Snatched from Earth

by Bruce Coville

  The words made me nervous, since we had been hoping to surprise her. Had she figured out our plan?

  Then we stepped into the room and saw her “surprise”: standing at the side of the room were Ellico and Eargon Fooz. On the side of Eargon Fooz’s long neck was something I recognized from our first run-in with Mikta-makta-mookta-a control disk that would prevent her from moving. I was certain that a similar disk was holding Ellico in place.

  Neither of them looked good. Ellico was haggard and filthy, his elegant clothes torn, his face a mask of tragedy. Eargon Fooz looked terrified. I felt certain it was because when she’d been dragged here into the city, she had violated her people’s powerful taboo against coming to this place.

  Clearly Mikta-makta-mookta had us all in her power. I hoped she would take plenty of time to gloat over it. Time was something we needed.

  My enemy didn’t let me down. She launched into a long tirade about how angry she was over the first two times that Tim and I had thwarted her plans, explaining that as soon as she was done taking over the galaxy, she was going to sit down and have a nice long think.

  “I’ll need a fair amount of time,” she said, smiling happily, “because I want to figure out the best way to make you suffer.”

  As we stood listening, we looked frightened and sad, just as we were supposed to. When it looked like she might stop bragging and threatening and actually get on with her project, Linnsy vec Bur got her going again by asking, “How did you get Ellico and Eargon Fooz?”

  Good, I thought. Keep her talking.

  “Why, I’m glad you asked,” said Mikta-makta-mookta. “It wasn’t that hard, actually. When I saw that Bur was here, I knew there was a good chance Ellico would be somewhere nearby—though whether he was alive or dead, it was hard to say. Dead, I assumed, since it was hard to imagine Bur detaching from him if he were not. But I needed to be sure. So I sent Gorjac out looking for him. It’s not that difficult to follow a trail if you have some genetic markers and the right technology. Gorjac has told me the path you took to get here; I must say I’m impressed at your resourcefulness. He found your friends, of course, and escorted them back here so they could be part of the big event—though that poor native creature Eargon Fooz seems to have been traumatized by being forced to enter the big, bad city. Wherever did you children find her, anyway? Well, never mind. We’re all together now, and that’s what counts. I do love an audience when I’m about to launch a takeover of the galaxy. Dr. Limpoc, are you ready?”

  She paused, then laughed, a high chittering sound. “Oh, dear-silly me! I forgot. Dr. Limpoc had some last-minute qualms about what we were about to do, and we had to have him locked away for the morning. You know how these eccentric geniuses can get. Ah, well—I’ll just have to pull the lever myself. Shall we have a countdown? That would be fun, don’t you think?”

  My disgust for Mikta-makta-mookta was growing deeper by the moment. I wondered if she was purposefully trying to goad us into reacting so she could have the pleasure of squashing us.

  I also wondered if the last element of our plan was in place yet.

  Mikta-makta-mookta went to one of the blinking control panels. In the center of the panel was a lever, bright red, about two feet long.

  “You know, it won’t be very spectacular at first,” she said, sounding apologetic. “I mean, when I pull this lever, you won’t see or hear anything that indicates that within two weeks the galaxy will be groveling at my feet. But that’s the way it is—once I pull the lever, there’s no turning back. The Grand Urpelli will be, as you Earthlings like to say, toast! Now, count with me. Ten. Nine. Eight.”

  None of us was counting. She stopped, looking very displeased.

  “The lady said to count with her,” rumbled Gorjac, sounding a little like a volcano that was about to erupt.

  She started again.

  We counted with her: “Ten. Nine. Eight.”

  I wondered when Tim would give the signal-wondered, for a moment, if he was too afraid to give it, if I should do it instead, and wondered if, in doing so, I would ruin everything.

  “Seven. Six. Five.”

  I counted with the rest of them, but I was so tense that I was afraid my sphen-gnut-ksher would erupt inside the protective shield and sizzle my own skull.

  As we intoned “four,” Mikta-makta-mookta flexed her arms as if getting ready to pull the lever.

  “Three.”

  Tim, I thought. Tim!

  “Two,” we said in unison.

  “NOW!” cried Tim.

  At his signal Linnsy ripped the Veeblax, which had been masquerading as Bur, from her skull. She flung the creature at Mikta-makta-mookta, who screamed in rage. Her rage turned to frustration as the Veeblax wrapped itself around her head, shaping itself into a kind of hood that completely blinded her.

  The Veeblax on my own shoulder—which, of course, was really Tim’s new Veeblax—shrieked in delight at the show.

  Gorjac, roaring in fury, grabbed for Tim. But Tim had thrown himself to the floor and was crawling away, as per our plan.

  At the same moment, Maktel and I stripped off the caps that had been shielding our sphen-gnut-ksherri. Searing purple energy sizzled out from both our heads, throwing our guards into kling-kphut, much as I had done to the wretched Jordan during the first week of school.

  That left one more guard and the fearsome Gorjac.

  Dropping our previous plan, I hurried across the room to free Ellico and Eargon Fooz from the control disks that had been holding them in place.

  Tim was scrambling for the door. Gorjac turned to go after him, then turned back when Mikta-makta-mookta, who was desperately trying to pull the Veeblax from her face, screamed for him to help her.

  Tim flung open the door. I was relieved to see that Bur had managed to make its way up to this floor. I heard a cry from Ellico. Was it relief, terror, joy? I could not tell.

  Tim snatched Bur from the floor and started across the room.

  Gorjac had turned toward him again. Maktel sprinted across the floor and leaped onto the giant’s back. Gorjac, roaring in astonishment, spun around, trying to dislodge Maktel. It was all the time Tim needed. He rushed forward with Bur and slapped the creature onto Gorjac’s back.

  Bur sunk its pincers into the flesh around Gorjac’s spine. This time it did not merely anesthetize the flesh, as it had done when climbing Linnsy’s back. Injecting the full force of its venom, Bur soon had Gorjac stumbling and staggering across the room. Inch by inch it climbed the giant’s spine. With each inch it went up, the giant’s roars grew weaker.

  Just when it looked like the battle was over, three more guards burst into the room. They had their ray guns drawn, but the confusion was so great that they weren’t sure what to do, where to fire. I had managed to free Ellico and Eargon Fooz by that time, and the two flung themselves into the fight. They headed straight for the newcomers, Eargon Fooz rearing and shrieking a ferocious battle cry, Ellico staggering forward, weak and wounded but with a look in his eye that would have stopped me in my tracks from sheer terror, had it been directed at me.

  The guards fired. Purple light shot across the room. I heard the sizzle of flesh, but Ellico and Eargon Fooz kept moving forward.

  Linnsy was wrestling with Mikta-makta-mookta, holding her paws and trying to keep her from hurting the Veeblax. Tim and Maktel dangled in the air as they clung to Gorjac’s mighty fists, trying to keep the stumbling monster, weakened but still strong, from reaching behind him to pluck Bur from his back.

  Another inch, another, and then Bur reached the giant’s skull. It thrust its tweezikkle into Gorjac’s ears. I heard an electric crackle. Then Gorjac screamed, toppled forward, and landed flat on his face.

  Ellico and Eargon Fooz were locked in hand-to-hand combat with the new guards that had rushed in.

  I rushed to Linnsy’s side to help her with Mikta-makta-mookta. The Veeblax had leaped off by this time, terrified by the pummeling it had taken. Mikta-makta-mookta and Linnsy were wrestl
ing on the floor, Mikta-makta-mookta trying to crawl forward to throw the big switch, Linnsy trying desperately to keep her from doing so. I raced forward and flung myself on top of the evil hamster-woman. A moment later I felt Tim, and then Maktel, land on top of me.

  We had her pinned.

  “Well,” said Bur’s scratchy voice, sounding tired but triumphant. “That would seem to be that.”

  And it was.

  Almost.

  CHAPTER 23 [LINNSY]

  THE FINAL CHOICE

  Picking up the pieces after that terrible battle was not easy. The four of us holding down Mikta-makta-mookta didn’t move, didn’t dare let go of her, for fear she would bolt for the panel and throw that switch. So we couldn’t get up and see to our friends’ wounds, or even be absolutely certain our enemies were completely out.

  Most of that work fell to Eargon Fooz, who was delighted to see the rope she had given Tim—and that had been taken from him when we’d been captured—hanging from Gorjac’s belt. She sang to herself as she used it to bind Mikta-makta-mookta so tightly that the hamster-woman couldn’t move.

  It was a relief to be able to get up and walk away from her, though once we were off her, she started a stream of horrible cursing. I wanted to stuff something into her mouth to shut her up, but I was afraid she would bite me if I did.

  The guards, a little less dangerous than Mikta-makta-mookta, we bound with their own clothing.

  Then, at last, we felt free to care for our wounded. We four kids were bruised and battered but didn’t seem to have broken any bones, which was a minor miracle.

  Pleskit’s Veeblax was bruised and battered too from the pummeling Mikta-makta-mookta had given it while trying to pull it from her face. The poor little critter whimpered as Pleskit took it into his lap, whispering, “Well, pal, looks like you just saved the galaxy!”

  “Looks like we all saved the galaxy,” said Maktel, who had a bright green bruise on his face that seemed to be the Hevi-Hevian equivalent of a black eye.

  Tim’s new Veeblax was clinging to his leg, gleeping desperately.

  I was glad they were all safe. But there was someone else I needed to see desperately. That was Bur, of course, who had become as close to me as my own skin in the time that we had been joined, who knew my every secret, and in whose mind I had found a trove of memories and experiences that I could share so fully that it was as if they had actually happened to me—a life story beyond my wildest imaginings that had become partly my own.

  When Tim had suggested Bur and I separate so that the Veeblax could imitate Bur and take its place on my head with the hope that we might take Mikta-makta-mookta by surprise, my first reaction had been complete panic. And after everyone—including Bur and me—had decided that this was our best chance, I had endured a pain unlike any I had ever known when Bur separated from my skull.

  Now I had a new pain to face: Would Bur go back to Ellico, or would it want to stay with me? If my new partner wanted to return to Ellico, how could I stand the pain of losing it? But if it wanted to return to me, what would that mean for the rest of my life?

  Part of the question was solved for me—which might have been a relief, except it happened in the worst possible way. When I went to retrieve Bur from Gorjac’s head, it released that small skull with a shudder, saying, “That is the emptiest brain I have ever been connected to!”

  We went together to Ellico’s side.

  Eargon Fooz had pulled the Trader to the wall and propped him up. But it was clear to both Bur and me that Ellico was dying, and equally clear that there was nothing we could do about it.

  The others gathered around us. I know the boys felt a sense of sorrow and loss. Here, after all, was someone we had thought to be an enemy but who had helped us survive—whose aid in that final, terrible battle might well have saved us all. He was a friend, a comrade, but, for one of us, so much more.

  That one, of course, was Bur. And the loss my new partner felt as his old partner was dying was a pain so searing, it was almost beyond imagination.

  I set Bur gently upon Ellico’s chest. It climbed slowly, laboriously, onto the Trader’s head.

  Ellico stirred, opened his eyes. Looking at me, he said, his voice weak, “You were a good match for Bur. Will you take care… take care…”

  His voice trailed off.

  The wail of despair that tore out of Bur, an anguished cry of sorrow and loss, made my knees buckle. I fell to the floor, gasping. Instinctively I put my hands out to Bur. It clambered off Ellico’s head and into my arms. I lifted it to my head, and felt a surge of relief when it settled back into place, recreating our union.

  Do you want me to stay? it asked, speaking in my head.

  I realized then that Bur would leave me forever if I asked it to. And part of me wanted that—wanted to be free of its constant presence, free to return to my old life at school. But the thought of that freedom also left me with a feeling of desperate aloneness.

  And how could I go back to sixth grade when I had tasted the freedom of space through the memories that Bur had shared with me?

  Do you WANT to stay? I asked.

  We do not like to move, it replied.

  That was not the question, I thought back, a trifle snappishly.

  I felt a wave of amusement. A life with you would be… different… from the one I have been used to.

  I fear that you will be bored, I thought.

  I fear that you will be restless, Bur replied. You have much to learn yet of your own world, your own people. But will you want to stay on Earth to do that when you are sharing my memories of so many other places, so many other sights?

  No.

  Then what are we to do?

  Who owns the spaceship?

  We do.

  Can it be repaired?

  It can.

  It seemed almost too daring to think of leaving Earth—and yet so impossible to think of going back.

  I did not know what to say, to think.

  We have time before we must choose, said Bur.

  It was right.

  After we used Mikta-makta-mookta’s equipment to contact the authorities, we had a three-day wait before officers of the Trading Federation arrived to retrieve us. Messages were sent to Earth and to Hevi-Hevi, to reassure our parents.

  Because the possible consequences of Mikta-makta-mookta’s plan were so horrifying, we were taken to Traders’ Court to tell everything we knew about what had happened. I have spent the last several days writing down my part of the story.

  Bur has been with me all that time, of course.

  Those sentences could as easily read: “We have spent the last several days writing down our part of the story. We have been together all that time, of course.”

  Tomorrow we hand our depositions to the judge.

  Then Bur and I must decide whether we will stay together, or separate.

  CHAPTER 24 [TIM]

  OUR SEPARATE WAYS

  I am writing this after all the rest is over, to explain what happened after Maktel, Pleskit, Linnsy, and I gave our depositions to Judge Wingler. I think I’m actually going to miss this room. It’s going to seem strange going back to Earth.

  The judge decided we hadn’t done anything wrong, of course. In fact, we were all given medals, in honor of our efforts on behalf of Galactic Civilization. They even made one for Ellico, something Bur says would have made Ellico laugh.

  Our parents were brought to the celebration, which was kind of neat. I mean, how often does a guy get an award like that?

  The hard part came when the ceremony was over and it was time for the farewells.

  Maktel’s Motherly One insisted on taking him straight back to Hevi-Hevi. I was astonished to realize that I was actually going to miss him. We even hugged each other good-bye.

  Pleskit’s Fatherly One had come too, of course. As usual, he was angry with us for getting ourselves into such trouble, yet proud of how we had gotten out of it and, in this case, pretty much saved the civ
ilized galaxy in the process. He was also distracted by the fact that the existence of the second Grand Urpelli so close to the planet for which he held the trading franchise meant that he was teetering on the edge of becoming the richest being in the galaxy.

  My mom had come along with him, and she was a mess, emotionally speaking. She was so relieved to find out that I was all right, so angry that I had gotten into this mess to begin with, so proud of my being honored by the Trading Federation, not to mention so excited about going to another planet herself—“I’ve never even been to Europe,” she muttered—that she finally stole my line and kept saying, “I think my head is going to explode!”

  Eargon Fooz had come to Traders’ Court with us. Even more exciting, she had requested permission from Pleskit’s Fatherly One to come back to Earth with us for the time being, since she could not return to her own people for at least a year because she had broken the taboo and gone into the city.

  “That’s silly,” I said when I heard about it. “It’s not like you wanted to go into the city. You were abducted!”

  “That has nothing to do with it,” said Eargon Fooz glumly. “I have been in a bad place, and I am unclean. My people will not let me come back yet. It would be dangerous for all of them.”

  “What about your children?” I asked.

  “The village will care for them, just as they would if I had died. And, indeed, this is like a little death. I shall miss them. They will miss me. But in time we will be together again.”

  I still thought it was stupid, but my mother took me aside and told me there are some things you really can’t argue with people about. So I decided to let it go.

  Actually, I was pretty excited at the idea of Eargon Fooz coming with us, because I thought she was so cool. Even so, I wasn’t sure what she would think of Earth—or what Earth would think of her, for that matter.

  And then there was Linnsy. My old pal Linnsy.

  Linnsy vec Bur, to be more precise. This isn’t easy to write.

  Linnsy is not coming back with us.

  It’s so weird. I was the one who always wanted to go into space. Now Linnsy is the one who’s gone.