My front door burst open. "Earthling! Earthling!"
I jumped halfway out of my chair. When I landed, my finger hit the left arrow key and Chip stepped right onto a blob.
"Hey!" I yelled. I spun toward the intruder.
Chip stood just inside the door, his hands on his knees, panting.
"What are you doing, bursting in on me like that?!" I yelled at him. "I almost beat my score on Blobdance!"
Chip was still gasping for breath. "Melinda's been...kidnapped!" he said.
"What?!" I exclaimed. It was then that I noticed that Chip was soaking wet. His clothes were dripping, leaving a puddle on my floor. "Did you just swim all the way here from California?" I asked.
"Yes," he panted. "I hitchhiked from home all the way to the coast, wasted half an hour looking for a pair of flippers, then jumped in the water and swam here."
"You really ought to learn to swim without flippers," I said. "Who kidnapped Melinda?"
"Teeth monsters from Mars!" he said. "They took her back to their base on the Red Planet. Earthling, I have to rescue her! You have to get me to Mars!"
"Alright, alright," I said. "I'll get you there."
"Thanks a million," Chip said.
I walked over to a tall metal door.
"Turn away," I said to Chip. He complied.
I entered the combination into the keypad next to the door, and the door swung open.
"You can look again," I told Chip.
He turned. "Whoa!" he exclaimed.
I stepped back and admired the tall rocket. I had been working on that thing for two years. It still wasn't quite done, but it would get Chip to Mars.
"Help me get it out into the front yard," I said.
With Chip pulling and me pushing, we got the rocket out the door in fifteen minutes. We sat down in the grass and rested for a few minutes. The only sounds were of us breathing heavily, and the waves lapping on the shore just a hundred yards away.
I stood up and opened the door to the rocket. "Okay, get in," I told Chip.
He stood and walked to the rocket. He stepped inside.
I motioned to the control panel. "Everything is clearly labeled," I said, "so you should be able to pilot it just fine."
"Okay," said Chip.
"I haven't had a chance to install a radio reciever, so I won't be able to talk to you," I continued. "But you can talk to me, and I'll hear you on my computer. I can also see you."
"Got it," said Chip.
"It'll take you a month to get to Mars," I said. "You could go faster, but then you won't have enough fuel to get back. Keep that in mind."
"Got it,"
"And when you get to Mars, could you take the camera and radio transmitter and strap them on your belt or something?" I asked. "I want to be able to keep track of you."
"Sure,"
"Okay," I said. "Any questions?"
"Nope,"
"Okay, then," I said. "See you."
"See you,"
"I'll be watching you from the computer," I said. Then I shut the ship's door, closing Chip inside.
Through the window, I saw Chip moving around. The rocket's engines started, creating a deafening roar. Then the rocket lifted off the ground, followed by a trail of smoke and flames.
Chip waved at me from the window as he soared off into the sky.
I turned and walked back into the house.
***
"A month to get there." Chip muttered. "I hope Melinda will be okay until I can rescue her."
Chip was out of Earth's atmosphere, and had turned the ship toward Mars. There wasn't much to do until he got there. Earthling's rocket flew itself well enough.
He decided to take a look at the computer in the ship. Chip's Challenge was installed on it.
"Well, I guess I ought to get in some practice," Chip said. "I wonder what kind of levels Earthling has on here."
After playing and replaying the six levels of Earthling1.dat, Chip was sure he had scored every bold. Why didn't Earthling have any other level packs installed? Not even CC1 was on this thing.
But the month was almost up, and Mars was in sight. The Red Planet loomed large in the ship's window. He would soon be there.
In fact, he realized, he was in orbit.
"Now, where do I land?" he asked himself. He had no idea where the teeth's base was.
He brought the ship into a lower orbit. Then he brought it lower still, until the surface was perhaps a hundred miles below.
He spotted a large canal. That would be one of the main ones, supplying fresh water to a large area of Mars. "Well, I suppose it's as good as any place." he said.
He directed the ship toward that one. He'd try to land within a few miles of it. Most of the population was concentrated near the canals.
Chip passed over the canal less than a mile above it. He could see boats on it, filled with little green men and a few teeth monsters. Some had seen his ship and were pointing up at it.
The canal's bank passed by under him. At the edge was a city. He didn't want to land close to a large metropolis; there would be a lot of teeth monsters there. He'd try to find a smaller town of little green men.
He turned the ship to fly it alongside the canal. The city was soon behind him, and he saw a small town up ahead. That would be a good place to land.
He noticed some activity at the edge of town. As he passed over, he saw that it was about two dozen teeth monsters, unloading something from a truck.
"Oh, great," Chip said. "I can't go there now!"
The monsters had seen him. They seemed to be yelling something, but he couldn't hear from inside the ship.
Then several pulled out rifles and started shooting at him.
"I've got to get out of here!" Chip exclaimed. He pushed the throttle forward.
Suddenly, the ship was being pulled backwards. He looked back and saw that one of the teeth was aiming an electromagnet at the ship.
"Gah!" he yelped. He pushed the throttle all the way forward. The rocket struggled to free itself from the grip of the magnet.
Whoosh! With a sudden jerk, he was moving forward again. The ground rushed by below him.
"Too fast! Too fast!" he shouted. He pulled the throttle back.
The rocket stalled.
"No! No!" Chip shouted.
The rocket continued moving forward, but was now plummeting down as well. Chip frantically tried to get it started again.
The ground was coming up fast. If he started the ship again now, he would only succeed in crashing harder.
"Argh!" he said, and yanked back the lever to engage the four wheels on the bottom of the ship.
Crash! The rocket's nose slammed into the reddish rocks. So much for the wheels.
Well, he was alive, at least. No time to worry about Earthling's rocket. He had to rescue Melinda.
Chip opened the door to the ship, then remembered that Earthling wanted him to take the camera. He turned around and grabbed it off its mounting by the window. He also took the radio transmitter attached to it. He tucked them both into his belt.
Then he took a deep breath and stepped outside.
The town was nowhere in sight. All he could see in every direction was reddish dirt and rocks. He looked up and saw that the sun was high in the sky.
He turned in the direction he thought the canal was and started walking.
***
I watched all this from my computer at home.
"I worked for two years on that thing!" I exclaimed.
Chip's clothes were soaked with sweat. His throat was parched. He had not had anything to drink all afternoon. He berated himself for not bringing any supplies from the ship.
"Dumb, just dumb," he muttered. "Remember the camera, forget the water bottle. Stupid."
The sun was nearly level with the horizon. The normally red sky was turning bluish there.
Chip saw something glistening in the distance. Could it be--
"Water?" he croaked. Was it just a mirage?
He started running.
It was water! It was a vast lake! He reached it within a few minutes.
He knelt down by the shore and started drinking, scooping the water up in his hands and slurping it into his dry mouth. Ahh!
He finally looked up again. The sun had gone down, and the stars were appearing.
"Well, I guess I'd better get some sleep," he said. He laid down a few yards from the shore of the lake.
He laid there, looking up at the stars. "Just imagine," he said to himself, "what would it be like if the sky was a Chip's Challenge level, and the stars were fireballs..."
Chip awoke to a high-pitched, warbling screech.
"What-?" he said, opening his eyes. He sat up.
A Martian lakegull stood on a boulder, staring at him. It flapped its multicolored wings.
"Oh, hi," said Chip.
The bird screeched again, jumped from the rock, and took off over the lake. Chip watched it go. The lake was so wide he couldn't see the other side.
Chip looked at the sun. It was midmorning. He stood up.
"Have to find Melinda." he said. "Well, if I follow the shoreline, I'll have to come to a canal eventually."
He started walking.