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We all backed up a few steps.

Spike levitated a stick to his hand, pointing to me like a conductor at the New York Philharmonic.

I glanced uncomfortably at ET. "We're playing music? To these things?"

ET just shrugged.

Roy took out his recorder. "I only feel slightly more confidence in this working that I would if you asked him to grow a bunch of shrubs."

As I raised my own musical instrument to my lips, ET said, "Do not play with hate."

I scowled. "You want me to love those things?"

He shook his head. "Not all anger is hate."

Frowning, I played what I'd been taught.

During our instrument training in ET's cave, Spike had given us musical scores to practice on. I thought the tune had an odd sort of familiarity to it, but the eerie alien sound, and not owning the album led me to believe we played something unknown to planet Earth.

My notes struck up a fairly strong wind, with some rain. My sister sent down lightning. Roy beset the monsters with flying insects. Charlie hit the drums, creating psychedelic illusions.

I would have continued thinking the song to be something the aliens made up, but after I'd played the section I'd practiced, Jamie stepped forward, switched on her neck microphone, and sang, "Love is like oxygen, you get too much, you get too high...Not enough and you're going to die. Love gets you high..."

A band called Sweet came out with that in 1978, and Jamie had apparently kept the knowledge to herself. Even Roy had a bemused but puzzled look on his face like `You kids and your MTV.'

Shockingly, one giant toppled over backwards and crashed to the ground like Goliath being felled by a rock.

The second one, however, proved more difficult.

The moment we readied ourselves to play another set, the glowing tumors on the monster's body erupted, filling the air with clouds of smog.

Our eyes watered. We coughed, couldn't breathe.

Spike yelped as a dark object dragged him off into the fog.

Jamie screamed and the ground beside me blew up like someone had thrown a hand grenade.

My blurry eyes made out the shape of a massive claw dragging a female figure through smoke.

"Jamie!"

I ran blindly into the smog. "Jamie!"

I would have kept going, but something unseen lifted me a foot in the air, and I came flying back to my companions.

"Play," Spike urged.

"No way! Those things got Jamie!"

Spike responded in a curiously un-alien way. "Will you stop being human long enough for us to save your najufe?"

"What's playing a song going to do?"

He just snarled at me.

Rolling my eyes, I resumed playing Love is Like Oxygen.

"Make it rain."

I smirked a little. "That's an expression we use about money."

Spike opened his mouth to, I don't know, tell me to get serious, but I already had resumed plucking the tentacles, puffing on the mouthpiece as I pushed keys.

At first, the rain shower seemed useless to me, but then I noticed it cutting down the pollutants. Not great for the water table, but I could see Jamie again.

I'd only seen ET run on rate occasions, but he did this time, and in the face of a giant, no less.

"Jamie!" he called. "Sing out!"

Although focused on playing, I caught her shouting back, "Are you kidding? I'll break my legs!"

Charlie swooped in beside him.

"We will catch you!"

"Oh good Lord," she whispered. "If you guys are wrong, I'm going to be mad!"

Jamie switched her collar on, singing at the thick oozing hand that kept her in its clutches...which obliterated it.

She fell screaming through the air.

Jamie only fell for like a foot or so before stopping in midair.

What startled me, though, was how fast she got thrown back.

I don't know, either ET hadn't granted me all his power, or Charlie helped him out a little.

To avoid getting smooshed by a giant foot, ET hadn't stopped to make sure she landed safely. Roy had to rush in and do a sort of football interception. They both crunched groaning onto the dirt.

I kept playing, fighting the smog with rain.

ET didn't stay underfoot long. He levitated himself back to Olxebak's cart, digging out the Samisen thing. I didn't realize he'd fixed it.

Levitating back to the giants, he pressed down on the fret piece, brushing the strings with the spatula-like plectrum.

To my absolute astonishment, the standing giant broke into a sprightly jig, shaking the ground with earthquake tremors.

Everyone burst out laughing at the sight.

We quickly rushed in with our instruments, knocking the giant to the ground alongside its fallen companion.

The latter, incidentally, seemed to retain some life.

"I got this." Jamie clicked the button on her collar and rushed ahead, serenading the dancing monster with Cum on Feel the Noiz.

The creature exploded in a spray of ichory slop, making Jamie immediately regret standing so close to it. She ended up looking like a roughneck from a gushing oil rig.

She clenched her fists, clearly disgusted, but not enough to distract her from what she needed to do. She blasted the second giant with Quiet Riot's Mental Health.

"Yes! I beat you!" she shouted at the splattered remains, further pulverizing them.

ET glanced around nervously. "This isn't finished yet. Quickly, Elliott, let us heal the Gomovo."

We rushed to the white object Olxebak's machine had shown us.

Pretty pathetic. Mostly pale and sickly, its large, blackened, wilting leaves reminded me of a succulent after being overwatered in bad light. A lesser horticulturalist would recommend throwing something like this away, but ET had restored a dead geranium before.

He placed his slimy frog hands on it, closing his eyes. I joined him, doing my best to concentrate on the things of love.

I could feel the plant struggling beneath my fingers. It wanted to heal, but something felt amiss.

"It fights damage in the water table," ET sighed. "We need to boost its healing properties and organic processes."

I frowned, pulling away from the plant. "How are we supposed to do that?"

ET closed his eyes, meditating or something, I guess.

He raised a glowing finger in a seemingly random direction. "There."

ET got up, levitating himself that way. We all followed him.

A few yards down, buildings loomed into view, resembling giant igloos, covered in nubby bumps like vibrating massagers.

"What's this?"

"A school."

"You think we'll find something in there to cure the plant?"

"I hope so."

As we approached the nearest igloo, a gang of human sized oil creatures emerged from the ground, glowing and spewing exhaust fumes like a pickup with muffler problems.

"Great," Roy groaned. "Here we go again."

Jamie looked hopeful. "At least they're smaller this time."

That's when Sovirox's friend on the flying motorcycle dropped down from the sky.

Worse, he had somehow acquired an alien machine gun.

Shrapnel rained from the air. Dirt exploded.

Olxebak collapsed as shots struck his Appoloosa patterned chest and shoulder.