Emma's Six- New Adventures

Race to Get Clyde Back

Where would Paul take Clyde? Where would the most logical place be?

'He can do anything,' Rani moans when we're back in the attic. 'He's got the pendant, and he used it to make Clyde forget who we are.'
'Is there anyone you know that can help?' Haresh asks.
'Mum and Mummy would know what to do,' Luke says. 'We'll have to tell them that Clyde brought his dad up here.'
'I was going to do that anyway,' I say. 'We're out of our depth; we need to call them.' Luke gets his phone out, find Mummy's number and call it. 'No answer from Mummy. I'll try Mum.'

Mum picks up. 'Hey, Luke, is everything all right?'
'We have a problem. Clyde brought his dad up to the attic, and he stole something.'
'What? What did he steal?'
'It's an alien pendant I got from Rani yesterday,' I say. 'Jacob West, a kid from school, said he found it where they're putting those pipes in round the back of the schoolyard.'
'This pendant, what does it do?'
'It controls people,' Rani says.
'Can you describe what the pendant looks like?'
'I've got a drawing of it,' Rani says.
'I haven't brought my computer with me. I'm sorry, but there's not much I can do from here. Have you tried Maria?'

Of course, why didn't we think of that? 'Thanks, Mum,' Luke says, and he hangs up. He gets onto the computer to contact Maria.

'Luke! Emma!' Maria says when we finally get through. She's still in her pyjamas.
'Tell them what time it is,' Alan grumbles.
'Shut up, Dad. Hey, how are you?'
'We're good,' Luke says. 'But we need your help.' The other queens, Rani, and Haresh gather around the computer.
'Hi Maria,' Rani says.
'Hi, Rani, right?'
'Yeah.'
'How are you finding the whole alien stuff?'
'It's cool. Okay, it's uber-cool. We met Emma's kid on my first adventure when the Judoon brought the school to the moon.'
'Several students changed school after that,' Haresh says.
'No surprise there,' Maria says. 'Most people don't believe in aliens, even if they're right in front of their noses. I'm guessing you're Haresh, Rani's dad?'
'That's right.'
'He's also the new headteacher at our school,' Luke says.
'Wait, you said you met Emma's kid. Which one?'
'It was Sky. After that, Emma refused to leave her room until Friday; then there was the thing with the zodiac, and... it was mad.'
'It didn't help that we watched the 1996 Titanic yesterday.' I say.
'1996? That's not one I heard of. Why did it not help, unless it was just the Titanic sinking?'
'The same as last time,' I grumble.
'Fair enough. So, what can I do?'

'Actually, Maria, it's your dad we need to talk to,' Haresh says.
'Dad?'
'Yeah?' Alan asks.
'They want to talk to you.'
'Really? Cool. Uber-cool.' Alan comes into the picture. 'Hey, Luke, Emma.'
'Mr Jackson, Sarah Jane and Ruby aren't here, and they shut Mr Smith down. We need you.'
'We're sending over a picture now,' Rani says. 'It's of an alien pendant. I'm Rani, by the way.'
'Nice to meet you, Rani. Sorry, what do you want me to do?'
'You can hack into any computer in the world, can't you, Mr Jackson?' Alan looks like he's about to respond negatively.
'We need you to hack into UNIT, see if they know what the pendant is,' I say. 'Please, Clyde's in trouble.'
'What's UNIT?'
'Unified Intelligence Taskforce,' Maria says. 'They're a bit like the army, but they deal with aliens and stuff.'
'I'm not going to ask how you know that. Okay, okay. Let's do it.' Alan goes to sit at his computer.
'I'll go and get dressed. See you in a few minutes.'
'See you,' Luke smiles, and Maria leaves the room.

A few minutes later, Alan sends over a photo from the UNIT archives dated December 1940. 'UNIT knows all about it,' Maria says. 'The pendant belongs to these creatures, the Berserkers.'
'Aren't they from Norse mythology?' Luke asks.
'Still the brain box then, Luke?'
'The Berserkers are Norse warriors who put on animal skins as armour,' Luke explains.
'And they were vicious and mad, and....' Maria continues.
'Berserk?' Rani asks.
'Exactly.'

Images start flooding through my head. Images of my husband handing Charles a gun, of him putting me in a lifeboat, placing the gun against his temple...

I go over to the stair and sit down. I'm not sure how much longer I can cope with standing. I shut my eyes, hoping that the images would stop, but they didn't. I bury my head in my hands. There is nothing I can do to save him. It would change history.

Soon, they finish the video call, and the others get up to leave. 'Emma, come on,' Rani says. 'We don't have time for you to mope around.'
'My sister had to watch an on-screen version of her husband commit suicide yesterday!' Luke yells. 'If she needs to mope around, I won't stop her! Queens, can you look after her?'
'Yeah,' Anne says. 'We'll be here when you get back.'
'Thanks. Come on, Rani.' The two of them barrel out of the attic.