"Yeah, yeah." said Keith, not really wanting to talk about it. "I agree with you. And lately, my mom's been taking his side a few times. Maybe I just need to start staying away. But we've got a bigger problem than that right now. Davy, lemme guess — couple'a guys in uniform showed up at your home asking nasty questions about what's going on out here?"
Davy nodded. "I slipped out. My parents have no idea, of course, and they said as much. I'm not sure they were believed."
Keith slapped his forehead. "We're idiots. If they saw and followed either of US…"
"They'd probably be peeling open the tent right now, and they're not." said Jahv cautiously. "Let's not panic — yet. But I do wonder how they have any clue as to our presence. The computer —?"
"I doubt it." said Keith. "If you guys haven't tipped anybody off by now with all your hacking, it's not going to happen. But you guys put on a big light and sound show when you show up. I only saw Keyro arrive, but if yours was anything like that, Jahv…"
"It was…" added Davy.
"It might have been enough to worry somebody around here to alert someone or other, who's just now getting around to looking into it." finished Keith. "And Jahv, you sort of blend into the surroundings with your green skin. Your lavendar brother over there doesn't."
Jahv pondered the situation. "All right, let's consider what's happening here. Suppose we are captured? What happens to us?"
Davy and Keith looked at each other. Finally Davy spoke. "I really don't know. Assuming the military has ever actually caught any aliens before, it's not the sort of thing you read about on the news."
"There's probably some general official attitude that most people wouldn't be able to handle the existence of aliens." said Keith. "My guess is, at best, you could say goodbye to any freedom. You'd probably be locked way, way away someplace for good. At worst — they'll kill you. Maybe dissect you. Maybe after trying to get technological information out of you."
Jahv cringed. So did Keyro, although he was still watching "Howard the Duck" with rapt attention. "I do not consider any of those to be attractive options."
"Then we'd better start thinking of some new ones." said Keith.
"We could just move the tent somewhere else, more hidden." suggested Davy.
Jahv shook his head. "If they have suspicions about this area, they're probably watching. The tent can't be moved when cloaked. We'd have to de-cloak and disassemble it."
There was a rustle at the tent door, and everybody in the room jumped nervously. But it was only Martin, looking very upset. "Hey, you guys, there's some big black cars and an army truck parked on the road nearby, and some men in uniform headed this way."
"Dammit!" swore Keith. "One of us WAS followed!"
"Or they have been keeping an eye on this place and saw us arrive." suggested Davy. "Either way, we've got a big problem."
Jahv was at the computer, activating an outside monitor. Four men in uniform were heading towards the tent, flanked by a number of well-armed soldiers. "These are military personnel?" he asked.
"Yep." said Keith.
"Sure they are!" added Keyro. "Don't you remember some of the movies we've watched?"
Suddenly there was a loud voice, magnified through a bullhorn. "This is Major Simmons of the Armed Forces! We know there's someone or something around this area that doesn't belong here, as well as several kids! I suggest you show yourselves immediately!"
Jahv's antennae suddenly perked up. "I think I just had an idea. You three better go out there. Try to stall for about a minute if you can. Do NOT let them think there are offworlders in here. And stay clear, too. Just in case this doesn't work."
"Jahv, are you — " began Davy.
"Go!" interrupted Jahv. "Trust me." The young alien grinned.
Reluctantly, Keith, Martin, and Davy left the tent, to face the officer who had introduced himself as Major Simmons. The man looked decidedly startled to see three kids emerge seemingly from nowhere, but he quickly regained his composure. "I knew it. I knew there was something out here, and those aliens obviously have a pretty good technology to camouflage their ship or their headquarters to the point of being invisible. And who knows what they've done to these kids?"
"What aliens?" said Davy, trying not to look nervous. Keith was doing the best job of this. Martin looked ready to either faint or disgrace himself. On the other hand, how often did a bunch of kids run across a bunch of die-hard military officers and soldiers with big guns? Hopefully they'd think that was the reason.
"Nice try, boys." said Simmons. "I can't imagine why you'd want to protect a potential threat to the security of this country. Maybe you've just seen E.T. or Star Wars too many times. But whatever's in that hidden — whatever it is — is dangerous. And we're here to deal with it. Now stand aside."
The three boys reluctantly complied. Simmons and the other three officers moved forward. It took Simmons a few tries to feel for the surface of the dome-tent, and then find the door, but he ultimately did. With a mild grin of satisfaction, quickly replaced by his usual look of determination, and opened the door.
And stepped inside what looked exactly like a large, fairly high-tech, military outpost. There were two officers standing inside, and about a dozen enlisted personnel at various computer stations. The ranking officer was a grim-faced, older general, who scowled at Simmons and his men. "Major, what is the meaning of this?!"
Simmons blinked, stunned. He quickly came to attention and saluted. "Sir! We've — had reports of possible UFO activity in this area, sir. We were investigating."
"UFOs?!" barked the general. "Poppycock! This is a secret military installation designed to test new electronic camouflage equipment, short-range weaponry, and conduct special maneuvers."
Simmons had regained a little of his bravado. "Sir, there have been reports of mysterious flashes of light and sound in the area."
"Of course there would be!" roared the general. "It's a new weapon system designed to distract the enemy! I would have hoped that our own boys would have been above such obvious devices!"
"Sir, we passed no checkpoints on our way in." said Simmons.
"Of course you didn't, Major. Wouldn't that rather blow the 'secret' part of this operation, to have guards apparently guarding nothing?" replied the general, in an exasperated tone.
"Sir, what about those three children?" asked the major.
"What about them?" asked the general. "They stumbled across the place not long after we set up. I felt it might be a good idea to continue to let them play here — when we're not testing weapons outside, of course — to keep the illusion of nothing going on out here intact. They've been fully sworn to secrecy, as well. Not even their parents know."
"That's — unusual procedure, Sir." said Simmons.
"Are you questioning my command?!" yelled the general.
"No, Sir!" answered Simmons quickly. "But why hasn't anyone else heard about this place?"
"Because it's a secret, major! That's the whole point of it! Strictly need to know! And YOU are now under orders to go back to your command and destroy ANY records you have of this place, and forget that you were ever out here, unless you want to find yourself mysteriously demoted right down to private and cleaning latrines in the most unpleasant place I can think of! And I can think of plenty! Do you have a problem with anything I've just said?!?"
Simmons saluted and tried to keep from sweating. "No, SIR!"
"GOOD!" yelled the general. "Now get out of here before somebody sees YOU and blows OUR cover!"
"Yes, SIR!" replied Simmons, quickly turning around and escorting his men out the door, across the field, into their vehicles, and away from the area at a speed normally not recommended by the highway department.
Davy, Keith, and Martin had remained standing outside the tent rather nervously. They weren't entirely sure what to expect or what to do. They didn't want to run off and abandon their friends, but neither did they want to be taken away with them if they were captured. So they remained hoping that, at worst, if they had to, they could escape in some measure of confusion and maybe take their friends Jahv and Keyro along with them. The last thing they expected was such an obvious retreat.
Once the soldiers were gone and that particular fact had sunk in, it was Keith who commented first. "Hunh. What do you suppose caused that?"
"What would cause a bunch of soldiers to be scared of two naked alien kids?" asked Davy to no one in particular.
Keith snickered. "Do me a favor, Davy. Don't hand me straight lines like that, okay?"
"Too bad the dome-tent is soundproofed." remarked Martin, still scared. "Maybe we'd better check on them. Maybe the soldiers just — shot them?"
That got all three of the kids back in the dome-tent in a hurry. Jahv and Keyro were perfectly fine, Keyro having returned to his video, and Jahv storing the holocron device in a holding place on a control panel. "Oh, hi guys!" said Jahv cheerfully. "I was afraid you'd left."
"You're okay?" asked Martin.
"Yes, we're fine." replied Jahv.
"Okay — what did you do?" demanded Keith. "The last time I saw a retreat like that was at school, when Bubba Trukowski got sick over his limburger cheese pizza."
"Just a little holocron trickery." replied Jahv. "And some experience with some of your military movies. There's some really pompous, scary commanding generals in those things. Ever see 'Patton'?"
The boys started to giggle. Even if they hadn't seen the movie, they got the idea.
"Wish I could've seen that." said Keith, finally stifling the giggles. "Although I'm surprised they didn't wonder about this mess of a shirt I'm wearing."
"They probably figured it was just some T-shirt pattern." said Davy.
"You mean it's NOT?" exclaimed Martin. "Keith, did your stepdad do that to you?"
Keith fell silent.
"Yeah, we've still got a problem here, even though we got rid of the military, hopefully for good." said Davy. "Keith, enough is enough. Your stepfather can't keep doing this to you."
"It wasn't just him." insisted Keith. "I really did fall over a table."
"After he grabbed you and you pulled away." said Jahv. "Maybe he hasn't beaten you that severely yet, but doesn't this sort of thing just tend to get worse?"
"It's against the law, even as it is, I'd think." said Davy. "One of these days he might do something that not even Jahv can fix!"
"Come on, Keith, you can't let him keep hurting you like this." urged Martin. "You've got to report this to somebody. I'm sure my parents would help."
"Look, guys," said Keith, "I appreciate it, but as much as I hate being around him, I don't wanna end up in some special agency, or stuck in foster care, or maybe forced to leave town with some strangers that some court judge says are supposed to take care of me. I'd miss all of you too much."
Martin's eyes were filled with tears. Keith was his best friend. Davy was close to crying, too. But he was thinking, as well. There had to be some way to get Mr. Dillinger to cut Keith some slack. Then he noticed the holocron. "I've got an idea."
Keith looked up, skeptically. "What are you — no, don't tell me. I'm not sure I want to know. Just don't do anything that's gonna get me into even more trouble, okay? Just — just leave it alone. Hell, if I can survive long enough, I'll be grown up and can legally move out."
"Okay, if that's what you want." said Davy sadly. "Maybe you'd better head home before you get into more trouble."
"Yeah, right." said Keith, leaving the tent. Davy, Jahv, and the rest watched him depart.
"I hate this." said Martin. "Keith's my best friend. We can't just let him keep getting hurt."
Davy grinned slyly. "Sometimes you gotta help people whether they want it or not."
"You sound like you have a plan." said Jahv. "And I suspect it involves our technology."
Davy kept grinning, his mind already working. First, he'd need to convince his parents that he wanted to spend the night in his treehouse. Then… "What works on the military, oughtta work on civilians…"
Keith rode his bike home, and, not surprisingly, his stepfather threatened to beat him. But his mother got the man to back off. For his part, Mr. Dillinger was surprised that Keith was uninjured. He was certain Keith's nose had been broken, and for that matter, so was his mother, but except for the blood on the boy's shirt, Keith was unhurt. But for his «misbehavior», Keith was sent to his room without any dinner. Later that night, Keith crept downstairs to get something to eat. His mom and stepfather had turned in early that night. Keith grabbed a couple of toaster waffles from the freezer, toasted them as quietly as he could, poured a glass of milk, and started to tip-toe back to his room.
And ran smack into Davy, Jahv, and Keyro coming through the living room. Keith almost yelled, but checked himself just in time. "What the hell-?!" he whispered. "How did you get in here?"
Jahv held up a tiny device. "Electronic lockpick."
"Besides," said Davy. "You're just dreaming, Keith. Go back to bed."
Keith glared at Davy. "Get off it. What the hell are you three doing in here?"
"Helping you, whether you want it or not," said Davy, with a slight edge to his voice, "and I don't think you can do much about it without waking your parents, and that'd just get you into more trouble."
Keith was angry, but he also knew that Davy and the two aliens had him over the proverbial barrel. "Okay, you three. I can't stop you. But I swear if whatever you're up to gets me into trouble, I'm taking it out on the lot of you." Keith resisted the urge to either stomp up the steps to his bedroom, or to slam the door. He scarfed the waffles and hoped he'd be long asleep before those three idiots did whatever it was they intended.
Two minutes later, Davy and two aliens, one holding the holocron, silently crept up the stairs and found the Dillinger's master bedroom.
And less than a minute later…
"DILLINGER!" roared a thunderous, echoing voice. Keith woke up to find Davy at his bedside, grinning like an idiot and telling Keith to stay put. Keith now had at least a general idea of what was going on. He grinned, slightly. He was still skeptical, however.
The Dillingers woke up to find their bedroom turned into a nightmare miasma of outer space. Their bed seemed to be floating on nothing. Stars, comets, nebulae soared past. Suns exploded in the distance. Planets flew out of their orbits and roared dangerously close.
And standing at the foot of the bed were two of the most horrific-looking aliens one could possibly imagine. These things would scare Klingons. They'd scare those acid-blooded critters that Sigourney Weaver kept picking fights with. Easily over seven feet tall, one had green skin, the other lavendar. Impossibly muscular, they had deepset eyes, long, flowing white hair, antennae on the backs of their heads, ridged foreheads, and they were decked out in battle armor that was something out of a Japanese animator's worst nightmare. Each brandished a huge, bladed weapon that looked like it was part axe and part sword, and was double bladed at both ends. Their voices were deep and echoing.
Mr. Dillinger swore in utter shock. Mrs. Dillinger screamed.
"We need to have words, Mr. Dillinger." said the green alien. "You've been abusing a friend of ours. Your stepson Keith."
"Oh, damn." said Dillinger meekly. "Those military bastards were right. There are aliens out there."