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Only humans with animal powers can resist them... |
| [Introduction] ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** A substitute teacher for a High School class gives a homework assignment asking everyone to tell him their favorite animal and why. The class is relieved they don't have to do anything boring like math. They tell the teacher their favorite animals (all the author's use their personal favorite animal) and go home happy A day later they find themselves transformed into anthropomorphic versions of their favorite animals Turns out the teacher was an alien from another planet, and was told to 'recruit teenagers with attitude' to his Galactic Defense Against Invaders. Only humans with Animal Powers are immune to the Invaders' psychic attacks. |
| Substitute teacher Marlon Brinkle wrote "Homework" on the blackboard. The class groaned. "No need to be alarmed," Brinkle said with a grin. "The assignment is simple. One page. Start with your name and a little bit about you, then tell me your favorite animal and why you like it. See you tomorrow. Your regular teacher should be back in about a week." |
| One Girl was such a big Animal Lover it was easier listing the Animals she didn't like. (Mainly anything without a backbone) After an hour of taking into account all the factors, including, beauty, personality,mythological significance. She decided what her favorite animal of all time was Name: Amanda Franken About me: I have brown hair and brown eyes, I love to watch cartoons and eat delicious food, I've loved animals ever since the day I was born and deciding what my favorite animal of all time was, was really hard but after much thinking I came to a conclusion. My Favorite Animal is The Horse Why I like it, I live in an Equestrian Neighborhood, so I've been seeing Horses ever since I was in diapers,also Horses helped man conquer the World while still maintaining the majesty of the wild, also they're vegetarians that eat mostly hay and oats that smell a lot better then wet dog or cat food, seriously that stuff makes me gag , |
| One young man knew what he really liked. Name: John Jones. About me: I like studying military history; Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Age of Exploration, Age of Industrialization, Modern Age. If I don't know something, I research it. I am interested in having a career in the military, like most of my family. My Favorite Animal: Grey Wolf. Reason: Despite having a misunderstood reputation for being savage, wolves are known for being loyal to their packs, all caring for the cubs. It's ill-advised to try to remove a cub from its parents, as both male and female wolves will fight to protect the cub, working together to do so. |
| Another student spent several minutes cycling through species of protozoa, before smiling to himself and jotting down a representative of an entirely different class. Name: Sebastian Rex Hair Colour: Brown Eye Colour: Brown Height: 5'8" Likes: Hiking, paintballing, reading, writing, studying military history, and pizza. Dislikes: Smarter people rubbing their intelligence in, being made to look undeservedly like an idiot, most mirrors, disappointing teachers/authority figures. My Favourite Animal: The North American Beaver. Would you like to know why? It's because they work together in groups, working for the good of the whole as much as the individual. They are associated with hard-work, which I would in turn would consider my single greatest positive trait, and alter their environment to suit themselves, instead of the other way around, something else which I feel compelled to admire. Obviously, beavers build permanent structures in the process, similar to my regular job, so remind me of myself in a way. And, perhaps more than anything else, even the fish, I have them and their sacrifice to thank for the creation of my country, which is significant to me. |
| After collecting the class homework assignment, Marlon Brinkle gave them some reading to do while he sat at his desk studying their responses. Yes... definitely some potential recruits here. Too bad it couldn't be voluntary, but the emergency was too immediate. He wrote the names of the students he had selected on the blackboard... Amanda Franken John Jones Sebastian Rex Charelle Wilson He read over Charelle's paper again... Name: Charelle Wilson About Me: I'm an African American girl but I don't waste no time on music and basketball. I'm into science big time and would like to either make an important discovery or be the first woman on Mars. My Favorite Animal: the hamster Reason: Have you SEEN the Kia Soul commercials? It's hamsters, baby, all the way! I even have my own hamster. His name is Jeremy. I guess I would freak out pretty bad if I saw hamsters big as people driving cars! Marlon Brinkle chuckled. Mars... and beyond... |
| Mr. Brinkle said to the students "Thank you for your answers, right now I'm going to go over the difference between human senses and Animal Senses." |
| John had his nose in a book. There wasn't much about animals he didn't know, but he always enjoyed reading military stuff. Of course, he was listening to what the teacher was saying. |
| The lecture crawled onward like a lethargic slug, notes scribbled themselves into existence like writhing cocoons of baby spiders, and the class eventually came to an end like a glacier melting to nothingness over centuries. |
| "Class dismissed," said Marlon Brinkle, "except for the names on the blackboard." After everyone else had left, Marlon gathered the four around him. "Something amazing is going to happen to you tonight. I don't want you to be alarmed when it does. You have been invited to participate in a mission of great importance." "Wow!" Charelle said. "Are you like the CIA or something." "Or something," Marlon said. "I wish I could tell you more, but when it happens, just remember what I said. Here, put these in your pocket. They are communicators." "Communicators?" Sebastian said. "They are so small." Marlon held one up. "Be sure you do not let anyone else see or touch them. They will self-destruct if tampered with." "Huh?!" said Charelle. "You really ARE the CIA!" |
| "Crazy day," John muttered, as he heard his great-grandfather tell his war stories, yet again. "There was me and Patton, surrounded by a hundred V.C.s," the old man said. "All we had was a knife and a broken bottle of tequila. They attacked - threw themselves at us. Next thing you know, Custer showed up with the Seventh, and saved our scalps from those redskins." Everyone groaned, and nodded their heads. The old man had taken one too many blows to the head at some point in his life, though whether this was from an actual battle, or a bar fight, was unclear. Still, he came up with some crazy things. "For my bravery, I got the Victoria Cross, and the Legion of Honor, and a Purple Heart, not to mention a Golden Star Cluster for when I blasted a pack of alien spaceships out of the air." The old man could come up with some crazy things. |
| Sebastian was still re-reading his math notes, studying. He glanced at the clock, yawning. Just two more hours... Then I can go work out. Yay. He turned a page and sighed. I wonder what the Mr. Brinkle wants us to do for him later? What's the communicator for? Why was he so secretive? Hypothetically, how many bonus-marks would he give me in exchange for a poor-quality blow job? Asking the important questions, as per the usual. |
| Marlon Brinkle sat in his RV (which was really a disguised spaceship) and spoke at the monitor. "Mission near complete. Four potential recruits identified and processing started. I expect to leave earth within 24 hours. Over." "Your message received, agent Marlon. Proceed as planned. Over and out." |
| When Amanda woke up she felt strange...She didn't know what was wrong her entire body felt heavy She rubbed her eyes to help them open, she then saw her hand was covered in brown hair and had black hoof like finger nails. She quickly searched for the nearest mirror she screamed but the scream came out as a frightened whinny |
| John woke up to hearing his folks, and most of his family leave. He looked out the window and watched as several military vehicles rolled down the road. "Must of been a call," he said. He then walked to his dresser, when something made him pause. Something was out of place, something attached to him. He looked at it. "My nose can't be that big." He then looked at his arms and legs, and his new claws. Then he noticed a tail. "This is not good!" He closed his eyes, shook his head, turned towards his mirror, opened his eyes, and then sighed. "It was just a dream-thing." Then, he looked at his hands, and saw the fur and claws. "This is not right." He looked at the mirror, and looked normal. But then he looked at his hands - they resemblied something from the canine family. "I need to figure this out later," he muttered, as he got his clothes. "I still have school." After he finished getting ready, John went downstairs, where he saw his great-grandfather sitting at the table. The old man blinked at him. "You need to start shaving boy," the old man said. "For a second there, I thought that I was looking at a wolf." The old man got out a bottle, and pour some of it into a cup of coffee. "Nothing like a little kick to wake you up in the morning. You want some?" "Sorry, but you know how mother is about that sort of stuff," said John. "As I tell her, a little sip never hurt anyone," said the old man. "Yeah, but the school frowns upon it even worse. Captain of the football team got kicked off when they found out he brought a six pack to that party last month." The old man nodded. "Heard about that. You'd think it was the end of the world." "Well, it will be the end of my ass if I don't get going," John said, as he grabbed some quick breakfast bars, and ran out the door. As he closed the door, John sighed. "One house down, twelve more, a bus, and a school to go." He looked at his hands; they were wolf-like. "I hope no one else notices." Then he remembered the mirror, and how he looked normal. "Maybe no one else can see what's happened to me?" he muttered to himself. "I hope that's the case. I don't want a mob of torches and pitchforks to come after me." |
| "Seb?" Mr. Rex knocked again. "Seb, are you alright in there?" "Uh, ah, yeah!" Sebastian paced in his room, uncertain whether he should brace his new and disturbing body against the door or not. "I'm fine-wait, no. I'm not fine. I, uh, I don't feel very good. Would you mind calling me in sick today?" "Are you sure?" Mr. Rex narrowly held back from entering the room. Sebastian hadn't taken a sick day from school in years. "Uh, yes! I- I really don't feel like I can make it today." The newly minted humanoid beaver stammered. "Well, all right then." Rex was hardly buying it, but he couldn't deny his curiosity at what Sebastian was up to. "I'll check on you to see if your'e feeling better in a few hours." "Thank-you, sir!" |
| Charelle Wilson woke up and absent-mindedly rubbed her arm. What the hell?! Fur?! She jumped up and looked in the mirrer. "Aiiiieeeee! I'm a hamster!" She stared at the mirror a moment longer and then remembered Marlon Brindle's words. "Did HE do this? I'll kill him! Where's that communicator? ... Hello? Mr. Brindle? I'm a doggone hamster! ... What? Just come on in to school? You better have an explanation!" |
| Amanda now a Horse ran out of her home screaming at the top of her lungs, since she was running on all fours everyone thought she was just a runaway horse |
| As John walked to the bus stop, he gave a quick prayer of thanks to whomever, or whatever, it was that kept people from seeing what he looked like. He didn't know if it was God, or the fact that most people were concerned with themselves, or perhaps aliens, but either way, other than the occasional "Someone needs to start shaving" comment, no one was really noticing anything different. At least, for now. |
| Bunkered deep under the heaviest clothing he could find, Rex stared straight ahead as the bus pulled into the school. In one gloved paw, he was still holding the 'communicator' Mr. Brindle had recently called him on. The teacher might not know it yet, but he was about to desperately need to have answers to what was going on. |
| Each student, as he was about to enter the school, was instructed on his communicator to "meet me in room 303". Room 303 was an unused classroom that was scheduled to be converted to a science lab. Marlon Brindle was there as the four students walked in, either puzzled or angry or curious, depending on their natural inclinations. "I know you all were surprised this morning when you woke up..." "Surprised?!" Charelle said. "I was totally freaked! I could have gone insane, Mr. Brindle! Look at me!" "Please... just call me Marlon from here on. That is close to what my name sounds like in my native language." |
| "Why are we animals?" Amanda asked "Because only those with Animal Powers can resist the Psychic attacks of the Invader." Said the Teacher "Who are the invaders?!" Asked Amanda |
| "This is starting to sound like one of Great-Granddad's 'War Stories'," John muttered. |
| "The Invaders," Said Marlon patiently. "Are psychic parasites from another planet. They intend to attack this one, and that is why I have assembled you here today." |
| "Earth is in trouble?" Charelle said. "Man, that's a different kettle of fish then. Oh yeah, I'm in. If I have to be a hamster to kick some Invader ass, then rock on, hamsters!" Sebastian whispered to John, "Charelle doesn't sound like any black girl I ever met." "It's not just earth that is threatened," Marlon said. "It's the entiire galaxy." Charelle's eyes widened. "The entire freakin galaxy?! Whoa!" "How about the rest of you?" Marlon said. "I picked you because I thought you would make good defenders of earth and the galaxy. Was I right?" |
| "Well, you are talking to a product of a family with a strong military history, dating back to the Revolution," said John. "Most every man in my family line has served in one form or another." He chuckled. "I know a lot about tactics, history, and a thing or two about weapons." |
| Sebastian rolled his eyes at his smug ally. "Well, I really want to know what's going on," he said. "And, since there is really nowhere else I can go or anything else that I can do, count me in." "Good," Marlon steepled his fingers. "Very good." |
| "Now come with me," Marlon said, "and visit the most interesting vehicle you will ever see." It was a short drive over to Marlon's RV (aka spaceship). "Very nice!" Charelle said. "Kitchen, playroom, two bathrooms, sleeps at least six. What's that cupola up on the roof." "That's a viewport. Ladies and gentlemen, you are inside a spaceship that is about to leave Earth." "What?!" Sebastian said. "We're leaving right now?! What about our parents? They don't even know I turned into a beaver and now I am going to just disappear?" Marlon laughed. "Ah, but did you pay attention in Science class? Do you know the Theory of Relativity?" "Not extremely well," Sebastian said. "If you leave Earth in a spaceship and travel extremely fast, close to the speed of light, then when you return, you will find that hardly any time has passed by on Earth, even though you have been gone for a long time." Charelle nodded. "I think I heard something about that. But still, SOME time will pass and we'll be missing persons!" "Nope," said Marlon. "We, meaning my people, have a technology so advanced that I can return you to Earth and we will arrive today. That's assuming our mission is successful, of course, which I pray it will be. And when we do return, if we do, I will return you to your normal human bodies. No one need ever know you were gone! Cool, huh?" "Yes," Charelle said, "but you better believe someone will eventually know because I am going to talk about it! Haha!" "That's OK," Marlon said. "Oh, by the way, did I mention the memory wipe? Oops." |
| Amanda looked at her team mates "So you say you need Humans with Animals Powers? Well using our favorite animals resulted in some weak powers." "What do you mean weak?!" Asked John "Well a Wolf mainly hunts in a pack." Amanda said "A single wolf is not very intimating, a Beaver and Hamster's main weapons are their incisor teeth and not much else. And I well...I can kick with my hooves and sometimes bite people and not much else." |
| "Maybe the animal abilities aren't what he was looking at when he transformed us," said John. "I mean, I know that wolves work best when they run with a pack, to say nothing about what beavers, hamsters, and horses have. Maybe this transformation is to protect us from something, like some sort of mind-controlling device that would turn us into mindless slaves, unless we were mutated." |
| "You're right," said Marlon. "Very astute, John. The Invaders's primary weapons are their mind-control and thought-reading powers. In fact, if this ship were to be discovered, they could instantaneously turn me into a bloodthirsty lunatic, raving mad and ready to try and murder you all with my bare hands!" He laughed. "As is, I've got some things to help you in keeping the space lanes pest-free." Marlon walked over to a closet in the side of the RV/spaceship, grinned at his audience, and yanked the compartment wide open with a triumphant flourish. He seemed to repress a bow at his audience's resultant oos and ahs. The racked array of shiny laser-guns so revealed could have been stolen from an old b-movie set, while the body suits looked like they were designed based off of the concept art for Halo. |
| "Golly!" Sebastian said. "I'm not sure I would even know how to use that stuff." "No problem," Marlon said. "The suits and guns have smart chips in them. As soon as you put on the suit it will automatically inject what you need to know into your brain. Same thing with the gun. To hold one of those guns in your hand is to know how to use it. You'll be a good shot, too, because the gun will assist with targeting." "But why us?" Charelle said. "Don't you have any soldiers?" "Of course we have soldiers, but like I told you, they would become victims of the Invaders' psychic attacks. It wouldn't matter how smart their suits and guns were because they would become insane. You guys are immune." "But there are only four of us!" "Yes, there are only four of you in this squad. You're like special forces. You will have specific missions to perform. Often it will be infiltrating some critical location and destroying it." |
| "Well, I do know quite a bit about military tactics," said John. "I might be able to help out with that stuff." "What about training?" Amanda asked. "Well, while most people were lucky enough to go to Summer Camp, and make lanyards, I got stuck at Boot Camp, going to bed at midnight, and waking up at three in the morning," said John. "I might be able to help out with teaching the basics, teaching people how to aim and such, and making some basic traps." |
| Sebastian was too busy weighing a gun to roll his eyes this time. Clutched in his paws, the shiny chrome instrument was lighter then he had expected. Weird to think that it was but only one loading, safety-switch flicking, and trigger-pulling from turning a unique and utterly irreplaceable individual into a lump of disposable protein. Well, I guess this is it, Seb. He thought. We've been stalked, mutated, kidnapped, and pressed into being a child-soldier for a foreign country. And it's Thursday... But, when you get down to it, we are on a space-ship. And in the end, isn't that something worth killing and dying for? He put the gun back on the rack, looking at Mr. Brinkle -Marlon. "So, where are we going first, Sir?" "Oh, you'll all find out in a few moments..." The alleged alien still looked over-abundantly satisfied at having 'recruited' new soldiers. |
| "We will travel that fast?" Charelle said. "Yes," Marlon said. "That's one advantage we have over the invaders. Our spaceships are much faster. Unfortunately, it doesn't do us much good to be fast if we are going to become insane when we arrive. OK, everybody into your suits. Did I mention they also function as paragliders?" "I don't know how to... hmmm, suddenly I do know how to paraglide," Charelle said as she zipped up her suit. "Say... this is a cool way to learn things. Do I forget it all when I take the suit off?" "Not completely," Marlon said, "but it won't be quite so crystal clear in your head and it will fade like the memory of a dream does, but not as fast. "Don't we get any training?" Amanda said. "This is all happening so fast!" "I told you the suits are smart. They'll provide whatever knowledge you need. For instance, now that you've zipped up your suit, you know your mission." "I do? ... Oh... yeah. Enter the communications satellite and enter false data into its memory." "It's an easy mission, but it will get you started functioning as a team. There is no way to program every possibility into the suit, so you guys will need to use your brains if anything happens not according to plan. Don't risk your lives. If you have to abort the mission, then abort. It's just a comm sat. Not worth dying over." |
| Behind him, a flailing, deeply confused Sebastian went flying across the room to splat against the RV's rear wall. "We've got to slow doooooowwwwwnnn!" said Charelle, huge hamster cheeks rippling across her face. |
| "OK, kids, stop joking around. It's time to get serious and complete your mission." "A sense of humor never hurt anybody," Sebastian said. "It's an Earthman thing. You being an alien wouldn't understand it." "I know all about humor," Marlon said. "My grandfather choked to death on a joke. It was so funny he couldn't stop laughing. Old geezer just keeled over, but he died with a smile on his face." "Understood," Sebastian said. "I get the hidden message. Humor kills." A hatch in the side of the RV spaceship opened to reveal empty space and a nearby satellite. Marlon pointed. "Now get out there and disable that comm sat." |
| As they floated in Space, Sebastian, who's combined cool experiences accrued over the course of his life had previously nowhere near equaled this experience, felt giddy. |
| The four of them grabbed onto the skin of the communications satellite. Charelle found the entry hatch. "You're sure no one is inside," she said into her mike. The voice of Marlon came over her headphones, "Not a living soul. Just computers, transmitters, and robots. Watch out for those robots." "I know," Charelle said. Programmed into her suit were instructions on defeating the guardian robots that roamed through the comm sat. Once the four were inside, the silence was eerie. Just a low humming from some of the equipment. "Bogey at three o'clock!" John yelled. They all whirled to face that direction but John's gun had already burned a neat hole in the robot's chest where its brain happened to be. Unfortunately, the death of the robot seemed to trigger some kind of general alarm. They could hear the sounds of electric motors whirring as other robots came looking for them. "Charelle!" John yelled. "You hack into the comm sat's computer while we cover you!" |
| "Watch your ammo," said John, as he carefully placed his shots. "Don't shot your friends in the back, and change mags when you have some breathing room!" "Why's that?" Sebastian asked. "That way you have a full mag when the next group comes," said John. "You don't want to run empty in the middle of a firefight." |
| "Thanks!" Sebastian said. "I did it!" Charelle said. "We're good to go!" Guns blazing, they fought their way back to the exit and floated across to Marlon's ship. Once inside, Marlon congratulated them on a successful mission. The autocooker had baked a cake and they had a little party. A thoughtful Charelle said, "Marlon, when the Invaders discover all those dead robots, aren't they going to know someone might have screwed with their satellite feed?" "Oh, they probably will. Think of it as a training mission. Again, you all did great! I couldn't ask for better. Now... onto something a little more challenging." |
| "I just hope these suits can hold up in a serious firefight," said John. "Real life isn't some game where you can respawn." |
| "Thanks, John," grumbled Sebastian. "I'll file that little gem with 'reload when you run out of ammo'." John was too busy enjoying his cake to notice. "You did really well back there," Marlon said to Amanda. "I admit I had thought that the animal-forms would be mostly to protect your minds, but your kicking worked about as well as the assault phaser did." "It think that it was getting floated through space," said Amanda modestly. "I got vertigo -I think I nearly panicked. When we landed and found a bunch of things shooting at us, I just had to lash out." |
| None of them knew they were being watched by a Dragon Like Alien who nodded approvingly seeing them fight |
| The Alien's name was Karr T'aal and he was Group Leader of a Dragonaut team working with the Invaders Intelligence Unit. Marlon was well aware that his new squad was being watched. That would determine their next mission. "Marloneers..." he said. "Whoa!" Charelle said. "Did you just call us Marloneers? That sounds a lot like Mouseketeers." "Do they not have an honored place in Earth's history?" Marlon asked. "It's OK," John said. "There was also the Musketeers. It's cool." "Anyway," Marlon continued. "Your next mission is to trick the ones who are watching you into destruction." "Watching us?" "Yes, they are called Dragonauts and they work with the Invaders, usually as spies. There is one not far from us right now." |
| At the news that he was being watched, Sebastian couldn't stop himself from glancing around, obviously seeing nothing but the walls of the rather grimy RV. "My job is to give you all the mission -which I just did." Marlon was saying. "It's up to you to show me you can make plans on your own." |
| "Wait!" Marlon said. "The scanner indicates he has retreated. Damn! He must have a mindtapper reading our thoughts. This will be harder than I expected. Give the computer a few seconds to compute a new strategy. Ah! There it is. OK, your suits are ready to go again." Charelle looked thoughtful. "We have to split up. The watcher cannot watch multiple locations." "Good!" Marlon said. |
| "I'm afraid not," said Marlon. "But don't worry- these suits are pressurized and have thrusters. You'll all be fine spacewalking. Here, watch this!" He kicked Sebastian out the door. |
| Sebastian started flailing his arms and kicking his legs then settled down. Relax! he told himself. You can handle this! The suit kicked in and automatically worked the thruster to take him to his assigned location. The four of them were spaced out widely around Marlon's ship. Marlon's voice came through their headphones. Amanda, I think the watcher has focused on you. I don't know why. Are you thinking weird thoughts? Just stay calm and while you have his attention diverted, I'll fire an energy beam at him. |
| "This sure is interesting," John said, as he looked around. "I think I see the Big Dipper." |
| Sebastian was slightly less than twenty miles straight above the ship, thrusters pulsing to stay 'on' it as it 'drifted'. Despite knowing the futility, he couldn't stop himself looking around for the... What was it Marlon called it? The 'Dragonaut'? After a few minutes, he craned his head towards Amanda instead, wondering if his team-mate was about to get eaten. Unbidden, the Jaws theme began playing in his head. |
| Then the Beverly Hillbillies. Sebastian started trembling. I'm freaking out! I'm freaking out! Must. Stay. Calm. Somehow he managed to relax. There was the sudden flare of an energy beam reaching out from the ship to somewhere in space where it met it's target and a spectacular ball of white fire ballooned out from that point and then dimmed as the Dragonaut watcher was destroyed by the energy. That got him! Marlon said over their headphones. Come on back inside the ship. |
| Sebastian somersaulted forward, inverting himself and letting the suit's thrusters guide him back 'down' to the RV. |
| Charelle was already inside the RV ship when the other three arrived. "Slowpokes!" "And now," Marlon said, "we are going to tackle the actual Invaders. Ready?" "I guess so," Sebastian said. "Now listen closely, because this is important. The ship will be on a programmed course in case the Invaders' psychic attacks incapacitate me. I will be in an induced coma in an attempt to avoid being mentally manipulated by those psychic bastards. Also, I want you to strap me down on my bed. When you finish the mission, unstrap me. Try to make it quick, guys. Ok, your suits know what to do. Strap me down." The four teens strapped Marlon into his bed. He had already taken the medication to induce a coma. They made sure he was properly hooked up to the necessary tubes. "This is it," said Charelle. "The big time!" "We have to destroy an Invader outpost?" Amanda said. "That's what the suit says." John rubbed his hands together. "The real deal! Let's do it!" |
| "We best take plenty of everything," John said. "After all, as the saying goes, 'No kill like overkill'. That and it's better to have some things we won't need, than to need something, and not have it. Or, we could use the ship's weapons to destroy it. Might want to consult the computer first." |
| "So, where's the outpost?" Asked Sebastian, struggling with his suit's preset directions. "Uh, apparently it's built into an asteroid," said Charelle. "We've previously recorded the presence of 1 Invader, fifty-odd enslaved sentients, and four times that in autonomous robots. Most of the personal are organic, with three energy beings, two of living metal, one made of dark matter, and a trio of high-dimensionals," she shrugged. "I'll admit that I don't know exactly what half of those are-it's just what the file says. As is, the place is a little larger than Phobos- but its got a perimeter of sensors and defence drones around it." "Do they know we're coming, or does our resistance render us invisible to the Invaders?" mused John. "If they can't see us, maybe they'll think the ship's abandoned and we can just drift right up to them, and attack them when they try to salvage it." |
| The ship's computer kept recalculating options right up to the last moment and decided to cloak itself and land them in a crater on the asteroids. The suits adjusted their programming and the foursome filed out onto the surface of the asteroid. "Don't jump too hard or you will float away," Charelle said. They bounded along in the light gravity to an abandoned entrance into the asteroid. It was an old mine shaft that apparently the Invaders had overlooked. The plan was to descend into the asteroid until they came to a place where there was only a narrow wall of rock between the mine shaft and the Invaders' honeycomb of tunnels. Everything went okay until they used their laser drill to cut through the rock. Apparently that disturbed some maintenance bots that came rolling up to see what was going on. "We can't just blast them," John said, "because that will show up in the control center and they will wonder why two maintenance robots suddenly went offline." "So what do we do?" Charelle asked. "We fool them. Help me enter some data." "Oh, I see," Charelle said. "Our suits know the codes for these bots." "Right. All we have to do is punch in the code for EVERYTHING GOOD... NO NEED FOR MAINTENANCE HERE... and these bots will be on their way." "What about video?" Sebastian asked. "Thanks for reminding me. We'll erase that." |
| Quickly, Amanda and Sebastian wrestled the surprised droids to the ground and began typing. |
| Once the maintenance bots were sent on their way, the fabulous four proceeded down the tunnel of the Invader asteroid outpost. Their objective: the control room, that magical place where all the nerve endings meet. They expected to meet opposition of various kinds, probably more difficult to handle than a maintenance robot, but their suits' programming hopefully gave them techniques to overcome almost anything they were likely to encounter. "It sure is quiet in here," Sebastian said. "Yeah," said Charelle. "But then, if there is only one real Invader living here, then I guess he wouldn't have anybody to talk to." "What about the enslaved sentients?" John said. "Seems like they would make some noise." "Quit worrying about silence!" said Amanda. "I like it quiet. You're just annoyed because the suits don't say what sounds we should expect to hear." |
| "So long as they aren't the ones that say that we are in trouble," said John. |
| Keeping a crude formation, they trudged all the way through the bowels of the asteroid to arrive at a steel-grey airlock, welded roughly into the natural vein through the rock. "This must be the place," said John. "Now, Charelle, can you hack our way in again, so we don't have to blast it open and risk setting off the alarms?" |
| "Can do!" Said the Hamster Amanda meanwhile was sensing something...She felt they were being watched again |
| "Someone is looking at us," Amanda said. "Really?" said John, looking all around. "I don't see anybody." "Nevertheless, I'm getting a really strong feeling that we are being watched." "Could it be a security cam?" asked Sebastian. "Almost in," Charelle said. |
| "Move carefully," said John. "Amanda might be onto something - might not be a camera, but one never knows. Might be someone invisible." |
| That got them all perked up, trying to keep eyes on both the door and corridor around them. Charelle's tongue stuck out the edge of her mouth as she worked the door over. "Hold on.... Almost... There!" Without preamble, a crackling bolt of red plasma arched from down the corridor behind the group, filling the rocky thoroughfare with blazing red as the missile exploded against the blast door. |
| "Thank God for these suits!" Charelle said, as the cooling systems built into the suits whined in overdrive to disperse the excess heat. "No, thank Marlon!" Sebastian said. "Anyway we're in, but not in a sneaky way." They all had their guns out, firing at whatever appeared around them. Charelle took the lead, running at a crouch, mercilessly gunning down anything that moved. The trail behind them was littered with the shattered mechanisms of bots and the charred bodies of sentient beings. The entrance to the control room was another major hurdle. "I'll handle this one," John said, taking out one of the several small bombs he was carrying. |
| "Good thing I paid attention when dad was having fireworks," John said, as he lit one. "Take cover!" |
| The doors popped off the hatch like the lid off a bottle of water left outside overnight. A few stay rays of weapons fire reached out of the murk hesitantly- and were silenced by the team's own powerful phasers with a few precise bolts. One by one, the hostile lasers -set low so as not to damage the station's inner workings- fell silent. Back down the hall, the remaining brainwashed aliens and their robots retreated around the bend, plasma sparking at their pseudopods. The hallway and control room were filled with smoke and rock dust, illuminated by the odd dripping puddle of molten rock or steel, lighting through the murk like luminous fungi in an underground cavern. Cautiously, barrels high and steaming, the four edged on into the control room. "How many bodies have we made- found?" Asked John, perfectly businesslike. "At 280, we should be able to relax again." |
| "Who's counting?" asked Charelle. "I am," said Sebastian. "I think we've slaughtered 90% of the occupants." "Good," Charelle said. "John, are you setting up the self-destruct explosives?" "Already on it," John said. "How much time do we need to get out?" "Depends on the opposition, doesn't it?" said Charelle. "Don't cut it too close." |
| "Alright, I'll set it for twenty minutes," John said. "And, just to let you know, no shut off switch - any attempt to tamper with it will trigger the detonation, right then and there. I'm going to hide the thing, and haul ass out of here." |
| "Okay, I'm about to start the timer," said John, crouching in one corner. "On the count of three. ...1, 2, -3!" They took of running back down the corridor, heavy boots trampling over the piled cadavers of fifty races. |
| Charelle was pumping her arms and pounding her legs. It reminded her of running track in school, a sport she excelled at. They were almost back to the hole they had made when they blasted their way in when... "Holy Shit!" Charelle yelled as she screeched to a stop. "What IS that?" Blocking the entire corridor was a gelatinous mass of writhing tentacles. It was as if a jelly fish and an octopus mated and had a hundred children who liked to swarm. Big children. Charelle started firing her gun, but wherever the laser hit, part of the tentacle monster flowed in to fill the hole. "I know how to deal with this thing," John said. |
| "Flamethrower!" John shouted, and soon, his weapon was shooting out a stream of fire. "Keep moving! Don't stop!" |
| The tentacle monster actually screamed as the flames hit it. John was thinking and yet it has no mouth. Fortunately, the suits resisted the flames and soon they were all out the hole and in the open leaving the tentacle monster behind to nurse it's singed suckers. "Come on," Charelle said. "Nothing left to do now but scoot back to the ship and unstrap Marlon. He's going to be glad to see us." John put his hand up. "Uh, don't forget there's a powerful explosive about to go off and blow up this asteroid." "RUN!" Charelle yelled. And in seconds they were scrambling back into Marlon's RV spaceship. |
| "Now put the peddle to the metal, and clear on out of here!" John shouted, as he got in the driver seat. "I don't feel like dying!" |
| They zoomed away from the asteroid just in time. It exploded behind them putting on a spectacular show in the viewscreen. Some of the debris from the explosion came hurtling past them but fortunately, nothing hit the ship. Marlon rubbed his arms after being unstrapped. "That was good work, guys. If we weren't in the middle of a war I would recommend a few days of R&R, but it's on to our next mission." "Can we at least take a nap?" Charelle said. Marlon laughed. "Oh sure. Chill out for eight or nine hours and then we'll suit up again." "I'm hungry," Amanda said. |
| "Tell us you got some sort of device that can make food for these bodies, and don't tell me it's those dehydrated food-pills they use on TV shows," said John. |
| "I have these Mushrooms from my planet that nearly any species in the universe can eat." Said the Alien |
| "Are they tasty?" asked Amanda. "See for yourself. Here." Marlon reached into a storage locker and handed out a package of mushrooms. They all tasted them. John was the first to comment. |
| "They're more then edible." Said Amanda "Mine tastes like a Hershey's Bar!" "Huh." Said Seb "Mine tastes like Maple Syrup." The Hamster Girl said "Mine tastes like.." |
| ...crap!" said Charelle. "Eating mushrooms? That ain't right!" "Give it a chance, Charelle," said Amanda. "I think it will taste like whatever you are thinking of. You were probably expecting it to taste like crap, so it did. What's your favorite food?" "Anchovy pizza," said Charelle. "Well, think of that and take a bite." "I'll try." Charelle closed her eyes and took another nibble of mushroom. A big smile grew on her face. "That's amazing! Wow! We could make a fortune selling these mushrooms as snacks!" |
| "It means Marlon's culture is the source," John said. Amanda shrugged. "So? Maybe they would teach us how to make them or grow them or whatever it is they do to get them." "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to ask." Not only were the mushrooms tasty, they were nutritious, automatically adjusting themselves to fit the species that was eating them. After a few more nibbles on the mushrooms, the four teens got the knack of making them taste like a multi-course meal. Whatever taste they imagined, they tasted. |
| "So," John said. "Anyone want to do some training, or do you think we should take a nap?" |
| "Me too!" said Charelle. "I'll train with you, bro," said Sebastian. "What do you have in mind?" |
| "Do it outside," said Marlon. "You can rig up some kind of target, can't you?" "I guess so," John said. "You got anything you don't mind losing?" "Sure. Whatever is in the garbage. And I have some plastic bags. What if you filled up a bag with garbage and set it to floating in space?" "Not bad," John said. "Except that one hit will destroy it." "Well, if you wanted to make it really difficult, scatter the garbage and shoot each item." "That's more like it," John said. "How do you turn off the automatic aiming on these pistols. I want to train us, not the guns." Marlon showed them. They suited up. And soon they were outside the ship with the garbage. Marlon's last words were: "And make sure you don't fire at the ship!" |
| "Only most of them?" asked Sebastian. "Sounds like you had to deal with one once." |
| "Not personally, but one hears plenty of stories," John said. "My own father was involved in one such story - guy was shooting an automatic firearm, but kept missing the target. The guy tried to complain that the sight was off as he turned to look at the instructor. Slight problem, the guy had his finger in the trigger guard, and he was jumpy - when the instructor tried to ask him questions, his finger tightened, and sent off a thirty-round burst, almost hitting six others, including another instructor, so the guy's safety was also obviously off." "So, what part was your father involved in?" Sebastian asked. "He was the other instructor," John said. "The fact that he told the others to hit the dirt was what saved them from anything more than a shower of dirt." |
| "I guess some people were't meant to handle fire-arms," said Seb, lining up his shot. "Personally, I would include anyone who demonstrates a preference for breathing oxygen in that category." "Uh-hunh," John rolled his eyes. He was fast coming to discover that a black garbage bag spinning through the infinite midnight of outer-space was harder to hit than it looked. "Switch to infra-red; we'll never hit anything at this rate." |
| "Forget the garbage bag!" John yelled. "Shoot the aliens!" Inside the RV Spaceship, Marlon was caught by surprise. "Damn! Why didn't the proximity alarms go off? Red alert, people! We are under attack!" |
| "Come on!" John shouted. "We've got to keep these guys busy until the rest get out here! Shoot at some, and then move to the side of the group. Keep them away from the ship!" |
| "Got it!" Seb yelled, kicking off down the side of the RV, diving in slow motion under the nil gravity. "I'll just turn on the auto targeting, and-" A dragon's flanged tail flicked him hurtling away into the darkness. |
| "I'm OK!" came Seb's voice on the radio, but it sounded far away. Then they could see the pinpoint flickers of his energy weapon in the distance as his suit's thrusters brought him back while he was firing at aliens all the way. "Got one!" came his voice. "And another one!" John said, "Let's not let Seb have all the fun!" and fired his suit thruster to send him toward the aliens, his gun on auto target spitting out energy pulses as fast as it could. |
| The 'door' ejected Amanda and Charelle in rapid succession, guns blazing as they spun on their thrusters, dodging fire-balls and the claws of swooping dragons. |
| "Everyone concentrate your fire on that white one! He's the leader!" yelled John. Guns blazing, the four teens' energy beams met on the White Dragon's hide and he twisted up like a pretzel as the fire ate inside his belly and devoured his organs. In space you can hear no sounds, but they knew he was screaming in agony. Suddenly the White Dragon exploded in a spray of steam and tissue from overheated innards. The other lesser dragons quickly turned tail and ran, but John managed to shoot one of them who wasn't quite fast enough. Victory! The four teens pumped their fists and the radio channel was filled with YAAYYY!. |
| "Alright," John said. "Let's get back inside, and find out why we weren't warned." |
| "Is there anything you can do about it?" Charelle said. "What happened to all your super advanced technology?" "I'm sorry," Marlon said. "I never claimed we were supermen. Sure, we have great technology but there are still things in the universe that are beyond us. I'll contact headquarters and see if they have any ideas about this." "Can I go back to sleep?" Charelle asked. "That attack spoiled my nap." |
| "Maybe if we check all bodies," said Seb. "We can find a device or something that the dragons use to cloak themselves. If it's internal we could dissect one and look for it..." "Seb, Seb, Seb," Marlon placed a caring hand on the mutant beaver's shoulder. "That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. In fact-" he cocked his head, as if suddenly hearing something. "In fact, I have an idea, everyone. We'll take an inventory of everything the dragons' were carrying, we'll see if we can find and adapt the cloaking device that they use to ambush us." Gosh, thought Seb wryly. I guess once an academic, always an academic. |
| Charelle's nightmare was particularly fitful. She dreamed that Barry White was singing a love song to her, but he morphed into the Great White Whale and Moby Dick appeared with a harpoon and yelled, "You'll never get him, Charelle! He's mine! Mine, do you hear?!" She woke up in a sweat, punched her pillow, and went back to sleep. |
| As for John, he got a different nightmare. He saw a number of coffins with the flag draped over them. On each coffin was a name of a relative of his. Then, he saw one with his name on it. He opened it, and saw himself, just as he was. He then woke up. Was it just a dream? Or a vision of the future? |
| Sebastian didn't know what to make of his nightmare. In it, he saw the battle raging around him again, felt the dragon smashing into him again, knocking him out into the blackness. Only this time, the RV and the battle and stars vanished in a single pinprick of light, leaving him alone in utter darkness, stretching away into infinity in every direction. He was alone in an empty Everything. Or was he? As he spun in his dream, Seb saw the massive plasma-seared expressions of everyone he had killed that day, revolving around him, glaring at him. Why did you kill us? We were prisoners- slaves, they seemed to moan. We have families, we were on your side, and you killed us! We only wanted to be sane again, to be sane and have our minds back and to go home... And the panoply of revolving heads groaned one final time, and merged together, and took on the form of the White Dragon, screaming and thrashing to itself silently as it burned from the inside out. Why? Why? It roared in agony. Enemies or not, you didn't have to kill me that way! Not like that... You could have gotten away, could have injured me, could have take my surrender! Oh, if only you knew how it hurt-Why? Because it was... Convenient. Sebastian thought groggily. He nodded to himself; the thought seemed to justify everything. The dragon gave one final scream and faded away, and Sebastian rolled over into a peaceful sleep. |
| "Wake up, everybody!" Marlon roared. "We've got another Mission Impossible to perform." Charelle groaned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Can we eat breakfast first?" "You must have smelled the coffee. Yes, I know all about you earthling's food addictions. We'll discuss the mission while we eat. What do you want, John? Bacon and eggs? Or pancakes? Or both?" |
| As the four sat munching on a breakfast created by a food prep machine, Marlon summarized the next mission. "Steal the Brain Gem from the Sacred Chamber of the Dragon Temple." "What?" Charelle said. "It sounds like a plot for a Choose Your Own Adventure novel." "It should be an adventure, alright. The suits do not know the floor plan of the temple, so once you get inside, you will be on your own. But you will have a description of the Brain Gem, so you will know it when you see it." "Is there any more syrup?" asked Amanda. |
| John was eating some bacon, or something like bacon. "Sounds like fun. Sounds like one of great-grandfather's war stories." |
| "You'll have your own war stories to tell," Marlon said. John seemed to recall something about a "memory wipe" comment Marlon had made, but he decided not to mention it. "Eat up, people," Marlon said. "We are approaching our destination." "I can't get used to how fast we travel!" said Charelle, hurriedly finishing off her stack of pancakes. |
| "I had a strange dream." Amanda said "That someone pulled a plug and the entire universe went down the drain." |
| "Oh, I've had that dream!" Charelle said. "I call it the Universe is only a TV show dream." |
| "Are you asking me?" Marlon said. "We do not dream like you earthlings do. I don't know what your dreams mean or if they mean anything at all. Our scientists believe earthlings might dream because of your large moon. It's very unusual for a planet to have a moon that is so large." |
| "Do you mean by comparison to the planet, or that size in general?" John asked. |
| "I mean in comparison to the planet," Marlon said. "The diameter of Earth's moon is 27% the size of the diameter of earth. Compare that with the two moons of Mars. Each of their diameters is less than 1% of the diameter of Mars! Earth and its moon are very unusual." |
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQLEjBUU9kI Just then out of the Blue a Silver Female Dragon Attacked them twice as large as the white Dragon |
| Sebastian was closest to her. "I don't know. Maybe because he was a hostile alien?" "Wrong answer!" screamed the Dragoness and killed Sebastian with one blow of her gigantic tail. "Uh oh!" Charelle said. "This is getting serious." NOTE: Don't kill anybody else! I only killed Sebastian because JD left the campfire.) |
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