Charm a Relic

Chapter Two: The Book of Extraterrestrials

The camera drones were coming back online, the crowd at the beach cheered as the images came back on the screen. June jumped excitedly screaming "Rufus! Rufus look Sammy has the flag!" 

But Rufus was skeptical and looked down at his computer screen.

He then turned to a larger screen positioned over the beach that was showing Kenneth's score and progress. Kenneth's friends were cheering and giving high fives all around. 

They could see that Kenneth also had a flag.

"How come they both have a flag?" June asked but Rufus grinned and replied.

"There is only one flag in a one versus one game," He replied as he reached into his bag and pulled out his rule book for Droneflag knowing that he may soon be needing it.

Everybody at the beach turned to the finish line. It was made up of a group of drones with lights on top. There were four of these placed in a rectangular formation to make a finish line that the players had to pass through with the flag in order to win the game.

There was also a fifth drone that hovered over the goal that usually contained a trophy or a medal for the winner.

Sam was in the lead. He passed through the drones with great speed and halted his hover bike immediately. He jumped off and waved the flag yelling "Whoo hoo I did it!"

But something was wrong.

Sam noticed that everyone was silent and some of the other kids where giving him strange looks. Sam realized the sirens which were supposed to sound when he passed them with the winning flag had not gone off. He stopped to investigate why the drones did not detect he had passed through them with the flag.

"I believe this could be an elaborate deception," Rufus stated.

He walked towards Sam with his rule book in his hand which he started waving. Rufus was slightly overweight and would not run very often but suddenly Rufus started running towards Sam followed closely by June. They had both noticed that Kenneth was barrelling towards the finish line while Sam was still in the way.

"Duck Sammy!" June stopped to yell with worry in her voice. Rufus jumped on Sam and pushed him out of the way. They both quickly hit the ground as Kenneth sped through the finish line. The drone's lights and sirens went off "Winner,Winner!" A recorded voice said on the speakers as Sam was down in the dirt with his flag in his hand looking very confused. 

Rufus helped Sam up and as he was brushing the dirt off of his baggy sweat shirt and jeans Rufus had taken the flag from Sam's hand for a closer look.

"Just as I have speculated. There's no pass chip on this flag it's a decoy!" Rufus said confidently.

"I will consult my rule book," Rufus said with book in hand. 

The other children cheered Kenneth lifting him in the air as the drones repeated the words "Winner!" continuously.

Kenneth spotted Rufus with his rule book and jumped away from the crowd and walked towards him. With his hands grasping the rule book Rufus was determined to find something to help his friend. Rufus did not notice Kenneth approaching him until he felt a yank from his hands as the book was pried from them and thrown into a nearby bush.

"Well I won Sam! Looks like I will be this year's minor league Droneflag team leader over this entire region," Kenneth said to Sam who was both unhappy and confused with how he had lost the game.

"Don't look so glum! I'm not letting you on my team but you and your friends can try out next year!" Kenneth said and laughed.

"You mean we can't play for a whole nother year?" June contested.