Time......... (Part 4)

The door swung open and a stately man looked in. He looked about thirty-five and had dark brown hair. His brown eyes investigated them only a minute before he spoke.
"What are you boys doing in here?" he asked.
"Ha, ha," Kevin laughed nervously, "just playing."
"Playing! In the emergency-hideout?" He grabbed Kevin and Frank's arms and pulled them out of the alcove and into the hallway. Peter hesitated a moment before following, but it was one moment too long; the man had hit the button on the hall again, and the door clanged shut. Peter was all alone in the dark recesses of the hole.
"What did you think you were doing?" the man demanded of Kevin and Frank.
"Let go of me, Holmes!" Kevin said stoutly.
"Don't you talk back to me! I don't care who your father is or -"
"Is? You mean 'was,' don't you?" Kevin looked him full in the face with a questioning look, and the man let go of the boys' arms in a hurry.
"Of course I meant 'was,' you little know-it-all! Now run along, and don't let me see you hanging out around, or in, emergency-hideouts again!" he half stammered, half yelled. He let go of their arms and hurried on his way.
"That's the third time it's happened," Kevin remarked in a low voice.
"I'm surprised! The way you talked about getting into mischief, I thought you'd gotten yelled at more times than -"
"No, not the scolding. I've gotten more of those than I can count! No, I was talking about that mess-up about my father," Kevin said, his last words fading to a whisper.
"Who was your father?" Frank whispered back.
"He - my, goodness! Where's Peter?" Kevin cried suddenly.
"Peter?" Frank looked about him hastily, but Peter was not in sight. "He must have been left in the hideout!"
"He must have. He must have hidden himself well in there. Let's hope anyways. Come on, let's go look for him!" Kevin dashed back down the hall to the hideout.

Peter ran his hands over the wall. "There must be another button to open the door in here somewhere," he thought. He couldn't remember which way the door had been, though he had kept his eyes on the spot for as long as he could. He was also feeling worried for Frank. Kevin would do his best to keep him safe, Peter was almost certain. But after hearing his uncle, and Kevin's own explanations, he doubted whether Kevin could intercede on Frank's behalf and have any positive effect.
Peter felt his finger jarr against a nail suddenly. It hurt, and he felt his finger grow warm and moist. "I must have cut it," he thought. Yet he didn't withdraw his finger, for he felt sure this was the nail that opened the door, and he must not loose it. He leaned against the wall, and pushed the nail in gently. The wall moved, quite suddenly, throwing him down on his hands. He blinked in the stream of light that met his eyes, and stood up quickly. The door shut behind him and he felt his face flush with sudden fear as he saw the room before him.
In it, there was a group of five men, seated around a large white table. The top of the table was made up of a computer screen, on which was displayed a map. It was over this map that the the men leaned. They looked up suddenly as Peter entered the room.
"Who are you?" the man who seemed to be the leader presented the question slowly and distinctly. He stood up, followed by the others surrounding the table. The men, who had looked worried when they first saw Peter, now advanced and one of them grasped Peter's arm tightly. "I repeat, who are you?"

Kevin and Frank searched the hideout thoroughly, but to no avail.
"I'm sorry, Frank," Kevin said. He clenched his fists. "I'm sure this is all my fault!"
"Maybe - maybe he found the way out, and - and is wandering around the halls or - or something," Frank stammered. He swallowed hard, and brushed a sleeve across his eyes.
"We can always look. Come on!" Kevin took Frank's hand. "We're not going to get separated no matter what!"
"No," Frank replied. They raced out of the hideout, and closed the door to it.
"Let's look this way," Kevin said. "It leads away from the direction we took, and if he had gotten out, he would have tried to get away from trouble if he could help it."
"Then you don't know Peter," Frank said. "He never backs out of danger. He charged into a group of thieves once, when they stole my bicycle."
"Bicycle?"
"Yeah, you know its' - forget it. My point was that he's brave. And he's loyal. He wouldn't leave me to my fate alone, as he's proven many times back on earth."
"Have you gone to earth before? I've always wanted to. I've heard it's a very pleasant place to live in."
"You mean - this isn't earth?" Frank said brokenly.
"No. You thought it was?"
"Yes. This is really great, a broken time-machine, a different planet, my best friend gone -"
"That last thing we can fix if we'd only get started on it. Which direction should we take?"
"I don't know. You know this place better than I do."
"But I don't know this wing very well. Uncle told me to stay out of here, and if I had to go into it, to stick to the main tunnel in here, and not to go into the emergency hideouts no matter what. Unfortunately....."
"Yeah, well, just choose some way to go, and let's get started! Peter doesn't know about forbidden tunnels or hideouts or anything. He could have gone anywhere!"
Kevin chose to go farther into the forbidden wing. "I'm positive Peter went this way. There's a gate further on, and it won't let you pass unless you know the code and how to type it in. If Peter went this way, he'll be stuck there. Or he won't be there at all, and we can determine that he went the other way," he explained as they began their search again.
"How do you know so much about this wing if you aren't allowed to come here?"
For answer, Kevin merely grinned, and Frank knew the answer. He was increasingly liking Kevin.
"What was it you were saying about your father?" Frank asked him and trudged on.
"That I'm doubting whether he's really dead," Kevin replied as casually as if he had just remarked about the number of spiders they saw on their way.
"When did he supposedly die?"
"When I was two years old. Uncle told me he was killed in a ship accident."
"Did it have a leak or something?"
"No, it just had a crash."
"And he drowned?"
"Drowned? No, they weren't in water or Melimp."
"What's Melimp, and don't all ships float in water?"
"You don't know anything, do you?" Kevin asked in an amazed tone. "Of course ships don't float in water! They float in air."
"Oh, you mean air ships I suppose."
"Air ships? Well, we don't exactly call them that. But haven't you ever heard of Melimp?"
"No."
"Oh, well. You meet some soon enough. But anyways, about my dad -"
"Yes?"
"I don't remember him at all, and I never doubted uncle's word. Until recently. Three people I've met have said 'he is' instead of 'was', and it makes me suspicious."
"Do you think your uncle lied to you?"
"I don't know why he would. Unless there's some thing about my dad he doesn't want me to know."
They remained silent after that, until they reached the gate. It was a large gate, that covered the whole empty space between the two walls it bridged between, leaving no crack through which one could peek. Two strips on either side of the gate were covered with controls and a small type-pad.
"That's where you type in the password," Kevin explained.
"It looks like Peter didn't come this way," Frank said.
"Yes," Kevin went over to the type pad. "I've tried cracking this before, but it's impossible!"
"Have you tried the word 'Melimp'?" Frank asked.
"Your kidding, right? Everyone knows about Melimp! Why it's as common as water!"
"I didn't know about Melimp," Frank protested.
"Okay," Kevin typed in the word. "Nope. Says it's and error."
"Try 'Melimp as common as water'," Frank dictated.
"Why?"
"Just for fun."
"Okay, here it goes."
"Great Scott!" Frank cried suddenly. The doors of the gate had opened.
"We got in!" Kevin cried in excitement. "How did you know what the password was?"
"I didn't. I was just making phrases up!"
"Come on! Let's go check it out!"
"What about Peter?" Frank asked.
"My word! I'd forgotten!" Kevin paused before the open gate, and peered in. "There appears to be some sort of large screen in there, like a large map. I think it's a blueprint of the whole fortress!"
"Right, so let's go!"
"No, this might enable us to find Peter!" Kevin was already going through the gate.
"I don't see how it could. Come on, Kevin! We can get back in after we find Peter!" Frank followed him to tug him out into the hall once more, but as he stood in the doorway, the gate began to close on him. He leaped in after Kevin, just in time. And there the two boys stood in the midst of the forbidden wing.

Copyright - 9/17/2008 - Curious Cognitive Content (CCC)
Please do not reproduce without permission from the author(ess).