– CHAPTER THIRTY THREE –
The children glanced at one another and then begin talking all at once. Mr. Shama held up his hands.
“Hold on children. One at a time.” He paused and looked thoughtful for a moment then made a quick decision. “However, perhaps I should begin first”. Mr. Shama walked over to a painting on the wall and straightened it. He seems to be collecting his thoughts. He paused once again and then turned to face the children.
“Well, first of all I see you met up with Greanwold young Keegan. That was in my plans. Not what happened tonight mind you.”
Keegan interrupted Mr. Shama. “I think you have not been very truthful with us Mr. Shama. We have always been told to be truthful to adults. Why is it you had Greanwold’s friends here and didn’t let us know? Why is that?”
Mr. Shama studied Keegan for a minute then. “Just a minute Keegan. Let me continue.”
Cody glanced at Keegan. “Yeah, Keegan. Let Mr. Shama tell his story.” “Thank you Cody. You see children, I knew that a small boy would find the long lost cave. It was predicted many, many years ago. Without going into the details of my background at this point. You see the Kingdom of Nogardland existed since the beginning of time ……………”
Keegan jumped and down. “Yeah, I know, Greanwold showed me a weird kind of video projection of Nogardland with all the Minosaurs buzzing around and doing weird stuff. It was so cool.”
Mr. Shama ignored Keegan’s interruption. “ ……….. in a dimension that I cannot explain to you yet. In time. The Minosaurs had kings and queens and their existence was totally peaceful. Amazingly enough, they had learned to live without war, poverty, hunger and political power. Their lifestyle existed for millions and millions of years. In fact, you may find this difficult to believe but Greanwold is in fact 500,000,000 years old. I know Greanwold told Keegan it is five hundred thousand years but….” looking at Keegan and smiling. “….he hasn’t quite got an understanding of earth years yet”.
Parker stared at Mr. Shama. “Holy cow Mr. Shama. That is awesome.” Mr. Shama nodded. “Yes Parker. That is awesome to use your terminology. However, what is more awesome is the fact that once human beings began evolving on earth, in our dimension, the Minosaurs began to pass along their secrets and knowledge to the early humans.”
Lisa jumped up off the couch, waving her arms around. She was very excited. “Mr. Shama, Mr. Shama, you mean to say that a lot of the stuff we know today comes from the Minosaurs? Oh wow!”
Mr. Shama smiled. “Only the good stuff Lisa. Only the good stuff”. Jackie, Keegan and Cody sat with their mouths agape at the news from Mr. Shama. Parker frowned.
“Say Mr. Shama. How do you know all this? And why did you have Greanwold’s friends here and you didn’t tell us about them?”
Keegan looked at Mr. Shama with a look of consternation as he realized the implications of what Parker has just said.
“Mr. Shama. After you helped me find the Minosaurs, you didn’t tell us that you had found them. Why is that?”
Mr. Shama stood up and walked over to the window and opened the blinds. The curtains blew around him from the summer night’s breeze. He gazed out into the night for a moment and then turned and faced the children. He looked at Keegan.
“Keegan. I want you to trust me for now. Please! Now let me continue. So you see, even though the Minosaurs lived in another dimension …………” Lisa, still excited interrupted. “What do you mean lived? Don’t they live anymore?”
“I can answer that in two ways Lisa.” Replied Mr. Shama. “Yes and no. You see unknown to the Minosaurs at the time was the earthly dimension. However, it was populated by Draegons. Now please understand these are not dragons but Draegons. Something like dinosaurs but mean and very evil. So you see, there were three dimensions. Nogardland, the Minosaurs dimension; the earth, our dimension and the Draegons, all living together but separate and apart. Now 100 million year ago, a large comet hit the earth. This comet wiped out the dinosaurs, something you probably read about in your science books at school. Quite true by the way. Well, the same comet tore open the inter-dimensional veil between the Draegons and Nogardland with the result the Minosaurs land was decimated. Greanwold’s mother, one of the last surviving adult Minosaurs, managed to find her way to the Great Harmonic with Greanwold and twelve other young Minosaurs that were in her care. Her last living act was to invoke the Great Harmonic and to distract Moa Constructor so the thirteen young Minosaurs zipped through the time portal and transported them through time to earth where they have been suspended as Krystils up until yesterday when Keegan…(ahem).” Mr. Shama coughed and looked a little embarrassed. “……. discovered their resting place.”
Mr. Shama stood up and walked over to the sideboard where he picked up a jug of water and filled a glass. He took a sip from the glass and then placed it down on the sideboard. His audience sat quietly, staring at him, mesmerized. “So you see my little friends.” Mr. Shama continued. “This is a very complex situation. However, it was not supposed to be this complex. I did not realize that Moa Constructor was also in the cave though I had no way of knowing that. My, ahem, powers do not extend through solid rock. It seems that he is locked in place in a time warp and cannot move back and he cannot move forward. Just so you know, the Moa Constructor is the most evil of evil but is also very clever and can be very persuasive. So persuasive in fact that I have now learnt he has enlisted the aid of Reywal De Koorc to help in his quest to escape from the time warp. And, he almost succeeded. If it was not for Datslob’s Discman, he would have done so.”
Jackie looked up in surprise. “Datslob’s Discman? What has that got to do with anything?”
Mr. Shama smiled briefly. “Well, it seems that Reywal’s little helper, Datslob, loves music. He swapped some high quality batteries required for the Transmodulater with cheap batteries hehad bought. The cheap batteries were in the machine that Reywal built based on information from the evil Moa Constructor, the machine designed to lure the Minosaurs back from wherever they are, to the cave, and turn them back into Krystils. I have to believe that Moa Constructor has the Great Harmonic in his possession and if that is the case, then we do not have time for further explanations. Keegan was supposed to discover Greanwold, release him and the twelve Minosaurs who would bring the Great Harmonic from the cave to me. Somewhere along the way, things became fouled up and only Greanwold and six Minosaurs escaped, leaving the Great Harmonic and six Krystils behind. As I said, I believe it is in the hands of the Moa Constructor but it is no use to him without the other six Minosaurs and Greanwold. You have to trust me. I have to rescue Greanwold and the other Minosaurs and the Great Harmonic before they are lost to the Moa Constructor and Reywal.”
Mr. Shama paused for effect. “Now I do not have any time to lose. Will you trust me and let me tell the balance of the story later?”
The children looked at each other. Then Cody got to his feet and gestured. “Mr. Shama, can we just have a minute to ourselves. I think we have to talk about a couple of things. Please.”
Mr. Shama rose from his chair and nodded. He walked from the room and closed the door behind him. Before he closed the door, he warned. “Don’t be long, we do not have much time!”
The children all stood and clustered around each other, whispering. Lisa looked at Cody, “What are you doing? What do we need to discuss?’ “Look, I don’t know. Is he on the level?”
“Of course we trust him Cody.” whispered Jackie loudly. “Look, what an adventure this is. Besides, what are we going do? Ride around on our bikes for weeks looking for the Minosaurs? We need Mr. Shama’s help.” Parker interrupted. “I have a question though. Why did Mr. Shama send Keegan to find the cave? Why didn’t he just go and open it himself?”
The other kids looked at each other. Keegan shrugged “Well, lets ask him that question but first, I think we have to save Greanwold and his friends.” Jackie nodded. “I agree with Keegan. We need Mr. Shama’s help but I think we should be careful and not trust him too much? Is everyone agreed?” The kids looked at each and simultaneously high fived. “Yes!” they chorused.