Chapter16:

Invasion of the Pod-People

Trixie was no longer laughing. As she flicked off her weakening flashlight, she tossed Mart's vile prophetic book onto her nightstand, wishing she'd never cracked the cover.

Sure, the story had ended happily. At least for Cosmo Mc Naught, it had. Not so much for the lovely Delilah Dench, who he'd left pining away for him on Ramous V, however. And Trixie couldn't help but feel sorry for the lavender-skinned beauty with long dark hair.

Yep, Cosmo Mc Naught and the Sinister Circle may not have contained a boy cow and seven sisters. But it, sure enough, had a violet alien. And the creepy, unsettling coincidences didn't stop there. At least Dee Dench had two eyes, but those eyes sounded a lot like Di Lynch's.

In the story, the evil Trillions had overpopulated their home-world, exhausting all of their natural resources, and their scout ship was out scouring the galaxy, looking for new planets to plunder and conquer. Sound like International Pine? It sure had to Trixie.

Stumbling upon the just-right Ramous V, the Trillions engaged their shield of invisibility and then sent a landing party to harvest some Ramonian DNA under cover of darkness. Upon the wicked teams return, the evil aliens then injected the genetic material into their all-too-hideous bodies. And when done, the Trillion's had slithered into their genetic incubator pods.

One solar rotation later, the masterminding scroungers of the universe emerged as exact replicas of the unsuspecting peaceful farmers who inhabited the planet below. That's right. The Trillions had become purple pod-people! And that had chilled its disturbed reader to her bones.

Now the crafty boogers could infiltrate Ramonian society and begin their sinister plot to strip the planet of its precious ore and build vast cities to home its ever exploding population. The Trillions apparently reproduced like rabbits, and had no predator ravenous or vicious enough to keep them from taking over the universe!

Until Cosmo Mc Naught arrived on the scene that it is.

His mother, Captain Mc Naught, had been contracted by the Conjoined Council of Planets to make supply runs in this sector of the galaxy. She and her crew stopped at Ramous V about twice a year to pick up the colony's surplus crop of vital life-sustaining quadro-tritti-barley.

In fact, it was the golden fields of this sought after grain which had given Cosmo his first clue that something wasn't right on Ramous V. When the planet came on the Sky Hawk's main view screen, the fields, which should have been harvest already, were still waving in the alien winds. And worse, they'd been marked with some ominous circular stamp which had given our young guitar-playing hero the heebie-jeebies.

Of course, Trixie had to wonder, when she'd read this section of the novel, why the brilliant Mr. Mc Naught hadn't been alarmed by all of the massive cities which had popped up on the surface. But hey, Cosmo was no Lucy Radcliff, that was for sure. Nevertheless, the exhausted girl had kept reading, not about to admit that the story was nonetheless gripping.

Anyway, upon landing, Captain Mc Naught had been greeted by the colony's governor, and Cosmo had excused himself to seek out the elected leader's daughter, the aforementioned, Delilah "Dee" Dench. On the Sky Hawk's last run to Ramous V, Cosmo had gifted its great citizens with a guitar-smashing jam session, and Dee, considered to be the most beautiful girl on the planet, had fallen head over heels for the dashing crew-cut Casanova.

Only now, the governor's daughter seemed to have no interest in Cosmo? "Can you imagine that?" Trixie had giggled - and giggled hard. But Cosmo, not use to being rejected, fetched his electric music maker from off his ship, hoping to again win over the lovely Delilah's heart by serenading her. In the meantime, the governor, under Trillion mind control, had taken Captain Mc Naught captive and thrown her their medieval-like dungeon, unbeknownst to her distracted son.

Trixie couldn't deny it was an action-filled story. But the long and short of it was, Dee Dench was also under alien mind control, but when Cosmo played her a wild lick on his female-melting instrument, the mind meld was broken, as Trillions hated loud screeching noises. And after Delilah re-confessed her undying love for dear Cosmo, the silver-tongued teenager swept his purple princess off to the Sky Hawk where he outfitted the two of them with earbuds which he'd green-toothed to the main computer's music bank.

Next, with the beautiful Dee's help, the larger-than-life boy decoded the message in the sinister crop circle – which, it turned out, had been a sign for incoming Trillion ships to land there. Then he located the cloaked alien ship, hacked into its mainframe (which just so happened to be connected to the entire Trillion network), and ultimately finished by sending every last one of the ugly creatures to an early heavy metal death.

Of course, Cosmo and Dee had also piped screeching guitar music all over Ramous V and freed Captain Mc Naught in the process. There was more, but that was the gist of the far-out plot. And Cosmo boarded the Sky Hawk, taking off into the twin sunset, to woo his next alien beauty.

Trixie groaned and decided to snap on the lamp, sitting on her bedside table. She'd never be able to get to sleep now. Poor, poor, Dee.

Oh, well, at least now the blurry-eyed detective knew why the Bob-White's own personal Cosmo Mc Naught had not only been cranking up the music but had also given away his older brother's radio. Mart had been trying to prevent "They" from gaining control over his and Bobby's minds. Apparently, her middle brother was no longer sitting on the edge of that murky pool of paranoia but had jumped in head first - and bumped it soundly on the bottom.

Still, Trixie didn't like what she'd read, either. Sure, the wild tale had been a side slapper at times. But I'd also hit a little too close to home. And while Como McNaught didn't have much going on in the old gumshoe department, he had, unfortunately, opened the girl's tired eyes to a few things she hadn't wanted to see. And Trixie desperately wanted to talk to Honey about them. But unfortunately, it was much too early to call her friend.

Besides, she'd already promised Regan that she'd help Honey exercise the horses this morning. Which meant the girls would be able to chat then. Plus, Trixie knew that she'd have to water the garden and help Moms with breakfast before she did anything else. It was going to be another busy day in paradise – sleep or no sleep -and the worn-out girl was already exhausted just thinking about it.

Reaching for the photo of the Bob-Whites next to her bed, Trixie heaved a heavy sigh as she gazed at the seven smiling young people, horsing around in front of their clubhouse. It just didn't seem right that Di was no longer a part of the club. One day they were all the best of friends, and the next day, poof! Diana was gone. And suddenly, Trixie began to worry about Jim again. Would he be the next one to disappear?

Thankfully, last night she'd known what her red-headed friend had been up to. And maybe now that the Pine Deal was done, the boy and his father would be able to patch things up. Honey was anticipating that her parents would be coming home today. And Trixie hoped that for her sake, they would. But maybe not so much for Jim's.

Setting the silly picture back down, Trixie frowned at the way Mart's two fingers were poking up from behind her head in the image. Whether they were supposed to be devil horns or alien antennae wasn't entirely clear. But either way, she was again reminded of the crop circle. And after reading the Sinister Circle, both entities seemed equally bad.

It also got Trixie thinking that this morning might be the girls' last chance to investigate the pattern in the cornfield. The workers were expected to complete the fence today. So the musing teen decided that maybe she and Honey should make a stop on their morning ride. If the two could figure out if the mysterious design were man-made, at least she'd be able to sleep better tonight.

One thing was for sure though, if Trixie couldn't sleep, the last thing she planned to do was pick up another Cosmo Mc Naught book. And Mart's sister also realized that she wasn't quite ready to admit to her brother that she'd read one of the stories from cover to cover. Of course, that meant the devil in her would have to keep her brother's ridiculous secret for a while. But it was a sacrifice her more angelic side was willing to make.

"No, Moms, I already told you. Jim won't be going with us," Trixie moaned as she cut thick slices of spiced zucchini bread for her and Bobby's breakfast. "It's just Honey and me. And I don't need reminding. I know I'm not allowed to see him unless one of my lunkhead brothers is hanging around. If Jim shows up, I'm out of there. Promise."

Mrs. Belden, who'd been pouring Bobby a glass of milk, set it on the table in front of her youngest child and then wiped her hands on a floral dishtowel. "Very well," she said. "Just be sure you're home by ten to watch your little brother. I've got to get the grocery shopping done today, and I also need to see if I can locate some more canning jar lids. They're usually sold out everywhere this time of year. I just never anticipated we'd need so many."

Taking the seat next to Bob's, Trixie secretly hoped her mother wouldn't have any luck finding the metal seals. If she did, it meant tomorrow would be another fun day spent standing over a hot stove. And usually, this time of year, Trixie counted on things slowing down a bit. Only thanks to Mart's Miraculous Multiplier, this year, the garden was providing the Beldens with a late-season vegetable boom.

Then it dawned on the pensive girl that Moms should set up a produce stand at the Sleepyside street fair! Trixie was about to make the suggestion when Brian trudged in and snagged her breakfast from off her plate.

"Hey, did you ever think of asking?" the grumpy girl grouched, folding her arms across her chest.

As Brian proceeded to wolf down the deliciously moist quick-bread, he answered her question with a snarl. "A pirate ain't one t' ask, wee sister. A pirate be one t' take."

Almost immediately, Bobby jumped from his chair and went running to his mother. "Moms, Moms!" the youngster cried, pulling on her apron strings. "Brian just said the ain'ts word. Tells him, Moms! We're nots supposed to says that word, ares we?"

Mrs. Belden's reply was a simple exasperated sigh, and Trixie giggled.

The teen had a hunch that ole cap'n Brian had ratted on his younger matey by tellin' thar mother about the pirate stash he be hidin' under his fluffy cot. It wasn't like Bobby to tattle unless tattled upon. And Brian had gone into Bob's room the afternoon before to retrieve his "borrowed" flashlight. Trixie recalled having seen the torch under Bobby's bed.

But as the older scallywag snatched the wee blabbermouth's abandoned breakfast next, Trixie had to wonder what had gotten into Brian. She expected that kind of behavior coming from Mart, but not from him? Then it dawned on her that there was still a sea-dog was missing from the scurvy pack. The normally keen girl's lack of sleep was already beginning to show itself.

"So what'd you do with Mart?" Trixie asked, covering up a yawn. "Feed him to the man-eating violet aliens?"

First catching the contagion, Brian accepted the glass of milk his mother held out to him and then replied with a grin, "Yer bonny beau and yer ole cap'n did thar darnedest me dear. We tried tying 'im t' a rotten oak 'n signalin' the starvin' monsters t' come get 'im. Only they turned up thar purple noses, they did. Our beefy siblin' wasn't lean enough for thar taste, 'twould seem."

Moms tried hard not to grin. "Then where is your brother?" she asked as she finished slicing down the zucchini loaf and then set the cutting board on the table so the children could help themselves.

Reaching for a third morsel, ole cap'n Brian gasped, "Oh curse it be! I guess we forgot 'n left the rotten welp lashed to that thar tree." Which earned the boy a swat from Moms dish towel and a silly gurgle from Bobby.

"Actually," Brian went on, more seriously, "Mart ran with Mr. Sanderson to the co-op. He plans to help install the new gate, and then Mr. Sanderson's offered to bring him home."

"I hope Mart hasn't forgotten that he's got baseball practice this afternoon," Trixie said. "The coach gets mighty hot if the players skip out the day before a big game."

As Brain rinsed his glass at the kitchen sink, he told his sister not to worry. "Mr. All Star figures he'll be home in plenty of time to catch a few winks before going in," he said. "I've also got to be at the country club by two," he told his mother. "But I'll be home for dinner tonight. I'm only penciled in until five."

"Why that's hardly worth your gasoline," Mrs. Belden sighed sadly. "And you're looking so peaked, Brian. I'm concerned about you. Why don't you just give them your notice today?"

"I'm fine, Moms," Brian assured his mother, giving her a peck on her cheek. "Things just got a little crazy last night. That's all. Seems every time we turned around, we bumped into another group of crazy circle seekers. No one really hassled us or anything. Most people just looked sheepish and took off when we confronted them. But it was like being in a video game. We'd just finish with one batch of lunatics when another popped up from out of nowhere. I'm really glad Mr. Lynch plans to open up the crop circle for tours on Monday. Hopefully, it'll curb everyone's trespassing problems."

Then, as ole cap'n Brian headed off for a quick snooze, Trixie excused herself from the table and went to meet her honey-haired friend at Manor House.

"Gleeps, Honey, I never expected to be stopped by a fully-armed guard!" Trixie gasped as the two girls headed down the bridle path leading from the stables to the game preserve. "And I almost had a heart attack when he called Regan and that smart-alecky groom of yours told him to cart me off because I was a dangerous criminal! Why that half-witted watchman just about had me in handcuffs!"

Honey giggled as she nudged Strawberry up beside Susie. "That's my fault, Trixie," she confessed. "I should should have given you a little warning, and let Officer Anderson know you were coming. Next time I'll remember."

Trixie shook her head at the ridiculousness of it all. "Well, you can tell Miss Trask that Dandy Andy is doing a fine job," she grumbled. "So, how many people has she hired watch the place, anyway?"

"Six," Honey sighed. "There's a guard at the house, one at the crop circle, and three who roam the property. Then, of course, your friend Dandy Andy," she added with a smile. "So I wouldn't suggest any more late-night visits to see Jim, Trixie."

The dog-tired girl next to the more humored one let out a big harrumph. "Very funny," she said.

Trixie's lack of sleep had her in bad spirits, and her late-night read had left her feeling unsettled. She hadn't told Honey about the horrible story yet. The anxious teen was waiting until after the pair visited the cornfield. She was afraid if she were to talk to her now, the easily spooked girl might be too scared to investigate.

Soon reaching the main trailhead, which Regan had reopened so the horses could pass, the girls were stopped by another of the security guards. Like Dandy Andy at the front gate, this man also wore a standard-issue, two-toned brown uniform. And at first sight, the stocky gentleman appeared to be quite official and menacing.

Trixie remembered the watchman the moment she laid eyes on him. Mr. Wilcox had introduced himself to the girls at Mayor Murdock's election party. He'd followed some of the young detectives' cases in the Sleepyside Sun and was big fans of theirs.

Officer Wilcox was also a staunch supporter of the mayor's, and he usually served as the public official's personal bodyguard. As a result, Trixie looked at the man quizzically, wondering what he was doing working for the Wheelers. Especially since she knew Mr. Wilcox's wife was an employee at International Pine.

"Good Morning, Ladies," Mr. Wilcox greeted them, politely taking off his hat. "Fine day for a ride, isn't it?"

Trixie hadn't really thought about it, but she guessed it was. It was a little cooler this morning, and they did have a nice breeze blowing.

"Off tracking down jewel thieves or international spies today?" he went on to ask jovially.

Honey smiled warmly and let out her usual giggle. "Actually, we're out hoping to discover who made the crop circle," she replied.

Chuckling at her answer, Officer Wilcox gave Strawberry a rub on the nose. "Well now, wouldn't we all like to know the answer to that riddle!" he said. "Especially the mayor," the bald man added, catching Trixie's attention. "Maybe it would stop the Tinfoil Crowd from stalking him night and day. The silly fools seem to think he's in league with aliens, don't you know."

Trixie almost fell out of Susie's saddle. No, she most definitely hadn't known. "Gleeps, Officer Wilcox! Are the baked potato heads really following Mayor Murdock about?" she gasped.

The rotund man nearly rolled with laughter. "'Baked Potato heads', now there's a good one," he admitted. "But yes indeedy, they certainly are, my dear. So, you girls do us all a huge favor and solve this crazy mystery for us, you hear?!"

Waving them off, Mr. Wilcox ended the little chit-chat, and our two super-sleuths carried on with their ride.

At the opening to the clearing, Trixie and Honey dismounted and looped their horses' reins to a low-hanging tree branch. From there, the girls proceeded to the cornfield on foot.

Nearing the crop circle, Trixie stepped on a metal screw which had been hiding in the tall grass. Thank goodness she had been wearing her riding boots. If she'd been sporting her sneakers, the pointy object might have gone through to her toe!

Sitting down to pull it out, the grumbling girl remarked, "Goodness, Honey! This place looks like a deserted war zone! And where's that other security guard you were telling me about?"

Glancing all around, Honey grimaced with concern, and then replied that she didn't know. "I thought Mr. Maypenny and some of the workmen might be here too," she said. "Constructions crews normally like to get an early start. Especially on hot days."

"Well, it looks to me like they've already been here and then, for some reason, cut out fast," Trixie stated. "Why else would the workmen have left all their tools lying around? Not to mention their ice chests and supplies? What bothers me is the way everything has been haphazardly thrown about. And I would have thought the construction crew would have more of the fence up than just those support poles? Do you think the men ran into some kind of problem?"

As Honey gave the complaining teen a hand up, she suggested that maybe the mowing devil had scared everyone off.

That idea caused Trixie to laugh. And she was glad now she hadn't told Honey about Cosmo Mc Naught and the Sinister Circle. Little did her pretty friend know, but there were things far worse than Mr. Maypenny's arch-enemy out there roaming the galaxy.

Then suddenly, Trixie grabbed Honey's tanned arm. "Shh! Listen," she hissed. "Do you hear voices coming from the cornfield?"

Honey's face went white, and she nodded.

"Now, doesn't that just send a chill up your spine," came a rumbling voice from out of the now swaying cornstalks. "You say you think the Devil did it, huh? Maybe I should move Anderson down here. He's not the man that Maxwell was, but…."

"Was?!" Trixie's mind exploded. " Had someone been…?"

Only the teenager's chilling thought was abruptly stopped by another voice - this one much more familiar. "Not to disagree," said Mr. Maypenny, as he strode out from between the stalks, "But the fellow seemed a little yellow to me. Thinking that two-point buck was the great horned one himself! Now there's a rib-tickler!"

Next to the Wheeler's gamekeeper was the chief of Safe and Sound Security, Kevin Ogilvy. His name and position were printed on his badge.

"Well, if you hadn't been filling the boy's head with all your crazy yarns, he wouldn't have run off like that, Charles," the gaunt enforcement officer said.

Mr. Maypenny grinned, and waved as he spotted the girls. "Just practicing my tour guide speech," he told Mr. Ogilvy innocently. "Someone around here has to keep the people straight, don't they? Aliens my foot!"

Trixie and Honey began to laugh. It seemed Mr. Maypenny was less afraid of the crop circle than he'd claimed to be, and Trixie was starting to think that perhaps he'd been funning them some.

"Good morning, Mr. Maypenny, Officer Ogilvy," she said. "Honey and I came to check out the crop circle if that's OK with you." Then, after glancing about, added, "What happened to the workmen, if you don't mind my asking, Sirs?"

Leaving the gamekeeper to answer the girl's questions, the gangly chief of security headed off to fetch a new man to replace the one who'd been frightened away.

Mr. Maypenny then proceeded to tell the eager pair to feel free to poke around. He also explained that Mr. Lynch had brought the town council members down to the field the evening before, and they'd made a few changes to Mr. Wheeler's plans for the fence. As a result, the building contractors had to head back to town to pick up some more supplies.

The local gravel quarry was sending out people this morning to improve the road leading to the crop circle, too. They'd be creating a new parking area and a pad for the fire department's hook and ladder truck while at it. And the company had also been given instructions to cut down some of the corn to lay a rock pathway so sightseers could reach the center of the design more easily.

Mr. Maypenny was there, at Mr. Lynch's insistence, to be sure the road company, as well as the fencing contractors, maintained the integrity of the pattern in the field.

Dan, in the meantime, had been called into work at the Lynches. According to Mr. Maypenny, some of Diana's new friends had been visiting and made shambles of the family's rock garden. Mr. Lynch, who was quite irate about the whole thing, hoped the skilled boy could repair the damage. And Di, or so the gamekeeper claimed, had ended up grounded over the incident.

But as Mr. Maypenny heard a big truck approaching, he ended the gossip session and let Trixie and Honey begin their investigation. Only to the girls' dismay, the recent activity at the crop circle had disturbed the site to such a degree that it was impossible to determine what was a clue and what wasn't.

"No wonder Spider put up yellow caution tape at the clubhouse," Trixie told her partner as they walked around the perimeter of the area, getting ready to enter the field. "I wish now that someone had barricaded off this clearing."

"I know," Honey replied," digging a shiny piece of trash out of one of the corn rows. "There's no way to know if this soda can was left by a worker or perhaps by a thirsty alien."

Trixie giggled and gave her friend a playful shove. "Let's see if things are any better inside the design," she suggested. "I'll go first, so the spiders don't get you."

Breaking into the largest circle, Honey was stunned by how the corn stalks had been neatly lain over. "I'm not sure what we're looking for," she admitted, "but I can tell you one thing, Trixie. Mr. Maypenny's Mowing Devil didn't do this. First off, the corn hasn't been cut. And no "fiery scythe" was used. The leaves show no sign of having been seared by fire."

Squatting down to take a closer look, Trixie agreed. "The spinning pattern of the flattened corn lends more to the whirlwind theory, doesn't it?" she said. "But the perfectly straight lines that runoff from this main part tell a different story altogether."

"I'm with you," Honey said, strolling about keeping her eyes peeled to the ground. "And if humans did make this impression, I must say it was quite an accomplishment. From what Jim says, it's been done before, but I don't know how, Trixie? Maybe we should look it up on the internet?"

"Now there's a good idea," Trixie admitted. "Because all I can tell, from what little Sir Isaac Newton stuff I know, is that the corn would still be standing unless some force had acted upon it. And that certainly gets us no closer to figuring out who or what applied that force."

"If it's a who, do you think they may have lost their watch?" Honey asked, bending down and picking one out of the flattened mat in front of her.

Trixie rushed over to take a peek. "Gleeps, I suppose it's possible," she said. "It's definitely a man's watch. And it looks costly."

Honey checked the back of the stainless steel timepiece for an engraving and, finding none, handed it over to her intrigued friend.

"It could also belong to Mr. Maypenny or any number of people who've been out here recently," she signed. "Though if I were a workman, I certainly wouldn't risk wearing one so valuable, Trixie. That makes me more inclined to think Mr. Lynch or one of the town council members may have lost it."

Trixie had to agree and slipped the watch into the pocket of her jeans. Once the girls were through searching the circles, they'd turn it over to Mr. Maypenny. It was the proper thing to do. He could check with the workmen and Mr. Lynch to see if they knew who might have lost the watch.

So after moving on to the outer circles, the teenage detectives came up with nothing more and decided it was time to head home. Exiting at the opposite side from where they'd come in, the two girls stumbled upon another pile of debris.

"Do you think this is some of the workman's stuff?" Trixie asked Honey, as she dug through the assortment of what appeared to be salvaged boards, ropes, and other wooden what-nots.

"No, it's more likely some of Mr. Maypenny's," her pretty friend replied with a sigh. "You can see the loafing shed right over there behind those trees if you squint. We might as well pick up this mess and stack it next to his deer cart. If we leave it here, it's bound to get run over by one of the heavy gravel trucks."

A few minutes later, after completing the job, the two discouraged teenagers again came upon Mr. Maypenny. This time, he was in the middle of a heated argument with one of the workers, so the girls simply handed over the watch and told him that they'd catch up with him later.

Back on the trail, once Susie and Strawberry were a good ways away from the clearing, Trixie finally got around to telling Honey about Cosmo Mc Naught and the Sinister Circle. Of course, she carefully left out that the spacey swashbuckler had a blonde crew cut and extensive vocabulary. But she did tell Honey about everything else. And as Trixie finished her recount, the disturbed girl riding next to her drew her horse to a sudden halt.

"Oh, Trixie!" Honey cried as her friend came to a stop too. "How terrible, is that?!"

To which her nodding partner replied, "Pretty terrible if you ask me. But I haven't told you the worst part yet, Honey. The story's got me thinking that Mr. Banks and Mr. Turner might actually be alien pod-people who've come to take over the earth. And just like in the book, the crop circle could be a signal to other ships. There are just too many similarities between what happened on Ramous V and what's currently happening in Sleepyside. And I think 'They' could very well have Mayor Murdock under mind control, too! You heard Mr. Wilcox. The baked potato heads believe it. It certainly would explain why the mayor's suddenly trying to develop our town. And you know what else I think, Honey? I think 'They' are using sweet innocent children like Bobby to convince people that they are really our friends and that we have nothing to fear."

All this time, Honey had been shaking in her saddle. "Oh, Trixie! That's the stuff of nightmares!" she gasped. "And here all along, I was only thinking about poor, poor Dee!"