39--Nuclesís's Evil Plot, Ch.1

hemistra was a planet in a solar system not far beyond the outer rim boundary of VideoLand. The entire solar system was the Republic of Chemistra, a peaceful land with highly developed technology on the level of MegaLand. Their native universal language was Chemistrian. However, due to exposure from advanced VideoLand worlds, such as MegaLand, use of English was spreading rapidly.

In February 1878, the Republic of Chemistra had opened relations with the Kingdom of VideoLand. VideoLand’s outer rim border was two mere kilometers away from the orbit of the planet farthest from Chemistra’s sun. For several years in its long orbit, this planet was partially inside VideoLand, but VideoLand had never laid claim to it. The Republic of Chemistra consisted of the entire solar system. The relations proved favorable to both countries, the Republic of Chemistra and the huge Kingdom of VideoLand, which then spanned almost a third of the galaxy.

In 1986, Chemistra submitted an application for entrance into VideoLand. Princess Lana, ruler of VideoLand, had been reviewing it since. She would officially announce her decision on 14 July 1993 at the Bastille Day celebration, one of VideoLand’s most important holidays.

Due to a hundred years of adaptation, Chemistra did things similarly to the way many of VideoLand’s technologically advanced worlds did. Ground traffic drove on the left side. Chemistra’s traffic light posting standards were like VideoLand’s, and the traffic sign system was the very same. Even Chemistra’s solar-system-wide computer network was compatible with VideoLand’s interstellar network.

Jane Physicost and James Chemsos, two prominent Chemistrians, loved one another deeply. The true nature of their relationship was Amorys eternys, a Chemistrian term whose the literal translation was ‘eternal love.’ It involved a connection through telepathy, an ability that developed in all pure Chemistrians but not in many humans.

Chemistrians used the term ‘pure’ to refer to Chemistrians who were born on the planet Chemistra and who had only Chemistrian blood, not intermixed with any other species, such as humans or Hyrulians. In the past, partial Chemistrians had been treated as second-class citizens, but this was no longer the case.

James and Jane had not always been boyfriend and girlfriend. In fact, they had not always liked each other.

The present year in VideoLand was 1993. Ironically, James and Jane had been born on the same day 25 years previous on Chemistra on 15 July 1968. They had been born in the same sub-republic, which was like a state or a province. Jane had been born in Chemico-Physic City, the capital of the planet Chemistra as well as the sub-republic Chemurope (pronounced like Kem + Europe). James had been born in a major suburb, Physica. Chemurope was the largest sub-republic by land area and population in the southern hemisphere.

In 1970, James’s immediate family moved into Chemico-Physic City and into the house across the street from Jane’s family. Unlike him, she had a sibling: an older brother named Arthur, who had been born on 3 June 1967. After James’s family had moved across the street, his parents and hers came to know one another as friends. James and Jane did not become friends, though. In 1973, on 1 January, they began their first year of school at the Chemico-Physic City School.

On their planet, this first year was the thirteenth grade, similar to kindergarten, and the grade numbers decreased as students advanced. School in Chemistra’s southern hemisphere began in January because fall generally began on 1 February.

Everyone began to discover quite early how much the two disliked each other! James and Jane were definitely not friends. Au contraire, what they did with each other was nearly diabolical. She was antagonistic, for she enjoyed sticking a frog in his desk and making him scream like a little girl. She had learned very quickly that he despised frogs. When she thought that she could get away with it, she started food-fights with him. He always retaliated. And they always got caught.

Whenever they looked back upon it now, they laughed.

At the time, Jane’s brother was in the twelfth grade, a year higher than hers.

In the twelfth to ninth grades—first to fourth grades to Americans—, their antagonism continued, getting them into a great deal of trouble. The fire began to cool during the eighth to sixth grades as their classwork began to get more interesting.

They were getting older, anyway; they were to be 10 in ’78. At about thirteen years of age, a Chemistrian’s puberty began, whether male or female. So imagine Jane’s surprise on 1 January 1981, when they were around twelve and a half years of age and were about to begin seventh grade. Everyone in the corridor would be surprised, for almost everyone with whom they had started school was still attending, and they knew of James and Jane’s ‘classic hatred’ of one another. However, no one would be more surprised than Jane was.

* * *

1 January 1981.

Southeastern District School, Chemico-Physic City, Chemistra.

She was standing at her locker, trying to arrange the books in it. I wish I had brought my bag, she thought to herself, as she was not a forgetful person in the slightest. She thought it in English, which she had begun learning on the first day of thirteenth grade. It was quickly becoming more common than Chemistrian.

Jane was about the same height as an average human thirteen-year-old girl. She was healthily thin, not skinny as a wire. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. As with most Chemistrians, the only difference between her and a human was a faint bluish tint to her skin. Like most Chemistrians, she spoke English in the educated British accent. She wore a red short-sleeved shirt, blue jeans shorts that came down to just above the knees, tennis shoes, and a digital watch on her left wrist.

James approached her that morning. “What do you want?” she asked when she saw him.

His hair was not so long, and he was wearing good-looking glasses and a green backpack, and his short-sleeved shirt was pure white without a speck of dirt. He was almost her height, though his shoulders were slightly broader than hers. His manner was different from what it had been in the past. “Well, Jane,” he said, seemingly fighting himself to tell her, “you seem to have lots of books, and—”

“I do!” she snapped. “What is your point for stating the obvious, Chemsos?”

The exclamation surprised no one, as they were still prone to shouting at one another occasionally, so no heads turned in their direction. But it made James nervous. “Jane, what’s wrong?”

“You don’t have to tell me what I already know,” she said, trying not to be angry. He was nervous. Chemistrians were taught not to capitalize on a fellow Chemistrian’s nervousness, so she would try not to. “What’s wrong, James?”

He seemed fighting to tell her something. “Jane, well—”

She looked at him. He appeared even more nervous than he sounded. She lightened her expression a little. It looked as though he had had a little trouble brushing his blond hair this morning. His blue eyes looked at her in some begging way. He really had an attractive look that day, though it appeared to her that he had had a little trouble dressing himself, possibly due to some preoccupation. Also, his hands clutched his backpack’s straps tightly.

“Are you all right, James?” she asked, this time more gently.

He gulped uncomfortably. “I’m apprehensive about asking you something, Jane,” he said. He looked down toward the floor for a moment, then back into her eyes.

“When did you get the glasses?” she asked, noticing the spectacles that he was wearing.

“Twenty-three December,” he said. She returned to organizing her locker. “I had just begun having trouble reading.”

“I see,” she replied, trying to be sympathetic. She had never had to deal with near- or farsightedness, and she felt sorry for those who did. Very few Chemistrians had eye troubles, and those who did generally had farsightedness.

“I don’t feel like taking my glasses off and putting them back on all the time, so the top part of my glasses are clear,” he said. This was obviously not the topic that he was apprehensive about discussing. “I wish the eye doctors would see fit to get the surgery technology from MegaLand. Wearing glasses is not exactly the most pleasant activity in the galaxy.”

“I see. What do you really want to discuss?”

“You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“I already think so! I don’t think this will make much of a difference.”

“I’m trying to tell you something.”

“Then bloody tell me!” Jane was earnestly trying to avoid shouting now. “I’ve been waiting.”

“All right. That’s what I’m trying to do.” He sighed. “It’s hard.”

She looked at her watch. It was 7:45. “You’ve got 20 minutes, bright boy, ’cause I’m heading to class at 8:05.”

“Doesn’t start until 8:25,” he said. “Why are you going that early?”

“Arthur will be there then,” said Jane. “First period: Spanish II.”

“Who’s the teacher?”

“El señor Felipe Menéndez from MegaLand,” she said.

He smiled. “How come we always get the same classes?”

She was not surprised. They had had the very same classes in the past. “I’d like to know who schedules them,” she said. “Too late to switch to German now.” James snickered a little. She sighed. “Darn it, James. I tell you, I wish I could hang, draw, and quarter our dear class-scheduler for putting us in the same classes all the time.”

“Do you regret having the same classes as I?”

“Could be worse, I suppose. There could be two of you.”

“To tell the truth, I’ll soon have a couple of siblings.” She looked at him. “My mom’s going to have twins sometime around 9 September.”

“I see. I hope they don’t wind up as irritating as you.”

He almost laughed.

“My brother couldn’t know that I had been coming.”

“Right. You’re just a year apart.”

She found some of this interesting, but she was getting anxious to hear what he intended to tell her. “What is it, James? Do I need to read you telepathically to find out what it is?”

“No. I’ll tell you.” He sighed. “Jane, I wish I could tell this to you easily.”

“I promise I won’t throw you across the room, James,” she said with some sarcasm.

“I hope not.” He decreased the volume in his voice. “Jane, I’ve not been able to get you off my mind this summer.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“I wish I knew. I was wondering if you wanted someone to help you carry your books.” The fact that he sighed with relief told Jane that this was the issue he wished to address.

“Well, sure, but why would you do it?”

“I like you.” That was what flabbergasted everyone. Almost everyone in hearing range gasped. He said it without hesitation and with more honesty than ever, and he was a very honest boy.

“A few years ago, you hated me,” she said, unable to conceal her surprise.

“No, I didn’t,” he said. “We may not have been able to stand one another, but we’ve never hated one another.”

“Oh, that’s a new one,” she said, amused.

“Well, Jane, it’s true.” He was beginning to get apprehensive and impatient. “I made you an offer. Do you accept or do you not?”

Jane thought about it. She did not know whether she trusted him, but she did not want to argue. She was not in the mood. Plus, he seemed too distressed already, and it would not do her well socially to make it worse for him with so many people present. Word would get around. Besides, she felt this little voice inside her urging her to do it.

“Very well,” she told him. “You can take my Spanish and Chemistrian books.” At the beginning years of school, not much emphasis was placed on the Chemistrian language but rather on the VideoLand English and French languages. Other languages were optional. Jane removed her Spanish II book and her Chemistrian grammar book from the locker and handed them to James. She took her notebook and calculus book out of the locker and made sure that her pens and pencil were in the notebook. Before closing the locker, she made sure there was nothing else she needed to take. “Let’s go, then, shall we?”

“Certainly,” he said, his books being in his bag.

The front door to the main building of the school, in the north wall, was in front of a corridor that led to the rear door, along the south wall. Only a few meters from the main door, this corridor intersected with another corridor that led east and west. To the west, the rooms in the math department were along the north wall, while the lockers were along the south wall. Jane’s was about halfway down the hall. They proceeded west and arrived at a corridor that led south along the hall where the language department and library were. At that corridor, they turned south and went to the second door.

“Here we are,” James said.

Jane checked to see whether the door was locked, and it was.

“Locked?” James asked.

Jane nodded. She leant against the wall to the left of the door. James joined her at her right.

“About eighteen minutes to kill.”

“Yeah. So, James, what’s the deal? I throw a few pizzas at you, and you carry my books?”

“Jane, let’s just forget about that. I like you.”

“Since when?”

“I told you, since sometime this summer. I said I couldn’t get you off my mind.”

She looked at him. “I was afraid to admit it in front of others, but I feel attracted to you as well,” she said quietly.

“Well, Jane, maybe we should try to improve our relationship.”

“Most likely.” But she felt nervous.

They went through the day successfully, though they turned more than a few heads. First period was Spanish II, second was Telepathic Development IV, third was calculus, and fourth was Chemistrian grammar. The latter in particular was a challenging subject, due to numerous grammatical subtleties present in few human languages.

School ended at about 15:00, when James and Jane walked home. The school was only a couple of blocks from their houses, and Chemistrians believed in foot-power for such distances. Normally, the buses only ferried the students who lived farthest away, though they would transport others on those rare days when the weather was terrible.

* * *

Jane’s House, Southeastern District, Chemico-Physic City.

That evening, at about 19:00, Jane was sitting on a glider on the front porch of her home alone. She was reading a recent science-fiction mystery book about a case where a diplomat was murdered while en route to a planet for peace negotiations, and the VideoLand Police accused the diplomat’s attaché of the crime. The attaché hired a detective named Paul Drake to help him look for the actual murderer. The detective suggested that the man also check with Perry Mason, the famous defense lawyer. Perry Mason became the man’s lawyer, but he put a young associate, Ken Malanski, to work flying across the star group to find the murderer. Paul Drake’s son, Paul Drake, Jr., another detective, aided Malanski.

Jane was getting to the good part when she noticed James come out of his house. She put a bookmark in and closed the book as James was coming across the street on the crosswalk at the traffic light, as their houses were on the corner of the intersection of two streets. He stopped to shake his head in agitation as one motorist turned left on the red light. (This was not an action that crossed his path at all, but he still found it annoying.) Even though this would be analogous to turning right on red in the United States, it was improper on Chemistra. Once Chemistra became a part of VideoLand, it would be illegal, but it would still be widely overlooked by law enforcement. Jane sighed in irritation at this, as well. Even children knew what traffic signals meant on Chemistra. Of course, they had to. Pedestrians were expected to deduce from the traffic signals whether it was safe to cross, and the traffic signals were posted well for this purpose.

James came up the sidewalk and went up the steps that led to the porch. “Hi, Jane!” he said enthusiastically.

Jane sighed. “Good evening. How are you?”

“I am very well. And you?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” she replied.

He glanced at the book for a moment. “I like Perry Mason, too. We may share several common interests but don’t know it.”

“Could be. What do you want?”

“May I have a seat? I really want to talk to you.”

“Sure.” He sat down next to her on the glider. “James, exactly what is wrong?”

“I can’t believe how stupid we’ve been, Jane. I mean, we’re supposed to get along, right?”

“I suppose so. What’s your point?”

He put his left hand on her right one. Somehow, it felt very right there. “Jane, I wouldn’t have dared to say this aloud in school, but—I’m in love with you.”

Her eyes widened involuntarily. She could not believe what she had just heard him say. Not immediately, anyway. “Really?” She could not help feeling the very same thing. “James . . . I don’t know what to say,” she said, practically in shock. She did not know what to tell him. “I—I—”

“Do you feel the same way about me? Just tell me, say yes or no,” he said.

He looked longingly into her eyes. To her, it felt as if magic had taken place. She felt deeply in love with this person who only a few years ago had seemed like her worst enemy. She had just not wanted to feel that way before. However, she now realized that the personal difficulties were due to their many similarities.

She smiled. “Oh, James, I do.” They hugged each other. “We both know this is going to blow a few minds.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Especially our parents’.”

Jane almost laughed. “Yes. They’ll think we’ve gone out of ours.” They released each other. “James, I was afraid I couldn’t admit that I feel a strong attraction to you. I was afraid you’d laugh.”

“I was afraid you’d laugh, too,” he said. “That’s why I was so nervous this morning. Are you doing okay with those Chemistrian verbs?”

“Yes,” she told him. “It’ll take more than verb conjugation to keep us down, eh?” He patted her left shoulder with his right hand. She could not begin to think how wonderful that felt to her. It felt far better than any infatuation she had ever had before.

“Right, Jane,” he replied. They closed their eyes and kissed for five seconds—or maybe it was five eternities, filled with the energy of love. It nearly overwhelmed them both. When they had finished, they gazed into each other’s eyes. “You know, that felt great.”

“Yes, it did,” she agreed. “I can’t think of anyone more appropriate for me to fall in love with than you.”

“Thank you, Jane. I do feel the same way.” He thought about something for a moment. “We’re just beginning puberty. We shouldn’t do a lot.”

“You’re right, James,” she told him. “Why, we’re still practically children.”

“I know. We should spare much further activity until we get older.”

“Right.” She then whispered, “I absolutely refuse to make love until we marry, and I absolutely refuse to marry until we’re 21.”

“You read my mind,” he assured her. “Do you absolutely refuse to go out for lunch at the mall this Saturday?”

“No,” she told him. “Of course, I can’t go if my parents refuse to let me.”

“Will they let you?”

“I don’t know. What about yours?”

“Maybe,” said James. “I promise that I’ll ask them.”

“Good,” Jane said. “So, you’re going to be a brother, eh?”

“Yes. To twins: a boy and a girl.”

“If your parents make you stay home to care for them, I can come over and help you.”

“Thanks.” He sighed. “I have a funny feeling that’s the only way I’ll be able to see you when my parents decide to go out.” He glanced at the book. “I haven’t finished the last one yet. What’s happening in this one?”

“Have you read the one where Perry Mason moves out to VideoLand, the first Mason novel written by this author? She wrote it when the real Perry Mason moved to VideoLand.”

He nodded.

“Well, apparently, a diplomat was murdered while en route to a planet for peace negotiations, and the VLPD accused his attaché of the crime. The attaché hired Paul Drake the Elder to help look for the actual murderer. Drake suggested that he also check with Perry Mason. Mason became the man’s lawyer, but he put his young associate, Ken Malanski, to work going across VideoLand to find the murderer. Paul Drake, Jr., aided Malanski. I think I’m at a really good part, but your arrival interrupted me.”

“Sorry,” he said.

“That’s all right,” she told him. “It’s worth it. With books, you can always go back to what you miss.” She smiled, and he smiled back. “The hostilities were all my fault, I suppose.”

“That’s nonsense, Jane. They were our fault. Let’s just learn from the past and then put it behind us, okay? Let’s not repeat it.”

“Okay.”

They looked into one another’s eyes for a moment. “Amorys eternys,” James said.

“Yes,” Jane said. They kissed again.

Unlike with humans, a Chemistrian knew distinctly that he or she was in love. This love was often permanent for life. The two talked a few minutes more, then James returned home.

They began to spend as much of their time together as possible, at school and elsewhere. The fourth to first grades (eleventh to fourteenth grades) gave what Americans might consider a five-year college education. At 19, in the year 1987, the two were graduated from the Chemico-Physic School. By the end of school, James and Jane were voted the most likely to marry by their senior class, the very ones who remembered the despicable relationship they had had all the way back in thirteenth grade! Everyone recognized the irony in their relationship.

They went on to Chemistra University at Chemico-Physic City to earn their master’s degrees two years later. Jane chose to concentrate in physics, while James concentrated on chemistry. James master’s degree of science was in chemistry of all types and in general physics, while Jane’s master’s of science was in physics of all types and in general chemistry. Additionally, each of them studied as many of the languages of Chemistra and VideoLand as they could.

* * *

In 1986, the Brain Wars commenced in VideoLand. The vicious MotherBrain attempted to conquer VideoLand forcefully with the assistance of Ridley, Dr. Wily, and other VideoLand villains. She had already been laying some degree of siege for four years, but this was when she began earnest attacks. MotherBrain captured and banished King Charles Deschain, the benevolent absolute monarch of VideoLand, to a faraway place.

This occurred just before Chemistra’s application to become part of VideoLand was turned in. The ambassador who submitted the application noted that Princess Lana appeared courageous, successfully hiding the terror that she must have been feeling. In the same year, the Exor solar system, which included the twin planets Exor and Exorius, seceded from VideoLand. VideoLand and the Exor system mutually agreed to the secession. The Exor system was the VideoLand member farthest from the Palace, and Lana wanted to protect it from MotherBrain. However, Exor and all the lands that it looked out for would soon have their own troubles.

In 1987, right after they had graduated from school, James and Jane became engaged. The age 21 was the age when a Chemistrian was considered mature, but one could start working full-time at 19. Jane’s brother had gotten a well-paying, low-stress job the year before at the reputable Tarix Power Plant after he had graduated. That power plant had recyclers that could use the byproducts of nuclear fusion and make them useful instead of harmful, and Jane’s brother played an important role in running the plant.

Some years earlier, on 10 September 1981, James’s brother and sister, Clara and Jovano, had come into the world. James and Jane had been unable to go out at all during that summer and the year afterwards because his parents wanted him to help take care of the babies. However, as she had promised, Jane helped James when his parents went out. The children entered school on 1 January 1987, the same as James’s final school year. The experiences that James and Jane had with them had brought the two of them even closer.

In 1988, at first as a school business project, they opened a business that imported rare chemicals from VideoLand. The venture soon turned out to be extremely profitable, and they devoted themselves to it full time once they graduated with their master’s degrees. Young James and Jane became famous and respected throughout the republic.

Then, something happened to upset their happy little universe.

A mysterious, evil individual named Charles Nuclesís who claimed to come from another planet in the solar system came to town. He built his stronghold on the tallest peak of the forbidding Atom Mountains, which was itself known as Atom Mountain. The ghastly building looked thoroughly evil and probably was since the date of its construction, the only ominous sight near the capital city. Nuclesís dug into the lengthy caves and used them to construct an indestructible labyrinth rooting his castle into the mountain like a massive weed.

In time, Nuclesís tricked Jane’s brother into visiting him. Arthur was not wary enough, and Nuclesís destroyed his mind and took over his body as a means to perform his wicked deeds. This set James and Jane against Nuclesís. They took upon themselves the duty of stopping Nuclesís’s evil plots and became heroes.

* * *

3 January 1993.

Arthur Physicost’s Lab, Tarix Power Plant, Chemico-Physic City, Chemistra.

On 3 January 1993, James and Jane decided to visit Arthur in Arthur’s lab.

“Maybe, Jane, you should have stayed home,” James said as they were walking down the hall of the building where her brother’s lab was. They were now dressed in office suits, which suited their particular job. James’s glasses made him look distinguished. At the time, they lived together, but they had not yet married. The engagement ring’s diamond still shone brightly on Jane’s finger.

“No, I shouldn’t,” Jane said. “What if my brother tries to hurt you?”

“You worry too much. I’m stronger than he.”

“I know, James, but I just don’t like the idea of it. You know Nuclesís literally controls Arthur.”

“Nuclesís is probably under MotherBrain’s employ. I intend to capture that villain for his crimes.”

Nuclesís was now the requisite super-villain of Chemistra. The planet’s history had been peaceful and prosperous for thousands of years, but now Nuclesís was doing his best to tear the world apart. Only James and Jane had the backbone to stand up against the despicable person. James’s face distinctly showed a frown of anger.

“I, for one, would like to help you,” Jane said.

“Jane, you love trouble too much. I should just lock you in a box somewhere where you won’t get into trouble.”

Jane chuckled. “You’ve got the strangest sense of humor.”

“I’m not trying to be funny, Jane. I just don’t like it when you get in trouble.”

“James, I can look out for myself, thank you very much. Thanks to you, mostly.”

He sighed. “All right, Jane, but don’t blame me if you get hurt.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t, James.”

When they arrived at the door to the lab, James pressed the signal. The door quietly slid open, and they entered.

“Ah! Jane, James!” greeted Jane’s brother, standing at a sink. “Come in. Be careful. I’m performing a dangerous experiment.”

“Arthur,” Jane said, “we need to talk. I know you went to see Nuclesís—”

“Shut up about that, little sister!” barked Arthur. “Just because he’s mysterious doesn’t mean he’s as evil as you want people to believe.”

“Of course the simple fact that he’s mysterious doesn’t mean he’s evil, Arthur,” said James. “Chemistrians are taught to know better. However, he is evil. I’ve stopped his crimes enough times to know.”

“You think so? Look, James, what Nuclesís does is none of your business. I wish you would mind your own business like the rest of respectable society.”

“Oh, really?” James asked. He showed Arthur a card that showed his status. James and Jane now belonged to the Secret division of the N-Team. They had joined soon after the race against the Brain-Team. Only the members of the N-Team knew of it. “We’re now part of the N-Team, so Nuclesís’s activities are our business.”

Arthur smiled evilly. A chilling glare came out of his eyes. “Well, now that you put it that way! Your dear Arthur is no longer on the mortal plane, my dear N-Teamsters. Nuclesís killed him and is controlling this body with the help of the evil MotherBrain.”

“So, Nuclesís is affiliated with that stinking cerebrum,” James said. “I knew it all along.”

“Of course, you fool. She and her evil stepson, Prince Ludwig von(Bowser)Koopa, plan to rule VideoLand and the entire galaxy. And I’m going to make sure you don’t tell another soul, either of you.”

Arthur drew a laser pistol and fired at Jane and James. They dodged his blast. James kicked the pistol out of Arthur’s hand. He tried to get it, but Arthur knocked him out of the way with a punch to the chest. Arthur regained possession of the gun.

“Say your prayers, Chemsos.”

Jane swung her leg low to the floor and cut across Arthur’s knees. The gun fell out of his hand. James grabbed hold of it as it fell. Arthur fell onto his right side on the floor. He got up and lunged angrily at James and would have grabbed his throat, but in self-defense James shot him just before his hands got to James’s neck. Arthur fell forward onto his chest.

Jane checked Arthur’s pulse. After a moment, she gasped. “He’s dead.”

James then checked the setting. He was horrified. “Oh, my God. The pistol was set to kill!”

Jane noticed the security cameras were operating. “The cameras will show what happened. Call the police.”

“I don’t need you to tell me twice,” James told her. “Don’t even need you to tell me once!” He went over to the telephone.

“You have to call the VLPD at the Palace of Power,” Jane told him. “The homicide squad here on Chemistra is undergoing structural change, so VideoLand’s homicide squad is filling in. I suggest asking for Lieutenant Tragg.”

James nodded. He dialed the appropriate number. “Hello, police? My name is James Chemsos. Please connect me with Lieutenant Arthur Tragg.”

* * *

4 January.

Perry Mason’s Suite, Hotel of Lake Electros, outside Physica, Chemurope, Chemistra.

The next day, they were speaking with Perry Mason. He was taking a vacation on Chemistra, so James and Jane decided to visit him in the hotel where he was staying. He had turned one of the rooms of his suite into a temporary office. His confidential secretary Della Street was sitting beside his desk and taking notes.

“Well, you do seem to be in quite a fix,” Mason said.

“I admit I did it, Mr. Mason,” said James. “However, I honestly did it in self-defense. I would never kill anyone in any other way.”

“Very well,” Mason said. “I am permitted to serve as counsel here under the VideoLand clause that a lawyer and police may serve in a member nation, in a territorial nation, in an applicant nation, or in an allied nation if that nation agrees to allow it. I wonder if Hamilton Burger will be prosecuting.”

“Burger,” Jane said. “Your adversary.”

“Yes,” Mason replied. “Most of the time. Ma’am, do you prefer Miss, Mrs., or Ms.?”

“Technically, it’s neither,” she told him. “It’s signorinas in our native tongue, but it means Miss. Go ahead and call me Miss.”

“I see. Miss Physicost, your testimony will be of great importance. Mr. Burger will try to make it out that Mr. Chemsos committed this murder with preconception. In fact, he’s formulating such a charge right now.”

“That would put me in a spot,” said James. “Lately, it seemed that Arthur Physicost was being hostile vocally with Jane, and I love her.”

“I guess I’m supposed to dislike James for killing my brother, but I can’t,” Jane added. “Ever since Arthur first met Charles Nuclesís, he’s been more than a little vocally hostile with me.”

“I am a fellow N-Team member,” said Mason. “I’ll have Ken Malanski investigate this Nuclesís’s past. Nuclesís may be a secret Brain-Team member. Anyway, the Extended N-Team and the Royal VideoLand Advisory Committee know of your world’s application for entrance into VideoLand.”

“Is the princess still going to make her decision on Bastille Day this year?” Jane asked.

“As far as I know, she is,” Mason said. “Your planet has had a peaceful history, and Chemistra is one of the most technologically advanced worlds known in the galaxy.”

“Thank you,” said James. “Of course, we don’t exactly have the easiest native language. We thank VideoLand for giving us the Romance Languages and the Germanic Languages. We most quickly adopted English, French, and Italian. Jane and I learned a few others. We’re also two of the few to master Chemistrian itself.”

“I see,” Mason said. “What’s your language like?”

“It is similar in vocabulary to Italian. However, the grammar for verbs is much, much more complex. No auxiliaries, or helping verbs, are used at all. There are, of course, the two voices, active and passive. There are several moods: the indicative, the subjunctive, the imperative, the permissive, and the necessitative, to name the most common. There are many tenses. The tense divisions are perfect, present, and future. Each division has numerous tenses: present perfective, present imperfective, past perfective, past imperfective, future perfective, future imperfective, conditional perfective, and conditional imperfective. The perfective tenses indicate that the action is completed within a specific time frame. The imperfective tenses don’t indicate a stop in the action. The imperfective is similar to the English progressive, but other factors are involved. Someone can say something improperly so easily in Chemistrian with the wrong verb form.

“Most people who do speak Chemistrian use what is called Improper Chemistrian. Our sick grammarians designated it as ‘improper’ two centuries ago. You see, hundreds of years ago, some people of questionable intelligence in our government decided to create a Grammar Society that governs the vocabulary and usage of the Chemistrian language. All the society does, basically, is to attempt to keep the language stagnant. Improper Chemistrian is easier than Proper Chemistrian because it simplifies the verb forms to a usage similar to Italian. The current grammarians on the Grammar Society refuse to allow Improper Chemistrian to replace Proper Chemistrian, but it would greatly simplify the language. They’d rather let our language disappear underneath English and French. Not that I have any problem with either language, mind you, but I am still patriotic.”

“What do you think?” asked Mason.

“I think that those grammarians should shut up and just concede,” James said. “Proper Chemistrian is extremely difficult to think in, and it’s even harder to write, though it’s not so difficult to read and listen to. There is only one irregular verb, the one that means ‘to be.’ It can be difficult mastering the conjugation.”

“Interesting. Well, back to business. Mr. Chemsos, I’ll get started as your attorney.”

James removed a card from his left breast-pocket. “I’ll give you a retainer,” James said.

Mason got a small payment device from inside his desk and put it on top. James inserted the top of the card, on the back of which was a magnetic strip, into the front side of the device and stared into a retina eye scanner on top. The words ‘identification verified’ appeared in a window below the scanner.

“Transfer VL£19 000,” James said.

He then removed the card. When the words ‘transfer complete’ appeared in the window, Mason removed the device from the desktop and put it away.

“Thank you for representing me, Mr. Mason.”

“It’s a pleasure,” Mason said.

“Mr. Mason, which languages do you speak?” Jane asked.

“Well, naturally, I speak English. I also speak French and Spanish, though I’ve only recently learned Spanish. I can understand some Portuguese and Italian.”

“In a Chemistrian courtroom, trials are generally carried out in English nowadays,” said Jane. “But if one does not speak it, one may wear a translator that translates from one’s own language to English when one speaks and from English to one’s own language when one is spoken to.”

“That should make my job just a little bit easier,” Mason said.

“Exactly.”

Knocks sounded on the door. “Open,” Mason said.

The door opened, allowing Lieutenant Tragg to enter. “Good day, Mason,” said Tragg.

“Hello, Lieutenant,” said Mason. “My guests, this is Lieutenant Arthur Tragg.”

“Good day, Lieutenant,” said James, getting up. “I am James Chemsos, the person who called you yesterday.”

“Good day, Mr. Chemsos,” Tragg said. “I’m afraid I’ll have to take you to Headquarters for questioning.”

“Very well,” said Chemsos. “I am aware of my rights. I do not have to answer any questions without my attorney present. And I’m happy to say that, no, Mr. Mason did not have to tell me that.”

“Well, then, we’ll try this the hard way,” said Tragg. “Ma’am, what is your name?”

“I am Jane Physicost,” Jane answered. “According to a law of this nation, one that VideoLand supports and will continue to support if this world becomes a member, one does not have to answer questions whose answers may incriminate one’s Amorys eternys. Mine is James.”

“Are you sure?” asked Tragg.

“Yes, Lieutenant,” Jane said. “I’ve known it since I was thirteen.”

“Very well,” said Tragg. “Aren’t you upset that Mr. Chemsos killed your brother?”

“No, since killing someone in self-defense is no felony,” Jane said. “I would have been angry with Arthur if he had succeeded in murdering James, though. Arthur would have committed two second-degree murders, or possibly first-degree.”

“Well, I’ll let the court decide whether Mr. Chemsos killed in self-defense,” Tragg said.

“Wait a minute,” Mason said. “Do you have a warrant for arrest?”

Tragg smiled. “I knew you were going to ask, Perry.” Proud of himself, he removed a document from his inner left coat pocket and showed it to Mason. “All signed and legal.”

Mason briefly examined it. It bore Lana’s signature—which was obviously correct, because she slanted her words to the left more than any other left-handed person he knew—and the Royal Seal of VideoLand. “I’m afraid you’ll have to go with the lieutenant, Mr. Chemsos.”

“I figured,” James said.

“May I have a word with James before you take him in, Lieutenant?” asked Jane.

Tragg nodded.

“Use the room over there.” Mason said while pointing to a door. “I assure you, Tragg, there’s no method of escape from there.”

“I should hope not,” Tragg said.

James and Jane went into the room and shut the door. “I don’t want you to stick your neck out for me, Jane,” said James. He knew it was useless for him to say that, because it never worked. Jane loved him deeply. Of course, he returned it in full measure.

“It’s a sure thing that Burger will try to have the trial held in the Palace,” Jane said. “I know some things that no one else does, like the fact that the security camera was running when my brother attacked. Thanks to my telepathic sensations and my personal observations, I know that Arthur hasn’t been himself since he first met with Nuclesís. That tape can show that you were only acting in self-defense, and my testimony can back up the fact that Arthur was not himself.”

“Okay,” said James. “When are you going to bring up the fact that the security tape exists?”

“I’m going to tell Mason here after Tragg has gone. Then, I’ll do it on the witness stand if Burger calls me. I’m sure Mason’s going to try to get a preliminary hearing. It’s his usual M.O.”

“Certainly. Now, don’t go out on any limbs, Jane.”

“I can take care of myself, James.” They kissed for a few moments. “Let’s go.” They went back into Mason’s office. “Okay, Lt. Tragg.”

“I understand your status as an outstanding member of the Chemistrian community, Mr. Chemsos,” said Tragg. “I will not handcuff you unless need be.”

“Thank you,” James said. “I can promise that you won’t need to. See you later, Jane.”

“See you later, James, Lt. Tragg,” Jane said.

Tragg nodded. He and James left.

“Undoubtedly, Burger will try to have the case tried in the Palace,” Mason said. “Nothing wrong with that, of course. The court will have a judge from around here supervising what’s going on and how the judge representing the court is conducting the case.”

“I’ve read about you, Mr. Mason,” Jane said. “I know you’re a good lawyer.”

“Thank you, Miss Physicost.”

“Now, as the events unfolded in my brother’s lab, a security camera was recording the events. The camera was hidden, and only I knew of its presence, but the police were not likely to, and even a thorough search might not bring it up.”

“That might prove useful,” said Della.

“Yes. I agree,” Mason said. “Get Paul for me, Della.”

Della nodded. She took the phone and dialed the Drake Detective Agency. “Hello, ma’am. Is Mr. Paul Drake, Sr., in? . . . Can you connect me with him? . . . Thank you.” She waited for a moment. “Hello, Paul, this is Della. . . . Yes, Perry would like your help with a case. Here he is.” She handed the receiver to Mason.

“Hello, Paul,” said Mason. “Come out here. . . . What’s that? . . . No, Paul, just leave it for now. . . . Okay. See you in a moment.” He hung up.

After a moment, a warp opened in the room, and Paul Drake, Sr., emerged. “Drat, Perry. Every time I get a case of my own—”

“Complaint registered,” said Mason. “I’ll make it up to you later, but now, I need some help.”

“Well, I’m here,” Paul said. “What is it?”

“Know about Miss Jane Physicost and Mr. James Chemsos?”

“Sure. Members of the Extended N-Team. Outstanding members of the Chemistrian community. Importers of extremely valuable substances that are not found on Chemistra, and pains in the butt to a nasty character called Charles Nuclesís.”

“Exactly. This is Miss Physicost.”

Drake turned and saw Jane. “Good day, ma’am.”

“Good day, Mr. Drake,” Jane replied. She shook hands with Drake. “It is good to meet you.”

“A pleasure.” Drake turned back to Mason. “Now, Perry, what’s the matter?”

“Mr. Chemsos is the Chemistrian equivalent of Miss Physicost’s fiancé,” explained Mason. “In self-defense, he killed her brother, Mr. Arthur Physicost, yesterday. Sadly, Lieutenant Tragg thinks Mr. Chemsos had other motives. Mr. Physicost had been acting strangely, according to Miss Physicost.”

“Yes,” Jane said. “Arthur had not been acting like himself. He told us himself that Nuclesís had killed his mind and had taken over his body. He said that Nuclesís was working with MotherBrain and that it was she who had helped Nuclesís to gain control of Arthur’s body. I am assuming, of course, that what ‘Arthur’ has told me is true.”

“If we don’t get any evidence soon, Hamilton’s going to have a field day with this case,” Mason said. “Paul, get your son on this case. We may need his legwork.”

“Yes, Perry,” Drake said.

“Don’t dare try to tell me not to help, Mr. Mason,” Jane said. “It won’t work.”

Mason smiled. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Miss Physicost. You may help, if you wish.”

“Thank you, sir.”

A communications console on the desk beeped. Mason pressed the red button. “Yes?” he said. “This is Perry Mason on Chemistra.”

“This is Wilykit, Mr. Mason,” replied Wilykit. “Do you mind if we warp over to your hotel room, or are you busy?”

“Sure, come on over,” Mason said. “And who’s ‘we’?”

“Wilykat and I.”

“All right. But I’ve heard some negative comments about him from Darkwing.”

“Not a letter of which is true, you understand.”

Mason smiled. “Yeah. Come on. I just might have something for you two to do.”

“All right. We’re on our way. Wilykit—”

“Wait a minute. Have Tygra and Lion-O approved of this little trip?”

“Yes, they have, Mr. Mason. We’ve got some free time. In fact, I even called and got Steelheart’s approval. How’s that?”

Mason smiled again. The young Thunder Cat knew how to cover her bases. “Very good, Wilykit. Come on over.”

“Thanks, Mr. Mason. Wilykit out.”

The communications console turned itself off. “Her name and voice seem familiar,” Jane said, “but . . .”

“Heard of the Thunder Cats?” Mason asked when she had trailed off.

“Yes.”

“She and her twin brother are the youngest members of that group. They’re also two of the most cunning members of the N-Team. Tygra said they were very intelligent on their homeworld of Thundera, but the gases used in their suspension capsules covered up their highly advanced learned skills and their natural super-strength. The effects of the gases are rapidly wearing off, more quickly in Wilykit than in her brother. However, Tygra estimates that the effects in both will have worn off by July.”

A warp opened. Wilykit and Wilykat came out of it. Jane saw that they were about her height, and to her they seemed to be in late adolescence or early adulthood, though they had none of the acne that plagued human teenagers. Jane felt that if she had not been engaged to James, she might even have been attracted to Wilykat. No, would have been.

“Hello, Wilytwins,” said Mason.

“Hi, Mr. Mason,” said Wilykat in his resonant high tenor tone. Thunderians were capable of a range wider than the piano, and Wilykat preferred the heldentenor range. “How’s your trip here so far?”

“Fine, except everywhere I go, murder turns up,” said Mason. “I feel like Jessica Fletcher.”

Wilykit giggled slightly; she had been reading some books concerning Jessica Fletcher.

“But pardon me. Wilytwins, meet Jane Physicost, the fiancée of my most recent client. Miss Physicost, these are the Wilytwins. She is Wilykit, and he is her younger twin brother, Wilykat.”

Since Wilykit put her hand out first, Jane shook her hand. “Hello, Miss Physicost,” Wilykit said in her preferred soprano range.

“Hello, Wilykit,” Jane replied. She then shook hands with Wilykat. “Hello, Wilykat.”

“Hello, Miss Physicost,” said Wilykat. “So, what’s the problem?”

“First, please swear to me, Thunder Kittens, that by your Code of Thundera, you will treat what she tells you in confidence, unless you are under oath on the witness stand,” Mason said.

“I solemnly swear by the Code of Thundera, set forth to the Thunderians by Jaga, that I shall treat this matter in confidence,” said Wilykit, holding her right hand horizontally across her chest in the Thunderian salute.

Wilykat made the salute that she had just made. “I swear the same oath,” he stated solemnly. When they took something this seriously, nothing could make them go against it. Not even their lord.

“Good,” said Mason. “Now, since you are as my secretary, we’ll tell you what’s going on. Obviously, nowhere I go is free of murder.” The Wilytwins smiled at him. “Now, then, Miss Physicost’s fiancé, James Chemsos, has been murdered for the arrest of her brother.”

“What!” Jane cried, amused.

“Excuse me,” Mason said. “I mean he’s been arrested for the murder of her brother. How’d I slip like that?”

Wilykat giggled, but Wilykit discreetly shut him up.

“I see,” Wilykit said. “You still love your fiancé, Miss Physicost?”

“Of course I do,” said Jane. “However, I intend serious harm to Charles Nuclesís. He destroyed my brother’s mind, turned my brother into his puppet. Furthermore, Nuclesís is allied with the evil MotherBrain.”

“Oh, dear. It seems that no world is free of the Brain-Team, either, Mr. Mason,” said Wilykit.

“Let me go to Metroid, Wilykit,” said Wilykat. “I want to trash the brain’s lair.”

“Wilykat, you can’t even trash our own bedroom. Keep quiet unless you have something important to say, okay?”

“That’s cruel, Wilykit, you know that?”

“What part?”

“That I can’t trash our room! You’ve complained about my doing so in the past.”

Mason smiled. “If you two continue this, I may be forced to voice a slight complaint to Tygra and revoke my invitation.”

“Okay,” said Wilykit. “We’ll try to behave.”

“Now, Paul Drake, his son, and Ken are going to investigate this case. James killed Jane’s brother in self-defense. That’s what I must prove. Hamilton Burger will to try to prove that James killed cold-bloodedly.”

“Jane told us about a security tape in her brother’s office,” said Drake. “We should get it.”

“Okay,” said Wilykit. “What do you need us to do?”

“First of all, I want you to get me a search warrant from the princess,” Mason said.

“Very well. What do we tell her?”

“Tell her that Paul Drake needs a warrant to search Arthur Physicost’s office for his security tape.”

“I’ll come along,” Jane said. “I know the exact location of the security camera in my brother’s office.”

“All right. Wilykit, promise me you’ll try to keep her away from the Justice Ducks.”

“Why?” asked Wilykit.

“So they won’t drive her crazy.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Jane said. “James’s brother and sister have already done so. He and I used to take care of them when his parents went out.”

“Well, I’d better get going if I’m going to stay ahead of Tragg,” Drake said.

“See you, Paul,” Mason said. Drake left through the warp that had brought him.

“We don’t have any warp formula, Mr. Mason,” said Wilykit.

“Okay,” Mason said. “Della?”

Della got up and went over to a cabinet. She opened it, revealing it was full of warp formulas. She took one and handed it to Wilykit. “Here, Wilykit. It’ll last if you use a little at the time.”

“All right,” said Wilykit. “Thank you, Ms. Street.” She carefully poured out just enough to open a warp. “We’ll be back with that warrant soon, I warrant.”

“Glad to hear that,” said Mason.

Wilykit, Wilykat, and Jane entered the warp, which took them to the warp room of the Palace of Power.

* * *

Control Room, Tourian, Metroid, just outside Chemistra’s Solar System.

As she spied on the activities in Mason’s hotel suite, MotherBrain narrowed her eyes. “Curses! Perry Mason and that Jane Physicost will ruin my plan, not to mention those accursed Thunder Kittens.”

“Want King Hippo and me to get ’em?” asked Eggplant Wizard.

“No, fool. You’d bungle it big-time, both of you. We need to call Nuclesís.” She pressed a button on a console. “MotherBrain calling Nuclesís. Come in.”

Charles Nuclesís popped on the screen. His black W-shaped moustache and dark glasses alone would tell who he was. He was a little under Kevin’s height. He was quite big-boned. One could tell he ate very well but neglected his exercise. Like most Chemistrians, he had pale, faintly blue skin. His face was actually rather pleasant to look at, as were his pearly teeth. He wore a black suit with a cape flowing behind. “Nuclesís here, MotherBrain,” he replied in his German-accented baritone voice. “What’s happening?”

“The N-Team is meddling with your affairs on Chemistra,” said MotherBrain. “Perry Mason is going to defend James Chemsos.”

“Drat. That did not go as I had intended. Arthur Physicost’s body was to kill Jane Physicost and James. Apparently, James was too powerful. I hate him. He is to me what Captain N is to you.”

“Hm. Does he know you’re from MegaLand and are half-Chemistrian, one quarter MegaLandian, and one quarter Hyrulian?”

“No, but everyone knows I’m not telling the truth about my origin, either.”

“The two Paul Drakes and Ken Malanski are investigating the case for Mason, while Jane Physicost and the Thunder Kittens are going to Princess Lana for a search warrant.”

“A search warrant? What do the fools expect to find?”

“A tape from a security camera in Arthur Physicost’s lab. It seems that the three’s actions there have been recorded for posterity.”

Nuclesís’s eyes widened in horror, and MotherBrain could see this because his black eyebrows went up above the rim of his sunglasses. “Curses! There was a camera! I can’t be seen trying to get it, nor my lackeys. My ties with this case would be revealed.”

“Worry not, Nuclesís. I’ll send Mumm-ra to snatch it. His magical powers will let him get there unnoticed.”

“Yes. Yes! Ha, ha. And if he is seen, his presence can be attributed to the Wilytwins.”

“He can deal with the twits easily. In fact, Lion-O may not get there in time to stop their destruction.” The two villains enjoyed a fit of despicable laughter.