to take, or what sort of a reception he was going to receive at the other end. Larn had been very helpful, and he doubted that he would find any other aliens quite like him. The most important thing was locating his uncle and Heather, and then getting them all home safely. Home was however, far away, and he was missing his mother just as much as she was missing him…
The minute hand hung over the six as the clock in the kitchen wound itself up to strike the half hour. Reggie’s mother looked up to see that it was already 5.30, and he would soon be coming home for his tea. She had made a start on the evening meal, and became so engrossed in what she was doing, that she did not notice the minute hand working its way up to the twelve. When the clock suddenly struck six, she looked up in surprise. Where was Reggie?
This was most unusual, as he had always made it home by now. She decided to call the shop and give him a reminder, as the meal was almost ready.
"That's strange!"
Reggie’s mother spoke out loud as when she rang the number, there was no reply. She let it ring for a little longer, until it went onto the answer machine. She also tried his mobile telephone, but it was switched off. He had been given that as a birthday present, and even though it was only a cheap model, it was good enough for her to keep in contact with him when he was out. She also tried Bob’s mobile telephone too, but strangely that was also switched off.
Time passed slowly, as she watched the minute hand slip down towards the six again. This was very worrying, as he was usually pretty punctual, so she tried the shop again. There was still no reply, so she decided to leave the dinner in the oven and head off down the high street herself, to try and find out what was going on.
There were plenty of parking spaces, as most people had already gone home after a busy Saturday shopping. The front of Bob's shop was all locked up, although there was a light on in the back. She decided to slip down the passageway expecting to see Reggie come running out excitedly, full of tales about his day. But when she arrived, the yard was deserted. The man from next door was just locking up, and about to get in his car when he saw her. He could not help himself, and started to walk across.
"They left this morning in the van, with that new girlfriend of his, I don't blame them, after all that commotion that went on when his wife arrived!"
Reggie's mother never liked the man, as he was a bit of a troublemaker, so she left for her sister’s hoping that he had been taken there. She also wanted to get all of the gory details of what had transpired, and as she pulled up outside, her sister came out to greet her.
“He’s got another woman!”
Her sister looked angry, and as they went inside her anger turned to a flood of tears.
“She’s young enough to be his daughter - oh the shame of it!”
There then followed a dramatic reconstruction of the events at the shop, and an account of Bob’s van being driven off. Her sister had spotted it as she made her way home, and more floods of tears welled up as she mentioned that Reggie, Bob and his fancy woman were inside…
Reggie’s mother did her best to console her sister, relieved in the knowledge that at least Reggie was with his uncle. She was still annoyed that he had not contacted her, and when the time reached eight thirty, she began to worry again.
Reggie’s mother always insisted that if he was going to be late then he should let her know. When she called home there was no reply, and so she left her sister to try and locate him.
On her way back she had to pass the Grange, and she had a bit of a shock to find Bob’s van parked in the lane as she approached. Stopping her car she got out, but when she approached the van, she discovered that it was empty.
Where could they be?
Reggie’s mother was now growing increasingly worried, as if they had broken down then it was only a few miles away from where she lived. Getting back into her car, Reggie’s mother drove home, and when she arrived there was still no sign of him anywhere. The house was empty, and there was no message on either her answer phone, or voice mail recording on her own mobile telephone. It was getting dark now, and increasingly late, and so after pacing up and down for a while she decided to call the local police station.
It was at times like this that she regretted the fact that her husband worked away, and this was not helped by the sound of the office sergeant’s gruff voice on the other end.
"Hello police!"
She explained the situation, and when she had finished, he told her that it was too early to do anything about it. When she explained about what had happened at the shop, she could tell by the silence on the other end of the line that he was none too pleased with his special constable…
The next few hours were very tense, and she was glad to see her sister, who arrived after trying to locate her missing husband.
At about twelve o'clock a policewoman arrived, drafted in to replace the suspended Heather. She took the details as they sat by the telephone.
"I just can't think what's happened to them…"
Eight
Far away in the depths of space and time, Reggie watched the strange material ripple just like a Mexican wave, as it travelled across the surface of the life pod. He felt relatively safe within the space suit, although he had his doubts as to whether he would still feel the same when he arrived. Reggie did not understand any of the technology involved, only the fact that Larn had opened a temporal distortion in the space-time continuum. Quite what that was he did not know, but if it meant that he could rescue his uncle and his new girl friend, then it was good enough for him!
It had been quite a day already, and as the life pod travelled towards the other space station he did not know what to expect. Reggie felt his imagination working overtime, and grimaced when he thought about being captured and then experimented on by a group of grey aliens.
That was not the most pleasant of thoughts, and then before he realised what was happening, there was a sudden jolt which threw him forward, even though he was wearing the safety belt. There was then a slight whooshing sound, before everything grew silent. The only sound that he could now hear was the pounding of his heart as a cold sweat spread across his skin.
Had he arrived?
Reggie gingerly pressed the yellow button on the small control pad and the corner of the flap began to open. It was a bit similar to the electric window of his mother’s car, although there was no sound from the motor. Then, as the flap opened wider, Reggie tentatively peered out.
Everywhere appeared to be in near darkness, and not being able to hear anything through his helmet, he unclipped it placing it down by his side. Reggie was met by a blast of cold air which rushed into the escape pod. It smelt stale and quite unpleasant, but at least it was breathable.
Listening intently, he still could not hear anything, or see anything either through the half-light, which was just enough to see by. Everything look eerie and he really had to force himself put his head out into the gloom. It looked similar to the other space station, although it was quite hard to see anything clearly.
Taking a deep breath of stale air, Reggie forced himself out of the escape pod as quietly as he could. He did not want to make any noise just in case he attracted someone’s attention. Creeping along silently he looked around trying to see in the gloom, and then he suddenly kicked something, which made a clinking sound.
Reggie froze, holding his breath half expecting the lights to come on and to be surrounded by a group of unfriendly aliens, however nothing happened. Still standing there motionless he strained his ears to try and pick up any sound, but he could still not hear anything. Then when he thought that he had waited long enough, Reggie bent down to see what he had kicked.
Reaching down he picked up some bits of twisted metal, and as he examined them he thought that they almost looked like coins, and a set of keys. There were also several other items scattered around, and one piece in particular looked like part of a necklace, which he instantly recognised as Heather's.
Reggie felt a sense of relief
as at least he had a positive sign that they had been here, whether the device that had somehow done this he did not know as he had been wearing sports clothes when he had initially been transported, and he had not had any metal on him.
Looking around he noticed that he was in some sort of a corridor, and that it appeared to be covered in a type of stringy substance which criss-crossed the walls. Stepping over a piece of it, one of his boots caught the edge, and it appeared to be quite sticky, so he tried to avoid it where possible. It was quite hard to walk in his rubber boots and as he looked up he thought that he saw something move in the distance. Reggie froze again, not wanting to make any noise just in case there was something unpleasant lurking in the shadows. He decided to be discrete until he spotted his uncle Bob and Heather, as the last thing that he wanted to do was to draw attention to himself.
Reggie slowly made his way towards the central column, tiptoeing along and trying to make as little noise as possible. He stopped, thinking that he was being followed, but the only sound came from his heart, which was beating rapidly. When he reached it, he made his way towards what he thought would be the main control room, as he knew that that was where his uncle would have headed.
The door was closed, so he tried to find some sort of an opening mechanism. There was a little pad on the wall, but when he tried