Chapter 12 The First Vacation

Once Aaron and Sam got back to his place, they both had a quick dinner and then went to bed early. The next day they did not have school so they were able to sleep in. Both of them got up around noon and set about cleaning the car up a little before taking it over to Neile's house. Once they had it cleaned up and ready for Neile to look at, Aaron let Sam drive it over to his house.
"Sam, you're sure that you can drive?" Aaron asked nervously as she climbed into the drivers seat.
"Aaron… I'm surprised! I'd think you'd have more confidence in me than that! Trust me… I've driven more times than you'd think. And, if I remember right, you're the one who said that this thing can practically drive itself… so, we shouldn't have anything to worry about." Sam reminded Aaron. Before he had a chance to argue any more, Sam started the Lamborghini up and hit the button to open the door. Once the door was open, she backed the car out perfectly and she drove the mile and a half to Neile's house. All the way there, Aaron had Nicole hack the car's computers and tell him what was on each one. By the time they got to Neile's house, Aaron had learned that the car had three computers built into it that controlled the various systems in it. Once at Neile's, they parked the car in front of the house and Aaron went up to the house and knocked on it.
"Why, hello Aaron! How're you doing?" Miss Pederson, Neile's mother, asked.
"I'm doing pretty good. Would Neile happen to be home?" Aaron asked. Miss Pederson turned around and called back into the house. About a couple minutes later, Neile came down from his room.
"Hey Aaron! What's up dude?" Neile asked.
"Brought the car over so you could take a look at it." Aaron reminded Neile. Neile had forgotten about his inspecting the car. He told Aaron to bring it around to the garage and Neile ran around back to the garage. Aaron ran back out to the car and had Sam drive it around to the garage where Neile was waiting. Immediately, Neile went to work with inspecting what he could without any tools. Once he had taken his first look at the engine and the interior, he came back to where Sam and Aaron were standing talking with Nicole.
"Aaron… mind if I remove that undercarriage shield to have a look at the drivetrain?"
"Yeah… I'll pull the power supply and disable the engine. Got any gloves around here?" Aaron asked as he came back to the car and opened the cases where the giant crystals sat. Neile went back into the garage, and after some digging, found a pair of gardening gloves. After some careful balancing, Aaron was able to get both crystals from their cases and carry them back to where Sam was standing. He gently laid them on the ground and went back over and disconnected the battery. "Okay… just don't wreck anything under there."
"I won't… I know my way around cars, dude." Neile mumbled as he set up the hydraulic jacks under the edges of the frame. Once he had the car lifted up high enough to slide under it, he set about removing the screws holding the plate of metal in place. Once he had the plate of metal off and lying next to the car, he got back up and got himself several trouble lights. Once he had them, he climbed back under the car and continued inspecting it.
The drivetrain was laid out simple enough; transmission, driveshaft, rear differential. Like all other Lamborghini's, this one was also equipped with front-wheel drive. The one thing Neile did not recognize was a retractable extension for the driveshaft. After some searching, he also came across a bundle of wires leading from where the backseat was to two sealed boxes located next to the rear wheels. Climbing out from under the car and looking behind the rear wheels, he was able to find the screws to open the boxes. In order to get to them, he would have to remove the rear wheels.
"Hey Aaron… can I remove the rear wheels? Found something I wanna look at and I've gotta remove the wheels to get at it." Neile asked as he walked over to where Aaron and Sam were lounging on the porch. Aaron got up and met Neile halfway.
"Yeah… I'll help. Don't wanna make you do all the work now." Aaron said as he followed Neile back to the car. Once there, Aaron dug around the trunk, which was located in the front and found the tire wrench and the key to remove the security nut on the wheels. After some trying and a few banged knuckles, they managed to get both tires off the car. Once that was done, Neile had access to the mystery panels on both sides of the car. Again, after trying various screwdrivers and hex-head wrenches on them, he got the panels off. Inside, surrounded by a refrigeration coil, were two motors the likes of which Neile had never seen before. The motors drove a gearing system that was hooked directly to the rear wheels. Once Neile was sure he had seen all there was to see, he set about the task of putting everything back in place and finally replacing the wheels, which again required Aaron's help. Finally, once the car was done being inspected by Neile, Aaron picked up the crystals one at a time and began placing them in their receptacles. On picking the first one up, he noticed something had changed.
"Neile… how tall was the grass when I got here?" Aaron asked, not sure what had happened.
"I dunno… maybe an inch and a half. Why?" Aaron set the crystal down on the concrete and took Neile over to where the larger of the crystals had been laying. Where it had been, the grass underneath and around it had nearly tripled in size; it now stood almost as high as Neile's knee.
"I think these crystals cause things to grow… incredible!" Aaron exclaimed as he plucked a few blades of grass from the area. "Think I might bring these to my biologist friend and have him check them out." Aaron said as he dug around inside his car for another sandwich baggie. Once he found one, he put the blades of grass in it and sealed it shut.
"Weird… well, the car appears to be fine. There's stuff in the thing that I can't identify, but it appears to be fine. Sometime you wanna show me what that thing can do?" Neile asked as he picked the second crystal up and carried it back to the car. Aaron walked back over and picked the larger one up and carried it over to the car and installed it again, then he took the one Neile was carrying and installed that one. Once they were both back in the car, the computers started back up and went through their various boot sequences. As the car booted back up Neile, Aaron, and Sam went back into the house to get something to drink. Miss Pederson greeted them and got their drinks for them and the four of them talked for a bit and then Aaron, Samantha and Neile went back outside.
"Well, I'll see you in school in a couple weeks. You two going anywhere over Spring Break?" Neile asked. Aaron walked over by the door so it would open, as did Sam.
"Well, we were thinking of maybe taking a short trip back to Mobius. Hey… you wanna come with? We've got plenty of room once this thing is morphed." Aaron asked as he and Sam got back in the car.
"Dude… that'd be awesome! Sure you guys wouldn't mind? I mean, I wouldn't be intruding would I?" Neile asked. This time, Sam cut Aaron off and answered,
"Nah… we'd love to have you come with. Like Aaron said, we have the room. We're planning on going there for like three days and camping there. All we gotta figure out is when we wanna leave and pack; otherwise we've got the route there planned out already."
"Well, we can leave at any time really… when would you wanna leave?" Aaron asked Neile.
"Whenever you wanna. I don't want to hurry you two or anything. All I'd have to do is pack some clothes and help with getting some food packed for camping and I'd be ready. Would you two wanna leave tonight?" Neile asked. Aaron and Sam looked at each other and then Sam replied,
"Yeah, we could do that. I'm not sure how we should do everything though… Aaron?"
"Well, we can just wait here while you pack your clothes, then we can run back to my house and me and Sam can pack our stuff. After that, we can stop by a store someplace and get some food and then we can leave." Aaron decided after a moments thought. At that, Neile ran back into his house and Aaron and Sam followed. Once they were in the house, Aaron and Sam explained what was going on to Neile's mom.
"Where you three going to be going?" She asked.
"We're going up to my parents cabin up north. We'll only be gone for a few days." Aaron answered. Upstairs in his room, Neile was busy packing a couple changes of clothes as he had done many times before. Neile had been in scouts for many years and attended almost every one of the camping trips, so he was familiar with hurried packing.
"Well, have fun and be safe. If you kids are going to be home late or anything happens, just call and let me know what happened." Miss Pederson said. Neile came back downstairs with his backpack slung over his shoulder.
"Well, I'm ready. Let's get going before we lose anymore light. Bye mom… we'll be fine, don't worry." Neile told his mom.
"Alright. Have fun and don't get into any trouble." Neile's mom said as she hugged Neile.
"I won't." Neile said as the three teenagers left the house and piled into Aaron's car and went back to Aaron's house to get Aaron's and Sam's stuff. Once they arrived there, Aaron and Sam went to their rooms and packed a couple changes of clothes and grabbed what food he had around the house and piled back into the car. From Aaron's house, they went to the nearest store and bought enough food to keep them from starving on a three-day camping trip. Once they had everything they could need, Sam drove to the same highway they had first jumped to Mobius from. Once there, she had Aaron plug Nicole into the dashboard with instructions to take over driving in case she got too far off course.
The jump from the highway on Earth to the space highway went as it had before and before they knew it, they had passed the sign post and were well on their way to Mobius. About halfway to the planet, Samantha had Nicole take over driving while she took a quick nap. Aaron and Neile were already napping. When they woke up, they were approaching Mobius. Neile was awe-struck at the resemblance to Earth. Sam slowed the car down as they got closer the planet for better control. Sam brought the car out of the portal without any difficulty.
Once they had arrived at the planet's surface, Neile could not believe his eyes.

(End of Chapter 12)