Chapeter Four and 1/2!

CHAPTER FOUR AND ONE HALF: Christmas Special!

"Christmas is still a remembered holiday. Although there are no Pine trees to decorate, and there are no new, shiny presents wrapped in pretty paper to be given, and even though there's no fresh, crisp, white snow on the ground down here, The Survivors make by." A.I. narrates to the three children- M.T., M.N., and M.R.- rescued from the canister as she shifts her holographic form into that of what she was saying, a decorated tree, then shiny presents, then back to her normal dragon form. "Any questions?"

M.T. Raises his hand. "So, what do you guys do?"

A.I. grins, and points in the direction of the living room, where, in the middle of the floor space, rests a tree made up of random boxes of all shapes and sizes, all painted green into a solid mass, and having several random items hanging off of it. "Dee builds us a tree every year, and Tess decorates it with things she's found over the year!"

M.R. smiles. "What about gifts?"

A.I. laughs. "We don't get new things, but, we take what we have, and give it someone else every year!" She shifts into a stick figure drawing of two figures trading boxes, then back. "So, we always get new things, and give away the old."

M.N. frowns. "What about us?"

A.I. Grins. "now if I told you, that'd ruin the surprise!"

And So, Over The Next Month As Christmas Grew Closer, M.R., M.T., And M.N. Had To Wonder One Thing: "What Can We Give Our Guardians?"

They Thought, And They Pondered, As Life Continued On By Slowly, Until, One Late Night...

D.T. taps M.T on the head, there by waking him from slumber. "Hey, Kid, C'mon. I've got a job for you."

M.T. wondered what D.T. was doing, dragging him outside during the middle of the night with a pair of shovels and an old Wagon, towards an old Sea Liner stuck on the dried floor, but, he didn't doubt his teacher's wisdom.

"Um, sir..." He started after half an hour's walk. "What are we doing out here?"

D.T. looks at the boy and winks. "Now, if I told you, it'd ruin the surprise."

And So They Walked In Silence, Until D.T. Suddenly stopped short of the boat.

"We're here." He tosses the smaller shovel to M.T. before pushing his own shovel into the ground. "Let's dig."

With No Hesitation, M.T. Joined His Teacher In Digging.

Scrape, Lift, Toss, Scrape, Lift, Toss.

They Dug For A While, Then, Both Hit Something Solid With a THUD.

D.T. looked down at his charge with a smile. "Got it."

"Got what, Sir?" M.T. asks.

"Well..." D.T. starts clearing the soil off of his target. "...I don't know yet!" As a large, wooden box reveals itself, The two diggers grin. "Let's find out, Shall we?"

SNAP!

The Lock hit the dusty ground, shattered by the shovel.

"What do you think's inside, Sir?" M.T. asks.

D.T. lifts the lid open without a sound. "I'm not sure what this is, but I like it."

M.T. looks into the box, and his smile grows. "Well, I know I like it, Sir!"

With Two Weeks Remaining Until Christmas, M.R.'s Interest Was Raised When T.s. Offered To Take Her On A Trip To A Near By Formerly-Underwater Mountain.

"Um, Miss Tess, why are we going out of our way to this Mountain again?" M.R. asks.

The girl smiles. "We're going to get Gifts for everyone."

The Bio-Engineered Child blinks. "But didn't Miss Ai say that there weren't any new Gifts anywhere?"

T.s. sighs. Why this girl was so curious...? "Well, the thing about Christmas is that you can go out and do something for everyone else. In this case, we're going to this mountain to find something everyone can use."

"But why this mountain in particular?" M.R. asks.

T.s. bends down to the girl's eye level. "Because, Mira, See all these boats scattered around us?"

A glance around confirms it. This seemed to be a grave yard for old boats. "Yeah. What is it?"

"This is a place where there was a battle. A very High Tech battle." T.s. grins. "Some amazing stuff survived, and We're gonna find it all!"

And So, With One Week Left Until Christmas, M.N. Sat Patiently In M.D.'s Lab, Watching Him Look For Something Inside His Desk.

"C'mon...where is it...?" M.D. growls as he starts searching his diminishing stock of Supplies for... whatever.

"Where's what, Uncle Doc?" M.N. asks in a sweet, lightly toned voice.

"This...Ow!" M.D. bangs his head against the cabinet door. "...This Kit I've had since this whole thing began." He looks around the room, holding his hand to the back of his head. "It's got all these colored beads, and lots of string, and Yarn, and Whatever else you can imagine." He looks to the Girl with Blue eyes. "I've been saving it for a special occasion. It's basically a 'make a bracelet' or 'make a necklace' kit." The doc smiles. "I figure, why not make gifts for everyone with it?"

At this, M.N. smiles. "That sounds fun."

M.D. smiles back. "That it is, My little Star."

"What does this box look like?" M.N. asks as she slides down off her chair. "Maybe I can help you find it, Uncle Doc!"

M.D. smiles. "It's Blue, kinda flat, but rectangular; And it has this fancy stylized G on the cover."

M.N. looks around the room for a moment, before point up to a blue form wedged between two small file cabinets. "Like that one?"

M.D. looks at the form, and smiles. "Exactly like that one!"

Soon, Christmas Eve Came And Past, Leading Right Into That Day Of Gifts.

A.I. turns her holographic form on, slightly earlier in the morning than usual, and hops about the command center, retrieving the gifts from their respective hiding places, and dragging them under the tree. "There sure are a lot of gifts this year!" she notes with a yawn before heading over to an old CD player, placing in a Christmas music CD, turning it on, and then heading to the kitchen to start cooking the Survivor's breakfast. Surely the smell of freshly baked goods would wake them up.

Indeed, in a few moments, the M siblings came lazily drifting into the room, half asleep, and driven by smell alone.

"Wow..." M.T. smiles, looking the make-up tree with dozens of presents underneath. "That's a lot of stuff!"

M.R. nods. "Yeah..." She looks at her brother. "I only got a third of that."

M.T. nods. "Same here."

M.N. just smiles.

Another few minutes pass before D.T. walks in, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes mid-yawn. He looks at the tree for a few moments before blinking. "Are my eyes deceiving me, or is that a full tree?"

M.T. and M.R. nod in unison. "Yup yup!"

T.s. comes in a moment later, dragging the Doc by his arm.

"Nanny....I wanna sleep with the fishies..." he grumbles tiredly.

"Too...ngh...bad!" T.s. drops him onto the floor next to the table before taking her seat. "And I am NOT your 'Nanny'!"

"Did ya see the tree yet?" D.T. gestures to the conglomeration.

T.s. takes a look, then smiles. "hey, would you look at that!"

"look at what?" M.D. pulls himself up into his chair.

After A Filling Breakfast Of The Very Rare Pancakes And Waffles, The Survivors Gather Around The Tree.

"So...Who wants to go first?" T.s. asks.

M.R. raises her arm. "Me! Me! MeMeMeMeMe! MEEEE!"

D.T. laughs. "Okay, you can go first!"

"yippie!" The Girl's Light blue eyes scan the pile for a gift with her name on it. "here's one!" She snags a small medical glove box that had the logo scratched of, and had her name written on it. "Mister Doc, right?"

M.D. smiles. "Well, Mata here helped too."

M.N. smiles shyly. "It was nothing."

M.R. grins before pushing her arm into the box, and pulling out a white beaded necklace with her Initials spelled out on it in Light blue. "ooooh! Pretty!"

With a frown, D.T. picks up a similar package, only with his name on it. "And I thought we agreed to stick to the same routine as last year."

M.D. shrugs. "I figured we needed a change of pace."

D.T. puts his gift down, and looks over to M.T. "We go last, okay?"

"If you say so, Sir." M.T. says as he places his shiny new beaded bracelet, Black with Green text, around his wrist.

T.s. sighs as she places her necklace around her neck, then pulls out several random items out from under the tree. "Well, You just had to ruin the surprise, Doc." She hands him a light weight device. "We broke the 'trade only' rule too."

M.R. grins. "But I'm sure you'll all like 'em!"

D.T. opens the gift handed to him, finding an MP3 Player. "From the Two-Thousands to The Forty-Seconds, Mp3s never go out of style." He looks to T.s. and smiles. "Thanks."

She smiles. "De nada. No Problem!"

The Doc nearly faints at his gift, a pristine, mint, sealed in box Medical Scanner from the year 2328. M.N. opens her gift to find a digital coloring book.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." M.R. smiles.

M.T. removed the paper off of his gift, and found that he received a Serrated edged knife. "Why did you give me a knife?"

T.s. laughs. "The button on the handle extends the blade on a micro fiber lengthened pole."

"You can impale your enemies at Sixteen Hundred Feet!" M.R. chimes in.

M.T. looks at his blade in awe. "Not sure when I'd ever want to do that, but thanks!"

D.T. places his hand on his student's shoulder. "Never point that at Doc, okay? He can't fix us if he's hurt."

M.T. laughs. "Gotcha!"

M.D. frowns. "Not funny."

"Well, our turn." D.T. smiles, before he reaches out, and drags the wooden chest, simply labeled "To Everyone", out from under the tree. "Since everyone else already broke the rule, I suppose it's only fare that we did as well."

"Presenting...!" M.T. stands up, and kicks the broken lock on the chest, causing the lid to open. "The Mysterious Object that no-one can identify! TeeEm!"

Indeed, inside the wooden crate was a silver cube with several engravings on the side, making some sort of image when laved out side by side.

Everyone in the room gives an "oooh!" or an "aaah!" at the sight of the cube.

"I wonder what it is...!" A.I. starts.

"No clue, but it's pretty shiny, eh?" D.T. smiles.

"aww..." T.s. reaches out and pulls him, and M.D. into a hug. "You guys are the best!"

As if on cue, the children join in the hug.

A.I. laughs, then hovers on top of the pile. "Merry Christmas everyone!!!"

END CHAPTER FOUR AND A HALF_ _ _

Sayonara Babylon! CHAPTER FOUR!

CHAPTER FOUR: ROUTINE BANISHED! Revival of Lost Plans!

T.s. glares at the canister, all round and...shiny. "So...You found this thing in space weeks ago?"

A.I. chirps affirmatively. "Yup yup!"

M.D. blinks. "And it fell on the guys chasing us?"

D.T. Nods. "Yes."

T.s. the points to the canister. "This was falling THROUGH the atmosphere, and we were driving towards it's touchdown?"

A.I. laughs. "We were going to stop just short of the blast range!"

M.D. blinks. "And it fell on the guys chasing us?"

D.T. nods again. "Yeah."

T.s. kicks a piece of metal that seemingly was torn off of the canister, yet, seemingly did not. "And it's in ONE solid piece, even after chunks of it got torn off during re-entry?"

A.I. nods. "Looks like."

M.D. blinks. "And it fell on the guys chasing us?"

A.I., D.T., and T.s. glare at their doctor. "FOR THE LAST TIME DOC! YES, YES IT DID FALL ON THEM!"

M.D. gulps, then shows the device on his wrist, with six red dots on it's screen. "Then why am I picking up three extra life signs on my scanner?"

"Let me run a system check..." A.I.'s holographic form vanishes for a few seconds, before returning. "I'm picking up three life signs INSIDE the canister, guys!"

D.T. looks at the silvery shiny canister. "Tess, get the blow torch."

T.S. grins. "About time!"

A few minutes later....

T.s. extinguishes the torch, then raises the mask on her face with a grin.

A moment later, the front end of the canister falls loose with a THUD, revealing six smaller canisters wedged inside.

"Okay...so it's like one of those little Russian dolls with more of them inside each other." M.D. blinks. "Why are there six canisters and only three life signs?"

A.I. hovers over towards to one of the canisters, inspecting several burn marks and exposed wiring. "It looks like they got hit by some sort of energy pulse..." She pauses. "...If it happened on other worlds, too, then...."

D.T. cuts the hologram off. "Can we get the survivors out safely?"

A.I. hops to one of the un-damaged canisters and nods. "Yeah! These three are undamaged!"

"Let's get them out of there then, who know how long the life support will last with the casing cut into." M.D. starts as he goes for one of the un-damaged canisters with a life sign inside when it, and the other two undamaged canisters slide out of the main fuselage.

T.s. blinks. "That was easy..."

Then, the canisters split in half with a burst of frost ridden air, and the top halves lift up, revealing a small form inside each canister, however obscured by the frost.

"Or not..." She finishes as the frosty air vanishes, leaving the forms identifiable. Children. No older than six. One boy, two girls.

M.D. blinks. "So...If we go by a two by two pair...then these other three canisters have two boys, and one girl."

A.I. nods. "Kinda sad when you think about it..."

"No doubt." T.s. sighs.

D.T. cuts them off. "Let's just get these three into Doc's office for now. We can worry about their 'life-mates' later, okay?"

T.s. and A.I. nod.

ELSEHWERE_ _ _ DARK AND SHADOW-EY CAVE_ _ _

The video feed from the shadow chaser cuts short abruptly.

"Grrr..."

A gun fires off randomly into the air.

"What was that!?" a female voice shouts. "Seriously: What? Was? THAT!?"

"Oi...do we have to go through this every single time our cruiser gets crushed?" Another female voice asks.

A male voice cuts in. "I'd like to know what that was too. A meteorite?"

"It was probably whatever everyone and their neighbor's been tracking." The second voice starts. "And only the devil knows why."

SOME TIME LATER_ _ _ M.D.'S OPERATING ROOM_ _ _

The sound of a rolling engine brought one of the two girl's mind to attention.

'En...Gine...?'

The cryo-induced coma effects were still lingering in her system, but, she knew enough to know that something was different from the last semi-awake course adjustment she had experienced.

"....I think....waking up!" came a childish voice to the girl's ears. Okay, she wasn't inside her cryo pod, that much was certain for her clearing mind.

"...akey...eggs...ey...ey!!" comes another kid like voice. "...She....right?"

Enough of this, the girl decided as she opened her eyes, not expecting a bright medical lamp to force her to weld them shut again. She groaned.

"Oi, Oi! Don't do that!" M.D. orders as he turns the lamp off, glaring at the other two children, rescued from the canister. "Her eyes are still adjusting like your's are."

The boy, approximately six, had strange, glowing green eyes, and dark brown- near black- hair. The girl next to him, around the same age, had pale white hair, and shining light blue eyes. Both frowned at M.D.'s outburst, and looked to their genetically identical, yet seemingly different, sibling/clone: The girl on the table, who was currently blinking the sleep out her eyes, had golden hair and crystal blue eyes, as bright as the sky itself.

The Boy and the girl nod in understanding. "We understand."

"So...Uh..." M.D. sighs. He was never good with kids. Not that there were that many kids around on Terra Prime now-a-days, considering that the current generation had mostly been kids to begin with. "...I'm Em Dee, The doctor of this here rag-tag team, so you can just call me 'Doc', Everyone does." he shrugs. "What are your names?"

The Boy starts with a monotone voice. "Bio-Ident. Eight-Seven-Six-Four-Two, Em Tee."

"Bio-Ident. Eight-Seven-Six-Five-Three, Em Ar." The girl continues, also monotone, pointing at herself, then to her sibling/clone on the table. "Bio-Ident. Eight-Seven-Six-Zero-Zero, Em En."

M.D. blinks, not expecting the serialized numbers. "That answers a few questions."

"Like what?" the boy and girl ask, back to their normal tone of voice.

"Well...I'd rather Dee and Tess were here and that your...sis...were awake fully before I go explaining." M.D. starts, looking at the oddly named M. Siblings- Calling them 'Clones' somehow just...didn't sound right to M.D- in turn, The Girl (M.N.) on the table, then the boy (M.T.) and girl (M.R.) sitting on the counter. He sighs. "So, what does the 'Em' stand for in your names?"

They blink. "Huh?"

"You know, My name, 'Em Dee', is short for 'Medical Degree'. So, what does the...?"

"Meta-Works Construction." M.T. and M.R. state simultaneously, again, in Monotone, cutting M.D. off.

M.D. blinks again, he'd have to tell D.T. and T.s. about this sooner rather than later.

BACK AT THE CRASH SITE_ _ _

K.I. grins a happy grin as his now-slightly-damaged attack craft comes to a halt. "Oh happy day! Happy Day!"

Wing and Fang however, can't figure out why a sawed in half canister over smoldering wreckage would make their boss so happy.

"Let's get this chained up." K.I. orders, dismounting his seat and walking over to the canister. "We may just have something better than Dee's fancy little compy-puu!" He smirks. "Right under our noses, too..."

As Wing and Fang quickly work to connect chains from their craft to the canister and the wreckage, K.I. notes a camera that had been knocked loose from the shadow vehicle. He picks it up, and notices that it's still broadcasting a weak signal. "We'll see about that."

With a huff, K.I. tosses the camera off into the distance.

END CHAPTER FOUR_ _ _