You may have noticed the occasional aside implying that Gallaxhar is still alive. Well, I had wanted to pay that off sooner, but the three-way-crossover idea stalled it. So here it is.

Chapter 11: Peace Offering

GALLAXHAR

I wheeled myself from my cell to the common room. I didn't see the point of that, as I was the only prisoner. And with the Earthers' new acceptance of the "monsters" of their world, I was unlikely to ever have any company unless one of them proved violent beyond control… in which case I would prefer not to share a common room with them.

I couldn't blame them. I did, after all, attempt to… you know, make the entire planet inhospitable. I'd be pretty ticked if someone tried to do that to my home planet.

Of course, I did do that to my home planet. Long story. Look, you saw the movie, didn't you? I tell the entire story quite needlessly in one scene.

A panel in the wall opened, and General What's-his-name puttered in on his primitive jet-pack-type-thing.

"You have a guest, Gallaxhar," he informed me.

"A guest?" I said, bewildered. A figure entered the common room, and I recognized one of the monsters who had defeated me; the one that the humans, in their ignorance of how evolution works, called the Missing Link.

"Ah," I said. "What brings you here?"

"We're having a Monster Convention," he told me, "and I asked the general to give you some time off if you're interested in coming."

"Socializing with Earthers and their pet monsters?" I sneered. "I think not."

"Listen, pal, we're not pets," he sneered back, "and there are no normal 'Earthers' there. All monsters."

"Thank you, but I'll have to decline," I said.

"Oh, come on. Fresh air, social interaction, games. Are you sure?"

"No, I don't want to come."

"Fine," he said. "Just trying to be friendly." He turned to leave, then came back to me. "How about I ask you a favor? Keep it to yourself that this was my suggestion, but… Susan and Dr. Cockroach are going out, but she's too big for them to really get intimate, you know what I mean? You managed to shrink her, then when the quantonium got back into her system she went back to being Ginormica in no time. Could you do that again? Extract the quantonium from her? Again, you didn't hear this from me, but… it's real sad what's going on with them."

I shook my head. "I could if I still had my computer. You should have thought of that before you blew up the last remnants of my race's technology."

"Can't you rebuild it?"

"No. It's made out of material not indigenous to this solar system, and even if I could find some, I'm no engineer. I never got any education. I don't know how to build a computer. That knowledge died with my home planet. My apologies… although," I said with a thoughtful look, "if I did have the ability to help, I'd probably refuse just to aggravate you, so don't think of this as a disappointment. Think of it as spared aggravation."

The monster glared at me. "All right," he said. "Thanks for your time. I'll check with you before next year's convention to see if you've changed your mind. Don't expect any guests before then."

He left the room.