Class Pet Catastrophe

by Bruce Coville

  I poked my head into the hallway, then glanced up and down to make sure no one was around.

  With the Veeblax tucked under my coat, I hurried to the pipe.

  Seconds later I was in the garage.

  Ralph-the-Driver was polishing the limo, and had his back to me. I slipped past him, then moved silently up the tunnel that leads to the outside, hoping that the Veeblax would not let out a squeak.

  At the end of the tunnel I used my sphen-gnut-ksher to send a signal that caused the door to slide open. Unlike similar Earthling devices, the door moved in complete silence, for which I was grateful.

  I slipped outside, then sent another signal to close the door.

  I took a deep breath and stood there, feeling astonished at myself. I had never been out alone on Earth before, much less after dark. The night was colder than I had expected, and the strange smells of this world of which I knew so little were distracting and a little frightening. But it was exhilarating to see the wide sweep of the sky, even if the light of the stars was dimmed by the interference of all the lights from the city.

  I tried to spot my home star, but was unable to see it, which depressed me a little. Leaning against the great support hook of the embassy, I practiced Wakkam Akkim’s breathing technique for a few minutes. When I felt ready, I checked to make sure my sphen-gnut-ksher was safely tucked under my hood, then started walking.

  The embassy is situated on top of a hill in a place called Thorncraft Park. During the day it is usually surrounded—at a distance—by Earthling sightseers. But now, on a cold, dark Sunday night, the hill was deserted.

  The Veeblax snuggled against me, a welcome spark of warmth.

  I avoided the road at first, but at the base of the hill I had to start walking beside it because otherwise I would not have known how to get to Tim’s place.

  As the road curved through a wooded area, I was plunged into darkness. I heard a car coming, and scrambled to the side of the road to avoid being seen.

  That was when I heard the snuffling sound for the first time. It came from the trees off to my right.

  A moment later a horrible odor assaulted me.

  Frightened, I began to run, stumbling through the trees, clutching the Veeblax, trying not to let go of my travel case.

  I could hear something big crashing and thrashing along behind me. As I ran, my mind was racing too, trying to remember what I had learned of Earthling animals, to imagine what could possibly be following me through the night.

  I tripped on a root. The Veeblax squealed in terror, though whether it was afraid of what was following us or simply frightened by my fall, I was not certain.

  At last I made it back to the road, where I continued to run as fast as I could. When I left the wooded area, the sound of pursuit stopped, as if the creature—whatever it was—would not leave the trees.

  I trotted on, sore and exhausted from the run. Though I could no longer hear my pursuer, I continued to glance behind me. Once, I thought I saw a large form in the moonlight. (And how odd it seemed to have only one moon!) I began to move faster again, and when I looked back, the form was gone.

  Suddenly I realized I had lost track of where I was. Panic seized me. I had been out of the embassy for less than an hour, and already I was lost.

  Cars whizzed past, unbelievably loud and smelly. The horrible fumes made me stagger in disgust, and I wondered how the Earthlings can stand to live with such a stench.

  The Veeblax shrieked in terror each time a car went by.

  “Shhhh!” I urged, stroking its back. “Please, you have to be quiet!”

  I pressed it against me more tightly. It buried its face against my neck, which muffled the sounds of its fear.

  I trudged on, desperately seeking something that I recognized. At last I spotted a street I knew from our drive to school.

  Feeling much relieved, I began to run again.

  It was only when I arrived at Tim’s door that I realized what a difficult situation I was about to put him in.

  But I had nowhere else to turn.

  Even so, I stood in the hall in front of his apartment door for some time, trying to decide whether to knock, or turn and flee back into the darkness.

  CHAPTER 11 [LINNSY]

  SEARCH PARTY

  I spent most of Sunday watching the news, which I found fascinating the way some people find a car wreck fascinating. I was so sick of seeing Misty’s whiny face that I wanted to puke. It seemed as if her experience with the Veeblax—or, at least her memory of it—became more horrifying with every new interview.

  What finally made me turn off the TV in disgust was when I saw her tell one interviewer, “Yes, Barbara, I truly thought I was going to die.”

  Actually, it wasn’t her words that got to me as much as it was the trembling lip and the single tear rolling down her cheek. Misty had been using that trick since kindergarten, and most of our teachers caught onto it by the second week of each school year.

  Now the entire world seemed to be taking it seriously!

  I went to my room. I was working on the final draft of my poem for Percy, which I had titled “The Death of Truth,” when my mother knocked at my door and said, “Mr. Timothy is here to see you, honey. He seems to think it’s urgent.”

  I sighed. “Everything is urgent for Tim, Mom.”

  But I went to see what he wanted.

  “I have to talk to you,” he hissed, not coming into the apartment.

  “About what?”

  He made a motion with his head to indicate he wanted me to step outside. I sighed, then shouted, “Back in a minute, Mom!”

  “All right,” I said, once I was in the hall. “What is it?”

  “Pleskit’s run away. He’s in my apartment right now. With the Veeblax.”

  “He can’t do that!” l cried.

  “He already has. The question is, what do we do about it?”

  “What did your mother say?”

  “She’s at work. The hospital’s got her on the night shift this month.”

  I thought for a minute, then said, “All right, I’d better come down there. Give me a second to clear things with my parents.”

  I told Mom I had to help Tim with an emergency. Since Tim’s life is a constant emergency, this didn’t get her all that worried.

  Tim and I hurried down to his apartment. Pleskit was sitting in the living room, looking totally miserable. The Veeblax lay next to him, looking like a melted candle.

  “Poor baby,” I said, scooping it into my arms.

  Pleskit smiled. I felt really sorry for him and even sorrier when he said, “An animal control team is coming to take the Veeblax away. I do not believe it will survive the tests they intend to do on it. I cannot let this happen!”

  Before we could discuss what he should do next, someone rang the buzzer.

  Tim tiptoed to the door and looked through the peephole. When he turned back to me and Pleskit, his face was white. “It’s McNally!” he whispered urgently. “What should I say?”

  I hurried over to join him. “Don’t say anything. Pretend we’re not here.”

  “Tim!” shouted McNally, pounding on the door. “Come on, Tim. I know you’re in there! Let me in!”

  “I can’t,” said Tim. “My mother doesn’t allow me to open the door for strangers when she’s not here.”

  “I’m no stranger!” shouted McNally furiously.

  Before Tim could answer, we heard another voice. “Federal marshals!” it bellowed. “We’ve got a search warrant. Open up or we’re coming in anyway.”

  Tim looked at me. His eyes were wide. I recognized the look. It wasn’t fear; it was excitement.

  “Get Pleskit out onto the fire escape,” he whispered. “Hurry!”

  I scurried back into the living room. “This way,” I said to Pleskit, taking him by the hand and leading him to the window. “Make sure you’ve got everything. We’ll come get you as soon as they’re gone.”

  “Open up!” bellowed the guy at the
door.

  “The lock’s stuck!” shouted Tim.

  “Open this door or there won’t be a lock, kid!”

  Veeblax clinging to his neck, Pleskit climbed out the window. I turned back and gasped. His travel case was still on the floor. Well, actually, it was floating a couple of inches above the floor. I grabbed it and thrust it toward the window. It floated over the edge.

  “Hold on, guys!” shouted Tim, rattling the lock mechanism as if he were actually working on it. “I’ve almost got it.”

  I pulled the window down, then hurried to Tim’s side. “All clear,” I whispered.

  He opened the door, crying, “Got it! Whew. Sorry about the trouble, guys.”

  McNally started to come through but was muscled aside by another man, dressed all in black. Two other guys came in right after him. The lead guy held out a badge and said, “All right, where’s the alien?”

  “How should I know?” asked Tim.

  “Look, buster—just tell me where he is, and this will be easier for both of us.”

  “Hey, lay off,” said McNally, who had pushed in after the marshals. “They’re only kids.”

  “Kids who may be involved in an interplanetary diplomatic crisis,” replied the lead marshal. “Now shut up, McNally, if you don’t want to lose your job—which you might anyway for letting that kid get away.”

  McNally set his jaw. “I was off duty when Pleskit disappeared. Anyway, my job isn’t to protect him when he’s in the embassy; it’s to protect him when he’s out in the world.”

  “Well, he’s out in the world now, smart guy, so just shut up.”

  McNally looked furious but didn’t say anything else.

  The marshals started a search of Tim’s apartment, looking in every closet, under every bed, in every drawer, even in places where Pleskit couldn’t possibly fit. One of them opened a doorway in the hall, then quickly flattened himself against the wall. He pulled out a gun and stretched his neck so he could peer around the doorframe. Then he jumped into the doorway and began to swing the gun back and forth. “If there’s anyone in there, freeze!” he roared.

  “What is it, Croydon?” called the head marshal.

  “I’m not sure, Parker. I think there was some sort of struggle here. Maybe an abduction attempt. You’d better come take a look.”

  I burst out laughing.

  “You!” said Parker. “What’s so funny?”

  “That’s Tim’s room,” I said, trying to stifle my laughter. “It always looks like that!”

  The agents scowled at me, then Parker and Croydon waded into the room “wading” is the only word that properly describes what it’s like trying to cross Tim’s floor), leaving the third guy in the hall to keep an eye on me and Tim.

  It didn’t do them any good. They found no sign of either Pleskit or the Veeblax.

  Parker and Croydon came out of the room, looking cranky and disgusted.

  “You know, you guys,” said Tim, “my mother’s not going to like this.”

  “Yeah, well, the Board of Health wouldn’t like what we just saw,” growled Parker. “Now shut up, unless you’re ready to tell me where your little purple pal has gotten to.” He turned to look around the room, then smiled. “Never mind. I think I just figured it out!”

  I barely restrained my gasp as he walked to the window where I had let Pleskit out. It was open just a crack, letting in cold air. Parker shoved it all the way open, then climbed out onto the fire escape. Sticking his head back into the room, he said, “Croydon, you come with me. Havelitz, you stay here and keep an eye on those two. Might as well keep an eye on McNally while you’re at it.”

  McNally muttered something. I think it was probably just as well that I couldn’t make out the exact words.

  I was terrified for Pleskit and the Veeblax—not to mention for me and Tim. The next five minutes were the slowest of my life.

  I know it was five minutes because I could see the clock on the kitchen wall from where I stood.

  But when Parker and Croydon came back through the window, they didn’t have Pleskit with them.

  “Where’s the kid?” asked Havelitz.

  “Wherever he is, it’s not out there,” said Parker angrily. “There’s a gate at the bottom of the escape, and the latch is jammed—which is going to mean a safety citation for this building, if nothing else.”

  “We scoured the top of the building,” added Croydon. “I guarantee you, he’s nowhere up there.”

  Parker turned to Tim. “All right, this is your last chance, kid. Where’s the alien?”

  “I don’t have the slightest idea,” said Tim, looking extremely worried. “And I really wish I knew.”

  CHAPTER 12 [PLESKIT]

  OVER THE EDGE

  No sooner had Linnsy shoved me out the window onto the fire escape than I heard her scurry back to the front door.

  The Veeblax still clinging to my neck, I slipped to the side, climbed a couple of steps, then leaned back to peer through the top corner of the window. I pulled back quickly as I saw a gang of federal agents burst into the room.

  I felt like a criminal.

  I raced up the fire escape to the roof, hoping desperately that I had not accidentally left any sign of my presence back in Tim’s living room.

  The air was cold, the sky clear and bright with stars. I lay on my back, staring up at them and wishing that I had the ability to fly back out there, far from this planet where I seemed to get in trouble no matter what I did.

  A light wind began to blow and the cold became more intense. I huddled in on myself for warmth. And as I hunched there, quivering in the cold and the dark, I understood that I had done the wrong thing in coming here to Tim’s.

  We have a proverb on Hevi-Hevi: “Bring not trouble to the homes of your friends.”

  But that was exactly what I had done.

  I knew Tim was glad to shelter me. Was he not my friend? But I also realized I should have expected that McNally would come here to look for me. I don’t know if I should have expected the government agents, but I had to admit to myself that if I thought about it, their arrival wasn’t all that surprising.

  I knew one more thing: even if the agents left now, the odds that they would come back were very high.

  Almost as high as I was here on the roof.

  For that matter, the odds were very good that they would soon figure out I had used the fire escape, and come up here after me.

  The thought seized me like a kalyap. I had to get away from here!

  But how?

  I hurried back to the fire escape. If I went down that way, the agents were likely to spot me passing the window.

  I hurried across the roof to the front of the building and looked over the edge. The limo was down there, as well as two other large, dark cars. Each had a man in a black suit lounging against it.

  I could only see one way out. It was a desperate gamble, but this was a desperate situation.

  Cradling the Veeblax in my arms, I went to the back corner of the building. I peered over.

  It was a long way down.

  I tucked the Veeblax into my coat and fastened it tightly. That wouldn’t hold it if it really wanted to get out, of course, since it could simply change shape and slither away. But I had trained it to stay put in a situation like this.

  I got my travel case and placed it on the edge of the building, which was about a foot higher than the roof itself. Then I climbed onto the case and wrapped the strap around my legs. I fastened it back to the case, tightened my legs, and gripped the handle as firmly as I could with my left hand.

  Then I cranked the antigrav device up to its highest setting, and pushed myself off the building.

  The wind whistled past my ears as we hurtled through the darkness and cold to the ground so far below. I knew the antigrav device wouldn’t really kick in until we were about thirty feet from ground level. Even so, the first fifty feet of that fall were sheer terror.

  The Veeblax flattened against me, wailing
piteously.

  My sphen-gnut-ksher was sparking out of control.

  Suddenly our rate of descent began to decrease. It had only taken seconds—actually, I calculated it out at 2.3 seconds—but it had felt like an eternity.

  At about ten feet from the ground the case slowed to a drift.

  At about four feet it stopped altogether, and I had to adjust the control so it would settle all the way down and we could climb off.

  I took a deep breath. We had survived.

  I glanced around. Behind Tim’s apartment building is a little wooded area. It was the perfect place to take shelter while I tried to decide what to do next. Still clutching the Veeblax, I scurried toward the woods, hoping that none of the agents had seen me make my escape.

  We stopped beneath a tree at the edge of the woods, and I looked back at the building. I was torn between glee and horror over what I had just done.

  Then I turned my back on the building and walked to the center of the little forest. I sat beneath a tree and began trying to think of where to go now. But it’s not easy to hide when you’re the only purple kid on the planet.

  I was going to need help.

  All right, who besides Tim was apt to be sympathetic? I needed someone who would understand my situation. Someone who could see things from a different angle.

  Someone who could sympathize with an alien.

  But who on Earth would that be? And then, suddenly, I had the answer.

  I waited in the woods until I was pretty sure the people searching for me had gone. Then I made my way to a phone booth, hoping desperately that I could find the right number, that the person I wanted would be home, and most of all, that he would be willing to take the risk of sheltering a runaway alien.

  CHAPTER 13 [PLESKIT]

  SECRET HIDEOUT

  It was approaching midnight when I made my way to the edge of town, and the streets were almost completely empty. The cold was beginning to bother me, but it was also making the Veeblax sleepy, which made it easier to carry.