Lab Rats in Space

by Bruno Bouchet

  ‘Can’t help you professor,’ Captain Redlock was even more determined to help the kids now. ‘We’ve already checked the containers. There are no life forms in them.’

  ‘They’re not visible to the human eye,’ Xanax tried to smile again.

  Redlock knew he was lying.

  ‘We really can’t afford any delays. I can assure you the containers have no living creatures in them. I’d hate for you to waste your time with us.’

  The captain was telling the truth. The containers were empty… now.

  Xanax’s smile snapped shut.

  ‘Very well. Until later captain.’

  The holograph disappeared.

  Redlock knew this would not be the end of the matter.

  ‘OK. Let’s get away as quickly as possible. Maximum power please!’

  He had to think of a way to get the kids off his ship, and fast.

  Chapter 10

  Leaking Tummies

  Rudi thought the Lab Rats looked hungry, but he didn’t want the kitchen knowing there were five hungry mouths and a strange furry brick in the captain’s quarters. So he had one huge plate of food sent up from the ship’s kitchen.

  ‘The captain’s very hungry,’ he said, ‘so pile the plate up high; bacon, mashed potatoes, some sausages, the lot… and he’ll want a massive bowl of chocolate ice-cream… and he’s in the mood for lemonade… a really big bottle.’

  The children stared at the huge plate. They hadn’t seen real food before. They sniffed. It did smell good.

  ‘Eat up then!’ said Rudi.

  ‘What? This?’ Dee asked.

  ‘It’s weird!’ said KT.

  Rudi ate some to show them it was OK. They told him what they ate in the lab.

  ‘Disgusting!’ said Rudi.

  ‘Wow!’ Zed was the first to put some food in his mouth. ‘It’s like a smell but inside your mouth. You’ve got to try it!’

  They all dived in and were soon enjoying the first real meal any of them could remember.

  ‘The brown stuff’s cold!’ said Jay. He took a massive bite and froze his teeth.

  ‘The bubbles go up your nose!’ Emm tried the lemonade. ‘You had better leave it alone, Jay.’

  ‘Food’s fun!’ declared KT.

  It didn’t take long before they were all full.

  ‘My stomach hurts now!’ said Zed.

  Rudi explained that they were full and it would soon go down as they digested the food.

  They’d been finished a while when Captain Redlock came to tell them he’d spoken to Xanax.

  ‘We’re going at maximum power to the planet Goran, our first destination. It’s a small planet which has good relations with most other worlds, so they’ll be able to help you find your homes. I just hope we reach there before Xanax catches us.’

  The children looked uncomfortable as they sat on the edge of his bed with their legs crossed in front of them.

  ‘Thank you!’ said Zed quickly and bent over. Soon they were all pressing their hands at the top of their legs. They couldn’t sit still.

  ‘What did you feed them?’ Redlock quizzed Rudi.

  Rudi explained that they had never eaten real food before.

  ‘Have you ever been to the toilet before?’ he asked them. Their puzzled looks told him the answer.

  ‘OK, ladies first.’ Dee and Emm took turns to go to the toilet. Through the toilet door, Captain Redlock explained what they had to do.

  ‘Oooh! My tummy’s leaking!’ shouted Emm.

  ‘It’s OK… that’s normal,’ Captain Redlock shouted back.

  The boys enjoyed the fact that they could go standing up and spray around the bowl. Emm didn’t think that was very nice.

  ‘Sitting down is more elegant,’ she announced.

  XL didn’t need to use the toilet because he didn’t have a mouth for eating. He just tutted at the childish pleasure they had got from the food. He didn’t admit it, but part of him wished he could join in the fun.

  Dee did try to let him join in. She held him over the toilet bowl so he could pee too.

  Very quickly she realised he didn’t enjoy being dangled over the water.

  As she moved him away from the toilet, they were all bathed in a red light and a horn started. She ran back to Redlock’s cabin where the others were.

  ‘What’s happening?’ she asked. They looked at each other, knowing the answer but not daring to say the word. Xanax.

  Rudi burst into the room.

  ‘OK kids, it’s time to move. The Captain has a plan to help you. I just hope it works, I really do.’

  On the command deck, Redlock had ordered the red alert, locked all the docking stations and told the crew to continue at maximum speed to the planet Goran. They had detected one of Xanax’s ships closing in on them. The two ships were hurtling through space in a race to the planet Goran. Slowly but surely, the professor was getting closer.

  Xanax’s huge face appeared in the air again. Wherever anyone moved, his eyes followed them. Each crew member felt like he was talking directly to them, even though he was addressing the captain.

  ‘Captain,’ Xanax was not smiling. It was all he could do to contain his anger. His head was shinier than ever, and the veins stood out on it. ‘The life forms in the containers you hold are extremely dangerous. If they escape they could cause some horrible diseases. They are very nasty organisms.’

  Redlock clenched his fist. He wanted to punch the holograph. They weren’t germs, they were children. Redlock wanted to say that but he didn’t want to give away the fact that he had found them.

  ‘All I ask is that you allow us to dock and remove our containers,’ Xanax wiped his hand over his head. The squeak from his black rubber glove made everyone wince. As they stared at his eyes, they felt the temperature drop. His stare was so cold it sucked all the warmth from the room.

  ‘Once the containers are on my ship, they are the property of their new owners. You have no right to take them back. It’s the intergalactic law.’ Captain Redlock had his argument ready.

  ‘I don’t care much for intergalactic law,’ Xanax said quietly. ‘Call the space police if you want, see how much it helps you.’

  ‘You can’t make me hand the containers over,’ replied Redlock.

  Xanax managed a smile for real. He stretched a hand out from his own holographic projection. Everyone took a step back, worried he was reaching out to strangle them. Everyone except for the captain. He stood his ground. He glanced to the side as Rudi joined him on the command deck. Rudi gave him the tiniest nod of the head to let him know the plan was in place.

  ‘Oh can’t I?’ Xanax smiled for real. ‘Why don’t we try a little experiment?’

  He pressed a button on the Typetor and raised one eyebrow with perfect precision.

  The crew held their breath, but nothing seemed to happen.

  ‘Check for intruders and arrest them,’ Redlock ordered without taking his eyes off Xanax.

  ‘There are none, the ship’s clear,’ came the answer.

  Redlock looked at his monitor and saw that Xanax’s ship was virtually alongside his. They would not be able to outrun him now.

  Xanax and the captain stared at each other.

  ‘I’m waiting Xanax.’ Redlock hoped Xanax’s experiment had not worked.

  ‘You have an intruder. I can promise you that. You should notice it right about…’

  Xanax snapped his fingers with a squeak.

  ‘…now.’

  The second Xanax said ‘now’, one of the crew crumpled to the floor. His body looked liked it had turned to jelly.

  ‘Help,’ he cried.

  ‘It’s a virus,’ continued Xanax, ‘rather unpleasant. It turns bones to jelly. You can see the results. Let’s see how long your crew can last without bones. Won’t that be a fascinating experiment Captain Redlock?’

  Another crew member fell to the floor.

  ‘Don’t worry, it only lasts a short time…’ announced Xanax, ‘…if you have the
antidote.’

  The ship’s navigator opened her eyes wide as she felt her bones collapse into a wobbly mess. She grabbed her chair for support, but with no bones in her fingers she couldn’t grip. Down she fell, unable to move and barely able to breathe.

  ‘Soon your entire crew will be helpless. You won’t be able to operate the ship. Nobody will. I think the antidote is a fair exchange for those life forms.’

  ‘Fine, you can take the containers,’ Redlock said.

  Xanax tutted so loudly a bit of spit came to his mouth. He raised a finger and wiped the bottom of his lip carefully.

  ‘Not good enough, Redlock. As you said, there are no life forms in the containers. I WANT THOSE LIFE FORMS NOW!’

  Xanax shouted so loudly the controls in front of Redlock shook.

  ‘No.’ Redlock returned quietly. ‘They’re just children.’

  ‘They may look like children but believe me they are extremely dangerous.’

  ‘Captain!’

  Redlock looked at Rudi. He had fallen too. The captain was the only person left standing on the deck. He had no choice.

  He could feel a tingling sensation in his feet. It was starting. Soon his bones would be jelly.

  ‘OK. I give in. Release the antidote. Here.’

  Redlock opened the docking port to allow Xanax to board his ship.

  ‘Very wise. I’ll see you shortly. You’ll all recover once we’re aboard.’

  Xanax’s hologram disappeared.

  Redlock’s legs were giving way. He grabbed the control panel in front of him with his arms. He could feel them growing weak. There was just one button he had to press. One button he had to reach for. He was holding his whole body up with what he had left of his arms. It felt like a dead weight. He leaned his stomach on the panel to try and take some of the weight as his arm stretched forward to the launch button. He could feel the jelly racing along his arm, working past his elbow towards his wrist.

  He stretched further. He was just millimetres away from the button. As his finger hovered near it, he felt the jelly in his hand bones. He had to reach that button. Without it, the children would be sent back to the Research Station. He stretched but he couldn’t move his finger any further. He couldn’t hold anything. There were no bones left in his body. Exhausted, his finger fell and landed on the button. It was enough.

  Redlock’s body slid to the ground. His entire crew lay on the floor, awake but helpless, waiting for the antidote to take effect so they could move again.

  Redlock had taken a risk not expecting Xanax to do anything so horrible. In pressing that button, Redlock had given the Lab Rats just once chance of escape. All he could do was hope that it would work.

  Chapter 11

  XL Speaks

  ‘Do you reckon we can move yet… my nose hurts.’

  ‘Shh.’

  ‘It’s been ages,’ Emm added her voice to Jay’s complaint.

  ‘Shh,’ Zed repeated.

  ‘Shh yourself, Dee,’ said KT.

  ‘Shh… it wasn’t me,’ said Dee.

  ‘Shh,’ everyone said at the same time. They giggled and then shut up.

  Jay sniffed.

  ‘Ssshhhh.’

  ‘Shh.’

  ‘Will everyone please stop shushing?’ asked Zed.

  ‘Aaah… aah.’ Jay felt a sneeze coming on.

  ‘That’s it, Xanax or not, I’m not staying in here with him blowing his trumpet.’

  KT pushed open the panel over their heads. Light poured in and he climbed out.

  ‘Aaah… aaah.’

  There was a rush towards the hole to climb out before Jay unleashed his snot. Dee scrambled out after KT. Zed pulled himself up. Emm was halfway through.

  ‘Aah… choo!’

  ‘Gross!’ screamed Emm as she felt the snot fly over her feet.

  Jay apologised to her as he crawled out. She was holding herself up against the wall of the corridor because her feet were slippery. Emm wrinkled her neat little nose up as she tried to shake off the goo.

  They were on a shuttle craft from the Interworlder. It was small compared to Redlock’s massive ship, but it still had plenty of room for them all. Because the Interworlder was too big to enter the atmosphere of any planet, the shuttle was used to ferry crew and cargo down to planets.

  Redlock’s plan was to hide them on board the shuttle and then, right at the last moment, dispatch the shuttle while Xanax’s men searched the Interworlder. The button Redlock pressed had launched the shuttle. Hidden under the floor of one of the shuttle’s corridors, the Lab Rats had no idea what had happened on board the ship.

  ‘This is so cool. Our own spaceship. Let’s explore!’ said KT.

  ‘Yeah, come on!’ Zed agreed.

  Dee rolled her eyes.

  ‘Shouldn’t we check if it’s safe first… argh!’

  Dee was pulled to the ground. Emm had tried to take a step but had slipped because of her snotty shoes and fallen, taking Dee down with her. She lay on the floor, her long shiny blonde hair splayed out. Jay had made Emm look like a mess for the first time.

  ‘Take off your shoes until you can clean them.’ Dee was losing patience with everyone. They could tell because her cheeks went red and her freckles stood out even more. ‘Redlock said we should go to the control deck first. If you want to explore, find that first.’

  ‘Let’s go!’ Zed charged down the corridor waving at everyone to follow him with his third hand. KT ran with him. Jay trotted after them.

  ‘Come on,’ Dee held out her hammer for Emm to grab and pull herself up.

  Soon KT and Zed shot past them, running in the opposite direction.

  ‘Other way… the bedrooms are down there. We’ve chosen ours!’

  The only Lab Rat who wasn’t trying to find the control deck was XL. He’d been left in the hole under the floor. He tried using his mind messages to remind them not to leave him there, but they’d been too busy escaping Jay’s snot to hear him.

  ‘Great,’ he thought to himself, ‘I’ll be stuck here forever.’

  He too had been covered in snot, but luckily his underside was on the metal floor of the hole. He could communicate with the ship. After a few trial signals, he was communicating clearly.

  ‘That’s impressive,’ he thought to himself. ‘Now how do I communicate with those stupid children?’

  Being quite brilliant, it only took a second for him to come up with a clever solution.

  As the Rats opened doors and looked at rooms, they heard a voice all around them. They couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman speaking. It sounded very calm and clear, like it wasn’t even human.

  ‘Zed, Dee, KT, Emm, welcome aboard.’

  They looked at each other in shock. Was this a Xanax trick?

  ‘What about me?’ said Jay.

  ‘Jay, welcome also,’ said the voice.

  ‘Can you hear us? Who are you?’

  ‘There is a life form remaining under the floor of corridor C4…’

  ‘Where’s that?’ KT shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘…where you were hiding,’ said the voice.

  ‘XL!’ said Dee and immediately started running back to their hiding spot. The others waited for her.

  ‘If you can hear us, say “hello”,’ Zed spoke to the voice. It didn’t answer.

  ‘Do you think it’s the ship?’ asked KT.

  ‘How did it know who we were?’ asked Jay.

  ‘Redlock could have programmed it,’ Zed suggested.

  ‘To reach the control deck, enter the lift at the end of this corridor and press the button with the letters “CD” on it.’ The voice spoke again.

  ‘You must all enter together… all SIX of…’

  The voice stopped suddenly as if the power had been cut off.

  ‘Where’s Emm?’ KT looked around before they set off.

  ‘Here I am.’ Emm appeared out of a doorway. She had found a bathroom to wash her hair and clean her shoes.

  ‘That’s better!’<
br />
  The boys stared at her.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Emm was worried she looked awful.

  ‘How do you look so tidy so quickly?’ asked KT. ‘It used to take me ages to get rid of Jay’s snot from my hair.’

  Emm’s hair was wet but it looked so superneat even the boys noticed it. She looked like she had just got dressed. Emm smiled, she liked it when they said she looked good. It made up for hating the sight of herself in a mirror.

  At the hole where they had been hiding, Dee shouted down ‘sorry’ eleven times for leaving XL behind. She climbed down to collect him.

  XL was telling the others to make sure he was taken to the control deck when Dee picked him up and he lost contact with the computer. That was why the voice had stopped.

  He was annoyed he’d suddenly lost his only way of communicating with them, but at least he had been rescued. Once they put him down in the control deck, he would be able to explain everything. He looked forward to them knowing he wasn’t a dumb furry brick, but a very advanced life form.

  ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ said Zed as they entered the control deck. There was a screen which wrapped around the entire room above their heads giving them a view of space all around the ship. All the seats at the control units tilted up to give a perfect view of the 360-degree screen.

  KT jumped into one of the chairs and swivelled around as fast as he could.

  ‘We can see everything!’ Dee exclaimed turning around.

  ‘But there isn’t anything there!’ Jay stood at the front. With his head tilted up, his nose stuck out above his ginger hair. It looked funny from behind. Dee was so awestruck with the view she didn’t hear XL silently screaming to put him down.

  ‘Spaceship,’ Zed tried to talk to ship, ‘show us where we are.’

  Nothing happened.

  ‘Put me down!’ XL said into Dee’s mind.

  Without taking her eyes off the screen, she put him down on the nearest surface.

  XL got to work re-establishing the connection.

  ‘Hello children, this is XL speaking,’ he said through the ship’s computer system.

  The children were amazed.

  ‘What are the chances of that?’ said Emm. ‘The ship’s computer having the same name as our XL.’