"I didn't say we wouldn't tell him," said Niklas, "but I think we need to think about it. Maybe bring him out here with a group of us. Who else? Randy?"
"If we tell either Randy or Jonathon, we have to tell the other." said Fabian. "What about your sister, Niklas?"
Niklas scowled. "Over my dead body. That blabbermouth would have it all over the school come fall, as well as following us out here all the time and ruining our fun. She doesn't even know about this PLACE, never mind who's living here!"
Fabian grinned. "Easy, Niklas. I was just kidding. Who else do we know?"
"Jody?" offered Jason.
Niklas considered that. "Keith knows him better than any of us. It should be up to him. Didn't Sniv make a friend with a kid named Ricky, when he was tracking down Keith and Martin when Keith tried to run away a while back? And then there's Martin's new friend Chris."
Jason nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know if Sniv's seen much of Ricky since."
"I think Sniv should be next, and then later we should probably bring Randy and Jonathon out here together." suggested Niklas. "Telling Chris should probably be up to Martin. But we should get to all of them before summer vacation is over."
And so it had gone. Sniv was introduced to the two aliens, and was properly astonished. Martin, on his own, brought Chris out at one point, to not only meet the two aliens, but Davy as well. Davy and Chris got along well, even though Davy was a lot more outdoors-type and energetic, compared to the quieter Chris. Chris' reaction to the aliens was one of the more unusual. Of course, Chris spent a lot of time reading comic books and other fantasy material. He grinned widely and said, "I knew it had to be true. I knew there had to be people out there." Of course, he was a little nervous around them, but who wouldn't be at first?
Jason and Fabian later brought out Randy and Jonathon. Randy was also impressed, and Jahv seemed fascinated by Randy's long hair, which was longer than any of the other boys', but he didn't say anything about it except to stare a bit.
Jonathon was skeptical about the «aliens» until he had a chance to poke around the dome-tent. True to form, he started pounding on the computer until a horrendous squeal nearly deafened everyone in the room. "What'd I do?!" exclaimed Jonathon, suddenly frightened.
Jahv made a big show out of checking the computer. "Oh, very nice. When the invasion force shows up and enslaves the planet, I am NOT taking the blame for it."
"WHAT??!?!" shrieked Jonathon, suddenly terrified. Then Jahv started laughing, which in turn got everyone else laughing, including Jonathon, eventually. But it was a solid example to the accident-prone youngster about keeping the presence and location of these two aliens a definite secret, and Jonathon actually managed to keep quiet about it. He nearly slipped a couple of times in conversation, but a loud cough from someone else, one of the other boys, suddenly made him aware of what he was about to say, and he soon learned to say nothing.
Not long after, the shuttle Jahv and Keyro had been building was ready. Finding passengers was a little trickier. Talking about flying into space was one thing. The sudden realization of actually being able to do so caused a certain reluctance on the part of a lot of the boys. Eventually, Niklas, Davy, and Keith decided to go along with Jahv, while Martin and Keyro would keep track of them from the dome-tent. Niklas and Davy managed to overcome whatever fear they might have had about an actual space voyage with the sheer prospect of adventure. Keith figured he'd better go along to provide a reality check if one was needed, or so he said. He probably wanted the adventure as much as Niklas and Davy, but wasn't about to admit it aloud.
Their destination, explained Jahv, would be a planet orbiting a star roughly fifteen light years away. According to his people's records, the planet was habitable, but was uninhabited — at least as far as advanced sentient life was concerned. And yet Jahv had detected, through his radio telescope investigations, what sounded very much like a distress signal, in a language that was believed to be nearly extinct.
Jahv had outfitted Niklas, Davy, and Keith in spacesuits similar to his own, but with different color patterns. He explained that the trip to the planet would only take a couple of hours, since much of it would be spent in a form of interdimensional transit he described as «hyperwarp». Fortunately, the boys technically had all weekend. Niklas, Keith, and Martin had said they were going to spend the weekend at Davy's. Davy had told his parents that they all wanted to camp out in the woods nearby, and they had made a big production out of hauling a large tent and more than enough food out there with them, most of which would be parked in Jahv's dome-tent.
"What are these uniforms made out of?" asked Niklas, tugging at the sleeve of his outfit. "They feel kinda weird."
"It's an organic fabric made out of — " began Jahv.
"Never mind!" interrupted Keith. "Organic anything and I'd just as soon not know. How'd you get the fit so perfect?"
Jahv shrugged. "One size pretty much fits all. The suit is highly elastic. Now strap in. We're leaving momentarily."
Minutes later, the sleek shuttle shot out of the dome-hangar it had been built in. Not that anyone saw it or heard it. The grav-engines were utterly silent, and the ship had the same cloaking capability as the dome-tents Jahv and Keyro lived in.
However, the boys were able to watch the lift-off through huge windows in the passenger cabin. The Earth quickly diminished in size behind them. "Incredible!" whispered Davy. Niklas was equally impressed. Keith was trying to hold onto his lunch. The inertia compensators of the shuttle were such that there had been no real feeling of extra gravity during the launch, but Keith's stomach wasn't entirely convinced of that.
Before long the moon came into view. "This is incredible!" proclaimed Niklas. The shuttle had windows along its sides, and Niklas and Davy's faces were firmly pressed against them. Keith was allowing himself an occasional glimpse, but he was also realizing that whatever he was when he grew up, it would most likely be something decidedly earthbound.
"Hey, I think I just saw a comet go past on this side!" yelled Davy.
"I feel like I oughtta be up on the bow of the ship yelling 'I'm the king of the world' or something." giggled Niklas.
"You would have to quote that movie, wouldn't you?" remarked Keith. "The ship sank. Get over it."
Niklas ignored him. "Jahv, this is incredible! And you get to do this sort of thing all the time?"
Jahv grinned. "Believe it or not, it becomes routine after a while."
"I don't believe that." said Niklas, still staring out the window. "This could never become routine."
"Hey, any chance of stopping on Mars on the way to this planet you mentioned?" asked Davy.
"It's not on the itinerary." replied Jahv from the cockpit. "Why?"
Davy shrugged. "I just thought it'd be a blast to walk past Pathfinder's camera and freak out all of NASA."
"You're evil, you know that?" remarked Niklas, grinning. "Fortunately for NASA in this case, I think I read that Pathfinder's batteries have already drained. But maybe we could figure out what happened to that Polar Lander probe they lost."
"I've got a better idea." said Keith, finally recovered from his brief nausea. "We do this again, we should take a couple of soda cans with us and leave 'em on Mars. Wouldn't that drive the 'first' manned mission to Mars completely nuts?"
"Great, we've got a kid on board who wants to be the world's first interplanetary litterbug." commented Niklas.
"Yeah, right." said Keith. "I saw an old video with astronauts on the moon. How about that one that golfed? You think he bothered to track down and fetch the ball back?"