Galaxy Patrol Read Online Free PDF Page B

the captain. ‘She is not going loopy. She’s been invaded by a bug, and it has to be removed. This is where you come in. You and Jake. We should like to recruit you as honorary members of PIE.’
    â€˜What’s that mean?’ said Rosie. ‘Honorary members?’
    â€˜It means you have been specially chosen to help defend your planet. We can’t offer you full membership, I’m afraid; Earth is not yet advanced enough to qualify. But you would be part of a very select band.’
    â€˜Why us?’
    Why
her
, more to the point. I still didn’t see what use anyone thought she was going to be.
    â€˜Why can’t you do it yourselves?’ said Rosie. ‘Seeing as you’re so advanced.’
    â€˜The fact is,’ said the captain, ‘the entire galaxy is under threat. It is essential that we all worktogether. Unfortunately, we are not permitted to land on any planet that is not a member of PIE. This is for a good reason. You may think of us as … what was it? Perambulating octopuses?’
    â€˜That was her,’ I said. ‘Not me!’
    I was glad to see Rosie’s cheeks turn pink. She wasn’t
totally
without shame.
    â€˜Octopuses, centipedes … we take many shapes and forms. But we all belong to worlds that are technologically far in advance of Earth. For us to land on your planet would be disastrous. It would not only cause havoc, but far worse, it would contaminate the time line.’
    I’d heard about the time line. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I knew it was very important not to contaminate it.
    â€˜You see,’ said the captain, ‘we are actually part of the future.’
    Yesss
! I punched the air, exultantly. Now I understood.
    Rosie, obviously, still didn’t.
    â€˜So, if you’re from the future,’ she said, ‘why not just put things right and then move on?’
    Shocked, I said, ‘’Cos people from the future mustn’t ever interfere with the past! It’s one of the rules.’
    â€˜It’s why we have to recruit local agents,’ explained the captain. ‘It’s why we’ve recruited you. Or hope to recruit you. We’ve had you under observation for some while. Jake, because he’s eager to find out as much as he can about space travel.’ I swelled, importantly. ‘We always watch out for those who show an interest.’
    â€˜
I
didn’t show any interest,’ said Rosie.
    â€˜No, but you are quick to learn. You are very much the type we like to recruit.’
    Pardon me???
    â€˜You ask questions, you demand answers, you don’t let anyone push you around. Plus, of course, we are aware that you have already looked death in the face.’
    Oh, please! Not that again. I was sick of hearing how Rosie had looked death in the face. All it was, she’d read this book where a kid climbed out of the bedroom window and slid down the drainpipe, so she thought she’d try doing it, too, only she went and got stuck halfway down and was there for nearly an hour before she was discovered. Dad had to get a ladder and rescue her. She’d been on about it ever since. How she’d looked death in the face.
    â€˜And didn’t panic!’
    Rosie smirked.
    â€˜I won’t pretend,’ said the captain, ‘that the mission would be without danger. These bugs are vicious, and they move at great speed. You would need to move at even greater speed. It would be a question of dislodging the creature from the Queen, then zapping it before it could attack one of you. I can give you no guarantee that this would not happen. I can only assure you that if it did we would take immediate action. We would not abandon you to your fate.’
    There was a bit of a pause, while I wondered what exactly our fate would be. I shot a glance at Rosie.
    â€˜Yeah. Well! Yeah.’ She bounced on her marshmallow. ‘OK, then!’
    What did she mean,
OK