Down there in the capital they were all waiting to greet him his teammates the officials the reporters and photographers and the presidents of both Jhaateez and Zeeno Albert pressed his nose against the cold glass and exhaled In the white fog that formed from his breath he wrote Albert the Amazing is here And then a chill rippled through him He had been so excited to return and train with his friends he had momentarily forgotten forgotten about the stakes The last time he had played johka someone had tried to kill him and hurt whoever else on the field had been close to him Someone had even tried to kill Tackle Loyal Tackle best dog in the universe Whoever wanted him dead was still out there maybe even waiting to strike again 1.1 Nose to the ground Tackle sniffed along the fence between the Patterson Patterson house and the Kinney house The earth was moist and the noon air still carried a hint of the wet chill from last night's steady rain The sun It had been hiding out like a coward all morning Worms and mushrooms were squirming or popping up all over the yard As a dog 6
it was Tackle's job to thoroughly sniff each and every one Couldn't be too careful Not with Albert off to Jhaateez practice to with the Zeenods Zeenods Some kind of new threat was likely and it could be anywhere The dog stopped and pushed his nose between the slats of the fence and sniffed the air near the Kinneys driveway He wished he could just live over there with Albert What a thought for a dog to have The Pattersons were nice enough He used to be happy being a part of their family But things were different now While Trey Patterson had changed and wasn't interested in his old dog anymore Albert needed him and appreciated him Thanks to the language translation implant Albert had received Albert could also understand him A car drove by and Tackle stood still watching until it turned the corner He had begged to see the new planet with Albert today the first day of training for game two He didn't trust the new chaperone with that out of the package smell but he understood why Albert had wanted him to stay home Albert could expect to have practices three times a week before the next big game in January If Tackle attended them all it would be too hard to coordinate and keep so many absences a secret And Albert had made another good point Tackle was needed here to be on guard to be on the lookout for spybots or poisons or anything that smelled or sounded or looked suspicious And those aliens could be clever That spy robot he had finally destroyed back in October That had looked like a squirrel and had fooled Whump whump Tackle's ears pricked A sound from the north He raced to the front corner of the fenced yard The double whump sounded like a sizeable truck rolling over the speed bump on Iris Avenue the street perpendicular perpendicular to theirs Sure enough a few seconds later a brown delivery truck appeared at the intersection of Iris and Oak and turned his way The truck slowed to a stop in front of the Pattersons house 7
A delivery on the same day that Albert's training started The dog didn't like it He sniffed Even from his position behind the fence he could smell the exhaust wafting from the tailpipe Nothing out of the ordinary Yet Out hopped a woman or what looked like a woman with a box in her arms Grrr This human didn't smell at all like the chubby guy who usually delivered packages Suspicious The moment she put her hand on the latch of the gate Tackle raced over and jumped up Whoa Quickly the woman slammed the gate shut and stepped back Okay Okay Calm down dude She set the box down and pulled something out of her pocket Possible weapon Tackle growled and then sniffed the air for clues Here's a treat she said approaching the gate slowly with a dog biscuit in her hand See Yum Yum Mmmmnn peanut butter Wait What kind of doofus did she think he was He wasn't about to fall for that Someone had tried to poison him before the last game and he hadn't taken that bait He bared his teeth and barked even louder Whatever she said and then she tossed the package over the gate and left Tackle sniffed as the peanut butter aroma walked away See That was the kind of dog he was the kind to stay focused and alert even when offered a delicious bribe He wasn't about to let his guard down Not now Not ever He stared at the box preparing to pounce Grrr Definitely suspicious 8
1.2 As Albert's spacecraft landed he could see a crowd gathered in front of the geodesic dome of the official practice facility The dome itself looked like a giant diamond sparkling in the sun Outside the crowd was made up of Jhaateezians accustomed to the cold They were jumping on their thin but strong legs and flapping their winged arms to welcome him lifting into the air for several feet and then returning to the ground The apprehension that had swept over Albert just moments ago had now turned to wonder What are those things attached to their arms called again Albert asked As they grew closer he could see that the appendages appendages were paper thin and featherless as if made of iridescent silk that flowed and rustled with every movement They're called froods Unit D said The Jhaateezian word translates into English as sailwings I'm going to be playing soccer with birds Albert said with a laugh My apologies Albert the Amazing but I must inform you that t you are incorrect You will be playing johka for the Zeenods against the Jhaateezians It was a joke Albert said What I meant forget it A second spacecraft rumbled nearby and Albert could see the ITV carrying Linnd Na the Liötian Star Striker who was playing for Jhaateez approaching from the other direction As their ITVs touched down the holographic portraits the johkadins of both Linnd and Albert were projected above the practice facility The crowd waved flags bright pink johka federation federation flags icy blue Jhaateez flags and the beautiful gold Zeeno 9
