PREVIOUSLY: The castle has less than 8 minutes before it will explode, an event that would destroy an entire planet. Frank and Columbia were brought back to life by Rocky and Janet. Janet agreed to help Frank, Rocky and Columbia find a space craft to leave the planet, but Brad stayed back in the castle: inside the lab, Queen Andoria called out to him...
"I said wait!" the Queen shouted.
Brad had emerged from the exit hole in the wall
inside the lab to see her standing in front of the caskets.
The Queen asked him, somewhat civil, "Was that Frankie
I saw just now?"
As soon as she said it, Janet, Columbia, Rocky,
and Frankie joined Brad's side. Queen Andoria gasped in happiness,
placing a hand in front her of mouth, when she recognized Frankie.
Frankie returned her stare, and offered an awkward smile.
"Hello, mother," Frank said to the Queen, who was,
of course, his adopted mother.
"Frankie, is that you?" she said, as though no one
else were in the room.
"It's me."
Suddenly the Queen's face turned angry, and bitter.
She raised a pointed finger to Brad and shouted, "You have lied to me,
Mr. Majors! You DID know the secret to life!"
"But I--" Brad started before the Queen interrupted
him with harsh words:
"You will be punished severely!"
Frank stepped forward at the top of the ramp, and
announced, "Uh, listen, you'll lay no hand on my friends from earth.
It wasn't them who brought me back to life. And besides, your punishment
won't compare to what's gonna to happen if we don't get off this planet.
In minutes this place will be gone!"
Frank turned to leave, and he noticed that Janet
was whispering something in Rocky's ear. She pulled away with a smile
on her face, and then gently kissed Rocky's cheek. Frank felt a hint
of jealousy, but let it go away without reacting. Janet joined Brad's
side.
"Janet," Brad suggested, "Take Frank and Rocky to
a spaceship outside the castle. I'll join you in less than a minute
in the control room."
"But Brad," Janet started, but she knew Brad had
to do something important, just as she had need to minutes before when
she left Brad waiting at the bottom of the steps. "Very well then."
Janet turned to face the exit door and noticed that
Columbia, Rocky and Frank were not there.
Janet exited the lab through the hole, leaving Brad
behind. She looked around the stairwell, trying to find Rocky, Frank
and Columbia....but they were nowhere to be seen.
The front doors of the castle were wide open, as
Transylvanians fled the castle. Most were running back to their homes,
the shoes scuffing the metallic lining of the streets. Others were
hopping into space crafts, and flying away from the planet.
Frank, Rocky, and Columbia exited the castle, out
of breath from running. They stopped on the front porch, where Frank
turned to Columbia.
"Well, it looks like this is it."
"Look, Frankie, I..." Columbia started. Frank
grabbed her hand in comfort.
"Columbia, there are a lot of questions you want
answered, and I'm sure you'll find them. Right now, you should find
someone with a craft and get off this planet."
"But -- will I ever see you again?"
"Perhaps," Frank answered her, "Perhaps you just
might."
Columbia leaned forward and kissed him gently on
the mouth before turning to leave. "Goodbye to both of you!
Good luck!"
Within seconds, Columbia was out of sight.
Frank turned his attention to Rocky, and asked him, "Back in the castle,
Janet whispered something to you. What was it?"
Rocky smiled, "She wanted me to remember the baby."
"The baby?"
Rocky answered, "Yeah, apparently I'm the father
of her baby. Because it had blonde hair."
Frank started to laugh wildly, and when he had a
second to catch his breath, he said, "Oh, Janet, you are so foolish.
The baby is not Rocky's. It's not even mine. It has to be someone
else's -- perhaps Brad."
"But she said the hair color was--"
Frank interrupted him, "Silly creature. You
seem almost as naive as she. Transylvanian sperm is non-compatible
with the human egg. The reason the baby's hair was blonde was because
she's a blonde. She just seems to have forgotten that since she changed
her hair color!"
"So I'm not the father?" Rocky asked him.
"No," Frank answered, walking off the porch to find
a spacecraft, "You're not the father. Neither of us is. Now
come on, we've got to get out of here."
The speakers in the castle shouted, "Explosion in
5 minutes and counting."
Brad walked down the ramp towards the Queen.
The Queen looked at him with caution. She saw the angry look in his
face, and realized she had no guards by her side. She could see some
unconscious guards lying in the creation tank, but they were of no use
to her. So she decided to stay put, not to move from the spot she
was standing. She was sure to show no sign of fear.
Brad got to the bottom of the ramp, near the control
panels. The Queen stood in front of the caskets.
"Brad," she said to him, "You seem as though you
have something to say to me in these last few minutes.
"Yes," he answered, "I have a few things I want
to say."
"Why Brad, I'm surprised! You've never shown
such courage. And I'm startled to see it now, considering the drug
I gave you."
Brad stepped directly in front of the lab's control
panel, and said, "You drugged me?"
The Queen started to laugh, and then she said, "Why,
yes, I did. You see, I had to drug you. If you wouldn't tell
me the secret to life, then the drug would eventually kill you -- that
is, as long as you stayed in Transylvanian air."
"And what if I left Transylvanian air? What
if I went back to earth?"
The queen mocked a yawn, and said, "This conversation
is boring me. I need to leave."
She started to turn back to the elevator, but Brad
shouted repeated, much louder: "What if I went back to earth?!"
Queen Andoria faced Brad again and said, "The drug
I gave you makes you weaker, both in muscle and emotions. The drug
I gave Janet will make her stronger, the way a woman should be."
Brad said, "It's always been about control, hasn't
it?"
The Queen only stared at him.
Brad continued, "Well, I may be getting weaker,
but I still have a little bit of strength in me."
"What do you plan on doing, Brad? Attacking
me?" She started laughing.
"No," he answered, "I won't have to. They
will."
"What?" She asked, "Who will."
"Them," Brad said, without definition, "You see,
just before Frank came to life, I popped through that hole up there and
heard a very interesting story. Rocky was telling Janet about Frank's
experiments. About how he used prisoners for body parts."
Queen Andoria said, "I'm well aware of this.
Frankie had to get my permission first."
"Yes," Brad said, "But you didn't get the prisoners'
permission. And I'd bet anything they'd like to get their revenge
on you."
"You're probably right," she said, "But fortunately
for me they are not here."
"Oh yes, they are. Look up there."
Brad pointed to various statues around the room.
Some were missing arms, some were missing legs. One was missing a
head.
Brad explained, "Those aren't statues. They
are prisoners turned to stone by Frank's meduser machine. That's
how contained them, allowing him to have all the body parts he needed."
Suddenly, the Queen seemed nervous. She took
a step backward, and pressed her back against the creation tank.
She kept her eyes on the statues around the lab. It was true: all
of them were missing body parts, and most of them looked vaguely familiar.
Indeed, they were all Transylvanian prisoners at one time.
Without further hesitation, she started to walk
forward towards the elevator shaft. Before she could make 2 steps,
a strange feeling went up her legs, and she found her feet weighted down
to the floor. She looked over at Brad, who was smiling. He
had pulled down the lever, forcing her feet to stick to the floor where
she stood.
"My feet!" she exclaimed, "I can't move my feet!"
"Oh..." Brad said with humor in his voice, "Poor
baby. Trust me, I know how you feel."
Brad turned his attention to the lab's control panel
and saw the meduser lever. Pulling it upward, a strange sound happened,
and all of the statues came to life!
"No!" Queen Andoria shouted, "Please, let me go!"
Brad walked to the elevator shaft and stepped into
it. Pulling the gate shut, he pressed the down button. Before
the elevator was out of the lab floor's sight, Brad saw the Queen being
attacked by 7 zombie-like prisoners.
Even on the second floor level he could hear her
screams.
IN CHAPTER 18: Brad and Janet join Dr. Scott in the control room, and they are ready to escape. But one or two problems stand in the way during the last 3 minutes remaining...