"Our ship has come under attack and now is in peril," High

Chancellor Pardor said looking regal in his deep blue tunic and
flowing red cape. His voice was tight with concern. "The attack
from the Skullians has left us helpless. One more blast from
their cursed plasma lasers, and they'll completely destroy this
vessel, taking with it all our equipment to construct the device
needed to bring rain to our home world, Arreaxe."
From his hiding spot in the air-control tube of the massive
banquet hall, nine Time-Quarters Bryce Wheeler gasped upon
hearing the ominous words of the High Chancellor. Everybody
onboard the Interstar Federation research ship, Frontier, knew
that she had come under attack by the dreaded Skullians. And
young Bryce had overheard handful of engineers whispering in the
elongated hall-tubes that the Forward Propulsion Thrusters had
been so badly damaged that they could no longer move, but Bryce
didn't know that the Frontier was in danger of being destroyed.
"Have we the ability to still cloak ourselves?" asked the
ancient and wrinkled Corband Doolester. Bryce didn't like
Corband, mainly because his Pa, First Science Officer Duncan
Wheeler didn't either. Bryce's Pa often said that Corband had
dust in his veins rather than blood.
It was Pa who answered. "No. The Skullians knew what to aim
for. They took that out in their first volley. Right now, the
sad fact is we're a sitting duck."
"I must proclaim that's a dark outlook on the situation,
Officer Wheeler; and one that I think we can ill afford to
adopt." Bryce wanted to slug Corband for talking to his Pa in
such a mean manner. Didn't he know that Pa was trying to help?
"Dark or not, that's the truth of our situation. I don't
give a quar what you think."
Bryce recognized Pa's 'I'm angry' voice and it made him
swallow hard. Bryce had heard it last Time-Quarter when he'd
tried to slide down the trash-tube on a dare from his best
friend Deller. It was a voice that scared him.
"The Skullians, as we all know, are a bunch of ruthless
pirates who survive by preying on non-combat ships such as the
Frontier," said High Chancellor Pardor. His voice let it be
known that he'd had enough of Pa and Corband's bickering. "I
don't think they knew anything about our rain-making device when
they attacked us. They saw a science ship and thought they
could loot us for anything that they could sell. The device must
be withheld from them at all costs. I'm sure I don't need to
remind anybody sitting around this table that our home world
will die within the next few Time-Quarters if we do not deliver
that device. We must make it home quickly."
Corband scoffed. "How do you propose we accomplish that,
sir? When, as Officer Wheeler explained, we are a 'sitting
duck.'"
"We need the Orb of Abbot," Bryce heard Pa say. His voice
wasn't angry like it was before, but rather steady and quiet.
Bryce knew Pa was thinking. He also knew that if Pa said they
needed this Orb, then that's what they needed to do. Bryce had
faith in his Pa. The man was really smart when it came to things
like that.
"Preposterous!" bellowed Corband in a voice so loud it
shook the air-control tube Bryce was hiding in. "Are you
completely mad, Officer Wheeler? Everybody knows that the Orb
of Abbot is kept locked up in the very bowls of Skullious! How
should we retrieve it? Ask Viceroy Grogan nicely if he wouldn't
mind surrendering one of the most powerful objects in the known
cosmos? I'm sure that will work to meet our needs brilliantly,
you daft quarmaster!."
"Have faith, Corband." Pa said. Bryce expected Pa's angry
voice again after the dusty-veined Corband's insult, but Pa kept
his thinking voice. Bryce had to strain over the hum of the air-
control tube to hear. "Yes, normally the Orb is kept in an
underground vault near the core of the planet, but it is proudly
displayed during the two Time-Quarter cycle of the Festival of
Duels. Which is currently underway on Skullious. With the Orb's
power-force, we can not only repair our Forward Propulsion
Thrusters, but we can cloak the Frontier and all our
communications. We can use the Orb to get back to Arreaxe with
the rain-making device."
High Chancellor Pardor exhaled. "Officer Wheeler," he
said, "how do you propose we get the Orb of Abbot? The Festival
of Duels will be crawling with Skullian troops. We simply cannot
amass a big enough arsenal to oppose such a strong display of
force."
"We need a big enough distraction to capture their
attention, sir."
"Oh, of course, a distraction!" yelped Corband. "What do
you suggest? Blowing up their Sword Palace, perhaps?"
"No, you decrepit goat. I suggest we give the Skullians
what they crave the most; a strong hunt that promises a wealth
of booty that they can sell."
"Explain," commanded the High Chancellor.
"Our communications still work, so do some of our Ghost
Trackers Chips that we use to baffle other ships radars as to
our exact whereabouts. We convince them that there's another
ship that crash-landed in a remote sector of Skullious, and
watch them go. The whole quared army will chase after that
vessel like a Borgord Bird after honey. Then we teleport someone
down, take the Orb, and be gone before anybody's the wiser."
"The teleporters are disabled. And our scouter-pods are too
large to escape their radar. We would need something very small
and fast. Something that doesn't need to be cloaked to be
invisible." explained Corband. For once he didn't seem to be
being mean to Pa, Bryce thought. Though he still wanted to slug
him.
Suddenly, Bryce had an idea. A scouter-pod may be too big
to avoid detection, but the rocket-fueled mini-pod he and Pa
made from spare scouter-pod parts last Time-Quarter wasn't. He
could swoop down to Skullious, get the Orb of Abbot, and be back
before last meal-blip. Feeling a mighty sense of adventure
overtake him, Bryce soundlessly crawled out of the air-control
tube, and headed for Launch Pad 1.
The problem with bright ideas, Bryce decided as he streaked
towards his destination, was they faded fast once you really
thought about them. He had no clue how to program the
coordinates for Skullious into the mini-pod's Flight Computer,
nor did he know how to find the Orb once he got there. These
were big problems. Bryce remembered Pa telling crusty old
Corband to have faith, and that's what he needed right now.
Faith. He'd find his way to the purple planet. He knew that
Skullious was close, he could see it from the Frontier's port
windows.
The door to Launch Pad 1 slid open with a whisper as Bryce
charged in with a purpose. The place seemed deserted of people.
Everyone was off doing repair work on other sections of the
ship. In the corner was the mini-pod. He knew it could fly
because Pa had taken it for a test flight last Time-Quarter, and
said that it preformed perfectly.
 "Hey there, little man," came the sugary-sweet voice of
Porsha Calhoun, the head Operating Officer for the Frontier's
three Launch Pads. "What are you doing down here? Is your daddy
with you?"
Bryce was struck with inspiration. "No. Pa sent me down
here to learn more about our mini-pod. I think he just wanted me
out of the way so people could fix the ship." He pouted. It
worked on his Ma to get him out of trouble, it might work on
Porsha too. "Can you teach me about it?"
Porsha smiled brightly. "Sure I can. Nobody's going to be
coming in or out of here for awhile. What would you like to
learn today?" Grownups were so easy to manipulate, Bryce thought
with a smile of his own.
"Could you teach me how to program coordinates into the
Flight Computer? You know, like I was going off on a dangerous
mission?"
Porsha took him by the hand and led him to the mini-
pod. "Of course." Porsha asked for the activation code and Bryce
gave it to her. The sound of the canopy sliding open made Bryce
suck in his breath. This was all very scary, and way too
exciting. He couldn't wait to tell Deller about this.
Bryce climbed into the tiny cockpit. Porsha helped buckle
him in and made sure his Interstar helmet was secured
properly. "Your daddy's pretty smart," she said. "He made
programming this thing very easy." Porsha pointed at a green
switch, "You see this thing here? When you flip it, it'll
automatically fly you to any pre-set coordinates. And this
switch here," she pointed at a red one, "is your cloaking
device. So, where do you want to go?"
"Skullious," Bryce replied without hesitation. "I'm gonna
steal the Orb of Abbot and bring it back so we can take the rain-
making device home."
"You are, huh? Well, aren't you just the brave soldier?"
Porsha fiddled with a few knobs, but it was hard for Bryce to
see what she was doing. "Well guess what? Your daddy made that
easy too. All you have to do is type in what you're looking for,
and you'll go right to it. I wish the real scouter-pods did
that. It would make my life a lot simpler."
Bryce was flabbergasted. "You mean I'm gonna go right to
the Orb without having to do anything?" Pa really was smart.
Porsha nodded. "So long as our sensors can find it, so will
the pod. And, if what you want is above ground, even just
partially, our sensors will find it. All you have to do is enjoy
the ride."
"That's great," Bryce exclaimed. All of his problems were
solved. He had tricked Porsha into programming the Flight
Computer to take him to the Orb. Now all he had to do was get
the bay doors open . . .
The sensors onboard the Skullian warship, Daggarwisp,
detected that one of the bay doors on Frontier had opened,
though no ship came in or out. Kor'nish, the young radar
officer, dutifully reported the event to his captain, who
promptly spat on the floor and ordered him to disregard it.
Kor'nish gave a slight shrug of indifference and went back to
monitoring his equipment.
Porsha was horrified. She had left young Bryce to play in
his mini-pod thinking he was perfectly safe. Then the dock bay
doors opened. She had spun around just in time to see Bryce
cloak the tiny ship and heard the whoosh as the mini-pod shot
out into space. Frantically she paged Duncan Wheeler on the
communications com attached to her belt. This was going to cause
quite a storm.
"He said he was going after the Orb of Abbot?" Duncan
Wheeler reported dumbfounded to the High Chancellor. He failed
to understand how Porsha could allow this travesty to happen.
His son was locked into the mini-pod he had constructed last
Time-Quarter. The mini-pod was slightly more than a toy, and
wasn't designed for any serious traveling.
"Your son must've overheard our plans. Quite the ambitious
young man you have there, Officer Wheeler."
Duncan was panic-stricken. "Sir, we must employ our
diversion tactic right now. My son is in a glorified toy heading
straight for the Orb. If we don't act now, he's as good as dead!"
High Chancellor Pardor raised his hands to calm the younger
man. "It has already been taken care of, Officer Wheeler. Your
son is as safe as he can be considering the circumstances."
Duncan closed his eyes tightly. "Thank the Holy One for
that. Quar me, I don't know who's going to kill Bryce first, the
Skullians or me." He raised his eyes upward. "Dear Holy One,
please protect my boy. He needs every ounce of Your strength,
guidance and wisdom he can get right now."
Bryce had never been so quaring scared in all his nine Time-
Quarters. The mini-pod went faster than he could ever remember
going before. Everyone said the Frontier moved really fast too,
but Bryce could never tell. To him it always felt like the big
ship was standing still. The dark purple planet of Skullious
loomed before his canopy, and it was growing larger with every
Time-Blip. Now was a bad time to reconsider his plan to retrieve
the Orb of Abbot.
Word of a crashed Interstar science ship spread throughout
the Festival of Duels like lightning across the deep red skies.
Viceroy Grogan called a halt to the festivities immediately, and
ordered all Skullian troops to the Forbidden Sector to hunt for
the Interstar ship and the loot it surely had to offer them.
"They're taking the bait," exclaimed Duncan Wheeler
excitedly while monitoring the sensors. "We don't have much
time before they figure out they've been duped. Hurry, Bryce.
Hurry."
The mini-pod entered Skullious' atmosphere with a slight
shudder. Bryce was amazed at how his surroundings changed from
the inky blackness of space to the deep oranges and reds of the
planet's sky. His mini-pod told him that he'd be at the Orb in
twenty Time-Blips. He had that long to formulate a plan.
The Skullian army charged into the Forbidden Sector with
their plasma rifles raised and war cries on their tongues.
Nothing got their blood boiling more than a strong hunt with a
bountiful treasure as the prize. This was well worth abandoning
their cherished festivities of the Duels. Their sensors said
they were only thirty Time-Blips away from the wreckage. The war-
gods were surely smiling down upon them this day.
Bryce was amazed when he finally laid eyes on the Orb of
Abbot. It seemed so small, so ordinary. The mini-pod, still
cloaked, had come to rest a few dinaticks away from a massive
sinister-looking tower that seemed to be made out of pure gold.
The Flight Computer told him this structure was the famed
Skullian Sword Palace. A place built solely to worship war and
violence. The look of it made Bryce shiver.
He expected the Orb to be heavily guarded, but the exact
opposite seemed to be true. Bryce spotted a few normal-looking
people and a smattering of small children milling about, but
nobody with plasma rifles were in sight. Maybe it was a trap,
Bryce thought, maybe the Skullians knew he was coming and they
were laying in wait for him to reach for the Orb.
 With his heart beating faster than a fire fox, Bryce
slipped inside the outer wall of the Sword Palace. The Orb of
Abbot was just a metatick away, sitting on an alter covered in a
deep purple cloth. Bryce didn't know, or care, what the cloth
was for.
Saying a silent prayer to the Holy One, Bryce knew it was
now or never. He scanned the area one more time for any armed
troops. Seeing none he forced himself off the gold wall and
towards the Orb of Abbot. The Orb itself was bluish-silver and
could fit in the palm of his hand. It didn't glow, or emanate a
hum, or do anything. It just sat there. Mocking him, daring him
to reach out and take it.
"Have faith." Bryce heard his Pa's words ringing in his
head as he neared the Orb. A few more steps and he'd be there.
Swallowing down his fear, Bryce reached out with a trembling
hand for the Orb that would save his home world, Arreaxe . . .
"Jason! Time for dinner, honey."
Jason Rowe sighed heavily. His mom always called him for
dinner right at the good parts. "Okay, mom!" he yelled back
from behind his bedroom door. "I'll be right there!"
With a practiced skill, Jason saved his progress on his
game console. The Orb of Abbot would just have to wait until
after dinner to be retrieved. Jason flicked off his small TV
and bounded out of his room and down the steps to devour his
dinner.

"Our ship has come under attack and now is in peril," High
Chancellor Pardor said looking regal in his deep blue tunic and
flowing red cape. His voice was tight with concern. "The attack
from the Skullians has left us helpless. One more blast from
their cursed plasma lasers, and they'll completely destroy this
vessel, taking with it all our equipment to construct the device
needed to bring rain to our home world, Arreaxe."
From his hiding spot in the air-control tube of the massive
banquet hall, nine Time-Quarters Bryce Wheeler gasped upon
hearing the ominous words of the High Chancellor. Everybody
onboard the Interstar Federation research ship, Frontier, knew
that she had come under attack by the dreaded Skullians. And
young Bryce had overheard handful of engineers whispering in the
elongated hall-tubes that the Forward Propulsion Thrusters had
been so badly damaged that they could no longer move, but Bryce
didn't know that the Frontier was in danger of being destroyed.
"Have we the ability to still cloak ourselves?" asked the
ancient and wrinkled Corband Doolester. Bryce didn't like
Corband, mainly because his Pa, First Science Officer Duncan
Wheeler didn't either. Bryce's Pa often said that Corband had
dust in his veins rather than blood.
It was Pa who answered. "No. The Skullians knew what to aim
for. They took that out in their first volley. Right now, the
sad fact is we're a sitting duck."
"I must proclaim that's a dark outlook on the situation,
Officer Wheeler; and one that I think we can ill afford to
adopt." Bryce wanted to slug Corband for talking to his Pa in
such a mean manner. Didn't he know that Pa was trying to help?
"Dark or not, that's the truth of our situation. I don't
give a quar what you think."
Bryce recognized Pa's 'I'm angry' voice and it made him
swallow hard. Bryce had heard it last Time-Quarter when he'd
tried to slide down the trash-tube on a dare from his best
friend Deller. It was a voice that scared him.
"The Skullians, as we all know, are a bunch of ruthless
pirates who survive by preying on non-combat ships such as the
Frontier," said High Chancellor Pardor. His voice let it be
known that he'd had enough of Pa and Corband's bickering. "I
don't think they knew anything about our rain-making device when
they attacked us. They saw a science ship and thought they
could loot us for anything that they could sell. The device must
be withheld from them at all costs. I'm sure I don't need to
remind anybody sitting around this table that our home world
will die within the next few Time-Quarters if we do not deliver
that device. We must make it home quickly."
Corband scoffed. "How do you propose we accomplish that,
sir? When, as Officer Wheeler explained, we are a 'sitting
duck.'"
"We need the Orb of Abbot," Bryce heard Pa say. His voice
wasn't angry like it was before, but rather steady and quiet.
Bryce knew Pa was thinking. He also knew that if Pa said they
needed this Orb, then that's what they needed to do. Bryce had
faith in his Pa. The man was really smart when it came to things
like that.
"Preposterous!" bellowed Corband in a voice so loud it
shook the air-control tube Bryce was hiding in. "Are you
completely mad, Officer Wheeler? Everybody knows that the Orb
of Abbot is kept locked up in the very bowls of Skullious! How
should we retrieve it? Ask Viceroy Grogan nicely if he wouldn't
mind surrendering one of the most powerful objects in the known
cosmos? I'm sure that will work to meet our needs brilliantly,
you daft quarmaster!."
"Have faith, Corband." Pa said. Bryce expected Pa's angry
voice again after the dusty-veined Corband's insult, but Pa kept
his thinking voice. Bryce had to strain over the hum of the air-
control tube to hear. "Yes, normally the Orb is kept in an
underground vault near the core of the planet, but it is proudly
displayed during the two Time-Quarter cycle of the Festival of
Duels. Which is currently underway on Skullious. With the Orb's
power-force, we can not only repair our Forward Propulsion
Thrusters, but we can cloak the Frontier and all our
communications. We can use the Orb to get back to Arreaxe with
the rain-making device.”
High Chancellor Pardor exhaled. "Officer Wheeler," he
said, "how do you propose we get the Orb of Abbot? The Festival
of Duels will be crawling with Skullian troops. We simply cannot
amass a big enough arsenal to oppose such a strong display of
force."
"We need a big enough distraction to capture their
attention, sir."
"Oh, of course, a distraction!" yelped Corband. "What do
you suggest? Blowing up their Sword Palace, perhaps?"
"No, you decrepit goat. I suggest we give the Skullians
what they crave the most; a strong hunt that promises a wealth
of booty that they can sell."
"Explain," commanded the High Chancellor.
"Our communications still work, so do some of our Ghost
Trackers Chips that we use to baffle other ships radars as to
our exact whereabouts. We convince them that there's another
ship that crash-landed in a remote sector of Skullious, and
watch them go. The whole quared army will chase after that
vessel like a Borgord Bird after honey. Then we teleport someone
down, take the Orb, and be gone before anybody's the wiser."
"The teleporters are disabled. And our scouter-pods are too
large to escape their radar. We would need something very small
and fast. Something that doesn't need to be cloaked to be
invisible." explained Corband. For once he didn't seem to be
being mean to Pa, Bryce thought. Though he still wanted to slug
him.
Suddenly, Bryce had an idea. A scouter-pod may be too big
to avoid detection, but the rocket-fueled mini-pod he and Pa
made from spare scouter-pod parts last Time-Quarter wasn't. He
could swoop down to Skullious, get the Orb of Abbot, and be back
before last meal-blip. Feeling a mighty sense of adventure
overtake him, Bryce soundlessly crawled out of the air-control
tube, and headed for Launch Pad 1.
The problem with bright ideas, Bryce decided as he streaked
towards his destination, was they faded fast once you really
thought about them. He had no clue how to program the
coordinates for Skullious into the mini-pod's Flight Computer,
nor did he know how to find the Orb once he got there. These
were big problems. Bryce remembered Pa telling crusty old
Corband to have faith, and that's what he needed right now.
Faith. He'd find his way to the purple planet. He knew that
Skullious was close, he could see it from the Frontier's port
windows.
The door to Launch Pad 1 slid open with a whisper as Bryce
charged in with a purpose. The place seemed deserted of people.
Everyone was off doing repair work on other sections of the
ship. In the corner was the mini-pod. He knew it could fly
because Pa had taken it for a test flight last Time-Quarter, and
said that it preformed perfectly.
"Hey there, little man," came the sugary-sweet voice of
Porsha Calhoun, the head Operating Officer for the Frontier's
three Launch Pads. "What are you doing down here? Is your daddy
with you?"
Bryce was struck with inspiration. "No. Pa sent me down
here to learn more about our mini-pod. I think he just wanted me
out of the way so people could fix the ship." He pouted. It
worked on his Ma to get him out of trouble, it might work on
Porsha too. "Can you teach me about it?"
Porsha smiled brightly. "Sure I can. Nobody's going to be
coming in or out of here for awhile. What would you like to
learn today?" Grownups were so easy to manipulate, Bryce thought
with a smile of his own.
"Could you teach me how to program coordinates into the
Flight Computer? You know, like I was going off on a dangerous
mission?"
Porsha took him by the hand and led him to the mini-
pod. "Of course." Porsha asked for the activation code and Bryce
gave it to her. The sound of the canopy sliding open made Bryce
suck in his breath. This was all very scary, and way too
exciting. He couldn't wait to tell Deller about this.
Bryce climbed into the tiny cockpit. Porsha helped buckle
him in and made sure his Interstar helmet was secured
properly. "Your daddy's pretty smart," she said. "He made
programming this thing very easy." Porsha pointed at a green
switch, "You see this thing here? When you flip it, it'll
automatically fly you to any pre-set coordinates. And this
switch here," she pointed at a red one, "is your cloaking
device. So, where do you want to go?"
"Skullious," Bryce replied without hesitation. "I'm gonna
steal the Orb of Abbot and bring it back so we can take the rain-
making device home."
"You are, huh? Well, aren't you just the brave soldier?"
Porsha fiddled with a few knobs, but it was hard for Bryce to
see what she was doing. "Well guess what? Your daddy made that
easy too. All you have to do is type in what you're looking for,
and you'll go right to it. I wish the real scouter-pods did
that. It would make my life a lot simpler."
Bryce was flabbergasted. "You mean I'm gonna go right to
the Orb without having to do anything?" Pa really was smart.
Porsha nodded. "So long as our sensors can find it, so will
the pod. And, if what you want is above ground, even just
partially, our sensors will find it. All you have to do is enjoy
the ride."
"That's great," Bryce exclaimed. All of his problems were
solved. He had tricked Porsha into programming the Flight
Computer to take him to the Orb. Now all he had to do was get
the bay doors open . . .
The sensors onboard the Skullian warship, Daggarwisp,
detected that one of the bay doors on Frontier had opened,
though no ship came in or out. Kor'nish, the young radar
officer, dutifully reported the event to his captain, who
promptly spat on the floor and ordered him to disregard it.
Kor'nish gave a slight shrug of indifference and went back to
monitoring his equipment.
Porsha was horrified. She had left young Bryce to play in
his mini-pod thinking he was perfectly safe. Then the dock bay
doors opened. She had spun around just in time to see Bryce
cloak the tiny ship and heard the whoosh as the mini-pod shot
out into space. Frantically she paged Duncan Wheeler on the
communications com attached to her belt. This was going to cause
quite a storm.
"He said he was going after the Orb of Abbot?" Duncan
Wheeler reported dumbfounded to the High Chancellor. He failed
to understand how Porsha could allow this travesty to happen.
His son was locked into the mini-pod he had constructed last
Time-Quarter. The mini-pod was slightly more than a toy, and
wasn't designed for any serious traveling.
"Your son must've overheard our plans. Quite the ambitious
young man you have there, Officer Wheeler."
Duncan was panic-stricken. "Sir, we must employ our
diversion tactic right now. My son is in a glorified toy heading
straight for the Orb. If we don't act now, he's as good as dead!"
High Chancellor Pardor raised his hands to calm the younger
man. "It has already been taken care of, Officer Wheeler. Your
son is as safe as he can be considering the circumstances."
Duncan closed his eyes tightly. "Thank the Holy One for
that. Quar me, I don't know who's going to kill Bryce first, the
Skullians or me." He raised his eyes upward. "Dear Holy One,
please protect my boy. He needs every ounce of Your strength,
guidance and wisdom he can get right now."
Bryce had never been so quaring scared in all his nine Time-
Quarters. The mini-pod went faster than he could ever remember
going before. Everyone said the Frontier moved really fast too,
but Bryce could never tell. To him it always felt like the big
ship was standing still. The dark purple planet of Skullious
loomed before his canopy, and it was growing larger with every
Time-Blip. Now was a bad time to reconsider his plan to retrieve
the Orb of Abbot.
Word of a crashed Interstar science ship spread throughout
the Festival of Duels like lightning across the deep red skies.
Viceroy Grogan called a halt to the festivities immediately, and
ordered all Skullian troops to the Forbidden Sector to hunt for
the Interstar ship and the loot it surely had to offer them.
"They're taking the bait," exclaimed Duncan Wheeler
excitedly while monitoring the sensors. "We don't have much
time before they figure out they've been duped. Hurry, Bryce.
Hurry."
The mini-pod entered Skullious' atmosphere with a slight
shudder. Bryce was amazed at how his surroundings changed from
the inky blackness of space to the deep oranges and reds of the
planet's sky. His mini-pod told him that he'd be at the Orb in
twenty Time-Blips. He had that long to formulate a plan.
The Skullian army charged into the Forbidden Sector with
their plasma rifles raised and war cries on their tongues.
Nothing got their blood boiling more than a strong hunt with a
bountiful treasure as the prize. This was well worth abandoning
their cherished festivities of the Duels. Their sensors said
they were only thirty Time-Blips away from the wreckage. The war-
gods were surely smiling down upon them this day.
Bryce was amazed when he finally laid eyes on the Orb of
Abbot. It seemed so small, so ordinary. The mini-pod, still
cloaked, had come to rest a few dinaticks away from a massive
sinister-looking tower that seemed to be made out of pure gold.
The Flight Computer told him this structure was the famed
Skullian Sword Palace. A place built solely to worship war and
violence. The look of it made Bryce shiver.
He expected the Orb to be heavily guarded, but the exact
opposite seemed to be true. Bryce spotted a few normal-looking
people and a smattering of small children milling about, but
nobody with plasma rifles were in sight. Maybe it was a trap,
Bryce thought, maybe the Skullians knew he was coming and they
were laying in wait for him to reach for the Orb.
With his heart beating faster than a fire fox, Bryce
slipped inside the outer wall of the Sword Palace. The Orb of
Abbot was just a metatick away, sitting on an alter covered in a
deep purple cloth. Bryce didn't know, or care, what the cloth
was for.
Saying a silent prayer to the Holy One, Bryce knew it was
now or never. He scanned the area one more time for any armed
troops. Seeing none he forced himself off the gold wall and
towards the Orb of Abbot. The Orb itself was bluish-silver and
could fit in the palm of his hand. It didn't glow, or emanate a
hum, or do anything. It just sat there. Mocking him, daring him
to reach out and take it.
"Have faith." Bryce heard his Pa's words ringing in his
head as he neared the Orb. A few more steps and he'd be there.
Swallowing down his fear, Bryce reached out with a trembling
hand for the Orb that would save his home world, Arreaxe . . .
"Jason! Time for dinner, honey."
Jason Rowe sighed heavily. His mom always called him for
dinner right at the good parts. "Okay, mom!" he yelled back
from behind his bedroom door. "I'll be right there!"
With a practiced skill, Jason saved his progress on his
game console. The Orb of Abbot would just have to wait until
after dinner to be retrieved. Jason flicked off his small TV
and bounded out of his room and down the steps to devour his
dinner.

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