Uncertain Truce (8.1)

CHRIS, LAURIE, AND TARPIN HAD BEEN SLEEPING rather soundly. Sometime during the darkest of the night, Tarpin's senses began twitch. Tarpin ignored the feeling, contributing it to fog rolling through the field. Vaguely disturbed, he continued sleeping with one eye open. As the impeding danger got closer, Laurie too was awakened.

"Oh it's just the wind," she decided as she looked around the foggy landscape, "I think I'll explore through the programs on my MTD."

"Wow, I think I have found a molecular analyzing program," she said quietly to herself after a few minutes.

"You couldn't sleep either," Laurie heard Chris whisper a few moments later.

"Oh, I am sorry; did I wake you?"

"No I just started to feel like … I don't know… trapped?"

"I was feeling the same way. It is probably because we are not used to sleeping outside."

"We mustn't wake up Mr. Tarpin," Chris warned.

"Yeah… you know it's funny, I was just thinking about it, but in the length of time that we have had these MTD's, not even Dr. Smith has figured everything out about them."

"I know what you mean. Two days ago I found out you can‒ wait; did you hear something?"

"Yes. I think we should wake Mr. Tarpin now," Laurie replied, suddenly worried.

"No need, Miss Laurie," Tarpin answered. "I am already awake. I'd advise you to remain acting like you haven't noticed anything and slowly reach for your tegars. Do not move any further until I give the word."

"What do you suppaws the boss' plan is, Tuple?" Puckle whispered to his brother.

"It's suppose, not suppaws, Puckle, you empty-headed fool, if you had a brain and were listening to his orders, you would have figured out that he plans to circle in on those three creatures and capture them."

"I ain't empty headed, you wimpy momma's boy!" Puckle, the younger of the two, exclaimed.

"Ain't, ain't a word," said Tuple coolly. "Shh, we're getting closer!"

"We can see them now," Laurie said to Tarpin in an anxious whisper.

"They're Platonians. OK, now listen," Tarpin whispered, "you see the section in the circle over there? It looks like they are not paying attention."

"Yes we see them," Chris and Laurie whispered in unison, realizing that Tarpin must have had experience with dealing with the Platonian species.

"Ok," whispered Tarpin, "now lie very still so they do not suspect anything. When I whisper 'go', get up, brandish your tegars, fully extended, and run straight toward that section. We must make it through. When we do, we will make a run for the marshlands, the Platonians don't like the mud. It will slow them down a little."

"Squirrel territory?" Chris whispered, wondering what Tarpin was thinking.

"Aye, I have a plan," Tarpin stated. "Wait until I give the word."

They held their breath, waiting for his word.

"Go," whispered Tarpin, the urgency clear in his voice.

Chris, Laurie, and Tarpin all jumped up simultaneously. They held their tegars in a fighting position and charged through the weak section in the circle.

"Charge!" the Platonian captain, Scythe, ordered.

The three ECOPs broke through the circle and continued running in haste toward the marshlands. The Platonians pursued them and were catching up fast. Every time Tarpin would turn around and smack a potential attacker with his tegar, the Platonian that was hit fell flat and could not get up until the rest of the group passed over him. Groggily the fallen would try to stand and follow the pursuit. Laurie and Chris also had to smack a few. Not as skilled, their targets simply staggered, losing some ground, but staying in pursuit.

We must make it, we must, Laurie thought to herself.

"Hopefully they can't climb trees," Chris muttered to himself.

If only we can make it to the edge o the marsh, mused Tarpin. He had a plan.

It was a narrow escape when they finally reached the marshland.

"Climb the marshland trees!" Tarpin yelled over the hollering of the Platonians.

Immediately Chris and Laurie grabbed hold of a tree and started climbing. Tarpin climbed up after them. They were hardly in the middle branches when out of nowhere came a band of one hundred Squirrels.

"Stay perfectly still," Tarpin advised quietly to the two. "The Squirrels will attack the Platonians and drive them away; they think the Platonians are attacking them!"

The Platonians were close on the heels of the refugees and nearing their hiding place. In the branches of her tree Laurie fought back a giggle when she spotted a few of the Platonians jumping away quickly from the areas where the ground was the soggiest. The mud was soon the least of the Platonian's worries once they heard the distant war cry of the Squirrels.

Stunned they froze in the path and watched in horror as the band of Squirrels descended on them, through the treetops and on the ground. The Squirrels had spears, slings, and knives brandished high. The Platonians, knowing the reputation of these fierce warriors, turned and ran out and away from the marshlands as quickly as possible. The Squirrels stopped at the edge of the marshlands and watched the Platonian retreat.

After putting up his tegar, Tarpin hopped nimbly down from the tree,

"We thank you and your tribe for saving us from that murderous tribe of Platonians," he said, smiling.

Startled from the voice behind their lines, the chief turned to face his new menace.

"What do you mean 'saved you'? What are you doing here?" The Squirrel chief demanded.

"I said 'we thank you', not 'I'. There are three of us," Tarpin reproved, as behind him the two children jumped swiftly down, their tegars still extended full length. "We came here to ask if your tribe has seen a group of humans, like these children but older?"

"No," the Squirrel chief answered deftly.

"I know otherwise!" Tarpin growled.

Unexpectedly rebuffed, the chief responded, "What does it mean to you? Our spies tell us that their group, calling themselves the EOE team, was planning to attack and overcome us."

"EOE stands for Explorers of Exandra. We were on a mission to explore, not conquer!" Laurie exclaimed, quite consumed with anger and frustration.

Chris laid a hand on her shoulder.

"The young one speaks the truth," said Tarpin, his face stern.

"How can you be so sure; you were not here when the humans came!" The Squirrel chief accused.

"These two were," Tarpin answered.

"How can you believe their story? How do you know they are not lying?"

"It is called trust, thou who have none," Tarpin said sternly.

"Ha, trust," the chief mocked.

Laurie knew that neither the chief nor the Squirrels were convinced that the EOE team had not come to the marshlands to cause them harm. Laurie was still quite aggravated with the Squirrels, but now she had an idea. She took her MTD out of her pocket and began pressing a few buttons. Chris looked over her shoulder curiously; Tarpin was still arguing with the chief over whether or not the members of the EOE team were conquerors or explorers.

After having finished, Laurie walked over to a stump of a tree and set her MTD down on it. It looked very tiny sitting open there, with its blue screen glowing slightly. She turned it toward the others, who now stared at her with suspicion, wondering what she was doing. She pushed a little blue button on the side of her MTD and stepped to the side.

The Squirrels gasped and muttered in surprise, a light shone from the MTD on the tree stump. Two feet away from the screen, a hologram began to flicker and then the image became steady. It was a 3D map of Exandra. It showed in detail all the hills, valleys, rivers, and wooded areas that the EOE team knew of before they started on their trek.

Most of these things on the map were from the information Trib had given them. Nevertheless, there was still a vast area of Exandra that not even the Laskonians had explored; these areas were blank on the 3D map. The team had set out to explore a certain piece of this unknown land. Laurie showed and explained to the Squirrels the map and the team's detailed plans for exploring more of the blank areas on the map. Trying to persuade the Squirrel chief that the EOE team had not come to conquer the Squirrels, she insisted that the members of her team did not even know the Squirrels lived here.

"If we knew you were here, don't you think we would have ignored this area?" She asked.

"Not if you were coming to attack us," the chief answered.

Laurie shut her MTD off and closed it.

"Oh, you are hardheaded!" she exclaimed. "Don't you think that if we were trying to attack you we would try to come undetected and not walking out in the open?" Laurie said, exasperated.

"Or what about the fact that if we were attacking you we would have brought weapons; we were unarmed when you ambushed us," Chris added.

The Squirrels just looked at the two children blankly.

Laurie shook her head.

"If you still don't believe us, why don't you ask our group why they were headed here?" she exclaimed.

"That is a capital idea," said Tarpin.

"Humph. Oh, very well," the Squirrel chief answered.

The Squirrels led the three ECOPs through the marshland and into a small town in a clearing in the middle of the marshland. To Laurie and Chris, the town looked like some ancient Indian civilization made entirely out of wood and moss. Tarpin, who had been here quite often to settle various disputes and misunderstandings, helped Laurie and Chris over and around various booby traps scattered strategically through the marshland surrounding the town. They got the feeling that the Squirrels were trying to lose them.

The Squirrels all dispersed in different directions upon entering the town. The Squirrel chief led them down some stairs going into the ground and through a maze of corridors, until at last they were near the place where the EOE team was being kept.

The EOE team in the Squirrel's dungeon froze as the sound of paw-steps came nearer.

"What do you think they want now?" Eli Kingston asked no one in particular.

"I was just wondering the same thing," Trib answered.

"Shh, everyone. Here they come!" David whispered.

Tarpin asked the children to stay out of sight so the Squirrel chief would not think the EOE team was saying things just to protect the children. Chris and Laurie nodded and stayed well behind the dungeon cell door. The leader unlatched the door, and he and Tarpin walked into the room. Tarpin surveyed the bewildered humans with sorrow.

"I am part of the Exandra Caretakers of the Peace, ECOP for short. My name is Tarpin," Tarpin said solemnly.

"Who is the leader of this group?" Tarpin asked.

Captain Mitchell raised his shackled hands.

"I have come to ask why you have come to these marshlands," Tarpin said continuing his interrogation.

"We came here in peace to explore the region and to find out more about it, sir," Captain Mitchell said, grateful for a chance to explain.

"Did you have any hidden motive for coming here?" Tarpin asked solemnly.

"Hidden motive, sir?" The captain asked.

"Did you have any plans to attack or harm any of the creatures in this region?"

"No, sir," Captain Mitchell said matter-of-factly.

"Very well then," Tarpin said, turning to the chief with a demand, "There you have it; these captives will be set free at once!"

The Squirrel leader scowled and grumbled, then gave a shrill whistle. Another Squirrel entered the dungeon and began unlocking the EOE team.

"Laurie, Chris!" Tarpin called out.

The whole team, now unshackled, stood and looked with some confusion toward the door. Laurie and Chris pushed open the door, walked in, and looked at Tarpin.

"They are free!" he said, smiling.

The two children ran to hug their fathers and then the rest of the team.

"Where were you?" David questioned, pushing back his son's hair. Eli eyed his daughter, anxious to know the same thing.

"When we escaped, we ran," Laurie explained. "We thought we were being followed."

"We found Tarpin," Chris continued, "and he said he would help us."

The whole team looked at Tarpin. The Squirrel chief and the guard had already gone back to the surface. Tarpin was standing there alone.

"Thank you, sir," said Eli.

"Please, call me Tarpin, and no thanks are necessary. It is my duty to straighten out misunderstandings."

"Well, thank you still, for bringing the children back," Trib replied.

"It was my pleasure."

The EOE team and Tarpin all walked back to the surface into a now deserted city.

"They're in the trees," whispered Tarpin, "Making sure we leave straight away, try not to look into the trees."

Tarpin then led the way, Chris and Laurie bringing up the rear. They walked out of the town, through the maze of booby traps, and finally stepped out of the Marshlands into the bright morning sun.

*****