“Sir, there has been an anomaly,” Prime Pete reported to Nicholas as he returned from his yearly trip to Holland.
Nicholas had long gotten into the habit of giving his artificial servants names. His personal servant was always called Prime Pete in honor of his first servant and friend, all those years ago.
“What kind of an anomaly?”
“An outburst of Alton energy, sir. At the North Pole.”
“At the North Pole?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Does this mean the Altons are back?”
Prime Pete had no answer for this, so he did not say anything.
At the North Pole, Nick thought. Couldn’t find a more inconvenient place, could they? Especially in December. Cold and dark. Still, I don’t suppose there is any choice but to investigate.
“Very well. Have a scout team check it out. Make sure they remain hidden, but have them report back as soon as they know what is going on.”
⁂
Two days later, Prime Pete brought a servant Nicholas did not recognize into the office.
“This is Scout Pete, sir,” Prime Pete introduced the newcomer. “He will report on the North Pole.”
“Very well, report.”
“Yes, sir,” Scout Pete replied. “After receiving the orders, we had a scouting flyer made and ten hours later we were on our way to the North Pole where the burst of Alton energy had been registered.”
“Flyer?” Nicholas interjected. “What the heck is a flyer?”
“It is a flying machine, sir, a fast way to travel. We arrived at the pole after six hours of flight. We landed a dozen miles away and covered the final distance on foot.
“We did find an Alton Base at the location, but could not detect any Altons. The base was bustling with activity, however. Mostly there were obviously artificial people moving about, but we also detected two humans.”
“Humans?” Nicholas exclaimed in surprise. “There are other people who work with Alton technology? Who are they?”
“We don’t know, sir. We did not reveal ourselves by asking. But we did see a sign above the entrance: Home of Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus.”
Despite his age, Nicholas almost jumped out of his chair.
“Klaus, you said? You found Klaus?”
“We do not know, sir.”
“It has to be Klaus. I know he was also connected with Alton energy. It really has to be him. After all these years...”
Nick let himself fall back in his chair as he tried to recover from the shock.
“I need to go there. Take me to this scouting flyer of yours, and we will go to the North Pole.”
⁂
They arrived at the pole only seven hours later. Nicholas was wearing his heaviest winter coat as he got out of the flyer, carefully stepping onto the ice.
True enough, only fifty feet from where the flyer had landed was a large igloo with the sign Scout Pete had described. It was brightly lighted in the dark polar night.
They walked up and Nick knocked on the door. A man half his height in a bright green outfit opened the door with an expression of utter surprise.
“My name is Nicholas, and I am here to see Klaus,” Nick announced. “I believe he will know who I am.”
“Alabaster Snowball, sir,” the short man responded when he managed to get his voice back. “I don’t think we were actually expecting visitors here quite yet. If you follow me, sir, I will take you to Mr. Klaus.”
They followed the little person through a maze of ramps and corridors to a comfortable office.
“Sir, mister Nicholas and company,” Alabaster announced them, then stepped aside.
Klaus’ eyes went wide as he saw the old man entering the room.
“Nick, is that you?”
“Yes it is.”
“Really? After so much time?”
“Yes, Klaus. It’s me. It is really me. And it truly has been a long, long time...”
They ran towards each other and entered into an embrace that lasted for minutes. Both men were crying, not having expected to ever see their brother again.
⁂
Nicolas stayed for a week with Klaus and Stephanie, and it felt as if they were talking all the time.
During their discussions, they realized that they had both ended up with pretty similar types of operations, and decided it would only make sense to join forces. “Santa-Klaas” is what they would call their joint venture, as a pun on both Santa Claus and Sinterklaas. They would share ideas for new gifts, ways of improving their delivery, as well as information about the children they were giving the gifts to.
They also decided to figure out a way to find other Alton installations, to make sure they would not be falling into the wrong hands. The flying machine Nicholas had used made both of them realize that there was a power potential in the Alton installations that could be extremely dangerous.