Wanda salió de su habitación, el amor de su vida acababa de irse volando y un hombre estaba esperando su regreso. Ella amablemente le pidió que se fuera y se sentó en lo alto de la escalera durante días, esperando que Otis regresara. Él nunca lo haría.

La ira se apoderó de la anciana y encendió una llama en la pared de la casa de madera, vio cómo se convertía en humo y pasó la noche en el campo. La tierra recién regada estaba blanda y encontró algunas berenjenas más grandes para que le dieran refugio.

Durante muchas noches, miró las estrellas entre las berenjenas, en busca de luces en movimiento. Con el tiempo, los cultivos empezaron a envolverla y consolarla. Era como si pudieran sentir su dolor y desearan protegerla de él. Lo que realmente estaba sucediendo era un efecto de los muchos experimentos extraterrestres en la granja.

Las berenjenas no sólo la envolvieron, sino que comenzaron a fusionarse con ella. A Wanda le resultó difícil saber dónde terminaba ella y dónde comenzaban las berenjenas.

Una mañana, Wanda estaba irreconocible. Se había convertido completamente en una berenjena. Se dio la vuelta y se puso de pie sobre dos tallos podridos que hacían de piernas. Sus brazos también eran tallos negros y podridos de los que tenía total movilidad.

Era obvio lo que debía hacer. Fue a la ciudad en busca de ropa que se adaptara a su nuevo y rechoncho cuerpo. Wanda descubrió que podía correr a buen ritmo y luego rodar aún más para poder viajar más rápido.

Al llegar a la calle principal, se escucharon gritos en todas direcciones. El ruido era confuso y provocó que los tallos de la berenjena se enraizaran en el suelo. La berenjena se envolvió para proteger a Wanda. Creció el doble de tamaño.

Una vez desprendida, la criatura rodó hacia la tienda de ropa, sin saber ya por qué lo hacía. Se estrelló contra el frente y se quedó de pie entre los escombros. De su boca colgaban las personas que estaban acurrucadas en su interior. Todavía estaban despiertos, por lo que gritaron por sus vidas.

Nuevamente, la berenjena entró en modo de defensa, enraizándose y creciendo para proteger a la esposa del granjero que casi había desaparecido.

Se produjo un alboroto. Wanda era imparable en el centro de la abominable berenjena.

La intervención militar no pudo detener la destrucción, ni tampoco Wanda desde el interior de su caparazón afrutado.

Lo que puso fin al alboroto fue la visión de un platillo volante. Agua espesa salió de los ojos del monstruo y se encogió con la pérdida de líquido. Wanda recordó la pérdida de su marido y añoró su hogar. Rechazó misiles y balas, echó a correr y rodó hasta la granja.

Había olvidado que la granja había desaparecido. Todos los cultivos estaban muriendo. Su antigua vida casi fue borrada. La rabia dentro de ella hizo que la berenjena se envolviera en un capullo. Dejó que se hiciera cargo, quería que Wanda muriera como las cosechas. Ella quería que todo lo que quedara fuera el monstruo. Ella cedió ante Wumpus.

Otis’ foe had eluded him for far too long. Even with the advanced capabilities of the craft he was trapped within, finding the alien felt an impossibility. An enticing thought came to him as he hovered above a small town; what if the ship could locate members of the alien species who built it? There were certainly enough buttons and switches for that to be one of the functions.

With a sigh of resignation to this idea, Otis flipped a switch he hadn’t tested before. The ship instantly started to move. “First time’s the charm” he thought. A few hundred feet away, the autopilot stopped in front of a restaurant and Otis looked below. Could he have been that close already?

A beam projected from the center of the ship’s bottom, lifting something up and holding it there. Otis grinned and piloted the ship to a rooftop where he landed and moved the tractor beam so it would hold his victim in place.

“Hey man, my whole family watched that. Everyone saw you and your ship, you should probably just go. They’re very litigious.”

Otis shook his head and flipped what he thought was the same switch. This one sent out a drone that probed the man, who was left stranded on the rooftop as Otis found the correct switch.

Again, testing out the different abilities of the ship, one of the buttons was actually slightly different. There seemed to be an opening beside it with a slot for liquid. Otis rubbed his fingers on the edge of his pitchfork and dropped some of the dried alien blood down into the slot. He pushed the button and autopilot began. A screen showed up, showing a bulbous figure on a radar. He had done it.

Otis zoomed across the planet and toward Big City. It was so obvious the alien would be in the metropolis, more space to blend in, more cover from the tall buildings, and enough freaks where it would fit in.

The target neared and the ship’s tractor beam was about to make contact with something below, when Otis heard a voice.

“Otis. Otis is that you?”

He would recognize that voice if it was ten miles underwater. It was his wife, Wanda. He stopped the beam and moved the ship to hover beside her. She wasn’t the same, however. The alien experiments on his crops had changed her into something.. Alien. Some kids walking by pointed and shouted to their parents, “Hey look, it’s Wumpus!!” They took a selfie with the purple monster and carried on.

“Honey, come home. I’m sorry.” Wumpus pleaded. “We can’t throw away a lifetime together over one mistake.”

“Wand- Wumpus, I can’t. For so many reasons, I can’t.” Otis let out a long breath and lowered his head. He was mainly referencing being stuck inside the small ship with a jammed door, unable to exit, even if he wanted. Wumpus believed there was more to it.

The purple monster rooted into the ground, her feelings deeply hurt by Otis’ swift rejection. She grew a few sizes and then rose from the pavement. “Let’s go home, Otis.” Wumpus had a surprisingly commanding voice, for an alien eggplant beast.

“Sorry, honey.” Otis piloted the ship away, engaging the hyper thrusters to make a quick escape. A moment before release, he saw something odd on the sidewalk. A noodly alien in a jumpsuit with a laser blaster in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other sauntered by. He checked his radar, nothing. The one that got away was not of the same species, that was clear to him now by its appearance. He disengaged the ship and attempted to get closer.

“HOME!”

Wumpus screeched like a space whale, wrapping the ship in her stalk arms. She lost herself in her love for Otis. The target below noticed the commotion and panicked, running away immediately. Frustrated, Otis reengaged his thrusters, burning the dry arms of Wumpus, though they grew back instantly.

Through the city the craft weaved, chasing down the alien, not letting it out of sight for more than a moment.

Wumpus screamed, rampaging behind, rolling through the street with no concern for civilians below. 

“OTIS! I LOVE YOU OTIS!”

The ruckus and damage drew the attention of nearby heroes. Out of a bakery BakeSale blasted towards Wumpus, propelled by delicious buttercream.

“Take a sec, sis!” she yelled to the monster, though she didn’t slow a bit.

From an alleyway leapt Butters, standing in front of the giant purple bulb, holding strong with kitty force. He grabbed from his shorts a ball of yarn, unraveling it to wrap Wumpus in place. With Bakesale’s braids of dough as well, the monster was held still. From above, Duperman descended, smiling as if he helped.

“Great job, team.” BakeSale and Butters heaved for air, looking at Duperman with puzzled expressions. “I feel like I missed something.”

“You missed everything.” BakeSale responded. Butters licked his paws and returned to the alley beside the bakery.

“I hope she didn’t kill anyone, yikes. I know from experience, that is bad for your image.” Duperman stated.

“Hey, why don’t you go check on those other guys?” BakeSale suggested, ready to return to civilian life.

“Sure.” Duperman looked around for a bit to find who she was talking about. She pointed down one street to give him direction. 

Otis finally reached his foe. The noodly alien was caught in the tractor beam and the farmer could finally finish what he started.

“You’re not like the others, what are you a mutant or som’n?” Otis asked.

“I am not. I had infiltrated their ship.” the alien replied.

“Is that right? Well, to me, an alien’s an alien unless it’s human.” Otis moved to press a button and eliminate the alien.

“Wait, wait. I have to return to my family. I shouldn’t be here.”

“What’s your name, son?”

“I am Limbis Kwungo.”

“Well Limbo, I know something about family. Those are the only ones who can really hurt ya.”

Otis again moved towards the button, this time interrupted by more than words. The tractor beam retracted and Limbis ran away quickly. The ship slammed into the side of a building, and Otis looked to see what happened.

Outside the window, Duperman floated with a smirk, he fixed his cape and looked Otis in the eye, smiling wider. They’d encountered each other on numerous occasions and had become acquainted.

“It’s so funny I was just talking about killing people, and I know, I KNOW you were going to kill that guy. I saw it in your eye. You were gonna press that button there and kill that guy.”

“Sure as heck was.”

“Otis, look.” Duperman’s face became elated. He flew to the side of the ship where the door was. “I broke it open. You’re not stuck anymore. You can leave the ship!”

Otis pulled the door shut as hard as he could and the ship started to ascend slowly.

Duperman drifted alongside slowly. “But, Otis, it’s open.”

“No. No it ain’t.” Otis replied with a cold stare, jetting off into the sky. As he flew, he grabbed from his pocket a picture of himself with Wanda many years before and wiped tears from his eyes.