Chapter VIII: Flight of the Genius

"That was reckless on your part."

"Yeah, but you've gotta take risks in this business, otherwise you'll never get ahead."

"Is that so."

"It's what you always tell us when you hand us some damn fool suicide mission."

"Suicide missions that you always inexplicably return from alive."

"What can I say? I'm a real bad ass."

"Cut the cocky crap. Luckily for you both subjects have moved beyond your ability to monitor them, as a result whatever damage you may have done isn't quite apparent. However the fact remains that you put our whole operation in danger. I'm not just going to overlook that."

"Yes sir, sorry sir, begging your pardon sir, would you like me to shine your shoes sir?"

"Cut the crap you insubordinate prick."

"I got the reading, didn't I?"

"Yes, about the reading. Just what exactly did it say?"

"Well, it said... nothing."

"Nothing."

"Yeah, weird, isn't it?"

"Get out of my office before I kill you."

"Yes sir, going sir, have a good day sir."

X X X X X X X X

North of Eagleland there lay a vast mostly frozen country. It's southern border which stretches across Eagleland's entire northern side, is the longest unguarded national boundary in the modern world. This country's name is irrelevant, however, as it plays no part in our story except for its relative position to Winters, a small island country across the great Eastern Ocean. Winters was a regal place with a rich history of noble traditions that stretched back to the days of the Roman Empire. One such tradition, was the shipping of wealthy young boys and girls to boarding schools to receive a fine scholarly upbringing so that their parents wouldn't have to waste their valuable time on child rearing. One of the most famous and prestigious institutions in Winters was Snow Wood, a boarding school of exceptional fame whose graduates were often shoe ins for Cambridge and Oxford.

Inside Halberd hall, one of Snow Wood's dormitory buildings named for Percival C. Halberd, the school's founder, Jeffry Michael Andonuts Jr. slept soundly, thoroughly exhausted from the all nighters he had pulled the previous three nights. It had not been for the sake of studying though, Jeff never lost sleep on school work, he was simply too industrious for that. Homework and studying always got done before six PM and he always studied for three additional hours, just to be sure. It was Jeff's hobbies that kept him up late, and this particular project had been quite a doosey. But it was complete now; he had put the finishing touches on it at just past midnight and now lay contentedly in bed, his soldering iron hung limply from his hand.

Jeff... a pretty female voice called. Jeff groaned lightly in his sleep. Jeff... the voice called again, I am a friend that you have never met before... I am Paula and I'm here with another friend Ness. Wake up and head south, Please! We need your help!

Jeff was just too tired to wake up. He rolled over onto his side when a distinctively un-pretty male voice slammed into his awareness. HEY! WAKE THE HELL UP! Jeff sat up with a start. What was that? He shook his head and lay back down.

An hour passed.

As tired as he was, sleep would not return. The urgency of the voice, and the clarity of the dream had him arguing with himself whether or not he had actually heard anything. It was preposterous, his rational mind decided, that it had been anything more than a dream, that the odd voices had been anything more than a manifestation of his own subconscious desires to go south, to go... home. Jeff sighed. He still felt awkward thinking of that place as his home. I might as well go, Jeff finally decided, it was no use fighting it. He got out of bed and slipped on his socks and boots; he'd slept in his school uniform, green slacks and a white button up shirt, a black bow tie hung half tied from his collar. He adjusted his thick glasses which he had luckily not bent in his sleep. He tip toed across the room, careful not to wake his sleeping room mate, until he tripped rather loudly on a book bag, reached out for the edge of a nearby desk, found his hand in something cold, wet and slimy, grunted a surprised stream of profanity and fell with a thud on his face.

"Jeff?" His roommate, Anthony Akeridge sat up blearily, turning on a lamp. Looking around Jeff saw that he had tripped over Tony's book bag left in the center of the floor in exactly the way that the ever tidy Jeff had asked him NOT to do. The slimy substance on the edge of the desk had been a half eaten plate of spaghetti, Tony's of course.

"Go back to sleep Tony." Jeff said.

Tony robbed his eyes. "Jeff, it's two in the morning, are you going somewhere?"

Jeff sighed. "Yeah, I'm going... south... for the summer."

"South?" Tony asked, his mind still grogy with sleep. "What about summer classes? Oh, right."

"Yeah." Jeff said. He wasn't taking any summer classes, and wouldn't be allowed to, as he was already too far ahead of the curriculum. Snow Wood was a prestigious school, and the faculty didn't want anyone to think that their material was too easy, it was a matter of pride. Of course the curriculum wasn't too easy. It wasn't easy at all, by anyone's standards. The problem was that in addition to being a certified genius, Jeff was also a tirelessly hard worker, meticulous to a fault.

"Um, Jeff?" Tony said, "don't you need a parent to come check you out?"

Jeff felt a twinge but suppressed it. "Of course, that's why I'm sneaking out."

"I see." Tony said, "Well, I don't know where you're going, or why, but I'll help you if I can."

"That's not necessary," Jeff said, "I can manage."

Tony shrugged, "What are friends for? Let's blow this Popsicle stand!"

Jeff was reluctant. It wasn't that he disliked Tony, the fact was that Tony was his closest friend. That being said, Jeff still found him to be pretty annoying at times. Tony had a cheerful happy go lucky way about him which was at times refreshing and at times made Jeff want to shoot himself. Like most of the students at Snow Wood Tony came from money, old money, so he didn't have much understanding of the harshness of life in 'the real world' and probably never would. While Jeff's family also had money, his father had come by it with much toil and hardship; he had actually been homeless at one point. As a result Jeff found his outlook to be much more realistic than some of the spoiled brats that were his classmates. Everyone knew that Jeff was accepted to Snow Wood based on merit rather than status and many looked down on him for it; the fact that his father was originally from Eagleland didn't help. Jeff was a 'damn yank' in their eyes. But Tony and most of the residents of Halberd were different. They simply didn't care about financial status as much as they did academic prowess, and Tony's happy-go-lucky attitude was something that Jeff both found to be bothersome and the main reason he could call Tony a friend.

Jeff shrugged on his green blazer and adjusted his glasses. In the light of his desk lamp he gathered together his personal belongings and put them into his shoulder bag. His two spare uniforms, his tool kit, and some assorted toiletries. He briefly considered removing the contents, a ruler, some graphing paper, a compass and protractor, and a package which he knew was important, but whose purpose he couldn't quite remember...

"You taking this too?" Tony asked, holding the small gadget Jeff had been working on.

Jeff nodded, "It might come in handy." He said and deposited it into his pocket.

Tony cocked his head. "What is it?"

Jeff smiled proudly. "I call it the SPI, or Structural Perception Instrument."

"Looks like a DS." Tony commented.

"Well it was." Jeff replied, adjusting his glasses. "Plus a web cam, a cell phone, and your erector set."

"Cool." Tony said, "...wait, what?!"

"I'm Kidding." Jeff laughed. "Your erector set is safe. I rigged this baby up with a makeshift hard drive and installed an infra red receiver and an electromagnetic resonance scanner." Jeff paused, "I couldn't figure out how to get a small enough sound emitter for sonar to fit in there, though." He shrugged and deposited it back into his coat pocket. Let's go, shall we?"

In the common area of the second floor they found several of their classmates debating feverishly.

"Pishaw!" Jonathan Crawford was saying, "Tessie is nothing more than the brazen imaginings of a fanciful, a hoax and nothing more."

"You have to accept that it isn't entirely outside the realm of possibility that a previously unknown creature may inhabit the loch..." Whittaker countered.

"Personally, I agree with Jonathan," Samuel Slate interjected, "It's as ludicrous as the reports of savage local men or UFO's near Stonehenge."

"Oh, why good evening Mr. Valedictorian." Whittaker said upon seeing Jeff and Tony. "So, Jeff, what do you think about all this Tessie business?"

Jeff shrugged, "I don't believe in anything not quantifiable."

"You see? This fine gentleman scored a ninety nine in biology, I should say this quite proves my point. Nonsense, that's what Tessie is, Tabloid tourist trap nonsense!" Jonathan announced.

"My, so skeptical." Whittaker said, "You won't even acknowledge that it is within the realm of possibility?"

Jeff knew that these two could and likely would debate the issue all night, curfews be damned. They were the two foremost members of the debate team, after all. "Skepticism is the default academic position." He said, adjusting his glasses, "And right now I don't have the time to be pulled into a debate on cryptozoology," He said with a chuckle, "I've got to get going."

"Then you won't stay for the party?" Jonathan asked.

"Party?" Jeff asked.

"Oh come on, Jeff, did you forget?" Tony asked, "Spent too much time in the books I fear. It's my birthday tomorrow."

Jeff blinked. He HAD forgotten. He briefly considered staying another day to celebrate with Tony, but something in the back of his mind urged him to go through with his departure.

"Tony, I'm sorry, I did forget." He reached into his bag, suddenly remembering the package he had bought for the occasion and forgotten about. "And I'm sorry I won't be here for the celebration," he handed Tony his present, "Spared no expense." he said.

"Unreal!" Tony said, after unwrapping the gift, "How did you know?"

Jeff laughed, "Perhaps because it is one of the greatest first person shooters ever, or because you wouldn't shut up about it."

"Hug!" Tony gathered Jeff in and nearly squeezed the life out of him.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Jeff said, never fond of Tony's over the top displays of emotion.

"I'd hate to break up the male bonding," Samuel said through his thick highlands accent, "But we do have a real problem, Jeff."

The two paused and looked at him. He was the Student Residential Advisor for Halberd house, a level headed young man who was a year older than Jeff and Tony and everyone else in Halberd. Samuel had a strong sense of responsibility, though he still knew how to have fun when the need arose.

"We've had a spot of bother with the brutes down in Wallace hall." Samuel said.

Jeff smirked, "Is that so."

"You feeling up to it, Jeff?" Tony asked.

Jeff nodded, thought and then slowly shook his head. "Sorry, gents, but I've got some rather pressing business to attend to."

Wallace hall was home to the more jockish students of Snow Wood. Even though it was required that all students participated in sporting activities, 'mens sana in corpore sano' was the school's motto, the students in Wallace hall were all exceptionally fit and made no attempts at sportsmanlike conduct. They were downright ruthless on the rugby field, at cricket, and at polo. Even their rowing team was cutthroat. As a result there was an unspoken but very prevalent rivalry between Wallace and Halberd, the latter being mostly comprised of more intellectually minded students, or in technical terms, nerds. And if there was one thing that everyone in Halberd, nay in all of Snow Wood understood, Jeff Andonuts was king of the nerds.

"I understand," Samuel said, "You will be missed on this campaign."

"Sorry again." Jeff said. He turned to Tony, "Let's go downstairs and talk to Maxwell."

"Right." Tony said.

"Jeff, Tony, What brings you to my door at this time of night?" Maxwell greeted.

"I may need your help." Jeff responded.

"What? The great Jeff Andonuts needs MY humble help?" Maxwell teased. "I take it you've been outside. Planning counter measures, are you?"

Jeff shook his head, "actually, I was wondering if you could help me... well, leave."

Maxwell raised his eyebrows. "You're sneaking out? And where do you plan to go at this time of night?"

Jeff fidgeted a bit before responding. "South."

Maxwell was silent for a moment. "Ah, I see. Going home are you?" He nodded, "You know Jeff, your father sponsored the science club here when I was a student. He's actually the reason I became a teacher. A brilliant mind, he has. Why, I'd wager he's got more going on upstairs then Einstein or Newton combined."

Jeff shrugged, averting his eyes.

"Well, since you'll obviously learn more with your father than you would here with the summer courses you can't take, I'll help you with your trip home. How's that for a slice of fried gold?"

"Thanks Maxwell," Jeff said.

"Think nothing of it, my lad." Maxwell waved his thanks off, "Just take this and help yourself to the contents of the locker room next door. I'm sure you'll find something of interest there."

The key that Maxwell handed to Jeff was slightly bent, and wouldn't open any of the locks.

"Ha! You caught me. I did that to show off my new invention of sorts." Maxwell chuckled, "I call it the machine that opens doors, especially when you've got a slightly bad key."

"Wouldn't it be easier to call it the bad key machine?" Tony asked.

"I suppose so. I had never thought of it that way." Maxwell laughed.

The machine was small and resembled a tape measurer. Jeff stuck the bent key into the slot. There was a click as a small metal rod shot out of the machine, bristling with tiny metal plates. The plates arranged themselves into a pattern that roughly matched the key's shape.

"Nifty, eh?" Maxwell said, "Let me know if you need anything, you've got my number."

Jeff opened the first locker, empty. The second. It was the same. Most of the students had already left for the summer, and Jeff was basically poaching what they had forgotten or didn't care enough about to take with them. Jeff found a bicycle helmet, of little use, and two airsoft guns, one of them broken. With them he found a large cannister of yellow plastic pellets. Jeff deposited the pellets into his shoulder bag and quickly constructed a makeshift shoulder holster out of a belt and an old shoe he had found. The airsoft gun safely stowed in his jacket he set out for home.

"So what do you have in mind?" Tony asked, as the two made their way to the door.

Jeff stroked his chin thoughtfully as he stepped outside. The boys at Wallace had apparently toilet papered the trees around their dorm and egged the windows. How Juvenile, Jeff thought.

"Over the gate?" He suggested.

Tony nodded. Threading his hands together he gestured for Jeff to begin. Jeff dashed up to Tony and was bounced up and over the gate.

"As I said, I don't know where you're going or why, but do keep in touch." Tony admonished.

Jeff nodded and the two shook hands through the bars. Tony went back inside and Jeff began his trek south.

X X X X X X X X

Jeff had not gone far from the school's gates before he came to a gas station which was to Jeff's knowledge, the only building besides snow wood for three miles. There were three people in the store, two clerks who chatted casually behind the counter, and someone going up and down the aisles, restocking the shelves. Jeff looked around. He had a total of five dollars in his wallet and thought it best to pick up a few things for the road. Two bottles of bawls to keep him awake and...

There was a crash followed by some profanity and a distinct chattering sound. Was that... a monkey?

"Want to buy some gum?" The woman who had been restocking the counters asked Jeff, "The monkey comes free with the purchase of gum. Otherwise he'll cost you a buck."

Jeff raised an eyebrow, "I... don't need to buy a monkey..." he said.

"Look, would you please buy him?" The woman sounded cranky and a little desperate, "He's really noisy and he's making a mess of the store."

Jeff shrugged and purchased the gum. The monkey followed him eagerly out of the store. The weather was exceptionally cold for early summer, which was alright by him, Jeff loved the hell out of cold weather. The night was clear and crisp with the stars shining brightly over head and the snow crunching cheerfully underfoot. Jeff was in a good mood for the next mile or so, until he saw a dark figure straddling the path ahead of him. Jeff's heart raced momentarily, the thing had horns. It snorted loudly and let out an agitated 'baa'.

"It's only a goat..." Jeff muttered, relieved. His relief didn't last, however, as the thing pawed the ground impatiently and then charged him. The goat rammed Jeff in the chest and proceeded to trample him in a gruff manner. It would have continued had not the monkey leaped onto the gruff goat's face and begin scratching wildly as monkeys do. Jeff got to his feet as the goat made another charge. He dove out of the way, took aim and fired at what he could only guess were the eyes. The goat let out a feral bray and then charged off into the woods. Jeff stood, dusted himself off and checked himself for injuries. He looked down at the airsoft gun in his hand. It looked like all the hours he had logged playing Call of Duty had payed off after all.

The next several miles passed without incident. The monkey ran here and there, sometimes leading Jeff playfully, others lagging behind to stare at some flower or other novelty. Jeff took a pot shot at a crow and felled it from fifty yards. Not bad for a toy. Eventually he came to the shores of Loch Tess, the deepest and third largest lake in Winters. That particular area of shore was lined with tents and from the looks of it most of the camp was in bed for the night. Two men sat around the glowing embers of a camp fire, one strummed absently on an acoustic guitar as they chatted quietly. The one with the guitar spotted Jeff first.

"Well hello there stranger," He said. "what brings you to the shores of Lake Tess at this late hour?"

Jeff looked at his watch. It was 4:30 am.

"I think it's early, John." The second man said. "Come on, young man, have a spot of tea to warm your bones, you look like you could use it."

Jeff was fairly chilly, so he took the men up on their offer and had some tea and a hearty helping of beef stew, before dropping off to sleep. It was noon when Jeff awoke. He hated sleeping late. The monkey was nowhere to be found. The wind was blowing fiercely, rocking the tent as it did. Jeff could hear several excited voices outside, something about an imminent sighting. Stepping outside he saw the monkey was waiting for him on a small peninsula, chewing gum. As he approached the monkey began to blow a bubble. It popped. He blew another one and this time it reached an epic size. So large was it that the monkey began to float over the water.

That flies in the face of every physical law... Jeff thought. Then, from the water rose a large purple hump, followed by a long slender neck. It was Tessie. The creature craned its neck to look at him with slow graceful movements, then deposited a large flat flipper onto the peninsula and looked at Jeff expectantly. Hesitantly, very hesitantly, Jeff boarded the purple dinosaur and they were off. In your face, Barney.

Tessie swam surprisingly fast and they were across the lake in only fifteen minutes. Placing her flipper on the southeast shore Tessie nodded to Jeff slowly as he disembarked. Jeff and the bubble monkey watched as Tessie swam out a ways and dove with surprising swiftness.

To the south, Jeff came to a cave. Next to it was a sign that read, "This dungeon has no entry fee. Come on in!" Jeff promptly turned around and headed in the other direction, only to find it blocked by a large pencil shaped iron statue. "God dammit." Jeff muttered. He turned and entered the dungeon. "I hate RPG's." He sighed.

The alleged dungeon was a maze, made with a waist high stone wall which Jeff could easily have scaled, but the maze was so simple he didn't bother. A sign in the maze warned of enemies in the dungeon, and as if on cue Jeff was bum rushed by a duck. Two shots and the thing ran away, quacking madly. A few more mad ducks, some rather rowdy mice, and a small glob of worthless protoplasm later Jeff found himself at the end of the alleged dungeon. There was a small table with a phone sitting on it. Next to that was a gift wrapped box labeled 'spoils'. It had a taser inside. Jeff took it.

Outside there stood a stocky balding man in overalls with a pencil thin mustache.

"The name's Brick Road." The man said, "I'm a designer of theme parks, and I designed the dungeon. Tell me what you think."

Jeff shrugged, "I'm not a big fan of role playing games, so you probably don't want my opinion."

"Try me." Brick road said.

"It was awful. No challenge at all." Jeff responded.

Brick road nodded, "Yeah, I thought as much. Well, one day with the help and expertise of Dr. Andonuts, I'll become Dungeon Man, the first combination of man and dungeon in history. Then I'll be able to charge admission. Wanna see the blueprints?"

Jeff shook his head, "No, I'd better get going. Could you point me to Dr. Andonuts' lab?"

Brick Road pointed at a cave. "Through there, and then go south past Stonehenge. You can't miss it."

Jeff thanked the man and plunged into the darkness of the cave. Clicking a button on the side of his glasses Jeff activated the LED's he'd installed in the frame. He looked around. A few mice stared at him menacingly. A few shots from his stun gun were enough to keep them at bay. He walked through a limestone corridor and came to a sheer cliff face. It was slick with erosion and impossible to scale. He could see a rope at the top, but how to get it down. He considered shooting it down, but decided not to waste ammunition. Then an idea struck him. He gave a piece of gum to the bubble monkey and it floated to the top of the cliff and dropped the rope. Scaling the cliff, Jeff saw a passage to his left, it no doubt lead east to his father's lab, and to his right he saw what looked like a giant mushroom formation. He inched closer at the wondrous spectacle when the formation stood up!

"Oh Bugger!" Jeff nearly laid a brick and in the next instance he was scrambling out of the cave.

There, in front of him stood one of the marvelous mysteries of the ancient world; Stonehenge. The bubble monkey began chittering excitedly and darted forward. Jeff saw what had gotten him so excited, it was a female monkey, she had a bow tied on her head. The monkeys chased each other, playfully zig zagging through the ancient ruins before they disappeared into the woods.

"Well," Jeff said to no one in particular, "Fare thee well, little friend."

He continued south, careful to avoid two hairy Neanderthals busily trying to make a fire. At last he came to it, a large and stately example of the bland functionality of modern architecture. It was a plain gray concrete structure with round windows and a large cylindrical opening at its top. Torus labs. Jeff stood for a moment in the cold, reflecting. He remembered this place, but only vaguely. He had been only four the last time he had been there. While his memory of the building was fuzzy, his memory of the events that took place there were painfully clear.

X X X X X X X X

Salina Andonuts stalked to the car, wiping her eyes furiously. She climbed into the drivers' seat and slammed the door, suppressing a sob. Jeff reached out and placed a tiny hand comfortingly onto her shoulder. He was still technically a toddler, but his keen mind understood what was going on. The endless court hearings, moving to a small apartment, his mother's angry words. Divorce. The word had an ugly ring to it, and young Jeff Andonuts understood what it meant. Mommy and Daddy were no longer husband and wife.

Salina and Jeffry Sr. had met at Snow Wood, he was an older man of fifty one, who had made a fortune with his instant revitalization device, a machine that used electromagnetic waves to induce an enhanced state of REM sleep in humans, fifteen minutes was the equivalent of a full eight hours of rest. Dr. Andonuts hadn't sold a single one, of course, but various coffee companies and gourmet cappuccino shop franchises had paid him a fortune to keep the device off the market. Now retired, Dr. Andonuts had moved to Winters for a fresh start and had been offered a position teaching physics at the prestigious Snow Wood boarding academy. That was when he met Salina, a thirty two year old French and classical literature teacher. They had a brief courtship and were married less than a year later. Dr. Andonuts bought a secluded piece of land to the southeast of snow wood and built his laboratory there. Using his now extensive fortune he began research and development on various cutting edge ideas. Jeff didn't know for sure, but he guessed that his father's long hours at the lab away from his wife and son led to the divorce. Salina had insisted that Dr. Andonuts not pay child support or alimony of any kind, she just wanted to be done with him. She left Snow Wood and took a job teaching English at an inner city public school in London. And that's why Jeff blamed him.

Jeff reasoned that it had been the stress. The stress of being a single parent, of raising him alone and on a public school teacher's salary that lead to Salina's aneurysm. Jeff was five when she colapsed one day.

He called 911.

She was rushed to the hospital.

She died three days later.

There was a hearing to see who should get custody of young Jeff. Dr. Jeffery Andonuts Sr. never even showed up. They sent Jeff to Eagleland to live with relatives for a year, until he was old enough to start school at snow wood, and the rest, as they say, was history.

The memories brought bitter tears to Jeff's eyes. He choked them back. He knocked on the door, twice. It opened slowly and a short, round, balding man with white hair opened the door. He peered at Jeff from behind rounded spectacles.

"May I help you young man?" Dr. Andonuts asked.

"Dr. Andonuts?" Jeff asked, barely recognizing his father.

"Yes... Yes... Did Mr. Brickroad refer you?" Dr. Andonuts asked.

"You could say that..." Jeff said. "My name is Jeff."

The doctor was silent for a moment. "Jeff?"

"Jeff... Andonuts." Jeff said, almost reluctantly.

Another pause.

"You're my son? Well, come in out of the cold." He ushered Jeff into a large, sterile laboratory.

"Now, what brings you to my doorstep, young man?" Dr. Andonuts inquired.

"I..." Jeff faltered, I came here to kick your ass for never being there for me... "I came because I need to find someone... named Paula." he inwardly berated himself for his cowardice.

"Hmm. I see." Dr. Andonuts said, "I'm working on an invention called the phase distorter. It can connect two points in time and space. It isn't complete yet, however..." he stroked his beard thoughtfully. "But you can use that." He gestured to what looked like a flying saucer in the corner of the room. "It's called the sky runner, it's a little old, but it should get the job done. Do you know your destination?"

Jeff shook his head. Threed... A tiny voice in the back of his mind said, "Do you know of a place called Threed?" Jeff asked.

Dr. Andonuts nodded, he strode over to a desk and picked up a news paper and handed it to Jeff. The headline read 'Town in Eagleland disappears from Map!'

"I had originally set the destination of the sky runner for Onett to pick up some Xexonite... It's a long story, but it looks like I won't be able to make the trip for quite some time. It would take hours to reprogram the sky runner, and something tells me you don't have that kind of time. Threed is not far from Onett, if memory serves, so it'll be a simple matter for you to amend the destination coordinates on the way there."

It took about ten minutes for Jeff to familiarize himself with the sky runner's old clunky interface, and then he was ready for lift off.

"Dad... er... I mean, Dr. Andonuts..." Jeff said.

"Yes, Jeff?" he said, looking up from a schematic.

You're a lousy father, who didn't even come to mom's funeral. "...What was the ignition sequence again?"

"Red Two, Theta seven." Dr. Andonuts said.

"Thanks." Jeff said, flicking the switches whose order he didn't actually forget.

"Jeff?" Dr. Andonuts said, I am so sorry! There isn't a day that goes by where I don't regret driving your mother away... "I suppose I'll see you in another ten years..."

If at all... Jeff thought miserably to himself. "Yeah." Was all he said. And so the sky runner lifted off, and swung gracefully into the air.