All this waiting made him hungry. Dare he transform here? Why not? These people were all doomed anyway.
The decision made, he twitched and changed into his true, hungry self. Much to his delight, their screams mixed in nicely with those coming from nearby downtown. In the confusion, he didn't attract any attention, not that it mattered.
Several minutes later, satiated and feeling oodles better, he checked his watch. Oops, I’m late. He grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door.
"Easy peasy." Those were the exact words the clerk at the Technical Gizmo store used to describe how easy the orb was to use. “You simply get within a twelve-block radius of the area you want to unblock and you throw it high into the air,” he had said. “And then it explodes, destroying any communications-blocking signals in the atmosphere."
Floyd ran through the streets in the general direction of the melee. At one point, he got close enough to see the Celestial the Overseer had sent here. Kirian.
Huh.
Bummer for her. She was surrounded by the typical TPHW dogs that the Overseer preferred.
He found a good general location to throw the orb and stopped. Hopefully, this would be the end of the hard-core work he would have to do. He threw it high in the air watching it go. At its zenith, it emitted a loud pop.
Floyd stood underneath it, wondering what would happen next. He squinted up to see if it would fall back down, but it had vanished. A meteor shot off toward his right. He shielded his face with his arm. Huh, what are the odds?
Then he scurried away, spitting out the arm he’d forgotten he still had in his mouth before entering his portable portal.
Oh dear. How embarrassing to have run through the city streets with something in his teeth.
Ari looked at Kirian, who was fading fast into unconsciousness in Soda’s grip. There was only one chance. She switched the setting on the camera and changed the frequency. This time to 4747.
Here goes nothing.
She aimed at Soda and fired.
All of the TPHW's exploded and, as fate would have it, to the rhythm of the song.
Soda dropped Kirian and turned toward Ari, face shaking with rage.
"You have no idea what you've done," Soda hissed.
Kirian lay on the ground, gasping for air.
Soda turned back to Kirian. “You can’t stop me from killing her, Ari.”
Ari raised the camera and fired again. This time the beam of light hit Soda square in the head instead of the chest like before.
Soda turned to face Ari, eyes wide in surprise. Then there was a loud pop.
At first, Ari wasn't sure if the sound was from the song, the camera, or Soda. Something else off to her left popped.
She turned toward the noise and saw a giant Praying Mantis running away. She screamed and the hair on the back of her neck prickled. And then it was gone.
Ari turned back toward Kirian, but all she saw was a very bright light. And then nothing at all.
Drexyl watched in horror as the Soda on the planet somehow picked Kirian up by the throat without even touching her.
He could see the Soda at his side concentrating, miming the choking movements with her tentacle here in the room.
On the screen, Ari tried to shoot her with the camera weapon and failed. Then Ari picked up the camera and fired again.
The Soda on the planet flickered and twitched. The Soda in the room with him flinched and trembled. Drexyl kept glancing back and forth trying to find a connection. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The thoughts in his mind raced faster than he could follow.
Here in the room, Soda had fallen onto her side. She lay in a trembling, quivering heap. It didn’t take long for her to recover, though.
Drexyl looked to the screen, but the Soda there had vanished.
Ari came to and blinked, looking around her wondering what had happened. The last thing she remembered was the bright light. Her face hurt, but she didn’t feel any wet blood or obvious injuries other than the spot on her shoulder where Lrrrje had nicked her with the Stingr. The camera was nearby on the ground. The TPHWs were gone. So was Soda.
Nearby, Kirian moaned and rolled onto her stomach. Ari could hear her still breathing in ragged gasps.
Ari scrambled to her feet and rushed to help her.
At exactly that moment the song ended. The reverb hung around a few extra seconds in the atmosphere and then died away.
"Ari," Kirian said, "you did it."
Kirian held her hands up to Ari. Her handcuffs were gone.
Ari stood in stunned silence. She hadn’t expected that.
"Let's get back to the ship before anything else happens," Ari said.
She helped Kirian stand and pulled out her communicator. "Fleek, can you come and pick us up? Kracken stole our portal, remember? Oh, and Fleek?"
"Yes?"
"Loved the song."
Chapter 27
While Trisha looked on, probably in shock, the Octopus and the dogs disappeared, and the song ended.
Her phone chimed. She checked it. Her message had eventually gone through, and Jen finally replied.
Your favorite sandwich place closed. Frowny face emoji.
Trisha looked up at Brad. "Communications have been restored! What do you think it means?"
He shook his head. A space ship entered orbit and picked up the warrior girl and the tourist with the television camera who’d been hit by the meteor.
The only thing left of the downtown melee was a few plumes of smoke and four or five blocks worth of destruction.
People were coming out of buildings tentatively, looking around and taking pictures. Trisha scanned nervously for signs of a giant, bloodied Preying Mantis with a briefcase and an arm sticking out of its mouth, but she saw nothing unusual. No dogs, no Overseer, no Mantis.
Then it hit her. She was done. She could go back and finish her thesis. And then she could sleep. Of course, nobody would believe her. But it didn't matter; she had enough photos to include in the document and plenty of points to finish.
Ten minutes later, as Trisha and Brad were waiting to go through the portal to get back to their lives, Regulus issued an Official Planetary Statement in conjunction with the Neon Octopus Overseer:
The unusual events and damage to the planet of Regulus were the result of a gas leak. The resultant explosion caused mass hallucinatory effects throughout the whole downtown area. Any giant dogs, octopi that may or may not resemble the Overseer herself, mythical female warriors, Preying Mantises, experimental camera guns, or meteors that may or may not have been seen were purely imaginary. Except for the illegal, pirated, kick-ass rock concert. That part was real. You're welcome.
Floyd re-entered the ship. The wide-eyed captain had maximum warp keyed into the controls.
"Do you see the crazy communications coming in from Regulus?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
"I know," Floyd answered excitedly. "Everything down there was a huge scandal. I can't wait for a full and thorough investigation of the whole thing."
Within seconds, they were safely on their way back to Arcturis City. He smiled. The plan had worked, communications were coming in, and Soda was screwed.
Then the Official Planetary Statement in conjunction with the Neon Octopus Overseer notification buzzed onto his phone.
"Son of a star!" he screamed.
Fleek scooped up the girls with his tracking beam. Ari covered her eyes to shield them from the extra light.
"What in stars happened here?" she asked. “I can barely see.”
"Marco, the guitarist, fixed the power problem," Fleek said.
"What power problem?" Ari asked. Not that it mattered. Not much of anything mattered. She noticed Fleek was still staring at her.
"What happened to your face?" he asked her.
"What happened to your face?” she retorted. Then realized he was distracting her from figuring out what had happened on the planet.
She ran to the console and brought up an image of
Regulus. Plenty of smoke and damage, but there were no longer any TPHWs, no crazy Preying Mantis, and no Neon Octopus Overlord. People were coming out of hiding. "How do you like that?" she said. "It looks like the planet’s going to be okay."
Ari checked communications next. It had been fully restored. Messages were flowing off the planet and around the galaxy again. She wondered what Soda was going to think of that. It probably wasn't going to be pretty.
Then she received the statement put out by the Official Planetary Authorities and made in conjunction with the Neon Octopus Overlord.
She read it. Twice.
"You gotta be kidding me," she said, attracting the attention of crew members. "Soda’s claiming the whole thing was a mass hallucination."
She and Kirian embraced. Kirian and Fleek embraced. Bloody and wounded, Kirian still wouldn't stop smiling.
Kirian showed everybody that her bracelet restraints were gone.
Ari even hugged the new band member she didn't know. There were happy shouts and whoops. Fleek changed the console back to incoming communication, and fan messages praising the song scrolled in by the thousands.
"Listen, everybody,” Fleek said, “I sent portal invites to all the biggest rock stars! Every one of them accepted our invitation. This is going to be the biggest party the galaxy has ever seen. Invite your friends."
"Somebody invite a doctor, too," Ari said, looking at Kirian.
They partied well into the night. A doctor, happy to be invited, treated Kirian’s wounds.
Fleek jumped on a chair to raise a toast. "To Chemical Zombies!” A cheer erupted. “To Kirian, Destroyer of Planets!” Kirian took a bow. “And to Ari, the galaxy’s most wanted.”
Ari didn't care that she was wanted. Not tonight. Tonight, she was Ari, space traveler and Defender of Worlds.
She was traveling the galaxy with an ex-Celestial and a newly-famous rock band, and she loved every minute of it.
After the party ended, she was left with peace, and a view of the stars from her bedroom window.
Drexyl stared at the screen in shock. Kirian was free. The drones took close-up views of Kirian's naked wrists. Kirian and Ari were scooped up by a space ship and disappeared.
Soda broke into long, melodious laughter. It came in waves, undulating for minutes.
"What's so funny?" Drexyl asked.
"They think they won," Soda said.
"They did. I mean, didn't they?"
"Oh, Kirian may be free of me for now, that much may be true. But with the footage I've been collecting from Celestial, I'll make her the most wanted being in this galaxy. TPHWs will be nothing compared to what's coming for her. By the time she figures out how high a price I've placed on her head, it will already be on a plate." She turned to Drexyl. "I play all the angles, my dear, and I don't play to lose."
About the Author
L.A. Johnson writes fun, original Sci-Fi you won’t find anywhere else.
Available for Pre-Order
Whisperer to Stars:
Book Two of the Neon Octopus Overlord Series
Pre-Order Whisperer to Stars on Amazon
Connect with me
www.lajbooks.com
Acknowledgments
First of all, I’d like to thank my husband, Kerry for his ceaseless encouragement, support, and feedback.
I’d like to thank my Mom and Dad for always believing in me and always being there for me.
To my friend Alex who has shared the writers’ journey with me and all of its ups and downs.
And then there’s Nathan Lowell who is not only a brilliant storyteller but a wonderful mentor as well. Thank you.
I’d also like to give a shout out to PixelmatorNinja for their blog doodle that reminded me of Soda.
And of course, I give all thanks to God, from whom all peace and blessings flow.
Destroyer of Planets: Book 1 of the Neon Octopus Overlord Series Page 15
