Chapter 5

The triplets sit together in the right front row, their eyes fixed upon their netbooks lying over their lap. Behind them, other students' mindless chatters and yells linger. A crumpled paper lands on the hooded head of one of the triplets. The boy looks over his shoulder, brows furrowed, and eyes searching behind his thick eyeglasses.

The twins sit behind the triplets. Hawk is already snoring and dreaming his sweet little dreams with his head slant over Tesla's broad shoulder. Tesla, in turn, is more than glad being a pillow and tolerable older twin brother that night. He has this devilish little grin crooking his lips, tongue sticking up the roof of his mouth as he observes Hawk whose mouth is half-open, spit threatening to fall. He silenty chuckles when he realizes that Hawk does look like a seahorse taking a snooze. He fishes the smartphone out from his own bag, activates its built-in camera, and points it at Hawk.

A series of strange loud sounds boom just outside the bus.

"Sweet Jesus!" Hawk gasps, eyes fluttering wide open in such speed. He raises his head, wipes the corner of his mouth with his fist, and sees Tesla looking out the window. Hawk shifts his gaze to the window, forehead creasing.

Sparks of different colors and shapes are savouring the dark starless nightsky with its splendor and beauty. Sizzling electrons cascading downward before slowly fading into nothingness. An immense fireworks display is being held a couple of kilometers away from the road they are taking. And with all those hayfields and cornfields around them and no tall trees nearby, they can clearly see the fireworks on its entirety.

"Awesome!" Newton gasps and, too intent to see the fireworks to realize that he is about to do something rather stupid, jumps out from his own seat and peers half of his body out of the window, hands gripping over the windowsill in almost like a death-grip as he watches the sky with such awe and admiration. His hood is already off his head and is flapping wildy in the air before him.

"Newton!" Hawk barks. "Get back inside!"

Newton is back inside as quickly as he had come out.

Most students are already crowding on one side of the bus besides the windows, pushing each other in a friendly way and trying to see what is the fuss all about.

"Is there an event going on, Mr. Cruz?" Tesla asks the middle-aged driver. "Looks like it's in Hollow Lane."

Mr. Cruz throws an inquiring glance at Tesla through the rearview mirror and gives the boy a thin smile.

"There is an event, indeed, kid." The man takes his eyes back to the road. "And it's in Hollow Lane, all right. That's where the Aliens' so-called Residential Embassy and Third Temple of Alienism is located."

"Aliens?" Tesla creases his forehead, eyes slightly widening as he leans his head gently forward so as to hear the man more clearly. The booming sound of those fireworks outside and the buzzlike chit-chattings of those other students behind them make something like deep conversation almost an impossibility. "Like extra-terrestrials, Mr. Cruz?"

"They are Aliens, yes. That's what they call themselves." Mr. Cruz notices Tesla's rather confused and disconcerted face. He smiles again and quickly adds in a low tone of voice, "But they're not extra-terrestrials, of course. They are as much humans as we are. They did not come from other planet. It just happen that they belong to a new religious group called Alienism and it calls its members Aliens. Pretty cool, eh?"

Tesla did not answer.

"Yes, Mr. Cruz! So cool," Copper gasps from his seat while looking out the window to the nightsky which is still being bombarded by exploding colorful lights.

"I don't find it cool though," Newton remarks, looking over his shoulder and facing Hawk. "I find it rather disturbing, Hawk. Deeply disturbing. It really is."

Hawk simply nods to signify sympathy. He can see how disturbed Newton is at the strange thought of an alien god probably being revered and worshipped by those so-called Aliens of Hollow Lane. Newton can easily be offended by views that he may regard as unorthodoxed and can potentially conflict with his religious conviction and moral philosophies in life. Newton, after all, is a deepy religious boy. And Hawk knows that very well.

"Maybe they know something about the conspiracy between NASA and those powerful world leaders regarding alien life!" Copper suddenly exclaims, looking at Hawk with a witty smile on his face. "They don't want the world to know about the existence of those extra-terrestrials as they call it. They believe humanity is not yet ready to acknowledge that fact. They don't want to cause unnecessary global panic. So they made up stories as a form of cover-ups. And of course, that includes that notorious Area 51 and the Hangar 18!"

"No shit, Sherlock," Tesla scoffs, staring at Copper reprovingly. "You're watching too many sci-fi movies, boy. I suggest you stop it." He then looks back at Mr. Cruz, trying as hard as he can to be polite. "So what do they worship, sir? Alien?" He forces a chuckle.

"I guess they do," the driver responds mystically, as if Mr. Cruz himself is not even sure about the sincerity of his own answer. "I just heard about it."

"Creepy." Tesla shifts his gaze at Hawk. "For all we know, they might be worshipping E.T. "

Mr. Cruz laughs.

The boys face the strange beast that is standing ever silently beside the white front gate of the Catacutan Mansion.

And they can only defeat it by using their brain.

They are now standing in front of The Mechanical Sphinx, an A.I. (artificial intelligence) that is one of the many inventions of their dad, Professor Einstein Catacutan. The Sphinx's huge body is made of titanium and, of course, as the name implies it, is loosely based on The Great Sphinx of Ancient Egyptian Mythology. It has a body of a lion, wings of an eagle, and an angelic face of a woman: heart-shaped face, very sharp nose, and two closed eyes.

The Mechanical Sphinx is an advanced biometric system that performs thorough and deep body scanning. Aside from the tall perimeter fence, the Crimson droids, and those intimidating towers scattered around the Catacutan Mansion, the Sphinx is arguably the greatest invention of Professor Ayn in terms of deep security purpose.

The Sphinx is very hard to fool. Or to put it simplier, it cannot be fooled. If it noticed some stranger trying to break in without answering a single riddle it will release a very loud roar that can be heard through the whole vicinity of the mansion.

The Mechanical Sphinx is a stout and stead-fast guardian in its own right, though it possesses no offensive tools to effectively fight off people of malicious intent such as burglars and vandals. But it was not a problem.

Not a problem at all.

For you see, the Sphinx is not the only A.I. in the mansion, as you may have already know. It's series of roars serve not only to scare off and discourage bad strangers.

The Sphinx, in its own intelligent way, is also calling for help.

It will only take seconds before a swarm of Crimson droids storm their way to the front gate with their tasers and stun gun drawn, ready to shoot the intruder the moment the jarhead decided to move even a single muscle.

Up to now, no burglars dare entering the Catacutan Mansion. For doing so will be comparable to a pro-life person commiting suicide. A madness.

The "eyes" of The Mechanical Sphinx slowly glide open, revealing dazzling glow of red light in each hollowed compartment the size of a typical christmas ball. The Sphinx scans the boys internally and quickly recognizes them through their unique facial and body features and structures.

"Welcome to Catacutan Mansion, Hawking, Tesla, Newton, Copernicus and Galileo," the Sphinx greets in a high-pitched voice that is so female. The voice is coming from the large cylindrical speaker protuding from the Sphinx's upper left body, protected by wire mesh.

"Before I let you in you shall answer my riddle correctly. Is it clear?"

"Yes, Sphinx. It is clear," Hawk answers politely as Tesla, Copper, Newton and Leo step back a few meters away from him for it was Hawk who will be the "representative", the sole Challenger of the Sphinx who will try to answer on the behalf of them all. Hawk gently takes his hood off his head and faces the mechanical beast alone with his eyes half-closed.

"Very well."

A buzzing sound comes from the speaker.

"The maker does not want it. The buyer does not use it. The user does not see it. What is it?"

Hawk narrows his eyes and smiles.

"Coffin."

The buzzer.

"Great! Your answer is correct!" the Sphinx declares in a very systematic and mechanical tone of voice that is so fake to Hawk's keen ears. He feels as if the Sphinx is not that happy to the idea of them getting pass it despite the glaring facts that they are its Creator's sons and he just answered its riddle correctly. It is, of course, a baseless and absurd thought on Hawk's part because the Sphinx is just a collosal and mindless robot incapable to feel anything. Bio-chemistry, afterall, is not yet possible to be applied in the field of robotics. Or is it?

"Good job, Hawk." Tesla pats Hawk on the shoulder. "That was an easy one though. I could have answered that silly robot in just a split-second."

"You now have my full permission to enter the mansion. Welcome home, kids!"

"Sure, Sphinx," Tesla retorts, arching an eyebrow and crossing his arms. He throws a defiant glance at the Sphinx's bright eyes and grins sourly before dropping his eyes on the ground. "Thanks for giving us your full permission to enter our house, Sphinx. Changed my life."

"Tesla!" Hawk hisses when he realizes that his twin brother is teasing the Sphinx again by throwing sarcastic remarks on it. Or trying to tease since Tesla always fails to do so. The Sphinx had arguably passed the Turing Test but Tesla always insists on testing the A.I.'s limited intelligence by trying to provoke it using intimidating words. Hawk finds his twin brother's philosophy somehow depressing.

The thick gate slowly slides open in front of them, revealing the brightly-lit Victorian-like mansion they passionately call home.

Newton quickly sprints his way pass the gate, holding his belly with his two hands.

"The first one to get inside is as ugly as Gollum!" Tesla grins smugly as he dully watches Newton running his way past those Crimson droids in the lawn and triumphtly reaching and climbing the front porch. Tesla is about to throw another witty remarks when something drops over his head. He looks up and another droplet of water falls upon the bridge of his sharp nose. And then another. And another.

Leaves start to fall from those swaying branches of the tall trees nearby as the cold eastern wind brushes upon them in strengthening force and speed. Bluish forked lightnings strike the dark sky follow by a series of booming sounds that echo through the field.

Hawk, Tesla, and Copper run their way to the front porch, hands clasping their hoods.

Leo, on the other hand, remains standing still, looking heavenward and letting the raindrops fall gently upon his hood and his unhappy face. He watches, with such admiration and fascination, those gray-black clouds being blown and swept away by a torrent of strong wind. Lightnings occasionally fork those clouds, momentarily illuminating them. In his blurring vision, Leo thinks the sky looks like an upside-down ocean out of strange dream, boiling like a witch's couldron, harboring under it those souls being tormented forever and ever.

A dark swirl of cloud resembles something familiar. Almost like that hateful thing he used to like.

A skateboard-cloud.

With a heavy heart, Leo drops his gaze to the ground and starts walking briskly.

Seconds later, the gate slides shut as silently as it can be.

The Sphinx's eyes slowly close, appearing to sleep.

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