"DeBaptiste, Mike - Rick Raider 02 - The Search for the Eternal Flame" - читать интересную книгу автора (DeBaptiste Mike)

Laughing, they left the den and hurried down the hall to the kitchen where the aroma of freshly baked cookies was thick in the air.
"Mmmmmm!" Sally's nose twitched as she sniffed.
Charlie's eyes darted around the room. "Something smells totally sublime in here."
"Well, here you are at long last," said Rick's Aunt Bea, who was standing in front of the oven. "I didn't think you were ever going to stop playing with that computer. It sounded like the entire trilogy of Star Wars was going on in that den!"
Rick smiled. His aunt was a sweet and jovial woman, almost always in a pleasant mood.
"I was showing Charlie and Sally how to play the new Star Death game," he told her. "It's about space wars."
"Humphh!" Aunt Bea wiped her hands on her apron. "We paid all that money for a computer and what do you do with it? Play games!"
"You know it's good for other things too," Rick chided her. "It's so easy to type letters and keep files with the word processor, and what about the program for your household accounts?"
"Which is all but Greek to me," she snorted. "I'm lucky I can turn the darn thing on. And I don't need a computer to take care of household accounts, thank you. I've been getting along fine all these years without one."
"You'll see, Aunty," Rick winked at her. "When you learn the program, you'll love it. And, besides, I'll teach you how to e-mail Robert Redford."
Aunt Bea's eyes widened at that. "Well," she sighed, "that would be putting the computer to good use! And now that you've fought all those aliens, why don't you replenish your energy with some chocolate chip cookies?"
She pointed to a platter on the kitchen table that was heaped with freshly made cookies.
Charlie crossed the room to the table where his eyes had been lingering the last minute. "You don't have to ask me twice, Miss Raider."
Aunt Bea's eyebrows arched in amusement. "Charlie, one never has to ask you twice when the question is in regard to food."
Charlie chuckled and helped himself to a handful of the cookies, biting into one and putting the others into the pocket of his baggy jeans. Rick and Sally each took one of the cookies and nibbled on them as they went into the hall.
"Delicious!" Rick told his aunt. "As usual."
"Wait a minute!" Aunt Bea opened one of the cupboards and took out some lunch bags. "Don't think you and Sally are getting away with just one cookie each. I have another whole batch baking in the oven."
Rick groaned as they pulled their jackets on. "But you know we don't like to eat a lot of sweets."
"Nonsense!" Aunt Bea crossed to the hall and handed each one of them a bag into which she had put several cookies. "I don't want you to starve to death at school. All that studying takes a lot of energy."
She patted Charlie on the back, adding. "At least Charlie knows what's good for him."
The Connors boy beamed. "I sure do. I'll eat anything you bake, anytime!"
Aunt Bea's eyes lit up. "You will? In that case I'll make some brownies after the next batch of cookies are done. Stop by after classes and you can have some."
Charlie grinned happily. "Gotcha! I'll be here."
"I don't know how you stay so slim," Sally said to Rick as they left the house. "Your aunt won't take No for an answer when it comes to food."
"My kind of woman," Charlie said. "What do you think I hang around here for?"
"For the food?" Sally gibed as they climbed into Rick's sporty black pickup truck. "And we thought it was to visit Rick."
"No way. I come here to eat!"
Rick smirked. "Then you'd better stay away for a while, dude. You've been chunkin' up a little lately."
"Who me?" Charlie swelled out his chest and struck a muscleman pose. "You gotta be kidding. Look at this great bod!"
"Oh, for sure," Sally laughed, rolling her eyes heavenward as Rick backed out onto the road. "No wonder you've started wearing those baggy hip-hop duds."
Charlie screwed his mouth at her. "Please. If I wear tight clothes, the girls at school can't keep their hands off me."
Sally snickered. "Right, 'cause they want to grab you and toss you out the window!"
Rick grinned as he drove to the freeway, listening to the endless banter bewteen the two. The three of them had grown up together since childhood on the dead-end road on the outskirts of town. Rick didn't remember life before Charlie and Sally were in it, and he couldn't imagine it without them. Ever since he could remember, the three of them had teased each other mercilessly.
Several minutes later they arrived downtown at Lake University. The campus was the hub of the college town of Lake City, which was located on the south shore of Lake Erie in the midwest, about fifty miles east of Cleveland. There were many beautiful old buildings on the campus and as many, if not more, modern ones. Students strolled in the early spring sunshine, and others sat on the lawns and benches studying or talking with friends. Rick pulled into the parking lot by the ultramodern Science Center, and he and his friends jumped out of the truck.
"We'd better hurry," he said as they ran up the steps. "It's one minute to class time and Professor Manning doesn't like us to be late."
They rushed into the building and climbed the stairs to the second floor, arriving at the classroom just in time. But Professor Manning wasn't there and the other students were milling around talking to one another as they awaited him.
"Where's the prof?" Charlie asked, since it was highly unusual for Professor Manning to be late for class.
But no one was able to answer the question and, nodding hello to fellow students, they went to their seats at one of the tables. Each of the long tables in the classroom had several personal computers on them.
Their friend Debbie Ross was sitting at the table. She greeted them excitedly. "Hey, have you heard the news? Everyone on campus is talking about it."
Sally shook her head. "No, we just got here. What's up?"
"It's about the UFO," Debbie said. "Quite a few people claim to have seen it last night. I saw it too."
"No kidding?" Rick sat down next to Debbie. "Sally saw a strange craft hovering over the Kirtland Hills last night. It must be the same one."
"What did it look like, Debbie?" Sally wanted to know.
Charlie was all ears, an excited expression on his good-looking face.
"It was long and looked like a cigar," Debbie answered. "And it glowed. There were flashing lights all over it. I went out on the front porch late last night before going to bed, and I saw it flying over the lake. I called my mom and she saw it too."
Debbie and her mother lived in a big house set on the cliffs overlooking Lake Erie. Rick and his friends had been there many times since having gotten to know them.
"That's the very same craft I saw," Sally said. "Wow, this is pretty exciting."
Charlie leaned on the table, his eyes glaring at Rick. "See! I told you. Aliens landed out there in the hills last night."
Debbie could see how excited he was. "You really think so?'
Charlie nodded. "Totally. We ought to be out there right now checking it out."