Eckly Bik stood in front of Allor. He was a rumpled little old man with bushy eyebrows.
“Without a doubt, it is not the work of a resistance movement. The cave was burned to the point of melting the rocks inside of it,” said Bik.
Allor didn’t like the news. He had known it but hoped it wasn’t true.
“Not even an oil fire?” Allor asked.
“No, Allor, it wouldn’t burn nearly hot enough.”
Pens drew his sword.
“Dog, you will refer to him as Lord God Allor or you will become worm food.”
“No,” said Eckly.
Allor and Canto started laughing.
“It’s OK, Pens,” said Allor, “Eckly has known me since I was a young boy. He knows me better than most people.”
Pens put his sword back in the sheath. He moved back beside the throne chair and beside Allor. Canto sat on the smaller chair beside her brother.
“I’ve known since the day that the ship crashed that there might come a time when they returned. And in my mind I knew we would have to be prepared. But a child doesn’t think as deeply as a man. Then the distractions of life took hold and I forgot about it. But they didn’t forget. Now they have come to get their machines back and ensure we do not benefit from them. They exhibit all the coldness of a father to a bastard child.”
“Sir,” said Eckly, “what we need is to have a conversation with them. The man and woman that rescued Dubitam and MinKey. Before the cave exploded they left without discussion.”
“And just how do you intend for that to happen? Do we merely call out their name, which we don’t know?” asked an annoyed Pens.
“You’re pretty damned close, yes,” replied Eckly. “We know what they want, don’t we?”
“To get their machines back,” replied Allor. He looked at the old man and smiled slightly. They had been adversaries for so many years that Allor was very pleased to be able to now consider this man, the man that chased him out of the Treasury building, his friend.
“Right you are, sir. So how do we attract them? Pens has already given us the answer.”
“We set a trap using their machines,” replied Canto excitedly. “I am liking this.”
“Thank you, Princess Canto. But there is a downside to my plan. The risk is that they are able to steal the technology and escape. We will need a few pieces together to have an effective trap.”
“And how do we stop them from doing that?” asked Allor.
“I would like to ask Princess Canto if she would be willing to assist me with an experiment for a few minutes. And I will need some nets, the kind used by soldiers or athletes in the Ceros arenas.”
“Pens, will you please see to getting the nets?” Allor asked his high priest. Pens responded with all the curt sharpness of an ancient European fascist from Earth 5. Toxs later, the nets were brought to the throne room. Eckly connected four nets together to create one super net.
“Princess, if you would please come to the center of the room?” Eckly asked with a smile. He extended his hand to her. She took it in hers and they walked to the center of the room, like a grandfather and granddaughter. When they got to the empty center of the room, they stopped.
“If you would be so kind as to activate your protective bubble on the maximum setting for this demonstration.”
Eckly stepped away from her. He took a coin from his pocket and tossed it at her. It hit the protective shell and the outline became visible for a moment.
“Good,” he said as he walked over to the nets. “Forgive me, my dear.”
Then he threw the large net over Canto. It stopped when it hit the protective shell from her PPS. Eckly turned to the two guards standing at the door of the throne room and motioned for them to come to his assistance. They didn’t move until Allor nodded in agreement.
“Help me hold the nets down. Hold them against the floor.”
One of the soldiers got down on his hands and knees and held down a corner of the net. The other stood on another corner. Eckly held down another corner. Pens came down from beside the throne to help with the final corner.
“Princess Canto, would you please try to escape?” requested Eckly.
Canto tried to force her way past the nets but failed. She ran hard against it but it wouldn’t let her PPS shell through the netting.
“Eckly,” said Allor, “I consider myself lucky that you didn’t catch me all those times,” he said with a smile.
“So do I, sir. So do I,” Eckly replied with a smile and a wink. Pens frowned.
“What do we do now?” said Canto as she sat down within her shell and waited for them to remove the net.
“If you agree, I would like to work with Pens, Dubitam, and MinKey to rig a trap. I’ve seen large formidable traps sprung from the slightest movement of a small item, like the bracelet you use for talking across great distances. I believe that we can rig an overhead net with large ship anchors in each corner. They move the machine and the anchors fall, trapping them under the net.”
“I like it. Old men are only slow in their walk, not in their minds,” said Allor.
“Thank you, sir. May I have my leave to go discuss the design with Dubitam and MinKey? I believe MinKey to be particularly good at understanding things,” asked Eckly.
“By all means. When can you give me a working trap?”
“We will design it today, build it tomorrow, and should have it ready for testing tomorrow. I will ask Pens to assist me in selecting the best location for the trap. Someplace that seems natural for the machines to be, not a place that screams the word TRAP.”
“Make it happen, my friend,” said Allor. Pens cringed, and it was visible to Canto.
“Thank you, sir.”
The announcer came into the throne room.
“Lord God Allor, you have a visitor. An ambassador from the Kingdom of Rom,” he said with a bow.
A woman walked into the room. Allor recognized her red hair. It was Ova, the sister of the King of Rom.