Rock paused, blinking unworriedly at the darkness. Kalinka yawned from behind him, tired from her travels and really a little impatient with this "machine" they kept talking about. It was getting late. Roll couldn't think of anything sarcastic to say, so she simply kept her mouth shut.
"Look, there it is." Rock took a bound forward, crouching low to the ground before moving again.
Roll stared at him boredly. "Enough with the dramatics. You aren't impressing anyone."
Kalinka smiled. "I think I will go back inside." They turned, and she shrugged. "I'm tired."
"I'll come with you," Roll announced. "Rock can snoop around if he wants -- I'll just wait 'til morning."
Rock watched them leave, not at all pleased with their lack of enthusiasm. But he didn't say anything. He turned back to the craft, determined to find out what it was.
Flurry yawned. She was seated in the pilot's chair again, and Zero was sitting in the copilot's place, looking incuriously over the controls.
"So, uh, what can this thing do?" he asked. "All these buttons have to be here for a reason."
She tilted her head. "I suppose." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Actually, most of them are for human convenience. Look." Flurry reached over and punched a button on Zero's side of the panel. "It reclines the chairs," she laughed.
Zero, who had been leaning forward to study the controls, half-turned, startled to see the seat leaning back at a forty-five degree angle. He turned to Flurry, face bemused. "Why?"
Flurry grinned. "I think it's a human thing."
"Works for me," he answered, leaning back and putting his feet up on the control panel. Flurry frowned disapprovingly and punched the button again. The seat fell back another forty-five degrees, nearly dumping Zero on the floor -- then it jerked up to its original position.
"You know, Flurry," he said calmly, setting his feet firmly on the floor, "you aren't very nice."
"I never claimed to be," she replied.
"Hey, Flurry!" Tourian called from where he and X were figuring out the animals' holographic camouflage, "Could you do another area scan? I don't really trust all this quiet."
"Sure, sure," she grumbled. "Now he understands what I was talking about."
The scanning screen came up, and Zero leaned over to look, his hair falling in his way. He growled something unintelligible at it, and Flurry restrained a chuckle.
"Gee, Zero. You could put it in a ponytail."
"Har, har, har," he said sarcastically, standing up to look instead. "That's why I wanted to keep my armor -- at least my helmet."
"You'd look silly with your helmet and those clothes, so hush up -- what's that?" The object of her question was a blip on the screen, creeping ever closer to the Zephyr.
The blip took a careful step forward and stopped. Flurry tilted her head, amused. She told Zephyr to run a scan, and she frowned at the results.
"It's a robot," she said.
"A robot?" Zero asked, "And it's snooping around us?"
"What are you two talking about?" X asked, coming up behind Zero.
"That," Flurry said. "Give me a visual, Zeph."
The computer apologized, informing her that it most certainly could not.
"Fine. Be that way." Flurry sat back, tapping her fingers against the console. "Well, I guess I'll go see what our little visitor wants."
"Can I come?" Zero asked.
Tourian got up, scratching Ayrmin's ears. The dog whined affectionately. "Flurry, I don't know if that's such a great idea."
She turned and glared at him accusingly. "Are you saying I can't handle this, Tourian?" she asked challengingly.
He lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. "'Course not. Just be careful."
"Can I come?" Zero repeated impatiently.
"No. You gentlemen can keep each other company for a while."
Zero shook his head sullenly, and X laughed at him.
Flurry checked the scan again and saw that the robot had moved to the side opposite the door. Nodding quickly, she opened it and stepped out into the night air. She slipped around the edge of the time machine, glancing cautiously about. She saw a shadowy figure looking the machine over, running his hand along the side as if to check for a door. It suddenly lifted its fist to bash into Zephyr's side.
"Hey," Flurry yelled without thinking, "that's private property! What do you think you're doing?"
The figure stopped, stared, took a step back, and bolted. Not even bothering to call for the others, Flurry ran after it, until she realized that it was scrambling for the wide circle of a spotlight next to the building Zephyr had landed near. She skidded to a halt, just outside the light -- and stared.
The startled figure appeared to be a young boy -- whose blue battle armor materialized around him in a second's time. Flurry continued to stare.
And then she fainted dead away.
Zero yelled something incomprehensible. X and Tourian stared in amazement. Whatever it was, it had scared Flurry badly enough to faint. Zero growled something else and jumped out the door, running to where Flurry lay. X and Tourian followed him, nearly crashing into him when he came to a dead stop at the edge of the light.
The robot was still standing there, trying to look threatening through all his astonishment.
Tourian crouched down next to Flurry, trying to shake her awake. She stirred and moaned.
Zero jabbed X in the ribs. "He looks like you -- if you were ever a kid!"
X told him to hush up before he said something really stupid.
At that point, Tourian, who was propping Flurry up, glanced over at the shaking and startled robot in the circle of light. "He's right, X."
"Shaddap, Tourian," was X's response.
Flurry managed to get to her feet. "I think we better go home, Tourian -- we're gonna be in so much trouble."
Tourian shushed her gently, and she shook Zero's arm. He glanced at her and patted her shoulder. "It's all right, Flurry," he grinned lamely.
She shook her head. "No, no it's not. You don't get it -- Kreyin -- he -- he'll have our hides for doormats already, but --"
Tourian put his hand firmly over her mouth. She looked at him dazedly, unresisting.
X was the first to speak directly to the robot. "Hey, who are you? And why were you messing around Zephyr?" He waited for a moment, tensing at the continued silence.
The blue robot straightened, suddenly regaining his confidence, and looked X right in the eye. "I'm Rock. And you parked your machine in my backyard."
Dead silence.
Flurry looked at Tourian.
She looked at Zero.
She looked at X.
She looked at Rock.
She fainted dead away.