Tracy's Island, May 7, 2010

When Mars arrived on the island, there was no indication that somebody was working on something in a secret, therefor, for all she cared, Thirteen and his task-force just moved their location.

In any case, once she was on the island, she was escorted to where Thirteen and the others were, which was in the house on top of the island's hill, in it's living room. Once there, Thirteen was the one to start talking.

"Mars. You got something?" he asked her.

"Whatever my friend at Intelligence found, it was so important he couldn't tell me directly." Mars explained, "But he did manage to slip me this."

She held up a compact disc, and asked: "Is there a CD-player I can use?"

"There is over there." Thirteen pointed behind her.

Mars turned to go there, while asking: "This Island belongs to Winch too?"

"From what we're told, it's best for you to not know about this." Max told her.

"Of course I can't know the things I wanna know." Mars almost sounded as though she was whining.

In any case, she inserted the disc and started playing it. What it played, sounded a lot like Jack-in-the-box music.

"This a joke?!" Snake didn't think this was funny.

Mars stopped the play, then turned the disc over: "Why do both sides even look the same?"

When playing the other side of the disc, they heard this: "Hello, Mars."

Although it was addressed to Mars, she knew that the person talking on the disc couldn't hear her, so she didn't say anything.

"You're not saying anything back?" the voice said, "It's not because I'm a disc you're listening to that you shouldn't be polite."

"Cody, can't you be serious once?" Mars whined to herself.

"Do we have to listen to his whining?" Al was getting impatient.

"No." was Mars' definite answer, after which she pressed the fast-forward button.

"... but anyway, about the info you were asking." the voice continued, "There hasn't been any report about this Doctor recently, or anyone that fits his description. However, in the Western-Flanders region, there have been reports of people disappearing at night, and when they return the next morning, they can't remember where they've been. This wouldn't have been weird if it happened to just one or two people in multiple towns, but here I'm talking about a form of mass-amnesia. All that is known about these people disappearing is that they come back exhausted and with their muscles burning, as though they've done some heavy physical labour. And if that isn't enough, there have been reports from the harbours in Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent, of containers to disappear. Most of these containers containing either machines, or power-sources. I don't know what's going on, but I'm guessing you're planning to do something about this."

"Flanders..." Ginger started, "... as in Belgium?"

"Not since three years ago." Thirteen told her, "The country has split into two separate countries. It's now either Wallony, or Flanders, but not Belgium."

"It makes sense that Krimson would hide there." Snake said, "As he is from that region."

"Then why didn't we go looking for him there?" Ginger asked.

"Why didn't you return to your hometown when that 4400-guy helped you?" Al asked her.

"Smart move to hide there, though." Max said, "He knew we'd think it too obvious that he'd hide there, so we wouldn't look."

"Still, now we know where he is." Snake reasoned, "We'd better go get him."

"Not so fast, Snake." Thirteen told him, "Our own robot is not finished yet."

"So what?" Snake reasoned, "We're gonna sit here wait for Krimson to finish his?"

"An excellent point." Al agreed, "If we can find him, maybe we can destroy his robot before he can finish it."

"Sounds like fun to me." Ginger remarked, after which she turned to Jason, "You think so too, Jase?"

Jason nodded, as he was about ready to take his machete out.

"If you're going, then I'd better warn Dr. Struyss too." Thirteen said, "He's from that country, perhaps he can guide you there."

The skies, May 8, 2010

The five of them were on the plane, headed towards Flanders. There wasn't much they had to say to each other. Ginger was talking about old times to Jason, Max was studying some books about the country they were about to visit, be it their culture or their language, while Al and Snake were discussing about the robot.

"I wonder though..." Al started, somewhere in the middle of the discussion, "If we're going to destroy Krimson's robot, then does it matter if Tracy will transport his' to us?"

"You never know." Snake answered, "Things don't always go as planned."

"Even if so, how do you know our robot can do anything?" Al questioned.

"We don't, until we try." Snake answered.

Suddenly, Max picked up a book, three times the size of "The Bible", entitled "Belgium For The Novice Volume One".

"Why are you reading about Belgium? It doesn't exist anymore." Snake asked her.

"No." Max answered, "But it can help for us to blend in if we knew something about their history."

Ginger, suddenly stopping her talk with Jason: "I really wish we would go to France, though."

"Why is that?" Al wondered.

"So I can eat French fries while in France." she answered.

Max was about to correct her: "Actually, fries are invented in..."

"Never mind that." Snake interrupted, "Why are you reading all that anyway? We got our guide."

"Like you said, you never know." Max replied.


Note: Belgium, as it's described in this chapter (and the next ones) is either satirical or fictitious (based on many works of fiction, as well as how people feel about that country, inside as well as outside).