Echo-1 The Whale

42: Now You See Me...

Mox made Uzi promise to jettison the acid-tainted scout ship, transport, and all.

"I'd launch it into a star if it was possible. Sorry to leave you all here. The ladies will be along soon." Mox turned to Veronica. "Jonas will meet you, please don't use any technological equipment to operate on your whale."

She was an emotional whale and she loved Vronsky. I hoped she could hold her breath until they got them back into the water. There was no way she was getting out from under him in that transport tank. I stepped into the airlock with Mox and the Sentinel droid. The inner door closed. The outer door opened. We popped out of the ship into space. The Brick was right there and we passed through its airlock into the cargo bay.

X was waiting for us inside.

"We need to give Tim to them. Veronica can cut him out of this suit. He isn't doing well."

Next to her, laying on the ground like a giant squashed bug, was space wasp Tim. Mox got out of his suit.

"Ok, but I want to try something first."

I got out of my suit and followed him to the elevator. The Sentinel droid went with us. X stayed behind. We rode up one deck and headed to Mox's laboratory.

"I want you to show him the wand and see if he'll tell us how to disarm the virus and remove it from the Banga. Whatever you do, don't let him touch it. He could use it to infect the Brick from inside and if that happens, we're finished."

We went into the lab. Mox had the Professor locked in the heat lamp room with the iguanas. Half of his body was completely flattened out and slid under the door. He was halfway out of the room; obviously, he didn't like the heat.

"You sneaky little devil." Mox whipped out his sidearm and stunned Mildabbar straight away. "Get him."

The Sentinel rushed forward and opening the door grabbed the Professor in his vise-grip claw. Mildabbar let out a series of clacks and screeches.

"Look, Professor, we have Faye's little flashlight. Faye is dead, all the sisters are dead. All your invasion forces have been defeated and the Magus is in pieces drifting in space." He paused here for effect. "Hands knows how to use it too."

Mildabbar perked up at this idea. He stood up straight and flattening out the front of his now very soiled lab coat suggested I demonstrate my new abilities. We gathered around the panel Mox had in the containment unit on his lab table. I held the wand, focused my mind, and commanded the panel to power down. It did. Mildabbar looked startled about this scenario.

"Very im-im-impressive, did Faye show you that, you see she-she trusted you a great deal." He wiggled his tentacles around in the air. "Let's see some more, then."

I focused and powered back on the unit. It came to life and still displayed the Vedma virus language. The Professor clicked his beak with pleasure. "Well, then, she must not have shown you everything. You'll have-have to come learn with us some more."

Mox stepped forward stun gun in hand. "What do you mean us?"

The Professor cringed and changed color to a bright yellow then green before he returned to his normal purplish hue. He'd shown a little too much of his hand. He had an ace alright, there were more cuttlefish beings aboard the Magus.

"All right, Professor, you are going to tell us how to remove the virus from the Banga's system and for this bit of your most prized trade secret, we will return you to your ship and let you go on your merry way. What do you say?"

His big squid eyes narrowed to slits, his flesh turned an almost black color and then for a moment he disappeared. He not only completely blended in with everything around him, he became invisible. I could not differentiate him from the Sentinel droid standing behind him. Mox fired his stun gun where the Professor was standing. Then he fired all around the area. Mildabbar appeared on the floor. He had returned to his normal color. Mox shot him again. He turned red and glared at us. The Sentinel grabbed him.