The Tale of Zaharos

Chapter 13: Breaking the code

The sweet smell of freshly baked waffles crept inside Axel's room through the half-open door.

"Good morning, Axel," said Rectangle, her voice radiating from the walls. Even so, Axel, who was still half-asleep, could not make out what she had said. Axel half-opened his eyes to find something blue directly above him. It took a moment for his mind to process what he was seeing.

"Elpinix!" cried Axel, now wide awake.

"Your expression was priceless. Did you catch that on video, Rectangle?" Elpinix asked once she stopped laughing.

"It has been recorded and sent to your personal device."

Axel didn't bother asking Elpinix to delete it; he had already hacked into Rectangle's system and could delete the video any time he wanted. (In fact it was his meddling that confused Rectangle into making pancakes for them, but Rectangle's algorithm was extremely complicated and he didn't dare make more changes to it.)

"What's that smell?" Antonio asked, still half asleep.

"I have made pancakes for breakfast."

It's a wonder how she makes everything, thought Axel but didn't dare say it out loud; it was too early in the day for another of Rectangle's analytical lectures.

"Why today? Is it a special occasion?" asked Elpinix perplexed. Rectangle had not made pancakes since their first day in the human school.

"I did not know it had to be a special occasion to make pancakes," noted Rectangle, while adding a comment in her algorithm.

Elpinix dressed up and went to the kitchen as fast as she could. Axel and Antonio were soon there too. Axel added syrup to his pancakes, making them look like they had a smiley face on them.

He was holding the pancakes in midair, ready to take a big bite off the pancakes' smiley face when an urgent call came from Arkateles 4. Two grim faces appeared on the screen in front of them. They didn't want to break the news. The people in front of them were just kids, how could they?

"There was an attack this morning."

Silence. Long and dreadful and yet no one dared to break it, for they all knew what was going to follow.

"Your mother, Axel, was the most severe casualty..." said Antonio's father and followed with meaningless details about the attack.

Axel couldn't hear a word he said. It didn't matter. His world was falling apart. His past seemed to be but a shadow, his happy memories a dream and every moment he had spent with his parents, just another wound that made this moment hurt more.

For the first time in his life he lost that spark of optimism that always followed him and realised that eventually we all die, in the end nothing we do really matters because it is a trifle compared to the infinity of time and space. He let the pancakes down.

He was crying and everyone was looking at him but he didn't care. He didn't want to eat. He didn't want to think. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't.

"Listen Axel, without your mother those people would have died. She fought like a real hero—"

Axel stared at the camera so intensely that the Arkatelian didn't dare utter another word. Moment after moment passed in silence, until the squirming Arkatelian said, "She's still alive."
"But, Axel," Antonio's father said, "she's in a terrible state. The doctors say... they say she won't live. They told us not to tell you about the attack, but we thought that you ought to know. It's very important that you stay on earth.

"Your true identities must not be discovered because there's nowhere on Arkateles 4 that will be safe for you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," answered the three Arkatelians.