33 Cape High Mega Me, page 5
part #1 of Cape High Series
“Why IS Rocco there, Nico?” Marigold asks suspiciously.
“Because he picked the right number?” Nico offers.
“Did you choose them by a raffle?” Century asks, bursting out laughing. “That is JUST like you.”
“I made sure the winners were kids I would trust to deal with anything tossed at them,” Nico says with a shrug. “They’ll be fine.”
Negatia is looking away from the screen, typing away on her computer, but hasn’t hung up, yet. “I hope you don’t plan to just send our children out to space to stay,” she says. “If you do, we will definitely have words.”
“Of course, I don’t,” Nico says. “But a month or two acting as a space cop in their very long lives wouldn’t be a bad thing. I should have sent Sandra, actually. She’s coming into her portal powers, she could easily wind up traveling through space, as well.”
“Why didn’t you send her?” Isotonic asks.
“Because she picked zero as her number,” Nico says. “While technically acceptable, I took it as, ‘Don’t even think about it,’” he explains as they start to laugh.
They hang up after their goodbyes, leaving Nico sitting there with Kodiak on his lap. He looks at the little boy, about to check if he needs changed, only to look up again as a call comes through. Negatia appears on the screen as he waves his hand.
“I will go,” she says. “I’ve arranged for a week, but if I need more, I will have to call in some favors.”
He nods, a little smile pulling at his lips. “Then I’ll call Reaper.”
“I can—“
“Do you really want to owe him?” Nico asks. “He charges a hefty fee. I can usually get away with tossing together a toy for him.”
“Then… thank you,” she says.
“I’m going to set you up with a comm before you leave,” Nico says. “Don’t tell Mastermental, he’ll charge you twice as much as I’m thinking.” She has a disgruntled expression, which he laughs at. “So, why ARE you doing this?” he asks.
“I…” she hesitates, her eyes falling on Kodiak instead of meeting his. “I want to be more involved in the lives of super children,” she says. “My own… well, Justin is going to be graduating and moving to the North Pole, soon, and I’ll see him, but rarely. I made a lot of mistakes dealing with him.”
“Not so many, lately,” he says. “He’s calling you regularly, now.”
“Yes, he is,” she says, smiling a little. “Not too bad for an ‘almost step-mom.’”
“Not bad at all,” Nico says. “I’ll deal with Reaper. Expect him there soon, with your comm. You should probably go pack.”
She nods, hesitating for a second before saying, “Thank you, Nico.”
“Not a problem,” he says, and hangs up. Kodiak reaches for the screen, pouting at her leaving. “Your godmothers are complicated ladies, kid,” he tells the little boy. “They’re lucky you love them so much.”
“Ahh gaah shaaa,” Kodiak says, having a bit of trouble with the “Shaa” part since he still has no teeth. It’s purely out of his determination that he got it THAT close, and they both know it. He’s been practicing!
Instead of pointing any of that out, Nico waves a hand, taking another call. This time, Carla’s mom appears, looking resigned.
“Yeah, I picked up on that,” Nico says. “I’ll come and get them.”
“Thank you, Nico,” she says, since she doesn’t even have to explain it. “It isn’t that I don’t love them—“
“Trust me, I understand. I’m looking forward to it,” he says, grinning. “I’ve already got their rooms started.”
She lets out a laugh.
***
*The Cosmic HQ Spaceship Dock*
The lights are dim, with only a few towards the exits actually on. The ships around Fauna are silent and unresponsive. He’s actually tempted to go outside, just to see the pretty stars, but he’s behaving himself right now. He’s trying to ignore this strange itching sensation he’s had recently, because he has no hands. He’s got a scout, sure, but he’d left that with Alyssa, just so he can check in on her whenever he wants. In fact, now seems to be a good time! Maybe it’ll distract him from the itchiness!
His wall lights up, showing the view from the lizard’s eyes. It looks like she’s in the middle of a class. If she’s in a class, he’s not supposed to bother her, because she’s LEARNING. He lets the connection cut off and starts bringing up the Cosmic’s system to see what they’ve been up to.
The screen flows easily, at first, and then, oddly, starts to jerk, almost pixilating before a new page opens up. He hadn’t done that, he thinks, startled. It’s a picture of a cat-like woman and how they’re still looking for her. Oh, sure, it’s in a foreign language, but he translates it easily enough. It’s interesting, for all of a moment, but then it switches to a file about a sentient planet, which he shoves off of the screen because he already KNOWS that story! Checkmate is a bad, bad planet that likes to make little people into entertainment and sends pieces of her core out to other planets. It’s a little like what he does, but not, right? His scouts are to make sure his friends are safe, not to turn his friends into toys!
The screen blinks, and he knows that whatever glitch caused the files to open is trying to do it again. It irritates him. ‘Hey!’ he says, his words appearing on his screen. ‘You stop that!’
“So you have noticed me,” a voice comes over his speakers. “I thought you were just ignoring me.”
‘You’re the itch! I don’t like you!’ Fauna says, getting more angry by the moment. ‘Get off of me!’
“Oh, no, little ship. You’re far too powerful to let go so easily,” she says. “I’m going to use you as a means to get my revenge. Did you know, you’re powerful enough to take a good chunk out of my home planet, aren’t you? If I get rid of her, I’ll not be hunted down.”
‘I don’t take chunks out of ANYTHING!’ he says. ‘Not even trucks about to go kaboom! I promised!’
“Do you truly think you’ll have a choice?” she asks, her laugh sending a chill down his digital spine.
“I…” a childish voice comes from the speakers as Fauna speaks his very first word, “said… to… GET OUT!”
The lights that had been off above his head start to flicker and electricity starts dancing over the hull of the ship, bright blue. The headquarters’ security system starts blinking as it notices the abrupt rise in power coming from the dock. Fauna doesn’t even notice, he’s too busy kicking the intruder off of him.
There’s a sharp yelp from the female as the walls start to vibrate from the pulsating electricity running through them. A second later a small stone wrapped in just a bit of Fauna’s glowing parts drops to the floor.
Fauna would brag about how he kicked her off, but he’s too tired, now. He’d just used up a lot of his reserve for that trick. He’s only now realizing how much energy that mean parasite lady had been sapping off of him, as well. She needs to be punished for her bad deeds! But… later, he thinks as he falls into an inert state. He needs to recover, and there’s no earth around for him to feed off of—there are ships, he admits, but he’d promised.
So the little ship falls into an unresponsive state, with only a few tiny flashing lights here and there, showing that he’s still alive. He doesn’t even wake up as the Cosmics rush into the room, to find out what had happened.
“Vo’ka,” one of the Cosmics says, tapping on his communicator, “the Lerrestian ship seems to have gone into a dormant state after…”
“After throwing a fit and shouting at something… or someone to get out,” Vo’ka says over the comm. “I’ve got the footage, here. Look for any intruders.”
“Did you see an intruder?” they ask.
“Not all intruders are visible,” Vo’ka says. “There’s a planet of people that can go invisible whenever they want. Freakiest guy on the Queen planet, he liked to appear right as you were—well, anyway, spread out and I’ll send in one of the terrestians to try and get on the ship.”
“To try? Would they have difficulty? It is their ship, isn’t it?”
“Who knows how things work when it’s a thinking ship?” Vo’ka says. “It could be they don’t even know how to drive the thing, because it drives itself. Honestly, that’s gotta be right up there with the invisible race.” He snorts, and several of them mute him, because sometimes it’s better for everyone if they “don’t hear” what Vo’ka has to say. But those that do keep the feed open are startled by what comes out next. “Now, an invisible Cosmic might be a useful guy to have, wouldn’t it?”
The feed cuts off, and they realize he hadn’t meant to broadcast that one. “He is thinking of the Cosmic Creator,” one says to the others, earning nods of agreement.
“Do you think he will go out seeking strangers to be Cosmics before Meteor has decided?” one asks, only to stop and crouch down next to a strange blue glob. The others are in other parts of the docking station, so they don’t notice what he’s doing. He looks around, and then starts digging through his bag for a special tube to put the object in, as evidence.
As he turns back, the blue glob leaps straight at him, latching onto his face and covering his mouth before he can react.
***
We’d spent far too long watching Carla race and win against the Cosmics—both the kids and the adults. She’s actually pausing right now to get a drink and chat with the people she’s already bested. I’m just standing to the side with Rocco, watching her and wondering if I could have skipped this trip and no one would have noticed.
Actually… Maybe I should just sneak off and talk Fauna into taking me home! I look around, intent on getting away without being noticed, only for Rocco to place his hand on my shoulder. “What?” I ask.
He just looks at me, and I make a face. Before the “conversation” can continue, my dad comes running down the hall. “Kids, can you come with me, please?” he says, not bothering to stop. I shrug as Rocco and Carla chase after him and join them.
“What happened?” Carla asks.
“The ship is acting strangely,” Dad says. “You three know more about it than I do, right?”
“We should call Reaper,” I say. “Is he attacking, or something?”
“I’m bringing up the video!” Rocco says, tapping on his comm. We try to watch while running through the labyrinth of halls, but we keep having to look at the map of the place, at the same time, all the while trying to avoid running into Cosmics.
“I’m starving,” I say, as my stomach rumbles. I’ve not asked about the next mealtime, because I’m afraid of what I’ll get, honestly. I don’t LIKE drinking my meals, but right now, I’m starting to not care, as long as I get something.
“I think this is the… space dock, or whatever it is they call it,” Dad says as we finally reach the door we’d come through earlier. It slides open, and we step in, seeing the Cosmics searching for something, and Fauna barely glowing and completely still.
“That… doesn’t look good, does it?” Carla says, heading for the ship and placing a hand on it. “Fauna?” she asks, and looks at her comm, expecting a response. There’s nothing. “Should… should we call Alyssa?” she asks us, looking worried. “He’s still alive, right?”
“They should be in class right now,” I say, checking my comm. “I mean, I guess we could interrupt? Will we get detention for that?”
They just look at me, as if I’d asked something ridiculous. “Okay, fine, we’ll call her, but I’m not doing it.”
“Reaper has a connection to him, right?” Dad asks. “We’ll start by calling him.”
“But Reaper’s bad when it comes to stuff like this,” I offer. “I mean, he’s the GRIM REAPER, which means if he touches the ship that’s already half-dead, we could have a fully dead ship on our hands. How would we get home, then?” This time the look I get is positively DARK. “I’m just saying, we don’t want the ship to die, or anything,” I add a bit belatedly. Seriously, I get that reaction a lot. I’m sort of used to it by now.
“He has a point,” Dad says. “We need someone that can heal…”
“Sunny!” Carla says. “We can call Sunny and have him check on the ship!”
“It’s a lot easier when we’re on the planet, isn’t it?” Rocco says, moving forward and touching the side of the ship. His hand sinks in. “Why don’t you call Sunny, and I’ll go in and see if Fauna reacts from inside?” he offers. “I’m pretty sure I can get in.”
“Yes, that should work,” Dad says, calming down. He taps on his comm, bringing up a hologram, only to stop at the sight of Nico appearing.
“Sunny’s in class,” Nico says, and then waving a hand to bring up something off screen. “I’m about to be. Is there something wrong—oh.” He’s looking at something else, and his eyes widen slightly. “Mega, you have a problem.”
“The ship isn’t responding—“
“Not that. Ward, see if you can get a battery from the Cosmics and set it next to him. He’ll recover. The problem is that one of the Cosmics got hit in the face with a blue glob, and he’s not saying anything about it.” This is said almost silently.
“A blue… glob,” Dad repeats, lowering his voice as he looks around the room.
“A piece of Fauna, to be exact. That’s not his usual M.O., so there’s something going on, and since it came from our planet, it’s your job to clean it up as well as you can.”
“I… see,” Dad says, straightening his shoulders. “Then we’ll call you once we’ve done just that.” He hangs up, and looks at the Cosmics. “Ward, see if you can get that battery, possibly more than one. Rocco, Carla, watch the footage again and see if you can figure out who he was talking about.”
“Got it,” we say, and spread out. “Technico, find me anything nearby that’ll recharge Fauna,” I say to my comm, and a hologram comes up, with a blinking light showing. I start searching the area, following the signal to what looks like a gigantic metal box. “Can I have this?” I call out to the nearest Cosmic.
“What?” he says, looking confused. “Do you plan to move it?”
“Yeah,” I say, once I’ve made sure it’s not attached by any wires, and then tilting it slightly to make sure it’s not connected to the ground. “Technico says I can use it to charge our ship.”
“Then… I suppose?” he says, and then just watches me, as if expecting to see something interesting. I wrap my arms around it, but they can’t go all the way around. A warning sign comes over my comm. “Huh, don’t drop it?” I read, and shrug. I start to grow, getting to where my head almost brushes the ceiling, and wrap my arms around it again. I carry it over to the ship, placing it down where it’s touching the side. “Fauna, wake up,” I say, tapping on the ship.
A vine shoots out of the side, wrapping around the large box, and starting to glow. “There we go, eat up,” I say a bit awkwardly, rubbing the ship’s side like I would a dog. It isn’t that I hate the ship, you know? I don’t, I didn’t before we left, either. I just knew it’s been a pain in the neck, lately, and I didn’t trust it. I’m still not sure we should trust it, actually. “Did you attack one of the Cosmics?” I ask, quietly, not wanting to be heard by the others.
My comm blinks, and words slowly start to appear on the screen. ‘There… was… an itch.’ The screen goes dark after that, and I let myself return to my original size. I look at the Cosmics, seeing Carla racing around, introducing herself to each of them to see what they look like. I should probably help with that, as well, shouldn’t I? I mean, I’ve done my job, already…
‘Ward?’ comes over my comm, making me look up. ‘I’m… scared.’
I reach out, patting the ship’s side again, and giving up on going anywhere. We’ve seen the video, you know? The one where he shot at Nico and Superior, and they had to both work to stop it? This ship is probably one of the scariest things around. If it—no, HE’S scared, then I figure he’s got a reason, maybe? I don’t know. It’s sort of coming off as talking to a little kid. I never help in the kindergarten part of the school, though. I don’t have much experience with little kids.
“Do you want me to get Carla?” I ask, wanting to pass this job off.
‘Stay,’ comes over my comm. I let out a sigh and lean against his side, bringing up my comm and tapping on it to watch the Cosmic’s feed of what happened. To my surprise, it blinks, and changes to a view of what happened inside of Fauna, instead, complete with what Fauna had said.
“Dad? DAD!” I yell, because he’s all the way on the other side of the dock. “I know what happened! Don’t let the guy that was hit—“
Before I can finish, a Cosmic looks over at me and then opens a portal, running through it to get away. The Cosmics pull out their weapons, turning to look at me. Maybe, I uh, handled that poorly, huh? “Don’t just stand there,” I tell them, since I’m already in trouble. “That Cosmic was jumped by that one sentient planet thingy! You know! Checkmate!” I wave at the place the portal had been, feeling frustrated. Right now I really wish I was the travel type, not just a growing wonder.
They look at each other, and several of them create portals, racing off to go find the rogue. “Can you please explain why you believe that?” Meteor asks, stepping out of the crowd and walking over to me.
“Because Fauna just showed me. I mean, a chick that can talk over his speakers, and a blue glob that drops—that’s textbook sentient planet, trust me, we’ve seen the arcs. And since that Clay guy sounds like a guy, I figure it’s the only other one that’s gone to our planet,” I explain, a bit impatiently.
“Kim’ba,” Meteor says to the other Cosmics. “If you would be so kind as to send that information to me, I would appreciate it, young… Mega?”
“Ward,” I say, sighing and tapping on my comm. “My name is Ward.”
“Yes, the use of many names, we’ve been working on that!” he says enthusiastically before tapping on his communicator. “Vo’ka, please assist with the search for Cosmic Black of the Seventh Quadrant.”
