The Alien Brainwash (4 page)

Oh, no,
Kip thought, trying not to panic.
Quicksand!

He grabbed Finbar's paw and pulled as hard as he could. But Finbar was too heavy.

‘I – can't – hold – you!' Kip's voice was strained with effort.

Finbar's shoulders sank beneath the soil. Then his neck disappeared to! And even though Kip was pulling as hard as he could, Finbar's paw was slipping away.

Kip clutched desperately at Finbar's paw. Then he remembered something.

‘Your Hummingbird Pros!' Kip said. ‘They're your only hope.'

Kip and Finbar wore Hummingbird Pro spaceboots, which had carbon-fibre, water-repellent mini-turbo jets fitted to the sides of the heels.

Normally, they were used for flying in humid, zero-gravity conditions. But they might also be able to lift Finbar out of the quicksand.

Finbar kicked his legs to activate the jets. He gasped and spat out a mouthful of silver sand.

Kip pulled Finbar's wrists as hard as he could. The jets were just powerful enough to help drag Finbar upwards.

‘Almost there!' Kip panted.

With one final, massive effort, Kip hauled Finbar out of the quicksand. The force sent Kip stumbling backwards.

KER-
RUNCH!

Kip's foot landed with a sickening crunch on something. He glanced around, worried that he might have woken the flowers. But it looked like they were still asleep.

With a deep breath, Kip glanced down.

If he didn't have heaps of experience staying cool in creepy situations, he would have screamed.

Kip had stepped on a gigantic bug!

It had six bulging eyes, eight black furry legs, razor-sharp fangs and a metre-long sting.

Kip tore his foot off the massive bug like it was burning hot. He didn't know if it was still alive, but he wasn't waiting to find out!

‘The spiderbee can't harm you now,' said a smooth, calm voice. ‘It's dead – just like all the others.'

Kip whipped around. In front of him stood a woman dressed in a green spacesuit like Kip and Finbar's. She had blonde hair and violet eyes with a blank, faraway look in them.

Kip recognised her from her Planetary Points Leader Board photo.

It was Zara Zadora!

CHAPTER
6

‘Kip Kirby, Space Scout,' Kip said, sticking out his hand.

Kip knew all about Zara from Space Scout gossip. This was the first time they'd actually met.

‘We're here to rescue you,' Finbar said.

Zara blinked slowly, but she didn't take Kip's hand. ‘You want to rescue me?'

Her eyes had a glazed look, as though she didn't understand.

‘Yes!' said Kip, raising an eyebrow. ‘You're a Space Scout, like me. You work for WorldCorp. You're supposed to be finding the next Earth, remember?'

Zara's expression was still blank. ‘I only serve the Beautiful Ones,' she said softly. ‘They're the wondrous beings of Botanicus-1.'

‘I suppose she means the flowers,' Finbar whispered to Kip. ‘You wouldn't call those dead bugs
beautiful
.'

Kip stared at Zara, his mind racing. How could Zara break the first rule of Space Scouting so carelessly?

No Space Scout in her right mind would do
that!
he thought.

But then again, maybe Zara
wasn't
in her right mind.

Kip reached into his backpack. He had a theory. And he knew just the gadget to test it out. WorldCorp's Disco Disc!

The Disco Disc was the size of an old-fashioned 20-cent piece, money that people had used centuries ago. When snapped in half, it released powerful flashing lights. It also sprayed white smoke and pumped old-fashioned disco music.

The Disco Disc was supposed to help Space Scouts break the ice with stand-offish aliens on new planets. When WorldCorp had tested it on humans, they found that it was impossible to resist the urge to dance to the Disco Disc. If Zara was completely with it, she'd
have
to dance.

The only problem with the plan was that it might wake up the flowers. But Kip was running out of options. Hopefully the flowers were heavy sleepers. The sun was almost up and they would wake up soon anyway.

Kip snapped the disc in half. At once, flashing lights and music pumped into the night air. Kip's feet started tapping and he spun around to the catchy beat. He looked over at Finbar, whose human side couldn't resist bobbing along too. But when Kip looked at Zara, she was still staring blankly into space without moving.

Kip shook his head grimly. He turned off the Disco Disc quickly, glancing around at the still-sleeping flowers.

‘Just as I thought!' he whispered to Finbar. ‘She's been hypnotised, or brain-washed or something.'

‘Well, she should be very open to suggestions,' said Finbar. ‘We could command her to come home with us!'

‘Good idea,' Kip said. ‘As long as we can figure out how to break the hypnosis back on Earth. I'll dial MoNa and get her to send down three Scrambler Beams.'

DIALLING
....
MoNa 4000

ERROR –
No response

Why isn't she answering?
Kip thought, his forehead wrinkling with worry.

‘The Beautiful Ones ordered your starship out of the sky,' murmured Zara.

‘
What
?' Kip said.

‘That's what happened to my starship,' smiled Zara. ‘There she is, over there.'

Kip could just see a starship's nose cone sticking out of the silver soil. One side was almost buried under a mound of dead spiderbees. The gross bugs were everywhere.

Kip shivered. If MoNa was wrecked and they couldn't contact her, it meant they were stranded!

Sooner or later, he'd have to solve that problem. But at that moment, he had something even
worse
to deal with.

Dawn was breaking, and the flowers were waking up!

Kip wasn't giving them the chance to hypnotise him and Finbar all over again.

Kip's brain churned. He hadn't been able to talk to the flowers and explain his situation. They were living, thinking creatures just like he was. Maybe if they understood why Kip needed Zara back, they'd let her go.

It didn't seem likely. The flowers had been nothing but creepy so far. But it was worth a shot!

Kip flicked his SpaceCuff to Translate mode. The chip inside was very powerful. By now, it should have worked out some of the flowers' strange language.

The flowers began talking in their musical voices, perfectly in time with each other.

Kip checked the translation on his SpaceCuff screen.

Translate mode
:
Flowerspeak to English

One worker good. Three even better.

The flowers hypnotised Zara so she'd work for
them!
Kip guessed.
Now they want us to do
the same. But what job are we supposed to do?

Kip felt a sticky stem winding around his legs. Leaves rustled against his spacesuit. The flowers were closing in again. Kip tried to find a gap in the circle of flowers around them, but there was no way through.

The flowers' musical language filled the air. Finbar yawned, and Kip fought to keep focused. The hypnosis was starting again!

Desperately, Kip punched his question into his SpaceCuff. He hoped it could translate from English to Flowerspeak.

Translate mode
:
English to Flowerspeak

What job do you want us to do? Is there another solution? Zara is needed on Earth.

ERROR:
Translation failed

The SpaceCuff hadn't totally finished learning Flowerspeak. Kip couldn't make the flowers understand him!

The flowers continued their eerie song. Kip struggled as hard as he could, but his eyes were slowly closing.
I've...got...to...
stay...awake!
he thought desperately.
But how?