Will's Galactic Adventure by Edwin Pearson Read Free Book Online Page A

Spiv with that bolt of flame, Spiv would most likely have been well and truly hit. What’s more, he suspected that Spiv, despite his complaining, probably thought the same thing. Will had learned something else about dragons too: they might look as if they are asleep – but you couldn’t be sure.
    Back on the main screen, the red sun was now noticeably bigger and brighter. Will could see some small black specks crossing the disc of the sun and, as he looked more carefully, he could see some other specks, faintly reflecting the sunlight, stretching out into space on either side.
    â€œAsteroid belt,” said Spiv. “Need to be careful going through that. Don’t want to get hit by one of them things. Mind you, they can be useful places to hide, should you ever need to. If someone’s chasing you. Not that I’ve ever needed to, of course. I mean, never been any reason for anyone to chase me.”
    â€œWhat about the people with that photograph of you. You know, Cream Tea and Teacake? Aren’t they chasing you?”
    â€œCourse not. I’ve told you all about that. We’re chasing them.”
    â€œSo they might be hiding behind one of those asteroids.”
    â€œHighly probable,” said Drych. Will looked over at Drych and saw that he no longer seemed to be sleeping. From the tone of his voice, just the same as always, it was as if the flame-thrower act had never happened.
    As Will looked back at the screen, some of the closer asteroids seemed to be getting very large indeed.

Chapter 6
    Drych looked wide-awake now, staring intently at the screen. Giant asteroids were whirling past on both sides. Above and below, too. Will was sure that at any second they would smash into one, but they didn’t. Each time, just at the last moment,
Brenda
dodged out of the way.
    â€œThat’s Drych, that is. ‘E does it all by thought, sort of. That’s why they’re dragon ships, see. Takes a dragon to react quick enough to fly through places like this. Can do it without proper controls an’ that. Just by thinking.”
    The roller coaster ride continued. Large asteroids and small, all pock-marked and cratered where they had crashed into each other in their never ending orbits around the distant red star. Mostly they were a reddish-brown colour, like sandstone. (Will was surprised that he remembered what colour sandstone was. He must have been paying more attention than he thought in one of the geography lessons.) They weren’t all like that though. There were all shades of grey too, and even a few greens and blues. Some had veins of other colours running through them and some of these veins were shiny. Will guessed that the shiny parts might be metal. Other asteroids had sparkly bits here and there. Will thought that these sparkly bits were some sort of crystals. The trouble was that they were all going by too fast for him to get a proper look.
    Eventually Will noticed that the asteroids were getting further apart.
Brenda
was not making so many twists and turns to avoid them. Fewer of them were whirling past on all sides. Suddenly they were clear and Drych turned
Brenda
around to look back the way they had come. They were now sitting in clear space above the disk of the asteroid belt as it curved away to left and right to form a giant ring around that distant red sun.
    â€œWhew!” said Will. “What now?”
    â€œNow we have to find, er, Cream Tea and Teacake, I think that’s what Mavis called them.”
    â€œToo late for that!” This was Spiv. “Look! There! Bottom left on the screen! They’ve found us!”
    Hurtling up towards them out of the asteroid belt was another spaceship. It was already quite close because, being black, they hadn’t spotted it against the surrounding blackness of space. They could only see it now when it was silhouetted against the swirling asteroids below. And since the asteroids were all moving around, at