Chapter 10: Hello and Goodbye

Sheen folded his arms behind his head and propped up his feet on the ship's steering wheel. He belted out annoying Ultra Lord Songs, lounging in the broken ship's cockpit while Nesmith lay underneath the ship fixing things that Sheen chose to ignore. Nesmith bumped his head as he rolled out from under the ship to speak to Sheen,

"Ow, uhm…Sheen do you mind keeping it down? I feel a headache coming on."

Sheen rolled his eyes,

"All right, mister grumpy pants. I will never understand why you can't appreciate the soulful tunes of Ultralord."

Nesmith mumbled,

"Oh believe me. It's not the tunes; it's the voice singing them."

Sheen smiled as he gazed up at the sky. It was a typical Zeenu afternoon. The sky was a calm blue, scattered with pink clouds. He thought he could make out one in the form of his super purple suited hero, but he shook his head. Sheen wondered when the next time he would see an episode of Ultralord would be, which made his smile fall a little. As much as he loved Zeenu, he really missed Earth and grew impatient to make the journey back. He leaned over the side of the ship, and dangled upside down to view Nesmith. Nesmith was busy writing some kind of calculations down on a notepad. Sheen grinned crazily,

"So my monkey friend, how are we doing today?"

Nesmith meant to glare at him unamused for refusing to acknowledge his ape nature, but couldn't help but smile when he saw Sheen's aloof position. Nesmith sighed,

"We've still got a long way to go, Sheen. I'm trying my best, but remember that I'm doing this all on my own."

Sheen sighed and crawled back into his seat. He closed his eyes and imagined being back home. From behind his eyelids, he could hear Doppy approaching the ship talking to someone. Doppy was always so cheerful and talkative. Sheen liked Doppy, but he constantly reminded him of a certain friend back home, which saddened him. He listened to Doppy speaking to Nesmith,

"Why hello, Mr. Nesmith, isn't it a lovely day today?"

Nesmith chuckled from under the ship,

"As is every day according to you, Doppy."

Sheen felt Doppy lean against the ship, for the ship swayed from his weight,

"Hey, do you know where Sheen is? I've got a surprise for you guys!"

Sheen rolled his eyes inside of his head. Doppy always had a surprise for them. If he was trying to show them his spine one more time, he was going to scream. He heard Nesmith groan and roll out from the ship. Instead of hearing Nesmith's usual sarcastic wonder for whatever Doppy had, Sheen heard him gasp. What happened next surprised him even more, for Nesmith was shouting with glee,

"Oh my goodness gracious! How good it is to see you! How did you get here? Is one of you some kind of genius? Please tell me that you are familiar with at least some kind of mechanics!"

A voice that sounded exactly like Doppy's rung out,

"Oh my gosh, you're a talking monkey! That is amazing! Does Sheen know about you? He would flip out over how awesome you are."

Sheen eyes flew open. Doppy already knew that Sheen and Mr. Nesmith were friends, so that could only mean…

Sheen peered over the side of the ship and felt a grin spreading out so wide across his face that it hurt. Below him stood not only Mr. Nesmith, Doppy and Aseefa, but also Carl and Libby. Sheen flew out of the ship and landed on Carl. He leapt up still gripping Carl in a tight bear hug. Sheen yelled,

"You've come for me! Oh great heavens above, they've come for me!"

Carl choked from the lack of oxygen and Sheen released him slightly. Carl gasped for breath as he hugged Sheen back,

"Boy, are we glad to see you! We've been looking all over for you. Here, I brought you Ultralord crackers! I-I kind of ate about three quarters of them, but there's still some left."

Sheen smiled at him with tears in his eyes,

"You are the bestest friend ever, Carl."

Behind them, Libby cleared her throat. Sheen turned to look at her and was shocked. She was wearing a white jumpsuit made out of an alien type of synthetic silk with black combat boots. Her left arm was robot-like, but her flesh was still visible within it as well. The metal had the texture and colour of smooth dark grey chrome. A mechanical eyepiece ran over her right eye from the top of her hairline, down the bridge of her nose, around her cheekbone and towards her ear. Near her ear was a tiny knob that was slightly bigger than that of the knob on a wristwatch. A lens that protruded outwards slightly was situated over her eye. It was circular with a black screen-like filling. This part had the same texture and colour as the part on her arm. Libby stood with her arms crossed and foot tapping, waiting for his acknowledgement of her. Sheen gawked in awe,

"My Queen of Awesome Cyborgs, thou could be the princess daughter of Robo-Fiend. It is an honor to be bestowed with your great presence once again."

He bowed before her, taking her good hand and kissing it. Libby giggled,

"You could say that again."

Beside them, Aseefa shifted uncomfortably,

"Sheen, you did not tell me that you were courting another."

Sheen backed away from Libby, stepping towards Aseefa,

"Oh no it's not like that, we're just good friends."

He smiled, but Aseefa wasn't completely convinced. Libby scowled,

"Whoa, back it up. I thought I was your girlfriend."

Sheen laughed nervously between the two girls. Carl could sense the awkwardness and spoke up,

"Hey does anybody want Ultralord crackers? I'll bet there's still one left for each of us."

Carl shoved the box at Aseefa, but she pushed it away, still looking at Sheen with a look of confusion. Nesmith cleared his throat,

"Uhm…I hope you all don't mind me interrupting this…uhm tension…but please tell me, are either of you a genius?"

Between Carl and Libby, his eyes flitted back and forth. Libby responded through gritted teeth, still looking at Sheen,

"Neither of us is a genius, but we did come with one. However, he isn't with us at the moment, because he chose to go after his girlfriend, which actually means something to him."

Sheen held his hands up and opened his mouth to try and explain that he had feelings for both of them, but he turned to see the Emperor walking up to them and ran towards him,

"Emperor, how are you doing today?"

The Emperor laughed,

"As usual, I'm quite good. I heard rumours in the castle that some of your friends have come to retrieve you, and I thought I'd come by to meet them, before we have an official going away party for you."

Sheen threw his arm around the Emperor's shoulders, leading him to his friends,

"You'd throw a going away party for me? That'd be awesome! These are my friends Carl and Libby. Carl and Libby, meet my friend the Emperor of Zeenu."

Libby glared at Sheen, while Carl scooped the Emperor into a hug, happy to meet him. The Emperor squirmed out of Carl's grasp,

"Well any friend of Sheen's is a friend of mine. Come join me and I'll show you around the Palace."

However, before anyone could move, a stream of thick blue light shone down. The light illuminated them, and they looked up to see a massive black ship. Carl and Libby glanced at each other and gulped. They knew all too well it to be one of the Mariscians' ships. The Emperor gaped at the ship above them,

"Is that the ship you came in, new Earthlings?"

Libby shook her head,

"Heck no, but we do know who's ship it is."

The Emperor looked at Libby,

"Oh, have they come to visit too?"

Libby stuttered,

"Oh I don't know about a visit. I think this is just a pick up."

Suddenly, the jet of blue light started pulling at them, hauling them upwards into the ship. It was a tractor beam. Sheen, Libby, Carl, Aseefa, Mr. Nesmith, Doppy and the Emperor sprawled out helplessly, floating in the beam. Mr. Nesmith shouted at Libby,

"Who or what does this ship belong to then?"

Libby looked down at her arm to see a red light blinked on its surface. It was a tracking device. Her brow furrowed with the knowledge that she had been a danger to her friends. If they had inserted that into her without her knowing, what else had they done to her that she couldn't see? She stammered,

"Well I-I didn't exactly choose to look like a robot."

Sheen and the Zeenuwians eyes widened in understanding, and screamed as they entered the giant ship.