Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (86 page)

Glory prayed
Clash
wouldn’t clog up the conversation with questions and would simply follow instructions
.
She glanced at the Wybbils conversing amongst themselves, making sure they didn’t catch on
.
The star riders certainly weren’t stupid, but their
arrogance
would be their undoing. They
dismiss
ed
Tullah
n technology as junk
,
thinking her
species
primitive
, and that kind of attitude weakened their game plan. T
he
y were ignorant of the
Sliver’s wide range of
capabilities
.
They thought it was only for games
, but their ignorance could quickly go away, so t
his chat had to be quick.

I need u to build a big circle around my mom’s grave.

?
??

Form a perimeter shaped like circle over my mom’s grave.

What 4? And with what?

Will explain later. Has to be something that had life or has life now. Understand?

N
o.

Something organic, I guess.

Plant, animal, what?

Not sure.

Not helpful
, Glo
. Size
?

Big enough to contain
a
wybbil
, but must be unnoticed.

More data, plz.

No time. Need circle done b4 I get to mom’s grave.

Why?

That’s where they’re taking me
.

Then
what?

Back 2 Wybb 4 the
extraction.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Build the circle STAT and all will
B
ok.

U can’t know that
.

I have to try.

((((((sigh)))))) 

R U in?

How do I get away
from them
to build your
O
?

I’
ll try to
stall them
. Have
it in place before we arrive
.

Glo, I can’t believe we’re
d
oing to do this.

Delete this chat
.
Be careful
.
PIC
.

FTTE
.

PIC stood for Partners In Crime, FTT
E
for Friends ‘Til The End, the
ir
customary good-bye
.
Glory deleted the chat
and
hop
ed that
Clash
would do the same
. She
promptly flipped back to JunkYard Derby
.
Just in time too, because Bone decided to lean in to check out the screen
.

“
Crimeny,
” he exclaimed. “Th
e
se
games
have
communicati
on capabilities.
”

“W
hich means they might have contacted
Tullah
n authorities
,
”
Bone stood in alarm. Snatching away the nearest Sliver, which happened to the red one Clash was holding.

Wh
ite Feather
took it from Bone.
He madly pressed buttons and brought up different menus
.
“
If
we
had more time I could decipher the workings of this gadget, but there
be
a surprising amount of data here.
”

“
All we need to know,” Bone said. “Be whether or not
they contact
ed
the
Tullah
n authorites?”

Needle stood, nervously glancing about the forest
.
“The
s
e
weapons here
be
crude, but effective
.
” He held up the Nightburner, turning up its glow. “
Perhaps we should arm ourselves?”

White Feather touched the
Paraplume
to the Sliver,
and
then touched
its
wispy
edges
to his head. His face took on a trance-like expression.
Then he appeared to return to the present.
“
Most of
the
gadget’s
storage be filled with silly games, but a lot
be
devoted to books and moving pictures
.
A
section labeled
homework
contains
basic
science
data
, mathematics
,
and
Tullah
n history
.
There’s also a section labeled
,
Private Thought
s,
s
eems
the
owner of this gadget be
courting
the
intolerable Mandy
, whom we’ve already
met, yet
he
fantasizes about kissing another girl.
”

“Who’s the other girl?
”
Clash
wanted to
know.

“He doesn’t give a n
ame, but he’s written several poems in her honor. Here’s one called,
Ode to t
he
Brown Eyed
Girl With No Shoes
.
Oh, wait, there’s a picture of her.” He studied Glory a moment. “Well, what do ye know
?
Young Matthew Cloude has roma
n
tic feelings about
the
Rock Collector.”

“May the Elboni help him,” Bone said, glancing up at the sky.

Clash
’s
face twisted in something akin to disgust. H
eat rose to
Glory’s cheeks
.

“
Enough of this,” said Needle. “D
id
the
Rock Collector or her friend
send a message out beyond this woods?”

“A hundred and nineteen
messages
came in
as soon as we arrived on Tullah,
but zero have gone out
beyond this woods
.
By the looks of things only
the
two
gadgets
here have
had back and forth
communicat
ion.”

“What did
the
y write
to each other?
”

White Feather put the
Paraplume
to his head again
.
“For some reason the
Paraplume
c
an’t
access it.”

“It was just ch
itchat
about the game.” Clash lied.

She was so close to getting everything she wanted, but just as close to losing everything
she had
.
Suddenly,
Clash
made a dash for the woods
.

White Feather immediately
clutched
Glory’s
bicep
as if he expected her to
bolt. The other two star riders
ran into the
trees after
Clash
.

“Where’s your friend going?
”
White Feather gave her a hard shake
.
“Tell me!”