“Push all the buttons!” I yelled. 

“I am," Brian screamed. “Nothing’s working”

    “We're gonna die!” wailed J.P. 

    “Hate to say it, but J.P. might be right,” added Jack ruefully. 

    “Not helpful, Jack,” said Mr. Fisher. “Brian, try that lever on your left.”

    “I already tried that.”

    “Try it again, and push the button next to it at the same time.”

    “Okay, but I really don't--”

    “Try it again, and push the button next to it at the same time.”

    “Okay, but I really don't--”

    “Try it again, and push the--”

    “Stop it!” I yelled. “Don't push the button or pull the lever! It’s making us jump back in time a few seconds and it's getting really annoying.”

    “Really? No wonder what I said sounded familiar,” remarked Mr. Fisher. 

    “It was and we're still caught by whatever is controlling the ship,” I said. The Chatrang planet filled the screens in front of us, as we were drawn closer to the planet's surface. 

    “I thought the Prince said we'd have no problem getting to the planet undetected,” said J.P. 

    Jack snorted. “Yeah, well, he got half of that right. We're getting to the planet without any problem at all. We're also getting captured without any problem at all. Guess the Prince didn't see that coming.”

    “Or, maybe he did and he's having a big old laugh right now,” said Brian. 

    “Yeah, and that giant slug is still closing in on my parents. So, should we try and hide or something?”

    “Where?” J.P. asked. “My gym locker is bigger than this tin can. Can't Jack’s arm do something?” We all looked at Jack expectantly. 

    “I can't destroy a planet or an army.”

    “Hold on a minute,” cautioned Mr. Fisher. “Let's wait and see what happens. We have no idea how these people will react to us or what their intentions might be.”

    Let me take a second here to warn you that in a moment, a much newer, larger and well-armed version of our ship appeared in front of us and a Chatrang commander threatened to blow us to bits. Needless to say, this next part is pretty terrifying and Mr. Fisher ends up with a nasty bloody gash across his forehead right before the Chatrang ship zaps us with some alien power ray that knocks us all out cold. If this type of thing makes you squeamish or keeps you up at night, you should probably skip the next page or so to the part that reads, “I woke up in a brightly lit room with comfortable chairs, a table of food and four inch thick bars across the door and windows.” So, you've been warned. Last chance. . .

    Too late. 

    “ENEMIES OF CHATRANG, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE OR YOUR SHIP WILL BE DESTROYED!” The voice echoed throughout the ship so loudly my ears rang like I was standing next to a speaker tower at a rock concert. 

“You don’t suppose they would be satisfied with destroying the ship and letting us live do you?” Jack asked no one in particular.

     “We can't just surrender to them. What will happen to my parents?” I asked. 

     “I don't see that we have much of a choice. Perhaps we can talk with the Chatrang. They may be more reasonable than the Prince,” suggested Mr. Fisher. I grew angry with his calm acceptance of the situation. 

     “What do you mean we have no choice? There's got to be something we can do other than go along quietly. How can this ship not have any weapons?” I was totally starting to panic, as the Chatrang ship drew even closer. Fear bubbled up in my stomach and I felt like I was going to throw up. 

     “Tom,” Jack said, “We'll come up with something. We're not giving up.” His arm turned black and metallic as it slowly formed into a military-style assault rifle. 

     “ENEMIES OF CHATRANG. YOU ARE BEING GUIDED DOWN TO THE PLANET'S SURFACE WHERE YOUR SHIP WILL BE DISMANTLED FOR SPARE PARTS AND YOUR MINDS WILL BE DOWNLOADED AND ANALYZED. THEN YOU WILL BE KILLED. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE.”

     We all glared at Mr. Fisher. 

     “Yes, well, at least we now know their intentions,” he commented. “I’m open to suggestions.”

     Frustrated, Brian said, “I don’t see how we can do anything. The ship has no weapons, at least none we’ve figured out how to use. I can’t think of any way that using that button that makes things pass through the ship would help.” 

     We all nodded. J.P. eased into a chair, as though worried Brian might change his mind and forget to tell anyone. 

     Brian continued. “The jump back in time trick could be useful, I suppose, but I don't see how it helps us now. The only thing I can think of is to have Jack make his arm into the scariest, meanest looking weapon possible and see if we can somehow get away once we have landed somewhere on the planet. Then, find a way to locate that HTS the Prince wants.” Brian sighed guiltily before continuing, knowing how far-fetched his plan sounded. “And then find our way back to the ship, somehow get back on and leave without being detected or recaptured.”

     “Great,” announced J.P. “So, to summarize: we are about to be captured and have our brains eaten.”

     “The message said our minds would be downloaded, not eaten,” countered Brian. 

     “Whatever. I vote Jack blasts that ship with some kind of laser blaster thingy and then we figure out how to fly this bucket of bolts home and get the heck out of here.” 

     “Don't be stupid, J.P.,” Jack said. 

     “It's not stupid. You’re the only one with a weapon. Do something!” J.P. moved to grab Jack's arm, which still looked like an assault rifle. Jack pulled away quickly and a loud bang rang out in the control room. We all ducked instinctively and Mr. Fisher yelled out in pain. I looked over and saw blood pouring from Mr. Fisher's forehead. 

     YOU WERE WARNED. A moment later the lights went out and then, silence. My last thought was, sorry, mom and dad, I tried. 

I woke up in a brightly lit room with comfortable chairs, a table covered with strange-looking piles of stuff that might have been food, and four-inch-thick bars across the door and windows. I was lying on the floor, where soft carpets in a variety of colors were strewn about as though tossed through the door without any consideration for style or coordination. They made for a relatively comfortable bed. 

“Tom, you're awake,” said Jack, who was rolling into a sitting position across the room. He seemed fully alert as though he had been awake for a while.

     “I guess we're alive then,” I remarked. 

     “Looks like it, though Mr. Fisher looks a little worse for the wear. I think I may have shot him by accident,” Jack admitted. His voice was light, but I could tell he felt guilty about what had happened. 

     “I think the bullet just nicked him,” I suggested, hopefully. We walked over to where Mr. Fisher was splayed across a deep red carpet. His forehead was heavily bandaged and he looked a little pale. He stirred as we approached. 

     “Mr. Fisher, are you okay?” I asked. 

     He groaned and said, “I think so, though my head feels like it ran into a brick wall.”

    “Oh my God! They took Mr. Fisher's brain!” J.P. exclaimed as he stumbled over to where we were standing. 

    “Calm down, J.P. My brain is still is still safely inside my head. Where are we?”

    “No idea,” I said. “Though it's a pretty nice jail cell, from what I can see so far.”

    Brian walked over massaging the back of his head. 

    “Are you okay?” I asked. 

    “I think so. I must have hit something back on the ship. I've got a lump the size of a golf ball under my hair. Did I hear you say jail?”

     I pointed to the bars in the windows and door. 

     “Oh. Well, at least we're alive.”

     “That seems to be the consensus,” said Mr. Fisher. “But, a better question is, why are we alive? The Chatrang did not seem vague on that point when they were threatening us. I wonder what changed?” 

     “Who cares,” J.P. said. “Alive is better than dead.” 

Who could argue with that? 

     Jack walked over to one of the windows and immediately called us all over. “Check this out.”

     It was bright beyond the window and on Earth I would have guessed it was about noon.  This was definitely not Earth, though. Outside was a city larger than anything I could have imagined. Tall buildings seemed to sit on top of each other and every inch of ground was covered. The buildings seemed to be made of metal, but whether it was steel or some alien material, I had no idea. Some were shiny, while other were black as night. No sidewalks were visible or roads as far as I could tell and I wondered how people, or Chatrang, moved around.  The overall feeling was one of immensity, as though the planet itself must be straining under the weight of it all. 

     “I wish I could have seen this planet from space,” said Mr. Fisher. 

     “We were a little busy for sightseeing,” I noted. 

      “Yes, of course. It's just that I’ve never seen a planet from space. I mean, how would I?”

     Indicating the view out the window, Brian said, “No one on Earth has ever seen what you are looking at. That's pretty special, don't you think?”

     Putting his hand on Brian's shoulder, Mr. Fisher said, “That it is. I've a thousand questions and no idea where to begin. It's amazing.” 

     “It is Tal, the Chatrang home world.” We turned at the sound of a female voice—a voice that was familiar to me and the last voice I expected to hear in a Chatrang prison cell, nice as it was. The Princess stood on the other side of the door, her hands on the bars. 

     “What are doing here? How did you get here?” I blurted out. My mind was having trouble catching up with my eyes, which now saw the door opening and the Princess walking in, accompanied by a young man a good head taller than she. He had long dark human-like hair pulled back in a pony tail and was dressed all in black, except for a braided gold belt. His eyes were closer to Earthling than Ashtapada, but not entirely human either: the whites were green. 

     When the man spoke, his voice seemed to echo throughout the room, like an organ in a church. “Those are excellent questions, and ones I have not been able to get satisfactory answers to. To simply appear unannounced with the Ashtapadan Amdassodor . .  She is incredibly irresponsible, yet also incredibly brave and beautiful, so I find myself breaking into my own jail. I am fearful of what she may ask of me next.” 

     “You are going to help them escape, of course,” said the Princess. 

     “And so, my fears are realized,” he sighed. “You go too far. I promised you could speak to them. That was all. Escape? You must be mad.”

     “They are no danger to you. I told you how they came to be here. They are pawns in my brother's sick game—nothing more.” 

     “They attacked a Chatrang ship. The ship's captain will not be easily mollified.”

     “Excuse me,” I interupted. 

     The Princess ignored me. “Please, has the Chatrang military become so weak as to fear from four children and, and him?” she said, indicating Mr. Fisher. 

     “Well now, I don't think you need to be insulting,” said Mr. Fisher. “I'm doing my best.”

     The stranger ignored him. “We are not weak. That's ridiculous. He could have destroyed their ship easily and chose not to out of pity for their pathetic attempt to breach our defenses.”

     “Fine, then we agree. They are no danger. Let them go.”

     “But, that's not what I meant. Oh, you are most annoying when you behave this way.” He sighed and put his hands on her shoulders. “It is not that easy, even if I wanted to do as you say. There is still the issue of the Chatrang ship being attacked.”

     “We didn't attack anybody,” Brian said. “We couldn't figure out how anything worked.” The Princess turned away from her companion and looked at Brian. 

    “They are not happy that they could not find the weapon fired on your ship. I assured them that you had no weapons, as my brother would never be that thoughtful, but they remain suspicious.” I caught Jack's eye for a moment and shook my head. We had no idea what was really going on here, so keeping Jack's arm a secret a while longer seemed a good idea. 

     The Princess continued, “The Chatrang physicians are continuing to push for mind scans.”

    “Is that painful?” asked Jack. 

    “Well, your brain has to be removed first, so yes, I'd say it's painful.”

     Looking like he might throw up again, J.P. squeaked, “Did you say something about escaping?”

     The Princess smiled. “I did, yes. Let me first officially introduce you to Tarrasch. He is the son of the Chatrang King and a very good friend of mine.”

     “More than a friend, I hope,” Tarrasch added. The Princess smiled and I suddenly disliked Tarrasch a little for some reason I didn't completely understand. 

     “Yes, more than a friend, which is why he has agreed to help you.”

     “Aren't you like sworn enemies or something?” asked Jack. “I mean are you supposed to be hanging out together?”

     “And how did you get here?” I asked the Princess. 

     “So many questions,” she said with amusement. “There are diplomatic missions between our two worlds all the time. I simply came along on this one.” 

    “Unannounced,” said Tarrasch. 

    “Are you complaining?”

    “No, but I was surprised, that's all. And pleased, of course,” he added quickly. 

    “And the King, er, Kings are okay with this?” questioned Brian. 

    The Princess looked guilty. “Our, um, relationship is not common knowledge.”

    Tarrasch laughed. “That's putting it delicately. We'd each be accused of treason and be lucky if we escaped with our lives. In fact, we have been here far too long as it is. I can see I am going to lose any argument I start today, so I may as well just agree that I will help you. Though I must warn you that should my judgment prove false and you choose to betray my kindness, the Princess will not be able to protect you again.” One by one, he looked at each of us to drive his threat home. 

    “Thank you,” said Mr. Fisher. “You are obviously taking a big risk.”

    “Yes, well, I am used to taking risks,” he said, smiling at the Princess. 

    “After your meal is brought this evening, I will make arrangements for you to get to your ship. Do not deviate from the course back to the Ashtapada or you will be shot down. Understood?” We all nodded. Taking the Princess's hand, Tarrasch turned and walked to the door. He released her hand before entering the hall. The door closed sharply behind them. 

“Looks like we might get out of here alive after all,” Jack said with a smile.

I said nothing, but noticed Mr. Fisher staring at me sadly. He knew. We might be leaving Chatrang alive, but without an HTS, my parents weren’t going to be so lucky.