Chapter 7: A Peculiar Gift
"I knew you'd be out here" Victor spoke as he walked up to his son.
"Hey Dad"
"Not joining the others for dessert."
"Nah, I'm rather full from dinner earlier."
"Hah, I guess your mother and sisters do have a sweet tooth." Victor laughed as he spoke.
"You're just like your grandfather you know."
"Huh, Grandpa David?" Jake asked, slightly confused.
"Yes son, my father. He and your grandmother passed away when I was 16."
"They were on their way to visit Mars, their ship exploded, a drive error," Victor spoke with a solemn look in his eyes.
Jake noticed this " What was he like, Dad?"
Victor turned to his son ruffled his hair and smiled at him.
"Well, he was just like you. He loved the stars always looking for answers, he even met and became friends with quite a few Kreedians as well, wanting to know more about the other races in our Galaxy.
He even took your grandmother and me whenever he went anywhere."
"I remember when I was just your age, in the middle of the night I would see him sitting on our balcony just watching the stars. I would join him and sit on his lap as he would tell me stories of his past, just like I'm telling you now.
I asked him why he didn't become an explorer or wanted to journey into deep space, you know what he told me?"
Victor paused as he looked at Serena B the gas giant Naru orbited, as it passed the horizon.
The sky looked like a giant painting as both father and son marvelled at the surreal view for a moment.
"What did he say, Dad?" Jake spoke as he waited for his father to answer.
"He said when you have children of your own you'll soon realise that all the mysteries and marvels of the universe will mean nothing in front of it.
I never really understood his reasoning until I had you and your sisters. The significance of the universe has become small in my eyes since then.
My family came to be my only answer in life" Victor sighed as he once again gazed at the stars before looking at his son.
"You get what I'm saying, son"
"Ummm, not really" Jake shyly answered his father.
"Ha ha ha" Victor let out a loud laugh as Jake stared at him in confusion.
"Don't worry, you'll understand when you get older."
"Okay Dad"
"Oh yes, I almost forgot," Victor said as he went through his pockets and pulled out a small silver cube.
"Here, a little gift for you" Victor spoke as he handed Jake the object.
"What is it?" Jake asked his father as he examined the cube. The cube was small, silver and shiny with a smooth finish.
"The workers found it when they were excavating a geological site a few weeks ago.
The analytics team says it's been there for almost fifty thousand years.
They were gonna throw it away because scans just picked it up as a regular metal object. I thought you'd like to have it, who knows how old it is.
Who knows, maybe you can find out what it is when you're older." Victor explained to his son.
Jake was fascinated by the box and fidgeted with it yet nothing happened.
"I'm going to head back in and check on your mother and sisters. We'll leave soon so don't be sitting here the whole night." Victor spoke to Jake before heading back in.
"Alright Dad," Jake spoke to his father as he stared at the small cube hoping for something to happen.
"Hmmm, well I'll find out later," Jake spoke as he shoved the cube into his pocket and nonchalantly headed back inside.
The ride back home was quiet as Iris had fallen asleep and everyone else was quite tired.
When Jake got home he threw his clothes on his bed and fell asleep right away not noticing the cube in his coat pocket giving off a slight buzz.
It's been almost a week since Jake received the cube from his father. He'd been fidgeting with it every day intriguing both his sisters and Lyra as well.
Aria had a look and examined it, realizing nothing was happening she tossed it back to Jake and continued with her assignments.
Iris however managed to be interested in it for a few days but even she got bored of it.
Right now Jake was in his class fidgeting with the cube with his face resting on his other hand.
"Bored again," Lyra asked Jake.
"Yeah," Jake mumbled as he slowly tapped the cube with his nails.
"You know you've been playing with that thing for almost a week and nothing's happened yet. Maybe it is just a normal cube." Lyra asked Jake with some concern.
"Yeah maybe, but my dad did say it's been like this for like fifty thousand years, maybe it just needs a little more time," Jake said in a hopeful tone.
"You're crazy." Lyra jokingly teased Jake before they focused back on the class.
Later that evening, Jake was lying on his bed thinking of his father's words as he stared at the cube.
"I'll find out your mysteries soon enough you cube," Jake spoke to the cube and laughed a little considering he just spoke to an object.
'I'm too tired for this' Jake spoke in his head before closing his eyes and falling asleep.
'Plop, plop, plop...' The continuous sound of dripping water had awoken Jake from his sleep, he turned realizing he woke up a bit early.
He got out of bed quietly to avoid waking his sleeping sisters and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. He freshened up and went back to his room before going back to bed hoping to get a quick nap before school.
It had been a few minutes before he heard an alarm go off. Jake realising Aria must have set it, ignored it and carried on sleeping. However, the alarm kept ringing.
"Aria turn off the alarm please" Jake spoke in a sleepy voice. A minute passed yet nothing changed.
"Aria, turn off the alarm," Jake spoke louder to her to no avail.
Finally Jake couldn't ignore it any longer, jumped out of bed and shut the alarm off.
"Aria how are you still sleeping" Jake spoke in anger as he headed to his sister's bed.
However, when he looked at her bed he saw nothing there.
Now a little worried Jake thought maybe she had gone to the bathroom and went to check on Iris.
When Jake glanced at Iris's bed even she wasn't there.