Read Online The Last Starfighter by Alan Dean Foster - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Alan Dean Foster
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and not as blue as Earth.
It wasn’t Earth in more ways than one, Alex reminded himself.
Yet the city-lights that hove into view looked no different from this height than those of Los Angeles. There was more than one expansive cluster of lights, though he couldn’t estimate population from lights alone. He didn’t know anything about population densities, building sizes, or if the local inhabitants simply liked to leave a lot of lights on at night.
They crossed the terminator into dayside, clouds beginning to slip beneath them. Centauri was speaking toward the dash in an alien tongue.
“Hey!” Alex tapped the glass. Centauri looked back long enough to grin and the ship lurched violently, throwing Alex back against his seat. As soon as the shift had been corrected Centauri gave his passenger a disarming shrug. Alex resolved not to distract the oldster again until they were safely down.
He had to content himself with formulating and rearranging all the questions he’d stored up during their flight, and with watching the alien landscape rush past below. There were brief, tantalizing glimpses of sunlit cities and of other flying craft, all of which shot past too fast for careful inspection.
Signs of civilization came farther apart as they crossed desert, then jungle. Jungle gave way to coniferous forest hugging the slopes of high mountains.
Centauri barked crisply at the pickup in his strange alien voice and they slowed further. Now Alex could examine the vegetation below in detail. He was surprised to see how little it differed from similar dense temperate zone growth on Earth. Only the presence of the occasional oddity, like a tall thin tree with a rust-red trunk or a flying creature that resembled a cross between a curious buzzard and a catfish, reminded him how far he was from home.
Centauri turned their ship parallel to a gray granite cliff that looked like Yosemite’s El Capitan, only much wider. It brooded over rolling, heavily forested hills instead of a narrow glacial valley. They cruised slowly past the unbroken cliff face until a brightly lit rectangular opening showed itself in the solid rock. Centauri nudged a control and the dash responded with a series of high-pitched squeals. A new voice sounded over the dash speaker. Centauri pivoted the ship in midair and drove them into the opening.
Navigation lights illuminated the huge tunnel they’d entered. The ship moved easily down the high, wide corridor. Occasionally another small ship or service vehicle moved past them, heading for the outside. None of the pilots or passengers were human.
“Come on, Centauri.” Alex rapped on the glass again. “Where are we? What’s going on?”
But the old man . . . it was simpler to think of him as that . . . simply smiled back, amused by his passenger’s impatience.
He angled leftward and set the ship down in a hangar cut out of the side of the main tunnel. Alex could see complex machines filling the chamber. Figures moved in and among them, intent on unimaginable tasks.
The dash lights and the steady tick-ticking faded. The door on Centauri’s side rose with a soft hum, letting in air full of incense, or something like incense. The atmosphere in the hangar nipped at the senses.
“Centauri?”
Still grinning, the old man stepped clear of the ship and waved back at his imprisoned passenger.
“Hey, Centauri!”
Abandoning his ship and his distraught charge, Centauri walked away, disappearing into the distance like a man with important business to attend to.
“Hey, lemme outta here! Hey! ” He pounded on the glass partition, then on his door. Maybe that was the accepted method for activating the release. More likely, the mechanism had been released from outside. The door rose, and suddenly Alex wasn’t so sure he wanted it opened.
Someone was waiting for him, and it wasn’t Centauri.
Two arms, two legs, strange but not bizarre clothing, a human face . . . well, humanoid, anyway. The differences
It wasn’t Earth in more ways than one, Alex reminded himself.
Yet the city-lights that hove into view looked no different from this height than those of Los Angeles. There was more than one expansive cluster of lights, though he couldn’t estimate population from lights alone. He didn’t know anything about population densities, building sizes, or if the local inhabitants simply liked to leave a lot of lights on at night.
They crossed the terminator into dayside, clouds beginning to slip beneath them. Centauri was speaking toward the dash in an alien tongue.
“Hey!” Alex tapped the glass. Centauri looked back long enough to grin and the ship lurched violently, throwing Alex back against his seat. As soon as the shift had been corrected Centauri gave his passenger a disarming shrug. Alex resolved not to distract the oldster again until they were safely down.
He had to content himself with formulating and rearranging all the questions he’d stored up during their flight, and with watching the alien landscape rush past below. There were brief, tantalizing glimpses of sunlit cities and of other flying craft, all of which shot past too fast for careful inspection.
Signs of civilization came farther apart as they crossed desert, then jungle. Jungle gave way to coniferous forest hugging the slopes of high mountains.
Centauri barked crisply at the pickup in his strange alien voice and they slowed further. Now Alex could examine the vegetation below in detail. He was surprised to see how little it differed from similar dense temperate zone growth on Earth. Only the presence of the occasional oddity, like a tall thin tree with a rust-red trunk or a flying creature that resembled a cross between a curious buzzard and a catfish, reminded him how far he was from home.
Centauri turned their ship parallel to a gray granite cliff that looked like Yosemite’s El Capitan, only much wider. It brooded over rolling, heavily forested hills instead of a narrow glacial valley. They cruised slowly past the unbroken cliff face until a brightly lit rectangular opening showed itself in the solid rock. Centauri nudged a control and the dash responded with a series of high-pitched squeals. A new voice sounded over the dash speaker. Centauri pivoted the ship in midair and drove them into the opening.
Navigation lights illuminated the huge tunnel they’d entered. The ship moved easily down the high, wide corridor. Occasionally another small ship or service vehicle moved past them, heading for the outside. None of the pilots or passengers were human.
“Come on, Centauri.” Alex rapped on the glass again. “Where are we? What’s going on?”
But the old man . . . it was simpler to think of him as that . . . simply smiled back, amused by his passenger’s impatience.
He angled leftward and set the ship down in a hangar cut out of the side of the main tunnel. Alex could see complex machines filling the chamber. Figures moved in and among them, intent on unimaginable tasks.
The dash lights and the steady tick-ticking faded. The door on Centauri’s side rose with a soft hum, letting in air full of incense, or something like incense. The atmosphere in the hangar nipped at the senses.
“Centauri?”
Still grinning, the old man stepped clear of the ship and waved back at his imprisoned passenger.
“Hey, Centauri!”
Abandoning his ship and his distraught charge, Centauri walked away, disappearing into the distance like a man with important business to attend to.
“Hey, lemme outta here! Hey! ” He pounded on the glass partition, then on his door. Maybe that was the accepted method for activating the release. More likely, the mechanism had been released from outside. The door rose, and suddenly Alex wasn’t so sure he wanted it opened.
Someone was waiting for him, and it wasn’t Centauri.
Two arms, two legs, strange but not bizarre clothing, a human face . . . well, humanoid, anyway. The differences
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