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

Mr Snakol looked up and there was a spark of hope in his green eyes. 'Yes. I should be able to, if Sarah hasn't blown up the ship yet. At the last word they were heading towards Africa.'
Cindy also stood. 'Sounds like a perfectly ridiculous place to head.'
'Sounds like our Sally,' Watch agreed.


Twelve

Aboard the Lizzie spaceship, all hell had broken loose. Sally's threat to blow up the vessel had stalled the Lizzie's long enough that they had been able to land in Africa. The moment they had set down, however, Sally had forced the Lizzie under the barrel of her rifle to open all the doors on the ship. By chance they had landed in Africa next to a herd of lions. Even as Sally and George kept the Lizzies under guard in the engine room, they could hear the lions prowling the halls outside. They could even hear a few Lizzies screaming in pain, and shots being fired from the aliens' energy beam weapons. On the screen, at least for the time being, the lions had yet to reach the control room. Bryce and Adam were still under guard, but their guards were getting anxious.
'Why did you let the lions in?' Bryce wanted to know.
'I wanted to shake up the stalemate,' Sally replied.
Adam looked at something off screen. It seemed as if they had a lion pawing at their doorstep. 'I don't know if the shake up has resulted in our advantage,' Adam said.
'We have to get off this ship,' Sally said. 'At the same time, we can't let the Lizzies escape.'
'Do you want us to tell that to the lions?' Bryce asked anxiously. 'I think the one outside our door is eating one of the Lizzies.'
The guard behind Adam shoved him angrily with his energy weapon. Adam had to fight to keep his balance. 'I think they are demanding you give up the engine room now,' he said hastily. 'They are about to start shooting.'
'Tell them to shoot Bryce first,' Sally said.
'And to think I was worried about this girl,' Bryce muttered.
Once again Adam's gaze shifted off screen. 'A lion is coming through the door! It has one of the guards! There are more lions coming! Oh no!'
The screen went dead.
Sally stared at it for a long moment.
Her eyes moistened but she refused to cry.
George came up on Sally's side. 'I am sorry,' he said with feeling.
'They're not dead yet!' Sally snapped at him. 'They are resourceful. A few lions can't stop them.'
George was uncertain. 'What are we going to do now?'
Sally shouldered her weapon. 'We will try to go to their aid. And we're taking our prisoners with us. But if we can't get to the control room, then we're getting off this ship, and leaving it to the lions.'
'There are probably more lions outside,' George warned.
'We are armed. We'll scare them away.'
George hesitated. 'Can I ask you something?'
'Yes. If you ask quickly.'
'I know you say you are experienced with all kinds of dangerous adventures and stuff. But do you ever make serious mistakes in judgement? I mean, letting all these lions aboard seems to have been a really stupid act.'
Sally went to snap at him, but caught herself.
'I have been known to make small errors in judgement from time to time,' she admitted quietly. 'But please don't judge me until this is all over.'
'I think we will be dead when this is all over,' George said.
'Then you can blame me in heaven. Let's get these Lizzies untied, and try to make our way to the control room.'
They had no trouble untying the Lizzies, but they did have trouble convincing them to leave the engine room. Humans and aliens alike could hear the lions prowling outside. Only when Sally made it clear George would walk in front of them, with her taking up the rear, did they agree to move. Sally gave George explicit orders. Shoot at any large cats that looked like they wanted to eat them. This time George did not argue.
They opened the door and jumped out.
George stunned three lions before Sally could blink.
'Good shooting,' Sally said impressed. 'There is hope for you yet.'
But there were growls coming from both directions in the curving corridor. 'Which way?' George called back.
'Just keep going,' Sally said. 'Stay alert.'
It sounded like simple advice to follow. But the moment they rounded the corridor they ran into not less than a dozen hungry lions. George fired off several shots, along with Sally, but it was clear they were not going to be able to hold off the herd. In haste Ч with the order of the group completely disintegrating Ч they retreated back down the corridor. Now nobody was guarding anybody. They were all just trying to avoid being eaten. Yet the Lizzies had some sense of where they were heading. A few moments later they came to a door to the outside, and piled out on to the African plain.
They were in hot country. In every direction they could see the air shimmer as it steamed off the boiling ground. Yet there was vegetation, a few ragged bushes and trees that seemed to stand in defiance of the heat. Fortunately there were no lions visible. It seemed the entire herd had jumped at the chance to board the ship.
'They were probably drawn to the air conditioning.' George replied when Sally pointed out the absence of lions.
'No,' Sally said sadly. 'They were drawn to the fresh meat.'
There were other Lizzies outside beside the ones they had been guarding. But there was no Adam and Bryce. Sally hung her head weakly and George put a comforting arm over her shoulder.
'You said it yourself,' George said. 'They're tough. They might get out yet.'
Sally stared at him for a moment.
Then she lifted her rifle back up to her shoulder.
'Stay here,' she said. 'Guard the Lizzies. I'm going after them.'
George grabbed her arm. 'If you go back in there you'll die.'
'No,' Sally said. 'They're tough. But I'm tougher.'