George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt (28 page)

“What about the clue?” said George. “Don't we need to see if there's another clue here for us? I mean, aren't we supposed to be saving planet Earth from someone who wants to destroy it?”

“Hmm…” Eric was looking anxious. Emmett was silent. “I think whoever sent you those messages put that part in to scare you,” he said. “I can't think of anything right now that is powerful enough to destroy a whole planet. It would take far more energy than we've ever generated before to blow up the Earth. That was just a threat, to make sure we didn't ignore the messages.”

“But what if it came from aliens who have sources of power we can't even dream of?” asked Annie. “How do you know there isn't a superrace out there? Those messages weren't sent by some bacteria, were they?”

“That, I suppose,” said Eric, “is what we're trying to find out. Annie”—his tone changed—“why don't you sit down and have a rest? Try not to talk for a few minutes, get your strength back.”

“But I don't want to not talk,” said Annie. “I like talking. That's what I'm good at. And soccer. I'm good at soccer. And physics. I'm great at that, aren't I, Dad?”

“I know,” said Eric soothingly. “But you're running
a bit low on air now. So I need you to be quiet for me, until we know when we're going home.”

George looked around. He studied the ravines and mountains of this rocky planet, seeking the source of the rushing noise. Suddenly, at the other end of the valley, he saw something move.

“Over there!” he said quietly to Eric while Annie sat down on a rock.

“It's moving,” muttered Eric, spotting it. “But what is it?”

The thing was in shadow so they couldn't even make out its shape. All they could see was that it was coming toward them. It was like a black blob creeping ever closer.

“George,” said Eric, “call Emmett
now
! Tell him we've got an ET sighting, and I want him to open the portal and take you and Annie back immediately.”

“Emmett…” George tried to call him. “Emmett…Come in, Emmett…Emmett, we need you to beam us up.”

The shape was approaching them along the dark side of the ravine, shaded from the rays of the yellow dwarf star, Cancri A. As it crept toward them, they noticed two tiny pinpricks of bright red light shining from its middle, like a pair of very angry eyes.

“Annie,” said Eric, “stand up and get behind me. We have an alien approaching.”

Annie got to her feet and hurried behind her dad, peeping around him. The black shape came closer, the red lights in its middle sparkling with demonic fury. As it approached, they could see it was shaped almost like a human being, dressed entirely in black, with scarlet eyes burning out of its stomach.

“Get back,” said Eric. “Whatever you are, do not take another step toward us.”

The thing took no notice of Eric's warning and continued onward. It stepped out of the shadow and into the light. And then it spoke.

“So, Eric,” its voice rasped through all their voice transmitters, “we meet again.”

O
MG! It's Reeper!” shouted Annie and George at the same moment.

Standing in front of them, in a black space suit with a black glass visor on a black space helmet, was none other than Eric's nemesis, Dr. Graham Reeper, the once-upon-a-time friend and colleague who had turned on him and become his deadly enemy.

Not so long ago, Eric had let Dr. Reeper, who had been posing as a teacher at George's school, escape to start a new life somewhere else. Even though he had tried to throw Eric into a black hole and steal his amazing computer, Eric had been convinced that Reeper shouldn't be punished.

And now it seemed that Eric had made a terrible mistake. Reeper was back and—in his black suit on this distant moon—a thousand times scarier than when George and Annie had last seen him.

Reeper wasn't alone, either. In his cupped hands he held what looked like a small animal with glowing bright red eyes. Its little paws scrabbled
against the shiny black material of Reeper's space gloves.

“Ahhhh—look!” said Annie. “He's found a lovely little furry pet on this planet!” She took half a step forward, but Eric shot out an arm to stop her from going any closer. The creature in Reeper's hands hissed and bared its teeth. Reeper stroked its head with one hand.

“There, there,” he said soothingly. “Don't worry, Pooky. We'll get rid of them very soon.”

“You'll never destroy us, Reeper,” said Eric defiantly. Behind him, George was desperately trying to radio Emmett.

“Is that the boy?” asked Reeper idly. “Is that the boy who ruined all my plans last time? How kind of you to bring him too. That's so”—the animal made a nasty growling noise—“thoughtful. And your daughter. How charming.”

“Reeper, you can do anything you want to me,” said Eric, “but don't touch the kids. Let them go.”

“Let them go?” said Reeper, as though considering it. “What do you say, Pooky?” He scratched the animal's head. “Shall we let the kids go?” Pooky hissed loudly. “The problem is,” he explained, “your children don't have anywhere
to
go. Or any way to get there. I know you're trying to call your dear chum Cosmos to help you out, and it's really very touching how much faith you've put in him. But you might as well save your oxygen because Pooky here is sending out a very powerful blocking signal.”

“What!” exclaimed Eric. “What
is
Pooky?”

“Dear little Pooky,” said Reeper. “He is my friend. Sweet, isn't he? Twice as powerful as Cosmos and so very much smaller. In fact, you could say Pooky is the nano-Cosmos. I disguised him as a hamster. After all, who would think of looking for a very powerful supercomputer inside a hamster's cage?”

“What!” said Eric. “You built a new version of Cosmos?”

“What did you think I'd been up to all this time?” Reeper sneered. “Did you think I would just forget about everything that happened? Or did you think I would
forgive
?” He said the last word in a particularly unpleasant fashion. “Forgiveness is only for lucky people, Eric. People like you. People who get everything they ever wanted. It's easy for you to
be forgiving, with your wonderful career and your lovely family and your nice home and your helpful supercomputer. You've always had everything your own way. Until now, that is.”

“Reeper, why have you brought us here?” demanded Eric. “It was you, wasn't it, who left those clues?”

“Indeed it was.” Reeper sighed. “At last! You guessed. It took a while though. We've been sending messages to Cosmos for ages. We began to think you would never take the bait. It's not like you to be so slow. And yes, before you ask, it was me playing games with your lovely little robot, Homer. Pooky interrupted him on the descent and managed to tamper with his programming. I thought you'd have to notice Homer. But no. Even that took ages. You've been terribly amateur, Eric. I expected better from you.”

“It wasn't Eric!” George stepped forward angrily. “It was us! We were the ones who read the clues and came after you.”

“Oh, the boy wonder,” said Reeper. “Eric's mini-me. Another disciple—how tiring.”

“Step back, George,” warned Eric. “And keep trying Cosmos. I don't believe that nano-computer is as powerful as Reeper says.”

Reeper laughed, a horrible grating sound. “You think you're very clever, don't you, Eric? Looking for signs of life in the Universe. But you're not as clever as me. That's why I brought you here. Finally to prove that to you.”

“Prove what?” Eric snorted. “You're proving nothing right now, Reeper. Only that we were right to keep you away from Cosmos all those years ago.”

“Always the saint.” Reeper sneered back again. “Wanting scientific knowledge to benefit humanity. How have you benefited humanity, Eric? Isn't your precious human race in the process of destroying the beautiful planet it lives on? Why not just help people achieve their goal faster—get rid of Earth and all those morons on it and start again? Somewhere like here. A new planet. This is what I lured you out here to see, Eric. I've completed your mission. I've found a place where life might begin—a place where intelligent life could thrive. Where, in fact, simple life could already be present.” He held up a clear vial of liquid. “I've found
this
,” he said. “The elixir of life.”

“You don't know that's water!” said Eric. “You don't know what that is.”

“I do know that
whatever it is, I found it before you.
Me
, not
you
, Eric.
I
found the new planet Earth. I
own
it, and I control access to it. And when the Earth finally goes
boom!
I will be in charge of the whole human race as well.”

The cosmic hamster's eyes were now glowing like a burning furnace. It scrabbled excitedly as Reeper spoke.

Eric shook his head. “Reeper,” he said sadly, “you are such a loser.”

Reeper howled. “I am
not
a loser!” he said angrily. “I am
winning
!”

“No, you're not,” said Eric. “So you don't like humanity? So you think we've made a mess of the planet? So you'd prefer to keep all your scientific knowledge to yourself, not share it with anyone else, and perhaps charge people lots of money for the use of it? That makes you a total loser. You've cut yourself off from everything that is good or useful or interesting or beautiful—from everything human, in fact. I mean, look at your version of Cosmos. It's disgusting. And I think Pooky is molting.”

Pooky looked outraged. Reeper rocked backward and forward on his space boots in fury.

Behind Eric, Annie was giving George a countdown, using the fingers of her space gloves. Silently she counted down:
Five, four, three, two, ONE!
When she got to
one
, the two kids charged forward, heads
lowered, and butted Reeper in the stomach with their space helmets.

George snatched Pooky and dashed away while Annie gave Reeper a swift kick in the stomach. Unbalanced by the sudden attack, Reeper fell backward and lay groaning on the ground, looking like an upturned stag beetle. The vial of liquid flew out of his hand and smashed on a rock, the clear liquid seeping away. Eric ran over and put one heavy boot on Reeper's chest.

“Graham,” he said, “this isn't why we went into science. We went into science because it's fascinating and exciting, because we wanted to explore the Universe and find out the secrets it holds. We wanted to understand, to know, to comprehend, to write another chapter in the story of humanity's search for knowledge. We are part of a great tradition, using the work of those who went before to help us progress farther and yet farther across this amazing Universe in which we live. And to understand why we are here and how it all began. That's what we
do
, Graham. We bring enlightenment by
sharing
our knowledge. We don't keep it to ourselves. We explain, we teach, we seek. We move humanity forward by sharing the secrets we uncover. We aim to create a better world, on whatever planet we live, rather than finding a new world and keeping that planet all to ourselves.”

But Reeper didn't seem to care. “Give back Pooky,” he rasped. “He's
mine
. You stole Cosmos from me once. Don't take Pooky now. I can't live without him.”

“Pooky is only a tool,” said Eric. “Just like Cosmos.”

“No! It's not
fair
!” ranted Reeper. “You only say that because you have Cosmos! And you don't even need him! You can understand the Universe! I don't! That's why I wanted Cosmos, Eric. You'll never know what it's like! You've always been a genius—you don't know what it's like to be ordinary. Like me.” He started sobbing.

George was struggling to hold on to Pooky. “I don't know how to turn him off!” he said to Annie.

“You've got to stroke his head,” she said. “Like Reeper was doing. That's where his control panel must be.”

“I can't!” said George. “I'll lose him—he's trying to escape! You do it!”

“Eeew!” said Annie, taking a cautious step toward him. She reached out a finger and Pooky promptly bit her. She snatched her hand back. The horrible creature hadn't pierced the space glove, so Annie was still safely sealed into her suit. She moved forward again, and this time waved one hand at Pooky. While he was watching that hand, she used the other to touch his head. She rubbed hard….

The next second they heard Emmett's voice once more.

“Annie! George! Eric!” he said. “I haven't been able to get through!”

“Open the portal, quickly,” said George. “We're coming back.”

Emmett sounded frantic. “Cosmos doesn't have enough memory,” he said. “He needs help. He needs
another computer to join up with him to get you back.”

“Another computer!” said George. “Where are we going to get another computer? We're on a moon orbiting a planet forty-one light-years away! It's not like they have stores here.”