First...since I have to give copyright acknowledgements....

Speed Racer is (c) 2003 by Speed Racer Enterprises.

Doctor Who is (c) 2003 by the British Broadcasting Corporation

Star Blazers is (c) 2003 by Voyager Entertainment, Inc.

I claim no rights to any of these series, and respectfully dedicate this piece to the memory of Jon Pertwee, who played the third incarnation of The Doctor from 1970 to 1974.

With that out of the way (and hoping I haven't given away too much) we shall begin. And please be nice to me in your reviews! This is my first Speed Racer fanfic even though I have been watching the series...well...since 1967.

"Speed, what are you doing?" asked Trixie Shimura.

"I've got something with the metal detector...I think," said Gregory "Speed" Racer as he walked around with the new metal detector unit that Sparky had loaned the couple to keep them amused while he prepared the Mach Five for the TransAmerica Race. "Besides, wasn't it your idea to look for buried treasure?"

Trixie dug a toe into the sand as Speed circled around a hillock of sand on the beach. The metal detector beeped ever more loudly as the unit's detector ring reached the center of the hillock. "It's here."

"Probably just a coin or something," said Trixie.

"No, it's bigger than that. Trixie, help me dig!"

Speed and Trixie knelt in the sand in their swimwear and began digging. It wasn't long until they found something that was silver and gleaming.

A bit more digging revealed the object; a small crystal ball about the size of Trixie's petite fist, set in an ornate silver setting of some type.

"It's beautiful!" said Trixie as they pulled out the small globe. "Look at how the sun shines through this crystal."

"It sure is beautiful," said Speed as he picked up the object. "I wonder who made it? This decoration at the bottom sure looks...weird..."

Trixie held the object, looking at the ornate carvings in the silver setting. "Skulls? Rams' Heads? And what kind of weird writing is this?"

"I don't...know," said Speed in a soft voice as he grabbed the crystal again. "It's melted at the bottom...right here...look..."

"Let me look at that again," said Trixie. She shivered as she held the object again. "Rams' Heads...and pentacles...maybe witches made this...or maybe...devil-worshippers? It looks creepy. I don't like it!"

"So? We can sell this to a museum, can't we? Maybe a witch running from Salem dropped it when she was flying on her broomstick."

"Speed, Salem is in Massachusetts. We're in Maine, and we're going to be racing in four days from now. We don't have time for this."

"Okay, so why don't I just hold on to it?" said Speed in a belligerent tone of voice.

"Speed...that's not like you. Just put it back," said Trixie with concern in her dark eyes. "We can go look for Spanish Doubloons on another part of this beach."

"I'm going to keep this...it's...it's...precious to me."

"No, you won't keep it," said a voice from over the sand dunes.

A moment later, a rather tall man...a man close to seven feet tall, as a matter of fact, came over the dunes. He had a slightly olive complexion, shoulder-length black hair, and he wore what looked like a red racing firesuit trimmed with gold with high black boots.

Speed also noticed that the stranger had a rather large handgun in his right hand. A handgun pointed right at him.

"Who are you?" demanded Speed with raised fists while Trixie began looking for something to use to help defend Speed and herself. In the meantime, Speed thought, **If he turns his head for a minute, I can get the jump on him and get that gun**.

"That's not **important** to you," sneered the man in a foreign accent that sounded vaguely Arabic. "What you should be worried about is me. That sphere is very important to us. Hand it over, and I'll let you and your girlfriend go free, with no questions asked whatsoever."

***That thing may be weird*** thought Trixie. ***But, I get the feeling that it'll be worse off in his hands than ours***

"Haven't you ever heard of the law regarding buried treasure?" demanded Speed as the man drew closer. "Treasure belongs to the finder...at least until we can tell who might have left it here..."

"And who would you turn it in to?"

"A friend of ours in Interpol who's helped us," said Speed while he thought, ***I'm not giving this globe up...but I need to buy time!*** "Now, just let us go, and..."

"I don't think so," said the man. "Now, you have one of two choices. You can either peacefully surrender to me the sphere...the D'jlatts of Ekogaru, we call it...or...I can take it from your dead hands after I kill you both. Your choice. Don't deliberate for long, now. I don't **have** all day."

Speed balled up his hands in fists after he handed the sphere to Trixie. "Drop that gun, and let's have a fair fight!"

"I don't think so," sneered the man as he drew a bead on them.

Trixie's eyes went wide as he prepared to fire. **I'll distract him so Speed can get a jump on him** she thought, preparing to throw a pebble. But, she noticed a gleam of metal over the dunes. She threw the pebble, and yelled, "Speed! Get down! There's more of them!"

"What?" asked Speed as Trixie threw herself on top of him, thwarting his desire to jump their enemy.

The man cursed and then fired. Speed and Trixie swore they heard the passage of the bullet right over their heads as they lay in the sand.

But, just as Speed looked up to try and rush the man, there was a second crack of gunfire from behind the dune. The tall would-be thief suddenly fell like a sack of potatoes...he had been shot right in the head.

Speed and Trixie looked up, ready to fight this newcomer.

However, Speed stopped in his tracks when the newcomer came over the dunes, and his mouth fell open.

The person who had shot the would-be thief was a young woman who looked scarcely older than Trixie! And she was blond!

"Who are you?" asked Speed as the young woman (who wore a bright pink romper and dark sunglasses) ran towards them.

The girl just raised her hand in a gesture of warning as she holstered her gun in her belt. She kicked over their mutual enemy with a petite bare boot and then knelt to look at his staring, frozen eyes with a small penlight. Trixie noticed that whoever this girl was, she didn't seem fazed by all of the blood coming from the back of their enemy's shattered head.

"Pupils are fixed and dilated...no response," said the girl in a low but authoritative alto voice. "No pulse. Good...he's dead."

Then, she took her glasses off as she approached Speed and Trixie.

Trixie groaned to herself as Speed's mouth fell open as he looked the girl over. She was beautiful, no doubt about it...she had honey-blonde hair falling to her shoulders, with a tight little curl at each cheekbone. She had a thin, perfectly shaped nose, and expressive dark brown eyes with luxurious lashes. ***She can handle a gun, looks like a model, and Speed's drooling over her, damnit! Here we go again...***

"Speed!" snapped Trixie as she slapped him in the back of the head to try to get him back to his senses.

"Trixie...she's...beautiful..."

"You don't have to make it so obvious," huffed Trixie. "And you note that she just killed that man."

"Yes, to defend us, Trixie."

"How do we know that?" snapped Trixie. "Maybe she's in league with them."

"You're Speed Racer?" asked the girl.

Speed nodded.

"I'd pay a bit more attention to your girlfriend if I were you. Besides, I'm already taken," said the young woman with a low laugh. "Even though I'm sure that both of you are grateful that I just saved your lives. I'm also glad you flushed him out."

"Why?" said Speed. "Who is he? And who are you?"

"Well...I can't tell you everything...but...that man worked for some very vicious characters. And we can't talk long...there might be more of them coming soon. You just stumbled into this by accident. They're really after me."

"What do they want?" asked Trixie.

"What you just found," said the young woman as they began to walk down the beach towards a bathhouse near the parking lot. "I was trying to find it."

"Why?" asked Speed. "This sounds very suspicious."

"The people I work for need that. But since there's just one of me, and two of you, I think you'd better hold onto that object...for now, anyway. But I think you'd better call the police so it can get into the right hands. Today. You said you knew an Interpol agent?"

"How'd you know that?" said Speed.

"I overheard your conversation. You could say I'm here on a stakeout...for the people I work for."

"Are you some kind of secret agent?" asked Trixie.

The woman refused to answer. Instead, she just stopped to pick up a seashell. For a moment, Speed noticed that her eyes were far away, gazing up into space. Then, the woman said, "Who's your friend in Interpol?"

"Inspector Detector. He has a beard and a fedora..."

The woman nodded. "Then it'd be a good idea for you to call him today. Turn that over to him as soon as possible. It may...save your life. "

They walked on in silence for about five minutes until they reached the bathhouse and the parking lot. Then, the woman said, "Now, shall we go towards the Mach Five? I'm parked next to you."

Speed and Trixie looked at each other and nodded, opening the Mach Five's trunk. ***No Spritle and Chim-Chim this time, thank God***. Trixie threw on a short sundress to cover up her swimsuit while Speed pulled on one of his Go Team polo shirts before picking up the crystal sphere and his metal detector.

The young woman stood near a white Mustang convertible pulling on a pair of pink boots that matched her romper.

"If I can advise you," said the young woman. "Call the police for protection and then turn over that sphere today. It's not safe for you to have that thing in your hands for too long."

"Is it radioactive?" asked Trixie.

"No...but some say it has supernatural powers. It's not of this Earth, if I can say that. And maybe saying that much about the object was too much. Be sure you do it today. I'll be keeping my eye on you."

"Who are you, and why do you have to poke your nose into our business?" asked Speed. "And if you're legitimate, why won't you stay here to answer questions for Inspector Detector? He'll want some explanation for the fact that you shot that man, even though you seemed to be helping us."

"My business here is known already, at least to the right people. I'm going to be in the race, acting as the navigator for the man I love. We're members of the Omega Team."

"And what's your name?" asked Speed as he leaned against the Mach Five.

The young woman started her car. "My name's Nova. Let's just leave it at that. Good luck in the time trials!"

At that, Nova drove off as if all of the hounds of hell were after her.

"She's gorgeous," said Speed.

"She also said she's taken," huffed Trixie. "I'm sure you don't want to get in the way of her boyfriend...whoever he is. And what about us?"

"Oh...I'm sorry," laughed Speed as he put on his sneakers. "You know how pretty women turn my head." Then, he turned silent as he looked at the sphere. "This thing is so...odd. That girl sure left in a hurry. I wonder who that man was? I hope she calls the authorities."

"I think we should call the police now. She said there may be more of those evil men around," said Trixie. "Let's go back to the motel and call the police."

"There's a phone over there...we can do it from here," said Speed as he pointed at a pay phone.

"Good. And call Inspector Detector, too. I want you to get rid of that...thing. Today!"

"Why are you so adamant about this?"

"It gives me the creeps, that's why. I can't explain it. I don't want you to have that, Speed. Maybe it would have been better if you had given it to that girl."

"Can we trust her? I mean, she says she's with Team Omega, but she's here at just the right time with a gun...with a silencer, at that. She knows something about that object, and she says she works for people. Whom?"

"Military Intelligence, maybe. Or maybe she's a secret agent of some kind, Speed."

"Weird. She said it has...supernatural properties?"

"And she told us to turn it over to the police. That's the smart thing to do, Speed! It must be some mysterious work of art or something...like the Hope Diamond, or that crystal Mayan skull I've read about. Maybe she's working with Inspector Detector or the International Secret Police. And she said her name was Nova? That can't be a real name, Speed..."

"Weird," said Speed. "But I don't think we have to let Inspector Detector know about this...yet."

At that, Speed Racer slipped the sphere into the pocket of his swim trunks. "We don't need to tell the police we have this. Let's go call them now."

"Okay, Speed. Whatever you think is right," sighed Trixie.

***Why is he acting like this?*** she thought as they ran over to the pay phone near the bath-house. ***Does that thing have some sort of hold on him? What's going on with that globe, and why do all of those people want it?***

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Later, Inspector Detector had arrived with the police. "You're sure that's what the woman looked like?" he said.

Speed nodded. "She was tall...about a head taller than Trixie. Blond hair and very long legs."

"Hmph!" said Trixie as she put her nose up in the air.

"Excuse me?" said Inspector Detector.

"I'm sorry, sir," said Trixie. "Just jealousy."

"Trixie, I was just describing her...after all you know she killed a man

before."

"Yes, but she did save our lives."

"Did she drive a white Mustang?" asked Inspector Detector.

Speed nodded.

A moment later, the police brought out a body bag, a body bag that they handed to some men in black suits that came out of some government-issue sedans that had followed the police there. One of the men in black looked in the bag, running his hands through the tall man's hair. Speed thought he heard him muttering, "Yes, R'Khell," before he ordered his mates to close the bag and put the body in a panel truck.

The man in black came up to Inspector Detector and whispered something. Inspector Detector nodded, and said, "Speed, let me know what happened."

"Of course. Trixie and I were looking for treasure with our metal detector...just for something to do...when that man showed up, threatened us, and demanded some treasure we...didn't have."

"Speed!" whispered Trixie.

"Well...we didn't have what he wanted. But he said he was going to kill us. I was about to try fighting him, when that woman showed up and shot him. Then, she said that she knew he worked for some vicious characters, and..."

The detective nodded. "Then she was working to defend you and herself. Was she looking for something?"

"She said she was," said Speed.

"Speed, tell him the truth," Trixie whispered in Speed's ear.

"But I take it that they didn't find it," said Inspector Detector as he looked into Speed's eyes.

"No...they didn't."

"Very well...we'll be looking for it. That item is a very dangerous object. That's all I can say about it. You're free to go. Thank you, Speed."

As he and Trixie drive off in the Mach Five, one of the men in black said, "So, what do you think?"

"I think he's hiding something, Mister Turtel."

"We could hold him for questioning," said Captain Mock Turtel, head of the US Government Interagency Intelligence detail dealing with the matter.

"No. Let's not."

"Why?"

"I trust him. I think it'll be safe in his hands, if he has it. We have orders to make sure that it gets to the end of the TransAmerica Race in Brazil safely."

"Yes, from there, UNIT can deal with it, Inspector?"

"UNIT?"

"United Nations Intelligence Task Force. The girl who shot at this man is working with them. She knows precisely what is going on."

"What **is** going on?"

"I don't have the clearance to tell you, Inspector. But, it affects both the present...and the future. Keep your eye on Mister Greg racer. Is that understood?"

Inspector Detector nodded, but he immediately swore to himself that he was going to get to the bottom of this case himself if it was the last thing he did.

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What is the strange sphere that Speed and Trixie have found?

Why is it having such a weird effect on Speed's mind?

Who was the strange man who wanted to kill them?

What does UNIT have to do with this?