The Last Starfighter Read Online Free PDF

curious.
    “The same thing that always happens.” He wanted to sound mad but was only tired. Life was grinding him down. At eighteen. “I couldn’t get away. Fix this, repair that . . . you should see some of the junk that passes for wiring in some of these old mobiles.” He looked beyond her into the darkness to make sure she’d exited the pickup by herself.
    “Where’s everyone else?”
    “They went to a movie.”
    “And Jack Blake just happened to be going your way?”
    “What did you expect me to do? Walk back?”
    He didn’t get the chance to reply because an alien warship unexpectedly sent a salvo of missiles in his direction and he had to evade and counterattack simultaneously.
    Maggie noted his concentration, though she had only the slightest idea of the difficulty involved. Then she saw the score and abruptly found herself staring intensely at the screen full of little colored lights and matrix images. She also managed to move closer to Alex.
    “Energy weaponry on reserve . . . life support critical . . . photonics at peak . . .” the machine declaimed emotionlessly.
    “Look out on the right!” Maggie yelled and pointed, excited now in spite of herself. She’d seen Alex play the game many times before but never had the screen been so crowded and full of action. She added absently, “He said it was on his way home.”
    “What was?”
    “The trailer park, silly.”
    “Issat so? Blake happens to live on the other side of town. He’s dumb, but not that dumb. Maybe not half as dumb as I’d like to think.”
    Exasperation filled Maggie’s reply. “Alex, I wanted to get back to you, okay? Hey, you’re really going great.”
    “Am I?”
    “Haven’t you checked your score?”
    “No time. Too busy.” And too busy to watch her arrive in Jack Blake’s ramcharger, a small voice scolded him. His gaze flicked upwards and he was surprised in spite of himself. “Hey, nine hundred thousand plus. Not bad.”
    Otis overheard. Despite his initial determination to leave the young folks to their privacy he couldn’t keep himself from abandoning his rocker and walking over to have a look. He stared at the screen.
    “Nine hundred twenty thousand. I thought you told me this machine can’t score over a million.”
    “I don’t see how it can,” Alex replied, concentrating on his work. “It isn’t calibrated past nine ninety-nine. Maybe we’re going to find out what it does.”
    “You’re going to bust it, Alex.” Otis moved to the edge of the porch, facing the park, cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted.
    “Listen up, everybody! Alex is going for the record. He’s goin’ to bust the machine!”
    “You can’t bust these machines, Otis.”
    “Then what happens if you hit a million?”
    “I don’t know . . . but it won’t bust. Will it?”
    Otis leaned close to the machine, his pipe smoking like a small steam engine. “Don’t ask me, son. You’re the electric wizard around here.”
    A couple of the regulars who’d been sitting outside soaking up the evening cool heard Otis’s exclamation and, attracted by the thought of one of their own doing something a little out of the ordinary, strolled over to see what was going on. They were nearly knocked over as a gaggle of excited kids dashed past them, all but attacking the porch, pushing and shoving for the best vantage points. Alex’s younger brother was in the lead and edged his way up close as strange new sights began appearing on the screen. As quickly as they materialized, Alex methodically demolished them.
    “Wow, you never got this far before, Alex!” Louis was so excited he kept bouncing up and down in front of the screen. Alex had to nudge him aside with an elbow. “The command ship! Beat the green shit outta it, Alex!”
    “I’m trying to, if you’ll keep your nose out of my line of sight.”
    “Oh, sorry.” Louis stopped bouncing . . . for about ten seconds.
    There was a bad moment when Alex was positive he’d blown it.