As coherently as she could, Betty explained the situation.

The Admiral listened patiently, puffing his pipe. "I see. I wonder how he managed that? Well, whatever the case, it's doubtless he's up to no good. I need you to keep an eye on him. Fortunately that should be easy enough, given your circumstances."

"Uh--yes, sir. I'll try to find out what his plan is."

"That's the spirit, Atomic Betty! DeGill out." The hologram crackled and vanished.

Betty seethed, thinking of her parents cuddling that little fiend. If they only knew! If only she could tell them! The Termi-nannys. The holo-game Infantor had trapped her and Sparky and X-5 in, forcing them to play their way out. What was he up to now? She took a deep breath and headed back.

Mom and dad were playing with him in the living room. They had him dressed in a little blue jumpsuit with a yellow rocketship on the front. Purrsey was sitting on the floor, looking at the new baby slit-eyed, the way she usually looked at Betty.

It was all Betty could manage to stomach the sight of Infantor getting all her parents' attention. It was one thing to battle him out in the far reaches of the galaxy, but here in her own home--!

The baby held out his arms to her, looking positively delighted. "Bet-ty!"

"Ah, look at that!" Mother had positively died and gone to heaven, by the looks of her. "He's picked up on your name already! Here."

Betty shrank back as if mother was holding out a bundle of poison. "Uh...mom..."

"Go ahead, dear," Dad said. "He won't bite." Laughter.

That's what you think! But there was nothing else to do. It took all Betty's strength to take the squirming thing from her mother.

"Ahhhhh, look at that!" Mom and dad lounged on the couch, an arm around each other. "The way he smiled when you took him!" "Listen to him gurgle--careful, Betty, you're getting slobber on you." "Oh, listen, he's trying to say something! Yes, he's asking for his lullaby!"

Betty's gag reflex kept kicking in, which made made it hard to speak. "L-lullab-by?"

Dad held out a scrap of paper. "Would you believe it? He sang it himself on the way home, and I wrote it down on this parking ticket. What a smart boy! Here, mom and I will sing it so you'll know how it goes."

And to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," they sang:

"Baby boy, it's your big day,

now, at last, you'll have your way!

All your life from now will be,

one big party, and you'll see

that stoo-pid a-tomic girl

beaten right in her own world."

"Boy!" Dad's smile was bright enough to dazzle poor Betty, who was getting quite a bit of slobber on the favorite dress she'd worn for her birthday. "Does he have some imagination or what? That part about the 'atomic girl'...hmmmm..." His face screwed up in thought. "Whoever does he mean, I wonder?"

"Oh, never mind!" Mother was bouncing in her seat. "Sing it to him, Betty! Oh, wouldn't it be cute to hear Betty sing it?"

"What?" Betty almost dropped him. He leered up at her.

"Why, sure!" Dad's smile returned full force. "Go ahead, Betty! Sing it!"

"Sing it, honey!" mother chimed in. Betty's face turned white.

Both parents were urging her now. "Sing it, honey. Sing it!"

Then came dinnertime. Mother placed Infantor in a high chair and pulled it up to the table.

"Here, little baybee-waybee." She spooned applesauce into that toothy mouth. "Does snookums like it?" She and dad laughed. Betty stared down at her food and wondered if she would ever have an appetite again.

Snookums--isn't that what mom used to call Purrsey?

Betty looked up and saw the cat lurking in the kitchen doorway, glaring at the family. Then the cat gave a yowl and leaped away as a gob of applesauce splatted the floor where he had been standing.

"Hey-hey, how about that!" Dad chuckled. "Does the baby have some aim, or what?"

Betty stared at him in disbelief. "Dad! He's wasting food--"

Splat! Betty sputtered and clawed at her face; it was covered with applesauce. "Ohhhh!"

Infantor shrieked with laughter, clapping his hands.

"Mom!" Betty shouted through the mess. "Dad!"

Mother reached for her napkin. "Oh, now don't take it so badly, honey! He's just showing he likes you--see how big his grin is? There now, let me clean you off." Mother dabbed Betty's face.

"Weeeee!" The baby proceeded to sling plates, glasses, anything he could reach, all over the kitchen. Smash! Crash!

"Wow!" Dad ducked as the flying gravy bowl whizzed over his head. It splattered him as it flew by. "I'd forgotten how energetic babies are."

Betty pushed back her chair. "May I be excused? I can't eat in a war zone!"

Mother pointed to Betty's plate. "First you have to finish every bite. Growing girls need their vitamins," she turned back to Infantor, "just wike wittle baby boys, isn't that right little snookums?"

Fine! Betty scowled and folded her arms. Then I guess I'll just sit here all night--

Infantor snatched her plate and sent it spinning straight up. It shattered against the ceiling, raining broccoli, noodles and sticky beef casserole down on the family.

"Hmmm." Dad wiped food off himself. "Well Betty, I guess you can be excused now."

To be continued...