C.G. and Luis drew closer and closer to each other. There lips about to touch. Then a loud, shrill noise broke them up immediately. They covered they're ears. "What is that, Cege?" Luis asked. Covering his ears."

C.G. winced at the high-pitched noise. No she wasn't wincing at Luis's voice. "It's the smoke alarm. Your candles must have set it off!"

Emily and Ethan came running out of the bunk room in their pajamas. "What's going on?" Emily asked, Squibby tight in her arms.

"Is there an emergency?" Ethan asked, ready to evacuate the time flyer.

Luis looked around the time flyer. "Could be. C.G. my candles can't give off enough smoke to set off a smoke detector! Something else is burning!" C.G. ran and turned off the shrill noise so everyone can be understood. "Guys, get out of the time flyer! Now! I'm going to figure out what's burning!"

"We can't leave you here alone!" Emily said exclaimed.

"Look, if you guys don't get out of here you can get hurt!" Luis said annoyed, he started walking to the control room and looked for smoke. The crew followed him.

"Luis," C.G. said, "I can not allow you to do this-"

Luis looked at the screen monitors. "The fire's in the engine room, get out NOW!" Luis ordered. This caused all three of the others to run out and as far away from the time flyer as possible.

Luis pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose and ran to the engine room. The engine was in flames, that were quickly spreading toward the gas tank. He had to stop it before then or good-bye life. He couldn't use water or else who knows how long the engine would be not usable. Luis had think fast. He pulled his shirt off and used it to smother the fire. Ouch, the heat burned his hands a little, but the fire was gone. Hopefully C.G. had her communicator with her.

Just as Luis was thinking that, C.G.'s voice came in on the communicator. "Luis, Luis! Are you well?"

Luis smiled. Good ol' C.G. always had her communicator with her. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Oh, thank goodness!" C.G. replied with relief.

"Are you guys all okay?" Luis said into the communicator on his wrist. Now that the crew found his camera piece he attached it to his communicator. Getting so close to the heat it seemed to had melted a little. He hoped his communicator was all right. He sighed. As soon as he took in a breathe he started coughing.

"We're all fine," came Emily's voice. "Are you okay?"

"Yah," Luis said between coughs. "I must have breathed in something. I think there's a gas leak" Luis said, as he saw a cloud of something spewing out of the engine."I'll investigate it later."

"Get out of the engine room, Luis." C.G. said, hearing his coughs.

As he walked out of the room (leaving his soiled shirt) he replied, "Okay, and you guys can come back now." Luis grabbed his pajama top and threw it over himself before the guys came back. Then he ran his hands under cold water because the burns obviously hurt. He had gotten burns like that before, because fire intrigues any young boy.

The crew walked into the kitchen. Emily ran up and hugged him from the side relieved he was okay, then saw his hands. "Luis, what happened to your hands?"

"I had to smother the fire with my shirt," Luis replied. Emily turned off the water. Burns hurt much more when exposed to air. "Ow, why did you do that?"

Emily grabbed his wrists. "Cege, do you have burn ointment? I'm going to wrap Luis's hands up."

C.G. nodded and grabbed a tube from the cabinet as Emily pulled Luis to sit at the table.

"Dude," Ethan said as leaned against the wall. "that was one brave thing you did."

"Thanks, Eeth," Luis replied as he was held hostage by Emily. "Ouch!" he complained as Emily rubbed the ointment on his burns.

"Sorry," Emily replied sympathetically.

"Perhaps," C.G. said as she looked at Luis's painful expression "I should apply the cream. We have a gentler system in 10,000 A,D, that possible will cause less pain to Luis."

"Oh, okay. That could be a good idea." Emily said, moving over so C.G. could slide in.

C.G. sat across from Luis and placed his hands in the middle. He winced the same way he had been wincing. "Could you guys hurry up before I go run them under cold water again!"

C.G. nodded. "Now Luis, I want you to close your eyes and focus on the pain in your hands."

Luis looked confused, "What's that supposed to do?"

"Trust me Luis," C.G. replied calmly. Luis closed his eyes and did as told. "I am now going to transfer the pain in your hands to separate parts of your body."

"Oh, come on Cege-" Luis started to say before C.G. cut him off.

"Luis, I need you to believe in this." C.G. held his wrists and Luis took a deep breathe and focused on his pain. "Now, the places I touch is wear I'mtransferring the pain." C.G. leaned forward and brushed against hisforearms, gut area, and a couple other places. The more places she tapped the less tension was shown in his face. When he seemed at ease she squeezed the ointment onto her fingers and rubbed it into his burns.

Ethan and Emily watched amazed. Never had they seen anything like that... that... healing magic. Who would have thought they used magic in the future.

"Okay," C.G. said, bringing everyone out of their trance. ImmediatelyLuis's face went back to how it was at the beginning. "Emily, you can now wrap his hands i the necessary precautions." C.G. stood up, trying her best to give an air of mystery. She went and stood next to Ethan.

Ethan whispered to her so Luis wouldn't hear "How did you do that?"

C.G. whispered back, "I used Luis's brain. If you believe something enough then you can trick your body into feeling that way, the human mind is very impressive."

Ethan nodded and looked over at Luis and Emily. Luis seemed to be in a bit more pain then when C.G. was sitting in front of him. "It probably helped a bit that you were there, too,"

"Excuse me?" C.G. replied. Ethan just laughed and looked on.

One week later they were making precautions to leave the Great Plateau. Ethan had to be Luis's hands and was getting a bit tired of it. Luis had let it gone to his head. "I need a sip of water!" Luis declared.

"Uhg, again?" Ethan complained.

Luis leaned his chair backwards and whistled, because of the inability to snap. Ethan rolled his eyes and picked up the glass, then moved it toward Luis's head reluctantly. Then he tipped it backwards and poured the water on Luis's head. This caused Luis to scramble upward. "I guess I needed that." Then he looked up at his wet hair. "Could you squeeze the water out of my bangs?"

Ethan laughed and hit Luis's shoulder. Then he walked away into the control room. "I was serious..." Luis said as he followed Ethan.

In the control room C.G. was sitting in the pilot chair. Before they left she had a scheduled meeting with her father over the time tele-communicator to make sure they had completed the necessary tasks. The thing was, they had no necessary task so whatever he had to say must be very important.

"Poggle population data?" C.G. asked, looking at a list.

Emily fingered through a file cabinet. She pulled out the thick folder. "Check!" She said, passing it to C.G., who placed it on the controls in front of her.

"You girls think you should just relax? I think C.G.'s dad will just be happy to see C.G. in her jumpsuit again." Ethan said, taking a stationary position against the wall. C.G. had gone back to wearing her normal clothes because her arm had healed enough that it didn't need to be constantly monitored.

"That is true," C.G. replied, relaxing a bit. She stood up and looked at my watch. "Oh, 10 more seconds!"

"Places everyone!" Emily said as they lined up behind C.G. They realized that giving C.G. a look of leadership softened her father up enough to lighten the punishment.

C.G. turned the time tele-communicator key and took a deep breathe. The screen projected much larger than normal. So much so C.G. felt the need to back up.

The man appeared and looked at C.G. He smiled seeing her attired in her own clothing. "Greetings, C.G."

"Hello Father," C.G. replied, her voice already lower in volume then it was before. "I hope you find everything satisfactory."

"I'm sure I will," the man said as he took an overlook at the crew. He laid eyes on Luis. "Why his wet?"

C.G. turned around. She hadn't realized his head was soaked. She gave him a glare for not looking presentable and he tilted his head toward Ethan. C.G. nodded and turned around. "Scientific research?"

The man shrugged it off and continued with his plans. "I have something to tell you, Cassiopeia. You and your crew are going to have a couple of additions. Though I believe that this is best reported by the human who made the decision of who these additions were." The screen seemed to move and a young male, C.G.'s age was shown.

"Hello, sister."

"Malachi!" C.G. exclaimed with great enthusiasm. Then she caught herself. "I mean, hello brother." C.G. looked rather embarrassed.

Malachi smiled. It's good to know his sister wasn't still mad at him. Then he observed the crew behind C.G. "Greetings. I am Malachi (from FarmQueen), Cassiopeia's, I mean, um, C.G.'s twin brother.

C.G. smiled when she heard him use the name. Hr father must have said something. Malachi continued. "I have heard a lot about you three-" then he noticed the terror squid hiding behind Emily, "I mean four of you from my father. May I try to guess your names?"

The crew nodded and Malachi waited for an answer. "I guess not..."

"No, brother!" C.G. replied, hearing the feeling of rejection in her brothers voice. "When they move their heads up and down it means 'yes' or 'affirmative.'"

Malachi seemed embarrassed. "Ah, that must be what father means when he does that. That makes since. Well, then you must be Emily, seeing as that Terror Squid is so attached to your legs."

"Pleased to meet you," Emily replied with a smile.

Malachi nodded, trying to get used to the fad. Then he continued, "And you," Malachi said as he pointed to Ethan "must be Luis. The one father is so worried about around Cass... C.G. Which makes you," Malachi said, looking at the astonished Luis "um, Squibby I guess. Long, thin appendages and a wet or slimy appearance. Though I did think that name belonged to the terror squid... but I guess that makes the Terror Squid Ethan, the clumsy and arrogant one..."

C.G. and Emily were trying hard not to laugh but found it difficult. Luis looked astonished, and Ethan would have been laughing if he hadn't been called clumsy and arrogant, so instead he looked a bit miffed. Malachi frowned. "I was incorrect, was I not?"

"Affirmative," C.G. replied, coughing to clear her throat and stopping her laughter. "Not to far off."

Emily stopped herself giggling to and stepped forward. "Malachi, meet Ethan," she said, pointing toward the angry, yellow boy "Squibby," she said, picking up Squibbon at her legs, "and, of course..."

"Luis," Malachi said, shamefully. "I apologize for calling you a Squibbon, and for giving your highly esteemed name to another crew member."

Luis sighed. "It's okay, man. We all make mistakes... Did you say my name was highly esteemed?"

"Affirmative. My father always compliments you when talking about your mission," Malachi said. He decided to go into the subject he was supposed to talk about before this got out of hand. "Anyway, I was given the choice of whom to add to your crew because he thought I would be the best to evaluate children our age.

"My first choice was Lucinda Hipster (from MikiMe), because her father is the lead sponsor of your mission." Malachi projected an image of her.

"That's just what we need, more woman!" Ethan complained. Emily gave him an evil eye. "I mean... yay more woman..."

"Yes..." Malachi replied.

C.G. chuckled, "You will get used to Ethan's behavior soon enough."

Malachi sighed. "Actually, I won't be joining you, Cassiopeia."

"What? Why?" C.G. asked, depressed that her brother couldn't come.

Malachi gave C.G. an apologizing look, then continued. "The second choice has top marks in all his classes and is from Time and Space Academy Boys. Darrin Grey (from Originalscreenname)." A screen projected and showed a full front profile view.

C.G. gasped, though her gasp was luckily unheard b her crew mates. It was Darrin. Darrin! Every girls dream back at Time and Space Academy Girls. Of course, they did not have words like 'crush' and 'like' so it was hard o explain the feelings. C.G. remembered she used to have a crush on him, but eventually she had gotten over it. At least she thought she did.

Luis looked at the picture. "He sort of looks like... me."

Emily nodded, "But with a cuter face!" she joked.

"Hey!" Luis replied. Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Top marks? Great, another Luis. I can barley take the puppet master over here!" Ethan complained, referring to being Luis's hands for the last week.

Malachi made a confused look. These primitives have strange speaking habits. "Well, father has some more things to say so I shall switch to him."

C.G. frowned, "I understand, brother."

"Oh and Cassiopeia, I mean C.G. Be careful," he smiled at his sister.

"Farewell, Malachi," C.G. replied, smiling back.

Malachi nodded to the other members of the crew. "Switching transmissions,"

The screen flickered and C.G.'s dad appeared again. "Well, I hope your questions are cleared. Tomorrow we have scheduled for you to meet them in the Bengal Swamp (search thefutureiswild.com ) along with your new regulation uniforms-"

"Uniforms?" Ethan asked, outraged. "Why the heck do we need uniforms?"

The man ignored the outburst. "The coordinates are being transmitted to the time flyer's navigation program and tomorrow it will automatically depart at 8:00 A.M. End transmission."

The crew stood there a bit distraught. "My father was in a hurry," C.G. noted, backing up from wear the screen was. She walked into Luis.

"Ow, ow, ow! My hands, Cege!" Luis said, as he tried to resist the urge to push her off, because if he did he would put to much pressure on his already hurting hands.

"Oh, sorry!" C.G. said, running immediately toward Emily. "Are your hands okay?"

Luis nodded and Emily turned to talk to C.G. "You have to tell me everything about your brother!" C.G. sighed as she and Emily walked toward the kitchen, there voices fading out of the control room.

Ethan and Luis were left alone. Ethan immediately started talking. "So this Darrin guy is smart,"

"Yah," Luis said. "Finally some intelligent company," Luis joked as he waved his hands out to make them feel less painful.

"C.G.'s smart," Ethan pointed out.

Luis blushed. "Well, yah, I didn't mean that-"

Ethan cut in, "And I bet she had a crush on that Darrin guy." Luis fell silent. There was a moment of pause. "Your going to loose your chance if you don't act soon."

"Loose my chance?" Luis asked, stuttery.

Ethan starred out into the kitchen where the girls went. "She'll only like you for so long before she gets exasperated. Not to mention the mission will only go on for so long." Luis looked down. "Or you could let her go. I'm sure the candles tomorrow on the 8th night of Hanuka will give C.G. and Darrin the perfect romantic atmosphere for a little future reunion."

Luis looked up at Ethan. Ethan stood up, "It's your choice, Luis." With that Ethan walked out of the room.

Luis stood there, stunned. He thought a bit about what Ethan said. "Why has Ethan gained this annoying habit of making perfect since and leaving the chapter feeling... grim?"

TO BE CONTINUED