Mummy heads back downstairs with a glass vial to run some tests on the black gunk left behind. Maria is standing by the pillar and the small desk attached to it, admiring the different alien artefacts scattered on it. She picks up the alien communicator that she saw Mummy holding last night. 'What's this, then?' She asks when Mummy returns.
'That's an alien communicator from Arcateen V,' Mum explains. 'The Star Poet, the person you saw us send home last night, gave it to us. She said we can call her if we ever need help.'
'Then let's call her.'
'She meant help with poetry. I'm afraid it's not much use right now.'
'May I see?' Luke asks. Mum nods and Maria hands the communicator to him.
'Be careful,' she warns him.
Luke turns the device over in his hands, analysing it. 'He seems to know nothing about the universe. Everything is new to him.' Mum is observing Luke.
'He might be an experiment like the aliens created him,' Mummy says. 'He's their child.'
'But Luke's still biologically human. Why would they create a human and not someone that is one of their own?' The communicator starts beeping, and Mummy walks towards Luke and takes the device off him.
'If you don't mind, I don't like people looking through my things.' Mummy puts the communicator in her coat pocket when we hear the doorbell ring.
'I'll get it,' I call and run out the attic.
I get to the broken front door to see the postman standing there. 'Hello,' he says with a smile and hands the package to me. He walks away, and I glance down at the address.
The Six Queens
13 Bannerman Road
Ealing
London
I take it up to the attic just as Mummy's scanning Kelsey's bottle of Bubbleshock. 'It's not just an ingredient; it's alien,' Mummy says. 'This is the secretion of... I need glasses... a Bane Mother.' Mummy lowers the arm with her watch on it in shock. 'There's a piece of living Bane inside every bottle of Bubbleshock.' I put the package on the coffee table, deciding we can open it later.
'I've been drinking that stuff, and it's alien?' Kelsey demands.
'I thought you didn't believe in aliens,' I fold my arms.
'Shut up! I've got things from outer space in my stomach. What are you going to do about it?' Kelsey turns to Mummy at that last part.
'That's not my fault!'
'Oh yeah? You got all this stuff, and you sit here talking, yapping all day about planets and monsters. What good is that? Why don't you actually do something?!'
'Alright, Kelsey, just you watch.' Mummy closes her watch and turns her attention to the chimney stack where Mr Smith is hiding. 'Mr Smith?'
'Yes, Sarah Jane?'
'I need you!'
Mr Smith opens with bursts of smoke and a fanfare playing. Maria looks over in shock. 'Mr Smith is a computer,' Mum explains.
'An alien computer,' Maria breathes. Mummy places the bottle of Bubbleshock on the desk attached to the pillar as she joins us.
'Mr Smith, we want a direct visual link to Mrs Wormwood at the Bane factory. Can you get coordinates?' I spot Kelsey reach for her bottle.
'Accessing.'
The doorbell rings again. It looks like we won't get any peace today. 'I'll get it,' I call into the attic and run downstairs, half expecting it to be the postman. Instead, I see a woman standing there. She has long brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, and a warm smile. 'Hi, I hope I'm not disturbing you. Does Ruby White live here?'
'She's my mum,' I say.
'Oh, that's amazing.' The woman's smile grows brighter, and she shakes my hand. 'You must be Emma Smith-White, right?' I nod, barely able to form words at that point. 'I'm Laura White, your aunt. I've travelled halfway across the universe to come and see you.' She stops shaking my hand and strokes my cheek. 'I heard so much about you from Ruby, and I wanted to see you for myself.'
'Listen, Auntie Laura; I'm glad you've come, but...' I bite my lip, trying to work out how I can word things to the aunt I've never heard about before.
'Alien problems?' She guesses. I nod. 'Trust me, Em, I've faced a lot of aliens since I left Qetanish to find your mum. I could help.'
'I guess there's no harm in trying.'
'Emma, who is—Laura!' Mum yells as she runs down the stairs. She pulls Auntie Laura into a hug. 'What are you doing here?'
'I came to find you, of course,' Laura smiles.
'It's come as a bit of a shock; we weren't expecting you. If we knew you were coming, we would've set up a spare room.'
'It was more of a spur of the moment decision. Ruby, did you hear?'
'Hear what?'
'The Qetesh want you to come back. They agreed that you were right, that people shouldn't get punished for falling in love, and they're calling for all exiles who fell in love with humans to return home. Isn't that amazing?'
Mum looks more worried than anything. 'Laura, my home is here now. The Qetesh exiled me when they learnt that I fell in love with a human. Why would I want to return?'
'There are new people in power, Ruby. They want to overhaul the Old Souls Republic's rules and create a fairer society for everyone that wants to call Qetanish their home.'
'Is that the only reason you came? To convince me to return to a species that chucked me out?'
'No, it wasn't! I came to see Emma. I heard so many stories about her, and I wanted to see her for myself.' Laura takes a deep breath. 'I can understand why you wouldn't want to return. You have a life here, and I respect that. All I want to do is spend time with my niece.'
'I see.' Mum smiles.
'How are things going on with the Bane?' I ask as we help Auntie Laura bring her belongings inside.
'Not well,' Mum shakes her head. 'Mrs Wormwood is threatening to make war against us.'
'Look at Kelsey Hooper! Look!' Luke yells when we get into the attic. Kelsey is hunched over, clutching a bottle of Bubbleshock.
'Help me,' she begs.
'No,' Laura breathes. 'I've seen something like this; I never thought I would see it again.'
'It's beginning,' Mummy yells. 'Kelsey, fight it!'
Kelsey stands up and holds the bottle of Bubbleshock before her. 'Drink it.'
'The Bane, they're taking people over,' Maria says.
'Everyone, out of the attic, now!' Mummy yells. We dash for the door, and Mummy runs back to grab her coat. We get out of the house and climb into the car.
'What are we going to do?' Maria asks before Mummy starts the engine.
'Maria, there are two types of people in the world: the people who panic, and then there's us. Got that?'
'Got it.' Mummy drives away from the house and towards the Bubbleshock factory, being careful to avoid hitting people.
When we reach the factory, Mummy uses her sonic to unlock the gates, and we speed through. The gates clang shut behind her, leaving the converted humans outside the factory. 'I'm going inside; you lot stay here.'
'No way!' Joan yells. 'We're going in there with you.' Mummy sonics the door as we all climb out of the car, but nothing happens. 'What's going on?'
'They've got a deadlock seal. We can't get in.' Mum looks over at the Bubbleshock bus standing idly by the entrance.
'I've got a plan,' she grins. 'Sarah, unlock the doors of the bus.'
'I like where this is going,' Mummy smiles as she unlocks the doors, and we all pile on. Mummy sits in the driver's seat.
Mummy crashes the bus straight through the wall. The smoke clears, and we see a woman inside wearing a tight black dress and several workers. 'Not too late for the party?' Mummy asks.
'Miss Smith!'
Mummy climbs out of the bus to face the Bane. 'I warned you, leave this planet!'
'Have you met my mother?' The woman points at the ceiling and Mummy ducks. I jump out of my seat, and we all run for the exit.
'LEAVE MY MOTHER ALONE, YOU LITTLE OCTOPI SCUM!' My choice of insults sets my friends off laughing.
'I told you to stay onboard.'
'Too late for that.'
'Oh, you've brought us the Archetype,' the woman says when Luke gets off.
'He is a living, thinking, human being, and you created him.' Mum says. 'Why?'
'He's an assembly of thousands of humans. A montage, you might say. A collage. On every tour of the factory, we scanned the guests, all ten thousand; and we fed every strength and every weakness into him.'
'But why?' Catalina asks. She might already know the answer if I've already told her. 'Oh, of course. The people who wouldn't touch Bane.'
'We were hoping he could tell us how to modify our product,' the woman agrees. 'But as we advanced our plans, he... is no longer needed!' The woman presses the green gem on her ring, but nothing happens. 'What?!' She tries it again. Nothing happens to Luke.
'I think I had something to do with that,' I fold my arms.
'You're just a simple human girl.'
'A human-Qetesh hybrid girl,' I correct. 'And I've already killed before, and I will not hesitate to do it again if it means protecting my family, friends, and humanity.'
'He is not your family.'
'You scanned all ten thousand of the guests. I was there for most of the tours, and I would often sneak off to see him. He would wake up, and we would talk.'
'You deliberately snuck off?'
I grin. 'And I would happily do it all again if it means we bring all of you down.' I look up at the Bane Mother hiding in the ceiling.
I wasn't expecting a giant octopus to stare down at me. 'And you, you silly little Octopi, can go back home, or maybe we can hand you over to the Shadow Proclamation.'
'Or we can use this,' Luke holds his hand towards me. He's holding the alien communicator the Star Poet gave Mum and Mummy. 'The tour guide kept telling you to turn mobile phones off in the factory, right?'
'Yes,' I nod, wondering where Luke is going with it.
'This must be a thousand times more powerful than a mobile phone if we can use it to call across the stars.'
'Then it's a good job you don't know our frequency,' the woman interrupts.
'Mr Smith said it out loud.'
'But that was dozens of numbers,' Jane argues.
'I remember them.' Luke glares at the woman before us. 'You gave me the minds of ten thousand humans, including my sister and her friends.'
Sister. Luke called me his sister. I would pull Luke into a massive hug but now is not the time. Luke calls the number, and the Bane start screaming in agony. 'Let's go!' Mum yells. 'Everyone, out!' We stumble across the rubble away from the Bane Mother and start running. We run down a corridor as alarms blare around us. One of the doors is standing open, allowing the daylight to rush into the factory.
We only just get outside when the building explodes.
'Is everyone all right?' Mum asks.
'Where's Rocky?' Kitty asks. We start looking around, then stare at the factory. Lying on the ground close to the factory is Rocky. 'Rocky!' We run over to her, and I check for a pulse. Rocky's eyes slowly open.
'Did we do it?' She whispers.
'Yeah, we stopped them,' Maria smiles.
'Good.' Rocky looks up to the sky. 'They deserved to get blown up.'
'I won't argue with you on that,' Mummy agrees. Rocky tries to sit up but winces in pain. Kitty moves so Rocky can rest her head on her lap. 'We should call an ambulance.'
'Hey,' Rocky whispers. 'It's been a great five hundred years, yeah?'
'Yeah,' Catalina agrees.
Rocky looks up into the sky as the clouds clear, and the sun comes out. Catalina, Anne, Jane, Anna, Kitty, Joan, Bessie, Maggie, Maria and I kneel around her. 'It's a beautiful day.' She looks over at each of us. 'Catalina, you were a great queen. I loved serving you. I wish I could only do more.' She then turns her attention to Anne. 'Anne, thank you for being a kind sister-in-law.' Anne starts crying. 'Don't cry, Annie. While there is life, there is... there is...'
'Rocky, please, don't leave us,' Jane whispers. Tears are slipping down her cheeks.
'Jane, thank you for bringing me back to Court. It was an honour and a privilege serving you.'
Anna sniffs and blinks back tears. 'Anna, thank you for being my friend. Kitty, I'm sorry I couldn't save you from the King.'
'That wasn't your fault,' Kitty shakes her head. 'Don't blame yourself.'
'But I do.' Rocky looks up at her. Then, she looks at me. 'Emma, you gave me a new chance at life. No one else trusted me when you brought me back, but you did. Thank you for giving me another chance.'
'Rocky, please, don't say your goodbyes,' I say. 'You still have so much to live for.'
'I had a good life, and I don't regret any of it. Ladies,' Rocky turns her attention to the ladies-in-waiting. 'Look after the queens for me, please. Let them know they're not alone.'
'We will,' Bessie promises. 'But you can help us. You'll get past this, and we'll all live on, together.'
Rocky shakes her head. 'I've accepted my lot. But at least I didn't waste my life.'
'The ambulance is on its way,' Mummy tells us.
'Sarah Jane, Ruby,' Rocky whispers. We shift to make room for Mum and Mummy. 'Thank you for taking me in when I had no one.'
'It's okay,' Ruby says. 'We'd do it all again if we had to.' I take Rocky's hand to offer her comfort if nothing else.
I think back to the previous night, the way Rocky's face lit up when she saw the Star Poet. She looked so happy then like she hadn't been happy before. Rocky squeezes my hand slightly, then her grip slowly releases.
