adventures

'If you make it angry,' Stokes hissed, thinking that other people's intellectual curiosity was too
low a price for his life, 'it may hurt me.'
But just as he said it, the alien moved.
It moved so fast that the only person that noticed straight away was Farouk, who was sent
tumbling aside by its motion. Warrinder, a few seconds previously, had discreetly stepped out of
the same path.
The thing skipped across the enclosure, moving in a leaping motion that was too fast for
Stokes's eyes to follow, and then skidded to a halt just outside, beside one of the boxes that
Janes had taken for refreshments dispensers. Looking at the party with its staring eyes, it slapped
both hands to the surface of the green box. There was a sound. An electronic gurgle. The gurgling
speeded up, faster and faster, until it became a swift babble of information.
Stokes got to his feet, dusted himself down, and tiptoed with the others towards the being at
the box. 'We are absolutely harmless,' he told it, extending his hands in a gesture of friendship.
'Don't tell it that,' hissed Singh.
'Why not?' said Epstein, shrugging. 'Unfortunately, it's true.'
Bernice and the audience came to the end of the song. 'The sweets!' The Fairy Godfather nudged
her. 'Go on!'
So she grabbed the sack and ran to what had once been a wall. She paused on the edge,
blinking, trying to see just what sort of people or creatures were out there. She still couldn't make
out any details. 'Would you, erm, like some sweets?' she asked.
'Yes!' they cried. They sounded utterly human.
So she grabbed handfuls of the sweets and started throwing them randomly into the audience.
There were noises of laughter and applause and wild motion. She looked back to the Fairy. 'Can
I –?'
'Yes.' He nodded urgently. 'As long as you take the sweets with you.'
So Bernice put a foot out into the air.
There was a drop at the edge of this world. She couldn't find the end of the step with her toe.
She couldn't see how far down it was.
This was definitely a test of how much she wanted to get out.
She took a deep breath and walked out into space.
A moment of dislocation.
Nothing.
And then Bernice landed in a very quiet place.
She felt like she'd only fallen a short way, a little jump. That was a relief. And there were several
things about where she was that were utterly expected. She was in a theatre, with rows and
rows of seats, aisles, doors, plush red carpet and gilt-edged balconies, the whole theatrical hoohah.
There were, however, three big surprises.
One: the sheer size of the theatre. It went back row upon row, as far back as the eye could
see, towards tiny, distant exits. Luckily, though, there was a side exit right beside where Bernice
was standing.
Two: the place was, as she'd immediately noticed when landing, utterly silent. The noise of the
crowd had shut off as though a switch had been flicked.
Three: that was because the audience themselves were not a boisterous crowd of humans, but
row upon row of silent blue aliens, their eyes closed, their bodies frozen in stillness. They didn't
even look like they were breathing.
There was going to be no need for the sweets.
She approached the front row on tiptoe, wondering what would happen if this lot woke up.
They were certainly a different audience from the one she'd heard inside the house. The thought
crossed her mind that this lot might have set up the whole castle and dwarf business as entertainment.
But if they had, why were they asleep? Surely she and her fellows had been more fun than
that? Not very flattering. In the right-end seat on the front row sat a particularly large alien,
dressed, like all the others, in a white robe and headdress. Unlike those of all the others, the