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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781466984295 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Trafford Publishing |
| Publication date: | 03/11/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 199 KB |
Read an Excerpt
KAYAK
THE MUTANT ALIEN
By Alan Whichello
Trafford Publishing
Copyright © 2013 Alan WhichelloAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4669-8428-8
CHAPTER 1
Billy Boswell was an ordinary, excitable, 14 year old. At the Matthew Arnold secondary school he attended in Oxford, he wasn't regarded as terribly bright. In fact his school reports always said the same thing: a bit of a dreamer, could do better if concentrated more. He was quite shy and did not make friends very easily. His only true friend was Frank Jenkins who he had known through all their infant school days. Frank was a few months older, but their interests were the same. They shared an early morning paper round at the weekends and split the money 50.50, although it was Billy who had the best bike and the little towing trailer that his dad had made him for carrying the papers.
They had been saving a long time for a school trip to Brazil which was booked for the following year. It was terribly expensive and Mr Boswell could not really afford it. Billy's friend Frank was going and he didn't want to disappoint Billy, so he had made a promise. If Billy could save up one hundred pounds towards the cost of the holiday, then he would pay the rest.
Billy lived in a rather modest semi-detached house on the outskirts of Oxford with his parents Brian and Helen, his young sister Beth and their black and white cat, Sooty. The house was near North Hinksey down a quiet lane overlooking lush green fields. Surrounded by a stream, the fields often flooded during the winter, but it was still popular with dog walkers and other ramblers. Frank, on the other hand, was rather more privileged and lived in a smart four bedroom detached house half way up Cumnor Hill, about a mile away. He too lived with his parents. He also had an older brother, James, who he didn't like very much due to the fact he was always calling him wimp or crater face just because he had a bad case of acne. Frank also suffered from bad headaches which caused him to miss school occasionally. Frank's parents had taken him to the doctor's a few times, but he was always diagnosed with a bad case of migraine.
"He will grow out of it, just give him a few aspirins and let him sleep it off." That was Doctor Jackson's general response, and it usually cured the problem.
Billy and Frank were up early that particular Saturday morning.
After delivering the papers their weekend usually ended up at Billy's house in his bedroom watching Star Wars films, or in the evening looking up at the stars through the brand new telescope he had received for his birthday. Frank was a bit jealous and had asked his Dad if he could have a telescope for Christmas, only better than Billy's and more powerful. His father had agreed, but for now he would have to make do with Billy's. That evening they had been looking for different stars and jotting them down on Billy's giant wall map of the night sky. In fact all of Billy's walls were filled with maps and pictures of outer space; he even had a signed photo of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, which took pride of place over his headboard.
"What's that bright star?" asked Frank as he peered through the telescope. He let Billy take a look while he checked the wall maps.
"It's not on any of our maps; do you think it's a new star?"
"I shouldn't think so," said Billy after studying the object for several minutes. "It's more likely a shooting star or something, which will probably burn itself out." A raised voice from downstairs broke their concentration.
"Come along Billy, your supper's ready! Frank will have to go home, it's school tomorrow." They quickly went downstairs and Frank said goodbye to Mr and Mrs Boswell. He got on his bike and rode off into the darkness.
"See you in school tomorrow!" he shouted at Billy as he disappeared around the corner. Billy peered up at the sky, but could see no sign of the mysterious star.
CHAPTER 2
The next day, after school dinner, the bright star was still on Billy's mind. "Let's go and see Mr Roberts," said Billy. "I bet he'll be able to tell us what it was." Mr Roberts was their science master and both boys liked him very much; in fact he was the only teacher they trusted and could talk to, because he was on their wavelength. Mr Roberts was busy marking exam papers, but he paused to answer their questions.
"It was probably a shooting star," said Mr Roberts "or an asteroid breaking up. Now I really must get on with these papers."
"Thanks, sir!" said the boys as they left the classroom. Nothing more was said about the bright star that day.
That evening Billy was bored. He had agreed to look after his little sister, Beth, while his mother and father went shopping. Beth was 8 years old, just the age when she could be very annoying, especially to a space research explorer like Billy. He was watching the Sky at Night, his favourite television programme when Beth interrupted
"Can I watch Hannah Montana?"
"No," said Billy. "I am watching this and I am older than you so I have first choice." Beth started to make silly sobbing noises, which she knew would annoy him. Billy got up and threw the TV remote controller at her.
"There, watch what you damn well like!" he said as he stormed off up the stairs to his bedroom. He lay on his bed for a few minutes until he remembered the bright star. He looked through his telescope, but thick dark clouds covered the night sky and he could see nothing, so he switched on his computer and played Space Invaders. Half an hour later his mother and father returned, with their arms full of shopping.
"Billy swore at me!" said Beth as her mother came into the lounge. "He said damn."
"Well, that's not a very nice word but it's not really swearing. I expect you were annoying him again" Her mother went back into the kitchen to unpack the groceries.
The next morning Billy and Frank met at the school gates. It was raining and very overcast as they made their way to the school entrance. Two new girls had moved into the area and had just started school. They were 14 year old twins, Susan and Sarah. They were in Billy's class and sat right in front of him. He had never taken much interest in girls before; as far as he was concerned they were just like his sister, annoying and spoilt. But Susan and Sarah were different. He desperately wanted to speak to them, but words failed to come from his mouth. So the whole lesson finished with him trying to think up a witty sentence, but to no avail as the girls got up and left, without him uttering a single word. The next day he waited by the classroom door, pretending to tie his shoe laces. As the two girls approached he stood up and opened the door for them.
"Hello, my name's Billy," he heard himself say. Both girls giggled and carried on into the classroom. Billy felt awkward and could feel his face turning bright red. He decided to keep his feelings to himself. He didn't even tell his best friend Frank, who he was sure would laugh.
CHAPTER 3
On Friday evening Billy was at the dining room table with his family eating his dinner. It was Billy's favourite: sausages, eggs and chips. He glanced out of the dining room window. It was still raining, it had been raining all week and the stream at the front of the house next to the road had flooded, covering part of the fields. The television was on, showing the 6 o'clock news.
Billy was not taking much interest until the newsreader said "Now here's something for all you budding astronomers. We have just been informed that a small asteroid heading toward earth will enter our atmosphere tomorrow evening. Scientists from Harwell expect it to break up on entry and burn up, but there is a chance some small pieces of rock, or a meteor shower as it is best known, may hit the earth. It has not been confirmed, but the North of England seems the most likely place to see the shower, although it could come as far south as the Midlands. So, if you want to witness a spectacular firework display, I suggest you dig out your binoculars and look up at the sky around midnight tomorrow. We will have another update later."
Billy sat for a few minutes mesmerized until his dad asked him: "Do you think that was the bright star you saw last week?"
"I don't know," said Billy. "I suppose it could have been. May I leave the table now?"
"Not until you have finished your dinner" said his mother. Billy gobbled down the last mouthful of chips and rushed up to his bedroom. He took the lens cap off his telescope and peered into the eyepiece. It was not quite dark yet, but he could still make out the approaching asteroid. He ran downstairs.
"I can see it! I can see it!" he shouted. "Can Frank have a sleepover tomorrow night so we can watch the meteor shower on my telescope?" Billy looked at his dad first, knowing that he had the final say in the Boswell household.
"I don't see why not" said his father. His mother interrupted "As long as you don't stay up all night, you boys need your sleep."
"OK, Mum, we'll be in bed as soon as the asteroid breaks up." Billy rushed back upstairs to text Frank. The next morning the boys set off on their early morning paper round. They quickly delivered the eighty or so papers in record time, then sat down in front of the television and switched it on.
"Has the news been on yet, Mum?" asked Billy.
"Not yet" said his mother. "Switch to the breakfast channel on BBC 1, they have updates of the news every 30 minutes." They both sat there, glued to the television screen, waiting for news of the asteroid.
"And finally," the news reader said. "The asteroid on a collision course with Earth will burn up over southern Scotland in the early hours of Sunday morning. It is thought to be part of a planet that disintegrated when it collided with another asteroid. Scientists say it may have happened hundreds of years ago and has been floating around space all this time until it fell into the Earth's gravity. If it's a clear night you might be able to see the asteroid disintegrate as it enters our atmosphere. There will be another update later. That's all for now—Goodbye." Billy got up and switched off the television.
"Well, that's a bit disappointing" he said. "I don't think we will see much unless it stops raining, Frank."
"Never mind boys, it might still be a very clear night," said Billy's mother, feeling rather sorry for them. They both dragged themselves up the stairs to the landing window overlooking the fields, to peer out through the misted up window.
"We can't even go outside" said Billy, "the fields are all flooded." They both made their way into Billy's bedroom. He had plenty of toys scattered around the place to keep them both amused until the big event that night. After tucking into a big plateful of stew and dumplings that Billy's mother had made them for supper, Frank moaned about the start of another headache, so Billy went to the bathroom and gave him some aspirin before they both fell asleep around 11 pm. Billy's mum peered into their bedroom as she was going to bed.
"Do you think I should wake them?" she asked her husband who was coming up the stairs. He crept into the boy's bedroom and looked through the telescope.
"I couldn't see a thing," he said as he crept back on to the landing. "There's no point in waking them if they can't see anything, it's too overcast." They both went to their bedroom and closed the door.
CHAPTER 4
It was 12.55 am when Billy woke up. He sat bolt upright after remembering what they were there for and looked at his night vision clock on the wall. He jumped out of bed, then went over and shook Frank awake.
"Quick, we may have missed it!" Frank, still half asleep, rubbed his eyes and stumbled over to Billy who was frantically trying to focus his telescope.
"I can't see a bloody thing!" said Billy. He glanced at the wall clock again. It now read 1.05 am. He slumped back down in his chair.
"You have a look, Frank." After they had both looked through the telescope for another 20 minutes, Billy opened a packet of crisps and noisily ate them all.
"It's nearly 1.30 am" said Frank. "Let's go back to bed."
As they both were about to climb back into bed the dark bedroom was lit up by a bright red light. A loud rushing sound like a jet engine followed and they rushed to the landing window. It was dark, but they saw several objects hitting the water soaked fields with a loud whoosh. Then it all went silent. Frank and Billy looked at each other.
"Do you think that was part of the asteroid?" asked Frank. Billy didn't answer as he raced off. He reached the bottom of the stairs before Frank caught up with him.
"Come on" said Billy "let's go and see what it was!" They raced to the front door. Then, realising they were still barefoot and in their pyjamas, Billy ran to the back porch and pulled on his Wellington boots and overcoat.
"What about me?" said Frank. Billy passed his friend his dad's Wellingtons and overcoat.
"Quick, put these on!" He then tiptoed to the front door, pausing at the foot of the stairs to listen for any movement from his parent's room. It was all quiet. Frank soon joined him, Billy opened the front door and they both crept out into the night. Although it had stopped raining, it was still overcast. Billy led the way along the road to a small footbridge over the swollen stream, his torch picking out the footpath in front of them. He was glad he had put on his Wellingtons; he could hear the ground squelching underfoot. Billy knew the area well and went straight to the point of impact. He shone his torch ahead and could see a large crater of earth where the meteorite had landed. His torch was not really strong enough to follow the path that had been gouged out of the earth, but it was already beginning to fill with water.
"Come on, Frank," said Billy. His friend was finding it hard to keep up with Wellingtons that were 3 sizes too big for him and an overcoat that nearly touched the ground, but he didn't complain. They followed the trail left by the meteorite right across the field into the top stream. Billy shone his torch into the water. It was just strong enough to pick out a rounded object buried in the far bank just below the waterline.
"That must be it!" said Billy excitedly "Go on Frank, go in and get it!"
"Why me?" muttered Frank.
"Because you are taller than me and you have the biggest boots." Frank started wading in.
"The water's too deep!" he yelled as the water started coming over the tops of his Wellingtons, but he kept on until he reached the far bank. The water was up to his waist as he reached down and grabbed the rock. It was still warm to the touch and about the size of a small football. He had to use both hands to loosen it from the muddy bank before it broke free. Frank held the rock above his head
"I've got it!" he cried, smiling from ear to ear as he strode through the muddy water and threw the rock down by Billy's feet. They both looked at it in disbelief. Frank started to shiver, he was soaked from the waist down.
"Come on," said Billy feeling rather sorry for his friend, "let's get back to the house so you can dry off." Billy slipped the rock inside his overcoat then they started their muddy journey home. It was slow going, but at least the moon had at last made an appearance through the night sky giving them enough light to see where they were going. Billy slipped his key in the front door and opened it.
"Take off your muddy wellies and overcoat" said Billy, "We don't want to make a mess over my mum's clean floor." They carried their wet clothes to the back porch then Billy gave Frank some towels to dry off. He took off his wet pyjamas and wrapped the towels around himself. Feeling a little better they put the wet clothes on the radiator to dry out. Billy washed the meteorite rock under the tap until most of the mud had been cleaned off.
"Let's take it upstairs to my bedroom and examine it under the magnifying glass" he said. They crept back to Billy's bedroom and put the rock on the table. Billy turned the spotlight on it and for the first time they could see how shiny and smooth it was. In some places it was a green translucent colour, down one side there were deep crevices which were still partly filled with mud. It wasn't actually round as first thought, more oblong with several sharp bits sticking out. Frank thought these were where bits had been broken off when it had disintegrated. While Frank was getting dressed in his day clothes, Billy held up the magnifying glass and started cleaning the mud out of the cracks and crevices.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from KAYAK by Alan Whichello. Copyright © 2013 Alan Whichello. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing.
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