As if it had simply stepped from the TV screen, the alien strode into the middle of the Ramsgill Observatory staff room, unintentionally herding everyone into a terrified huddle, while Rupi and Colin tried desperately to pull the unconscious Bernie back against the side wall.
The alien nearly reached the ceiling and, having equally impressive breadth, gave the impression of filling the whole room. Its helmet covered everything all the way down to the start of a fish-mail suit, which was fabricated from an unguessable but glistening grey metal material. Instead of a visor or an eye-slit, a dark transparent rim ran the entire circumference of the head, bowing out like hosepipe, and intermittently flashed a white light around its whole circuit.
‘I am an ombudsman,’ it announced in an expres
