by Lucas Flint
“Important information?” Plutarch repeated. “What important information?”
“It’s about the Pokacu,” said Nicknacks, coming to a halt next to Cadmus and looking up at Plutarch’s face on the screen. “Defeating Graleex’s forces and freeing Hero Island won’t be enough to stop the invasion; in fact, it might make things worse.”
“Worse?” Plutarch said. “What are you talking about? There’s no way that I’m going to let those damn aliens control even one inch of American soil for even one day.”
“I know, Mr. President, but the Pokacu have clearly already shown an ability to plan ahead and learn from their mistakes that they had not shown before,” said Nicknacks.
“Who cares?” said Plutarch in annoyance. “I was here for the last invasion. I remember how you guys defeated the Pokacu. You blew up a few ships, slaughtered their soldiers, and made sure there weren’t any survivors.”
“Yes, but there is a reason that stopping the Pokacu the first time was relatively easy,” said Nicknacks. “It is because that initial force we fought was unprepared for Earth’s resistance, because the Mother World had already classified Earth as a ‘primitive’ world that would not take much firepower or manpower to conquer. That is why they sent so few the first time; they thought only a small invasive force would be more than enough to conquer this planet.”
“Wait, are you telling me that the first invasion was … a test?” said Plutarch. “You mean all of those ships and soldiers they sent the first time weren’t even their main force?”
“Exactly,” said Nicknacks. “This time, however, they have a much better idea of what kind of resistance humanity can put up. The destruction of San Francisco? They could always do that. They just didn’t see any need to do it the first time.”
We all exchanged worried looks when Nicknacks said that. Even Cadmus, who normally didn’t show much fear, shifted from one foot to the other, like he was trying to avoid showing his own fear.
Plutarch, on the other hand, said, “Then we will hit them with our strongest weapons. Hit them twice as hard, I always say.”
“I would not advise that,” said Nicknacks, shaking his head. “For one, nuclear weapons would utterly destroy Hero Island and kill everyone on it, including the members of the NHA and the INJ, and I cannot allow that, seeing as they are my brothers in arms. And besides, you have no idea how big the Pokacu army is; even blasting their Earth forces with nukes will take out maybe only a small portion of their overall force, and I doubt they would waste time sending reinforcements until they overwhelmed us through sheer numbers alone. It’s a common tactic of theirs.”
“Then we capture their leader, Graleex, and hold him hostage until the Pokacu agree to give us back the NHA and INJ and leave Earth,” said Plutarch.
“That won’t work, either, because Graleex isn’t actually the leader of the Pokacu,” said Nicknacks. “In fact, he’s not even the leader of the Pokacu army, technically-speaking, although he’s obviously been put in charge of the Earth forces for this particular invasion.”
“Then who, may I ask, is the leader of the Pokacu?” said Plutarch. “Is he here on Earth or is he back on the Pokacu’s home world?”
“Not a he, but a she,” said Nicknacks. “And she is neither on Earth nor on our home world, because she is the Pokacu home world, though we call her the Mother World.”
“What?” I said, causing Nicknacks to look at me. “What do you mean, the Mother World is their leader?”
“He’s obviously made a mistranslation between Pokacu and English,” said Shade. “Right?”
“No,” said Nicknacks, shaking his head. He leaned back in his wheelchair, his shoulders slumped. “I mean what I said: The Mother World is the leader of the Pokacu. I was translating nothing, anyway, since I’ve been speaking in English this entire time.”
“Granted, I’m no scientist, but that doesn’t make any sense,” said Plutarch. He ran a hand through his blond hair. “Planets aren’t alive. They can’t tell anyone what to do.”
“Earth and the neighboring planets in the Milky Way Galaxy cannot,” Nicknacks agreed. “But what you fail to realize is that the universe is a huge place and that what applies to one corner of this universe may not apply to the next.”
“Are you saying that the Mother World is sapient?” said Cadmus in disbelief. “It can think?”
“Think and communicate, though not the way normal beings like you and I do,” said Nicknacks. “The Pokacu species evolved from the Mother World, which is why we refer to her as our ‘mother,’ because it is from her that we rose and gained life and exist at all.”
“How is that even possible?” said Strike. He shook his head. “Planets aren’t sapient.”
“I do not know,” said Nicknacks with a shrug. “Back when I was a Pokacu, I never questioned the Mother World’s sapience. I only did what she commanded. All I know is that she has existed for thousands, maybe even millions, of years, making her probably the oldest living creature in the known universe. How she rose, I don’t know, but she exists and there is no denying that.”
“Let’s say you’re telling the truth about this Mother World you speak of,” said Plutarch. “What then?”
“What then?” Nicknacks repeated. “That is quite simple. The Mother World has complete control over the Pokacu. It is why you see so little individuality among my people; because we come from her, she controls our movements, although she does allow some independent movements so she doesn’t have to control literally every movement we make.”
“You mean the Pokacu are like drones?” I said.
“Similar, yes,” said Nicknacks. “It is possible for us to break away from the Mother World’s control and assert our own individuality—which is what I did—but it is hard and traumatizing and usually results in death of the Pokacu in question. I got lucky and survived.”
“So you broke away from the Mother World’s control?” said Strike. “How did you do that?”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Nicknacks. “What does matter, however, is the fact that killing the Pokacu here will not stop them entirely. So long as the Mother World exists, she will keep sending ships and soldiers after us until Earth is destroyed.”
“Why?” said Plutarch. “Why the hell does she want to destroy Earth? We’ve never done anything against her, aside from beating her kids the first time. Is she just jealous of our awesomeness?”
“I don’t know,” said Nicknacks. “The Mother World has made it her mission to conquer and destroy as many worlds as possible. I don’t know why she has chosen to do that or what she hopes to gain from doing it, but it doesn’t matter, because regardless of her motive, she will destroy us.”
“If beating back this invasion won’t work, then how do you suggest we stop them?” said Plutarch. “I’m listening.”
“Our only chance of ensuring that the Pokacu are stopped for good is to go to the Mother World and destroy it,” said Nicknacks. “If we can do that, then we will never have to worry about the Pokacu ever again.”
“Are you telling me that we need to go to another world in less than forty-eight hours and destroy it?” Plutarch said. “A planet that, by the sound of it, is all the way on the other side of the universe?”
“Yes,” said Nicknacks.
“You do realize that it takes more than forty-eight hours to, you know, actually leave the Earth’s atmosphere in the first place?” said Plutarch. “And that’s assuming we can get a ship from NASA ready to go within the hour, which I can guarantee you we can’t. Totally hopeless.”
I agreed with Plutarch that the idea of leaving Earth and going to the Mother World was insane, but Nicknacks shook his head. “That isn’t necessarily true. I mean, yes, if we are talking about human spacecraft leaving Earth’s atmosphere, then all of that is correct, but I never said we would need to use human spacecraft to reach the Mother World.”
“Oh, yeah?” said Plutarch. “Then how do you suggest we get there? I’m all ears.”
“The plan I am about to suggest is highly dangerous, but it has a much higher chance of saving Earth and humanity than any other,” said Nicknacks. He readjusted his seat before he continued. “We will steal a Pokacu ship and fly it through the worm holes that the Pokacu fleet uses to travel from world to world.”
“Steal a spaceship?” said Strike incredulously. “And what are these worm holes you’re talking about?”
“I know what Nicknacks is talking about,” said Cadmus, drawing attention to him. “During the first invasion, I recall Nicknacks telling us that the Pokacu use artificial worm holes to travel from planet to planet. It is how they are able to cross the universe in a timely manner; otherwise, it would take them centuries upon centuries to travel from galaxy to galaxy and even world to world.”
“Exactly,” said Nicknacks. “The worm holes are generated by the ships themselves, which can open to almost anywhere in the universe. They can even open up within a given planet’s atmosphere, although that can be dangerous due to the nature of the worm holes.”
“Do you think there are any worm holes near Earth that we could use to get back to the Mother World?” I said.
“Of course there are,” said Nicknacks. “Or, rather, it is possible to generate some. But in order to do so, we’ll need to steal a Pokacu ship, as I said.”
“Why do we need to steal one?” I said. I looked at Cadmus. “Don’t you guys already have the Spinner? It’s basically just a re-purposed Pokacu spaceship, isn’t it?”
“Because it lacks the ability to open worm holes,” said Nicknacks. “Its worm hole generator was destroyed during the first invasion and the G-Men, as far as I can tell, have not been able to repair it.”
“True,” said Cadmus. “We’ve had to get rid of a lot of damaged parts from the ship in order to make it work. I imagine we must have removed the worm hole generator, too, at some point, though we probably didn’t now what it was.”
“It still sounds crazy, if you ask me,” said Strike. “You’re telling us we need to blow up a freaking planet. What if we fail?”
“If you fail, then Earth itself will be destroyed,” said Nicknacks. “You know the risks. You saw the footage of San Francisco’s destruction. It is indeed a risky plan, but it is the only way to ensure that the Pokacu will never return.”
“He’s got a point,” said Shade. She smirked. “Besides, I’ve always wanted to go to space. It could be a lot of fun.”
“Fun? More like dangerous,” Strike snorted.
“What’s the difference?” said Shade.
“In any event,” Cadmus said, causing the rest of us to look at him, “the decision of whether or not to go through with Nicknacks’ plan rests solely on President Plutarch’s shoulders. Mr. President? What do you think?”
Plutarch stroked his chin. He looked like he was giving it some serious thought; no surprise there, given how dangerous this mission could be. I myself wasn’t so sure about it, given how obviously crazy it was. Still, if that was what we had to do to save the world, then I was all for it.
Finally, Plutarch lowered his hand and smiled. “Hijacking an alien ship and using it to blow up another planet? How could I ever say no to a plan like that? It’s extremely American, which is shocking, coming from an alien like you.”
Nicknacks shrugged. “American or not, it’s the only plan we’ve got that has any real chance of working. It isn’t like you are planning to surrender to them.”
“Of course not,” said Plutarch. He beat his chest. “I’d never surrender to these bastards, especially if there’s a chance we can blow up their planet and get rid of them permanently.”
“All right,” said Cadmus. He pushed himself off the table and looked up at the screen. “Mr. President, can I assume that you will give this mission to the G-Men?”
“Of course,” said Plutarch. “This is exactly the stuff we pay you guys to deal with. The military will, of course, be on stand-by in case you guys need any backup or in case those Pokacu bastards get bored of waiting and decide to attack one of our cities.”
“Yes, sir,” said Cadmus. He turned to face us. “Bolt, Strike, I will need the aid of the Young Neos and the New Heroes in carrying out this mission. Can I count on your help?”
“Definitely,” I said, giving Cadmus the thumbs up.
“Sure,” said Strike. “Anything to avenge San Francisco and all the innocent people who died there.”
“Excellent,” said Cadmus. “Now, let us get everything prepared. We have no time to lose.”
Chapter Ten
Our teammates, Strike, and I all stood in one of the underground floors of the Facility, about an hour after our talk with the President. We were waiting for Shade and Mr. Apollo to show us the equipment we were going to need to fight the Pokacu. According to Cadmus, our current gear and costumes weren’t going to be enough to deal with the Pokacu, particularly if we were going to the Mother World. He had authorized Mr. Apollo to give us new equipment that had been designed in Project Neo, which would give us a better chance of surviving on the Pokacu Mother World once we got there.
I didn’t know what we were going to get. The last weapons I’d seen from Project Neo had been that weird, star-shaped teleporter that could negate superpowers and transforming robots that had nearly killed me. Still, Cadmus had assured me that what they were going to give us would be very important and helpful and would not harm us unless we used them incorrectly.
The underground floor in which we stood was pretty large and wide-open, with metal plating all along the floor, walls, and ceiling. Florescent lights above shined down, giving us a good look at the railing above, where Facility workers and scientists scurried to and fro. The word ‘B1’ was painted in red paint on the very back wall, which was the designation for this floor, indicating that it was the first basement floor. I had been told that the Facility actually extended deep into the earth, just like the Cavern, but we didn’t need to see the deepest floors. That was fine, anyway, because I generally hated being underground and found that even being this deep underground made me feel a little claustrophobic.
I looked at the others as we waited. In particular, I focused on Dizzy. She had put her helmet back on and had stopped sobbing, but I could tell she was still deeply affected by the probable death of her parents. Still, she was apparently not letting it stop her from helping, given that she had volunteered to go on the mission to the Mother World after Strike and I had come back and told everyone about what we were going to do. We still had not heard from anyone in San Francisco, however, so we had to assume that her parents were likely dead, although, of course, no one had said that aloud.
Anyway, I was worried about whether or not we’d be able to do this in time. We now had less than forty-seven hours left to save the world. Every passing second we wasted here was another second not spent going to Hero Island and defeating the Pokacu. Granted, we couldn’t just rush into this kind of situation, at least not without a plan and some equipment, but I was still painfully aware of the time that was slipping through our fingers like sand. I wondered how other countries were responding to the threat; I doubted any of them could help us, however, given how none of them were close enough to deal with the Pokacu.
But at least my powers were starting to come back. I could already feel my super strength starting to return, which meant that I would soon be back in action. It reminded me that we needed to wait a little while longer before we left so that all of our powers could return, though I was still impatient to leave anyway.
My thoughts were interrupted by a rumble in the floor. Blizzard and I held hands instinctively, while the others all looked down at the floor in alarm. Stinger actually flew into the air, using his wings to keep him afloat, but as it turned out, we were not being attacked by an earthquake.
Instead, a portion of the floor in front of us was dividing. Metal panels slid aside to reveal a huge, deep hole the size of a small in-ground swimming pool. Then something large began to ris
e out of it, slowly but surely, until the large thing had fully risen from the floor and now covered the hole from which it had risen and the floor stopped shaking under our feet.
The thing that had risen from the floor was some kind of huge metal crate. It towered over all of us, looming so large that I was actually kind of intimidated by its size. Standing next to it, apparently having risen out of the floor with it, were Shade and Mr. Apollo. Shade was leaning against the crate, while Mr. Apollo had both of his hands on top of a cane in front of him.
“Hello,” said Mr. Apollo. He raised his cane and tapped the steel crate a few times. “This is the container with the suits and equipment you all will need in order to effectively combat the Pokacu. Much of this technology was reverse engineered from fallen Pokacu spacecraft and captured Pokacu weapons from the last invasion, though with a few modifications from our own G-Men scientists to improve them and make them more suitable for human use, of course.”
“Well, then what are we waiting for?” I said. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Indeed,” said Mr. Apollo. “Shade, would you please open the container? Director Smith only gave us a couple of hours in which to show these kids the weapons they will use, so let’s not waste any time in teaching them what they need to know.”
Shade nodded and, pushing herself off the container, turned around and tapped a code into a touchscreen on its side so quickly that I could not see what it was.
A second later, the front of the container pushed out and then up, revealing a startling variety of weapons and equipment that I had never seen before. There were suits of armor, guns, even swords and spears, plus other kinds of weapons that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the military. They were all neatly arranged on hooks and poles, which made me wonder how they managed to fit all of that in there without crowding it.
Mr. Apollo gestured at the container with his cane. “These are the top secret Project Neo prototype weapons you will use on our mission to Hero Island. Until today, they have primarily been used in training sessions and secret military and G-Men missions, but they were designed specifically for this type of situation, so they should be helpful when we fight the Pokacu.”
