TIME : 10:30 A.M.
PLACE : The beach
Peter, Detrina, Lisa, and Doug were waiting for Drae to appear at the same spot they had met him the first time. So far, their wait had been uneventful and they were beginning to wonder if Drae was going to show.
"He should be here any time now," announced Peter looking at his watch.
"Are you sure he's going to come?" doubted Doug.
"For all we know, he could be here right now," Peter reminded them. "With his power of invisibility, I bet he's somewhere nearby listening to every word we say."
"Correct!" exclaimed Drae from an unknown location.
Drae suddenly appeared on the shoreline and walked over to greet them.
"This is Lisa and Doug," Peter began pointing to each of them respectively. "They will be accompanying us to Triax Island. This is also the loosing basketball team."
"What's basketball?" asked Drae.
"Some Earth game that I don't quite understand," groaned Doug.
"You can tell me all about it on our way to Triax Island," Drae insisted. "Come on."
Drae led them to a boat that had also been invisible until he decided to reveal it. It was capable of seating five comfortably which explained why he wanted four of them to come.
"Nice boat," gasped Lisa. She had been a millionaire back on Earth, but Drae's boat was even fancier than the other boats she had seen at that size. It was equipped with luxuries unheard of on Earth.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Drae. "The sooner we leave the sooner we'll get to Triax Island."
The five of them entered the boat which began to move as soon as all of them were strapped in. The boat was moving very fast, yet they could hardly sense the fact that they were moving.
"We should arrive on Triax Island in about fifteen minutes," predicted Drae. "That should give you plenty of time to explain what basketball is."
The others looked at Peter. He was the one most familiar with the sport. Peter looked at the others and knew he had been elected. Peter took a few seconds to gather his thoughts together and slowly started to explain the rules of basketball. He had fifteen minutes.
TIME : 10:35 A.M.
PLACE : The mayor's conference room
While Peter, Detrina, Lisa, and Doug were on their way to Triax Island, Hank, Linda, Mac and X were discussing the current crisis with Pron, the mayor of Beach Town, his advisers, Unget and Hareen, and Brenna, a member of the Triax Royal Military Force. In spite of having such a diverse group, none of them were able to come up with a decent solution to their problem. They could give into Vondwin's demands, but the bomb would still be there.
"I think we should pretend to cooperate with Vondwin until we can find the bomb and deactivate it," argued Pron. "Unfortunately, I am only mayor of this city. Vondwin's demand are outside of my jurisdiction. The king and queen, the only people equipped to handle an emergency like this, don't even have the decency of showing up."
"It was too great a risk for them to come," explained X. "Security measures had to be taken. That is why I have been chosen to come in their place."
"With you here, the Ruler's bound to know we're searching for the bomb," gripped Pron. "Negotiations will be impossible."
"If you had been dealing with the Ruler and Vondwin as long as I have, you would know that negotiations are already impossible," X insisted. "As long as they have the advantage, they will use it to get everything they possibly can out of it. Even if we give into their demands completely, they will not be satisfied. They will raise their demands higher and higher until we can no longer meet them, then, they will destroy Beach Town and everything in it as a starting point for another war with Triax."
"What we should be doing is putting all out efforts into finding that bomb so the Ruler will no longer have the advantage. Otherwise, we will loose before we even get started."
"Take it easy," Unget advised them. "Fighting among ourselves won't help any."
"Being friendly without discussing the important issues won't help us any either," snapped Pron. "Like it or not, these arguments are necessary if we want to make any progress."
"I agree with X," Brenna cut in. "The only progress that can be made is progress toward finding the bomb."
"We have almost a thousand people searching for it at this very moment," Pron reminded her. "What difference will the five of you make."
"I'll tell you what," interrupted Hank. "Linda and I will leave with Brenna and search for the bomb while the rest of you discuss what to do about the Ruler and Vondwin. X is the only one truly needed here. The rest of us are just excess baggage. We may not be helping much, but at least let us feel like we're doing something useful."
"That sounds like an excellent plan," remarked Hareen.
"I like Hank's plan except for one thing," argued Mac. "I would like to go with them. As he said, X is the only one of us important to these talks. The rest of us are excess baggage and I have no wish to be excess baggage. I want to feel like I'm doing something useful too."
"You will be doing something useful," protested Hank. "Someone has to stay with X to make sure nothing happens to him."
"If you want someone to stay behind so badly, why don't stay behind?" Mac inquired.
"I will," said Hank disappointedly. "Be sure to check this building before you go."
"That won't be necessary," Pron informed them. "The building has already been checked several times."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," agreed X. "Search the building starting with this room."
"Are you saying that we are in league with the Ruler?" demanded Pron.
"All I'm saying is we should double check everything in this building, just in case," explained. "As the mayor of Beach Town, you are a very likely target."
"Search the room if you want," Pron conceded. "but do it quickly."
Linda, Mac, and Brenna searched the room thoroughly for anything suspicious and, after finding nothing, left to investigate other rooms in the building.
After giving them permission to search the room, Pron and his advisers had been unusually quiet. They were refusing to talk while the room was being searched and continued to refuse to talk until Linda, Mac, and Brenna were out of hearing range.
"Now where were we?" Pron asked innocently.
"Could you excuse us for a second?" X asked suspiciously motioning for Hank to accompany him.
"Certainly," smiled Pron. "Go right ahead."
Hank and X left the room closing the doors behind them. X scanned the room with his eyes to make sure they were alone.
"I suspect that Brenna may be an agent of the Ruler," whispered X. "They're probably still on this floor. I want you to find them and keep an eye on her."
"Are Pron and his advisers agents of the Ruler?" Hank wondered.
"Pron is," X declared. "The other two I'm not sure about yet. You were right to be suspicious of them. I know you don't want me to be alone in there, but I think I can handle it. Being in there alone with them might give them a false sense of confidence and cause them to make a mistake. It is vitally important not to let them know that we're on to them. Just make sure Brenna doesn't lead them into trouble."
"I'll take care of it," Hank assured him.
"Be careful," warned X as Hank started down the hall. watched him go reentering the room only when Hank was out of sight.
"What happened to your friend?" wondered Pron.
"I sent him to check up on the others," X replied. "He wanted to leave, so I assured him I could handle this meeting on my own."
"Any idea where he went?" questioned Hareen.
"I know what direction he went in after leaving this room," X said truthfully. "but after that I have no idea."
"No matter," sighed Pron. "Let's get back to the matters at hand."
TIME : 10:45 A.M.
PLACE : Near Triax Island
"There it is! Straight ahead!" exclaimed Drae pointing to a patch of water.
"I don't see anything," stammered Lisa.
"That's because we haven't penetrated the force field yet," Drae explained. "Once we're inside, we'll be able to see it."
"How powerful is the force field?" inquired Peter.
"Powerful enough to repel anything that comes near it," Drae replied. "Fortunately, I know where the door is."
Peter blinked and saw the island directly in front of him. It has suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"We've just gone through the door, or, if you prefer, a temporary hole in the force field just large enough and just long enough to let us pass through," Drae continued. "It is virtually impossible for an outsider to enter without permission, even if they're in hot pursuit."
"Why all the secrecy?" questioned Peter.
"Triax Island has the most advanced technology in the known universe," bragged Drae. "and, with the possible exception of Alpha Memory, we have the most advanced technology in the history of the known universe. I have a feeling that this is Vondwin's main target, not Beach Town."
"Why didn't you tell us this before?" demanded Detrina.
"Not everyone you meet is to be trusted," Drae began. "It is rumored that Pron, the mayor of Beach Town, is a prominent member of Triax People for the Ruler. He will, of course deny this, but I am almost positive it's true."
"Brenna is also working for the Ruler. I saw her talking to Vondwin earlier this morning. Who knows how many more of the Ruler's agents are out there."
"The others are still in danger?" blurted Peter. "We have to go back and rescue them."
"No one needs rescuing," Drae assured him. "X knows about the conspiracy and I'm sure he has things under control."
Their cold stares told him they disapproved of his actions.
"You have to understand," he pleaded. "My father and younger sister died when I was eleven. My mother died in the last war with the Ruler about two years ago. I'm the only member of my family that's left. All the others were killed by the Ruler either directly or indirectly. That is why I tend to take a few extra precautions."
"People with hypo-psycotic powers may become rich and famous, but we have very short life expectancies. Every day there is someone trying to kill us, if we don't kill ourselves first. Careless use of powers such as mine could be fatal."
"We're just concerned about our friends," Peter said sympathetically.
"I know you are," apologized Drae. "I am too, but our first priority is finding the bomb. Hopefully, that can be done using the wide range of technology at our disposal."
The boat docked and the five of them got out and stretched. As soon as they were all out of the boat, the boat was lifted out of the water and placed in a storage unit.
"Just one of the luxuries of Triax Island," smiled Drae.
Copyright MCMXCII, MCMXCIX
