Heroes pt. 4
	"Well, we might as well make camp for the night. No use trying to
cross the ocean at night," Kristin said.
	After crashing on earth, being separated from the rest of her squad,
except for Trooper Nicole Montgomery, Kristin decided that this was a bad
day. No, a bad last couple days, to be precise. *I wish I knew exactly where
we are,* she thought. *It would help me decide whether we should chance the
water in my e-frame the way it is, or what.*
	Kristin walked over to the trees and started looking for deadwood she
could use for kindling. As she started collecting some wood, she heard a
noise over by some trees. She pulled out her blaster and pointed it in the
direction of the sound. "Who's there? Show yourself?" Kristin yelled.
	Nicole came running up with her blaster in hand, pointing it in the
same direction as Kristin. The brush rustled a little more before they heard
a man's voice yell, "Don't shoot, I will not harm you."
	At that point, the source of the voice stood up. He stood at least a
foot and a half higher than Nicole, and that wasn't the only physical
characteristic which separated him from the two women. He was also had two
fingers on his hands which were raised above his head, and two opposable
thumbs, for he was a Neo-sapien. "I am no warrior," the neo said.
	"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Nicole asked the neo,
blaster still pointed in the direction of the neo.
	"My name is Archamedes. I am a scientist. After I was forced out of
my lab by the Neo-megas, I came to this island to do my work. I saw you crash
the other day and came to investigate. There is no need for your blasters. I
work only for myself, and not for Phaeton. Not anymore," He said. He spoke
with such gentleness, that Kristin and Nicole felt that they had no choice
but to believe him. They lowered their blasters. Archamedes lowered his
hands.
	"This is an island you said, what island is it?" Kristin asked.
	Before he could answer, Nicole said, "We were about to build a fire
and have some dinner. Would you like to join us?"
	"Thank you. I don't believe I have heard your names," he said.
	"Oh! I am Nicole," she said, while Kristin replied, "and I am
Kristin." The three walked over to where the campsite was being made. Kristin
went about making the fire while Nicole and Archamedes sat down on a nearby
log.
	"So what is it you do research on?" Nicole asked. Searching her pack
for some rations.
	"I do research on quantum mechanics. Mostly time, and how it works,
and its significance," he said.
	The two ladies just looked at him. "Wow," Nicole said. Kristin went
back to starting her fire.
	Archamedes got a disgusted look on his face. "And when the Neo-megas
arrived, they kicked me out of my own lab because I argued with them on a
couple theories. They said that terran theories were garbage. I said they had
substance. They decided that I wasn't fit to do research there and kicked me.
I took what supplies I could and retreated to this island."
	"How long have you been here?" Nicole asked. Pulling out a ration.
	"And where, exactly, is here?" Kristin asked before he could answer
Nicole's question. She got a fire started and was now poking and prodding it
with a stick, as if it was a poker.
	"This is the island formerly known as Crete," Archamedes saw the eyes
of the two ladies go wide.
	"We're on a haunted island? Great, and when I thought things couldn't
get any worse," Kristin muttered. Sitting down on the log.
	"Whether one can say it is haunted or not, is not a judgement I am
prepared to make. While nothing out of the ordinary has happened to me, I
have not seen a single terran building here yet. Which I thought was odd. I
investigated, but turned up nothing. I was able to get a building built,
which contains my lab, where I do my research. It was built by terrans, so
there are some extra rooms you two can sleep in if you wish. You need not
fear me. I will not do anything to harm you."
	"Okay, we'd like that," Nicole answered. "How far is it?" She asked.
	"It is not far," Archamedes said. "There could also be parts that you
could use to repair your e-frame."
	"That's great!" Kristin said, "We could get it repaired enough to
make it across the sea to the mainland of Greece."
	Archamedes stood up. "It will take us about three hours if we have to
get there on your e-frame. Is it good enough to fly? I noticed you walked
through the forest to get here."
	"It should be good enough, I will have to check it out though, as
soon as we are finished eating," Kristin said.
	"I can wait," the Neo-sapien said.
	About ten minutes later, Kristin got into her e-frame while Nicole
and Archamedes watched. She sat down in the seat and linked up. She
immediately realized something was wrong. She looked at the monitor she
rigged up to keep tabs on the fusion pack and immediately jumped up and
yelled to the others, "RUN! The fusion pack's gonna explode!" Kristin
scrambled out of the cockpit and jumped to the ground and tumbled as she
fell, twisting her ankle. "Yeagh!" she cried out.
	Hearing Kristin, Archamedes turned and saw her lying on the ground.
He immediately stopped and turned around, running towards her. She merely
watched as he ran back. Nicole had stopped and was watching the others.
	"What are you doing?!?" Kristin said to Archamedes as he ran towards
her. "The fusion pack is going to explode at any time! You could be hurt!"
she said as he picked her up.
	"It would not have been nice to have survived crashing on a haunted
island, only to be killed here," He said as he started running away from the
e-frame. They caught up to Nicole and Archamedes scooped her up in his other
arm and started running for the cover of the trees.
	Just as he got to the edge of the copse, the fusion pack went, and
the force of the blast was enough to still send them flying about five feet.
Fortunately, they landed in some bushes, which cushioned their landing enough
to prevent more than a few minor bruises.
	"Are you two ok?" Archamedes asked the two ladies.
	"I am fine," Nicole said.
	"Other than my ankle, I am just dandy," Kristin said. "So how long
will it take us to get to your lab now?"
	"Approximately two days, since we will have to stop for you two to
rest and eat."
	"So how are we going to get across the sea to the Greek mainland
now?" Nicole asked.
	"I do still have the boat I used to get here. We can use that to get
to the mainland."
	"We?" Kristin asked, standing up and using a nearby tree for support.
"Do you plan on coming with us then?"
	"Yes. I think it would be interesting traveling with you two."
	"But what about your research?" Nicole asked.
	"My resources are limited here. I need more supplies. It also gets
lonely all by myself here. I think I would enjoy some company."
	"Well, we might as well get as far as we can tonight. That explosion
could have alerted patrols," Kristin said putting her arm on Nicole's
shoulder for support to walk.
	********************
Captain Adrian C. Henry was working on some routine things in his office,
just off of the bridge of the Exo-frigate, Normandy.
	The Pirate ship, Red Dragon, had not returned from dropping Gamma
Squad on earth for their mission. They should have returned a day ago.
Nothing to worry about, they may have been delayed. But then, maybe that was
just the best case scenario.
	*They are a fine group of people, Gamma Squad. they can take care of
themselves,* Captain Henry thought to himself as he focused on a report from
the Resolute.
	*******************
	Three and a half days later a small one story building came into
view. It was about the size of a couple of e-frame launch bays. Not too big
as to be noticeable from the air, the surrounding forest certainly helped in
keeping it hidden, and it was too small to be constricting for research.
	The three said nothing as they headed toward the building. They were
all still recovering from their experience a couple days ago.
	One day after they left, they stumbled upon this ruined temple. It
had no recognizable markings that they could determine, but when they
explored it, they came across a small group of people. A very strange group.
They left a day later, no worse for wear, but with a desire to leave this
island as soon as possible, and with memories quite hazy of what happened.*1*
	As the three entered the building, Archamedes said, "It will be dark
soon. You might as well get some rest and some food into your stomachs before
we head out. The rooms are on the east end of the building. I will collect up
some of my research to take with me."
	"Right." Kristin said. She was walking perfectly now. Her foot
completely healed. Another odd thing after leaving those ruins. She should
 still be feeling a very small bit of pain.
	Kristin and Nicole went into the rooms and lied down on the beds.
They were plain and simple, and not very comfortable. *Better then the forest
floor,* Kristin thought. Even so, she fell asleep within minutes.
	A few hours later, while it was still dark, Archamedes took some
stuff to his boat. At first, he didn't think much of the rustle of the
bushes. Then he realized he couldn't feel any kind of breeze on him
whatsoever. He didn't consider himself easily frightened, but regardless, he
quickened his pace.
	When he got back to the lab, he decided he had gotten enough of his
research and equipment, and decided to wait until morning, when the two
ExoFleet women woke up.
	********************
	The two men watched from the brush as the big blue person, a
Neo-sapien, the two women called him, went into the building.
	The two men looked to be in their late forties, or early fifties, but
they were a lot older than that. One of them had mostly gray hair, and a
close cut beard of the same color. He stood about 6 feet tall, and looked to
be fit. He wore some dark clothes. The other had a dark brown hair and close
cut beard of the same color. He stood about 6'3". His clothes were an ocean
blue color.
	The dark haired man turned to the older and said, "Do you think they
will cause trouble? I know we blocked their memories, but will that hold
forever? We have remained hidden for a little over two thousand years. We
can't risk people finding out about us now, Zeus."
	The older looking man turned his head sharply and glared at the one
in ocean blue clothes. "You know that we are no longer called by those names.
Control your mouth, or you will be punished. We will again, but not yet.
Let's go," the older man said, and turned and started walking back in the
direction they came.
	********************
	Nicole brought her hand up to her face and started rubbing her eyes
as the morning light came shining through the window. She sat up and thought
about the dream she had last night. It was a strange one. *Oh, well,* she
thought. *It's only a dream,* and dismissed it from her mind.
	She stood up and stretched her arms above her head, accentuating her
figure, yawning all the while. She moved to the window and looked out. "Looks
like it's a fine day for sailing," she said to herself.
	Nicole turned and walked out of the room and went to the room next
door. She knocked. "Come in," the reply of her squad mate, Kristin. She
walked in and saw Kristin sitting up on her bed.
	"Is there anything we need to take care of before we head out?"
Nicole asked.
	Kristin sniffed the air. "Yeah," she said, glancing towards the
bathroom. "A nice long hot shower."
	An hour later, Kristin stepped out of the steam filled bathroom. *Now
that felt nice and relaxing!* she thought to herself as she wrapped the towel
around herself. *It's a good thing our extra uniforms weren't in the e-frame
when it went to e-frame heaven.* Kristin went over and pulled a clean uniform
out if her pack and put it on. Then she grabbed her brush and went over to
the mirror and started brushing her hair. A minute later, Nicole was knocking
at her door again. "Come in," she said.
	Nicole came striding through the door with her pack on her back. She
looked a lot better, and undoubtedly felt a lot better too. She knew it
because that was exactly how she felt, better. Kristin started to think that
everything was going to be all right, that the rest of the squad was alive,
and well, and that she and Nicole would find Elan and the rest of them, where
ever they were.
	"Are you ready?" Kristin asked Nicole.
	"Yep. Archamedes said that everything is ready, and he is going to
make finishing preparations on his boat and to join him when we were ready,"
Nicole explained.
	"Right. let's go!" Kristin said, swinging her pack over her shoulder.
	Nicole and Kristin walked out the door and headed to the dock.
	A short time later, Kristin and Nicole found themselves on
"Wavedancer", Archamedes small, but sturdy craft. They had had a smooth trip
so far, but as luck would have it, it wasn't going to last that way.
	Kristin walked up to Archamedes, who was looking through a small
telescope. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
	Archamedes took the telescope from his eyes and looked down at
Kristin. "I saw another ship in a westerly direction, but it was a strange
looking ship. It was all wood, with cloth sails."
	"Wow, that is strange," Kristin agreed, "but what does that have to
do with us?"
	"It is because that despite such a primitive mode of propulsion, they
are moving quite fast, and they are coming straight towards us."
	************************
	End of part four. *1* Author's note: This is a story for another
time. :) But it will be told.