"No way." Jeremie said. "I don't believe it! How can you be sure that that is what it says? Its just a computer program! How can we be sure that you didn't make that up?"
"This is a very sophisticated translation device." The archeologist said crossly. "It can analyze 200,000 possibilities per second, and it keeps the words-"
"Ok, whatever." Ulrich, who did not want a long lecture right now, said." We get the point. So, lets assume for a second that the Grail, as the warning calls it, is an alien artifact. Why was it buried here?"
"It's possible that they needed to hide it here for some reason. 'the blue end brings life, the red end brings death' is kind of vague, but the implications are there." Odd's dad said. "It must be very powerful."
"Ok, then, what are we going to do with it?" Yumi asked.
No one had an answer to that. Except for Hector, who was sneaking into the house, to use the phone.
---------------------
The massive spaceship descended, to the screams of the people below. Several, smaller ships rose up to meet it, and the lasers started flying. Explosions rocked the air, and debris fell on the Zethian city. The fight was brief. The small Zethian ships were no match for the huge Yakanomere spaceship.
With the city's defenses gone, the spaceships started to rain destruction on the terrified citizens below. The only person who seemed calm was standing on a rooftop a short distance from the area the ship was attacking. He looked like a large, upright ant, with two arms and two legs, and with no visible mouthparts. Just one soldier in the army of the Zethian Empire.
They had been expecting this attack for some time now, and now it had come. The soldier took something out of the pack on his back. The Grail. He slid a short, black sword into the slot in the narrowest spot, and the two flat ends of the Grail opened up, so now it looked more like a large, two ended cup rather than an hourglass. He pressed a few buttons onto the control console in the Sword. He aimed the red end at the Yakanomere ship, and fired.
A bright light erupted from the red end, crossed the distance between the Grail and the ship in two seconds, and struck. The people on the streets cowered in fright as a gigantic explosion seemed to rock the very planet they stood on.
When they looked up again, the ship was gone. A light rain of ashes descended to the city, but other than that, there was no sign that the ship had ever existed at all.
The vision abruptly ended. Xana did the virtual equivalent of a blink, and regained his bearings. He was no longer in something that happened a long time ago on a planet far away. This was the here and now. He blinked again. He had been smart, he thought, to download the Grail's records before he was forced to leave. But he had never thought that viewing them would feel so real.
He opened another record. This time, as he was immersed in the experience, he saw no giant explosions or vaporized ships. This time, a soldier was going through the same city, stopping by the corpses of those killed by the ship. He would put their hand in the open blue end, and a moment later, they would get up and follow him. Soon there was a long procession of people following the soldier with the Grail.
When it was finished, Xana looked at another. And another. And with each viewing of the Grail's power, he wanted it more and more.
--------------------
The sun was setting, and the archeologists were packing up. There was nothing more that they could do.
"Yumi! You'd better come in now! We're going to have dinner! And tell your friends to go back to school already!" Mr. Ishiyama shouted from the house.
"Aww, Dad!" Yumi shouted back. "Are you sure they can't stay?"
"Yes, I'm sure!"
"Fine."
Yumi turned to Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita.
"Ok, guys, I guess you'd better go."
"Is that a MEGATANK?" Aelita screamed, pointing.
The others whirled around, their first thoughts being how they were going to fight it. Then they let out a sigh of relief.
"No, Aelita, its just a regular tank." Jeremie said.
"Oh."
"But what's it doing here?" Jeremie said, suddenly a little worried again.
The tank was crawling down the road on its tractor treads, gun turret held out in front. A hatch on top opened, and several men in military uniform jumped out, each carrying a very mean looking machine gun. They rushed over and surrounded everyone in the yard, both the kids and the archeologists.
"Which one of you is Mr. Gonzales?" One of the soldiers said gruffly. Hector stepped forward, without fear.
"Thank you for calling us, Mr. Gonzales. I'm General Dantam. We'll take it from here." He handed a sack of money to Hector.
The soldiers stuffed the Grail in a sack, as well as the alien security device.
"These objects will undoubtably be most useful." General Dantam said. "They will be very secure where we bring them."
"Wait, what's going on?" Mr. Della Robia said.
"Your freind Hector Gonzales here just sold us some very powerful alien artifacts." General Dantam said.
"YOU SOLD THEM?" Odd's dad shouted at Hector. Hector just grinned.
General Dantam leaned over the kids.
"Can you keep a secret, children?" He said. Yumi, Aelita, Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich just nodded bewilderedly.
"Good! Because this is classified top secret by the government! No one must know that aliens have visited our planet. If anyone here breathes a word, they face lengthy imprisonment, or worse. We'll be leaving now."
The soldiers, with the Grail and the other alien artifacts in tow, ran back to the tank and got in. General Dantam gave a salute, then got into the tank with the others. Then it rumbled down the road away from them.
They brought the Grail to a top secret government facility deep in the mountains, and placed it in their most secure chamber. Behind 12 concrete bulkheads, 12 security doors, each with a different combination, and a good deal of armed guards, it was thought to be safe.
Of course, no one took into account that there may be a scheming supercomputer trying to steal it.
