Read Online The Deadly Past by Christopher Pike - Free Book Online Page B

he fired at the point where the metal met the stone. In less than a minute they were all free; the handcuffs broke open as the chains shattered. Naturally, Adam freed Bryce last, but the guy didn’t seem to mind.
    When they were finished hugging and congratulating one another on being alive, they still had the problem of the metal box. What were they supposed to do with it?
    â€œI still think it is a bomb set to trigger the volcano and cause the time warp,” Bryce said.
    Watch studied the control panel. It appeared dead.
    â€œBut you are then implying that these evil aliens came here to stop it from exploding,” Watch said. “Because it sure looks like they turned it off.”
    Bryce hesitated. “That must be the case.”
    Sally shook her head. “I don’t think these fat heads came here for anybody’s benefit but their own.”
    â€œWhat should we do?” Cindy asked anxiously. “Sally says people are dying right now in Spooksville.”
    â€œNo,” Watch corrected. “They are dying seventy million years in the future in Spooksville.”
    â€œIt’s the same difference to them,” Sally quipped.
    â€œI say we just leave,” Bryce said. “I think everything will be all right.”
    â€œNo,” Adam said softly, but with confidence.
    He remembered what Ann Templeton had told him.
    The riddle. The bad aliens would not deliberately do something to open the time warp. Yet they would open it nevertheless. The solution was obvious.
    â€œThis is a bomb,” Adam continued. “But it is a bomb that halts the full eruption of the volcano. It was never designed to trigger it. The first group of aliens came here to prevent the time warp. And yet, it was destined to happen. The bad aliens did not really cause the dinosaurs to invade Spooksville.”
    â€œWhat does destined mean?” Cindy asked.
    â€œIt was meant to happen,” Sally explained. “Can that be true?”
    â€œYes,” Adam said. “But in another sense the bad aliens did cause the time warp because theystopped the good aliens from completing then-task. Now what I think we have to do is restart this bomb.”
    â€œBut how would a bomb halt the eruption?” Bryce asked.
    â€œIt could cause this volcanic cone to cave in on itself,” Watch said. “Or else it could blow a hole in the side of the cone and allow it to vent its pressure over time, instead of in one huge explosion.”
    Bryce nodded. “That’s logical. But it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily true.”
    â€œI feel it’s true,” Adam said. “And I am willing to trust that feeling.”
    â€œAnd I’m willing to trust Adam,” Sally said defiantly.
    Bryce was not positive. “All right, let’s assume Adam is correct. How do we turn this bomb back on?”
    Watch shook his head as he studied the control panel. “It could take us a year to figure out these buttons. I’m afraid to push any of them. The wrong one might set the bomb off in our faces.”
    â€œThen it’s hopeless,” Cindy said. “We should get out of here while we can.”
    â€œIt’s never hopeless,” Adam said, and his eyes strayed to the corner where the good aliens had been piled up. Maybe they were all only stunned, he wasn’t sure. Adam only knew that one of them had begun to stir.

10
    T hey ran to the handsome alien as he blinked and tried to get up. Adam and Watch helped him into a sitting position and for a few moments it seemed he didn’t know where he was. He put a hand to his head and grimaced in pain. But the spasm seemed to pass and then he smiled and nodded.
    â€œDo you speak English?” Adam asked.
    The man shook his head.
    â€œBut you understand a little?” Watch said.
    The man held up a finger and thumb, holding them slightly apart.
    He understood very little.
    Adam pointed to the metal box. “Can you make