Aliens in the Sky (8 page)

Adam could dimly sense the buzzing thoughts of the crowd.

The aliens were worried.

And Adam planned to give them one more thing to worry about. He turned the power on his hand weapon up to
ten
and pointed it at the crowd. He had only been taught the rules of poker a few hours earlier but he had learned them well.

“This gun is set to kill!” he shouted. “Stand aside or I'll fire!”

A
fter Ek had broadcast his telepathic network message to search for the humans, he started the Zelithium 110-Hyperzoid-Quartz-Bostonian chain reaction. The building critical mass was definitely something the alien scientists could sense with their instruments—if the size of the crowd outside was any indication. Sally had already issued her demand for the release of Adam and Watch. She threatened to blow up the space station if they were not. But so far her friends hadn't been handed over. Sally believed that the chain reaction would have to
get closer to the critical point before the aliens would do what she wanted.

But it was getting there quick.

At what Ek called Level 84 Bostonian the reactor would blow.

They were now at Level 65.

Ek did not believe he could stop the reaction after Level 80.

“We're lucky they haven't tried to burn down the door,” Cindy muttered, watching the viewing ports along the wall.

Ek looked up from the control panel.

“They are afraid we will speed up the reaction if they try.”

Sally continued to pace. The tension was growing unbearable.

“We're not leaving without them,” Sally muttered.

“I don't get you,” Cindy said. “One minute you were ready to fly home without them. The next you're ready to sacrifice millions of lives to get to them.”

“A girl has a right to change her mind,” Sally said.

“Are your people willing to sacrifice this station
to prevent Adam and Watch from escaping?” Cindy asked Ek, feeling desperate.

“I would have said no. My people cherish life. I do not understand why they are being so stubborn.”
Ek glanced at his instruments.
“We have jumped to Level 72.”

“So quickly?” Cindy asked, shocked.

“The reaction accelerates as it reaches critical mass.”

“How much time do we have?” Sally asked.

“To stop the reaction, maybe three of your minutes. To the explosion, five minutes.”

“We have to back down,” Cindy said.

“We're not backing down!” Sally said. “A bluff doesn't work unless you push it to the limit!”

“At the reservoir you were bluffing with rocks!” Cindy said. “That was not gambling.
This
is gambling. You're risking our lives.”

“No guts, no glory,” Sally said. Yet she seemed uncertain. She paused in midstride, thoughtful. “Ek, you haven't recently checked your computer map of where everyone is supposed to be. Try locating Adam and Watch now.”

“What are you thinking?” Cindy asked.

“Maybe the aliens don't know where Adam and Watch are. So they can't hand them over to us.”

“That's impossible,” Cindy said.

“Not if they've escaped,” Sally said.

Once again Ek failed to locate Adam and Watch on his computer map. But it didn't matter. Glancing again out the viewing ports right then, Cindy almost had a heart attack.

“There they are!” Cindy screamed. “It's Adam and Watch!”

Sally pounded her fist in the air. “I knew the bluff would work!”

“No!” Cindy said quickly. “The aliens are not handing them over willingly. Adam has a gun. He's pointing it at the crowd. They must have broken free.”

“Just as I suspected,” Sally said. She turned to Ek. “Open hailing frequencies.”

“What?”

“She wants to talk to the outside,” Cindy explained. “Is there a way?”

“Yes. Of course.”
Ek pushed a button.
“Speak and they will hear you.”

“How close are we now?” Sally asked Ek.

“Level 75. We have less than two minutes to stop the chain reaction.”

Sally cleared her throat and spoke loudly and formally. “Adam, Watch—this is Captain Sara
Wilcox of the
Starship UFO
. I am pleased to see you've escaped, and I approve of your resorting to blatant force to fight your way to freedom. But I feel an obligation to inform you that my starship is going to explode in two minutes and that everything for a radius of one thousand miles will be completely destroyed. Over?”

Outside, near the dock, Adam and Watch looked at each other. “I think the power has gone to her brain,” Watch said.

“Is she bluffing?” Adam asked.

“I hope so,” Watch said. He gestured to the crowd of aliens that separated them from the ship. “I think she's trying to scare these guys into letting all of us go.”

Zhekeel91 shifted uneasily beside them.

“She is scaring me. I would be happy to let you go.”

Adam sighed, the gun still in his hand. “I don't know what to do. I can't really fire this thing. I might hurt somebody.”

“Somebody has to back down,” Watch said darkly. “Or soon none of us will be feeling any pain.”

Inside the ship Ek informed Sally that they had jumped to Level 78.

“We have less than a minute.”

“Why don't they let us go?” Sally demanded, getting exasperated. “Can't they see that I'm serious? Do they want to die?”

“I do not understand them. I do not understand why they kidnapped you in the first place.”

“We must stop the chain reaction!” Cindy cried. “The bluff has failed!”

“We can't stop!” Sally shouted back. “If we do we'll never get out of here!”

“We have jumped to Level 79.”

“I would rather be alive here than dead!” Cindy yelled.

“How do you know they'd let us live?” Sally demanded.

“I say we stop it!” Cindy shouted. “And I have as much say as you! Ek, pull the plug!”

“Which plug am I supposed to pull?”

“Wait!” Sally cried.

“Wait for what?” Cindy screamed. “Death?”

“Do it then!” Sally shouted bitterly, turning away. “Surrender. That's all you're good for.”

Cindy bent over the control panel beside Ek. “Stop the reaction. Do it now.”

Ek's four-fingered hands flew over the control panel. Then he sat perfectly still, waiting for some
reaction to the chain reaction. He raised his big head to look at Cindy. His whole body seemed to twitch.

“It is too late.”

“What?” Cindy whispered.

“We have jumped to Level 81. Nothing can stop it from exploding.”

Cindy felt the life go out of her. She glanced over at Sally.

“Well, you got what you wanted,” Cindy said to her back. “We're doomed.”

Sally seemed to freeze for a second, then suddenly she whirled on Ek. “Can we fly the ship out of space dock?” she asked. “If we tell them we can't stop it, and they let us go, do we have time to get the ship clear of the station?”

Ek consulted his instruments.

“Yes. I can still maneuver the ship. If they let us go, we can move it out of the station before the explosion.”

“Talk to them,” Sally said. “Send a strong thought, whatever. Hurry!” Sally stepped to Cindy and put a hand on her shoulder. “You get off the ship. I'll ride out with Ek. I got him in this mess. If he has to die, I'll die with him.”

Cindy patted her hand. “Sally, you amaze me. You're so brave.”

Ek jumped up quickly.

“They have opened the outside station doors for us. I have programmed the ship to fly into deep space. None of us has to stay here. None of us has to die.”

“Actually,” Sally admitted with a faint smile, “I was hoping he was going to say that.”

They released the six guards belowdecks, and the nine of them jumped outside onto the dock. They were hardly clear of the ship when it took off at high speed behind them. They caught a flash of it disappearing through the huge dark entrance, then it was gone. A minute went by while aliens and humans alike held their breaths. Sally and Cindy waited for a huge shock wave, but none came. All at once a wave of relief seemed to move through the gathering. Ek calmly informed them that the ship had exploded safely out of the way.

“But we didn't feel anything?” Sally said. “Was it a huge explosion?”

“Yes. But the ship is fast. It took place far from here, and there is no shock wave in space. You would not feel anything unless we were being destroyed.”

Sally nodded wearily. “Well, it's done then. We're caught.”

The crowd parted so that the four humans could be together. Adam surrendered his gun. There seemed no point in keeping it after a nuclear bomb had failed to move the aliens to release them. The guys patted the girls on their backs.

“Thank you for coming for us,” Adam said.

“That was an awesome bluff,” Watch agreed. “I would have fallen for it.”

Sally shook her head. “Not you. You're too cool a player.”

Watch glanced at Adam. “I'm not saying anything,” Adam said.

There was nothing to say. Alien guards grabbed hold of their arms. The crude message was clear. They were going to be taken to the cages. Ekweel2 and Zhekeel91 tried to protest, but they were pulled aside by government authorities. Adam wondered what their punishment would be. He felt almost as bad for them as he did for himself and his friends. And they had come so close to escaping. It made the final defeat that much more bitter.

Yet all was not lost.

All around the circular space port, on maybe fifty different levels, young aliens poured into view.
There were dozens at first, then hundreds. Within a couple of minutes, as Adam and his friends stood spellbound, the number swelled to at least two thousand. None of the aliens was over two feet tall, but their combined telepathic message was clear, and very powerful.

“LET THE HUMANS GO! THEY HAVE DONE US NO HARM!”

Ek broke free of the authorities and hurried to their side.

His thoughts were excited.

“These are my friends on the network. They are not going to let this injustice continue. They are demanding your release.”

Adam laughed. “Even we dull humans are able to pick up that kind of mental message. The question is, will your authorities do what your kids say?”

“I think they will have to. In our culture, kids are allowed to vote.”

“Cool,” Sally said. “If that was true in our culture, I would be president.”

Another few minutes went by. The alien authorities huddled. The alien guards continued to hold on to the humans. But as time passed, more kids flooded the area. The huddled aliens seemed to grow even more uneasy. The young aliens' mental
voice was like a huge washing wave of reason that could not be ignored. Finally a tall alien dressed in a gold suit took Ekweel2 aside. They conferred for a minute or two, then Ekweel2 literally ran to their side. He took Adam's and Sally's hands and looked up at them with his big black eyes. Once again, he tried to smile. It was a good effort; this time there was real joy in the expression.

“They are letting you go. They have told me to take you home.”

F
ar out in space, almost to the hyperjump, Sally said that Cindy had said that Adam looked like Ekweel2. Adam was taken aback by the remark; he felt insulted.

“I don't believe Cindy said any such thing,” Adam replied.

“She did,” Sally insisted. “Just ask her.”

Adam looked at Cindy. “Well?”

Cindy hesitated. “I said Ek
reminded
me of you. I didn't say you looked alike.”

“How do I remind you of an alien?” Adam wanted to know.

Ek spoke from his place at the control panel.

“We are both cute.”

“That's it, exactly,” Cindy said with a smile.

Adam had to laugh. “I suppose I've been called worse.”

“It makes me sick that he is flattered even by her insults,” Sally said to Watch.

“You're the captain,” Watch said. “Why don't you have them both thrown overboard?” Before leaving, the aliens had given him his watches back, so he was happy. Actually, both of them had gotten their clothes back.

“I've already gone to too much trouble to save them,” Sally muttered.

Ek turned and looked at them.

“We are almost to the jump. I was wondering what precise time you would like to be returned?”

That made them all sit up.

“Can this ship travel in time?” Watch asked.

“Of course. You traveled in time on the journey here. Did you not know that?”

“How could we know?” Adam said. “We thought this was just a regular spaceship.”

“But you saw how much Earth had changed. You must have known we had jumped forward in time.”

They all stared at one another, shocked.

“Do you mean that you are from Earth?” Adam
asked, barely able to get the words out. “In the future?”

“Yes. I thought you knew.”

Sally was disgusted. “But you're a fatheaded . . . I mean, you're such an unusual alien shape. I don't understand.”

“I am not an alien. I told you.”

“But where have all the people on Earth gone?” Sally asked. “Did you invade and wipe them all out?”

Ek shook his head. He must have picked up the gesture being with them.

“We are the people of Earth. We are what you will change into after another two hundred thousand years of evolution.”