Trapped
"All right, class. As long as we are docking at Spaceport Saber Hagen, I expect you to abide to the rules. Thelma-"
"Yes, Ms. Davenport?" Thelma appeared out of nowhere.
"You will be giving the kids a regulated currency supply for our stay. No borrowing currency, no asking for more, and in your case, Adrianne, no duplicating currency."
"Ms. Davenport," whined Adrianne, "you actually think that I have the ability to duplicate currency. You do realize that duplicating currency is illegal for witches."
"I didn't know that," said Harlan. "That's one more thing she can't do!"
"Band, be glad I have a long temper." Adrianne sat down.
"Now, as I was saying," quipped Ms. Davenport, "you will stay in trinities. NO WANDERING OFF ALONE. Now do I make myself clear?"
"Yes," said Rosie. "Can we pick who we stay with?"
"The commander and I have already decided that, and the answer is no. I have decided that you are more likely to behave with assignments. The groups are as follows. Harlan, Rosie, and Suzee are trinity one. Radu, Adrianne, and Bova are trinity two."
Harlan looked satisfied, knowing he'd be in Suzee's trinity. Bova, in typical fashion, had a disgusted look, as always.
Adrianne looked like she'd be fine in her situation. Recently, she had snuck on board the Christa, and hadn't planned to stay any longer than it took to repair her small ship. But Warlord Shank had entered the picture, and to keep Shank away, Adrianne surrendered her broken ship to save the crew. She was then invited to stay on board the Christa.
"This can't be that bad. Just don't stray away, and we'll all be fine. Right?" asked Suzee.
"Right." The crew headed off for Spaceport Saber Hagen, ready for what lay ahead.
"Wow," said Radu, stepping into the spaceport. "This is nice."
"Yeah," said Rosie. "Let's go here first! Or maybe..."
Suzee and Harlan followed Rosie, wondering where she'd go next.
"Well boys, where to?" asked Adrianne, looking at Radu and Bova impatiently.
"I say we follow those girls in the food court. Come on, Radu." Bova walked away, dragging Radu along. But Adrianne stopped them with a bolt of green light and some fast talking.
"No. No way. I am NOT going to stand by while you two chase after two complete strangers. No."
"I can't believe that you talked me into coming with you so you can look good for those girls."
"Adrianne, just this once, please cooperate. OK?" asked Radu.
"I scanned those girls on my compupad. They're hardened criminals working for the likes of Sing." Adrianne started to get up, but Radu and Bova stopped her.
"Wait. Who's this 'Sing' person?" Bova looked confused.
"I researched this a few weeks ago for class. Sing is a human who has nothing better to do than annoy people. She tends to recruit people who will take them hostages for her, where she will annoy them to her heart's content. She always changes her image, so she never gets caught."
"And so I say, let's go." Bova again began to walk in their direction. Radu was now hesitant.
"I'm not going there," Radu said with an extreme anxiety.
"That's for sure." All three heads turned to see a short blond girl standing behind them.
"Look at your hands." They did, only to see manacles on their wrists.
"Why are we in chains?" asked Bova. "I thought the only time I'd be in chains was at my funeral."
"You have been arrested for spying," said the blond girl.
"Spying?" asked Adrianne. "But this is a public spaceport. You can't help but look!"
"You were spying on those girls." The girl looked haughtier than she had before making her arrests.
"That wasn't spying," said Radu. "We were just-"
"Looking in their direction? That counts as spying." Now the girl was swinging a nun-chuck at them threateningly.
"Right this way." The girl led them by a force even Adrianne couldn't overcome. Soon they found themselves in a small room, tied to chairs.
"Who are you?" asked Adrianne.
"Why are we here?" asked Radu.
"How come I can't zap out of these? Oh yeah, because that doesn't make for good entertainment for the enemy." Bova started to try and zap out of the manacles, but was unsuccessful.
"My name," said the girl, "is Sing."
"Sing?" asked Bova.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"What was that for?" asked Radu with exasperation.
"Well, you just said 'sing'. So I sang. Now, greeny, braid my hair."
"My name's not 'greeny, its Adrianne. And how am I supposed to braid your hair in these manacles?"
"Oh, I'm just ever so sorry. I just called you that because you're in a green dress. Green's my favorite color."
"Why don't you just braid her hair with a spell?" asked Radu. "She'll get off your case."
"Right! I forgot." A flash of green light appeared, and within seconds, Sing's blond hair was pulled back in a fat braid.
"Yipes!" shouted Sing.
"Yipes?" asked Bova. "No one in any galaxy says 'yipes' anymore."
"She's a...she's a..."
"Oh, Sing?" asked Adrianne coyly. "I forgot to tell you, I'm an Oberon Witch. Didn't you notice the dress? You must have, because these manacles are witch proofed."
"I...I...I'll be right back." Sing headed for the door.
"Sing!"
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
Three sighs could be heard with exasperation as Sing turned on a surveillance camera and left the room.
Harlan, Rosie, and Suzee were getting ready to leave the spaceport when they ran into a frantic Commander Goddard.
"Have any of you seen Radu, Adrianne, and Bova?" he asked. "They're MIA."
"MIA?" asked Suzee.
"Missing in action," said Harlan. "They've disappeared! We have to go look." The four of them set off to find the three missing crew members, thankful that Thelma and Ms. Davenport had stayed on the Christa.
"If we move an inch, Sing will do something ridiculous for her sake. How did she get that power anyway? I thought she was human!" said an annoyed Radu.
"I researched that too," said Adrianne. "She got a computer when she asked for a vehicle. She got all this stuff for it that no one in the Milky Way Galaxy knows about. She managed to download it into her brain."
"Who ever heard of downloading software into their brain?" asked Bova.
"I did." Sing re-entered the room. "And I'll do it again, too!"
"Sing-" said Radu, but was cut off.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Will you stopp with the music?" asked Adrianne. "Oh, yeah, one more thing. Let us go! People are worried about us."
"Some of us," muttered Bova.
"I know that," said Sing. "But you are in MY control now. And to make sure you don't do anything you'll regret, here you are."
The three hostages who had no place there were tightly strapped in, so tight that Radu couldn't get out.
"Sing," moaned Adrianne, "please let us go. Please let us go."
"Can't you just get out of these with witchcraft?" asked Radu.
"No," whined Adrianne. "Sing managed to witch proof all this stuff she has. Besides that, my powers aren't fully developed yet, since I don't have genetic power."
"What do you mean, genetic power?" asked Bova.
"When I say genetic power, I mean inherited from family. Me, I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I was a little girl who happened to be playing near a nuclear waste dump. Don't ask why, I don't remember. Soon after, I started exhibiting strange power. I was diagnosed with being an Oberon Witch, and was sent to live on the colony. I haven't seen my family in years." Adrianne looked at her feet.
"I can sort of sympathize," said Radu. "I don't have a family at all." Radu and Adrianne looked at Bova.
"What?"
Both cocked their heads in his direction and waited for an answer. It never came, because it was interrupted by someone else.
"Awwww, that's so sweet. A little chit-chat about family." Sing had re-entered the picture.
"Sing-" said Adrianne.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Stop with the music already! Can't you see we're annoyed?"
"Yes, witchy-witch. And I happen to like it."
"I have a name, you know."
Commander Goddard and the others came upon a small door. Harlan stepped forward and rapped lightly.
A blond Earth girl appeared. "May I help you?"
"Yeah," said Harlan/ "We're searching for three people, an Andromedan, a Uranusian, and an Oberon Witch. Seen that trio around?"
"No, no," said the girl hastily. "No one here but us chickens." She started to close the door, but Suzee stuck her foot in the doorway.
"Who are you anyway? I want to be friends," she said, hoping she could sneak inside.
"Sing," said the girl.
"Sing?" asked Rosie.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Hold it, hold it," said Harlan. "What's with the music?"
"Well, you just said 'sing'. So I sang. A perfect B flat, if I do say so myself."
Voices could be heard from inside the room. "Hey! Help! Get us out of here!"
"Wait," said Goddard. "Those voices sounded familiar."
"That sounded like Radu!" said Harlan.
"And Adrianne," said Suzee.
"Bova too," added Rosie.
"No, no," said Sing. "Never heard of them." She started to back away and close the door.
"But that was them," protested Rosie. "I'd know those voices anywhere."
Goddard prepared for a fight. "Suzee, distract her with the gills, and when she's not looking, go inside her mind and get any information about them you can find. Harlan, Rosie, prepare to psych her out as a backup."
"But I don't want to be the backup! I want to fight-" Harlan was cut off.
"Just do it!" said an agitated Goddard.
Suzee pushed open the door and stepped inside. "Hey, uh, Sing? It's me, your new special friend. Just tell me your problems and we'll be friends forever."
"I don't buy that crap. I know what you want. You want the wherabouts of your little friends."
"Maybe I do and maybe I don't. Say, uh, let's play a little game."
"A game?" Sing looked genuinely excited.
"Yeah. It's called 'Guess My Homeland'. Want to play? Suzee had Sing right where she wanted her.
"Okeydokey."
"All right. Do you have any guesses?"
"Are you...Mercurian?"
"Do I LOOK like I have a Mercurian physique? Try again."
The voices could be heard again. "Hey! Can anyone hear us?"
Then another voice was heard. "As if anyone can hear us except Andromedans."
"I know that voice!" Suzee jumped up.
Sing looked nervous. "What voice? Oh, and I know. You're a Saturnian! The hair gives it away."
"Two things. One, I KNOW tha voice. Two, I am NOT a Saturnian. I happen to be from Yensid. Game over."
The door burst open. "Suzee! Quick! In her mind! NOW!" shouted Harlan.
Suzee's eyes flashed purple. Sing tried to avoid it, but it was too late. Suzee's consciousness was inside Sing.
Radu was running out of ideas. "I could try and break out of these chains."
"Don't bother," groaned Bova. "You've tried a million times and you still won't get out. What else is new anyway?"
"Listen! I hear voices," said Adrianne. "That sounds like Suzee!"
"And Harlan," said Radu.
"And Rosie...no, wait. Sing probably just programmed their voices into her brain and is using them to make us think we're going to get out of here."
"BOVA!" shouted Adrianne and Radu.
A song began to play over Sing's loudspeaker. A female voice began to sing. "Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want/So tell me what you want, what you really really want/I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want/I wanna, wanna, wanna, wanna, wanna really really really wanna zigzig ah."
"No! No! NO! Any Earth music, please, Sing stop! ANYTHING except that!" Adrianne had started whining so loudly that the chair she was tied to tipped over.
"What's so horrible about that music?" asked Radu. "It's better than those Groaci Noseflute dirges that Bova played before Harlan threw them in the airlock."
"This is hated Earth music that people of all races have despised for centuries. They've been hated since their Earth movie came out, circa 1997."
"Well, sounds like my kind of band," Bova commented sourly.
"NOT funny. Anyway, this is why no one manufactures girl groups anymore. These mistakes are known as the Spice Girls."
"Spice Girls?" asked Radu. "I heard of them. Made up of former soap starlets and wannabe porn stars. Right?"
"Right." Adrianne pointed a finger at her chair, and seconds later, it was back up in an upright position. She also pointed a finger at her hair, so it looked halfway decent.
While inside Sing's mind, Suzee poked around until she found what she was looking for. She noticed a bunch of computer chips, and knowing that Sing wasn't an android, she automatically became suspicious. When she had information that would make sure that the rest of the crew was safe, she retreated from Sing's mind.
"Did you find it?" asked Rosie.
"Sure did. I don't know where the others are, but I have some information that will get us the answers. Hey, Sing?"
"What? Don't hurt me! I know your homeland!"
"What's that got to do with anything?" asked Harlan. "Now, tell us where our friends are and what you did to them."
"No! I won't surrender to the likes of you inferior Earthlings."
"Hey, Sing?" asked Suzee. "You ARE Earthling. You just happened to have way too good of a time with your computer, or why else would you have downloaded all that stuff into your brain?"
"I asked for a car, I got a computer. How's that for being born under a bad sign?"
"But why would you put people's lives in danger?" asked Rosie.
"And why do you download stuff into your brain?" asked Harlan.
"Because. And I put people in danger because I like flaunting the fact that I have software in my head and can mess with the likes of Oberon Witches and Andromedans."
"Well, tell us why you took them hostage," said Suzee. "Or I'll tell everyone what you did in third grade."
"I took them hostage because I knew I was powerful enough to overtake them," said Sing. "And because I needed something to do. But that's all I'll say!"
"Fine," said Commander Goddard. "Now, Suzee, what else did you find?"
"Well, Sing, tell us where they are. Or else I'll tell what your taste in music is."
Sing looked frightened. "They're tied to chairs and in handcuffs over in the back room."
"Thanks," said Goddard. The foursome made a run for it, and nearly broke down the door. "Don't forget, I know what you did last summer!" shouted Suzee over her shoulder. Sing stayed where she was, and didn't move, for fear of her secret of what happened last summer. It was just too embarassing.
Harlan spotted the trio of chairs, manacles, and chains first. "Hey, are you guys all right? What happened here?"
"Remind me never to go to a spaceport with an insane criminal on the loose," Bova grunted.
"Keep her stable," said an annoyed Adrianne. "We can get her arrested! Besides, she still has to undo all this stuff."
"Sing," said Suzee. "Let them go now. I still know what you did last summer."
Sing turned off a switch, and the chains and manacles disappeared. Harlan summoned his compupad, made contact with Spaceport Saber Hager Security. Seconds later, Sing was arrested, and the android in charge of security managed to retrieve all the computer chips in her head. Sing was now powerless.
"Come on," said Radu. "Let's get out of here."
At night, everyone settled back into their regular habits. Someone would be on watch, the others would have freedom to do whatever they wanted. That night, Harlan, Rosie, and Suzee were on watch so the former hostages could get a break.
Adrianne went down to the team room, only to find that Radu and Bova had the same idea. She sat down and joined them.
"Now isn't this deja vu," she said. "Just a little while ago we were all sitting together, only this time we're not in chains."
"What a day that was," said Radu. "Oh, and if you don't want me to tell Harlan about the genetic power stuff, that's fine with me." Both of them cocked their heads at Bova.
"What? Oh, yeah, sure. Whatever."
"The best part about this whole mess is that Sing was arrested," said Adrianne. "She must not have had much to do with her life. Who knew a single person could be that annoying?"
"I did," said Bova. "I know her type."
Adrianne smiled. "I guess this wasn't such a horrible day after all," she said.
The three friends now experienced a closeness they had never known. They hadn't wanted to have this closeness because of their experiences, but now that the criminal was in captivity, everything was fine again. Or until they docked at the next spaceport.