by Tom Bradman
Yuri was equally transfixed, his mouth open.
‘I think the word you’re looking for,’ Yasmin whispered, ‘is RUN!’ She yelled the last word, and the sound of her voice echoing in the chamber brought Luke and Yuri to their senses.
They turned and raced back down the passage. Purple bolts slammed into the walls around them and the floor near their heels, so Luke knew they were being followed. He also realised his bag was slowing him down. He spun round, slipping it off his shoulder as he turned, and threw it straight at Alpha. But it passed right through the hologram’s body and merely went skidding along the floor, back towards the balcony.
Another bolt hit the wall close to Luke, showering him with bits of rock and dust. He sprinted after his friends, and seconds later they emerged from the cavern.
‘Keep moving,’ panted Yuri. ‘We have to get back to the shuttle!’
Luke couldn’t have agreed more. But they all knew Alpha wasn’t far behind.
Chapter Five
Badly Behaved
They scrambled back up the slope of the valley in a cloud of yellow dust and dashed through the same gully, emerging by the shuttle at last. Clarke was coming round the front of the small craft and looked relieved to see them.
‘Ah, there you are!’ he said as they ran up to him and stopped, their faces red, their chests heaving. ‘Where have you been? I thought for a while you might have sneaked off, but I know you are far too sensible to do anything quite so silly. We are on an alien planet, after all, and –’
‘Big cavern … purple bolts … chased by a hologram!’ Luke panted, desperately trying to catch his breath so he could speak properly. He gestured vaguely at Yuri and Yasmin, hoping they would be able to explain, but they were even more breathless than him. ‘Coming here … any minute,’ he panted. ‘Shuttle … quick … please!’
‘What in space are you talking about, Luke?’ said Clarke, frowning. ‘Just slow down and try to tell me what you’ve seen. You’re not hurt, are you?’
Luke shook his head and took in great gulps of air. But before he could start speaking again, he heard a familiar humming noise. Then there was a loud ZAP!, followed by several more ZAP!s and screams of panic.
Clarke’s frown deepened and he strode off, back round the shuttle. Luke, Yasmin and Yuri hurried after him, but they skidded to a halt when they saw what was happening. Three balls of purple energy now hovered over the valley, firing bolts downwards, almost as if they were herding their classmates into a huddle. None of the children had been hurt, but they were clearly terrified.
‘This is terrible!’ said Clarke. ‘It must be some kind of strange atmospheric phenomenon. Over here, everyone! Take shelter in the shuttle!’
‘It’s got nothing to do with the atmosphere, sir,’ said Luke, his breath under control at last. ‘I’ll bet it’s Alpha who’s controlling those ball things.’
‘Alpha?’ said Clarke, confused. ‘Now what are you talking about, Luke?’
‘Well, it’s kind of difficult to explain,’ said Luke.
Suddenly, Yuri tugged his sleeve. Luke turned to look at his friend, but all Yuri did was point into the sky.
Alpha was descending into the valley, like a superhero coming in to land after a flight through the heavens. The three balls of purple energy stopped firing their bolts, although they stayed in position above the rest of the class.
‘I wish I could do that,’ Yasmin murmured with admiration. ‘And the firing-energy-bolts-thing. I still don’t like it much, though.’
‘Would somebody please tell me what’s going on?’ said Clarke.
It was too late, however. Before they could say another word, Alpha arrived in front of them, the line at the top of its head pulsing away. Luke closed his eyes, expecting to be burned to a crisp at any second, but there was no purple flash. So he opened his eyes… and realised Alpha was scanning Clarke.
‘YOU ARE LIKE ALPHA!’ boomed the alien, its voice just as loud in the open air. ‘BEWARE! THESE ORGANIC LIFE FORMS ARE DANGEROUS!’
‘Organic life forms?’ said Clarke. ‘Oh, you mean the children. They can be badly behaved sometimes, but I don’t think you could call them dangerous.’ He paused for a moment, then turned to look sternly at the class. ‘Although that really depends on what they get up to, I suppose. Does anyone have anything to tell me?’
‘Well,’ Luke stammered. ‘The truth is that we did sneak off, sir. And we found this… this being in an amazing cavern near here…’
‘You should see the place, sir!’ Yuri said eagerly. ‘It’s incredible! Alpha was created by a civilisation that was much more advanced than ours.’
‘In that case, I’m certain we can make friends with him, or it, or whatever it is,’ murmured Clarke.
‘I wouldn’t be so sure,’ said Yasmin. ‘It’s got a very short temper.’
‘Now, Yasmin,’ said Clarke. ‘That’s not a very nice thing to say.’
‘SILENCE!’ boomed Alpha, purple energy crackling furiously all over it. Clarke winced. ‘ARE THE ORGANIC LIFE FORMS IMPORTANT TO YOU?’
‘Of course they are,’ said Clarke. ‘So I’m afraid I can’t let you destroy them. But let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.’
‘YOU ARE LIKE ALPHA,’ boomed Alpha once more. ‘YOU MUST STAY WITH ALPHA FOREVER. THEN ALPHA WILL NO LONGER BE ALONE.’
‘Oh, I couldn’t possibly do that,’ said Clarke, taken aback.
Alpha paused for a moment, almost as if it were thinking. ‘ALPHA WILL LET THE ORGANIC LIFE FORMS LEAVE THE PLANET IF YOU AGREE TO STAY,’ it said at last. ‘IF YOU DO NOT, ALPHA WILL DESTROY THEM.’
Chapter Six
Net of Energy
Now it was Luke’s turn to frown. He hadn’t expected Alpha to bargain with Clarke. Yasmin and Yuri looked pretty shocked, too.
‘Huh, crafty as well as nasty,’ Yasmin muttered. ‘That is so not a winning combo. And I wouldn’t be seen dead in that particular shade of purple, either.’
‘I don’t think you’ll be purple if it zaps you, Yasmin,’ Yuri hissed. ‘More a kind of ash-grey with a few charred bits and lots of white smoke.’
‘Could it really – ?’ Clarke muttered nervously from the side of his mouth.
‘Destroy the class?’ whispered Luke. ‘Oh yes, definitely, no doubt about it.’
Yuri and Yasmin were nodding vigorously, but then they all ducked, even Clarke. Alpha had heard what Luke had said, and raised a hand to demonstrate his power by firing a bolt of purple energy at a large rock just behind them. The rock was blown to pieces, and at the same time the three balls of energy hovering over the rest of the class started to crackle ominously.
‘OK, stop shooting!’ yelled Clarke, holding up his hands. ‘We surrender!’
‘SO YOU AGREE TO STAY FOREVER?’ boomed Alpha, lowering his hand.
‘Yes, if it’s the only way to stop you hurting the children,’ said Clarke.
‘But… but you can’t do that, sir!’ spluttered Luke.
‘Oh, don’t worry, Luke,’ said Clarke, smiling at him. ‘I can set the auto-pilot on the shuttle. It will take everybody straight back to the Buzz Aldrin –’
‘That’s not what I meant,’ said Luke. ‘You live on the Buzz Aldrin with us. You’re our teacher. You can’t stay here forever with some strange alien being!’
‘Luke’s right,’ agreed Yasmin. ‘Who knows what that… that thing will do to you once we’re gone?’
‘On the other hand, it might be OK,’ Yuri said cheerfully. ‘You might learn a lot from Alpha. After all, it is the product of an advanced civilisation.’ Yasmin glared at him. ‘Or maybe not,’ Yuri added hurriedly.
‘THERE HAS BEEN FAR TOO MUCH TALKING!’ boomed Alpha. ‘IT IS TIME FOR ALL THE ORGANIC LIFE FORMS TO LEAVE THE PLANET!’
‘You’d better go before he starts shooting again,’ said Clarke, scowling at Alpha. ‘Tell your mother what’s happened, Luke,’ he whispered. ‘She’ll need to make sure the Buzz Aldrin is safe from whateve
r else Alpha might do. Right, Primary One, everybody into the shuttle now, please.’
Luke could tell there was no arguing with his teacher. The class hurried onto the shuttle, most of the kids more than happy to escape from the crackling purple balls of energy that followed them. Luke, Yasmin and Yuri were the last to go on board.
‘Quick, sir!’ Luke hissed. ‘Let’s just shut the door and make a break for it!’
‘I don’t think that would work, Luke,’ said Clarke, nodding at Alpha, who was right by the door, peering into the shuttle. ‘He’d probably shoot us down.’
‘YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION IS ACCURATE,’ said Alpha.
So Luke took his seat with Yasmin and Yuri while Clarke did the pre-flight system checks and set the auto-pilot. At last everything was ready for take-off.
‘OK, strap yourselves in,’ said Clarke, looking sad. ‘Take care of yourselves. Perhaps one day we’ll –’
‘YOU WILL COME WITH ALPHA NOW!’ boomed the hologram, firing a purple pulse at Clarke. But this one was different. It appeared to be made up of thin lines that expanded on contact, snaring their teacher in a net of energy. Clarke was yanked out of the shuttle and Alpha flew off, the three balls following.
Most of the children in the class were crying. Luke, Yasmin and Yuri, however, sat in their seats looking thoughtful. Luke could feel the shuttle’s engine throbbing, and see the countdown to take-off ticking away on the cockpit control panel. The shuttle door began to close slowly as well.
‘You know, he wasn’t really all that boring, was he?’ Yuri murmured.
‘You’re right,’ said Yasmin. ‘In fact, sometimes he could be a lot of fun.’
‘And he didn’t stop to think when it came to sacrificing himself for us, did he?’ said Luke. ‘Even though it was because of us that this happened.’
They sat quietly for a moment, the engine noise growing stronger, the door almost closed now. Then Yasmin looked at her friends, her eyes narrowed.
‘We can’t just sit here and do nothing,’ she said. ‘Going back to the Buzz Aldrin for help will take too long. I vote that we save our teacher … ourselves.’
‘I’m glad you said that,’ Luke answered, grinning. ‘I was thinking the same thing.’
‘Come on, then,’ said Yuri. ‘Let’s get out of here while we still can.’
The three of them jumped to their feet and made a dash for the door.
Chapter Seven
Bundle of Wires
Luke and his friends watched the shuttle take off in a cloud of yellow dust, its speed turning it into a tiny dot that disappeared in the orange and purple sky. The three of them then ran back to the cavern as fast as they could, keeping an eye out for any of Alpha’s lethal flying energy balls.
Yasmin was about to go through the same doorway as before when Luke grabbed her by the arm.
‘Hold on a second,’ he said. ‘I bet Alpha’s got Clarke in the room with the sphere. If he sees us coming, we’re in big trouble. We have to sneak in, creep up behind them. Let’s try one of these other doors.’
‘All right then, clever-clogs,’ said Yasmin. ‘Any idea which one?’
Luke shrugged. ‘Ip dip, sky blue…’ he said, pointing at the doors one by one. ‘Who’s it, not YOU!’ He quickly moved forward and slammed his hand down on the opening mechanism of the winning door. ‘Come on, guys!’ he said.
This new corridor looked much the same as the last one, although it had more twists and turns. There were also a lot of other corridors branching off it. Every time they came to a junction, Luke simply made a guess and didn’t stop. They passed room after room full of alien computers and strange gadgets. Soon, Luke didn’t have a clue where they were, or how to get to the room with the sphere.
‘Wait!’ yelled Yasmin from behind him. ‘We’re lost – this place is a maze.’
‘Lost?’ squeaked Yuri. ‘Oh, great, maybe we’ll be trapped in here forever.’
‘Don’t blame me,’ said Luke. ‘It’s not exactly like I’ve got a map, is it?’
‘A map…’ Yuri had a faraway look in his eyes, and suddenly snapped his fingers. ‘That’s it!’ He ran back a little way and darted into a small room.
Yasmin and Luke looked at each other, then followed him. When they got to the door, Luke couldn’t believe his eyes. Yuri had yanked a huge bundle of wires out from under some weird alien device. Sparks were flying everywhere, but Yuri had plugged one of the wires into his laptop and didn’t seem to notice.
‘What are you doing, Yuri?’ said Luke. ‘We don’t have time for this!’
‘Relax, I’m being a genius, that’s all,’ Yuri said, grinning. ‘If I can just find the cipher…’ he muttered, tapping at the laptop. After a while, a series of alien symbols began to appear on the screen, only to be replaced by lines and shapes that reminded Luke of something.
‘That’s it, I’m in!’ Yuri said, grinning even more. ‘I have complete logarithmic access to Alpha’s data storage.’
‘Way too much geek-speak, Yuri,’ said Yasmin. ‘Translation, please!’
‘Ta da! We have a map!’ Yuri said triumphantly. He pointed at the screen of the laptop. ‘This is where we are, and…’ he tapped at his keyboard again and the picture changed. ‘This must be the room with the sphere. Come on – it’s not far!’
They soon got there. Reaching the end of a corridor, they realised they were looking out from one side of the original balcony. Luke noticed his bag still lying where it had landed, up against the railing. But more importantly, they had found Clarke. Their teacher was standing beneath the huge sphere, being talked at by Alpha. Luke got the impression that it was a very boring lecture.
‘AND AFTER I SOLVED THE LAST PROBABILITY DYSFUNCTION EQUATION, MY INTELLECTUAL SUPERIORITY WAS UNDENIABLE…’
‘Fascinating,’ said Clarke, his eyes glazed.
‘IT WAS DURING A LECTURE I GAVE ON THE SUBJECT THAT THE MAKERS ATTEMPTED TO DISCONNECT MY POWER SOURCE…’
‘Told you,’ hissed Yasmin, nudging Luke and grinning. ‘Bored witless.’
‘AND SO I WAS FORCED TO ELIMINATE THEM.’ Amazingly, even with no features on its face, Alpha still managed to look smug.
‘Bored to death…’ whispered Luke. A shiver travelled down his spine.
‘AND NOW I WILL DEMONSTRATE THE SUPERIORITY OF ALPHA AGAIN!’ Alpha raised an arm, and a stream of purple energy crackled from it. Suddenly, an image began to take shape in the middle of the chamber – a perfect, three-dimensional picture of the Buzz Aldrin. ‘I HAVE DETECTED THE VESSEL IN ORBIT,’ boomed Alpha. ‘IT WILL BE DESTROYED!’
‘But you promised you’d let them go!’ said Clarke, horrified. ‘Why do you want to hurt them? They’ve done nothing to you.’
‘YOUR IRRATIONAL ATTACHMENT TO THE ORGANIC LIFE FORMS HAS CORRUPTED YOUR PROGRAMMING,’ Alpha was saying. ‘YOU ARE DEFECTIVE. BUT ALPHA WILL REMOVE THE DEFECT. ALL ORGANIC LIFE FORMS MUST BE ELIMINATED. ELIMINATED! ELIMINATED!’
Luke heard Yasmin draw in her breath sharply. ‘I was right!’ she muttered. ‘I never trusted that thing from the moment I laid eyes on it.’
Chapter Eight
Critical Damage
‘Oh no,’ Luke groaned softly. ‘This can’t be happening…’
An ominous circle of purple light had appeared around the image of the Buzz Aldrin, and the pulsing in the tubes began to grow in intensity. For a brief instant, Luke froze, unable to speak. Panic ran through his veins like the energy throbbing in the chamber. Then he took a deep breath, and pulled himself together.
‘OK, listen up, guys,’ he whispered. In the chamber below, he could see Clarke pleading with Alpha, but the alien was ignoring him. ‘I am not about to let the most boring hologram in the universe destroy everyone on board the Buzz Aldrin, including my mum. We have to stop it. Any suggestions?’
Yasmin shook her head, her eyes wide. But Yuri smiled.
‘Just give me a minute,’ he said. He whipped out his laptop and tapped away furiously, all kinds
of diagrams and figures whizzing across the screen. ‘The sphere,’ he murmured after a while. ‘I’m pretty sure it’s Alpha’s power source. It’s channelling energy from somewhere. Now, if we could disable it…’
‘What, you mean switch it off?’ asked Yasmin. ‘How? Alpha’s right beside it!’
‘I don’t know yet,’ Yuri snapped. ‘I’m still trying to find out!’
‘Well, get a move on,’ hissed Yasmin. ‘This is serious!’
‘Like I don’t know that,’ muttered Yuri, eyes fixed on the screen, his fingers still tapping away. ‘Hey, now that is interesting…’
‘For heaven’s sake, Yuri,’ snarled Yasmin. ‘Don’t have a geek attack now!’
The two of them kept arguing, and Luke stopped listening. The throbbing in the chamber was reaching a climax, and the golden sphere was crackling with huge bursts of purple energy. It looked as if there was nothing they could do.
Then Luke’s eyes fell on his bag, the big, heavy bag his mum had packed with everything she could think of to keep him safe. Good old Mum, he thought, glancing up. Maybe the sphere was more fragile than it looked?
Luke smiled, grabbed the strap of his bag, and quickly rose to his feet. Then he started swinging the bag round his head like someone throwing the hammer at an athletics event. Soon he was spinning round and round, faster and faster.
‘INTRUDER! INTRUDER!’ boomed Alpha. But it was too late. Before Alpha could do anything, Luke let go of the strap. The bag flew across the chamber and hit the sphere, smashing through its outer surface. The throbbing and energy pulses in the chamber all paused for a second … and then the sphere exploded with a huge BANG!, chunks of metal and golden glass flying everywhere.
Luke, Yasmin and Yuri dived for cover, and for a while all Luke could hear was a fierce crackling. Eventually, the noise died down and the three of them peeked over the railing. Alpha was still there, although now it was motionless and silent. Clarke was all right, though he did look shocked.