Space Hostages Read Online Free PDF Page B

soft wheezing of Morror laughter. The shimmer whisked around me again. “Sneaking up on people in your invisibility gown is rude .”
    There was a whisking sound and Th saaa ’s head appeared out of nowhere in front of me, colorsrippling through their mane of glassy tendrils. “But it is traditional for us to wear amlaa-vel-esh when we travel,” they said.
    I considered this. “You’re lying. Look, you’re going red. And orange and blue.”
    â€œYou wanted me to have fuuuuuun ,” said Th saaa , pulling the invisibility gown off completely and flexing their tentacles. “Besides, it was not really a lie. We always did travel in them, in the war.”
    â€œWhere are the others?”
    â€œWatching. Josephine has hacked into the security cameras, I believe. I could not surprise you so effectively with them here,” Th saaa explained.
    â€œAll right, hi everyone, very funny,” I said, waving in the general direction of the ceiling. “So, where am I supposed to go?”
    â€œCome with me,” said Th saaa . Gallantly, they seized my suitcase in two tentacles and deposited it inside a lift.
    â€œAre your parents here, Th saaa ?” I asked, as we rose through the Helen of Troy .
    â€œNo. It is the start of the summer skiing season,” said Th saaa.
    There, I thought. Going off by myself wasn’t that big a deal.
    â€œAre you all right here?” I asked, reminded aboutMorrors’ climate needs. “You’re not getting too hot?”
    â€œIt iiiis very hot,” conceded Th saaa . “But I am all right. I must go to my cabin or put my amlaa-vel-esh back on before very long, though.”
    The doors opened. A girl was there, waiting for the lift. But it wasn’t Josephine or anyone I wanted to see.
    It was Christa Trommler.
    â€œOh,” I said aloud, in undisguised horror.
    Christa looked just how she used to—well, not how she looked when she was co-leader of a deranged mob smashing anything that got in its way, but how she looked before that on the way out to Mars, i.e, crisp and expensively dressed in a blue-striped blazer and sunglasses poised on her short blond hair. Her expression was nearly as dismayed as I felt. “Alice,” she said with icy dignity, as though at some point in the past we’d had a disagreement on the proper way to lay out salad forks. She nodded, and tried to sweep grandly past me, but was rather stymied by the fact that I didn’t get out of the way.
    â€œHi, Christa,” I said. “Last time I saw you, you were laughing while your boyfriend locked me in a smashed-up classroom,” I announced. “Were there any plans to let me out, or did you figure it was okay if I died in there?”
    Christa bridled. “That was all Leon. I went along with it because I was scared of him.”
    My mouth dropped a little open. “Yeah, right ,” I said.
    â€œIt is right, unlike that book ,” said Christa. “You know, we could have sued you over that. We just didn’t want to give you the publicity.”
    â€œIt’s all true and you know it, Christa!” somebody hissed.
    There was Josephine, with Carl and Noel beside her. Josephine had grown a surprising amount. She was as skinny as ever, but a little taller than me now, which I couldn’t help feeling vaguely disgruntled about.
    Josephine’s hair was different too. Instead of the usual wild halo of soft dark zigzags, it was scraped back into a tight bun. Her expression was lethal enough to make Christa cringe.
    I was fairly satisfied by this, so I let Christa into the lift.
    â€œIt was all just a joke anyway,” said Christa. “Obviously we’d have let you out.”
    â€œWeren’t you saying you only went along with it because you were scared of Leon?” asked Josephine, whose hearing was eerily good. “If it was a joke, what were you so scared of?”
    Christa did not answer.