Alien envoy, p.1
Alien Envoy, page 1
Text copyright © 2011 by Pamela F. Service
Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Service, Pamela F.
Alien envoy / by Pamela F. Service ; illustrated by Mike Gorman.
p. cm. — (Alien agent ; #6)
Summary: Agent Sorn picks Zack up from Earth and together they seek other aliens who can speak in support of inviting that planet to join the Galactic Union, while the Gnairt and the Kiapa Kapa Syndicate try to stop them.
ISBN: 978–0–7613–5364–5 (trade hard cover : alk. paper)
[1. Extraterrestrial beings—Fiction. 2. Interplanetary voyages—Fiction. 3. Science fiction.] I. Gorman, Mike, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.S4885Alc 2011
[Fic]—dc22 2010009251
Manufactured in the United States of America 1 –
SB –12/31/10
eISBN: 978-0-7613-7165-6 (pdf)
eISBN: 978-1-4677-6664-7 (ePub)
eISBN: 978-1-4677-2815-7 (mobi)
For Robert and Virginia
—P.S.
Agent Sorn was in her apartment at the Galactic Union Headquarters, enjoying a rare day off. Curled up with her entertainment viewer, she sat reading what her boss would probably call a trashy novel. She was greatly enjoying it.
The door buzzer shrilled. Annoyed, she looked at the identifier to see who was waiting. Her boss. With a yelp, she switched off her novel and jumped to her feet. Chief Agent Zythis, with his multiple eyes and tentacles, stood outside.
She pressed a button and the door slid open. Zythis slithered in. “Agent Sorn, I apologize for intruding. But a crisis has arisen regarding one of the planets within your jurisdiction.”
Sorn’s heart sank. She was the prime Galactic Patrol agent for a rather remote sector of the galaxy. Several of those planets could be trouble, but danger threatened one more often than the others. She was afraid she knew what Zythis’s next word would be. She was right.
“Earth,” he sighed.
Sorn gestured to a large chair that would support Zythis’s multi-tentacled shape. He settled in and continued. “You know that recent events have upped our timetable for inviting the planet to join the union.”
She nodded impatiently. Of course she knew. She and the Alien Agent planted on Earth, Zack Gaither, had been part of those “recent events.” But if it hadn’t been for Zack, things could have been a great deal worse. “As I understand it,” she said, “the Galactic Council is due to consider Earth’s formal invitation shortly. Has that changed?”
“No, but through my spies I have learned that the Gnairt and the Kiapa Kapa Syndicate are trying to sabotage that effort. Our agent there may be endangered.”
That grabbed Sorn’s attention. Zack Gaither was developing into an excellent agent, but she still felt guilty that he had been thrust into Galactic Union matters before being fully trained. Zack hadn’t even been aware that he was an alien living among humans until a couple of years ago.
Zythis cleared his several throats. “The Kiapa Kapa have caused enough trouble already by trying to take over Earth and its resources themselves. But now they are spreading rumors that the planet’s not suited to becoming a Galactic Union member. What’s more, it seems that our agent has been identified. There may be a plot to abduct or kill him to prevent him from serving as the union’s envoy to planet Earth.”
Sorn gasped. Zack’s identity had been kept secret not only from most humans but from enemy aliens as well. “That’s terrible! We must stop it.”
Zythis’s eye flaps wiggled as he nodded in agreement. “I have reread all of your earlier reports and have notified certain agents that they are needed to testify on behalf of Earth. You will take the fastest ship available, collect those agents from their current assignments, proceed to Earth for Agent Zack, and then return here to await the council hearing.”
“Has Agent Zack been notified?”
“We dare not do so directly. There is reason to believe that the enemy has hacked into our communication system. Any notice will have to be carefully coded in such a way that you, as one familiar with Earth culture, believe he can understand and they cannot. You must contact him and then depart immediately.”
After Chief Agent Zythis had left, Sorn cast a regretful last glance toward her unfinished novel. Then she plunged into her urgent assignment. The comforting thing about her novels was that she knew that whatever adventures and dangers took place, things would work out in the end. Any dealings she’d had with Earth involved more than enough adventure and danger, but they were real. They never came with the promise of a happy ending.
Halloween. My favorite holiday. I’ve always loved the crisp fall air, with its scents of burning leaves and excitement. Dressing as something that you aren’t, staying out after hours, roaming the dark streets with other mysterious figures, and collecting usually forbidden treats—all part of a great night for any human kid.
Even now that I’d learned I wasn’t human, and after I’d had more excitement than most, I still loved Halloween. And this year, I wanted to savor every moment of it. Too many other things seemed to be changing in my life.
Our parents felt that my friend Ken and I were getting a little too old for trick-or-treating. We didn’t agree. But we compromised and said we’d go to the Halloween dance party at the school instead—and quietly do some trick-ortreating on the way to and from.
This Halloween fell on a Saturday, so I had all day to put together my costume. And to worry about the odd message I’d just received from Agent Sorn on my computer. It made so little sense it was like it was in code or something: “Be a motto Boy Scout. Do what you need with your old kit bag, and smile, smile, smile. Beware little pitchers.”
What the heck could that mean?
I knew that on one of her last trips to Earth, Sorn had picked up a book about Earth slang and old sayings. In her communications, she sometimes asked me about their meaning. Often they were way out of date. Was this just some fun puzzle? Or, if it was in code, was it something important?
The first part I got quickly. “Be a motto Boy Scout.” At first I thought it was supposed to say “a model Boy Scout,” but then I guessed it did mean “motto.” I’m not a scout, but I have friends who are. Their motto is “Be Prepared.” That chilled me a little. Prepared for what?
The rest was gibberish to me, so I took it to my parents. I’m really glad now that my parents have finally learned that I’m not a human child like they’d thought they’d adopted. And I’m even gladder that they don’t care. They still consider me their son. And they’re even sort of okay with the Alien Agent thing, though I know they worry about me.
It was my dad who cracked the next part. After puzzling a bit, he suddenly smiled and broke into a really lame little song. “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, and smile, smile, smile.” He said it was an old World War I song. My dad is not that old, but he’s a teacher and knows about that kind of stuff.
He couldn’t figure out the last bit, but Mom finally did. “Little pitchers have big ears!” she suddenly exclaimed. “My grandmother used to say that when she caught us kids listening in on things we weren’t supposed to.”
The “little pitchers” thing was scary. Sorn must be afraid that someone, someone unfriendly, was reading our messages.
So I had the message. I was supposed to be prepared—for something. And I was supposed to pack. Though since I didn’t know what or where that something was, packing was tough. I finally just stuffed a backpack with a change of clothes, toothbrush, flashlight, jackknife, compass, and binoculars. And, at my mom’s insistence, the usual supply of granola bars.
Figuring I was as prepared as I could expect to be, I left the backpack by my bedroom door and concentrated on planning for Halloween. Ken was going as a two-headed space alien. I’d seen some weird-looking space aliens, but none with two heads. Still, I couldn’t tell Ken that. I wasn’t supposed to tell any humans what I was, though a few had sort of found out during some past assignments. So an alien costume was definitely not for me. After much thought, I decided on a pirate outfit.
In the end, I looked pretty dashing. Black jeans, my mom’s black riding boots, a billowy white shirt, a purple bandanna, a beach-towel cape, one very uncomfortable clip-on earring, and a red sash. Stuck under the sash was the best part of all: a real curved dagger. Some exchange teacher from Morocco gave it to my dad. Well, it was actually a large letter opener, but it looked the part.
When Ken showed up at our door, his costume looked pretty cool too. The green tights and tunic had once been a Robin Hood costume. The spangled green cape was cut from his sister’s old prom dress, and he wore green face makeup—on his own face. His other head was an already-green alien Halloween mask. It bobbed about on some springs attached to Ken’s shoulder. His weapon was an impressive plastic ray gun. I’d seen real ones that didn’t look nearly as convincing.
Some of the littlest trick-or-treaters had already hit our door, but now it was getting dark, and Mom had me light the smirking jack-o’-lantern before we set off. I took a second to whiff the hot wax and scorched pumpkin. Then Halloween called.
Slipping trick-or-treat bags under our capes, we set out to ring doorbells. My favorite loot is candy corn or peanut butter cups. Got plenty of those. One place had buckets of lollipops, which I’ve never much liked. And the guy who gave out candied prunes ought to be jailed.
Munching on candy as we headed toward the school, Ken grumbled, “I don’t know why my parents think I’m too old for trick-or-treating. Lots of older kids are out. Even adults are in costume today. Like those fat, bald guys back there. What are they dressed as? Tweedledee and Tweedledum?”
That zapped through my Halloween fun like a laser. Two fat, bald guys? I spun around. Further back along the sidewalk, the streetlight showed two figures who could have been those Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland twins. Or they could have been a couple of Gnairt.
Stupid, I told myself. The world is full of fat, bald guys. These are probably a couple of skinny, hairy kids in costumes anyway. Still, I upped my pace. “Let’s get to school and do the party thing,” I said hurriedly. “We can leave early and add to our loot.”
When we got there, the school gym was decorated with orange and black streamers and the usual Halloween cardboard cutouts: black cats, witches, pumpkins, and such. The planning committee had divided the gym floor into areas for apple bobbing, pin the tail on the unicorn (some of the girls on the committee had insisted), and a haunted house. The place was noisy with kids and music.
I kind of wanted to try the spook house but thought it might be lame. Ken and I decided to just stand outside and look smug until someone we trusted came out and said it was cool. We watched the dancing at one end of the gym. Finally, Ken said, “Want to dance?”
“With you?” I squeaked.
“No way! No, I mean there’s a bunch of girls standing over there. This is supposed to be a dance—maybe we ought to ask someone.”
He sputtered into silence. I prodded him a little.
“You really want to?”
He grinned. “No. Forget it. I really can’t think of any girl I’d like to dance with.”
I couldn’t either. Well, I had met a girl this last summer who might be kind of a fun dancing partner. But she lived miles and miles away and was probably at another Halloween party with her own friends.
Getting more and more bored, I scanned the crowd and suddenly froze. Impossible! I was supposed to have alien powers, not a genie’s. But there was the very girl I’d just thought about: Shasta O’Neil. And yet the closer she walked toward me—straight toward me—the more it looked like her. Black braids, bronze skin, a troublemaking glint in her eye.
“Zack! I hardly recognized you in your dashing pirate outfit.” She grabbed my hand. “But thank the spirits we found you!”
I stared at her a moment, turning as red as a fire engine. Then her words clicked. “We?” I managed to say. “Who else is . . .?”
My eyes moved across the room and picked out the white hair and purple skin of Agent Sorn as she pushed her way through the crowd. Catlike Agent Khh was perched on her shoulder, his leathery wings tucked into his long fur.
“What. . .? Why. . .?”
By then Sorn had reached me.
“Agent Zack. We must leave immediately. You’re in danger.”
Suddenly she caught sight of Ken leaning on the other side of the pillar. “A Stritorian? I wouldn’t have expected. . . Oh, I see. It’s a costume. Sorry, the two heads fooled me.” Then she turned back to me. “We went to your house, and your mother told us you’d be here. We brought your bag. Now you must leave.”
Helplessly, I looked at Ken. Even under his green makeup he looked kind of stunned. “Ken, I’m sorry. I can’t really explain now. But I’ve got to go with these people.” I thrust my trick-or-treat bag at him and muttered, a little jealously, “Enjoy.”
Our odd little group wormed its way through the crowd toward a side door. We hadn’t taken many steps beyond the gym when claws grabbed my shoulders and pushed me to the asphalt. A blast of light smashed into the wall behind me.
A lot of teeth were suddenly in front of my face. “Stay down, idiot!”
“Vraj! What. . .?”
“Crawl behind that metal thing,” the dinosaur-like cadet agent hissed. “It’s you they’re after!”
Energy beams crisscrossed the parking lot as I scuttled behind the dumpster. I turned my head to see Ken step through the doorway. “Zack, what’s . . .?”
Leaping like a panther, I tackled Ken and dragged him with me behind the metal dumpster. Some kids on the far side of the lot were cheering like this was a light show, but I knew it was deadly. And I felt helpless just hiding there. I looked at Ken, his eyes huge and questioning.
“Let me borrow your ray gun.”
“It’s just a toy,” he said, handing it to me.
“Right, but it’s got a battery. I need some energy to work with.”
I focused my mind on the silver tube, weaving the battery’s energy with my own. Peering around the corner of the dumpster, I caught sight of a Tweedledee-shaped figure crouched behind a parked car. I aimed the toy gun. Energy blasted from its plastic barrel in a neon stream. The car erupted in a rush of orange flame.
“Oops,” I groaned. “Overdid it.”
“Wow!” Ken breathed beside me. “I don’t know what’s going on, but that was way cool.” His eyes widened even farther as he caught sight of the sharp-toothed alien to the other side of me. “That’s a costume your friend’s wearing,” Ken said, his voice almost pleading. “A velociraptor outfit. Right?”
I looked nervously back at him. “Ken, this is complicated, but very important. I’ll explain later. I promise. But for now, please tell people you didn’t see anything and don’t know anything. Okay?”
Both his heads nodded, but only his real one beamed. “Hey, you think I’m nuts? If I try to talk about this, I’ll be locked up. Look, Zack, I don’t know what on Earth. . . or wherever . . . is going on. But I won’t tell on you. Good luck!”
Scuttling out from behind the dumpster, Vraj hauled me around the corner where the others had disappeared. Sorn, Shasta, and Khh weren’t far away. They saw us and sprinted for the line of trees behind the gym. We followed.
I wasn’t surprised to see a spaceship hidden there. It was shiny like a silver hubcap and shaped like a Hollywood flying saucer. Just as Sorn opened a hatch, another energy beam cut through the trees behind us, splintering branches across the lot. The beam sparked harmlessly over the surface of the ship.
“In!” Sorn ordered as she pulled out her own weapon and fired back. I didn’t see if she hit anything. I was too busy charging up the ramp with the others.
Sorn dove in after us, closed the hatch, and settled behind a bank of controls. In seconds our ship quivered to life and rose from behind the screen of trees.
Looking through a port in the ship’s curved side, I saw my school dropping away below us. A scattering of people were pointing upward. I even made out Ken, still beside the dumpster. He was waving.
A mixture of homesickness and excitement overwhelmed me. “Happy Halloween,” I whispered.
It was hard to tear myself away from the view, but so many questions were fizzing up inside of me that I felt ready to explode. I looked toward the control area in the center of the ship. Sorn seemed to be busy flying the thing, and Vraj was seated at another console, studying a screen and jabbing buttons. Khh was curled up asleep on a chair, a wing wrapped around him like a blanket. The ship was at least much roomier than the others I’d ridden in. Shasta was smiling beside me.
“Can you tell me what’s going on?” I asked her.
“I don’t know a whole lot more than you. But right now I want to enjoy the view. Look, that’s amazing!”
And it was. My hometown was just a sparkle of lights now. As we rose higher we could see other light clusters scattered through the darkness. “Do you know where we’re going?” I whispered.
