Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven
James could see Ted and Bill’s worried faces peering out of the shack window as Benola approached. James remained where the spaceman had put him next to his mother.
“Are you Ted and Bill?” he enquired in a slow deep voice.
Inside Ted and Bill nodded in the affirmative, but neither one seemed inclined to go outside of the shack and introduce themselves personally to this giant. Instead they stayed cowering inside. James fancied he could see the pair of them trembling and certainly their faces were rather pale and anxious.
“Come outside and let me take a closer look at you,” rumbled the spaceman. Ted shook his head at this invitation. James could see his mouth moving but couldn’t work out what he was saying. He didn’t really need to hear Ted’s answer though as his behaviour was enough to show that he was feeling extremely nervous.
“Come on out,” growled the alien, his voice taking on an impatient tone.
However still Ted and Bill resisted all attempts to encourage them outside and remained cowering beside the window.
Benola seemed angered by their refusal to do as he asked. With one huge boot he stamped the ground impatiently making the surrounding earth vibrate. He then took some kind of transmitter from his breast pocket and started to speak into it in his own language. He was contacting the crew aboard the spaceship.
After a short interval the transparent hatch at the top of the craft slid slowly back and two more of the spacemen climbed carefully out. Like their Commander they were also gigantic in size. Their uniforms were darker than their leader and the arm and leg sections appeared to be ribbed in a concertina fashion. Their hands, if they could be called that, looked almost like metal spanners. James and his mother were soon to see the significance of this.
Once again the commander called out to the occupants of the shack. “My crew would like to meet you both! They have never met a human life form before and they are very interested in having a closer look,” he boomed.
But still Ted and Bill cowered behind the safety of the glass window.
Their reluctance to show themselves was beginning to anger Benola for without warning he bent forward and took hold of the shack roof between his gloved hands and wrenched it free just as though he was lifting the lid from a tub of margarine.
James’ mother gasped and put her hand to her mouth in horror, but James gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder saying,
“It’s alright Mum, I don’t think he’s really angry. He isn’t going to harm them, he just wants to make them realise that it’s no fun being small when there are giants around the place.”
“Well all I can say,” said Mrs. Medford “is that if he’s acting, then he’s putting on a jolly good performance! I’m glad he’s a friend of yours, it wouldn’t do to get on the wrong side of him.”
Having been forcibly disturbed from their hiding place Ted and Bill had both started to run from the shack. To their horror though the two space creatures calmly extended their arms and seemingly effortlessly brought their spanner like hands down towards Ted and Bill. Without further ado they opened their hands and grabbed their prey around the waist in a vice like grip. Once caught Ted and Bill were lifted off their feet into the air some thirty feet or so above the ground. James looked up at them as they helplessly dangled there above his head. He was really beginning to feel sorry for them, but then he remembered the fear of being kidnapped and the worry about the safety of his miniature friends. Perhaps after all it was no more than they deserved.
Benola took something from his pocket. It appeared to be a flat square of material resembling card or paper. He unfolded it and after clipping some pieces together James could see that the space commander had made a kind of cube with transparent sides. It was about six feet long by six feet high, though of course in Benola’s hand these dimensions were dwarfed and he might have been holding a Rubik’s cube.
With Ted and Bill watching, Benola placed the cube on the ground beside him. He then turned gave another command to his crew. Immediately they lowered their captives into the cube. As soon as their feet had made contact with the floor the spanners released their prey and Ted and Bill stumbled forward, bumping into one another in the process.
They both hurriedly got to their feet; Ted brushing himself down as he did so. Bill moved across to the side of the container and started banging on it with his fists. However he was soon distracted from this activity for the giant bent down and picked the container up, plunging its occupants sideways. Ted and Bill remained on the floor of the container this time, deeming it the safest place to be whilst the container was air borne. Benola held them aloft and peered at them through the glass. It was just as though they were beetles confined in a bug bottle.
“Very interesting specimens,” the spaceman concluded. “It is strange how one of them has fuzzy growth sprouting from his chin and the top of his head, but the other one has neither and looks more like the inhabitants of Bungulia. It will be interesting for my people to study these humanoid creatures.
Ted looked out of the container at him.
“You’re not taking us with you are you?” He said with a terrified look on his face. Bill joined in the protest.
“No, you can’t possibly take us back to your planet. It’s too far; we must remain here on Earth.”
Benola looked at them through the sides of the container.
“Wouldn’t it be a great adventure?” he asked the miserable pair. “After all no other human traveller has visited the planet I come from. Just think what stories you would be able to tell your children and grandchildren. You would be making history!”
“We most likely wouldn’t be able to tell anyone our tales of adventure unless you were willing to bring us back again,” said Ted.
“Oh well, that could be arranged,” agreed the spaceman.
“But how long would the journey take to get us there and back?” asked Bill anxiously. We’d probably be very old men before we arrived back. No! It’s not for me.” He concluded firmly.
James came over to join them at this point. He had been listening to the conversation and was concerned that Benola really did mean to carry out his threat and abduct Ted and Bill. He felt that maybe the joke they had played on them had gone too far. Craning his neck as he looked up at Benola he asked nervously, “You wouldn’t really take them off to your planet if they didn’t want to go, would you?”
Benola looked down at James and smiled.
“What do you think is the best thing to do James?” he asked.
Without hesitation James replied.
“I think it would be fairer to leave them here, if that’s what they want. It wouldn’t be right to take them away from their families and friends and everything that they know. They might not like living on Bungulia.”
Benola bent down and patted James’ head.
“I think that you might be right.” Benola agreed.
With that he carefully picked first Bill and then Ted out of their glass cage and set them gently down on the ground next to James.
Ted mopped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and then grasped James by the hand.
“My dear boy, how can we ever thank you for intervening on our behalf.”
“Yes,” agreed Bill “that was really decent of you considering the way the tables have been turned.”
James smiled at them and shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s okay,” he said “but I’m glad that you didn’t find the little astronauts or their fate might have been the same as yours nearly was.” Ted and Bill both nodded thoughtfully. It was going to be some time before they went hunting UFO’s again.
James suddenly looked up and exclaimed,
“It’s George!”
The others followed his gaze and noticed a blue Astra approaching rapidly. The car was being driven by George’s father with George’s mother in the passenger seat and George himself anxiously peering from the back window. Shortly behind them followed James’ father in his car.
The cars came to a halt and James dashed alongside, shouting above the noise of the engines.
“Have you brought them with you?”
As the car came to a halt George spilled out clutching the box in both hands and trying to answer James’ innumerable questions at the same time. For a minute everyone seemed to be talking at the same time. Eventually calm was restored to the scene and Mr Medford and George’s mother and father went across to Mrs. Medford to make sure that both she and James were safe and sound. In their haste to greet her they had not really been aware of the gigantic spaceman towering over them. Now however George’s father stood rooted to the spot, scratching his head in a puzzled fashion as his eyes travelled from the giant boots on up to the giant helmet.
“Well I never,” he was muttering, “I’ve seen a few sights in my time, but this must really take the biscuit!”
“Yes,” commented his wife, “we will have to accept that George was telling us the truth after all; even if it did sound like a “tall story.” Everyone laughed at the significance of her joke as they stood there in the shadow of the tall astronaut.
George turned to James and said,
“I waited and waited for you to come round like you promised. When it got to 6pm and there was still no sign of you I was getting really worried. I’d phoned your house several times during the afternoon and the last time I tried your father answered. He was getting a bit anxious too. No one was at home when he returned from work and there were no messages. Then when I told Gurgu he was beside himself with worry.” Gurgu sat with his crew listening as George outlined the events of the previous few hours.
“We were all sitting in my bedroom fearing the worst when all of a sudden there came a crackling noise from Gurgu’s radio receiver. The Bungulians immediately started to get very excited. Gurgu told me that the radio had finally picked up a message. A rescue party had set out from Bungulia and had landed somewhere nearby. So we decided that the time had come to tell my parents and get them to help find the spaceship. Gurgu had the exact location and was able to direct us here, it really didn’t take long. The longest part was trying to convince my mum and dad that Gurgu and the others really were astronauts from deepest space. Although when they heard from your dad that you and your mother were missing they decided that they would help in the search; if they stumbled upon a spaceship at the same time then so much the better!” George laughed as he looked at the spaceship lying in the pit and then at his parents who were still looking rather dazed and bewildered.
At that moment they were all distracted from listening to George’s explanation as a police car complete with flashing blue light and wailing siren hove into view. A policeman and policewoman emerged from the car. They glanced around the scene and the policeman began to speak into his walkie talkie alerting his headquarters as to their find.
“This is Delta One to Control. We have located a mysterious object at Brightstone quarry just five miles from Huntsholme. There are a number of people stood around the object and what looks like a giant spaceman! Yes, I did say GIANT SPACEMAN!” The police woman approached James, George and the group of grown-ups who were standing alongside the chalk quarry looking down at the spaceship.
“Would you mind telling me what’s going on?” she asked.
Before she could continue further with her questioning though Benola stepped forward. Quick as a flash he produced a huge glowing stone which he placed on the ground in front of the group. James and George watched in fascination as the stone, which looked very much like a huge bubble, shimmered before them. They could see pools like rainbows swirling this way and that around the curved surface. Most extraordinary of all though was the effect that this iridescent bubble seemed to be having on all the adults present. Without exception they all stood there like statues, eyes glazed and frozen in time. The police woman, with her hands clutching notebook and pen, about to write down some notes about this strange phenomenon. Mrs. Medford with her mouth open about to recount all that had happened to herself and James. All stood there completely immobilised.
James looked at George questioningly and then they both turned their gaze to Benola with puzzled expressions on their faces.
“It’s alright,” he said interpreting their questioning looks. He waved his hand towards the frozen adults “They won’t come to any harm. Now we must get to work.”
“What are you going to do?” asked James.
“Well,” replied Benola, “my crew and I have got to complete our task, which is to rescue our fellow Bungulians. Now that George has kindly delivered Gurgu and his companions to us we must set about our journey home. But before we leave there is one more thing to do.” He walked across to where Gurgu and the others still sat on the box of the broken spaceship. He said something in his own language and Gurgu replied. Without speaking further Benola picked Gurgu up and placed him carefully down on the ground. He then did the same with the crew members. Soon they were all standing on the ground next to Gurgu. At a command from Benola they all joined hands and stood together in a circle. Benola then took a tube of something that seemed to resemble toothpaste but was a glittery, silver colour. He stooped down and began to squeeze this paste-like substance onto each of the astronauts in turn. As James and George watched they were amazed to see them begin to grow larger before their very eyes. Soon they were all the same size as Benola. Gurgu spoke this time and they were able to hear him without the amplification of the microphone.
“Dear friends, it is now time for us to depart. We have spent long enough away from our planet of Bungulia and we are all anxious to return home. We will never forget our stay on Earth with you, and give you our sincere thanks for helping us to survive and for looking after us so well.”
“That’s okay,” said James fighting back the tears he could feel prickling his eyes. “It’s been fun and we will miss you.”
“Yes,” agreed George. “We won’t forget you either.”
“Perhaps one day we will return,” continued Gurgu. “Or maybe you will visit us on Bungulia, who knows? Until then we will leave you something to remember us by. He bent down and picked up the spaceship which was still in the box on the ground alongside them. He handed this to James.
“We want you to keep this as a souvenir of our visit.” Gurgu crossed his hands in front of his chest and bowed low in a formal gesture of goodbye. All the other astronauts followed his example. James and George bowed in the same fashion. As Gurgu and the other astronauts turned to make their way across to the pit where the rescue space ship lay, Benola advanced towards the two boys.
“I would also like to give you something by which you may remember us. He handed James and George some tubes which looked just like the one he had used earlier when restoring Gurgu and the others back to their full size.
“Inside those tubes is a reducing paste, just rub a little onto the object that you wish to make smaller and hey presto it will shrink. When you wish to reverse the procedure just sprinkle on a few drops of water and wait a few seconds. It couldn’t be simpler. Just one word of warning though, it won’t work on humans. Also don’t worry about using it all up, as however much you use the paste always regenerates itself. So have fun!” With that Benola stepped aboard the spacecraft.
“Goodbye,” the two boys shouted. They stood waving as the spaceship started to rise, stirring up the dust as it did so. There was no sound of an engine and the saucer seemed to rise effortlessly above them. They stood watching until the spaceship became a distant glow in the sky. They knew that life was going to seem a little dull without Gurgu and his crew.
“At least they will get back to their own planet now,” said James.
“Yes, I wonder what Gurgu meant when he said that we might visit Bungulia one day. How far away do you think it is?”
“I’ll look it up in my book about planets,” said James. “Right now I think that we’ve got more urgent matters to attend to.” He said looking at the group of adults who were just beginning to emerge from their trance like state and rubbing their eyes.
By the time all the grown ups had woken up and become aware of their surroundings again the Bungulian craft was just a faint glow in the sky. The policeman was still holding his walkie talkie handset to his mouth ready to communicate with the police station. The group of adults began to look around them, puzzled to find themselves in such a strange location.
“What’s going on?” enquired James father.
“Don’t ask me,” replied George’s dad.
“I seem to remember something about a reported UFO sighting at the quarry,” said the policewoman. “But I can’t see anything unusual here.”
“Probably a hoax caller,” agreed the policeman with her.
“I seem to remember that there was a kidnapping.” George’s mother put in.
“Yes, it’s coming back to me now,” James mother added. “Those horrible men crashed into my car and took James and me to this quarry. We were held prisoner over there.” Everyone followed her gaze as she pointed to the now derelict shack. “What happened to the roof though?” She looked bewildered as her eyes came to rest on the roof which was neatly placed on the ground alongside.
“It’s a long story,” James said as he and George approached the group. “And I don’t think now is the right time to tell it,” he added. “It’s getting cold out here; I think we ought to be getting home.
“Quite right,” agreed Mr. Medford. “I’m sure all of this will make sense in the morning.” George and James looked sideways at each other, somehow neither of them quite believed that any of the past events would be any easier to explain in the morning, but tomorrow was another day.
It was almost midnight before James and his parents turned into their road. They had waved goodbye to George and his family a few roads away.
“Bother,” exclaimed James’ father as they approached their house. “We can’t park outside our house, there are no free spaces. I’ll just have to drive further along the road.”
James, who was in the back and feeling sleepy, suddenly sat bolt upright remembering what Benola had given him as a parting gift.
“No, wait!” he exclaimed. His father looked at him in the driver’s mirror, a frown etched upon his face. What was James panicking about now he wondered?
“Just stop the car here dad,” said James.
“Here!” Mr. Medford shouted exasperatedly. “James, I really don’t think that is such a good idea. You have to think of other road users after all.”
“No, wait and see Dad,” said James. “We’ve all got to get out of the car.”
“I really don’t believe this,” began Mr. Medford.
“Just humour him,” said his wife. “It’s been a long day and I expect he’s over-tired with all the excitement.”
James’ parents got out of the car, followed by James himself. He was brandishing the tube of glittery paste and without further ado he started to squeeze some of the paste onto the bonnet and gently rub it in to the paintwork. When he had rubbed a little over the roof and boot too the shrinking effect started. Within a minute the car was the size of a Matchbox model and before his parents could blink James had lifted it up and tucked it into his trouser pocket.
“What’s happened to the car?” spluttered the Medford’s in unison.
“I’ll be needing that tomorrow, said James’ father.
“Don’t worry,” said James. “Benola told me how to reverse the process. It will be back to normal in the morning, but in the meantime you’ve no worries about finding a parking space. It’s ace!”
“Do you know I think you’re right!” beamed his father and on that happy note the three of them went indoors.

Chapter Ten

Chapter 10

That afternoon was a very long one for George. After James called him on the phone he ran up to his room to explain to the Bungulians that it wasn’t going to be possible to start the repairs to the spaceship.

“Not to worry,” Gurgu smiled at him reassuringly. “We can keep ourselves busy preparing our equipment for the journey ahead.” He organised his crew to action. Some of them busily polished their space suits and helmets until they gleamed. Others began to load the remains of the food supplies they had gathered into small containers. One group were engaged in sorting the samples of things from Earth that they would take back to their own planet as proof of their journey. They were taking some samples of soil from the garden which George had collected for them earlier. There were also some small pieces of rock and stones, some chalk, flint and quartz. George wondered whether these would ever reach their destination or whether they would provide a tasty snack during the trip.

Several times during the afternoon George tried phoning James’ house but there was no reply and he was getting increasingly worried. He went upstairs to talk with Gurgu about what should be done. It seemed that Gurgu was of the opinion that George might have to reveal to his parents what danger James and his mother could be facing.

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

They travelled the next few miles in tense silence.  Mrs. Medford sat gripping the edge of her seat and staring straight ahead. James looked out of the window straining to see if he could recognise the area through which they were being driven. He guessed that they must be about five or six miles from his home by now.

After what seemed like an age Bill drew up alongside a low, ramshackle old building. The whole area looked neglected and decayed. There was no sign of anyone else about the place. To one side of the building was a plot of wasteland with weeds growing rampantly. Opposite was what looked like a chalk quarry. James could see the white cliff face where the chalk had been hewn from the side.

“Right, let’s get them inside.” Bill said to his accomplice. So saying, he jumped nimbly from the car and dashed around to open the passenger door for James’ mother giving her a mock bow as he did so.

Ted meanwhile stretched across James and opening the rear door gave him a shove. “Come on, we ‘aven’t got all day, he said gruffly, let’s get a move on.”

James stumbled from the car and quickly looked about him for an escape route but he noticed that Ted had leapt out smartly behind him. He also didn’t think that it would be fair to abandon his mother at this stage, even if it meant that he could come back with a rescue party. After all, it was his spaceship that they were after and it would seem that they were interested in what he could tell them about it. Maybe once inside the building he would have time to formulate an escape plan.

As he moved forwards across the gravel he saw Bill produce a key from his trouser pocket and unlock the door that faced them. The door swung open with a creak on rusty hinges. James and his mother stood looking into a medium sized room, sparsely furnished, with bare floorboards. Ragged curtains hung unevenly at the windows and cobwebs adorned the roof beams. There was no electric light but instead an old fashioned oil lamp stood on the table in the centre of the room. Ted produced some matches from his pocket and lit the lamp.

“Excuse the mess, said Bill looking towards his captives and rubbing his hands. Only we weren’t expecting guests.” He emphasised the word “guests” and gave a low chuckle. “Still, provided James spills the beans, this shouldn’t take too long and you will be free to go on your way.”

“Yes, then we’ll all be happy,” Ted agreed.

“You do realise that people are going to be looking for us soon, said Mrs. Medford coldly. I shouldn’t wonder if there’s a search party out already.”

“Yes, ‘tis no doubt true dear lady, began Bill, but they’ll have to find you first, and by my estimation that should take a few hours, certainly long enough for James here to tell us all he knows about our space travelling friends. Isn’t that right James?”  He gave a nod towards James and smiled his sly grin displaying yellowed teeth. James tried to ignore him, though if he had been any closer he would have felt like kicking him on the shins.

Mrs. Medford however, was showing interest in Bill’s comment and now turned to her son and asked “Just what’s going on James? I think it’s about time I was told.

James gave a huge sigh and sat down on the nearest chair.

“It all started with the spaceship that I got for my birthday.” He suddenly remembered that in his haste to get out of the car he had left it behind on the back seat. He didn’t think that there was any point in worrying about it at this stage. He continued with his story, being careful not to disclose any information about the spaceship’s occupants. At least that way he could keep them safe from Ted and Bill.

When he had finished recounting the events of the past few days Ted let out a low whistle through his teeth.

“Fascinating stuff my lad; truly fascinating. Now tell me did your rocket come from the Treasure Chest toy shop in the High Street at Huntsholme?”

James nodded.

“So that establishes that we have got the rocket we’ve been looking for.” He glanced over at Ted who nodded.

“We thought as much from that photo we managed to obtain.”

James’ mother joined in, “May I see that photo?” They passed it to her and she saw that it was the one taken by the manager of the toy shop; the one that had gone missing so mysteriously. For confirmation she flipped it over to look on the reverse and there sure enough was her handwriting bearing her own name and address.

“How did you manage to get hold of this?” She asked Ted.

“Oh well, there are ways and means dear lady. After all we knew the approximate site of the crash landing, and after that, well it was just a question of keeping our eyes and ears open, so to speak. Quite an easy matter to make off with the photo, after all it was just lying there on the counter with nobody minding it. We knew we were hot on the trail after that. So now James, dear boy, all that remains is for you to give us the precise location of your tiny friends and then I daresay you’ll both be free to go home.”

James looked from Bill to Ted and then towards his mother. His mouth felt dry after all the talking he had been doing, and the knowledge that he would soon have to reveal the Bungulians hide-out gave him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Go on James, said his mother, you’ve really got no choice but to tell them.”

“If I do,” said James, “I want to know what will happen to them. I’ve got to know that they won’t come to any harm.”

Before Ted or Bill could come up with an answer however, there was a sudden noise from outside which made them all jump. Ted crossed cautiously to the window and drew back a corner of the curtain. What he saw made him suddenly go pale, his eyes opening wider in disbelief. “What the ……….” He spluttered. The others didn’t have long to find out what had caused his alarm.

 

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Owing to the burglary it wasn’t until the following day that James managed to visit George.

“Where were you yesterday?” was George’s first question on opening the door. “I thought that you were supposed to be coming round.”

“You’re right, I had said that I would, but something cropped up, we were burgled.”

George’s former look of impatience now turned to one of concern as he asked “Is everything alright? What about the spaceship?”

“Fortunately it was left undisturbed,” smiled James. “If you ask me it was very lucky that we hid it in time.”

Taking in the full implication of James’ comment George now asked, “Do you think that’s what the burglars were looking for?”

“Well nothing else was taken, and remember what Gurgu told us about the UFO hunters that he suspects are on their trail. To my mind it points almost conclusively to them. Anyway, he said remembering, how is Gurgu and his crew?”

“Come upstairs and see them.” George led the way up and James followed as George raced ahead to his room. On entering the room George walked towards a set of shelves filled with various toys. A farmyard sat on the third shelf down and as George carefully lifted the roof from the farmhouse James was able to look down upon his tiny friends. He could see that they had made themselves at home. Looking up as the roof of their makeshift home was removed the astronauts immediately showed their excitement at being reunited with their friend. James reached for the computer game lying on the shelf nearby but before he could turn it on George stopped him.

 “That’s not necessary now, he smiled. We’ve got a surprise for you. Listen!”

Gurgu had been listening to the two boys’ conversation and now walked up to a microphone which was carefully balanced on a small plastic stand next to the farmhouse. He pushed a button on the side and as the microphone crackled to life he began to speak to the astonished James.

“Hello James.” It is nice to be able to speak directly with you.”

His voice was magnified by a loudspeaker which was standing underneath the shelf. Despite this his voice was very small and tinny and James had to listen very carefully.

“Isn’t George clever to have built this for us?”

“Yes, agreed James. It is a good idea. George has always been good at inventing things and now I realise what a useful gift it is.”

George, although flattered by this praise interrupted impatiently. “Go on James get to the point and tell Gurgu what’s happened.”

“Is something wrong? Gurgu was frowning and James noticed the small community draw anxiously closer towards him, listening intently as he began to recount the previous day’s happenings. It didn’t take him long to put them all in the picture and when he had finished he sank down to the floor and waited.

To begin with the astronauts talked excitedly amongst themselves in their own language and so neither James nor George were able to understand. Finally after some minutes Gurgu approached the microphone and began to communicate once more.

He started by apologising “We are being most ill mannered talking in our own language and we hope that we have not offended but it is much easier for us to communicate our thoughts and ideas to one another in our own native tongue. What we are all agreed upon is the need for us to move quickly. Now that we have evidence that the UFO hunters are on our trail it is imperative that we begin the repairs on our spaceship without delay. James, can we ask you to bring our craft to us as soon as possible?

James nodded. “Shall I come round with it this afternoon?”

George agreed and with the matter settled satisfactorily James bid them farewell and went home for his lunch.

He ran all the way home, fired with the enthusiasm of knowing that in a short time he would be helping George and the astronauts repair the damaged spaceship. He raced up the path and opened the back door. His mother was in the kitchen. She turned and smiled as he came in. “Did you have a good time at George’s?”

“Yes thanks, I’m going back again after lunch.” At this his mother threw her hands up in the air despairingly.

“I’ve already arranged to take the spaceship set back to the shop this afternoon, so you’ll have to come too James.”

“Oh Mum, do I have to?” wailed James.

“Yes, you do. Now no more whining, you can call on George later.”

Moodily James made his way to the phone to tell George the bad news.

At two o’ clock James and his mother drove to the toy shop. James sat in the rear of the car with the spaceship on his lap. Only a short time before he had retrieved the box and its valuable contents from behind the fireplace in his bedroom. Some soot and plaster had been lying on the lid but he had found one of his socks lying discarded under the bed and used that as a duster.

A hint of a smile passed across his face as he thought of his mother’s likely reaction on finding the grimy sock. It was going to be difficult to explain how one sock should get so grubby. In truth he felt that if his mother hadn’t insisted on this journey now, then he may not have had to hurriedly clean the box up. They were just approaching another set of traffic lights, red again. Why was it that some days the lights all went against you? It was just as they were about to pull away that the accident happened. The lights had turned to green and James’ mother put the car into gear and moved off when quite suddenly the car alongside swung sideways. It all happened so quickly that James and his mother were quite shaken, but fortunately nobody was hurt. The car it seemed was another matter; the wing appeared to be badly dented and indeed when his mother got out to view the damage she realised that the metal had been pushed right back onto the tyre to such an extent that driving the car would be impossible. The other driver who had immediately jumped out after the car crash, and his passenger, a man in a flat, checked cap, helped to push the car clear of the road and other traffic. They appeared to be very helpful and concerned. The usual business followed of exchanging names and addresses and it seemed that matters were sorting themselves out quite well.

“Now can we do anything to help you, where were you heading? The driver asked.

James studied him. He was tall and thin with a bald head that looked pink and shiny almost as though he spent time each day polishing it. This thought amused James and he started smiling. It must have been the smile that attracted the bald man’s attention for he stopped talking to Mrs. Medford and strolled over to James.

“What’s your name sonny?” he smiled down at James.

James dutifully told the man his name and the man turned his attention back to Mrs. Medford. “Can we give you a lift anywhere?” he asked.

“That’s very kind of you,” said James’ mother, “but I think we’ll catch the bus home now.”

She turned towards James. “I think we’ll abandon the trip to the toy shop now. I’ll phone them and re-arrange to go back another day.”

James nodded in agreement and turned towards the car to get the space ship box and his coat. It seemed that the bald man wasn’t content to leave things there however.

“No really, I insist,” he continued, “let me drop you home, after all it’s entirely my fault that your car is damaged. Now where do you live?”

Finally Mrs. Medford agreed and within a few minutes had climbed into the Citroen, Mrs. Medford in the front and James and the man in the flat cap seated in the back.

The bald man, who was called Bill, chatted amiably about the weather, traffic and countless other topics that James found rather boring. The dullness of the conversation and the monotonous drone of the engine were beginning to make him feel sleepy. He started to yawn hugely. Noticing this, the man in the flat cap, his name seemed to be Ted, struck up a conversation. He spoke with an accent that James recognised as Yorkshire, his vowels were flattened and some of the words shortened. “ Wat’s thou got in’t box then, lad?”

James grip tightened on the box and moved it nearer to him in a possessive manner.

“Just a construction set” he answered. He was deliberately vague and hoped that he could change the subject. But Ted’s attention seemed to be riveted on the box and he continued with his unwelcome questions.

“What kind of thing cans’t tha build with all them bricks and pieces? It looks right difficult.”

“Oh, it’s just a space ship set,” replied James “but it was broken.” He realised then that perhaps he had said too much. A small whisper of fear began to sound in his head. The whisper grew to a thunderous roar when Ted produced a photograph from his pocket and said, “Now isn’t that a coincidence! I’ve got a photo here of a set that got itself broken. I wonder if it looks owt like yours.”

Before James could answer Ted began talking to his companion the driver.

“Well Bill, looks like we’ve found what we’ve been looking for!” T’ young lad’s got it ‘ere in this box.”

Bill cast a swift glance in his driving mirror in order to look at James. “Well I never, he said, and we’ve been searching all over the place too. Who says there’s no such thing as miracles? Seems like the fly has walked right into our parlour, so to speak.” he smiled triumphantly.

Mrs. Medford was anxiously looking over her shoulder with an expression of puzzled concern. “I’m sorry, she began, I don’t know what you mean. What does James have in that box? Surely it’s just a child’s construction set?”

“That’s what it appears to be, certainly, Bill agreed. However that is exactly why the cunning little creatures decided to hide their broken flying saucer there in the first place, less risk of detection. But they didn’t bargain on our superior detective work! Isn’t that right Ted?” He directed a knowing wink at his accomplice.

James throughout all of this was still possessively clutching the box so tightly that his knuckles were showing white, almost as white as his face, from which the colour had drained swiftly as soon as he realised that Ted and Bill were the UFO hunters.

“You aren’t clever! James hissed at the pair, anger beginning to replace fear. If it hadn’t been for your bad driving then you would never have discovered the spaceship!” Almost immediately he had said this he realised his mistake. He bit his lip in an effort to stop himself saying anymore. Now he had admitted that he knew about the Bungulians. Why oh why hadn’t he remained silent, then perhaps he could have feigned surprise. Ted and Bill might just have believed that it was all as much a mystery to him as it was to his mother.

The significance of his words weren’t lost on Ted however. He was now studying him with sharp, probing eyes. “Well, well, he muttered seems we really have hit the jackpot with this young man Bill”

“Mm could be he’ll have quite a bit to tell us,” agreed Ted.

“Look if you don’t mind stopping the car, I think we’ll get out here and make our own way home. It’s not far now, I’m sure we can walk.  Mrs. Medford looked about her distractedly. If it means so much to you we’ll leave that toy, and here she jabbed the air violently with her finger in the direction of the box, for you to examine, but I personally have had enough of this nonsense!” She practically shouted this last sentence and glared furiously at Bill.

“Now there’s no need to get into such a stew,” said Bill in an effort to calm her down, but at the moment it’s impossible to take you home. There are a few things we would like to talk over with James. Now please be reasonable, we’re not going to harm either of you. We just want to examine the space ship and find out how much James knows about this strange business.”

 

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

James found life without the Bungulians in his room rather lonely. Despite the fact that he had only known about their existence for the last few days he had become surprisingly used to his conversations with them. Just observing them in the toy castle was fun. He looked at the castle now and it appeared empty and lifeless. Anyway he reflected at least the Bungulians should be safe for the time being, that was what mattered the most.

He knew that he wouldn’t be able to visit George that morning because he had a swimming lesson to attend, but he hoped that he could pop around to George’s house later.

Meanwhile he gathered together his swimming trunks and towel and bundling them into a plastic bag set off with his mother to the pool. His mother usually went shopping whilst James had his lesson.

“If only I’d thought of it before James, I could have taken your game to the toy shop so they could take another photo. It went clean out of my mind. I wonder whether I’ve time to slip back home and get it before I meet you.”

“It’s alright Mum, we can take it back tomorrow. I don’t suppose there’s any rush.” He wondered what his mother would say when she couldn’t find the set. Certainly she wouldn’t think of looking behind the fireplace.

“Oh well. I suppose you’re right,” she sighed. “Enjoy your swimming then James I’ll see you later on.” With that she left James at the entrance to the pool.

At ten thirty James’ lesson had finished and he was waiting in the car park for his mother to collect him. After a few minutes she arrived and they set off for home.

“I think we’ll stop on the way back and buy some fish and chips for lunch. How does that suit you James?”

“Great, yes I’d like that, thanks,” came the reply from the back seat.

They arrived home with their lunch wrapped in newspaper and tucked under James’ arm.

His mother opened the front door and they headed towards the kitchen. Before they had gone very far they both stopped in their tracks at the sight that confronted them. The door to the sitting room was open. James remembered that his mother had shut it before going out. Beyond the door, the entire room had been turned upside down. The coffee table had been upturned; newspapers and magazines had been thrown from the rack and lay on the floor higgledy-piggledy. The doors of the cupboard were open and the contents strewn over the floor. His mother let out an anguished cry.

“Oh James, look we’ve been burgled. Why would anyone want to do this to us? Just look at the mess.”

James walked further into the room surveying the scene to see what valuables had been removed. The television and DVD recorder were still in the corner of the room, so were the various ornaments and books dotted about the place.

“Don’t touch anything James,” his mother said anxiously. “I’d better go and phone the police. They would probably prefer everything to remain just as we found it for clues.”

James nodded “I’ll just pop upstairs then, and see if they’ve been up there.” With that he ran up the flight of stairs and briefly looked into each room. A wave of apprehension made him hesitate as he entered his own bedroom. However he need not have worried. Despite the turmoil around the room where his possessions had been strewn haphazardly by the intruder, the fireplace where James’ gaze immediately settled bore no signs of disturbance. A feeling of immense relief swept over James now as he absorbed the fact that the spaceship was still safely hidden.

He glanced into the other rooms, all of which were as messy as his own. Obviously whoever had broken in had searched very thoroughly for something and James felt that he had a good idea what it was they were searching for. What luck that the Bungulians themselves were in a safe hiding place and only just in time too. His thoughts were interrupted by his mother calling.

“Are you alright James? Can you see if anything has gone from up there?”

“I’m okay,” he shouted down to her. “It doesn’t look as though anything has been taken, but they’ve left a right mess.”

He walked to the top of the stairs and began descending them. At that moment the door bell rang. “That will probably be the police,” said his mother as she headed towards the front door.

Police Inspector Woodington stood on the doorstep and introduced himself, at the same time showing his identity card. Mrs. Medford greeted him and showed him in to the sitting room.

The Inspector gave a cursory glance around the room taking in the details and assessing the situation.

“Well now Mrs. Medford, bit of a shock to find all this on returning home. Can you just tell me what is missing, giving as much detail about the items as possible?”

James’ mother looked at the police inspector. “That’s just the point, Inspector Woodington, nothing has been stolen as far as I can ascertain. I had a look around this room before you came and James, my son, looked upstairs but neither of us have found a thing missing.”

The Inspector who had been standing with his back to Mrs. Medford checking the window for signs of a forced entry swung round to face her.

“Do you mean to tell me that someone forced their way into this house, created this amount of chaos and walked away empty-handed,” he blustered. Seems very odd! Is it possible that they might have been searching for something in particular?”

“I really don’t know Inspector, there’s nothing that I can think of.”

“Leave everything just as it is for the moment would you Mrs. Medford? I’ll be sending the forensic team round to take fingerprints. Obviously if there’s nothing missing then we can’t do a great deal more to help, but the fingerprint samples may be of some use to us if there are any more burglaries in the neighbourhood. I daresay we probably won’t get to the bottom of this mystery but at least nothing of value is missing. Perhaps you disturbed the thieves when you came home and so they made a quick get away.”

“Yes that might be possible, Mrs. Medford nodded. Turning to look at James she added “It seems as though we got home just at the right time doesn’t it?”

James nodded in agreement and the Inspector smiled at them both and said, “Well I must be getting along back to the station now. It shouldn’t be too long before the fingerprint team get here.”

As predicted the forensic department arrived just half an hour later and had soon completed their task. It was just as they were leaving that James’ Dad arrived home. “I’ve just noticed a police car outside,” he said as he opened the front door. Is anything up?” His question was answered for him as he came face to face with the trail of muddle and chaos that had been left in the wake of the burglary.

“Afternoon sir,” said a policeman in the hall who had just started packing his equipment away. Seems like you had a break in today, continued the officer.”

Mr. Medford looked at him uncomprehendingly, almost unable to believe his ears or eyes.

The officer continued, “It’s alright, seems you were lucky, nothing has been taken. We think your wife and son disturbed them.”

These last few words struck James’ father like a bolt of lightning and as he surfaced from his dazed condition he was able to stutter…….. “My family, are they alright? Where are they?”

“Yes, yes they’re both perfectly alright, just naturally shocked to come back and find all this,” he motioned with his hand. You’ll find them in there sir,” he said indicating  the sitting room. “Now if you will excuse us we must be going. Just one thing though, Mr. Medford, you might be well advised to think about fitting some window locks. You never know, another time it could deter the casual burglar.

“Yes, James father agreed. I’ll have to give that some thought and with these words he shut the front door.

 

Chapter Six

Chapter 6

True to his word James set off for George’s house after lunch. George lived just around the corner from James; on the way there he pondered what he would say to him. Trying to convince someone of the existence of a group of extra-terrestrials was no easy matter James thought, but he reflected that George might be easier to convince than his own parents. In any case he did have solid proof in the shape of the Bungulians.

It was George himself who opened the front door. He greeted James enthusiastically.

“I’ve got a great new computer game. Do you want to come and play it?” There are aliens and spaceships and they go exploring for new galaxies. Come and see!”

James followed George up the stairs to his room. How funny, he thought, that George should be playing this game about aliens in space ships when James was immersed in a real life version of his own, and about to involve George too. At least the game would easily lead the conversation round to space ships so that was fortunate.

After viewing the game and marvelling over the good graphics James broached the subject of the Bungulians.

“George, do you remember the construction kit that I had for my birthday?”

“Yes, have you exchanged it for another one yet? It was a shame about those broken bits.”

James continued,” Well we took it back to the shop this morning. They’ve given me a new set and I can keep the old one too.”

“There’s not much point in having the broken set is there?” George retorted.

“Well yes there is,” said James. “In fact I was very anxious to keep it.”

“I don’t see why.” said George absently as he steered a space ship through the screen galaxy to a new destination.

“What good is a broken construction kit?

“It’s not just any old kit you see,” said James. “In fact it’s extremely precious. It is an alien space ship that has crash landed here on Earth.”

George turned round from the computer screen grinning.

“You’re kidding. I think you’ve been watching too many Sci-Fi films,” laughed his friend, and added, “I suppose that you’ve got the little green men hiding out in your house too.”

“No. That is they’re not green.” James replied without smiling. “They’re very like humans to look at, and they are very small at the moment, just like the tiny astronauts that go in the construction set.”

Now it was George’s turn to be serious. He was beginning to realise that James was not pulling his leg at all and was in deadly earnest.

“Wait a minute, that astronaut that I threw in the pool at your party was one of the aliens wasn’t it? That’s why you got so annoyed with me! I’m starting to understand now. But how on earth did they get into the set in the first place?”

So it was that James related the whole story to George who listened with rapt attention.

He finished with the recent trip to the toy shop and Gurgu’s sighting of the mysterious UFO man.

“So you see the Bungulians need a safe place to hide until they have repaired their space ship and Gurgu wondered whether you might be able to help them. Obviously it would be too risky for them to stay at my house.”

“Yes. I see the problem, “agreed George. “I don’t see any reason why they can’t stay here. It will be good fun having them around. I can’t wait to meet them. Can we go and see them now?”

So the two friends quickly set off for James’ house. In no time at all they had arrived. It was James’ mother who opened the front door to them.

“James, I’m glad you’ve come back. The toy shop were just this minute on the phone to me, apparently that photo that Mr. Tewson took has been mislaid and he wondered whether it would be possible for us to take the set back to the shop soon for him to take another one.”

Fear clutched at James’ heart. Both he and George exchanged meaningful glances.

“That’s unfortunate,” he said to his mother. “We’ll have to get it back there soon, perhaps tomorrow.” Turning to George he said, “Come on, let’s go up to my room.” The two friends ran upstairs.

“Here he is.” James spoke out loud to the room in general. “I’ve told him all about you and he has agreed to help. We shall have to move you all without delay.”

George knelt down on the floor watching the little figures. There he sat for a few moments captivated by the sight of the little aliens.

After a bit James interrupted, “Come on, we’d better get ourselves organised and decide how we will transport the crew to your house.”

He found the computer game and began communicating with the Bungulians.

“Gurgu, we have just heard from the toy shop that they can’t find the photo of the space-ship. You can guess what that might mean!”

The small spaceman nodded his head gravely. He wrote on the screen, “We must go to George’s house immediately, but first it is necessary to find a safe hiding place for the space ship. Can you suggest a likely place James?”

James thought for a moment. “What about behind the panel that conceals the fireplace. Nobody would ever think of looking there so it should be safe enough. It might get a bit sooty but that’s all.”

So saying he began easing the board away in order to place the box behind.

 “We’ll have to make sure that it doesn’t look as though anything has been moved away recently,” said George. “Otherwise it might arouse suspicion.”

Once they had solved the problem of where to hide the space ship the two friends began looking around the room for a suitable container to transport the aliens in.

“I know! My school bag might do, “said James. “We could pad it out with newspaper so that they don’t get knocked about on the journey. Oh and another thing you will need is this computer game.” So saying he picked it up and placed that in a side pocket of the bag explaining that it was the only way possible to communicate with the tiny creatures. Next James hurried off to find an old newspaper. After a few minutes he came back with one and they began crumpling the sheets up and placing them along with the astronauts into the bag.

“There we are, that should be okay,” said James as the last Bungulian was placed in the bag. George hitched the bag up onto his shoulders and started to head towards the door.

“Will you come round to my house tomorrow?” He said looking over his shoulder at James.

“Yes, although I don’t know what time I’ll be able to come,” said James. “Before long we will have to see what repairs need to be done to the space ship.

“By the way,” exclaimed George, “I haven’t asked you what they eat and drink!”

“ You won’t believe this, but they are very partial to the odd tin can, a few candles and any stones that you can find lying in the garden. Oh and watch out for your mother’s flowering plants, ‘cos they simply love those! As for drinks they will be quite happy with water.”

“Good.” smiled George. “Well I’d better be going now. See you tomorrow James.”

With that George left for his house.

 

Chapter Five

Chapter 5

They arrived at the toy shop at 11am on Saturday morning. James had been secretly rehearsing his lines over and over to himself. He was hoping that the manager would not prove too formidable and also that he would be generous enough to see James’ point of view. With his hand in his pocket he could feel Gurgu like a lucky charm and James reflected that he was certainly in need of some luck right at this minute.

A shop assistant approached them smiling. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, thank you.” His mother replied. “I phoned the manager a few days ago about a fault in this construction set,” she pointed to the box that James was holding. “He asked us to return it.”

“Can I have your name please?

“It’s Mrs. Medford.”

“Just wait one moment please and I’ll find the manager for you.” The assistant hurried off to the back of the shop.

Within a few minutes the shop manager appeared.

“So sorry to keep you waiting, Mrs Medford. Now let’s see what the problem is. James placed the box on the counter and the manager lifted the lid. “Some pieces missing did you say?”

“Yes that’s right,” said Mrs. Medford “and one or two broken as well.”

“Well I can certainly see the broken bits. It’s strange you know, there are one or two pieces here that look as though they don’t belong to this set.”

James’ face coloured to a bright pink as he thought of the substitute space men. He shuffled his feet looking uncomfortable.

It seemed however that the manager was looking at the bricks and other parts belonging to Gurgu’s space ship. He picked up some of the broken bricks and looked at them carefully.

“Well my son found those broken bits underneath the inner tray.” Mrs. Medford continued.

“This was your birthday present too wasn’t it? The manager looked at James.

James swallowed, his mouth feeling rather dry. “Yes, it was.”

“Well now that was rather a shame. We will have to see what can be done to put this matter right. Would you like to choose another set then young man?”

The manager smiled kindly at James, who thought now’s my chance. He heard himself say “Well what I’d really like best is to be able to keep this set.”

The manager looked surprised and James’ mother looked as though she couldn’t wait to get him outside and give him a piece of her mind. She instead settled for an exasperated cry of “James!”

The manager weighed up the situation quickly and then came up with a reasonable compromise. He turned to Mrs. Medford and said,” It’s quite alright you know. I expect that James would like to keep his original present and I think that there might be a way round this problem. I shan’t be a moment, and he disappeared once more into the back of the shop.

Mrs. Medford lost no time in tackling James about his unexpected outburst. “What do you think you are up to James? I thought that we had agreed that your present was to be exchanged.”

Before James could reply the manager was back again this time with a camera in his hand. He started to explain, “What I thought was, if we take a photo of the box and contents, including the damaged pieces, then I’ll send this to our factory so they can check what went wrong with their packaging procedures. That will mean that James can keep the old set and choose a new one.”

“Well that’s very kind of you,” his mother began.

“Not at all,” smiled the manager. “It’s the least we can do, especially as it spoiled James’ birthday. We like to keep our customers happy you know.” He turned to James. “Go along to that display over there and find yourself another set.”

James breathed a sigh of relief and moved across to select another set.

On the journey home James’ mother made clear her annoyance. She was, she said, “most disappointed in his behaviour” and also, “very embarrassed.” The shopkeeper must have thought him very cheeky.” She felt that he had been extremely generous allowing James to keep the old set and choose a new one.

“I really think that you must write him a Thank-You letter James.”

In the back of the car James nodded his head in agreement. If it meant that the space ship was safe then writing a letter was a small price to pay!

The journey home wasn’t a long one, despite the fairly heavy traffic. Once home, James armed with both sets rushed through the front door and up to his room. The Bungulians, on hearing him come through the door surged forth from the castle to greet him and learn the fate of their space ship. James lifted Gurgu gently out of his pocket and put him down in the middle of his companions where he began to talk animatedly with them. Despite not being able to hear this tiny conversation James could nevertheless sense the overwhelming relief and joy that these small space travellers felt at having their craft safely returned,

In order to talk with them James found his console and sat down on the floor next to them. Addressing the little group as he switched on the game he said, “Wasn’t it lucky that the shopkeeper allowed me to keep the set with your space ship inside, aren’t you pleased?”

Gurgu came forward and put a message on the screen.

“Yes James we are very relieved that we still have our space ship and we are very grateful for your help, especially as your mother is cross with you now because of it. But I’m afraid that things may not be all plain- sailing, we have an additional problem.”

Reading the last sentence pulled James up with a start. “What’s wrong now?” he sighed.

Gurgu once more began putting sentences on the screen.

James read “Whilst we were in the shop and you and your mother were pre-occupied talking to the manager I was having a good look around the shop through a hole in your pocket. It made a good spying point because nobody would have guessed that I was there. Unknown to you there was someone else in the shop, standing not far away from you, and he seemed rather interested in the conversation that you were having with the shop manager. We are worried that he may be a UFO hunter. He will have known the approximate area of our crash landing. He might suspect the problem of the shrinking factor and so therefore guessed that a toy shop would be an ideal place for us to conceal ourselves.”

James having read all of this looked at the Bungulians. It seemed their high spirits of a few moments before were fading into despondency. Hoping to cheer them up he said,

“It can’t be all that bad. After all they might suspect that you are somewhere in the area, but they don’t have any idea exactly where.”

Gurgu shook his head. “That is exactly why I’m worried James. You see the manager asked your mother for her name and address and he wrote it on the back of the photograph that he took”

“Oh no!” James exclaimed. “What are we going to do?”

“We will need to act swiftly. Do you think that your friend George could be trusted to help us?”

James nodded, “Yes I’m sure he could.”

“Well it is now essential for us to find somewhere safe to stay.”
”Do you mean that they might come here looking for you?” James murmured breathlessly more than a little alarmed at the prospect.

“That,” continued Gurgu “is quite likely. You see these people will stop at nothing. They are committed to the idea that other civilisations exist in other galaxies, which as you now know is true. What we are worried about is how we will be treated by them if discovered. We wish to retain our freedom and don’t want to become articles of interest for a science museum.

“James.” His mother’s voice floated up from downstairs. “Come down for your lunch.”

James turned off the computer game and got up from the floor. I’ll be back soon he promised. After lunch I’ll see if I can contact George.

Chapter Four

Chapter 4

The next day after school James went up to his room to see Gurgu and the others and find out how he could help with their repairs. He went over to the construction set and hunted for the broken pieces still lying in the bottom of the box. He then took these and the computer game across to the castle in order to communicate with Gurgu.

“Are these the only damaged pieces?”

Gurgu replied via the screen. “As far as we know that is all the damage the craft sustained. Do you have a device for putting the pieces back together?

“Well I think that there’s some glue in the shed, I can go and look.” James ran off calling out to them that he wouldn’t be long. He reached the kitchen and took the shed key from the hook by the back door. At that point his mother came into the room. Seeing him with the key in his hand she asked, “Are you getting your bike out James? It’s a lovely day for a ride in the fresh air.”

“No,” he replied, “Just looking for glue to mend something.”

“Oh! Now that reminds me,” his mother turned round,” I rang the toy shop yesterday to complain about your present and those broken bits in it. They said to bring it in and they would exchange it, so we should be able to do that tomorrow.”

James stood rooted to the spot, not sure what to say in reply.

“Did you hear what I said James?”

“Yes,” he replied. His mind was a whirl of confusion now. How was it going to be possible to conceal the small astronauts and their space ship? He really would need to work something out fast.

“I wonder if it’s really necessary to take the set back,” he began.

“What did you say?” exclaimed his mother in a bewildered tone. “Not necessary! But James it’s so badly broken that you can’t follow the plans. We told you on your birthday that it would have to be returned. You needn’t worry I’m sure that they will have another set just like that one. The manager will check it before we go home to make sure that it’s okay.”

“Can’t I keep this one, please,” pleaded James. “It’s alright really; we can mend the broken bits.”

After this conversation James knew that it would look very suspicious if he went to get the glue so he hung the shed key back on the hook and dejectedly climbed the stairs to his room. The moment he entered the room, his despairing mood was noticed by Gurgu and his companions. They wrote on the screen “Can you help us with the repairs now?”

James went over and knelt down by them and began to tell them about the problems.

“You see my parents insist that the set is returned to the shop and I don’t know what I can do to prevent it.”

Gurgu spent a few moments in deep thought, and then he spoke to his companions for a few minutes. He went back to the screen and communicated with the worried boy.

“James, do you have some toy spacemen that could be put into the box as a substitute for my crew?”

James nodded that he did.

Gurgu continued, “If it’s possible,  my crew will stay here in the safety of your room. We will place the toy astronauts in the box with our spaceship. I will accompany you to the shop (travelling secretly in your pocket). We want you to plead with the shopkeeper that you may be allowed to keep this particular spaceship. If you are successful then we may return here with the box, if not then you must take me out of your pocket and leave me with the box.

James felt a little happier now that Gurgu had taken command of the situation. He knew however that the final outcome, as to whether he would be able to keep the box or not, lay squarely on his shoulders and he hoped fervently that he would not let the Bungulians down.

“And now, we would be very grateful for some more food and drink.”

James read this last message and felt annoyed with himself for not remembering to bring the astronauts any breakfast. He had been too occupied with thoughts of how he was going to help them with their repairs. He immediately went downstairs and raided several tins and took a tumbler of water back with him.

“Here you are,” he said handing them the empty tins and pouring water into the tiny cups. “I’ll bring you some more candles after tea. Now I’d better hunt out some of my toy astronauts to put in the box with your space ship.

“It didn’t take him long to search through his toys and find about a dozen small figures complete with space suits and helmets. He took them across to the castle for Gurgu to see and after this packed them into the small slots in the polystyrene.

“There that looks alright,” then added half to himself, let’s hope our plan works tomorrow.

 

Later that evening Mrs. Medford spoke quietly with James’ father. “I really don’t know what’s come over James just now. You know that construction set we gave him for his birthday, you know the broken one. Well now he’s desperate to keep it. He wants to see if he can mend it himself!” Her voice rose in exasperation as she uttered the last word.

“Mr Medford frowned. “Well it seems pretty daft buying something special and then finding it’s broken. I’ll have to have a word with him.”

As James settled in bed that night his father came in to say goodnight. “I hear that you don’t want to take your broken present back to the shop James. You see the shop manager is being very reasonable. In the circumstances,  it’s the least they can do, seeing as you were disappointed on your birthday. So there’s no need for you to try mending those broken pieces. You just pack everything together as it was, and it can go back tomorrow and be replaced, okay?”

“Okay Dad, said James sleepily. His father gave him a kiss and ruffled his hair. “That’s a good lad.” Mr. Medford walked across the room and turned off the light. With his back to James he didn’t see the conspiratorial wink that his son gave to Gurgu who was leaning against the castle wall.

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

The first of James’ friends had started arriving for the party. He had invited four of them. It wasn’t long before everyone had arrived and the party was in full swing. To begin with they played a few games, pass the parcel, musical statues, pin the tail on the donkey. After the games James Mum produced a cartoon video. Great fun was had by all laughing at the antics of Tom and Jerry. Once the cartoons were over Billy, one of James’ friends asked James what he had had for his birthday and so the friends went up to James’ bedroom to see his presents. Everyone was full of admiration for his spaceship, even though he hadn’t been able to build it yet. James explained to them about the problem of the broken pieces but he felt it best not to go into too much detail about the real reason for the damage. He glanced into the castle and saw that most of his small friends had taken refuge inside the towers and those that remained outside were pretending to be toys by sitting or lying lifeless like dolls. The castle was not new and had been seen and played with before by his friends and so was only of passing interest to them.

One of his presents was a box called “Science Fun with Water” and was creating the most interest. In fact James had not had the opportunity to look at it properly himself as yet. It was full of containers for measuring liquids, tubes, a small pump and crystals for colouring the water.

It was Grant’s suggestion that they get the paddling pool out and have some fun. “Your Mum wouldn’t mind would she?”

“I don’t suppose she would,” James replied. “It’ll have to be after we’ve eaten because otherwise the grass will be too wet to sit on. I’ll go and see.” So James ran off to put the suggestion to his mother. Several old pairs of James’ shorts were hunted out for his friends to wear and once they had eaten their tea the process of blowing up the inflatable pool and filling it with water from the hose began.

Soon the garden rang with shouts and laughter, splashes and shrieks. At one point the hose was grabbed by James and playfully aimed at his friends who immediately tried to wrestle it from him and take revenge. In the midst of all the high spirits something suddenly happened to halt James in his tracks. He noticed that George had without warning produced one of the Bungulians from his pocket.

“I’m going to see if he can dive into the water,” announced George dropping the small figure from his hand, where it descended into the water.

Without hesitation James lunged at his friend screaming. “Don’t do that, you idiot!”

The small man had by this time disappeared to the bottom of the pool. James pushed past George scanning the depths and shielding his eyes with his hand as the water glinted in the strong sunlight. As quick as lightning he spotted the white suited figure, plunged his hand in and drew out the dripping Bungulian, concealing him quickly in his hand. He had no idea whether these extra-terrestrials were able to swim. He hoped that the poor creature was none the worst for his dip, but realised that he couldn’t examine him too closely here, with everyone watching. Already he knew that his outburst had brought about a stunned silence from his friends. George was still sitting in the pool where he had landed when James rushed past him. He was looking at James curiously. The commotion had caused James’ mother to appear from the house.

“Whatever’s the matter James? Did I hear you shout at George? Surely that’s not the way to treat your guest. What do you think you should say to him?”

“I’m sorry for shouting at you George.” James said in subdued fashion. George who by now had found his feet and was standing up once more exchanged a glance with James and grinned. It’s okay, but what’s so important about that astronaut?”

James had to think on his feet and said the first thing that entered his head. At least, he thought later it sounded plausible.

“That’s one of the figures that belongs in my new construction set. It has to go back to the shop, so it had better not get wet.”

“Well I can see the reason for your being upset,” said his mother, “but was it really necessary to knock poor George over and shout at him?”

If only she knew why it was so necessary thought James. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the ground, hoping that his mother wouldn’t pursue the subject any further.

“I think that as it is getting cooler it’s time that everything was put away and you can all come in and get changed. Leave the paddling pool James and we can use it to water the garden later.”

Without more ado the toys were packed away and the children went indoors to change.

Whilst James was getting changed he had the opportunity to quickly look at the Bungulian. The little fellow had remained very still in his pocket all this time, obviously hardly daring to move. Despite the fact that it was not possible to talk directly with the little spaceman the little man was eager to show his thankfulness at being rescued by James. He stood on James’ hand and bowed low in a formal gesture. James acknowledged this with a smile and placed him carefully back inside the castle. As he did so the other Bungulians rushed across anxiously to greet their fellow crew member.

James stood up quickly as George and Simon came into the room, followed by Oliver and Grant.

“That was great fun playing in the pool” said Simon. “What shall we do with these wet shorts?”

“Just give them to me and I’ll put them in the washing bin” said James.

Is the astronaut that fell in the water okay?
”Yes, I’ve just dried him off, there’s no harm done he’s as good as new,” James said casually.

Before James could stop him George went over to the box and lifted the lid. Looking inside he queried “Where are all the astronauts then?”

“Aren’t they there in the box?” James replied, pretending to be surprised.

“Well I can’t see them, unless they’ve all become invisible,” said George.

“Oh! I remember, I put them in the castle for safe-keeping,” James added. He was desperately wondering how on earth he was going to divert his friend’s attention from the astronauts, when at that moment the door bell rang. His friends’ parents were calling to collect their offspring. Indeed James really did feel that he had been saved by the bell.

Everyone rushed towards the door and downstairs. Soon the thank-yous and goodbyes had been said and his friends had gone home.

Later on that evening whilst James was getting ready to go to bed he had the opportunity to look in on the Lilliputian community living in the castle. Gurgu saw him and came forward. James found the computer game in order to communicate with him. He asked after the welfare of the small man that had fallen into the water.

“Our friend is quite well now. We are most grateful to you for coming to his assistance. We were extremely concerned for him when we realised that your friend had carried him off. It was not possible to alert you about the problem at the time.”

James added, “Do you think that I should tell my parents about your plight?” It seems to be a problem trying to keep you all secret. I’m not even sure that George doesn’t suspect something is up.”

Gurgu smiled sympathetically and the screen produced another string of words.

“It is very difficult for you, we do understand that, but at the moment we feel that our safety depends on the fact that nobody else is aware of our existence. To alert more people, especially grown-ups could be a risk. We know that there could be a few people that would want to keep us captive and exhibit us. Tomorrow, if you have time, perhaps we will be able to make the repairs to our craft. The shorter time we are here on planet Earth the less likely it is we will be discovered.”

James could hear his mother calling to him. “Well Gurgu I must go now, goodnight.”

Gurgu crossed his arms and bowed his head, reminding James of a tiny Chinese Mandarin.

“Who were you speaking to James?” asked his Mum.

“Oh! I was just talking to my spacemen, it’s part of the game I’m playing,” said James. Thinking to himself how surprised she would be if she realised that the spaceman was talking back!
 

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

It was well after nine o’ clock when James woke the next morning. At least it was a Saturday and so didn’t really matter. On waking he had a quick look in his box. The astronauts were all lying in the cavities of the polystyrene tray and presumably sleeping. Carefully he closed the lid and left them undisturbed.

The smell of fried egg and bacon wafted up and gently tickled his nostrils. He suddenly realised how very hungry he was and charged down the stairs at a gallop. Only to be met at the bottom by his dad, who had just that minute taken the newspaper from the letterbox. His father gave him a friendly pat on the head with the rolled up newspaper and said. “Good morning son looks like a beautiful day out there.”

“Oh! Is it? replied James. I hadn’t noticed.”

“Well if you will spend half your day in bed I suppose that it’s possible to miss these things,” joked his father. “well it looks as though the weather should hold for your party.” This was like a bolt from the blue to James. With all the excitement of his discovery the previous night he had completely forgotten about the party. His memory lapse must have been apparent to his dad also for he added laughingly.

“Now that you’ve reached double figures your age must be catching up with you old man. It’s not like you to forget things.”

James grinned back at him sheepishly and they both walked towards the kitchen.

“Fancy a cup of tea to wake you up a bit James?” said his father.

“Okay thanks, James answered him.

“Are you still half asleep then James? his mother asked.

Before James could reply his father did it for him.

“Do you know Meg he’d even forgotten about his birthday party this afternoon? That’s how sleepy he was when he first came downstairs.

His mother smiled “Now just think if I’d forgotten there would be no cake, crisps, sandwiches, jelly, party hats, fizzy drinks, and paper plates and we’d all be in a right pickle,” exclaimed his mum. “It’s just as well someone gets things organised around here. Talking of food there is a cooked breakfast ready for you both, so you’d better tuck in.”

It was whilst James was sitting at the table eating his breakfast and drinking tea the thought occurred to him-FOOD. Why hadn’t he thought about that before? His tiny friends would need some kind of nourishment and liquids to drink. He imagined that they would in all probability be used to eating food that was similar to his own diet. No mention had been made of this the previous night. In the meantime he thought it best to unobtrusively hide some food and smuggle it to his friends later. Under the kitchen table was a very convenient ledge, as James had had reason to discover in previous years. As a small child, when he had been faced with onions, mushrooms, asparagus, broad-beans and anything else that he didn’t like, he would place them on the ledge.

It was only years later that his parents discovered this and of course the mouldy remains. James smiled wryly when he remembered the uproar the discovery had caused. He hadn’t, until now, been tempted to use the ledge again, but his reasons for hiding the food at the moment were really very helpful, and in any case it wasn’t as though it would be left to turn mouldy.

“There’s been another of those UFO sightings, so it says in the paper.” James’s father was reading the paper whilst eating his breakfast. “They say something was sighted in the sky over Huntsholme, that’s quite near here, better be on the look out for little green men, or are they supposed to be grey?” His father looked across the table at him.

Yesterday morning James would probably have joined in the joke and humoured his dad, but this morning, knowing what he did, the plight of his small friends struck him as a matter too serious to be taken lightly. He therefore mumbled something and attempted to change the subject.

“Do you think that we could have my party tea outside Dad, if the good weather holds?”

“Providing you help to carry out the tables and chairs etc then I don’t see why not. In fact it will mean less mess in the house, so it’s probably a very good idea.”

“We don’t need tables and chairs Dad,” protested James. “All we need is a rug or something and it’ll be more like a picnic.”

“Did somebody mention the word picnic? said his mother. “If you think I’m wasting my time packing up picnic baskets then you’ve got another think coming, I’ve got enough to do with this party as it is.”

“That’s just the point” interrupted James. “We’re not trying to make more work; we’re trying to make less. I was wondering whether I could have tea outside, with rugs like a picnic and that way there won’t be so much mess inside.” His mother stood considering this new idea.

“Yes, I suppose that would make things easier; everyone could help themselves to the food and take it into the garden. We might as well make the most of this beautiful weather.”

After breakfast when no-one was looking James retrieved the hidden pieces of egg, bacon and tomato, concealed them carefully in a square of kitchen towelling and raced upstairs to his room. When he looked in the box his heart gave a lurch for the small people were nowhere to be seen. He dropped to his knees, panic rising in his chest. He began to search each crevice of his bedroom. Then out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed movement and at last he spotted them. They had sought refuge in his toy castle. The drawbridge was lowered, portcullis raised and the little figures were dotted around the courtyard, battlements and keep. James breathed a sigh of relief at finding them safe and sound.

He picked up his computer game and took it over to the castle. “I’d like to speak with you again.”  He pointed to the computer as he spoke. The little man that James recognised as their leader immediately stepped forward from the castle walls. James turned the computer on and the next moment he was communicating with the extra-terrestrial once more.

“We hope that you do not mind our entering your castle but it is necessary for us to find somewhere that will be safe and secure but also more comfortable than the box that we have been living inside.”

James agreed, “Of course I don’t mind, in fact it seems like a very good idea, but I have some important questions to ask you.”

The screen flashed up, “Please ask us anything you wish and I will try to answer.”

“Well, I‘ve been wondering whether you are hungry and thirsty.” He mimed eating and drinking. “What sort of food do you eat? I have saved you some of my breakfast, if it is what you like?”

There was a slight pause then the screen came to life with some more sentences.

“Until recently we have been eating foods that we brought with us from our own planet. The food had been preserved so that it would not go bad or deteriorate; small capsules of nourishment and we each took three a day. Unfortunately we are coming to the end of our supplies and so now must look for alternative foodstuff. After our ship crashed a large number of the food capsules were soaked up with rain-water and ruined. We will try some of your food and hope that we will be able to digest it. It was very thoughtful of you to remember us.”

James took the package of food from his pocket and placing it next to the man carefully unwrapped it to reveal the contents. The other astronauts gathered round him curiously whilst James pointed to each morsel explaining what each was. He realised that these huge lumps of food would have to be cut into the tiniest pieces for their tiny mouths and so stood up to reach for his pocket penknife from the shelf above his head. Carefully cutting the egg, bacon and tomato he then began handing it around to each of them. As James watched the small people chewing the pieces of food he was alarmed to see that the colour of their faces which had been bright yellow was slowly changing to a muddy shade of brown. He realised that the meal was unsuitable for them and was not surprised when Gurgu shook his head solemnly and started to write a message on the computer.

“We are sorry James, but this human food is of no use to my people; it will not sustain us and we cannot benefit from it. If we were to eat it for much longer it could make us unwell. It is a pity when you have gone to so much trouble on our behalf. But we must have some type of nourishment soon or we will all fade away with hunger.”

James looked thoughtful for a minute or two. “Well can you tell me more about the food that you can eat in Bungulia? That might give me some clues about what might be suitable.”

Gurgu spoke with his fellow astronauts for a few moments and then approached the computer.

“Our food is always very colourful and bright. Some of it we grow, just like humans do on farms. Some is manufactured in giant buildings that you would call factories. A lot of our food humans would consider inedible and tasteless. We have much stronger jaws than humans and can chew through very hard materials.”

“Perhaps if I take you with me we can look around the house and garden, so that you can decide if there’s anything that would make a good meal,” said James.

It was soon decided that four of the astronauts would accompany James on the food finding mission. He found his bum- bag and strapped it around his waist, having first deposited the little Bungulians safely inside with the computer game and they set off. Fortunately there was a tiny hole in the corner of the bag that served as a viewing point. They moved through the hallway with James, stopping every now and again when he thought that there might be something suitably edible. At one point he stopped by one of his mother’s pot plants, which was in full flower. The Bungulians had become quite excited when they saw it and so James picked a few of the flower heads which were bright orange with velvety petals. On the sideboard in the dining room stood several brightly coloured candles in holders and the Bungulians pointed to these with enthusiasm. James was worried that his parents might notice the candles had gone missing, so thought it was better to leave them there.” I’ve got an idea though,” he reassured his friends. He ran to the kitchen and opened the cupboard.   “Somewhere here my mother keeps all the cake decorations for birthdays and Christmas. I’m sure there are lots of birthday candles in here that won’t be missed.” Sure enough he found the container and there were many differently coloured candles inside. He stuffed them into the bum bag along with the flower heads.

Whilst looking in the kitchen cupboard one of the astronauts pointed to the many tins stacked one on top of the other, baked beans, spaghetti, soup, peas, fruit cocktail. James looked at the tins and then back at the small Bungulian. “I know that you don’t like human food, so it can’t be that.” He then had an idea. In the cupboard under the sink his parents kept a recycling box for used tin cans, bottles and the like. Swiftly he opened the cupboard and picked out one of the empty tin cans; holding it up to show the Bungulians. “Is this what you mean?” he asked. The astronauts smiled their pleasure and nodded approvingly.

Well, thought James, we seem to be getting somewhere, at least the Bungulians won’t starve now. It was just as he was passing the goldfish tank on the bookcase in the sitting room that he noticed the astronaut’s reaction. They pointed to the tank and spoke excitedly amongst themselves. James’ heart sank, “You can’t eat the goldfish!” He exclaimed quickly. But when he bent closer to listen it became clear to him that it wasn’t the fish that had excited them but the stones in the bottom of the tank. He went and found an old yogurt pot and scooped out a handful of stones, drying them off on a tissue and placing them along with the other finds in the bum- bag.

“Do you think that we have collected enough now?” he asked the little travellers. He took their nods to mean that they were satisfied with the morning’s work and ran back upstairs to his room.

He carefully deposited the four astronauts back with the others inside the castle and watched with baited breath to see how they would all react to the strange food. It was interesting to see them distribute the items amongst themselves and even more interesting to see what light work they made of the tin cans and stones. The tin cans were ripped to pieces and devoured by them in the way that a dog might tackle a juicy steak. The small pebbles might have been crisps for the way they were crunched up so easily.

 Calling out to them that he would only be gone a moment he left the room. His older sister used to have a doll’s house that had long ago been consigned to the loft. He was sure that in a cupboard in Claire’s room was a box containing the accessories for the doll’s house. It didn’t take him long to find the cardboard box and triumphantly he heaved it out and delved into the contents. It turned out to be quite a jumbled assortment. Tiny pieces of furniture, plates, cups, knives, forks all of which he hoped would prove useful for the small folk to use. A number of the pieces were chipped and broken, but then his sister had once played with them a great deal, and it was only to be expected. Some he knew were even second-hand when she had been given them by their cousin. Still beggars couldn’t be choosers and he hoped the small travellers would put his find to good use. He carried the box back to his bedroom and immediately the Bungulians gathered around him to investigate his find. James pulled out a table and several chairs and a number of plates, cups and cutlery. Gurgu their leader moved once more towards the computer. He put a sentence on the screen for James to read.

“Our studies of earthly life have helped us understand the uses of these utensils that you bring for us. We will find it strange adopting your ways of life but it will be an interesting experience and help us to better understand your customs.  Thank-you for bringing this equipment, we are sure that it will make our stay in your castle more comfortable.”

At a command from Gurgu some of the Bungulians began lifting the furniture that James had unpacked from the box. With great care they carried the pieces into the castle. To save them some effort James began placing some of the larger pieces inside the castle walls where they could rearrange things to their pleasing. Once the box had been emptied of the most useful items James searched around the room for a container. Snatching up an empty glass from his bed-side table he sped off in the direction of the bathroom. His next objective was to find out if the travellers could drink water. He filled the glass almost to the brim and carried it back, spilling a few drops as he went. He dipped one of the tiny cups into the glass, filled it with the water and passed it to Gurgu explaining as he did so that humans found the liquid good to drink. Once Gurgu had tried the water he motioned to his friends to take their cups to James for filling. This kept James busy for another five minutes. He knew that he would soon have to go downstairs and help his mother prepare for the party. Before going down he checked the castle which was now a hive of activity and looked very much lived in. The remains of their last meal were on the plates scattered on the table, small covers had been placed on the beds. James felt pleased with his efforts, at least the space people would be more comfortable in his castle than in the hard box.