History Revived

The engines of Questoid 2 started rumbling, and the white airplane gained speed and raced down the take-off runway. Within a few seconds, they were airborne.
Race Bannon was at the controls, steadily rising the plane to a height of 10.000 feet.
Hadji was co-pilot, Benton was in the back, reading some scientific papers, and letting no-one near. Jonny and Jessie was playing some game on a laptop that Jessie had brought. She claimed that it was necessary to take it with her so she could send emails to her friends.

"Mr. Hammond said himself in the letter that there weren't any good post connections," she had stated, "and I can get started on the school-work on it while we're there."

Benton couldn't argue with that, so the laptop did go with them.

For once, they had left Bandit at home. Although neither Jonny nor Jessie willingly agreed to it, Dr. Quest had decided it was for the best.

It was nearly two weeks since they had received the strange letter. The youths had finished school on the Tuesday, and now it was Thursday, the 17:th of September, and the mood was high. After a few hours of flight, Race's voice was heard over the speaker-system.

"Hey, you sloppys back there. We're approachin' target T, and are ready to land in 'bout thirty minutes."

Jonny and Jessie flew up from their seats and ran to the cock-pit. Benton was already there and as they enterred, Race turned his head.

"Well, folks. I guess this is it. Look over yonder." he motioned out the window.

They all followed his look. Everywhere there was water, a vast, neverending blue below them. But soon, a dark spot could be seen, right in their course. The spot grew bigger and bigger, and details was beginning to show, and the dark blob turned into forests, a big mountain, plains and rivers.

And so, the island of Chrite appeared in front of their eyes, and they stared at it with their eyes wide opened and their chins down their chests. The view was astonishing. The forests had the dark green colour of tropical jungles, and they saw a small river winding through all the green, and in a tremendous waterfall dropped hundreds of feet down into a deep-blue lake.

"Wow!" they said in unison, it was about all either of them could say at the moment.

"It's... beautiful!" Jessie whispered.

"Yeah, this gotta be paradise", Jonny said reverent.

"It is truly the most fair place I have ever seen", Hadji said in a low voice. "My homeland Bangalore is indeed beautiful, but it cannot match the splendour of this island."

Benton nodded. "Yes. John DO have an ability to choose his surroundings."

He sighed. "Now it's no use trying to keep you at the base. And with that lake and waterfall, I think even I am going on a sight-seeing." He smiled, and the others cheered.

But Race wasn't that stunned by the fantastic view as the others. "Well, fair things often hides foul things on the inside", he said coldly. "There's gotta be a catch to all this."

The rest of them ignored him and kept starring forward, making comments about the sight.

Before long, they were getting really close to the island. They could see buildings on the south-west end, a harbour and a short landing track. A few minor barracks had been built down by the shore, and two or three bigger buildings further up, closer to the tree-line.

A thin mist was hoovering around the huge mountain-peak in the midst of the island, and seabirds circled the coast. Jessie wished that she had brought her painting-stuff. This view would have made a great picture.

She picked up her little pocket-camera and took several shots of the island, knowing that it would never do as well on photo as in the real thing. Well, it was atleast something, she thought, snapping shot after shot until Jonny snatched the camera away from her.

"Hey! Save some for me, okey?"

She gave him the 'Look of Death' and tried to take her camera back.

"We don't have unlimited storages of film here. What's the point of taking ten pictures of the same thing anyways?"

"Like you would ever understand something like that", she snorted at him.

He made a face at her, and she ceased trying to recover the camera and turned her back at him, staring out to the right front window.

Race circled the plane down, in wide circles, further and further down, and finally put it down on the runway. The runway didn't seem to have been made for airplanes, and it was much shorter than usually required.
But Race wasn't a beginner at the controls, and thanks to the new improved braking-system that Benton had installed on this second Questoid, since the unlucky fate of the first plane, he managed to get them down whole and safe.

With the engines on low-power, Race steered the plane towards the buildings on the side of the runway.
People had come out of the buildings all around and was coming towards them. As they opened the door and retracted the steps a small welcome comittee had gathered. In their midst was a short, stumpy old man, leaning on a cane. He had a round face, a short white beard and white hair and thick glasses.
He smiled wide, and held out his hand towards Jonny's father who now appeared in the door opening.

"Benton! My friend. How glad I am to see you again after all these years!"

Dr. Quest returned the man's smile.

"John. You are indeed a sight for sore eyes. What have you done now, you mad scientist!"

They both fell out in laughter and embraced each other heartily.

Then Benton turned towards the other who now had exited the plane.

"John, you remember my son Jonny."

The old man took Jonny's hand in a firm grip and shook it for several minutes, at least that was how it seemed to Jonny.

"Indeed, indeed I do. Well, young man, you seem to have grown a foot or two since I last saw you. But then, your father have rather big shoes for you to wear."

Jonny smiled. He had set himself to dislike Hammond, but now he found it very hard not be caught by the little man's energy and joyful spirit.

"Well, he HAS got big feet", he said, which made Hammond bend over in laughter, and his father humming something inappropriate.

"And this..." Benton quickly changed subject, "... is Jessie Bannon. She is the daughter of my friend Race here. And this is Hadji Singh, my son by adoption since his parents died eight years ago."

John shook hands with them all, even giving Jessie a kiss on her hand, and looked respectfully at Race.

"Mr. Bannon, I have heard much about you. I think I owe you the life of my dear friend here at least half a dozen times. " Then he turned to Hadji. "Well, young man. My condolences. But I would consider myself a real lucky chap did I get the opportunity to be son to Dr.Quest."

He shot Benton a quick glance. "But, then again, maybe not." He winked at Benton who just smiled.

"Better than being the son of John 'way-out' Hammond", he retorted gently, and once more Hammond burst out in laughter.

"Oh my. Do you still remember that old nick-name", he said, shaking with laughter. "I haven't heard that since we were doing our Ph.D's together at Harvard - and that must have been somewhere around the 14:th century!"

The two friend began talking about past times, and Hammond motioned to them to follow him towards one of the larger buildings. He and Benton walked in front, and the others could hear them burst out in laughs and joyful arguments.

They enterred the building, a white, modern thing that looked very much like a scientific research-center.
First they landed in a big lobby, with elevators and corridors everywhere. Hammond gathered them around him, looking at them with a glint in his eyes.

"I guess you all would want to get some rest? We have private rooms on the 3:rd floor, I'll show you to them."

They enterred an elevator and in just a few seconds they reached the 3:rd. In a corridor was several doors, and Hammond pushed one open with the cane.

"There. Here we are, then." He led them into the room, which easy could have passed for the presidential suite at the most luxurous hotels in the world.

Jonny gave a whistle.

"Whew! Nice! Reeeaaal nice." He grinned contently. "I think I could be persuaded to stay here a while."

"By all means." Hammond said. "It is all for your disposal, my dear chap." He turned to Jessie. "And for you, pretty lady, maybe the adjacent room would suit you?" Jessie's face lit up.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure that's such a good idea", said Race and looked between his daughter and Jonny.

"Oh dad, come on", Jessie said with a most indignant tone and gave him the 'You-CAN-trust-me-you-know'-look, and with that, Race gave in.

Jonny stayed in his room while Hammond showed the others to their lodgings. A knock was heard and Jessie enterred through a door.

"Looks like we have a non-corridor passage here", she remarked and smiled mischievously at Jonny. "In case you have a bad dream, you can always come in to me and sleep on the floor", she teased him.

"Yeah, right. As if any of us are likely to have any nightmares in this place." He looked around him, admiring the great furnishing and decoration of the room. Then he turned to Jessie.

"Still, YOU can always come in to me in case you think you've seen a spider or something."

"ME?! Afraid of spiders? In your dreams, Quest. Don't forget that I've been with mom in Venezuela a couple of weeks each year practically since I was born. HA, I eat spiders for breakfast!"

Jonny nodded in aknowledgment and smiled, but in his mind, a delicate and mischievous plan had already taken form.

Then it knocked on the main door, and Race enterred.

"Hey...." he stopped when he saw Jessie standing by the door to her room, and lifted his eyebrow, "...you two. We'll eat dinner with Mr. Hammond at seven, you can spend the time til then to get some rest, or something."
He looked a bit sternly at them. "Just be ready at seven, washed and with clean clothes, alright?"
Then he left and closed the door firmly behind him.

"Phew, that was NOT to his liking", said Jonny and Jessie sighed.

"Dad... He still thinks I'm like ten or something."

"Hey, dad's like that too. I think it's like a parent-virus or something. You can't cure it, but it won't kill ya."

"I wouldn't bet on that", Jessie mumbled.

"Come on, Jess", Jonny flew up, trying to get her on other thoughts. "Let's go check out on Hadji."

They went to the door and in the hallway they bumped into Hadji who just got out from his room just across the corridor.

"Hello, you guys", the young sultan grinned. "Aren't the rooms just wonderful?"

They all agreed on that one, and began to discuss what to do the next couple of hours. None of them felt much like resting.

"Lets explore this building", said Jonny. "I bet there are some great labs or computer centers or something here."

"I'm not sure we should do that. I'm sure that Mr. Hammond will take us on a tour soon enough, it's not very polite snooping around your host's properties."

"Aaaw, come on Hadj. Don't you wanna know what this place is? It's not 'The Paradise Island Recreation Center For Retired Scientists', I'll bet you a million bucks on that. There is something going on here, and I wanna find out what it is. Are you with me or not?" He stared at them with his arms crossed over his chest.

Jessie sighed. "Alright then. If it's the only way to keep you off the walls."

"Very well, my friends", said Hadji. "I do not wish to do this, but if you insist..."

"Good, it's settled then." With that, Jonny started for the elevators, and Jessie and Hadji following him, both shaking their heads.

* * * * *

At the same time in another part of the building...

In a dark hallway stood two shadows, having a whispered conversation.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. These are the ones. You can get half a 'mil' each on the right market. Why waste ten - twenty years on hard work of research when you can buy it with money."

"So, when can I get them?"

The other shadow gave a snort of irritation.

"You'll get them when the time is right! And that's not too far away. By the way, why did you come here anyway? The plan was that I'd take them ashore and hand them over to you."

"Yeah, well, I just wanted to make sure that you didn't screw up."

"I NEVER screw up", the second shadow said with an ice-cold tone. "And you better remeber that. Without me, you never gonna get you hands on those precious cuties."

The first shadow was silent for a while.

"Alright, alright. By the way, I heard that Hammond had brought some visitors here. Do you think they might interfere with our plan?"

The second shadow laughed softly and evilly.

"Don't worry. I know how to deal with them. You know, in this place, accidents happens so easily."

The two dark figures shrank back and disappeared into the shadows.

* * * * *