Ben had drifted off to sleep thinking about how awful it was being a grown-up, but it wasn’t a nice, mushy, creamy kind of sleep. It was like sleeping on a boat in a raging sea. He kept waking up with a jolt and then falling back into another unpleasant dream, one of which involved a gigantic boil talking to him and being very rude.
The fourth time he woke up, though, it wasn’t because of a dream. It was because he heard a strange noise that seemed to be coming from the backyard.
It was a low humming sound interspersed with a high-pitched whine. It made Ben think of a purring cat sitting in the basket of a squeaky bicycle that needed oiling.
He’d never heard the sound before. The Jacobs family lived quite a long way from any busy roads, and the nights were usually quiet. Ben got out of bed and went over to the window.
Looking out, he couldn’t see very much, but there was a faint red glow in the woods beyond the backyard. He could definitely see it through the fence. Ben wondered if it might be the start of a spectacular sunrise. He also thought it could be a glowing red rabbit, or some traffic lights that had become stuck on red and dumped there—he really did have an active imagination—but as it was nearly half past four in the morning, he thought the sunrise explanation was the most likely.
Pulling on his dressing gown, he tiptoed downstairs and out the back door. As he made his way to the fence, the red glow became a little stronger, as if it was bathing the area, and he could still hear the strange noise. Ben felt his heart beating faster. He was nervous, but also excited to find out what was there.
As quietly as he could, he put a flowerpot upside down at the bottom of the fence and stood on it. It made him just high enough to see over and, as he peered into the woods, he felt a pounding in his chest. What with the shul disappearing, it had already been a very strange day, and Ben had a feeling it was about to get even stranger.
What he saw, though, was weirder than anything he could have imagined.
Hovering just above the ground were two large egg-shaped objects. They were glowing red and were each about the size of a storage shed. As Ben watched, he heard a hissing sound, and a door opened in each of the eggs. Nothing happened for a moment, and then a very strange-looking creature came out of the object on the left, followed a couple of seconds later by another creature emerging from the other object.
Ben had never seen anything like them before. From their heads to their waists they were green, and from the waist down they were orange. They were about eight feet tall and covered in long, wispy tentacles, some of which seemed to have mouth-like openings on them.
Aliens! It was the only explanation. The hovering objects must be their spaceships. Ben’s heart was beating so fast now it felt as if someone was banging a huge drum inside his chest. He was worried that the creatures would be able to hear it. If they did, they might spot him, and he would almost certainly be in a lot of trouble, so he stayed as still as he could.
The two creatures walked toward each other and started speaking. Their tentacles jiggled as they spoke, and Ben tried to hear what they were saying. All he heard, though, was a series of clicks, beeps, and what sounded like a frog croaking. They were obviously speaking their own language, which Ben had no way of understanding.
He felt disappointed, but kept watching, and was rewarded when a moment later a perfect holographic image of the shul appeared between the two aliens.
“Wow,” thought Ben. “That looks so realistic.”
A couple of seconds later a beam of light came down from above the shul, and it disappeared. The aliens made a sound like a couple of excited owls and their tentacles jiggled even more. Ben guessed they were laughing, but he also guessed that one of the aliens was showing the other alien how they had made the shul disappear.
Ben kept watching. The next thing to appear was something he also recognized. It was a planet, and Ben was almost certain it was Earth.
He became a hundred percent certain when in amongst the aliens’ clicks, beeps, and croaks, he distinctly heard the word, “Earth.” It must have been the same in their language.
The next thing that happened was that humans started popping up all over Earth until the whole planet was covered in them.
“What is going on?” thought Ben.
It wasn’t long before he found out, and what he saw chilled him to the bone. Slowly, aliens started dropping down from above Earth and replacing the humans. It could only mean one thing: the aliens were going to invade and take over Earth!
It would be a catastrophe for the entire planet and everyone on it. He had to tell someone and find help.
As quietly as he could, he lowered himself down from the flowerpot and ran on tiptoe back to the house.
He charged up the stairs and into his brother’s room.
“Ant! Ant!” he shout-whispered, shaking his sleeping brother awake.
Anthony made a noise that sounded like “Whabluff.”
“Ant! Ant!” Ben repeated, more loudly this time. “Wake up!”
This time Ant said something which was probably meant to be “What is it?” but came out as “Washizzith?”
“There are aliens in the woods behind the house,” hissed Ben. “And there are two spaceships as well!”
Ant was a little more awake now.
“Say that again,” he said. “It sounded like you said there were aliens and spaceships in the backyard.”
“I did!” shriek-whispered Ben. “Well, not exactly in the yard. In the woods. But they’re right there on the other side of the fence.”
Ant was wide awake and looking at Ben now. He shook his head.
“Ben, you idiot, you were dreaming.”
“No, no,” said Ben. “I wasn’t. I know I wasn’t. I went to the end of the yard. They’re really there. You have to come and see. I think they’re going to invade and take over the planet!”
“Okay, so you might have been sleepwalking as well,” said Ant. “But it was still a dream. They can be very realistic sometimes. I had one once where I turned into a flying fish jumping in and out of the sea. I actually thought I could feel the water on my …”
“Ant!” shouted Ben as loudly as he could. “I really, really, really, really, really, really wasn’t dreaming.”
“Really?” said Ant.
“Really,” said Ben. “Come on.”
“Okay,” said Ant. “But if this a joke to get me back for kicking you, you will be in big trouble.”
“It isn’t,” said Ben, almost dragging Ant out of bed and out of the house. As they approached the fence, though, Ben realized that he couldn’t hear the strange noise any longer. And there was no red light. He had a feeling he knew what they were going to see when they looked over.
“Where are they, then?” asked Ant wearily.
“They … they’re not here,” said Ben. “They must have heard me and taken off.”
“Orrrrrr,” said Ant. “You made the whole thing up because you’re a pathetic little weasel. If I wasn’t so tired I’d kick you into outer space now.”
“No, they were there. I heard them and saw them and …”
Ben stopped. Ant was already halfway back to the house.
Ben trudged back after him, feeling very disappointed. He was also very confused. He was certain the shul hadn’t been there earlier in the day and he was also certain that he’d seen aliens.
Most importantly, though, he was certain that the aliens were planning something that would be pretty terrible for him, for his family, and for every single person on Earth.