It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a—

   (When we last left Fred, Alexander had been defeated by slugs and now he, Fred, and Anthony are all in the hands of the PEANUTs)

   Fred, Anthony, and Alexander were escorted outside.  Several yards away stood a large, armored truck.  The armed men started pushing our boys toward it.
   A brilliant red flash lit the sky and hit the truck, completely demolishing it in an impressive display of flames and shrapnel.  For some odd reason, though, the shrapnel only hit the armed men.  It took all of them out, but didn’t touch Fred, or Anthony, or Alexander.  As Fred was looking around looking around in confusion, a weird whirring sound filled the air. 
   “What just happened and what is that noise?” Anthony asked.
   A flying saucer appeared above their heads, answering both questions and pretty much any other question he might have had.  A strange, green light shot out of the ship and enveloped them.
   “We’re being abducted!” Fred yelled.
   Alexander let out an odd yelp/cough/hack and began to float upward.  A second later both Fred and Anthony followed him into the air.
   “This is just like the movies,” Anthony said.
   Fred watched the ground nervously. “Let’s hope not.  The aliens are usually after human blood in the movies.”
   “But there are some peaceful ones, right?”
   Fred shrugged. “I guess.  Everything’s been done these days.”
   As they neared the bottom of the saucer, a circular space opened for each of them.  Fred had a moment of panic as he entered and lost sight of his friends, but then his head came into the green lit interior and he again had Anthony and Alexander in his sight.  Once they were all completely in, the doors shut below them and they dropped to the floor.  A glance around the place showed that it was nothing more than a bare, metal room. 
   Anthony looked a bit disappointed. “Where are the aliens?”
   A door opened in the wall and a little, green man entered. “They are standing in front of me.”
   Anthony jumped a few feet into the air at the sight of the alien. “Whoa!  Alien!”
   “That’s right, you are,” the alien agreed.
   “Huh?”
   “I was simply agreeing that you are indeed aliens.”
   Anthony looked confused. “Wait, but, you’re the alien.”
   The alien shook his head. “No, you are.”
   Anthony shook his head harder. “Nu uh.  We’re human.  You are not.  Therefore you are the alien.”
   The alien shook his head harder than Fred had thought possible. “No.  We are Vilon*.  You are not.  Therefore you are aliens.”
   Anthony finally realized he couldn’t out shake the alien, so he settled for glaring. “You were alien first.  Right down to your saucer and green beam thing.”
   “You are alien right down to your clothes.”
   “Well you—“
   “Give it up already, Anthony!” Fred interrupted.  “He’s an alien, you have no idea how long he could go on like this.”
   Anthony grumbled, but didn’t say anything out loud.
   Fred gave the alien an apologetic grin. “Thanks.”
   “For what?” the alien asked.
   Fred gestured to down below. “For saving us back there.”
   “It was no our intent to save you.  We were simply retrieving our alligator.  But he would not come without you, so we had to bring you.”
   “Oh,” Fred looked down at Alexander. “Well in that case, thanks Alexander.”
   The gator looked up and the tip of his tail twitched back and forth a few times.
   “Now,” the alien began. “The question is what to do with you.”

   To be continued…

*Pronounced, V-i-lon