Don sat back and admired his handiwork. Not bad, he thought to himself. Then he smiled. And much better than those stupid cyber suits. Note to self: never let Mikey design anything ever again. That guy has some sense of humor.
“Not bad,” came a voice from behind him. Mike stood in the doorway, cup of coffee in hand. “Not what I’d do, but not bad.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Don said, wiping his hands on a rag.
“The almighty leader wants a conference in the war room,”Mike said in his best radio announcer voice. Don smiled. Mike and Raph had taken to calling the conference room “the war room” lately, in reference to Leonardo’s behavior of old. It was a joke, now, to call him the almighty leader. The title no longer had the bite it did when they were young.
Running his hand over the nearest of the ships, Don smiled. It was a beauty, alright. Sleek, fast, and above all not a incresibly ugly as those stupid suits. And alot safer; he hadn’t yet forgotten the “Attack of the Killer Brains,” as Mike liked to call it. True, these ships were less manuverable, but since he and his brothers had a habit of ditching the suits as soon as they got indoors, it wouldn’t matter much. He was proud of the sleek, metallic ships. They looked like something straight out of a 50’s sci-fi movie.
“Right. I’m coming.” He took one last glimpse of the beauties before he closed the lab door. He and Mike started off down the hall.
“So what’s the meet about?” Don asked, studing the wall hangings. Dang, they needed dusting. Too bad he was such a lousy housekeeper. . . he’d have to remember to send the cleaning robots down here.
“Ah, just planning stuff, I think. You know Leo. Can’t even use the can without a plan.”
Don laughed at this. His laughter was cut off, suddenly, by blaring sirens.
“WHAT IS THAT?” Mike screamed over the din. Don mearly shook his head and motioned Mike to follow him back to the lab. They ran back, and Don shut off the alarm. He then went to his computer. Mike waited a while for Don to explain, but when Don said nothing, his impatience got the better of him.
“So Don, what were the bells and whistles all about?”
“I think we better all know,” said Leo, as he and Raph came in the door. Don turned got up and started gathering his gear.
“That was one of the sensors I had set up detecting unnatural tectonic movement. I other words, there’s no more time for planning. We have to go, now.”
“Right,” Leo said, jumping up and grabbing his gear, and indicating to Mike and Raph that they should do likewise. He then cast a speculative eye towards the new ships. “And do we take those?”
“Sure,” Don answered, “they’re as ready as they’re ever gonna be. Don’t worry about the controls, either; if you can play a video game, you can fly one of these.”
“Cool, I’ve always been awesome at flight simulators,” Mike cracked. The other three groaned appreciatively.
As they were acending the ladders into the ships, Leo finally called out what had been bothering him for a while. “So wher’re we going?”
“Popocateptl,” Don yelled back as he sank into his chair. “It’s in Mexico. Ask your computer for directions.” Don closed the canopy of his ship. Raph and Leo did as well.
“Viva Mexico!” Mike screamed into the air, as he to closed his canopy and the four took off for Mexico.
Four hours into the trip and Mike was getting bored. He sighed and flipped on the com switch to Don. The image flickered a moment, then setteled on Don’s slumbering form. There’s an old soldier, Mike thought. Gets his sleep when and where he can. Not anymore. “Hey, punk, you awake?”
Don jolted awake, then stedied himself. Once his eyes would focus, he looked at Mike. “I am now. What’s up?”
“Not a whole lot. I was just wondering, what exactly is Popo. . . cept . . ap. . .”
“Call it Popo.”
“Right. What makes Popo special? I mean, I know it’s a volcano, but why choose this one over others?”
“There could be lots of reasons, Mike.” Don paused. “Probably it’s because it’s exactly the kind of mountain that Null needs. It’ll put alot of gasses into the atmosphere, and it’s near enough to Mexico City that if it goes it could kill millions of people. Then again, it could be because of the legend.”
Mike sat up a little straighter. “What legend?” The science stuff was all well and good, but a legend was interesting.
“Here, lets see if I still have that recording.” Don called up his computer at home and started searching for a specfic recording. “A long time ago I had my company record older people’s thoughts, you know, for posterity. Anyone who wanted to could tell any story of their life they wanted. We ended up with gigantic amounts of information. I listened to quite a bit of it. I kept this one because it was so . . . ah, here it is.”
A rich voice, one that was not burdened by but carried years, filled the space around Mike. It had a wonderful Mexican accent, and a sing-song lilt that made it a pleasure to hear. “The volcanos of the Mexico's valley is a story of an endless love. So many years ago, Tenochtitlan, the capital of the aztec empire was in war against other people. Popocatepetl was the great warrior in all around the empire and went at the forehead of the army to the war. Before Popocatepetl left the city, he visited his fiancee in order to ask for the promice of await for him. The name of the lady was Xochiquetzal.
Both, Popocatepetl the warrior and Xochiquetzal the princess was in love and her father was agree. Because the wedding with the most important warrior was a honor. Many days, and weeks, and months later a rumor in the city began: -Popocatepetl died- said the people. Xochiquetzal was crying her misfortune for many days and asked to gods for her lover. She never believe in the Popocatepetl's dead. Later her father in order of the convenience of the city command the wedding of Xochiquetzal with a foreing prince. Xochiquetzal refused the wedding and forever lovesick kill herself. A few time later Popocatepetl arrived to the city, the people was crying and without words a man showed to him the way to the Xochiquetzal's house. In side the house Popocatepetl looked the body of Xochiquetzal. With tears in his eyes Popocatepetl raised in his arms the inert body and went to the forest.
All night long Popocatepetl was crying prostrated beside Xochiquetzal. When the gods looked his suffering sent the snow for cover the lovers. Since that day, Popocatepetl is awaiting for Xochiquetzal the "Iztacihuatl" (slepping women) because she will raised from the dead at the end of the time. And the fumaroles of Popocatepetl are the evidence of the warm heart of the warrior and his purpose of keep warm the body of Xochiquetzal.”
Mike sat for a moment, taken by the sad grandeur of the story. “But I don’t get it,” he finally said. “Why does that mean that Null would want to blow it up?”
“There’s part of the story that she left out,” Don answered. “I’m guessing she didn’t want to ruin her story, or seh simply didn’t know the rest. At the end of time, it is said, Popocatepetl will gather Xochiquetzal in his arms and rise up so the Gods do not forget about her.”
“Instead of rise up, read blow up, eh?”
“I think that’s about the gist of it.”
"And Mexico City?"
Don shook his head.