Holly stared at the object before her. The glowing green symbols flickered and changed as time passed. She thought over what Artemis had said.

"A count down?" She asked. Artemis nodded, not taking his eyes off the changing symbols.

"A count down to what?" Holly asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Obviously, the time until Mu reaches Earth," Artemis said to her. Holly looked back to the cube. She studied the symbols that were being projected out of the cube. She couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. It certainly wasn't Gnomish. The fact that she couldn't understand it made it seem all the more scary. Magic wasn't going to help in this case. Her gift of tongues allowed her to understand every language that existed. But it had to be verbally spoken. If it was writing, well…she was screwed.

"I don't recognize the symbols," She admitted, "What kind of language is it?"

"Muish, probably. One of the first languages to ever exist. And probably the base for many languages. If you look you can see traces of Latin and even some Gnomish." Holly didn't it, but she nodded anyway.

"Can you read it?" She asked. She picked up the cube, the changing symbols still being projected on the top.

"I can't understand it," Artemis told her, still not looking at her. He seemed mesmerized by the glowing countdown projected from the cube. Holly thought for a moment.

"Do…Do think you would be able to translate it?" She asked, "You were the first and only human to ever learn Gnomish. You decoded our book and were able to translate it. Can you do that here?" She observed the object, "There's even more writing on the sides," She noticed.

"There's still not enough for me to go off of." Artemis explained, "I needed your whole book to learn Gnomish, a few symbols isn't enough," Holly nodded. That made sense.

"So you cant' tell how much time we have left?" Holly guessed. Artemis smirked.

"I never said that," Artemis replied. Holly sighed.

"Artemis," She warned, "If you know something, spit it out before I make you," Artemis smiled at Holly's familiar behavior/

"Alright, give me a few minutes," He said. And a few minutes he took. For the next three minutes Artemis just stood there, unmoving, hands in his pockets as he stared at the changing symbols. Holly waited, impatiently, but without saying anything. She recognized the face Artemis made while thinking hard. And she knew it was best not to bother him.

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Artemis watched the symbols with a determined expression. Calculations and numbers ran through his mind at break neck speed. Artemis narrowed his eyes as he watched the count down. The smaller set of numbers seemed to change every three seconds. There were twelve symbols in the sequence. The symbol would change to a different one every three seconds, this happened twelve times and then it went back to the first symbol. In the larger set of symbols. They changed after two cycles of the smaller set. Artemis saw that they changed in the same pattern as the smaller set.

So…going off my original three seconds and taking everything in account…

Artemis narrowed his eyes in concentration as he did the intensely complicated math. He vaguely recalled the memories of the time on Hybras where he had had to perform a similar action. After a minute Artemis finished his calculations.

"I've got it," He said suddenly. Holly looked up at him sharply; she had been watching the count down.

"Just like that?" She said skeptically.

"Yes," He answered. She shrugged, she knew better than to second guess Artemis Fowl.

"So…" She said, getting up from her position on the floor, "How long do we have? Artemis's face darkened considerably.

"Less time than I would have thought…Much less," He revealed quietly.

"How long Artemis?" Holly repeated. She didn't like the tone in his voice. Artemis sighed

"Approximately fifty two hours," He said slowly, "A little over two days…" Holly's eyes widened in shock. This was about as bad as it got.

"Two days!?" She exclaimed. Artemis looked up from the floor and turned toward her.

"I think now would be a good time to call Foaly," He said quietly.

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Foaly was currently taking a nap in the Operations booth. It was rather boring without Holly. And Trouble wasn't as much fun to poke fun with as Julius was. Besides, he wasn't scared of the consequences. What was anyone going to do, fire him? Yeah right… Unfortunately he always seemed to forget that his budget wasn't set in stone. However, something was about to happen that would make budget cuts the least of his problems…Okay probably not, but it would lower their importance just a tiny bit…

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Foaly lazily opened his eyes at the beeping sound. Yawning he looked over at his computer screens. They said that he was getting a call. Yawning one last time he answered it. Holly's face appeared.

"Foaly!" She exclaimed.

"Hey Holly," Foaly greeted, apparently still to sleepy to catch the urgency in her voice. "How was your date with Fowl?"

"Shut up and listen to me Pony boy," Holly said, "Some things happened," Foaly looked at her.

Wow, no comeback for the dating comment, this must really be big.

"What is it?" He asked. They showed him the cube. Well, Holly showed it to him. Artemis wouldn't go anywhere near the thing. Any trace of Foaly's tiredness disappeared as he saw the artifact. His jaw dropped and he jerked toward the screen.

"What the! Where did you get that!?" He exclaimed. Holly put down the cube and turned back to Foaly.

"Well…" She started but was cut off.

"Holly, perhaps I should explain," Artemis' voice was heard off screen. Holly turned and nodded, probably at him, and left the screen. Artemis appeared a moment later. Foaly narrowed his eyes at him.

"Okay Fowl, explain. Why do you have what is obviously a fairy artifact?" Artemis sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell you…"

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

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An hour later Artemis finished his explanation. He had told Foaly everything he had told Holly, which was not quite everything, but enough for now. Holly sat in a chair a few feet away as she listened to Artemis explain. The worry was evident on her face. Foaly had been skeptical at first but a big ticking count down was rather persuasive. Foaly started believing Artemis.

Artemis leaned back in his chair as he finished his explanation. He waited for Foaly to speak. The centaur rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"So…we only have two days then huh,?" He asked. Artemis nodded.

"What do we do Foaly?" Holly asked, she had gotten up from her chair and was now standing next to Artemis on the screen. Foaly sighed.

"Well, for starters we have to alert the council. Fairy law requires it, with a situation like this." Foaly said, "From there they'll decide what we'll do next,"

"The council?" Holly almost whined. She wasn't particularly fond of the Council. There were a few reasons why. For starters, they didn't like her very much. Being female and a captain didn't agree with some of them, there was also the fact that Holly wasn't the best at sticking to the rules. Rules that the council had created. Another reason was they didn't like Artemis very much; a few of them still wanted to mind whip him. Holly was the kind of girl who didn't like people who wanted to erase her friend's memory.

"Yes, Holly. The Council," Foaly sighed, "It's the law, and they are the Council for a reason. It's their job to handle things like this." Holly sighed but agreed.

"Alright," she said. Foaly nodded.

"Great, now you should get back down here, and bring that cube with you, I wanna have a look at it," Holly looked over at Artemis who nodded.

"Sure, I don't want it," He said truthfully. Holly briefly wondered why Artemis disliked the cube so much but decided to dwell on that later.

"Okay," She said. Foaly seemed pleased that he would have a new toy to play with when she got back.

"I don't think you're taking this seriously enough Foaly," Holly chided Foaly, "The Peoples are in danger of being discovered,"

"It's like that every week with you people." Foaly defended himself, "Trust me, it losses it's thrill after a while,"

"That's because all you ever do is sit in that booth of yours," Holly retorted, "You never do any real work,"

"No work?!" Foaly exclaimed, "If it weren't for my brilliance, you'd all be dead. It's my genius plans that solve everything. You'd be lost if it weren't for me,"

"I don't know, I still have Artemis," Holly said. Artemis smiled, partly at the compliment and partly because she was right. Foaly snorted.

"Yeah yeah, need I remind you that you're boyfriend caused more than half of the disasters we've been through," Holly shouted at Foaly for the boyfriend comment and Artemis just scowled, partly at the boyfriend comment and partly because Foaly was right.

The argument continued for another minute before Artemis interrupted, insisting that they had more important things to be doing. Which was true. Artemis and Holly quickly said their byes and Foaly hung up. After Foaly's face disappeared from the screen Holly turned. She picked up the cube and examined it for a moment. A moment later she turned back to Artemis.

"Well, I guess I better get back down there," She said. Artemis simply nodded. Holly stored the cube away and put on her wings but didn't leave. She looked back to Artemis.

"Hey Arty…" She said. Artemis looked back at her, slightly surprised. She continued, "Thanks," She finally said. She smiled at him.

"Looks like you saved the People again," She said.

"It's a bit early to say that Holly," Artemis said reasonably.

"Still," Holly said, "If it weren't for you…we never would have found out about this. So…thank you…" Artemis smiled softly, obviously not used to being thanked

"It's…no problem," he finally said. Holly smiled at him and started up her wings.

"I'll call you later to tell you about what happens with the council," She said. Artemis nodded.

"Very well," He replied. Holly waved and flew out his open window. Artemis would have watched her go, but she had shielded. After a minute Artemis sighed. Foaly was sure the Council would handle it, but Artemis wasn't so sure. Another thought came to him that made him smile slightly. Holly had called him Arty again. And try as he might, he couldn't mind it.