Part six written by Garfieldodie
Nesbin and Ned had been beamed back to the main mother ship in a pair of transmat platforms. They stepped down and looked around as the crews were finishing up with certain menial tasks.
Nesbin stormed through the running crewmen towards the front of the ship and to the giant Plexiglas view screen. He glared out through the window, and he clearly admired the attack being implemented on Annkor, which was drawing to a close.
"Status report?" he asked.
No one seemed to notice their commander. When you're invading a planet, you tend to forget you're doing it with other people.
"HEY! LISTEN UP!" Nesbin shouted angrily.
Ned shouted to his crew.
"Hey, listen up! It's the old man! He's announcing layoffs!" he yelled.
Everyone halted and stared at him, including Nesbin.
"Okay, not really," Ned said. "I was just getting your attention. Take it away, chief!"
Nesbin stared at him for a moment later before looking embarrassed.
"Yes, erm…don't call me Chief."
And he addressed his crew.
"Who can give me a status report?" he demanded.
A few members of the crew scurried forward holding stacks of paper.
"Here, sir!" they said eagerly.
Nesbin took the first paper and began reading it over. A grin slid across his deep red face.
"I see the invasion has been a success!" he said proudly.
"Yes, sir! We've managed to collect over thirty tons of Jethrick, and there may be more to come!"
"Very good!"
Another crewmember spoke up.
"Erm, sir, I think it would be recommended if we pulled back now," he said nervously.
Nesbin glared at him. "And why would we do that? We've seen nothing but success so far!"
"Our resources show that the center of the planet is beginning to disintegrate outwards," he explained. "If we keep draining the planet like this, we'll end up destroying it!"
"Point being?" Nesbin sneered. "We can get away whenever we need to!"
"But the people of Annkor would die!"
Nesbin raised an eyebrow menacingly, and then he leaned in closely to the smaller Plantonian soldier.
"It was his idea!" he whimpered, pointing at another officer.
Nesbin sneered and walked away.
Ned watched, and then he resumed his own work.
Hobbes, Socrates, Andy and Sherman were pelting their way back through the town as fast as they could. They were dodging the laser blasts, the explosions and the screaming natives.
Hobbes was in front, struggling to lead the others to a place of safety. Calvin wasn't here, so for the time being, he had to give up his cowardice. Calvin had once referred to him as the Earth Potentate's Second-in-Command. It was time to live up to his false title. Hobbes could only force out his bravery and lead.
Andy was running behind him with Sherman safely huddled in his pocket. He was quite terrified. He tended to get a little scared in these experiences. When he thought about it, his life had become incredibly complicated. Sure, it had been strange before. He had a talking pet hamster for pity's sake! And yet he'd been content with this life. Now he was on an alien planet dodging energy blasts. It both amazed and terrified him. There was a world beyond his videogames.
Sherman was tucked away in his pocket, poking his head out as he bucked up and down with Andy's right leg. He was digging his small claws into the blue jeans. This was the price he paid for being so intellectually curious. He was a scientist, after all. Sure, his experiments on Earth were a bit frivolous, but he enjoyed them. Now, however, he was admiring the bigger picture and the intelligent life that was before him.
Socrates, for once in his life, was not complaining about not pranking someone. For once, pranking was not on his current docket. He was concerned about getting around the alien planet and surviving. Helping this alien planet would become a priority as soon as his life wasn't in danger. And seeing as how he was at the rear, odds were that he was going to be in danger longer than the others.
Hobbes and Andy were able cover some decent ground, but Socrates was suddenly spotted by a Plantonian, who began firing his blaster. The resulting explosion missed Socrates, going off behind him.
BOOM!
"WHOA!" Socrates screamed, jumping two feet in the air and changing directions.
BOOM!
"ACK!" He tried going another way.
KABOOM!
"WHOA NELLY!!" He tried to go another way, still trying to keep up with the others.
Hobbes then spotted the Traffic Control building again. He led the others in that direction.
"Come on!" he shouted, pointing towards it.
Andy and Sherman immediately followed him in his right turn.
Socrates tried to follow, but there was another barrage of fire in his direction once again.
BOOM! BOOM! KABLAM! KABOOM!
"WILL YOU PEOPLE GET A LIFE?!" he shouted, trying to ignore the fear bubbling up inside of him, and he followed the others towards the building.
Hobbes began pounding on the doors which he had discovered were locked.
"HELLO?!" he shouted. "LET US IN! ROWAN?! LET US IN!!"
Andy and Socrates ran up and immediately started shouting and pounding the doors along with him.
After a few seconds of this, the doors slid apart, revealing Rowan.
Hobbes and Andy managed to stop pounding in time, but Socrates' brain didn't register the fat the doors were gone, and he accidentally seemed to mistake Rowan for the doors. He punched him.
POW!
Rowan nursed his black eye as he glared at Socrates.
"Ooh, sorry about that," Socrates said, giggling sheepishly.
Rowan moved aside as they all dove into the lobby
"Where's the Earth Potentate?" King Stor demanded.
"Where're Galaxoid and Nebular?!" added Rowan.
"They aren't here! Shut the doors!" Hobbes shouted.
Rowan quickly complied and put the doors on double-lock.
"What did you find out?" King Stor demanded.
"Do you remember a scientist?" Hobbes asked him. "Ideally, a human scientist that was brought to you from Earth?"
There was a pause as King Stor pondered.
"He has two poofy sticks of hair coming out of his head," Socrates supplied.
"Yes, very Three Stooges," Andy added.
"Ah, yes! Retro Griffin! That freakazoid…," Stor said, finally remembering.
"Yeah, sorry for supplying him for you," Hobbes said sheepishly. "I remember Calvin told me that the idea was that Retro was too far ahead of his own time on Earth, so we figured he'd be better off here on Annkor."
"Oh, don't feel bad," Stor assured him. "It gave us a chance to observe a human being up close."
"He's the one that let the Plantonians in," Andy said.
There was a pause.
"Well, we might be a bit peeved at you," Stor admitted.
"How'd he let them in?" Rowan asked. "We set up the best prison facility we could! We got it from one of the prison planets we work with!"
"Retro's quite intelligent," Sherman said. "He invented a special sort of robot with a built-in camera. He must've found a way to sneak the remote control onto one of the ships that was making an exchange with your planet. The Plantonians intercepted said ship and took the remote, and used the robot to bring down your barriers after establishing contact with him."
"Clever," Stor commented.
"So what do we do?" Rowan asked urgently.
"Calvin's still out there," Hobbes said. "He's been up to something this whole time. He's got some sort of complex plan."
"Should be entertaining enough," Andy added.
BEE-BEEP! BEE-BEEP! BEE-BEEP! BEE-BEEP! BEE-BEEP!
They became painfully aware of a beeping noise.
"What's that mean?" Socrates asked.
"Incoming message in the control room!" Rowan announced, and he fled the lobby.
The others followed him. They flew up the spiral staircase into the control room on the top floor. They ran to the end of the room. They noticed the box was still crashing into the wall, and the broken window had been patched up.
Rowan pushed a button.
"Traffic Control," he announced. "State your name and purpose."
"My name is Calvin, and I'm saving your planet!"
Hobbes immediately pushed Rowan aside.
"Calvin, where the heck are you?!" he demanded.
"Ah, Hobbes!" Calvin's voice said. "Glad to see you all made it. Well, right now, I'm sitting in the back of Galaxoid and Nebular's hovercraft, and they're driving me to what I hope is the solution to stopping the invasion."
"We were parked in a No-Tow Zone," Nebular said. "It was remarkable."
Everyone sighed.
"Well, what is your plan?" Hobbes asked.
"I only have one plan for you guys," Calvin said. "And that is it to get in the box and get away from the planet just in case it doesn't work."
"Doesn't work?!"
"I have no written guarantees."
Everyone exchanged worried glances.
"Um, Calvin?" Hobbes asked slowly.
"Yeah, Hobbes?"
"…You'll be careful, right?"
There was a pause.
"As careful as I can," Calvin replied.
There was warmth in his voice that Hobbes found comforting.
"Okay, buddy. We'll do it."
"Great. Over and out."
And the line went dead.
Everyone looked at Hobbes expectantly.
"…Hobbes?" Socrates asked carefully.
Hobbes faced him, and then he glanced at the box. Then he faced Rowan.
"I'm terribly sorry to do this, but is it okay if we break your window again?" he asked sweetly.
Calvin put the phone away as he sat in the backseat of Galaxoid and Nebular's craft. They were piloting through the tattered remains of the town. Most of this area was deserted. Calvin was thankful for it. The less people bothering him the better.
Sdrawkcab was coming into view. The drive thru establishment was surprisingly untouched in all the destruction, making it seem out of place.
"Here we are," Galaxoid said. "Now would you mind explaining the plan to us?"
"Bring us all the way there," Calvin said, leaning forward to get a better view.
Galaxoid brought the craft forward a little bit more. Slowly but surely, they flew amongst the smoking debris and flew towards the main building of the restaurant. He gently brought the craft down on the ground.
Once the engine stopped, Calvin unbuckled his seatbelt.
Galaxoid and Nebular lowered the dome around them, and they got out.
"Well, what are we here for?" Nebular asked.
Calvin looked around.
"You said that when you came here to eat, everything was shifted into reverse, except yourselves?" he asked, not looking at them.
"Correct," Galaxoid said.
"The people were moving forward, except the employees and anything related to the restaurant."
"Yep," said Nebular.
Calvin pondered.
"What planet did you get this from?" he asked.
"Oh, it's a very famous chain of restaurants that extends from the universe Esrever," Galaxoid explained.
Calvin nodded. "I suppose that means that their universe goes backwards through time?" he asked.
"Every last detail."
"And how was that brought here? Time moves forward everywhere else on your planet."
"We're not sure," Nebular said. "We've never been to that universe."
Calvin nodded and looked around.
Then he noticed something.
The smoke billowing from the ruins of the city were coming towards the restaurant, but they didn't seem to go further than where they were. It was almost as this cloud of smoke was up against some sort of wall.
Understanding began to occur.
"Of course!" he cried. "A concentrated time vortex!"
As he ran to the cloud of smoke, Galaxoid and Nebular looked confused.
"A what?" Nebular asked.
Calvin ran to the edge of the smoke wall. He picked up a small packet of mustard someone had dropped. He saw that it was squashed, and that all the mustard inside it had squirted out of it. Raising an eyebrow, he put his foot down on the squashed bit, and suddenly, he felt his foot go up as the puddle of mustard erupted and formed a stream that flew back into the packet, which resealed itself. Calvin picked it up and ran towards a spot where the smoke wasn't very thick.
He walked past the smoke, taking note of a sudden flash.
Galaxoid and Nebular watched intently.
Calvin then placed the mustard packet on the ground and stepped on it. A stream of mustard squirted from it, making an identical puddle on the pavement.
"Alright!" he said. "Experiment time!"
He passed through another flash and approached Galaxoid and Nebular.
"What is it?" Galaxoid asked.
"It's a special force field that concentrates on non-sentient objects," Calvin explained.
"Huh?"
"It makes things that aren't alive go backwards."
"But…but the employees at the restaurant!" Nebular objected. "They go backwards too!"
Calvin pondered, and then he ran inside the building and looked around. As Galaxoid and Nebular followed him, they found him looking at the uniforms. When he checked one of the hats, he found his answer.
"Got it!" he said. "A special reverse field inhibiter."
"What does it do?" Galaxoid asked.
"It can incase the person wearing the hat within a similar force field that fits them like a glove!"
"What's a glove?"
Calvin glanced at Galaxoid and Nebular, neither of who had arms.
"That's not important," Calvin sighed. "The point is that the force field can be concentrated on certain things. Whenever an employee wears it, it shifts them into reverse."
"I see…"
"I'm sure you don't, but it's nice of you to try."
Calvin put the hat away and began to search.
"Now, if I can just find out what makes the force field," he said, searching carefully.
He saw a door marked DO NOT ENTER. Deciding it was worth a shot, he entered. A grin sprung upon his face.
"Bingo!" he crowed. "It's the force field generator!"
A giant machine was whirring away inside with lights flashing across it.
"What's your plan?" Nebular asked.
"I just need to copy the data on the generator, and then I can take care of the Plantonians," Calvin explained, going through various working components.
Calvin had just found the screen he was looking for when he heard a voice.
"CALVIN!! GET OUT HERE!!"
Galaxoid and Nebular looked back in time to see Retro standing at the doorway, the MTM in his clutches.
"Hey, Retro," Calvin said, not looking up. "Hey, MTM, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Cheers," MTM said cheerfully.
"Quiet you!" Retro grumbled.
"What are you doing here?" Galaxoid demanded, back away.
"I am exacting my revenge before my universal domination!"
"Aren't they all?" Calvin muttered, looking some wires over.
Retro aimed MTM at them.
Galaxoid and Nebular backed away in fear, but Calvin wasn't paying attention.
"Device…," Retro started.
"I have a name, you know," MTM said defiantly. "I am Mini-Time Machine or MTM for short."
"Fine," Retro grumbled. "MTM…? DESTROY THE BOY!"
Galaxoid and Nebular jumped in front of Calvin, hoping to shield him.
But nothing happened.
MTM didn't fire.
Retro stared. "I gave you an order! Follow it!"
"Where's it going?" MTM asked.
"Where's what going?!"
"The order you've just told me to follow."
"I meant I wanted you to comply with the order's directions!"
"Oh, sorry about that mate," MTM said. "I didn't hear you the first time. I was thinking about Family Circus. It was really funny today."
"Oh, that's a filthy lie," Calvin snorted. "It's not funny at all!"
"DESTROY HIM!" Retro hollered.
"Who?" MTM asked.
"CALVIN!"
"Why?"
"BECAUSE I TOLD YOU TO!"
"What, without his permission? That's coming across as a bit rude, isn't it?"
"Just destroy him!"
"No, really, think about it. Say you've got a leaf blower, right? And your neighbor takes it without asking you. Wouldn't that just annoy you to death?"
"I have the same problem with Hobbes and my comic books," Calvin agreed.
"Look, I just want you to destroy Calvin!" Retro moaned, glaring at the MTM.
"Here, I'll ask him for you," MTM said. "Calvin?"
"Yo."
"Would you mind terribly if I destroyed you?"
"I'm afraid I would, MTM, yes," Calvin replied. "However, there is one thing I'll allow you to do."
"What's that then?"
"I think you should alert people of a coming apocalypse."
"I get to use the siren?"
"Please do."
"Goody. Cover your ears, mates."
Calvin, Galaxoid and Nebular did so.
"Siren?" Retro asked cautiously. "What are you…?"
WHIRP! WHIRP! WHIRP! WHIRP! WHIRP! WHIRP! WHIRP! WHIRP!
AWOOGA! AWOOGA! AWOOGA! AWOOGA! AWOOGA! AWOOGA! AWOOGA!
THERE'S AN EMERGENCY GOING ON! IT'S STILL GOING ON! EMERGENCY!
WAMP! WAMP! WAMP! WAMP! WAMP! WAMP! WAMP! WAMP! WAMP! WAMP!
STEP A-WAY FROM THE VE-HIC-LE! STEP A-WAY FROM THE VE-HIC-LE!
BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP!
BABOOM! BABOOM! BABOOM! BABOOM! BABOOM! BABOOM! BABOOM!
Throughout all the noise and ruckus, Retro was struggling to cover his ears while holding MTM, but that just brought the sound closer.
Finally, he gave up throughout his own frustration, and he fled, dropping MTM on the floor.
Calvin, ears still plugged, walked over and tapped his foot lightly on the MTM's STOP button.
"I bet you were glad to get that out of you system," he commented.
"Yep," MTM said, sounding as though he was grinning. "Now what happens?"
"I need you to do a complete scan of the force field generator," Calvin explained.
"Check."
Calvin brought MTM over to the force field generator.
A green light extended from MTM, and after it flashed for a bit, it went away.
There was a pause.
"Processing… Processing… Right, got it all," he announced.
"Good. Now I need you to find a way of concentrating all that data into one equation."
There was a pause as MTM did so.
"All set," he said.
"Good. Now get ready to use it."
Calvin led Galaxoid and Nebular outside, and they passed through the force field again. They approached the mustard packet.
"Put all that data into a ray and put it on that blob of mustard," Calvin said.
MTM did so, briefly engulfing the mustard with a glow of green.
Calvin then placed his foot down on the squished packet, and then felt the packet inflate as the mustard reentered it, and the packet resealed again.
"Excellent," Calvin grinned, pocketing it. "Now then, use this." He removed a CD from his pocket and placed it in the MTM.
"What do we do now?" Nebular asked.
"We're going for a drive!"
And they piled back into the hovercraft.
Retro was stumbling through the town, trying to get his hearing back. He was nauseated from all this movement. He hadn't moved like this in so long.
As he moved through the ruins of the great city, however, he failed to notice someone following him.
Holographic Retro was still following him. He was glaring angrily. He felt so enraged at his human self that he didn't know what to do about him. He had seen what had happened. He was convinced that his human self was the inferior one. Judging his timing carefully, he pressed against his H and he was absorbed back into his light bee. The light bee flew after Human Retro.
When Retro wasn't looking, the light bee carefully set itself down in his pocket.
That was when Retro noticed that Calvin was flying overhead with Galaxoid and Nebular. The hovercraft overtook him and rounded a bend and disappeared.
Retro, now with restored vigor, started running after them.
Nesbin and Ned were watching progress from the mother ship.
"I'm impressed with all the progress we've made, sir," Ned said.
"Quite right, Ned," Nesbin replied, grinning. "Within the next few hours, we shall have depleted the planet of all the Jethrick, and it should last at least another millennium."
There was a pause.
"That's not much, in retrospect, sir," Ned noted.
"It's long enough for us."
A smaller Plantonian sergeant ran up.
"Commander! Commander!" he said.
"What now?" Nesbin sighed, sounding a might bit agitated.
"Our sensors indicate a small craft making its way towards us."
"How many life signs?"
"Three, sir. Two of Annkor and one humanoid of an unspecified planet."
Nesbin nodded.
"I think I know who they are," he said grimly. "When they're within range, beam them aboard."
"Yes, sir," he replied, and the sergeant went to alert the people who could actually handle that particular task.
Nesbin rose from his chair and looked out at the sky.
"So…," he pondered. "Our manipulative little humanoid is about to get nasty…"
As the hovercraft rounded some bends in the town, Retro was trying desperately to keep up.
Galaxoid was steering carefully and diligently.
"There it is!" he announced.
Calvin stared at the giant Plantonian battle cruiser. Lots of diggers and carriers were coming to and from it.
"That's the mother ship? You're sure?" he asked.
"Absolutely sure," MTM assured him.
"And you're sure it's computer systems connect with all the ships?"
"Correct."
"Good. Galaxoid, take us up."
Galaxoid began accelerating, bringing the nose of the craft up a bit.
Retro, desperate, reached out and managed to grab the undercarriage of the craft before it was out of reach. He dangled there, both angry and nervous.
No one seemed to notice him.
However, as they began to approach the cruiser, they noticed something coming towards them.
"Hey!" Calvin said cheerfully. "It's the gang!"
The cardboard box, being carefully steered by Hobbes, was making its way through the sky. In the back were Andy, Sherman and Socrates. Hobbes noticed his friend and immediately headed in his direction.
The box and the craft both met each other halfway, nose to nose.
Calvin climbed forward and put his head between Galaxoid and Nebular and waved at them.
Hobbes waved back.
Calvin tried to say something, but the glass muffled it.
Hobbes realized this and held a hand to his ear to let this be known.
Calvin looked at the glass dome. Then he pulled out MTM and said something inaudible to him. There was a pause as MTM popped his top.
Hobbes waited patiently outside, tapping his fingers along the box's side in musical rhythm.
Finally, Andy's cell phone rang, and he pulled it out.
"Hello?" he asked. There was a pause before he handed it to Hobbes. "It's for you."
Hobbes took it.
"Hey," Calvin's voice said.
"Hey," Hobbes replied, a smile forming.
"What're you guys doing here?"
"We were about to do what you told us to. Have you finished your plan yet?"
"Not yet. Where're Rowan and King Stor?"
"We put them in the hypercube. Figured they'd be okay."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, they found an old Cosmo magazine. They'll be busy."
"Cool."
Socrates suddenly waved his hand.
"I think Socrates wants to talk to me," Calvin said. "Put him on."
Hobbes nodded and handed the cell phone to Socrates.
"Sorry to be a nag," Socrates said, "but could you tell Galaxoid and Nebular that their mad scientist is dragging?"
Calvin's eyes widened with realization, and he said something they couldn't hear to Galaxoid and Nebular. Nebular rolled his eye while Galaxoid slapped his forehead and said something inaudible.
"What's going on?" Socrates asked.
"They're complaining about insurance details and oil leakage," Calvin sighed.
Socrates rolled his eyes and gave the phone back to Hobbes.
"So now what?" Hobbes asked.
"Well, they're bound to have seen us by now," Calvin said.
"Who?"
"The Plantonians. Their mother ship is a few yards away from us."
"Ah. Go on."
"Any second now, something should happen."
Suddenly, both crafts glowed green.
"Like this, for instance."
BRZAP!
BRZAP!
They rematerialized in the middle of a cleared area that was encircled by the glaring Plantonian platoons. They hung in the air for a moment before both box and craft fell to the ground, Retro being smashed underneath the craft he'd hung from.
"Ow…," he moaned.
Galaxoid and Nebular lowered their dome and exited their craft with Calvin. Hobbes and the others got out of the box.
Nesbin walked forward, glaring down at them.
"Dare I ask what you all want?" he grumbled.
"World peace," Calvin replied. "I do believe that I can supply that."
"Oh, can you?"
"Yes. I assume you know that by mining this planet for all its worth, you're destroying it."
"Yes."
"And that's not enough to convince you to stop."
"There's no change here that will affect me, other than the Jethrick we are getting out of it."
Calvin snorted.
"Yeah, that's the problem with all life forms," he said. "We never do anything about the problems until we've felt something. My planet is already under siege with global warming, and yet hardly anyone will do anything about it because we're too set in our ways to change. And that's what you're doing. You think that all these problems won't affect you, so you don't bother to fix them! But there'll be aftereffects! The people of Annkor will suffer unless one of us stops this insane dig! A dig so incredibly stupid that it makes the Big Dig in New Jersey look smart and well-executed!"
Nesbin snorted.
"I have my orders," he said. "I am to take the Jethrick back to Planton V."
"Well, I have news for you!" Calvin announced. "You're not taking a bit of Jethrick back to Planton V! But I do have something else you can take back to your people."
"What's that?" Nesbin sneered.
"A word of warning! As long as the Supreme Earth Potentate is around, Annkor…is…defended!"
Hobbes, Andy, Sherman, Socrates, Galaxoid, Nebular, and even Retro were shocked by Calvin's speech.
"That was brilliant!" Sherman whispered.
Nesbin was less than impressed. He pulled out a gun.
"So it seems that I must get rid of the defender," he said.
Calvin raised an eyebrow.
"I have a feeling you won't be affected by a psychological attack," he said.
"Hardly."
"Then gimme your best shot!"
Nesbin aimed the gun, but before he could actually fire, something happened.
During all of this, the light bee in Retro's pocket had flown out, and it was now flying throughout the room until it was right above Nesbin's head.
Calvin was the only one know noticed it.
With a flash, Holographic Retro came out of the light bee, and he landed hard on Nesbin, knocking him to the ground.
Everyone stared in shock as the gun slid from Nesbin's fingers and across the room to Calvin, who picked it up.
"Thanks, Retro," Calvin commented.
"Oh, now you accept my help," Retro grunted, getting up off of Nesbin.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!?" Nesbin demanded.
"Aw man, he said it," Andy moaned, covering his face.
"Yeah, can't we avoid the clichéd dialogue?" Socrates added.
Holographic Retro dusted himself off as Human Retro glared at him.
"Oh, so it's come to this, has it?" he demanded. "You've resorted to helping the little brat!"
"What, you wouldn't prefer that his death be at your own hands?" Holographic Retro snarled.
"Not the best reasons to save a life I've ever heard, but it'll do," Hobbes commented.
Retro and Holographic Retro approached each other angrily.
"You pathetic collection of light!" Retro roared. "You think you're better than me?"
"You're the one who was defeated by a loud noise just a few minutes ago! I could simply turn my hearing off! You're also the one who had to send me to do your job for you!"
It was a long argument that everyone took great fascination in watching. It's not everyday you see someone get in an argument with their self.
This meant, however, that no one was watching Calvin. As quietly as he could, he slid over towards the front of the ship, and he checked the controls. He pulled MTM out of his pocket, and he prepared to put his plan into action.
"Where's a good place?" Calvin whispered.
"Hmmmm…," MTM said. "Over there will be fine."
Calvin found a slot nearby him and slunk over towards it.
"Is it ready?"
"Yep."
Calvin opened the MTM, taking out the CD from earlier. He slid it into the slot, which was actually a CD drive. It was interesting find on such a futuristic spaceship, but then again, maybe the old methods are the best methods.
MTM extended his manipulator arms and began typing things into the control console.
"Got it," he said. "It's transmitting now."
Calvin turned around and saw Retro and Holographic Retro were arguing still.
"You think you're so great?" Retro was shouting. "You're not even real!"
"Oh yeah? Well, at least I know how to think outside the box!" Holographic Retro shouted back.
"Excuse me!" Calvin shouted.
Everyone turned around and saw him.
"If you don't mind me mentioning it, you're both kind of pathetic. I mean, let's face it. Any good villain would've noticed me putting my heroic and incredibly clever plan into action."
Everyone stared at him in confusion.
Suddenly, the plan became more apparent.
The Battle Cruiser suddenly flashed a green color.
"Commander!" a sergeant shouted. "Something's wrong with out controls! They're moving backwards!"
"Same thing with our radar!" said another. "All the diggers and carriers are reversing!"
"The cargo bay doors are letting crafts go!" shouted a midshipman.
"The Jethrick!" someone else shouted. "It's going back into the carriers! They're taking it away."
"WHAT?!" Nesbin shouted. "But how are…? WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he shouted at Calvin.
Calvin grinned.
"MTM? Teleport us all out of here!"
"Right on, dude!" MTM replied.
In a zap, Calvin disappeared, followed by the box, the craft, Hobbes, Andy, Sherman, Socrates, Galaxoid, Nebular and Holographic Retro. Then a moment later, Human Retro was gone, too.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Nesbin hollered, deciding to forget them for a while.
Outside, in a field of electricity, everyone was zapped back into the streets.
Calvin grinned proudly as everything went backwards through the sky.
Human Retro finally seemed to remember where he was and who he was with.
"You!" he shouted, glaring at Calvin. "Now I can finally—"
He was cut off when Calvin shot a blast of the Reverse Ray at him, and Retro suddenly began going backwards through his rant before he was reversed back onto the ship again.
"What'd you do to him?" Hobbes asked.
"The same thing I did to the ship!" Calvin replied, pulling out a handkerchief.
"And that was…?" Andy asked.
"MTM and I copied the data from the Sdrawkcab drive-thru and saved the data to a compact disc. We also managed to convert it into a beam," Calvin explained. "It has the ability to put non-living objects into reverse, unless the being itself is hit with the beam."
"How's that going to save the planet?" Socrates asked.
"The mother ship is systematically connected with every single craft from Planton V. When MTM downloaded the disc into the hard drive, it was automatically sent to every ship, be it cruiser, destroyer, digger or carrier. Every single ship is going to undo all the damage it did. All the Jethrick will be put back."
"And you think it'll work?" Sherman asked.
"Won't it?"
Sherman thought for a moment.
"Yeah… Yeah, it will, actually," he admitted.
"Well then."
There was a pause.
Hobbes stared at him.
"How'd you know it would work?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Calvin asked, wiping his nose with the handkerchief.
"How'd you know that you could do it?! How'd you figure out you'd even be able to use a restaurant to save a planet?!"
"I didn't, really."
"How do you mean?" Andy asked.
"I've already seen it happen."
They all stared at him in shock.
"How?" Hobbes demanded.
"Well, when I got my memory back from that bought with amnesia, I not only saw my regained life flash before my eyes, I also got a glimpse of the future."
"You did?" Sherman gasped.
"I saw ships running backwards through a ruined city. I didn't get it at first, but as this adventure transpired, it became clearer until I overheard about the backwards restaurant, when I finally figured it must be part of the solution."
"Wow, that was strangely clever of you," Socrates commented.
"Yep. Oh and I also figured out a long time ago that you were lying about the prank," Calvin added.
Socrates snapped his fingers in annoyance.
"Well, it all turned out all right, I suppose," Nebular said.
"Will Annkor ever be the same?" Galaxoid added.
"Hopefully you'll come out stronger after all this," Calvin said. "You'll need to be because your planet is at much risk as any of the others."
"Will it stop crumbling?" Galaxoid asked hopefully.
"Oh yeah," Calvin said. "The Jethrick is supposed to help the overall environment of Annkor. Within a few days it should make the planet as strong as it was before the invasion."
There was a pause.
"Okay, I'm the only one brave enough to ask," Holographic Retro grumbled. "What is with the handkerchief?"
"Sorry, the smog was kind of thick earlier," Calvin said, finishing wiping his nose. "It gave me a little congestion." And he tossed it into a nearby trashcan. "Say, I need to have a word with the King and let him know everything's okay. Can you bring him out?"
It took many hours for Calvin's plan to be completed.
Amazed and thrilled Annkorians watched with delight and relief as the many fleets of diggers and carriers came back. The carriers returned to the craters where the Jethrick had been mined. The diggers' giant scoops seemed to magically lift all the Jethrick out of the carriers' bins. In fact, some of the Jethrick that had spilled on the ground was reversed backwards into the scoop. Then the diggers began dumping the Jethrick back into the holes in the ground. This continued for a few minutes until the patch of ground where the Jethrick was looked practically untouched.
It was the same thing all over the planet. It was almost as though nothing had happened.
Laser blasts that had destroyed buildings were pulled into reverse, causing the buildings to grow back to their original splendor. The black smoke stopped billowing and reversed back through the windows and evaporated.
Nesbin was going crazy. He was trying hard to maintain control of the ships that wouldn't stop going backwards. He couldn't make the program making the ships do this stop. The system was in full reversal!
"SOMEONE MAKE THIS STOP!!" he screamed.
"Commander, the carriers keep taking away the Jethrick! Our supplies are dwindling quickly!" Ned cried. "And it continuously gets worse!"
"How?!"
"Our televisions are going backwards! Now we've got reruns, and they don't make any sense!!"
Hours went by. The ships were going backwards so quickly that after a few more hours, all the damage and destruction they'd implemented were undone. It was like hitting the reset button.
Calvin, Hobbes, Socrates, Andy, Galaxoid, Nebular, and King Stor all stood in a group in the middle of town. They grinned when they saw the ships all returning to the mother ship. There was a long pause as the cruisers hung in the air for a while before reversing their way backwards towards the sky. In a matter of fifteen minutes, they had cleared the way.
"Wait for it… Wait for it… Now!" Calvin said into a communicator.
In Traffic Control, Sherman and Rowan began typing into a control panel. Various screens lit up until a few more bits and pieces of computer-stuff came on.
"Transduction barriers are back up!" Sherman said into the communicator.
This was signified by the sudden flash in the air the appeared just as the cruisers kept going backwards.
"Awesome!" Calvin cheered.
Later on, everyone was gathered in the town. The entire town in Annkor was in a group together.
Calvin and Hobbes stood in front of the others, while King Stor, Galaxoid, Nebular and Rowan stood to the left of them.
"Defenders of Earth, I give you my thanks," King Stor said. "The planet of Annkor is in your debt. How can we ever repay you?"
"Aw, don't worry about it," Calvin said modestly.
"Are we safe from the Plantonians?" asked Rowan.
"All their ships are in a permanent state of reversal. They won't be able to bother anyone anytime soon."
"What about the human Retro?" Galaxoid asked. "What happened to him?"
"Well, his version of the backwards formula was temporary. It'll wear off once he's safely back in captivity. I'd keep a close eye on him, if I were you."
The King nodded. "We shall see to it. What shall you do now?"
"Oh, this and that…," Calvin said, glancing over at Hobbes. "Hobbes, hand me my schedule."
Hobbes handed him a small booklet.
Calvin flipped through it.
"What's that?" Nebular asked.
"TV Guide," Calvin replied. "Ah! If we leave now, we can catch Tom and Jerry!"
"Ooh! Let's make tracks!" Hobbes said eagerly.
"See ya later, guys!"
"Good bye, Earth Potentate!" Galaxoid and Nebular said together.
Calvin and Hobbes dove into the box, followed by Andy, Sherman and Socrates.
"MTM, put on some traveling music!" Hobbes said.
"Rock on," MTM replied.
Holidayby Green Day started playing.
The box began to rise into the air, and they took to the skies as the people of Annkor clapped and cheered.
"Let's not take the scenic route," Socrates said, reading the TV Guide. "It's the one wear they're whacking each other in that pattern!"
And they blasted off back into space.
The people of Annkor cheered and roared their goodbyes. They didn't notice Holographic Retro near a trashcan, pulling something about and putting it in his pocket, and then absorbing himself into his light bee before taking to the skies and departing…
The End
Voice Work:
Pamela Segall Adlon Calvin
Tom Hanks Hobbes
Ryan Stiles Socrates / Rowan
Andrew Lawrence Andy / Ned
Colin Mochrie Sherman / Galaxoid
Tom Kenny Nebular
Norman Lovett MTM
Kurtwood Smith Retro / Holographic Retro
French Stewart King Stor / Socrates' Transmitter
Adam West Commander Nesbin
Dee Bradley Baker Snipers / Various Voices
Coming Up Next: Rhyme Time