The door opened. The REALLY tall door. The REALLY tall door on the REALLY weird spaceship that had just landed in my backyard.

It was a REALLY bad situation.

And it was about to get REALLY worse.

The wind that had been pushing me against the barn wall was gone. Ax came out of the barn, human.

The door opened.

And out stepped . . .it.

It was tall, which I had expected from the door, but it was still a shock. It was maybe eight or nine feet tall, which doesn't really sound like much, but imagine a basketball hoop. Its head would have been about even with the very top of the backboard.

It had about four or five legs. Its head was triangle shaped and had two eyes sitting on the very top, looking like they were going to roll off. All of it was a shocking purple, except the little jumpsuit it was wearing, which was a slightly lighter shade of purple.

It looked like a Helmacron. Blown up about 100,000 times.

What's a Helmacron? It's an annoying little runt of an alien, hardly bigger then a period, but 100% ego. As Rachel would put it, these things could make a combination of Marco, Visser Three, and that American Idol guy, Simon Something, look humble.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Jake said.

<If you're seeing a rather unattractive midget species, then the answer would have to be yes.>

We all stared at the alien in shock. Then, Marco laughed. It actually took me a minute to find Marco, until I realized he was pinned underneath Rachel.

Then it just turned into a staring contest. We stared at it. It stared at us.

<Very well,> the alien said finally. <I see this species--humans, I believe you are called--has no sense of humor.>

<What a disappointment,> Said another, following the first out of the spaceship. This one's shirt had writing on it. In English, no less. When I squinted, I could read what it said:

"I'm with stupid."

Even then, it didn't really dawn on me. Not until Rachel exclaimed, with an absolutely horrified expression on her face: "It's an entire species of Marco's!"

The alien looked down at her superiorly.

"The HELMETS?" Marco said, his voice still slightly muffled by Rachel. "Sounds like a garage band. And by the way, is anyone else noticing the slight resemblance between these guys and our old friends the Helmacrons?"

<The Helmacrons?> The first alien said, looking slightly interested. <Yes, we are distantly related to a species by this name. Have you encountered them?>

"Andalites!"

I had forgotten about the redheaded girl.

"Will someone please wake me up?" Rachel moaned.

Chapter 4