"Oh no, this is a disaster!" Jeremie cried.
He, Odd, Ulrich and Aelita were preparing to go on a field trip to conduct a study on a river outside of town, and they had just sat down in their seats on the coach.
"A problem, Einstein?" Odd inquired.
"A big problem – my laptop has broken! It won't start up at all!"
"So what?" Ulrich asked. "Surely you can fix it"
"Well of course I can fix it, but it's going to take a while, and what if XANA attacks in the meantime?"
"Jeremie", Aelita said cooly, "Calm down. We're only going to be gone for a few hours – what are the chances of XA-"
"Aelita!" Odd shouted.
She and Jeremie jumped. "What was that for?!" Aelita was visibly irritated.
"Don't tempt fate!"
The bus started to move away from the academy. Jeremie sighed.
"Jeremie, if you're worried about XANA attacking, then call Yumi and ask her to check the supercomputer – she doesn't have class this afternoon"
Jeremie slapped his face with his hand. "Of course, why didn't I think of that? I'm such a bonehead"
Yumi was relaxing in the lounge of her home when she felt her mobile ringing in her pocket. She answered it. "Hello?"
"Hi Yumi. I know you probably wanted the afternoon off and all, but I'm afraid I need you to go and check on the supercomputer for XANA attacks now and then"
"Huh, but why? Can't you use your laptop for that?"
"It's broken, and it'll take some time to repair."
"Jeremie, I have a massive History test coming up and I'm still totally unprepared – I don't have time to go back and forth between the factory all day!"
"Please Yumi, we're counting on you"
Yumi groaned. "OK, but I'm not happy about this" She hung up. Immediately, Hiroki appeared in the doorway.
"Who were you talking to? It was Ulrich, wasn't it?"
Yumi blushed. "For your information, no it wasn't"
"Well who was it then?"
"Hiroki, have you ever considered not being such an annoying little brat?"
"Well yeah, but where's the fun in that? If you're done yapping on your phone, Johnny's coming over in 5 minutes to play Galactic Invaders, so if you could keep the noise down that'd be great!"
Yumi clenched her teeth. "Urgh, I can't stand being here a minute later, I'm out of here!" She put her books in her bag and stormed towards the front door.
"You can't leave!" Hiroki said. "I'll tell mom and dad and you'll get in so much trouble"
"Hiroki, I couldn't possibly care less. Anything's better than having to be near you" She stormed out of the house and onto the pavement.
Under her breath she muttered "At least at the factory I'll get some privacy"
After about twenty-five minutes, the coach arrived at the woods surrounding the river, and all of the kids exited into the lush green landscape. Mrs Hertz took a deep breath. "Ah, there's nothing like fresh countryside air"
Jim stood next to her forlornly. "If you say so…" he said, scratching his head. Mrs Hertz gave him a brief disapproving look, and turned to her students.
"Anyway", she announced, "You have all been given assignment sheets telling what you must do. You must meet back here at 5pm, sharp. Are there any questions?"
"Er yeah", Odd whispered to Ulrich. "What's the point in this, exactly?" He and Ulrich giggled.
"A question, Della Robia?" Mrs Hertz glared at him. He grinned sheepishly.
"No ma'am"
"Good. Then you shall commence the task at once!"
The group dispersed, with Jeremie and Aelita going in one direction, and Odd and Ulrich going in another – Mrs. Hertz had insisted that the assignments be done in pairs. Jeremie and Aelita stood at the edge of the river and began examining the flora and fauna that surrounded it, along with measurements of the depth and width. This work continued for a considerable length of time, and, being very bright academically, the two of them found it incredibly boring.
"Are we almost done, yet?" Aelita asked, trudging out of the murky river bed.
"No, unfortunately we still have a couple more tasks to complete"
"How long do we have until we have to go back?"
Jeremie checked his watch. "About an hour"
"Well, I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head a bit – I'll be back soon, I promise"
"But Aelita, I-" Aelita was already out of earshot before Jeremie could object. "Fine, I guess I'll do this by myself, then…"
Meanwhile, in the factory, Yumi was studying for her upcoming exam, and without any distractions from Hiroki or Johnny, she found herself making a lot of progress. However, a couple of hours into her studying, she heard a beeping sound come from the supercomputer. Immediately, she rose and typed into the keyboard. There was an activated tower in the Ice sector.
"Oh no! I'd better call Jeremie!" However, as she took out her phone, she realised with horror that she had forgotten to charge it the night before, and consequently it was out of battery.
"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Yumi grabbed her bag and hurried to the elevator, desperate to get back home so that she could warn the others.
At around ten to five, Odd and Ulrich approached Jeremie, who had fallen in the river and was soaking wet. They started giggling.
"Oh knock it off, you two!" Jeremie groaned. "It was frustrating enough having Aelita walk off and leave me on my own, I don't need you guys making it any worse"
"Well, you'd better hurry up, Jeremie, we have to be back at the coach soon"
"Urgh, fine" Jeremie collected up his equipment. "Did you guys manage OK?"
"Well…" Ulrich hesitated.
"I drew an awesome picture of the river! Look!" Odd handed Jeremie his notebook. Jeremie's eyebrows rose.
"Wow, that's actually really impressive, well done. I'm not sure Mrs. Hertz will be so impressed by it, mind"
"Yeah, I know, but it was fun!"
"Well, I suppose I should go and find Aelita – you coming?"
"Sure" Odd and Ulrich said.
It wasn't too long until they saw Aelita in the distance, who appeared to be kneeling on the floor and shaking.
"Aelita?" Worried that something had happened, Jeremie sprinted towards her, with Odd and Ulrich close behind. As they approached her, they saw that she was crying. In front of her was a small duck egg blue music box with a ballerina figurine on top. It was very dirty and old.
"Aelita, what's wrong?" Jeremie asked.
She sniffed. "Nothing's wrong. It's just… I was walking through the woods, when I found this music box. And the tune it plays… it's… it's beautiful" Aelita stood up with the music box in her hands, still shaking, and twisted the handle. A tinny rendition of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' began to play, as the ballerina spun counter-clockwise slowly and rigidly.
"That was the first song my father ever taught me how to play" She hugged Jeremie, continuing to sob. Odd and Ulrich stood awkwardly, unsure of what to say. This poignant moment was soon interrupted by Jim shouting.
"Stern, Belpois, Della Robia and Stones! What do you four think you're playing at?!"
"Er, sorry, sir", Odd said. "We just lost track of time and, er…"
"Less talking, more walking, got it?"
They knew it wasn't worth continuing the conversation any further, so they let Jim lead them back to the coach, with Aelita still holding the rusty music box in her hands.
Meanwhile, Yumi had sprinted back to her house. However, before she could run up to her bedroom, her father shouted "Yumi! Come here now, please!"
Yumi sighed and walked into the living room, knowing exactly what her father was going to say.
"How could you leave Hiroki on his own when we specifically told you to keep an eye on him?" he said angrily. "Why, if he hadn't called us, who knows what could have happened"
Yumi gasped, and stared at Hiroki, seething. He grinned smugly.
"This isn't good enough, Yumi", her mother said. "It's those friends of yours, isn't it? They're not a good influence."
"Hey-"
"So", the mother continued, "I think it's only fitting that as punishment, you have your phone confiscated for two weeks"
"What?!"
"You heard what I said. Hand me the phone. This instant"
Begrudgingly, Yumi handed over her phone.
"Now I want you to go up to your room and stay there for the rest of the night."
Yumi realised there was no point arguing, and did as she was told.
'Darn it', she thought. 'I hope the others manage to deactivate the tower before something bad happens'
She sat on her bed, paralysed by fear that something horrible was happening to the others, and angry that she was unable to do anything to help them.