Free Birthright: Book I of the Temujin Saga by Adam J. Whitlatch Page B

broken!”
    “Don’t worry,” said Mo. “He’ll put it back together just the way it was. Won’t you, Samrai?”
    “Better,” said Samrai without looking up from his work.
    Alex found a section of table clear of electronic bits and sat. “So what’s the plan?”
    “As soon as there’s sufficient light, we’ll go out and search searching for that command center,” said Lomaant.
    Alex shook his head. “This farm is over five hundred acres, and a good chunk of that is timber. We don’t even know what we’re looking for. It could take days to find the entrance.”
    “We don’t have days,” said Mo.
    “Why not?”
    “Exactly how long do you think your parents are going to let us sleep on your couch before they realize something’s up?” said Mo. “We need to get out of here. And fast.”
    “Besides,” said Lomaant, “we don’t know how urgent our mission is. We may have a truncated time table.”
    “A what?” asked Alex.
    “No time,” Samrai translated. He was scrutinizing a small white gear.
    Alex sighed, but then his face brightened. “There’s an old capped well out in the timber!”
    “A whatnow ?” asked Samrai.
    “A well,” repeated Alex, gesturing with his hands. “It’s a hole in the ground about three or four feet across and really, really deep. In the old days, people would drop buckets into the hole to draw up water.”
    “Primitive,” Samrai muttered.
    At the mention of water, the Replodians on the couch exchanged glances, got up, and walked to the kitchen. A moment later, Alex heard water running and the rattling of glasses. It suddenly occurred to him that over the course of the night, he had seen the aliens each consume several glasses of water. Maybe it had something to do with their body temperature; in fact, he could feel the heat radiating off Samrai’s body from where he sat.
    There was a brief silence as the two aliens drank, followed by the sound of more running water as they refilled the glasses.
    Samrai began reassembling the DVD player. “Hey, what’s a guy got to do to get some service around here? Bring me one.”
    Lomaant nodded and grabbed a third glass for his brother.
    “Anyway,” Alex continued. “The well was capped off years ago with a big cement disk. Maybe if we pry it off, we’ll find some kind of door underneath.”
    “It’s worth a shot,” said Lomaant as he reentered the room and handed a glass of water to Samrai, who accepted it with one hand and drank it while continuing to reassemble the machine with his other hand.
    “It’s our only shot, Lomaant,” said Mo.
    “That reminds me,” said Alex. “We need to do something about your names.”
    Samrai licked a stray drop of water from his chin and looked up. “What’s wrong with our names?”
    “Well, they’re not exactly what we here on Earth would call ‘normal.’”
    Samrai scoffed and returned to his work. “Normalcy is an illusion created by one’s own perception. Besides, I like my name.”
    “Deep,” said Mo. “Any more T-shirt wisdom you’d like to impart on us, oh great sage?”
    Samrai gave him the finger.
    “No, no, he’s right,” said Lomaant. “His mother had so much trouble with my name tonight that she kept calling me Lamont .”
    Mo furrowed his brow. “That’s odd. She didn’t have any trouble with mine.”
    “Well, of course not,” said Alex. “Moe’s a fairly common Earth name. M-O-E.”
    “Really?” said Moe. “Sweet!”
    Alex pointed at Lomaant. “As for you, if Mom thinks that your name is Lamont, then why correct her? Let her and everyone else think that.”
    “La… mont,” said the Replodian slowly, stretching out each syllable as if tasting them. “I like it.”
    Alex smiled.
    “Sounds a little prissy to me,” said Samrai. “Be sure to drink your water with your pinkie finger out, La-mont .”
    “And you,” said Alex. “Yours is the worst of them all.”
    Samrai blinked. “What? Why? ”
    “Because it’s just one letter