By:Rebekah "Tato" Hicks

Each crew member quietly slumbered as they normally did each night.  
For weeks now, they had not had one thing exciting.  In consequence, 
Ms Davenport had assigned several projects in hopes of "exciting" the 
children.  It only made them more tired and ungrateful.  They'd rather
have a life-threatening task to do rather than doing so many projects
at once.  But that was life for them.  Throughout the ship, only 
several noises could be heard.  The quiet rumble of the engines, the 
clip-clop of Thelma's boots as she happily roamed the corridors, and 
Bova in the galley fixing himself a snack.  Not that this was at all
strange.  He would normally do this around this particular time.  But
this time, it would be very different.  

Bova quietly slipped into the cafeteria in a sly manner.  He 
programmed the food wheel and got his helpings of his snack.  He then 
left with his tray and walked into the Rec Room ready to entertain 
himself.  If only he was aware of the approaching vessel with the 
strange creature inside.  No alarms were sounded, no warnings from 
Thelma, and absolutely no way of knowing what was coming to him.  

* * * * * *

A light giggle, almost menacing, was heard from the space craft.  Not 
that there was anyone who could hear this strange laugh.  But Bova 
swore he could hear something.  Normally, he'd ignore the noises.
After all, if something was wrong, he'd be called to stay on task, 
although he never did so.  But something about a gut feeling deep 
inside told him to go out and see.  It wasn't hunger.  He could tell 
the difference. But it bothered him somewhat.  He decided to check it 
out.  Bova, taking along a handful of food, headed towards the landing
bay.  By the time he reached it, he was dumbfounded.  A small earth 
vessel that looked much like the one that the ugly, happy, peppy 
purple dinosaur was in was carefully placed in the center of the bay.
Bova shuddered at the thought.  He hated that beast.  A thought 
suddenly struck him.  Was that vile creature back?  After all,he had 
heard a giggle of some sort and....  Bova's eyes widened.  He had to 
wake the others!!!

Bova raced to the boys bunkroom.  "Radu, Harlan," Bova said urgently.
The shouting caused Radu to jump up suddenly and Harlan to sluggishly
pull himself up.  

"What is it?" Radu said placing his hand over his heart.  

"Yeah, Bova.  What's goin' on?"

"I...I think that....purple dino-guy is back."

"And what makes you think that?" Harlan said in a sure-of-himself 
tone.  

"Because of the escape pod in the landing bay," Bova retorted.

Bova looked at both Harlan and Radu.  Radu nodded and got up.

"We oughta wake up the girls," Harlan suggested, in fear that
something might happen to them otherwise.  

"Good idea," Radu said with a nod.  The three companions carefully 
made their way around every corner until they reached the bunk.  

"Rise and shine!!" Harlan shouted knowing full well this would get 
them all angry.  

"Harlan!!" Suzee shouted at the top of her lungs.  "I was having a 
GREAT dream, you idiot!!  What is it?"

Harlan grinned for a slight moment until he got back to the subject.
"We think...you know.....Barney may be back."

"Who?"

"Barney.  He's....nevermind."

"Well, what should we do?" Rosie asked worriedly.  

"Let's check the shuttle for clues," Suzee suggested, slightly unsure
if it was even a safe idea.  

"All right, but that means EVERYONE comes."

"Then we better wake up Elmira," Radu said pointing to the slumbering
Spung.  

"Maybe you should, buddy," Harlan said with a laugh and pointing to 
Radu.  Radu blushed slightly, but he did so. 

"Um....Elmira?" he whispered.  

She didn't stir.  

"Elmira," he said a bit louder.  

"Man, you're such a wimp!" Harlan shouted.  "I'll do it."  Harlan 
walked over before Radu could protest and started shaking her harshly.
"Yo, Elmira!!  We got trouble!"  He continued to shake her until she 
awoke, extremely angry.  

"Harlan, you jerk!!"  She slapped him in the face and pulled the 
covers over her head.  

"Uh...Elmira?  We...uh....we got some trouble."

At the sound of Radu's voice, she came out of the covers and grinned.
"Hi Radu!!"

"Oh, yeah.  I get a slap in the face, and he get's a smile and a warm
welcome," Harlan whined.  

"Anyway, what's up?"

"Um...we think that...."

"Barney."

"Yeah, Barney might be back."

"Is he that one dino-dude that gave you some trouble?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let's go check."

The small group silently walked along the corridors and made it to 
the landing bay.  They searched the shuttle, not knowing what to look 
for.  

"Hey guys," Harlan stated gathering everyone's attention.  "Look at 
this.  The shuttle isn't the same style.  Hm....and the controls are 
different.  There are pictures of Barney all over this place!  I think
it's just someone who's obsessed with him."

"Unless he loves himself."

"He loves everyone INCLUDING himself," Harlan said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, what an idiot," Bova said shuddering.  

"Well, we better do a search of the ship.  We cant take any chances.
We dont know if this thing could be dangerous as well.  Radu?  Elmira?
Take this log and see if you can make any sense of it," Harlan said 
handing the two the data crystal.  

"Right," Radu said in agreement.

"Let's go."  And with that, Elmira and Radu were off.  Harlan turned 
to Rosie and Bova.  

"Okay, and you guys will search the upper rooms and corridors.  Me and
Suzee will search the bottom ones."  Harlan glanced at the two to make
sure they understood.  With a nod, they were off.  Harlan and Suzee 
were off as well.  


A few hours later....

Elmira and Radu had spent hours trying to access the data file stored 
in the log.  Radu sighed heavily.  They weren't getting much of 
anywhere. They had tried several of the passwords "barney", "purple", 
"dino", "loveyou" "giggle", "happy", and many other words, but they 
just weren't getting through.  They both slumped down.  

"Well, this is wonderful," Elmira said rolling her eyes.  

"Yeah," Radu said in agreement.  

"I mean, we got this time together, and we sit here trying to break 
the code, and we haven't gotten ANYWHERE!"

"Yeah."

"We'll NEVER get it!"

"Yeah."

"Is that all you're going to say?"

"Yeah."  
	
Elmira gave Radu a friendly punch and grinned.  Both looked up as they
heard the familiar sound of someone approaching from the jumptubes.  
Harlan, Suzee, Rosie, and Bova whisked out of them quickly, looking 
extremely tired.  

"We didn't find anyone," Suzee said with a groan.  

"Yeah, there's a code that we cant seem to break," Elmira said
motioning their attention to the screen with the password directions 
in it.  

Harlan shook his head.  "Well, have you tried.....special friend?"

Radu and Elmira looked at eachother then back at Harlan.  He had a 
cocky grin on his face.  The kind when he had a hunch when he was 
right.  Radu got up and punched in the letters of "special friend."

Access accepted

"Yes!" Elmira said at last.  "I do admit, Harlan Band.  That was very
clever.  But how did you know?"

"Oh, just a lucky guess," he said grinning.  

"Yeah, I figured that much."

"Hey!"

"Well," Bova said sighing.  "I guess we should help with the logs.  I 
suppose.  I mean, if you dont want us to then..."

"Actually, that would be a big help," Elmira said brightening.

"Oh GREAT," Bova said in a massively-depressive tone.  

"Oh, it'll be fun Bova!" Rosie said gleefully, although she didn't 
exactly enjoy work.  

"Yeah, we better help," Suzee said willingly.

"Yeah.  We'll get started on it."  Harlan programmed the computer to 
play the message over again and also print it out on several compupads
so the could analize.  They each skimmed through the message. It read:

Yoodley doodley!!  Entry: happylolly.  I'm going
near a spiffy, happy peppy yum yum doodle dum
ship with the silly willy people who killed my lover,
Barney.  They'll be so so lollipoppy flippy floppy on
the toppy sorry.  Yes, I will mess them up badly
because they make me sadly and I am very madly. 
I'll get them soon.  This is for you BARNEY!!

Harlan started to laugh hysterically.  "Barney had a girlfriend?" he
said shocked, amazed, and totally entertained.  

"Hm...well, it looks like through this garbage in it, it says that 
this person is plotting their revenge," Suzee said entirely absorbed 
in this strange language.  

"That figures.  I defeated that no good, sorry excuse for a reptile, 
and so I must be the first victim."  Bova rolled his eyes. He looked 
around the room for anyone to contradict him, but surprisingly, no one
did.  The truth was, that was exactly what they were thinking.  Each 
one began to get more and more tense as the silence grew.  "Come on, 
atleast tell me that I'm absolutely right!!" Bova said slightly 
annoyed at the fact that they wouldn't admit that they agreed.  

"You're absolutely right," Radu said speaking after a short pause.  
"I-I think you will be the first one this thing will go after."

"Yeah, same here," Elmira said in an apologetic tone.  

Bova turned to Rosie, Harlan, and Suzee for their admittance.

"I...er...Bova, I think you'll be fine!!" Rosie said smiling.

"Yeah man.  You'll be fine," Harlan said grinning.  

"Definitely," Suzee agreed.  

Bova turned back to Radu and Elmira, expecting a 'change of heart'.

"Well...honestly, I think that he's in danger," Radu said lowering 
his voice.  

"Same here," Elmira said with a shrug.  "I'm sorry, but I cant deny 
it.  He needs to be gaurded or something."  Elmira paused for a 
moment, then she realized something.  

"Guys?  Where's Ms Davenport and Commander Goddard?"  Elmira exchanged
worried looks on everyone's faces until she called out.  "Thelma!!"

"Yes?" Thelma said in almost an instant.  

"Thelma, do you know if Commander Goddard and Ms Davenport are in 
their quarters?" 

"No, they are not."

"Do you know where they are?"

"No, I do not."

"Can you scan the ship?"

"No, I can not."

"Can you do anything?" Bova murmured under his breath.  

"Why not, Thelma?" Elmira said urgently.  

"Because...that memory is currently not in progress."

"And why not?"

"Something is blocking that current path of thought."

"Hm....is there anything we can do?"

Thelma twitched a bit and smiled.  "Yes."

"Really?  What?"

"You can do almost anything in space.  You can eat, breath, dance, 
sing, talk, walk, run, shout, have parties, play games, kick, sleep, 
drink, blink, wave..."

"I mean, can we do anything to clear the passage of thinking?"

"I am currently working on that problem at hand.  The repair mode will
take exactly 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 15 seconds."  Thelma walked away
happily, and completely clueless.  

"Great," Bova said rolling his eyes.  "So we've searched the ship and 
that....whatever it is....is on the ship."

"Harlan, can you remember anything about Barney's past?"

Harlan stood straight up and glared at the young Andromedan. "No way!
Why would I want to watch his show?"

"Just a thought."

"Harlan," Suzee said suspiciously, "if you're hiding something, then 
you're endangering us all."

"Well.....my kid sister used to talk about it all the time.  They had 
these goofy kids on the show..."

"Anyone else?"

"No, I dont think so."

"Hm..."

Each one stood in thought.  Harlan was the only key to this whole 
mess, seeming that he was from earth.  No one could really do much 
because they didn't know anything about this strange, new beast. Also,
Ms Davenport and Commander Goddard were missing.  They had no clue on
what to do.  

* * * * * *

The immense figure looked upon the small group and giggled menacingly.
She had successfully captured their adult advisors.  But that's not 
what she was after.  She was after revenge.  Revenge to whoever had 
killed Barney.  She knew exactly who it was thanks to the childrens' 
conversation.  But when would she strike?  Surely, they wouldn't let 
the small boy alone.  She would only have to time the precise moment 
to attack.  She may even have to eliminate each crew member one by 
one.  Not that it seemed a problem.  She could do that easily.  She 
had to plan this out....and quickly.  The sooner that traitor was 
dead, the better.

* * * * * *

Harlan took his turn from the game of Nine Globe Dudley. This was his 
fifth game with Bova, and it was getting quite boring.  Not that Bova
himself was boring, but after playing the game so many times, he got a
bit weary of it.  He had never stayed in one spot in all of his life.
But he had to go through with the planned procedure.  After a few 
moments, he spoke.  "I win," he said eying the young Uranusian.

Bova rolled his eyes.  "Figures.  I haven't won a game yet.  Geez, I 
should have expected it."  

Harlan yawned.  He had heard this phrase over and over again. It was 
hard enough entertaining himself, but he had this shift for such a 
long time!  It was getting incredibly boring.  "Well, what now?" 
Harlan asked in a dull tone.  

"I dunno," Bova said simply.  

"Great."  He sat back and relaxed.  But something made him sit
straight up.  Harlan, extremely curious, could swear he heard a 
strange humming sound from somewhere. But he couldn't pinpoint where 
it was coming from!  He looked around, extremely unaware of what was 
going on. 

"Harlan, what's wrong with you?" Bova asked slightly concerned.  

"Do you hear that?  It's a humming sound...."

"What humming?"

"It's....some sort of humming sound!  I dont know what it is!"

"I dont hear anything."  Bova was starting to get worked up.  He had 
no idea what Harlan was talking about, but Harlan was DEFINITELY 
hearing something.  "Harlan, I dont hear anything.  Are you sure 
you're hearing something?"

"Yeah, it's...it's...."  Harlan wasn't able to finish his sentence.  
His eyes rolled inwards,and he passed out.  

"Harlan?"  Bova moved a bit closer and shook his unconsious comrade.
He didn't stir.  "Oh great, I'm dead," Bova said shakily.  The problem
was, he believed himself.  He quickly hit a communications button.  
"Guys, you better get over here.  Harlan's....you better see this."

"What's going on here?" Radu asked panicked.  

"I dont--"

"Suzee just did the same."

"She'll be fine!  She has to be!" Rosie said, unsure of herself.  

"Bova, we'll be right over there," Radu said urgently.  

"Yeah, you better hurry."

"We will."  And with that, the commucation lines went dead.  

* * * * * *

Radu and Rosie rushed through the corridors of the Christa.  They had
to get to Bova before whatever creature was on the ship did first.

"Oh, I hope he's okay," Rosie said worriedly.  

"Yeah," Radu said half-listening.  It's not that he thought it wasn't 
important, whatever she was saying.  But it was that he was 
concentrating on tracking down the creature.  He listened to the echos
of each room and the locations of the heartbeats.  He heard two 
distinct heartbeats in the engine room.  Human.  'That must be the 
commander and Ms Davenport,' Radu thought.  Well, he had found them, 
but he needed to find the creature.  He heard the clippity-clop of 
Thelma's shoes walking around, and 3 heartbeats in the Rec Room.  3???
Sure enough, there were 3.  One of Harlan's, one of Bova's, and one 
of....  "We have to hurry!" Radu said speeding up.  

Rosie, using every strength of hers, struggled to catch up.  

* * * * * *

Bova backed away from the figure closing in on him.  "W-who are you?"
he asked while trying to get away from the terrifyingly happy dino.

"You know who I am," it said in a threatening voice.

"No I dont."

"You dont?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Oh.  Sorry.  I'm Barney's girlfriend."

"Or wanna be girlfriend."

"Hey!!  I COULD be his girlfriend!"

"Yeah, if he liked you enough to ask you out."

"He did!"

"In a dream."

"It might come true!"

"No it wont.  I killed him."

The female dinosaur began to get extremely angry.  She remembered the 
mission she was on.  This arguing was getting nowhere. She had to kill
him now.  "No matter, I shall kill you now."

"Wait!! I dont even know your name.  I mean, could you just imagine my
luck?"

"What do you mean?"

"Picture this.  Bova: killed by who knows what."  

"Oh, I see your point.  My name....is....Baby Bop," she said in a 
grave tone.  

"BABY BOP?  What kind of weenie name is that?"

"Barney made it up for me!"

"That explains it."

"Grrrr...."  Baby Bop closed in on the Uranusian child.  Bova had 
stalled her for a short time, but it was no use.  He couldn't do 
anything about it.  

"Bova!!" Rosie shouted as she and Radu ran in.  

"Guys!  Help!!"  

Radu and Rosie were shocked when they saw the green dinosaur. Radu 
snapped out of his daze just in time to race in front of Bova.  
"You'll have to get through me first," he said blocking anything that 
may come to Bova.  

"Very well then," Baby Bop said narrowing her eyes.  She then pulled 
out a large gun.  When Bova caught sight of this, he began to laugh 
hysterically.  

"Hey Radu, you better watch out....if you're allergic to water, then 
you better stay away from that water gun!" Bova shouted out, engulf 
in laughter.  

Radu grinned but tried not to laugh.  He knew that the prehistoric 
dino-people of earth always had tricks up their sleeves.  Radu managed
to glimpse at the gun, but then realized it didn't have water in it.
"Uh...Bova, that's not a water gun."

"Then what is it?"

"It's....it looks like....um....a 360 lazer...."

"Uh-oh..."

Rosie looked back and fourth at what was happening.  She didn't know 
what to do.  She couldn't let anything happen to Radu and Bova, but if
she didn't do something quickly, it'd be too late.  So she did the 
only thing she knew how to be.  Be happy. 

"Wait!!  Baby Bop, you dont want to do that do you?" Rosie yelled 
across the room.  

"Yes I DO!!"  The lazer started to power up.  	

"Naw, because Barney doesn't want you to do that.  He's a happy 
person, remember?  He wouldn't want you to kill someone."

"How would you know?"

"Because I was his special friend, and he told me."

"That's a lie."

"No it isn't.  See, I'm like you!  I like to be happy.  You like to be
happy, dont you?"

"I..."

"Do you?  Do you like to sing and shout  and play games?"

"Well..."

"Of course you do! Everyone does! And everyone's special. Because 
everyone's happy."

"They are?  No...."

"Yes, they are.  See, cant you feel the love in this room?"

Bova could only feel tension.  The gun was still pointed towards both
boys, and it was almost at full power.  He could also feel a bit of 
disgust towards the happiness.  

"No, there is no love.  No more love.  No more play.  Baby Bop likes 
to play."

"She reminds me of Warlord Shank.  Talking in third person  I mean," 
Bova whispered toward Radu.  Radu nodded and cracked a smile. 

"Of course Baby Bop likes to play.  But not with ray guns.  Baby Bop 
HATES that, dont you?"

"No..."

"Yes, you do.  Barney told me."

"Barney told you?"

"Yes, he did."

"But....but if you like Barney, how come you made him go away?"

"Because Barney was sick.  He's still out in space, you know. He's 
still out there.  He's not dead."

"But wishbone head said he killed him!!"

"Wishbone head is wrong."

"He is?"

"Yes, he is.  Want to play and sing?"

"No...no, Barney isn't even this happy and nice to Baby Bop."

"Sure he is, and he loves you.  Everyone loves you.  Dont you?" Rosie 
said looking towards Radu and Bova.  Each gave her a strained and 
pleading look, then looked at Baby Bop, smiled, and nodded.  "See?  
They love you too!"

"No.  This is too happy for Baby Bop."

"Too happy?  Nothing is to happy!!  Let's go be happy."  Rosie was 
getting worried.  She had no idea what she was doing, but she had to 
keep being happy.  It wasn't too hard for her, but she worried for her
friends, and it was more of a strain on her.  

"It's...it's blocking my concentration.  Stop talking about happy."

"But everyone's happy!" Rosie exclaimed merrily.  

"NO! Stop it!"

"Everyone's happy you're here.  See? Everyone's smiling!"

"STOP!!"

"And we'll be happy FOREVER."

"NO!!!!!!!!!"  Baby Bop dropped the ray gun and started to back away.
"You need to stop, NOW!"  

Rosie walked towards her.  "No, I think we should be MORE happy, dont
you think?  Guys, are you happy?"

"Extremely happy," Radu spoke up.  

"NO!!"

"I'm happy too," Bova lied.  

"STOP!!!!!"

"And I'm the happiest person alive," Rosie said grinning.  She walked
towards the green, large figure.  She reached out to touch Baby Bops 
hand, when she disappeared.  Rosie looked around, but there was no 
sign of her.  

"W-where'd she go?" Radu asked getting up.  

"She's gone," Rosie said with a sigh of relief.  

"You did it Rosie!" Bova exclaimed.  

"Well you guys helped too."

"But you did it!"

"Good job Rosie!!"

Rosie smiled.  She looked around and saw Harlan.  "We better get 
Harlan, Suzee, Ms Davenport, and Commander Goddard back to normal."

"Ms Davenport and Commander Goddard are in the engine room.  I heard 
them while we were coming here."

"Okay, let's get them."  

* * * * * *

Ms Davenport awoke in the MedLab.  She got up and gave a pained look 
to her face.  She glanced around and saw Commander Goddard sitting in
a chair beside her and looking through a CompuPad.  

"Commander, what happened?" she moaned.  

He looked up and gave a grateful look.  "Thank goodness.  I cant stand
to teach those kids any longer."

Ms Davenport grinned. "Well, I'm glad to see I'm wanted."

"Definitely."  

"Hey Ms D," Harlan said walking into the room.  "You've been out for 
forever."

"Hello Mister Band.  How are you doing on your studies?"

"No better than before," he said with a laugh.  

"Well, what are you doing here?"

"I just came to see how you and Suzee were doing."

"Suzee?"  Sure enough, Suzee was lying on a bed next to her, sound 
asleep.  "Well, what exactly happened to us?"

"It's a long story, TJ," Goddard said with a sigh.  "The kids 
discribed what had happened.  I'll fill you in later."

"But--"

"Just get some rest."

"Well....all right."

Harlan walked over to Suzee and sat down next to her.  "Man," he said,
talking slightly to himself and to the unconsious girl.  "I wish I was
you.  Then I might know the answer to this equation.  Sheesh, what 
happens when an immovable object meets and irrisistable force?"  
Harlan sighed heavily.  

"Not possible," Suzee mumbled.  

Harlan, completely surprised, looked at her curiously.  She opened her
eyes and grinned.  "Uh...thanks."

"No problem, Harlan," she said picking herself up.  "What happened?"

"You really want to know?  Well...."

* * * * * *

Radu grinned as he listened to Harlan go on about how HE had saved the
day.  It was typical of him to take credit for everything, so he 
expected it.  Radu sat in thought.  He didn't know how many more 
comrades Barney had, but he would find out in other adventures to 
come.  

The End

[Authors Note: Now, this story was....I was about to change something,
because I just recently found out a BIG surprise to me.  A friend of 
mine has a sister who watches the show, and so I interrogated her on 
it.  She couldn't tell me much on Baby Bop except for one thing....
Barney and Baby Bop are BROTHER AND SISTER!!!  I couldn't believe it,
and it makes my story seem gross.  Well, I swear that when I started 
it, I didn't KNOW!!  So, um....in the story, they're officially not 
brother and sister.  :o)  Okay?]