Alien in My Pocket #5: Ohm vs. Amp by Nate Ball

launch Amp, of course,” she said, looking back.
    And there sitting on the fence behind me was a bug-eyed Amp, peering up into the night sky with his mouth hanging open in shock.
    And that’s when, for the first time in my life, I fainted.

Grounded for Good?
    I woke up on the dusty couch in Olivia’s garage.
    â€œGood. You’re not dead,” Olivia said softly.
    I groaned. “What—?”
    â€œYou weigh more than two beached whales,” Olivia said, sitting on a tall stool directly across from me. “I almost broke my back dragging you in here.”
    I sat upright, the crazy series of events coming back to me in an instant.
    â€œAmp?!” I shouted, now seeing Amp sitting just like Olivia on a stool of his own.
    â€œHonestly, I can’t believe your ball thrower idea worked,” Amp said, smiling.
    â€œBut I thought that was you I put in the spaceship!” I said, still trying to make sense of what had just happened in my backyard. “I thought you were trying to hug me.”
    Amp laughed. “Ohm is not a hugger.”
    â€œThat was Ohm? I could have sworn that was you,” I said.
    Amp shook his head. “He was trying to stop you. After Olivia’s mechanism failed, we were going to wait for the next launch opportunity twenty-eight days from now.”

    Olivia shook her head. “Then, like a crazy zombie, you have to show up and take things into your own hands. That was amazing, Zack.”
    â€œYou may have saved your fellow earthlings a lot of problems,” Amp agreed.
    I fell back into the couch cushion behind me. I winced at the pain in my back, probably from my fall from the ladder. “I did it,” I said, staring blankly into the garage rafters above us. “And Ohm should be able to call off the invasion, too. I sort of just saved the world.”
    â€œHopefully,” Amp said. He sighed to explain. “Space travel is an inexact science. He might make it home in time—or he might not. I’d put the odds at about a million to one.”
    â€œSeriously?” I said, throwing up my arms. “How you guys have ever successfully invaded a planet is beyond me.”
    â€œWho says we have?” Amp said, confused.
    â€œWell, look on the bright side, Zacky. At least you get to see Amp again,” Olivia said with a shrug. “It was really sad when you didn’t show up to say good-bye.”
    â€œOhm tied me to my mattress with kite string and bungee cords. I had to escape like Houdini!”
    â€œYou did?” they both said at the same time.
    Olivia shook her head in disbelief. “Wait, Ohm did say that you were tied up at the moment, but I didn’t think he meant literally. I assumed you were in trouble again.”
    â€œHe didn’t want me getting in the way,” I said. “He said Amp liked me too much.”
    â€œReally? I can’t believe he said that,” Amp said with a sly smile.
    â€œWhy weren’t you on that ship?” I asked, still confused. “What if we can’t fix your spaceship? You’ll be stuck here.”
    â€œNeither of us were on that ship,” Amp said. “Like I said, once Olivia’s launcher failed, we called the launch off. We tried to tell you, but—”
    â€œWe’ll fix your ship, Ampy,” Olivia said firmly. “Especially now that we have an initial launch system that we know works. It’s been field tested.”
    â€œWhat happened to your launcher?” I asked.
    Olivia blew out a big breath. “It sort of fell apart. I ran out of time. My glue gun got clogged. I brokethree springs. It actually fired off before I was ready.”
    â€œFired off?” Amp complained. “It basically just snapped. I bit my tongue when Ohm’s ship hit that tree.” This made us all laugh, as Amp pulled on his tongue to show us the damage.
    â€œWell, guys, that’s enough fun for me for one night,” Olivia