CHAPTER 11
School and Feds
The first day of school had finally arrived. George and the Williams kids walked to school together; they didn’t need to take a bus because the school was only half a mile from their homes. They weren't surprised to be shadowed by an unmarked car.
Because he was a newcomer to the area and to the school, George was nervous. Eastern High School combined grades eight through twelve and had over two thousand students, and was by far George’s largest school to date. However, his concern for school was dwarfed by his concern for events outside of school. More than anything, school was a nice escape from his even bigger worries.
They arrived early so that they could pick up their class schedules at the front office. They should have done so a couple of weeks ago, but they had been busy saving the Earth from dragons. George was very glad that he had been practicing the control of his telepathic skills with Mary, or otherwise he would have been totally overwhelmed by the thoughts of hundreds of classmates and school staff.
When George told the school secretary his name, Mr. Crantz, assistant Principal, motioned him into his office, where the man warmly smiled and shook his hand. He was a middle sized and aged, slightly pudgy, with thinning graying hair, but his eyes sparkled with friendly energy.
“Welcome! Harry Simple has supported Eastern for many years with generous donations of materials and equipment,” Mr. Crantz informed him. “His generosity has contributed substantially to the quality of education here at Eastern. Three weeks ago he informed me of the true reason: you.”
“Me?” said George.
“Yes. For many years he anticipated that you would be attending Eastern, although I’m sure that he did not anticipate the tragic events that would finally trigger your coming. Anyway, I have scheduled advanced placement classes to meet your aptitudes and interests.”
George looked at his schedule, which included advanced level classes for every subject as well as orchestra. It was a very tough schedule, but one that he liked. He had concerns that he’d be able to pull it off though, given everything else that was happening.
“If you would happen to want any changes, try to let me know this week.”
“Sure.”
“And say hello to Harry for me.”
“I’ll do that.”
Mary was in most of his classes and George didn’t run into any difficulties until lunchtime. Johnny Williams, accompanied by several huge students, approached George while he was in line to buy food in the cafeteria. Johnny looked very uncomfortable, and George could read fear in his thoughts.
“So you’re the guy with the rifle arm, are you?” the biggest gorilla asked, with a sneer. “Johnny says you’ll probably skip Junior Varsity altogether and replace me as quarterback. Is that your plan, punk? You don’t look like much. All mouth like Johnny, I’m thinking.” He rested a big paw on George’s shoulder. One of the other guys was similarly holding Johnny, George noticed.
George resisted the urge to break the gorilla’s arm, even though the arm was over twice as big as his and rippled with muscle. “Johnny is mistaken. I can throw a football pretty good, but I’m not going out for football this year, not even J-V. Maybe next year. This year I’m going out for track.”
“Smart decision, punk,” the grinning gorilla said. He turned to his buddies. “Let’s go out back to teach Johnny a little lesson.”
“No, my friend Johnny should stay here and eat lunch,” George said calmly. He grabbed one of the quarterback gorilla’s thick wrists. “Don’t you think?” George squeezed gently. Not hard enough to break bones, but the smirk disappeared from the gorilla’s face. “It’s not worth getting into trouble when the season’s just starting, and you wouldn’t want to risk an injury, right?” Johnny squeezed a little harder.
“Maybe,” the big guy responded, suddenly uncertain. He couldn’t back down in front of everyone, but his wrist felt like it was in a vise, and this new kid was staring into his eyes with absolutely no fear. He tried to pull away, but he couldn’t budge his wrist even a fraction of an inch. Even if he couldn’t break his grip, the much smaller kid should have been lifted clean off his feet, but it was as if he was rooted to the ground. Worst of all, the kid didn’t even seem to be at all exerting himself. “Yeah, I guess Johnny’s not worth getting into trouble over. But he should keep his mouth shut.”
“We agree totally on that,” George said. He let go of the quarterback and pulled Johnny into line in front of him while the buddies of the lead gorilla stood about uncertainly, staring at their leader in complete puzzlement.
“Is there a problem here Mr. Green?” asked an adult voice. Mr. Crantz stepped up to the big quarterback, who was checking his wrist for injuries. Green towered over the diminutive Crantz but the Vice Principle by far had the more dominating presence.
“No sir, just welcoming the new student,” said Green. His wrist was turning from red to black and blue.
“There’s a lot of love in this room,” added Johnny, with a grin.
“Let’s keep it that way, gentleman,” Crantz stated. “And George, remember to say hello to your uncle.” With that he walked away.
“So, you’re a favorite of old Crantz, are you?” Green said, glaring at George.
“Looks like it,” said George.
“Well, you still better watch your step, the both of you.”
“Good advice; we’ll do that,” George agreed, as Green and his gorillas turned and walked away. It was a good thing that Crantz had intervened, he realized, as it had given Green a chance to save face. Hopefully the issue was settled.
George and Johnny both breathed sighs of relief, but George had some sharp words for Johnny when they sat down together at a table. “I’ve got to keep a low profile. Johnny, that means no more showboating from me or you.”
“OK,” agreed Johnny, with a grin. “Don’t need any more anyway. You just backed down the biggest bully in the school. You’re riding high, and I’m on your coat tails.” He glanced around the room.
George followed his gaze and found that just about everyone in the cafeteria was looking at him and evidently talking to each other about what had happened. An incredibly cute girl winked at him, and George had to resist a sudden compulsion to read her thoughts. "Great power requires great responsibility," he told himself.
The rest of the day was relatively uneventful, though George noticed many kids looking at him, pointing, and whispering.
Johnny and Mary met him at the door when they left school. Each of them carried a big stack of books. Mary looked worried, but Johnny was grinning.
“What the hell did you two do?” Mary demanded of George. There were a couple hundred other kids standing around, and most were staring at him, George noticed. In the midst of the throng were Mike Green and his crew of toughs. The toughs were grinning, but Green himself didn’t look very happy. George figured his buddies had goaded him into going after him after school. The issue wasn’t over!
“I tried to stay out of trouble,” George explained to Mary, as he walked with her and Johnny through the throng. As George approached Green, he tried to figure out how he might get out of this one. He didn’t want to hurt Green or display dragon powers, but he didn’t want to allow Green to hurt anyone else either.
The problem was unexpectedly solved when a big black limo pulled up to the curb and Rick and two agents even more huge than Green got out. “You want a ride home George?” Rick asked, as he and the agents shouldered past Green. “And Mary and Johnny too, of course.”
George smiled and shrugged at Green as Rick led the trio of teens past him. George couldn’t read all of the quarterback’s emotions, but relief was definitely one of them.
“The little bastard is connected to the mob!” George heard one of Green’s buddies exclaim. Green nodded and tried to look disappointed.
Inside the big limo were four other people George hadn’t met. They were short on muscle, but he sensed that they were highly intelligent.
/> “These are my colleagues, best left relatively nameless,” Rick said. “First names only will be used.”
“I spoke with you on the phone,” George said to the middle aged man. “You’re Rick’s immediate boss, Ken.” The teen turned his attentions to the next person. “Ellen, you have been apprenticing with Rick, but Rick was over-ruled as to your selection to be his replacement,” he said to a slight blonde woman in her mid-thirties. “They were all overruled by you, Jerrod,” he said to a third man, a slim, grim, gray-haired man in his sixties. “You have long harbored doubts about this whole enterprise.”
“I have indeed," said Jerrod. "Rick has schooled you well, young man.”
“He has schooled me not at all. Would Rick know that you have a dentist appointment tomorrow, or that you flunked a European history course at the University of Illinois?”
Jerrod smiled. “Impressive. I suppose you know my last name, also.”
“The one you use at work now or the one you were born with?”
His smile disappeared.
“Don’t worry,” George said. “We all have our little secrets. Well, maybe Henry doesn’t.” He turned to the fourth new person, a thin, lanky, middle aged man with a slight smile of amusement. “You are an internationally respected scientist appointed by the President to make observations and express your opinions independently and honestly. You don’t know anything about this business other than a quick and distorted overview from Jerrod. You are here because you are honest and a skeptic. At the moment, you are surprised to be intrigued.”
He turned to Rick. “As the Government’s official designated point of contact by Treaty, can you explain what it is you want?”
“Err, yes,” Rick replied. “We seek a slight, temporary deviation from the usual constructs of the Treaty in order to resolve several issues that have arisen.”
“Shouldn’t we wait until we meet with the Uncle in the house?” asked Ken.
Rick and George exchanged glances.
“Actually,” said Rick, “the party in charge of the location should personally approve our visit before we west foot on the property. Otherwise we break the Treaty.”
“So the uncle needs to greet us?” Ken asked.
George decided he didn’t want to get Rick in trouble for not passing on vital information to his superiors. “Let’s address that issue first,” he said. “A few days ago my Uncle died of wounds he suffered in battling the enemy dragons.”
There were exclamations all around.
“I buried him myself in the forest he loved,” George continued. “You remember, Mary, that morning you said I seemed upset and I avoided you and Johnny.” George didn’t want to get his friends in trouble.
“This changes everything,” said Jerrod. “We will take immediate control of the property and everything in it.”
“That would break the Treaty,” noted Mary.
“Treaty?” blustered Jerrod. “This whole thing is total nonsense. There are no elves, no dragons, no trolls, and hence no Treaty. It’s all an elaborate hoax, expensive but harmless enough until an attack on the instillation in question showed that some sort of actual defense against our weapons actually exists here. Something prevented detonation of our nuclear devices, which are probably even now hidden here and under unauthorized civilian control, gravely endangering national security. Worse, the technology required suggests collaboration with a foreign enemy.”
Mary couldn’t keep from laughing.
Johnny couldn't believe the arrogance of this man! The Government had fired nuclear weapons but THEY claimed to be the injured party when the bombs didn't destroy the Simple home and the surrounding town! “That’s an even wilder story than the truth is,” he noted.
The limousine parked in front of the house.
Ken reached for the door latch but Rick restrained him. “I must seek approval first,” the old man told him.
“Seek approval?” retorted Jerrod. “From these children?”
“From me,” said George. “This place is my responsibility now. I am in charge.”
“It is what was agreed to by upper management when we set up this meeting,” Henry told Jerrod.
“I AM upper management!” growled Jerrod.
“I, for one, am very curious about what we might find inside,” said Henry. “And of course, if the agreed-to plan is not carried out, I would have to report that also. To MY upper management.”
“But the situation has changed!” protested Jerrod. “I won’t negotiate with a child!”
“You are not empowered to,” said George. “Only Rick or his satisfactory replacement can negotiate with me. No other person may do so.” He turned to Rick, ignoring Jerrod in the process. “So again Rick, I ask you to identify what it is that you want.”
“Of course. We ask for a temporary deviation from the usual rules of the Treaty. We five want to inspect the yard and the portion of the house normally only accessible by me as our ambassador, and hold open discussions with you and your friends Mary, Johnny, and Grog.”
“Interesting,” said George. “What do you hope to accomplish?”
“Several things. First we seek some proof that you are indeed the proper ambassador. Also as you can see, doubt has grown about the legitimacy of this entire enterprise. We also need verify that the two missing nuclear devices are not here. Henry carries detection devices in a case to be used for that purpose.”
“Yes, I see that he has several such devices. Any more issues?”
“We also want to see if Ellen is acceptable to you as my replacement.”
George sighed. “OK. I suppose it’s the only way to normalize relations. But we’ll set a time limit of about two hours. Agreed?”
“That should be sufficient,” stated Henry.
“OK than, let’s go,” said George.
“Wait,” said Jerrod, after they had all gotten out of the limousine and Henry had retrieved a large case from the trunk. “The report claimed that this boy lifted up the front of a motor vehicle with his bare hands. Well young man? Can you do it now? Or do you need to wear elf armor or some other device of trickery?”
George shrugged, walked to the front of the limo, and casually lifted the front end of it a yard off the ground. “This is child’s play,” he said, as he put it back down, then led the gawking adults through the gate.
As they started down the walk, George sensed Grog’s arrival. “It’s OK Grog, we’ll let all four strangers have the same access as Rick for the next two hours. And they want to talk to you also. It’s needed in order to renew the Treaty.”
“You are the Chosen,” said a deep voice from somewhere hidden in the foliage.
“That was supposed to be your big troll friend, I suppose,” said Jerrod sarcastically.
“What does the term ‘chosen’ mean?” Henry asked, ignoring Jerrod.
“I have been chosen to have certain powers in order to carry out my duties,” said George. “By magic, you would probably say.”
“Magic. So a few days ago you couldn’t lift a limo?” asked the scientist.
“Of course not,” confirmed George, laughing. ”I’m a fifteen year-old kid!”
“And what are your duties?” Henry continued.
“I’m only beginning to learn them, but it includes protecting this place, Earth and Narma. But I still have to do normal stuff like going to school, of course.”
“Narma is where the elves are from?”
“Yes. I haven’t been there yet myself, but crazy as it all sounds, I’ve seen enough so that I believe in it totally.”
“It will take more than your limo trick to convince me,” grumbled Jerrod.
“Which is why you’re all here,” noted George. “OK, what do you want to see first? The house or the backyard?”
“The backyard, I should think,” said Henry.
George shrugged. They had reached the house. George paused as the rest of the party emerged from the jungle pathway and made their way o
ut onto the lawn.
“Perhaps Grog should show us the forest, as it is his domain,” suggested Rick, with a twinkle in his eye.
“By all means, where is your elusive troll?” asked Jerrod, sarcastically.
“I am here,” rumbled Grog, from very near.
Rick chuckled as the four newcomers looked around nervously than gasped when Grog seemed to materialize out of thin air only a step in back of them, a massive, hairy, brown giant.
“It’s only an optical illusion, like the dragons were,” said Jerrod, shaking his head. He strode up to Grog, apparently intending to walk through a hologram, but instead walked into the big troll, knocking himself to the ground.
“Foolish human,” the troll rumbled. He reached down with a huge hand that encircled the fallen man’s waist and lifted him ten feet into the air before gently setting him down, leaving him standing but so wobbly-kneed that Rick thoughtfully steadied him by grasping one of his arms.
“How did you do that?” Jerrod managed to ask George through clenched teeth.
“You mean how did Grog appear behind you that way?” George responded. “He blends in by changing color like a chameleon or octopus. Plus he’s very light on his feet for a big guy.”
“No, how did you lift the limo, then lift me?”
“I have been given elf powers, and Grog is simply huge.”
“It all has to be a trick.”
George shook his head. “Grog, these are Ken, Jerrod, Ellen, and Henry.”
Grog gently shook hands with each of them, which involved his huge hand gently enveloping each human’s hand and entire forearm.
“Grog, can I have a hair sample from you?” Henry asked, after his turn. “For DNA analysis?”
“Humph,” snorted Grog, but he gathered a great fistful of his own hair to hand to the scientist.
“His kind is originally from the same universe as Earth, but a different planet,” Mary explained. “The trolls all live on Narma now, except for him.”
“Really?” Henry said, as he pulled a plastic bag from a pocket and shoved brown troll hair into it. “That’s very interesting, and should be only in part verifiable through DNA analysis.”
“Knock yourself out,” George said.
Ellen had retrieved some of the lose troll hair from Henry and was pressing it against her face. “It’s very soft.”
Grog reached out and gently stroked her head with a single gigantic finger. “Yours too,” he rumbled.
“It has to be a trick,” repeated Jerrod, shaking his head, but he didn’t sound so sure anymore.
“We shall see,” said Henry.
“I suppose the audio, video, and radiation detection, and location information you’re recording now will help you do that,” said George. He glanced at the case that Henry still carried.
“Your video won’t come out right,” Mary warned.
“That be true,” said Grog. “The ward distorts it.”
“What is a ward?” asked Henry.
“It’s a kind of magic force field,” explained Ellen. “It also blocks observation by satellite and other normal means, when intact.”
“As indicated in the Treaty,” added Mary.
“I perceive the ward as a glowing mist that surrounds us,” said George.
“Interesting,” said Henry. He pulled a test-tube out of a pocket and opened it. “Think I’ll get a sample of it this way?”
“I doubt it,” George answered. “It’s magic energy that passes through ordinary matter. Harry said magic might be done by changing quantum mechanics. Does that make sense?”
Henry’s eyebrows rose an inch. “That’s an astounding and interesting notion.”
“I think they’re stalling us,” said Jerrod. “Let’s get to the back yard.”
Grog shrugged, than led the entourage around the house. At first, only huge undamaged trees were visible, but as Grog led them into the forest soon the tremendous damage done by the dragon battle became evident. Beyond the thin vale of undamaged trees was a border of singed and crushed trees, and beyond that a vast expanse of black, grey, and white ash. Baby trees sprouted over much of the damaged area, but did not yet conceal the destruction.
“Bloody hell!” exclaimed Ken.
Even Jerrod was moved by the sight. “Could our bombs have done that?” he asked Henry.
Henry had opened his instrument case and pulled out the radiation detector, which he was waving all about. “No. No unusual radiation. Less radiation than normal, as a matter of fact.”
“That makes sense,” said George. “Jewel absorbed the nuclear bomb blasts, and the ward would take care of any odds and ends she missed.”
Henry was pulling empty plastic bags from the case. “I’ll need samples from the destruction. And I want to inspect the locations where the dragons were.” Obviously in preparation for an excursion into the devastated area, he bent down and tucked his pants cuffs into socks that protruded above hiking shoes.
“I should have worn more practical shoes myself,” said Ellen, pointing to her open-toed, medium-healed dress-shoes.
“Don’t worry,” said George. Grog or I can carry you over the worst stretches.”
“Actually,” said Rick, as they approached the destruction, “I find the recovery process to be even more impressive than the destruction. It is much easier to destroy than to enable life.” He pointed to shoots of green sprouting up through piles of broken branches, and further along, through piles of ash. The forest was rapidly returning. Saplings were taller than a man in many places. Close by, a patch of sprouts less than a foot high was prevalent.
“You can almost see them growing,” said Ellen.
“Almost,” agreed Mary. “The ward is spread pretty thin, working to bring back forest to acres and acres. But come back in a few hours and you’d notice the difference.”
Johnny, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, patted George on the back. “No time for that. My man here can focus the ward effects. Show them, George.”
“Good idea Bro,” said Mary. “Somebody pick a small sprout, any sprout.”
“Let me get this straight,” said Jerrod to George with a smirk, “you’re going to get a tree to grow before our eyes?”
“We’ll see. Pick a sprout,” said George, shrugging.
“I’ll pick one,” said Henry. Ignoring the nearest growth, he walked to a patch of dozens of shoots that was further away. “This one,” he said, pointing to one of them that poked only six inches above a bed of black cinders. He cut a small sample from it.
George again shrugged, than focused the ward.
For a few seconds, nothing seemed to happen, and a grin slowly formed on Jerrod’s face. The grin disappeared and his jaw dropped open when the shoot visibly grew taller. Growth accelerated to over an inch a second as everyone watched in fascination. The trunk thickened and branches sprouted from it, than buds, and finally leaves that quickly matured.
“I guess that’s enough,” George said, as growth slowed. The tree, an oak, was over ten feet tall.
“It’s all true then,” Ellen said to Rick, smiling.
“We’ll see,” said Henry. He inspected the sapling, and took a small leafy branch as a second sample. “Where did the dragons fight?” he asked.
“Me show,” said Grog. The troll picked up Ellen and Henry in each hand, and with one of the humans sitting on each shoulder, he strode off into the destruction zone, while the others trailed behind awkwardly.
For the next hour Grog led a tour of the battle zone, pointing out where dragons fought and died. Henry and Ellen asked the most questions and seemed interested in detailed observations and conversing with Grog and the teenagers, while Jerrod and Ken hung back and frequently whispered to each other, pointing, nodding, and shaking their heads. Who did they all work for, George wondered. NSA? NASA? He could probe their thoughts more, if he tried, but he didn’t want to get into the habit of doing that. But what if they were planning to raid with a thousand troops?
Or bomb the house?
While they examined the place where one of the dragons was defeated George sensed something he had missed earlier. He plunged a hand two feet down into the ash and pulled out a pointy piece of metal half a meter long. “It’s Harry’s missing elfin spear head!” he noted.
“Can I get a sample of it?” Henry asked.
“Not of the spear,” George said. “It’s a weapon I might need, and impervious to your sampling methods anyway. There will be other elf things in the house I can let you have.”
“You’re hiding something, young man,” Jerrod accused.
“We’re telling you all you need to know at this point, and everything I’m sure of, and not holding back anything that would harm Earth or this country,” countered George.
“So you admit to hiding information from your Government?” said Jerrod.
“The operative concept being that it is OUR Government,” blurted Mary. “Obviously you have an obligation to this country as employees, but so do we, as citizens. That doesn’t translate into a Government having to know our every thought and deed.”
“There are things we’re still working out and which you wouldn’t understand either,” added George. “As we learn more you will be informed more, that I can promise you. But as outlined by the Treaty, the interest promoted here is security for Narma and Earth universes, not simply for the United States or even Earth. The United States is only one nation on one planet of billions, and the United States Government is only one entity of the United States.”
“That’s the sort of thing for the President and his senior staff to worry about,” Jerrod claimed.
“It’s the sort of thing my Uncle worried about most of his life and that now I worry about,” said George.
“Me too,” added Grog, as he gently removed Henry and Ellen from his broad shoulders. “In Narma there be many tribes of trolls, each with chief and elders. There I lead a tribe but here I be my own troll, for Narma and Earth. You think too small, humans. George be the Chosen One; not you, not your President.”
Jerrod shook his head. “The bottom line is this. We need to know what happened to those bombs.”
“They aren’t here, of that I am virtually certain,” said Henry. “Nor have I found any evidence that they ever had been here, much less detonated. There is simply no trace of them.”
“We’ve told you about them already,” said Johnny, “and Rick saw it happen too. The dragon totally sponged up the blasts. End of story.”
Henry nodded. “Of the dragons I have found strong circumstantial evidence. We looked at several titanic depressions that looked like footprints where hundreds of tons of force compacted soil and crushed boulders into powder. Ash and other samples will surely verify that temperatures of thousands of degrees were applied over large areas, yet thus far there is no evidence of any known accelerant. All data I have gathered matches satellite observations exactly.” He turned to Grog. “Can we see next the Portal to Narma?”
Grog shrugged. “You can see the place where it is, but you will not see it.” He again picked up Henry and Ellen and strode into the forest beyond the dragon damage. Everyone else followed as best as they could.
Along the way they encountered unfamiliar trees, birds, and other small creatures. The trees featured purple leaves and the birds featured extravagant birdcalls and colors. "Some be from Narma, but they be harmless," noted Grog.
"But couldn't they contaminate Earth's ecosphere?" asked Henry.
"No; they be confined here by the elf wards," said Grog.
The troll took them to a grassy glade in the forest where no trees or bushes intruded. Otherwise it looked perfectly normal. “It be here,” announced the troll.
“But there is nothing here,” said Jerrod, as he and Henry walked through the indicated area.
“I get essentially no radiation readings here at all, except for visible light,” said Henry, as he scanned the center of the glade with his case of instruments. “Readings are even lower than at other places on the property.”
“No proof at all, than,” Jerrod said, with a smug smile.
“To the contrary,” said Henry. “I can think of no natural explanation for such readings. The Sun and Earth produce orders of magnitude more radiation than my measurements show. A ten-foot thick layer of lead could not block that much natural radiation.”
Johnny, Grog and Mary exchanged knowing glances and telepathic thoughts. Mary could sense that this place was strange beyond measure, while George could see rivers of ward power swirling around a sphere of strange light. Henry stood in the center of the sphere without even knowing it. Grog silently informed George and Mary that magic powers were required to detect or to operate the Portal.
“The Portal is here, humans. But there is nothing you can see, unless you have special talent,” said the troll.
“I don’t see how this can be said to be conclusive evidence of a Portal to another world,” said Ken. “How about a demonstration?”
“Too dangerous,” the troll rumbled. “Portal use maybe draws attention in Narma.”
“But the crow used it, or so you claim,” said Jerrod. “And your little elf friends.”
Grog shook his big hairy head. “With well-trained powers, Portal use can be made hard for the Horde to see. George and Mary be not yet trained. They have raw powers, but not yet be ready for the Portal. None here can use the Portal, or the Horde will find us.”
“The Horde is mentioned in the Treaty,” said Ellen. “Who, or what is it?”
“Followers of the Dark One," said Grog. "Creatures of power of many types from many worlds. His eyes and ears, His fellow destroyers, many hundreds of them.”
“He destroys many planets?”
“Many planets in many universes," explained Grog. "The Dark One threatens all.”
“What does he want?” asked Mary.
“Death to all life,” said Grog.
“I don’t suppose you have real evidence of any of this?” Jerrod asked with a snicker, after a moment of stunned silence.
“Two of the Horde were here only a short time ago,” noted George. “Giant Dragons that can suck up A-bomb explosions. To me that seems like pretty solid evidence of at least some of this stuff.”
“And they were after something here on Earth,” noted Jerrod.
Grog nodded his great hairy head slowly.
“Searching for something dangerous brought here by Harry or his elf friends from Narma,” Jerrod added.
“Something to save both Earth and Narma,” said George.
“So you say,” responded Jerrod. “That part is something you can’t prove conclusively, since you refuse to show or demonstrate the weapon to us. What we can be sure of is that whatever is here endangers Earth by drawing the dangerous Horde characters to us.”
“Wrong. Ultimately we need something to defeat the Evil, or it will get us eventually anyway,” Mary countered.
“But why here?” asked Ellen. “Why Earth?”
“Elves be here many times,” said Grog. “This be near our old troll home. This be far from Narma. Harry found special treasures on Narma. He and elves want treasures to be here to protect Earth as well as to be safe from the Horde.”
“Harry found what?” demanded Jerrod.
A big grin formed on the troll’s hairy face. “Like you Earth peoples say, I could tell you, but then maybe I need to kill you.”
The Government team looked at the big troll with apprehension, but the big troll failed to elaborate further.
“I’m pretty sure that would break the Treaty,” said Rick with a smile, lightening the mood.
“What Grog is trying to say is that this is a sensitive area right now,” said George. “Your sending in a team of spies didn’t help. You trusted Harry for years, and now you need to trust us.”
“Because so much may be at stake, that’s a tough one,” said Jerrod.
"Trusting you is the tough one for us," said Mary. "How do we trust that
you sincerely represent Earth interests and not simply your own? You are the ones that broke the Treaty with trespassers, not us."
“Enough,” Henry said. He had been taking radiation readings, but now packed all his equipment and specimens into his carrying case. “No more discussion. This is a scientific fact collection effort, not negotiations, and our time is short.” He turned to George. “Let’s see the house, young man.”
Government access to the house was limited by the new Treaty to one of Harry's studies. In it was the typical mix of books, statues, and other odds and ends. George reasoned that this particular study was called out in the Treaty by the elves only because it was near the front door. There were a dozen others in the house with very similar contents.
All the visiting humans moved around the room examining everything with great interest. Ellen opened an elf book. “It’s blank!” she said.
“Not so,” said George, who suddenly discovered to his own astonishment that he could now read the elf book. “It’s an illustrated guide to trees on Narma.” He looked at other titles. “Most of these books are on similar topics. You simply don’t have the necessary talent or skills to read them. I didn’t either, before I came to live here.”
“What about this?” said Henry, who was examining a flat, rough surfaced, disk-shaped object as big as a dining room table-top.
“Dragon scale,” bellowed Grog from the doorway. “Small one.”
“I would very much like to have a small sample of it,” said Henry.
That turned out to be difficult. Grog watched in amusement as Henry than Jerrod tried unsuccessfully to cut a piece of scale off, first with a pocket knife and then with a hand-held laser. They couldn’t even scratch it. George with great difficulty finally managed to hack off a few square inches of scale with his elf sword. The elf book on trees was also lent to the Government humans for study.
There was little conversation as the three teenagers walked the Government team to their limousine. Everyone was obviously trying to digest what they had witnessed.
“What about Ellen’s suitability?” Rick asked George, as they neared the street.
“Let me ask Grog and Mary,” George replied, as he telepathically contacted his friends on the matter.
“It’s unanimous,” George announced seconds later, smiling at Ellen. “We all think she’s fine. A huge improvement over Mike, anyway. The Elves will have the final word though, when next they return.”
Rick nodded. “It took me years to find someone I trust. I’ve put everything I have into this whole business. I want success.”
“And I do too,” added the smiling Ellen.
“Was that telepathy just now?” asked Henry.
“Comes in handy,” George said, nodding.
“There is one more thing,” the scientist said. “I know it would break with Treaty protocol again, but do you think I might also be able to meet the elves when they return?”
“I will ask them,” George said. “We expect they will return shortly.”
“Excellent,” the scientist concluded. He and the others shook hands with the teens before entering the limo.
“You’ve given us some things to think about, young man,” said Jerrod, as he got into the limo. “We’ll be in touch.”
“That went pretty good, I think,” said George, as the limo drove out of sight.
“As good as could be expected,” agreed Mary. “I thought you were wonderful, George.”
“You were wonderful yourself,” George told her, in return. “YOU CONSTANTLY ASTONISH ME,” he added silently, as they looked into each other’s eyes.
“They still might just nuke the place, and we have no giant dragon to suck it up,” said Johnny casually, as he looked at his watch. “Right now there’s no time for goo-goo eyes, Sis. We’re late for dinner.”
“Right,” agreed Mary. “We better go before Dad comes after us. We’ll meet you here tomorrow morning for school, George.”
George watched her walk home. With all that was happening, he still thought of her more than anything else.
“You like Mary,” Grog stated, grinning hugely as they walked together towards the house.
“Is that bad?” George asked.
“Most good, but some bad. Elves come soon, and more trouble comes soon. Government may be good, may be bad. Also you be the Chosen of a dragon. Very busy boy you are, even without nice girl to think about. Busy, busy.”
****