Free Aliens in the Sky by Christopher Pike

been spotted by the guard. Watch started to run away, but Adam grabbed his arm and pulled him tight against the wall, right next to the corner.
    â€œLet’s take the guard,” Adam whispered.
    The alien security guard had obviously not grown up on spy movies. The guy came runningaround the corner without any thought that they might be waiting for him. Adam simply stuck out his foot. The guy tripped; he went down hard. In fact, he seemed to knock himself out when he hit the floor with his big fat head. Adam reached down and grabbed his weapon, which had bounced free. Zhekeel91 stared at them with a mixture of wonder and terror.
    â€œYou are an interesting species.”
    â€œWe have our good points,” Adam admitted. He showed Zhekeel91 the weapon. “How do I control the power on this thing?”
    It was very simple. If he turned the little knob clockwise, the power became stronger. There were ten settings. One stood for light stun. Two was hard stun. Four and up could kill, Zhekeel91 warned. Adam left the weapon on two, where it had originally been set, but he didn’t rule out the possibility of increasing the power. They were taking a space ship to Earth, he vowed, one way or the other. Zhekeel91 was more worried than ever.
    â€œPlease do not hurt anyone.”
    â€œWe only want to go home,” Adam said.
    Zhekeel91 led them on their way. Ten minutes later they reached the space dock. There was no transition. They were in a narrow hallway onesecond, then they were in the gigantic space harbor the next. Adam and Watch were stunned to see a crowd of aliens gathered around one saucer. The ship floated at the end of a narrow dock. The aliens were bunched up on the dock like sardines in a can. They had several portable instruments with them, and seemed to be measuring what was going on inside the ship. The vessel looked exactly like the craft they had taken from Earth to the alien station. But Adam quickly realized that this was the one that Sally, Cindy, and Ekweel2 flew.
    Adam could dimly sense the buzzing thoughts of the crowd.
    The aliens were worried.
    And Adam planned to give them one more thing to worry about. He turned the power on his hand weapon up to ten and pointed it at the crowd. He had only been taught the rules of poker a few hours earlier but he had learned them well.
    â€œThis gun is set to kill!” he shouted. “Stand aside or I’ll fire!”

13
    A fter Ek had broadcast his telepathic network message to search for the humans, he started the Zelithium 110-Hyperzoid-Quartz-Bostonian chain reaction. The building critical mass was definitely something the alien scientists could sense with their instruments—if the size of the crowd outside was any indication. Sally had already issued her demand for the release of Adam and Watch. She threatened to blow up the space station if they were not. But so far her friends hadn’t been handed over. Sally believed that the chain reaction would have toget closer to the critical point before the aliens would do what she wanted.
    But it was getting there quick.
    At what Ek called Level 84 Bostonian the reactor would blow.
    They were now at Level 65.
    Ek did not believe he could stop the reaction after Level 80.
    â€œWe’re lucky they haven’t tried to burn down the door,” Cindy muttered, watching the viewing ports along the wall.
    Ek looked up from the control panel.
    â€œThey are afraid we will speed up the reaction if they try.”
    Sally continued to pace. The tension was growing unbearable.
    â€œWe’re not leaving without them,” Sally muttered.
    â€œI don’t get you,” Cindy said. “One minute you were ready to fly home without them. The next you’re ready to sacrifice millions of lives to get to them.”
    â€œA girl has a right to change her mind,” Sally said.
    â€œAre your people willing to sacrifice this stationto prevent Adam and Watch from escaping?”