Warblegrub and the Forbidden Planet Read Online Free PDF

you he is death!”
    “What’s he called?” asked 395.
    The question caught Warblegrub off-guard; it was a long time since he had bothered with names. “Fardelbear,” he replied, recalling something he had read recently and had thought suited the creature very well. “He’s Fardelbear.”
    “ Fardelbear? What does that mean?”
    “It’s to do with burdens,” replied Warblegrub vaguely.
    The Colonel’s patience snapped. “Either tell us what you are, what that thing is, and what the hell’s going on here, or I’ll shoot you!”
    Warblegrub looked at him blankly. “Then I suppose you’ll have to shoot, because I’ve told you….”
    The shot rang out and the startled soldiers looked round to see Warblegrub drop among the ferns. As the Colonel returned the smoking gun to its holster, he encountered 395’s horrified expression.
    “Problem?”
    “He could’ve helped us!” 395 protested. He started to kneel down beside Warblegrub, who lay face up, his eyes wide open in surprise, a hole in his chest, but the Colonel grabbed his shoulder.
    “‘He could’ve helped us, Sir ’,” he reminded the Science Officer.
    395 rose, squared his shoulders and faced the Colonel. “We don’t know what we’re up against, Sir ,” he said levelly. “We’re going to need all the help we can get!”
    “He’s already told us all we need to know, S.O. You heard him – that thing won’t stop until it kills every one of us, so we must kill it first!”
    The removal of the Colonel’s sunglasses was enough to silence 395’s retort.
    They marched southwest through what remained of the afternoon and on into the evening. Though it was many years since 395 had been afraid of the dark, now he started at every movement in the shadows. Dread grew on them all as the sun’s last light vanished and, knowing there could be no hiding from Fardelbear, they kept to the crest of the ridge, scouring the steep slopes on either side through their night vision visors.
    Even when the bright moon had risen, they made slow progress through such rugged terrain and it was gone midnight when they stopped to rest again, choosing for defence another rocky outcrop. Like a watchtower, it stood at a high point on the ridge and commanded a view of the valleys on either side. While the company secured a perimeter with mines, trip wires and infrared cameras, the Colonel climbed up and looked back towards the dark mass of the mountain, just visible beneath the lowering clouds. When the camp was secure, he called them to attention.
    “Corporal 236,” he announced, “you are promoted to Sergeant, effective immediately.”
    236 saluted smartly, climbed up nimbly to receive a notepad, then dropped back to the ground like a gymnast. She called the roll and they answered present, until she came to Private 3279.
    “Private 3279!” she repeated, but the silence persisted.
    Glancing back along the jagged black line of the ridge, they all wondered who would be next.

Chapter Six
    Mesmerised, 395 watched bats, birds and rodents darting and flitting through the scrub. Warm-blooded, they were picked out in vivid colours by the infra-red cameras and his eyes remained fixed on the screen until Private 749 relieved him from duty. Stretching his aching limbs, he looked round for somewhere to unroll his sleeping bag and found the last unoccupied flat space at the base of the rock tower. He sat there for a while, gazing out over the highlands, watching slender shafts of moonlight scour the earth like searchlights. Imagining a fleet of alien invaders descending, it occurred to him that they were the aliens here. It also occurred to him that he was missing Warblegrub.
    Just as he was settling into his sleeping bag, one of the perimeter mines exploded. Sitting bolt upright, he glimpsed Fardelbear as he circled the camp, detonating the other mines. As before, the soldiers scrambling to their feet caught only a fleeting glimpse, this time of a creature resembling a