"13 - Alien Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

It slid open and the alien ship waited for them to conquer.


Nine

Watch had an assortment of three telescopes, each of a different design. One was a large Newtonian, equipped with a mirror he had ground by hand in his garage and a forty centimetre thick aluminium tube he said he had moulded from scrap. It was attached to a concrete and steel mount that seemed to be a permanent part of his back garden and there was a clock drive that moved it in line with the stars.
Then he had a smaller refractor, which held a lens at the tip, and which he mainly used, he said, to take pictures of the planets. Finally he had a smaller telescope which was really more of a large-scale pair of binoculars, but with only one half of a body. He said he used it to search for comets. They were all impressed by his equipment, even Bryce.
'You must spend a lot of time out here at night?' Bryce asked.
'I am out here almost every night,' Watch said, fiddling with the smallest of the telescopes. It was already dark and the stars overhead were bright. Cindy gestured to his unlit house.
'Is anyone at home right now?' she asked. They had not gone through the house, but had just come round the sides.
'No,' Watch said. 'No one is at home.'
The way he said the words it was clear he didn't want to be asked any more questions in that regard. That was OK Ч Watch deserved his privacy and they had pressing business at hand. Taking a number of sightings in the smallest telescope, Watch then stepped to the large refractor and focused it on a point in the sky almost directly overhead. He changed the eyepiece on the instrument a few times before he spoke next, holding his thick glasses in his free hand. Then he just relayed his discovery in a normal tone of voice.
'I think you were right, Bryce,' he said.
'You have located it?' Bryce asked.
'Yes.' Watch put on his glasses and stepped back from the telescope. 'You guys can have a look, but it's nothing impressive. It looks like another star in the centre of the field of view. But I know the sky backwards and forwards. It is not a star. The alien vessel is parked in a stationary orbit directly above Spooksville.'
They each had a peek at the object, but Watch was right. It looked like any other bright star. Yet Adam thought he detected a faint oval shape to it, although it may have been his imagination.
'How far away do you think it is?' Bryce asked Watch.
Watch was uncertain. 'Ordinarily, because it seems to be in a stationary orbit, I would place it several thousand miles above the earth. But if that's the case, to see it at all, it would have to be extremely big. But I don't know if it's logical for aliens to bring in such a large mother ship. If I was them, I would have the main vessel wait further out, closer to the fringe of the solar system. I would only send in a scout ship towards the earth.'
'Then how can you explain its orbit?' Adam asked.
'Very easily,' Watch said. 'It is under power. It is not simply floating around our world. I believe it is much lower down, maybe a hundred or two hundred miles above us, and that its engines are working hard to keep it in place.'
Bryce turned to the transporter, which they had brought with them. 'I wonder if this can send out a locking signal,' he said. 'Or else pick one up.'
'I am sure it can,' Watch said. 'And now that we know precisely which direction to point it in, I think Cindy can relax. We will not have to send out a series of hamsters and see if they come back alive. I should be able to lock on to it.'
'That's good,' Cindy said. 'I still feel bad about the one we killed.'
'I think a lot of hamsters have died in Mr Snakol's back room in the last two days,' Adam said grimly. 'I wonder why these aliens have come here.'
'They may be simply exploring,' Watch said.
'They may be bent on conquest,' Bryce said. 'We have to assume the worst. When we have the transporter locked on target, I want to be one of those to go.'
'I thought we were all going,' Adam said.
'That's probably not a good idea,' Watch said. 'For all we know Mr Snakol is back at the school. Two of us should go there, while two of us should try to board the saucer.'
'Then I want to go with Bryce,' Adam said.
'Are you sure?' Cindy asked, worried. 'We are not certain about this equipment. You might materialise in outer space, or else inside a wall of the space ship.'
'That's true,' Watch said. 'This could be a one way trip.'
'I trust Watch will be able to lock the transporter on the proper coordinates,' Bryce said. 'I can go alone if I must.'
'I am not afraid,' Adam said, although in truth he disliked the idea of materialising inside a wall. 'If Sally is to be rescued, then two will stand a better chance of doing it than one.'
'Then it is settled,' Bryce said. 'Adam and I will try to board the saucer. Cindy and Watch can return to the school and try to locate Mr Snakol.'
'It might be better if I stay here with the transporter,' Watch said. 'I might be able to beam you out if there's trouble.'
'But we have no way of communicating with you,' Bryce said. 'And we can't send Cindy alone to the school, especially not at night. Don't worry, Adam and I will find a way back.'
Watch turned his attention back to the transporter. 'Let me see if I can bounce a signal in the direction the telescope is pointing. We have to be able to do that first if anyone is to get anywhere.'
Cindy gave both Bryce and Adam a big hug. 'You guys take care of yourselves. Don't let the aliens steal you off to another world.'
'Been there, done that,' Adam joked, referring to Ekweel2 and his pals from the future. But even though he joked, the sky up above suddenly seemed to vast. Not the safest place to venture into.
A few minutes later Watch believed he had the transporter locked on the saucer. Adam and Bryce stood aside, while Watch pointed the device at them. Cindy waved and said goodbye again. There were tears on her face. Carefully Watch depressed a couple of buttons. Then there was a flash of blue light, and it seemed, to Adam, as if all the stars in the heavens suddenly rushed towards them. He felt himself falling and flying at the same time. He just prayed he found a safe place to land.


Ten

Sally and George were the two luckiest people in the world, even though they were no longer properly on the world. One minute after escaping from their jail cell, they stumbled into a room that appeared to hold the Lizzies' armament. They were even more lucky in that the place was deserted. Sally stared around at the different ray guns in wonder, and thought how much Watch would enjoy examining the exotic weapons. Reaching for what appeared to be a laser rifle, she shouldered it and pointed the barrel at the far wall. George stood nervously nearby.
'I wonder how powerful this thing is,' she said.
'Don't try it out,' George warned. 'You might burn a hole in the spaceship hull.'
Sally gave him a serious look. 'It might come to that, George.'
George fidgeted. 'What do you mean?'
'I know you know what I mean. These aliens have to be stopped. If we have to destroy this ship to stop them, then we will do it.'