The Journey – Part three
Jasper jumped when he heard feet walking behind him again. Whirling around, he saw the white-haired man had followed him. This time Jasper recognized that he was wearing an I-Force uniform, his cloak flowing with each step.
Stopping in front of the boy, his eyes seemed to sparkle with life as he spoke. “Son, you can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous for you now. They’ll come back for you.”
“Why?”
“Because you have the white Stone that they are looking for.”
“I don’t have a white Stone. I don’t know what you are talking about,” shouted Jasper with all innocence. He had no memory of the white Stone. The man’s voice gave Jasper the courage he needed to run again. His desires were strong to get to the safety of his home.Entering the grove, he headed for his house. Quickly, he realized something was wrong. The grove of trees was covered in a cloud of dust. Everything looked eerie and unrecognizable. He choked and coughed, picking his way among the trees. Trunks and branches loomed through the grayness. Evil shapes and shadows seemed to taunt him.
Finally, he stopped for a minute to pull the bottom of his shirt up over his mouth to breathe more easily. He stood peering through the dust in search of something that looked familiar, but recognized nothing.
As his tears formed little trails in the dust on his cheeks, despair felt more stifling than the air settling over Jasper. I want to go home, he cried inside.
“TURN TO YOUR RIGHT A LITTLE AND START WALKING. YOU WILL FIND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR,” soothed the Master Stone in his pocket.Jasper didn’t question the voice as it kept him quiet and feeling calm again. He headed to where the voice told him to find his home. The voice kept encouraging him every time he felt discouraged. The dust had thinned out, when he reached the stream that ran across the meadow. Jasper knew exactly where he was. He jumped it and excitedly ran towards his home.
Coming out of the dust at his backyard, Jasper stopped stunned. This was his backyard, but the shed and the house were gone! In place of the shed was a smooth patch of dirt, as if the whole thing had simply been picked up. Where his house had been, there was a giant hole.
Jasper walked to the edge of the hole. It was several feet deep. The sides and bottom were smooth except where a stream of water was dripping out on the far side. The water was coming from the underground pipe that ran to the house, and it looked as if it had been sheered off as cleanly as the dirt and shrubs and grass at the edge of the hole.
Jasper just stared at the water as it continued to splash into the hole. Where was his house? Where were his mom and Jamie and Buster? Jasper began running around the yard searching for any sign of his family. Nobody answered his cries. After several frantic minutes, Jasper collapsed on the grass in fear, shock, and fatigue. His mind kept repeating his wonders. Where was his house? His family? His father wouldn’t be home for hours yet. How could he get word to his father? Does he know about this?
A soothing familiar voice interrupted his thoughts. “Son, you have to leave now.”
Jasper faced the same white-haired man walking across the lawn toward him. “Come with me to my ship, and we’ll find your family,” assured the man.
Should he trust this stranger? The man was wearing an I-force uniform.
“JASPER. GO WITH HIM. YOU NEED TO HURRY AND GET OUT OF HERE.” It was the same calming voice that calmed him in the grove of trees. Jasper didn’t move and the voice added, “HE WILL PROTECT YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE UNTIL I-FORCE CAN BRING YOUR FAMILY BACK. YOU WILL FIND YOUR FAMILY, IF YOU GO WITH HIM.”Jasper felt peace from the hypnotic voice. Standing, he headed for the man as he left for the meadow. The white-haired man led him back through the meadow, but in a different direction. Jasper followed the man for some time in peace as they wandered in and out of the different groves of trees. He stayed very close behind him. Eventually, however, Jasper grew tired of the silence.
So he ran up to the man’s side and asked, “Where are we going?”
“My ship,” the man replied with a smile.
“Why aren’t they coming for you?”
“I don’t want them to get shot down like I was.”
“Was that your Star Skipper?”
“Yes.”
“Was anyone else on board?”
“No. I was the only one.”
“Where did all of the other men come from?”
“My, aren’t we brimming with curiosity.” The man paused as if considering something. “The other men were from a Galaxy Creeper,” he finally said.
“Did they take my family?”
“Yes.”The man started to walk again with Jasper staying beside him. He continued, “I heard people walking around us and they were afraid of I-Force. Why couldn’t they see us?”
“You’re full of questions! And bright, too. How old are you?”
“I’m seven years old. How old are you?”
“Old.”
“You look old.”
The man smiled. “Thank you.”
He repeated, “Why did the KOGN come here and take my family?”
The man knew he couldn’t tell him if he didn’t remember the white Stone. He had already asked him about it and the boy seemed to not remember it. The man expected it and wanted to make sure the Stone was safe, with Jasper forgetting about it. He took the boy all because of the Stone. He saw him pick it up.Changing subjects, the man asked, “What is your name?”
“Jasper. What’s your name?”
“My name is Dapper.”
He pointed at the insignia on Dapper’s uniform and stated, “You’re a general in I-Force, aren’t you?”
“You are right.”
“Someday I’m going to join I-force and fly one of your spaceships.” Dapper’s lip twitched at that. Jasper repeated, “How come the KOGN soldiers didn’t find us?”“You’re persistent,” stated Dapper, looking at him. He told him that he had a secret weapon that enabled them to be unseen. Actually, the general had the ability to become invisible for himself only. Knowing the boy had the Stone, he chanced the Stone would help him hide the boy too. It did.
He didn’t want the boy to know that he had mastered the ability. It was a secret that only a few knew about. For the boy’s safety, Dapper didn’t want to tell him the complete truth.After Dapper told him what he did, Jasper seemed to stop questioning him. They walked on and Jasper seemed to lag behind. So Dapper stopped and asked him if he was hungry or thirsty. Jasper’s head bobbled up and down. Dapper reached into a small compartment on his belt to retrieve something for him.
He pulled out a white substance that Dapper called field food. Jasper quickly took it, but Dapper pulled it back. He saw blood on the boy’s hands. He motioned him over to a tree and they sat. The general put the food back and took out a disposable wet cloth. He wiped Jasper’s hand, seeing it only made the cut bleed more.
Jasper told him that he got it earlier in the day and his mother had put a second skin on it. Somehow, Jasper had torn it off and Dapper guessed it happened when he tried to fight to get away from him.
The general applied medicine and a second skin over it so it would be protected. Then he gave Jasper the field food. Jasper ate while he watched Dapper take the washcloth and rub it between the palms of his hands. When he pulled them apart, it had disappeared. Jasper wanted to know how it happened and Dapper explained the friction changed the washcloth into solid gases and disappeared.Dapper explained that I-Force never left anything behind so they couldn’t be tracked easily. Jasper asked him questions while he ate. He was surprised that the field food took care of his thirst and hunger.
They got up and Jasper noticed other objects on Dapper’s weapons belt. It started him on a new path of questions.
He asked, “Dapper, in one of my books it says I-Force soldiers carry six knives. I don’t see any knives on your weapons belt.”The general removed a short four-inch stick that fit nicely in his hand. Suddenly, a knife blade appeared and it was replaced with a new one. Dapper went through all six blades. Jasper didn’t see him touch anything that would cause the blades to appear and disappear. So he asked how he did it.
Dapper explained to him about harmony. In the military especially, a person needed to feel the energy waves of their equipment. Once in harmony, they would ask the equipment to perform. He told him that he would see it a lot on the ship. Everything the captains did to fly the ship was done that way.
The general was impressed that the boy knew their blaster had military purposes. They could fire a laser blast, project a time, or just light up so they could see in the dark. He was even aware of their field glasses. Dapper showed him how they could activate them to talk with others in the field. They could ask them to show things from a great distance up close. This was called long view. Jasper even knew about the glasses’ abilities to form a black light to show them metallic substances that were hidden. He didn’t know about the glasses’ ability to let someone see perfectly at night, and they protected their eyes from the sun’s rays.
There was another thing Jasper knew about that surprised Dapper. They had a red stone with their equipment that made the knives leave and go. They called it an energy stone and only the military had them.
Dapper felt the signal of his ship getting stronger. He knew they would be there soon. He glanced at Jasper to see the boy wrapping his arms around himself. The general looked over at the sun quickly disappearing behind the hills. He sighed to know that it would be dark soon and they wouldn’t make it to his ship in time.
Looking at Jasper, he told him to come in close and he would share his cloak. The boy clung to it, relieved to get some warmth. When the last golden rays of light slipped behind the horizon, Dapper said, “Stay very close to me, Jasper; I can’t give you a light. There are spies out and about, and I don’t know if they are KOGN or I-Force’s.”
Jasper cuddled in closer to Dapper after his words. He was afraid of spies. Johnny and he had made up some great story about spies in their games and adventures. With cloud cover, a storm seemed to be coming in. It was going to be a cold night and with the two moons being hidden, it was going to be dark.
Dapper went slower than he wanted. It was very important that he got this boy back to the ship, since he was carrying the white Stone. The general wondered how long it would take for the boy to remember the Stone. He knew he couldn’t touch it. The Stone would come to him when it was ready.
Suddenly, they reached a small clearing. Dapper stopped abruptly and acted nervous. Jasper couldn’t hear anything but…a soft humming sound. He sharply looked up at Dapper when he started to hum softly in a different tone. It almost sounded musical to him. The general surprised him by pulling him in and wrapped his cloak completely around him. Jasper was about to ask what they were doing, when he removed his cloak. The boy immediately grabbed a hold of it and wrapped it around as best he could. He wanted back the warmth from being underneath Dapper’s cloak.
He could hear people walking, but he couldn’t see anyone. Dapper hummed in a musical tone and it was returned. With the sounds coming closer, Jasper was scared. He moved closer to Dapper and asked, “Are they spies?”
He didn’t answer but he put his hand over the boy’s mouth. The cloak went around him and he stopped breathing to hear footsteps. They became louder with each minute. Jasper wondered what it would feel like to be shot with a blaster. He could feel Dapper reaching for his.
Suddenly, the humming started again and it sounded like it was right next to them. Dapper let go of Jasper and said, “I’m here.”Jasper peered up at a group of men surrounding them. One of the moons started to rise from the clouds, allowing him to see something. One of the men moved his hands quickly and Dapper responded to him the same way.
Dapper looked down at the boy and whispered, “Stay with me. We need to hurry. There are spies in the area.”
Jasper nodded as he looked at the rising moon.
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