Watching him from the corner of his eye, Arthur cupped the box in his hands and held them out in front of him.
‘So, I’m just going to say “open” three times, then.’
‘Yep. Three times ought to do it.’
‘OK, here we go. Open!’
The cat had reached the top.
‘Open!’ he said again.
Arthur could feel his hands beginning to shake with excitement and his heart racing.
‘Open!… Cat! Why are you—’
Suddenly, the little box shot into the air, freezing halfway between the floor and the ceiling. Snapping open, a bright white light like he’d seen the night of the storm spilled out of it, filling the room instantly. Coloured spheres began to materialise everywhere. And between them, countless shining points. Arthur, mesmerised by what was happening, ducked as a small green-and-blue sphere appeared just above his head.
‘Cat…’
‘I’m here… I see them!’ he meowed dreamily.
‘What are they?’
‘I have no idea. But they’re soooo pretty.’
A moment later, the room was plunged into darkness. The coloured spheres, the points of light, continuing to shine, now appeared to be grouped into clusters.
‘Cat! I think I’ve got it! I know what this is! They’re planets, suns, and stars. I saw something like this when I was at the planetarium. It’s got to be a map—a star map! And look over there, there’s some kind of writing near one of the groups. See?’
‘Yes, yes, I see. What’s it say?’ he whispered, coming closer and trying to catch one of the spheres with a paw.
‘I don’t know, but they look like symbols of some sort. I reckon it must mean that there’s something special about those planets.’
‘You mean like a warning not to ever go there.’
‘That’d be weird, don’t you think?’
‘Not really.’
‘But, if it is a map, then where did it come from? And how did it get to Earth?’
‘And who put it at the bottom of a lake?’
‘Or on that weird train that blew up?’
‘If it really was on that train!’
‘What? Of course it was on the train. Don’t you think it’s a bit of a coincidence that it fell into the lake exactly on the night of the bright light, which was also when it looks like it blew up?’
‘Maybe. Or perhaps it actually fell out of a passing aircraft blinded by that exact light.’
‘An aircraft?’ laughed Arthur. ‘And I suppose that whoever it was who happened to be flying it also happened to be holding the box out of the window at that exact moment?’