42 - Egg Monsters from Mars Read Online Free PDF Page B

interested.
    He put a hand on my shoulder and guided me into the lab. I had to blink a few
times and wait for my eyes to adjust to the dim light inside.
    The walls were all white. I saw a desk and chairs. A low table with some
science magazines on it. This was a waiting room, I decided. It was all very
clean and modern-looking. A lot of chrome and glass and white leather.
    The man had his eyes on the box in my hands. He rubbed his moustache with his
fingers. “I’m Dr. Gray,” he announced. “I’m the managing lab scientist here.”
    I switched the box to my left hand so I could shake hands with him. “I want
to be a scientist when I’m older,” I blurted out. I could feel my face turning
red.
    “What’s your name, son?” Dr. Gray asked.
    “Oh. Uh. Dana Johnson. I live a few blocks away. On Melrose.”
    “It’s nice to meet you, Dana,” Dr. Gray said, straightening the front of his
white lab coat. He moved to the front door. He closed it, locked it, and bolted
it.
    That’s weird, I thought, feeling a shiver of fear.
    Why did he do that?
    Then I remembered that the lab was closed on weekends. He probably bolts the
doors when the place is closed.
    “Follow me,” Dr. Gray said. He led the way down the narrow white hallway. I
followed him into a small lab. I saw a long table cluttered with all kinds of
test tubes, specimen jars, and electronic equipment.
    “Set the box down there,” he instructed, pointing to an empty spot on the
table.
    I set the box down. He reached in front of me to remove the lid. “You found
this in your backyard?”
    I nodded. “Back by the creek.”
    He carefully pulled the lid off the box.
    “Oh my goodness!” he murmured.

 
 
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    The egg creature stared up at us. It quivered and bubbled against the side of
the box. The bottom of the box was puddled with a sticky yellow goo.
    “So you found one,” Dr. Gray murmured, tilting the box. The yellow blob slid
to the other end.
    “Found one?” I replied. “You mean you know what it is?”
    “I thought I rounded them all up,” Dr. Gray replied, rubbing his moustache.
He turned his pale blue eyes on me. “But I guess I missed one.”
    “What is it?” I demanded. “What kind of animal is it?”
    He shrugged. He tilted the box the other way, making the egg creature slide
to the other end. Then he gently poked the eggy blob in the back. “This is a
young one,” he said softly.
    “A young what ?” I asked impatiently.
    “The eggs fell all over town,” Dr. Gray said, poking the egg creature. “Like
a meteor shower. Only on this town.”
    “Excuse me?” I cried. “They fell from the sky?” I wanted desperately to
understand. But so far, nothing made sense.
    Dr. Gray turned to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “We believe the eggs
fell all the way from Mars, Dana. There was a big storm on Mars. Two years ago.
It set off something like a meteor shower. The storm sent these eggs hurtling
through space.”
    My mouth dropped open. I gazed down at the quivering yellow blob in the shoe
box. “This—this is a Martian?” I stammered.
    Dr. Gray smiled. “We think it came from Mars. We think the eggs flew through
space for two years.”
    “But—but—” I sputtered. My heart was racing. My hands were suddenly ice
cold.
    Was I really staring at a creature from Mars?
    Had I actually touched a Martian?
    Then I had an even weirder thought: I found it. I picked it up from my backyard.
    Did that mean it belonged to me?
    Did I own a Martian?
    Dr. Gray bounced the creature— my creature—in the box. Its veins
pulsed. Its black eyes stared back at us. “We don’t know how the eggs made it
through the earth’s atmosphere,” the scientist continued.
    “You mean they should have burned up?” I asked.
    He nodded. “Most everything burns up when it hits our atmosphere. But the
eggs seem to be very tough. So tough they weren’t destroyed.”
    The egg creature made a gurgling sound. It plopped wetly against the