Is anyone actually reading this?

Well, anyway here's the fifteenth chapter of The Alien

As Told By Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 15: Deception

Carl met with Noelle in the observation lounge on the Flying Saucer. "What did you want to show me, Noelle?"

She pointed out the porthole toward a distant point. It was definitely not a star. It clearly had some sort of form. "I think that is where your sister and the others are."

"How do you know?"

Noelle looked Carl straight in the eye. "I wish I knew."

Carl gulped. He had a bad feeling about where this was all headed. If only he could identify what it was… Hopefully he was wrong. It wouldn't be the first time after all.

But not even the elation of weightlessness dulled the feeling of helplessness he had. He had to ignore that feeling. He was going to fix whatever that was broken, and everything will get back to normal. Especially after Notek erases their memories. Carl had mixed feelings about that. While he would enjoy the mysteries of the universe, he knew that if he unraveled them too fast, he would ruin the aura.

Ah, who was he kidding? He wanted to know more. And retain the memories he had.

He pushed off the ring around the porthole. "Excuse me, Noelle. There's something I have to see a man about."

Noelle nodded. "Okay, but don't dally, Carl."

Carl nodded. And then he went into the corridor. By walking on the floor. It was just the sci-fi shows on TV. Artificial gravity. If only if he could know that were a planet or a spaceship that Noelle had shown him…

He wandered the corridors and rooms of the alien craft looking for Hoodsey and/or Darren. Notek had made it on no uncertain terms that he wasn't to be disturbed while steering that craft through space. He seemed pretty intense, but maybe there was a way for Carl to avoid getting his mind wiped.

Though Carl had to admit, other than the whole memory wiping thing and his aloof nature, Notek wasn't too bad.

But that's still no excuse to erase people's memories. Aliens have been messing with the Earth, and the people who call her home, for far, far too long.

Carl was going to put a stop to that.

After he got reunited his mother and his sister of course.

OOO-

He found Hoodsey and Darren lounging in a room that looked sort like a living room. But it was a quite simple arrangement. A view screen sat on the far wall and a couch lay on each end of the room. Darren laid on his back on the couch on his right. And Hoodsey sat on the couch on his left. A show that was about a Japanese band but clearly wasn't from Japan.

"Why are you watching that crap?" Carl asked.

Darren shrugged. "Hey. Nothing else is on. Besides you should be impressed that we're watching TV millions of miles away from home."

"You mean this isn't a video."

"Nope."

"Huh."

Darren said, "You're up to something."

"Aren't I always?" Carl grinned. "But I've been thinking…"

"Never a good sign."

"Do you really want your memories erased?"

"No, but I'm welcome to solutions to stop that from happening."

Hoodsey got off his couch. "Don't worry, Darren. Carl's the idea man. He'll think of something."

"Not yet," Carl said. "I think I'll need your help to answer a few questions."

Darren sat up. "Of course, Carl. We can't let anyone erase our memories."

Carl closed the door behind him and they began their reconnaissance activities.

OOO-

Ginger was glad that Mrs. Gripling had put her clothes back on. A naked woman floating around the spaceship was pretty distracting. She and Ginger's mom had that discussion about who would be in charge (Though why they hadn't had that talk before, Ginger didn't know.) and they had decided that Mrs. Foutley would be in charge, since was a couple of months the senior of the two women. Then Mrs. Gripling had agree to wear her clothes again. Ginger was very much relieved when she watched Courtney's mother don her clothes.

Unfortunately, Courtney herself did not follow her mother's example. While Macie did. And none of the other girl's took their clothes off. Of which Ginger was glad. She didn't how much more of that insanity she could take. Now to convince Courtney to put her clothes back on…

"So, Courtney, you like looking like a complete fool?" Courtney gasped when Ginger said. "Well it's true. You do like rather foolish when go around in the buff like that."

"That shows you how much you know, Ginger. Mama's in charge of this trip and she said that I could be naked if I wanted to be."

"I thought Mom was in charge, Courtney."

Courtney put her finger to her chin and pondered. "That's odd. Mama told me that she was the one was in charge."

OOO-

"She said what!" Mrs. Foutley exclaimed. "Are you really sure that was what Courtney said. Claire explicitly agreed that I was the boss."

Ginger nodded. "That was what she said."

"Then we have a Gripling to visit."

Mrs. Foutley kicked off the bulkhead and flew toward Mrs. Gripling's room and Ginger followed.

OOO-

Mipsy was sitting in front of a computer terminal, studying technical plans of the Flying Saucer when Miranda came into the room. At least that was what Mipsy looked like she was doing. Miranda had no idea if she could actually understand any of it. But she didn't care. "Mipsy, we're being followed."

Mipsy looked up from her work. "You look like you're alone, Miranda."

"No. I mean all of us," Miranda replied icily. "I mean another craft is following this one."

"What?" Mipsy tried to stand up. "Who could do that?"

"Another of our ole pal Nomar's kind, I would imagine."

"But what would they be doing here?"

"Why is Nomar here?" Miranda pointed out.

"Ah. Good point."

"So I was wondering if this craft we're in or the craft chasing us is the one should worry about."

"I'll try. But I'm not exactly fluent in Nomar's language."

"Try to find a English version."

OOO-

Carl was making his to where he had last seen Noelle. He and Hoodsey and Darren had started planning, and while Hoodsey and Darren were making preparations, Carl was fetching Noelle to get her contribution. Surely she didn't want her memory wiped.

He reached the observation deck he had shared with Noelle. She wasn't there. I wonder where she went off to, he thought before going out to look for her. He traveled through the entire ring corridor, and searched all the rooms along the way, before getting to where he started without finding her. "Now if I were Noelle Suessman, where I would be?"

He decided to check with Hoodsey.

When he had got the door open, he said, "Noelle, what are you doing here?"

"You are the one who looked for me here," Noelle replied.

He wasn't looking for her then, but he wasn't about to let her know that. "Good point."

"I agree with you guys," Noelle said. "I don't want my memory erased either." She looked levelly at Carl. "You do have a plan, do you not?"

"Of course," Carl replied. "It's me we're talking about."

"Hmm-mmm."

Jeez, you would think in all the months they had known each other that she would have trusted him more. "It's all in bag. There's nothing to worry about," he said confidently.

"Except for the possibility that Notek is eavesdropping on our conservation," Noelle pointed out.

"Oh, that."

"Yes, that."

Carl knew that was a reason that they drew up their plans on Post-It notes that he just happened to have with them when they had been abducted. But he just let their oh-so-gracious host Notek know about the existence. He shrugged. Not like he didn't know about the plans in the first place. But unless he could read minds, Notek wouldn't know what the plans were.

Noelle looked up, frowning. "And he might be watching with his camera."

Carl swore. Colorfully.

"You know, you aren't exactly helping," he said when he was done.

OOO-

It wasn't that Notek wanted to erase the poor kids' memories, but orders were orders, and Notek wasn't dishonorable enough to disobey them. Unlike that slime Nomar was pursuing. And he was certain that they were concocting some kind of scheme to save their memories, but he didn't bother to find out it was.

It would never work.

It was far too important that had no memory of these events. And he wasn't about to fail again.

OOO-

She must have been staring at the screen for far too long, Mipsy decided. The text was starting to make sense. It wasn't that was in English, as it wasn't, she recognized that language well enough. But was it possible to pick up an language this alien in only two hours?

"Wait. That can't be right," she said to herself. She unstrapped herself from the chair and went out to look for Miranda. This had to be shared with someone.

Mipsy didn't have far to look. Miranda was floating just outside the door with her hand on a guide rail. Just what was she doing here? Mipsy wondered.

"Found something, Mipsy?"

Mipsy nodded. "Yes, two things. One, I can read Galactica like a native."

"Galactica?"

"That's the language that the ship's records are written in."

"That could prove useful," Miranda agreed. "And the second?"

"Nomar's has five-hundred thousand kilo-geems of reactor power. That's more than enough power in this ship to run the engines at full blast and the life support going and have gravity in every part of the ship at the same time."

"Yes," Miranda nodded, "either our host doesn't know his own ship, which I doubt, or he's a liar.

"Either way we're in big, big trouble."