The Alien Brainwash (5 page)

CHAPTER
7

‘The Beautiful Ones are hypnotising you again,' Zara said dreamily. ‘And if you're hypnotised long enough, you'll be brainwashed forever.'

At once, every cell in Kip's body snapped awake. ‘Brainwashed forever?' he yelled. ‘How long do we have to be hypnotised before that happens?'

‘A while for highly trained people like Space Scouts,' Zara replied. ‘With others, well…you just never know.'

She looked at Finbar. His eyelids were lowering.

Finbar's wolf hearing is extra-sensitive!
Kip realised.
He fell asleep before me last time.
And he hasn't had all the special Space Scout
anti-hypnosis training I've had.

Still, Kip knew even he couldn't resist the flowers forever. He had to stay awake – and make sure Finbar did too.

When did I last feel super-awake?
he asked himself.

It was during Space Scout training. Those vertical wall sprints and rocketboot- assisted high jumps had been tough.

I couldn't have done it without EarTunes!

EarTunes were songs played directly into the eardrum. All Space Scouts had EarTunes chips implanted in their earlobes on the first day of training.

Kip gave his earlobe three firm squeezes. At once,‘Space Rambler' by the Screeching UFOs flooded his brain. Since it was played inside Kip's head, only he could hear it.

It totally blocked out the flowers' eerie song, waking him up faster than a cold slime shower.

Now the only problem was Finbar. He didn't have EarTunes because he was 2iC, not a Space Scout.

‘Just…gonna…rest…for a…while…' Finbar muttered, sinking to the ground.

‘No!' yelled Kip, shaking Finbar's arm to keep him awake.

But Finbar didn't answer.

Waving his arms, Kip rushed toward Finbar. The flowers shrank back in surprise.

‘Wake up!' Kip yelled desperately.

There was a snuffling sound from Finbar's wet black nose. Then…

Finbar opened his eyes. They were normally a piercing pale blue. They looked different to Kip now. Softer somehow.

‘I want to serve the Beautiful Ones,' Finbar said slowly. ‘Where do I begin?'

Finbar had only been asleep for a second. Was he brainwashed already?

I've got to test him!
Kip thought.
Finbar
said earlier that brainwashed people are easy to
order around.

‘Finbar, I want you to purr like a cat,' Kip said, trying to keep his voice steady. Finbar
really
hated cats.

But instantly, Finbar started purring loudly. He even rubbed his paws on his head, like a cat cleaning its ears!

He really
is hypnotised
, Kip thought miserably.
Although…

For a second, Kip thought Finbar had winked at him. But when he looked closer, all he saw were Finbar's glazed eyes.

I guess I saw what I wanted to see
, Kip thought.

He needed a plan. With his EarTunes playing, he was safe from the flowers' hypnotic powers. But he had to work out how to save Finbar and Zara!

Zara linked arms with Finbar. The flowers swayed apart. Zara led Finbar away through the field.

Kip raced after them. He didn't want to lose Zara and Finbar in the huge field.With a brainwashed 2iC and no way to contact MoNa, Kip was on his own.

Maybe if the flowers think I'm already under
their spell,
he thought suddenly,
they'll stop
trying to hypnotise me
.

‘I want to serve the Beautiful Ones too!' Kip said slowly, trying to make his eyes glaze over like Finbar's.

Zara and Finbar turned slowly and waited for Kip to catch up, then the three of them continued across the field.

Kip hadn't noticed before, but the field sloped downwards toward the middle.

Zara was definitely heading for some-thing in particular. Something in the very centre of the field that was hidden behind the tall flowers in the field.

It looked like the shimmering silver structure Kip had glimpsed when they first landed on Botanicus-1.

He had no idea what the building was or what would be inside. But he desperately hoped it would help him unlock the flowers' secrets and figure out how to get Zara and Finbar home.

CHAPTER
8

Kip, Zara and Finbar were standing in a clearing in the middle of the field. There were only a few flowers nearby.

In the clearing stood the shimmering dome-shaped building. It was almost transparent, glittering in the blue sunlight. It was a bit taller than the flowers, and very long.

‘First, we must harvest the golden grains,' Zara was explaining.

She tapped a nearby flower on the stem. The flower leant down. It shook its head into Zara's cupped hands. Tiny specks of yellow pollen tumbled from the centre of the flower. Zara caught every speck like it was gold dust.

With a frozen smile, Finbar tapped another flower. He collected the pollen grains in his white, furry paw. For a moment, Kip thought he saw Finbar give his leg a quick scratch with his foot.

But then Finbar smiled blankly and said, ‘I love serving the Beautiful Ones.'

Kip gagged. He wanted the old Finbar back! Still, he tapped a flower and collected some pollen himself. He had to pretend he was brainwashed too – as well as use his Space Scout logic to figure out what was happening on Botanicus-1.

When all three had their hands full, Zara led them into the shimmering building.

Kip touched the side of the building. Up close, he saw it was made of billions of criss-crossing threads. It felt sticky, like the silk that was spun by insects.

They stepped inside the building through an arched doorway. Inside, Kip saw an almost endless stretch of silvery green soil. Growing in perfect rows were more flowers the size of seedlings.

‘This is the greenhouse,' Zara beamed.

She guided them toward the nearest flower. Carefully, she dropped a single speck of pollen into its petals.

Finbar followed. But his wolf paws were clumsy. A pollen speck tumbled from his grip.

Zara dived to catch it before it hit the dirt. ‘The golden grains are precious!' she squeaked. ‘Without them, the Beautiful Ones cannot survive.'

Kip had a photographic memory for details, even nerdy ones. It was one reason why he was such a talented Space Scout.The golden specks reminded him of something his Teacherbot had told him.

Zara and Finbar are taking pollen from the
outside flowers to the young flowers inside
the greenhouse
, he thought. Kip knew that insects normally did that job.

His mind was racing at warp speed.
I bet those weird giant spiderbees used to spread
the pollen
, he thought.
They could have made
this greenhouse too.

Zara had said that the spiderbees were all dead now. But back when dawn was breaking, Kip had noticed that the bodies littered on the ground hadn't started decomposing yet. That could only mean that the spiderbees had died recently.

Then Kip had a brainwave.
Maybe the
Intergalactic Killer Bug Flu wiped them out!

It meant that the flowers needed some-one else to do the spiderbees' job. Because the flowers couldn't really walk, they couldn't spread their pollen to the little flowers inside the greenhouse! And with-out the pollen, new flowers couldn't grow.

So the flowers hynotised Zara, and then
Finbar, to spread the pollen for them!

Kip had to admit that it was pretty clever.

A loud rumble outside interrupted Kip's whirring brain. A fork of fizzing orange lightning lit up the sky. Rain started pouring down.

Finbar's doggy side hated thunderstorms! Kip was sure that if he wasn't brainwashed, he'd be terrified.

Kip watched Finbar closely. Zara kept on pollinating seedlings. But Finbar had stopped what he was doing. The fur on the back of his neck stood on end. His glazed smile drooped.

Outside, another lightning fork sizzled across the sky. Finbar's ears flattened again his head. He let out a low, mournful growl.

Kip's Space Scout training had taught him that things weren't always what they seem. When Zara was a safe distance away, he walked over to Finbar.

‘You'll be fine,' Kip whispered. ‘It's just a thunderstorm.'

Finbar looked Kip in the eye. ‘Thanks,' he whispered back.

Finbar's voice sounded completely normal. He hadn't even mentioned serving the Beautiful Ones!

Relief flooded though Kip.
Finbar's
only faking being hypnotised! We had the same
idea.

Kip had been right about the wink. But what about the cat-like purrs?

‘For a giant walking cottonball, you're a pretty good actor,' Kip muttered.

Finbar grinned and scratched his leg.

At that moment, Zara wondered over.

‘Let's gather more golden grains,' Finbar told her, acting brainwashed again.

Zara reached out to take Finbar's paw. Just at that moment, a stinging space flea flew out from Finbar's spacesuit and landed on Zara.