It was 3:45 AM when I woke up and saw my atomic watch reading. Everything within the past 24 hours had really taken a toll on my mind and body. Apparently, I wasn't the only one. Larry had the oil lamp on and was still examining the Terra-Track.

Without taking his eyes off of it, he said, "Can't sleep, uh?"

"Nope. I guess I just have a lot on my mind. That cube really can keep your mind in empty space. No pun intended."

"You know, I'm no expert, but so far, I think I've been able to trace the origins of the infinite power of this thing."

"I'm listening."

"From what I've been able to observe, it seems as if, long ago, probably just a few million years right after the universe formed and when things were still coming together, every time a star died, if it was big enough it formed a supernova. And as you know, if what's left of the supernova is large enough, it can form a black hole or a singularity, right?"

I nodded. "Right."

"There's a rare occurrence called Neplosion. It happens when a black hole or what's left of it explodes and implodes."

"How can something explode and implode at the same time? That's impossible! It can only be one of the two. No object in the universe has that capability."

"Well, they are extremely rare. In fact, since the beginning of the universe about 14 billion years ago, it has only occurred five times. But they left nothing behind. No energy, no radiation, nothing." He held up the cube for both to see. The dim blue glow had returned, but the white center had now shrunk. "And apparently the last one left something."

I could not stop being awed by the great magnitude of our discovery. "I can't believe that we stumbled across this. The power of the entire universe and then some, all in one cube."

Larry held it closer to my face. "You can hold it if you want to."

"Really?"

"Sure. It's not dangerous. I think it just burned Greeny's hand because it had been tens of millions of years since anyone actually handled it. But go ahead; hold it in your hands. Just don't drop it. Or point a laser at it. Or connect it to an external power source."

"What happens if you do…any of those things you just said?"

"It will destroy everything and everyone near it. This thing has the energy of 500 stars the size or larger than our sun."

Larry gently dropped the cube into my sweaty palms. The surface was smooth. Perfectly smooth. It reminded me of newly washed and polished glass. It felt warm. It felt…alive. I could distinctly hear noises inside of it. It was the sound of the universe. Of millions of galaxies and their stars and planets all beating together like a giant body.

"Can you imagine the kind of technology we can make with this? The kind of weapons?" I said.

"I can," Larry said, nodding his head. "We could build giant destructive planetary lasers. Lasers powerful enough to destroy dozens of planets at once. It is very possible."

"You…you can make that out of this? Like a Death Star, sort of?"

"Not exactly, but similar. The Death Star could only destroy one planet at a time. But the energy from this thing is thousands if not millions of times greater than that. I estimate it could destroy 70 Jupiter-sized planets at once. Now can you imagine how Earth-sized objects that would be?" Larry said.

Being in awe doesn't describe what I felt. Admiration was not even close. It was…fear, I think. Not morbid fear. It was more of a reverent fear. It was…almost worship. This six-sided, palm-sized object contained the entire history of the universe. Even the future. This was no crystal ball.

It held everything that kept the universe alive.

The very core and heart of all that existed was in our hands. At least part of it.

"I now I can say with certainty that it is vital and essential to keep this precious object away from enemy hands," said Larry.

Just the thought of all that power falling into the hands of our most feared enemies: Red Eyes, Ecthros Antipalos, Arkaptiko Viastis, and so many others. The thought of that brought true fear into me. If they managed to get the super-powers…well, that would be bad.

But having all the energy and power of the universe in their hands…that was terrifying.

"We have to find a secret place to hide this. But even the Bunker or the Secret Lab won't be enough. We have to think of some other place. Some place where literally no one knows where it is."

"You mean like those caves that supposedly didn't exist?" I asked.

"Exactly. But now that the rest of the group knows, it puts us in more danger."

"What do you mean? You don't think any of them would go and tell people, right?"

He shook his head. "No of course not. I trust all of them. But, let's just say they were captured by the Red Eyes. They have the ability search their minds, even the subconscious, so see if they know about anything."

I understood what they meant. Knowledge could be a weapon even more destructive than planet destroyers, plasma guns, or even black hole missiles.

"So, where are you going to hide it?" I asked.

"Under the pillow."

What? "Under the pillow! What was all that stuff you just said?"

"Hey, I wasn't prepared for this. It was supposed to be just a normal camping trip. How was I to know that we would find the single most important and valuable object in the universe?"

"I don't know! But you can't keep it under the pillow. Why don't you just hide it in TIV? It's the safest place right now."

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. Okay. You have the keys?" I handed him the keys. "I'm going to hide it in the trunk, underneath something. Anything. We'll discuss it at breakfast tomorrow. In the best of secrecy of course."

"Sure. And be careful, please! We're not carrying any regular cargo here."

"Don't worry!" he said, stepping outside the tent. "I'll be so careful you won't even know I'm here. I'll be so careful that I will—ah!"

So careful so as to trip over last night's campfire wood? So careful to land in the girls' tent and cause the whole thing to come crashing down? So careful so that the girl's mistook him for a rapist and started beating the lights out of him and all you could hear were punching and kicking noises?

I ran out into the chilly night air to see if I could help mi. Where the tent used to be was now a moving mass of fabric and the yelling of voices and one pained Eoraptor getting kicked out and landing right on my head. "Spiny! Help! The tent! It's full of she-rapists!"

"Get off me!" I pulled him by the tail and he let go of me. "That was the girls thinking you were the rapist. Haven't you counted the bruises you have now? I'm pretty sure you have broken ribs."

"Oh, don't worry. I can fix that with the Regeneration Power."

He suddenly became very hot. I'm not kidding. You see I was holding him up by the scruff of the neck. My hand suddenly felt burned and I let go of him. His hands were outstretched and they knocked the Terra-Track out of my hand, landing on the ground.

I seriously expected the ground would open or the Earth would explode into a million pieces. I mean, think about it. If you're carrying an object that carries all the energy and power of the universe and it drops to the ground, you will get the worst scare of your life!

But nothing happened. "See what you did?" Larry yelled.

"What I did?!" I responded.

"You almost killed us!"

"You almost got yourself killed because of your clumsiness."

I let go of him and he dusted his arms off. "Okay. Look before we get into more trouble, I'm going to put that thing where no one gets hurt. Somebody you know very well might blow himself up into 85 pieces."

"Sounds good to me!" I said sarcastically. I took a step forward.

"Wait, no!" Larry yelled frantically.

When I stepped on the Terra-Track we were knocked down by a giant shockwave and a blast of pressure impacted my eardrums. It lasted only three seconds but it blew down both tents and knocked down several trees in a circular way around us.

The guys must've been dead or something because they didn't move at all. The girls on the other hand managed to crawl out of their doomed place of rest, very disturbed. And quite angry.

"What are you fools doing?" Kathy yelled her eyes red and puffy and her hair all over the place.

"What do you mean fools? I'm not going anything!" I said.

"Yes, we mean the both of you!" Darla yelled.

"I resent that!" I said.

"We were just, uh…transporting the cube to a safer location. It's not safe in the tent," Larry explained.

"Do it fast then! We need our sleep!" Kathy shouted.

They were so angry and tired that they didn't even bother trying to restore the tent. They just crawled under the collapsed fabric and went back to their sleeping bags. Then I glared at Larry. "Well, thanks a lot! Now put that away before you cause more trouble!"

"Me? What did I do?" Larry whined.

"Just do it!"

"All right!" He used the keys to open the back door of TIV. He thrusted his body forward allowing me to only see his tail. He was messing with a ton of stuff in there until he found where he would hide it. Then he came back out and closed the door.

We suddenly heard the sound of an engine starting. "Um…Larry…did you by chance turn the TIV's engine on?"

I could see Larry's eyes in the moonlight. They were so wide and the pupils so small that I actually got scared for a second. "I…I don't think so."

The engine started revving.

You won't believe what happened next.

The TIV started accelerating by itself!

"What's happening?" I yelled.

"Follow that freak tank!" Larry shouted. We both pumped our arms and legs and fell in line behind our vehicle. "It's up to 20 miles per hour!" Larry yelled.

And I could tell it was getting faster. We were both running as quickly as we could. And not to brag or anything, but I'm in pretty good shape as far as being athletic goes.

There was no way we would catch up with the runaway TIV.

The TIV zoomed by past a ranger vehicle. Now ordinarily, I wouldn't do what I did, but this was no ordinary occasion. I wasn't just worried about TIV. I know these parts very well and I happen to know the TIV was racing off towards a cliff.

So besides fearing losing my prized vehicle, I was also worried about the Terra-Track. Remember what happened when I stepped on it? Now imagine what could result from a fall from a precipice. It would most likely wipe Amarkia, Egypt, Sudan, and Libya right off the map in two seconds.

So you can understand why I jumped into the ranger truck with Larry and we chased after TIV. We quickly accelerated and even at 67 miles per hour, TIV was still about 300 yards in front of us. I sure hope the Terra-Track wouldn't suddenly decide to make a sharp turn. Not only were we going too fast, but we also had no way of turning.

Larry then decided to take drastic action. He teleported away for about twenty seconds, then reappeared again the the passenger seat. He had the Terra-Track in his hand. "I got it! Stop the car!"

I slammed my foot on the brakes and heard the all-too familiar sound of screaming rubber on rocky ground. We came to a halt about 500 feet from the edge of the cliff. But we had no way of getting TIV to stop. Even though we had the Terra-Track now, TIV kept going.

Well, you can guess what happened, right?

Well, there goes $500,000 and centuries of memories and experiences. I closed my eyes tight as I heard the terrible sound of metal and glass shattering and the impact when TIV hit the bottom.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a patrol car appeared out of the forest, its flashing blue-and-red lights obscuring the full moon. "What's going on here?" one of them yelled.

Larry and I stepped out of the ranger truck. He hid the cube in the glove compartment. Great, now we're going to lose the ranger truck. Surprisingly, it didn't move. But the two police offers didn't look so happy. "What do you think you're doing?"

"He happens to be the King, if you should now," Larry said,

"I don't care if he's Mother Teresa. You're coming with me to headquarters for robbery and indulgent behavior."

"Say what?" I yelled.

"Silence. You have the right to not speak. You also have the right to…"

"Oh, cut the yip-yap!" Larry shouted.

"What did you say?"

"The King happened to be using this truck under official business."

"Yeah, and if you don't like that we can discuss that down at my headquarters!" I said. Out of nowhere, four Imperial Helicopters rose out from behind me and pointed their guns at the squad car.

"Uh…say, now that you mention it. I do have other matters to which I need to tend to. Bye now. Have a safe night!" He ran like a rabbit and the squad car got the heck out of there. I turned back to the helicopters and yelled into the microphone. "Thanks, boys. You can leave now. I can take care of it."

They all dispersed back to their secret locations.

I peeked over the edge of the canyon. "Well , I guess that's the end of TIV."

"That thing's really rugged. I'll send a scout troop to see if they can recover it," said Larry. Then he yawned and stretched his arms. "But now I think we need to resume our NREM sleep. This has been too much adventuring and action for one weekend."

Next morning, just before daybreak, I went to take a shower. Ah! Felt so refreshing to feel that warm water over my tired muscles. Can you even count all I'd been running, jumping, swimming, and anything else I'd been doing since yesterday morning? Not counting when was struck, slapped, poked, punched, kicked, and the 4 or 5 times I nearly died.

That's my life, dude. (Or in case you're a girl, I'll just say "dudette.")

After coming out, I noticed not only the dizzying morning mountain air, but also the scent of…flour, eggs, milk, butter, and even oil.

Lilia was standing over the campfire and pouring the pancake batter onto a flat rock. Natural, outdoor-style camping pancakes! Mmm! My mouth watered and I felt the cramps in my stomach.

Lilia eyes looked up at me and smiled. "Good morning, handsome!" She stood up and walked over to me and crashed her lips against mine. I kissed her hard and I kept her as close to me as possible.

"I love greeting you that way," I said.

She smiled and her light brown-honey eyes reflected the golden rays of the awakening circle that gave us all life and breath.

I sat next to Lilia and helped her flip the pancakes. Then Patty and Greeny came back, both in their hiking clothes. I'd packed everyone an extra set just in case. I mean, when you take Larry, Dimetroodon, and Rudy along anywhere, you just know that there will be trouble.

Anyways, Patty and Greeny came back with two large baskets. I went over to greet them and gave them both a kiss. (Hey, I'm very affectionate, so don't call me a softie or I'll be coming for you!)

"What you got there?" I asked.

"Tell him, Greeny," Patty said.

"We got up early to get berries for the pancakes!" Greeny answered with a smile as golden as the rising sun.

Once we were all dressed and wide-awake we sat in a circle around the fire while Lilia and Kathy served the pancakes. In front of me was the perfect one. The one I wanted. The flour was gold. Golden yellow. It reflected the sun's rays so intricately. The butter oozed off the center and the wild honey twinkled in the light as Lilia poured it.

Before I could even say "Dibs" Larry appeared out of nowhere and stuffed the pancake into his mouth. I mean, he grabbed it and shoved it down his throat. He even stuck his arms down there.

"I wanted that," I said, feeling my blood starting to boil.

"What, Spiny?"

Okay, just calm down. Chill. Lilia's watching you. Don't lose your cool. I forced a smile. "I wanted that pancake, Larry."

He regurgitated the pancake and placed it in front of me, saliva and stomach acid dripping. Talk about a lost paradise. "Here you go. You want it? No? Okay." Shoved back into his stomach. Pushed it all the way down.

Just then, Lilia dropped a tower of pancakes in front of me. "This is yours."

"All this?"

"If you can finish it, yeah."

I smiled and kissed her lips. "Thanks, gorgeous."

I placed the napkin in my lap and grabbed the fork and knife and was ready to devour those pancakes. Then I heard the sound of…a vacuum? "Dimetroodon, what are you doing?!"

I don't know how he was doing it, but somehow, with an open mouth he was sucking in all the pancakes. "Stop it, you greedy pig! Let me have some!"

He didn't listen. All the pancakes disappeared. He even swallowed a hammer. Good! I hope he gets sick!

And that's how I started the day. Didn't get any pancakes and ended up having a pack of salt crackers and water for breakfast.

….sigh….sometimes I wish I was…