THIS STORY IS COPYRIGHT © 2007-2024 BY TARON W.. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DISTRIBUTION FOR COMMERCIAL GAIN, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, POSTING ON SITES OR NEWSGROUPS, DISTRIBUTION AS PARTS OR IN BOOK FORM (EITHER AS A WHOLE OR PART OF A COMPILATION) WITH OR WITHOUT A FEE, OR DISTRIBUTION ON CD, DVD, OR ANY OTHER ELECTRONIC MEDIA WITH OR WITHOUT A FEE, IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S WRITTEN CONSENT. YOU MAY DOWNLOAD ONE (1) COPY OF THIS STORY FOR PERSONAL USE; ANY AND ALL COMMERCIAL USE EXCEPTING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS REQUIRES THE AUTHOR'S WRITTEN CONSENT.
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An Early Note From The Author:
Hi Faithful readers,
You may notice a slight difference in this chapter. I've been writing each chapter up until now in three parts. I don't really know why I've done this as it didn't make a lot of sense, but I started doing it and kept on. I've decided to discontinue this, so for this chapter and the following chapters, I will simply write the story, with line breaks where appropriate. I don't figure this will cause much confusion, most of you probably never noticed the parts anyways, but if it does confuse someone I apologize. If you like the parts better let me know and I will take returning them into consideration. For now, I just don't see the point in them, so they're gone. Thanks for following our crew on their many adventures, Let me know what you think of the change, whether it be good, bad, or huh? You had parts? Just drop me a line at the email address listed above. And now, on with the show.
Excerpt from Chapter 7:
Kyle woke up in the morning, still a little tired. He wasn't sure what had awakened him, until he heard another crash from somewhere deeper in the ship. He jumped out of bed and grabbed a blaster out of his closet. Terry woke up too and quickly made his way out of the room, following Kyle. They met Odey and Sepi on the way to the mess hall, where the sounds had been emanating, before they had stopped. They ran into the doc in the hall, hair wild and eyes still sleepy. Another crash came from the mess hall. If they were all here what could be going on? Hugh had said nothing the entire time. Suddenly he appeared just outside the door of the mess hall as a hologram. Kyle had almost fired before he realized it was him.
"I tried to tell him not to get up, but he's almost as stubborn as a few other boys I know. He wouldn't listen," said Hugh, "Maybe he'll listen to the doc."
"Who?" Kyle asked, realizing as he did that it could only be one person. They all walked into the galley and there at the table sat Zeke, naked as the day he was born and holding a bowl in his hand. Kyle made a noise and the boy turned around and looked at the audience that had arrived.
Zeke looked at them all with an embarrassed grin and said, "Oh, sorry lads, didn't mean to wake you up, but I woke up starving to death and I couldn't find a bloody spoon in this place."
To be continued ...
Chapter 8
Dr. Abernathy was the first person able to act. The others just stood around looking at Zeke like he was a ghost. The mark his brother had left on his stomach had barely healed. It looked ready to pop back open at any time. Yet here he stood, In the middle of the mess hall, as if nothing had happened.
"Ezekiel, just what do you think your doing?" Dr. Abernathy looked tired and grumpy, apparently he was not a morning person, "I didn't spend all that time fixing you up so that you could go and drop your guts out over a bowl of cereal! Get your ass back to that medpod immediately. There's a button to push if you need anything. Next time use your brain. An injury like that is serious. These boys have been worried sick about you, and this is how you repay them, by trying to injure yourself even more. Get back to the sickbay before I find a spoon and stick it so far up your ..."
"Doc," Kyle turned to the doc and gave him a grin, "Thanks. Why don't you take Zeke here back to the sickbay and strap him down good and tight, and I'll find him something to eat."
"Sorry mates, I really feel fine, didn't mean to cause such a fuss. I'll go right back to the sickbay, on my honor." The boy went to take a step, and almost collapsed, he would have fallen if Odey hadn't stepped up right then and caught him. "Wow I guess I'm a bit lighter headed than I thought."
"Here Odey, give him to me," The command in doc's voice left no room for argument, "I'll drag him back to the sickbay. Kyle, just get him some juice and maybe some cream of rice, that would be nice and easy to digest, nothing more solid than that. He took a good blow to his stomach, hell it's a good thing he couldn't find a spoon, that cereal probably would have killed him." Doc turned and started out of the room, dragging Zeke along with him. Zeke's arm was thrown over the Doc's shoulder and Zeke's feet were barely touching the ground. The boys could hear him grumbling for quite a way about a certain ungrateful whelp, and something about it being way too early in the morning. Everything caught up with the boys then and they all began to laugh.
Kyle went scrounging in the kitchen, and got the juice and the cream of rice for Zeke, Hugh told him that coffee would probably be a good thing to take along if they wanted to get back in the doctors good graces after this morning, so Kyle loaded everything up on a tray, including a large mug of coffee for the Doc, and took off for the sickbay.
Terry, Odey, and Sepi, stayed in the galley. Terry began whipping up some serious breakfast. The boys had a long day ahead of them, and they wanted to make sure they had enough energy to make it through. Just as the eggs were going in the pan, Kyle came back in to the galley.
"Man the doc sure isn't someone I want to make mad; he was really laying into Zeke. He threatened to paralyze him from the nose down until he healed, if he did anything like that again." Kyle slipped up behind Terry and pulled him into a hug, "So what smells so good in here?"
"The eggs just hit the pan, so I haven't even really started cooking yet, you shouldn't smell anything." Terry giggled and whisked the eggs into the pan.
"Oh, It must just be you then," Kyle sniffed right in Terry's ear, "Yup it's you," He began to nibble Terry's Ear, "I got my breakfast boys, find something for yourselves."
Odey covered Sepi's eyes and giggled, "Get a room you two!"
"What a good idea, come along lover boy." Kyle grinned and spun Terry around to kiss him. Terry smacked him with his whisk.
"Not now horn dog, I have a crew to feed, and you have a morning report to read. I'll call you when breakfast is ready." Terry smacked him with the whisk again just for good measure.
"Alas, a captain's work is never done," Kyle turned with a bow and headed off to his office. He ruffled Odey's hair, and gave Sepi a good scratching on his way by. Terry went back to cooking as Odey and Sepi played around for a while. Kyle made his way down to his office for his morning report.
"Okay Ajax, back to business. How is the ship this morning? Is she still in one piece?" Kyle moved over to his desk as he looked up at the COM screen where Ajax began to appear.
"Yes Sir, the ship is operating within normal parameters; the fuel cells we acquired on the Sillerion Space Station have been loaded and stored. There are more than enough to get us to Earth safely and we have extra in case we have to make any side trips on the way. Food stuffs have also been loaded and stored, we will need to pick up some more of them, because they don't last forever like the fuel cells. The new passenger has a room standing by when the Doctor is done with him. The Doctor has requested a list of items be ordered at the next station, things he believes our sickbay needs in order to function properly. With your approval, I will place an order for them and have them standing by when we arrive."
A list came up on Kyle's datapad, most of it was over his head, but he had come to trust the doc and figured he wouldn't go wrong by them. After all, if the Doc was to disembark at the next station, they would need everything they could use, for the medbot to do its job properly. He approved the list and Ajax placed the order.
"Also, the Doctor has asked for your permission to use the replication units to create some parts so he can assemble some more med bots, and anything else he might need."
"That sounds fine Ajax, Give him clearance, and set him up with the temporary access he needs, also get him logged in as acting ships medical officer. With him getting off at the next stop, it's not necessary to make him a full crew member, but I want him to have the access he needs to do his job while he is on board. Is there anything else?" Kyle spun around in his chair, it made him a bit dizzy, but it was a fun way to pass the report time.
"There is one more thing sir. The data streams you have me analyzing from the planet Earth. I can tell you many things about the data, the processes it goes through, the transfer protocols, and even the contents, perhaps faster than anyone else on the ship, but I don't think that's actually what you're looking for. I don't believe I can complete the task in a suitable fashion." The emotionless look on Ajax face proved he was being completely honest and truthful as always.
Kyle stopped to think on that for a bit. He had asked Ajax to look through the data streams and to see if the planet was a good place for them to go. He never thought about the fact that Ajax wouldn't really know what he wanted him to look for. He knew the technology was behind theirs, but improving, he knew the planet was habitable, and the gravity levels and atmosphere levels were almost exactly like that of Anderon, perhaps a bit more polluted, but not inhospitable. What Kyle really wanted to know about, was the people there, what they were like? It never occurred to him that the Artificial Intelligence, with his lack of emotions, might not be able to get a feel for the people of the planet. If Ajax couldn't do it, who could he get to monitor the streams? Kyle thought on it for a while completely forgetting Ajax.
"I can prepare you a report on the data I have gathered if you would like captain." Kyle jumped when Ajax reminded him he was there.
"That would be fine Ajax, and thank you for your help, I will figure out someone to take over the assignment." He spun in his chair some more, thinking about this new problem.
"Thank you sir, Anything else you need from me this morning?"
"No I think that will be all Ajax, thank you for the report. If I need anything else I know where to find you." Kyle grinned at the screen as Ajax vanished.
Kyle picked up his datapad to begin looking over the report Ajax had compiled. Most of it was senseless numbers and statistics, none of which helped him. He was just about to pull up the streams himself for a while when his door buzzed.
"Enter if you dare." Kyle turned to the door to see who it was. As the door opened, Odey and Sepi came in and walked up to his desk.
"Terry sent us to tell you breakfast was ready and wanted to know if you were coming to the mess hall or if you wanted us to bring you something here." Odey picked Sepi up and scratched his ears as he gave Kyle Terry's message.
"No need to bring it here, I'll be down there in a minute." Kyle was still thinking on who to drop this job on when the obvious choice hit him; he was in the room with him. "Odey, have you gotten the security office all set up to your liking?"
"Sure, it's kinda neat having my own desk, although I haven't really needed it yet."
"Well that is about to change. As our head of security, I need you to start looking in to this Earth place. If we're going to live there, I want to know what kind of people there are there. I need to know if it is going to be a safe and accepting home for us. I think that falls under your job description, keeping us safe. We have some data streams coming off of the planet that I need looked over. There is a lot of data, but I really just need an overview. I want you to sample any of the data you can find there, pull it up, get with Ajax if you can't read a stream, he can either show you what you need to read it, or decrypt it for you to make it work on what you have. I want to know what these people are like. Can you do that for me?" Kyle looked up at Odey; showing that he had confidence in the young boy.
"Sure captain! I've been waiting for something to do. Thanks; you won't regret it."
"I'm sure I won't Odey, I have complete faith in you. Don't spend all your time on this though, you're still just a kid and I want you to have fun too. Just work on this when you can." Kyle stood up as he finished saying this, only to be tackled by Odey as he rushed to give him a hug.
"Thanks Kyle, you can count on me!" The grin on Odey's face let Kyle know he had made the right choice. He patted Odey's head and hugged him back.
"Okay kiddo lets' go get some grub before Terry eats it all."
"He cooked enough for an army! If he eats it all, you're gonna have a fat husband." Odey let go of Kyle and bolted for the door, as if he didn't believe his own words about the amount of food. Kyle laughed both at Odey's enthusiasm and the thought of Terry with a gut. He hustled after the boy and the kitten, hoping there was enough food left when those two got done.
Kyle entered the mess hall in time to hear Odey telling Terry all about his new assignment. Kyle had to laugh again at the boy's enthusiasm. They sat down to what looked like a mountain of food. Kyle loaded up his plate as he heard Terry go on the com to the Doc and tell him to hustle to the mess hall if he wanted any breakfast. Kyle caught bits of the Doc's reply, some things about tying down a patient, the hunger of boys, and a barely veiled threat to the lives of any and all who ate his share. Apparently the coffee hadn't been enough to get the Doc happy again after their rude awakening that morning.
Kyle made sure the boys left enough food for the Doc. He didn't want to be on his bad side. They all began to eat as if they hadn't eaten in a week. Doc entered the feeding frenzy at some point with a grin he tried to hide. He sat down to his food and began to eat, the boys had pretty much cleaned up anything they hadn't left for him, and he noticed a few stray looks towards his plate. He held his fork ready to defend his breakfast from any straying hands. Sepi looked up from his bowl and gave a very unfeline burp. The boys died laughing and the whole room was chaos. Doc just grinned, downed the last of his coffee and his last piece of bacon and stood.
"If you guys are done laughing like loons, the patient would like some company other than mine today. Apparently I am too old to be any fun. So if anyone would like to stop by and see him it would be appreciated." The boys pulled themselves together and started to clean up the mess.
"Sure thing Doc, I wanted to talk to him some today anyway. It would be good if we all took some time to visit with Zeke today." Kyle dropped the dishes he was carrying into the desynthesizer, they vanished instantly.
"Cool, I've wanted to talk to him too," Terry walked up and put his arm around Kyle, "I'll go with you."
"Sepi wants to see him too. He says he seems like an interesting biped. I'll go with him later. Right now I need to get started on my assignment!"
"Sure thing squirt, I'll show you how to access the feeds and then Terry and I will go see our newest shipmate. Come on." Kyle gave Odey a swat on the butt and they both headed for the door, Kyle paused at the door and turned to look at Terry. "Coming?"
"Na I'll let you get him set up, I want to go on down to the sickbay. I'll keep Zeke company till you get there." Terry walked over to Kyle and gave him a kiss, then they went their separate ways in the hall, Kyle followed Odey to the security office, and Terry and the Doc went to the sickbay.
Kyle's jaw dropped as they entered the security office. He had been down to this part of the ship once before, when they had teleported Odey to one of the holding cells. The brig was just off of the security office. You had to pass through the office to access it. When he had been here before, the place had been just an empty office. Now it was different. Odey wasn't lying when he said he had it set up. There was a whole array of weapons on the wall, and shelves had been set up holding any and every kind of security tool you could think of. One set of shelves held different types of binding devices, while others had everything from spy gear to code crackers for unlocking sealed doors. The place was truly fully stocked, but the thing that set Kyle's jaw on the floor was the desks. Odey had four desks, not one, set in a square. There was a small pathway into the center and in the center was one chair. All of the desks except the one in front had two data consoles, all were set up with all the equipment one could want.
"What the hell? Are you planning to have a huge staff or something? We don't need that much security." Kyle was still trying to get over the shear amount of electronics simply lying on the desks, why would they need that much stuff?
"Oh, that's for me." Odey walked over to his chair and sat down.
"And you need six computers, why?"
"Well I started out with one, I had never used a computer before, so I had Hugh teach me how. We spent an hour or so learning all the basics, and it was easy. I started working on it but I got bored and wanted to play a game too, so I set up another and played my game on it while I worked on the other, but then I needed to run a tutorial program for a different system I was playing with, so I needed a third ..."
"Wait, wait, wait, You were doing this all at once? How?" Kyle couldn't believe that anyone could pay attention to that many things at once. Odey just looked at Kyle quickly and then proceeded to grow four more arms.
"It's easy, watch." Odey powered on all the machines and went to town. Kyle had never seen anything like it. All 6 consoles were blurs of information. On one, Odey was editing the program components for the security sensors on the Destiny; on another, he was typing his log, a third was a mass of laser blasts as Odey played through a game. Kyle was impressed to see he never got hit and almost never missed, on the other three consoles, he had the Destiny's flight plan, a scan running to check for dangerous conditions along the flight path, and a news program was searching for any possible threats. Odey's eyes simply flicked from one screen to another as his 6 arms blurred across the interfaces. "All you have to do is keep up with the computers, it's easy. Okay so the extra arms do help a bit," He grinned as he said that, but never stopped all the things he was doing, "but I could still use all six without the arms, just not as quick. Hugh was impressed too."
"Impressed is an understatement kiddo," Kyle walked into the square and sat back on the one desk that didn't have consoles on it, "So what's this one for? You gonna try eight next?"
Odey giggled and turned to look at Kyle, "No silly, that's for when I have someone to talk to, they sit on the other side, and I sit in here, just like a regular desk. And It's where I color." Odey nodded towards the wall and Kyle saw lots of pictures Odey had been coloring. He realized they were out of a coloring book he and Terry had used when they were kids.
"Where did you get these?"
"Hugh gave the book to me, right after I got here. He said you and Terry had outgrown it. It's almost out of pictures. Can I get another at the next station? I like coloring, it's a lot of fun."
Kyle stood there looking at the pictures and thought back to all the fun times he and Terry had shared making pictures for one another, he didn't even hear Odey's question until Odey repeated his name a time or two.
"What?" Kyle shook his head to clear it and looked at Odey to see him holding a coloring book that was down to a page or two left.
"I asked If I could get another book at the next station we go to, this one is almost out of pictures."
"Oh, sure! No problem, you're welcome to get a new book, but that one isn't almost out." Kyle held his hand out and Odey handed him the thinning book.
"It's not?"
"Nope, watch," Kyle flipped the book over and opened the back cover there was a small keypad there, Kyle hit a few buttons and then sat the book down on the desk. Odey's eyes got big as the book grew back to full. "See good as new, and they will all be new pictures, Now if you need six books to go with the six arms, then we need to get some more." Kyle grinned down at Odey.
"Wow that's neat. What did you do?"
"When it gets low just type the word Terry into the keypad on the back. It's an ever color book, so it never runs out of pictures for you to color. Terry and I about wore the thing out when we were younger, but dad is right, We've outgrown it and I think it is great it's getting some use. Heck, Terry and I might come down and color with you someday."
"That would be cool!" Odey rushed over to Kyle and gave him a big hug. After he pulled back he grabbed Kyle by the hand and pulled him over to the computers. "How do I get to the Earth stuff?"
"Here I'll show you. Can I use one of your computers or do I need to synthesize one of my own?"
Odey giggled and punched Kyle in the arm then pointed to the console on the far right. "Use that one."
Kyle spent the next hour showing Odey around the data streams. He showed him the stuff he had found the few times he had gotten on them, especially the places he had liked. One place stood out to him, so he showed Odey how to access it. It was a home for stories and poems. Many of them had made Kyle feel warm inside. He showed Odey a place called jeffsfortboard.com.
"See I liked this place, the board is apparently a place where people can talk about everything from the stories and poems, to their feelings, likes and dislikes. I haven't messed with the board much, but at the top, you can navigate to these other streams. They lead you to different places in this group. Each place has stories or poems, or other neat things on it. Lots of places on this stream they call the Internet are set up like this, but this is the one I like best so far." Kyle clicked a few of the links and showed Odey the different sites.
"Hey this is cool, I'll have to read them soon, but I think I should get on this compound place and meet some people, that way I can get to know what the Earth people are really like. I can talk to them and see if they are friendly."
"That's a good idea. I declare you our ambassador to Earth." Kyle grinned as he picked up a long stick from one of the shelves and tapped Odey on either shoulder with it.
"Sepi too," Odey said as seriously as could be, "He wants to help me so can he be ambassador too?"
"Sure thing. Where is he?" A sudden weight landed on Kyle's shoulder. "Ahh! Would you stop that! I hate it when you go around invisible like that!" The spangler kitten appeared out of thin air on Kyle's shoulder. "It sure has gotten quiet around here since you stopped talking through the COM."
Odey started giggling, "He says he doesn't need to talk to you uncivilized folk when he has me. I think he's kidding though." He shrugged his shoulders as if unsure.
"Okay deputy Sepi, you are now assistant ambassador to Earth as well, can you use a console?" The claws in his shoulder told Kyle his sarcasm wasn't appreciated.
"No Captain Goofus, but I can talk through Odey." Odey looked up at Sepi really quick and then at Kyle, "I didn't say that! He did I promise!" Odey looked worried, but Kyle just laughed.
"Well that's an interesting new skill. The cat can throw his voice. Oww!" Kyle grabbed his shoulder as Sepi launched off of it at high speed without holding in his claws one hundred percent.
"The CAT is hungry so the CAT is going to find something to eat biped." Odey was talking but it was clear Sepi had stepped in again. He spat the word cat out like an insult. Odey blinked and then looked at Sepi, "Would you stop that! You can use the COM you know, you don't have to make me say what you want."
Sepi's voice came from the COM, "I know, but it's so much more fun to talk through you. Well I'm off to scrounge up some food, see ya." Sepi's last words came from the COM as the spangler disappeared once again.
Kyle rubbed his shoulder for a bit and then turned to Odey. "When did he start being able to make you talk?"
"He figured it out yesterday, before that we just talked in our heads, but yesterday he thought hard enough to make me say it. He thinks it's hilarious. I can make him talk too, but it's not the same cause he just meows."
Kyle laughed and turned for the door, "I'll let you get to work, Have fun kiddo."
"Thanks Kyle, you know, for everything. Thanks for trusting me with this job too."
"Anytime squirt." He flashed Odey a grin and slid out the door.
"So how long does he have left in that thing Doc?" Terry walked over to the window in the Doc's office that looked in on the sickbay.
"Oh, not too long actually. He's recovering remarkably quickly. I'd say in a week or less there will be nothing left of the injury but a scar and some sore muscles."
"That's good to hear," Terry saw Zeke starting to stir, "Looks like the sedative you gave him this morning is wearing off."
The doc turned and looked out the window and saw Zeke trying to sit up, but the straps held him down, "Ahh yes, I guess we should go keep him calm, He's going to be a bit upset about the whole being tied down thing."
They both turned and walked out the door that led from doc's office to the sickbay. Zeke heard them come in and turned to look over in their direction.
"Come on mates, this isn't funny. I promised to be good! Next thing I know the Doc over there pokes me in the arse with a needle and its lights out, and now this! I won't get out of bed again until you say I can, so get these bloody things off me." He paused for a second, giving one more tug at the restraints before adding, "Please?"
The Doc looked him over, barely hiding the grin, "What do you think Terry? Should we let him go? I think he's fine all tied up like a goose, but your in command here."
Terry caught on to the joke right away, the puppy dog eyes Zeke was shooting his way only helped him to play along, "Well I'm not sure. Technically this is a medical situation, He could be a danger to himself, and as acting ship's medical officer that would make it your decision, I think he is fine like he is though. No more early morning wakeup calls that way." Terry grinned back at the doc as Zeke's face fell.
"Well, if it's my decision then I guess we can let him go," Zeke's face brightened up at doc's statement, and he grinned as he realized they had been just messing with him, "If he promises to behave himself and stay in bed."
"I swear on my honor! I will be a good boy and stay in bed, and listen to all the doc's orders all respectful like."
"Good," The doc walked over to the bed and pressed a button and all the straps slipped off of Zeke and retracted into the bed, "Then if Terry will leave us for a second, I will check your wound and see how you're doing today."
"Sure thing Doc, I'll just step outside. Call me when you're done." Terry walked over to the door and went out.
Kyle came out from the security office and his father appeared beside him.
"God Dad, don't do that! You scare the hell out of me when you just appear like that. Oh and hi." Kyle rubbed his chest to try and slow down his racing heart. He loved that his dad was still able to be with him, but the whole computer thing took some getting used to. When his dad would project his image it was like he was still alive and well, only Kyle couldn't touch him, or hug him. It was like he was there, only not. Recently Hugh had taken to just appearing whenever and wherever he wanted to, instead of coming through a door or something to give the kids some kind of warning. He was like a genie, poof there he was.
"He really is impressive on those computers, isn't he? Can you believe before he joined the crew, he had never had a chance to use one? I wanted to tell you I'm proud of your choice to give him this job. The shooting on the station is still bothering him a lot, and this will help take his mind off of it. I think you made a wise, and correct, decision." Hugh and Kyle had started walking down the hall to the sickbay. They turned at one of the junctures and kept going.
"I never even thought about that. I think I've kind of blocked out a lot of what happened there. I completely forgot that it was Odey that saved the day, him and Zeke anyway. Remind me when we get to the next station to get something special for them."
"I will. You don't mind me giving him your coloring book do you? I know it was special to you and Terry, but he needed something. He's had nothing his whole life, and now that he has a home, I wanted him to have something special too." Hugh turned to look at Kyle as they walked. He hadn't really thought Kyle would mind, but he hadn't thought to ask him either.
"No, I don't mind at all, I think it's great for him to have it. I thought it got left on Anderon actually. I didn't know you brought it with you. I'm glad you did. It really did mean a lot to me and Terry, and now it will mean a lot to Odey."
"I still have every picture you two colored for me. They are in a binder in my bag if you two want to get them out. Some of them were quite good. You always were a good artist, and Terry wasn't half bad either."
"Wow you brought all that with you? You told us to only take two bags, and only the things we needed to survive." Kyle looked at his dad with wonder; he knew his dad had not been able to bring many of his possessions with him, why had he brought the old drawings?
"Well, I figured they might be needed. You went back for your locket didn't you? Did you need it to survive?" They had stopped at the last turn that led to the sickbay.
"Well, no, not to physically survive. It's something I needed though. It was something special to me. It was a symbol of Terry's love for me, and my love for him. I'd never leave it behind."
"Well, each picture you boys gave me was a symbol of your love for me, and for each other. You two spent so much time over that book, comparing colors, and making sure shades were just right, each picture is a special memory. They are special to me, and will one day be special to you too. I'd never leave them behind either." Hugh couldn't actually cry, but his eyes looked as if they would anyways. Kyle looked up at his dad; the tears were rolling down his face.
"I love you dad. I wish I could hug you right now. I will get the pictures out and put them up. Thanks for caring enough to bring them." Kyle took a minute to get control and to stop crying. Times like these were when Hugh hated what had happened. He couldn't hold his boy, couldn't comfort him. As much as he was glad to be alive, in some form, he hated not being able to truly be there for the boys.
"I love you too son, I really do. You will never know how much. I ..." Hugh trailed off; when Kyle looked up at him he had a far off look in his eye. Then he was back, "Kyle we have an emergency transmission coming in on a priority channel, it's from the Datapad you left with Michael!" Kyle looked around for a second and then turned back to his dad.
"I'll take it in sickbay, patch it through there and I'll be there in just a second." Kyle turned and ran for the sickbay as Hugh disappeared once again.
Terry looked up and saw Kyle running down the hallway at him. He could tell right away that something was wrong. Kyle's demeanor was all business.
"Kyle, what's wrong?"
"Emergency message coming in, I need the COM in sickbay." Kyle flew down the rest of the hall and grabbed Terry, pulling him along as he slid into the sickbay.
Doc was just finishing up with Zeke and he looked up as the two boys came tearing into his sickbay. "Slow down boys, this isn't a place to run!"
"Sorry Doc," Kyle ran right past him to the COM unit, "This time I have to disagree. We have an incoming emergency message from the Sillerion station. I think it's from Michael. I need to use your COM unit." Kyle didn't bother asking any further, he immediately punched up the call and watched as a scared looking Michael appeared before him.
"Kyle? Is that you?" There was a tremble in Michael's voice. He sounded terrified. Kyle watched as the room behind him seemed to rock over and over. He also noticed that Michael seemed to be lying on the ground, under a desk or something.
"Yes Michael it's me. You've got the Destiny, What's going on there?" Terry had come up beside him and the Doc was right behind them. Zeke stayed in his bed as promised.
"They're everywhere! No one saw them coming! They just showed up and started firing! I don't know what's going on or how long it's going to last, but we have to get off this station!" Another blast rocked the room Michael was in, he looked over his shoulder and then back at the datapad. "We have to get out of here now!"
"Wait Michael slow down, who just showed up? What's going on?"
"The pirates! They haven't been seen around here in a while, except for the gangs they left here, but now they are back. All of them are back! They showed up in hundreds of ships and just started attacking the station. I heard one of the station security guards say that they are demanding that they find someone and give them to them, but I don't know who! They won't stop attacking until they have them. The stations guns have all been destroyed; we're sitting ducks right now! Please, can you come get us?" The fear and pleading in his voice left Kyle no real options, He turned to Terry and the doc to see what they thought.
"If there are really hundreds of pirate ships there, we don't stand a chance. Even if we could get in close enough to beam them out, there are thousands of others on that station that will die. It's suicide. Besides that, the shields will be up on the station, we would actually have to dock and go get him." Terry hated saying it, but someone had to. There was no hope of rescuing them successfully.
"Actually, there may be a way." Both boys turned to the doc. If he had an idea, then they were all ears.
"Well?" Kyle hated suspense.
"We have a cloaking device on this ship correct?"
"Ya, but in order to dock, or fight, we would have to drop it." Kyle didn't see how this helped.
"Do you have to decloak to launch your hoverbikes?"
"Well, no I don't think so, but if there are hundreds of pirate ships out there, what good will they do?" Kyle was starting to see where this was going, but he still didn't know how they would pull it off.
"I spent enough time on that station to know that there is a small bay at the bottom of the station. They use it to dispose of anything that needs disposed of. They simply blow it out the airlock and then vaporize it when it's clear of the station. It's not big enough for a ship to dock, but you could get your bikes in. All you have to do is fly under the station cloaked, and let them out at the door. It's an easy way in, and should get us around all the pirates. Then you just go get Michael and his family, and bring them right back out. The rest of the people will still be in danger, but maybe they will find whoever they are looking for and will be able to save the station."
A voice from behind them spoke up quietly, "They won't find who they are looking for on the station." Zeke had turned to look at them, but had stayed in bed as promised.
"What makes you think that?" Terry couldn't figure it out, but Kyle immediately knew.
"They want you don't they?"
"Ya, they want me, and in case you didn't notice I'm not on the station. Damnit, everything I do always makes things worse!"
"Calm down, we'll find a way to make it right." Kyle turned back to the screen, "Hold tight Michael, get somewhere safe, we'll call you when we're there. We are on our way."
Michael looked overjoyed, "Really? Great, be careful guys, I know it's really dangerous what you're doing. Thanks. I'll have my mom and sister ready to go. It won't take any time at all to load us on, so you guys won't have to be in danger long. Thanks again, you have no idea how much this means to me." The room Michael was in shook again but he seemed to hardly notice.
"Stand by for my signal, Barkley out." The COM screen went blank. "Dad, how long will it take us to get back to the station?"
"Well we are three days out from the station at our present speed. However, we have enough fuel cells now to push this baby to her limits. I think we can cut our return time down to about 24 hours. Maybe less."
Kyle wanted to get there faster than that, but he knew that even that was a quick return. "Set our course for the Sillerion station. I want cloak engaged, and a red alert sounded. We need to be alert and watchful for any unfriendly crafts. If we can pick off some of their support ships on the way without too much risk, good." Kyle made his orders and the red alert started to blare. Suddenly Odey was on the COM.
"Kyle!!! What's a red alert?"
"It means we are heading into danger squirt."
"Oh!!!"
"Get down to the sickbay and I will fill you in, we might be in for a bumpy ride."
"Yes sir, be right there." With that the COM went quiet.
Kyle looked around the sickbay and saw Zeke crying. He went over and gave him a hug. Zeke grabbed him and started to cry even harder.
"No matter what, it's always wrong!" Zeke's sobbing got louder as he said this and Kyle noticed Terry had come up on Zeke's other side and was hugging him too.
"What's always wrong?" Kyle didn't know where this was going but could sense it was important to Zeke. He turned as he heard the door open and looked up to see Odey come sliding into the room. He would have had to run the entire way from his office. As soon as he saw Zeke crying he ran over and joined in the hug. The doc didn't even say anything about him running. He just watched the boys care for one another as tears came to his eyes.
"What ever I decide to do. Even before I left home, whatever I did caused others harm. You should just give me back to the pirate. At least then the others on the station will be okay."
"Not a chance. I told your brother I claimed you as family and I meant it. You don't desert family." Kyle looked up and saw Hugh standing next to doc nodding at him. "Why don't you tell us what has happened to you so far, that way we can clear up this nonsense."
"You will see, everything I've done has been wrong, it's because of me that me and my brother ever got taken. Before I go into it all you need to know that I'm from the planet you are heading for, I'm from Earth." Kyle pulled back a bit at this. He looked over at his father and saw he was just as shocked. Earth was a developing planet; they had recently made some advances in space travel, but not enough to have reached this far out into space yet. It didn't make sense. He was about to ask how, when Zeke held up his hand, "I'll get to the how in a bit, but I wanted you to know that that is where I'm from. I overheard Terry tell the doc that you were heading there while I was still asleep after the attack. I wish, more than anything, to be back home, so I think it was fate that led me to you. I just wish Malachi had not turned out the way he did. It's my fault he's out here, and now he's all alone."
"Everything went wrong on Earth. We had had a good life, with a good king. But when he fell, everything changed. All of the little nobles began to fight over who should take his place. The king had no heirs, so there was not a clear line of succession. We went from a united kingdom, to a land in civil war in a matter of days. It's amazing how fast heaven can fall, and it is true you don't realize how good things are until you loose them.
My father was in charge of a small town. He was a very minor noble and tried his best to keep our town out of the fighting by declaring neutrality. It worked for a while, but many of the other nobles wanted him to pick a side. He refused, telling them all, that he would serve whoever eventually took the kings place. A lot of the other nobles didn't like that at all, saying that made him a traitor. One of the nobles held a lot of power due to his army. He decided that he could simply take control of our town, and guarantee allegiance.
The day his army set up camp outside our town was a dark day in my life. I knew there was no way we could stand against them, and I knew we were going to die. I asked my father what we were going to do and he simply shook his head. He knew he couldn't change his position, or the others gunning to be king would take it as a sign of weakness and he would have a new army outside his town every week. He had to stay neutral, but that would mean an attack that would, most likely, wipe out the entire village. He decided to call a council of all the men in the village to get their opinions. My brother and I were supposed to stay at home that night, but we snuck out of the house and hid in a tree where we could see and hear the meeting. Malachi was older than me and I always went along with his plans. We listened as they argued throughout the night; we listened as they came to a decision. They would stand and fight.
There was a tunnel out of town that they would send the women and children through. The boys old enough to fight with a sword would stay. They needed every body they could get to give the women and children a chance to escape to the next town over. I was only eight at the time, so my brother and I knew I would go with the women, but he was ten, and that meant he would stay to fight. As the council broke up, we snuck out of our tree and ran back to the house, hoping to beat father there.
The next few days were a mass of preparation. My father would take Malachi aside each day and work with him with a sword. I stayed at home and helped whoever needed it in preparing supplies for our journey. We packed light, so that we could travel quickly. The faster we got clear of the town, the faster the men could retreat and follow us. The last night before the battle, was a sad one. I had never seen my father cry but as he hugged my mother and sister and me goodbye, he cried freely. We hugged Malachi as well and he whispered in my ear not to worry, he had a plan to fix everything. I looked at him oddly, but he was my older brother and he was supposed to look after me so I just nodded and grinned. As my father and Malachi left that night, to begin keeping the guard over the village, my father took me off to the side one last time.
"I know you think you are old enough to stay and fight, but if you were here, I would be beside myself with worry. It's best that you go with them. I have a present for you." He reached down beside him and picked up one of the swords he always carried, "This is for you, your birthright. The two swords I carry were my fathers, and his fathers before him. They are our honor and our burden. As long as someone of my line carries them, then there is a hope for peace. I am giving the other one to your brother. Perhaps one day, they will find each other again. I know you haven't been trained to use it, but if anything goes wrong on the journey, use it to protect your mother and sister."
My father gave me a hug then, the last one I ever got from him, and then he and my brother left. We were supposed to leave at first light, but nothing from then on ever went the way it was supposed to.
I was awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of voices outside our house. I figured it was just the men, watching over us, but I looked out anyway. Outside our door I saw several shadowy figures. I recognized one of them as Malachi.
"This is my house, remember when the time comes, no one in there gets hurt!" One of the shadowy figures gave him a shove and mumbled something I couldn't hear. Then they all turned and walked away except for Malachi. He looked pale, and as if he would be sick at any minute.
I watched the shadowy figures walk off in the direction of the tunnel. Perhaps it was just more guards, on their way to secure things for our early morning run. I would find out in a few hours that I was wrong.
I was woken again by my mother's screams. I shot out of bed and heard the sound of swords outside, of men killing and being killed, I grabbed the sword father had given me and ran to my mothers room. What I saw there never left me. The shadowy figures had returned. One of them had Malachi, holding him by the hair and was making him look at the scene unfolding on the bed. Two of the other men were holding down my mother, raping her over and over again, while another man was doing the same to my little sister. She had stopped crying when she passed out from the pain, but my mother's screams and crying were loud enough. I heard a noise behind me and spun around to see another of the men walk into our door. He saw me and grinned an evil grin at me.
"Well where did you come from? I bet that ass of your is a sweet as your sisters huh? Why don't you come here like a good boy and make me happy." The man leered at me and began to take his pants down.
I did the only thing I could think of. I took the sword I had been hiding and stuck it through him. He had a shocked look on his face, and he looked down at the blade in wonder. I didn't know what to do next, so I pulled it out and stuck it in him again and again, until he stopped moving. I ran over to the door of my mother's bedroom, and rushed in with the sword again, I didn't know how to use it, but I had the element of surprise, and I had stabbed the man holding Malachi before he knew I was there. He dropped to the ground and the men raping my mother and sister turned to look in surprise, Malachi did too.
"Don't just stand there," I saw his sword lying at his feet. I also noticed he had wet himself. "Pick up your sword and help me!"
"By this time the men had figured out what was going on and began to pull their own swords. Malachi finally came to his senses and bent to pick up his, but as his hand wrapped around the hilt, the first man attacked. I put my blade in the way to deflect it, and he drove my hand into the ground. They were too strong for me to fight. Malachi saw what was going on and he turned and shoved me out of the way of the next blow. He grabbed me and began to drag me out of the room. The whole time I was fighting him to go back. The only time I stopped fighting him, was when I heard a sudden end to my mothers screams. I knew then it was too late to help them."
"My brother dragged me out of the house; the men were slow to follow because they were in different states of undress. I just kind of collapsed as we got out of the house. I was empty inside. Malachi continued to drag me. He pulled me down the streets, looking for a safe place to hide. He finally found a small nook in the rocks of someone's grain shed. He pushed me in and then followed and buried us in the grains. I don't know how, but I managed to fall asleep, and left everything in the world behind."
"I found out latter I had slept for two days, before I awoke again. Malachi was by my side, but he didn't look like he was there at all. I shook him, telling him that I was hungry, but he didn't seem to notice. I went out the crack in the wall slowly, looking out for anyone who might be there to hurt me. There was no one there at all. The village was deserted. I walked from house to house, looking for anyone I might know, but there was no one. I made my way to the village square, and it was there that I saw where everyone was. A massive stack of bodies had been burned in a bonfire. Ashes were everywhere. It looked as if the whole village could have fit in those ashes, and in fact most of them had. The invaders had taken some as slaves, and a few others had managed to escape, but majority of the village had been slaughtered in that one night. I looked around in horror, knowing I was all alone, and then I saw my father."
"He had not been carelessly tossed into the ashes. They had tortured him. When they were done, or simply had grown tired of their little game, they had hung him. He was still there, hanging from the tree in the square."
"I had nothing in my stomach to throw up, or I would have. I ran back to my brother. He still sat unmoving. I slapped him across the face with all the strength I could muster. He turned to look at me, his eyes still foggy."
"What is it Zeke? What's wrong?"
"How can you ask what's wrong? Everyone is dead!" The tears in my eyes and the lump in my throat made it hard to speak but I yelled in his face none the less, "What did you do?"
"What do you mean? I didn't do anything." His eyes were clearing up and he began to flush red like he did when he was lying. "I overheard the men say that father must have told them about the tunnel. It was how they got in."
"That's a lie! I saw you talking to them, I saw it. You told them how to get in!"
"'Why would I do that?' Malachi's face grew even redder, he was a terrible liar and I wouldn't have it this time. I reached into the grain, where I had been lying and pulled out father's sword. 'I will kill you for what you've done.'"
"I grabbed him by his collar and threw him at the wall with all of my strength. He tripped over the wall and fell through the crack. He got up outside and began to run away. I ran after him, tears streaming down my face. I had forgotten everything else, all I wanted was revenge."
"He ran and I followed him, it seemed like hours. We had left the village; I didn't know where we were. I did know it had gotten dark. Every muscle in my body was tired and sore, but I wouldn't give up. I would make him pay. He ran until he collapsed. It was at the edge of a cliff. There was no where else for him to go. He had to fight me now. He turned and looked over the edge. I was afraid he would take the cowards way out and jump, but then he turned to me and smiled. I guess he finally remembered who was chasing him, his little brother, and the person he always beat at everything."
"'Okay little brother, you've got me. Come on then if you think you can win.' He pulled out his sword and turned to face me. I lifted mine and ran at him. He looked surprised that I was actually coming but he lifted his sword to defend. Our swords only struck once."
"As the clang of the swords rang out in the night, light lit everything. At first I thought it was just the thrill of battle, but then I realized I couldn't move. The lights swirled and danced, and I lifted my eyes up to see a large round thing directly over us. It was like nothing I had ever seen. The lights were coming from it and it spun around faster and faster as I watched. I looked back at my brother and he began to look thin, as if he wasn't all there. Then as I watched, he simply vanished. I looked down at my own hands and noticed they looked thin as well, and then all I saw was darkness."
"When I awoke, light was everywhere, and I still couldn't move. I saw these strange beings all around me. They were tall and thin, all gray, and they had huge heads with large eyes. They did odd things to me. I don't remember a lot of it; I was in and out the whole time. One day I woke up and found myself in a small room. There was a tray of food on the floor near the door. It looked odd, but I was starving so I ate it quickly. I saw a mirror over to one side of the room, and I walked over to it. I was shocked to see I looked older. I didn't know how long it had been, but I looked at least 10 if not older. Around my neck was a collar of some sort. I touched it and it gave me a nasty shock. I would come to find that it was called a slaves collar. They were made to keep control of your slaves. I looked around the room and found nothing more than a bed, a desk, and the mirror. On the desk was a box of some kind. I touched it and my head was filled with images, sounds, all sorts of things. At first it made me sick. I stumbled back onto the bed, and fell asleep immediately."
"I woke up a few hours later when the door to my room opened. One of the odd looking creatures walked in, carrying a tray of food. He looked at me and noticed I was awake. He started talking I guess, but most of it made no sense to me. I did understand a word here or there, but that was it. He sat my tray down and looked at me, then pointed to the box on the desk. I didn't move so he did it again, only this time he pointed to me and then to the box on the desk. I still didn't move, and then I felt the collar begin to shock me again, only much more intensely than the last time. I fell too my knees, and when the shocking stopped, the creature looked at me again and pointed to the box. I pulled myself over to the desk and reached over to the box. The wave of images, sounds, and stuff hit me again. I began to feel sick, but I didn't dare let go. The sick feeling passed after a moment, and I began to notice the images for what they were. It was a training video of some sort. Sounds became clearer, I could understand them. A few minutes into it, it suddenly stopped and I turned to the creature in my room."
"'Can you understand me now Earthling?' The creature was right beside me and was speaking plain English; of course I could understand him."
"'Yes I understand you fine.' He looked, happy I guess, his eyes lit up a bit and he kind of made this odd purring sound deep in his throat."
"That is good. My collogues believed you Earthlings were too primitive for our learning machines but they were wrong. Both you and the other subject have done quite well. I will expect you to use that machine everyday; if you don't you will get more of those nasty shocks."
"Wait, where am I? What's happened to me? I look at least two years older than I was. What the hell is going on here?"
"We have rescued you from you primitive world. Your violent ways will lead your world to destruction. We will take you someplace where you can rise above your world. We are traders in laborers. We will teach you to survive, and work in the universe, and then we will trade you to someone you can work for. You will have a much happier life out there than you would have at home. As for the aging, that is a regrettable trait of your people. We have attempted to correct it. You should age much slower now than you would have on Earth. We are traveling a long way and it would be a shame to have you age too much to work out your new life before we get there." With that the creature turned and walked to the door."
"I tried to call him back, but he just left. That was the last time I had any contact with anything but the machine. My food just appeared in my room. No one came to see me. This went on for years as we traveled. I would get on the machine everyday and the knowledge would just be shoved into my head. I learned about all sorts of things, from ship types and controls, to mining and cleaning. Any sort of job that an employer could want performed was taught to me from that machine. I learned many different languages, ways to act around employers from different planets, and how to act in a day to day routine. The trip was uneventful, and seemed to take forever. Until the day we stopped."
"It was a day like any other. I was at the machine, having knowledge shoved into my head, when the door to my room opened and the creatures came in. They walked over to me and one of them told me to get undressed. I didn't know what was going on so I just looked at him. The pain from my collar hit me harder than ever and I dropped to the floor rolling. When at last it let up, I stood up and began to undress as ordered. They told me to leave my clothes on the bed and to follow them. As we went into the hall I saw the door to the room across from me open up, and out walked my brother. The person I had wanted to kill so long before. I jumped at him and tried to attack him, but the collar knocked me to the floor again."
"'Now, now, we can't have our slaves killing one another; you will have to learn to control your primal instincts.' The pain let up and I got to my feet, glaring at my brother. It was my fault we were here. If I hadn't chased him, we would still be at home, but that didn't mean I was going to let him get away with what he had done."
"The creatures separated us and marched us to the door of their ship. We were on some kind of dock, as we marched out, I turned and looked back towards to outside and saw stars everywhere. We were really in space! None of the stars looked familiar to me though. My father had taught me all of the constellations, but none of them were here now. We were far from home."
"They led us, naked, all through this huge place. There were creatures of all kinds. I knew most of the races from the learning machine, but it was still a shock to see them in real life. They paraded us down to a large room, where there were lots of others just like us, naked and in nothing but a slave's collar. We were marked and led to a place where we were fastened by some invisible chains and were left to stand there all day long. Many people came by and looked us over. Many touched us, made us do things so they could check us out. As the day was coming to an end, a man came up to me and smiled. It was not a nice smile. He looked me over and he grabbed me by the balls and looked into my face, he squeezed until I cried out and then he spun me around and slapped my ass. He was tall and strong, and I was scared of him, but I did my best not to show it. He decided he was done with me and he walked over to Malachi. He did the same things to him, and I felt a small bit of pride when he cried out louder than I had. I heard the man chuckle as he turned to the creatures and began negotiating a fee."
Zeke was about to continue his story when a sudden siren blared out on board the Destiny. Kyle turned to his dad.
"What's going on?" he stood up and ran over by his father.
"We have another emergency message coming in from Michael."
"On screen!" Kyle moved over to the COM unit and saw a terrified Michael show up.
"Kyle, don't come! It's a trap. Their gonna ..." He trailed off as a foot connected with the side of his head. The image on the screen spun around as the datapad flew from his hand. It landed on the floor looking strait up at a figure standing over Michael.
The figure leaned down and picked up the datapad, bringing his features into view. "Well since our little friend here went and ruined the surprise, I'll just have to introduce myself. I am Captain Brackus. You have something that belongs to me. Hello EZ. I want him back. You also have something on your ship that I want. If you want to see this little shit alive again, and if you want this station left in one piece, I suggest you get back here as soon as you can. I get to be a might cranky when I don't get my way."
As if to prove this he kicked Michael again and then turned the screen to show Michael's mother and sister. There were several men holding them. He turned the datapad back to his face and added, "Oh and my men aren't patient either, so I would hurry if I were you." and with that the screen went dark.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes:
Well there is chapter 8! I'm sorry it took so long, but I had a lot of stuff going on, both in the story and in real life. I think I know where some of this is going, and I think it is going to be a fun ride. I can't wait to find out the rest of Zeke's story, or to see what happens with Michael, so hopefully there will be a chapter 9 soon. I may have a new project in the works as well so I will keep you all up to date on that. Well, that's all for now. As always feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think at the email address listed above or drop by the board and say something in the thread. Odey has found his way to the fort board. Look for Odey and Sepi in the compound! And once again,
Thanks for Playing,
Taron Webster
Chief of Security's Note:
Hiya guys! It's Odey! Like he said, I've been playing in the Data streams and I've found the fort. He doesn't know I can hack his computer yet though, so I can add these little notes. If you don't want to talk to him, you can always send me a note at odey@jeffsfort.us I love getting mail and getting to know you guys. I've got to run now, cause we're still under red alert! So long!
Editor's Notes:
I see that once again, Taron has been taking lessons from the Evil Author and Master of Misdirection.
After all this long wait, he leaves us with a cliffhanger. I must admit Zeke's story is very interesting. I just hope our heroes can figure out how to save the day so to speak. I also hope it doesn't take another several months to find out what has happened. Odey, Thanks for taking the time to communicate with us on the board. We enjoy talking to you and Sepi. Good luck and we all are pulling for you guys.
Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher
The Other Editor's Notes:
I really don't know why Darryl doesn't like the end of this chapter. I mean just a little to get you ready to read the next chapter. You are supposed to want to read the next chapter, after all. By the way, where is the next chapter? I'm ready to read it, oh, ah, edit it. I just checked my mail and it wasn't there. Hey, Odey, has Neal talked to you about pranks and Ben Gay?...
Very good chapter. I do believe Capt. Brackus will be in for a bit of a surprise. Zeke needs to know he isn't the cause of all this trouble and I think he has met just the right people to show him that. Odey will be great at his new job, I wish I could use six computers at the same time. Then I could write three stories and edit and all at the same time, kind of what I do now but faster. Maybe I need a coloring book, I haven't done that in like, 50 years. Hmmm.
Hey, Darryl? Crayons or colored pencils?
Str8mayb AKA Evil Author & Master of Misdirection
Author's Addendum:
Hey it hasn't been months Darryl! Only like a month, maybe a month and a half. Hopefully the next one won't take so long hehehe besides this is only a baby cliffhanger, not a full blown one. Str8, you can color all you want, here is an extra ever color book. Odey wanted me to pass it along to you. He says be careful with the sharp end of those colored pencils, with someone your age they could easily poke an eye out. Hehehe ok he didn't say that I did. Well I'm off to see what mischief I can throw at them in the next chapter! So long!