The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(39)

I downloaded Aikido instructional videos from Nezatron. I decided that training every night in martial arts would be the best course of action. I had to do something to protect the people I was dragging into that mess. Travis wanted something from me. I just couldn't put my finger on it. I felt that if he wanted to kill me, then why was he scoping out my house? Why didn't the Dacturons just drop a bomb on it or blast it from space with a giant laser?

Yes, I had to plan. I paced around my bedroom, muttering to myself. Focus needed to be shifted around finding three more individuals. I had Lincoln, but that wasn’t enough. I knew that if someone entrusted me to do a task, even if it was a small task, I had to complete it.

It wasn’t my job to judge what was significant and what was trivial, because even the smallest error could carry devastating consequences. It was a concept that I was just recently acquainted with by my newfound knowledge of time and place. I could be two minutes early for school, or two minutes late, yet one or the other scenario could forever alter the future, beyond my control.

I took off for Lincoln’s house immediately. It wasn’t as easy as one might think. I was having difficulty harnessing my shoes’ power.

Through intense trial and error, and some road-rash, I found that I could propel myself on my banana skateboard without pushing off the ground. I was cruising. Every time I was around people, I pushed along the ground to front as a kid propelling his board normally. I didn’t need any unnecessary attention. The air was forced against my face and pulled my cheeks back slightly, and I swallowed a bug. I figured it was probably a good idea to keep my mouth shut after that.

I arrived at Lincoln’s house with just a tiny amount of energy expended. I decided not to tell Lincoln about the shoes, unless I absolutely had to. It was in his character to want scientific data for every new variable, which usually meant I was going to be a lab rat. I wasn’t going to be a rat that day.

‘Yo, if it isn’t the missing Linc. What is up buddy?’ I asked, while Lincoln gave me a look like something was amok. He stood behind his wrought-iron door with some window cleaner in one-hand and paper towels in the other.

‘My dad is uncontrollably and disruptively cleaning the house right now. So, if we know what is good for us, we will go somewhere else!’ Lincoln shouted over the roar of the vacuum cleaner. It smelt like dust everywhere, as if Lincoln’s father was determined to aggravate his son’s sinus condition. We knew he didn’t intend to.

‘Let’s go out to your lean-to,’ I said, and started to walk with Lincoln, ‘So check it out. I spoke with Nezatron today. I now have a direct link to both him and Migalt. So I feel safer, only problem is, I have been seeing Travis in my dreams and—’

‘What? Tell me dude!’ Lincoln asked.

‘I thought I saw him outside my window today. I was out of his sight, so he didn’t see me, but he knows where I live, and he had guts enough to stand outside. Nezatron says I’ve been imagining things, but man, I gotta be careful.’ I paused. ‘I thought that if Marvin saw him, he could be done for. I think he is using some sort of port, because where he stood, the ground and the bush next to the window were burnt.’

‘Let’s say Nezatron is wrong and Travis is actually spying on you. So what are we going to do?’ Lincoln asked.

‘Well, Nezatron told me right before I left that if someone was teleporting on Earth and leaving singed grass behind, the port had to be local. He said that type of heat was only generated by using a port within the perimeter of a vessel. Nezatron searched my street for heat signatures and found nothing. He brushes it off, but I think there was a ship, and it must have been cloaked or something. We need to work fast, and we need to find someone today. Did you come up with a plan?’

‘I did, my good ol’ pal. So here it is. . .’

Lincoln told me that the first stage of the recruitment operation, was compiling a list of the individuals whom we would engage, because some people just might not be able to believe our bizarre pitch, or even give us the time of day.

Once we completed the list, we needed to cross-reference with Nezatron, and eliminate possible candidates who were not of outstanding integrity. Then, we needed to approach them to do our own hands-on detective work.

For that, Lincoln brushed up on his knowledge of the literature of Sun Tzu. I definitely expected Lincoln to have read that classic, because he was always quoting ancient philosophers. Sun Tzu was his absolute favorite. In The Art of War, Lincoln said there were ways of distinguishing friend from foe.

There were certain tests that we could use to expose the subjects’ moral standing. He was going to use his knowledge gained from that book to aid in finding the three extra people we had currently lacked.

The first person on our list was Liam McCaffrey. Liam made the list for his physical attributes. He was seventeen and worked as a dishwasher at a hole-in-the-wall bar called Green Streets. He was on the Triton High School varsity wrestling team.

See, Liam was sort of an anomaly. He stood at five-eleven, two hundred pounds, and his weight was distributed well. Rather than appearing obese, he was the heavyset type that adults approvingly called “a growing boy” or “has big bones.” He once beat a college kid in an unsanctioned match in my grandparents’ backyard near the wood-line. We didn’t know how the match made its way into my grandparents’ yard, but it was entertaining as I breathlessly watched from the window.