ARRIVAL TO DANGER

Pre Credits teaser...

BANG!

Barry ran up and down the aisle shooting a cap pistol, dressed in a

cowboy

outfit they had just taken from a toy department in a drugstore. The

door to

the cockpit was open and Steve only now realised how annoying Barry was

becoming. Barry also had a lasso which he was waving at his dog,

Chipper. At

13, Steve thought, Barry may have been a little too old for this but he

decided not to say anything. After all, he had missed a good deal of his

childhood by having to grow up from age 11 when they first crash landed

on

the land of the giants two and a half years ago.

Steve turned to his copilot Dan Erickson, "How's our heading?"

"Fine, we're making great time. Only I never imagined just how big this

planet really is."

"Neither did I." Steve looked out over a range of rocky, snow topped

mountains. "We've left the city far behind."

"What's ahead, I wonder?"

"Who can say. I just knew I didn't want to cross that Sea of Storms or

head

anywhere near that continent of Titus."

Dan shuddered, recalling a past adventure in a new, foreign land of

giants

who were oddly advanced but also primitive. "No."

"You're right, though. The planet must be the size of seventy or eighty

Earths. We've only seen a small portion of it."

Presently, Spindrift passed the peak of the mountains, so huge that Dan

and

Steve stopped thinking about it. In the passenger compartment, Fitzhugh,

Valerie, and Betty were thinking about it. They gazed out the

rectangular

ports in awe as brilliant sunshine filtered into the entire ship.

Mark Wilson didn't see it. He was in the ship's engine room, examining

the

solar cells. He has a notebook and began writing in it.

Steve slowly let the ship descend after they left the mountain range. "I

want

to get a good visual scan of the area."

Dan checked a small radar to his left. "No mountains. A few hills and a

lake

or two. Looks like plains."

"Planes!" Barry came up behind Dan's chair. "Giant planes? Won't they

hit

us?"

Dan laughed, "Not planes. Flat ground like the American desert--the

plains."

"Oh," Barry's face registered acknowledgement but he looked dull eyed

at the

radar, "Then what's that?"

A grey, spreading image contoured no the screen. Dan gasped, "Steve."

"I see them," Steve muttered. Outside, the blurry image came into view

as

the ship and it headed toward each other. As they got closer, the images

became clearer...for there was more than one image.

"Birds---geese!" Barry cried.

Steve pushed the boy to the radio set up chair. "Strap in!" He grabbed

a

mike, "Everyone strap in!"

Betty, Val, and Fitzhugh had time to comply but Mark, hearing this

warning

over a speaker, could only grab onto the wall handles. Steve shot

Spindrift

away, to the left as he saw them flying head on but the monster mass of

birds

was huge, he estimated at around seventy thousand in number. Miles and

miles

across, above and below.

Dan said, "Maybe we can cut through them...scare them off?"

Steve gasped, "Maybe, but if they're migrating...they'll keep coming."

Presently, the geese over ran the red rocket shaped tubular ship. Betty

and

Fitzhugh, on their side of the passenger compartment could see the huge

bird

bodies. A few scattered away from the spacecraft but some slammed into

its

side, shaking the small vehicle and everyone inside. Mark was pried

loose

from his grip hold and thrown against the wall. He slumped to the floor

of

the engine room.

ARRIVAL TO DANGER