Evil Star

otherwise he hadn't been injured in the crash. It was late, but he wasn't tired. He didn't run but walked quickly, listening to the soft contact of his feet with the earth. It seemed to him that the breeze had died down. There was an extraordinary stillness in the desert, as if the whole world were holding its breath. He looked up.
    The sky was very black and littered with stars. He could make out Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star the rise and fall of the mountains in the distance, nothing more than a single brushstroke on the great canvas that was this night. Briefly, he wondered about the condors that had attacked him the last time he was here. Well, let them come. He was ready for them. He could feel the power welling up inside him. He hadn't been chosen for this because he was an ordinary boy. He had been chosen because he was one of the five. He knew what he had to do.
    The mobile laboratory was in front of him. The helicopter had come down less than a quarter of a mile away. What time was it? He still had no watch and he won-dered if he was too late, if midnight had already passed. In that case, somewhere in the Nazca desert or perhaps even in another part of Peru, the gate would have opened.
    The Old Ones would already be walking, once again, on the face of the Earth.
    The laboratory was part truck, part container, part mobile home. It had been driven here on eight fat rubber tires but once it had arrived, it had been jacked up on steel legs so that the wheels were about twenty centimeters off the ground. There was a driving cabin at the front — empty — and a door with a couple of steps leading down the side. Matt's eyes were drawn to the roof. Another satel-lite dish, about three meters wide, pointed upward, connected to the main body of the vehicle by a series of thick wires. There were other machines surrounding it. A ladder led up at the very back. This was going to be easier than Matt had thought.
    He stopped.
    He remembered how he had to do it. The key was the smell of burning. Somehow, all this had begun with the death of his parents in a car accident when he was eight years old. That morning, his mother had burned the toast. And whenever his power came back to Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star him, so did the mem-ory of that single, defining moment in his life.
    When Gavin Taylor had tripped him up at Forrest Hill, he had smelled burning. A moment later, the chandelier had exploded. And the next day, in class, as Gwenda prepared to drive a petrol tanker into the school. . . the same thing.
    He smelled it now. He closed his eyes and let it happen. His arms were loosely folded in front of him. He could feel the cool of the evening on the back of his neck. With a sense of calm, he waited for it to happen. He wasn't in any hurry. At last he was in control.
    He opened his eyes.
    In front of him, the satellite began to shimmer and bend, as if caught in a heat haze. Matt concentrated. It was as if he were pushing himself, or some part of himself, for-ward. Something invisible was flowing out of him. He heard a shot but he knew that nobody had fired at him. He had torn one of the bolts out of the roof. He smiled to himself and at once another bolt snapped, then two more. If there had been four men standing on the truck, they would have been unable to move the satellite dish. But Matt was rip-ping it out as if it were paper.
    The entire dish rattled as if it were trying to jerk itself free of the metal roof. Matt helped it. He merely flicked his eyes and the dish came free, the cables and supports snap-ping, the whole thing spinning away into the night. And that was it. It was over. Whoever was inside the trailer would no longer have control of the satellite.
    Matt was astonished that, after all he had been through, the whole thing had ended so quickly.
    The door of the mobile laboratory opened and a figure stepped out.
    It was Salamanda. Matt had only ever seen him once, but of course Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star the elongated head, the tiny eyes and mouth, and the colorless skin were unforgettable. He was wearing black trousers and a white shirt, the sleeves open and loose. Carefully, he stepped down from the trailer. Even the three steps were a challenge for him. All his attention was focused on keeping his head upright. It was the same task that had occupied him throughout his life. Behind him, through the open door, Matt saw other men and a woman