Trouble Kelp had his own plans for the weekend. Firstly, he and his brother were going to visit their parents, earlier that week their Mummy called and asked "her dear boys" to help Daddy to move furniture in the living room for the fifth time in the last three months. Secondly, Foaly gave him a new steering wheel for a car with a full set of functions and a personalized control system under the fingers of his right hand a month ago, and the commander could not wait spend some time in the garage. Thirdly, the latest issue of "Technical Progress" uploaded automatically on Monday, but he had no time even to look through it. Fourthly, he did not read the articles on the "Point of View" site for two days, and he did not post his own for more than a month, and he rarely did such long intervals, besides he had already formed an approximate plan of the note "Battle Tactics in Restained Urban Conditions With Significant Enemy Interference" He had a lot to do.
Foaly wanted to spend the weekend at home with his family. Maybe take a short walk, surf the Net, have a delicious meal. He got up late, filled the bath and was about to dive into it when the earpiece rang. He wished to pretend that he had not heard anything, but the instinct told him that missing this call wouldn't be good for him. The centaur groaned and answered. At first he thought that something was wrong, because the only sound he heard was an animal roar, but within a few seconds it became clear that this was Commander.
"You, perissodactyle! I swear, I'll kill you, I'll skin you with my bare hands!"
Foaly quickly looked over all possible reasons of the anger of his superior. No, he surely could not detect a tracking chip in his wrist computer, he could hardly notice a mini-camera in the holograph button... There remains only a camera in his shower. Covering it with a piece of camfoil was a definitely bad idea.
''Uh ... Trouble, about that camera in your shower... you know, it's only for security reasons! You are an excellent commander, we appreciate you...''
''WHAT? What did you say, pony? I ... I ... D'Arvit, in half an hour you will either be at Police Plaza or in a grave!''
The earpiece turned off, and Foaly began to bekname himself for blurting out about the camera, since it was absolutely obvious that something else caused Trouble Kelp's anger. Perhaps he found an eavesdropping device in his office. Sad, because it was hidden in the writing desk back in the days of Julius.
Commander tiped back in his armchair with a sigh. There were only policemen on duty in Police Plaza, so it was pretty quiet. Trouble squeezed his forehead and shook his head. Hell, just an hour ago he returned from his usual morning run and started preparing a simple breakfast. Just when he turned on his coffeemaker, he got an emergency call from the Council. It looked very impressive, because one of the walls in the room was actually a huge screen. The wall lit on and the light in the room automatically faded, when dull faces of Elders sitting at a round table appeared on the screen. Trouble felt like a complete idiot standing in front of the council members in a bathrobe with a banana in his hand. He thanked gods that unlike Grub, he did not have a habit of walking around the rooms in his underwear or freeball. The button "turn on video" appeared on the screen, Trouble waved a hand holding a banana, activating a camera. He was immediately lambasted because the Council was forced to arrange unscheduled meetings in case of these endless alarm signals from the sensors, and Commander Kelp only chews fruit and splashes in the tub while the rest are working double tides. They accepted no excuses and demanded him personally solve the problem until Monday including putting on wings and heading strait to Greenland to repair that crazy sensor before the information of the alarm signal reach the press. Each member of the Council gave a piece of mind to young elf for a spoiled Saturday evening and only after that they turned off. The screen began to fade, but Trouble pointed a banana as a gun to the faintly visible contour of alive fossil head and shouted: "Bang!"
And here he was sitting in the office, waiting for Foaly, the one who actually should be blame for the fact that the magic tracking system was broken. Trouble Kelp turned on the coffeemaker, since he had no time to have breakfast at home. The phone on his wrist rang. He turned on the earpiece and heard Qwan's polite voice:
"Dear Commander, I'm sorry for bothering you during the weekend but I wanted to talk about Number One. You know, he does a lot of work and successfully learns practical magic but lately something is not going well. I've header him crying in his bed tonight, it was a nightmare I suppose. It seems to me he is tired of the monotonous work and me, an old hardheaded teacher, who does not suit as a mentor for such a strong warlock. I wanted to ask, maybe in the next few days you will have some routine tasks on the surface? Could you allow Number One to join if he, of course, does not take you off the work? I wanted to send him alone first, but he refused, says he needs more practice. But in fact he needs more rest. Could you please arrange it as if the Recon needed his help?''
''Sure, Qwan, I spoke with Number One yesterday and I noticed that something is wrong. I even offered to give him a visa to the surface, but he refused. Well, I'll think of something for our great warlock, I'll contact him directly so he would not suspect your participation.''
"Thank you so much, Commander! You are always magnanimous!''
"You're welcome, Qwan, it's my job. Goodbye.''
"Goodbye, sir." and Qwan hang up.
Trouble found some crackers in his desk, drank a cup of coffee and felt a little better. A few minutes later he heard a hoofbeat in the corridor, apparently Foaly hoped to slip unnoticed. Kelp cleared throat preparing to give the works for his four-legged subordinate.
The centaur sank into his chair when the glass doors opened, and Commander Kelp bounced inside full speed. His face turned red with rage, his ears quivered.
"You're dead!" yelled Trouble and jumped on the centaur, who stroked out with his hooves trying to escape without getting off his chair.
"What have I done? Well, do you want me to show you Holly's camera recordings? Will that excuse me?''
"Damn it, who in Haven does not have your camera in the shower, ah? I'll crucify you!"
The elf grabbed Foaly's tail and pulled. The chair immediately went towards Kelp, and centaur's croup smacked into the boot with iron heel. Foaly squealed so loudly so all the glass in the room rattled. Trouble immediately lost interest to his victim and sat down in an armchair by the table. The centaur looked at his friend from behind his shoulder and slowly approached him, two dozen plans of the most sophisticated revenge forming in the head of a computer genius.
''Let's get down to business, Foaly. This morning the Council blew me up like a schoolboy, all because of this d'arviting sensor. I was given the order to solve this problem until Monday. And I want you to figure it out, okay? Decide who will fly across Europe on Saturday night to hammer on your tin-can. And send this innocent victim to me before the flight, is it clear? Fine, I'll be at my office.''
And before the centaur had time to object, Trouble got up and left the room swiftly.
Foaly rubbed aching croup thoughtfully. He should send one of the policemen on duty to this task it was a simple task. It was only, as the Commander said "to hammer on a tin-can", it did not require either intelligence or spesial skill. But centaur was nervous because his equipment had never given that kind of failures before. All the parameters of the sensor were working well, but nevertheless it signaled an emergency. But once bitten twice shy Foaly dialed Holly's phone number.