They Came From Planet Q Read Free

formation. Leading the way was a toy monkey with little, crashing cymbals and motorized wheels.
    And everything in the parade was metal . Maybe they were being pulled by a magnetic force?
    â€œFollow that monkey parade!” Damon cried.
    This was getting so weird. And we weren’t the only ones sensing B-Force. I could hear people downstairs freaking out a little, too.
    â€œThis mall is cursed!”
    â€œNah, haunted!”
    â€œRun away!”
    One woman in the crowd actually yelled, “It’s the end of the world!”
    â€œLet’s go down and get a closer look,” Jesse said, nudging me. “Maybe the parade will lead us to the B-Monster.”
    We made a fast break for the escalator.

CHAPTER 2
    SOMEONE FLICKED A CRAZY SWITHCH!
    Naturally, the escalator was jammed with people. Everyone wanted out of the mall at the exact same time.
    I raised my new camera up over my head and began clicking random photos of the puzzled crowd. But as I snapped pictures, the camera snapped a fuse or something. It let out this blinding white flash and made a sizzle sound. Then it glowed hot. I nearly dropped it on the escalator step.
    Damon saw it glow, too. “Oooh,” he blurted. “That looks a lot like one of Leery’s cameras . . .”
    â€œReally?” I asked. I couldn’t remember ever seeing this before. “From where?”
    â€œOne of the movies . . .”
    â€œWhich one?”
    But Damon couldn’t remember which one. Even a B-Encyclopedia gets brain freeze once in a while. He pulled a crumpled list of Bs from his back pocket and scanned the movie titles. In the world of Leery’s Bs, there were so many monsters it was hard to keep track of them. We sometimes used this list to help ID our B-Monsters.
    â€œLook for movies with a magnetic B-Monster and a camera,” I said.
    â€œOkay.” Damon read the names: “There’s Robototron. That B-Monster was metal. He’s a possibility.”
    â€œI don’t recall a camera in Robototron ,” Jesse said.
    â€œAll right, well . . . there are other Bs on this list that fit our profile, too,” Damon said, scanning the paper.
    â€œWhat about Iron Dino ?” Stella asked.
    â€œNot that B,” Damon frowned. “Iron Dino was just a fake, prehistoric B-Monster that looked like he was made of metal. Not magnetic at all.”
    â€œWhat about Dr. Disaster?” I asked. “He worked in a steel-encased lab. That had to be magnetic.”
    â€œDidn’t he have arms of steel, too?” Stella asked, high-fiving me.
    â€œWell, c laws of steel,” Damon said, shaking his head. “But Dr. Disaster was only three feet tall, remember? He operated from inside a mechanical cow.”
    â€œYeah,” Stella said, “but the cow was metal, too, right?”
    â€œStella . . .” Damon said. “It wasn’t Dr. D.”
    â€œOh, sure,” Stella said. “Just shoot down my answer just because—”
    â€œGuys.” I tapped my foot nervously. The whole mall was falling apart and Stella and Damon wanted to pick a fight with each other?
    Typical.
    â€œHey, what about the robots from They Came from Planet Q ?” Damon said, “Remember them? They were held together by magnetic force! When they came to Earth, they nearly destroyed the planet.”
    â€œYeah,” I said. “They were powered by that crazy, red rock . . .”
    â€œFirequartz!” Jesse exclaimed. “It magnetized the robots!”
    The escalator arrived at the lower level and the four of us jumped off. It was hard not to get body-slammed, but we dove into the mob, anyway.
    People were really talking now. Apparently, the credit card machines were all still down. Jesse pointed out that credit cards can be erased by high levels of magnetism.
    Hmmmmmm.
    Up ahead of us, the metal toy parade continued, cymbals clanging. We followed it.
    â€œLeery says there’s safety in