Jack Strong in Dreamland Read online

  Jack Strong in Dreamland

  By Heys Wolfenden

  Copyright: Heys Wolfenden, 2018

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Dedicated to the people of South Korea and China

  Other Books in the Jack Strong Series

  Jack Strong and the Red Giant (2014)

  Jack Strong and the Prisoner of Haa’drath (2015)

  Jack Strong in Dreamland (2018)

  Jack Strong: Dark Matter (2018)

  Jack Strong and the Last Battle (2019)

  Contents

  Other Books in the Jack Strong Series

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: The Highest Water Slide in The Universe

  Chapter 2: First Class

  Chapter 3: Titan

  Chapter 4: Area 51

  Chapter 5: Stormborn

  Chapter 6: Spaceboy

  Chapter 7: Dreamland

  Chapter 8: Necessary Measures

  Chapter 9: Thwarted Plans

  Chapter 10: Razor

  Chapter 11: Goodbye Nevada

  Chapter 12: Chase Through the Belt

  Chapter 13: Mortal Combat

  Chapter 14: Rescue

  Chapter 15: Through the Eye of a Needle

  Chapter 16: Battle Stations

  Chapter 17: Shadows

  Chapter 18: Padget Kicks

  Chapter 19: The Prisoner

  Chapter 20: Homeless

  Chapter 21: Sliver

  Chapter 22: The Blue Planet

  Chapter 23: What Lies Beneath

  Chapter 24: The Sky Way

  Chapter 25: The Dreadnuts

  Chapter 26: The Battle for the Sky Way

  Chapter 27: Star-Jump

  Chapter 28: Taken

  Chapter 29: Extermination

  Chapter 30: Cornered

  Chapter 31: Infection

  Chapter 32: Into the Dark

  Chapter 33: A Losing Battle

  Chapter 34: Wall of Shadows

  Chapter 35: Desertion

  Chapter 36: Padget Roars

  Chapter 37: The Raging Storm

  Chapter 38: Ambush

  Chapter 40: Judgement Day

  Chapter 41: The Spaceport

  Chapter 42: Different Tides

  Chapter 43: Supernova

  Chapter 44: Armageddon

  Chapter 45: After Shocks

  Chapter 46: What Was Lost Part 1

  Chapter 47: What Was Lost Part 2

  Epilogue 1

  Epilogue 2

  Prologue

  The man plunged through the snow drift as the wind whined and cackled around him.

  Gripping the bundle of fur in his hands, he stumbled through the darkness, his stomach a roaring and angry fire.

  Hearing a loud, grunting sound behind him, he spun round and peered into the night, flakes of ice raking his face.

  Then he saw it.

  A huge black shadow rumbling through the snow like an avalanche.

  The ice bear blundered into him like a battering ram, its spade-like paws clawing at his face, its mouthful of teeth snapping and gnashing.

  Tossing the bundle of fur to the ground, he stared into two pit-like eyes, its jaw widening like the mouth of a cave as it lunged at his face. Then another shadow tugged at his elbow, dragging him deeper into the snow, as ice bear after bear swarmed out of the night, pouring all over his staggering body, nipping and biting, tearing at his knees, thighs and shoulders.

  Down and down he went, cold and yet blazing with fire, until his head was forced deep into the reddening snow.

  The two boys awoke to a cold, white world.

  Shivering and disorientated, the bigger of the two clawed his way out of the furs they’d been wrapped in. A blizzard greeted him.

  “Dad!” he shouted, not seeing him anywhere. “Where are you? Dad!”

  The only reply was the shrill cry of the wind.

  “Where's dad gone to, Thomy?” asked his brother crawling up next to him.

  “I don't know, Tomen,” he said, shielding his eyes from the snow. “He wasn't here when I woke up.”

  “What should we do?” the boy asked, a few tears dribbling down his cheeks. “I’m cold.”

  “I don't know,” said Thomy, trying to hold back tears himself.

  “Dad!” his brother suddenly shouted again. “Dad! Dad! Where are you?”

  Still the wind howled, the blizzard unrelenting.

  “We should get moving,” said Thomy, shivering violently. “We have to try and find the sanctuary. If we stay here we'll freeze to death.”

  “But what about dad? He always said that if we ever get lost that no matter how long we have to wait that we should stay where we are and that he'd come and get us.”

  “That's right, he did. But if we stay here we might never get up again. The temperature’s dropping every second.”

  “But we'll find him again at the sanctuary, won't we?”

  “Sure, we will,” said Thomy, still trying to push back the tears. “I expect he's already there waiting for us.”

  “Really, you reckon?”

  “Yeah of course, now come on let's get going.”

  “What was that?” asked Tomen.

  “What was what?”

  “I thought I heard something over there,” he said, pointing deep into the swirling blizzard. “An animal or something.”

  “You’re imagining things. It's probably just the wind. Now come on, we've got to keep moving. We’ve…”

  A shadow moved in the distance, followed by what sounded like thunder.

  “What’s that?” asked his brother.

  “I don’t know, I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “Come on, let’s get out of here. This cold is killing us.”

  The night shifted again in front of them.

  “There’s another!” shouted his brother. “Thomy, what are we going to do?”

  “I…”

  Suddenly a huge white head on huge white shoulders leapt out of the darkness, its blood-clotted jaw snapping at their faces. Thomy picked up one of the fur blankets and swung at it, desperately trying to fend it off. Its teeth looked like razors. Snap. Snap. Snap. It kept on coming, like the cold unrelenting, a mass of shadows trailing in its wake.

  Back and back they went, into a wall of hardened snow, its sword-like claws following.

  Then the snow gave way to soft, airy powder and then finally nothing as the ground disappeared beneath their feet. They plunged down and down and down, crashing through a thin layer of ice. Frozen water seethed all around them, stabbing them with a thousand icy needles.

  “Tomen!” Thomy shouted, salt water gushing down his throat and up his nostrils. “Tomen!” But there was no reply.

  Waves crashing all over him, Thomy shivered and waited for the end to come.

  Chapter 1: The Highest Water Slide in The Universe

  “Are you sure about this Jack?” asked Grunt, his voice rumbling like an avalanche. “It looks dangerous.”

  “What are you talking about, Grunt? Nothing’s going to go wrong. Trust me.”

  “Well I would if Vyleria was here. She’s good with these things, but you on the other hand…”

  “Well look, Vyleria isn’t here okay – I am – and since you said you were bored I’ve gone and delivered a prime piece of entertainment for you.”

  “You call this fun?” asked Grunt, shivering in the mountain air.

  “I do – and you’ll love it, I swear. Now will you hurry up and get moving; we haven’t got all day, you know.”

  Grunt stomped towards the dark tunnel, his size twenty-five feet leaving yeti-like footprints in the snow.

  “Now what?” asked Grunt, voice booming like a big bass drum. “It’s too small. It’s barely big enough for my feet, never mind the rest of me.”

  “Just wait.”

  “For what?”

  “You’ll see,” said Jack, as a countdown started from some invisible loudspeakers.

  THREE.

  TWO.

  ONE.

  ZERO.

  “No, wait. Jack! I’m not ready.”

  “Too late!”

  The tunnel suddenly ballooned to the size of a house, sucking him up like a giant hoover.

  Jack listened to the last of Grunt’s yells, looked at the white, toothpick-like peaks one last time and then jumped headlong into the darkness.

  Down and down he went, water gushing all around him, as he slid and rolled, screeching and screaming, bending this way and that, up and over loops, twists and spirals.

  He had just about gotten used to the darkness when he shot out from the tube at hundreds of miles per hour, the cold Himalayas yawning beneath him, before another section reached out and sucked him up like a giant gobstopper.

  He picked up speed.

  Down he went again, the warm water coursing all over his body, the darkness broken only by the odd flash of blue sky, as parts of the slide continued to appear and disappear at will.

  Just as it seemed like he would drop forever, the darkness melted away and he whooshed out of the end faster than a speeding bullet, his fall stopped by a giant safety mat.

  “You call that fun?” said Grunt, as Jack bounced around the top of the glacier like a demented yo-yo.

  “Sure,” he said, panting. “Don’t you?”

  “Jack, look at me – I’m soaked!”

  “Well, you co
uld’ve worn one of these,” he said, pointing at his red and black swimming suit. “It will take even sub sub zero conditions.”

  “You think I’d trust my life to something that thin? A good coat never hurt anybody.”

  “Yes, but you don’t normally jump down a water slide wearing coats and pants fit for the Arctic,” said Jack, inspecting his gear. “No wonder you’re soaked. You must be so cold.”

  “F-freezing,” said Grunt, teeth chattering wildly.

  “Well, why don’t you dry yourself? The computer will do it all for you.”

  “I err… forgot.”

  “What do you mean you forgot? You’re cold-blooded Grunt. You might slip into a coma any second.”

  “Yes well, flying down a water slide like a human missile can be very distracting. I’m not used to all this madness and mayhem. That’s your thing, remember? I’m used to having giant insects trying to devour me. You know, normal stuff like that.”

  “You call that normal,” said Jack, as he watched Grunt close his eyes in between violent shivers and think himself dry. “I’ll stick to my giant water slides, thanks.”

  “Suit yourself,” said Grunt, grinning. “What is this place anyway?”

  “Mount Everest. It’s our highest mountain. It’s almost thirty thousand feet high. What’s your highest mountain?”

  “Beats me,” said Grunt, shrugging. “I can’t remember anything from before I came on board. We could have many mountains higher than this one, or none at all.”

  “I doubt that’s true, every planet has mountains.”

  “Well you never know,” said Grunt. “But it would be nice to know where I’m from, at least. What my planet looks like. Who my family are; if I even have one. Don’t you miss yours?”

  “Yes and no, I suppose,” said Jack, looking round at the jagged white peaks. They looked like the teeth of a Great White Shark. “I want to see them again, of course I do. I wish I could go and see them now – but I can’t – I’m worried that the Xenti or whatever destroyed their planet could follow me back home and do the same to Earth. I don’t want to put them in danger.”

  “But Jack, we still don’t know who did that. It could’ve been anyone. Perhaps it was just an accident?”

  “It wasn’t,” said Jack, shaking his head. I swear that black hole bomb is connected to the one we found in the middle of that intergalactic graveyard we found when we first came aboard. It can’t be a coincidence.”

  “Okay, even if you are right – and I think that you are eating out on a limb there…”

  “It’s going out on a limb, Grunt! Not eating out on one.”

  “Oops sorry, old habits and all that,” said Grunt. “But even if you are correct, I doubt there’s any chance that they’ll be able to trace you back to Earth.”

  “You might be right, Grunt. But I can’t take the chance. Before I came on board this spaceship I said some pretty awful things to my parents, I acted like a spoiled idiot. I don’t want to make it up to them and then get them killed straight after. They will have to wait. Besides, you’re my family now – you, Vyleria and Ros, if we ever find him again. As long as I have you I’ll be fine.”

  “Really, I’m… family?”

  “Sure – my space family. I never had a brother, but if I did I would want him to be like you.”

  “And Vyleria?” asked Grunt.

  “Well, she’s different. We’ll see how that one works out. Speaking of which, where is she? She should’ve checked-in thirty minutes ago.”

  Jack was just about to speak into his holowatch, when up jumped a life-sized hologram of Vyleria, her face beaming wildly.

  “Sorry Jack, I can’t talk for long. I’m in the bathroom. If they see me using this thing they’ll think I’m from one of your sci-fi movies or something.”

  “What? Where are you?”

  “Precisely?”

  “Well that would be helpful.”

  “I’m at fifty thousand feet, somewhere above the mid-Atlantic. It’s like going back in time.”

  “Back in time? What are you talking about?”

  “I believe they call them airplanes,” she said. “Not bad for a low-tech world.”

  “Vyleria, what happened to inconspicuous? At least tell me you’re wearing your disguise.”

  “Err…”

  “Vyleria!”

  “Oh, come on, Jack! I didn’t want to spoil all the fun. You’re always going on about how exciting Earth is and all there is to do there, so I wanted to see it through my own eyes, not through an imposter’s or some drone’s.”

  “Vyleria, what are you thinking? Last time I checked human beings don’t come in red.”

  “Don’t worry, I took care of it.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Jack.

  “I’ve got a cover story.”

  “A what?”

  “Yeah, I tell anybody who asks or looks too closely that I got sunburnt whilst on a trek across the Sahara, which as it happens isn’t too far from the truth. Jack, you never told me you had all this cool stuff on your planet!”

  “They won’t believe that for one second,” he said.

  “Yes, they will. You told me that when you are in the sun too long you go red.”

  “Yes, I did, but…”

  “But what?”

  “It’s different. It doesn’t work like that and even if it did it doesn’t affect your eyes.”

  “Well, I’ve gotten away with it one hundred and ninety four times so far.”

  “What? I’ve only been to one country on Earth – my own. Is there a country you haven’t been to?”

  “I’m on my way to my last one now. I believe you call it the United States of America. I’m pretty sure this is where we’ll find Ros. From what I’ve found out there is a base here in Nevada where they take all the extraterrestrials.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I just do; I have my ways of finding these things out.”

  “Okay, but Vyleria what if they catch you too?”

  “They won’t. I’m taking precautions.”

  “What, like that ridiculous sunstroke story? Vyleria, I don’t want to lose you.”

  “Jack, don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ll check back in another two hours and give you an update.”

  Jack was about to respond, but her hologram fizzed away before his eyes, replaced by an icy, white mountain, flakes of snow blowing into his eyes.

  “Well, that should put you to rest,” said Grunt, shaking his coat of snow. “Vyleria always knows what to do.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” said Jack, as the Himalayas faded away to reveal a large, white, rectangular room. “She’s probably in more trouble than she realises.”

  Chapter 2: First Class

  “Excuse me, where are the in-flight holo-games?” asked Vyleria. “Or the floating massage chairs or the flight simulators?”

  “I’m sorry love,” said the young woman in the bright blue uniform, “We’re not quite in the space age yet. What you see is what you get. For now, you’ll have to make do with First Class. Would you like some more Maltesers to go with your Vimto?”

  “You bet.”

  It wasn’t quite the Interstellar Class she was used to back on Elaria, but Vyleria had to admit that it was still pretty good. She hadn’t been wined and dined on this much since she and Jack stole one of Padget’s servo-bots for a mountain-top picnic a few months back.

  Ah Jack… She did enjoy winding him up. If she had really been to every country on Earth then it would have taken her weeks, if not months, to visit them all. No, she had just been to one - the U.K. Jack had never let on how beautiful his home was, with its ancient, grey cities and its rolling green countryside. One day she would have to take him around London and show him the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, as well as sail in a boat down the Thames. All the places he’d never been to. Though she still didn’t understand why she couldn’t stand on top of one of the London Eye’s capsules, surely they were all protected by an invisible force field? Perhaps they’ll be allowed to do that next time…

  The plane’s tannoy burped into life.

  “Can you please fasten your seatbelt?” asked the woman in the blue suit. “We’ll be landing soon.”

  “Oh yes, sorry.” Clicking her seatbelt into place, Vyleria felt her ears twinge as they descended into a great bank of white, fluffy clouds. It looked like candy floss floating on a deep blue ocean. She switched off her central pain nerve and tucked into yet another bag of deliciously yummy Maltesers and enjoyed the view. Mmm! hello America.