Page 86 - Unit 5 - Exercise 1A

Page 86 - Unit 5 - Exercise 1A

Human is

‘No,’ said Lester Herrick. ‘He can’t come and stay with us. I’ve got too much work to do.’ ‘You’re horrible,’ said his wife, Jill.They were talking about her nephew, Gus. ‘You can tell him when he comes this afternoon,’ said Lester. ‘And where’s my dinner?’ ‘It’s just coming,’ said Jill. The meal was picked up by the kitchen robot and carried towards Lester. ‘Hurry up,’ he said impatiently. ‘I want to get back to work.’ When Gus arrived, Jill ran to pick him up. ‘Be careful of my tiger,’ he said. The kitten jumped out of the boy’s arms. ‘It’s not a tiger,’ said Lester. ‘It’s just a cat You should use words correctly.’ ‘Don’t be so mean,’ said Jill. ‘Come on, Gus. Let’s go into the garden. ‘Be quiet, both of you,’ said Lester. ‘There’s a message coming through on the computer.’ ‘Is it bad news?’ asked Jill. ‘Not at all,’ said Lester. ‘I’m going away for three weeks to Rexor IV.

I’ve always wanted to visit that planet. The boy can stay here while I’m away, but no longer.’

‘I’m going to leave him, Frank.’ Jill was talking to her brother, Gus’s father. He was a lawyer. ‘He’s so horrible to live with. He only thinks about his work.’ ‘Well, Lester’s got a very important job,’ said Frank. ‘Maybe he’ll hange.’ ‘No, he won’t,’ said Jill.

But Lester Herrick did change. When he returned from Rexor IV, he was a very different man. ‘How lovely to see you, my dear,’ he said. After dinner, he asked: ‘Can I help you with anything?’ ‘No, it’s OK,’ said Jill. ‘You can get on with your work.’ ‘My work?’ said Lester. ‘Oh, that can wait. I’d like to go and play with little Gus.’

And so it continued. Jill didn’t understand it, but she liked it. Lester was no longer mean and cold. He smiled all the time and was very kind.

When they went to see Frank and Gus, she told Frank about the change.

But Frank was worried. ‘I think you’d better come with me, Herrick,’ he said to Lester.

The next day, Frank took his sister to the police station. ‘So, do you mean,’ she said, ‘that the man who came back from Rexor IV wasn’t really Lester?’ ‘Yes,’ said Frank. ‘While Lester was there, he was captured. His mind was removed from his body and it was replaced by this thing - a Rexorian.’ ‘But why?’ said Jill.

‘Rexor IV is a very old planet. It’s dying and the Rexorians want to escape.’ ‘Has it happened before?’ ‘Yes, but they were all discovered when they tried to leave Rexor IV and they were destroyed.’

‘Why wasn’t this one found?’ ‘Lester had his own private spaceship, so he wasn’t checked.The problem is that the Rexorian can’t just be destroyed here on Earth.

It’s illegal. We need permission from the Supreme Court. It won’t be difficult. You just have to tell the Court that Lester has changed.’

‘And then?’ ‘Then the Rexorian will be destroyed. Lester’s mind will be brought back to Earth and put into his body again.’ ‘What?’ Jill cried. ‘Do you mean that Lester is still alive?’ ‘Yes, his mind has been stored somewhere on Rexor IV. But don’t worry.

It will be found and you’ll have your old husband back!’ When they entered the room, ‘Lester’ was sitting on a chair. ‘I believe everything has been explained to you, Mrs Herrick,’ said the Police Chief. ‘Yes,’ said Jill.

‘You just need to tell us about the change in your husband,’ said the Police Chief.

Jill looked at the man sitting quietly on a chair. ‘Change?1 she said. ‘I haven’t noticed any change. So can my husband and I go home now, please?’