by Paul Kater
he know.
The room did not divulge anything about the people that had lived there. There were the toys, some other things that looked like household items, but there were no pictures or so.
"We should go back to the big pyramid," Hilda suggested, her pockets full of toys from the table.
Phweeeeep!
William shook his head.
Hilda waved her whistle. "Come on, folks and cats, we're done here."
Once outside, William used his magic to repair the door and put it back into the house. Then they mounted the flying contraption and with a few resounding phweeeeps they lifted off and went back to the pyramid, where they encountered a very upset Davdruw.
-=-=-
"You were gone!"
"Yes, you picked that up quickly," Hilda said, looking up at the tall man.
Phweeeeep, went the whistle.
"I had assigned guards to you!" Davdruw exclaimed, pointing at the group that they had so successfully shaken off.
"Indeed, you had. Can we go now? We have important things to do. Remember that I am the witch who is going to make things right again around here?" Hilda turned to the guards. "We're going to our room, so if you want you can go there while we finish this."
The guards stared at her, then at Davdruw, in utter confusion. Then, as one, they moved away into one of the corridors that snaked through the pyramid.
As the sound of feet died away in the distance, Davdruw closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Hilda grabbed William and Kerna by the hand and dragged them off, their 'escape' turning into a run and a lot of laughter. Two black shapes bounced around them on two pairs of four feet.
-=-=-
Once in their room, everyone fell onto a big chair or couch. Hilda emptied her pockets, shocking William with all the things she had brought from the house they had visited. Raided.
Obsi and Grim were on the table, sniffing the interesting novelties that the witch had laid out. Well, all of them, but one. Phweeeeeep!
The whistle very quickly made Maurizio and Rebel knock on the door, curious to find out what they had missed. They looked at the things on the table after the cats were done, Hilda caught their fingers in the strange little cube and laughed at the perplexed faces of the two, and with William and Kerna she told them about the house itself.
"That is amazing. And that book you mentioned, can we see it?" Rebel asked.
Kerna carefully put the book-thing on the table and switched it on.
"It's not a book," Hilda insisted. Phweeeeeep. "See, the whistle agrees."
William looked at his witch. He knew that the lack of magic still bothered her. She now used the whistle to make up for it in a way, as far as it was possible to find a substitute for magic. Before he could wonder and worry more, Maurizio prodded the wizard in the ribs.
"That is an interesting thing, William. How does it work?"
"Hah, your guess is as good as mine. Kerna can make some things appear on it, but we are not even sure what side is up on that thing."
Kerna showed the text to the captain, who stared at the tablet for a while. Then he turned it sideways and stared some more, while the others in the room stared at him.
After a while, Maurizio slowly raised his eyes and looked around the group. "Is something the matter?" he asked.
"Just that you are being rude, staring at that thing in silence for so long," Rebel said, slapping the man on the shoulder.
"Do you want me to sing while I look at it?" Maurizio asked.
"Oh, no, please don't sing!" Rebel got up. "Did you ever hear him sing?" she asked the others. Without waiting for a response, she went on: "When he sings, you would want to go deaf. I mean, even a crow has a great singing voice compared to that man!"
"And still you love him," Hilda remarked, turning the whistle in her hands.
"Yes, I- how do you know that?"
Phweeeeep, went the whistle. "I know that."
Maurizio put down the tablet and got up as well. "Mi cara," he said, putting his hands on Rebel's hips. "I love you too. You know that." Eyes met eyes, pink clouds were almost materialising.
"Right," said Hilda, jumping to her feet before the strings started playing, "before we get all mushy, how about that book-thing? You seemed very interested in it, Maurizio. Care to tell us more?"
The sudden loud action of the witch made the two lovers jump apart. Maurizio was not able to hold back a curse as he tumbled back on the couch, next to William, while Rebel's eyes were close to shooting fire. She could do that. Instead, she breathed in deeply and sat down again. "Yes, we should... discuss this later. In private."
The captain picked up the tablet again. "Yes. It is very interesting, this thing. I have seen something similar, you know. And not even very long ago, either."
All eyes, except those of the two cats of course, were now on the captain.
"I thought I recognised the thing, so that is why I held it the way I did." Maurizio made quite a show of tilting the tablet, for all to clearly see. "And then it reminded me of something."
All eyes, except those of the two cats of course, were still on the captain.
"Of what?" Rebel asked.
"The mirror on the wall in my cabin aboard the Mimosa."
23. The big picture
Maurizio got slapped.
"Why was that?!" he wondered.
"We thought you could read what's on that thing!" Rebel, the slapper, said.
Hilda slowly got up and stood before the captain. "You even had me think highly of you." She bent over, put the whistle to her lips and - phweeeeeep!! "Give me that book-thing. At least it will be in responsible hands that way." The witch disregarded the grin she heard behind her. She knew it was William's.
She pulled the tablet from Maurizio's hands and sat down with it. Looking at it, also sideways, the way the captain had done, didn't bring her anything.
Kerna, who was sitting next to the witch, leaned over. She studied the sides of the book-thing and frowned. "What would that be?" She pointed at what looked like a bit of decoration, a small row of balls.
"It's pretty," Hilda said, "look, there are some on the other side too." She poked at the tiny round balls that suddenly shifted under her fingers. "Oops..."
The display of the tablet blinked a few times, then it went dark.
"I think you found the off-switch, Hilda," William laughed as he got up. "Anyone for coffee, tea or something else?" He took the orders and was surprised Maurizio did not ask for anything.
"I think he's afraid of getting in Hilda's way again," Rebel said, taking the captain's hand. "It's okay, sweetie, the witch won't eat you. I'll make sure of that."
"You're going to beat me to it, are you?" Hilda casually remarked.
Rebel stared at the witch. "Uhm... I'll come and help you, William," she tried to get out of the situation.
"I'll manage," said the wizard, "you can stay there." With a broad smile he made his way over to the oatmeal generator and magicked up the coffees, teas and a triple espresso for Maurizio. The captain looked like he could do with one.
Kerna in that time examined the tablet further. "I think it is broken now. It won't react to the way I activated it before."
Rebel let go of Maurizio's hand and kneeled down next to Kerna. "How do you switch it on?"
Kerna started explaining, while Hilda looked at the two with obvious fascination.
"They seem to know what they are talking about," she remarked to Maurizio, who kept his eyes on William.
"Rebel knows something about that," the captain said, forcing himself to look at Hilda. He was relieved to see that she obviously did not hold a grudge against him.
"Duck, everyone. Incoming cups," William said as he walked back to the couch. The cups and mugs floated behind him and found their way to their respective recipients. "So, did you break it?" the wizard asked Kerna and Rebel.
"It's not broken," Rebel said, "it looks like something is stuck somewhere, but I can't get to it. The bloody thing's too small
for my fingers, and I have no tools and stuff here."
"Hmmm. I may be able to help with that," said William. "Can I have that thing?"
Kerna handed him the tablet. William looked at the near microscopic balls. "So those are stuck, right?" He magicked a table to the side and put the tablet on the ground. "Everyone step back."
The wizard popped up his wand, pointed and mumbled something. A grey cloud formed over the tablet, obscuring it from view for a moment. Then the grey smoke disappeared, leaving behind a super-magnified tablet. The device now was four feet long and three feet wide. "Here you go, perhaps you have better access now."
Hilda screamed for laughter. Kerna and Rebel stared at the giant object. Maurizio got up and stared also.
William picked up his coffee mug and took a sip. "Ick. Needs more cream," he decided, fixing the problem instantly.
Hilda sipped her coffee too. "I like your style, wizard," she then said. "You paid attention." And to Rebel she said: "That should be big enough, right?"
"Uhhuh." That was all the woman from the future could muster as she started walking around the humongous tablet. "Perhaps a bit too big."
Kerna also examined the tablet from nearby.
"Silly people," the witch commented. "Now it's so big and they are almost on top of it." She took her whistle. Phweeeep!
Grim and Obsi had already jumped on the tablet and walked around over it, examining it in their own mysterious way.
"Ohhh, I think I found it," Rebel's voice then sounded from behind the tablet. "I am sure this is the 'on' switch, but something's stuck under it. Does someone have a hammer so I can knock it away?"
Hilda and William laughed as they walked around the immense tablet. Rebel sat