The Incredible Space Raiders from Space! Read Online Free PDF Page A

crawled inside the duct, and Alex quickly pulled the grate shut behind them. They just made it.
    Before Alex could even let go of the grate, the Shrieker arrived. It ran by in a flash, its feet slapping off the cold metal. Jonah tried to get a look, but he could only see the silhouettes of legs through the grate. He heard it, though: growls and howls and loud, inhuman laughter. His skin went cold as it ran by, and only when the voice was small in the distance did Alex finally turn to Jonah, his face mostly hidden by the deep shadows in the air duct.
    â€œThat was a close one,” Alex whispered.
    Jonah could barely bring himself to speak. His hands were trembling.
    â€œWhat do we do now?” he whispered.
    Alex turned back to the grate. “We wait. If we don’t hear anything for ten minutes, we’ll head back to Squirrel Street.”
    â€œThe seven who were eaten . . . were they all adventurers?”
    Alex looked at him. “How do you think I got promoted?”
    After waiting for what seemed like a very long ten minutes, Jonah and Alex climbed out of the grate. Jonah looked down at his uniform. It was covered in dust.
    â€œDid you know that dust is mostly made out of dead human skin cells?” Alex said brightly, though he was still peering down the hallway.
    Jonah grimaced. “No.”
    â€œYep,” Alex said, starting back down the Haunted Passage. “There’s also dead dust mites in there.” He brushed some dust off his arms. “Pretty neat, right?”
    â€œI guess,” Jonah replied. He was listening intently for the shouting voice. Whatever that thing was, he really didn’t want to run into it again.
    â€œYou know, you really saved my keister back there,” Alex said.
    â€œYour what?” Jonah asked.
    â€œKeister,” Alex said. “It’s part of the ship code. No swearing.”
    Jonah frowned and glanced at him. “What is a keister?”
    Alex looked behind them and then pointed at his rear. “You know: tush. Heinie. Bumper rumper.”
    â€œYou mean your—”
    â€œYes,” Alex said quickly. “Don’t say it. You could end up in the brig.”
    â€œYou have a brig?”
    Alex nodded. “Yep. Martin the Marvelous is in there right now. He took a food bar without asking. Not good. He got a three-day sentence from the lieutenant.” He smiled. “But enough of that unpleasant stuff. The fact of the matter is, you just saved my caboose. That was some quick thinking. You need a name. A good one.”
    They walked past a metallic blue door covered in rust spots. Jonah had been too busy staring down the hallway to notice the door last time, but now he took a good look at it. There was no handle. A smashed control panel was mounted next to it on the wall, and red and green wires still dangled below it. But of greater concern to Jonah were the deep scratches running all across the door. They looked like they had been made by something with very powerful claws.
    â€œWhat is—”
    â€œClassified,” Alex said. “Now, your name. It has to be something impressive.”
    â€œI don’t know,” Jonah said, still looking back nervously at the door.
    â€œIt’s easy! Just add a cool word to make a title.”
    â€œWhy do we do that again?” Jonah asked.
    â€œBecause if we had normal names, people wouldn’t know how incredible we are,” Alex said.
    â€œOh,” Jonah said. The more questions he asked, the more confused he was.
    They finally made it back to Squirrel Street and passed by the two grim-faced hall guards. They gave Alex a curt nod and looked at Jonah like they were surprised he had returned.
    Alex leaned in close to one. “We ran into the Shrieker. Keep an eye out.”
    They both straightened immediately.
    â€œHow about Jonah the Incredible?” Alex suggested as they continued walking. “Surprisingly, that’s not used very