The Glory Walk

  Chapter 2. Space Monsters

  ‘Ugh. Look at the space monster. It’s got four arms and legs,’ said a voice.

  ‘It’s got two heads as well,’ another voice pointed out.

  ‘That’s disgusting. It looks gross,’ said the first voice.

  ‘I thought it would have tentacles at the very least,’ said the second voice in disappointment.

  ‘Oh look. It’s moving,’ the first voice exclaimed.

  Kate opened her eyes to find she was lying on a metal plate with Phoebe half on top of her. It was freezing cold.

  ‘Get off,’ she said through chattering teeth, feeling ashamed of what she had just said and done. She closed her eyes again and moaned.

  ‘What happened?’ asked Phoebe shakily, blinking a few times before rolling over and rubbing her elbow. ‘Ow, that hurts. I must have banged it. Kate,’ she said suddenly, ‘where are we?’

  ‘On top of the hill and it’s freezing cold,’ said Kate who still had her eyes closed.

  ‘No we’re not. Look!’

  ‘Oh, all right,’ said Kate crossly, rolling over and opening her eyes.

  ‘Ahh! It’s coming apart,’ squealed the first voice.

  ‘There are two of them, that’s all,’ the second voice said reasonably. ‘That’s even better than one. We can have one each.’

  ‘No we can’t. It’s my project.’

  ‘What atmosphere do they need?’

  ‘Oh. They breathe air, just the same as us.’

  ‘Zap them with the translator then, so they’ll be able to understand our commands.’

  ‘You didn’t have to tell me. I was just going to do it.’

  There was a sudden flash of blinding green light. Kate and Phoebe blinked and looked around them. They were still on a metal plate but this one was engraved with different symbols and strange writing. The plate was set on a hilltop but that was the only similarity. All around was a spreading city as far as the eye could see. Tall towers were connected with long bridges and odd shaped domes like mushrooms were dotted about. The sky was a hazy pink colour melding to a deeper purple at the horizon. Kate was taken aback to see not only the sun in the sky but also what looked like three pale moons hovering in what would have been the west.

  ‘It’s a dream,’ said Kate uncertainly.

  ‘No, it’s not. I pinched myself.’

  ‘They’re talking,’ came the first voice in scandalized tones. ‘They sound like people.’

  ‘We are people,’ said Kate indignantly, looking for the source of the voices. She spun around. Behind her were two girls of about the same size and build as Phoebe. One had flaming red hair caught up in some sort of spangled net behind her head. The second girl had hair so dark as to be almost blue and it was cut short and straight. Both girls were wearing an allover robe of some sort of shiny material that changed colours from blue to green and back to blue as the girls moved. These robes were caught in at the waist with a silver belt studded with discs and an impressive array of buttons.

  ‘You’re not people,’ said the redhead decidedly. ‘We are. You are space monsters.’

  ‘No we’re not,’ protested Kate. She struggled to her feet to stand beside Phoebe. ‘Look, is this some sort of game? Where are we?’ she took a step towards the girls and jerked back suddenly as she hit an invisible wall. Reaching out her hands cautiously she felt in front of her. Phoebe did the same.

  ‘It’s some sort of bubble. It feels all tingly. It goes up over our heads as well,’ she whispered.

  ‘They do look a bit like people, Angelica,’ said the dark haired girl. ‘They’re talking, and everything.’

  ‘Why are they dressed like that, then?’

  ‘Maybe they come from some backward planet where they don’t know any better.’

  ‘We do not,’ said Kate indignantly.

  ‘You’re the monsters,’ snorted Phoebe. ‘Let us out.’

  ‘No way.’ Angelica shook her head firmly. ‘No monster is going to get the better of me. I called you up and you have to obey me. They do, don’t they Celeste?’

  Celeste nodded in confirmation. Kate and Phoebe exchanged bewildered looks.

  ‘But where are we?’ asked Phoebe plaintively.

  ‘They’re very ignorant,’ said Angelica critically. ‘But I guess you’d expect that with space monsters. You’d better explain it to them, Celeste. I have to turn the transducer off again.’ She marched over to a black panel mounted on a metal column and waved her hands over a lighted green panel. The girls’ ears popped with a sudden change in air pressure and they realised that a low humming, which they had hardly noticed until then, had stopped.

  ‘We brought you here in a transducer,’ Celeste explained. ‘Angelica wanted to do something really spectacular for her Glory Walk project, so she decided to snare a monster from another planet.’

  ‘We’re not monsters,’ protested Kate.

  ‘How did you do it?’ demanded Phoebe.

  ‘I don’t actually know how it works.’ Celeste looked embarrassed. ‘But Angelica’s father works with it and she’s watched him do it before. He and the other astrographers collect monsters from time to time to study. They usually have tentacles and stuff like that. He certainly hasn’t caught any like you before.’

  ‘Right.’ Angelica came to stand beside Celeste. ‘I’ve done it. No one will know we touched it, even. Now, have you got those collars?’ she pulled a sleek metal cylinder out of her belt and aimed it at the girls.

  ‘Well, yes, but…’

  ‘You grab the tall one and I’ll get the fat one. Put the collars on them and we’ll take them to the pit.’

  Kate and Phoebe retreated as far as they could go inside their bubble.

  ‘If you try and put a collar on me I’ll bite you,’ threatened Kate.

  ‘I told you they were monsters,’ said Angelica calmly, and pushed a button on her belt. There was a whooshing noise and the girls ears popped again. Angelica started to walk towards Kate but Celeste pulled her back.

  ‘No, let’s not put collars on them. I think they might be a sort of people after all,’ she whispered.

  ‘But they don’t come from here.’

  ‘No, but they do look a bit like us. I mean, they’ve got arms and legs and stuff. And they can talk.’

  Angelica wasn’t completely convinced. ‘It might be a trick. They might be shape shifters and they’ll turn into disgusting jelly filled tubes and suck our souls out.’

  All the girls shuddered at the thought of this.

  ‘We won’t,’ said Phoebe earnestly. ‘We’re people. Like you. Or, I suppose like you. Oh bother, you don’t believe us.’ She began to cry with large gulping sobs.

  Kate looked at her in astonishment. All these months and she’d never seen Phoebe look even slightly bothered by anything and she had real feelings after all. Not that it was much good finding that out now when they were going to be annihilated by death rays or whatever else that silly girl intended.

  ‘Oh, Gemini,’ said Angelica in frustration. ‘I can’t get this right either. They do seem to be people. I’ve never seen a space monster cry.’

  ‘Stop calling us monsters,’ spat Kate and put her arm around Phoebe. ‘You’re upsetting my sister.’ She felt a moment's amazement that she felt so protective, but Phoebe clutched her gratefully.

  ‘Do you have names?’ asked Celeste.

  ‘I’m Kate and this is Phoebe.’

  Angelica and Celeste exchanged glances.

  ‘Weird names,’ said Angelica. ‘What are we going to do with them?’

  ‘Can’t we send them back?’ suggested Celeste.

  ‘I don’t know how,’ admitted Angelica. ‘I’ve only seen my father get monsters, not send them back. They don’t usually.’

  ‘Does it work in reverse?’

  ‘I don’t know. It might. Or it might sort of explode them instead.’

  ‘This is hopeless,’ said Kate. ‘Look, you’re only a couple of kids. Can’t you t
ake us to your parents of a teacher or some other adults and see if they can send us back?’

  Celeste and Angelica both looked horrified at the thought.

  ‘We can’t do that,’ said Celeste. ‘It’s forbidden for students to use the transducer. We’d get into awful trouble.’

  ‘Well, what were you doing using it anyway?’ demanded Phoebe, whose sobs had subsided to an occasional sniffle.

  ‘We’ll tell you, but we can’t stay here,’ frowned Celeste. ‘We shouldn’t have been here so long anyway. Come on, we’ll go to my place and we can explain everything. My mother won’t be there so it’s quite safe.’

  Kate and Phoebe reluctantly followed Celeste and Angelica. There really didn’t seem to be anything else they could do. Kate was dismayed to find her legs felt like jelly. Phoebe kept holding her arm as they walked across a flat grey pad to a tall tube of grey plastic webbing. As they approached the tube, a panel opened to reveal a circular pad with a handrail around it.

  ‘I’ll work it,’ said Celeste. ‘Step inside here and hold onto the rail. It’ll be a bit crowded with four but we’ll be okay if we squash up.’

  Kate and Phoebe jumped as metallic voice sounded suddenly. ‘Destination?’ it asked.

  ‘Solar Circle, Aquarius base,’ said Celeste firmly.

  ‘Destination accepted,’ said the voice.

  Kate clutched the handrail with a deathlike grip as she felt the floor shudder under her feet. The whole thing moved out the side of the tube and floated up into the air.

  ‘It’s all right. It’s quite safe if you hold the rail. This is a hoverpad,’ Celeste explained kindly.

  The girls stared around open mouthed as they skimmed across the hilltop. Kate squawked as the ground dropped away as with a sensation of being in an elevator they descended.

  ‘It feels like floating in a plastic cup,’ said Phoebe rather hysterically. ‘Or a hot air balloon without the balloon.’

  ‘Or the hot air,’ agreed Kate. They began to giggle weakly as Angelica scornfully glanced at them then pointedly turned her back.