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Chapter 3: Realisation

The three children were attracting a lot of attention.  The citizens had never seen anyone dress like that.  They had stranger tastes of clothing.  All of them wore some sort of shiny unitard, and the ladies had a sort of tutu that looked perfectly ridiculous.  They all wore shoes with high heels that lent them another six inches, weird makeup and hair that looked as if they had poked their fingers in an electric socket while dripping wet.  Yeah, you get the idea.

Brian wasn’t interested in that though.  Being a sci-fi fan, he was fascinated by the amount of technology he was surrounded with.  Flying cars, robots, electronic cars, you name it.  It was heaven to any sci-fi fan, and Brian almost forgot Lauren (which was really hard, because the smell of her perfume was making him slightly dizzy) and Meredith (which really wasn’t hard, he did that daily) in his fantasy of riding one of those ingenious machines.  Lauren snapped him out of his blissful reverie when she went, “Where the hell are we?” and Meredith, helpful as usual (and stuffed full of Doctor Who, which Brian insisted on seeing in front of her), went, “It’s the future, right?  We time-travelled.”

For a moment, Brian felt proud for having raised his sister in such a manner.  Then, reality struck and the shock finally entered his consciousness.  This wasn’t one of his favourite T.V. programmes or his X-Box’s (R.I.P) games.  This. Was. Happening. Now.  That’s when he realised that they were in deep, DEEP trouble.

***

His mother had just realised that her guest was probably feeling cold in his weird outfit, so she reluctantly offered some of the clothes her late husband wore.  He accepted them and started inspecting them as if they were explosives that haven’t yet exploded.  He disappeared in the bathroom, crashing in the door (he later explained that he was used to doors opening when they sensed his brain waves). 

Therese took the opportunity to let her real feelings show.  She had kept them locked in all the while that Marcus had patiently explained all his research (in vain, because Therese was too distraught to care, and she had never really gotten the gist of Doctor Who anyhow) and the machine.  She had kept thinking that her kids might be lost in a suburban town with hostile aliens who spoke backwards and had green skin and shot venom from their eyes (she had a very imaginative mind).

She heard Marcus come out, and when she looked at him, she had a bizarre urge to laugh.  She wasn’t sure if it was hysteria or if it was the socks in his hands, the back-to-front shirt or the way-too-short jeans, but she guessed that it was from both.  She sent Marcus back in with clearer instructions, and the end result was slightly less shocking.  Then, they got down to business. 

They decided to sum up the situation using a fact sheet.  The end result was this:

Facts:

1.   No time turner thingy  / TimeMachine

2.   Children Missing

3.   Children probably lost

4.   Children have no information

5.    Alien creatures   /Other Life Forms

 (Author's Note: the bold writing is Theresa's, while the Italic writing is Marcus's corrections)

Together, they stared at the paper, unaware that the children, under Brian’s leadership, had come to precisely the same conclusion.

***

They had decided unanimously that they had to find somewhere to live, or at least a rough shelter to spend the night in.  The nearby woods seemed like an ideal hideout, so they entered into its dark, leafy embrace.  They were swallowed in darkness immediately.  Meredith whined piteously, and Lauren’s eyes were as wide as saucers, and she held Meredith’s hand in a death grip, until her knuckles went white from lack of circulation.  Brian felt wretched.  Here he was, in his very own sci-fi adventure, and he had to cope with two girls. Huh.  Life just wasn’t fair.

They came across a clearing, and were immediately greeted by a very bizarre sight.  A group of people were already sitting there, dressed in clothes made entirely of leaves—whole dresses, hats, trousers---it was a wonderful sight.  The children were entranced.  They remained standing still at the fringe of the clearing, until a young girl, not bigger than Meredith, spotted them.  She gave a little gasp, and one by one, the people gathered there turned to stare at the trio. 

Brian could feel himself blushing, his face switching on suddenly, and next to him, Lauren gave two steps backwards, dragging Meredith with her.  Brian closed his eyes briefly, steeled himself and stepped forward.  He could feel the weight of the stares on him as he took another step.  Then, the oldest of the group, a stout, broad woman in her late fifties, rose up off her seat.  The others bowed their heads slightly.  She started walking calmly towards Brian.

Brian had the sudden urge to run, run, run.  However, before his mind sent the right commands to the specific body parts, the big woman has stopped right in front of him, blocking all the possible exits.  Brian sighed inwardly.  This was probably going to involve getting kicked on the butt and thrown out of the clearing.   To his surprise though, the big lady bowed her head.  He bowed his in return, and the big lady smiled.   He had passed her test.

“My name is Brian Donovan.”

“Hello, boy. I am High Chief Shaawali.  Welcome to the Mouth of the Forest.  It is the hideout of the Wansai Tribe, the lowest and humblest of the Protekted, like you, the inhabitants of Protekta, this godforsaken country we are found in.  This is the only safe country in this world, whose name was found to be Earth, or Gaea, hence comes the name ‘Protekta’ – to protect.  I will now tell you what that dolt of a ruler you have won’t tell you.

“It is surrounded by a boundary that makes it impossible for any other creature to enter without an invitation from a person of high authority inside Protekta, namely the Queen and her sister, Princess Rosa-Saffron, and their immediate relatives.  We Wansaii are shunned from society.  We are the homeless, the ones that never get a say in this country and never will.  We are the outcasts and the underdogs, and we have fashioned a life for ourselves. 

  “We are a dying breed, boy, which is why all our scientists are working overtime; working out ways how to escape in the past, to save ourselves.  However, we have just suffered a horrible blow: one of our greatest scientists has disappeared, and with him our only hope- his TimeMachine and all his notes.”

At this, a look ricocheted from Brian to Lauren to Meredith and back again.  The other woman rambled on, unaware of the cold feeling of dread growing inside Brian.

“Our only hope is that the Professor finds his way back here, and continues his studies to help save us,” she finished.  Then, she added, “If you stand there for one more minute looking gormlessly back at me, I will be forced to lock you up before you run to your little Queenie and spill all this classified information.”

Brian cleared his throat nervously.  This was it.  The moment that they would either be accepted, or else kicked out with an aching butt- or worse.  He extended his arm nervously in a gesture of friendship (hopefully) as he said, “Em…we’re not…Protected,” he said, copying the way she had said the word, “and we arrived here in a TimeMachine, which is still outside this very forest.”