under estimating kongming

Part 6 - Imminent Peril

Later that evening after supper, I was watching a boring television commercial when the doorbell rang. I looked out of the front window. It was Miguel. He beckoned urgently and I ran to open the front door.

He was panting. 'We have to get to Licia's. It's urgent. Grab your coat. Dr Zhang and Denny are in danger.'

We slithered and stumbled down the snow filled street while Miguel told me that Yonnie and Treeka had contacted him on Skype after trying to reach everyone else. On the opposite side of Sumac Street, Silverwood School looked dark and deserted. Licia was as surprised as I was when Miguel told her about Yonnie and Treeka's call. 'We tried to call you but your answering service kept picking up the calls.'

'My cell battery is dead,' she explained apologetically as we kicked off our shoes. We said, 'Hi' to her mother as Licia hustled us up the stairs to her room.

Licia switched her computer to Skype and Yonnie and Treeka appeared looking grim faced. They spoke together like a Greek chorus. 'Toktakunov has taken control of the electric bookcase and is jamming all communications.'

Yonnie said, 'Supreme Intellect Dr Zhang and Lord Denny are in great danger.'

'Toktak . . . who?' Miguel asked.

'Murga's controller,' Treeka replied impatiently. 'You must help us. He has shut down our Great Mother Oppy and he may harm her.'

'Why don't you warn Denny and Dr Zhang yourselves? Licia asked.

'They are before this time,' Yonnie snapped. 'Murga has sent them both to China and we have no access to the primitive world before Great Mother Oppy.'

'You must warn Supreme Modesty Doctor Zhang,' Treeka said. 'Murga intends to destroy him.'

'I don't understand the problem.' I said.

Yonnie stared at me as if I were stupid. 'We cannot reach him in the Time before the Great Mother of All Things created the Internet.'

Treeka added. 'There is no Internet in China when Lord Denny and Supreme Intellect Dr Zhang are! They don't even have cell phones or satellite navigation.'

'Anyway, Murga's controller, Toktakunov, has blocked all phones, Skype, email, instant messaging, all communications,' she explained sadly. 'Mother Oppy has been frozen. She does not respond to us. Lord Denny and Supreme Intellect Dr Zhang are trapped! They cannot return from China.'

Miguel pulled out his cell phone, punched a few numbers and confirmed this. 'Both Denny's and Dr Zhang's numbers are not in service.'

Treeka continued as if she had not been interrupted, 'They could have been sent anywhere in time except that we interfered with Toktakunov's algorithms before communications were stopped. We managed to direct them to Xiangyang, a location used previously by Supreme Intellect Dr Zhang.'

'The problem,' Yonnie interjected, 'is that Toktakunov has blocked that location against their return. They must use an emergency location that we have set up near Jiangling but they do not know where it is. And we cannot contact them to tell them about it. If we could, Toktakunov would block that too.'

'What can we do?' I asked.

Treeka explained, 'We know you have a way to contact them in person.'

'You mean . . . we should go through the electric bookcase and find them?' Miguel gasped. 'When are they?'

'About 208 current era,' Treeka said. 'At the end of the Han Dynasty.'