Chapter Two Meanwhile, about a few hundred lightyears away, a large red Sinai starcruiser had been facing off against a team of enemy ships. The ship's captain, Alvin Highwalker, had his hands gripped tightly on the ship's controls. His face strained with determination, he held his breath as he dodged each enemy ship, missing each laser shot at him by an inch. "I got you now," Alvin whispered. He slammed his hand on a button and shot down most of the ships before him. But as he was shooting, one of the other ships shot down his right wing, causing the red ship to tilt a bit. Alvin was almost thrown off his chair. He swerved the ship around and shot the other remaining ships. All that was left for him was the mothership, the largest, and most deadly, ship of all of them. Fighting the mothership was like an ant fighting against an anteater, and he desperately tried to find a weak spot. He circled the mothership, which had been difficult because of the missles firing at him from all over the ship. Finally, a vuneranble part of the mothership had been found. Alvin set his target and held his ship steady...long enough for a missle to shoot off his last wing. He and his ship were sent spiralling down, out of ammo and out of time. It was soon crashing down onto a rocky asteroid, followed by a tremendous explosion, fragments of the ship flying everywhere. And his game had come to an end. "Player one, you lose." That is, his handheld game. "Nuts!" Alvin exclaimed. "Not again!" Alvin Highwalker had been unsuccessfully trying to beat his video game for the past hour. He was never in a life-or-death battle. His Sinai starcruiser was just a mere Volkswagon cruiser, just about as large as a two bedroom apartment. His robot companion, Simon IQ300, came marching stiffly into the control room, sparks flying from his head. "Master Highwalker! Master Highwalker!" Simon reported with a British accent. "The cruiser has just entered enemy lines! We must retrieve to the homebase stat!" Alvin sighed and swatted Simon's head with a rolled up magazine. Simon's eyes toggled. His frozen posture became loose and relaxed. "Whoah!" Simon shook his head. His accent had disappeared. "Geez, I gotta recharge my battery later. Thanks, Alvin." "Mmm-hmm." Alvin got back to his game. Simon peered over Alvin's shoulder. "You're still trying to beat that game?" "Yup." Alvin sat back in the chair. "Think you can look up some cheats for me?" Simon snatched the game from Alvin's hands. "It's not about the cheats. It's about the strategy." "Fine." Alvin crossed his arms. "But I'm warning you that game is rigged." An animatronic voice rang out. "Player two, you win!" Simon tossed the game back to Alvin. "Please. I'd know if something was rigged." Alvin grumbled. "No fair, he's a robot. That dirty dog pile of metal." "Hi, guys!" a cheerful voice squeaked. A half-chipmunk half-dog, called a chookie by most people, pounced on Alvin, causing him to yelp. Simon jumped at the sound of the crash. The chookie wagged his tail eagerly. "Theodore," Alvin said to the chookie, "I thought you were asleep!" Theodore climbed off Alvin, holding a bag of potato chips. "Well, you did say the attack word." The year before, Alvin and Simon had trained him to attack people whenever the phrase "dog pile" was heard. They've regretted the lesson since. Theodore spotted the video game in Alvin's hands. "Simon beat you at Sinai Starcruiser 3 again?" Alvin frowned. "Don't rub it in." "By the way," Theodore announced, "a green flash is heading towards us right now, most likely a meteor." "What's so important about a dinky rock?" Alvin asked. Simon knew. "In other words..." The same meteor crashed through the roof of the ship and onto Alvin's head. A message chip was attached. Simon detached the chip. "Mail's here." "Ha-ha." Alvin grabbed the chip and inserted it into the main computer. A familiar face appeared on the screen. "King Leron!" Alvin and Simon gasped. Theodore was so surprised he choked on his chips. "Alvin Highwalker," King Leron announced, "we need you're help." "You know my name?!" Alvin squeaked. He noticed he was going soft and stiffened his heroic poise. "What can we do for you, your majesty?" "You must find my daughter," King Leron pleaded. "She answers to the name Brittany. She took off an hour ago in my starcruiser." He pouted. "My 49 Delta electric blue starcruiser!" Alvin gave him an odd look. King Leron cleared his throat. "Anyway, she ran away from her wedding and the dreaded Dark Inhaler is on her tail!" "Don't worry, I'm sure we can find..." Alvin paused. His face turned angry and his tone grim. "Dark Inhaler? Did you just say, Dark Inhaler?" "Oh, boy!" Simon morphed his arm into a shield and protected himself. King Leron raised a brow. "Yes I did, son. Are you poor of hearing, because I have a-" "He heard you fine, sir," Simon said, as soon as he was sure it was safe. "It's just that-" "Dark Inhaler has been after me for two years," Alvin growled. "We'll take the case!" "Bless you, Alvin Highwalker!" King Leron thanked. "I shall give you one hundred dollars once you retrieve her." Alvin shook his head. "Make it nine hundred." King Leron sighed. "Okay, three hundred." "A thousand! Alvin argued. "Seven hundred!" "Five thousand two hundred!" "Eight hundred!" "Ten thousand!" King Leron raised a finger. "Bring her back, and I shall give you two million dollars." Alvin's ears perked up. "Done and done!" "Thank you, Alvin. The world of Xerray is counting on you." King Leron glanced at Theodore. "You may want to help your friend there." His image faded. Alvin and Simon's attention turned to Theodore, who was still choking. Simon pulled him up and whacked him hard on the back. Theodore swallowed the chip. "Sorry about that, Theodore," Simon apologized. Theodore fell to the floor in exhaustion. "You heard the king, boys," Alvin said. "Set up the scanner. We're looking for Princess Brittany!" "Uh, Alvin..." Simon pointed upwards. Alvin groaned. 'After we fix the gap in the ceiling."