‘Don’t panic!’ Dad shouts as the compressed air splutters out with a sound like an elephant’s fart. ‘I’ve got this all under control.’
Wriggling free from the straps, I stare at him in horror as the blue-white beam cuts the air between us. The zorb is being sliced in two, each half slowly deflating as we’re both held suspended in the light.
This must be some kind of tractor beam, but as I stare up into the blinding light I can’t see where it’s coming from.
Glancing down, I see Damon and Amba running towards the campfire. Behind them, Flip is still picking himself up off the muddy ground, whilst everybody else stares up at the sky with their mouths open wide and camera phones held high.
‘Keep back,’ I shout. ‘It’s not safe.’
Actually, if I’m completely honest, being held prisoner in a tractor beam feels a teensy bit safer than zorbing through a forest at night with killer robots on your trail. But I still feel kind of worried about what’s going to happen next.
I glance across at Dad who’s fiddling with his device, seemingly unconcerned that he’s currently hovering in mid-air on a deflating inflatable above a roaring campfire.
‘What are you doing? What’s happening?’
‘I’m trying to get this to work,’ he says, grappling with the egg-shaped stone as the lights on its surface flicker greyly. ‘Then we’ll be able to—’
A deafening sound cuts off the rest of his sentence.
DUN – DUN – DUUUN – DUUUNNNN – DUN!
I clap my hands to my ears, trying to block out the noise that seems to be falling from the sky.
‘What’s that?’
Dad mouths a reply but I can’t hear his words as my ears are still ringing.
Beneath our feet, the deflated halves of the zorb slowly drift to the ground, smothering the flames of the campfire with a fizzling hiss. But we’re still floating in mid-air, the blinding blue-white light flickering between us as if trying to make up its mind.
I stare up again, into the brightness, but I still can’t see where this light is coming from. There are no stars in the sky, just an empty blackness broken only by this single beam. Then I realize the darkness isn’t empty. There’s something huge up there and it’s filling the sky.
Then the rest of its lights come on.
‘Wow!’
It looks just like the Easter Egg spaceship that Dad built at the school fete, but so, so much bigger. Its curving hull shimmers with countless points of lights, every single one of them dazzlingly bright. A galaxy of stars shines down out of the sky. But there is no sky any more, only this endless spaceship of glittering lights that looks as big as the world.
In the distance I can hear a dog barking, then the deafening tones sound out again.
DUN – DUN – DUUUN – DUUUNNNN – DUN!
The tractor beam is coming from the bottom of the spaceship, the blue-white rays now transformed into a rainbow of light.
‘That’s it!’ Dad shouts as the colours fly around us. He holds up the Quintessence, the starry lights on its surface now shining with the same brightness as before. ‘It’s working again.’
But as he speaks I feel my fingers prickle with a strange sensation. Glancing down at my hands, I see a shimmering rainbow scrolling across my skin. I try to pull them out of the light, but find I can’t move my hands. Horrified, I watch as the rainbow rays slowly start to crawl up my arms.
‘Dad,’ I shout, looking across to him for help. ‘What’s happening?’
He’s standing in the same shimmering light, the shiny silver material of his ski suit now glittering with every colour under the sun.
‘Inside the zorb, our bio-data signals were mingled,’ Dad explains as he desperately twists the Quintessence between his fingers. ‘They’re scanning us again to find out who’s the alien. And I’m going to show them that it’s me.’ He winces as the tiny device suddenly flares with a dazzling light. ‘Catch.’
He tosses the egg-shaped pebble towards me. I watch as it cuts a silvery trail through the shimmer that surrounds us both now. Gritting my teeth, I thrust my hand forward to pluck the device out of the air before it falls past my fingers.
It feels strangely heavier than before. Close up, I can see that the dazzling light is made up of countless tiny stars. It looks like I’m holding the universe in the palm of my hand.
And then it starts.
I’m still trapped inside this shimmering rainbow, but something is happening to me. I feel like a jigsaw tipped out on to the floor, but where every piece of the puzzle is landing in exactly the right place. It’s like every cell inside my body is singing a new melody, but the song somehow remains the same.
‘Dad!’
‘Don’t worry, Jake!’ Dad shouts, sagging slightly as the shimmering beam still holds him in its light. ‘It’ll realize that you’re human now. I’m the one they’re after.’
The beam of light dances between us, its colours constantly flickering blue, green, violet, orange, indigo, yellow and red. It’s as though it can’t decide what’s right. And then the light that surrounds me suddenly turns a brilliant white and I feel myself dropped to the ground.
I land on the muddy grass, feeling my feet squelch as I look up to see my dad still held captive in the shimmering beam.
That’s when I realize what he’s done.
I’m still holding the Quintessence in my hand and I remember how Dad said this kept him safe when he first landed here on Earth. ‘I went undercover as a human being. The harmonic modulating circuit reprogrammed my biology.’ That’s why he had to get it working again. He’s used it to change himself back.
DUN – DUN – DUUUN – DUUUNNNN – DUN!
The same deafening tones roll down from the sky, but this time these sounds turn to words inside my head.
CAUTION! SPACESHIP REVERSING!
CAUTION! SPACESHIP REVERSING!
I glance down at the Quintessence and remember what else Dad said that it did. ‘This device is equipped with a universal translator.’ This must be why I can understand alien now.
‘Jake!’ Dad’s voice sounds strained as he calls down to me. ‘There’s not much time left.’
I glance up again to see the shimmering beam has now turned to a sickly-green colour. And trapped inside this unearthly light, my dad seems to be turning into something else.
It’s difficult to see exactly what’s happening, the light almost blinding me. But Dad’s skin now seems to be as green as this shimmering beam. I hold my breath, almost frightened to watch what happens next, but then I catch a glimpse of his face through the light and I realize . . .
He’s still my dad.
I tighten my grip on the Quintessence. I’ve got to get this back to him. He’s got to use it to disguise himself again.
‘Dad,’ I shout, pulling my arm back ready to throw it to him. ‘You’ve got to change back.’
‘It’s too late,’ Dad shouts, his words almost lost as the spaceship reversing message booms out of the sky again. ‘The scan’s finished now and they’ve got the result that they need. One alien life form captured. That’ll be enough to keep the Cosmic Authority happy.’
The shimmering beam that surrounds Dad seems to brighten, his silhouette blurring with the light.
‘There’s so much I need to tell you, but there isn’t any time. Use the Quintessence to keep you safe, but don’t forget who you are. I never meant to embarrass you, Jake. All I ever wanted to do was help you reach for the stars.’
‘Dad . . .’
I try to move towards the light, but feel hands dragging me back.
‘Tell your mum I love her very much,’ Dad calls out, his voice breaking as the shimmering beam turns into a supernova. ‘And never forget that I love you too.’
Then I watch as the light shines right through him.
With a zipping sound, the shimmering beam disappears into the base of the spaceship.
I stare up in disbelief as the rest of its lights blink out.
For a second, the darkness just hangs there. And then there’s a noise that sounds like light being made and suddenly the stars come out again.
The spaceship is gone.
And so is my dad.