Fur looked anxiously around. “Why isn’t anyone hugging me?”
Teeh gloated at Sally. “We can do whatever we want with both of them.”
Adam took another step forward. “Wait a second. Captain Thorath, between the four of us we wished for some pretty expensive items. We got money, force fields, a new telescope, new outfits. These things must have cost the Kasters a pretty penny.”
Captain Thorath studied him. “What is your point, young man?”
“What if we give you back all these things?” Adam said. “And in exchange you let Hironee and Fur go?”
Sally took her arm off Hironee. “Don’t give the money back,” Sally whispered to Adam.
“I really like that telescope,” Watch said.
“Your proposition is an interesting one,” Captain Thorath said. “A dead trader is of little use to us, and I am sure Teeh here has plenty of slaves to eat.” He paused. “I will accept your offer to return the goods, as long as you can all agree on the offer.”
“I agree,” Fur said.
“You don’t count,” Sally snapped at him. “I say we return everything except the money and Hironee gets to go free with us.”
“But Fur is our friend,” Adam protested.
“Well . . . we haven’t known him all that long,” Watch added.
Adam held up his hands. “Wait a second! How can we have galactic peace if we can’t even have peace among ourselves? We’re all friends here. We have to stick together like friends should. We either return everything and all go free or else remain here and labor away until the end of our lives.” He paused for effect. “What’s it going to be?”
Watch shrugged. “I already have a pretty good telescope at home.”
“I say we give all the stuff back,” Cindy said.
Sally hesitated. “I suppose I’ll get rich anyway, either as a famous actress or a best-selling novelist.”
Captain Thorath shook Adam’s hand and nodded. “You continue to think big, Adam. The galaxy needs more people like you.”
Hironee turned to Sally. “I get to return to Zanath?”
Sally hugged her. “Yeah, and your ticket’s costing me a couple of million. But don’t let that bother you. I just mention it in passing.”
Fur beamed and puffed on his cigar. “I can take you back to Zanath. Heck, I can take the rest of you back to Earth.” He turned toward his spaceship, and the rest of them followed. “I’ve got to see this famous Spooksville. It sounds like a happening place.”
Sally glanced one last time at desolate Amacron 37 and turned up her nose.
“Yeah,” she said. “It sure beats this place.”
About the Author
Little is known about Christopher Pike, although he is supposed to be a strange man. It is rumored that he was born in New York but grew up in Los Angeles. He has been seen in Santa Barbara lately, so he probably lives there now. But no one really knows what he looks like, or how old he is. It is possible that he is not a real person, but an eccentric creature visiting from another world. When he is not writing, he sits and stares at the walls of his huge haunted house. A short, ugly troll wanders around him in the dark and whispers scary stories in his ear.
Christopher Pike is one of this planet’s best-selling authors of young adult fiction.
Books by Christopher Pike
Spooksville #1: The Secret Path
Spooksville #2: The Howling Ghost
Spooksville #3: The Haunted Cave
Spooksville #4: Aliens in the Sky
Spooksville #5: The Cold People
Spooksville #7: The Dark Corner
Spooksville #8: The Little People
Spooksville #9: The Wishing Stone
Spooksville #10: The Wicked Cat
Spooksville #11: The Deadly Past
Spooksville #12: The Hidden Beast
Spooksville #13: The Creature in the Teacher
Spooksville #14: The Evil House
Spooksville #15: Invasion of the No-Ones
Spooksville #16: Time Terror
Spooksville #17: The Thing in the Closet
Available from MINSTREL Books
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A MINSTREL PAPERBACK Original
A Minstrel Book published by
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 1996 by Christopher Pike
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0-671-55068-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-4814-1085-4 (eBook)
First Minstrel printing June 1996
A MINSTREL BOOK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.
SPOOKSVILLE is a trademark of Christopher Pike.
Cover art by Lee MacLeod