Tabloid
Issue #4
by Tom Zjaba
Chapter Four
The Return of the King
Once all the events of the past day
sink into her head, Madeline understands that she needs to help the aliens if
she ever wants to get back to Earth. But she is still unsure to why they need
her to capture the alien. So she asks "Why do you need me to capture the alien
and for that matter, how do you expect me to capture it?" The alien looks at her
and says "We need to leave here. I will take you to meet some of my people who
can better explain this." She looks at him and says "That's fine but first I
want to pick up someone." The alien shows no emotions but his delay in
responding says what his facial expressions cannot. "Pick someone up?" he says
with a puzzled sound in his voice. He did not expect this. "Yeah, a private
investigator that I hired. His name is The King." she says as she puts her hands
on her hips. She does not fully trust these aliens and wants to have someone on
her side. While she barely knows The King, she feels she can trust him. He is
the only person on this strange world that she fully trusts. Once again the
alien pauses before responding. "The King? I do not understand." She starts
tapping her foot as she is a bit agitated. While he really does not know who she
is talking about, she does not believe it. So she starts describing him "He
looks like Elvis Presley. He wears a white jumpsuit and runs The King's Private
Investigation Service." The alien goes into the other room and sits down before
a monitor. He begins to speak in to the monitor. "Show me all the Elvis Presley
AL (artificial life)." A few seconds pass and then a list of forty pictures
appear on the screen. He then says "Show me all the Elvis Presley AL who are
private investigators. The screen goes blank for a second and then the number
drops to ten pictures. She comes over and looks at the list. On the list is two
young Elvis', four overweight Elvis' and four that fit his description. She then
comes over and touches the screen. As she touches the screen where the Elvis
picture is, it highlights. She is amazed at first, but as she thinks about it,
Earth has had such technology for awhile. So she then touches the four pictures
and each one becomes highlighted. She then asks him "Can you have the computer
remove the other ones?" He asks the computer to remove them and soon there is
only four pictures. She then asks him "Can we get more information on each one?"
He nods and says "Show the vital stats, current position and place of residence
for each Elvis displayed. Put the information in Earth language North American
English. The screen once again goes blank and then the four Elvis' come back on
the screen, only this time there is information below each one. The picture of
their faces are smaller to accommodate the text. As she looks over them, she
reads the information. The second one says "owner of The King's Private
Investigation Service." She points to that one and says "He's the one!" The
alien then touches a few things on the screen and then says "Computer, takes us
to this AL." With that a loud humming sound emits from the ship and they feel it
lifting off. The alien then instructs Madeline to follow him. They head to
another room where there is monitors that show outside the ship. As they sit
down in what looks like chairs, only they look organic and look to be connected
to the ship like a hand is to an arm. Madeline sits in the strange appendage
shaped chair and looks at the monitors. The monitors also look like they are
part of the ship. They are odd shaped, almost like they are eyes instead of
monitors. There is six of them within the room. One of the monitors shows a view
of the men in black as they are shooting at the ship as it flies away. Another
shows a hole opening in the ceiling of the building and the ship flying through
it. She watches that screen as the ship rises in the air and then flies off
towards a city in the distance. The speed is amazing as the ship speeds towards
the city. They are riding through a desert and in the distance, it looks like
Las Vegas. There is a strip of neon lit buildings along a good representation of
the famous Las Vegas Strip. This one is a mix of old and new Las Vegas. As they
enter the area, she looks ahead and sees the famous Hollywood sign in the
distance. She will never get used to how they built this hodge podge city that
is made up of who knows how many famous cities.
Not knowing what happened to Madeline, the King is wandering
around the city. He was able to give the slip to the Men in Black, but also lost
the professor in the process. Not sure where to go, he decides to head back to
his office. Maybe she will show up there. He walks along the street, kicking a
can. It is night time and the streets are pretty quiet. In the distance, what
looks like fireflies light up the sky. As they come closer, he sees that they
are fairies. The illuminated little creatures dart through the night as they
chase each other. Trails of fairy dust shows where they were as it stays in
sight for a few seconds after they depart. It almost looks like the vapor trails
of airplanes, only much prettier. These trails are gold and silver and light up
the sky. As he continues his walk down the street, he has his head looking down.
Overhead, a flutter of large wings can be heard. He does not pay attention to
the sound as he is deep in thought. As it gets closer, a shadow comes over him.
It circles around him and then lands in front of him. Standing in front of The
King is a large bat like creature. Only it has a human like face. It has a huge
wing span that measures eight feet across. The wings end in small hands with
three slender fingers. "Out late tonight?" the creature says. The King looks up
and says "Oh, it's you Batboy. Yeah, having problems with a case." Batboy then
starts walking alongside The King. He pulls in his wings and it makes him look
much smaller. He has a very slender build, but looks bulkier with the enormous
wings pulled in. His walk is almost comical. His feet were made for hanging more
than walking and his toes are not the best for walking. But he does it anyway.
It is very similar to watching an orangutan walk on two feet. While an orangutan
can walk fine on two feet, it is not graceful at it. Neither is Batboy and so
the King has to slow his walk to accommodate his friend. "What kind of case is
it this time? Are the Yeti and Sasquatches feuding again?" The King laughs as he
thinks about how many cases he did the Yetis. One would think that two species
that are so similar could get along. But the Yeti believe they are the superior
race due to their white fur. They believe that since their fur is white, they
are pure and so they are the superior race. The sad thing is the Sasquatch also
think they are the superior race. But their reasoning is that a person's brain
size is proportioned to their foot size and since their feet are bigger, they
are smarter. The King answers "No, I had a girl come to my office saying she was
from another world and wanted to get back. I took her to the professor, but
before he could figure out how to get her back, the Men in Black showed up."
Batboy's ears perk up with the mention of The Men in Black. Everyone in Tabloid
knows of them and fears them. "The Men in Black, huh. It must be serious if they
are getting involved." The King looks over at him and says "The problem is she
just disappeared. I don't know where or how." Batboy sees a bug fly by and
watches it. When it gets near him, he lunges his head at the bug and quickly
snatches it out of the air and swallows it. The King looks on with a disgusted
look on his face. Batboy smiles and says "Don't knock it until you try it."
As the two of them walk and talk, overhead a flying saucer is
slowly moving. The saucer is high enough that they do not see it. Inside the
saucer, Madeline and the alien watch the King and Batboy. The alien looks at her
and says "You are certain that he is the AL we are looking for?" They have a
camera zoomed in on them so she can see his face. "I am certain of it." she
says. The alien then says "Beam them up." She looks at the alien and asks "Beam
them up? Why are you beaming up both of them?" The alien looks back at her and
says "The way our beams work, if the other creature would happen to have its arm
in the path of the beam, that arm would beam up and he would stay behind. Very
messy. So we always beam up all the creatures that are in a group and then send
back the ones we don't need." She looks at him and says "Your race can create
some elaborate artificial life but they cannot create a teleportation device
that can bring up one person without problems?" The alien looks back at her and
says "This comes from a race that still uses primitive stairs and elevators."
Madeline smiles and says "If it's not broke, don't fix it."
In another room in the flying saucer, two objects are
materializing. As the energy turns to matter, it quickly becomes obvious that
the two objects are The King and Batboy. Once they have completed their
teleportation, they both fall to their knees and look around. Neither one has
experienced traveling by teleportation and it has zapped them. They are waiting
for their insides to settle or at least that is how it feels to them. As they
kneel there and try to regain their composure, Madeline and the alien walk into
the room. Madeline yells out "King!" He struggles to get to his feet as he looks
and sees her. "Where am I, little darlin?" he asks as he struggles to stand. She
runs over to help him up and says "You are aboard a spaceship." As he gets his
footing, Batboy puts his hand out for her to help him up. She hesitates for a
fear of bats, but the King says "He won't hurt you." She goes over and pulls up
Batboy. She is surprised at how light he is and how easy it was to pull him up
as opposed to the King. Batboy, like all flying creatures has hollow bones,
which make him lighter and is necessary for him to fly. After he is up, he says
"Hello, I am Batboy, how are you?" She tries to smile and says "I am fine, I
guess. My name is Madeline." He then looks over at the King and asks "Is this
the case you are working on?" The King smiles and says "This little darlin is my
client." Batboy looks her over and then says "That is one case I would like to
solve." The King then gives him a dirty look and says "Don't be cruel. Treat her
like a lady, you hound dog." She blushes and wonders if she should be flattered
or disgusted. Once they have their footing, she takes them in the other room to
meet the alien.
In the jail cell, the alien creature that is mimicking
Madeline, sits on the bed and is holding a pistol she took off one of the dead
officers. Looking at a camera, one of the officers is watching it as he talks on
the phone. "I have never seen anything like it. She killed both men and then
locked herself back in the cell. She has one of their guns now." he says as he
cannot take his eyes off the screen. As he watches it, she turns to the camera,
which is in the hallway and looks at it. As she looks at it, she aims the gun at
it and fires. The bullet hits the camera and destroys it. The officer jumps back
and screams "Son of a ..." He did not expect that and it scared him. "The psycho
just shot out the camera. Please send the swat team here. Let them deal with
her, I'm not going in there. They don't pay me enough to die." he says into the
phone.
The alien comes out and greets them. "Welcome to my ship." he
says. "Nice place you have here." The King says as he looks around. "So this is
the kind of ship that was supposedly in Roswell.?" The alien looks at Madeline
as he does not know what the King is talking about. She says "On Earth, some
crazy people say that the government captured an alien ship and hid it in
Roswell, New Mexico." The alien is still puzzled as he says "It wasn't our ship,
I can guarantee you that." He then says "Time to take you to meet the rest of my
people." He then heads back to the control room. Before he enters it, he says
"We will be arriving in a few minutes." He then disappears into the next room.
Once he leaves, the King asks Madeline "What's going on here little darlin?" She
says "You may want to sit down for this as it may come as a shock." The King
leans against the wall and says "Give it to me straight, I can take it."
Madeline looks at him and says "OK, here it is. I was brought here from my world
by some aliens. They are sending a monster back to my planet to make snuff
films. Your world is nothing but a big movie studio for the aliens. They created
you and all the other people on your world and tape them to watch back on their
planet." The King's jaw drops. Batboy is shaking his head back and forth.
"That's crazy man. I mean it is just too crazy." Batboy says as he is shocked by
it all. The King is trying to ponder it and is having a hard time. He looks at
her and says "So am I real or what?" She folds her arms as she tries to explain
it to him. "He said all the people on your world are artificial life. They were
created by the aliens to look and act like people and creatures from the tabloid
magazines on my world." The King looks at her and asks "So how many Elvis
Presley's are there on your planet?" She gets a sad look on her face and says
"There was only one Elvis." He gets a sad look on his face as well as he asks
"What do you mean was?" She looks back at him and says "He died a long time
ago." Then Batboy comes over to inquire "So is Batboy on your planet still
alive?" She looks at him with a frown and says "There never was a real Batboy.
It was just something that some writer made up." At first Batboy looks shocked.
Then he gets an upset look on his face and says "Nothing personal, but your
world just sucks." The King looks at her and says "I hate to say it little
darlin, but I agree with Batboy." She looks at both of them and says "I tend to
agree with you, my planet can really suck sometimes."
In a dark cavern, a man sits in a chair. He is tied up to the
chair and is slumped over. The man is Professor Stein and he looks like he has
been worked over. His glasses are broken and laying on the ground next to his
feet. He has bruises on his face and blood is dripping from his mouth. There is
a light right above him that is shining down. The rest of the cavern is cloaked
in darkness. In the darkness, two men speak in an alien tongue. <Think he is
telling us everything?> <Hard to tell. We will let the Adolph continue the
interrogation.> As they quit talking, Adolph Hitler pops out of the darkness. He
is wearing an all black outfit with a large red swastika on the back. He has a
long whip in his hand and a chain in the other. As he nears Dr. Stein, he looks
at him and says "You vill talk, I guarantee it." He then pulls the chain and
into the light comes a werewolf. The beast is seven feet tall and covered in
coarse grey fur. It has a large protruding snout that is full of sharp teeth.
Its large ears are back almost like they were pinned back. There is a large
collar on it spikes sticking out. The chain is connected to the collar and while
thin in design, it still looks quite sturdy. "Say hello to my little pet."
Adolph says as Dr. Stein looks up and sees the werewolf. The beast growls at
him. The growl is deep and quite frightening. Dr. Stein knows that he may not
survive this. But he has one chance to save himself. He slowly moves his right
arm towards a pocket in his lab coat. He has managed to loosen the ropes just
enough to move his arm. He grabs the material of the coat and pulls it towards
him. When he gets the pocket near his hand, he quickly puts his hand in the
pocket and pushes a red button on a remote. Adolph sees what he is doing and
rushes over and grabs the remote away from him. "Vat is this?" he says as he
looks at the device that is flashing. "This vill not save you." he says as he
drops it on the ground and crushes it with the heel of his boot. "No one vill
come for you." he says as he pulls the werewolf closer. Dr. Stein closes his
eyes and starts to pray.
As the spaceship nears the air force base, they see other
space ship flying around. The base looks like Area 51 from Earth. There is an
airfield with various planes on it. There are some hangars and a fence
surrounding the whole base. As the spaceship flies in, one of the hangars opens
up and they descend into it. Once they land, the hangar roof closes again. The
ship then lands and the ramp opens up. The alien then instructs them "Follow me,
but do not worry. You are under no harm here." None of them are feeling too
sure, but they go along with him. What choice do they have? They are in an
unfamiliar area of the world, in a strange hangar with an alien who none of them
really know. As they step out of the ship, they once again see a hangar full of
space ships. Madeline turns to him and asks "Are you sure we are not in the same
place?" The alien keeps walking as he replies "That building was a prop
building. Those space ships were not real. Mine was the only real ship. I landed
there to pick you up." She believes him but she is still surprised at how
similar the two buildings are. If she didn't know better, she would swear they
ended up right back where they started. As they walk towards the door, they see
it slowly open. As it slides open, there is four more aliens waiting there.
"Greetings earth woman." one of them says. "Ummm hello. I'm Madeline." They lift
their hands and make peace symbols. She makes one back at them. The King and
Batboy do the same. We welcome you and hope 95173589 informed you of the
situation." Madeline looks at them with a puzzled look. "951...what is that?"
The alien that brought her turns to her and says "That is my identification
code. We do not use names like your planet does. We find the ability to
duplicate names can lead to confusion. But numbers are unique and eliminates the
problems associated with names." She gives him an odd look and says "I think I
see the reason you lost your creativity." One of the new aliens then responds
"Numbers may not be as creative but they are more efficient." She then says
"Enough about the names, let's get to the business of getting me back to earth."
One of the aliens says "Come this way and we can explain everything." The group
of them then head into another room.
Back on Earth, Madeline or rather the doppelganger disguised
as Madeline is restrained in what looks like a straightjacket with a head
restraint. She is being held by two guards with two more ready with guns. As the
four guards pull the girl into the courtroom, cameras are snapping. Every seat
in the courtroom is filled and there is people standing in the doorway. Everyone
is wondering how a girl could kill so many people. They half expect some
deranged murderer like in the movies. But they are shocked at the small girl who
looks so dainty. She does not look like a murderer. The only thing that makes
her look tough is the bruises on her face from the police. They say it was
necessary force to restrain a psychopath, but some believe they were getting
revenge for the two officers she killed. No matter, they expect the trial to be
swift and for her to receive the death penalty. While New York has not executed
anyone since 1977, they expect her to be on death row. Maybe she will be the one
to finally bring about an execution. The police are all for it and will push
hard for it. As the doppelganger looks over the crowd, it smiles at all the
victims. It only has to figure out how to break free in a convincing manner.
While it could easily break free from the restraints, the person it is
duplicating cannot. It will just have to bide its time until it can figure out a
way to break free and kill some more. Right now it is hoping for Madeline to
make a blood connection, so it can return to its masters and leave her to face
the charges. But right now it must wait it out and see if it can get free. Right
now it just sits there smiling in the courtroom. It has a wicked evil smile on
its face. Everyone who sees her sitting there smiling, cannot help but feel
scared. How can anyone who has killed so many people not be affected? The judge
then looks at her and asks "Why are you smiling Ms. Wright? Do you find
something amusing?" She just continues to smile at him and licks her lips as if
she wants to eat him.
Tabloid © Tom Zjaba 1994 - 2007