THE TWELVE -- Chapter 1 - The Abduction

Every story has a beginning. Some are simply more pleasant than others.
-- Anonymous

The ship was pulled off-course. This was first made apparent by the fact that it dropped out of light-travel. Jaeger, the nineteen-year-old pilot, then realized that the controls were not responding to his commands. The ship was moving, but not by his command; it was simply moving.

"Jaeger, is everything alright?" came the voice of the young mechanic over the intercom.

"I don't know what happened, Creole," Jaeger answered on an open frequency so that all twelve members of the crew (excepting only Djaisiuk, the inventor, who had no access to the intercom in his workroom) could hear. "We've been pulled off of our course. I've lost control of the ship. Engine status?"

"The engines are still running as normal," Creole replied immediately. "They've obviously dropped from the level of output required for light-travel, but they're running fine. I'm coming to the control room."

"Jaeger, did I hear you correctly? Did you just say that you lost control of the ship?" came the voice of Wysire, the ship's fourteen-year-old counselor.

Jaeger tried his controls again and frowned. "Yes," he said. "I've lost control of the ship."

There was silence over the intercom. Jaeger could imagine the faces of the other ten boys as this news sunk in.

As a thought struck him, Jaeger spoke into the intercom again. "Sandy, would you fetch Djaisiuk?"

"Yes, Jaeger," came Sandy's voice.

"Jaeger?" came the voice of Eriane, the ship's doctor. "Should we be concerned?"

"I don't know yet," replied Jaeger. "I hope that Djaisiuk will be able to answer that."

Jaeger turned to Jade, the navigator. "I hope that this is just an unintended result of something that he's doing," he said. "But in case it isn't, can you find out if there's anything out there?"

Jade shook his head. "I'm trying, but my controls are gone too. I can't see where we are, let alone anything that might be near us."

"Something is still controlling the ship," Jaeger said. "We haven't stopped; we've just been pulled off-course. I can only hope that it's someone or something within the ship that is doing this."

Creole entered the control room, followed almost immediately by the ship's engineer and the ship's electrician, Leil and Detrin respectively. Cycil, one of the two runners, came in shortly afterwards.

"You don't know what's causing this?" Creole asked.

"No, but I hope that it's Djaisiuk," said Jaeger. "He could do it, easily enough. Sandy's gone to fetch him."

"Djaisiuk doesn't have access to the controls of the ship," said Detrin. "Really, he doesn't have access to anything when he's in his workroom except what's in there already."

"Djaisiuk can do anything," said Leil quietly. "He doesn't need access."

Djaisiuk, though only seventeen, had established himself many years ago as the single most intelligent student by far that the IC School—the Komislavian school for young geniuses—had ever had. His work on the ship was research and invention, and it was such that most of the other boys rarely knew what he was doing. His workroom was completely sealed off from the rest of the ship with physical access through only one door. The power for his room was produced within it, and there was no means of communication between Djaisiuk's room and the rest of the ship, save only a portable transmitter, kept in case of emergency, which could send a signal out and which Djaisiuk never used. Djaisiuk had at least some training in every function of the ship and could easily step into the position of any of the other boys (excepting Wysire, the ship's counselor) and perform the assigned duties as well as or better than any of the other boys.
To interrupt Djaisiuk in his work, other than to call him for meals, was allowed only in the case of an emergency. Even to call Djaisiuk from his workroom was not easy. First, one must know where the door was located (for it looked just like a wall from the outside). All of the boys on the ship knew where it was, but none had ever passed through it. If someone wanted Djaisiuk, he would stand outside the door to Djaisiuk's workroom and press one hand to a specific blank panel to the right of the door. If this panel recognized Djaisiuk's fingerprints on the hand pressed to it, a second panel would then slide open to allow him to enter the codes which could then open the door. If any other hand was pressed to it, the second panel would not open, but it would cause a light within the room itself to turn on, alerting Djaisiuk to the fact that his presence was desired. If he chose to respond, Djaisiuk would then come to the door himself and exit his workroom. None ever entered that room save Djaisiuk, and few, save Djaisiuk's supervisors, ever knew fully what research went on in there.

Sandy had had to call Djaisiuk from his workroom before now, but these times had been rare and had never been for anything other than a meal. Meals on the ship were served regularly, and all of the boys ate together. Djaisiuk seldom lost track of time when doing his research, but when he did, Sandy was generally the one chosen to summon him. Today, it was still several hours before the next meal time when Sandy pressed his small hand to the panel, so he was a bit nervous when the door opened.

"Jaeger wants to see you, Djaisiuk," said the eight year old runner. "Something's wrong with the controls, and he was hoping that you'd be able to help find out what."

Djaisiuk did not answer, but followed Sandy silently through the short halls to the control room. As the two entered, all eyes went to Djaisiuk expectantly.

"Djaisiuk, I've lost control of the ship," said Jaeger. "Jade's controls are not responding either. We were hoping that this was only the result of some test that you might be running. I know that I can't ask what you're doing, but… I suppose that my question is this: should we be concerned? That is to say, could this just be from something that you're doing?"

Djaisiuk glanced at Jaeger momentarily, then looked away again. "No," he said in a low voice, hoarse from lack of use.

"Then we have to assume that it is an outside force," said Jaeger, turning back to his controls. "The ship is still functioning. There must be someone or something out there overriding our controls." He pointed to a screen showing their progress. "We're still moving, but it almost looks like we're being led."

"Creole, could you override the engine controls?" asked Jade.

Creole shook his head slowly. "No," he said. "This room controls the engines. The only thing that I could do would be to shut down the engines completely. Christopher is still up there, Jaeger. I could easily have him shut them down."

"No, that would do us no good," Jaeger said. "They could not control it, whoever they are, but neither could we do anything to remove ourselves beyond their reach. Detrin, can you try to find out from where they're drawing power and just cut off access to that part?"

"I can try," replied Detrin, and he turned to leave.

"Cycil, you should probably go with him," said Jade.

Cycil complied and followed Detrin out of the room as Eriane and Faquire, the ship's physician and the ship's nutritionist, entered. Wysire, the ship's counselor, entered soon afterwards.

"What's happening?" asked Eriane.

"I wish I knew," said Jaeger. "It appears that something outside has taken the controls. Detrin is trying to determine from where they're drawing power. For now, we're just waiting."

The crew of the Kian was the best that the IC School had to offer. They were a crew of boys, really, ranging in age from the nineteen-year-old pilot, Jaeger, to the eight- and nine-year-old errand runners, Sandy and Cycil. Though some of the boys were below average for the IC School (Leil, the eighteen-year-old engineer, being a prime example), the genius of some few members (Djaisiuk and Creole being the most obvious) was more than enough to push the average intelligence level of the crew above the average of the IC School as a whole. These boys were also very experienced in their various positions: Jade, the almost nineteen year old navigator, had been working in his position for almost eleven years. Djaisiuk, whose position was nearly impossible to describe and was therefore labeled simply "inventor", had been a student of the IC School for longer than had Jade, but had not been working in his position for quite as long. Eriane, the ship's physician, a boy of fifteen, was the newest member of the crew (excepting, of course, the runners who were changed every two to four years), having been a member of that particular group for only four years. Even the youngest permanent member, Detrin, the thirteen-year-old electrician, had been with the group for five years.

This group contained both the most intelligent and the most experienced members that the IC School could boast. In all of their experience, however, nothing like the current incident had ever occurred: something had taken control of the ship and was now directing it they knew not where.

"Can you tell where we're headed, Jade?" Faquire asked.

Jade shook his head. "My controls are not responding either, so I can't tell where we are. Judging by how long we've been traveling, I'd think that we should be somewhere near the Klorian system, but that's really only a guess. If we had a way of seeing the outside, I'd be able to tell by the stars."

"If we had a way of seeing outside, we'd know what was out there," said Jaeger.

"Then it's fairly certain that there is something else controlling the ship?" asked Wysire.

"Well, we know that it's not being controlled from within, and we know that it is being controlled," said Jaeger. "It is only logical, therefore, to assume that it is someone from without. Detrin is trying to reroute the power from wherever they're drawing it, but we don't know if that will work. If it does, hopefully we'll have time to learn more about whatever it is that we're up against."

Detrin's voice came over the intercom.

"I've found it," he said. "I'm shutting off power to them now."

Sure enough, control was suddenly back in the hands of the pilot. Jaeger quickly began entering sequences of commands to move the ship while Jaeger attempted to identify the position, make, and planet of origin of their unknown assailant. This latter task was the work of a few seconds, but even it was not quite accomplished before control was again wrested from their hands.

Jaeger sighed, annoyed, and spoke into the com: "Detrin, they've taken it again."

"I'll get back to work," came Detrin's reply.

"They're on our port side, a little in front," said Jade. "I can't tell yet who they are."

"Can we send a message asking who they are and why they're doing this?" asked Sandy.

"No," Jaeger shook his head. "They have control of our external communications. We can't send a message anywhere."

"They don't want us to be able to send a message home," said Creole. "They want us to disappear without a trace."

"Creole, that's so morbid!" exclaimed Eriane. "Surely we can't know that their intent is evil."

"Why else would they be doing this?" asked Creole. "Why wouldn't they have let us know who they are? They've made no attempt to communicate with us."

"Creole," said Wysire softly. "You're frightening Sandy."

"I'm alright!" exclaimed Sandy, the youngest. His tone was brave, but his expression contradicted his words. "I'm not worried. I know that Jaeger can handle it."

Jaeger smiled grimly at this, wishing that he felt as confident as Sandy claimed to be.

"You have it, Jaeger," Detrin's voice came again.

Jaeger was ready and moved fast, but it was not fast enough. He caused the ship to lurch starboard, hoping to get away from the other ship, but the other ship was quicker. In a moment, Jaeger was again powerless.

"No!" cried Jaeger in frustration. "Detrin, they've got it again. Can you find a pattern in how they're drawing power?"

"I'll try," said Detrin.

Jaeger ran a hand over his eyes and took a deep breath. He turned to look at Djaisiuk.

"Any suggestions?" He asked, not really expecting an answer.

Djaisiuk spoke rarely, and then only in response to direct questions. Now he simply glanced up at Jaeger in acknowledgment of the question but looked away again as if in thought. He did not answer.

"They're Vukasovian," Jade said quietly.

All eyes turned to him immediately. More than Sandy's now held fear.

"Vukasovian?" repeated Jaeger quietly.

Jaeger nodded. "I was able to identify it this last time," he said. "There's no doubt; it's a Vukasovian vessel." He leaned back and sighed, sounding defeated. "We're not getting out of this one."

"Jade, that attitude is unacceptable," said Jaeger firmly. "We will get out of this alive." Besides being the pilot, Jaeger was the eldest of the boys. As such, he felt it his responsibility to keep up the spirits of the other boys, as much as possible.

"Get ready, Jaeger," Detrin's voice came again. "I may have found the pattern. We're about to find—"

Detrin's voice cut off suddenly and there was a cry of pain. Eriane leapt up immediately and rushed out of the room, calling for Sandy to fetch his medical box.

"Eriane!" Cycil voice came over the intercom. "Eriane, come quick!"

"He's on his way," said Jaeger. "What happened?"

"There was a power surge in this section," Detrin's strained voice, laced with pain, answered. "They must have realized what I was doing and traced where I was working."

"Hold on," said Jade. "Eriane on the way."

"Djaisiuk," Jaeger said, turning to him. "Our only other alternative, as I see it, is to shut off the ship's engines. It won't get us away, but they won't be able to take us either. It's a desperate move, I know; we'd have to sit and hope that they get tired and leave before our life-support ran out, but it may be our only hope. Do you know of any other options before we try that?"

Without a word, Djaisiuk stepped up to the controls. Jaeger moved back to give him room. Djaisiuk's hands flew over the controls, moving faster than most eyes would have been able to follow and entering many sequences of commands, some working, others not. Suddenly, the ship was moving. It was very sudden and very quick. The ship was flying straight onward along their intended course, but at a much quicker speed than was generally wise for pre-light prep. Djaisiuk's face showed only concentration as he continued to work, his pace never slackening.

Jade, at his own console, found that his controls worked again. He could see that the other ship was following. He saw then that Djaisiuk was sending a message. It was not to the pursuing ship, but to their own home planet. Djaisiuk continued to work, changing the controls almost constantly to keep the Vukasovians from again gaining control, but preparing the message at the same time. Once done, the message began to send.

"Taken by Vukasovian ship. Unknown dest—"

This was as much as could be sent. No signature; no way to identify the sender. So much and no more was sent when the ship suddenly lurched, feeling as if it would explode. They had been hit. The other ship had fired on them. This was an act unthinkable. It was a declaration of war. It simply wasn't done. And yet it had happened.

Djaisiuk and several of the others were thrown to the floor by the force. Djaisiuk was on his feet again almost immediately (faster than any of the other boys had ever seen him move), but by then it was too late. The Vukasovians had again gained control of the ship, and this time they did not wait for anyone to take it back. All of the interior lighting in the ship went dark. The screens and controls died.

"Christopher!" Creole cried into the intercom. "Shut off the engines! Shut them down now!"

There was no answer. The intercom was dead, they realized. And probably every other nonessential function was gone. The boys were fully helpless. There was no longer anything that they could do.

Suddenly, the view screen at the front of the control panel lit up, words appearing in green across it.

"Do not attempt to resist. You are soon to be acclimated into a race much stronger than your own. It's success will be your success. Prepare yourselves. You will soon be home."

The boy's sat or stood in stunned silence for a short time, staring at the screen. The silence was only broken when, about a minute later, Christopher's voice was heard in the passageways.

"Hello?" he called. "Where is everyone and what's happening?"

"We're in the control room," Creole called back. "We're being abducted by Vukasovians."

Christopher's cautious footsteps were soon heard entering the control room. "Please tell me that you're not serious."

"He is," said Jaeger. "It was a Vukasovian ship that attacked us, and now they have full control over us. We can only assume that they're the ones who've sent this message to us."

"Is everyone in here?" Christopher asked as soon as he had finished reading the short message. "No one hurt?"

"Eriane, Detrin, and Cycil are somewhere out there," Sandy said.

"We're coming," Cycil's voice came to them. Soon after, he entered the room himself. "Eriane was still working on Detrin when the lights went dead. He sent me back here when we realized that the intercom wasn't working. They'll be along shortly. None of us were hurt when the ship jolted."

"I can't believe that they would shoot at us," Jade exclaimed. "That's an act of war!"

"Well what do you call kidnapping?" asked Creole.

"They've wanted to go to war with the Komislavian race since long before any of us were born," said Faquire. "They just haven't had a reason that would stand up to the rest of the world."

"Do they now?" asked Jade. "Has anything changed? We've done nothing. They've received no provocation. They have no right to do this."

"Maybe that's why they've taken control of the ship," Leil suggested quietly. "Maybe they mean to drag us into their space and claim that we were trespassing."

Jaeger shook his head, though only his silhouette could be seen against the green light of the screen. "We're an observational ship from the Komislavian IC School," he said. "We're only students, not soldiers. Even if we did trespass, they'd have no right to fire on us. They could capture us, perhaps, if we were in their space but not fire on us. We have no weapons; there'd have been no need for them even to defend themselves against us."

Movement was again heard near the door. Eriane and Detrin had apparently arrived.

"Eriane, Detrin, is that you?" Jade asked.

"Yes, it's us," Eriane replied. "Is everyone all right here?"

"We are all fine, I believe," Jaeger answered. "Are you all right, Detrin?"

"I'll be fine," Detrin answered. "My hands were burned, but they'll heal. I just may not be able to do much for a day or two."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Eriane asked, reading the screen.

"They're Vukasovians," Jade said.

"No!" Detrin cried. "Please say it isn't so!"

"It is," Jaeger said. "Unless the Udolians have taken a Vukasovian ship."

"Oh, if only that were the case!" Faquire exclaimed. "That would be a thousand times better."

"What?" asked Cycil. "You'd like to be captured by the Udolians?"

"Rather than the Vukasovians, yes."

At that moment, the screen died, and the room was again plunged into absolute darkness. For a moment, no one spoke.

"Is everyone here?" Eriane asked, breaking the short silence. "And you're sure that no one is hurt?"

"Yes, we're all here now," Jaeger answered. "And no, I don't think that anyone is hurt. Would everyone care to verify that?"

Murmurs of assent were heard from most of the boys, assuring Eriane that they were unharmed.

"Creole, could you and Christopher still turn off the engines?" Leil asked quietly.

"What good would that do?" asked Cycil.

"At least then they wouldn't be able to control our ship," said Detrin. "It might buy us some time, at any rate."

"It might, but I wouldn't dare to take the chance now," said Creole. "Without being able to see what we were doing, we could do something wrong. We might cut off our life-support."

"There must be something that we can do!" Sandy cried, starting to sound hysterical.

There was movement again, and none doubted that it was Wysire this time, moving to stand next to Sandy. This was verified when a short exclamation and apology indicated that he had apparently tripped over Cycil on the way.

"There is one thing that we can do," said Wysire. "We can pray."



Unlike many of the other races inhabiting the various planets in the explored universe, the Komislavian race had originated from a large group of Christians who had left Earth seeking a better and safer planet on which to raise their children. Komislava had then recently been discovered and proved perfect for them, having had no colonies yet established there. It was extremely fertile and had only one ocean. This allowed access to all inhabitable parts of the planet without the necessity of ships (either for air or water). There were very few native animals and even fewer native plants. Many other inhabitable planets were being discovered at that time, so the original group was given no trouble about taking control of that particular planet, especially considering its distance from most of the other inhabited planets at that time. It was considered a "back-water" planet, desirable in and of itself, but too far away from most of the other planets to allow for any significantly profitable exports of agricultural items and not having sufficient stores of ought else but arable land to make it desirable. For the group mentioned, it was perfect.

The new inhabitants multiplied quickly and soon settled over a large portion of the planet. Though the population continued to grow with each new generation, the planet was large enough that there would be no fear of crowding for many, many centuries to come. While most of the inhabitants were farmers and a very few were hunters, there were some who wished to continue to explore the universe and to learn. These were the founders of Scavia, the single city on the planet. These were also the one to establish the IC School, a school wherein boys of very high intelligence were accepted as students and taught trades useful to the continuing goal of exploring the universe and making new discoveries. A boy would be accepted at the school only if his intelligence level (his iT level, as it was universally called) was at least 65, or if his intelligence was such that it seemed likely or definite that he could learn enough to raise his iT level to 65 within four years of instruction. The universal average was 50, and 65 marked the 95th percentile and qualified one as a genius. Levels of 75 and above were considered super-geniuses; these composed between 0.05% and 0.1% of the population of Komislava. To advance far in the IC School, a boy was expected to achieve and maintain an iT level of 75 or above. Consequently, though the school never lacked students or applicants, the school also never had more than a dozen or so active groups at a time.

These boys would be trained in one of several different fields. Navigation, medicine, engineering, nutrition, mechanics, and even psychology were options among which the boys could choose. Once trained, or even occasionally while training, a boy would be assigned to a group that would travel on missions of exploration, observation, or experimentation, as the case may be. These groups would have a core of ten trained boys and an addition of two runners, the latter being younger members of the school who were still in training and were assigned to the group as general helpers. These would run errands (hence the title "runners") and train under the other boys. I say boys, because boys they were. A boy could be accepted as a student as early as six years of age. He would be allowed to go on missions as early as eight, provided he showed a sufficiently high iT level. When a boy completed his nineteenth year of age, he was no longer allowed to continue as a student. Some left the school before reaching this age; others remained. The latter, if they did not wish to return to farm life, were permitted either to join the staff of the IC School or to settle within the city and work there. Most chose to continue to work for the IC School, either as instructors for researchers; they were, however, no longer allowed to go on missions.

It was on just such a mission that the group just introduced was engaged. They were an elite group, possessing, as was mentioned earlier, a higher average iT level than most groups, due in great part to the fact that they had as a member of their team the single most intelligent student of the school: Djaisiuk, the first and only exception to the rules concerning both age of entry and age of assignment. This group was now on an exploratory mission to bring back soil samples from a small planet, recently discovered, in a neighboring solar system. The samples had been obtained, tests run, many minor discoveries made in the area, and the boys were now returning home to Komislava.

This unheard-of abduction was staggering. All Komislavians knew that the Vukasovians, a cruel and heartless race, second nearest neighbors of Komislava in the direction of the inhabited universe, hated the Komislavians intensely. The Vukasovians considered the planet of Komislava to be too near to their own planet to exist without bending the knee in submission to Vukosava. The Komislavians, on the other hand, were a good-natured, noncombatant race. They had no weapons of warfare and no interest in researching or obtaining any. They had no thoughts of conquest and little or no fear for the safety of their own planet. It was a universal offense to invade an inhabited planet without just cause, and the Confederation of Planets would step into any fracas of that sort and put down the offending party ruthlessly. This had been sufficient to ensure the safety of the Komislavians over time. The Confederation was strong and showed no signs of weakening, so Komislava continued in peace. Until now, it seemed.



After they had committed their plight to God, the boys sat and waited silently in the darkness. Cycil, the second youngest, was the first to speak.

"What do you think that they plan to do to us?" he asked fearfully.

"Well, it seems that they want us to serve them," Jaeger answered. "They said that we're to be 'acclimated into a race much stronger than our own.' I assume that that means that they want us to join them and to work for them."

"Who do they think they are?" asked Faquire in disgust.

"They're Vukasovians," replied Jade. "They think that they own the world."

"Well, they don't own us!" snorted Creole.

"They do now," murmured Eriane.

"They can't honestly think that we would serve them," said Faquire.

"Apparently they do," answered Jaeger, "else they wouldn't go to all this trouble and risk to capture us."

"What are we going to do?" asked Sandy, still obviously frightened.

No one answered at first. Finally Jaeger spoke.

"We'll do what they say. For now."

"What?!" exclaimed Creole and Faquire together.

"They're Vukasovians," began Jaeger. "You've heard the stories of them. There's no telling what they may do to us if we disobey. For them to simply kill us outright would be merciful, in their eyes. Indeed, our only hope of staying alive (and in one piece) and of staying together is to do what they say. For now. Maybe we'll be able to escape later. If not, at least we may be together. And remember, we still can't even be sure of what they want."

"I can't serve them!" said Creole. "I won't serve them. I cannot assist the sworn enemies of my people to hurt my friends and family or anyone else, and frankly I'm shocked then you would even consider it."

"Creole, I'm sure that they're not going to ask you to lead an assault on Komislava," said Jade.

"No, but they may ask me to help to design ships which will be later used for that purpose," Creole replied. "I'll not contribute my knowledge or abilities to them, knowing that they'll only use them for evil."

"You don't know that they'll use them for evil," said Wysire.

"Wysire, you're an exception," said Christopher. "They couldn't very well use your abilities for evil. Not all of us are so blessed in our fields. Creole and I designed and run engines, and these could very easily be pulled into warships."

"They can't misuse mine either," said Eriane. "I work to heal people and to discover new cures. I certainly don't like the Vukasovians, but at least I'd only be working to help people if I did work for them."

"Creole, I wouldn't fight against my own people either," said Jaeger, "but I'm sure that they know that. They know that about all of us. It's very likely that they'll want us to do research or the like: something that suits our abilities, but I sincerely doubt that they'll have you or any of us try to make something that they intend to use for war. How would they know that we wouldn't sabotage it? Whatever they want us to do, it'll probably be little different from what we do now."

"But it will be for our enemies," Creole persisted. "I will not obey them."

"As Wysire said, we can't know that they'll want us to do evil," said Jaeger. "We may be fully able to serve them without doing any wrong. Remember that Joseph served the Egyptians when he was in captivity there. Would you say that he was wrong to do so?"

"He was also thrown into prison," Creole retorted, "because he refused to go against God's commands."

"Where he continued to serve the Egyptians," continued Jaeger, "by working in the prison. He was never considered rebellious."

"He was one person," said Christopher. "And it isn't as though the Egyptians were the enemies of his people yet."

"That's true," commented Leil quietly.

"What of Mordecai?" asked Detrin softly. "He served the Persian king and even saved his life. And the Persians did hate the Israelites, so much so that many of them wanted to destroy their race, not merely subjugate them."

"And Daniel," added Jaeger. "He and his friends were captured when they were still young men, and yet they served so well that they were put into positions of command."

"So you're saying that it would be right to serve them and wrong to refuse?" asked Creole doubtfully after a moment.

"I do not think that it would be wrong to serve them," said Jaeger. "My intent is not to sound fatalistic, but I do think that this will be the best course for the present time. Circumstances may change my mind in time, but this is what I feel is best for now. If we can escape, I think that we should do so, and, to that end, I think that we should stay together. If we refuse to serve them, it is very likely that we'll be separated and possibly killed."

Creole was quiet for a moment, then sighed. "I can't serve them in good conscience," he said at last. "I think that everyone will have to make their own decision; as for me, I will not serve them."

There was silence for a moment.

"Creole, please," said Jade, "let's not be split up."

"Jade, I can't willingly serve them either," said Christopher.

"I could serve them," said Faquire, "but I wouldn't want to do so."

Everyone was quiet again.

"I'll go with you, Jaeger," said Jade. "Whatever you decide."

"So will I," said Sandy.

"And I," said Cycil.

Jaeger was quiet. He wanted to do what was best for the group, but more than that, he wanted to make the right decision, particularly if most of the group was looking to him to leave.

"I'll follow Djaisiuk," said Leil suddenly.

Everyone was then silent again in a sort of anticipation. Most of them had forgotten that Djaisiuk was still in the room. They all wanted to hear his decision, knowing that it would doubtless be the best way. Djaisiuk would never do anything without a very good reason. Thus far, Djaisiuk had not participated in the discussion at all. He had remained silent, probably deep in thought. Even now he said nothing.

"Djaisiuk?" asked Creole at last. "What will you do?"

"Don't follow me," came Djaisiuk's voice at last. This was a lot for him to say all at once. He quite loathed any requirement to speak more than two syllables together or even more than one word at a time.

"But what do you plan to do?" pressed Jade. "Will you go with them or refuse?"

Djaisiuk did not answer.

"Djaisiuk, please!" pleaded Creole. "I know that you don't like to speak and that we're not supposed to question you, but this is truly a matter of life and death. You can offer us the best advice. You've heard our arguments; what would you say to do? Please tell us!"
For a moment there was silence as though Djaisiuk were ignoring Creole's plea. Then there was the sound of movement as Djaisiuk apparently began to move slowly and carefully towards the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Jaeger.

Djaisiuk did not answer, but they could hear his footsteps walking down the halls in the direction of his workroom. None doubted that that was his intended destination. There was silence in the engine room until the sound of Djaisiuk's footsteps died away.

Jaeger sighed. "I don't think that he is going to offer us any advice," he said. "I think that Creole is right in this, at least: everyone must do what he thinks right or best, even if it means that we go separate ways. Really, even if we all agree to serve them, there is no guarantee that we will see one another again once we leave here. We can only hope and pray."

"I will not serve them," said Creole quietly. "Do what they may to me, I will not serve them."

"I will follow you, Creole," said Christopher.

"As will I, if you choose to defy them," said Faquire. "I will not willingly serve them either."

"Faquire, your abilities couldn't very well be misused either," said Eriane. "You're a nutritionist."

"I can't claim any great knowledge of the Vukasovians on a personal level," replied Faquire, "but I know enough to be sure of this, at least: if an ability of any kind can be misused, they'll find a way to do it. Mark my words, they'll find an evil use even for you and Wysire, if you serve them."

"I will still follow Jaeger," said Sandy.

"As will I," said Detrin. "I am not ashamed to admit that I am frightened."

Jaeger was quiet for a moment before replying. "I will obey them," he said. "I am also frightened of them, and not only for myself. If you younger ones wish to follow me, then I cannot in good conscience lead you into such a terrible position possibly needlessly."

For a time they all sat silently again. After a short time, the ship slowed somewhat and the familiar feeling came that told them that they were passing through the atmosphere of a planet.

"We must be almost there," said Jaeger. "Another ten minutes, more or less; twenty at most."

"Oughtn't we to pack our things then?" asked Detrin. "Just in case they don't give us time once we land?"

"You may, if you can in the dark," said Jaeger. "I have nothing that I plan to bring."

"I have my maps," said Jade, "but I'm sure that they have better."

"Whether their instruments are better than mine or not," said Eriane, "I'll not contribute to them by offering them anything of my own."

"Yes," agreed Wysire. "I suppose that Djaisiuk is the only one with unique and irreplaceable instruments."

"Is that what he is doing, do you suppose?" asked Jade. "Packing? Why?!"

"I doubt that that's what he's doing," said Jaeger. "I don't think that he would let the Vukasovians have or use or even observe any of his instruments. And remember that we still don't even know whether he plans to serve them or to refuse."

"Maybe he plans to hide," suggested Cycil.

"That's a distinct possibility," agreed Christopher. "If you didn't know that his room was there, then you'd never find it."

"He wouldn't last long without food or water," Faquire put in. Being the one responsible for the nutritional well-being of the boys, food and drink were generally uppermost in Faquire's mind. "No, I can't imagine that he plans to stay in there."

"I'd like to bring my violin," said Cycil softly, "but I couldn't bear it if they took it away from me. I wonder whether it would be better to just leave it here. Do you suppose that they have violins on Vukosava?"

"I'm sure that they have musical instruments of some kind," said Jade rising. "But I couldn't say what. You're right though; that's something that would be nice to bring."

Sandy jumped up suddenly. "My Bible!" he exclaimed. "I'll want that!"

"Yes, indeed!" agreed Wysire, rising also. "That's certainly something that wouldn't easily be replaced here. I doubt that there's a single Bible on the whole planet of Vukosava."

"Do you think that they'll let us bring those?" asked Jade skeptically.

"I don't know," said Jaeger, standing also, "but it's certainly worth a try. As Wysire said, I doubt that that's something that they'll have readily available. Yes, that's definitely something worth bringing."

The boys all got up, even the three who said that they would not serve the Vukasovians, and carefully felt their way to their respective rooms, returning shortly thereafter. Cycil had brought his small violin, and a few of the other boys who played small instruments brought them as well. Jade was the last one to return, explaining that he had misplaced his Bible and couldn't find it quickly in the dark. Normally, someone would have offered a friendly joke at this, but no one did so. The solemnity of the occasion weighed too heavily on all of them.

"I sincerely doubt that they'll let us keep our Bibles," said Faquire, referring to himself, Creole, and Christopher, "but, as Jaeger said, it's worth a try."

"I'll keep mine hidden as long as I can," said Christopher. "It's small enough that they might not notice it. It's almost like the Christians who face persecution: they have to hide their Bibles."

"I think that it would be easier if that was the reason that we were being captured," commented Creole. A thought then seemed to strike him. "If they take away your Bibles, will the rest of you join us then?"

"They can't take away all of mine," murmured Detrin. Detrin had an exceptional memory, even for a genius, and had put much of the Bible to memory. Already, at the age of thirteen, he could recite whole books at a time easily.

"Yes," smiled Creole, "excepting Detrin. Would the rest of you continue to serve them if they wouldn't let you have your Bibles?"

The other boys considered.

"I don't know," said Jaeger. "I suppose that I'd have to make that choice when I came to it."