Chapter 4

Early the next morning, Peter picked up Captain Marvel and they went to see Cosmo at his office. To Captain Marvel’s credit, if she was surprised that the entire space station’s security was the responsibility of a talking Earth dog, she didn’t show it. But then again, she was probably used to seeing a lot of strange stuff during her work with the Avengers.

“Nice to make your acquaintance, Carol,” Cosmo said. “May I call you Carol?”

“Uh, yes, feel free,” Captain Marvel responded as she shook Cosmo’s paw.

“Thank you. Would you like some kibble?” Cosmo asked as he pushed a little dish of dog food across the desk to Captain Marvel.

“Oh, no, thank you,” Captain Marvel replied politely.

“So. How can I help you?” asked Cosmo as he gnawed away on a bone.

But before Captain Marvel would say anything about the mission, she told Peter to ask his friend a few questions that only the real Cosmo would know the answer to.

“Where did I get this scratch last week?” asked Peter, pointing to a small abrasion on his arm.

“That probably happened when we were forced to give Rocket a bath,” said Cosmo, “on account of those radioactive space ticks that he picked up.”

“It’s true,” Peter confirmed. “Rocket hates baths. He was scratching and biting the whole time.”

“Ask him one more, please,” Captain Marvel requested. “Just to be sure.”

“What game do you like to play in the hologram video game system?” Peter asked.

“The one where you get to chase a mailman with rocket-boots,” Cosmo replied.

It was true. Peter had played that game with him before. It was pretty boring. You just chased the mailman, caught him, and chased him again—over and over.

“That’s Cosmo for sure,” Peter confirmed.

“Now what’s with all the strange questions?” asked Cosmo.

Captain Marvel filled him in about the missing Skrull agent and the pieces of the Ultimate Nullifier.

“So you asked those questions to make sure a Skrull hadn’t taken my shape and was pretending to be me,” Cosmo realized. “Very smart.”

Cosmo took the Skrull threat very seriously. He didn’t want to be known as the head of security who let a dangerous criminal get away with one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. How would that look on his résumé? Not very good!

Cosmo assigned his best security officer, Deputy Yon-Rogg, to work with them. Yon-Rogghad lived on Knowhere for many years and knew everyone who made their home there. If someone was acting strangely, or something was out of place, Yon-Rogg would be able to spot it.

“We’ll find your dirty Skrull spy,” said Yon-Rogg, who was a member of the alien race known as the Kree. The Kree didn’t usually like the Skrull very much, because there had been a long Kree-Skrull War that left both sides angry and bitter.

As they set off to search for the spy, Cosmo warned Peter not to tell anyone about their mission. “The only advantage you have is that the Skrull spy probably doesn’t know that you’re looking for them yet,” Cosmo pointed out. “So don’t mention it to anyone. Not even your closest friends, the other Guardians of the Galaxy. Because if word gets around, your Skrull will probably run somewhere else.”

Peter reluctantly agreed. He saw the importance of Cosmo’s advice, but he didn’t like the idea of hiding things from his best friends.

Star-Lord, Captain Marvel, and Yon-Rogg set out right away, looking for anything suspicious. They searched the restaurants, they searched the stores, they searched the streets. But after hours of hard work, their search of Knowhere was going. . . Nowhere.

“Nothing. Still nothing!!”

“You must enjoy living here.” said Captain Marvel to Peter as they searched. “It’s such an interesting place.”

“I do. . . .” replied Peter. “Well, usually I do. Recently I’ve been feeling homesick. It’s been a long time since I left Earth, and sometimes I feel so different from everyone around me.”

“I know what you mean,” said Captain Marvel.

“You do?” asked Peter, surprised. “But you live on Earth.”

“Yes, but ever since I absorbed alien DNA, I’ve only actually been half human,” explained Captain Marvel. “That’s something some people on Earth don’t understand. When they find out I’m not fully human, they always look atme a little differently, and I don’t always feel like I fit in.”

Before she could finish, Yon-Rogg ran up to the pair of earthlings, interrupting the conversation.

“Star-Lord, Captain Marvel, come with me! I think we’ve found something!”