Keith groaned.
Davy interjected, "These broadcasts must be pretty old to have come this far across space."
Admittedly, even Jahv wasn't entirely sure how far he'd traveled, but his homeworld was certainly not in this solar system, which automatically put it light years away. Jahv shook his head. "A lot of stuff gets broadcast through hyperspace, for our colony worlds. Same-day broadcast. Unless I lost some time coming to this world, which I don't think I did, this is for today's date." He listened some more to the static. "Yes, there it is. 25th day of Orbital Rotation Period 27552. That's today."
There was a sudden squeal of static, louder than the others.
"Jeez! What was that?!" exclaimed Keith. "If they picked that up at Arecibo —!"
"I doubt they did." said Jahv. "I've been fine-tuning more precisely than they can. But that was a personal message blip. Who in the world — " Jahv replayed the squeal at a slower speed. It still sounded like static to Davy and Keith, but Jahv actually turned a paler shade of green when he heard it.
"You okay?" asked Davy.
"I don't believe it. That was directed at me!" said Jahv in little more than a whisper.
"Oh, great." said Keith. "Probably an invasion force thinking you got kidnapped or something. Game over, fans. I'll be under the bed until the end of the world."
Davy gave Keith an odd look, but Jahv seemed oblivious to it. "No, nothing like that. It's — it's my little brother!"
"Your what?!" Davy and exclaimed simultaneously. Davy added, "You never mentioned him."
"He wouldn't come with me when I ran away." said Jahv. "Now he wants to come here. Not that he knows where I am. He's asking me to send coordinates. Says he's ready to leave home. He says mom and dad were really angry when I left, and they've been taking it out on him."
"Can you get him here?" asked Keith, suddenly sympathetic.
"I think so." said Jahv, fingers flying over the keyboard. First he called up a map of Earth, centering on the region where they were now. He mapped it out in grids so tight that Davy estimated they couldn't've been more than a quarter-mile wide. Long series of numbers ran past on the screen. The image of the Earth pulled back, and then so did the entire solar system.
"I'm tracing the broadcast. This may take a while." explained Jahv.
"Jahv, as advanced as you people are — this sort of thing — what your parents are doing to your little brother — still happens?" asked Davy.
Jahv sighed. "We're a peaceful people, but we're also very disciplined. You just don't go breaking up families. That's why I can never return home, even if I wanted to. Technically, what I did was a pretty serious crime. But I just — couldn't — stay. I was afraid that — " Jahv let loose a short burst of static that was obviously his brother's name " — might suffer as a result. That's why I tried to get him to come with me, but he wouldn't — then."
"You want to turn that name into something the rest of us can pronounce?" asked Keith.
Jahv pondered the question. Technically, the «name» he used with his friends was just the first syllable of his full name, which in reality traced over five generations of ancestry. What could his brother be called using the same principle? "Keyro."
"Are your parents ever likely to come looking for you?" asked Davy.
Jahv shook his head. "The penalty for what I did, and what Keyro intends, is permanent banishment from the family. If my parents tried to find us, they'd be banished. They won't risk that. Their work is too important to them."
The computer beeped. Actually, it sounded more like it farted, but the point was that the results Jahv had been waiting for were ready. "Coordinates received." said Jahv, quickly working the computer. "Altering satellite dish to send, compensating for hyperspace transmission, and.
"Hold it." said Davy. "Are you sending him the exact same coordinates you used?"
"I was planning to. Why?" asked Jahv.
"You came in over water, remember?" said Davy. "Knocked you out and Niklas and I had to fish you out. You want to put your little brother through that?"
Jahv cringed. "You're right. He swims well, but the transmatrix can be disorienting, especially over such a distance. I'll adjust the coordinates a bit." Jahv typed a new series of numbers into the computer. "And — broadcasting."
"How soon before we get a response?" asked Keith.
"How long does it take you to talk on the telephone?" replied Jahv. "Should be almost instantaneous."
Another squeal of static came through the computer. Jahv processed it. "He's received the coordinates, and says he'll be here in about a deci-cycle. That's about one of your hours."
"Where's he going to be landing, or materializing, or whatever?" asked Keith.
"About a quarter-mile northwest of the pond. The other side from us." explained Jahv.
Davy's eyes went wide with alarm. "Oh, NO! Not over there! Are you serious?"
"Is there a problem?" asked Jahv.
"Yeah, what are you talking about?" asked Keith.
"I'd better show you." said Davy.
"If this is the receiving point for Keyro, I'd better put on my spacesuit." said Jahv.
"Why?" asked Davy. "It's just as isolated as this area."
"Yes, but Keyro will be arriving wearing a spacesuit. It would be rude." explained Jahv.
Davy decided to put his coveralls back on while Jahv stepped into his spacesuit. Keith was wearing everything he'd arrived in, which admittedly wasn't much, but was sufficient.
The three boys trekked through the woods, away from the pond, northwest, until they came upon the region Davy was so concerned about. Surrounded by trees was a huge expanse of mud. It wasn't exactly a swamp, or some stagnant pool. It was just plain brown mud, a huge spread of it about forty feet across, Keith guessed. Maybe a bit more.
"This is what you were so concerned about?" said Keith, picking up a fist-sized rock and tossing it out. The mud was obviously rather thick, but not so much that there wasn't a satisfying SPLAT when the rock hit and sank.
"You don't understand, because you don't live around here." said Davy. "This area is supposed to be haunted. A couple of kids fell into this years ago and were never heard from again. It's full of sinkholes. Sucked them right down."
"You've been hanging around too many summer camp story sessions or something." said Keith. "Sinkholes? Either that, or that's a story some parents came up with to keep their kids from getting muddy. I can't believe you'd be afraid of this."
Jahv had brought his backpack with him, and had pulled out some sort of device that whistled when he waved it in the direction of the mud pool. "Analysis indicates no sign of sinkholes. And no — missing children, either, or the remains thereof. Depth is a fairly consistent 14 inches. Shallow point at the edge about six inches. Deepest point about 22 inches."
"Not quite waist deep at the worst, then." said Keith.
"Thickness might result in us getting stuck, but it wouldn't be impossible to extract ourselves given the equipment I have in the backpack." said Jahv.
Davy chewed his lower lip. He trusted Jahv, but the stories had been told for years. There was one question that had always bugged him. "Any idea what could cause this place?"
"Soil seems to be unusually unstable. Apparently this was once part of the same pond where we go swimming." said Jahv. "It broke off from it, but somehow still receives water from it, just enough to maintain it as mud, mixed with the soil. It's weird, but not dangerous."