Jack West Jr and the Chinese Splashdown
JACK WEST JR
and the
CHINESE SPLASHDOWN
MATTHEW REILLY
A special Jack West Jr short story
Copyright © Karanadon Entertainment Pty Limited 2020
I knew I was alone in a way that no earthling has ever been before.
– Astronaut Michael Collins, who had to remain in the Command Module circling the Moon while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on it.
‘The moon landing?’ Mae’s eyes narrowed. ‘It was real, wasn’t it?’
‘Absolutely. And also very necessary,’ Hades added enigmatically. ‘The fourth landing was the important one.’
– From: The Three Secret Cities by Matthew Reilly (Macmillan, Sydney, 2018)
After Jack West Jr found the
SEVEN ANCIENT WONDERS,
rebuilt the Machine with
THE SIX SACRED STONES
and was recognised as one of
THE FIVE GREATEST WARRIORS,
he stepped away from the world for several years.
During that time,
before he won in the Great Games held by
THE FOUR LEGENDARY KINGDOMS
and rediscovered
THE THREE SECRET CITIES,
Jack went on another mission.
A mission that would bring him unwittingly close
to the Trial of the Mountains…
THE ZOMBIE SATELLITE HUNTER
Great Sandy Desert
Northwestern Australia
Sometime in 2006
In the year or so after Jack West Jr found the seven wonders of the ancient world and was living peacefully on his farm in the remote northwest corner of Australia—out past the abandoned desert towns of Simpson’s Crossing and Death Valley—he had exactly one neighbour.
Crazy old Wally Ferguson.
No-one else lived in those parts.
The area was hot, arid and about as far from the world as you could get. Not many people cared to live in such a place.
Well, no-one except for Jack and Wally Ferguson.
Jack had a soft spot for old Wally.
He was one of those ‘Only in Australia’ guys. Pushing sixty, he was gruff and overweight, with a pot belly and hairy shoulders. He was also prone to wearing blue singlets and shorts.
‘He’s also as honest as the day is long,’ Jack told Lily as they drove out to see Wally one day in late 2006. ‘I like him.’
‘He smells funny,’ Lily said. She was nine at the time.
‘Regardless of how he smells, he’s actually a brilliant man. Back when he was younger, Wally was an astronomer at the University of South Australia. But then his wife died and Wally kinda had a nervous breakdown and he was never really the same. So he came out here. He’s the only guy who lives in Simpson’s Crossing anymore. But he still has his telescopes and his radio gear—which he built himself—always pointed up at the sky.’
‘He’s not searching for aliens, is he?’ Lily said. ‘Is Mr Ferguson nuts?’
Jack laughed. ‘No, he’s not nuts and he’s not searching for aliens. What he is searching for—listening for, actually—is very interesting. He’s looking for zombie satellites.’
‘Zombie satellites?’
‘A zombie satellite is an old satellite—launched many years ago, usually by America or the old Soviet Union—that has run out of batteries and turned off. Only it’s still up there, just sweeping around the Earth, dead, but still in orbit. Ergo, zombie.