They finally decided they'd had about enough (for one thing, it was getting difficult to move), and gradually staggered their way over to the lake to wash off. It took a considerable period of time to get all of the mud, soot, dirt, grass, and assorted grime they'd gotten into! off of their bodies, but eventually, two clean boys emerged from the lake and started making their way carefully back to the tent-dome.
Davy and Jahv were waiting there when they arrived. "There you two are!" said Jahv. "Davy persuaded his mom to bake some cookies for a get-together with friends."
"Yeah, I just didn't tell her that some of thise friends aren't from this planet." added Davy.
"Sounds good!" announced Keyro. Martin enthusiastically agreed.
"Where've you two been all this time?" asked Davy. "I saw Martin arrive earlier today and then the two of you scoot off into the woods, but that was hours ago."
"Exploring the woods." replied Martin, putting his clothes back on that Keyro had brought out, along with towels for the two to dry off.
"More like exploring the mud hole — again." said Jahv. "No offense, but you two are no great adventurers, so don't try to kid us."
"Really." said Davy, but not unkindly. "Exploring the woods. Sure."
Neither Davy nor Jahv quite understood the level of giggling that Martin and Keyro indulged in while everyone enjoyed the plate of freshly-baked cookies.
Winter had not been entirely kind to the young aliens stranded on Earth. Of the four, only Arion had not suffered greatly. A loner by nature, and from a mountainous and rather cold world, he relished the winter air and the snow. He spent vast amounts of time soaring through the sky, testing his own flight ability during the harshest of blizzards, generally coming back exhilarated and "victorious over the elements", as he liked to phrase it. His appearance changed subtly during the winter months, with white streaks in his feather-like hair becoming evident.
His favorite «activity» was dive-bombing rabbits. He didn't capture or kill them, just scared the daylights out of them. It was reasonable to assume that if rabbit droppings were good fertilizer, the grass and plants in the forest would grow unusually well come spring.
Morik suffered the greatest. Having spent most of his life on a perpetual tropical world, and with no clothes, the poor camouflage-skinned youngster thought he would freeze before the world around him thawed. He spent increasing amounts of time sequestered in his room in the dome-tent. He also became increasingly surly and unresponsive to the others. It was an odd change. Arion had tended to be the abrasive one of the group, but the winter had brought out his good side. Morik, on the other hand, could have previously been described as «shy», but was now just plain reclusive. He couldn't stand the chill in the air and intensely disliked having to stay indoors all the time, having spent most of his life in the outdoors, but neither did he like the idea of wearing heavy clothes. His own body tried to compensate with a strange, accelerated hair growth. But since his hair was predominantly on his head, this had only limited effectiveness.
Still, by the time Niklas and Davy convinced Morik to wear a heavy winter suit, boots, and a scarf they'd picked up at a thrift store in town, Morik's hair was better than waist length, there was a wild gleam in his eyes, and a slight growl to his voice. He accepted the winter clothes and donned them without comment, somehow managing to get the coat and hood past all that hair (and not even catching the waistband of the pants in the really long portions), wrapped the scarf around his face, and slowly ventured outdoors. He returned some hours later without comment. After that, he would venture out roughly once a day, stay out for several hours, and return. Although Morik seemed in somewhat better spirits after this, he remained somewhat sullen throughout the winter, and nobody ever did find out where he went. He even managed to somehow elude Arion once, when the young flyer decided to keep an eye on him. "I was two thousand feet up and he still knew I was there." Arion had told Jahv and Keyro. "And I wouldn't've thought he could move that fast in that heavy suit, let alone trudging through all that snow."
Jahv and Keyro seemed largely undisturbed by the winter, mostly because they didn't venture outdoors much. Jahv was up to something in his workshop, and seemed determined to make up for the errors of some of his previous endeavors. But no one knew just what he was working on. Both aliens, generally tending to spend their time naked, had taken to wearing at least limited clothing. In Jahv's case it had a practical purpose. He'd asked Davy for a pair of overalls. He admired the extensive pockets they had. This proved useful for carrying around a variety of tools. Keyro, on the other hand, had found a Web Site that sold T-shirts with slogans, and started making some of his own when Martin gave the young alien some of his T-shirts that he had slightly outgrown. Of course, Keyro tended to wear the T-shirts and nothing else, which looked pretty hysterical, but he was reasonably imaginative with the slogans. Everyone's favorite seemed to be "Is There Any Intelligent Life On This Planet?"
But visits from Niklas, Davy, Keith, Martin, or anyone else had been few and far between. As hot as the past summer had been, the winter had been that much colder and harsher. The boys just didn't get out as much, and for everyone but Davy, it was a fair trek, and doing it by bicycle was essentially impossible. There were also security concerns. The leaves were off the trees in the forest, which as a result looked a lot more open, which meant there was that much greater a chance of being detected. So, too, might suspicion arise from a constant trail of footprints into the forest that seemingly ended at a blank spot. Jahv had reworked the camouflage of the dome-tent so that there appeared to be snow in the spot where the tent sat, and he was very diligent about sweeping any new snow off the top of the dome (actually this task generally fell to Arion, who could simply fly up to the top of the dome with a small broom). But generally, the aliens had been on their own for months.
So when spring finally arrived and temperatures quickly climbed, the young aliens were delighted when their four closest friends dropped by for a visit. Arion's feather-hair had returned to all black, Morik's mood had improved although he had kept his unusually long hair (despite unsubstantiated claims from the others that he was shedding and it was a little disgusting to find a two-foot-long hair in one's food), and Jahv clearly had an air of anticipation about him.
"My friends," he said, "I have finally completed my latest inventions."
"Oh, God." groaned Keith. "We shoulda seen this coming. I told you we should've suggested hibernation to this bunch."
Jahv glared. "Keith, I really wish you'd have a little more faith in my skills."
"Yeah, Keith." added Davy. "At least wait until something goes wrong before you condemn it."
That got a moderate laugh, but Keith wasn't kidding. "Have faith? How about your track record? You nearly get us lost in space on board a shuttle that explodes five minutes after we finally manage to get back to Earth, and just to put a point on it, you got drunk on citrus punch at a Halloween party! Now you wanna tell me why I should have faith in whatever it is you've come up with this time?"
"Well, I did get your stepfather off your case for the better part of last summer." replied Jahv politely.
Keith opened his mouth but nothing came out.
Davy whispered to Niklas, "Score one for the green kid with the antennae."
Keith scowled, but he also knew that Jahv had a point. "All right. I'm listening."
Jahv opened a small box on a nearby table. There were eight small discs inside each about six inches in diameter. "These are teleportation devices," he explained. He pressed the center of one, and a small screen and keyboard appeared on the disc. "All you have to do is type in the location of where you want to go. The device will scan for a safe place within the general area and take you there. It's got the entire planet mapped."
"Darn, and here I was hoping for a nice quiet trip to Mars." said Keith.
"I'm working on that." said Jahv.
"Leave it to you to screw up a joke." countered Keith. "Okay, suppose these do work? What good does it do the lot of you? You can't show yourselves in public, anyway."
"Ah, that's where stage two of these devices come in handy for those of us who don't blend in with natives such as yourselves." continued Jahv.
"Just what we need — a two-stage cluster foul-up." quipped Keith.
"Keith!" snapped Niklas, Davy, and Martin almost simultaneously.
"All right, all right," said Keith, backing down. "Like I'm not entitled to an opinion."
"We incorporated holocron technology into these devices." explained Jahv. "Watch!"
Jahv pressed a few buttons on the tiny keyboard of the disc. There was a flash of light, and in the placve of Jahv stood — something that looked like what Jahv would probably look like were he human. The skin was a normal color, and his antennae had vanished. His hair was still rather oddly upswept, but it was blonde instead of white, and ears were visible. His eyes remained rather large, but they too appeared normal. His hands still lacked a fifth finger, but overall, the illusion was remarkable.
"All we need do," said Jahv, "is put on regular clothing and we're set."
"The disc can't do that?" asked Niklas.
"Probably, but we'd rather not strain them needlessly." emphasized Jahv.
"What about Chewbacca over there?" asked Keith, indicating Morik. "I don't care how human you make him look, that fire hazard he's toting around on his head is going to be trouble one way or the other."
"I guess maybe I could use a bit of a trim." commented Morik.
"And me without the lawn mower." remarked Keith. "Okay. You've got the means and you've got the looks. But where ya gonna go?"
"We sort of hoped you could come up with a suggestion." said Keyro. "There are so many fascinating places on this planet."
"What about that amusement park on all the commercials? The one that's supposed to be the best ever!" chimed in Martin. "I always wanted to see that place!"
"What are you talking about?" asked Keyro. "What's an amusement park?"
"Are you outta your minds?!" exclaimed Keith.
"I kind of like the idea." said Niklas. "I've never been there either."
"Me neither." added Davy.
"What is this you're talking about?" asked Jahv with a fair bit of emphasis.
Keith rolled his eyes and gave up. "It's an amusement park. Been in business only a couple of years, but it's supposed to be the wildest, most incredible amusement park ever. Technology that might even impress you. It's got just about every other amusement park on the planet wondering how they managed it. Some guy named Paul Keisner came out of nowhere and had the place built. Anyway, there's lots of rides and other attractions. The place is divided into different sections, each one somewhat different. But it also tends to be very, very busy and there's always long waits for all of the rides. I don't know if we could do the whole place in an afternoon."