by Amwhere » Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:49 am
"Why did they need it?" I asked.
"I don't know. I refused to give it to them."
"Good for you!" Mieu smiled at him.
Tim smiled weakly in return. "Thanks. After I refused, the man who brought me said "Dark Force" aloud and I felt... this evil surround me. Suddenly, I was surrounded by a warm, comforting light... and when it had vanished, I was in a forest next to a box."
"A box? What was in it?" I asked.
"I don't know. I guess I was in daze... I wandered off."
"Where you were captured by the bandits and we found you." I finished the story.
"That box may be important." Mieu said.
"Yes," I nodded. "Tim, do you remember anything about where you were when you... appeared on Palma?"
"I remember seeing a huge rock," he said.
I went over to the computer and displayed a picture of Giant's Rock, which was reasonably close to where the bandit's cave was. "Does this look like it?" I rotated the picture around so he could see the rock from all angles.
"I think. I'm sorry... I can't remember exactly."
"Don't be sorry. It's somewhere to start." Mieu said.
"We can track your tracks back to the box," I said. "That might take awhile to find your tracks, though, depending how close you got to the rock." I shut the computer down. "Are you up to coming with us tomorrow?"
He nodded.
"I guess I'll need to go out. We'll need food, silverware, plates, more glasses, toiletries... humans make things so complicated!" I grinned at Tim. "You can help Mieu sort out the furniture, or you can just rest. I'll be back."
September 13th, 3086, Mission High School
"Tim cried himself to sleep that night. There wasn't much Mieu and I could do to help him. The next morning..."
April 15th, AW 1276, Mieu and Miun's House
The bacon sizzled away as Mieu dealt with the eggs. I sat on the couch, watching the morning news, There wasn't anything noteworthy, except for the large rainstorm that would be moving in later today.
"Maybe we should wait for tomorrow. We don't want Tim to get sick." Mieu said from the kitchen.
"I bought him a jacket, sleeping bag, and a weather proof tent yesterday," I replied. "He'll be fine."
"Good thing I cooked enough food last night for a three day search," Mieu said.
"I offered to buy pre made stuff, you know. You didn't have to make enough for us, either."
"I know," Mieu checked the biscuits in the oven, "but it gave me something to do."
Tim came shuffling into the living room, wearing the pajamas I had bought him. "Good morning," he yawned.
"Did we wake you?" I said, "You can go back to sleep if you want, it's only seven in the morning."
"It's OK," he sat down next to me. "What smells so good?"
"Bacon, eggs, and homemade biscuits," Mieu said.
Tim didn't say anything at first, but a second later, he blurted out, "Bacon? From a pig?"
"What else?" Mieu said, sounding a little confused.
"But... pigs are from Earth," Tim said. "I had a pot bellied pig when I was little."
"You'll recognize a lot of things that are from Earth, I believe," I said. "But the pig is an interesting case - it was here on Palma before the Earthmen arrived. Like humans, cows, and chickens, it doesn't share a common ancestry with anything else on the planet."
"Enough with the history lesson, Miun!" Mieu joked as she brought the food out to the living room table. "Breakfast is served."
"This is good," Tim mumbled with his mouth full.
"Thank you," Mieu said.
I swallowed my bite of the salty bacon and set my fork down. "You have any idea what's in that box, Tim?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
"Miun," Mieu said as I spread some butter on a warm biscuit, "shouldn't you let Pyre know what we're going to do?"
"Yeah, we should." I replied. "I can't think of a way to let Pyre know on the phone without any outside ears getting suspicious. We'll have to go tell Jager - he's got a secure line to General Pyre."
We finished breakfast and Tim got dressed. "Before we leave, " I said to him, "can you sit down for a minute?"
He sat down, a questioning look on his face.
I sat next to him. "I have something very important to tell you," I said to him firmly, "so please listen. Outside this house, you cannot, under any circumstances, speak about who we all are."
He nodded.
"All three of our livelihoods depend on our secrets being kept: The Earthmen would probably love to get their hands on you, my very existence is illegal, and Mieu's existence is legal only by a thread."
"What would happen if your secret got out?" He asked.
"The law says we'd get shipped off Palma - probably to Motavia or Dezoris." I answered. "However, if the Earthmen found out, they have enough influence to make us both 'disappear'. That isn't all that important, because our secret won't get out, will it?"
Tim shook his head emphatically.
"Good. Now, I am a 25 year-old Army Colonel. Yes, I know I look a bit younger than that, but that's what my ID says. Mieu is a regular cyborg, so treat her like it."
"Don't worry, I won't be offended." Mieu said. "I'm used to it."
"And you're my cousin that has come to live with me because..." I really didn't want to say it, but it was the truth, and the truth is easier to keep, "your parents have died." I saw it on his face that it hit home, but he held himself together. "Got it?"
He nodded.
"Let's get going."
We drove to the base. Mieu and Tim waited in the car as I went into headquarters. "I'm here to see Commandant Jager," I told the secretary.
The secretary motioned to Jager's office door. "Go right on ahead."
I opened Jager's door slowly. To my absolute surprise, everything seemed normal. Jager wasn't even wearing a large hat!
My hopes of normalcy were dashed when the commandant held up a sign saying, "Take a paper and pen. They are listening." I wrote my plans down on a piece of paper and handed it to. He scribbled back, "I'll let General Pyre know. Good luck."
I walked back outside and climbed back into the car. "Do you need something to do back there?" I asked Tim, "It's going to be a fairly long drive."
"No, I'll be fine." He said.
It took us over two hours before Giant's Rock appeared off in the distance. I had kept my eye on Tim the entire drive. He had seemed to be lost in thought, and I let him be. "Hang on," I said as I prepared to turn the light buggy off the road. "This will be bumpy!"