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November 23rd, 2004
FUTURISTICALS #2
CLOSING IN
A children’s novel
By: Z.J. Strickland
Chapter one
My turn. Who is this? Guess. Polo? It can’t be Adam… Sal? Nope. Not Notanam either. It’s yours truly… Sarah. A quick review:
(1.) Our first Gonoly encounter died.
(2.) Our second Gonoly encounter died.
Enough information to go on. After Time master encounter: I asked around to make an inventory of powers:
Adam: strength; running
Polo: make stuff; drain knowledge
Sal: fly; turn into humans
Notanam: amulet that zaps things; leader; reads minds
Sarah (me): turns into anything (living) she sees; holograms
Now, I shall say exactly what happened after the Time master left.
* * * * * * * * *
Hmmmmmmmm…
I pondered over the list. It seemed like the Time master had perfectly messed up (check out Sal’s and my lists).
I was thinking that Sal should be the one who controlled the morphing. But, I wasn’t one to question the Time master.
Adam was shouting at Notanam “Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean you get to boss me around!!!”
“Dude, calm down,” said Polo, who was calmly eating the dinner we had been eating before.
“Yeah, I was just kidding about bossing you around. I’m going to be a dependent leader. I’m also not going to abuse the calling the Time master gave me,” said Notanam.
I went over to tell Sal my suspicions about the powers. After the tiff in the boys relationship, we met together.
“Well, what are we going to do now?” asked Polo.
“That’s not really the question, is it?” said Notanam.
“It’s not?” I asked.
“No,” said Notanam. “The question is: who is closing in… Us? Or the Gonolys?”
Chapter Two
Well, we went to sleep after that. I thought about all that had happened. I really wished that no Futuristical would be defeated. Nobody…
* * * * * * * *
Two days later…
“WOOOOOOOO-WHOOOOOO!”
We had just finished a raid on a floating city base. We zoomed past the Dogon troops, Blook troops, frog people troops, and Lagoon thing troops. Adam was carrying a large board. Notanam, Polo, and I were on the board. Adam was making a blur all around us as he used his strength and running to get away from the troops of guards. Sal was laughing as she flew right over us, congratulating everyone on a job well done on the raid.
What happened? Well, we had heard that two Gonolys had taken up a base with super-ultra-lisher rays. We wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. So, we got into the base, pulled the self-destruct lever, and got out of there A.S.A.P. (why would they have a self-destruct lever on a building? These people are weird)
While we were there, two Gonolys (Hehim and Blincfer) tried to stop us. We know they died, but we’re not sure what happened to them (hint, hint: the window they flew out of was right next to the edge of the cloud).
We had to get out of the building pretty quickly to avoid a 500-mile drop. Adam grabbed a broken crate side as we evacuated. That’s where the board came from. As we entered the drop-off station, we noticed a button that said LASTIC-ON-CLOUD-DESTRUCTION (See!?! Why do they have those kind of things!?!) Polo, with his way of understanding things, knew what that meant instantly. He pushed the button. An alarm rang, with a smooth, cool voice saying “Lastic destruction in 5 seconds. Lastic destruction in 4…”
We dived through the opening. The minute we hit the ground, we looked up. We could see a handful of soldiers, Dogons, Blooks, frog people, and lagoon things trying to escape through drop-off stations. Too late.
(Don’t be too surprised.)
BOOOOOM!!
The handful didn’t have a chance.
Chapter Three
We headed towards our hideout, zooming forward like crazy. As we neared, however, the frog people noticed us. We managed to get into the hideout without them seeing us, but it was a risky chance. We watched through the small windows. The frog people just gave up after a while.
We turned our attention to Notanam; the great leader who wasn’t helping make sure our hideout was safe.
He was poring over a paper. It was the list we obtained. I walked up and peered over his shoulder. Seeing two particular names made me gasp. Hehim and Blincfer had three X’s by their names… the sign for a dead person.
I asked Notanam, “How…How did it…how did the paper know Hehim and Blincfer are dead?”
“Oh,” said Notanam, pointing at the X’s, “This paper, invented by Redinio Hoosieree, is called Rempaper. Rempaper is kind of like a radio that receives information instantly. In this case, the Rempaper found out that Hehim and Blincfer were dead; it recorded it on the paper. It’s a good invention… even better, because a Gonoly didn’t make it. Redinio Hoosieree also invented the Hoosieree Space Station in order to get away from the Gonolys because he was more liked than them. Hoosieree grabbed anyone not in the Gonolys power and put them in the H.S.S. and blasted off.”
Notanam sighed, saying, “Nobody knows where they are now… And all renegades realize something.”
“What’s that?” Sal asked.
“If Hoosieree comes back, The Gonolys will be defeated.”
We all considered that. Then Polo said, “Well, I don’t know about you, But I’m hungry.”
“Me, too.” said Adam.
“Me, three,” said everybody else.
** * * * * * *
We ate, and then checked to see if a renegade had been eliminated. None had. We discussed to see what we should do. A splat against the hideout made us stop and listen. A frog person outside had leaned outside the hideout. It was saying, “I am a searcher for renegades. You can’t push me around.”
“Who says I can’t? The renegades have a point, you know.”
“Well, stop pushing…aaaaaaagh!”
We had been watching all this time. The frog person who thought renegades had a point had used his poison tongue on the searcher. The searcher had fallen. It tried to get up but the other whipped out a lisher ray and fired.
Tsssssch! The searcher had died into a pile of ashes.
A third voice: “Nice shot!”
A fourth: “What the Gonolys don’t know, won’t hurt them.”
A fifth: “Let’s go meet with the other 96. We have got to talk.”
The four frog people turned and swam away. Adam said, “Now, a hundred unknown frog people renegades working under cover? The…”
“…Plot thickens.” I said.
Chapter Four
“O.k.,” said Notanam, “this is too weird.”
“Affirmative,” said Polo. That’s when we heard something weirder. And scarier.
“What in…! Look at this, Heephop!
“I see it, Loperingpo!”
“This means that a renegade is lurking around! A renegade with a lisher ray!”
The frog person! I thought as we looked at each other.
“Heephop, this we have to report to the Gonolys!”
“They will take care of the job, and their Poppericus will start scouring the area to find the renegades!”
The two laughed, then walked away.
We looked at Notanam. “No clue what a Poppericus is,” he said.
Adam spoke up. “Well, we could start an operation.”
“What would the operation be called?” I asked.
“Operation Power Test,” said Adam.
“Or OPT,” said Sal.
* ** * * * * * *
Us two Futuristicals…Polo and I…were on OPT. We were the only two Futuristicals who hadn’t tested our new powers. Well, I was kind of glad. As my brother mentioned in narrating, I liked Polo. But now wasn’t the time to notice him. Now was OPT.
The plan: I morph into guard, pretend to have caught Polo, find a computer deep in enemy territory, boot it up, drain knowledge, throw anybody out of our way, get to hideout, hello knowledge on Poppericus.
Well, part one went O.k. We got past any enemies, found a computer and booted it up (I un-morphed, which turned out to be the fate of our plan). Part 2 went perfect. Polo received so much information that he said that his brain was going to explode. We headed out, and were stopped by twenty guards, Dogons, frog people, Blooks, and Lagoon things (twenty in all). I said, “Hey, what do you want? I’m taking this renegade to jail.”
“Oh, you are, are you?” said a soldier, grinning nastily (I thought I saw a giant G, but I couldn’t be sure until later).
That’s when I remembered I forgot to change back into the guard.
Chapter Five
I looked at Polo. Polo looked at me. And we dodged a fire breath from a dogon. I jumped into a corner the minute a Dogon came for me and got crushed by an anvil that Polo had made. I began to morph into a Dogon.
Polo, seeing me gone, yelled “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” I think he thought I was dead. I came into battle and watched for a minute, looking at Polo.
He had a machine gun and was firing at everyone, all the while making anything heavy fall on enemies. I was proud.
The soldier looked at me and yelled, “Help!” And help I did. The soldier went up in flames.
Polo yelled, but I could only hear him faintly “Go, Sarah!” as I burned five frog people. Eight enemies were left. I was dueling it out with a dogon. Polo was up against three frog people, two soldiers, one blook and one Lagoon thing. The dogon started backing up. I noticed its wings were flapping. I burned them. The dogon yelped. Polo had gotten rid of the Lagoon thing and two frog people, counting a soldier.
One dogon, one blook, one soldier, and a frog person. Polo shot the blook to pieces. The blook started to form again, but I accidentally stepped on it as I burned the dogon’s feet off. The dogon rolled and was shot at by Polo. It was dead. I burned up the soldier, while in return, Polo made a boulder fall on the frog person.
We started to head out, but were stopped by five big scaly birds with a circle of living arrows around their beak. The beak had large nostrils, and its head (where the brain was supposed to be) was huge. The bird was about five feet tall. I looked at Polo. He looked at me. He said, “Poppericus!”
And we dodged a flying arrow that had come from around the bird’s beak. The arrow’s place (the one that had been shot, that is) had been replaced by another. As we jumped I thought, this is ridiculous, crazy, and dodgy! I hope these are weaklings.
I began to morph.
Chapter six
Poppericuses weren’t weaklings. But, fire was the thing that saved us. Poppericuses were weak against fire. I immediately morphed back into a Dogon and the Poppericus ran when it saw the flames. Polo and I made a silent agreement that Poppericus was weak to flames. Polo checked, though, shooting the machine gun. The bullets pinged off the scales. I blasted one with fire. Four to go. Polo said “Firestorm!” And fire rained down. It ended quickly, though, leaving two more. Polo said, “Fire!” onto one and I burned the other.
Needless to say, I remembered to morph and got out of there.
* * * **** * *
We got back to the hideout and seeing that everybody was asleep, we slept too. After Polo and I woke up (very nightmarish night) we talked.
“How’d it go?” Sal asked. We told her.
“Did you get the information?” Notanam asked.
“Yes,” said Polo.
“Are you freaked out that you got rid of a Gonoly?” Adam questioned.
I looked at Polo. He looked at me. We said together, “What Gonoly?”
“The one that you got rid of.”
“We couldn’t see their chests.”
“Well, you got rid of Hyferaz.”
“Oh.”
“Well, tell us the information.”
“Fine.”
I know this is a short chapter, but now will be a good stopping point. And boy, you won’t believe what we found out.
Chapter Seven
We asked questions to Polo, wanting to know as much as possible.
“What creatures did the Gonolys use to make the Poppericus?”
“Hmmmmmmmmmmm…” Polo found the information quickly.
“Well, they upgraded a Mixer-Fixer into a quadruple Mixer-Fixer, using arrows, brains dissected from dead geniuses, hawks, and komodo dragons. The brain enlarged somehow to fit into that sack, and its size happened when the arrows were too big for the Hawk’s body (not to mention the komodo dragon). And the sentence about scouring…? It’s nose holes will sniff the mess and figure out what ID code of the Lisher ray is and the Lisher ray will be tracked down by the Gonolys army. No big deal.”
Sal asked so quietly and firm that everybody jumped, “Are you kidding?”
“What do you mean?” asked Notanam.
“The frog people will be destroyed if we don’t do something!” cried Sal. (No, not Boo-hoo cry, like yelp.)
The truth sunk in.
“We’ve got to warn them,” said Adam.
“But we promised that we would leave the renegades alone for a while, and I don’t think this is a while!” I said.
Polo said, “We do ON.”
“What’s ON?” asked Sal.
“Operation: Note,” said Polo.
* * * * * * * * *
A renegade frog person came up to the frog renegade hideout. It watched all around it, and then stiffened in horror at the paper on the door. It ripped off the paper and read it. It looked at it with wide eyes, than ran off. It came back later with 99 other frog people and they hopped into the hideout.
As for the Futuristicals in the trees, we knew what the note said:
Dear frog people friends,
We are friends of your secret renegade frog people, and from sources unknown, we’ve found that you are in grave danger because of Poppericuses nose. The nose will sniff the ashes of the searcher and track the ID code of the Lisher ray. Destroy the Lisher ray, and you will not be found.
Sincerely, unknown renegades.
How did you find the hideout? We listened to frog people talking and heard that a meeting was happening. We followed the renegade that we heard and found the hideout.
The frog people were safe… for now.
Chapter Eight
We were sitting around, not doing anything. We were on bored (get it?). We hadn’t done anything for a while.
Polo, however, may have been bored, but was doing something effective. He was searching through his mind and trying to find information he had drained from the computer.
Notanam was looking at the list and cried, “Hey, how did that happen? I guess I didn’t notice while we sat around. Polo, did you get this information off the computer?”
Polo asked, “What?”
“Tycon is dead!”
“Oh, he was riding a solar-sun-powered bike…”
“A Hoosieree Product…”
“Yeah… Crashed into a speeding Low Flying Airplane…”
“Another invention by Hoosieree…”
“Right.”
There was silence for another minute. Then…
“Oh my word, Henes, Sally, and Gorez are dead too!”
Polo searched his mind, and then said, “A rock-a-matic (an invention made by Hoosieree, beat you to it,) went wild while Sally was taking care of the new-born baby with Gorez when the crib rocked-n-rolled over Sally. Henes (the poor thing) was crushed. Gorez ran to help the two dying family members when the crib jumped on her. Gorez was badly hurt, and crawled towards the door. The crib resumed its normal position, and Gorez opened the door to reveal an Instant-o-burn stove (Hoosieree product) bearing down on her. She was turned around; making sure that the crib wasn’t going to attack her. The stove moved a little ball on the floor that Henes had been playing with and put it in Gorez’s path, and then turned on its stove to full power. Gorez tripped on the ball and fell onto the stove. An eyewitness saw it all.”
The rest of the Futuristicals turned around, interested. “The Hoosieree inventions seem to be acting the way they shouldn’t. So, do you think something’s up?” asked Adam.
Notanam was about to answer when Polo said, “To answer your question, Adam, yes. And you’re not going to like it.”
“What’s there not to like?” I asked.
“I found this article about it in my head, and it’s spooky.”
“Well, what is it?” asked Notanam.
Polo recited, as if from memory, “Strange acting ups are occurring with Hoosieree products. Scientists have figured out what is going on. On Mr. Hoosieree’s space station, there is a control panel that controls all inventions by him. He is using that control panel against us.
“Shunk-dunk is working on an invention called De-Hoosieree 2053. How it works:
1) Two beams coming out the sides of it search the space station throughout space.
2) Once found, missile launcher will narrow in on space station and fire.
3) During flight, big lisher rays attached to missile will fire.
4) When missile hits, it will blow up.
5) Four missiles were needed to totally demolish the space station. Construction will finish on October 1.”
We looked at each other in horror. Sal looked at her month/day/time watch that Polo had made. She said, “We had better prepare to attack three days from now.”
Chapter Nine
Two days later…
It was tense. We had figured out where the launching site was and where the blueprints were. The plan: Polo and Notanam were going to the place where the blueprints were and would destroy them. Two Poppericuses were guarding them so it would be easy for the two boys.
Meanwhile, I would (with Adam and Sal) head towards the launching site and Sal would turn into a guard and I would put a hologram around Adam and Me We would destroy the De-Hoosieree 2053 and head out, meeting with Polo and Notanam and the Futuristicals would flee.
We were working on a different kind of mission, though. The furniture was not Hoosieree products; the table and chairs were not Hoosieree products, but the beds (Hover beds) and our stash of Rempaper were. The Rempaper were constantly trying to give us paper cuts, and the Hover beds were trying to fall on us. We piled chairs on the Hover beds and paperweights were placed on the rempaper. The products struggled for an hour, then stopped for unknown reasons. Then a bird flew in through a window. Notanam caught it, and the bird let Notanam take a piece of paper off its legs and it flew out again.
“That was a passenger pigeon.” Said Notanam, reading the paper.
“But they’re dead!” chorused everybody else.
“Hoosieree used their DNA to make them alive again. Hey, listen to this:” It was a letter to all the renegades:
Dear renegades,
We all have experienced problems with our Hoosieree products in our hideouts.
I (anonymous, in case one of these get intercepted) have sent a telegram to the HSS, asking them not to wreak havoc with our inventions made by Redinio to secret locations. We did, and prepared for tomorrow.
Chapter ten
Next day…
“There it is!” whispered Adam, awed.
We were at the launching site, Sal, Adam, and I. It was severely guarded, surrounded by 5 tanks, 50 Frog people, 38 soldiers, 30 lagoon things, 19 Dogons, 10 blooks, and 10 Poppericuses.
Seeing Shunk-dunk walk by, we ducked, listening. She was saying, “Where are those two soldiers and Dogon? They should be here by now.” She walked away, 50 yards to ask where they were.
A crackle sounded behind us, startling Adam, who slipped, knee falling in a puddle. He pulled out a huge box.
Another crackle sounded. Turning around, I gasped. The two soldiers and Dogon were behind us. We were having a staring contest. Who was more surprised, no one knew.
Adam was the first to react. Taking the box he filled it with water, then threw it at the Dogon. It opened its mouth in surprise. The water went into its mouth, and smoke came out. Adam had doused the Dogons fire supply deep in its stomach! Then Adam jumped up and grabbed the Dogons neck, and with his strength, started to choke it.
Sal flew up eye-to-eye with the soldiers, then flew down and grabbed me. She said, “I’m going to fly up with you and you create a cannon-force field cannon ball.”
“But how will you carry me?” I asked.
“I’ll tell you later! Now do it!”
I started to create the cannon. Sal grabbed me and I felt myself being lifted up.
I understood why Sal was so happy when she first flew up. It was like all your worries melted away. But I didn’t understand how Sal knew I was going to come up with her. I was pretty heavy.
The cannon fired, bowling over the two soldiers off the back of the Dogon. Sal changed into a soldier and pulled out a gun. One soldier pulled one out too. Sal fired at the same time.
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” screamed Sal and the soldier.
I had fallen onto the dead Dogon that Adam had just choked to death. Adam was now doing it to other soldier, a marine I figured out later, for the marine was trying to box Adam. The job finished quickly.
I looked at the first soldier. There was a bullet right through the left lung.
Ouch, I thought with pain. I looked at Sal, wondering why she screamed. I asked her.
“The bullet hit my toe. I’ll be alright.”
Through all the commotion, no-one had noticed us. I said to Sal, “Change into a Dogon, and I’ll put a Hologram around Adam and me, so we can look like the missing army that Shunk-dunk is looking for.”
After the changes, we stepped out of the trees.
Chapter Eleven
“There you are!” Shunk-dunk was in front of us. “Get into position! Launching in 1500 hours!” She walked away.
“Huh?” I whispered into Adam’s ear. Sal heard me. I heard a strange voice in my head.
} I hear you. {
“What was that?” whispered Adam, frightened.
} Me, Sal. I am talking to you telepathically. That is one thing that I must tell you later. You can do it too when you morph. But you won’t be able to morph for very long.{
We (Adam and I) did not ask any questions. But we wondered.
“Do any of you know what 1500 hours mean?” I asked to my companions.
“Yes, it means 3:00 PM,” said Adam.
}I knew that.{ said Sal.
My brother amazes me. “Well, that means we have…” I gasped. “5 minutes!”
“}What?{“ asked Sal and Adam.
We let my hologram go and Sal morphed back to herself. No one had noticed. I morphed myself into a professional wrestler. Sal Morphed into a Dogon. Adam was already at the De-Hoosieree 2053 and he leapt upon one missile hole. Just stepping on one bent it.
Sal reached next. She burned through one, but then she had to start demolishing enemies as they came. By the time I got there, there were 3 operating tanks (the soldiers operating them had been burned to death), 35 Frog people, 19 soldiers, 15 lagoon things, 18 Dogons, 10 Blooks, and 0 Poppericuses.
I had to swing on a missile launcher to get it to come down. When it did, I saw Adam struggling with the 15 Lagoon things, and Sal had run to a spot so she could morph into a Poppericus. Half the army was heading that way, and half the army was heading Adam’s way. We were very tired. No one had been shot, but it was close. Adam wasn’t going to hold up much longer. Sal was vulnerable. I was too. I was scared to death.
I morphed into a Dogon, while making force field cannon balls fly at enemies. I had a thought: Sal can only morph into humans, can’t she?
Adam had punched and stepped on all but one Lagoon thing, crushed 7 Blooks into atoms, and choked 2 Dogons while kicking soldiers into the air where they entered space and suffocated.
Sal had hit 5 Dogons in their heart, 10 in the lungs, handful of frog people in their heads, and hit 2 tanks when they exploded.
I had crushed the other tank, burned the three blooks and lagoon thing, crushed 10 soldiers, and had just burned and crushed 10 frog people.
There were now 0 tanks, 16 frog people, 3 soldiers, 0 lagoon things, 0 blooks, 2 Dogons, and 0 Poppericuses. Shunk-dunk was still in the battle.
Just then, the missile fired. First firing two blasts of Lisher rays, it took off, launching some more rays.
We were devastated because the Hoosieree space station had blown up, but had to retreat. We were heading back to our own forms when we ran into Polo and Notanam. Polo was yelling “Bomb and dynamite!” An explosion boomed behind us. We ran.
Chapter Twelve
This is the story Polo and Notanam told us when we got back.
Polo
We were at the blue print place. All we had to do was break a window and we’re in, right? Plexiglas. Then we found a back door and we struggled with it until we decided to give it up and fight into the front door. There was one guard… who was asleep. We walked into a high security room that had Danger! written all over it. The security was off. We walked into a room full of Dogons, Blooks, Lagoon things, Poppericuses, Frog people, soldiers, and security cams, trip wires …all were snoozing.
“Are they drunk?” I asked.
We found our answer: A huge pile of empty wine and beer bottles. Oh, and the pile was as wide as Notanam and I lying head to toe, and as tall as three Yao Mings.
We were nauseated. All of the Futuristicals disliked drug abuse and vowed never to do it. I was tempted to kick the pile.
We found the blue prints between the two Poppericuses mentioned and Notanam was about to pick them up and zap them when I thought this is too easy. I yelled “No!” but it was too late. An alarm whooped. The two Poppericuses awoke and shot arrows. We ran.
Notanam
We burst into the room with the drunks, Burst into the high security room, burst into the room with the guard, burst outside, and ran until our sides ached. The blue print place was still in view. Polo wheezed “Fire!” And the house burst into flames. We were running again to Sal, Adam, and Sarah, meeting up with them. We were shocked at what happened to the De-Hoosieree missile. We hoped that all on the HSS would be safe.
We rested, then Sarah asked Sal, “How did you know all that stuff about your powers?” Sal sighed and said, “I know a bit about your powers too… Something that will change each of us… but first I have to tell you.”
We listened.
Chapter Thirteen
Redinio Hoosieree
“Well, well.” I watched as three figures emerged out of a Dogon and two soldiers and start to change into strange beings. I watched as they destroyed three missile launchers.
“What do you think, Alloroah?” I asked, astonished at the strength of one.
I was with Alloroah, my second-in-command, watching the launching site of the De-Hoosieree 2053. I groaned, “They forgot that missile! We’re doomed!”
“Maybe not.” Alloroah muttered, looking at the website with information on De-Hoosieree 2053. “It says that four missiles are needed to blow us up. No less.”
I looked again. The Renegades were hurting the army. Bad. But the army was hurting them. Bad. The remaining missile was pointing at the Control Center that held the controls for my inventions.
I yelled into the intercom “Evacuation of Control Center invention now!”
We heard the shuffling of people running in the port above us. A Lisher ray fired out of missile two times then it launched, firing. I looked at the three Renegades. Horror on their face told me that the attack was designed to save us. I zoomed in on the three renegades fleeing. They ran into two people. One said something. The launching site blew up.
I knew that these two people also had powerful powers.
Our HSS Shuddered as 12 Lisher rays hit us, followed by a missile. I was pleased to find that only the control station blew up, leaving no one dead. I zoomed in after the group. Seeing a blown up building, I guessed that was their work. I was right.
The group headed towards the frog people swamp. Seeing a hill or something, the group headed towards it. I wondered why. A hideout.
“It seems that we know who our greatest Allies are, Alloroah.”
“Indeed.”
The space station was about to land in February. We were running out of food, and we would starve in six months. Then, with our increased numbers, and with all renegades beside us, we would conquer the Gonolys.
I know a secret that no Renegade knows about the so-called loyal troops of Gonolys. A secret that will be helpful in our success.
You have six months, Gonolys.
Chapter Fourteen
Sarah
“Well, first of all…”
Sal was talking about the changes of our powers.
“…The Time Master told me in a dream that there were some changes in the powers. The reason He told me was because I was the most gullible.”
Everyone looked at her.
“All right, it’s because I’m the best listener.”
She looked at Notanam and Adam. “Adam is now the leader of the Futuristicals because, sorry, Notanam, Adam was one first and you haven’t had a lot of ideas.
“As for Sarah and I, As Sarah expected, the Time Master messed up. I have all morphing powers, and Sarah can fly.”
“So that’s why you were able to morph animals!” I said.
“Yep. Now, Polo, you have no new powers. Sorry. Now, everybody, try out new powers.”
I flew. Sal morphed. And Adam and Notanam shook hands, with Polo watching, making sure they weren’t going to tear out each other’s throat.
“I knew I wasn’t cut out for leadership, anyway,” I heard him reply. “You, however, are perfect.”
After about three minutes, Sal said, “I know some secrets about our powers, too. Like when I carried Sarah up when I should have had trouble lifting her? Or how Adam seems to carry more than 1,000 pounds? Well, The Time Master told me that too. When you fly, Sarah, you can carry anything because you weigh almost nothing, and then objects don’t seem as heavy. Kind of like on the moon or Pluto.
“Adam, the Time Master meant tons, not pounds. And 10,000, not 1,000.
“Polo, you can be ten yards away to drain knowledge, not one foot. That’s all I know. Enjoy your new knowledge.”
“HA, HA, HA.”
We didn’t see him, but we knew he was there. The Time Master.
“YOU HAVE (AAH) FOUND THAT I AM JUST (AHH) A MORTAL WITH AMAZING POWERS ... A MORTAL (ERH) MAKES MISTAKES... THERE IS A (OOH) CLUE ON HOW (OOH) YOU WILL SAVE ME IN THE (OUCH) FUTURE MISSION I MENTIONED... AND, CHECK (GAHH) YOUR LIST, I THINK THAT THERE (WHIMPER) MAY BE SOME INFORMATION THAT IS WELCOMING (WHIMPER)…
Notanam got to the list first. While he was looking at it I asked, “Did you hear him moaning and groaning like that?”
“Yep.” said everybody, feeling sorry for him.
“Shunk-Dunk dead…Whoa!” Notanam looked shocked.
“What?” Polo and Adam asked, scrabbling over each other to see the list.
“Ten new renegades are on the renegade list!”
Here they are:
Age 12 For-hunk-ret Male
Age 13 Honkger Female
Age 13 Aawsee Male
Age 14 Redf Female
Age 14 Quant Male
Age 15 Zasder Male
Age 16 Uhyet Female
Age 16 Duduc Female
Age 17 Guter Male
Age Unknown Name Unknown Gender Unknown
“Cool.” said Sal, “They must have figured out the 10 teenagers.”
“Yep,” said Polo, “Let me check…Noo, those aren’t the 10 teenagers. So 59 Gonolys left. A rebellion of 55. Boy, we’re closing in.”
Chapter Fifteen
We relaxed. We laughed. Only I stood apart. What was planned for us? Would one us die? Two? All?
I stepped outside. Adam followed. “What’s wrong, Sis?”
I sighed, choosing my words carefully, “Are we doomed to be defeated?”
Adam laughed, saying, “You were the doomsayer and most reluctant person of our group! And you still do it. Why, you made up the name Futuristicals! Just relax.”
Everything was true except for the doomsayer’s part.
“What if somebody dies? Me, you, and Sal were almost dead! Polo and Notanam were almost caught, we’re wanted, our families are locked in time, our only source to get us back home is a dying man whose supposed to be all-powerful, but turns out to be a mortal! What if we were bad to be chosen? That’s too much! I want to go home! ”
“Sarah, Sarah,” whispered Adam, putting his arm on my arm, “We will win, even if we die! That is our destiny… destiny… destiny…”
* * * * * * * * *
I awoke, sweating. It was morning. I thought it was all just a dream! It was all just a dream! But wait… Notanam is three beds away…
I punched the wall. I thought about what Adam had said. Just then…
YOU WILL WIN… YOU WILL WIN…
A thought? Or the Time Master speaking? I don’t know. But it gave me strength… and believing.
Polo was mumbling to himself in a dream “Electdium, Electdium, Electdium…”
What? I leaned over and listened.
“Electdium, Electdium, Electdium…”
Electdium? Hmmmmmmmmm…
* * * * * * *
I told everybody what I had heard. Polo said I was crazy. Sal wasn’t sure. Notanam said and showed nothing. Adam believed me.
“Thank you for the support, Adam. Now, Polo tell us all you know about Electdium.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah… What do you know?”
“You were whispering Electdium in your sleep.”
“Well, when I was sleeping and dreamed about them. Then I found information in the memory computer knowledge. And, well, this is what I learned…”
I am not the one to say what happened next. Polo will tell you soon.
THE END … for now.
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