Alien Nation #4 - The Change by Barry B. Longyear

Author:Barry B. Longyear [Longyear, Barry B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 0671736027
Publisher: Pocket Books

C H A P T E R 1 8

“I WOULDN’T WORRY about anyone sneaking in through the basement, Dad. I can’t see how anyone could be quiet and make his way through that mess of Emily’s down there.”

The darknesses in the living room seemed to swim before George’s eyes as he rested on the couch. “How did you get in, Buck? I’m certain I locked everything down there from the inside. I must have checked it half a dozen times.”

“A secret of my youth, Dad.”

“What secret? What are you talking about?”

“I’ve had a secret passage into the house ever since the summer we moved in. Remember that time you caught me coming out of that concrete storm drain behind the house?”

“Yes. You said you’d been trapped in there.”

“I lied, sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“Well, Dad, I was caught, wasn’t I? That’s sort of like being trapped . . . isn’t it?”

“I don’t know, Buck. What do you think?”

“I think I lied.”

“I think you’re right.” George half sat up, felt the room spinning, and eased himself back down on the couch. “How do you get from the drain into the basement?”

“About two-thirds of the way up there’s a big hole in the concrete pipe. I figure it must’ve crumbled during an old earth tremor. Anyway, when I first found it, I got my flashlight and went back. The storm water going through the pipe carved out quite a little chamber in there between the huge rocks they used for fill. Anyway, it’s right next to the basement. It took a lot of digging and a bit of work with a rock chisel, but I loosened four of the concrete blocks behind the furnace for a door. That way I could go in and out whenever I wanted.”

George nodded and was about to demand a listing of the times in the past Buck had sneaked out of the house when something more important occurred to him. “Buck, does anyone else know about your secret passage? Any of your friends? Emily?”

“No. I never told anyone about it. I never told any of my friends.” He was silent for a moment. “Emily might know, though. I never told her, but back then she used to follow me around like a puppy. She might’ve seen me go in or out or stumbled across it and figured it out for herself. Do you think she’d tell any of her friends?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know if it’s important.” George tried his eyes again and was treated with a light show in kaleidoscopic patterns of oranges, reds, and golds. He closed his eyes and let his head relax on the couch’s thick armrest. “Buck, I know you were frightened after that nightmare at the university, but why didn’t you call me here at home?”

“I tried. Every time there was either no answer or I got a wrong number. Some police command center.”

“That’s right,” George said. “They’ve routed all of the calls through a central board for tracing and screening purposes.

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