37
Sarabeth was one stubborn piece of protective alien glass away from shutting down this piece-of-shit ship. That glass was all that separated her from the big silver orb that she believed—no, knew—was the source of the ship’s power.
The orb sat atop a helical pole, with green and purple tubes weaving around and around a silver cord that looked to be made from an organic material. The cord pulsed and pumped a fluid upward into the giant silver ball, which looked bigger than the one that dropped in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. In the right light, the orb picked up the purple and green colors of the weaving cords beneath it. It jiggled and wobbled and radiated warmth, even from beneath the thick glass shield that protected it. And at its gelatinous center was a sparking, rattling red orb that looked like it was making all the heat.
Sarabeth was six feet off the ground, having managed to climb partway up the helix so she could reach the casing around the orb. It was split down the middle, like it could be pried apart, but probably only if you were a huge alien, not a teenage girl who sat out of gym class with regularity. She’d tried shooting it, with the .38 that was still tucked in her waistband, but the glass was impenetrable.
Sarabeth gritted her teeth, dug in her fingernails, and pulled. For a split second, she thought she finally had loosened the casing, but then she fell to the ground, landing hard on her butt.
If only her friends (Leo!) would get here, one of them (Leo!) could help her get to the core and shut down the ship. Even with the task of destroying the core before her, she couldn’t stop thinking about Leo and how much she wanted to see him again. She was worried about Teena and Evan, too, of course. But Leo was the one who kept sneaking into her thoughts.
Part of her just wanted to share the story of how she’d gotten here: The jet-packed aliens that had stolen her from the bathroom had zipped her to the ship so fast, she’d felt like she’d been whirled around in a KitchenAid mixer. She’d been so disoriented, one of the aliens had to carry her onto the ship. Prone in the beast’s arms, she became aware of the tiny travel-sized bottle of Otherworldly she’d put in the pocket of her jeans. Still playing dead, she’d slyly pulled the cologne out of her pocket, and with two quick spritzes to their chests, the aliens were dead, and she was on the ship. So she’d run for the center, eager to see if she’d been right about the core, and had wound up here.
There’d been two aliens on duty when she arrived, but they’d been equally easy to dispatch with the Otherworldly. She’d found it funny that—with all the aliens’ technology—their top-secret room was less well protected than Teena’s dad’s wine cellar. But how long could she really have before one of the aliens found her?
From the entryway outside the chamber, she heard noises. Stumbling, fumbling noises. She rose quickly to her feet and held up the bottle of cologne tentatively. She thought the jellylike orb would dust up just like the aliens if she sprayed it. But she didn’t have much choice if she wanted to survive. She’d have to find another way to take out the core. She pointed the cologne bottle at the door with a shaky, useless hand.
Planting her feet and closing her eyes, she steeled herself for the aliens as something pushed its way through the puckered door.
“Don’t shoot!” The voice was familiar, and Sarabeth briefly wondered if the aliens had the skills to fake a human voice in an effort to trick her.
“At least, don’t shoot until you see how douchey I look.”
Nope. There was no way the aliens could replicate Leo’s witty repartee.
She opened her eyes.
And then she burst out laughing.
“Is that spandex?” she asked, not knowing if they were at a point in their fledgling relationship where she could run into his arms. Plus, the sight of Leo wearing something so rigid and sartorially opposite to his usual holey jeans, black tee, and boots was almost more than she could handle.
“Yes,” he said, blushing. “So, what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” His flirty smile appeared. Even though his face was covered in alien guts and dirt, even though he was wearing spandex and a kids’ superhero chest plate, Sarabeth really wanted to kiss him for dangerous lengths of time.
“Where are Teena and Evan?” she asked, biting her lip. She was an awful person to be so distracted by him that she hadn’t asked yet. But he was so cute.
“They’re okay,” Leo said, then grimaced uncertainly. He expelled a quick, nervous breath. “Well, they were last I saw them. But—”
“But what … ?”
“Well, Teena hung back and sent me here. When I left, she was fighting off a huge cluster of them,” Leo said, looking sheepish. “I was going to stay and help, but she wanted me to find you.”
“Oh my god,” Sarabeth said. “And Evan?”
“He was going to try to take out some aliens—who have a creepy human juicer, by the way—so he could get the captives outside.”
“So you found the captives,” she said, excitement for the accomplishment turning quickly to worry. “I hope Evan’s okay.”
“Me, too. He seemed sure of himself. So you never went to the holding bay?”
Sarabeth grinned. “Well, they popped up on me when I went to the bathroom. But as I screamed, I thought of something … ”
She filled him in on the rest. Leo stared at her, and she couldn’t read his face. She hoped he didn’t regret what had happened between them.
“Did you know that booze works, too? Can you believe we didn’t think of that?” He laughed. “You have got to see Abe’s trailer. It’s nuts. We raided his bar.”
“Is that why you smell like rum?”
Leo sniffed the air. “Probably.” He smiled at her. “So, what is your plan now?”
“Well, I think the whole ship will come down with a single spritz.” She pointed up at the orb as it rotated and pulsed. “I think that’s made of the same kind of organic material that the aliens are, but in a much more delicate form. That’s why it’s sheathed under the glass. But I can’t get that damn shield pried off. But maybe if we do it together?”
“I’d be honored.” They climbed up the helix, and took positions on either side of the shield. Sarabeth wedged her fingers into the small groove, and Leo did the same. Their pinkies touched.
“Count of three,” she said. Leo’s eyes met hers over the orb, and his pupils caught the silvery light. Sarabeth was ready to be done with aliens once and for all.
She counted down and then pulled on the shield with all her might. Leo strained against the cover as well. The aliens hadn’t been messing around when they’d built this protective casing. Sarabeth was about to give up, and then, when she thought she couldn’t pull any harder, the case gave way. The orb was unprotected.
“We did it,” she said, hearing the surprise in her voice.
“Of course we did,” Leo said, gently squeezing her hand with his own. “So what now?”
Sarabeth was ready for this part. Still holding on to her side of the now-opened casing with her feet on the green tubing, she reached a hand down and pulled the Otherworldly from her pants pocket. She sprayed everything that was left onto the pulsing silver ball.
Nothing happened. Nothing at all.
“It’s not working,” she said. She wasn’t used to being wrong. It was not nearly as bad as she’d thought it could be, except for the pesky fact that now the aliens would take over the world.
“Wait, I have something that might work,” Leo said. Now he reached down and pulled a small bottle from the waistband of his ridiculous spandex pants. He twisted off the cap one-handed and gave it to her. “It was Abe’s,” he said. “Smell it.”
She uncapped it and took a whiff. It was strong, the scent practically singeing her nostrils. The label said PURPLE PEOPLE-EATER.
“The name’s appropriate,” she said. She splashed the pungent purple liquid onto the orb.
What she’d expected to happen with the cologne was happening now. The liquor started to eat a hole into the orb, slowly dissolving it. Leo returned her carefully to the floor and turned her so she was facing him.
“So, I just want to make sure of one thing,” he said with his hands still lightly on her waist. “We’re still going to go to prom, right?”
She smiled and nodded, her emotions whirling in a good way. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the ball slowly dissolving, like a sugar cube in water, coming closer and closer to exposing the red orb, which looked like it was getting hotter and hotter as layers of the silver ball fell away. “Sure, but right now, I need you to do something else.” She couldn’t help the cockeyed grin that spread across her face. “I need you to kiss me like your life was hanging in the balance.”
Leo looked from her to the glowing, disintegrating orb at the core of the ship. “Right now, it kind of is, isn’t it?”
His lips hit hers electrically. It was even better kissing him now than it had been last night. Warmth spread through her body, and not just because of the undefined alien energy source that was melting a few feet away. Leo didn’t seem to want it to end any more than she did.
They broke away at the same time and in unison said, “Let’s get out of here.”