Galaxy Patrol Read Online Free PDF Page A

is why it’s so vitally important that they should be rooted out.’
    â€˜And you want us to do the rooting?’ said Rosie. ‘I don’t think so!’
    â€˜Surely there’s got to be some kind of treatment?’ I said. ‘Some kind of tablet people could take? That’s what happened when our cat had worms, we gave her tablets and then she was all right. They’re probably working on it right now.’
    â€˜I wish it were the case,’ said the captain. ‘Unfortunately it’s not. Apart from anything else, no one on your world realises that these bugs exist. Not even those who have been taken over by them.’
    â€˜So… How d’you get rid of them? You don’t have to
kill
people?’ I said.
    â€˜No, no!’The captain sounded quite shocked. ‘The aim is to destroy the bugs, not the people.’
    â€˜And that’s what you want us to do,’ said Rosie. She gave a little snort of laughter. ‘Like we’re the SAS, or something.’
    I wouldn’t actually mind being in the SAS. It is in fact my second ambition, my first onebeing to join the space programme.
    â€˜Rest assured,’ said the captain, ‘the only violence will be to the bugs. Once they have been eliminated, the people quickly return to their normal selves. They don’t even remember being taken over.’
    â€˜And you know this how?’ said Rosie.
    â€˜Trust me,’ said the captain. ‘I speak from experience. This is far from being our first mission. We have been patrolling this part of the galaxy for over a decade – ever since the bugs started arriving. We know all their nasty little habits. They’re mean, they’re vicious, and they have to be stopped!’
    â€˜Hmm.’ Rosie looked at him with narrowed eyes. ‘How can you tell when a person’s been taken over?’
    â€˜There are signs. Sudden unexplained changes in behaviour, for example. We keep a close look out. We are constantly checking your news bulletins, computer blogs, anything which might alert us to the possibility.’
    â€˜But how can you actually
tell
?’
    Rosie really knows how to keep at it. But I was quite interested in hearing the answer myself.
    â€˜We observe,’ said the captain. ‘We investigate. It’s not always easy. In some cases, it can take several months before we know for sure.’
    â€˜You still haven’t said
how
,’ objected Rosie. She was starting to sound a bit querulous. ‘I mean, someone could just be going mad, in a quite ordinary sort of way. How do you know they’re not just going ordinarily mad?’
    â€˜What it comes down to, in the end, is finding physical evidence. Let me show you.’
    The captain tapped again on his wrist, and the back of someone’s head appeared on the screen. Someone with long blond hair covering their neck.
    â€˜Watch,’ said the captain. We watched, as a hand snaked across the screen and carefully scooped the hair out of the way. ‘You see that?’ He pointed at a tiny red mark on the back of the neck. ‘That’s the evidence we look for. Let me magnify it.’
    The tiny red mark suddenly became a gaping hole, in the middle of which could be seen the wriggling legs of one of the centipede things. It made me feel peculiar, just looking at it.
    â€˜That,’ said the captain, ‘is one we managed to catch as it was burrowing its way in. Nasty littleblighters, I think you’ll agree.’
    I saw Rosie’s hand go up to feel her neck. She caught me watching her and immediately pretended to be fiddling with her hair.
    â€˜Out of interest,’ said the captain, ‘you might care to see a few of the people we know for sure have been taken over. For instance…’
    A face flashed up on the screen. Blimey! I recognised it as belonging to an MP that Dad particularly hated. Every time the MP opened his mouth, Dad went