Into the Dorkness

by John Kloepfer

  A dark cloud mass shifted and spiraled as the alien insects swept over the cities and neighborhoods, a million black dots swirling high above all the people they were going to infect.

  “Look how many there are,” TJ said.

  “What’s going on over there?” Warner called from the pilot seat.

  “There’s like a jillion of those mind-control bugs flying in a huge swarm below us,” Tara said.

  “Make sure those things can’t detect us,” Kevin suggested.

  “Activate the invisibility shield,” Klyk said. “We’re going to be back at camp in a few minutes anyway.”

  Warner flicked on the high-tech camouflage, and their spacecraft disappeared against the afternoon sky.

  From their vantage point up in the air, Kevin could see the whole camp. Everything was still motionless from the freeze-ray bomb. Zouric and Nuzz’s alien mother ship levitated low to the ground above the center of camp. A fleet of reptilian space cruisers floated around the mother ship. Swarm clouds of the mind-control nanowasps emerged periodically from the interior of Zouric and Nuzz’s massive space vessel, flying off in various directions to infect more and more of the population with Nuzz’s mind-control serum.

  Kevin and his friends hovered above the pinewoods, studying the operation, watching swarm after swarm being released from the mother ship. Except for a few random patrols, Kevin didn’t see many Kamilions prowling around on guard. As they waited, Klyk called the four of them over and the kids gathered around the miniature alien.

  “We can’t go in there unarmed,” Klyk began. “First we have to retrieve Warner’s bag from the robotics lab. What weapons are in the bag?”

  “The wormhole generator, the shrink ray, and the freeze ray are all out of juice,” Warner listed the contents of his bag. “We still have the de-atomizer ray.”

  “Yeah, but we can’t use it,” Kevin said.

  “Why not?” Warner asked.

  “It’ll kill them!” said TJ.

  “So what?” said Warner. “They’re trying to kill us!”

  “We can’t kill them, dude,” Kevin said. “If we kill one of them, the rest will know. It’s a hive mind. They’ll know we’re here.”

  “Besides, it’s not their fault that they’re brainwashed,” Tara said. “They don’t deserve to die.”

  “All we have to do is turn the power down,” Klyk told him. “Make it nonlethal. Like a stun gun. That’s the easy part. The hard part is going to be getting our hands on some power cells to charge up our weapons.”

  “Where are we going to get those?” Kevin asked.

  “The Kamilions will definitely have extra power cells on them,” said Klyk.

  Tara raised an eyebrow. “How are we supposed to get them?”

  “That’s the tricky part.” Klyk scratched his alien noggin.

  Kevin turned to TJ, who was sitting cross-legged on the spaceship floor, looking through his backpack. TJ pulled out the roll of duct tape from Max Greyson’s office and then scrounged up a small handful of spare change from the bottom of the bag.

  “Dude, are you even listening?” Warner said.

  “Yes. Unlike some people, I can do two things at once,” TJ said, ripping four six-inch-long pieces of duct tape off the roll.

  “So, what’s the other thing you’re doing besides not listening?” Tara asked.

  “I’m making us armor,” TJ said, holding up a gray strip of tape with six nickels stuck to the center. “For the backs of our necks.”

  “Good thinking, man!” Kevin said excitedly.

  “I want one!” Warner exclaimed.

  “I want three!” Tara said.

  “There’s only enough for four,” TJ said as he finished pressing the metal coins into the sticky side of the tape. “That means one each.”

  Kevin slapped the makeshift armor on the back of his neck and smashed it hard against his skin. No way those little nanowasps were going to sting them now. Since the alien buggers only targeted the back of the neck, this covering would work well. And their stingers would never get through the coins. Everyone else followed suit and they were ready for phase one: get their gear back.

  Warner steered their unseen spaceship away from camp and docked low to the ground on the outskirts.

  Kevin, Warner, Tara, TJ, and Klyk dropped down from the spacecraft and scuttled into the underbrush. They were on their hands and knees, camouflaged by the dense thicket in the woods.

  Kevin’s stomach churned as they snuck through the cover of the freeze-ray-bombed forest and edged up the main dirt road. Their once-beloved science camp was now enemy territory. He had no idea if they could actually pull this off. Stealing power cells and snagging their backpack was one thing.

  But sneaking onto an enemy spacecraft filled with giant alien reptiles and two of the most dangerous space criminals in the galaxy to jam up their mind-control network? That wasn’t going to be any kind of picnic. If they failed, it would be the end of the human race. And Kevin and his friends would be to blame. The very notion made him sick. He pushed the bad thoughts out of his mind and focused on the mission. All they could do now was try to make things right again.

  “Kev, you okay, man?” Warner asked. “We ready to do this?”

  Kevin nodded. “Ready as we’ll ever be.”

  They lurked cautiously through their freeze-rayed counselors and fellow campers. Head Counselor Dimpus had his hands cupped around his mouth, still trying to shout instructions. Little Bobby Little, who nearly had been eaten by Poobah, Mim’s pet arachnopod, earlier that same morning, was frozen in a running stance with one knee up and both arms pumping, making a break for the camp vans. Alexander stood with his hands blocking his face from when Nuzz had refreezed him after questioning. A dark spot still marked the pee stain on his pant leg. Everyone was trapped in awkward, chaotic poses, caught in the middle of trying to flee the alien invasion.

  Beyond their freeze-rayed friends, a duo of Kamilion henchmen strutted through camp on security detail with their laser rifles strapped over their shoulders.

  Kevin looked over at his friends and mouthed the words: Don’t move . . .

  Kevin, Warner, Tara, and TJ all froze, mimicking the frantic poses of everyone else around them.

  The two alien henchmen sauntered past the kids, who were hidden amid the field of freeze-rayed campers.

  Tara’s eyes bugged out of their sockets as she tried to stop herself from hyperventilating. TJ closed his eyes and froze in place next to Warner, who was beside Alexander’s freeze-rayed figure.

  One of the lizard beasts gibbered something to his partner, and the other one yawped something back, speaking in their alien language.

  The giant humanoid lizard moved toward Kevin and his friends, scanning the freeze-rayed campers. It looked like the Kamilions were going to move on when one of them stopped and sniffed the air.

  Shoot, Kevin thought, his blood pressure rising. Dirty laundry! He took a subtle whiff of his armpit and made a sour face. Man, he stank! How many days had it been since he showered? He tried to remember. Obviously, it had been way too long.

  They all watched as the reptilians looked around suspiciously. The Kamilions snapped their tongues out into the air. Kevin watched the alien lizard tongues extend out and recalled from his science class that some reptiles have two olfactory systems. They can smell with their nostrils and also with their tongues.

  Kevin’s stomach rumbled audibly as the alien reptiles walked off, continuing their patrol down by the lakeside.

  “Do you see those silver canisters strapped to their belts?” Klyk asked the four of them as they stretched and breathed deeply after their freeze. Kevin could see the cartridges glistening in the daylight. “Those are the power cells we need to charge up our weapons. . . .”

  There was no way they could grab the cartridges now. First they had to get back to the robotics lab for Warner’s backpack. They snuck through the last of the freeze-rayed campers and hurried across the grounds to the lab t
railer on the other side of camp.

  Kevin, Warner, Tara, and TJ ducked around the corner of the trailer and paused for a second. “Where’s Klyk?” Tara whispered.

  Kevin looked back behind them and saw Klyk hustling toward them.

  “Come on, man,” Kevin whispered as loudly as he dared. “Hurry up!”

  Out of nowhere, a lime green light flashed brightly. The kids watched in horror as Klyk was suddenly frozen in some inescapable bubble of plasma.

  They watched in silence while another one of Zouric and Nuzz’s brainwashed henchmen came into view. Only this one wasn’t Kamilion. She was human and armed with a freeze ray.

  Marcy walked over robotically and picked Klyk off the ground. Kevin immediately felt sick. Their loyal friend Klyk was now Zouric and Nuzz’s prisoner. What were they going to do? This mission was already going to be next to impossible, and without Klyk by their side, the fate of the world seemed more uncertain than ever. Kevin didn’t know what to do, or whether he would ever see his friend again.

  Marcy paused for a long moment before walking off with Klyk back toward the mother ship.

  Marcy gazed up at the massive spacecraft, and her eyes began to glow. A thin laser beam extended from the doorway of the ship and blinked as it scanned Marcy’s eyeballs.

  A few seconds later, the ramp descended automatically and the brainwashed soccer camper carried Klyk on board the spaceship.

  “Klyk . . .” TJ’s eyes widened and started to well up a little.

  Kevin couldn’t believe it. His heart sank into his stomach. But he had to be strong and keep pushing on with their plan.

  “What are we going to do?” Tara asked. “We have to rescue him.”

  “We will,” Kevin said with as much confidence as he could muster.

  “But first we have to stick to the original plan,” Warner said. He ducked into the robotics lab and came back out quickly with his backpack slung over one shoulder.

  Kevin rustled through the bag of gear and pulled out the de-atomizer ray.

  Kevin fiddled with the buttons on the side of the handheld death ray. Just as Klyk had said, he lowered the power level on the de-atomizer to make it nonlethal.

  “Now what?” Tara asked.

  “Time to go hunting,” Kevin said. “We have to find some reptilians and take them out so we can get their power cells to charge up the rest of our weapons.”

  With that, they followed Kevin into the forest and positioned themselves along the side of the walking path. “Those two Kamilions were heading down toward the lake a few minutes ago. Their patrol should bring them back around this way any minute.”

  The seconds ticked by slowly while they waited. The whole area was dead silent except for the hum of the mother ship and the occasional buzz of a nanoswarm flying off to infect the population with Nuzz’s mind-control technology.

  Kevin’s eyes picked up some movement around the bend. A couple of seconds later, two shadowlike figures strolled toward them.

  Kevin peered over the freeze-rayed bush and aimed the de-atomizer ray at the henchmen. ZIP! ZAP! He fired two perfect shots that struck both of them directly in the chest. The giant reptilians jolted with the shock of the blast and fell to the ground, stunned by the de-atomizer ray.

  “Nice shot, Kevin!” Warner said.

  Without missing a beat, they all hurried over to the two unconscious Kamilions and snatched the power cells Klyk had pointed out to them. Kevin picked up two smooth steel canisters off a Kamilion’s utility belt. He dumped out the contents into the palm of his hand. Five circular metal objects that looked like oversized lithium batteries fell out and flashed in the sunlight.

  “Everyone grab one and charge up!” Kevin said.

  TJ pulled out the shrink ray they had miniaturized Klyk with the night before and changed the power cells. The new power cell fit perfectly and the high-tech device whirred and thrummed to life. They charged the rest of their alien defense weaponry and loaded the extra power cells into the bag.

  “Okay, here’s the plan,” Kevin said, holding his freeze ray. “We get onto the mother ship, rescue Klyk, and jam the mind-control mainframe.”

  “Kevin,” Tara said, her voice a little shaky. “I’m scared.”

  “I know, Tara,” Kevin whispered firmly. “Me too. But we’re the only thing preventing these alien freaks from taking over our planet. Now let’s go in there and show them what happens when you mess with Northwest Horizons Science Camp!”

  “How are we supposed to get on board?” TJ asked. “They have to scan your eyeballs before you can get on.”

  Kevin thought for a moment and then gestured toward the unconscious reptilians on the ground in front of them.

  Now fully equipped, the four science campers dragged and lugged one of the zapped-out Kamilions across the campgrounds.

  They propped the alien reptile up and opened its eyelids toward the eyeball scanner. The ship’s security laser flashed and dazzled over the reptilian’s eyeballs.

  The access ramp opened.

  They stepped into the belly of the alien mother ship.

  Kevin swallowed hard as the entrance closed swiftly behind them.

  Game on.

  The interior of the spaceship had a wet, moldy stink—like the reptile house at the zoo. The hallway walls curved like a tunnel. Identical corridors of gray, bolted metal led to the left, to the right, and straight on ahead.

  “Be careful, guys,” Tara said, slipping on the newly charged positron force field gloves. “Kamilions could be around every corner.”

  Kevin stopped for a moment and looked at the blueprint of the mother ship from the latest Brainstorm comic book. He dragged his finger along the map of the ship. “If we go straight, it looks like we’ll hit the prison block, where they keep their captives. Klyk should be in there. . . .”

  He clasped the freshly charged freeze ray in his hand.

  Kevin’s shoulder felt light. In just a short while he had grown so used to Klyk perched on his collarbone that for a moment he almost forgot the little guy wasn’t there. Don’t worry, Klyk, he thought. We’re gonna find you and then you and I will take down these extraterrestrial jerks once and for all.

  They moved through the alien mother ship, holding their weapons two-handed in front of their face and then pointing them purposefully around every corner like cops in a movie raiding a suspect’s house.

  Warner had the wormhole generator strapped to his forearm. Tara held her hands up wearing the positron force field gloves. They stood back-to-back. Kevin held the freeze ray and entered the next corridor after them. TJ came in last, walking backward, covering them from behind with the shrink ray.

  As they stood in the middle of the hallway, a mechanical cranking sound exploded around them. Thick steel doors at either end of the hallway began to lower, sealing them inside. “Dude, use the freeze ray!” Warner shouted.

  “On what?” Kevin yelled.

  “On the doors, dummy!” Tara screamed.

  Kevin spun around and zapped all three doors, which stopped them from closing about two feet off the ground.

  Kevin could hear a dull hum coming from the ends of the hallway. “Uh-oh . . .”

  “It’s getting louder,” TJ observed.

  The distant humming turned into the mechanical buzzing they now knew all too well. In a flash, a fleet of nanobugs flew under the gap of the door. “Unfreeze them!” Tara yelled.

  Kevin blasted the freeze ray at the door at the end of the corridor and it closed all the way to the floor. But it was too late. The nanobugs had already breached the hallway. Hundreds of them zipped through the air, threatening to sting the backs of their necks.

  Tara punched the air with the force field gloves, but the swarm was too dense. The robotic insects funneled around the positron charge and landed in a large writhing mass on the back of her shirt.

  “Come on, guys, we gotta get outta here!” TJ got down on all fours and retreated back under the gap of the door they had just come
through. Kevin fired a freeze-ray blast at the swarm, but only three nanobugs dropped to the ground. There were far too many still flying. Kevin spun away from the swarm and slid under the door, but Warner and Tara were caught in the middle of the spaceship hallway under heavy attack from the alien nanowasps.

  “EEEEK!” Tara shrieked as a dozen alien wasps climbed up her neck.

  “Tara!” TJ shouted, looking under the gap at the base of the door. “Warner! Come on!”

  One of the mind-control bugs landed on the nape of Tara’s neck, trying to peck through the shield of coins taped there.

  “Help!” Tara squealed, and Warner plucked the bug off, but not before Tara felt its stinger dangerously scrape through the duct tape and prick her neck.

  Warner slammed the robotic insect to the floor with a clank.

  “Warner, look out!” Kevin fired another shot of the freeze ray at the tiny flying alien bugger, but the beam of cryoplasma missed and hit the hallway wall instead. Warner whapped the back of his neck with his hand and Kevin saw the duct-taped coins fall to the floor with a clunk. Warner howled as the nanobug descended on his neck and stabbed its little stinger into Warner’s brain stem. “Yowww!”

  “Nooo!” Kevin yelled at the same time Tara yelped and fell to the ground, clutching her neck.

  Both Warner and Tara lay collapsed in the middle of the spaceship corridor in a swirl of alien robo-bugs.

  Kevin and TJ watched helplessly, knowing they had no choice but to leave their two teammates behind. There were too many nanowasps to go back and help them. Kevin flicked the controls to reverse the freeze ray and the door clanked shut, cutting off the nanobugs from the corridor they were now in. Kevin and TJ checked each other for any nanobugs clinging to their clothes. They were both clean.

  Kevin clenched his fist and punched the steel wall with all his might. A sharp pain shot through his wrist and he shook his fingers out, then kicked the wall for hurting him. “No, no, no, no, no!”