A/N: Sorry it took me so long.
				The Forgotten Past Part 5: Journey
	After his meeting with Teddy, Jack went back to his residence just outside the city. It was 
the view thatmade him choose that place more than anything else. He lived on a hill that overlooked all
of Ellay. At night, he could see all of the lights in the city.
The house had a wrap-around porch that overlooked the valley. Although it was huge, the only piece of 
furniture was a comfortable-looking deck chair. Tonight,  there was also a telescope.
	One of Jack's passions as a child had been astronomy. He could navigateby the stars, no matter
what time of year. He had also studied the zodiacs and could predict as accurately as any newspaper. 
Tonight, he had brought his telescope on the deck to watch the constallations. The clouds from the 
afternoon rain had cleared away and the sky was bright and clear. 
	"Mars keeps getting brighter and brighter," he muttered and then turned his attention to 
constallations. First he located the easy ones: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. From their location, 
he could find the Polestar, or the North Star. He was about to locate one of the larger ones 
when his cell phone rang. 
	"Hello?..... Ambassador's daugter? Why the wide search?... You really think she 
could have gotten this far?...... Oh, I see. ......... Yes, I'm on my way. Good-bye." Jack put his
 telescope back inside. "The work of a 
government agent never ceases," Jack muttered. He remembered Teddy's comment. "It's easy for 
him to say he wants to leave. He doesn't realize he's in deep." Mentally, he added, "And he's
never tried to leave."
	Jack drove to the cafe where Teddy worked and took a seat at a bar stool. "Hey, Ted, 
have you ever seen this girl?" Jack took out a picture of Shalo the office had faxed him.
	"I would have remembered a face like that. She lookes like that one girl in Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
	"The younger one?"
	"Yeah. I'll keep an eye out for her and call you the moment I find something out."
	"I'm going to keep checking around. I'll keep you informed. See you later." Teddy 
watched as Jack left. He glanced at a picture hidden behind the counter.It was of three kids.One 
was in a red cap, the other was a blond girl and the third was a boy in a red shirt and glasses.
 He sighed, thinking of the adventure of a lifetime that had taken place in a past almost forgotten.
					***
	Ness ran out of school on a glorious June afternoon. His last day of school was finally 
over. His backpack was the lightest it had been since before that fateful
 encounter with the meteorite. He was almost happy to be going on 
another adventure. This time, at least, it would be three months before he would need to make anything
 up. 
The moment he walked up to his front yard, the Sky Runner landed. Miraculously, it did not crash. 
A moment later, Jeff appeared.
	"Hi, Jeff."
	"Hi, Ness. If we are going to Ellay, we have to leave, pronto."
	"Why?"
	"The ambassador promised that if we waited until tommorrow, we would feel the wrath 
of his deity."
	"I'll get my stuff." Ness ran inside and grabbed his yellow backpack. 
	"Mom!" Julia walked quickly to the entryway. "I've got to leave right away."
	It took her a long time to answer. "Well, I know this is important, Ness. Somehow, I'm
more worried about you this time than I was before. Call it being a worrywart or mother's 
intuition, but I want you to be careful." 
	"You know I'll be careful, Mom."
	She nodded and forced her face into a smile. "You did remember to pack more than one pair
of clothes this time, right?"
	"Yes, Mom." he replied with exasperation. 
	"Tracy, Ness is leaving!" Julia called up the stairs.
	"Okay! I'm coming!" Tracy bounded down the stairs. "I knew they'd find a way to make 
you leave early, so I had my speech all prepared. Have a good time. Try to be back before school
starts, so you don't have anything to make up. Most imortantly, do not use anyone but the Escargo
Express for all of your item storage needs. I think I can get you a discount."
	Ness and Jeff laughed. "Okay, Tracy," Ness replied.
	"See you later! Spread the Express revolution!" 
	"You know I don't endorce products. If I did it once, ten million others would want me to."
	"I know." Ness and Jeff waved their final good-byes and boarded the Sky Runner.
	"So, Jeff, how did you get the idea to use tomato soup for fuel?"
	"It was my dad's idea. He said it was very obtainable and better for the enviornment."
	"That's true, I suppose. Hi, Poo."
	"Hello." 
(Sky Runner theme starts up as it takes off.) They traveled to Twoson and picked up Paula and 
Apple Kid. After that, it traveled high in the sky, dipping down over a mountain range.
	"Jeff! Stop it! This is how we crashed last time!" Paula could be heard from
outside the Sky Runner.
	"Calm, down, Paula. I know what I'm doing." The Sky Runner rose back to the clouds.
After a little while, it dipped down again. This time, it is over a vast desert. Jeff looked at the
map. [That's funny. I don't remember any desert being located near Ellay. Where's the interstate?]
	"Jeff, I'm begging you," Paula pleaded.
	"Paula, we're not going to crash."
	"Jeff, we're going down," Ness warned.
	"We're fine."
	"Jeff, we are fairly close to the ground. Please watch where we are going," Poo suggested.
(Sky Runner music quiets down as the view shifts to inside.) Jeff decided to listen and began to
pull up again. He happened to glance at the fuel gauge and immediately began to point it back down. 
	" We're low on fuel. I'll have to land it."
	"I'll get the tomato soup," Poo offered.
	"That was fuel?" Apple Kid groaned. He was sitting in the back, so everyone turned around.
They noticed several empty soup cans.
	"How did you manage to stomach that many cans without us noticing?" Ness asked. 
	"It's my latest invention: the pocket lazer." He pulled something that looked like a lazer
light. "It can cut though titanium. It can also be used for cooking."Everyone groaned and braced 
themselves for impact. (View shifts to outside and the music becomes louder again.Sky Runner music 
cuts off the second they crash to the ground) One by one, all five of them emerged from the wreckage. 
	"Jeff, you need to work on landing," Ness commented, the biggest understatement of the year.
	"I understand that," he replied tersly. 
	"It's no big deal," Paula said calmingly. "Poo or Ness will just have to teleport to get
more fuel. You can fix the Runner, right?"
	Jeff inspected the mangled machinery. "I think so."
	"I think we've all learned a lesson from this as well," she added, glaring at Jeff.
	"Ask before you eat," Apple Kid muttered.
	"I will get more fuel," Poo offered. 
	Ness gave him some money."It's cheapest in Twoson." Poo moved a ways away and tried to use
Teleport Beta.
	"It doesn't work."
	"What?" Ness cried. "We're not in an enclosed space." He tried to use it and felt the 
familiar block within his mind. "This is weird."
	"We still have two cans left," Jeff reported. "Unfortunately, that would barely get us off
the ground."
	"We'll just have to walk there." Apple Kid sounded as though this was an awesome feat. 
"How far is it? What direction do we go?"
	"Let me get the navigation systems running," Jeff replied. After a moment, he added, "It's
30 miles in a south by southwest direction. I did bring a compass."
	"How many wet towels did we bring?" Paula asked.
	"I stashed five inside the Runner for emergencies," Jeff answered.
	"Let's get going," Ness said. It took awile to salvage what they could from the Sky Runner
and then decide what to leave behind. By the time it was all sorted out, night had fallen, so
they decided to just stay put until morning. For supper, they enjoyed the Dalaamesse cuisine known
as the brain food lunch. 
	"What's in this stuff?" Apple Kid asked at first glance. 
	"Don't ask, just eat. It tastes better than it looks," Ness replied. It was his way of 
saying he had absolutely no idea what was in it and preferred not to think about it.
	"According to computer, this place has a lot of sand dunes-" Jeff began.
	"You're right! This is good stuff!" Apple Kid interjected.
	"So, it will be a very long day tomorrow," Jeff finished.
	"Let's think about tomorrow tomorrow," Ness suggested. "Chances are, we'll sleep better."
From then on, they ate in silence. 
	It turned out Jeff was right about the sand dunes. Although thirty miles was achieveable
in a day, the dunes made it twice or three times the distance. Everyone was hot and miserable, 
especially Apple Kid, who ended up needing all five wet towels. It was close to sunset when the
enemies began to appear. The first was a snake. It was very fast, so they couldn't even hit it.
	"I don't get it," Ness muttered. "I thought once we defeated Giygas, the animals would
quit attacking with no good reason. I haven't seen a Runaway Dog in ages."
	"Maybe it's just the type of snake," Jeff suggested as he finally managed to hit it. The
snake suddenly became docile, even friendly. "Let's pretend I never said that."
	(Thank you for setting me free), the snake said. (One day, I wandered near the big human-
place. There was some kind of barrier that didn't allow me to go any farther. When I came back,
everyone was acting crazy and somehow, I began acting crazy, too. Thanks again!) It to slithered away. 
	 "Well, at least we know why teleportation doesn't work," Poo said optimistically.
	"Let's get going," Ness suggested. "We might be able to find some more answers as we go
along." The next couple of enemies, which were a couple more snakes and a large variety of small
rodents, revealed little information that they did not know already. 
	It was only after they defeated a large lizard that anything new came up. It declared that
a week ago, something crashed into his home, virtually destroying it. The strange thing about it was
that the mysterious object seemed to be invisible. 
	"Where is your home?" Ness asked. 
	(You mean was,) the lizard commented dryly. (Follow me.) After a half an hour of following it,
they finally arrived at a sand dune fifty yards high. (This was it. Good luck.) It scurried away, never
to be seen again. Everyone looked at Jeff. He wordlessly took out a bottle rocket and aimed it at the 
dune. It took three more before the dune was completely gone.
	No one noticed a small statue erupting from the sand until it used Rockin Alpha. This was
forgivable because the statue was barely the size of a sewing needle. 
	"What's going on?" Paula cried out. She immediately put a phsychic shield around all of them.
It was Jeff who noticed it first. His weapon could aim like a sniper rifle. 
	"I think it's a Mani Mani statue. A really small one."
	"How are we supposed to attack it?" Ness wondered, trying to spot it. Jeff fired carefully
	"Leave that to me." Jeff replied. He managed to hit the statue. It retaliated by repeating
its opening attack. Thanks to Paula's shield, the blast was reflected and the statue was defeated.
	The next thing they knew, they were standing in the middle of a six-lane highway. In the 
distance, they could see a large city. For a few moments, it was a frenzy as they struggled to avoid
the cars and trucks in hopes of getting to the other side. Miraculously, they got through made 
unscathed and there were only minor vehicle crashes. 
	"That was strange," Apple Kid muttered. "How did such a tiny object create such a powerful
illusion at such a large scale? Look around. The landscape is completely different."
	"That's what a Mani Mani statue does," Jeff replied. "It creates illusions. I believe it also
has some psychological side effects on the owner."
	"Pity we had to destroy it," Apple Kid mused. "It would have been interesting to study."
	"Yes," Jeff agreed with an undertone of reluctance. Apple Kid had no real grasp of what a full
scale statue was capable of.
					***
	"It was destroyed?!" Jezira screeched. The testing of the Mani Mani statue had been her first
big mission. [It's unlike you to be so emotional.] She cautioned herself. [You've been around Ganiana 
too much.] "How did this come to take place." she asked, trying to sound calm, but she was unable to 
keep all of the impatience out of her voice.
	"We're not sure." the subordinate replied. "A crew is investigating as we speak.
	"Thank you for informing me. Before this happened, how did the tests go?"
	"Smoothly. We were unable to detect any problems."
	"I will report this information to Ganiana. Thank you for your trouble. Dismissed!" They left
in different directions. 
	Jezira thought of Ganiana. How did someone so arrogant and, well emotional become second in 
command of a ship when she, who had been working for several years longer had just gotten command of
a third-rate mission? Ganiana wasn't even completely Giygan. It was a wonder she was even allowed 
to be at such a high post. Of course, she would never admit this to anyone. Ganiana was her commanding 
officer. To have so little faith in someone at such a high post was practically mutiny.
	She pushed a button on the door to Ganiana's chamber, which served as a high tech doorbell. A 
second later, the door opened and she entered. Ganiana was in a huge chair with her back to the door. A
computer screen was on the far wall. It showed some alien writing on it that looked human. Jezira had 
nearly forgotten that Ganiana had gotten to such a high position by becoming one of the best linguists
in all of the empire.
	"What do you have to report?" Ganiana asked with a touch of annoyance. 
	"Our expieriment has failed. The statue was eradicated and the force field destroyed." There was
no change in Ganiana's demenor. This made Jezira nervous. "Before then, the results were promising. The
device functioned very well."
	"I have another mission for you. We have located the headquarters of Giygas. Assemble a team of 
your choice to investigate the area. We need to figure out who killed him and how they were able to do 
so."
	"Did you hear a word I said?"
	"One more thing: Tell Phalin to assemble a team to find out who destroyed the Mani Mani statue.
Perhaps the two incidents are related."
	"Yes ma'am." Jezira replied. Ganiana stared at the alien words and translated them aloud.
	"When the chosen boy reaches the point, he will find the light. The passing of time will
shatter the nightmare rock and reveal the path of light. Do you have any idea what this means?"
	"It-it sounds like some kind of prophesy," Jezira stammered. 
	"A little later in this... prophesy, it says that three boys and a girl will defeat the universal
cosmic destroyer."
	"Giygas?"
	"Precisely. If mere children can defeat our strongest warrior, then planet Earth will be harder
to conquer than originally anticipated."