Crash Landing (12 page)

“What are you talking about, John?” Emmie said. “You can’t stay. Lorem will... You
have
to get back on the shuttle.”

“Lorem asked me to stay,” John babbled happily. “I’m a permanent student at Hyperspace High.”

“No way!” gasped Kaal, his red eyes lighting up with joy. “How on Derril did you manage that?”

“I don’t know,” John grinned at him. “Something about bravery. Who cares? All that matters is I don’t have to go.”

He felt an arm slip around his waist and looked down again into Emmie’s beaming face. “That... is...
soooo
... cool,” she said, eyes brimming with tears again. This time they were tears of happiness. Kaal’s face, meanwhile, stretched into a grin that matched John’s. He threw an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Brilliant,” he said hoarsely. “Just brilliant. Let’s go to Ska’s and celebrate.”

A chiming noise sounded across the deck.

John, Kaal, and Emmie looked at each other in horror. “Lessons?” said Emmie. “We still have
lessons
?”

“This
is
a school, Ms Tarz,” said Lorem, stepping down from the shuttle and strolling towards them. “And if my memory of the timetable is correct, you should now be on deck thirteen for an astrophysics class.”

As the headmaster flashed into a ball of light, the three of them bundled into the TravelTube.

“Deck thirteen,” John shouted. “
Fast
!”

“I can’t wait to see Mordant’s face!” Kaal shouted. “It’s going to be
awesome
.”

Eyes sparkling with excitement, John grinned at his friends as Hyperspace High swept through the universe, carrying them towards distant stars and new adventures.

...for a sneak peek of the next Hyperspace High adventure.

John Riley was surrounded by aliens. Out of the darkness they came, in their hundreds and thousands: tall grey creatures with large black eyes; little green men; beings with tentacles and antennae, as well as other, even stranger, creatures. Crowding in on him, they babbled in strange languages that John couldn’t understand. Shaking his head, he tried to back away, but the crowd of aliens followed him, pressing closer and closer. One of them reached out with long blue fingers and gripped his shoulder.

“John Riley.
John Riley!
Are you all right? Do you need to go to the medical centre?”

John’s eyes snapped open. He lifted his head and looked around the room. “W-what... huh?” he stuttered. Around him, the aliens had turned in their seats to stare.

It’s a dream. I’m dreaming.

His shoulder was shaken again. “John Riley?” said the voice.

John looked up and yelped as he found himself looking into violet eyes with black slits in the centre.

Stop freaking out. Calm down. This is not a dream. It’s a classroom. You’re in a classroom at Hyperspace High
. John blinked for a second.
And you just conked out at your desk
, he was told by
a part of his brain that had woken up a little more quickly.

Reality came flooding back. The alien glaring down at him was the Hyperspace History teacher,
Ms Vartexia. The other aliens were all pupils. And John was a first-year at Hyperspace High, the most amazing school in the universe. It had been founded thousands of years ago by the reclusive scholars of Kerallin.

“Uh, Ms Vartexia,” John stammered. “I-I m-must have...”

“...Fallen asleep,” the blue-skinned, bald Elvian finished for him. Taking her hand from his shoulder, she crossed her long, thin arms. Frown lines appeared on her domed forehead.

“Umm. I guess I... That is... well... errr...” John stuttered.
Nice one, Riley
, he told himself silently.
Way to get chucked out.
Attending school on a vast, technologically advanced spaceship hundreds of light years from home still felt odd most of the time, but he
was
starting to feel like he belonged here. However odd life on Hyperspace High was, he definitely didn’t want to get sent back to a boring Earth school.

The lines on Ms Vartexia’s forehead faded. She looked down a little more kindly. John’s shoulders sagged with relief. As he had found out the day he had first arrived at Hyperspace High, the Elvian teacher was strict – and had no sense of humour whatsoever – but she was prone to making mistakes, which meant she was quite forgiving when others messed up.
Lucky it wasn’t Doctor Graal’s class
, John caught himself thinking.

“I shall have to give you some extra work,” Ms Vartexia replied briskly. “You are still struggling with Hyperspace History, so you cannot afford to sleep through lessons.”

John nodded. The punishment could have been a lot worse.

“I also suggest you make sure that you are getting enough sleep,” the teacher continued. “I understand Earthlings are a primitive species and require plenty of rest.”

Inwardly, John groaned at the word “primitive”. In the month he had been at Hyperspace High, he had heard that human beings were a backward species about a thousand times.
But she’s right:
I’m not getting enough sleep
,
he told himself. The previous night John and his roommate, Kaal, had been exploring the functions of the entertainment ThinScreen in their dormitory after lights out and had discovered a game called
Asteroid Avenger
. They had both become totally engrossed in reaching the final level. A native of the planet Derril, Kaal only needed a few hours’ rest each night. By the time John had looked at the clock it was 2.30 a.m. in the morning.
Stupid, Riley. That was really stupid
, he scolded himself.

“I know that much of what we are learning is new to you,” Ms Vartexia continued, “and I know you are doing well in other subjects. However, I need to see an improvement in your history work. Perhaps another student could help you with your studies?”

John nodded up at the teacher. Once again, Ms Vartexia was right. He had known nothing about space or alien civilizations throughout the galaxy before one of her mishaps brought him to this school. Since becoming a Hyperspace High student, he had struggled with every subject except maths – but history was easily his worst subject. There was so much to learn. The history of the galaxy stretched back millions of years. Even just studying the most important events meant cramming more knowledge into his brain than he thought it was capable of holding.

While Ms Vartexia lectured him, John glanced over to a few desks away, where an alien boy with a mane of black hair was sitting. He felt a twinge of envy. Mordant Talliver seemed to absorb lessons without even trying. He always came top in Hyperspace History.
Top in almost every class
, John reminded himself. Although Mordant was a bully, John wondered if the half-Gargon boy could help with his own studies.
It might be worth putting up with him if it means I don’t get chucked out
, John thought to himself.

“...So if you wish to pass Hyperspace History this year, I will be looking for much more effort, John Riley.”

John’s wandering attention snapped back to the teacher. “Yes, thanks, Ms Vartexia,” he babbled. “Sorry I fell asleep. I just stayed up too late last night. It’s not because you’re boring or anything—”

John heard a snort of laughter. “What a suck-up,” Mordant Talliver hissed loudly.

A tennis-ball-sized metal sphere bobbed at Mordant’s shoulder, lights blinking across its surface: a Serv-U-Droid called G-Vez that was half servant, half pet. “Indeed, Master Talliver,” the droid said in a snooty voice that sounded ever-so-slightly bored. “The human is obviously trying to escape punishment by using flattery, and as the great Gargon philosopher Huurl once said, ‘Flattery is like the burping of Gorpigs.”

Mordent grinned. “
The burping of Gorpigs
,” he repeated. “Huurl really knew what he was talking about, didn’t he?”

“That will do, Mordant Talliver,” snapped Ms Vartexia, turning towards the sneering boy. “If your droid does not stay silent, I will confiscate it.”

John rolled his eyes.
What was I thinking?
he asked himself.
Like Mordant would ever help anyone apart from himself.

“Computer,” the Elvian teacher said, returning to the front of the class. “End programme Vartexia-B-Six-Four-Shard.” The screen surrounding the room instantly went blank. “Now, take out your ThinScreens and begin reading about the Goran–Subo war.”

As the students rummaged in their bags, John felt a nudge.

“Sorry about that,” whispered Emmie Tarz on his right. He watched, dazzled as usual by her beauty, as she flicked silvery hair out of her shining eyes and leaned across her desk towards him. “I did try and wake you up. You were snoring.”

“Ha, that wasn’t snoring,” said a deeper voice from the desk to John’s left. “You should try sleeping in the same room as me if you want to hear
real
snoring. It’d make your brain dribble out of your ears.”

John turned to look at his roommate. Kaal’s leathery wings, green skin, and sharp fangs made him look like some sort of demon. “It’s true,” said John with a sudden grin. “Your snoring is probably the reason I didn’t get any sleep last night.”

“Yeah, right,” replied Kaal. “It was nothing to do with playing
Asteroid Avenger
until two-thirty at all.”

“Hey,” John replied, looking embarrassed. “Just because I can’t survive on two hours of sleep...”

John’s words trailed off, as a flashing orb of colourful light zipped through a solid wall as if it weren’t there. It hovered next to Ms Vartexia, glittering brilliantly, and then silently changed form in a blaze of light lasting half a second. Where the ball had been stood a tall alien dressed in white robes. Although he was humanoid in shape, he glowed like a neon light. His head was bald and his face lined with age, but his purple eyes sparkled with humour, making him look youthful.

“Good morning,” said Lorem, headmaster of Hyperspace High, in a cheerful voice. “I’m sorry to interrupt you, Ms Vartexia, but I have an important announcement that needs everyone’s full attention.” He glanced at John, raising one eyebrow.

John bit his lip, blushing.

The headmaster’s gaze had already moved on. “Zepp, show the visuals, please.”

“Of course, headmaster,” said the voice of the ship’s computer, which John had named Zepp – short for Zero-Electronic Personality Pattern – soon after arriving on Hyperspace High. The name had caught on quickly. Now, almost everyone aboard used it.

“Thank you,” said the headmaster, as the classroom walls flashed into life again. This time, they showed the surface of a planet. John stared. Across the moving image of the world was a mind-boggling variety of landscapes: mountains, island jungles, deserts, plains of grass, rivers, lakes, and seas, as well as other vistas that were like nothing John had ever seen.

He saw forests that looked as if they had been built from the insides of an old radio, mountains of lacy steel, temples made of gas, and places so strange that he couldn’t begin to guess what they were or what they were made of. Here and there, great stone spires jabbed into the sky, alongside shining glass pyramids, metal domes, spikes of crystal, and buildings that seemed to have been grown rather than built. As scene after scene rolled past, John wondered if the entire planet had been stitched together from a thousand different worlds.

For a few minutes, Lorem allowed the students to watch the strange planet in silence. Then he cleared his throat. “This,” he said, “is the museum planet Archivus Major. These images were taken from orbit, as no photography is allowed on the surface. On Archivus Major there are artefacts from every civilization the galaxy has ever known – from atomic artworks to whole landscapes that have been moved across thousands of light years. It is an extraordinary place to visit.” The headmaster paused for a moment before finishing, “And in two days’ time, myself and Ms Vartexia will be taking you there.”

Read Frozen Enemies to find out what happens next!

John Riley finds out museums in outer space are anything but boring when his class travels to the planet Archivus Major!

But the visit soon starts to go wrong. When two alien armies are accidentally released from cryogenic storage, it’s up to John and his friends to get them back on ice! Can they stop these mortal enemies before an intergalactic war breaks out?

Jump on board the school that’s out of this world!

It’s time for the annual Robot Warriors contest!

Earthling John Riley has never made a robot before. Can he ever hope to win against his brainy best friend, Kaal? One thing’s for sure, troublemaker Mordant won’t let anyone get in the way of his victory...

Jump on board the school that’s out of this world!