Nigel and The Aliens by Alannah Frances Travers
CHAPTER I
Nigel Mackintosh slumped his aching backside down on an armchair. It wasn’t one of the comfiest in the N.A.S.A café but today he wasn’t bothered. Well, he was bothered- but not about the armchair. Nigel Mackintosh was bothered about his job. In fact he was scared stiff about it. Sighing he turned around to see a young, evidently bored, waitress tapping her foot impatiently by his table.
“Can I take your order please sir?” she asked in a voice that sounded quite the opposite of the question.
“Oh, I’m not aloud to eat at the moment thanks” Nigel replied, turning away again to his table. The waitress gave a scornful little laugh and spun vaguely towards the back.
“Did you ‘ear that Val?” she yelled- managing to get not only Val’s but everyone’s attention.
“I’m not allowed to eat at the moment!” she mimicked nastily.
“This man came ‘ere but can’t eat nothing!”
A lady, Nigel supposed as Val, came storming in from the back, clearly looking annoyed with him.
“Get out, get out!” she bellowed menacingly, shooing him away with her hands.
“Only tourists who wanna’ eat are allowed in here! See that queue?”
She pointed behind the glass panes to rows of tired families.
“Selfish you are” she spat.
Nigel stayed firmly seated, answering quietly “and astronauts under surveillance”.
Val’s mouth dropped open and any customer who wasn’t already looking, looked. Val apologised and shamefully walked off. The waitress slunk back to take more orders. But was it just him or did they both seem to be paying much more interest in him now. He supposed everyone in the room was now staring wide eyed at him- it came with the job. A small Japanese man started clicking his camera madly and Val had to confiscate his camera. Out of the corner of his eye Nigel saw her thrust it in her saggy pocket. He did not look up however and sheepishly walked out of the café.
Nigel wondered around the museum by himself. It was by far his favourite place in the space centre. Here it showed rockets and astronoughts and space in a comforting and reassuring way. Just the events that had safely happened. The amazing missions. The missions accomplished. The atmosphere was extremely different from that inside the main building- it was so hectic and panicky. Shortly Apollo 21 would be launched and everyone was preparing. The rocket was getting a final check through and it seemed to Nigel that everyone wanted to check it. It wasn’t just the business that scared him though, it was the press. Apollo 21 was getting huge media coverage because it was being sent to mark the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landing- and, unfortunately for him, he’d be on that moon recreating the drama... However, the number one reason that petrified Nigel the most was actually going into Space. You see, Nigel had never actually been to Space before and, although he had done lots of training, this was his first time in a rocket.
What if it all went wrong? He thought frantically.
What if it crashed? What if the oxygen tank burst?
He shook his head shamefully. He couldn’t think like that. Slowly he looked down at his watch, dreading what he’d see. Yes, he’d better get back. He really couldn’t back out now, he was the back up. Anyway he thought, taking a deep breath- it won’t just be me in
that rocket; someone will know what they’re doing. With the worries of the world on his shoulders, or what seemed like it anyway, he unwittingly trudged into the elevator that took him to the very last place on earth he wanted to be.
CHAPTER II
The red screen flashed constantly in front of Nigel telling him how many seconds he had left until lift off. “70, 69...”
Shaking, he managed to strap himself up. John and Paul were seated behind him, the more experienced. They had both already told him not to touch anything and Nigel wasn’t about to risk it. He didn’t even know what half the buttons were for.
“10”
- the noise-
“9”
- came from-
“8”
- nowhere-
“7”
- and so-
“6”
- Nigel’s-
“5”
- heart be-
“4”
- gan to-
“3”
- beat and-
“2; 1; BLAST OFF!”
The rocket roared into a raging life and Nigel felt as if he his whole body were being pushed up by some invisible force. He was travelling at such a speed he felt unable to breathe for a moment. Something boomed and the echoing noise was unbearable, completely the opposite to the cool, calm and collected woman’s voice ringing from the overhead speaker.
“...and so you have now left the earth’s atmosphere...”
But she didn’t know what it was like, she was only a computer. Everything seemed to shudder and shake. Nigel wasn’t sure whether this was normal or not and, gut wrenching, he turned behind him. It seemed John and Paul were completely relaxed. Nigel calmed down, but only for a second. He couldn’t quite take in the ginormous scale of what he was doing. I mean, here he was in Space for goodness sake!
One little meteor out of path would cause an almost sudden death for all three of them, an engine failure, an accid...
No, he thought determinately. He was being was being a wimp. He had the whole of the N.A.S.A team behind him. They wouldn’t have sent them up if they would just come back down again. What a waste of lives, money and equipment. For the first time in a long while, Nigel smiled. He seemed to be getting rid of that sick feeling inside of his stomach that he assumed was natural. It was a bit like an aeroplane except there were no movies, no drinks, no passengers... Nigel’s grin widened. Could it be he was already missing earth and it had only been... - he glanced down at his watch- ... only a few minutes!
Nigel had been in space now for a little over an hour and was already getting bored. He hadn’t spoken a word to John or Paul and had rushed through his new travel book until he’d finished it. They atmosphere in the room could be cut with a knife. John had just left to use the toilet. Nigel was about to ask Paul whether he could help steer but knew he’d say no. He wondered how far they had left to go anyway. Rockets these days travelled so fast it would only take them a week or so, he supposed. At exactly that moment Paul let out a small squeal of excitement which he quickly covered up as an odd sounding cough.
“Well men,” he exclaimed. “We’re travelling really fast.
At approximately ...”
His voice trailed off to facts Nigel wasn’t bothered about. Turning around again he asked bluntly when they’d arrive.
“I’ve just said that” Paul replied scornfully,
“but I’ll repeat it again...”
Very slowly in an incredibly patronising way, Paul told him roughly 5-6 days. Nigel was sure he added something unpleasant after that, probably about him, but he wasn’t overly sure. He gave a little shrug and turned back around to his screen. It was blank. He fixed his eyes on the pale wall behind it. It was a nice wall but what Nigel really wanted to see was, well, Space! He remembered a large ‘portholish’ shaped window in the corridor. It was slightly weird there were no windows in the main area but he supposed it was to keep the astronauts concentrating on the mission. They had all the views they needed on the plasma screens. However, Nigel wasn’t doing anything important- Paul and John didn’t trust him. He understood why though, he wasn’t meant to be here in the first place- Omar was. But Omar was ill so trainee Nigel came instead.
“A mad idea of work experience” was how Paul and John put it.
“A piece of dead driftwood”.
It was true; he was just a burden to them. But he was here now and just had to see that view. Carefully he unbuckled his seatbelt and tried at first to sit straight up, but he couldn’t. A strong invisible force pushed him up further. He tried to sit back down but, again, he found he couldn’t. There was a brief pause and Nigel eventually realised with a little embarrassment that he was in Space and so he was bound to float.
“Wicked” he whispered under his breath (for if he said it aloud it would seem he was inexperienced, which he was).
“I’ve always wanted to do this!”
And before he had even finished his sentence he had pushed himself up into the air. Obviously he had been taught what to do in Space Training but, as usual, he wasn’t listening and so now Nigel just improvised madly. It was just as he’d done his fourth length of the room (in breast stroke of course) that he remembered the reason he was off his seat in the first place; he wanted to see the view. He soon discovered It was much harder to get to an allocated area but Nigel eventually found his way to the door. He was just about to finish the complicated code written on in thick marker pen, when a figure behind him turned around. Paul immediately let out an angry bellow and a neat selection of swear words- some of which Nigel had never even heard of before in his entire life.
“You idiot!” he screamed.
“You, you... thick- minded- little- stupid- klutz! You thoughtless little brat!! What in the Lord’s name were you thinking?”
Paul paused dramatically to take breath.
It was clear he was beyond fuming. In all the commotion John had rushed back from the bathroom.
“Oh my God!” he panted. “Oh my God! Oh Good Lord, has he Paul? Has he?”
His worried expression quickly changed to fury as he noticed Nigel still standing in the corner. John turned to face him too and Nigel began to feel like a naughty schoolboy who had been caught out. Except he wasn’t; he was a nearly fully trained astronaut trying to see Earth- what was the problem with that? Nigel’s clueless expression clearly evidently angered his two companions further. He knew they were furious with N.A.S.A for sending him and he understood the reason now. It wasn’t just that they didn’t like him or thought he was under qualified. He had apparently done something so terrible, yet the worst thing about it was the fact that Nigel didn’t know what. He didn’t have the faintest clue. And if he didn’t know what he did, what was to stop him doing it again. He was a danger to them. Suddenly a red started beeping furiously and mixed messages from earth frantically explained why. John seemed to already know, but he still hadn’t forgiven Nigel- his face was thunder. Paul’s didn’t know and his face turned white as he slowly discovered what Nigel had done. Thank God he had noticed it and stopped Nigel before he’d carried on. If he hadn’t Nigel would probably be dead by now. The radio signed out with a warning to be more careful and the two astronauts exchanged mixed looks. Paul was relieved, John furious. Paul was annoyed too though, he’d known about the coded door and wouldn’t have dared open it but Nigel, well, he didn’t know anything-he was like a toddler and they had to look after him whilst steering a rocket. John turned back to face him and let out an exasperated sigh. He had to get on controlling the ship and, quite frankly, was so cross with Nigel he couldn’t face talking. He glared at him and turned back to his computer. Through clenched teeth John muttered “Just get out of our face”.
There was a long silence and Nigel tried hard to keep his position in the air. He glanced at the door. The light had stopped flashing now but he still didn’t know why it had in the first place. It was a mystery to him. Everything seemed so peculiar. Maybe they didn’t want him to look out of the window or go down the corridor he reasoned, trying to figure an impossible answer. No, he thought, that was ludicrous. It didn’t explain why the red light and messages from Earth warned them to be ‘more careful’. He suddenly got it. A light bulb flashed in his head. He’d entered the wrong code of course! It wasn’t the marker pen one; it was the printed one below it. He slowly made his way back to the door again, quietly as not to disturb the others... perhaps if he had made a noise they would’ve noticed, turned around and stopped him before he could do the worst thing imaginable...
...perhaps if he took note of John staring at him whilst he opened the door over his shoulder, he could have warned Paul...
....perhaps if he had taken note of the tiny fragment inside his mind telling him something was not right in his theory, it didn’t make sense, he wouldn’t have entered the code...
... The code which didn’t lead to a corridor, but an entrance door...
... The door with the tightest security possible....
... The door Nigel tried to open in the middle of the universe...
... The door he did...
... And the door Nigel fell out of...
CHAPTER III
Nigel woke suddenly with a jolt. The first thing he realised was that, wherever he was, it was unfamiliar. He seemed to be lying on a hard cold bed. Darkness filled every inch surrounding him and, scarily he couldn’t make out where he was. Nigel was terrified, thoughts echoed through his mind. Why was he here? What had happened to him? He couldn’t remember anything that happened to him before and it was beginning to petrify him the bone. Roughly he felt the texture of his clothing but could not compare it to anything he already owned, anything he had ever seen or felt before. It was smooth and flexible. Almost, Nigel pondered, like water would feel like if you could wear it. Jelly even. Nothing at all like the... like the... something clicked; like the spacesuit he was wearing before. Slowly, memories came flooding back to him. The N.A.S.A station, the Rocket, the door and, clearly now to him, the fall. It felt good to have pieced part of the puzzle but Nigel was still beyond confusion. So this was where he’d fallen? That couldn’t be right. If he’d fallen out of the rocket he would’ve surely died. His oxygen tank would only last a few hours and he would’ve slowly passed out with the pressure. But, here he was without his tank, breathing as normal. And he couldn’t feel any movement. If he didn’t know any better he’d say he was back on Earth. But clearly that was impossible too. How could he have ‘fallen’ to earth? He didn’t have a parachute or any equipment on him for that matter. He simply wouldn’t have survived the fall. There was only one explanation. The one Nigel had dreaded. The one he had kept ‘till the very last. The one that seemed the perfect answer but terrible at the same time; Surely Nigel was dead. He had to admit, if he was an outsider looking in on the situation he’d say so himself. After all, where else could he be? Nowhere, nowhere at all. But this was him he was talking about. Himself; Nigel. His life. He wasn’t dead, he knew it. He could think and talk couldn’t he? He whispered the alphabet quickly under his breath to check. Yes, of course he could. He was just about to manoeuvre himself off the bed to check he could walk, when the brightest dazzling light Nigel had ever seen before flashed above- blinding him. It was like a movie theatre light. The type used when exact detail was required. A sick feeling slowly crept up in the inside of him. Someone was watching, observing him. He was sure of it. They had been for a long time. As soon as he’d moved the light had come on. Yes, someone was there, behind him. Nigel got up to make a run for it when, purely out of curiosity, he turned around. And froze. For there in front of him was it the most peculiar silhouette. Was it God? No, it seemed too short and weedy. Jesus then? After all, he was hung on a cross. Somehow Nigel didn’t think so. His eyes adjusted to the bright light and he gasped. “What on Earth?” he exclaimed truly shocked by the full horror of what lay before his very eyes.
“No” the creature jokily replied in a voice not meant for joking. “What on Z10!” And with that the thing, as Nigel referred to it, started to laugh madly; nearly forgetting the confused, scared and utterly bewildered astronaut shivering coldly in the middle of room.
CHAPTER IV
Paul was the first to realise there was a problem. Well, with all the top class technology it was hard not to realise, but he prized himself on beating John. Anyway, to be fair, at first he didn’t know what the problem was. But soon enough he realised- Nigel was missing and the door was open.
“Gee!” Paul had whispered, feeling as shocked as John seemed.
“He’ll be dead by now”.
There was a long silence in which Paul remembered how horrible he’d been to Nigel. Quietly he began to understand why Nigel had done what he’d done. He hadn’t been messing around- he must have thought it was the door to the corridor. But that was a similar door on the other side of the room.
“Oh Yeah” John answered quietly under his breath as he tapped frantically the incident to Earth.
“He’ll be dead by now no doubt”.
“He must have wanted to use the lav’ or something” Paul continued, completely unaware of John’s strange behaviour.
“Yeah, and remember when we stopped him the first time” he rushed his sentence.
It was as if he wanted to get it over and done with, was ashamed of what he had to say. “You know, when he didn’t know what he’d done wrong.” He was speeding up even more now.
“Yes” John answered. “That clueless expression he had.” Paul now wore a different expression; guilt. It slowly dawned on him that if they had told Nigel that he’d got the wrong door; he’d simply have walked out the other and gone to wherever he’d wanted to be. Paul now looked evidently lost for words with grief but John didn’t look bothered. “Do you think he’s dead or alive?” Paul asked, hoping against hope it would be the latter. “I’m sorry Paul” John apologised even though he didn’t mean it, “He’ll obviously be dead”. He continued typing manically on his keyboard.
“Oh hang on a sec” he continued. “N.A.S.A say they, eh, um, yeah... oh. Sorry, N.A.S.A say that they know for a fact that Nigel was...” he scanned the page, reading it quickly. “They know that Nigel was wearing his spacesuit at the time of the fall and, as it’s only been a few minutes, he would still have about an hour to breathe”. Something about John’s tense made Paul uneasy. He was talking about Nigel like he was already dead. “Yes” he interrupted, clearly wanting to speed the conversation up. “But we don’t know how injured he or the suit was at the time of the fall”. Paul switched the CCTV on and showed the camera footage by the entrance door. It was initially set up to film the anticipated moon landing celebration but instead it now showed something none of them had been expecting. “Look!” Paul gasped. “There he is floating across in the black void and...” he gasped again.His finger pointed dramatically at the little figure of Nigel- “Look, he’s just disappeared!” They watched the clip again several times. Then they watched footage from other angles. It was all the same though. At 14:17 (Eastern Time), Nigel Macintosh had completely disappeared. Paul’s brow creased in thought, John’s stayed the same.
Their concentration broke a few minutes later when a message from N.A.S.A. appeared on their webcam.
“Web message from earth delivered” came the cool, calm and collected voice of the female robot. “Oooooh, sometimes I just want to throttle her” John interrupted, starting to feel bored and trapped. He shut up though as soon as the screen switched on. At first John was oblivious to who it was but, as soon as Paul greeted the man, he understood. “Yes Siiiiiiiir, Commander Chief Hull, and Operator of N.A.S.A” He chimed along with Paul simultaneously.They both fell silent. “Yes” Hull calmly said staring at the both with his middle aged blue eyes- a talent he used a lot. In frantic situations Hull was the man to have around. “And in this moment of time I’m sure Mackintosh would like to throttle you too Fruduski” He briskly smiled. It was certainly Hull. He only called men by their surnames, choosing not to get too attached in case, Paul presumed, in situations like these. “But let’s cut the crap. I’m sure you both know what you did wrong and why Mackintosh fell out of the door. And don’t look at me with those puppy eyes Jones” he gestured to Paul “I know you’re sorry but ‘sorry’ didn’t mend the vase did it? No. If you’re truly sorry you would hop in your side Rocket log his coordinates and go collect him!” “Yeah, but” Paul interrupted “We can’t log his coordinates because, well, I know it sounds mad but he’s completely disappeared!”
“Yes, I know that thank you Jones; I have seen the CCTV footage too. Most peculiar don’t you think?”
Both men nodded in silent agreement although John already secretly knew the answer. “Well it would seem so wouldn’t it” Hull continued mysteriously. “But we think we know just what happened. Or near enough anyway” he added hastily on to the end of his sentence. In all his years of work he’d learnt a thing or two about suing people and always left a tiny margin of doubt just in case he was wrong about something, however in this case he was pretty certain he was right. “Anyway,” he continued crisply, slightly distracted by the Paul’s curious and intrigued expression. “What you’re about to hear is one of the world’s greatest kept secrets, only around 20 people know about it, aside from the organisation of course. But that it self is very small, only 30 people in it.” Hull’s face was grave but it was obvious he felt slight pleasure in letting out what must have been such a hard secret to keep. Paul was still confused even though Hull had been talking for a long time. John thought he knew what Hull was getting at but hoped he was wrong- how could he know? No human knew. Hull noticed they both looked impatient.“Yes, I know you are both interested but it is not for me to tell you the secret.” He laughed as the hopeful expressions on Paul and John’s faces fell, but almost immediately remembered his position; a man was in grave danger and needed their help. He couldn’t afford laughing – there was no time. Hull took a deep breath and composed himself.
“No, what I mean is that I can’t tell you, but they can...” The screen flashed dark after a few seconds and Paul wondered whether this was some sort of sick joke, punishing them for losing Nigel. If so, he supposed they did deserve it.
CHAPTER V
Eventually, the screen came back up again. The man they were staring up at this time didn’t look as though he was about to apologise for making them wait. In fact, being the type of person he seemed, he probably wouldn’t have realised at all. It was only when the man began to speak that they realised it was actually a woman. Pretty, too, even when she took off her dark sunglasses. “Hello men” she stated in a brisk, assertive way. Her staring eyes told them she meant business.
“I am Helena Stewart, spokeswoman of...” she took a deep breath as if announcing the important punch line in a joke, “The War Against Aliens, TWAA for short.”
John couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could they know? Nobody knew! His train of thought was interrupted at once. “Alright then” Paul shouted. “Get us back to Hull. We have just lost a fellow astronaut and you are feeding us this load of rubbish. Who are you really- the coffee lady? Get off it!” Helena took another deep breath, something she had to frequently do in her job. “Look, I know you think that this is a joke but it isn’t.”
“Yeah right!” Paul snorted. “And it’s a sick one at that two!” he added furiously under his breath.
Helena looked a John. “What about you?” she asked. “You’ve been quiet”. John was silent for a few more seconds. He didn’t quite know what to say, he hadn’t counted on them knowing about it. He couldn’t reveal the truth, not yet. He couldn’t say he knew but he couldn’t argue. He bit his lip. “Sorry mate but I think she’s right. I mean it does explain the disappearing on the CCTV footage doesn’t it? And why we can’t log Nigel’s coordinates”. He looked straight at Paul with his clear maple eyes.“There is evidence I s’ppose.” John hoped that was the right thing to say, after all it wasn’t giving anything away. “Quite right he is too” Helena firmly stated, in a voice not used for reasoning. She gestured towards a CCTV screen behind her. “See anything odd?” she asked the two.
“Uh, only that Nigel disappeared of the face of the universe” Paul answered sarcastically. “Well actually” the informative voice continued from the screen in front of them. “You’re completely wrong there in two ways.” Paul pulled a face and raised his eyebrows so high it was a wonder they didn’t disappear altogether. “Alright missy, what else is there then?” he questioned in a voice Helena also received often.
“Well,” she replied again in the calm, bossy accent she had to use in her job “take a look at this...”
She switched the CCTV on and, almost immediately the angry voice of Paul exclaimed rudely- “We’ve already seen it”. “Really?” Helena asked blankly- “I thought you said you only saw the disappearance.” John knew what he was about to see, Paul had no idea.
“Look!” Helena shouted as she paused the footage at exactly the right time. Paul was still confused but as Helena slowly zoomed in on Nigel’s arm he gasped. “Oh my God” Paul exclaimed. “God, I think you’re right about the whole alien thing! Eurrgh! Look at it!” And they did. There gripping tightly on to Nigel’s arm was another arm. A clear sort of see through arm made of jelly. Yes, aliens did exist and they had kidnapped Nigel. Helena smiled. “Well Paul, I’m glad you believe me now”.
Paul didn’t bother asking how she knew his name- it was obvious she had been briefed before hand.“And, as you’ve probably realised, yes this is an alien’s arm. We believe they drugged Nigel with this syringe...” She zoomed in even more to the syringe gripped tightly by the alien in one of its fore (or rather three) fingers. “And then” she continued “they carried him inside their enormous spaceship, as big as an average town”. She broke off as she noticed Paul’s face. “What, don’t you get it?” “No” he replied obviously confused. “Well yes, no, I don’t know- I just don’t really understand one thing.”
“Yes?” Helena pondered.
“Well, where is the Space Ship?”
“Oh, excellent point, excellent point” Helena praised dramatically.“Yes, sorry, didn’t I mention it?”
“Mention what?” both astronauts cried in unison “What didn’t you mention?” John already knew the answer, he lived there. But he was fairly certain the ‘TWAA’ or whatever they called themselves didn’t know about it, there was no chance.
“I’m coming to it” Helena replied slowly, calmly and, to the intrigued astronauts now, slightly irritatingly. John and Paul were now gripped on Helena’s every word.
“You see, the Alien’s (as we refer to them) spaceship is invisible to the human eye... “ John gasped with horror- they knew, they knew.“Yes shocking isn’t it” Helena continued, obviously mistaking John’s reaction. “Anyway, if we were to enter the invisible spaceship we would turn to a clear jelly substance”. Paul’s face instantly said it all.
“So, Nigel” he gulped “he’s jelly?”
“Oh yes” Helena calmly answered, apparently not phased by this at all. She soon caught sight of both men’s expressions however and continued.
“Oh it’s not painful, he won’t die” she flustered.
Paul let out a huge sigh of relief. But almost as soon as he had finished he sucked his breath right back in again- “Hang on!” he exclaimed in a high pitch. “That means if we can’t see the Space Ship, IT COULD BE ANYWHERE!!” Behind him John’s smile widened. Of course, they couldn’t find it... “Yes, thank you Paul” said Helena “but there really is no need to shout, we’re tracking the Ship right now...”
John’s mouth dropped open.
“How?” he spluttered. “Ho- who did it- how?”
“I’ll get to that shortly John, you don’t need to worry about it, we know exactly where they are...”
Well that worried John even more. She saw the expression on his face and gave a sympathetic smile. “Look, you two obviously have your questions so let me explain a little bit of background information on these ‘Aliens’, ok?” They nodded.
“This morning they were on earth.” Helena continued “In the N.A.S.A café actually. Working- can you believe it? Working as, oh what was it?” She paused.
“Oh yes, working in disguise as a waitress and a manager. That’s one of their many perks you see- outside of their ship they can transform into anyone they have taken hostage of. And so obviously they took two young women.” “Yeah, but” Paul cut in- “Why did you let them? How did they get the job?” Helena sighed. “Basically these aliens don’t seem to know that we know about them”. John snorted, she’d got that right.
“As I was saying John, these aliens don’t seem to know that we know about them so we could hardly deny them access could we? It would be most suspicious for them. And anyway, we thought it best if we knew exactly where they were- and also N.A.S.A needed a waitress so it was handy too. As far as we know, they were the only aliens on earth and now they’re back in space.” “With?” Paul asked.
“Yes” she nodded, “with Nigel. We have reason to believe they wanted him for their own benefit. That’s why they came to N.A.S.A. They knew about you three. I’m afraid that they’ve been following all of you; If Nigel hadn’t fallen out they would’ve broken your rocket and taken you hostage. It’s easier to get humans in space you see- that’s why they do it. It could just be a ‘nasty crash’ or something and, obviously, Space is where they feel most at home.”
John wanted to tell them now, tell them they weren’t as clever as they thought they were, but he knew it would be stupid to do it now- besides he wanted to hear what else TWAA knew about, those meddling pigs...
“In fact men, Nigel did you a favour by falling out of that door” she smiled. “Hang on!” Paul yelled. “You were following them- you knew there plans! You knew they were going to sabotage us! You, you- you sent us up here to be abducted!” John liked the sound of what he heard- if Paul was against TWAA the more likely it would be for him to trick him into a rebellion. And then of course, they could capture him... “If you knew about it-” Paul continued yelling, “-why didn’t you stop the rocket going up?! Were you trying to kill us?!” He glared menacingly at Helena.
“No” she replied quite simply.
“We sent you up here because we have a plan”.
CHAPTER VI
Nigel had been moved to room 309. It was rather plain really. There was no T.V, computer... nothing electrical actually- just a little bed, table and two wooden chairs. There wasn’t even a window to see out of. He supposed it was unnecessary to have a wardrobe though- he had no clothes. Or a mirror- Nigel knew what he was wearing. It was kind of jelly suit. He tried a minute ago to take it off but it wouldn’t budge. There were no zippers, buttons or fastenings anywhere. It was a complete body/jump suit covering his entire body- even his toes and fingers. Nigel presumed it finished as his neck but, as he couldn’t see anything, he didn’t know. It was slightly odd though, of all the creatures he’d seen so far they had all been wearing the same outfit. Except, he remembered with a little shiver, their suit didn’t finish at their neck it, well, didn’t really finish at all. It went up and up until it reached a little pink mouth, almost the same as Nigel’s except it had sharp pointing fangs stenched in crimson blood. Nigel remembered the noses with another shiver. Yes, there was no doubt about it, these were lost astronaut’s noses. He recognised Albert Stintellar’s nose on one of the creatures (he’d seen the nose on one of the wax models in the N.A.S.A. museum). Another nose belonged to the great Sam Maxwell, who died in an ‘uncontrollable rocket’. Or did he? Nigel wasn’t so sure now. In fact, the more he thought about it the more he recognised ears, eyebrows and odd matching eyes. It was sick. He had already established he was with aliens but had clung on to the fact that they might be friendly. Now he knew that they weren’t. He sat down on his hard, cold bed. He tried desperately to think back to the fall. What had happened? He remembered the door giving way. The metal gate in front of him, meant to stop astronauts like him from falling out, had been slashed. Nigel remembered tripping through. Then a hand gripped him and...? What? He couldn’t remember. The next thing he knew he was laying on what could only be described as a hospital bed. The kind used for operations. His heart jumped and Nigel started to shake,
“Oh god,” he whispered manically, aloud “oh god, oh god.” He struggled for air – had they? Would they? Nigel fell back on his bed and spread his arms out behind him. This was mad. He was manic.
“They couldn’t, could they?” he whispered, shaking frantically.
“How did I ever get in this situation?” he cried desperately under his breath. “It’s like something out of a horror movie.” Nigel closed his eyes for a minute, praying he would wake up in his own bed. But no such luck. He gave a big sigh and sat up. “What would my mum say?” he whispered quietly, for though no one was in the room he still felt slightly embarrassed saying such a silly thing. Nigel knew what his mum would say, even in the deadliest situations she would cheerfully hum and tell them to count their blessings. Nigel tried. He knew he was definitely still alive and, feeling his face gently, he still had facial features – for the time being anyway. What else? He bit his lip in concentration. Well, if one of the creatures hadn’t caught him as he fell out of the rocket, he would have maybe died. But actually John and Paul would have logged him so, he thought depressingly, that didn’t really count. He stood up and shook himself down defiantly. Okay, so he didn’t have many blessings to count at the moment but he knew if he just stayed in his bedroom he would have even less. His ‘suite’ was basically a waiting room. And when his time was up, he’d be dead like the rest of them. There was no doubt about it, he would have to escape. Quickly hae looked around the room for anything worth takins.g with him. No, nothing at all. The room really was not a pleasant place to stay. He tip-toed over to the door and pressed his ear to it. No one was outside, he should go now. He took a final glance around the window-less box and slowly opened the door.
CHAPTER VII
Helena had long signed out now leaving John and Paul quite alone. The rocket had turned around, giving up any hope of now reaching the moon. N.A.S.A. had sent up another Apollo 21. As far as most people on earth were concerned that was the original ship. Theirs didn’t exist at all. And it certainly felt like that to Paul. He had been lied to, tricked and, above all, cruelly trapped. Helena had firmly explained to them both that now TWAA were in charge and the rocket wouldn’t touch ground until Nigel had been rescued and the aliens defeated. Paul knew he had to do what TWAA said but it didn’t make the anger less intense. They were now both sitting in the main room going over the plan Helena had explained for the fifth time. “Look,” John moaned, interrupting Paul “clearly we get the idea.” He made a face. “In fact I know it so much, I am getting sick of it.”He paused as he crossly observed the touch screen Helena had shown them. TWAA had secretly hidden it in the rocket and only now had they chosen to tell them about it. They had also hidden a tracking device in the alien waitress. So now she was in the alien space ship, they knew exactly where it was. In fact, Apollo 21 was tracking it now, getting closer and “Basically we will soon arrive at the spaceship, and if TWAA know the aliens well enough.....” “Which we are sure they will do” Paul cut in quickly, clearly trying to convince John as well as himself that this mad idea would work. “Yes, anyway” John started, obviously annoyed with the interruption “if TWAA know the aliens well enough than what they said will be true. The aliens will realise we are near their ship and enter our rocket.” Through clenched teeth Paul muttered just loud enough for John to hear – “and then they will kill us”. John stared at him, sighing. “Not if we do the second part of the plan” he lied. He knew full well that the aliens would kill him before he even got to that stage.” Remember?” He winked nastily. Remember? How could oblivious Paul forget? “Yeah, I remember” he answered, still not looking up. But tell me again. Why exactly do we have to pretend to be...”.He stuttered not wanting to release his words. “To be...women!” John sighed again. “Heaven almighty, Paul. Don’t you ever listen? It’s not a punishment, in fact it could save our lives!” he lied. Paul still didn’t look up. “Yeah, but why? I don’t get it John.” “Paul, I don’t really know why I bother with you. You are pathetic. We dress as women because Helena told us to. She says women aren’t needed by the aliens.” John turned around and, under his breath, smiled wickedly. “But they are and so are you...”
CHAPTER VIII
Nigel was lost. It was as simple as that. He had been trying to find a good hiding place from the aliens and it seemed he had tried much too hard. Where on earth was he? He remembered when he had last said that. Well, how could he forget? It was the first time an alien had spoken to him. His reply was slightly strange though, he seemed to be correcting him. “What on earth?” Nigel had asked. “No”, came the reply “what on the Z10” then he had started to laugh madly. Nigel remembered passing out on the floor, then being moved to his room 309 by other aliens. Well, his old room now. He couldn’t get back. Nigel decided to keep moving, he had to find some exit. Maybe a side rocket? Anything that would get him home. As he crept through the corridor he thought back to what the alien had said. So this place was called Z10. Almost definitely a rocket. It was so huge though, perhaps an alien space hotel. That would explain all of the rooms. The rooms kept for storing astronauts. So this is basically the spaceship’s job; to travel around galaxies and universes, snatching up astronauts to create more aliens. It obviously wasn’t just astronauts belonging to his world, there were not that many who had go missing. Here there were hundreds, thousands even that Nigel had been hiding from behind dark corners or tall pillars. The more Nigel thought about it, the clearer it seemed. The aliens obviously made themselves out of astronauts – and he would be next if he didn’t do something soon. He tried to stop thinking and continued walking. But where to? Round that corner? He poked his head out and checked to see if the coast was clear. Thankfully it was and he crept down. Although from the outfit he was wearing you couldn’t tell he was an astronaut, someone must have realised he was missing by now and sent some kind of alarm. He mustn’t act too cocky and he certainly didn’t want to draw unneeded attention to himself by walking down busy corridors, for instance. He swallowed. Oh, this was pathetic; he had no idea where he was or where he was going to - he was just wandering around aimlessly. He turned another corner and bumped head first into another figure. The alien leapt and started screaming. So did he – how could he had been so stupid? The alien was going to make him pay for it now. Nigel stared down at the ground, apologising like mad he stayed quiet, then suddenly gasped as he heard what the alien was screaming. “Ah, thank god. Am I glad to see you! I’ve been looking for you everywhere Nigel!” he laughed. Nigel looked up and positively burst with relief. “Wow! Is that you John?” he smiled. “Yes!”
They both seemed to suddenly forget their initial coldness to each other in the rocket. “Well let’s get home then” they both whispered simultaneously. “Which way is the rocket then?” Nigel grinned, still not taking the fact in that he was being rescued. “What?” John asked, beginning to feel confused. “I don’t know. You have got the rocket.”. “No” Nigel realises with a sunken heart. “Let me guess. You think I have got the rocket?” he asked John. “Well, yeah. You’ve come to rescue me, silly – after I have got kidnapped by aliens”.
“Oh Lord” Nigel sighed, shaking his head. “John, I was the one who was kidnapped by aliens and you have come to rescue me.” John was not convinced “Stop tricking me Nigel and get me back to the ship quickly before they find us.” He started to panic. Nigel pulled John in closer behind the partition. “Listen mate. I fell out of the door and they took me – you were there in the toilet! Now you have realised I am missing. Simple as that.” John opened his mouth “Oh no. Oh no.... I went to the toilet and there was an alien in there just like me. He must have shape shifted or something and, er, they took me and left him. Oh, Nigel” John squeaked. “That means we were both kidnapped at the same time and, “he gulped” Paul is still in the rocket, trapped with an alien. I didn’t think it would be too bad; two against one, but an alien against a mortal? Oh dear, oh dear - do you think he is dead?” There was a long pause. “No” Nigel said after a while. “He won’t be, he’s smart. He’ll still be in touch with Earth and I’m sure the alien wouldn’t try anything with them around- otherwise N.A.S.A would find about them wouldn’t they?” “Yeah, I suppose” John reasoned still though, like Nigel, having doubts. “But in the meantime, what are we going to do?” They sighed and continued walking. Paul would never find them would he? They couldn’t leave but they really couldn’t stay; any minute now they would be found and killed. They had to save themselves somehow. Both men’s minds trailed off thinking of impossible plans that would never work. “Pssst...” a whispered voice came from a small, almost hidden, door behind them in the minimalistic styled hotel corridor. “Over here, behind you...” Nigel turned around warily. “Are you an astronaut?” the secretive voice hushed. “Eh, um, maybe...” Nigel muttered, looking helplessly at John. “Um, are you an alien?” he questioned back worriedly. “No, no, we’re astronauts and, judging by the sounds of it, you are two! Come on in” he beckoned “don’t just stand outside, you’ll draw attention to us. Come on in, quietly come on in...” Nigel looked at John. “What do you think we should do?” he said, barely loud enough for John to hear, “do you think it’s a trick?” “Well,” came the reply “it might be but if it isn’t it’s a great hiding place and, quite frankly, what else are we meant to do if we stay out here?” “I suppose you’re right” Nigel smiled uneasily as he gripped his hands tightly around the door handle...
CHAPTER IX
Paul was tied up. He should’ve seen it coming. What an idiot he was. How could he have not realised? John, or rather the alien disguised as John, had cruelly explained everything to him. How, when the real John went to the bathroom the aliens kidnapped him and replaced him with the fake John. Then how the fake John cut the slit in the entrance door which Nigel fell out of. And finally ho he’d tricked Paul into the whole mess. The alien’s now had the set of all three astronauts and there was no chance of any of them getting home. Paul didn’t know what they wanted with him but he was sure it involved death. He had been tied to the chair now for only a few minutes but it felt like eternity. The fake John was just docking the rocket up to the alien spaceship and he was sure that when they entered they wouldn’t just let him go and meet the others- if the others weren’t already dead that is. Paul tried hard to focus on things other than death. But he still felt depressed. It was actually pretty sad in a way. He’d really believed they would have been able to outsmart the aliens like some sort of action movie thriller. But, he supposed sadly, life isn’t really a stage and this was real life they were talking about. He looked over at the fake John. Boy, had he done a good job of fooling everyone. Actually, Paul reasoned uselessly, actually just him. He assumed the fake John had ultimately reasoned that Earth already knew that aliens existed and just got bored of keeping the secret. He wanted to scare Paul and that’s what he did. At first Paul thought he was joking but when they arrived on the border of the Space Shuttle and his appearance changed from John to a freaky alien made up of different astronaut’s parts, he started to get worried. The fake John had quickly tied him up and, well, here he was. He looked down at himself. He was now a jelly substance but he wasn’t scared- he remembered what Helena had told them. It was slightly freaking him out though. He looked back up- he was alone. The alien had gone outside to attach the two vehicles together and, when he came back, Paul would be taken inside and... The screen flashed up above him and Paul’s heart leapt. A grim man in a uniform burst straight into speech. “Hello Paul, I’m Sydney Griffins, head of the organisation TWAA. We’ve got a plan to get you out of here alive.I must say, it is quite exciting isn’t it?” Paul smiled but looked anxiously at the door. “Don’t worry,” Mr. Griffins continued “N.A.S.A can still control their rockets even up here and we’ve manually locked all doors and windows- you’re safe for the time being but not for long. We still don’t know what tools or technology the alien’s have. But enough of that” he gabbled, obviously no good in frantic situations unlike Hull. “I need to know, can you move any part of your body at all? Can you talk?” Paul shook his head furiously. “No?” Mr. Griffins questioned. “Oh well, that’s a pity. I suppose we’ll have to manually move you back to Earth”. Paul moved frantically. What about the other two? What would happen to them? He tried to rip the gag of his face using his teeth but it wouldn’t budge. “Woo! ‘ait!!” he bellowed. He kicked and stomped and screamed. “Alright then” the man interrupted, oblivious to Paul’s distress. “I’m glad you fell so happy to be going home. In about 15 minutes once we’ve finished setting the auto fly up you’ll be safe and we’ll ‘lift off’...” Paul continued screaming. Only 15 minutes to go and the astronauts weren’t out! He screamed and screamed and bellowed and kicked and thumped and scratched and yelled to he was hoarse but no one heard him, Mr. Griffins had signed out leaving behind only 15 minutes...
CHAPTER X
The table practically buzzed with excitement and anticipation. Nigel and John had just finished telling the astronauts their stories of capture and escape and now they were all running through their plan to escape and overthrow the aliens. Well, all except one; Nigel. He still couldn’t quite believe he was seated around a small rickety table hidden in a secret room, facing all of these incredible people. There were astronauts from other far away galaxies; Uouter, Byeexut and Qwertt and famous astronauts from Earth; Peter Dawkins, Fred Gwindella and Phillip Jacobs. He shook himself awake quickly- he wasn’t listening, he was meant to be listening. “Right” Leonardo continued as Nigel tuned in. “Is everyone clear of the plan, we have been going over it for the several weeks we’ve been hidden here and tonight is the night.” He carried on excitedly. “So, we march out looking as normal and, hopefully for at least a hundred yards, no one will recognise us but, assuming they don’t, we get away with it and get into a rocket. But, we’re not anticipating that to happen. These aliens are not stupid; they’re anything but it for that matter. I doubt they’d fall for ...” he paused to do a quick head count ...“twenty five unrecognisable ‘aliens’ taking off in a rocket. No, they hard plan is the one we’re intending to use...” He huddled the men in closer and whispered secretly. “We will put up a fight with anyone who attacks us and then run each are separate ways- the chances of us all surviving are slim but it is far slimmer than if we all stick together. Now, to stop us all flocking together we run the shortest route to our original rocket they sabotaged. We checked yesterday and most people’s are still there. We’re all trained astronauts and we know how to fly. If the door’s locked, break it. There are always oxygen masks under the seats. Now if you can’t find your sabotaged ship or don’t have one then you can not join another man. The point of this is to use up every rocket so that the aliens cannot come and tow us back in again. If you’re rocket is not there you must wait ‘till everyone else has gone. At the end, the remaining men must get together and find a rocket but you must be quick for two reasons-1, the alien’s will use any rocket left to come and catch those already up in space and 2, the bomb we have hidden in this secret room will blow up in exactly 10 minutes from now, killing every alien on this ship.” The men nodded, but it was alright for them, they had a rocket. Nigel looked at John worriedly. “So,” Leonardo continued as he activated the bomb they had stolen from the weapons room, “let’s go!” The men all exchanged encouraging smiles. Every one took a deep breath as the door was opened as they braced themselves for what lay ahead of them. When they got outside Leonardo whispered softly in Nigel’s ear “Listen, I don’t mean to panic you but there might not be enough rockets. Just stay calm and hide once you’ve been round the ship once, OK?” He smiled, Nigel bit his lip. “Yeah but what about the bomb?” he whispered, terrified. “Then it was nice knowing you” Leonardo grinned. They all started marching and no more words were exchanged- just a few worried glances...
CHAPTER XI
It was only when they got to the gate that there was trouble. Someone had realised what they were up to and set of the alarm. Armed aliens with guns and lasers surrounded them. Nigel felt for John’s hand and they gripped tightly to each other. He vaguely heard Leonardo shout for them to make a run for it and every one started to move frantically. Nigel and John had no idea where they were going; they just had to get away. They fled past the corner and into a hotel room. They pressed themselves against the door. What where they going to do? Across the hallway they heard an alien menacingly checking every room. “Nigel, we can’t stay here!” John gasped; we’ve got to move- and fast! They opened the door and ran for their lives. They had to find a rocket. In all of this confusion one must be spare and they really had to find it. Nigel turned behind him and screamed. There was an alien following them and it was ruthlessly shooting. Shooting to kill. John had realised it by now too. “In here!” Nigel yelled, pulling John into a deserted kitchen. They locked the door behind them and ran to the other. “Quickly!” Paul screamed- “He’s shooting the door down as we speak!” They ducked as flames appeared over their heads. The kitchen was on fire. They ran out of the room as fast as their feet would carry them and sped down into another hallway. “Oh where the heck’s the docking area?!” Paul yelled furiously. “We need to get on a rocket before the bomb explodes!” They ran franticly, stopping only occasionally for breath. Their time was running out...
‘2 minutes to go’ read the screen in front of Paul. Oh, where were Nigel and John? Other astronauts were escaping, he could see it from the window in the bedroom corridor he was tied up in but they weren’t one of them. “Oh lord!” he mumbled desperately from inside his gag, “let them get out here quickly before I take off!” He was starting to panic; they needed to find him... ‘1 minute and 30 seconds’- they were never going to make it, never. What should he do- what should he do?
Nigel and John ran past the pillar and eventually found the docking area. They turned the corner, where were the spare rockets? They needed a spare rocket! There was only 3 minutes left ‘till the bomb was set to explode! They had to find a rocket- and fast! The one ahead of them was taken, the next one had gone... “LOOK!” Paul yelled furiously “PAUL’S COME BACK FOR US- HE’S IN THE ROCKET!! QUICK- RUN!!” And there ahead of them was Apollo21! It was truly a miracle but they didn’t have time to think it- they ran as fast as they could towards it screaming for him. But before they could jump on, the rocket started to take off. What was going on? Where was he going? “John, he hasn’t seen us he’s going without us! We’ve only got 2 minutes ‘till the bomb goes off- we’re going to die!!” Nigel started screaming. There were no spare rockets, no chances of survival...
John’s heart leapt, there was Nigel and John. Great- they had definitely seen the ship and they were running towards it. Just in time too, there were only seconds to spare. A loud roaring noise filled the ship and everything seemed to shake. Oh no, oh no, they were taking off! Paul knew he had to get to them. Without thinking he threw himself onto the floor. Using all of his energy he pushed himself across the floor. He couldn’t move his arms or legs but somehow made his way to the side rocket. He took a deep breath and threw himself onto it. He laded awkwardly but his hip could just about control the steering wheel. He head butted the switch and he was off. This was, without a doubt, the stupidest thing Nigel had ever done. He couldn’t see the Spaceship at all- how was he meant to land? He could see other rockets taking off and knew that John and Nigel were somewhere down there. He edjected the rope ladder and pause mid air, hoping against hope that they would climb aboard.
“30 SECONDS TO GO!” Nigel screeched, curled up in a ball on the floor. He was going to die, he was going to die! He tried to breathe slowly and Something brushed against his back and, before he thought about it, he looked up. Paul was in the side rocket and he had a rope ladder! He grabbed hold of it! 23 seconds to go! He started climbing as he yelled to John to get on. Both men climbed as fast as they could, heat pounding. Nigel bustled through the trap door and held out a hand for John . He pulled him through just in time. There below them a massive explosion erupted. They could just see flames, smoke and destruction. They looked at each other miraculously. Thank God they had got out alive. John started carefully untying Paul whilst Nigel took to the wheel. He turned the ship slowly round to Earth. Aliens defeated; mission accomplished.
