Allen:

I nearly jumped at the surprise- my son did jump, quickly tightening his grip on my leg.

The object was a girl. She had dark hair and a grin that looked ready to split her face in two. "Hi," I said with a confused, slow wave.

"How are you- I'm doing good, just great- good good, good!" She clapped, and then her head turned so fast I swore it would snap her neck with the inertia, water spraying out from her long hair. She stared into Kyle's eyes.

Kyle's eyes widened a bit, looking back at her. "She gets a little excited around strangers," he commented.

"A lit-" I began, but I was cut off again.

"Oh my gosh, he's so cute!" The girl cooed. She was now looking at my son, though I might add, I'm not sure when she turned around. "What's his name- he has a name, right- everyone has a name here right?"

"Most of us," said Frank, rolling his eyes.

The girl spun around to look at the man, still crouched where he had threatened Kyle. "You're the one who threatened my Kyle about twenty seconds ago, aren't you?"

"Um-" Frank began.

Her grin changed instantly to a scowl. "I could kill you with a thought... it would be fun... aaaanyway-" Her grin reappeared, and she turned back to me. "So-name?"

"Um, yes. My name is Allen."

"No, no. Not that there's anything wrong with you- what's the name of your kid?"

"Oh, of course," I said, shaking my head. "Jaden."

"Oh, how cute, little Jady," she said, looking back at my son.

"Kid, that's not a nickname-" I began, but Kyle cut me off.

"Don't bother, she won't get it. She nicknames everyone." he interrupted.

"Hi," she said, kneeling down a little.

She was bigger than Jaden or Kyle, looking more around seven. I took the few seconds she spent trying to un-scare Jaden to get a good look at her. This girl was quite a spectacle in every way. I even noticed as she was leaning down, she was actually just standing on one foot. Where was she getting all this energy? Besides that, she had really weird taste in clothes. She wore a pair of dark red boy's jeans with black shoes and a bright green T-shirt. Her hair was black, long, and just straight, nothing off there, I supposed. Then there was her face. She had freckles, but somehow only on the right side.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you," she said gently. Jaden clung to my leg. She was moving too fast for his liking. "Oh c'mon, give me a chance... oh, I know!" she finally shouted. She was also too loud, Jaden clinging harder. She reached into her pocket, still standing on one foot, and pulled out a few pieces of hard candy. She unwrapped one and popped it in her mouth. "They're really good. Want one?" She offered one to my son.

If one were to wonder about it, I suppose it's not too much of a surprise that Pharaohs have candy, too, but of course, it wasn't any kind I recognized. Jaden's grip on my leg started to loosen. He looked up at me. "Go ahead, Jaden, she's just a quick little bugger, but I doubt she can hurt you."

"Oh, I could never hurt you," she assured him.

My brown-haired little kid finally left his father's leg. He took the piece of candy, which I guess was his mistake. The girl moved faster than anyone could see and grabbed him in a bear hug, and then started tickling his sides. Jaden was pretty obviously startled, but there wasn't much he could do now besides crumble into a pile of giggles. Kyle grinned at the two. "Like I said, ironic that I don't know anything about kids," he commented.

I decided Jaden would be fine as he got up with his candy and ran behind my legs to play at hiding, really hoping Jessica would pretend to chase him.

I looked back to Kyle. "I wasn't told the president had a daughter too. They just don't like to talk about her?" I asked, chuckling as I did. Pretty sure I was off the mark.

"Oh no," Kyle said back, almost laughing at the thought. "That stack of- pure energy, is my bodyguard, Jessica." At the sound of her name, Jessica let up, making faces at Jaden as he jumped back and forth behind my legs, giggling at her.

"Jess, Jess, Jessie, Jessica, that's my name, don't wear it out! Oops- too late."

Kyle started to chuckle. "She's really kinda fun sometimes," he said, smiling at the girl.

"I hope so!" Jessica shouted. Her eyes widened. "Oh crap, I forgot my bag!" The girl disappeared.

Kyle looked back up at the ship. "I think there's a strategy to her bright clothes- they draw attention... I think..."

"That's your bodyguard?" asked Frank. "I thought you guys were supposed to be the nigh-unstoppable alien force that almost wiped out the entire gargoyle race." He stood up. "You've got to be kidding me with this." He looked at the right ship guard next to him. "Can I totally kick your butt too?"

"I would love for you to try," the man said back, smiling and tightening his grip on his twin-bladed staff. Frank stood tall, dwarfing the man by a full foot, his shadow covering the man who didn't even seem phased. The guard started to lower his blade to attack.

"Frank... Ya know what? No one is gonna miss him," I said, shaking my head. Maybe I should have regretted such a line, but this guy was on my last nerve. What did he think he was even after?

Jessica appeared next to Kyle again, me swearing I could hear a cartoon "pop" noise as she suddenly- popped in. This time, she had a bright yellow backpack on her shoulders. "Your buddy there sure is bellicose, isn't he?" she asked, understating the obvious.

"Very much so," I said, still looking at Frank.

"Hey, Ky... where's your bag?" Jessica asked her protectee.

"I don't know, you're my servant, so where is it?" asked Kyle with a slight grin.

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Jessica lowered her eyebrows at him. "Mmmmhmmm... my mistake," she said in a low tone. She dashed away again.

"Something tells me that was a bad thing to say," I commented.

"There's a distinct possibility," Kyle admitted, just before a black backpack was dumped on his head and he landed face-first in the dirt.

"Will there be anything else, my noble master?" asked Jessica, folding her arms over Kyle and tapping her foot.

I couldn't help it, I laughed openly at that one, both kids smiling up at me.

I think the rain kept falling, but by this point, it could have stopped, and I would have felt the same. These two were rays of sunshine, just like my kid.

Kyle started getting up, saying, "Nope. I'm good here." He returned to his feet, slipping the bag onto his shoulders, his face covered in mud.

"Okay, seriously," I had to ask. "Not that I'm trying to start anything, but what in the world makes you a bodyguard? Looks like you're more likely to cause trouble than solve it."

"You know why it's a bad idea to touch a ticked-off Pharaoh, right?" Jessica asked.

"They can shock anything they touch," I replied. "Up to six feet away sometimes." I was now rattling off my understanding of pharaohs because- why not? I was getting pretty relaxed with these two. They were disarming.

"Exactly, so imagine what would happen to ya if I touched you," she said. The girl opened both her hands, raising them in the air, electric energy firing off them in every direction, some bolts even four feet in length like the girl was a living Tesla coil. Jessica threw her hands down and forward, one electric bolt flying off from each, zipping through the air and impacting a large fir tree some twenty yards away. The tree instantly caught fire, branches splitting and snapping to get out of the way. The tree split and the earth shook, thunder going out from Jessica, everyone near having to steady themselves from the tremor.

Frank and I looked at Jessica, eyes wide. The girl folded her arms with a look of pure satisfaction. Kyle chuckled. "Oh, that's not even a sample kids," he said. "Some call her the Queen of Lightning." She grinned at that line.

"That reminds me!" Jessica shouted. She disappeared back into the ship again.

I blinked a few times, recovering from the surprise of Jessica's power. But then, the way she moved, the way she talked, was there even more to it? "Ya know... "jumping" that's what it's called when you guys channel electricity into your legs and move really quick, right?" I asked. Kyle nodded. "Okay, I thought you guys could only jump so many times in a short period of time."

"Yeah... it's kinda like sprinting, if ya do it a lot, you can do it a lot more," Kyle replied. Jessica appeared next to Kyle again.

'So maybe that isn't more unique powers.' I supposed.

"Ya know, I'm starting to see why Jaden was scared of you," Frank commented.

Jessica looked at my son, who was standing next to me.

"He really doesn't seem so scared anymore," she said to Frank as she dropped a small pile of swords she was carrying. She picked up two scimitar-style blades from the pile, both sheathed, and clipped the sheaths onto her belt. She pulled one out. "Though you should be." She pointed the tip at him, electric bolts dancing up and down the blue-hued blade. "I'm still considering cutting you into tiny pieces for being a prick- itsy bitsy ones- all on fire."

"Ummm...." Frank began, the girl making a mock sizzling sound at him. "I'm just gonna zip it for now."

"Good idea," Jessica replied, sheathing her blade. She turned back to Kyle, picking up the remaining two sabers. "Mmmhmmm." She disapproved as she gave him an old English-style short sword with a long dagger on the end of its handle. "I believe this is yours."

Kyle took it. "It is," he said, taking the blade and clipping the sheath to his belt. The hilt had a sheath of sorts on it too, but you could still tell what type it was. "Your point?"

"Tisk, tisk," she said. " Typical." She shook her head. "You made it, didn't you?"

"Yes... why?" Kyle asked defensively.

"Okay, we all have time after all, so I get that we're supposed to make our own weapons, but c'mon, what's special about this?"

Kyle drew his sword, looking at it. "Nothing I suppose. I'm working on a magnetic weapon really. This is just something for the meantime."

"I'll be interested to see that when it's done," Jessica said back. I noted to myself that so would I. "But, c'mon, don't you want a sword made for you and you alone, not just a couple pieces of steel attached to a handle?"

"The magnet weapon should be a few years developing... isn't that what a sword is?"

Jessica grinned, drawing out and handing him the final blade. This one was somewhere between another scimitar and a rapier. Its handle was like the pirate sword, decorative, with a small hand guard around the hilt. The blade itself went out straight until about halfway up, at which point it curved, widening to have a scimitar's unique second tip, and then, of course, the true tip was at the end. "Strange mutation," Kyle commented.

"I had to compensate for your lack of training, kid," Jessica shoved the weapon's handle into his face. "Take it. Feel what real power feels like."

Kyle raised an eyebrow, putting away his own sword. He took the hilt of the weapon and took it with both hands. "What am I supposed to be feeling?" he asked.

"Oh, you still haven't caught on? It's a lightning blade kid. I figured it would be the perfect earth day gift."

"Earth day?"

"First day on earth. Earth day. Mine was several years ago. The man who taught me how to use my powers gave me my first blade here. It was a normal scimitar blade, but for you, I realized you can't make bolts jump really far like I can so you need the steel of the weapon actually touching your hand, hence the handguard design of a rapier."

"What's a lightning blade?" asked Frank, seeming to take an interest.

I decided to answer this time, best to keep him from causing more problems. I was going to have to talk to Brass about sending this guy. "When the Pharaohs first landed, this technique was pretty well known. Most Pharaohs carry melee weapons, but actually, a number of them can use them to amplify the electricity they generate, sometimes up to a hundredfold. They can use their weapons to actually throw huge bolts of electric energy at their opponents."

"Like Jessica can do with her bare hands?" he asked.

Jessica smiled up at the two of us. "You bet ya," she said. She tapped her right saber. "So imagine what I can do with one of these puppies."

I wagered Frank would rather not see what she could really do, but me, I was intrigued. Sure, I knew about what I would see but- I still wondered if at some point I would get to.

Kyle looked at the sword he had been given, backing away from the group, off to the left. 'So what does it look like when a pharaoh gets his first lightning blade?' I thought.

I watched as the child began to glow, a blue haze starting to lift off of him. Visible currents of electric energy flowed over his body but never sparking more than a few feet out. Several currents traveled to his right hand and jumped from it to his new sword. The boy took the sword back and jabbed forward, electric energy firing off it a full... about six feet.

'Well, kinda disappointing. But maybe promising...'

"Not exactly the most impressive display, but I can't do it so- ya know," Frank commented. Jessica made a sizzling sound at him again. "Right- sorry," he stepped back, showing her his palms.

Kyle sighed. "Is there something wrong with it?" he asked.

"How dare you!" Jessica said, snatching the weapon from him. She petted the hilt. "There there, he just doesn't understand Bobby."

"Hold up, you named it?" Kyle asked.

"Of course, I name all my creations. Like you, I named you Kyle!"

Kyle gave a bemused look. "My mom named me."

"Yeah, she did... and I liked that name, so I let it stay."

I knelt down to Kyle's level. "Did she have anything to do with your birth?" I asked.

"No... not a thing, but I'm just gonna let that slide, for sanity's sake."

I grinned. Sanity did not seem like something Jessica was friends with.

"You see, Bobby here is matched perfectly to your unique electric signature," Jessica commented. "You and I have been together twenty years, and I've been making absolutely certain of that for ten of those. But using a lightning blade isn't like pulling the trigger on a gun. You have to be trained for it."

Kyle took the weapon back. "It really took you ten years to make this?" he asked. "Really that's... thanks." He walked over and picked up its sheath, planting the sword and hooking the scabbard to his belt. "Still, I don't know how to use it."

"I'll teach you," Jessica said. "Need to keep you safe, and I can't always be around, so I gotta be sure you can look out for yourself and all."

Kyle smiled as Jessica gave him a one-armed hug.

I already liked these two. I could easily have spent quite a while watching and talking with them, but- well, I had a job. "So, will there be anything else you'll be needing? Any specific orders?" I asked the right-hand ship guard, reluctantly turning away.

"The president did have certain requests," the man replied.