Emerging Compassions

Chapter 9: On To Mars! ...Or Are We Mistaken?

(Sheen's POV)

"What did ya find out, Neutron?" Libby wanted to know.

"After intense research and investigation, I've discovered that Jet Fusion is located on the fourth celestial body from our orb of electromagnetic radiation," Jimmy told us informatively.

I was honestly confused. "Where?" I wanted to know, baffled beyond belief.

Libby sighed and said patiently, "He's on the fourth planet from our sun, which is Mars, Sheen."

"Oh, okay!" I replied, satisfied.

"But where on Mars IS he?" Cindy impatiently asked him.

"I haven't figured that out yet, Vortex," Jimmy informed her patiently, or, at least, it seemed like it to me. Then he added, "But I'll be able to track him down because he has a homing device embedded in the back of his neck. I can use my watch to do just that! Let's go-...!"

"-to the ROCKET!" I finished for him, punching the air above my head.

Cindy and Libby just rolled their eyes and shook their heads as they joined the rest of us as we climbed into Jimmy's rocket. He started it up and we were soon on our way to Mars!

On our way there, I got to thinking, What happened to Brobot after we left the Junkman's ship not long ago? So I asked Jimmy, "Whatever happened to Brobot just before we landed on that island, Jimmy?"

"I just used my watch to teleport him back to the Moon so he wouldn't hinder our travels and missions," he calmly explained.

"Oh!" I said, then added inquisitively, "What's 'hinder' mean?"

"It means to get in the way of doing something," Jimmy told me.

"Okay," I responded.

After about 10 minutes, however, I got insanely bored. So I asked, annoyed, "Are we THERE yet?"

"Ugh!" Cindy groaned, slapping her forehead, "Ultra-Freak, does it LOOK like we're there?"

I took a look around me, and all I saw were stars and a small red planet in the distance, just ahead of us. "Uuuhh... No," I admitted with a sigh of extreme boredom.

She just stuck her tongue out at me in retaliation.

I did the same back to her.

About 10 more minutes after that, Mars was coming up fast, so we braced ourselves for impact. Within 2 minutes, we'd landed safely on the Martian surface.

We all got out and started to look around.

Then, something in the sky got my attention: 2 weird, potato-shaped space rocks. Then I realized, Oh, yeah! Those are Mars's moons! So I taunted in a sing-song voice, pointing at them, "Mars has tiny moons, and ours is BIGGER!"

Carl must've heard me, cuz he scolded, "Sheen, don't tease the planets!"

Then I looked over at Libby. She did look pretty majestic, with the Martian sun shining on her brilliantly, making her seem to have a halo that surrounded her entire being. In fact, she almost looked angelic, she was so beautiful! I soon found myself staring at her, spellbound by her ultra-beauty. But I didn't care. I could stare at her all day long...

I was pretty sure I could hear her saying, "Sheen... Oh, Sheen..." Then I thought she started to sound a bit rude, saying, "Sheen. SHEEN. Yo, SHEEN!" Then I heard her yell, in a strange, male voice, "Sheen! Hello, Earth to SHEEN! Sheen, snap OUT of it!"

I shook my head violently and snapped out of my trance, discovering that it was actually Jimmy who was calling my name. Then I stammered, "Huh-... Wha-?"

"Sheen," he snapped, "I've been trying to get your attention for the past 5 minutes! What were you staring at?"

"Nothin'...," I told him, then wanted to know, "Where IS everybody?"

"They're out and about looking for Jet Fusion here on Mars! For the ninth time, come help us look for him!" Jimmy commanded, grabbing my wrist and taking me wherever he went.

He pressed a button on his watch and seemed to be trying to use it to find his hero, but having no success.

"Gas planet, he's nowhere ON Mars!" he groaned, attracting the rest of our group's attention.

"What's with all the ruckus, Nerd-tron?" Cindy asked impatiently.

"Yeah!" Libby agreed, "Ya found Fusion yet?"

"No, I haven't! I apparently have miscalculated his location, leading me to Mars when he's nowhere on this planet!" Jimmy groaned, smacking his forehead, "What I also don't get is HOW my data could've misled me!"

"I'm just giving it a wild guess, Neutron, but don't you think someone could've hacked into your files and led you to think Jet Fusion was here on Mars?" Cindy supposed aloud.

"Hmm... For once, you could be right, Vortex," he noted, "This means I need to go BACK to my lab and find out where he really is!" With that, he led us back to his rocket. We climbed back in, he started it up, and we were soon on our way back to his lab, so he could find out where Jet Fusion really was!