The Planet Collector Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  ALIEN ENCOUNTERS

  CHAPTER 2

  ALIEN ABDUCTION

  CHAPTER 3

  BURIED SECRETS

  CHAPTER 4

  UNEASY ALLIES

  CHAPTER 5

  A MEETING OF THE MINDS

  CHAPTER 1

  ALIEN ENCOUNTERS

  Brainiac was on the hunt. His skull-shaped spaceship zipped through a dying quadrant of deep space. The suns here were burning out and fading into cinders. The planets that revolved around those stars were sliding into permanent darkness. Entire civilizations were perishing.

  Which was exactly what Brainiac wanted.

  He was a collector of worlds. A harvester of knowledge and technologies. His mission was to seek out advanced cultures and insert them into his database . . . and that usually meant watching them die.

  Once a planet’s knowledge was absorbed, that world was destroyed. That made Brainiac’s data unique — and therefore much more valuable.

  Brainiac’s current quest had brought him to this particular doomed sector of space. The cultures here would soon be gone. Their knowledge would be lost. Several rich sources of information would cease to exist. It would be like they never existed at all.

  That is, unless Brainiac harvested the planet’s data.

  BLIP!

  A blinking on the ship’s sensors drew his attention. Brainiac was an android and thus was linked to his spacecraft by data tendrils connected to the ports on his skull. He guided the ship by thought, as if part of his own body.

  BLIP!

  The sensor blinked again. Something was out there. And it was getting closer.

  “Display,” Brainiac ordered. The image of a planet flashed before Brainiac’s eyes.

  Brainiac saw a world turning to ice, starved of light from its faint, dying sun. Yet there was heat rising from its frozen surface. Little clusters of warmth dotted the globe.

  “Scan wavelengths,” Brainiac said.

  The sensors revealed that the heat was artificial, meaning it did not come from volcanoes or forest fires. Rather, it came from cities. There were beings on the planet struggling to survive. And they had the technology to do it.

  Brainiac decided to investigate. He turned his skull-ship toward the planet, hungry to discover if there was anything new he could add to his database.

  As he approached the planet, Brainiac was startled by an unexpected sight. Another spaceship was in orbit above the frozen surface!

  It wasn’t often that Brainiac was surprised. His memory banks contained images of many incredible things. Over the years, during his journeys through space, he had seen things that mere mortals could never experience.

  But this alien ship surprised Brainiac. It was not like anything he had encountered before. It resembled a giant asteroid. Most of its surface was covered with chunks of space debris.

  Slowly, Brainiac flew his skull-ship closer to the object. He saw towers of bright metal clustered in circles that supported engine pods. That was the only clue Brainiac had that this was a ship and not a hunk of space junk.

  “Impressive,” Brainiac admitted as he looked at the strange vessel. It was gigantic. “Perhaps it has technology I can acquire.”

  He commanded the skull-ship to take a course closer to the immense craft. The nearer Brainiac got to the ship, the better he could see its surface.

  It was as rough and irregular in shape as an asteroid. In fact, to the untrained human eye, it would look exactly like a chunk of harmless space rock.

  “What is the purpose of such a design? Stealth? Camouflage?” Brainiac wondered. “How intriguing. I must learn more. Hold position and scan.”

  ZWOOOOP! ZWOOOOP!

  ZWOOOOP!

  Sensors swept over the megaship. Once more, Brainiac was surprised.

  FZZZZZRT!

  A force field suddenly surrounded Brainiac’s ship. The alien leviathan seemed to be attempting to take control of Brainiac’s skull-shaped vessel.

  “All conventional efforts to escape have failed,” he said. “I must devise new strategies. Calculating . . .”

  * * *

  Meanwhile, thousands of light years away, across the entire galaxy, another battle for survival was being fought. The bright blue globe known as Earth was being invaded!

  A rain of fluffy space spores drifted down on the city of Metropolis. While they were in the air, the spores looked harmless. They floated on the breeze like dandelion puffs.

  At first, the people thought they were pretty. But then the spores made contact with the ground and the buildings, and they transformed. Contact with anything solid caused the fluffy puffs to turn into ravenous space bugs. They ate metal and stone and trees and flowers. An entire city bus was reduced to its tires in seconds.

  Metropolis Park became a buffet for the bizarre creatures. There wasn’t much they wouldn’t or couldn’t eat.

  Except Superman.

  Superman’s invulnerable Kryptonian skin was too much for the ravenous bugs. Once their insectoid brains realized that he was not a meal, the creatures departed and went in search of something tastier: Metropolis Bridge!

  SNAP! SNAP!

  CRUNCH!

  The bridge’s steel cables were like spaghetti to the alien insects. The cars on the bridge were like meatballs. As the drivers and passengers escaped on foot, Superman flew to the rescue.

  The Man of Steel scooped up thousands of the space bugs with his cape and filled it like a giant bag. The fabric of his cape was as indestructible as his skin, so the bugs could not chew through it. Superman crumpled the bulging cape with his super-strength. The bugs were crushed into metal crumbs.

  Just then, he heard terrified cries coming from the Daily Planet Building!

  The Man of Steel returned to Metropolis. Lois Lane was the first to greet him.

  “Superman! You saved Metropolis — again! How about giving me an exclusive interview?” Lois asked.

  “I usually only give my interviews to Clark Kent, but okay,” Superman said. He smiled, amused by the secret fact that he was actually Clark Kent.

  “So what do you think those things were, Superman?” Lois asked. “Aliens? Robots? Robot aliens?”

  Superman rubbed his chin. “To be honest, Lois, I’m not quite sure,” he said. “Your guess would be as good as mine.”

  Lois narrowed her eyes. “Well, they’re obviously not from this planet, though. Right?” she asked.

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Superman said. “Certain . . . citizens of Metropolis have been known to create robots like these.”

  Lois’s eyes went wide. “Are you implying that Lex Luthor is behind all these pesky robots?” she asked.

  Superman smiled. “I have no reason to suspect Lex,” he said. “Yet.”

  Superman had long ago learned to be careful with what he said to reporters. He could trust Lois Lane, though. She had proven that on many different occasions.

  While Superman spoke to Lois, he was also checking the skies with his super-vision. He wanted to be absolutely certain there were no more threats to Earth.

  * * *

  Brainiac sat in his spaceship on the surface of the alien vessel. Methodically, carefully, he assessed the threat he was now facing. A powerful force field held his skull-ship hostage. He was trapped like a specimen in a bottle. Like a rat in a cage.

  “If I am to escape, I must know more about what holds me,” Brainiac decided.

  FWIRRRRSH! FWIRRRRSH!

  Data tendrils snaked out from the skull-ship. They extended
down, down, down through the outer layers of the alien vessel.

  Sensor pods on each tendril searched for information. One of the sensors finally touched a surface that was not rock or space debris.

  “Contact,” Brainiac said. “Analyze.”

  Information flowed into the network of Brainiac’s Twelfth-Level Intellect.

  ZWOOOOOM!

  But something else came with it. Another mind suddenly filled Brainiac’s consciousness. It was a sentient mind that was more expansive than anything Brainiac had ever encountered. It invaded his data banks.

  The ship sucked up information like a thirsty beast.

  “No! Not my data!” Brainiac shouted. “Get out of my memory banks!”

  But Brainiac had no defense. The alien intelligence was far more powerful than Brainiac. It took what Brainiac had collected from innumerable worlds and made it its own. Before the data was gone, Brainiac calculated that there was only one possibility of escape.

  If he had been human, Brainiac would have called this small chance hope.

  Through his connection with the alien intelligence, Brainiac showed it an image of Metropolis on Earth.

  With all the intensity and power his circuits could muster, Brainiac gave the ship a suggestion. “Go. Collect that city,” he ordered. “Add it to your collection.”

  WOOOOOOOSH!

  The gigantic alien vessel started to move. The ship left the orbit of the dying world, heading toward its new destination.

  A sinister grin crossed the android’s faceplate. “Superman will defend his city,” Brainiac said. “He will destroy this alien ship. And when he does, I will be free.”

  CHAPTER 2

  ALIEN ABDUCTION

  Clark Kent stood and watched a squad of soldiers battle an onslaught of alien invaders.

  ZAP! ZAP!

  ZIRRT!

  ZIRRRRRRRRT!

  Energy weapons blasted from both sides. The humans were outnumbered, but they fought bravely for their survival.

  “It would be so easy for Superman to wipe out those bad guys,” said a man standing next to Clark.

  “Yes, but then the movie would be over in ten seconds,” another reporter said.

  “Cut!” the director shouted. The human and alien combatants stopped fighting. The man turned to the group of reporters. “Thanks for coming to my preview of Earth Doom!”

  Clark was covering the event for the Daily Planet. He was an award-winning journalist, but sometimes he liked to take simple assignments like this one.

  “The alien makeup is very convincing,” Clark commented. “Do you happen to know who designed it?”

  As the director answered Clark’s question, another reporter pointed to the sky. “Is . . . is that a special effect, too?” he asked.

  Everyone looked up at the sky. An enormous, rocky sphere dominated the view.

  That’s no special effect, Clark thought.

  Clark used his telescopic vision for a closer look. What he saw made him spring into action.

  This is a job for Superman! he realized.

  While everyone was fixated on the looming space rock, Clark Kent slipped away.

  SWOOOOOOOOOSH!

  Faster than the speed of sight, Clark removed his business suit, revealing a different sort of suit: his Superman costume!

  WOOOOOOOOOOSH!

  He flew at top speed toward the approaching menace.

  “Look! There goes Superman!” a reporter declared. “That thing won’t last ten seconds against him.”

  Another reported nodded. “For sure.”

  “Unexpected,” Brainiac observed. “Superman did not attack the alien ship.”

  Brainiac had anticipated that Superman would destroy the giant vessel, or at least severely damage it, in order to save his precious Metropolis.

  “The result of this action is not acceptable. I must recalculate,” Brainiac said.

  WHIRRRR!

  Thousands of possibilities raced through Brainiac’s mind like a computer playing a hundred games of chess all at once. He analyzed action and reaction, stimulus and response, over and over again. Brainiac searched for a way to force Superman’s hand. He had to find a way to make the Man of Steel take drastic and immediate action.

  “I must increase the danger level to Metropolis,” Brainiac concluded. “The increased threat of destruction should produce the desired results.”

  Data tendrils snaked out from his skull-shaped ship. Brainiac explored the memory banks of the alien vessel. He was very careful to avoid the attention of the robotic brain that had almost overwhelmed him earlier. No matter what, Brainiac did not want to be absorbed into its data banks.

  Brainiac searched inactive files and low-level information sources. There were countless terabytes of information available, but there was nothing Brainiac considered useful. However, he learned that the alien intelligence had been gathering data for a long time . . .

  Brainiac began to experience something similar to an emotion. A human might call it frustration. If he could not escape, Brainiac was doomed to become just another scrap of space debris attached to the exterior of the ancient alien spaceship. His Twelfth-Level Intellect rejected that fate. His sense of self-preservation and self-importance made him refuse to admit defeat. So he continued to covertly dig in the archives of the strange ship.

  Brainiac prowled through the memory banks of the alien mind like a thief in the shadows. He was impressed with the amount of information stored in the smallest, low-priority files. But finally he found what he needed to spur Superman into action.

  “Missiles,” Brainiac said. His data tendrils reached into the command system of an ancient defense grid. He set the target coordinates for Metropolis.

  “Fire.”

  * * *

  Superman stood atop the Daily Planet Building and looked up at the stars sparkling above. It was just like any other beautiful night in Metropolis — except the brilliant blue globe of planet Earth was overhead!

  “I need some perspective,” the Man of Steel declared.

  Superman flew above Metropolis. He used his super-vision to make sure the people were safe. He did not see anyone in any real danger.

  There were traffic jams and mass confusion. The highways leaving the city were cut off. The half-eaten Metropolis Bridge ended in the middle of its span. But the people of the city were unharmed. Metropolis had been lifted from its foundations and put into a cocoon.

  “Let’s find out who, or what, is behind this,” Superman said.

  The Man of Steel focused his X-ray vision below the surface of the city. It penetrated the layers of soil and sewers and subways. Then his super-vision encountered the hard rock of the asteroid. Chunks and boulders of space-frozen lead stopped his X-ray vision. He could not see through those portions.

  Superman was about to turn his super-vision to another part of the city when a sudden explosion alerted his super-hearing.

  KA-BOOOOOM!

  He heard the cries of people in danger. One of those voices was from Lois Lane!

  Superman lay flat on the ground. The breath was knocked out of his lungs, and his head was spinning. The green dust floating down and covering his body drained the strength from the Man of Steel.

  Only one substance could have that effect on the Man of Steel.

  “Superman! Are you all right?” Lois Lane asked. She tried to help him up.

  “Kryptonite dust,” Superman said weakly. “Need to . . . get it off me.”

  Lois realized Superman’s situation immediately. She gestured at the crowd that had gathered around the fallen Man of Steel.

  “Come on, everyone. Help me get Superman over to that fire hydrant. We can wash off the Kryptonite dust!” Lois shouted.

  Water was gushing out of a broken fire hydrant like a fountain. The crowd lifted the Man of Steel and
carefully carried him so his body was underneath the spray. They were all eager to help their hero.

  Superman recovered as soon as the green dust rinsed away and flowed down a sewer drain. He thanked his rescuers and flew up into the sky. Those missiles had come from below Metropolis, from somewhere deeper within the asteroid ship. Superman flew through the hole the missiles had made.

  Superman gritted his teeth. “I need to know where those weapons came from,” he said.

  CHAPTER 3

  BURIED SECRETS

  WOOOOOOOOOOSH!

  Superman sped down the tunnel made by the missiles. It led deep into the rocky layers of the asteroid-like ship.

  “How strange — there’s an atmosphere down here,” the Man of Steel said.

  The tunnel opened into what he thought was an enormous cave. A moment later, Superman realized it wasn’t a cave at all. “It’s a dome of rock and space debris,” he said with a gasp. “And there is a city under the dome!”

  The Man of Steel was very curious about the city, but he was more concerned about the origin of the missiles. He didn’t want to allow more to be fired. So he followed the path deeper and deeper.

  Superman’s eyes widened as he flew into a new habitat buried below the first one. “Another city!” he said. “What kind of asteroid is this?”

  The Man of Steel glimpsed alien architecture and vehicles as he flew. He headed down from the hole in the ceiling toward the hole in the ground. There, he saw insectoid citizens gathered around the opening where the missiles had been launched.