Undercover - In China - Book 7

Part 14 - Fraught with Misgivings

AA0714  Imminent Peril (789) 22090

I almost choked when Licia asked, 'You want us to go to China during the Han Dynasty? And you just said Murga tried to damage Mandia.'

'We are repairing Great Mother Mandia's software,' Yonnie said. 'She will be ready for testing soon.'

'How are we going to find the emergency location to come back?' Licia asked quickly.

'We won't be able to use Google maps in Han China,' Miguel pointed out. 

 'We have sent directions and maps to your printer,' Yonny said.

Yonnie added. 'You will have to interpolate, as modern maps do not precisely show the land as it was 2000 years ago.'

Licia twisted around as her printer purred to life and started printing.

'But you cannot leave until we have restored our Great Mother Mandia,' Yonnie said, 'so she can send you to Xiangyang at the correct time and also bring you back from the emergency location at the Immortal Mountain monastery near Jiangling.'

My head was spinning as we agreed to think about the proposal. Yonnie and Treeka promised to be ready within twenty four hours.  They were about to disappear when Yonnie said, 'Oh, Triple Oh is trying to reach you on a time link. We will connect you.'

We stared at the monitor as it displayed a small, faint picture of Triple Oh's face. The image broke up as Triple Oh said, 'Ziff lad, I am fraught with misgivings. Toktakunov is active. He has tried to shut Mandia down. We cannot locate Dr Zhang or Denny Vernier. Perchance, thou art all in imminent peril.'

'Triple Oh,' I gasped, 'We know.  Yonnie and Treeka told us. We are planning to rescue them. Where are you?'

His image and voice faded and then became clearer. 'I am elsewhen . . . I cannot help until . . .' The monitor suddenly went blank. 

 We discussed Triple Oh's terse warning and Yonnie and Treeka's proposal then we decided to meet the next evening.

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 The next day we discussed what to do. We could think of no other way we could help except by going to look for Denny and Dr Zhang in person. So after school, we went to Licia's place and called Yonnie and Treeka on Skype. 

 Yonnie told us Mandia would be ready on Saturday. Treeka explained we would be able to return to Silverwood School, every day at local sun set. 

 'All you have to do is find Denny and Dr Zhang and take them to the default destination marked on the maps near Jiangling.' 

'That's all we have to do?' Miguel asked sarcastically. 'It sounds very easy if you're a computer program.'

Licia, Miguel and I looked at each other for several minutes. We had been totally unprepared for the two previous trips through the electric bookcase and knew how difficult life was in the past, even if we spoke the language.

'How good is your Chinese?' I asked Licia. 'Not as good as my parents would like,' Licia said. 'My Cantonese is better than my Mandarin but the languages must have changed quite a bit over the last 2000 years. Imagine trying to speak Shakespearean English. I can barely understand Triple Oh.

'We should make a list of things we should take,' Miguel suggested.

 'I agree,' I said. 'Everybody was staring at Licia's alien yellow floater coat the last trip we made.'

 'I did come in useful, though,' Miguel said.

'And we must do something about Ziff's appearance,' Licia told Miguel. 'He will never pass as Chinese. We will have to dye his hair black and I can borrow my Mom's eyebrow pencil to darken his eyebrows but I don't know about his blue eyes.  They will probably think he is a Siamese cat.'

Licia took me to the bathroom where she mixed a little of her mother's black dye in a dish and slathered it into my hair with an old tooth brush. Miguel said, 'Bring tooth brushes. I've got water bottles and water purification tablets. I can bring some rope. How about knives and spoons? Oh, Licia, do you have any vials of that skunk juice left?'

'Yeah,' Licia said, 'I think I have two or three.'

'Hold on,' I said. 'We can't pack too much or we'll need suitcases.' 

 'I've got some plain shoulder bags,' said Licia. 'And we don't need forks. I can bring plastic bowls and chop sticks for each of us.

 It took us half an hour to make a list of things we might need. We decided raisins and walnuts were more nutritious than pop corn, as well as more historically appropriate, and a first aid kit was more useful than a rope ladder. We would take plain white towels instead of plastic sheets to keep rain off without being conspicuous.