“We know why,” Kevin said. “It’s the Sfinks.”
“Sfinks?” Drooq said. “We should call this in to the IF.”
“We can’t,” Klyk said. “The Sfinks are blocking all communication signals trying to come out of the star system.”
“Oh! Now it makes sense why we couldn’t get backup just now,” Drooq realized. “We tried to signal for help, and then we got lucky when you showed up.”
“Forget about that, let’s get down to business,” Warner said. “What do you know about the Sfinks?”
“Whoa, Klyk, your new friends really don’t waste any time,” Drooq said, chuckling out of his mouth-head.
“Just answer the question, Drooq,” Tara said. “We don’t exactly know how much time we have. . . .” She tapped a make-believe watch on her wrist.
“Let me guess.” Drooq looked down at Tara. “You’re the feisty one.”
“The Sfinks have been around for a long time. They have highly advanced technology,” Phirf said. “They’re kind of like space pirates. They hijack. They kidnap. They steal. They think they’re better than everybody else.”
“Where do they come from?”
“It’s been said that the Sfinks destroyed their own planet and they live on a massive space station that’s also an aircraft carrier for their entire fleet. They zoom around the galaxy, popping up wherever and whenever they want to, stealing precious resources until they can find a new home. Although now it looks like they’re trying to take over the whole galaxy.” Phirf looked around at Kevin and the gang. “What do you need to know about the Sfinks for anyway? It’s better not to get involved with them.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Kevin said. “The Glomms are under attack from the Sfinks. The Sfinks want to take over their planet because of this cave that’s filled with these crystals that tell the future of the galaxy. . . .”
“Hold on a second,” Phirf said. “Did you just say planet Glomm?”
“Yeah, we were just there,” Warner said. “And it was sick!”
“You mean the planet’s dying?” Phirf asked.
“No, I mean it was cool,” Warner said to Drooq’s blank stare, then shook his head.
“You mean cold?” Drooq replied.
“Never mind,” Warner said.
“We went to their planet and they showed us their cave,” Tara said.
“That’s impossible,” Drooq said. “No one visits planet Glomm. The IF cut off all travel after its discovery before the Quasar Wars.”
“You know about the cave?” Klyk asked.
“I mean, I’ve heard about it,” Phirf said, “But I thought it was just a fairy tale. Until now.”
“What do you mean, fairy tale?” Warner asked.
“Everyone I know thinks the cave is just a myth,” Phirf continued. “The Glomms are the only aliens that live on the planet, and honestly, no one ever wanted to go there because it smells so bad. But rumor had it that a cave of crystals that could predict the future lay at the center of the planet and the Glomms were sworn to protect it. The crystals are said to foretell events that show the possible fates of the galaxy.”
“Supposedly, the IF gives the Glomms everything they need to protect the crystals, as long as the Glomms report back to them with any threats to the galaxy. They give the Glomms spaceships, weapons, technology, and special air defense artillery. In return, the Glomms give them all the intelligence about the future they need to stop anything dangerous to galactic security. So as long as the Glomms have control of the future-telling crystals and the means to stop an attack . . . then it’s impossible for anyone to get past them. Even the Sfinks,” Phirf finished.
“That’s not true anymore,” Klyk jumped in. “The Sfinks are getting closer. They seem to have a way to get to the crystals.”
“Even still,” Phirf said. “According to the myth, the Glomms are the only ones who can visualize the crystals because of their biological makeup.”
“Have you ever heard of Max Greyson?” Kevin asked the two bounty hunters. Drooq and Phirf both shook their heads.
Kevin then turned to Warner. “Show them the comic book. . . .”
Warner pulled the Max Greyson comic book out from his bag and flipped it open to the warning message in the final pages.
Drooq and Phirf examined the plea for help. Drooq’s antennae eyeballs waggled back and forth, scanning left to right as he read.
“We received it through a transmitter, after we took down Zouric and Nuzz,” replied Warner.
“You took down Zouric and Nuzz?” Phirf asked, sounding impressed.
“Yeah, but now we have to rescue Max from the Sfinks before they take over the Glomms’ crystal cave, and then the galaxy!” said Kevin.
Phirf turned to Drooq and shot his partner a worried look. “How do you even know that the Sfinks have this Max fellow?”
“We got this hidden message in the comic book, and then one of the Sfinks came to Earth and stole our telepathy helmet,” said Tara.
“Yeah,” Kevin added. “And we tracked the Sfink and he was going to the same coordinates as Max.”
“So why do the Sfinks want some comic book writer from Earth?” said Drooq.
“That we’re not sure about,” Kevin said, “but we think they’re using him to infiltrate planet Glomm.”
“Why would Max Greyson be able to help them with that?”
“We think that for whatever reason, he has the power to predict events that will happen, too. They might be using Max’s psychic abilities to mess with the Glomms’ crystals,” Kevin said.
“Wait, back up,” Phirf said. “How do you have a telepathy helmet?”
“Had,” Tara corrected. “We got it from Mim. But the Sfinks took it.”
“Mim,” said Drooq. “What ever happened to that little fur ball?”
“We blasted him back to space prison,” Warner said, a cocky smirk curling up at the corner of his lip.
“If you kids keep this up, you’re going to put us out of a job,” said Drooq.
“If the Sfinks have a telepathy helmet, then . . .” Phirf paused and looked at Drooq.
“Then what?” Kevin asked.
“Then they could actually pull off a hostile takeover of planet Glomm . . . ,” Phirf said.
“How can they do that?” Klyk asked his bounty hunter buddy.
“It’s complicated, but if Max has some psychic powers already, then the helmet could amplify his neural pathways and he could interfere with the crystals’ power to tell the future.”
“That’s true,” Kevin said, scratching his chin. “Once somebody knows what the future is going to be, they can change it. Max is probably throwing the whole thing out of whack.”
“I’m starting to feel like you want us to get in the middle of this,” Phirf said. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Terrible idea,” Drooq agreed. “We’ve gone up against some Sfinks before. And it’s not something we ever want to do again,”
“Well, the crystals said we needed to find you.” Klyk sighed with disappointment. “But I guess if you’re not up for it . . .”
“Don’t get cocky on us, Klyk. Remember who got you out of the Nebula Riots in one piece,” Phirf said.
“Come on, you guys,” Kevin pleaded. “The fate of the galaxy is in jeopardy. We need you. The crystals even said so!”
“All right, all right, but you have to realize that it’s not going to be easy,” Drooq said. “These guys are way tougher than Mim or even Zouric and Nuzz. They don’t mess around.”
“Yup, those guys are really good at being bad!” said Phirf.
Kevin’s eyes narrowed and his voice took on a serious tone. “Well, we’re really bad at being good.”
“Umm,” TJ said. “That doesn’t really make sense.”
“Unless you meant bad like the good way,” Tara said. “But that’s still confusing.”
“She’s right. You should have said something like . . .” Warner paused and tho
ught for a moment. “Well, we’re really good at being awesome.”
“Yeah, that would’ve sounded much cooler,” Klyk agreed, and Phirf and Drooq nodded their heads yes.
“Whatever,” Kevin sighed. “Let’s just go show these nasty feline alien thugs exactly what we’re made of.”
“What?” TJ looked up, his eyebrows crinkled in confusion. “Mostly water?”
Kevin shook his head. “Time to rescue Max and stop the Sfinks!”
“Here we go.” Klyk turned off the ship’s autopilot, taking over the controls.
“Make a hard right toward Dybunk’s outer moon,” Phirf told his friend. “There’s a wormhole shortcut we can take back to Glomm’s star system faster.”
“Check those coordinates from the tracker again,” Drooq said.
“On it,” Klyk said, hitting the thrusters.
In a flash, their spaceship banked to the right, veering off toward the wormhole back to planet Glomm.
As they approached the coordinates from the tracking device, Kevin didn’t know what to expect. None of them did, actually.
At the control panel, Klyk put them on autopilot, letting them coast.
The ship drifted toward the coordinates. Behind them in the distance, another space battle flashed outside of planet Glomm. They were maybe a couple hundred thousand miles away from Glomm, but on a starship, that was right around the corner.
Once they rescued Max, they could hit the hyperdrive and be back on the alien planet in a few minutes. There was only one problem. Neither the Sfinks nor Max was anywhere in sight.
“I don’t see anything,” Tara said, staring out of the viewport. Kevin glanced out as well but didn’t see anything that resembled a gigantic spaceship.
Drooq came over and pointed out the spaceship window. He drew a circle in the air with his claw-hand. “Look,” he said. “No stars.”
Drooq was right.
In front of them, a massive sphere of black metal blotted out all the flickering specks of light behind it. It was almost camouflaged against the dark void of outer space.
“It’s huge,” Kevin said, his eyes widening as he took in the scope of the gigantic space vessel.
“How are we going to do this?” Warner asked.
“The Sfinks have that tractor beam,” Drooq said. “Anything that gets too close gets sucked onto the ship automatically.”
“We’re going to sneak on board,” said Drooq.
“Just like the Battle at Betelgeuse!” Phirf said, nodding his squid-head in approval. “Plus the Sfinks will be so busy with the Glomms, they’ll never see us coming.”
“Good thinking, boys,” Klyk said. “Element of surprise. I like it!”
“Yeah, but what happens once we get inside?” Tara asked.
Drooq and Phirf both shrugged cluelessly.
“All right,” she said. “Let’s do this.” Tara took out her freeze ray and powered it up. Kevin did the same with his freeze ray, and TJ made sure his shrink ray was charged up and ready to go.
“This is messed up,” Warner said, realizing he didn’t have a weapon to defend himself. “What am I supposed to use?”
“Here.” Phirf tossed Warner an extra one of his photon blasters. “Don’t say I never gave you anything.”
Warner caught the alien ray gun and twirled it on his finger like a cowboy. “Sweet.”
As they moved closer, the giant sphere lit up with a red flash, and then the tractor beam targeted their ship. The beam took over the controls, the motors slowed down to a slow whir, and all went silent as they were pulled toward the Sfinks’ planet-sized mother ship.
When they got close enough, a large, square hatch slid open and their spaceship floated inside. The hatch shut with a loud, echoing clank.
“I got a bad feeling about this,” Tara said, clutching the freeze ray in her hand.
“Shhhh,” Drooq said. “Get ready.”
Kevin could see they were docked in a large, rectangular room with twenty-foot ceilings. The room had two levels. Halfway up the walls, a metal catwalk wrapped around the loading dock. There were three doors on the ground floor, which led off into the Sfinks’ enormous space ark.
Aside from Kevin and his friends, there was no sign of life in the big room.
“Okay.” Tara led the boys out into the Sfinks’ loading dock. “Let’s get out of here before they figure it out.”
They hopped down from their spaceship and stopped before the three doors.
“Which one do we take?” Kevin asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Klyk said.
“Maybe we split up,” said Drooq. “Cover more ground that way.”
Tara raised her hand. “I just want to go officially on the record to say I’m very much against that idea.”
“Yeah, no splitting up,” TJ said. “Don’t you guys watch scary movies?”
“Fine, we stick together,” Klyk said.
Something clacked and clanged along the metal walkway up above. Kevin spun around and saw three Sfinks looking down on them from the catwalk. They raised their space pistols and aimed down at Kevin and his crew.
“What’s the plan now, then?” TJ asked.
“Fight,” Drooq grumbled in his deep gargling voice, as he drew out his photon saber.
“That’s your plan?” Warner asked in disbelief. “We rescued you for that wisdom?”
“Lay down your weapons, humans!” one of the Sfinks yelled to them in English. The alien feline looked like an albino, with white skin and red eyes. “You are now the property of the Sfinks!”
Kevin chuckled out loud. The Sfink’s voice was somewhat hilarious, high-pitched and nasal, with a funny-sounding accent.
“Are we really throwing down our weapons for these mutant kitty cats?” Drooq asked Klyk and Phirf.
“No way,” said Klyk, gripping his space pistol.
“Look out!” Kevin shouted.
NYuRP! NYuRP! The Sfinks fired their photon blasters in a flurry of high-speed light beams. NYuRP! NYuRP!
Kevin covered his face as the enemy fire sailed toward him and his friends.
Drooq drew out his big, hulking battle-ax with one smooth motion.
Kevin peeked between his fingers. He could barely believe what he was seeing.
The alien metal absorbed the flurry of photon blasts.
The Sfinks were about to fire again when Drooq swung his battle-ax toward the Sfinks and hurled the photon blasts back the way they came.
The beams bounced back toward the Sfinks and hit them all at the same time. The three felines flew back in a flash of white sparks, crashed into the wall, and dropped in a motionless heap.
“Whoa,” Warner gasped, his jaw dropping a little. “If we do split up, Drooq’s on my team.” He put out his fist and Drooq gave him a fist bump.
Clink-clank-clack-clack-clank.
A dozen more Sfink soldiers scampered onto the catwalk. Phirf knelt into a crouch and fired up at the Sfinks. All three of his hands gripped a photon blaster. His squiggly arms waved in the air, shooting wildly.
PYOO-pyoo-pyoo!
Kevin aimed his freeze ray up at the Sfinks and spotted his target in the crosshairs.
NYuRP! A beam from a Sfink’s ray gun headed straight for him, right in his sightline. He froze, unable to move, a deer in headlights. It was coming too fast.
PING! Klyk’s arm shot in front of Kevin’s face and deflected the alien fire. Klyk’s forearm glowed and pulsed with some kind of force field.
Kevin wiped the sweat from his brow and gave Klyk a grateful look, retreating behind his three monstrous alien buddies. “We have to get out of here!” he shouted to his friends. He backpedaled toward the three doorways and hustled to his left. Tara, Warner, and TJ all chased after him, weaving through the Sfinks’ death rays.
But as they turned the corner, Kevin saw a platoon of Sfinks appear at the end of the hallway.
“Other way!” he screamed, and everyone turned back to the loading dock. Another pa
ck of Sfinks spilled out of the right doorway.
“Retreat!” Kevin hollered at the top of his lungs. Tara, TJ, and Warner followed Kevin through the center doorway, trailed by Klyk, Phirf, and Drooq.
They sprinted down the hallway, but another platoon of Sfinks rounded the corner in front of them. Kevin and the gang put on the brakes and doubled back. Kevin looked behind them and saw a pack of Sfink soldiers in the doorway.
They were stuck.
A hundred ray guns were aimed at them on all sides. The Sfinks pushed in, closing the gap. “Put ’em down!” the albino Sfink shouted in his funny voice. “Put ’em down, meow!”
Kevin’s heart was pounding. There was a short pause before Klyk laid down his space pistol and put up his arms.
Kevin followed, putting down his freeze ray and lifting his arms in the air.
The rest of them did the same.
The alien handcuffs hurt Kevin’s wrists, cutting into his skin. A Sfink guard nudged him forward with one of its six arms, almost making him trip, while the other guard led the way. Kevin walked in a single-file line behind TJ, Tara, and Warner. All their arms were handcuffed behind their backs. The savage felines guided them down a long, straight hallway, somewhere in the lower levels of the mother ship.
“Let us go!” Warner shouted and tried to squirm out of his handcuffs. ZAP! POW! A sharp electric current shocked Warner’s wrists and he squealed in pain.
“Don’t even try it,” one of the Sfinks said. “The more you fight, the harder they’ll shock you.”
“Where are you taking us?” Kevin demanded to know.
The other Sfink looked down at him. “Normally we send you to processing, but we have special plans for you humans.”
This was no good. Kevin didn’t even know where they were. They’d been taken into a number of elevators after the Sfink army separated them from Klyk, Phirf, and Drooq, who were escorted to another sector of the ship.
Klyk told them not to worry, that they would find a way to escape and rescue them, but Kevin wasn’t sure if Klyk was just trying to make him feel better.
Starship Bloopers Page 5
