Clones vs. Aliens (12 page)

“He must be trying to steal the Gemini ship,” Alex hissed.

“Come on,” Fisher said. “We
have
to stop him.”

The four kids lunged out of their hiding spot toward Dr. X, who spun on his heel just in time to see the leaping figures of Alex and Amanda. Amanda locked her arms around his ankles and Alex tackled him around the waist, bringing him down with a
whoomph.

“Get him on his feet,” Fisher said coldly.

Dr. X was, apart from Three, the most evil and dangerous human in the world.

Amanda and Alex hauled Dr. X up, and Amanda locked his arms behind his back. Veronica stood beside Fisher, her fists clenched in contempt.

“My dear, dear boy,” X drawled, his smirk only increasing when Amanda squeezed his arms a little tighter. “Wherever our paths may take us, they seem ever to lead us back to each other. Perhaps that says
something about us, don’t you think?”

“Don’t start your ‘You’re just like me’ speech again,” Fisher said, glowering. Dr. X and Fisher had been briefly allied in the fight against Three. But Dr. X had turned on Fisher in the end, and Fisher had regained control only when he had refused to partner with Dr. X permanently. “The last time you counted on me to act like you, it didn’t turn out so well, did it?”

Dr. X’s sly smile disintegrated.

“You wasted a perfect opportunity,” spat Dr. X. “You have much to learn yet. But that doesn’t make us opposites.”

“Enough,” Fisher said. “Enough of this. I’m going to turn you in.”

Dr. X let out an amused laugh.

“Turn me in?” he said. “You seem to have mistaken which one of us is the criminal party here.”

Dr. X looked pointedly at Fisher’s torso. Fisher looked down and realized he was covered in red laser dots. So were Veronica, Amanda, and Alex.

Fisher turned around slowly. Armored guards surrounded them, and Fisher recognized many of the same men who had been on patrol at Loopity Land. They were everywhere—crouched behind crates and equipment, peeking out from every shadowed corner.

“Hands up,” one of them bellowed. Fisher, Alex, and
Veronica raised their hands in the air. Reluctantly, so did Amanda, though it meant releasing Dr. X.

One of the guards came forward, and Fisher recognized him as the sergeant who’d commanded the Loopity Land team.

“Stand down,” the man said, with a hand on his headset, and the dots winked out. “Were you harmed?” He directed the question at Dr. X.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on,” Fisher said, trying to hide his anger and astonishment. The security guard was treating Dr. X as his top priority. “Sergeant, I think you’ve been misled. This man is—”

“Harold Granger, alias Dr. Xander, commonly known as Dr. X,” said the sergeant. “We know exactly who he is and what he’s done. Believe me, I’d like nothing more than to Velcro him to a wall and use him for penalty kick practice. But my orders say otherwise. Now then, Doctor, is everything all right?”

“Fine, just fine,” said Dr. X, smiling again and dusting off his immaculate white lab coat. “A simple misunderstanding between old friends—it happens all the time. In fact, with your permission, I actually think these four could be very
useful
to my work.”

Fisher’s jaw dropped open so wide, it could’ve accommodated a 747. Was Dr. X, international criminal, evil genius, attempted world conqueror, giving
them
permission to stay? Was he asking for their
help
?

The sergeant looked from Fisher to Veronica to Alex to Amanda, then nodded.

“As you say, sir,” he said. “And I’d rather not let it get out that a pack of kids got past my security.”

“I wish I could see this guy twirling around to Kevin Keels,” Alex whispered.

The sergeant turned toward the kids, his mouth a thin line. “If the doc says you can help, you can help. Oh, I have something for you Bas boys,” he said, handing Fisher a small piece of paper.

Alex leaned in to look.

Dear boys,
began the note in their mother’s handwriting,
we’re going to be in Washington a while longer. We had a feeling you would seek out the Gemini ship. If you do, don’t be alarmed by Dr. X. The government decided to let him fill in for us. We don’t like it, but in this situation we don’t think there’s much choice. Hope to see you soon! XO, Mom

“Huh,” Alex said. “As weird as it sounds, sometimes I forget how smart they are.”

On the sergeant’s signal, the guards melted into the background as quickly as they’d appeared, leaving Dr. X and the kids alone in front of the Gemini spacecraft, although Fisher had no doubt they were being observed.

“You’re
working
for them?” Amanda blurted out as Dr.
X booted up a massive computer terminal sitting next to the ship.

“In a situation like this, the government needs the best available,” said Dr. X. “And I
am
the best.”

A chill shot straight through Fisher. Dr. X’s words, and the sergeant’s attitude, confirmed his worst suspicions. The aliens were a threat—and they needed to be stopped.

“Exactly … what
is
our situation?” said Fisher.

The screen on the computer flickered on, showing a star chart with a connect-the-dots line jumping from star to star over a path several hundred light-years long.

“It’s taken a massive amount of computing power, but we’ve been able to translate the digital language of this ship’s computer,” said Dr. X. “We can only access a little bit at a time, so we cracked navigation first. This chart shows the path the Gemini have been traveling for the past two hundred years.”

“Two
centuries
?” said Amanda.

“There’s no telling how long the Gemini’s lifespan is,” said Alex. “For all we know, it could be centuries, millennia.”

According to the charts, the Gemini had been very busy planet-hopping in those two hundred years. Fisher recognized the star where the path ended as the Sun—only the latest in a very long string of stops.

“They’ve come such a long way,” he said. “Barely
stopping long enough to leave a mark. Maybe they’re running away from something.”

“Frankly,” Dr. X said, “if the Gemini creature is running from anything, it’s the ruin caused by its own appetites. The being you named the Gemini has adopted a nomadic existence. It travels from planet to planet, resides there for a number of years, and then moves on. Based on our observations of its behavior, I can only conclude that it strips each planet of whatever resources it possesses, growing to an immense size in the process. It would likely churn out more and more of its drones to collect resources and support this growth, creating the illusion of a ‘population.’ As the resources begin to dwindle, the entity begins to shrink, until it finally re-embarks on this ship to move on to the next world. Basically, it is an extremely adaptive space parasite.”

Veronica’s expression was grim. Fisher knew exactly what she was imagining: the Earth reduced to a barren desert, all life extinct, oceans drained, the soil itself consumed, stripped to the bedrock.

It was all his fault. He’d launched the M3. He’d welcomed the Gemini to Earth with open arms. He’d made every effort to be friendly and accommodating. Had he just been ringing a dinner bell, and were the students of Wompalog served as the appetizer?

Of all the mistakes he’d made in his life, this one was
most certainly the worst. And the way this school year had gone, that was truly saying something.

He had to fix it.

“In the chaos of the crash landing and the explosion of the M3, we were able to retrieve their ship,” Dr. X said. “Our teams dug it out of the debris as quickly as possible and got it back here hidden in a flatbed truck disguised as a wreckage hauler. We haven’t yet been able to access the interior, but we’ve scanned it.”

A graphic chart popped up, showing various rooms and corridors within the ship, slightly bigger than human-sized ones would be.

“Wait a minute,” said Fisher, hoping to catch a flaw in Dr. X’s calculations. “In its natural state the Gemini is a puddle of liquid. It can take any solid form it wants. Why would it build a ship full of big rooms and hallways? That’s a highly inefficient use of space. Unless …” His throat tightened up.

“Unless it did
not
build this ship,” said Dr. X with a thin smile.

Amanda groaned. “Don’t tell me,” she said. “More aliens?”

Dr. X inclined his head. “My conclusion exactly.”

Amanda and Veronica stared at each other, horrified.

“So the Gemini hijacked this ship,” Amanda said. “And, I’m guessing, ate its crew.”

Dr. X flicked the star chart to the side with a touch, replacing it with an animation displaying the story Dr. X went on to tell.

“It’s my theory that the Gemini existed for millions of years on its native planet, its growth controlled and balanced by natural predators.” The screen showed a globe, with a fluctuating green area representing the Gemini growing and shrinking, harmonious with its environment. “Then an alien ship, explorers probably, touched down.”

A close-up view showed the ship descending to the surface. Stick figures emerged after touchdown. A green puddle approached the ship, and gradually the puddle turned into identical stick figures.

“With the Gemini’s amazing ability to change shape, it mimicked the crew of the ship, infiltrating, eliminating, and replacing them.” The original stick figures vanished and the Gemini copies walked onto the ship.

“Eliminating and
eating,”
Amanda stressed.

“So,” Veronica said, “they’re like a locust swarm. Sweeping across the galaxy, devouring whatever they find. And they’ll keep eating until there’s nothing left. A group of ill-fated astronauts from somewhere in space set this whole cycle in motion two centuries ago. With no natural predators on the other planets it hit, it just kept growing until it had eaten everything, and was forced to move on.” No one contradicted her and she shivered. “I wonder how many civilizations have turned to dust in its path.”

“Well, that’s the one bit of good news,” said Dr. X. “Based on our best estimates of the distribution of life in the galaxy, Earth is probably the first planet the Gemini has hit that’s home to an intelligent and technologically advanced species. That’s why it spent so much time studying us before landing.”

“Which means this is the first chance to stop them,”
said Fisher. The whole situation had turned around in his head. He’d thought, hoped, that the Gemini would bring wisdom and technology, enlightenment and insight, to Earth.

Instead, all they’d brought was an appetite.

“This may be the single biggest danger humanity’s ever faced. But how come they brought
you
in?” said Alex, frowning darkly up at Dr. X.

“Yeah,” said Fisher. “As I recall, you were supposed to be spending the next few lifetimes in a little concrete room eating canned string beans off of a Styrofoam tray. Besides, you’ve tried to rule the world twice. Why would you even
want
to help?”

“My boy,” Dr. X said, “exactly how much of a world would be left for me to rule after the Gemini have consumed it? I am as invested in our planet’s survival as you are. I was temporarily released from my prison because, like it or not, my country—my world
—needs
my help. Besides”—he lifted his arm, allowing the sleeve of his white coat to fall down and revealing a tight steel bracelet—“I’m on a very, very short leash. A leash that will render me unconscious if I pull on it too hard,” he said.

Fisher and Alex exchanged a look. At least Dr. X was
being very closely monitored. Clearly, the MORONS weren’t taking any chances.

“All right,” Fisher said, sighing. “So what else do you know?”

“Fortunately, I’ve been able to make significant repairs to this craft,” Dr. X said, pointing up at the prow of the ship jutting high overhead. The metal glimmered in the lab lights. “But there is still an enormous quantity of work to do. I could use your help,” he added bluntly.