There was a flash of light and an explosion of thunder, and when the Dillingers' eyes had cleared, the room was back to normal. "That hadda be a dream." muttered Mr. Dillinger angrily. "It hadda be."
"I don't think so." said his wife, still terrified. She looked at the bedpost. It was still marked. "And someone did fix Keith's nose after it was broken."
"Hey, he had it coming!" barked Dillinger. "If the little twerp hadn't broken away from me…"
"You probably would have hurt him anyway." said Mrs. Dillinger, with enough anger in her voice to bother Mr. Dillinger.
"Yeah, well…" Dillinger couldn't think of anything to say. The room still smelled of ozone from the aliens' departure.
"What are we going to do?" asked Mrs. Dillinger.
The next day was yet another in a growing series of insufferably hot and humid days that this summer had produced. The kind where you figure that even if you could work up enough saliva to spit, it'd evaporate before it hit the sidewalk. The kind of humidity where your clothes and your hair make you feel like you've been stuffed into plastic wrap and tossed into a warming oven. Keith scarcely noticed, tearing through the neighborhood on his bicycle, jumping curbs, letting out a whoop every so often, and occasionally scaring traffic.
He raced out to the pond near Davy's home as fast as he possibly could, once he set his mind to it. He practically jumped off the bike as it clattered to the ground, and found the location where Jahv's dome-tent was located. Based on the presence of other bicycles, it was reasonable to assume that Davy, Martin, and even Niklas were out here.
Keith ran into the tent. "I heard the whole thing last night, you guys." he said. "Nice bit of acting. You ever get discovered for real, we should just turn you over to George Lucas."
"So what was the result?" asked Davy.
Keith sort of grinned. "Well, you scared them, that's for sure. I kinda think he's going to back off for a while, probably till school starts, anyway. He'll probably crack down on me again then. But he kind of said that whatever I wanted to do this summer was okay with him, as long as I didn't cause trouble or break the law."
"And what you want to do is —?" asked Niklas.
Keith laughed once. "Stay as far away from him as possible. If anybody's looking for an overnight guest, maybe for a couple of nights or so in a row, I'm definitely available."
"I get him first!" called Martin.
"I'm sure it'd be cool with my parents once in a while." said Davy.
Keith nodded. "With a little luck, I might not have to be home more than a day or two in a row this summer."
"What about your grandmother?" asked Niklas.
Keith shrugged. "Ah, she's okay. But she's getting too old to take care of me, and you know she doesn't like having other kids around. I'm glad I can stay with her most of the time, though. I just wish I could see my mom more often without HIM around."
"I still think you should report this." said Davy. "Maybe one of us could persuade our parents to take you in."
Keith raised a hand. "One step at a time, guys, okay? I don't trust the cops or any child welfare authorities to do the right thing. And for now — I'll take what I can get. If he leaves me alone the rest of the summer, that works for me. But I do owe you an apology. I didn't think anything could be done. You proved me wrong. Thanks for your help."
"Keith, we're your friends." said Davy. "What else could we do?"
"We could go to the pond!" announced Keith. "You know how hot it is out there today?"
"There is one other thing, that I think we should discuss." announced Jahv. "Two things, actually. The first is: we have heard you refer sometimes to others of your friends. A boy named Jonathon. Another who calls himself Sniv, although I should mention that that's a pretty rude word on a couple of worlds I can think of. Keyro and I are very glad to have all of you as friends, but we would like to meet more of your friends. Would this be possible soon?"
The boys considered the question. Niklas knew the others best. "I think so. I'm sure we could trust Sniv, and I know we could trust Jason and Fabian. I'm not so sure about Jonathon, but maybe. Maybe Randy, too."
Jahv nodded. "Good. We'd like to meet and know more of your friends."
"You said two things." remarked Davy.
"Remember when we used the holocron to visit a representation of our world?" asked Jahv.
"Do I?" said Davy. "The inside of my mouth is still healing from those flame berries or whatever they were."
"It occurred to us that there are many different planets and races out there." said Jahv. "And although we are banned from ever returning to our homeworld, no such ban exists for other planets."
"Yeah, so?" asked Keith.
"Come with us." Jahv and Keyro stood, and led the boys through a second doorway in the dome-tent. One that had not been there until recently. "It's taken some doing. Fortunately, Keyro's backpack contained a second, larger dome-tent. And an intact computer, complete with the necessary schematics. The fabrication equipment that makes dry goods similar to how our replicators make food has been difficult to convert for a project like this, but it has worked. And it's almost ready."
"What's ready?" asked Niklas. The interior of this second dome-tent was darkened.
"Lights!" said Jahv.
The second dome-tent was a hangar. And in the center of it, nearly complete, was a huge, sleek, gleaming shuttle, that looked like it was straight out of Star Trek, Star Wars, or something equally futuristic. There was no question that it was capable of interstellar flight.
"Ohhh, wow." whispered Davy, breaking the silence of the four boys. Jahv and Keyro were grinning widely.
Niklas started giggling. "What's so funny?" asked Keith.
"No one's going to believe it, you know." said Niklas, still giggling. "We're going to have to lie like nobody's business when we write the reports for school."
"What reports?" asked Martin.
"How we spent our summer vacation." said Niklas, finally breaking down into complete hysterics, followed quickly by Davy, Martin, and Keith. Jahv and Keyro didn't quite get the joke, but they laughed as well.
The entire group headed out to the pond to cool off, and there they spent the rest of the day, with the prospect of the greatest adventure of all yet ahead.
Part 6
It had been a busy few weeks for Jahv and his friends. First off, Niklas had brought Jason and Fabian out to meet Jahv and Keyro. That had been more difficult for Niklas than he had thought. He'd never kept secrets from his friends, but he had kept silent about Jahv and Keyro. So he hadn't been sure how to bring up the subject.
One morning, both Jason and Fabian had come to Niklas' house, just as Mrs. Edlund was taking Tina shopping. "Niklas is asleep, boys, but I'd appreciate it if you'd get him up, anyway. I don't want him sleeping the summer away." As usual during the summer months, Niklas had slept late. Jason and Fabian stood over the bed wondering what the best — and most amusing — means of awakening their friend might be.
"Water balloon?" suggested Fabian quietly.
Jason shook his head. "Did that three weeks ago, remember? And his mom got upset about the damp sheets. What if we just yank the covers off?"
Fabian frowned. "Look at him. Dead to the world. I don't think he'd notice. Yank his shorts off?"
Jason giggled. "That'd be fun, but I'm not sure he'd notice THAT, either. What if we jumped on the bed?"
"We did that four weeks ago, and I didn't like the way the frame squeaked." said Fabian. "I don't want to have to explain a collapsed bed."