Only You Can Save Mankind

A thought occurred to him.

'Yo-less?'

'Yeah?'

'Have those things got any guns on?'

'Er ... what do they look like?'

'There's probably a red button on the joystick.'

'Not got one on mine.'

'What about you, Wobbler? Bigmac?'

'Nope.'

'Which one's the joystick?' said Bigmac.

'It's the thing you're steering with.'

'Yeah, wipe the mustard off and have a look,' said Yo-less.

'Nothing on it,' said Bigmac.

Unarmed, thought Johnny. And slow. One hit with a missile and Wobbler is sitting inside the biggest cheese in the universe. What happens to people in my dream?

'Why does it always go wrong?

'I'll just go on ahead,' he said, and pressed the Fast button.

There were three players attacking the ScreeWee fleet. It soon became two; Johnny had one in his sights all the way in, curving away through the smoke-ring of the explosion and heading for the next attacker so fast that he was only just behind his own missile.

It was going after the Captain's ship, and the player wasn't paying attention to his radar. Another explo- sion, already behind Johnny as he looked for the third player.

Johnny realized he wasn't thinking about it. His eyes and hands were doing all the work. He was just watch- ing from inside.

The third player had spotted the tankers. It saw him, turned and actually managed to get some shots away.

Oh, no. Johnny's mind whirred like a machine, judg- ing speed and distance

He felt the ship buck under him, but he held it steady until the crosshairs merged.

Then he pressed his thumb down until a beeping sound told him he hadn't got anything more to fire.

After a while the red mist cleared. He found thoughts slinking back into his mind again. They moved slowly, uncertain of where they were, like people drifting back into a bombed city, picking through rubble, trying to find the old familiar shapes.

There was a metallic taste in his mouth. His elbow ached - he must have banged it on something during the turn.

He thought: No wonder we make rules. The Cap- tain thinks it's strange, but we don't. We know what we'd be like if we didn't have rules.

A light flashed by the communication screen. Some- one wanted to talk to him. He flicked a switch.

The face of the Captain appeared.

'Halt, Johnny. What an efficient technique.'

'Yes. But I had to-'

'Of course. And I see you have brought some friends.'

'You said you needed food.'

'Even more so now. That last attack was severe.

'Aren't you firing at all?'

'No. We have surrendered, I remind you. Besides, we must not stop. Some of us at least will reach the Border.'

'Border?' said Johnny. 'I thought you were going to a planet.' 'We must cross the Border first. Beyond the Border we are safe. Even you cannot follow us. If we fight, all of us die. If we run, some of us live.'

'I don't think humans can think like that,' said Johnny. He glanced out of the cockpit. The tankers were getting nearer.

'You are mammals. Fast. Hot-blooded. We are amphi- bians. Cold-blooded. Slow. Logical. Some of us will get across. We breed fast. To us, it makes sense. To me, it makes sense.

The Captain's image moved to a corner of the screen. Wobbler, Bigmac and Yo-less appeared in the other three quarters.

'That was brilliant shooting,' said Bigmac. 'When I'm in the army- 'There's a frog on my screen,' said Wobbler.

'It's - . - she's the Captain,' said Johnny.

'A woman in charge?' said Yo-less. 'No wonder the aliens always lose,' said Wobbler. 'You should see the side of my mum's car.

'Um. She can hear you, I think. Don't use sexist language,' said Johnny.

The Captain smiled.

'I invite your comrades to unload their welcome cargoes,' she said.

They found out how to do it, eventually. The whole of the middle of the tankers came away as one unit. Small ScreeWee ships, not much more than a seat and a pilot's bubble and a motor, nudged them into the holds of the biggest ships. Without them, the tankers were just a cockpit and engine and a big empty network of girders.

Johnny watched the tank from Yo-less's ship drift gently through the hatch of the Captain's ship.

You get them out of the packet,' he said, 'and you sort of find something plastic falls into your bowl ... well, it's just a joke. It's not on purpose.

'Thank you.'

'If you save all the box tops you could probably win a Ford Sierra,' said Yo-less. There was a slight tremble in his voice as he tried to sound like someone who talked to aliens every day. 'You could get your photo in Competitor's Journal,' he added.

'That would be very useful. Some of the corridors in this ship are very long.'

'Don't be daft,' said Bigmac. 'He'd - she'd never get the spares.'

'Really? In that case we shall have to go for the six thou- sand set of saucepans,' said the Captain.

'How do we get back?' said Wobbler.

'How did you get here?'

Wobbler frowned.

'How did we get here?' he said. 'One minute I was ... was ... and then here I was. Here we were.

'Come to that, where did all the milk and burgers come from?' said Bigmac.

'It's all right,' said Yo-less. 'I told you. We're not really here anyway. We're just anxiety projections. I read about it in a book.'

'That's a relief, then,' said Wobbler. 'That's worth knowing when you're a billion miles out in space. Anyway ... so how do we get back?'

'I don't know,' said Johnny. 'I generally do it by dying.'

'Is there some other way?' said Yo-less, after a long, thoughtful pause. 'You don't have to die to get out,' said Johnny. 'I think you can probably just fly back. I'm not definitely sure any harm can come to you. You're not playing... in your heads, I mean.' 'Well-' Wobbler began.

'But I should go soon, if I was you,' said Johnny. 'Before some more players arrive.'

'We'd stay and help,' said Wobbler, 'but there's no guns on these things, you see.

He sounded worried.

'Yeah. Silly of me not to have dreamed of any,' said Johnny, kindly.

'Yo-less might be right and we're just stuff in your head,' said Wobbler. 'But even people in dreams don't want to die, I expect.'

'Right.'

'You going to be in school tomorrow?'

'Might be.'

'Right. Well, then ... chow.'

'See you.

'You hang in there, right, Johnny?' said Yo-less anxiously.

'I'll try to.'

'Yeah, give them aliens hell, my man!' said Bigmac, as the tankers turned.

Johnny could hear them still talking as the three ships accelerated away.

'That was a foe-par, Bigmac. Johnny's on the aliens' side!' 'What? You mean they're on our side?' 'No, they're on their side. And so is he.' 'Whose side are we on, then?' 'We're on his side.' 'Oh. Right. Er. Yo-less?' 'What?' 'So who's on our side?' 'Eh? He is, I suppose.' 'So is there anyone on the other side?'

The ships became dots on the radar, and then vanished off the edge of the screen.

Where to, Johnny had no idea.

I may have wished them here, or dreamed them, or something. But I mustn't do it again. Maybe they're not really here, but I don't want to see my friends die. I don't want to see anybody die.

At least I'm on my side.

He scanned the sky. After a while the Captain said: 'You are not leaving?'

'Not yet.' 'Until you die, you mean.'

Johnny shrugged.

'It's the only way out,' he said. 'Fight until you die. That's how all games go. You just hope you can get a bit further each time.'

There were still no more attackers on the screen. The fleet looked as if it wasn't moving, but it had built up quite a speed. Every second was taking it further from game space. Every second meant that fewer and fewer players would have the patience or determination to go on looking for it.

He helped himself to some of the horrible nourishing soup from its spigot.

Johnny?'

'Yes?'

'I believe I upset you some time ago by suggesting that humans are bloodthirsty and dangerous'