With tears in my eyes, I half ran, half stumbled up to my alien friend. "Please, ET! Isn't there something you can do to help her?"

Vorxora hesitated before answering, looking very depressed, on account of Meazquad, or having no hope for my sister, I couldn't tell. "I have heard rumors, but it is a sofeiwa." The word seemed to imply gambling, the closest earth equivalent probably being `long shot.'

Charlie perked up like a dog hearing the word `Treat.'

"Would it be any worse than what we're doing here?"

ET bowed his head. "I do not know."

Rilquza stepped out to get a drink.

My sister let out a faint cough.

She still breathed, but just barely. I had questions, but answering them would put a strain on her. "We've got to do something! If there's a chance we can save Gertie, even a small one, we need to try it. It's obvious your doctors have done all they can here...what's your...sofeiwa?"

ET took a deep breath. "We have legends of a great tribe of healers living in the Nolgaci ruins. It would be a long, dangerous journey through Mavdamar jungle. Many have died trying to find them. Some say the Latogapa does not exist, that all the healers have died long ago...But I still do hear stories of miraculous healings."

Colzest muttered something about that. ET nodded.

Jamie squeezed my sister's hand. "We've got to try it."

I shot her a questioning look, but her facial expression told me she felt just as desperate as me, and would do anything to help Gertie.

"You're not going," Roy growled. "It's suicide. I know you love your sister...Lord knows I love her too, but I still think these doctors can come up with a cure."

ET didn't look so sure, and neither did one of the doctors.

"Look, sometimes a person is just too far gone, and if medical science can't figure it out, no amount of wishful thinking or Voodoo witchdoctoring is going to change..." He let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry. I know that's not what you want to hear..." He turned his back to us, leaned against a wall, sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Great job, Roy, breaking kid's hearts. Now I know what the highway patrolman feels like."

Norenio gave him a sympathetic puppy dog whimper, wrapped her arms around him, whispered things in his ear.

"Honey, a man has to be strong for his family."

She muttered something else.

"And how do we know that's not just a fairy tale?...On my planet there are con artists that stick bloody parts of animals on people and act like they're reaching into their bodies and healing them of cancers and things. People come from miles around, but it's just a money making trick. I had a boss that died because of that. He refused to see an actual doctor—"

"This isn't earth," Norenio interrupted.

Colzest gave a serious nod in agreement, but he ended up looking stupid.

"No-ey, do you know who Don Quixote is? Baron Munchhausen?"

She blinked rapidly, indicating she hadn't.

He started to sing the theme to Man Of La Mancha, then stopped when it didn't help. "It's a wild goose chase. We're not going to find anything."

"How do you know?" she asked.

After a long thoughtful pause, Roy marched up to ET. "Do you have an actual map?"

Gertie's doctors nicely provided us with a padded sort of 'litter' to carry her with, equipped with heater, IV solution, oxygen concentrator and other life support equipment. The white egg shaped machine somehow floated in the air like a hovercraft.

Roy frowned at my ear. "How did you get that thing stuck in there like that?"

I told him what happened.

He shuddered. "I always suspected that living here was like growing up under power lines. Who knows how it can change you?"

"Hi! Which one of you is Gertie?" someone asked as we left the building.

Shocked to hear anyone speaking my native tongue so fluently, I glanced down and became even more shocked. A little curly haired brunette boy, about Gertie's age, had just randomly strolled out of nowhere, bearing a stuffed raccoon and a Sony Walkman. A glowing marble dangled from a chain around his neck, the apparent match to Gertie's bracelet.

Colzest and ET muttered excitedly to each other, pointing to the boy's bracelet. ET extended his neck, waving to him.

"I'm sorry," Roy coughed. "This really isn't a good time."

The boy didn't go away. Instead, he stared at Jamie, hands nervously fidgeting in the pockets of his leather jacket. "Are you Gertie?"

She shook her head. "I admit you're cute, but you're way too young for me."

The kid furrowed his brow, giving me a questioning look like she were joking.

"That's not her."

The stranger gazed at the floating egg. "What's that you got in there?"

"Gertie," Jamie sighed.

"She's very sick."

He looked hopeful. "Can I...see her?"

I glanced at Roy.

The man shook his head. "There's too much of a contamination risk."

The boy was crushed. "I'm sorry...I just thought, after going to the place and finding I'm not the only human being on the planet, and even matched together with a weirdly desperate non male companion, you might not be jerks. Guess I was wrong."

Roy wasn't having it. "What part of `sick' do you not understand?"

The boy suddenly looked depressed. "She's dead, isn't she?"

"No, but we're in a hurry to help her."

"I wanna help," the boy blurted.

"Kid , where are your parents?"

"I don't have any."

Charlie nuzzled him, but the boy brushed the creature away.

"Great. Just what I need. Another orphan."

The boy leaned over the litter. "Can I see what all the fuss is about?"

Roy still looked hesitant. "Gee, I dunno..."

Norenio said something to him about helping Gertie heal, and cheering her up.

"I probably shouldn't, but I guess a quick glance wouldn't hurt..."

The moment the lid to Gertie's vehicle opened, a whole range of emotions flickered across the boy's face, excitement at the prospect of a new playmate, admiration of the beauty that illness and injury still hadn't touched, then pity at her miserable condition, and finally disappointment at how Ill she was and barely even noticed him. He muttered something about it being "Like his mother all over again."

The lid slid closed again.

"What happened?"

"Long story."

"Moo." Someone apparently forgot to hitch up our large avian friend, and now it too hovered over Gertie's pod, poking it with its beak. Roy shooed it away, but it didn't seem to understand, mooing in protest.

"Back, you dumb Lummox!"

"Maybe it thinks it's a baby," Jamie suggested.

A faint knocking came from within the egg.

With a sigh, Roy opened the pod again.

The bird sniffed deeply, stared at my sister, then jerked back in surprise when she reached for him and coughed.

Roy rubbed her forehead. "You need to rest, Gertie."

"Where are we going?" she croaked.

"To see a specialist. A special doctor. Just relax and get some rest."

She squirmed on the cushions, squinting at the boy. "Who's that?"

Roy chuckled softly. "Don't get too excited, but I think you have a boyfriend."

The moment the two made eye contact, Gertie's eyes watered and she had to close her eyelids.

My sister smirked. "He...looks nice."

"Let's, uh, work on you resting getting well for the time being, and talk about the romantic stuff later."

Gertie looked like she disagreed, but then, after a coughing fit, gave Roy a reluctant nod and pushed something that made the lid close again.

ET did have a map, plotted out on his electronic device, though a multitude of gaps and blank areas marred the topography. Only the first leg of our voyage seemed to be clearly defined with one hundred percent certainty. At least we knew where to start looking.

We set forth on our journey.

"My name's Pete," the boy called as he trailed behind us. "Peter Quill. I've been living with a Qulpari for six months. He was real happy that I found other people of my kind. He's been single for a long time. He got really embarrassed about bringing me to the place, well, until we found out about you! Is it okay if I live with you guys? Things are going to get awkward between me and Yizewo if I keep hanging out. He's got two new friends, if you catch my drift...Actually, it's already been awkward. They don't like it when I talk to them when they're in the soupy stuff, trying to make babies, but the tub is right on the way to the toilet...That green stuff isn't soup, by the way. It's totally gross. They get real upset when you try to eat it, too. You know what I'm talking about, the green stuff? In the tub?"

Roy scowled. "Kid, you talk too much."

ET summoned a craft for us, a vehicle that looked like an acorn with maple helicopter seed wings. Its interior, though larger than the typical treetop flying machine, didn't allow for much more than our bodies and Gertie's litter. I could touch the ceiling with my hands, and Roy and Norenio had to bend over to get in. Our giant avian friend tried to join us, but we had to shoo it away, it couldn't even fit through the door.

Colzest and Rilquza had nowhere to sit.

"We'll take the next one," said the Abreya male.

Roy nodded. "That's probably a good idea. In fact, you should probably go back and get some emergency supplies, and organize a search party if you don't hear from us in a few hours."

"Good plan," said Colzest.

"One of you should also stay and help Pabyeba with the egg," ET suggested.

Rilquza volunteered. "I have some things to do at work anyway."

Since Pete kept asking, we gave him the details about what happened to Gertie, well, what we could piece together.

He asked about my ear too.

ET pointed a glowing finger at the melted Jandaga in my ear. "Ouch."

"Yeah, I don't know what happened with that, ET. It feels fine."

You are not speaking English right now. I think they are correct about it being one with your brain.

I gulped. "I'll have to live here forever, won't I?"

The look on ET's face said yes. I do not know.

Our craft flew through forested areas, to a region thickly populated with clusters of glowing pillar and elkhorn coral, ranging in sizes from that of a small house to taller than the Empire State Building. They pulsed with an eerie inner light, in Day Glo blues, oranges and purples, sometimes in a white or gold color.

ET kept checking his computer. It still amazed me how the aliens could use their little devices to pinpoint our location and show us places to go by means of high quality electronic maps. When traveling with Dad, he always had to stop and unfold huge AAA maps and ask directions at gas stations.

Jamie idly petted Charlie while gazing at the scenery. Norenio cuddled with Roy like this were some kind of romantic date.

Not the friendliest looking landing site, but we descended within a clearing surrounded by oversized brain coral.

Pete pressed his face against the window. "Hey neat! What are we doing here?"

"Trying to find a doctor," I sighed.

I didn't expect to meet anyone at this secluded, unpopular region of the planet, but the moment we climbed out, we had a welcoming party.

First of all, Vadful had been following us this whole time, flying around the windows. A couple of times he made us nervous by tapping on the glass with his beak, but mostly he remained well behaved, leaving our vehicle undamaged, though he came close to stomping us in his excitement the moment we landed.

And then Tolmina stepped out into the clearing with a couple new friends, apparently not the romantic type either.

The first: An Abreya we'd never seen before, with a face like a Pacman frog and a long gray dress. His other companion: Our pale friend Spike.

"Hey little guy!" Roy called cheerfully. "I was just wondering where you'd run off to! How'd you find us?"

Tolmina pointed to ET.

Roy frowned at the Abreya. "...Who's this?"

"I have found you two nennops." Tolmina looked proud. "Tiffrid is a certified Sapelam from the Pemgurm. He has heard my stories of difficulty, and is open to a challenge."

Roy's face flushed red with anger. "So now you're blabbing my private information to random strangers? How dare you!"

You didn't often see Qulpari blush, but Tolmina's skin did change a different color at this moment. "The information was given in the utmost confidence and confidentiality required of all Sapelam nennops at his level. He understands that he cannot share the information with anyone else outside our Luherra."

Norenio looked overjoyed. "Capamfe! This is most wonderful!" and she kissed Roy on the cheek.

Roy still looked skeptical. And angry. "And what about your other friend?"

"Vukvuzan has sworn kedoonk, as official nennop for...Elliott and Jamie. He will not be concerning himself with your relationship, except in terms of Elliott and Jamie's relationship to you."

"Well thanks for asking for my permission!" Jamie cried indignantly.

I crossed my arms. "Really? Now you're upset? Who's being a jerk now?"

Jamie glanced at me, opened her mouth to say something unpleasant, maybe take back the nice treatment she'd given me at the hospital, but Spike, apparently in possession of an ear slug, spoke first. "Elliott, please do not collect treasures of hurt."

I rolled my eyes. "Easy for you to say."

Spike didn't reply to that, he just stared at me expectantly.

"What? What do you suggest? Apologize for something she did?"

"What I did!" Jamie shouted.

Spike let out a snarling cat sound, holding up a silencing finger. "Elliott is expressing his feelings now. Wait your turn. You will get a full uninterrupted vent afterwards."

Jamie scoffed at this, but said nothing, probably because Roy was chuckling.

"Elliott, what would you like to have from Jamie, in abundance?"

"Respect," I blurted.

Spike's eyes seemed to saying this was an okay goal, but I thought it was lame, so I added, in a lower tone, "Love."

Jamie sighed through her nose. "Is it my turn now?"

"That depends," said Spike. "What kind of treasure are you sharing?"

She crossed her arms. "What exactly did Tolmina tell you about us?"

Our little orange friend shrank nervously at the comment.

"Enough," said Spike. "He said you...Were not adverse to the idea of a nennop."

Jamie frowned. Instead of replying to his comment, she asked, "You're talking about stamp collecting, aren't you?...Saving up a bunch of complaints until you can 'spend' them in an argument?"

Spike raised an eyebrow ridge. "Is that a pastime of yours?"

I snorted, started nodding my head.

"Not really," she answered. "I just read about it in a self help book."

"That...does not sound helpful to me. Perhaps you and Elliott should begin collecting...love stamps."

I blushed.

Jamie frowned a little at Spike, patted his head.

"Jerk," Charlie said.

Not wanting to repeat my earlier mistakes, I just yelled, "Charlie, shut up!"

"Jerk."

"You can talk intelligently! Stop playing stupid games."

"You have a nennop," Charlie answered.

"I can tell that word offends you," Spike said. "You should explain your feelings to Charlie."

I scowled. "Like, how it hurts my feelings?"

Charlie whimpered. "I'm sorry. I just thought it was a funny word."

"It's okay," I sighed. "I guess I kinda earned the title, after all I did."

Charlie nuzzled me.

Roy only heard half of all this due to having his own dialog with whom he called 'Mister Toad.' He ended up resignedly accepting the stranger's services just to get him out of the way. We were in a hurry to help Gertie, after all.

"How did you get here, Tolmina?" Jamie asked.

"Vorxora sent me messages. He said he needed supplies."

None of us had thought to pack anything. Well, except for a few random odds and ends inside Vadful's saddle bags. "That was...actually a good idea!"

In addition to Tolmina's supplies, Spike had packed pallets and food and even a sophisticated, very compact sort of tent for us to sleep under. We all suddenly became beasts of burden. Vadful only let his master saddle him with so much.

"Okay, chief," Roy said to ET. "Where to?"

Vorxora consulted his map a moment, then we marched off down a rocky trail with our hovering egg.

Pete, feeling sorry for Gertie, coaxed Roy into opening the egg and giving her his raccoon and Walkman. It kept her contented and occupied for some time.

The trail sloped downwards.

"Dream...the impossible dream..." Roy sang to himself. "Great, now I've got that song stuck in my head."

As we walked along, a mass of tiger shrimp, like you'd see in the bottom of an aquarium, but more than six inches in length, scattered out of our way like cockroaches when a light switch comes on.

Pete threw a rock at them, but ET used his power to make it hit coral instead.

"Killjoy," the boy grumped.

Retreating to a safe distance, they continued stuffing their translucent bodies with dirt and grime from the trail, feelers wiggling around unmoving black eyeballs.

Norenio grabbed Roy and pointed, muttering about how cute the creatures were.

"Eeew!" Jamie cried with a shudder. "That's...Horrible!"

Roy shrugged. "Oh, I dunno might taste good with some garlic, butter and Parmesan breadcrumbs.."

I frowned at the crustaceans. "Stop. You're making me hungry, and I'm not even supposed to eat stuff like that."

"What, you allergic?"

"Something like that."

"He's Jewish," Jamie explained.

"I thought they just couldn't eat shellfish."

"Shrimp has a shell."

"You ate bugs earlier today. Just saying."

My alien companions got confused by our kosher talk, so we had to explain some things as we hiked.

Tolmina smiled at how Jamie and I were getting along, muttering to Spike about it. Roy's nennop seemed to be a mute, just silently observing everyone, making notes on a small device.

When he apparently thought no one was looking, Charlie dove down and sucked a shrimp thing into his mouth.

I stared at him, but he just crunched the creature, making a facial expression like `What?'

Vadful snorted.

We saw neither hide nor hair of our enemies, Sovirox and his associates seemingly having found something better to do than terrorize us.

I asked ET if it were right for us to go on a quest to save Gertie when Sovirox had basically told me his plans of overthrowing the government, but ET told me he'd informed someone already, and when I expressed further concern, he added, "I thought you wanted to save your sister" and "We'll worry about that later."

We stopped for lunch. I can't say that our meals tasted much better than, I don't know, cooking up land shrimp, but they tasted okay. Pete said he preferred his bug and vegetable pockets with a little more seasoning on them, but otherwise not that many complaints, we were starved.

An hour later, we made it past the well established point on ET's map, arriving at a blank portion we weren't so sure of, our route a mere suggestion based on half verified rumors and legends.

Night fell. Although we had light from the twin moons, stars and glowing coral, we stopped and rested for the night, to make good progress and have a well lit view of any obstacles ahead.

The tents popped up like umbrellas. You stuck a pole into a tarp on the ground and the roof spread out with a locking lever. Secondary 'wings' unfurled as the main center piece popped out. You didn't have to fight it like an earth tent.

It covered a fair amount of ground, the major drawback being the issue of height. Roy complained that he'd slept in pup tents taller than that. Still, it worked well enough for our purposes, and it even had some sophisticated type of 'windows', and I'm not talking about some cheap vinyl or nylon screen. You actually had a clear view of the sky and everything.

After getting his bearings once again, ET crashed hard. I think he'd been staying up all night watching me and my sister at the hospital. His snores sounded like a chirping budgie. Charlie flitted over and slept on ET's stomach.

Jamie laid back on a pallet next to them, Spike beside her. After staring about for a few moments, she also passed out, leaving Spike silently watching me with drooping eyelids.

Our big feathery beast stayed outside, of course. Norenio stayed outside to tend to the beast, chatting with the new nennop about relationship building. From what I overheard, Roy probably wasn't going to like it.

We checked in with Colzest. He complained that our signal had gotten weak.

"We'll...text you," Roy suggested.

Gertie, having done nothing all day but rest, again knocked on her egg. Of course, by now she knew how to open it herself, so it came open while Roy reached for the buttons.

After getting an update on our current situation, she sat up a little, introduced herself to Pete.

"What do you got?" Pete asked her, a hint of a sob edging into his voice. "Cancer?"

Gertie shook her head. She wanted to give an explanation, but couldn't breathe well enough for it.

"Maybe when she gets better, she can explain what happened," I suggested.

Gertie coughed a few times. Roy gave her some water, which helped a little. At least she could talk then. "I fought...Sovirox. And his...people. Elliott ( cough) trouble, so I ( cough) him off the tree. I—" She broke into a coughing fit. "Sovirox attacked me, and his mushroom guy (cough) thing with claws—"

That's about all we could get out of her. She kept coughing.

Roy rubbed her head. "Shh, don't try to talk. You need to rest."

"I'm tired of resting. It's so boring in here."

"I know, sweetie. There really isn't that much we can do about it."

Tolmina showed Gertie a game on his communicator. Somewhat educational, showing her how to arrange words in Qulpari, with some science lessons here and there, meteorology, alien biology, as well as music and history. It kinda kept her busy while the rest of us slept.

That, and listening to Pete yabber. Apparently he ran away from home after he lost his mom (didn't care much for his dad, I guess) getting 'abducted' shortly afterward ( it sounded like he actually stowed away on a Qulpari ship) I suppose it's understandable, considering what he went through.

The boy gave Gertie his stuffed toy. He called it `Rocket', telling her stories about how the raccoon was some kind of brave wisecracking space alien with expert weapon skills, how it could protect anyone (though it didn't actually have weapons, or clothes to put them in). It was kind of cute how she believed him, and pressed Rocket close to her chest.

In the early pre-dawn hours, when everyone else ( including Gertie) slept, I heard a familiar voice singing outside the tent.

"Can you hear me...Can you hear me calling?"

When trying to get my attention, Dad would sometimes jauntily quote Silent Running by Mike and the Mechanics. This is why, when I heard it, my eyelids flew open in surprise.

The voice called my name.

Scarcely believing what I heard, I rushed to a window. Although Charlie had originally curled up next to me on my pallet, he rolled over in his sleep, so didn't notice me getting up.

Not just a voice. I saw someone outside.

Square jaw, slick black hair, beard stubble, dark eyes. The only weird thing: His NASA flight suit. "Dad?"

He smiled at me. "Elliott! They told me you'd be here!...C'mon, kid. We've got a ship waiting. Let's get you home."

I furrowed my brow. "I...can't. Gertie's sick. It's something you can't treat on earth. We're trying to find a doctor."

"Out here?" He laughed.

I sighed. "It's our only hope we have of finding a cure."

"Come outside. Let's talk."

I didn't see anything particularly wrong with that, so I slipped out of the tent, walking with him down a nearby trail.

"How'd you get here?"

"Your science teacher's very clever. He rigged up a little space shuttle to come after you."

"Yeah, but how'd you find the secret base in the moon? How'd you find this planet? How'd you get the air and supplies? Did you come all this way in your own shuttle, or did you have have help from the Qulpari?"

Dad took a deep breath. "Actually, we had a little help from the U.S. government. Turns out they were just as interested in locating you as I was. Your teacher figured out a way to track your equipment, and your guys on the moon had their own tracker they were willing to part with. None of them came with us, but they did give us some supplies to help us along. I kinda fibbed about my intentions, of course."

I stopped in my tracks. "Wait, who's we? Who's here with you?"

"Hey! Ed!" Dad called to someone behind a clump of Coral. "Come out here!"

Mr. Sigler stepped out of the dark, giving me a warm smile. He wore a NASA flight suit too. "There's our young man!...What happened to your friend?"

I thought maybe that Ed wasn't Mr. Sigler's first name, but was too excited to ask Dad about it. "Back at the tent. We're trying to get medical help for my sister."

As he started saying apologies, Mom came rushing out, pulling me into her arms. "Elliott! I was so worried!"

We held each other and wept for joy.

Once our eyes had dried a little, Mom sniffed and said, "Where's your sister?"

I explained what we were doing. She looked sad, but seemed to think we made a good decision.

"So...you and Dad are back together?"

Mom nodded. "For now. We were both worried sick. We might have our disagreements, but we both love you and want you back home."

I swallowed. "As soon as Gertie is better, I'll go anywhere with you."

She nodded. "Elliott, we brought some stuff for you. I didn't have that long to pack, but I thought you'd appreciate some snacks and fresh clothes...We got some of your favorite books, and an old stuffed rabbit you used to like..."

"Mom, you didn't have to..."

She gave me a look like it hadn't been any trouble. "Our ship's a few yards down the trail..."

I glanced the other way, wondering if I could figure out how to return to camp.

Dad rubbed my head. "Don't worry, sport. We won't leave without them."

A few more feet down the trail, I at last caught sight of their ship.

Pretty impressive. Built by actual NASA engineers, it resembled the ball end of that space station from 2001.

Roy should have staked me down again. If I knew what would happen next, I would have begged for it.

As Mom led me to the open hatch on the side of the space ship, I noticed an odd translucency.

I placed my foot on the boarding ramp, but to my dismay, it sank into something wet and squishy.

I turned back, casting questioning glances at Mom and Dad, but they both became insubstantial spook lights floating in the dark.

The ship vanished, revealing a vast revealing a vast pool of lime gray gelatinous substance, surrounded by armies of those oversized aquarium shrimp things, all waving their feelers at me.

I sank deeper in the stuff.

I tried to wade out of it and run, but then dozens of glistening arm-like limbs whipped out of the slime, pulling me back in.

A huge yawning mouth appeared in the ooze, making sounds like massive air bubbles escaping from a tar pit.

I screamed as the things grasping extensions sucked me into its gaping maw.

I sunk into the depths.