The Probe

 "I'm hooome!," Johnny said as he entered his apartment. The sound of yelling is coming from another room. "I wonder what that can be?" Johnny said to himself.
      "Hi" said a little person on a floating couch. "I'm watching TV."
      "I can see that," Johnny said. "I'm going to do my homework Freddy, so don't bother me, OK?"
      "Yup dup!"
      Johnny shot a glare at Fred, "I'm serious," and he walked away.
      Johnny entered his room. There are two skateboards - one red, one blue - hanging on the wall. There is a desk under the skateboards with a folded up laptop sitting on it. The room is quiet except for the humming of the hovering plasma TV. Johnny sighed and dropped his backpack. He took out a little iTouch and said sadly, "how am I gonna show this to mom and dad?" There is a big "D" on the touch screen, with a test beneath it. "Ugh," Johnny said, as he opened up the laptop and turned it on. "Well, time for homework," said Johnny halfheartedly, as he started typing. He was not aware of what was creeping into his room...
     "POKE! Heeheeheeheeee!" said a small voice.
     "FRED!" shouted Johnny as he turned around, "I was serious when I said don't bother me!"
     "Raaar," said Fred as he poked Johnny again. He made a move for the laptop's "off" button. Johnny grabbed Fred's arm just in time.
     "GET OUT!" Roared Johnny, and he tossed his brother's arm away.
     "Fine," said Fred dejectedly as he left the room slowly. He turned on the TV again and set the sound for the loudest possible.
     "Ugh," an even more irritated Johnny sighed. "I might as well leave, since he won't stop bothering me. I can just turn on the babysitter bot to take care of him until mom gets home." Fred started packing up his laptop, taking the red skateboard off of the wall as he exited his room.

                               *                                      *                                        *

     The street was quite empty in the city, since the only people who used it were pedestrians and people who owned old, non-hovering cars. This meant that almost all cars were above Johnny as he was skateboarding to the outskirts of the city. There wasn't much noise either, since most animals lived in the outskirts, and the hover vehicles flew fifty feet, and higher, above the ground. They only made humming noises, like the hovering street lights and airway signs. The skies were dark today.
     At last Johnny reached the outskirts, a quiet expanse of land stretching for miles. Few lived here that were human.
     At last, peace and quiet," said Johnny as he climbed up the rope ladder into his tree house. The tree house had only one window, made of glass, and had a closing wooden door. Johnny discovered this ancient tree house when he was ten. It was fifty years old. There was also little furniture inside, only a little wooden table and stool. Johnny got out his laptop, put it on the little table, and got to work.
      Then, there was a high  pitched whistling sound, like a bomb makes as it is descending. Johnny did not realize the noise.
     BOOM! Now he did.
     "Wow," said Johnny, surprised. "What was that?" Johnny crept slowly towards the window to investigate. There, in the middle of a puff of smoke, was a little orange glow.
     "I wonder what that can be?" Said Johnny. "Maybe it was just lightning, striking a rock." Johnny shrugged and got back to his homework.
     About an hour later, lightning actually did strike, surprising Johnny by frying a tree near his tree house.
     "I gotta get home before that ends up happening to my tree house," said Johnny hastily. He climbed down the ladder and realized that the hole with the glowing orange object was still there. Johnny looked at it inquisitively, then he decided to pick it up. It was pyramid shaped, and fit in Johnny's palm.
     BOOM! Thunder clapped and the rain started pouring down.
     "I hope this doesn't get worse," Johnny said, as he got his skateboard and rode home quickly.

                           *                                                  *                                    *
    
     Once Johnny got home, he snuck into his room, trying to avoid Freddie. He took the glowing pyramid out of his pocket. "What is this?" He said as he put it in a drawer. "I think I'll call David tomorrow, maybe he can help me figure it out."
     The next day was a Saturday, so Johnny didn't have to worry about school. He decided to invite David that morning.
     Johnny walked into the kitchen. His mom was there making pancakes for breakfast, with a robot arm mixing the pancake mix.
     "Mom, can I invite David over?" Asked Johnny.
     "Sure, why not? I'm going with Fred to a birthday party that he has to attend." She shot a glare at him, "you be good now, okay?"
     "All right mom," Johnny said. "And I won't let the robot go haywire again."
     Johnny's mother nodded, and went to get Freddie. After they left, Johnny rushed to his room and called up  his best friend David.
     "Hey David, I got to show you something that I found yesterday!"
     "What?" David yawned.
     "Come on over, I'll show you."
     "But I just woke up!" David complained. "I didn't even eat breakfast yet."
     "You can have breakfast here," said Johnny. "Come on!"
     "Fine fine."
     David finally arrived twenty minutes later with a jetpack. Johnny let him in and got some waffles ready. David sat down.
     "So, can I see this thing you're talking about?" David said as he started chewing his waffle.
     "Sure!" Johnny said as he left the room. He came back a few minutes later with the glowing pyramid in his hands.
     "Look," said Johnny, giving the glowing orange pyramid to David.
     "There are some strange designs on it, and a circular bump in the middle of every side." David scratched his chin, " hmmmm, it is very interesting."
     "Maybe we can search the Internet and figure out what it is," said Johnny.
     "Sure, I'm dying to know," said David.
     David and Johnny then began their search for knowledge about the object. Hours passed, and they had no luck.
     Johnny sighed, "we've been surfing the web for two hours and found nothing. NOTHING!" Johnny threw his hands in the air.
     "Wait, how did you find this object?" David asked.
     "Oh, I think that lightning zapped it down, or it just fell out of the sky."
     "Well then maybe it's in the news," said David.
     They went into the living room and turned on the TV. The pyramid in Johnny's hands started blinking, but David and Johnny didn't notice...

                                   *                                             *                                        *

     In outer space, there is an alien race called the Noots. Noots come from the planet Squelch, a huge magma ocean planet. They travel in huge star cruisers across the galaxy. They are also curious, but violent.
     "Have you located zee probe?" A deep voice said. It came from the commander of the Earth's Solar System Exploration Fleet, or ESSEF. He was larger than the rest of the Noots, which looked like octopuses, but instead of having a head, the Noots had a huge eyeball.Their tentacles are black, and their eyeball is like a humans, but bigger.
     "Yesss we have, massster," said a Noot.
     "Excellent..." said the commander, "can vee retrieve eet?"
     " Ummm... We only know what planet, massster."
     "Zhen bring za fleet zhere!"
     "as you wisssh."
     And so the Noots came into orbit around Earth. They decided to, instead of doing the work themselves, tell the earthlings to find it for them.

                                           *                                 *                     *

     "Hey David," said Johnny as he started surfing through the channels, trying to find the news. " The pyramid is blinking."
     "What?"
     All of a sudden the pyramid's color turned glowing red and the TV paused. Then a giant eyeball appeared on the screen, surrounded by black tentacles.
     "Creatures of Earth, hear us now!" the eyeball said in a booming voice. "We would like our probe that you ssstole from usss returned! You have one week. If you do not return it within that time, we shall invade and grab it ourselves!"
     Then a picture of the pyramid that Johnny was holding appeared on the screen with a caption under it saying RETURN THIS NOW.
     "Oh crap!" David yelled. "We gotta get this to the President fast! He'll probably know how to get it to the aliens."
     All of a sudden, anything that was electric, plugged into an outlet, short circuited and did not work. The city went into a blackout.
     "What now?" asked Johnny.
     David scratched his head, "I think that Mr. Stevens still has a gas powered car. We can use that to get to D.C."
     "Oh sure, we just waltz in there and steal his car," Johnny said sarcastically.
     David sighed, "no, we ask him, then take it."
     "Oh fine," shrugged Johnny.
     David and Johnny went to Mr. Stevens' house using the two skateboards from Johnny's collection. The house was near the outskirts, but was still considered 'in the city'.
     David and Johnny finally reached Mr. Stevens' house and rang the doorbell. They heard a big clang, then the door opened.
     "You young whippersnappers better not be here to cause any trouble, got that!" yelled Mr. Stevens, an old man with grey hair who was in his seventies.
     "We would just like to borrow your gas car Mr. Stevens," said Johnny. "We'll return it."
     Mr. Stevens considered this for a moment and finally said, "Fine, but you two must pay me one hundred dollars in cash too. Now."
     "What!" exclaimed Johnny and David.
     "Yep, and no less, this un's a classic."
     "Oh fine," said an exasperated Johnny as he and David fished out fifty dollars from each of their pockets. "Here's a hundred dollars."
     They gave Mr. Stevens the money and walked to his garage. "At least we got the car," David mumbled.
     The car was a 2010 Chevy Camaro. It was in great shape too. David got in the driver's seat and Johnny sat in the back with the probe.
     "I hope my parents won't mind me being away," said Johnny.
     "Oh don't be so worried," David said. "They'll understand. You can just tell them that you had an unexpected school field trip."
     "I doubt that they will believe that, but all right."
  
                            *                                                           *                                           *

     Johnny and David stopped at a rest stop just outside D.C. and decided to rest for a while. They had already traveled for twelve hours, and needed to take a break from driving. They got out of the car and went inside, with Johnny holding the probe.
     "Hello?" Johnny said.
     "Welcome to the D.C. Rest Stop, what can I do for you?" A big guy with a moustache and short black hair said.
     "We would just like some drinks please. Maybe a Root Beer?" David said. He looked at Johnny, and he nodded. "Yep, two Root Beers."
     "Comin' right up"
     As the rest stop guy, named Joe, put the Root Beers on the table, the probe decided to do something interesting. It blinked green and a little arm popped out of one of the circular side bumps.
     "Huh?" Johnny said, surprised. He tried to push the arm back in, but it was too late. The arm grabbed Joe's toupee and pulled it off. It fell into Johnny's drink.
     "Hey!" Joe yelled. "Gimme that!" Johnny gave Joe his toupee.
     Then, as if Joe was not furious enough with them, the probe blinked orange and all of the power went out.
     "GET OUT!" Joe yelled as he reached for the probe to smash it. Johnny turned it away from Joe just in time.
     "But we just-" said David, but he was cut off.
     "OUT!!!"
     And that was that. Johnny and David exited the rest stop in a hurry, so that the owner wouldn't beat the probe into a pulp for eliminating the power.

                                       *                                          *                                   *

     When they entered D.C. a few hours later, there were police everywhere. Hovercraft, Hoverbykes, you name it. Johnny and David soon found out why when they saw a giant TV screen showing a news video of the Eiffel Tower exploding from giant lasers.
     "I guess those aliens are getting really impatient and want us to hurry," said David.
     When they finally reached the White House, there was already a huge crowd at the front gates. The crowd was full of reporters and news station crews, trying to get to the President. They wanted some interviews.
     Johnny and David got out of their car. "Probably the Eiffel Tower issue, huh?" Johnny said.
     "And now we have to get through this crowd," said David, pointing at the crowd.
     All of a sudden a police officer drove over and got off of his Hoverbyke. "What are you two doing here?" the police officer asked.
     "We're just trying to get this to the President, to return to the aliens," said Johnny as he took out the Probe.
     "Well i'll be," the policeman said. "So you two are the ones responsible for stealing it! You are the cause of this alien attack on the Eiffel Tower!"
     "We can explain," said David. Johnny and David told the story of how Johnny came to finding the probe, along with David talking about their issues at the rest stop.
     "Well, I guess you're not responsible for this," the policeman said. "But we must get you to the President fast! Here, I will be your escort to get you through this huge, annoying crowd. Why can't they leave anyone alone?"
     Then the police man took out a megaphone and said "Clear the way people! We got the alien thing coming through!"
     Johnny gulped. He thought that at the mention of this the reporters would swarm around him like bees. Luckily they got through fine, since the police officer told the reporters how it was really important that they get in the White House fast.
     The White House's inside was just as grand as its outside. There were paintings and pictures of the other presidents before the current one, like George Washington and Barack Obama.
     "This way," the police officer said. "By the way, you can call me Bob."
     "How do you know the way?" David asked.
     "I've been here before, I help out at this place."
     "Wow" David and Johnny said. They couldn't imagine what it would be like to be in the White House almost every day.
     They got to the President's office in a short amount of time, since Bob knew the way. The President was already having a conversation with the Noot commander's secretary, along with the rest of the world leaders.
     "We have no clue where your probe is, sir, we honestly don't," said the President.
     "That doesss not matter," said the Noot. "We know how often your kind can lie. We do not trust you."
     Then Bob said, "Hello, Mr. President? These two have this probe that you were speaking of."
     "Oh really?" the President said. "Bring it here."
     The Noot stared at them, as Johnny pulled the probe out of his pocket. "Give it to usss," The Noot said.
     "You found it!" the President exclaimed joyfully. "Somehow the army couldn't find it, but two teenagers could? Wow."
     "HELLO?" the Noot said. "If you do not give it to us we will invade and take it from you."
     "All right, all right," the President said. "Bring one of your Noots down here."
     Then a Noot was beamed down from the Noot command ship and entered the White House. He took the probe without saying a word and was beamed up again.
     "You're welcome," David grumbled.
     "Yuck," Johnny said. "Those creatures are slimy."
     "Horray! The Noots are leaving!" the President said. Then he turned to Johnny and David. "You two saved the planet. How can we thank you?
     Johnny and David looked at eachother. "Hmmmm," they said. Then Johnny spoke up, "We'll think about it, so maybe later."
     "All right," the President said. Then he got two Medals of Honor, one for each of them, out and they got pictures with the President. Johnny and David were in the news all day that day, and their names went down in history. And since that day, no more Noots entered Earth's atmosphere ever again. They promised to not come back after getting the probe.