Alien Alert

“ALIEN ALERT! ALIEN ALERT!” The alarms blared throughout the space station. Captain D. Emerald shot out of bed like a bolt of plasma from her ship’s blasters. She changed out of her green pajamas and into her green uniform and ran down the hallway to the control room, her green hair flowing behind her. “Good morning, Assistant W. Ruby,” Captain D. Emerald said. “Report.” Her little sister stood in front of a large computer screen. For years, Captain D. Emerald, and her sister Assistant W. Ruby had been helping to defend Earth from any threats from the comfort of their own homes. But, when Earth’s Command Center developed a series of small mobile space stations to explore the galaxy, the sisters had been the first to volunteer. Along with a small mechanical crew they had set out for adventure. And just now, they had found it. “Three small ships just appeared on the edge of our detection range,” she replied. “Do they know we’re here?” Captain D. Emerald asked. “Hmmm,” Assistant W. Ruby considered. “I don’t think so, they aren’t coming directly towards us, and they haven’t changed course since entering our detection range.” “Can the station identify what kind of ships those are?” “Not at this range. We would have to get closer. Do you want me to move us closer?” Assistant W. Ruby asked. “No. It’s safer if I go check myself. They might be hostile aliens.” Captain D. Emerald turned on her heels and sped out the door. She ran down a hallway, leapt through a hatch, slid down a ladder, and landed in the launch bay. In front of her were two small, green, saucer-shaped ships, each just big enough for a single pilot. She dropped swiftly into her ship’s cockpit and sealed the hatch. The wall in front of her opened like a door to reveal the great blackness of space. Countless stars twinkled in the distance. With a flick of a switch the engines started to hum. She grabbed the control wheel and punched the boosters. Green flame shot out the back of the ship and it rocketed out of the mobile space station. It had taken her weeks to find the right powder to mix with her fuel in order to safely turn the booster fire green. It had to be the same green as her hair, which was the same green as the ship’s paint, which was the same green as her uniform, which was the same green as the space emerald that powered her ship. Her name was Emerald and she was going to make the most of it. Her small, round, green saucer sped through space towards the alien ships. “You should be able to see the aliens any second now,” Assistant W. Ruby’s voice said through a speaker. “There they are,” Captain D. Emerald said as the ships came into view. There had been a smile on her face. There was always a smile on her face when she boosted out of the station. She couldn’t help it. Flying through space was her absolute favorite thing to do. But now, her smile fell. Now that she could see the ships she recognized them immediately. They were the same type of ships that had tried to invade Earth several years ago. They were the same type of ships that had destroyed so much of her hometown, and had left so much of her beloved planet in smoldering ruins. They were the same types of ships that had caused her to crash her first ship. And her second, fifth, and sixth ships, as well. They were the same type of ships she had hoped to never see again in her lifetime. “Croncrods,” she spat. “WHAT!?” Assistant W. Ruby chirped. “I said, it’s Croncrods. I’d recognize those ships anywhere.” “I heard you,” Assistant W. Ruby replied. “That wasn’t an ‘I didn’t hear you,’ WHAT!? It was a ‘What do mean it’s Croncrods? We’re nowhere near Cronzo. What are they doing way out here in the Knoxren system?’ WHAT!?” “I don’t know. If they still haven’t seen me, I can follow them and find out.” Just then, the three Croncrod ships turned right toward the small green saucer. “Too late,” Assistant W. Ruby yelled. “Get ready for a fight.” “I’m always ready for a fight.” The smile lept back onto Captain D. Emerald’s face as she spun her saucer out of the way of the yellow plasma bolts the Croncrods had just fired at her. She turned as the enemy ships flew past her and fired some emerald plasma of her own. She landed a direct hit on the middle ship. “Boom!” she yelled. Sound doesn’t travel through the vacuum of open space, so Captain D. Emerald liked to add her own sound effects. As soon as the first ship had been hit, the other two turned and hopped to faster-than-light travel. Within a blink, they were gone. “The Croncrods aren’t showing up on our detector anymore,” Assistant W. Ruby said. “Did you get them?” “Only one. The other two made a break for it. I’m coming back to base.” As soon as her green saucer was parked back in its launch bay, four alien snakes came slithering up to it. They were all about a meter long and bright blue. “How’d she handle Captain,” one of the snakes asked. “Perfectly, Keidy,” Captain D. Emerald replied. “You are the best pit crew this side of the asteroid belt. I didn’t even crash.” “The day’s not over yet Captain.” The alien snakes saluted with the ends of their tails and got to work recharging the ship. “Ok,” she said, once she was back in the control room. “Where did those Croncrods come from, and where were they going?” “It looks like they were headed to Mup,” Assistant W. Ruby said as she pulled up the map of the Knoxren system on the screen. “It’s a large, sandy, desert planet. Very cold though. That’s weird. I thought deserts were hot.” “The only thing that classifies an environment as a desert is that it gets less than ten inches of rain per year,” Captain D. Emerald explained, “Sand has nothing to do with it and heat has nothing to do with it. Even on Earth there are cold deserts. But what confuses me is that this planet is uninhabited. Nothing lives on it. Not one thing. When they came to Earth, they were mostly abducting people. So why are the Croncrods interested in a big ball of sand?” “We can move the station closer to Mup to investigate,” Assistant W. Ruby said. “Good idea,” Captain D. Emerald replied. She squinted at the map. “While you and the alien snakes do that, I’m going here,” she said, pointing at a small dot on the map. “That’s Knobla, Mup’s moon,” Assistant W. Ruby said. “Mostly rock. Why are you going there?” “When the Croncrods invaded Earth, the first thing they did was set up a small base on our moon. I’ll bet you a bowl of fresh green grapes that they did the same here. I’ll head to the moon, you take the station to Mup. Keep your distance. The station’s long range scanners are better than anything we’ve seen the Croncrods use. If you’re spotted, get out of there. We’ll meet back up at the designated coordinates in three hours.” “Understood.” Captain D. Emerald headed back to her ship. “Leaving so soon?” one of the alien snakes asked. “Yep. Is she ready to go?” “Yes, Captain. The space emerald is at full charge, the plasma guns have been recalibrated, and we made sure the air bags will be extra fluffy when you crash.” “Ha-ha,” Captain D. Emerald said dryly as she got into the ship and closed the hatch. “Did she think we were kidding?” one alien snake asked the other. It is extremely difficult for a snake to shrug, even an alien snake, but Keidy managed it. Back in space, Captain D. Emerald was grinning ear to ear as she sped towards. Knobla. It wasn’t about the mission itself. Fending off alien invaders was serious work. She just loved going as fast as possible. “I’m coming up on the moon now,” she said into her headset. “Oh no!” As she began to orbit the moon a very large base came into view on its surface. It was significantly larger than the one they had built during the battle for Earth, years before. But at that moment, the moon base wasn’t Captain D. Emerald’s biggest problem. It was the dozens of Croncrod ships that suddenly came pouring out of it like angry wasps. That was the problem. Streaks of yellow plasma ripped through space as Captain D. Emerald zigged and zagged, trying to dodge their fire. “There are more Croncrods here than I expected,” she yelled as she returned fire. “Should we come to assist?” Assistant W. Ruby’s voice came back over the speaker. “No, stick to the plan. We need to know what they’re doing on Mup. I’ll see you in a few hours. I’ve got this.” She returned fire and tagged, one!…two!…three enemy ships! Captain D. Emerald had been in plenty of sticky situations. She was a decorated and renowned pilot. She knew when it was time to retreat. Unfortunately, she tended to realize this about a second too late. Just as she decided that she in fact, did not have this, a blast of plasma hit her dead on. Her green saucer went into a dive. She aimed it at the moon base. If she was going down, she at least wanted to take a piece of them with her. The very millisecond that her ship made impact with the walls of the moon base, her airbags inflated. Captain D. Emerald found herself wrapped by the softestest, coziest pillows she had ever experienced. She felt nothing but comfort as her ship crashed through the outer wall, several inner walls, four hallways, two storage closets, and a bathroom. They even protected against the noise. She could barely even hear the alarms of the moon base and the shouts of the angry aliens. “Keidy wasn’t kidding about those air bags” she thought, right before she was pulled, rather rudely she believed, from the comfort of the airbags and dumped onto the cold floor. She sat up and looked around her. Her ship was cracked and smoking behind her. A force field had been extended around the hole she had made to keep the moon base’s air supply perfect for Croncrods. Unfortunately, perfect for Croncrods is terrible for humans. Fortunately, Captain D. Emerald’s uniform had an air tank for just these kinds of situations. In front of her stood two Croncrods. They were about the same height as her, but twice as wide. They were mostly a large yellow head with two legs at the bottom. Their eyes were perched atop long stalks that could twist around and look in any direction. They had no arms. Pink energy beams they called ‘benglow’ came out of their eyes. It was these energy beams they used to hold things. Currently, both the Croncrods in front of her were using their benglow beams to point blasters at her. “Who are you? Where did you come from?” they asked in Cronese. “My name is Captain D. Emerald,” she replied proudly. She spoke several languages. She believed it was very important to learn the languages of the various alien cultures she had met. “I’m here to stop… um… whatever evil plan you have set in motion!” Each Croncrod turned one eye stalk to look at the other. “Let’s take her to the holding cell,” one said to the other. They locked her up in a small room, sealed with a force field and left her alone. It took Captain D. Emerald half an hour to find a panel in the wall that she could pry open and another twelve minutes to find the right wires to short out the force field. It wasn’t her best time, by a long shot, but it was still fast enough. Captain D. Emerald had been locked up by Cromcrods before. The longest they had ever managed to hold her was one day. Her quickest escape time had been only one minute. Assistant W. Ruby had been stuck in a Croncrod prison for a week once, but that was understandable. She was younger, and only an assistant. There was one guard standing outside of the room. He turned his eye stalks just in time to see her green boot flying towards his face. Captain D. Emerald’s kick landed with a satisfying “THWACK” and the Crondcrod went down. She picked up his stun blaster and ran down the hallway. “Stop!” a voice cried out in front of her. “ZAP!” She cried as she fired the stun blaster, and the Croncrod crumpled. the blasters made their own noise, and inside the moon base it was easy to hear them. Captain D. Emerald just really liked making sound effects. “ZAP!” she said again. “THWACK!” she added, as she performed another flying kick. “THWACK!” “THWACK!” “ZAP!” “THWACK!” Captain D. Emerald blasted and kicked her way past several more Croncrods until she found what she was looking for: another ship. Actually, she had found several. Several hundred. Hundreds of small ships were in the hangar in front of her. This was a much larger operation than she had thought. She quickly jumped into the nearest empty ship and took off. It wasn’t green, and the flames from its booster rockets didn’t burn green the way she liked, but for the moment, it was going to have to do. She had flown out of the base and was going faster than the speed of light before the Croncrods knew she was gone. She set out for the meet-up coordinates. She arrived early and had to wait. Captain D. Emerald was amazing at many things. Waiting was not one of them. She was seriously considering going back to the Croncrod moon base again, when the mobile space station appeared in front of her, with her sister at the controls. “Good to see you, sis,” Captain D. Emerald said into her headset. “Captain,” came the reply. “I’m not sure if you realize it, but you’re in the wrong ship.” “Ha-ha. I’m assuming the alien snakes are already putting together a new one for me?” “They started as soon as you left. What did you find out?” “The Croncrods have a substantial base on Knobla. You?” “They are building an entire city on Mup. It looks like they’re mining something on the surface. They have several areas where they are digging up some sort of metal. Our reports that they had stopped expanding after their failed invasion of Earth were obviously mistaken.” “Let me get back on board and you can show me exactly what you found,” Captain D. Emerald said. “Open the doors to the launch bay.” The doors to the mobile space station opened and Captain D. Emerald flew her captured ship inside. A few moments later, she joined her sister. Assistant W. Ruby had been able to take several long range photographs of the city that was being built. It was obvious that there was a large mining operation, but it was not clear what type of metal was being mined… or why. Suddenly, Assistant W. Ruby slammed her fists on the control panel and started to punch buttons on the control. “We can’t leave this alone,” she said. “The Croncrod’s are building up their forces again! Whatever they’re mining, they’re probably going to use it for some terrible weapon! Then they’ll come back to attack Earth again, we have to stop them!” “Calm down sis,” Captain D. Emerald said with a smile. “I know what you’ve been through, and I know this will sound a little odd coming from me, but not everything has to be a fight. We were sent out here to explore and report back. That’s exactly what we’ll do. That moon base is too much for us, but Earth’s Command Center will have a fleet of ships here in less than a day. They’ll talk with the Croncrods and find out exactly what’s going on here. They were trying to keep this a secret. You caught them. Stellar work Assistant W. Ruby. You beat them.” Assistant W. Ruby blushed a little, and smiled. “Send all the information we have to Earth’s Command Center,” Captain D. Emerald said. “Yes, Captain.” “As soon as the data is transferred, set a course for the next star system. We’ve got more space to explore.”