After breakfast, Therese showered and dressed, then she and Peter drove to the Cowffee Cup. Everyone was waiting for them when they arrived. Buck and Ed both stood from the table as Therese approached.
“I kind of filled everyone in.” said Kara.
“I am glad you are safe.” said Buck, standing and taking a hug from Buck.
“I am grateful too.” said Ed Shank, taking the next hug.
“I have something for each of you.” said Therese, handing both Buck and Ed a power ring.
“This is amazing, I feel twenty younger.” said Ed as he put his ring on and his eyes flashed in awareness he was now a Space Sailor. His muscles felt years stronger even without activating it.
“I feel twenty years younger too, I still feel old as dirt.” said Buck, putting his ring on and receiving awareness he was now a Space Sailor. Therese and Ed laughed at Buck’s joke, even if it was somewhat true.
“Erin, I don’t know how to tell you this, but there is a tunnel from your office to a spaceship hangar.” said Kara.
“I know, I used to use it.” said Erin, rubbing her Space-Girl ring. “I’m retired, but here for advice, and I’m not doing missions when I’m pregnant, so stay out of trouble.”
“Shit, for reals, this whole time?” asked Kara, then remembering Therese had her put the ring on Vivo when he was dying. “That ring, that saved Vivo’s life?” said Kara.
“Yes, but remember, I went down and I couldn’t save anybody, again. Your power isn’t limitless, you are vulnerable, and the people you love are more vulnerable.” said Erin, referring to everyone being beaten or shot, and the loss of her own sister.
All the power rings began vibrating subtly, Therese reached hers first and activated it once, the ring blinked purple to confirm, then Therese activated it again so it could read the message.
- a voice said from the Ring. Everyone else did as Therese did and “Space-Girl, Space-Girl Alert, Gopher King Attacking Washington DC” echoed through the office.
“Follow me to my office, you all will need to know how to access this, and quick.” said Erin, and they walked into her office.
Erin pressed a nail hanging in the wall and said “Elevator please.”, several tiles lit up, and she grabbed Vivo and pulled him into the now empty closet, and then they started moving down. “Two at a time.” said Erin to the group as they descended.
“You’ve had a secret lair and held off from me for years.” Vivo told Erin as they stepped off the elevator, and it went back up.
“You can still be the first person to kiss me in my secret lair.” said Erin, grabbing Vivo and kissing him before the group came. Vivo liked that idea. “Space Boy, you make my heart sing.” Erin teased him.
“I’ll be back.” said Vivo.
You’d better, I’m not going to lose you again.” said Erin, but her meaning was lost on Vivo.
“I am so glad she doesn’t have a fireman’s pole instead of an elevator.” said Ed to Buck as the elevator lowered.
Ain’t that the truth.” agreed Buck.
The two older men stepped off the platform in their Space Sailor uniforms. “You need a bigger elevator.” Ben told Erin.
“Probably, it used to just be me and for a while, another.” said Erin, still relieved her days as a protector of the galaxy were behind her. Kara and Ben came next and then finally Therese and Peter descended the elevator.
“Hello Space-Girl Captain Erin, Welcome Back.” The computer told Erin as she approached the tunnel.
“Forget it, I’m retired.” Erin told the computer.
Two chairs slid out of the wall, then Erin and Vivo sat on them, and rapidly accelerated down the tunnel. Each group did the same, and soon enough they were all in the Space-Girl command center.
“I know how all this stuff works.” said Vivo amazed, as he turned on the monitors to the alert in Washington DC. Several news stations also soon showed coverage.
“And I know how to open this vault.” Ed Shank said, opening a wall locker and grabbing power rifles for Buck and himself. Each energy weapon was equipped with stabilizers and variable-powered optics. They were slightly bulky, of moderate weight, and balanced perfectly.
“This is just like the one Space-Girl Michelle used to fight the lizard vultures of Omac.” said Buck, hoisting the rifle and feeling its balance.
“I am so proud of you guys for watching the training films.” Therese told the two older men.
“I figured that’s what they were when they were as bad as the OSHA videos they made us watch at work.” said Ed.
Peter was still amazed and taking it all in. Therese handed Peter and Ben each a power pistol. “You guys need to practice, so keep it on stun, but we can’t let anyone ever get the drop on us again.” Therese added. Ben and Peter nodded. Ben liked the pistol, it was lighter than his 1911 and he had the feeling it could do more damage.
Therese walked out in the hangar and was surprised to see David, a guy she knew from childhood working on the spaceship. “Diggie?” she asked him.
David looked and casually said, “Hi Therese, yes I know there is an alert, but give a minute, I am almost done.”
“I mean, you maintain the spaceship?” asked Therese.
“It’s a job.” said David finishing his adjustments and shutting the panels, and bolting them tightly down.
“How long have you done this?” asked Therese.
“Remember our freshman year when I was like Hey Therese, I got a job fixing space ships?” said David, going around and checking the ship.
“I thought you were messing with me because of my Space-Girl Michelle lunchbox.” said Therese.
“Nope, got the job, although it mostly sat here all those years, except, you know inspection flights. She’s ready.” said David, wiping his hands on his work pants.
“Hi Diggie.” said Kara as she walked into the hangar.
“Hi Kara.” said David back.
“You knew he fixed spaceships?” Therese asked Kara.
“Well yeah, but just not ours, he told me something about it in ninth grade. I didn’t really pay attention though.” said Kara.
“Wait, just wait, this is my ship, you Space-Girls just borrow it, so try to take care of it, don’t drive it like you are going to lunch with Lee and Elijah.” David told the two girls.
“Lee?” Therese asked puzzled.
“Yeah, your lab partner in chemistry the entire past year, he left with Elijah, tall guy, shoes covered in river sand.” David told Therese.
“I thought his name was Benjamin.” Therese said puzzled.
“We called him Binge or Binger like binge drinking a few times, but this actually totally explains a lot.” David said, nodding his head. David remained convinced women did not usually make sense, although he had always had a soft spot for Therese since they were younger. Kara was a perpetual annoyance to him.
“I’m sorry, I was really messed up then, oh my, when you see him, let him know I’m sorry.” said Therese, wishing high school would be behind her one day.
“It’s OK, after a while, he never had the heart to tell you, so he went with it, he thought you might be going through something. Besides, I heard you died or something?” asked David.
“Yah I did, it’s complicated.” said Therese.
“You sound like Lee now too.” said David, walking away. “I’m going to go get lunch because I’ll probably be up all night fixing her after your mission.” said David to the girls as he left the hangar and went to his truck.
“Seriously, did you all know I was calling him by the wrong name all year?” Therese asked Kara and Peter who were standing next to her.
“Mm yeah.” said Peter.
“Totally.” said Kara.
“High School is over, Washington DC is being attacked.” Erin reminded the two girls. Ed and Buck came into the hangar carrying their rifles.
“I need you to stay here as our reserve in case this is a diversion. If something else happens, take the Space Bike and we’ll figure it out.” said Therese to Vivo, who hunched his shoulders, he wanted to be on the mission too and was sad.
“Remember the Battle of Wolf Seventeen?” Kara asked Vivo.
“Yes, the Space-Girls were overwhelmed, they would have lost if Space-Girl Rachel didn’t come in and save the day, I guess she was probably sad to be on backup duty too.” Vivo said, felling a little better.
“But she did save the galaxy.” said Therese, slapping Vivo on the shoulder.
“Hot dog, we get to ride in that.” Buck said to Ed.
“Beats driving to DC” said Ed. Buck nodded in agreement, they were tired of car trips. The two girls ran to the ship, Kara taking the conn and Therese grabbing the ops station. Buck and Ed strapped themselves in to their seats. The ship rocked and bumped as Kara started trying to raise it before they were ready.
“Kara, have you ever flown a spaceship before?” asked Ed.
“No, but I’ve seen all the videos.” replied Kara. Ed and Buck looked up at each other and tightened their harnesses.
“I mean really, he should have told me his name wasn’t Benjamin, or the voices could have, they were dicks, it was like an asshole convention in my head, but I think they told me, if they were right about that, what else are the voices right about?” said Therese, trying to explain her actions, but panicking at the thought of the voices being right.
“Honey, the voices are gone, and you are here, and you are the Space-Girl we need.” said Buck, calming Therese. She didn’t argue, Therese was afraid to mention the residuals because she liked being off her medications. It felt free.
“Fuck those asshole voices.” said Ed Shank, angry at all the suffering Therese had experienced, especially what the voices had suffered her in front of him.
“Seriously, Therese, we are on our first mission, let’s focus on that.” Kara said, finally gaining control of the ship and passing through the hologram roof as Therese maintained the cloaking field.
“No, you know who should have told me, Elijah should have told me, they went to boot camp together, he should have told me, I bet he is still laughing about it all summer.” said Therese.
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“Yeah, actually, that is something he would do, he probably even encouraged it.” agreed Kara.
“Okay, so after we do this save Washington DC thing, I am going to get back at him. This isn’t over.” said Therese.
“Let’s go supersonic.” said Kara punching the throttle and slamming everyone back in their seats as she watched them near six times the speed of sound.
“Okay guys, plan time. We’ve kind of never done this before.” said Therese, even if she was in charge, she wasn’t above admitting she didn’t know what she was doing.
“Drop us off on top of the Washington Monument, if our grapple boots work as good as they do on TV, we should be able to cover your from there, I think these things have an auto camouflage system.” said Ed.
They do, you just have to tap the ring twice and twist it. Space-Girl Michelle did it when she was hiding from the beast of Zango.” said Buck. Therese laughed, when Buck first came into the Cowfee Cup, he was the last one she ever thought would be discussing Space-Girl Michelle, and especially with Mr. Shank.
Kara slowed the ship as they neared Washington DC, and Therese continued to maintain the cloaking field. Kara carefully guided the ship to the top of the Washington Monument and dropped Ed and Buck off.
The girls saw the Gopher King Army below and a large drop ship above Washington DC. “I think we should run their ship off first to prevent reinforcements.” said Therese, and Kara agreed. The girls watched as countless fighter jets attacked the large spaceship, but were simply blasted out of the sky.
The monstrous Gopher ship was almost completely immune to conventional earth weapons. Its thick armor could deflect conventional weapons while the defense weapons could shoot normal fighters out of the sky before they even entered weapons range. The Space-Girl fighters were shielded and faster than anything the United States had, and the fact the monstrous ship was relatively stationary would allow a cloaked attack by the Space-Girls who could use manual tracking on it with ease.
“Maintain evasive maneuvers as I target their weapon systems, I don’t want to destroy them over a populated area, but I need to run them off.” said Therese.
“Ready, and entering missile distance.” said Kara.
“Wait, one thing, we need to activate Rock and Roll soundtrack Alpha.” said Therese, almost forgetting to turn the music on. Therese shook her head, not playing your favorite soundtrack in battle was like letting the Motons win without firing a shot, and she was embarrassed she forgot to turn the tunes on.
Kara pressed a button and rock music began blaring out the high-powered speaker systems as Therese disengaged the cloak to activate guided weapon targeting. Kara flew quickly and dodged the targeting efforts of the Gopher King’s ship. Missile after missile was fired by Therese, each hitting their targets and destroying the weapons of the Gopher King’s assault ship until at last, it turned and ran.
“There, they are concentrating at the White House, we need to land, there are too many police and secret service on the ground fighting the gophers to hit them from here.” said Therese. The girls could see the valiant but losing effort on the ground as the Gophers advanced, even without their support ship. Each cyborg gopher was giant, at least eight feet tall, and destroyed their position.
“Set armor for jump mode.” said Kara, as each girl adjusted their ring which adjusted their armor giving them flared capes on their sides to slow their descent and their leg stabilizers increased.
“Auto pilot enabled.” said Kara as she ran to the back hatch and jumped, with Therese following. The two girls sailed to the earth, each landing with a kick into a cyborg gopher, smashing the cyborg rodents lifeless into the ground.
“Somewhere there is a redneck coming here to make the biggest pot of gopher stew they ever had.” said Kara, wiping gopher brains off her boot. Both girls returned their suits to combat mode. The Space-Girls pulled out their power pistols, set them to destroy and began fighting a winning effort to defeat the cyborg gophers. The Gophers began retreating until they surrounded their king. Therese and Kara took cover before an overturned armored vehicle to catch their breath.
“This seems too easy, I think it is a trap.” said Therese.
“I was thinking the same thing.” said Kara.
“Only one way we’ll know.” said Therese.
“Oh no, I’m the reckless one here.” said Kara, doing a flip over the armored vehicle and blasting gophers to pieces as she flipped through the air. Therese used her strength boost to throw the armored car underneath Kara while she was at her highest and knock out an entire flank of gophers, then she pulled her pistol and fired and dodged with Kara as she fired at the gophers. The air cracked and sizzled as the Space-Girls shot energy beams from their pistols. Therese’s body ached all over from using her Space-Girl strength and she planned to tone it down in the future.
“I surrender. Arrest me.” Shouted the Gopher King, twenty feet tall, raising his arms. He was a monster of robot parts and fur.
“Total trap.” Kara told Therese as they advanced to arrest the Gopher King.
Without announcement, four heavily armored gophers burrowed up from the earth. The girls fired but their pistols were ineffective, the heavy armor shielded the giant gophers. The energy beams ignited the air, but the armor itself was too strong.
“Surrender, and I will own you as my slaves, but you will live.” said The Gopher King.
“Don’t be an asshole. You can’t own people.” said Therese.
“And you can’t defeat my shock troopers with those pistols.” said The Gopher King.
“I don’t need it.” said Therese, holstering her now useless pistol.
“That’s the spirit, surrender.” The Gopher King told the girls.
Giant energy beams split the shock troopers into pieces. The air cracked like lightning, and thunder echoed as the distortion of the air around the beam collapsed in a sonic boom. The Gopher king looked up at the top of the Washington monument, he saw the beams come from there, but could not see the shooters. Therese pulled out her pistol and fired several shots into the Gopher King, and he split into a shower of sparks as one of the rifles hit him.
“Fuck. Robot substitute, he was just testing us.” said Kara, firing several more shots into the robot because she was angry. The robot substitute was a common ploy of the Gopher King, allowing him to always confuse the Space-Girls if he was really somewhere or not. Space-Girl Michelle longed to pin him down and destroy him.
“Or he didn’t think earth needed his efforts, but he’ll be back.” Therese said as she watched the Gopher King’s ship leave the atmosphere. Crowds of police and Secret Service filled the area, searching for a possible gopher that might be hiding. The officers gave the Space-Girls a wide birth as they strolled through the common area, no one could believe that real Space-Girls had flown in on a spaceship and saved the country from cyborg gophers from outer space.
“Seriously, I can’t believe everyone let me call him by the wrong name, all year, and here I thought he was like oblivious to everything I had gone through, but no, I had to be an even bigger idiot.” said Therese, kicking a cyborg gophers head to the side. It bounced through the now silent battlefield.
“If it bothered him, he probably would have said something, he probably just thought it was a nickname like Nitro or Turbo. Elijah was just treating you like he would anyone else. He’s a funny pranker to everyone.” said Kara.
“Hey, officer?” Therese called to a cop who came running over, thankful that the space-girls had saved the lives of him and his squad.
“Thank you for saving us.” said the cop to the Space-Girls, amazed by their flowing armor, helmets and energy pistols that chopped up his invincible enemy.
“Can I ask you something?” Therese asked the officer.
“Oh no.” said Kara.
“If you knew someone was calling someone by the wrong name, for like an entire year, would you tell them?” asked Space-Girl Therese.
“Well, um, I’m the wrong guy to ask, see we had this new rookie, and we had this Sergeant Cackloover, and well, um, we kind of convinced him the Sergeant’s name was a little different, if you catch my drift, and had him calling our boss something really bad the whole time he was on probation. But we also had the Sergeant convinced the rookie couldn’t say certain words right, so yah, I’m a bad guy to ask that.” The police officer told the Space-Girls.
“See, I told you, he’s an ass, I love him, but he’s an ass.” Therese told Kara.
“So, are you girls like aliens.?” The officer asked the Space-Girls.
“We’re Space-Girls, we like, uh, keep the galaxy safer and stuff.” said Kara. She wasn’t sure how to explain any of it.
“I think my kid watches a show about you guys, but darn, it is just awful to watch.” said the officer. The two Space-Girls shrugged, they were used to being rare in their appreciation for the Space-Girl Michelle television show.
Soon more officers arrived and a crowd of police surrounded the Space-Girls.
“Fuck, it’s the police.” said Kara.
“Sorry, present company excluded?” Therese apologized to the officer they were talking with.
“No offense taken.” said the officer, smiling at the Space-Girls.
The President of the United States walked through the crowd to the Space-Girls. “It really is Space-Girls, welcome to Earth, thank you for saving our planet.” said the President. Therese looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders, and decided to go with it. Today they would be aliens.
“Hi, yeah, maybe so, we heard you have this food called tacos?” said Kara, causing Therese to giggle. It was well known on the Space-Girl Michelle show that she loved a food just like tacos after saving the galaxy.
“Is there any way we can thank you?” The President asked the Space-Girls.
“We don’t take rewards, but there is a little favor?” Therese asked the President.
“Anything, America owes you.” said the President.
“Okay, but it’s a little embarrassing, can I just whisper it to you, and you write it down?” Therese asked the President.
“Sure.” said the President taking a notepad and pen from an aide. Therese whispered her request in the President’s ear and made sure everything was written down correctly.
“And you promise not to tell anyone else?” Therese asked the President.
“Normally, I’d tell you to never trust a politician, but with this, I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to make it happen, and how do you say keep it on the down low?” said the President.
“Thank you.” said Therese. She didn’t trust the government at all, but her feelings could be set aside for this request. She walked over, cracked her helmet visor, and whispered her request to the President who wrote it down. The Secret Service stood nervously but accepted the fact that they stood no chance if the Space-Girls were enemies. A wayward Space-Girl had defeated the secret service in the nineteen-eighties thinking the secret service were actually bad guys trying to abduct Reagan, and they never wanted another incident again.
“Girls, I’d like to go pee, I’m not ready to try out the built-in feature of this suit.” said Buck on the radio.
“Okay, Okay. Ship autopilot return.” Kara transmitted from her comm-link, turning and walking to the clearing.
“It was so cool to meet you, oh and don’t worry, that’s our ship.” said Therese pointing at the uncloaking ship by Kara.
“Good luck, and don’t worry, I will take care of this.” said the President, holding the folded note.
The girls climbed into their ship, flew to Buck and Ed, picked them up, and flew to the closest QT gas station, which was five minutes away at maximum atmospheric velocity, thankfully was not in Washington DC, because everyone on board trusted Quick Trip bathrooms the most. Kara flew the ship into an open bay by a pump.
“I always do this, even when I don’t buy gas, it is way easier to park by the pumps than upfront.” said Kara.
“I totally do the same thing.” said Therese.
“Make me three.” added Ed Shank.
“If those bastards at the DMV would give me my license back, it would be four.” replied Buck. The two Space-Girls and the two Space Sailors ran into the QT gas station to use the bathroom. The girls ran into their restroom and the men into theirs.
Ed Shank went and grabbed four bottles of water out of the case, and went to check out in line, thankful he was at QT and their lines always moved fast.
“Hey, you guys are the superheroes who saved America from those giant robot rats on TV!” said the manager of the QT, excitedly to Ed Shank. Shank grinned, he was a little embarrassed, but it was still cool to be called a hero, even if Kara and Therese did most of the work.
“I can’t charge you for this, please, just take the water, you guys literally saved people’s lives.” said the manager.
“We’re not supposed to take gifts, it is some Space-Girl rule.” Ed said, reaching into his pocket to pull out his Space-Girl Express charge card.
“What kind of ass corporation would charge heroes risking their lives to save Americans for water? Corporate might fire me, and I need the job, please take the water. I’ll pay for it myself if it bothers you.” The manager pleaded. Ed shank shrugged his shoulders, as his other three friends gathered around them.
“Thank you.” said Ed.
Everyone in the store cheered and thanked the Space-Girls and Space Sailors as they now stood together. “Thank you for the water.” Therese said to the man. The crowd cheered for the QT manager and the Space Team. Public speaking was easier than Therese thought, and she started walking out the doors with the others following as people cheered.
“Study math, math is power!” shouted Ed Shank before he turned and walked. The crowd cheered. Ed Shank smiled, happy to see so many people excited about math.
Several police cruisers pulled into the QT gas station, with their lights on. “Fuck, I mean shit, It’s the Police.” said Kara. Therese turned and looked at Kara, and stared at her with her own hands on her hips. “I’m sorry, I’m like not used to you know, this.” said Kara in her own defense.
“Just work on your language, rule number something, Space-Girls aren’t supposed to say fuck and shit in public.” Therese told her. The police formed a line to keep the crowd away from the spaceship.
“We saw what you did in DC, thank you.” One of the officers shouted to the team.
“Remember, it is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice!” Therese shouted to the crowd as they boarded the ship, with Therese taking the pilot controls. Everyone else climbed in and shut the spaceship hatch. The two girls initiated the start-up sequence, and Buck and Ed relaxed a little, glad it was Therese flying them out of the crowded gas station. “Time to go home.” Therese told her team, and everyone nodded in agreement.
Therese flew out of the covered awning and then straight up into the air before having Kara activate the cloaking device, in order to maintain the illusion they were from outer space.
“Math is power?” Kara asked over to the intercom.
“You know, Space-Girl Michelle ends every episode with some kind of public service announcement, just think how much better you would be if you paid attention in math class.” Ed Shank teased Kara back.
“Just so you know, I did learn two important things in your class.” said Kara.
“I’m guessing neither is what X equals, so tell me, what did you learn?” asked Ed Shank.
“How to be a best friend again, and how to break someone’s nose.” Kara said, grinning ear to ear.
“I am so glad I am fighting cyborg gophers instead of teaching.” said Mr. Shank.
“This is better than retirement, I’m just glad to be back in uniform and useful again. How many guys my age shoot particle beams and fly in spaceships?” said Buck.
“None that I know, but we’re glad you are here.” replied Therese, and everyone nodded in agreement. The spaceship soon neared the warehouse, and Therese adjusted the controls to bring them in for a smooth landing. David was sitting in a chair in the hangar reading a magazine and did not look up as the girls powered down the ship and the four-person Space Team exited the ship.
Vivo climbed off of the space bike, he had sat anxiously in his space armor the entire time in case he was needed, despite Erin’s reassurances it would be perfectly fine for him to lounge in the control area. Vivo grinned and ran over and congratulated the team.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got the data, you used all the missiles, I’ll top off the fuel and buff out the scratches.” said David, pulling a data pad out of his pocket, and holding it up for the girls to see without looking up from his magazine.
“Thanks’ Diggie.” said Therese, patting him on the shoulder as she lead the team by. One by one the team deactivated their space armor and it disappeared into their rings. Buck and Ed hung up their rifles in the recharging slots, unlike the pistols, they did not disappear into the rings with the armor.
“Great job, team. Space-Girl Michelle sent her congratulations on your first team mission, and she was extra thankful for Ed and Therese delivering a public service announcement.” said Erin, standing next to the monitoring stations.
“Told you.” said Ed, grinning to the girls.
“Is everyone else upstairs?” Therese asked Erin.
“Yep, the Kookie Mart is still open on Sundays.” said Erin.
“So, Ben and Ana are playing video games?” Therese teased.
“Yeppers, let’s get some coffee.” Erin suggested, and everyone agreed and wished they had a larger elevator so they could get up to the Cowffee Cup faster.