The aliens led Retro and Bob to the alien palace. It was the biggest thing they had ever seen. It was so bright that they had to wear sunglasses.

"So you're a fellow Calvin-hater too, huh?" said Retro, admiring the craftsmanship of this building. "What'd he do to you?"

"Well, when we captured Galaxoid and Nebular, we tortured them into telling us where the Supreme Earth Potentate was," Rupert said.

"How'd you do it?" asked Bob.

"We didn't feed them," said Earl.

"Right, and we tracked himdown Calvin to Camp Pine, and I took on the form of John Howard Chill, where I kept a close on him, but then he ran off and sang some rock and roll song, and then that basically ruined everything."

"Ah, he's a pain in the butt, that's for sure," Retro agreed. "But I think we might be able to come up with something. What with your advanced alien technology, I'd say we could possibly wipe him out."

"You don't say," Rupert commented. "What do you think we should do?"

"Well, first we'll need a special vehicle. I had one of my own back on Earth, but then the—" He looked at him, rolling his eyes. "—Earth Potentate broke it, and now it's useless."

"Well, we could get you what you need," Earl offered. "We've got gears, and metal and old digging pieces!"

Retro rolled his eyes skyward with a grin on his face, and then looked over at Bob. "The blueprints, Bob," he said.

Bob reached into his lab coat and pulled out a blue piece of paper that was rolled up.

Rupert and Earl looked at each other.

Retro unrolled the blueprints and showed them a bunch of stuff written in white.

"These are the plans for the Claw Car 2.0," he said. "We would need the following items to build it."

"Whatever! We'll get started!" shouted Rupert.

"Wonderful. I shall do the building myself as long as you provide parts."

"Deal," said Rupert.

"Deal," said Earl.

They slithered off towards the back of the palace with Retro and Bob following. Once they were there, they pulled out a giant jagged piece that looked like the bucket from an excavator.

"Will this work?"

Retro's eyes grew wide with excitement.

"We've got everything we need right here," he grinned.

Bob raised an eyebrow and looked it over. This spelled trouble.


Back on Earth, Calvin was sitting on the sidewalk while Hobbes and Socrates were running around and playing. He had a clipboard, paper and pencil.

"What are you doing?" asked Hobbes.

"Trying to write my biography," Calvin replied.

"What for?" asked Socrates. "You're only six."

"Well, having had six whole adventures in one summer, I'd say I have every reason to write a book."

"Who'd publish a six year old?"

"Hey, they gave us medals of honor. Go figure. Anyway, I'm up to the part where we're telling Galaxoid and Nebular that I'm the Supreme Earth Potentate."

Socrates rolled his eyes. "You two are so lucky. I would give anything to have what you have."

"You want to have bad grades and a bunch of nuts chasing us?" Calvin asked.

"No!" Socrates yelled. "I mean I want to have fame and fortune and notoriety."

"We don't have fortune," Hobbes said. "His mom made us give it to the town."

"Well, I'd still give up anything for that kind of stuff."

"Is that a promise?" Calvin asked, eyeing him. "You mean you'd give up pranking me at every moment you get?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No."

Calvin slapped his forehead. He'd done it again.

"Don't worry, Socrates," Hobbes said. "After you moved here, we did something that got you involved."

"What's that?" Socrates asked.

"You'll see."

Suddenly, Socrates jumped up into the air, landed on his tail, spun around, closed his eyes and put his hands up.

Calvin and Hobbes grinned knowingly.

"Incoming transmission from Galaxoid and Nebular," he said in a robotic voice. "Please listen up, because they care about you."

Suddenly, he sounded like Galaxoid.

"Earth Potentate, this is Galaxoid speaking," he said.

Then Nebular transmitted.

"Are you calling Calvin? Tell him I said 'hi'!"

"Shh! Calvin, we need to ask you a favor."

"C'mon! Tell him I said 'hi'!"

"We need you to talk to that hamster friend of yours," Galaxoid continued.

"Calvin? Is that you? Hi, Calvin!" shouted Nebular.

"He's been sending radio waves into space that can reach our galaxy, which is five galaxies away from your own. So please tell him to keep it down."

"Will do, Galaxoid. Over and out," Calvin said.

In his normal voice, Socrates said, "Resume normal functions in three, two, ATCHOO!"

Socrates returned to normal. "What happened?" he asked.

"You went into that phase of blankness again," Hobbes replied.

"Oh."

As he left, Hobbes leaned over to Calvin. "What'll he do if we tell him that we put a transmitter / receiver chip in his brain?" he asked.

"Go stark raving mad," Calvin replied. "We'll save it for a good time when I'm bored."


The three of them arrived at a house on the edge of town that was painted red and was two stories high. But what stood out most was the giant satellite dish that was spinning around on the roof.

Without bothering to knock, Calvin, Hobbes and Socrates entered the house.

They went up to the second floor and knocked on a door that had a poster on it. Andy opened it and saw them.

"I think I know what this is about," he muttered.

"Yup," Calvin replied. "Where's the hamster?"

"In his study. Come with me."

Andy led them downstairs. They found a metal door that was no more than an a couple inches tall. Andy turned a doorknob in the wall, and the secret door opened.

"Wow," breathed Socrates.

"Big deal," muttered Hobbes.

They walked down into secret lab down below. There was a little slide that Sherman obviously used to get down there.

There was a massive library to one half, but the other half had tiny tables that held beakers and test tubes. They heard a squeaky chuckle, followed by a POOF. They saw smoke pour from behind a curtain.

"Finally, my best work: an everlasting multiplying formula!" a squeaky voice cried.

Andy rolled his eyes and opened the curtain, revealing Sherman the hamster pouring red and orange formulas into each other. The sudden ray of light made him jump, and the beaker flew through the air. It landed on his table, and it became two tables.

"THE LIGHT!" he screeched, covering his eyes with his paws. "IT BURNS!" He gave Andy a glare "Look what you've done!" he shouted at Andy. "You have completely ruined my—"

He saw Calvin, Hobbes and Socrates standing behind him.

"Oh, it's you."

His eyes narrowed at Hobbes.

"Hobbes."

"Vermin."

"What do you want?" Sherman sneered.

"About those radio waves you're experimenting with," Andy said. "We need you to lower the volume."

"But then it'll ruin the purpose of the experiment!"

"Yeah, well, too bad," Hobbes sniffed. "Galaxoid says that they can hear it clear across five galaxies."

"So? This is important research!" Sherman objected.

"What are you researching?" asked Socrates. "How to get aliens to come to your doorstep, bang on your door and yell 'Keep it down! I'm trying to sleep!'?"

"No, I'm trying to see how much it would take to make a planet fall apart. I'm currently aiming it at Mars."

"No!" said Andy. "Bad hamster. We don't blow up planets in this household."

"Yeah, you tell 'im," muttered Calvin.

Sherman snorted and got off of the table. He grabbed a remote control and pressed a button on it. With a whistle and a click, a robot came along. It was about the size of Calvin.

"Oh, not this again," moaned Andy.

"What's so dangerous about this puny thing?" snorted Socrates. "It seems harmless."

Suddenly, a giant hand popped out and grabbed the four of them.

"The keyword is 'seems'," said Hobbes.

The robot left the room, and then tossed them on the floor. The door was slammed shut.

"How rude," Calvin sighed. "Come on, guys, let's get out of here."

Calvin and the two tigers left the house.


Back on Planet Zok, the aliens groaned at the hideous noise coming from inside the workshop behind the palace. There were earsplitting hisses and agonized screeches.

"Ow! My ears!" cried an alien.

"Do we have ears?" asked another.

He didn't receive an answer because at that moment the doors to the workshop were knocked over by Retro.

Rupert, Earl and Bob watched as he slowly approached, but he was sitting in something.

I'm sure we all remember Retro's famous claw car. The original round base had been used for the car, but the tires were larger so it could handle that tough terrain this planet had. But what was on the back was the most terrifying contraption the aliens had ever seen.

The old excavator parts, as well as some old machinery, had been put together to form a mechanical arm with notched jaws on the end of a giant claw. The rusty machinery screeched as it moved and the hydraulics hissed.

"How'd ya like this, Rupert?" he called over the noise.

Before Rupert could answer, Retro moved the claw over to an old boiler, and took a chunk out.

"Not bad," said Rupert, who was feeling a little like Bob right now.

"Thanks. This is what we can use to rip that kid apart with!"

Rupert and Earl grinned evilly.

"That sounds perfect. Let's get that thing to a safe place. Now we just need a plan," Earl said.

"I have a plan," said Retro, "but it'll require some more equipment. I'll need a colander and some metal, and lots of wires."

"What for?" asked Rupert.

"Because it's time for the Imaginator to be reborn."