The Wishing Stone by Christopher Pike Read Free Book Online Page B

moon as seen from Earth.
    â€œBut Tallas itself is ten times larger than your Jupiter,” Fur explained as he turned the ship toward the planet and switched on the gravity drive that powered it through normal space.
    â€œHow long will it take to get there?” Adam asked.
    â€œFour hours,” Fur said.
    â€œWe can’t jump the remainder of the distance?” Watch asked.
    â€œNo, for two reasons,” Fur said. “It is too short a distance and in either case the force field surrounding Tallas would cause us to explode when we attempted to exit hyperspace.”
    â€œHave you installed the Kaster force field we loaned you?” Watch asked.
    â€œYes, but I don’t want to use it to get through the planet’s force field,” Fur said. “I don’t know if it’s strong enough, and the Kasters watch the perimeter of this system closely. What I prefer to do is attach my ship to a small asteroid that flies near the Tallas defense field. If we use the Fruit-fly’s engines carefully, we should be able to alter the orbit of the asteroid slightly and fly close to Tallas without setting off any alarms. This systemis thick with asteroids and we’ll just be another big rock flying by.”
    â€œThat’s pretty clever,” Watch said, impressed. Fur smiled. “Do you still think I’m ugly, Watch?”
    â€œYou’d look good with a deep tan, a wig, and a pair of colored contacts,” Watch said.
    â€œBut we’ll have to break free of the asteroid to get to the moon?” Adam asked.
    â€œYes,” Fur said. “Only then will we be able to turn on the force field and make ourselves invisible. The force field draws a lot of energy, so we can’t keep it on too long.”
    â€œHow are we going to blow up their computers?” Watch asked.
    â€œWe’re not going to blow them up,” Fur said. “But we have to erase those debt records,” Adam protested.
    â€œThere is no way we can use heavy fire power around this moon and not be destroyed,” Fur said. “We would be spotted in a moment. My plan is to sneak onto the surface of the moon, find a terminal, and hopefully erase your friends’ names from the computers. Raster systems are always interlinked. Any terminal should give us access to all their records.”
    â€œAnd I suppose we can wear lizard makeup so that no one notices us?” Watch said sarcastically.
    Fur was offended. “I have thought of that. Not everyone who works on Tallas Four is a Raster. They have off-world help. That’s what we will be.”
    â€œIt sounds like a good plan to me,” Adam said, trying to be supportive.
    Fur took a while to find a suitable asteroid, one that was heading the right away and one that was bumpy enough to hide their small ship. They actually set down on the back side of the asteroid, and for a long time they couldn’t see the red planet, Tallas, or the other four moons. But during that time Fur carefully applied the power of the ship’s engines to the rear of the asteroid.
    â€œThis far out we only have to change its course slightly to cause it to fly inside the perimeter of the force field,” he explained.
    â€œCould the force field destroy the asteroid?” Watch asked.
    â€œThe asteroid should be able to absorb the energy and save us the shock. As soon as we’re through we’ll race toward Tallas Four.”
    Many hours later, as the asteroid finally began to contact the Raster force field, the ship began to shake violently. It felt as if the ground wherethey had anchored were ready to explode. A wave of shimmering blue energy glittered in the space all around them. Adam hung on to his seat for dear life.
    â€œThis is a rough ride!” he shouted over the noise.
    Fur laughed heartily. “This is nothing!”
    The roller-coaster ride stopped a minute later. They were through the main force field. Yet they were still far