Celestial Capers

by Dan Kelly

  As he’s saying this, her assistant comes in and hands her the photo. “Just a second, Chief, my assistant is handing it to me now. Oh my!” the Queen exclaims.

  The Chief continues with, “This was seized when they raided the executive’s office and arrested him. It was in one of the many containers of stuff taken from the office and it just came to light a few minutes ago. As you can see, it’s a frontal picture of all the kids in the Pack taken when they were all lined up outside the gym receiving their tickets for their flight back to Proton. Unfortunately, it’s of excellent quality. It must have been taken by the maintenance man before we found out what he was doing. We have no way of knowing for sure if the Emperor has seen this picture, but I think it would be prudent to assume so.

  “This doesn’t change our game plan, but it may change his. The Emperor may decide not to bring up Camp Chameleon and the Power Pack at all, but instead assume these are the kids referred to in the memo and try to identify them on his own. There’s no need now for him to risk raising suspicions regarding how he found out about Camp Chameleon and the kids. He’s better off trying to ID the Pack on his own and, if successful, having them followed to see where they go and the life forms they interact with, planting listening devices at places they frequent and who knows what else, with the hope of finding out what they are all about. He will probably also assume that no one is aware that he has this knowledge. This is a point in your favor in that you can prepare counter measures for anything you anticipate he might try.”

  “You may be right, Chief. All we can do is proceed with the conference call and see what happens.” The Queen will be hooked up to the conference call, but her communicator will be on mute to keep her eavesdropping from the other participants.

  Sure enough, the conference call follows the prepared agenda without any deviation and without any inquiry regarding the Camp or the Pack. The Emperor has seen the picture.

  At the end of the two hour session, all the goodbyes having been said, there is a series of loud clicks as communicators are disconnected and a loud bang when the Queen slams hers down on the table. Seconds after the conference call ended, the Chief is on the Queen’s private line again. She exclaims, “You were right, Chief. Once again this creep has managed to elude my plans for him. He has got to be the luckiest being in the universe! At the moment, I’m not very concerned about the safety of the Pack. It’s going to be extremely difficult for him to identify, locate and track each member of the Pack when there are countless kids in the universe to weed through, especially since we know what he wants to do and can take preventive action. What really galls me is that he consistently manages to negate well thought out plans to influence his behavior or catch him in the act of doing something that can put him in prison for a very long time. It is so frustrating! Ooooooohhhh!

  “Oh well.” the Queen sighs, calming down. “Maybe next time and I’m sure there will be a next time. Thank you so much, Chief, for all that you have done and please thank King Kordol for me. The Pack has learned a great deal during their stay on Croag which I am sure will come in very handy in the future. Proton is very fortunate to have such an ally as Croag.”

  “Will do, your Highness, and you’re very welcome. I assure you that the feelings here on Croag are mutual. Take care.”

  Chapter 18

  When the Pack arrives back on Proton, it is once again quickly absorbed by Stellar’s demanding curriculum. The next three plus months go by quickly without any major incidents and now it is break time again. They have been so occupied with studies that no plans have been made for the respite. Try as they might, no one in the Pack can come up with any ideas that appeal to the whole group, so it looks like they’ll just be hanging out at the school and goofing off for the next two weeks.

  Headmaster Herby, hearing of their plight, thinks that they might enjoy spending some time at his uncle’s water camp on the nearby planet of Rorus. It’s a camp set up for kids ages five to eighteen where they can participate in water sports and other water related activities of all kinds. Before running this by the Pack, he must get the ok from his uncle, Queen Quasar and the rest of the kids’ parents which he does without difficulty. With approvals received, he makes the offer to the Pack.

  The kids really flip out over the suggestion and the Headmaster is bombarded with thank yous for saving them from two weeks of sheer boredom. “When do we leave?” Pulsar asks.

  “Tomorrow morning. It will take us two days to reach Rorus, so you will have ten days to enjoy yourselves.”

  Mickey asks, “Can Shannon and I use our special powers and go on ahead? This would give us four more days to enjoy ourselves.”

  “No, Mickey, that’s not possible. As Queen Quasar and I told you when you agreed to participate in the ‘special’ special program at Stellar, you kids are being molded into a lifelong 24/7 team. This requires that you always be able to communicate with each other. If you and Shannon were to go off on your own, there would be a period of time when this would not be possible. Don’t ever forget that there are beings out there who, if they knew you existed, would at the very least try to exploit your abilities for their own purposes regardless of who might get hurt in the process. At the very worst, if they considered you a threat, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill you. There is greater safety in numbers and this is especially true in your case. Collectively, your powers are much more formidable than they are individually. If one of your teammates gets into a tight spot, the rest of you can come to his or her aid. These are not pleasant thoughts, but the sooner you learn to deal with them the better off you will be. Remember, too, you still haven’t mastered your powers or the whens, wheres and hows of their use. This could make any sticky situation you might get into even stickier. You have learned a lot, but you still have a great deal to learn. I hope you understand, Mickey.”

  “Yes, Headmaster, I just forgot.”

  “That’s okay, Mickey. Reminding students is part of my job. I’ll see you all bright and early tomorrow morning in my office, let’s say seven o’clock. We’ll depart from there.” When the Headmaster leaves, the horsing around begins.

  Their mood and behavior quickly becomes more playful and when this happens some very creative mischief is usually not far behind. This time is no exception.

  This time the Prince is the target. Pulsar is a neatness freak and the whole Pack knows it. Belinda Black-Hole and Norman Nebula join forces and come up with a scheme that will drive Pulsar up the wall and the rest of the Pack is readily in cahoots with them.

  Pulsar arranges and aligns his shirts, pants, shoes, personal items, books, pens, pencils, computer work station, everything, in a specific order with never ever a deviation. The plan is for Belinda to become invisible and change the position or just slightly change the alignment of an item. Only one item. When Pulsar notices and makes the correction, she will repeat the process with another item. They have all day to do this and Gracie is beside herself giggling with glee over fooling Pulsar. Of course, when you think about it, this is normal behavior for Gracie. She’s almost always giggling about something.

  Belinda starts out with Pulsar’s hairbrush and the fun begins. After Belinda has gone through about a dozen items, she has Pulsar talking to himself. After another half dozen items, he’s ready for a rubber room. “What’s the matter with me?” Belinda hears him ask himself. She almost laughs and gives herself away. This goes on for most of the day with Pulsar seriously thinking he’s losing it. As Pulsar is again making another adjustment, this time to a picture on the wall, he hears Gracie giggling in her room. Pulsar mumbles to himself, “She’s been doing a lot of giggling today. A lot more than usual. I wonder why.” Then a probable answer starts to dawn on him. The more he thinks about it, the more he’s sure that he’s right. Someone has been messing with his stuff. He runs out into the hall and yells, “Belinda” and peals of laughter ring out from every room in the building.

  Despite his embarrassment, Pulsar realizes that what he’s
been put through is funny and he bursts out laughing too. When everybody is laughed out, its time to hit the sack because they have to get up early tomorrow, eat, pack and be ready to leave by seven.

  Two days later, as they are landing on Rorus, everyone in the Pack is bubbling with excitement except Casey Cloudburst. Pulsar asks, “What’s wrong, Casey?”

  “Promise not to laugh, Pulsar, promise!”

  “Ok, I promise.”

  “I don’t know how to swim. The Pack knows that I can do some wild things with water, but when they find out that I can’t swim they’ll laugh themselves silly and I don’t like being laughed at.”

  Pulsar almost breaks his promise, but manages to just smile and say, ”Don’t worry, Casey, your secret is safe with me. I’ll teach you when no one’s around and they’ll never know.”

  “Thanks a lot, Pulsar. I don’t think I would have been able to hide this from the other kids for ten whole days.”

  “You’re welcome, Casey, but there’s a catch. You have to help me with my computer science homework.”

  Casey smiles and says, ”No problem.”

  When they get inside the spaceport terminal, a tall muscular man with a big smile walks up to the Headmaster and gives him a big hug and several slaps on the back. It’s the Headmaster’s uncle, Wally Waters. He leads them outside to a long and quite wide vehicle with dozens of kids milling around it. Blazoned on its silvery sides in big blue letters are the words “Camp Splash.” Wally corrals everybody together and orders them to get on board and take a seat. All told, there has to be at least 80 kids plus Wally who is driving, the Headmaster and a half dozen other chaperons. Everybody is talking at once and the noise is deafening. Molly Moonbeam, who’s sitting across the aisle from Pulsar, shouts over to him, “This must be a popular place. As we were boarding, I noticed three more vehicles like ours in the parking area and they were fully loaded also.”

  “Yeah, I saw them too. I hope this place is big enough to handle all of us.”

  Pulsar needn’t have worried. The place is huge. Ten days won’t be enough to see it all.

  It sets on a broad plateau high up in a mountain range and it’s beautiful. The air is warm,

  the sky is clear and olfactory nerves are overwhelmed with a slew of pleasant fragrances that Pulsar can’t identify.

  They stop at a sprawling single story building and are taken into a large lobby to register.

  There are pamphlets in display cases scattered about the lobby and large posters on the walls, all describing the many things that can be done during their stay at Camp Splash. The Pack is amazed at all of the things they can do. They’ve never been to a place like this before.

  All of the activities can be done individually or as part of a team in the many meets that are continuously taking place from sunup to sundown. There are lakes, ponds, rivers and pools all over the property. They can be accessed by ground transport or by hiking along the many trails that traverse the countryside. Artie Asteroid is ecstatic. He loves the outdoors and is really chomping at the bit to be cut loose.

  The list of activities is impressive; swimming, high diving, log rolling, kayaking, water polo, water skiing, jet skiing, snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing, boating, racing of all kinds, water

  treading contests, breath holding contests, piggyback water wrestling contests, gigantic twisting water slides, high pressure water pistol target shooting and fishing. There are even classes that teach some of the activities for those kids who need instruction.

  After the kids have been assigned rooms and changed into their swim wear, Headmaster Herby gets them all together in his room and issues a warning. “You kids are here to have fun. I will stay out of your hair as much as I can, but before I let you go I must caution you about the use of your powers. Unless it is an emergency, you are to keep your special abilities under wraps. I know you’re excited, but I also know if you get too excited those special abilities sometimes take on a mind of their own. Be careful! Have I made myself clear?” They answer with a mixture of nods and uh huhs and bolt for the door.

  The Headmaster sighs and says to himself, “I hope I brought enough antacid with me. I have a strong feeling I’m going to need every bit of it before this trip is over. They have every intention of heeding my warning, but they have a special knack for getting into trouble when they’re just sitting around doing nothing. In a place like this, I shudder just thinking about the possibilities. What was I thinking when I suggested we come here?”

  Chapter 19

  As the kids start down one of the many paths leading away from the building, arguing over what they are going to do first, Wally comes running out of his office and yells, “Hold up, kids. I’ve got something for you.” When he catches up to them, he opens a small metal case he’s carrying and takes out a handful of small disks with cords attached. He gives one to each of them and explains, “These are called translators and will enable you to converse with the kids that don’t speak your language. They are real simple to use. You select your language here and you’re all set. All the other kids have one of these too. The disks contain sensitive receptors with highly sophisticated circuitry which will translate any language they pick up into your language and you will hear the translated communication through the tiny two way speaker alongside the language selection switch here. When you want to talk, just speak into the same speaker. They’re waterproof, so you don’t have to worry about getting them wet. Have fun!” With that, he turns and walks back to his office.

  After a little more boisterous discussion, the kids decide that they’ll start out with the water slide. Thinking this would be a good time for him and Casey to get away from the rest of the Pack and sneak off to one of the pools so he can teach Casey how to swim he says, “You guys go on ahead. Casey and I want to check out the pools. We’ll catch up to you in an hour or so.” Pulsar figures it will take the Pack at least that long to tire of the slide and want to move on. Casey realizes right away what Pulsar is up to and keeps quiet. They part company and Pulsar and Casey make a beeline for the nearest pool which is not too far from the water slide.

  “Thanks, Pulsar. I was afraid you might have forgotten.”

  “No way, Casey. A promise is a promise and, besides, I’m really going to need your help with computer science. If we can’t count on each other, this Stellar program is a waste of time.” With that, they both jump into the pool, the shallow end of course. It doesn’t take long for Casey to get the hang of it. His natural affinity for water in general makes it easy for him to overcome his fear and by the end of an hour he is swimming like a champ. In fact, he is swimming too good and slicing through the water much too fast for a normal kid. His special power is starting to kick in and slightly part the water as he moves forward, greatly reducing the natural resistance of the water. Casey is having so much fun he isn’t aware that he’s doing it. Pulsar clues him in and they split with Casey grinning from ear to ear.

  They catch up with the rest of the Pack at the water slide and join in on the fun. After the

  water slide, they head for the log rolling area. The guys are eager to give it a try, but the girls say they will sit this one out and cheer them on. They find that it’s hard to get the hang of and some kid standing by watching said, “You guys are so uncoordinated I’m surprised you can walk.”

  This was the wrong thing to say in front of Mickey Meteor. Unlike the rest of the guys, Mickey caught on right away and is very good at it. Mickey counters with, “I’ll tell you what, superstar,

  I’ll challenge you to a contest. The one who falls off first has to go around for the next hour telling everyone he meets that he’s a loser.” The challenge is accepted and they have at it. The kid is good, but no match for Mickey. In less than two minutes the kid is in the water and very embarrassed.

  There happens to be another kid leaning against a tree near where the girls are sitting and he’s been watching all that has taken place between Mickey and the other kid. He turns to them
, points at Mickey and says, “Is he a friend of yours?”

  They all reply in unison “Yes.”

  “How would you like to have some fun with him?”

  Shannon says, “What do you have in mind?” He turns to face them and they see he’s not wearing the type of swim wear that the guys in the Pack are wearing. He has on what looks like a loose fitting wetsuit that a lot of scuba divers wear, but it has zippers on its sides instead of in front.

  He turns sideways and pulls down the zipper part way and the girls gawk in amazement at what they see. This guy has two sets of legs and the one hidden is extremely muscular, out of proportion to the rest of him. He explains, “I am from the planet Novathan in the Milky Way Galaxy and all the men there are extremely fast runners and high leapers. How about it?”