Will's Galactic Adventure Read Online Free PDF

that you NEVER see one when you are being chased by an alien. Outside of town it’s even worse. How often do you see a policeman out in the country? It’s not just on Earth of course. It’s just the same on all the inhabited planets.”
    Will felt a tingle go up his spine at the casual way Mavis mentioned ‘all the inhabited planets’. Was he going to see some of them? Where were they? What did all the aliens look like?
    Mavis continued without giving Will the opportunity to interrupt her story with all the other questions that were bubbling up inside his head. “No, policemen do a good job with Earth-bound criminals but for intergalactic ones something else was needed. There had to be places that anyone who knew about the intergalactic criminals could go for help. The places needed to be inconspicuous, disguised so as not to worry anyone who didn’t know about why they were there, but they needed to be obvious to anyone who did know about them and wanted to use them. Also, there needed to be lots of them. All over the place – in the cities, in the towns out in the country. A lot of thought went into deciding how this could be done. In the end a decision was reached that would work on all the known planets.”
    Mavis paused for dramatic effect. It worked because Will asked: “Tell me then. What was the decision?”
    â€œTea shops!”
    â€œTea shops?” Will couldn’t believe his ears. Some sort of war against alien criminals was being fought from tea shops?
    â€œThat’s right. Not necessarily tea, as such, on all the planets of course. Only Earth has tea. Well not quite only Earth. They have set up some tea plantations on Grooble, a small planet in a solar system a bit further out in this arm of the galaxy.”
    â€œAn’ very grateful for my ‘elp wiv that they was too.” This was Spiv from, as ever, somewhere behind. “’Ardly made anyfink for meself out of it, too. Done it out of the kindness of my ‘eart, I did.”
    Will ignored him. “Grooble…?”
    â€œYes,” replied Spiv, who didn’t sound as if he was going to be ignored. “It means ‘Earth’ in Grooblish. All names of planets mean ‘Earth’ in whatever language the planet uses. First rule of learning languages, that is. I should know – know hundreds, I do.”
    â€œALL RIGHT, Spiv, let me get on with my story. Where was I? Oh yes. Most planets don’t have tea but they all have something similar, something that they can have a nice cup of in the afternoon while they give their feet a rest and let Granny catch her breath.”
    â€œLet me get this right,” said Will. “Are you telling me that all the tea shops in England, or Wales, or…” and he hesitated a bit at this point, “in the galaxy, all these tea shops are really there to fight these criminals?”
    â€œNo of course not all of them; just some of them. Well, quite a lot of them really. The ones with the Ninja Tea Shop Ladies.”
    â€œI’ve never seen anyone dressed like you in a tea shop. I think I would have noticed, what with the ninja suit and everything.”
    â€œWe don’t dress like this all the time. That would be silly. We’d get crumbs all down it for one thing. We only wear this when we are out on a special mission. Usually only those who know the secret – the secret that we swear to keep in our oath…” at this point she gave a sideways look through the folds of her silk head-dress at Drych, “… only those who know the secret of how to recognise us can actually work out who we are.”
    Will couldn’t wait. “What’s the secret?”
    â€œBlack,” answered Spiv before Mavis could get a word in. “They wear something black.”
    â€œSPIV! It’s supposed to be a secret. I have sworn on the oath…”
    â€œMavis, ‘es a bright lad and ‘e