Chapter Eleven: Technical (Saturday, October 29, 1994)
The sun peaks through my vertical blinds and cover half of my face. I roll over to try to avoid the light and to stay asleep that much longer. It’s not a school day and I shouldn’t have to wake up early. However something is nagging at me, reminding me that today is an important day. I roll back over onto my back and I open my eyes, looking up to the ceiling. I look at my hand and I start to play with a small fireball between my fingertips. Sighing, I close my hand and sit up. Today’s the day that Zar-Q returns and he should have everything set up for my father.
Zar-Q I had met when I first went to Zerron. He is a native to the planet and has blue skin. He reminds me of something out of a sci-fi movie with his different pigment. At first, he was working for Ozma and ended up helping me and my friends out in the end. He was scared of her and probably still is. He’s seen his fellow employees broken and bent to Ozma’s will before he himself was able to escape from the Universal Portal Corporation.
He and Josh have been living together while Z works on programs to help our cause and Josh is working undercover at the UPC. I have no reason to doubt their intentions and I hope Celestria, Tom and Kyle agree with me. They didn’t have to help us and it doesn’t make any sense for them to help us escape only to inform Ozma of where we are.
I roll out of bed and grab a pair of jeans and a sleeveless grey shirt. I decide to teleport to Crystaltina first thing so I can ask Z if he’s done the task.
I find Zar-Q in a large room within the catacombs. Throughout the room are ten computer towers and one large computer screen that looks more like a screen from a movie theatre.
“Hey Z,” I say, half hoping that he wasn’t here yet. I want to protect my dad but having to move him to another state hurts.
“Anya, it’s been too long,” he says, walking up to me. “How have you been?”
“Alright, considering…look, I need to know, have you…”
“Josh told me what you wanted me to do and I know it will be hard for you but yea, it’s done. I sent out the files to his supervisor before I left Zerron this morning. The file is in the form of an email from home office with all the information that the supervisor will relay to your dad. He should get the news today.”
“Thank you,” I say. “You know who would love all of this tech stuff, Miles.”
I don’t want to talk about my dad right now. It bothers me that I have to do this and the last thing I want to do, is to talk about it.
“You should bring him along,” Z recommends.
“You’re right. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him. He’s been going to private school for computers or something technical. I’ll be right back,” I say, teleporting to a park that is less than a mile away from Miles’ home.
I knock on the door of Miles’ home, which is a small two bedroom yellow and blue house. Miles and his mother are the only ones who live here. Miles’ father was killed overseas about two years ago. He doesn’t talk about him and I don’t pry. I do know he was in the military and died with honors.
The door opens and a short blonde woman stands before me, dressed in scrubs.
“Jen, what a great surprise,” she says.
“Hi Mrs. Winder,” I say. She still keeps her husband’s last name.
“I was in the area and since I haven’t seen Miles in a few months, I was wondering if it would be okay to take him to the park.”
“He’s been so busy with school I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a break.”
I haven’t been able to babysit Miles since I started high school and he understands fully. We had to tell his mother it was because I was starting high school and that I would be too busy.
“Miles,” she calls over her shoulder. “Would you like to come in?”
“No thank you.” It looks to me that Mrs. Winder had just gotten home from work not that long ago and would enjoy some much needed rest.
Miles appears and instantly has a smile on his face once he sees me. His mother tells him that I’ve offered to take him to the park for the day while she rests.
As we walk towards the park, I tell Miles the real reason, “Zar-Q is setting up his computer equipment at the castle ruins. Since it’s your sort of thing, we thought you might want to be there when he shows it off.”
“Awesome,” Miles says, his blue eyes shining with interest.
“Listen, I’m sorry that I haven’t been around much,” I tell him. “Between school, training—”
“I understand, you don’t have to explain,” Miles says and then adds, “Any cool stuff happened yet?”
Before I have the chance to open my mouth I notice a light blue shield around me. I turn around just in time to see a sai hit the shield and fall to the ground. Miles currently has his arms stretched out, protecting the both of us. I look over to see Victoria, with a second sai in her hand.
“Oh I cannot wait to kill you,” Victoria says. “Unfortunately, that’s not my mission right now.”
I can feel the anger coming from Victoria. I just don’t understand why she’s so angry at me to the point that she wants to kill me. Is it because what Ozma programmed in her DNA? I’ve offered her before the chance to join us but she denies, why?
“You don’t have to take orders from anyone,” I say.
“Don’t start. I’ll see you around,” she says, throwing down a pellet and smoke appears around the area and she is gone.
“…did I mention I have a clone that wants to kill me?”
Miles drops down the shield and looks at me.
I look at him and the last thing I want is for him to get tangled into this mess, “You don’t have to come with me.”
“I’m a part of this and I know you’re trying to keep me safe so I’ll listen to what Zar-Q says and maybe I can help with the technical stuff. You know, until I’m older,” he smiles.
We return to Zar-Q’s base of operation. Tom, Kyle and Celestria are all present now. They greet Miles as I find a nice spot in the corner to sit. It’s great that Z is here, but as far as computers are concerned, it’s a foreign subject to me. Video games yes, computers, not so much.
Kyle walks over, knowing this, “Don’t fall asleep, okay,” he smiles.
“Victoria told me that she just can’t wait to kill me,” I say. It’s better to just tell him instead of keeping it to myself. I’ve been doing that enough recently.
“Wait, what?”
“Yep. She showed up in the park right before Miles and I came here. She said she’s under orders to not kill me, so I guess that’s one good thing going for us.”
Kyle looks at me, trying to find the words to say.
“Don’t worry, I’m ready,” I say. “You should have seen Miles. He dropped that shield so quick. I just want to keep him away from all of this if possible or at least until he’s older.”
“So, if we’re ready,” Zar-Q says. “First off, I’ve been having issues on the tracking system. It seems it only tracks us. Somehow Ozma has blockers up protecting those who work for her. I’m not sure if I want to try to break those blockers since she can’t get through our firewalls either. We’re able to track anyone within a five mile area and we can monitor life signs as well. We can also keep an eye on any odd activity going on Earth, Crystaltina or Zerron. I also have designed miniature communication devices. I’m still working on the details but they should work for the most part.”
Zar-Q takes out what looks like a small telephone that flips over. It looks more like something out of Star Trek than something found in the real world. Last I checked cell phones are extremely large and bulky. I’m starting to see how other planets slowly influence Earth behind the scenes.
“Hopefully I can make things even simpler for you guys. Eventually I want to move away from the portable phone to a small device that can either be implanted or attached to the ear or temple without much notice. Oh and also, you can text on these phones as well, if you can’t talk. Keep in mind texting might take a while to get used to. I’m trying to figure out how to add in a QWERTY keyboard but as of now, it would make the devices even larger. Everyone will have a number where they can be reached and 0 will direct you to me or whoever might be at this station at that time.”
I can feel myself starting to fall asleep. It’s good that we’re going to have a system but this feels more like a day in class.
I look over to see Miles extremely excited about the news, as well as Celestria. Tom looks a bit bored and Kyle still can’t believe that I ran into Victoria.
She is my clone but she acts nothing like me. For one, I don’t go running around saying that I want to kill myself. Also, what was the point of showing up like that anyway? To prove that she knows where I’m at? To play mind games with me? This is going to get frustrating fast.
I lean over towards Kyle, “So how long do you think we can keep this a secret? We’re lucky that no one saw us at the park.”
“Don’t know,” he says.
“Just don’t tell anyone. I don’t need Celestria’s lectures again. Besides, I’m sure she’ll find out eventually,” I pause. “I get the feeling tomorrow is going to be…interesting.”
