Only You Can Save Mankind Read Free Page A

someone taking their foot out of a wet cowpat. “I will show our home to you.”
    A red circle suddenly developed on the navigation screen.
    Johnny knew about that. You just moved a green circle over it, the computer went binkabinkabinka, and you’d set your course.
    They’ve shown me where they live.
    The thought sank in.
    They trust me.
    As he moved his fighter forward, the entire alien fleet pulled in behind him. They eclipsed the stars.
    The cabin hummed and buzzed quietly to itself.
    Well, at least it didn’t look too hard….
    A green dot appeared ahead of him.
    He watched it get bigger and recognized the shape of a starfighter, just like his.
    But it was a little hard to make it out.
    This was because it was half hidden by laser bolts.
    It was firing at him as it came.
    And it was traveling so fast, it was very nearly catching up with its own fire.
    Johnny jerked the joystick and his ship rolled out of the way as the…the enemy starfighter roared past and barreled on toward the ScreeWee ships.
    The whole sky full of ScreeWee ships.
    Which had surrendered to him.
    But people out there were still playing the game.
    “No! Listen to me! They’re not fighting anymore!”
    The starfighter turned in a wide curve and headed directly for the command ship. Johnny saw it launch a missile. Someone sitting at a keyboard somewhere had launched a missile.
    “Listen! You’ve got to stop!”
    It’s not listening to me, he thought. You don’t listen to the enemy. The enemy’s there to be shot at. That’s why it’s the enemy. That’s what the enemy’s for.
    He swung around to follow the starship, which had slowed down. It was pouring shot after shot into the command ship…
    …which wasn’t firing back.
    Johnny stared in horror.
     
     
    The ship rocked under the hail of fire. The Gunnery Officer crawled across the shaking floor and pulled himself up beside the Captain’s chair.
    “Fool! Fool! I told you this would happen! I demand that we return fire!”
    The Captain was watching the Chosen One’s ship. It hadn’t moved.
    “No,” she said. “We have to give him a chance. We must not fire on human ships.”
    “A chance? How much of a chance do we have? I shall give the order to—”
    The Captain moved very fast. When her hand stopped, she was holding a gun very close to the Gunnery Officer’s head. It was really only a ceremonial weapon; normally ScreeWee fought only with their claws. But its shape said very clearly that things came out of the hole in the front end with the very definite purpose of traveling fast through the air and then killing people.
    “No,” she said.
    The Gunnery Officer’s face went blue, a sure sign of terror. But he had enough courage left to say: “You would not dare fire!”
     
     
    It’s a game, thought Johnny. There’s not a real person in that ship. It’s someone playing a game. It’s all a game. It’s just things happening on a screen somewhere.
    No.
    I mean, yes.
    But…
    …at the same time…
    …it’s all happening here….
    His own ship leaped forward.
    It was easy. It was so easy. Just line up circles on the screen, binkabinkabinka, and then press the Fire button until every weapon on the ship was empty. He’d done it many times before.
    The invader hadn’t even seen him. It launched some missiles—and then blew up in an impressive display of graphics.
    That’s all it is, Johnny told himself. Just things on a screen. It’s not real. There’s no arms and feet spinning away through the wreckage. It’s all a game.
    The missiles arrived….
    The whole cockpit went blinding white.
    He was aware, just for a moment, of cold space around him, with things in it….
    A bookcase. A chair. A bed.
    He was sitting in front of the computer. The screen was blank. He was holding the joystick so hard that he had to concentrate to let go of it.
    The clock by his bed said 6:3because it was broken. But it meant he’d have to get up in another hour or so.
    He sat with his quilt