“They’ll pay for that,” Sally said bitterly. She reached for the control panel, the firing button. “We’re taking no prisoners.”
Cindy stopped her. “Wait a second. I hear something.”
“What?” Sally demanded.
“A telepathic message. Listen, here it comes again.”
“Push the green button. Then the purple one.”
“Did you hear that?” Cindy asked.
“Yeah. So what?” Sally pointed to the two quivering aliens, whose big black eyes seemed to be ready to burst from their heads. “They’re just giving us instructions to blow ourselves up.”
Cindy got to her feet. “They’re more afraid of dying than we are. The thought’s not coming from them. It must be coming from the other ship.”
Sally was disgusted. “Like we’re going to listen to an order from them? Are you out of your mind? I say we return fire. If we lose Adam and Watch then at least they died in a good cause.” Once again she reached for the firing button. “I’m locking on all our weapons. I’m going to maintain fire until one of us explodes.”
Cindy stopped her again. “That’s insane. We’re not killing Watch and Adam, and you know it. You’re just raving.” She suddenly paused and went still. “This thought feels different from the others. The person sending it seems to want to help us.”
Sally threw her arms in the air. “The person sending the message is an alien! We can’t trust it!”
Cindy spoke firmly. “And we can’t just keep blasting away. I say we give this message a chance. I know that sounds insane but I trust it somehow.”
Sally turned away in disgust. She glanced up at the ceiling. The other ship was coming around again. Sally could see them energizing their weapons.
“If you’re going to respond to it, then you better do it now,” Sally grumbled.
Cindy stepped over to the control panel and pushed a green button, then a purple one. There was only one button of each color on the panel. At first nothing seemed to happen. The other ship continued to bear down on them, its powerful weapons batteries glowing with a deadly green light. Then behind Cindy, Sally let out a gasp. Cindy whirled around to see a little alien standing in the center of their ship.
“Where did you come from?” Cindy exclaimed.
“You just teleported me from the other ship. I am here to help you, and your friends, Adam and Watch. May I use the control panel, please?”
“No!” Sally shouted, pointing her gun at the little alien. “We’re not turning over our ship to a runt like you.”
The alien stared at her calmly.
“I understand your lack of trust. I apologize for what my teachers have done so far to you and your friends. It is against our laws to infringe the free will of other intelligent creatures. I am here to help set the situation right. To do so, you must let me send a signal to the other ship. They will think I have taken control of this vessel and they won’t fire upon it again. But if you don’t let me take control, this ship will be destroyed in the next ten of your seconds.”
“Let him do it!” Cindy cried.
“No!” Sally argued. “It could be a trap!”
“We’re already trapped!” Cindy shouted back. She glanced overhead. The other ship was at the same distance as when it last fired. “We have no choice, Sally. Can’t you see that? Lower your gun.”
Sally hesitated, then turned angrily away. “This is your call, Cindy. If you’re wrong, I’m never going to let you live it down.”
“If I’m wrong, you and I won’t be alive to live anything down.” Cindy nodded to the little alien, who waited patiently in the center of the floor. “Do what you have to do. Hurry!”
The alien stepped up to the control panel. He pressed a series of buttons. Outside, above them, the other ship suddenly veered off. Cindy let out a cry of relief, but Sally was far from happy. She pointed a finger at the little alien.
“I want our friends released right now,” she said. “Then I want you to take us back to Earth.”
The little alien stared at them as he spoke in their minds.
“That is not possible right now. I have no control over what my teachers on the other ship may do. In a few of your minutes they plan to jump through hyperspace and return to our home world. It is my suggestion that you allow me to follow them.”
“What?” Sally cried, raising her weapon once more. “Do you think we’re that primitive that we’ll fall for such a trick? If we go through hyperspace—whatever that is—we’ll never get home. You turn this ship around right now. We’re returning to Earth.”
“Sally, you have to control your temper,” Cindy said. “It clouds your reasoning. We can’t go home yet. We have to go where Adam and Watch go. You know that. You would be the last person to desert them. And I trust this little guy.” She spoke directly to the alien. “When we reach your home world, do you think we can get our friends released?”
The alien hesitated.
“It is possible. I have a plan. But it is a dangerous plan.”
Sally shook her head. She continued to point her gun at the alien. “Why should we trust you?” she demanded. “Why would you betray your own kind to help us?”
“I do not betray my own kind by doing what is right. If my teachers are breaking our laws, then I am helping them by calling the criminal act to their attention. Also, I have studied your kind since I was very young. I have always admired you. I wish only to be of service.”
“A likely story,” Sally muttered. She glanced at Cindy. “How can you trust a runt with such a fat head?”
Cindy reached over and patted the little alien on the head. The guy seemed to enjoy the attention. He moved a step closer to her, and touched her leg with his funny four-fingered hand.
“I don’t know, I think he’s kind of cute,” Cindy said. “In a strange way, he reminds me of Adam.”
Sally snorted. “If we get out of this, I’m going to tell Adam you said that.”
The alien looked at both of them.
“I think Adam would be happy to be compared to me.”
The situation was desperate. They were lost in space with aliens from another planet, and their friends were being held captive. But both Sally and Cindy suddenly burst out laughing. They could just imagine what Adam would say to that.
8
For Adam and Watch the jump through hyper-space proved unremarkable. They were racing into deep space—with the sun now a bright star far behind them—when the aliens pushed a few buttons and there was a low hum. It lasted for only an instant. Adam felt as if everything went momentarily black. He felt a slight jerk; he might have twitched. Then he blinked and everything was exactly as it was before, only now the bright star was in front of them instead of behind them.
“I thought the scenery might have changed more,” Adam muttered.
“So did I,” Watch said, puzzled.
“Are we sure we made the jump through hyper-space?”
“It seems so. Something did happen.” Watch studied the stars through the wide ceiling panel. “Maybe their solar system is not so far from our solar system, after all. Many of the constellations still look the same.”
“Are they the same?” Adam persisted.
“No. There are definite changes. For example, the Big Dipper is bent out of shape. We must be seeing it from another angle. We have definitely traveled several light-years in the last few seconds. But . . .” Watch trailed off.
“But what?”
Watch shook his head. “I don’t know what it is. Something is off here. I wish we still had our little friend to ask questions. I wonder where he went.”
“I get the impression he was teleported to the other ship. Notice how he stood real still in the exact center of the floor. It was like he sent a mental signal to the girls to pick him up. Remember how he said his telepathic abilities had greater range than the adult aliens?”
“Do you think he’s working for us?” Watch asked.
“I hope so. Hey, t
hat was pretty cool the way Sally just opened fire.”
“Yeah, it must have been her. She sure has guts. But she almost got us killed. I hope they follow us through hyperspace.”
“So do I,” Adam agreed. “I think the little alien is our only ally in this part of the universe.”
Time crept by slowly. Adam and Watch began to feel hungry and thirsty. They complained to their captors but were completely ignored. Adam talked again about trying to jump the aliens, but he was now too tired to make the effort. Plus the more time that went by, the more he began to believe that the little alien was definitely in the other ship, and following them. Unfortunately they could see no sign of the other vessel. Perhaps that wasn’t important. It was a big universe. The ship would have to be extremely close to be visible.
The sun up ahead continued to grow in brilliance. When it was about the same size as the sun as seen from Earth, they saw a blue-white planet, around which a silver moon circled. At first glance Adam thought he was seeing the Earth, but a closer look showed him that the continents and oceans were nothing like those at home. He felt a stab of despair. Even in the Haunted Cave, when everything had looked hopeless, he had still been able to make decisions that had at least affected their destiny. Here he was completely helpless. He had only a kid alien to depend on. Beside him, Watch pointed in the direction of the planet.
“See those glittering silver shapes orbiting the planet?” Watch said. “I think each of them is either a space station or a spaceship. This culture must be extremely advanced. Some of them look huge.”
“Maybe they all live in space,” Adam suggested. “Maybe they polluted their planet so bad they can’t live on the ground.”
“The way the human race is going, that might happen to us,” Watch said.
“If this alien race doesn’t destroy us first,” Adam said. “I’ve been thinking of the bigger picture. Our lives may not be all that is at stake here. What if they’re preparing a huge invasion of our planet? What if they kidnapped us so they can torture us for what we know?”
“But we don’t know anything,” Watch said.
“That’s true, but they wouldn’t know that. For all they know, kids from Spooksville may be the ruling class on planet Earth.”
“We certainly have seen more weird things than anybody else back home.” Watch continued to stare at the approaching planet, and the silver chain of floating spaceships and space stations. “Your pollution theory might not be farfetched. See that brown murky junk near that coast?”
“Yeah.”
“That looks like smog to me. Really bad smog. It’s amazing, for all their advanced technology, that they haven’t been able to clean it up.”
“It’s easier to prevent a spill than to clean one up,” Adam said philosophically. “But personally I don’t care how messed up their world is. I just want to get home and have dinner.”
“Turkey and mashed potatoes would be nice right now,” Watch agreed.
“Is that what your aunt was cooking tonight?” Adam knew Watch didn’t live with either of his parents, or even with his little sister. But he had never asked his friend why the family was not together. The subject seemed too touchy. Watch lowered his head at the question.
“My aunt never cooks,” he said softly. “I have to prepare all my own food.”
Adam reached over and patted him on the back. “You can come to my house any time for dinner. You’re always welcome.”
Watch smiled faintly. “You only tell me that now that your house is billions of miles away.”
Adam had to chuckle. “Listen, how did you know for sure Sally was bluffing? She acted exactly as if she had a strong hand.”
“The cards are marked.”
Adam was shocked. “What? You mean you cheated?”
“Sort of.”
“But that’s terrible. Why play if you’re going to cheat?”
“Even with my glasses, I can’t see people’s expressions as well as you guys can. So I mark the cards just to make it even.”
“How can you see the marks if you can’t see our faces?”
“You forget, I was dealing. I do it really just to even the odds.”
“Oh,” Adam said. “When you explain it that way, I guess it isn’t really cheating.”
“You can have your rocks back if you want.”
“That’s all right. I’m not into rocks.”
Watch pointed out one of the small viewing screens on the walls. “See that huge cylindrical station? I think that’s our destination. Would you look at the size of it? The station must be twenty miles long.”
Watch was right; the alien station was breathtaking in its size and sophistication. It was like a miniature world. And the most amazing thing was that there were thousands of others just like it in orbit.
The station rotated on its axis. But the flying saucer, as it approached, didn’t try to match the station’s speed—not exactly. It seemed as if they would enter the station from the top, in the center, where there was no obvious movement at all. Before them, a wide black door suddenly materialized. Adam was reminded of a hungry mouth, ready to swallow them. The saucer moved toward it. He shook his head sadly.
“Even if the little alien is helping us,” he said. “I don’t see how he can get us out of here.”
“It does look hopeless,” Watch agreed. “But it usually does when you live in Spooksville.”
“We’re a long way from Spooksville,” Adam grumbled.
The saucer flew inside. For a moment all was dark. Then they exited into a massive chamber lit with soft yellow light. The wide space was a parking lot for saucers just like the one they were in. Literally hundreds of them floated nearby. Smoothly, their pilot maneuvered past the others. They seemed to be headed toward a dock of some kind. Adam knew they would be leaving the ship in a minute. The fact deepened his depression. At least, inside the spaceship, they had always had the chance of turning around and going home. Now that didn’t seem possible.
There was a soft bump and then the ship went completely still.
A door materialized off to their left.
It led into a seemingly endless hallway.
The two aliens turned and drew their weapons.
The message was clear—get up and get going.
Adam and Watch stood slowly.
“Are we having fun yet?” Adam asked.
“Sure,” Watch said. “So much fun we might die laughing.”
The aliens escorted them from the flying saucer.
9
Sally and Cindy had indeed followed Adam and Watch through hyperspace. With the little alien’s help, they stayed far enough away to remain invisible. Yet Cindy believed the aliens on Adam’s ship thought the control of her ship had been returned to the aliens—the two cowards Sally had finally locked belowdecks. Their pal had given them that impression. He was acting the part of the hero in the fight between aliens and humans. Yet, as much as Cindy trusted him, she worried that Sally might be right. Maybe he was simply leading them into a trap.
Yet he seemed so sincere. As they plowed toward his home world, he asked so many questions. It seemed he had been studying them since he was old enough to read.
“Why were you up in the hills by the water?”
“We were trying to cool off,” Cindy said. “It’s been hot in our hometown lately. We rode our bikes up to the reservoir. Did you see them?”
“No. Just before landing, my teachers made me go below.”
“They just didn’t want you to see how cruel they are,” Sally muttered.
“That may be true, and if it is, I am disturbed. A report to our government must be made. The people must know what is happening.”
Sally snorted. “On our world, if you make a report to the government, it takes forever to hear about it. It’s much quicker to get on TV.”
“I know your TV. I have studied it. You watch different shows. Some of them involve space travel, although your race is not yet advanced to trave
l much farther than Earth orbit.”
“We’ve been to the moon,” Cindy said. “We might go to Mars soon.”
“If you know about our TV,” Sally said, “you must have seen programs on you guys. We know about aliens. We know you float down in the middle of the night and mutilate our cattle and steal our children. You can’t underestimate us. If you try to invade, we won’t be taken by surprise.”
The little alien paused and stared at her.
“I am not an alien. Do you not know that?”
Cindy spoke quickly. “What Sally means is that you appear alien to us. I’m sure on your home world you look just fine. There, we would be the aliens.”
“You would not be alien to us. That is not possible.”
“Then your people must be more accepting than ours,” Cindy said.
“They sure aren’t any less violent,” Sally grumbled.
The alien lowered his head.
“My people are not perfect. We have our problems.”
Time went by. Up ahead, the alien sun continued to grow in size as they flew toward the heart of the solar system. About three hours after making the hyperjump, they caught sight of a blue-white world. Cindy and Sally were surprised to see it had a moon just like their own circling it. For a moment the girls wondered if they hadn’t simply flown in a huge circle. But that wasn’t the case; they were far from home. Studying the planet, they didn’t recognize a single one of the continents.
The little alien steered them toward a huge space station.
“Are you sure this is where Adam and Watch were taken?” Cindy asked as they neared the massive structure.
“Yes.”
“How do you know?” Sally demanded.
“I was informed by what you call radio.”
“Can the two aliens we have stowed below deck communicate telepathically with your government and warn them that we have taken over your ship?” Sally asked.
Aliens in the Sky Page 4
