Earth (Vetrix)

by Bill Bush

  Allison cried as she bear hugged her parents. When she wiped her eyes, also in the room were Fox and General Jaxxen.

  Chapter 41

  “I have a dozen men outside with Dell.” General Jaxxen was meeting with Fox, Eric, and Dyson, formulating a plan to get the antidote mixed with the poison. They had less than twelve hours before takeoff, less than that before pre-flight inspections would begin, and didn’t know what kind of security they were going to face.

  “There are nearly three hundred spaceships that will carry the poison,” Fox said. “How are we going to be able to sneak onto that many spaceships in such a short time?”

  Aren’t the Gudes able to teleport?” Eric asked.

  General Jaxxen scowled. “The Snaders are blocking our teleporting abilities. It's out of the question. We would just lose our men if we tried.”

  “I’ve been working on teleporting technology.” The three men gave Eric a look of disbelief.

  “How do you know anything about teleporting?” General Jaxxen asked.

  “My boss knows a lot about some advanced technologies. He will occasionally give me ideas or projects to work on. One of the projects I have worked on and off the last few years is teleporting.”

  “Are you able to teleport?” Dyson asked.

  “No, I haven’t quite gotten that far, though I think I’m getting close. However, I have studied the anti-teleporting technology as well.”

  “How did you study the anti-teleporting technology?” Fox asked. “Did your boss provide that for you?”

  “No. I developed it.”

  Again the three looked at Eric with astonishment.

  “What if your anti-teleporting technology may be different from the Snaders?” Fox asked.

  “I understand how it works,” Eric said. “I’m sure theirs is going to basically be the same.”

  “So you are saying that you are able to make it possible for our men to teleport safely from spaceship to spaceship so they can dispense the antidote into the poison?” General Jaxxen asked.

  “No. But I believe I can make it so the kids can teleport safely.”

  “Which kids?” General Jaxxen asked.

  “The hybrids—Allison and Flipper.”

  General Jaxxen looked across the room, where Flipper, Josh, and Allison were gathered with their parents, laughing. “No. There is no way I can ask their parents to let them do that. I’ve already put them through too much.”

  “Why them?” Fox asked.

  “They have proven to have the ability to be immune to the Snader technology,” Eric said.

  “I am immune to our technology too,” Dyson said. “I’ll do it.”

  “Yes, of course!” Eric slapped his forehead. “I think I can make you and Allison and Flipper capable of safely passing through the anti-teleporting technology,” Eric said. “At least in a small, confined area, like where the spaceships are parked.”

  “You THINK?!” General Jaxxen raised his voice much higher than he intended. They looked at the group of families and could see that they had gotten quiet and were now curiously watching the group of four.”

  Dennis said something to the rest of the group, then joined them.

  “What’s going on? And how can we help?”

  General Jaxxen turned to face Dennis. “I can’t ask for your help.”

  Dennis didn’t flinch. “This is our planet you are talking about. I’ll be the one to decide what we are willing and not willing to do to help save the human race.”

  General Jaxxen quickly updated Dennis on their discussion and the current dilemma. He concluded, “I can’t ask you to put Flipper and Allison in danger.”

  “General, I understand why you did what you did. At the time, I didn’t understand the true threat to the human race. You have proven yourself to me by rescuing me and my family and friends. We are on the same side and need to work together.”

  “Thank you for understanding, but there has to be another way,” General Jaxxen said.

  Dennis looked at Eric. “You said that you think you could make it possible for Flipper and Allison to safely teleport amongst the spaceships. I have the same blood as Flipper, and so does my sister.”

  They all looked at Dennis like light bulbs just went off in each of them. “We are quickly running out of time. What if you had four of us distribute the antidote?”

  “Five,” Dyson inserted.

  “Yes, five,” Dennis smiled.

  “Yes, that would be extremely helpful,” Eric said.

  “So if you two can get us safely into the spaceship parking area, and you can get us to teleport safely, and we can get the antidote mixed with the poison, then we have a chance to delay the Snader’s takeover,” Dennis summed up the plan.

  “There is one more thing.” General Jaxxen’s voice trailed off.

  “What is it?” Dennis asked.

  “In order for you to teleport we are going to have to install a chip in the back of your neck.”

  “I thought Flipper teleported using a bracelet?”

  “He did,” General Jaxxen said. “But we don’t have any bracelets with us. We’ll have to remove teleporting chips from five of our soldiers and insert them into you five.”

  “Will your men want to do that?” Dennis asked.

  “My men will do anything to stop the Snaders, and they will do whatever I tell them.”

  ***

  “I didn’t know you had to insert something into your body in order to teleport.”

  Flipper lay face down on a hard and uncomfortable table in Eric’s lab. He couldn’t feel his neck. Eric had numbed it so he could insert the teleporting chip.

  Eric carefully removed chips from five of General Jaxxen’s men. He inserted them into Dyson, Dennis, Lavon, and Allison. Flipper was the last to receive his chip.

  Jake and Alya talked to Flipper while Eric worked on him.

  “Did you just think we were born with the ability?” Jake asked.

  “I guess so, yeah. I really hadn’t thought about it,” Flipper admitted.

  “They don’t let us have them until we turn ten,” Alya said. “We have to go through training so we understand how teleporting works and how to use it safely.”

  “How long was your training?” Flipper asked.

  “A week,” Jake said.

  “Hold still!” Eric barked as Flipper accidentally moved his head in reaction to Jake.

  “A week?!” Flipper exclaimed. “Can you give me the sixty-second condensed version?”

  “The basics are really easy,” Alya said. “Just concentrate on where you want to go. The chip does the work.”

  ”So why does the training take a week?” Flipper asked.

  ”There's a lot more to teleporting than just the basics,” Jake said.

  ”Do I need to know more than the basics?” Flipper was concerned.

  Alya took his hand. “You'll be okay. Just focus on what you need to do.” Flipper couldn't focus on anything except Alya's soft hand.

  “Okay,” Eric said. “You are all done. I want you to sit on the table for a couple of minutes before standing.”

  Flipper sat up. “What if I think about going somewhere but am not sure or I don’t really want to?”

  “Don’t worry,” Alya said.

  “The chip takes in information from all over your body,” Jake explained. “It doesn’t just read your mind, but your blood pressure, heartbeat, eye movement, and lots of other vital signs that it uses to discern your intentions.”

  “How often do they mess up?” Flipper asked.

  “Almost never,” Jake said.

  “Almost?”

  “It’s going to be fine,” Alya said. “Remember, you teleported when you fought Fireking.”

  He remembered. “It did seem pretty easy.”

  “See, you’ll be just fine.” Flipper liked how Alya made him feel. She thought he was capable and that gave him confidence.

  The poison Allison drank had been in her system for s
everal hours now and she showed no side effects. Eric drew another pint of blood from her and looked at it under the microscope.

  General Jaxxen, Fox, Dyson, and Dennis hovered in the lab, all anxiously awaiting the verdict from Allison’s blood.

  Eric explained what he was doing as he moved from the microscope, picked up two small cups and returned to the microscope. “Her blood looks to be fighting off the goo as hoped. I’m going to mix this sample with some goo and watch what happens to make sure.”

  “With all due respect,” General Jaxxen said, “but we don’t really have time for more experiments. If it looks like it’s working then let’s get this mission moving forward. Either it’s going to work or it isn’t, and at this point we don’t have time for an alternative, even if we did have a Plan B.”

  Eric huffed in disgust but didn't argue with the General.

  Fifteen minutes later, Flipper, Allison, Dennis, and Allison’s mom Lavon climbed into the back of the van with Fox, Dell, Dyson, the multiplying machine, a stack of two-gallon buckets, and three briefcases of supplies. General Jaxxen sat up front while Eric drove.

  It was after midnight and they were running out of time.

  As expected, heavy security surrounded the spaceships. There was little activity and they just needed to get onto one of the spaceships. From there, the five could discreetly teleport to the other spaceships.

  Fox put on the invisibility bracelet and went to work. The others stayed hidden behind some large bushes about a hundred yards away from the spaceships.

  General Jaxxen pulled out a pad of paper and pen out of one of the briefcases and drew a rough map of where each of the spaceships was located.

  Twenty minutes passed before Fox returned. “Let’s go!”

  Although invisible, Fox shone a flashlight which allowed the others to follow him. He led them past several guards lying down, apparently asleep. In less than five minutes they were inside the first spaceship.

  Eric quickly set up his laptop computer and went to work scrambling the anti-teleporting signal. Dell and Fox stationed themselves as security. Dell guarded the spaceship’s door from the inside while Fox invisibly patrolled the outside.

  General Jaxxen pulled out his pad and explained to Flipper, Allison, Dennis, Lavon, and Dyson that they would need to concentrate on which spaceship they wanted to arrive at when they teleported.

  “I have the spaceships numbered, one through two hundred ninety-two.” General Jaxxen pointed to number ninety-eight, the spaceship they were currently in. “You will return here after each time you place the antidote into the poison. I will call this spaceship ‘base’ from now on.”

  “Okay, you should be able to teleport safely now.” Eric began to set up the multiplying machine.

  “I’ll try it first, to make sure it works,” Dennis said.

  “Teleport to spaceship one and back,” General Jaxxen commanded.

  Dennis closed his eyes and squinted. General Jaxxen chuckled. Flipper knew he was laughing because his dad was trying so hard, when the effort was only in his mind.

  Dennis disappeared. A few seconds later he reappeared. Still squinting with his eyes closed.

  It worked — they could teleport safely. Eric had his machine set up and running. He ran Allison’s two pints of blood through the machine so he had a gallon of antidote.

  He then produced a second gallon, put it in a milk jug and set it aside, in case something happened to the antidote and they needed more.

  Eric stood. “I think we should add a whole gallon to dilute the poison sufficiently. It would be better if we could do more, but it’s going to take a minute or two to reproduce a gallon of antidote. It’s after two now and it’s going to take us at least two hours to get the antidote to all the poison supplies. We don’t have time to do more than a gallon.”

  ”You can produce more than one gallon at a time, can't you?” Dennis asked. “How come we don't produce several gallons instead of one at a time?”

  ”I can double production each time, but it doesn't make the machine go any faster,” Eric explained. “I'll do four gallons from one five-gallon bucket to another. That way we have a constant supply. To do any more than that would require a larger container to hold the antidote which we don't have time to acquire.”

  “Do your best not to leave any evidence that you have been in the spaceship,” General Jaxxen instructed. “It’s a lot less likely they will catch on to what we did if they don’t suspect someone has been here. I will be here to coordinate you and make sure we get the antidote to each of the spaceships.”

  Eric reproduced the first gallon of antidote into one of the two-gallon buckets. Dennis picked up the bucket and Dyson led them below the main deck to the storage room he had located while Eric had set up the multiplying machine. They found a barrel covered by a blue tarp in the near corner. General Jaxxen removed the tarp. On the barrel in bright red letters read “POISON”.

  “I hope they’re all this easy to find,” Flipper remarked.

  “Allison, why don’t you try taking off the lid,” General Jaxxen said.

  She released the latch and the lid lifted easily. The opposite side had a hinge that kept the lid attached to the barrel but allowed Allison to lift the lid and lean it against the wall.

  Eric carefully dipped a cup into the liquid. He opened one of the briefcases, took out a microscope, and examined the liquid.

  “It’s the poison we’re looking for,” he confirmed.

  The solution in the barrel was three inches from the top. Dennis cautiously poured the antidote into the barrel.

  Flipper closed the lid and Lavon replaced the tarp.

  They ran back upstairs to the multiplying machine full of hope and excitement.

  Eric produced another gallon of antidote. Dennis took it and disappeared. Before he returned Lavon took the next gallon and disappeared. Flipper took the third gallon and teleported to the spaceship General Jaxxen had marked as number three on his makeshift map.

  He went downstairs and found the fifty-five gallon drum covered with a tarp and marked “POISON” just like the barrel on spaceship ninety-eight.

  He removed the tarp, opened the lid, and carefully poured in the antidote, quickly replacing the lid and tarp. Just as Flipper was about to teleport back to base something caught his eye.

  In another corner of the room, hidden by some wooden crates, was another barrel. He walked to the barrel to get a better look. Unlike the drum of poisoned water this barrel was not covered with a tarp. But like the other barrel it did have words boldly written in bright red letters. They said, “PURE WATER”.

  Of course the Snaders would have to carry fresh water for their own sustenance! Why hadn’t they thought of that?

  Flipper quickly teleported back to base, breathing heavily with excitement. He told General Jaxxen what he had seen. “What if we polluted their good water with the poison?”

  General Jaxxen beamed. “Flipper, that’s brilliant!” He turned to Eric. “What do you think?”

  “It would only take a little of the poison to pollute their water,” Eric said as he reached into his briefcase. “Here are some plastic cups. A cup full should be more than enough.”

  Flipper grabbed a cup and another gallon of antidote and teleported to spaceship eight.

  General Jaxxen gave the other four each a cup and new instructions when they appeared for their next gallon of antidote.

  Eric continued to reproduce the antidote as the five tirelessly diluted the poison on each of the spaceships.

  It was nearly five before they finished. Although the darkness would remain for a bit longer, they were certain it wouldn’t be long before crews would begin pre-flight inspections.

  As they left, Flipper asked, “Won’t they know we’ve been here? Fox knocked out several of their guards.”

  “I gave them each a shot of serum so they are just going to think they fell asleep. They will be suspicious when it was so many of them, but no one saw me, and i
f there isn’t any other evidence we were there they won’t really know what to make of it.”

  Chapter 42

  President Charles arrived at the compound at Camp David. Red Fox and Fungus had arrived earlier and were well into a bottle of champagne. They offered her a glass but she declined, more rudely than she meant.

  She couldn't celebrate until she was in control. They were close—the spaceships would be leaving any moment and within the next twenty-four hours humans would start dying from the poisoned water.

  In spite of Red Fox's annoyance and her own reservations to relax until the job was done, she allowed herself to smile. They were on the cusp of world domination and it had only taken her forty-nine years into her life. She had plenty more years to rule.

  ”You two seem relaxed.”

  Red Fox refilled their glasses. “I'd still feel better if I knew what your contingency plan was, or even if you had one.”

  ”Let it go,” the President snapped. “Nothing could go wrong now.”

  Red Fox took a swig but spit it out of his mouth and nose when Fungas scrunched his face at him. They both rolled with laughter.

  President Charles had had enough. “I'm glad you think this is funny.”

  Red Fox caught his breath. “Relax! We're just messing with you. This is all but over and we're going to enjoy watching the downfall of these stupid humans.”

  She was not amused, but only had to tolerate Red Fox a short while longer.

  ”Let's put the last piece in place.” President Charles turned on the big screen and Admiral Grisder appeared.

  ”Admiral Grisder, enter the Earth's orbit until I give you the signal.”

  Chapter 43

  Back at Eric’s cabin everyone stood outside and watched spaceships in the distance ascending into the sky and flying away. All they could do now was hope their antidote would work and save millions of humans, that the poison would work and kill hundreds of Snaders, and sleep.