Читать книгу The Gismo Trilogy MEGAPACK®: The Complete Young Adult Series - Keo Felker Lazarus - Страница 7

CHAPTER 3

Is that you, XR?

Both boys were quiet for a moment; then Ron stood up. He stared at the crystal set and shook his head. “If that gismo fell from a spaceship, it would still be orbiting out there.” He waved his arm toward the window.

“Not if the spaceship wasn’t out there orbiting the earth, too,” Jerry said.

“But if the gismo entered the earth’s atmosphere, it would burn up! You know that.” Ron exclaimed.

“Not if it was lost while the spaceship was in the atmosphere,” Jerry suggested.

Ron shook his head. “It would be smashed to pieces when it hit the ground…like my transistor radio.”

Jerry leaned forward. “Not if it fell off a spaceship that was on the ground.”

Ron grinned. “Back of Gormley’s shop? Ha!”

“Well, maybe they were investigating something.”

“Like the trash boxes, maybe?”

“Who knows what they investigate when they land!” Jerry said. “We know they do land, and there was a UFO over Bridgeville the other night!”

Ron picked the headphones up and slipped them on. “I’ve got to hear this thing again to believe it!”

But before Ron had the earphones adjusted, a loud wail of music filled the room. Ron spread his hands and shook his head.

Jerry ran to the door and stuck his head into the hall. “Hey, Lou! Turn your record player down! We can’t hear my radio in here.”

“Turn your radio up, then,” Lou yelled back.

“I can’t. It’s my crystal radio.”

“Tough!” Lou shouted.

“Darn her! Just a minute, Ron, I’ll be right back.” Jerry started for the door, but Ron stopped him.

“Forget it, Jerry. Unhook the gismo and we’ll take it over to my place. I’ve got my crystal radio set up in the workshop, where it’s quiet.”

Jerry removed the gismo from the wires and slid it into his jeans. Together the boys clattered down the stairs and out the back door. They slipped through the hole in the Cyprus hedge that separated their two yards and ran across the grass to the workshop behind the Baily garage.

Inside the shop stood a long workbench under a row of windows. Ron pulled his crystal set out from behind a clutter of tools. “You attach the gismo while I check the aerial.”

Carefully Jerry wired the gismo to Ron’s crystal radio. He picked the earphones up and slipped them over his head. He could hear the hum of the gismo as he moved the tuner across the coil.

Ron came back. “We should have brought your earphones along, too.”

Jerry started to take the headphones off. “I’ll go back and get mine,” he said.

Ron held his hand up. “No, don’t bother. I’ve got an old telephone in this junk box, somewhere. We can hook that on and listen through the receiver.” He bent over and rummaged about in a large box under the workbench. He pushed aside an old world globe, several broken plastic cars, and pulled a dusty old-fashioned standing telephone from the box.

Three wires of different colors, with spade clips on the ends, dangled from the telephone cord. Ron connected a checkered yellow-and-black wire and a brown wire across the capacitor of the crystal radio. The third wire, a checkered black-and-white one, hung free.

Ron jumped up and sat on the workbench. Placing the telephone beside him, he took the receiver from the hook and put it to his ear. The gismo hummed. “A okay,” he signaled to Jerry.

There was a crackle of static and the familiar high-pitched voice broke in. “XR…calling XR…we lost your signal for a short while, but it’s coming in loud and clear now. Please report back to Base Ship Plymo, if you are able. We repeat: if you are disabled, repair craft are waiting for you at crater 7 del 5, natural satellite, Planet Three, Sun G six zero eight, Syklo Galaxy…”

Jerry glanced at Ron. “Base Ship Plymo…that must be where the message is coming from! I wonder where it is?”

“What I’m wondering is how come this guy is talking in our language. It doesn’t figure.” Ron scratched his head. “All that the radio astronomers have been able to pull in so far are funny squeaks and blips from outer space. They can’t decode them yet, either. This still sounds phony to me!”

“It isn’t!” Jerry exclaimed. “Look, Ron, some spaceship named XR is in earth’s atmosphere with its communication system knocked out and…” Jerry glanced at the gismo, fading back to pink, and snapped his fingers. “Hey, wait a minute!” He pointed at the gismo. “Do you suppose that could be…”

Ron leaned forward. “The communication system to a spaceship?” He shook his head. “It’s too little.”

“But, Ron, every time we hook the gismo up the little guy says ‘we’re beginning to receive your transmitting signal loud and clear.’” The high voice cut in “XR…calling XR…we are waiting for your message… XR…calling XR…”

Ron shook his head again. “This is beginning to sound like an endless tape to me!” He was playing idly with the checkered black-and-white wire that hung free from the telephone cord. “XR…” Ron mimicked. “Spaceship XR, where are you?” Grinning, he slipped the spade clip of the black-and-white wire over the free knob of the gismo. He picked the telephone up and held it in front of him like a microphone. He lowered his voice until he sounded like a gruff policeman. “Look, Chief,” he said into the telephone mouthpiece, “we’re stuck down here on Planet Three in this crazy swamp.”

Jerry laughed. He took the phone from Ron’s hand and spoke into it. “Yeah, Chief, the sergeant, here, got to watching some majorettes practicing on the football field, and he ran smack into the swamp.”

Ron grabbed the phone back from Jerry. “He’s wrong, sir, it was the light from their batons that blinded me.”

Jerry grinned and leaned over to the mouthpiece. “But don’t worry, Chief, nobody’s bothered us yet. We’re pretending to be swamp gas.”

Ron threw his head back and laughed. There was a loud crackle of static. The voice from the radio sounded eager. “Calling XR… We read you! A swamp, did you say? Would you please repeat that message again…slowly…over.”

Ron was still chuckling. “Well, Chief, we’re…”

Jerry grabbed the phone from Ron’s hand. “Cut it, Ron!” His voice was sharp. He slammed the receiver onto the hook.

Ron looked at Jerry. “What did you do that for?”

Jerry’s eyes grew rounder as he stared at the phone.

Ron leaned forward. “What’s the matter?”

Jerry swallowed and pointed at the phone. “He heard us! That guy heard us!”

“So what if he did?”

“Don’t you know who that is?”

Ron shrugged his shoulders. “Who else, but some ham operator?”

Jerry’s voice was tense. “For gosh sakes, Ron, wise up! That’s no ham operator. That man’s from outer space!”