2 Visit to Australia

On Friday，after three weeks in space，Kiah and Rilla finished work and left Ship OM-45 on a space plane to Kisangani．Kiah phoned Adai and Rilla phoned Commander¹ Zadak in Australia．The next morning they took an aeroplane² to Sydney．A taxi took them from the airport to Commander Zadak's office，some kilometres north of Sydney．

‘Wait for us here，’Kiah said to the taxi driver．

Kiah and Rilla walked to the gate．About ten guards⁴ stood in front of the gate．Across the road，a train waited．

‘Rilla，OM-45，’Rilla said．‘To see Commander Zadak at four-thirty．’

‘Let me call the Commander's office，’the guard³ said．

Kiah and Rilla waited．It was hot and Kiah began to feel thirsty．

The guard came back．‘I'm sorry，’he said．‘The Com-mander can't see you．’

‘But I talked to the Commander yesterday，’Rilla said．

‘He wanted to see us at four-thirty．’

‘The Commander is leaving on the train in three minutes，’the guard said．

‘Can we wait and see him here？’Kiah asked．

‘No！'the guard shouted．‘Get out of here！’

Kiah and Rilla walked back to the taxi．

‘Where's the driver？’Kiah asked．

‘Look！He's sitting under that tree，’Rilla said．

Just then，Commander Zadak came out of the gate．He was a very tall，big man with blue eyes and a lot of white hair．Two guards marched in front of him，and two guards marched be-hind him．They all carried guns．

‘There he is！’Rilla cried．‘Commander！’And she began to run along the road to him．

‘Commander Zadak did not stop．A guard opened the door of the train and the Commander got in．Slowly，the train began to move．’

Kiah ran to the taxi and jumped in．Then he drove⁵ the taxi fast down the road．The taxi driver saw him and ran after him．The train began to move faster．Suddenly，Kiah drove the taxi off the road．He drove in front of the train and stopped．

The train came nearer．And then the train stopped， very near the taxi，and some guards jumped off．Kiah opened the door and got out of the taxi．

‘Put up your hands！'the guards shouted．

Two of the guards began to hit Kiah．

‘Stop that！’someone shouted．‘Bring him over here！’It was Commander Zadak．

Kiah stood in front of the Commander．Just then，Rilla ar-rived．

‘Oh，it's you！’commander Zadak said．He did not smile．‘Rilla，your father's going to be angry．’

‘We want to talk to you，Commander，’Rilla said．‘It's very important．’

‘Very well．I'm listening．’

Kiah began to talk．‘Two years ago，Adai told you about the holes in the AOL．Now they're worse．The AOL is break-ing up over Europe．Please look at these numbers and this satellite⁶ picture．’

He gave his book to Commander Zadak and the Commander looked at the numbers．

‘It's important，Commander，’Kiah said．‘In ten years Earth is going to die．’

‘You stopped my train because of this？’commander Zadak asked．‘Two years ago Adai talked to me about the AOL．Then he talked to Earth Commander，and what happened？Where is Adai now？Is the Moon colony⁷ helping⁸ the AOL？’

‘We know about Adai，Commander，’Rilla said．‘But someone needs to talk to Earth Commander again．’

‘I'm going to talk to Gog about rain，I can tell you that．Earth needs rain：there was no rain last winter．Half of Australia has no water and my trees here are dying．Without rain，many people are going to die．Is Gog going to understand that？I don't know！’

Commander Zadak began to walk back to his train．‘Move that taxi！’he called to his guards．

Some guards moved the taxi back to the road and then they jumped on to the train again．The train began to move．

‘OK，’the taxi driver shouted．‘What are you going to do next？Drive my taxi into the river？’

Kiah smiled．He took some money from his pocket and gave it to the taxi driver．

The taxi driver looked at the money．‘OK，OK，’he said．‘Where now？Back to the airport？’

Kiah took Rilla's hand，‘Yes，’he said．‘Let's get back to Kisangani．We can phone Adai again tomorrow．’

2 访问澳大利亚

这是个星期五，凯和瑞拉已经在太空飞行了三周。他们结束了工作，离开OM-45号宇宙飞船，乘航天飞机飞往基桑加尼。凯和瑞拉分别跟阿岱和在澳大利亚的司令扎达克通了电话。第二天早晨他们乘飞机来到悉尼。一辆出租车把他们从机场带到了悉尼以北几公里以外扎达克司令的办公室。

“在这儿等我们。”凯吩咐出租车司机。

凯和瑞拉朝大门走去。门口站着大约十几个卫兵。一辆火车正等在马路对面。

“我叫瑞拉，OM-45号的，”瑞拉说，“扎达克司令4点半要接见我们。”

“我给司令办公室打个电话。”卫兵说。

凯和瑞拉站在那儿等着。天气很热，凯感到口干舌燥。

那个卫兵回来了。“对不起，”他说，“司令不能见你们。”

“可是我昨天跟司令说过，”瑞拉说，“他答应今天4点半见我们。”

“再过三分钟司令就要坐火车出发了。”卫兵说。

“我们能不能在这儿等着见他一面？”凯问。

“不行！”卫兵喊了起来，“出去！”

凯和瑞拉回到出租车那儿。

“司机哪去了？”凯问。

“那不是嘛！在那棵树下坐着呢。”瑞拉说。

正说着，扎达克司令出现在大门口。他高大魁梧，蓝眼睛，长着一头浓密的白发。四个卫兵两前两后阔步护卫着他。他们都带着枪。

“他在那儿！”瑞拉喊了起来，“扎达克司令！”她随即顺着马路朝他跑去。

扎达克司令并没有停下脚步。一个卫兵打开火车门，扎达克跨了进去。火车缓缓地开动了。

凯奔向那辆出租车，迅速坐进车里。随即他开着车飞快地顺路而下。出租车司机看见了他，在后面紧追不放。火车在加速。突然，凯把出租车开下了马路。直驶到火车前头停了下来。

火车越来越近了。在就要撞到出租车的时候，它停了下来。几个卫兵从车厢里跳了下来。凯打开车门从出租车里出来。

“举起手来！”卫兵们朝他喊。

两个卫兵对凯一阵拳打脚踢。

“住手！”有人喊了一声，“把他带到这儿来！”是扎达克司令。

凯站到了司令面前。正在这时，瑞拉赶到了。

“噢，是你。”扎达克司令说话了。他不带一丝笑容：“瑞拉，你父亲会生气的。”

“我们想和您谈谈，司令，”瑞拉说，“这事非常重要。”

“说吧，我听着呢。”

凯开口了：“两年前阿岱曾跟您谈过臭氧层上的洞。现在情况更糟了。欧洲上空的臭氧层已经开裂。请您看看这些数据和这张卫星照片。”

他把笔记本递给扎达克司令，扎达克看了看本子上的数据。

“这事非常重要，司令，”凯说，“10年后地球就要毁灭了。”

“你们拦住我的火车就为这事？”扎达克司令问，“两年前阿岱跟我谈过臭氧层的事。然后他又跟地球司令谈了这件事。之后又怎么样了呢？阿岱现在在哪？月亮部族能帮助修复臭氧层吗？”

“我们知道阿岱的事，司令。”瑞拉说，“但是得有人再去跟地球司令谈谈。”

“我可以告诉你们，我正准备去跟高格谈谈雨水的事。地球需要雨水：去年冬天没下雨。澳大利亚有一半地区没有水，我们的树都要枯死了。假如没有水的话很多人都要活不下去了。高格会理解这一切吗？我不知道。”

扎达克司令朝他的火车走去。“把那辆出租车弄走！”他朝卫兵们喊。

几个卫兵把出租车推到了公路上，然后跳上了火车。火车启动了。

“好啊，”出租车司机喊道，“你们还想干什么？把我的出租车开到河里去？”

凯笑了。他从衣兜里拿出一些钱递给出租车司机。

出租车司机看了看那些钱。“好吧，好吧。”他说，“现在去哪？回机场？”

凯拉住瑞拉的手。“是的，”他说，“咱们回基桑加尼去。我们明天再给阿岱打个电话。”