Chapter 28: The Bargain


Adam's hands were covered in blood as he pushed open one of the doors of the half-melted chamber he'd just been in. He knew that none of the computers in that section of the ship would be working, and he also knew that his recent accomplishments hadn't done much to benefit Earth. Of course, he'd fought and defeated Dracula, but Klaatu had no way of knowing that, and he wasn't sure how to get in contact with the alien again. Adam had been hoping to let the alien know what had passed between Dracula and himself, but as it turned out, any attempt to contact Klaatu would involve gaining access to a different communications system, and that, unfortunately, meant confiding in Dobson.

Adam didn't really want to talk to Dobson about what he'd recently done, because he wasn't sure she'd take his word about Dracula's betrayal. Of course, he knew that she wasn't crazy about Dracula either, but she also didn't seem like the type who'd kill somebody for a petty reason like that. The truth was, Adam had no proof that Dracula had betrayed them, except the words of the vampire himself, and he didn't have a recording of those to share with anyone else. As hard as he'd fought, and as amazing as his victory had been, there was no sure path out of that situation. He just had to come clean with Dobson and hope that she trusted his word.

The creation of Frankenstein continued to race through the war factory at top speed for several minutes, until he finally located Dobson, who was in a huge production hall of some kind, that looked like it was producing war robots the size of small towns; shaped like a variety of large insects and people. She'd apparently found one huge insect body, and attached more propulsion rockets to the back of it, removing the computer that would have wound up running it, and replacing it with a creation of her own. When Adam walked up to her, she was using some kind of laser to weld together the open spaces in the tremendous war machine; turning that giant, alien creation into a makeshift space shuttle. Adam had to admit that it was a very impressive job, but that only made him feel more nervous when he spoke to the mad scientist.

"Dobson..." Adam began at last, however, "I've got some bad news about Dracula."

However, she didn't even turn around to look at him, or pause in her work at all. She just replied "I'm listening."

"Dracula was planning to betray us." Adam said sadly, still not sure what the scientist's reaction would be, "Just a few minutes ago, I heard him talking to the alien Klaatu, and..."

"That's ridiculous." Dobson replied flatly, "Dracula's no alien. Why would he turn us in to the invaders?"

"I didn't say he sided with the invaders." Adam replied, however, "He was planning to destroy us all."

At that point, however, Dobson did finally pause in her work, turning off the laser she'd been working with, and looking at Adam curiously. Finally, however, she asked him another question, and she was starting to look confused by that point, as though that mission was boggling even her tremendous intellect.

"When you heard Dracula say that, where was he?" she asked with a note of urgency in her voice.

"The communications hall," Adam replied, "but the whole place is a wreck now."

However, Dobson didn't seem to care about that, and a moment later, after walking over to a computer terminal on the other side of the room, attaching something to it, and bringing up a menu, Dobson explained just why she wasn't concerned.

"I've seen the war factory schematics. The communications hall is one of the places where information is gathered and sent from, but it's not where it's stored. There's a central databank closer to the center of the ship, which should contain video records of every conversation made by this ship's communications room. I didn't care about that before, but..."

Almost at once, however, Dobson seemed to have found the file she'd wanted, because up came an image of Lord Dracula, and the very sight of him still made Adam angry, even after all that had just happened between them. Adam could also see the view screen with Klaatu on it, and for the first time, he saw the look of terror on the alien's face, when Dracula announced his plans for the rest of the universe. At last, Adam saw himself in that video; emerging from where he'd been hiding and confronting the vampire about his evil plans. Dobson continued to watch the video with a stern look on her face, until Dracula asked Adam why he was attacking, and he gave his explanation. At that point, her face went somewhat pale, and the monster of Frankenstein started to get some nasty suspicions about just what was going through the mad scientist's head. When the video finally cut out as a result of their continuing battle, Dobson was looking very scared, and yet, very determined when she spoke.

"You killed him, didn't you?"

However, Adam decided, there was no point in denying the obvious, so after a few moments, he replied, "I'm standing here, aren't I?"

For some reason, it seemed as though Dobson was experiencing some kind of inner doubt at that point; almost as though she hadn't heard a word about what the vampire had been planning to do to them. However, when she did finally reply to Adam, her words dispelled that fear, at least.

"I'm downloading this video, Adam. It's very important for all of us. I don't think any of the others will blame you for killing him once they learn what he'd planned to do to us, but one thing still bothers me. You said that wasn't even the real reason why he had to die."

Adam had to pause for a moment, to think over his reply to that, but he knew, from the start, what that reply had to be.

"No. It wasn't."

"You only killed him because of his evil ambitions, from what I can tell. Am I right about that, Adam?"

That time, Adam didn't hesitate before he nodded.

"I only ask because many of us have ambitions as well, and some of them involve things that you might consider evil. Are you going to kill us for those?"

However, what went through Adam's head next was a little strange. Obviously, he still needed Dobson's help to prove Dracula's guilt, to get everyone together again, and even to get back to Earth, but he didn't even consider lying, or trying to comfort her. Ultimately, though his answer was complicated, he didn't go out of his way to make her feel safe.

"Dobson, I've murdered a lot of people in the past, and recently, I decided to put that behind me. I don't want to murder anyone anymore, and the only reason that I exorcized Dracula was because he was already dead. If you do something tremendously evil, I may feel compelled to fight you, and you might die during that fight, but I won't make plans to end your life the way I did with him. I might kill again, but I won't murder, no matter what you or anyone else does to deserve it."

Of course, Dobson didn't look satisfied with that response, but much to Adam's surprise, she continued to press the matter a moment later.

"Let's say that I did something nasty to the people of the Earth." Dobson continued a moment later, "Would the two of us really have to be at each other's throats, after all we've been through together?"

However, by that point, it had become obvious to Adam that Dobson was asking those questions for a reason. She was clearly very nervous, and was losing her confidence more and more with every word she spoke. However, in the end, Adam knew that he couldn't make her feel much better, except by lying, and after all she'd done for him, he couldn't have dishonored her by lying to her like that.

"You're a scientist, so you know that when you make a change to the conditions of an experiment, the outcome changes as well." Adam explained patiently, "You know that our actions have consequences. You can't expect to go around doing evil things to other people, and have nothing come of it. There are consequences for every sin. However, depending on what you're talking about, I might not think it was my job to enforce those consequences. Now, be honest with me, Dobson. This isn't just some hypothetical question, is it? You're planning something terrible, aren't you?"

For a few moments, Dobson looked positively red-faced, but at last, with a scowl, she explained herself.

"One of the driving motives of my life has been to shake up Earth's scientific community. They never took my findings seriously; never made an effort to break free of their fake science and start producing breakthroughs again. I need to force them to acknowledge how foolish they've been, no matter what kind of technology it takes."

At first, Adam wanted to reply to that with a stern reprimand, but when he took a few more moments to think it over, he realized that Dobson's desires weren't really all that evil. She'd seen imperfection and foolishness, and she'd wanted to help people get back on track, even if they had to suffer pain in the process. However, her idea about using technology to force people to do her bidding crossed an invisible line. Adam had spent a lot of time talking to Barry recently, and one of the biggest fears that Barry had expressed to his friend was the fear of losing his self-control, and being forced into something he didn't want to do. Taking away a person's free will, Adam realized, whether through technology or lycanthropy, was a horrifying thing. It didn't seem like Dobson was going to budge in that regard, though, so a few moments later, he just asked her another question, and as soon as he asked it, a look of open surprise spread across Stephanie Dobson's face.

"You said that people didn't take your findings seriously. Have you talked to any of them about it since the power went out?"

For a moment, Dobson's mouth opened, then closed again, then remained open. It seemed that Adam had just suggested something that had simply never occurred to her otherwise-magnificent mind. However, she wasn't replying to his question, so in the end, he decided to explain what he meant.

"People aren't like computers, Doctor Dobson. They don't always respond the same way to the same information. Sometimes, new experiences will give them a new perspective on themselves and their approach to life. In particular, when their whole world is overturned, they might have to reconsider everything; including their self-righteous approach to their field."

"You're just trying to give me false hope." Dobson concluded a bit angrily, but Adam shook his head.

"No. I'm trying to make sure that you're being thorough enough. I don't want you to resort to brute force when there are other experiments that you haven't tried yet."

Dobson continued scowling for a few moments, but at last, she spoke to Adam very firmly, still looking extremely suspicious of him.

"I'll wait to see how all of this plays out. If the power comes back on, and things go back to the way they were before, I won't have any choice, but for now, we'll just wait and see what happens as a result of all this. Now, you obviously need my help for something. What is it?"

The conversation had certainly been rocky up to that point, but at the very least, it looked like there was a chance that they might all be able to get back to Earth in one piece.


When the communication channel had cut out, Klaatu had immediately opened three more, although none of them seemed to be getting through, at first. It was several minutes before there was any hint that the war factory was receiving his messages. However, about fifteen minutes later, he started to get a a signal from someplace within the ship, as if someone had set up a signal-reception device apart from the rest of the spacecraft. The alien being was amazed, but he didn't hesitate, opening up communications with the new signal, and the moment that he did, what he saw on the other end sent a chill through his heart, because it was one of the monsters from Earth; the seven-foot giant with the misshapen body parts. In just a moment, the giant spoke up, and Klaatu was amazed by his words.

"This is Adam Frankenstein of Earth. Why did you attack us?"

Klaatu didn't feel like mincing words with anyone, however, and he wasn't about to just accept an accusation like that one.

"If you've rifled through our library, you should know it was our police force that attacked you; not us." Klaatu replied testily, "They're part of the system of maintaining peace in the cosmos that we've developed, and they make war on anyone who brings acts of violence to other worlds."

For a moment, Adam seemed to hesitate, so Klaatu decided to bring up one more subject with him.

"According to my research, the one who committed violence on another world was a daerlin; what you call a monster. That's very serious. Allowing daerlin to reach other planets is the most dangerous thing we could do, and I'm sure you'll understand if I'm direct about this; but another Earth daerlin recently threatened me with universal destruction and death."

However, the next words to come out of Adam's mouth brought a slight ray of hope to Klaatu.

"He's dead." Adam said flatly, "I killed him."

Still, Klaatu didn't want to jump to conclusions about any of that, so for a moment, he just asked "Why?"

"Why do you think?" Adam asked back, "I don't want countless people to die, just because I stood by and did nothing. I was obligated to stop Dracula, for the sake of protecting everyone, and that's why I'm contacting you. I want to know what I can do to save everyone from annihilation."

The question made Klaatu feel very surprised, and just a little hopeful. There were no records of any daerlin ever being that reasonable in the past, but it certainly looked as though Adam was both a monster, and a decent man; perhaps even a champion of men; the very thing that Klaatu had been hoping to find. In that moment, he decided, though it was risky, he was going to trust him, and try to settle things between them with some kind of bargain.

"Listen to me, then." Klaatu said sadly, "I've already gathered a lot of information on what's been happening on Earth, but if you don't mind, I'd like a second opinion on some of it. Then, we'll decide what needs to be done. Now, I can't change Gort's programming completely, but I do have one line of code, which I can transmit to him, which will fool him into thinking that Earth is a completely new planet, which has never expressed aggression on other worlds before. I can't risk using that code more than once, though. It'll give your people a second chance to escape from this kind of attack in the future, and make no mistake; there are many more war factories, just like this one."

"Even if you gave the Earth a second chance, that wouldn't solve all our problems." Adam replied grimly, however, "The next time violence was committed on alien soil, this whole thing would start up all over again."

"Unfortunately, that's true." Klaatu replied somberly, "However, I can't do anything to prevent that on my end, and you can't do anything about it either. Because of that, I think that what we really need to accomplish is to figure out how to prevent this scenario from occurring again."

For a moment, Adam looked very concerned and thoughtful, but when he spoke again, he seemed only half-committed to his next idea.

"I suppose that I could go around tracking down the vampires you mentioned a little while ago. You said that Earth had become a breeding ground for vampires, and if I could just locate them all..."

"Unfortunately, I don't think that's the whole problem." Klaatu replied sadly, "Tell me something, Adam. Suppose that you succeed in killing every vampire on Earth, and in the end, the only people left are the humans. They start to spread out and build colonies on other worlds, as I'm sure they would, terraforming uninhabitable worlds to suit their needs. Do you think that, when they reach these other worlds, the humans would be civilized enough to never once attack or kill another human being within those colonies?"

That, fortunately, seemed to give Adam pause, because it was the only really important question. His hesitation told Klaatu all that he needed to hear.

"I don't like having to even discuss this sort of thing," Klaatu said at last, "and I don't like having to paint all humans with a broad brush, because I know there are still some wise men and women among you, but by and large, your societies have regressed to arbitrarily-humanist barbarianism. In fact, I'd say that many of them are nearly to the point of forced, survivalist anarchy. To let your people travel to other worlds at this point would be no favor to them. They'd only be dooming themselves, just as surely as if they were trying to colonize a supernova. The question now is, Adam, is there hope for the human race?"

"There's always hope." Adam replied, though he didn't seem to know how, exactly, to make things work out, "Circumstances could change for them, and their mindsets could change as a result of that. In the meantime, we just need some means of preventing people from traveling out into space anymore, for their own protection."

It wasn't the first thing that Adam had said, which had really surprised Klaatu, but it did make a few things clear to the alien being; namely, that Adam really was a champion of man, because he was willing to choose the good of his people; as a group and as individuals, over their ambitions or temporary feelings. He was a strong sort of person, Klaatu thought; just the sort of man that humanity needed.

"The obvious solution is to simply leave the power to your world off for good." Klaatu replied sadly, "It's a harsh thing to ask of your people, but it would prevent them from... Well, you only reached us yourself by using one of our own power sources to build a rocket. Without that, and without electricity, you wouldn't be able to reach space anymore; at least not for a very long time. Still, it makes me sad to rob your people of something which has virtually become the keystone of your culture and society."

However, when Adam replied to that, there was a slight note of anger in his voice.

"It makes me sad too. Sicknesses and injuries will need to be cured with older, less effective methods, or will go uncured. Economies will collapse, communications between people will regress to the pony express... Still, I can't imagine anything that would be better for mankind."

"If you'd like, we could restore power to communication satellites, hospitals and transmission devices." Klaatu replied, "Making it permanent would require a few weeks to set up, but..."

However, Adam was looking absolutely miserable when he responded to that.

"Unfortunately, you wouldn't be doing us any favors if you did. Satellites, televisions and movies; in fact, most of our 'culture' as you call it, has become nothing more than a mass of empty propaganda, promoting the mentality that we all have a 'right' to do horrible, wicked things, and as for hospitals, I can't think of anyplace in modern society where more and graver evil is done. Just being intelligent or technologically-advanced doesn't make a person civilized, Klaatu, and some of the brightest people on Earth are also the worst barbarians. That's how it's been for as long as I've been around. In fact, my father was the same way."

"Human beings can be incredibly selfish, and I can't think of anything that's made that worse than modern, human culture. For our sake as a society and a species, it should be brought down; at least until we can get a few things resolved. Right now, people just aren't paying enough attention to the world around them, and many of them don't even realize the true nature of the problems they're facing. Human 'culture' is largely to blame for that."

"Once people are grounded in reality again, and start thinking clearly, they can either destroy one another, or rebuild the kind of half-civilized world they once had, but either way, they can do it without distractions, pride and lies assaulting them from every direction. No one hates making a choice like this more than I do, but I just don't see a better way to approach this problem than to leave things just the way they are right now."

"If your people ever find out that you made this choice on their behalf," Klaatu replied sadly, "they'll probably want you dead."

"They want me dead already." Adam replied, however, "What do I have to lose?"

The alien emissary, however, still didn't smile.

"I don't have any problem agreeing to this kind of bargain, though it doesn't make me happy. Each of us is taking risks, and each of us is sacrificing. Using this code may get me into some trouble with my superiors. I may even be imprisoned for it. However, if it will save the human race from extinction... my own fate isn't as important. You should gather your remaining forces and return to Earth, Adam. May the Almighty Spirit bless you on your journey."

Then, with a sigh, Klaatu turned the transmission off, and stood up for the first time in hours. He would have been lying to say that he was satisfied with the way things had turned out, but at the very least, Adam Frankenstein seemed like the kind of person that he could trust. He was willing to take a risk or two for him.


Getting Klaatu's help had been an important second step in the process of saving the planet Earth, but as soon as the transmition cut off, Adam asked Dobson to help him locate the machine that was subduing Earth's power, and with a smile, she obeyed, bringing up a map of the war factory again, and showing one spot in particular, which was marked in blue on it. That spot was the only place in the ship that was still sending any kind of power transmission to Earth, and Adam knew that was what he was looking for. Klaatu had just said that he had the authority to turn power on and off to certain things, and not to others, and that kind of elective control over Earth's power meant that an active machine was needed to keep the power off. Soon, he and Dobson had arrived at the location of the machine, but despite all that he'd seen already, he was still amazed by the sight of it.

The device that was apparently responsible for the power losses was very, very small. There was a setup of lights and antennae-like machines all over it, which was about the size of a basketball, but the small, cubical device inside the setup, connected to it by strong-looking wires, was absolutely tiny; about the size of a pin's head. Adam had to get pretty close to it before he could even see it properly, and it left him wondering just how much of it was actually necessary. Fortunately, however, it seemed that Dobson had already realized what he was planning, and was beginning to disconnect it, bit by bit. It required removing several cables from the machine; most likely control cables, but no matter what they did, Dobson could probably figure out how to make the device work without them if she had to. The important thing, for the moment, was gaining permanent control of the machine.

Before long, Dobson had finished disconnecting the whole, ball-shaped apparatus from the rest of the ship, and held it out to Adam to take, which he did. Then he'd asked her if there was any way to quickly locate the others, so that they could all leave together.


It was several hours before all of them had managed to gather in the launching bay where Dobson had been modifying the alien attack machine for use as a rocket ship, and it took a few moments longer for all of them to be briefed on Dracula's betrayal. It was strange, in a way. Adam hadn't expected that news to go over well with the others, but in the end, nobody really questioned it. They'd seen him talking about it on video, and they'd all known what kind of person the vampire was, so the idea of him betraying them all hadn't, apparently, been too far-fetched for any of them.

Soon, they'd all gotten into the robot together, and Dobson had sealed the enormous doors behind them, then moved over to the control panels, and that was when Adam finally had a chance to look over their team.

Barry Hammerson had apparently changed into his true form at some point during the mission, but it was hard to tell, because he was completely back to normal, and he actually looked a lot more comfortable and satisfied than he had before the mission had begun, as if he'd learned something new about himself on that mission; something very important.

The Gill-man's expression was just as unreadable as always, but it was clear that he was exhausted, and it wasn't hard to tell why. No matter what kind of struggles he'd been in recently, the fact remained that he'd been out of water for a very long time; too long, in fact. His skin looked like it was drying up, and Adam knew that once they got back to Earth, the first thing to do would be to dunk him in a tank or an ocean somewhere; someplace where he'd have the chance to recover from his obvious dehydration. Still, the Gill-man had a fresh look of confidence in his eyes too, in spite of his dehydration. It pleased Adam to see that.

Another member of their team, who was looking even more confident was Kong, which was quite a feat, since in all the times that Adam had seen Kong, he'd never looked as if he really doubted himself. Still, on that expressive, gorilla face, Adam could see a look of clear triumph, which hadn't fully been there before, and every so often, Kong would glance off to one side at Nancy, who wasn't paying nearly as much attention to him as she had been before. Still, the huge ape almost didn't seem to care. It was as if he'd won a great victory for Nancy's sake, and his own, and even if no one else recognized him for it, the victory was enough for him.

As for Nancy Archer herself, there was a sense of confidence about her too, but mostly because she didn't look worried about anything else that was going on around her. The giantess looked as if she were carefully thinking things over in her mind; as if she were struggling to solve some mystery that she'd never really bothered with before, or reconsidering something that she'd always taken for granted in the past. She looked so involved in her own thoughts, that Adam didn't like the idea of interrupting her; not even for something important. Still, the very fact that she could get lost in her own thoughts while surrounded by so many other monsters was a sign of just how much she'd learned to trust them all during their time together.

Compared to all of them, Dobson seemed to have gone through the opposite kind of change. In some ways, she was still the same, still frenetically working with the machines in front of her, but before going on that mission, she'd always seemed to have boundless confidence, and at that point, she was finally starting to look a bit nervous. In fact, Adam realized, it had really started when he'd told her about Dracula's betrayal, and how he'd needed to kill the vampire, in order to save the universe. In a way, it made him feel pretty bad to have damaged her confidence so much, but then again, if she'd been telling him the truth, and really did have some plan to take control of people's minds, then he couldn't just let that rest. After a while, he'd actually learned to find Dobson's confidence reassuring, but he couldn't cooperate with any more acts of villainy; not for anyone.

For a few moments, Dobson worked with those controls in front of her, typing commands into keys, and activating switches. However, just as the ship's engines began to activate, there was a thud from the side of the vessel, and Adam felt the whole craft shaking a bit from the impact. For a moment, Dobson stopped, looking a little confused, and turned back to the controls, but the noise repeated again a moment later; a pounding sound on the side of the ship. Quickly, Dobson typed in a few more commands into the controls in front of her, then after waiting a few seconds, she moved over to the door and opened it again, and there, Adam saw the last member of their team, and for some reason, he was relieved by the sight.

Imhotep looked a bit incomplete. Sections of him were missing, as though someone had taken him apart, and tried to put him back together without all the pieces, but in spite of that, it was clear that he was still perfectly capable of moving, and of using his powers. He looked a bit frazzled, and the bottom of his robes were still being gradually pieced together, from a series of sand grains that floated along behind him through the air. Of course, getting him caught up on everything that had happened since his attack against the outside of the alien ship would take some time, but in a way, Adam thought, it was good to have all their surviving members together again.

"I take it that the mission is complete, and the Earth is now safe from these creatures." were the mummy's first words, as soon as he stepped into the ship, and took a seat, still very confident, in spite of how much weaker he looked.

"It looks that way." Adam replied quickly, "The aliens made a bargain with us, so for now, the fight's over."

Imhotep looked a bit bored at that point, though he may also have been a little tired as well. It was hard to say, just from looking at him. Still, in the end, he just sat on the floor of that makeshift rocket, and said "Alright. Let's return to Earth, then."

Of course, Adam hadn't really expected Imhotep to jump up and down celebrating their victory, but it almost looked as though the mummy was absolutely refusing to react to anything that had just happened to him. Furthermore, he didn't even seem to notice that Dracula had gone missing, and that bothered Adam even more.

"Imhotep..." Adam said nervously after just a moment, "Aren't you curious about what happened to Dracula?"

However, the mummy just gave Adam a brief glance when he asked that question; a glance with no real enthusiasm behind it, and when he replied, his words really bothered the patchwork man.

"No. He never made much of an impression on me. If he decided to stay behind, I don't really care. If he's dead, I don't see any reason to mourn him. You were the only one who truly made any impression on me, Adam Frankenstein. You both saved me and annoyed me. If you had been the one to disappear, I might have reacted differently. However, I owe Dracula nothing."

Adam still felt uncomfortable about the mummy's reaction. On the one hand, it was sort of hard to argue with him. Dracula hadn't exactly made an effort to endear himself to any of them, and he certainly hadn't been the kind to risk his life for any of the others. On the other hand, just by reacting that way, Imhotep was proving his own cold-heartedness. It wasn't a positive sign, he thought, but then again, there wasn't much he could do about it either.

The creation of Frankenstein continued thinking about that sort of thing for a while, as the side of the room that the ship was in opened up into the vacuum of space, and their makeshift rocket took off, traveling outwards with even greater speed than before, away from the heavily-damaged war factory, and back towards Earth.