Warblegrub and the Forbidden Planet Read Online Free Page A

helium…carbon….”
    “That’s just the recipe!” Warblegrub laughed. Once again he had left his guards without their noticing.
    “How do you keep doing that?” 395 asked.
    “I’m not dangerous so they don’t feel the need to guard me.”
    “What…?”
    “Stop asking so many questions and admire the view,” Warblegrub advised. “Take it in with all your senses; smell the air, taste it!”
    395 drew a deep breath but was interrupted by the radar, which emitted a series of loud beeps.
    “Something’s moving up there!” warned the Sergeant.
    The Colonel hurried over, as did Warblegrub’s rather sheepish-looking guards.
    “Flock of birds?” the Colonel suggested.
    395 shook his head.
    The Colonel turned to Warblegrub. “What is it?”
    “Something you really don’t want to disturb.”
    “I’ll be the judge of that. Now tell me what it is!”
    “Why should I?” replied Warblegrub. “You’ve no authority over me. I’ll answer no more questions!” Resolutely folding his arms, he turned his back on them.
    “I don’t know who you are or what your game is,” the Colonel snarled, “but if you or anyone else thinks you can stop us.…”
    Warblegrub spun round and the guards raised their weapons. “Stop what, Colonel? What are you doing here?”
    395 expected the Colonel to strike Warblegrub but instead he dismissed him with a sneer and a wave of his hand and turned back to the mountain.
    Followed by his guards, Warblegrub went and sat apart, his heart heavy. He still had a fondness for humans, despite all the terrible things they had done. “He’ll lead them all to destruction!” he said to himself.
    “Did you say ‘destruction’?”
    The voice was a whisper on the breeze and only Warblegrub heard it. He glanced at the mountain and, close to the summit, saw a bright red light flash.
    “Too late,” he muttered.
    “What did you say?” asked Private 749.
    “Toilet,” replied Warblegrub hastily. “I need to go to the toilet.”

Chapter Five
    395 removed the probe from its case and placed it carefully on top of a flat stone. Resembling a dragonfly, it had a longer body and more powerful wings than the one Warblegrub had destroyed, and the company watched in admiration as the Science Officer’s elegant creation rose to head height and hovered silently.
    “Impressive,” observed Warblegrub, wandering over with his guards in tow, “and so life-like!”
    “It’s camouflaged so as not to attract attention,” 395 replied.
    “That’s not mere camouflage.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “That’s craftsmanship! It requires empathy, understanding. Camouflage is deception.”
    Secretly pleased by the compliment, 395 looked down at the tablet and checked the data feed from the probe. Satisfied, he sent it on its way. As they watched the view from its camera, they were joined by the Colonel, who dismissed Warblegrub’s guards but permitted the prisoner to remain.
    The probe followed the ridgeline for more than a kilometre, over barren rocks and back down into the shadows of the forest, before climbing steeply up the mountainside. The summit was hidden in clouds that seemed to be gathering there with no regard for the direction of the wind, and soon only the vague shapes of rocks and boulders were visible to the watchers round the tablet. The probe was close to the summit when a dark shape filled the screen, and 395 thought he glimpsed jaws full of sharp teeth closing before the screen went blank.
    “What was that?” demanded the Colonel.
    “No idea.”
    “What did you see?”
    395 shrugged. “Some kind of animal, I think.”
    The Colonel turned to Warblegrub. “What’s up there?”
    “Hard to describe really, you’d have to meet him.”
    “Is it hostile?” asked 395.
    “He can be rather bad tempered at times.”
    “ He? What is it – human, mammal, reptile?”
    Warblegrub considered this, then shrugged. “As I said, you’d have to meet him.”

    The Sergeant looked worried when