Bruce Coville - 6th Grade Alien 08 - Snatched From Earth

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SNATCHED FROM EARTH
Illustrated by Tony Sansevero
A
Minstrel®
book
Published by POCKET BOOKS
New York London Toronto Sydney Singapore
CHAPTER
1
[TIM]
Stowaways
It's late, and the others are asleep.
Judge Wingler's assistant came in a while ago to pick up the material we had already written, all the
chapters telling how we first got involved in what the galactic media are calling "The Earth Based
Catastrophe that Nearly Ended Life as We Know It."
I would have liked more time to work on my chapters. I was completely honest about how upset I was
when Pleskit's friend Maktel came to earth for a visit, but I'm afraid I didn't sound very mature.
On the other hand, given what happened toLinnsy, maybe it's just as well I'm not all that mature. If I
was, I might be in her situation right now.
The weird thing is, sometimes I almost wish I were.
The pages we had finished covered the first half of the story, beginning from the time Maktel arrived on
Earth from Hevi-Hevi for a visit with Pleskit and started driving me nuts. They talked about our
suspicions regarding Ellicovec Bur, the strange two-part being who arrived on the same
ship with Maktel to visit Pleskit's Fatherly One, Meenom Ventrah. We had gotten
right up to the point where Pleskit, Maktel, Linnsy, and I sneaked onto Ellicovec
Bur's ship to see if we could find any clues to what the Trader(s) were up to.
I still remember the horror I felt when Ellicovec Bur came aboard. We quickly hid in a
storage space, hoping the Trader(s) would leave before they found us.
They left all right, but not in the way we expected. They blasted off and left the planet— with the four of
us still hiding on the ship! I have always wanted to go into space, but I never planned on making the trip
by being snatched from Earth by someone(s) who seemed to be total villains.
I'm too wound up to sleep. I guess I might as well keep writing.
It was pitch black in the storage room until Pleskit'ssphen-gnut-ksher began to spark. Its purple
light illuminated the terrified faces of my companions.
Linnsy was standing directly to my right. I felt bad that she had gotten dragged into this mess—though if
I had a choice of who I'd want to have by my side when I was in trouble, she would be the one.
Next to her stood Pleskit himself, his pet Veeblax clinging to his shoulder. I could tell the little animal was
as scared as I was, since it couldn't choose a shape to settle in, but kept shifting from one form to
another.
Next to Pleskit was Maktel, his pudgy face wide-eyed in horror.
I wondered if I looked as frightened as he did. I sure felt that way.
"What are we going to do, guys?" whispered Linnsy.
I've known Linnsy since before kindergarten, so I could tell how hard she was working to keep the
quaver out of her voice. Her nervousness increased the fear wringing my own gut. I realized it was
possible we might never see Earth again.
Earth? Heck, I wasn't sure we would live to see anotherday once Ellicovec Bur found out we
were aboard.
"This is all your fault, Maktel," said Pleskit bitterly. "If you hadn't insisted on checking Ellicovec Bur's
ship, we would still be back at the embassy with the rest of the class, enjoying the
party."
"And if you had believed my suspicions to begin with, I would not have needed to insist on that
checking," replied Maktel, sounding equally bitter. "I did say those Trader(s) were up to something,
didn't I?"
"Actually, we still don't know if they're up to anything," I pointed out.
"Stay out of this, Tim!" snapped Pleskit, which was so totally unlike him that I blinked and took a step
back. I might have backed up more, but one step was as far as I could go into the tiny chamber we were
trapped in.
Of course, in a way I had been feeling trapped ever since Maktel arrived from Hevi-Hevi— trapped by
the nagging fear in my gut that I would be left out of things when he and Pleskit got back together.
Well, I'd managed to keep myself included— and look where it had gotten me!
A sudden movement at my shoulder distracted me. I put a protective hand on the mesh pouch I wore
there. Inside the pouch was a "purple pickle" that, with luck and proper care, might turn into a Veeblax
like Pleskit's. I suddenly wondered if the stress of blasting off would be bad for it.
"This won't hurt theoog-slama, will it?" I asked nervously.
Maktel puffed out his cheeks in a Hevi-Hevian sign of exasperation. "By the Seven Moons of Skatwag!"
he snapped. "We've got more to worry about than that stupid Veeblax in the making!"
"Will you shut up!" I hissed. I kept my voice low so that Ellicovec Bur wouldn't hear us—
then remembered that the Trader(s) couldn't hear us anyway, since the room was soundproof.
Maktel looked at me angrily.
Hissphen-gnut-ksher began to spark.
I pressed myself to the wall, wondering if he was about to zap me.
CHAPTER
2
[LINNSY]
Way-outward Bound
I couldn't believe Tim and Maktel were about to get into a fight. What a totally boy thing to do—waste
time fighting when what we really needed to do was figure out how we were going to survive!
It made me wonder if males are the same everywhere in the galaxy.
"All right, that's enough," I said sternly, stepping between them. "You, too, Pleskit. I don't care whose
fault this is, or how stupid each of you thinks the other is. What I want to know is: What are we going to
do now?"
Pleskit blinked. "Sorry, Linnsy," he said softly. "You are correct. I was exhibiting inappropriate
behavior."
I was so surprised I probably would have fallen over, if there had been enough room. Obviously males
across the galaxy were notall alike. I can't imagine any Earthling guy I know settling down
so quickly—much less apologizing that way.
"You and Pleskit are correct," Maktel said, bowing his head. "I apologize for my sharp tongue."
Tim looked from one to the other, then back again. He closed his eyes and shook his head, as if trying to
make sense of this. "Uh, I'm sorry, too," he said at last. Then, quickly, as if he found the act of
apologizing supremely uncomfortable, he said, "Okay, let's try to think. What do we actually know about
our situation?"
"Well, we know that Ellicovec Bur have kidnapped us for nefarious reasons of their own,"
said Maktel.
"Actually, we don't even know that," said Pleskit mildly.
"What are you talking about?" cried Maktel. "Didn't they just snatch us into space?"
"They certainly did," said Pleskit. "But did they do that on purpose, or did we just happen to be aboard
when they took off? The real question right now is, do we try to let them know we're here, or do we wait
until the ship lands and try to sneak away, hoping we can find some way to get back home?"
This was a tough one. The longer we delayed letting the Trader(s) know we were on board, the farther
we got from Earth. But if we did manage to let them know, who was to say they wouldn't just zap us, or
fling us into space, or something?
When I brought this point up, Pleskit said, "I'm sure they are far too civilized for that."
"Pleskit, you are a dreamer," said Maktel, shaking his head. "The members of the Trading Federation
are not as universally upright and moral as you would like to think."
"Based on our experiences since you came to Earth, I'd have to say Maktel is right," said Tim. I had to
give him credit for saying that, since I knew it would gall him to admit Maktel was right about anything,
much less take his side in a dispute with Pleskit.
"Let me check something," said Pleskit. He went to the door of the little room where we were hidden.
When he turned back, his face was grim. "We're still locked in. I had hoped that once takeoff was
complete, the lock would do an automatic release."
"So we couldn't tell Ellicovec Bur we're here even if we wanted to," I said. "All right, what
do we do instead?"
"Let's start by listing what we know," said Tim.
Unfortunately, the answer to this question turned out to be: almost nothing. Sure, Ellicovec Bur were a
suspicious twosome, and Maktel was convinced they were involved in some horrible
plot. But if so, what was it? Not to mention: Where were we going—and how long
would it take to get there?
I glanced at my watch. It had been fifteen minutes since we took off.
"Don't count on that for an accurate display of time," said Maktel. "The ship is going fast enough by now
that time will be passing differently for us than it does back on the planet."
I knew—mostly from Tim babbling about his science-fiction shows—that the closer you get to the speed
of light, the slower time actually passes for you. But I hadn't really thought about that weirdosity applying
to us.
"How much time has really gone by back on Earth?" I asked, feeling a new surge of panic as I wondered
if our classmates were now in tenth grade or something.
"It's hard to say," answered Pleskit. "Reality is a tricky concept. It's possible a few years have passed.
More likely it has not been more than a few hours. It depends on how quickly the ship has been
accelerating."
As I was trying to wrap my mind around this idea, and wondering how oldJordan would be when we
got back (assuming, of course, that wedid get back), the ship began to vibrate. A sudden
shrieking sound seemed to split my head. My body seemed to be picking up the
ship's vibrations, as if I were some giant tuning fork.
Then I felt a stretching sensation, as if I had been turned into elastic and some huge creature had
grabbed my head, while some other creature had grabbed my feet, and now both of them were running in
opposite directions.
I heard Tim screaming.
Then I realized I was doing the same thing.
"Whhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaat'sssssss goooooiiiiii-innnnnngggggg ooooonnnnnnnn?" I cried.
CHAPTER
3
[PLESKIT]
Trillions of Miles
I was already nearkleptra about having been snatched away on Ellicovec Bur's starship.
But my fear and despair doubled when I felt the undeniable stretching sensation that
indicated the ship had entered anurpelli.
The Veeblax leaped to the floor and began changing forms so rapidly it was impossible to keep track of
what it was becoming.
Urpellijumps are very distressing for shape-shifters.
Actually, they can be distressing for anyone, so I wasn't surprised that Tim and Linnsy were screaming in
terror. After all, they had never experienced a time/space jump before. I considered screaming, too—not
because of the sensation, but because of what I knew it meant: When we left theurpelli, we would be
trillions of miles from Earth.
It is impossible to have any sense of time during a time/space jump—it is like a split second that goes on
forever. (If that seems hard to understand, it's even weirder to experience!)
"What's happening to us?" cried Linnsy—though, of course, she did not look like Linnsy at the moment,
since she was so stretched out. Her words were also stretched out, which made it hard to interpret what
she was saying.
"We're going through anurpelli," I said, my own words stretching out in the same way.
"You mean one of those holes in space you were telling us about?" she demanded.
"That's a close enough description," I said, "though it's more like a tunnel than a hole.. The main thing is,
we've just sidestepped the problems of lightspeed travel by stepping outside of normal spacetime. We'll
drop back in soon, but I have no idea where we'll be when we do."
"So we're not about to die?" asked Tim hopefully.
Before I could answer, the jump was over, and we snapped back into our normal physical shapes.
"Nope, guess we're not about to die," said Tim, holding out his hands to study them. "Kind of a relief.
For a minute there I was wondering if we were dead already."
"Dead is not the problem," said Maktel. "The problem is, since we've made a time/space jump, we are
now several trillion miles from Earth—which is going to make it a lot harder for us to get back."
Tim blinked. "But... but..."
"That is only part of the problem," I said. "What makes this particularly distressing is thatthere is no
charted urpelli this close to Earth."
Maktel looked stunned at this news. "But an unchartedurpelli ..." He let the words dangle in the
air. We both knew what he was saying.
"Well, at least we have an idea of what this is all about now," I said at last, still stunned by the idea.
"You may know what's going on," said Linnsy. "I'm still totally mystified."
I glanced at Maktel. He hesitated, then nodded, a signal that he agreed I should explain to our friends
what this meant. We both knew now that we had stumbled into something far bigger than we first
realized. It was appropriate for Tim and Linnsy to understand as well.
"All right, here's the situation," I said. "Anurpelli this close to Earth makes the planet
enormously more valuable as a trading spot than the Trading Federation understood
when they granted us the franchise. Tim, I'm sure you remember the words you
found so exciting in that secret note Maktel's Motherly One wanted him to deliver to
my Fatherly One."
" 'Earth is more important than you realize,' " replied Tim, quoting them instantly.
"Well, now we know why. Earth is more important than any of us had realized. In fact, the presence of
thisurpelli means your planet has the potential to become a galactic crossroads. Now I
understand better why the Fatherly One has faced such opposition. Some beings
obviously know about theurpelli, and therefore know that the trading franchise for
Earth is worth far more than any of us had imagined."
Tim looked sick. "So what do you think Ellicovec Bur are up to?" he asked.
Before I could answer, the door of our little hiding place slid open.
CHAPTER
4
[MAKTEL]
Discovered
Ellicovec Bur stood in the doorway, their faces twisted with astonishment and fury.
It was not hard for Ellicovec Bur to have two expressions at the same time, since they
were aveccir —a two-part being composed of separate but cooperating species. This
meant, among other things, that they had two faces.
The larger face belonged to Ellico, who would have looked almost like an Earthling if not for the fact that
his skin was blue and where most men would have had a beard he had writhing tentacles that (according
to Tim) looked as if they had been transplanted from an octopus.
If Ellico's beard looked like it came from an octopus, the Bur part of the Trader(s) looked totally
crablike, with a hard, golden-bronze shell and a small, flat face. Bur fit on Ellico's head like a cap, though
I doubt you could have pried it off if you tried. The symbiont had two long legs—well, they look like legs,
but they're actually calledtweezikkle —mounted just behind its face. They extended back
and down, locking themselves into Ellico's ears and forming a connection to his
brain.
Ellico provided transportation and a large, active body. In exchange, Bur provided enhanced brain
power and sensory ability. They claimed it was a very useful combination, but the very sight of them
always made me uneasy—even when they weren't mad, which they definitely were at the moment. In fact
the icy fury in both sets of eyes was so terrifying, I feared I might slip intokleptra right on the spot.
"What are you four doing here?" snarled the Ellico portion of the Trader(s). He did most of the talking,
though he always claimed that when he did he was speaking both their thoughts. The blue tentacles of his
beard were twitching with anger.
I was startled by his words. Why would the Trader(s) be surprised to find us here if they had abducted
us?
"We ... we ... we ..." said Pleskit, rather uselessly.
"We were looking for the Veeblax," said Linnsy. "Poor little guy got lost, and we had to hunt all over the
embassy for it. I think the noise from the party scared it. I know we shouldn't have come onto your ship.
But we had no idea you were going to be taking off so soon, and we were really worried about the little
critter. And see," she said, gesturing toward the Veeblax, "we found it!"
"That story would make more sense if you had let us know you were here when you heard us come
aboard, rather than hiding as if you were guilty of something," sneered Bur in its squeaky, scratchy voice.
"We were frightened," said Tim quickly, hauling the story back somewhat closer to the truth. "We knew
we didn't belong here, even though we weren't really doing anything wrong." (Well, so much for truth. I
was glad Tim wasn't connected to a fib-finder when he let loose with thatphwooper about not doing
anything wrong!) "We figured you were just coming in to pick something up and
would be leaving soon—uh, leaving the ship, not the planet. Can we turn back
now?"
Ellicovec Bur looked at him in astonishment, as if the idea that we might want to go
home had not occurred to them until this moment. Bur closed its eyes, and I knew it
was communicating with Ellico.
"We are not turning back," they said coldly, "so there is no point in even thinking about it. Setting aside
the fact that the cost in energy would be worth more than all your lives combined, things are too . . .
delicate right now for us to even consider it."
"Can you at least contact the embassy to let my Fatherly One know where we are?" asked Pleskit
desperately.
"We will consider it. Doing so may be dangerous."
"How could that be?" I asked. "Won't you need to contact them to set our ransom?"
"Ransom?" squawked the Bur part of the Trader(s), sounding astonished.
The Ellico portion scowled. "You have thrust yourself into the middle of something that is none of your
business," he said furiously. "We have no obligation to offer you any explanations."
They stepped back, and the door slid shut.
Myclinkus tightened with guilt over the fact that I was the one who had insisted we
check Ellicovec Bur's ship. I think it was the guilt that pushed me into saying, "Well, I
guess I was right when I said those Trader(s) were up to something suspicious!"
Pleskit farted in disgust and turned his back on me.
Tim and Linnsy began to choke and cough. The Fart of Disgust is very potent.
"If you two really have to argue, could you at least wait until we've got some more open space?" gasped
Linnsy.
I could not answer. I was feeling too stupid. One of the first things the Motherly One taught me after my
hatching was that the worst thing to do when you have been proved right is to point that fact out.
Silence gathered and grew, even thicker and heavier in the air than Pleskit's fart. I wanted to speak, but
didn't know what to say. The longer the silence lasted, the more powerful it seemed to become. So I was
actually grateful to the Earthboy when he said, "Well, what are we going to do now?"
Unfortunately, the long discussion that followed turned out to be a discussion about nothing, since we
didn't really have any options— other than the hope that Pleskit's Fatherly One would soon realize not
only that we were missing, but that we must be on board Ellicovec Bur's ship.
"Even that may do us no good," said Pleskit dismally.
"Why not? "asked Tim.
"Because we went through an unchartedurpelli," he said patiently, and I groaned as I
recognized the truth of his words.
"Which means . . . ?" prompted Linnsy.
"Which means," said Pleskit, "there's no telling where it might have spit us out. Our trail is going to be
almost impossible to follow."
* * *
We slept—not easy, since there was so little space in the storage room, not to mention no soft places on
which to rest. I found myself becoming agitated because I needed tofinussher.
After considerable time had passed, the door opened and Ellicovec Bur slid a large metal
container into our prison. The Trader(s) stepped back so quickly I wondered if they
were afraid we would try to jump them or something.
"Wait!" cried Tim as the door started to slide shut. "I have to go to the bathroom!"
The door slid open again. Ellicovec Bur, looking exasperated, said, "All right, one at a time.
You first," they added, gesturing at Tim with their walking stick.
While he was gone, I opened the metal container. "Oh, good!" I cried when I saw the gelatinous goo it
held. "Food!"
"Are yousure that's food?" asked Linnsy, sounding uncomfortable.
摘要：

SNATCHEDFROMEARTH IllustratedbyTonySanseveroAMinstrel®bookPublishedbyPOCKETBOOKSNewYorkLondonTorontoSydneySingapore  CHAPTER1[TIM]StowawaysIt'slate,andtheothersareasleep.JudgeWingler'sassistantcameinawhileagotopickupthematerialwehadalreadywritten,allthechapterstellinghowwefirstgotinvolvedinwhatthega...

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