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The hologram of Proteus studied the
damaged area. He turned to James and Martha Devereaux. “I will send a
clean-up crew here in a day—if there are any expenses; do not worry. We will
compensate.”
“Thanks Pro,” James said.
“You are welcome…Jay.” He turned to
Nathaniel. “Impressive amount of chaos, cadet.”
“I take full responsibility,”
Nathaniel said.
“I was a willing participant,” Isis
said.
“I ordered her,” Nathaniel said.
“Do not lie to protect me,” Isis
said. “I chose to be by your side.”
James chuckled. “Son, you better
keep her.”
“Let him graduate from college
before you give him away,” Martha said.
Proteus held out his hand. “The others are here.” The rest of the team
showed up in a small shuttle. It landed in front of the house and transformed
into a grey and red Earthian vehicle. A van? Deragon remembered
Nathaniel speaking of Earthian vehicles shaped like a box—maybe a train? Deragon
dismissed the thought.
The cadets stepped out
gingerly—weapons in hand. “Put those away,” Proteus said.
Zorn stiffened. “Yes sir.” He
ducked back into the vehicle. The others followed.
Proteus turned to Nathaniel. His
dark eyes narrowed. “Admittedly, the program for the robots is evolving. They are
ill-equipped to distinguish between friend or foe…. So, what did you do wrong?”
“I attacked first,” Isis said.
“No,” Nathaniel said. “I came in
prepared for combat. I approached like…”
“A soldier,” Proteus finished. “And
if you were a soldier fighting a battle, what you did today would be something remarkable.”
He paused as Nathaniel’s complete crew rushed forward. “But the part of you
that is a soldier is only a small part of who you are.” He sighed.
His fellow Datrevian stepped
forward. “Sir,” Zorn said, “there is much I don’t know, but if you were aware
of the battle, couldn’t you initiate the kill sequence?”
A small smile appeared on Proteus
face. “Very astute. The robots were destroyed before the kill sequence reached
earth. I am communicating via tachyon interface, but the sequence was sent
through subspace transmission. We don’t have the budget for more tachyon controls. We
don’t have the budget for most things. Thus cadets
like you must act as enlisted soldiers.”
“We understand,” Nathaniel said.
“But we wish to remain active, I will accept punishment, but please don’t
punish my team.”
Proteus shook his head. “No, you
will not be punished, but you will be forced to go on vacation for a week. Some
place where you will stay out of trouble.”
“With all due respect,” Jon said as
he covered his third eye. “Trouble tends to follow Earthians and we have two on
the team.” The Triclopian shifted his feet. “No offense.”
“Offense taken,” Angela said.
“I have chosen a planet for you,
where even you will not get into trouble.” He paused. “You must remember that you
are future leaders—there is a place for diplomacy. Right? Cadet Captain
Nathaniel Devereaux Diplomat of
Earthia.”
Nathaniel looked down. “Yes sir.”
Proteus nodded and the image
disappeared.
Angela punched Nathaniel in the
arm. “You couldn’t wait for us?”
Nathaniel rubbed his arm. “Sorry.”
Deragon shoulders tighten as a hand
patted him on the head. “Thanks for helping us,” Nathaniel’s mother said.
“Martha…” Deragon swung his head away.
“I—I was just doing as I was told.”
“Still, thanks.” Martha walked away
and joined the rest as they studied the broken robots.
Jon held up a head. “Fifteen
credits say this is Isis’s handiwork.”
“It was a joint effort,” Isis said.
Deragon walked over to Nathaniel
who appeared lost in deep thought. “Tell me,” Deragon said. “How were you able
to fight robots are use a sword with enough efficiency to block lasers? Your
ability to see patterns and read body languages cannot help you against a robot.”
Nathaniel shrugged. “Everything has
a pattern. Every program has a pattern. It took me a moment to discern the
pattern of the robots hand to hand fighting style. The difficulty was the laser
fire. I suspected they would use long range attacks once their probability
generator dropped below forty-percent success in hand-to-hand combat. I use the
likelihood they would fire for a vital area, the width of my blade, and my own
martial arts training. I surmised that I had a sixty-seven percent chance of
blocking their lasers, a two percent chance of reflecting the shot back and a
zero point zero, zero, one, five percent chance of taking out another enemy.”
“Insane. I am stuck in the head of
an insane cadet.”
“Insanity is relative,” Zorn said.
He placed his hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder. “Don’t be so down on yourself.
Proteus was proud.”
“He was also worried.”
“We should be worried,” Jon said.
“If old Datrevian Proteus is sending us on a relaxing vacation to a planet of
his choice, I know exactly where he is sending us.”
“Where is that?” Zorn asked.
“Planet Hela…”
Isis squealed. “That is an
excellent planet. They have singing, games and stuffed animals and rides where
you just go in a circle all day long!”
Jon pinched his nose. “It is a place for little children.”
Isis glared. “What’s that supposed
to mean?”
Angela pounded her fist. “I owe you
one for the trouble remark.”
“Now. Now. Girls,” Martha placed
her hand on Angela and Isis’s shoulder. “We have had enough violence for today.
“Come on, you ladies can tell me all about your adventures while I prepare enough
food for everyone.” She walked past them and toward Nathaniel. She slapped him
gently on the face. “We love you too, but next time call first.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Come on James,” Martha said. “I
need your help.”
James followed behind Isis and
stopped in front of his son. “Nice moves back there. Heh. My son’s a ninja.” He
walked away, and quickly rounded the corner of the house.
Jon followed for a moment and
stopped. He turned around. “Are you coming?”
“I am going to start cleaning up my
mess,” Nathaniel said.
“I will stay and help too,” Zorn
said.
“I as well,” Deragon said.
All of the cadets turned toward
him.
“My abilities would be useful in
this situation,” Deragon said. “Besides, I would like to stay out in the real
world for a while.”
Nathaniel smiled. “Sure, I will
increase your range and you can roam the area.”
The smile caught Deragon off guard.
“I don’t want your pity. I am just a tool that you use as you see fit.”
“No. Deragon, you are not just a
tool. I apologize for making you feel that way.”
Deragon looked away. ”Whatever.”
“Ugh, what do I do?” Jon asked
aloud. “Angela and Isis are plotting to kill me and the two of you are about to
have a romantic moment.”
Deragon growled. “Moment? You might
as well live your life with no regret." He purposely narrowed his eyes. "As soon as I escape Savant... Jon, you are
the first one that I am going to eat.”
Jon mumbled and walked away.
He sensed Nathaniel’s gaze as he
used his telekinetic power to lift two of the robots. “What is it?” Deragon continued
working.
“Nothing. I just thought about what
Proteus said. That we are not just soldiers, but that is our environment. Are
we a product of our environment or is our environment a product of who we are?
Something to ponder.”
“Sounds like a bunch of kravitz to me. “
End of Unknown
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