The Stolen Star

by Halyna Franko

who are these suspicious characters?" Ben asked in surprise.

  “At first glance they might seem to be the most ordinary looking people but you will recognise them when you meet them. Well, okay, off you go – but let’s make it for only an hour or so and then we can discuss everything when you get home. So, I’ll be waiting for you in an hour or two.”

  The restoration expert saw the boys to the door and waved them on their way.

  “Let’s get to know the streets in our district and gradually work our way towards the centre where the Museum House should be.” Michael suggested.

  The boys walked along several streets near their house. The blocks of flats here were very uniform, mainly nine storeys and looked like rows of dull boxes. The only adornments on these streets were the uniform rows of trees planted along the pavements. Occasionally the monotonous blocks of flats would be broken up by a small playground or square. The boys walked next to each other sharing their impressions with each other having completely forgotten the dad’s instructions and advice.

  “You know what Michael, those children playing football over there remind me of the figures in one of my computer games and the old people and mothers with their babies and prams remind me of those really old films where the hero never does anything wrong and everybody’s lives follow pre-ordained rules,” opined Ben.

  “And just look at the dogs,” said Michael pointing at a dog who was walking right next to them, “they seem to bark at regular intervals and all at the same pitch.”

  And the dog really did walk about twenty to thirty metres and then give a very strange-sounding and uniform three barks. When Ben decided to shoo it away, instead of running off like a normal dogs it just gave out a long and uninterrupted monotone howl. What on earth could this mean! Moments later, a strange looking old man appeared out of nowhere with a square shaped rucksack on his back. He walked in front of the boys at a uniform distance and even crossed the road when they did. The lads decided not to pay any attention to him and leave him to his own devices. But after a while Michael and Ben began to argue so heatedly that even passers-by began to look at them. The boys decided to sit down on a bench in one of the squares to at least calm down a bit. And right opposite them sat the old man.

  "You should be ashamed of yourselves being such bad lads," the old man began to admonish the boys.

  The man produced the most repulsive impression on Ben but summoning up all his strength he controlled himself and politely replied:

  “I don’t understand, what you mean?"

  “Well, you’re about to find out,” and with that the old man began screaming for help. “They’re attacking me! Help! ”

  Soon a crowd began to gather and the tension began to grow.

  “What are we going to do Ben,” Michael asked in alarm, “I don’t think we’re going to be able to leg it out of here.”

  Michael grabbed Ben by the arm.

  “Oh, yes, use our bracelets! Let’s press the invisibility buttons.”

  The next instant the boys had disappeared before the eyes of the old man and the crowd. The old man let out a yelp of disappointment:

  “Grab them, they must be hiding somewhere!”

  While the crowd assiduously looked for them behind every tree and bench, the boys hightailed it as far away as possible. Although there was no-one following them, the boys went straight back to dad’s flat in a terrible sweat. It was only in front of the door of their new temporary home that they turned off their invisibility bracelets. The Angel had warned them not to let the restoration expert in on everything just in case.

  Once inside the door the boys began to breathe more easily. ‘Dad’ called them into the kitchen.

  “Have some tea, calm down and then we’ll calmly discuss what happened."

  ‘Dad’ prepared supper for the boys and once calmly sat at the table all three began to discuss their unsuccessful stroll in more detail. It immediately became clear that they had both completely forgotten all the good advice that dad had given them.

  “You just can’t act like that here,” ‘dad’ warned them again, “that man with the rucksack wasn’t simply a kindly old man but a “neutraliser”, who was carrying surveillance equipment in his rucksack. This had evidently fixed itself on to your alien energy fields. The old man also had another piece of apparatus in his rucksack, which he had obviously aimed at you. It was emitting a ray that affected your nervous systems, which is what caused you to start arguing. Thank goodness you were able to get away in time."

  “What sort of old man could allow himself to fire harmful rays at children?” said Michael.

  “People like him don’t bother themselves with such questions. They just follow orders and all the robots here are specially selected. There isn’t a drop of humanity flowing in their veins. Well, let’s just say, all’s well that ends well,” and ‘dad’ patted the boys on the head and told them some interesting news from his work.

  “If you want I can take you to see my work?" he suggested to the brothers.

  “Of course, we’d love to,” the cousins answered in unison.

  The next day the boys went to have a look at the latest place being restored by 'dad'. It was an ancient church on the outskirts of the city; therefore they had to cut across the whole of the city. It was vital that the lads remained unnoticed. ‘Dad’ told them to crouch down in the back seat of the car, and Michael and Ben also pressed their invisibility buttons just in case. Everything went smoothly and they weren't stopped at a single checkpoint.

  It was the weekend so no-one was working and ‘dad’ was able to show them all the work that the restoration experts had done. In order to get to the ancient frescoes they had had to remove layer upon layer of paint and this had taken many years. However, they had already broken the back of this arduous job. The whole of the dome, the depiction of Christ’s resurrection, the altar screen and all the central walls of the church shone with an extraordinary purity resulting from the holiness and divine strength innate within the murals. Rays of sunlight softly streaming in through the windows set high up in the church only added to this wonderful light. Michael and Ben were filled with a marvellous lightness and joy. They felt as if they could drift up and fly under the huge arched vault of the church.

  “How can such beauty and spirituality exist in such a city as this?” thought Michael out loud.

  “Well firstly, their leaders are unlikely to understand and feel all this in the same way as you, and secondly it's become fashionable in recent times to pretend to be democratic. When they finished restoring the church they even signed a resolution condemning their own government,” explained ‘dad’.

  “Why did they do that?” asked Ben in surprise.

  "Because the energy that flows out of these frescoes and icons and from the church, it is fatal for these robots’ black souls. The robots that worked with us have all become normal people. Here they are in some photographs with the rest of us," and the artist lead the lads to a table with a snap of all the restoration experts and local people and their assistants. The people’s faces in the photograph were all smiling, friendly and radiant with joy. It was clear that this was a team united by the joy of creative work.

  “Did they change because of your influence?” asked Michael.

  “Most likely it was the effect of this aura,” and ‘dad’ gestured towards all the holy faces depicted on the walls and which seemed to have come from another wonderful world to lift the spirits of those living in this one.

  “Why are the robots restoring the church if it’s dangerous for them?" Ben asked.

  “Shall we just say that it’s simply been pre-ordained and that the process of restoring spiritual values is already in motion? But for the moment this is all a secret and the robot’s leaders know nothing about it,” ‘dad’ whispered enigmatically, “but let’s go and it’s high time we were gone.”

  The jou
rney home also passed without mishap. After dinner the three of them sat chatting together for a long time. The boys talked about themselves and then they all settled down to watch a film that ‘dad’ had managed to smuggle in from the normal world. They played a number of different games together and when it was already quite late and dark outside the boys decided to go out and explore the next district. This time they followed dad’s instructions and their “innocent” stroll went off without any mishaps. Having studied many different routes around the city, the cousins decided to make an excursion out of the city to the place where the tramp would be expecting them.

  The next day the boys pressed their invisibility buttons and set off for the city gates. They were open and a line of cars tailed right back to the highway in front of the city. The lads hunkered down at the check point thus successfully escaping detection. Once outside the gates the cousins noticed that the trees, bushes and grass have become much greener and the leaves on the trees shone brightly in the sun. There was still a little bit of water left at the very bottom of the canal. Michael and Ben soon found their old acquaintances at the bottom of the canal again. The snake laid full length like a log, the dog was dozing right next to her and the man sat on the steps that lead down to the canal. On seeing the boys the dog began to wag its tail, the snake raised