"When he's my brother, that's how." said Pol. "He wants to advance in his profession, and I want to return to mine and stop playing games here. Trying a couple of runaway tech-trading traitors should be just the thing for his career, and I will be the hero who after struggling to survive for years on a backwater planet was the one that found you and brought you in, along with the local natives you consorted with. That won't be too far from the truth."

"This has got to be a bluff!" snapped Arion. "How's this — " Arion made a rude noise in his throat "-expect to get the lot of us to your homeworld!?"

"I won't have to." said Pol. "My brother is stationed on a traveling trial ship. All I have to do is summon him to the proper location."

"Yeah, right." said Keyro. "Summon him to an off-limits world."

"Hardly." said Pol. "Summon him to where we'll be appearing."

The face of Pol faded, and the floor beneath the boys began to glow. "I don't believe this!"

said Jahv. "The entire floor is a transmat pad!"

"Pol!" screamed Keyro. "At least let our friends from this world go!"

But it was far too late for that.

Part 11

REVIEW: Jahv had invented a portable transmat device that would allow the user to teleport anywhere on the planet. He, Keyro, Morik, and Arion, along with Niklas, Keith, Martin, and Davy, used the transmat discs to travel to Keisner Park, which had gained a reputation in a very short period of operation of being the most sophisticated, advanced theme-amusement park in the world. Holographic disguises kept the four aliens' true identities from being revealed, until the group decided to play in some nearby fountains, which disrupted the holographic disguises and kept the transmat discs from functioning. The group sought refuge in a nearby restroom until the discs could be dried enough for use. Unfortunately, Jahv had left his precious backpack out at the fountains, and Keith was caught by park security trying to retrieve it. The other youngsters were taken in shortly thereafter. They were taken to the office of the creator of Keisner Park, a man named Paul Keisner, who revealed himself to the youngsters to be of the same alien race as Jahv and Keyro, a Botaran tech-designer named Pol. Initially seeming to be friendly, he soon captured the eight children and locked them in a room that was actually one immense transmat device with interstellar range. Pol wanted to rejoin Botaran society, but realizing that he had spent a great deal of time on an «off-limits» world, needed a way back. Turning in the two runaways Jahv and Keyro and bringing them up on charges of treason by sharing their technology with the local «primitives» would be a good way to do that — especially if the Botaran Magistrate he delivered the youngsters to on board a traveling Botaran Judicial Vessel happened to be Pol's own older brother who was looking to advance his own career with a particularly spectacular case — such as two runaways who could also be charged with a particularly heinous crime by Botaran standards…

The eight boys were being led by large armed and armored Botaran guards through the corridors of a rather nondescript vessel. Keith had only stopped swearing a few seconds ago, Arion was still muttering under his breath, Martin was clinging to Niklas and Davy for all he was worth, Morik looked almost as petrified, and Jahv and Keyro looked all of betrayed, angry, and scared.

"Where the hell are we, anyway?" said Keith. Apparently the guards didn't have any argument with the boys conversing. Either that or they didn't understand what was being said.

"On board a Botaran Judicial Vessel." explained Jahv. "There's hundreds of ships like these. Justice is swift in my culture, and the Magistrates make all the decisions. They're generally the most honest and honorable people in our society. But I guess there's exceptions."

"Why vessel?" asked Morik.

"My people travel a lot, to many worlds." said Jahv. "If there's a legal problem, it's easier to send a ship to the problem than to bring the problem to the homeworld."

"But we were on Earth!" protested Niklas, his voice shaky. "Why would your people be that close to our world?"

"I'm not sure they were, and I'm not sure we are anymore." said Jahv. "That was a massive transmat platform, even bigger than the one Keyro and I used when we traveled to Earth when we first left home. If the underlying power grid was as immense, we could've been shot halfway across the galaxy."

"Why do you people even have ships if you can do that?" asked Davy, trying to keep his mind off of what was happening.

"The transmats take a LOT of power," said Jahv. "Ships are easier, and better, for large cargo transportation as well as general exploration. Pol probably blew out half the power grid of Keisner Park sending us here."

"Who cares!" wailed Martin. "I wanna go home! What's gonna happen to us!?"

The group passed a lone window in the corridor. Keith looked out. "Aw, man, I don't believe it!"

"What?" asked Niklas.

"Look out the window." said Keith. "Recognize that mess out there?"

The boys looked as they walked by. "Garboris?!" exclaimed Davy. "Oh, brother."

"What's Garboris?" asked Martin.

"Remember that smelly junkpile of a space station we told you about?" remarked Keith. "I think this fancy Botaran Justice Ship or whatever is docked there."

"This makes no sense." commented Jahv. "This is non-aligned space. No Botaran Judicial Vessel should be out here!"

"No ethical Botaran Judicial Vessel, you mean, brother." added Keyro.

"It still makes no sense." said Jahv. "Pol couldn't've known we were coming to his park. He couldn't've alerted the Magistrate who runs this ship in time to head to such a neutral location."

"Unless this Magistrate has been at this neutral location for some time anyway." suggested Keyro. "Possibly waiting for some fancy case to come along — or avoiding something."

The boys approached the end of the corridor, and two vast doors opened. The boys were prodded into the room by the guards, who then took up stations around the interior of the room. The room was circular, featureless, and dark. The only shaft of lights came down on the direct center of the room where the boys were standing, and to a high podium along the edge. At the base of that podium stood Pol, now dressed in a basic grey Botaran jumpsuit. Seated at the podium was an older-looking Botaran, with reddish skin and black flecks in his hair. This, Jahv would explain later, was a sign of aging among Botarans. This older brother of Pol's was probably on the high side of 200.

"Process them." said the Magistrate. Three guards stepped forward with long staffs with glowing spheres at one end.

"Is this gonna hurt?" asked Keith.

"Just your pride." replied Jahv.

"What do you —?" started Keith, but there was a sudden flash of light and a vague sizzling noise. When the light faded, all eight boys were stark naked.

"Hey!" snapped Arion. "I'm no Botaran! What's the idea!?"

"What use have children — or prisoners — for pointless coverings?" sneered one of the guards.

"I am Magistrate Varek." said the red-hued Botaran loudly. "Jahv and Keyro, sons of Amshat, son of Lemoy, son of Dekel, son of Gershon. You are charged with the high crimes of family separation and treason against the Botaran Republic by sharing advanced technology with known primitives, specifically these four from the planet designated Earth."

"Are you kidding?!" exclaimed Jahv. "This Pol here has been sharing technology with a couple'a million 'primitives' for the past several YEARS on that planet!"

"Actually," said Pol, "I've only built an amusement park that utilizes certain technologies which remain hidden and concealed. There is no crime in that. You're the ones that gave these four transmat discs, and Creator only knows what else. You've been missing for close to a year."