Chapter 1
Monday 10th January 2022
Bang!
The blast had been sufficient to knock 12-year-old Joe Jackson to the floor, with enough force to render him unconscious.
As the dust began to settle, the ground around the site of the explosion weakened to such an extent that a large hole began to form – unfortunately, the ground started giving way at the exact spot where Joe was lying.
The small town of Highcross was a typical community located in the middle of England. It had a relatively small population and included the type of boring high street that can be found in many places throughout the country. It’s a quiet, sleepy kind of town. The type of town in which very little happens.
There was, however, one interesting fact about Highcross: during the Second World War, it was home to a very important munitions factory. This had obviously made it a target for the Luftwaffe[1], and it also explained why there had just been an enormous explosion. It was quite common for unexploded World War II bombs to be found in Highcross, and that’s exactly what had just happened on this wintery Monday afternoon.
“Great job!” shouted the supervisor of the bomb disposal team who had just dealt superbly with the latest unexploded bomb.
None of the team had seen Joe exploring the area and so were completely unaware that he’d fallen through the ground just a few metres from where they were currently standing.
“Let’s get packed away, lads!” shouted the supervisor. “Just cordon off that hole. We’ll get it filled tomorrow,” he added, before leaving the scene with the rest of his team.
A few minutes later, Joe started to come round. Where am I? he thought hazily, lifting his head and glancing around him.
Joe was a little more curious and adventurous than the typical Highcross youngster. He was of average height for a boy of his age, with slightly messy ginger hair and two distinctive moles on the left side of his face. He wasn’t remotely interested in the usual things 12-year-old boys are generally so passionate about, such as football. Instead, Joe had a flare for travel and adventure, often finding himself in tricky situations. In the last year alone, two search parties had been launched because Joe had managed to get himself lost.
He had never, however, found himself underground before.
Why did I try to find an unexploded bomb? he wondered. I’m such an idiot! How am I supposed to get out of here?!
Suddenly, Joe remembered that he had his mobile phone on him. He pulled it out of his pocket and, to his complete surprise, found it undamaged. There was, however, no signal.
“Help!” he shouted, as loud as he could.
There was no response.
He was on the very outskirts of town, and it was rare for people to come here, though he supposed there might be the occasional dog walker.
Of course, unbeknown to Joe, the area had been cordoned off.
“Help!” he shouted for a second time.
Once again, there was no response.
How long have I been unconscious for? he wondered.
He was starting to get very worried now. After all, the hole was far too deep for him to climb out of. However, when he turned on the flashlight on his phone, he saw something interesting – something that gave him hope.
This wasn’t just a hole. There was a passage leading off it.
Maybe this will lead to an exit! he thought excitedly as he headed into the dark passage. Most people would have been scared to walk down a dark, underground passage alone, but not Joe. To him, this was just another adventure.
Joe made his way along the passage for five minutes, with only his mobile phone flashlight illuminating the way. Then, slowly but surely, the passage opened out into what appeared to be a large cave. Slowly, Joe flashed his torch around the space – it was enormous.
After checking his phone battery, which had plenty of charge left, he walked further into the cave and waved the flashlight around again.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something flicker.
What was that? he thought, spinning around.
He was getting scared now. He was sure something had moved in the cave.
He stood still for a few moments, listening intently, and what he heard made his blood run cold. Footsteps seemed to be approaching him from behind.
He swung around in the direction of the sound and shone the flashlight in front of him. Joe wasn’t the type of person to feel fear; that’s why he was so accustomed to getting into scrapes. Right now, however, he was terrified.
There was somebody in the cave with him.
***
Mrs Jackson was frantic. She knew that Joe often found himself in difficult situations, and she was used to him coming home at different times, but he wasn’t normally this late.
“He’ll be okay, Patricia,” said Mrs Jackson’s next-door neighbour, Eve. “He always turns up.”
This didn’t help Mrs Jackson feel any better. It also didn’t help that Mr Jackson worked on an oil rig in the North Sea for half a year; this certainly made dealing with Joe’s ‘adventures’ even more challenging.
“We need to go and look for him,” said a tearful Mrs Jackson. “No one has any idea where he went after school!”
“Of course,” said Eve. “I’ve already asked our neighbours; they’re looking for him now. We’ll find him, don’t worry.”
***
A couple of miles away, the search party had already started looking for Joe in an area of Highcross where he’d gone missing before. Of course, they didn’t realise that Joe was on the other side of town.
“Joe!” came the shouts of the crowd. It was very dark now and the temperature was dropping rapidly.
“It’s much too cold for anyone to survive out here overnight,” said one of the worried members of the search party.
“Don’t be so negative,” said another.
After a while, Mrs Jackson and Eve joined the search party. They had decided not to tell Mr Jackson. There’s no need to worry him yet, thought Eve. We’ll find him soon.
After an unsuccessful hour, however, the group was ready to abandon the search.
“It’s too dark to see anything,” said one of the searchers, “we have to call the police.”
It was at this moment that another member of the group remembered something. “There was an unexploded bomb disposal over by the railway bridge earlier today,” he told Joe’s mum.
Mrs Jackson took a deep breath, trying not to panic.
“Don’t worry,” Eve told her in a soothing tone, trying to keep her calm. “He won’t be there; the bomb disposal unit will have checked for people in the area.”
Mrs Jackson nodded, though she didn’t look convinced.
“We’ll go and have a look!” came a shout from the crowd. “You go home and wait by the phone.”
A tired Mrs Jackson agreed, heading back to her house with Eve whilst the rest of the group headed over to the site of the earlier controlled explosion.
“Look at this,” said David – one of the members of the search party – as he looked down at the cordoned off hole in the ground, “it’s enormous!”
Slowly, the search party inched closer to the hole, peering down into its depths.
“Some of us are going to have to go down there,” David continued. “Do we have enough torches?”
“Yes, we do,” came a response from the crowd. “We have plenty.”
“Okay,” said David, turning to the rest of the group, “are there any volunteers willing to come into the hole with me?”
The people of Highcross were always very proud of their role as helpful members of the community, and – as a result – it didn’t take long for six people to volunteer.
“Okay,” said David, “let’s go down and have a look. The rest of you stay here, and if we aren’t back within an hour, call the police and the fire brigade.”
The others nodded, exchanging apprehensive looks.
With that, the seven brave volunteers made their way, slowly and carefully, into the hole.
“There’s a passage here!” David said to the others, once they were all down. “Let’s go and have look!”
After making sure everyone had a torch, David led the way into the dark passage that Joe had only recently entered himself.
***
“Who’s there?” asked Joe, his voice shaking.
There was no reply.
“I know there’s someone there… I just saw you!” he shouted.
“Please leave me alone,” said a quiet voice from the darkness. “Just turn back and go.”
Joe jumped at the sound of the voice. “Are you trapped down here?” he asked after a moment.
Again, there was no answer.
By now Joe was beginning to feel extremely uneasy. There could be anybody down here with him! “You’re making me nervous,” he said quietly.
“Don’t be nervous,” came the reply, “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to be left alone.”
After a moment of hesitation, Joe shone his phone flashlight in the direction of the voice and, finally, he saw who was in the cave with him. “You’re just a kid!” he gasped.
“My name is Maxelon,” said the stranger, “and I come from the planet Proxima Centauri b.”
Joe took a step back. Now he was feeling even more uneasy. Great, he thought, I’m down here with a crazy person.
Maxelon looked like he was about 15 years old. His skin was very pale, and he had jet black hair. He was wearing a silver suit with what looked like a black waistcoat. Hanging at his waist, he wore a utility belt with lots of strange-looking gadgets hanging from it.
“What are you talking about?” asked Joe, just as the cave lit up. He took another step back, shocked at the sudden illumination.
“You don’t need your torch anymore,” said Maxelon.
Joe looked around him in awe. The cave was unbelievable, its walls covered in different coloured rocks and what looked like sparkling gemstones. In the centre of the cave stood an amazing-looking computer.
“What is that?” asked Joe, pointing at the machine.
“It’s my console,” explained Maxelon. “It’s for contacting my planet. It should also let me travel between here and there.”
Joe looked at Maxelon, frowning. “Should?”
“It’s broken,” sighed Maxelon. “I’ve been stuck on this planet for almost a year.”
Joe approached the console and looked at the blank monitor. “How did you get here?” he asked.
Maxelon explained that he had accidently crashed here during a visit to our galaxy. “My ship was destroyed on impact, but I was able to grow this computer. I had hoped it would help me get home, but I’ve not been able to power it up,” he said sadly.
“Grow a computer?” asked a very suspicious Joe. He was beginning to think that someone was playing a trick on him. He looked around the cave to see if there were any hidden cameras. He might be on one of those game shows.
“Yes,” replied Maxelon. “We can organically grow our technology. We call it Organa-tech and, thankfully, I’d brought plenty of seeds with me.”
Joe was feeling even more confused when, suddenly, the console came to life. “What’s happening?” he asked, wide-eyed.
Maxelon ran over to the monitor. “It must be picking up power from the satellites around the planet,” he told Joe. “The hole that just appeared in the ground is letting the signal through! There’s not enough power to contact home, but it will allow me to charge my trekker.”
“Your trekker?” asked Joe.
Before Maxelon could answer, the sound of voices floated over to them – someone was entering the cave. In an instant the console powered down and the light that had been illuminating the cave went out. Apart from the occasional beam of torchlight, the cave was engulfed in darkness once again.
“There you are!” shouted David, running over to Joe. “Your mum’s worried sick!”
“Maxelon?” shouted Joe, looking around the cave.
There was no sign of his new friend and, just like before, there was no response.
“Who are you talking to?” asked a bewildered David.
“Nobody,” replied Joe quickly.
David and the other six members of the search party looked around the cave, but there was nobody else there.
David turned back to Joe, concerned. “We need to go.”
The group headed carefully down the passage and back to the hole, where they were helped up by the waiting members of the search party. As they walked, the only things Joe could think about were Maxelon and his strange homegrown computer.
[1] The German Air Force during WWII.
