Johnny had just finished played PAC-Man. It had been dead easy to eat the ghost. As he leaned back in his chair, he caught sight of his "ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND" disk. It had been a few months since he and his friend Kirsty had saved the computer aliens known as The ScreeWee from the players in Game Space. He had to admit it; he missed talking to the Captain . Even though he'd only known her for a few weeks, somehow they seemed to have formed a friendship between them. He slipped the disk excitedly into the slot. The game started up. The prologue started playing

'The Mighty ScreeWee(TM) empire(TM) is poised to attack Earth!

Our battleships have been destroyed in a sneak raid !

Nothing can stand between Earth and the terrible vengeance of the ScreeWee(TM)!

But there is one starship left....and out of the mists of time comes one warrior, one fighter who is the last Hope Of Civilization!

YOU!

YOU are the Saviour of Civilization. You are all that stands between your world and Certain Oblivion. You are the Last Hope.

Only You Can Save Mankind!(TM)'

The game popped up and there, right before his eyes was a capital ship. It looked really old. Immediately, filling the screen, in bright yellow letters, was............

Who is this?, he typed nervously.

"It is I, Johnny."

He swivelled around on the chair to look behind him. There, was the captain.

"Johnny, we need you and Sigourney", (Kirsty) "to help us," she said.

"Really, what do you need us for?"

"Yes. There is no-one else that we can trust. You must help us". The Captain continued to inform Johnny about what she was worried about.

"Well Johnny, are you willing to help us once more? You and Kirsty are our last hope".

"All right," Johnny answered.

"Follow me."

She stepped through the wall of his room and then beckoned him. Without hesitation, he followed.............

Chapter Two

He found himself on the bridge of the ScreeWee capital ship.

"How did I get here? he asked.

"Your mind knew that to save us, you would need to board our ship. Your imagination created the inside of the Mother Ship."

"I`m on your ship again?"

"Yes."

"Where are we going?"

"To Sigourney`s sub-conscious mind."

After a while they reach a strange glow. It was circular and flashed. Occasionally strange shapes extended out of it.

"What is that?!" Asked Johnny.

"Sigourney`s mind" Answered Captain, "She is asleep. The shapes are some of the things in her dreams."

She flicked a switch and said "Lonkt nuncst."

"What did you say Captain.?"

"I said `hang on to something, we're going in`."

"Why did you say that?"

"We don`t know what`s in there."

"Oh crud."Moaned Johnny. They entered the glow.

The ship rocked back and forth, back and forth.

"Will we maaaake it ?!"Asked Johnny, getting hit by a food bowl.

"I don`t know."Answered the captain.

"Oh double crud"

The ship stopped shaking.

"We`ve passed the crisis point,"said the captain.

The captain walked to a machine. It looked like a cylinder cut in half and pulled apart. The bottom was at the floor and the top hung from a large tube-like thing. The captain got into it.

"Set destination."She said to no-one.

A voice said....

"Destination name."

"The human Sigourney`s room,"She answered, "Johnny, get in."

Johnny got in. Just in time.

"Location locked. Transferring matter. WARNING, danger of biological mutation."

"What does that mean?" Asked Johnny.

"There is a risk that the transporter will mix up our D.N.A.."

"I`m outta here!" But Johnny was to late, he started to glow.

"Transferring."

Johnny flashed....

....and found himself in Kirsty`s room. He checked himself. He was normal. He also noticed that his cold had gone. Kirsty was up and glaring sleepily at Johnny and the Captain.

"I must be dreaming,"she said.

"No, you are not Sigourney."Said Captain. "We are here."

"Prove it."

"Pinch yourself." Said Johnny.

Kirsty pinched herself.

"Agh."She yelped.

"Come with us."

"Oh alright."

She walked toward them.

"Computer bring us home."The captain announced.

FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They were on the capital ship. Their mission had begun.

"The fleet would feel more comfortable if you flew ScreeWee fighter-Jets."The captain informed them as she pushed a panel on a wall. A door opened. Behind it was a blinding blue light. It faded and a platform appeared. On it were two ships. They were larger than Star-fighters. The weapons array was very impressive, there were massive missile launchers. Johnny counted them. Twenty! Whoa! There were twelve lasers, eighteen machine guns, and two Mortar cannons!

"This is no-doubt your contribution Sigourney."He said looking at Kirsty. She was already in the fighter. Johnny got in and grabbed a joy-stick. Gamespace was made of things they knew so to control the fighters they had a joy-stick. He pressed one of the two buttons on the stick. A light flashed on and off.

"Johnny, the button you pressed was the preparation-button. Now the weapons array will be operational. Thanks.!"

The captain put on a helmet, grabbed some sort of pipe and pressed a button. A door opened into game-space. The air was sucked out. They pulled back the sticks and flew out of the ship at a great speed.

The radar showed purple dots very close. Johnny looked ahead and saw a fleet of star-fighters. He looked at a button. It said shield. There was a switch. He flipped it to ON. A red glow spread around his ship and then faded. He looked at Kirsty`s ship, the same happened with her. He fired the Mortar-Cannons. BOOOOOOMM!!!!!!!!!!

Two ships went down for good. He pressed missile launch. A red targeting circle appeared.

He pressed the button on the stick ........

BLAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Four down, four to-oh never mind, thought Johnny.

He stopped because Kirsty had blown the rest to Kingdom -Kong.

"May I just say," she said over the radio,"how cool was that?!"

They zoomed through Gamespace. Johnny was eating his tea when....

BOOM!!!!

"Oh @+=^"He swore.

"I heard that."Said Kirsty over the radio.

"I don`t give a-."He began.

He woke up. It was 6:3 and three lines. Darn broken clock.

At the Mall he met Wobbler, Yoless, Bigmac and Kirsty.

" Uh Yoless?"

"What?"

"You know how Wobbler said I was a Shaman?"

"Oh, not all that ridiculous, Druid nonsense again."

"But - ."

"Don`t say anything."

"Fine."

All evening Johnny did home work, but he kept on nodding off until he fell asleep.

I`m back again? He thought as he woke up. Yep, he was in the fighter.

The communication light flashed on and off. He flipped the switch.

"You're alive, for now."

"Very funny Sigourney."

"Thanks."

"I was being sarcastic."

"That`s not cool anymore."

"What`s it to ya."He retorted.

Suddenly her face moved to the corner of the screen and a face appeared.

It looked almost exactly like the captain except the crest on the head of the ScreeWee was brown and not yellow.

"I trust you have finished your argument." She said.

"Who are you."

"I am the captain`s deputy."

"What?"

"She is unable to command after that last attack. She will be able to command shortly but until she can resume the post once more I shall be the captain."

"All right. Let`s go."

"Indeed.

The fleet flew through space. After an hour Johnny flipped on the radio and said to the Captain, "Why is it taking so long?"

"We are flying old ships."

"Crud," replied Johnny.

"What?"

"It`s a human word. It means we`re in trouble."

"You just noticed the Starships?"

"Oh now you tell me."

Two Starships were closing fast. Johnny scrambled for the trigger. He fired and BOOOOMMMMMMMM

In a second they were gone.

Two hours later the Captain returned to her post and relieved the Deputy of her duties.

Suddenly Johnny saw something enormous!!!!!!!!

The Border!!!!!!!!

They were closing fast.

There was so little time till impact. Now less!! Now none!!!!!!!!

The ship shook and rattled. Johnny was knocked unconscious.

He slowly opened his eyes. He was still in the fighter. He got up. He saw a magnificent sight. It was purple and red. Johnny realised it was a planet.

"The purple is our water and the red is the ground." The captain`s voice

buzzed out of the radio.

As she finished speaking, they landed.

He saw a massive metal object, the shape of an alligator with eight leg-like things sticking out of it.

"That is our base." The captain explained.

"Cool ! "He commented.

"I`m going to explore." Said Sigourney. She concentrated and two F-15 wings came out of her sides. She jumped into the air and the jets powered up.

She flew away into the distance.

"Wait Sigourney!" Yelled the captain.

Johnny started to swear but stopped himself just in time. He hit on an idea!!

He concentrated so hard that it felt like his head was going to explode and his eyes burst out from their sockets. His arms and legs became the wheels of a dragster and the exhaust pipes rose from his back.

"Hop on." He yelled. The captain got on him.

"Hold on." He told her. She grabbed his shoulders. He drove out after Sigourney with such acceleration that the Captain nearly tumbled off. No matter how he tried to catch her, Sigourney was faster.

She had covered quite a distance already. Suddenly BOOM

"Whoa!!!!!!!!" She yelled.

By now Johnny was catching up.

A strange alien rose up. It was like a caterpillar only much bigger. It had

eyes that were narrow slits. Its mouth was full of pointed, dirty, teeth. It had a large laser in it`s hand. Its wings were that of a dragon fly. It was going to fire!!!!

At that moment Johnny and the Captain burst into the clearing. The Captain drew her gun and fired. A strange green beam struck one of the creatures wings. It fell and landed on its feet behind a pile of rocks. They were behind another. Several of their enemies ran to their leader. ScreeWee went to the rocks.

"Gkjmb fhbjhurown hum."

"What?"

"All our enemies are behind that rock. We must destroy them to survive."

"Let`s do it."

They marched forward. So did the enemies. All of them had a gun or some kind of weapon. Sigourney had twelve at least. He didn`t have time to count them. Eighty of the aliens. Seventy eight ScreeWee, Johnny and Sigourney. The aliens drew their weapons. Johnny grabbed his guns and fired.

The battle raged on and on. Johnny dodged and fired constantly.

DODGE, FIRE, DODGE, FIRE it continued.
Most of the time he hit his target. He fired ! His target ducked, but too slow ! The laser hit it right in the middle of the head and it died in less than a second.

"Go for the foreheads everyone", Johnny yelled. The Captain translated it into ScreeWeean or what ever language it was they communicated in. They fired and fired for what seemed like days but in reality was only hours.

Eventually Johnny was left standing alone. One alien was still alive. The leader of the aliens. They stood silent for glaring at each other. As each second ticked away it felt like eternity. A purple tinted, tumble-weed, type of object rolled past. They narrowed their eyes and fixed their gaze. Johnny's hands hovered above the guns. Still they glared through narrowed eyes. Then they drew!

The alien slumped to the ground, dead!!!!

The ScreeWee were victorious, they had won the war!!!!

Back at the base, they were rejoicing about their triumph over the aliens. They quickly recovered from their minor injuries, scrapes and grazes mostly. Johnny and Sigourney sadly said goodbye to the Captain.

"I`ll be waking up any second-" Johnny began.

He woke up.

"-now."He finished. His parents were at his bed where he was.

"What happened?" He asked.

"You went into a coma for two days dear." His mother said.

"WHAT!!!!????"He yelled.

"Son." His father started" We think we haven`t really thought of how you must have felt during our arguments. We decided to stop bickering and concentrate on your life more."

"Thanks Dad."

Later, that night, Johnny heard a familiar voice.

" Johnny."

"Captain?" He whispered.

"Yes."
"Where are you? Captain."
"I can`t tell you. You seem to have had a fresh start in life. Something to look forward to."

"Yes, I suppose," he replied.

"I just want to say thank you Johnny, for the last time", Captain continued.
"If not me Captain, who else ?" Johnny protested.

"Goodbye Johnny."

"Goodbye Captain " Johnny answered.

He could still hear the dimming sound of his voice as he closed his eyes tightly trying to picture the Captain. He dreamed a dream that night, a peaceful dream. He dreamed of the Captain and the ScreeWee that night.

A FRUITY DATE

Her name was Melony.

She was so appealing!

I had to pear up with someone

And asked her out for a date

I said as a figure of peach.

We took a spin in my avacar-do'

Got stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the cinnamon

It was raining berry hard

But I had my trusty Plumbrella.

We went to see

James and the Giant Peach,

And the ending was somewhat fruity!

Group Poem written with Andrew Fusek Peters

Barry Keegan

Sam Jarvis

Leigh Duffy

Craig Ledger

Thomas Shannon