Exactly three-and-a-half hours later No.9's mental alarm clock went off. He sat upright in his bed, suddenly wide awake. He glanced over to the digital alarm clock on his nightstand. It was exactly 4 o'clock in the morning. The team had all decided to meet at Mr. Invent's garage at 5. Just before sunup. The earlier they left the better. It was going to be a long flight to the middle of the ocean.
No.9 got out of bed and tiptoed across the room to his chest of drawers. He put on a pair of bluejeans and a black long sleeved tee. He wondered if he should bring a jacket, but decided against it in the end. He'd have a lot more to worry about than the weather where they were heading.
After he finished dressing he pulled out a gym bag from underneath his bed that he had packed the night before. Inside was what he named the "Stun Sabre" (essentially an electrical baton that would stun almost anything) and his personal supply kit to help with any problems they might have with equipment, or if they needed to build a weapon in the field...or patch themselves together should they have a nasty bout with Setra.
After everything was in the gym bag No.9 ran through a mental checklist in his mind, decided he was ready to go, and then quietly headed down the stairs. He reached the front door and was just about to turn the handle when his stomach made a loud gurgle.
Better get a quick bite to eat, he thought. Who knows when I'll get another chance for some food.
When he made it into the kitchen No.9 opened the refrigerator door and looked all over the shelves to try to find a small snack. After a few seconds he cut off a chunk of cheddar cheese and grabbed some saltine's from the pantry. He put his breakfast in a plastic sandwich bag and headed back towards the front door.
"TIMOTHY SHAWN BRYANT!"
No.9 nearly jumped up to the ceiling as he passed the foot of the stairs. His mother was standing at the top in her nightgown with her hands on her hips.
"Oh, hey mom," No.9 replied nervously. "I was just, uh, you know." He froze for a second and stood there doing mental gymnastics. "It's just, I heard the cat in our tree outside so, uh, I was gonna go get it. You know, make sure it was OK?"
"WE DON'T HAVE A CAT!" No.9's mother yelled back down the stairs at him.
"Oh," No.9 replied, realizing their cat had died several years ago. "Right."
No.9's mother made it half way down the stairs huffing and puffing when the phone in the upstairs hallway began to ring. She glared at him for a moment before turning around to take the call.
Saved by the bell, No.9 thought to himself.
"Hello?" No.9's mother's voice echoed down the stairs. "No Joyce, I haven't seen Brian."
Looks like L.G.'s already on his way.
"Well, no I don't know where he could be," No.9 could guess what L.G.'s mom was going to ask next. He walked as quietly as he could towards the door. "Hold on, let me ask Tim." As he got on his bike and pedaled down the driveway the last thing No.9 could remember hearing was his mother screaming his name from the hallway telephone.
When he arrived at the shack above Mr. Invent's garage the rest of the team was outside waiting for him.
"Where have you been?" L.G. asked shivering in his baseball tee-shirt.
"My mom caught me trying to sneak out," No.9 replied as he hid his bike behind a tree. "Your mom really helped me get away though."
"What?!"
Everyone laughed as No.9 joined the circle smiling.
"It's a long story," he said and patted L.G. on the shoulder. "Well, since we all made it let's get started."
"Here," Mr. Invent reached into his pocket and pulled out several plastic cards. "Genie Wiz said I should make them for you. Probably a good idea just in case you need to get out of the garage and I'm not...well, you know." He handed everyone a blue card the size of a credit card before swiping his own to open the garage elevator door.
What did he mean by that? No.9 thought as the cramped elevator headed down. Is he worried he might not make it back with us?
When the elevator doors opened again everyone spilled out into the garage. No.9 headed into the library while everyone checked their supplies by the Alley Cat. The Fulton was sitting on the desk, still turned on. The screen was blinking the word ACTIVATE Y/N? No.9 hit the N key and the screen went back to showing the map to Sacoy. He picked up the device and headed back to the main garage where everyone was huddled together.
"Alright," he addressed everyone as if this were a mission brief. "Our main objective is to reach this garden of Sacoy and recover the Satar particle.Now-" he started to walk back around the group, looking each one of his team members in the eye as he spoke to them "-I have no idea what this place is that we're going to...I don't know what this Satar particle is or what it does...And I don't know why the agency wants to retrieve it so badly." No.9 came to a stop back to where he began speaking and said, "But I do know this: We've proven ourselves yesterday. We can handle anything this place has waiting for us." Everyone started nodding their heads with excitement. "And I know that I don't trust our agency with this Satar particle no matter what it does. Jim proved to us that there are enemies in the least likely of places. They can't keep it safe!" Everyone was feeling the energy coming from No.9's speech. The adrenaline was flowing. Their hearts were racing with excitement. "WE can keep it safe."
"YEAH!" everyone responded back in unison.
"WE can make sure that device is never used to harm anyone we love!"
"That's right!"
"And we are going to save the world."
Everyone clapped and cheered as No.9 closed his speech. After Mr. Invent's comment at the elevator he knew that they would need the motivation and encouragement. He knew that they needed to be reassured. They needed to know they were going to make it home alive.
After everyone was feeling pumped No.9 decided it was a good time to address their major threat in the mission. "We were all here yesterday," he began again, "and we all know there's going to be some things we've never tackled before." Everyone got quiet again and looked at one another nervously. "Now, we know its name. We also know not to look at it directly, and to avoid its head. So, we have an advantage there. But we're going to need some decent weapons just in case. So, let's see what you've got." No.9 nodded his head at Blond Bomb. She always knew when to bring the best firepower.
"Okay," Blond Bomb replied, bending down to unzip a beige dry cleaning bag at her feet. "I brought my latest flamethrower." She pulled out a large Super Soaker water gun with a plastic backpack for what should have been for water. "The liquid's a mixture of my own making. Mostly lighter fluid and hairspray with a little extra here and there. Now this," she held up the side of the gun and pointed to a trigger on the second plastic handle that she had installed, "this is where you light the flame." She pulled the trigger. It made a small click sound and in front of the barrel a steady lighter flame appeared. "And when you're ready for a weenie roast, just give er' a few pumps and pull the other trigger."
"Perfect," No.9 replied as Blond Bomb packed away the flamethrower.
"I've packed a few stun bombs," Mr. Invent chimed in next to Blond Bomb. "I've got fifty of them ready to go. Basically you use them like you would any normal bomb, light the fuse and throw, but these let out a gas that will confuse the enemy and blur their vision."
"Nice," No.9 smiled at Mr. Invent with approval.
"I made us something when I got home last night," L.G. said reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small black box the size of a tape recorder. "I call it a Danger Meter. It can hear footsteps up to 50 yards away and vibrate if it detects anything. Could helps us avoid some fighting maybe."
"That will definitely come in handy, L.G." No.9 said proudly to his friend before looking over to what Genie Wiz had pulled out of her backpack. "What in the world is that?"
She had pulled out what looked to be a metallic baseball bat covered in tiny black dots.
"This is my Boomer-Bat," she replied. "The black dots are sensors that pick up body heat. And inside-" she unscrewed the top of the hitting end of the bat, "-is a computer." She turned the bat so that everyone could see the tiny black screen. "When I turn it on, the screen shows any enemies nearby." She pressed a small button on the handle and the bat started to whir quietly. "Then I give it a throw. Anyone not on our side should get a good hit upside the head." She screwed the end of the bat back on and flipped the switch to tun it off.
"But what if it accidentally thinks one us is an enemy?" asked Mr. Invent shakily. "If it tracks by body heat then any one of us could be hit!"
"That's why I had you make those security cards," Genie Wiz replied. "It's programmed to ignore anyone with that security chip on them."
Mr. Invent looked relieved. He obviously did not want to be hit by a heat-seeking bat missile.
"One more thing," said Genie Wiz. "If there's a situation where one of you has to use the Boomer-Bat without me, make sure you take my glove." She took off one of her black leather biker gloves she was wearing and showed it to everyone. "It's the only way it'll come back to you. They're super strong magnets."
"Genius," said No.9. "You live up to your name!"
No.9 was impressed with what everyone had brought to the mission. So much so that even he was starting to believe that they had a chance.
"Alright then," No.9 said, "if every one's ready, let's get started." He picked up his gym bag and put the Fulton inside. He caught L.G. looking at him confused and said, "Better take this too...just in case."
The crew piled into the Alley Cat one by one. Everyone was excited and nervous. No.9 was just worried.
"Alright, let's get this thing flying!" said Bombshell, taking a seat.
No.9 took the copilot seat next to Mr. Invent as he punched in the coordinates for Sacoy on the Alley Cat's computer. "OK, here we go," Mr. Invent said after he entered the numbers and waited for the position to show up.
"Yo, Mr. Invent," L.G. called from his seat in the back, "you've gotta teach us how to drive this thing sometime!"
"Sure, L.G., anytime," Mr. Invent replied jokingly.
"L.G. you thought our coordinates were going somewhere underneath the earth yesterday," Blond Bomb laughed in the seat across from L.G.
"Yeah, so?" L.G. replied.
"So how are you going to fly a hovercraft if you can't read a map?"
Everyone laughed as L.G. tried to defend his sometimes spaciness mind.
Mr. Invent's computer beeped and whirred as a large spinning globe came onto the screen. After a few seconds it stopped spinning above the Pacific Ocean and zoomed in slowly. Finally it stopped and a small yellow dot appeared over what looked like nothing in the ocean.
"Could it be somewhere underwater?" No.9 asked looking at the screen.
"It's possible," Mr. Invent replied worried. "Or it could be an uncharted island. I guess we won't know until we get there." Mr. Invent hit a few keys on his computer and the Alley Cat rose off the ground. When they had flown out of the cave exit of the garage, Mr. Invent set the Alley Cat to auto-pilot. He hit a few more keys and a timer appeared on the computer screen that began counting down from 2 hours. "It's an alarm. So we can get some sleep," Mr. Invent explained as he laid back in the pilot seat and closed his eyes.
No.9 yawned and decided to take a nap as well, and within twenty minutes everyone aboard had drifted into an uneasy sleep.
Two hours later the crew was awakened by a loud beeping noise from the Alley Cat's computer screen.
"Morning," L.G. yawned out sleepily in the back cabin.
"Yeah, ditto," said Genie Wiz, annoyed.
"We're nearly there," Mr. Invent said to No.9 as he looked around the cabin and out of the Alley Cat's windshield. There was nothing but deep blue all around them.
"Did anyone bring any coffee?" L.G called out as he rubbed the sleep from his eye. "I am not a morning person."
"I've got something better," Mr. Invent replied. He got out of his seat and started sifting through his knapsack on the floor. "Here they are," he exclaimed, taking out a small metal box with miniature granola bars inside.
"Um, what are those?" Blond Bomb asked confused as she looked at the bars.
"They're my homemade, one-hundred percent guaranteed energy boosters," Mr. Invent replied enthusiastically. "You eat one or two of these things and your adrenaline will pump and your heart will race and you'll be wide awake." He took out one of the bars and popped it into his mouth.
"Slow down," said LG, "you're starting to sound like an infomercial." He grabbed one of the bars from the box. "Can't hurt to try I guess," he added before gulping it down. Everyone helped themselves to a few of Mr. Invent's energy bars and immediately felt focused and awake.
Mr. Invent put the bars away and checked the computer screen once more. "We're about thirty miles away from Sacoy," he called back to everyone. "But that can't be right..." he started talking to himself. No.9 walked back over to the pilot's seat to check in with Mr. Invent. "No, that's just not right," he was saying. "It's not possible..."
"What's the matter?" No.9 asked.
"This trip should have taken nearly all day," Mr. Invent replied, messing with the computer the whole time. "Suddenly we're thirty miles away after two hours? The Alley Cat is fast, but not that fast."
"Well, maybe it's a good thing," said No.9. "Maybe the computer made a glitch and it was really closer than we thought."
Mr. Invent stopped typing and looked at No.9 square in the eyes. "My computers do not make glitches." Suddenly the yellow dot on the screen became ten times larger. Mr. Invent took one look at the screen and gulped. "One mile away," he said.
"Look!" Blond Bomb cried from the back cabin. No.9 walked back to see everyone huddled around a side window. No.9 looked out and saw a bright white light shining straight out of the ocean. It was getting brighter and brighter as the Alley Cat flew towards it.
"What is that?" asked L.G.
"Some kind of reflection from the sun, maybe?" Genie Wiz said.
"Off what, the ocean?" L.G. replied.
"I don't know what it is," said Bombshell, "but we're heading right for it."
She was right. The Alley Cat turned into the white light until the whole cabin was nearly blinded by it.
"It's like we're inside of a star!" yelled Bombshell, covering her eyes.
"At least it isn't star," called Mr. Invent. "Or we'd all be burned alive!"
The Alley Cat had come to a stop in midair and began descending.
"It's not a star," said No.9. "It's Sacoy."
As the Alley Cat dropped lower the light started to fade little by little. When No.9 could finally open his eyes again he couldn't believe what he saw. Through the window of the Alley Cat No.9 could see a large canyon below them. Surrounding the canyon he could make out streams, flowers and fields just beyond the canyon and snowy mountains in the distance. The light had completely faded now and everyone was trying to define what they were seeing. Sacoy was a beautiful place. Surely not a place where any life threatening beast could live. For a moment, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
But suddenly tiny cracks started to appear from the mountain's peaks. They moved their way down to the forest and meadows like snakes.
"Wait," Mr. Invent backed away from the windshield worried. "What's happening?"
The picture they had laid their eyes on was cracking all over, piece by piece.
"Mr. Invent, should we be worried about shattering into a million pieces?" No.9 called out to Mr. Invent, who just stood there in silence starring out the window.
Suddenly there was a loud CRASH and the picture of Sacoy that they had hoped were real shattered and fell away like glass. All they could see now was blackness.A loud thud shook the Alley Cat. They had landed...on something. In the distance they could hear a loud whooshing sound coming from outside.
"What was that?!" Genie Wiz jumped away from the window in fear.
"Relax," said No.9, "It's probably just the wind. Who knows what kind of weather-"
BANG, BANG, BANG
No.9 stopped talking and looked around at everyone, trying to stay calm. The banging noise came back again.
BANG,BANG,BANG
It was coming from the dome of the Alley Cat. And it was getting louder.
BANG, BANG, BANG
L.G. looked at No.9 and mouthed, "What do we do?"
No.9 had no idea. He was trying to think of a plan when the banging came again, louder than the rest, followed by something they would have never expected to hear:
"Ello?" came a tiny voice from outside. "Ello? ELLO? Let me in! Please! ELLO?!"
BANG, BANG, BANG
No.9 got out of bed and tiptoed across the room to his chest of drawers. He put on a pair of bluejeans and a black long sleeved tee. He wondered if he should bring a jacket, but decided against it in the end. He'd have a lot more to worry about than the weather where they were heading.
After he finished dressing he pulled out a gym bag from underneath his bed that he had packed the night before. Inside was what he named the "Stun Sabre" (essentially an electrical baton that would stun almost anything) and his personal supply kit to help with any problems they might have with equipment, or if they needed to build a weapon in the field...or patch themselves together should they have a nasty bout with Setra.
After everything was in the gym bag No.9 ran through a mental checklist in his mind, decided he was ready to go, and then quietly headed down the stairs. He reached the front door and was just about to turn the handle when his stomach made a loud gurgle.
Better get a quick bite to eat, he thought. Who knows when I'll get another chance for some food.
When he made it into the kitchen No.9 opened the refrigerator door and looked all over the shelves to try to find a small snack. After a few seconds he cut off a chunk of cheddar cheese and grabbed some saltine's from the pantry. He put his breakfast in a plastic sandwich bag and headed back towards the front door.
"TIMOTHY SHAWN BRYANT!"
No.9 nearly jumped up to the ceiling as he passed the foot of the stairs. His mother was standing at the top in her nightgown with her hands on her hips.
"Oh, hey mom," No.9 replied nervously. "I was just, uh, you know." He froze for a second and stood there doing mental gymnastics. "It's just, I heard the cat in our tree outside so, uh, I was gonna go get it. You know, make sure it was OK?"
"WE DON'T HAVE A CAT!" No.9's mother yelled back down the stairs at him.
"Oh," No.9 replied, realizing their cat had died several years ago. "Right."
No.9's mother made it half way down the stairs huffing and puffing when the phone in the upstairs hallway began to ring. She glared at him for a moment before turning around to take the call.
Saved by the bell, No.9 thought to himself.
"Hello?" No.9's mother's voice echoed down the stairs. "No Joyce, I haven't seen Brian."
Looks like L.G.'s already on his way.
"Well, no I don't know where he could be," No.9 could guess what L.G.'s mom was going to ask next. He walked as quietly as he could towards the door. "Hold on, let me ask Tim." As he got on his bike and pedaled down the driveway the last thing No.9 could remember hearing was his mother screaming his name from the hallway telephone.
* * *
When he arrived at the shack above Mr. Invent's garage the rest of the team was outside waiting for him.
"Where have you been?" L.G. asked shivering in his baseball tee-shirt.
"My mom caught me trying to sneak out," No.9 replied as he hid his bike behind a tree. "Your mom really helped me get away though."
"What?!"
Everyone laughed as No.9 joined the circle smiling.
"It's a long story," he said and patted L.G. on the shoulder. "Well, since we all made it let's get started."
"Here," Mr. Invent reached into his pocket and pulled out several plastic cards. "Genie Wiz said I should make them for you. Probably a good idea just in case you need to get out of the garage and I'm not...well, you know." He handed everyone a blue card the size of a credit card before swiping his own to open the garage elevator door.
What did he mean by that? No.9 thought as the cramped elevator headed down. Is he worried he might not make it back with us?
When the elevator doors opened again everyone spilled out into the garage. No.9 headed into the library while everyone checked their supplies by the Alley Cat. The Fulton was sitting on the desk, still turned on. The screen was blinking the word ACTIVATE Y/N? No.9 hit the N key and the screen went back to showing the map to Sacoy. He picked up the device and headed back to the main garage where everyone was huddled together.
"Alright," he addressed everyone as if this were a mission brief. "Our main objective is to reach this garden of Sacoy and recover the Satar particle.Now-" he started to walk back around the group, looking each one of his team members in the eye as he spoke to them "-I have no idea what this place is that we're going to...I don't know what this Satar particle is or what it does...And I don't know why the agency wants to retrieve it so badly." No.9 came to a stop back to where he began speaking and said, "But I do know this: We've proven ourselves yesterday. We can handle anything this place has waiting for us." Everyone started nodding their heads with excitement. "And I know that I don't trust our agency with this Satar particle no matter what it does. Jim proved to us that there are enemies in the least likely of places. They can't keep it safe!" Everyone was feeling the energy coming from No.9's speech. The adrenaline was flowing. Their hearts were racing with excitement. "WE can keep it safe."
"YEAH!" everyone responded back in unison.
"WE can make sure that device is never used to harm anyone we love!"
"That's right!"
"And we are going to save the world."
Everyone clapped and cheered as No.9 closed his speech. After Mr. Invent's comment at the elevator he knew that they would need the motivation and encouragement. He knew that they needed to be reassured. They needed to know they were going to make it home alive.
After everyone was feeling pumped No.9 decided it was a good time to address their major threat in the mission. "We were all here yesterday," he began again, "and we all know there's going to be some things we've never tackled before." Everyone got quiet again and looked at one another nervously. "Now, we know its name. We also know not to look at it directly, and to avoid its head. So, we have an advantage there. But we're going to need some decent weapons just in case. So, let's see what you've got." No.9 nodded his head at Blond Bomb. She always knew when to bring the best firepower.
"Okay," Blond Bomb replied, bending down to unzip a beige dry cleaning bag at her feet. "I brought my latest flamethrower." She pulled out a large Super Soaker water gun with a plastic backpack for what should have been for water. "The liquid's a mixture of my own making. Mostly lighter fluid and hairspray with a little extra here and there. Now this," she held up the side of the gun and pointed to a trigger on the second plastic handle that she had installed, "this is where you light the flame." She pulled the trigger. It made a small click sound and in front of the barrel a steady lighter flame appeared. "And when you're ready for a weenie roast, just give er' a few pumps and pull the other trigger."
"Perfect," No.9 replied as Blond Bomb packed away the flamethrower.
"I've packed a few stun bombs," Mr. Invent chimed in next to Blond Bomb. "I've got fifty of them ready to go. Basically you use them like you would any normal bomb, light the fuse and throw, but these let out a gas that will confuse the enemy and blur their vision."
"Nice," No.9 smiled at Mr. Invent with approval.
"I made us something when I got home last night," L.G. said reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small black box the size of a tape recorder. "I call it a Danger Meter. It can hear footsteps up to 50 yards away and vibrate if it detects anything. Could helps us avoid some fighting maybe."
"That will definitely come in handy, L.G." No.9 said proudly to his friend before looking over to what Genie Wiz had pulled out of her backpack. "What in the world is that?"
She had pulled out what looked to be a metallic baseball bat covered in tiny black dots.
"This is my Boomer-Bat," she replied. "The black dots are sensors that pick up body heat. And inside-" she unscrewed the top of the hitting end of the bat, "-is a computer." She turned the bat so that everyone could see the tiny black screen. "When I turn it on, the screen shows any enemies nearby." She pressed a small button on the handle and the bat started to whir quietly. "Then I give it a throw. Anyone not on our side should get a good hit upside the head." She screwed the end of the bat back on and flipped the switch to tun it off.
"But what if it accidentally thinks one us is an enemy?" asked Mr. Invent shakily. "If it tracks by body heat then any one of us could be hit!"
"That's why I had you make those security cards," Genie Wiz replied. "It's programmed to ignore anyone with that security chip on them."
Mr. Invent looked relieved. He obviously did not want to be hit by a heat-seeking bat missile.
"One more thing," said Genie Wiz. "If there's a situation where one of you has to use the Boomer-Bat without me, make sure you take my glove." She took off one of her black leather biker gloves she was wearing and showed it to everyone. "It's the only way it'll come back to you. They're super strong magnets."
"Genius," said No.9. "You live up to your name!"
No.9 was impressed with what everyone had brought to the mission. So much so that even he was starting to believe that they had a chance.
"Alright then," No.9 said, "if every one's ready, let's get started." He picked up his gym bag and put the Fulton inside. He caught L.G. looking at him confused and said, "Better take this too...just in case."
The crew piled into the Alley Cat one by one. Everyone was excited and nervous. No.9 was just worried.
"Alright, let's get this thing flying!" said Bombshell, taking a seat.
No.9 took the copilot seat next to Mr. Invent as he punched in the coordinates for Sacoy on the Alley Cat's computer. "OK, here we go," Mr. Invent said after he entered the numbers and waited for the position to show up.
"Yo, Mr. Invent," L.G. called from his seat in the back, "you've gotta teach us how to drive this thing sometime!"
"Sure, L.G., anytime," Mr. Invent replied jokingly.
"L.G. you thought our coordinates were going somewhere underneath the earth yesterday," Blond Bomb laughed in the seat across from L.G.
"Yeah, so?" L.G. replied.
"So how are you going to fly a hovercraft if you can't read a map?"
Everyone laughed as L.G. tried to defend his sometimes spaciness mind.
Mr. Invent's computer beeped and whirred as a large spinning globe came onto the screen. After a few seconds it stopped spinning above the Pacific Ocean and zoomed in slowly. Finally it stopped and a small yellow dot appeared over what looked like nothing in the ocean.
"Could it be somewhere underwater?" No.9 asked looking at the screen.
"It's possible," Mr. Invent replied worried. "Or it could be an uncharted island. I guess we won't know until we get there." Mr. Invent hit a few keys on his computer and the Alley Cat rose off the ground. When they had flown out of the cave exit of the garage, Mr. Invent set the Alley Cat to auto-pilot. He hit a few more keys and a timer appeared on the computer screen that began counting down from 2 hours. "It's an alarm. So we can get some sleep," Mr. Invent explained as he laid back in the pilot seat and closed his eyes.
No.9 yawned and decided to take a nap as well, and within twenty minutes everyone aboard had drifted into an uneasy sleep.
* * *
Two hours later the crew was awakened by a loud beeping noise from the Alley Cat's computer screen.
"Morning," L.G. yawned out sleepily in the back cabin.
"Yeah, ditto," said Genie Wiz, annoyed.
"We're nearly there," Mr. Invent said to No.9 as he looked around the cabin and out of the Alley Cat's windshield. There was nothing but deep blue all around them.
"Did anyone bring any coffee?" L.G called out as he rubbed the sleep from his eye. "I am not a morning person."
"I've got something better," Mr. Invent replied. He got out of his seat and started sifting through his knapsack on the floor. "Here they are," he exclaimed, taking out a small metal box with miniature granola bars inside.
"Um, what are those?" Blond Bomb asked confused as she looked at the bars.
"They're my homemade, one-hundred percent guaranteed energy boosters," Mr. Invent replied enthusiastically. "You eat one or two of these things and your adrenaline will pump and your heart will race and you'll be wide awake." He took out one of the bars and popped it into his mouth.
"Slow down," said LG, "you're starting to sound like an infomercial." He grabbed one of the bars from the box. "Can't hurt to try I guess," he added before gulping it down. Everyone helped themselves to a few of Mr. Invent's energy bars and immediately felt focused and awake.
Mr. Invent put the bars away and checked the computer screen once more. "We're about thirty miles away from Sacoy," he called back to everyone. "But that can't be right..." he started talking to himself. No.9 walked back over to the pilot's seat to check in with Mr. Invent. "No, that's just not right," he was saying. "It's not possible..."
"What's the matter?" No.9 asked.
"This trip should have taken nearly all day," Mr. Invent replied, messing with the computer the whole time. "Suddenly we're thirty miles away after two hours? The Alley Cat is fast, but not that fast."
"Well, maybe it's a good thing," said No.9. "Maybe the computer made a glitch and it was really closer than we thought."
Mr. Invent stopped typing and looked at No.9 square in the eyes. "My computers do not make glitches." Suddenly the yellow dot on the screen became ten times larger. Mr. Invent took one look at the screen and gulped. "One mile away," he said.
"Look!" Blond Bomb cried from the back cabin. No.9 walked back to see everyone huddled around a side window. No.9 looked out and saw a bright white light shining straight out of the ocean. It was getting brighter and brighter as the Alley Cat flew towards it.
"What is that?" asked L.G.
"Some kind of reflection from the sun, maybe?" Genie Wiz said.
"Off what, the ocean?" L.G. replied.
"I don't know what it is," said Bombshell, "but we're heading right for it."
She was right. The Alley Cat turned into the white light until the whole cabin was nearly blinded by it.
"It's like we're inside of a star!" yelled Bombshell, covering her eyes.
"At least it isn't star," called Mr. Invent. "Or we'd all be burned alive!"
The Alley Cat had come to a stop in midair and began descending.
"It's not a star," said No.9. "It's Sacoy."
As the Alley Cat dropped lower the light started to fade little by little. When No.9 could finally open his eyes again he couldn't believe what he saw. Through the window of the Alley Cat No.9 could see a large canyon below them. Surrounding the canyon he could make out streams, flowers and fields just beyond the canyon and snowy mountains in the distance. The light had completely faded now and everyone was trying to define what they were seeing. Sacoy was a beautiful place. Surely not a place where any life threatening beast could live. For a moment, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
But suddenly tiny cracks started to appear from the mountain's peaks. They moved their way down to the forest and meadows like snakes.
"Wait," Mr. Invent backed away from the windshield worried. "What's happening?"
The picture they had laid their eyes on was cracking all over, piece by piece.
"Mr. Invent, should we be worried about shattering into a million pieces?" No.9 called out to Mr. Invent, who just stood there in silence starring out the window.
Suddenly there was a loud CRASH and the picture of Sacoy that they had hoped were real shattered and fell away like glass. All they could see now was blackness.A loud thud shook the Alley Cat. They had landed...on something. In the distance they could hear a loud whooshing sound coming from outside.
"What was that?!" Genie Wiz jumped away from the window in fear.
"Relax," said No.9, "It's probably just the wind. Who knows what kind of weather-"
BANG, BANG, BANG
No.9 stopped talking and looked around at everyone, trying to stay calm. The banging noise came back again.
BANG,BANG,BANG
It was coming from the dome of the Alley Cat. And it was getting louder.
BANG, BANG, BANG
L.G. looked at No.9 and mouthed, "What do we do?"
No.9 had no idea. He was trying to think of a plan when the banging came again, louder than the rest, followed by something they would have never expected to hear:
"Ello?" came a tiny voice from outside. "Ello? ELLO? Let me in! Please! ELLO?!"
BANG, BANG, BANG
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