The Millennial Box by Julie Steimle (snow like ashes .TXT) 📖

of names that Eric had been collecting from the printer. "And these, if you compare them to those," pointing at the NASA list, "will probably help us find the link to the killers."

"That's pretty clever detective work, kid," Steele said from behind. "But how do we know you didn't doctor this whole thing?"

Agent Simms nodded with him, glowering at the boy.

Jeff rolled his eyes then shook his head. "Believe what you want. You can just pin it all on me - though I protest - or you can use this and probably get what you are looking for."

"I think what Steele is saying," Agent Keane broke in, putting himself between Agent Simms and Jeff in case another fight started, "is how do we know you don't already have the box? You said yourself that you'd just take it without getting caught. You came up with all this on your own. Why didn't you just go get it?"

Jeff and Zormna exchanged a look, both of them irritated by Agent Keane's presence. He still looked barely old enough to carry a federal badge, even in a suit.

But Agent Sicamore broke in first. "He is telling the truth. I think he thinks it is easier to steal the box from us than it is from those people. I bet he wants back up for the first steal. Am I right?"

 Jeff caught himself in a laugh and shook his head. But Zormna raised her eyebrows.

"I think you are all way too suspicious," Zormna said, plucking the papers from Jeff's hand. "Why don't we just look at these and find who the mole is? Then we can debate who will double-cross whom over the possession of our box."

Her emphasis on whose box it really was had an unsettling effect on the room. Eric laughed and choked - he was drinking another cup of soda. Agent Hayworth and Simms both glared at her. Agent Keane averted his eyes to the ceiling, blushing at the truth to her point. Agent Sicamore also glared at her. Steele cleared his throat.

"As I see it," he said, "the ownership of the box is still up for grabs."

Zormna glared fiercely at him. "If a kid loses a ball in their neighbor's yard because of the wind, the neighbors still don't have a right to claim that it is theirs."

Steele laughed back at her. "But when the ball was actually a spy satellite, it becomes the spoils of war."

"We're not at war!" Zormna propped her fists on her hips.

Jeff shook his head. "And it isn't a spy satellite."

They all looked at him now, excluding Eric who was mopping up his chin after spitting out another drink and stopping a second attack of choking.

"Then what is it?" Steele asked.

All the federal agents stared likewise.

Jeff shrugged with a peek to Zormna. "A time capsule."

Everyone blinked with the exception of Zormna and Eric who had noticed that he had dribbled down his shirt. He was getting annoyed with the conversation.

"Time capsule?" Sicamore asked.

Jeff nodded matter-of-factly. "Yeah. A historic time capsule. It is a piece of our history that we lost. And now that it is found, we'd like it back."

"Why would anyone kill for a ruddy time capsule?" Simms yelled, mostly at the walls since the people he really wanted to yell at were not there.

"It is a very valuable time capsule. People have killed for stupider things," Jeff said.

Steele shook his head with a groan. "Ok, ok. I'll buy that. But what I don't get is the story Agent Sicamore told me." 

Sicamore immediately turned red. The faces of the agents went stony.

"He said that your country has hostile intentions toward the U.S.," Steele said irritably.

"A lie," Zormna spat, glaring narrowly at the FBI agents.

"And that you two have been stopping them from investigating those intentions," the bounty hunter continued.

Jeff shrugged.

"And that you," the man said, pointing at Zormna, who stepped back from Steele's finger as if it were a hot poker, "are part of a military that has already threatened to attack us if we didn't keep quiet about your people living here."

Jeff looked at Sicamore. "Really, if you are going to tell him anything, shouldn't it at least be the truth?"

The agent stared back at him. "That was the truth."

Jeff shook his head. "Not even close to it. The truth is more amusing."

"Amusing?" Steele said, staring at Jeff.

Zormna smirked with a peek at Jeff also. She wondered what he would say.

"Much more amusing." Jeff smiled and then took the other paper out of Agent Sicamore's hand. "Shall we start the search, or are we going to bicker about more petty details?" he asked, walking over to the map on the drafting table.

Zormna nodded, following him.

All of the government agents peered at Sicamore and Steele. They would not change the story they had told the bounty hunter, and Sicamore did not dare tell him the whole truth. To tell the bounty hunter about Mars and Martians was considered by all a bad idea. They all nodded and walked over to the table to see what Jeff had come up with.

But Steel shared one brief look with Jeff who smirked back.

Chapter Ten: Shall I Compare Thee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom." - Anon -

 

 

 

The long weekend with the FBI took shape into a plan. Their searches through the lists found only one parallel, but that was all they needed. There was a man, a balding tubby man who helped with the maintenance of the NASA shuttles who matched with both lists of names. This man had actually spoken with one of the astronauts that found the box when he got the report about damage to the space station by the box. The suspicious man's name was Thomas Smith. And he lived just outside Orlando. From the picture they could see that he was pasty pale, though not as white as Zormna or Jafarr were - and his eyes were a cool blue. But aside from that, he did not seem the type of person who the FBI have been suspected as a Martian.

For some reason the FBI agents expected all Martians to be fit. Jeff was at the peak of health, as was Zormna. Both Eric and Aaron, the pretended college students who were boarding in that house with Jeff, were lean and healthy. But they had entirely forgot about Zormna's obese great aunt. And since they did not know about the McLenna family or believe that Alex and owners of the Streigle household were Martians, none of them considered average, ordinary people as Martians.

That is to say, Agents Simms, Hayworth, and Keane were thinking that way. But Agent Sicamore remained mum on the subject as he thought over his own parents who were about as average as any middle-aged couple. But he decided not to burst the illusion in his fellow agents' minds in case they suspected him. Instead, he allowed them to marvel over Jeff's analytical criticisms of the people on the lists from NASA that he and Zormna got out for inspection

The thing that struck Agent Sicamore funny was how Jeff had suspected everybody. Jeff murmured over the pictures, saying things like:  "If he dyed his hair" or, "She could be wearing contacts," or, "They do sell that spray tan stuff," as if there really was a type to look for, but anything could be altered if it came to it. And Zormna's responses were even more revealing as she frequently remarked how it could not possibly be certain individuals. Yet Jeff insisted they check them all.

So when they ended on Thomas Smith, Zormna only smiled placidly at Jeff. Her gaze said I-told-you-so as plainly as her own frighteningly green eyes.

Jeff sighed and agreed, copying down all the personal information that he could. "Fine. Thomas Smith it is."

 Eric plucked up the unused information, stuffing them into the shredder.

Agent Simms saw him.

"Hey! That's vital evidence!" Rushing up, Agent Simms, reached for the papers.

The door opened about then. Aaron stepped in, and Uncle Orren peeked in with a look to Jeff to see if he needed any assistance. Aaron quickly stopped Agent Simms from taking the papers while the other agents stared at 'Uncle Orren' who pretended to looked confused over the goings on.

"What is this?" Uncle Orren said. "What exactly are you all doing here?"

Zormna quickly shared a look with Jeff who disguised the fact that this conversation had been rehearsed.

"Nothing, Uncle," Jeff called back. "Just recycling."

Uncle Orren frowned, pulling back. But he did not leave the room.

"Why don't we just tell him the truth?" Agent Keane hissed to Jeff, advancing on him.

Lifting his eyebrows in a smirk at Agent Keane, Jeff almost laughed. "And tell him what? Uncle Orren is a practical-minded kind of man who doesn't entertain ideas about 'science fiction'. He's just going to think you are all nuts."

"But he knows you aren't his nephew," Agent Keane breathily hissed, nearly hovering over Jeff's neck.

With a dirty look, Jeff replied, "So? I have more proof that I am a troubled, beaten kid than you do that I come from where you think I come from. What could you possibly tell him that won't make him throw you out of the house for being some kind of psychopathic pedophile?  - As you kind of look like right now."

Agent Steve Keane paled, pulling back. He peeked at Uncle Orren who narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Agent Keane.

"We already showed them our I.D.s," Agent Simms replied dryly. "Which he can check up on." But he walked away from Eric and Aaron. There was no way he was going to get his hands on those papers after all. Besides, Zormna had also stepped between, scowling at the agents.

"You got what you came for," she said. "That's all you need."

"What did they come for?" Uncle Orren asked.

The FBI agents exchanged looks. Though they believed that Uncle Orren and Aunt Mary were being put upon by Jeff and the other two men, it did not feel like the right time to discuss the topic with the man. They needed a time and location for when the man felt safe and alone. Bowing out, Agent Sicamore said as he and other agents walked through the study door to go out, "Your...nephew was helping us with an investigation."

But Uncle Orren did not let it drop. "You mean he's clearing his name for something he was accused of a couple weeks ago - by you."

Flustered, Agent Sicamore looked to Jeff who shrugged.

"You had me arrested. I had to tell the truth," Jeff said. There was a wicked glimmer hidden in his eye when he said it, though.

Clearing his throat, Agent Sicamore turned to Uncle Orren and replied, "Your...nephew...had threatened some people dear to me. So, when friends of ours were killed, of course he was the first suspect that came to mind. You understand, considering his history."

This time Uncle Orren feigned to go pale. He glanced at Jeff. "Is this true?"

Jeff only averted his eyes to the ceiling, not quite answering.

But Zormna stepped up. "He was protecting me, Mr. Streigle. As you recall, it was the night I stayed over at your place right after Homecoming. That day when - "

"That's enough," Agent Keane cut in. Zormna and Jeff opened their