by Zac Harrison
“There are?” John shot back. “Like what?”
“She’s talking some sort of crazy gibberish,” Kaal said, grinning. “There’s nothing more important than virtual reality games... Hey, what on Derril is that?” Kaal skidded to a halt so quickly that John ran into his back.
“Hey, watch where...” John’s annoyance trailed off as he also found himself glancing out the viewing window.
“Wow!” gasped Emmie, jogging to a halt beside him. “That’s incredible.”
John took a step closer to the window. Outlined by stars, an enormous pyramid of shining purple cruised alongside Hyperspace High. Its smooth sides gleamed, looking as if they were made of glass lit from within. Nothing broke the flawless expanse of purple – no sign of engines or any markings. Mysterious and beautiful, the huge pyramid slipped through space, closer and closer to one of the gigantic white wings that housed Hyperspace High’s sensors, force field generators, and hangar decks. The pyramid, however, was far too large to fit inside even Hyperspace High’s cavernous hangars. As John watched, the craft swung to a docking port.
A faint shudder ran through the deck beneath John’s feet, as the pyramid was joined to the great bulk of Hyperspace High by the huge docking clamps.
“Whoa,” John said under his breath. “Every time I think I’m getting used to weird space stuff, something even more freaky comes along.”
He had been at the space school for only half a term. Seven weeks ago one of the teachers had mistaken him for a Martian prince. He had been brought on board by accident – and then nearly thrown out of an airlock into space. The headmaster had stepped in at the last moment, giving him a temporary place as a student. The place had become permanent after John helped his classmates escape an exploding volcano planet.
Since then, while John’s parents believed he was at a boarding school in Derbyshire, he had fought warrior aliens, flown spaceships at faster-than-light speed, learned to use technologies far beyond anything on Earth, and met bizarre beings from hundreds of different worlds. He had even eaten in a restaurant that only served eyeballs. Strange things had become so commonplace that John often thought he’d be shocked if he weren’t freaked out at least once a day.
But even with all of this, the pyramid was breathtaking.
“Is that a spaceship?” John asked, realizing it was a ridiculous question even as he said it. Of course it’s a spaceship, idiot, he told himself. You can tell by the way it flies through space.
If it was a stupid question, however, neither of his friends seemed to notice.
“It must be,” breathed Emmie, as they hurried to the canteen. “But I’ve never seen anything like it before, or even heard of a ship like it. And I thought I knew every model in the universe.”
“We’d better eat fast,” said Kaal, as he pulled a tray from the dispenser in the table. “Hmm, flavworms. I was hoping for klatfingers.”
John glanced over Kaal’s shoulder as he sat, realizing it was a mistake as soon as he saw the bowl of writhing pink worms. Wrinkling his nose, he tried to ignore Kaal taking his first mouthful and pulled his own tray closer.
“Ugh, you’ve got those horrible bird bottom things again,” said Emmie in disgust.
“Eggs. They’re called eggs. And they’re a lot nicer than... than... whatever that disgusting gloop is you’re eating.”
“It’s Sillaran slurrige,” replied Emmie. “Very tasty and full of healthy goodness. Here, try some.” She held out a spoon overflowing with lumpy goo towards John.
John rocked back in his chair. “I’ll stick with the eggs, thanks.”
“So where do you think that ship came from?” asked Kaal, through a mouthful of worms. “Do you think we’re being raided by space pirates?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Kaal,” replied Emmie. “It’s an amazing ship, though. I hope it’s a new model and Jegger’s going to let us fly it.”
“It’s a lot bigger than a t-dart or a Xi-Class Privateer,” said John doubtfully. The spaceships he’d flown for Space Flight class were tiny compared to the huge pyramid.
“That’s why it would be so much fun,” said Emmie, waving her spoon about. “Imagine how much power a ship that size must have.” Her eyes glistened with excitement – Emmie was one of Hyperspace High’s top pilots and loved nothing more than trying out a new ship. “Imagine how fast it could go,” she finished.
“Imagine trying to land it,” John replied. “It’s difficult enough in a t-dart.”
“Maybe we’ve picked it up because it’s in distress,” Kaal said thoughtfully. “Engine failure or something.”
“Could be visitors from another universe,” John suggested, putting on a spooky voice. “Aliens from other worlds.” He meant it as a joke and was surprised to see Emmie and Kaal both nod their heads.
“Could be,” said Emmie. “My dad says the Galactic Fleet occasionally gets reports of unidentified flying objects. Some people think they might be ships from parallel universes or galaxies on the other side of black holes.”
Kaal nodded. “There are millions of planets with life on them we haven’t discovered yet.”
John almost choked on a piece of toast. “You mean UFOs?” he gasped. He stared at his friends: Kaal who looked like a huge, green demon, and Emmie with her softly glowing skin and pointy ears. “You believe in aliens?”
Emmie stared at him. “What’s so funny about that?”
“On my planet, Hyperspace High would be a UFO. You would be aliens. I’m talking to aliens who believe in aliens!”
Kaal patted him on the shoulder. “Yes, but your planet is a bit... umm... how can I put this?”
“Backwards,” said Emmie with a grin.
“Undeveloped, I was going to say.” Kaal patted John’s shoulder again. “But don’t worry, it should catch up in another ten thousand years or so.”
John couldn’t help laughing. Everyone on the ship, except the headmaster, seemed to think that the people of Earth were primitive, but he knew his friends were only teasing him. He was about to retort, when a chime rang through the canteen.
“Uh oh,” said Kaal quickly, shovelling in the last mouthful of flavworms. “Better get going.”
The pyramid ship forgotten, John jumped to his feet and snatched the bag that contained his ThinScreen. “What have we got this morning anyway? I’ve completely forgotten.”
“Space Survival,” said Emmie, as they hurried down a corridor. “And we’ve got five minutes to get there or we’ll all be in detention.”
As they started running to class, a pulsing ball of bright light zipped past, headed in the direction of the docking port. For a second it continued on its way before coming to a sudden stop and heading back towards them.
In a flash, the bright light changed into the shape of a bald alien wearing robes as white as snow. His skin shimmered softly, and his purple eyes twinkled with energy.
“Good morning, sir,” Kaal, Emmie, and John chorused together.
Lorem, the headmaster of Hyperspace High, raised an eyebrow. Usually, he enjoyed stopping and chatting with students he met along the ship’s passages, taking time to find out how their studies were going and swapping jokes. Today, however, he seemed to be in a rush. “The three of you are late for class,” he said, without wishing them a good morning.
“Errr... yeah,” John spluttered. “We were just—”
“Playing Boxogle?” Lorem finished for him.
There was a moment of silence. “Well?” the headmaster said, raising his eyebrow again.
“Yes, sir.” John knew it would be no use making up another excuse – not when the headmaster could see things that were hidden from most people. Sometimes even the future.
“Tomorrow morning you may wish to spend less time playing Boxogle and more time brushing your hair.”
With a wink of his purple eye, Lorem vanishe
d in a flash of light. John ran to catch up with his friends, running fingers through his untidy mop of blond hair, as they watched the ball of energy disappear in the distance.
Freaky space stuff, John thought again.
Read Warlord’s Revenge to find out what happens next!
Other titles from the Hyperspace High series – Crash Landing
When John Riley catches the wrong bus, he ends up on Hyperspace High – an amazing school on a space ship!
Light-years from home, John makes friends with aliens, struggles through Galactic Geography lessons, and eats gross Martian food in the canteen. But John needs to get up to speed fast, or he’ll be booted back to Earth. Will an asteroid storm on a school trip give him a chance to prove that you don’t have to be top of the class to be a hero?
Jump on board the school that’s out of this world!
Frozen Enemies
John Riley finds out museums in outer space are anything but boring when his class travels to the planet Archivus Major!
But the visit soon starts to go wrong. When two alien armies are accidentally released from cryogenic storage, it’s up to John and his friends to get them back on ice! Can they stop these mortal enemies before an intergalactic war breaks out?
Jump on board the school that’s out of this world!
Warlord’s Revenge
When John Riley’s class is chosen to be inspected by the mysterious scholars of Kerallin, they take an amazing trip to the scholars’ hidden planet!
As if being quizzed by the scholars isn’t stressful enough, the planet is invaded by an intergalactic warlord! Expelled from Hyperspace High long ago, the warlord is out for revenge. Should the class flee while they still can, or can John and his friends save the day?
Jump on board the school that’s out of this world!
Galactic Battle
Hyperspace High is busy getting ready for the annual Space Spectacular!
John and Kaal are on the Galactic Battle team. When the show takes a turn for the worse, John’s team is no longer fighting to impress the audience – but battling to save them!
Jump on board the school that’s out of this world!
Space Plague
It’s the end of term at Hyperspace High and John Riley and his fellow students are in the grip of revision fever.
Suddenly John’s best friend, Kaal, has a fever for real – he’s caught the deadly Zhaldarian flu! Soon the whole school is under threat. The only possible cure lies in a distant nebula. John is determined to save his classmates, but will anybody be brave enough to join him?
Jump on board the school that’s out of this world!
Hyperspace High
Collect them all!
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