or flippers. I fitted her with a new set for everyday use, but I also developed some turbo flippers for her thats what shes wearing today and a tail, which she used to propel herself deep into the Indian Ocean where she discovered an illegal mining operation, something the government had suspected for a long time but had been unable to locate.

No way! I mean oh, sure. Does she live here?

Shes free to leave any time. The aquarium is an extension of the ocean. She gets here through a secret tunnel accessed by initiating a red laser beam like the one you witnessed earlier with the goldfish.

Sam nodded. I thought so. He noticed a woman sitting in a chair knitting. Isnt that Mrs Evans from the corner store? My mate Leo and I buy lollies there. Her Slippery Snakes are the best. Whats she doing here?

Mrs Evans has been fitted with a standard hearing aid for everyday use, but she also has access to the most advanced hearing device ever developed. If she tunes into the correct frequency, she can hear a pin drop hundreds of metres away. Using that technology, she has infiltrated suspicious government agencies and gained proof of conspiracies before they became cause for international concern.

Impressive. But shes old. She must be at least thirty

Shes wearing it now, Dr Ecks whispered from the corner of his mouth. Be careful, Sam, shell spit in your lolly bag if youre rude to her.

Mrs Evans smiled and waved at them.

Dr Ecks waved back and, with the thought of all the Slippery Snakes he and Leo were yet to devour, Sam did the same.

TWO

Marty dozed on a park bench, a backpack for his pillow. As a child hed rarely spoken. People used to ask him if the cat got his tongue and one day, when he was six years old, it did. On that day he poked his tongue out at his mother and the cat took a swipe at it, nicking the end with a claw. Marty had got such a fright hed forgotten how to talk and hadnt said a word since. Now he spent a lot of time on the streets, with Pedro his talking parrot (who called him Farty because parrots cant do M).

Outside, Marty could watch and listen without having to say anything. Pedro talked enough for them both. He was currently perched on the back of the bench, muttering. Marty yawned and opened one eye.

Jane Oldfield pushed her two-year-old daughter Charlotte along the street in her pram, pausing every now and again to look in a shop window. Charlotte slobbered over an ice cream held in her tight little fist. Powder-puff pink parfait dribbled down her chin. Four big boys ambled towards them, loud boys with wild hair and loose arms.

The boys quietened, stepped to the side and bowed in an exaggerated flourish of good manners as Jane went by pushing the pram. She nodded thank you and hurried on, stopping only when she reached The Shoe Emporium to peer in the window. There was a slithering flash of green as Charlottes cone was whipped from her sticky grasp and, with a flurry of jostling, the boys disappeared around the corner. Charlotte burst into tears.

Marty sat up, a look of disbelief on his face.

Wasat? Wasat? squawked Pedro, flapping onto Martys shoulder.

After a moment Marty shook his head, pulled on his backpack and walked away down the street with Pedro sitting on his shoulder screeching, Bad boys! Bad boys!