Chapter 1 
Escape of the Raven
The water fountain erupted into a cascading rainbow of brilliant colours as Saffyre Travertine and her friend Sakura put the fi nal touches to their life-like puzzle.
“Wow, Saffyre,” said her twin brother Zavier as he sat down to join them. “It looks fantastic!”
“We’ve been working on it for ages,” Saffyre told him.
“Yes,” agreed Sakura. “It was really hard to get that three dimensional effect like a real water fountain.”
“Hey, Saffyre,” came a mocking tone. “Wanna see the whole thing fall down?”
Startled, Saffyre looked up. Red-headed Platona and her four friends gathered around with sneers on their faces.
“What is it?” Saffyre asked annoyed. “We’re busy!”
“We’re pretty busy too,” Platona said, her voice heavy with scorn. “Doing this!” She kicked at the puzzle and it crashed to the ground in pieces. Her friends began to laugh hysterically.
“Real heroes aren’t you?” Zavier cried, his green eyes flashing with rage. “You always wait until the teacher on duty, leaves the room before you start your juvenile antics.”
“Juvenile!” Platona yelled. “I’m not the one building infantile puzzles.”
By now a crowd had gathered around them in Star Fire Central High’s leisure room.
“Leave them alone Platona,” said one small boy bravely. “We’ve all had enough of your bullying.”
Platona walked over to him. “Look at this,” she jeered. “Little Jaimz is sticking up for his pathetic friends.” She leaned over, grabbed him and gave his arm a vicious twist. He yelled with pain.
Zavier made a move for his pocket. “Leave Jaimz alone,” he warned.
“No Zavier,” Saffyre cautioned. “Let me handle it.” She took out a long pencil shaped object and pointed it at Platona. “It’s your last chance Platona. As Jaimz just told you, we’re all sick of your bullying. Do the right thing and let him go, or suffer the consequences!”
“You don’t seriously expect me to believe that thing will do anything to me, do you?” Platona said sarcastically, “You couldn’t invent a new paper bag let alone…”
Furious, Saffyre pressed the button on her new tervy-blaster. Platona squealed as she rose into the air and spun around several times. She stopped with her nose millimeters from the ground. Her eyes were wide open with fear.
The crowd erupted with laughter.
“What’s going on here?” boomed a voice from the doorway. It was Mr. Ludus, one of their least favourite teachers. He would often sneak up on students and seemed literally to materialize out of thin air, at a moment’s notice.
Shocked at his sudden appearance, Saffyre dropped the tervy-blaster; Platona shrieked and crashed to the floor.
Mr. Ludus fixed his cold, grey eyes on Saffyre.
“Go to the Principal’s office NOW!” he roared. “You know weapons are forbidden.”
Platona rose into the air and spun slowly around as Mr Ludus turned purple in the face.
Saffyre gave a cry and woke up with a start. That awful dream again, she thought. Several weeks had now passed since she’d used the tervy-blaster on Platona. The outcome had been unpleasant, with the device confiscated. Platona had come through the ordeal relatively unscathed. The worst thing as far as Saffyre was concerned, had not been the trip to the Principal’s office but the look of disappointment in her parents’ eyes.
“You were dreaming about old Ludicrous again, weren’t you?” grinned Zavier, as he waltzed into her room. “Hadn’t you better get a move on? Home schooling starts in a couple of minutes and you haven’t even dressed nor had breakfast yet.”
Saffyre sat up. “Zavier,” she said crossly. “Wait outside while I get ready. Amega should have woken me up earlier.”
Zavier shrugged. “I think she wanted to let you sleep in. And quit worrying about Platona! She’s lucky I didn’t blast her with the chabazite. Saffyre, your new tervey- blaster was a dream. The look on Platona’s face was priceless!” He was still laughing as he left the room.
Saffyre popped her breakfast tablet into her mouth. I think I’ll have cereal this morning, she thought, and immediately a delicious honey flavour filled her mouth. She then stepped into the Transformer, which washed her down, dried her, and zipped her up in a brilliant, royal blue coloured bodysuit. This all occurred in seconds and within a circular wall that gave her privacy, something badly needed when you shared an apartment with three other teenagers and two adults, as Saffyre did.
She was brushing her long, chestnut hair when an alarm sounded and a huge plasma screen descended. Three mornings a week, the young teenagers were home schooled promptly at nine o’clock. The other two mornings they went to Star Fire Central High. On home schooling days, the bedroom that Saffyre and her sister Amega shared, turned neatly into a schoolroom. Their huge king-size beds folded away neatly into the wall and four workstations appeared.
At that moment her elder brother Lazar walked into the room followed by Amega and Zavier.
A female face appeared on the plasma screen. “Good morning Saffyre, Zavier, Amega and Lazar.”
“Good morning Miss Kessley,” they chorused as they took their places at their workstations. Each workstation included a comfortable chair and desk with numerous drawers. Each workstation, coloured to the user’s preference, also had a small plasma screen and tiny headphones that were incredibly light and comfortable.
“Please place your headphones on your head. Remember to switch on your microchip wrist straps to retain all of today’s lessons. Today’s history lesson covers the period 2001 – 3001, downloading the information now.” Ten minutes later Miss Kessley spoke again. “That was a long history lesson today as we covered 1000 years. Now the geographical information of the same period will be downloaded, commencing now.” Five minutes later Miss Kessley spoke again, “Sending your math’s lesson now.”
A few minutes later Zavier wiped his brow. “Whew! That was a lot to absorb. Do we get our break now?”
“You may have your break after language instruction. Today I’m sending updates on the 25 most common languages spoken on Earth and the in excess of one million forms of communication spoken throughout the universe. This is a particularly long update and will take a full fifteen minutes. You may then break for five minutes.”
At the end of fifteen minutes, Miss Kessley disappeared from the screen and a giant screen saver picture of Star Fire City appeared. It was a totally enclosed city with shiny apartment buildings that contained everything a person could need. An intricate moving pavement system enabled travel around the city in seconds. Each apartment block had a mass of sparkling windows that enabled the occupant to appreciate views over the city, while at the same time blocking any attempt to view the interior from the street. Each apartment appeared to occupy only a small area, but once inside it was astounding how much space it held. Saffyre stared at the screen. It was a beautiful city, she thought, but how wonderful it would be to go beyond its boundaries; to go out into the great outdoors for the first time. Now that would be really something!
“Well, what shall we do today?” asked Lazar. Amega and Lazar were sixteen years old and usually took it upon themselves to organize the group, particularly while their parents Mia and Dexter, were away on business. Typically, the four headstrong teens usually had four very firm opinions on what they liked, (or didn’t), and were often reluctant to get going at all.
“Don’t start Laz,” groaned Zavier, “I’ve still got brain freeze from all that info.”
Lazar laughed. “You know that your new microchip has plenty of memory to store up to a thousand times what we learned today. Anyway be glad that languages have been streamlined. Why 1000 years ago there were hundreds of cultures and languages on Earth alone.”
“Don’t say that too loudly,” warned Amega. “You’ll give Miss Kessley ideas and she’ll make us learn them all.”
“Did I hear my name mentioned?” asked Miss Kessley as her face reappeared on the plasma screen.
Amega reddened; she was always sensitive to other people’s feelings. “We were just wondering when you would be back,” she said hastily.
Miss Kessley smiled. “It’s good to have such keen students. Believe me some of my other students would be happy if I took a long time to reappear.”
“Or disappear,” muttered Zavier under his breath.
“Now back to today’s lessons,” said Miss Kessley. “I have all of the latest updates on space travel. Put on your headphones and I will download all of the information starting with the history of light speed and continuing until today’s travel at 2.5 billion times light speed or, as we call it, ‘astro-speed’.” The four teenagers placed their headphones back on their heads and listened carefully. “Now,” Miss Kessley continued. “A quick download about the protective suits that enable us to travel at astrospeed.”
“Finally,” she continued. “Another full ten minutes lecture will conclude today’s instructions for this week. This will include all science, environmental and architectural updates. Listen attentively; we are pleased to report that the state of the great outdoors is close to completion. All contamination and pollution from the Nuclear Wars of 2902 have been eliminated. The ecological chain has been restored and we have even been able to recreate some extinct breeds. It is envisaged that outdoor visits from the general community may be allowed some time in the near future. Meanwhile, please be reminded that currently they are still prohibited.”
After the downloads were complete, Miss Kessley vanished from the screen. Before the teens could leave their workstations however an urgent message asking them to remain seated, flashed across the monitor.
“Looks like we could be stuck here for a while,” groaned Zavier.
“I’ll just send a message to Topaz asking him to bring in a snack,” said Lazar.
Moments later, the door opened and their domestic robot Topaz entered, carrying their refreshments on a tray. The tablet they took each morning, gave the teens all of their daily requirements. Equally important to their health however, was a special powdered form of nourishment, which not only became whatever snack the person craved, but also gave vital strength to the immunity system.
“Thanks Topaz,” said Saffyre. “I’ve sent a message to Excel and Kay4 to come in, could you open their special door?”
“Certainly Saffyre,” said Topaz. He opened the door and their robotic pets raced in.
“Come here Kay4,” called Saffyre. The small robotic grey and white cat jumped into her arms. She was remarkably like a real feline in appearance and very soft and warm to touch. She was called Kay4 because she was the third model after the original prototype named Kay.
“Hey Excel!” yelled Zavier. “Here!”
Excel was also very lifelike in appearance looking very much like a golden retriever. He was the first model of his kind. Both robots had a particular power, an exceptional capacity to store information, and both could interpret any language. Kay4 could emit a bolt of electricity and analyze any data which could be read back with a scanning device. Excel was able to move objects without actually touching them.
Excel ran to Zavier and perched at his feet. Zavier patted him lovingly.
As the teens waited impatiently for the message, another giant screensaver appeared on the plasma screen. Now the teens could see a giant, sleek building with a pointy tower at the top of it, a long passageway wound away joining it to another tall tower at the rear.
“It looks like the message is from the Intergalactic Protective Unit headquarters,” said Lazar with concern. “I can see Malacite Towers in the background too.”
At that moment the screensaver vanished and IPU’s messenger Morgan appeared.
“Hello Morgan,” smiled Lazar. “What can we do for you?” He privately thought that poor Morgan always looked like he had the worries of the world on his shoulders, even when the problem was relatively minor.
“Oh Lazar it’s dreadful,” wailed Morgan. “Inspector Jazelle will be along shortly to explain everything.”
A hush fell over the group. They were all thinking the same thing. The news must be truly awful if the Head of IPU was personally addressing them. The teens got to their feet when Inspector Jazelle’s image came on to the screen. Usually she seemed very calm but today her vivid blue eyes appeared troubled.
“Inspector Jazelle is there something wrong?” asked Amega, voicing all of their concerns.
“I’m just about to contact your parents who are returning home from their trip right now.” She took a breath and smoothed back her short, dark curly hair. “One of our most dangerous prisoners Professor Raven Quartz, has escaped and we’re concerned that he may attempt to seek revenge on your parents. He still blames them for his imprisonment.”
“But Inspector Jazelle isn’t security at Malacite Towers supposed to be state of the art?” cried Saffyre. “How is escape possible?”
Inspector Jazelle looked across at her. “Professor Quartz was being moved to a brand new high tech. section of Mala-cite, when it happened. He’s now out there somewhere, maybe already armed and dangerous!”