Time......... (Part 8)

The leader stroked his chin in deep thought. "I can not satisfy your curiosity at the moment," he said at last.
"Why not? If you want us to help, we ought to at least know what's going on," Peter argued.
"Yes, I do not contradict you. But as it is, we know so little about you. You seem to be what we are needing here, but that doesn't mean you aren't spies."
"Spies!" Peter exclaimed. "How many times must we assure you that we aren't spies? And besides, time will be running out. If you need our assistance, the sooner we help you the sooner you can win your war, and we can go home."
"Go home? My dear boy! You don't seem to realize how impossible that is!"
"What do you mean?"
"If you think it is just a few of us in a metal space-fort against hundreds of other planets, than you are mistaken!"
"Hundreds of other planets? Your enemy is that wide-spread?" Peter's eyes widened.
"Our enemy? Don't you get what I am saying? It is your enemy, too, if what you have told me is the truth about yourselves."
"But how?" Peter's face showed his bewilderment. "the way you go on is enough to make a fellow confused!"
The leader looked at the men closest to him with a questioning look. Would they tell these boys more? They genuinely seemed confused. Either they were telling the truth, that they had come from the oblivious planet Earth, or they were very good actors.
"You are certain you aren't spies?" one of the men asked stupidly.
"Certain. In fact, give me your watch, Frank!" Peter took off his own watch, and Frank handed him his. Peter gave them to the leader. The leader looked at them a moment, then started up in astonishment.
"Fromere, come here! You must tell me if I'm seeing right!"
"Yes, sir," Fromere bounded over, and examined the watches. His eyes widened and he handed them to the another man. In no time, the watches were circulating around the room, and the hum of conversation rose in the air.
Kevin looked at Frank and Peter with a puzzled air, and leaned over to whisper in Peter's ear, "What's so big about your watches?"
"I don't know," Peter said, returning the gaze. "They broke during our traveling and the hands are spinning around, but why would that cause excitement?"
"The hands are spinning around?" Kevin asked with renewed interest.
"Um, yes. What of it?"
"The Prophecy of the Spinning Watch! Now it makes sense!"
"Prophecy of the Spinning Watch?" Frank asked. "It sounds like something out of an old detective book series my mom used to read!"
"What series was that?" Kevin asked.
"It was Nancy Drew and the Hardy Bo -"
"Don't! You always get us off topic!" Peter interrupted his friend. "Tell us more about the prophecy!"
"Um, okay. It went something like this:

'When trouble storms in galaxy,
And wars between the planets,
A surprising help will come to thee,
Faster in space than comets.

The unexpected will turn out the best,
So the amazing-machine will tell;
The spinning watch will say the rest,
Inside it's shining, metal shell.'

"There was more to it too, but I can't remember it," Kevin said ruefully.
"And they think we're the ones? The mysterious help?" Peter asked. He wondered why his voice was heard so clearly. Then it struck him that the room was silent, and everyone in it was observing him and Frank closely. He felt his face flush with embarrassment.
"Yes," Kevin said softly.
"I wonder that we hadn't seen it before," the leader broke in. "The 'amazing machine' is clearly your 'time' machine, as you called it. And the prophecy talks of a Liftun and a Sperring. We always assumed they were the names of spaceships."
"You knew my name then?" Peter asked astonished.
"Is your last name Sperring?"
"I should think 'twas!" Peter exclaimed.
Frank turned to Kevin, "You really did leave parts out of that!"
"But now, sir, if your convinced we aren't spies, would you explain some things to us now?"
"Convinced?" the leader choked. "I'm more than convinced! But we mustn't discuss things now. The emergency signal can be canceled, Fromere. But the word of these boys must not leak out! We can't have the enemy aware of this news!"
"Yes, sir!" Fromere saluted and left hurriedly.
"Kevin! Do hear what I say?"
"Of course, sir! I shan't say a word!" Kevin grinned. The leader eyed him suspiciously, but passed on.
"It is dinner time, so we will postpone conversation and plans for later." He dismissed the men, till the only ones remaining in the chamber were the three boys, Lady Elwes, and the leader.
"Kevin, since we can't risk you leaking information amongst the men, you will stay under close watch."
"Can't he stay with us?" Frank interjected. The leader raised his eyebrows.
"You want that trouble-maker hanging around you?"
"He's not a -"
"Yes, we do," Peter interrupted Frank.
The boys finally convinced the leader of their plan, and left for a private chamber for dinner, for, as the leader explained, they would excite suspicion by entering one of the main dining halls.

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