The Lost Home World

by Jones Cerberus

  ‘You’re OK!’

  ‘Am I?’ Amelia asked. ‘I wasn’t sure yet.’

  ‘Well, you’re here,’ Charlie amended. ‘And you’re alive, and I’m so glad to see you.’

  Amelia sighed, and decided to try to sit up. Everything hurt, but nothing seemed broken, and she’d probably be fine once she rinsed out her mouth and got an icepack on her ear.

  She almost forgot there was anything else to worry about when she heard Lady Naomi shout, ‘I see you!’

  She and Charlie both jumped, and turned to see Krskn creeping out on all fours from behind a cave wall. He was a shabby sight, his red eyes the only Krskn-like thing left of him. His black salamander skin was now a dull, dusty brown, and looked shrunken and pathetic, recoiling from Lady Naomi.

  He croaked, ‘Wait! I –’

  But Lady Naomi didn’t give him a chance to finish. She shot him with one of his own weapons, and he crumpled to the floor without another sound.

  Dad and Lady Naomi locked Krskn into one of the sealed glass guest rooms of the underground cavern just through the next bend in the tunnel. Amelia and Charlie, for once, didn’t try to help. They were both happy to sit quietly and enjoy being safe and still.

  Then Dad ruined everything by asking, ‘Did anyone see where the canister ended up?’

  He and Lady Naomi began searching the caves, and after ten minutes or so with no success, Amelia and Charlie wearily got to their feet and joined in.

  ‘Well, I don’t know,’ said Dad, scratching his head. ‘Given how strong that wind was from the gateway, it could have blown a long way into the tunnels. And into any one of the tunnels. We could be searching for hours.’

  Lady Naomi made a disgusted noise. ‘And I can’t even scan for it.’

  Dad was surprised. ‘Why not?’

  ‘Krskn destroyed my workstation.’

  ‘Oh, Naomi.’ Dad groaned with real distress. ‘I’m so sorry. What a low blow …’

  Lady Naomi shrugged and looked away. ‘Oh, well, it’s done now. But it means we’ll have to keep searching manually.’

  ‘At least until we can get Control here,’ Dad started, then corrected himself. ‘Or I suppose we’ll have to check with Tom and the Keeper whether we can tell Control about the canister, even now.’ He sighed. ‘Right, well, let’s at least go and get James to help us map out the area, and then –’

  Without warning, Amelia threw up, and began shivering violently.

  ‘Oh, cookie!’ cried Dad, hurrying over and putting his arms around her even as she tried to spit out the foul taste of sick. As if she wasn’t feeling gross enough already.

  Dad wiped her face with the edge of his T-shirt, and then picked her up like she was still a little kid. ‘Sorry, Lady Naomi. I’m going to have to leave you alone until I send James down.’

  Amelia, utterly exhausted, snuggled into Dad’s neck as he began to trudge back the long tunnel to the hotel library’s hidden trapdoor. She closed her eyes and listened to his footsteps.

  ‘You too, Charlie,’ Dad called back. ‘You’ve had enough for one night.’

  Charlie didn’t even argue.

  The tunnel dimmed as they left behind the lichen caves, and eventually became so dark it didn’t matter if Amelia opened her eyes or not. Dad and Charlie had to slow down and feel their way up the rough stone steps. It meant they were nearly home, though, and Amelia began to daydream about how good it would feel to be in her own bed.

  And then she heard a strange noise. The closer they got to the hotel, the louder the ruckus: a mixture of human voices and an unrecognisable squealing.

  Dad groaned. ‘Ah, don’t tell me …’

  ‘The trapdoor’s not open, is it?’ asked Charlie.

  ‘From the sound of it, yes. I just hope nobody’s noticed it yet.’

  ‘I thought it was still night.’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘So then who –’

  ‘Let’s just wait and see,’ Dad interrupted him.

  They plodded on faster, Amelia struggling a bit in Dad’s arms. ‘I can walk,’ she murmured, but it wasn’t very convincing.

  ‘Shh.’ Dad tightened his hold and kissed the top of her head. ‘We’re nearly there.’

  Amelia stayed still, too tired to insist, but she couldn’t stop her mind from chattering on: What if a human guest saw the tunnel? What if they heard the gateway? What if …?

  But her guesses were nowhere near bad enough. What they found as they emerged into the hotel was far worse than anything Amelia had been worrying about.

  For a start, the trapdoor wasn’t just open – it had been blasted off its hinges. The blowback from the gateway had exploded through it with such force, the splintered door was lying against the opposite wall. It must have sounded like a bomb going off.

  Worse still, the tornado-strength wind had carried with it not just sand, but clods of luminous lichen and, bizarrely, hundreds – if not thousands – of tiny, enraged bats.

  Amelia vaguely recalled something high-pitched flying over her head back there in the caves, but hadn’t wondered what it could be. Even if she had, she doubted she would have guessed yellow micro-bats. In a stupor of fatigue, she watched one crawling up the curtains. It was not much bigger than a fat huntsman spider, with a long purple horn on its forehead and double dragon’s tails waggling behind it.

  Alien, she thought dully.

  And then she became properly aware of the screaming. A lot of screaming. Dad led Charlie out from the library into the lobby.

  Every single guest must have been there, all in their pyjamas. (Miraculously, all the aliens had still remembered to switch on their holo-emitters.) Human and alien alike, they were running amok. Mum and James were there, standing on the reception desk, trying to call out for calm, but it was far too late for that.

  Lichen was hanging off the chandelier and picture frames, covering the floor, and giving the lobby a weirdly festive look. The air was hazy with cave dust, but above all of that, of course, were the bats. Screeching, dive-bombing, attacking the guests with their sharp horns, swooping in flocks, and spattering people with rancid droppings. It was the most disgusting, chaotic and ridiculous thing Amelia had ever seen.

  Mum spotted them from her desk and jumped down, pushing her way through the panicking guests, and sweeping Dad, Amelia and Charlie up into one huge hug. She kissed the tops of their dirty heads, and then looked up at Dad.

  ‘Where’s Lady Naomi?’ she asked.

  ‘She’s safe,’ said Dad, ‘but angry with herself, and embarrassed for having been taken for a fool.’

  ‘But none of us –’ Mum began.

  ‘It was Krskn,’ said Dad wearily. ‘So no, no-one will blame her for falling for his act. But she’s still blaming herself.’

  Mum sighed. ‘That poor, poor girl. Is that why she hasn’t come back with you?’

  Dad laughed bitterly. ‘No, that’s the other thing: the canister’s missing.’

  ‘OK.’ Mum squared her shoulders. ‘I should have guessed something dreadful had happened.’ She gestured at the roaring panic-stricken madness behind her. ‘But you’re all fine, aren’t you?’

  She peered more closely at Amelia. ‘No, not really fine at all. What’s happened to you, my little chicken?’

  ‘Ah.’ Dad cleared his throat. ‘Krskn took her hostage and pulled her into a wormhole, and then it sort of exploded on them, and –’

  Mum gasped in horror, and Amelia groaned and looked at Charlie. She expected one of his knowing looks in return, but instead saw, well, not curiosity. And not sympathy. Was it … jealousy?

  ‘We’ll talk about it later,’ said Dad. ‘Right now, though, these kids need some sleep.’

  The next morning, all the human guests wanted to check out before breakfast, and Mum and Mary had a hard time convincing them to stay until ‘compensation’ could be arranged. What they really meant was, no Earthling could leave the headland until Control had come and had their say.

  Amelia and Charli
e wondered what that say would be. Of the top three Control agents on Earth, Ms Rosby was quite happy for humanity to learn about aliens. Arxish, on the other hand, was definitely not. As for Stern … they’d never met him yet, though they’d seen the back of his head as he got out of Mr Snavely’s car with the others and poor Tom, whom they’d given a lift home. The four of them were down at Tom’s now.

  Somehow, though, Amelia and Charlie couldn’t get too upset about any of it. It was just too good to sit in the early sunshine, Amelia digging her hands into the lawn as if to prove to herself she really was firmly on Earth, and against all odds, they’d not only lived through another attack from Krskn – they’d actually captured him.

  And Lady Naomi was staying (though Amelia was too tactful to tell Lady Naomi how glad she was about that – not just yet, anyway). Grawk had completely recovered from the tranquiliser dart, and was now sitting guard outside Krskn’s tank.

  ‘If only someone would bring us food, everything would be perfect,’ sighed Charlie.

  ‘Will lamingtons do?’ Lady Naomi sat down beside them and set a plate on the grass.

  Charlie crammed most of one in his mouth in one go, and moaned in contentment.

  ‘How’s it going down there?’ asked Amelia. Last night felt like a million years ago – until she moved, that is. Then she felt every bruise and sprain and burn all over again.

  Lady Naomi wrinkled her nose. ‘Lots of talking. Arxish is arguing for the hotel to be closed to human guests, and it sounds as though Ms Rosby won’t fight him on it.’

  ‘And us?’

  ‘You’re OK. Your dad’s keeping his job, so you’ll all stay here. None of that will change.’

  ‘Phew!’ Amelia let go of the last bit of tension. ‘And how about Tom?’

  Lady Naomi blushed and looked away.

  ‘What’s happened to him?’

  ‘You mean apart from me turning my back on him after he raised me my whole life? Me telling him he wasn’t a good enough reason to stay here just because my so-called brother –’ She spat out the last word with such contempt she couldn’t finish her sentence.

  ‘I’m sure Tom will understand,’ said Amelia.

  Lady Naomi snorted. ‘He does! That’s the worst bit: I’ve been so thoughtless and selfish and ungrateful, and I’m so sorry I’d do anything to make it up, but Tom’s still only worried about me. Like I’m the one who’s been hard done by.’

  ‘Well, you sort of are,’ said Charlie, chomping into yet another lamington. ‘I mean, it’s not like Tom’s engaged to Krskn now.’

  Amelia rolled her eyes, but now the dreaded name had come up, she had to ask. ‘And Krskn? What’s happening with him?’

  For the first time, Lady Naomi gave a real smile. ‘You’ve earned some serious respect from Control there. Even Arxish can’t hide his happiness – it’s going to look great on his resume that he was one of the three directors that brought in Krskn.’

  ‘What?’ spluttered Charlie. ‘He did nothing!’

  ‘No, no – he was in charge when good things happened, so he’ll get the credit for it. That’s how these things work.’

  ‘That sucks!’

  Lady Naomi shrugged. ‘What concerns me is how Krskn is taking it all. He had Control all around him, staring and pointing and cracking jokes at his expense, and he just yawned.’

  ‘He slept through his arrest?’ Amelia asked. ‘Maybe the drugs from that dart were still working.’

  ‘Oh, no, he was wide awake.’ Lady Naomi shuddered. ‘He wasn’t sedated, he was bored.’

  ‘Yeah, well.’ Charlie took another lamington. ‘That’s Krskn, I suppose. He’s evil and crazy, but you’ve got to admit: he’s cool.’

  ‘Charlie!’ Amelia shoved him.

  ‘Well, he is! I don’t mean I think he’s awesome, but he does have style. And nothing much bothers him, does it?’

  ‘Hmm.’ Lady Naomi stared out over the headland. She looked completely bothered by Krskn.

  Charlie, oblivious, went on, ‘And he loves you, Lady Naomi, so you’ve got to give him points for that. He has good taste.’

  Lady Naomi made a disgusted face. ‘Cheers, Charlie. That makes me feel much better.’

  ‘Does that mean you’re not going to marry him, then?’

  Lady Naomi snorted. She and Amelia gave him a hard shove each, one on each side so that he was squished between them. He squeaked in outrage.

  ‘No, thanks, Charlie,’ Lady Naomi, smiling and passing him another lamington. ‘Right now, I feel pretty lucky to stay right here with all of you. You’re enough family for me, I think.’

  The Lost Home World

  published in 2016 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

  Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

  A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.

  eISBN 9781743584330

  Text copyright © 2016 Chris Morphew and Rowan McAuley

  Illustration and design copyright © 2016 Hardie Grant Egmont

  Illustration by Craig Phillips

  Book cover design by Latifah Cornelius

  We welcome feedback from our readers. All our ebooks are edited and proofread vigorously, but we know that mistakes sometimes get through. If you spot any errors, please email info@hardiegrantegmont.com.au so that we can fix them for your fellow ebook readers.