“My apologies,” said Mim. “I should have warned you guys about Poobah.”
“Poobah?” Kevin repeated, taking a puff of his inhaler, which he had left ashore.
“That thing almost made me poobah in my pants,” Warner said.
Mim shrugged. “He’s harmless, unless you make him mad.”
“So what is he?” Kevin asked.
“He’s an arachnopod,” Mim told them.
“So he’s part spider,” Warner said. “But you eat spiders.”
“I couldn’t eat an arachnopod if I wanted to,” Mim said. “Poobah belongs to one of the few species that are completely inedible because of the poison ink running through them.”
“Aren’t you scared he’ll eat you?” Kevin asked. “He’s way bigger than you are.”
“He can’t,” said Mim. “He’s very allergic to my fur. Quite vexing. He sneezes all over the place, but he makes a great guard pet.”
Mim stared down at his bag and rubbed his hands together as if he were about to dig into a delicious meal. He opened the bag, revealing a small stockpile of sleek alien gadgets and gizmos dazzling in the moonlight.
“Code red, code red,” TJ’s voice crackled faintly over the walkie-talkie’s receiver. “I just saw someone sneak out of one of the other bunks. I didn’t get a clear look. It might just be a sleepwalker.”
“I got a visual,” Tara said. “The subject is headed your way. I repeat, the subject is headed your way.”
Kevin and Warner both whirled around, looking for any sign of someone coming. “Who is it?” Kevin asked.
“Not positive, but I think it’s you know who—”
“Hey!” a voice rang out from behind them.
Kevin and Warner spun around while Mim jumped into the bag and zipped it half shut.
Alexander Russ walked out of the woods and made his way toward the shore. “You little phlegmwads are out way past curfew. Naughty, naughty.”
“What, are you gonna rat us out?” Warner said. “You’re not back in your bunk either. You tell on us, you get in trouble too.”
“Do you know how much money my dad’s company donates to this camp? They couldn’t kick me out if they tried.” Alexander took a step toward the bag at Kevin’s feet when—ZAP! A bright white-and-blue pulse of light lit up the trees. Kevin was blinded by the flash, and when his eyes focused again, Alexander was standing stiff as a board, his face stuck in an expression of hateful delight.
“Whoa!” Warner exclaimed, gawking at the frozen nerd bully.
Kevin turned and saw Mim holding one of the gadgets from his bag. The device was reflective and looked like a circular iPad. A series of colored buttons ran along the back, and two grooved handles curved out on either side. The grips were fashioned with what could have been the handbrakes on a bicycle.
“He’s just frozen.” Mim lowered the freeze ray. “I had to do something. He was going to turn you in. Pretty cool, huh?”
Kevin walked up to Alexander and waved his hand back and forth in front of his face. “Is he gonna be okay?”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. The freeze ray doesn’t actually freeze him, just hits him with an electromagnetic pulse to put him in a state of suspended animation,” Mim said. “He’ll wake up in a couple hours thinking he dreamt this whole thing.”
“We gotta get him back to his bunk,” Warner said.
“Yeah, and quick,” said Kevin. “Cody and Nick are on night duty again tonight.”
“I’ll get his arms,” said Warner. “You get his feet.”
“Go on. I got the bag.” Mim slung the black bag of alien gadgets over his shoulder. “I’ll keep watch while you go put this guy to bed.”
As they lugged their freeze-rayed nemesis back to his bunk, the light flicked on in the counselor’s room. Kevin and Warner ducked quickly into the shadows, flattening their backs against the wall directly below the window.
Above them, the counselor stuck his head outside his window and yawned. In the distance, a wild dog howled, and the counselor shut the window to return to bed.
The boys tiptoed up the steps, edged inside the bunkhouse, and walked softly down to the last room in the hallway. They backed into the door to Alexander’s room. The door opened with a creak. “Shhhh,” Warner shushed as they paused on the threshold. Alexander’s roommates, Dante and Luke, were both sleeping soundly. Dante wore a heavy nighttime orthodontic headset and snored rather loudly. A puddle of drool spilled from Luke’s sleeping mouth onto his Batman pillowcase.
Warner and Kevin lugged Alexander across the dark room, moving slowly, carefully trying to hush every footstep. Halfway across the room, Luke shifted in his bed with a grunt, and Warner and Kevin paused. After a long, breathless silence, Luke rolled back over, still in a deep snooze.
“Come on,” Warner whispered as they reached Alexander’s bedside. “Set him down. Nice and easy.”
Kevin sighed with relief as he and Warner swung Alexander gently onto his bottom bunk. Kevin awkwardly tucked him in and pulled the covers up to hide his frozen face.
“Alexander?” said a sleepy voice across the room. Dante had woken up. “That you?”
Kevin looked at Warner, who was crouching at the foot of Alexander’s bed. He pressed his index finger to his lips and then ducked down flat on the floor.
“Alexander . . . ,” Dante’s voice whispered again.
“Yuh-huh?” Kevin cupped his hand over his mouth and did his best Alexander impression while slowly crawling toward the door.
“You awake?”
Kevin and Warner rushed out the still-open door before they blew their cover and hightailed it back to their bunk as fast as their legs could carry them. They snuck past the lab trailers and tiptoed to their own window. Already standing behind the glass, TJ lifted it up and sent down the rope ladder.
“What took you guys so long?” TJ asked as they climbed back inside. “I thought you got caught for sure!”
“Umm, we kind of just freeze-rayed Alexander,” Kevin said.
TJ’s eyes twinkled as he furrowed his brow, confused but clearly liking the idea. “Where’s Mim?”
In a flash, Mim appeared on the window ledge, the bag of gear slung over his shoulder.
“Are you sure he’s going to be okay?” Warner asked Mim.
“Don’t worry about a thing. He’s going to be fine,” Mim said. “Do you guys want to hang out? I can tell you more about how the freeze ray works.”
“I would but I’m pretty pooped,” said Kevin.
Warner yawned. “Me too. That arachnopod kind of wore me out.”
“What’s an arachnopod?” TJ asked, his ears perking up.
“We’ll fill you in later,” said Kevin.
“Hey, Mim?” Warner said, going to his suitcase, where he kept his candy stash. “You want some snacks for the road?”
Mim made a “yummy” noise and his mouth nearly stretched the entire width of his face. “Oh, yes, please.”
Warner passed a few candy bars and some chips to Kevin, who handed them to Mim. “No need to eat the wrappers this time, buddy, okay?”
Mim looked at them all funny. “But that’s the best part.”
He cracked a smile, and TJ busted out in loud laughter.
“Wait,” Kevin said as Mim was about to hop out the window. “Take this, too.” He handed their fuzzy little friend their spare walkie-talkie. “So you can call us.”
Perched on the windowsill, Mim looked down at his new Earthling friends. “Good job tonight, boys. Tomorrow we’re going to have some real fun.”
The next day after lunch the boys were hanging out in their cabin during free time. After another late night, the three of them were dozing off when they heard banging on their door.
“Open up. It’s time for your spot check,” Cody’s voice boomed through the door.
Kevin opened the door, and Cody and Nick pushed their way inside. “We got a tip some campers have been selling candy out of their bunks. That’s a big no-no.�
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Kevin lowered his gaze, trying to avoid eye contact with Warner. They could get disqualified from the Invention Convention if the counselors found Warner’s secret stash. Cody and Nick began to search the room, looking under beds and in drawers.
“Aw, come on, fellas,” TJ said as they pulled back the sheets on the beds and checked under the mattresses. “I just remade that, like, five minutes ago.”
Just as they were about to move on to the next room Cody went to the closet where Warner kept his stash in one of his suitcases. A bead of sweat ran down Kevin’s forehead.
Cody bent down and unzipped the luggage.
Warner winced with one eye open as Cody looked up from the open suitcase and stared at the boys.
“Nothing,” he said, looking to Nick.
“No candy stash?” Nick asked, sounding slightly disappointed.
“I guess you’re off the hook,” Cody said. “If you see anyone with candy around here, be sure to let us know.”
“Will do, officers,” TJ said, and did a quick salute.
As soon as Nick and Cody were out the door, Kevin breathed out a sigh of relief. Warner raced over to the suitcase and looked inside. He gasped. “What the—?”
Kevin went over to see for himself, and TJ followed close behind.
Except for a few random tufts of Mim’s purple fur, the suitcase was completely empty. Warner’s entire stash of candy was gone.
“Dude, I think Mim ate all my candy,” Warner said, shaking his head. “All I have left now is some stuff to make s’mores and a case of energy cola under the bed.”
“Look on the bright side,” said Kevin. “If Mim hadn’t eaten it all, we’d be totally busted right now, and we could kiss our chances at the Invention Convention good-bye. You kind of owe him one.”
A few moments later, Tara radioed in on the walkie-talkie. “Hey, guys, come in. Over.”
Kevin picked up the call. “Hey, Tara.”
“Mim’s ready for us out in the woods.”
“We’ll meet you there. Just give us five minutes to ditch robotics lab. Over.”
They crept into the forest, weaving between the tree trunks. Long diagonal shafts of sunlight shone down through the leaves and branches overhead. As they reached the clearing in the middle of the woods, the wilderness took on an eerie quiet. The faint buzz of mosquitoes played under the light breeze rustling through the treetops.
Kevin, Tara, Warner, and TJ sat on one of the picnic benches near a fire pit, facing Mim, who stood illuminated in a bright triangular sunbeam.
“Lady and gentlemen, you’re about to get the ultimate crash course in alien self-defense,” Mim said, gesturing with his arms as he spoke. “Before I start”—he turned to Warner—“do you have any more of those delicious foodstuffs?”
“No, thanks to you,” Warner replied, narrowing his eyes at the little purple alien. “Look, Mim, I don’t know how you do things on planet wherever-you’re-from, but on planet Earth, eating someone’s entire candy stash without asking is not cool.”
“Take a chill pill, Warner,” Tara piped up. “You’ve been overcharging me for Drake’s Coffee Cakes all summer.”
“It’s my fault, you guys,” Mim said. “Sometimes my appetite gets the best of me.”
“That’s okay, man,” Warner said. “We’re still boys.”
“Now let’s get down to business.” Mim opened his black alien space bag and laid out the contents on the ground.
Kevin recognized the first alien gadget as the freeze ray Mim had zapped Alexander with. Next to it was another device that looked like a metallic sombrero. A pair of jet-black mittens made out of a shiny plastic-looking material lay beside a silver disc shaped like a hockey puck, with a sparkly gemstone attached to the center. The last contraption looked like a watch band with a handgrip that jutted out where the face of the watch would be. On the handgrip shimmered a few control buttons and a lens that looked like a prism. Mim picked up the strange and beautiful gemstone hockey puck first and held it out in the palm of his hand. “This, friends, is what you might call a shrink ray,” he said, and then took his hand away. The shrink ray hovered in the air on its own for a moment before it sprouted three mechanical legs and stood up like a tripod. One of Mim’s other arms then reached out and pressed a button on the side of the disk, and a horseshoe-shaped screen rose from the flat surface of the disk. “Check this out. This one’s easy.”
They stood behind the shrink ray as Mim showed them the controls on the U-shaped touchscreen. On the left of the screen, a high-definition video image showed the landscape in front of them. “First you must pick a target.” Mim touched his finger to the screen and highlighted a big rock on the ground. “Then you select the percent minimization and hit this icon here.” He tapped a small button on the screen, and the gemstone started to glow a deep shade of red. A second later, the alien crystal emitted a long and perfectly straight laser beam aimed directly at the rock. A bright light flashed, and Kevin blinked. When his eyes opened and regained focus in the daylight, the rock had become a tiny pebble.
“No way!” Warner said excitedly.
“Yes way,” said Mim. “I’m sure you can see this can be a very dangerous device, so be careful.”
“What’s this weird hat?” Tara asked, turning her attention to the next piece of alien technology set out on the forest floor.
“Go ahead,” said Mim. “Try it on.”
“What does it do?”
“It’s a telepathy helmet. Lets you read and control someone else’s mind,” the furry little alien said. “One of a kind.”
Tara put on the helmet. The alien headpiece looked like a mix between a flying saucer and a sombrero. As soon as she set the contraption on top of her head, a visor came down in front of her eyes and two earplugs dangled from the sides.
Mim instructed her to put the earplugs in her ears and then hit a large, rubbery button on its brim. The telepathy helmet sparkled to life. “Now, look at Warner and ask him anything you want to know. But Warner, only answer in your mind, not out loud.”
“Umm, okay,” Tara said. “What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you in the last year?”
Warner closed his eyes, thinking, and a long silence followed.
“OMG,” Tara said, lifting up the visor on the telepathy helmet. “You wet the bed?”
“Hey! No, I don’t . . . I mean, I was trying not to think of that.”
“Gross,” she said. “I just saw a little memory clip. He was at camp. It was, like, two weeks ago.”
“Aw, man,” Kevin said. “Glad I’m on the top bunk.”
“Ha ha,” said Warner. “Very funny.”
“All right, all right, no more telepathy helmet for now,” Mim said, taking the contraption off Tara’s head.
Mim turned his attention to the next alien gadget lying on the forest floor.
“This baby right here is what’s known as a wormhole generator,” said Mim. “It can teleport its chosen target to any point in the galaxy.”
The kids kept nodding, listening intently.
“The device is linked up to an interstellar network of wormholes in over one hundred inhabited planets across the Milky Way galaxy. All you have to do is select a destination, turn on the infrared molecular oscillator, and watch the portal whirl your target to another world. It can come in real handy if there’s someone after you who you don’t want to be after you anymore.”
“Can you use it on yourself?” TJ asked.
“I’ve never tried,” said Mim. “But I wouldn’t recommend it. You Earthlings wouldn’t fare too well out there.” He gestured to the cosmos, then continued. “Last but not least, these are the positron force-field gloves. Who wants to try?”
Kevin jumped forward, and Mim handed him the gloves. Kevin slipped them on, and Mim showed him the power button located on the wristband. He hit the switch and the gloves charged up. Kevin’s hands felt lighter than air.
“Now hold both of your hands a
bout a foot in front of your face, palms facing outward.” Mim stood directly in front of Kevin, then scooped up a sizable rock from the forest floor and launched it on a line right at Kevin’s head. Kevin didn’t even have time to flinch.
PING!
The rock glanced off the force field into the air, which shimmered like a mirage and rippled as if it were liquid. The rock then ricocheted off a hollow part of a tree and landed close by.
“Whoa!” Kevin, Warner, Tara, and TJ all exclaimed.
“Glad you like my goodies,” said Mim. “We shouldn’t play around with these too much. We’ll need every bit of power if more aliens come after me, but it’s important for you to know how to use them.”
“Thanks for teaching us about all this stuff, Mim,” said TJ. “As far as we’re concerned, this is like the coolest thing ever.”
“You’re welcome,” said the little alien. “But you guys are the ones doing me a favor. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you in return.”
“Actually, it would be really cool if you could help us out with something,” said Kevin.
“Anything you want,” said Mim.
“We’ve got that thing at three o’clock tomorrow,” Kevin said. “The Invention Convention. It’s real important to us.”
“Kevin,” said Tara. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“What do you mean?” Kevin said. “We need him to prove the galactascope works. That’s why we brought him here, I mean, ya know, aside from making a new friend and all.”
“Aha, I get it, I get it,” said Mim. “I would be happy to help you win your contest.”
“Mim,” said Kevin. “You’re the best, dude. Really, you don’t know what this means.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” said Mim. He then plucked a fat summer spider off its web and popped the bug into his mouth.
The next day the air was abuzz with massive swarms of mosquitoes as Kevin, Warner, and TJ rolled their galactascope through camp and stopped outside the gymnasium, where the Invention Convention would be held that afternoon. They had covered the galactascope with a spare bedsheet to hide it from any prying eyes. With only an hour or so before the convention, Kevin couldn’t help feeling a little anxious, even though he knew their walking, talking alien was going to blow Alexander and his hovercraft out of the water.
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