Attack of the Spider Bots Read Online Free PDF

seen. They’d been working outside the ship when it jumped. Fighting a growing sense of panic, he leaped from his seat and ran to the back of the ship. It took a strangely long time to get there. For one thing, the ship was growing longer right before his eyes. He knew that the bridge always seemed bigger than their little plywood cock-pit, but he’d never been outside the bridge before. The ship didn’t grow to be as big as Darth Vader’s star destroyer, but it wasn’t far from being as big as the Millennium Falcon or Princess Amidala’s Naboo Royal Cruiser.
    â€œBruzelski . . . MacIntyre! Where are you?” Captain Ives shouted into his communicator. “Report! Report!” he yelled again as he ran from compartment to compartment.
    He got a blast of static and then heard, “We’re coming in now, Captain. Opening air-lock door.”
    The captain then saw them outside the window, wearing bulky white suits and floating in space like birthday balloons. He sighed in relief as he watched them enter the air lock and saw the robotic arm next to them retract back into its compartment.
    Minutes later, they were all together in the ship’s bridge, staring at a space battleship on their view screen. Actually, it was bigger than a battleship. As they drew closer they began to see tall buildings and needle spires growing out of its smooth, dark surface.
    â€œIt’s a floating city!” exclaimed Commander MacIntyre.
    â€œNot a favorite vacation spot, I think,” said the captain wryly as he saw gashes and rubble where building walls should be.
    â€œNot unless you’re into digging through ruins,” said Officer Bruzelski.
    â€œMan! I hope we haven’t dropped into the middle of a war,” grumbled MacIntyre. “I’m fresh out of bravery pills.”
    â€œWhat do you think, Commander?” Captain Ives asked. “Warfare or a friendly visit from the neighborhood asteroid field?” Impact craters covered the surface of the space platform like it had been a shooting gallery. Through the craters, he could see a trash heap of what had once been buildings and streets beneath the surface. Whether the damage was from exploding bombs or just big rocks, the captain couldn’t tell.
    â€œEither way, she’s totally gutted,” said MacIntyre. “If she’d been on the sea instead of in space, she’d have sunk faster than the Titanic.”
    â€œYeah,” chimed in Bruzelski, “and probably crashed right into that planet.”
    In the lower left corner of the screen was an angry-looking planet. Not a very pleasant place, thought the commander. What he could see of the orange and black surface was pockmarked with erupting volcanoes. No question about it: only guys with pitch forks and red horns would feel comfortable down there.
    â€œIf it were to sink out of orbit, it wouldn’t be to the planet,” Captain Ives corrected them. “According to my readings, the floating city is following a cockeyed orbit around that ice-sheeted moon just above us.”
    Sure enough, just at the top of their view screen was the edge of a blue-white moon.
    â€œHow does a planet on fire get a frozen moon?” asked Bruzelski.
    â€œâ€™Who knows? Maybe it’s the hot planet’s lollipop,” quipped the commander, getting groans from the others in response. His expression suddenly morphed to high anxiety, and his fingers flew over his panel. “Captain, controls are no longer responding!” he shouted.
    They flinched in unison as the speakers squawked with gibberish. “Hey!” yelled Bruzelski as she banged on the universal translator. Now they heard an automated voice speaking in another language, this one more familiar. “Whaddya think, maybe French?” she asked.
    The captain came over and banged on the box several more times before they heard the announcement in English — well, English with an