Anderson, Harrison, Jocelyn and Enboe-21 returned back to the present. They found themselves, once again, seated on the Time Machine. Andy's eyes were red and anger-filled. Joce, being emotional herself, fell to the floor and began to cry furiously. Harrison also had a long face. They were all despondent. Enboe-21 went to the corner of Anderson's desktop computer and transformed into a camouflaged pillar.
Anderson understood what love was, despite the fact that he wasn't good at showing it. However, this time, he did cry without wiping his face or getting up from the machine. Everyone were tied up to their own thoughts. They felt, each of them, that they should never have gone back to the past.
Harrison suddenly broke the silence by getting up from his seat and picking up a bar that was not too far from his reach.
“I swear I'm going to kill my dad!”
He made reach for the door when Anderson stopped him with hi
Anderson, Harrison and Jocelyn stood there watching in surprise. They were not expecting to have been followed into such a region. They could not make sense out of the situation. Who would actually follow them? No one knew about their reasons for coming here in the first place. The only ones that were aware were the Creep Hunters, but those lads couldn't have possibly turned against their words to keeping this secret — especially not under such a short interval. By the time they resolved to chase after the anonymous, he was long gone in a bike. “I wonder who you are,” said Anderson under his breath, after they'd tried chasing to the main road. What was left with the pursued was just the glimpse of a silhouette. “Forget it, Andy,” said Jocelyn. “Let's go back home.” Anderson nodded. They had had a very long day. After school they'd gone into Time
One must know that the Mcformulas were the great Mathematicians of Mcbornie town. They had a long generation of geniuses, and were spread across the country. Mr. Mcformula, for example, worked in the country's university as a lecturer in the department of Mathematics. His wife on the other hand was, naturally, a mathematician as well, and worked as the highschool teacher of Mcbornie Senior Highschool. These might awe onlookers, but the teenagers of Mcbornie town didn't share the same sentiment. They saw Mr. and, especially, Mrs. Mcformula as dweebs and would not dare to spare a moment of wondering how it'd be like to live with people like them. It was little wonder, hence, why the boys in the dressing room reacted the way they did after finding out that the Mcformulas were the ones who adopted Thomas. . . of all the people in the world, it just had to be them! Dude, even Principal Sanderson fears you may not accept hearing the name of
Mr. Hans was indeed surprised by the sudden visit of these teenagers. However, he was not entirely taken by surprise. It was actually to be expected, for he'd had lots of dealings with Anderson during the past few weeks. Had not his mind wandered to the prospective of Elizabeth inviting Archer, and that Archer was at the door, the former should have been his first expectation. Observing their faces, they looked disheartened, and there was a certain look that Anderson had on his face that poked at his heart as though he'd been guilty of some crime. Still, he was concerned as to what could have made them so and so, so instead of bothering with formalities, he made way for them to enter. As he watched, he noticed that the teenagers looked around themselves, as though expecting to find something; then they settled down and sat on the sofas (all three of them) without saying a single word, yet exchanging knowing looks. Hanson was perplexed as to
TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO. Archer glanced over the large hall that made up his laboratory. Cyborgs walked to and fro heavy monitors installed in different points, for the proper functioning of the company. They were all in white, lab dresses, save for him. His face was squeezed in displeasure, as he ran his hand, meticulously, over the plaster covering the wound his twin brother, Hanson, had imprinted under his thick hair, on his scalp. “Fool,” muttered Archer under his breath. “To think that you could be considered my twin. Humph!” The cyberboard fastened around his wrist began to blink. ‘This should probably be from Roborex,’ thought he. He tapped on the cyberboard and a display screen came to sight. “Master, I've successfully tracked down a family who it seems are your blood relatives in Mcbornie town!” said a robot dressed in a suit wit
After the terrifying revelation the teenagers went through, they could only return to reenforce their plans. Anderson was bent on making a payback. But if he really wanted to be on the winning side, all he had to do was to make a single, flawless shot. It was true that he had high expectations towards the competition coming around the corner, so he didn't want to let all his hardwork go in vain. He had to use this competition as an asset; it was his best, so far. Making a rough sketch, the competition was in five days time, so he'd be needing all the hours for preparation. Anderson Simpson had become furiously holding tight to just that thread of successfully avenging his mother. He'd already crossed his heart that the mission was a die-for, at this, he stood on his resolved grounds. After further discussions with Hanson, Andy came to understand that the security surrounding Archer was terrible, so he sought for Nelson; Pro
“Welcome to Stage 1, the Laser Test. This room is bulletproof, laserproof, soundproof — you name it. This is where you'd learn, through practice, how to use a gun. And not just any gun, a laser. Take those buds and tuck 'em in your ears. . . Put on these handgloves and that goggle. Remember not to let your emotions get the better of you, or you just might lose it all; and by ‘it’, I mean your life. “There's one law you should have when handling a gun. And that's ‘one shot’ — not two or three — for every single target. Your eyes and hands should work together, in unison, simultaneously. You do not use the thing inside your chest, but the thing inside your head. Got it?” “Got it!” Nodding, the former said, “Now, watch carefully as I demonstrate.” He reached for a laser, positioned and balanced his hands, aiming at the human-sized puppet opposite them. The way
“Karen and Kaycie, as you both know, the reason I called you both here is because the competition is already by the corner. I'm sorry I've been unable to upgrade your system units. Still, there's nothing more I can do.” Sighing, Jake shook his head. No matter how well he tries to get the QED, it only ends up futile. Now, he was left with nothing but these robots. Although in the presence of others, they may look very impressive, in truth, they really weren't satisfactory and could not be placed side to side with real cyborgs. “I've been keeping tabs on Anderson, and it seems he has already gone off to Portsmouth in advance. He's trying to be upfront, but we must take the leading arm.” Jake was seated with his legs crossed on a table. To no one in particular, he began to say, “The Greatest Scientist of the Age has prerequisites to eligibility. A personal AI inventory, and knowledge necessary to pass the brain te
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. Seated at the school park, on a dual swing, during the long break was Thomas and his sister Tiana. The latter had finally been discharged from the hospital, earlier that day, and had come to see her brother at school to tell him the good news. They both discussed cheerfully, as they swung. A new life was ahead of them. The joy they derived from having real, loving parents was unexplainable. Despite the pressing schedule of the Mcformulas, they always pinched out some time to visit Tiana at the hospital. Sometimes they come with flowers, other times they save Thomas the stress of having to send food over, by doing it themselves. This way, they were able to establish love and trust with Tiana; and their efforts did pay. At the moment, Tiana had been telling Tom all her school mates had been telling her about what Time had done to James the great bully. No matter how many times they retold the story to her, they would
“This is where they die? I don't think so!” Just when everyone had lost hope, after being covered in by Dr. Archer's robots, Andy and Jake heard a familiar voice. Averting their gazes, they looked towards the hole waiting to see the speaker. Anderson activated his binoculars to scan where Thomas was standing behind the wall, but surprisingly, he wasn't even there. It seemed that someone had dropped a little speaker on the ground. It was only a means for the robots to avert the pressure from the group inside, for a moment. Realising this, Anderson smiled. He quickly sent Enboe-21 a series of instructions, and ‘boom, boom, boom!’ fireballs began to fall on the robots moving out to check the person who had the guts to boldly declare that the group within would be save. Enboe-21 fireballs were much more powerful than that of most robots, due to the QED connected within him, intensifying the converted energy.
On seeing the approaching old man, the whole crowd was stirred up. This was the Dr. Archer everybody mused over, and just like they thought, he really met up to the descriptions. He walked with his hands behind his back, and his head raised in the disposition of an expert. Despite the ruckus the crowd was making, he did not even feel the least disturbed. He walked slowly, as though extremely conscious of where to place his foot next, to the platform where those who had just finished Stage 3 were stationed. After shaking his head slightly, Anderson quickly asked Enboe-21 if the features of this man matched what they'd seen in Time. “Positive,” Enboe-21 replied in an undertone. Nodding his head, Anderson commanded, “Give instructions to the bird of Jove, we begin now.” Without drawing any attention to themselves, Enboe-21 closed its eyes and sent a telepathic message to the bird of Jove, t
The auditoriums were full of moving people. Some went to and fro to get some food from the carpark, others travelled to other auditoriums to visit acquaintances. Just everyone was getting warmed up for the next challenge. Three hours had passed already since the competitions begun. The Greatest Scientist of the Age had commenced by ten o'clock, and now it was already few minutes past one, in the afternoon. Situated in the front row of the Auditorium B where Anderson and Professor Nelson were seated, Mr. Simpson had come to join the company. If there was anyone more proud of Anderson, right now, it was his father. Anderson explained that he'd learnt vital knowledge from Professor Nelson, which had aided him big time, throughout his first two stages. However, he carefully made sure to conceal anything relating to the main mission he was here for. If indeed his mother was still alive, they all just had to wait. He
Some twenty minutes after Anderson had left the hall, about three people stepped out. They were all from the London set. Next came Jake, then four others. Ten minutes after, ten more came out and met up with the cutoff mark. Including Anderson, the number of people who reached the cutoff mark summed up to 19. The remaining 14 had to return to their respective families, in the audience, in disappointment. Seated at the far end of Auditorium C was Principal Sanderson. He heaved a sigh of relief after finding out that both Anderson and Jake successfully passed the first stage. “Phee-yoo!” he sighed, taking a bite at his burger.* * * “Congratulations to those of you who successfully crossed into the next stage. Stage 2 is the Test of Coordination,” said Mr. Kennel, after sorting out those who had failed the first stage and those who were eligible to make it for the next stage. He paused to
After the rules had been explained carefully listed and elaborated to the competition, the contestants were each asked to provide an Artificial Intelligence inventory. One must know that it was a criteria to being eligible to even join the competition. At such everyone began to give instructions to their robots to step out. Different forms of robots stepped out. It was a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for one to see so many robots. Different television media were also present, taking the sight live on air. One after the other they began to bring out their robots for observation. After the observation, three people were, sadly, disqualified from the competition for their robots not meeting up to the required level of intelligence needed to proceed. Earlier, the man on the auditorium mentioned his name to be Mr. Kennel. Mr. Kennel had checked everyone's robot, yet the auborn-haired fellow who went by the name, A
Thursday and Friday passed off very quickly, then the day everyone waited for arrived. Saturday carried a graceful beauty in Mcbornie town. The roads had earlier been designed in all the roads of the traditional counties that led to DR. ARCHER'S “GREATEST SCIENTISTS OF THE AGE”, in Portsmouth. The previous day, which was Friday, almost all of the families in Mcbornie town had travelled all the way for the day's program. They were dressed in all sorts of splendid dresses that fitted for this occasion. To think they were all here, especially for Anderson Simpson. If even the mentioned knew about this, he would have puked blood on the discovery. It was just too magnificent. If one looked properly, before the massive building, one would notice two girls giggling and having a lively discussion. Of course, it was no other than Amanda and Jocelyn. Ten miles away, a family of five were in a shining blue car, advancing towards that
THURSDAY. Over at Portsmouth in Sir Nelson's Villa, Anderson had just successfully read the second book that had been given to him. At the moment, it was already cross noon. Having successfully cleared Stage Four, which was the Mental Fortitude Test, he knew he had to hasten up to cover the first three stages, foremost. But before then, he grab some meal. Done with the meal, he contemplated for a while on what stage to clear off first. Recounting the first three stages, there was no doubt the easiest to clear after establishing his mental fortitude would be Stage 2 and 3 (the Disposition Test and Robot-manipulation Test). Because of how connected those two stages were, there was a room marked Stage 2 and Stage 3 where one could carry out this knowledge test. In fact, it was no different from calling it one test. “Humph, I should give it a try!” Pushing the door in, he stepped inside the wide room, immediately af
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. Seated at the school park, on a dual swing, during the long break was Thomas and his sister Tiana. The latter had finally been discharged from the hospital, earlier that day, and had come to see her brother at school to tell him the good news. They both discussed cheerfully, as they swung. A new life was ahead of them. The joy they derived from having real, loving parents was unexplainable. Despite the pressing schedule of the Mcformulas, they always pinched out some time to visit Tiana at the hospital. Sometimes they come with flowers, other times they save Thomas the stress of having to send food over, by doing it themselves. This way, they were able to establish love and trust with Tiana; and their efforts did pay. At the moment, Tiana had been telling Tom all her school mates had been telling her about what Time had done to James the great bully. No matter how many times they retold the story to her, they would
“Karen and Kaycie, as you both know, the reason I called you both here is because the competition is already by the corner. I'm sorry I've been unable to upgrade your system units. Still, there's nothing more I can do.” Sighing, Jake shook his head. No matter how well he tries to get the QED, it only ends up futile. Now, he was left with nothing but these robots. Although in the presence of others, they may look very impressive, in truth, they really weren't satisfactory and could not be placed side to side with real cyborgs. “I've been keeping tabs on Anderson, and it seems he has already gone off to Portsmouth in advance. He's trying to be upfront, but we must take the leading arm.” Jake was seated with his legs crossed on a table. To no one in particular, he began to say, “The Greatest Scientist of the Age has prerequisites to eligibility. A personal AI inventory, and knowledge necessary to pass the brain te