While Melvin, Candace, Margaret, and James were busy patrolling and looking in the wrong direction, the aliens were getting closer to planet Earth.
“We’re getting closer to planet Earth,” Monkey Wrench said. He didn’t know that he wasn’t supposed to repeat what the narrator says. But what can you expect from an alien? Aliens may have two brains, but they don’t know much about storytelling.
Monkey Wrench and Elbow were at the ship’s controls. Shoe was busy in the galley, rustling up something to eat. “Anybody in the mood for rumpkin pie?”
Monkey Wrench and Elbow were too busy to answer.
“We’re entering Earth’s atmosphere,” Monkey Wrench said. “Activate the cloaking device.”
“Commencing cloaking activation.”
They usually didn’t talk to each other with such formal speech. It just looks better in a book to have the leader of a spaceship barking out commands and others responding with words like “commencing.”
The problem was that Elbow didn’t commence soon enough.…
* * *
At a nearby air force base, Private Gunther Whusterflap picked up a strange signal on his radar screen. “Sir, some kind of unidentified flying object is entering Earth’s atmosphere.”
The commanding officer looked over Gunther’s shoulder. “Holy alien invasion! Is it my imagination, or are they traveling at Gamma Speed?”
Holy alien invasion, indeed! Wait a minute—how did he know about the aliens? He was just staring at a moving dot on a computer screen. Did he take a peek at the manuscript?
“Oops,” said the commanding officer. Peeking at the manuscript was a no-no.
“What are your orders, sir?” asked Private Whusterflap.
“Get the president on the pho—”
Suddenly the blip on the radar screen vanished.
The good news is that the cloaking device worked. Or is that bad news? It depends on whose side you’re on. It’s good news for the aliens—bad news for the inhabitants of planet Earth.
And it was very bad news for the people of Los Angeles and the four superheroes who were trying to protect them.
* * *
Shoe decided against rumpkin pie and instead made lunarfish sandwiches. He knew Monkey Wrench and Elbow wouldn’t say no to lunarfish sandwiches.
He was right. They didn’t. They’d need lots of energy to carry out their sinister kidnapping plan. “Thanks, that hit the spot,” said Monkey Wrench.
“Yes, thanks,” said Elbow.
There’s nothing like lunarfish sandwiches before a kidnapping.