"We have failed in our attempt to capture any members of the human group that is searching for that cylinder!" A tall Platonian growled angrily at Neb, "What's worse? Do you remember how we had to carefully and discreetly work to convince those Squirrels that the humans were out to conquer them so that the Squirrels would attack the human group? Well those annoying Squirrels released the humans they had captured before we could send in an agent to offer a trade for their captives. The Squirrels even attacked a whole troop of our fighters!"
"Hmm, apparently the Squirrels trust the ECOPs more than they trusted your information. This has gone entirely too far Neb! It is imperative that we stop the Humans from discovering where the Intergalactic Bible is. We must stop the spread of these evangelical ideas!"
"I agree sir!" Neb replied with a curt nod.
"You better find a way to get that human, Jean, to reveal to us what we can do to get these humans to stop their searching! If she doesn't prove helpful, she will be sent to our detainee facility!"
"Yes Sir!" Neb replied, with a vicious smile.
Neb knocked loudly on Jean's door.
"Come in," Jean replied. There was only one being who had ever visited her while she was here in the Platonian Base.
Jean sat brushing her hair on a bench that sat at the edge of her bed. She had been told that she had to stay in her compartments because the Platonians were afraid that she would injure herself in their alien environment. She hadn't complained, she felt uncomfortable when there were many of them around her.
"We have failed to find a way to speak to your group before they fell into trouble," Neb stated sadly.
"Oh, no! What happened?" Jean asked in concern.
"The aliens convinced the local creatures on Exandra to attack the humans. They escaped, but as usual, they have persisted in staying. We must somehow find a way to convince them to leave before further danger befalls them. They will not talk to us," Neb lied through his pointy teeth.
"What are you going to do?" Jean asked.
"We have run out of ideas… we need some more time. My leader has decided to send a short snow storm to buy us that time while we finish working on the next plan. This will keep them in one place and out of harm. Then, finally we will act!"
Neb turned theatrically and almost danced out of the room. It was a sight that, for some reason, made Jean very uncomfortable.
*****
Once out of the Marshlands, the EOE team looked at the compiled maps on their MTD's to try to decide which direction they should head to continue their exploration. While discussing the options, Captain Mitchell received a videophone call.
"Captain Mitchell…EOE team?" Dr. Kingston called as her face appeared on Captain Mitchell's MTD.
"Yes, we are here. What's the problem, Anna?"
"We just thought you might like to know; the Laskonian government has contacted us here at the colony to warn us that there is a huge storm forming over a mountain to the East of us. The colonists have all gathered inside the Central Station just in case,"
The EOE team looked at each other.
"We should head back just to be safe," Captain Mitchell said, more to the group than to Dr. Kingston.
"I agree," Tarpin answered, "the Laskonian's wouldn't have been bothered by the storm if it didn't look like a dangerous storm."
"It is settled then. We'll start for home now; we should make it back in three days." Captain Mitchell said to Dr. Kingston.
"Okay, be careful. We'll keep a lookout for you. I need to go now; I have patients to attend to. Over and out."
With that, the MTD went back to the maps that the EOE team had been looking at. Captain Mitchell closed his MTD and clipped it back on his belt.
"I'll lead you as far as the forest," Tarpin replied.
For the next two days, the small band of travelers headed towards home, through the valley, away from the Marshlands.
"Here is where I must leave," Tarpin said as they neared the woods. Good luck to you all."
"Thank you again," Eli said.
Tarpin nodded, and then knelt down to the childrens' level.
"There is always an ECOP nearby," he told them. If you need us," he added, whispering as the rest of the team turned to go, "raise your tegar in the air and twirl it."
The children nodded. Tarpin patted their shoulders and left as the children ran to catch up with their group.
They walked the rest of the second day through the woods, and then finally, at half past eight, they made camp, pitched their tents and settled in to get some sleep. After an hour or two, a figure got up out of one of the tents, sat by the dwindled fire, and relit it.
Shortly, Chris and Laurie discovered they couldn't sleep. Laurie slipped out of her tent and met Chris as he crawled through the tent flap.
"You too, huh?" Laurie asked.
"Yeah. I guess I'm starting to miss my mom a bit."
"Me too. I don't think I've met your mom, what's her name?"
"You've met her; her name is Angela Hagan. She has long curly hair, blond, like mine."
"Oh yeah, I remember… hey it looks like Mr. Trib is at the fire." Laurie gestured at the form watching the low flames.
"Let's go see if we can join him," Chris suggested as they walked towards the fire.
"Hello children; couldn't sleep?" Trib asked.
"Yeah," Laurie answered.
"Come sit," said Trib.
"Mr. Trib," Chris stated, "it just dawned on me, but I think Laurie and I have met your enemies, the Platonians. They are bald, skinny, pole like lizard creatures with a strength that seems impossible coming from their frail, thin looking arms."
"Where!" Trib asked, now alert.
"When we were traveling with Mr. Tarpin," Laurie replied.
Both children relayed every detail of the attack.
"Yes that was definitely them. Don't worry too much about it now," Trib sighed after the children finished. "I'll send word to Lask."
It wasn't long after when without a word, all three wandered back to their tents to sleep. As the embers of the fire slowly died once more, a dark cloud moved in unnoticed.
When the EOE Team awoke, the snow was up to their ankles and still coming down hard.
"What is this?" gasped Captain Mitchell, groping around for a sweater he had packed just in case.
"It's snow." Dr. Smith answered, bundled in his blanket and looking rather confused.
He squinted at his MTD, analyzing the snow on the ground.
"I think we knew that…," David replied, looking around at the white landscape.
"I thought that Exandra's Nichaeljen only comes once every fifteen years?" Eli asked.
"This isn't a regular snowstorm; this storm has to be the work of the Platonians again!" Trib scowled. "During the real Nichaeljen, anything left outside would freeze solid in a matter of minutes. We'd be dead."
Everyone quickly wrapped their blankets over their shoulders and began to pack up the tents.
"How are we going to get home? The trail we made before is covered." Eli exclaimed.
"I don't even think I could find my way from here – whatever visual markers we used to make sure we could find our way home will all look very different in this snow," Trib announced.
"We have our maps on our MTD's but with all this snow swirling around we still won't know what we might be walking into," Dr. Smith commented.
"If we wait much longer it will be nearly impossible to travel in the snow anyway," David asserted.
"I think Chris and I may be able to help."
"You can certainly try, dear, but I don't think there is much you can do," David answered.
The adults all turned back to each other, still trying to solve their problem. The children walked a little bit away from the adults to the edge of the campsite area.
"Do you think we should try to call the ECOPs?" Chris asked.
"Seems to me we're in pretty deep trouble – and it's getting deeper," Laurie answered.
Chris and Laurie both extended their tegars with two shakes, raised them above their heads, and spun them by the middle, faster, faster, and faster. A loud whirring sound filled their ears. The adults, focused on their own concerns, seemed not to hear a thing. Moments later a lanky raccoon came running up to them (standing on his back paws like all the creatures they have seen so far; except for the scorpions), he too was twirling his tegar in reply. Still the adults heard nothing.
"You called I presume?" The Raccoon ECOP questioned, smiling.
Chris and Laurie froze in surprise, their tegars still held in midair.
"Ah, you two children must be our newest members. Word travels fast among us," the Raccoon explained, seeing their surprised faces. "Is there a problem?"
Laurie was the first to recover. She nudged Chris and they both lowered their tegars. "There is no big problem, except that we may not be able to find our way home in this snow," Laurie answered.
"I can lead you and your team back if you'd like," the Raccoon suggested, switching his tegar into his other hand. Shielding his eyes with his right hand, he proceeded to pat down the nearest trees around him.
"Oh!" He said, "How silly of me, my name is Euclid."
"What are you doing?" Chris asked.
"I know these woods like the back of my hand. I'm just looking for natural signs to help me get my bearings straight. A particular species of insect prefers to burrow on the north side of the trees.
"We could definitely use your help then!" Laurie chuckled as she peered at the tree bark and seeing no signs of burrows or insects.
Laurie and Chris led Euclid over to where the rest of the EOE Team was standing. Laurie shyly attempted to gain their attention.
"Uh, excuse me, Captain Mitchell, this is another member of the ECOPs. He said he may be able to lead us home."
"How did he find us?" Trib inquired, surprised.
"Our group has developed ways of contacting each other in times of need." Euclid answered, "The children called for us."
"The children called you?" Captain Mitchell said, shaking his head befuddled.
"We joined the night before we found you," Chris answered as the adults all looked toward the children.
"We wanted to help try to make sure fewer misunderstandings, like what happened with the Squirrels, would happen in the future," Laurie explained in one breathless rush.
"That was very noble of you. No offense, but being children, I don't see how much you could do," David said, in a voice filled with doubt.
"It is best if peace and understanding start at a young age. If it does, then future generations have a chance," Euclid explained to the thoughtful silence of the adults.
"You said you could help us find our way home?" Eli asked.
"Yes sir," Euclid confirmed.
"Then please lead on sir," Captain Mitchell replied.
Euclid led them very efficiently. By taking them through a few shortcuts, they bypassed some of the denser parts of the forest that slowed the team down on their first trip through the forest. Euclid helped them reach Central Station by noon. By then, snow was coming down a couple of inches per hour; it was almost up to Chris and Laurie's chests. Their fathers carried them on their shoulders the rest of the way.
When they reached the front doors of Central Station, many thankful people welcomed them in, glad that the EOE team was home safe. The team hurriedly shrugged out of their snowy clothes and traded them for dry blankets.
"Why are you all sitting here in the dark?" Laurie asked.
"Shortly after the snow started to fall, an electrical surge hit the city." Dr. Kingston replied, brushing snow out of her daughter's hair.
"I think you mean lightning dear," Eli replied, "Snow storms can bring lightning too."
"Are snow storms strategic at what they hit?" Dr. Kingston asked.
She passed Laurie her MTD, showing a map of Dirin City and marked with the places that were hit.
The Platonians seemed to have made more advancement in their storm technology, Trib thought with chagrin as he looked at the map over Laurie's shoulder.
"The generator and UGH… the transporter too!" Laurie groaned knowing she had work to do.
No telling how the systems connected to the generator had fared yet either!
"Yeah, the lights are out, heating is out, we gathered wood from the forest to cook food in the fire place. Our ancestors would be proud!" Dr. Kingston said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "When the lights went out, we were afraid you wouldn't be able to spot the city through the blizzard… we tried to call you but we couldn't get a connection. I was so worried!"
Dr. Kingston threw her arms around her husband and buried her face in his shoulder.
In order to stay warm, the fireplaces in the main hall of the Central Station were lit and the family settled in to stay as warm as they could. Though its intended purpose when built was only for tradition, the fireplace was now vital for heating the entire station.
The fireplace once more proved its historical duality, as it also helped serve to alleviate the dreary atmosphere brought on by the storm. The crackling fire and camp-like atmosphere helped lift the spirits of the settlers. The EOE Team was soon pressed to describe their adventures and complied by vividly relaying pieces of their adventure to the listening ears gathered around the fire. Few noticed Chris and Laurie step off to the side to thank their guide before Euclid slipped into the growing storm.
After Euclid left, Chris and Laurie's mothers, Dr. Kingston and Angela Hagan, came over carrying plates of food for the children.
"Was that a raccoon you were talking to?" Angela asked, a bit uneasy.
Laurie and Chris began telling their mothers and a few others about how they met some different creatures, joined the ECOPs, and helped rescue the rest of the group.
"You all seemed to have had quite some adventure!" One of the resident scientists exclaimed.
Because the storm was too thick for any ship to land or take off, Trib knew that he would have to wait the storm out on Exandra before he would be able to go home. Two weeks later, after the snow had stopped and melted, a Laskonian ship was finally able to land and take him home. The generator was an easy fix and Laurie and Chris set to work repairing the teleporter once they had some light to work by.
With the electricity back, and the snow gone, a deceiving calm had settled over the colony. Even as all the colonists went back to their daily routines, something was stirring‒ something that would cause even the most unlikely of allies to join forces.