

Fractured

Worlds

Book one of the Fractured Worlds saga.

By Alan VanMeter
Copyright © 2014 Alan VanMeter

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1500988022

ISBN-13: 978-1500988029

For Leena and Tristan; May your dreams always be as big, and pure as your hearts are.
CONTENTS

 | Prologue | i

---|---|---

1 | You are a lucky winner! | 9

2 | It will be fun, really | 14

3 | The Greatest Adventure | 24

4 | The Quest | 35

5 | No return | 43

6 | They must vanish | 53

7 | Gateway | 65

8 | Finding Favor | 88

9 | The Golden Fish | 113

10 | Never in your wildest dreams. | 121

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

 | Success at last

Captured

The Bird Cage

Welcome to Tomorrow

Time to Fly

Together Forever

The Deep Blue Sea

The Impossible

A Strange Sort of Welcome

Fractures

A Million to One

A New Home | 147

159

175

252

285

309

327

341

352

387

396

416

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 |

 |   
 |

Do not imagine that an integral being has the

ambition of enlightening the unaware or raising worldly people to the Divine Realm.

To her there is no self and other; and hence no one to be raised; no heaven and hell, and hence no destination.

Therefore her only concern is her own sincerity.

-Lao Tzu-

Prologue

As the last speaker finished his short tribute, he introduced the next speaker, the one everyone had really come to hear. A woman of great beauty rose from the front row of the huge crowd, and made her way to the podium. She wore a form fitting, yet lightly loose silky black dress with white pin stripes that stopped just above her knees. Her long straight hair was even more light and silky than the dress, and sparkled with her naturally shiny silver color. Instantly she captivated the many eyes of all who were present. She took the podium with poise, and confidence that was obvious.

"The beginning of everything was before my Mother was even born, but I heard the stories about it from her, and her parents as though it were only yesterday, or perhaps tomorrow. Everything changes, and everything returns. This they taught me as a matter of life itself." She smiled sincerely before proceeding.

"To say I was blessed would be to put it mildly indeed!" She insisted. "Our destiny is not a mere blessing you see, it is a birthright! It was earned with bodies, minds, and souls."

1: You are a lucky winner!

The advertisements were all over the internet, in every major magazine, on billboards lining the roads, and seemed to be repeated every commercial break on the major networks. It was being hyped as the biggest contest ever, and indeed it was.

The corporation promoting the event; 'Dreamland', was a household word. It had become a global monopoly controlling a large market share of the entertainment industry. With its' humble beginnings as an amusement park, the company had grown until it now had its hands in everything from movies, to toys, to leading edge technology development. There were several crazy days on Wall Street when they made public their intentions to hold a contest with such a prize. Some members of the media even went so far as to dub it the 'Willie Wonka' contest.

The promotion stated; "We are looking for someone special. Someone special enough to run our company for us! You heard us right. Seven lucky winners will each receive an equal part of the majority of Dreamland stock, making these seven lucky people the new presidents and acting CEO's of the entire Dreamland Corporation. Sound too good to be true? Well here's the catch; we are only looking for good people. Such good people in fact that only children twelve years old and under may enter. Simply write an essay in fifty words or less describing what 'good' means to you. Forty nine finalists will be chosen from the entries, and those good kids will be invited to take part in a very special quest at Dreamland's biggest amusement park to determine whom the seven lucky winners are. A note to any parent or adult who would attempt to put words into their children's mouths, or onto their essays; don't bother, it won't work."

That was what sparked the most fevered burst of writing that the world had ever known. Scores of professional writers, philosophers, and parents didn't pay heed to the warning, and true to the promise made, most all of these essays were disregarded. Of all the millions of works written by children, forty nine good hearts were found. This is not to say that there were only forty nine good children, but rather those that were chosen were truly very special indeed, with perhaps a single exception.

When Tristan Welsh and his younger sister Leena sat down to start writing their essays, their parents were a little apprehensive as to why they wanted to enter such a contest. After all they had tried to instill a sense that material possessions were not the most important things in life, but rather that love was. Tristan had explained that he was describing the love in his heart, and when Leena had added, "Yeah, and if we win; we'll make Dreamland a real nice place for people to visit." the Welsh's' could tell that their children were quite serious. This didn't worry them too much however, as the odds of winning were only several hundred million to one.

It didn't take long for Leena to finish her essay, as she knew exactly what was good. The essay read; "My Mom, and Dad, and big brother are good. I love them and they love me. I guess that means love is good, but it's only good if it is shared." This was the ultimate truth to her and that shone with the light of a thousand suns. Tristan had a slightly harder time getting started than did his sister. It is difficult to try to describe something you feel very deeply. The more he thought about it the harder it became. When frustration clouded his mind, he finally stopped trying so hard, and that was when the words came. "Good is that warm feeling in your heart that can't be described, but you know it is right because it's not selfish. Now I know this must be the source of it."

Several months rolled by, and then on a warm sunny Saturday afternoon the telephone rang. Neither Tristan nor Leena thought much of this at first, until they heard their mother's voice raise in exclamation, "What?...This has to be a joke!...Wait, what was your name again?" There was a lengthy pause as she scribbled something down while listening. Then, "Both of them?" she almost shouted. "Now I know this has to be a prank!" She was quiet for several more moments. By now both of the children's interest was piqued, for they had never heard their mother raise her voice on the phone before. "No, I haven't checked my E-mail recently. Is there a number I can call to confirm this?" She again wrote something down. "Well, all right, thank you." And with that she hung up.

The perplexed looks from her children did not elicit a response, instead she called their father in from the backyard. After a quick, hushed exchange, both of them went to their bedroom and shut the door. Tristan and Leena crept close to listen, but the door muted their parent's voices so they couldn't pick up the conversation. Within a few minutes their father came out of the room with a shocked look on his face, and then got on-line. After which he made a phone call from their bedroom. Stranger still; within a half hour an express delivery package arrived, and then their parents again retreated to their room. Finally after what seemed like forever being left in the dark, their mother called them into their room, and told them to have a seat on the bed.

Their father was already seated on the bed, and had the strange package with its contents spread out before him. After both were seated, he began; "Well it looks like you've really gone and done it this time." Michael Welsh gazed sternly at both of his children. "It seems as though...." He let the words hang for a moment before his expression changed to a vigorous smile, "You are both lucky winners in the Dreamland essay contest!" He finished almost shouting. Several long moments rolled by as Tristan and Leena looked at each other in wild amazement. Screams of delight erupted, followed by hugs and kisses.

2: It will be fun, really.

The day Tristan, Leena and their parents were to leave for Dreamland was hectic to say the least. A huge crowd of well-wishers swarmed them at the airport to start with, followed by reporters and their camera crews. Then the Mayor of their town himself captured them, as he tried to horn in on the media attention. This wasn't something that Michael and Jackie Welsh had counted upon, and it wasn't appreciated at all. Even Tristan thought that this somewhat quasi-celebrity status cast an unwelcome shadow on the excitement of the event. He sure hoped that shadow would be left behind them as they boarded the plane bound for Dreamland, and their wildest dreams.

There was no clamorous crowd at the Dreamland private sector of the airport, just a designated chaperone and staff. Instead of being treated like mere celebrities, they were treated like royalty. Their chaperone had their luggage taken to the waiting limousine, and they were whisked away to the Dreamland hotel in the amusement park.

Their room was a penthouse suite, and the luxury accommodations were the likes they had only seen pictures or videos of. Michael and Jackie were impressed, and the children were beside themselves. The chaperone was a mild mannered young man named Gary, and he left them at their suite with an informational video disk for them to watch, with instructions to help themselves to anything and everything that room service could offer. "I'll be back for you at one PM for the 'Welcome Picnic'." He said before leaving.

The suite was huge; entirely too large even for the family of four. Tristan went exploring it right away, and came back amazed.

"There are three bathrooms! One in each bedroom." He beamed excitedly.

"This is really too much." Jackie spoke softly to Michael.

"Yeah, but look how much the kids like it." He offered in return.

"All three of them." She added.

So they went about unpacking and settling in, as they had been instructed to prepare for up to a two week stay. Soon all were relaxing and enjoying the accommodations, and then they decided to watch the informational video given to them. It was an elaborate welcoming film with a brief description of the park, dining facilities, and room services available, all at absolutely no cost. They were told that all of them were welcome to anything, and everything they wished, courtesy of Dreamland of course. The woman on the video instructed them that they could easily access any other information from the TV, and how to navigate the Dreamland private network. There were educational and information channels, as well as a myriad of entertainment channels, which was to be expected from these leaders of the amusement world.

Soon their chaperone, Gary, was back at their door to take them to the gala picnic in the Grand Courtyard, and the four obliged him. Outside a custom electric powered golf cart of sorts, but much bigger and more luxurious, quickly took them to the courtyard where forty seven other families were gathering. Everyone could see right away that this was to be a festive occasion, or rather a full blown party. There were a multitude of different food stands offering everything from apple pies to zucchini bread, and plenty of it all. Interspersed with the food stands they found games and interesting challenges for prizes. Also there were numerous exciting exhibits.

Dreamland had really pulled out all stops for this affair. All the while a well-known pop-rock band belted out tunes from the far end of the courtyard. The music wasn't too loud though, just enough to give a pleasant backdrop to the carnival like atmosphere. Warm sun drenched the scene from the rich blue sky, making for a picture perfect afternoon. It was quite obvious that everyone was making the most out of it, and having a great time. The Welsh's were definitely no exception to this rule; this was a day that they would all remember with fondness. Through the afternoon they also met quite a few people, as everyone was encouraged to socialize with each other. Gary was always nearby, but never intrusive, as were any of the other chaperones.

The children took to the socializing as if it were second nature to them. Leena quickly made friends with a timid eight year old girl named Becky, whom was only a year junior to Leena. Becky was slightly chubby and almost a foot shorter than Leena, whom with her long blonde hair, and natural beauty; attracted the attention of more than one of the boys around. Even though Leena didn't outwardly notice this, her new friend sure did, and the good natured teasing commenced. Leena wouldn't believe a word of it though, or at least that what she pretended. Secretly she hoped it was true. Becky received no such attention, and Leena felt a bit pitiful for her. She thought the little red haired girl was somewhat cute herself, though she had to admit that most boys probably wouldn't share her view. Their differences however, made them a perfect complement to each other, and this fostered each of their unique talents as well. Leena with her natural ability to appreciate the true beauty of a soul, and Becky whom could see the very essence and underlying truth of the same.

Tristan had made several new fiends as well, and though they were all the ripe young age of mischief; none of the boys had such in their hearts that day. A boy Tristan's own age of twelve, named Joshua, and he bonded as friends quickly. They found interest and fascination in many of the games, and challenges presented. After all Dreamland was the definitive expert in the field of entertainment. Both Tristan and Joshua found a certain 'hands-on' exposition of a Mars lander to be the most exciting challenge of all. It required a tricky bit of cyber maneuvering that needed the utmost in team work to successfully complete the computer generated mission of landing on Mars, without crashing. Tristan and Joshua were the only ones to complete the maneuver without flaw, and this made them pretty popular in the eyes of their peers. They were both very smart boys, and an even mental match; although Tristan had the keen ability to quickly grasp most any concept thrown at him. Joshua on the other hand was much more attuned to understanding what others expected of him, and how to achieve this compliance, even if it took complex problem solving. Another boy named William joined the pair after their Mars lander success. Although he was only ten years old, he quickly warmed up to the older boys, as he really enjoyed their company. William was very much fond of Tristan's sister, and Joshua clearly felt this. Tristan found the younger boy to be very hip, and instantly liked him, although he couldn't sense what Joshua could. Too soon the glorious afternoon was over, and night found all of the Welsh clan quite exhausted and quickly to bed.

During the next two days the winning contestants and their families had exclusive free run of the entire facility, as Dreamland had closed the park to all others. The bonds that the children made were especially deep for the time allotted them. This was in part due to their inherent good nature, and that they were having the time of their lives.

Everything went along without a hitch, with one exception that is. It was probably inevitable that the looming competition scheduled to start the fourth day would cause, or more appropriately, be the catalyst for an incident. Several of the fathers of other children got into a heated shouting match that almost became ugly before the ever present security forces quickly defused the situation. It was found after words that one of the men had managed to sneak a bottle of liquor into the park, which was strictly forbidden. This almost caused the man's son, a boy named Larken, to be disqualified from the competition that everyone now knew of as 'The Quest', but the last minute intervention by the longtime president and CEO of Dreamland prevented this.

Most of the children would not have minded this expulsion, as Larken was one of the most unlikeable of all the children; being somewhat arrogant, and selfish. Instead the father had simply been removed from the park. This prompted the first time any of the contestants had a glimpse of the famous Chief Executive Officer and founder of Dreamland; Ms. Millie Schotner. Her reputation as a ruthless shark in the financial world, was vilified by the manner in which she carried herself. After the above incident she made an appearance to address the parents with their children; during which she admonished them not to become overly involved in the competition between the children, emotionally or otherwise. This was, as she so eloquently put it; "A matter for the pure of heart." Not a soul would dare argue with her on that, or most any other point; as one look from the woman's gaze spoke volumes. She didn't appear past sixty in age, but her eyes told of decades more wisdom. There were other indications of her great power, but these were only apparent to a small handful of the children, and of these only Becky could see something truly ghastly.

After the meeting, Becky confided to Leena that the old woman had really terrified her.

"She has got to be at least a thousand years old!" Becky quivered.

Leena merely stated, "She just seems like she is used to being the boss."

Becky looked shocked, "What do you mean? I've never seen anything like her before,...I just can't believe she could even be alive!"

Leena didn't understand. She couldn't, at least not yet.

The morning of the fourth day was the beginning of the competition, and all of the children with their parents were gathered in the Great Hall; where the previous meeting by Millie Schotner had been held. Each of the children contestants had been given a brightly colored jumpsuit to wear. These were made of some fantastic metallic like material, and adorned with Dreamland 'Quest' patches.

As the last of the families and children were gathering into the hall, and the appointed time drew near; Leena started to become frantic. She searched the crowd visually for her new friend Becky, but couldn't see her. Just then a man in a yellow Dreamland jumpsuit went to the podium on the stage, and spoke into a microphone.

"Are we all here?" he pleasantly asked.

Leena was just about to yell out; "NO!" when she finally spotted Becky being encouraged into the hall by her parents. Becky was obviously frightened, and resisting. Leena told her own parents that she would be right back.

Becky was in tears, clinging to her father.

"What's wrong Becky?" Leena queried earnestly.

Her dad spoke for her. "She'll be all right."

"Shhhhhshh!" Becky's mother interposed.

Leena felt a wave of commiseration for the poor frightened girl.

The loud speakers crackled, and the man's voice blared forth.

"Welcome to the Quest!" He said with heavy anticipation in his voice. "This will be the most exciting and fun filled journey ever undertaken by any of you children....the pure of heart."

The parents all applauded as the man paused.

Then he continued, "This will not be a solo effort though." At this news a few murmurs were heard. "You will be grouped into seven separate teams of seven players each."

Just then Leena heard a familiar giggle from behind her. It was Becky. Leena looked at her quizzically, and seeing her friend's confusion Becky whispered, "He's a funky looking monkey." This brought a smile to Leena's face, even if it wasn't understood.

The speaker proceeded, "Now if we can have all the contestants come up to the stage, and stand in the area marked the same color as your jumpsuits."

Leena saw that Becky's and her jumpsuit were the same color of vibrant gold, as were Tristan's and the friends he'd made already. As all the children made their way to the designated spots, the man at the podium went on, "Please, each team take a few minutes to get acquainted with your team mates if you don't know them already."

The members of their team were; Tristan, Leena, Becky, Joshua, William, another nine year old girl named Sarah, and finally one of the youngest children in the Quest; a seven year old girl named Penelope.

After the children were introduced, the speaker announced; "If all the teams would please follow me to the briefing room, we will get this magnificent adventure underway."

Leena turned to Becky and voiced, "Come on!" She put her hand out in gesture. "It'll be fun....really."

A huge round of applause erupted from the parents as the children left the stage.

3: The greatest adventure

The parents were shown to a comfortable viewing lounge where they could watch the progress from numerous video monitors, as the children were led to the briefing room. The transition from the grandiose polished finishes of the Great Hall, to the sterile bright environment that reminded of NASA's Mission control, was stark. There were all kinds of computer consoles, and large digital maps on most of the walls. Tristan was in awe.

"Whoa! Shivers just went up my spine." He breathed, as if he were in heaven.

Most of the other children weren't a dazzled as Tristan, and so they actually heard the first part of the briefing.

"These caverns, or catacombs more correctly, are totally safe to enter." A man was saying, and this finally got Tristan's attention. The man went on, "If all of you will notice the large video map to your right." Their attention was drawn to a large and impressive 3-D overhead view of the catacombs he had mentioned, everyone's except for Becky's that is. Leena noticed this and followed her friend's gaze to a control bank at the far end of the room.

"Look!" Becky exclaimed in a hushed voice, "There's some more of those funky looking monkeys."

Leena only saw some technicians in yellow jumpsuits, as opposed to the blue ones most wore, but just then one of the yellow suit technicians definitely saw them starring. He started eyeing them intently, as if he heard every word they said.

"I don't see them." Leena uttered, and then quickly turned her head away.

"Never mind." Becky too turned her attention back to the speaker.

Every fiber of nerves bristled in Leena momentarily, but then subsided.

"When we take you to the main cavern," the briefing continued, "you will find that there are literally dozens of possible paths to choose from." The man paused for a moment as he observed the groups. "Now this is where your Quest truly begins! To fully explain your objective, let me now turn the briefing over to the incomparable Ms. Schotner." The man turned to his right and began applauding, as did all of the technicians. This prompted most of the children to follow suit. Becky didn't join in though, instead she shied away behind her taller friend Leena, as the stern looking woman took the podium.

The woman held up her hand to quiet the applause. "Children, this could be the most important day of your lives." She let that sink in for a long second. "For only one team will succeed in the Quest, where the others will not. This is quite necessary, because otherwise we cannot determine the attributes and aptitudes which are needed for success, and to then be capable of running Dreamland." Millie Schotner paused for a sip of water before continuing. "If this were not crucial we wouldn't need to test so many of you....good children, now would we?" She smiled. "You see, what we need is an absolute perfect mix of talents to take this corporation into this millennia, and continue its fine tradition of good, wholesome entertainment." Again all the employees erupted in applause.

"Now let's get down to business." She spoke over the quieting troop. "Your team's objective is a secret chamber at the end of these catacombs. Only the team that performs in perfect harmony with each other will overcome the obstacles, and claim the prize. This is not a race though, so take your time and work things out. Some of the obstacles you encounter will be real, while others will not be. Just trust in yourselves, and let your good hearts guide you." With a quick glance around the room she could see concern or worry on many of the children's faces, but this was anticipated. "Please have no fear. At no time will you be in any real danger. If however one of you should happen to scrape a knee, or bruise an elbow; assistance will be readily available. Each team will be equipped with a communication device, which will allow you instant access to Central Control here. Also a guide will be assigned to each team, and stationed in the main cavern during the entire Quest; so if you have any issues they will shortly be along to help."

Leena began to think that they were going to an awful lot of trouble to sell them on the idea of just how safe this was going to be. This made her worry just a little, that and the way the yellow suited technician had looked at them.

Ms. Schotner cleared her throat, and took another sip of water before continuing, "In addition, every one of you will be issued a knapsack that is yours to keep as a memento. This contains everything you should need on your adventure, including plenty of snacks." That brought more than a few smiles.

"Are you excited?" She raised her voice.

Dozens of young voices cheered in response.

"Well then LET THE QUEST BEGIN!" The old woman shouted.

Again the children erupted in cheers.

As it quieted down Millie Schotner finished, "Now I will turn it back over to Mr. Green, whom will answer any questions that you might have." She waved as she walked off stage, and again the employees instigated a huge round of applause. After which the man who had started the briefing spoke at the podium's microphone again.

"Are there any questions?"

William was already raising his hand before the man even finished speaking. As the man pointed to him, William asked, "Yes, how will we know when we have found the secret chamber?"

"That is a good question young man." Mr. Green said. "Without giving too much away, let me just say that there will be no doubt what so ever in your mind when you have found it. Because I'm sure you have never seen anything quite like it before." The ambiguous answer left William wanting for more information, but the man was quick to take other questions. In a few minutes the briefing was over and the children had been given a little bit of time to get their knapsacks, and sort through them.

Leena and Tristan's team; number seven, the gold team, almost automatically started to organize as a unit. Tristan was the oldest, and was the natural leader of the band. As they all examined the content of the knapsacks they had been issued, Leena could plainly see that he earnestly listened to all of their comments and suggestions, including hers. She grew more proud of her big brother. William and Joshua were most interested in the gear, and quickly memorized the inventory of each pack. Sarah and Penelope were relieved at the seamless ease with which Tristan took charge of the group, and the almost professional manner of the two other boys; it made the younger girls want to help out in any way possible. Becky was the only one less than enthusiastic. Leena could easily see this, but she was far too busy at the moment to console her friend. Instead she knew that once the adventure had earnestly begun, Becky would warm right up to the task at hand. After all her father had always said, "If you're too busy to worry, then you won't."

Each team was separately taken down to the main cavern in a large elevator near the control room. It was a long ride down, so much so that each of the children's ears popped several times on the way. As the elevator finally came to a stop, Joshua asked their team's guide how far they had descended. The man whom had introduced himself as Kelly, simply said; "Quite a way." The doors opened and they started down a long tunnel hewn right into the bare rock. It was well lit, but it did seem to get darker toward the end of it.

"Where are we?" Leena asked with wonder.

Kelly didn't answer for a moment, but then he said; "You're in the heart of the world."

\----------

All of the children's parents had been made quite comfortable in the viewing lounge. Their every whim was promptly catered to, while the large video screen was showing a well prepared over view of the Quest's beginning. They watched a cleverly put together piece on the briefing, and the narrators were acting like it was a true media event, which it actually was. Then the children were shown getting their gear together, with more hype as the reporters were selling this as nothing less than the greatest adventure of all time.

\----------

All of the teams were gathered in the Grand Chamber, which was large to say the least. It was fairly dimly lit, mainly due to its size. The ceiling of the chamber was barely visible in the dim light, and Tristan tried to estimate just how high it was.

"At least two hundred feet." He told Joshua.

The other boy's response as he gazed upwards was a quiet, "Yeah."

Kelly led them to the far side of the chamber; where as they approached they could see many more tunnels leading from the chamber. None of these were lit, and their entrances had weird carvings and symbols etched into the rock around them. Kelly stopped, and told them to check their flashlights.

"From this point on, you'll basically be on your own." Kelly flatly stated. "It's your choice of which tunnel to choose, but just to let you know; I've been told they all do interconnect at some point or another." He paused while they hopefully understood. "If your team chooses a tunnel that another team has already started down, then you must wait an hour to enter that tunnel."

A commotion of lights and noises from their left drew their attention from Kelly. A reporter and camera crew were interviewing the first team. Kelly spoke louder to get their attention back, "Now it is very important for your team to make a map of your progress. So you don't get lost!" That sure got all of their notice, and Kelly could see that he had worried them as well. "If you do get lost, don't panic! At no time will you be in real danger. If you think you are in trouble, use your radio to call us right away, and we'll get to you." Kelly looked at the kids with a sincere smile. "Most of all; have FUN!" With that Kelly looked towards the lights and cameras still in their interview. After a moment he said, "OK, have you kids chosen a team leader yet?"

Everyone said, "Tristan." At the same time.

"Good." Kelly stated. "Then you've got about ten minutes or so to choose which path to take, so good luck. Oh, and I'll be right here if you need anything." Kelly smiled again and then went to join the guide from team six mulling nearby.

Tristan suggested they look over the different tunnel entrances, and more especially the carvings around each. Some of the other teams were doing likewise, and there was another Dreamland news crew covering all this, and right in the middle of them from team to team, getting shots from every conceivable angle. It was pretty hard to ignore this diversion, but even when they could focus on the carvings and strange symbols adorning the tunnel entrances, none of the kids could relate them to anything they knew of.

During all this, Sarah had become increasingly apprehensive, like Becky had been earlier. Becky on the other hand, become somewhat engrossed in the bizarre markings. At one point she even mentioned to Leena, "These are really old." The elder girl began to think of her friend as almost as strange as the carvings. Sarah meekly mentioned that she was afraid of the dark, and then Joshua immediately came up with the idea of putting her in the middle of the group, so she would be surrounded by all of their lights. Penelope and Becky wanted to give him a hug for that, but Joshua wanted nothing to do with it.

A man with a bullhorn announced the start of the first team with a screech, and the camera crews surrounded them. Everyone watched intently as the seven young kids chose a tunnel; and then disappeared into it.

"OK guys," Tristan declared, "We'd better make up our minds before they get to us."

Leena was quick to see a beautiful opportunity here. "Let's let Becky chose!"

"Yeah!" Penelope excitedly agreed. "She'll chose the right one."

It was obvious by the little red head's unbridled eagerness, that Becky already had an opinion of her own, and since there were no immediate objections she said; "The last one."

"The last one." Sarah repeated with reverence.

The bullhorn sounded again, and it was team number two's turn.

As team six was having its' moment in the spotlight, a tall man whom they had all seen with Ms. Schotner before, came up to their team. "I'm Mr. Fielder, who's the team seven leader?" Becky shied behind Leena once again. Tristan stepped forward. Mr. Fielder faced him squarely and held out a small silver metallic object about the size of cell phone. As Tristan took it from him, the man stated; "This is the signal device you are to activate once you have found, and entered the secret chamber. This will alert us that you have won. If you activate this before then, we will receive a signal disqualifying your team. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Tristan said nervously, as the butterflies set in.

"OK." The man acknowledged, "You kids are up next. Be careful, and stay together." Mr. Fielder turned and walked away.

"Team number seven, the gold team!" The bullhorn blared. "It is time to choose your path!" A reporter had them pose for some shots, and a quick team interview before he sounded the horn again. "Team number seven, begin your Quest!" With that they all walked a little awkwardly to the tunnel entrance on the far right. Tristan and Joshua began to hurry ahead of the rest of them, as Tristan called back, "We've got point." The remaining four children gathered around Sarah, as they had discussed, and followed the two boys into the dark shaft.

4: the quest

The tunnel was mostly straight for the first half hour, and the children proceeded very carefully. Then the walls gradually curved to the right, and began sloping downwards. By this time the two boys on point were getting fairly far ahead of the others. Penelope was the first to feel some fatigue, and as such the first to ask for a rest. William and Leena both looked at each other, and nodded in unison. As the three girls and William started to take off their packs, Leena looked ahead towards her brother and Joshua. All she could see of them by now was the reflection of their lights as it cast a bizarre dance upon the tunnel walls far ahead.

"Tristan!" She called out.

Suddenly, two pin points of light pierced the darkness as the boys looked back. "What?" Came a faint reply.

"We need to stop for a rest." Leena shouted.

The two lights aimed at each other, illuminating the boys for a moment. "We'll go on and scout up ahead a little bit." He yelled back.

"No!" Leena was emphatic. "We have to stick together."

By the movement of the lights she could tell that they were going on ahead anyway.

"Tristan!" She yelled, "Get back here!"

Still the lights danced away from her. Leena snapped around to face William, "I'm going to get those two jerks right now."

William calmly responded, "Wait just a minute, and we'll all go. Let's get a drink of water first."

It was a good idea she had to admit to herself, the one that made the most sense. With that she took off her pack, and found the water bottle neatly strapped in a side pouch. It tasted pure and clean. Everybody made the 'Ahhhh' sound as each sipped, and this made them all giggle. The boy's lights were completely out of sight when she looked up again.

"Uh oh." Came out of her mouth.

"We'd better get going." Sarah said, and it seemed out of place coming from her. Sarah's take charge statement almost surprised the others for an instant, but they were supposed to team after all, or at least they were part of one at the moment. After helping each other with the packs, the five kids started out after the rambunctious boys. That's when a couple of terrified screams echoed from the darkness ahead. This stopped them in their tracks. Leena's heart began to race as if it were going to explode.

\----------

Meanwhile Mr. and Ms. Welsh were enjoying a fine buffet of a wide variety of sumptuous delights. There was grilled stuffed shrimp, baked lobster croquettes, at least half a dozen or so roasted vegetables, and one of the freshest garden salads either had ever tasted. Being pretty much a middle class, average American family, they weren't accustomed to this sort of fare. The thought that they just might get used to this sort of thing crossed each of their minds, but they didn't dare say it. About the time they finished lunch, the video of their children's team being led to the elevator down to the cavern was shown. Jackie observed how adorable the kids looked in their golden Dreamland jumpsuits.

"They both look good in gold." She remarked.

Michael smiled and hugged his wife.

She gladly let him pull her close, and thought out loud; "I wonder if they're having fun?"

"Sure they are." He assured her, "Just look at them."

\----------

Leena had started running towards the screams before any of the others could react. The reflection of the boys' lights upon the tunnel walls far ahead could be seen again, and in a quick moment the bright pin pricks of the beams were coming at her directly. The lights were bouncing around madly, and Leena knew they were running fast, so she slowed to a stop.

"Hey!" She tried to shout through labored breath, "What's the...."

Her words were cut off by the boys yelling, "MONSTER!" Suddenly they were upon her, and they shot right past.

"Tristan screamed at her as he bolted past, "RUN! It's right behind us!"

Leena almost broke and ran from the urging, but her light was already shining up the tunnel from which they had bounded, and it was quite empty.

She immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was a prank. Normally Tristan wouldn't do such a thing, but when around friends he would once in a while play similar monkeyshines. They boys had stopped close to the other children, and everyone gazed up the tunnel with anticipation.

"Tristan!" His sister scolded, "It's not funny."

"I saw it!" he insisted.

Joshua added his two bits, "It almost got us...really!"

"Yeah" Tristan went on, "It was big and slimy, and real mean looking."

"And it took a swipe at Tristan!" Joshua added earnestly.

"Yeah, but we out ran that sucker!" Tristan finished.

"Calm down." William pleaded, "We can hardly understand you."

By this time Leena had lost her cool. "Really Tristan! This is beyond you." There was more than just a trace of disgust in her voice.

"I'm not making it up!" Tristan was resolute.

Then a calmer mind interjected. "It was probably a robot from Dreamland." Becky squarely stated.

After a moment of thought, Leena stared at her brother. Her light shone directly in his face and making him cover his eyes. "Which means we might have just failed our first test. They told us to stay together!" She admonished him. Both of the boys looked truly sullen.

"We only explore as a group." William said as he gave each of the older boys a pat on their backs.

"Well, let's go find your monster." Leena conciliated.

When they rounded the curve in the tunnel ahead, Tristan and Joshua were decidedly the most alert. "It was right up there!" Joshua barked when they had gone only a little way further. He searched intently with Tristan where the terrifying encounter had supposedly taken place, but upon examination; only the two sets of footprints of the boys could be seen in the light coating of rock dust on the tunnel floor.

"Well, it for sure wasn't a robot." Penelope quipped.

William offered, "Maybe it was a hologram, or something?"

"Or a stupid joke." The younger of the two siblings sneered.

They all gathered themselves together for a moment, before pushing on.

Becky moved up by Joshua, "I believe you guys." She whispered.

"Thanks." Came a very relieved reply.

Shortly the tunnel branched off into three different passages. To the left it curved away out of sight. The center branch sloped downward at a fairly steep angle, and the passage to the right was straight as far as they could see into it.

After a long quiet interlude Tristan asked, "OK, who's going to map, and who's going to choose?"

"I'll map." William quickly volunteered.

"OK." Tristan agreed, but after a moment's thought added, "Not that I don't trust you buddy, but let's have two mappers. So we can double check."

There wasn't the slightest hint of disappointment on William's face.

"How about Penny?" Joshua asked.

"Sure." Penelope said.

"Why don't we let Becky keep choosing the way?" Leena asked, and no one dissented.

"Let's stay to the right." Becky said with confidence.

Before too long the team had passed through three very similar junctions. Each time Becky had the group stay to the right. It was after the third junction that they came to their first impasse. The last intersection was only a couple hundred yards distant, when the floor of the tunnel dropped away sharply just ahead, into a sheer vertical shaft that completely blocked their way forward. Tristan carefully inched up to the edge.

"I can't see the bottom." He stated as he shone his light over the lip.

The opposite side was over ten feet away.

"Time to back track." Leena said the obvious.

As they entered the last junction of tunnels they had passed through, confusion swept over them like panic. Instead of exiting the right most of three tunnels leading into one, they came out of a single tunnel leading into three more. It was impossible! As if they had been turned around without their knowledge.

"What's happening here?" The fear was evident in William's voice.

"Are we.....we ARE lost!" Penelope realized as tears began to well up.

It was several minutes of abstract, nervous hysteria. Then Sarah, Becky, and Penelope began to cry.

"Wait....Wait a minute!" Leena let loose.

They all looked at her in surprise, and the girls tears subsided to mere sobs.

"We'll just call in for help." Leena finished.

"Isn't that giving up?" Joshua asked with regret.

That caused them all to think about it for a long moment.

Tristan broke the silence, "I don't think so. That man, Mr. Fielder, didn't say anything about that. He just said if we activate the device meant for the secret chamber early, that we'd be disqualified."

5: No return

Tristan's fingers trembled as he keyed the microphone on the radio. "Umm...Control center." He waited for an answer, but none came. "Control center." He raised his voice.

William became agitated. "You gotta let go of the button!"

"Oh yeah." Tristan remembered playing with walkie-talkies with his sister, and then released the microphone key. Static burst from the speaker loudly.

"Try again!" Joshua urged.

"Control center, this is team seven. We are lost!" He pleaded. "And we need help."

All of their hearts sank as the same hissing noise taunted them, and nothing else. Then the crying really started up again, but this time it got a hold of them all.

\----------

As the parents were being entertained with more 'instant updates', and so called live shots of the on-going adventure; a good portion of the children's mothers began to worry for no apparent reason. Jackie Welsh was certainly no exception to this phenomenon. In fact a growing sense of outright trouble began to gnaw at her.

"Honey," she turned to her husband, "something's wrong."

"What?" He was genuinely surprised, after all she had been having a good time just the moment before. "They're fine." He tried to assure her.

"No Michael, something's wrong. I can feel it."

Michael Welsh knew the tone of her voice all too well. It said that he'd better get up right that instant, and do something, or he would regret it.

"All right." He conceded, "I'll go see if we can talk to them, OK?"

Jackie nodded her approval.

\----------

Tristan's tears were exhausted first, and then he tried to talk the others down to a calmer state. This only had minor effect, and so he tried the radio again, but the static just triggered further crying. After Joshua cried himself out, he and Tristan made a decision.

"We're going to have to find a way out of here." Tristan was empathetic.

"I want to go home!" Penelope pleaded yet again.

"I know!" Tristan was sharper with his retort than he cared for, and he bit his tongue for snapping at her.

"Leena." Sarah sobbed, "Help us!"

Leena had been tightly gripping her older brother's hand, until the little girl's pleas shook her mind back to the necessity of clear thought. "Your right." She nearly mumbled as letting go. "We are all going to have to help each other out, to find our way back." She dried her eyes.

As Leena and Joshua worked to pull the others back together, a thought came to William. "Hey! Maybe this is just part of the test." He voiced. The realization that he had to be right sunk in. After all, they were in an amusement park, and this was basically a ride; though a real scary one. The crying and sobbing stopped.

"Yeah." Tristan spoke up, "This is just an obstacle."

"Like the monster we saw." Added Joshua.

Tristan nodded seriously.

"What about the radio?" Becky reminded.

"They probably just don't want us to rely on anyone else." Leena assured, although she spoke more to extinguish any doubts, than from real conviction.

Tristan had by now regained most all of his original enthusiasm for the adventure, and figured; "Sure. Heck they're probably watching us right now. I bet if we really got stuck, or into trouble; they would be here in a minute" His raw energy began to rub off on the others.

"Well, let's not just sit around here like a bunch of scared kids." William chided. "Let's beat this Quest!"

When they were all set to proceed, Leena turned to Becky and asked; "Which way now?" The younger girl with the red mane could only swallow hard and blink. Then Sarah surprised them, as she walked up to an entrance and looked thoughtfully for a moment, before moving in front of another entrance and doing the same.

Becky hesitantly said, "To the right?"

The normally shy little nine year old voiced her disagreement firmly, "NO!" This took everyone aback.

"What's wrong with sticking to the right?" William was curious.

"We need to go down." Sarah sounded determined.

Leena asked, "Why down Sarah?"

"I don't exactly know....I just know for certain that we can't go either of those other ways." No one said a word for a long few seconds.

"Listen to her." Penelope also asserted. So they went down.

The rock walls changed within a short sloping walk, from the rough look of being carved; to a much smoother appearance of flowing, or melting origin. The kids all remarked on how neat this was, but then the passage began to narrow, and they weren't so enthralled any longer. It kept getting slightly more constricted through the twisting turns of a downward spiral. When it narrowed to the point that they had to crawl, there was some dissension about further progress.

"Let's go back." Joshua complained. "This hurts my knees."

As they looked further down the tunnel, they could see that it tightened even further.

"Maybe we should." Tristan agreed.

But Sarah was adamant, "No! We need to go this way."

Leena saw the argument ahead, and was quick to prevent the ensuing bout. "Why don't we stop for a lunch break?" She said more than asked, as she sat against the curved wall. "Yeah!" Came a chorus of replies.

After a rather tasty lunch of bean burritos and chips, the kids were feeling much better, and so decided to press forward as Sarah insisted. The tunnel continued to compress, until for a short while they had to crawl on their bellies; except for Penelope and Sarah whom could still crawl on their knees.

At that point Tristan stated, "If it gets any tighter, we'll have to turn back."

Just then, Joshua, who was in the lead, called back, "Its' opening up. I can see right ahead where we can start walking again." They all breathed a little easier.

\----------

Millie Schotner was angry, very angry. Master control had lost all signal from the teams as soon as team seven entered the catacombs. She had sent several technicians to place transponders in to the catacombs a short distance, but these did not seem to make a difference. Things were not going according to plan.

"Do you wish us to send the guides after the teams Ms. Schotner?" The lead technician asked.

"If I want you to do something, I'll tell you exactly when, where, and how high to jump." Her voice was cold.

Mr. Fielder leaned and whispered in her ear, "Our people still haven't got a fix on exactly what's causing the temporal disturbances, it is either the Purge devices, or it is one of the teams of children themselves. Most probably team number seven, as the disturbances started shortly after they entered the tunnels."

Suddenly a loud alarm from the control panels rang out.

"That's an activation alarm!" Mr. Fielder boomed. "Where is the location, and what team is it?"

"We can't get a location, but it is registering as team number two." The lead control tech said after checking his readout.

"Is it in the chamber?" Millie shouted her question with demand.

"I can't tell Ms. Schotner." The tech said helplessly.

"You are a useless man!" She spat.

Mr. Fielder touched some controls on his watch, and then listened to the small earpiece he wore, before whispering in Millie's ear again. "It is not in the spire chamber, Master."

\----------

A few minutes after Michael Welsh had left to talk to someone about their children, Jackie heard a ruckus coming from the entrance to the lounge. She recognized her husband's voice immediately.

"Oh no." She said half aloud.

Michael's voice raised to the point of yelling, and that got the attention of everybody in the room. "What do you mean I can't talk to my kids? You got radios don't you?" Jackie could see a dreamland employee vainly trying to calm Michael down. "You'd better get someone who can tell me why, and NOW!" the tall burly Mr. Welsh yelled again. Jackie knew that Michael was more than likely just intimidating the man, to get some action; at least she hoped so.

The employee left the lounge, and her husband came back over. He flashed a friendly smile as he sat down. "That ought to light a fire under them." He assured her.

"Oh honey." Jackie replied with true embarrassment.

\----------

The next junction team seven came to was much more complex than any previous. Instead of the familiar three branches, this one had a full dozen passages leading from it. Some went sloping upwards, some drifted down, and some curved off.

"Before we're confused here," Leena thoughtfully stated, "we should mark the tunnel we just came from."

With that Tristan took the multipurpose tool he'd found in his knapsack, and after selecting the scratch-awl; scraped a large 'X' into the side of the tunnel. He turned with a smug grin on his face. Leena grinned back with approval.

"What do you think Sarah? Which way?" Becky questioned, trying to prod her.

The short brown haired girl's eye widened, and she swallowed hard. Then she did just as she had done at the last junction; she walked up to each entrance and peered down the passage.

While Sarah was doing whatever it was she was doing, William turned to Tristan and stated, "My map is kind of goofed up since that turn around in the tunnel back there, but I'm still on it." This made Tristan laugh.

"What's going on?" Leena asked.

"William still has a fix on our position." Tristan smiled.

This caused a look of panic from Penelope. "Should I still be mapping too?"

"Don't worry about it Penny." Tristan calmed her. "William's got a handle on it."

"I didn't know what to do after the passages got all turned around."

Joshua sided up to her and asked, "How do you map something like that?"

Penelope gave him a big grin, and snuck a hug on him.

Leena noticed that Sarah was having a hard time deciding which passage to choose. She kept going between three of them that were close together. Leena approached her, and quietly questioned, "What is it that you see, or feel?"

Without looking at Leena, Sarah replied, "Some of them make me feel sad."

This was the first moment that Leena saw the truth about her, Sarah was indeed someone special. She wasn't the only one though, not by a long shot. "So, what's so special about these three?" The younger of the Welsh children prodded.

"These two don't make me feel anything really." Sarah pointed. "And this one kind of makes me feel mad." She drew a grimace across her cute face.

"Then we go down one of the other two, right?" Leena presumed.

The younger girl looked at her very curiously, "No, we go down this one." She pointed down the tunnel that had obviously made her angry.

Leena didn't know what to think.

With the decision thus made, they all started off. After walking ten minutes or so, Joshua joined Tristan just ahead of the group, and this prompted William to catch up with the pair; as he didn't want to be left out of any of the guy stuff at that point. Leena grinned at this, and then her mouth dropped open in abject terror. The three boys had vanished right before her eyes, seemingly into thin air.

"NO!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She started to run to where they had just been, but several small pairs of hands held her back. "Stop Leena!" Becky was also screaming.

"Tristan!" His sister yelled after him.

6: they must vanish

Mr. Fielder stepped into Millie Schotner's office in a hurry, and immediately began to update her on their findings, but just as quickly shut up. Millie sat behind her desk wearing a small, but noticeable smile. This was a most unusual sight for him, as most of the time she would have a scowl, or the lesser leer on her face. She sat watching a video display showing the viewing lounge and seemed to be really enjoying the visage of the growing tensions amongst the parents.

"They're going to figure out that it is a replay loop pretty soon." He offered. Ms. Schotner quickly looked up, and in that brief moment that their eyes made contact, he thought he could see a glimmer of respect, or at the very least; recognition he hoped.

She broke the moment by asking sharply, "What's the story with the teams?"

He instantly continued with his update. "Teams one, three and five are safely out of the catacombs. No sign of teams four, six, and seven."

"What about team two Fielder?" Millie demanded harshly.

"We've found them, or what's left of them." He handed her his data phone, and thumbed some pictures across the screen. These showed what appeared to be silvery reflective statues of the kids on team two in a tunnel of the catacombs.

"I'll be." Millie breathed out. "They are frozen in time."

"We've had the robotics try to move one of them, but they won't budge." Fielder told.

"Leave them." She ordered. "We have other concerns."

"Yes Master. I have our people working on modifying the Purge device right now. We can hopefully send one of the remaining teams back in with it soon." Fielder thought he was merely acknowledging her.

"That will not be necessary Fielder." Millie growled. "All we can do now is wait, and hope either team four, six or seven will pull it off."

"But Master! Our plan has obviously failed!"

"Not yet it hasn't Fielder, have hope!" She cackled.

His bewilderment amused her, and she said; "Have a seat Fielder. Let's watch the parents agony begin, while we wait."

He eagerly pulled up a chair so he could see her screen.

"Here, look at this." Millie said as she replayed the incident with Mr. Welsh that she'd just been watching. "They are getting restless."

Fielder nodded. "What's next?"

She leaned back into the deep chair thinking, and then a wry grin grew. "Let's add to their paranoia some shall we?" She hit a button and barked, "Mr. Erickson!"

"Yes Ma'am." Came a timid response.

"Pull the caterers out Mr. Erickson." Millie said with eagerness.

"Right away Ma'am."

Again she stretched back into the chair for a moment thinking aloud. "Wouldn't it be interesting if we left one of the employees in the lounge with them?" Quickly she leaned up to scan the monitor.

"My, my..." Fielder was genuinely amused, and he giggled. "Madam!"

"There! That one!" she squealed with twisted delight. "Look. He even looks like a suckling pig."

Mr. Fielder was up out of his chair due to her excitement, and he looked to where she pointed on the screen. "Oh yes!" He laughed.

"We'll leave them the pig boy." Her voice warmed at the thought. Again she leaned to the intercom, "Mr. Erickson, leave them the ham server."

"Yes Ma'am." Came the flat response.

After a short silence Fielder asked, "Are you still going to make them vanish?"

The old woman sneered at him, "Of course they must vanish."

This made Fielder smile. "Do I still get to watch?"

She nodded, enjoying his disdain for the people.

\----------

Michael Welsh watched as one by one the Dreamland caterers left the lounge, seemingly inconspicuously; all but one that is. This prompted him to try to follow them, but when he reached the exit doors, he found them quite securely locked. Jackie was observing this and immediately also noticed several concerned faces in the crowd. Quickly several of the other fathers and mothers moved to join him by the doors. "Just what is going on here?" asked one man gruffly. Several others tried the doors themselves.

"They've locked us in here." Michael responded trying to sound calm.

Two of the younger men started kicking at the heavy doors. When this didn't have any effect, one man threw his shoulder into them, hurting himself a bit. The other men threw expletives at them.

Michael could tell the doors weren't going to budge short of a dynamite blast. "Let's not get in an uproar!" He directed. "Let's try to find another way out." Everyone started searching every corner of the lounge, and bathrooms. Then a couple men started to harass the lone ham server. "Leave him alone!" Michael resounded. "He doesn't know anything."

"What makes you so sure of that?" One of the men grumbled.

"They could've pulled him out of here, but they left him at our disposal." Michael educated them.

\----------

Millie turned with disgust. "No! Don't tell me they're going to organize already. Where's the panic? That big one is taking the fun right out of it."

"Are you going to do it to them now?" Fielder greedily enquired.

She shook her withered head, "Not just yet. Perhaps we can still have some fun with them after all."

\----------

Leena was by now reduced to sobbing into the radio's microphone. It had been almost an hour since the boys had vanished, during which time the four girls had mostly screamed and cried; into the dark tunnels, into the radio, and to each other. Becky kept saying that it looked like they had fallen right through the floor. They approached near to the spot, and could see the footprints just stopped.

"Maybe it's quicksand." Sarah shuddered.

Penelope cried out, "What are we going to do?"

Sarah shivered herself into a case of the hiccups. Becky tried to sooth these by rubbing her back, and this seemed to help calm the fit down.

Leena looked to her friends, "We have got to do something."

"Let's go back and get help." Penny said weakly.

"I'm not going back without them." Leena stated as a matter of fact.

Sarah piped up forcefully, "We are sticking together, no matter what."

All the girls nodded in agreement, and they understood that they were going after the boys.

"Come here and everyone grab hands real hard." Leena beckoned them. Then all four walked hand in hand up to the point where the boys' footprints disappeared, and they hesitated.

"We all jump forward on the count of three." Leena instructed. "One..."

Penny shook her head. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"Two..."

"Don't think about it Penny, just jump!" Sarah said in such a commanding manner that Penny began to do just that.

"Three."

All four girls jumped at the same time, and they fell....screaming. They tumbled as they dropped, and Leena felt it a weird dreamy experience. She couldn't hear herself scream, and even though she could still feel two other little hands, she couldn't hear them either. Then suddenly....

SPLASH!

She was underwater. It was totally dark, and the two other hands let go of hers, as she too needed to swim upwards. Leena surfaced with a gasp, and Sarah was right behind her, coughing and sputtering. Leena stroked over to her as the little girl started frantically thrashing about, crying out that she couldn't swim. As Leena pulled her close she realized they could each float with perfect buoyancy.

"It's OK Sarah, these suits float." She sputtered as she pushed the other girl away from her slightly. Sarah clawed for her hand, but quickly realized she wouldn't sink. Splashing and the voices of the other two girls came to them from just a short distance.

"Becky, Penny?" Leena hollered, "Are you OK?"

Both girls answered affirmatively, and they swam to join Leena and Sarah. By this time Leena's eyes had adjusted enough for her to see a small spark of light off in the distance. She couldn't tell if they were in the middle of the ocean at night, or whatever, but that small point of light out there was all they had to go by.

Leena seriously told the others, "We have to swim for that light over there." She pointed.

"I can't swim that far." Penny cried, and Sarah shook her head strongly also.

"We don't have a choice!" Leena was incredulous. She couldn't fathom what the two girls thought they were going to do in the middle of the jet black sea. Becky started taking off her pack, and then told the others to do the same. She had noticed that the knapsacks seemed buoyant also.

"We'll make a float for them to hold onto." Becky told Leena.

Leena thought of lashing the packs together, and pulling it with the line each pack contained. "You and I are the best swimmers Becky, we'll pull them on your float."

"Yeah, if we get tired, we can just rest floating with them." Becky added.

They did need to rest as Becky had foreseen, every ten or fifteen minutes it seemed, but the quasi raft worked great, and that made Leena glad. She kept looking at the light source, trying to discern any detail, mostly if they were getting any closer. Finally the light seemed to grow bigger, meaning they were closing on it, and Leena kept seeing different images. It was almost as if she were watching a strange video, or having a vivid day dream, as the source of light seemed to move and change shapes. When they got even closer she could finally see some real details. The light was coming from outside a rocky, roughly circular entrance, like a cave entrance. They were in an underground sea, or lake; as the water didn't taste salty. As the other girls were all resting, including Becky for the moment, she didn't bother them with the insight.

Sarah had become so immersed in the numbing emptiness of the whole experience. She closed her eyes and it seemed to her that she were in a beautiful empty room. It was so big you couldn't even see the walls. She floated weightless in a dark void, the only light being her, or more correctly; her being. Occasionally a strange energy current would tug at, or prod her, but were these real currents? As she paid more attention to this, she felt several swishing currents cross the main one. These didn't bother her, in fact she was even enjoying the strange sensations at first. Then in her mind the sea became light, and the walls far around her became lighted as well. The oval of light they approached was now black, and Sarah knew they were in a cavern, nearing the entrance. She was now looking down on them through her mind's eye, and the girls were dark against the lighted ocean. Then she could see dark shapes swimming around them, and as she again felt one of the strange crossing currents of energy. It coincided perfectly with one of the dark shapes swimming by them. Sarah snapped back to reality so abruptly that she was startled by herself, and started floundering; coughing and sputtering water.

"Something really scared her." Penny said in alert.

Even as the little one said this, a loud splash of water came from their right. The first thing Leena thought of was her brother. "Tristan!" she called out. Only Sarah's coughing and gagging could be heard in response. After she caught her breath, Sarah sputtered; "Faster!"

It was only a couple dozen yards to the shore, a small rocky strand. Leena saw the bright sunlit rocks dim for a second, and then get bright again as a cloud moved somewhere over head. "That's what I saw moving." She blurted. "We are almost there!"

Just then Sarah, who couldn't swim, stroked right past her at a rather brisk pace. "Get out!" she yelled. Becky swam right behind her shouting, "Go! Go!" There were several more loud splashes from behind them, and Leena took off, pulling Penny on the raft as fast as she could. Becky still held her line, and helped. Quickly they were half way on the shore, so Becky and Leena stood up and pulled the raft with all their might. Sarah was already out of the water, and climbing away fast. In a flash Penny was pulled from the raft and pushed up on shore.

"Ahhhh!!" Leena screamed as something slithered across her ankle. She jumped out of the water, and all the girls were on shore.

"Are you OK?" Becky managed with a tremble.

"Something tried to grab me!" Leena shrieked.

They all looked back to the water, and something caught their eyes. A shadow, and a movement in the gloomy waters, then it was gone. Sarah was already climbing the small incline to the outside, and the sunshine. The rest followed her out under a warm, beautiful sapphire blue sky; finding themselves at the base of a granite bluff, alongside a slight rolling green valley. It was a pretty sight; the grass was a particularly vivid green color, and a small babbling brook flowed down through the depression. As their eyes followed this, it ended in a large gentle pond with grass swaying right up to its' bright blue edge. A willow like tree danced in the breeze by the edge of the pond, all alone, as bird song and insects buzzing rang from all around.

"Oh! How beautiful!" Becky gasped.

"It's more than that." Sarah beseeched, "It's perfect." No one argued with that.

\----------

The intercom buzzed on Millie Schotner's desk. "You asked to be notified when the parents started making demands Ma'am." Came Erickson's monotone voice. She reached over and turned the video screen towards her.

"Good, let's see what they want." She cooed.

There on the screen was Michael Welsh motioning with his hands in a pleading manner, and he was saying; "Whatever it is you want, you have our full cooperation. Our children's safety is our only issue."

Out of annoyance Millie immediately mimicked Michael. "Our children's safety is our only issue." She said in a twisted squeal. Then her voice became mean, and gravely, "Well they aren't even on my agenda buster!" she flung with disgust, though nobody outside her office could hear her.

Fielder saw an opportunity, "Maybe you could entice them." He offered.

"Maybe I could speed things up a bit." She agreed.

7: Gateway

As the group of wet fatigued girls started toward the small pond, they crossed an area of open dirt, and at once glance they saw it had several distinct footprints in it.

"Leena, look!" Shouted Penelope. They all stopped.

"One...two, three different sets." Sarah showed them. "That's an MJ Air Special."

"How do you know that?" Becky giggled, as she knew full well how, and why.

Now Sarah giggled as she confessed that was what Joshua said he always wore.

The mood became instantly somber when Penelope asked, "Hey, that looks like blood, doesn't it?"

Sure enough there were several small spots of fairly fresh looking blood; staining the dirt in several places. "Oh No!" Leena gasp. "Let's find them!"

When they reached the willow like tree, they found more tracks and signs that the boys had been there. Under the tree there was also more evidence of an injury; as they found bandage wrappers and a slightly blooded bandage. The foot prints went on towards a hill, and they all hurried along. Everything around them was lush and alive.

Leena sighed, "If the guys were here everything would be perfect."

"Yeah except we don't know where we are." Sarah reminded with foreboding.

"We'll find them." Penelope assured with confidence.

Leena felt the energy of trust, and love from the little girl, and it gave her strength. This place made her feel alive too, but until they found the boys, she wouldn't let herself enjoy the mood.

Just then Becky shouted, "Its Joshua!"

"And William!" Sarah added, and pointed to the top of the hill. There at the top of the grassy slope William started into a run towards the girls, whooping and hollering; while Joshua limped upon a walking stick behind him. Joshua was also shouting with glee, as he hopped along as fast as he could. The girls were all running too, except Leena who wondered; "Where's Tristan?"

After they all warmly hugged each other several times in joyous reunion, Leena insisted, "Where's Tristan?"

"How bad are you hurt Josh?" Sarah cut in.

"Yeah, what happened?" Becky asked.

Leena shouted, "Where's Tristan?"

Everyone shut up, and then Joshua said, "He went to get help."

"Where?" Leena was confused.

"Come here, I'll show you." William started back up to the top of the hill. At the top he pointed out over some distant hills, and there on the horizon rose an impossibly tall, perfectly cone shaped spire. "There." He said.

"Oh, wow!" Penelope beamed.

"Why did you let him go all by...How long ago?" Leena commanded.

William was calm, "About two hours ago."

"We gotta go after him!" she was firm.

Joshua shook his head, "I can't. At least not right now, besides Tristan took off jogging pretty fast, even up the hills. Said he wanted to make it before nightfall."

Leena started thinking fast, what could she do? Then a plan became clear; "William, you and I will go after him. The rest of you will have to make camp here, until we come back."

"I don't think we'll catch up to him Leena." William was sure. "Unless he got hurt or something."  
"Which is exactly why we need to go quickly." Leena expressed with earnestness.

They checked all the gear, food, and water in their packs hastily, and refilled the water from the stream. All the while Joshua answered questions about what had happened. It seems one of the monsters in the cavern's lake had bitten his ankle superficially, but that he was sure he'd be fine soon. The girls listened with care. Then when Leena and William were ready to set off, she seriously educated the others to the plan.

"We each only have about two days food, if we stretch it, so stretch it. That means if we aren't back within three days, you'd better come look for us." Leena told them.

"What if we can't find you?" Joshua asked.

Leena sighed at the possibility, "Then try to get to that structure. That's where we are all heading, and we'll leave a trail somehow. OK?" With that the four remaining kids sadly bid them safe and quick journey, and the two sojourners hastily left at a jog.

The gentle hilly country went on for some miles, and the two were quickly relegated to a brisk walk. Every time they stopped for water, and a brief rest, they left trail markings, either by scraping the grass in the shape of an arrow, or by rocks forming the same. After a couple hours the terrain became increasingly rocky, and uphill, so they took their first real sit down break of the trek. As Leena tipped her head back to sip some water, she looked up into the perfect cobalt blue sky, and almost choked on her water.

"Oh my god! Look!" She pointed into the sky.

William quickly followed her gaze, and was just as dumfounded by the sight of two small moons rising above the horizon. "What the crap!" He cursed.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." Leena was bewildered.

"We never were in Kansas to start with." William chided. "We are supposed to be in Florida!"

Leena looked at William seriously, "We've got to find Tristan fast. We don't have a couple days."

"What do you mean?" William didn't understand.

"I think we're in big trouble here." She was very pointed, making sure she had his attention. "This isn't some contest after all."

The truth was undeniable enough, and then William saw the severity of their predicament. "The other kids are going to be pretty scared." He told.

"All the more reason why we better hurry."

It quickly became much more rocky, and craggy sloping upwards even more steeply. Then it suddenly turned to a smooth slope, covered with a thick mossy turf that was spongy under their feet. This really slowed them down, and made them all the more exhausted. The peak of the ridge they climbed was covered in a mist, and it seemed so far away at their present rate of climb. As the sun now showed signs of late afternoon, they knew the rough compass points.

"That way is west." William pointed. "Which means we're headed roughly south east." He breathed hard between the words.

"What do you think?" Leena breathed hard too. "A couple hours till sunset?"

William nodded.

She determined, "Let's try to make the top of the ridge before then."

\----------

For much of the long afternoon, Joshua and Becky gathered firewood for the coming night. Josh couldn't go very far, but he could get the stuff close by, and there was plenty of it. Soon the pair had quite a sizeable stack, plenty for several nights. Sarah and Penny meanwhile searched around the small valley for any sort of food source. Once they came upon a small bird's nest with several small eggs in it. Both girls decided not to take them, as they weren't yet starving, but they remembered where they were, just in case. Then they discovered a thicket of brush that grew a small purple berry that looked similar to a raspberry. As they looked nearby, they found many more thickets of the berry bushes, so they filled their packs about half full each, and made their way back to the pond, and camp.

Becky and Joshua were just putting the finishing touches on a crude lean-to shelter. It didn't look like much, but at the very least it marked where their camp was. The two girls just returning excitedly showed the fruitful bounty they discovered. Joshua squeezed a berry, and tasted the juice. Then he popped it into his mouth and chewed.

"Tastes real good! Not too tart, and not too sweet." He smiled.

"How do you know they're not poisonous?" Sarah asked as if he somehow already knew.

Josh spit the berry pulp from his mouth.

Becky shook her head. "If he dies, we'll know not to eat them."

Just then Sarah stood up and gazed at the sky, "What on Earth?" She stammered.

The others followed her gaze and saw the twin moons rising.

"No, not on Earth." Joshua was amazed.

Penny sided up to Becky, and turned to Joshua with a serious stare. "Do you think this might still be part of the Quest Josh?" Her voice betrayed her hopefulness.

"No. Not since I got bit in the cave, and now I'm certain it isn't." He was sullen.

Leena and William had just ascended into the mist they had seen earlier, and it grew thick quickly. William disappeared from sight ahead of her. She called out for him to wait, and he acknowledged. As he looked around him he saw he was in a thicket of bushes covered with small red berries. He picked one and tasted it. Instantly he could feel the natural wholesome energy from the fruit. "Hey Leena! You got to try these berries. They're delicious."

She panicked, "Don't eat anything!"

"They are fine, I can tell." He guaranteed

She reached him and looked the berries over before smelling them, and then tasting just the juice. It was sweet, with a touch of tartness, and seemed to taste edible. As William was already eating more of them, she tried a couple too. She thought he was right, they tasted fine. So they loaded up the packs as much as they quickly could, before heading upwards again, each staying within several feet of the other due to the thick fog.

\----------

The parents were exhausted from worry, and trying to find a way out. The lounge loud speakers had started playing soft elevator music, and when this was suddenly pierced by the ringing of a cell phone amongst them, everyone became silent. None of their cell phones had a signal since the doors were locked.

"Whose is that? Get that!" Someone yelled.

Michael felt the familiar buzz of his phone. He quickly dug it out of his pocket, and answered it.  
"Hello?"

"Put it on speaker phone!" Another demanded.

Michael complied, and they all heard the man's voice; "If you would like to dial a number, please hang up, and try again."

"Hello? We need help!" Michael implored.

"If you would like to dial a number, please hang and try again." The voice sounded like a recording.

"Do you have a signal?" A woman shouted. "Because I still don't!"

"Neither do I." Came another voice.

Michael looked, and sure enough his phone had a signal. "I do!" he boomed. As several people told him to try 911, he was already hung up, and dialing. "911 operator, what's your emergency?"

"We are being held hostage at Dreamland amusement park, my name is Michael Welsh. Our children have been taken from us against our will!"

"What is the address sir?" the man asked.

"It is Dreamland amusement park! We are locked in a lounge right off the Grand Hall."

"Dreamland, and Grand Hall. Got it. We'll send someone right out. Thank you for calling 911." And the operator then hung up.

"What?" Michael, and Jackie both said in unison, followed by astonished gasps from others too.

"That's not right! Try them again!" Yelled a man.

\----------

Mr. Fielder touched a button on the screen and said, "911 operator, what's your emergency?" He listened on his head set for a moment. "Rodger that sir, we already received that call, and are sending a unit out to investigate."

Millie giggled between bites of her dinner.

"That's correct sir. That is the location we have here. Not to worry sir, we'll have those officers there soon. Thanks for calling 911." Fielder hung up the call, and laughed.

Within ten seconds the line rang again, but this time Fielder hit a button activating yet a different pre-recorded message.

"I'm sorry, all of our operators are busy helping other clients at the moment. If this is a real emergency, please hang up and dial 911 again. Thank you for using 911 services."

As the message started over again Michael let the phone be taken from him by another, without any resistance. He went over and hugged his distraught wife.

"It's not real. Is it?" She asked between sobs.

He shook his head and looked up at the obvious security camera in the room, with a glare that spoke volumes. "They are toying with us."

\----------

Leena and William broke through the cloud enveloping them just as the sun was setting. Each was covered with water droplets from the mist, and they took a moment to brush these from their faces. Just ahead was the rocky ledge that was their goal for the day, and to their left the immense shape of the cone shaped spire rose from the other side of the ridge. It was much closer than when they'd last seen it from far away. Both increased their pace, and soon stood at the lip of an impressive phenomenon. They were on the edge of a wide, and vastly deep chasm. The cliff on their side wasn't quite sheer, and it looked as though they could make their way down it safely, for a distance anyhow.

It must have been at least a kilometer across the chasm, and further than that in depth, although they couldn't see the bottom as cloudy mist obscured it far down in the depths. To their left rose the spire structure, rising up and out of the far side of the canyon. It must have been a good kilometer tall itself, including its base that was formed into the opposite wall of the chasm. The only discernable feature they could see on the colossal building, was at the very sharp pointed tip, and this was sparkling with reflected light. As if were made of glass. There was a huge object of immediate attention in the gorge below the spire. A massive stone looking bridge spanned the rift from one side to the other just at the base of the large spire, and this seemed to be at the narrowest point of the canyon. Leena looked to William searching his face for the common recognition of awe, and it was there, as the scene spoke for itself. The sun was quickly setting, and the shadows were conquering the depths. Leena sat down to enjoy the fading view, "We'd better stay here for the night William. In the morning we'll find a way down to that bridge. There's got to be a path, or something to it."

William sat on a smooth boulder, and took a deep breath while he gazed into the darkening maw of the chasm. His silhouette against the reddening sky made quite a picture Leena thought, as his golden suit reflected the crimson hues off its edges. His hair drafted in the slight breeze of the day's end, and he had an air about him that reminded her of an explorer of old. Both were somewhat gritty from the long sweaty hike, but they were too exhausted to even eat, much less care about their grimy condition.

"It's not too cold. Do you think we need a fire?" he drawled.

This caught her by surprise; the way he spoke and all. It just made the picture in her mind perfect. She was taking a long moment to answer, so he jumped down off the rock and sat by her.

"No." she half mumbled, "We can cuddle if it gets too cold."

"And we've got those emergency foil like blankets too." He tried to be cheery.

They both sat at the edge of night, watching the sun drop from their existence for a while. Only one moon was visible by then, the smaller of the two, and as the darkness enveloped them Leena noticed that there were very few stars to be seen.

"This place is weird." She said in a hushed whisper.

"Why are you whispering Leena?" William spoke out with volume. "We can be as loud as we want."

Leena remembered her brother was out there, maybe even at the spire structure. She hoped up onto a rock overlooking the chasm. "Tristan!" She yelled as loud as she could. William got the hint and joined her shouting. After a moment of this she hushed him down, "Shhh, shhh; listen." Both became quiet, and then they heard a faintish whistle from down in the gorge.

Leena quickly got the back pack from their make shift camp below, and got her flashlight out, while William whistled more. She rejoined him on the taller boulders and shinned the light towards the faint return whistles they heard. After a few moments they clearly saw a small pin prick of light stabbing the darkness from where they remembered the bridge being.

"Its' him!" She was overjoyed.

William shouted and whistled. Then he said, "It sure is."

They both quieted as some very vague and faint shouting drifted up to them. "Ate..ill...orniy"

"What?" She asked William earnestly. He just shook his head in confusion.

The muffled shout again reached them, but slightly more defined this time; "Wait...ill..orniy."

"Oh, wait till morning!" Leena translated for William.

"That's a good idea." He agreed.

Leena flashed the light on and off several times acknowledging Tristan, and then they both went back to the relative shelter of the boulders just below the ridge line.

It only took a half hour for both of them to doze off, even though each was quite used to staying up later, but both were beat from the very long day. It must have been hours later when William woke with the need to answer nature's call. He was quiet and slow at first, not wanting to wake Leena, but then as he looked up in the sky, he threw that idea out the door.

"Leena! Wake up. Look!" he nearly shouted.

She rubbed her eyes, and tried to focus, but couldn't at first as it was so dark.

"Don't you see it?" William was beyond excited.

"See what?" She got a bit snippy.

"The galaxy!"

She looked upwards, when low and behold, there was the most awe inspiring sight she had ever seen. There dominating the small star field of perhaps only a dozen stars, was the amazing sight of a whole galaxy. It was about fist sized; tilted at an angle from them showing its' spiral arms clearly well defined, and it was beyond beautiful. Neither had ever seen such a sight even, on the NASA web site, and both were now fully awake from the spectacle.

"It makes sense now." William uttered with a reverent tone.

"Oh yeah. What?" Leena queried.

"Huh?" His attention was brought back from the infinite universe that was so kindly revealing itself to them.

"What makes sense William? Fill me in on it would you?" She prodded him.

He shook his head absently. "Oh, it's just the stars, or lack of them. I understand why now."

"What about the stars?"

"Well it obvious that we are not in our own galaxy any more. Otherwise we'd see a lot more stars." He said with satisfaction.

"Yeah, and we wouldn't see that." Leena pointed to the galaxy.

William nodded. "We must be in a small star cluster outside of the Milky Way, maybe the clouds of Magellan."

Leena brought a distinct possibility to mind, "If that's our galaxy."

William felt the lump in his throat and tried to swallow it unsuccessfully.

"At least we'll all be back together tomorrow." Leena was severe in tone, and purpose.

They again tried to sleep, but it was a fitful remainder of the night.

It became cold enough for them to start shivering, even with the reflective emergency blankets from their packs, and so they cuddled as close as possible for warmth. When the first glow of predawn light announced the suns impending return, Leena broke away from their survival embrace, and started repacking everything she'd brought out of the knap sack. William slowly followed suit after a moment's grumbling about the cold.

"We'll get warmer when we start moving." She assuaged him.

He stretched and looked to the sky. The galaxy was setting in the west, and a brilliant morning star now rose from the east. 'Too small to be a moon.' He thought as he cleared his eyes with some blinks. 'Must be another planet in this solar system.'

"Come on." Leena coaxed, "We can see well enough to walk now. Let's find that tail down to the bridge."

"If there is a trail." William grumped.

"I bet Tristan is already on his way up to meet us. Let's go!"

With that William hurriedly packed up, and they set off over the rim.

When they had gone only several dozen yards, their rustling over the rocks startled a large bird from its nest on the cliff beneath them. The sudden 'Whomp, whomp' of its wings sent both of them flinching towards the ground. As soon as he realized he was in no danger William rose to get a better look at the bird. "It looks prehistoric." He told her. "Kind of lizard, or reptile like."

"I hope the birds don't get any bigger than that." Leena breathed relief as she watched the creature disappear into the grey mist below.

They didn't proceed too quickly, while they searched over the rim as they went along, looking for the trail that should be near; that led down to the bridge. Sure enough they found a 2 meter wide stair way had been carved into the rocks leading down. It looked old and quite worn, even dilapidated, and there were carvings that could still be discerned on the ornate rails.

Leena stopped and examined one of these. "These look similar to those carvings on the tunnel entrances, don't they?" She motioned for William.

"Exactly like them." He acknowledged.

As they followed the stairs down and across the ever steeper cliff side, they saw that it soon was only about one meter wide and right on the perfectly perpendicular cliff face. Peering over the short stone rails was a gaze upon a long fall, disappearing into cloudy vapor.

Just then the sun's ruby gleaming first rays were blast upon the dim canyon, as it opened up to the east. The bridge was currently out of sight because the stairs wound around some larger crevices. After another sharp turn, they came to a spot where more than half of the carved path was simply missing. Both had to swallow hard before shimmying with their backs against the cliff; along the narrow precarious stretch. As both made it safely, but with dry mouths and wide eyes; they decided to stop for a quick water break and bite to eat.

A breakfast of chocolate energy bars with plenty of ripe berries might have been cold, but it warmed them against the damp dewy haze.

"You know, this reminds me of when we visited the Grand Canyon when I was little." Leena made some conversation while they ate.

William looked around at the gorge. "Grand Canyon's wider, but this is way deeper."

Leena looked at him perturbed. "I just meant the feeling."

"I've never felt like this before." William was being persnickety.

"Yeah, I guess not." Leena agreed reluctantly.

Just then they heard Tristan whistle again. "Let's get going shall we?" She said.

William whistled back loudly, and then they heard some muffled shouting. "Eee...airful."

"What?" Will wondered.

"Be careful." Leena translated.

As they wound around several more crevices, finally the large cleft of vertical rock which had been blocking their view of the bridge, was just ahead. There they saw that the entire path had been collapsed, and their jaws dropped open. Nothing was left of the path, and a sheer vertical bowl of rock was all that was there. It was well over ten meters across, so they couldn't jump it. They approached it slowly, and saw that there was one of the strapping lines from Tristan's pack tied to each side of the bowl. It was fairly loose with slack, just enough to assist someone climbing across the rock basin. Unfortunately they also had to descend a fair way to reach the continuing carved stairway below.

"I can't believe Tristan climbed down that!" William gasped.

"And alone too!" Leena added.

"I don't think I can do this Leena." William was quite honest.

"We can do this Will! Tristan and I learned some mountain climbing from our cousins Aiden and Owen last year. We call them the 'Adventure Brothers', they taught us how to tie-off, belay, and stuff." Leena smiled assuring him. "Watch, give me your line from your pack. I'll tie mine off to the zip line Tristan left for us, and tie yours around my waist. Then you wrap your end around that same stone post Tristan tied off to. You'll let a little line out as I ask for it, OK?" William tried to follow, but he did as she said and soon Leena stepped out onto the sheer rock bowl. He let the line slip through the wraps he'd made, as she asked for more, and quickly understood the system. It was trustworthy, and he knew he would trust it, with his life.

When she made it down, Leena then wrapped her end around the stone post at the bottom, and belayed him for his traverse. William slipped, or rather lost grip as he started the downward slope near the far side. He slid fast about eight feet, and then dug his fingers into the rock hard. Leena was quick to tighten the rope, stopping him before the deadly part. Like a scared rabbit William clawed his way over to the ledge, and to safety. His fingers were bleeding, and a bit and torn up, but he didn't even seem to notice them from trying to breathe again. As they each looked back on what they'd just done, they realized that the climb wasn't really that hard, but when you added the panoramic three thousand meter drop into it, the pucker factor sure did come into play.

"No wonder he didn't want to come meet us." Leena thought out loud.

"I know how he feels. I don't want to go back over that either." William was truthful.

The steps kept descending rapidly as they wrapped around the last large cleft, then they could see the bridge very clearly. It was immense, even though still at least half a kilometer away. Parts close to the cliffs looked as though they were hewn straight from the cliff side itself, and only the middle section looked as if put together. The blocks putting it together were huge, and looked to be the same type of rock as the surrounding faces.

Leena scanned the entire length while slowing down the steps, yet she didn't see Tristan. "Do you see him?"

"Not yet."

She stopped and whistled. Then a loud whistling came back, an excited pitch, and they soon saw a silhouette on a ledge of a support tier beneath the bridge; jumping up and down while waving.

"What's he doing down there?" She asked no one in particular.

Tristan looked so very small compared to the gargantuan bridge, but he still stood out from all the commotion he was making.

"I think he's stuck!" William offered.

Quickly Leena and William made the last distance, and neared their side of the crossing.

Tristan hollered, "I hope you brought a line."

"How did you get down there?" She yelled back.

"Come on out on the bridge, but watch out for that big hole in it." He warned with a chuckle.

"Are you OK?" She added.

"Sprained my ankle a little bit, but yeah...I'm OK."

She nodded to William, and then told Tristan; "Hang on." They trotted out onto the wide flat surface, and saw debris everywhere. The imposing spire rose straight from the other side of the bridge, impossibly high above them. Much higher than any building back on Earth. As William let his gaze wander up the spire, he tripped over some debris.

"Watch were you're going Will, you don't want to join Tristan down there." She teased, but also mean it. Then they saw the large gaping hole in the surface ahead. Coming up to the edge they saw Tristan about twenty feet down below on a wide ledge circling the support arch's main column. He smiled at them broadly.

"Couldn't you see this hole?" Leena was sarcastic, but warm too.

"It was really dark." He tried to explain.

"Whoa!" William exclaimed. "You sure got lucky landing on that ledge."

"Tell me about it." Tristan looked down into the far away mist.

Leena added, "Lucky we came after you too."

Tristan nodded. "Thanks Sis. How about tossing me a line?"

It took both lines; the first he tied around himself, and the second he had them tie knots in, and secured to a large chunk of stone debris; so he could climb up easier. Both the rescuers pulled up as hard as they could on the line wrapped around him, while he climbed up the other. Within a minute of actual climbing, Tristan pulled himself over the edge and onto the bridge surface.

"Thanks guys." He breathed hard. "I guess I owe you one life each."

"Yeah, well let's hope you don't have the opportunity to pay that back right away." Will suggested.

8: Finding favor

Mr. Fielder laughed at the parent's new plan to start a fire by the doors. They even had buckets of water ready to douse it, and everyone wore wet cloths over their mouths. He laughed not at their preparations, but at the fact that the doors were quite impervious to fire. These moments when he was alone in Millie's office were his favorite moments, when he was in charge. Just then the doors to her office swung open menacingly, and Millie strode in followed by the committee.

"Fielder! What's happening with the parents?" She boomed.

"They've just started a fire."

"Good, let it burn out, and then activate the sprinkler system." She cackled. "Then turn the air-conditioning on to full."

Fielder and the other committee members laughed raucously. "Yes my Queen." Fielder acknowledged.

"It's been over sixteen hours since team two activated their Purge device, and we still can't get our people into the catacombs without running into the lockout loop. I'm beginning to think you all maybe right, in which case we have failed again." She said taking a seat in her big soft chair that Fielder quickly vacated. "Still we should keep some of the parents nearby in case one of the missing teams pops up, causing us trouble."

"My Ruler!" A man known as Mr. Koko objected, "How can a few sniveling brats cause us any trouble?"

"Well if they are off world, and not just plain gone for good, they'll undoubtedly realize that this is no game. Since they might even be able to initiate transfers eventually, they could just pop in uninvited you see." Mille explained to them. "The whole idea was to have them penetrate the catacombs' lockout, so we can get off world, not for them to be. Our Purge device seems to be stronger than we anticipated, just not in the right ways."

"The device is being redesigned as we speak my Queen." Mr. Koko informed her. "We can make another attempt soon."

"General Koko, you have been living amongst these creatures for over a thousand years now." Millie was curt. "Just what part of free will don't you understand?

Koko was flustered. "We can convince them that their Quest continues, Master. We can have the robotics guide them as far as possible, and hope they might find the spire. Even though the last attempt failed, we cannot stop trying!" He growled the last words angrily. "I for one am not willing to spend another millennia in this despicable form, amongst these vile creatures!"

Millie nodded agreement with the sentiments she too shared. "We will not give up! Proceed with your new design work, and try to figure out a way to make the children want to try again. If they don't want to, with honestly, with forthrightness and of purity of essence; then they will never be able to breech the lockout." She gazed at her troop with learned patience. "I suspect though, that the children that returned from the catacombs; will not wish to enter them again."

The one named Mr. McGillas, whom was always very careful with his words, spoke up. "The children are next to useless now. All they want are their precious mommies and daddies."

Millie sighed. "I thought so. Mr. Fielder, we've had enough fun with the parents for now. Let's reunite them with their children; it will make them all much easier to deal with in the long run. Release the sleep gas." She commanded.

"Yes my Queen." Fielder obeyed, and pushed a button.

\----------

Becky was just returning from bringing another sack of berries from the thickets Sarah, and Penelope had found the afternoon before, when she spied Joshua crouched beneath the small tree holding a stick out over the edge of the pond. The sky was a crystal azure blue with a softly wavering breeze caressing the lush landscape. Warm morning sunlight sparkled off the tiny waves caused by the breeze on the clear blue pond waters. She felt much better now that it was full daylight, as opposed to her fitful night's sleep. None of the children had slept well, as all were tired, cold and afraid. Even the fire they had kept burning most of the night didn't seem to assuage the inner chills of bewilderment each felt. Seeing the galaxy in the night sky didn't help matters either, as it was quite obvious they were a long way from home. The only inner strength any of them could possibly garner, was from each other. Knowing they were not alone.

Becky watched silently for several moments, as Joshua certainly seemed intent on whatever it was he was doing. Then she wanted to know what it was, "Hey Josh! Whatchya doing?" Joshua quickly motioned with his hand for her to be quiet. Becky watched his short brown hair tussle with a stronger gust of morning breeze, thinking how adorable he seemed just then. Not that she didn't always find him so, but at that moment her heart ached especially much. You see, she knew that he would never feel the same toward her. Becky looked down at herself, seeing a chunky form fitting the golden jump suit with entirely too many bulges. How could he like her? She determined right then, that she would do something about those bulges. Survival on this world wasn't going to be easy, and maybe that would get her in shape. She resolved to work even harder than she already had been.

As Becky looked back up to watch Joshua, something magical happened. The end of the stick Joshua was so diligently holding, suddenly jerked towards the water, and then it did it again.

"Hey Becky, look what we found!" Penny blurted excitedly. Becky was startled by the two girls as they joined her from behind.

"Shhh!" Becky reproached Penelope. "Look." She pointed to the pond where Joshua was. Just as the stick twitched once more, Joshua jerked backwards on it hard, and then they witnessed the fight between the boy and whatever was on the other end of his line. The huge smile that took over his face said volumes, and Becky thought to herself; 'he's loving it!'

Then it instantly got serious, as the thing yanked so hard it pulled Joshua off his knees and onto his side. It got scary as the thing kept pulling hard enough to drag Joshua into the water.

"Let go of it Josh!" Becky yelled and was then in a dead run around the pond towards him. Penelope and Sarah dropped their sacks and ran after her too. Josh managed to turn his feet around to dig them into the shallow edge of the pond, but the thing kept yanking so hard that he began to panic. Suddenly the stick broke, and Josh went sprawling backwards into the water. The girls saw this and slowed their breakneck pace, as he was not in peril of being pulled in any further.

Scarcely a moment elapsed, when a very large fish jumped out of the water near the pond's center. It came all the way out into the air, and they saw its' shimmering scales reflect beautifully in the sunlight; sparkling glimmers of a bright golden hue. The splash it made landing sent a shower of water that could be heard all over the little valley.

Becky arrived to help him up out of the pond, and Joshua said breathlessly; "Did you see that?"

"Did you hurt your foot?" She only asked in response. He shook his head, now wearing the huge smile again.

"Did you see the size of that thing?" He couldn't contain himself.

Sarah and Penelope came scampering up, "Is he OK?" Sarah asked of Becky, whom nodded.

"Why did you do that Josh?" Penny admonished him.

"To catch a fish," He looked at them incredulously, "so we could eat it."

"That fish almost ate you Joshua Clarke!" Sarah spoke wryly.

'It did not!" He defended, and his smile was gone.

Penelope remembered their packs they had dropped. "I'm going to go get our knapsacks Sarah."

"Oh yeah, we'll meet you at the 'shanty'." Sarah told her. "You don't need to catch any fish now Josh, because we found a whole bunch of different berries and fruits over that hill." She pointed past the thickets they'd found before.

"Oh, OK." Joshua sounded defeated. Even though his foot was much better this morning, he still felt bad that he couldn't help out as much as the girls had been.

Becky had been especially on the job, gathering most of the firewood, and materials for their lean-to, or 'shanty' as she and the others had started to call it. Now it seemed that Sarah, and Penelope had even found further food sources for the team. He couldn't know that just by his being there he'd genuinely helped cement the girls together, as he was several years older, and they figured that must mean he was wiser too. Not to mention he was big enough to scare off any animals, or scary things in the night.

"Oh Josh!" Becky lamented, "You've gotten your bandage all wet. We better change that with a dry one right away." She took him by hand and led him towards their 'shanty' for his own good, but with his umbrage.

\----------

The first few minutes the three children spent together on the formidable bridge after Tristan was rescued were quiet ones. They needn't say a word as the look in their eyes said enough.

"Thanks again." Tristan finally broke the silence, and then added; "Do you have any water? I, ummm drank the last of mine."

Two bottles pushed at him was enough of an answer.

Then Leena remembered the berries they had gathered hastily. "Try these." She encouraged as she passed the open knapsack to him.

He inspected the fruit and asked; "What are these?"

"Not sure, but they're delicious." She answered.

Tristan started feasting as if he hadn't eaten in days, and it occurred to Leena that he might not have eaten recently. "Didn't you bring any food Tristan?" She wondered aloud.

Between squishing mouthfuls of red staining delight, he muttered, "I left most my food with the others. Didn't know how long they would be there, until I could bring help." He consumed almost half the quantity in Leena's knapsack before stopping eating abruptly. Both Leena and William encouraged him to have some more, but he politely refused. The three sat there a while, contented, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine of the morning. William retrieved his map from his pack, and began jotting some notes down.

"Are you still mapping all this William?" Leena asked.

William nodded as a matter of fact. "Just marking the main parts, and giving them names to help remember them by. Let's see, we'll call that climb around the smashed out trail; 'The Devil's Bowl, and then the bridge I'll name 'The Holy Bridge'." This brought a chuckle from the other two.

Tristan got up first, and went over to the edge of the giant bridge, looking over the rails downward; the bottom of the deep gorge was still shrouded in mist several kilometers below them.

"This is unbelievable!" Tristan gasped. The other two joined him, and they too were in awe. Their gaze wandered over all of the majestic beauty surrounding them, eventually ending upwards; literally straight upwards at the spire that so brazenly gouged at the heavens. It was like something out of a science fiction novel; so obviously alien.

"Well," Leena said it first; "We didn't come all this way for nothing."

Tristan gathered his pack and put it back on. "Yes, shall we?" He started across the impressive span toward the base of the spire structure.

"We shall." Leena added as she too packed up.

William followed their lead, saying, "If anybody is in there, then they sure don't care if people get stuck on their poorly maintained bridge."

There were several other holes in the surface of the stout bridge, which appeared to have been caused by impossibly large boulders falling. Even though they easily steered clear of these in the light of day, it didn't stop Leena from giving Tristan some good-natured ribbing. "Boy, these holes are so big, you could almost step right into one of them."

"Yeah." Tristan twitched.

William laughed whole heartedly.

The other side was coming into clear view by then, and they saw there was the dark outline of an opening into the base of the spire atop a thick set of stone steps. The material of the towering structure was smooth looking, contrasting with the rough cliff side around it. As the three approached they saw there were two smooth ramps up either side of the steps ending at the same platform the steps did. The large opening into the spire was still so dark they couldn't discern any detail inside at all, it was as if a veil were covering the entrance making it eerily obscure.

"This is weird." Leena let out. "It's like a barrier of some sort. You can't even see the slightest bit of light even right inside on the surface."

"So, who's first?" William looked at Tristan.

Tristan let his eyes roll some just for effect, though he really felt like relieving himself right there. He squared his shoulders saying, "That would be me."

"Wait, maybe we should..." Leena began, but then Tristan marched right through the entrance. The sound of an electrical like crackle marked his passing through whatever sort of barrier it was, and Tristan totally vanished from their sight. William and Leena looked at each other with fright, and screamed, "TRISTAN!" Suddenly to their befuddlement, Tristan's head protruded from the dark veil accompanied by the electrical noise.

"What?" He asked as if annoyed. "I can hear you fine."

Leena and William were beside themselves. Here was the aberration of Tristan's head alone floating in the inky black doorway, and talking to them.

"Well? Come on!" Tristan was emphatic, and his head disappeared with a crackle.

It took her a moment, but then Leena ventured forth next, followed closely by William. As each passed through the barrier, the same crackling noise resounded.

The interior was totally dark, except for a very faint circular ring of light they saw from what seemed like far, far above. They heard Tristan's footsteps ahead of them, and Leena pulled the flashlight from her suit pocket. Just then a bright beam of light pierced the darkness in front of them, and began to dance around the apparently large room, but Leena couldn't make out what she was seeing. She turned her light on and shined it upon her brother's back as he used his light to search around.

Then Tristan voiced with triumph, "There!" He started walking away from them.

She focused her light on where his was shining, and saw what he was seeing just as he said, "Stairs."

Without warning light flickered from all around them, and all over the place, briefly illuminating the whole interior. Just as suddenly it was dark again, except for their flashlight beams. They all froze in their spots.

"Whoa!" William gulped.

In another moment the light from all over flickered on again, but this time it stayed on. Instantly the kids felt completely dwarfed by the size of the chamber. The spire was one big hollow chamber rising many thousands of feet above them, and more than a kilometer across at the base. The light seemed to come from all around them, but the source of it wasn't readily discernable at first. It wasn't too bright, in fact it was just right for their eyes, and it seemed to emit from the very wall of the structure, all the way up.

Spiraling up the inside of the immense cone was a staircase which didn't have any railing, and the way it twisted evermore narrowly up the inside wall of the spire was incredibly forbidding.

"Wow!" They all three muttered, as they stood there in awe.

"The lights must have been activated by us entering through that barrier." Tristan offered.

Leena looked at him and asked, "Should we?"

William didn't like the idea of another harrowing climb, after all they still had to get their silly behinds back up across the 'Devil's Bowl', and out of this canyon of ancient giants. Just as he opened his mouth to protest, Tristan spoke first; "Let's do this."

The two siblings started up the stairs, which began right near the still veiled entrance to the spire, and wouldn't stop despite William's pleas to forget the idea.

"You can wait for us down here if you want William." Leena spoke as if she didn't care one way or the other.

"Yeah, but we might be awhile getting back down buddy." Tristan added. "This is going to take us all day I figure."

"If someone were here, wouldn't they already have seen or heard us?" William was emphatic.

Tristan nodded, "I don't think anyone is home, but we've got to see if this might help us get home."

"This is the only sign of civilization any of us have seen William. It's our best bet." Leena was firm.

William tried one more tactic, "What about sticking together?"

Leena stopped and said, "That is a real good idea William, so come on!"

Reluctantly he started up after them, not wanting to be left alone in this ethereally strange place.

Even though the stairs were wide enough for at least six people abreast at the same time; without any guard rail the combined effect of increasingly greater height, and the way the stairs were always overhanging a straight drop to the bottom, made all of the children hug the wall of the spire as they climbed single file. After about an hour William was lagging behind by a hundred meters or so, and was progressively getting more nervous.

"Hey! This is crazy. We are way too far up here." William begged, "Let's stop, and go down."

Leena and Tristan ignored him, and continued climbing the steps. After another hour he was about to start crying, mainly as he felt left out; when he saw that the pair had stopped ahead, and were fixing to take a lunch break. William found new energy, and briskly scrambled up the hundred meters or so to where they were.

"This is freaking me out guys!" He panted as he joined them.

"Ditto." Tristan agreed.

Leena nodded, "Yeah, me too, but we have to find out what this is all about."

William sighed, "I know."

Berries and water was a meal fit for a king, or emperor, or whatever type of majesty that created this monument they all figured. Their water was getting fairly low by then, and Leena made sure everyone realized this; thus taking it easy on the sips.

Then Tristan tried to brighten their moods, "Don't you realize, we are the first kids in space."

"How do you figure we got here?" William asked with sadness.

"Maybe we fell through some kind of doorway." Tristan hypothesized.

It made as much sense as anything else, and both Leena and William nodded.

William asked with a sullen look, "Do you think we'll ever get back home?"

"I've been thinking about that." Leena's voice noticeably brightened. "If we were able to get here; then it only makes sense that there has to be a way to get back too."

All three of them looked upwards almost involuntarily. They seemed to be just a little over half way to the top, and the mysteries that waited.

The children finished up their lunch and proceeded to climb the seemingly endless stairs. After a certain point the height stopped bothering them so much, as they started to get used to it. It took the better part of the remaining day to climb the last of the stairs, and each of the children were genuinely tired as they approached the summit of the monstrous spire.

They could now see that a large flat disk approximately fifty meters across hung, seemingly by nothing at all, in midair just at the top of the stairs. Just above the disk was a large hole, at least a dozen meters in diameter, leading up into the top of the spire. Natural light filtered down from this hole, though not as bright as all of the artificial light from the walls. The stairs stopped right at the edge of the disk, but the ceiling, or floor of the above chamber was low at this point, making them stoop over at the landing that led onto the floating disk. It honestly looked as though any of them stepping onto the disk would cause it to fall from its' impossible perch.

Each of the three looked at each other without saying a word. There was no 'you first' spoken, and with their eyes alone they all knew it was 'here we go!' All three made the leap of faith together, and the disk didn't budge. As they moved forward and stood up raising their heads up into the top chamber each gasped, "Wow!" It was breath taking. The walls of the top were transparent, giving the effect that the chamber was out in the open air on top of this giant structure. Tristan pulled himself up first, and then helped Leena up, but when he went to give William a hand next, the center of the floating disk suddenly lit up with a red light, and it made a noise like a deep buzzing.

"Hey! What the heck?" William growled disapproval.

"Quick! Give me your hand and get up here now!" Tristan barked at him.

William did so right away, but not before the red light on the disk started to blink, while making the buzzing noise in unison. As soon as William was off of it though the light went out, and the noise stopped.

"What was that all about?" William wondered aloud. Tristan shrugged his shoulders.

"Check out this floor!" Leena exclaimed. It was a deep blue marble like stone, and there were flakes of a lighter material in this. These flakes seemed to flicker and flash with colored lights occasionally. Five short cylindrical pedestals were arranged around the center opening hole in a half circle, and each shimmered with many multi-colored lights.

"This isn't at all what I expected." Tristan said.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Leena expressed with evident joy.

The surrounding landscape could be seen for many, many miles, and it was amazingly beautiful. From the mountainous craggy canyon around the spire it smoothed to fertile green plains, ripe with lushness. These plains went on in all directions as far as they could see, but off in the far distant east a sea wavered at the edge of vision.

"Look out there." Leena pointed. "I love the ocean."

Tristan examined one of the raised pedestals on the floor. Each was wildly colored with a constantly changing pattern of lights, as if it were some sort of psychedelic art form. He touched, prodded, and smelled it. Then he stood on it. The pedestal lighted as if from a very bright lamp beneath it. Tristan jumped off the thing quickly, and the light just as quickly vanished.

"Did you see that?" He yelled.

Leena and William were already looking, as they has seen the flash of light.

"What was that?" She demanded.

No one said anything for a moment.

"Watch this." Tristan said with a wry smile, and stepped upon the pedestal again. The light blazed forth from it again, washing over the boy.

"Tristan!" his sister yelled.

He jumped off the device and again the light disappeared.

"Don't do that again." She scolded him.

So he jumped right back on it, and the blazing light poured forth. "See it won't hurt you." He cajoled.

After a moment Leena, and William saw that the light wasn't normal at all. It was moving very slowly; like a vapor wrapping around the boy's limb's and torso. Tristan noticed this as well, holding his arm up and watched the light vapor curl around it before rising through the top of the spire.

"This is weird." He stammered.

"Get off that thing!" She commanded. "We don't know what it does."

This time he didn't argue, and the light was gone.

Leena went over and grabbed his arm. "What on Earth is wrong with you? Don't get on that thing again."

Just at that moment another light flashed on from behind them. They turned to look, and there was William on one of the pedestals.

"Hey!" Leena barked, "Aren't you listening either?"

"Listen Leena, you've got to try this. It's really weird."

"Yeah, go on." Tristan prodded her.

Leena was becoming curious; so with a deep breath she stepped up on one.

The light lovingly caressed her, and she could feel the tingle of its energy as it wrapped around her. It felt oddly familiar. To Tristan it looked as if she were on fire, a golden radiant fire. Then he too stepped back up on a pedestal, and as the three of them were being bathed in light energy a strange thing happened. The light flowing from them rising through the top of the spire suddenly turned ninety degrees horizontally towards the center of the half circle. As each of the three separate beams did this the streams joined, and grew into a sphere of golden translucent light several meters in diameter.

"Yeah!" William let out.

A deep thunderous vibration coursed through the entire spire, and Leena thought she could hear the light energy still wrapping her, breathe a sigh in sync with the vibration. She jumped off the pedestal in fright, and the sphere of light in the center of the chamber disappeared with a loud pop. Tristan and William looked at her with surprise written on their faces, and while the light still bathed them; it now twirled up through the tip of the spire as before.

"What's wrong?" Tristan asked.

Her response was as obvious as the look on her pretty young face. "I'm frightened."

William stepped down off his pedestal too, and went over to the now shivering girl. As he put his hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her, Leena embraced him. She sighed, not a happy sigh, but a relieved one. The older of the Welsh's saw the new development between the two, and it didn't bother him at all. In fact a beautiful truth shone clear to him as the wonderful light caressed him; it made perfect sense that Leena and William liked each other in that special way. He too stepped down, and the crystal tip of the spire was much dimmer.

"Why don't we try that again?" he urged them.

It took a moment before Leena slid from William's quite comfortable embrace. "I don't know." She said. "This is all pretty strange. I mean we don't have a clue what these alien devices do."

"I know Sis, but it feels right." Her brother pleaded.

Then William touched her arm in a way that she knew he agreed with Tristan. She turned away from both of them, facing towards the distant sea she had found so comforting just moments ago. The sun was beginning to drop on the western horizon, and an orange hue was cast over the land. She watched silently for long moments as this hue turned golden. It was perhaps this that made up her mind.

"OK." Leena spat as she spun back around facing them. There really was nothing else to do, as they had to know what was going on.

They each solemnly approached the pedestals, and paused in unison. Leena gave the go ahead nod, then they all stepped up and were instantly bathed in the golden light again. Just like before the light streams bent to form a sphere, and as this grew the spire shook again. Leena listened for the whispered sigh of the light, and it was even more obvious than the first time. This sound grew in intensity as the sphere of golden light grew in size. The whispering soon became almost a shriek as the sphere threatened to envelop them. Leena was just about to jump off the pedestal again when the spire let another tremendous shudder, and at the same instant the sphere did envelop them. All the noise was suddenly shut off, and they found themselves in the center of a golden shell of light, removed from all else.

"What the heck is going on here?" Leena worried.

It felt as if they were floating on a cushion of air, and everything around them was dulled somehow. As each of them looked about, they noticed they could see outside of this shell to the spire chamber, but in the direction of the center the view was quite different than it should be. Instead of seeing the hole in the floor of the chamber, there was a view of some distant place, outlined with a frame of golden light. It was as if a televised picture were being imposed in the space in front of them.

"Do you see that?" William sounded amazed.

"Uh huh." Both of the Welsh siblings acknowledged in unison.

"Now there is an ocean for you." William stated.

"An ocean? What do you mean? I see snow covered mountains." She countered.

They both looked to Tristan for confirmation. "I see a thick forest." He affirmed.

"What do you think it is?" Leena asked William.

Just as he was starting to theorize, an even brighter light flashed from Tristan's pedestal, and the whole Spire shook. They both looked to where he should be standing, but he was gone. The light still came flooding upwards from his pedestal though.

Instinctively she yelled for him, "Tristan!"

Several long seconds later he abruptly reappeared with another bright flash of light, and thunderous vibration.

"What happened?" She demanded from him.

"I don't know. I was just trying to get a better look at that forest, when all of a sudden a light flashed, and you two were gone, or I was. I don't know. It was different too!" Tristan spouted excitedly.

"Different how?" William cut in.

"That forest was right outside the spire, and then when I turned around I could hear you yell at me, but you weren't there. Then the light flashed again and you two, or I was right back here." Tristan finished with rapid breath.

Leena watched William gaze at the view only he could see. He had a curious sparkle in his eyes. Immediately she stepped down from the pedestal, shutting it off. The sphere of light around them vanished with a pop, and so too did their ears pop.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?" William sounded hurt.

"I know what this thing is!" She responded ardently.

The two boys stepped down and looked at her quizzically.

"Don't you see?" Leena pressed. "It's a doorway like the one we fell through."

Tristan and William remained silent, pondering this.

"OK, maybe it's not just like the one we fell through, but it does the same thing. It takes you from one world to another." She finished quite sure of herself.

"Don't you want to check it out?" Tristan queried.

"Are you kidding me?" Leena chastised him. "Do you want to end up lost and separated from the other kids? They could die here!"

There was no more arguing after that. They all agreed that any exploring of this fantastic doorway would be done as a team; team number seven. This being set, they determined that they would make the long trek back to the others in the morning, and bring them all back here. There was nothing more to be decided upon just then as it was getting dark outside quickly. The light from the walls of the spire below had gone out below, and the only light in the cathedral was from their flashlights, or the pedestals, so they opted for the flashlights. There weren't enough berries left for a dinner and breakfast, so they rationed a protein bar split between them. This they washed down with a now precious sip of water, and it was clear they would be very thirsty by the time they made it back to the small valley so far away. When darkness had totally enveloped them they cuddled together and tried to sleep.

9: the golden fish

Miles away that second evening, four young children watched from the hill top, the brilliant light show from the distant tip of the spire. There was much conjecture as to if someone were trying to signal them, or if it were a beacon of some sort, probably activated by their friends. Joshua's imagination even went so far as to see bizarre aliens performing some freaky ritual on their new captives; three lost young explorers! The three little girls shoved him back into line after he'd voiced his thoughts.

"What?" Joshua answered back indignantly.

"You've got a sick mind Joshua." Sarah spat.

The light show ended as darkness descended, so the four young kids returned to camp, and huddled together for extra warmth. They each had their own survival blankets, but they had found out the previous night, that the closer they got together, the more comfortable. It was too comfortable it turned out, as one of them was supposed to stay awake guarding the camp. Within an hour of nightfall, all four were sound asleep. The day had been a busy one for them.

Early the next morning the girls found Joshua up early and already hard at work on some strange sort of contraption. When asked about what it was he was doing, he merely replied; "I'm going to catch that doggone fish!" They couldn't for the life of them understand what the fascination was, so they went about with the more important business of gathering fresh food for the day.

Penelope had named the small valley their camp was in 'Purple Berry Pass', and the adjacent valley 'Fruit Heaven', so she and Sarah made an early trip to 'Fruit Heaven' for the needed fresh produce. Becky was busy gathering more fire wood, and then she started to attempt to make a bigger, and warmer shelter for the four of them. Penny was having a hard morning Sarah saw, and nothing she tried seemed to convince her that everything was going to be alright. She missed her mom and dad, but heck who didn't? How could they not, when they didn't even know where they were. So Sarah just joined Penny in her crying fit and soon enough the both of them had cried themselves out, at least for the time being. Nothing else could be done about it.

Meanwhile Joshua had fashioned some more hooks from the stiff wire that framed the bottom of the knapsacks, and was baiting them this time with some of the cheese spread from the cracker snacks still left. He used up two whole rations worth, but figured catching that giant fish was worth it. His foot however was becoming very sore by then, and so he really needed the preoccupation. Becky had done an admirable job dressing it, as best she knew how, but the chance of infection still worried her greatly. She had been very clear as to what he could and could not do with his bandaged appendage. Getting it wet was definitely on the 'no' list, though it would have made it so much easier to wade out in the water and place the baited cord, but he tended to agree with Becky in this situation.

So as he finished with the final construction of his rig, he tossed the baited cord into the pond as far as he could, and tied the other end to a pliant tree branch. Then a strange hazy feeling came over him, and he wondered why he was building this thing. 'There aren't any fish in this pond! Why am I doing this? I should be helping with the shelter.' He thought to himself. Just as suddenly another hazy feeling came over him, and he totally forgot the previous thought. Joshua went right back to finishing the device. He pulled down on the cord, bending the branch in a tight bow shape, and then put a good ten kilo stone on the cord to hold it. He placed the stone as precariously as possible so the fish might dislodge it and snare itself. Joshua limped backwards and inspected his gizmo. A smile came to him for a job well done. This being done Joshua sat down under the tree for a long while, waiting for a bite.

Penny woke him from his slumber in the mid of morning by tapping his shoulder gently saying, "Joshua, you've missed the fish biting." With a sing-song lilting to her voice.

Josh awoke with a start and tried to jump up, but merely fell back on his butt again. When he saw that his rock was still in place he growled; "Dang it Penny! Why do you have to tease me? This is serious business!"

All three of the girls were gathered around him and they burst with laughter. "Why don't you come back to the shanty and have some food Mr. Serious Business." Becky said with delight.

"Yeah." Sarah added, "Becky has almost finished a new 'not so Shanty' for us all."

The three left, though earnestly encouraging him to follow them for a brunch, and he begrudgingly complied as his stomach growled from hunger. As he entered camp he saw that indeed there was a somewhat complete shelter structure that was much more enclosed than the old 'shanty'. So he decided to make fun in return as he inspected the seemingly wobbly shelter. When he shook it though, he realized that it wasn't so frail after all.

"Not bad girls." He critiqued.

They weren't impressed at his precursory inspection, and showed such by a chorus of 'whatever's'.

"Hey, come on!" He pleaded. "You know I wish I could've helped you more, but my foot!"

That got to them.

"Oh, I'm sorry Joshua." Becky began, "It's just that we're all worried sick."

"I know." Joshua interjected. "It's OK to be worried. I'm worried too."

"Oh my God....Joshua..." Becky stammered.

"I know you can't tell from my demeanor." He went on.

"Oh My GOD! Joshua....Look!" She pointed behind him with excitement. He turned and saw his gizmo jerking spasmodically by itself. Josh started to try to run, but immediate pain prevented this. The girls ran though, and right by him.

"You got it! You got it!" Sarah yelled as they reached the edge of the pond.

As Josh finally hobbled up to the edge, he could see the huge fish fighting and twisting in the shallow water. The girls screamed in excitement mixed with fear. It fought gallantly, and viscously, so they all stayed back and let Joshua's gizmo do all the work. They watched for minutes, and then a half hour had gone by, yet there was nothing else they could even attempt as hard as the fish struggled to survive. Finally almost an hour had elapsed before the beast came to a rest. Becky looked at Joshua, and then at his bandage before realizing that she would have to retrieve the fish.

She let out a sigh. "I'll try to get it up to the shore."

They all looked at her and gulped.

Becky slid out into the waist deep water, and gently approached the fish. It eyed her advance, and began to once more violently thrash about. She just about jumped clean out of the pond. They all watched it tire itself out more, prodding it to do so by tugging on the cord some. When it once again seemed to be all played out, Becky went back into the water to try to retrieve the fish as it was much too big and heavy to just pull in. This time it gave her no fight at all as she approached, instead it could only roll its big eyes in exasperation. The golden fish came with her easily as she guided it to Joshua's waiting hands. It took everything Becky and Josh had to heave and then roll it up on shore, but they finally had success. The fish let out a deep remorseful moan.

"Oh! It's hurt." Sarah said empathetically.

"Poor thing." Penelope said sadly.

As they all looked more closely, they saw that its eyes were different from any fish they'd ever seen; more human looking than that of a fish. Joshua saw the way it pleading gazed directly at him, and he quickly removed the hook from its mouth. Even though the hook came out cleanly, the big fish let out another pitiful moan.

"Quick! Help me get it back into the water." Josh spouted excitedly.

Becky looked at him in disbelief. "But I thought you wanted to catch it?"

Joshua continued trying to shove the huge fish back towards the pond, but it hardly budged.

"Come on!" He yelled pleading to Becky. "I don't want him to die." He was near tears.

She helped roll the golden beast back into the pond, and in seconds it was in enough water to weakly swim away.

"Yea!" Penny whooped.

They all had smiles on their faces.

As the children congratulated each other on their act of humanity, a branch snapped loudly from a thicket of brush to their rear. They all spun around startled half to death, and there right before their eyes was an extremely large bird half hidden in the brush. It had vivid bright green and deep blue feathers, and it looked very startled by its own discovery. The bird quickly turned and started running like a dog would run, on all four legs, and it was fast too.

"OH!" Gasped Sarah.

Huge wings unfurled as it ran up a short grassy knoll, and they began to flap loudly. The children watched in fascination as it took a good twenty meters or so for it to gain flight, but fly it did. Over the hills to the east the giant bird flew noisily out of sight. None of the kids said a word for long moments.

Becky was first, "I can't believe what we just saw."

"That was the biggest bird I've ever seen!" Penny blurted.

Sarah spouted, "It was gorgeous."

Joshua's mouth was still agape, but he managed to garble; "Did you see that?"

"Yes Joshua, everyone saw that." Becky patronized him.

"No! I mean did you see what the bird was wearing?" He turned to them with a frightful look written across his face.

"What it was wearing?" Sarah echoed.

A picture of it did come back to them all clearly. Yes it was wearing something around its waist section; a belt with objects hung from it.

"What is going on here?" Becky whined.

Penny asked frightfully, "Do you think it will come back?"

They all just looked at each other with big eyes.

10: never in your wildest dreams

Predawn gray in the sky of the east was more than a welcome sight to Leena, Tristan and William. They had been quite warm enough in the spire's cathedral, but the incessant call of nature made them each quite uncomfortable.

"I don't think I can wait any longer Tristan." Leena spoke with urgency.

"Me either." He agreed. "William and I will hop down, and go off the stairs. You can go up here." With that both of the boys disappeared down through the center hole, and left her alone in the cathedral. They yelled back up instantly that the main chamber lights had come back on. She nodded to herself and quickly looked around for an inconspicuous spot to soil, and found a small rectangular patch of gray material that was different than the other flooring surface. A hand hold looking protrusion came out of the transparent wall a meter above this, so she went. As she finished and zipped her jump suit back up she turned and noticed that her waste was gone, just plain disappeared. Then she grabbed the hand hold like protrusion to lean down and further inspect the different material, when suddenly a clear liquid ran freely from the spout end. This too vanished without a trace as it splashed down on the grey surface below. Leena let go of the hand hold, and the liquid flow stopped. Then she grabbed it again and held her hand under the spout, catching some of the liquid in her palm. She sniffed it, and there was absolutely no odor to the cool clear fluid, so she braved a slight touch of her tongue, thinking that she understood what this was.

Leena congratulated herself as she was right about the function of the device. The liquid was pure fresh water, and the grey patch on the floor was a bathroom waste disposal of sorts. Kind of a very advanced drain.

"Hey guys!" She shouted down the hole. "I found a water source."

"What?" Tristan hollered back up from out of sight on the stairs.

"I found a water faucet!" She yelled again. "Come on back up. Let's fill up our bottles."

After the boys had examined and played around with the sink and water spigot for a bit, they settled down and ate the remaining berries they had brought for breakfast, and had their fill of cool fresh water for the first time in over a day. The sun was just peaking over the distant horizon as they decided to head on down the long frightening stair well. Remembering the way the floating disk had lit up and buzzed; Leena had another insight.

"When we get down onto the disk guys, don't get off of it right away. OK?" She offered.

"Why? What's up?" William looked puzzled.

She smiled and said, "I think I know what that floating disk is too." So the three hopped down onto it and watched as the red light came on again in the center of it accompanied by the buzzing noise. Then the light began to blink as the buzzing increased in pitch slightly.

"Why walk, when we can ride?" She said smugly, and suddenly the disk smoothly began to descend. The red light turned to blue, and the noise stopped completely.

"How did you know?" William was astonished.

"Just a lucky guess." She grinned.

The disk smoothly gained speed and in less than a minute it was again slowing down near the bottom. It silently contacted the floor of the immense base chamber, and the light in the center went off.

"That's way better than those doggone stairs!" William exclaimed as the three stepped off the disk, and started for the distant entrance to the spire. Leena turned around to watch the disk as they disembarked it, waiting to see if it would automatically rise to the top again, but it did not.

"Whew!" She breathed. "It looks like we don't have to take those doggone stairs again when we return."

"Amen to that." Will chided.

"Come on," Tristan implored. "We've got a long way to go before dark." And he started off towards the entrance almost half a kilometer distant, as the disk had landed in the very center of the immense base.

\----------

Meanwhile Michael Welsh was just starting to awaken from his chemically induced torpor. Everything was dark, and he was restricted, or restrained somehow. He was very groggy too, but he could hear some vague voices echoing from around him, though he couldn't quite make them out. As he struggled to free himself from the unseen restraints, he heard someone say; "Nurse." Michael tried his best to yell, or even make a noise.

"Hey, hey, take it easy. Relax. You've had a hard couple of day's mister" A soft female voice cooed to him. "You're in no condition to be moving about."

"Maa, my family?" He managed to mutter through thick dry lips, and then he started to feel the pain from all over.

There was a long silence before, "I'm sorry Mr. Welsh, there was a terrible fire." Was all the voice said. Michael started screaming. Unbeknownst to him in his blindfolded state, Millie Schotner was in the room watching all this. She had to leave the room to keep from bursting out laughing at him. Out in the hallway she did let loose with a bawdy fit of giggling, though she tried to keep it down. A female technician in a blue jump suit exited the room where Michael was, and Millie stopped her in the hallway.

"Erica, now you are sure he feels pain as though he'd been burned?" She demanded of the woman.

The woman nodded as a matter of fact.

Millie pressed the issue further. "He must think he has been badly burned in a fire! This is imperative."

The woman nodded again, "Of course Ms. Schotner." She assured.

Just then Mr. Fielder came down the hall, and Millie dismissed the technician and turned to Fielder. The woman technician went about her business with a careful guard of her expressions. She couldn't let any disdain, or defiance show; lest she ruin her chance of stopping this madness. Erica had always be adept at hiding her feelings, and she knew it was never as important as now.

"So, how are the 'patients' doing?" Fielder asked with genuine interest, as he could see by the wicked grin on Millie's face that she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

"I haven't had this much fun in years." She confessed.

Fielder too smiled, as he also enjoyed seeing humans suffer.

"You really must come listen to his torture sometime." Millie told Fielder as if she were inviting him for coffee.

"My, my, yes. I'd like that." He cheerfully agreed. "Oh, and I have here the report on the other families my Queen."

"Good. Are there any excessive trouble makers yet?" She grinned with hope.

Fielder shook his head sadly, "Just as you predicted Master. As soon as the children that made it out were given back to their parents; they all calmed down remarkably. The only ones whom would cause trouble are the parents whose children are still missing, and you already have them all locked down here in the 'patient' care facility."

"That's exactly what I surmised Fielder." Millie spat with disgust. "They don't have the backbone that you Andorians do. Lock an Andorian in a room against their will, and either the room will be breeched, or the Andorian will destroy themselves in the process; regardless of whether or not their children are present."

Fielder smiled with pride, knowing this was absolute truth.

"That is what attracted me to your kind in the first place." She walked away grinning.

That caused Mr. Fielder to completely lose his smile, and any sense of conceit. It was moments like these that he truly regretted having sworn eternal loyalty to the Dark Queen so long ago, but he also knew full well that he would never break his vow. It wasn't in their make up to do such an unthinkable thing.

\----------

As Erica Brooks took the meal tray to her next charge, she thought of all the events of the last several days. This certainly wasn't what she had signed onto to Dreamland for. Not kidnapping children and whole families, and surely not torture of innocent people. Even though she did have some experience back in the Iraq war with the 'enhanced interrogation techniques'; that was a far cry from what was being demanded of her now.

Those hapless people she had brutalized in the war were enemy combatants, or at least that was what she was told. Here and now there were no such fabricated illusions. Still, she too was a prisoner of sorts, as she had come to find out. None of the inner echelon of Dreamlands most trusted employees had been allowed to leave the complex, nor to have any contact with the outside world since the 'Quest" had begun. She cursed herself as she should have known there was only one need for someone with expertise in chemical methods of distress, regardless of her other medical training.

Erica had resolved to do whatever she could to get word to the authorities, the first chance she got, but with the constant over-watch of Dreamland's elite security forces she had to be extremely careful. Those men were not normal, and even beyond what she had experienced the Special Forces troops of the army to be capable of.

Her last pre-employment test had been to administer chemical influence on a willing test subject in order to get the man to breakdown and quit the test procedure. It was one of Millie Schotner's elite guards, and try as she might; Erica could not even get the man to flinch, much less beg to be relieved of the duty. She had never seen anything like it; the man's tolerance for pain was far past incredible. He had taken every combination she could conjure of painful drugs, and even the last one at a dose Erica was reticent to administer, but the man merely looked her in the eyes with utter hateful contempt, and took the pain without so much as a whimper.

'Damn it! I should have known!' She silently thought without showing any facial expression.

\----------

Jackie Welsh was worried sick in her cell. She had awoken the day before in this small confined prison cell, alone. She had no idea what had become of her beloved husband Michael, nor of their two loving children. Jackie certainly feared the worst, but she also knew that she had to try to be strong, and keep a clear mind. For all she knew; she was her family's only hope.

Suddenly the door to the outer area of the cell was opened, and the same short dark haired woman with dead eyes, whom had brought her meals the day before; was again bringing her lunch. There was a thick Plexiglas barrier separating Jackie from the entrance area, and once again the woman merely slid the paper meal tray under the slat at Jackie.

"Wait!" Jackie pleaded. "Please just tell me what's going on. Why am I here? Where are my children? Where is my husband?"

The woman didn't even look at Jackie, but merely left as she had done for each meal so far. Again this brought tears from Jackie as she couldn't imagine such disdain from anyone.

It took a while before she had any appetite to eat, and when she did unfold the paper wrapping the sandwich, she saw something strange on the wrapper. Jackie looked closer, and saw tiny hand writing on the paper. It read; 'Your husband is alive. Will try to contact authorities. Eat this note now, or I will be killed.' Jackie tried to keep her eyes from bugging out, and she kept her disposition so the camera watching her every move wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Quickly she ate the part of the sandwich wrapper with the note, as she took a bite from the sandwich. It was hard to swallow, but there was a taste of hope.

\----------

Carefully Becky used the wooden tongs she'd lashed together to remove the small can from the fire. The water inside it was boiling nicely, and thus it was ready to sterilize one of the hooks that Joshua had made for the fishing rig. She set the can down and dropped the hook into it. Joshua watched this and moaned again. His foot had swollen up from an obvious infection around the wound, and Becky had insisted on trying to lance some of the puss from it. At first he had flatly refused the treatment, but as his foot continued to become more painful, he finally relented.

"Give it just a minute to sterilize the hook, and then we'll do it Josh. OK?"

Joshua nodded reluctantly.

Suddenly a distant whistle interrupted them, and all four looked in the direction of the sound. There on the far hill side were three golden suited people waving at them.

"It's them!" Penelope cried out. "They made it!" Then she was off and running to them, followed closely by Sarah and then Becky. Josh stayed at the old 'Shanty' by the fire, as his shoes were off, and it was far too painful to put them back on just then. So he watched the joyful reunion from afar, seeing the two youngest girls clamor all over Tristan, and then William, and then both went back to Tristan, and clung to him closely. Becky was very happy to see Leena, and they hugged like long lost family. Shortly the group was headed back to the shanty camp.

Once back, Becky and Leena immediately got to work draining the infected puss from Joshua's foot. Then they applied the last of the antibiotic ointment that the three returning comers still had from their packs. The other four had already used up the last of the tiny tubes they had earlier that morning. Leena used up her small amount of gauze bandages with Becky wrapping the ugly wound, and took stock that only William and Tristan still had any bandages left.

"How does that feel Josh?" Becky asked with tenderness.

"It actually feels a lot better now." He told the truth. "You were right about getting all that puss out Becky. A lot less pressure."

Leena pulled Becky off to the side, out of ear shot; "What do you think Becky? Can Josh walk?"

"He can get around OK, but it's going to get worse. We've got to get him medical treatment soon." She was grave.

The seven of team number seven ate together for the first time since they had arrived on this strange world. All eagerly sharing in their stories of the adventures experienced, and in the fresh fruit from 'Purple Berry Pass'. Leena and William had picked some more of the also delicious red berries on their way back, and thus passed them around as well. Leena commented on how lucky they were that all this food was here, and Becky added they were even luckier that none of it was poisonous. Everyone stopped eating for a moment.

"Relax," Becky chided. "We'd all be dead by now." Then she popped one of the longish white and yellow tart tasting pods into her mouth, and crunched away. Everyone else followed suit.

After dinner as they all settled back, and watched the sun retire for yet another day, the questions started flowing.

"How are we going to get back home?" Sarah demanded.

"Yeah, what are we going to do Tristan?" Penny added with sternness.

"We think there may be a way." Tristan revealed. "The spire must be some sort of doorway, like the one we fell through."

"Was that light show last night from you guys?" Joshua queried.

Leena nodded and answered for her brother. "That was us."

Becky asked, "You really think we can get home from that thing out there?"

"I don't think we are going to get back through the doorway we fell through." Tristan explained. "It must be in the roof of that cave somewhere, but I already went through a doorway in the spire, to another planet I think. I figure it's just got to be connected to Earth somehow."

"You did not!" Joshua challenged him.

"Yeah, I did. Ask Leena." Tristan told.

Joshua looked to her for confirmation.

"He sure did." She nodded. "He was gone for a second or two."

All four whom had stayed at the camp got wide eyes. "Wow!" Joshua said what the girls were thinking. Leena got real serious, everyone could tell by the way she raised her voice just enough. "Do you think you can make a good day's hike, or maybe two Josh?"

"Sure." He sounded positive. "I may not be as quick as I used to be, but I can make it!"

Becky laughed with softness toward him.

"There's a little climbing too." Tristan put in.

The two smaller girl's eyes grew wide at the mention of that. "There's just one bad spot, but we got it rigged up for you all ready." He assured them.

"As long as you'll take care of us Tristan, we'll be alright." Sarah spoke with confidence.

Penny nodded whole heartedly, "He won't let us down."

"Not as long as I'm breathing I won't." Tristan promised.

Leena put the finish on the discussion, and the evening by proclaiming; "Good. We leave in the morning." Then as an afterthought she added, "I don't want to stick around here long after what you described of that giant bird you all saw, because it saw you too."

"And it was way big enough to eat us!" Joshua had to insert.

"Shut up Josh!" Came a chorus of four girl's voices, followed by two of them giggling.

A sky mostly void of stars set in, with the light of two small moons as the only beacons. Once again they all slept fitfully, not from the cold as they were all bundled tightly together in Becky's 'Not so Shanty', but rather from the unfamiliarity of their situation. Right under the surface, each child was fearful, yet also in awe.

First light found the four kids whom had stayed at the base camp eager for the trek, but the three whom had just returned the evening before were a little sore from all of their exertions the previous days, and weren't so hot-footed to get going. They took their time with a leisurely breakfast before setting off, as they figured with the littler ones and Joshua; that it would take two full days travel anyway. It turned out they were right; the team took a full day just to get to the point on the canyon rim where Leena and William had camped two nights earlier. So they camped there again. William and Penny had developed a habit of naming everything and everywhere they went, and this place they simply called 'the rim camp'.

Morning of the fifth day came more quickly for all of them, as they were all fairly tired by now, and so slept better. Leena and Tristan did their best to prepare the others for the impending crossing of the 'Devil's Bowl' as William had aptly named it, and everyone found trust in the pair. They started winding their way single file down the carved trail. When they got to the 'Devil's Bowl' though their trust seemed to almost evaporate. The smaller girls weren't quite as nervous when the saw the system Tristan had rigged up, especially when they learned that each would be tied off to the guide rope, and to one of the bigger kids. Both Tristan and William had to make the traverse encumbered with one of the little girls, and then had to cross back up to escort Becky, and Joshua down. Tristan felt that he was becoming old hat at this by the time everyone had safely crossed.

All were glad when they made the comparative safety of the massive bridge.

"Why do you call it 'Holy Bridge' William?" Sarah prodded, as he had been calling it that all morning.

William smiled and pointed to the hole Tristan had almost lost his life in. "See. Holes."

As it had been almost four hours since the group had left the 'rim camp', they decided this was a good place to have lunch. Each looked about with the wonder of it all evident on their faces, and even the three whom had seen it before were still in awe.

"Do we have to climb all the way to the top of that thing?" Joshua said with a worried tone as he gazed almost straight upwards.

"We did, but this time I think we have a ride." Leena let him know, and could tell he liked the sound of that. All had noticed his worsening limp on the way down the carved steps of the trail. She and Becky each were worried more about his infection due to this. They fully realized Joshua needed medical treatment, and fast.

Leena said to herself, 'We'll get you home real soon my friend.'

The four new-comers were freaked out big time by the entrance shroud to the spire, inspiring Josh to note that his favorite TV magician would sure love a device like that. Then as he saw the ungodly passage of the spiraling stairs going so far up above them he said, "There is no doggone way I'm climbing those."

"You won't have to buddy." Tristan exclaimed. "The elevator disk is still down here waiting for us."

"I have to go now." Penny stopped Tristan by a tug on his jumpsuit.

"Can't it wait until we get to the top?" He implored.

Penelope shook her head. Leena heard this and said that she would take her outside, but as she turned back towards the entrance she saw the familiar sight of one of the 'bathrooms' right under the beginning of the stairs. "Hey guys! Look, there's even a restroom down here." Leena said excitedly. "I didn't see that the other day."

"Maybe we should have spent some more time exploring down here." William offered.

"You all go on to the disk. We'll be right behind you." Leena directed. "Anyone else have to go?"

They all shook their heads, and followed Tristan towards the center and the waiting disk.

After everyone was all aboard the elevator it started blinking the red light as before, and then when it turned blue, the disk rose slowly at first, but ever increasing in speed until after a mere minute it was at the top. Even though Tristan had them all crouch down as it neared the destination, the disk had slowed enough so none would have their head smashed into the ceiling above. It seemed to have some safety features, though all the kids would have really like some railing around the edges. William and Leena climbed up into the cathedral first, and then helped pull the others up as Tristan gave them each a boost. Once up top Leena gave them a quick tour; the 'bathroom', the teleportation pedestals, and the ever awesome view. The girls were just as apt to enjoy the scenery for a while, but the boys wanted to get right down to business.

"OK." Tristan started, "Let's decide just how we're going to do this."

"Can't you hold on for just a while Bro?" Leena shot back at him. "We just got here."

Tristan knew that Leena only used the term 'Bro' when she was at the end of her patience with him, but this really confused him just then. "What, you want to stay?" he returned with scorn.

This in turn confused her. "No, but it is really beautiful from up here. Just give us a minute."

"Fine." He relented. "Just let us know when you are ready to go home Sis. OK?"

\----------

Erica Brooks had finally come up with a viable plan to alert the outside authorities, but it was a very risky one. This didn't deter her though as she was quite familiar with danger, so she set her plan in motion. There was no way she was going to take any further part of this mad woman and her evil insidious henchmen's plans any longer; money and position be damned! The fire she set in the emergency generator room by the fuel tanks for the generators would definitely draw some of the guards away from the security control room she'd figured. When the alarms went off she knew she had to move fast. Then the explosion she knew was coming, rocked the very foundation of the immense building complex known as HQ.

'I might have over done it a bit' she thought as she raced to the security room.

As Erica rounded the long corridor leading to the ever secure control room, she had to get out of the way of a number of Millie's elite forces as they ran full on to the scene of the trouble. It was a very good sign to her, as there was no way she could overcome many of those men. 'Hopefully there aren't too many left inside the security control room.' Erica wished. She tried to stay off to the edge of the camera's field of vision as she approached, and then she was at the door. The security pass she had lifted from the electronics' tech that afternoon at the mess hall should still be active, as it was less than an hour ago, and hopefully he hadn't reported the card missing yet. A quick swipe of the card and she knew he had not, as the door unlatched automatically. She walked in very calmly carrying a tray of food.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The single solitary guard barked at her as she entered.

She looked perplexed on purpose, "Rolf told me to bring him his lunch here today." She sounded completely innocent. "What's all the ruckus about anyway? Was that an earthquake?"

"Get out NOW wench!" The man yelled.

"OK, OK, I'm leaving." She paused and then set the lunch tray on a console desk near the man. "Tell Rolf this is for him, OK?" Erica asked ever so sweetly.

The man raised from his chair too quickly, and was suddenly in her face. His breath was unlike any foulness she had ever smelled. "OUT! Or I crush you." He snarled.

"Easy there big boy, I'm on my way." She slipped the hypodermic from under the tray her hand was still on, and quickly inserted it into the man's abdomen. "Arrrgh!" He growled as he felt the needle enter him, and more quickly than she had ever seen anything move, his back hand sent her flying across the room. It almost knocked her unconscious, and she was definitely woozy to the point she missed a moment of time. Erica didn't see the man pull the needle out, nor did she hear his battle roar.

When she did regain her senses she heard him leap towards her, and quickly she rolled out of the way. Confusion set in briefly as she thought that any man should instantly be unconscious from that dosage of the drug she had administered. This thought quickly left her mind though as his powerful palm had the back of her head in a vise like grip. She saw the fire alarm master switch right in front of her at that moment, and she pulled it.

"You traitorous wench!" He yelled. "Now DIE!"

Erica Brooks didn't hear anything else, nor did she see anything else ever again.

\----------

The private line of Millie's communicator buzzed to life, it was the rare emergency signal that alerted her. Quickly she pulled it from her shawl's hidden pocket, and answered the call.

"What is it?" She hastily demanded.

On the screen a semi groggy Andorian agent of security appeared. "My Queen, I have failed you! A traitor has breached the security control room and set off the master fire alarm."

"So?" She asked brazenly. "All the outside alarm communications have been de-activated."

"I am afraid not my Master. It seems that someone forgot to disconnect the master fire alarm as you had requested." The man grumbled as though half asleep.

"Someone FORGOT!" Millie screamed with a peculiar high pitched whine. "You irrelevant imbecile! What is the matter with you, what happened to you?" She queried at the agent's obvious drowsiness.

"I was drugged by the traitor my Queen. I will self-terminate as you desire, for my sin."

"You will do nothing of the sort!" She commanded him. "I am sending reinforcements now. Guard the booth until they arrive. Understood? And what of this traitor?"

The agent blinked unsteadily and said, "She has been terminated."

"Good!" Millie spat with venom. "Await further orders."

At that Millie disconnected, and called Fielder on the emergency line. "Fielder! Set battle plan 'Cat'! Yes, NOW! And get to my office immediately!" After a moment she calmed herself by will, and realized that only the fire department would be responding at first. It would take a while for all hell to break loose, and she had contingency plans for that as well. She took the small silver looking bracelet off her wrist and plugged it into the formidable charging unit in her desk. This was the last piece of extreme tech hardware that any of them still had, and now she thought she might actually need it again.

"I will make them vanish."

\----------

"It took three of us last time to really get it going, where we could see other places." William enlightened the others.

The girls had finally relented and joined the boys by the pedestals.

"Now watch this." Tristan said as he looked to his sister for quick approval. She nodded once and he stepped onto one of the multicolored stone daises. The wonderful golden light instantly bathed him. This certainly surprised the four whom had not seen this before, even though they each expected something unusual to happen.

"WOW!" Joshua's jaw dropped.

Penny uttered with fascination, "It sure is quite pretty light."

"You should see when three people get on." Tristan encouraged.

"What about five?" Becky asked having noticed the obvious five pedestals.

"Don't know." Leena broke in.

Tristan tried to push an issue right then, "Let me be the first one to go."

Leena backed away, there was just too much that they didn't know about these alien devices, and the pressure to make a decision weighed very heavily on her mind. She had put it all there herself though, as the others were more than glad to help, she just figured it was her responsibility.

"I don't know Tristan." Leena sounded worried again.

"One of us has to." He challenged her.

She shook her head, confused.

Just then Joshua stepped up onto a pedestal, and Becky immediately charged him to get down.

"Hey!" Josh said. "My foot doesn't hurt anymore." He ignored Becky's orders, and even put weight on his foot to test his assertion. "See!"

Then Leena remembered something important. "Tristan! Do you still have the metal signal thing that the Dreamland man gave you?"

Tristan shrugged, and then nodded. "Yeah."

Becky grabbed Josh, and pulled him off the pedestal. "OK, OK." He relented as he caught his balance, though she was there to steady him gently. Just then Penelope stepped up onto the same pedestal that Tristan was on.

"Give me the device Tristan. I don't think you should be on that thing with it." Leena insisted. "I don't trust them."

"Get off Penny! There's only room for one." Tristan argued.

"Tristan! Give me the thing!" Leena ordered with authority.

"OK!" Tristan reached inside his pocket with one hand as he tried to push Penelope away with the other. "Penny! Stop it!"

Penelope grappled with him with big eyes watching the beautiful light dance around their limbs.

Sarah turned to Tristan her eyes wide with fright, as she felt something terribly wrong was happening.

"Come on Penny." Tristan implored. "OFF!"

Sarah was just starting to form the word, "NO!" as she reached out.

Penelope's fingers were still clawing to hold onto Tristan, when she inadvertently touched the button on the silver device that he had just pulled from his pocket. Suddenly a strong vibration shook the entire spire, and the stream of light washing over Tristan and Penny pulsed much brighter.

Instantly a brilliant sphere of light expanded rapidly from the pedestal that Tristan and Penny were on, knocking over all the others, and pushed them up against the transparent wall of the cathedral, and uncomfortably so. Another deeper vibration shook the spire like an earthquake. William had his face pressed against the clear wall of the spire and saw huge boulders tumble down from the surrounding cliffs. One even hit the massive bridge far below, and took another chunk out of it.

"Holy crap!" He screamed.

Just as suddenly, the sphere of light pressing all the others against the walls disappeared with a grinding shriek, and so too were Tristan and Penelope gone.

The rest of them took a deep breath now that they could breathe again, but no one uttered a word.

Leena wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, but she held off the rush of panic, as right then she knew she needed a clear head. William picked himself up first, and rushed to a pedestal. "Come on!" he barked. "We need three of us on the pedestals, now. So they can get back here!" He jumped up on one, and so did Becky right away, but no light came rushing forth as it had. Leena was just getting up herself and rushed to another one, but it wouldn't spark to life either.

Sarah spoke with deep sorrow, "I think we broke it."

Then Leena did curl up into a ball, and began to cry.

11: SUCCESS AT LAST

The phone on the small night stand softly rang twice, and paused. The third time this occurred Millie Schotner stirred from her deep slumber. The fourth set of rings brought her back to consciousness, and she fumbled for the receiver.

"What is it?" She wearily demanded.

"You left instructions to be notified the instant something happened with the portal Master." Came a nervous reply.

That woke her fully. "There's been activity?" She eagerly questioned.

"Yes my Queen"

"Well, what is it?" She ordered with haste.

"You should look out your window upon the grounds." The voice trembled.

She instantly jumped out of bed with a quite youthful spring for one so old, and rushed to look out her window from the penthouse of the HQ building. There below in the remaining lights of the complex she could see that a very large perfectly circular hole in the ground existed where her amusement park once thrived. It had to be well over a mile wide, and had even swallowed up a small portion of where her HQ building itself had once stood. The depths of the hole in the ground were inky blackness, though she full well knew what lie deep down in those dark recesses.

'This is it!' The old woman thought.

Quickly she spoke into the phone again, "It worked! Call all our people, and have them meet me in the main control room immediately!"

"Yes my most magnificent Master." The voice could barely contain its excitement.

She arrived in the main control room of Dreamland within ten minutes, and Mr. Fielder and the others were already eagerly awaiting her.

"Have any of our people been able to access the catacombs?" She shot out instantly.

Fielder let a big grin envelop his face as he proudly answered, "We have a team in the base of the spire as we speak Master."

Millie squealed with delight, and even did a sort of round about dance move. "YES!" She shouted out.

"My most dark Queen." Fielder interrupted her celebration. "We should move quickly, as the authorities are back, and in force." He pointed to one of the large view screens around the room.

There was a reporter outside the gates of Dreamland giving a synopsis of the day's events at the park. Millie watched as the fire trucks had first appeared that afternoon, with smoke billowing from the HQ complex in the background.

"Turn up the sound Fielder." Millie commanded.

"The county fire marshal has even threatened an emergency court injunction to gain access to the park, while the Dreamland Corporation insisted that their internal fire department has everything under control. After several hours of tense negotiations, the county fire department was still not allowed access to the scene." Then the video switched to a night time view from a security camera on a local store some miles away from the park. "We have this exclusive footage from a security camera near the Dreamland Park from about an hour ago. It appears as if a massive explosion occurred near the same complex of buildings that the fire earlier had been reported in by an automated 911 call." Suddenly the whole night sky lit up brightly from an enormous sphere of light centered in the Park, and then just as quickly the light was gone.

The female reporter went on, "Strangely there have been no reports of blast damage from any localities near the explosion, nor any reports of a shock wave at all. We have had no response from Dreamland Corporation concerning this event, leading several authorities to speculate whether this indeed has something to do with the well-known contest that is being held there at the moment." After a second or two of dead air time the reporter announced; "We are receiving a live video feed from our local affiliates."

The scene changed to an aerial view from a helicopter over the park. The gigantic perfectly round hole in the ground came into sight as the searchlight from the craft swept over it. "What's this we are seeing Jim?" The reporter asked into her microphone, and then went on. "It appears that the blast has left an enormous crater in the Dreamland Park. Good lord! Look at the size of that!" The searching light beam swept over the still intact HQ building right next to the huge hole, and then over the smooth round edge of the crater. As it began to probe the inky darkness of the pit, a tiny reflection of light sparkled from far in its depths. Millie and the others in the control room knew this was from the crystal tip of the spire.

"Contact our team in the spire Fielder. Have them check for functionality immediately." Millie commanded.

"Yes Master." Fielder then talked into his headset briefly. "They have power and are on the lift approaching the cathedral now." He reported.

"Yes!" Millie exclaimed. "Have them check for pedestal activation, but they are not to transport."

"Of course my Lord." He acknowledged.

Millie continued watching the news coverage.

"There appears to be something happening from deep inside the crater at this moment." The reporter blurted excitedly. The view from the aircraft's camera showed several flowing beams of light shoot up from the depths, and then the helicopter turned away and left the immediate area over the pit. "Did you see that Mike?" The lady reporter off camera almost shouted. "It appears that something, or someone is firing some sort of beam at the news chopper." The camera view changed back to the newsroom, and the reporters started to speculate as to what was going on.

"My Queen, our team reports full functionality of the portal." Fielder said with glee.

Millie already knew this from the video though. "Have everyone prepare for immediate departure!" She half shouted, and a chorus of cheers went up from everyone there. "Mr. Fielder, if you would be so good as to gather my things for travel."

"Of course Master." He bowed.

Another man spoke up, "My lady, the sheriff's department is demanding access at the main gate."

She spun towards the man, "Have our native security stall them as long as they can, but make sure all of our people are on their way to the transport structure immediately."

Millie turned to leave and then abruptly stopped. She pulled a metal tube about the size of a water bottle from her shawl, and tossed it to Fielder. "Oh, and since there is no longer any need for subterfuge; please take the transmutation injections as soon as possible. I wish to see my Andorians in your beautiful natural forms again." An even more raucous cheer erupted from the others.

A knock on Millie's door drew her attention away from her packing a small suit case.

"Enter." She pushed a button on her nightstand console.

A tall hirsute creature with bright yellow fur, wearing a familiar yellow jump suit came into her room. She looked at it strangely for a moment before recognition came. "Fielder? My you look marvelous! I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. It has been so long."

The ape-like being took a spin as if showing off a new fashion. "Ta dah! In the real flesh my Queen. Oh it feels soooo good to be free of that stinking human form." Fielder growled deeply with relish, then quickly tried to make amends. "Um, your present form excepted my Lord."

Millie looked at him with derision, "I know this body easily passes for a human, but you know full well I am not!"

He bowed his head with respect. "Forgive my ignorance Master, it has just been far too long being imprisoned with this primitive race."

She nodded and finished packing her things. "I know, I know. What has it been? Sixteen centuries?"

"Almost seventeen my Queen." He said as he saw her other few suit cases waiting nearby. "Just these here?" He motioned to the luggage.

"Those and this one is all." She affirmed.

He frowned, "Not much after so long."

"There's nothing here of real value after all." She mused. "We should hurry though. Make sure General Koko and his team bring all the purge devices with them, and have them destroy any data about the devices. We don't want these humans wrecking our plans."

"Yes my Lady." Fielder spoke softly into the headset he always wore, and then grabbed up all of the luggage and headed out the door. Millie followed closely behind.

\----------

Jackie Welsh heard some of the commotion from outside in the hallway, and though she wasn't fully asleep, nor had she been in quite a while; she was instantly alert at the noise. There was no way she could know what time it was, yet the muffled shouts from the corridor seemed to be out of place. Something was going on, and she hoped beyond all hope that it was a rescue in progress.

Jackie knew she shouldn't be overly optimistic about the chances of that, but it was a sight better than the awful fatalism that had been trying to penetrate her mind. Her messenger of this hope had not been back to bring her meals to her since that wonderful note she had so quickly eaten. Jackie thought that the young woman might indeed have gotten caught, but quickly pushed the idea out of her head. That sort of thinking quickly led down that dark path.

Then several more muffled shouts resounded. Jackie hit the secret 'play' button in her mind, and the song 'Rescue Me' started playing for her alone, or at least she thought only she could hear it. Little could she know, that at that instant her husband Michael started to hum the same tune as he tried to fight off the excruciating pain, and delirium.

\----------

As Millie and Fielder entered the massive base to the spire, a loud cheer went up from the seventeen other bright yellow haired Andorians eagerly waiting inside. Millie performed her Queen like wave, and this brought even more shouts of bravo. General Koko came forward and bowed, "My Lady we must hurry. The native security we left at the gates has quit, and the last report from them stated the Feds were here." He quickly reported. A worried look crossed her face. There was nothing to stop the humans from descending to the Grand Chamber, and now that the catacomb lockout had been defeated, it was a straight path to the spire.

The General then offered, "I will personally take my best men, and greet them. It will buy enough time for the rest of you to transport safely."

Millie smiled warmly at the beast's loyalty, and she took his mammoth paw in her frail old hand; patting it. "Meet us on Regulus four General, and don't wait too long to transport. You are far too valuable to leave behind on this forsaken rock."

General Koko motioned for a couple of the apes to follow him, and they all unslung the assault rifles from their backs, as they exited the spire. The rest of the apes followed Millie and Fielder to the waiting disk.

On the fairly long walk to the center of the spire's base, Fielder told Millie that he was still listening to the human's news broadcasts, and they were reporting some very strange phenomenon occurring worldwide. It seemed there was a null gravity vortex that has appeared over Mexico City, and off the coast of Malaysia the sea was rapidly vaporizing into the atmosphere. There were also a number of strong earthquakes happening in various locals.

"Perhaps the purge device is even much more powerful than we thought." She mused, and then picked up the pace. "Well it sucks to be on Earth. We have no time to lose."

\----------

Jackie was still hearing much commotion, when suddenly the outer cell door was flung open, and several rifle barrels pointed in. This was followed by a man in a bullet proof vest that had three big letters stenciled across the front; FBI.

After he quickly scanned the small cell, he shouted. "Another hostage here!" The gun barrels were lowered, and the man behind the first came in with some bolt cutters, as the first man took guard just outside.

"Don't worry ma'am, were going to get you out of here." The man said the very words she had been rabidly fantasizing about hearing for days.

\----------

High above the giant perfectly circular hole in the ground, the FBI helicopters were searching the depths with very bright spot lights, and every conceivable sensor they had available. The spire was their main focus so deep down in that impossible pit, and suddenly more of the beams of light shot upwards from it, followed by quite an impressive light show of sorts. At just about the same time the Homeland Security SWAT team was entering the Grand Chamber.

The large expanse of the chamber seemed empty at first, and then from the shadows of the tunnels at the opposite end, the SWAT team heard a deep reverberating growl echo. The growl increased in volume until it was quite loud.

"Stay frosty team!" The leader commanded over their headsets.

"What the hell is that?" One of the members voiced with angst.

From out of the dim of one of the tunnels a bright yellow ape came running at the team extremely fast, as it was howling that ferocious growl they'd been hearing.

"FREEZE!" The team leader yelled as hard as he could, but his voice was slight compared to the thundering yell of the ape. The ape didn't slow down, and it was half way to the team.

"Alpha team, AJAX!" The leader yelled into his mike.

Just as the men's rifles began to bark and spit their deadly projectiles, the ape suddenly leapt high into the air, far too high to even be possible. This made the men miss their mark from the first burst, and before they could adjust their fire; several assault rifles opened up from the tunnels. This fire was extremely accurate and raked almost the entire team. Men screamed as they went down, and their body armor didn't seem to be stopping anything.

High above in the FBI helicopter they listened on their radios to the whole event.

"PULL BACK! PULL BACK!" More automatic rifle fire. "TEAM DOWN! We need help!" Another several bursts of shooting. Men screaming in agony. "It's like the planet of the freaking apes!" A growl of viciousness from some sort of wild animal; the likes of which none had ever heard." "Help us!" More shots. "It's not going down! ARRGH!" Then the team was silent. A scant few minutes later the object deep in the pit once again emitted some light beams, followed by a brief burst of golden light.

12: Captured

The first day following the disappearance of Tristan and Penelope; the five children had been frantic, or merely utterly depressed, and sometimes a combination of both. The floating elevator disk had dropped to the bottom when the event occurred, leaving them stranded in the cathedral.

"We have got to figure out a way to get to those stairs!" William said for perhaps the fifteenth time.

"We can't leave." Leena half sobbed.

"Look Leena, we have to get more food. As soon as we can figure out how to get down, I think Josh and myself should make a run for more berries. You three should stay here and try to get this thing working again." William was resolute.

Leena didn't respond. She just sat there on a pedestal with a blank look on her face.

"We'll get them back Leena. I know it." Will tried to sooth her obvious fear.

Sarah was looking out at the countryside, and then she came over to William and pulled on his sleeve. "Come here." She told him bluntly.

"Just a second Sarah." He replied and then continued talking to Leena. "We've got to pull it together Leena. I'm sure that Tristan and Penny are alright. I don't think whoever built this thing did it to hurt people."

"It's not this thing!" Leena snapped back. "It was that thing the man from Dreamland gave us."

William looked down, trying to think of some way to get her out of the dumps.

"Come HERE!" Sarah became adamant.

"What Sarah?" William sounded exasperated.

"There's something out there." She answered calmly, pointing to where she had been gazing.

Everyone got up to look.

"See." Sarah directed them to the east with her index finger.

Sure enough, there on the horizon was a roughly circular shape floating in the air.

"What is it?" Josh was the first to ask. No one could respond.

All watched for some minutes before William questioned, "Is it getting bigger, or is it just me?"

They all tried to scrutinize as best they could, and finally Becky spoke, "I think you're right Will. It looks like it's coming toward us."

Leena became hopeful, "Maybe they know where Tristan is."

"Only question is," Joshua stated, "Who are they?"

That questioned bothered them for over an hour, as the circular blob on the horizon grew larger and larger. When it was several kilometers distant, it seemed to grow fatter as well. It grew much fatter and then they all saw that it was a blimp, or a dirigible. This had obviously been travelling directly at them up to that point, but now it was veering to their left. Even at that distance they could see the brightly colored paint scheme reflect golden light. As it loomed even closer the children could clearly make out that it had a fish scale like pattern to it. In fact all could see that the whole airship's shape and ornamentation was designed to look like a fish, and a familiar one at that.

"It looks just like the golden fish I caught." Joshua piped up excitedly.

Sure enough the blimp even had the almost human like eyes painted on it. The ship passed by the spire to the west, and all gave a sigh of relief; except for Leena that is.

"Hey!" She started jumping up and down, waving her arms.

"What are you doing?" Josh was curt to her.

"I'm trying to get their attention silly." She was curt right back.

"We don't know if they're friendly" He then spat.

She stopped at the thought of that. "I just thought they might know something about all this." Leena explained her motive.

Within several more minutes the ship turned around and headed back east, but it also seemed to be losing altitude. As it got closer they could see it was lined up in the canyon, and seemed to be heading for the 'Holy Bridge'. The airship lowered altitude some more until it was just above the height of the massive bridge, and it was clearly steering towards the span with its giant fish tail. A large structure hung below the balloon section, and there were several propellers on each side attached to this housing. The children couldn't make out any of the crew inside however as the sunlight brightly reflected from the windows. They watched as the craft was maneuvered close above the bridge, and then appeared to stop moving very much. It was only about a tenth the size of the massive span, which still made it quite large. Finally the crew was observed as several of them flapped down the short distance to the bridge surface, and ran with ropes in claw to moor the airship down.

"The bird! The birds!" Joshua corrected himself. "Those are just like the one we saw, aren't they girls?"

They could only nod, as their jaws had dropped open, along with Leena's and Will's.

Sarah remembered that Joshua had wondered if the bird they saw was smart or something after their encounter; due to the belt it had worn. "It looks like you were right Joshua." She confirmed.

"About what?" He questioned.

"They are smart."

After the ship was secured, the children watched as a party of a dozen of the birds disembarked from the craft, and marched towards the entrance to the spire. Several of them seemed to be carrying weapons of some sort, but none of the kids spoke of this. They didn't have to, as one look at any of the other's faces said it for them. Each wore the panic of sheer fright. As the birds entered the spire the children went from the clear wall to look down through the entrance hole. There was just enough light to see by, as the dark electric shroud that had covered the entrance before was off. This was how the children had seen that the elevator disk was indeed on the bottom after the incident, which seemed to rob the spire of its power. The birds marched the long walk over to the disk, but when they realized it wasn't functioning, they turned and headed back to the stairs. This was when the kids heard the birds talk for the first time. Even though they were separated by over a kilometer, they could still hear the chirps, gawks, and cackles that the birds made, seemingly agitated. Several beams of light shone from the bird group up towards the children, and they all instinctively ducked back from the edge of the hole.

A while later William was the first to poke his head back over the edge, as he figured they'd already been seen.

"They're coming up the stairs." He said.

Leena formed a question, "You said you all saw the one fly, didn't you?"

"Yup." Joshua stated.

"Well, I wonder why they don't just fly up here then." She said perplexed.

"Yeah, huh." Becky agreed.

"And why do birds need to fly around in a blimp?" Sarah added.

That got Joshua thinking about their encounter with the bird back at their 'Shanty Camp'. "I bet they can't fly very well. Yeah, remember that one had a hard time getting off the ground!"

Becky nodded excitedly, "That's right! It had to run real fast before it could take off."

"Well, they are real big." Leena figured.

It didn't take the birds nearly as long to climb the stairs as it had Leena, Tristan and William; they did the arduous trek in just over an hour. As they could hear the squawks coming from just below the entrance hole, the children all backed away up to the clear wall.

"Maybe they can't get up here." Becky sounded hopeful.

Joshua asked, "What do you think they want?"

Before any further speculation was bandied about, there was a loud fluttering and flapping noise, followed by the sudden entrance of one of the large birds up through the hole. It landed quickly and brought a spear like weapon from around its neck to bear. Then it squawked some and pointed the spear menacingly towards the kids. It was an amazing sight to behold, here was an extremely large bird, by Earth standards, facing them down with its rather lethal looking weapon. It was at least six feet tall. The feathers were bright green, speckled with a deep indigo blue, and its eyes were close set, not opposed as were the birds on Earth. Quickly it scanned all the children with the large solid brown eyes. Joshua and then William put their hands up as if to surrender, but when the girls started to do likewise, it issued a sharp series of whistles. That was when Sarah started to cry, and this prompted Becky to do so as well. Then they all started crying.

This seemed to confuse the bird, and it emitted a variety of almost cooing like calls. Suddenly another loud fluttering of wings was heard, and another bird flew up into the cathedral. This scared the kids even more, and they cried even more loudly.

The other birds came up one at a time, each cautious at first, but seeing the unarmed children, they all soon slung their weapons back over their necks. Leena saw that they were obviously trying to communicate with the children, but they kept their distance for the most part; as each time one would get too close to one of the kids, the child would cringe in fright. Leena found some courage, and actually tried to talk to the birds.

It was quickly apparent that a crude form of rudimentary sign language was the only way, as their respective languages were totally foreign to each other. The first thing she did that sparked an appropriate response was to mimic eating and drinking. One of the birds handed her a small canteen from its utility belt.

Soon Leena realized that there was definitely one bird in charge; the one that stayed the furthest back. The other birds were constantly conferring with it, and when it pointed or squawked the others went into action. She dried her eyes fully and after several moments thinking about it, Leena got the lead bird's attention. She pointed to the pedestals, and then mimicked the bright light flowing over her.

"Do you know how to get these working again?" She instantly felt stupid asking the question.

There was no response, just what appeared to be a blank look on the bird's features, but then again with most of its face being a large gray beak; there wasn't much in the way of facial contortions available to it. Leena carefully and slowly walked over to a pedestal and stepped up on it. It instantly lit up with the golden light as before; to her and everyone else's amazement, including the birds. They brought their slung weapons right back up to bear and each of the forward birds crouched as if ready for combat. The lead bird and the others started making all kinds of noises then.

"Get down Leena, you're freaking them out." William said in his calmest voice.

She was too preoccupied right then to hear him.

"Leena!" William became terse.

Then she saw all the commotion and quickly stepped off it.

The leader issued some quick orders, and in a moment each child had a guard bird right behind them, clutching each of their arms. This prompted more crying from the youngest of the kids. One of the birds pulled Leena away from the pedestals, and was careful not to let her near them again. Yet another, the one holding Joshua cooed something to the others, and one of the birds looked at his bandaged foot that his shoe stretched to cover. With a few more quick commands all the children were led to the entrance hole.

"It's back on!" Leena implored to the others. "We didn't break it." She was clearly excited.

"Doesn't matter now Leena." Becky said softly. "They have us."

Looking down they could see the disk on its way back up to the top. As soon as it was resting below the cathedral, another sharp whistle sent the birds jumping down onto the disk, with the children firmly in their clutches.

After the disk made its journey down, the birds took the children out to the waiting airship, and marched them up the ramp into the underhanging structure. There they put the kids into a rear facing cabin and locked the door behind them. A minute later two birds entered and pointed to Joshua's injured foot. They held some fresh cloth like bandages and a small ampoule of some bronze liquid. Becky could see they meant to treat him, and she admonished him to cooperate. He complied, and they took the old bandages off. Next the wound was washed with some of the bronze liquid which Josh complained 'stung', and then a peculiar green leaf off some plant was put directly on the puncture, before the whole foot was wrapped with fresh bandage material. After all this the birds left, locking the cabin door behind them.

"What do you think they are going to do with us?" Leena was frightful.

"I don't think they mean to hurt us." William said plainly. "They've already had plenty of opportunity to do that."

"And they wouldn't have helped Josh." Becky added.

Sarah spoke up, "It looked like they got pretty scared when you stepped on the pedestal Leena."

"Yeah." Joshua agreed. "I don't think they ever saw that before."

"Maybe they want some answers from us." Leena wondered. In her mind she screamed, 'It's back on! We'll find you Tristan!'

The deck beneath them vibrated some, and they could all feel that they were moving, rising to be sure.

"Well, here we go." Josh said forlornly.

Becky asked, "Here we go where?"

\----------

The television in the private waiting area showed continuing coverage of the bizarre events unfolding around the globe, but Jackie wasn't paying too much attention to it. Her attention was on the doors to the treatment area, waiting for someone to update her on Michael's condition. Several other mothers of the Dreamland teams were also waiting in the small lounge for news, and they weren't interested in small talk either. Jackie's other main concern was to find out what had happened to her children.

Then two men in suits entered the lounge and immediately went to one of the other ladies waiting there. After a hushed brief conversation, they escorted the woman out of the room and down the hall through another door. A few minutes later a woman doctor came into the lounge.

"Ms. Welsh?" The woman doctor called out.

Jackie jumped up from her seat, "Yes?"

"We've got the initial blood tests back, and found your husband has been injected with a rather exotic neuron-toxin. We have administered a neutralizing agent, and he is responding to this treatment very well." The doctor told her.

"Is he going to be alright?"

"Yes, he's going to be just fine, and we don't think there will be any long term effects either." The lady smiled.

Jackie let out a sigh, and grabbed for a nearby chair back, as she suddenly felt a lot lighter.

The doctor put her hand on Jackie's shoulder, "You'll be able to go in and see him very soon."

"Thank you doctor."

After the doctor left Jackie sat back down, much relieved. Another woman asked her if it was good news, and Jackie smiled and said that it was. Amazingly enough this seemed to relieve the others somewhat as well. From the few shared words earlier she had gathered that the ladies were also still missing their children, and that their husbands had been through something similar to Michael.

When the two men in suits returned with the woman from down the hall, she had a stark look on her face, and appeared even more nervous than before. Then the men came up to Jackie and one of them asked, "Ms. Welsh, could we talk to you now please." The man showed her an FBI badge as he spoke.

"Yes! Please." She rose from the chair. "Have you found my children?"

"If we could talk in private, Ms. Welsh. One of the doctors has been gracious enough to loan us use of her office." He motioned for her to follow them, and they led her down the hall to the same room she'd seen them take the other lady.

As one of the agents pulled her chair out to seat her, Jackie remarked to herself how very polite these gentlemen were. Then the other man sat on the corner of the large wooden desk, and ruined the impression.

"I'm special agent Stickley, and this is special agent Hansen." The man introduced.

"Have you found my children, agent Stickley?" Jackie cut right to it.

"Not yet Ms. Welsh, but we will." He assured.

"Do you think they were in that explosion that I've seen all over the TV?" She tried to remain calm.

"No Ma'am, we don't think so."

"What about that damned Millie Schotner? She must know where they are. If you can't get her to talk, I will." Jackie felt her anger rise.

"Actually Ms. Welsh, we would like to ask you some questions if you don't mind." He was patient, but just on the verge of such.

Jackie nodded somewhat subdued. "Of course, I apologize gentlemen. Anything to help you find my kids."

"Is there anything you can remember during your captivity that was unusual, or out of the ordinary?"

Jackie blinked hard at the silliness of the question. "You mean besides the fact that we were lured to Dreamland only to be held against our will, and to be tortured for no apparent reason?"

Agent Stickley let out a sigh, "Yes, besides that fact. Anything at all. Did you hear any conversations of the staff, or see anything bizarre, or out of place that just didn't seem right?"

"Yes!" Jackie remembered, "The woman who brought my food to me in the cell, she wrote me a note saying that my husband was alive, and that she was trying to contact the authorities."

Agent Stickley perked up, "Do you have this note Ms. Welsh?"

Jackie shook her head sadly, "No. The note said to eat it right away, or she might be caught and killed."

"What did this woman look like Ms. Welsh?"

Jackie described the woman with short dark hair, and dead eyes to them. Agent Stickley looked to his partner, whom said; "Sounds like CE eleven forty six alright."

Stickley rose from the desk and pulled his smart pad from his pocket, and thumbed through some data before showing her a stock employee photo on the screen. "Was this the woman?" he asked.

"Yes!" Jackie said excitedly. "She tried to help us." The look that quickly washed over agent Stickley's face told of bad news to Jackie. "Is she alright? Did she get caught?"

"I'm afraid so." He said trying to be deadpan.

"Oh my God!" Jackie realized, "They killed her? They freaking killed her?"

Neither agent responded.

"Leena! Tristan!" Jackie began to cry as the deadly reality of it all began to sink in.

The agent named Hansen handed her some tissue. Then agent Stickley cleared his throat, "Ms. Welsh are any of these 'statues' we found in the likeness of your children?" He handed her a stack of large glossy photos. They were close up shots of silvery faced kids from several different angles. There were seven children's faces portrayed in all, and Jackie carefully studied each one. She recognized almost all of the kids from the 'Quest', though they were on a different team than her children were.

"These aren't mine." She looked up at agent Stickley with utter seriousness. "But these aren't statues agent. These are those children." Jackie didn't exactly know how she knew this, but she knew it was truth.

"Excuse me Ma'am?" Agent Stickley swallowed hard.

Agent Hansen then asked her a question for the first time, "What makes you say that Ms. Welsh?"

She shook her head somewhat, "I don't know exactly, but I can just feel that those are real living people."

Hansen nodded to Stickley with eyes widened, and agent Stickley thumbed through some more digital pictures before showing Jackie a photo of a circular room with a crystal clear wall. In the center of the room was a large round hole in the floor, surrounded by five slightly raised daises of multi colors.

Jackie felt a strong urge to be in that room on the photo, and the mental image of her beloved children became crystal clear. "This has something to do with my kids!" she blurted out vehemently.

Agent Hansen discretely nodded to agent Stickley.

13: THE BIRD CAGE

The small single window in the cabin faced rearward from the blimp, and was only large enough for two of the children to look out of at a time. It was just big enough for the smallest of them, Sarah, to crawl through if they broke it out, but there was no place to go. Even since their first moments aboard, the back end of the ship had hung out over the canyon, and now they were even higher up as the craft steadily rose. Plans to escape the birds were being tossed around. Joshua's first big idea was to rush the birds when the door opened, but the plan only got a laugh from the others.

"Come on William, you and I could take a couple of those big green squawkers out." He urged.

William's eyes got big at the thought of that, "You know they'd make dog meat out of us Josh! Sorry buddy, you're on your own there."

Joshua nodded passively at the truth of it. Becky's idea to hide somehow was no better.

Then Leena took charge, "Look, were just a bunch of scared kids, OK? Nobody is going to try to escape, or do anything else that might make our non-hostile captors, hostile!" She glared at each of them, including William. "Understand?"

They all nodded sullenly, a little shocked by the sudden command.

After several moments Josh explained, "Holy cow Leena, we were just trying to help."

She realized the outburst wasn't really called for. "I'm sorry, it's just that this is no game. Don't you guys get it?"

"Sure." Josh replied.

Leena wasn't convinced, "Do you realize that Tristan and Penny are gone? We might not ever see them again!" the tone in her voice conveyed the serious nature of their predicament.

No one said a word for a long while. They all just sat on the round mattress like things, and moped.

After she saw how somber she'd made the mood, Leena tried to spark up a conversation. "The days seem longer here, don't they?"

As none had a watch, no one responded. After a long while she tried again, "It seems like we've been flying for hours, doesn't it?"

Again there was the same utter lack of reaction, so Leena quit trying.

Several hours later the pitch of the engines changed, and they could see by the shadows shifting in the cabin that they were changing direction. Becky was the first to the window to see what was happening, followed by William.

"Hey look!" Becky shouted back to the others, "We're right by the Ocean!"

"Wow! It's really blue." William added.

"Let me see!" Sarah insisted, and Becky easily backed away to make room for her.

After everyone had a look, Sarah took a vigil at the portal, and after another half hour or so she called their attention. "You've got to come see this. There is a city down there."

"A City?" Leena repeated, and she jumped up to look.

Sure enough there was a sprawling metropolis below. Spanning from the hills they'd just descended from, as far inland as they could see from their rearward view, and extending somewhat near to the coast line, though not right up to its edge. A large river came into view cutting through the middle of town, and wound its way down to a small delta as it joined the sea. Though none of the buildings seemed very tall, two or three stories at the most, it was a big urban area none the less. They were all startled by the door suddenly opening behind them, and two of the birds cautiously looked in on them. The children all smiled naturally. One of the birds made a subtle squelching noise to the other, and then they closed the door again.

"Yeah, we're not going anywhere." Joshua spoke.

William and Leena turned their attention back to the city below.

"I don't see any cars." William stated as if surprised.

Leena looked hard, and saw only some large animals of some sort like cattle, pulling large carts down some of the avenues.

Then she noticed, and voiced; "No smog either."

William smiled a large grin. He was from LA after all.

There were quite a number of small boats on the river, and Leena looked off to the shoreline of the sea, searching for docks, piers, or anything resembling a port. She saw none, nor did she observe any ships or ocean going vessels at all. That made her wonder, and she mentioned it to the others. Then the craft started to descend slowly, and as they got closer to the ground a strange noise rose up from below, a noise like many birds chirping all at once. As they went even lower they could see many birds waving their wings above their heads, and some doing a sort of dance. Most of the birds were of the green and blue color, but here and there speckled amongst the others were birds of different feathers. Bright purple ones, some orange, a few yellows, and even a couple of white ones.

"Looks like a welcoming party." William thought out loud.

Joshua nudged Leena away from the view port, and watched the scene. After a moment he wryly said, "I saw a thing on National Geographic, where these natives did a weird dance welcoming home a successful hunting party."

"Oh shut up Josh!" Becky reprimanded.

When the blimp was almost on the ground, they could see ropes being tossed down to waiting birds below, and these quickly moored the craft. The landing area was paved with some flat stones similar to flagstone, and there was a large circular area directly below them that was more lightly colored than the rest. After the engines were shut off, the door again opened and several birds entered. This time they had the spear like weapons with them again. They motioned with the weapons for the children to exit the cabin with them, and right then Joshua was thinking just how close to the mark he might be about the hunting party, but it sure wasn't funny anymore.

Leena went first, and tried to console the others. "It's going to be OK. Just follow me you guys."

"Yeah," Josh added, "And don't anybody make any sudden moves. These guys look kind of nervous."

Becky got after him again, "Josh!" But he wasn't trying to be funny, he meant it.

The birds led them off the ship towards some close by stone buildings, and several other guard birds followed. The gathering crowd of avians had been quite noisy up to the point when they saw the children, and then they all became deathly silent. This scared the kids, and Sarah started to cry again.

Leena took her under her arm, and led her along. The crowd parted easily as the lead guard advanced to the entrance of a large two-story building. There wasn't a proper door, rather there was a thick woven mat hung above the entrance, and the lead bird held this aside for them. It was very dim inside and it took a few moments for their eyes to adjust. There were at least fifteen other green and blue birds inside a large room with hardly any furnishings. The little light there was filtered down from some hidden windows that ran around a thin ledge near the ceiling. Large maps hung from almost every wall, and Leena tried vainly to study these, trying to learn anything of where they were, but she could recognize nothing on them.

After the guard birds chirped at the others inside, and received some communication from several of them in return, they took position by the entrance, while the others there came close to scrutinize the children. The children returned the observation, as this was the first real chance they'd had to simply study these strange creatures in the calm of the environment. Each stood about the height of a tall man, and had two sets of appendages other than their wings. These each had two flexible joints that ended in a four toed claw, with one claw opposing the other three. In the dim light they looked mostly green, but in the sunlight the birds shimmered with a rich vibrant blue speckled pattern over the bright green. Their beaks were a dull gray, and were small for the size of their heads. The eyes were close set above the beak, and were very large; giving the birds a rather friendly appearance.

An obvious spark of intelligence gleamed from these solid brown eyes. For the most part the avians had kept their large wings folded behind, and the children had only seen them unfurled briefly before. The birds observing them began to talk amongst each other. Their language could sound like beautiful song at times, and then it could degenerate into awkward squawks and squeals. Some pitches were quite high too, and on several occasions it actually hurt the children's ears. Then one of the talking birds pointed to a corridor behind themselves and whistled twice. The guard birds moved up, and led the kids down this, to a set of stairs at the end of it. These steps were hard for the children to climb as they were unusually far apart, but they seemed just right for the birds large feet claws.

Upstairs they were led to a small room that had another woven mat for a door, and it too was dim inside from a single high hidden window. Then the guard birds left the room.

"What are they going to do with us?" Sarah asked, and instantly realized that no one knew.

Leena went to the doorway and pulled the mat back. A guard bird right outside in the hall turned to look at her. She smiled and closed the mat.

"Well, we aren't going exploring on our own." She told the others.

Joshua rubbed his stomach and said, "I'm hungry."

"I have to go to the bathroom." Becky said urgently.

As the children looked around the room they found several more of the roundish rough mattresses like had been onboard the blimp, but slightly smaller in size, and one corner of the room had a stone pit with a smallish hole leading down in a pipe. The top of the pit was formed like a bowl.

"I bet this is where they go." William speculated.

A minute later several birds came in, one carried a large bowl of strange looking fruit, and what seemed to be nuts. The other carried a large pitcher filled with water, and a tray with five small wooden cups on it that were carved to look like folded leaves. The first bird left, while the second pointed to the pit and cooed. All of them could understand the pit was just as William had guessed. Then the bird just stood right there, as if waiting for them to go. When it saw that they weren't going to cooperate, it lifted its tail feathers and squatted over the bowl, and it pooped right there. Joshua started laughing, and the bird started making funny noises almost grunting like. It took the pitcher and poured some into the pit washing the poop down. Then the bird stood aside, and again waited for them to go.

Leena walked up near the bird and said, "OK. We get it. Now you leave please." She pointed to the doorway.

The bird got a confused look on its face as it gazed to where she pointed, then it squawked almost indignantly and briskly left the room.

Leena laid the ground rules; "Becky you go first. Everyone else face the other way, and let's talk about something.

The other kids didn't have a problem with the arraignment, but it was obvious that Leena and William were definitely embarrassed of each other.

Sarah though it was funny. "Leena likes William." She sang teasing them.

"OK, Sarah!" William tried to get her to stop.

"William likes Leena." She sang in retort.

Later that evening the same bird attendants returned with more water, and an even bigger bowl of fruits, nuts and berries. This time they also brought a plate of some large worm like bugs that were still alive, but upon seeing the utter look of disgust on the kids' faces, these were quickly removed. The attendant birds seemed to be very friendly towards the children, trying to cater to them as best they could.

Soon it was dark, and the five young adventures went to sleep on the four mattresses in the room. Becky and Sarah shared one, as they were quite used to each other by then. The bedding wasn't the most comfortable, as the covering was thick, stiff, and whatever they were stuffed with felt like twigs, but they managed to doze off to sleep pretty quickly anyway. Leena swore to herself before she fell asleep, that she would somehow return to the spire to find Tristan and Penelope.

Morning found the children in good spirits, but pretty grimy by then. When the attendant birds came to them, they made sure to announce their presence by some chirping before they entered.

'They're learning about privacy.' Leena thought, but soon she would be thinking much differently. Breakfast was of a single variety of a soft green fruit, and the attendants seemed to try to hurry the children up as they came to remove the serving bowl soon after it was delivered.

Shortly a bunch of the guard birds came for them bearing weapons again, and these seemed to be different guards from the ones the day before. The demeanor of this group was much rougher than they had experienced yet, and William told them it would be a good idea to be on their best behavior around them. Everyone saw the wisdom in that, and so complied willingly, and completely. They were taken from their quarters and led to a nearby large circular building with a high dome roof. While they were being marched through a series of hallways, water could be heard running in the background.

When the birds stopped them in front of a large entrance without a mat door, they children saw an indoor swimming pool inside. The lead bird squawked at them and pointed inside, then it squelched several times and pointed at their jump suits and made a sniffing sound.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Leena fearfully asked Becky with a whisper.

Her answer came as several birds grabbed William roughly and started to remove his suit.

"Hey! OK, OK. I get it." He said and started to strip without their help. "Well you heard them; strip."

When he was quickly down to his underwear, he stopped, but the birds weren't stopping there.

Soon they herded five quite naked young kids into the large pool.

"Don't you boys even think of peeking!" Leena told William and Josh, with certainty of reprisal evident in her tone.

"Yeah!" Becky and Sarah joined.

So the kids cleaned up as best they could without any soap. The boys facing one way, and the girls together the opposite. In no time though, they were all splashing each other and having good clean fun.

Soon some attendant birds showed up and cooed for them to get out, and again the modesty factor kicked in. They didn't find their clothes in the corridor, rather several birds each held up a strange looking garment made entirely from bright green feathers for them. After they each easily slipped in to these 'feather coats' as Sarah had dubbed them, another bird sprayed them with a very nice fragrance that smelled of beautiful flowers.

"Hey! I don't were perfume." Josh protested, but got sprayed down anyway.

The attendant birds were carrying on amongst themselves, and really made quite a fuss pampering the kids. One even sprinkled brightly colored flowers on them. Joshua was the only one not enjoying it, as even William thought it funny, and was laughing. When the pampering was finished, the rough escort birds came back for them, and took the children for a stroll.

As they rounded a corner the children found themselves in a bustling busy section of the city. All of the bird citizens stopped as they saw the children, and began to chirp and squawk as if amazed. Most of them were the green and blue variety, but there were a few solid bright orange ones, and even a pair of pure white ones together.

The kids were marched through several such streets almost as if they were on display for all to see. Turning another corner they were suddenly on a much wider thoroughfare, and as with all the others, this was paved with irregular stones. At the end of the boulevard stood a grandiose looking building surrounded by a high white plastered wall. It was a good ten meters taller than any of the surrounding buildings, or any they had seen up to then, and its' roof was decorated with a shining blue metal covering.

Most of the other buildings they had seen were mostly square in design, but this one was very elegantly rounded with a flow to it. Twin guard towers flanked a highly decorated arched entrance, and the children could see they were headed right for this.

"This must be a palace or something." Leena guessed.

"Or maybe some sort of weird church." Becky offered.

Just as the group approached the entrance gate, suddenly the natural sunlight changed color all around; it went from a bright blue sky to a musty dim orange tint. At the same time they each felt precipitously much heavier, each of them including the guard birds collapsing to the ground. All the other birds on the street did the same as well.

"What the heck is going on?" Joshua screamed out.

"This isn't good." William also grunted.

Sarah gasped, "Are we dying?"

The tough guard birds let out pitiful chirps and squeals.

Then just as suddenly the bright blue sky reappeared, and they all could breathe much easier as their normal weight returned. The guard birds quickly got up and helped the children back up also, before hurrying to the gate. All the other citizen birds fled as if terrified, making awful noises of fright. Right away the guards were much more nervous and kept back from the children as they marched quickly.

"I hope they don't think that we did that." Sarah shared.

Leena thought back to that fateful event in the spire the day before last and said, "Maybe we did."

\----------

Millie Schotner watched the funeral procession from the crystal clear top of the spire. The Andorians were very strict with their rites and rituals, and as far as she knew no non-Andorian had ever even seen one of their funerals. There was no way she could be a part of it, even though she was their sworn ruler, but she still felt honored to even be allowed to watch from a distance.

One of the Andorian soldiers named Rolf, whom had stayed behind to slow the humans down, had been mortally wounded in the fight. It was amazing that he was able to actually walk out of there, and then even transport after the battle. He had died a short time later there on Regulus four. She had always found the Andorian's willingness to die for her, or her plans; to be the most honorable and loyal trait the beasts possessed. In the distance she could see them light the funeral pyre.

Everything else had gone exactly according to her plan; the ancient stash of weapons and equipment was right where they'd left it so long ago, and now they were free to finish the war that would forever change their section of the Universe. Millie would rule all the many galaxies of the ancient ones, and that decrepit race that she was exiled from would pay with their very existence. A smile came to her withered face as she thought of the cold sweetness of her long overdue vengeance.

The smile was wiped off in an instant, as the bluish sunlight of Regulus alpha suddenly increased in brightness until it was almost white, and Millie felt herself become much lighter in weight. She looked out at the funeral procession and saw that they too were experiencing the same thing as the Apes scurried for cover. This lasted only for a few seconds and then everything was back to normal with the gravity and sunlight.

"Oh no!" She said to herself. "Our purge device must have caused a rift."

Once the apes had returned she broke the bad news to them not so gently.

"We must get the device back! If the rift is not repaired it could turn into a full on fracture." She demanded.

Fielder asked with an urgent tone, "How do you plan on doing that my Queen, if we don't have a clue as to where it is?"

She threw a sickly grimace at him, "Well all we can do with is what we do know. One; that a team of the human children have the device. Two; that they will be desperately trying to get back to Earth if possible."

"I don't see how that helps us at all my Lord." General Koko huffed.

"If we don't get the purge device, that set us free, back into our possession, and reconfigure it to seal the rift. The teleport spires could very well become useless, and where would that leave us?" She explained.

The Andorians were ruffled by the idea of imprisonment again.

"We must go back to Earth, and try to track down just where that successful team wound up." Millie said with disgust. "Perhaps if we are lucky, those brats will have found their way home by now."

"Argh!" came a lament from most of the Apes.

"Even with our standard weaponry we have retrieved, Earth will be very dangerous now my Lord." General Koko said flatly.

"And since when has danger become a deterrent to an Andorian, my friends?" Mille challenged.

After a general growl of angst, the apes nodded in unison.

"We serve at your command my Queen." Koko affirmed. "We return to Earth."

\----------

The courtyard of the palace like building was crafted into a gorgeous flower garden, complete with a fountain that featured a metallic golden fish seemingly jumping from the water.

Once inside the building proper the children were taken down a long wide hall that ended at a huge silk looking tapestry of ornate story telling design. There was a tough looking bird with a long spear like weapon guarding each side of this curtain of sorts, and from behind the silk like barrier the children heard birds squabbling about something. One of their escorting birds made a fairly loud sounding squelch, like it was clearing its' throat. The birds guarding the barrier didn't seem to notice, or care.

So the visiting group waited for what seemed like the longest time until the squabbling from behind the curtain finally stopped, and then there was a single solitary squeal from inside. The birds guarding the entrance raised their spears, and each pulled back on a side of the curtain allowing passage. The children's escort then ushered them through. Inside was what could only be described of as a throne room. There were large luxurious pillows tossed into a heap on a raised section of the floor, and above and behind these were some of the most beautiful stained glass windows any of the kids had ever seen. All of this was at the apex of a large oval shaped room. Everything else in the room was ornate as well; intricate wooden carvings served as structural support columns symmetrically placed around the room to hold up a large vaulted ceiling with divine looking murals painted upon it. Each section of the rounded wall also had elaborate murals painted on them, seemingly illustrating stories about the green and blue birds, and their culture.

There were birds of different colors in the paintings too, often times they seemed to show scenes of violence between the differing types. In fact several of the images were down right bloody. One showed what looked like an army of white birds marching on the green and blue birds, then the next panel showed something gray and very large seemingly dropping from the sky onto the army of white birds. The final panel of this story series showed a golden fish rising from the remains of the gray thing, and the green and blue birds bowing down to it, as if saved by it.

"I don't like the looks of that." Leena said very softly, and only Becky heard her.

Their escort birds suddenly pulled their wings over their heads and sat on the highly polished stone floor. The children looked to each other for a clue as to what to do, but they had none. The room was very quiet. Another of the green and blue birds, dressed with golden chains from which hung a large metallic golden fish, stood to the rear of the chamber, and it was rather nasty looking by its' demeanor. This one held what looked to be a small pirates cannon from an old time movie.

Leena glanced at William and whispered, "Do you think we ought to say something?"

He was just about to shake his head 'no', when the large nasty like mean bird let out a piercing shriek. There was no mistaking that this meant to be quiet. Several long seconds ticked by, and then a human voice came from somewhere in the room; "Do you think we ought to say something? It sounded just like Leena's voice, but it wasn't from her. Becky started to shake, and tremble. Then a slight movement caught their eyes.

Suddenly there was a loud "POP", and a huge billowing cloud of green smoke filled the space right over the mound of pillows. Following right behind this noise there was a loud flapping sound, and green smoke curled around inwards at the sides of the cloud from a vortex that was being created. A second later a huge flapping bird emerged from the smoke, and it rose to hover above the children menacingly. Then it let an ear piercing shriek at them, and thunder erupted from a long bluish metal rod it held, like a gun shot. Next the hovering bird really let out a thunderous caw that almost dwarfed all the other noises. The children fell at their feet in terror, as they all started to cry. Then the menacing monster bird flapped backwards some and simply stopped flapping its wings, causing it to drop onto the pillows beneath. It easily landed with large powerful legs, and regally folded its' wings behind. It took a few moments to nestle into the pillows as if making sure it was comfortable. After it was settled the bird looked the group of terrified children over, as if pleased with itself, and then let out a single mellow squawk.

Leena found courage she didn't even know she had, and stood up. "My name is Leena. We are from the planet Earth."

The bird looked perplexed.

"That's great Leena, this dumb bird doesn't understand a word you are saying." Josh quipped with tears still forming.

Leena laughed unintentionally, but briefly.

The main bird made a curious 'cooting' sound, and then it waved the metal rod in the air. Another bird entered from an unseen entrance off to their right. This one held a golden rod with the ever popular fish hanging from chains on its' end. It also had another golden fish medallion around its neck. A long dark cape shrouded most of this bird's body and head, but it was obvious that it was much older than any they'd seen so far; just from the grey white feathers around the face. This was the first time the kids had actually seen one of the birds wearing any sort of clothing. It approached the children with a strange quick gaiting walk, and then it paused. Followed by the quick walk again, and another pause as it stared down at them, all the while the bird's beak was half open with its thick tongue sticking partly out.

Just the freaky manner in which it did this made Sarah cry again. This didn't deter the bird in the least, as it went back and forth in front of them, just pausing and staring.

"It's going to eat us!" Sarah whined.

"No one is going to eat us, right Will?" Leena asked for help.

"I'm sure they won't" He agreed, though hoping not.

After only a couple minutes of the strange dance, the old bird left the same way he came in.

"See." Leena consoled Sarah.

Then the bird on the pillows tapped his rod on a brass like bell, hanging near him, three times.

Another bird entered from a second hidden entrance off to their left, and this one had a full body length robe on made of brilliant yellow shinny material. It also wore a strange pointed hat that the children all recognized to be the same shape and proportions as the spire. It slowly and graciously walked up to the kids. A serene, calm manner was about the bird. When it was only a meter from them it stopped and made a very formal bow. Becky bowed right back, and then Leena followed by the others did likewise. Then the bird opened a book it held, and started speaking, but it wasn't speaking in bird language as was immediately obvious. The voice sounded human if fact, although it wasn't speaking English. It seemed like Chinese, or Japanese to them.

After uttering a long sentence in the foreign tongue, the bird stopped speaking, and waited as if for a response from them. Leena felt she should say something, and glanced to the other kids for a clue. They all had blank looks on their faces.

"We are lost here." She motioned to herself, and then to the floor.

The bird remained still.

"You know, lost." She put her hands palm up, and shrugged her shoulders. Right away Leena realized that didn't make any sense to the bird, so she spun around in a circle a couple of times as if she were confused. "Lost."

The bird started talking in the peculiar language again.

Leena nodded as it finished, "Yeah." She turned to face the others, "I think it understands." She faced the bird in the yellow robe again, "We need to get back to the spire, to get my brother and our friend back." She pointed to the bird's hat. "The spire."

William saw that she was getting excited as she thought the bird could actually understand her. He clearly saw that what she understood from her gestures, and what the bird got from them could be two totally different ideas. He touched her elbow lightly to get her attention.

She looked at him with enthusiasm written all over her face. "I think it really understands me!"

William shook his head slightly, gently trying to inform her that she was off the mark.

"What?" Leena asked, as she was perplexed.

"They might mistake what you're trying to say for something else." He told.

She suddenly saw his point. "Oh yeah, I guess you're right."

The bird in the robe and hat had become somewhat excited by all of her commotion, and it turned to talk to the King bird on the pillows very quickly in bird tongue. The King bird responded with a slow whistle.

"I hope that's a good noise." Joshua said.

Instantly the bird in the spire hat turned back to the kids, and spoke to them in the human sounding language. This time Leena kept quiet. So the bird seemed to repeat itself. Still none of them said anything.

A sudden snap sound was made as the bird quickly closed the book. It looked the kids up and down for a long moment scrutinizing them, before turning to speak to the King bird once more. The bird King listened, and then waved his arm obviously dismissing the robed bird as it immediately left. Within a second or two the guard birds encircled the children and ushered them forward towards the King, stopping just at the edge of the pillow mound. As the King leaned forward slightly it made a low clicking noise without moving its beak at all. One of the guards roughly grabbed Leena by the arm with its claw, and quickly pinched her index finger with the sharp talons of the other claw.

"OWW!" Leena let out.

A good sized drop of blood oozed out, and the guard turned her wrist so the King could see this. The King puffed up a bit, and then visibly relaxed. It made a smooth chirping noise, and the guard pulled some things out of its utility belt. First it dabbed the blood with a cloth, and then it put a drop of some clear ointment on the small wound, before covering it with a small bandage. With a low whistle from the King the guard let go of Leena and abruptly left gingerly holding the cloth it had dabbed her blood with.

Now the King seemed to speak directly to the children, and after it went on with calm sounding cackles and squawks for a minute, then he finished with a gentle wave of its claw.

The escort birds led them from the chamber, but they didn't take them back outside. Instead they were led through a series of hallways deep into the palace, and finally up several flights of broad stairs to a wing of the building with many luxurious looking bedrooms, or nests. The escorts left as soon as they saw that the children understood these were to be their new quarters, and the kids explored the wing, each claiming a bedroom for themselves. All of their rooms were very close to each other, and that alone gave the kids some comfort.

Before long Leena called them all together to discuss their predicament.

"So what are we going to do?" Sarah began.

"I don't know exactly, but we've got to find a way to get back to the spire." Leena insisted.

William nodded, "Agreed, but let's not be too hasty about it. We don't want to make the birds angry."

Joshua broke in, "We have to get back there as soon as we possibly can. Tristan and Penny need our help, and we know the thing is working again; so let's plan an escape."

Leena looked at Josh differently then, as a true comrade in arms almost. His heart was in the right place.

"I know," William nodded, "all I'm saying is that they don't seem to wish us any harm as of yet, and let's keep it that way."

"I don't know how we're going to avoid that Will. They didn't seem to like us being in their spire to start with, and I sure don't think they will let us go back willingly." Leena informed.

Sarah offered, "You can barely see the top of the spire from my room's window, so I know it is a long way off."

"We need to steal the blimp." Leena said thinking about the prospect.

"Whoa, wait a minute." William held his palm out. "Excuse me for asking, but who is going to fly the thing once we commandeer it?"

Leena thought about that for a second, "How hard can it be?"

"That's just it, we don't know." William tried to be patient. "What if we can't get it to come down, or if it gets caught in some fierce wind and it blows out to sea?"

Neither Leena, nor Joshua had an answer for that.

"We could walk." Josh then offered. "My leg is a whole lot better since the birds have been putting that stuff on it."

Becky dismissed the idea, "You saw how far we flew to get here."

"So?" Leena asked defiantly. "What if it takes a couple of weeks? What else are we going to do?"

"Wait, what are we going to eat or drink for those weeks, or longer? We can't carry that much stuff." Sarah became apprehensive at the idea.

"We'll survive off the land." Josh affirmed.

"Not a good idea guys." William was shaking his head. "There's got to be a better way."

"Yeah? Well let's hear it!" Leena almost yelled from frustration.

William flinched at her outburst, but then started thinking. "You were on the right track to start with."

Leena blinked, "What?"

"The blimp." He said softly. "It has to be by blimp that we escape. We wouldn't last a week out there on a forced march, besides the birds would easily capture us again."

"You just said we couldn't fly that thing!" Sarah protested.

"We can't." He looked at each of them evenly. "Which means we have to kidnap one of the birds who can."

All of their eyes got big.

"Which means we're going to have to get a hold of one of their weapons, and learn how to use it." Joshua was seeing the dilemma clearly.

Leena felt a lump in her throat, and she tried to swallow it. The idea of combating the birds, even just one of them, seemed ludicrous. All of them were quiet for a time as the thought of having to use violence sat upon them heavily. Naturally the notion that one or more of them might be hurt, or worse, came to mind also.

"OK, if we are going to do this, we're going to have to be very careful, and that means taking our time and planning it to a tee." William looked straight at Leena.

She dropped her head and nodded. The part about patience might kill her she thought, but William was right. If they rushed things, they might really get killed.

Soon some attendant birds showed up with fruits, water, and their now freshly clean golden jump suits, minus the knapsacks. Leena was sure they were the very same attendants from their other quarters. The birds also seemed to indicate by motioning with their arms that the children we free to roam about this section of the complex, but not to go outside.

These attendants had set up a table in a somewhat larger room with multiple windows facing down on the palace courtyards, and this is where they placed the food. This common area was just down the hall from their rooms on the same level, and it quickly became the place where the kids would meet as a group.

For the next two days their routine was to try to map as much of the wing they were in as possible, paying close attention to any potential escape routes. They could easily tell where they were not allowed, as there would be an armed guard bird by any of these passages, or door ways. Leena and William focused on mentally making a list of things they were going to need for the escape attempt, and how to possibly prevent or slow the birds down from pursuing them once they did make it out.

The morning of the fourth day at the palace, a different bird showed up with the attendant birds as they brought breakfast. This one wore a long bright yellow robe. The only other birds they had observed wearing robes or clothes of any sort had been the ones they'd seen in the King's chamber on their second day in the bird city. This newcomer brought several books with it, and some parchment paper.

After the children ate, the new bird set its books down on the table and laid some of the blank parchment down. It then removed a thin orange object from the robe, and grabbed it with its claw in a peculiar fashion. Slowly the bird wrote some strange characters on the paper, and then gestured to each of the symbols it had drawn in turn, looking for a response from the kids after each one. When it saw that they did not elicit any notion of recognition from the children, it wrote some more down, and then displayed these new symbols the same way, watching for a reaction after each. This routine was repeated for at least half an hour, until the bird finally looked as though it had exhausted itself.

The robed one turned to one of the attendant birds, "Breeet." It sounded.

Quickly the attendant filled one of their strange cups that resembled a folded leaf with water, and handed it to the other. It drank the entire cup full in several large sips, before it turned to face the children again.

"Chirp Swee, Chirp Cowck." It touched its breast.

Leena caught on first. "My name is Leena." She said as she tapped herself.

The bird mimicked her voice almost perfectly, "My name is Leena." Except that it enunciated everything much more.

"Wow." Joshua said.

"Wow." The bird said.

Leena turned to the other kids, "Wait a minute, I don't want it to get confused. Let me talk to it." She turned back to the bird which was patiently looking at her. "I am Leena." She tapped herself again.

"I am Leena." The bird pointed at her.

"Yes!" She nodded vigorously. "You are Chirp Swee, Chirp Cowack." And Leena pointed at the bird.

It puffed up its feathers and rose to bow.

"Yeah Leena, you talk to them!" Becky excitedly encouraged.

Joshua giggled at the bird's reaction.

The bird walked over to Joshua and pointed at him, "Wow."

Leena shook her head. "No, Joshua."

"No Joshua." It said and pointed again.

Leena shook her head and bit her lip. "Joshua." She pointed to him.

"Joshua." It pointed.

"Yes." Leena smiled and nodded.

Then it pointed at Sarah, and waited for a name. Leena went around to all of them introducing each to their new friend Chirp Swee, Chirp Cowck, or Cowack as Leena mispronounced it. The bird then made some more bird talk while waving its arms around at all of them.

"Oh." Leena quickly looked to the others and smiled. "We are humans," and she waved her arms at all of them too.

"We are Humans." Chirp Swee repeated.

"No." Leena shook her head, and paused before saying, "Humans."

"Humans." It repeated again and then wrote some things on a new sheet of parchment.

"How come it can talk so good?" Joshua asked.

"Silly." Sarah answered. "Birds on Earth can talk too."

Joshua thought about it, "Oh yeah."

"What are you called?" Leena asked the bird.

It looked at her blankly, and then Leena motioned back and forth between Chirp Swee, and the attendant birds waiting there. It followed her hand motions for a second, and then said; "Cracowck." Chirp Swee answered.

"Crack Ouck" Leena tried to voice, but it was difficult.

The bird corrected her, "Cracowck."

Leena got it right the second time, and then the bird wrote some more notes furiously. Chirp Swee again asked for something from the attendant birds, and they quickly brought a small bowl of fruit, filled with the fat round yellow variety the children by now were familiar with. Chirp Swee put one on the table and pointed at it with its claw. Leena thought for a moment, she didn't know what to call the fruit.

"Food." William spoke up. He then pointed to the other fruits in the bowl. "Food." He said again.

"Food." Chirp Swee repeated before writing more. This learning process was repeated with a dozen more items, and though Chirp Swee didn't freely give the bird language name for each, if Leena asked it would tell her. When Leena pointed to a sheet of parchment and the writing device, asking to use these herself, the bird seemed most amazed as she started to write notes of her own, while trying to sound out the bird name for things.

Chirp Swee Chirp Cowck was staring at Leena when she finished jotting down all that she now knew of the bird language. As each of them looked into the other's eyes the glimmer of compassion passed between them. The knowledge that here was another truly intelligent, sentient being that could feel love. That was the very moment when Chirp Swee and Leena became honestly true friends.

By then the other kids had wandered off to explore and play, as they all still had a great need for play. Yet Leena and Chirp Swee stayed at it for hours, both deeply immersed in the exchange of knowledge.

Lunch time came, and so too did the other four children as the fresh food was brought again. The others could full well see that Leena had this exchange in full control, and that they weren't really needed. So after the meal they again went off to either explore, play, or nap.

Even though Leena still had a need to play, just as much as any of the other kids, she had no interest in it at that moment. She saw another angle, besides a dangerous escape. If she could only communicate with the birds just how desperately they needed to get back to the spire, and why; then Leena was certain they would allow it. The look of compassion in Chirp Swee's eyes told her that. Before she knew it the sun was starting to set, and Chirp Swee said, "Night, Leena. Chirp Swee go. Sun back, Chirp Swee back." Then she left politely.

The same pattern was repeated over the next several days. Chirp Swee would show up bright and early with the attendant birds, and stay all day learning English; while Leena did her best to learn Bird. The attendants were charged with the welfare of the children, as was obvious by the way they took care of Joshua's injury. Twice a day they would clean and change the dressing while applying their medicines. Soon the wound was healing quickly.

Every other day the children were taken to a bath house on the palace grounds, and whilst they bathed their jumpsuits were cleaned and washed. On the fourth day the kid's knap sacks were returned to them, minus several items though. The foremost being the small multi-purpose tool that had been included in each pack. Joshua figured correctly that it was due to the sharp knife blade in them.

While Leena was learning with Chirp Swee; Joshua and William were on the constant patrol to gather information and weapons. Information was mainly in the form of maps which they painstakingly drew on the back of some of Leena's parchment notes. Weapons were anything heavy and blunt, or even thin and sharply pointed.

Since the third day the birds had allowed them much more run of the grounds, even letting them have access to the vast and myriad courtyards. Once the birds had observed the kids playing incessantly, they had assumed correctly that these were indeed children, and so their demeanor changed as a whole. William found he had a knack for planning tactical adventures, and so made a game out of their tasks to either infiltrate secure Bird areas, or spy on particular birds, which they were now giving code names to. Chirp Swee, and Leena actually became known as the Professor and Mary Ann.

As Leena had spent almost all her time with 'the Professor' since it had showed up; the others including Becky began to wonder about her motivation to escape. So they confronted her one evening after Chirp Swee had left for the night. Leena assured them her goal was still to get back to the spire any way possible, but that she just saw another way they might accomplish this.

"Good enough." Joshua had told her. "You get what you can from 'the Professor', and keep him occupied too."

"Her name is Chirp Swee." Leena corrected him.

\----------

Michael and Jackie Welsh waited with the other parents of team number seven in the Dreamland hotel main lobby. The hotel had been taken over, and was now staffed by the FBI as well as Homeland Security. The strange and sometimes deadly phenomena that had occurred around the world shortly after the mysterious explosion of light at Dreamland had subsided within a day or two, but the intensity of the federal investigation of all this was truly just heating up.

Of the three unaccounted for teams, theirs were the only parents of whom all their children, their only children; were involved, and the only parents willing to put their entire lives on hold to assist with the search. They had moved into the hotel the day before, and were now waiting for the lead investigator to arrive to take them all down to the caverns.

Agents Stickley and Hansen had explained that there were some mysterious things which the parents possibly might be able to help them understand. Just then the two agents arrived with several other FBI personnel.

"Good morning folks," Agent Stickley said as he walked up to the waiting group, "I want to thank you again for dropping everything to assist us here. This is special agents Holder, and Foley. They have been assigned as the lead investigators of this crime scene."

"Good morning, I wish I had good news for you right away." Agent Holder began. "With your help though, I am certain that we will be able to find, and return your children to you safely."

"If our children are not on the premises here agent, just where do you think they might have been taken?" A man named Ed Myers asked. His daughter Sarah was part of team seven.

The sharply dressed, red haired female special agent named Foley answered, "We are not certain Mr. Myers, but there is a possibility that they were taken out of the country."

Several of the parents let out audible gasps.

Jackie Welsh spoke right up. "How about off the Earth. Have you considered that?"

"Honey!" Michael protested.

There were several worried exclamations from the group. One of the other mothers, Ms. Robinson, began to cry. Her husband took her protectively into his arms trying to console her, saying; "Now, now. We'll get Penny back. Don't worry."

"Just what kind of malarkey is this?" Mr. Clarke became angry, and menacingly pointed his finger at Jackie. "You'd better control your wife's outbursts mister!"

Michael stepped in front of his wife and stared the man down quickly, due to his own size alone. The finger was retracted and the anger on Mr. Clarke's face was replaced by knowing fear.

"Now people! Please we need to focus on the task at hand." Agent Foley tried to calm them.

Agent Holder stepped forward. "Yes Ms. Welsh; that is actually the strongest possibility."

"Oh my God! Our Becky!" Ms. Johnson too began to cry.

After everyone was able to calm down somewhat, the FBI led the parents down to the Grand Chamber. All of the blood from the horrifying battle had been cleaned up, showing no evidence of it what so ever. They were taken down one of the tunnels all the parents recognized from the video clips they had watched their children disappear down so many days ago it seemed.

One of the tunnel entrances was cordoned off by crime scene tape, and had an FBI man standing guard with a rifle.

"What's the deal with the sealed off tunnel Holder?" Mr. Clarke sharply questioned.

"That is where we found those interesting silver statues of team two Mr. Clarke. You've all seen the pictures." Holder answered curtly.

Jackie was going to say that they were not statues to the agents once again, but then thought better of it.

The tunnel was straight and about two hundred meters in length, opening up to a small cavern that had a dozen other tunnels leading back out of, and in front of them a smooth rounded wall of some sort of material comprised one end of the cavern. Prominent in this was an inky black entrance that was fairly large.

"What you witness next will astonish you, but please trust me and follow me." Agent Holder informed them. He then walked up to the strangely black entrance, and vanished into it completely. Agent Foley walked right up to the same, and asked; "Are you alright agent Holder?" She seemed very complacent by the way she asked this, as if knowing the answer already.

"Yes, agent Foley, I'm fine. Please proceed." He answered from the inky darkness.

Then she too entered and vanished.

"It is just some sort of barrier folks, nothing to be alarmed by." Agent Hansen told, and motioned for them all to follow. Jackie was the first, and thus the bravest one as she strode purposefully through the barrier.

"Come on Michael, it's OK." She called back from the dark.

Soon the entire group was through, and beholding the gigantic towering interior of the spire.

"What is this place?" Ms. Brown, William's mother asked in awe.

"And where is all the light coming from?" Mr. Clarke added.

Agent Foley answered, "The lighting seems to be from the wall material itself, though we don't know how exactly."

Then Holder told them, "We think this is some sort of transport, or rather a teleportation device." He walked over to one of five golf carts waiting for them by the entrance, and motioned for them all to find a seat on the carts. "If you'll please."

"Is it safe?" Penny's mom asked.

Then Becky's mom, Ms. Johnson asked fearfully, "We don't have to climb those stairs do we?"

"Yes it is safe." Foley said, and then; "No, we don't have to climb the stairs; there is a lift to the top."

As they all boarded the golf carts, Michael noticed two assault rifle armed agents well off to the sides of the mysterious entry way, guarding it. They rode to a large raised disk on the floor of the massive structure, in the very center. The agents told them to all get onto the disk quickly, and move to its center. When all were aboard as he asked, the center floor of the disk lit up with a red blinking light, which soon turned blue and the disk rose up in the air; slowly at first, then with increasing speed.

"What the heck?" Michael wondered.

Mr. Clarke asked, "How does this work? I don't see any cables."

"Anti-gravity as best we can figure, but we don't understand how yet." Holder explained briefly. He made sure they were all grouped toward the center as it reached the top, so none would have to duck down, and the disk settled right up against the ceiling, pushing them all up through the hole in the cathedral. It was a short step up into the cathedral from there, and they all marveled at the size of the even more gigantic hole in the ground around the spire.

"Honey! This is the room they showed me pictures of. This has something to do with our kids!" Jackie became very animated. "Don't you feel it?"

"Oh, um, sure. I guess." Michael responded, though he really didn't know just how he felt about it just then.

Agent Holder had them gather around the five raised pedestals on the floor, and stepped up on one of them. Nothing happened. "We don't know exactly what the function of these daises are, but we strongly suspect they are the key to where ever your children are." He said plainly. "We would like to see if any of you have some effect on them, or feel anything concerning them." He stepped down and continued, "Now if we could have you each step up on these, one at a time to start with." He then motioned to Agent Foley.

"Mr. Clarke, you first please." Foley invited him. He obliged, but again nothing happened. Then she went through each couple one at a time, and with each there was nothing, until Ms. Myers turn. Sarah's mom caused the pedestal to sparkle with light at its base a little bit, but nothing else.

"Now that's interesting." Holder said. "None of our agents have had any response from these things at all."

They took some readings with instruments before they let her get down.

So they continued on with the others, and when Penelope's mom stepped up on a pedestal, it instantly lit up with glowing golden light that wrapped up around her like a liquid flowing slowly.

"Holy mackerel!" Agent Holder exclaimed. "Now that's something. Foley! Get some readings on this."

Agent Foley again pulled the rather exotic looking small instruments from her blazer, and started measuring readings from the light.

"Are you alright honey?" Mr. Robinson asked fraught with worry.

She giggled and said, "This feels great! It's wonderful."

The agents kept her up on the pedestal for at least a half hour, all the while taking readings, measurements, video, and pictures too. Then they had to practically beg her to get down, as she was enjoying the sensation so much.

Upon continuing the trial of each parent, they came to Michael second to last. He only sparked the base of the pedestal with light similarly to Sarah's mom. Then it was Jackie's turn, and she lit the pedestal up fully as had Penelope's mother.

"You were right Ms. Robinson. This does feel wonderful." Jackie exclaimed with delight.

They only took video and readings for several minutes of Jackie being washed in the golden mysterious light, when they then asked Penny's mom to step up on another pedestal along with Jackie.

Agent Holder gave them both instructions before she did so however. "If you find yourselves somewhere else suddenly, try to come back here right away if you can."

"Hey! Wait a minute here." Michael protested. "I don't want to lose my wife too!"

"Ditto!" Mr. Robinson added with frustration.

Agent Foley told them, "It's the only way we may ever be able to get your children back."

Both men relented, being coaxed on by the other parents too. So Ms. Robinson took the step up, and then both women were bathed in the glorious light. After several minutes it seemed the agents were mildly disappointed that nothing else was happening, until suddenly a golden sphere of the same light erupted in the center of the semi-circle of daises.

Both Jackie and Penny's mom could see a group of yellow, armed, and armored ape like beings with a familiar face in the center of them. It was Millie Schotner's face.

"What are you two doing there?" Millie asked. "You both look familiar."

Ms. Robinson spouted with venom, "What have you done with my daughter you evil Witch?"

A look of recognition crossed Millie's withered features, along with an understanding. "Get them both!" She ordered. The whole rest of the group, which could not see what was transpiring, but could hear it; watched helplessly as a large yellow furred paw reached from the sphere of light and grabbed Penny's mom, pulling her into the sphere, and she was gone.

"Jackie! Get out of there!" Michael yelled.

Jackie jumped off the pedestal just as another large furry paw reached for her. The sphere of light didn't vanish, but the light from the two pedestals the women had been on did.

"You stay with her, the rest of you follow me." Everyone heard Millie's command. Suddenly there were four large yellow apes standing on the pedestals armed with some very large evil looking weapons, and almost completely covered with armor of a type unknown to any of them. On the center pedestal stood Millie Schotner herself. The FBI agents were already drawing their guns, but Millie suddenly seemed to puff up, and the sphere of light expanded outwards, pressing all of those outside of it up against the clear spire wall. None could move, and breathing was very difficult.

Jackie however was inside this sphere of light, and the apes turned to her. She quickly jumped down through the center hole leading up to the cathedral. The lift disk was now about a meter or so below the entrance hole, and she landed roughly with a thud.

"Get her General Koko!" Millie barked.

Jackie saw the stairs leading right up to the disk, and she quickly scrambled over to them and started to run down them as fast as she could. A loud thud came from behind her, and she heard an ungodly growl. She peered just over the lip if the stairs and saw the FBI men so far below, she knew there was no way she could make it all the way down the stairs.

"Help! Help me!" Jackie screamed at the top of her lungs.

Heavy footsteps behind came from behind her, and she ran. The ape had her knocked down in a second flat, and pinned with her head just over the edge. "You aren't going anywhere!" It growled at her.

Below she could see the agents go into action. "You up there, FREEZE!" came the distant shout.

"FBI, argh!" The ape half growled, and half spat with disgust. A low mechanical whine came from just above her, and she tried to squirm away, but the paw holding her was far too strong. Then the ape muttered, "Die FBI."

Suddenly the whole world around her erupted in light and noise. It was a god-awful sound too, like a super-sonic jet, or rocket streaking past her head. A large fireball flashed down towards the agents below, and then the tiny looking golf carts were blown apart by a thunderous explosion. She could see several of the agents were hurt and trying to crawl away, and a couple weren't moving at all. Automatic rifle fire burst forth from the agents near the entrance, but their bullets were far too low of their mark. The low mechanical whine came from above her again, and she twisted her head to look up.

The ape was holding Jackie down with one paw while kneeling on her back, and aiming a large weapon down past her head. Then there was another blinding flash of light accompanied by the rocket like roar. Jackie looked down as the fireball exploded too near one of the rifle firing men, and he was thrown quite a distance. His screams reached her in a couple of seconds. The same deadly whining noise came again and she knew she had to do something to stop this beast from killing all those men below.

As she couldn't get loose, all she could do was bend her knees, so she kicked up hard with both heels simultaneously. She felt and heard the thudding impact, and then there was a desperate growling yell. Jackie watched as the ape fell, screaming the whole way down.

"You wench! You die!" Came another growl from up the stairs. Jackie started to get up to run again.

"Get her! Bring her alive!" Millie shouted.

All too quickly another hairy paw of incredible strength grabbed Jackie, and hauled her back up the stairs. It jumped with her up in to the cathedral and rapidly pulled her with it onto a pedestal. Jackie saw her husband helplessly pinned by the light sphere against the clear wall, and each said volumes to each other with their frightened eyes alone. Another bright flash of light, and she was instantly somewhere else.

Jackie could still hear the echo of Michael screaming, "NOOOO!"

\----------

Within a month Leena and Chirp Swee had started to communicate fairly well, mostly in English as Leena was not as quick to learn the difficult Bird language, called Threelt, as was her new friend was able to garner theirs. She was being taught an enormous amount of fascinating information about the Birds, and their culture though.

They called themselves Cracowcks, and their city was known as Breek Ka Caw. The Cracowcks were a very social creature, and enjoyed a fairly unfettered society. Their King's name was Crathra, and he was known to be mostly reclusive. Technologically speaking they were somewhat advanced in certain areas, and seemingly very backwards in others. Like their ability to build airships run by complex engines, yet not to have a motor vehicle one in the city. They had running water, but then their sewage system left much to be desired. This Leena was told was in part due to Crathra's many idiosyncrasies, one of which was his jealous hoarding of technology.

He had made a law that would not allow any but approved use of fossil fuels, or electricity. Then he didn't allow any use of chemically propelled weaponry, except by his soldiers, and the spear like weapons these carried were actually a chemically propelled harpoon of sorts. Leena had thought, 'that's not a bad restriction.'

However the weirdest thing she found out was that Crathra did not allow any of the other Cracowcks to use their own wings to fly with; only he could do so. He mostly stayed inside his palace as an over indulged recluse, and other than those few bizarre statutes the Cracowcks were mostly free to do as they wished. So they enjoyed the benefits of a peaceful, and cooperative society.

During the lengthy sessions with Leena, Chirp Swee studied the children closely. She had found it very strange when Leena explained that some of the children's games they played were competitive, instead of cooperative. This was a self-defeating concept to her. The Cracowcks were a generally peaceful race, but Leena was warned that some of the other bird races she had seen were not so peaceful, especially the white ones. There had been wars in the past, Chirp Swee had told her so with obvious embarrassment, and Leena liked the Cracowcks more all the time.

When Leena was asked about wars where she came from, Leena had dropped her head, and was far too embarrassed to even say. She could tell that this made Chirp Swee quite nervous. The Cracowcks were male and female, and when Leena explained that their race was evolved the same way; they both found another common ground. Leena told Chirp Swee that there were many different types of birds on her world, but that they were much smaller than, and not nearly as intelligent as the Cracowcks. She left out the part about people killing, and sometimes eating them, but Leena could tell that Chirp Swee was leaving some parts out too.

Finally Leena was able to explain to Chirp Swee with enough detail, that her brother and their friend had vanished in the spire, and that they desperately needed to go back there to try to find them. Chirp Swee had promised to look into this matter, and Leena trusted her.

Meanwhile the other children had formed into somewhat of a crack commando unit, with William as their leader. Even though Joshua was older and bigger, it was Will's ability to plan that really gave them competence. They had all of the guards code named, and their shifts written down. The team had even made numerous night patrols reconnoitering the palace grounds. Even though Joshua's leg was completely healed by then; he was still the wrench in the cog of the whole squad. He was noisy, slow, and he liked to talk on patrols. Josh did however possess the keen ability to come up with booby traps for the birds. Several of these he'd even tried out. This was why the attendant birds had nick named him 'the little monster' in Threelt. He was also very clever at hiding any contraband they had acquired during their searches and patrols, or by the means of their fixer.

Sarah was extremely adept at stealthily by passing guards, and sneaking around without any of the attendants seeing her. So she gave them information they otherwise wouldn't have. Their fixer became Becky, who could procure things somehow that always left the others wondering just what she was doing to get a hold of these items.

One of her secrets was that she'd made friends with several of the attendants, and a couple of the guards, even though there was the language barrier. She would make them little pieces of art work, or knick-knacks that she would then trade for whatever the team required, within limits of course. These birds trusted her more so than the others, as she wasn't always sneaking around, or leaving traps for the birds to blunder into.

Even though the birds of the palace saw that these beings were indeed children, they still kept a closer eye on them than the kids knew, and as such they realized the children were up to something big lately. This was mainly by the extra careful manner in which they had begun to act as of late. They were of course quite correct in this assumption, as William's commandos were planning a night reconnoiter into the city proper very soon.

Sarah had found a way to get into the basement near their wing, and from there she had seen that they could get through a window leading to the orchards in back of the palace. The orchards were off limits to the kids, as were the vast vegetable gardens that led to the fruit tree groves. This was big news to William as he'd been desperately trying to find a way to get out of the palace unseen, and this appeared to be it. As always, William informed Leena about any secret excursions at night, and this was no exception. She was after all still a viable part of the team, and also clearly the smartest, and usually the most pragmatic.

"I don't think right now is a good time for that Will." She told him.

"Why not?" He queried.

"I've finally been able to communicate to Chirp Swee that we need to get back to the spire, and why. She told me she would petition the King for us."

William perked up noticeably. "That's great Leena! You think we got a chance?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I sure hope so. It would make life so much easier, but until we find out; let's not blow it with any night recon missions. OK?"

"Sure." He said enthusiastically. Then thought about something for a second. "Say." He continued, "Do you think 'the Professor' could get the King to let us out to see the town? We might be able to get the same information while right under their noses, or um beaks that is."

"I'll ask." She smiled a big grin.

One day the next week, when Chirp Swee showed up with breakfast as usual, Leena noticed that something was wrong with her friend. She was very upset about something.

As soon as they were alone she asked, "What's wrong Chirp Swee?"

Chirp Swee was a little surprised that Leena could sense her exasperation. "I've been to see the King about your request."

"Oh?" Leena didn't like the sound of that.

"He told me that he would personally send his best Birds in an 'air-fish' to investigate, but that you could not return to the spire."

"I see." Leena felt the let-down sink in, but then asked, "Do his Birds know how to operate the spire?"

"Operate the spire?" Chirp Swee was confused obviously.

"Great. That's what I was afraid of. They won't know what to do to get Tristan and Penny back."

"That's not all." Chirp Swee added.

"What else?"

The bird dropped her head, "He was lying about sending his birds anyway."

"What? Why?" Leena implored.

The same look of compassion that had first sparked between them, again flashed in Chirp Swee's eyes.

"I think he plans on keeping you, and your friends Leena."

"What? For how long?" Leena's eyes began to tear up.

"For the rest of your lives I'm afraid."

"But, why?" Leena couldn't help but let the tears flow, and she instinctively hugged Chirp Swee. This touched the bird like nothing ever had in her life. She had felt love and loss, but she really had a strong empathy for this featherless creature.

"It is those strange occurrences. He has linked them to you somehow." She hugged the girl back.

"Wait." Leena pushed away a little. "Like the second day we were here? But you said occurrences. I only remember one."

"There have been reports of other things." Chirp Swee confided.

"Like what?"

"There have been reports of holes in the world."

Leena's eyes widened, "And he thinks we did this?"

"Did you?"

Leena was taken aback. "Chirp Swee! We wouldn't hurt your world. At least not on purpose." She remembered the small device from Dreamland sending Tristan and Penelope away, and then of the earthquake. "Maybe, I don't know."

"If you damaged something in the spire, then you could fix it, couldn't you?" Chirp Swee asked imperatively.

"That's it!" Leena almost shouted. "Tell the King we can fix the holes in the world, but we must go to the spire to do it."

"No." Chirp Swee said plainly.

"No? Why not?"

"That is not the only reason the King won't let you go."

Leena was confused. "OK Chirp Swee, give."

"It is rather complicated Leena."

Leena just looked at her with begging eyes. Chirp Swee relented, and motioned for Leena to follow her. They went to the furthest room away from the stairs they could, and she closed the mat behind her before telling her in a hushed voice, "There are things going on around here as of late, dark deeds, and mystery. The King is afraid he is losing his grip on the citizens, and he is correct. The main cause of this insurrection is his ridiculous law prohibiting winged flight. There are other inexcusable eccentricities as well, but not allowing a Cracowck to fly? It is what we were borne to do!" She paused and looked deep into Leena's eyes knowingly. "However he still has the eternal loyalty of the warrior class, even though all the other social classes are more than fed up with his antics."

"Why don't the rest of you depose him?" Leena questioned with naivety.

"There are those in the process of doing just that, but this is a most delicate, and dangerous matter."

I don't understand. Just go in there and kick his dirty old bird butt right out!" Leena thought better of what she'd already just let go, and apologized right away. "I'm sorry Chirp Swee, it's just that I really need to get to the spire. I'm afraid my time is running out."

"Nothing to be sorry about my friend. Now listen, we don't dare go in brutishly, that is what the warrior class would do, and they are strong fighters who will be opposing us. We must somehow break down their single minded barbaric will to uphold the sovereign. Then we can depose the old fool."

"I don't really understand what this has to do with not letting us go?" Leena was confused.

"Like I was trying to tell you, he has linked you to the strange happenings, and is claiming that you are gods from the ancient spire. That is why he is keeping you. You are his captive, protecting gods. He figures that as long as he has you, no one will attempt a coup."

Leena thought about it for a moment. "What if you convince him we really are gods?"

"He already knows that you are mortals."

"Oh."

"Don't worry though Leena. There are many others that desire your release as well."

"What others?"

"I've already said too much, but just be aware that as you have friends here; so too there are enemies." Chirp Swee abruptly left the room, and the children's wing, not giving Leena a chance to ask any more questions, and questions a plenty she had; now more than ever. She wondered too about Chirp Swee, and her place in all of this. Something wasn't right.

'She knows something she isn't telling me, about the spire.'

The next morning Chirp Swee had some good news for the children, she said that the King had agreed to let the kids take a guided tour of his proud city, and that Chirp Swee was to be their tour guide. All of the children including Leena could not hold back their excitement. After a special breakfast of juices, some grainy bread, and the standard assortment of fruits and nuts, the kids were more than ready for their big field trip into town. They were almost stir crazy from their long confinement, but Chirp Swee had promised the King they would make a good showing in public; displaying their complete loyalty to him. She warned the children to behave as such.

"Complete loyalty, sure." Leena promised.

A full squad of guards joined the group as they left the palace grounds, and surrounded the children as protectors. Chirp Swee told the guards in Threelt to stay well back from the young gods, and Leena understood every word clearly.

First she took them in a northwesterly direction, and they quickly came across a wide river. They were stared at by some of the pedestrians, but most kept their eyes averted on purpose. Chirp Swee took them down to a small dock on the river. The children were all enjoying how green and lush the city was, and all parts of it they had observed up until then had a semi-natural manicured look to it, but the section by the river was all wild looking.

Their guide hailed to another bird that was waiting by a gang-plank crossing to a medium sized boat. The vessel had a small fish head carved into its bow spar, and more ornate fish designs elsewhere. In fact as they looked around, most the other boats at the dock had similar fish designs on them. After a brief exchange where Chirp Swee confirmed the prearranged price of the transit, she paid with some small gemstones, and they all boarded the craft.

"Cool." Josh said as sat near the front.

The boat master told his crew they were going up river, and they cast off. As soon as the boat was drifting free in the slow current, the crew manned, or rather birded, a strange looking metal and wooden contraption. This they quickly saw was a rowing device of sorts. The craft responded, and the boat master guided them gently up stream.

It was a genuinely lazy river, and all the other boats seemed to be in no hurry either, though there was a lot of traffic. About twenty minutes into their journey Joshua piped up, "Look!" he pointed out toward the middle of the wide river. There were four or five of the large golden fish jumping as they swam up stream with them. These weren't nearly as large as the one Joshua had caught however. The boat master said in Threelt, that this was a good omen, and then he brought his feathered wings up over his head. His crew did so too, and then they saw that there were birds in other boats doing this as well.

"Why are they doing that?" Leena asked in Threelt to Chirp Swee.

"They show their respect to the golden fish. A lot of Cracowcks almost worship the fish. It goes way back to a folk tradition. A good season for the fish means a good season for fruit harvesting. We found out several years ago that there is actual truth to this tradition. The golden fish voraciously eat the larvae of a very problematic crop destroying insect. That, and an old legend has it that the Golden Fish had saved the Cracowcks once from certain destruction." Chirp answered in English.

"You mean these birds worship the fish?" Joshua asked.

"To a degree, yes." Chirp Swee said.

Josh thought better of mentioning that he had caught one once.

The river spilt, and they went up the fork nearest a steep rising ridge to the north. Shortly they stopped at a long bank of piers much larger than the one they had embarked from.

"What are you taking us to see Chirp Swee?" William asked politely.

"The remains of a very large sea monster William."

"Sea monster? Alright!" Josh shouted.

Becky chided, "Great, a bunch of bones." But was she ever in for a surprise.

After Chirp Swee gained them entrance to an innocuous looking park, she led them up the steep ridge. This went on for quite a while, and Sarah had to stop to rest, complaining more than once, so Joshua carried her piggy-back the rest of the way. As they finally neared the top, the kids were quite sweaty. Thank goodness it was one of the days they had their Dreamland jumpsuits on, and not one of the awkward days of wearing the silly looking bird feather suits, although those were still better than being naked. The children stopped again to catch their breaths, but Chirp Swee hurried them on, promising that their goal was just through the thicket of brush on the ridge line right above them. As excited as the bird was to show them whatever it was just over the hill, they followed with interest gaining.

As each child brushed through the thicket on the well-worn trail, they became frozen in sheer awe at the spectacle before them. There was a wide low valley spreading out in three directions, and ending in some low hills at least twenty kilometers away. Rising up from the valley were the gargantuan skeletal remains of some ungodly huge beast.

Individual rib cage bones rose several hundred meters from the landscape, and these looked to be well worn down by weather. The skeleton covered the entire valley floor extending to the low hills so far away.

"No way!" Joshua breathed out hard.

"We call it a 'Breack Kreel'." Chirp Swee said with obvious pride. "This is a somewhat of a sacred site. Legend says this very Breack Kreel saved our people from certain destruction long ago."

"This is unbelievable!" Leena gasped.

Becky couldn't catch her breath and coughed a bit, but then exclaimed; "This can't be!"

Sarah started crying, but not from fear as she told between sobs. She was happy, even filled with joy.

Chirp Swee told them, "They still inhabit our large oceans, and that is why there is not much commerce between the continents and the races."

"What?" William was in shock, as well as the others. "These things are still alive?"

"Oh yes, and they are very dangerous as well. Not too many Cracowcks have lived to tell of encountering one." Their guide affirmed.

William remembered not seeing any ships or port facilities on their flight in, and now he understood why.

"Wait a minute." He said, "Why don't you just use your airships to fly over these things?"

"That is how we navigate the seas, but it is still dangerous. Many times an 'air-fish' will still be attacked even at altitude. No one knows just how a Breack Kreel attacks, and kills the crews of these ships, but sometimes a missing 'air-fish' is found empty and on a course for nowhere. Most times however, the ship simply disappears."

"It sound like it not even worth trying to cross the ocean." Becky said sadly.

"You are correct Becky." Chirp Swee confirmed with an air of sad resignation.

"So, do you trade at all with other countries of birds?" William sounded fascinated.

"Yes, but it's very limited due to the danger, and the limited cargo of an 'air-fish'."

Leena asked, "How many of these things are there?"

"We do not know."

"Your oceans must be huge." William said with wonder.

Chirp Swee nodded, "Yes. It takes a craft almost a week to cross at the narrowest, if it survives the passage."

"How did you ever learn of other bird races on other continents then?" Becky wondered.

"Some of the Cracowcks used to fly across, on wings alone."

The thought made the kids shiver in amazement.

"How could they fly for so long?" Becky queried.

"They could glide very high up, and catch a ride on strong currents of wind. These would take them across the seas, but only if you know how to navigate them. That was a real feat!" Chirp Swee said beaming with pride. "Our legacy amongst all the other bird races was our unequalled prowess at navigation; until the restrictions." She let her voice trail off, as she realized the guard birds were within earshot. Not that any of them could understand English, at least not yet. She was trying to make sure of that in her partially complete reports to King Crathra, but there was always a chance. "Let's take a walk down to the Breack Kreel's head, shall we?"

The children eagerly followed her on another long walk. The head of the titanic creature was a large flat bone structure at the close end of the remains. It had numerous pit like cavities in it, almost a hundred meters across each. Chirp Swee explained that these were where its' thousands of eyes had been.

"Are these creatures intelligent?" William asked.

Chirp Swee swung around to look at him, pleased with the question. "That is a very interesting point William. There is some debate going on right now as to just this. Some of our archeologists say that they must be intelligent to some degree, just because of the mammoth size of their brain cavity. The cavity of this one's is just a bit smaller than the entire size of the skull area."

"That is an enormous brain! They would have to be intelligent." Leena said.

Chirp Swee continued, "Of course there are those who say that any creature that just wantonly kills other creatures, cannot be sentient, and therefore by its actions alone it is judged to be base animal."

Becky nodded. "Yeah, that part doesn't make sense."

"It doesn't look like you'll ever capture one to find out either." William put in.

Chirp Swee felt satisfaction knowing that the children now understood the great scientific debate that surrounded the Breack Kreel.

"Are there any pictures of one that's alive?" Joshua asked with zeal.

"Why, yes. Over at the exposition center. We'll head that way."

Chirp Swee could tell that the kids were enthralled, but the guard birds were rapidly becoming bored.

'Good! Become complacent.' She thought.

The exposition center was almost a kilometer away from the front of the head, being situated at the first vertebra along the spine. When they arrived, all were glad that it had a refreshment stand, and they partook of the drinks and snacks. There was a very large mural of a Kreel painted on the inside of a long curving wall surrounding the center, and it looked like some sort of flat fish to William, whom had fished in the oceans of Earth a time or two back home. All sorts of weird tendrils were painted coming from just behind its head, and he asked Chirp Swee about them.

"These are a mystery to us." She walked over to a wall with several grainy black and white photographs on it, "This is a very rare picture of a Breack Kreel with its tendrils up."  
The children crowded around it. The object was kind of fuzzy, but they could see streamer like things rising up from the sea.

"Seeing a sight such as this is usually the last thing an 'air-fish' crew would ever see on this world." She paused for effect. "Warning of a Kreel nearby is most commonly by the huge wake the creature makes by its passage, this is why you won't find too many settlements right up on the shoreline. A safe distance or elevation is required."

"Wow. It must be tough living with these creatures." Sarah said with sadness.

"It is not that bad, once you get used to them being out there." Chirp Swee consoled.

Joshua asked curiously, "Do you have any color pictures of them?"

"Color pictures? That's impossible." Chirp Swee looked at the boy in an odd manner.

"What do you mean impossible?" He started to return, but Leena touched his arm, shaking her head. She didn't think it was a good idea to go bragging about their technology when they were so far from home. Chirp Swee saw this and for the first time understood that they came from a place that was more technologically advanced that they were. It didn't make her feel comfortable.

When it was early afternoon they headed back to town. They stopped at a local bath house and Chirp Swee insisted they bathe before dinner. She said they were going to a fine establishment were they would enjoy some of the finest cuisine that the Cracowcks had to offer.

It was here that Leena put her foot down, and finally insisted on them having separate bathing facilities for the boys and the girls. She had enough of the co-ed baths of the palace, and she wasn't the only one in agreement with this. Chirp Swee was befuddled, but promised that such arraignments would be made. It was simple enough after all.

As they all exited the bath house in fresh bird feather attire, Leena remarked to William; "Now isn't this a much better arraignment?"

"Um, yeah." He said weakly, caught off guard.

Becky started giggling and then Leena joined in. William turned beet red.

Sarah felt for sympathy for him a little, and tried to help. "I missed swimming with you guys. I liked watching you swing your little things around."

That was it! Leena and Becky laughed so hard they almost burst something.

William almost passed out from the embarrassment, and as he stormed ahead it turned to anger. Joshua caught up with him and calmed him down. Chirp Swee didn't have a clue as to what was going on, and it greatly concerned her for her plans.

Chirp Swee made sure to hurry the girls along to catch up with the boys ahead, and the guard birds ran along also keeping their perimeter though loosely now. It was early evening and they were travelling through a bustling street. The kids got quite a few looks here as the city was quite large.

"There's the café." Chirp Swee said nervously, and Leena saw this.

'What's going on?' Leena thought to herself.

Just as they were entering the small but crowded building, Sarah screamed from their rear. They all spun to see another Cracowck running off with Sarah thrown over its shoulder. The guard birds reacted instantly, one of them shouting orders to the others as they all gave chase. Then the leader slowed and turned to look back at the rest of the children. Chirp Swee yelled at him in Threelt to "Keep going, I'll watch the others." He spun back around and continued the chase. Chirp Swee quickly turned to face a strange Cracowck that was standing right there.

"Watch them!" She hurriedly spoke in Threelt, and the turned to Leena, "Quickly, follow me Leena!" She ordered in English.

"What about them?" She pointed to her friends.

"We'll be right back."

So Leena followed though quite unsure of the situation. Only her deep trust of Chirp Swee allowed her to do this.

Chirp Swee led her to an alley just across from the café. There she ran up to a small entrance with a thatched mat door. She opened it and peered inside for a moment, and motioned Leena inside. It was really dark inside, but as soon as Chirp Swee was in behind her, and the mat closed; a candle was lit.

There was an older Cracowck with a robe much like Chirp Swee's. It formally bowed to Leena, and she thought she recognized the bird from somewhere.

"I am Crashooyt, principle of the spire." It spoke in English.

Leena bowed back. "You speak English?" she was amazed.

"Chirp Swee is an excellent teacher, as well as a student." He nodded to Chirp Swee.

His English wasn't nearly as polished as was Chirp Swee's, but in the short time they'd had to learn, it was remarkable.

"I am sorry to have to bring you here like this, but I need to know something from you." He said calmly.

"What do you need from me?" Leena sounded worried.

Crashooyt looked to Chirp Swee and then to Leena. "What do you know about the spires, and what have you done to them?"

"We didn't get here through it. I've already explained that to Chirp Swee, but we found it anyhow, and all that happened was this device they gave us at Dreamland, and told us to activate when we found the secret chamber, went off by accident when Penny was clawing at my brother. It made the earthquake and then my brother and Penny vanished. We've got to go back to find them!" Leena breathed hard.

Crashooyt was clearly confused. "Dreamland? Device?" he turned and spoke to Chirp Swee in Threelt that Leena didn't understand. Chirp Swee whispered something to him, and then he turned back to Leena, "Can you fix it?"

"I don't even know how we broke it!" She lost her patience with the bird. "Now you tell me something about the spire, or you said spires! Are there more than one? Who built them if you didn't?" She almost assaulted him with the questions.

Crashooyt grabbed her by her shoulders roughly, and shook her. Chirp Swee only put a benign claw up in protest, but she didn't say a word.

"You must listen to me Leena girl thing!" His voice was raised. "I am to guard the spire at all costs. You have damaged our world by your meddling."

Leena started crying.

"You must not be allowed near the spire!" Crashooyt was resolute. He then let her go.

Leena sobbed, "Why?"

The old bird calmed down quickly, and continued, "We may be able to send a missionary to search for your brother and friend, but it could take some time."

"I keep feeling that I'm running out of time." Leena said weakly and she crumpled to the floor. Chirp Swee picked her up ever so gently cooing to her.

"Chirp Swee may answer any questions that you may have about us, but later. You must go now!"

They left in the same discrete manner in which they had come, but Leena thought that she would never be trusting of Chirp Swee again.

When they returned to the café the guards were already back with Sarah, who was unharmed.

"What happened?" Chirp Swee asked of the lead guard.

"The bird just dropped her, and then the criminal flew off to escape. Where were you?" he asked in return.

Chirp Swee looked at Leena, "She ran off. I caught her myself."

The guard looked perplexed.

Regardless of the kidnapping attempt, Chirp Swee and the children went into the café and ate, even though the guard Captain didn't like the idea. The meal was spectacular, roasted fruits, vegetables, and nuts with some very tasty sauces. There was even live entertainment as several talented Cracowcks serenaded the dinners with lovely song. For most of the children it was the perfect finish for the most exciting day they had in Breek Ka Caw. For Leena it was merely a diversion to her heart aching.

The guards then saw them safely back to the palace, and as Chirp Swee left them, she told Leena that they would talk the next day. She could feel the difference in the young girl's attitude right away though, and she was sorry for it. Her superiors had given her no choice in the matter, but she still felt she had betrayed Leena's trust. That night she determined to make it right somehow.

Leena had pulled William into her room as they bid good night.

"I think it's time we went ahead with your escape plan." She whispered.

"Great. I'll let the others know right away." He spoke with relief. "I take it the King denied your petition?"

She nodded.

"Is that what all the fuss was about outside the restaurant?"

"No, that was something else entirely." She shook her head as she remembered Crashooyt's icey cold claws digging into her. The look in his eyes had spoken of desperation.

"Heck, we were beginning to think that you liked it here." William kidded.

"I just want Tristan and Penny back." She was utterly serious.

He nodded, "We all do."

She dropped her head, as she knew they did.

"When do you want to try for it?" William whispered.

"The sooner, the better." She told him.

"We only need a night recon to the airfield, and then a day to get together any last items we might need." He told her. "You and I can do the recon tonight, and if everything looks doable; we can get make our break for the spire tomorrow night. Are you up for it?"

She was about to protest about why she had to go on the recon mission, but then she thought of how dangerous it would be, and she sure wouldn't ask one of the other kids to do it for her. "Sure." She said.

"Be ready an hour after we go to bed, OK?"

"OK."

There was always a guard posted just at the base of the stairs leading to the children's wing at night. William had come up with several ingenious ways to distract it. The very first time it was a simple as throwing a small pebble down the hall way past him, and it had worked. He didn't use that method again as he figured the guard would quickly wise up to that, so the second time he had Becky knock over the table and water pitcher in the common area very noisily. When the guard came up to see if everything was alright, Becky feigned that she was sleep walking; while William and Joshua slipped past unseen. Of course getting back upstairs after their mission, was taken care of by Sarah, who would go to the guard crying and moaning. When the guard would briefly go to wake one of the attendant birds, they would run back upstairs.

He had one more trick up his sleeve though, and he was saving that for their big break, when all of them had to slip past. Becky had gained supervised access to the kitchen by making friends with one of the cooks there. When Becky had made her first batch of cookies for the children, the birds all seemed to relish these delights. That had gotten William thinking, so he had Leena ask Chirp Swee for something to help poor little Sarah sleep better at night. Of course Sarah never drank the small vials of liquid that Chirp Swee provided for this; instead he had Becky make a special batch of cookies or rather one very special cookie. He'd told her to make sure to mark the cookie she'd slipped the contents of the vials in and not let anyone eat it. This one they were saving for their big break, or 'operation gone fishing' as William had dubbed it.

That night of their last needed recon mission, William decided to use the same ruse of Becky sleep walking again. It worked just as well as the first time, and soon he and Leena were sneaking through the basement Sarah had found. They quietly snuck out the low ground floor window, and through the vast gardens that led to the orchards in the rear of the palace grounds. There was only a roving guard here sometimes, and they waited, hidden in the berry bushes, until he had come and gone. The fences were much lower here, and they quickly scaled these easily. From there it was simple to sneak out to the city streets, as the orchards were not guarded at all.

There were no street lights in all of the city, and as the only light was from the two small moons at this hour, moving through the dark shadows kept them from any discovery. Very few Cracowcks were even on the streets at night it seemed, and for this they were eternally grateful. They easily retraced the path to the airfield, and saw that there were three 'air-fish' moored near each other. Also they saw that there was one guard bird on duty, and he was vigilantly walking his post.

Several weeks earlier William had told Leena to learn the word for 'pilot' in Threelt from Chirp Swee, especially in written form. So they then surveyed the buildings surrounding the airfield from their hidden spot. Most of the buildings had signs over their entrances with writing on them. As it was very dark, it was hard to make out the writing. Leena strained her eyes without much luck for many minutes, and then the slight cloud covering the majority of the moons dissipated. The light from the pair of orbs shone just enough for her to see the writing on the buildings.

"There!" she whispered loudly and pointed to a large building near the one they had all stayed in their first night in Breek Ka Caw. William looked the building over, memorizing every detail he could.

He tapped Leena on the shoulder, and motioned for her that it was time to return. They went back virtually unobserved through the city streets, yet there was one pair of glossy, ever so black, eyes high up in a dark tree that had watched them come and go.

The pair of golden suited children easily snuck back into the palace and made their way to the window were they would signal Becky, whom they hoped was not asleep on watch. When she immediately waved her arms back at them from her window on the second floor, William and Leena crept a quietly as they could to the ante chamber near the stairs. Soon Sarah came down the stairs crying, and moaning, feigning an upset tummy. The guard quickly went to fetch an attendant bird, and the two kids quietly, but quickly ran up the stairs past Sarah, whom gave them a big thumbs up. Leena and William each went to their rooms and she jumped into bed and tried to get some sleep for the big day ahead.

All the excitement of the evening left her heart pumping hard, and her adrenaline still coursing through her veins, so sleep didn't come quickly. William had outlined his master plan to her weeks before, but the new information of a guard by the 'air-fish' certainly changed things. It wouldn't be easy to overpower the bird, and what if they actually had to kill it? She didn't know if any of them would even be able to do so, or to kidnap a pilot. There were a lot of big questions about the whole operation that worried her.

Leena looked out her open window, and watched the galaxy rise in the distance. Getting away from the birds was just the beginning of the problems they faced. How to get Tristan and Penny back from wherever they were, and then how to get all of them home again. It was just too much.

14: WELCOME TO TOMORROW

The light sphere popped like a bubble disappearing from around them. They were alone in a cathedral of a different spire. Outside the clear pointed tip it was a dark night lit only by a dim blue ring near the horizon of the planet that they were now on, and a myriad of stars. There was a bluish tint to the surrounding terrain's dark shadows, and Tristan stepped off the pedestal to look hard into the darkness, trying to see any detail. He could only see what appeared to be dust, or even snow coating the barren landscape. Penny too, stepped down from the dark pedestal and looked around in the almost pitch black. She saw Tristan's outline just before her, and she grabbed his arm. "Tristan, I'm scared." She moaned.

"I'm going to try the pedestal." Tristan stepped back up on it, and brilliant golden light flowed around him.

Penelope felt safe from the dark all of a sudden.

"Come on Penny, get up on one too." He encouraged her.

She did, and it too washed her with light; she giggled. The lights didn't bend to form a sphere, but Tristan still waited to hear his sister's voice from beyond. It didn't come though. After many minutes he got down in frustration.

"Don't you want to play anymore?" Penelope asked him cutely.

"No, I don't want to play anymore Penny. I want to go home."

"That's OK Tristan, so do I." She consoled him.

Then she stepped down too, and it made the cathedral very dark again. He told her to stay on it for a minute so he could see if the disk was up top. She complied.

"I don't see it." He said as he carefully leaned over the pitch black entrance hole.

"What are we going to do?" She asked him with genuine fright evident in her frail little voice.

"Maybe it's there, but I just can't see it." Tristan informed her. "Hang on a second." He swung his legs out over the opening and let them dangle. Then he turned around and tried to lower himself some, holding himself up by his arms alone.

"Tristan!" She called out with apprehension.

"Don't worry." He called back.

A dim red light came on ringing the inside lip of the hole.

"Whoa! This is weird." He intoned. "Look, I can let go." He lifted one of his arms supporting him.

"AHHH!" Penny gasped.

He didn't drop at all though. "It's kind of spongy feeling. But I'm not falling." He pulled himself back up into the cathedral, and spun around to peer down again. Far below he could see the small red blinking light turn blue. Then the lights in the spire below began to blink on.

"Can I get down now?" Penny asked impatiently.

"Wait a minute, I think I see the disk coming up."

A moment later the lights down below flickered to full life, and he could see some structures in the base of the spire far below. "You can get down now, and come here. Look at this." He waved her over.

"What are those?" Penny wondered.

They didn't have long to observe the small structures as the rising disk soon blocked the view.

"I don't know, but let's go find out." Tristan smiled at her.

On the ride down Tristan went over to the edge of the disk to look down, but Penelope stayed right near the center. As they got closer he could see what appeared to be three small buildings lined up close to each other, and then he could make out what looked like a living area with several large metallic like sofas and big chairs. In another area there was a large kitchen, and then another contained many crates, and boxes made from what looked like metal.

"It looks like somebody lives here!" He exclaimed to Penelope.

The disk settled down, and they got off. Cautiously they approached the living area with the big sofas.

"Hello! Is anyone here?" He called out. Only his echo could be heard.

As they entered the semi-circle of comfortable looking furniture, a gray metal box in the center made a clicking noise, followed by a hum.

"Uh oh. I think we just set off their alarm." Tristan moved Penny back from it.

Then the box made a noise like a worn out tape recording.

"Tristan, an...chzchhope."

"It said your name!" Penny was dumbfounded, and so was he.

Suddenly brightly colored light emanated from the top of the box, and seemed to try form an image. Then after a moment the image congealed together and became coherent. Neither Tristan nor Penny could believe their eyes. They both blinked and rubbed them, then quickly looked at each other in disbelief. It was an image of Leena, and she was smiling at them.

"Yes, Tristan and Penny, it really is me, or actually you'll be seeing my hologram." The voice was normal.

There was his sister's image standing, and talking right before them, but she was semi-transparent.

The image of Leena went on talking, "I know the first thing you're wondering right now is, how did this box with my image get here, and how did you get here?"

"No kidding." Tristan couldn't help but say.

"You better have a seat, because this is going to take a while. Oh, and this holo-program is fully interactive; so if you have any questions feel free to ask."

"What's going on here?" He shouted at the image.

"Everything in due time Tristan." Leena told him. "First let me tell you where you are. You are on small moon of a gas giant, in a number for a name star system; in what's known to the, uhm locals as the Photobian Galaxy.

"Never heard of it." He said flatly.

"That's because it can't even be seen from Earth's section of the universe."

"Are you really Leena?" Penelope asked earnestly.

"I am really her image Penny. Now I have to tell you guys some bad news." The image visibly appeared to grow serious. "It's not so much where you are, but rather just when you are."

"What?" He was confused.

"You see, the accident we had at the spire Tristan, it sent you and Penelope," The image seemed to stutter for a second. "Well from what I've been told by reliable sources; you have been shifted exactly five hundred sixty two million, three hundred twelve thousand and twenty four earth years into the future."

"No way!" He said indignantly.

"I'm sorry Tristan but this is the truth."

Penelope started to cry, and as Tristan held her to comfort her, he too started crying. Why would his sister lie to him after all? That would mean they were stuck alright. The image didn't interrupt their bawling fit. It merely froze there with a concerned look on Leena's face.

After a while Tristan let go of Penny, and faced the hologram again. "How did you get here?"

"All of this equipment was left here by us a long time ago Tristan, waiting for you two through the eons to finally arrive. This is survival equipment that you will need."

"Left here by 'us' who?" he demanded.

"By the rest of us; William, Becky, Sarah, Joshua, and myself. Oh we had a little help too." Leena's image told them.

Tristan shook his head. "That's impossible."

"Nothing is impossible." Penelope quickly countered.

"Nothing could last five hundred million years and still be good."

"Everything we have left for you was specifically designed to with stand the ravages of time, no matter how long. Heck the spire itself will last as long as the planet does, and so will everything in it."

"What about food and water?" He started to become curious, and so did Penny.

"We've provided three functioning replicators for you. They will function with a wide variety of inert matter, such as rocks, or other minerals; but they work best with heavy metals, of which we have left you with an abundant supply." Leena's image smiled at them.

"Hey, how did you know to do all this then? And how did you, if we're stuck so far in the future here?"

"Yeah!" Penelope joined in.

There was a lengthy pause. "Ok, you're getting right to the point I see. This is going to be hard for you to understand, but we've chosen not to hold anything back from you two."

Tristan and Penny looked at each other with trepidation.

"We knew exactly when and where you vanished to, because it was you who came back and told us."

Tristan's head itched, and twitched.

"What's going on here?" Penelope was getting angry. "Are you two playing some sort of trick on me?"

"NO! This is as weird to me as it is to you Penny!" He implored.

She eased up as she saw he was telling the truth.

"I know it's hard to believe guys." The Leena hologram was telling them. "But it really is true. That's the good news though! You make it back from the future."

"Both of us?" Penny asked sharply.

"Uhm, yes. Both of you." The way the ghostly image said it they could tell there was more to what it was saying.

"This doesn't make any sense." Tristan got irritated.

"It will in time, brother of mine." The image rhymed.

"Come on Penny," he grabbed her hand, "let's get out of here."

Tristan looked toward the top of the spire, and grew a frown. Then he looked around the exterior wall, searching for an entrance, but there was none. So the pair marched right back onto the disk.

"You turn on this portal, or whatever it is, and let us go back home." He waved his finger at the electronic ghost of his sister.

"If I could, I surely would Tristan." Leena said back.

The disk started to rise, and he turned to Penelope. "It's going to be OK Penny. We're going to get back home. I promise."

She looked up at him with fear quite obvious in her dear little eyes.

Almost a full hour later they came back down, feeling somewhat dejected. The hologram of Leena was patiently waiting for them.

"Why won't you let us go home?" he begged.

"Like I told you Tristan, if I could I would. Whether you like it or not big brother, you and Penny are stuck here for quite a while."

Penelope started crying again, and she clung to Tristan. He comforted her, and took her to sit on one of the large metallic, but soft sofas. The hologram turned with them, but didn't move from its spot over the box. After he calmed her, and himself in a few minutes, he asked the image. "You said we came back and told you, but you also said we were going to be here a long time. How long?"

"Do you really want to know Tristan?" Leena asked.

"Months?" he queried.

"Yes."

"Years?"

"Yes."

Tristan dropped his head on Penelope's back, and tears welled up in his eyes.

The children wept themselves to sleep for a long nap, and the image of Leena was shut off automatically when the system saw that they were sleeping. Penelope was the first to awake, and she wormed her way from Tristan's embrace without waking him. She had to go urgently, and she looked around. The 'bathroom' of the spire under the stairs was at least a half a kilometer distant, so she went to one of the three small building structures near the living area. She tried the door to the one on her left, and the door opened smoothly. A light inside came on automatically, and she saw a large metallic bed centered up against one wall, some chairs, and an open closet with nothing in it. The bed had no sheets on it, just a metal seeming mattress and pillows of the same material with no cases on them.

"Ugh." She moaned, as that wasn't what she needed right then. She hurriedly tried the door of the middle building, and a light came on in there automatically as well.

"Ahh!" She breathed a sigh of relief. It was a nice large bathroom with two privacy stalls, a large tub, and a shower. She jumped into the first stall, and the commode had no toilet paper, or water in it. The bottom of the commode looked to be the same gray material as the spire's 'bathroom' had. She used it with no toilet paper anyway, as nature was screaming at her.

When she exited the bathroom, she saw that Tristan was just waking also.

"I found the bathroom, but there's no toilet paper or water." Penny told him.

"That's OK." Tristan said. "I've still got some of the TP left in my pack." He removed his and unzipped it.

The image of Leena blinked on again. "You'll need to manually stock the water replicator with some material before the bathroom, or kitchen water will function. Also you can fabricate just about anything with the other replicators, including TP. There is a tutorial holo-program to teach you how to use these things, which I can run any time you like. Or you can get water from either of the spire's 'bathrooms' if you feel like taking the trip to do so."

"That's OK, I got some handy." He said as he fished around in his pack, until he found the TP and tossed it to Penny. "Save some for me will you?"

After both had finished with the bathroom call, Tristan said, "I'm feeling pretty grimy myself, I guess we'll have to get the water going real soon."

Penny nodded whole heartedly.

"Here, just watch the program, it's really easy to learn." Leena said.

Her image vanished, and was replaced by a blue square. Some music came from around them, and some strange symbols appeared in the blue box. A woman's voice came forth, a very smooth sultry voice. "Earth English translation. To prime the H2O replicator, you must first take a small amount of condensed base matter, and place it in the primary receiving port as shown. The blue box was replaced by a strange looking blue six legged creature, with several very long noses, or things like noses. It carried an object in two of its appendages, an object that looked like a 'T' handle. It then placed the 'T' handle device over a small black pellet and pushed part of the device top. "One matter pellet is enough for one thousand liters of H2O. Place the matter pellet on the receiver as shown." The bizarre creature then turned and put the 'T' handle device over a red circled area on top of a box. The view zoomed in on the box until it was quite large, and the device was resting on the red circled area. One of the creature's hands touched another part of the device top, and the image made a thudding noise. "Once the condensed base matter pellet is in place the entire system is automatic in function." The sultry voice continued, "You only need to add more base matter when the water runs out."

"Cool!" Tristan's mouth was agape.

"Specifications not translated." The woman's voice concluded, and the blue box with symbols reappeared for a moment before it was replaced by Leena's image again.

"Any time you want to see that tutorial again, it's named 'Water replicator Tutorial'" Leena said.

"OK, easy enough. Just where do I get this condensed base matter? And then just point me to the replicator." Tristan was confident.

Leena told him the large crates by the far right building held the majority of the matter pellets, as well as the 'T' handle device, and these were clearly marked. She also told him there were several pellets on top of the bathroom to get them started. This is where the replicator also was, on top of the bathroom, and there were stairs in the rear of it to access this. Tristan found quite a few crates marked 'Condensed Base Matter' and he looked the metal like containers over. Each was the size of a foot locker, and there was an area marked 'push to open' on top of each. After he pushed one there was a click and a brief noise of escaping gas. The lid popped open, and he saw the 'T' handle device laying on top of a sliver tray filled with hundreds of small black pellets. He glanced down past the edge of the tray, and saw the box seemed to hold many more layers of these trays with pellets.

"Found them." He reported cheerfully to Penelope. He had determined to get into a better mood for her sake, as crying each other to sleep wasn't going to do either of them any good.

He picked up the tool and saw it had two different colored areas on top of the handle. The labels were in English and read; 'Engage', and 'Release'.

"I wonder why they have this big old thing to pick up such small pellets."

Penny voiced from the living area, "Leena said they were real heavy."

"Yeah, but they're so small." He reached down to grab one of the little black pellets. "Holy mackerel!"

"What's wrong?" Penelope got up trying to see him.

"I can't budge it!"

"What?" she asked.

His eyes got really big. "One of these tiny little black things. Come here."

She hurried over to the crate and watched as he tried vainly with both hands to pick one up. She attempted to help, but the thing felt like it was welded down to her. Tristan grabbed the 'T' handle device and put the long end down against one of the tiny black spheres. He touched the 'Engage' area, and the thing hummed for a second before the background of the area around the word 'Engage' lit up in orange. He tried to pull it up, but it didn't move until he put both hands on it and really tugged. It lifted the small pellet only a small distance up, but its weight pulled it right back down as he hadn't braced himself.

"Wow!" He said breaking a sweat. "We'll never get this thing up the stairs!"

"Wait! Leena said there were some already up on top, remember?" Penny told him.

"Oh yeah." He nodded. "We'll have to use those. I don't know how we'll ever get one of these up there."

Leena's image spoke to them again. "I know that it's hard Tristan. There are going to be a lot of things, and times that are going to be extremely hard on you, but there is no one else to do it for you. All you have is each other now."

They went to the top of the bathroom and found only a dozen pellets up there for their use. After fifteen minutes of using every muscle both of them had, they finally got one pellet in place on the replicator. Tristan dropped to his knees with tears welling up, and Penny ran down to a sofa and buried her head in it crying.

"I truly wish there was something I could do to change all of this." Leena tried to console them. "But the cold hard fact is that you two are caught in a paradox, and only you can bring yourselves back."

"HOW?" He yelled between sobs.

"That's the tricky part I'm afraid. I don't really understand it, but there is a new friend of ours that can explain it to you, with enough patience."

"Leena this is all just too weird!" his voice was raggedy from his fit.

"I know. I felt the same way when you explained it all to me." Leena told them.

He blinked through tears. "What?"

Penny got up facing the hologram and was whipping her face off. "What's a pair of ducks got to do with it?"

Tristan came back down from the bathroom roof, and joined Penny by the couch.

The Leena hologram didn't answer for a moment. "Oh, paradox. Like I said, I don't understand it very well, but there is someone I want you to meet that I think you're going to like. OK?"

Both of the children looked at each other and nodded.

Leena's image disappeared and was replaced by the image of an old Chinese man. He bowed formally to them, and Penny bowed back. Tristan flopped on the couch very tired.

The man started to speak Chinese, he made a brief statement, and then paused. The same sultry woman's voice from the tutorial video translated, "My name is Shen Dao. It is alright if you do not wish to be polite." He looked right at Tristan.

Tristan became embarrassed as Penelope giggled at him. Tristan stood up and bowed to the image. The man again spoke in Chinese, and then paused for translation. "Thank you most venerable children. I have been waiting eons to meet you." More Chinese and then the sultry woman's voice, it was a most strange combination. "Please have a seat. Your struggle with the water is just the first of many struggles you will face."

The children obliged him and sat down.

"You must pay close heed to my words, as your very lives are at stake." Came the next translation. "Unfortunately you have become trapped in a temporal paradox. This occurred when you inadvertently activated the device which was given to you by the evil one responsible for all of this. The device was designed to unlock another spire; one on Earth. You just happened to be on a pedestal at the moment the trans-dimensional burst was released. We would not have even known where, or more importantly; when you were sent, save for the paradox."

Tristan remembered the device, and he felt for it in his pockets, but it wasn't there. "I lost it!" He panicked.

"Lost what?" Penny became nervous.

"You should find the device right where you dropped it up in the cathedral of your spire Tristan. However, you should take care to preserve the device, and keep it safe." The woman's voice translated.

Penelope relaxed some, but then asked, "I still don't understand what a pair of ducks has to do with anything."

"Paradox, my dear girl." The old man said in Chinese, and was then transformed to English by the woman's voice. "This is the self-contradicting reality that you are the ones whom told us where to leave the survival equipment you see here and now, that will allow you to return to us, and do this very thing."

"This really doesn't make any sense!" Tristan was flustered.

"That is why it is called a paradox. This also brings us to the very real danger to yourselves. If you do not follow the prescribed events, which you yourselves have told us occur in your lives stranded here, there is a dangerously real possibility that you will not learn how to travel through time, and return to us. If that were to even start to happen, then we will not have been able to leave the provisions necessary for your survival, and you might simply die of starvation."

Penny clutched Tristan's arm.

"Or you might just cease to exist."

"Why can't you just come get us?" Penny cried out.

"Oh, my dear sweet girl." The old man was genuinely remorseful. "We all have been dead for many millions of years by now."

Tristan saw the look in her eyes. "Like I've been asking, what do we have to do? We'll do it!" He became impassioned.

The Chinese man laughed a funny stuttering laugh before going on. "Do not be that conceited young man. This is by no means going to be an easy task." The pretty voice again explained. "The first order of business is for you two to learn how to live here."

"Wait a minute!" Tristan was adamant. "I've still got a lot of questions; like what portal on Earth, and just how do we travel back in time? You've got a lot of explaining to do Mr. Cow."

Again the old man laughed. "Everything in good time my boy, everything in good time."

He went on to explain that the water system for the kitchen and bath would use about one pellet every five or six days if they bathed regularly. Both of their eyes lit up at this, and then he told them how important good hygiene was, and its necessity to them, as they had no medical help. They grumbled about this, and how heavy the pellets were. Shen Dao smiled at them, and told them it was to make them strong and healthy. They could have installed a completely automated system, but that wouldn't have been as beneficial, besides that is what they themselves told them they'd had to do. He also explained the use of the other material replicator to them.

This one was to make solid items with, but not very complex ones. An awful lot of things were going to have to be built out of parts, which meant they would have to learn how to build things before they could use them. They had unlimited power from the same source as the spire itself, and unlimited cold water from the spire, but if they wanted hot water they would have to use the replicator, or boil water they had carried. The kitchen was well equipped with everything but food, and that the replicators could produce only the most basic nutritional substance which had almost no taste, but if they were to follow his precise instructions that they would be eating very well, eventually.

The old man also said that although they were safe from intruders in the spire, they were still going to have to start training for self-defense; martial arts training to be exact. Tristan liked the sound of that, but Penny was much more interested when he told them of their needed schooling in many other arts as well; like painting, poetry, calligraphy, and music.

Tristan asked why they would have to learn all that junk, and Shen Dao told him that was what made a really great warrior. Not the ability to destroy, but rather the ability to create. Penny stuck her tongue out at Tristan for that. Then Shen Dao assured her she would also have to learn how to fight.

"Why?" She asked. "You said we are safe here in the spire, but then you say we are in great danger too."

Shen Dao laughed some more, and then spoke rapidly in Chinese.

"You are in danger from within, not from without." The smooth female voice said.

After all this the children got tired of the old man's lecture and demanded to speak with Leena again.

Penelope didn't understand, nor did she wish to try to. "Let me talk to Leena again." She demanded.

"Yeah!" Tristan charged too.

The old man smiled and bowed, and then he blinked away.

Leena blinked on and smiled at them.

"Why won't you just let us go home now?" Penelope cried out.

"You're a long way from home Penny." Leena replied somberly.

Tristan jumped in, "Can't we go back to Earth right now, in this time? There has to be people there that can help us figure all this out."

"If you'll think back Tristan, you need three people, uhm humans, to turn on the portal. Besides we don't even know if Earth still exists, or mankind for that matter; five hundred million years from when you last knew it." Leena was patient.

Tristan realized he was hungry, so he went through his pack. Penny saw this and went through hers as well, as she was too. Between them they only had several handfuls of the red, and purple berries left; and then four snack rations from the Dreamland provisions. They each ate some of the fruit, and then shared one of the packets, realizing they should ration. Leena assured them they would not starve as the replicator would produce nutritional substance; however if they listened to Shen Dao, and that if they followed his instructions they would be growing their own food in time.

The two children were rebellious however, and refused to listen to him again.

"How many of you are there in there?" Tristan asked rudely.

"There is just Shen Dao and myself. We transferred part of our personalities into the program. There are messages from William, Becky, Joshua, and Sarah though. I can play them for you any time you want."

They decided to play the messages from their friends. It quickly brought both of them to tears as they listened to their friends reach across time to them. Each implored them to listen to Shen Dao, but they didn't want to hear that; so they told the imaging machine to turn off for a while, and it complied.

By the end of the second day, the kids had eaten all the food in their packs, and the next morning time Tristan had to wrestle with an extremely heavy pellet again, but this time for the material replicator. The nutritional substance it produced was far from what either of them would call food. It was a gray gelatinous goop which really had no taste or real texture to it, but it did stave off the hunger pains. By mid- afternoon time Tristan had come up with a saying about it.

"Gray goop will make a poop, but that's about all it's good for."

Penny laughed at that.

The next day their water ran out, and both Tristan and Penelope struggled to put another pellet in the water replicator. Then as she took one of her hour long baths where she filled the tub several times with fresh hot water, Tristan talked to his sister in the living room.

"I've been thinking." He said. "There are an awful lot of those pellets in those crates. Just how long are we going to be here?"

"I already told you it would be years Tristan." Leena answered.

"How many exactly?" He demanded.

"Fifteen years Tristan." Leena spoke flatly.

"Holy smokes!" It took the breath right out of him. It was a prison sentence, and it might as well be life he thought.

Tristan was in one of the beds sobbing when Penny came out from the bath. She went in and asked him what was wrong, but he told her to get out. She didn't listen though; instead she snuggled up beside him, as there was no way she was going to be left alone.

The rest of the first week was a bad one for them, as they flatly refused to talk to, or listen to Shen Dao. Instead self-pity set in. They made many things with the material replicator, sheets, pillow cases, blankets, towels, dishes, and toys. The children had the ease of an automatic dishwasher, and a washing machine, but found that even the washable items could be disintegrated on the disposal pad beneath the sink, or even in the toilets. Making more of them was as easy as pushing a button, as long as enough matter was in the replicator.

This ease of living, and their despair led them into a state of despondence, and decadence. Pretty soon they even stopped disintegrating the dishes, and towels. They didn't care when they ate, as it was always just the same sloppy gray mess anyhow. And the less they bathed; the fewer pellets they had to load into the water replicator. To heck with that old Chinese man, forcing them to carry so much weight, and for nothing. They didn't see any dangers, until the third week that is.

Tristan noticed it first, when he awoke that fateful day. Everything seemed lighter somehow, except his head.

"Penny, do you feel weird too?" He asked.

She was groggy. "Yeah, I don't feel right."

"Everything looks different, and I'm starting to get a real bad head ache."

Penelope frowned. "Me too!"

"Leena!" He called out.

There was no image this morning, answering them from the living room.

"Owww!" Penny yelped, and Tristan moaned too.

The bedroom walls seemed very light, and then almost transparent. He got dizzy as he looked through the door to the always lighted interior of the spire.

"Leena help!"

Things got lighter still, and he started to forget where he was, and what was going on. Right then he snapped as to what was happening to them. It was just like the old man had said; they were dying.

"Leena! Shen Dao!" Tristan yelled. "Penny you've got to call Shen Dao! Shen Dao!"

"Shen Dao!" She too called out.

The world seemed to whirl around them.

"We've got to mean it Penny! We've got to do as he says. Call him!"

"Shen Dao!"

He looked at his arm as he reached for the doorway; it was far too pale, completely devoid of color.

Just as Tristan thought he could feel his life slipping away from him, he saw with perfect clarity what Shen Dao had meant by your dangers are from within. The next moment, everything looked normal again, except for Penelope's face that is. It was pale and devoid of all color, and Tristan realized that he must look the same way.

"Are you OK?" He asked her with care.

Penny struggled to focus on him. "We almost died just then, didn't we Tristan?"

He nodded, "We've got to do what Leena and the others said. We must let Shen Dao teach us."

"You're right. No matter how hard it gets." She added.

He had to agree, as he never wanted to feel that way again.

"We were just going to die right there weren't we Tristan?"

"Uh huh, it sure felt like it." He rubbed his face, and saw color returning to Penny's.

They both went quickly into the living area and called for Shen Dao, he appeared right away.

"We see what you were trying to tell us. We must train with you, so someday we can return." Tristan told.

"So you understand that you almost caused your own deaths by your inaction?"

Both of them in unison replied, "Yes Shen Dao."

"Now you have to realize that you must allow me to take full control of your upbringing, so that you may complete your destiny."

"Yes we do She Dao." They both cracked a little smile, as it was hard to be properly respectful to the sultry voice translating.

"Good, first thing is morning routine. Let's see it is morning time now, what a coincidence! We can start right away. First are warm up exercises, then stretching." The old man led them through an exhausting set of exercises, and some pretty bizarre ones too. Then he had them stretch themselves in every which way possible it seemed.

"I still don't see what this has to do with us time travelling back home." Tristan grunted between breaths.

"You will." Shen Dao said.

From that day on the two children were tired almost all the time. The old master had set a grueling schedule for them; six hours a day for exercise and practice, and six hours for a myriad of chores. Play time was precious, and restricted to their one day off. At first they complained that he was pushing them too hard, but all he would have to do is remind them of the alternative.

One of the first chores was to make preparations for a large garden to grow some real food in. There were plenty of deep containers that only lacked soil, and though the replicator could make a neutral medium, it could not produce the micro- organisms needed. Thus they had to mix the medium with some of a nutritional substance similar to their food, and they had to add the micro-organisms themselves; by mixing some of their own poop into it.

At first this idea seemed very wrong to the kids, but he explained that only a little was needed for each large container, just to get the natural system started. An area behind the bedroom and bathroom buildings was designated for the garden, and as Shen Dao demonstrated; the spire lighting had been adjusted to be much more intense in this area as needed.

"OK." Tristan told him one day soon after they'd started. "Just what are we going to grow here? I am assuming you packed some seeds in the crates, but won't they be dead after so long?"

"That is very good reasoning Tristan." The old man said. "Yes we have seeds for you to use. They are in the crate labeled 'Caution', and do be careful opening it. There is a stasis field protecting the seeds, and it will take a few moments for it to de-activate once the crate is opened. Do not touch the silvery field protecting the contents, or you could be killed."

"What's a stasis field?" Penny wondered.

"It is an area of almost frozen time." The sultry smooth voice translated the explanation.

She frowned, "You mean you could have frozen other things for us too? Like a puppy dog!"

The old man laughed, "No my dear. Anything living thing that is frozen in a stasis field has a chance of not being living when the field is removed. So not all of the seeds stored will be viable, but many will be."

"So you could have frozen a puppy for us!" She demanded.

"Or it could have come out a dead puppy." Tristan explained.

Penelope then understood, "Oh, I guess not."

"Well, when do we start planting Shen Dao? I know we're both getting tired of the replicator slop." Tristan asked expectantly.

"Very soon my boy. You need to give the micro-organisms time to spread." He answered.

They exercised hard, and then worked hard; following all of the old man's instructions. He had them perform deep tiring stances for the next several weeks, but gave them just enough rest and water breaks. One thing they didn't mind so much, was that he made them skip lunch every day, explaining that they needed to get used to their stomachs being empty for a little while. They did not miss the gray slop, but the feeling of emptiness wasn't something they liked at all. This made the old man laugh.

At night time after they ate and bathed; he would tell them stories of the spires, and what had happened.

Shen Dao was half man, half Pearmainian. This was a symbiotic being, and a nearly immortal one. His Pearmainian half was countless eons in age, but his human half was only just over three thousand years old. This was possible due to the unique symbiotic relationship between the races. A Pearmainian would usually prefer to find a willing donor, but it could just take over a body as well. Shen Dao's human half was a Taoist monk, born in the northern Hubei province in China around one thousand BC, western time. He had spent a good portion of his life as a destitute renunciate of the ways of man.

When he was middle aged he was approached by a strange alien creature that was the host to the Pearmainian before he was. It had occurred late one night while he meditated in a cave. The being walked right up to him and sat down. He thought he was having a revelation at first, and indeed he was.

The alien explained in perfect Chinese that there was an intergalactic war going on, and that he was needed by its parasite as a host body. At first he was repulsed by the very thought of such a thing, but then the being explained the virtues of the exchange. Barring any nasty accidents, his life would be extended at least a hundred fold. Here was just what he was looking for, he thought; 'immortality.' Shen Dao asked why the alien had to give up the parasite, and it said that it was over ten thousand Earth years of age, and was quite ready to die. So Shen Dao had agreed and took the Pearmainian parasite into his body willingly.

The intergalactic war that had been fought, and presumably won, was a civil war between the Pearmainians themselves. There was only one solitary Pearmainian rebel that had been the cause of the last war, but it had enlisted the help of a rather nasty race of warrior apes. They wreaked havoc wherever they went. Their sole purpose was the complete annihilation of the Pearmainian High Council, known as 'The Eternal Guard'. They almost succeeded too, if it hadn't been for the concerted efforts of many; including a number of mortal humans. He told them of how they had laid a trap for the rebel, and its elite warriors; on Earth. The rebel knew the High Council had a keen interest in humanity, and as such she followed the last remnants of 'The Eternal Guard' to Earth to finish them off. With some very brave humans helping the Guardians, the rebel gave chase to the fleeing group thinking they were the remnants of the High Council, but they were actually those very selfless and brave humans merely being led by one of 'The Eternal Guard'. This was so the rebel would sense the Pearmainian and fall for the ruse. It had worked, and as soon as they were a safe distance away from the spire, all that remained of the Council shifted back to Earth; as they had at first shifted past unknowingly to those in pursuit. They had caused the spire to bury itself, and shifted off planet just before this occurred. A lockout was put in place de-activating the spire on Earth, and thus the rebel and its cohort were trapped.

"So you stuck them there on Earth with us, huh?" Tristan grew a scowl.

Shen Dao bowed, and grunted. The translator said, "Sorry."

"What happened to the people who were the bait?" Penny asked.

Shen Dao shook his head, "They were slaughtered by the rebel. They gave their very lives for this cause."

"That's just great!" Tristan exclaimed. "You and your intergalactic war got us stuck half way across the Universe."

"Don't forget; five hundred million years into the future too." Penelope quipped.

Tristan didn't laugh. "Why didn't you just kill the rebel? Like any other government would do."

"My human half has often suggested the same, but that is what is wrong with the rebel in the first place. It doesn't mind killing. She and her warrior minions even like it. Besides, just the thought of killing a fellow Pearmainian is quite impossible for us. That is contrary to our most basic nature."

All were quite for a moment.

"Are we going to have to kill anyone?" Penelope asked with her tender voice obviously worried.

"I don't know." Shen Dao answered honestly.

15: TIME TO FLY

The ape pulled a large knife from a hidden sheath. "Argggh! I'll kill you wench!" It growled, and moved for Jackie.

"No!" Came a sharp order from Millie.

"You saw her kill General Koko!" The ape spat with venom.

"Koko made a mistake, you all did! And she took advantage of it, that's all. She got lucky."

"Grrrrr." The ape growled as it sheathed the knife again.

"Let's not cut off our nose to spite our face." Millie said with a disparaging smile. She walked over to Jackie, "Try something like that again, and I'll let them have you. Understood?"

Jackie swallowed hard, and nodded. Next to her was Ms. Robinson, Penelope's mother, whom was sobbing out of control.

"Somebody put a gag on this one!" She barked. "I'm tired of listening to this dribble."

An ape obeyed and pulled some cloth off the lady's pants, before tying it as a gag on her.

Millie sauntered back and forth in front of Jackie. "I don't know. This one might be able to take you all on."

The apes all went into an uproar. "What do you mean?"

"Well let's see, she got past four of you, and then she had the presence of mind to kill General Koko."

"Yeah, but we got her then." McGillas said.

"Like you said, she got lucky." Fielder added.

Millie laughed wickedly.

Jackie sat on the floor with her hands bound behind her, trembling. Her fate and her family's fate were not in her hands.

\----------

Michael Welsh sat impatiently in the temporary field office the FBI had set up in the Dreamland HQ complex. It had been a full day since his wife, and Ms. Robinson had been taken by the fury yellow monsters with Millie Schotner.

"I'm sorry Mr. Welsh. That's the bottom line at the moment. The alien device is under total lock down."

Michael grew even more frustrated. "That sort of crap is not going to get my wife and kids back! You know this."

Agent Holder nodded. "I agree completely sir. Trust me, as soon as the order comes down to continue our investigation, you'll be back up there with us. We do need your help, along with Ms. Myers. You two were the only ones that had any effect on the device, besides your wife and Ms. Robinson."

"So let's get up there, and try to get that thing going again!" Michael urged most strongly.

"I can't even get up there myself right now Mr. Welsh. Homeland Security has priority, and they are calling the shots for the time being. Look even the Director himself is going to bat for us on this. I've got just about the whole team of research scientists from Area 51 standing by as we speak. We are not going to just sit on our hands here. We will figure this thing out, and we will get your wife and children back, or I'll die trying to do so." Holder was earnest.

Michael sank in his chair, and realized the agents were doing all they could. "Thank you for that Agent Holder. I know you're doing your best. Please, just hurry."

Ten minutes later Agents Foley, Stickley, and Hansen entered Holder's office, as he was just disconnecting from a call on his cell phone.

"The Director is busy in a meeting with the President, let's hope he has some luck." Holder said to them.

"You called him again?" Foley was dumbfounded. "You're not going to win any friends in high places by pestering them to death."

"I'm not here to win any friends Agent Foley." Holder was angry. "No one takes out my men, and shoots up my crime scene! Not on my watch. Not on my scene!"

The rest of them saw his anger and determination, and they were careful not to say a word in response.

\----------

Leena awoke late the next day, a gentle breeze blew through the partially open window next to her bed nest. Their mission; 'operation fish finder' as William had dubbed it, of the previous night had worn her out. The attendant birds had let her sleep in also, though they would usually wake the children for breakfast earlier than that. Leena figured they were being lenient because of their big field trip the day before.

It suited her just fine. After stretching lazily in the warmth of a sunbeam, she dragged herself from bed. On her way to the toilet hole, she saw a medium sized black bird hop in through the window. It was about the size of a goose, but it had a very squat wide head, and a bright red beak. The small eyes of the creature were totally glossy black, and close set together.

"Well hello." Leena said to it, and then as she thought about it she said 'hello' in Threelt. The bird squatted abruptly, as if she had startled it. Then it just stood there for a moment looking at her. It puffed itself up suddenly, and Leena could swear a rather pleased look flashed across its inky eyes.

A noise from the hallway startled both of them, and Leena turned away momentarily. As she looked back to the black bird, it was just hopping out of the window. One of the attendant birds burst into the room chirping up a storm. It was telling her to rise and shine. Leena said 'good morning' in Threelt to the attendant, and they exchanged pleasantries. Since Leena had started to learn the bird's language, she had been practicing on the attendants. They were patient, and helped the best they could, but since they did not know any English, like Chirp Swee, they couldn't advise her much.

Still she had developed a rather good relationship with the other birds. Leena asked the attendant about the bird she'd just seen in her room. The attendant was very curious right away.

"What bird?" it asked in Threelt.

Leena described the little black bird to her, though she wasn't sure if it translated quite right. The attendant ran from the room making a very odd clucking sound Leena had never heard before. Within moments there was an alarm cry throughout the palace. Guard birds began running everywhere, searching everything. Several guards burst into Leena's room and shut the window right away. Leena hurriedly dressed in her golden jumpsuit, and went into the hall. There were dozens of guards there too, searching every room, and pushing the other children into the common area. Leena was also escorted there. The other kids were quite worried, especially William who figured that they had gotten caught for their escape plans.

"Something weird is going on." She told them.

Within moments Chirp Swee showed up and quickly ran over to Leena.

"Is it true?" Chirp Swee asked with obvious fright.

"Is what true?"

"Did you see a Grogak?" the bird trembled at the word.

"A what?" Leena asked in confusion.

"A small black bird with a red beak."

"Oh yeah, it came into my room. Are they smart too?"

Chirp Swee almost fainted. She had to sit down. "Oh my." She swooned. "You could have been killed."

"What? Are they dangerous?" Leena grew worried too.

"Dangerous? They are assassins my child!"

Leena's eyes grew wide. "You think it was trying to kill me?"

"The red beak is a natural warning sign. They have a poisonous dart that they can shoot from their mouths with great accuracy." Chirp Swee told.

Leena thought back to how the bird had puffed up, and the look it got in its eyes. She shivered.

"You should be dead by all rights Leena. Why didn't it kill you?"

"I don't know, I guess it was startled by the attendant coming to wake me." She figured.

William was at once relieved their plans hadn't been compromised, but at the same time he too was terrified. "Are there many of these Grogaks?" He asked.

"Fortunately no!" Chirp Swee exclaimed. "The Grogak is a rare creature native to a small chain of distant islands. They are a sinister bird, and have but one purpose; to kill. There hasn't been a sighting of a Grogak in years though."

"I hope there isn't another one for years." Becky said trembling.

Chirp Swee smiled, or did what Leena had grown to know as one.

What Chirp Swee didn't tell them though, was that the Grogak was usually employed as a mercenary; and that meant that there must be a whole plot to kill her, and the other children as well.

"I must go tell the King immediately my dear." Chirp Swee excused herself. "I will return shortly for our lessons though."

Things didn't look good for operation 'gone fishing'. The guard was doubled everywhere, and roving patrols of multiple guard birds were added as well.

"We're going to have to re-calculate." William told them.

He and Becky went to reconnoiter the basement entrance discretely. Joshua went to hide his stash of booby traps, and shortly Leena began her lesson with Chirp Swee.

The bird was flustered obviously by something though, and Leena thought it to be the incident with the Grogak. It was partly, but Chirp Swee was dealing with guilt also. She felt she had let her friend down, and she had. Just by allowing that old coot Crashooyt to meet with her. Some things, a lot of things, were just out of her control. Like her reports to the King. Even though Crashooyt had instructed her not to reveal her true progress to him, it was still doing harm to her new friend she knew; since neither Crashooyt's nor the King's plans considered the children's well-being for even a moment.

Chirp Swee hadn't slept much the night before, tormenting herself over all of this. She had determined to help Leena and the kids somehow, and she'd come up with a plan in haste.

"Leena, I need to tell you something that I have gone and done."

Leena looked at her curiously. "Sure Chirp Swee, what is it?"

"I've made arrangements to smuggle you children to safety."

"What?" Leena thought it incredulous.

"I've made plans for you to escape."

Leena giggled, and that broke out into an all-out laugh.

Chirp Swee frantically tried to quiet her, as there were guards everywhere.

"What is it that you've planned my friend?" Leena asked as soon as she could control herself.

"Well I came up with this by myself, and in haste; so it might not be the best plan. I told the King you really loosened up on the outing yesterday, and that I found out much new information." Chirp Swee paused knowing the cat was out of the bag so to speak. "I asked to take you all out again, and when we do; we will do just as we did last evening with the diversion. Only this time you will all disappear with me."

"Where will we go?" the young girl asked just to appear interested.

"I have some dear friends whom live far out in the jungle. I know they will hide us for a while."

Leena smiled, and suddenly didn't want to lead her friend on. She saw that she was only trying to help them, and probably risking her life to do so.

"Chirp Swee, I know you're only trying to help and all, but I've told you many times that I have to get back to the spire."

"But we could all go there from my friend's home in the jungle. We could organize an expedition."

"I'm sorry Chirp Swee, I just don't have that kind of time." Leena was truthful.

Chirp Swee suddenly realized something. "Do you have other plans Leena?"

Leena's face went white, and Chirp Swee's gaze seemed to intensify.

"What? No um, I'm just sure that the King will grant our petition soon." Leena lied through her teeth, and the bird easily saw this.

"Don't worry Leena, I'm not going to cause trouble for you. I'm your friend. I want to help you if I can."

The gleam of love, and trust that was missing after the encounter with Crashooyt was there again in Leena's eyes for Chirp Swee.

"I'll let you know, maybe. Wait here." Leena went to find William. They had some help now.

William didn't like it at first, but Leena convinced him that they could trust Chirp Swee. They really needed the extra help now too, as the doubling of the guards messed up the whole plan.

"Do you think she could get a pilot for us?" He queried.

"Let's ask her."

Chirp Swee was astonished by the question, and the audacity of such.

"No. I don't know any, they are warrior class." She answered truthfully.

All of the children had joined them at the common table.

"How about a harpoon gun?" Josh grilled her.

"A what?"

"A weapon."

Chirp Swee really started to baulk at that.

"Don't worry professor, it's only to convince the pilot." The little boy told her.

"What can you do?" Becky was blunt.

The bird blinked hard several times. "I guess all I can really do is to help you distract our people, and I can have a cart load of provisions waiting for you too."

William and Leena nodded, but the other three only rolled their eyes.

After running down a list of changes in the perimeter security, and guard positions, including the two guards now at the bottom of the stairs. William looked at the others and said, "OK, operation 'gone fishing' is a go for tonight, but its sketchy guys. Here are the changes; first we need a diversion to pull the guards from the stairs. The one sleepy cookie isn't going to do it now. Then we need another one, or it could be the same one, to clear the perimeter guards from the gardens. Joshua, your smoke bombs better work. Here is the sketchy part; we need someone to yell for alarm from the back bed rooms here, while the rest of us hide in the front one there. As soon as both guards are past us, we hit the stairs to the basement. Too bad old Chirp here can't stay past dark, 'cause that someone who yells for alarm has to do it in bird talk." He looked at Leena seriously.

Now she understood the sketchy part. How was she going to get out?

"I think you'll have to chance a jump from one of the windows, and hope nobody sees you." He went on.

"Or that you don't bust a leg." Josh put in.

Just then one of the attendant birds came by the common area. They usually milled around the children all day long. It seemed to be checking if they needed anything.

"No thank you." William said politely.

"I help you." The attendant said in moderate English.

"Excuse me?" Becky asked in bewilderment.

Sarah smiled at the bird. "She wants to help."

William grinned as he saw in the bird's eyes that she meant it. "Good news Leena, you don't have to bust your butt jumping out that window."

Leena smiled at her savior from ear to ear.

The rest of the plan was simple enough; get out of the palace through the basement window, and sneak through the gardens into the orchard. Once on the streets, they had already mapped the most concealed route to the air field, where Chirp Swee promised she would leave a cart full of provisions, and a weapon if she could. That made them all breathe a little easier, although the hard part of the plan came next. Capture one pilot. Hijack one 'air-fish', and last but not least; proceed to the spire to rescue Tristan and Penny. Oh, and then get back home to Earth. Chirp Swee was more than just a little apprehensive as to the whole plan, but it was better than her idea she had to admit.

Too soon evening came, and Chirp Swee had to say her sad farewells to the children. They had all come to like her somewhat, even if she was one of their captors. Leena had a real hard time right then, and had to leave the common area for her room. She didn't want the guards at the bottom of the stairs to hear her crying as Chirp Swee was leaving, for that would be a dead give-away that something was up. Chirp Swee followed her in to the room, and gave Leena a hug with both her arms and her wings. This meant deep feelings to the Cracowck.

"Don't worry Leena, I'm sure we'll see each other again sometime."

"But what if we make it home." Leena cried into her breast feathers.

"Surely my dear, the universe isn't that big of a place."

She left shortly, and the little girl in tears was sure she would never see her friend again.

William and the others were waiting for Joshua to come running into the first bedroom by the stairs. He knew if Joshua's smoke bombs didn't work, that the whole plan was scrubbed.

"Come on smoke bombs." William whispered wishing.

"This isn't going to work, is it?" Becky asked very quietly.

"We'll find out in a second or two." He nodded to her.

"We could still try the cookie." She reminded him.

He looked at her questioningly, "Did you bring it?"

She nodded.

Just then Joshua burst through the door mat, and joined them in the corner. He gave a thumbs up signal. Suddenly someone was shouting from the far end of the hallway in Threelt. It was the attendant bird, she was making the alarm call just as planned. They listened closely for the claw steps of the guard birds to go running down the corridor. Sure enough the heard the strange patter of birds running past the room. They waited just a moment after those past, and William said, "Let's go." They followed single file in predetermined order down the stairs as quickly, but quietly as they could, and ducked into the near-by ante chamber as they heard more birds giving alarm and running by. William tugged on Becky's sleeve, and she tugged on Leena's, and then as they started to move from the chamber into the corridor; another bird peeked its head out of a door way and saw them. Will's eyes went wide with panic, and he knew they were caught by this bird. His heart sank, but then the bird whom he suddenly recognized as another of the attendant birds, motioned him to hurry on. William quickly bolted for the basement door way, quickly followed by the others. It seemed they had more help than they knew.

The basement was quite dark, but each child knew the way, as they had all been down there a few times before, and had memorized the pathways. Each also held onto the child in front of them by their sleeve. Dim light came from the window ahead, and William signaled with his arm for the ones behind him to wait. He quickly crawled up on the bench top, and peered outside. It seemed to be clear.

"Let's go!" he whispered behind him, and he propped the window open to crawl through.

The garden flood lights came on all of a sudden, and they froze in their tracks by the low berry bushes, ducking into what scant cover there was. The sound of claws running came from their right, and then another cry of alarm reached them from their left. The patter of the running claws faded off to their left.

"Go!" William whispered hoarsely, and he took off for the low wall separating the garden from the orchard. He stayed just over the wall as the others hopped over and silently directed them to hide amongst the trees ahead. Sarah was next to last with Josh right behind her, and he easily just about tossed her right over the wall. In a flash he'd bounded over and they were all safely out of the palace. More alarm cries came from the distance behind them, as they ran through the trees towards the city streets. This only spurred them onward with urgency.

The streets were deserted as far as they could see, while they quietly ran from shadow to shadow. Their heavy breathing, and the thudding of Joshua's heavy foot-steps were the only sounds they made, although the increasingly distant noise of alarm shouts from the palace accompanied them. It didn't seem to take them nearly as long as the previous night to make their way to the airfield. When they were fairly close, William motioned the others to wait as he and Leena scouted ahead.

There was a single guard patrolling around the 'air-fish' as the night before, but there was no sign of any others in the dim light of the twin moons. Then Leena spied a seemingly abandoned cart nearby, and she smiled. They smoothly made their way back to the others waiting for them.

"OK Will. What about the guard?" Leena asked him bluntly.

Joshua took off his pack, and removed a short club-sized stick with a canvass knot on one end. He handed it silently to William. Leena reached out and touched the knotted end of it, and felt that it was hard under the canvass.

"Don't you think that will hurt it?" Leena questioned.

William looked at her seriously. "How bad do you want to get out of here?"

"Give me the club." She answered.

William just took it and disappeared into the forest. The rest of them crept quietly up to a position to observe. Joshua had pulled a second club from his pack, and waited with it at the ready. Leena grew quite nervous, as did the others.

A couple of minutes passed by that felt like an hour, when they saw William creep from a shadowy bush close to the 'air-fish'. He scurried low to the ground into the dark shadow the ship itself lent. Then Leena's heart started racing as she watched the guard bird making his round near to where William was hiding. The bird walked past the spot where William was, and they all held their breath as Will moved out behind the bird, and made his move for it.

Suddenly the guard spun around towards William, and let out a squawk. It ever so quickly raised the harpoon gun it brandished at him. William was caught quite off guard, and froze in his tracks. The bird motioned to the ground, telling William in clear sign language to drop it. Joshua started to get up to go help, but a loud and sudden noise from off to the side of the scene startled them all.

Another bird came wildly flapping towards the pair, and the guard turned his weapon towards this threat. William saw his chance and lunged at the guard, his club in full swing downwards. It struck the bird cleanly and hard on its head, and the guard dropped in a heap of feathers to the ground. The waiting children bolted out of hiding, running to the scene to help. The other bird just stood there looking down at the guard. William quickly reared up to strike it also, but then he recognized it and stopped.

Leena ran up, and embraced him, "Are you OK?" she blurted out.

"Yeah." He responded still kind of confused. "Thanks to her." He pointed at the other bird.

Leena turned and saw that it was Chirp Swee!

"Chirp Swee!" Leena broke from William and ran to her friend, hugging her. "You saved his life."

Joshua and the others stopped in front of William. "Not bad." Josh said.

"Yeah, Will. Nice job." Becky added.

Will smiled. "I did it. I thought I was toast, but Chirp Swee saved my butt."

"Yeah, you sure clobbered him Will." Josh congratulated."

Sarah tried to pick up the heavy harpoon gun saying, "Here, get his gun before he wakes up."

William grabbed the unwieldy weapon from her, and then bent down to make sure the guard was still breathing. He was to Will's great relief.

"There is plenty of food and water in the cart." Chirp Swee told them, and then excitedly whispered to Leena, "I'm coming with you."

"Let's get us a pilot, and get out of here!" Josh urged.

William nodded.

Leena told Chirp Swee, "But this could be real dangerous."

"That's why I'm coming with you, to keep you out of trouble." She replied.

William heard this and got upset. "We don't have time for this Chirp Swee! We've got to get going, and we don't need you slowing us down."

"So who's slowing you down?" The bird asked him. She looked down at the way William was holding the weapon, and she knew he didn't know what he was doing with it. She didn't really either, but at least she knew how to hold it, and discharge it. "May I?" Chirp Swee held out a claw for the gun.

William drew back.

"You can trust her Will!" Leena assured him.

He reluctantly gave her the weapon.

She took it and pointed at a lever on the end. "Here this is how you release the..."

Suddenly from behind the group there was sharp bird talk! Leena and Chirp Swee both understood only too well the command. "Don't move!"

Then the voice ordered, "Drop the weapon!"

Two dark figures emerged from the shadows behind them. They couldn't make out what they looked like as the pair each wore a hooded cloak. They could see their claws were brandishing harpoon guns at them though. Chirp Swee set the weapon down.

"Great." William said. "Your friend double crossed us." He spoke out of the side of his mouth at Leena. She shot a questioning glance at Chirp Swee.

"No Leena, I didn't..."

"Move! Over there." The voice commanded.

As the children walked out into the open of the landing pad, the two hooded figures backed apart. One stopped on their side, covering them; while the other stayed behind the group motioning them ahead.

"Well thanks a lot for getting us busted professor." Josh was almost in tears.

"But I had nothing to do..."

"Quiet!"

Leena didn't know what to do, it sure looked like they weren't going to make it to the spire, and they were so close! The 'air-fish' were right there. Then just as they all knew for sure the guards were going to march them right past the ships, and back to the palace; the one behind them said, "Hold it!" as they came right next to one of the ship's boarding ramps. Then it said, "In." in Threelt, and motioned up the ramp. They all looked at each other in disbelief for a moment.

"IN!" the bird commanded.

They all hurriedly scampered up the ramp. Inside it was pitch black, and they all groped around trying not to bump into anything. Suddenly an electric light came on overhead. One of the cloaked figures had turned on a switch by the entrance.

"Up against the bulkhead." The leader motioned at them.

The other four children didn't understand the words, but they followed what Chirp Swee and Leena did. As their eyes adjusted they could now see their captors, and they were white birds. The pair tossed their cloaked hoods back. These birds had a narrower head than the Cracowcks, and their feathers were pure white without any speckling. Black beaks adorned their faces under dazzling blue eyes. These eyes weren't as close set as Chirp Swee's race were, and they almost looked to be opposing.

As all of them backed up against the bulkhead of the control room, one of the white birds grabbed some rope from a sack on its side. He went over and started tying Chirp Swee to a metal foot, or claw rail that ran along the base of the bulkhead.

"What do you want with us?" Chirp Swee asked in Threelt.

"Nothing with you." It replied.

Right after he finished with her, the white bird started tying up the rest of them. Chirp Swee started squawking something fierce, and Leena saw terror in her eyes. She followed to where she was looking, and there in the entrance was the squat little black shape, bright red beak, and ever so glossy black eyes of the Grogak.

The white birds glanced to see what had set Chirp Swee off, and they laughed. "I see you've met our little friend."

The red beak stood out like a warning beacon, as it was supposed to be. It hop walked over to the children, and puffed up like it had done in Leena's room. Chirp Swee passed out. The white birds laughed some more, and the Grogak had a peculiar gleam in its eyes.

"So that's what caused all the fuss this morning?" Joshua asked as if not worried.

Leena said, "That's a Grogak Josh. It shoots some sort of poisonous dart."

"Oh." He said as he realized the danger.

The Grogak hop walked back to the front, and easily jumped up onto the control console. The other white bird finished binding them all, and the children tried to get as comfortable as they could up against the bulkhead.

The bridge of the ship looked oddly familiar to the children, much like the bridge of a ship on Earth. A large wheel protruded from the control console made of a light colored wood. Just to the right of this were two levers side by side, and then to the left was a big round valve handle. When the lead bird issued some orders in a language she didn't know; the other white bird left the ship. While it was gone the leader went to the rear of the ship, and the children could hear a hissing sound of some gas that seemed to be filling the balloon chamber above them. The other bird returned from outside with a large sack, and the leader went back to the control console. Within a few seconds of it flipping switches on the panel, the engines on the side of the crew cabin revved up. The interior lights dimmed some as they started up, but became brighter as the engines gained power. A low whining noise came from the entrance ramp as it was automatically raised. Then from outside there came a loud whistling sound that was clearly audible even over the roar of the engines. They could all feel a gentle floating sensation as they lifted off. Leena and the others silently wondered just where this turn of events would take them, but each was certain that it wasn't where they wanted to go.

16: TOGETHER FOREVER

The first six months were probably the hardest on Tristan and Penelope as homesickness really set in, although Shen Dao kept them as occupied as possible. It really helped that the children had to become so involved with every aspect of their survival. Like toting the water for the garden every day, or restocking the replicators with the ever so heavy matter pellets. Plus they had to learn how to fabricate so many things from the basic materials the replicator would produce.

Their training was proceeding along fine as well, and this assuaged the homesickness, as they began to develop self-confidence. Shen Dao had already started teaching them empty hand combat routines, and techniques. Tristan of course, being the older and larger, gained skill and strength at a much more rapid pace that Penny did; those first six months anyhow. Each of them had nearly the same schedule and routine, but Shen Dao had them do some things differently than the other, explaining that their physical differences needed to be exploited. Penelope was given some very challenging balancing feats to perfect, while Tristan was focused more along the line of increasing endurance. It was a difficult life at best, but they each were beginning to feel their own capabilities, and self-worth.

It wasn't too long until the soil for their garden was ready to plant, and they had eagerly awaited this time. The stasis containment field looked just like a silvery liquid that didn't move at all, but it vanished after several moments of the opening of the crate. There were hundreds of small metal containers inside, and a hand written note was on top of all of these. It read; 'Try the Early Bird Snow Peas'. Each child was very excited to start growing some real food that actually had taste, and texture, not the replicator slop.

"It looks pretty much the same going in, as it does coming out." Tristan often said of it.

Shen Dao chose the first seeds they would use for crops, but told them as soon as they had some experience they would be free to make their own decisions about this. He explained that they were likely to lose most of their first crops, as it was a skill, even an art form called horticulture. This turned out to be all too true as they lost most of their first crops due to ignorance, and not following Shen Dao's explicit instructions to the letter.

Their second attempt at gardening was much more successful, and they ate good fresh vegetables for a change. Their harvest didn't last them long though, as they hadn't yet mastered the concept of rotating yields. It was back to replicator slop as they watched their garden slowly grow again. Gardening was hard work, and lots of it. They didn't have to weed, but they did have to manually pollenate each flower they wished to produce fruit. Also they had to haul plenty of water from the bathroom or kitchen for the many containers. Yet the garden quickly became a source of mutual joy for them.

As always, during the evening time Shen Dao would regale them with stories of his vast Universe. He always had a different story to tell too, and never told the same one twice. One night he told a particularly amazing tale of an ancient civilization that had utterly destroyed itself. The Pearmainian 'Eternal Guard' had found this race worthy of saving, and had travelled back in time to reverse the unfortunate course of events that had already destroyed them.

That was when Tristan started wondering, "How come you can't just go into the past, and stop us from even going to Dreamland then?"

"I wish it were that easy Tristan." Shen Dao said.

"But if you can save an entire planet from destroying itself; can't you stop seven kids from getting lost?"

"A long time ago we could have. That was before the Time Wars though."

"Time Wars?" Penelope was curious.

"You see, after our race learned the terrible secret of time travel; we as a race did a lot of good with the knowledge. For more than a million years we performed acts like the one I just told you of.

Then something happened. Some of us made a mistake, somewhere, or some-when. Whoever it was, did something in the past which changed all of us permanently. Maybe it was carelessness, we don't know. We don't even know when, where, or what exactly it was, but it sure changed things. There was a whole group of us affected by the new temporal reality. It was as if they became paranoid over-night. Somehow they got the idea in their minds that even though we couldn't kill one of our own, we could travel back in time and erase their existence. They became supra-paranoid of this happening to themselves, and started to try to accomplish this very same evil to the rest of us. We of course had to stop them, and so we resorted to similar methods." Shen Dao bowed his head in shame. "We almost made ourselves extinct."

Tristan was incredulous. "Let me get this straight. You fought a war by going back in time to erase your enemies' futures, and they were doing the same to you?"

The old Chinese man nodded and went on, the female voice translated. "It was a time when you couldn't trust reality, even for a moment. Perhaps we all went mad."  
"What happened?" Penny wanted to know.

"We won." The old man did not seem proud, or even pleased; just sad. "We vanquished all but one of the enemy Pearmainians to non-existence."

Tristan queried, "How come you left one?"

"Well it was an accident. You see it is very hard to accurately predict the outcome of events that you change in the past, and we missed one. When we realized that it could not travel time on its own, we decided, foolishly, to let it exist.

What we didn't know was that the last enemy alive was now completely insane, and was quite able and willing to physically kill other Pearmainians then. The enemy surrendered, and acted as if it were indeed reforming from its evil ways, even for many thousands of years; until it found a suitable race of warriors that it could easily manipulate. It didn't take long for the slaughter to start. The rebel killed most of the 'Eternal Guard', all but a very small number."

"That's the rebel you trapped on Earth, isn't it?" Penny guessed.

"Yes. That is the one responsible for you being here Penelope. We have yet to defeat her." Shen Dao told them.

"That still doesn't explain why you can't travel back in time and fix all this." Tristan accused.

"I was getting to that my boy. You have already seen that it takes three very special humans to activate a spire's portal. Well it only takes one Pearmainian to do so, however it takes five 'Eternal Guardians' to rip time-space enough for trans-temporal shifting, or to travel through time. After the other Guardians were banished into non-existence in the battle for Pearmain, there were not five of us left."

Tristan and Penny began to understand what he was getting at.

"Wait a minute!" Tristan objected. "How do you expect us to do something, with just two of us; that you can't even do?"

"That is a very good question Tristan. I don't know how you will be able to, being purely human, but I do know that you do."

"Man, I still have so many questions." The little boy sighed.

"Questions are good, and most answers I do have." Shen Dao encouraged them both.

Penelope had thought about something; "Won't we change something when we go back?"

"That is a possibility, though I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you Penelope."

"Why not Shen Dao? Couldn't we erase ourselves?" she insisted.

"First you have to travel into the past, so you can have a future, or a present to worry about." He smiled.

"That's the pair of ducks again." She shook her head.

By the end of their first year in the spire, on what they now formally had named 'Penelope's Planet'; each had grown considerably. The golden jump suits from Dreamland no longer fit them at all, and thus they were having to constantly fashion new clothes from the material they replicated. At first they wound up wearing toga like garments, as they were poor seamstresses. Then they even tried the naked thing for a bit, as it was never cold in the spire, but their modesty got the better of them. They were just getting to that age. Soon though both were gaining proficiency at making decent pants, shirts, and even jumpsuits. Underclothes were a different matter though, and making something comfortable was still beyond their skill. Most things like blankets, sheets, towels, and such could be fabricated as a finished product by the replicator. If the garment needed to be sewn together, then they had to do it. Doing laundry also became a big chore, as even though there was a washing machine and dryer; if their hand made clothes weren't sturdy enough, then the machines would destroy them. So they did a lot of laundry by hand those early years.

Shen Dao kept them very busy with their martial arts training, as well as everything else, but the children still found time for some play and fun also. Tristan and Penelope were fast becoming the best of friends; after all they only had each other, and the holo-programs. This however did not stop Penny from insisting one day that Tristan move out of the bedroom building that they had been sharing, and into the second, as of yet unused, bedroom building. She told him she wasn't mad at him, but that she needed some privacy. They both really did need their own space.

By the time they had been there two full years, each was really starting to develop good balance, strength, and endurance. The old Pearmainian was teaching them some long routines, and had just started on the first of many melee weapons sets and techniques. Tristan and Penny had to make some quasi-wooden staffs for the first of these sets, and then they progressed to basic sword work. Each weapon they would learn required them to make the said armament. Some were easy to fabricate, while others required much care and labor. The children were of course curious as to why they needed to learn to use such archaic weapons, when firearms were so prevalent.

"Too many a warrior has perished while leaning on the blade of their sword." The old man spoke in parable.

For some time Shen Dao had been having them practice meditation as well. At first he just had them stand in position and breathe as he prescribed, but soon they were performing a moving form of meditation. Mental imaging went with this, and that really helped them from getting 'cabin fever'. Even though the interior was huge, and there was really no way to get claustrophobic, they still got tired of the same old surroundings. The mental imaging was a good escape, especially when used in conjunction with the holo-program.

Not only had Shen Dao and Leena transferred their personalities into the machine, they had also included a vast library of different media. Books, movies, videos, music, scenery, and even a few games. He had instructed them to focus on particularly peaceful and serene images while they meditated. This kept them from going mad.

As soon as the children were ready, Shen Dao had them start doing sitting meditation while on a cathedral pedestal. The golden light energy was pure form of natural energy that all possessed, and they could learn to tap into it. Most humans couldn't even trigger the mechanism, or more properly bias it; yet both of them could. Shen Dao told them that was why the rebel had sought them out originally. Some humans were pure and attuned, and as such might pass through the lock-out. This was kind of like a backdoor mechanism. When asked just why the need for such a rear entry, Shen Dao told them that once a spire is deactivated, the only way to reactivate it is to know the dimensional pathway. This meant that either; another spire had to be dedicated solely to keeping the pathway open, or a Pearmainian with the ability to autonomously shift had to re-navigate the path. This was a lost ability to them. In other words, if the Pearmainians ever wanted to get to Earth again, they needed to keep a back door open, but one the rebel couldn't use.

"Are Pearmainians the only race that can do this 'self-shifting'?" Tristan asked.

Shen Dao looked at him with surprise. "We don't know who, or even what they are, but yes we have felt other forces folding space-time."

The third year the kids started changing slowly. They didn't even really notice this, save for the usual increase in their clothing size, but the holo-program sure did. It was monitoring their physical, and behavioral changes. The training intensified also, up to fourteen hours a day, on the heavy days. Tristan and Penny had gained so much strength that either of them could restock the replicators alone. True to what Shen Dao had promised they were becoming warriors.

Other changes were occurring as well, especially with Tristan. To say that his hormones had begun to bother him would be an understatement. This is when the old man gave a very serious talk to him. He explained in no uncertain terms that if Tristan were to act on his burgeoning desires that the both of them would die, as they almost had their third week in the spire. He drilled this into Tristan as a sacred trust for their very lives. Nothing could be more serious, this was no joke!

Then he taught Tristan some very useful meditations to help alleviate these new feelings, and in addition he allowed a method to release some of the frustrations of all kinds that both had stored up. Shen Dao had them begin to practice mock combat with each other. At first Penelope balked at this concept, but when the old man told them it was essential to their survival, she relented. They kept it playful to start with, as a game of sorts, but this sometimes quickly escalated into something a bit more serious. Tristan was a bit intimidated to hit her for a while, until she really let him have it a couple of times. Shen Dao tried his best to maintain discipline, but he could only be vocal in his authority.

There were several times when the sparring got out of control. The first instance where Tristan put Penny down hard, he felt good about it, like he had firmly established his dominance, and had even told her: "Now you know who the boss is." She never forgot that. His physical precedence over her would not last forever she determined. So she then became fanatical in her training, resolute to rise above the dominion he held. This spurred him on also, as he quite clearly saw what she was planning. Shen Dao found he could manipulate them with this competitive air between them, and he used it as a positive driving force.

The fourth and fifth years were brutal on the pair both physically and emotionally. Tristan was a young man now, and his hormones were raging, kept in check only by his fortified will, and the knowledge that any slip up would mean certain doom. Penelope didn't have that problem quite badly yet. She found his obvious distraction to be the perfect opportunity to thrash him in sparring practice, as she had been doing regularly for some months by now. Still they each were careful not to inflict any major injury to the other, because that too would seal their fate, as there was no medical help other than themselves guided by the expert holo-program.

They didn't get sick like most kids would, mainly due to their extreme health, but also due to the fact that the spire was a sterile environment. However injury was always a worry, especially from mock combat. It was the second most frustrating thing in the world to Tristan when she would put him on the ground hard, and make him submit to her. Penelope loved it. The special balance training that Shen Dao had her do since just about day one, was really paying off. Tristan was still much stronger than her over all, but not pound for pound. Plus she had quickness and agility all over him, and though he was certainly no slouch; Penny was becoming a world class fighter at age thirteen.

The frustrations manifested by their physical competition wouldn't be allowed to come to a head though, as each were still best of friends; that and the old man would always have them decompress by earnestly talking with each other after the bouts, truly trying to help each other as a team. There weren't many secrets between the two, as each had learned pretty much what the other was thinking or feeling.

The old Pearmainian's internal meditative practices also kept their psyches in balance as well as anything could. The delved deep into their own minds, and began to understand the forces that were constantly wrenching at them. Shen Dao then stepped up their internal training. They lost more sleep time, but after a good long meditation in the portal's energy beam; they felt surprisingly rested and well.

During the sixth year Tristan discovered how to project his mind out of his body. This frightened him after the first time he did it. Only with encouragement from Penny, Shen Dao, and Leena did he repeat the efforts. Soon he was able to 'visit' the exterior area around the spire without leaving. It was an airless, cold barren place void of any life. Even so, this was really neat to him, and he began to do it frequently, getting further away every time. There seemed to be no limit to how far he could travel, excepting for time itself; as it took time to travel even with his mind. Penelope wasn't as far along as Tristan was in the internal realm, but she vowed to double her efforts as she wasn't going to let him get the upper hand again. One day she realized that the old man's constant instruction to 'relax' was indeed the key. It wasn't a matter of trying so hard, as it was of just letting go. Soon she was making 'out of body' sojourns along with Tristan.

Both of them were also gaining much talent in their other artistic endeavors. Tristan was becoming quite an accomplished painter, and had many works hanging on the walls of his bedroom. A number of these also adorned Penny's bedroom walls, most were birthday gifts from him.

She on the other hand was developing a fair talent with her music. Penny's favorite instrument was a crude guitar she had fashioned, and then learned to play with professional instruction from the holo-program. She would often learn a song from just listening to one from the vast library of music that was recorded. The harder task was learning music from the almost infinite sheet music they had available, but she applied herself to this with equal zeal.

During their day off from training, Tristan would love to paint while listening to her play, even if she were just learning a new song. He had told her that her music truly inspired him to great realms of imagination. They had both become the mainstay of inspiration for each other, as they had learned to encourage the other to greater heights; never to discourage.

Years seven, eight, and nine were remarkable for them. With all the time and effort they were putting into their martial arts; they had achieved the extraordinary. Penny had caught up to Tristan in the internal arts, as well as keeping a close edge over him physically. The mock combat had become an expression of joyful body movements, and not of competition any longer. They realized the ultimate goal wasn't to best their opponent, but rather to best themselves.

During their many 'out of body' journeys together, they one day found a whole new frontier to explore. There was a kind of pinhole in space right above the spire's tip that they could guide their minds through. Shen Dao told them this was dimensional rift, and though it could be extremely dangerous to explore beyond, that this they must do. He also proudly told them that they were progressing with amazing speed.

Penelope and Tristan began to explore the 'other side' of the pin hole with great caution, as the old man had warned them they could become easily lost in the fourth dimension, and might never find their way back to their bodies. It was a strange experience to say the least. Visual shapes weren't familiar to them, and there were myriad of exotic sensations to distract them. To move in this reality they had only to will it as with their other 'out of body' travels, but they immediately saw the danger Shen Dao had spoken of. Once you moved, it was difficult at best, to orient yourself, as directions were much different than their minds were used to. In fact Tristan would have become lost on their first journey into the other dimension, had it not been for Penelope. She had waited right at the vanishing point, and called out to him with her mind when he didn't return right away. He was able to 'hear' her mental voice, and followed it back out.

From then on they never explored alone. Shen Dao told them they were nearing a phase in their training that would require extra patience from them. When pressed, he said that next they must be able to activate the portal to be able to feel the energies at work when their physical bodies passed through the dimensional rift. Only then could they proceed on to the subsequent phase, and until then they would need to spend much time with their spiritual energies linked, while exploring the next dimension; learning how to navigate there.

This was fine by them, as they had become inseparable by then. In fact it was much more than that; they had fallen deeply in love. Both knew it well, as their mental and spiritual odysseys left each wide open for the other to observe. There was only one thing to do, but when they broached the idea to Shen Dao, he told them they must still wait a short while. These were difficult days, and nights.

On the two hundred and forty second day, of their tenth year in the spire; Shen Dao married Tristan and Penelope. His human half was a Taoist Priest, and he performed a wonderful ceremony lasting over an hour. Some of the customary rituals were strange to them, but all they really cared about was each other. The two young people were very happy. That day they gained an extra storage space; Tristan's bedroom building. For a wedding present, Shen Dao had the replicator make some very special little pills for Penelope, and told her to eat one once a month.

17: THE DEEP BLUE SEA

Chirp Swee stirred back to consciousness about ten minutes into the flight. Leena had to calm her immediately, as one of the first things she'd focused on was the Grogak sitting there on the console, staring intrepidly at them with its glossy little eyes. As soon as she was breathing a little easier, mainly by averting her eyes from the beast; she could talk to Leena.

"Where are they taking us?" Chirp Swee asked in English.

"I was hoping you could tell me, I can't understand those two." Leena answered.

They were both quiet for a while, trying to pick up the brief conversations the two white birds would have. A little while after the most recent of these, Chirp Swee spoke in a hushed, but excited tone. "They said they expect to make their homeland in six days."

Leena looked blank.

"Their homeland is a large island far out in the sea!" Chirp Swee was very anxious sounding.

Leena's eyes got big, and so did the other four kids; as they were intently listening as well.

"The sea?" Leena gasped.

The bird nodded, very afraid herself.

"Breack Kreel!" Joshua said loudly, as all their faces distorted in alarm.

Their kidnappers looked back at them and scowled.

"They mustn't know that I speak their tongue, or for that matter that you understand ours Leena." Her bird friend warned.

"OK." Leena agreed, and turned to the others. "Shhh, huh?"

They all tried to pretend they weren't listening.

The white birds soon made some more talk, and then the Grogak spoke. Its voice was thin and raspy. Leena thought that it said the word 'Cracowck' in the sentence. Then she saw that Chirp Swee was breathing kind of funny.

"What's wrong?"

Her friend didn't answer for a few minutes, and then she whispered hoarsely; "One of the white ones just asked why they didn't just let the little black devil have me now. The other said that it might upset you all, and that he wanted an easy trip." Chirp Swee swallowed hard.

"NO!" Leena was in disbelief.

Chirp Swee could only nod sadly.

Becky shook her head in denial, then asked, "What did that ugly little black one say after that?"

"It said it couldn't wait to kill me."

Within thirty minutes the kidnappers said something while pointing out the dark widow, and then they pulled some rolled up charts from a cabinet below the console to verify something.

Again Chirp Swee waited a little bit before she translated into English what was said. "They were just confirming that we are now passing the last of the outer reefs, and heading out to open sea."

"But what about the Kreel?" Leena whispered. "Aren't they worried about coming across one?"

"They said something about just having to chance it." She stuttered.

The children all looked scared and helpless.

"What are the odds of running into one Chirp?" William asked.

The birds quiet shaking was answer enough for him.

The night was a long one, but eventually the gray of predawn crept into the windows. Their kidnappers turned off the cabin light, and set some fruit down by the captives. One of the white birds untied Sarah so she could feed the others. They told Chirp Swee in Threelt that if any of them needed to use the bathroom hole, they could, but only under their close guard.

Leena and Chirp Swee had quietly talked through the night. Leena had asked how come the white birds, known as Fretolocks, were even allowed in the country if they were obviously so dangerous. Her friend told her that they could not control whom the other kingdom sent as diplomats, or ambassadors; though Grogaks were never allowed, ever. Soon Chirp Swee overheard their motive for the kidnapping.

One of the Fretolocks mentioned that he still didn't understand the importance of these strange creatures. The other said that their own King was trying to unseat Crathra, and install a Cracowck that was easier to deal with, and even Fretolock friendly.

He then said that these creatures were protecting King Crathra somehow, and their own ruler wished them dead, but had changed his mind at the last minute, and now wanted them for himself. When the Grogak had told them of the children's' obvious plans to escape by 'air-fish'; they had reported this to their King by secret radio transmission, and the order to capture instead of assassinate came down. The other replied that it was a good thing the Grogak had missed the opportunity earlier. When one made mention of the 'pointy headed' one being the new King of the Cracowcks, both white birds laughed.

Chirp Swee didn't quite follow everything, but she didn't like what she heard overall. A possible collaboration with these birds wasn't a good idea at all, and a puppet leader installed for them in Crathra's place would be down-right dangerous for all Cracowcks. The Fretolocks just weren't trustworthy creatures. They had been the ones to start the terrible wars that had occurred in their history, and it was known they still harbored a great deal of animosity towards the Cracowcks.

Even though their King Crathra was mad, and had some rather preposterous rules, he did let the Cracowcks live their lives in relative peace. A ruler whom was friendly to their natural enemy would most likely not. These were not her immediate concerns though, as the Grogak still stared at her with evil desire.

William and his team of crack commandos were busily making desperate plans to over-power their abductors, when suddenly the Fretolocks started making all kinds of clamor. Then the Grogak even started squawking with its nasty voice.

"What's wrong Chirp Swee?" Leena questioned.

The bird seemed as if paralyzed, and couldn't talk.

The Fretolock steering the 'air-fish' began to rapidly change course.

William urgently asked, "What's going on?"

"Chirp Swee!" Leena yelled.

The bird's attention snapped back, but the horrified look stayed in her eyes.

"Breack Kreel." She softly mouthed.

Within minutes the Fretolocks were downright panicking, and the Grogak too. From their vantage point on the floor they couldn't see anything, until Sarah said, "Look!"

The Fretolocks began backing away from the windows as a strange blue glow came from below the ship. This was bright enough to even over shadow the early morning light. The Grogak suddenly jumped straight up, and began to maniacally fly in tight circles around the cabin, until it flew into a window; breaking the glass, and knocking itself unconscious.

One of the Fretolocks crawled into a fetal position near the children, and began to make a moaning like squawk. The other sat in the center of the deck, and started pulling feathers from itself. The children watched this with bewilderment, and then Chirp Swee began to make a funny swooning noise.

"Chirp Swee!" Leena tried to get her attention.

Her friend didn't even look at her. She just started rocking back and forth while swooning. It was then that the children first noticed the light-headedness.

"What's happening?" Becky said as she tried to steady her sense of balance.

A large tentacle like appendage floated outside by the window. It seemed to be almost see through, like a gauze or something, and it had a bright bluish glow to it. Several more tentacles appeared.

"It's going to eat us!" Joshua screamed.

The Fretolock that was pulling its feathers out suddenly got up, and walked over to the entrance. It flipped a switch, and the ramp began to open. They watched as it then flew out of the ship. All of the children became very light-headed, and things got weird.

Several moments after the first Fretolock flew out, the second got up and did the same thing. The kids saw this, but their state of mind made it hard to comprehend. It was like all of a sudden there were all these thoughts, colors, and sounds running through their minds, and they weren't their own.

"Yes." Sarah said.

The blue light got brighter outside.

The Grogak came to. It jumped up and began hop walking around in a circle, letting out an almost sorrowful moan. Then it coughed roughly, and puffed up, and suddenly it gagged on something. The thing instantly went into convulsions, writhing on the deck, until after several moments it stopped moving.

Leena was trying her best to keep her mind focused, and keep her own thoughts.

Then there was Sarah, walking over to the window.

Leena didn't know what she was doing. "Sarah!" She called out.

The little girl did not answer.

Leena looked over to William who was blinking hard, and shaking his head.

"William!" She yelled at him.

That seemed to help him. He focused his eyes at her, still blinking. "Yeah? Leena? Lovely Leena."

"William! I think Sarah is in trouble!"

"Trouble?" he blinked.

She saw that he was having a hard enough time keeping his thoughts from becoming chaos. She was too, but there was Sarah. The little girl walked to the open entrance ramp, and a stronger blue glow came from there.

"SARAH!! DON"T!!!!" Leena screamed as loud as she possibly could.

That got the little girl's attention. She looked back at Leena across the still swooning Chirp Swee.

"Come back here Sarah." Leena pleaded with tears running down her face.

"They just want to talk." Sarah said as a matter of fact, "But they don't know how."

"Just move away from the ramp honey." Leena beseeched her.

Then a glowing tentacle wafted up the ramp, and hovered right over the little girl.

"NOOOO!!!!" cried Leena.

Sarah just looked up at it as if there were no danger.

"They didn't know they were hurting anyone." Sarah said calmly. "They won't hurt anyone again."

The tentacle pulled out of the ship.

Leena couldn't believe her eyes.

"All they wanted to do was talk." Sarah said again as she walked over to Leena.

The light-headed feeling, and the invading shapes and colors faded from their minds.

"Untie us Sarah." Leena gasped.

The other children were alright after a moment or two, but poor Chirp Swee was a mess. She was merely sitting there with her head draped loosely on her breast feathers, drooling. Leena got up first, followed by William and then Josh and Becky. They went right to the window to see.

In the early morning light the bluish glowing tentacles filled the view, as the long thin appendages of the Breack Kreel were everywhere around them. There were a couple of weird thick knots on one of the tentacles, and as they looked closely the children saw that these were the Fretolocks. They were stuck to, and seemingly becoming part of the tentacle. Brighter pulses of the blue light sparked, and flashed between the long thin strands every now and again; making the whole scene preternaturally beautiful. The kids watched in awe as the tentacle strands were slowly retracted into the mammoth Breack Kreel below. Its body extended almost as far as the eye could see, even from their altitude. The huge flat body had replaced the entire sea below them, and its far off edges very slowly undulated, moving massive waves of water.

"It's even bigger than I had imagined." Josh breathed out.

Leena turned to Sarah. "What did you mean that they only wanted to talk?"

"They just wanted to say hello, and talk."

"I don't understand Sarah." Leena implored.

"They had seen the other fish swimming in the air before, and they always liked to talk, and they always joined them before. They didn't understand that they were hurting the birds, or us." Sarah explained.

"How do you know this?" William asked with genuine curiosity.

"I could feel-talk with them." She smiled sweetly.

"What?" They all asked.

"That's how they talk. You feel what they say, not hear it. I told them they were hurting us, and they said they were sorry."

The children watched the great beast again, as the last of its tendrils were retracted into a large dark area behind the myriad eyes it had, all looking up at them.

"It's so big it's spooky." William uttered.

"They really are nice." Sarah educated him.

"Well it really saved our butts." Josh said as he moved to investigate the Grogak. He prodded it with his foot to see if it moved. It didn't.

Leena warned him, "Careful Josh, that thing is supposed to be a real killer."

"It's a real dead killer." He came to the conclusion.

William quite gingerly pushed the dead bird over to the entrance with his foot, and then gave it a good swift kick right out the door. After he raised the ramp, he brushed his hands together to signal; 'that was the end of that'.

The Breack Kreel started to disappear beneath the surface, and they all watched it go. Soon they were all alone again in the big blue sky, over the deep blue sea, but now they were shy three kidnappers; one of whom had been the pilot.

"What are we going to do now?" Becky was the first to ask.

"How hard can it be to fly this thing after all?" Leena grabbed the large wheel and gave it a turn.

The blimp slowly responded as the 'tail' steered them on a new course. She then tried the set of levers by the wheel. As she suspected from watching the Fretolock, they were the throttles for the engines. She cut them way down, and then revved them up again.

"Now all we have to do is figure out how to make it go up and down." She said with a smile.

Chirp Swee came out of her comatose state about then. "What happened?" she asked wiping drool from her beak. She looked about at the children whom were untied, and she had been untied too. There was not a Grogak, a Fretolock, or even a Breack Kreel to be seen. Instead Leena smiled at her from behind the wheel.

"Are you alright Chirp Swee?" Leena asked.

The bird couldn't believe her eyes, so she blinked them several times. "Oh, you are good!" she told them.

They told her of what happened, and she was mesmerized by Sarah's account of communication with the Kreel.

"But how did you talk to it?"

Leena said, "I think she has some kind of a gift."

Chirp Swee began to ask all sorts of questions of Sarah about the great creatures. What did they eat, how long did they live, etc. Sarah could only answer a couple of these, and it only frustrated Chirp Swee. She was an amateur archeologist, at least it was one of her hobbies, and the Breack Kreel had been an enigma to her as long as she could remember, and to all Cracowck scientists.

No one could ever get close enough to even study one, as the birds would just disappear. Now she had access to someone that had actually communicated with a Kreel directly, and she wanted answers.

Leena interrupted them. "Right now we have more important matters folks."

Chirp Swee looked at her most curiously.

"Like which way do we go?"

"Oh, right, right." The bird clucked, and she retrieved the chart that the Fretolocks had been using. Opening the chart and rolling it out onto the console top, where Leena could see it, Chirp Swee said; "Let's see now. We would have to be somewhere around here." She pointed to a section of ocean near a large continent.

"Which way are we headed?" Leena asked.

"Pretty much due east." William piped up.

"I meant on the map silly." She explained.

Chirp Swee looked at the Threelt markings on the compass imbedded in the console. "This way." She pointed on the map. "It translates to pretty much due east."

William smiled.

Leena asked, "That means we need to go back that way, doesn't it?"

"Yes, Breek Ka Caw is right here." She touched a dot on the map.

"Great, but we're not going there."

"Oh, right. The spire. It's right here." She touched another dot.

"OK, here we go." Leena spun the wheel hard, and started to turn the 'air-fish' around.

"Chirp Swee, tell me what this handle is for?" Leena pointed below the wheel.

"It says, 'Gas Release'."

"That'll make us go down." Josh said excitedly.

Chirp Swee began searching the console, while William, Becky, and Josh searched the rest of the ship. They found provisions stored in a back cabin, and warm cloaks, and Chirp Swee found an operators manual for the blimp.

"See. Nothing to it." Leena told William upon his return to the front.

He grinned from ear to ear.

18: THE IMPOSSIBLE

Tristan watched the sun rise above Penny's ridge far to the east. It wasn't what you could really call a sunrise though, as the local sun was so distant from their tiny world; it appeared as not much more than a bright morning star. Still it was a much welcomed sight as there wasn't much in the way of celestial interest. Even the gas giant they were told that Penny's Planet orbited, was forever hidden from their view; due to the fact that their tiny moon didn't rotate on its axis. He sipped from his warm cup of home-made herbal tea, reveling in the comfort of it. Today was a rest day, and he waited for his wife to join him.

Five minutes later she crawled up through the entrance hole to the cathedral, holding a cup of tea also.

"Shen Dao wouldn't give me my pill for the month babe." She told him.

That stopped him mid sip, and he nodded thoughtfully.

"You don't think the backup replicator is going out too, do you?" Penny wondered.

He knew that couldn't be the case. If their last material replicator died on them, they would probably perish, and he knew that didn't happen to them there. The knowledge of you own destiny could be beneficial at times, but mostly it was a prison sentence. They must follow their predetermined paths, or simply cease.

"No I don't think the replicator's on the blink."

She looked at him with a frown.

He nodded.

The only other answer for the change must be what they had both come to realize, but that Shen Dao nor Leena would ever answer for them. They had always eluded to the fact that three specially attuned humans were required to activate a portal, but they refused to explain just how that was to occur. Neither Tristan, nor Penny were dummies though, and they had known deep down, for years even, that they were missing someone.

\----------

"Well?" he called to her.

"Hang on!" She scolded him. "It takes a minute to turn color."

A few moments later she burst from the bathroom, and looked at him with a most peculiar smile. Penny jumped into his arms and kissed him repeatedly.

"We are going to have a baby!" She laughed, and hugged and kissed him some more.

"Congratulations are in order." Shen Dao said in Chinese, and there was no translation. They had turned that off over a year ago, when they realized that over time they had learned Chinese from the continual bombardment of the old man, and then the English translation.

"Wow! My big brother is going to be a dad. I don't know what to say. YES!" Leena's image joined in.

Tristan was a little bit in shock, even though he had tried to mentally prepare for this; it still hit him suddenly. "WOW!" he said.

The next several months were quite different from any they had spent in the spire. While Shen Dao still worked him fairly hard, Penelope was given much rest. They both kept up their meditative practices though, but Shen Dao had warned her to be careful during her pregnancy. What the old man hadn't counted on though was Penelope and William actually communicating with their unborn child through their out of body travels.

It happened quite by accident; Penny was reentering her body when she felt a mind tug at her. She investigated and found an undeveloped, but powerful mind. She could communicate only feelings with it to start with, and then she told her husband. He had to feel it too, and before they knew it their child was becoming cognitive in the womb.

Even in several days the change was remarkable, and they felt they might have made a giant mistake in contacting such an undeveloped mind. They determined not to make contact again, but the child had other plans. It, or rather she, contacted Penelope's unconscious mind, and began to download all of her mother's knowledge while she slept. Six months into the pregnancy, Penelope discovered this. She told Tristan that their unborn child was fully aware, and was years mentally ahead of her natural developmental age.

So they decided to make direct contact with her again, and teach her; since she was obviously going to learn one way or another. The two of them spent hours with her in deep meditation, showing her everything; even having the fetus mind leave its body with them, and travel to the other dimensions. They told Shen Dao of all this, and he was quite perplexed. The Pearmainians had no direct experience with reproduction. Their host bodies might have, but in regard to unborn souls performing dimensional travel; to his knowledge only one race ever had. He simply asked them that they inform him as to all developments.

It was early morning when their baby came into the world, and the delivery was an uncomplicated one. After all, the child helped in every way it could. Shen Dao had instructed Tristan for months on delivery procedures, as the holo-program had a ton of medical knowledge. Penny had taken herself into a deep state of self-hypnosis to allow her body to perform its function without her fighting it. Tristan handed the freshly swaddled infant to her mother.

"Hello Starchild." Penny whispered sweetly, and kissed their baby's cheek.

"So you have come up with a name, and a fine one." Shen Dao said proudly. "Starchild, I like it."

"She named herself." Penny said equally as proud.

"Hmm," Shen Dao mused. "I like it even more."

Tristan beamed. "She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Lenna said with a proud smile, "No doubt about it."

The infant looked around, but not with bewilderment. "Mommy." She rasped with new vocal cords.

This made Tristan step back.

"Daddy."

"Holy smokes!" Tristan exclaimed.

Penelope smiled at him knowingly.

The first years of Starchild's life were filled with her exploration of just about everything, and her unrequited thirst for knowledge. Very soon she surpassed the intelligence of her parents, but never reproached them because of it. She loved them very much, and they her. There were no secrets from her either, as she could climb right into either of their minds whenever she wished, and find out anything they knew. Some of her talents she could teach to them, while others seemed beyond their capability, but Starchild held nothing back from her parents.

As soon as she could walk, which was very quickly; they had her on the pedestals, teaching her how to absorb the spire's energy. She reveled in this, and found it to be quite natural. The next step was to activate the spire portal. Shen Dao was careful to remind them of the danger involved if they got carried away exploring the Universe of then. They had a mission to accomplish, or all three would cease to exist.

They found that teleporting, or shifting through the spires was a very basic folding of space, and their mind could easily do the same, but the energy required to actually move their bodies was enormous. Their minds had even entered the other dimensions, and that was what they needed their bodies to do in order to travel through time. Getting your body to follow your mind is not an easy thing, especially when it involved de-materializing the aforementioned body. The old Pearmainian told them they were getting close to their goal.

When Starchild turned three, she found that if she concentrated with enough focus, she could move objects with her mind. Her parents were astounded. Even though they had reached high levels of internal skill themselves, it was nothing like their daughter's. She had become supra-human. Her genetic make-up was the same as everyone else, but just the fact that she'd known the wonderful power of the mind and spirit since even before birth; was what made her so unusual. As Shen Dao put it, "It would take a Pearmainian a million years to achieve the level Starchild has in three."

Starchild was completely humble about it, saying that she owed it all to her parents, and to Shen Dao.

Before Tristan had known it, he had become a man, and then a father. Penelope had become a beautiful vibrant woman, and a mother; while both became powerful warriors. Their daughter had become something unbelievably incredible. It had all gone by so quickly in retrospect. Now it was time to leave the spire. Shen Dao had told them approximately when they would make the time shift, but not exactly. They knew it would be soon too, just by their abilities; they felt it.

For the last year Tristan had been able to feel the warp in the fabric of the other dimensions that they themselves had made when he and Penny had been shot forward in time. This is what Shen Dao referred to as their 'map'.

"You must follow your own trail, your own 'map' back to approximately where and whence you came." He had told them. He also warned Starchild, "Be very careful of what you do in the past, before you we born. Though there is not much chance that you will do something to 'erase' your existence, or your parents for that matter; there is always a possibility."

She paid close heed, knowing full well of the dangers, as she could experience any memory of her parents, especially of her mother. She had felt their close fade into nothingness that they had experienced as children, and though it didn't frighten her as it had her folks; she respected the peril.

One morning as they all awoke, and filed into the kitchen area; they found Shen Dao, and Leena sharing the hologram. The two images had only done this on very special occasions, like when they were married, and at Starchild's' birth. The three of them knew right away that this was the day.

"So this is it?" Tristan asked.

"Yes." Shen Dao said beaming with pride. "You have done very well, and have mastered the improbable. Now you will perform the impossible."

They all looked at each other with some uncertainty, as most of their lives has been totally regimented. No deviation, or to face sure and quick extinction. Now they started to realize that they weren't going to be told what, or when to do it from then on, and it scared them.

"I'm sure going to miss you all." Leena said.

They knew that the program was speaking for itself, as it most always used Leena's personality to express deep emotion. They had come to rely on, trust, and even love the programs of Shen Dao and Leena.

"I'm going to miss you too Auntie Leena's program." Starchild started to cry. This had been her only child friend her whole short life.

Penelope grabbed her daughter's hand, and squeezed.

"What do we take with us?" Penny asked.

"Just yourselves, and the dastardly device that sent you here." Shen Dao said.

Tristan retrieved the device that the old man had told him to protect so well, and strung the special sack that he'd made for it around his neck. Mother led daughter over to the floating disk, and turned to wait for Tristan.

"Thank you my friend, we are forever indebted to you." Tristan spoke perfect Chinese. "I can't wait to meet you."

Shen Dao laughed, "I will see you soon." He bowed formally.

Tristan returned the bow, and the image blinked off for forever. He joined his wife and daughter, and the disk rose.

Up in the cathedral the three quietly went to their respective pedestals, and sat in the lotus position. The golden light flowed over them, and the three beams bent towards the center above them, then joined into a large sphere of light. The spire shook as it always did when the portal was activated, and the sphere of light energy enveloped them. Now instead of just visualizing that they were in another location, as they would do to merely shift to that location; they closed their eyes, and began the deep breathing cycle that was second nature to them now.

Then each projected their spirit up through the tops of their heads, along with their natural energy flow, and the spire's. The pinhole in the very fabric of space-time above them opened even more with their focus on it. At that moment they joined their energies together, and tried to synchronize this with the harmonics of their 'map', or the echo from their childhood time warp. This is where it got hard. Each time they had done this before in the past months, they had felt their bodies start to dematerialize, but just the sensation of that alone would cause one or more of them to lose focus, and they would have to start all over again. They couldn't force themselves any harder either. Patience was all that would work, because of the naturally relaxed state that you had to be in, for the energy to circulate. They kept the focus going longer, and longer.

Then right as they felt the familiar numbing tingle of their bodies starting to dematerialize, Starchild felt something she hadn't before. Her ability to move objects might hasten this process, so she immediately tried; adding her thought energy to loosening the atomic bonds between the molecules. Quite suddenly they entered the other dimension with their bodies complete, though dematerialized, and the three of them were gone.

19: A STRANGE SORT OF WELCOME

Chirp Swee read the entire operations manual for the 'air-fish', and started to go over the proper procedures with the kids, while Leena stayed at the helm. There was no more fear of Breack Kreels, as Sarah has assured them they would not bother them again.

"Are there any such magnificent creatures native to your world Leena?" Chirp Swee asked.

Leena just shook her head, as a blue whale would look like a minnow compared to the Kreel.

"They aren't from here." Sarah said.

"Surely child!" The bird laughed its peculiar cackling laugh.

Sarah just looked at the bird.

Chirp Swee went on laughing about this for a while.

William and Joshua had gone over absolutely every inch of the craft, with Chirp Swee guiding them from the manual. The only other major control functions of the ship were the gas fill valves, and the fuel tanks for the engines. The latter of which were mounted above the engine compartments outside. They didn't see any need to add any gas to the blimp as the ship was already at a descent altitude. So they told Leena that they were good to go.

"Chirp Swee, you can see the ocean from the spire, right?" Leena queried.

"Yes."

"That means that you can see the spire from the ocean."

The bird nodded, but didn't see the point.

"I don't want to go anywhere near the coastline by Breek Ka Caw. They might be able to stop us. If we head further south now, and avoid the city; we should still be able to see the spire when we hit the coast, up around here." Leena pointed to the chart.

Now Chirp Swee nodded with understanding, and Leena revved the engines up to almost full throttle.

Towards early afternoon they saw the coast ahead, and not too long after that they could make out the sharp point of the spire on the hazy horizon.

"There it is!" Leena shouted, as she was the first to see it. Then she turned the ship to head right toward it.

"We're going to make it! Yeah!" Both Joshua and Becky erupted.

Becky went and hugged Leena, then Sarah.

"We can go home now." Becky craved.

They didn't leave Chirp Swee, or the boys out of the jubilant hugging.

They followed the deep gorge of the canyon inland, but as they got close to the spire, Leena steered the ship to approach from the same direction that they had originally made the trek from on foot.

"I'm going to land near our 'ridge camp' guys." She explained.

"Oh come on Leena. Aren't you going to drop us off at the bridge?" Joshua complained.

"Yeah, what ever happened to curbside service?" William joked.

"Right." Leena laughed, but then said seriously, "I want the 'air-fish' hidden just in case Crathra's troops show up. That way if they do before we can figure that spire out, we can at least hide, or maybe figure out a way to lock them out of the top."

Twenty minutes later the blimp was over the ridge. Leena thought she recognized the very path she and William had first hiked so long ago, searching for Tristan. There were the berry bushes.

"I miss Tristan, and Penny." Leena lamented.

Chirp Swee patted her arm with a claw.

In a moment Leena pulled the twin throttle levers all the way back, until the engines sputtered and died. The soft sound of air rushing by replaced the roar of noise. Slowly the ship came to a halt. The next step was to let out just enough gas to cause the ship to descend. She spun the valve below the wheel, and listened to the gas escaping. It took a minute before they noticed they were dropping slowly. Leena closed the valve again. The spire gently sank below the ridge line, and they landed with a soft thud just a couple hours before sunset.

William was first off, and he tied the craft down to several large boulders nearby.

"What? Like you think we're going for another 'fish trip' sometime?" Becky made fun of his effort.

"You never know." Josh said, as if for William, when he exited.

William smiled back at Becky.

Leena, Chirp Swee, and Sarah were the last off, for they had gathered some provisions from the ship. Chirp Swee handed out the cloaks, as it was just a little chilly up this far by that time of year.

"Do you have some ropes for the 'Devil's Bowl'?" William asked Leena, and she nodded. "Well let's get moving if we want to make it to the spire before dark." He said with command.

\----------

Jackie Welsh walked out of the spire onto the ivory sanded beach. The gorgeous aquamarine color of the small bay had been replaced by the reflected fiery orange sunset, flashing across the water. Jennifer Robinson was out by the water's edge, looking forlorn again. The beautiful evenings on the small island always seemed to do this to her. Most of the time she'd tried to keep her hopes and spirits up, as did Jackie; for they both knew that they would be of no help in getting their children back alive and well if they were an emotional wreck. The evenings however were especially hard on the other woman, so Jackie went to join her on the beach, and lend an ear, or a shoulder to cry on if needed.

Millie Schotner and her band of apes had left them on the island as a prison. It was a beautiful one, but a cage just the same. Every time some of the apes would bring supplies, they would be sure to mention their children, and that they might find them soon. This gave the women hope they desperately needed. Millie had told them that all they wanted from the kids was a device back, which they had given them. Then they had been assured all of them would be returned to Earth unharmed. Jackie didn't believe that for a second, and neither did Jennifer, but they did need to find their children as the first and only priority.

The strange spire structure took up most of the small island, which had very little else on it, vegetation or otherwise. The pair of women had spent copious hours standing, sitting, and crying on the pedestals. All they could make them do was light up. The apes and the old woman could travel through it. Travel the stars. That whole part of the situation captivated her, as she could tell by the double orange suns; that she was a little way from home. Jackie and Jennifer understood as well that their children were lost out among the heavens also. This was the source of fear that even her captors couldn't match.

\----------

Billions of light centuries away from the small planet where his wife was being held, Michael Welsh had been allowed, with the FBI investigators, to continue with the experiments on the portal. He spent countless hours trying to make the pedestal light up as his wife and Ms. Robison had, but he still could only make the base of it sparkle. He found that he was detained for this purpose as well, when he asked to go home for a day, to take care of loose ends. The FBI forbade this, and said that they would take care of anything he needed done. He didn't consider himself a prisoner so much, as he knew he needed to be there and do whatever it took to get his family back. Nor did he care if the FBI thought of him as a prisoner, as there were only three things he cared about in the Universe.

\----------

The sun was just setting behind the rim of the canyon as the five children, and single Cracowck made it across the mammoth 'Holy Bridge'. They had made very good time, with the exception of Chirp Swee's reluctance at negotiating the imposing 'Devil's Bowl'. They had told her just to fly over it, but she hadn't used her wings in so long; she didn't think testing them over the precarious canyon was the best idea. So she too strapped on the rope harness that Leena had fashioned for her right on the spot, and climbed down like the rest of them.

William and Joshua raced for the entrance to the spire, as they had waited so long.

"Wait up guys!" Becky yelled.

They ignored her.

"Watch out for holes!" Leena called out, and that slowed them down.

Soon all six were on the floating disk, riding it to the top.

"Do you really think we can find them after all this time?" Joshua asked.

No one answered, but the worry on Leena's face said enough.

As they all hopped up into the cathedral, there was still a faint flicker of sunlight over the far off hills, and it took a moment for their eyes to adjust from the full light of the spire below. Then they could see the other Cracowcks in the cathedral.

"Hold it right there!" A warrior class bird ordered in Threelt, and several others trained their harpoon guns on the group.

Their hearts broke right then and there.

"NO!" Leena cried loudly.

William pulled her behind him as protection.

Chirp Swee noticed a familiar older Cracowck, "Crashooyt!" She said with surprise.

The old bird had its brilliant yellow robes on, and he also wore the pointed spire hat. "Chirp Swee Chirp Cowck my girl, you sure have caused an awful mess here. I hope you realize that." His voice creaked.

"Please don't interfere with these creatures Crashooyt, they mean us no harm." She pleaded with him earnestly.

The old bird spoke to her in English. "They are unfortunately just an obstacle now."

She didn't quite follow.

The guard birds motioned them all away from the pedestals, and up against the clear wall.

Crashooyt quickly spoke Threelt to the warrior class guards, "They have come to destroy the spire! We must not allow this. Kill them all quickly!"

Lena understood all too clearly what he had said, "What?" she almost yelled.

Chirp Swee felt faint, but then something in her memory jogged. She recalled the Fretolocks conversation about the pointy headed one becoming the new Cracowck King.

"It's you!" She said in shock. "It's him Leena! He's the traitor!"

Leena didn't understand though.

"Crashooyt is the one in league with the Fretolocks! He is a traitor." Chirp Swee said excitedly in Threelt.

The guard Captain heard that. "What?" he barked.

"Don't listen to them fool! Do as I say, kill them!" Crashooyt howled.

"Now wait just a minute priest. The King gave us specific orders to bring the creatures back to him." Said the Captain.

"That is because he doesn't even realize their danger to us all. If we allow them to destroy the spire, the ancients will come and lay waste to this land. Don't you see?" The old bird was adamant.

"You can relax priest. We won't let them harm your spire." He informed the old Cracowck.

"You can't prevent it Captain. They are magical creatures, evil ones, and they will stop at nothing until we are finished. You yourself told me of seeing the one called Leena create a mystical light in this holy place."

"Yes." The Captain remembered, "And you told me to say nothing of that to the King. I did however."

"He's lying!" Chirp Swee protested loudly. "He only wants them killed so that the King won't have their supposed protection. Then he plans to take the throne with the help of the Fretolocks."

"That's preposterous!" Crashooyt laughed.

"It's true!" Leena put in. "We were kidnapped by a couple of Fretolocks, and a Grogak. Chirp Swee could understand their language, and heard what they said."

The guard Captain looked at her doubtfully. "Do you have any evidence of what you say?"

"Why are you wasting time, they will destroy us all." The old priest was agitated.

Leena looked to Chirp Swee, and they both shook their heads to the Captain.

"This is ludicrous! I will take care of it myself." Crashooyt reached into his robe, and made for the children. "You warriors stand out of my way, I will not jeopardize the spire!" he pulled out a long thin dagger.

The guards seemed to hesitate.

Chirp Swee threw herself between Crashooyt's advance and Leena. There was a loud squawk, and Chirp Swee fell.

"NO!" Leena knelt catching her.

The guards reacted by then, and had the old priest disarmed and bound in no time.

"You fools! They will kill us all I tell you." He ranted, and the Captain motioned for the guards to remove him. You could hear his rabid yelling as they escorted him all the way down.

Leena cradled Chirp Swee's head in her lap. Blood oozed from the wound in her breast, darkening her feathers.

"We have to get her help!" Leena told the Captain as he knelt down to check her wound himself.

The bird nodded, and told a couple of the warriors to take her down to their ship.

"What ship?" Leena asked.

The Captain grinned, "We had our ship hide in the mist of the canyon below when we saw your 'air-fish' approaching, so you wouldn't run from us."

"Do you think she will be alright?" Leena was quite worried.

"The blood is not bright. That is a good sign, but we will have to leave it to the doctors." He said.

Two guards stepped in to pick her up.

"I'm afraid that I wasn't much help to you Leena." Chirp Swee moaned.

"Are you kidding me? You saved my life Chirp Swee!" Leena exalted her.

The wounded bird turned to the leader, "What about them Captain?"

"They must come with us I'm afraid. I do not wish to do so, but I have my duty." He replied.

Leena implored him, "I, I can't leave, not now. I have to find my brother and our friend. Please they disappeared in the spire's light before you took us away from here the last time."

The Captain's face was mostly shadow by then, as the gray of evening fell. He took several long moments to consider her plea. "If what the old priest said is even remotely possible, then I cannot leave you here."

"Captain." One of the other warriors spoke up. "I must report something I have witnessed to you, before you make your decision."

"What is it Sergeant?"

"I know I should have reported this much sooner, but..."

"Yes, go on." The Captain ordered.

"Just before the downing season, I happened to be on an outing far from Breek Ka Caw, when I happened upon four of these little creatures here. They were in the process of releasing a Holy Golden Fish that had somehow become entangled."

"Where was this at?" The Captain demanded.

"Up by Nagowt creek, where the caverns are."

"Just what were you doing so far from the city, and in a restricted area?" He demanded from his charge.

"I was practicing flying sir." The Sergeant meekly replied.

The Captain nodded, making what was to them a smile, and he raised his brow feathers.

"My point is sir, that even if they are gods; they must be benevolent ones, to save a Holy Golden Fish."

Leena had been listening to them talk in Threelt, and her eyes got big at that part. She remembered Joshua and the others telling of how he had caught that fish in the first place.

"What's happening? Is Chirp Swee going to be OK?" William interrupted fraught with worry.

"Shhh!" Leena told him. "They're deciding our fate right now."

He bit his lip and motioned for the other kids to calm down. The two guards started to take Chirp Swee away.

"Can't you stay, and let them try, just for a little while?" Chirp Swee gasped to the Captain.

"No, Chirp Swee." Leena objected. "We need to get you to a doctor right away." She turned to the others, and spoke in English. "We have to go back with them now, or Chirp Swee might die."

"But we're so close." Becky said sadly.

"What about Tristan and Penny?" William asked.

Leena started to cry.

The guards led the children back down with the injured Chirp Swee, and boarded them on their now waiting 'air-fish' that was docked to the close end of the bridge.

"We'll never get home now." Joshua moaned.

Just as the blimp was starting to rise slightly, one of the guards motioned the children to the front of the ship. They could see by the interior light of the cabin that the entrance ramp was down, and still very close over the bridge.

"I will tell King Crathra that you all managed to jump from the ship, rather than spend one more day entertaining his whims." The guard Captain smiled at them, and motioned to the entrance.

Leena looked to the others, and life came back into their dejected faces as she translated what he'd said. She then turned and ran back to where Chirp Swee was laying. "We have to go now." Leena told her.

"I'm going to miss you little Leena."

"I love you Chirp Swee." Leena hugged her tightly, and the bird moaned.

"Come back some day if you can." Chirp Swee patted her hand with her claw.

"I will. I promise. You just get better, OK?"

She ran back to join the others as they jumped down onto the bridge. The 'air-fish' rose straight up, and the engines roared to life. It began to move away into the near darkness.

"Let's go find my brother, and Penny." Leena smiled at her friends.

They all stood before the pedestals in the dim light reflected up from the spire's interior. William was just about to step up on one, when a bright light blasted from above the pedestals. The spire shook. A split moment later another even brighter flash burst forth, and then there were three large yellow haired apes standing on the pedestals. An after-glow of light coated them for a second.

"You kids lost?" one of them laughed, and the others chuckled too.

"Who are you?" William tried to be brave, but they were all heavily armored, and armed with fantastic looking weapons.

"We want the device we gave you back on Earth." The first one growled.

"What?" William was confused.

"The device, we want it back!" The ape was sharp with them.

Leena remembered the evil thing that caused all of this. "You gave us?" She stepped forward. "What did that thing do to my brother, and our friend?"

"Look kiddies, we don't have time for games, so just hand it over, or get fried." The ape brought his sinister weapon to bear on the children, and it made an evil low growl.

"Whoa, whoa!" William hurriedly spoke. "We don't have it with us, but we know where it is." He lied.

"Well young man, you just won the honor of telling us where it is."

William saw there was no use in deception here. "It's with our friends."

"OK, tell us where your friends are, or we start making kiddie crispies." The ape grinned wickedly.

"We don't know where they are." Leena cut in, "They disappeared when they activated it."

The ape shook his head, "So, just where did they disappear to?"

"We don't know. We were just about to start looking for them." Leena said.

The leader ape turned to the other apes, "We're getting nowhere with this bunch. I'll take the girl here back to Master, and she'll get her to talk."

"What about the others? Should we grab them?" One of the other apes asked.

The leader shook his head. "Naw, cook 'em."

"What?" Leena blinked hard.

The other apes aimed their weapons right at the kids, while a big hairy paw grabbed Leena.

Suddenly there was another brilliant flash of light above the pedestals as the spire shook again, followed right away by a second burst of light. Then there were three people standing on the pedestals also. A man, a pretty young woman, and a little toddler stood in the after-glow. They slumped down catching a hold of an ape each, trying to hold themselves up; except the little toddler whom collapsed on the pedestal.

"What's this?" Growled the ape with the woman clinging to it.

"More meat for the frying pan." The leader ape spat while pushing the man off of him. "Kill them!"

The new arrivals all looked extremely confused and fatigued.

The third ape pulled his weapon up to a safety position, and gawked as he was going to watch. As the leader's gun growled, the man who had been pushed to the floor, seemed to snap out of it some. There was a blast that sounded like a rocket taking off, and a fireball streaked at the man from nearly point blank range. It exploded on the floor where the man should have been, but he just wasn't there anymore. The floor absorbed the fire ball's explosion. This man had somehow rolled out of the way, and as the leader saw him, he fired a second round. This too hit empty floor, as the man had spun himself off the floor, and was right by the lead ape now. Instantly the man's fist smashed into the ape's temple, and the big yellow leader ape staggered back from the blow.

Meanwhile the ape that the woman was clinging to for support, had grabbed her by the throat with both of its massive paws, and was just starting to squeeze, when he suddenly had twin palm finger strikes ripping his eyeballs to shreds. His painful howl brought the third ape alert. The ape with no eyes went to the ground covering his face and screaming. By this time the leader ape had regained some sense, and saw the man's next blows coming. He tried to block the attacks, but the man let a fury of at least a dozen punches go in far less than a second by the children's count. Most of these hit home, and again the leader staggered back, only to do a back flip; catching the man with one foot to his jaw. This sent the man flying backwards to the floor. By now the third ape was just raising its gun toward the woman, but she was ever so suddenly right on his side. She seemed to strike his arm holding the gun, and it was quickly turned by her to point downwards. The weapon roared with a rocket like shriek, and the fireball blasted the ape's feet, cooking them right off. The woman spun away just as the weapon discharged, and was blocking the little toddler from any blast effects. The leader had his weapon aimed right at the man he'd just sent flying, but as he pulled the trigger, something fell out of his gun, and it wouldn't discharge. He looked at his weapon in shock, and the children saw the little toddler pointing at the ape, and smiling. The ape instantly pulled a nasty looking long knife from a sheath, and flew at the man.

The children didn't even see the fellow move, but they sure saw him suddenly at the ape's side, and guiding the downward thrusting knife right into the ape's groin, right through his battle armor. The leader went down making a funny moaning sound. The woman meanwhile was spinning toward the other two apes. The one with no feet got a heel kick to its temple, and within the same spinning movement the one with no eyes caught an axe like heel to its' face, but both stopped screaming and moving.

It happened so quickly, and then it was over. The man had pulled the knife from the leader's groin, and held it at his throat, ready to finish him.

"Wow!" Joshua said with his mouth hanging open.

The woman quickly retrieved the weapons, and covered the man, obviously ready to protect him, as she also blocked the little toddler from the last conscious ape.

"Who are you?" The leader moaned.

"Let's just say that we know what you Andorian apes have been up to. You tell your leader, that evil Pearmainian rebel to leave these kids alone!" The man said, and there was something familiar to Leena about his voice.

"How do you know that?" The leader growled through clenched teeth.

The woman flew at the ape kicking him in his ribs with a very loud crack, breaking his combat armor on the side. "None of your monkey business!"

"Just what do you want with these kids anyway?" The man asked.

The ape didn't answer, but William did. "They want a device that they gave us back on Earth."

The woman said to the ape, "Just tell the Rebel to cease, and desist, or else."

"Or else what?" The ape spat.

The woman touched a switch on the weapon, and it growled right at the ape's face.

"I understand." He acknowledged.

The three of them stood back as the leader helped the other two, now semi-conscious gravely wounded apes onto the pedestals. The light beams activated, and the leader growled; "We'll be back to finish this later human." The sphere of light enveloped them as the spire shook, and they were gone.

"I don't know who you are, but thank you. You saved our lives." Leena said gratefully.

"Yeah that was close!" William breathed.

The man bowed to them, and smiled a huge grin. The woman turned the weapon off, and they both walked over to the children.

"Hi, my name is..."Joshua held out his hand to the man.

"I know who you are Joshua." The man cut him off, but took his hand and shook it with warm vigor. "It's been a long time my friend."

"Excuse me?" Leena sputtered.

"Leena! God I missed you!" The man said with tears welling up.

"Do I know you?" She stammered.

"I know this is going to be hard to understand, even crazy sounding...ha!" He looked her square in the eyes, "It's me...Tristan."

She choked.

"It can't be." William muttered in disbelief.

"It seems impossible, I know, but it's true. It's me, and Penelope." He gestured to the woman, whom was smiling and crying.

"You're not my brother! What kind of trick is this? You can't be! You're a man." Leena shook her head.

Tristan smiled patiently at her, "That's because we just spent the last fifteen years trying to get back here."

"Back here from where? You haven't been gone that long." Becky interjected.

Tristan gave her a big toothy grin. "It's so good to see you too Becky, and Sarah, and William."

Penelope spoke up, "From where isn't quite right, but rather from when."

Huh?" Leena didn't follow.

"Do you remember when we accidentally activated this?" Tristan took the device from the special bag around his neck.

All the children's eyes got big, huge even, as there was the device Dreamland had given them, and that Tristan and Penny had when they disappeared.

"How did you get that? What have you done with my brother?" Leena grew angry.

Tristan calmly answered her. "This thing is responsible for sending Penny and myself into the future."

"What, and that made you old?" William asked in awe.

"No, but spending fifteen years stuck in a spire, on the far side of some galaxy did."

"It's true Leena, it really is us." Penelope assured her.

It just seemed too fantastic to Leena. "Oh yeah? Well how did you get back then, or even how did you survive if you say you were stuck in spire?"

Tristan took a moment to take a deep breath. "Someone put supplies in the spire for us to survive on, until we could learn how to travel through time, and return."

"Someone put supplies, what?" Leena thought she saw a big hole in this crazy story. "Well how would anyone have even known where you were?"

"You did." He told her.

"Huh?" Leena blinked in confusion. "Now this is just too weird!"

"I know. I felt the same way when you first explained it to me." Tristan said remembering that day so long ago, and yet so far in the future.

Becky came over to Leena. "I know you don't believe them, but they are telling the truth. It really is Tristan and Penny." She said quite seriously.

Leena swallowed hard. She completely trusted Becky's intuition. Then she looked over at the toddler and asked the inevitable, "Who's that then?"

Penelope grabbed her child's hand and walked her over to the kids. "This is our daughter, Starchild." Penny told them.

"Hi Auntie Leena." Star said with a big smile.

Leena felt dizzy all of a sudden. The other kids all gasped.

"Wow!" Joshua said.

Before the kids had a chance to hear Tristan and Penny's story, the pedestals activated again, and the two adults went diving; rolling to cover the portal with the large weapons. The spire shook, and after a second burst of light, an old Chinese man was standing there. He saw the two people with the guns aimed at him, and he slowly spread his hands out, showing they were empty. Immediately Tristan and Penelope lowered the weapons, and then bowed deeply to the old man. To Leena's complete astonishment, Tristan started speaking in Chinese. The old man was also quite surprised, and asked him some questions, and then Tristan answered; all in Chinese.

"Who is that?" Leena asked Tristan.

He didn't answer her, but kept talking to the old man. He seemed to introduce Penny, whom then also started speaking in Chinese. They exchanged words between the three of them for several minutes, before Tristan turned back to his sister. "This is Shen Dao. He is, or was, or actually will be our Teacher."

Leena was getting a headache. "How does he know you?"

"He didn't until just now."

She felt her head throb even more.

Tristan felt sorry for her. He remembered the initial tidal wave of confusion. The other children were having a hard time with it all too. They believed that Tristan and Penny were who they said they were; especially when the couple told of things that only Tristan or Penelope should know about. The five of them just didn't begin to understand how all of this was possible.

The old man came over to the children, and stood in front of each one; mumbling some quick incomprehensible words to each, and then bowing deeply. The kids were amused by this, but every child bowed back respectfully. When he came to Sarah, he stopped, and stared deep into her eyes for several moments, before he excitedly spoke to Tristan.

"What did he say?" Leena questioned her brother.

"He said that she is unique, and that she has a powerful gift."

"Yeah, she sure does." Leena agreed.

The old man went on very animated.

Tristan translated, "He said that he has met many empaths before, but none with her talents.

Sarah giggled at the old man, and he laughed with her.

Leena looked to her brother questioningly.

He shrugged his shoulder, "Must be a private joke."

Then Shen Dao saw Starchild, and as he went to her, he quickly and formally knelt down before her. He kept his head down as if worshiping her or something. She softly touched his head, and then he rose up, but back away bowing formally the whole time.

Leena asked Tristan about this, but he had no clue. When Penny asked Shen Dao what he thought of their daughter, all he would say is that she was beyond the wildest dreams of all, with tears filling his eyes.

After the formal introductions Shen Dao noticed the battle evidence and asked about this. Tristan and Penelope told him of their battle with the Andorian apes, and he immediately suggested that they all shift to a safer location, just in case the apes would return in force. He guided them all through the shift, showing them just where to go. Then he had them all transfer three more times to another location, just to confuse the trail.

When they finally had a moment to settle down Penelope asked Shen Dao what had led him to them. He told her that he had felt a strange sort of shock wave through the portals, and had followed the ripples of the wave back to them. She remarked that was how he'd taught them to find their way back through time as well. That was when Shen Dao and the couple sat down for a good long talk. He wanted to know everything. This took quite a few hours, as there was much to discuss. Several times during their talk he would break out laughing, and strangely Sarah would too.

The children were tired, so after a small dinner of fruits and nuts, from the provisions brought from the ship. William, Joshua, Becky, Leena, and Starchild all went to sleep close together in the new spire's cathedral. Sarah stayed up with the adults, although she felt tired too, but she could somehow understand their story, through the old man. All four were very tired after the discussion.

Soon the sun had already started to rise on this new world. Tristan and Penelope were exhausted from their very long day, and so they decided to lie down for a nap. Shen Dao stayed awake and meditated, though he didn't use a pedestal because of the annoyance to the others. He merely sat by the edge to the entrance hole with one of the weapons across his lap. He had made mention to Tristan and Penny that they were all in danger if the rebel was truly free from Earth.

His apprehension was correct. Sometime about mid-morning a light flashed from above the pedestals. The old man came alive instantly, yelling to Tristan and Penny. They were awake in a second, and Tristan brought one of the weapons to bear. Penelope ran to the kids, and began rousting them, trying to herd them down the entrance.

"Let's go, let's go!" She shouted.

The light stayed on for several long moments, before the spire shook and there was another brighter flash of light. As the brilliant sphere faded, and the after-glow remained, they saw two apes each holding a woman with a large pistol to their heads. There was an old woman on another pedestal, it was Millie. They also recognized the women being held at gun point.

Both Penny and Leena said at the same instant, "Mom!"

Tristan was yelling to Shen Dao in Chinese to hold his fire.

Jackie saw her daughter, "Leena!"

Millie motioned to the apes to be gone. Another flash of light came as a sphere enveloped the apes with the women, and they were gone as the spire once again shook.

Millie Schotner spoke with a raspy voice, "Listen to me very carefully if you value those women's lives." She paused for a second. "Give me what I want, and I'll let them go."

The other children were ducking down the entrance hole to the floating disk, except for Leena.

"You better not hurt my mom, you evil Witch!" She shouted at Millie.

The old woman's eyes gleamed, and she laughed uproariously. "Ah, I really don't want to, you know, but my apes on the other hand..." She shrugged her shoulders and laughed again. He focus then went to Shen Dao. "I knew it. I knew you were involved when my apes reported that these two;" her face contorted into a frown as she looked between Tristan and Penelope, "somehow knew who we were. Oh by the way, my pets looked rather a mess when you had finished with them." She stared right at Tristan with a penetrating gaze, trying to see where he fit into all of this, or how. "I've never know a human who could best an Andorian in an equal fight, well...maybe one." She scrutinized further. "You look a little familiar to me..., but that is of no importance. What is, is that you give me my purge generator back before I lose my patience, and let my apes take care of these little girlies' mommies."

"Give it to her Tristan." Leena pleaded.

His eyes were coldly staring back at the old woman, keeping her in his sights, but he dropped the muzzle of the gun after just a moments' thought. He reached in his tunic and retrieved the small device that had been the cause of so much trouble.

"First give us our moms." He said.

"I'm afraid that's not the way we're going to do this. First toss me the generator."

Tristan hesitated for a second, but then tossed the device to Millie.

She snatched the thing from the air, and smiled at him. "There really is one born every minute." And she vanished with a sphere of golden light, and a shudder.

"NO!" He yelled as he ran toward the pedestal. "Shen Dao, Penny, let's go after them!"

Shen Dao put up his hand. "You can't just go jumping right after them blindly. They could be waiting for you as you shifted, and then you wouldn't stand a chance. You must look before you leap."

"What about mom?" Leena cut in, as she didn't understand what Shen Dao was saying.

"We are going to get her back Leena, but we have to be careful." Tristan promised.

Leena could only worry.

The three adults got on the pedestals, but didn't shift, as they were looking into the other connection point first. Then after a moment or two, they disappeared. They had left Joshua with a weapon, and told them all to stay down below in the spire. The world outside didn't seem very hospitable, so they did as they were told. If the apes were to come back while they were gone, then Joshua was instructed to blast them. They were all nervous, but most especially Joshua.

Within an hour Shen Dao, Tristan, and Penny came back rather dejected looking.

"They must have shifted so quickly, we couldn't find a trace of them anywhere." Tristan explained.

"What about mom, Tristan?" His sister demanded.

"We'll find her. We just have to mind travel through the other dimension to find the ripple they left from shifting."

"Mind travel?" She queried.

"Starchild's the best at it." He waved his daughter over to him. "Honey, we need you to look into the other place, and find where they took your Grandma, OK?"

Leena winced. Her mother had quite suddenly become a grandmother. 'Boy is she going to be surprised, if....' Leena thought.

Starchild went and sat on one of the pedestals, and became motionless in the golden light, save for her regular deep breaths. Penelope put a finger to her lips to tell the others to be quiet. They all sat and watched her doing nothing that they could see.

"Do you feel anything weird about her, or what's she's doing Sarah?" Becky whispered most softly.

Sarah shook her head with a strange scowl written on her face. "She's different." Sarah whispered back.

"What do you mean?" Leena butted in quietly.

"I can't feel her."

"Can you feel the old man?" Becky asked.

"Oh yes. I can feel both of him."

"Huh?"

"Maybe she just doesn't want me to." Sarah said almost to herself.

Leena leaned to Becky's ear. "How about you Becky? You said something back at Dreamland about funky monkeys, and that old witch. You seem to have been able to see those apes. How about them?" She pointed to the old man, and the little girl on the pedestal.

Becky smiled at her friend. She had finally been validated. "Starchild's just so gorgeous, I can't believe it, can you? That old man Shen Dao, he is about as old as that Witch is though." Becky shook her head.

Suddenly Starchild spoke, "I didn't find Grandma yet, but I think I found Grandpa."

Shen Dao was amazed. "Her ability is even more advanced than I thought." He looked at Tristan.

Tristan nodded with a smile.

"Show me where honey." Penelope sat down with her.

In a minute Penny turned to Tristan and said, "I think it's your dad. We can see him on another pedestal."

"Show me too Star." Tristan sat on a pedestal.

They determined to go get him, as he seemed to be in anguish.

Shen Dao had readily agreed.

"I want to go too." Leena said.

\----------

Michael was once again back on the strange light-making pedestal. He was losing it he thought. There appeared to be no hope of getting his family back. For all the government experimenting there seemed to be no progress being made. The agents were subjecting him to the very same battery of tests that they had been performing on him since the start. He was now sure they weren't any closer to figuring out the bizarre artifacts operation than they were over a month ago.

"You're going to wind up killing me, aren't you?" He asked the scientist.

"What makes you say that Mr. Welsh?"

"Because I can see that you don't plan to let me go, until you figure this thing out; even if it kills me."

"This project is imperative for our national security sir." That was the same thing any of them would ever reply to questions like that.

A moment later a light sphere burst from above the pedestals, startling them all. The sphere of golden light hung above the ever changing colored platforms.

"Dad! It's me Leena." His daughter's voice came clearly from the light.

"Baby! Are you OK? Where are you?" he frantically asked.

"Dad, just follow my voice."

"What?" He tried to see where it was coming from.

In an instant the spire shook, and a brighter burst of light flashed, and he was gone. All the scientists just stood there with their mouths agape.

Michael was suddenly standing in a different place. All the government people were gone.

"Daddy!" came Leena's voice from his right, and he spun to catch her in his arms. They hugged each other so tightly it almost hurt, but it didn't. It felt like heaven. Michael opened his eyes again, and saw an old Chinese man standing there, along with a young man.

"Who are they?" He asked after a moment.

"Oh Daddy I missed you so much!" She cried.

"I missed you too baby." He kissed her head, "but who are they?"

He noticed the young man was tearing up as well, and had started to tremble.

Leena pulled back a little. "Oh. Dad this is Shen Dao." She motioned to the Pearmainian. Shen Dao bowed deeply, and said something in Chinese.

"Yeah, that's great. Pleased to meet you Shen." Michael was a bit confused.

"Um, I think you better have a seat Dad." She said.

"I'm fine now baby, aren't you going to introduce me to your other friend?" his voice was full of uncertainty.

"DAD!" Tristan burst out, and rushed to him, and clung to Michael, sobbing.

Michael didn't know what to make of that. He hugged the man back briefly, just out of pure compassion, and Leena touched his shoulder.

"Dad, this is Tristan."

It took a long moment for what she'd said to sink in. "Oh my GOD." Michael lost his breath. "Son?"

20: FRACTURES

They took Michael back to the others at their hideout, and began to explain what happened. They didn't bother moving again as they realized that Millie could sense their movements through the dimensions the same way they could. Michael was shocked even more when he met Penelope, and Starchild. They then told him of their mother's kidnapping. He had already known of course. The other children were very glad to see him as well, after all any additional adult support was much welcome.

He was just starting to get fragments of the story, when Starchild, who had gone back to her search, said; "I think I found where they've been going to."

"Can you sense anyone?" Tristan asked right away.

"No, the pedestals are not in use right now, but there seems to have been a lot of recent traffic, and some leading from here." She answered.

Shen Dao was very thoughtful. "We must take great caution in our observation of the spire site. I am sure they have made preparations for us."

Tristan, Penny, and Starchild nodded. They and Shen Dao were the ones to go take a look.

Michael asked, "Are these the ones who took your mother?"

His son nodded.

"I'm going with you then." Michael informed them.

Shen Dao asked Tristan what was going on, and he explained. The old man then had Tristan translate to Michael that he should stay and guard the children on this trip, but when they had a rescue plan; they would definitely need him along then. Michael saw the logic in that, after all this was just a scout mission.

After the four of them transferred to a location a dozen shifts away, they stepped down for a moment.

"The next spire is connected directly with their hideout I think." Starchild said a little unsure.

"Remember to just look from the connection point, do not will yourself through." Shen Dao explained. "We must be very quick, and then retreat back to the others as fast as we can, in the event we are seen." He finished.

Tristan, and Penny nodded. Starchild smiled.

With that, they all stepped back up on the pedestals, and shifted again.

At the next spire, they looked all around through the different 'doorways' around them etched in golden light.

Starchild said, "There, that one."

Looking through they saw several of the apes' figures diving and scurrying about excitedly, and then they saw Millie; she was fiddling with something on her wrist. Beyond her they saw a couple apes each holding Jackie, and Jennifer in front of them as they backed up against the clear cathedral wall; and beyond the wall they saw nothing but a vast ocean. Something moved by the old Witch's head, and then another quick movement. Then they could see two metal spheres moving through the air above her head.

Millie smiled wickedly, and motioned for the observers to join her.

"Oh no." Shen Dao said. "We should go now."

"But they've already seen us, let's just look for a minute; try to find their weak spot." Tristan said.

When Mille saw that they weren't going to shift, but just look; she grew a furious look on her face, and then she grabbed the all too familiar purge generator from her belt. She angrily pointed it at them.

"Hurry!" Shen Dao urged, and they shifted back to their previous location.

"Keep going!" Shen Dao yelled, and they quickly shifted back the route whence they had come again.

A bright burst of energy hit them as they entered that last 'doorway'. Suddenly they were in the other dimension, not just passing through a rift in it as they should have been, and they were really moving too. It felt oddly familiar to all of them, as each indeed had been actually in this place before, and they all quickly realized they were being flung through time again. Starchild sensed this right away, and centered her mind. Then she began to pull all their energies together around her centered self, and she started to guide them. They felt her take control, and all willingly let her, as they could sense she knew the way. Starchild was very familiar with the other dimension, as it had been her playground since before birth. She inherently understood the bizarre seeming directions, and could will her mind to anywhere, or any when; and with their bodies dematerialized this meant she could lead them through this realm in verity. Starchild guided them safely back to their hideout in the present.

The rest of the group thought nothing out of the ordinary when the four scouts returned; until just after their arrival that is. The sky seemed to brake open high above them. It was as if someone had ripped a sheet of paper, but that paper happened to be the sky itself, and it was left torn. They didn't see stars or space beyond the tear either, just some strange changing patterns of almost every color and shape. These shapes were mixed with areas of pure blackness, in a very fractal seeming pattern.

"Shen Dao, what's happening?" Penelope called out.

"Oh no! It's that rebel, she's going to destroy everything!" he sounded genuinely worried.

"What do you mean, everything?" Tristan looked troubled.

The old man's eyes grew round. "I mean everything! The whole of reality."

"How can that be?" Penny required.

"Tristan, what's he saying about this?" Michael jumped in.

Tristan looked at him with frightened eyes. "It's bad, dad."

"That infernal device she has created, it must somehow be fracturing the very thread of order in the universe." The old man brooded.

"What is that stuff?" Penelope asked, pointing up at the strange phenomenon.

"Hun Dun; it is the primal chaos that exists before the order in our reality." Shen Dao answered.

"So if that gets bigger, it will destroy everything?" Penny was clearly frightened.

"It could replace it, but it is the same effect." The old man was most grave.

Tristan spun to his father. "The old Witch is doing it dad. She could destroy everything. We've got to stop her now!"

Michael agreed, "Let's take our chances."

Shen Dao again tried to calm them down. "Did you see those metal spheres floating in their hideout?"

"Yes Shen Dao." Tristan said.

"Those are sentry drones. They will blast anything that enters the spire." Shen Dao went on, "And very quickly I might add."

"So we'll take those out first!" Penny was ready.

The old man shook his head. "Besides that, you wouldn't even be able to complete the shift, as the rebel would use that infernal device on you as you tried."

That shut them up. They knew Shen Dao was right, and they didn't want another ride into the future, or the past. That last call was close enough, and if Starchild hadn't been with them....

"What can we do then?" Tristan became frustrated, and the others saw this, although they had not been privy to the conversation.

"I take it there's problems again?" Michael stated more than asked.

His son confirmed with a nod.

William wanted to help. "Why won't your idea work?"

Tristan explained the situation to William and the others. Will's mind went to work. He called on his crack team of commandos to help formulate a plan. After several minutes they came to a conclusion.

"We need a diversion." William informed the adults.

"Yeah, but what?" Tristan questioned.

"It's too bad that you can't shift into their hideout away from the pedestals. Then we could set up a diversion." Joshua mentioned.

That got Tristan thinking, and he asked Shen Dao if there was any way that he could self-shift. The old man confirmed what he'd already suspected; that the Pearmainians had lost that ability eons ago. Shen Dao asked in return if he thought that Penny or he might be able to. They said that there was no way without the power from the spire.

"What about Starchild?" Shen Dao even asked.

Tristan said that even though she was quite powerful, he was sure she couldn't. That would take just too much energy. He quickly added that even if she could, that he wouldn't send her in there alone, or otherwise.

Sarah and Starchild were sitting facing each other. They weren't talking to each other, they were just sitting and staring.

"Sarah. What are you two doing?" Leena asked.

Michael began to worry about this too. "What are they doing?"

No one could answer.

After several moments, Sarah blinked, and turned to Tristan. "I know how to get there without the spire."

Everyone was silent.

"Starchild showed me a picture in my head of where their hideout is, and I saw there were oceans, right?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, I saw an ocean in the background; outside of the spire." Penelope confirmed.

"Then I know how to get there." Sarah was confident.

Tristan looked at her strangely. "Just how are we going to do that?"

Shen Dao started asking Tristan and Penny what was going on, as he could tell by their expressions that something was afoot.

Tristan shrugged his shoulders, and looked to his daughter. She wore a knowing smile, but said nothing.

"The Breack Kreel could take us." Sarah stated.

"What?" Leena laughed.

Joshua's eyes were getting bigger by the second. "I don't like the sound of this."

Sarah nodded once, as if a matter of fact. "Yes. They could take us. I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"But how Sarah?" Becky asked.

"They can do what you all are talking about, and they could take us with them."

The revelation stunned her, and then Leena remembered what Sarah had told Chirp Swee about the Kreel not being from the Cracowck planet.

After the children told the adults of their encounter with the Kreel, Tristan explained what he knew to Shen Dao, who became very excited upon learning of the contact made with the Kreel. William and his team went to work with the new possibility, and soon they had what appeared to be a workable plan.

Michael watched the whole thing transpire. "Simply amazing!" He said of the children.

Just then the sky ripped in another section, and Shen Dao told them they must hurry.

Leena turned to her brother as they were about to leave, and become separated again, but this time on purpose. "Do you think the portals are safe?"

"I sure hope so Sis." Tristan told her, and then gave her, his father, and most especially his daughter big hugs. "Take care of my little girl!" He charged Michael.

Michael nodded as he slung one of the fire ball weapons over his shoulder. "With my life son."

21: A MILLION TO ONE

Soon the group was split up as per the plan of Will's commandos. Tristan, Penelope, and Shen Dao waited in a secure spot near the portal connecting to the rebel's hideout. They were armed with two of the large guns, and their ability. As timing was everything, they were to wait for the diversion, before they would make their assault from the connecting spire. They had no idea of exactly when, or even if the others would make it, but Starchild was supposed to mind travel and try to connect with her mother's mind to let them know when they had arrived. If the other team had been successful, they should see quite a diversion going on. If not, Tristan hadn't told the other team of their contingency plan. It was simply to rush the hideout, and take their chances, though they all knew full well it wouldn't be pretty.

\----------

Leena and her team found their way from their temporary hideout, back to the Cracowck planet with Shen Dao's directions. The spires functioned quite normally, though at each way point they could see the sky, or rather reality, was fractured there as well. It was early morning on the world of the Cracowcks, and they soon made their way across the massive 'Holy Bridge'. They all began the climb up the stairs carved into the sheer cliffs towards the 'Devil's Bowl'. Michael shuddered at the thought that his children had to cross this dangerous impasse several times already. He was quite terrified as he too had to climb over the impossibly deep vertical drop, added by the fact that he had Starchild strapped to him, even though quite securely. The rigging the children had left just over a day before, made the initial crossing by Leena quite simple, though Michael couldn't, or would not watch her do this.

Soon the whole team was past the terrible gouge in the carved stairway, and headed up towards the ridge line. They all hoped beyond hope that the 'air-fish' was still there, so Becky apologized to William for making fun of him when he'd secured it so well. He laughed and hugged her. They truly were a team.

The group of six children and one adult broke over the ridge top before mid-morning, and they were ultimately relieved as they saw the golden blimp was still moored where they had left it.

"Good grief Leena! You flew that?" Michael was frightened, and proud at the same time. He carried Starchild in his arms, but used his free hand to grasp his daughter's hand. Leena smiled at him, and he smiled back proudly.

The crew went to work as they came aboard. Leena took command right away, and quite naturally. William and Joshua stood by to cast off, while Becky went to the gas fill valves by the rear of the bridge cabin. Sarah and Starchild waited with Michael and Leena by the control console, and soon Leena had the engines fired, and warming up.

"Cast off! And get your butts up here!" Leena yelled down the ramp.

The boys came running up in a moment.

Next she told Becky, "Start filling the balloon slowly."

"Aye, Aye Captain." Came the reply.

Michael began to laugh, Sarah and Starchild joined in.

In a minute or two the ship started to rise, and the rolling hills filling the windows were replaced by the sapphire blue sky, tinged with a few streaked clouds touching the edges of the rich hue. Leena revved up the engines, and pointed the craft east.

"Let's go find a Kreel, shall we?" she offered.

Everyone had joined them in the bridge cabin, and Michael could tell from the way the other children has sucked in their breaths, that he was in for something.

"A Kreel huh?" He said with brows raised.

"You're not going to believe this Mr. Welsh." Joshua intoned.

By mid-afternoon everyone including the crew was getting hungry. Luckily Becky and Leena still had a good bunch of berries and fruit left from their provisions, and they readily shared with all. Starchild especially liked the sweet tasting fruits from the bird world, as she hadn't had too many tree, or bush fruits in her short life. So to say she had a passion for the produce would have been quite an understatement.

After everyone else had eaten their fill, Starchild was still munching on some of the delicious harvest. When Becky had moved their knap sacks to the rear of the cabin to signal her that the meal was over, Starchild waited for a few minutes until everyone was occupied again, and she snuck into Becky's pack for more of the berries. It was then that she found something else that looked too good to pass up.

Leena said to her father, "I bet you are having a hard time with hearing the 'G' word huh, dad?" as she easily kept the ship on course.

"The 'G' word?" He wondered at what she meant.

"Yeah, Grandpa!" Leena laughed hard.

He shook his head, and laughed too. "I'll tell you, it's more than worth it, for my sweet little darling Star." He looked around for her. "Say where did she go?" Then as he and everyone else looked, they saw Starchild lying unconscious by Becky's knap sack, with a half-eaten cookie in her tiny little hand.

"Oh my GOD!" Becky screamed. "She ate the sleepy cookie!"

Everyone was instantly gathered around the toddler.

Michael demanded, "What the hell was in that cookie?" as he tried to listen for breathing, and he felt for a pulse.

"We don't know exactly" Becky said in panic. "The birds gave us something to help Sarah sleep, and we put it in the cookie to give to the guards, so we could escape." She was talking a mile a minute.

"Is she breathing?" Leena said in horror.

"It's very shallow, so is her pulse." Michael looked shocked, and he started rubbing Starchild's face and neck. "The birds gave you something? What birds?"

"Later dad. Starchild! Stay with us!" Leena implored.

"That's good Leena! Talk to her, call to her. She said she knows you better than anyone from that program or whatever." Michael told with imperative. "Tell her to stay with us!"

Starchild was confused. She was in the dark, and she couldn't concentrate. There was nothing familiar here, where ever that was. Then she saw the familiar shifting colors of the other place, or dimension as her folks called it. She went towards it. As she grew near she saw there was some sort of barrier blocking it from her. Starchild wondered at this. It wasn't like before. Somehow she knew that she could cross this barrier, but if she did; then she felt that she couldn't come back to this dark place. That was OK, as she didn't like the dark place. So she started to will herself to cross the barrier, but just then she heard a voice. It was calling her name.

That voice was familiar too. What did it want from her, she was busy trying to get across the barrier into the familiar place. Why is it calling her name? So she listened again, and then she remembered the voice. It was her auntie Leena's program voice. What did it want now? Was it playing a game on her, or maybe they were playing a game together, she couldn't remember. The voice called louder, and told her to come back. Why? She wanted to go to the familiar place, and not be in this dark any longer. Still it was demanding her to come back. So she went back away from the lights and colors she loved so much. Back into the dark. Then it got louder, and then louder. Suddenly there was light from around her, and she could see dim shapes.

"She's coming to! Keep talking to her Leena!" Michael was performing gentle chest compressions on Starchild as Becky was breathing into her mouth on certain counts.

Starchild then remembered eating something wrong. It had made her go into that dark place. She felt the drug, or poison coursing through her veins, and she made the tiny little pieces of it go away, out of her.

All of them breathed an infinite sigh of relief as Starchild coughed, and gaged, but then started breathing on her own. Her eyes seemed to focus, and she caught a deep breath. Michael stopped the CPR and quickly checked her pulse. He sat back and felt his own chest, his heart was racing like never before.

"Her pulse is strong." He said between breaths.

"Auntie Leena!" Starchild cried out, and reached her little arms for her.

Leena grabbed her niece and hugged her like she'd been gone for years. "Oh God! I though we lost you Star." She said sobbing.

"You called me to come back. I love you auntie Leena." Star said weakly.

It was near nightfall when the ship crossed the coast line. All had taken a nap after the close call, except for Leena, and her father. They talked the whole time, each switching off with the other on the wheel. Soon though they too needed sleep, and William relived them for a spell.

They awoke in the morning, though they had just intended a short nap. Becky was piloting the ship, and Joshua was busy searching for Kreel sign. Starchild went to her grandpa right away, wanting to sit on his lap.

"Why didn't you wake us up?" Leena asked no one in particular.

Becky shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing to see."

Leena set about to get some food from the provisions.

Sarah told her, "I haven't felt one yet. Maybe they won't talk to us now. After all I told them they were hurting us."

"What do you think we should do then Sarah?" Leena asked and then took a swig of water.

The little girl thought for a moment. "If I could get closer to them, maybe I could call them."

"We can do that." Leena took the wheel from Becky, and slowed the craft down. Then she opened the gas release valve some, until they barely started to drop.

"Becky, go aft and get ready to add some gas when I give the word." She ordered.

Michael had truly come to appreciate that she was the Captain here. There was no doubt about that, just by her ability to command. William seemed happy to take the back seat here on the ship, as he too enjoyed watching her work. Michael was no dummy though; he saw the way William looked at his daughter.

'Glad I'm here now.' He twitched.

Sarah sat cross legged on the deck, as she had seen Starchild do. Star smiled as she watched. When she and Sarah had 'feel-talked', as the other girl called it, she learned she could enter Sarah's mind as she had been able to do with her own parents. There she saw all the memories of their adventures, including the encounter with the Kreel. She even felt the memory of their communication, but she couldn't for the life of her, understand how, or even just what the other girl did to 'feel-talk'. It was a mystery.

Sarah closed her eyes, and relaxed, doing the breathing that Starchild had 'shown' her how to do. Even though Sarah couldn't enter Starchild's mind, she could learn much from the little girl's feelings about things, when she let her.

"Becky, NOW!" Leena yelled, and the ship stopped its descent a little less than a hundred meters above the waves. "OK Sarah, do your thing." Leena said as she cut the engines to a low idle.

Sarah sat there and appeared to do nothing.

"What's she doing now?" Michael asked quietly.

"She's going to call a Kreel." Starchild spoke with a gleam in her eyes.

It took an hour before Sarah opened her eyes. "I found one." She said.

Michael eagerly looked out the window, searching for the Kreel. No one else bothered.

"Why don't you help me look for it William, Joshua?" He prodded.

All of them laughed at the question.

"What?"

"I don't think you'll miss it Mr. Welsh." William chuckled with good nature.

"Oh yeah? Just how big are these Kreels?"

Again everyone chuckled, not at Michael, just at what they knew was coming.

Suddenly the sound of a thousand Niagara Falls resonated from below the ship, causing them all to cover their ears. Rising from the sea beneath them, the Breack Kreel displaced enough water to fill a very large lake. Leena couldn't hear her father, but she watched him mouth; "Holy Smokes!" As soon as the noise died down from the water rushing off the creature, William came up to Michael, whose jaw was dragging the deck, and patted him on the back.

"That Mr. Welsh, is a Breack Kreel." He said haughtily.

"Holy Smokes!" Was all Michael could utter.

When the tentacles came out of their cavity, and the blue glow with flashes of bright lights started, Michael actually became somewhat terrified.

"It won't hurt us Grandpa, they like Sarah." Starchild comforted him, and he took her up in his arms.

"Stay here with Grandpa Honey." It still felt so weird for him to say the 'G' word.

Sarah stood up, and went to the window. "Turn off the engines Leena, They will take it from here."

"They?" Leena asked as she complied.

"They only have one body, for many minds." Sarah answered unobtrusively.

Leena remembered how big Chirp Swee had said that the brain cavity was, and it made her wonder. Then she thought of her friend, who was so close, yet so far away, and hoped that she was alright; and she remembered her promise to the bird.

Soon the tendrils wrapped around the motionless 'air-fish', and they began to retract into their cavity.

"This is supposed to happen, isn't it?" Michael questioned.

They all had big eyes, even Sarah, as they were pulled into a huge cavern like space behind the creature's head. It must have been the size of a dozen football fields, and the interior was lighted by the brilliant blue glow from the tentacles.

"What are those glowing things, like 'spaghetti'?" Joshua wondered.

"I think they are like a tongue or something like that." Sarah told.

"You mean we're in its mouth?"

"No. They eat with something else. This is what they talk with."

A huge flap of Kreel flesh closed over the opening to the cavity.

"OK Starchild, this is where they're going to need your help." Sarah said.

William turned on the cabin light, as both girls sat down facing each other in the middle of the deck, and closed their eyes.

"Now what are they doing?" Michael queried.

"Tristan had said that they would need Starchild to show the Kreel the way to the rebel hideout." Leena told him quietly.

"Can Star talk to the Kreel too?"

Leena said, "She can through Sarah I guess, or at least I hope."

Another huge sound of rushing water came from above them.

Michael and William both looked around in panic, trying to locate the source of the noise, but they couldn't make out a thing in the dense tangle of glowing blue 'spaghetti'.

"We are submerging." Sarah informed them with her eyes still closed.

Within ten minutes the girls opened their eyes and got up.

"That was amazing!" Starchild breathed heavily.

"What was honey?" Grandpa asked.

"The way they shifted. It was so perfect!"

"You mean we're there already?" Leena was confused.

"Uh huh." Starchild nodded.

"Wow! I didn't feel a thing." Josh exclaimed.

"That's what I mean." The little toddler said.

"You should try to contact your mom now that we made it." Leena was already thinking ahead.

Starchild shook her head. "Let's wait until we're outside, and can see where the spire is. I think they got pretty close to it, but I'm not sure."

Again the thundering sound of water rushing came from above, and then the flap of flesh sealing them in opened, letting in a little orange sunlight. The tendrils began to unfurl, taking the ship out with them. The spire was only several kilometers away, almost as close as the creature could get. Starchild sat back down on the floor, and started meditating. It didn't take her long to leave her body, and enter the other dimension in search for her mother's mind.

\----------

Millie was busy trying to modify the purge generator, as it had really seemed to louse things up. The sky was coming apart, and it had happened after she used the device on whom she was sure had been Shen Dao. The apes had really started to come unglued when the sky fractured. She had tried to assure them that it was just a glitch, and that she would soon correct it. Millie wasn't all that sure herself though, as the technical aspects of the portal system wasn't her forte, although manipulating it was. Fielder started making a most unusual choking noise from behind her.

"Stop that you idiot! I'm trying to concentrate." She snapped at him.

He gagged and coughed hard. One of the other apes looked to where he was staring; out the cathedral to the sea.

"Whaaa?" the other ape mumbled.

"Alarm! Alarm!" Fielder could finally yell.

Millie jumped up to see. There was the most inexplicable sight she'd ever seen. A sea monster larger than life itself was coming for them. It had thousands of glowing tentacles wavering in the sky, and then out of this; a giant golden fish was flying through the air at them.

"Now this just can't be real." Millie said with a calm voice, though in fact she was in shock.

The apes, Millie and the two women watched the unbelievable spectacle for a couple minutes. It was truly hypnotizing, especially the way the tentacles wavered in the sky.

Then Millie snapped, "Well don't just stand there gawking you fools! Get out there and kill that thing."

"You've got to be kidding?" Fielder was aghast.

The look she gave them said she wasn't at all.

"But my Queen! There is no way we can kill something that size. Not with these puny weapons."

"You won't know until you've tried, now will you." She pointed to the entrance hole.

\----------

Leena watched as several bright balls of energy were fired at the Breack Kreel from the base of the spire, and nearby on the little island. The Kreel didn't even seem to notice until one of the shots nearly hit the blimp, and then the tendrils quickly reached toward the base of the spire.

"That was a close one!" Michael said. "I guess I should shoot back." He moved to retrieve the gun they had in the rear cabin.

"Don't worry Mr. Welsh. The Kreel will protect us." Sarah told him.

No other fire balls were shot.

\----------

Millie looked in disgust, and torment, as for no reason her apes had stopped shooting. She even saw a group of them running into the sea. Moving over to the entrance hole, she summoned the disk.

"Good grief! If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." She snapped at Jackie, whom smartly averted her eyes. Millie hurriedly punched a few buttons on her wrist bracelet. "If either of you move from there, dear ladies, my sentry drones will obliterate you. Just thought I'd let you know." She smirked. With that Millie stepped down onto the floating disk, and started to descend.

\----------

Penelope was sitting on a pedestal, using the energy from the spire to help her reach out for her daughter through the other dimension. Tristan and Shen Dao stayed at the ready just in case.

She opened her eyes. "They made it!"

"Let's go." Shen Dao said. "Remember to look before you leap, but do it quickly."

Penny got up next to Tristan, and they both nodded. Shen Dao and Tristan were each armed with one of the fire-ball guns, but Penny had only her talent to fight with. However that had always been enough before, she reasoned, besides; a weapon would only slow her down.

They activated the portal, and took a quick peek. All they could see were Jennifer, Jackie, and the two small metal spheres. The three shifted. All moved, or rolled away from the pedestals instantly, and the world exploded around them in violence. Each found out right away that they had to keep moving, as energy bolts traced their every movement, mere centimeters behind them. Tristan fired while rolling, and missed. Shen Dao fired while diving, and missed. Penny twisted, and dodged; faking a move here, and the sentry was having a hard time tracking her.

Shen Dao realized he would keep missing if he kept moving; so he rolled up to a quick firing position, and let loose with a round. He was hit squarely in the chest just as his fire ball blew one of the sentry drones to smithereens, his personal defense shield absorbed most of the energy, but enough penetrated to put him down severely hurt. The same thought was going through Tristan's mind a split second before he saw Shen Dao get hit in his peripheral vision. He knew he couldn't stop to fire, so the gun was useless.

An energy bolt grazed his shoulder. Penelope had finally zig-zagged her way right up to the sentry droid, but it tried to escape her attack by spinning out of the way. Penny caught the movement before it gained any speed. She instantly reversed her attack to spin from the opposite direction. The sentry fired, but missed as its target was moving fast. The next split second it was hurtled by her kick up against the cathedral wall, and it clattered into a useless pile of junk.

"Shen Dao!" Tristan yelled, and ran to him.

The old man breathed hard. "That will probably leave a mark, don't you think?" he joked, though Tristan could see he was hurt badly.

Penelope went to untie Jackie and Jennifer's hands. "Are you OK, Ms. Welsh, Mom....Um, Ms. Robinson?" They both nodded though somewhat dazed by the entirely too quick events which just occurred. Then Penny ran to Shen Dao, and tried to help with him.

"Are you with the government, or something?" Jackie asked.

They only shook their heads.

\----------

Three terrified apes went running past Millie as she exited the spire. They didn't have their weapons with them, but they each had an abject look of terror written across their faces. Millie wasn't about to stop and argue, when she had a gigantic sea beast to deal with.

"I will make you vanish beast!" She shouted as she held her wrist bracelet up towards it. Her other hand touched a button on it, and a black beam struck out at the Kreel. A large chunk of flesh evaporated from the Kreel's head area, including several of its eyes.

Sarah bent over suddenly as if she were in pain, and she moaned terribly. Starchild saw this, and quickly saw the black beam tearing into the giant creature. She followed the beam to its source, and focused her mind sharply right there; in a manner she'd never done before. She was angry.

\----------

At that same instant the beam from Millie's deadly bracelet stopped working, and in a flash the metal of the bracelet itself became red hot, and then molten. Millie screamed in pain as the bracelet melted into her wrist. She fell to her knees in the sand, crying out in agony. When she saw the blue glowing tendrils reaching for her though, she gathered her strength from force of will alone, and ran. The terrified apes were cowering in the spire's base, but they quickly followed her as she ran past them towards the disk.

\----------

Up in the cathedral Jackie went over to the entrance hole and peered down. "They're coming back!" She said.

"Let's get out of here." Penny said, and she didn't have to coax anyone. They carried Shen Dao to a pedestal. Jackie and Jennifer joined them, and the five were gone in a flash.

\-----------

Leena had steered the ship to cruise extremely close to the clear tip of the spire, and Michael was holding Starchild as they watched out the window. They could see the old Witch and her tattered band of apes trying to escape on the pedestals.

Starchild saw something familiar on Millie's belt, and she quickly relaxed her mind, and focused on it. The small purge generator pulled away from Millie's belt, and fell. It hit the edge of a pedestal right on its operating button, and bounced. Just as Millie and her gang activated the pedestal; the device emitted its destructive pulse once again. A brighter and larger sphere of golden light erupted in the cathedral, and the spire shook violently. Then the rebel and her apes were gone.

22: A NEW HOME

Penelope tried her best to comfort Shen Dao, but he was hurt badly. It was dark on the world they'd jumped to from the rebel's hideout. The light from the pedestal they had laid the old Pearmainian on lit the whole cathedral. Both Tristan and Penny knew quite a bit of first aid, as the old man's image had taught them through the years, but his wound was worse than what they could do for him. The other pedestals lit up as someone was attempting to shift there suddenly, and Tristan came to the ready. He relaxed as Michael, whom was holding Star, Leena, and their other friends were there. Starchild squirmed to get down, and she ran to kneel by Shen Dao's side.

"Mom!" Leena cried out, and they embraced like it would be their last time.

"Oh Jackie! God I'm glad you're alright." Michael joined the hugging, tearful reunion.

All the other kids of team seven missed their parents immeasurably right then. Jackie and Michael saw their faces, and included each in the warmth of welcome.

"What about the rebel, and her apes?" Tristan asked Leena.

Starchild handed her father the small device she'd picked up, the one he'd kept safe for all the years on that far distant spire. "They went somewhere like you and mom did." She told him.

Jackie turned to Michael. She recognized all of the children, except...where was her son?

"Who are these people Michael? And where is Tristan?" she asked.

He made a deep sigh, which she knew meant trouble. Jackie tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

Starchild got up and went to Jackie. She took her hand, "My name is Starchild....Grandma."

Jackie smiled, but the smiled drained right from her face as she realized what the little girl had said. She looked to her husband, and then quickly to Tristan. She recognized his face in that instant. It was so much older than she remembered; than it should be, but it was his.

"Oh my God! Tristan?"

He started crying, and held out his arms to her. She embraced him, feeling and touching his face with disbelief.

"How long have I...." Jackie looked to Leena, and realized something wasn't right.

"Let's just say we have a lot of catching up to do mom." He told her.

Starchild wanted a hug badly too, and Penny was edging herself towards Jackie as well. Jackie didn't take but a second to realize the obvious connection, and she hugged both of them too.

"Oh my goodness, what happened?"

Penelope then took Starchild in hand, and went over to shock her own mother with the same news.

From behind the group Shen Dao coughed painfully, and Tristan turned to go to him, but saw Sarah was beside him. He wondered if she were 'feel-talking' with him.

He got his answer a second later when Sarah said, "Yes. I will take you in."

"What?" Tristan asked.

"I'm going to let him join me." Sarah said with utter determination.

"You don't mean that you are going to take in the parasite?" He was flabbergasted.

"Yes."

"Shen Dao! You can't let her do this! She's just a little girl." Tristan said in Chinese.

Jackie raised her eyebrows.

"It will not harm her at all." The old man replied. "In fact, quite the opposite is true. Her health will remain strong for thousands of years."

Tristan looked to his wife for help, afraid for the girl.

"But she's not old enough to make up her mind." Penny implored, but she really didn't believe it.

Sarah looked at them with a scowl. "I'm the only one here that is truly willing, and one of us has to do it. Otherwise who will fix the damage that the Witch did to the Universe?"

No one argued that point, because they all were quite aware of the rips in the sky, or rather the reality of their dimension of the universe.

Sarah continued. "Besides, I get to live a real long time."

"What is she talking about?" Jackie became curious.

No one else seemed to know what was going on, except for Tristan, his wife and daughter, the old man, and Sarah.

"I've made up my mind." Sarah said firmly.

"What about your parents?" Penelope worried.

Sarah dropped her head, and told her. "Someone will have to explain it to them."

The old man gasped, "We must be quick, as Shen Dao is passing."

Little Sarah took Shen Dao's large head into her small lap, and held it with her hands. The old man started trembling and moaning slightly. Penny picked up Star and held her close, then moved to her husband's arms, and Jackie started to move for Sarah, but Michael held her back, shaking his head.

After several long moments the trembling passed, and then Shen Dao arched his back upward and let out a soft sigh. A gas, or vapor of some sort rose from the old man's mouth. It glowed, and flickered with blue light. This wafted up and entered Sarah's mouth, and then Jackie cried out for it to stop.

It was quietly over. Shen Dao lay quite still, unmoving at all. Sarah blinked her eyes, and smiled. There was a strange glow about her, but not from the light of the pedestal.

"We still have much work to do, and little time to do it in." Sarah said.

"Shen Dao?" Tristan ventured.

"My name is Sarah now, but we are all here. All of Shen Dao's memories are still here. Along with all of the others. They will always be with us." She told them, and then she gently laid the old man's head down as she got up. "Come, we must go to my people with the infernal device, and see about fixing our reality."

"What about his body?" Penelope asked. "Shouldn't we perform some rites?"

Sarah shook her head. "Bring it, we still have need of it."

All of them then shifted to where Sarah showed them, and here were her people. A throng of strange looking, blue six legged creatures greeted them it the base of the spire. Sarah spoke to them in a very unusual beeping like language, and they all immediately seemed to bow to her as far as they could tell. They took the body of Shen Dao, and then Sarah told Tristan to give the infernal device to them. She asked them all to follow a certain one of the creatures, and that they should find their temporary quarters most comfortable. If they needed, or desired anything; that her people's emissary to them would do all in its power to accomplish this. Sarah excused herself to begin work on fixing the damage done to reality. Before she left she assured them she would see them again very soon.

The blue six legged creature with several nose like things, touched a device around its neck and a blue holographic box appeared just in front of it. There were some strange symbols in this box, and after a short series of beeps from the creature; as sultry smooth woman's voice said, "Earth English translation". The box disappeared, as Tristan and Penny looked at each other remembering that all too familiar voice from long ago.

"Please follow me, most honorable and esteemed Ambassadors of Earth." The creature performed what appeared to be a bow.

It led them to a medium sized floating disk just outside of the spire. They were in a vast, and unbelievably futuristic city inhabited by untold numbers of these creatures. The disk sped through the wide thorough fares between the tall artful buildings that were everywhere, and soon they were in a very important looking structure that dominated the other huge buildings around it. The being led them to a wing of the building that looked quite comfortable, seemingly to their standards, even luxurious.

When asked, it told them their race were called the Amigox. It took them to an area with many staterooms, and said that they could settle in wherever, and however they wished here. They also were told they were free to go anywhere they desired, and not to worry about getting lost, as any Amigox they talked to would help them in every way possible. As each and every Amigox wore a universal translator, communication would not be a problem. Then it showed them how to request food and drinks as they desired. It asked them if they had any questions, and if they did later; it would be in a nearby common area ready to help them with anything.

As they were all completely exhausted by then, everyone decided to get some rest, and to clean up. The adults split up into their own state room suites, and the children split into two rooms, William and Joshua in one, and Leena and Becky in another, though all were right next door to each other. After using many gallons of luxurious hot water cleaning up, and then feasting on some delicious Chinese cuisine that they were told Shen Dao had the Amigox grow and prepare for him in the traditional manner; they all quickly found the quite comfortable beds beckoning them for sleep.

The next day after everyone had finally gotten up on their own accord, and had joined each other in the vast common area lounge; Sarah paid them a visit. Everyone was glad to see her and warmly embraced her. Tristan, Penelope, and Starchild gave a deep respectful bow before hugging her as their close friend. The remaining children of team seven treated her like one of their own, as she of course still was.

"I have excellent news." Sarah told. "Our people have found out what that infernal device of the rebels did exactly, and are in the process of repairing the damage."

They all breathed a big sigh of relief.

She went on, "I also have a treat for you all, which I think you're going to like. Today you get the keys to the city. We are going on an abbreviated tour around town, but mostly it is a shopping tour!"

They all got big eyes at that.

"What do we use for money though Sarah? We don't have anything to trade." Leena asked the obvious.

"We don't use money here Leena. The currency of the Amigox is ability." Sarah explained.

"So we have to do something in trade?" Becky wondered.

Sarah shook her head and laughed uproariously. "You already have done something in trade Becky, you already have!"

"Cool." Josh nodded.

Jackie and Michael took the opportunity, and went to Sarah to tell her of the missing teams that were possibly still out there somewhere, but she seemed to already be aware of this. She told them that her people were diligently searching for them. When Jackie spoke of the silvery statutes of the children back on Earth that she'd seen the pictures of, Sarah said that was another matter entirely, and she would try to figure something out.

They were taken on a whirlwind shopping expedition in a luxury disk with seats seemingly made just for each of them, as they fit in them so perfectly. Everywhere they went the beings, many of different types, were quite honored to meet them, and insisted that anything they even showed the slightest interest in was packed in exotically beautiful boxes and given to their attendants to take with them.

The boys found too many extremely high tech, and cool electronic games to amuse them forever, including Tristan who found himself as one of the guys again. While the girls and ladies were beside themselves with all of the wonderfully gorgeous new outfits, shoes, and jewelry that were insistently just given to them, as it was explained they were made just for them. Everywhere they went, even as they passed along the avenues, it seemed all the myriad creatures and beings were stopping in their tracks and bowing to them as if they were some kind of royalty.

Leena remarked about this to Sarah. "It seems like everyone here really likes us."

"It's a little bit more than that my friend." Sarah said with a tear welling up in her eye.

At about midday Sarah told them they must cut short their excursion as they had a very important lunch date. She told them not to worry though as they could come back and shop to their hearts desires.

"So what's this big luncheon were going to?" Penny questioned. "Are we going to meet the other Pearmainians there?"

Sarah looked down sadly. "You already have met all the remaining of our race. Myself, and the rebel are the last of our kind."

Tristan was in shock. "You mean to say that there are no more 'Eternal Guardians'?"

"Shen Dao was the very last. Well until...." Sarah didn't finish.

Both Tristan and Penny suddenly had many questions, but Sarah just told them to be patient. All would be explained soon. As their luxury disk entered the large building of their quarters just then, they had to wait, as Sarah told them to please go and get ready for their big luncheon. She explained that they each had a special robe made for them, just for the occasion, and it would be proper if they wore them.

"I will see you there soon." She said as she let them off. "Boy are you all going to be surprised!" Sarah smiled with gusto.

They all wore the beautiful golden blue robes that their attendants had ready for them, then they were ushered into a gigantic hall. Immediately they all felt nervous, as there had to be many more than a hundred thousand beings waiting there for them. It grew silent in the hall as they entered, and they were led to a vast dining table at the forefront of the immense crowd. Sarah was there at the table center, and she warmly welcomed them all to come and have a seat. As soon as they all were seated, the many thousands of other beings then took their seats, or approximations of which, as some didn't have apparent legs.

"Wow! Now this is what I call a banquet." Leena said with surprise.

"Good, I'm glad you like it, because you are all the guests of honor." Sarah smiled ever so warmly.

The meal was beyond anything they ever could have imagined before. There were too many gourmet dishes and tastes for them to even begin to count. Soon they were all well past full, and their senses were reeling from the variety alone.

"Now we must allow for some formalities I'm afraid." Sarah spoke. "The leaders of all the galaxies sincerely wish to give you thanks personally, and we must allow them the honor." She looked at the other children and winked, "This is the boring part, but just bear with it. OK?"

They all nodded.

"After this is the big surprise, and it will be worth the wait. I promise you." Sarah was imperative.

Then began a long procession of beings whom came forward, and gave thanks to them all, each of course brought fabulous gifts beyond compare.

Four plus hours later, the procession finally ended.

"OK, guys. Are you ready for the really big show?" Sarah enticed them.

Joshua, William, Becky, and Leena could tell she had something indeed REALLY BIG for them, just by her own level of excitement. They all looked at each other and nodded in complete agreement.

Jackie hated to interrupt the gala atmosphere, but since she hadn't really had a chance to talk to Sarah since they'd told her about the missing children; she made the opportunity. "Excuse me Sarah, but I really need to ask you about what we talked about earlier."

Sarah smiled, and said, "Our people have found one of the missing teams Ms. Welsh. Team number six. In fact they are here, and waiting for us up top."

Jackie breathed a big sigh of relief. She'd just wanted to make sure something was indeed being done to help those poor children.

As Sarah led them to a floating disk nearby, they all wondered what was going on, but they didn't worry. They knew their friend was on their side. The moment they breached the roof of the massive building they saw that they were now on an even larger floating disk, as the smaller one seamlessly joined into the center of it. It gently floated out over an immense open park, where there were literally millions of beings of all kinds. A thunderous roar from the crowd cheering them, rose to greet the new heroes. None of them had ever in their wildest dreams experienced anything like that before, but they all knew somehow instinctively, to wave. That made the cheering even louder, and more thunderous.

"Goodness Sarah, just how many people are there here?" Leena exclaimed.

Sarah laughed. "Just ten million or so here, in person, but there are many quadrillions upon quadrillions watching us live right now. All across known space; in many thousands of galaxies." She nodded at Leena, and then told them all, "You are the most famous, and revered people in all history. Today our people, your people, honor you as such."

"Why?" Leena was astonished.

"Oh I don't know." Sarah was sarcastically grinning. "Perhaps it has something to do with saving the whole universe, and all its inhabitants from sure extinction. I guess they all just get silly about that sort of thing."

Sarah motioned them to form a line where all could see them, and then she spoke, and her voice was amplified, so it thundered out for all to hear.

"Good citizens of our Consortium. I am the new body of the Eternal Guardian." The crowd was quieting down to a hush. "As you are all now aware, these fine courageous souls I bring before you today, have risked their very lives on many occasions, and have endured great hardship and suffering. Much of this they did willingly; to stop the last of the Pearmainian rebels from destroying everything. Today we honor them, and their triumph." The crowd again roared its approval.

As Leena looked around she could see there were many dignitaries off to their sides on the same floating platform, and there among them she saw some familiar metallic green jump suits, and the kids in them were all too familiar as well.

"Look guys!" She pointed to the kids of team number six.

Becky, William, and Josh all waved at them excitedly, and the other kids waved back. Some giving the double thumbs up, but all very happy to see them. One of them, their team leader even shouted, "You are the real winners! Way to go team seven! Thank you!"

An Amigox came forward with a long golden box, and stopped just by Sarah. The crowd quieted again.

"Ms. Jennifer Robinson." Sarah took a ribbon with a small metal object on it from the box, and walked over to her. "We hereby present this the 'Order of Amigland' to you for your part in helping the outcome, including raising such a fine daughter. The people of the universe so thank you." The crowd erupted in cheering.

Sarah went to the box and retrieved another medal. "Ms. Jackie Welsh, and Mr. Michael Welsh." She walked over to them. "We hereby present this the 'Order of Amigland' to you both for your part in helping the outcome, including raising such a fine Son, and Daughter. The people of the Universe so very much thank you." Again the crowd roared.

"Becky Myers." Sarah walked to her with a huge smile, "We hereby present this the 'Universal Medal of Fearlessness' to you for your extreme ability and insight; that helped save the Universe." The crowd thundered its approval.

"Joshua Clarke. " She gave him a wry knowing smile. "We hereby present this the 'Universal Medal of Fearlessness' to you for your extreme ability, and steadfastness; that helped save the Universe." Cheering erupted as a roar.

"William Brown." Sarah winked at him with a grin. "We hereby present this the 'Universal Medal of Rectitude' to you for your wonderful talent, ability, and character; without which we would all have surely perished. The people of the Universe owe you a great debt my friend!" The crowd got even louder than before if it were possible.

"Leena Welsh." Sarah's eye formed some tears, though she smiled hugely. "We hereby present this the 'Universal Medal of Guidance' to you for your unwavering leadership, your steadfast courage, and your wonderful competence; without which, all of our demise would have been certain. All the peoples of the Universe owe you everything." A thunderous round of cheering erupted as the crowd went wild.

"Tristan, Penelope, and Starchild Welsh." Sarah wore a very content smile. "We hereby present this the 'Universal Medal of Protection' to you each, for your performance of successfully accomplishing the impossible. For your selfless sacrifice and unrequited courage in the defeat of our enemy, and thus preventing all of our certain destruction. Every being owes you their very lives." Again the roar of the crowd's approval shook their bones.

Sarah stepped back and bowed to them all. After a long while of clamorous approval from the millions there, she quieted them by raising her palm.

"These are most of our very highest awards we can give, but there is one more award I must give out today; our very highest honor. I call on Becky, Joshua, William, Leena, Tristan, Penelope, and Starchild. You have all been chosen to be honored in the very highest way possible. I dub thee all, now and forever, as 'Eternal Guardians' of the Universe." The crowd grew so loud that it was quite deafening. Fire-works exploded into the sky, and there was much celebrating, even late into the night.

\----------

A week later Tristan looked around at the spire on Penelope's world. It was almost complete; every detail. The Amigox had provided all of the very specialized furnishings for their future-past home. He knew this must have been enormously expensive, but as an 'Eternal Guardian' he also knew that anything he wished was at his beck-and-call. It was hard for him to get used to that idea, and he didn't like to use the privilege at all, but this was for a very necessary cause.

Penny was just sealing up one of the last crates. There was only one crate left to seal, and an Amigox was busily checking the contents. This was the stasis chamber crate with their seeds in it. The two of them looked around a couple of last times. They hadn't forgotten anything each hoped.

One of the most perplexing, and disturbing things of all their preparations for their future young selves, was the incarnation of Shen Dao's personality program. Sarah was actually the donor of his personality, and they had merely digitized the corpse's image to run with the program. Both of them had a hard time adjusting to the fact that Shen Dao's body had actually been dead when his program was recorded. The fact that his image could have easily been programed to speak English all those years was strange at first too, but then they wouldn't have been able to speak to him directly when they first met.

Leena was due at any time to record her personality into the machine. She and their parents had taken the Breack Kreel back to the Cracowck world, to guide the creature back there where it wished to be, and to check on Chirp Swee. Starchild had learned directly from Sarah's mind, how to basically communicate with the Kreel so she could guide it back there herself. The other children had gone with them as well. The disk came down from above, on it were Leena, her new niece, Jackie, and Michael.

"Glad to see you weren't accosted by your birds." Tristan voiced. "By the way, how is your friend?"

The little blonde smiled at her brother, "Yeah, we were worried about that too, but things have changed there. Oh, and Chirp Swee is doing fine, thanks." Leena stepped from the disk. "OK, hook me up. I'll spill the beans." She joked.

An Amigox guided her to a table they'd set up by the holo-projector, and sat her down there. It put a metal bowl like device on her head, and began adjusting functions.

Tristan turned to his mother, "Have the other kids decided what they're going to do yet?" he asked.

Jackie nodded. "William, Josh, and Becky are going to go back to Earth."

"I can't say that I blame them. I don't ever want to be without you guys again." He told his mother, and father.

"Ditto." Jackie patted his arm.

"I told them what they could expect from the Feds when they got back, Poked, and prodded until they're black and blue." Michael shook his head. "But you're right; that didn't stack up against living without their folks."

"I sure am glad your mom is staying with us Penny." Tristan said.

Penny nodded, then she weakly voiced, "Poor dad. I hope the others get our messages to him."

Leena stepped over to them. "That's it. I guess I must not have much of a personality if that's all it took to unload it."

"It's a real fast machine Sis." Tristan assuaged her.

Penelope saw the technician preparing to close up the stasis crate it had been inspecting.

"Wait!" She remembered something. "Do any of you have a pencil, or a pen, and some paper?"

Michael fished around in his pockets and found a piece of paper, but he didn't have a pen. One of the Amigox technicians handed her a writing device.

Penny scribbled the note she'd read so long ago. 'Try the Early Bird Snow Peas.'

Tristan looked at her with a big happy smile, he remembered.

"We almost forgot!" Penny made big eyes, and giggled.

They all went to the disk and rode it up one last time. Tristan looked down on the home that they had found, and their younger selves would find again someday; and he knew he would miss it. Life would be totally different for them from then on. For the first time in a long time, they were not bound by their paradoxical destiny. They were free. The future now held only mystery.

\----------

Leena walked over to her friends that were leaving. "Sarah will guide you back to Earth after she gets back from helping team six return, and I'm coming along to see you off. Right now though, the Amigox are ready for you to record your messages."

They all tried to grin, but couldn't.

"Are you sure you won't change your minds and stay with us out here?" Leena tried one more time.

"I really miss my mom and dad." Becky started crying.

William and Josh turned away as they were welling up with tears too.

As soon as they were all done recording their messages for the future Tristan, and Penny; Sarah joined them, and they all shifted.

\----------

They each exchanged hugs one last time, before parting.

Becky was really a mess, and that made Leena start sobbing too.

"We're never going to see each other again, I know it." The little red haired girl said between sobs.

"Never is a long time Becky, we can try."

Becky had to run and stand away from her, as she was losing it.

Joshua said, "Wow. This is really it huh?"

Leena nodded, "Yeah, I guess so."

"So you're really going to live out here?"

She smiled at him.

"Cool!" He nodded.

Josh stepped aside as William took her hand. "The Universe can't be so big that we never bump into each other."

"I'm going to miss you." Leena's voice trembled

She wiped her eyes, and then he kissed her gently on her lips.

Leena trembled as she watched them get on the pedestals, and in the blink of a tearful eye they were gone.

"What if they get into trouble back there?" She asked Sarah.

"We'll check up on them from time to time, and if they ever need our help; I know a Break Kreel that may be able to help straighten things out."

Sarah activated the portal by herself, and then Leena stepped up and joined her.

"I think William may be right." Sarah smiled.

"How's that?" Leena was curious.

"I don't think the Universe is all that big of a place, but what do you say we go and find out?" Sarah grinned big, as the light sphere surrounded them.

"Yeah. Let's do that." Leena returned the grin just as they shifted.

Part two of the Fractured Worlds saga is now available on Amazon, and as a Kindle e-book. It is titled "Fractured Minds" by Alan VanMeter.

Part three is also available. It is titled "Fractured Souls" by Alan VanMeter.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alan VanMeter lives a very quiet life in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His passions in life are writing, Taoist philosophy, internal traditional Chinese martial arts, and contemplating the nature of the Universe. His favorite author has always been Arthur C. Clarke, who taught him love for all things astrophysical.

