A/N: Hi, hi, hi. Okay I'm changing this Time Stop deal here. Thank you ppl
for pointing out that you must be artificially put to sleep and can not
otherwise change you state of consciousness... (Mental note to self: READ
FIRST BOOK AGAIN!!) Yah, I haven't read Artemis Fowl for like a year now
and I forget stuff.... sorry!
--
Artemis shook his head in disapproval after hearing the whole story from Foaly and Root- partially because they had spent most of the time interrupting each other and arguing over inconsequential details, but mainly because he was disappointed in the improvident means that the LEP had taken to prevent a situation like this from happening.
"You do realize that you have set yourselves up as easy targets don't you?" Artemis pointed out, "To have the entire force of the LEP centered under Ireland."
"Very observant of you, Fowl," Foaly said in fake admiration.
"Well I don't give a flying gnome's ass about where we are!" Root said, "What I want to know is how to get out of here!"
"That's the easy bit," Artemis said, "But you have a bigger problem."
"We do?" Root asked incredulously.
Artemis tapped the table with his finger.
"I understand you want this affair to be kept secret."
"For as long as possible." Foaly confirmed.
"It will not take long for everyone to discover that they have been lied to."
"What do you mean?" Root asked eyeing Artemis suspiciously.
"The Time Stop is designed for use when the mind is unconscious or otherwise for very short periods of time-as in a day or so, correct? This Time Stop, however, is presumably set up with the intentions of lasting much longer. As you and I both know, the effects of the Time Stop is draining on the body's energy. A prolonged Time Stop will take a good amount of this energy thus reducing the citizens of Haven to exhausted heaps on the floor. So what then, will you do, when they fall asleep?"
"Nonsense," Root blurted confidently, "It's impossible to fall asleep in a Time Stop."
Artemis raised an eyebrow, a smile creeping into his features.
"Naturally, yes," he admitted, "But artificially it is quite possible."
--
Holly padded quickly along the hallway, heading back towards the Briefing Room with two coffee cups in hand.
*Get me a coffee, Captain Short,* Holly thought bitterly to herself, *I want sugar, I want milk, whine, whine, whine...*
She was a Captain, D'arvit! Why was she fetching beverages for Foaly and Root? She had risked her life bringing Artemis back to Haven and now she was being booted out of the conversation to get caffeine drinks!
--
Root's face darkened, Foaly drummed his fingers absently.
"So what you're saying," Foaly summarized, "Is that when people go to sleep they'll wake up to find themselves in an unpopulated Haven while the rest of us are still over here."
"Au contraire," Artemis corrected, "They will wake up and find themselves in the middle of nowhere. Haven is locked within the Time Stop and no fairy will be able to return until it has worn off."
"We can't wait that long." Foaly stated, "This Time Stop is set up for a month. Not only will that drain a crucial amount of power but a whole five years will have passed around us by that time."
"Then you have only one choice." Artemis said matter-of-factly, "You'll have to be sure that they remain either conscious or not until we're through."
The door opened and Holly Short entered with the requested coffee. She handed a cup two parts sugar and one part milk to Root and the other plain coffee to Foaly.
"Well done Short." Root said.
Holly grumbled to herself and took a seat across from Artemis.
Seeing Holly, Foaly frowned.
"Wait just a minute." Said the centaur suddenly, "Holly fell asleep at the terminal. And you were asleep when we brought you here. But you haven't escaped the Time Stop."
"Great!" Root said, "We brought a sadist back into Haven for nothing!"
Artemis' brow furrowed in thought.
"You mentioned that there was a flare shoot open to you- a gap in the Time Stop?" Artemis asked looking to Foaly.
The Centaur confirmed with a nod of his head.
"Then I suppose that inferring that the Time Stop is at a slight imbalance due to that gap would not be a far-fetched assumption?"
"It's plausible." Foaly agreed.
"I am to assume that this imbalance has feasibly weakened the Time Stop and will allow us to fall into sleep albeit a very shallow sleep. It may potentially cause us to fall asleep at most inopportune times."
"What do you suggest we do then, Fowl?" Root asked impatiently.
"I suggest you drug a team of LEP troops and send them to reboot your machine." Artemis replied sardonically.
"But there's still the issue of the consistent state of consciousness thing." Foaly pointed out, "So even if we do drug a team of LEP troops, as Fowl has suggested so bluntly, they wouldn't be able to wake up again until we're free from the Time Stop."
"Let's look at the situation." Artemis said, "We are able to fall into a shallow sleep when we shouldn't have this ability at all, so maybe we would have the capacity to wake up as well. However, I wouldn't recommend taking the risk."
Artemis tapped his lower lip thoughtfully.
"Perhaps if we were to travel closer to the surface through this open shoot that you speak of, the Time Stop wall would be thinner and thus enable us to go into a deep sleep and wake up again on the other side."
"You're basing a lot of your reasoning on hypothesis, Fowl, but it sounds reasonable," Foaly admitted, "But what if it doesn't work- then what?"
"Then we move to plan B." Artemis stated, plainly.
"There is no plan B..." Root grumbled, haughtily.
"Well then it will have to work." Artemis said audaciously.
"Right," Foaly said clapping his hands together, "Time to make a plan."
--
Artemis could feel his eyes growing heavier. How long had they been sitting here talking? Foaly had decided to risk another pod to the surface- well not quite. Only half-way as a matter of fact which was why he had agreed take the chance. Another boost of energy large enough to send a pod all the way to the surface would be disastrous to the power supply in Haven and would likely cast them in a blind, melting pot of confusion and adversity- not to mention losing imperative resources and information stored in the LEP's systems. They had also resolved to get this whole crisis worked out in a week, tops.
Artemis was permitted to stay with the LEP for a while longer. In fact he had been assigned to accompany Holly and Root to the main Time Stop system by Foaly's recommendation. Apparently the centaur had thought there should be "somebody with some brains" on the mission and seeing as he couldn't go they would have to settle for second best... Foaly was in charge of upholding Haven while everyone was gone and there was nobody better for the job.
Artemis wasn't sure what the last thing he heard of the conversation was but before he knew it he was fast asleep.
--
"Right, that'll work." Root said, "What do you think, Fowl?"
No reply came and the purple-faced commander looked over to find the 16 year old prodigy slumped over in his chair with his head resting on one arm.
"A little past your bedtime, is it Fowl?" Root said gruffly.
"We HAVE been here for 10 hours, Sir." Holly said yawning. "Maybe we should call it a night."
"You go on ahead," Foaly said absently, "I'm going to type up a few documents, draw up a few maps and heck; Why not try for world domination while I'm at it?" And he began typing away on his computer, the screen illuminating his face with an eerie blue glow.
Root grumbled a bit.
"Fine," he said at last.
"Short, you better get a good night's rest."
"I will sir." She said, getting up from her chair.
"Because I want you and Fowl back here at 8:00 sharp."
"Yes Sir."
"Good now go on home and take Fowl with you."
"What?!" Holly blurted, "You're not serious!"
"Do I look 'not serious' to you?" Root asked, glaring at her.
"No sir, not at all." Holly admitted, "But sir!"
"No buts Short!"
"But why?" She whined, "Why can't he use one of the dorms in Head Quarters?"
"Because Short, we're full." Root said, "And besides, I know a certain Captain who should be happy for this opportunity since said Captain has yet to prove she can handle a situation responsibly."
Holly hung her head, "Yes, Sir." She said glumly.
Holly shuffled over to where Artemis slept and punched him, hard, in the arm.
Artemis woke with a start and turned to find Holly glaring at him. He looked at her apprehensively and rubbed his arm.
"Get up Fowl!" Holly said loudly, "You're coming home with me and I am NOT carrying you."
Artemis sighed pushing himself up from his chair. He stumbled away from the chair, clumsy from fatigue. Holly watched him impatiently, swiveled on her heel and walked swiftly from the room.
--
"I can't believe he's making me do this..." Holly huffed audibly. When the door dinged she pushed Artemis aside, nearly knocking him to the floor, and stomped out.
Holly complained incessantly about Root and being room mates with Artemis for the whole two blocks to her house. She wasn't in the best of moods to say the least. With a temper to match her fiery red hair as it were, a day of narrowly escaping death, severe stress, fear, being excluded from conversations, waiting on commanders and technical geniuses and then being assigned baby-sitting as a cruel and unusual punishment didn't help matters much. On top of it all she was exhausted.
Holly stomped up the front steps and nearly stumbled on the last. She jammed her hand into her pocket and began searching the contents for her keys. Her hand met something sticky and wet. Yanking her hand out of her pocket she stared in disgust as some kind of slug type organism clung to her fingers. The elf growled exasperatedly and peeled the offending animal from her hand. Reaching back into her pocket she found her keys. She fumbled with them noisily, trying to find her house key. As she did so they slipped from her hands. Holly gritted her teeth and silently cursed the world around her.
"Can my day get ANY worse?" Holly groaned. And she bent to pick up her keys but Artemis had already beaten her to it.
"I'm sorry to be such a burden," he said in a genuine apology as he handed Holly her keys.
Holly snatched them from him.
"Don't talk to me, Fowl." She ordered him, "I have to put up with enough of you as it is."
Holly unlocked the door and stormed into her little apartment. Artemis closed the door quietly behind him and flicked on a light.
"Is there something you would like me to do?" Artemis tried.
"Shut UP, Fowl." Came Holly's answer from around the corner.
"No rudeness is called for, Holly." Artemis replied coolly, "I'm simply offering to help."
"D'Arvit Artemis, would you just be quiet?" Holly screamed, glaring at him from around the bend in the wall. A bitter scowl had formed in her features, looking truly out of place on her pretty face.
Artemis was a bit taken aback.
"Am I missing something?" her wondered aloud, "The last time I checked we had been friends."
Holly laughed crudely.
"Me? Friends with you, Fowl?" Holly sneered, "Do you remember what you did to me? You kidnapped me, Fowl. You almost got me killed several times! I don't know your kind well, but where I come from such behavior doesn't promote friendship."
"Well we were on speaking terms at least." Artemis compromised.
"Are we not speaking now?"
"Well I thought-"
"That's just like you, Fowl." Holly said in mock casualty, "Always thinking; thinking about power, about money, about yourself but never anybody else."
That cut deep. Artemis clenched his fists.
"Listen Holly," he said angrily, "You haven't seen me in two years, people change- I've changed! And from what I'm gathering from your attitude I'd say that you have too. What's happened, Captain? I thought we were friends. Was it not you who helped me rescue my father? Hadn't it been you that assisted me in retrieving the C Cube from John Spiro two years ago? I respected you, Holly Short. Do you know how much that means? You're one of maybe five people I've ever given that respect to in my entire life. I cared about you. Now, after two years of doing absolutely nothing to harm you or ANYBODY else, you hate me!"
"Oh I'm flattered," Holly said sardonically, "To have won the respect of the esteemed Artemis Fowl" She tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I wonder if that's worth money... Who was the other four then, Fowl? How about Butler? Juliet?"
Holly laughed cruelly, "You might as well take them off the list, Fowl- I left them behind in the Time field. Quite frankly I'm happy for them; they won't have to put up with a selfish little brat like you anymore."
Artemis stared at her, stricken.
Holly glared, piercing him with her eyes.
"You can have the bed. I won't be using it." And she went out the door, slamming it behind her.
--
Holly Short was fuming mad. Deep down she knew that Artemis had done nothing to deserve her outburst at that moment but she decided that it could be retribution for every bad thing he had done to her in the past.
Captain Short was heading back to Head Quarters out of sheer habit rather than by choice.
*Well that's fine,* She thought, *I'll just go see Foaly*
--
Foaly was typing away on several keyboards concurrently, watching Gnommish symbols dance across his monitors. He hummed a tune to himself as he finished off a document containing information about the Time Stop system.
The centaur stretched and drummed his fingers on his desk for lack of anything better to do.
"Let's see how Holly and Fowl are doing..." He said to himself and brought up a scene from the camera that was monitoring Holly's house.
On-screen Artemis walked had collapsed on a chair and buried his face in his hands.
Foaly frowned in curiosity and he zoomed in a bit. Artemis parted his hands and let them fall into his lap. The boy looked miserable. His eyes were shut tight and his jaw was clenched. Foaly watched as the 16 year old's face contorted from the strain of controlling some sort of emotion. Finally he could hold back no longer and he heaved a shuddering breath. His shoulders shook and his body trembled as tears began to cascade down the side of his face.
Foaly was surprised by a pang of sympathy he felt in his gut.
"I wonder what all that's about..." He mumbled.
Only a few yards behind him the sliding metal doors closed noiselessly once more as Captain Holly Short retreated from the room.
--
A/N: ::does a dance:: I wrote a long chapter! I wrote a long chapter! (kinda....) Did you like it? Oh and, BTW, I don't remember everything about Time Stops because I haven't read the 1st book in a loooooooong time. So I am not sure if Eoin Colfer ever said anything about what somebody would find should they go to sleep in a time stop and then wake up while its still on... But if he did and its not what I said then I don't care. I'm keeping it this way because I need it to make the story work okee dokee? Okay. Hope you liked this Chapter.
P.S. I'm surprised at you people! Holly fell asleep in terminal in the middle of a Time Stop and nobody said anything! I was kind of expecting somebody to be on me about that but I guess not. Not even the Masked Avenger with all of her supreme skill for picking out errors could see this little glitch. Ah well, too late now. Nah nah! I got away with it! ^-^ lol.
P.P.S. I'm in love with the story "The Spirit Sabre" by shadowweaver. I recommend you read it. It's a beautifully written story.
--
Artemis shook his head in disapproval after hearing the whole story from Foaly and Root- partially because they had spent most of the time interrupting each other and arguing over inconsequential details, but mainly because he was disappointed in the improvident means that the LEP had taken to prevent a situation like this from happening.
"You do realize that you have set yourselves up as easy targets don't you?" Artemis pointed out, "To have the entire force of the LEP centered under Ireland."
"Very observant of you, Fowl," Foaly said in fake admiration.
"Well I don't give a flying gnome's ass about where we are!" Root said, "What I want to know is how to get out of here!"
"That's the easy bit," Artemis said, "But you have a bigger problem."
"We do?" Root asked incredulously.
Artemis tapped the table with his finger.
"I understand you want this affair to be kept secret."
"For as long as possible." Foaly confirmed.
"It will not take long for everyone to discover that they have been lied to."
"What do you mean?" Root asked eyeing Artemis suspiciously.
"The Time Stop is designed for use when the mind is unconscious or otherwise for very short periods of time-as in a day or so, correct? This Time Stop, however, is presumably set up with the intentions of lasting much longer. As you and I both know, the effects of the Time Stop is draining on the body's energy. A prolonged Time Stop will take a good amount of this energy thus reducing the citizens of Haven to exhausted heaps on the floor. So what then, will you do, when they fall asleep?"
"Nonsense," Root blurted confidently, "It's impossible to fall asleep in a Time Stop."
Artemis raised an eyebrow, a smile creeping into his features.
"Naturally, yes," he admitted, "But artificially it is quite possible."
--
Holly padded quickly along the hallway, heading back towards the Briefing Room with two coffee cups in hand.
*Get me a coffee, Captain Short,* Holly thought bitterly to herself, *I want sugar, I want milk, whine, whine, whine...*
She was a Captain, D'arvit! Why was she fetching beverages for Foaly and Root? She had risked her life bringing Artemis back to Haven and now she was being booted out of the conversation to get caffeine drinks!
--
Root's face darkened, Foaly drummed his fingers absently.
"So what you're saying," Foaly summarized, "Is that when people go to sleep they'll wake up to find themselves in an unpopulated Haven while the rest of us are still over here."
"Au contraire," Artemis corrected, "They will wake up and find themselves in the middle of nowhere. Haven is locked within the Time Stop and no fairy will be able to return until it has worn off."
"We can't wait that long." Foaly stated, "This Time Stop is set up for a month. Not only will that drain a crucial amount of power but a whole five years will have passed around us by that time."
"Then you have only one choice." Artemis said matter-of-factly, "You'll have to be sure that they remain either conscious or not until we're through."
The door opened and Holly Short entered with the requested coffee. She handed a cup two parts sugar and one part milk to Root and the other plain coffee to Foaly.
"Well done Short." Root said.
Holly grumbled to herself and took a seat across from Artemis.
Seeing Holly, Foaly frowned.
"Wait just a minute." Said the centaur suddenly, "Holly fell asleep at the terminal. And you were asleep when we brought you here. But you haven't escaped the Time Stop."
"Great!" Root said, "We brought a sadist back into Haven for nothing!"
Artemis' brow furrowed in thought.
"You mentioned that there was a flare shoot open to you- a gap in the Time Stop?" Artemis asked looking to Foaly.
The Centaur confirmed with a nod of his head.
"Then I suppose that inferring that the Time Stop is at a slight imbalance due to that gap would not be a far-fetched assumption?"
"It's plausible." Foaly agreed.
"I am to assume that this imbalance has feasibly weakened the Time Stop and will allow us to fall into sleep albeit a very shallow sleep. It may potentially cause us to fall asleep at most inopportune times."
"What do you suggest we do then, Fowl?" Root asked impatiently.
"I suggest you drug a team of LEP troops and send them to reboot your machine." Artemis replied sardonically.
"But there's still the issue of the consistent state of consciousness thing." Foaly pointed out, "So even if we do drug a team of LEP troops, as Fowl has suggested so bluntly, they wouldn't be able to wake up again until we're free from the Time Stop."
"Let's look at the situation." Artemis said, "We are able to fall into a shallow sleep when we shouldn't have this ability at all, so maybe we would have the capacity to wake up as well. However, I wouldn't recommend taking the risk."
Artemis tapped his lower lip thoughtfully.
"Perhaps if we were to travel closer to the surface through this open shoot that you speak of, the Time Stop wall would be thinner and thus enable us to go into a deep sleep and wake up again on the other side."
"You're basing a lot of your reasoning on hypothesis, Fowl, but it sounds reasonable," Foaly admitted, "But what if it doesn't work- then what?"
"Then we move to plan B." Artemis stated, plainly.
"There is no plan B..." Root grumbled, haughtily.
"Well then it will have to work." Artemis said audaciously.
"Right," Foaly said clapping his hands together, "Time to make a plan."
--
Artemis could feel his eyes growing heavier. How long had they been sitting here talking? Foaly had decided to risk another pod to the surface- well not quite. Only half-way as a matter of fact which was why he had agreed take the chance. Another boost of energy large enough to send a pod all the way to the surface would be disastrous to the power supply in Haven and would likely cast them in a blind, melting pot of confusion and adversity- not to mention losing imperative resources and information stored in the LEP's systems. They had also resolved to get this whole crisis worked out in a week, tops.
Artemis was permitted to stay with the LEP for a while longer. In fact he had been assigned to accompany Holly and Root to the main Time Stop system by Foaly's recommendation. Apparently the centaur had thought there should be "somebody with some brains" on the mission and seeing as he couldn't go they would have to settle for second best... Foaly was in charge of upholding Haven while everyone was gone and there was nobody better for the job.
Artemis wasn't sure what the last thing he heard of the conversation was but before he knew it he was fast asleep.
--
"Right, that'll work." Root said, "What do you think, Fowl?"
No reply came and the purple-faced commander looked over to find the 16 year old prodigy slumped over in his chair with his head resting on one arm.
"A little past your bedtime, is it Fowl?" Root said gruffly.
"We HAVE been here for 10 hours, Sir." Holly said yawning. "Maybe we should call it a night."
"You go on ahead," Foaly said absently, "I'm going to type up a few documents, draw up a few maps and heck; Why not try for world domination while I'm at it?" And he began typing away on his computer, the screen illuminating his face with an eerie blue glow.
Root grumbled a bit.
"Fine," he said at last.
"Short, you better get a good night's rest."
"I will sir." She said, getting up from her chair.
"Because I want you and Fowl back here at 8:00 sharp."
"Yes Sir."
"Good now go on home and take Fowl with you."
"What?!" Holly blurted, "You're not serious!"
"Do I look 'not serious' to you?" Root asked, glaring at her.
"No sir, not at all." Holly admitted, "But sir!"
"No buts Short!"
"But why?" She whined, "Why can't he use one of the dorms in Head Quarters?"
"Because Short, we're full." Root said, "And besides, I know a certain Captain who should be happy for this opportunity since said Captain has yet to prove she can handle a situation responsibly."
Holly hung her head, "Yes, Sir." She said glumly.
Holly shuffled over to where Artemis slept and punched him, hard, in the arm.
Artemis woke with a start and turned to find Holly glaring at him. He looked at her apprehensively and rubbed his arm.
"Get up Fowl!" Holly said loudly, "You're coming home with me and I am NOT carrying you."
Artemis sighed pushing himself up from his chair. He stumbled away from the chair, clumsy from fatigue. Holly watched him impatiently, swiveled on her heel and walked swiftly from the room.
--
"I can't believe he's making me do this..." Holly huffed audibly. When the door dinged she pushed Artemis aside, nearly knocking him to the floor, and stomped out.
Holly complained incessantly about Root and being room mates with Artemis for the whole two blocks to her house. She wasn't in the best of moods to say the least. With a temper to match her fiery red hair as it were, a day of narrowly escaping death, severe stress, fear, being excluded from conversations, waiting on commanders and technical geniuses and then being assigned baby-sitting as a cruel and unusual punishment didn't help matters much. On top of it all she was exhausted.
Holly stomped up the front steps and nearly stumbled on the last. She jammed her hand into her pocket and began searching the contents for her keys. Her hand met something sticky and wet. Yanking her hand out of her pocket she stared in disgust as some kind of slug type organism clung to her fingers. The elf growled exasperatedly and peeled the offending animal from her hand. Reaching back into her pocket she found her keys. She fumbled with them noisily, trying to find her house key. As she did so they slipped from her hands. Holly gritted her teeth and silently cursed the world around her.
"Can my day get ANY worse?" Holly groaned. And she bent to pick up her keys but Artemis had already beaten her to it.
"I'm sorry to be such a burden," he said in a genuine apology as he handed Holly her keys.
Holly snatched them from him.
"Don't talk to me, Fowl." She ordered him, "I have to put up with enough of you as it is."
Holly unlocked the door and stormed into her little apartment. Artemis closed the door quietly behind him and flicked on a light.
"Is there something you would like me to do?" Artemis tried.
"Shut UP, Fowl." Came Holly's answer from around the corner.
"No rudeness is called for, Holly." Artemis replied coolly, "I'm simply offering to help."
"D'Arvit Artemis, would you just be quiet?" Holly screamed, glaring at him from around the bend in the wall. A bitter scowl had formed in her features, looking truly out of place on her pretty face.
Artemis was a bit taken aback.
"Am I missing something?" her wondered aloud, "The last time I checked we had been friends."
Holly laughed crudely.
"Me? Friends with you, Fowl?" Holly sneered, "Do you remember what you did to me? You kidnapped me, Fowl. You almost got me killed several times! I don't know your kind well, but where I come from such behavior doesn't promote friendship."
"Well we were on speaking terms at least." Artemis compromised.
"Are we not speaking now?"
"Well I thought-"
"That's just like you, Fowl." Holly said in mock casualty, "Always thinking; thinking about power, about money, about yourself but never anybody else."
That cut deep. Artemis clenched his fists.
"Listen Holly," he said angrily, "You haven't seen me in two years, people change- I've changed! And from what I'm gathering from your attitude I'd say that you have too. What's happened, Captain? I thought we were friends. Was it not you who helped me rescue my father? Hadn't it been you that assisted me in retrieving the C Cube from John Spiro two years ago? I respected you, Holly Short. Do you know how much that means? You're one of maybe five people I've ever given that respect to in my entire life. I cared about you. Now, after two years of doing absolutely nothing to harm you or ANYBODY else, you hate me!"
"Oh I'm flattered," Holly said sardonically, "To have won the respect of the esteemed Artemis Fowl" She tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I wonder if that's worth money... Who was the other four then, Fowl? How about Butler? Juliet?"
Holly laughed cruelly, "You might as well take them off the list, Fowl- I left them behind in the Time field. Quite frankly I'm happy for them; they won't have to put up with a selfish little brat like you anymore."
Artemis stared at her, stricken.
Holly glared, piercing him with her eyes.
"You can have the bed. I won't be using it." And she went out the door, slamming it behind her.
--
Holly Short was fuming mad. Deep down she knew that Artemis had done nothing to deserve her outburst at that moment but she decided that it could be retribution for every bad thing he had done to her in the past.
Captain Short was heading back to Head Quarters out of sheer habit rather than by choice.
*Well that's fine,* She thought, *I'll just go see Foaly*
--
Foaly was typing away on several keyboards concurrently, watching Gnommish symbols dance across his monitors. He hummed a tune to himself as he finished off a document containing information about the Time Stop system.
The centaur stretched and drummed his fingers on his desk for lack of anything better to do.
"Let's see how Holly and Fowl are doing..." He said to himself and brought up a scene from the camera that was monitoring Holly's house.
On-screen Artemis walked had collapsed on a chair and buried his face in his hands.
Foaly frowned in curiosity and he zoomed in a bit. Artemis parted his hands and let them fall into his lap. The boy looked miserable. His eyes were shut tight and his jaw was clenched. Foaly watched as the 16 year old's face contorted from the strain of controlling some sort of emotion. Finally he could hold back no longer and he heaved a shuddering breath. His shoulders shook and his body trembled as tears began to cascade down the side of his face.
Foaly was surprised by a pang of sympathy he felt in his gut.
"I wonder what all that's about..." He mumbled.
Only a few yards behind him the sliding metal doors closed noiselessly once more as Captain Holly Short retreated from the room.
--
A/N: ::does a dance:: I wrote a long chapter! I wrote a long chapter! (kinda....) Did you like it? Oh and, BTW, I don't remember everything about Time Stops because I haven't read the 1st book in a loooooooong time. So I am not sure if Eoin Colfer ever said anything about what somebody would find should they go to sleep in a time stop and then wake up while its still on... But if he did and its not what I said then I don't care. I'm keeping it this way because I need it to make the story work okee dokee? Okay. Hope you liked this Chapter.
P.S. I'm surprised at you people! Holly fell asleep in terminal in the middle of a Time Stop and nobody said anything! I was kind of expecting somebody to be on me about that but I guess not. Not even the Masked Avenger with all of her supreme skill for picking out errors could see this little glitch. Ah well, too late now. Nah nah! I got away with it! ^-^ lol.
P.P.S. I'm in love with the story "The Spirit Sabre" by shadowweaver. I recommend you read it. It's a beautifully written story.