"I'm hoping for the shuttle, just to see him haul something that big out of that backpack." remarked Keith.
Jahv extracted himself, and was holding a triangular-shaped box, about a foot long on either side, and perhaps six inches high. At each corner of the triangle, which was silver but seemed to reflect many colors, were small antennae which Jahv was pulling out to greater length. Then he pressed the exact center of the triangle, and a small control panel appeared.
"What is that thing?" asked Keith.
"It's called a holocron." explained Jahv. "I can program it to project a holographic representation of my world, or almost any environment. We can walk around in it, and participate fully. The device can project solid-light creations, and will react to our presence. Sort of like a fully interactive movie or video game."
"Sounds a lot like the holodeck from Star Trek." said Davy.
"That's exactly what it's like!" answered Jahv.
"Great. I never could figure out how that could possibly work, and now he's got a compact one in a little box." remarked Keith.
"What would you like to see on my world?" asked Jahv.
Davy pondered the question. "You have anyplace like the pond?"
Jahv grinned. "As a matter of fact, there was a large lake not too far from where we lived, when we were home, which wasn't very often. I'd go fishing there. I had a small hoverboat."
"Let's do that!" said Davy.
"Works for me." added Keith.
Jahv pressed a button on the console, and the world around the three boys turned into a miasma of shimmering light. Several seconds later, they were standing, so it seemed, on the surface of an alien world.
The sky was a gentle lavendar, incredibly merging into a pale green towards the horizon. Tall grass waved in a light breeze. The grass was a greenish-blue in color. There was a scent in the air, like cinnamon. Just beyond the tall grass was a lake with an island in the middle of it. Tall trees that looked like someone had crossed a pine with a palm waved in the wind. The trees were a deep mottled green, the water a deep bluish-purple. In the distance, beyond a faint haze, were the futuristic spires of an alien city, incredibly complex in design.
And in the sky above — two suns.
Davy's eyes went wide. "WOW!" he said.
Keith couldn't speak. He knew, in his mind, that this wasn't real. But it was the most incredible thing he'd ever seen.
"Come on," said Jahv, obviously unfazed by it all. To him, this was home. "The hoverboat is over this way."
Jahv led the other two boys to the edge of the lake, where a circular platform with a control panel on a short platform in the middle of it, and railing around it, waited. The boys all climbed in, and Jahv started the hoverboat, which glided silently out over the lake.
"So — what are we fishing for?" asked Keith in a quieter-than-usual voice. He and Davy were still mesmerized by the scenery.
Jahv opened a storage panel in the size of the platform, and brought out three devices that frankly looked like long, narrow flashlights. He considered the question. He knew he had to translate names into language that Davy and Keith could understand. This wasn't always easy. "I think the best description would be 'bulb-eyed red-fin'."
Davy and Keith glanced at Jahv, who merely shrugged. "Best I can come up with, guys, unless you want the native version."
"No thanks." said Keith. Jahv's language, which sounded like radio static to anyone else, came close to hurting his ears.
Jahv passed out the equipment. "What the heck is this?" asked Keith. "Lightsabers? We supposed to make sushi out of the fish before we even catch them?"
Jahv grinned. "Watch." He pressed a red button on the device, drew it back over his shoulder, and then cast it out just like a fisherman on Earth would have done. A bright blue line of light shot forth, and then slowly settled into the water at a distance.
"Wow!" said Davy. "But — what do we use for bait?"
"You probably didn't see it," said Jahv, "but the fishing rod released a tiny sonic device at the far end. It attracts fish."
"Hey, at least we don't have to worry about getting hooks caught in our hands — or worse." remarked Keith. "Or do we?"
Jahv shook his head. "When a fish bites, the lure creates a molecular bond. Sometimes the fish get away, but not very often. They can be released if you press the blue button on the rod, and that way you don't lose the lure, either."
"Well, let's give this a try!" said Davy. He'd fished several times, and enjoyed it. He made a successful cast in the direction opposite Jahv's. Keith then followed suit, with almost as good a cast as Davy's.
A few minutes later, Davy felt a tug on his line. "I think I've got something! How do I reel it in?"
"Press the green button." replied Jahv.
Davy did so, and he felt the pull get stronger. But he could also see something flopping around in the water that was being brough in closer. Moments later, he had brought the fish into the boat.
"Nicely done." said Jahv. He and Keith had shut down their rods. "That's a bulb-eyed red-fin, all right."
"Gross!" proclaimed Keith, and in fact it was. The fish, about a foot long, had a slimy, scale-less, mottled, dark green body, that otherwise looked more or less fishlike. This didn't surprise Keith or Davy too much, since Jahv was more or less human in appearance. The fish had a large red fin on its back, and two bulbous, protruding eyes up front. It had a huge mouth, and a wrinkled face with several rather haphazard «whiskers» like a catfish emanating from it.
"Jeez, what do you catch these things for?" asked Keith. "To put them out of the misery of having to look at each other?"
"Believe it or not, they're excellent eating." replied Jahv.
Keith made a face almost as ugly as that of the red-fin's. "I think I'll take your word for that."
"Besides, it's just a hologram." added Davy. "We couldn't really eat it."
Jahv shrugged. "Actually, I could program my food replicator to duplicate it. It wouldn't act alive, of course, but.
"That's okay." said Keith hastily. He had no intention of eating something this ugly.
Davy pushed the fish over the side of the hoverboat, where it swam off. All three boys cast their lines out again. Minutes later, it was Keith's turn to get a bite. But whatever it was was a lot stronger than Davy's catch. "Hey, Jahv, how big do those — uhnnnn — red-fin fish get?"
"Davy's was pretty large." replied Jahv, seemingly concerned. "Why?"
"Then I think I must have hooked a mutant or something, because I don't think I can hold onto this thing!" complained Keith.
Jahv's eyes went wider than usual. "Uh, ohhh."
"What do you mean, 'uh oh'?" protested Keith. "I don't want to hear 'uh, oh' right now!"
"You might have hooked onto the Legend of the Lake." said Jahv. "I thought I'd taken care of that glitch!"
"Glitch!?" exclaimed Davy and Keith simultaneously. Just then, a huge, serpentine head rose from the water. The head alone was easily as large as any of the boys. It was attached to a neck that was a good twenty feet long. This beast was nothing less than a medieval dragon, with scales, frilled ears, and a nasty attitude. Keith's fishing line was squarely in the creature's mouth. The dragon jerked its head, which sent Keith flying out of the hoverboat with such force that the boat itself overturned. Then the dragon sped off in the opposite direction.
"Keith! For God's sake, let go of the fishing rod!" yelled Davy, once he and Jahv had swam out from under the capsized boat.
Keith had been so petrified, being pulled across the lake by the alien equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster, that simply letting go hadn't occurred to him, but he finally did so, and the dragon swam off and submerged itself again. Frankly, Keith was more than a little angry. He swam back to his soaked friends. "What the hell was that thing doing in your program? I could've been eaten!"