One evening, Lorne's parents called Lorne to meet with them at their Jupiter home. Lorne arrived and saw his parents looking very proud.

"Lorne, I have something for you," said Lorne's father.

"He built it himself!" Lorne's mother cried excitedly.

"Follow me to the lab," said Lorne's father.

Lorne followed his parents to his father's lab. What could his father have made for him? Lorne was extremely curious. It was rare for Lorne's father to share his inventions with him. Now, his father had created something just for him.

The Longoaks walked into the lab and noticed in the center of the main lab a table with an object mysteriously enshrouded by an oversized sheet. Lorne tried to peak using his Ridarn vision but found his vision blocked. Wow, his vision was blocked! This was the first time anything was able to block his vision. Lorne's curiosity and excitement grew.

"Did you try to look through the sheet?" Lorne's father asked with a smile.

"You caught me, Dad." Lorne smiled back.

"I told you he would try to peek! HaHa, I may be getting old, but I know all about you and your shenanigans boy." Lorne's father said, clearly pleased with himself.

"Lorne, in just under a year we are likely to face a crisis so immense it will probably end our family which ruled for millions of years," said Lorne's father.

"Millions of years!" Lorne cried out.

"Yes, yes, yes, try not to get distracted by small matters. Don't interrupt me again, I'm building up to the big reveal." Lorne's father commanded.

‘Millions of years was a small matter?’ Lorne understood he couldn't judge the affairs of his home planet Zimwer as he would Earth affairs. However, to think things operated on such an exaggerated scale! Lorne couldn't believe it. ‘How long was the longest ruling human Empire? The Roman Empire lasted for a thousand years and that was including Rome's mass conversion to the Church. ‘

Thinking of a kingdom ruling for a million years was startling enough, but to realize the kingdom was ruled by the same family line? The whole thing sounded absurd. The only way Lorne could imagine it working is if the rulers were somehow able to extend their lives far beyond human norms. For example, if each ruler lived to be one hundred thousand years old then a million-year dynasty would only have ten rulers. This seemed more realistic as the older the family became the larger and more political the family became. But his fathers had said ‘millions’ not million which made it even more fantastic.

Lorne’s fields of expertise were history and archaeology. He knew how fragile politics could make even an aristocratic family line. This information was completely unbelievable. Perhaps living on Earth skewed his notion of what was and wasn't possible. As the Chinese might say, he was a frog at the bottom of a well seeing only a small part of the sky.

Noticing his son lost in thought, his father stood next to the table looking perturbed as he held onto the sheet. This was a big moment, it was "THE BIG REVEAL," but his son was lost thinking about silly little things like the length of their rule.

Lorne finally sensed his father staring at him, getting more and more annoyed.

"Sorry Dad," Lorne apologized immediately, giving his full attention to his father and pushing all other matters aside.

"As I was saying, there's a big crisis just over the horizon. It's coming for us and we can't run. We have to fight. There's one problem with us fighting. Do you know what it is?" asked Lorne's father.

A number of possible difficulties ran through Lorne's mind. There was the number of soldiers on those massive warships and the warships’ weapons. They were facing a lot of problems, but how was he supposed to know which problem his father was the most concerned about?

Lorne's mother helped move things back to his father. "Your father is referring to how weak you are," his mother whispered.

"I'm weak?" asked Lorne.

"Yes, exactly. You're weak. The soldiers on those ships could destroy you with a sneeze!" Lorne's father excitedly yelled. "That's why we are here today. I have created something for you that can give you a fighting chance. I present to you BS42!!!"

Lorne's father suddenly threw away the sheet to reveal a silver tubed object tapered at both sides. The cylindrical object was about a meter long and silent as the grave. Lorne's eyes grew wide when he beheld it. His Ridarn vision was blocked by the object. All he could tell about it was what he could see. ‘Is it a missile?’ He wondered.

"Dad...what is it?" Lorne asked breathlessly.

"I told you...it's BS42." Lorne's father said.

"I get that, but what is BS42? What does it do?" Lorne asked again.

"What does it do? My boy this is the finest Warbox I ever designed!" Lorne's father was extremely excited. It was clear he was proud of his invention.

"How does it work?" Lorne asked.

"Just put a finger or thumb on the micro-node. I've already programmed it with your unique genetic signature."

Lorne did as instructed. The Warbox which moments before sat there was now changing. The bottom opened and four quarter cylinders extended out. Each quarter cylinder angled itself at forty-five degrees. The middle third of the Warbox had two sections extending out, and from the second section, cylinders formed arms. Finally, the head came out of the top. At the top of the head, seven pistons pushed out what seemed to be a crown. The eyes on the head began to glow softly with a gentle blue color.

"Greetings young lord," BS42 said to Lorne as it made a slight bow of its head.

"It's a robot?!" Lorne asked.

Lorne's father was completely annoyed. "It's not a robot it's a Warbox!" Lorne's' father insisted.

"What's a Warbox?" Lorne asked his father. He knew once his father had gone stubborn; talking to him was extremely difficult.

"A Warbox is a training machine. It contains fighting skills and techniques, options for sparring, the ability to analyze, advise, and guide a person's training regimen. It can also analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy. If there is a path to victory, the Warbox can find that path. The Warbox also has a dimensional storage capacity allowing you to store anything you would like.

This particular Warbox is even better than the ones on our home world. It has an ultra-advanced AI system, power synthesis system, and a temporal gate function. This last function will allow you to enter a gate into the Lost Time Zone to face warriors of different planets and time periods. Even warriors from our world can be found there. This Warbox can train a kitten into a King." Lorne's father finished his overview of the Warbox.

"It has several other abilities such as camouflage. Over time you'll learn all of its uses." Lorne's mother added.

"The problem is time. This Warbox can help you increase your strength. However, I don't know if the time we have left until the Usurpers get here is enough," said Lorne's father.

"Why didn't you give this to me sooner, I could have trained with it for several years!" Lorne complained.

Lorne's father's eyes narrowed. He was extremely angry.

"I didn't know the Usurpers would find us. There were no threats to us on this planet. Even if I finished it sooner I doubt you would have used the Warbox since you prefer digging in the dirt to improving your strength!" Lorne's father responded.

"I'm sorry Dad, but I had no idea my strength could be improved. You never said anything about it. You never told me we were on the run for our lives. You always said you were on holiday!" Lorne finally lets out some of the resentment in his heart. His parents knew this scenario could have occurred, but they never said anything. To them, there was nothing to worry about.

Now, right when he found some meaning in his life a deadly disaster appears catching his parents unawares! Lorne was so upset with them he didn't know what to do. He loved his parents and didn't want to hurt them, but it was like they intentionally doomed themselves and Lorne!

Lorne's mother stepped forward to be the peacemaker. "Lorne, honey it really was a surprise the Usurpers found us in such an obscure place."

"I'm sorry Mom, Dad. I don't mean to attack you. I know it's not your fault. It's just, I finally have everything I want, a family. I have two beautiful children and a loving wife and two loving parents. Now I may lose it all," said Lorne.

Lorne's father gave him a conflicted look, "We do love you son no matter what happens, we truly love you too."

Lorne never heard his father express love for him. He felt much better and gave his parents a hug.

"Now back to this Warbox. Can it fight or is it just for training?" asked Lorne.

"It can fight if necessary. It's main purpose though is to train you. However, if you ever find yourself in deadly peril it will automatically enter guardian mode." Lorne's father said as he looked at the silver Warbox robot now floating near him.

"BS42 is an odd name, why did you name it this?" Lorne asked.

"My son, you have many questions. I'm sure those questions stretch to infinity. What's the purpose of life, the universe...everything? The answer is 42, but 42 is a BS answer because you only know how to ask BS questions. If you truly wish to go far in life you must learn to ask good and relevant questions.

I've read every paper you've ever written that includes those books you wrote. All I can say is "Thank God your Grandfather hasn't read them. You're such an academic. You ask and tackle boring and uninteresting questions in your writings about history and archaeology and then you give BS answers to your BS questions. All those "enemies" you defeated. It was really just your brute strength that defeated them. If you had been on equal footing with them, you would have been crushed to death long ago. You're like a blind bull in a china closet. Even worse, you pat yourself on the back for your ‘accomplishments.’

Have you ever really asked the right questions? This lazy thinking habit of yours is going to cause you to fall one day soon. You'll suddenly fall and never know what happened until it's too late. You'll never see it coming. I can only hope this Warbox I've built for you can help guide you so you're not so surprised by life in the future.

Oh well, it doesn't matter, all I really ask of you is to work hard. We have less than a year left. I hope we aren't vaporized." Lorne's father concluded. After finishing his statement, Lorne's father turned around and walked off to another part of his Jupiter home. Lorne's mother quickly followed leaving Lorne, by himself with the floating Warbox BS42.

"Ouch, that's a bit harsh." BS42 suddenly spoke.

"Oh, that sounded so human!" Lorne said.

"Never mind, your father's right, you are an idiot." BS42 quickly floated away towards another empty area in the lab.

Lorne was stunned for a moment and quickly followed the Warbox. What a strange robot. What kind of crazy AI does this thing have? It almost seems human. The Warbox came to a stop next to a circle with a one-meter diameter.

"Stand in the circle please, young lord," BS42 commanded.

Lorne did as he was instructed and stood in the circle. The circle flashed briefly and BS42 went extremely quiet. BS42's eyes brightened slightly.

"You are a level 3 Zimwarn Royal," BS42 said.

"Is that good?" Lorne asked.

"Sure, if you're a four-year-old Zimwarn commoner child." BS42 chided.

"What?!" Lorne was totally shocked. The strength he was so proud of ranked him with four-year-old children on his planet?

"A raw commoner Zimwarn fresh recruit ranks at level 20. A sergeant is level 25. It goes up from there. The last Supreme General ranked at level 127. Of course, he was only the Supreme General of the commoners' Army. You are so weak. I'm sorry to say this, as amazing as you are to the humans, you are more or less doomed in the coming confrontation," said BS42 said.

"Are you saying, there's no hope for us?" Lorne asked in a panic.

"No hope," BS42 replied.

"None?" Lorne could feel his heart breaking.

"Maybe you have one way to win," BS42 said thoughtfully.

"What … what is the way? Please tell me!" Lorne begged. No one wanted to die. Especially someone who was living his ideal life. He wanted to grow old with his wife, see his children grow up. He even hoped for the day when his own children came to have children of their own. Saving the world? That was his hobby. He never knew what else to do with his power. Clearly living on the extremely weak little planet Earth had stunted his growth.

"If you want hope then you must become strong enough to create that hope for yourself. You must listen to everything I say and do it. You must, for the first time in your life, try really hard to accomplish something," said BS42.

Lorne began to wonder if he was really so useless. Why would his parents and now this robot treat him with such disdain for his weakness? Weren't they the ones who never told him he could do better? Weren't they the ones who chose this world? Why did they blame him for being weak? He always thought he was strong. It didn't make any sense.

Lorne was going half mad contemplating his situation, but then he thought about his wife and children. They did their best to keep the birth of his children hidden, but there was no guarantee this secret could be kept. Weren't his parents confident they could never be found on Earth? If he wanted his children to survive, all he could do was give everything he had to get stronger. Lorne discarded his panic and fear. A solemn and resolute demeanor took over Lorne's presence.

"Whatever I have to do, I'll do it. BS42 please guide me." For some reason, Lorne bowed at BS42. This shocked the Warbox.

"Of course, of course, young lord, isn't that why I'm here? I'm here to help you. I'll do everything I can to prepare you. Just please stop bowing to me! I would hate for your father to see such an action," said BS42.

"Why would my father care," Lorne asked.

BS42 floated there silently for a moment before responding. "It's not that he cares, it's just I was created to be as humble and gentle as possible," BS42 responded finally.

"Young lord, let's get to work. We need every second to prepare you for the upcoming battle. Please stop worrying about things over which you lack the power to do anything about. Instead, gather to yourself the will you need to become truly invincible. Only then will you be able to save your family," said BS42.