Chapter Seven

Dick fell silent brooding over his dilemma, and frustrated with his inflexible so-called sister. He decided to pursue the subject of visiting Mary later, and sat wondering how he could broach the subject of Harry.

At the same time, Sally was determinedly studying the little blip on the radar screen which pinpointed the exact location of Harry's stolen space cruiser, when suddenly she gave a sudden "HEY!". Dick looked up, surprised, as Sally yelled out

"IT'S GONE!".

Dick said tentatively "Lieutenant?" Sally did not answer as she was furiously punching buttons on the display.

"Harry's Cruiser! It's disappeared! He must have crashed somewhere!" she finally exclaimed.

Dick was not sure what to make of this new information - but felt it was as good a time as any to query Sally's determination to go through with this assassination.

" Sally, this is great news!" Dick beamed, as Sally glared at him with frustration and annoyance.

"What, is so great, about this, Dick!" Sally asked with slow and careful words.

"Harry, he may have been uh, killed, in the crash - or, if he wasn't - we could - well, just say that he was!"

Dick chose his words carefully, knowing full well that he was endangering himself by suggesting such obvious disobedience of the BGH's orders - a wrong step could see both him and Harry on the execution list.

Sally did not speak, weighing up this new option - after all, she didn't really want to assassinate Harry, the big dumb loon. She could get her head around a fair fight, against beings with full capability of defending themselves; or purely evil characters who made the world a darker place just by being in it. But Harry was neither of those things. Harry was just Harry. He wasn't smart, he wasn't strong, he wasn't coordinated. But he wasn't bad either. He was like a big puppy. He didn't deserve to die.

Then Sally's other voice began to kick in - her soldier voice, the voice of years of training and soul-hardening missions. Still undecided about what was the right thing to do, Sally finally answered Dick.

"We have a duty to clear the Cruiser, if he did crash - and I won't say this again, Dick - we have a duty to complete this mission! So we're still going down there!"

Dick was silent for just a moment, before adding,

"So does that mean we'll have time to visit Mary?"

Sally screamed in frustration as the shuttle began to prepare itself for landing, and both Dick and Sally began to morph into their human shapes.


Harry reached Mrs Dubceks house in record time. He was munching on a donut someone had thrown out, and was wearing a tasteful green dress he had taken from someone's washing line. Not exactly what he had in mind, but considering the alternative, it was a case of beggars can't be choosers. Now that he was at Mrs Dubceks house, he could hopefully find the clothes they had left behind. How to get in was another story. He stood back surveying the climb up to the roof, discovering a handy drainpipe which didn't look too hard to climb. Harry stuffed the rest of the donut into his mouth, hiked up his skirt and started climbing. Without too much difficulty, he managed to make it onto the roof where the Solomon's used to sit during the evening. Just seeing the familiar rooftop again made Harry's heart race with excitement - he had done it - he had made it. The kitchen window was bolted shut, and Harry started to run in, aiming to headbutt the window. As he was about to make contact, he stopped, wondering if another bump might start off his Transmitter again. He decided not to risk it, and realizing the hinges were loose, he managed to simply pull the window frame out of the wall without having to break the glass. He climbed in through the window and jumped down into the kitchen, doing a little victory dance as he felt he was finally home.


After quickly dressing in the earth clothes they had brought along with them, Sally and Dick emerged from the space ship cautiously. There was nothing to be seen, save for the aforementioned bored cows and waving ears of corn. A thorough search of the surrounding area turned up nothing. They trekked back to the space ship, occasionally bickering and mumbling quietly. After some pointless scanning with the ship's sensors, they conceded defeat. Sally squinted into the bright sun as she surveyed the lonely cornfield. Nearby, Dick sat in front of their space ship gazing out into the distance and looking frustrated. There was no sign of Harry's cruiser, and no sign of Harry. Surely he couldn't have just disappeared - still, stranger things had happened. Dick realized with all this searching, he had forgotten to take notice of the Earth scenery he had come to miss so much. He gazed up at the blue sky streaked with white, marvelling at the view from inside the atmosphere. Sally gave up surveying and decided to move on to their next task. With no space cruiser to search, and no debris to clear, Sally and Dick got to work camouflaging their own ship. They barely talked, past tensions rising and resentment building between them. Sally was tired of Dick's childish antics, and Dick frustrated with Sally's lack of understanding. Still, their years of association had left them with an uncanny sense of each other's way of thinking, and thus, it was this unspoken understanding of each other which lead to them both setting off towards the house without either finding it necessary to consult with the other.