FREEWHEELERS

SAVE

THE WORLD!

Eric Johns
CHAPTERS

1 The Flying Saucer 7

2 Too Much Of A Coincidence 13
3 Aliens from the Crab Nebula 20
4 Enemies and Allies 28
5 The Investigation Begins 39
6 The Deserted Quarry 50
7 Fossils 55
8 Detective Work 62
9 Spying 67
10 The Tunnel 74
11 The Freewheelers Take a Lunch Break 83
12 Freewheelers Stand Alone 91
13 Captured by Aliens 98
14 The Hunt 107
15 The Plunketts' Ambush 113
16 The Raid 120
17 The Freewheelers' Families Welcome them Home 129
18 The World's End 137
1 The Flying Saucer

It was after midnight when the Freewheelers saw the flying

saucer.
Gina, Mandy and Claire were on the old airfield on Terncliff
Down high above the sea. They had slipped out of their beds after
their families were asleep to investigate a story going round their
school that the ghost of a fighter pilot was haunting the airfield
searching for his lost plane. They were not expecting to see a
flying saucer.
The Freewheelers made their way along the cracked concrete
runway.
"We'd better be careful," Claire whispered. "We don't want to
walk over the edge of the cliff."
"I can see where the runway stops," Gina said. "The sea's a
lot lighter."
They lined up well back from where the cliff ended. The sea
crashed far below them and they could make out the outline of
Coombe Bay. The ragged reflections of street lights along the sea
front seemed to claw at the waves.
They'd walked the whole length of the runway and not seen a
single ghost.
"If there was a ghost, it should've been here by now," Gina
complained. "It's past midnight."
"We're probably too late because you didn't stay awake,"
Mandy told her.
 Claire sighed. "You went to sleep as well," she reminded
Mandy. She couldn't see why the other two always had to argue
"How do ghosts know when it's midnight?" Gina wondered.
"They don't have watches, do they? I've never seen a ghost with a
watch."
"I knew this would be a waste of time," Mandy said
gloomily.
"I never did believe in ghosts anyway," Claire added.
Her words still hung in the damp air when an ear-shattering
roar rose from the sea.
"I'm sorry!" Claire yelled without knowing why.
The Freewheelers threw themselves flat and dug their fingers
into the crumbling concrete. The noise pressed down on them and
seemed to push them towards the cliff edge. It rose to a screech
and they felt the air sweep over them like a breaking wave.
The sound rolled down the runway.
"What is it?" Claire cried.
"It's the ghost pilot," Mandy exclaimed. "He's found his
plane."
"It didn't sound like a ghost," Gina objected.
"How many ghost planes have you heard?" Mandy
demanded. Her stomach was still fluttering.
"Why didn't we hear it coming?" Claire wanted to know. "It
must be a ghost plane. Ordinary planes don't appear out of
nowhere."
They climbed to their feet. From far down the runway the
sound of an engine came to them.
"It's landed," Mandy whispered.
"Let's go and see what's happening," Claire suggested,
straightening her glasses and trying to sound as though she'd not
been scared.
 They began to run.
The sound of an engine ticking over drew nearer and a
shadow became visible on the runway.
"We'd better be careful not to be seen," Gina said, "until we
know what's going on."
They headed towards the bushes at the side of the runway
where they wouldn't be visible against the skyline.
"Freeze!" Mandy hissed suddenly.
Gina and Claire had seen nothing but their Freewheeler
training took over and they stopped in mid-stride.
"What did you see?" Gina asked softly.
"Listen," Mandy whispered.
Gina and Claire strained their ears. It was ten seconds before
they heard anything, then the sound of another engine came to
them.
"A car's coming," Claire exclaimed.
"You've got good ears," Gina told Mandy.
"What's happening?" Claire asked. "This is nothing to do
with ghosts."
The silhouette of a four-wheel drive vehicle rolled up to the
shadow on the runway. There was the brief flicker of its interior
light as a door opened and closed but all the Freewheelers saw
was a shadow moving towards the ghost plane.
"They're carrying something to the plane." Claire whispered.
"Ghosts don't drive cars or load up planes," Mandy said.
"Let's see if we can get nearer," Gina suggested.
They bent double and hurried forward. But as soon as they
moved the plane's engine revved up and the shadow began to
move again. As if it had become a habit, the Freewheelers threw
themselves to the ground.
The sound swept past them.
 "Can you see anything?" Gina shouted.
"Look, there." Claire pointed uselessly, but they all saw it.
Outlined against the lighter grey of the sky, a slim oval object
hurtled along the runway. It drew almost level with them, then
rose and seemed to shrink. But the shadow kept its oval shape. In
a few seconds it had vanished.
"What was it?" Mandy asked.
"A sort of plane," Gina guessed. "Not a ghost."
"It didn't look like a plane," Mandy said. "I couldn't see any
wings."
"It was a flying saucer," Claire announced.
They were silent for a second.
"It wasn't saucer-shaped," Mandy pointed out.
"It didn't look it," Claire explained, "because we were
looking at it sideways, not from underneath. When it flew away
from us it was the same shape all the time, wasn't it?" She didn't
wait for an answer. "Well, a saucer is always the same shape
whichever way it goes."
The Freewheelers stared at the patch of sky which had
swallowed the strange craft. The more they tried to recall what it
looked like, the more definite its saucer-shape became.
"Aliens," Mandy whispered.
"Yes, of course," Gina agreed. "I wondered why it didn't have
any lights on. The aliens in it probably have x-ray eyes."
"That's why we didn't hear it coming," Claire said with relief.
"It was travelling faster than sound."
"What was it doing here?" Gina asked.
As if in answer to her question a door in the four-wheel drive
opened again and the interior light came on. The Freewheelers
strained their eyes and saw a figure getting in. Then the car's
headlights came on and another figure limped in front of it and
round to the door on the other side.
"Aliens," Claire whispered.
"They look human," Mandy said, screwing up her eyes.
"Disguised," Gina suggested.
"They'd have to look human so that they could carry out their
mission," Claire said. She felt certain the limping figure was an
alien.
"Why's it limping?" Gina asked.
"The disguise isn't perfect," Mandy suggested. "It's probably
got tentacles and things instead of legs."
The car drove off along the runway and the Freewheelers
stood up.
"What were they putting in the flying saucer?" Mandy
wondered.
"Earth and plants," Gina suggested. "If aliens are visiting the
earth, they'd want to know what it was made of."
"Animals as well," Claire added, "and people they've
kidnapped."
"Why're they doing it secretly?" Gina asked.
"They're going to invade," Mandy answered.
"I expect their world is dying or something," Gina said. "If
my world was dying, I'd take over another one."
"Well, what're we going to do?" Mandy asked.
"The car's tyre-prints will be in the mud where the runway
ends," Claire said. "We can take casts of them when it's light.
Then we'll be able to trace it."
"We'll have to get up here early, before anyone walks in
them," Mandy said.
"If there are aliens in Coombe Bay," Gina said, "it's up to the
Freewheelers to track them down.
"The Freewheelers must save the world," Mandy declared.
 Her words echoed across the deserted airfield like a battle-cry
from the planet Earth.