Attack and Counterattack

A Speed Racer Fanfic by "Freddo"

Chapter Twelve "Toward El Tigre: Darkness in the Jungle"

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First…Reiterating some copyrights and credits....etc….

Speed Racer is (c) 2005 by Speed Racer Enterprises.

Star Blazers is (c) 2005 by Voyager Entertainment.

Doctor Who is (c) 2005 by the British Broadcasting Corporation. I don't own any of these properties...Freddo

Second…Sorry I’ve been away so long; a lot of work and some health problems kept me from getting back to this as soon as I had liked; not to mention the fact that I lost one rough draft of this chapter when one of my PC’s crashed a few months back…I’d like to thank you for being patient, and thank you for enduring what will be quite a long installment…Freddo


July 16, 1968

Space Battleship Argo

Sickbay

0310 Hours (Local Time)


It was a depressing scene in the Argo’s Sickbay.

Nova lay semi-conscious on a bed in a hospital gown, receiving a drug and saline solution through an IV to counteract the overdose of Malanite that the R’Khells had given her.

However, even as Speed watched Wildstar looking at his wife with concern in his eyes, he felt sick.

Trixie was gone.

He was aware that the R’Khells had taken her…and the globe.

He was also filled with rage, because Wildstar’s Space Marines had discovered evidence that Snake had assisted in the kidnapping of Trixie. The evidence had been some security camera video taken by a camera in the ceiling of the corridor they had been in. At the moment, a sleepy Nova was verifying the story for the Commodore as he gently asked her questions.

Finally, Wildstar said to Speed, “Now we know who was involved: the Master, Snake, and the R’Khells. They used the Master’s ship to get away.”

“It’s hopeless,” said Speed. “We’ll never catch up to them, now…they could be…anywhere…”

“Not quite,” said the Doctor, who had shown up again. “I have a fix on where the Master is; the only logical place he could go with the sphere if we wants to use it.”

“Where?” asked Sparky.

Brazil,” said the Doctor. “The Pyramid of El Tigre is there, along the Amazon River, you remember.  The race was to end there. The reason why the Master will take it there is because the ley lines of the Earth intersect strongly at that point at the equator. With those lines of force, he can use the Globe to destroy the Universe, and we, on the other hand, can create a magnetic zone of turbulence that will destroy the power of Ekogaru's globe. That is, that is if we can get it there and I can get to it before he does.”

“And if you can’t stop him?” asked Sparky.

“Then we lose, and existence as we know it will probably end,” said the Doctor.

“Wonderful,” said Speed. “Of course, my existence is coming to an end, anyway…they’ll probably kill Trixie…”

“No need to give up hope,” said the Doctor. “We can still get you there in time…”

“How?” said Speed.

“The Argo can do it,” said Wildstar. “It will be a bit tricky to arrange, but we can still carry out our plan. We were planning to drop you off in Brazil near the end of the course. We can still do that, and we can put you down near Fonte Boa. Then, you and the Doctor can retrieve Trixie and the sphere, and make your way into the jungle, where we can have an ambush waiting for the enemy forces.”

“So, the idea is to catch up to them before they get there…” mused Speed.

“If they are going overland, it’ll take them about twenty hours from the edge of Kapetopac,” said the Doctor. “Then, again, the Master could have taken them there already…in his TARDIS…he could…already be there…if…”

“If what?” said Speed.

“They could be there now,” said the Doctor. “Which means we can’t take the Mach Five; we can’t fit her through the doors of my TARDIS since my Chameleon Circuit doesn’t work, but his does…”

“I think I know what you’re thinking,” said Wildstar. “Let me have Hemsford prepare a squad of Marines…I can go, Speed can go, you, of course, will go…Sparky can go…”

“I’m going,” said Nova.

“No, you’re not well enough yet!” said Doctor Sane.

“Doctor, Trixie will need a medic, particularly if she’s hurt or dosed with any medication,” said Nova. “Derek, I can do it. Order him to let me go!”

“I’ll have to think about that…”

“I wonder where Spritle and Chim-Chim are?” said Sparky.

“I wonder where my TARDIS key is?” mused the Doctor as he slapped at his pockets….


“How do you open this thing, Chim-Chim?” said Spritle as he worked with the TARDIS key he had picked from the Doctor’s pocket

He had seen the TARDIS arrive earlier; it was currently in the form that it had been stuck in for quite a few years; the form of a blue London Metropolitan Police Box, hidden in the Argo’s mechanical engineering labs.

The “Police Box” was about the size of a 1960’s American telephone booth, with double doors that seemed to be made out of wood. Of course, the doorway was too narrow to take the Mach Five into, but two people could enter the TARDIS abreast, if they squeezed a bit.

Chim-Chim chattered as Spritle worked the strange-looking key into the brass lock on the TARDIS’ front door, near the plaque that said POLICE TELEPHONE FREE FOR USE OF PUBLIC: ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY—OFFICERS AND CARS RESPOND TO ALL URGENT CALLS – PULL TO OPEN.

Out of curiosity, Chim-Chim pulled at a handle by the plaque: a small hatch opened, and the monkey found a telephone, which he began to chatter into. Then he went “Boop-vroop?” as he raised his brows questioning Spritle as he worked at the lock.

“Why? There might be candy in here,” said Spritle. “Besides, wherever that old guy is going, I wanna be there to help…”

Spritle finally got the lock open just as footsteps could be heard outside nearby in the corridor just outside the lab. “Let’s hide in here and see where that weird guy hides his candy…and also see how he makes this thing appear and…”

“….d…d..disappear,” said Spritle in awe as he crossed the dimensional threshold and found that…

…the gleaming white control room of the TARDIS was far bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

“WOW!” said Spritle. “Chim-Chim, they were right! That old guy IS from outer space! And this thing is magic!” he said as he circled the large hexagonal control panel that surrounded the TARDIS’ Time Rotor; a huge clear column blinking with lights and odd devices. A strange humming noise filled the Ship.

“Maybe this thing will give us candy?” asked Spritle as he poked at a few buttons. Some of the buttons and lights changed color, but no candy seemed to be forthcoming from the control panel. Spritle then left the key on the control panel and said, “Let’s look through that door for the candy machines…”

Chim-Chim agreed with him, and he and Spritle ran off as the others came in…


The Doctor, Speed, Sparky, Wildstar, Nova (who was back in her regular uniform), Hemsford, and about twenty Space Marines entered the control room a minute later.

“I wonder who opened the door,” said the Doctor as he looked around; and noticed his TARDIS key sitting on the control panel. “Hullo. There it is!” he said as he shut the doors by pulling a red lever on the console. “I say; who’s been messing about with my ship?”

“Where could someone go to hide in here?” asked Sparky.

“It’s immense, and I’ve been in here once before,” said Wildstar.

“You could hide anywhere in this ship,” said Nova. “I think these corridors go on for miles…”

“Three hundred and eighty, to be precise,” said the Doctor.

“What?” said Speed.

“There’s three hundred and eighty miles’ worth of corridors in my TARDIS; been a few hundred years since I’ve checked them all out, oh, this is bad, this is very, VERY bad….”

“What’s bad?” asked Lieutenant Hemsford; the platoon leader of Wildstar’s current Space Marine contingent. “And how big is this thing again?” asked the large African-American. “And, how, sir, do you get all this inside such a small…”

“Dimensional transcendentiality,” snapped the Doctor as he looked at the console. “Whoever has been messing about with my ship has prepared it for a Time Ram by sheer chance…”

“What’s that?” asked Wildstar.

“A method of attack that could destroy the ship; and everything around it. They’ve taken the energy source, which feeds off the Eye of Harmony…”

“That is?” asked Sparky.

“Bugger your questions!” snapped the Doctor as he worked. The old man was sweating as he changed control settings. “If this ship goes up, Wildstar, it will create a massive wave of time-space disturbance that would most surely solve our problems for good…with a rather nasty effect…”

“What is…that rather nasty effect?” asked Nova meekly.

“It will create a black hole that will suck this ship, your spacecraft, Brazil, El Tigre, and probably the entire Planet Earth straight down into a naked singularity, incidentally destroying the whole human race as it does so! Haven’t had a situation like this since Jo messed about with these controls last , and…Who could have done this?”

Speed looked around, and found a slingshot near a door. “Spritle!” he yelled. “That little brat’s probably looking for candy! Spritle!” yelled Speed as he stuck his head down a corridor. “Come back!” he yelled, his voice echoing down the huge space.

“Too late to bother now,” said the Doctor as he worked and the sound of the humming changed. “Reversed it, just in time, now, everyone, SIT!” he yelled.

“Why?” said Sparky.

The Doctor worked and then pressed one final button. The Time Rotor began to move up and down, and he said, “We’re on our way to El Tigre now! If you don’t sit down, the TARDIS could knock you about for a bit…..”

And, outside, there was a sudden wheezing noise as the light atop the TARDIS began to flash.

At that, the ship dematerialized and disappeared from the Argo. Inside, the ship rocked under their feet as it went off into the Vortex.

Speed had the feeling this was going to be a very strange ride…


In the meantime, in the jungle, the Master’s TARDIS appeared.

“Great job, huh?” said Snake Oiler as he dragged an unconscious Trixie around like a sack.

“No, not a great job,” mused the Master. “Something threw me off course! We were aiming right for the pyramid! Karnaz, were you playing games with my controls?”

“I was not,” said Karnaz. “And we have something to settle before we step outside.”

“What?” snapped the Master.

“We must settle who is in command here,” said Karnaz as he and his men quietly surrounded the Master with drawn blasters. “There are six of us,” said Karnaz as he pointed at himself, Viggatz, Ratzen, and the other surviving members of Team Rouge who were there, “One of you, and two stupid humans. And there is one globe…”

“You can have this,” said the Master as he threw a crystal globe onto the deck before a shocked Snake. “Take it, and leave. Do you not think I have other means of accomplishing my mission? Means that do not include you or your moronic sacred artifacts?”

“Why, the sacred globe of Ekogaru,” said Viggatz in awe. He felt drawn to the sphere. “Let me have the honor, Commander Karnaz…”

Karnaz struck him across the face. “Idiot! Only I can detect if it is true or not,” said the R’Khell. Trixie slowly began to wake up as Karnaz reached for the globe.

If I can get that, thought Trixie woozily… Maybe there’s some way I can get away with it…even if it costs me my soul…I want to save everyone…especially Speed…

As Karnaz reached for the globe, Trixie jumped for it with a squeal.

“NO!!!” yelled Viggatz. He shot at Trixie, but she rolled away from the shot.

Ratzen kicked Trixie in the side. She screamed as she felt two ribs cracking, and she struggled to get up as her fingers brushed the globe.

But, Ratzen took it and then struck her across the face.

“How dare you profane that?” said the R’Khell commander. He held it and said, “O, Lord Ekogaru, let me feel your presence, and….WHAT? Nothing?”

“You see how easy you are to fool?” said the Master with an evil smile. He slowly withdrew a second globe with one hand. The other hand held a weapon; namely, his Tissue Compression Eliminator.

“So, we both have blasters,” said Karnaz as, unexpectedly, Snake crawled over to Trixie.

“What do you want?” she whispered.

“I wanted you captured and I wanted you as a hostage; not permanently hurt.”

“How chivalrous of you,” she said.

“Get out of the way, damn you!”

“Why?”

“You don’t wanna be nearby when those weapons go off,” he said. “And I don’t want you dead.”

Somehow trusting Snake’s judgment, Trixie crawled along with him to a corner of the room, un-noticed by the aliens.

“So, we have blasters, both of us,” said the Master. “Why don’t you fire first?”

“I will, you V’ranshanda! KIRRATZ!” yelled Karnaz in his own language.

The R’Khells all fired…at once.

The Master leaped upwards and did a somersault in mid-air as six laser beams converged on the spot where he had been.

The shocked R’Khells tried to react as the Master landed on his booted toes. Then, with an evil smile, he activated his weapon and spun it around at the R’Khells.

Viggatz was the only one to escape; he ran out the TARDIS doors as the beam hit Ratzen.

Trixie sat open-mouthed as Ratzen suddenly turned…

…into a shriveled husk that looked like a small doll. The same fate befell Patna, Yagenz, Mikma, and, finally, Karnaz himself.

“Here, human, do you want Karnaz?” said the Master as he picked him up and threw his smoking, shrunken form at Trixie. “I understand that you females fancy playing with dolls.”

“You are horrible!” cried Trixie.

“You can have this, too,” he said as he kicked the false globe at her. “It’s a fake. You may enjoy playing with it with your boyfriend. He is on his way, you know. Not that he can do much in regards to my plans.”

“What are your plans?” sneered Snake as he got up.

“You’re a persistent one, aren’t you?” he whispered. He stared at Snake and said, “I am your Master. You shall sleep. You shall sleep now!”

Snake fought the impulse for a moment, but then he fell asleep with open eyes. “Now, awake, and tie her up,” said the Master.

“Be silent,” said the Master as he stared at Trixie. “Yes…obey…”

Unable to resist the weird alien impulse, Trixie was struck dumb, but she remained conscious as the hypnotized form of Snake Oiler tied her up with some rope.

“My plan?” said the Master. He looked at his control panel and said, “Now I see why we are off course…ten miles away from the Pyramid….we hit the edge of a forming Time Ram field in the Vortex. Nice try, Doctor. Glad you were able to break away from your Terran pets long enough to try something ruthless…and suicidal. Yes, Doctor…I take off my hat to you. But you cannot stop me now.  Our race now ends. It ends at the El Tigre Pyramid. It is fortunate it ends there. The reason why is because the ley lines of the Earth intersect strongly at that point at the equator, creating a magnetic zone of turbulence that will, if I turn the globe ninety degrees when placing it in the pyramid, enable me to harness all of the block transfer equations that underlie the structure of the Universe. When I have those equations in my power, I will be able to force the Universe to surrender…to my will…or, if it will not surrender, I can simply erase this Universe, and start over again. Yes, I can rewrite the verses of the Terrans’ Scriptures, “In the beginning, God made the heavens and the Earth”, and rewrite them to read, “In the beginning, I, the Master, wrought a new heavens and a new Earth! And then, all will worship me! Godhood awaits me!”

Trixie shivered at the Master’s blasphemy as he laughed a cold, vicious laugh like a madman while he turned to the controls of his ship. God, I don’t pray all that much, she thought. But, if You can hear me, please help me put a stop to this. This man is utterly mad!


July 16, 1968

The Doctor’s TARDIS

Food Preparation Area

0522 Hours (Local Time)


Spritle had found exactly what he had wanted to find.

A candy machine.

Well, he guessed it was one. It was a large device that had pictures of different foods on it near red buttons. He pressed the one that was near an item that looked like a chocolate bar inside a wrapper and he pressed once.

To his delight, a chocolate bar came out.

Then, he pressed the button again Chim-Chim needs one, he thought.

A second one came out. He fed it to Chim-Chim, and locked the device open by banging on the button again.

As he greedily ate his candy, another one came out. Followed by another, and another.

He hid them in his coveralls as Speed showed up.

His brother demanded, “What are you doing?”

“Uh…Speed, I’m okay…”

“What are you up to?”

“Getting candy.”

“You know you’re in a lot of trouble? When you pushed all of those buttons out there, you caused the ship to go into Time Ram mode, and you almost blew us up!”

“I’m sorry,” said Spritle with downcast eyes…as more candy came out of the alien food processor. The candy bars were starting to pile up on the floor, as they had filled up the hopper at the bottom of the machine. Chim-Chim grabbed at one as two more fell out onto his paw.

“You deserve a spanking!” said Speed.

“Isn’t that usually Trixie’s job?” said Spritle. “Where is she?”

Speed went silent and shut his eyes in pain.

“Speed…where’s Trixie gone?”

“The enemy…captured her. I think she’s in terrible pain right now…or maybe…she’s…dead…”

“Dead..?”

Speed nodded as tears ran down his cheeks.

At that, Spritle began to scream and cry. “I loved Trixie!” he yelled. “Please, God don’t let her be dead!”

“She…I don’t want to think about it…,” said Speed. “And Sandor gave me this,” he said as he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a small box.

“What is it?” sobbed Spritle.

“An engagement ring he made,” said Speed. “Spritle…I…I was gonna ask her to marry me…today…but how can I, if…?”

Sprite nodded sadly. “Let me stop this machine. Suddenly, I don’t want any more candy.” He banged on the button. More candy came out. “Speedy! I can’t stop it! I…”

The Doctor stuck his head in the room. “We’re two miles away from the El Tigre Pyramid, Speed. It was the closest I could get it, thanks to this jungle. Are you ready to go?”

“I guess so,” said Speed as he put Trixie’s ring back in his pocket.

“Speed, c’mon,” said Sparky.

“Yeah…”

“But the candy machine!” yelled Spritle.

“A stowaway?” said the Doctor. “Are you aware, young man, what you almost did to my ship?”

“I can’t stop this candy machine,” said Spritle.

“I mean, when you were pressing buttons in the control room,” said the Doctor as he looked at the machine. He suddenly comprehended that his food processor was making enough candy bars to fill the alcove ankle-deep. “There, that’ll do it,” he said as he banged the machine a certain way with his fist…and the candy stopped. “It needs repair. It has been doing that for the past…oh…three hundred years. Sparky, you will keep these little hellions in here. Speed, come with me. The nerve of them, causing a Time Ram by pushing buttons, almost destroyed the Earth with it, they did…”

“Are we in trouble?” asked Spritle as they were left alone with Sparky.

“I think you are,” said Sparky. “I really think you are…”

Outside, the Doctor took a sniff of the deep jungle air. He was followed by Commodore Derek Wildstar, Nova, Hemsford and his men, and Speed.

Speed looked gloomily at a path in the jungle that was marked with a yellow flag. “This was where the race was supposed to end,” he said.

Wildstar started as he heard footsteps coming out of the jungle. “Everyone, look sharp!” he snapped. He and Nova pulled their blasters, followed by the Marines.

Three battered-looking men in Brazilian Army fatigues emerged from the jungle with their hands up. Their leader, a bearded man who was covered with sweat, ran up to the Doctor yelling, “Perigo, Perigo Grande!”

“What?” asked Derek.

“Portuguese,” said Nova. “Danger, great danger!”

“What is this?” said the Doctor.

perigo, perigo grande. Nativos selvagens,” said their leader. “Não entre na selva. Somente três de nós sobreviveram. São headhunters.”

 

“Headhunters?” said the Doctor. “Interesting…”

 

The sergeant continued in anguished Portuguese as his two survivors took canteens of water from the Space Marines. Devem ter cancelado a raça por causa dos headhunters! Estão guardando a pirâmide do EL Tigre. Nós guardávamos o último ponto de verificação e a linha de revestimento. Não promover.

 

“What’s going on?” asked Derek. “Nova, this isn’t my language…”

 

He says that they were guarding the finish line of the race until a band of headhunters drove them off,” said Nova. “He says they were guarding the El Tigre Pyramid. Great.”

 

Nova stepped forward, nodding as the Doctor asked the Portuguese leader, “Quantos homens você tem, e quantos homens você tem? Pode você falar o inglês?”

 

Nova added, “Você necessita a atenção médica?

 

Yes, I speak English, not good, though. We don’t need doctors, dear girl; the dead men do. Or did. But they dead. There was squad of twenty of us, my old sir. I think they were over a hundred. They had spears and blowguns. Very bad men. I am Sergeant Vicente Fernandez, and this is Private Piura and Corporal Alvorado. I’m only one here who speaks English. Americans?”

 

“You could kinda say that,” said Hemsford. “We’re Marines.”

 

“Don’t go in that jungle. Great danger. And also…they…they…”

 

Then, Piura burst in with, “O trovão que nós nos ouvimos antes, sergeant, o trovão. E shakling à terra. E o que o nativo nos disse.”

 

“Thunder, earthquake,” said the Doctor. “What did the native tell you?”

 

“He told us they were at war with something trying to invade their sacred jungle,” said Sergeant Fernandez.

 

“What?” said Speed.

 

O diabo, diabo, diabo!”, said Corporal Alvorado.

 

“He says, ‘The devil’,” said Nova.

 

“Sounds appropriate, given our friend. I think the Master is making the locals even more restless than usual,” said the Doctor. “Sergeant, your men are safe with us. Follow us. We are a special mission.”

 

“Where are you going?” asked Sergeant Fernandez.

 

“To El Tigre,” said Wildstar. “We have to get there.”

 

“And no,” said Nova. “We’re not crazy. We have to do this. For the sake of us all….”

 

“I know where he is,” said the Doctor. “Let’s go.”

 

The Doctor walked off down the jungle path alone. The force of the old Time Lord’s will was such that the others followed him after only a moment’s hesitation.

 

He seemed to know where they were going. And, somehow, the others had confidence. Why?

 

It was the aura he gave off. After all, he was the most intelligent of the group.

 

As they walked on, a depressed Speed wondered if Trixie was alive or not.

 

Trixie, he thought. If you’re dead, I guess the rest of us are going to join you…and very soon, at that.

 


What will happen next?

What is Snake’s agenda? Is Trixie safe from him?

What will the Master do? Will he beat the Doctor to the pyramid?

And what might the surviving R’Khells be up to?

Can Speed help our friends win and save the planet?

Stay tuned for Chapter Thirteen where we will conclude with: "Hell in the Jungle"

TO BE CONTINUED....

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