MetaWars: Fight For The Future

Chapter 28

‘I am putting the fate of the world in your hands, Master Delacroix,’ Mr Chang said. He deliberately handed the device over to Jonah, even though Axel stood with his hand outstretched and his palm up.

‘I’ll make good use of it,’ Jonah promised. He felt guilty about deceiving his newfound friend – especially as Mr Chang was keeping Jonah’s own secret that he knew where the other three Corners were.

‘You will travel to Australia on one of my shipping vessels. It’s docked now and will sail as soon as you board.’

‘By sea?’ Axel objected. ‘That’ll take days—’

‘Four and a half,’ replied Mr Chang.

‘That gives Granger more time to entrench himself,’ argued Axel. ‘It’s too long!’

‘But far safer than travelling by air,’ Mr Chang said. Out of Mr Chang’s earshot, Bradbury whispered to Axel, ‘It ain’t us he’s concerned with, it’s that little box.’ Mr Chang escorted the group back to the elevator and Jonah couldn’t hold back any longer. ‘What will you do to Dimitry?’ he asked.

‘He will serve as an example to others,’ Mr Chang said.

‘You don’t have to...to kill him, you know.’

‘You are right. I do have that choice.’ Mr Chang smiled. ‘It’s good to have a choice, isn’t it, Master Delacroix?’

The lift doors opened, and Jonah and his three Guardian allies stepped through them. As they rode back down to the ground floor, Jonah pondered on Mr Chang’s words, but didn’t know what to make of them.

The limousine was still waiting at the door.

Mr Chang must have sent instructions to its driver, because he knew where to go without being told. He drove Jonah and the others eastwards to the coast.

The evening was drawing in as they reached the docks of the Yangshan Deep-Water Port. The skeletons of cranes and derricks moved in silhouette against the greying sky.

Men in red boiler suits were shouting orders to the crane operators. The cranes screeched as they lifted giant metal containers the size of Jonah’s bus over to a hulking black freighter, stacking them on the deck like building blocks.

Axel threaded his way confidently through the bustle, the others behind him. They climbed the ship’s gangway and were met at its top by a slight, bearded man. He also wore a red boiler suit, with a golden dragon logo sewn into its breast pocket.

‘I am Captain Teng,’ he said. ‘We sail for Sydney and I have my instructions to ensure safe passage. This is not a passenger ship, but we do have basic amenities, such as showers.’

Jonah realised he had been wearing the same clothes for four days straight, and had not showered. It must’ve shown.

Teng instructed a young crewmember, called Quek, to show them to their cabins, one level beneath the giant bridge castle that overlooked the containers being stacked onto the ship like building blocks.

‘Can we get online?’ asked Sam.

Quek nodded as they descended the steel staircase under the deck.

‘We’ll need to recruit an army, Dad,’ she whispered to Axel.

‘Then we had better get plugged in,’ he replied.

Jonah was pleased to have a bed of his own again. The room was stark but clean, and to his surprise a change of clothes had been laid out for him. He was looking forward to a long, hot shower and then some rest. For the past few days he had been swept along by events, lurching from one fraught situation to another. He needed time to think.