rant.

‘’Who do you think you are? Landing on me like th…’’ the husky’s jaw then dropped.

‘’You’re Balto! You’re the real Balto!’’ he exclaimed. Balto gave him a puzzled look. Brent leaned over and whispered, ‘’this guy is K9’s only true Balto fan. Seeing you in person is like A Star Wars geek seeing the guy who played Darth Vader.’’

Finally, the husky stretched out his hand and replied, ‘’my name’s Yukon. Nice to finally meet you Balto!’’

Balto smiled and shook Yukon’s hand. Yukon then shook Jenna’s hand as well. Brent then walked up and whispered something in Yukon’s ear. He nodded and handed Brent a small device. Brent pressed the small red button on the device and transformed himself back into his canine form. Brent then turned to Yukon and replied, ‘’Yukon, can you leaf us to Central Control? I have important information to give him. It is vital for the survival of the…’’

‘’Okay, just follow me.’’ Yukon retorted, cutting Brent off in mid-sentence. Yukon walked down the hallway and came to a door. He looked into a small scope (which scanned the cornea of the eye to determine the identity of a person) and the door slid open. Yukon put out his hand.

‘’After you.’’ He replied. Balto leaned over to Brent and asked, ‘’is he always this nice?’’

‘’I dunno. I haven’t seen him often before. I just knew that stuff about him from looking his profile up on K9’s main archive.’’ Brent explained as they entered the Control room. Balto and Jenna’s jaws dropped. The room was huge. On the adjacent wall was a giant screen, (about 100 feet in both directions,) and there were many small computers sitting on the room’s floor. Balto had never seen such a place in his life. He had no idea of half the stuff that was even in this room, let alone what they did. Just then, the general approached Brent and Yukon of a flying platform. Both dogs saluted the general, saying the phrase, ‘’good evening sir!’’ as they did so. The general saluted and relaxed, as did Yukon and Brent. Balto and Jenna stared blankly at each other and continued to observe the scene. Finally, the general noticed both of them.

‘’Who are they?’’ the St. Bernard general asked in a deep, scruffy voice.

‘’Those are Balto and Jenna from Nome, Alaska 1947 sir!’’ Brent answered his general. The general stared at Balto.

‘’You mean the Balto? The one who saved Nome in 1925? My god, it’s an honour to be in the presence of such a great hero!’’ The general then shook Balto’s hand, replying, ‘’my name is General William Macduff. I run this colony, and I am also the head of the Earth Protection Program, with in case of an emergency, K9 can be used to defend the Earth from alien attacks. But enough of this matter. What is it that you want?’’ Macduff asked. Brent saluted his general.

‘’Sir, I have information about this colony’s future. We must talk in your private room. I do not wish to cause havoc in the control room.’’

‘’Very well.’’ General Macduff replied and led the four dogs to a door. He placed his eye up to a scanner and the door slid open after a few seconds. General Macduff motioned for the four friends to enter, which they obeyed. The room was amazing. It was a circular room, with futuristic furniture and ceiling lights brightly shining their rays on the chrome detailing that accented the chairs. General Macduff sat in a large leather chair at the far end of the room, while Balto and the others sat in smaller, but just as luxurious recliners. Brent then began telling the General the story so far and the information about the colony’s fate. After he finished, Macduff was shocked.

‘’Great Scott,’’ he exclaimed, ‘’this is bad. You’re saying the colony will explode because the reactor overloads? This could be disastrous! We must stop this Steele character before it is too late!’’

Brent then checked his watch.

‘’It may be too late, sir! Steele is supposed to destroy the Reactor Temperature Regulator in ten minutes, which gives us fifteen minutes to either stop him from doing it, or replacing the regulator on the reactor!’’

Suddenly, a siren started to sound. It was accompanied by a voice, which said, ‘’warning, warning! Reactor temperature at 45% overload.’’ The message was repeated once again. Macduff sighed and turned to Brent and Yukon.

‘’Take this key-card to the main hangar. You must quickly instruct Balto and Jenna on how to operate the battle droids. They are our only hope now. Good luck!’’ Macduff saluted both dogs as they led Balto and Jenna out of the private room.

All four friends hurried to the droid hangar. Brent swiped the key-card through the recognition slot and the door slid open. Balto and Jenna’s jaws dropped. Inside the giant room were four robots, each with their own unique weapons and styles. Brent jumped into the droid at the far left of the room, and Yukon did the same, except he chose the one on the far right. Balto and Jenna shrugged and clambered into the remaining droids. Brent’s voice came over a communication system in their droids.

‘’Okay Balto and Jenna,’ he replied, ‘’the droids are extremely easy to operate. You see those joysticks on both the left and right side of your seats? Those are your steering sticks. You use them to move and drive your droid. Also, the button on the top of each joystick fires the laser gun on their respective side. The large lever to your left is the throttle, and if you open the above compartment, there will be a communications helmet, and a small blue pill. Take the pill, and it will help you pilot the droid.’’

Balto and Jenna did as they were instructed. Balto popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed. He suddenly started to feel funny, and all of a sudden, he could move his finger and toes, as well as his arms and legs like humans. This effect happened to Jenna upon taking her pill. Yukon’s voice then came in clearly through their headsets.

‘’Those pills you took will give both of you temporary anthropomorphic (definition: animals with human-like body movements and qualities) qualities, and will enable you to operate your droids with a bit more ease. However, the pills’ effects only last for fifteen minutes, and once their time is p, you will return to your canine nature.’’

Just as Yukon finished, General Macduff’s voice came over the comm. system.

‘’Come in Alpha team. Come in.’’ he replied.

Balto was the first to answer.

‘’We hear you General, go ahead.’’

‘’Read you loud and clear.’’ Yukon added.

‘’You’re coming in perfectly General.’’ Jenna replied.

‘’Ready for instruction, sir.’’ Brent said formally.

‘’Roger that, the fugitive has stolen a droid of his own. The prototype Sigma-Omega-Twin Jet, a.k.a. The Obliterator.’’

‘’Just like Steele to pick the toughest, most powerful thing on the planet.’’ Balto retorted. The General gave a small chuckle and continued.

‘’Ahem, anyway, Steele is heading toward the backup reactor. It only activates when the first reactor is destroyed. If it’s destroyed as well, the colony will explode within five minutes of the reactor’s destruction. If you can stop Steele for doing this, we can be able to evacuate the colony before it does explode. You must stop Steele. Good luck.’’

Brent was the first to activate his droid’s power cell. The robot came to life, and mimicked Brent’s every move. Balto, Jenna and Yukon did exactly what Brent had just done. All four droids then ran down a long hallway, which headed for space. Brent jumped and turned on his jet booster, making his droid hover in mid-air. Yukon did so as well. Balto had actually managed to copy Brent’s moves, but Jenna wasn’t so lucky. As soon as she approached the exit of the hallway, her droid caught a small fold in the flooring and it went down. The droid slid the rest of the way and shot out of the exit. Balto saw this and flew his droid toward Jenna’s. He stopped and caught Jenna in his robotic arms.

‘’Whew, thanks Balto.’’ Jenna sighed and activated her jet booster. Brent then turned on his radar tracker and replied, ‘’Steele should be appearing around this area soon. We’re right in front of the entrance to the second reactor. He’ll have to go through us to get inside.’’

Balto knew better.

‘’If I know Steele, he won’t let a few droids get in his way. Once he sets his mind on something, he’ll stop at nothing to get it.’’

‘’Then we’ll just have to shoot him out of the sky before he tries anything.’’ Brent then pulled out his two Charge Guns. Yukon reached around and grabbed his Dual laser machine guns. Jenna used her pink droid’s robotic arms to search and find her dual Pulse rifles. Balto sighed and grabbed his two energy guns. They then waited. For ten minutes they waited quietly and breathlessly, for Steele and his black droid to appear. Suddenly, a small shape appeared in the distance