Time......... (Part 10)

"Edmund! Come to dinner, please!"
"Yeah, I"ll take out the garbage in a minute!" the answer came back.
Edmund's mother put her hands on her hips and puzzled over her son's reply. "Not the garbage, dinner!"
"Okay, mom, sure."
Mom rolled her eyes. What was wrong with Edmund today? She knocked on his bedroom door and waited for an answer.
"Hi," was all that came to her ears.
"Ed, can I come in?"
"Yeah, that sounds good," the answer was without inflection and the tone one of total ignorance to that which was happening around him.
Mom entered the room and found him sitting on the floor with his laptop between his knees and an extremely serious expression on his face.
"What's wrong, homework?" mom asked.
"What?" Edmund looked up with surprise. "Oh, what do you want, mom?" he shut the laptop closed with a guilty expression.
"I asked if you were having trouble with your homework. I was calling you for dinner, and you didn't seem to hear me."
"No, I didn't. Sorry." Edmund stood up and shoved his laptop underneath a pile of papers. "But I've heard now," he grinned.
He was pleasant enough at dinner, but he seemed to be very vague and distracted. Mom decided that it was definitely homework that was troubling him.

Frank rolled over in his sleep. Why was the bed so hard? He woke up with a start and realized he was lying on the floor. Peter saw him stand up.
"What's wrong, Frank?" he whispered.
"The beds here are too narrow. That's the second time I've rolled off of it!"
"I expect you'll get used to it," Peter smiled.
"I'm not so sure," Frank replied. He looked around the narrow bedroom. The two rows of bunks that lined two of the walls were occupied by several soldiers. The only thing it lacked was some light. And fresh air. But when you show up unexpectedly, you took whatever you were given, not daring to complain for fear of something worse. And they had been promised a better room tomorrow night.
One of the soldiers stirred in his sleep. If he was asleep. Frank had a feeling the soldiers were only pretending. Unless they were very deep sleepers.
"Go to sleep, Frank," Peter mumbled sleepily.
"I can't see which way by my bed is," Frank said. "Holler out and I might be able to locate the general direction."
"I'm making enough sound, aren't I?" Peter continued in a whisper. One of the soldiers smothered a cough. Frank sighed, and with a shrug that no one could see, felt around the room till he found his bed again. But he didn't fall asleep.
"Pete, you know, we still don't know what this whole fort is here for. And Pete, why were we a part of a prophecy yet couldn't do what they need most? Pete?"
"Shut up!" Peter hissed between his teeth.

The leader still sat at his desk, his thoughts whirling through his head. Everything had gone wrong today. First the two boys show up and confuse everything. Then they raise hopes by producing spinning-watches, and making everyone believe they were the ones spoken about in the prophecy. But how in the galaxy could they do anything to help?
True, the boy could build a fast-traveling machine - that is, if what he had told them was true. And yes, one of them could guess passwords. But what good were those strange gifts? And was the prophecy indeed true? What if the boys were intruders that knew about the prophecy and were just faking it?
And why did Kevin have to get himself tangled up in everything? Because Kevin...was...Kevin. A smile flashed temporarily across his face. Kevin's father was a real mischief-maker too.
But his affair about the computer. Who had broken into it, and what had they seen?
The leader groaned and rubbed his aching head. He rose from his seat, looking pale and haggard. What good was asking the unanswerable when what he really needed was more sleep?

Edmund scanned the files again. "What's all this about Nagar?" he wondered.
"The Nagars's plans were discovered earlier today," a file dated two years ago, read. The captured plans were attached to the document. Edmund scanned them quickly, gasping with alarm.
The strategy was simple, or at least it appeared so. The tactic was to attack and defeat the hundreds of planets in Andromeda. They appeared to want to take over the Galaxy, or at least a large portion of it. But it was evident that Limblon was in the way, and was preventing the rest of the plan from working out. But it was clear from these plans, too, that they were trying to concoct some sort of a space-craft that could reach planet Earth in much less time. Earth apparently had great resources they could use.
"This is a joke," Edmund muttered, "Who ever heard of Andromeda being inhabited? And why would they take interest in Earth of all planets in all galaxies? It might have great resources, but could it actually be that much use to them?"
It could, so all the plans said. And then came a portion about some anciet prophecy being fulfilled by certain people from Earth, and how it must be stopped from coming to pass.
"This is weird," he said out loud.
"What's weird, dear?" mom came into the room. She had been keeping a close eye - and ear - on her son; he was acting so strange.
"Um, just something - I was -reading," he stuttered.
"I see. Tell me if you need help with it."
"What?"
"With your homework."
"Oh, okay," Ed grinned sheepishly as his mom turned away. He looked back at the screen. Everything was looking choppy, and the graphics were even worse. He couldn't click on any files; an error message kept popping up. "Someone knows I've been on their computer, and there trying to stop me," he thought. A firewall was blocking him out now.
"Oh, come on, you thing!" he sighed. After a couple of tries, he managed to break through the firewall. He pulled up a document, and typed a sentence, then saved it. Whoever owned the computer would have to try hard in order to overlook the document. Which mean they would read it, and that was just what he wanted.

Peter sat back in his chair and pondered what he had heard. "So Nagar is convinced it can actually undertake a job like conquering a galaxy?"
"Yes, and it has been fairly successful. Until they got to us. We were warned ahead of time that they planned attacking us next, and to evacuate the citizens, and organize a fort of some sort," the leader said.
"I see. But why is it so interested in Earth, too?"
"Because they know the prophecy," Fromere interjected.
"Yeah they know it better than we do," Frank hinted.
"But what does the prophecy have to do with Earth?" Peter asked.
"The prophecy says that the people who will save Andromeda will come from Earth. No one knows how, or how many, or anything," the leader replied.
"How will people like us from little Earth save a big galaxy?" Peter said, overtaken suddenly with an awe of the bigness of outer space.
"It has long been thought that Earth was a blessed place. It is unlike any other place discovered thus far, and it is believed that all life originated from it."
"How did people get to Andromeda then?"
The leader pressed his lips together in deep thought. "I didn't mean for this to be a history lesson," he said at last. "All you need to know is that we have a fearful enemy who wants control of the galaxy and of Earth, and you will probably encounter many fights here. As far as history goes, everyone in Andromeda came from Earth, and I don't have time for other details at the moment."
"Yes, sir," Peter replied. His eyes glittered with excitement. And perhaps a hint of pride. After Earth had been talked so poorly of, it was comforting to note that the leader actually admitted having originated from that planet. But how had they gotten to Andromeda?
His thoughts were interrupted by rapid knocking at the door.
"Who on earth could that be?" Frank wondered aloud. The leader glared at him.
"We aren't on Earth, so will you please keep your remarks to yourself. Let whoever it is in, Fromere."
"Yes, sir." Fromere rose to answer the door. Peter guessed he was the leader's right-hand man, because he seemed to always be around him.
"Why do people always seem to come in the middle of conversation?" Peter said softly. Kevin grinned at him.
"It's normal. You'll get used to it," he replied in a low tone.
The visitor was one of the men from the ITC (Information and Technology Chamber), and was there to give the updates on the hacker-situation.
"He broke through the firewall, sir. But that isn't all. He left behind a line, to."
"A line? What kind of a line?"
"A line of words, you know."
"Ah. What do they say?"
" 'If you guys are writing a Science-Fiction novel, I suggest using a stronger security system; someone could steal your ideas.' "
"That's all?"
"Yes, sir."
"Remarkable!" the leader scratched his head thoughtfully. He turned towards Peter and asked in a low tone, "What is a Science-Fiction novel?"
"A type of story, sir," Peter smirked.
"Does this know-it-all suggest a stronger system?" the leader asked of the messenger.
"No, sir. And I've no idea how to contact him."
"Leave him a document and see if he replies," the leader said. "Now, then. We've got work to be done. Peter, I wanted you to fix that machine; our robots have written the plans of it, but since it is needing repair, the plans are slightly messed-up."

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