Holly Farb and the Princess of the Galaxy

by Gareth Wronski

  Holly said nothing.

  “Yes, I agree,” said the Pirate Lord, stepping forward, the hole in its chest wheezing. “And after I had taken care of him, I took over his factory, and used my knowledge of programming to finish his precious Forge. It was difficult, and there were many failed experiments. Some of them still stumble around the streets outside. But finally I perfected it. I finally perfected the Forge. I finally found a way to program any life-form to do whatever I want. Not just robots.” Its head tilted. “Any life-form.”

  “So you made them pirates?”

  “I made them family! Children of the Quartle Empire. And soon I will send them across the galaxy to find new life-forms to be reprogrammed. Life-forms such as . . . everyone on the F.O.U.P.S.P.O. home world. I will rule the rulers, and Quartle will rule the universe.” The Pirate Lord nodded and chuckled, then stopped suddenly. It stepped forward, its metal foot clanging against the floor. “Now I offer you a choice, human. Be reprogrammed or die.”

  Holly glared at him. “That isn’t a choice!”

  “Yes it is.”

  “No,” said Holly, trying to stall, looking around the room for a weapon or—or something. Anything. “You can’t do something or die. A choice has to have a choice. A choice between X or Y, not X or . . . dying.”

  “Every life-form must choose between X or dying. That’s the curse of living. Now, you can follow me to the back, where I will put you in the Forge, or I can crush the life out of you here.”

  Holly considered this, shifting the words in her head. So . . . the Forge was in the back. “I think,” said Holly slowly, “I’ll choose no choice.”

  She darted at the robot and dropped to her knees, sliding between its tall legs. She scrambled to her feet and ran toward the far door. The Pirate Lord whirled around and clattered behind her.

  Holly threw open the door, jumped through, and slammed it shut. She locked it and desperately scanned the room. She froze. There was a massive machine standing by the far wall. Glowing red light pulsed out from its insides like a steady heartbeat. A foul smell whirled off the machine—it reminded her of the librarians’ nest. A strange noise radiated out of it, and Holly could almost make out her name being whispered. Without thinking, she stepped toward it, but stopped.

  Jalya was seated at a table next to it. The Pirate Lord banged on the door, making Holly jump. The door shuddered and rumbled. She ran to Jalya as the door shook behind her.

  “Are you okay?” said Holly, glancing back at the quaking door.

  Jalya looked up. Her pupils weren’t as sharp as Holly remembered. She seemed tired, with dark shadows under her eyes like she’d stayed up all night studying. “I . . . ,” she said, blinking. “Holly?”

  “It’s me.” Holly held her hand. It was cold and clammy. “What happened? Are you okay? Did he put you in the Forge?”

  Jalya shook her head. “He . . . did. But it didn’t . . . do anything. . . .”

  “Don’t worry,” said Holly, flinching as another thunderous bang echoed from the door. “Mr. Mendez and Toshiro created a diversion while I snuck in. We just have to get back to the Gadabout and get out of here.”

  Jalya tried to rise but faltered, falling back into the chair. Her shoulders slumped. “I’m not sure I can stand. . . . It took all my strength to resist it. . . .”

  Holly opened her mouth to speak, but froze. The banging had stopped. The Pirate Lord must have given up. She smiled. Finally something had gone right.

  Then, with a huge bang, the door flew off its hinges and clattered right at her, knocking her back. She hit the floor and slid along it. The side of her body throbbed with pain.

  The Pirate Lord stood triumphantly in the doorway. It crossed the room and loomed over her. The blank blue face stared lifelessly down at her.

  “The Forge it is,” it said.

  Holly’s vision blurred. Before she knew what was happening, the robot picked her up and opened the front of the machine. Inside was a sight that made Holly’s stomach drop. There was a huge gray brain with wires snaking out of it. The glistening brain pulsed like it was somehow alive. Holly wanted to throw up. She kicked at the robot but it did nothing. It thrust her into the glowing machine. The inside buzzed and whirred and her ears popped. Ghostly voices whispered in her ears. Strange thoughts flooded into her mind as red lines crawled like webs across her field of vision. The throbbing brain spoke to her in a strange language she suddenly understood, in a voice she suddenly found very pleasant to listen to.

  “Hello, Holly,” it said calmly.

  The last thing she saw was the lifeless blue mask inches from her face. Peering out through the sockets were two red eyes, staring into her.

  17

  ACCEPTANCE

  Holly opened her eyes.

  She awoke feeling flushed with happiness. She blinked. A bright, beautiful room lay around her. Warmth spread through her body, flowing down her limbs to the tips of her fingers and toes. Every worry she had ever had was gone. Every negative thought was gone. Everything was perfectly positive. Life was simple now. All she cared about was the Pirate Lord and doing what he wanted. It was easier that way. You didn’t have to think, or even feel. There was no need for worrying. All you had to do was what the Pirate Lord told you. As she thought this, more warmth coursed through her and she smiled.

  Life was simple now.

  The robot stared down at her. “The reprogramming appears to have gone well,” said the Pirate Lord, whose face actually looked quite lifelike, now that Holly thought about it more. In fact, his face was really quite lovely. She wished her own face were an expressionless mask of blue skin. “It didn’t work on my dear sister, but I suppose you’re a simpler mind? I wonder.

  “But,” said the Pirate Lord, “let’s just ensure there were no errors. It’s a tricky process, after all. Doing science is rarely a science. I want you to . . . clean the floor.”

  Holly nodded. “As you wish.”

  She retrieved a broom that was leaning in the corner of the room and began sweeping up dust and bits of dirt. The bristles swished along the floor in a most satisfying way. Cleaning was soothing, and she was thankful to the Pirate Lord for giving her this important task.

  As she swept, the Pirate Lord chuckled and wheezed, and it made Holly feel like she was warming her hands by a fire on a cold winter day.

  “Holly,” said the blue girl seated on a chair, “don’t listen to it!”

  But her voice was faint, like it was being beamed in from some distant place, and Holly could barely make it out. She continued sweeping.

  The robot cackled. “What fun! Do you see how wonderful this is, Sister? Why do you resist? Look at how much happier the human is.”

  The blue girl glared at the Pirate Lord. “I’ll never do what you tell me! Your stupid machine didn’t work on me, and it won’t ever. You’ll never get to the President. I will never help you expand the Quartle Empire! It . . . it was a rubbish empire to begin with!”

  The Pirate Lord reared up to his full height. “If you won’t help”—he looked at Holly and she smiled—“perhaps there is someone else who will. Someone more open to helping our great empire.”

  Holly nodded. “I would happily be Princess of Quartle. I actually have some experience with it. In fact, I’ve met the President of the Universe on two separate occasions. He is a squirrel.”

  “Good, good,” said the robot, wheezing. “If my real sister won’t help me, I can get a new one! Now”—his eyes trailed over to the blue girl—“there is only one more thing to do. To celebrate this monumental day, why don’t we show our former sister what happens to those who resist the Forge.”

  The blue girl struggled, trying to get up. “You can’t do this!”

  The Pirate Lord chuckled and Holly nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Her existence is now pointless.”

  “Don’t do it, Holly,” said the girl. Holly vaguely felt like she knew her, but she wasn’t entirely certain. Some hazy memory of her hovered just out o
f reach. All Holly really knew was that the girl must be taken care of. The Pirate Lord commanded it.

  The Pirate Lord stretched out his metal arm. In his hand was a laser pistol.

  “Take the gun and dispose of her. Afterward, clean up the dust.” The Pirate Lord’s voice was so calm and reassuring that Holly couldn’t help but listen to it. It sounded like the voice inside her own head.

  Holly put her hand around the blaster and slowly raised it. She looked at the girl. “Don’t be afraid,” she said. “Your end will be as insignificant as your beginning.”

  The Princess’s eyes widened, staring pleadingly at Holly. “Please, Holly. You don’t have to do this!”

  Holly hesitated. The gun suddenly felt heavy in her hand. She tightened her grip so that she wouldn't drop it. She could not fail.

  “Do it!” said the Pirate Lord, with that calm and reassuring voice again. “Then you can be Princess!” His voice flowed soothingly through her ears. Doing what the robot told her was like the most natural thing in the world.

  She looked at the girl.

  But then—she wasn’t even on her world. Holly blinked, thinking. Where was she? She was from Earth, but she wasn’t on Earth anymore. How could doing what she was told be the most natural thing in the world when this wasn’t even her world?

  “Holly, don’t listen to it,” pleaded the girl. “Remember who you are! You have to fight. You’re better than this! You’re . . . you’re smarter than this! I know you think you have to prove you’re important, but you don’t. Not to me. You’re the most important galactic person I’ve ever known.” She leaned forward, eyes widening. “You’re . . . Farbulous!”

  A sharp pain ran through Holly’s head. Something about this wasn’t right. It was like a dream she was trapped inside. She could see and hear and feel, but she had no control over her body. It simply acted on her behalf. It was like she was no longer Holly Farb. She was a Holly Farb–shaped thing, a puppet she had been placed inside. Her head hurt. Her heart throbbed in her chest. Nothing was making sense. She didn’t understand why the merciful Pirate Lord wanted her to kill the girl. . . .

  No, she thought, not “girl.” She has a name. What is it? She definitely knew what it was, but she couldn’t quite place it. Oh, thought Holly, of course—Jalya. The girl’s name is Jalya. They knew each other. Holly had promised to protect her. She wasn’t on Earth anymore because she had chosen not to return to Earth. She had chosen to stay and help Jalya. Help her . . . stop the Pirate Lord. Help her because . . . she cared about her. More than she cared about any of that nonsense back on Earth. More than she cared about being a princess.

  Holly’s eyes fixed on the Pirate Lord, and the wheezing hole in its chest. She frowned. Her hand absentmindedly traced a circle on her own chest where the hole should be. Why was she listening to this monster?

  Jalya wasn’t just anyone. . . . She was her friend.

  “This is absurd,” Holly muttered. The words rang in her ears, dislodging everything the Forge’s brain had told her. Her mind felt even clearer than that one time she had tried meditating.

  She turned, raising the blaster.

  “What are you doing?” said the Pirate Lord, its red eyes glowing fiercely. “No one resists the science of the Forge! Resistance is not science. I order you to kill the Princess!”

  “Sorry,” said Holly, “but I’m not listening to you anymore.”

  She pulled the trigger and a searing laser hit the robot. It stood unmoving, staring at her. Smoke wafted off the scorch mark on its chest. A moment later it began chuckling.

  “Ha! Did you think a laser would hurt me? I’m full of lasers!”

  “Uh . . . ,” said Holly.

  The robot lunged forward and wrapped its huge metal hands around her arms, jolting her off the ground. It held her up and peered at her like she was some weird bug in a glass jar. Warm air pulsed out of the hole in its chest. “Did you think anything would hurt me?”

  Holly struggled against the tight grip. She kicked at the robot with a clang and a dull pain throbbed in her foot.

  “Leave her alone!” said Jalya, struggling to her feet and running at the robot.

  The Pirate Lord laughed and knocked her away and Jalya flew into the table, falling to the ground.

  Rage surged through Holly. Her cheeks burned. She knew she had to act fast. She had to improvise. The robot’s grip tightened.

  “All you had to do was listen to me. All you had to do was obey. Now you’ve forced my hand. Now you will die. And to think, you could’ve been Princess of an entire galaxy. Of the entire universe!”

  “Well, I’m not a princess, and I don’t care.”

  Holly stopped struggling. She reached her hand in her pocket and grasped the little rubber Earth ball. Still staring into the robot’s blank face and red eyes, she pulled the Earth ball out of her pocket and thrust it into the wheezing hole in its chest.

  “I will not be bullied by a vacuum cleaner!”

  “What?” The Pirate Lord lurched back, dropping Holly. “My . . . intake . . .” A chugging sound broke out from its body. Sparks crackled out of its joints. Its limbs flailed around. The hole in its chest roared and groaned and the robot stumbled sideways.

  Jalya stood up and grabbed the blaster. “You’re not going to hurt anyone,” she said, raising the pistol. “Not—any—more.”

  A laser blast shot out of the pistol and slammed into the hole in the Pirate Lord’s chest, sending it staggering back into the Forge. It flailed its arms, knocking out wires from the brain in the center of the machine. The Forge crackled with energy, and with a blinding flash of light, the robot flew across the room, landing with a loud clatter on the floor.

  “We did it!” said Holly, rushing forward and throwing her arms around Jalya.

  But before Holly and Jalya could celebrate, the Forge thundered. Waves of red light shot out of the machine. The glistening brain pulsed wildly like it was struggling to stay alive, gasping for air. Strange voices and whispers swirled throughout the room, echoing in Holly’s ears. She shut her eyes as visions flooded through her head. The machine surged with energy, and bolts of lightning ricocheted out, singeing the walls. The room quaked and rumbled.

  “I think it’s going to explode!” said Jalya over the rushing noise.

  “What do we do?” said Holly.

  “I . . . don’t know. My parents were the scientists—not me.”

  Holly looked at her. “No,” she said. “You can do it.”

  Jalya hesitated. “Let’s do it together. We need to turn the power off. Just don’t listen to the voices. Focus on me. Don’t listen to anything it says.”

  They marched toward the Forge, staying low and dodging the bolts of energy shooting out of it. Thick smoke billowed out. Holly held her breath as they entered the machine. It was so hot it was like stepping into a volcano. The buzzing noise grew louder. Holly grimaced. A bolt of energy shot out, burning off a strand of her hair. An icy voice whispered, “Turn back,” but Holly ignored it.

  The smoke whirled around them, making it impossible to see. Holly fumbled around. “Where are you?” she said, coughing. Her eyes watered.

  Jalya’s hand grabbed hers. “Here.”

  Farther into the machine, green smoke slithered through the air. Holly and Jalya pushed through the curtain of fog. In the back of the Forge, the brain sat like a grotesque emperor waiting for his slave to feed him grapes. The icy voice was coming from deep inside it. “Serve me,” it whispered. “Do not resist.” Holly shook her head and swatted away smoke. Her eyes raced around the machine, searching for some way to turn it off.

  She spotted it. There was a thick power cable running to the brain—the only cable the Pirate Lord hadn’t knocked out. “There!” she shouted over the voice. Jalya grabbed hold and tugged on it. Nothing happened. Holly joined her, throwing her full weight against it, and together they heaved the cable out.

  The machine sputtered.

  Then—the noise stopped. The energy
dwindled. The Forge coughed out smoke. Something inside it clattered, then fell silent.

  “What an adventure,” said Jalya, sighing with relief.

  The Forge continued smoldering. The Pirate Lord lay motionless across the room, the blue mask burned off, revealing a formless white face. Its red eyes were now dark, like two empty pits.

  Jalya gazed at the mechanical carcass. “You know, it was right about one thing.” A flash of sadness crossed her face. “My father was a monster. He never should have done this.” She turned away from the robot. “I thought you were going to kill me,” she said in a quiet voice. “When it told you to.”

  “So did I.” Holly frowned. “But then I remembered who you were. And who I was, I guess.”

  “Why did you come back for me?” Jalya’s eyes fell to the floor. “I thought you were going back to Earth.”

  Holly smiled. “I couldn’t leave you. Friends don’t let friends get captured by an evil vacuum cleaner.”

  Jalya laughed, and Holly’s cheeks felt like they were back in the machine.

  “I . . . ,” Holly began. “I want to apologize. For what happened on the pirate ship. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. You’re a much better princess than I was. I’m glad I didn’t go back to Earth. Some things are more important than . . . some things.” She frowned. “That’s what I wanted to say.”

  “You don’t have to apologize.” Jalya smiled. “I thought you were a wonderful princess. Your royal wave was perfect.”

  Someone cleared his throat. Holly turned and found Mr. Mendez and Toshiro standing in the doorway.

  “Great galaxies,” said Mr. Mendez, eying what remained of the Forge. “It’s some sort of . . . mental recapacitator. But it must have a tremendous power source. . . . How did you turn it off?”