by Katie Tsang
He stood up and brought his phone to me.
I stared at the screen.
I had no idea what I was looking at. It was kind of like a map.
‘What is this?’ I said.
Stanley peered over my shoulder. ‘Is that a map? I’m GREAT at reading maps.’ He grabbed the phone and studied it.
Then he looked up, his face pale.
‘Ralph’s right,’ Stanley said. ‘This is showing all kinds of UFO activity. Right above where we are.’
‘What’s a UFO again?’ asked Regina.
‘Unidentified Flying Object,’ I said. ‘Which almost definitely one-hundred per cent means aliens.’
‘That maths doesn’t make sense, Sam,’ said Bernard, frowning.
‘Aliens don’t always make sense,’ I said.
Bernard nodded. ‘You’re right there.’
‘Any other information, Commander Ralph?’ I said.
Ralph shook his head. ‘No. And stop calling me Commander Ralph.’
‘THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS SITUATION,’ I said. ‘We can only defeat the aliens if—’
‘We don’t even know if it really is aliens,’ interrupted Zoe.
‘Okay, we can only defeat whatever it is, out there in the dark, if we’re organized. If we’re ready. We can’t just be kids out here. We have to be more.’
Ralph rolled his eyes. ‘I guess I’m Commander then.’
‘If Ralph’s a commander, what am I?’ said Bernard.
‘Chief Research Officer, obviously,’ I said. Bernard beamed.
‘What about me?’ said Zoe, hopping in place.
‘General Zoe, exploration leader.’
She grinned.
‘This is so much fun!’ said Regina.
‘Who do I get to be?’
‘Admiral Regina.’
‘Awesome!’ said Regina.
‘And me?’ said Stanley.
‘Colonel Stanley, camping expert. Visiting from the Hong Kong team.’
Stanley gave me a high-five.
‘And what does that make you?’ said Ralph.
‘Spaceman Sam, I guess,’ I said.
‘No,’ said Regina. ‘You’re Captain Sam.’
I looked at Zoe and Bernard, who nodded. I knew I’d always be a spaceman in my heart, but for this mission, I’d be the captain. Someone had to do it. And I figured I was brave enough.
Just then, there was another howl.
HOWL
I did my best to put on a brave voice. ‘Commander Ralph, did you hear that one?’
Ralph nodded.
‘I heard it too,’ said Zoe.
We all moved a little closer to the fire.
‘So let me get this straight,’ said Bernard. ‘We’ve got aliens to worry about, plus whatever is howling in the woods?’
‘And all of the other creatures that come out at night,’ said Stanley. ‘Regina, what if the zombie werewolf followed us here?’ blurted Ralph.
‘WHAT?!’ the rest of us cried out. Then I remembered. Regina had once said that she and Ralph thought there was a zombie werewolf haunting their basement.
‘It couldn’t have followed us,’ said Regina, but even she sounded unsure.
‘Anything is possible,’ I said, trying to keep a steady voice. ‘I know that from SPACE BLASTERS.’
‘Hold on,’ said Zoe, crossing her arms. ‘So what exactly are we worried about? Is it the zombie werewolf, the aliens, or all the things Stanley listed?’
‘ALL OF THEM!’ burst out Bernard. ‘Don’t you see? In the dark, it could be anything. We have to be prepared for ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.’
‘Chief Research Officer Bernard is right, as usual,’ I said, feeling a lot like that was something Spaceman Jack would say about Captain Jane.
‘These names are dumb,’ said Ralph, rolling his eyes, but then his phone beeped again. He looked up at me. ‘Another alien sighting,’ he said seriously.
‘Thank you, Commander Ralph,’ I said. This time, Ralph didn’t say the names were dumb. I took a deep breath and made a decision. ‘We have to tell the grown-ups.’
‘But our parents are practically across the whole forest!’ Bernard wailed.
‘No they aren’t,’ said Zoe. ‘They are right there. I can see your dad.’ She pointed.
‘Yeah, but in between us and them is . . . no man’s land,’ said Stanley. He gestured at the expanse of darkness between us. ‘And remember what I said about the creature that comes in the dark . . . ’
We all shivered. Zoe scooted closer to the fire.
‘What’s no man’s land?’ said Bernard.
I’d heard it on SPACE BLASTERS, but couldn’t remember what it meant.
Stanley pointed his flashlight in our faces.
‘It means ANYTHING could happen there. It isn’t our territory. And it isn’t where the adults are either. It belongs to THE DARK.’
We all stared at the dark no man’s land. The grown-ups seemed even further away than they had a second ago. But I could still hear them.
They were laughing.
They had NO IDEA how much possible danger we were all in.
Typical grown-ups.
‘Couldn’t Ralph use his phone to call them?’ said Regina. ‘So we can all stay by the fire?’
‘Brilliant idea, Admiral,’ I said. I looked at Ralph.
Ralph sighed as if we’d asked him to climb a mountain or something, but finally he pressed a button on his phone and held it to his ear.
We all waited.
‘No answer,’ he said.
‘Maybe we could yell for them?’ said Regina.
I shook my head. ‘No, yelling is for
emergencies only.’
‘Isn’t this an emergency?’ said Bernard.
Stanley keeps talking about?’
‘We have nothing confirmed,’ I said. ‘And if we yell, and they come over, and there isn’t anything here . . . well, you know how adults are.’
‘They’ll tell us we’re being silly and make us go to sleep,’ said Ralph knowingly.
‘Exactly,’ I said. I still couldn’t get over how weird it was that Ralph and I kept having the same thoughts. Especially because he’s so evil! But I guess in times of crisis, you have to focus on the greater evil. Like alien invasions and werewolves and . . . the scary thing Stanley kept mentioning.
‘We’ll stay calm. So they HAVE TO take us seriously,’ I said, remembering what had happened when I told my own parents about the ghost in our house. They accused me of watching too many episodes of SPACE BLASTERS and told me not to listen to everything Na-Na said. Both of which are impossible. There’s no such thing as too many SPACE BLASTERS episodes, and trust me, when Na-Na wants you to listen to her, you listen to her. ‘We need to tell them about the alien sightings.’
Everyone nodded.
‘So . . . who is going to go over there?’ said Zoe.
Everyone looked around at each other.
‘Not me,’ said Bernard. ‘I’ve got to stay here and do my job. Which is research.’ He turned his flashlight on his book again, looking engrossed.
I was impressed but not surprised by how seriously he was taking his role as Chief Research Officer.
‘What book is that anyway?’ asked Regina.
Bernard held it up. ‘Nature Survival Guide: 1,000 Deadly Things in the Woods and How to Avoid Them. I got it at the library,’ he said.
Regina’s eyes got huge. ‘Yep, that job seems pretty important.’
‘I’m going to stay here by our fire,’ said Zoe.
‘Wait. Aren’t you General Zoe, exploration leader?’ said Ralph. ‘This seems like the perfect job for you.’
Zoe shook her head back and forth so fast her ponytail almost smacked me in the face. ‘I explore by daylight,’ she said firmly. ‘No point in exploring when you can’t see anything.’
Zoe had a good point.
‘It’s just walking over to our parents – what’s the big deal?’ said Ralph.
‘
You go then, if it is no big deal,’ said Zoe.
Ralph swallowed. ‘I would, but shouldn’t our fearless captain go?’
He said this in a very sarcastic Ralph way, and I could tell by the way he said ‘fearless’ and ‘captain’ that he meant the opposite. Like ‘very afraid’ ‘not-captain’. And just when I was starting to like Ralph. I’d even made him our commander!
But he was right. I wished I had thought this through before I suggested that someone should go across no man’s land.
‘Ralph’s right. I’ll go and tell the grown-ups.’
‘You shouldn’t go alone,’ said Regina. ‘I’ll go with you. That’s something an admiral would do, right?’
‘Right!’ I said, feeling relieved. I turned to Stanley. ‘Colonel Stanley, can I leave you in charge?’
Stanley nodded. ‘I thought I was already in charge,’ he said. ‘I’m the oldest, remember?’
I wanted to argue with him, but there wasn’t time. ‘Well, continue on,’ I said.
I looked at Regina. ‘Are you ready?’
She turned on her flashlight. ‘I’m ready.’
‘Then let’s go.’
‘Safe travels, Captain,’ said Bernard, saluting me.
‘We’re going to be able to see them the WHOLE TIME!’ said Ralph with a snort.
‘Ralph, stop sabotaging the mission!’ said Regina. ‘Are you with us or not?’
Ralph made a frustrated horse-like sound. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Good luck with the mission. But only because my sister is going with you.’
It was the best I was going to get.
I flung my hand up in the air.
‘For the universe!’ I shouted.
‘For the universe!’ cried everyone else. Except Ralph. But at least he put his hand up in the air.
Regina and I stepped into the dark.
She shined her flashlight ahead of us.
‘We should walk side by side,’ I said. ‘So we know if one of us is grabbed from behind.’
‘Okay,’ she said.
‘And we have to go quickly, but also carefully.’
‘Got it.’
We walked in silence. I tried very hard to be brave. It was scary in the dark. Thankfully the grown-up’s fire was getting closer.
And then disaster.
The flashlight went out.
‘ARGH!’ I yelled. I wanted to run, but I knew I couldn’t just abandon Admiral Regina.
‘Ahh!’ cried Regina. ‘There’s something in my hair!’
I reached out into the dark to help Regina and something scratched my arm!
We had to make an escape. ‘COME ON!’ I said, pulling her by the hand and running towards the grown-ups by their fire. No time to be careful. Only speed mattered now.
‘Keep going!’ Zoe shouted from behind us.
We were so close. Just a few more steps. And then finally we reached the grown-ups.
‘Oh, hello, darlings,’ said Ralph and Regina’s mum. She was wearing a fancy coat and pearls. ‘Are you having fun?’
‘There’s something out there!’ I cried.
‘Out where?’ she said. She was remarkably calm.
‘OUT THERE. IN NO MAN’S LAND,’ I said, pointing behind us. ‘IT TRIED TO GET US.’
‘No man’s land, hey?’ said Bernard’s dad. ‘I’ve always been impressed by your imagination, Sam.’
‘No! I’m not imagining things. Tell them, Regina!’
‘It’s true, Mum,’ said Regina, her eyes wide. ‘We came over here to tell you about the aliens—’
‘The aliens!’ interrupted her dad with a snort. ‘Did the aliens try to GET you?’
‘We don’t know what it was!’ I said. ‘But we know that something tried to get us and that there are DEFINITELY alien sightings. Near us.’ I tried to make my voice as serious as possible. ‘I’m not sure if the two are connected, but it might not be safe for us here.’
The grown-ups all exchanged a look.
It was a look I knew well.
It meant that they one-hundred per cent didn’t take us seriously.
‘There is something RIGHT there!’ I said, pointing into the dark. ‘It might have even used magic powers to turn off Regina’s flashlight.’
‘I’ll check it out,’ sighed Bernard’s dad, standing up. I was glad he was so big.
He walked over to where we had come from. I took a deep breath.
‘Be careful, Mr Wilson!’ I cried out.
‘Kids, looks like you just ran into a branch,’ he said, pointing his own flashlight at a tree. ‘See here?’
He was right. It was just a branch. A branch with lots of twigs that looked like fingers.
‘I was wondering how you got leaves in your hair,’ said Regina’s mum, brushing them off her.
‘But that doesn’t explain the aliens!’ I said. ‘Which is what we came over to tell you in the first place. Or why Regina’s flashlight went out! What if the aliens knew there was a branch there so they used their alien powers to turn off the flashlight right at the moment we ran into it!’
‘Where is all this alien talk coming from?’ said Regina’s mum.
‘Sam is a big fan of a show called SPACE BLASTERS,’ said Bernard’s dad. ‘It’s got all sorts of aliens in it. Isn’t that right, Sam?’ ‘That’s why I know we have to take this alien threat seriously!’
The adults exchanged another look.
‘Mum, Dad, Sam’s right,’ said Regina. ‘We saw reports of aliens on Ralph’s phone!’
‘Is he using data for the internet out here? I told him not to,’ said their dad. ‘We said he could use it for games and music only.’
‘I think you guys might be a little hopped up on sugar from all those marshmallows,’ said Bernard’s dad. ‘And it’s getting pretty late. Probably time for you guys to call it a night.’
Regina and I cried out.
Mr Wilson squatted down next to us. ‘Sam, would I let anything bad happen to you or Bernard? Or Zoe or any of you kids?’
‘Mr Wilson, all I know about aliens is that you never know what to expect. And I don’t know if being a palaeontologist has prepared you for an alien encounter.’ A thought occurred to me. ‘Unless you’ve ever dug up alien bones?’
Bernard’s dad rubbed my head. ‘Can’t say that I have, Sam. But I do know that you kids will be fine tonight. Aliens or no aliens, all right?’
I don’t know why he thought that would be reassuring. If there was an alien attack, we definitely would not be fine.
But I knew this battle was lost. I’d tried my best, and failed my crew.
‘All right, Mr Wilson,’ I said.
‘But just in case, we’ll make sure all the flashlights are working, okay? And don’t forget, we’ll be in tents right next to you. You’ve got nothing to worry about.’
I knew then that it would be up to me and the crew to save us all.
Bernard’s dad walked Regina and me back across no man’s land. I felt a lot safer with him next to us. And the walk seemed to take way less time than it had coming over.
‘Did they tell you about the aliens, Dad?’ asked Bernard, hopping up and down.
‘They did, and I told them what I’m about to tell you. You kids have nothing to worry about. There aren’t any aliens here.’
‘But, Mr Wilson! On Ralph’s phone it said there were!’ said Stanley.
‘I think that camping is no place for a phone,’ said Bernard’s dad. ‘You’ve got yourselves all worked up. And now it’s time for bed.’
We should have known that the grown-ups wouldn’t believe us. They never do.
‘But, Dad!’ said Bernard.
‘I said, it’s time for bed.’
There was no arguing there.
Getting ready for bed at home is usually pretty boring. Getting ready for ‘bed’ while camping is a whole other story.
First we brushed our teeth OUTSIDE. And spat in the bushes!
Then we took turns to go into different bushes a little further
away to ‘do our business’, as Bernard’s dad called it. There were proper toilets nearby apparently, but nobody wanted to go that far. Especially not in the dark.
After that, we put on our pyjamas inside our tent, which was practically impossible to do because our tent was so small. Bernard kept falling over and Stanley kept getting in my way and I accidentally elbowed him in the nose. He didn’t even get annoyed at me, just rubbed his nose and said it wasn’t my fault.
I’m pretty sure Ralph had plenty of space in his giant spaceship tent.
Then Bernard’s dad threw dirt on the fire to put it out for the night. ‘Fire safety,’ he said. ‘But be careful, it’ll be hot for a while.’ It was still glowing a little, which I appreciated.
Finally, it was time for bed.
I have to admit, I was pretty impressed that Ralph was sleeping in his own tent by himself. Especially considering all our new intel.14
Before I went into my tent for the night, I poked my head into Ralph’s tent. Just to check on him, like a good captain should. It looked AMAZING in there! He had a lantern and an inflatable mattress! No wonder he was okay about sleeping by himself. But still, being the captain, I knew I should make sure he was fine.
‘Commander Ralph,’ I said.
Ralph sat up and rolled his eyes. ‘What do you want, Sam? You can knock off the stupid SPACE BLASTERS talk now.’
I wanted to leave right then, but I had gone in there with a mission, and I wasn’t going to leave till the job was done.
‘I just was checking that you’ll be okay by yourself ?’ I said in my best captain voice.
‘Of course. I’m not scared like some people might be,’ Ralph said, and snorted knowingly. ‘Have fun sharing your tiny tent with not just one but TWO other people.’
‘There’s safety in numbers,’ I said with a shrug. ‘That’s just a fact.’
‘Well, I’m perfectly fine.’
