Phase 3: Ghosts of the Past

"Jul…Julie, you there?"

"Yes Jedi, I am here. Along with the cyborgs. I pulled them all here with the Emergency Transport system you were testing. I have explained everything that your sensor linkup relayed with them. They want to help."

"Julie, I didn't know if that system worked. You could have vaporized them! Anyway, I can't worry about that right now. Cyborgs, I know that I haven't been exactly…good about keeping in touch."

"We haven't heard anything from you for the last ten years. Ever since your body was remade." Jet blurted. "If you ask me, that was pretty rude of you to interrupt my time with my wife."

"I am sorry. Julie, can you run programs Beta, Charlie, and Delta. Don't worry, they won't show anything. They may just be able to hold things off for a while. Also, I hate to ask this, but could you also explain to them my little pet project, and ask them…."

SQUEAL Static blasted throughout the room, hurting the six cyborg's ears.

"Jedi! Jedi!" Julie pulled the sensor hologram in front of her. It was blank. Jedi had just been destroyed.

"Julie, look at the last second of sensor data." Joe pointed to the image behind him.

Jedi Rilet, Status: March 4, 2075 15:34:98.9

Power Status:
-->Main…….54
-->Reserve…98

Weapons…..OK

Speed: Mach 50

"There's the reason! Radio waves distort at Mach 50 with Jedi! He doesn't have a transmitter powerful enough to get through the interference. Okay, " She punched up a new image, it was a communication terminal. " Beta, Charlie, Delta. You need to get to the Second Chance Earth Museum, NOW!"

"What's that all about?" Françoise looked curiously at the screen, trying to see who was receiving the message.

"Some folks that could possibly buy enough time for us to decide on what to do. Now, I have two subjects that I need to go over you with. One is from me, the other was what Jedi was talking about."

"What? We don't have all day!" Jet was getting frustrated. He was tapping he toe.

"I want you to see something." Julie connected with the computer. Images began to fly around the room, until one settled in front of them. There were two people in the image, a young boy, and a young girl, probably about 15 the both of them. "These are our children, Tony, and Hope."

"Wait a minute. That's impossible. First off, you two aren't human, second Jedi has only had a body for the last ten years! What's going on here!?" Of course, Jet again opened his mouth, and was as pragmatic as ever.

"The bodies are actually only 5 years old. They are androids, just like Jedi and me. Except that we aged their minds, all in the virtual world. They act and feel just like normal teenagers. They don't know though that they are androids, just like they don't know that we are either. That is why we fell off the map with you. We wanted to commit ourselves to this planet, and the defense of man. But it seems that now we find that we didn't do enough. That is where you come in.

I can offer you all upgrades to the level where Jedi was when he was first activated back in 2050. Actually I could take all of you up to where he is now, but there is a problem of the BETH. Since you all had yours removed, you can no longer get too high. There are problems with power management and speed regulation."

"Like what?" Joe was curious. He was now an Olympic runner (of course he didn't use his accelerators, that would be cheating), and had won the gold medal the last two Olympics.

"Once you go past Mach 30, time begins to bend, along with light. You need a computer just to calculate where to go. That was where BETH came in."

"Well, you have my vote. I will submit to upgrading." Joe stepped forward.

"Please wait. I haven't shown you the other pet project of the last ten years. The explanation for the first five years of our dropping off. Project Revival" Julie signaled for a door to open. Behind it, were three figures.

"NO!!!! YOUR DEAD!" Françoise screamed.

"Rumors of my death were overexagerated." Ivan said as he stepped forward.