She was cold. The chill slowly penetrated her, and she became dimly aware that she was lying down on a hard surface. Her brain was fuzzy, filled with strange images. Monsters and giants and robots and destruction.
"Derek…" she called. There was no answer, and suddenly Susan remembered. A brief, sharp pang of loss shot through her before she regained control. The old Susan would have gone to pieces, but not the new Susan, she told herself. She had been through too much now.
Susan slowly opened her eyes, and looked around. She was in a huge gloomy hanger of some sort, filled with massive strange shapes. Her eyes focused, and to her horror she realised that they was full of more of the same robot that had attacked her. She carefully got to her feet, hoping they hadn't noticed her. But they seemed to be inactive. Then she realised she wasn't wearing her dress any more. Instead, she was now wearing a skin-tight yet very flexible dark suit, with little silver dots and thin silver stripes covering it in semi-random patterns, rather like circuit board wiring. She wasn't pleased that for the second time she had been stripped and changed while she slept, but had to admit that this was lot snazzier than the government-issued jumpsuits.
But where was she? The last thing she remembered was…a bright light and a feeling of floating. Before that… the agonising roar of Insectosaurus as he was enveloped by the alien weapon. So, Susan thought to herself. I've been abducted. Well, these aliens messed with the wrong monster... She tiptoed carefully forwards, then heard a buzzing sound, swooping between the robots. Before she had pinpointed it, she found herself trapped in a floating cage, with bars made of glowing beams of plasma. It stung when she tried to touch one.
Then she saw something approaching her, flying slowly through the air. It was like nothing she had ever seen before: multiple-eyed, with tentacles for legs, and a huge misshapen head, standing on a floating scooter of some sort. It came right up to the glowing bars, and Susan could see that it was roughly human-sized, though perhaps a little taller. Seven or eight feet, she guessed. It spoke to her, and to her surprise she could understand it. It was like it was speaking directly in her mind, though it wasn't telepathy.
"You wake up in a strange place, wearing strange clothes, imprisoned by a strange being floating on a strange hovering device. Strange, isn't it?" it said smoothly in a rich baritone, fixing her with a menacing stare.
Susan stared right back, determined not to be afraid any more. After her monster friends, a single alien barely rated as mildly freakish. "Hardly. It's not the first time."
"But it will be the last," the creature hissed after a confused moment. "I see the suit has been applied. Now I can obtain my precious in safety. To the extraction chamber!" it ordered, and moved off.
Susan found herself floating along behind the alien creature. Why was she continually being hounded by aliens? And what was this extraction chamber?
"Look, what is it that you want from me?" she demanded to know. Was Cockroach right, she wondered.
The alien turned on her. "You have stolen what is rightfully mine!" it declared.
"I didn't steal anything from you," Susan shot back. "You stole me!"
"The robot probe confirmed it: you are carbon-based life-form Susan Murphy, and your enormous, grotesque body contains Quantonium, the most powerful substance in the universe," the alien sneered. "Did you really think you could keep it from me?"
"That's what this is all about?" Susan asked, aghast. "You destroyed San Francisco, you terrified millions of people..." She thought of Insectosaurus, lying there on the field. "...you killed my friend, just to get to me?"
"If you only knew the full power of Quantonium, you would realise that I would destroy half the universe to acquire it!" the alien told her. "It's a shame you won't be around to see what the power of Quantonium can do in the tentacles of someone who knows how to use it!"
"I know how to use it… just fine!" Susan yelled at him, punching the force field. It tossed her back, and she rubbed her fist in pain.
"Don't bother. That force field is impenetrable," the alien sneered.
Now Susan was getting very angry indeed. She had had enough of being treated as second-rate. First by Derek, now by this disgusting thing. All her life, nobody had ever expected anything more from her than just to be a good girl. To be sweet and demure and above all do what everyone expected of her. No more. It was time to exert her personality…
The alien's sneer faltered as Susan punched the force field again, this time with more power. She broke straight through it and hit him, knocking him off balance. Then Susan managed to force both hands through the plasma, and proceeded to furiously rip the plasma beams to shreds. The cage collapsed down, and Susan caught the heavy top part before it fell on her. She stood, holding it high above her head.
The alien gasped, and accelerated his hover vehicle, dashing into a tunnel and shutting the blast door just as Susan hurled the top part of the cage at him. It hit the door, leaving a large dent.
Susan walked up to the door. It was a bit taller than she was, but didn't seem that strong. A good hard punch, she thought, fuming…
The alien smirked at her through a window. "That should stop your puny-" He gulped as Susan's fist came through, rapidly followed by the rest of her. He sped away down the tunnel with Susan in hot pursuit.
"Computer, close door, hangar two!"
Susan burst through it like it was made of wet cardboard.
"Close door, hangar three!"
She burst through that one as well. She had never felt so powerful, even when fighting the robot. It was almost euphoric. Each door she smashed was like smashing another metaphorical wall people placed in her path. People like Derek. She took out her anger against him, against her old, weak self, against everything and everyone that had conspired to make her feel small, on the strong metal doors. The alien would pay for what he had done to her friend.
"Door, hangar four! Close them all!" the alien shrieked as it dove into a smaller side tunnel.
Susan couldn't follow him down it, but she could see where it led, and kept pace with him down the main tunnel, occasionally punching through to the smaller one to try and grab her alien kidnapper. Finally she broke through a wall and jumped down to a wide bridge over a huge steel chasm. She managed to grab the hoverbike, smashing it down on the bridge before she landed with a little more grace.
The alien jumped out of the wreckage and ran on its many tentacled legs to the far side of the bridge, to a sort of island piled with machinery where two other bridges coming from other areas of the ship also met. Susan ran after him, and was almost ready to grab the pesky little creature when she found herself trapped again. This time it was a solid vessel, with walls made of thick glass or some other transparent substance.
Glaring at the alien, she pounded on the glass, cracking it. She would not be stopped again.
"Computer, begin extraction!" the alien shrieked, and Susan found herself surrounded by a whirling greenish-white light. Pain filled her, but she still kept pounding on the glass. She felt weaker and weaker, and very disorientated. Finally the swirling light stopped, and the cage opened. Susan tumbled out, panting and aching all over. She looked up at the alien, who now seemed much bigger. Or was she smaller? Extraction? The Quantonium must have been removed from her, she realised, returning her to her normal size. Along with the costume she was wearing. She staggered, and her heart started beating even faster. Now that she no longer had the physical size and strength of Ginormica, she was suddenly terrified. She had not realised until now how much of a comfort it had been, even in her darkest hours.
The alien stood over her, gloating. "You have not even begun to understand the power of Quantonium! You think it's merely something to make you big and strong? How little you understand. Quantonium, you ugly scrap of flesh, is the ultimate energy source in the universe—it is infinite energy! You can never use it up! Because it doesn't really exist! Surprised? Let me explain. You see, Quantonium is a substance from another universe. It doesn't obey our physical laws. And it allows me to tap into the energy of that universe—an entire universe's worth of power is mine! I had to destroy a entire sun to obtain the smallest scrap! But with the Quantonium, I can create millions upon millions of mindless minions! Finally, I can rebuild my civilisation on a new planet. Any thoughts on which? Your planet, perhaps?"
Susan glared up at him. No. She would not be afraid, she told herself. Not any more. "You keep your slimy tentacles off my planet!"
The alien grabbed her throat with one of his cold tentacles, lifting her up and choking her. It laughed. "Bold words. And how are you going to stop me, like that? Without the Quantonium you are a tiny pathetic carbon-based life-form. You're nothing! You're weak!" he spat, tossing her aside.
Susan lay on the cold metal floor, shaking from fear and anger. She felt very small. It was hard to remain strong, but she had to try. Not just for her sake, but for the entire planet's sake. Though she had no idea what she could do. But she wouldn't be weak any more.
"There are innocent people down there who didn't do anything!" she warned him.
"There were innocent people on my home planet before it was destroyed!" the alien shot back.
"Look, I'm sorry your planet was destroyed…" she began, but was cut off.
"Oh, don't be. I'm the one who destroyed it," the alien admitted. "Needed to explode the sun to get the Quantonium. Besides, it was only inhabited by people who refused to worship me. No longer. My new subjects will have the proper respect! Computer, initialise cloning machine!"
The alien stepped into a strange device, which shone a bright light on him as it spun rapidly. Susan looked around for a way to escape. The hole she had broken through was at least a hundred feet up, and quite inaccessible. But there might be a route at the end of the bridge. She got up, and was about to make a dash for it when the machine stopped and the alien got out.
"Oh, dooo try to run, Suuusan," the alien taunted. "You can't get off this ship. I shall track you down and kill you. It will be like hunting snaznar back home. Only I will be able to enjoy your screams for mercy."
Susan blanched, and remained rooted to the spot. There was nothing she could do now. Giant machinery was humming smoothly into operation, creating hundreds upon hundreds of clones of the alien. In turn, they were all issued uniforms and weapons, and began marching out in three directions as the next batch was formed.
"Welcome to the birth of Gallaxhar's Planet," the alien said smugly. "And the death of yours."
"You're insane," she said. "A lunatic."
"And you're useless to me now. I shall return you to your planet."
Susan's heart leapt. "Return me?"
"What, did you think I was totally heartless? No, you are free to go. Mind you," the alien paused, considering. "It's a long way down. I hope you are a good jumper. Clone! You, that one! Yes, you. Throw this disgusting creature off my ship."
Susan's heart stopped. Throw her off? How on earth could she get out of this? There was no escape here, surrounded by hundreds of armed aliens. Running now would be suicide. She would have to wait.
The guard motioned her to move, and they walked down the bridge, past squads of identical alien clones, all armed and ready for battle. Susan was terrified. How could they be stopped? There seemed to be so many. Earth was doomed. She was doomed. She felt her eyes prickle again. No, Susan, she told herself. Don't start weeping again. Don't be weak. Remember how it felt to be Ginormica, punching through those doors. Fighting that robot. Saving the city. You never thought you could do that, right? Well, you can do this, too. You must…
Susan kept a watchful eye on where she was being taken, having decided that the moment they were away from other aliens, she would do something. She wasn't quite sure what, however. Run? No, the alien was too fast on those long legs. Physically attack him? He must have a weak spot—those four eyes, for example. But what about that gun? How to avoid that?
The guard motioned her down a secondary corridor. She spotted several holes punched through the curved ceiling, and realised this must have been where she had punched through to try and grab Gallaxhar. If only she had succeeded, she thought. Well, she had to succeed now. She was alone with the alien guard. Her life was at stake. At the next pile of rubble, she would fake a sore leg, distract the guard, then grab a sharp shard of metal and attack him, get his weapon… Even being shot would be better than falling to her death. Suddenly she was very afraid again. But there was no choice.
Then she heard a soft thump behind her, followed by a slurping sound. Uncertain of what was happening and afraid to get the alien's guard up by turning around, she carried on walking slowly towards the rubble.
"Hey, Ginormica, you ain't so... 'ginormic' anymore…" came a familiar deep voice from her rear.
Susan whirled. Link, Cockroach, and Bob were standing there, smiling at her. Bob had clearly just finished absorbing the guard, as he now spat out its gun and picked it up.
"I can't believe you guys came to save me!" Susan gasped. "Thank you!"
She hugged each of them in turn. Cockroach found it very disturbing to have her beautiful body draped over him. He had always admired her from afar, but now that she was normal-sized again, he realised again just how attractive she was. Especially in that skintight outfit, which hugged every gorgeous curve.
"Don't mention it," he squeaked. "We monsters got to stick together."
"But I'm not a monster anymore," Susan said. "I'm just me. Back to normal size again."
"My dear, no matter what your size, you'll always be one of us. If you want to be, of course. We want you to be," Cockroach ended lamely.
"That's so sweet!" Susan exclaimed. She gave him a peck on the cheek. "And that's something I've been wanting to do for a while now!"
Cockroach's antennae vibrated madly. "Very much appreciated, my dear," he stammered.
Susan stood there, looking at them all. "I've never seen you so… big," she commented. "Especially you, Link." She realised he must be a good seven and a half feet tall: he towered over her now. "I have to admit, you're a lot more impressive from this angle."
"Uh, yeah, okay, we can't stand here all day," Link said, embarrassed. "We need to stop Gallaxhar."
"He has the Quantonium," Susan informed them.
"We gathered that," Link replied, gesturing at Susan.
"I was afraid of this," Cockroach admitted. "Ever since that robot I have been wondering who sent it, and why it seemed to target you. I suspected it was the Quantonium inside you. Now we know."
"How can we stop him?" Susan asked as they headed down a narrow corridor.
"Disable the ship, somehow, before he can launch his army," Link suggested. "Luckily it seems that, apart from the clone army, he is the only crew member."
"I need to find a computer terminal," Cockroach said. "I need to hack in and find out where the main power core is."
"Above the extraction chamber," Bob said. "Wherever that is."
"How on earth did you know?" Cockroach asked.
"The clone I absorbed knew it. So now I know it. Until I forget. Or absorb something else," Bob explained.
"And I know where the extraction chamber is," Susan said happily. "We just have to get through the clone army! Come on!"
"I think she's even braver without that Quantonium stuff," Cockroach commented as he looked after her running form.
"It helps to have nothing to lose," Link commented as they dashed back to the central chasm.
"No, it's because I have you guys with me," Susan called back. "We stick together, remember?"
"Always," Link grinned.
They came out to where they could see the edge of the bridge.
"Now, how do we all get across there without being seen?" Susan mused.
"We don't," Link said. "Or rather, Bob and I don't. Most of the army has moved out. We can take on the few squads left."
"What if they capture you?" Susan asked, not wanting to voice the even worse prospect.
"Doesn't matter. We're just the decoys. We just need to let Doc sneak into the command core. He's the only one who could work it anyway."
"See you on the other side, then, my old comrade-in-arms," Cockroach said, saluting Link.
"Yeah, get going already," Link shot back, but Cockroach had already disappeared under the bridge.
"What about me?" Susan asked nervously. She knew she would be no good in a fight. Not like this, small and unarmed.
Link handed her the guard's blaster. "Point and shoot at anything that wriggles," he instructed.
"I don't know if I can kill," Susan said nervously.
"These aliens are here to conquer and enslave humanity," Link told her sternly. "Starting with you if they capture you. So don't wimp out."
"Oh my god," Susan stammered as Link handed her the weapon. She was terrified. She'd never shot a gun in her life, much less at anything living. Her mind was in a whirl. One minute she'd be feeling confident, the next the real danger of the situation would sweep over her. She always felt more confident with her friends, however. Being alone was hard.
"No, Susan, you have to do this," she whispered to herself. "These aren't innocent victims. They want to kill you. They will kill you. Oh my god. Oh no. No, get a grip girl, you can do this. You're strong enough to deal with this. No more short-changing, remember. Take a deep breath. Yikes."
She hid behind a large piece of twisted steel fallen from the hole she had made above them, and watched Link and Bob go to work.
"Monsters!" the first alien clone to see them screamed.
"Yeah, monsters," Link agreed, punching it right off the bridge.
"Monsters?!" another alien cried, before it too was silenced. Then Gallaxhar's amplified voice sounded out.
"Attention, all aliens! Destroy all monsters!"
Susan watched in awe as her two friends ploughed through the small army as if they were walking through a cornfield. It made her feel rather guilty at how condescending she had been after the robot battle.
Suddenly she heard squishy footsteps behind her. She whirled, and saw a guard approaching her, a gun in its hand. Susan panicked, and squeezed the trigger on her gun as hard as she could. To her shock, the guard disintegrated into goop, and the recoil thrust her backwards, off her feet. She found herself unable to release her grip, and was sent flying backwards through the clone army at high velocity, knocking them aside as the gun kept firing out a powerful pulse. She also managed to kill several more aliens with the blaster fire.
"Way to go Susan!" Link called appreciatively, ducking as she shot by him.
Susan felt herself thump into Bob and carry him back with her until they hit one of the support columns for the main power core with a splat. The impact threw her off the bridge, and for a brief terrible instant she was sure she was going to die until she realised Bob had grabbed her legs. Hanging upside down, she spotted Cockroach scuttling along the underside of the bridge. She grinned at him just as Bob yanked her back to safety. She had seldom felt so alive—her body was coursing with adrenaline, her heart pounding, and she was finally doing something worth doing—saving the entire planet.
The four of them ran to the base of the central pillar with a fresh clone army hot on their heels. Bob immediately extended the top half of his gelatinous body high into the air, latching onto the underside of the main power core. The other three grabbed the rest of him, and were pulled up to safety a split second before the first wave of clones reached them.
They scrambled into the power core, and slammed the access hatch shut.
"I can't believe we made it!" Susan gasped.
"Bloody hell," Cockroach breathed as he stared up at the huge pulsating organic computer that controlled the ship. "Whatever mad alien scientist made you, he certainly went all out."
"Thank you," the smooth contralto of the computer voice purred. "You will be dead in moments, so please relax."
"I'm afraid not, my dear," Cockroach said. "I regret to inform you that I have to stop you."
"I'm not worried," the computer assured him. "You'll never figure out my colour code. And no mere biped can enter it anyway."
"Hmm." Cockroach stared down at the changing pattern of lights on the floor. "A hexadecimal colour code system? This won't be but a moment…. Ah, got it. Red, green, blue, yellow, orange, baby blue, purple, pink, mauve, gold, brown, mocha, avocado, adobe gold!" His arms and legs moved like lightning to press the right panels on an interface designed for a being with half a dozen tentacles.
"If this works, the computer should think we are all Gallaxhar…" Cockroach told Susan.
"You cannot defeat my code," the computer mocked. "No human can move fast enough."
"You ever try to catch a cockroach?" the mad scientist crowed. "There!" He finished with a quick move that used all four limbs and both his antennae. The entire pattern of lights flashed red, then blue.
"Security protocol breached," the computer said. "You may enter new orders, Gallaxhar."
"That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" Susan hugged Cockroach, "How the hell did you do it?"
"One thing you don't know about me, my dear," he joked. "My PhD is in dance!"
"Oh, you mad… you mad scientist!" Susan laughed. But her happiness was cut short.
"Come on, time's a-wasting," Link called. "We can't hold them off much longer!"
Susan glanced back. Link and Bob were trying to hold down the hatch, but it was starting to give. She quickly added her slight weight, jumping on Link. Not for the first time, Susan wished she still had Ginormica's size and strength. Being normal might be an easier life in many ways, but being a giant could help save her friends, not to mention her family back home, and indeed the rest of the planet.
"Set self destruct," Cockroach ordered the computer. "No countermands possible."
"Of course, Gallaxhar," the computer said. "Ship has been set to self-destruct. Total annihilation in T minus six minutes. Enjoy your explosion."
Gallaxhar's voice cut in. "Well, launch the invasion then!"
"Invasion no longer possible," came the calm voice of the computer. "Please try again with another ship."
"Flagnarl! Divert the Quantonium to the bridge, and prepare my escape capsule!"
His voice cut out, and they realised that the pounding on the hatch had stopped. Link cautiously opened it a crack, then wider.
"Look at that! They're all running scared! Monsters win!"
"I don't think that's why they're running," Cockroach pointed out gently. "Right, we should be heading off about now, I think."
They slid to the ground along a stretched-out Bob, and started running for the huge door.
"Ship will self-destruct in T minus five minutes."
"Run faster, Link!" Cockroach yelled as the giant door ahead of them kept closing.
"Hang on!" Link called, collecting Gallaxhar's damaged hoverbike, and grabbing the others. They sped towards the rapidly-closing door, but the damaged hoverbike was at its limits. It started disintegrating, and finally collapsed just a few feet from the door. As the others were thrown to the ground, in desperation Link grabbed Susan and put her on the last part that was still flying. She just got through the small gap as the bike finally broke up, but by the time the others had got to their feet, the thick doors had shut.
"It's no use. It won't budge," came Link's voice faintly from the other side.
"If I was still Ginormica, I could do this!" Susan cried, trying to move the massive steel plates.
"Get out of here while you still got the chance!" Link called to her.
"No, don't say that! I'm not leaving you guys!" Susan shouted, futilely pounding on the door trapping her friends.
"Yes, you are," came Cockroach's calm, polished voice. "Rendezvous with Monger. He's outside the ship, waiting for you. Go, while there's still time."
Susan turned, looking for anything that might be an emergency release handle. There was nothing nearby other than a floating skid from the hoverbike.
"Ship will self-destruct in T minus four minutes," came the relentless voice of the computer.
"Go, Susan, we'll find another way home," Link told her.
"Don't you worry about us, Susan," Cockroach told her. "Go, please. You finally have a chance to get your old life back."
"I don't want my old life back!" she replied. Suddenly she realised that she meant it. She didn't want her old life back. That life was dead, buried. It had been clinging to futile hopes of returning to that life that made accepting her new one so hard. But in the end she had realised how empty a life it had been. It had betrayed her, broken her heart, showed her up for the weak person she was. Ginormica had given her strength. Not just immense physical strength, but mental strength, as she fought to survive the fear and hopelessness of her imprisonment. Susan realised she had never really expected much from herself, because nobody else ever had. She had never learned to value herself until she became Ginormica, and learned that the person most holding her back was herself.
She could not go back to being plain old Miss Susan Murphy. But first she had to save her friends. She had to open that door.
"Computer?" she called out.
"Yes, Gallaxhar?" it replied.
"Manual override for this door! Where is it?"
"All manual overrides are controlled from the bridge, Gallaxhar."
"Right, where's the bridge?"
"Right at the top of the ship, where you left it. That big glass dome."
"Right! How do I get there?"
"The direct lift has been damaged. Alternative routes will require slightly more time than remains before I explode."
Susan had a brief moment of pure fear-induced panic, then remembered the hover skid.
She quickly stepped on it, securing her feet in its wiring, and pushed off. It was just like snowboarding. The skid skimmed along the ground as she whisked through the tunnel to the main robot bay, through the holes in the hanger doors that she had punched through as Ginormica. They looked impossibly huge to her now.
She shot out into the main robot bay just as Gallaxhar's voice came over the intercom system.
"Attention, robot probes! Crush the earthling!"
Susan knew she had no chance of defeating them in her present condition. Speed was her only hope. Desperately, she swerved through their legs, hoping to avoid their claws by staying underneath them. Ironically, she realised her small size was actually beneficial here, as they were very poorly designed to tackle small, fast-moving objects. It was no problem to avoid their feet and claws. In fact each robot was so intent on trying to crush her that it ended up falling against its neighbours, and soon the entire robot bay was full of collapsing machines.
Susan shot out of the bay a moment before they all exploded in a chain reaction, her heart pounding. Monger was nowhere to be seen. Instead she was soon aware of a new danger: Gallaxhar had fired the ship's main weapon, and had targeted it at her. Another case of overbuilding, Susan realised. The massive plasmoid sphere was no more suited for targeting a single fast-moving person than the robots had been. She dodged it easily, and then spotted the bridge, a large windowed area at the top of the ship.
As she drew nearer, she also spotted Gallaxhar scuttling across the floor. He spotted her as well, and shot his gun at her. A crackling beam of plasma smashed through the glass canopy, but she dodged it, feeling it singe her hair, and then before he could take aim again, she shot through the hole in the canopy, her face set in a furious grimace of determination, and smashed into Gallaxhar with the hover skid just as he was about to fire his gun at her again. The two of them rolled over and over, while the gun went sliding off to rest near the foot of a tall statue of the alien warlord.
Gallaxhar scuttled away, hissing at her. "Are you crazy?! You could have killed me!"
Susan stood up, and stalked towards him, furious. "Then we understand each other. Now, open the doors and let my friends go."
"Or what?" Gallaxhar said scathingly. "You don't actually think you're a match for me, do you? Even without my clone army, I can destroy you."
"Quantonium has been successfully diverted to the bridge," the computer politely informed them. "Escape capsule ready for transport. Enjoy your flight."
Susan looked up, and saw the large globe the giant statue of Gallaxhar was holding was glowing greenish-white with the Quantonium. The statue's head was opening up, revealing the alien's secret escape capsule.
Gallaxhar himself was scuttling up the ramp towards it. "Like I told you before, you should have defeated me when you had the Quantonium. Have fun exploding!" he taunted.
Furious, Susan jumped up onto the base of the statue and lunged for the alien, managing to grab his cape. Gallaxhar struggled to keep his grip, flailing at Susan with some of his tentacles, but she hung on desperately with all her strength, bracing a foot on the statue plinth and pulling back. With a strangled shriek, the tentacled alien lost his grip, and skidded across the smooth floor. Susan rolled off to the side and lunged for the gun, but found her legs caught. The alien picked her up and slammed her into the floor. Pain shot through Susan's body as the air was knocked out of her, but she managed to get her balance as she was being picked up again, twisting and slamming her fist directly into his bulbous head with the full weight of her body behind it.
Dazed, Gallaxhar let her go, and she grabbed the weapon lying at the foot of the statue.
"Now open the doors," she said quietly, standing and pointing it directly at Gallaxhar.
"Foolish human! Even if I wanted to, I couldn't! That's what happens when you set a ship to self-destruct! Now we're all going to die! And there's nothing you can do about it, Suuuusan!"
Susan looked up. The globe of Quantonium was directly above her. Now she knew what she had to do. It was the only thing she could do. To save her friends, and to save herself, it was time to finally say goodbye to her old life, and embrace her new one.
"I wouldn't be so sure," she said softly. She pointed the gun directly up, and calmly shot the arm supporting the great globe.
"And the name… is Ginormica."
MORE NOTES: I have tried to remove all the slapstick Three Stooges stuff, and make Gallaxhar a little nastier. Removed the uniform disguise as well. And made it clear Cockroach wasn't serious about his PhD being in dance. Also came up with an idea why Quantonium is so valuable, how it works (sort of), and why Gallaxhar destroyed his own planet. Also felt Bob doing nothing (well, dancing) in the dance sequence was silly, since he should have been adding his weight to the hatch instead of Susan.
More difficult was defining Susan's motivations and emotions. I've tried to make her a little more eager to fight when being taken to be killed, even though she is still actually saved by her friends, so she's not quite so passive. Getting her to the bridge was also hard. In the movie, she sees the skater things, and it is not clear to me what she intends to do with them. Escape? No, I rejected that. But even assuming she knows where Gallaxhar is, how could she know where the bridge is? It was pure luck she spotted it, and that it had such a nice large glass dome. Also, the bit where she kicks off one skate, it flies through the glass, and hits Gallaxhar was... difficult to believe. By which I mean that aiming skill came right out of left field. The computer, now Cockroach breached it, thinks everyone is its authorised user, so I used that. Fantasy can be impossible, but never improbable...
The bit about "Susan realised she had never really expected much from herself [...]. She had never learned to value herself" is actually paraphrasing a quote from Reese Witherspoon about Susan, so I wanted to toss it into the mix.
One more entry to go...