Sammi, Alex, and Herbert were still laughing as they tumbled out of the wormhole and onto the grass. Standing over them was Alex’s mother, with Ellie and Mr. Snookybuns at her side. And they all looked very upset.

“Alex,” Mrs. Filby said sternly. “You directly disobeyed me by playing this spaceman game, you lied to your father about going camping, and—”

“Excuse me, Mrs. Filby?” Sammi said, cutting her off. “I know Alex disobeyed you, but for what it’s worth, the only reason he did it was to help Herbert and me.”

Alex and Herbert looked at Sammi and wondered where she was going with this.

“See, Herbert and I weren’t being very honest friends to Alex. And we were being such jerks that the only way he could show us how friends should treat one another was to play our game with us one last time.”

Mrs. Filby looked suspiciously at the three silver-suited, soon-to-be sixth graders. “Herbert. Is this true?”

Herbert was silent for a moment. Sammi glared at him. Finally, he nodded. “Yes, Mrs. Filby. Alex’s demonstration of friendship has proven to be surprisingly enlightening.”

“Well, Alex. I must say, that’s very—uh, normal-sounding praise from your friends. I suppose if these are the kinds of things you’re sharing and learning with your spaceman game, it wouldn’t be so bad if you continued to play it.”

Ellie’s eyes narrowed. She slowly squeezed Mr. Snugglebuns’ head in frustration.

“That’s okay, Mom,” Alex said. “This was our last mission. We’re taking off our silver suits and packing them off to a place where we won’t see them for a long, long time.”

“Oh. Well, that’s very mature of you, Alex,” Mrs. Filby said, slightly surprised. She got a thought and added, “Now that you’ll have some free time, I may need your help in getting your father to quit video games. I think he might have a problem. We’ll talk at dinner.”

Alex, Sammi, and Herbert watched Mrs. Filby lead Ellie and Mr. Snugglebuns into the house. Without saying a word, they stood up and unzipped their N.E.D. suits. Standing in their normal, boring kid clothes, they gently folded the silver suits and climbed the ladder to the mouth of the tube slide.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Sammi said.

“You mean everything,” Herbert corrected her.

“All righty,” Alex said as he flicked on the suit in his hands. “AlienSlayers, start your engines!”

A tiny blue swirl inside the slide began to pulse and come to life. Herbert flipped his on. The tiny blue swirl got bigger and stronger. Sammi smiled and flipped hers on, too.

WUBBA-WUBBA-WUBBA-WUBBA-WUBBA-WUBBA!!

The wormhole surged. The empty N.E.D. suits jerked in their arms, lurching toward the wide mouth of the slide. The three neighbors looked at one another.

“ONE! TWO! THREE! GO!” They let go of their suits.

FOOMPF! FOOMPF! FOOMPF!

In the blink of an eye, the three silver N.E.D. suits, the keys to Sammi’s, Alex’s, and Herbert’s wormhole, disappeared. And a half a blink later, so did the wormhole itself.

The three of them sat there for a moment in silence.

Herbert got up first. He slowly climbed down the ladder without saying a word. Sammi followed.

“Yeeeehaaawww!”

They turned to the bottom of the tube slide and watched as Alex tumbled out onto the grass.

“Y’know, this is actually a pretty cool jungle gym.”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you guys at school,” Herbert said.

“I hear sixth grade is pretty challenging,” Sammi added.

“Hope we can handle it,” Alex said, doing his best SarcasmaTron imitation.

Alex, Sammi, and Herbert burst out laughing. The three ex-AlienSlayers walked off in three separate directions toward their three separate houses, giggling to themselves.

 

Chicago Illinois sat cradled in the tusks of the large, stuffed woolly mammoth, tossing pebbles at the black-painted cave entrance. The last pebble bounced off the fake rock, and the entrance began to glow and swirl a deep blue. He sat up.

POP! POP! POP!

Three silver objects suddenly shot out of the cave hole and smacked him in the head. Chicago fell out of his mammoth hammock. He pulled the empty N.E.D. suits off his head, looked down at them, and smiled proudly as he realized exactly what his friends had entrusted him to do.

At the opposite end of the Hallway of Human History, Chicago approached a large-handled bin in the wall. Above it was a sign:

TRASH DISINTEGRATOR CHUTE. Chicago pulled open the bin door and looked down the dark shaft.

He held the three N.E.D. suits and took just a second to contemplate what he was about to do. He made a silent little wish that Alex, Sammi, and Herbert would live a long and happy life, so that someday he could see them again.

Then he quickly stuffed the suits into the bin.

He didn’t watch them fall down the chute but rather quickly slammed the bin lid closed. He knew himself too well—if he thought about it too much, he might change his mind and dive after them, keeping just one for himself so he could visit the friends he would miss very much.

Chicago Illinois wiped away a tear with his sleeve and walked out of the Merwinsville Museum of Human History.