Prodigy Returns (book 3)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Maxim and Kyo stood outside the cave entrance in their black suits of armour as they prepared to leave. Alex stood with one arm wrapped around Olivia, with Monk behind them.

"We should be back no later than a week," Maxim said. "Monk will be here to help out with anything and watch over you two. In the unlikely event that there is some kind of emergency, you know where the weapons room is. The Faraday cage will be on, so nothing electronic or otherwise will get inside the cave.

"No need to worry," Alex said, like a teenager being left home alone for the first time, "everything will be fine."

"I know," Maxim said, stepping in to hug Alex. "You are very capable of handling any situation that comes your way and I completely trust you."

Maxim pulled back and then knelt down to give Olivia a hug and a kiss goodbye.

"I love you, sweetie. Be good for your older sister, okay?"

"I will."

Similarly Kyodin gave his sisters a hug before he and his father embarked on their hunting trip.

"Be safe," Alex said.

Kyodin and Maxim activated their face masks, causing them to slide down and conceal their faces. With a final wave, they rose up off the ground and began gliding through the air. Alex and Olivia stood at the entrance of the cave, watching their dad and brother descend down the valley like two downhill skiers. Slicing back and forth over the water, the two looked like they were having a lot of fun. Eventually, they became two black specks in the distance and completely disappeared from view.

"So Olivia, looks like it's just going to be you and me for a while. Are you ready to have some fun?"

"Yeah!" Olivia shouted with joy.

"Okay, I know school is really important and we cannot skip that. So why don't we do this... we'll do some reading and vocab lessons now and then we'll have the rest of the day to do whatever you want. Sound good?"

Olivia nodded.

Alex had been around Olivia for a couple of months and was becoming more confident interacting with her. Prior to arriving on Titan, Alex had no experience with children as young as Olivia. It was a skill that one could not simply download.

Depending how the hunt went, Maxim and Kyodin could be gone as long as a week. That would give Alex a lot of time with her sister. As it was still early, Alex spent the morning teaching Olivia how to read. It was an eye opening experience to witness a child learn the traditional way. It made Alex appreciate her chip a lot more.

Once they took care of the mandatory school work, they had the rest of the afternoon to play. Alex spent the day with Olivia doing all sorts of fun activities together. They played hide and seek, baked brownies, went swimming, and played with Olivia's pet jerboa.

At night, Alex and Olivia went to the observatory and stared out at the ocean and the stars as the gentle night breeze caressed their faces. They were stretched out together on an ottoman style sofa under a warm blanket, enjoying the view for as long as Olivia could stay awake. It didn't take long before her eyelids became too heavy to remain open. Alex looked over and saw Olivia passed out. While being careful not to wake Olivia, Alex scooped her sister up and carried her off to bed.

The night was still young for Alex so she decided to do a little snooping. She had never been in Maxim's room before without him, nor had she spent any unsupervised time in his workshop.

Entering his room for the first time alone, she noticed a shelf with some interesting rock samples and other strange alien artifacts that looked like they had washed up on shore. Alex studied the items with interest before turning her attention to the laboratory.

Alex slowly walked into the lab and the motion sensors adjusted the light to her preference. Inside were a lot of items salvaged from the Pegasus along with many more inventions that Maxim had created. On one of the tables was a small robot that Maxim had been working on. It reminded her of Yuri's robot Akino. Alex remembered her father planned to build a helper bot several months ago to help him with chores, but he must have abandoned his research when his body became more youthful and able.

Alex took a keen interest in the bot. She figured if Maxim no longer needed it, perhaps she could complete it for her sister. Alex studied the bot and discovered it was more advanced than she had previously thought. Akino operated on voice commands and had data programmed into him. Whereas Maxim's robot required the user to wear a headset and control the bot with brain waves.

Taking a closer look at the headset, Alex noticed an inscription on the side of it. 'RT 2100,' she read aloud.

She looked around and saw a darkened nook in the corner. As she approached, she saw the shiny metallic surface gleam in the light. Standing before her was an enormous battle robot from Earth. She recalled it from the first time she was on the Pegasus when she was making her escape in the pod. She figured Maxim must have used parts from the RT to build his helper bot.

The RT was dismantled a bit, which was something Alex had done before as well so she was familiar with every piece of the bot and how to put it back together. As she was analyzing the RT, she sensed something behind her. She turned around and was startled by Monk, who was standing in the doorway, watching her. Alex jumped and let out a scream. Monk snorted and carried on his way.