Seventeen; The Note

Well that answered one question.

They have developed gunpowder on Zugar-Zipperat.

Shocked and stunned I watched as Ziggy giggled his way out through the entrance. There was a maniacal quality about Ziggy Zorinski that was terrifying. He wasn’t physically intimidating, it had more to do with the wrongness of him.

Bocco entered the living a moment later and asked, “Ziggy?”

I nodded.

Bocco ambled over to the middle of the living room space and picked up a sheet of paper that I hadn’t noticed.

Taking a deep breath I looked around the room. The exchange students were still talking excitedly on their mobile phones, though I think the explosion, small as it was, had interrupted their chatter for a second or two. They saw me looking over at them now and all smiled and waved.

Bocco held the sheet of paper out to me. I looked at it but couldn’t understand the scrawls on the page. I shrugged so Bocco read it to me;

Tomorrow at 5 O’clock, prepare!

Zain entered through the front door and demanded, “What happened?”

I told him, and he paced around the room angrily.

”This is so like him,” Zain fumed, “when we were children he would play his silly pranks on everybody and blame me.”

Something occurred to me so I asked, “How did he get past the guards on the entrance?”

Bocco looked up with interest.

Zain shifted uncomfortably. He wiped some dust from his shoulder and said, “I’m not sure, maybe they were asleep.”

“Asleep?” Bocco rumbled.

I slapped my forehead realising how silly my question had been, “They probably thought he was you.”

“Yes, of course,” said Zain still rubbing dust from the lapel of his shirt. Zain’s natural authority returned to his voice as he continued, “Okay, we’ve got until 5 tomorrow to figure out what he’s up to. I’ll pull extra troops in for this, we’ll need to be prepared for it, whatever it is. For now, get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.” Zain strode purposefully from the room.

“Odd,” said Bocco in his usual understated manner, I was about to ask him what he meant when he asked, “Bed?”

Chapter Eighteen