Storiesonline.net
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                          Shelly Hugh Driscott
                              by John Wales

Copyright© 2007 by John Wales


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Description: Hugh Driscott is a young farmer fresh out of university. He inherits a farm and some associated small business near London Ontario. The farmhouse is well supplied with lightning rods because nature wants to burn the house down. A large silver mirror is struck by a bolt and Hugh is like a modern day Alice.

Codes: MF Mf ff Ff ScFi rom cons lolita
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Chapter 1


I put my hands under the top of the heavy oak hutch and lifted. My muscles contracted. Immediately I felt a painful twinge in my back and I had to relax. This happened all the time. I mentally kicked myself for never learning my lesson. My back was going to be a mess when I got old. Before I could get the hutch shifted, I heard, "Hugh, where are you?"

My spirits picked up and perhaps I could have a break for a few moments. "The dining room, Lauren." I shifted the hutch to one side but used my legs instead of my back. The thick cardboard was kicked under the legs so it could slide across the hardwood floor better. Quite a few hours had been devoted to moving furniture that was all too heavy for one person.

Lauren came into the room looking fresh as a daisy and good enough to eat. She had on her work clothes but she never did much work in them. Lauren disliked getting dirty and sweaty. The woman was average in size for an eighteen year-old and looked small when we hugged but this was not going to happen now. Her face was pretty but not the kind you would see in a magazine. Lauren wore little makeup but tried to go the extra distance to enter the model category. I liked her efforts.

Lauren greeted me a smile but stayed a metre away. Max, the German Shepard I inherited, made his own greetings. Lauren avoided him and said, "I thought you were going to go out with me? Today's Saturday."

"I would, Lauren, but as you can see I'm busy. I was hoping you could help me get some of this stuff moved."

"Hugh, I wanted to go shopping. I have a present to buy for Roberta today."

Lauren was being a pain in the ass. She knew I was busy and not only was she not going to help but she wanted to drag me away from what I had to do. "Well, go then. I have more plaster to rip out." I didn't know why I was explaining. She would not help doing this especially if she got dirty or worse yet, had to sweat.

"Let the contractor do that. You can come with me and help me find the perfect gift."

"All I do is carry what you want me to. You find a problem with everything I pick out."

She gave me the eye, the one that said that I was in trouble. "You can dress yourself but you can't pick out gifts. You carry what we buy because you're big and strong. I could use your help but I see I'm going to have to do this myself."

This got me pissed off. "You said you were going to come over and help me today."

"When?"

"Wednesday, when we were resting."

A faraway look soon came to her face as the memories must be coming back. She said, "I can never think straight when you make love to me. If I said it then, I wasn't myself."

"I asked you again just before you drove off."

Her face changed again and she replied, "I don't remember that."

There was nothing I could do. We were not married. Soon Lauren gave me a chaste kiss from as faraway from me as she could get. She didn't like to get dirt or my sweat on her. In a moment she was gone. Lauren was a responsive woman in bed. She was the latest girlfriend but not the best. The best though did not want the life as the wife of a farmer.

I went for some water and watched the car go down the long drive that lead from my new home. My hormones wanted her to stay but my mind was telling me I had to get back to work.

Grandma Audrey had owned a stately home on a hundred and thirty acre farm just outside London, Ontario. The land was worth a lot to developers. During family gatherings, I always sided with Grandma Audrey where there was talk of severing a portion.

The house was large, beautiful, and well taken care of, though I thought it needed some updating. This is what I was currently working on. Now that it was mine, I had to pay for everything myself. The upgrades would cost a lot so I was doing some of the work.

Grandma Audrey, my father's mother, had died three months ago. There weren't that many people that would want to carry on the farm and business. Some of the family had wanted to sell the store and try to break up the farm to start a subdivision. Audrey had seen this and made her will as tight as she and her lawyer could do it. You see, I was the only one that wanted to keep the land as a working farm.

I had worked in the family store since I was seven or eight. We sold local produce and other products not grown in Ontario. Dad enlarged bakery was behind the store. We made pies with our own fruit and sold them at a premium price all over Ontario. The business was good and it was difficult to keep up with orders.

Our farm grew chestnuts, hazelnuts, three kinds of apples and a wide range of the more expensive vegetable crops. Another business sold bedding plants and flowers from our greenhouses. I worked mainly on the farm. Not long ago, I completed a course at the University of Western Ontario to learn how to be a better farmer.

I had just received my degree in Agriculture/Biological Sciences when Grandma Audrey got sick. We visited her a lot and I think she died happy, knowing that I was going to continue with the farm and the family business.

I went back to moving the furniture to the middle of the room. I was replacing the galvanised pipes with copper. The wiring had to be upgraded too and I wanted to add telephone lines, networking cable and even speakers to some rooms.

It was not long after that when Ken, Pete and Frankie came over. When they came in I said, "Hi, guys." Max greeted them enthusiastically. His tail wagged until the guys gave him some attention.

Pete said, "Hi Hugh. What do you want us to do today?"

We moved furniture into some far rooms to get ready for Monday when the contractor would be back. We worked late and took a break while I ordered pizza.

When the delivery arrived, we got cleaned up and ate. The radio was on and some of us sang if we knew the songs. We were with friends so this was not something to be afraid of. We basically hammed it us. Frankie said, "This house is beautiful. I just wish it were in my family instead."

"I think it will be even better when we take down a few walls to open it up. It's going to cost a fortune to heat this place."

Frankie replied, "You don't have to pay for water or sewer charges."

He did not live on a farm so he did not know. "I have to pay for the electricity for the pump and then all the upkeep over the years. The pipes we're replacing are part of that cost. The upgrade to the septic bed cost $20,000." To get off this subject I asked, "Did you hear any more about that job in Toronto?"

"Not yet. I should have asked Dana to come over to help, too."

I reluctantly said, "I asked Lauren to come over but she only came to get me to go out with her. I don't know why I stay with her."

"You stay with her because she's good looking and she makes all those cute noises when she's having fun."

All the guys were smiling at me now and I had to smile too. "I'll admit that she's good in bed."

Ken said, "She must think you are, too."

With more smiles all around I had to say, "Some guys got it and some only wish they did." They got even for any innuendo I mentioned, acting like fourteen-year-olds instead of men in our early twenties.

Before the guys went home, we moved some of the real old furniture out of the basement. The attic was getting full so a few pieces had to go to the carriage house. The major piece was a large, awkward looking antique floor mirror.

When we were carrying the mirror down the driveway to the old building, Frankie asked, "Is that real silver around the mirror? It weights a tonne and has to be worth some serious money."

I looked at the mirror and said, "Yeah, I guess it has a lot of silver in it. One of my ancestors picked it up in the late 1700s. It's been in the family ever since."

"1700s! So this isn't silver plate, but solid silver?"

"I heard that it is. Eighty years ago the mirror was replaced and we were offered a lot of money for this beauty. Too bad there's a little scratch in the silver coating of the mirror near the top."

Ken asked, "Why was it in the basement if it's worth so much?"

"It has an odd history. The family figure it's haunted or something." The guys didn't stop but they slowed down and I added, "Ever since the mirror was put upstairs, lightning has been striking the house as if it wants to destroy it."

Ken said, "Really? Do you think it's really haunted?"

"No, but lightning hit Grandma's house twice. That's why we have all those lighting rods on the roof and the three metal windmills to draw well water for the greenhouses and the fields. They get hit at least twice a year ever since I can remember."

"No shit! Our cabin got hit once when we were vacationing in the Rockies. I almost pissed myself. Mom was running around for days after and we had already left for home by then."

Frankie said, "There's some discolouring on the metal. Do you think it got hit?"

All of us looked at the area and I said, "I don't know. I don't see any melting."

Ken said, "Do you think it will get hit during the next storm?"

"I don't know. Maybe we have to finish the work in the basement and then bring the mirror back. It won't get hit in the basement especially with all the grounding around the house."

We stood the mirror up and looked at ourselves. I was tall and wide and the guys weren't slouches. We had played lacrosse and been on the wrestling team at university. I did well because of my size. My second and third years were partially paid for by sports scholarships. I had switched over to karate and there it was speed instead of brute strength that won. I was good but not good enough to get a scholarship for the last year.

I stood on my toes while looking at my friends and said, "I want to thank all of you little people for helping me today."

Ken hit me in the stomach and then the other two jumped on me. I was on the ground in seconds. We had all wrestled until I was pinned. I tasted blood but that was nothing new. I struggled with all of my might but couldn't dislodge any of them.

"Uncle, Uncle! You win," I said, laughing. They still held me and I added, "For little people you guys are sure strong."

Ken moved to put me in a head lock and I took the opportunity to try to get away. I didn't get far and it was five minutes before we were walking back to the house. I was happy to see that Frankie was helping Pete because of a charley horse.

We all showered up and ate more of the pizza before we split up. As the guys were driving down the lane I saw Lauren's car coming the other way. There was barely enough room to pass but they managed it. I idly wondered if Lauren had figured the guys would go by this time so she could have me to herself.

There was still a lot of work to do. Some of the equipment in the barn had to be fixed but my testicles needed to be drained too. Lauren did such a good job of that for me.

When the car stopped, I was outside to greet her but I saw that there were others in the car. It looked like Tiffany was in the back seat. She was only fourteen and one hot girl. She had blonde hair and was prettier than her sister Lauren. They both took after their mother who was a good looking woman. There was also a boy who looked to be about the same age as Tiffany, maybe a little older.

When the car stopped, three doors opened. Lauren came to me and gave me one of her famous hugs. The kiss she then gave me was to let me know that she missed me too. Tiffany gave her sister a push then kissed me expeditiously and said, "How come I have to fight for a kiss?" Her hand went down and caressed the bulge she found there. "I see that my sister is going to be a happy woman tonight."

I backed up quickly and said, "I see you brought a friend." I liked Tiffany and would happily take her to bed even if she was jail bait.

"Yeah." Tiffany moved to one side and said, "Hugh, this is Tom. Tom, this hunk is Hugh. I think his parents wanted to call him huge but a mistake was made on the birth certificate."

I reached out with my hand and it took a moment for Tom to come near. When I clasped his hand I said, "It's nice to meet you Tom. I figure you got to have thick skin to be a friend of Tiffany."

He looked at me for a moment then said, "I think you know my oldest brother Frank, Frank Robertson. We live over on Manning."

I thought for a moment and said, "Yes, I guess I do. He and I generally fight when we meat. It's usually all in good clean fun."

"He has his jaw wired shut a year ago because of you."

I tried to remember the fights we had. I was very competitive in sports and didn't mind having a fight or two to relieve the tensions. I didn't pick on anybody but went my own merry way and fights came to me. I was big and people came to me so they could measure themselves. I didn't win all of my fights but I did most of them.

Now that I turned twenty five, the competition seemed to dwindle. Perhaps it was old age on my part or maybe it had to do with growing up. In any case, I could see that little Tom didn't like me and to tell the truth I didn't take to him. His brother was an asshole and a bully. The last time we fought, Frank had brought two friends and I pulled out all the stops so that I was not going to be the one to go to the hospital.

Frank and one of his buddies went instead. The police had been called but this time I was the one being prevailed upon and I was just protecting myself. I was not always so lucky and paid a few fines here and there to prove it.

I said, "Well, come on in. The house is a mess. There's a lot of renovations going on."

Lauren patted Max and then went over to the television. She turned it on then put a DVD in the player. She hurried back to me and pulled me back the way we had come in.

I asked, "What about my guests?"

"Tiffany will do just fine. I turned just in time to see the first part of the movie. I had not seen this one before but I knew it was a triple X movie.

I let Lauren do the pulling and she didn't have to use too much force. When we got into my bedroom, she started to just take off her clothes and dropped them onto the floor. I was even faster and ready before she was.

Lauren's eyes went right to my cock. In seconds she was on the floor and sucking me into her mouth. It took her a few moments to get me in. I doubted if it was my pretty face that attracted the ladies. Most of them knew how I was hung.

Lauren stood and rubbed her jaw though I wasn't that big. She didn't mind sucking me but didn't want the reward she would get for doing it well or long.

She started to pull me towards the bed but I quickened my pace and pushed her the last little bit. She fell onto the bed with a squeak. Her legs went up and I was there to help them go even further. Before Lauren knew what was happening, my tongue was searching for her clit.

Her hands went to my hair and didn't let go. She had her first orgasm quickly and I had to use my fingers to get her worked up for number two. Her scream and chant could be easily heard even though her thighs were crushing my head.

Lauren relaxed and let go of my hair. I was ready for some action myself. I pulled her legs to get her closer to the edge of the bed then elevated her pelvis. My fingers had opened her enough and I slipped in the first bit easily. I then had to go slower. I could hit her cervix so I didn't thrust all the way. I seemed to be doing this right because Lauren's moans of discomfort turned to her demands that I hurry.

I didn't know how long Lauren could stay so I hurried for my own enjoyment. I was not sixteen anymore but I could still please the ladies while pleasing myself two or three times. Tonight it was four.

I carried Lauren to the bathroom and put her in the tub. The shower was turned on and in a moment Lauren came back to me with a big smile. "Mmmmm that was nice. You hit all of the right spots."

In a western accent I said, "I aim to please, Ma'am."

When we were cleaned and dressed we went downstairs. Max thumped his tail at seeing me. The television was off. Tiffany and Tom were fully clothed now but I could see that they had some fun by the way they were dressed and the scent that was still in the room.

I asked, "Would you guys like a pizza?"

Lauren was the one to say, "We were hoping to stay here tonight. Tiffany is at her friends house."

This was ok with me but Lauren should have told me earlier. Tom and Tiffany could have been comfortable in their own room instead of on the couch and floor. Lauren didn't always think about these things though she was not stupid.

"Sure, you guys can stay."

We had a snack and I showed the other couple where they could sleep. Tiffany was pleased but Tom seemed to be pissed off about something. It was not often that a fourteen-year-old guy had a place like this to stay.

We had let Max out for an hour and welcomed him back into the house before we all turned in once more. We slept late and I found that I had a few more rounds in the cylinder to keep Lauren happy.

When we got up, I found my guests had gotten up even earlier.

I asked, "How did you guys sleep last night?"

Tiffany said nothing until Tom said, "Ok, I guess. It was noisy."

Tiffany held Tom and with a smile and said, "It sounded like music to me. There was a lot more soprano than base." Lauren held me and said nothing. I saw a delightful red colour creeping up her neck.

There was some coffee made and a breakfast already eaten. Tiffany said in a sultry voice, "Would you like me to make breakfast?"

Lauren squeezed my arm so I said, "Thanks, but maybe I should." I knew that Lauren was lost in a kitchen.

While I was making breakfast for Lauren and myself, Tom said, "There was an envelope on the table. It said your first name is Shelly."

I didn't stiffen much. I had many years to get used to this. I said, "So?"

"Isn't Shelly a girl's name?"

I put a fake smile on and said, "Many names are used by both genders. I think my father had a joke in a way. One of our ancestors was famous and had that name."

Tom was smiling though as if saying that he got me. The fucken kid was almost half of my age and I could still pick him up and shake him if I wanted to. Instead I said, "I suppose you have heard of Johnny Cash?" When the kid finally nodded I said, "He sang a song in '69 called 'A Boy Named Sue'. The father gave the boy a girl's name on purpose. It talked of how the boy always had to stand up for himself. You see, it made him angry and he beat the crap out of those that annoyed him. Your brother was like one of those guys too. It gave us an excuse to fight and for the most part it was fun. Your brother is a bully, though, and got some friends to help him. It wasn't fun then and I beat all of them. Are you trying to take his place now?"

By the last words I was very close to the asshole. His smile was gone and he had a worried look on his face. When the boy said nothing, I said, "I'm waiting for a reply. You are my guest and have certain rights and privileges. You have obligations, too. That means I will be a good host and you will be a good guest. Is that understood?"

Tom's face was white and after swallowing he said in a squeaky voice, "Yeah. I won't bother you again."

I thought about it for a second then stood and put out my hand. It took a moment for Tom to recover and shake my hand. I wasn't sure how sincere he was in any case. Tom hung his head but both girls for some reason were excited. I guess they wanted to see blood. Some girls are like that.

It was an hour later that they all left. I was sure that Tom was anxious to leave and was whining for a lift.

I went back to work. The manager that had taken care of the farm for Grandma was now working for me. We talked a bit about what had to be done. He then went his way while I hooked up one of the tractors and cut the grass. Later I worked on some of the implements. There was always lots of work for me and I was glad I didn't have to run the store. Mom and Dad did that for me though they'd been doing much the same thing for the last twenty years and before that dad did the other jobs.

I cleaned up and had lunch before going back to my work. The apples had to be sprayed but I had no time for this. The job had to be delegated. It was good that I had others working on the farm that treated the business the way it needed to be treated.

When it was getting dark, I went into the house. I felt the need for a long hot soak in the tub but instead I moved more furniture. There was a long row of built-in bookcases in the library. I took books out and placed them in some large boxes. The boxes were labelled as to where they belonged. Some of the books were very old and I treated them with reverence.

The bookcases themselves had to be moved. We were going to put in a forced air furnace and remove all the radiators. I was very careful with the first bookcase. It looked older than the house and the house was old. The plaster had to be cut away along with many layers of paint. Every squeak I heard worried me because I didn't want to damage anything but the wall and then not too much of that either.

With a final groan, the bookcase moved freely. Once it was far enough from the wall, I slipped a piece of carpet under it. It was when I got behind the bookcase to shift its weight that I felt a small movement under my left foot. I continued with my objective then went back to investigate. One of the boards in the hardwood floor may have to be nailed better.

With a rag, I cleaned the floor to find the offending board. I found something else entirely. It was not a board but a group of boards that stayed together as a group. I tried using my fingernails to pick it up. I knew that this was not natural or unplanned.

I was not really devious but I had to pretend I was. I saw that if I pushed down hard on one side, the other side would come up. With my fingers on one side, I was able to lift the section of flooring.

I moved the bookcase more to get some light, then I got a table lamp too. There was a well made area to hide things and I found something. I reached in carefully and took out what looked like a wooden box designed to hold cutlery. I could see that the hidden area could be accessed while the bookcase was in place and the box would just slip out from underneath.

Holding the lamp, I could see that there was nothing else in the hole. Though a dead mouse so something may have been there at one time. I was anxious to open the box but I put the section of floor back first. I could see myself falling into the hole if I didn't.

A piece of carpet went on a box of books and the wooden box went on top of that. I moved the lamp over and I inspected the box from all angles. There was a simple catch and the box opened fairly easy except the hinges protested. They were partially green so they had to be bronze or brass.

I worked the hinges a bit until I could see inside. Red velvet lining the lid. In the bottom was something wrapped in some type of treated material. I reached inside and found that it was actually many objects wrapped in separate pieces of this material. I took them out one at a time and placed them in the same pattern they were in when in the box. Only then did I start to unwrap the first object.

The material was dried out, showing it's age by cracking. It seemed to have discoloured over time and was a light brown now. The first article was a silver figurine of a naked young woman. There was enough detail to see her smiling face, nice sized teats and a gash for her cunt. This was certainly explicit.

The arms were raised as if in supplication and her legs were wide placed, as if she were preparing to support a heavy load. The entire height was near fifteen centimetres tall. I turned the figure over and saw not only the hint of her spine but some nice cheeks. Her hair was long and tied in one large ponytail. If I had to make a guess I would say that the figurine was of a girl of about fifteen. All the right things were there but not as developed as in an adult.

I finished inspecting the silver girl and looked carefully at the paper it came wrapped in. There was nothing I could see from this. I went through the rest but took my time.

There was a nine small silver spheres, each about the size of a walnut. They appeared to be globes but the contours of the land were not like what I saw when I looked at any world map.

There were also seven silver animals. A snake was the most prominent but it didn't seem to be anything but natural. Three looked similar to animals I knew but the other four were odd. They might have been prehistoric but I hadn't seen anything similar in the pictures the scientists or artists had made.

The final article I unwrapped was a silver ring. It was too big for any finger. It was like the steel retaining rings used on machinery. You pushed an end into a groove and fed the rest around the groove until it all went in. This was the same way but instead of being narrow they made a ring about two centimetres wide. The edges were bevelled and it looked like the ring of a giant.

The bottom of the box was just oak that had been hollowed out by hand and then soaked in what I figured was bees wax. I knew that leather would discolour a steel blade that was wrapped in it and silver may be the same way. I couldn't see a use for all of this. Our family had a lot of silver for some reason but most of it was tied up in heirlooms. Silver was valuable but why were only these things placed in a secret place?

It was a long time later that I managed to get to sleep. The contents of the box was important but I didn't know why or how I knew.

For the next few days, I either studied the silver pieces or looked under the remaining bookcases for more hiding places. There was too much work to do to stop and search for more or think about these things. I made sure I was nearby when holes were made in the walls so I could find any other hiding places.

Lauren came over after she finished work for the day. I seemed to have some time for her. It must be about time for her period because she started to become even nastier than usual. As usual, she wanted me to leave the work I was doing so I could cater to her whims. She then hit me with the fact that I was not taking her out to parties. We did go to a few but Lauren wanted to be at all of them. The next one was in Toronto and that would mean I would miss a few days of work and the friend was one of hers anyway.

I thought a while on this trip and said, "I can't lose two days just so you can see Roberta. Why don't you go alone?"

"Is this house, the farm, or the businesses all you think about?" She was very hot now.

"I think of you too, but I won't have any time off until the winter. What I do is important to me." I tried to be diplomatic and spoke softly. "I want a nice house to live in. I have a lot of help running the farm, the nursery, the bakery and the store. I have a schedule to keep or the house won't be done when the winter comes. I can't sacrifice long term goals for short term fun."

Lauren glared at me and just turned and left. Now was not the time to get her to understand. I just wished there was a way of making her see my side of it. A farmer was tied to the land and some things could not be put off.

The contractors were making a mess of the house but there was no other way of doing this. Internal walls were taken down and some steel beams put up to support the load. The installation of the heating ducts made the next biggest mess. The house had lath, not drywall, and this meant a lot of plastering and then painting everywhere. All the hardwood floors were going to be redone after the other work was finished. I wanted a large en suite with a tile lined shower for more than one lady along with me. A hot tub was going to be put in the enclosed back porch beside the sauna.

Grandma had a lot of cash that the tax man didn't know about and this is what was being used to make the renovations. The class learned about financing in university but it was my parents and the running of the businesses that taught me the most. I was heavily in debt but there was a good cash flow. I was not worried because I still had nearly $120,000 for emergencies.

Lauren went to Toronto and I settled down to work. Hours later, I went to answer the door and found Tiffany there. "Come on in Tiff. How are you doing?"

She gave me a seductive smile and said, "Fine. Actually I was wondering how you were getting along. With my sister away you must need some relief. I know that you always look at me so I know that you want me."

Her voice was seductive and so was her body. Tiffany was a good looking girl. She took off her pack and a jacket then put them on the nearby table. I said, "You're beautiful but there are complications. You're jailbait for me and I don't want to screw up what I have with your sister."

The smile got even wider. "I keep my mouth shut and nobody will know."

"Lauren will see the difference in you right away."

"I've had a few of her boyfriends and she's hasn't caught on yet."

This sounded like competition to me. When Tiffany looked at my crotch she knew that one brain had already voiced its decision. She said, "I'm supposed to be at Wendy's house tonight. Do you want me to stay over here instead?"

I tried desperately to see any further complications then finally said, "What about Tom?"

She looked at me innocently. "Tom who?"

The house was still full of contractors so I let Tiffany find her own way upstairs and I would meet her in a few minutes. When I come into my room, I found Tiffany naked and on her back. Her pubic patch was shaved except for a small tuft.

"Let's have a shower first. I'm dirty."

"Are you going to abuse me if I go in there with you?"

Now this sounded like my kind of girl. "I just might."

Tiffany didn't turn on the water but just watched me as I removed my clothes. Her eyes got big when she saw what I had to work with.

"I didn't know you were that big."

I was worried now. "Am I too big for you?"

"No. I have something that is nearly as big. You should fit fine." The last was said with a smile.

I ran the shower and got Tiffany to wash my hair as I sat in the bottom of the tub. She did a very sensual massage while she was at it. After rinsing my hair she said, "Get up now. I have to do the rest."

I dutifully stood and the girl reached up with her soapy hands and rubbed my chest. This part was done quickly until she got to my waist. With very soapy hands she caressed my cock gently. I got bigger and bigger. Tiffany gave me a big smile when I was at my maximum.

Instead of continuing, she said, "I want to suck on this monster. You don't have any objections do you?"

"Not in the least." Since I knew about the competition I added, "Your sister doesn't like the sample of protein she would get."

"She doesn't swallow?"

"She doesn't even go that far to make that decision."

"Well, I like my protein shake."

I felt a shiver of anticipation run down my back.

She cleaned off the soap and then she sank to her knees. She got a close up view then licked the head twice to see the reaction then she sucked me in. She was going slow and looked up to my face to see how I was reacting. I just closed my eyes so I could better feel what was happening to me.

Tiffany held my nuts gently and tried to take more of me into her mouth. Her gag reflex was not working but she could still only go so far. She pulled back off then used her hand to stimulate me. Her tongue went to work even faster now.

My hands went to her head but I didn't push or pull. I had enough sense to know that I could hurt her. In a few minutes, the point of no return was reached. Tiffany sucked faster while her hands went to my legs so I would not drive my cock down her throat.

My hips instinctively pushed forward as I shot into her mouth. She knew what was happening and sucked hard on me after each pulse. When the discharges stopped I continued to thrust weakly for a few seconds.

Tiffany pulled off with a smile and asked, "Did I do better than Lauren?"

I had my own smile. "You sure did. Now I hope you have something for me to eat."

"I have all you need but I think we'd be more comfortable on the bed."

It was a good idea. I washed Tiffany the way she did me but managed to get all of her body. I dried myself off then dried her before picking her up and carrying her to my unmade bed.

I put her down and kissed her lips tenderly the way a lover should. This was not the time to rush. I used all my tricks on this beautiful girl. Because of the way she responded, I only wanted to do more.

She was waiting anxiously when I got to her mound. She may have hated me at the time, but I teased her unmercifully. When I figured she could take it no more I attacked her clit as I pushed my fingers into the openings I was worrying.

Tiffany's reaction was unusual. She tensed, then her abdominal muscles contracted violently. The next thing I knew she was sitting up but the expression on her face was slack. I was able to see her face but my sucking had no response. In a few seconds she just fell back on the bed and her muscles were all relaxed. Again there was no response.

I was worried and stopped what I was doing and stood up. Tiffany had not moved and I peeked under her eyelid. I only saw white. She had fainted.

I moved to a more comfortable position and laid beside her. I watched her eyelids flutter and she looked around then at me. She paused to think which her sister would not usually do then she said, "Did I faint?"

"You sure did, Sweetheart. It makes me feel good to have done that to you but you scared me there for a while."

"Well, it hurt my stomach."

"I'll try to make it better?"

"Not that way. I want you in me."

I was very careful as to how I entered Tiffany. She was tighter than her sister but not much. I figured she used her dildo a lot and she inferred that it was large.

Between our bouts of lovemaking, we talked. It felt good to have Tiffany stay the night. The contractors had left so we emerged and had a meal. Both of us were naked and this made the activity even more erotic.

We went back to bed soon after so we could continue. The most interesting thing I found, other than Tiffany wanting me, was that in the doggie position I could slip past her cervix with little pain. I tried to stay deep now. Tiffany seemed to be even more responsive when she knew that I was going to spew directly into her womb.

Tiffany reluctantly left before the contractors came the next morning. She looked both radiant and worn out. I dropped her off at her friend Wendy's house. Wendy came out from the side door and caught us kissing. This could hurt me but both girls were smiling widely when I left.

While I was in the city, I purchased some groceries and then visited the bakery. I had a coffee as I smelled the pastries being baked. I talked to the staff for a while and listened to the problems in delivery. We may have to either purchase or lease another truck.

The store was doing just fine. The parking lot was full. I picked up some of my own fresh produce and listened to the troubles here. Mom came from the back and after a perfunctory kiss. "Hello, Hugh. What brings you off the farm?"

"I came to get some groceries. We may have to have a meeting because the bakery may need another truck. Perhaps we can use it to bring back produce too. Where's Dad?"

"He's working on a refrigeration unit. Do you have any figures on the need and cost of a truck?"

"Nothing yet. Only rough figures and a suggestion to allow the bakery to run with two full shifts and one partial."

"Marge is doing that good?"

Marge was Mom's sister. "It looks that way."

We talked a little more and then I went to the back and helped Dad work on one of the units that kept one of the walk-in units chilled. This kind of work wasn't difficult. I had been helping dad since I was a boy and could weld, braze and solder better than he could.

On the way back to the house I stopped at the nursery. There were not that many customers here now but most of our business was with wholesalers in Ontario and a few northern states. It was the value of the Canadian dollar that helped but the exchange was not as good as it used to be. We had a lot more competition now. The greenhouses may need an expansion but for a while we were going to wait and see how business was with the exchange rate.

Max greeted me exuberantly when I got home. I put the groceries away and decided to go for a run. We both could use the exercise. The gym that I brought over was now buried under furniture in a corner of the basement.

A few days later Lauren came back. As a peace offering I took her out to a restaurant. We went out to dance afterward and finally home but not to sleep. When she snuggled up to me I had to assume she didn't know that her sister had paid me a visit.

The house was taking shape. I worked my butt off on it and my only free time was to sleep or to go to meetings or necessary social occasions. My friends had not seen much of me. I went to birthday parties as well as two weddings. Lauren was my escort. She made sure she let it be known in subtle ways that she was available. I knew that living with Lauren would be hell.

She was a social animal with no real conception of what a person had to do in life to survive. I appeared to be at the other end of the spectrum but I was building for the future and I could not afford to relax now.

We had our first big rain shower and there was lightning in the distance but nothing happened locally. Later that week, I found that I owned quite a few books devoted to the subject of magic. I read a few but could not make heads or tails of what they were talking about. It reminded me a lot of people making a book on religion when they had to get all of their data from how they felt about the subject.

The house was professionally painted after the floors were sanded and varnished. The book cases were put back into position. The wooden box of figurines was now back in its hiding place.

Lauren came over to break in the hot tub and then we had to do the same thing to the large shower then the sauna. Though she avoided the kitchen we broke this room in too. Her sister would have liked to help but we never found the opportunity.

The house was being put back into order as the heavy furniture was placed in the rooms it belonged in. I pulled rank and had the weight room done sooner. The basement didn't have enough headroom so a large bedroom was now my gym.

The family came over now and to give some help. They marvelled at the change in the old home. This was planned as a party and all my friends were invited. I purposely invited some of my guests younger brothers and sisters so I would have a chance to invite Tiffany. Lauren stayed with me all the time and all I could do was look at the other girls.

The house was not actually done yet, just everything above the basement. In six days the stone floor and walls were painted to make it easier to see. Two new furnaces were installed along with two air conditioning units. A sub-floor was being put in the basement to store some of the furniture when a storm came up. This time one of the steel windmills was hit. It was the only strike and I felt happy that the carriage house was not struck.

The room was finished off late that night and I paid the contractors off with cash as per our agreement. Tomorrow I would be bringing the last of the furniture back into the house.

The next morning was overcast and I knew we were do for another storm. The weather service said it was going to be a major one. I hurried and brought in all the smaller pieces even when it started to sprinkle. A tarp or plastic went over them when they could get wet.

A deafening boom was heard while I was in the house. I immediately looked at the carriage house. It must be one of the windmills was hit again, I decided to play it safe. The doors were closed and I ran back into the house. Five minutes later I heard the crash of thunder while I was in the basement. I knew the strike had to be close because I felt a tingle as I walked across the floor. I read about this and knew it was the difference in potential from one place to another with the highest potential where the lightning struck. I hopped instead of walking to the wooden steps and hurried upstairs.

I looked out the kitchen window. I saw that the carriage house had been hit by lighting even though it had two lightning rods on it. Smoke was pouring from the open doorway. The doors had been blown out and were laying on the ground. There was a hole at least a metre across in the roof.

I looked inside the doorway again only to see a sudden flash. My eyelids closed almost instantly and I looked down but I couldn't see anything. I had been blinded by the flash. The thunder made my ears ring. I knew I was in the kitchen but I was still disoriented. The safest place was on the floor so I hurriedly sat down. I had just gotten down when I felt my hair rising. There was a tremendous static charge here.

I blinked my eyes but I still couldn't see. In a moment my hair started to act normally. I considered sitting at the table but figured I was safer where I was. When my hair started to act funny again I bent over and squeezed my eyes shut then put my hands over my ears. A minute later a third bolt of lightning hit nearby.

The storm lasted nearly three hours. Half way through the storm I was beginning to get my sight back when I had to hide again. The lightning struck and my hair went through a flipflop as it went from one type of charge to another. I heard about positive lightning and how powerful it really was.

When I looked up I could see some light but the light in the kitchen was off. There was a good chance there was a lot of electrical equipment damaged in the house even though I had some powerful surge suppressors on both sides of the line.

I figured the storm was slackening but then I could feel the static charge coming again. This one took longer as if it had to work much more to push this bolt out. In an odd type of humour I thought of the storm as me. To perform five times made me work hard with depleted reserves.

I must have fallen asleep on the floor. When I got up it was dark and I the lights weren't working. With a bit of fumbling I found a flashlight. I was relieved to see that my sight appeared to be normal.

The carriage house looked bad through the window. Outside in the chill air it looked worse. The rain had been heavy but it was no match for the power of the lightning. I remembered the hole in the roof and found the floor mirror right under where the hole was.

I had to look close though because my eyes were playing tricks on me. Glass that looked like it came from a mirror had exploded. There were pieces all over the floor. I looked at the frame and saw the mirror still there. I wondered where the glass came from. There were no other mirrors in the garage.

The frame hadn't melted or even discoloured so I figured it was not hit. Then where did the mirror glass come from. On a hunch, I remembered the scratch near the top of the mirror. I couldn't find it. I was beginning to believe in magic now unless someone had snuck in here and replaced the glass.



-------

Chapter 2


I went inside to think and I must have fallen asleep again. Ignoring even my bladder, I ran to the carriage house once more. It was still smoking in a back corner. The mirror was my primary focus. The silver looked a bit better than it had before. I guess that some of the oxide may have been flung off by thermal expansion.

The mirror though looked perfect. It was difficult to make very flat glass until recent years. This mirror reflected better than the old one. I had touched the glass last night so I was not that afraid of it. When I touched the surface, I found that it was much slipperier than any glass I had ever touched before.

The base of the mirror was supported by silver legs but also had the original wood construct that had six small drawers. The wood was burned to a crisp. I poked through the ashes and small unburnt portions. I found a piece of silver. I picked this up and rubbed the smudges off.

One object was a naked silver girl that knelt on the ground with her arms bound behind her. She looks like a recently bought slave. There were more too.

I brought all the silver articles into the house. I tried to wash them then remembered that our electric water pump may not be working. I went outside and turned a buried valve in the ground that directed the water from the wind powered pumps to enter the house. I could wash my hands now, as well as what I had found in the ashes.

With the silver articles in front of me, I sat down to think. I had a new mirror that looked perfect and the glass was very slippery. The frame holding the mirror had not warped or even discoloured. Silver was a good conductor but not that good. The articles were odd. Not so much because of their size and shape but because somebody had hidden them in the cabinetry. That was probably three hundred years ago.

The wind brought the smell of smoke to me and I remembered the carriage house. This was a major structure though not as big as the house. It was originally made to store the carriages as well as house the servants upstairs. There had been a stable for the horses but none were in existence now.

When I took possession of the house and the property I had everything assessed. This wasn't just the buildings but the contents as well. The library alone took weeks. The family had ragged on me to make sure I had all the protection possible for lighting. This was a separate rider and our lawyer went over it in detail.

Lightning strikes that resulted in claims were not frequent because few people spent the extra money. The insurance companies tried to wiggle out of any claims. I could understand this because they were trying to run a business. I, on the other hand, wanted protection. It looked like this was a wise investment. The family had two other claims in the last hundred or so years but nothing more recent than 1947.

I remember telling the guys about the mirror and now I wish I hadn't done so. It had to come back into the house but I couldn't have anybody touching the glass.

That morning, I pulled the vanity out of the carriage house and picked up all the glass I could find. Thermal shock had shattered and fused the pieces. The silver backing had conducted a lot of power.

After I cleaned up all I could, the mirror went back into the place it was before. I cleaned up all the evidence that I had moved it. My only goal was to hide how I now had a new reflecting surface where there should be none.

I called our lawyer on the cell phone but there was nothing he could do right now. I called an electrician next. I could do the work myself but I wanted an expert's opinion for the investigator that would have to come and see the damage. I took out my digital camera and took all sorts of pictures.

The electrician came over first and said, "So this is what it looks like at ground zero when lightning hits something."

"It looks like it did a good job. We have lightning arresters all over and a very good grounding system. The carriage house was protected too, but the bolt got through anyway." I was going to say that I was not here at the time of the storm so I wouldn't have to lie a lot more. Five strikes all in the same place was decidedly odd.

The electrician checked over the house and came to me twenty minutes later. "It looks like it fried the main breaker."

"Can you get a new one?"

"Sure, maybe a few hours. You know, when I helped wire this house, I thought you were being foolish about all the surge protectors and even the two massive units that protect the house. Well, I think that you did the right thing."

I said, "Our house got hit sixty years ago and I was warned by my family. I guess I went a bit overboard in the protection but so did my family for putting all the rods on the roof. It makes the house look like the top of the CN Tower."

"Better that than a smoking ruin I guess."

"I think so."

Later we got power to the house and found some equipment still damaged. We checked the barn and the electrician had to do a lot of work. This area had not been as well protected. The PUC of London had come in and replaced the large transformer feeding the farm. They did this while I slept on the kitchen floor.

I downloaded the pictures in the camera and I went back to get more pics. I couldn't do much because I would have to dig through the remains and I was sure the investigator wanted to be there to do this. I spent my time making a list of everything that was in the carriage house.

The insurance company sent over some people to assess the damages. It was the day after when the adjuster came. The damage would run over four hundred thousand dollars easy so he wasn't in a nice mood. When my lawyer joined us, I got a saccharin smile from the rep.

The fire department came to make its own investigation. With the lightning damage to the house and the barn, they could see that there was nothing intentional about it.

When I had time and alone, I investigated the silver articles found in the mirror cabinet. All of them seemed to be important to me on a level I couldn't understand. The slave girl was the most intriguing. I even went so far as to get a velvet bag for the statuette and kept in my pocket or around my neck. It was as if the girl were trying to talk to me.

The lost heirlooms were checked off as we found portions of them. They were all worth a lot of money and insured adequately. It looked like the total would run very near six hundred and fifty thousand by the time we were done. There was a lot of arguing now. What I had insured for seventy thousand dollars had to bring me that much money. The mirror was only partially destroyed in their eyes. The lawyers fought it out and I still got nearly a eighty thousand dollars for it. The eighteenth century wood and craftsmanship were hard to replace.

The mirror was now in a separate part of the basement behind a partition and a locked door from the rest of the house. Under it were high voltage insulators. If the silver frame wanted to absorb power, it could not get any from the ground. The guys came over but luckily none of them saw any of the fused glass.

My life had changed dramatically after I looked at the mirror. We finished the house and there were competent people around to run the businesses. The farm manager hired another person to assist him because I wasn't going to be available. You see, I had to study magic.

I read each of the books that were written in English in my library. Some were written in Latin or French. My French was never that good and especially when it came to archaic words. I wrote the names of the books I could not read and did a search to find the English translations. An e-book newsgroup happened to have a lot and I put out a request for more.

I considered a lot of people as kooks that professed to be either a witch or a warlock. After talking to them for a while, I saw that they were still kooks but had softened my opinion a bit. They didn't have much information to give me and I didn't want to tell them about the mirror.

I wasn't a recluse though. The guys, Lauren, and even Tiffany came over. I still went out to have some fun but it was usually only three times a month. Maybe a bit more with Lauren. She was seriously pissed off at me but I wanted to get a handle on what I was dealing with.

Lauren started ragging on me even more. Finally, she decided to make a break. I didn't blame her in a way. I wasn't a guy that would go out with her at least six out of seven days a week.

She came to get her clothes and other possessions when she saw the silver articles on the desk. I had a magic book open and I was making notes on what I thought the book had to say.

Lauren came into the study and screamed, "So this is why you avoid me. You stare at silver girls all day. My god, I thought I loved you once. I was even going to marry you if you asked. You're nothing more than a pervert."

I didn't know what she was talking about. I kept the statuettes close but they weren't really erotic. They just helped me focus on what I was studying.

When I didn't say anything Lauren exploded. She dropped her clothes and reached over and grabbed the slave girl. I figured she was going to throw it so I grabbed her arms. She gave a stronger pull than I expected and the figurine that was now partially in my possession touched her forehead. As soon as it touched her head, she crumbled to the floor. I had to react quickly to cushion her fall.

Lauren woke up in my bed with me beside her. I had no idea what had happened. I assumed it was just because she was overwrought. Lauren looked around but didn't move her head. When she saw me, she let out a breath and gave me a small smile. Before I could make a comment she said, "I'm sorry for everything I have done wrong, Master. I'll work hard to do what is right."

"Why are you calling me Master?"

She gave me an odd look and said, "Because you're the Master." In a second she added, "I always wanted to be your slave. I guess when you touched me, this part came out."

"When I touched you or the silver girl touched you?"

"I think most was the statuette, but not all."

I was really concerned now. The statuette thing puzzled me, but I didn't want a slave. I could not see how this was happening and wondered if she was joking. While Lauren stared at me I got up and sat on the side of the bed. I thought about the small figure and the effect it had on a woman I cared for. I still loved her in a way but I knew that I would never marry her. We clashed on too many points.

As I thought, Lauren got off the bed on her side. In a half minute, she was kneeling on the floor just like the likeness of the slave girl. "Master, I'm yours to command. Would you like me to suck you. I want to do so much more that I would not do before."

Here though was a test. I felt bad about using Lauren but I also wanted to see her limits or if she was faking. "Do so, Slave."

Lauren smiled the brightest I had ever seen. She walked on her knees to me and began to undo my pants. She tugged at them and I had to stand to make it easier for her. With my pants at my feet, she wasted no time and sucked me in. She showed a lot more talent and enthusiasm now than she had ever shown before.

She kept looking into my eyes as if searching for approval. When I closed my eyes she sucked even faster. My hands came to her head. She never liked me doing this before even though she did it to me all the time. Her head went back and forth. She had already taken a lot of me into her. Her gag reflex had been hair trigger before but now seemed to be gone.

I pulled her off my cock and she strove to stay attached. I finished undressing then I sat on the edge of the bed again. Lauren didn't have to be told to go back to work. In moments Lauren had more of me in her mouth and throat than anybody had before. I didn't push her at all and it was her wish to do this. When her face got to my pubic hair, is when she sighed or as much as she could with what she was swallowing.

Her head went all the way back and then all the way forward. After a while I held her hair and she just worked on the end. I figured that the deep throating was bound to have hurt her.

When the time came I said, "Here it comes, Slave. Suck it down. This is what you always wanted."

Lauren worked even faster now. When I shot into her mouth she tried to scream and suck at the same time. She sucked back three spurts before she just sagged and twitched. I still had a hold of her hair and two more shots went into her mouth but she was no longer sucking.

The feelings were intense. When they passed, I picked up Lauren and placed her back on the bed. I used a few tissues to clean her mouth. When she woke up she said, "That was the best orgasm I ever had, Master." She then licked what was still in her mouth.

I had to think about what I had said. I had not told her to orgasm but she took it that way. This needed more study. I was still hard and climbed over her legs and she spread hers to give me the most room.

Lauren groaned in want when I worked my way in with her help. That was nothing new though. She was a very sensual woman. After a few strokes I said, "I think my slave should be ready for her cum. Every ten strokes I want you to have a fantastic orgasm. Try this for your master."

"Oh! Yes, Master."

I counted my thrusts and dutifully on ten she thrashed about as an orgasm ran through her system.

Two hours later, I not only had a very devoted slave but a woman that had never been this sated before.

I awoke the next morning to find Lauren missing. I heard some noises in the house that wouldn't be caused by Max. I had my shower and when I came out I found Lauren on her knees with a platter of food for me. I had to smile as I walked forward. My cock grew as I moved. I stood in front or Lauren and flexed my abdomen to put my cock into her mouth. For the next five minutes, I ate my breakfast, then unloaded into Lauren's willing mouth.

The rest of the morning went to giving Lauren a few more orgasms and learning more about how she felt about her new state. I could not resist asking her to change some of what I considered her character flaws. We both cleaned the house, did the laundry and the dishes and made the meals. All of this was done in the buff.

Lauren didn't mind the work now and was very pleased when I complimented her on what she did right. To reinforce this effort, she had heart stopping orgasms as I ate her.

We ate our supper with Lauren sitting on my lap. An important part of me was inside her. I was able to get through her cervix now and she liked it that way.

I said, "Lauren, Honey, you've changed a lot since yesterday at this time."

When I said no more she looked down and said, "I was mean then."

I picked up her chin and gave her a little kiss. "It's now that we're talking about. I want to try something new now."

I got a big smile and Lauren said, "What is it, Master?"

"Well, first I want you to now act more like what you used to act like."

"What do you mean, Master?"

"Well if the guys came over now they would see the way you're acting and be concerned. If you could act more like the old Lauren when others are around, then that would make our relationship run much smoother."

"I will try, Master."

"That's all I could ask for. You never tried very hard before and I love you more when you work hard at any task. I don't just mean helping me clean the house but how you now devote yourself to your jobs with all of your heart."

Lauren had another big smile when she said, "I'll do anything for you, Master."

During the rest of the day we put a composite personality forward. Lauren would be a lot less of a slave and become more focussed in what she did. Lauren acted out her altered personality but I could still see a lot of the slave still in her actions. She began to use the exercise equipment with me and we even had a chance to walk Max around the farm.

On Monday morning, Lauren went back to her job. I was worried about letting her go. What we had constructed could easily fall apart. I had to go back to the silver shapes in hope of deciphering their purpose if they had any at all. My thoughts kept coming back to the new Lauren. Did I really want a slave? Did I want Lauren with me for the rest of my life even if she was not my wife?

Lots of guys may have taken advantage of Lauren more than I would have. We already had a good sexual relationship and Lauren was not that bad of a person or I would have sent her packing long ago.

In an odd way, I felt more committed to her now than I had before. If she continued with her slave mentality then she was going to be hurt by somebody that was simply out for their own gratification.

Lauren had orders to phone me when she had problems. I only got one call three days later and that was because a friend of hers wanted to go shopping with her after work.

I said, "Do you like being with your friend?"

"Yes, Mas, uh, Hugh."

"Do you have anything important to do like paying bills?"

"No, uh, Hugh. We talked about that yesterday. I have to buy a birthday gift for a friends baby."

I worried that people would see the differences in Lauren. She did some tasks but not as she normally did them. "How long would you usually take to be with your friend?"

"A couple of hours, then we would get a sandwich."

"To act like the old Lauren, I want you to do what the old Lauren would do. When you get to your parents' home, I want you to visit with them just as you would have done before, then come over to see me tonight."

"Yes! Ma, uh, Hugh. I will be there at nine."

"Don't race here. I want you safe."

Lauren still had her problems. She felt compelled to call me Master. I wondered if she was constantly thinking of me while she worked. That may be nice for wife material but not from Lauren.

My research brought me back to the mirror. I used a magnifying glass to go over all of the metal. It had a nice pattern in it but no hidden messages. Grandma had left me some diamond rings. I used one to score one of the pieces of glass that used to be the mirror. When I tried the same thing at the bottom of the new mirror, I couldn't make a mark.

A slippery surface that I could not touch with a diamond meant that I was not dealing with ordinary matter. Another possibility was that it was not matter at all. The old glass broke and the new surface had to come from someplace and the only addition the vanity had was the energy from five lightning bolts.

When Lauren arrived, she looked like a heroin addict that was too long in getting her fix. A decision I was worried about all day had to be made now. "Sweetheart, I want you to move in here with me."

She squeezed me tightly and said, "Oh, yes! Master."

We made love now for both of us. When we were reasonably sated, Lauren started to write out a chart that detailed how she used to be. I hoped that this information would help the new Lauren mimic the old well enough to get by.

We became a couple in a way. Outwardly we looked normal but in private Lauren wanted to be my slave. Ken, Pete and Frankie came over to watch a game and were surprised at how much Lauren acted like a dutiful hostess. Lauren was seeing the house as a place she could act 'normal'.

When Lauren was out of the room, Frankie said, "Lauren sure has changed."

I said, "We're in a different relationship now and she's feeling her way. She wants to hear wedding bells but I'm not sure if that's the way to go. A person can change a bit to fit in with others, but it takes a very traumatic event to make major changes permanent."

Lauren and I explored her conditioning all the time. We both made notes.

I thrust into Lauren and her body went into spasm. She shook and called out in a loud voice that she had cum. My hands caressed her breast as I waited for her to relax once more. When she did relax I pushed in once more but this time Lauren looked away from me. She usually stared into my eyes.

I stopped my thrusts and had to gently turn Lauren's face my way. "Did you reach your limit, Honey?"

She looked like she was ready to cry. I guess she felt that she had failed me. "You can do more if you want."

"Being a Master is a hard job. You would be a better slave if you always told me the truth. I said this to you before. You only tell me what you think I want to hear."

The tears came now and I just held the girl to me. She promised to change but the promises never lasted long.

Another day I said, "Honey, I want to have your bum tonight."

Lauren gave me a big smile and said, "You can have all of me, Master."

She got some blankets and stacked them on the floor then got some thick plastic sheet. Stretching Lauren's muscles could be done gradually with fingers and some handy toys. What we were trying was to see if Lauren had a connection to her own muscles that would allow this form of sex to happen without pain.

By now, Lauren had an orgasm whenever I told her to have one. When I put my KY covered finger into her butt, I had to pause as a tremendous orgasm went through my girl. I made love to her and slowly tried to open her back passage.

Lauren was concentrating on relaxing her anus so I held off on the orgasms. Soon my fingers came out and I put a dildo in. It was smooth and well lubricated.

I took my time opening her. Over the course of two hours, the dildo in Lauren was changed to my size.

"How do you feel, Honey?"

"Full! Very full, Master."

"Are you in pain?"

"No, Master, just a little uncomfortable." I was glad to hear the latter part. I had spent a long time explaining to her that I needed all the truth.

I smiled and then went back to caressing her clit with my tongue. "Cum for me, Honey but only a small one."

Lauren had her orgasm and then relaxed even more. I didn't see any blood from her anus so I figured she had not torn any skin. We basically just stayed at this plateau for a while until the dildo slid easily in and out of her.

"Honey, I want to make love to your bum now."

"Take me, Master."

I got Lauren to get in a better position. She had a chance to lube me up well then the dildo was taken out and I took its place. I went all the way in right away then stopped. Surprisingly, Lauren had not tensed up at all.

"How do you feel, Honey?"

"Full again, but you aren't as hard as the dildo. It feels more natural now."

Lauren had her orgasms on command and my cock was able to give a bit with her muscular contractions. When I released into her bowels, Lauren had a strong orgasm that squeezed me the hardest yet. When I pulled out, I did see some blood.

I stood then bent over and picked up Lauren and went to the large shower. I spent a lot of time and hot water cleaning her and she did the same for me.

Lauren hardly ever questioned me, so I said, "You made me feel very special, Honey. Tell me how you feel now?"

"It is a little sore but not much."

I didn't know how honest of an answer this was. "Well, let's go to bed. I want to hold you."

"Anything, Master."

Lauren drained me a few times with her mouth and I did the same to her. She needed a chance to heal now.

Three weeks after Lauren moved in with me I received a call from Tiffany. "Hello, Handsome. When are we going to get together again or are you going to be monogamous now?"

"You know that I like you, too."

"That's good because Friday is a school holiday and I have nothing to do."

"You are welcome to do that with me if you want."

"All day?"

"Well, I have to recharge too."

"I can help you recharge."

When Tiffany hung up, I wondered about my motives. I had all the sex I wanted from a girl not quite nineteen yet. A beautiful fourteen year-old girl was something special though.

That night, I was extra nice to Lauren and we both went to sleep happy. A half hour after Lauren left for work, Tiffany was at my door. She didn't say one word but ran into my arms and kissed me. Her hand went down to see if I was ready.

She just took my hand and dragged me upstairs. When we got to the bed, Tiffany stopped and finally said, "So this is where you make my sister happy?"

"I try."

"You must be doing something good. She's an entirely different person now."

My worries came back. "How's that?"

"We used to fight but now she gives in easily. If I asked for anything she has, she would give it to me."

"She's your sister and I know she loves you."

"She never loved me like that before. It's almost like there's a spell on her."

"Perhaps it's love?"

"It could be. Now I want you to show some to me."

Tiffany and I were horny. We hurriedly took off our clothes and only kissed long enough to get into the 69 position. Tiffany came quickly but it was fun to do it this way and not command my mate to orgasm.

We began to have some serious fucking until we were both bushed. I carried Tiffany into the shower and cleaned her up then did the same thing to myself.

I put Tiffany back in the bed and said, "I'm going downstairs to make something to eat." I wanted to give her little twat another kiss but I wouldn't get any real food for a while longer then.

Since I had not eaten breakfast I made a large meal. Tiffany needed her food to keep going like the energiser bunny. When I layed out the meal, I called upstairs, "Food's ready."

"Down in a few minutes."

"Ok."

When the meal was done, we washed up all the dishes and put them away. This was part of my bachelor training but also had to do with me having a guest while Lauren was out.

Out of the blue, Tiffany said, "You talked about those silver animals and people. What do they look like?"

"Why do you ask that all of a sudden?"

"For the last few months you mentioned the word silver a lot of times. Lauren even talks about it."

"What does she say?"

"Nothing really, just that you are studying some artwork you found. Mom and Dad figure you are going to have it appraised."

This didn't sound completely right but not wrong either. "Well, come with me into the library. I'll show you the pieces."

Instead of thinking about what she had said, I watched her pretty breasts move as she spoke. We walked to the library and across the floor to the large curio cabinet. We talked about the articles and Tiffany wanted to hold the them so I let her. Perhaps more could be found out.

The inspection and talk were only a few minutes before Tiffany said, "Let's go fuck now, Big Boy."

"I think we can arrange that." I scooped her up then ran up the steps to the bedroom.

Tiffany was even more enthusiastic after her meal and this made me work harder to please her. Since she was only fourteen this took a lot of work.

We took a break every so often and Tiffany went to the bathroom to wash and I guess drain what I had put in. She never came out quickly but, then again, she was a girl.

"Hugh, will you go downstairs and make something to eat? I need to replenish my energy reserves."

I called through the bathroom door, "I thought you were inexhaustible."

"You give me lots of energy but I need more."

I went down to find something to eat and had to call upstairs again to get Tiffany to come down to eat. Soon after Tiffany smiled and pulled me back upstairs. I was running near empty and I guess so was Tiffany. We simply held each other and played with various body parts to keep the atmosphere.

Somehow or other, the conversation got back to the silver articles. Tiffany acted so mature now and I didn't mind telling her a bit more but not any of the important facts. I did list what the various books said if it turned out to coincide with what I thought was true.

"Let's go see those things again, Hugh."

"If you want, Sweetheart."

We walked out of the room and Tiffany took my hand as if she needed somebody to guide her. We went to the curio cabinet again and talked about what I had read. Tiffany picked up the various objects then put them back before picking up another.

Tiffany picked up the slave girl and studied it for a moment then put it into my hands. She turned away then back again with a serious look on her face. Her hands came up to hold mine then her head went forward quickly to put her forehead into my palm. I was slow on the uptake. I only worried that she would hurt her forehead on the metal. It was when she collapsed to the floor that I knew what had happened.

I wasn't quick enough to catch her and she hit the floor. It took a while before my mind went to work. I put the silver slave away, picked up Tiffany and took her back to my bed.

Twenty minutes later, Tiffany stirred just like her sister. When she saw me she smiled and said, "Hello, Master. I love you."

I said kindly, "Hello, Sweetheart. Tell me, why you touched the silver figurine?"

"I read the book that Lauren wrote about her adventure. I was not sure what to expect but I wanted to try. Sometimes I need to be guided. I know you would never hurt me. A Master like you would be the best."

"Did you consider what my wishes would be?"

"For just a moment, Master." she said more sorrowful. "I know that you like me and I would do anything for you."

I couldn't really yell at her because there was no point. She was now a slave. Nothing I could do now would remedy that. Her parents were probably going to call the cops. I might put Tiffany back together like I did Lauren, but this took time.

"Get dressed, Tiffany. We're going downstairs to talk."

She looked apprehensive then said, "Yes, Master."

I started on the rebuilding until I heard Lauren's car pull up. Lauren came in all smiles until she saw her sister here. She asked no questions and waited for me to give an explanation. I couldn't put any of the blame on Lauren. She would crumble over even a small rebuke.

"Tiffany visited me today. She read some of our notes and decided that she wanted to be my slave. She put the statuette into my hands and then put her head on it. I didn't choose for her to be my slave but she is now. What do you have to say to that?"

"I don't know, Master. Will she sleep in your bed?"

"She will sleep in our bed for a while. We have to try to put her back together the way she was before. This will take a lot of work but it may be easier with two of us doing it."

"What do you want me to do, Master?"

"Come and give me a kiss then go for a shower."

I did get a strained smile then the kiss. While Lauren was leaving, I said, "Take Tiffany with you. She has been doing the duties of a slave while you were at work."

Lauren stopped to think on this for a while. I was sure she was going to question me on this but only held out her hand for her sister. Tiffany got up and held her sister's hand. Both of them looked at me. Before they left I added, "I want the two of you to talk to each other honestly. No secrets."

The both said, "Yes, Master."

The girls came down later dressed au natural. This was the way Lauren wanted to be dressed in the house and I guess Tiffany had to fit in with us. The two were still holding hands so I figured they were supporting each other.

Another thing we did at this time was to give Lauren an orgasm or two. Looking at the two girls made me think that perhaps I would have a few myself.

Since Lauren had to be honest with me, I had found out that she liked girls sexually. She hadn't tried anything yet, but she had admitted that she would like to try.

"You two look very pretty together. Did your parents allow Tiffany to stay over?"

Lauren said, "Yes, Master. I think that they want Tiffany to act more like me now."

I said, "Let's go in the living room and talk." I sat on the couch and the girls knelt on the floor near each other.

"I want both of you to tell me the complete truth. This is important to all of us."

Again I got stereo, "Yes, Master."

"Lauren, what do you think of this situation?"

"It will give you some troubles, Master. Tiffany is still young."

I didn't know about how fast the conditioning could be put in place nor how well it would hold up. "What if she has to stay with us?"

With a serious face, she said, "That would be good for you. I'll be able to work and she will take care of you during the day."

"Tiffany has to go to school and mix with her friends just like before. She is not going to take your spot." This brought a small smile. I added, "I want you to phone your parents and say that Tiffany wants to visit over the weekend. Perhaps this way we can get Tiffany adjusted for Monday."

"Yes, Master."

I looked at Tiffany and said, "It will take a while before we can get you to act the way you did before. I want you to be able to function in the world without my commands. If this doesn't work then what do you see that you can do to help this family?"

"I can cook and clean. I will learn to do anything you want, Master."

"That's good for a start. Now I want the truth on another matter. What is your feelings about having sex with another girl?"

The two girls looked at each other until finally Tiffany said, "I have always liked other girls. We have done some things to each other. If you mean me having sex with my sister then I would like that if it pleases you."

"That's not good enough. What if I didn't care one way or the other? Would you enjoy having sex with your sister?"

"Yes, Master."

"Lauren, please tell us what you think of making love to your sister."

"I like that idea too, Master."

We went upstairs to our bed. I got the girls to lay across the bed with their waists at the edge of the mattress. I leaned over Lauren's mound and picked her legs up. She had learned to have orgasms on her own as well as those I ordered. She had a natural one first and then had three strong ones at my command.

Tiffany was very anxious for her own now. "When I suck on your clit and your sister pinches both of your nipples you will cum for us."

"Yes, Master."

Lauren must have recovered because in a minute Tiffany was having one orgasm after another. When I looked up I saw the two girls kissing and pinching each others nipples.

We stayed on the bed for only twenty minutes. The girls could take no more and I had managed to fill both of their wombs.

I made supper while the girls recovered. Lauren was given the command to try to get Tiffany to act natural around everybody but us. After the meal I continued on with this as both girls did the dishes. Tiffany had said that Lauren was too submissive and would give away anything if she were asked. I now had to own everything including their bodies. They were then given the option of giving away what I would allow. I hoped that this would keep us from getting into trouble.

That night and all weekend long, we worked on our bodies, our minds and on the effort to make two slave girls act like they had before. The three way sex I think worked to cement the lessons. Tiffany wanted to stay with us but since she was a slave, she did what she was told to do.

Monday morning Lauren drove Tiffany to school before she went to work.

That night Tiffany and Lauren talked on the phone about her problems. I figured that her parents would see her acting strangely but she was a teenager and this was expected.

Lauren and I ran Max around the farm for exercise and companionship. This happened a lot. One spot had some grass and trees. Lauren and I had a bet. She had to run her hardest to get to the spot before me. That night I came in second and saw Lauren on her back with her legs spread. This sort of wager made sure I won no matter how I did in the race.

On the way back to the house I had Lauren pretend that she was dominant. This was to reinforce her acting because I could see that it was just a subterfuge. She was acting better though.

We continued this play even after we got home. I played a cringing lackey and Lauren was able to make me do what she wanted as long as I acted very meek. She was improving.

Tiffany came over Wednesday for a visit then she would stay the weekend again. We talked about our problems and then had some good sex.

The months rolled by. I went back to work as a farmer and a businessman. My hobbies were studying magic and keeping one full time and one part time slave happy. Just after the start of the new year Tiffany found it necessary to move in with her sister. I was just the fairly rich boyfriend of the older girl and the transition worked though it was difficult on all of us.



-------

Chapter 3


On February the third of 2007, the three of us had gone to the library. Homework was done first then some studying. Tiffany was studying because I wanted her educated. Lauren was the same way but she was also pursuing some of the clues relating to our magical paraphernalia. Max was there because we all were.

The house had been searched for more hidden cashes of silver icons. The library was searched very thoroughly. We were after some books on the subject or some family documents that may shine a light on my obsession. The old furniture was inspected carefully to find more artifacts. Without the use of x-rays, I doubted we would find anything.

The vanity was moved up into the library to keep it nearby when we studied. So far the mirror had acted just like any other mirror we had ever seen. The reflection of the slave girl was just as true as the reflections of a book.

We had guests arriving soon but everything was already prepared. Tiffany had to appear normal because she had two of her friends coming for a sleep over. I already knew that all three did a lot more than sleep. It was a valid social interaction though, and I wanted it to continue.

Lauren said, "Master, can we try checking in the dark? There may be a dim glow."

"I checked that before but we can do it again, Honey." The girls seemed to get off on calling me Master while I called them Slave. It meant nothing to me now because I couldn't be a true master no matter how hard I tried.

It was dark outside but we still drew the blinds and the drapes. I walked over to the light switch with the slave girl in my hand. When I switched the light went off it was still not that dark. I made it back to the mirror and put out my fingers to find the object. Just as my fingers came close, the mirror began to give off some light. I hurriedly pulled my hand back and the light disappeared.

Tiffany asked, "What was that?"

"I have no idea. The light came from the mirror, not from a reflection."

Lauren said, "Please do it again, Master."

I put the icon in my other hand and moved forward to touch the frame but this time nothing happened. It only took me a half minute to think to try with the statuette. Sometimes I'm not that smart.

When my hand was close the second time, the light returned. By varying the distance I got more or less light. When my hand came too close, we all saw a blue spark leap between the mirror frame and the statuette. I felt no shock so I put the icon back. However, no further discharge was seen.

We worked with the two now with the light on and we could see a slight interference pattern in the mirror. It only occurred when the icon moved closer or further away. It also didn't seem to matter what part of the frame we approached with the icon.

The slave girl was put away and then we brought out the other articles found in the ashes of the carriage house. We got the light again but no spark. We all figured it was because none of the power had been drained from these objects yet.

On the other level of the curio cabinet were the silver figures I had found in the box in the floor. The first one was the ring made for a giant's hand. It was as good as any to start with.

The girls got close to the mirror and for a moment I smiled at their beauty and their youth. They saw me looking and I went back to work. The ring didn't do anything until it got very close, then the same spark appeared. This seemed to be a much heavier discharge. Again, I felt nothing. When I brought the ring back near the mirror, it glowed again as if it had originally been charged in the lightning storm.

Lauren and Tiffany tried the ring and it worked for them both. I was going to try another icon when the doorbell rang.

Tiffany said, "That must be Wendy and Linda. I wish they had come another night now. We were finally making some headway."

Lauren said, "You still have to answer the door, Honey."

Tiffany bent over and kissed her sister on the lips and got up. She looked at me as if she needed permission to go but I purposely ignored her. She soon made up her mind and hurried out of the room. Lauren and I followed.

Linda was a bit older than either Tiffany or Wendy and had her driver's license. She and Wendy had come over before and stayed on previous occasions. The three girls always left happy and sated.

The two newcomers greeted all three of us very politely. Last time we were given a kiss. I think it was at Tiffany's instigation. Now we were like an old European family and all of us hugged.

Lauren got the girls to go into the kitchen where she set out some of the food she and Tiffany had made for their guests.

I sat at the table with them and drank some coffee and nibbled on a pastry. Tiffany said, "Lauren and I made these today. My sister is always good to me."

Wendy said, "Mmm, they're good. I guess I should learn to cook but I'm such a klutz in the kitchen."

Lauren said, "I was the same way until about half a year ago. A young man I know showed me how little I knew and encouraged me to learn. That was the best thing that ever happened to me."

All of the girls looked at me. I said, "Don't look at me. I was just hungry and Lauren had to feed me without killing me. I must say she did a good job."

Linda was looking at us then and at what Tiffany had in her hand. When she saw the ring she laughed and pointed. When Wendy looked, she laughed too. The rest of us just wondered what they were laughing at. Linda whispered into Tiffany's ear and now Tiffany turned red.

I could get an answer from Tiffany and said simply, "What?"

Tiffany had to pause for a second then she said, "This looks like a ring a man puts around his cock so he can last a long time." Now all three girls turned red.

I thought for a moment and found that the idea was just as pertinent as any other and perhaps better. I said, "I found this when I was remodelling. I guess you girls could be right."

It was Lauren that said, "It may work if you stretch it a bit." The two newcomers now went very red and looked down. They must have heard from somebody, probably Tiffany, about me.

We talked a bit more and all the girls had a chance to finger the ring. Ten minutes later I said, "Well, I'm going to do a bit more research. Your room is the same as last time and Tiffany can show you the way if you forgot. Goodnight ladies."

Lauren grabbed the ring and we shut off the unused lights before going upstairs. We hurried to get in bed. Lauren said, "Are you really going to try that? It has to be magic."

"I guess I have to. All we get is a spark and a glowing surface." I took the ring. It would fit over most of my tool but not the last half. I was larger there. The ring was not even cool to the touch and slid down easily. I felt nothing other than a warm silver ring. I wiggled it further down and surprisingly it expanded to fit, growing thinner to compensate. It finally nestled as far back as it would go but it didn't contract to keep me from shooting.

Lauren looked closely at it and said with a gasp, "The ring was made in a spiral but now it's a solid. There is no ridge." She avoided the term Master when we had guests.

I felt around the ring and I found she was right. "Yeah, I wonder what it does. You want to try?"

Lauren turned over quickly and pulled her knees up to her breasts. She was already very well lubricated so I decided to forego foreplay this time. I climbed over her but had to stop to give her a kiss. She kissed me back with a lot of feeling.

"Please hurry up. I'm very excited now and need you more than usual."

"Maybe I should go back and suck on your clit instead."

"Don't you dare. I want you in me and I want it now."

This was like the old Lauren and I did as she said. I had not made even three complete strokes when Lauren started to go rigid. At the forth stroke, she screamed out my name and forced her pelvis up to meet me.

I just wiggled to rub her clit until she calmed down but it took quite a while this time. When I started again, Lauren only lasted three strokes before she screamed once more. Her orgasms were even stronger than the ones I commanded her to have. This had to be the work of the ring.

Lauren was almost in continuous orgasm now. She would relax just long enough to climb once more. I was even hornier then usual and my cock was like steel. When Lauren had her maximum, I knew I had to pull out. It hurt me to do it and I was surprised I was able to manage. Lauren clawed at me to keep me in place and she began to plead for just one more time. My own mind was still clouded with lust and I was barely able to function.

I bent over to hug Lauren and she grabbed me as if she were a wrestler. Her need must be very strong. I heard the door open. The three girls were there and dressed in sexy negligees.

They looked worried so I said, "Lauren isn't hurt. She just gets carried away sometimes."

I think it was Linda that said, "That many times? A woman can't handle that many orgasms and a man can't give that many."

It was Tiffany that said, "My, er, Hugh can, and I feel an urge to find out if he can do that to me."

Linda said, "Tiffany!"

Tiffany broke apart from the other two and hurried to the bed. She got beside her disturbed sister and pulled her legs up. Tiffany just looked into my eyes and whispered, "Please, I need it bad, really bad."

I was too horny to think right and did as she asked. She was just the same as her sister and started to cum continuously. Some of the orgasms I figured should have burnt out her mind and knocked her out but she stayed with us.

Before Tiffany reached her limit, I saw the two girls kissing each other and fingering each other's cunt. I just pulled out of Tiffany before she could complain and I grabbed Linda's hand. As soon as I touched her she hurried to the bed and lay across the foot. I was in her in moments and she screamed the same music the other two had sang.

After five minutes, I pulled Wendy over. I pushed her into a 69 position with Linda and I slipped into Wendy.

The night was a long one for me. I moved from girl to girl without letting them reach too many orgasms. It worked better this way.

Lauren was so sloppy now that I pushed into her ass. I went in easy and she didn't show any pain. The orgasms came here too and I soon moved to Tiffany the same way. I was more careful with Linda but surprisingly I fit in very easily. She didn't complain in the least.

Wendy was only a little worried about my size but she took me just as easy as the rest.

During all this I never had the all powerful urge to shoot and my cock stayed as hard as a sixteen year-olds. I needed some relief now and I guess I couldn't get it with the ring. I went to the en suite and washed up. The ring came off as easy as it went on but this time it didn't shrink to its original size. I washed the ring and put it in the drawer and hurried back to bed.

I had four depleted women. I chose Lauren and slid into her. She didn't cum continuously this time but she got one in few minutes as I released deep in her. Tiffany was still alive so I entered her the same way and the orgasm I got was natural and more satisfying to me.

I pushed my way into the middle of the bed and pulled Tiffany and Lauren on each side of me. In just a moment I was asleep. There was movement during the night to use the washroom. I know because Tiffany got up once and crawled back beside me.

Even with all the work I did last night, I was the first one up. Well, I was up in more than one way. When I saw all four girls I got harder.

I let Max out and then made a farmer's breakfast. I had actually finished frying all the kinds of meat when Lauren stumbled into the kitchen. She came to me and kissed me possessively which I loved. She whispered, "What did you do to me last night?"

"I think it was the ring. I couldn't shoot if I wanted. I was always eager to do more. I was as hard as iron. I calmed down after I took the ring off. I still had blue balls so I abused you one and Tiffany one more time."

"What about our guests?"

"I only had a few shots and I put them where they belonged."

"I love you, you know."

"I love you, too, but I noticed something odd. Do you think your conditioning is fading?"

She looked surprised and then said, "I think you're right. It's still there but not as strong. I think it was already fading before last night."

I held her face in both of my hands and said, "I love the woman you have become. I do not mean the part that acts a slave but the real you inside."

Lauren did some thinking and said, "I like the person I have become, too."

I fed Lauren her breakfast and in a moment Tiffany came down dressed as usual. When she saw us naked, she smiled at the other two girls and waved for them to enter the kitchen. They came in trying to be modest but in a few minutes dropped the pretext.

The girls ate and then began to talk. Lauren was acting her old self when she started to talk about me as if I was in another country. I just ignored them as they tried to get under my skin but I now wore the persona of an unflappable English butler.

The girls kept talking even when I had a chance to sit down. Max got two sausages and sympathized with me about my problems.

Tiffany suddenly got up and kissed me soundly then backed up. Wendy did the same thing, followed by Linda. It was Lauren that showed them how it was really done.

I looked at Lauren as if lost and she said, "We're going to have some girl talk."

"I thought you were doing that for the last half hour."

"That was a different kind of girl talk."

"Oh."

I cleaned up and went upstairs to dress. I found the ring and put it back in the cabinet in case I had the reason to try it again.

The laneway and the roads to the barn and other outbuilding was already ploughed of snow. I went into the barn and worked on a damaged cultivator. When spring rolled around, I needed to be ready.

I came into the house around one for a meal and found the girls still naked. They looked at me with a raised eye but otherwise ignored me. Tiffany was the one that was the most fidgety and that was probably because she had not thrown off as much of her conditioning as her sister.

I was a little cold and a bit dirty. Lauren came from the kitchen and said, "You better shower. The food will be ready to eat in ten minutes."

"Yes, my Sweet." I washed and came down dressed to suit what the company wore. Even with what I did last night, I had to restrain my reflexes.

We had a nice meal. The girls made sure that I had a good look at their breasts. Lauren even spilt some sauce on her breast and used her finger to catch the run then pop it into her mouth. The fact that the finger went over her nipple wasn't lost on anybody.

When the meal was over, I pulled Lauren to me while I sat and started to lick and suck her breast. She held me close and shook at the feelings I was given her. I abruptly pulled away.

When Lauren's eyes opened, they looked like they were smoking. She said, "Why did you do that?"

"You missed a spot."

In a few seconds she said, "It was my other breast." By then I was ready and sprang on her and picked her up as she squealed. I had my nipple now and I made sure it was very clean.

Instead of putting Lauren down, I simply carried her upstairs and put her in our recently made bed. Lauren was already well lubricated but I wanted a taste anyway. The moans and orgasms were made the hard way but that was fine by me.

When I came up for air, I found Wendy sitting on Lauren's face while Tiffany and Linda were in a 69 position. I pulled Wendy's face down to Lauren's mons and let her feed.

Linda's hair got sticky because I pushed my way into Tiffany. I was long enough to not bother her too much. This did help Tiffany get off, followed by did Linda.

When the two were done, I slowly slipped into Linda and found her very tight. I didn't go too deep and she came to a satisfactory orgasm a bit later.

I did the same thing to Lauren but had to move Wendy so I could enter her. She was the tightest of all and I wondered how I had fit in last night. I took more of my time and continued until she had her own orgasm.

Lauren was watching all this with a smile. When Wendy succumbed, Lauren put her to one side of the bed and then got me to lay on my back. I was no sooner on my back when Laurens vagina gobbled me up. Wendy had recovered and Lauren had her sit on my face.

The pressure was building so much that I had to fill Lauren. It seemed that Wendy felt the effects because she shook, too.

Tiffany took her sister's place. It took a bit of coaxing before Linda sat on my tongue.

Lauren and Tiffany got it twice. I might have given the other girls a chance but I didn't know if they were protected. Last night I had not shot off until late but it was still possible I could be a daddy if the magic didn't prevent it. For all I knew the magic may even promote it.

When we were all bushed or drained, we helped each other to the shower to get cleaned up. Even the usual groping was only half-hearted and didn't lead to anything.

That night the girls went upstairs to do what they wanted but I doubted if it would be anything like sex. I looked at Lauren with longing but knew I couldn't do anything.

Lauren and I sat on the couch in the living room and held each other. She said, "You made quite an impression on both of those girls."

"I think it was more the ring than me."

"If you thought that, then you'd be wrong. The ring gave you Wendy's virginity and then you took her anal one, too. Linda never had many boyfriends but you were the first one to take her butt. Neither of the girls regret what you took. They were only amazed at how their small openings accepted you without pain or ripping, that is besides one maidenhead."

After she snuggled a bit closer, she added, "They weren't afraid of you. They know something very odd happened but they don't seem to be fixated on it. Perhaps that is part of what the ring provides. What they really liked, is the way you accepted them and their lifestyle. When you showed the girls how to really eat pussy they simply loved you. I think that if you asked, they would move in with us in a flash."

I kissed Lauren and said, "I have two girls and that's enough for me. If Tiffany has broken her conditioning, then it's possible that I'll have no girls."

Lauren turned with a lot of force and said, "How can you say that? We have given you everything."

"When the silver slave touched you, you were in the process of leaving. It changed you, not me. I got you to change a bit more later but you tell me your conditioning is fading. When it fades completely away, you may go back to the way you were before."

Lauren thought for a moment and said, "I like where I am and I think the old Lauren would like me to stay here too. If worse comes to worse I'll do what Tiffany did before I revert all the way."

I was shocked at this and my mouth must have been open. Lauren used a finger to close my lips then she moved to kiss them.

The girls stayed over another night. I was involved with one more orgy, then I threw Lauren to the wolves and I went into town to buy groceries. An even number of girls I think is best.

-------

In the coming month, we charged up the girl with the outstretched hands. I was not sure about the animals so I left them in their current state. The small spheres were looked at. I charged one of them but nothing happened.

My girls were now here because of their own volition. The conditioning was nearly gone from Lauren and Tiffany. They were more difficult to get along with, especially when that time of the month came around. I was still happy that they were free even if it made me watch my step.

Lauren quit her job and started working at the store with Mom and Dad. They needed the help and were happy to have her. Tiffany would have a summer job but she still had to go to school. Her grades had been mediocre but now were excellent. Her parents were happy with the way she was growing and I think they knew that somehow I was the one providing for both of their daughters sexual needs.

Wendy and Linda came over a lot but I tried to stay out of the way. I didn't want them fixating on me and I didn't want to have another time with the ring. Other girls came over too, and the group was given a very nice room in the basement. It was heated and cooled, had a large hot tub, wall to wall carpet and thick underpad, and a very large bed. With thick insulation they could listen to their music or make some of their own.

Near the end of March, Tiffany ran to me and kissed me much harder than usual. Something was up besides me. The girls wanted their orgasms and I wanted them myself.

When she pulled back, she breathlessly said, "You have to come and see what we found."

"Where?"

"In the Library!"

This was interesting. The library meant the magic, not the books. When I followed the two girls into the room, I saw a wood chair in front of the mirror. Both girls smiled but didn't offer me any hints. I did take the one hint and climbed the chair to looked down at the frame. There was nothing there.

I looked at the girls and knew that I had to have missed something. I went back to my investigation. It took a few minutes for me to find some small holes in the periphery of the frame that I had seen before. Once I found one, I looked for the others. There were fourteen of them in different patterns around the frame. This was not new to us. I didn't know what to make of them or why the girls wanted me to see them. This was the only different details at the top of the mirror.

"I see the holes. They were there before when we examined the frame. What's special about them?"

Lauren said, "Tiffany remembered the holes and then she recalled the pins in the feet of the begging girl."

The light went on in my head. Lauren brought her hand out and it held the figurine in it. I asked, "Did you try it yet?"

Lauren paused for a moment then said seriously, "This is family business. We all need to be here."

I didn't catch on at first but I eventually did. I wasn't sure of her assumptions or perhaps it was her desire but this didn't seem wrong either. I just nodded my head and Lauren ceremoniously placed the figure in my palm. I nodded again then turned to find the holes that were at the right spacing for the pins. The set I found were at the very top.

The pair of pins didn't fit in so I checked again to find if any other set of holes. When I found that none were close, I spread the silver legs just a bit and they fit into the holes just fine.

As soon as the figure was seated, the mirror became a source of light. I quickly got down to look at the mirror. It gave off enough light to equal a forty five watt bulb.

Tiffany came beside me but Lauren seemed to hang back as if not trusting what was going to happen. Max had followed us into the room and he was now bent over licking his balls.

I didn't know what to think. I could see my image still but it was harder to see because of the light.

Lauren soon got on the other side of me and put her hand on my shoulder. "What do you think is happening?"

"I have no idea, but whatever it is, we are getting closer to understanding it."

Tiffany said, "This must use a lot of power. What if the batteries go dead?"

I said, "I guess we take this out into a field before a storm then recover it after."

"Sounds right."

It was an hour later that I somehow thought of the Emmy Awards. I hurried to the cabinet and chose the closest sphere. I reached up and placed the sphere in the hands of the silver girl. Her thumbs stuck out to cradle what she now carried but not well.

I saw a change in the mirror. The light disappeared and the mirror turned black. The sphere kept slipping though.

It looked like the sphere belonged here. I pinched the metal arms together with my fingers and it bent a little. I put the sphere back in and it stayed.

I backed up to see this from a distance but I could not make anything of it. Lauren said, "Let's turn out the lights." She didn't wait to get an answer and went to the switch and turned it off. There was still too much light coming in the windows and we worked to get the room as dark as possible.

Tiffany took a flashlight to see where we were going but instead of turning it off, she aimed it into the mirror. Lauren inhaled quickly and I might have too because we saw a stone floor in a very large room that was without lights.

"What is it, Hugh?"

It took a while but I said, "I don't know."

We asked each other questions that we couldn't answer. I got a strong flashlight rated at a million candlepower and shone the light across the stone floor to the walls that were now before us.

Soon, we had our cameras going and even the binoculars I used when hunting. We could see at least sixteen silver rectangles but they were not like what we had. Some were many times larger and all rectangular or square.

One of the first things we did was poke the mirror to see if it was still there. I was not anxious to go into this place because I was not sure I could get back. I didn't have to worry though because there was still a barrier in place.

We stored the pictures we made and I had to reference them to the particular sphere that we used. Why? I had no idea. I was all for going to the next sphere but we hadn't studied the first well enough. We tried experiments now. It didn't matter how the sphere was placed in the icon's hands for the corridor to appear. The icon could be taken out and then faced backwards and the corridor still appeared. It was late when we got to bed and it was hard to get to sleep. Sex helped us relax for a while but it wasn't enough.

The next day each of us went to our duties but we would be home as soon as we could.

We got home and started a more organized research. Lauren took pictures with the camera. The telephoto lense worked to show the rectangles in the distance. The pictures did not change when we tried different times of the day. The scenes never changed between light and dark either.

We used my light meter to see what the light intensity was and if we could compare it to our daylight. We got a video camera and set in front of the mirror to record any changes or events. This showed us a big fat nothing.

Studying the nine globes or rather eight of them took a month and a half. The ones with something to see got the most study. We worked slowly and all of us were very methodical. We used every tool we could think of to help. A laser device designed to show distances helped but we were not sure if the barrier in front of us effected the result.

All nine spheres were put in place and each produced a different view. Two more large rooms were like the first but a third new one showed light coming directly into the room at the end. At another time there was no light. The previous 'globe' had a day that lasted only seventeen and a half hours so we knew that either time was effected or this was another world.

A fifth world was a wall of rock as if the tunnel had collapsed.

The sixth didn't work at all. We had to assume that the link to whatever world this had been disrupted.

The seventh was difficult to understand but we figured that it was actually underwater and algae was covering everything. We thought we could see some lighter periods but we needed equipment to be sure.

I made a frame with dark curtains then mounted a light meter to see that this one was about equal to what we had on Earth. Lauren was very proud of this because she came up with the idea.

Globe number eight was a view of a jungle but there were too many vines in front of the mirror to see well. This world had a twenty seven and a third hour day.

The last globe looked out over a beautiful ocean. We could see very little of the land. The day was longer, twenty six and a half hours. There were some leaves to see and their colour and pattern didn't match anything we were familiar with or could find on the net. We were lucky enough to catch a long undulating creature in the water with the video camera. It reminded me of the sea serpents that were drawn in the blank spaces of old nautical charts.

Despite my strong compulsion to learn, we were all still busy with the farm. I had set my mind long ago to not let my quest for magic overcome my duties to family and the families of those that worked for me.

We still had our social duties as well, and it was nice to just go out to a restaurant once in a while. The guys and their girlfriends went with us and everybody could see that Tiffany was not just the sister of my girlfriend.

Frankie and his girlfriend, Dana, were going to make it official soon and we had to prepare for a marriage. The girls all gathered together in a form of solidarity and I guess the guys did too.

Our research on the mirror had not gone far but we enjoyed the view of the ocean. We usually did our research with this view being shown. Even when it was night, wherever it was, it was still beautiful. There was more light than on Earth because the planet had at least two moons.

I was holding the silver snake while comparing the measurements of the first three tunnels when Max jumped up and charged the mirror. There was an odd looking ape hanging from the vegetation that was in front of our view. The ape didn't look that dangerous but he saw Max and fled quickly. I was on my feet in an instant. Max hit the mirror solidly. He knocked it over. I grabbed the frame to steady it when a gust of cold sea air hit me in the face. The snake that I never wanted to charge had touched the frame.

The girls were on their feet too and I was proud that they had not screamed. Max though lunged forward again and jumped right through the mirror.

I didn't hear Max fall but I heard thrashing in the brush. I had grown to love the dog and shifted forward so I could see where he had gone. My hand stayed on the frame but I was able to see over the edge now. The ground was only a few metres down then it went out about four metres and dropped further to eventually reach the water.

"Hugh, get back here," said Lauren.

I recognised the value of that advice and I pulled myself back in. When I got back I saw the world in front of me in an entirely different perspective. We all seemed to use all our senses to analyse what was before us. Sometime later we heard a barking so I figured Max was alright.

"Tiffany, go get the bigger stepladder. Lauren go to the hiding place and bring me my pistol and harness."

Tiffany hurried away but Lauren said, "What are you going to do?"

"The ground is just below what we can see. I want to get Max."

"What if you get stuck there?"

"I just went part way through and came back. Now get the gun."

Lauren hurried a few metres away and opened the hiding place in the floor. She came back with Uncle Ryan's gun. He was a soldier and 'found' the gun somewhere. When I was sixteen he had taught me what he had learned about fighting with his hands and with the pistol. He already knew that I took karate and high school wrestling.

We hunted together and he taught me what he knew though it was all I could probably learn at the time. Over the years we had talked and he had shown me more but it all dealt with small unit tactics. Somehow this worked well with our hunting.

Lauren brought the gun. I said, "Hold the snake against the frame for me while I put the harness on."

Lauren moved quickly until I could use both hands. Tiffany was hurrying with a fibreglass ladder that was eight feet long. I took this from her and turned it around and after turning it on its side took one end. Tiffany held the top. I put my hand over Lauren's then slipped the ladder through the opening until I had it all through. The top of the ladder and the step below it was above the bottom portion of the mirror.

With my hand still on Lauren's for balance, I passed completely through where the mirror, carefully putting my weight on the ladder. The ladder was wobbly so I wiggled it a little to settle the feet, then climbed down to the ground. I set the ladder better and then went back up. With a smile I said, "One small stepladder for mankind."

"You be careful, Hugh. I'm telling you the truth when I say if you don't come back, I'm going in there to get you."

This was a serious threat and my smile disappeared. "I'll be careful."

Tiffany said, "I'm going too, so both of you will be safe."

"I'll be careful. If the monkey comes back just remove the snake. You can put it back once in a while until you see this monkey waiting to get in."

The girls just nodded. I got to the ground again and before I took even one step I said, "The gravity here is a bit more than what we have."

The air smelt different but it wasn't bad. The water was probably an ocean because I could smell salt but it wasn't the same as the oceans on Earth. It was cold but still above freezing. We had just gone through winter so the temperature didn't bother me much.

The edge drew me and I looked down and saw another wide expanse not far below as if a road had been made parallel to the shore. There was a lot of loose rock but most of it looked quite solid.

Turning back to my job, I followed Max's prints for a while. Uncle Ryan was a good teacher and had been patient but he had also been demanding. Since I wanted to learn I always tried hard. I listened intently to any sounds.

I climbed to the top of the cliff easily. It was as if a road had led to this side of the mirror. The land looked good from a farmer's aspect. There was no sign of civilisation.

The trees were oddly shaped and most but not all had red leaves. They weren't bright red, but definitely had a red cast to them. The leaves and branches were oddly shaped by our standards. The leaves were hexagon shaped, with the stems all the same length so the leaves fit together very closely. This would be very efficient at getting sunshine. It looked like seven stems were normal with one leaf in the middle and the other six around it. The other plants I saw were mostly as strange. Still, it was the colour that made the difference. If it wasn't so red, you might not notice the difference just from a quick glance. I wasn't seeing any seeds or fruit so it must be the wrong season for this.

I finally heard Max barking, and ran towards the sound. My running with my 'family' had helped me a lot. I loved to lose the race to the two girls but they liked me to win once in a while too.

Max saw me as I came into a clearing. He had his paws up on a tree as if trying to climb it. In the branches above, I could see three ape like creatures sitting high in the branches. Like the trees and other plants, the apes were different from the chimpanzees I saw in the zoo. They had short fur, coloured to match the leaves. Their legs seemed to be a little longer and the body a little thinner than a chimp. Their face was also a little flatter than an Earth chimp. An Earth biologist would probably be at a loss as to where to start if he had the chance to study the life on this planet.

Max was not a hunting dog because I had not had time to teach him. I was able to pull him away and finally make him follow me. He stopped a lot and looked around for threats or perhaps something else to chase.

On the way back, I picked up stones, plants or anything I thought was interesting. I found the road easy enough and followed it back to our portal. Lauren and Tiffany were there with winter coats on.

"What did you find?" asked Tiffany.

"Is Max OK?" asked Lauren. "You didn't have any trouble, did you?"

"No trouble. Max treed three of the ape creatures." I helped the dog up climb the ladder. Lauren reached out and pulled him into the house. I followed up the ladder. When I got back into the house, I showed the girls what I had grabbed. Lauren and Tiffany took what I offered and put them on the table. When my pockets were empty we all looked the plants over. There was a flower that had a bloom with six sides. Everything in the bloom was white, so white it looked like an albino. I had also picked up some grass that looked surprisingly normal and a small twig with needles on it that made it look like a bottle brush. I had also picked up some dirt, but short of a chemical analysis I didn't know what I would do with it.

I kissed both of my women. It felt good to be home agin even though I wasn't gone very long.

I said, "I want to go back and take a few pictures."

The girls looked unsure of this. I went back out and looked around some more and took photos of almost everything I could see.

In a dangerous act I took the snake and while touching the frame, stepped through the portal. Without looking at my family I removed the snake but nothing looked different. The barrier was back in place. When I put the snake back, Lauren said, "Don't you do that again. You could have been trapped."

I knew she was right and I was ashamed that I had let my exuberance overcome my common sense. I knew I could go out with the snake and close the portal then open the portal and enter the house. It all seemed to depended on the key touching the frame.

It was getting dark in Ontario but not in world number nine. The girls were excited and apprehensive about our discovery and so was I. There was nothing that I could see that was dangerous now that I knew how to get back.

"Would you girls like to go to a new world with me for a few hours?"

The girls were incredulous. Tiffany recovered first and said, "Sure. We need warm clothes and I want to bring my camera too."

We both looked at Lauren until she said, "I guess, but we have to plan this first but it should only be for a few hours. Let's take as many precautions as we can."

A list was made but I was the one with almost all of the experience. The girls only had boots suitable for a walk in the woods. I wanted them to wear heavy boots but they had previously complained that they were too ugly.

We planned on a few hours but I made a list for a few days just in case. To make the girls happy I put toilet paper and a trowel at the top of the list.

My gun safe had a fair assortment of weapons. Not all were modern but they were still good guns. The girls were not going to get off scot-free and they would have to carry a rifle and ammunition. There was a semi-automatic 22 that would hold twelve rounds and a box of fifty long rifle shells was not that heavy. There was a 22 inch twelve gauge and I knew I had some now illegal double aught shells left. I got my deer rifle.

The girls got their gear but the colours were picked to attract attention. This was not what we wanted but it would have to do.

There were a lot of decisions to make. A two hour trip would not require food or the equipment to prepare it. It was when Lauren brought my old pack that I decided to plan for an expedition. We were all in shape so there should be no difficulty.

When we were packed, I leashed Max and got him through the portal. He was tied to a root so he couldn't leave. The packs were tossed to me and I put them on the ground then took the rifles.

Lauren asked, "What are we going to do now?" I had no idea so I said nothing.

Lauren was the last through the portal and she slid the snake around the frame until she could grasp it from our side. The frame reverted to the simple rock behind a frame. There was no mirror on this side but the silver was visible. The only ones that might see anything were those in ships. I was going to use an old tarp to hide the frame but decided not to since the frame must have been where it was for at least my lifetime and probably my parents as well.

When we were ready to go, I checked the packs and showed the girls how to carry the weapons.

Lauren asked, "Where are we going first?"

I took out a compass and saw that was aimed directly at or away from the portal. The needle did not wander at all so the attraction was strong. "Let's go to your right and climb the cliff. You take the lead. I want Tiffany to follow about fifteen metres behind. I'll be fifteen metres behind her."

Tiffany asked, "Why can't we walk together?"

"My Uncle Ryan told me a few things about being on a patrol. I know only a little bit about that sort of stuff but I want us to be safe. Walking at the back is the most dangerous and I am going to have to be the most alert. You guys simply observe the ground in front, both sides of you and in the trees. Remember there are a lot of large apes and we don't know what they're like. And last of all don't shoot anything unless it really looks like it's attacking us."

The girls took a picture of our portal and then me beside it with my rifle held in my arms. There were some paths that could have been made by Humans but could have been done by animals, including the apes.

When we were a few kilometres from the portal I found that the compass was pointing in an entirely new direction. On the way back I would have to see just where this effect started. It may be an easy way to find a portal.

The trees were very large here and the undergrowth had not got a chance to grow. There were animal tracks all over as well as what must be the ape prints.

Max now led but he stayed close. He flushed small game and he chased it like a pup. There were small, furry animals that didn't seem all that strange, but you wouldn't find anything exactly like them on Earth. Mostly, it was just the proportions. The ears or feet were a different size. On some the eyes were not quite in the right place. We didn't get good looks at them as Max chased them off pretty fast, but we did get some impressions.

I had a few packs of baggies and I collected more samples of plant life. The original plant was photographed and the baggies labelled. Some of the plants were similar to what was on Earth but nothing was exact. We found one vine that had fruit that resembled cherries.

When we had gone for a little over an hour, I called the girls back. They were both alert and I guess happy. "What do you girls want to do? We can go home and be back in the time I specified."

Tiffany said, "What else can we do? It will be light for about six more hours. You made us bring the tent and the inflatable mattresses so I guess you wanted that covered too."

I looked at Lauren and she said, "If you're waiting for my vote, I think we should push on. There's nothing to do tomorrow or even the next day. We have lots of food. We have enough weapons to stand off an army and besides, I think I like 'The Planet of the Apes'."

Tiffany said, "What!"

"I called this place, 'The Planet of the Apes'. It may not be accurate and not good for others to hear but just among us it sounds kinda' cool."

I said, "The planet in the movie got destroyed. I don't want anybody else hearing that name. I figure people have to be here because of the portal. My relatives must have come here and if they did they may have set up housekeeping. If Humans can flourish here then we are bound to see some sooner or later."

We walked on until it was dusk. We were all tired from jet lag or more correctly portal lag. There was a small valley that looked like it would be good to set up camp when I smelt smoke.

I looked at both girls until they got the idea and Tiffany said, "Smoke!"

I said, "Lauren, take point but don't go walking out into a clearing. We stop and look."

She simply said, "Yes, Sir," and I knew she wasn't joking.

It was about fifteen minutes later that we found some cleared fields and a solitary house. The place sure looked rustic since it was made with whole or split logs. I signalled the girls to come back.

"Nobody likes visitors at night. Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow morning we go and see the neighbours."

We walked back down the trail and we set up the tent in a depression a ways off the path. It would be hard to see unless someone stumbled upon us. We were all hungry so I set up two small stoves to boil water. One was for tea and the other to heat our foil pouches of food. I had brought some regular dog food for Max. He was happy with it. The girls had taken a piss outside before and it was no different now. As usual, they peed in full sight of me so I would see them. Maybe we wouldn't go to sleep right away.

We set no watches, figuring Max would warn us if anything got too close. I tied Max up so he couldn't chase anything and get lost during the night. After we cleaned up, we went to bed. I was very sleepy but two naked girls kept one part of me awake. Tired or no, I filled both of them twice and they pleased each other as well.

There was no alarm clock but Lauren's cell phone did the trick. We slept ten hours but I still felt stiff. We stepped out of the tent and watered the daisies. I boiled local water from a small stream then finished up the morning ablutions. I was happy with the toilet paper too because the leaves looked rough. We exercised because I said it would get the kinks out of our bodies. One kink did now want to leave until we got packed and back on the trail.

I untied Max, but kept him on a leash. We walked back to the edge of this old growth forest and looked at the house. Things had changed because there were four horses there that had not been there yesterday.

Lauren said, "What are we going to do now?"

"We're well armed. Nobody is going to go against your shotgun, especially with the double aught. If they like your cute bottom and won't take no for an answer then shoot over their head."

"What if that doesn't work?"

"Shoot a lot lower. You have the best weapon for close range. I doubt if anybody is going to get pushy. There are three of us and only one small house."

I took Max back a ways to keep him out of trouble and prevent him from making any noise that may give us away. I tied him to a tree and left him some food. Dogs may be uncommon or possibly frightening. It would not take long to get him if we had no problems.

We walked out of the forest and down to a dirt track that went to our left. We followed that for half of a kilometre then turned right. When the house was only a hundred metres off I saw that we may be in trouble. There was a windbreak near the house. On the other side of it was three large tents.

We could not go back with any safety. I stopped the girls and pointed to the tents. "This looks like a patrol. There are three, six man tents for the foot soldiers and there may be four officers. That is twenty two people plus however many are in the shack. We may have to fight. They can't take any of us in."

Tiffany said, "Are we going to kill people?"

"Only if necessary. Lauren, give me your gun and ammunition. You take mine. Take your safety off when you get it."

We traded weapons. The deer rifle had a seven round clip and one in the barrel. The shotgun had one in the barrel and two in the clip. Canadian hunting laws said we didn't need more. Tiffany had twelve rounds plus another eleven rounds in a chip.

We didn't make it to the house before the door was yanked open. A partially dressed man came out with a calvary sabre in his hand. He yelled orders in a language none of us heard before.

A soldier came from the trees carrying an antique rifle that must have been hundreds of years old by our standards. It was almost as tall as him and probably as heavy. The man swung up the rifle and fired. My pack was yanked to one side as if a man behind me had grabbed it and pulled. I was spun around and lost my footing. I fell to the ground but managed to still stay aimed in the direction of threats.

I put the shotgun to my shoulder and aimed for the first time at a man. I didn't hear the retort but I saw the man flung back with the double aught. Another soldier was coming from the house with a smaller gun and began to aim it at me. I used the shotgun again but this time I aimed better. The one with the sword charged at me and I let him have it in the face.

"Run to the house!" I called. We may have something solid at our backs then. Another soldier came from the area of the tents and I had to draw the 45 and use it. "I have to reload."

Lauren and Tiffany were more frightened than I had ever seen before. I loaded three rounds and then heard both of the girls shooting. I holstered the 45 and rushed into the house. I found one man waiting behind the partially open door. I just fired through the door and continued into the house. There were only some naked and bleeding women and children huddled in the corner.

There was no windows in the house so I ran back out and around the house from the other side. I immediately had to use the shotgun, firing twice, then drew the 45. I went through the full clip then slammed a new clip into the gun and continued.

Tiffany came behind me and was using the 22 but more times than not she missed. It kept the opposition away long enough for me to load the two clips and start around the house again.

"Tiffany, take the shotgun and ammunition and use that."

The girl did as I asked though she had trouble loading the gun. Lauren was firing steady and I hope she was hitting something. I ran back after Tiffany to support Lauren. She was just aiming the gun now and not shooting. I ran around the trees so I would not be in her sights and found only one guy waiting behind a log. I shot him in the head.

Lauren was ordered to guard our tail while Tiffany came to me with her shotgun. The two of us went through the tents but found nobody but four wounded men. They had holes in their chests so I figured they were not going to last very long.

I dragged the dying men out and to one side then went into the house to get the women and children out. They didn't want to come but I didn't want them to be behind me when there were weapons available.

Lauren and Tiffany were in shock and I guess I was as well. I had been running around with my pack on and so had the girls. I put all the dead together and then secured all of their weapons.

During all this time after the fight, the girls had not moved and I was doing foolish make-work projects. The family were huddled in the front of the house now and I took the rifle from Lauren first and put the safety on. Next I took Tiffany's. I loaded both rifles and then held them as I got the girls to follow me. They did after a while but they looked utterly lost.

I set the guns down then took off my pack. A slug had come very close to my head. The girls' packs were next. I worked slowly to find food in the packs and put it in the girls' hands. Lauren just looked at it as I got her to sit on one side of the women and I got Tiffany to sit on the other side.

I soon found what the soldiers were eating and brought the heavy iron pot to the family and went to find some bread or whatever seemed to be the equivalent. The girls were left to deal with the family while I did the easy part.

The huddled people were cold and I took blankets from the tents and took them back to the girls. They didn't move so I had to put blankets around them and it hurt to see that they flinched so much from my touch. In the course of moving the girls I saw that some had blood at their crotches. From their age, I knew it wasn't menstrual.

We had killed twenty one people today. Granted, they had tried to kill us first, but I had never even come close to killing before. I was used to hunting and even butchering animals but never men. The girls had never even seen animals killed.

I got back to the group and found all of them crying until I came near. I handed out metal plates and metal spoons to Lauren and I said, "Scoop some food out of the pot and pass the plate out."

"Hugh, we killed people! I killed people!"

"That first bullet could have gone right through you, then me, then Tiffany. They were soldiers and it appears they were not the local militia. Try to help the women and children. I'm pretty sure that a few were raped. The officers were not in the house to rest."

"Rape?"

"Look at the women but I think it's the girl that looks about seven that looks the worse."

"They would not rape her."

I snapped. I reached out and grabbed the girl. Her blanket went flying. She was simply pulled to me and I flipped her onto her back. I folded her in my lap and spread her legs wide. Everybody was screaming at me, and I was shouting back. Finally Lauren looked at the girl's mons and saw the blood some was still oozing out.

Lauren glared at me and then came to the girl. I released her into Lauren's arms. The two held each other tightly and I guess the girl's mother or sister held all three. I picked up the blanket and wrapped it around both of them. In a moment all the girls were in a group hug with Lauren near the middle.

I went into the house with the flashlight and looked around. It was very sparse. There was one table with short legs so I guess the people sat on the ground. The floor was dirt and there didn't look to be any food around. The children and the women were all naked. They may have all been raped.

The soldiers had some bags and I looked in them. There was some clothes, a few weapons, and some coins, but the last one had some maps.

I studied the charts but could not find a direction to point it at. There were some characters but they were all strange to me. There was something that looked like a major river but the map may not even be of this area.

Lauren had recovered a bit and was feeding the girl that had been raped. I stripped the officers looking for information. There were lots of edged weapons and some nice looking rifles but I didn't even know what kind they were. The pistols had what looked like a little wheel that turned when the trigger was pulled. I didn't pull it all the way.

The soldiers had cut down some of the smaller trees for their own purposes. They had food in their tents and I brought all of this out along with all of their belongings.

I sat on the ground and wondered how a short trip in a new world could turn out so bad. The girls and I had been forced to kill all of these men to save ourselves and possibly the lives of the girls and woman in the hut. Even if we left now, some army would come by and kill the family for being here. This looked like a barbaric time and people acted the same way.

The group these men were with would torture first and then rape. They would want information on us and where we came from. An inexperienced tracker could follow our tracks back to the portal. We had no reason to hide them.

I don't know how long I sat there thinking but I was startled by a touch. I looked up to see Tiffany. "Hi Tiff. Have you thought of a way out of this mess?"

"Mess, you mean the killing?"

"Not just that. The army that these soldiers were part of will come around sometime or maybe the army that they are fighting. Then again I heard that both sides are usually made up of lots of private armies looking for loot."

"They won't come yet, will they?"

"They will come sooner and later. When the men don't return, somebody will search for them and find their bodies. They will torture and kill this family to get information about who did it. We left lots of tracks leading back to our portal."

"They can't get in."

"True, but this family dies and maybe their neighbours too."

"What neighbours?"

"Seven girls cannot be the only people living around here. There has to be more."

"Can we bury the bodies?"

"I looked for tools. A shovel here has a wood blade and it would be hard as hell to dig one big grave. I found some maps. They have rivers on them but I don't know where they are. Maybe we can drag the bodies to the river and dump them."

"Well, let's do that."

"I have no idea where a river is. Why don't you take the maps to the older girls. Maybe they can show you where we are on them. Do you think you can get my ideas across? You may find that they know nothing of maps."

I heard Tiffany talk to Lauren and the two of them did a pantomime about dumping the bodies. Soon they had to get some water to show them what we were talking about.

It was a long time before the family started to cooperate. They did their own actions and their gestures were nothing we could understand.

Tiffany came over to me later and said, "There's a river in that direction." She pointed what my compass said was south east. "There is also an old well we could throw those guys in that is a lot closer."

"Where is it?"

"The same direction."

That was roughly the direction we had come but more south and this reminded me of Max. "Can you ride a horse?" I asked.

"Sure. Lauren can too because we both took lessons."

"We need somebody to find the well and it has to be one of those girls. Any idea how to do that?"

"No."

"People here are very poor. They're not squeamish, either. Get them to strip the other bodies. You and Lauren are going to find that well and you're going to take two of the girls with you."

"What if they can't ride?"

"Then give them a quick course."

"What are you going to do?"

"Stay with the deer rifle and see if I can protect those that are left if we have visitors."

"You are going to kill some more?"

"Only if I have to. Now you two better get going. If I go near them they're going to be afraid. You have to be firm with them. Slap faces if you have to. This is for our lives and theirs."

Tiffany talked to Lauren and they checked the horses. They got onto the horses then off again. My two girls started to argue with an older girl and finally slapped her silly until she got on the horse. She was petrified of the animal. The two took off at a quick pace while they pulled the helpless girl behind them.

I went and got Max. When I brought him over, the girls from the hut didn't know what to make of him. They just stood there, frozen to the spot. It was clear they didn't want him anywhere near them because he was jumping up and down, excited at meeting new people. I had Max lie down and petted him. Then I had him sit, stand, shake hands, and get up on his hind feet. I grabbed his mouth and showed the girls that he wasn't vicious. They didn't seem convinced, but seemed less afraid. It took the youngest girl to finally convince the others that Max was safe. She walked over to him and he immediately licked her face. She petted him as she had seen me do and Max nuzzled her, happy with the attention. This put the other girls at ease and they went back to what they were doing but still kept an eye on him.

With the girls getting used to Max, I tied him up again. I didn't want to take any chances of him running off. I wanted to leave as soon as we could and I might not have any time to find him.

I stood and pointed at a dead foot soldier and then at an older girl. I had to yell but she eventually came. I stood on the other side of the body and started to remove the uniform. The girl had to be slapped to get to work but she did as I demanded. I pointed at two more and then at the bodies we had stripped. They understood well enough and went to work.

The rest of the girls were quite young and I just went and had some of what the soldiers were eating for breakfast. It was only after I finished that I thought that the food of this world may not be good for me.

The remaining girls were given jobs. Some were to gather wood or water. The rest went into the house and carried out the table that I could have carried. The younger girls were ordered to follow me. I went into the tents and gathered the last of the food and used the girls as my hands. I had them carry it into the hut to make a stew. I stood away from them and used my hands to gesture. They seemed to learn quickly and were now using my gestures with their own.



-------

Chapter 4


The older girls had done their job and I walked around to see what they had done. All of the property was lying besides the bodies. I picked up a pouch and searched it. There were twenty gold coins, three silver and a small copper coin. These soldiers were rich.

As I checked things over, I found there was a problem. There was equipment and bedding for 22 soldiers. We had only killed 21. One must have gotten away or not been in the camp at the time. I saw no sign of him during or after the action. He must have been smart enough to hightail in out as soon as the shooting started or shortly afterwards. Maybe he saw the first three soldiers killed and was able to recognize that we had different and dangerous weapons.

He would be telling someone. He might wait until he got back to his camp or base. He might just run to the nearest town or village and bring back a mob. We had to move fast.

I gathered all the coins and put them on the table then called the three older girls over. They had to be ordered to sit side by side. I pushed a gold coin toward each of the girls and their eyes lit up. I did another and then another. I caught one looking at the small copper coin the most and I thought of an idea.

I pulled some coins from my pocket. There were a few toonies and a loonie. Among the small change were seven pennies. All the girls looked at the pennies now. I put my finger on a penny and moved one in front of each girls. They were much happier with copper than gold. It could be that they only knew of copper coins.

I gave each of the girls a sack and they happily put their pay into their new purse.

There was some rope around and I used it and the horse to drag the now naked bodies away from the house. It was difficult to get the girls to wash after handling the bodies before they would eat, but their fear now helped me. The girls ate but I was still near them.

When people live a harsh life, they age quicker than the people I knew. I had to make some assumptions and guessed the ages of those present. The youngest was around four. The next two were easy at around six and eight. The next two were nervous that I was looking at them. I figures they were about twelve and ten. The oldest one here looked about eighteen. At a guess, I figured the one that left, had to be around twenty. I had mentioned mother when I talked but it was possible that none of them were the mother. She might be away or even dead. Then again, girls got married at a young age when people on Earth had the same sort of situation. Samuel de Champlain remarried after coming to North America and did so to a twelve-year-old.

They finished their meal and I had the dishes cleaned by them. The oldest one was ordered to mount the last horse with a lot of shouting. We went back to being petrified. I walked the horse around the front of the house about ten times and then got another rider. This way they saw that nobody was being killed. I went through the six, two and a half times before I saw three horses coming our way. I gave my girls a kiss when they arrived.

"What did you find?" I asked.

Lauren said, "The well is further than what's safe. We hit a main road and it is filled with refugees. It is a good thing that they're not coming this way. Anyway, we found a ravine we can use to hide the bodies."

"Anything else?"

"The refugees looked very worried. We better hurry."

I used the available tools to cut some young trees. I had seen a travois in a book at school once and now used the design. Four horses were employed and the soldiers tents were used to form a net between the two poles. I got three bodies on each and we all set off with the horses. The ravine was a half hour away and we had to thread a way between some trees to get further in. I found a low spot for the bodies. We made the trip one more time and on the way back the last time I had the girls try to disguise the trail we had made.

We got to the road and stopped. Lauren and Tiffany had been talking while moving and now we had a decision to make. Lauren drew seven stick people beside a crude house. She drew soldiers with guns coming to get information about the dead. The next picture was of the seven people now dead themselves. When all that sank in she showed the seven people following three people but there was no picture of death. She went from one group of pictures to the other.

We walked back to the house and began to load all of the soldiers equipment on the travois. The blankets could be passed as nondescript but I was not sure. I made a pile of what the family could safely use and added all of my pennies. Tiffany had a few as well and these were added. I dragged the horses away from the stunned family and then Lauren pantomimed either the family staying or going with us. We waited only a minute then we left. We got near the forest when we saw the family running after us without their possessions.

Tiffany said, "I guess they want to come."

I said, "And now we have to dump this shit and go back for the rest."

Lauren stayed in sight while Tiffany and I dragged the military equipment into the forest. We emptied the travois, then Tiffany and I made the return trip. The seven girls were with Lauren now and I stopped to say, "We are going to get what was left. Keep a look out. Somebody could come on you from the forest. You better hide just in case. Keep Max close and don't let him get away."

Tiffany and I made the trip without incident. We even did some extra work to hide the evidence of our battle. When we rejoined the others we added to our cargo and left in a different direction than the portal. We stopped often for the underfed girls to rest. We came on occasion to rock. Here we stopped and I walked across hard surface to find a place to hide what we had taken from the soldiers. By nightfall we still had everything.

I pitched our four-man tent and threw the blankets into the tent and signalled the girls that they were to use it. It was a tight fit but this was still roomy for them. I hobbled the horses and let them graze. I got the girls fed, then I gave Max his food. Tiffany, Lauren and I talked in the dark after we ate.

Lauren said, "What are we going to do with them, Hugh?"

"That's what I was thinking about all the time. The best I figure would be for us to make a home for them in the forest. We go home and bring back food for them. I can hunt and they can dry meat. There has to be some cleared area where they can farm. I can help them with that and supply seed."

"What about after?"

"I have not committed myself to take care of them forever. When the fighting runs down we help them integrate themselves back into their society."

"They could come with us too. They can work on your farm and learn some skills. They'd be safe."

"Safe! They may not have the soldiers after them but they will have everybody from our civilisation doing the same thing. The girls can't speak our language. They're young and anybody seeing them will say they should be in school. The people that work for me are employees that I'm friendly with. We can't tell them the truth and they will see the girls. If they see the girls, they will talk. The girls can't be hidden if they're going to work."

"They can stay inside the house."

"Sure, but we have visitors."

"They can hide then."

I made the girls take my position and I took Lauren's. More ideas came out and we saw more problems. It was when we came upon a compromise that an idea came to me.

"How about this? They come to our house. I purchase some lumber and we build a home for them in this world but near the portal. Life will be rough but they'll think they have a palace. They farm the land and the four horses will help them. We can even give them some pups and the dogs will guard them. We bring them back to our world a few at a time so they get educated."

The girls thought about this proposition. It didn't cover everything but it was certainly a start. I went to sleep with the cell phone to wake me. Lauren and Tiffany were going to keep watch until it was my turn. I knew enough to tell them not to talk or they wouldn't hear someone approaching.

It was hard to wake up but I knew it was important to all our lives. I kissed the girls and let them have a chance to sleep. For the next few hours, I didn't do anything but think until it started to get light. I started to make breakfast when the youngest came out of the tent squeezing her mons. She ran for a few steps then squatted. When she saw me she froze but I only smiled. I was sure she was not shy about being seen but more by being caught away from her group. She finished her pee then hurried into her tent.

I made enough food for everybody and ate enough myself. The newcomers may not trust me yet so I picked up the plates and opened the tent and put them inside. The residents hurried to the back of the tent. I fetched the spoons then the pot of food and put them inside and closed the flap.

It was a half hour later that the next girl came out and had a pee. She did so while watching me very carefully. The rest came out in pairs but did so with a bit less fear as the proceeding ones made it back safely.

A few hours after dawn I woke up my girls and got them fed. It was Lauren who was my go-between and got the rest ready to move once more. A few hours later, I found a shallow cave suitable for hiding the military equipment. It could be valuable and I didn't want it destroyed by neglect. I even went so far as to clean each of the weapons. Photos were taken just for fun. I retained the food, blankets, one uniform, all the pistols and one of the rifles. There was enough loose rock nearby that I was able to seal up the cave.

The travois was loaded with rock now to take the place of the weight we had removed. A tracker could see how deep the ruts were and know something happened. In the course of a few hours, the rocks were slowly thrown out and I put the girls in so they could ride. It was becoming hard to find a path for the travois so we simply made camp again. Tomorrow we would walk or ride.

I was tired and went to sleep early. All of the girls sat together and tried to communicate. I was woken by a hand on my shoulder and I saw that it was dark. Tiffany whispered to me, "The horses are nervous and Max is growling."

I stretched once and got up on my knees. My rifle was held in my hands as I listened for intruders. Eventually I stood and moved toward the horses. I heard some quick steps and knew it was four legged. I waited another ten minutes before I said, "It was an animal. I will take my watch now. Get some sleep."

I stayed with Max and he settled down to sleep while I continued to search the darkness for a threat.

The next morning the procession started once more. The first was the girl of around ten. She watched me while she peed but before she got into the tent I whispered, "Wait!"

She stopped dead in her tracks. I pointed to the place where the plates were and drew a circle in the air followed with me shovelling food into my face. She thought for a second and got the plates and went back and got the spoons. When the food was ready, I put it in the tent. The girls were at the back but not as tightly packed as last time.

Tiffany got up not long after. The other girls had washed the plates and spoons and were cleaning up the camp. The four year-old squatted and did her business and used some leaves without regard to who was around. I saw Tiffany smile then step out of her pants and peed into the air as she stood. The littler girl seemed to be amazed at this and tried to copy but she was empty.

"You're a showoff but I love you anyway."

"I'm feeling sexy and I have no pants on. You want to show the natives how we do it?"

I felt myself rising and said, "You are a cruel woman. I want to get home today. I've got a lot saved up for you."

"We can sneak off for a while?"

Tiffany was not really teasing but she must know that we were still in a dangerous situation.

We broke camp and discarded the poles. The tents, our packs and all the equipment we had was tied to the horses. A few hours after we started, I scooped up the four year-old and placed her on the horse with the least burden. She screeched for a moment but soon she was smiling.

We were not to make it home as early as I thought. The weather had changed and was clouding up. It soon started to sprinkle and I knew it would be raining hard before long. We pitched our tent and one of the leather ones. To keep everything dry we pitched another leather tent and stored our property in it. The leather tents leaked but there was nothing I could do.

I made a meal before saddling one of the horses to do some scouting. Lauren knew what was expected of her and she looked ready to do it. I went back the way we had come and found that our tracks were being washed away but would still be recognisable by an experienced tracker. When I got far enough I found some rock and changed direction. My idea was to reconnoitre so that I would know this area.

My travels brought me past our original trail and I could still see some of our tracks in places. I got back to our camp near dusk and was greeted by not only Lauren and Tiffany but by the two older girls. Mine got a kiss and the others got a polite nod.

Lauren asked, "What did you find?"

"I went back to see if we were followed but didn't see anything. There's a route we can follow tomorrow that should be easy to get us home. We get to walk across rock much of the way."

"Good, I'm getting tired of being wet. I want my bed and I want you in it."

"Don't start that. I've been without too."

"We have been thinking of that."

"What?"

I got off the horse and Lauren lead me into the leather tent. My bullet ridden sleeping bag was on the bottom then there was Lauren's then Tiffany's. Lauren quickly took off her clothes and my lower head started to do the majority of my thinking.

Lauren tasted a lot stronger than usual but that was fine with me. She muffled her cries but I could still hear them through her thighs. She didn't get a chance to taste me because I soon moved into her. I rapidly had my orgasm but I stayed hard until Lauren had hers. We kept on until we both had one more.

Tiffany was naked and ready for her turn. She handed a cloth and a bar of soap to her sister. I started all over again and stayed to feed on Tiffany for a longer time as I recharged. Lauren came back in the tent clean but wet. Tiffany got her share and there was even a bit more for Lauren.

Somehow or other I didn't get my turn at watch but Lauren ensured me in the morning that the rules were followed.

I finally got up and found it still raining. I was fed this time. We broke camp soon after. Everybody was soaked or nearly so. With all the wet equipment, the young ones had to walk. We hurried but also let the children rest when they needed it. Our fuel was getting low but I used it anyway. I wanted everybody to have some hot food in them.

Lauren took the youngest and removed her soaking wet blanket then washed her in the rain. She did it non-threateningly enough so the child was happy. Tiffany brought out some shampoo but the child was told to keep her eyes shut. Of course she didn't. A couple buckets of rainwater was used to rinse her clean. Her hair was combed and her appearance was not that much different from the children I saw at home. Her eyes were slanted just a bit. Her skin was a light brown and all of their hair was dark brown or black. When I thought of the older girls, I could not tell the difference other than those I already mentioned.

Tiffany did the six-year-old next but by then our supplies were low. The girls got a wrung out but still wet blanket back to wear. The temperature had not risen much so I was concerned for their health.

Max, though, fit in well. The girls had been very frightened of him at first but they must have come to some sort of understanding. He had used his nose to sniff the girls crotches but after that he was a gentleman.

Though it was getting late, we pushed on until we were at the portal. An hour later we had unloaded the horses by the ladder. I went into the house first in case we had family over. It was cold here today too. There was some heavy plastic in the barn and I took the roll into the house. I cut a large section and put it in front of the portal. I helped bring the wet equipment into the room and placed the pieces on the plastic.

The newcomers were reluctant to come into this strange place and they had not really seen the house yet. The oldest came first, then the youngest. They were placed on the plastic with the blankets they still wore. Max came in second to last, then Lauren. Tiffany took Max quickly to the basement but he had to shake himself first.

I went back outside and removed the saddles from the horses and passed them up to Lauren and Tiffany. One of the ropes was used to tie the horses' bridles so they could eat and still move around.

By the time I got in, everybody was in the shower. Nine naked girls didn't leave any room in the shower so I used another one with the last of the hot water.

I started a large meal while using dirty laundry to keep the water on the plastic from damaging the hardwood flooring. Lauren and Tiffany were running around the house naked but I had to wear some clothes. Instead of inviting our guests to eat at the table, I took a large pot of food and some previously frozen bread to them.

After our meal, the two older girls and mine went to work moving everything that was wet to the basement and started doing laundry that could be done in cold water.

Our guests went from being petrified to just terrified. Doors that could be locked were locked. We stayed together as much as possible. All of us slept in the basement on our own dry blankets. The others were made of wool and we tried to keep them safe and serviceable.

The toilet was frightening but it need to be used. Lauren showed the oldest guest what she was doing and then used her to translate what she saw was being done to the others. I was happy that I had installed one in the basement even if it meant I had to pump the effluent up to the septic system.

The next morning, I made a phone call to Mom and Dad to explain about Lauren being absent from work. Another had to be to Tiffany's school. Both would be remaining home for at least a while longer.

I cleaned all the wet weapons better and oiled them again to prevent rust. The rifle and all the pistols went into my gun cabinet. I started to go over what I had done wrong but now it was from the safety of our own home. If I had to do this again the girls would be dressed better and I would have a lot better equipment. This meant that I had to make some very special telephone calls.

Max, my weapons and I went back to our other world and checked on the horses. I had some grain that the horses seemed to like. I moved the rope so they could get at new grass with no trouble.

There was about a half kilo of gold in my possession. I took this to the barn and used an acetylene torch to melt the metal to hide its origin. I skimmed off any impurities and put this aside. The liquid was poured into some depressions I made in some clay I dug from behind the barn. The internet said that this would be worth about eleven thousand dollars if it were pure. Skimmed gold was at least 95% pure from this method alone.

Lauren went shopping that afternoon and came back with some clothes for the girls. Lauren and Tiffany had to do a lot of work for them to look civilised. Later in the afternoon, the two youngest were taken out to get some better clothes. There was a big fight about this and a lot of crying. Around six that night, the four came back with a lot of chicken and potato wedges. The two youngest were not nearly as frightened any more.

The next day the other four went out and came back with lunch and some nice clothes. I had checked the horses again and found nothing amiss. That afternoon we all went shopping. Lauren drove her car and I drove mine. We went to small shops first so the newcomers would not gawk as much.

I noticed that the girls went from speechless to the other extreme. Eventually it even looked like Lauren and Tiffany could understand what was being said. Next we visited the grocery store but here our guests stuck out. We met people we knew and we had to say that they were visitors from near China that didn't understand our ways or our affluent society. It seemed to work.

That night, I went on the net to find the weapons I would need if I went back. I also tried to make plans for this other world. It was a shame the portal to the other world was so near the shore. I would like to move it further inland and build a strong home around it. This meant stone for aesthetics but I wanted steel and concrete to take care of an enemy employing cannon. Cannon had to exist if the smaller calibre weapons did. To pay for all this I would try to see if I could get gold cheaper in that land. Maybe I could arrange some trading for things that were cheap here.

We all graduated to inflatable mattresses that night. When it got late I went down on Tiffany as Lauren tried to keep her sister quiet by putting her cunt over her mouth. After a while it seemed that we didn't need to hide anymore because all of the girls were awake. I just ignored my guests and did what I could to make my ladies happy.

There was a lot of interested spectators that had somehow lost all of their fears. This time I threw Tiffany to the wolves so to speak and the two older women put their fingers into Tiffany and sampled the wares. They seemed to like this and went for more.

While Tiffany was being consumed, I filled Lauren, then surrendered her to some hungry mouths as I recovered Tiffany and made both of us happy again.

When Lauren was being eaten I noticed that all of the girls wanted in on the feast. The two oldest almost had a fight to see who would get in there but eventually decided to share. Lauren was in no condition to argue. The odd thing was that the girls were not acting sexually to each other like I imagined they would.

When my girls were more than sated, they turned toward me and pulled close as if denying their charms to the two women. I was actually too tired to think about it by this time.

The next morning, I woke up with a bad headache. I took a few aspirin while I waited for the coffee to brew. The newcomers liked hot cereal for breakfast and I cooked a large pot for them. When I heard the toilet flush, I knew that somebody else was awake. A few moments later Caiti came out. She was the youngest. We were not able to get many words across but names were easy.

Instead of running back to the room, she acted strange but still came into the kitchen and tried to get on a chair. She still had no clothes on but then again, neither did I. She had difficulty climbing on top of the chair until I picked her up and put her in place. She froze at my touch but when I retreated to the stove, she started to relax a bit more.

I scooped out a bowl of cereal for both of us. I added some raisins and a few pieces of walnuts to mine. She was not used to sugar or milk and I wanted to keep her away from refined sugar if possible. I put one raisin and a nut together and one of each separated and put the plate in front of the child. She could not reach the table well so I got a phone book, thought better of it, got two and came back to the table.

Caiti was only a little apprehensive as I came near. I used hands to indicate that she stand up. I pulled out the chair a bit to help. When she stood I put the books down then put a placemat on top of that. Sitting was not much of a problem and the child came closer to where she could comfortably eat.

She didn't trust the new food, but in a while curiosity got her and all the samples disappeared.

I held up a raisin and said, "This is a raisin. Say raisin." I repeated the word six more times before she gave me a reply.

Walnut was learned quickly. I only gave her a few which she sprinkled on her cereal until she had to say the word again to get more. Three of her sisters came in at this time. Caiti was eager to tell them the words she had learned. I ladled out more cereal and Caiti used her words and got her reward. The others held out longer until they saw that their sister really liked what she was getting.

The girls ate their breakfast quickly and even indicated that they wanted more cereal. I took the pot and went around the table and served them. As soon as I was between the first two girls they turned to me and sniffed the air. When I was ladling out the food I was sure they were not only looking but trying hard to get their fill of my scent. The same thing happened when I ladled out more food between the next two.

When I came back to the table, I sprinkled fruit and nuts on all of their plates but now they just looked at me as if they were drugged. This reminded me of the odd behaviour of the oldest two last night. Both groups were different but both were odd. As far as I could see it was with the scent of me or of what I shot into my girls.

I left the girls after getting another cup of coffee. They may recover quicker if I were not around.

The last five were up and they came hurrying down from the shower. The woman that I guessed was around 20 was called Jonna. She was sort of pushy. When you consider that she was living on our sufferance, she would be a terror once she felt herself secure.

The one I considered 18 was called Kuenta. She was a nicer person but she was under Jonna's thumb.

Fislu was the twelve-year-old. Yesterday she was afraid of me but today she seemed to be seeing me as a man. Her gaze missed nothing as she looked at me. Then again, I liked girls young and Fislu didn't seem to be below that limit.

"Hello, ladies. What are your plans today, Lauren?"

Her reply was, "We were actually thinking of taking you back to bed."

"We?"

"Jonna likes to watch."

"What about Kuenta?"

"She and Fislu can watch. For some reason I figure that Fislu is years past due to be married. She needs to learn about men."

I liked the idea of showing Fislu all I knew about married life but something was nagging me. "How do you know all this?"

Lauren paused for a moment then said, "I really don't know. It's just a feeling I have. I seem to mesh with Jonna somehow."

When Lauren was my slave, she acted too meek and I worried about her. She seemed to be acting the same way now but I was sure that she was not a slave again. There was too much to do this morning. There was a friend I wanted to meet concerning some serious weapons. There was also a design to make a building. This would protect the gate to the ninth world.

"I would like to help but I don't want to be caught unprepared again. I have an appointment in an hour and that will take some time."

Lauren said piteously, "We need you."

"I need you too but it will have to be tonight. Sometime today I need to talk to a civil engineer."

I could have stayed a while because the meeting was not that precise but Lauren's actions irked me.

Willie Sheffield lived in Toronto. He lived on the fringes of the mob. He had gone to university with me and bragged about what he could do if the urge hit him.

I used my cell before I left to make the arrangements, and talked to him again as I got near the restaurant he wanted to meet me at. When I got there, he had not arrived yet. I had a coffee and waited. Even though I had talked to him just ten minutes before arriving, he was still very late.

He came over as if he were my best friend and took a seat. "Hi, Hugh. What can I do for you?"

"Let's walk and I'll tell you, Willie."

"Sure, if that's the way you want it."

A block from the restaurant I said, "I have a friend in South America that wants some full automatic AK-47's, ammunition, spare barrels and some spare mags. There are a lot of places that sell that sort of thing. Lots of countries make this gun or variants of it. What can you do for me?"

"Some of those guns are shit."

AK-47's were not illegal at all. When they were converted to full auto then it was a different matter. "Not all. Some have been retooled and are pretty good. I just need a good assault rifle."

"How many do you want?"

"I have seen them on the net for around four hundred dollars each. The rounds I hear are around twenty cents each."

"If you know all this then why are you coming to me?"

"I can't buy the guns in auto and I want a lot of them. I figure I can get a dozen rifles and six thousand rounds for six thousand dollars."

"So you just want me to buy them for you?"

"You have to negotiate because of the number and I want my name kept out of it."

Willie stopped to think and then said, "I can try, that's all I can say. You know that this sort of thing has to be in cash."

"OK, just a minute."

We walked into a small meat store and handed a paper bag to the butcher and asked, "Would you weigh this for me, please."

He gave me a funny look but put the bag on the scale. It made a dull thunk. I said, "In grams, please."

"Ah, 542 grams. Is that all?

"Yes, thanks." I slipped a ten dollar bill to the guy so he was happy.

When we got out of the store I handed the bag to Willie. He reached inside then studied the metal he had. "Hey, this looks like — "

I cut him off. "Yes it does. It's about 95% pure and it weights nearly 542 grams minus the weight of the bag."

I pulled out a calculator and told him how many grams were in a troy ounce and then how much a troy ounce of gold was worth.

"What do I do with this figure?"

"You take one of the lumps of metal. They are all the same but you might think I'm trying to cheat you. Have it analysed for gold content. You will then have the figure I have as my top offer. There is close to eleven thousand here, not six, but I'll take other military weapons and ammunition to complete the order."

Willie didn't usually sell guns but he did know some facts. Some guns were worn out and some just cheap knock offs. Then again, some knock offs were better than the original. I wanted dependable weapons and that was it. Willie made a few calls but he didn't say anything incriminating.

We took a trip across Toronto and he met another person without me present. It took only twenty minutes for Willie to give me an offer. I gave a counter offer where I got more ammunition. Willie's cut came out of this someplace but I still pushed for more. Finally I said, "Willie, this was a test run. More shipments of gold may come my way and I'd like to get rid of them right away."

"What more do you want?"

The soldiers in that world had lethal weapons and if I wanted to protect what I had then I was going to have to get some good weapons. I may have to face cannon so I had to consider some heavier weapons.

"More good military weapons. At the moment my friend is thinking of defensive weapons and that includes artillery. Right now, I don't know exactly what to ask for and I'll have to find an expert. My friend lives in the boonies. He's fighting a gang and the gang has access to military hardware. If he has to, he can send a few hundred kilos of gold but he has to get value for his purchases. In the end, he may spend five million or more on weapons."

"There are some interesting articles around here now."

"Do you have one of those automatic shotguns with a drum?"

"The kind the people that deliver money in Cuba use?"

"I was never in Cuba though my parents love the place. Anyway, I would like something that has more than three shells."

"You can take out the dummy and put two more in."

"I guess I could, but even five shells aren't enough. See what you can find for later."

Willie did some thinking and said, "You can have what you asked for. I'm making nothing. I have to count on you providing more business for me later."

"I'll offer you the business but you are going to have to compete just like any corporation. There's still lots of profit for you and the guns leave the country."

"I just gave you a great deal."

"I want to get great deals all the time. You may not make a lot each time, but the figures will add up."

Willie went back into the house and was back in five minutes. "You got a deal. The guy I talked to cut his price a bit so I'm able to eat. It should take three days to get the shipment ready."

I had Willie take one more lump of gold at random as a way for me to show that I was trusting him too.

I was able to talk to another friend of mine that I went to school with. I simply gave him a rough drawing of the land outside the portal and said that it would be subject to salt laden air. There were too many variables and Jerry just gave me an idea of what I had to do to make the area strong. He didn't know that it may have to withstand a cannon barrage if worse came to worse.

It wasn't too late to stop at one of my favourite gunsmiths. I gave my requirements for rifles. One requirement was that there be a lot of them and that they be cheap. That did not mean that they were junk though. It looked like the Lee-Enfield was a good choice. It was the gun seen in all the British and Canadian WWII movies, and it was used even in the Viet Nam war as a sniper rifle. They had one heavily modified unit in stock and it wasn't cheap. Though it used a different ammo than the AK-47 I thought it still a useful weapon to have.

Hunting at night is illegal but we are allowed to use night sights just after dawn and at dusk when it is still dark. I pushed the term military and I was directed to a different line of equipment that was even more spendy. There was a need for a scope for the daytime and it too had to be good. I knew that some guns were accurate to nearly three hundred metres though the military ones were better.

I got my gun and four sets of surplus night vision glasses. I was also warned twice that if I was caught hunting with what I had I would be in trouble. He didn't know the half of it.

I drove home through rush hour which was no fun. On the way, I thought of the conditions at home. I was happy with Lauren now and even having Tiffany with me. The refugees bothered me. It was not quite the fact that they were pretty girls but in that they disrupted my home. Their world and its gold interested me a lot. To find out more, I had to learn the language and then be able to protect myself in a world that was probably at war. That world was at the other end of a gate so it was possible that there were some people there that could teach me more about the gates.

Jonna was a good looking woman I would not mind taking her to bed but I think I had a glimpse of her true personality and I didn't like it. Caiti interested me too. She was a cute young girl that I felt the urge to protect just as if I were her father. I think Lauren and Tiffany must think similarly because of the clothes the child received. The patrol that stopped at their home were dead and I was now happy that I had helped them along their way. My blood boiled when I thought of what would have happened to all of the girls before the men were finished with them.

I drove up my lane and looked at the house. It looked so peaceful but it felt wrong. The guns and ammunition I bought were put away after I was hugged by the girls. This time it wasn't just three extra girls, but all of them.

I bent down and opened my arms to Caiti. She was shy and Jonna gave a harsh command and the child came to me. I gave her a hug and then let her go. The six-year-old Andis and the eight-year-old Ronnas came after they received similar commands. I did some more thinking and soon ten-year-old Selna came to my arms. All these I treated as children needing my protection.

Fislu came of her own but she rubbed against me as if saying she was available. Kuenta came next. She was not as pretty as the rest but I thought she had a better personality. Last was Jonna. She was apprehensive and in a way I didn't blame her. I tried to act like her uncle but it wasn't a perfect act.

I asked Lauren, "What did you learn today?"

"I used a word processor and started making a Bejek dictionary."

"Bejek?"

"The world we visited."

"Ok, what else?"

"We just went on the net and found pictures and then we were told the words for them. We have a few verbs done too. It takes a long time to narrow down a topic. Jonna usually gives more specific terms when we want the general ones."

"Did you learn anything interesting?"

"You were right about the gold. It is plentiful. While copper is scarce. It took a while but it looks like gold trades for fifty or so to one when traded in large volumes. It's hard to get across about gold being more dense. We had to go by size and thickness."

"Anything on the fighting?"

"We haven't got that far and I'm not sure if Jonna would really know."

While the girls got supper ready, I armed myself and took Max through the portal. The horses were doing fine and I moved them. I would have to bring a saddle back to give them some exercise.

I looked around for the apes but saw no sign of them. Humans may have frightened them off or perhaps the horses or Max did.

While I was here, I looked for a good place for a home. It would be nice to have some shelter on both sides of the portal. When Max finished running some of his energy off we returned home.

I went through the day's mail while waiting for dinner. Jonna must have laid down the law because the girls sat up and didn't flinch near me very much. I guess there were some good points to having a dominant woman in the house.

When we finished the meal, I went over the mail one more time. The insurance on the carriage house stipulated that the building had to be rebuilt for me to get the portion of the money for it. I may need a home now for refugees and the carriage house could be just the ticket. I could say the people were employees. A basement in the property could link to ours so that the portal could be moved if the need ever arose.

Another construction job was the protection of the portal in the #9 world. That would take a lot of work, materials and money.

That night we adjourned to my bedroom and everybody brought their air-mattresses. I wanted the convenience of the en suite and the bed to sleep in.

I started again with Lauren with my lips until she had an orgasm. My guests were worked up but only a little to my way of thinking. Jonna reminded me of a vulture on a dead tree waiting for a corpse. That vision didn't help me.

When I mounted Lauren, I could almost hear the rest sigh. Lauren worked very hard to make me complete my task instead of the way she usually tired to keep us in sync. Her own orgasm came much later and that triggered mine. Lauren could not wait to get me off me so she could present her cunt to Jonna.

Tiffany was next and she seemed to be the same as her sister. When I finished Tiffany, Jonna took over while Kuenta was allowed to search Lauren for any that Jonna had missed.

Fislu boldly got on the bed without anybody bothering to complain. I was not going to look a gift horse in the, well, mouth. I was not sure if Fislu was used to kissing so I just went for her snatch. I must have done a good job because she was bouncing all over the bed. Once her orgasms started, they didn't stop. When she finally conked out, I dragged Lauren into position.

Lauren said, "Take Fislu, Hugh."

This struck me as odd. The girl was not protected and I was not interested in being a father just yet. "Maybe later." I tried to enter Lauren and she wiggled away.

"Fislu needs a man. You should take her now."

"I want you now."

"She needs you."

"Do you want me to make love to you or not?"

Lauren seemed to come to a decision and said, "Yes, I love you. I just wanted Fislu to be happy too."

I filled Lauren one more time but when she presented herself to Jonna I tried to get Jonna to play with me. She wanted no part of me at all but she was more than interested in sucking. She moved forward quickly and engulfed me. Jonna was no tyro. She knew just what to do.

She sucked long and hard but I was determined to make her work for everything she may get. She got tired quickly. I guess the guys she knew didn't hold back when she wanted her fix. I turned the woman around and went to her clit.

Jonna was not prepared for this but went back to sucking after she figured what I was doing. Jonna had a nice orgasm and a big one later. I pulled out of her mouth and pushed my way into Tiffany.

When Jonna saw that she lost out I could see that she was really pissed. Tiffany worked hard and I had to work even harder. Eventually I felt the urge that could not be denied and I filled Tiffany's pretty pussy.

Jonna was not shy about getting what I gave Tiffany but didn't seem to be that aroused. She reminded me of a whore determined to do her quota of work and then spend her free time doing what she wanted.

Kuenta seemed to be happy because she got a load second hand that Jonna had not been able to gobble up. I was drained anyway and just held my girls to me and went to sleep.

The next morning, I went over the words that were translated. When the young ones got up I gave them a slightly different breakfast with orange juice. While at the table, I used a pen and paper to act out some of the words not in the list. Since I was acting comical I couldn't be dangerous so I got some answers.

Pencils and paper were brought out so they could draw some pictures but none of them had done this before and they were hesitant to try. We counted and this worked better and it looked like they used base twelve. Addition proved easy to teach when I paid for correct answers in dried fruit and nuts. This was all verbal because none of the girls knew how to write. We had started to use our numbers with two that I made up in the base twelve system when the rest came to eat.

Lauren calmly asked, "What are you doing today, Hugh?"

"I'm going to get some rope and make a large coral for the horses. I want all of you to assist me. You'll have to wear what you had on last time. We could take a picnic and exercise the horses."

"What about the soldiers?"

"We'll bring our weapons too."

I knew Lauren well enough to see that she was either pissed or bothered about something but she said nothing. The girls didn't have much in the way of pants so the Lauren and Tiffany took the older two out to buy some light gauge polypropylene rope and get some used coats at Goodwill. If the coats were damaged there wouldn't be much lost. We also needed rags that we could tie to the ropes so the horses would know they were there.

I went through the portal to see if everything was ok. On my returned, the younger ones and I threw out the saddles, blankets and some tools. The girls came out after a lot of coaxing and they helped me measure the area in front of the portal and then down the slope to the next flat area.

We went in later and found the others waiting. The girls were dressed and didn't have to wear the blankets. We all trudged up the slope with Max in the lead. I told Lauren and Tiffany what I wanted and we started to lay out the rope. I tied the rope to a tree then took the end and tied it to the next tree in line then continued. When I ran out of rope, I tied a new rope to it. The others worked with me to tie a second strand of rope a bit lower to the ground and then another one even lower.

It wasn't hard work until I had to cut saplings. These were placed in the long stretches where there were no trees. My intention was to stiffen the ropes. In a few hours, we were done and even had a gate. The rags were tied to the upper two ropes every few metres. Everybody knew how to tie knots.

The horses were saddled and Lauren and Tiffany were asked to take two of the younger ones on a short ride while I did some extra work to make the fence look better and perhaps do its job better. Max insisted on going with them.

Lauren came back with a smile. I said, "You look happy."

"It is nice to ride in an untamed world. Part of the excitement is looking for soldiers but animals are still fun."

"Well, it's my turn. Keep watch. They can still sneak up on you."

"We will."

I called out for Jonna, Kuenta and Fislu. They heard their names and came. I pointed to three horses and they balked. I pointed at the horses and said with anger in my voice, "Get on the horses."

They looked at Jonna and I was already looking at her. She brought her head down and then did as I asked. With words they didn't understand and actions I hoped they did, I got them to control the horses themselves. They fought me for ten minutes until it seemed that they got the idea. We took off, and again Max came along. When we got back, I actually saw Jonna smile. The others followed suit.

We ate the picnic lunch and layed back to rest. I had my rifle close and I had no intentions of letting anybody sneak up.

Lauren and Tiffany took the last two girls for their ride and a tired Max went with them. I got Jonna to give me a language lesson and she didn't seem to mind. Part of the time I got the other girls to help.

I took some pictures and showed the girls their image. They had seen us doing this before but hadn't seen the results. They thought it frightening until I had them take pictures of me.

Fislu always seemed to be near me. She now used her hands when she talked and this said that either she was very hungry or she had been put up to it. Jonna and Kuenta were walking the perimeter collecting flowers and plants.

When the girls came back, Jonna and Kuenta started signing to Lauren. Lauren came over and said, "I think Jonna wants to get some flowers. They're only ten minutes away. We should be back in half an hour."

"Ok, but keep an eye out."

The trip was over an hour. I wasn't that angry because it was hard to judge the exact meaning of hand gestures.

We gathered our property up and cleaned up the mess. I put my arm around Lauren and said, "What would you think of a house here in the woods?"

I got a big smile. "I'd love it. We'd need a stable though. You've ruined me with your horses."

The horses were freed now that the gate was closed. The fence only went part way around because we used the cliff as part of the boundary. We went inside to get cleaned up. All the girls got in the shower and I started my own. Fislu had her own ideas. After a thought or two to the contrary, I invited her in. Instead of letting her start anything sexual, I washed her dark hair and then her skin.

Fislu did the same to me but wanted to wash one part a lot better than the rest. I let her play for a while then I did the same to her. She had her orgasm first and I just held her until she recovered. I felt like taking her now but the image of Jonna came to me. I just rinsed us off and got out of the tub. Fislu was not finished but I was a lot bigger than she was.

When we went back to the kitchen, I stayed behind Fislu and saw her gesture at Jonna. Jonna was not exactly happy but she still looked determined.

Jonna and Kuenta assisted with the meal. They used some of the plants they had collected. Lauren was offered tastes and she nodded her head in enthusiasm. During the meal, I got to sample a lot of different edible plants. Most were good though some could be an acquired taste. I was the one that got a clear sauce over one vegetable. There was not much. Jonna insisted that Lauren and Tiffany taste some from a spoon. I found the sauce fair but nothing to write home about.

We broke up after the meal and I went into the library to work on the listing of the plants we had collected on our trip and a few more we got today. I was only working a few minutes when I started to feel weird. I was making all sorts of stupid mistakes and my thinking was returning to Fislu and her pretty pussy.

Images came to my mind of all the pussies I had seen. All of them were something I had to have. I felt like going and getting them or pulling down my pants and relieving the pressure here. It was better to fuck.

I got up quickly, knocking my chair over. I went around the desk and saw the silver cock ring. I opened the cabinet and reached for it. Now that was something to use. No wait! I could fuck but not blow my load. The ring made me act funny and it took a long time to have my fun. The fuckin' women always wanted me to perform.

The image of Jonna came to my mind. She wanted to suck me but not let me stick my cock up her cunt. The fuckin' bitch. I should stick my cock up her ass and see what she thought. I licked my lips and tasted the sauce.

The fuckin' mean bitch — Wait! I felt like I did when I was under the control of the cock ring. I didn't have any silver on me. It took a long time to think because I kept picturing cunts. This reminded me of when I was young. I smoked and drank so much that I didn't know what I was doing. A voice in the back of my mind said: Drugs! Drugs! Until I listened to it. I licked the sauce again. I was being controlled. Well, I'll see who controls who. My hand came down on the silver slave.

I hurried out of the room but somehow I kept my pace slower than I wanted. Caiti was just down the hall and I stumbled after her. My mind was a turmoil, but not down to those pits yet. Caiti stayed just ahead of me until I was led upstairs. I saw more and more of the naked girls and they stayed metres away.

There was a room ahead of me and the girls disappeared into it. When I got in I could smell cunt. Lauren and Tiffany were in a 69 position. The little ones were behind Jonna and Kuenta. Those two were dressed. They were not going to be easy to fuck. Somebody wiggled on the bed. I looked closely. It was Fislu. The room seemed to dim when I saw her.

I hurried forward but I couldn't take my clothes off. I had something in my hand. I stuck it in my pocket then used both hands to get my pants off. The pants weren't cooperating and I needed them off. My cock was like iron and it hurt to be held in. Eventually, I had to look down to see what I was doing and I got the belt undone. The pants still wouldn't cooperate and I grabbed them in both hands and ripped them apart. I pulled again until I was free. I ran and almost tripped, then walked in slower steps.

When I got to the bed, I looked down at Fislu. She had her legs up and ready. I fell getting onto the bed. I had to use all my concentration to get straightened out. I crawled over the bed and then up this woman's body. I paused to smell the scent and then I moved further up.

I tried to push in but I couldn't do it. Something grabbed me and somebody else pushed my butt. I was at the gates to heaven. I pushed in a bit then corrected the angle then pushed in hard. I heard a scream in my ear but it didn't matter. I went back and forth for just a moment then released my seed. There was only time for a small pause as the need arose again and I did it once more. There was no scream this time but there was noise. I unloaded again and during the pause somebody pulled back on my shoulders.

Fislu was getting away, they were taking her. I reached out for her but my arms would not work well. Somebody was putting Selna on the bed. She was not cooperating. She was slapped again and again. She was young but she still had a cunt.

Selna's legs were pulled up and then I was guided back to the bed. I pushed forward but hit nothing. They moved Selna and guided me in. I pushed hard and heard a scream once more. It didn't matter. I was squeezed by warm flesh. I pumped quickly but it took longer to squirt into her. I paused awhile, then worked again to dump my seed. It wouldn't come so I had to push faster and faster until the feeling came and I could fill the cunt I was in.

I was pulled back once more and somebody else took the cunt's place. I pushed in and it went easily. My nose said it was Tiffany. I filled her up but it took a long time. My nuts hurt but that didn't matter.

Tiffany was taken away and Lauren took her place. I worked to fill her but nothing happened. I kept trying and trying. I heard crying again and looked down and saw Lauren talking to me but I could not understand. She had a cunt and I needed to fill it.

I must have fallen asleep. Somebody was sucking on my cock. It was hard to look but I forced myself. It was Jonna. She stopped sucking and said something to me in her language but I didn't understand. Her lips looked so beautiful and I could almost feel her love for me. How had I ever seen her as anything but the most beautiful creature around. I would do anything for her.

She went back to sucking. She must want my seed. I tried to give it to her but I had nothing to give. She sucked and I tried to push something out but nothing came.

I saw the beautiful woman snarl. Was she mad at me? I could feel the answer now. She was very angry. She backed away and somebody grabbed my feet and tried to raise them but I was too heavy. More help came and soon my feet were over my head. My ankles were locked together in cloth.

Jonna went back to where she was while my feet were held in place. Jonna moved her hand forward and I felt a sudden and terrible pain. I screamed and then screamed again. I had never felt so much pain before. She was putting her fingers into my butt. Her hand came back only to drive forward again. The pain was terrible and I tried to hold my legs for some support. The pain came again and again but I couldn't black out. I felt Jonna's happiness at my pain. Why was she like that?"

The pain got even worse somehow. My fingers were like talons. I screamed again and my hands slipped and held onto something in cloth. My beautiful lady snarled and I felt the hate come from her in waves. She pushed again and I pulled with both hands as a scream ripped through my lungs. My right hand came away because the cloth ripped. The pain suddenly got a little less.

Jonna moved her hand and my cock started to respond. She moved it faster and I got harder even though I had all this pain. Her mouth came down on me and I felt her disgust, not love. Her hand beat faster and faster until I knew I had a little more to give. She sucked and her hand drove waves of pain through me but I knew my seed was coming. Jonna did too and worked even faster.

I came and it was only one weak shot into her mouth. She sucked me eagerly but I could tell she was disgusted and I wilted quickly. Jonna was now very angry at me. I had given her so little for all the work she had done. She wanted to go back to the big city and take her rightful place. The hate got so bad she bit me hard. My left hand was holding my leg but I pushed quickly with my right to get her off my cock. I saw her head go quickly back then disappear. At the same time I screamed as her hand came out of my asshole.

The pain was becoming overwhelming and I started to black out. As I was slipping into darkness, I saw Lauren and Tiffany running into the room. They seemed to be fighting with the rest of the girls.



-------

Chapter 5


My eyes opened for a moment and squinted because of the pain. Most of it was in my head. I felt drugged. Was I in a hospital? My ass hurt more than it ever had before. I looked around and saw that I was in my bedroom. There was a glass of water on the night stand. I reached for it but only managed to knock it off onto the floor with a crash.

The door opened quickly and Jonna came running into the room. Following, as if reluctant, were Lauren and Tiffany. Jonna had hurt me, I think. It was all like a dream. As I thought about it, I was fairly sure she had hurt me. I looked at Jonna's face and saw that she was very sad. She admitted hurting me but she was going to make it up to me. She picked up the fallen glass and handed it to Tiffany and pointed. Tiffany ran to the bathroom and came back with some water.

The water was passed to Jonna and she tried to help me drink. I could almost feel her remorse and her pain for what she had done. I could see her happy childhood until her mother and father had died. She was cast out into the streets to fend for herself. She had found no home until she was accepted into the Church.

These ideas shocked me. It was almost like a dream, but not mine. It had to be the effects of some drugs.

More ideas came to my mind. The Church fed me sacred food and cock. When the time came my mind bloomed. The sperm was never enough and its effects soon dwindled. I wanted more but men were hard to find. Only one or so births out of twelve were males. To make matters worse, the males always had to fight. To fight meant that some had to die.

When I was nine, I found that I was pregnant. I didn't know the father and didn't really care to know. My girl child grew quickly. A little over a year later I knew that I was pregnant again. Who would marry a ten-year-old with two children? A woman usually married at ten or eleven or joined an existing family and took an inferior position. Sometimes the position was up to tenth. There was no way to get the seed I needed to strengthen my powers, to feel the world as it was meant to be felt.

Finding a source of semen was more difficult each year. I was getting old and nobody but a pervert would want a woman as old as fourteen. The Church still provided but now only drugs and a place to belong. People had to be controlled. The Church was not very tolerant.

When Selna was four, she had grown sick during the Habstner War. There was little medicine and my baby was going to die. I had sneaked into the Church and stole the silver heart from the chest of sacred relics. I ran to my quarters and concentrated hard on the silver symbol and ran it over my child's feverish body. By morning I knew that my child would survive but there was no more power in the icon.

When I went to put the silver heart back, it's theft had been discovered. It would only be a matter of time before the guilty party was caught. In this case, a quick death would be a blessing but my two babies would die with me. I prepared all I could and snuck out of the city that night with a horse and wagon. I was very lucky because the Anguy attacked just before dawn.

I fled further and further each year. I healed the sick with my potions but war always followed. Eventually I found a safe haven with Kuenta and her children in Mendab. I had a year of peace and quiet until the Habstner came to claim this peaceful country. This is when I met you.

"Are you talking to my mind?"

Jonna's mouth didn't move and she said, "Yes, Master. It is something that I can do but it does not last for long. I need your seed to allow me to communicate."

Shit, she was talking to me with her mind unless I was going crazy. "Why did you hurt me?"

Jonna hung her head and started to cry. I could feel the pain she had in her and I was able to reach out and eventually hold her shoulder. "Tell me."

"Fislu will be thirteen in a short time, Master, and she will be too old to marry. Selna's time to marry has come. I wanted desperately for you to take them as your wives and open their minds to the glory or Ragnus."

"Ragnus?"

"Our god, Master."

"Continue your story."

"Yes, Master. I didn't know much about the holy relics. They seemed to be of great power but I dare not touch them lest they destroy me. I devised a plan for you to take my daughters. It required me to use my potions to make you slowly change your mind to accepting me, us as, as, — " She could not continue.

"Speak!"

"As you wish, Master. My daughters would have a mighty protector and your women could be our slaves. After you took my daughters, I had you take the slaves to get your essence. When I recovered all I could I looked for more. I was acting crazy and I do not know the reason. Anyway, I wanted a little more and you would not give it to me. I had to force that small sack in you to give up its wealth. You gave me what you had but it was not enough. I am so sorry Master, but I was angry. When I hurt you again, you made me your slave."

"How are your daughters?"

"I have used the 'Heart of Opfu' to heal them. I poured my power into it first and healed you as best as I could."

This reminded me of the silver slave girl. I looked at Jonna's forehead and saw a small bruise where I had hit her with it. "Where is the figurine that was in my pants?"

Jonna quickly said, "Your woman put it away at my command. It is in the Library."

"How long have you been my slave?"

"Two of your days, my Master."

"Tell me the rest."

"Kuenta is very frightened. She has been my servant for a year now but finds hostility very painful."

"Who will oppose me?"

"Nobody within these walls, Master."

"Help me up," I said, and all the girls jumped to assist me.

The memories of when I was drugged became clearer but thankfully not that graphic. I know I hurt the two girls badly, but I was hurt even more. Getting up was difficult but after how much I must have been ripped, I was doing good. When I stood I said, "Where is this heart?"

Jonna bent over and opened the drawer beside the bed and plucked out the heart. It was not the heart I would see on Valentine's Day but an actual representation of a Human heart with a bit of the major veins still attached. She handed it to me and put her hands at her sides.

"How do you use this?"

"It is something that has to be learned with the mind. Only a few women can do this and fewer men. My Church has the people with this ability helping them. I will teach you if you allow it."

"Sounds like a plan."

I tried to walk but was unsteady. Lauren and Tiffany quickly came to my assistance and supported me. Jonna was right behind. I steered us to the washroom. My asshole hurt at each step but it was not nearly as painful as it had been. Why couldn't she have used Vaseline?

"Will somebody pick up the seat for me?"

Jonna acted before anybody else could. "Yes, Master," she said, and lifted the seat.

It was a little odd to go for a whizz with somebody beside me but it was ok. Jonna watched intently as I did this task, then I shook it off. I flushed and turned to go.

"Master, may I clean you. I was told that we should always do this."

I didn't see a reason but said, "Sure."

Jonna got in front of me and then let go. When I was safe, instead of getting some ass wipe, she got to her knees and vacuumed me in. I could feel her pleasure at this and it would feel as bad to pull her off as it would to take a soother from an infant.

"Will this help you gain strength?"

"Master, I am getting weaker all the time. Soon I will not be able to talk to you."

"Then go ahead. The tanks are probably pretty full by now."

"Thank you, Master."

It was hard for Jonna to talk or rather communicate because she loved what she was now doing. Part of it could be her new slave mentality but it could also be with her compulsion to gather this strength she talked about.

My own emotions started to come into this act and I held Jonna's head. I could feel a vague fear that I would drive her head down on my cock so I said, "I would not hurt you, Jonna."

"Thank you, Master."

When I thought about something, Jonna automatically did it. I didn't have to use my hands to guide her to what felt nice. "You are doing a very good job."

"Thank you, Master."

The feeling came that I would usually try to hold at bay. I held back only a little to lengthen the pleasure, then forced my hands to my hips. Jonna knew what was happening and worked more eagerly until I shot into her mouth time after time. I had the urge to push deep but Jonna had held my hips at my suggestion.

I felt relieved and Jonna felt happy. With a little more of a search, I saw that she was at peace now. Jonna was not going to release her prize until she got every drop I had to give. She even nursed the tube for a while until I got sensitive. I didn't have to order her to get off then. When she stood, I felt compelled to reach out then bend over and kiss the woman. She didn't understand the kiss but she seemed to understand the feelings I was projecting.

When we parted, Jonna was at a partial loss as to what was happening. I didn't think I was showing the kind of love I showed Lauren or Tiffany but it was still something more than gratitude.

We walked to the Library. Some of the girls were here and the rest came from their jobs. Lauren, Tiffany and Kuenta got to their knees but they seemed to be looking to Jonna for orders.

A look at the curio cabinet showed that all of the silver articles were back in place.

"I thought Lauren and Tiffany were not your slaves."

I felt her fear now and tired to suppress it by saying that I was just after the facts. "Master, they are not full slaves but they still look to me for guidance. My slave, Kuenta, now does not have to hide her status so she kneels to me."

"Can you remove the compulsion from them?"

"With Kuenta, the answer is not right away. It is possible the other two may be corrected quicker if you allow me to use the Heart of Opfu."

"Then use it."

"Yes, Master, but I have to charge it."

I thought for a moment then went to the portal and put the heart near it. There was a spark that jumped between the two. I walked back to Jonna and held out the silver icon. "Try now."

Jonna held the silver figure and her eyes grew large. "Master, I have never seen it this full of power."

"Then use it."

Jonna went to Lauren and placed the heart on top of her head. I heard some strange words with my ears but I could understand the translation with my mind. I could also detect some thoughts below the surface but I didn't understand them. About five minutes later Jonna finished but Lauren stayed where she was.

Jonna said, "It will take time, Master, and perhaps more spells until your woman is the way she was."

"How long?"

"Perhaps a day or two."

"Do you have enough strength to do Tiffany as well?"

"Yes, Master. There is lots of power now. Usually I can cure only one or two very sick people but now I could do six."

Jonna did the same thing to Tiffany and I concentrated again on the subsurface thoughts. They were just as incomprehensible as the last time but I had a second chance to remember them. After a while I saw a pattern and soon it bloomed. By the time Jonna was done, I thought I could do it.

Jonna gave the heart back to me and I went behind Kuenta and did the same thing without the words. I could now see that there was a response to my commands in Kuenta's body. There were a lot of changes that had been made in her and I would be here days if not weeks putting the woman back to the way she had been years ago. I changed course and just got Kuenta to heal. She was young but parts of her were wearing out.

I went to Lauren then and did the same kind of repair. Lauren didn't look to me very much and kept her eyes focussed on Jonna. This made me angry but it was being corrected. When I was finished, I did the same to Tiffany. She had the same fixation on Jonna.

I looked at Jonna and said, "Kneel."

Jonna was quick to do so but she faced me. I still worked on her body. There were the usual things to repair but I saw a growing darkness in her. I stayed a long time studying this until I deduced it was a growth. It was possibly cancer or something else.

I took a rest and the girls ran off to make a meal. I had to sit and think. After we ate, Jonna knelt in front of my chair as I again went to work on her. Part of this was to learn but I did want to help. All this was strenuous to my mind so I gave the heart to Jonna so she could work on my afflictions.

There was much more to learn here. She was not working on me the same as she worked on the rest. She must have been following my mind while I did my investigating and she learned from this. There was also no verbal communication now.

I felt that Jonna was going over what she had done to me so my mind was reminded of what had happened. She then gave soothing thoughts to each of the acts that caused me so much pain. When she finished this she started to do the same thing again. When she was done, she was tired and I felt better. My asshole still hurt but not as much.

We got up and moved to the door. Fislu and Selna were more frightened of me than before and the younger ones had reverted to the way the used to be. I could not read their minds but I figured it had to do with what they witnessed when I had sex with the two girls.

"Everybody upstairs," I ordered.

I was last because I shooed Jonna up the steps before me. They waited on the landing and I directed them into my bedroom. I laid down on the bed because that was the most comfortable place. "Fislu, get on the bed please."

The girl was very frightened now. Jonna knew my thoughts or I thought she did. She ordered her daughter with words to do what I asked. The girl was as stiff as a board. I put the heart on her chest and held it. When I started the commands to heal, it worked just as good as the head. In a moment I just had to hold Fislu's breast along with the heart. The healing went well but not as good as when Jonna went over the actions she had done to me to cause me pain.

I started to do the same thing to Fislu but she pulled back from the memory. I did this three more times. Jonna yelled at her daughter but it didn't help. Taking the heart from the girl's chest, I slid down the bed and had to fight with Fislu to get her to part her legs. Again her mother had to order her to cooperate.

Instead of giving Fislu the images of what happened, I would give her the images of what should have happened. I began the seduction of the pretty twelve-year-old girl that was almost too old to marry.

Fislu had a thin coating of light hair. I liked this enough that both Lauren and Tiffany shaved for me. When I took my first lick, her legs tried to close but they couldn't get far. After a few minutes Fislu's muscles began to relax. I was causing no pain and she was seeing that I wasn't going to cause any.

In another moment she was relaxed enough that she even parted her legs more so that I had more room. She was a sweet girl and this was proven by the taste in my mouth. Sounds started to come from her lips. My tongue tip tried to enter her opening but I felt some partially healed wounds where I had ripped her. I sent my healing thoughts to her as I laved the area with saliva.

I was getting horny now but I could not find relief with this girl. "Jonna, come here and relieve the pressure."

"Oh, yes! Master."

I went back to work healing this girls wounds as I got her more and more aroused. Her mother now was sucking on me. It was not working well so I pulled away from both and said to Jonna, "Get Fislu to kneel on the bed over my face."

"Yes, Master."

When the words were spoken, Fislu was a lot more eager to get into the position I wanted. Jonna got a much better position too.

I had to work Fislu back to where I had her before but it wasn't hard. I cast healing thoughts again but I also sucked on the small nubbin that was so near. I went back and forth and this time tried to deny Jonna what she wanted until it would make me feel the best.

Fislu started to thrust at me when she felt her orgasm approaching. My own was too, but I stopped it as best I could, I tried to bring joy to this girl while healing her but I would be satisfied for joy in the short term.

Fislu suddenly froze then pushed very hard against me. I reached up to caress her small nipples and I pinched them gently. The pushing against me intensified and I heard a small scream leave Fislu's lips. I continued to work hard on her until she relaxed. I slowed down to keep her interested without being over stimulated.

In a moment Fislu started her climb again. I said, "Move around so I can play with your pretty pussy." Jonna did as I said but without taking her lips from me. When she reached my hand, she shifted around and raised one of her legs. My fingers found her wet opening.

I could convey healing through the heart in my other hand even though I was not touching anybody but me with it. There was enough of a connection without the heart actually touching the girls. Instead of healing, I projected lust to both girls. Almost instantly I got enough feedback to know that I had succeeded. My own lust was rising but I wanted it after if possible.

Fislu came first. She thrust again and again. I tucked the heart under my butt cheek and used the other hand to pinch one of her nipples. She screamed again as she pulled my arm to her. I was happy that I had been able to do this for the girl. This must have been enough for Jonna to have her own orgasm and her pelvis thrust at my fingers. This got very forceful itself. My control dropped then and I shot spurt after spurt into Jonna's eager mouth. Fislu's body was able to provide one more smaller orgasm as a way of saying thanks.

My tongue was tired but I milked Fislu's orgasm for all it was worth before I stopped. In a moment she knew that she would have to wait for more so she backed up and got off of me but not the bed. She layed down now so that her head was level with mine. Her thin arms went around my arm to pull me to her.

In a moment I said to Jonna with my mind, "Let go of that and come up here with me."

She released me with a sucking noise and said, "Yes, Master."

I looked around the room when Jonna got into position. I saw that there was less fear now. Lauren and Tiffany didn't seem to look concerned with me having two other girls in my bed but they were not my slaves, they were Jonna's.

I was thinking of asking Selna to start her healing when the phone rang. I had to get Jonna to move so I could get the phone. When I answered it I heard, "Hi Hugh. It's Willie. I am at a public phone booth. Do you want me to make the delivery?"

"Sure. Were you satisfied with the analysis?"

"It was good. You even have a surplus credit if you want me to hold onto it?"

"How much?"

"Nearly a thou. I found more rifles and ammo."

"You can hold the money for me Willie or buy more shells. You had some trust and I guess I can have some too. How long until you can make it?"

"An hour and a half I guess. I have to have some trust myself because I can't pay for all this."

"It's good there's a little trust in the world, Willie."

Willie would want to see the house when he came. This wasn't a situation where he could be paid, then forgotten. He was a business contact that may prove to be very useful. I didn't mind Willie meeting the girls but most couldn't speak our language and some of them were into slave mode. Their actions and speech would seem odd to my guest.

Since Willy didn't judge time very well I figured I could help Selna as well. She was now huddled with her sister and whispering. This had to be to find out what Fislu had felt like when she was with me.

I said to Jonna, "What do you think of Fislu's outlook now? I don't want her to fear me."

"She is young, Master. She will heal in both her body and her mind. The men of my world want to have women show fear. It keeps society stable and productive."

Jonna sounded brainwashed now. Why would she spout something that hindered her gender's chance at a better life. "Tell me how the women of your world fit into the philosophy of your Church? Don't go into a long discussion."

"Master, all women are loved and cherished."

"What freedoms do they have?"

"We have all the freedoms."

"Can you own property?"

"No, Master. It takes a man's hand to protect it."

"What about owning coins?"

"We are instructed to use the coins to purchase what is needed for the home."

"What about for yourselves?"

"Some keep some coins but if they are found, they are beaten. The family is uppermost."

"What can you tell me about people that were taken into the Church as you were?"

"The Church nurtures children that have the spark and actively searches for wild ones. Usually, these are just females, though there are a few males. They all participate in the rituals of our Church. The women do not think enough or rationally so the men usually help them. I was one of those that were found."

She said the last part with a smile, so I asked, "What were your duties in your Church?"

"I was to gather semen so that I could gain strength. My power was used to route out dissidents. Most of the women I turned in were corrected or died. I once turned in a male but many other women had to collaborate what I had found."

"What happened to the man?"

"He was found unredeemable."

Shit, Jonna was probably a Judas goat. She really sounded like her mind was warped by her upbringing. "How were you able to even think of taking the heart from your Church?"

Jonna was quiet for a while and I let her have her time. "A cycle before I needed the Heart of Opfu, I felt restless. My mind was not focussed on my duties as it should have been. I was about to report myself when Selna took sick. I knew that there was only one way to save her. I went and took the holy relic."

It sounded like her conditioning was slipping when she did this. "The Church made you think the way they wanted. Why did you change?"

Jonna looked down and was quiet for a long time. "Jonna, I'm your master. Tell me what I wish to know."

I gave Jonna more of a chance but she was quiet. I was going to scream at her in an effort to shock her into answering when she started on her own. "I have forgotten until now. One of the elders of our Church used me a lot. He must have had the powers of prophesy because he told me what was going to happen to my baby when she took sick. He helped me because the guards were called away to tend to a disorder. He was going to come to me later and take the Heart and put it back for me. When he didn't come, I tried to do it myself."

"When you were pursued was this man chasing you, too?"

"He was killed while bravely fighting the Anguy."

"If the silver pieces had guards then I have to assume that the Church sees these icons as very valuable."

"Yes, Master. They go to great lengths to gather all they find. The Church spends a lot of its time researching what each article does."

"And they spend a lot of time training people to handle these articles and to power them up?"

"Yes, Master."

This looked like a way for a man to acquire a magic totem without danger to himself. A women would steal it, then the woman would conveniently die along with her daughters. The man may have died protecting his city or at the hands of the Church for what he had done. This meant that the Church was a very powerful institution. It controlled magic by gathering all the artifacts and bringing in all those that could use magic. From earlier inferences, it looked like the Church was not involved in any of the fighting. To me, this sounded like the way a king controlled his barons. He simply had them fight each other all the time and they had no chance to gang up on the king."

I added, "I watched how you healed so I could try it. I also did it differently. Then you copied me. How do I rate when compared to those that practice magic in your world?"

"Your idea was much simpler and easier to follow, Master. Men are usually stronger in magic than women, but not always. I have been privileged to be instructed by men who were very powerful. You are not as strong as them but you may grow stronger with use." The last was said with an apology for belittling my talents.

Nobody apparently could hear our conversation. Selna and Fislu were trying to hide that they had stinky fingers. It looked like Selna was on her way to recovery too. "Jonna, how come we can talk the way we are?"

"There is a link between a master and a slave, Master. This link is enough to talk if the master is strong enough. The slave must also have the magic spark. I tried to harm you and then you made me your slave so our link is strong."

I knew she meant that she tried to make me her slave to gain this link, then I did it to her in turn so the link was intensified. "How can I learn to talk to others?"

"You can make them your slaves. If they have the spark then you will know. Most times a master just feels emotions but can speak his demands. Kuenta and I are like that. You could take my daughters the same way you did me."

My lower brain liked that but it wasn't right. I also didn't know what was right when dealing with a civilisation like I had found on world #9.

"Can I talk to Kuenta?"

"Yes, Master. You may have to take her the way you took me, though this may not be necessary."

If this were so then Kuenta had the magic ability. "What about Lauren and Tiffany?"

"They are not of my world but it is still possible."

I thought of the rest and said, "Does sex have to be used with the slaves?"

"The slave needs semen to have her mind focus."

I thought about all the times I filled Lauren and Tiffany and said, "Does Lauren or Tiffany show any of the magical ability to communicate?"

"There is always some but they have not been trained. You would not do this."

"Why?"

"The process requires you to be a very strong and demanding master. The slaves have to be broken so they can be rebuilt."

There was a lot to think on. My mind could not encompass it all. Part of the problem was the two horny girls in the room. The air reeked of their scent though they attempted to hide how they had tried to masturbate.

"Selna was hurt by me. I think she should be healed."

"Thank you, Master. I know she will appreciate all the help you will give." Selna now was stunned. Her fright came back but it wasn't as much as it was when I first came into the room.

Jonna ordered her younger daughter to come to me. The girl did after some hesitation. I picked her up and laid her on the arm of an easy chair. Her legs were bent down to the floor. I simply picked them up and spread them the way she had been spread before.

"I will not hurt you, Darling. It is just my way of healing you."

She didn't understand. I then heard Jonna saying the same thing verbally. I bent on my knees and moved quickly. The sooner I started the less time there was for the girl to be worried. I licked and sucked on her little pearl, then started to heal her with the use of the heart. I alternated for a while but my visible actions were all the same. Selna was now feeling no pain and her hands even came to my head but she didn't grasp my hair.

Selna had been ripped just as bad as her sister. I hated what had happened to the girl but I also loved what I was doing. Part of it was my love to see a girl like Selna squirm all over the place and eventually succumb to an orgasm but it was also a way for me to show my power over her. In this way I guess I was a master even though I tried to deny it at other times.

Selna eventually locked her legs around my head. I worked even faster with my tongue until I could hear her scream. When she had given all she could give, I slowed down.

When Selna had rested enough, I began again until I heard, "Master, Fislu would like to gain your gift of semen."

I continued with Selna as I thought on this. "Will her powers grow?"

"Not yet, Master. She has to be trained."

"You took my semen from Lauren and Tiffany. Could you take it from your daughter's lips and gain the power."

"Yes, Master."

"Let her try but if she swallows, it's ok. Make sure that she knows she doesn't have to give you any if she has to swallow."

"I will tell her, Master."

I didn't hear the verbal words but I found some activity on the floor in front of me. Soon a tongue started to lick me very daintily then as time went on, it got more bold. Selna came again by the time Fislu was sucking on the head of my cock.

"Jonna, I want some lubricant for my finger."

"At once, Master."

She didn't even question me what I was going to do with her daughter. This showed how much of a slave the icon had made of her but then again she wanted Selna to be my wife.

Fislu was not very good at what she was trying but she had some enthusiasm. My hips wanted to plunge forward and drive my cock down her throat but I would not do that. I hurt from what I was forced to do with her a few days ago.

A jar of Vaseline came this time. When I started on Selna for the third time I could feel both her fatigue and also her wish for more. I guess I was starting to converse with her too.

Fislu was doing a better job now and I was able to hear her mother giving her pointers. Selna was responding nicely when I started worrying her back passage. She resisted me for a half minute then gave up. My pointer finger went in and stayed there for a while until Selna's body came to some sort of agreement with the intruder.

I attacked her clit one more time and in a moment started to move my finger back and forth. Selna couldn't take this for long. She started to groan. Fislu must have heard this because she too picked up the pace.

Selna squeezed my head the hardest yet and pulled my hair as if to pull me into her. She screamed loudly then all of a sudden went slack. I figured she had to have fainted. I licked only a bit more then leaned back. Fislu was going all out and her mother was close to give her any information she needed. I pushed forward a little bit and this was enough to send me over the brink. Fislu's eyes were closed up until now and they suddenly opened. She must have swallowed the first few spurts but when I slowed down and pulled out she quickly got up and kissed her mother. Jonna lay on her back so that she got every drop.

When Jonna got all she was going to get I pushed Fislu onto her back and gave her a second helping of love. She didn't take long to scream and I now felt complete somehow.

By the time Willie got to the house, the girls were in the barn. This was not safe either because there were still a lot of people working on the farm and at the nursery. The guns and ammo would have to go here so the girls were told to be in the loft and be quiet when we came in. Jonna laid down the law to make sure everybody understood.

Willie drove down the laneway and I met him where I could direct him toward the barn. I got a nod of the head and he backed a pickup truck into the barn after I opened the doors.

Willie got out with a serious look but I just put out my hand and said, "Hi, Willie. Don't worry. I'm a man of my word."

He relaxed a little. "I just don't usually sell this many weapons at one time."

I said, "Let's have a look," as I placed a cloth sack into Willie's hands. The Kalashnikovs were all used. This I expected. I checked the guns as well as I could without actually firing them. They seemed to work nicely though I had only held one once before.

Willie opened all the boxes of shells to show that they were all new. Another box held spare barrels that were still bathed in thick paraffin based grease. Two other boxes were full of empty magazines. These came in three different sizes which suited me fine.

I smiled at Willie when I was done and said, "I'm happy with what you brought. How do you feel?"

Willie jiggled the bag and said, "The gold looks right. Let me help you unload it." We took the wood boxes out one at a time and put them over by a wall on a cart used in the orchard. Next, we took the much heavier boxes of ammunition. The barrels and mags went last and I put a tarp over the pile.

"You want to come in and have a beer?"

"I'd like to but I got to go. Sometimes business has to come before pleasure."

"That's fine, Willie. We were friends once and I don't want this to be just business all the time."

Willie relaxed more then smiled. "Next time I'll have a beer with you."

"Good."

"Did your friend come through with another order?"

"Not yet. I've been looking at some automatic shotguns."

"Do you have a line on any?"

"You mentioned them before and I did some talking to those that can come across that type of merchandise. There are actually a lot of those sort of weapons around. Most are six shot but there is one that is twenty. You'd love it but they're expensive."

"How much?"

"Three thou each."

"How many can you get?"

"How many! I might get one once in a while. They are not something that could be picked up in a sporting goods shop. These are for government issue only."

"I'll have to deliver this equipment and see if he likes the way I work. If he does I will probably be asking you for more. He may be going up against artillery, so some RPGs may be in order as well."

"I have to tell you that I was never that much into military weapons and never in quantity. All I can do is try and I hope my security is good enough."

"I hope mine is as well."

When I saw the truck leave the end of the drive way and disappear, I called out, "You can come out now." A lot of heads came up from the back of the upper level where I stored the fruit baskets. When they climbed down the ladder I saw Lauren and Tiffany just stare at the trailer but say nothing. This wasn't the way they were before.

I searched for anybody around and when it was clear we pushed the wagon to the back door of the house and unloaded it. Lauren was put in charge of putting the empty wagon away. I guess I could have ordered it but Jonna was ready with the command.

Most of the weapons went into the basement but six of the guns and a case of ammunition was taken to the Library. I was not really familiar with the weapon but there were hundreds of sites on the net giving detailed explanation about all facets of the gun.

I took the gun apart and put it together the way it said on the net. Then I taught the girls. Most had to have Jonna translate my thoughts to learn.

When I went over the gun three times, I got Lauren to do what I had done. She was partially familiar with guns, especially since our trip to world #9. Tiffany tried next and she didn't do bad. Jonna and then Kuenta were ask to do the same thing. I looked at Fislu and finally got her to work with us. She seemed pleased to have helped.

We all got dressed after I checked the weather. With six assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition, I wasn't too worried if we ran into some opposition. Max, as usual, was happy to go for a walk.

It looked odd to see five young ladies carrying AK-47's on their shoulder but then again many children in Africa were forced to do just that. The horses were frightened at first but we just walked through their corral. Two kilometres away was a clearing that was good enough for me.

Some rags were put up on some small trees and we walked back to our weapons. I taught them again about taking the safety off and then going to semi-auto. I brought the rifle up to my shoulder and fired one round. The noise was loud and so was the recoil. I was happy to see the rag I aimed for jerk.

When I looked at the girls, I saw that all of them were petrified. Lauren was ordered to fire one round and then put the safety on. Tiffany did the same. Jonna was different. I had to go through everything again, including the aiming. Jonna was frightened by the retort but I could tell that she was pleased too. Kuenta didn't like the weapon but she was a slave and did what she was told. She wasn't as pleased by the results.

Jonna translated for me, "This is a weapon that will kill our enemies. If you do not use it then the enemy will kill you. They will then kill the rest of us."

Fislu was not very big but she did fire her round and her face showed that she liked the idea of protecting. The pain she felt in her shoulder, not withstanding.

We spent an hour firing single shots. The younger ones also had a chance but they had to do it prone. They didn't like the kick. We graduated to three round bursts and eventually to full auto. We were all sore so we trudged back home with all of our spent cases. They were literally worth somewhere around forty eight times or more times their weight in gold.

That night I worked on my ability to heal. The bruising on the shoulders were the first. I was surprised to find that I could heal myself. When I was finished this, I used the slave figurine to take Kuenta for my slave. She was only a little worried and Jonna was happy to give me anything she had.

When I tested our link I was only partially successful. I also felt that if I knew her better we could understand her more. That was why I ended up with my mouth between her legs a while later and then firmly seated inside her vagina. As I pushed slowly into her I thought at her constantly until I seemed to break through some type of mental hymen. From then on I could understand her. Her period was almost due so I felt it safe to give her something. Jonna was happy to clean up the mess.

Jonna got more that was fresher and then Fislu and Selna gave her the last I had to give.

Sleep that night was different. I felt like a sultan that had hundreds of wives and hundreds of concubines.

The next day I ordered lots of reinforcing rod, lumber, wire, plastic conduit, and steel products. I ran an extension cord through the portal and used an electric drill. A powerful air powered drill and a compressor was rented. We packed a picnic and went back to shooting with some better targets.

During breaks, I healed all of us and I gradually saw Lauren and Tiffany coming around. Jonna, Kuenta, and Fislu liked the breaks too. Selna just got to ride the moustache even though I didn't have one.

The tools came and we had a difficult time getting the drill through until we moved the portal to the side door of the barn. All of us made holes in the rock to accept the reinforcing rod that would be coming soon. There was always somebody keeping watch because we were making lots of noise.

When Tiffany was almost back to her old self she was sent to school. Lauren had to quit her job to work with me full time. I was now trying to please four ladies during the day and I hoped to have enough left to please one more at night.

For two weeks we put up steel rod and cemented it into the rock. More rod was placed in the vertical face a few metres outside the portal. More again was used down at the next level.

Plywood and steel was used to make forms then I called for concrete. The first of two trucks pulled up to the portal and put its chute through. A wooden chute then directed the concrete to the lowest level. I worked like hell to make it as level as possible. The driver thought he was filling a basement under the barn but I told him it was just a thick floor. He could not see what he was doing anyway. Two days later another two trucks built the vertical wall for me. Two days after that, the platform outside the gate was done.

It took three more weeks to make the wooden forms and then get a concrete pumper to push the liquid through the gate and high enough to flow into the forms. This was better for a security standpoint because only the aluminum pipe went through the portal. I couldn't stop this pour and I used six trucks. We were all experts at concrete now and we worked hard to make the surfaces look good. A large strong door faced the ocean and a large platform would allow us to take our property out and then turn to climb the slope or one day use the elevator I was going to install.

In another effort, I tried to defeat Kuenta's compulsions, I donned the ring once more. This time, I roughly knew what to expect but it was still rough. All this was video taped in hopes of learning something. Caiti, Ronnas and Andis were to stay in the barn while the rest partook of the festivities. I turned out to be an animal with all of my ladies. Fislu and Selna had graduated to full penetration and even accepted it in their back passage. They were delirious anyway, but it turned out that I caused no pain.

I had doubts of releasing Jonna but I figured I could always apply the silver icon if I saw trouble again.

When I finally had enough, the ring came off and I did it the natural way. The ladies were still not really here but they enjoyed what was happening to their bodies.

I was unable to work the next day and there was a lot of domestic tranquillity while the women recovered. Jonna and Kuenta could understand me very well now.

The conditioning was broken but it took a week for Kuenta to recover. She was far from the woman we had known. She was much more meek than as a slave and in a way I regretted freeing her. Over time we were able to build up her ego enough that she could function. Jonna had gotten nastier, but it was something we could live with as long as she tried to get along.

When all this was done, I noticed that the heart didn't have the same intensity spark anymore. It occurred to me that the gate was using too much power when it passed all this material. When the conditions looked right, the gate and all our artifacts were moved to a high spot before an expected storm came. The storm missed us but one two weeks later another one hit.

Lightning hit the gate six times in all. Each and every strike was a major one. I didn't see how the soil could absorb that kind of charge until I saw that some of the lightning was actually coming from the Earth.

My family and friends didn't understand what I was doing. I made time for them but it wasn't nearly enough. Lauren and Tiffany were back to normal. I tried to speak mentally to them but we only got feelings and then they weren't clear.

I was digging deeply into my funds to purchase what I needed. We all searched the net. Everybody could speak English after a fashion and we could all speak Ladra which was the spoken language of Bejek, our 9th world.

With APCs in short supply, I built two on large truck bodies. Getting a truck through a large mirror frame was not easy. An 'I' beam and a hoist helped a lot. Most of the work was in the disassembly and then the reassembly of the vehicles. Kuenta turned out to be a fair welder and she kept this job while the rest disassembled and then reassembled.

We made innumerable trips through the forest we had fled through to map it. Large chainsaws had to be used to clear a road that I hoped would not look like a road. Explosives were used a lot and I had to resort to borrowed money to carry on. Some of those trips were to gather information because we didn't want to enter a war zone.



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Chapter 6


Fourteen months after we went through the gate the first time, we were prepared to go once more. Our internal structure had changed. Jonna was the most dominant of the women. She listened to me and issued my orders. This was basically what she had done before for the Church.

Fislu and Selna were bright and eager to learn and did so without supervision. They took to role playing games. This brought out a woman's natural, devious nature. They learned to see plots within plots.

Lauren, Tiffany and Kuenta were the ones that did most of the grunt work or at least what I hadn't done. All of us did the manual work and we worked very hard. I was actually surprised at all we had done after I learned how slow we were at the start.

Ronnas, Andis and Caiti were taught by example and then they did it themselves. They did very well and perhaps much better than the girls of Earth who would be the same age. It helped that they left dolls alone and took to shooting, riding a horse or learning to weld like their mother.

I was after profit from trade but I was also pissed off at the Church. This was something that needed to change but I couldn't do it alone.

I took the first truck through and Tiffany drove the second truck. It took three days to make the trip because it was so long and convoluted. We emerged onto rock near a major road. Well, major for this world.

When dawn came, we were hidden in the trees again. Our APCs had mild steel plate that should repel the bullets the locals used. I had tested it out with the gun I had brought back. The rest of our booty had been gathered and I was able to sell the guns and swords to collectors to help pay for this expedition.

We mounted two old machine guns on each vehicle along with a one inch cannon on the truck I drove. We had few shells for the cannon and only a thousand rounds for the 50 calibre guns. We had two old but serviceable mortars, but only thirteen rounds to play with.

Willie had come through with the auto shotguns but there were only three of them. The AK-47's could be used by everybody, even Caiti. Bikers and other sources were used to find what I needed. Weapons weren't all we carried because I had very clean scrap copper wire. Laser pointers with extra batteries, some old rifles and pistols, transceivers with rechargeable batteries plus some chargers were up for grabs. No self respecting warlord would want to do without what we had to offer.

I rode a horse some of the time and got to be better at it with time. AK-47's attached to the saddle made me feel comfortable.

We didn't take any detour to see the old farm. We heard from the locals we were able to catch that the Habstner had been pushed back but this was thought to be temporary.

Shreff was the nearest city of any size. Jonna gave her estimate of its size at perhaps thirty thousand people.

I rode into a fairly prosperous farm near the city walls. It was owned by the Church of Ragnus. Lauren and Jonna rode with me. I could converse fairly well but I still missed nuances.

A large man came out of the farmhouse with a sword buckled on. From the windows I could see movement and probably somebody would have a rifle or two ready. The Church was powerful but some people were very desperate.

I wore the clothing of the most prosperous merchant class. It was unusual for a woman to be dressed as good, but my escorts were.

The man wore the symbol of a harp which said that he had a certain rank within the Church. In this case it meant that he was something around the level of a junior sergeant. After my clothing and horse were assessed, the man said, "Good day, Merchant. What is it that you want with us?"

I have a small caravan of two carriages and four horses. We were led to believe we could stay here for a nominal charge."

"That is so. It will be a silver penny each day for each carriage and a gold flass for each animal."

"Perhaps I will look elsewhere." A flass though made only of gold was still a major coin.

"My rates are the best. Ask anyone."

"The rates may be the best for you. I will give a silver penny each day. You will provide good feed for the animals and I will pay for eight days in advance."

The man turned red. I guess he didn't like to dicker. "This is the holy property of the Church of Ragnus. Those who stay here are blessed above all others."

"I think it would be more profitable to be blessed less and not pay your rates. You heard my offer. You may dispense with any work that you would have to do on behalf of the Church."

The man's colour had stayed red and with a snarl he said, "I may bless you anyway. I will take your offer."

I got off the horse and presented the man with eight silver pennies and a piece of paper with the contract on it. I used a fountain pen to fill in the blanks. "Sign here and our contract will be official."

"We do not sign contracts. Our word is law."

"The law is written in books for all to see. Is there something wrong with this agreement?"

The Church wanted those in authority to read and write so that instructions as well as religious texts could be read to the illiterate mob. The man read the neat text and said nothing. I just jingled the pouch and the man glared at me but signed the paper.

When it was signed, I said, "Where can we place our wagons?"

The man had a small smile now and pointed to a low area. I said, "We will camp beside the stream but not on its banks." I got another snarl then the man just went into the house.

I rode the horse over to the area and found it adequate. The smell of shit from the city was strong and this was why we were placed here. I pulled out an old but serviceable military radio and said, "You can come in now. Go through the main gates then veer to the right. We are three hundred metres from the house."

Tiffany repeated my orders and I heard her truck's engine rev up. It was ten minutes later that the first truck negotiated the narrow entrance then Kuenta did the same with a lot more caution. Fislu came through on her horse last.

Tiffany placed her truck where I wanted, then I directed Kuenta in. There was no opposition from the house and in fact there was nobody to be seen. We set up a canvas tarp that shaded the area between the two vehicles. Lauren and Jonna now wore a Kevlar vest and patrolled with their assault rifles and their newest toys. They liked the way a 9mm Glock felt and worked. If I did everything right, I may be able to pay for all of this.

The city walls were crowded now, but there was nobody coming to bid us welcome. It was much later that the landlord came to visit his guests. He rode up to me with a half dozen men.

"What are you doing here?"

"I have parked here as you suggested, and I might also say that I paid for."

The man was nervous but demanded, "What are these wagons that do not need horses?"

"I'm an envoy from a far land. I take my security seriously. These carriages are designed to travel in savage lands like Mendab."

"Savage! How dare you."

"Are you going to challenge me. Trial by combat perhaps?" My voice was calm and I could see him weighing his chances against me.

"Get off this land."

"In eight days."

"Now!"

"I have the document saying that you accepted payment."

The man reached into his pocket and threw eight silver pennies to the ground in front of me. "Leave!"

"Is this a new Mendab way of farming? You plant silver pennies in hopes of gathering riches. In any case, I do not accept your offer."

"I can make you leave."

He started to draw a pistol but now saw three strange weapons pointing at him. "Do you challenge me with pistols?"

"You cannot kill all of us."

"I can do that all by myself, but my troops can do an even better job. Don't try my patience. You better leave. If you try to come closer than a half way from your house to here I will kill you. If you try it at night I will make you wish you had died. Now go!"

The man and his help left but we kept our weapons aimed at them. They may think we would let our guard down so they could fire at us from close range.

An hour later a great many horsemen came to the house and ten minutes later a troop of men arrived with pennons on their lances and all their silver and iron polished brightly. I was sitting in a lawn chair at a table. Beside me was some lemonade which the locals had never tasted. Jonna claimed that all of her people would love the drink.

Three machine guns, one cannon and six AK-47's were aimed at our visitors. There was no charge though, but when the leader was a hundred metres away, I stood. I had my own Kevlar on now as well as my mirrored sunglasses. In fact all of us wore these as a fashion statement. Well, that and a pistol I guess.

The leader and three of his men stopped and I just waited. Soon I heard, "What is it that you do here?"

"I came to trade and to represent a mercantile interest in my land."

"What land?"

"A land beyond the great ocean. We call it Atlantis."

"I have never heard of this land."

"We didn't wish to be found until now."

The man digested this for a moment then said, "What do you trade?"

"Did you come to fight or to talk. I can do both but I prefer to speak."

There was another pause and the man turned to his men and told them to roughly stand at ease. He got off his horse and so did his three companions. When he was before me I said, "One of our customs is to shake the right hand of a new friend. The right is usually the sword arm and the gesture shows that we don't have any weapon in our hand."

Again there was a pause while I extended my hand and he finally did too. I intercepted his and shook it three times as if it were a ritual. When I let go I said, "Come and have a seat and refresh yourself."

Andis brought out four more aluminum lawn chairs and set them up around the table. She went inside and came out with large glass decanter then four more glasses. They all had the logos of the Canadian Football Association on one side and the logo of one particular team on the other.

"Would you like to sample this fruit juice?"

I just got a nod then I filled all the glasses including my own. When I sat the others did, too, but their swords, knives and pistols got in the way. After I took a good swallow, I waited. My visitors inspected the glasses for quite a while then smelled the lemonade. It was the leader that sipped first, followed by the rest.

Andis brought out some antipasto. This was nothing new except that the platter was heavy copper. It was deeply embossed with a hunting scene and then coated with some lacquer. A little later a basket woven of copper wire was used to transport cut bread. Last was a similar basket with fresh fruit that didn't grow on this planet.

This was real wealth to these people. "Please, sample some of the food from my land." I ate a sampling of the food to show them that it wasn't poisoned. It took a long time for them to start.

The leader asked, "What is your name and title?"

"My name is Hugh Driscott. My title is master merchant."

"You are not a prince?"

"Merchants rule our land."

This gave them a long pause to think on this. "What have you to trade?"

"I would like to know who I am speaking to as well."

"My pardon. I am Mantoya Slako. I am the Tirry of Shreff."

Jonna communicated through our link and she said, "He is the leader of the city and of the militia stationed there."

"Thanks, Sweetie."

"I am glad to meet you, Montoya." First names, I knew, were used only with friends.

I said, "Some copper trinkets mostly. I do have some communicators that allow my voice to travel seven hogarts. Only one with a like device at the other end can hear what is said. It's good when a soldier can report to his leader without having to withdraw from a concealed position."

"Show me this machine."

I took out a pair of walkie-talkies that I had purchased at Canadian Tire. A sharp knife was used to remove the blister pack and I inserted a nine volt battery. I turned them on and keyed one until I got a whine then checked the other.

I handed both to the leader and said, "Call a horseman to leave for the road. You push this button to talk. The other unit has to be turned on with this wheel. The more it is turned the louder it will carry your voice. Be gentle with it and it will serve you for a long time."

One of the seated men was given the radio and he hurried to his horse. I explained to him what he had to do. He just galloped off and I heard a breathless man talk about his ride and what he saw along the way. The leader was flabbergasted at the device but soon asked me, "How may I speak?"

"When your man stops pushing the button you may talk and he will hear."

The man was all the way to the city and then through the gates before the signal faded.

"What happened?"

"The distance and the walls hinder the voice from coming. If your man were to reach the top of the wall you may still get a chance to talk."

Ten minutes later the sound came again and the leader talked into his radio but the other had not stopped talking. Finally someone had to race to the city to give the order.

The talk actually went both ways after they got the hang of it. Eventually the man said, "I will give you a copper for this."

"There is something I wish to say first. The small part I put within each of the devices has only a limited power. They will not work after a while."

The man thought about this but said nothing. I added, "I have some drawings that I have prepared that will change your country for the better. In the process you will be able to use your device for a long time. This is a gift from my people to yours."

"I would like to see this drawing."

I called out, "Caiti, will you bring me the drawings for the hand powered generator, please?"

Caiti had to stall because she didn't know where the drawings were. She soon came out with them but also dressed in camo and carrying a small calibre handgun.

I had the men finish their drinks and then we moved the so we could use the table. This was layed out as a series of experiments and had their own list of materials all written in the Ladra language.

I said, "I suggest you get some craftsmen to build this. Your people are familiar with what a magnet is but there is much more to learn. When a magnet spins near a coil of neatly folded silver wire, a power similar to lightning will be produced. The power will be low and you will not detect it very well. This is the power that will make the device work."

The man looked at the drawings of the experiments one at a time and then said, "I don't see how this will change my land."

I could see the man was not interested in sharing this information. "What these sheets of paper show you is the basic ideas. Your people will make much larger devices to make much more power. You can illuminate your home at night with the touch of a finger. When it is hot, a machine will turn around and blow air at you as if you are facing a refreshing wind. The device I showed you can be made larger. Your voice, or even your image, can be sent to other countries. That's but a small list of what this information can bring you."

"I may have enough wealth to build what you have designed."

"If you do, others will come to study what you have built. They will soon pay you to learn. Your family should become even more famous. Money will come to your city and tax money into its coffers."

"How is that?"

"You start a school. Young men come to learn and then try to alter what I have drawn to make it larger and more powerful. Rich young men bring money to the city. When the school grows, so does your wealth."

"I will do this."

"On your word as Tirry?"

The man was miffed but nodded his head.

"Then I give into your safekeeping all of these sheets of paper and I will also give you the two devices you have used."

"Give?"

"They are a gift from me to your people."

Mantoya didn't understand very well but carefully refolded all of the sheets of paper. When they were all assembled, he went to his horse and put them into a leather satchel.

When he came back he said, "I thank you, Hugh Driscott, for your astonishing gifts."

"Please call me Hugh."

"Thank you, Hugh. Will you show me what other wonders you have to trade?"

"I would like to save those for later. For the moment though, I would like to listen to some music. Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

"My music is actually the recording of some famous musicians. They are not here but the sound they made was copied and I will listen to this copy."

It took a moment for him to try to understand then I had Caiti play a CD and pipe the music to some amplified speakers.

The men were shocked, even the ones still on their horses. I knew that the sounds were odd to them but after a while they seemed to relax.

"Your musicians are very accomplished."

"We think so. Those men and women devoted their lives to learning everything they could about music."

Unasked for, Caiti brought our sections of scrap copper busbar. It was four inches wide and a quarter inch thick. The lengths were uniformly made at six and twelve inches. The silver coating on the copper was gone and the copper polished to a bright sheen.

Mantoya eyes had grown large at the first bar then wider still as more bars came.

"I came here to give the gift of knowledge to your people. Our people admire art. We would accept art formed from gold or raw gold so that we can fashion our own pieces."

"You would take gold for this?"

"Yes. This copper is very pure. The rough copper was taken apart an atom at a time and then made into this form. The dross in this is like a handful of stones cast into a quarry."

"At what rate of exchange would you accept?"

"Your coins exchange at forty eight to one. Even though my copper is very pure, I will still trade at this rate for your gold. If the gold is seriously alloyed, we will have to compensate. For pure gold I will offer forty four to one."

The man looked very close at the copper and I gestured that he could pick them up. He fondled them the way people of my world fondled gold.

Mantoya said, "Many men would not display such wealth this way. Some men would not be able to restrain themselves."

"I don't think you are such a man."

"How do you know?"

"You have fifty six men with you and we all have our weapons. My weapons are superior enough to protect my wealth."

"How is that? You cannot have that many men in your carriages."

"I have no men." This shocked Mantoya so I added, "but I have some women and girls that have control of some mighty weapons."

"Would you show me?"

"I will do so just before we leave. Perhaps you will gather suits of armour and place them as if they were your enemy. My bullets are strong and will go through the front armoured man and the one behind. I don't want to kill anyone but I'd like you to see. I will also trade for some of these weapons at that time."

Mantoya left to gather his surplus gold. Twelve of his men stayed. They were left to watch me, but I gave them orders and had them stationed where they could also protect me. The girls manning the guns then had a chance to stand down.

An hour later we saw wagons leaving the city. Lauren and Jonna were jumping up and down. Both knew the value of gold on our world.

Mantoya was at the head of this convoy. Some of the girls went back to their guard duties.

Jonna was near because she had to learn this business. Mantoya dismounted and we shook hands once more. "I have brought some gold if you still wish it."

"Yes, I do, Mantoya."

Mantoya took out his own scale and we used this to do a comparison of the weights. These particular weights were made for this city only. The weights themselves were put on an electronic scale so I got an exact figure to the fraction of a gram. Mantoya was nearby all the time taking note of what I did.

I handed Mantoya two of his weights and said, "The larger weight is a little bit greater than twice the smaller weight. It is close. The next weight is near the maximum of this scale. It shows that it is a little less than twelve times the smaller weight."

"You are saying that my weights are not accurate?" He sounded angry now but he was still controlled.

"We will use your weights. I'm just telling you that they aren't as precise as they could be. Our people can weigh a particle of dust though I don't have that type of equipment with me."

"I didn't know that this could be done."

We weighted a mass of gold coins that I knew were alloyed. Gold art objects were weighed and then recorded. Silver came next, but it had only a twenty four to one ratio for copper. Gold was the equivalent of bronze or brass sculpture that many homes on Earth had. A tally was kept using base twelve. There was two hundred and thirteen kilos of gold and ninety six kilos of silver.

I used an electronic calculator and deduced that I owed 8.4375 kilos of copper. When it came time to pay up I said, "You have brought art. Art is worth a little more to me even though I lose with your coins." I put the pile of copper on the table that gave enough extra to make Mantoya happy.

When our business was complete, I said, "Would you rent me the services of your men while I am here?"

"What for?"

"We still have a great deal of copper. My greatest fear is of thieves and cutthroats."

"Some of the men may wish to gain more copper."

"What do you think is just? I want four men here all the time but they can have watches."

"Four may not be enough."

"We have other means of detecting intruders. Your men would look like my obvious defence."

"In that case, I think that a copper minos may be enough. Do you want me to sign a contract?"

"Not in your case. I chose this place with care."

"Why?"

"It is near the city but not too near. It is also owned by the Church."

"How does the Church enter this?"

"The Church can afford the aggravation of having lots of people come to see me."

I got a small smile now. "They can well afford that."

"On a matter of legality, if a man comes across this field at night and I kill him, would that act be justified?"

"If he comes in the dead of the night, then he is a thief. You are within your rights to kill him. You may kill some of your guards by mistake."

"There are devices that detect the presence of a man's movement. The alarm would wake me."

"How does this work?"

I called for a common motion detector purchased at the same Canadian Tire outlet. The package was opened by Mantoya and then he installed the battery. While I set the unit up I said, "Be still for a minute, please."

Mantoya was deathly still until I said, "Come to me to shake hands."

As he got up, the alarm went off and Mantoya froze. I reset the alarm and he tried again. If he moved slowly it didn't trip but he could not move more than a few centimetres. "This is like magic, but I assume it isn't."

"No, it's a machine that anybody could make if they had the parts. The parts can be made but that will take a century or more for your people to learn how."

"Is this for sale? This would protect any man when he sleeps."

"I has to go outside your door. If you move in the night it will wake you up. It could also go over your bed but aimed at a door or a window."

"Will you sell this to me?"

"What will you offer?"

"In copper, gold or silver?"

"Gold or silver, please."

We came to a deal that we both loved. Part of it was the cost of the security detail.

More customers came to trade away their nearly worthless gold for pure copper. The gold used in art was soft but I didn't know what was inside. For all I knew it could be iron. I didn't want art that I would hate to melt but I did love the raw lumps of metal I got or the coins. Their numbers were low and they traded little. They really wanted to see what marvellous devices I had or just to talk. The talk was good because I steered it towards local politics, the chance of another major invasion or the status of the crops.

That night, some guards came to me and reported that they were assigned to protect our campsite.

"Thank you for your help. I will be placing some warning devices around our vehicles. Your job is to keep the curious out and my job is to take care of the ones that are serious."

I brought the men near the trucks and had Tiffany turn on one of the spotlights. It was bright but it was still light out. "I have more of these. If it is not serious, I will cause these devices to cast forth light for you to see."

The leader said, "Are they magic like your cart?"

"The light comes from a device. Mantoya Slako has the plans to make the power that these devices need to work. My carts burn a fuel and the power of the fuel makes the vehicle move. My cart is just a tool made of metal while you have a horse that eats so it can carry you." It didn't look like they were taking my word for this but they were just paid to help.

There was a good chance that these men would just sleep but it didn't matter. Our motion detectors had been modified by a friend and then the girls had copied the design on a great many more units. There was no LED light and the alarm was removed. Walkie-talkies were used to transmit the alarm to a central location. Now the intruder wouldn't know he was detected unless he heard us scrambling for our guns.

I sent up overlapping zones of coverage. If the alarms were tripped, I wanted those that tried to rob me caught. Ones coming with weapons would not have to worry about what Mantoya Slako would do to them.

The girls relaxed since arriving here and after a good meal the younger members went to bed. The rest of us were going to sleep later but mainly we talked about what we got today. We spoke in English just to be on the safe side.

Tiffany said, "How much gold did we get today, Hugh?"

"It was two hundred and thirty kilos in all. I figure that this equates to two hundred and ten kilos of pure gold. By my reckoning, this is about four point seven million dollars."

Tiffany jumped up and down and hugged me. We celebrated by having an orgy but that was nothing new. I wasn't as proficient as when I was young so I had encouraged the girls to help me out by making each other happy. Lauren and Tiffany liked this. Jonna and Kuenta had done this for a year before I met them. Fislu had only a little experience with other girls and Selna had none when I had first met them. The two girls were taken in by Lauren so they learned the finer points of keeping a woman happy. I was able to do what I did best without the pressure that I was under before.

The girls born on this world got to make Lauren and Tiffany happy if I had filled them with my semen. Power was an important feature of our lives now. For the most part it was directed to communication but also energise the heart.

The next day started early and the amount of gold just poured in. It seemed that everybody had some set aside for one reason or another. Silver was the same way and I worried about our supplies of copper. Later in the day the more well-to-do came to me with much larger cashes of their surplus metal. Our tally so far indicated that we had nearly a thousand kilos of gold and about the same in silver or silver alloy. We had run out of busbar and now we were using strands of heavy gauge solid wire plucked from surplus heavy cables.

The girls had already used the wire to weave containers and now they used it to make bracelets. Copper pipe was used for rings but as yet we had few sizes. They were usually half inch, five eights and three quarters.

Near dark a well dressed man with a dozen guards came up. I had removed my Kevlar vest during the day and wished that I hadn't. The insignia he had on indicated that he was high in the affairs of the Church.

With no preamble he said, "Where do you come from?"

"I've found the people of this land to be polite. I assume you must come from some other place. Why should I answer any of your questions?"

"You speak oddly and I hear that you come from a land that can't exist."

"You speak your words very clearly but your tone of voice sets you apart as an arrogant man. I might have talked to you if you came politely and I may even have offered you a cup of wine. Now, I will give you nothing."

The may reacted quickly to bring out his gun but mine was already pointing at his head. I heard Jonna saying in my head that she was coming and soon I heard the older ones telling me where they were.

The man had froze in the act of drawing his gun but this didn't stop the other men. It was a standoff and I was worried. Jonna pushed in front of me. She was at least wearing her Kevlar. "Do you want me to kill them, Master. It will only take a second."

I looked at the official as if weighting the pros and cons of the proposition. "If they leave without incident, let them go."

The barrels of our guns were much smaller than some of the local guns but they had to figure that we weren't bluffing.

The leader yelled to his men, "Put away your guns," then turned to me and said, "This isn't finished." I said nothing and he just left at a slow pace.

Jonna said in my mind, "That kind of man will do exactly as he said. He will cause trouble."

The rest of the day was a downer but I came here to unseat the power of the Church. They just wanted to make sure all of us toed the official line.

That night, an alarm was triggered. There was little sound but a light flashed on our panel. I woke up those in my truck and got my Kevlar vest and the night vision goggles on. My usual pistol was left as I picked up a silenced nine millimetre auto with an aiming laser. There were sealed slits around the truck body where we could safely look out. Below them were small hatches for gun muzzles.

I silenced the alarm and Jonna said, "We'll all be ready on time."

With the alarm silenced, I opened the hatch and stepped out. Lauren was just now coming out and she had her Kevlar on. The motion detectors were set quite a ways out but they could be here by now. I lay on the dew damp ground and looked under each of the vehicles but saw nobody. When I got to the front I heard Jonna say, "They're coming from the north. Six of them."

I stepped out from in front of the truck and went around to the far side. The girls reported their locations so we wouldn't make mistakes. There were only two night vision glasses.

Jonna nervously said, "They're getting close."

"How close?"

"Fifty to sixty metres. They're armed with swords and pistols."

I went back around the vehicle and checked the other approaches. I saw nobody. With my pistol in hand I retreated to the area between the vehicles. I wanted to take them out but do it so that the muzzle flash would be hidden. I said mentally, "Ladies, prone positions, please. I'll try to wing them."

The girls moved quickly and I couldn't help letting my feelings for their competent actions be felt.

At six metres I opened up on the first. There was little sound but the flash was bright in my goggles. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. The last one stopped and was prepared to turn when I got him in the shoulder.

"Turn the night vision off."

"Off, Sir."

"Caiti, turn on the lights," I said verbally.

The flood lights came on and I saw people on horses rear up at the odd sight. They were too far away and too dark to see well. It took nearly five minutes for our supposed guards to appear. By then we were bandaging the wounded. Four had survived and two looked iffy. Shy and reserved Kuenta was our corpsman. She worked on all of them quickly. She was very used to death in this world. The heart was used but it was kept hidden.

I looked at all the faces but couldn't recognise any of them. Their clothing was plain but their weapons looked good. Our defenders looked ready to defend now but there was nobody to fight. Lauren and Tiffany casually kept their guns in the general direction of our visitors.



-------

Chapter 7


"What happened here?"

"We had some unwelcome visitors. I shot all six but I ended up killing too many. Do you recognise anybody here?"

The men looked but none of them bothered to answer. "We should take them to the watch."

"They will stay here until the morning. We may save a few." I left unsaid that we were going to question them.

The men stayed to watch us but soon we had to start up a small generator to power the lights and replenish the batteries. I took the slave girl icon to the one that looked to be dying and touched his head. He should have come around in twenty minutes but he didn't. In an hour he died and I touched the next most likely person to inhabit a grave. This one didn't respond either and died near dawn.

The other two looked healthy enough. We dug out the slugs from both of them and did what else we could for them. With death a commodity we knew we were going to deal with, we had studied not just how to hand it out but to also relieve trauma. This, I guess, was our graduation examination.

Mantoya Slako came after the watch changed. He only brought a few men so I assume this was a friendly call.

"Hello, Hugh. What happened here?"

"Six men tried to rob us. More were waiting in the courtyard of our landlord but I couldn't see them well. I shot the six but I was rushed and botched the job. Four died when I just wanted to wound."

He looked at me as if I were lying and said, "I was told that there was no noise, only a flame from your weapon."

"I have a suppressor that makes the gun only whisper."

"You did this all yourself?"

"My ladies were waiting and I had them lay on the ground with their weapons if more came. They didn't fire a shot. I might mention that your men took a long time coming here. One had to have been looking this way when I was shooting to see the flames. Perhaps somebody got paid to not see something. It's also possible that this person may die soon if it's believed that he may talk."

"One of my men reported a strange red light. Do you know what it is?"

"Wait here please."

I went inside and got a dollar store laser and handed it to Mantoya. He was used to opening this sort of thing by now. I showed him how to install the batteries then aimed the light at the wall of the truck that was under the tarp.

"This is magic, I know."

"This is a device that produces a special type of light. Do not shine it into the eyes of anybody. It is not strong but it may blind. Keep it."

"Thank you, Hugh. You give me such gifts that even our king would desire. Was this what caused the light?"

"No, my pistol has something like that under the barrel. The beam of light goes straight. Instead of using sights, the light is adjusted to where the bullets go. What is in range of my gun is hit but it only works in dark places or at night."

"Amazing."

"Mantoya, do you recognise anybody?"

"I have seen nearly all of them. They are part of a thieves guild. There may be trouble now."

"Yes, there may be if I have to go after them. I think I could clean up your city for you but I'm afraid there would be some damage."

"I'll warn them. What about the two that live?"

I lied when I said, "By the laws of my land, they are my slaves now. I can execute them or not. I may ransom them back to the guild if they're willing to pay."

"How much do you demand?"

"How much is a slightly damaged male slave that may be a competent thief worth on the block?"

"Since you want gold, I will say about two hundred flass each. You may get more if you release the bodies too."

This was gristly. The locals didn't mind putting heads on a pike but I didn't like that. "They can have the bodies. I'm keeping all the weapons."

Somebody later came from the city with a wagon and picked up the bodies. The driver and an assistant looked at the two survivors but said nothing. They looked at my ladies and our weapons very closely. I seemed to get a double dose of looks.

Later in the day, another convoy of wagons approached. At the front of the procession was a nice carriage. Around it were eight well armed men. The carriage opened and a well dressed and overweight man emerged.

He inspected our trucks and visible equipment then said, "You have two of my men."

"You are more polite than those from the Church but you need to try a bit harder. My name is Hugh Driscott."

"I'm sorry. My name is Artlam Crytar. I forget that you're a stranger to this city."

"Well, hello, Artlam. I found your boys playing a dangerous game with weapons. I think they came here to do me harm. This means that somebody wants me dead for some slight they may have thought they received from me, or perhaps they were here to kill me so they could get my copper."

"I think you're right."

"Good, that's out of the way. Did you come to trade?"

"As a matter of fact, I did."

There was a few orders given and the first wagon came over. It was full of gold, copper, bronze, and silver artwork. There were also some paintings and marble statuary.

"What do you think?"

"The copper and bronze would be too expensive when I can get so many more pieces that are just as beautiful that are made out of cheaper metals. The marble looks good and we can talk about it later if you don't mind."

He just nodded his head.

There were a lot of fine furniture pieces and I said, "This time I have little room for them. When I come again, I would like to bring some larger vehicles."

"Larger?"

"Yes. We're in a hostile area and these vehicles are made for war."

"A cannon would put a hole through your vehicle."

"That may be true, but I can shoot further than the cannons you spoke of. When I come next time, I'll be even better prepared."

We looked at the next wagon. It contained books. These I wanted if for no other reason than to store away. I desperately wanted books on magic but I dare not ask any questions on this subject. I searched the titles of the books but none were on this topic. "Books are cheap in my land. A machine makes thousands of beautiful books each hour. They are neat and orderly but these are handmade. They have more life in them than my books but I cannot transport them. Your country has lots to teach me and books will do that. Most of the books here are on religion. Could you find me books on medicine or any of the sciences?"

"I will do that for you."

"I move fast. I don't want people to know where or when I go so I will have to stay alone this time."

Another wagon had guns, swords and knives but they didn't interest me. The one after had clothing. I was ready to discount it when I decided to finger the material. The first was made of something like silk but it felt much more supple. I looked close but I could not see that well. Other pieces were made of a plant material and they too looked great. They had some good weavers and some great plants to work with.

The next wagon had five girls in it. None looked older than twelve and the youngest looked eight. They were all naked and posed for me. I turned to Artlam and said, "They are beautiful but I already have too many girls to take care of, even if they take care of me as well."

The last wagon had boys in the same state of dress. Here the oldest was eighteen or so. The rest were younger at 12, two at 8, perhaps a 7 and then an infant of 3 or 4.

The males didn't really turn me on though they posed as if they loved sex. Most were too young to have those feelings, anyway.

"I may have a use for the boys." Artlam had a smile and I added, "If you notice, I have some girls. I would rather have some boys so the girls' interests are focussed somewhere beside me."

I still got the smile so he figured I was still going to fuck the boys. He said, "Young male slaves are a rare commodity. There are many older ones that are acquired during a war but the young have to be bought. This shipment is worth at least ninety drak's."

That was almost a kilogram of copper. It was also an exorbitant price in this world. "Let's go to the first wagon and we can weigh what you have."

There was a lot of art here and I was careful when it was handled. I gave a figure for what it was worth and Artlam agreed. I had thrown in some extra because some pieces were of exceptional beauty. We dickered for the paintings, the tapestries and the rugs. Here I checked the type of fibres and how tightly they were woven. The marble was good too, but I really had nothing to go by. When it looked like I didn't really want it, Artlam sold it cheaply.

When I showed Artlam our books on anatomy with clear pages showing organs he knew about some of our books. I showed him a novel so he would see how the type was very precise and easy to read though the characters were strange.

The slave girls were brought by just in case I changed my mind. I could not save this world by buying slaves but when I thought of the boys I had to change that thought.

The girls left and I had to give them a second look. That damned Artlam caught me looking and smiled.

The last wagon came and the smile had not left Artlam's face.

I looked at the boys, they looked just as piteous as the girls. They were all probably well used but so were the girls.

Jonna said to me, "What do you want the boys for. You have us. You even get an extra hole to use."

"I was thinking of having them be friends with Ronnas, Andis and Caiti. My girls trained very well and maybe we could use the boys."

"That may be a good idea. What is that man's offer?"

"A kilo of copper."

"Offer twelve drak's only."

I said to Artlam, "Please send the cart away and we will talk as if discussing other business."

"As you wish."

When the cart left I said, "People want to kill me or rob me and I have to chose who I can trust and how much."

"I am much the same."

I did as Jonna suggested about buying the boys. All the girls came over now to see the new meat but they spent time at the other wagons as well. If I went to another city I could get boys for less and this was mentioned. I got them for seventeen.

"What do you want done with them now?"

"Let's conclude our business first."

"That's always a wise option."

Artlam was paid in full, then I brought out a Saturday night Special. It was worth a lot more than what even a kilo of copper cost. I loaded the small revolver with five shells and then aimed at a piece of firewood. Everybody was frightened by the noise. Artlam was offered to fire a shot and he did. The damage to the wood and the amount of penetration was evident.

I showed Artlam the spent cartridges and he saw instantly what they were made from. The remainder of the bullets were put back in the box with the two spent shells.

Artlam stared at the gun and it was now my turn to smile.

He said, "What do you want for this weapon?"

"I need to talk around the subject for a moment if you please. We both know that this weapon is very valuable. You can fire five shots very quickly to save your life. The weapon is small and can be easily concealed. You are hampered by having only a few shells."

When I paused, he said, "That's all very true. They are powerful, but not as much as a rifle or even a good pistol."

"That's true. Now for the cost. I am now the proud owner of six boys. I am a merchant and trader and I can't take time to watch children as they should be watched. I want all of the children educated. I want them well fed and clothed. They need to have a foster mother or two look out for them and show them love. Young boys are not really eager for sex unless it's a condition of their master. The same may be said for the girls."

While Artlam digested this I said, "I'll give you the pistol and the box of shells and in return you will treat five of the boys as if they were your cousins that have fallen on hard times. You will provide for them in all ways. You will also give them a small allowance each twelve days so they may buy something small."

"Five? Which one do you keep?"

"The young man may work with me or he may be a hindrance. I want somebody that is bright but will follow orders."

"You are asking me to keep the remainder safe, treat them like my family and keep them out of the trade. What if they seek the bed of a man?"

"You'll make sure this doesn't happen."

"How long will this agreement last?"

"It has to last until the boys become men, but in actual fact it will be a year or so. I have to set up a home for us. While I trade I need to have the knowledge that my they are safe."

Artlam said, "I will do as you ask, Hugh. I'm actually amazed that you would spend that much copper to raise five children who you have never seen before."

"My society is soft and I guess I am too." In a second I added, "I made a contract when I came here. The children are important enough to me to make another."

"I'll sign this contract if it only covers what we said."

We went over to my truck and I invited Artlam in. He was the first to enter. He did pause at the door to look at the thickness of the steel. I fired up the scanner printer while I tried to make a legal document. I basically said that Artlam had to adopt the kids and treat them the way I wanted. We even put in the amount of education, their governess, and their allowance. The document was copied and printed.

Both documents were signed and dated. Artlam was amazed at everything here. Not only was it the bright light of the scanner but the fact that a perfect copy came out. There was a DVD travelogue of Earth showing on the screen. I had to fire up the generator after a while because Artlam spent a few hours watching what my world was like.

At the end he said. "Your cities are gigantic. I see no walls around them. The buildings are as high as mountains. I see many vehicles racing all over and some are longer than the one we are in. Your country is an amazing place. I would like to visit it one day."

"Your world is amazing too, but I can only see it a piece at a time. I can't even go into the city safely."

Artlam was invited to eat with us. He sipped wine with me but his eyes were everywhere trying to learn all he could. He tasted stew cooked in a large pressure cooker. Our bread was fresh. We had canned peaches for dessert.

While the remnants of the meal were being cleaned up, we talked about politics and the Church. Individual names were mentioned and he saw that I wrote these facts down. He became more informative now and put in points that I should have asked.

When we stepped out of the truck, Artlam said, "What about the fate of my men?"

"You can take them if you have a wagon. We did our best to keep them alive."

"You are not charging me?"

"The contract we signed has many ways for you to cheat me. It was just a way to cover the major points. It shows that I have to trust you and as such I don't feel right about gaining a ransom."

"I understand you more."

A cart came and the two wounded men were put into it. Artlam went out of sight and in a moment a young man now dressed appropriately came back.

Artlam and I shook hands and we parted.

Galdem, our new guest, was not sure of his duties but I was sure that Artlam had already given him some. I said, "I'm not going to have sex with you." I saw that he looked pissed off about this.

"You are not going to have sex with any of the girls until I give my permission."

He nodded at this more readily and I wondered if he actually liked men better. He may not have had much of a chance to find out about women.

The motion detectors were turned back on and we went to bed. The girls took this opportunity to show our guest how they treated me. I dug a bit deeper and saw that the girls wanted me to know I was well satisfied and didn't need anybody else.

The next day, the girls attacked poor Galdem as if he were a gazelle and they were a pride of lionesses. They cleaned him and dressed him as if he were an infant. I was sure that he got fondled but I saw none of that.

More people came and I let slip that I was leaving tomorrow. Within an hour, the roads were packed. I was not doing all the business. Jonna did much of it while I did the talking about my supposed country and the people in it.

Around noon, a messenger brought a hand made copy of the contract we made. The wording was the same but now the five girls were added into the same contract.

When I went to hand it back, the man said, "No, Milord. This is your copy. My Master only seemed to grumble about educating females."

"Thank your master for me and say that my females are educated and can do what few men could do."

"I will convey your words, Milord."

When the wagons stopped coming we found the poor coming with their meagre amounts of gold and silver. I felt bad about taking their gold even though they were really gaining because I gave a good rate and I gave pure copper.

I received another messenger and this one was from Mantoya. He wanted to know about my demonstration and I gave my reply. Mantoya already knew where and how to set up the armour.

We had another uneventful night which I was happy to get. We had packed all the gold and silver art. This had to be done with care because the trucks were going over rough roads. We were almost full, too. I had figured we would get a metric tonne of precious metals from a city this large but it was four times that. There was no way we could go to another city to trade for more.

The demonstration was set up outside of town. I was courteous to our landlord and he acted nicer now that there were witnesses. Mantoya rode with us instead of riding with his men. Even though the trucks were heavily laden, they still rode well. After a bit of fright, the man relaxed in his seat.

Mantoya said, "I have taken your advice and started a school. We have made some of the wire but everything is going so slow."

"What you are doing took a great many years in my country. The devices in my culture are usually very intricate. It takes twenty or more years just to learn one part."

"When would the student find time to practice what they learned?"

"Children start at age five and go to school five days out of seven. You can have it eleven out of twelve but a half day each. The other half day is about doing what they were taught or to do some sports."

"Where would I get all the tutors?"

"You have money. They will come."

"I do not have that much money. I have many obligations and many more now."

Now it was my turn to be quiet. "If you started a university, I would help you get it organised. I would also make available extra funds so that poor but bright students can attend. I also require that girls go to school on an equal footing if they qualify."

"Females?"

"The majority of your population is female. I see this from the outside. The males want to keep the women down. They restrict the access of information so the women are kept ignorant. There will be opposition by the Church. I feel that if the Church can't convince you to do what they want, they will find an enemy that wants what you have. They will attack, loot, and destroy."

"I know the Church has black hands. How am I to fight them?"

"You gather allies. Foreign countries have princes that could be educated here. When the kings know their own sons are learning great things they will be less likely to attack."

"That's true, but armies come to our gates all the time."

"I'll formulate an aid package for you."

"Aid package?"

"We'll talk about this after the demonstration."

The crowd gave us a very wide birth. We parked the trucks quite a distance from the armour and wood posts. When Mantoya emerged with me, he had to move thousands of people off our range. Bullets went for miles and would kill even at that range.

It was another hour to get everybody moved and convinced to stay out of the way. Mantoya looked harried in his efforts. When the time came, I picked up a microphone and the speakers carried my voice to all of the crowd. "Hello friends."

Everybody was shocked and some fled. I continued, "My name is Hugh Driscott. I came to your shores from my country of Atlantis. I have brought some new ideas and acquired some metals we need for art. I will talk about those ideas later but now I want to show you three young and pretty girls. They're going to show you how to defeat an army."

Ronnas, Andis and Caiti were introduced. They spoke a few sentences about themselves and our mythical country. They carried their AK-47's to the line I had drawn. We were not out of range of a soldier of today but we were out of accurate range. I talked to the crowd to get them ready, then the girls went fully auto. They ripped out the magazine and flipped it to engage the other that was taped to the first and they again hammered away at their targets.

They had forty round magazines so the girls released two hundred and forty rounds all together. All of this was done in ten seconds.

There were no sounds from the thousands of people and I called out, "The girls did a great job. Clap your hands, please, to show your appreciation." I clapped and those around me did too but few of the crowd did.

Mantoya and then some of his men raced to the armour or what was left of it. Artlam was there as an interested party. The girls had reloaded and were picking up their hot brass for reloading later.

The inspection of our targets lasted for twenty minutes before Mantoya came to me. "Hugh, that was amazing. Those three girls could have continued on and taken out an army if they had the ammunition."

"Those are old but still good rifles. There are other ones that work even better. I would show you more of my weapons but I'm afraid there's nothing left of your armour. I do want to show you an even older weapon."

He looked at the armour again then he nodded. "Sure," he said.

Tiffany was waiting for my nod and she raced down the field and tied hunks of firewood were tied to branches with string. When she came back, I had an old Lee-Enfield rifle ready. They had seen service in WWI and WWII but they were still good. Each had been checked and were fairly accurate. I had purchased a hundred of them and got them for a little less than a hundred dollars each. Some even had scopes. I had the one I had sighted in. It had open sights

There were a lot of interested spectators and I spoke again on the microphone to tell the audience what I was doing. We walked forward to where my ability dictated. From a standing position I hit three out of three dangling pieces of wood. Each shot was important because I could not miss. Those that walked with me were amazed to say the least.

I walked back to the trucks and then used a log to sight in on three more. All were hit but only two had fallen. Jonna was asked to stay close and the guards were asked to keep others out of earshot.

Artlam said, "That weapon could defeat an army by itself. A soldier could hit any that come close. Only the cannon can go further."

Mantoya said, "I have to agree. Nobody could stand up to this rifle."

I pointed to the intersection of two roads and said, "There are some rifles that will shoot to that intersection and kill a man with every shot." The distance was two kilometres away. "These are old guns that have been surpassed by new rifles. They're still good. In this country, this is by far the best gun available."

Mantoya was quicker and said, "You would sell these to us?"

"First, tell me what you would do if the Church came to you and demanded that you turn over some or all of these rifles?"

Mantoya stood proud and said, "I would refuse." He thought some more then said, "Our king may order that. I would not be able to refuse."

The king of this country was called Willas. "Would King Willas resist the Church if he received some of these weapons?"

Mantoya smiled and said, "He just might. We all know the Church is behind most of the wars."

"Your city pays taxes. You could gain some gratitude from your king if you sent along some of these rifles as part of your payment."

"Kings are fickle, but Willas is better than most. What is it that you propose?"

"I'm asking for a hundred and fifty drak's for one rifle and for three hundred rounds of ammunition." This was about $40,000 dollars to me when converted into pure gold. Both men were a little stunned. Before they could object I said, "Artlam will be educating some students soon. You, Mantoya, are opening a school. The rifles are very valuable and need to be protected. I want my friend Artlam to have equal say in how the rifles and ammunition are stored. I'm going to donate forty eight rifles to the school along with 20,000 rounds of ammunition. The students will learn how to shoot, not just the militia. I am further donating 2,100 drak's in copper. There are some medical and other books I'm donating as well."

Now the men were really speechless. "A further forty eight rifles will go to the militia along with another two cases of ammunition. There are six additional rifles. They have a telescope on them. They are much easier to use when a great distance is involved. Each of you will get three of these for your own personal property. This will be in payment for both of you cooperating in furthering the school and assisting in the protection of this city."

One other announcement floored them. "In my absence, Jonna will act for me." This seemed to shock Jonna too.

We wrote up what I wanted and what I was going to donate. The two men and Jonna contributed to plug loopholes or avoid confusion. Artlam didn't put up much of a fight when I made him a part of the government of the city. A lie was put into the wording where I now loaned the rifles to the school. This would take some pressure off of Mantoya. All the walkie-talkies, the motion detectors and nine volt batteries went into a military depot.

Both men saw the computer and printer produce the documents on how to clean the rifles. These had already been translated to Ladra. More documents came out that dealt with shooting a rifle and for this particular version. A separate document had to deal with the telescopic sights.

The medical books were not translated so I printed out a dozen copies of our Ladra dictionary. The school would have to read the books and add words to the list for others. Other books of a technical nature would be collected so I could purchase them on any return trip. The same arrangement for gold and silver was made. This would be collected for me. It would not lose its value to this world but just take up more room than copper would.

In return, I got some books I was told would give me an insight into this country and this continent. I also got almost every map they had. I was pleased to find that there was a port not far from our portal and another one fresh water port near the city.

Wagons started to come to the trucks and wooden cases were loaded. Artlam called for some of his own men to help guard the shipments. Mantoya's men were very sceptical of this sort of help.

The ammunition and most of the remainder of my copper went into a separate wagon. Four of the men now held the Lee-Enfields. They were unloaded and the men were ignorant of their use but it would keep people away.

Everything that I could not use was given to the two men. It represented a fair amount of money to me but compared to the gold I got, it was nothing. I wanted a stable and rich city that would teach and perhaps sway people to a form of thinking contrary to Church doctrine.

King Willas was going to be very pleased at the bribe I gave him, but if he was greedy I would have to find a way to use my rifle to its best advantage.

We had a last meal in private. Jonna was with us so the men would know that I was serious. Artlam was given the last of the copper so that he could set up a safe location for my operation if I ever decided to make a home in this city. The way copper was, I could afford a very secure castle.

Tiffany, Lauren and Kuenta had taken our horses and five others and left hours ago. They were fully armed so I was not worried about them. I wanted to leave quickly so that we could not be followed very well.

We left a very shaken city when we hurried down the dirt roads that passed as highways here. In three hours we caught up to the girls. The horses were unloaded and tied to the trucks. We still made good time and the horses were able to keep up.

We camped soon anyway. We were using the night vision glasses to drive by. When we pulled off the road we tried to hide our tracks. Everybody was happy but Galdem had not gotten used to us yet.

I called the lad forward and got him to sit at the table with me and the three youngest.

"Hi Galdem."

"Hello, Master. What may I do for you?"

"Listen first."

"Yes, Master."

"I make love to every one of the girls in this vehicle except the three sitting at this table." They young man nodded his head. He was used to hearing about lust and sex. "Young girls and boys may be interested in sex but they usually get abused. These young and pretty ladies will make beautiful wives one day. That day has not come yet. They may give you problems like they do me, but you have to resist."

"I understand, Master."

"Good. Now I want to tell you that we are very rich. Many people will want to gain what we have. They will kill or do anything else to gain this wealth. You are going to have to learn to help protect this wealth and the lives of those around us."

"I will do whatever I can, Master."

"That's good. You have probably heard that I bought all the other boys and I was given the girls. They are now being treated as if they have been adopted into a rich family. When we are more firmly established, we will go and get them." We went on with the rules that had to be followed. Some of them I had to follow, too, and Galdem was surprised that this was the case.

Before the young man felt too hemmed in, I went into how to shoot a rifle. I gave him a bolt action 22 with a telescopic sight and then a promise to take him hunting soon. I don't think he was worried about what he couldn't do now.

The next day we went hunting small game. The girls were good at this and I was teaching Galdem. I taught woodcraft the way I was taught. Galdem was too old to be my son but in a way he was like that. He may be homosexual and this could be driving his actions.

There was no pursuit though there were riders and wagons on the road. We didn't travel during the day and resorted to going at night with no headlights. We found campfires beside the roads and those that had been around them had fled into the forest or the fields at the sound of our trucks.

Two days later we started on the road we had made recently through our forest. Most of the girls and Galdem were walking or riding behind to hide the tracks. We were not even near to the capacity of the trucks but the condition of our trail was severe. A rainfall had necessitated us using the winches on a few occasions. We were all tired and that's why I had us even more vigilant.

Eventually, we pulled up to the area that was our first corral. The land we used had grown. The corral now had a regular fence. A steel barn was now used for the trucks. Another barn had feed for the animals and stored tack.

The girls stayed to unload the trucks and keep watch. I was always nervous, though to tell the truth it was about those under my care rather than myself.

The mirror had been moved downstairs in the house to the locked room. Instead of us all coming through, I checked and saw that my alarm had not gone off in our absence. We had a small telephone system and I called and told Kuenta that the alarm had not tripped. The house looked the way we had left it.

The answering machine was full of calls. I sat for a moment and listened to friends or family that wanted to talk to me. Some had to do with business but most were social calls. I filled out a written list of those I had to call and on what topic until I came to my mother.

"Hugh, this is Mom. Your father had a heart attack and is in the hospital. If you hear me, come to the hospital. We do not know how serious this is."

I listened to two other messages and heard that Dad had stabilised but was not out of the woods yet. I called up top and told them what was happening. The snake was in a cradle so the girls could come and go as they wanted. I just had a quick shower and left for the hospital.

Mom was in the hospital room and Dad was asleep. Mom looked at me, then at Dad and hustled me out of the room. "Where were you, Hugh. Your father has been this way for four days now. He could go at any moment."

"I was out of the country taking care of business. How is Dad doing now?"

"The doctors say that there was a lot of damage this time. They don't have a — " Mom started to really cry now and I held her to me. When she was better we went back in the room. I got Mom to sit and I sat in a chair close to him while I held his hand. The Heart of Opfu was in my other hand and I worked hard to see just what to do first.

I had not worked on somebody with a heart attack. For that matter, I did hardly anything but burns, cuts, and recently, gun shot victims. Once I saw what the heart attack really did, I was able to start the healing. I must have been there a long time because when I finished, I saw Lauren, Tiffany and Kuenta in the room with us.

Lauren said to Mom, "Let's go get a coffee. You've been here for a long time and you need a break."

"I have to stay."

"To do what? Are you a doctor?"

"I have to stay."

"Hugh will stay and if there's a problem he will phone us." Eventually Lauren got Mom to leave the room and Kuenta took over the healing. I used a few words to explain what I saw and what I was doing.

Mom came back with Lauren and immediately went to Dad. She said, "His colour has returned!" Mom looked at me then in wonder.

"Kuenta had a special touch. I told you about it before but you always discounted it."

Mom looked at Kuenta then put her hand on the woman's shoulder. "Thank you, Kuenta, for all that you have done."

"You're welcome, Mrs Driscott. I have the feeling that your husband will make a speedy recovery."

Dad took this time to awake and Mom gave him and us a big smile. We talked for a while then Kuenta and Lauren got Mom to go home for a rest.

With just Tiffany and I left in the room, I said, "Our business went fairly well. That loan I have, well, I can pay it off in full."

"I wasn't worried about that, Hugh. I knew you would succeed."

The loan was for fifty thousand dollars. I pulled out a gold ape similar to the type we first found and put the figure on Dad's stomach. His hands were not strong but they were able to grasp the figure.

"What's this?"

"It is either to show you or to pay off my debt."

"Debt? How?"

He still was under the influence of his drugs. "Can you feel how much it's pushing down on your stomach?"

"Yeah, its heavy. What about it?"

"It is a bit over three kilos."

"So?"

"Do you want this to cover my debt?"

It was only then that Dad caught on. "Is this — this gold?"

"Yes, Dad. Three point two kilos."

"My god! Do you know how much this is worth?"

"I sure do. I also know that it is worth something for its art value, too."

"Where did you get it?"

"I'm not at liberty to say, Dad."

"There are laws about taking art from other countries."

"Yes, there are, but this piece was made within the last hundred years."

"What am I going to do with it?"

"A doorstop?"

"Be serious. This is worth lots."

"Almost 72,000 as of today."

"I loaned you fifty. I can't take this."

"I came back with a lot more than that. It saves me having to sell the gold to pay you off. The government wants to take a piece when it's none of their business. Now do you want it or not?"

Dad looked at it and so I picked it up so he could see better then he said, "Sure, I'll take it. Now tell me how much you got?"

"Can't say, except that I'm out of debt."

We went home much later and still had time to move some of the metal into the house. The rest of the gold was hidden in a secret cache we had under the concrete. This had most of our weapons too. Perhaps it was time to upgrade to some more modern weapons if Willie or someone could find them.

Galdem suffered culture shock just like the girls had. He was being led around by them so they could see his happiness or dismay at each new discovery. So far, he had not rebelled. Men of his country didn't like women being anything but slaves.

I called Willie. He was given five kilos of gold to change into cash. This was a fairly legal activity but I didn't want my name attached to it. Neither did Willie, though, and he had to work hard. He also got our new shopping list and he was very happy in trying to fill it. The budget this time was ten million and Willie was getting ten percent. Our requirements were a lot more strict this time.

The silver was a slightly safer commodity to trade, but not much. We fused the silver into lumps and had an electroplating shop make a special run to purify what we had. There was a lot of other metals in the silver but there was no way for us to adequately process them.

We contacted a shop that would make custom generators. When we stipulated silver for the conductors they nearly shit. They did agree, though.

The silver was drawn into wire and this was processed so it could go into the generators. All this took time and we had a lot of other fish to fry.

Dad got better but didn't go back to work. Mom stayed home with him so I had to fill in. My girls helped. Galdem did too, but he had to learn English. Kuenta visited Dad a lot and eventually got to hold Mom's hand. Within two months Mom and Dad were anxious to come back to work.



-------

Chapter 8


We prepared for our next trip. The maps were studied and the cities picked out. We managed to get a rocket launcher for the truck that had no cannon. The rockets cost nearly four hundred thousand a pop so I was hesitant to use them. I only got them because I could trade directly for gold.

We did have visual on the missiles so we could actually see what we were going to hit. With no aircraft, the weapon could not be used to its full potential. Some biker businessmen found three pilotless drones that were made in Australia. They were not small, either.

We had made nearly forty million dollars profit on the last trip but we were severely restricted in what we could purchase. I could not see the reason for money laundering. Much of what we did spend was on defence and some, like the generators, were to change the culture in Bejek. The most potent weapon was education and this required books. We hired a university student to make a font for us. It worked quite well with WordPerfect. We could now type in Ladra with ease. The problem was that the language had some odd grammar and we were not that experienced with writing it yet. I was trying to avoid something like the Japanese translation of some games when they were carried into English.

We downloaded technical books from the internet with wild abandon. When they got translated we could print them. Hard copy books were purchased for the university and I knew that the biology of Earth was the same as Bejek.

Galdem, Jonna and I took a trip on horses to see how Artlam and Mantoya were doing. We had few trade items except for fifty kilos of copper and an equal weight in shells for the Lee-Enfields. We also carried all the tools to reload the expended shells that had been used along with the powder and primers. Along with this was some personal articles. We dressed this time to fit in as fairly affluent travellers that looked armed enough to not be trifled with.

Shreff looked different in the autumn of the local year. We were studied intently as we and our six pack horses went through the gate. There was now a heavy false beard on my face, Galdem wore one as well. I was hit by the stink first. My two travelling companions seemed better able to cope with it. Galdem knew the city well and led us to Artlam's home. There were two guards lounging in front and I knew that two more were hidden across the street.

When we stopped, Galdem said, "We came to see your Master."

"Who are you?"

"Look closer. You had your cock parked in my ass enough times."

The man looked closer, then he looked at Jonna and me. "You should get off the streets. Go to the side entrance and I'll have it opened for you."

In a few minutes a large double door opened to admit us and our pack horses.

Artlam was in the yard when we came. He had a big smile. I said, "Are you happy to see us, Artlam, or did we cause too many problems?"

"Hello, Hugh. Your beard looks fair but you need work on it to make it good."

"You have a good eye but I guess you have to have one." I got down and shook the man's hand. I had entrusted him with a lot and I would find out soon if the trust was justified.

"You were right about the Church. It was as we had thought. The Habstner broke through King Willas' lines to come here. We found out about it and used the rifles on them. The king in his gratitude made me a minister but not one at his court."

"And how many times did you stop people trying to steal the rifles or the ammunition?"

"There were eleven major attempts and four minor."

"Did any succeed?"

"You hurt my pride. I was going to offer you wine."

"I would accept a drink and a bath if you would provide one. We also have a lot of valuable property here that needs to be protected."

"Then let's get it into the house as soon as possible."

We took our weapons with us and leaned them on the wall. Over a glass of wine I asked, "Are you and Mantoya still on good terms?"

"Of course."

"Would you mind inviting him here for a meeting. We could go to his offices but I am sure that my presence would be found out sooner if I did that."

I had a quick bath. Jonna did my back and I did hers. We didn't have much time for dilly dallying. By the time I got out and dressed, I found a line of ten children and four adult women. The children were dressed nicely and they looked healthier than they did the last time I saw them.

The first governess bowed to me and introduced three of the children. The children stepped forward one at a time and said how happy they were to see me. I shook hands with them and basically treated them like adults. The first stepped back. This went on until all of them had been introduced and greeted. Artlam had come to see this and smiled.

The last one was a boy of about three. When I opened my hands after the shake he slowly came to me. I picked him up and said, "You are bigger now, Goff. I brought something for all of you. Do you want it now or later?"

He just smiled and nodded his head. I carried Goff and the rest followed me. One of my packs had some of the gifts I brought. I reached into the pack and picked out a doll. "This is for Mago." The girl in question had to be encouraged to come over. I put the doll in her arms like a baby and said, "This is so you can practice. Look at her eyes."

"They open!"

"They close, too."

Mago hugged the doll and smiled widely at me. I said, "There is a secret in your baby. She comes from Atlantis and does not speak your language but she can call her mother."

Mago almost dropped the doll when it cried 'mama', but after the tenth time she cuddled the doll to her. The other girls got similar dolls. These were expensive and said to be the most lifelike of any made. There were many varieties and they were all anatomically correct.

Goff got a large fluffy dog that he seemed to love right away. There were flashlights that stayed lit if they were shaken and others if they were cranked. There was a lot of the large hoops used to make giant bubbles. Wooden puzzles as well as jigsaw puzzles were included. To stimulate art, I brought many sets of coloured pencils and watercolours.

When the children were led away to investigate their gifts, Artlam said, "You treat them like your own children."

"I don't have any children, yet. I have too much work to do here to start having my own."

"I have many children but I never have enough time to see them. After sharing your joy, I see that I have missed out."

Mantoya arrived soon after and was invited into the house with four of his officers. I had met two of the men before but I was introduced to all of them. Artlam had his own officers and they were included in the meeting. I introduced Jonna and Galdem.

Wine and a snack came and we began to get down to what had happened here. Fighting was in the blood and one bloody battle with the Habstner was described in detail.

What I was really after was how King Willas now looked on those in this room. A King's gratitude was probably capricious at best. I learned he wanted more weapons and more shells. He was thwarted because the rifles were said to be my property and were on loan. The shells were irreplaceable.

Artlam had my cargo brought in. Everybody's eyes lit up when they saw the cartridges. Next, I set up the apparatus for reloading the shells. This took a while because it was a bigger unit. This large unit rested on the floor instead of a bench.

"You have to find your own lead for the bullets. The trick is to make them all the same. If they are off even just a little bit, they get remelted and recast."

The men around the room nodded.

Jonna was now asked to add her input. She talked of what to inspect in a used casing. We already had lots of copies of this information. She went through the entire procedure. At the same time she was actually doing what she said with actual parts.

"If you put too much powder in, you can have a breach. That means the rifle is destroyed and a man dies through someone else's mistake. Make the bullet just a bit too big and the same thing happens."

She handed the completed shell to the first man and he passed it to the next.

Jonna said, "You gentlemen have to copy this machine very carefully. Bullets are heavy but powder and primers are light. If you work carefully you should be able to reuse twenty four thousand shells with what we brought today. It would interest one person in this room that smaller calibres can also be reloaded." This was aimed at Artlam.

Jonna went on to talk about marksmen that insisted on making their own shells. They were consistent and very accurate. She also stressed again about practice and the need for cleaning and oiling.

I dug into the bag again and came out with more gifts. These were simply nine volt batteries, but they were needed for many of the small devices I gave the two men or the school. Science kits were pulled out of the leather bag and had to be explained to the men. The instructions had already been translated for their use. Most were fighting men and not really interested.

Wet cell batteries were here along with the parts for more. They had to have some to investigate so they could make more. A twelve volt battery had six cells so I had five cells to keep the voltage near where it had to be.

The men were now instructed by Jonna as they prepared a sampling of shells. We had a few empties with more stored in the armoury. The men didn't seem to resent a woman teaching them and I didn't think it was because I was here.

We stayed up late and were offered rooms for the night. We would have another class on reloading in the morning and then a meeting on what was happening in this world.

I received special dispensation and stayed with the children. I sharpened pencils and drew pictures. I was far from being an artist but I was able to draw a bit. Paper was heavy and paper made in Bejek was expensive as well as being poor quality. We experimented with the watercolours. I figured next time I would bring some crayons to add to the supplies.

The girls, of course, had their 'babies' with them and so did Goff. It was surprising to see that the older boys looked on Goff's gift as if they wanted something similar. I guess it all had to do with customs.

I found Galdem before the meeting and had him tell the rest what he had been doing in the last few months. He had worked hard and his mind was stretched to understand the new culture that he met. We stressed what he was learning so he could be an asset to me. Driving the trucks, riding a horse, shooting various weapons and then watching educational television were only some of highlights. Galdem knew enough to not mention the portal and told a story about ships and sailing on the ocean.

When the meeting started we discussed the collection of books, gold and silver. Little had been found and I had basically cleaned out the city apart from those pieces of art that people didn't want to sell at scrap prices.

The men in the room listened to the report made by Mantoya about the starting of the school. There was not much progress yet but I expected that sort of thing. I asked questions on a time frame and Mantoya had to give his best guesses. My intention was to make sure he followed certain paths to some specific goals.

The school was slated to move out of Artlam's home and into mine, I heard. Artlam blushed at this. It was either that he was seen as a good citizen or that my future quarters would be shared with a lot of students.

The city was happy because of the defeat of the Habstner incursion and the fact that there was a lot of construction and employment. The school itself was many smaller properties that were now combined to give us the room we needed.

I added an idea that should have been suggested before, "What's being done to prepare a safe shooting range?"

Mantoya said, "We just shoot from the wall at targets in the distance. That's the way we did it before and that is the place we will shoot from if an enemy comes close."

"Somebody that's innocent will get killed one day. You need a long stretch of land with a large pile of soil at the end. Above this should be a wall of logs to catch bullets fired too high. You can mark out the distance with lines of lime. The bullets you are firing go a great distance and can kill by mistake."

Mantoya said, "Then the peasants should not be there."

"What if it's their land and you want their produce?"

"They should hide when we shoot."

"They don't know when you start to shoot. Killing your own people isn't the thing to do. One way to help would be to have rules made and posted. If somebody is reckless, he is banned from shooting the Lee-Enfields. If he's a fool, we don't want him. If he endangers others, he has no place with the school. I'm sure the army would think twice about this sort of person, too. Perhaps in a later visit I can bring the rules that we use and you can adapt them to your land." I said, leaving them an out to save face.

I asked, "What in your opinion would be the logical outcome if I visited King Willas at Limka?"

Mantoya said, "They would want your copper and trade for it."

I looked around and finally Artlam said, "The Church would try to destroy you. The king might try to seize all of your weapons if he felt he could take them fairly safely. The thieves guild will be after you for their own gains if not because they are paid. They would lure you into the city where you are weak and attack. They would make traps to destroy you on the roads."

When I looked at Mantoya, I saw him thinking hard but not disputing the statement. "That may very well be so, but it all depends on what strength is shown. A weak force draws an aggressor."

I said, "I would appear stronger if I had more eyes and ears. I would also look stronger if I had a hundred men riding with rifles. Finding men that will not run off with what they can will be difficult. Finding men that will scout out a city for me and not report me to the king or the Church would be the same."

Mantoya said, "There are some good men in this city, but I need them too."

"Perhaps I can ask you to raise a group of men for me. They are paid better than most. If they are trained correctly, then desertion and theft would be minimized." I looked at Artlam and said, "Perhaps you know of some men that could join us not just as soldiers but as a special unit that gets paid even more. They train harder than the rest and receive special training on how to sneak into a city and out again among other skills. Those men and women could find traps set to catch me."

"How much pay would they get? I know men and it will take time for them to show loyalty."

Now it was my turn to think. "How about they get standard pay for a year. If I am alive and active, they get a pistol similar to what you have plus fifty bullets. After another year, they may get another pistol that may be better yet."

"What about gaining some pistols that are like what you have?"

"That can work but it may be better to make these weapons here. The weapons my girls used so well are well suited to be made anywhere but I don't have the specialised knowledge. I wouldn't want to make guns that are of inferior quality."

"Can a telescope be put on the top like mine?"

"Yes."

"The promise of a rifle like that would be more than some men could handle."

"I don't want these rifles getting out into the public. They would be for the defence of the school and city, as well as for arming my escort. If we make too many, some day those same weapons will be aimed at us. Let's make small pistols as gifts and some better pistols for those that serve our cause."

The conversation went on and on. It was far from boring though. I touched on another topic. "I would like to do more sailing because my cargo is so heavy. Getting one of our larger ships would be difficult and expensive. What can be found on this continent that is large and safe enough?"

Mantoya said, "Why did you not ask the sailors that carried you?"

I felt a trap now and I had constructed it. "I have to come by small craft. The land vehicles are put back together from pieces that small craft can carry. We have very large ships that are made of good steel but I am not yet given leave to use them. My mission here is to change your people by educating them."

"Not gain copper?"

"I'm wealthy in my land. I like art and will purchase articles that further my enjoyment. Our gold is used in giant statues. I would like to have one commissioned for me but most of the gold goes to those that are far richer than me."

"Is that all?"

"I want to educate your people and gain silver and gold."

"Yes?"

"Those are the two reasons. I would only add that the Church is the main obstruction to progress as I see it. I would like to see the Church reformed, all of you educated, and of course me gaining metal for my own needs."

The men thought about my words and studied me. I had slipped grievously by mentioning ships. When a moment had past, I said, "I'd like a larger ship than I can now command. I need competent sailors. The ship has to go where I want and not where the captain may want to go for his own trading."

"Tell us about your steel ships."

I started with the largest military ships then went into the largest cargo carriers I saw, then I glossed over the mid range until I got to the car toppers with an outboard motor. I then went back and talked about sailing ships that were king in their day then to the racing ships that were made of fiberglass.

"You cannot get one of these ships yourself?"

"I have to sneak out of my land and sneak back in. A large ship would be noticed. I have not had any dealings with the local sailors at all."

"Why must you sneak?"

"Your land is savage. I'm going against the beliefs of my people. I'm the one that thinks that you can change. If I'm wrong, then when I die, there will be no more trade."

There was no talk after that statement until Artlam said, "So you are no stranger to slipping around obstructions?"

"Actually, I'm not good at it. I try hard to think of all the possibilities before I proceed and I still make mistakes. I'm a man that owns some businesses that sell to the common person. I went to a special school to learn how to farm. I love to grow plants and improve them. That love has to be pushed aside so I can help here, not just find gold to make a beautiful statue."

The discussion got into dangerous territory a few more times. I was able to slip out fairly easy only because I had thought that this situation would one day come about.

I tried not to sound evasive and at the best time I said, "I brought three generators made in my land. There are also some batteries in my belongings. I have to talk to those that work in chemicals to find out if my batteries can be duplicated." I had no name for the word acid and needed to talk around the word until one of the men came up with the translation.

"The devices you have require batteries. You now can make your own and they will last far longer. When they lose their power, they can be charged again." Promises were made to find the people for me.

Artlam came to me later and said, "If I gathered your gold then you wouldn't be exposed to danger."

"That's what I was thinking about, too. It doesn't cover the Church and the education."

"You have a school started and education will change the Church."

"The school hasn't really been established, yet. We have a sort of start now but it's not enough. I have millions of books written in many languages but none of them are in yours. Education would proceed faster when some texts can say what I can't. I'm only partially educated and no one man can know everything about even farming."

"Surely farming is just digging a hole in the ground and planting a seed. Later you remove weeds and keep the land watered."

"There's much more." I went on to tell him what I learned each year in university. Genetics and the changes we could make were added but Artlam didn't see the difficulty in manipulating genes since I could do so many other tasks.

When I was finished talking about crops, I said, "You mentioned gathering gold for me. The coins are debased. I have to not only remove what has been put in them but I have to add what we use. If you were to acquire the gold from where it's refined, it would have less base metals and perhaps be easier to gather. You have to ship and protect your cargo. What do you see as a rate of exchange?"

"The official rate as you know is 48 to 1. I would need some of those AK-47's you mentioned to protect my investment."

"I'm not opposed to you gaining a few of those weapons. You must know the truth of the matter when I said that one day we will have to face any of those weapons that get out of our hands. Your guards, though, would be adequately protected with the kinds of guns you now have. At some future date when the shipments get very large, we can discuss heavier weapons. In the years to come, you may get carts similar to what I used. The AK-47's are effective but the carts had much more formidable weapons."

"Like what?"

"The guns on top fire a very heavy shell and push it out much further and even faster than the rifle. The larger weapon is a cannon. It's probably much smaller than any you have ever seen, but mine can go just as far and be just as effective. Instead of four rounds in a minute, it can fire nearly a hundred. I'm using something much stronger than the black powder you use in my shells and this means that they will be far more effective than anybody else's."

"This wagon would be very useful in war."

"Yes, it would, but it's too large. Smaller units are made that are more agile. They usually move in groups for mutual protection. Two vehicles are really not enough. I don't see using more unless the entire might of the Church comes after me."

"They just might. To finish my reply, without the AK-47's, I could use six more of the Lee-Enfields and a thousand rounds of ammunition. As this gets used, I will need more. You said we need to practice." I didn't dispute him so he continued, "I would have to give you 40 to 1 for the copper."

"When I was here last, I gathered the equivalent of 16,000 drak's of copper. You are saying that you will do this for me but keep 6,000 for the gathering and the transporting. That's a lot for what you offer."

"My people and I have to eat."

"They would eat too well. If you want the rifles, you'll have to purchase them from me. You'll also have to do the same for your ammunition."

"What do you suggest?"

"I gave you some rifles already. I'll loan you six more and provide two thousand rounds of ammunition, two thousand primers and enough powder to fill that many shells. You will gather the same amount of gold and silver that I had gathered last time. I'll also provide the necessary copper to make the initial purchase. You'll look for my books and gather them. You will do this at six different cities, then pay me back the copper I loaned you. The guns will be yours then and I'll give you 200 drak's."

"What about if I go to a seventh city?"

"One more rifle, a thousand primers and the powder. I'll also give you a pistol like mine and a hundred rounds of ammunition." I was not being cheap in my dealings, I was limiting Artlam's starting point because he would want more and more as time went on.

"Now that I like."

We made up a written contract but I could still get royally screwed. Artlam was directed to the fifty kilograms of copper I carried here so he could start the business venture. This was enough to get 2,400 kilos of gold but some would have to be silver. Silver was going for 411,000 bucks a tonne at home so I couldn't bitch that much.

Artlam said, "You asked me to keep your slaves from the men but your oldest two girls wish to start a family now. They're of age."

In this society I could act more honestly in some situations. "Are they after someone in particular?"

"I'm afraid so."

"What are the prospective husbands like? I don't like men abusing girls."

"There's no problem there. You would approve of their choice."

"How's that? A wife means children. The family has to have enough food to feed its members. Do the men have jobs?"

"The girls have actually focussed on one individual. He has no money problems. He loves the girls and I know the love will grow. He's that type of man."

"If those girls were your daughters, would you recommend that they marry this guy?"

"I think so. You shouldn't take my word for it. Talk to the girls themselves. You can hear about their choice from them. When they were my slaves they were much easier to deal with."

I put off the meeting with the girls for a while by saying. "Who, besides the Church, knows anything about Magic?"

"Why would you like to know?"

"Magic interests me. I like to learn about the science of living things and magic seems to fit."

Artlam didn't look to have bought my argument but said, "The Church is a very closed society. Once you enter, you only get out through death. The Church seeks out everybody that has even the smallest spark. Those that have escaped being picked up by the Church authorities want to continue with their freedom."

"I only want to get answers to my questions, not turn them over to some bloody fanatics."

"There are a few people. I value their help and I don't want to see them distressed. I'll contact them and ask them to answer your questions."

"Thanks, Artlam."

Artlam took me to a large room where one of the women were instructing the five girls, then left me. I had disturbed the class and now the teacher could get nothing done. I saw that all the girls still had their dolls and I felt good for giving this gift.

The instructor was a woman of about forty. She was still good looking for her age and reminded me of my mother. I vaguely remembered her name as Sossa.

The woman asked, "Is there something I could do for you, Milord?"

"I would have liked to listen to what you had to teach, but I'm afraid I've disturbed your class too much for that."

"I'm sure the girls will disregard you if you require this."

"Forcing them won't work. I also came to talk to Lomma and Bulla."

"We can help you there, Milord." She looked at the other girls and said, "Let's leave now girls." I hadn't intended for this to happen but it did take away the aggravation of finding a place to talk.

Both of the girls were smiling at me. They were sitting on some large cushions with their feet under them. They seemed to wiggle a bit and their smiles became more subdued.

"Hello, girls. I was talking to Artlam about the two of you. He said that each of you wanted to get married. Where I come from, a girl doesn't get married until she's around eighteen. Some don't marry until they are in their thirties. You don't have to rush this along. The longer you take to find a man the more chance there is that you'll find a good one."

The girls just smiled so I added, "There are lots of things to do in your life before being tied down with a family. Getting married means that eventually you will have children. An older women can take care of a child better than a young girl."

They seemed to accept this so far. "The people in this land act different than in mine. Sometimes it's not much. Jonna told me that girls feel obliged to get married well before they reach their thirteenth birthday. You shouldn't act as if you are running out of time."

Again, they seemed to understand me. The girls looked at each other as if in some silent communication the way I could with my older ladies. They didn't seem happy though. "If you still want to get married, you may. This is your world."

I looked at Lomma. The people here, and especially the girls, were not upset about being asked about their bodies. I asked, "Have you started to bleed yet?"

"Yes, Master. I started just after you left last time."

This meant that there was a good chance she would be pregnant by now. "What about you, Bulla?"

This girl started to tear up and said, "Not yet, Master. Maybe it will be soon."

"Don't push it. Your body will change in time. You're safe now." She didn't seem to be mollified in the least.

"I heard that you wish to share a man. Does he love you?"

The girls looked at one another again and it was Lomma that said, "He loves us a little."

He didn't sound like a nice person. These girls were pretty and so vulnerable. I perhaps fitted in with the males of this land a little too well because I would love to sample both these girls. The problem would be that I formed an attachment to them. "Does he have a home for you to live in?"

I got the look and Lomma said, "Yes, Master. He has a large home."

"Have you heard anything bad about him? Did he throw out a wife before?"

"Oh, no, Master."

"I want to meet this man. You may go to him and tell him what I said. If I find he's good enough, then you may marry him." Lomma got up quickly and so did Bulla. They came to me but instead of a hug they got on the floor like slaves. Lomma said in a formal voice, "We will do as you ask, Master. Thank you for allowing this."

I put out my hand to touch Lomma's shoulder but for some reason it changed direction and I pulled her to me. She came very quickly. I pulled Bulla, too. I hugged both girls the way I wanted. I thought of Fislu and Selna because they were the same ages as these two. I felt a little jealous of the guy but as long as he made the girls happy I'd be ok.

The thoughts of my other girls and the scent of these ones made me erect so I had to think other thoughts for a while then I released them with a kiss.

I thought of looking for Jonna. She was always ready to find a place for my semen and I was never horny for long. I then remembered that Jonna was teaching a class about the reloader.

A servant pointed out Artlam's library. I let myself in and looked for books. In ten minutes I found a book on magic. I sat in a padded chair and started reading. It didn't take long before I came to the decision that the person was full of shit. The possibility that I had been wrong by so much seemed improbable and I discounted it.

I skimmed the book as fast as I could, but the writing was not easy to read. I finished the book and was looking for another when a servant knocked at the door and informed me that the meal was ready.

Artlam ate with Jonna, Galdem and me. During the meal he said, "Would you like to see the school and your new home?"

"Sounds good to me. I'll get my beard."

"You may do so but it would be more comfortable to ride in the carriage with me."

"We can do it your way." I didn't like wearing the disguise anyway.

After we cleaned up, I found Jonna and Galem on their horses with their rifles handy. I looked at Artlam and he said, "You need your own security. I took the opportunity of asking two of your slaves to accompany us. They'll make good camouflage. At that time I saw Lomma and Bulla race out of the house. They were dressed in something like a harem dress. It was very thin and revealing.

I had to control myself a lot better. I was also pissed off at Artlam until I figured that the men would look at the girls instead of me. Lomma got in first and I was sure she bent over just for me. The dress was very short and she may as well have been naked. I could see that her pussy was still bare.

Artlam got in next followed by Bulla. When I got in I found a pouting Bulla sitting beside Artlam so I had to sit beside Lomma. Bulla was just across from me and she put on a small smile for me. I put the beard on and looked out the window to see the city. When I looked at Artlam I saw that Bulla had a foot up on the bench and she was playing with her pussy while staring out the window. I looked at Artlam and he simply shrugged. At least she wasn't whining, "Are we there yet?"

It was hard to look out the window now and the woman smell came. Bulla may not have her period yet but she could still lubricate.

I forced myself to look outside. It was the only way I'd be able to deflate. My mind kept returning to the girl and just as quickly I pulled it away. I concentrated on the citizens instead. Here it was bad. Some were naked or nearly so and the weather was cool. I started to analyse what I saw. Adult women were very common but men were only seen as guards for carriages. There were children everywhere and they too were usually naked. I even saw six sexual acts in the ten minute trip and I was only able to see one side of the street. In all but one, a child was involved, though in one case it was three young boys. The children looked under nourished while the adults looked better.

We pulled into another courtyard and Artlam said, "We can get out now. Perhaps you better keep your beard on but too many will recognise you anyway."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Then there is no reason to wear it."

I got out of the carriage and I found Bulla looking at me so she could get down. I reached for her and she wrapped her arms around my head. I could smell her stinky fingers and started to think of horrific sights to get calm again.

When Bulla was down I saw Lomma with the same look Bulla had. I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around me as well as her legs. I was now worried about the man they wanted. They may wear him out but I didn't like them chasing me if they had somebody else in mind to live with.

I put Lomma down but it was a while until she let me go. Artlam was perhaps politely looking elsewhere at the moment.

In a few seconds I saw and old man of perhaps sixty approaching. Behind him was a woman around forty and then two girls. One was about eighteen and the other near Bulla's age. They were obviously pregnant but probably only five months along. It might be a difficult birth for the young girl.

Artlam introduced me. "Hugh Driscott, this is Ladma Chorso. He's the architect and the builder of this project."

"I'm glad to meet you Ladma Chorso. Artlam says the school will look very majestic."

"It will, my lord, if that is your wish?"

"My wish?"

"You are paying for all of this construction. The properties are registered in your name."

I turned to Artlam and he said, "It's much less trouble to Mantoya this way. We were hoping you could tell us about the buildings in your land."

Ladma said, "Yes, I am very interested."

"Our buildings are made of something far better than quicklime. The frame of the building is made of large steal beams, steel rods and webbing. The steel holds the strong material called concrete together. Without the steel industry and the ability to make concrete then we would have to use your materials."

"What do your buildings look like?"

"In this city I see some buildings four stories high. The largest buildings in my land are a hundred and ten stories. They're wide at the bottom for strength."

"How can this be?"

"Steel and concrete again."

"Can we make these things?"

"It would take decades to just get started. Stone works well enough and will last for thousands of years. What I don't see is a lot of glass. We have very large sheets of this instead of shutters. If it's cold, fuel is burnt to warm the building. Some farmers make a very long buildings out of glass side by side. The light and heat from the sun pass through the glass. The glass helps keeps the heat in. Using this method, plants can be grown in the middle of winter."

"That's amazing. Could you tell me how many rooms you want?"

I looked at the size of the property. I thought for a moment. A stride was two steps. That was a metre and a half. The property was only a few hundred metres on a side. "The schools I went to in my land would fill this entire area and be one story in the ground and eight stories high. I'm pretty sure we have to use stone in the walls to keep a fire from burning the entire place down. The individual classrooms are eight paces by eight paces. The halls have to be four paces wide. There is also the need to find places for the students to live. Usually, this is a separate building."

Both men looked at me as if I had two heads. "What's wrong?"

"The building would take many years to construct."

"It's still too small."

"I'll see if Mantoya will buy more of the surrounding properties. There are some across the way that should be cheap."

"If you cross a major road, you still construct one building. A tunnel is built for traffic and the rooms on each side of the road are used to sell just like what is done now."

Artlam said, "I can actually see that. People would come from all around to see this magical building and then shop in those businesses."

"A school teaches how to run a business. Those premises could be run by the students and the teachers. Business also needs people to keep track of what is spent. They learn both and it is learned well because it's real life instead of out of a book."

I saw a young pregnant girl shiver and then I recalled that my two wore even less. I had no coat so I turned to Lomma and said, "Get in the carriage." I turned to Bulla and said, "You too. Its chilly here."

"I, — yes, Master."

Ladma watched the girls bare bottoms disappear into the carriage and I became a little jealous and had to control myself. I asked him, "Is there a warm place for the ladies?"

"Ladies? These are just slaves."

"They're cold slaves though."

"It doesn't matter. Tell me more of this building you see."

"I'd like to, but Artlam was going to take me to an appointment. I find it chilly here myself."

Artlam quickly said, "Yes, it is chilly and I should have thought more."

We got back in the carriage and I saw that Lomma was shivering. I put my arm around her. Artlam looked distastefully at Bulla but did the same thing. We hurried home.

As the driver hurried, the carriage rocked side to side. Artlam said, "Your building will cost a great deal. Stone and beams are difficult to cut."

"Maybe not, at least for the beams. We have lots of hunting magazines." When he didn't know what I meant I said, "A thin soft book that is printed every week, two weeks or at one month intervals. The pictures are in colour and there are advertisements in them as well as newsworthy articles. Anyway, there's a device like the one in my cart. It turns a massive blade and cuts a tree into boards as long as the tree."

"There are many trees but they're difficult to cut down and cut into the pieces we need."

"Where are the trees?"

"Down the coast."

The city was close to the river and a tributary of the river actually went through the city. "You can float the logs here so they can be cut."

"I imagine so. Do you have a tool to cut stone too?"

"There are lots of them but they're large. When I go back, I'll find out how they work. About the logs though, I think they have to be put in place and held down when they're still wet. When they dry out they don't twist."

"Could these boards be used to make your ship instead of buying one?"

"Yes, but you have to find men skilled in making ships and hope that the rivers are deep enough to let them float out."

"Large ships come here and we already build ships, but not big ones. By the way, how big did you plan on building it?"

"How big is the biggest ship that comes here?"

I wanted something large so it would be stable. It would also have to be large if it were to house the two trucks. Maybe that wouldn't work because I couldn't get the truck on or off the ship except at a port where we could dock. Lots of old ports meant the cargo had to be ferried to the ships as they sat off shore. Well, maybe I could get some smaller vehicles, even some real APCs. Then thirty metres sounded right, going a bit larger for people and cargo would make it say thirty nine which worked good for my mental division.

Before Artlam could answer I said, "I think twenty six full paces may be enough."

"I haven't seen any that large, but I have heard of some. Finding the people may be difficult."

"I can help because I can find the drawings of the old ships from my country. As long as the builders can follow what is drawn the ship should be sound."

When we stopped, I hustled the girls inside while Jonna gave me a dirty look. Mentally she said, "Men! They take the girls out naked into a cool day."

I replied the same way, "I saw the problem and tried to fix it. Some men of your world don't want women, bearing their children, to find a warm place."

"I would like to gut them."

"They're probably no worse than most. I would like to gut them too."

Galdem put away the horses while Jonna acted like an angry mother and took care of the girls. When Artlam and I got in, I said, "I noticed a lot of hungry children. Is there any way to help them without me being swallowed alive by everybody in the city?"

Artlam gave it some consideration and said, "Most households feed some of the children and women. They are, in a way, our employees. When we want something done, one or more will do it. You can do the same but, as you said, they will flock to you unless you are strong. I see now that you are not." Artlam saw through me. I could kill men fairly easily, especially if they were attacking me. Children and women were an entirely different matter.

"I guess you're right, Artlam."

We went over maps. Artlam pointed out areas of some very mature trees. While we were at it he talked about what I would find in the places he put his finger. Too bad these weren't topographical maps.

There were images in my mind of ships and I drew some but they didn't look like anything seen on this planet. Artlam tried his hand and I saw their ships were like the ones Amerigo Vespucci or Columbus used. They were blunt bathtubs that rolled in the waves. They were much more suited for carrying cargo. I didn't want to wallow in the troughs but I didn't want so much speed that I sacrificed cargo capacity.

Artlam hit me with all kinds of questions about the ships I was familiar with, but I knew very little about them. It looked like he was getting as thrilled with this as he was with the financial prospects of the school.

I remembered the cloth he had tried to sell me and I asked, "What cloth is used for sails here?"

"I may have some. It is expensive but it's strong and water doesn't bother it."

"Can it be used to shed rain?"

"It might, but I have always seen people just getting wet."

Word was sent and in a half hour a bolt of cloth came. It was thicker than the clothing worn by the girls and was still almost as transparent. I felt the texture and it reminded me of silk or satin. Silk was very strong and I heard that spider silk was much stronger than steel for its weight. It was very light, too.

"How strong is this?"

"I don't know what to say. It does deteriorate when it's in the sun for a few years."

"And you say that water does not effect it?"

"That's true. The ships I saw didn't have stretched sails when they were wet."

"Where does this come from?"

"Far to the north where it's hot. I heard that a long worm larger than this and wider than this." Artlam showed the dimensions with his hands and it looked like the worm must be fifteen to twenty centimetres long and perhaps four in diameter. It surely was not a silk worm unless it was a gigantic one.

"I guess the worm must shoot out the strand and wrap itself inside until it changes into an insect with wings."

"Not this one. It builds a nest. I heard it's very big. It goes out to eat, then comes back and builds more of it. Man comes and takes a portion of the nest and leaves the rest. Sometimes it's left so there will be young."

"Does it change to a flying creature?"

"It only has young worms."

"How much would a bolt like this cost?"

"This would cost perhaps three drak."

That was a lot for here but not when compared to the amount of copper I could get. "I want some of this. It may be used to keep a soldier dry and perhaps better able to fight. Speaking of that, I want you to talk to Mantoya about fighting in the rain. Our guns can do this while the enemy's can't."

"You're right. Why didn't I think of that?"

"You only had the rifles for a short period. If this material is good then how much would a bolt cost if I bought all that was on a ship?"

"When buying that much then the cost may drop to a single drak. Do you see promise in this material?"

"Yes, if it doesn't stretch when wet and doesn't let water through." I put a piece of the cloth to my face and I was surprised to see that my breath went through with only a little resistance. I had to get some water and saw that it stayed within the cup I made of the material.

"What is this material called?"

"Juffa."

It suddenly hit me. Silk was not punctured when it was hit by a bullet. It was driven into the body. Perhaps this worm could make Kevlar vests or maybe even better than Kevlar.

We had talked a long time then we had our meal. An older man was invited in and asked to sit with us. He had white hair and looked closer to eighty than seventy. He walked with a limp. his skin looked unhealthy and he had only one tooth.

Artlam gave the introductions and I shook Modak Clova's hand. I soon found out that he didn't have a fetish about washing too much. I didn't know exactly why he was here but when Jonna and Galdem left, Artlam said, "This man may have some of your answers."

I said to the man, "Would you talk to me about what you know of magic? I have my own issues with the Church and I want those people to change radically."

"What do you want to know?"

"I have seen a silver heart that can help heal people. I want to know how they are made first of all."

"My time is valuable."

"What do you wish for your information?"

"You are very rich so I want a hundred drak."

This guy reminded me of an old drunk that wandered over to our table to cadge a drink. "Do you have enough information to warrant that amount?"

"Sure."

"Then if you can answer all my questions I will give you that amount of copper."

"You will?"

If you do not know much then I will decide how much to pay you. I will not cheat you, but I don't want to be robbed either."

"You'll give me a hundred drak?"

"If you answer all my questions."

"Show me the copper."

Artlam said, "I will guarantee his word."

The old man seemed miffed but said, "I heard that Ragnus made the heart and all other icons."

"We're not getting off to a good start, are we? Try again with something that sounds more like the truth."

"You don't believe in our god?"

"I don't believe in any god. Now answer my question if you're able."

The man quieted down and said, "Another story is that we had strange visitors to our land. They came in a ship that flew in the sky. They helped our people for a hundred and forty four years. We were found wanting and the visitors left. Is that what you want?"

"It very well could be. I've never met any strange visitors like this." I excluded all of those on Bejek because they were either Human or close to it.

"Is there more to this story?"

"A little."

When nothing came forth I said, "Will you mention any and all information about what we were discussing?"

"I could use some wine. My lips are dry." Artlam poured the wine himself. The old man took a good swallow and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. After a sigh he said, "The gods that visited us tried to help in many ways. We were treated as their children. We were given gifts that could make our lives easier. We lived in a land flowing with wine and nobody was ever hungry. Our children grew strong and straight. The sick and lame grew healthy."

It sounded like the utopia that every race had in their past. "Is there more about your visitors? If so, please go on."

The man drank more of the wine then said, "That would take a long time. The list of what was done to help us is endless. I think much of it was added long after the gods left."

"Please recite the most probable actions of the gods you mentioned first, then continue on."

The old man looked grumpy now and mentioned a whole raft of magical devices. At no time did he talk about a portal. When he wound down, I asked Artlam, "How much of this is commonly believed by the people even if it's seen as a myth, legend, or fantasy?"

"All of what was said is commonly known."

"Can you add anything to the list we were just given?"

"Only small embellishments to what was mentioned."

"Let's attack this from the other end. The Church collects these magical articles and uses them. They search out those that can use magic so that the Church has a monopoly. What does the Church have that is known and then later what is believed that the Church may own?"

The old man asked, "Are you going to give me my copper now?"

"You did give me new information but it was common knowledge. You're obliged to assist us in finding further answers."

"That wasn't our deal."

"Our deal was that you answer all of my questions. I want to get to the bottom of this. You can be asked questions for years or you can help me find a solution in much less time. Even if you know nothing useful, you may be able to help us. I will then pay you either what it was worth or even what you wished."

"We already agreed to that."

"I'm not going to be robbed. I will not rob you, either. You can go now with nothing or wait and possibly get your copper. It all depends on what you know and what you can help us discover."

"I need more wine."

"As a drunk, you could never help us. You couldn't even help yourself."

The old man showed real anger now but stayed in his chair.

Artlam went through the list of what the Church claimed to have. When he ran down, Modak added one item, then a couple more. All of the things Jonna knew of were covered already including the Heart of Opfu. We discussed what items were probably held by the Church and what may not be true. I had written a list of everything. We started once more with the magical articles that people believed the Church had but would never mention. This group was broken down into what may and may not be true.

We stayed at the table for another few hours. I wrote descriptions out of some of the objects if they were known. In a few cases more than one description had to be listed. None of the representations listed what I had.

I asked Modak, "Our friend, Artlam, invited you here as a person that knows something about magic. What, exactly, is it that you are able to do?"

Modak looked at Artlam and Artlam looked back. I tried to watch both. When no answer came I said, "Artlam, we are business associates. You have your secrets and I have mine. The question is directly related to magic. The answer will help direct me to where I can gain more information."

In a moment Artlam said, "Tell him."

Modak said, "But — "

"Tell him. He is not the Church."

It took a moment for Modak to say, "I can read the feelings of some people. I know if somebody is telling the truth or not."

The way he said it made me ask, "What more?"

When there was no immediate denial I knew that I was on the right track. Modak said, "With some people I can even read their minds."

"What more, Modak."

"Nothing."

"Yes, there is, and I want to hear it."

Modak's gruff and belligerent attitude faded to fear. He said in a low voice, "I can sometimes feel animals." We both waited on him and he added, "I move small objects with my mind." We kept looking at him until he said loudly, "That's all."

"I don't believe you. There's more. It's a big secret that you are trying desperately to keep hidden. Remember, you're an old man. Whether we learn of this secret or not, your time is limited. I'm not threatening you but only stating a simple fact. What you say may help me or not but I won't persecute you for it."

A while later the old man said, "I can make some people do as I wish. It gets me wine and a meal on occasion but I try to repay somehow."

"That's nice, but I know that there's more."

"Then you must be able to do what I do."

Artlam sat back in his chair now. He was afraid and very interested. I said, "This is my secret. I have made slaves with a silver icon. The effect lasts about a year and in that time I can feel what they feel. After a while we can communicate both ways. Some of the younger girls were never made slaves, but through love and being together I have been able to do the same thing, though not as well. Now tell me what you are hiding."

"I can find lost or hidden articles." This was said with some finality but I was not sure if it really was the last of his secrets.

"You haven't finished. There are others."

"There aren't."

"You forget that I can feel you. There's more."

"I have found water sometimes."

"There are others. Tell me all at once and I won't have to bother you any more."

"Four times in my life, I had a vision of something in the distance. Twice it turned out to be nothing, but the other two were as I saw them. The people in the vision were gone by then."

"There's at least one more."

"I get this feeling around magical objects. I know that you have something of great power."

"What exactly do you feel."

"The magic draws me as a cup of wine does. The feeling isn't usually very strong but it is with you."

Artlam asked, "What do you have, Hugh?"

"If you continue with my quest, I'll tell you. I'm not referring to a dabbling in magic but in an active search to learn all I can."

There was some thought put into his reply, "What will this bring me?"

"I want to learn about magic in general. I have more than one magical item. I have no idea of what I own. I would learn how to use what I have to the fullest extent possible. I learned that the Church is evil in a way. They have many magical icons and much information. I want to try to find out what I can from the Church. You would gain this knowledge."

I tried to explain better. "The icon I used promoted communication but I don't know if it would work with you. I was raised in a soft environment and I love those around me. You are in fear of your life. It is difficult for you to form that bond." He seemed to understand this.

"What I could give you is better health. I have the Heart of Opfu. It was not listed so there may be thousands of other artifacts that the Church has hidden. I can use the heart to ask your body to repair itself."

Artlam didn't comment. Modak said, "Will you bring me back to health?"

"Like you, I don't work for free. What will you give me?"

"All the copper you think I have coming."

"I want more."

"I have nothing else."

"I'll try to repair your body. There's no promise there of how much. I simply do not know what I can do. In return, you will stay with me. You will assist me in any way you can in learning about magic and what the Church knows. I will also see that you are fed and kept clean. You will have better clothes. What say you?"

Modak paused for only a second. He got up from the chair and then went to his knees and walked to me. Please, Master, take care of me and I will serve you faithfully for as long as I live."

This surprised me. I had to make this sound formal. "I accept your offer of faithful service and in return I will take care of you and attempt to bring you back to health."

Modak now looked at me with a big smile and the one brown tooth was very evident. "Get back in your chair, Modak."

Artlam said, "Can you really — help him?"

"I can try. What do you say to joining me in finding out more about magic?"

"I could use your help with my health and I don't like the Church, either." There was another pause and he said, "I will help you but there are many other tasks I need to do. I can't afford to just work on gathering information about magic."

"That's fine. When magic needs to be pursued more, we will. But you can take care of your business in between." I got up and pulled out a pouch out of my pocket and then took the Heart of Opfu out. It helped to be touching it, but it would still have worked from within my pocket.

I held the icon in my left hand and touched Modak's bald head with my right. There was a lot of resistance that I hadn't seen before. I didn't work fast, analysing what I was facing. I didn't know what it was but I would remember it if I saw it again. Modak had a lot of problems but most centred on old age. Dad had some of the same problems, as did Mom, so I knew a little about what I was doing. The biggest problem I saw was a weak heart and this is what I started to repair first.

When I withdrew, I felt that a long time had passed. I said to Artlam, "Modak's heart was weak. I figured this was his major problem. It may not be good to tackle all of his problems at once. Would you like me to start on you?"

Artlam had to think about this. I guess I would too, especially if I was in his line of work. "Look first if you would, and tell me what you want to do."

"I won't do anything but look."

He nodded and I came close. Artlam also had some resistance but it was different. It could be his worry that I was going to do something wrong or because he had so many secrets. He had plenty of problems. His overeating was putting a strain on his pancreas. There were problems with his joints that was related to his weight problem. There were some small tumours but they might be benign. I wasn't sure as I hadn't studied this enough. There was a parasite in him but I couldn't see that it was doing too much damage yet.

I was tired when I pulled out and I had to sit. "Well, my friend, you have a wide assortment of problems." I went on to list them in order of severity. The pancreas and the insulin production had to be discussed in detail and I was surprised to hear that Artlam had already figured this out. I had no chance to find out how good Bejek medicine was, or for that matter their chemistry.

Artlam thought about them and said, "What would you do first?"

"Work on your pancreas. It will give you all sorts of problems besides the breaking down of sugar. I can also tweak your body to burn off more of your mass, but you have to start eating more vegetables. Dieting is not easy."

"What about the worms?"

"I never ran into them before. I think I can get rid of them but the eggs would hatch and then I would have to do it again until there were no more. I can't find the eggs, but I might if I had the time to look for them." I thought of something else. "There must be some remedies in use here. Use them, and I'll work on the survivors or the ones that didn't get flushed out."

Artlam made a horrible face and I said, "I take it that it doesn't taste good?"

"You're right, and I also had to take something that made me stay near the chamber pot."

"Will you take the remedy later? I can work on the gland first."

"You can be my physician. I'll do as you ask."

Since I was really a neophyte at this I had to study and work slowly. I seemed to get the hang of it and looked for some type of control mechanism. Insulin would get either produced or released when there was a need. If Artlam were going to diet, the need would be reduced. Getting the body to burn fat faster had to wait. I was not really competent to fiddle with so many variables. When I came out I told Artlam exactly what I had done and not done.

"Thank you, Hugh. I feel better already but that may just be my mind."

I asked Modak, "How do you feel now?"

"I, too, feel much better."

We discussed magic again but now on a new level. Modak didn't hold back as much and Artlam was eager to learn more himself. Modak was given a bed but a bath came first. This helped all of us.

I went to bed late. A servant walked ahead of me with a lamp and saw me to my room. When I looked at the bed I saw that Jonna was all ready there. This was ok with me. We both had to charge up the heart and the girls also had me stirred up.

After I undressed, I slipped into bed. Jonna was very ready and she grabbed me by the ears as she pushed me onto my back. After a torrid kiss she put her nipple into my mouth. Her hand went down to find me already erect. Soon she pulled back and kissed her way down my abdomen before she pounced on her prey. She sucked furiously then pulled back for a breath or to do something else.

Her mouth came back and now sucked me as if I was delicate but then she started to be more forceful. Her technique was not the same as usual but I wasn't concerned. Usually, she took me much deeper. Now she was using her tongue more and I liked this just as much.

Jonna did a lot of moving around and I heard her groan. Her legs came to my head and I let her do all the work. She pushed down on me much more than usual when she had her cunt at my lips. I had visions of the young girls and I knew that Jonna was sending them to me. They must turn her on, too. Jonna stopped sucking as I started to suck on her clit.

Suddenly I knew that something was wrong. The clit and then the vagina was smaller than Jonna's. Almost at the same time I felt a mouth go back to my cock. This time it was much tighter. This was not a mouth.



-------

Chapter 9


Into my mind, I heard Jonna say, "Suck easily. You'll enjoy this."

I used my tongue and nose. This wasn't Jonna. It had to be a tight vagina sliding over my erection. This wasn't Jonna, either. I said excitedly, "The girls?"

"Yes, they want you desperately. Let them have their fun."

"But they're so young."

"They're no younger than Fislu and Selna when you took them. Soon you will have to take Ronnas."

Ronnas was just turning ten. I loved the girls, but the love of a father figure had shifted over time to something more like a lover. As yet we had done nothing. The insistent shaking on my mouth and on my cock said that I had to get to work and pay attention to those here.

The girls worked on me but Jonna was busy too. I felt her hand on my nuts but knew she was working the clit of the girl on my cock. She was so hot for this and I could almost see the girl with Jonna's eyes. Jonna was more then hot now, and this caused me to get excited too soon. My nuts contracted and I pushed out shot after shot into the tiny pussy. The girl was going through her own orgasm and I could feel Jonna's pain. Her hair must have been pulled.

When the girl slowed down I worked harder on the one riding my mouth. In a minute I heard a scream as the girl thrashed back and forth. I held her so she wouldn't graze my teeth. In another moment she was still. The other girl pulled off and I felt Jonna sucking all of our combined juice.

I knew that Jonna wanted to be fed so I moved out of the way. The room was dark but Jonna was soon guiding me into another tight opening. I knew that Jonna would soon be lying on the bed with a full pussy over her mouth.

The girl I was in was just as tight. I didn't know who it was and I let it remain a mystery for at least tonight. The other girl was moaning as she was expertly eaten while I sawed slowly into mine.

I was careful not to push far because I got big further back. This girl let out her moans and I was glad that none of them were caused by pain. The girls had sex before and this one knew how to move so she could get the most for her effort. I did the same but had restrain myself from going too fast or I would end too soon.

Jonna said to me, "Fill her up. This one is empty and I want more." The picture of a young cunt came to me and this was enough to push me over once again.

We changed partners twice more. Jonna got filled all second hand but tiny lips had worked on her opening too. When we were done, we all slept in the one bed. It was too small but I knew for a fact that Jonna and I didn't care.

I woke up first with a young girl on top of me. Her opening had swallowed me during the night. I was fully erect and loving it. There was just enough light coming through the shutters to see that it was Bulla.

I was able to slip out of bed without waking her. Neither of us wanted the connection to be severed and Bulla, in her sleep, groaned and clutched for me. I picked up her closer leg and looked at her pussy. I could not see it well but I could smell it. There was old semen, old pussy juice and even a bit that was fresh. My nuts were not full but I may be able to perform a few more times.

I licked her pussy and felt the fine hairs on my tongue. The taste was what I had been eating for the last while, but somehow different each and every time. It was when I was pushing my tongue into Bulla that she began to awake. When she realised what was happening to her she grabbed my hair with both hands and pulled me in. I reciprocated by attacking her clit. One finger, then two, entered her as I sucked. Her thrashing on the bed woke the others.

When Bulla had her orgasm I was more than ready for mine. I pulled her further to the foot of the bed and I climbed onto her. Her small hands held me and guided me home. She was still very tight and I had to work into her. She pulled me in with her arms and tried to wrap her legs around me but she couldn't reach.

Jonna was warming up Lomma and soon I found myself filling Bulla. The girl clung so hard that her nails ripped my skin. This only made my lust rise higher and I push harder into her.

When we relaxed, I had to pull back and I kiss the tiny lips. She had not really recovered from her orgasm and she just held me.

Jonna had got out of bed and pulled me over so I could do the same thing to Lomma. I did what was required of me while I looked at Jonna moving the unresponsive container of semen to her mouth.

Lomma's hand guided me in and all I heard from her was a whisper saying, "Hurry." I went slow instead and felt how tight she was. After a dozen strokes I saw and heard Bulla go into orgasm again as she and Jonna ate each other.

Lomma took a little longer because she wanted to savour the moment. We lasted through one more of Bulla's cums before I filled her pussy. I didn't get much of a chance to rest. Jonna pulled me out and sucked me clean, then she went to work on Lomma. I even had enough left to pick up Jonna's legs and slip into her for the first time in days.

When I came down to eat breakfast with Jonna, I saw that Artlam had a smile on his face. I guess he knew what was happening within his walls. Galdem had already left by the time Modak arrived. I introduced the old man to Jonna.

While sipping my tea, I said, "Our discussion on magic last night left out one important person." I turned to Jonna and said, "It's time that your secret is told. Artlam and Modak are with us."

"As you wish, Master. I will do whatever you want."

"I was not much of a master last night. I seemed to be pushed around a lot." Jonna only turned red.

I went on to tell a bit about Jonna, then let her tell her own story. Artlam was a little shocked that when we first came to his land we had killed 21 enemy soldiers and I had not mentioned it before.

Modak now mentioned some of his life too. He had been recruited by the Church at an early age. He had been put through a lot of torture to bring out his talent and more was promised for the future. He had parted company with the Church when a caravan he was in was attacked by bandits. Modak's bum was found pleasing to the men and he survived to be sold a long distance away. Given enough time, Modak had saved up enough money to buy his freedom. The cost was not much because he was already old.

I asked, "Where were you trained?"

"Sadieea, Master"

That was in Corinthium, and a good two thousand klicks away. "Modak, please tell us about the training first."

Modak went through the institutionalised sadism that was a near match for the way Jonna was treated. The words had dragged up old memories in both Modak and Jonna.

Jonna said, "I was lucky in a way. There were many other children that would never be good enough. They went quietly under the knife. In later years I heard that it was to 'cull the herd' from a drunk priest.

Artlam asked, "How are the magic icons guarded?" This made me look at Artlam, then it got me to smile.

Modak and Jonna worked to fill us in. There were magical guardians as well as other safeguards. I could see many ways of overcoming most opposition with materials or devices from Earth. Most of the ways would not even require anybody to get seriously hurt.

When the topic wound down, Artlam said, "To hurt the Church you can also take what they covet. Even the news of this happening will hurt them."

"I think I want to go a bit further."

"How so?"

"Children are tortured and killed by the tutors. I think we should do some investigating of who does the teaching. If I'm going to pick up any of the magic icons and books, I would like to take my time and voice my opposition to their training methods."

"You would have the Church down on you as quick as anything."

"Are they going to be any slower if I just took the books and silver objects?"

"I guess it doesn't matter. First, they will use their army to find you, then convince the kings to fight you with their armies. They will offer fantastic rewards for any information. They will use their magic to find both you and what you have taken."

I had not thought too hard on the last idea. "What do you think they can do with magic to find me? Also, what can they do to try to defeat me?"

This topic got hairy. Apparently they could do just about anything. Even if it was only half true it sounded like too much opposition. Jonna sensed my feelings and fought hard to find ways of negating the possible powers of the Church.

It was decided that we had to find magic books to gain an understanding of the subject. It was Jonna that said, "Make a priest your slave and then he will help us."

Artlam said, "Can you do this?"

I didn't know where to kick or kiss Jonna, but I said, "I have a relic that will do this. The effect lasts a year. I mentioned this before."

"Then there is no problem. We travel to a distant city and harvest a crop of priests."

Jonna added in a quiet voice, "There are women that work for the priests. They do just as much harm as the men. Most are good in handling magic. You will actually find many more of them though they are never in command."

I had not really thought much about this but I always knew it. Killing a woman like Jonna was abhorrent to me and I could not let the minions of the Church continue with what they have been doing for centuries. To break the Church I had to discredit it in the strongest possible ways. Taking the priests and laywomen would have to be done. When the chips started to fall, I knew in my bones that there was going to be one hell of a war.

We ate our noon meal. Artlam ate less and ate what was healthy. Modak had to eat more to build up reserves. Chopsticks were used as well as a sharp belt knife and a wooden spoon. When the rest left we got back to our discussion. Artlam said, "The Church knows intrigue very well. It uses that as well as force to get what it wants. I would like to turn the tables on them but I don't know if I'm smart enough to pull this off."

I said, "What do you mean?"

"There are three countries that are staunch supporters of the Church. If you visit this continent, you will know which ones. They are the ones that seem to be living under a dark cloud all the time. I would like to attack one of the kings and let him find evidence to point to the Church as the reason for the attack on him. This means I have to have a much deeper understanding of each of those countries."

I said, "I guess we could do the same to those on the fence too."

"On the fence?"

"Those that have not decided yet whether to fully support the Church or not. Are there other religious groups that you know of that would help?"

"None that now survive. The Church was very thorough. There are some countries, as you mentioned, that wait. Usually, it is just to do something of value to the Church to earn money."

We stopped planning later so Artlam could take care of business. Mantoya had to have some help setting up his generator. The unit we brought could generate about six kilowatts. It needed not only the right speed but enough power so it wouldn't slow down under load.

I also found four men in robes. They bowed to me in the Japanese fashion and I returned it. I happened to know that I was not to bow as low as they did.

These were my chemists. I had a quick and private conversation with Mantoya. "What I teach these people will spread. I want this to happen eventually, just not yet."

"Have no fear, Hugh. These are the men of a brotherhood. They guard their secrets very jealously."

"Well, you better induct me into the brotherhood because I want accurate information from them, not lies."

Mantoya took the men away and brought them back a few minutes later. They were a lot paler then before but I didn't know how long this would last.

I described sulphuric acid to them and they immediately knew what I was referring to. They reluctantly told me their way of making the acid. They kept looking at Mantoya so this must really be a secret.

I used a stick to draw a large picture of a wood box that was coated with lead foil. Gunpowder was used so they knew about potassium nitrate. They had to tell me how it was made for me to know it was the same chemical. They almost died when they had to give out this information. I then told them how to burn sulphur and how it formed mostly sulphur dioxide. They knew this as well. When they heard that sulphur dioxide reacts with potassium nitrate to make sulphur trioxide, they almost kissed me.

When they calmed down, I said, "When soap is made there is a liquid residue. Save this after filtering."

"What does it do?" one man asked.

I whispered in his ear, "It will make a very big boom."

I got a great smile and the man quickly had to tell the others. Mantoya said, "What did you say to make them happy?"

"Black powder's very weak when compared to some substances."

"What does it do?"

"Black powder burns fast and pushes more than it explodes. In my land it is called a propellant. The residue from soap is a brisant. It means that it burns many times faster and is only good for destroying things. You can use it for propelling too, but it's a waste. One of your grenadiers can throw the equivalent of a barrel of black powder at the enemy."

"Soap?"

"Yes."

A runner went to Artlam's home and some of Artlam's servants brought what I asked for. We found a vacant room. I handed out notes on the battery and showed the parts. The chemists just had to touch and smell everything. They loved the sulphuric acid though it made their eyes water. The acid was put in the five cell glass container and then the plates were lowered in. They were supported by a hollowed out block of hardwood coated with paraffin.

Mantoya got the job of touching one insulated silver wire to the side of a small light bulb and then another to the bottom. The light burst into life and I saw wide grins by all five men. Jonna, Galdem and I had to smile.

"This means I don't need your little batteries anymore?"

"You do. These batteries are big and heavy. When on a march you need them to be light."

"Ahhh, I see."

"And when the power drains from this battery here I connect it to the generator and charge it up again?"

"You could, but this is too powerful and it produces the wrong kind of electricity. It makes an alternating electricity. You need a type of electricity that doesn't go back and forth. You will need a device to reduce the voltage and change it to the correct type to charge the batteries."

The literature I provided had all the details I could find on charging batteries along with their construction.

Another old man was brought to me but this time I knew a little more about him. There were no dictionaries in existence, or nobody knew of any. I wanted one started and this man would be in charge of it if he was competent. Another runner was sent and he brought six copies of our Ladra dictionary.

There was software on the net that allowed me to print an English dictionary. The computer and those members of my family that were born on Bejek went through the words to erase the mention of Earth or to alter the way the words were defined. This was good for us as we had to recall more of the Ladra language and also give somebody interested in a new language something to go on.

I had been sent an email picture of a young Indian man using a modified bicycle to drive a generator. The generator in turn powered a laptop which was connected without wires to the net. Microsoft was painted on the computer lid so the picture may not be a fake.

I wanted something like that and had some commissioned but I had no time to get them or deliver them. If I had brought my toys, the big boys would want them for themselves. The laptops had been expensive because Ladra had thirty two letters and twelve digits. All of this had to fit on the keyboard. The letters extended into the upper row of numbers. The digits found a home on the keypad. Linux was the easiest operating system to use.

A deal was struck with the man before me. He would hire others to assist him and add to the list of words. When I told him about the computer he was extremely interested in working on this project.

A test was made with a single strand of Juffa. It was put under tension. I was very surprised to see just how strong it was. It stretched about ten percent and came back to the original length without snapping. Water only allowed the fibre to stretch perhaps another percent but I wasn't sure of the exact amount.

We stayed two more weeks at Artlam's home. I did as much as I could for the city and the school. When I got home, the girls took care of my needs. I had grown to love Bulla and Lomma but decided to leave them here. When I came back in a month, they would still be here and perhaps better educated.

Our packhorses had a lot of Juffa and some gold and silver. I had to take both metals equally or somebody would see that gold was more valuable to me.

The departure time was near dark. The girls and the rest of those I owned were upset at me leaving. I guess Mantoya and Artlam were too, but if I went it meant that I could come back with something new. Artlam was feeling a lot better now and he had even lost a little weight.

We rode until it got dark then we donned our night vision gear. It would be nice to get the same equipment fitted to the horses. We slept during the day which was the same way we had done in going to Shreff.

As always, we came home with a lot of caution. Everything looked good but a good military leader preparing for us would make it that way.

The horses were put into the stable after they were unloaded. We brushed our own animals and the packhorses, too. I didn't have the snake key though. Since the girls needed it to get back and forth though the doorway it was usually open. Now it was closed. This happened sometimes. Mostly, it was opened when somebody came over. The mirror frame was still in the basement but now hidden behind a false wall.

I simply leaned a dowel against the portal. When the entranceway was checked the stick would be seen and they would know we were home and call us.

We were in another home in a way because this side of the portal was very large and comfortable. With all the concrete and steel, it was very safe, too. There was hot water and a refrigerator and freezer. All this from a generator driven by propane.

The wait was only a little over an hour and I had Selna running into my arms first. The rest soon came through as well. Tiffany said, "Your parents were visiting."

"Anything wrong?"

"No, they just wanted to see your family."

"They getting ideas again?"

"Only a little. They know Lauren, Kuenta, Jonna, Fislu and I are probably warming your bed. They don't suspect Selna, yet."

Lauren said, "You want to stay here tonight or on the other side?"

"Earth, I think."

It was midday on Earth and we were going to stay awake four more hours before going to bed. Portal lag was less a problem than jet lag because the time in transit was so little.

I had made a list of what I wanted to do in Shreff. I went over it in detail and explained what I had done. The men I met and what they were doing for me was added. The girls had helped me pick out the presents for the children so I listed the names and showed them the pictures on the computer. I took a few minutes with each to talk about their idiosyncrasies.

There was no way I could keep the fact that I had Lomma and Bulla so I said to Kuenta. "The two oldest girls found their way into my bed. A woman I will not name, hid them in the room until she got me too hot to think. Once all three began working on me I was lost."

"Are you telling me this because Ronnas is now the same age as the younger one?"

"Yes."

Ronnas was looking back and forth. She was female so she had her suspicions.

Kuenta said, "You want my permission?"

"Yes, I do."

Kuenta looked at her oldest daughter and said casually, "Do you want to take this bull to bed?"

Like a little mouse she said, "Yes, Mother."

"Then he's yours." Ronnas jumped on me before her mother added, "don't wear him out. We all have to share."

Ronnas had been waiting a year and a half for this moment and dragged me away the way the rest of the women did when they wanted service.

Despite her apparent desire, once we were in the bedroom, Ronnas became quite shy. She blushed very red, looking anxious about the whole thing. I thought maybe she was concerned about possible pain. I didn't know what the other girls had been telling her. I took my time, reassuring her and telling her how pretty she was. I slowly undressed her, caressing her skin everywhere I could touch her. She warmed up, in more ways than one. Soon she had a glassy look in her eyes and she was starting to pant. I picked her up and set her on the bed, kissing her gently on the mouth and progressing to her ears and neck. She was starting to moan and wiggle a bit as I worked my way down to her small breast buds. I licked and sucked on them, working her up even more. Any reluctance she might have had was soon forgotten.

As I was doing this, the rest of the girls had been wandering in, singly or in twos. I guess they didn't want to miss anything. I was worried from Ronnas early hesitancy that she might be distracted by all the people, but she didn't even seem to notice them at this time.

I kept up my exploration of her body, touching and kissing her everywhere but her mons. Soon, she started spread her legs to offer me her secret. I ignored it for now, wanting to stir up her desire to the point where she couldn't resist anything. Her young hips were starting to beat, raising up to bring attention to the spot she wanted. I held her hips up as I finally yielded to her desires, running my tongue from the bottom of her sex to the top, then concentrated on the little bud between the lips.

Her juices were flowing like a small river and I lapped up all I could. As I did, she went wild, grabbing my head and pulling against her lower lips, directing my tongue where she needed it. She exploded with a shriek. "Oh! Oooh! Aaaaeeee!! Aaaahhh! Oh!" she cried.

I moved up to her nipples to give her sensitive sex a rest, but pushed a finger against her hole, rubbing around it to open it a bit. I also ran a finger around her rear and felt it pulsing as if to beckon the intruder inside. I let one finger enter the hole in her slit with no problem. I let another soon follow, then a third. Her hips were once again drumming on the bed, demanding more. Her legs had spread out and there was lots of room between them, now. I moved over her and put my myself against her, just nudging a bit. She would have none of that and shoved her hips up, taking almost half my length with one thrust. I knew it must have hurt her, but she didn't cry out other than the panting and gasping for more air.

I rolled over to allow her room to move. She pushed her hands against my chest for more leverage and drove herself onto me. She came again with another shriek, but kept plunging against me, again and again. Soon she was coming almost constantly, crying, shouting, panting. Her small body finally gave out and she collapsed onto me. All she could do was moan quietly as I allowed myself to empty into her. When I tried to move out of her, she resisted. Without any strength left, she couldn't fight me and I rolled onto my side to put her on the bed and I withdrew.

Instantly, there were two other girls on me. I didn't even have time to see who it was before my sight was limited to a very aroused sex. One impaled herself on me while the other tried to smother me. I could hear the noises of the rest of the girls as they helped satisfy each other. I could feel somebody next to Ronnas, but there didn't seem to be anything but acceptance so I figured they were being gentle with her. I soon found it was Kuenta on my face, with Selna mounted on my cock. I did the best I could to keep up with the girls, giving several of them what they desired, but it was a hopeless task. When they found out I wasn't going to be fun anymore, they left me alone and concentrated on each other. Even with all the noise and movement, I fell asleep.

It took a while to get back into this time zone. Work hadn't stopped just because I was away. It took four days to catch up and that was with good management.

Eight months ago I had stumbled on a site on the net. An Australian firm was selling truck bodies that were disassembled for shipping. Other companies here would make the same thing for me in pieces small enough to fit through the portal. This was fine, but the majority of the truck had to go through this area too. The first two trucks were very heavily armoured for the world we were visiting. With two trucks for escort we could take a few unarmoured and basically stripped vehicles so they could transport what needed to be carried.

A new thirty foot truck was delivered to the farm. To save time, mechanics disassembled the truck thinking that I was sending it piece by piece to another country. Why this was to happen was never really explained to them. The parts were modified so they could be put back together when they arrived. Everything was packed in plywood boxes but the boxes were later opened and the parts put through the portal. The engine was the only real problem but we took it apart like we had the others. It would be months before it was put back together.

I ordered more bicycle powered generators and more laptops. Cash had to be used usually and Willie was happy to provide more as long as he got his cut. Other deals could be made by bartering for gold. Willie worked through gold trading firms and companies selling trading cards that also dealt in gold. He was able to buy nearly six million dollars in gold wafers and coins. The purpose of this money losing transaction was to get a fixed amount of gold with a recognised purity from a known refiner.

We still made time for social engagements. The older girls were explained away as adults and their families that I was helping. The younger ones were said to be home schooled. This excuse would pass, at least for the moment.

The girls got a lot of attention from the guys and other girls that wanted to be sociable. This I not only permitted but encouraged. The girls from Bejek were different from the girls in Canada. Mine were a lot more industrious and much more focussed. I was also quite sure that given enough time and easy living that they could turn out to be the same as the Canadian girls.

There were occasional sleepovers at our house or others. So far, I knew of nothing detrimental slipping out.

One of the green houses was experimenting with seed that I had brought back from my trips. There was one squash that actually had eleven percent protein in it. There were three types of beans that matured quickly and out produced any Earth bean I had heard of by a wide margin. Bejek had an animal like a rabbit that produced much of its meat. It basically took the place of the chicken. It grew faster while eating less. This and other life forms could not be introduced until Earth was prepared for the news.

One product may be introduced and that was juffa. We did more tests ourselves and the product looked very promising. It was difficult to cut with a knife and I tried a butane lighter. I was very surprised to see it took a long time to char and then begin to burn. When the lighter was taken away, the flame stopped immediately. We had to learn about flame retardant materials and their specifications. Juffa might be at the top of the heap.

The American military was using interceptor body armour. We bought some suits and tried to make our own. The ceramic inserts were beyond out capabilities though. The Kevlar pads were replaced by Juffa and our material worked much better while being lighter. We had no way of making the ceramic lighter. My troops had to have this sort of armour and the Kevlar helmets reminiscent of what the German used during the second world war. The girls were young and not as strong as men so the armour slowed them down considerably. We went to the older vests that employed only the Kevlar. Our substitution of the Juffa made them more efficient and lighter.

Hard cash was paid to some gun collectors so I could learn how to make guns. They had to provide DVD's and notes along with all the published data they could find. It was the same as me commissioning a textbook.

Universities were good for this. They provided the work on guns as well as the programming on the computers and the hardware modifications. Some of the professors just threw the ball to their students and let them work on it while he collected some gold below the table and the university got cash above the table.

The dismantled truck only took two weeks to reassemble. I filled it with tools for the portable sawmill. This unarmoured truck was not going to be toothless. Some very industrious people south of our border found it in their own interest to help me for some gold. The roof of the truck was strengthened and we mounted a XM307. This handy tool was an 25mm belt-fed autocannon with "smart" grenade capability. It fired the 25 millimetre grenades that could be air burst or contact. There was hardly any recoil and the shells could travel up to two klicks. If I could have gotten more, with grenades, I would have, even if the unit cost me half a million. There was an interchangeable part that allowed it to be changed into a 50 calibre machine gun. Best of all, no tools were needed to change it.

I wanted a ship to get around in. It was harder to follow our tracks over water and as long as we got back to the ship we could not be followed. I planned on diesel engines to assist the sails and if we knew the depth then we could sail at night when the winds died down. This would leave anybody following us far behind.

The girls used the pilotless drones for fun and I admit I did too. The area around our forest was well patrolled. We usually stayed high and ventured far enough away so that the small aircraft would not be tied to our forest. Willie came through with some flying units that were used by the CIA that could shoot or bomb targets. I bought all I could and bought all the replacement parts as well. We found that they needed a fair amount of maintenance.



-------

Chapter 10


We waited until the wet weather on Bejek had well passed before we ventured forth once more. Another roadway was cut through the forest so we had other avenues to enter and leave. A road wasn't bad to be found by strangers, it was our tracks on it that were bad.

A depot was constructed and hidden as well as we could. Since we now had three bobcats, construction was not as difficult. Scrap copper was stored here along with weapons, ammunition and fuel. We could also use this area to store the gold and silver without having to make the difficult trip between the trees with the large trucks.

We emerged onto rock that extended to part of an existing road. Selna and Ronnas monitored one set of drones for me while Kuenta and Andis worked from the other truck. Lauren drove one of our vehicles and Tiffany drove the other. The unarmoured vehicle was driven by Galdem. Jonna rode shotgun and was in constant contact with us by radio.

We had been monitoring an area of 1,600 square kilometres. Only some of this area could be actively monitored though. Tiffany took her truck north while I escorted Galdem and Jonna. If we were going to leave some tracks, we would not give anybody a chance to narrow our entry to a small area.

We would be at most only eighty klicks away from each other during this time. Reports of our travels could still get out even if we could not be seen.

That night, Kuenta reported from the other armoured truck, "Sir, we found a lot of small fires ahead of us."

Sir was the term we used when in a military situation. Otherwise, the women bossed me around.

"An army?"

"Could be. Do we stop and see what we can find with the drones?"

"That's probably best. See what you can find but try to stay concealed. There may be a risk of being caught by a patrol."

"I'll launch another drone and monitor it for our security."

"Thanks Kuenta. That makes me feel better."

"Yes, Sir." She let the final r trill because I didn't sound military enough for her.

We had proceeded on the assumption that Kuenta and Tiffany would have to change their route. An hour later it was Tiffany that said, "It looks like an army, Sir. We estimate about three hundred men and an equal number of camp followers. We cannot make out the pennants or the flags on the IR. They are in a shallow depression so that the light of their fires are not seen. Their camp is only a kilometre off the road. Their patrols are not very good and we can make it past them without any problems. They'll see our tracks in the morning."

"Which way are they travelling?"

"We can see by the trampled vegetation and the torn up roads that they're moving cross-country. They came from the direction of Habstner."

Lauren said to me, "If they get by that group, there is another about six kilometres north. They have a lot of wagons and cannon. They seem to be heading toward Shreff too. There may be more groups."

I looked at the map for the hundredth time. There were too many areas that could mire down the vehicle and they could not get out to lay the steelwork to get through.

I called Kuenta, "Turn around. We will intercept you near where we entered the road."

Tiffany interjected, "We can get through."

"Maybe you can, but there are some iffy areas that you can only get through if you are free to use the winch or the treads." I sent along my feelings and I knew that Tiffany could sense my unease.

"We will follow orders, Sir."

"I know you will and I love you."

"That's, 'I love you, Corporal'."

"You're right again, Corporal."

Three hours later we met. Tiffany took up the tail position. With Shreff in danger we continued on in daylight. We slept while moving and rotated the drivers to prevent fatigue. We were too understaffed to monitor with the drones but we didn't run into a patrol until we were only twenty kilometres from our objective.

It was a mounted patrol taking it easy under some trees. We didn't see them until the last minute. They had heard us, though, and were ready. Bullets pinged off of our armour. Armour was quickly put in place over the windshields and we started to return fire. I climbed to the machine gun on the roof but used my AK-47 instead. We stopped on a rise for stability and I began to shoot in single shot mode. The girls were shooting from the ports.

I called out, "Lauren, head into them."

The truck lurched into motion and we pushed over small trees. The AK's hammered away but it was harder to make hits.

Selna said, "Three are running on foot to the south east. I don't see any more." Lauren drove us close to the place where the patrol had made a short stop. Their horses were going crazy with all the shooting and the noise of the approaching vehicle.

I put on my vest and helmet which I should have had on before this. The rest were doing the same. Fislu and Galdem had arrived before the rest. "Who is monitoring the drones?"

Jonna said, "Ronnas, Andis and Caiti, Sir."

"Galdem, Jonna, Selna, police this area. Fislu, Kuenta, get on the horses. We have some stragglers to talk to."

It took a while to calm the horses and get saddled. Ronnas gave me instructions on where to go to head off the three men. I heard shots behind me but they were from the AK's so I wasn't worried. Kuenta and Fislu took the left flank and I took the right to get ahead of the three. We found them hiding in a ditch. Ronnas said they were still armed but only with pistols.

I called out to the men, "My name is Hugh Driscott. You are surrounded by a superior force. Surrender now or die."

I heard from my radio, "They're going to fight." I moved to a new location behind a good sized tree.

The soldiers came out of the ravine one at a time. The last one fell and screamed. In a moment the second man did the same, but the last one ran toward where he had heard my voice. I wanted one alive so I drew my nine millimetre and looked toward where I heard him. He was only four metres away and looking at where I had been. I guessed what he would do and whistled. The man turned and when he was half way I fired. I hit his gun. The pistol flew away and I hurried closer.

The soldier was cradling his hand. I saw that I had not been as good a shot as I hoped. The man was now missing a trigger finger.

Though the man was in pain he snarled at me and I kicked him with the sole of my boot. While the man was stunned I threw him on the ground. He wore an ornamental red sash. I got this off and tied his arms behind him. Only when that was done did I call out, "Everybody ok?"

It was Ronnas that said, "None of us look hurt."

I used my horse to carry the man after he was frisked for weapons. Galdem had another living prisoner though he was in bad shape. I had to throw Jonnas' prize on a horse and tie him down because he was dead.

It took ten minutes to get back because we were walking and leading the horses. The girls had policed the camp and sorted bodies. One other group would probably die and the last group either would survive or do so with a little help from us.

I didn't need to second guess my people so I went to work on those that could be saved after I added our own to the group. Ti-wraps had been used on the others and I removed the red sash after mine was bound with one. Instead of throwing the sash away I put it back around the man's neck in a large loop.

We had been working on the wounded for twenty minutes when Ronnas called me. "Sir, Shreff is under siege."

I ran to the truck and checked the monitor myself. It was not just a few hundred Habstner either. At a guess I would have to say perhaps twenty thousand men and we already knew that either more were arriving or they were staying to prevent reinforcements from arriving.

Cannon were firing at the wall and gate but Mantoya must have been using his Lee-Enfields. The cannon could shoot further but the force of its strike was much less. I noticed an explosion and turned the camera to focus on it. The barrel of an enemy cannon had been destroyed. They must have overloaded it to get the extra range.

Jonna was now beside me. "What do we do now, Sir?"

"We can't fight all those and we don't have enough missiles to take out an army this dispersed."

"Will they regroup at night?"

"They should, and this gives us an opportunity."

Jonna gave me a smile and said, "Yes, it does, Sir."

I pulled a mirror from the wall and with the help of a telescope we redirected the sun's rays to the faces of those on the wall. They must have thought it magic but it was not that bright at this distance. Twenty minutes later we saw somebody waving a flag and I aimed the light at him again. They knew we were here now.

We cut the trees so we could move the trucks into concealment. It was a good idea because near dusk a mixed patrol of calvary and infantry was drawing near. Ronnas counted nearly eighty Habstner. Behind them was their baggage train then a rear guard of eighteen men.

There was time to cut more trees to make a road of sorts so that we could use the machine guns. We pulled into positions nearly forty metres apart but on opposite sides of the road. When the time came, we would shoot down the road where the enemy was bunched.

Tiffany would fire one gun and her sister the other. Jonna and I were security and the rest were to work in pairs and take out individuals.

Caiti was monitoring this area and gave us a count down until the lead elements passed the red sash we put in a cleared area near the road.

I tried to say this calmly but I couldn't. The word fire came out like a croak. Both guns opened up and ripped up the road. It took ten seconds to reach the tail elements of the soldiers but not into the civilians. I could not hear much but I was sure that Fislu was hitting the rear element hard but from a distance.

Some of the Habstner were smart enough to take to the trees but the fifty calibre found them if they stayed around. Most trees could not take this kind of punishment and stay standing. The machine guns stopped and the trucks drove out of their hiding spots.

The AK's were still hammering away but in single shot mode. The trucks could not make it up the road with all the bodies of horses and men. Jonna and I moved forward part way into the brush at the sides of the road. I let Lauren and Tiffany guard each other's flank.

There were a few survivors but they would not last long. This time I had ti-wraps with me. I found only one wounded man that wanted to fight. Caiti had brought the drone lower so she could spot any that fled.

We had to resort to using the night vision glasses to do what we could. A few of the civilians had been killed but not many. I had to run down a boy of five in the dark. He ran into a tree and this made it easy to bag him.

We did a count of the bodies and found we got all of the men but we may not have got all of the civilians.

Jonna and Kuenta went among the wives and slaves of the Habstner and told them who we were and their probable fate. Some seemed to relax at what was said.

Some of the draught horses had been killed so we took horses from the first patrol to replace them. Warhorses worked poorly in harness but they would work.

The civilians helped us clear the road of bodies. More of the warhorses were used to drag off the dead horses. The wagons were full of food for an extended siege no doubt but we had room to store the weapons we gathered.

Caiti said excitedly on the radio, "A larger group is coming. It's about twelve clicks back."

"Thanks, Caiti. You did a good job." I wondered why the Habstner would be travelling at night.

This group and the last had a lot of powder between them. We rolled two barrels down the road and put them close to the road but sixty metres further along. Lead balls were put inside the barrel and half way around. A radio detonator went into each and then rock was put all around the barrel to contain the blast.

We were on the way by the time the approaching force was six klicks back. They were not travelling fast at this time.

The civilians and the wounded followed the unarmoured truck and I rode tail.

We had made ten kilometres by the time the scouts found the carnage we left. It was over twenty minutes later when a group approached to see for themselves. There was a large escort following them. When the lead element passed the closer charge, I pushed the button that detonated the charges we had placed. The blasts were loud enough that I could hear them with my ears through the noisy truck. The drones didn't show that many able to move after.

The horses with us were tired but they continued to pull. About three hours after midnight I used one of the lights on the truck to shine on the wall. Ten minutes later we were at the gates to meet fifty soldiers.

Only some of the faces I saw were familiar. One was Mantoya's.

I checked my weapons then got off the truck. Lauren and Fislu were right behind me as an escort.

"Mantoya, I am surprised at you. You throw a party and forget to invite me."

Mantoya came forward and shook my hand but his back was straight as an old Prussian's. "I am glad you could make it. You should get within the walls before the Habstner find out you are here."

"I am afraid they already know. We ran into two small groups on the way here. We even left a present for a larger group that was coming to the party."

"All the more reason to enter the city. By the way, who are those people in the wagons?"

"The Habstner baggage train. I guess I adopted them."

"You must tell me more. Our King has come to help us fight this war and brought most of his surviving men."

Mantoya was telling me a lot and it looked bad for us. "Can these people be put up at the school?"

"I am afraid that our King had taken over that area temporarily."

"Artlam's home?"

"That may be acceptable if he will allow it."

It was difficult getting the armoured trucks in the gate. The machine guns had to be removed. By then Artlam had arrived. We shook hands like old friends and I said, "I am sorry to bring so many guests with me but may we have the hospitality of your courtyard?"

The answer was not quick in coming but it was affirmative.

Jonna and Fislu gathered the drones as they landed in front of the city. They were inspected then fuelled again for their next mission. Men had seen them come out of the sky with a whisper of prop noise. They looked them over throughly but dared not get too close.

We drove through the narrow streets until we found the courtyard. We couldn't get in but some of the wagons could.

The women and children were put in the stable to keep them out of trouble but to also keep them away from the men. The captured men that were not soldiers were kept in another stable.

There were nineteen wounded when we started but only thirteen had survived. We worked on those that we could while other physicians assisted.

Artlam had lost some weight and some sleep but he and all his newfound guests were wide awake to hear what had happened. Galdem was from this city and had a man's pride so I pushed him into talking about our recent activities.

"We came into this country in two groups. We were far enough apart to observe more this way. One group ran into some Habstner. Not that far away was another large group. We retreated — "

One of the newcomers jumped on his words. "You retreated?"

Galdem said, "We didn't know what was happening here. We may have killed a lot but word would have spread. We are not invincible."

The newcomer looked pissed at our supposed cowardice. Galdem continued, "We drove for another night and rotated drivers so we could continue during the day. Twenty klicks from here we stumbled on a patrol of twenty four men. They had heard us coming and attacked when we got near. We killed all but five of them and those were taken prisoners. We stayed an hour to tend to their wounded when we detected a force of a hundred men approaching. We prepared our own ambush and killed or captured all of the men."

The same man interrupted and said, "Two men and some women and children killed a hundred men. What do you take us for?"

Galdem looked at me and said, "May I answer or should I continue."

"Just continue with the story, Galdem."

"We used a mirror to flash the city to let them know we were coming. Again we treated all of the wounded. We cleaned part of the road in the process.

"Caiti, the youngest member of our group saw a much larger force approaching. It was twelve klicks back." The man was going to interrupt again until Mantoya put his hand on the man's arm. Galdem continued, "We took two barrels of powder and placed them along on opposite sides of the path. The barrel was filled with lead balls and our detonators. The barrels were packed tight with rocks to both hide the barrel and to contain some of the force. The carnage we left was discovered by some scouts. When the officers arrived with their escort, our leader detonated the two barrels. It was difficult to count the bodies but we think it may be a hundred or more."

The annoying man said, "We heard no blast."

Galdem just remained quiet. The man may have expected a retort but he found none. He just sneered at us and left. Along with him were a few others that left.

I said, "That was a fair rendition, Galdem. I guess we have to kill a lot more than two hundred Habstner to get noticed."

It was Artlam that said, "Sure, the official recognition for two men and nine females is two hundred and forty enemy killed in battle."

There was a laugh that broke the tension that had built. Artlam continued, "Did the youngest ones of your group assist you?"

Caiti was pulled forward by Jonna and the girl said, "I only got a few. They wanted me to work in the lead truck most of the time."

Andis was called next. She was the shyest but said, "I only got seven but I wounded three more."

The men of the room took note of this and stood up. I added, "I only got a few. It was Lauren and Tiffany the did the majority of the butchering."

We went to sleep in the trucks. The vehicles were much too valuable to trust to locks and an alarm system.

Artlam released our prisoners and allowed them to be fed. The soldiers were doing better. At least no more had died.

I got up around noon. I felt like shit. Coffee and a microwaved Danish helped. I heard cannon in the distance. I looked at the vest and decided to wear it. I had cleaned my guns and loaded them on the trip. The 45 and the 9 millimetre were worn. The thoughts of a king here made me rethink on what I should dress like. My helmet had to be added to set me apart. The AK on my shoulder did that too.

The wounded were checked first. They were resting among the wagons that nearly filled the courtyard. I fetched water for two of them and helped them drink. The captive men were next. They were outside the stables now and sitting in the sun. I gave a count and saw that all seventeen of them were present. After asking a few questions, I found that they had been fed and given water. Only a few of the men glared at me while the rest looked beaten.

I went to the last group next. Outside of the stables were two men with rifles. Artlam would have to be thanked when I saw him next. I greeted the two men and they bowed to me. I did the same in turn. I would rather a handshake be used but this would work.

There were no horses in the stable and the horse shit had been removed. The women stood as I came in and their children hid behind the women.

The first woman was perhaps forty and I said politely. "Good day."

It took a moment for her to respond. She glared at me but said, "Good day, Milord. What have you done with our men?"

"Come with me and find out." She was not so sure of herself now but she did come as I visited first the wounded, then those that weren't wounded. I could see that she desperately wanted to talk but not with me around.

When we came back she said, "Was that all of them?"

"All that survived."

"You killed all of them?"

"We counted ninety eight men in uniforms. We found all of them I'm afraid." The woman didn't seem upset at the loss of a husband but just stared at we with an uncommon intensity.

I ignored the woman and went to a women accompanying three children. They were all young with the youngest was less than a year-old. The woman seemed to be elsewhere and not able to deal with her loss.

I walked close with no reaction from her and I squatted. "Hello, have you been given food and water?" They probably had but I wanted to have a conversation. The woman didn't respond. She looked like she was on some type of drug trip. The children just hid and there was no use forcing them.

The next woman looked deathly afraid of me but she was reacting. "Were you and your children fed and given water?"

"Yes, Milord."

"What is your name?"

"Crowla, Milord."

"Tell me about your children?"

"Are you going to sell them, Milord?"

"Crowla, I will not sell any of you, nor will I separate you from your children." I could almost hear a sigh of relief from the rest of the women.

"What is to become of us?"

This was a real question. "What would happen if I took all of you back to where you came from?"

The woman thought for a moment but didn't seem able to formulate an answer. I said, "Your people would be driven away from here by then. What would happen when the war is over?" I had to add in a moment, "I guess to answer that question I have to say that I put you back in the wagons and lead you back safely to your lands. What would happen then?"

There had to be some patience on my part so I waited. Eventually I heard in a low voice, "My husband is dead now. His other wives would not welcome me back but they may take the children. One of my husband's family would inherit the lands and the responsibilities."

When no more words came I asked, "So you have no place to go and your children only may be invited into their father's family. What if they were not?"

"I may be able to feed them for a while. They are too young for a man to take them to bed. They would probably be welcomed into Ragnus' arms."

When I was here last, I remembered all the destitute people in the streets. It was a hard world and harder still to make a dent in the numbers. I had a home on this side of the portal and I guess they could live there. I was always worried about an army coming and killing those that could not flee in time. Sending this women and her two children back to her country may even be worse. At least I would give them a chance.

"I have a home. You are welcome to live there if you will work. In return I will feed you and your children."

The woman suddenly got on her knees like Modak had and I now understood her desperation. I heard great sobs as she cried. I let her continue for a while then I touched the top of her head. "Get up, Crowla." The woman hastened to comply but fell then arose quickly.

When she stood she used the back of her hand to wipe away the snot. She looked a little better now. I asked, "Tell me about my newest — employees?" I had to watch what I said or she would have me be their father.

The girl of two had shit herself and only been partially cleaned. The woman named her Los. The boy was a year older and was called Seppa.

I was polite to the children and then said, "Let's go find your wagon. Los needs to be cleaned and changed."

"Yes, Master."

I guess in the present situation the word master would apply on this world.

We found a bucket and Crowla cleaned Los while I poured water onto her hands. The people here would think nothing of putting shitty hands in the bucket that others would drink from. I poured more water to rinse out the clothes.

It took a while to find the wagon then find room to dig through it. "Crowla, pass me the chests." The woman happily dragged the first one over and I opened it with my knife. They were all locked and the key was probably on a corpse now.

I found a book and some very nice clothes for a man. There was a fortune here when it was measured against what the poorest of this world had.

We finally found some clothing for Los but I continued to look. There was copper here and a lot of personal items. Another chest had some nice dresses. "Crowla, who else rode with you in this wagon?"

"Two of my husband's slaves."

That could explain it but I wanted to be sure. I held up a beautiful dress and said, "Was this for any of the slaves?"

"No, Master. They are both young boys."

"Why weren't they with you?"

"They hide in the back."

"Who was this dress for?"

"One of my husband's important wives."

"Ok, lets find the boys. I want everybody to stay in groups."

The boys didn't come out when called but the way some of the children looked, I only had to dig through the straw for a few moments to find them. Once they were captured they responded like thoroughly beaten slaves.

The boys were seven or eight and both were a girl type of pretty. I knew what they were used for. I crouched down in front of them and said, "Mak, Ron, I'm your master now." They looked at me but they were still lost. Crowla will watch out for you. You will do what she says. Do you understand me?"

One then the other nodded. I said to Crowla, "You now have four children. You will give as much love to Mak and Ron as you do to Los and Seppa."

"Yes, Master. I will not treat them the way others may have treated my children."

"Good, you're learning."

There was no way to really organise this many people so I called out. "I want everybody to step outside for a few moments. Nobody is to stay inside." When nobody moved, I raised my voice and said, "Get out, now!"

The two men helped me get everybody to stay near the stable. The woman that was not all here had to be forced out and she screamed and screamed. She tried to get back in but she was blocked. I wrestled her to the ground and then sat on her back. The baby was now in the dirt and crying. Crowla picked the child up and tried to quiet it.

The heart was in my pocket and I used the focus to peer within the body of the woman. There was a lot of damage there but not enough for her to act this way. There was something about her mind that was odd and I tried to make it similar to what the rest of us were like. When I came up for air the woman was sleeping quietly and I figures that the lack of sleep was at least part of her problem.

"Crowla, give me the child and I want you to go search for more hiding in the hay. Take Mak and Ron to help you."

"Yes, Master."

While Crowla searched, I said to everybody, "I have to do something with all of you when we chase those attacking us away. Some of you could go back to Habstner and fit in. Others have no home."

I had to go around to all the older ones and ask, "Will you be welcomed home?" I found that most were slaves or minor wives that were picked up on campaign. Most would be abandoned when the man went home.

It soon became evident that I would have to take in a hundred and sixty three individuals that were slaves or people that were used to just fuck. In addition there were a hundred and ninety seven children. My house was definitely not large enough for that.

I was pissed off at myself for taking these people on. I could have left them but I knew then that they would have been far worse off.

There were an additional thirty six people that had homes or at least said they did. I figured that when they learned about me that they would change their tune.

There were enough of Artlam's servants around to find some that were expert at defeating locks. They were more than happy to do this for me at a gold flass per lock.

We had not even started opening the chests when a group of riders came into the crowded yard. I saw Jonna and Lauren behind them holding their AK's like they might use them. I came forward and saw perhaps a dozen men in the yard and more on the street. The man to make the snide remarks earlier in the morning was there. He was quick to point me out to another.

I walked to this man and remembered the child in my arms. It was too late to put it down so I carried the infant.

The man I was approaching, looked at me then said, "Are you Hugh Driscott?"

"I am."

The trouble maker bristled but said nothing.

When the time lengthened and nothing was said, I said, "I have people here to settle. If you have something to say then say it."

The man spoke then, "Did you kill two hundred Habstner yesterday?"

"Yes, or a few more."

"Can you prove any of that?"

"I possibly could by getting the people here to tell you how many men were escorting them. There are a few survivors of the first attack too but I choose not to. If you do not believe me then that's your problem not mine."

The mouthy one screamed out, "Do you know who you were talking to?"

"Probably King Willas. Are you his fool?"

The man grabbed for his pistol but I had mine pointed at his head first. He stopped. If he had pointed the pistol near me I would have given him a third eye.

It was the king that said, "Put the pistol away Crona."

I had to wait a while until it was away and I saw his empty hands again. My own gun went in my holster.

The king said, "You sound disrespectful."

"To be honest, I give respect to where it is warranted and where I receive some back." There was some actual sabre rattling in the ranks.

"Do not your people show respect to a king?"

"In actual fact it is you that shows disrespect."

The sabre rattling got worse and the man quietly said, "How is that?"

"In my land, we do not have kings. I'm a merchant and trader. My other job is to assist in the ruling of my country. There are only a hundred and forty four of us to do this task. I have much more power than you. I do not have slaves there but I have employees. Some of my employees are more powerful than a king."

"That is easy to say but hard to prove. You're also here alone."

"Do you wish to fight me here and now? It can be easily arranged. I figure I can kill all of you in six seconds. It would take less if I put the child down. Prove to me that you are a king or not."

My hand was very near my nine millimetre and I felt like a gunslinger from the old west.

The king smiled now and said, "You do have the fighting spirit. Perhaps you did kill those men you say you did."

"I killed few. My women killed them for me."

"Formidable women."

"They sure are. Now are you going to send your lackey off along with most of your men or are all of you going to leave?"

"That lackey is my son."

"Your son needs a taste of humility."

"I agree with you on that."

The son didn't know what to say. The king called on a man and gave orders. The son and all but six of the guards left. The king then got down.

"What do you do here?"

"These people are camp followers or slaves. When their masters died they had no place to go. I offered them employment."

"These people! They can only serve on their knees or on their backs."

"A moment ago I said how some of my people are more powerful than a king?"

"I recall that."

I called out, "Jonna, front and centre."

Jonna pushed brusquely through the men. "Two years ago Jonna was like one of these women. Tell me that she cannot kill you where you stand before your men can stop her."

The king looked at Jonna as the men got ready for action. Jonna just smiled like a cat at a mouse.

It was the king that blinked first and said, "You may be right. So all these women will join your army?"

"My army may have to farm or to watch children. My army may drive our carts. Only some will have to fight and you would be hard put to defeat them."

"I can see that some may be very aggressive. It's men, though, that have to rule."

"Women have their place in ruling too. I could not do what I have done without them. They heal my wounds. They fuse sheets of steel. They watch from kilometres in the sky to warn me of danger. They fight to protect me but they think about how to do it. Your women have not been given a chance so you only see them as somebody to give you comfort in bed."

"Your women are not soft."

"At the moment you are absolutely right. In bed they are soft and hard. On occasion, I must conquer them. There have been times when I have been attacked by superior numbers and tactics and I was defeated."

"That proves my point."

"It proves mine too. There is no way that I lose. When women have me prisoner do you think I suffer?"

"That isn't our way."

"Now we're coming to an understanding. My ways aren't right for everybody. I believe very strongly that women have much more to give your country than just sons."

"I do see some truth in your statement."

The people that were going to be picking locks were given a gratuity. I wanted to be present when the chests were opened.

The cannons sounded louder so I said, "Let's go to the wall. I want to show you how some weak women can kill men."

"This I would like to see."

Jonna delegated who was to stay at the trucks and who could go. There was a lot of moaning. Tiffany and Jonna picked out their favourite rifle while Lauren and Fislu provided security. Selna brought a spotting scope.

We walked through the city and I had a chance to see how full it really was. There were a lot of refugees here and they probably were purposely pushed here by the Habstner.

As we got closer to the walls we heard the retort from the 303 much clearer. While Tiffany and Jonna set up, Lauren and Fislu watched those around us. I would not put it past somebody to stick a knife in my kidney. The two girls were very aggressive in keeping a clear field of fire and the men backed off.

I said, "Start with the closer ones."

"You give me the sissy shots while you can get the far ones."

"Not at all, Sweetie. When they change crews they will come back and you can hit them again. There is no sense chasing all the targets off right away."

"I guess you're right, Sir."

"Am I ever wrong?"

"Do you want the list in order or just the most important fuck-ups first?"

"Shoot somebody for me, Sweetie."

Jonna looked through her military range finding scope and said, "A fat officer with a sword in his hand. Five hundred and twenty metres."

"Ok, where are you going to shoot him?"

"In the head."

"Where in the head?"

"The middle of the forehead."

There were a lot of locally made binoculars and scopes around. The man was easy to find. The rifle went off without warning and we watched the man fall on his back, dead long before he hit the surface.

King Willas said, "That was amazing. I saw the man's head disappear in a cloud of red."

"Was his forehead hit?"

"I believe so."

"Damn, now I have to put up with another insufferable woman until I can put her in her place."

Before the king could say anything more, Tiffany said, "This insufferable woman is going to have you suck on her clit tonight." Then she said, "A thin officer at five hundred and thirty seven metres. I will shoot him through his throat and decapitate him.

When enough people claimed to see the target Tiffany prepared and then fired. A cheer went up as a head fell to the ground and the body took a little longer to respond to the dictates of gravity."

"That was even more amazing. May I try?"

I quickly said, "The girls use the guns they have every day. They practice all the time. I practice with my own gun but I wouldn't be as good as these ladies are with their weapons at the maximum range. It's possible to hit the targets from here with your rifles. You need to practice in war but you also have to conserve your bullets in war too."

"You are not allowing me to try?"

"Not at all. Ask the ladies. You heard about the last wager. If you want to fight with the big cats you have to learn to grow big claws."

King Willas said anyway, "May I use one of your rifles?"

Jonna said, "Who are you going to aim at?"

The king brought his binoculars up and said, "The man loading the cannon."

"He is only doing what he is told. What's wrong with the officer? They are usually full of shit and splatter when hit." She then added, "The officer — that's at four hundred and ninety metres. Where are you going to hit him and what are you going to bet if you miss?"

"What do you want?"

"What could you lose without you getting in a snit?"

"Fifty drak."

"Ok, and where are you going to hit him?"

"In the chest."

Jonna said, "The chest is from the neck to the belt. The arms and shoulders do not count. You can have the same area on his back too."

"What do I get if I win?"

"Now this is interesting." Jonna looked at me and I nodded. She was a big girl now and I even smiled. "I will show you how a woman is in bed if you can take the heat. You can have fifty drak instead if you want."

"I will take the woman, I think."

"You got a bet then. You can't call your guards either. You will be all mine."

The king nodded. When he took the gun he saw how radically different it was to his own. Jonna patiently told him about the numbers that appeared, then the symbols. The lines were mentioned. She got the king to stare at the trees and the flags to get an idea of the wind. When that was all done she told him about shooting when he had finished exhaling. If possible he was to time it to the beating of his heart too.

The king finally fired and hit the man in the upper left leg. There was a groan from the crowd but Jonna patted him on the back and said, "Try again. You didn't compensate enough for the distance."

"What are we betting?"

"Fifty drak. I am beginning to like you and don't want to kill you."

The second shot at another target missed but a third hit where he stated. The king hit another one and now Jonna owed fifty drak.

Jonna said, "I will pay up tonight. The same with you?"

"We aren't even?"

"It may be worth fifty drak to chase you around the bedroom."

"Then I will meet you at midnight. If I die during the night from strenuous activity my guards will not hold you."

"I will try to keep you alive."

We had to move around the walls so that Tiffany could get her limit. She stage whispered, "I still need my clit worked on."

Now it was the king who laughed.



-------

Chapter 11


We had a nice meal and I made sure my new employees got a chance to do the same. Their food had previously been taken from the wagons and was being doled out for a communal meal.

When dusk arrived, the Habstner decided to call it a day. This is what we were waiting for. I called Lauren on the radio. The King, Mantoya and Artlam heard her reply. I said, "Fire at will, Corporal."

A missile flew from the launcher in front of Artlam's home and flew over the city. It arched and then came back towards the ground. Again it turned and then went past the command tent. It made another turn then returned only to gain altitude then plunge down into the tent. The tent was obliterated in flame from the high explosives and the unburnt fuel.

This was the third missile shot and the first in anger. The first two were just for practice near our home months ago.

I was in awe too and managed to say, "A very good shot, Honey."

The rest of us watched the fire quickly burn out even when there were only embers, we still stared. The Habstner seemed to be just as shocked at what had happened.

It must have been a half hour later that King Willas said, "You told me the missile would climb then go down. You said it would fly past the tent then come back to strike it. I didn't believe even a portion of that. I do now."

"Let's get rested. Tomorrow the remaining officers will get the men to attack in mass, hoping to overwhelm the defences."

"How do you know this?"

"I have had these weapons for a while now. I have thought about this fact alone. It wasn't just protecting the city but destroying the leadership of a warlike race. They see the power used and it frightens them very much. They cannot face their fear so they will attack and try to overwhelm us."

We went back to Artlam's home. Artlam needed a stiff drink before he said, "The missile did what you said it would do. What are its capabilities?"

"There's a camera in the missile. The pictures are sent to us, like the radio sends your words. A machine much like the calculator you saw can control the flight. Basically we planned this out and gave the commands to the calculator. Lauren was the one who put the commands in and then made sure they were followed. If something unexpected happened she would have taken over the control of the machine.

"This particular missile is not intended to hit other countries. It's much too small. We can program in a distance up to a maximum and this unit can avoid obstacles or hug the ground so that it can't be shot down from the air."

"It travels so fast. What can possibly hit it?"

"Another missile or a light beam."

Artlam gave me a wondering look and I said, "Like that laser I gave you, only many times stronger. Strong enough to be used as a weapon.

Again I slept in the truck. We would need to get the truck to the gates tomorrow before somebody got the Habstner fired up and ready to kill or die trying.

I think we all went to sleep early, that is except Jonna. I loved the woman. She was a dynamic force that got what was needed done. She also had to share me with a lot of girls. This may still be the case but now she had a chance to move up the social ladder and perhaps be more than a wife to a macho man.

When my clock alarm went off, it felt like I had only slept an hour. I hurried to get to the can before the girls. Through a slit we used for a window, I knew that the other truck was active too.

The stove was turned on to start a large breakfast but coffee had to come first. The girls staggered around until they had some java. When we were awake enough, Galdem and the girls from the other truck visited. Jonna was still missing but I knew she wouldn't be late for what I figured was going to happen.

There were four gates to the city. The one at the harbour was further protected by walls that led down to the river. This could be attacked but there would be more obstacles for the Habstner to pass. The northern gate was smaller though just as vital to our defences. It had not been attacked yet because of the low lying area before it and the one elevated road used to reach the it.

This left two gates that would be attacked. I was no military strategist but it made sense that more of the men would be used to take one gate while the other group was used to split our defences.

Looking at this from the Habstner viewpoint, I knew that the south gate was slightly weaker and thus received more of our sharpshooters. The logical and perhaps simplistic thing to do would be to try to draw troops to the east gate.

The Habstner could use scaling ladders or use a lot of kamikaze sappers to blow up the gate. They could also hook up the cannons and drag them very close to the gates and blast away at close range. If they had the time and the resources, they could put up a movable barrier to allow the crews to get close. The Habstner didn't know it, but we had armour piercing shells.

With the correct objective still not finalised, I figured that our real objective was to remove the maximum amount of Habstner forces from Mendab. I had heard enough talk to know that Mendab was in poor shape. Most of the major cities had fallen in a surprising new thrust. Apparently, the majority of the forces were now concentrating on Shreff. To destroy the army we were facing would mean that it would be easy to clean up the rest of the country. Allowing the forces to withdraw was not a viable solution. Killing everybody wasn't good either.

The fact that the Habstner had attacked the country so strongly suggested that other forces were at work. Other countries as well as one religious institution that would want our weapons.

All three trucks were soon in motion. The horn worked very well and people fled to get out of the way. We still moved slowly to give people a chance to survive.

Tiffany headed to the east gate while the other trucks went to the south. I found that this area was swarming with men ready to fight and Tiffany reported the same where she was. With a few kind words, we got a lot of help to remove the XM307 from the truck. Galdem then drove the vehicle away. It could do little to assist us now.

The autocannon was not heavy and we easily got it to the top of the parapet. It didn't need sandbags normally, but we were on wood and stone. Some men ran out a personnel door to use our shovels to fill seven bags with dirt. The Habstner weren't starting yet so this was a safe activity. I didn't want holes inside the walls to trip us. One of the stone blocks had to be removed to allow the barrel to transverse. We ended up needing to use the block we removed to give us the height we needed.

The roof machine gun we had removed to get into the city was now mounted nearby and then all the ammunition for it was brought up.

Tiffany was doing the same thing where she was and had Fislu and Kuenta to assist and provide security.

Artlam came to the wall an hour later and looked at what we had set up. "These look deadly, especially that thing there."

"Your people throw grenades but this can throw them two klicks."

Artlam must have done the conversion in his head and said, You could have killed everybody yesterday."

"There isn't enough ammunition and they would have run." I pulled Artlam to one side and said, "The new truck has a sawmill in it and a lot of parts to start building a ship. When my ship is done the tools can be used for you to build."

I got a smile and said, "That would make me very happy."

"And very rich. I'm pointing this out because I have given you and this city what nobody else could. If I die, this flow of goods will stop."

"Are you going out to fight?"

"Yes, but that isn't my point. Our weapons are extremely valuable. Something like tonnes and tonnes of copper. A smart man will recognise that without the ammunition all of this is worthless."

"I understand this."

"Others don't. We are going to be busy killing untold thousands today. When we are busy doing this, one or two people with knifes could kill all of my team."

"Who would do that? You are protecting our city."

"The Church, the King, even Mantoya. It's possible that even you may do this but I think that you're the least likely."

Artlam stared at me with anger then it eventually softened to the realisation that I hadn't stretched the truth. "I can see this from your viewpoint. If you are telling me this, you must have some trust in me."

"I have a lot of trust but when people see a mountain of copper they have problems seeing the other things they should see. What I want is your men to guard the backs of my people. There are a lot of rifles in this city and they work much quicker than a knife."

"You are more of a realist than I had thought. I will do this for you. If you die, how can I make a mountain of copper by selling you gold or juffa?"

Artlam went about his business now. A lot of men were called to his side and he directed them where to go. I told the others mentally though the radio would be quicker.

My trucks were aimed at the gate with the forward facing machine gun still in place. The one inch cannon was low enough to have not needed to be removed. Kuenta had her vehicle put the same way so the gates could be opened. Her missile launcher would hopefully not be needed but the mortars would be used soon. With drones in the sky, we didn't need to move this weapon from the trucks.

The Habstner were beginning to stir so both of our teams launched the drones. Everybody including the enemy stared at us wondering what was happening. When the drones took to the air then there was the usual quiet as they thought with their minds instead of their mouths.

Tiffany reported that she had some reinforcements now and they were looking for threats inside the walls. I could feel that she felt better about this.

I got an old soldier that could not see very well to assist in helping with the autocannon. This was only after finding out that he could not see in the distance. We had a lot of time for dry runs so that the procedure was understood.

Caiti and Ronnas were short handed. They would use the visuals from the drones and then adjust and load the mortar. This was a lot of responsibility on the two. They may have played with the drones a lot but they only fired a few rounds with the mortar. Adjusting it by feel was something that had to be learned with a lot of use. The same thing applied to Andis and Selna who would be doing this from their vehicle.

The Habstner came back to their cannons and we harassed them so much that they had to pull them back. This made the cannon useless. Some of the cannon crews died when their devices could not take the additional pressure of the added powder.

There were always troop movements but something special was happening now. The horses were being readied for a charge. Others saw what we saw and there was a call to man the walls. Though the Habstner wore armour, there were still people using bows. Mantoya was using the Lee-Enfields even at this range.

I hurried to Mantoya and I saw the king arrive with a glowing Jonna. I got there first and said, "We have to let the Habstner think that they found a weak spot. I want them clustered here."

Mantoya said with large incredulous eyes, "Are you crazy? They will swamp us."

"Did I tell you what the machine gun will do? The XM307 will turn their bodies to small pieces. If they don't come I cannot kill them efficiently."

"Efficiently! We are talking about the lives of all of us."

King Willas said, "What's the problem?"

"This — man wants me to let them get close."

Willas looked at me and said, "Why do you want this?"

"My weapons are very powerful. It is like using a barrel of gunpowder to kill a man. If the men are closer together, one barrel will kill many. I need to kill a lot of the Habstner or you will not be able to rid your country of them. On the other hand, we cannot kill too many or their country will fall and soon we will have a stronger opponent facing you."

"I have never heard of somebody that wanted to not kill all his enemy. I do see your idea, though. What did you intend to do?"

"The sappers will come and try to destroy the gate when they have enough powder here. An open gate will draw the majority of the infantry. I have the range to kill lots of the enemy now but if I tried, they would scatter and be difficult to kill. They need to be close so that I have enough time to work the weapons over them."

"What can your weapons do?"

"The same as what the missile did but in smaller packages. One package will kill many."

"As powerful as the missile?"

"Much more powerful. Like a thousand muskets instead of one cannon."

"What happens when the gate is allowed to open?"

"We have automatic shotguns. With smaller shot we may get more than one man each time. If the gate opens freely when the Habstner draw near the gate could be closed. I won't use my heavy weapons until they are too close to flee."

I could almost see the wheels going around in his head. My ideas were radical but my weapons were powerful. He was also at a disadvantage because he couldn't kill us and use the weapons efficiently. Yesterday's session with the sniper rifle was a good example.

He said, "What if we made a small sortie to remove the powder and the gates were left open?"

"It does the same thing for me and you have control of fully functional gates."

"Then we will do it."

It was Mantoya that asked, "Open the gates to the enemy?"

Willas said, "It was only recently that we stayed behind walls to fight. I, for one, want to meet my enemy. Especially if this will mean his defeat."

It was now Mantoya that looked defeated. Willas took the opportunity to get his men near the gates so it could be opened if and when the time came.

I said to Willas and Mantoya, "We'll kill thousands of Habstner today. What are we going to do about the few that remain? I mentioned that killing them may just bring about more troubles later."

Willas said, "What do you want this time?"

"Gather them in as slaves. Treat them as an honourable enemies and then as employees. Soon it may be you that uses them to go back to their country to straighten it out."

This stuck a resounding chord in the king. He said, "We usually try to capture an enemy for slaves. We can try a bit harder."

I thought of the aftermath and of the noncombatants. There would be a lot more killing, looting and rape. "If we kill the majority of the Habstner, the baggage train is mine. I will search it with you and all the copper, jewels, silver and gold will go to your rebuilding. Any art we will split with me getting half. You get all the weapons, the powder and the war horses. I get the rest."

Willas said, "Slaves are valuable."

"You have thousands of people not employed. Why do you want more slaves unless they are educated?"

There was more thought and then he said, "We have a deal then."

Thinking of the men of the city I said, "I will protect the baggage train with my weapons and take all actions if the enemy flees there. Tell your men about this so they fight the men and leave the women alone. I want order even in war."

"That sounds reasonable."

While the word was passed we didn't do anything but wait. It was an hour later that we saw the beginnings of a mass calvary charge forming up. Plans had already been made. Tiffany would keep the calvary away with the AK's and/or the machine gun. I didn't want her gate breached. If worse came to worse, the mortars could be used sooner.

The charge came and it was impossible to count the numbers. I was now back from the wall and using my rifle to harass the cannon crews from moving their guns closer. With over a hundred guns, I had plenty of targets as did those at the other gate.

When the calvary came, men fired volley after volley with their muskets. The doors were opened and more men went out and made a formation where they could fire. Behind this were the men using the Lee-Enfields.

It was hard to hit anything from a charging horse but some of our men were struck. With the gate still open and few defenders, the battle shifted to us. Artlam used my AK and so did his most trusted men. They knew about burning out the barrel but that could be forgotten in battle.

Cannon fire was coming our way but it was sporadic and ineffectual. I was trying to suppress it the best I could.

Explosions were happening where we stopped the Habstner advance. They had obviously had not expected us to come out or for them to die as fast as they did. Those behind had a chance to snuff the fuzes. Satchels and grenades were thrown our way but few did any damage. There was a large push from the back of the Habstner lines and those with grenades were pushed forward only to die.

Thousands of rounds were spent as the bulk of the Habstner came forward. It was only when the advance components of the enemy was almost at our gate that I started to use the autocannon. Jonna used the machine gun as the distinctive sound of the mortar was heard. There were so many of the enemy that I pushed for maximum range. In three minutes I was out of ammunition and I took the auto shotgun and began to pump rounds into those near the gates.

The machine gun had spewed much more death. Jonna had shifted to close range then worked her way back. The Habstner advance had stopped a minute after I started then they went into full retreat. Only the machine gun could reach them.

The Mendab calvary and the men of Shreff left by the gate and Jonna had to shift to hitting those at over a kilometre. It looked like we had killed thirty percent. Jonna's gun was jamming regularly now with the heat even though she had been using water on it all along.

I called to Jonna, "Take the bolt and let's use the truck." It took a while for the idea to sink in before she removed the part that would keep the gun from being used. The bullets would go right through our mild steel armour. Jonna had to use a rag to hold the bolt and we ran to the truck. Some of Artlam's men came with us and I said, "Get in."

We left slowly to clear the gates then picked up speed. There were bodies all over the place and the only way to go was over them. The horses I avoided as I did those people that looked like they might still be alive.

Most of the Habstner were on foot and without weapons. I saw a chance here and used the PA system to call out, "Surrender now. Stop and raise your hands." I had to repeat this and wished that my mic was hooked up to this system. Jonna seemed to understand my feeling and used our machine gun and the girls used the mortar. We soon got a significant number to stop and raise their hands. We continued to gather more before they escaped or we would be forced to kill them.

When we got past the bodies we made much better time. We cut off the retreating men and used the one inch cannon now. This sound they understood but they could not understand the speed that the shells left. The Habstner finally stopped and had a chance to hear and understand what I was saying.

At this time I saw fifty men charging for the baggage train. There may be some resistance there but I knew in my bones it was for loot. I fired just one shell ahead of the charge but it didn't slow them down a bit. There was no time for another round. I put the peddle to the metal and moved around some of the Habstner and charged the camp myself.

"Caiti, get a drone over the camp."

"Yes, Sir."

It took minutes to get to their trail and turn into the camp. There were dead enemy here but they were bandaged. I stopped near some horses and said aloud so everybody heard. "This is my camp now. Someone is attacking. They surrender or die." The girls looked determined and the four guard nodded their heads.

The tents were close so I grabbed the auto shotgun and left. Within seconds I saw a man slashing a woman with a sword. He then ripped her jewellery from her body. It was the last he did as I used the buckshot on him.

The larger tents would draw them more and this is where I headed. I heard the 303's going off followed by the AK's. I found a man with Willas markings.

"Come here or I shoot!"

He went for a pistol and I didn't have to use the ti-wraps.

Three men came out of a tent. They were covered in blood. They saw me and went for their guns. I shot three times and then I was pushed back as if I were punched. I didn't fall but it was close. My chest hurt like fuck. I looked around and found smoke near another tent.

It was hard to run but I did my best. There was a dead Habstner near the tent and I labouriously picked a body up and lugged it in front of the tent toward the opening. I pushed it forward and heard not one shot but two. I was already on my way and knew that there may be other guns ready to fire.

I came in low and with a roll. My gun was up and I saw seven men. I was not picky and shot on full auto. Another bullet hit my vest. There were women and children here but I left to look for more of Willas' men.

As I emerged from the tent I felt another punch in the chest and saw a figure partially in another tent. I fell and rolled and was able to get off a round but it jammed. I flipped the safety and put it down then took up pursuit with the nine millimetre.

I came into the tent slowly and found the bodies of both the living and the dead. It was a child that was staring in one direction that clued me in. I was just in time to fire before the other gun went off.

Hurrying through the tent was not an option as I looked for more. Nobody looked anywhere but at me. When I got to the other doorway I figured it was too dangerous to walk out. I backed up and ran then rolled. Two shots were heard and I continued with the roll and came up and shot two men then moved the gun to get another that was leaving.

There were more shots but they were getting less and less. I belatedly keyed the mic and said, "Jonna, give me a status report."

Jonna came on quickly and said, "We just got another one of Crona's boys. There are some Habstner men around but I gave them permission to guard the women and children."

I had to think on that then said, "Good idea."

"We lose anybody?"

"I think we all took hits. Caiti is not crying about having to carry a heavy hot vest now."

"As long as all of you are safe."

I made a gentle curve and came back to the start twenty minutes later. I heard crying. Most of the survivors ignored me. One young girl saw me and tried to use the shotgun I had left behind. It didn't work then she pulled out a pistol but I was there to take it from her. She kicked and screamed at me and tried to rip my eyes out. The goggles helped here.

I resorted to a backhand and the girl fell to the ground. She was stunned for a moment and I used the time to clear the blockage to make the shotgun operational.

The girl was good looking and around fourteen. Usually, a woman had the spunk beat out of her by this age. I said, "I was the one that came through the camp to kill the looters." The girl just jumped at me and I found a use for a ti-wrap.

Caiti came on the radio and said, "A large delegation is coming from the city. The Habstner are coming here too."

"Is the delegation looking at the camp as a prize or to stop the Habstner?"

"Looks like they want the camp."

Mentally I called, "Jonna, back to the truck, quick. We got company."

"Yes, Sir." I got back first and looked at the display. There was enough room to make a three point turn by the time the rest arrived. I saw that we only had two guards and one was bandaged.

Jonna looked at the screen and simply said, "Shit!"

We drove to the edge of the camp and stopped. I put a new magazine on the shotgun and then put in fresh clips in the nine millimetre. The truck was stopped and Jonna manned the machine guns. Caiti and Ronnas got the mortar ready though we only had four more rounds.

I got out and advanced toward the wall of men. Willas was at the lead and he looked ready to snap.

He called out, "Where is my son?"

"I have no idea. I was killing looters and thieves."

"You killed my son." The King drew his pistol but before it was aimed, a shot rang out and he fell to the ground with another two behind him. Guns came out and by now I had the shotgun ready. One man tried to bring his gun around a little more and I fired from the hip. He fell from his horse as the horses around reared at the noise. I figured there would be more shooting but none came.

With a king dead there was a good chance for most of us to die. I yelled out, "Mantoya, get over here!"

He was further back and had to move forward. He looked at his dead king and his mouth opened. Mantoya came over to me and I said, "I killed looters. My people killed a few thousand today, we can kill a few thousand more."

"I don't want to fight."

"Then act like a leader. Round up the Habstner and don't use any unnecessary force. If you do, I will punish those responsible."

"Yes, Sir."

I looked at the men that had followed King Willas and said, "Put your guns away and get off your horses. We have a bit of talking to do."

The men did as I asked and lined up. One man used this time to draw his pistol when his hand was hidden. He fired point blank at me and I staggered back then hit him with buckshot.

When I stood again, I said, "Anybody else want to make orphans of their children?" One man simply got to his knees and stared at me. It took only fifteen seconds before another did the same thing. From then on it went much quicker. I turned to Mantoya and saw him on his knees too. I didn't know what this meant exactly but I had my suspicions.

Mentally I said, "What is this about?"

It was Jonna that said, "They need a king and I guess you're elected."

I had to do some thinking and had nothing to go on. I had to say something to get this defused and I called out loudly, "Who else will swear to me?"

There was some talking and then men came forward without their horses and knelt. Soon I had to back up so more could come forward. Jonna reversed the truck to give me even more room. She and Kuenta were at a loss of what to do.

People got close enough to try to kill me twice but never thought to shoot for the head. I was quite thankful though. My supporters stopped twenty seven more.

It took a while to separate my supporters from those that wanted to die. Mantoya got the Habstner army to stop and think. Soon they were issued tools and they began the labourious job of burying the dead. Those not digging were collecting bodies and those not doing that started to build a palisade that the Romans would be proud of.

It took a while to gather and strip the bodies. There was no more trouble with the major looters though I knew the bodies near the city had been robbed.

We treated the wounded of both sides and I used as many Habstner personnel as possible. We had brought seventeen laptops with their generators. I found scholars from both the Habstner and the Mendab population. When they saw what the computer did and had some examples, they could proceed as long as they didn't touch anything else.

The machine was seen as magical by everybody. We processed all of the Habstner soldiers in three days, then opened their records to add their dependents.

Communal soup kitchens became common. The men were reunited with their wives and children but the slaves were segregated. If the men wanted them, they would have to marry them.

There was food for about two more weeks and I needed to think of something. Some of the Habstner had run off. More importantly, many more could but didn't. A mixed force of armed Mendab's and armed Habstner were sent off to purchase food. This wasn't enough so more groups were made and sent out in other directions.

The palisade started to grow into a fort and I had Artlam learn about the sawmill first hand. Long two man chainsaws dropped the largest trees and similar units with the same type of cutting chain were able to square the wood. A diesel engine drove a horizontal bandsaw to cut planks from the giant logs. The various instruction manuals were translated and printed in Ladra. The equipment barely ever stopped.

The Habstner bodies had been stripped before burial and the possessions collected. Those in the camp were different. The tents were systematically searched and valuables collected. A widow now had a credit with us to purchase what she wanted. The same was true of a soldier. In this way I started a bank. I had photographs of everybody so there were few problems.

I had thought of Crowla and knew that the women were sometimes their own worse enemies. Money had to be put aside for the children and minor wives too. As head honcho now, I executed both Habstner and Mendab for transgressions. I didn't play favourites at all and this was seen.

A pay that came every week was a sure bet that people would start to change their thinking on small matters. A police force of both races worked in Shreff, the fort, and the camp.

At the end of four weeks I knew that this couldn't continue. There were too many people to feed. This was draining even my resources. Farms would have to be started but it would be six months at least before the first crop came in. We could last for awhile by purchasing surplus crops from farmers but not indefinitely.

I delegated a lot of jobs and a major one was to Jonna. She in turn had to find the people to delegate jobs to in turn.

There was no way I could continue to make trips to the portal without being found. Since this was inevitable, I simply told Artlam first.

"You come through a what?"

"A portal. You may know it by another name. It is a silver frame. One side is in this world and the other side in another."

"I have never heard of such a thing."

"Since I'm here, you can take it as fact that they exist."

"You are not of this world?"

"No, but my family had the portal to this place for a long time. I may be partially of this world. Maybe not."

"There is no Atlantis?"

"I said that to give you something to focus on. It would be easier for you to think of me as from this world."

"That's for sure. Why did you tell me this?"

"I have to drive for a few days to go back and forth. At some time in the future somebody will follow my tracks to this side of the portal. I still want to help this world. The Church has to change or go. I need machines to help farm. To get back and forth I need good roads, not mud. A road directly to the portal would be easy to follow and, to tell the truth, I don't like to lie."

"So everybody will know?"

"In time. Is there something you can see that will be a problem now that you know?"

"A king that walks between worlds is not bad. A king that has fearsome weapons is very good. A king that loves his people is — odd, but a good odd. People will just think you're crazy."

"Fine, I can live with crazy. Now will you help me build a road?"



-------

Chapter 12


I had not seen the slaves I bought or was given until two weeks after the defeat of the Habstner. They were all healthy and happy. In fact, one of them was simply glowing. Lomma was very pregnant. I knew who the father was and Jonna smiled at me a lot. I should have been pissed off at her but it was my fault for not asking her for a potion that would keep a girl from conceiving.

This was not the worse by far. The rest saw that I was starting to make heirs and they wanted their share. From the satisfied look that Jonna gave me I knew that this must have been the plan all along.

I had a laugh on Jonna because I left her and Artlam here in charge while I went home. Galdem was going to be her right-hand man or whatever Jonna needed him to be.

The trip was less stressful now. The cities in Mendab had to be retaken. In this case, the Habstner would just have to swear to me and stay in place but under some new rules.

We had an escort of a hundred men. We stopped every so often to talk about the land we were going through and where the new road should go. The drones helped with their birds eye view and we made better maps.

When we came to our forest we picked the best route and started pulling out trees. This way, the road would not be built over some vegetation that was going to rot away eventually. With the road laid out, we went the rest of the way.

Nothing much had changed on Earth. Because of my absences and my new commitments, I talked to my accountants to find a way of shifting the ownership of the bakery and the store to my relatives. You would be surprised what one dollar could buy. The nursery operation was changed so the employees got a share of the profits in lieu of some of their pay. They gave up a thousand dollars to make seven. That wasn't bad in my books.

Willie was called to the house. He was saddled with more gold and a shopping list for a lot more twenty five millimetre grenades and all the other supplies we had used.

"You know, there are a lot of people interested in gold now. Yours is good, it is always at least 95% pure. The thing is that a lot of people see the linkage between the metal and the military weapons. I'm not going to be of use to you much longer."

"Are you saying you want out or that you're going to subcontract?"

"The money is too good to leave. You should find an alternate spot to deliver your shipments too. The Americans are afraid of a few Arabs and they are hunting for people that want a box of 22 shorts."

"Do they suspect you?"

"Sure they do. They kept me at the border for five hours then let me go. My car was bugged and I'm sure I was followed. Hell, as far as I know they were doing it with satellite. Don't worry, I came here with a new set of clothes and a borrowed car."

"Then I guess we look for an alternate spot."

After Willie left with his gold, Lauren asked, "What are we going to do?"

"Like I said, we are looking for a new a building."

We left in a van to a warehouse district. When I found one that looked good I went for the portal. When we left the property it began to act erratic and when we got to the warehouse we found it didn't work at all. We quickly drove back to the farm and happily found that it worked once more. This necessitated some research and we found that it only worked within eight hundred metres of the house.

We took a trip to Toronto and found no indication of the portal finding a new home. I said to the girls, "If I had my druthers, I'd rent a helicopter to fly a grid with us checking the portal for activity. But having the pilot watching us doing weird things would not be a good idea."

Tiffany asked, "Why not a plane?"

"They have to fly too high and maybe too fast. I don't know if they would work but they might. Cars are too slow and have to follow roads."

My contacts found tractors for me. The tires would fit through the frame if they were taken of the steel rims then the rubber compressed and wrapped with chain. When the portal was not being used, it was transported all over the place to search for a new home.

After a month of road trips we decided to work on the other worlds. World #1 was opened with a different animal key. This one looked like a long legged bear. We sampled the air with a canary and found nothing wrong. I went into the large room with a centimetre of dust on the stones.

The room was a hundred and forty seven metres in diameter. And everything was made of what looked like standard sized cobblestones. The gravity was lighter than on Earth. The portals were mounted in the stone like our portal to Bejek was. Some portals were small while others were like a garage door or even a double door. All were level with the floor though. I counted forty seven other portals. There were two shafts going down and two more going upward. For all I knew, they would lead to other portals. Each of the openings were twenty metres across and there were no railings against somebody falling in.

Later that day, I lowered a camcorder and a light cord and saw a similar arrangement to what was below. Going up would have to wait.

Usually we would stay with one silver icon until we exhausted its possibilities. This time we went to worlds #2 and #3. They were the same as #1. The portal sizes were different but the shafts were similar. The shafts and corridors in #3 were much larger. The gravity was different on each.

World #4 was next. When we opened it with a bird in flight, the air was sucked out of the room and any loose paper flew into the corridor. A window in our home was sucked inward and broke. I heard doors slamming as if in a wind. I closed this gate quickly before we were sucked in too.

Lauren was very worried as were the rest of us. We could have been sucked through the portal to die. She said, "What happened?"

After I thought about it I said, "The air pressure has to be lower there. It might be a low pressure world or perhaps the room's on the top of a mountain."

I immediately thought about getting a robot to check this for me but decided to go to world #5 first. This key turned out to be a strange looking fish. When I opened the portal dirt and stone fell into the room which frightened all of us especially after what had just happened. I did not pull the key away. It stopped after a while. The girls sniffed the air.

Lauren said, "A little musty and dry too. Looks like a cave-in."

The portal was closed and temporarily moved to the barn. We took out more stones or let them fall into a steel box used in the orchards. There were so much material that the portal was shifted again to a dry creak running through our property and we continued. We poked at rocks because we didn't put any shoring in. Steel rods were turned into hooks or had cups made to fit the end. The rocks were dragged out. None of them were bigger than my head and only a few were smaller than my double fists.

There were three major cave-ins until I built the shoring to support all four surfaces. I wanted to see what this place was like behind the rocks. The portal was needed for other tasks but we removed debris every chance we had. I needed a light to see. Gravity was like what we had on Earth. The floor was identical to what I had seen before. I fabricated a shallow steel pan. I pulled this with a rope and filled it. The girls pulled it to them and dumped it. I then repeated the process. Steel was put up to support the soil above me in the tunnel and to keep the walls apart. More rock fell, but not much.

Eventually, I made it out of the tunnel and into a large room similar to the rest I had visited. The flashlight showed where a section of wall had collapsed.

Now began the labourious task of digging the many tonnes of large native rock and the cobblestones into the pan for disposal. This job was automated by the use of a tractor that pulled the loaded pan out through the portal to be dumped while I pulled the empty pan back. Soon I had help loading the pan. It was far easier to empty.

Part way back to our portal I saw another portal leaning from its mount in the wall. This one was of the largest variety. It had been blocked, but more importantly it had been ripped from the wall. There were some silver clips attached to the silver frame but basically it was the same as the small one we used. It wasn't hard to remove the rest of the rock so it was completely separate.

Eventually we cleaned enough that we came to our portal. It was a shock to see that this portal was just as large as the larger ones. How was I able to go through a small one and come out a large one. I could vaguely see the outline of our own frame in something that reminded me of mist.

I don't know where the idea came from, but I picked up the steel tray and turned it sideways. It would fit through the large portal but not our own. I pushed with some difficulty until I found that I had made it through without ducking to fit through. The tray was considerably wider than the receiving frame.

Kuenta said, "What did you do?"

"Something I thought impossible."

All the girls had to experiment. They could not push a wide article through from our side but they could do it from the other. When the novelty died down I looked at the other frame that had been ripped out. I searched its surface for marks and only found two. This reminded me of our frame and I looked to find the girl with the open hands and the globe. I was actually shocked to find something.

It was not a girl and it was not art. It was a simple arrangement with a cup frame. I chipped the rock away until I found the sphere that went with it.

I took them back to the house and Ronnas asked, "What's that?"

"The frame that was broken from the wall had this attached to it. It may lead to the world of the people that used the big door."

"Don't go. I think they're big and mean."

This may be the truth but I wanted to find out for sure. There were a good proportion of them that were king sized. I cleaned up my two finds. There was rock stuck to the frame but it could be something like concrete for all I knew.

Our frame was deactivated and I put in the new holder and the #9 sphere. There was no difference. The #5 sphere was put in and we all went into the room I had just been in.

Caiti said, "What do you want us to do?"

"I want to pick up the other frame and push it through the big frame and see if we can get it into the barn.

"Why?"

"Maybe we'll get a big gate."

Caiti's eyes lit up. She knew how much work this would save us.

All the debris had to be cleaned up and I figured we had to put some steel into the area of the wall that had failed and pour in concrete. When it came time to move the frame, there was a lot of grunting and groaning. This much silver was heavy. It was difficult to get it started through the portal and there was still a lot of work to move it when it was partially there. I let go of the frame and walked slowly toward our goal and again I didn't have to stoop. It was as if the receiving portal was elastic and could be stretched if we knew how.

I pulled on one side of the frame. It eventually came through and we leaned it against the garage wall. The girls had to stoop to get through this time. The opening inside the frame was roughly measured at 3.7 metres by 5.2. It would have either passed a very wide individual or somebody that liked a lot of room.

World #5 went back and #9 went onto the large frame but nothing happened. It was Kuenta that said, "You might have to charge it?"

There was no storm due so I hooked up the DC welder and made the connections secure before I flicked the switch. After a while I knew the cables were getting warm but the frame was just the ambient temperature. With nothing to lose, I set the welder at the lower amperage setting and left it.

While working on my projects, I thought about charging the portal. I could only think that a lightning strike was millions of time more powerful than the welder. During the last storm the smaller frame had sucked up five bolts.

"Small frame?"

The lights went on in my mind. I went back to world five and with a hammer and chisel I removed the smallest portal and the rock around it. I chipped away looking for anything odd but saw nothing. I pulled out the sphere and photographed it as #11. The frame was only eighty nine centimetres by sixty two. The interior was twelve centimetres smaller each way. When the frame, the holder, and the sphere were clean they were put away. The holder and sphere went into my collection but the frame went into the barn with the big one. When lightning came, it would charge both.

Days later and many hours ahead of the storm we were planning our strategy. I had made arrangements with a local window installer to use his truck. It had provision for carrying something as large as the larger frame.

We drove north and west until I found a region without too many people. A storm was slated to pass through this region. I put the large frame near a small lake and leaned it against a rock. On the other side of the lake I put the small frame. Because of the lightning, I made sure they were far from the trees.

We drove into a small town and shopped and just waited for the storm. Three hours later it started to pour. An hour after that we were treated with the wildest lightning strikes the region had ever seen. I know because it was in the weekly paper that came out. When we picked up the portals we found rocks split from the heat and dead fish floating in the lake. I wasn't happy about that.

When I tested the frame nothing happened but we weren't near the house. We got home late but excited. The little frame worked just fine but we had no key. When we put the big frame in the barn, we found it was a portal too. It gave a good view but we couldn't go through. We tried all of the other silver objects but none would make either of them work. They oddly didn't form a mirror surface as if these were industrial units and not for domestic use.

I had to stop now and think this through. The large rooms with the portals had to be some sort of station. The portals allowed travel both ways and the pits or the holes in the ceiling had to lead to other floors similar to the ones I had seen. The holes had to provide more than ventilation so people or perhaps cargo could move between floors.

This had to be looked at like the main train station for a world. If you got access to this area you could continue on to other worlds or to local destinations. I did not see a reason why an advanced and perhaps affluent world wouldn't have hundreds of these stations. This was assuming that there were hundreds of worlds to go to. Then again, there may be more than one station servicing two rich worlds.

There were a lot of deductions that could be made if the situation or my grasp of super physics was taken for granted. It did not explain how come there was dust on the floors. Alien civilisations falling apart due to disease, war or apathy could account for this. Humans used this technology so they may even have some worlds that were strictly for Humans. This did not explain how come Humans didn't use the system.

It occurred to me that perhaps Humans were simply locked out of the system because of the way we tended to foul our own nests. We could have been found wanting and the aliens decided to cut their losses and just left after securing the system.

Another thought was that Humans carried diseases that could be transmitted to other races. One disease could simply be our ideas or actions.

I stayed up late. The girls wanted me in bed but I was determined to see this through. In the end I had to explain what was bothering me so we could put nine heads together to come up with some answers, or at least find better questions. We went to bed later but now our minds were tired. This didn't mean I was let off the hook but the girls were tired too.

The next day I took the air chisel back through the portal and began to remove the small globes. The girls cleaned them up and we substituted them for the globes that lead to Bejek. I had gone three quarters of the way around the room until we found one that worked. The other globes were photographed in detail and put back in their respective holders. If I hadn't found any I would have gone down to the next level to look for more.

The new globe didn't make the portal do more than give the scene inside our reinforced concrete home in Bejek. Our small portal happened to give the same view.

I equated size to strength and removed the sphere from the large gate as the small gate was moved close until it touched. Bracing was added to make sure they continued to touch. The view in the smaller portal did not change. When the snake was put into the temporary holder that I had made, the portal opened. With this link established, I climbed a ladder and dropped in a globe for the large gate.

There was a sizzling sound and a snapping as if from arcing but it stopped before I could get the globe out. Tiffany though was putting a broomstick through the large portal and she excitedly said, "It works, it works."

I hurried down the ladder and used the broomstick myself. I looked at the smaller portal and it still seemed to be working. "Don't use both portals at once. Whatever goes through may be combined and I have no wish to be part of a truck."

Caiti said, "Why would that happen?"

"We have two portals going to one place. We know next to nothing about how all of this works and I don't want to learn the hard way. Even if we threw two rocks through, they may explode on the other side with enough force to kill us here. Just stay out of the small portal."

"I won't go in if you don't want me to."

"I don't want you hurt, Sweetie. I don't want anybody hurt."

Right then, I would have driven a tractor through the portal but I couldn't get it back without dismantling it.

We tested the portal and it worked but it led to our fortified room that was safe but restrictive to work from. Since I pried out the little portal that was only about twenty by thirty centimetres, perhaps I could get another big one. But the key may not work right. Sitting and thinking about it may not be the way to answer this problem.

The key was removed and the portals went back to being windows. The sphere for the small portal was changed to #5 and then the portal activated. The large portal got a #5 sphere too. The portal formed but there was no hiss or crackle as if the portals were now the same charge.

It was now comfortable to walk into #5. I picked a portal down the corridor and got the compressor and a air chisel. The work went much faster and it was only four hours until the portal was free.

When everything was cleaned up I examined the holder and the globe. The sphere looked similar. When I compared it to the one on the other large frame it looked not just similar but identical.

This required study and I took the spheres to the camera equipment and focussed very closely at all three again. I picked up sphere #5 and it was similar to all three but almost an exact match for the large gates.

Fislu caught me in the workshop sitting on a chair pondering what this could be. "Resting while the rest of us work?"

I was too preoccupied to notice her when she came in and I was startled. "Oh, hi Fislu. I broke loose another big gate and I was looking at the locating spheres. The two large gates have spheres about the same as #5 and the tiny gate is similar but not the same as the others. It looks like they go to the same world but not the same place."

Fislu seemed to listen and I caught a lot of undercurrents from her mind. I wanted to solve this mystery but she was horny. She was making me horny and I knew there was no way to fight it.

This was not a 'clothing optional house'. Ours was a 'no clothes' variety. With so many girls to please, they came at me when I had enough time to recharge. If we waited for night I could only do so much. This had reminded me of a dairy herd. If you milked them three times a day, you would get more milk than if you did it twice. The problem was, I was the cow here.

Fislu pulled my chair out. Since it had wheels she soon saw that I was already getting erect. Pavlov would have laughed at how I was conditioned. She didn't want any trouble with a floppy noodle and bent over to get me hard. I groaned in response. Fislu's thoughts came through to me much clearer now and I groaned again. I felt her love and her enjoyment of this act. I, in turn, sent out my own declaration of love and I heard and felt her response.

Fislu reluctantly pulled off and turned around to sit on me. I pushed my pelvis further down the chair and guided the one eyed snake into its burrow. She fit beautifully and I sent that thought and feeling to her. She liked the feel of me too. When she was down as far as she could go she was stretched wide. The head of my cock was in her womb. She just wiggled as a nice feeling went through her system.

When she was ready she pushed down with her arms and legs to elevate herself. My hands were around the front playing with a nipple and the clit. She groaned and paused as her concentration faltered as another nice feeling went through her and an image of that through me.

Fislu recovered and began again. She had difficulty keeping focussed. We both wanted this to last. If Fislu went through a lot of orgasms it would prolong our lovemaking.

After a while Fislu was beginning to run out of steam. I pulled her back to me and she sighed. One hand reached around her chest and held the far nipple while the other hand strummed her clit vigorously. She started to groan and tried to move her body up and down to get just a little bit more. She was still only fourteen and not able to reach the floor from my lap.

The build up was logarithmic now. Her mind meshed with mine and dragged me along with her. My own mind responded with an insatiable urge to shoot into this woman and make a child.

Fislu screamed my name and I tried to thrust into her and plant my seed deep. She moved in sync with me to get the same result. I shot volley after volley into her and she reacted to each as if they were priceless gifts by groaning.

I just held the girl to me tenderly with both hands when we slowed and stopped. It would be nice to cuddle, but we were in the wrong position for that and neither of us wanted to sever our mental of physical link.

"I love you, Hugh."

"I love you too, Honey. I feel so warm with you here."

"Me too. It would be nice to stay this way always."

"We would never get anything done."

"Yes, I know, but it's nice to dream about it."

"I know all about that."

"We could have a baby. I know that would pull us together, too."

I had gone over this every day with one of my ladies or another. I was not angry at the girls never taking no for an answer but the reply had to be made. "We're not safe yet. We have problems as a family here on Earth. We have problems with guns on Bejek. Our children would do well on either planet but they have to have a chance to get educated and grow strong."

"When will we be safe? I'm too old to start having my first child."

"You could have a child up until you are fifty but I think eighteen is a good time."

"I'll be old."

"If I am the one to plant the seed then that's what I think. When you're eighteen you'll still be beautiful."

Fislu hugged my arms and said, "I know, but you like the younger girls too. You already have a baby growing."

"I was tricked by an evil woman who will get her comeuppance when I plant a baby in her womb."

"Well, then I better work at making a strong home for my son."

"Not our daughter?"

"A son first."

Fislu pulled off with a sucking noise. She had good control of her abdominal muscles. Her hand went to her mons and she stepped away. She turned and bent over to suck our combined juices off of junior and left to find a girl that wanted to clean her up. There was never any problem with this.

It was hard to get focussed again.

I was gold and silver rich but not very cash wealthy. There were some people that were willing to trade for gold, in fact there were lots, but I had to stay away from direct contact.

I had remembered the odd way the compass acted around the gate. This may mean that a magnetic field was associated with the gate but I hoped it was with the location itself. One of my lawyers contacted another lawyer to look into getting somebody to check the oddities in the Earth's magnetic field in southern Canada. Prospecting would be claimed as the reason and if any oddities were close enough I could take the small gate to them to find out if they were special.

Within two days we had paid a small air service to fly a grid in southern Ontario with a box full of sensors and the active gate. The globe and cup were mounted and a view could be seen. It only worked when over the farm but I hoped to find more places. A light sensitive device would react when and if it came near a such a place. With it was a GPS that would record the location. There was no key so there wouldn't be any displacement.

The area outside our gate was changing. The trees had been cut back and the rough lumber had been stacked to dry. Steel prefab buildings had been erected with wooden ones following. A hundred men now had their families here and they were also helping to alter the area to a city. The only name I could come up with was Woodland but it would fit for now.

If this was going to be a city then it better be built upwards. Services were expensive and by building close together it got cheaper. I heard of a new way of dealing with sanitation problems and this would have to be investigated soon.

The people working on the farm on the Earth side were wondering about all the trucks coming in with equipment or food. This was another incentive for me to find an alternate place to put the portal. One thing I could do would be to see if I could move the new portal to Bejek and place it even with the road. This would allow trucks to drive through the portal and be unloaded or just left there until after the delivery. It was the time factor that I was interested in decreasing. It was not for efficiency but the fact that the employees would have less chance of seeing a truck, at least one that was stopped and being unloaded.

We waited for another storm to charge the newest portal and to give a touch-up to the smaller one. I was running out of cash again. I had ordered a lot more modified computers and generators and they had to be paid for. Wire was in demand and I managed to work through an intermediary to get four tonnes of silver purified and made into specific wire sizes. The cost of processing was paid for in silver.

Information was in great demand. I had to have a book or DVD about everything. At some time in the future I would have to build steam engines to run generators. I needed to learn how to find petroleum so I could make diesel fuel or use biomass. I needed communications so I could talk to Artlam. I needed good roads.

Doing all this didn't get me any closer to finding out about the Church or magic in general. I was getting a feeling that this magic was just super science that I had yet to learn. The same could be said for letting someone on Bejek hear a conversation through a simple walkie talkie.

Caiti came running to me with a smile on her face so I figured I wasn't in trouble, or not too much. "There's a storm coming on my planet. Lauren said we can charge it there."

We had thought about that and it was time to try. The girls were recruited with some of the guard detail. The large portal was used almost all the time now. We pushed the equally large frame through with difficulty. The extra help made it easier than last time. The frame didn't make it out of our already large doors though. The platform was not large enough. The heavy frame would fall into the ocean below. A long rope was lowered from above and tied to the frame. We were able to push the frame out the door over the ocean and the people above pulled it up. In a little over an hour we were able to carry the silver frame up the incline and put it in a cleared area.

It was three hours later that the first strike came followed by seven additional bolts. Nobody ventured near the area because the ground was charged and a new strike could come at any moment.

I got to thinking again and looked at the old portal. The stone around it was the same as in the corridors of worlds one to five. I never considered why this frame was never hit by lightning. There were some stones still and they were also like the floor and walls of the large room. I could almost kick myself now. This portal had to be part of a complex like I had seen but this one had collapsed into the ocean. In fact, worlds seven and eight may be just the same.

With a hammer and chisel, I worked above the smaller portal to extract the cup and the sphere. I was very careful and I had a lot of people watching me. When the silver pieces were extracted and cleaned, they were placed on the new frame. It had already been placed in a rough wood framework for support.

The key on the dual frame on Earth must have reconnected to the sphere because I instantly saw the barn. After a few simple tests I walked through the portal back to Earth. There were a lot of grinning people. I simply started up the tractor and drove it through to a cheering crowd.

It was still not big enough for a transport truck unless we layed the truck on its side. It was Caiti that said, "Let's turn both?"

I kissed the pretty six year-old and said, "That is why I keep you around. You have such good ideas."

We rotated the frame and had to find a way of re-securing the cup and sphere then do the same thing on Earth. The tractor went through again without being tipped. I knew a good idea when it hit me on the head so I got the people to find a way to tip the frame when we had to ship wide articles.

The larger gate would make everything easier but I didn't have the money to use it well. Some people had found a possible solution.

Gold sold for three quarters of its value when termed scrap. A wealthy Arab was looking to score a deal in gold but didn't want to be bothered by piddly amounts. He would graciously accept two tonnes of gold for thirty million after I paid all the other people handling the deal. In fact, he would take ten tonnes. That kind of money was supposed to be a minor amount for him but it was a major amount to me.

The trouble came when the minor prince didn't want to meet with me himself, but to send one of his people. Hell, I was a king.



-------

Chapter 13


With a lot of work, we passed some used construction machinery through the gates. The first was a grader that was too big. It had to be then partially disassembled them reassembled. This was much easier than before. A small dozer came along with a tanker truck for fuel. Our roads would be better now.

The time for the trip back to Shreff finally arrived. Woodland was almost shut down and the gates hidden under steel in case the city was attacked and taken in our absence. We had a convoy of twenty two trucks. We mainly carried agricultural equipment and some seed I wanted to try. There were now culverts in the damper areas and we didn't need the winch at all. Though we didn't expect a fight, we put out the drones just in case.

The trip only took a day. The roads were still bad but a lot better than before. The fort had grown in our absence and the tent camp was gone. Artlam, Jonna, Bulla and a very gravid Lomma were in the front to greet me. I had missed the girl that carried my child and now I didn't want her far from me.

Artlam said, "You have quite a procession, my King."

Artlam and I had talked about this and he told me how he had to follow customs or there would be anarchy. "Only just enough to start farming."

"We cleared the land and those marvellous machines have begun to make ditches and remove hills. Your people are simply amazing."

"These are your people too and I think they are marvellous too. Tell me what you've done?"

We sent messengers all the time and some of this was for the ears that were trying hard to overhear us. "Six of your cities have agreed to your terms. A seventh wants to see you before they go to their knees. They're following your laws though."

"What city?"

"The capital, Limka."

"Any of Willas family giving us problems?"

"The Habstner tend to be thorough when they settled the city. There are no close family left."

I didn't like this but it did make it easier for me. "Any reports of any more incursions?"

"None, my King. The ones that made it back must have been very descriptive in how they were routed. Now that you are here, I expect envoys to be coming soon."

"I think that it's likely too and I figure that they may try to remove me."

"I, too, have considered that. On another topic, we have made two 'honeywagons'. Our streets are much cleaner." This had been collected before to produce nitrates that were used in gunpowder. Now the edicts were enforced so it was easier to keep the city safe from disease."

"Let's go in. I would like to see the city."

"Yes, my King."

The trucks stayed behind with Lauren and Tiffany in the other armoured vehicle. There was lots of work to do still and we couldn't waste it on useless processions.

The gates had been enlarged and we were able to drive through and down a wider route to the school. There were people everywhere and they looked happy to see me. Jonna told me that they didn't do this for any other king that she had ever heard of.

The area devoted to the school building had grown significantly. Artlam showed me a drawing of the facade of the school and it looked like what was found on one of the DVDs we left here. It was also good to see a lot of children working on the site of what would one day be their school. Those same children were now fed and off the streets without the word welfare being used at all.

I suggested that my home not be started. Artlam didn't mind me as a guest and I could look around first before getting a home built. This was not a time of leisure though. There were lots of meetings to attend to. The former Habstner citizens and army were all loyal citizens of Mendab. This, I knew, wouldn't make them sweet and agreeable. The business community wanted to get around some laws that were instituted to make the city safer and more profitable in coming years. They couldn't see beyond their immediate gain.

People were already here looking for compensation for war damages. Willas would have had them hung. Everybody figured I had untold tonnes of copper. Well, I did have many tonnes but I couldn't use it for fear of causing inflation.

Artlam had a large meal prepared for us and after another meeting we went to our chambers. Mine had Fislu, Selna, Ronna, Bulla and of course Lomma. When we started, it was with Lomma. She was about eight months along now so I was extra careful. I abused her with my lips many times before I moved into her opening. When she eventually came, I filled her. Fislu was there in a flash to show the girl that she was accepted. I moved to Bulla and I now could use longer strokes.

I lasted through all of the rest then started all over again. This time I filled Bulla and later Fislu. I was too pooped to carry on then.

I ate a full breakfast and left in a five ton stake truck to the area that was going to be ploughed for planting. My cargo was my young people. Those that I had taken from the original Habstner group nearly swamped the ones I had before that.

The equipment had been removed from the flatbeds and the empty trucks were used to convey officials from the city to my experimental farm. I had to use the PA system as some of the original one hundred taught some basic ploughing skills. The people had all my notes and textbooks from university but couldn't learn a language in the short time they had. They were learning quickly and were able to listen to the PA system through a long set of speaker wires.

The road we had travelled over had already been graded and a ditch dug on both sides. The sides were far apart to accommodate a very wide road bed that would be like the old Roman version but higher. This could land a large plane and this is what I intended.

Artlam then Mantoya had to plough and did so for two long furrows that extended nearly three klicks each. The councillors needed to have a turn and this was ok with me. We left after a few hours. The land had been disced to break up the clods. There were three fields and they totalled nine square klicks or 900 hectares. We could do more but I figured I had to purchase some local produce or the farmers would starve.

Once back in the city, Artlam said in private, "The group in Limka may need a visit with you showing your weapons. I would advise that you put some of your people in charge there."

"I figured the same. What do we do with those we remove? We could use another boat yard here."

Artlam said, "That may work. You could monitor them. I found something of interest for you. I didn't want to put it in a letter."

"It must be sensitive then?"

"It is. The first baggage train you captured had a priest and two boys in training. There was also five laywomen and seven girls. We found this out when some of them tried hard to get to the wagon they had travelled in. We found records and some books."

"That sounds logical, what about priests in the major camp?"

"Most were killed with the missile, though not all. There were seven more boys and perhaps thirty laywomen and some younger girls in training."

"Why so many women?"

"I guess to keep the rest of the women in line. It's good that you left Jonna here. She has been both a pain in my side and a tireless worker to route out the Church."

"Did you find out what the Church wanted?"

He looked at me as if I was daft. "Why, you of course."

"I can see their reasoning. Their primary weapon was the Habstner army. An organisation like the Church has to have alternate plans."

"We were unable to find out. Since then, many of the laywomen have died of apparent suicide. So have some of the boys and the girls. We keep them separated now and think that the woman that promoted this has died herself."

I looked at Artlam carefully and asked, "Did you find any artifacts?"

It looked like a truthful answer when he said, "Some, but Jonna thinks that they are minor icons."

"What does Modak say?"

"He was murdered last week."

I felt bad about that. He may have still been alive if he had not come forward. It did make me even angrier at the people that had caused this. "Do you think it was the local Church?"

Two attempts were made on my life and I heard a substantial sum was put on yours. I can see them going after your people that live here, especially Lomma. I think the idea was to lure you to where they wanted."

"They tried to kidnap her?"

"Not yet. There are some strangers watching this house. There happened to be a servant's ear to her master's door during the planning so I heard of this before anything serious could happen."

"The priests?"

"Them or a group sent here. They will try a lot harder to kill you."

"Arrest the Churchmen quietly. Perhaps it can look like they fled."

"I can do that. What are you going to do with them? They will not talk."

"I have an icon that will make them my slave. They talk to me and in a year they are back the way they were before I arrived."

"I figured you would suggest that. These plans have already been made. We might get some in as little as a few days."

There were a few more motion detectors and I gave them to Artlam along with a shoulder harness and a nine millimetre. It already had his name engraved on it. The threaded barrel accepted a silencer.

Artlam looked at the gifts and said, "I don't know what to say. The detectors I can see because I'm protecting your people, but the pistol? It's beautiful."

"It is a beautiful piece of work." I handed him a silencer. He didn't understand until he saw the threads. It didn't take long before the two were mated.

"What does this do?"

"Try it where others will not see. You'll be pleased."

Artlam studied the gun for a minute then smiled and said, "It contains the sound of the explosion within the weapon?"

"You're right. The fewer that know about it the better it would be for you."

I pulled out some DVDs and handed them to Artlam. He said, "What are these?"

"Most of the secrets of my people. If you use this then we will be just as powerful. You have to learn English. There's no way around it because there are so many words that are not even in your language."

I studied the books Artlam gave me that dealt with magic. I had to figure that what was talked about was not bullshit but just a way of looking at something or like when Jonna first tried to heal with the Heart of Opfu. It might be that all I needed was a new perspective.

There were more meetings after supper and it was late when I got to bed. Lauren, Tiffany, Jonna and Kuenta were in the bed so I knew I wasn't going to get a reprieve. Kuenta got me first. She was soon on her hands and knees and I was behind her.

Out of the blue, Jonna said, "The women of Bejek are subservient to their men." I said nothing and it was difficult to get around her block. "We are now also women of Earth. We have decided that we want children. We want you to be their father."

"Just like that?"

Jonna was very frightened. She had put on a front and then threw out her bluff. In a way I figured it was time, too. "I will agree, but under some conditions."

The girls were shocked, especially Jonna. When her thinking got straightened out I saw how her mind was jumbled by my declaration. She said, "What do you wish?"

"One gets pregnant but the rest have to be spaced out at least to three month intervals."

Jonna did a poll and the girls happily agreed. I went back to making Kuenta happy. The night was long and tiring. The women found new depths of stamina and I ran out long before they did. Still, it could be fun being a spectator.

The next morning I casually said at the table, "People tried to kill Artlam because we're friends." That may or may not be true and only time would tell. "This means that we're liable to be on the receiving end of a knife or an arrow. We're still in a dangerous situation."

Tiffany asked, "Who would want to kill Artlam?" The man in question was sitting close. "He's so sweet and he takes care of all the children."

Artlam said in a syrupy voice, "Everybody knows that our King favours the weak. I watch over our charges. The King's enemies may seek to harm him by simply harming those he loves."

Now the girls had to reflect on this because they were even closer to me. I said, "You go armed and in groups at all times." I got a lot of nods.

After everybody went off I had another meeting with the councillors. One said, "How are we going to make that road you want? It will cost a fortune just to make it the old way, and you want it so wide."

I took a page from what was done on Earth. "The economy on Earth is complicated in a way, but mainly it's what is called Capitalist. Our people can draw a picture of a bridge and various groups of men can bid on the job of building it. The lowest bid would get to make that bridge. Inspectors watch the construction to make sure it is done right. If the company screws up then it is not invited to bid again. The cost is kept down the same way a shop owner has to adjust prices if another offers the same goods at a lower price."

There was some thinking and I could just about read their thoughts from looking at their faces. "It's possible that everybody would secretly conspire to keep the prices high. That will not be permitted," I said.

This idea would continue on to building a simple culvert out of stone to making the road itself. A dozer could make the job easier but women still had to place the stones to make the surface stable. With the surplus of women, and their place in society, all the labourious work was placed on their shoulders.

The chemists came next. They were quite exuberant about their sulphuric acid production. I had to go into teaching mode and I was only partially interested in this subject, and then only when it had to do with farming. To get around my shortcomings we used a projection television that was hooked up to a laptop. All of this was powered from a portable generator.

The recorded words were in English and I had to stop the presentation a lot so I could translate. To save my voice, the computer would record my translations and place them in the presentation where they belonged. These people were great chemists but hadn't been able to cast iron until recently. This topic was now covered so the production could be done more efficiently.

We went through the history of steel making. The men would be as enthralled if I had shown grass growing on the television screen. I only spoke for an hour then turned the presentation into auto and let the chemists hear everything once more. I was now free for a while to do other tasks.

The reason for steel making was to present how to make nitric acid from sulphuric acid and sodium nitrate when it reacted in a cast iron container. The nitric and sulphuric acids would be combined later with glycerine. The product was then both cleaned and neutralised so it could be used as an explosive.

Black powder rockets were old hat but we had a way of using local people to make weapons. The steel industry would provide the materials to make rifles and hand guns. We would even try silver casings in our cartridges but I didn't know how they would work. Perhaps I needed silver bullets like the 'Lone Ranger'.

The two acids in conjunction with hydrochloric would be used to purify the gold I collected so I could sell it with a tenth of a percent of impurities or perhaps even a hundredth. I could then sell the material much easier and for a higher price.

Lauren and Kuenta were looking through a military manual to set up an antenna for one of the transceivers I bought. The nine radio transceivers were fairly cheap and would bypass the need for hand delivering messages. At noon today, those at the gate would try to contact us to test this out. If it didn't work then every two hours they would try for ten minutes. We had tried this before and they had communicated with the trucks.

The transceivers were thousand watt military surplus units. The man to sell them to me said that they were very low frequency amplitude modulation units that would transmit to the other side of the Earth.

When I had asked for more, the salesman had said, "Ham radios are just the same. A small modification and most of them will transmit on almost any frequency you want."

"Why don't all the hams do that?"

"They want to stay out of jail. The government tends to be picky about who can use what bands. My advice to you is to make sure you have all the licences because they will track you down and nail your hide to the door if you don't. Especially if you start using any of the government or military frequencies."

Lauren was looking over the radio and things that came with it. Kuenta just looked lost. We needed to get it set up and running. She kept looking between the radio, the power supply, cables, and antenna. She finally asked me, "Why is this manual written so poorly?"

I said, "It was written at the simplest level it could be written at. They needed to make sure that anybody could at least set the equipment up, not just the communications people." I continued, "Just turn off your brain and follow exactly what the book says. If you don't make any assumptions, it should work."

"Ok," said Lauren as she turned back to the manual and flipped back some pages. "Here's step one." She lifted the transceiver and set in on a table then turned it around and looked at the connections on the back. She read the labels for the connectors, then looked back at the manual. Soon she was busy making connections and giving Kuenta some directions.

"Hugh," said Lauren, "I need to put the antenna someplace high. What would work?"

"There must be someplace on the roof you can put it," I replied.

"We'll need someway to get up there. And we need to run the coax between the radio and the antenna," said Lauren. "I might need to make a hole to do this. The manual says the automatic antenna tuner needs to be mounted next to the antenna. It needs a power cable as well."

Kuenta was soon pressed into service to install the antenna and run the coax. The coax was 30 metres long, and she had to choose a place that the coax would reach and let the antenna stick above the roof. It took a while, but Lauren was satisfied that she had followed the manual as closely as she could.

Artlam was very impressed with how the unit worked. He spent twenty minutes talking to people he only met once or people he had never seen before.

There was also a DVD made to show how to use the transceiver and another on servicing the various sizes of generators.

When I had a little free time, I told Artlam, "I want to see the priests."

"I'll get some help. They act crazy sometimes." I wasn't going to refuse this kind of help at all.

We walked into the basement and found a guard and a naked man shackled to the wall.

"Hi, I'm Hugh. I have some questions for you."

The man turned to me and spat. My two guards got angry at this. I just pulled out the silver slave and walked to the man. He stared at the icon and it was only just before it touched his head did his eyes get wide. The man instantly went unconscious. I said to the guard stationed here, "When he awakes, call for me."

"Yes, my King."

The other end of the basement held an old woman. I was a little surprised to see that it was the one that I had first talked to the day after I took the first baggage train.

"Hi. I have some questions for you."

"You will get nothing from me."

I walked forward and she, too, was astonished when recognition came. There were twenty nine women that I made slaves and the icon's batteries must be giving out. I could see a use for gathering more of the small portals now.

The first woman was coming around by the time I finished the last one. When I approached her I saw that something was strange. When I took Jonna and Lauren, they had acted very servile. This woman looked that way but not as strongly.

"Hi, what is your name?"

"Yossa." There was no honorific to go after her reply.

"What was your mission with the Habstner?"

There was no quick answer then she said, "The Habstner don't follow Ragnus as closely as they should. They are a barbaric people that need to be controlled and severely disciplined." There was a pause then she said as if reluctantly, "We heard of your ideas and came to stamp them out."

"What ideas?"

"You were changing the natural state of affairs. A woman's place is to serve a man. You are also meddling in our work. The Mendab have to be defeated so the Anguy can take over this backward country."

The Anguy were one of the people that followed the teaching of the Church very closely. After hearing Artlam talk about them I thought the word fanatic was as good as any. "Why not the Habstner?"

The woman looked pissed for even saying this and said, "The Habstner are only fit to be crude tools."

"And the Anguy are more polished tools?"

Now I got a smile and she said, "Yes."

"Who is leading this fight against me?"

Now there was a lot of reluctance but I was patient. After a few minutes she said, "The Most Eminent, the Vacca of Porsth, Lord Cundra."

"Where is Lord Cundra?"

I didn't get an answer and soon the woman fell to the ground or at least as far as her chains allowed. She twitched and moaned but said nothing further. At a guess I had to say there was a conflict within her. The Church must have given her some protection against the slave girl but it could also be their version of brainwashing mixed with the drugs that Jonna had once used.

I checked the rest of the women and saw that all of them had some protection and were not meek and mild. The youngest was perhaps eighteen and she had too many years of conditioning to break easily.

I told the guard, "Take me to the younger ones."

"Yes, my King."

The girls and boys were in secure areas. I was happy to see that they weren't shackled to the walls. They worked in groups to process cloth or yarn. The area for the boys was nearer but quite a distance from Artlams' home.

The building looked like an old factory. There were a dozen guards near the building and more were hidden away. There was no hassle about getting in. There looked to be fifteen surviving boys working for seven older women. The supervision looked nasty but the voices I heard before they saw me made them sound more like mothers.

When the people saw me, the women got to their knees and bowed a head. The boys looked sullen. They ranged in age from fourteen down to what looked like a six year-old. Most of the boys were on the younger side.

"Please get up."

The women arose and the one with the biggest smile got asked, "How are the boys doing?"

"They work now. They aren't as fast or as diligent as the girls, but we can't have everything."

"As long as they try." I looked around at the spinning and the weaving that was going on. I had lots of info on this type of operation but no chance to bring this craft up from what looked like the twelfth century up to the nineteenth.

I looked around and found only thirteen boys and there was supposed to be two more. "What happened to your other workers?"

The women looked around and I guess they were counting heads. Another woman said apologetically, "They must have gone off again, my King. Boys will be boys."

"Yes, sometimes they need a kick to get them working."

I wandered around the large room looking at the machinery. Most of the equipment was made of wood and old wood at that. When I was at the back of the room I heard a groan. I quickly turned but didn't draw my gun. I soundlessly walked down a hall with my escort right behind me. I heard a quieter noise coming from behind a curtain. Wooden doors were expensive. I moved over to one side of the wall protected most of my body and I peeked in. The boys were being boys alright. The two looked about twelve that were in the 69 position.

With a smile, I put my finger to my lips then slipped into the room as quietly as possible. The boys were naked and lying on a floor on a blanket. It was difficult to get seated because of all the equipment I had on but the boys didn't seem to notice. My detail looked into the room and smiled. I indicated that the curtain be put back and the faces disappeared.

The boys moved around and even bumped me as they got into a new position. One boy started to groan louder and more often then so did the other. The one on the top started thrusting down and the lower one started thrusting up. It was over in a few more seconds and the upper boy pulled off only to see me.

The boy was shocked to say the least. He was a cute boy and their activity had got me horny and I had even been drained recently. I reached over and the boy didn't flinch. My finger picked up some semen and the boy accepted my finger readily. His hair was covering his face and I gently moved it up so I could see him easier.

The boy at the bottom had to squirm out from under his unresponsive lover and he acted the same way without the extraneous semen.

In a low nonthreatening voice I said, "Hi boys. My name's Hugh." I looked at the first now and said, "What's yours?" There was no reply and I asked the second with the same result.

I had to chuckle at the boys and their reaction until first one and then the second launched themselves at me. I had wrestled on a team and learned a bit of karate. The boys were no problem. I used one to block the other, then pinned one in a scissors hold as I held the other with my arms.

The guards came in but didn't do anything. I came up with a new hold and pinned the boys like bookends with my legs and held their closer arms so my nuts would not get attacked.

"Look boys — " the boys looked drugged now. They hadn't had a chance to have any so this must be some type of conditioning. The only thing I had was the silver slave girl. It was not fully charged but it might still have enough power for two partially trained boys. I touched one then the other and they fell into unconsciousness.

Their clothes were nearby so I had them dressed and sat back to wait. I talked to the guards about trivialities until the boys started to recover.

When they recovered enough I saw that they were much like the slaves I knew. Their conditioning must not be strong enough to fight the effects of the idol.

"Now boys, tell me your names please."

Both spoke at the same time and my title was used. They had to repeat this separately. One was Bosma and the other was Camsa. The answers to my questions came quickly but apparently the boys knew very little.

"How come you two know so little about what you were doing? The boys, I know, would listen to every word and try to piece together what was happening. They would probably listen at doors just to hear a few words."

Camsa said very seriously, "My King, we would be punished or even killed if we were caught. Samok has great magic and would know everything."

Samok was a dead priest. I asked, "How would he know?"

The boys looked at each other then Camsa said, "He told us."

"What exactly did you train for?"

Bosma proudly said, "We were to make Samok happy and please him in bed. We used to be taught magic but we weren't very good at it."

"I heard that those that weren't good at magic were sent away."

Both boys shivered and were quiet. Since I was waiting, Camsa said, "Our testing was to be in a month. Our Master, Samok, tried to teach us more but quit. He said he would look after us so we would remain safe and with him forever."

Yeah, forever was a month, then these boys would be dead and he would get other boys to train for the priesthood and his bed. Now was not the time to tell the boys this. Perhaps they should never learn how close they came to death.

I saw the potential as bed partners, but not for me. "I'm looking for some help in my home. What do you boys think about doing some nice things with girls?"

The boys looked at each other and Camsa said, "We have done it before but we prefer people like us. We loved Samok."

My questions went into detail now. The boys serviced older women and had sex with a girl of their age once or twice, but that was a few years ago. Apparently this was a test too. I asked a lot of questions about Samok and saw that he must have brainwashed the boys into loving him because there was no love coming from him.

This was a situation I had to test myself. Perhaps the boys would pass. If they did, then they may get eaten alive by the girls but they would at least go down with a smile.

The boys stayed with me now and walked close as if I were Samok. The other boys would not answer important questions so I figured that they knew next to nothing too.

Later I remembered that I would need the slave girl to work on the priests if more were captured. The portal was too far away and the old way had to be used. I took the icon to Jonna.

"How am I going to charge it. I don't get enough of you now."

This was true and I thought for a few seconds until I heard the boys move. Hell, they were here to — shoulder some of the load."

"The boys are probably full by now. You can have both. Don't hurt them."

"What are they for?"

"I thought I could ween away some of the girls a bit at a time."

"There's not much chance of that, but the boys are cute. Give me the icon and I'll bring it when it can work on a few men."

"Thanks, Jonna."

"No, thank you." She looked at the boys and said, "Come here boys."

Camsa and Bosma looked at me with a little fright. I said, "I want you to do whatever Jonna says. She looks and acts tough but she's soft inside. She won't hurt you. We just have to charge an icon. Tell her what you have learned and perhaps she can help you a bit more."

As I left the room I saw Jonna getting out of her clothes. I was not sure about the boys' fate, but I didn't want them hurt.

I remembered the priest and wondered why I had not been summoned. When I found the guard I saw that the priest was in trouble. I had the Heart of Opfu out quickly and used it on the man.

The man had lots of things wrong with him. Everything was shutting down. Just before he died I saw that there was a conflict within his brain. I hurried out to the old woman and saw that she was barely coherent and even the laywomen I had not questioned were this way. The younger they were the more lucid they were.

They had to have reached a stage in the Church where a compulsion was put in and they had to fight it. I didn't like the Church and I liked it even less because it warped those it wanted. I did this with the icon and wasn't much better. I would at least look after my fuck-ups.

I saw Artlam later and explained what I had done and the results. I said, "I want the women confined to a home. They may need to be tended like a sick child for a week or a month. I need some caregivers and I want them to be women. Can you help me?"

"A home is difficult. All the empty homes are used. The Habstner population took most of them if they were not in the fort and everybody is coming here looking for employment. There is enough of your copper to get almost anything done. It may take a while but I'll try my best."

"Thanks, Artlam. If it were up to me, I would build a new city with all the services I talked about and people could just move into the new settlement so we could level the old."

"You have mentioned that and I have seen pictures of your great cities. Perhaps one day we will have cities like that."

Jonna looked particularly pleased during out supper. Artlam looked at her wondering what the cause was. I said on a different subject, "Jonna, I think the priests and the laywomen are programmed to resist. Hypnosis and drugs would work but so might magic. Do you have anything that I can use to fight this resistance?"

"There may be a way. The druggists here in the city may even have the plants. I will see what I can find."

"Thanks, we have a lot of laywomen that need to be cured or we will end up tending them until they die of old age."

"You would keep them that long?"

"If I have to, then I will. Here, I'm not counting the copper because I don't want to be like the Church though I act the same way sometimes."

"You're nothing like the Church."

"I compel with the icon. I force people to tell me what I wish."

"There's a lot of difference between what you do compared to the Church."

After the meal I whispered, "How are the boys doing?"

"The sweet boys gave me everything they had. They are resting now."

There were two other meetings before I could go to bed. My bed was filled with young ladies when I got there. With one sniff I knew that they had started without me and perhaps had been going at it for the last few hours.

I sampled some very juicy and loose pussy. The girls must have been using the vibrators again. Competing against that kind of opposition was hard, no pun intended. I could only give love and affection but everybody in the room loved each other. During my nocturnal endeavours I saw how much Lomma and Bulla had taken to the vibrator so I guess there was a different kind of love here.

When I woke, the girls had already left except for Lomma and she hugged me to her from around her large abdomen. Her, I loved special. She was going to bear me a child. I hadn't been ready to start that yet, but now that the event was so close I was happy and wanted more. That was why I agreed with the older women.

Lomma woke up to see me staring at her face. "Good morning, Hugh. I like to see you staring at me like that."

"You are one special lady." She just blushed and looked down. I picked her chin up and kissed her.

"Will you keep me and your baby?"

I had to wonder at this from the Bejek point of view and said, "The child is mine and so are you." I must have said the right thing because she hugged me so fiercely I worried for the child.

This was enough for me to poke her and she slid down the bed to investigate. We were only a little late for breakfast.



-------

Chapter 14


Artlam, through his contacts, tried to find out everything he could about Lord Cundra. Apparently he was one of the generals commanding a few hundred of the Church's private army. Life was hard and vicious on Bejek and the Army of the Righteous stood out even in this context. No enemy stood for long even if it took three or four attempts. When the mop-up came, everybody was put to the question then killed. This was not just those on the battlefield but their families and even friends. Few would dare oppose this group.

Artlam was worried, so I got him to check about where the various divisions of the Army of the Righteous were stationed and where they were right now. If they started to march this way, they may quietly disappear along the way. When I reminded him of the missiles, he seemed to calm down and even smiled.

The girls and I tried to think of what this army might do. The enemy may be arrogant at first. If I hit them hard with Earth weapons, it would smarten up. We had to get help to find out what its usual practices were. Basically, it killed everybody that they didn't want then use the slaves until they were done and then kill them. It seemed to work very well as a terror weapon.

Anguy seemed to provide the bulk of the units on this side of the continent and of course, they were stationed in that country. Artlam sent off some of his men and a lot of copper to see what could be learned. The whole country was crazy in my opinion and anybody from Mendab would be quickly spotted as not being as dower or religious as the natives. Here, the word fanatic sounded right.

The Church and the Army of the Righteous were said to command lightning. I wasn't going to discount this because I did the same when I attracted lightning to charge the portals. It was said that they had an invisible shield that protected the entire army. The army was also said to control the dead but this could also be those too drugged to do anything but follow orders. In addition to the dead were the animals of nightmares. There were many accounts of them and it was even said somebody had a body of one of the creatures found a few hundred years ago.

We were told that the soldiers never tired but this could be done with drugs. People back home were playing with this idea already. The worse, though, was that it had some fearsome rifles. But what was said about them was what was said about ours.

There were two tales where a relieving force showed up when none should. This could be that they had radios or, far worse, that they had a portal.

When we added it all up it looked like they had long range cannon and used them. They also use lightning when it was really needed. They had good rifles to match the cannon. There may be radio or one or more portals. They used horses and wagons and lived off the land instead of carrying much of their own supplies. They probably used captured people as cannon fodder or sent them on missions to terrorise their own people. I had to include the animals because the Church may have access to the portals. I also remembered that one portal lead to a jungle. Traps that had been set for this army were all discovered so they had never been caught with their britches down. This could be good surveillance, great commanders, or magic.

There were a lot more stories that said everything imaginable. Some could be attributed to a good assassin or some great spies. I thought of portals here, too, but this was ridiculous. Kings and their families died in their beds without a mark on them. There were giant explosions before black powder came around. They were not called that term then because explosions were not known at the time.

All this talk brought the other list we made up a while ago with the other abilities the Church was said to possess. It stood to reason that the Church should be opposed by stealth as well as outright force. Artlam was the one that was good at the former.

The next morning, I had another meeting, but this was private like last night. I was sure the Church was after my head and they would try to get it the easy ways first. Using the Habstner army was simple for them to do. An assassin may have looked inappropriate before but perhaps even that would come now. Dead kings and their families sounded a lot like poison gas to me and we had no way to counter this. All it would take is one of those small portals and a cylinder of poison gas like cyanide. When the job was done, the cylinder could be recovered. Of course the whole family could have been poisoned from the food or drink. It was also probable that it could be some short lived disease organism.

We argued the pros and cons of where the assassins would or would not come now. We had to assume that they would come eventually. Whether they would use assassins assisted by magic would come after they had gone through the regular kinds. This was what was happening now.

If I was still alive at this time they could send a small unit of the Army of the Righteous. If that was not enough then they would come with either a full army or all the magic paraphernalia. Lightning could be grounded or absorbed. Their long range cannon could hammer the city. If they got closer, they would be in range of the missiles, the machine gun and the sniper rifles.

If the protective shield they were supposed to be able to command was easy to switch on and off, we could not hit them. Of course if we kept hitting the shield then they could not fire either.

The animals and the zombies struck me as what would happen before or with the attack of the army.

The only thing to do was to clear out the noncombatants and give whoever was coming a chance and then see what we could find from them. If they were fanatics, Jonna would have to make us some sort of super cocktail to get over their resistance.

When this stage was over, we would have to do a preemptive strike on the army. Knocking out any animal or drugged person would be easy with a 50 cal. The autocannon would make it a sure thing. If I were planning this for the Church, I would use the night to start. This was a given because they had always started this way. Night vision was now a lot more important for us.

Countering a hypothetical shield was difficult. The only thing we came up with was that the portal controlled some sort of power and the device was made of silver.

We decided to set up most of the motion detectors. They fed a radio that was placed in Artlam's home. At the same time the noncombatants were moved and some had to go to the fort. The laywomen stayed as bait. The boys and girls were dispersed with more guards than we cared to use.

Lauren, Tiffany, and I raced back to the portal with three trucks and some men hanging on for dear life. While empty, we were faster but the road was still not smooth enough.

We had hundreds of sensors in our woods to find an army. It might find a patrol or not. Instructions were made to those that had stayed to flee to Earth if necessary. They would open the portal regularly and look out with a mirror. I hoped an intruder would not make it through but this method would allow us to be seen and given save passage through the portal. In the mean, time I wanted the people dispersed for their own safety. Max was usually here and the camp accepted him as their dog. If things got rough the people would look out for him.

I bought thousands of motion detectors and some cheap radio transmitters to tell me which of the sensor were tripped. They could be worked on in Shreff. Once in London, I used a special cell phone to call an intermediary to contact Willie. I needed some equipment and only some was available from Canadian Tire.

Air rifles that fired an anaesthetic could be found along with the drugs to render a man unconscious. Paint ball guns could fire rounds of mace and or puke gas. There was lots of nonlethal weapons that could be made if we had the raw material to tinker with.

Nylon monofilament was used in lots of traps. Triggering a teargas grenade was as good a use as any. The masks were easy to find but not in Canada. Air packs with protective gear may work in a pinch. Napalm was easy to make and all I needed was more plastique and detonators. The former I could make but professional detonators were best.

I had run out of my liquid assets and Willie was due to refill my coffers. A last report came in from the pilot about finding a new place for a portal but it was as expected, negative.

This time was hectic. My credit card was nearly depleted. My lawyers got more gold and they had to pay the bills. We had been placing three ounces at a time in all the refineries to get our product made into coins or just sold. It seemed if we stayed small we would not be noticed as quickly.

Willie finally returned my call and I requested a meeting. He was busy as usual and we didn't talk on the phone about anything that was sensitive. I would leave a note for him and a hundred kilos of gold. This was understood. What may not be understood was my request.

Some shipments arrived after Willie knew I was home. They were all appreciated but they were never enough. An old tanker truck came to the farm. It had been partially filled with soap from a plant in Toronto and then with gasoline. By the time it reached Shreff it would be well mixed.

The trip back was slower and uneventful. Shreff looked the same until I saw how tense Artlam was.

"What happened?"

"We got more priests. They had some visitors. Some worked much as I do. So far we have not got anything from them."

"When did you get them?"

"Just after you left, about six days ago."

"Did you find any prizes in their property?"

"Jonna searched it and found quite a bit. Most are books but some are some silver icons. There is no reference in the books to the shapes."

"The books shed any light on this? Was there any correspondence?"

"There was, but it's in a strange language."

"Any attempts on your life?"

"Only two."

"Two, they must be slacking off."

I disbursed the ammunition, powder and primers I had brought with me and got the girls and some of Artlam's people to help me assemble more of the motion detectors. There were four more night vision glasses which went to the men watching from the roofs of some nearby buildings.

The house was now well protected but more detectors were mounted where an intruder may come in. This included the roofs.

I was awoken from a dead sleep by an explosion that shook the house. I was up in seconds with a gun in my hand. By the time I had my night vision glasses on I heard Artlam's voice outside the bedroom door asking us to be calm. He didn't want panic shooting in his house.

I called out, "What was it?"

"An old man drove a wagon toward the house. There was an explosion. I need time to find more."

Shit, now it was cart bombs. This reminded me of Iraq or Lebanon. I finished getting dressed. The girls got up as well. Maybe we could catnap later.

An hour later we found that a drugged man tried to drive a heavily laden cart near the house. He was denied access. He pulled a gun out and he was shot dead. There was the sound of a burning fuze and the guards dove for cover. Two didn't make it.

The next morning we looked at the damage and saw that there was a lot of death. Families were literally blown apart.

You would think this sort of attack would discourage people from staying here. The fact was that there was a lot of employment and people needing to feed their families. This made them stay.

We set up the CN grenades. Words alone were used. A small fire showed where the fumes would go if they were released in each position. Stumbling into the trap would be dangerous for the guards. The traps couldn't be taken down because an attack could come during the day. Not all places were traps, just the places we had to be sure about. The rest got the motion detectors. I had plans for anybody we caught.

Artlam took me to the priests. Jonna had them drugged to the gills in the hopes of overcoming their resistance. So far there was little progress.

I got a chance to see what was found at the Church. It was a few of the letters that intrigued me. One of the letters looked to have Cyrillic characters. We owned a DVD on Russian and the characters matched. The note was written by hand, though, and we could not be sure. We even had a Russian dictionary, again on DVD. We could translate the note word by word but the meaning was not clear. I had to assume that the Church had a portal to someplace in Russia. Another possibility was that some Russians immigrated at one time and kept their language.

Before I tackled the books I checked out the icons. Some looked like plain lumps of silver but they would not have been kept where they were if they were plain. There were three coins that were larger than the usual silver coin and about the size of a thick nickel. The country they were minted for was not known by anybody present. Again they had to be extra special to get where they were now. There were three globes and all three looked very similar. They were the same size as used in the portal. An extensive search for the portal itself proved fruitless. It was so exhaustive that the building was gutted. When nothing else was found it was put to the torch. This would hide our tracks but the Church would still think it was us.

There were eighty seven books seized. Since I was a king now, I could act like a government and hide my crimes behind this facade. All of us read the books when we had time but there was always some missing piece of information that would unlock the meaning. It was almost like reading a random page out of a mathematics book without even learning what the chapter was about.

Jonna said, "This sort of waiting is driving me crazy. I would rather fight."

Lauren said, "I know what you mean. This thing has to escalate now. I'm worried about the army, but it's better than waiting to be stabbed, shot or poisoned."

I was busy translating manuals and said, "Help me translate more of these or tutor the guys that are learning English."

The girls reluctantly left and Camsa and Bosma were right behind. "Boys, will you come here?"

Jonna usually kept a close watch on them. They were still trained by the enemy and could do damage. So far, they had made Jonna happy. I said with my mind to her, "I'll watch them." She nodded her head.

Camsa and Bosma stood before me and both has smiles. They were my slaves and they would rather work directly for me. They were also cute. It was as if they exuded some scent that turned men on.

"Camsa, I want you to go to the book you were reading and read more. The same for you Bosma. I understand the words but not the ideas. Maybe this time we will find something."

Camsa was the more outgoing one and the leader. He was also the one that looked more like a girl. "Yes, Master."

The boys went to their books and got started. I translated how to change the fuel injectors in one of the tractors we had. Every twenty or so minutes, I got up and put my hand on one of the boys' shoulders and asked what they had found. The contact helped. The boys usually drifted off thinking about something else unless they were encouraged to stay on task. Being a boy once myself, I knew how they worked.

Just before noon, I asked them about the Army of the Righteous. They knew nothing about it and I gave them a little info without frightening them too much. As an afterthought I talked about portals that allowed people or objects to travel from one place to another. "What do you boys know about this?"

Bosma said, "When I was young I remember going from night to bright sunshine."

"Where was this?"

"I don't know, Master." He has his head down because he failed me.

"Well, just think where you might have been at that time or what you saw that at some later time you recognised. If you don't remember, that's ok. All I want is for you boys to try hard. You're not Superman."

"Who's Superman."

"Where I come from we write lots of books. Some have mostly pictures. One set of books talks of a baby that comes from world like we have here and is pushed in a kind of boat to another world. On this new world he's stronger than any other man. He can see through walls. And best of all he can jump and fly through the air."

Camsa said, "I heard of looking through walls, Master."

This was interesting. "Tell me about it."

"A special coin is placed near a wall. A man with a band around his forehead can see through the wall."

"Did you do this?"

"I tried, Master, but it was too hard. I could see some coloured stone but that was all."

Now this was interesting. I went to the drawer and pulled out the coins and laid them on the desk I was working at. "Were the coins like this?"

The boys looked at them and Camsa said, "The ones we had were the same size, Master but they had no simple markings on them. Ours just had numbers on them."

"Tell me what the band was like?"

Camsa drew a picture of a head and then the band. It reminded me of an old picture of Wonder Woman. This would not be something popular on this planet.

The boys went back to reading and I started thinking instead. Artlam had a hierarchy in his organisation. The man presently in charge of the security for the house was called.

When he arrived, I said, "I was talking to the boys and I found something interesting. They were taught to look through walls."

The man was not quite incredulous. I said, "They're young and couldn't do this as well as a trained person. Apparently a coin similar to these is placed near the wall. The boy or man wears a piece of silver over his forehead. Since it's the mind that sees instead of the eyes, he can find out all sorts of information."

The man shifted in his chair because he could see some of the implications. "Would you like me to place these someplace else?"

"Oh, no. We place them where we want and then prepare for a visitor."

I got a knowing smile. We worked over a layout of the house. The coins could conceivably be separated. The person could view some and maybe all of the house. This meant that they needed to view someplace that could allow them to enter. A door without the bar behind it would be good. There had to be a way for people to get in if they had a key. Assassins had to be able to pick locks too.

It took a few hours to modify our traps to cover this area. The monofilament was not put in place. The coins were placed near enough to see the door, we hoped. Not only was an anaesthetic used, but military tasers as well.

When Artlam came home, he and his people were informed of the alteration to our security. They weren't happy, especially when they found out more about the Church's power.

That night I was awoken again and I got dressed quickly. When I got to the front door I was stopped from going out. Before I had a chance to ask, I heard 303 rounds being fired.

"What's happening?"

"A large group of men and women came at our people. They had no regard for their own lives. We figure it's magic or drugs. Those night vision glasses showed that this was just a diversion. There were snipers sneaking in. We suspect that they would shoot anybody that was important that came from the house, my King."

We cleaned up the mess the next day. Those that had been drugged had died even if they hadn't been shot. There were seven snipers. Their weapons were what was usually used on this planet though they were slightly better made.

The fort and the city were showing preparation for an attack. Deep ditches were made with machinery and hand tools. A wide ditch was started. It would circle the city to restrict an invading army. It would also provide irrigation for our farms. Nearby hills were actually enlarged with the soil we extracted. The earthworks were at a range that would be consistent with long range artillery. Only a few of us knew the reason.

The local farmers were treated to our machines ploughing their land. This would bring up minerals that were now depleted in the upper region.

Artlam's business brought lots of gold and silver to the city and now it was being processed to make it much purer. The chemists on this planet were much further along than what Earth had been like in a comparable period. In fact, medicine was the same way.

Pitch was found in many areas of Bejek. The thoughts of fractionating petroleum intrigued the chemists. When I mentioned what the fractions could be used for they became almost rabid.

Nitric acid was produced and soon nitroglycerine was made. It was a batch process and the batches were all small. Only a select few knew of the explosive but the news would get out eventually. From my notes I made various types of dynamite and these were tested.

The former Habstner army had some people we could trust up to a point. They were brought in to help test the explosives without knowing how the different varieties were made.

Eight days after the last attack, I was sampling some of Ronnas' pussy when I heard an explosion and wood striking wood. I dragged the girl to the floor and yelled, "Get down." Seven more rounds crashed into the bedroom walls as the people reloaded to try once more.

I looked around and saw that only one round had got through. It had missed all of us by at least a metre. There was now the sounds of the 303's firing. Jonna came to the room but stayed low just in case.

"Is anybody hurt here?"

"Not that I can see. There are only a few ways they could zero in on me."

"Yes, I know. Aren't you glad that you have some sand bags in your room now?"

"They are very decorative. I only wish I had more."

"I'll see what I can do."

Ronnas was very responsive now and I continued what I was doing from the safety of the floor. I was the same way and I made love as if I had to make a child before I might die.

The next day we found the damage to the house. The rifles used were actually mini cannons. They used a lot more powder and a larger ball. I was sure that we would have died without the sandbags.

The city was still preparing for war though nothing was officially said about our probable enemy. Too many people within the city would decrease our chances of survival so evacuation of the majority of the population was studied. Overland routes worked well but ships were better. The Army of the Righteous would do the same as the Habstner forces and come by sea, too. This would allow them to gain supplies while denying us the same.

A large chain was stretched across the river mouth to thwart pirates and smugglers. The structure guarding the chain could be taken with a sizable force, especially if it was by both sea and land based forces.

Days later, there was a knock at my door. "Yes?"

The voice was the head of the house security. "My King, we caught somebody. You should come quickly."



-------

Chapter 15


I got up quickly and dressed. Now, fashion always dictated a pistol or two. I was escorted down the hall by three men carrying lamps, we moved left to another passage. On the floor was a man dressed in black. He reminded me of a ninja at first sight. The man was turned over but his features were not more Asiatic than the norm. On his forehead was the silver that reminded me again of Wonder Women. There was also a dart sticking out of his leg and this was removed as I watched.

I looked at the door and it looked secure. "How did he get in?"

There were no words but their eyes were on a softly glowing outline on the wall. Could this be a portal?

The man carried a wide range of materials including two glass vials. When he had fallen they could have broken. They may or may not have been poison but they could be worse.

The man had worn a large silver medallion on his neck. This had been rehearsed or at least part of this. The man was stripped with care and put into Jonna's custody so he stayed asleep. Assassins sometimes chose suicide rather than talk and the Church would insist on this.

I was suddenly shocked by a scream. I had my gun out before I knew it. Bosma was laying on the ground clutching his hand to him. I hurried over and it was difficult to see the hand. When I pulled his hand away I saw that there was no visible damage but the boy acted as if he had lost a finger.

Casma was staring openmouthed at what happened to his friend. I asked, "What happened?"

I had to shake the boy before he answered. "He touched the shiny smoke in the room."

I looked at the wall and could see a room that was not on the other side of our wall but someplace else. Ronnas was close and I said, "Take these two away. See what you can do for him. Get Kuenta to help too. She may need the heart."

The two boys were escorted away by Ronnas and Andis. This had to be a portal and I was sure the assassin would not suffer the kind of pain Bosma suffered just to go from one place to another. There had to be a way of protecting him. The medallion drew my eyes immediately.

I picked up the medallion and put it on my own neck. For some reason I changed my mind and tucked the metal so it was against my skin. I felt a tingle go through me that was not pleasure or pain when I moved a finger through part of the smoky area. There were more articles in the strange room but none looked even remotely magical.

"Stay away from the portal and get this guy out of here."

The girls helped me change into full combat gear. I even threw a pack on that contained extra ammunition, grenades and food. Lauren said, "Where are you going?"

"For a very short visit, I hope. I want to see what we're up against."

"I'm going with you."

"Let me check first."

With the auto shotgun and the AK, I walked to the oddly shaped portal. It was not elliptical or rectangular but the top sagged and the sides were not parallel.

I could feel the concern all of my girls felt for me as I stepped into the smoky transition layer. There was a small amount of pain but it was bearable. I hurried through and the pain left quickly.

The room was a study and apparently vacant at this time. I turned around to signal that I was ok. I wasn't about to try to use voice in an environment like this.

The door drew me and I hurried to it. There were no sounds nearby. The room was fairly bright because it was full day here. The room was packed with books and even had a small cabinet with silver objects. I took out the digital camera and took pictures of everything as it sat. I wanted most of what was here. Actually, I wanted everything that was here.

I turned to check the portal and found it to be a silver chain with links similar to what a dog chain had. There were two boxes with equal lengths of chain between them. This had to be for the globes. There was no key, though, until I thought of what was around my neck. There was still a lot of slack in the chain so it could get a lot larger. Two pegs in the wall were enough for the man that visited our house but not good enough for me.

There was a long carpet runner on the floor. I pushed the end through the portal and stacked books on it. The girls were smart and pulled the books through. Then I pulled the carpet back.

My pack came off and was put against the door. There was a bar there to forestall entry and I put it across the door. I removed my guns but kept them near. When I went to get the silver I decided to take the entire cabinet. It was too high for the silver chain so I used a knife and a letter opener from the desk to give me the maximum dimensions possible.

The cabinet and then the desk went through. Empty book cases then the books were sent to fill them. There was a beautiful globe of the planet and this had to go, too. There were never enough maps.

When the room was stripped I went back into our hallway and found Artlam. All the material had been moved to another room.

Artlam whispered in my ear, "You would make a good thief."

"Why thanks, especially coming from an expert like you."

He gave me a big smile and said, "Where is that room?"

"I have no idea. It's in a city. Bosma was hurt when he touched the portal but there was only a little pain when I had the medallion on. Do you want to go for a visit?"

"Let's try it."

I went through again but I held the medallion in my hand. There was the same amount of pain. Artlam held the medallion too as I pulled him quickly through the smoky area. He didn't mention the pain and quicky and quietly went to the window.

Artlam whispered, "I'm not sure where we are. The clothing the people are wearing is different. It does look like my world though."

"Who else might know?"

"There are at least four men I know that have travelled widely. Take some pictures and we can show them."

"You're pretty smart for an old thief."

"That's how I got old in the first place. Being foolish leads to a short life."

I took some pictures then opened the window and took more to the left and right.

My weapons and pack were recovered but the bar on the door stayed in place. Men were summoned and various guesses were given. Some of the photos were printed and were taken to others in the city.

While the search went on, I went to see our visitor. Jonna had Lauren and Tiffany nearby with nine millimetre pistols ready for trouble.

"Did you find anything?"

"Not yet. He is very resistant to drugs."

"Some assassins build up an immunity over time."

Kuenta said, the man has a growth in each leg at about the same spot. It doesn't look like a cancer. There is nothing else that is odd about his body except the thick skin on his hands and feet."

"Probably good at hand to hand fighting."

"We figured that, too. We think the things in his legs are the same as the poisoned tooth you talked about before."

"Let's take them out then."

It as getting lighter out now but we still needed lamps to remove the two lumps. When I cut along the muscle the small white orbs almost popped out. The man was stitched up and then healed with the heart. He had curly hair that was greased to stay in place.

On a hunch I had Tiffany get a comb. She combed the man and removed needles from his hair with tweezers. When she was done, Lauren did the job again to make sure, then checked the man's pubic hair.

After our noon meal, it looked like the city on the other side of the barrier was heading towards dusk. If this was true then the city could be found by its longitude. This got us to the globe I sent back and we looked along the line.

Eight hours later our suspicions were confirmed. The Isle of Entras was a major sea power. It was not under the Church's thumb but it was still a follower just as the people of Mendab were. Its power was far more than its size. Shipping by water was very important and profitable. The Scathans that populated the country were very rich even though a considerable number of pirates flourished, too. The Scathan navy made sure they didn't get rich off of their ships.

We had a major find here. First was the portal that didn't need a receiving half. There was the metal band that let the wearer see through a wall and in this case from a third of the way around the world. I didn't want the portal used against me again but I couldn't retrieve it. I could make a bomb to destroy the house but the silver was too hard to damage much.

Jonna used the tiara and could vaguely see each of the odd coins as long as they were separated. Jonna put one into a trunk but she could still see it. Was it because she had handled them? Camsa and Bosma were called. Bosma seemed to have recovered fairly well and I saw that Ronnas had more or less taken the boy under her wing. I felt a little bit of jealousy but common sense said that this was for the best.

Each boy tried and they were excited because they did much better than their last test. Of course they may have been too young. I tried, too. I closed my eyes and visualised one of the coins. It was a long time until I saw one of them. It was a lot later that I could see the inside of the trunk. It was later yet that I could see outside of the trunk and actually saw Artlam in another room. This was an awesome device. Everything was in a fog, though, and seeing any distance wasn't possible.

Common sense again said that for the assassin to be able to get here, he just had to visualise the room. This was expedited by the presence of the coin. It also said that I would have to find a way to visualise this house so I could open the portal. Doing that may be an entirely different ball of wax. In any case, I wanted the portal and the only way to get it was to bring it here over the ocean. There was very little between here and the Isle of Entras.

The girls, Artlam, and some of his men discussed this with me. The girls were dead set against this unless they could go with me. I needed the girls here to operate the weapons if we needed them. I could also use them if I ran into trouble. Then again, it was mostly open sea and very little trouble likely.

Artlam estimated that a good ship would take forty to fifty days to make the trip, depending on how much trading it did.

Lauren said, "Buy a ship and buy a good one. You'll come back sooner."

Tiffany said, "Buy a big one so we can use it for trading. The other ship will take a half year to build and that's when you start with wood that's dried out enough."

Plans were being made when one of the guards came to us and said, "Somebody is knocking in that other room. They want to know if everything is alright."

"Well, let's invite them in."

Artlam and I entered the other room with six of his larger men. One was Tonno, the right hand man that guarded the house. The pain we felt was more but only one man had to hold the medallion as long as all the man had a skin contact with him.

The bar was removed and I made noise in the room as if I just returned. The door was opened a centimetre as if to invite somebody. Five minutes later a pretty girl of about eleven came to the door. She was grabbed quickly and quietly. The silver slave was touched to her but she moved and it touched her shoulder. The result was the same.

Twenty minutes later, Minna gave me the information about the house and the name of the city. One after the other, Minna got the entire household to come one at a time to the room. All of them were intercepted before they could see that the room was stripped.

Three bodyguards were hard to take. The first we got alone but the rest came as a pair no matter what Minna said. They were the last in the house and there was a major fight until they were subdued.

I missed fighting and wished that I had been in on the fun. The men with me thought the same since they liked a brawl as good as I did.

The captives, Artlam, and I went back to Shreff. The rest of the men were to look for any booty, but artifacts and books were mine. We sat down and talked more to Minna. She talked about her master and it didn't sound like the guy was that bad for an assassin.

The assassin's name was Okkra Suffok. He was not known to be a hit man or a high ranking member of the Church. He was in the Church but for some reason lead a more secular life.

Okkra had five boys as trainees, much like Camsa and Bosma were. We had captured three of them and two were to return later.

There were four more bedwarmers and two were pregnant. Everybody but the bodyguards and the three boys would talk. Of course there was little that they knew.

What was interesting was the house was within the walls of the Church compound. I had wanted to see what it was like in a major Church, especially to get my hands on the books and artifacts.

A lot of information came our way but I wasn't going to try moving the gate and reforming it. I was far below novice level.

I had to get up later. The two other boys were caught and a substantial sum of money was recovered along with art and anything not nailed down. In fact, I did see some nails, so I guess the boys were busy. Tonno looked very pleased with his haul and perhaps his ability to get away with it so easy.

Tonno said, "This man is a chemist. There are more books and many chemicals." This reminded me of the two vials. This had to be checked.

The chemical books were archaic but much easier to understand than the books on magic. The ones we found had to do with all sorts of poison and antidotes. One book was open and I read the section. This described the symptoms the target would experience along with how the chemical was made. This was all done in detail. At a guess I would have to say that this was some type of nerve gas. It degraded soon after manufacture so two chemical were made and mixed at the site.

The symptoms reminded me of what I heard on the movie "The Rock", where they had to deal with sarin. This chilled me to the bone but I could see the Church using this because it was much cheaper than using an army.

I went back to Artlam and showed him the book. He said, "How dangerous is this?"

"It depends on how much of an exposure you get. This was first made in my world as a poison for insects but it was banned by mutual agreement. This entire class of chemicals are called nerve gases. I know your people are good but I had no idea you were capable of this."

"I wouldn't believe this if you hadn't brought it to me. Why is it that one group can make these chemical while we cannot make the medicines you talked about?"

"The Church may promote some lines of research. It's also true that they may discourage other people from doing the same. I don't know for a fact, but war may be used as a cover to keep any discoveries from being widely known."

For the next six hours, we stripped the lab. We were very careful because almost everything here was poisonous. Hundreds of pictures were taken and the lab would be reestablished for our own use.

In the basement, we found places mentioned in the notes about test subjects that had died.

Tonno's men while looking for hidden treasure and uncovered a secret passage. An hour later we learned that it led to the basement of a house beyond the Church walls.

When the house was thoroughly searched, we came back. I called for volunteers. Tonno wanted to go but had to ask Artlam for permission. In fact, most of Artlam's men jumped at the chance. The girls wanted me to take at least one of them but they would be safer here in Shreff even with a possible army coming. It takes a long time to organise something like that.

Old furniture and barrels of oil went to the city of Kandas. So too did some of the bodies from a few days ago. I planned on destroying the house and an investigation would prove that people were in it. Silver chain and other articles were brought after they went into a furnace in Shreff to show that they were melted. This might not be believed but it would take a while to prove.

Camsa came to me and said, "Master, if you are pretending to be a priest then you will need servants like Bosma and me. Even if you take girls with you it would seem out of place."

"You're right. Get some clothes like us."

The boy smiled widely and I figured he was going to kiss me before he hurried off. Tonno said, "That boy wants you."

"Some boys are born that way and maybe some are made that way by the Church."

Tonno sent two men already disguised as Scathans out to scout the other end of the escape route and find transportation. We would have a lot of luggage. I was bringing a long range radio and needed a generator for power. It was part and parcel to living with women that loved me and that I in turn loved. I was not going light at all and had to travel openly but still keep my cargo hidden.

We needed good weapons and some major ones had to come with me even though their combined weight would make them unwieldily.

When the time came to say goodbye, we shook hands or kissed. Even the wives of the men accompanying me gave their farewells.

After a final kiss to Lauren, I took the silver chain off the wall. The other room stayed in place until the chain was collapsed. When it was spread again, Shreff was gone.

"Ok, Tonno, let's go."

The boys picked up their burdens as if they were going camping. We descended through the house and down the rock lined tunnel. Tonno said, "There are two trip mechanisms to stop pursuers."

"When you are in a business like Okkra Suffok, you have to be ready for somebody wanting revenge."

We left a large house at dawn. Nobody bothered us or even looked out. Fear of Okkra Suffok could do that. Carso, another of Tonno's men, led us down a long alley where Fillo helped us load our property into three large wagons he had rented. Solsa was unencumbered and came up the rear. I could smell smoke on him. He smiled at all of us.

The boys and two men rode in the wagons. Tonno and Fillo rode with me as bodyguards. We got to an inn that was supposed to be the best in the city. Tonno had to negotiate for the rooms and then left. We went down the street and found the second best and at a lot cheaper rates.

The sky behind us was bright because of the flames from beyond a high wall. Others gawked at the flames but we ignored them. Tonno got us two rooms. A traveller would keep his bed mates with him and the bodyguards in another room. Many times the bed mates served the guards, too, and this was hard on the boys or girls.

We had been up a long time and needed sleep but nobody was sleepy. Tonno, Fillo, and I went down to the docks while the rest stayed. They were told to not talk to anyone. Information was a valuable commodity here or anyplace.

Finding a ship for sale was easy. Finding one that wasn't ready to sink was a lot harder. The Harbourmaster said, "Try Trista. They have a much larger port."

Is there a ship we can book passage to Trista?"

"There's a cargo vessel."

"Which one?" The man was reluctant to say but did eventfully.

I nodded my head and Tonno gave the man a coin. The Harbourmaster now had a smile for us and very politely ushered us out of his office.

Tonno booked passage for us and our cargo. I wasn't there or they would have charged even more. They would be sailing on the tide and that would be a few hours after dusk. The Scathans knew their waters well and there was going to be a double full moon.

We ate a good meal and then went to the inn. I went to sleep and the rest got to get some exercise and eat a meal. I missed not having my girls beside me but a vacation was nice.

Solsa arranged transportation to the docks. We had another meal and the boys sat very close. They might be frightened of the city or the two guards wanting their bums. It could also be that they figured that now was a good time for them to start their seduction.

On the way to the docks, we all changed into a cheaper and more threadbare coats except for Tonno who would now act as the master.

The captain wasn't happy to see us. He had, of course, accepted half of the fare in advance. The ship got underway a few hours later and we watched what we could to see how a ship worked. I managed to sleep on the deck for a few more hours. I had two soft warm bodies beside me to keep me warm in the cool air.

By the time dawn came, the crew had to row us to the dock. We were obliged to help.

Rather than find a place to stay right away, Tonno talked to the Harbourmaster. I was now his right hand man.

"My patron is looking to purchase a ship."

"Who's your patron?"

"Lord Crazzic."

"I never heard of him."

"Have you heard of every lord?"

"No. What kind of ship is he looking for?"

"Large, fast and new enough that it will not sink in the first storm."

The Harbourmaster had to be given some money to talk. He listed all the ships that were or could be for sale. He went into some detail about the individual craft and then about their captains and/or owners. The ships were not at anchor waiting a buyer but out working.

When we got out of the office, Tonno asked, "Any of the ships you like, my King.

"I have no idea. I recorded what was said and we can go over it later."

One of the ships was due in soon. We found lodging again and like last time we had two rooms. I put in a motion detector that was tied to a walkie talkie that was plugged into my ear. Security wasn't good. Downstairs was the taproom and a place to eat breakfast.

I struck up a conversation with an old man that looked to be down on his luck. I found out his name was Juke. When I bought him a meal, he was very affable.

Juke said, "What ship are you from?"

"Our patron is looking to buy a ship. He came into an inheritance and has to do something with it before he drinks it all away."

"That would take a lot of drinking."

"It might, but good wine cost a lot more than the cheap stuff."

"I know."

"We were looking at learning how to be sailors. We've been on the land all our lives. I've heard some people talk so I know something about a ship but only a little."

"I could teach you."

"We can try that. I was told what ships might be for sale and some that the owners may part with if asked nicely. Our patron wants a large ship that's fast. He also wants it new enough that it doesn't rot out from under him the first year."

"There are a few fine ships."

"Which ones?"

The tape recorder was turned again as the names were recited. I asked about the good and the bad points of each. Some were just the crew or the Captain.

I asked, "If you had the copper, what ship would you buy?"

"The Manza," he said and went on to tell me why.

"What ship would you buy if you were our patron?"

"The Scors."

"Why?"

"It is not as big as the biggest, but she's a good ship. She's fast but can go up rivers some of the others can't. She has new sails and I know that her owner will sell cheaply because he's in debt."

Juke went on to talk in more detail about the ship until it was obvious that he had sailed on her.

The two boys sat enthralled at the stories that came out later. Most were of battling pirates, the elements, giant sea monsters or birds big enough to pick up a man.

When the man ran down, I asked, "You must have sailed on the Scors."

The man had the look in his eye and said just above a whisper. "I was her captain before I got too old and got this bum arm."

I had to assume there was no retirement package. "Would you teach my boys?"

"They might learn faster than the adults."

We walked to the dock. All of us were propositioned many times. It was the older women that hurt me because most of the men would chose the younger ones. To give them money would have them plaguing me until we left. Drawing attention to us was not conducive to good health.

When we were in the harbour watching ships, Juke pointed out how well a ship was handled or not. Sometimes it was just a matter of a degree or two of the tiller. These were all square riggers and couldn't tack well.

Juke talked to some people on a small ship that were doing some repairs. We could watch them so we could learn. We were all learning, so Juke was treated to a better meal at noon and we began all over again.

We saw two of the ships listed in the next two days. Juke pointed out the bad points but some were just his preferences. The Tresta was the one I had heard about and thought the best. We would be sailing in the open ocean and not the islands nearby.

During the forth day the Scors came in. Juke talked fondly of her until I asked, "Tell me again why the Tresta is not as good?"

He had talked a lot and knew that we were now partially educated. "The Tresta will cost twice as much. You can make a better profit with a ship the size of the Scors and get more places."

When the Scors docked, Juke was greeted politely by the crew. We watched as the cargo was offloaded. The present Captain greeted Juke but made sure his people kept working. I whispered to Tonno and he passed Juke some money so he could drink with the crew tonight.

I knew that the Captain of the Tresta was also a partial owner. The crew held the balance of the shares. The Scors was for sale while the Tresta may not be at any price.

"We might be stuck here for months. Let's try for the Scors."

"Better do it before she picks up a new cargo."

"I agree."

A messenger was sent to the owner's home to inquire if he would be willing to sell the Scors. This was done up with a wax seal and even had a ribbon on it.

The reply took a few hours to come back and I figured it was because the owner didn't want to appear too eager.

Another reply was sent saying that Lord Crazzic would meet with him while accompanied by three guards and two boys.

That night one guard stayed to watch our property while the rest of us went to the owner's home. It was nice but not up to what Artlam had. We stepped out of the rental carriage and climbed the stone steps. The butler let us in and we were greeted by a man about my age.

We greeted each other with a bow and Gallik Sith said, "I am very glad to meet you Lord Crazzic. I expected to meet an older man. Is your father looking to make this purchase?"

"Greetings Gallic Sith. I am the one investing the money."

"Then come and sit. You have to try my family's wine."

Gallik went on about how profitable the ship was and how hard it would be to part with it. It took two hours to get down to talking draks. Gallik wanted 900 drak's though it was worth about 850 in good times.

It was two hours later that I stuck to the offer of 650 drak and only on the condition that my people could inspect the ship for rot or damage. The sails and the tack had to be in at least fair shape.

Gallik was not agreeable at all to the price but agreed to an inspection. We left on a polite note. I said, "I will be at the dock tomorrow morning with a man to check the ship. If the ship proves to be too costly to repair, I will have to lower my figure."

We got out of the carriage at a good inn then walked to our lodgings that were a few blocks away. It was getting dark and people were staring at our expensive clothing as well as our strange pistols in leather holsters on our hips.

We got a good nights sleep and had a good breakfast. Juke was not around to get fed so we waited. The old man came in much later and he looked bad.

I asked, "How much did you drink last night?"

"Not much, Milord." He was eying our present attire and his whole outlook changed.

I said, "We talked to Gallik Sith. Would you be willing to do a survey of the Scors for a drak?"

"For a drak I would rebuild her, Milord."

"Then let's go down to the dock."



-------

Chapter 16


The present Captain was told about us but not the identity of our engineer. Solsa went behind Juke as he dictated what was wrong. They went below and didn't emerge for two hours while the Captain sweated. We were given seats in his cabin as we waited.

Juke had not finished by the time Gallik Sith arrived. The owner was not in a happy mode but he was still a gentleman. He frowned a lot when he saw that Juke was the one inspecting the ship. He said nothing to us though.

Juke came over and greeted Gallik politely.

I had to ask, "What did you find, Juke?"

"Overall the ship is in fine shape. The cargo has been offloaded and the caulking should start today. The boys were out drinking last night and would be in no shape to do it this morning. Some of the main ropes need replacement as does the mainsail. The other sails are fine and should last another year. The hardware is well taken care of but one of the capstans needs some repair."

When it looked like he was done, I said, "What would be the cost of a new mainsail and the ropes?"

"Juffa is expensive here because of the war. I'd say about fifteen drak. If we sail to Buseland we can purchase the sail at half the price and a better grade of rope for about the same as here. We could trade for copa and make a good profit if we can avoid the war and the pirates."

I turned to Gallic and said, "I won't lower my price. Your Captain seems to take care of the Scors very well."

Gallik got me to one side and wanted to increase the amount. I on the other hand agreed to take on his present crew. Gallik didn't really care what I did with the crew if I bought the ship.

We argued heatedly for a half hour. I had raised my figure to 690 and stayed there. It was not for the copper because that was very cheap for me. It was for the principle of the matter and, of course, the competition. I had mentioned the Tresta once and listed its good points along with a higher cost.

I think it was the sight of a large ship coming into the bay that made Gallik say, "I will agree to your price and attest that there are no outstanding debts against the ship." We had already seen the logs and knew that there weren't any.

Captain Sacco was invited to join us and we went to the Harbourmaster's office. A bill of sale was made out with Gallik's statement that there were no outstanding debts. Gallik was surprised to see me pull out polished copper busbar and lay it on the scale. I then laid copper squares cut from the same type of bar until I was a little over the amount I stated.

"Is this satisfactory?"

Gallic took the metal out and checked it as did the Harbourmaster. Gallik said, "This is very pure copper."

"Yes, it is. In all this copper there is not enough impurities to make a small grain of sand."

"Where did you get this?"

"That's my business. One refiner purifies the metal for me and I prefer to use this metal other than that which has been debased."

Gallik, the harbourmaster and the captain signed the rest of the papers. Gallik then hurried off with his copper lest some thief get wind of his good fortune.

I turned to the Captain and said, "I talked to the former owner about keeping all of you on. He didn't care one way or another. Would you like to continue as Captain? I'll be going with you for a while to do some trading and get home."

"I would graciously accept this post, Milord."

"Are the present crew acceptable to you? It's better to get rid of troublemakers now."

"The crew is the best I've had in a long time. Usually, we are paid in shares. Is that acceptable?"

"We have to talk about that. I want to get home first. That means less trade and less profit. I would rather pay by the day. Then it doesn't matter how much profit I make."

"That sounds more than fair."

"I plan on sailing to Buseland for juffa."

The Captains's face fell. "That's a dangerous place. The storms and currents are bad but the pirates are worse. The men will not want to go."

"How much money does a sailor make on an average trip? How many days is the trip? I want to know what he makes each day."

Captain Sacco thought for a minute and said, "An able seamen would make one flass each day."

"If we are attacked by pirates and any of you are even wounded by them, I will give you five flass per day for the entire trip." That left unsaid that we would still have to escape the pirates.

"They may take that or they may not."

We talked to the crew. They were not happy with the destination but they liked the idea of the extra money if they were hurt.

The ship was caulked and I wanted structural changes as well. There was a crew of fourteen plus the seven more of us. The Captain would be kicked out of his quarters.

Juke had not left, nor had he been paid. "Juke, what is the most profitable cargo to take to Buseland?"

"They are at war which is why there are so many pirates. The navy cannot protect shipping. I would have to say weapons and powder."

"Who's fighting?"

"You don't know? It's the Adchek trying to take over Buseland."

"The Adchek are probably fighting for the Church?"

"They usually are."

"Will the crew keep quiet about our destination?"

"Probably not."

"Where is there some powder and what can we trade to get it?"

"You don't need gunpowder, just the white powder. There are some islands that extract that from bird shit. They like wine and dried meat."

"Good or average wine?"

"The better it is, the more they will want it. The meat has to be good with no maggots."

"Where is a good place to get those supplies?"

"Why, here of course, but the mainland has the meat even cheaper."

"Does the mainland like good Scathan wine enough to pay well for it?"

"That is a profitable voyage but there are pirates around the islands. Most think that it is the Adchek that are behind them."

"On another topic, what can be made here that is profitable?"

"Wine."

"Something that needs a lot of people to make it?"

"Weaving uses many people and both carpet and cloth sell well."

"You are without a job and I wish to offer you one."

"My arm isn't strong."

"That's not needed. I want to set up a factory to weave carpets. When the pirates leave Buseland, juffa prices will fall. I want you to make a cape of juffa with a hood. It has to be big enough to go over a man and his weapons. I want some of them to be small enough to protect a person that is not wearing weapons."

"What is this cape for?"

"Rain doesn't go through the Juffa, but air does. A person wearing it will remain fairly dry as well as warm."

Juke thought about this then said, "You're right. I have wrapped myself in an old sail to stay warm when it was raining hard. I got wet but it was from my own sweat."

"You will run this factory for me?"

"Milord, I would love to but I don't know anything about cloth."

"You will learn. In the process, you take the women and children off the street and give them a job. We will be here a while yet and I will tell you what I want."

Juke ordered barrels of good wine for me and then we went looking for a place to set up shop. We found an old warehouse but it didn't look safe. When we looked for equipment I was depressed. I had hoped that somewhere the spinning wheel had been invented. There was only the local equivalent of a distaff. The only reason I knew about this was from what I had seen in Shreff and knew there was a better way. The internet gave me an improvement.

I had studied that particular machine and even bought an antique so it could be copied easier than the drawings I supplied. I saw that I had to start all over again. There was a large hill that had a rundown building that had been built partially of stone. Buying it was quick, easy and cheap.

Employees meant feeding them and I had to hire the people that would do the feeding as well as the equipment. A woman blacksmith had to make large iron pots that were hammered together from smaller pieces of iron. This took a day but the blacksmith dropped everything else to do what I wanted since I was paying a premium.

Juke went around to hire the cooks and gather the supplies. A few women came at first, but soon it was a sea of them. Juke did the hiring and the first to be hired was a woman that could write. The cooks had to get clean then make soup. Others went to work ripping apart the dilapidated building.

When the building had been dismantled and the parts separated, I showed Juke where I wanted the four corners to be. Engineers were mostly male here but there were also some talented tradeswomen. Juke got two dozen of those for me too.

I bought expensive paper and drew the spinning wheel. Separate sheets showed the details. I showed them the money and they worked hard to do what I wanted. Others built a house on the old foundation and still others worked on building a large warehouse.

I paid Juke his drak and more for the supplies. Eight days after buying the Scors, we were ready to go. The women had the plans for a small weaving machine as well as one that was many times bigger.

Orders were written out about paying taxes, hiring practices, rate of pay and other compensations. A nursery had to be set up and staffed which had to come out of my pocket. I wasn't worried about making money, just that I wanted the business self-sufficient. The manufacturing was no different than others except that we would take care of the employees better, similar to the way the Japanese were before they were improved by lofty western ideas.

My rules were vague but my intent was clear. Juke had to expand the business when he could and carry on the practice of helping the women and children. My copper was also to be traded for gold and this was to be stored. If necessary, this metal could be used to carry on business.

Juke had more copper than he thought ever existed to start out. It had to be hid in small cashes. He would run the business the way I wanted and store any surplus because I could sell the cloth on Earth. Our ship's ballast was altered to carry bars of gold instead of rock. In the end we had to throw out all the ballast to make the substitution.

The sailors were upbeat because I had improved their lot. They had more comfortable beds, better food, and not only life preservers but an additional boat slung from the stern to carry more men if we needed the boat in an emergency.

Captain Sacco said, "The men seem to be happy even if it is to go into battle."

"I like a good fight, too."

"With pirates?"

"That too, but to stay in shape and for fun. I wrestled when I was young and then learned unarmed combat."

"What's that?"

"I'll show you when we have the deck cleaned off. We need some room."

There was enough room for a circle and this was drawn on the deck. I started with the rules for wrestling. I challenged the largest crewman of the lot. There were a big smiles all around. I stripped to my shorts and even took off my boots. Morrow went naked. I guess they were familiar with wrestling.

Morrow looked mean. I said, "You can't bite, punch, poke eyes, knee a person in the nuts, or use an elbow to strike your opponent. This may look like a sissy way of fighting but this is for fun. Stay within the rules and don't get angry."

"I will try, Milord."

"I will too." I stuck out my hand and then said, "Hold my hand and we shake. It is a custom of saying we are friends. The same as your bowing."

He shook my hand and we then backed up. Morrow came in quick and I had him on his back quickly but didn't stay for the pin. Morrow tried to knock me down with his legs and I had to remind him that this was illegal.

After five throws, I let Morrow knock me down and a cheer went up from the crew. I fought three others and Morrow fought them, too. Now I sat back and cheered a good throw or booed when a foul was made.

Solsa was a big boy and he got into competition with the Scathans. The rivalry lasted until we came to port. The tax collector came out to see what he could get. We paid a fee to the Harbourmaster to dock and the merchants came to see what we had to trade. I watched Sacco work and he did a fair job. Instead of converting to metal he talked about how much dried meat he could get for a barrel of wine.

That night we waited for the shipments to arrive. Camsa and Bosma shared my bed but were restless. I was being poked.

I woke up Camsa and said, "I am going on deck for a while. You take care of Bosma and don't make the sheets wet."

Camsa impulsively hugged me and before he could pull away I hugged him back. He went stiff for a second and then relaxed.

There was a watch on deck but he was asleep and I kicked him. He got up apologetically. The majority of the crew were ashore sampling the wine and the whores. There were some groans coming from my cabin but I ignored them.

The crewman said, "Those boys could drain you and have lots of energy left, Milord."

"They could but they don't. I'm trying hard to stick to women. Maybe I should be a Captain of a larger ship and all the crew would be beautiful women."

"There are ships like that. I have heard that there are many woman who Captain."

"Now that's interesting. Maybe I can work on a ship like that and teach them wrestling."

"Would a lord really want to teach?"

"I taught you how to wrestle my way. Later, I'll teach unarmed combat. The words in my language are judo and karate. This is much more violent and there are fewer restrictions. The idea is to win but not maim an opponent. When our business in the Mersia Islands is finished, I will teach you how to shoot."

"We know how to shoot, Milord."

"Ahh, you think you do."

"If you say so, Milord."

When it was quiet, I went back to bed. The boys were snuggled together and I didn't mind having the edge of the bed. I liked company and I wished that I had gone ashore with the crew.

The next day the meat arrived and it was checked thoroughly. I remembered Juke's comments about maggots. One load had to be sent back. I went ashore and sought detailed maps. Those that looked well made and of areas I had not covered were bought. More meat came and we hastily bought fresh provisions and set off for the Mersia Islands.

When underway, we talked about the maps I bought and map reading in general. Compasses were common and mine was no different except it was encased in plastic. I taught what I had recently learned about the types of maps I used and showed the crew what a topographical map was.

"There are maps of the sea bottom that are topographical too. Most islands are actually the tops of mountains that are above water." This apparently was a new idea to them.

We talked about the dangers of sailing and I heard firsthand reports that the monsters of the deep didn't always stay there. My auto shotgun was in my cabin and at the next chance, I changed the shells to slugs. I didn't have a portable grenade launcher but some were on order.

The boys needed more privacy that night and I figured I should talk to my girls. I didn't want to frighten the crew though. There was only one time each day that the girls were to monitor the radio and it was deduced by the longitude of both positions. The local sun produced interference so communications worked easier when both locations were in the dark.

The next day, I said, "I have a device that allows me to talk to others far away. In a way it's like the mirrors or fires that could be used to warn people."

Tonno had been primed for this conversation and said simply, "How does it work?"

"That's a complicated subject." I went through a long discussion of lightning then added magnets and finally silver wire. After a break I talked about the electromagnetic spectrum. A silver rod was strapped to the top of the mast and a silver wire attached to it. This came to the deck and was secured. Another silver wire would have lead to a thin silver chain that would go into the water when we were still. This would be our ground.

I said, "Tonight I'll see if this works here. If it does we will talk more about this tomorrow."

That night I checked my wrist watch. It didn't coincide with the planet's day but it was the best I had. I had come up with a simple calculation based on the number of days that elapsed since I left Shreff to find the time to call.

We started the generator. It only has a limited supply of gasoline and we only had one extra jerry can. The crew were asked to help me. This was so they would be part of this instead of frightened bystanders. There was nothing but static as I called into the microphone, "This is Hugh are you there Shreff?"

I took my finger off the button and waited then did the same thing again and again until all of a sudden I heard from the speaker, "Hugh, is that you?"

"It sure is Sweetie. How are you and the rest doing?"

"We miss you."

"Any uninvited guests? There are a lot of ears here."

"I understand. Not yet." The crew got up to listen. I felt a bit like Marconi when he was in St. John's, Newfoundland one day.

We swapped tales for a while. I mentioned my new businesses of trading and manufacturing. I added about the Adchek and their Church inspired war against Buseland. There also had to be an amended time for when I was going to be able to come home. Buseland needed help as long as they opposed the Church but this was not said verbally.

Jonna got the mic and said, "Did you try that chain. It might work."

"I didn't want to try it so near. It may be fun to drop in on you guys. I'm kinda full now."

"All this time and you didn't find at least one woman? Poor boy."

"It's not me that's going to be poor. When I get back, you're going to be begging for mercy. Your pussy is going to be too sore to use."

"That'll be the day, Big Boy. We have some ladies here that want to speak to their husbands."

"Bye, Honey."

Tonno, Carso, Fillo and Solsa talked to their mates and even some of their children. I got to talk to Mantoya and Artlam later but there was little I could say with the crew listening intently. Apparently there was another assassination attempt and the same thing happened. This time there was a lot of gunplay and the chain was pulled through our end of the portal. This didn't work well and there was damage to the house and people hurt. What had happened at the other end was not known.

The boys had to talk too, and I directed Ronnas to talk to them. After a few moments I had the Captain and then some of the crew talk as well. This would defeat much of the superstition and fear the crew would have. We said our goodbyes and the radio and generator were turned off.

Captain Sacco said, "I have never heard of anything like that. The Church has something like that but it is said to be much smaller."

"I had heard that too, but the science behind that device is not known to us. These devices are a lot bigger and heavier but they still work."

"Could I talk to my family?"

"They have to have a generator and a radio too. The answer is yes but you have to make these tools or trade for them."

"Who has these to trade?"

"Only me for now. I teach others how to make tools and soon they will find out how to make these devices."

"I would like that."

"I would, too. Besides, a ship should have a radio so that it can communicate if there's a problem. Perhaps all ships should have this and help can be as near as the closest ship."

A day away from our port the lookout spotted a ship. This wasn't uncommon and we used my spotting scope. Captain Sacco said, "It's a pirate but she is downwind and probably can't catch us."

Tonno said, "Damn, I wanted to take one of those on." Sacco and the crew were dumbfounded.

The pirate did get closer and I saw the sweeps being used to help them. Sacco said, "Man the oars."

I said, "Captain, I have an idea. Stop the men for a minute."

The Captain stopped the men and they stayed to listen to my idea. "It will be dark soon and the winds will die. If we use just a few oars the pirates will try hard to catch up to us in the dark."

"They'll kill us."

"Let me finish. When it gets dark we lower the boat and let the pirates pass while they chase you. We row hard in the smaller boat and catch up to them. Tonno and my men take the ship. If we do that, I will pay each man a drak for this help."

"You want to attack a pirate ship with five men? You are — very sure of yourselves."

"You were going to say out of my mind?"

"Something like that."

"What about their cannon?"

"Stay just out of range. Two men to a sweep and it looks like you don't have much of a crew."

"How can you defeat all those men?"



-------

Chapter 17


"I can talk but you wouldn't believe. I'll show you tomorrow morning."

"You're the owner but I don't like this."

"You don't have much choice. You can only man all the sweeps and row hard or not so hard."

The smaller boat was put overboard on the side away from the pirates. We had changed course so we would lose a bit more distance as the pirate cut the corner.

The boys wanted to go but I didn't allow it. The rest of us put on the combat vests as well as the ones stuffed with cork in case they fell overboard. The weapons were put on the seats because we needed our backs to row. The night was darker than usual because it was overcast.

When it got dark enough, we rowed like hell and tried to keep the Scors between us and the pirate. Soon an old sail stained black went past us and we waited. We had two night vision glasses but we wanted to save the power for when it was needed.

The pirate had gone by about two klicks away. In five minutes we in its wake and came at it from the stern. We rowed like hell because we heard the cannon being used now.

We came to the stern and saw the rudder. There was no ladder but I came prepared. With no grappling hooks, I used a pole with a hastily built hook loosely attached at the end. This was a large ship and actually had a cabin at the stern with shutters. This had to be the Captain's.

The men kept pace with the ship and I set the hook. Nobody came to investigate. The pole was removed and I climbed the rope already prepared with knots in it. When I looked into the room with my night vision glasses, I saw nobody. After checking the hook I signalled the men and they climbed aboard and we dragged our weapons up with a smaller rope.

The cannon was still firing but not often. I was the only one with a silencer but the flash would be seen. We brought truncheons to make this as quiet as possible. Tonno and his men had garrottes too.

The Captain's door was locked and we had shoot out the lock when the cannon was heard. Apparently the Captain didn't trust anybody.

There were rowers on the deck below but none on this deck. Everybody else seemed to be above. I went out first. There were no fires or lanterns because this ruined night vision. I was able to go to the right and climb some steps. I saw the wheelman and someone else.

I must have made noises because the other said, "Who - " before I hit with a fist and then a karate chop to the neck. The wheelman grabbed for his knife but my hand deflected the arm as other fist went home in the throat.

Tonno was watching me and told his men to get to work. I lashed the wheel and used tie wraps on the men. We had nearly half of those on deck knocked out before the rest found that something was wrong. Instead of fighting, I stood back and watched. When a gun was aimed at one of us I shot the person.

Knives were used by the pirates and the vests were not designed to ward off these blows. When the 45's were used, the fight left the pirates. With this partially under control I used a flashlight to signal the Scors to loose headway. I hoped the Captain was going to follow orders and not follow his fears. There was more fighting as we tackled the cannon crew.

Lanterns were found and lit. Some of our men were bleeding and they bandaged themselves and each other. The pirates were separated from their weapons and tied.

We had to go through the ship again to search out anybody hiding. We found a few and the cough of the 45 was enough to get them to comply. A room had some personal bed slaves and they were tied. When we went to the deck of the rowers, I almost puked. The place stunk and I was sure it was a breeding ground for disease. We found three more pirates hiding here. The rest were slaves chained to their benches.

When it looked like we had them all I said to the rowers, "We captured this ship. I'll try to free all of you over time."

There were some questions but the people weren't that lucid. They were women and from a Bejek male's point of view, expendable.

When I got on the deck, I saw the Scors crew armed with their rifles. We waved back to them and they just stared at us because of what we had accomplished. Captain Sacco and four of his men came aboard to see what we had done. They had to search for hidden pirates. They knew where to search and found three more.

When they came on deck I said loud enough to reach both ships, "You're rich men now. That was a drak each I promised." Sacco looked stunned and those on the other ship cheered.

The wounded were treated during the night but by morning there were seven more dead pirates. Three were severely wounded and fifteen with little or no injuries. Half of the pirate crew were women and they didn't appear to be the soft kind I would want in my bed. There were six young girls and four boys that were used by the crew and the captain. Below decks were forty three women.

The able-bodied pirates cleaned up the mess on the deck. Bosma and Camsa were my wheelmen. They were supervised by Morrow. We made a good meal for everybody. The slaves below deck probably got fed what would be two meals to them.

I went below deck and provided some more information. Then I asked, "Who here are sailors?" Most claimed to be. I asked a few more questions but it was mostly to see how lucid they were. Captain Sacco had to make his own determinations. We both knew that the people here were borderline crazy from their treatment and captivity. They couldn't be released unless it was in small groups. After that, they had to go back to their chains. This was hard on all of us but necessary.

Later that day we spotted another ship but it didn't give chase. When night came we dropped anchor near the harbour and waited for daylight. There was a little problem with some of the crew wanting the captured boys and girls but it wasn't that difficult to get them to understand what I wanted.

When we pulled into port, we found ourselves under guns. We just continued our duties and dropped sails and tied up.

A man in a military man came to the deck and said, "You are all under arrest for piracy."

I said, "Wouldn't it be better to ask what happened first? Perhaps things aren't as they seem."

"Who are you?"

"Lord Crazzic. Who are you?"

The man was a little flustered and angry but said, "Carrso Formsa, the Harbourmaster."

"I'm glad to meet you, Harbourmaster. I'm the new owner of the Scors. We bring good Scathan wine and dried meat. Two days ago we found ourselves pursued by pirates. That night my friends and myself got into a rowboat and separated from the Scors. We let the pirates pass then we rowed to catch up to their ship. We climbed aboard and took the ship."

"You took a pirate ship with the men from a rowboat?"

"I'm being polite to you. It may be a good idea to return the favour and we may remain friends."

"How is it that you took a pirate ship?"

"The pirates onboard the Skussa were not prepared and the fact is that my men are a rowdy bunch that like to fight. I not only hired them for their pretty faces but their ability to protect me." There were some smiling faces now and none of them could be called pretty.

"Your men must be very exceptional."

"They are, Harbourmaster. Now I would like to ask if there is a reward for the capture of these pirates? I intend to keep the Skussa."

"There's always a reward. Our King, I think, would like to talk to you first, though."

"That sounds like a good idea. I also have some galley slaves that I claim. Some were stolen from your lands and I wish to reunite them with their families."

"Who are they."

I walked over and handed a sheet of paper to the Harbourmaster. It has all the citizens of this country along with the city they lived in. It was another twenty minutes before the guns were put down. The Harbourmaster was invited aboard and he checked the condition of the ship himself. He talked to the pirates and they reluctantly told him the same as what I had said. They had nothing to lose now and tried to act nice.

The Harbourmaster then checked the Scors. Sampling of our cargo was in order to ensure quality.

There was a lot of people that came down to talk business and hear the story of the pirates. I let the others that were involved in the assault tell the story their way. This thirsty work continued even to the crew that had not participated.

I checked the girls out. They were a listless lot that had the wits fucked out of them. I had to be an authority to keep discipline but I was not immune to their pain. The boys were the same way but Camsa and Bosma took care of them. I didn't mind the sex they had as long as this was all consensual.

The galley slaves were brought out in small groups and sent to a bathhouse. Physicians came and I got quantity discounts. Peddlers with used clothes sold me whatever the women liked.

The women that acted rational had their manacles removed. This was the carrot for the rest so they would try to act responsibly. Food in large amounts was delivered. My threat to throw the cook and the owner into the bay if the food was not up to my expectations was believed.

Our wine and meat was being sold and both the Harbourmaster and the excise man got their cut out of each deal.

A horseman in expensive livery stopped at the dock and came aboard. He looked around until he found me. I was shirtless and wrestling with the kids. He said, "I'm looking for Lord Crazzic."

"You've found him."

He hadn't expected the answer or the way it was delivered, but he recovered. "I have a message from my King, Carrser 23rd, King of all of Mersia — " the man went on and on and I waited patiently until he was done.

I broke the seal with a thumb and read the flowery script. Some of the terms were new to me. I reread the document just in case then said, "I would be happy to accept the invitation."

When the man left I looked at the bodyguards and chose Carso and Fillo. They had some nice clothes and shoulder holsters.

I had a bath at the common bathhouse. Some of the attendants volunteered to wash my back. I knew I had to get clean. Soon I had more women coming in to see how big I was. When I was done, I figured I was the one who should have been paid.

A carriage delivered us to the palace. I had my own shoulder holster with a nine millimetre. At my waist was a knife and a short sword. Carso and Fillo wore a second holster with an additional 45. This one was the known weapon while the other was a backup.

Fillo carried a gift for the king. It was similar to the Saturday Night Special first given to Artlam. This was a 32 calibre but still dangerous. I had stashed a few of these in my trade goods for situations like this.

We were shown the palace for ten minutes until we were admitted to the King's throne room. The previous supplicant was dealt with and dismissed. I was introduced but my title was very short. I bowed my head to the king and he did the same to me. He abruptly said, "What land are you from?"

"My home is now in Mendab, Milord."

He didn't like the term I used. Apparently he got a lot of flowery talk. "Who's the king?"

"Hugh Driscott now holds the crown."

"We hear that the Habstner are threatening your borders."

"That situation has changed recently."

"How is that?"

"The Habstner were routed. Approximately three of the four thousand troops were captured. They were resettled in Mendab and are now citizens. Those wishing to leave have done so, but more have arrived to join their kin."

"The Habstner have a good army. I heard they took your entire country, apart from Shreff."

"That's true. The King arrived with his people and used powerful weapons to destroy a large portion of the invading army. Rather than leave Habstner open to assault from Anguy, most of their army was spared and a peace pact signed. The Habstner can now have enough troops to monitor their other borders."

"This is very interesting. Perhaps we should talk where it's more comfortable."

The tone of voice also said more private. "I'd like that."

Some of the guards were dismissed and we went and sat in a room much like Artlam's. I had something similar in Limka though I was only there once.

King Carrser called for wine, then asked, "What were these powerful weapons like? We've heard only a little."

"If I might suggest, what you heard must have come from the Church or some of their more fanatic supporter states."

He looked at me and waited a moment, weighing something. "The Church of Ragnus suffered a small loss when the Habstner were defeated."

"They may suffer more if they meddle in the affairs of Mendab."

"That is very serious talk. Some in this country would see you punished for saying that."

"Those that are aligned with the Church or those mice that hide in dark corners? These may look to find favour with the Church by mentioning my words."

"Nobody here would mention that but others might. Be warned that the Eminent Lord Cantro will ask you some pointed questions."

"As a foreign dignitary I think I will refuse to answer them."

"You have the right, but rights usually revolve around the strength of arms."

"Thank you for the warning. It's nice to know that I have rights here, even if I must enforce some of them myself."

"The Church is very strong."

"I'm becoming more and more aware of that each day. It takes special weapons to drive off their lackeys. I even have one here for you as a gift from the King of Mendab."

"A gift! How nice."

The gun was in a wood box. The inside had a lot of holes drilled in a block of wood to contain fifty shells. Instead of the gun, the king withdrew a shell and looked at the polished brass.

"Your king is certainly wealthy to make a weapon like this out of copper. What does it do?"

"It's a pistol. Instead of a glowing cord to ignite the powder, the centre of the bullet is struck. A chemical there is sensitive to shock. It rapidly decomposes and in the process produces heat. The heat ignites the main propellant and the small bullet is expelled. This weapon is good after being in the water for days and can fire five shots one after the other as fast as the trigger can be pulled."

"Now that is amazing. The bullet is so small though."

"It makes up for some of this disadvantage by going much faster."

The king fiddled with the gun then said, "Come to the window for more light. You can show me how to charge this weapon."

When we were at the window, the king waved away the guards. He said in a whisper, "Cantro will come for you and use force. Leave soon."

I showed him how to load the gun then how the safety worked. I whispered back, "Buseland is being pressured by the Church through the Adchek. I want to bring nitre to them."

"The Adchek and the pirates may not let you through."

"I think I can make it."

"Are you that strong?"

"I have good weapons if I get close."

The king thought for a while as he examined the gun then he whispered, "A merchant by the name of Bartho will come to you. He will speak for me."

"I will welcome him with open arms."

When we came inside the king changed and said, "Tell me how you took the pirate ship?"

I did the preamble, then introduced Carso and Fillo. They had no trouble talking about all the fun they had. They kept forgetting who they were talking too but the king didn't seem to mind.

"That is a very interesting story that's worthy of a saga. The pirates themselves were amazed at your audacity and courage. By the way, there is a reward for the capture of them. I will have it calculated by my people and have you informed what the total may be."

"You are very generous, Milord."

We were ushered out of the palace soon after with no meal. Then again, a meal would show favour which the king may not want to show publicly.

When we got back to the dock, Carso said, "We were followed all the way by two men."

"Church?"

"Too far to see."

"We may have visitors soon."

A merchant came later but he was not Bartho. Sacco got his men back onboard but most were drunk. They had not been paid yet but the patrons at a bar loved to hear their tales.

We set watches that night like every night when at shore but now the men were more awake. I slept alone that night. The kids on the Skussa now bunked together.

A hand woke me and I sat up quickly. From the dark came, "A troop of men are coming. It looks like thirty. No horses or noisy weapons. They should be here in a few minutes." I was handed my night vision goggles and found my clothes and guns. Since they came at night, I could say we fired at thieves.

I climbed the aft section of the Scors with my shotgun. We had purposely stayed on the second ship. Two of the men would be climbing to the Skussa to hit the men from the rear. The troop was taking no chances and a detachment pealed off to deal with the Skussa.

When a dozen figures dropped onto the deck of the Scors, I opened up with buckshot. The flame from the muzzle was blinding. I moved toward the dock and fired all but a few of my shells. I popped in a new drum and climbed up to the dock. Gunshots were going off all over the place. A new threat was seen as horsemen charged. I felt a kick from a mule and knew I was spotted in the muzzle flashes. I fell over and played dead. When the horses were just three metres away I jumped up and picked off the riders. It was hard because the horses were rearing.

I was able to get to the other side of the dock where I could shoot from the side. Somebody else was picking them off and there were few left. At the land side of the dock a man fled on his horse but a bullet found him before he got far.

I went and shot wounded horses with the 45 and a few men that were not wounded enough.

The watch came running and I called out, "Stop! Be recognised or I shoot."

They stopped dead. "I called out, who are you?"

"The city watch."

"About time. Bandits and pirates attacked us. Come, but keep your hands away from your weapons."

They had lanterns and saw the gore. I was sure they had seen this before but possibly not this much in one spot.

The men approached and I heard a black powder rifle fire then another. I yelled out, "Snipers, down."

I scanned the buildings and saw movement. When a rifle came out I used the 45. The distance was about fifty metres and I hit the guy. Seven more popped their heads up and I took two more of them off. The AK's were now in use from my ships.

Nobody showed their face until the sun came up. It was actually a detachment from the Royal Guard that came.

There were a lot of questions asked and some were mine. I wanted the thief that had sent these men arrested. The uniforms were not of the Church but of Adchek. The only Adchek unit here was under that authority of Lord Cantro.

A lot of wagons came and the bodies were thrown in. There were no weapons or even change purses left on the bodies. The boys must be building a war fund. The dead horses were stripped as well as the live ones. What the boys were going to do with them was a mystery to me. Nobody was taking the horses from them in any case.

There were no survivors and we counted sixty seven dead. Some had to be fished from the bay. People had also died in the homes that the snipers had shot from but not by us.

Captain Sacco was very meek and mild. This demonstration of our weapons should bolster his estimation of our chances of survival.

The decks were scrubbed as two of my men patrolled openly with the AK's.

A young boy came as a messenger and nervously hand me an envelope. It was from His Eminence, Lord Cantro. I was politely asked to meet with him."

I said to the boy of ten, "I would like you to tell Lord Cantro that the streets of this city aren't safe for me. Perhaps he can visit me but bring no more than four guards."

The boy looked shocked at my words though I was polite and unassuming.

"But you have to come. It's an order."

"I'm sorry, but it's not an order to me. Go now, and tell your master."

The boy hurried off and I wondered what the next step would be.



-------

Chapter 18


It was much later that the first merchants came to us. The boys wanted to sell them horse meat, horses, tack, saddles or weapons. The symbols on the articles ensured that nobody would buy them if they wanted to live.

Tonno and Solsa were cleaning their weapons needlessly and talking to the youngsters around them about battles, including the one that was just fought. The boys and even the girls sat open mouthed. Some of the galley slaves were listening, too. Few of them had left the ship and so far nobody had come to claim them.

One old merchant clandestinely passed me a note. When they all left I went to the cabin and read: 'Bartho cannot come now. Too dangerous to come by day. Will come by boat tonight.' There was no signature or seal but I figured it was the king.

I wanted to heat the pot under Cantro. Tonno and Solsa were summoned and I said, "Take a few of the galley slaves out for a drink or two. Talk openly about how the Church has fallen on hard times and has to rob honest merchants to make ends meet."

"I like that, but why the slaves?"

"They don't get out much. There are enough of them that they can protect your bum if the big bad Adchek come again."

He just looked at me and said, "Ok, do we get paid for this?"

"The bar patrons will pay to hear about the fight. You robbed all the bodies and even the horses and you want me to pay you. Soon, I'll have to ask you for a loan."

Tonno was able to look both sheepish and happy and left quickly.

Carso and Fillo wanted their turn to go to the bars but they had to wait until their friends returned. When Tonno did return, he was bruised and his clothes ripped. In fact, all of them looked like they were through a war. None of them looked particularly hurt. Tonno reported, "The locals are sensitive about the Church but were sporting enough to just use fists. It was fun, I can't wait to go out later."

"Carso and Fillo are going to fill in for you." The latter two were also told to return before dark. They left with another contingent of warrior women from the galley.

Near midnight, a rowboat quietly paddled up to us. Captain Sacco helped three people aboard. One man stayed with his cowl on and I got rid of everybody else.

When the door closed, King Carrser made his appearance.

"Thank you, Lord Crazzic, or should I use your other name?"

"Lord Crazzic is fine. Are you able to introduce your friends?"

"I am, Lord Carzzic. The first is Admiral Dozza. He protects our shores against pirates and more organised groups."

"I see." I bowed to the man and said, "I'm glad to meet you."

"And I you. That was some fight you had here last night."

"It was no fight. We butchered them just like cattle."

"It was that easy?"

"I'm afraid it was."

I looked at the other man and Carrser said, "This is General Fadish. He leads my army."

"I'm glad to meet you, too."

I offered some wine and we got down to talking. Carrser said, "What are your objectives in this part of the world?"

"I don't like the Church. They control the people like puppets. They have made great strides in science but deny the benefits to the people. I believe that the Church wants to make the entire world like Adchek or Anguy. I have been to neither land but the thoughts of being there make me shiver in fear."

I had a sip of wine so they could digest this then said, "My aim is to fight the Church and at the moment that can best be done by helping those that are already fighting. Buseland is one that needs your nitre. I want to fill both ships with all I can carry and sail there."

"And after that?"

"Well, I expect a visit from the Army of the Righteous soon. I will kill the first few thousand men, I figure, until they start using a lot more magic on me. When they do, they'll bring the rest of their army and I'll just have to kill them."

"How do you plan on killing the Army of the Righteous?"

"That's my secret. It may get back to the Church."

"I see. The Buseland crown needs more nitre than what even your two ships can hold."

I just waited and he eventually said, "You are buying nitre for Isle of Entras. When you load up you will sail in that direction but somewhere along the way you will end up in Buseland. The Church is strong here and I can only do so much openly."

"Do you have more ships that I can purchase. If they're filled with nitre, they can go with my ships and make a convoy."

Admiral Dozza said, "We have three pirate ships that are not manned."

The king said, "They might work. There may even be enough nitre to fill them. What about crews?"

"There are few men available."

I put in my two cents and said, "There are women sailors."

"They cannot fight."

"I know some woman that I would pit against your best men. They are not strong physically but they are mentally. They have helped me kill thousands."

"I have heard of your women. They are all young and apparently you have drugged and bewitched them into being men."

"Those men are planning on getting pregnant soon. There are no drugs used but I love them and they love me. Tell me, would your wives fight to save your lives?"

There was no answer but I thought I hit my mark.

General Fadish said, "Can't you use the women you have here?"

"They were slaves. I had to keep them chained and only release them slowly. They're not sane."

"Can you hire competent women?"

"That, I can try. It has to be soon and I need to know how many I need to command the ships."

We talked of a reward and I said, "The pirates are sailors. Perhaps some of those can be reformed. Doing it at the end of a rope or in the bottom of a galley may not work when I need a quick mind and body."

We only stopped talking because it was going to get light soon. Not everything was worked out yet. I handed out some good walkie talkies and taught them how to use them. Extra batteries and a sheet of paper telling everything I knew about the radios went with them. We could now talk and not be seen together.

The Skussa was modernised like the Scors was. The lowest areas were cleaned extensively and converted to carrying cargo. All those people housed there had only been used for propulsion. There was no need for a large crew though.

The Harbourmaster and others directed the unemployed to the Skussa. They were hired to work on the repairs and to crew the ship when it was underway.

The slaves were worried about being abandoned. I had them learn to be sailors. Some were not bad or had previous experience.

The cabins on the deck above were combined and hammocks hung one above the other like WWII troop carriers.

The Harbourmaster gave me shit for taking up valuable dock space and then gave me a sickly smile. He must have been forced to do this. That meant that they were ready to take care of me once I left the harbour.

When a radio message came, I slipped into a rowboat, then a carriage, then onto a horse. The next day I saw my three newest ships. They had been stripped and cleaned just like the others but there were no crews. The man in charge was not at any previous meeting. He said, "How do you like them?"

"They look good but I'm not much of a sailor. Are the sails and cordage good? Do the hulls leak a lot? Is there a lot of rot?"

"Milord, the ships are fair and they will get you to any destination you wish. After that you will need to make repairs like any ship."

"I know that nothing lasts forever but will they last in the short term?"

"They will last."

When I got back to the Scors, I knew that I would have to have Captain Sacco come and look after the ships. I asked on the radio if there were any old men like Juke that could come out of retirement to be the captain and major officers. Apparently there were some good men that may take up the call to arms.

Sacco and my crew nearly deserted me and worked on the three ships. I insisted on calling them the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. They were taken out for sea trials and to train the crew. Three weeks after I entered the Mersia Islands, I had to leave. We had dawdled as long as we could to give the others a chance to train.

The Scors and the Skussa had few of the original crew. I sold sixty kilos of copper and filled the bottom of the hold of the Skussa with three tonnes of gold. On top of this was the niter and some cannon that should have had the Royal armoury symbol on them.

A large ship pulled in when we were doing our final preparations. I used my spotter scope and saw people using scopes on us. There was one man with the symbol on his coat that said he was high in the Church and probably Lord Cantro.

The time to sail was with the tide and that wasn't until the early morning. It was doubtful if Lord Cantro would start a fight here in the bay, but he might. It would be a fact that he would follow me tomorrow.

I went to my supplies and pulled out a kilo of plastique and a radio detonator. I wasn't a demolitions expert but I figured that the best place to park this charge would be near the magazine or at least below the waterline.

Solsa was the only good swimmer we had so he had to help. Tonno insisted on coming with us. The bottom of the ships were encrusted with marine life. The wood was soft and punky. There was nothing to grab onto. An explosive device would come off when the ship started to move. We wracked our minds and the only thing we could think of was to pound some nails into the hull and suspend the mine from there. The noise from the nailing would alert the crew.

We were ready when it got dark. Solsa rowed and then drifted under the black sail we used before. There was a watch posted on the ship and it was awake.

We made it under the bow just as a sentry looked out across the water only a few metres above us. Knives worked their way between the planks so we had something to hold onto. If only I had thought to bring screws and a screwdriver.

Solsa went overboard and worked another tool between the planks. He was a metre down while doing this in the dark. I went over next and worked the metal in a little more and even Tonno gave it a try.

While waiting for my turn a big fucking turd hit me, followed by another. The head is the toilet and on a sailing ship it's in the bow. The wind pushes the ship forward as well as the stink from the toilet. I was on ground zero and there was nothing I could do.

I took my turn next in the water and if I could have seen them, I would know that they were grinning. The flat bar we used finally went through and then it was wedged. Old rope was pushed in around it to stop any leak and I just hoped that the metal would not be seen. The last thing I did was push spikes between every plank until I got a metre above the water and attach a silver wire to them. This extended to the radio receiver hooked to the explosives.

Two hours after we started, we left the spot under the bow and headed back. Three hours after midnight some boats pulled up and threw us lines. The boats had thirty rowers each and they pulled as quietly as they could to get us out of the harbour. It might be a shock to see us gone from our berth but I figured the Church would expect it.

The local experts put us in the right currents and continued to row for three solid hours until the wind freshened. They had already been paid and were both too far away and too tired to help the Church.

When the sun had completely cleared the horizon, our fleet of five ships was underway. I had another shower of seawater. The water in the bay was filthy but the water in front of that ship was worse.

Everybody was looking behind us and around noon we saw the mast of a ship. The ship was big and fast and by four in the afternoon, it was visible as the ship we mined.

When I planned this trip I knew most of our journey would be by ship and brought something to keep us safe. We now opened a steel box and set up a M252 mortar. The unit itself was just over forty kilos and the rounds were a little over six kilos. This unit was brought because of its extended range. It could hit from 4,500 metres to 5,650 metres depending on the weight of the shell it fired. Some cannon could shoot further but were also much more inaccurate. If they wanted to be sure of a kill they had to get close.

By seven they fired their first cannon round. They were within our range and outside theirs. The ball missed but not by more than thirty metres. I wanted our people to see that we did this in self defence.

I took out the detonator. Camsa and Bosma were watching intently until I said, "Push the arming button then the destruct. Do it together."

The boys didn't move until another cannon ball came even closer to us. The switch was pushed and we saw a geyser at the bow of the pursuing ship. It rapidly lost way and the sails came down. The faster they sailed the more water would pour into their hull.

I called a halt when the explosion went off. It would take a long time to try to buck the wind and make it back to the wreck so we used our boats to speed the trip. There were people in the water hanging onto whatever they could. Some snarled at us and we left them to their fate. There were some children and women still alive. We pulled these from the water and put tie wraps on them. Some actually fought us.

Weakly holding onto a chest was a man I saw in the scope. "Go there." The boat shifted and I caught the tunic. The man looked at me with blood shot eyes and snarled. I also saw that he had a medallion around his neck. I grabbed this quickly and the priest could not put up much of a fight. He picked up his hands, slid out of his tunic and down into the ocean. The tunic went into the boat and I then grabbed the chest the man had been holding onto for support.

We saved seven lives but left the soldiers. That was the way they wanted it. We picked up what would be interesting and then headed to our ships.

When we got back to the ship, we were all morose. Killing that many people meant that some of them had to be innocent.

The wind died later along with the rest of our spirits. The ones we saved were budding fanatics but they would probably come around in time. They were all stripped and bathed in a little fresh water to get off the salt and given dry clothing. Camsa and Bosma and some of the pleasure slaves took over the duty of watching out for those we brought aboard.

The next day was stormy. We had to separate but not too far. The storm was not that violent but many of us got sick. We were able to regroup before it got dark.

The generator was started up and I made a call home. I had not called for a long time and they must be worried. This time it took an hour and a half before they acknowledged.

I heard my girls almost crying and it took a while to hear what had happened.

The Anguy had come in force. The girls knew about this soon enough to have traps set up. There were five small battles. Nearly a thousand Anguy were killed, but Kuenta, Ronnas and Andis had been as well. The trucks had fallen into a trap set by the Anguy and cannons had penetrated the mild steel walls. I had to yell at them to get them to say they were safe now.

I was in shock. It was like a piece of me was ripped out. I passed the mic to Tonno so he could learn more. As I sat in my chair, I thought of the frightened woman I met over two years ago. She gave me her trust and her heart. I had given a part of mine back to her.

Ronnas was so sweet. I pictured her as she was when I last saw her, then I had glimpses of what she was like when she was fighting. After a long time Andis' face came to me. She was so young.

After dawn Fillo came up to me. "I'm sorry to hear of your loss, but Tonno has lost a wife and a child too. Carso lost his oldest daughter in the fighting."

"And you?"

"My son was only wounded."'

I felt bad for myself, but I saw that I wasn't the only one to be hurt.

We talked among ourselves about our losses. It was as if by remembering them that we could bring them back to life. Wine came out from someplace and we talked more of our losses. I think it was Tonno that started talking about revenge. This was more addicting and far sweeter than any wine. We talked for hours and I wondered if I had been there whether we could have done more. Or even saved those I loved.

I was fed and somehow I found myself in my bed again. I wanted my lost girls to hold and protect but I couldn't find them. I cried quietly and hugged a pillow until I went to sleep.

The next day I just walked the deck and thought about those that I had lost. I knew that if I were there they may not have died. I had to go off and try to get another weapon that I didn't know how to use.

I was given food but I didn't feel like eating any of it until supper time. It was a lightning strike near the horizon that made me come out of my depression. It was not before us but off to my left. We had silver on the ship. If it attracted the lightning then we would be killed and the ship would burn.

I told Jammas, our old Mersian navy captain, to shift our small fleet to avoid the storm by a wider margin.

Tonno came to me and said, "How are you feeling now?"

There was no honorific and I felt better about this. "It hurts. I know that if I were there they wouldn't have died."

"My wife and daughter weren't fighters. Very few women are. They saw your women and something awoke in them. They now sit at the side of Ragnus." He added quickly, "Even though the Church is wrong, our god is protecting us."

"Don't worry Tonno. Humans can turn the best copper into shit. We fail all the time and do it so well. The Church at one time got corrupted and the rot spread. Men make religion, not any god. It's something inside us that cries out in need."

Carso looked bad when he came over and we all talked again of our losses. He had loved his daughter where so many fathers only had thoughts for their sons. If this love could be strengthened the children would not be abandoned and perhaps wives would not be looked down upon. The Church wanted the status quo so they could control the women that had the spark of magic. With their strength they were able to extend their reach to include male issue.

The rest of the day I was in a mental fog. Wine found its way to me and I woke up to a heaving ship.

Jammas said, "This storm isn't bad at all. It's relaxing in a way. There's no lightning."

"That's good to hear."

"The storm also pushes us in the direction we wish to go. Our god favours us."

"We need all the help we can get."

I saw one of the young women go to the rail and heave. After a while she returned to the cabin. She was pretty though her hair was soaked. The urge to have a woman was still there but it was under a load of guilt.

The storm abated and the seas became steadily calmer. When it got dark I gathered the courage and got the radio working.

The girls came on in only minutes this time. Jonna spoke in a military manner. I guess this would help. Pushing our emotions to the back of our minds when the present had to be dealt with. "There are no Anguy in our lands. They attacked the other cities to draw away our forces but they couldn't get close. We went home and acquired more sniper weapons and ammunition. Willie somehow came through with a M198 howitzer. There was only a dozen shells but we knocked out the Anguy command."

"What did Willie say about the howitzer?"

"He said that he hoped that this was what you wanted. He never mentioned getting more shells but they might come. I have no idea what that thing cost but it had to be expensive."

I seemed to get a bit more inspired and said, "We sure could use the shells. Tell me what you did?"

"The snipers worked on the officers when we found them, then we went for the cannon crews. We killed thousands of them one at a time. If the Anguy want to hit us they have to get better weapons. Most of the time we harassed them from the field and then killed the forces sent to suppress us."

I talked to my friends and saw that the country was holding together well, at least until the priests started to bring on their magic or the Army of the Righteous. This had to be the next logical step.

I gave the rest a chance to talk to their family or learn more. Fillo was now devastated. His wounded son was in far worse shape than he had told me. The son had died.

Fillo went into a funk and it was bad. It would be because it was a male child but Fillo had been close to all of his family.

I went back to talk a bit more. It was Artlam that said, "Was the medallion the same as the other?"

"I don't know. I never looked at what we found."

"What about the trunk?"

"I didn't look at it, either."

"We are at war. It is sane to grieve but self-preservation means you have to think."

"You're right, Artlam." I closed off the conversation by saying I loved them all.

Vengeance came out much stronger and I didn't try to direct it into other channels. People that liked to fight needed strong emotions.

The next morning brought another hangover but I went and checked what we had found. The medallion was similar to the others but it had distinct differences. The cloak was hung up to dry. There were some personal things in the pockets and a letter. Sea water had made the writing illegible.

The trunk was locked but there was a key in the pocket of the cloak that opened it. There was musky smelling damp clothing that I took out and hung up. There were some nice pistols. On closer examination I saw that they had a cap. This was very much like our own weapons.

I jumped at the books I found. Some were history books and some were actually diaries. They were all damaged but some pages were still legible.

The bottom of the box held large copper coins and a folder. This came out and I placed the sheets of paper around the room to dry.

When the box was empty, I noticed some warpage in the bottom panel. I got my knife and pulled up a cleverly made false bottom. In a sectioned off area was a silver chain. I picked this up and saw that it was similar to mine but the overall length was longer. I got out my chain and when folded, it looked to be four metres. The new chain was a metre and half longer.

The new chain and its attached boxes was not symmetrical like the other. This one had one chain the equal of my chain but the other portion held all the extra length. I checked the links carefully and it was my finger that found a flaw in the metal. In a moment I found another. It looked like the chain had been spliced to make it longer.

I had to wonder about this. It was possible that a man and his horse could get through this loop much easier or perhaps a few men at once like when a position had to be rushed.

The chain went on the bed and I went back to the box. There were nine nickel sized coins and a more ornate headband. There were places for two more coins and I had to suspect that they were already in place somewhere.

Six animal figures reminded me of keys for the portals. There was a group of eleven spheres and two cups to support them. The final shape was geometric. It was a thin silver bar with a hollow triangle touching near the end of the bar at one of its points. It looked like a fulcrum and a lever to me.

I searched the inside of the lid and the sides but there appeared to be nothing more. I cleaned out the box to let it dry. Outside would be best, but this secret might be best kept hidden.

The clothing and books went onto the deck to dry as soon as I could. I collared Bosma to carefully turn the pages of the books so they didn't stick together. His friend came out with the rest to help. I was fearful of the newcomers throwing the books overboard to thwart me and asked Solsa to watch while he was doing nothing.

I went back into the cabin to go over the treasures I found and try to find out their secrets. The chain was first. I was not sure if a chain had to work from a special area on the planet's surface like where my home was. Then again, an assassin could work from one of those spots and the destination could be anyplace at all. The fact that the assassin was a member of the Church and lived on the Church grounds said that the Church building may be in such a place.

The spliced chain intrigued me a lot more. If I could splice the two chains together I would be able to acquire some impressive equipment. Nineteen metres of chain could possibly pass a truck or an APC. The latter is what I wanted. I just might if I tried get a FM 3-19.6 armoured security vehicle. That was where the autocannon came from.

When I looked at my first chain I felt where the chain connected to the two boxes. One had a slightly rough edge. I looked close but I didn't have a magnifying glass.

The medallion didn't offer me any clues. The keys were important but finding the portals they fit may be difficult or impossible. The headband had writing on the inside but it was in some characters I had never seen before. The coins were inspected individually but they were only slightly different from the ones I had.

The lever was last. I held it in my hands and then to my forehead to get some feeling but there was nothing.

The pouch of correspondence and the loose letter were next. There may be some way of finding out what was on the letter but I could make out nothing. I picked the partially dried sheets up one at a time and tried to read them. There was information here but most of the ink was destroyed by the seawater. Some of the sheets had more information and it all had to do with using the Adchek to further the aims of the Church. When there was nothing more readily seen, I went out on deck.

I went to look at the books and the new people shied away from me. I was happy to see that those that knew me tried to calm them. We had a meal and I got a chance to read one of the books that was drier then the rest. There was damage here but not as extensive. This particular book talked about the early Church and I read this carefully. The words were cryptic but a meaning did emerge.

People at one time were visited by aliens. They weren't quite human but close. I read about the interaction with the Argus. They were a peaceful race that seemed to want to help and improve the people they found. The book talked of gleaming buildings but never in cities. It was always in small groups to be near nature.

A reference talked about the Buttris that came to help but it wasn't mentioned who these people were or what they did. Most of the book was flowery speech and little substance. The idea that came to me was that the people of Bejek were helped and there was a lot of cooperation between the races.

That night I read another book of a different time period. The Argus were mentioned but so were the Smorth. This race wasn't liked but the Humans acted politely to them and there was some sort of trade. The rest had to wait for the morning and the sunlight.

I had my breakfast and was ready to continue with the book when the lookout called an alarm. A mast was seen through the early morning fog. They must have seen us because the oars were out. There was very little wind yet.

Captain Jammas got the crew to trim the sails just a bit better and I heard him curse at not having rowers. The spotting scope showed that this wouldn't help. The ship was a raider. It was meant for speed, not cargo.

Tonno stood before me with a grin, not worried. "Get it out, my King?"

"Yes, Tonno. Just remember that we want people to question later."

"We'll save a few for you."



-------

Chapter 19


The M252 was set up again. The base plate went over the heavy beam I had installed when the ship was rebuilt. The parts were put in place and then the written sheet was consulted to make sure everything was kosher. The shells were nearby. I had a choice here. There was white and red phosphorus, some high explosive and even three illumination rounds. The phosphoreus was a sailors worse nightmare or at least fire was. The juffa sails didn't burn but the coating on them did. This was designed to protect the silk from the ultraviolet component in the sunlight and to give the wind more to bite into. The coating was light but it did burn. Once a ship caught fire it usually burned to the waterline.

The Church ship would not have the regular slaves, but a fanatic conditioned to do what it was told was perhaps worse. The ship approaching looked to be a pirate and not even a regular Adchek warship.

When Tonno was finished he saluted with a smile. I said, "Good work. Call the other ships to assist in taking the attacker and rescuing the slaves."

"Yes, my King."

I called Captain Jammas to me and said, "Prepare to launch the boats. We will drop sail soon when we attack."

"Attack?"

"Yes, Captain Jammas. I want to find out what is happening in these waters and we cannot do that from dead pirates."

"Do you know what their guns can do?"

"Do you remember the last ship?"

"You planted a bomb on that one."

"I may plant a bomb on this one, as well"

Tonno stayed by the mortar as the rest of us got dressed and armed. When we were nearly done, Tonno hurried to get his equipment. He chose a shotgun like me.

When the ship was four and a half kilometres back, Tonno loaded a high explosive round with a M734 fuze.

For the last five minutes we worked out the proper trajectory for the shell. This would be an airburst round and timing was critical. I worked out the calculation twice on a calculator using base ten while Tonno and his crew did the same with paper and their familiar base twelve. Both were in agreement. Failure to detonate was no problem because we also set it for near-surface burst and impact burst.

The mortar fired and shook our ship. Our platform was not that rigid. The shell exploded too high but shredded much of the sails. Tonno made a small adjustment and I nodded. Soon another shell was arcing aloft. This one landed in the rigging and exploded. The main mast disintegrated and everything fell to the deck. A fire started but the crew fought it.

I called out, "Drop sail, Captain, and try to come about."

"Tonno, secure weapon and prepare to board."

"Carso, inform our troops to proceed to target and prepare to board."

The mortar and shells were put away quickly. We got in the boats and pulled hard on the oars. The ship was a mess. Somebody tried to use what sails they had to get away from us but they were not getting far. As we approached the ship we saw people at the rail with rifles. They had much more solid platform to shoot from. When splashes came near we stopped rowing and those with the AK's fired. Some of the targets cried out or just fell.

Some of our boats passed us but the occupants didn't look enthusiastic. We shot until the rail was clear then surged forward. Twice more we stopped to shoot.

We used the grappling hooks and I climbed mine first. I looked through the scuppers and saw two small cannon at each end aimed along the deck. They would be loaded grapeshot and very effective. I pulled a grenade then removed the pin with my teeth. I waited just a second and tossed it toward one of the cannon. I was fast enough to launch one more at the other set of guns.

Shrapnel came through the scuppers but I was clear. A second look had me pulling out the nine millimetre and shooting one man still standing with a torch in his hand. I was over the rail in seconds.

There were few to shoot and I used my feet or a wooden peg taken from the ship to knock who I could out. Some I had to shoot because they had guns. The guys made it to the deck and there was little opposition.

I yelled, "Take them alive if you can. Kill those your have to." This way they may moderate their vengeance a little.

A man of fifty got to his feet very unsteadily. He had no gun but he had a cutlass. Blood was running down his forehead into his black beard. He saw me and charged only to fall over a body. The sword left his hand and he fumbled to find it. I knew he had to be having difficulty seeing. He was dangerous but he must be half blind. I ran in before he could get up and kicked him in the jaw. He fell over and didn't move. I looked for more threats.

Those with AK's continued to fire. They did so less than I though but more than was needed. However, I was not there to assess each conflict. The fighting lasted twenty more minutes and most of that was what it took to ferret out all those who were hiding.

I checked the Captain's quarters and found a dog ready to take my leg off. I didn't shoot the animal but closed the door instead. I was partial to animals. There was the usual compliment of pleasure slaves and one woman of perhaps seventy. She came at me with a club when I opened the door and it was only the reflection in the mirror that saved me from getting hit. My helmet would have absorbed most of the power of the blow but it would have still left me dazed.

"Hold on, I'm taking the ship from the pirate."

The woman screamed and came at me again with more energy that I thought a woman her age could have. I had to throw her on the bed and use tie wraps on her wrists and her ankles. She even bit me but the vest proved to be more than she could get through. I would almost chose to take on the dog than this woman.

More of our ships arrived and I got to see just how large this ship really was. It had four masts and a slim beam. Tonno remarked that there was two hundred and twenty slaves used for propulsion.

More of our people came aboard and we searched the ship a few more times but found nobody else.

The partially blind sword wielder was apparently the captain. A bucket of water roused him. He looked around at voices as he squinted.

I said, "Are you the captain of this scow?"

"Scow! I'll peel the skin off your back and throw you to the fish. I'll boil you in oil then keelhaul you."

"Are you the Captain?"

"I be."

I'm going to shoot your dog unless you muzzle it. I don't want to, I'm partial to dogs."

"You wouldn't hurt Princess, would you?"

"Muzzle her or she dies."

"He's not a bitch."

"Then why call him Princess."

"He doesn't like being called Prince."

"A muzzle or a bullet. Your choice."

"I'll find a muzzle, just don't hurt my baby."

The man got up with my help. His hands had tie wraps and I had removed his knives and two small pistols. The captain had to talk through the door to 'Princess' for a minute before he could get in. There was a collar on the dog and the man held it tightly.

"I'll hold the dog. You have two hands. There's a leather strap in the drawer. Use that."

"If you let the dog go or there's a trap, I'll shoot your dog in the head and you in the balls."

"There be no trap, on my honour."

"Honour from a thief and a killer."

"I be no thief. I have a letter of mark from Lord Sarsen."

"Who is Lord Sarsen?"

"You do not know of him?"

"I wouldn't ask if I knew."

"He is the Church negotiator. He keeps the Adchek navy from taking too many liberties."

"That is a crock of shit. The Church is out to win at any cost." I fished out the leather thong and walked near the dog. I put my gun away and made a slip knot and got it around the dog's muzzle fairly easy. The leather was wrapped many times but it was still loose enough to not cause pain. The end was tied to the collar.

Release the dog. I was ready with my fist but the dog sat beside its master at his urging.

"Tell me more about Lord Sarsen."

"Why should I tell you?"

"I hold your life in my hands."

"Why did you attack my ship? I have legal rights."

"You were bearing down on five vessels with a large warship. This vessel isn't made for cargo."

"You attacked us first."

"You attacked by chasing us."

"I was hurrying to port. My mother is tired of the sea."

"That battle ax was your mother?"

"You didn't hurt her, did you?"

"She wears the same jewellery as you."

"Thank you. She's a sweet woman."

"Do you ever tell the truth?"

"Always."

"Do you own this ship?"

"No, it's the property of our Church."

"It's not Church property now, it's mine."

"You cannot do that!"

"Let's clear this up. You were going to take our ships or sink them. Is that true or not? Think carefully before you answer. I hate liars worse than pirates."

"I'm not a pirate."

"Answer the question."

There was a pause to think of an escape and the man mumbled.

"Louder!"

"Your ships would have been taken."

"Then we fought. You would have gained my ships if you had won but I'm the victor, and I now take yours. If the Church thinks differently they can come and take it back."

"They'll kill you."

"They've tried. Now show me where you have hidden your weapons and your treasure. If I don't find it, my boys will look."

There was another long thinking process and I found the weapons first. Some were very nice. The Captain reluctantly opened a sliding cupboard and we found jewelled collars, leashes and even some jewel bordered clothing for the dog. I saw that the man loved the dog quite a bit. Perhaps more than normal. Who knows, maybe the dog was gay.

There was a strongbox filled with copper and jewels as well as books. These were a rare commodity when each one had to be made by hand. When I glanced through the book I saw that this was the first erotic book I had seen on this planet.

All this time I heard the old woman screaming in her room. Every time she bellowed the Captain would wince and twitch. There was a lot of loot here.

"Captain —. What is your name?"

"Captain Dale Restfor at your service."

"Well, Captain Dale, I have been looking for books and special silver relics that the Church is also probably seeking."

"Books on magic?"

"Yes, but books on science too."

"I have seen them but they were always in the hands of the priests. I have none but I know you will look anyway."

"Do you have any spare spectacles here?"

"How did you know?"

"You can't see well and you fumbled around. It saved your life. If you had brought out a gun you would have been dead."

We went on the deck with a properly bespectacled Captain. The wounded were being bandaged or operated on. There were also a lot of bodies to one side. Tonno was holding his shotgun but the pirates looked thoroughly cowed at the moment.

Captain Dale said, "What will happen to my crew?"

"I haven't decided yet. I don't like pirates and I don't like them working for the Church."

"The Church has their own ships and you may have a difficult time taking them."

I checked my own people. Some were wounded though none looked fatal. Some of the galley slaves from the Skussa went down to talk to the ones on this ship to tell them what had happened to them and what should happen to the present crew.

I found that the ship was the Covva which meant the wolf. Those crew members that were not wounded were sent aloft to take down the damaged rigging and sails. There were spares but not a full compliment. Our own people had to assist and it was near nightfall when we were ready to sail but there was no wind.

I needed competent crews to man the ships and I didn't want to abandon any ship. Restfor swore everlasting oaths to me but I suspected that it may not mean much. His crew did the same thing. The crew of the Covva and some of the wounded were split up among the rest of the fleet while some of the other crews moved to the Covva. The Captain was sent to the Pinta as the bos'n.

One night of Restfor's mother and wives was too much. The mother and the most obnoxious wife were put in a boat and we towed it behind the Covva. The mother must have had more than a hand in picking out the wives because they acted the same way she did when they felt safer. I went back to the Scors for the quiet. Restfor had told me everything he knew or suspected about the pirates around Buseland so we could avoid most.

When I could I went back to my studies, trying to find more information. The chest had dried out and I stood it upright with the lid closed. It served as a convenient tabletop for the silver objects. I reached for the lever and fulcrum while thinking how heavy it was when I picked it up with my arm extended. It came up as expected but part of the trunk did too and it was fairly heavy.

I was quickly on my feet and papers scattered everywhere. The lever went back but this time over the centre of gravity. The lever didn't work for a while until I thought at it the right way. The lever weighted perhaps twenty grams but the trunk came up with it and it still moved like twenty grams even to altering inertia.

This new toy kept my interest for a long time. It wasn't necessary to put the leaver over the centre but only on an object. Putting the icon on a sheet didn't necessarily pick up the bed until I began to think the right way.

With this success I put up the original chain portal and tried to think of Artlam's home. Nothing seemed to work. One of the coins was still there and I tried to focus on that with the headband but the results were the same.

As we sailed, we found more ships but none of them approached us. They may have been merchantmen or pirates. If the latter, they may have recognised the Covva.

The capital of Buseland was a city called Soot. It apparently was resisting the best and receiving the most attention from the Adchek forces. King Carrser had provided charts and Captain Jammas was familiar with the Harbour. He was now captain of the Covva while I now had his first mate as Captain for the Scors.

During the voyage here, I had talked to those that had some ideas about how to proceed. This meant a lot of shouting from boat to boat but it allowed all of us to know what was happening. Plans were made about a lot of scenarios and they all sounded good. The situation before us now fit one of these fairly well.

The Covva stayed well out to sea as we tried to see just how many ships we may have to get through. We retreated to plan out the timing. That night I radioed home and told the family the situation though there was nothing they could do to assist me.

The next morning, the Covva sailed toward the port and the Scors was well behind. The river mouth had a heavy chain across it and so far it had held and the Adchek ships could not get closer to the fort. The cannon were fired from both sides of the conflict so the Scors would not look like much of a menace. The flags on all the masts said they were Adchek though I knew some were the Church.

A launch left a ship even larger than the Covva with a dozen men. This had to be just a way of transporting messages. A few minutes later we were in position and the mortar was ready as our sails dropped. Our five man crew had changed. We now had three strong women, Tonno and myself. The rest of the Mendabians were on the Covva.

There was a little chop on the bay but not much to rock the ship. The mortar fired at the major ship and one shell did what two did to the Covva. The rigging took a major hit even though the sails were furled. The deck was what I was after. We let it have two more because of the size of the vessel. We then worked both sides of the bay so none of the other ships were allowed to escape. The Covva fired at us but only to hide her true colours. None of the other ships were able to do much in any case.

A quarter hour later, we had hit seventeen enemy ships. Six larger ones by our high explosive shells. We used both kinds of phosphorus on the rest. The ships had burst into flames and the burning metal drove any firemen into the sea for relief.

The Covva moved close to the Church owned ship but the help they gave wasn't what was expected.

Thirty minutes after the first round left the barrel there were no remaining operational Adchek ships. From the top of the Covva and the Scors were two hastily made flags of Mendab. This might keep us from being hit by the fort.

The Covva and the Scors now went to the ships we could seize. The other ships were burning brightly and there was nothing to do for them. Tonno and I used the shotguns when needed and left a holding force on each of the ships as we went to the next. One ship blew up before we got there. It must have been an accident because they could have used it to take us out.

In two hours we had control of all the surviving ships. Long boats were coming from the city and fort now and I hailed them to the last ship we took. There was only a little hesitation and they came to me. They were cautious enough to not try boarding. I saw a lot of worried looking soldiers looking up at me.

"I'm King Hugh Driscott of Mendab. We have come to offer your country our aid. We have five ships full of nitre. These ships in the bay, I now claim."

Nobody was allowed to board the ships and we were towed to a dock that had taken lots of abuse from cannon fire. I took command of the local troops with only a little hesitation and let them guard the Adcheks we had taken. The people and the guards wanted to kill them out of hand but I talked about proper executions later if they were called for.

Slaves were removed from the first ship and segregated. The other ships were treated the same way when their time came. Our own ships pulled into the harbour when I called by radio. Long boats pulled them near the royal wharf to be unloaded.

My own people went through all the wrecks looking for loot, but this time I was getting a major portion. I knew I would have to give out some as bonuses.

The Vecta was the large ship we had taken. She was still in the bay with the Covva. That one I wanted to search myself. Officials and the military now came out in large numbers.

One man in a uniform started giving orders to his men while pointing at the Adcheks. I walked over with the shotgun and said, "My name is King Hugh Driscott of Mendab. I took these men captive. They are my slaves. They may or may not be criminals but that is for me to decide."

"They are on our land now."

I said in a calm voice, "Do you challenge me for them?"

The guy was big but I was bigger. They hadn't seen our smaller weapons work close and personal but they must have had an idea. He replied, "These men have killed many of our people. They should be killed."

"We can discuss this later. Is your king in the city?"

"He's out with the army."

"Tell me what the situation is and perhaps I can help."

I got a run down from the start of the war and I had to listen to it all. The man apparently didn't know of the word concise. When he was done I saw that we could possibly help a bit more.

"Are there a lot of wounded in the city?"

"Not an excessive number. Our walls are thick."

"Will you send your physicians out to tend the wounded?"

"They're Adcheks. They should all die."

"Are you trying to take the duties of your king into your hands?"

"No, never!"

"Do you believe that I'm King Driscott?"

"You could be none other."

"Then call out your physicians for me."

He didn't look pleased but he did pass the commands. I went back to work but most of my time was watching that the Adcheks were not harmed. The physicians came out and started to work. I had seen a fair bit of Bejek medicine and knew it was good.

Some of my new slaves were rational enough to go onto the ships and prepare a good meal. Both the prisoners and the slaves were fed. The prisoners would not want this. They reminded me of those who would prefer death.

The chains used in the galleys now held the healthy prisoners. Other ships had to contain irrational slaves. Tonno kept watch for both of us while I got the Scors cargo of nitre unloaded. This was put into the Harbourmaster's hands to be processed into black powder. At least I had no problem with the excise man.

More of our ships came. As they were unloaded, I was able to go back to finding out what was going on. I talked to other people and tried to find out who was in charge. I learned this man was out fighting a smaller incursion some thirty klicks away.

The galley slaves had been canvassed. If they were from Buseland, their names were posted. Family had to come and claim them first or I had to be satisfied that they were able to be on their own.

Food was in short supply in the city and we made do with what was onboard the ships. Before it got dark, the wounded prisoners were put in irons and the slaves put back in the ships to sleep.

The Vecta pulled into dock and I hurried to it. From the reports I knew that there were problems. There was little fighting but what there was happened to be intense. Fillo and Solsa now held the ship but Carso had died. His body was found in a large state room. It was burnt as if from the blast of a furnace. The ceiling and deck had caught fire as well as the interior of the room but the fire had been put out. The shotgun Carso carried was gone as well as his 45. On the wall was a silver chain. I collapsed and stored it.

The room was searched in great detail. There may have been a trunk but if there was it was gone now. We searched into the night and I found a special coin. There was a good chance that somebody might come back to recover the books and other valuable items. Some of those I hoped would be magic. Revenge sounded like an even better motive.

I took over the damaged room after I put out the motion detectors with a receiver under my pillow. I had two tasers but only one was the kind that shot out darts. The other I had to jab to make contact. I wanted to capture anybody that might show up, alive.

I woke up normally if a bit later than usual. Instead of leaving the room, I had a meal brought in. Soon after, I started stripping the room. Each portion was searched again to make sure I missed nothing. I found some hidden silver objects and figured them to be magical. When the room was bare, we began to pound on all six surfaces. We found another cash of copper coins but nothing important.

Jassik Worrl was the military commander of Soot. He and some of his officers came to me later. The man was very polite and I was the same way to them. This was the person that took care of the city and could help or hinder my plans.

"Hello, Your Highness. I came to thank you for freeing our city and bringing us such a valuable cargo."

"You're entirely welcome. When I heard that the Church was up to annexing your country I had to step in."

"It was the Adcheks that attacked us."

"Tell me, who gives the Adcheks their orders?"

"It was the Adcheks that attacked us."

I couldn't see the reason why he repeated himself. Perhaps he was in self denial or he wanted to follow a euphemism that allowed him to talk around an obvious truth. Instead I asked, "When will your King be able to return?"

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea. Messengers were sent to inform him of your coming. His return is at the discretion of our enemy."

"We could possibly help if we had an escort."

"We have counted your fighters and see that you are few in numbers."

"There was only five of us when we started. One has died in taking the Vecta. Our cannon can destroy more of the enemy."

"You would go into the field too?"

"The idea is to keep your country free. Too many countries have succumbed and now appear to suffer greatly for it."

"I can arrange a suitable escort in a few hours."

"Thank you. You did mention how few we were. I have both prisoners and slaves. I free my slaves when they return to health and then pay them a wage if they agree to assist me. At the moment there are some people in your city that wish to cause some of them harm. I came here to help and I would take it as more than a great insult if any of my people were injured or killed."

Jassik nodded and said, "With the city walls not needing as many guards, I will offer to form a perimeter to keep others away."

"I would be grateful. I gave orders that the Vecta be altered and repaired. We can purchase our own supplies and I don't want this work hindered."

"It will not be, on my honour."

I made arrangements with our own people. Tonno was more than eager to go off with me to kill more enemies. The remainder of the equipment we took from Shreff would go with us. So would all of the magical paraphernalia we had acquired since then. I still had some priests to nab.

We used a great many pack horses to avoid the use of wagons. The patrol brought their own load of gunpowder. Buseland was a large country, about the size of France, but I was told that the King was not that far away. Messengers came to us on occasion to make reports. Jassik was not with us as he had to guard the city, my people and my property.

Two days later we boarded two barges that were pushed up a slow moving river with steep sides. This was a good place to be ambushed so we were ready. A day and a half later we left the barges and saw more of the devastation of war. Cities had died here, their populations with them.

Messengers were sent out to find the King while we made camp. Near dark a messenger galloped back. We found out that a considerable force of Adchek were only an hour away. I could see Tonno grin and so did Fillo and Solsa.

I went to the commander of this detail and said, "We want to kill some Adchek tonight."

"But it will be dark soon."

"That will be no problem. Can you tell me about the land around the enemy encampment?"

"My job is to deliver you to my king."

"I came here to help your people. Talk can help, but actions are more effective. I'm going and you may come and assist or not."

The man seemed reluctant but said, "We will come."

We left our camp with only four men to guard our supplies. Soon there was only some light from the smaller moon to guide us on our journey. The disk I had found on the Vecta stayed far outside the campsite under a rock. Spies at this time would be even more dangerous.

The trip in the late afternoon took two hours but we got to see the camp before full darkness fell. This was well set up from a military viewpoint. It was much like the Romans built, even to the palisade and the ditch around. It looked like there were three to four thousand men here, but it was hard to tell. One end of the camp had some large tents and these were our primary targets.

Getting into position took another hour. The escort was stationed to protect us and nothing else. Tonno took two of the guards and taught them some of the rudiments of the M252. Tonno did the duties of gunner and squad leader. I had my sniper rifle and I was going to use it a lot.

Tonno fired three round of willie pete that burst in the air above the targets. Men ran out only to be hit by more of the burning metal. I had no spotter yet but there were a lot of well dressed targets including one that looked to wear the robes of the Church. We used one of the illumination rounds. The guys picked up their AK's and took out individuals in the camp

This really looked like hitting a wasps' nest. When return fire came we shifted positions, but only after some groups managed to come a lot closer to us. When the cannon was used, we shifted much more often. When the powder carts were found they were targeted with willie pete. There were some spectacular explosions.

The moon had gone down and the night turned dark so we donned the night vision glasses and took the fight to the enemy. They fired back at our flashes. Tonno got between two groups, then fired and ducked. The Adchek didn't know they were killing their own people.

Only when it looked like we would be trampled by the Adchek that came out looking for us did we retreat. We stopped to protect our tail, then we moved again. It was well after dawn that we returned to our original camp.

Our escort didn't ride as close to us now. They had seen how many we killed and not one of us were seriously hurt though all of us had been shot in the chest numerous times.

I picked up the coin I hid and we broke camp. Near noon we found a messenger that knew where the King was. On our way to the meeting, we ran into two Adchek patrols a few hours apart. We took them out from a distance and gathered their horses and equipment.

When we came to the main Buseland camp, I found that King Randalk was my age. He greeted us warmly and offered us the comfort of his camp. A messenger had left our group earlier to appraise their king of what we had done recently.

"I'm very happy to see you King Driscott. I just heard that you attacked the main Adchek army and caused a great deal of damage and death."

"I'm happy to meet you, too, King Randalk. Would you call me Hugh? This king business is not good when talking frankly."

"I'm Marto, Hugh."

"I'm glad to meet you, Marto. Do you have enough troops to push this group of Adchek out?"

"We have enough. We just didn't have all the powder we needed. With more coming, we can act more aggressively. I was told that you are helping us mainly to fight the Church. Why is that?"

"The Church is evil in the way it treats people. Those countries that bow the lowest to the Church act inhuman. It is as if they are the walking dead."

"It's funny that you say that. We have been dealing with those and with the animals that fight during the night."

"I see that you are further ahead in the Church's opinion. Mendab has not been attacked that way as of a week ago. What did you fight them with?"

"This sort of attack has happened to others and one of our people told us that stone arrowheads worked. They didn't have iron as now. When we tried the iron the first time they bounced off the animal. Many men were killed destroying the animal with their bare hands."

"You have brave men."

"I think so. When the animals reappeared, we had stone arrowheads and we killed them with fewer casualties of our own."

"I will have to remember that because sometime they will be coming for me that way. What were the animals like and how did they act?"

"So far there have been three different animals that came at us. One is a giant cat. These are just ferocious and have little reasoning power. They are like the men that are bewitched and fight us. The second type is a hive of some kind of insect that has a poisonous bite. They are easier to kill and so far there has not been any colonies started. We exterminate them all and most can be killed by stepping on them or clubbing them. They don't flee, they only fight. The last is the worse."

"Why?"

"It's an animal with natural armour of its own as well as the magical variety. All of the animals have this shield but this one uses it wisely. It's intelligent. It has a long wide mouth with many teeth. Two teeth are hollow and contain poison. It stands taller than a man but usually fights on four feet. Its claws are long and a cut with them results in death if not treated. They are difficult to kill and the easiest spot is its throat. When it is on all fours, this area is hard to hit."

"Any tricks you have found out how to beat this animal?"

"Just lots of arrows and stone tipped spears. Look for joints in the armour to attack there." Marto smiled and added, "The man to kill one wears the claws and fangs and is revered by all for his bravery and prowess."

"I will keep this in mind and talk to my men. We have to talk to your men to learn more. I'm quite sure your people would like to talk about how they won over such a fearsome animal."

"I'm sure they would. Tell me, how is it that you know that your land has not been attacked?"

"I have a machine that sends energy through the air. The energy has been altered by my voice. Those in Mendab can listen to my words and I can listen to them. We will have a school that will teach this, eventually. Too much else has to be learned before the more difficult subjects can be understood."

"Would my people be allowed to go?"

"I want everybody to go. Some of your people should come to my land and learn. In a decade a few can return here to teach."

"A decade. What subject takes that long?"

"The study of numbers takes years. When this is mastered then the person must learn about the world around us. Then the person picks one area and learns this. Sometimes more decades are needed to learn more and more detail. To be good is to make learning a lifetime pursuit."

"As you say, so I will believe."

"I personally started school at age five and graduated at age twenty two and it was only to learn about crops."

"That's amazing."

"Before I forget, I would like to say that King Carrser 23rd of the Mersia Islands donated three ships filled with nitre. This was done behind the Church's back. He, too, is one of your supporters."

We talked much more and had a nice meal as we shifted topics to family. When it came to find our beds I said, "The Church seeks me through magic. I wish to remain away from your camp."

"But you'll have our protection here."

"I may also kill your men while trying to kill others or bring down destruction on you."

Tonno had heard our talk. To make sure he understood I asked him to talk to those that fought the animals as well as preparing some stone tipped weapons.

Marto had part of his family with him or some pleasure slaves. I felt a stirring when I saw the girls but then I remembered those I had lost so recently. I would have to wait until the pressure was greater and then try to forget.

The detail that brought me here did sentry duty outside our camp. I set the usual monitors and waited with the two tasers nearby but not close enough to look like I paid a lot of attention to them. Beside me was a stone knife that a cave man would have liked as well as two spears with stone tips.

The next morning I had breakfast with Marto and he invited me to study the reports that came in. When we finished this I said, "There's a map you should make that shows elevations. When you have done your whole country, you can use the map to attack invaders like the Adchek."

"Where did you learn this?"

"I's something new we're trying in our country."

"Show me how it works."

On a paper I copied some of the map and then scanned for hills and depressions. My guesses went on the map and Marto studied it. "This is good. I can see where an enemy may hide."

"Or where you can plan an ambush. You can even find hills to place your cannon."

The rest of the day I explained about the mortar but fired no shells. I only had seven left and I still had to get home in one piece. The AK's came out and I gave lessons in shooting. Marto shot off two clips and I didn't let him know about full auto for fear he would waste all the ammo. My sniper rifle I kept hidden but I was sure he knew all about it.

Marto's army found isolated groups of Adchek and attacked. He had a chance to use the AK's on real targets and said, "How do I get some of these?"

"When the Church is kicked out of your country I build a factory to manufacture weapons. Another factory has to make the shells but we have to use the far cheaper silver instead of brass."

"You are certainly wealthy to afford to use this metal."

"It was the best material at the time. Silver has to be studied much more for it to work the same."

"What of our country gaining these rifles?"

"You simply purchase them. They're expensive and the cost of carrying on a war increases. We can work on trade, too."

"What would you like from me?"

"Juffa is the easiest. You encourage more silk production. Sails were needed when your shores were blockaded. Juffa prices will be high until the demand has been met. I want to gain cloth and spools of the thread. I started a business to sew cloth into capes and hoods."

"What good is that?"

"Juffa keeps off the rain. When it's cold, the rain can sap a soldier's strength. It also offers protection from an enemies gun."

"That's a good idea. Tell me about this protection."

"You may have my ideas but I want to tell you that my business needs to make a profit. An old captain in Trista by the name of Juke is now my employee. He has hired women and girls to make carpets but when supplies arrive, they will sew the juffa into capes. It keeps them off the street and gets them fed."

"It sounds like this was your intention?"

"It was. I need profit to grow and enough to continue. If you look at my odd clothing you will see that it's juffa. The holes in it are from being hit by the enemy."

"It will stop bullets?"

"If it's made right, it will. This export will make you rich but I want a part of it. This is why the cultivation of the juffa worm is necessary. We can't have the Church use this or they will be harder to kill. They'll get it even if they have to conquer a country that the worm will grow in."

"A man would pay a lot to gain a garment like that."

"True, but you must pay a lot to make them available to your regular army."

"They can buy their own."

"If you have a small well trained army wearing these vests and carrying my rifles, nobody would oppose you. The soldiers have to be constantly trained so they will be more effective. To make them accept this duty they have to be well paid. You already know that one well trained man is better than twenty four peasants. Pay a few men well and you will have the core of a major army when a time of need comes."

"You could have kept this secret from me and gained great wealth."

"I want you alive to help me fight the Church. My greed would hurt more than me."

Marto sent off people to buy stocks of juffa before the price rose. I had my cargo of nitre as my part in starting the business. We were partners for now, but this could change if he got greedy.

I was able to sell some of my ships too. The Adchek had destroyed much of the Buseland fleet and it needed to rebuild. I had plans on trying juffa in a form similar to fibreglass but that was the future.

That night I fingered the medallion found on the Vecta then put it away. Again the preparations proved unnecessary. The next day we hammered the Adchek army with cannon. No quarter was asked and none offered. There looked to be fifteen hundred enemy left and they were not as cocky as they had been at the start.

That night we hammered them again and I worked on the officers if I could find them. The next day we found that the Adchek had spiked most of their cannon and abandoned them. I figured it was because there wasn't enough powder left to warrant hauling the heavy weight.

We were in the field ten more days until one night I heard the vibration under my pillow.

I was always partially dressed. In seconds I pushed through a small opening in the back of the tent. My pistol was at may waist and the tasers in my hands. On my face was the night glasses. I looked around and found a less dark area to my right and I heard more than one set of stealthy steps.

Tonno, Fillo and Solsa had heard the warning and they were outside their tents. I heard the breaking of glass twice. I knew that this attack was by men and not animals. I quickly looked and saw the direction of the light breeze. It would engulf the tent within seconds. I hurried upwind and toward the portal. Two figures came from behind the tents and the second one was carrying a gun.

I fired the taser at the first and held the finger on the trigger. I fumbled with my nine millimetre with the other hand. The second person touched the first in the dark and his body shook. I was up right away but still held the trigger of the taser. My boot sole connected with the second one's jaw and he fell away.

Tonno ran up but there was little he could do. He had not seen the effects of the taser before. At the right time I released the current and the man remained still.

I whispered, "The poison gas should miss the camp. I want to go through the portal."

"I'm with you, my King."

"We don't have all our weapons."

"We have enough. We will follow." I saw Fillo searching the men and extracting two medallions. This would help.

There was no time for subterfuge and I crept through the portal and found a room devoid of most light except where the moon shone through a gap in the shutters. There were people in the next room and I knew that they would get anxious soon. I had time to thread the silencer on and heard the guys coming through the portal behind me.

The next room was illuminated by a lantern. I dimmed the sensitivity of the glasses accordingly. Fillo gestured then got ready to open the door so we could rush in. This routine was worked out on the ship long ago. Tonno had the shotgun and he would go through first and head to the left. I only had my pistol and the hand taser but I would still take the right. With less men we still had some backup in Fillo and Solsa who had AK's and 45's.

Fillo ripped open the door and we poured through. Bullets ripped into us. They were ready and this had to be a trap. We had to continue into it or fail completely. I fired at heads as fast as I could while a shotgun poured buckshot at us. I saw Tonno go down. Fillo and Solsa poured rounds out on full auto. I saw the men in armour fall. I was hit three times before I could hit the floor and roll far to the right. The shotgun followed me and the rounds didn't all hit my vest.

My leg felt kicked. Pellets hit my face and my left arm. The nine was heavy but I got it up and took out three men. Because of my position, I found and eliminated two that were behind a partition ready to charge into the room.

I had enough energy to say, "In the hallway." The firing went on and I think I went to sleep.



-------

Chapter 20


Some time later I woke up and I felt animals tearing at my flesh and then a pain so great that I went unconscious.

I woke up later to see the inside of a large tent. I was thirsty; so thirsty. Somebody came up to me and with gentle hands helped me drink. I managed to say, "Thanks," but the words came out slurred. The owner of the gentle hands was a beautiful girl. I thought about her for a while then remembered the fight. With difficulty I said, "How are my people?"

"Two others were hurt but you were hurt the worst. The others are recovering."

"What happened?"

"I was told very little. You battled an army sent on attacking us through a magic door. Your men killed very many then they destroyed the door."

"We got two assassins."

"They're alive. Your men showed the physicians where poison was kept and they cannot kill themselves easily now."

"That's good, now who are you?"

I got a nice smile and she said, "A slave, my King."

"Why do you say that?"

"I was given to you."

"Then I am a man who is twice lucky."

I had more to drink and I must have slept. When I woke up again I saw Fillo sitting in the chair with a 45 in his lap but he was almost asleep.

I croaked out, "Sleeping on the job?"

Fillo opened his eyes but stayed stationary otherwise. "It's to lull the enemy into making a mistake, my King."

"You're doing a wonderful job."

"Thank you, I try hard."

"How are the rest?"

"They had a few scratches and are now walking around."

"That's good to hear. What happened?"

"Nothing much. We had to figure out what you said then we threw some grenades. We followed up by throwing a lot more. After that we carted you and Tonno out and went back to see what we could find in the house. Some people wanted us to leave so we came back and got more grenades and ammunition. When we cleaned out all that looked interesting from the house, we tied a rope to the chain and pulled half of it through the portal before it all exploded. It was like being close to lightning hitting a block of your C4."

"Find anything interesting for me?"

"You have to get up to see." He paused a few seconds then added, "By the way, later we killed hundreds of guys all bent on getting through the lines and hitting the camp in the dark."

"And how many did we kill?"

"Probably only a hundred. We got Carso's shotgun back."

"I was wondering how I got hit by buckshot." There was also a 45 missing.

"The King here liked your old face a lot and had his surgeons digging out all that lead. They patched you up pretty good."

"Everything going to work again?"

"It should. They've been pampering you a lot more than us."

"They want me healthy enough to take you boys and leave."

"I hear we are going to do just that. While you were having a nap, they got a fresh shipment of powder and more men. The Adchek are getting scarce."

"The Army of the Righteous may be next."

"That may be, but those guys are going to be in for a surprise."

"What?"

"The King is making vests and helmets like us."

"That will help."

I was fed mush by the pretty girl and Fillo just smiled. It may be because of my food or the fact that it was a nice girl giving it to me and I couldn't do anything about it. When I was finished, I at least had found out that her name was Serrfa.

Two weeks later, the King sent me back in a palanquin born between two horses. Accompanying wagons showed how much the boys were really able to get from the house. The three guys were riding high in new vests that were camo but also embroidered. Serrfa had been giving me therapeutic blowjobs to ease my tensions. When my face healed enough I returned the favour. The juice seemed to help my scars fade but they weren't that bad anyway.

When we got to Soot, we were paraded around the city. Little boys threw flower petals before us. My welcome at the palace allowed me to meet Marto's family. There were a lot of them. Most were children. From those I saw it looked like there was a strong family bond. I liked to see the children helping each other and the mothers helping the children. A day later Marto himself arrived and I learned more about the mechanics in his family.

Our group was given some adjoining rooms. From here I was able to meet with my own people. Jassik Worrl was asked to come and I thanked him in front of his King for helping me and my people.

We were feasted all the time and Marto got a chance to talk to my family by way of the radio. By the end of a week I was up in both senses and I think I made Serrfa a happy woman. By the way the servants looked at us I knew they had heard her cries.

I still had to get home, but Marto had more business to discuss. Marto wanted my ships but everybody wanted to go with me. I also had commitments. I sold him all the Adchek ships and the Covva too. It was made for war and not for cargo. The Vecta had to finish being strengthened and rebuilt. It could haul a lot.

Dale Restfor was called. "You summoned me, my King?"

"I need a Captain for the Vecta. The ship may not come back here for years. It seems I need another ethical thief to help me."

"I would be more than happy to serve you this way."

"I find your mother a disturbing influence."

The man finally said, "She has been that way to me all my life, my King."

"Find a way for her to happily remain behind if you want the job."

"I will do that, my King, and very gladly."

A virile looking man of fifty suddenly found Dale's mother ravishing. Within a few days I heard that there was talk of marriage. Some people, I guessed, would do anything for money.

Captain Sacco got his ship back and I gave all of them a drak for their work in capturing ships. The slaves were set free and given jobs making vests for Marto and me. Some of the former pirates joined them.

The Vecta, the Skussa and the Niña would complete the trip with me. Nobody who was going on this trip really wanted to come back so this took some worries from my shoulders. My ballast of gold was transferred to these ships after they were prepared for the long trip. I had acquired a lot of booty from the pirate ships and I used a portion of this to buy all the juffa I could get.

There was another major party just before we left. Marto had a 45 at his hip and a smile on his face. Camo was the newest fashion and it was worn even if it was just the thickness of one piece of juffa. Dale's mother held onto the arm of her new husband and had a wide smile of her own. The groom only put on a smile when it was required.

We set sail but hadn't even got out of the bay before I saw a storm coming. I immediately removed the silver to the land and took down the antenna. The ships fled back to the fort with its high walls. We were not struck but my silver was charged repeatedly to the astonishment of the people. This was not natural even by lightning standards. This had to be something a priest was doing.

We got underway when the storm passed. Our three ships stayed together and no pirates bothered us for a while. I wouldn't mind another ship but nobody wanted to wager with me. The trip was now simply a business venture. We pulled into ports and bought supplies or goods for our mill. Loose gold was picked up for good copper.

I had lots of time to play like a miser through my growing collection of silver pieces. There were three chains now and even the piece the guys had pulled from the ambush site. This should make the chain even longer since it had two boxes attached.

The two assassins had not talked so they were given to Marto's physicians. They used medications different from what Jonna would use and I was told it was even better. The men still died a week later and we learned very little. They would have had to be executed anyway because of the sarin attack.

We traded a lot the way back to the Mersia Islands. The idea was to show the flag and find out more about the people and countries of this area of the world. Maps were one of the items I looked for. I patrolled the markets to find different foods the could be imported to Earth. I also looked to think of food that may grow here even better. We picked up much more juffa since these countries were only at war with the pirates and it was warm enough here to cultivate the worm. Pirates had cut into their trade so much that I got good prices.

When we got to the Mersia Islands, I told King Carrser that he had Marto's thanks and a trade contract for nitre if he wanted it. I had to stay another week to talk about what had happened including me using a 'mortar' to sink Lord Cantro's ship. It seemed that the Church was shown in a bad light now and, worse yet, were shown that they could be beaten.

The young people and women that the Church wanted stayed with me whether they wanted to or not. Their indoctrination was wearing off and they didn't usually mind the orders I gave them.

Their number had climbed as we ran tests through the slaves and the captives. There were nineteen boys with the oldest at eighteen. There was thirty nine girls and twenty three young women. A further twelve were from my arbitrary starting age of thirty. The ages went up to fifty at the moment. All of them I could trust up to a point but I still had to watch my back.

This was ninety three people and they had to be split up between the three ships. The Vecta got the most simply because of her size and the fact that I wanted to watch them for problems

A month after we began our return trip, I found I could use the coins and the headband at even greater distances. It was now some of the Church's former students who were teaching me. They helped me with the books as well. I learned some but it was as if I found extreme difficulty learning a foreign language. This, to me, smacked of magic or super science.

Serrfa and two youngsters were giving me other lessons in bed. We didn't see this as buttering up the teacher at all. The other boys and girls made the three ships into loveboats. At night when we were stationary, boats went from one ship to another to deliver or pick up important loads of semen. I at least didn't have to go far to donate.

Trista, the port city of Isle of Entras, had not changed but our arrival was a lot different. Now there were crowds that came to see us. Juke was one and he stood proud near the gangplank.

"How is our business, Juke?"

"It has flourished recently, Milord. When word came to the city, all of our products were suddenly in great demand."

"I'm afraid there will even be more work for you now. I have all sorts of fibres for rugs and garments as well as a lot of juffa. Let's talk where there is less noise."

Buildings had been erected or finished in my absence. Some of the machines I had given plans for were nearing completion but progress was slow.

Juke was an old man and apparently had three wives though they were his age. He had appointed female managers at my insistence and they were now at this meeting.

I took off the beautiful brocade juffa vest and passed it around. There were a lot of murmurs about its quality.

"The colours are odd because they are designed to match the colours of the forest. This may not look beautiful to you, but it can be valuable to soldiers. The vest is very warm and care was made to allow ventilation."

I passed around my old vest and the tears were investigated. "This vest is the one I wore while fighting. Those rips were made by knives or bullets. Juffa is very strong. Multiple layers of this material will stop a bullet. This vest saved my lives more times than I can count."

An astonished look passed around the room. "King Randalk of Buseland and I are making these vests in his country. We are partners in this venture. I want you to make these vests and sell them. The ugly colours are all the rage in Buseland now and even the ladies wear it. Most are just one layer thick but it's just to fit in with what the men find beautiful and I guess staying alive is beautiful."

I told them what to sell the various types of garments for and they were astonished that I could claim this price.

The cargo destined for here was unloaded and some of the gold Juke had acquired went into the ships. They learned that King Randalk would be making deliveries of raw materials and picking up most of the vests for his people. The price he paid was only on paper and justified the higher prices we wanted others to pay.

Juke was an old man. We talked about a replacement when he got sick or worse. He was not that depressed at this discussion because he had accepted the inevitable. I wanted strong leadership. The company would be attacked by the Church or anybody else trying to gather its wealth. A board of directors was set up and I started the first corporation on this planet. The only real fear we could put into people was a threat to call me, and for me to have to come here and deal with it. Juke got one of the coins as had Marto. Perhaps one day I could make use of them from a greater distance.

We were running low on gasoline to fuel the generator but before it gave out I could almost see Tiffany with my headband. She had the coin to her chest and I had the silver band on my forehead.

My berth on the Vecta was larger than the Captain's and he had three wives with him. I had my books and magical charms to study. When it was dark, I used a large suspended oil lamp in the centre of the room to provide light for company and smaller lamps were suspended where it was convenient.

The deck above wasn't high. The ceiling had beams going across the width of the room for strength. In the centre I had to duck to avoid a heavier than usual beam. My head now remembers this very well, even in the dark.

There was a large window on one wall that faced the stern. During a storm, a heavy set of shutters were used to close the opening. Sometimes I could use the large silver mirror placed at the stern to direct sunlight into the room so it hit the ceiling to give me extra light.

I had a large desk that was already on the Vecta when I took over but more pieces of furniture came from the house where I was injured. Bookcases again formed the majority of my furniture. The large bureau I used to store maps was considered just a form of bookcase.

The bed took up a lot of room. The girls tended to like the extra room it afforded because it was warm in the tropics. At times I didn't mind the heat or the sweat we produced.

Serrfa had little magical ability but she claimed that my semen made her feel good. Who was I to dispute the little darling. Sonna and Porta were magical students and my teachers at times. They always claimed their share of semen even if they had to dig it out of Serrfa with their tongues. I was a happy man again even though I remembered those that had died.

I lived like a sultan or king but I was a king after usurping the throne. Porta was the smallest of my three regular girls. I liked her parked over my face. She was not that big yet and I was going to help her body adjust to me slowly. She hadn't been a virgin since she was four but I was the biggest of her lovers. Over time we had formed a link and she knew for a fact that I did love her and not just her body. Her owners had not allowed her to see how they felt but I broadcast it gladly.

Her pussy only had a thin coating of hair that was still blonde. She was young, experienced, enthusiastic and loving. I think I loved her more than the other two but only by a bit. Her orgasms overwhelmed her so much that she usually collapsed. Because of this I put short lengths or rope in the beams with knots in it for easy grasp. One pair was over my head and the other my waist. Porta still fell but we all strove to protect her. We all loved it when she turned into an unresponsive bag of jelly that only twitched from remembered feelings.

Sonna and Serrfa were older and about eleven. They were a little more developed with budding breasts. Sonna, like Porta, was inducted into the Church early and had sex at four. Serrfa had a better childhood and initiated sex on her own at seven. From then on there was no turning her back. She found what she wanted to do in life. Neither had a dark hair on their pussies.

Porta was now sleeping in my arms. She had been so overcome that she had stayed asleep for nearly twenty minutes. She had probably just slipped into normal sleep. She was dreaming of our children all around us. I was surprised to see Sonna there with her children. The girls must be closer than I thought.

A man in a Church uniform came to her in a dream and I killed him with my bare hands and she relaxed. In a moment she opened her eyes and saw me staring at her.

She reached out her hand to my face and caressed my cheek and then the small pucker mark lift from the shotgun blast. "What do you see when you look at me?"

"I see a beautiful young lady that I love very much. You know I have other ladies. They'll give me children but I want yours too. We just got too close."

"What about Sonna?"

"I don't know. We aren't as close though we could be."

"Then let's call her in. You can fuck her pussy as she eats mine. She will give you a baby when she's able."

"I know that, Sweetheart. I think all of the women in this fleet would give me at least one child if I asked. It's a matter of having enough time for the children and their mothers."

"You will have time for me." Her hand moved and she pushed my shoulder. I turned so I was on my back. Porta moved down my body sucking and licking as she went until she came to my cock. It had already grown from what she was doing.

She licked me with her small tongue as she felt my emotions and my sensations flow through my body. I was tortured for five minutes until she got up and climbed on top of me. Using the ropes, she slowly sank onto me. I used my hand to hold myself still until she slid onto what she had left just a half hour ago.

She moved up and down as she groaned. I could feel her sensations and knew how much she loved this. Her movements were slow and deliberate and I could feel our combined sensations approaching the danger point. I pulled myself back with difficulty but Porta continued to climb. In a moment her body started to give out and I reached down to support her butt with my hands and urged her to continue. This was enough for her and she went faster and faster until she screamed her joy. It was cut short as she fell over again. The orgasm was just too much for her body. I pushed just a few more times and I had my cum and filled her pussy. Sonna was coming to clean us both. She had been up in the rigging setting a sail. I could feel her happy mind as she thought of her coming meal.

I had long since known that the people of Bejek were as Human as those of Earth. The Humans on Earth varied from Scandinavians to Asiatics to Africans to Caucasians and a lot more. Those on Bejek were just as different but not any more so than Earth humanity was.

The fact that males produced so few x gametes was my first clue that there was a small difference, along the lines of height or colour of the skin. Mental power was a different factor. The fact that semen seemed to stimulate some sort of increase in power countered my arguments. Some Human girls liked semen as much, but their ESP powers were rudimentary if they existed at all. There was some, because many knew what I was going to do before I did it. Everybody knows that mothers read minds.

Lauren and Tiffany, though, were Earth Humans and they were now communicating as well as the women from Bejek. The only reason I could see this happening was that somebody had to be around that could read minds in the first place to stimulate this talent. The proximity and the use of the silver articles had to play a part too. It had to be seen if all Humans could communicate this way or just the few that the Church sought.

Massic was a boy of fifteen. He showed the most aptitude at getting the portal to work. He had problems, though, and couldn't concentrate long enough. After a week of trying I had the girls show him what they had to offer and sent them off to the Skussa. Porta and Sonna ate each other on my bed as Massic tried hard to open a portal to the Skussa.

Fifteen minutes of agonising sweat seemed to work. We tested the portal first, then sent the boy through into the waiting arms and legs of those that encouraged them. From then on there was no need for a boat to get back and forth.

I was near the mid point of the pack to open a portal and I had to sweat and have some encouragement as well. Serrfa, Porta, and Sonna had gone over to the Niña. No work, no nookie, worked for me too.

The kids had been raped many times and it was only now that they could enjoy themselves. Nobody was pushed and those that did learned the errors of their ways. I knew some actions and responses had been formed by their culture too strongly to change much. These people would just wait until I was unable to enforce my edicts. Sex games were used as a carrot to learn more, if not teach.

A chance for a girl to 'make' a king, if not to have her king lick her pussy, was enough to make her work harder than the priests could encourage her to do. Most of the young people clinched up with the priests and were deathly afraid of failure. My size soon got most of the girls to try me on for fit. Consensual sex with an adult male was not always consensual on the part of the girl or boy. They had learned to smile and pretend a lot.

One sex game backfired on me. All those that could perform magic were on the deck. I said, "The Niña was sent to a small island to search for water. It's on our maps but water is not listed as being available or not. The island may or may not be inhabited. The Captain of the Niña is going to put a transfer coin near some point that has enough visual data for a portal to be set up. I want you all to see if you can see the area and then open one or all three portals. The prize is that you get to stay the night there as long as it is comfortable and safe. You also have to keep the gate open so we can get water."

One of the older women that was around thirty had been my bed partner a few times. She loved sex and was a role model because she was pushy and I wanted the girls to follow her lead. She said, "I'll give this a try if you want but I know that if I get you for a few hours I'll try harder."

"I don't mind that sort of challenge."

"Let's make it interesting. I get to order you around and you do anything I want for an hour. I promise not to hurt you too much."

I thought of her in bed or even me tied up. We had tried this before. She went very wild when we pretended that I was stealing her from her bed and carried her away to rape her. It might have to do with her own history and this seemed to help her. If we re-enacted the scene again and again the right way it somehow diminished the way it really had been.

I said, "I agree."

There was wild cheering and the girls patted or touched their mentor. After a whispered few words she added, "What about all the rest that can do it?"

"I guess I'll have to pay them as well, but not one right after the other. I have to recharge, you know." There was more cheering then.

The twelve oldest women went first. It was my way of compensating them because men usually chose the younger ones. They got to try for ten minutes each. There were two bands and three chains so they went in pairs. Most could now reach that far and see the area needed around the single coin. The beach and trees looked beautiful. The waves were washing in on the shore and it looked like there were even coconuts in the trees. Some could even explore from a perspective a metre or so from the coin. I liked this but had figured out that the priests could probably do a lot better. Perhaps an entire house could be searched with a coin just outside the structure.

They used the view from the coin to anchor the portal. Only two were able to get a vague image of the island before it collapsed. We had learned a lot about the portal and the coins. One important fact was that two coins interfered with each other if they were close. This discovery was by accident. It didn't mean that we were safe from prying eyes because some coins had to be used and then we could be viewed.

After an hour, the older girls got a chance. I went to console those that had not done very well. A kiss or a hug worked well but the instigator of the contest I threw on the deck and ate her pussy. She held my hair and screamed out her joy. She got up and pulled me onboard.

All this sex inspired the next group to try harder. When I pulled out for a rest I found a willing mouth there to clean me up and another one working on a stretched pussy.

Camsa said, "While you were showing off, two managed to get a clear view but it wasn't enough to lock."

"Showing off?" I grabbed him, put him in a scissors lock and tickled him.

Camsa lasted only a minute before he called out, "Yield! yield! I give up!"

I helped the boy up and he hugged me. I loved all of the people here but Camsa was my favourite boy. The rest had learned that I never hurt them, and in fact I cared enough to even wrestle with them. Soon I had a boy of four attack with a grin and I fell to the deck and he worked me over with his athletic prowess. When I began to fight back, the rest of his gang attacked me and I was at a severe disadvantage.

Belatedly I figured that this action would be detrimental to this quest so I had to call yield a lot. When I got up I said to those trying to fix the portal, "I'm sorry. I was minding my business when a big bully attacked me. His gang of cutthroats saw an opening and attacked. What am I going to do?"

A girl said, "You act younger than the youngest sometimes." The rest laughed as I was put down. Being a king is not enough most of the time.

The girls that did well were hugged and kissed. One in particular was hot and bothered and I had to inspire the rest. By the time I finished, another just pushed me over and climbed aboard. I guess she got to see the island too. I would have to take their word for it.

While I was busy, we had our first success. She simply came over to me and squatted on my mouth. We both knew that this was not part of the deal but only a warm up.

Tonno would supervise some tests now and go through the portal. They had their own girlfriends on the ships and never got a chance to build up any pressure. He knew all about the medallion and how it was able to alleviate the majority of the pain. Bosma's touching the smoky portal and its effects were widely known. Their job was to find water with the Niña crew. We would open a gate for them later and if it were impossible then they would come back in the Niña.

Thirty minutes later there was another cheer and I knew I was going to be a tired man. We broke for meals and get some work done. The ship didn't run itself and the kids had to be sailors as well as magicians.

Near midnight, I had three working portals to the island. One portal was collapsed and carried through one of the other portals. This one would be used to directly fill our tanks. I now had five girls in front of me and Camsa. It took me only a second to understand the significance of this. I loved all of them but Camsa was somebody I forced myself to stay away from for fear of falling into a much deeper love with him.

"I take it that there are six winners?"

Camsa said, "Yes, but the rest are trying again. You didn't limit us."

"You're right, Camsa. Now what did the crew of the Niña report?"



-------

Chapter 21


"There is a beautiful lake. They say it's sweet. There's even a waterfall."

"Biting insects or predatory animals?"

"Yes to both, but they're not bad. There are signs of people but nothing recent. There are only a few trails that are narrow and all of them are overgrown."

"Then do you want to sleep on the beach or in your hammock?"

"I like my hammock and it can go with us."

A lot of the crew were already on the beach. They spread out for some unaccustomed privacy and I was sure it was going to be used to make love.

Another portal was already set up and it took only a few tries to establish contact with the Skussa. A watch would be set up for each. I went back with the winners and found my tent and air-mattress. My guns always came with me. The magical paraphernalia all had to come, too. A priest could come in the back door when we were away and rob me blind.

Fires were started and music began. We did this on the ship but it was special on land. The pretend natives lost any clothing they might have been wearing and danced around the fire. Their movements were beautiful and erotic.

Camsa handed me a bottle of wine and we watched the dancers. The bottle went around and around. It must have been a few hours later that we went to bed. I climbed into the tent and Camsa followed. With slightly slurred speech I asked, "I thought you were going to sleep in your hammock."

"I want my turn. You promised us an hour and I want it to start now."

"You're a boy, Camsa."

"I know you love me. I can see it every time you look at me. You have never broken a promise yet. Are you going to start with me?"

I had to think. My mind was muddled with alcohol and testosterone. I wanted him as much as I wanted the rest. I reluctantly said, "I will abide by my agreement."

"Then lie back. I have wanted to do this for a long time."

His mouth went around me and I barely kept my hands away from his head. His technique was different than the girls and I guess better because he knew just what to do. He paused or went slow or fast to just drive me crazy.

Camsa moved all the time and soon I was presented with something special to both of us. It took only a second to decide and I knew that there was no going back. I sucked him in and held him tight as if he might get away. All he did was pump up and down to increase the enjoyment. Soon he was working very fast. I held off as I waited for Camsa to give me something I wanted since I first met him.

He pumped wildly then pushed hard as if to go as deep as possible. He picked up his hips to drive in again and again until he was empty and just rested. I cleaned him off the way I liked to be cleaned and waited for him to move.

Camsa released me with a long suck and got off. He went to where his clothes were but I couldn't see what he was doing in the dark. In a moment he found my hand and pulled me up. I got on my knees and he guided my hand to his butt. He pushed it down and I felt something slippery.

"I'm too big, Camsa. I don't want to hurt you."

"I have lots of friends and I'm used to it. You can use just the front end until I stretch more."

"I might hurt you."

"I have my hour and I want you to do this."

I put my hand down on the floor of the tent and moved forward enough to put my hand around Camsa's head and turn it so I could kiss him. He groaned and turned to hold me too. It was quite a while later that Camsa got me back where he wanted me.

I used one finger, then two, then three. Some of the girls liked it this way and I did too. Camsa was large and I think it was because he used this part of his anatomy so much.

When I thought the time right, I pushed my cock in slowly. Camsa groaned and pushed back faster than I wanted to push forward. We both waited a while, then it was Camsa that did the moving. Soon his strokes got longer and longer. His voice mentioned my name constantly, as if he would forget. I was excited but had to force myself to hold off so Camsa could have what he wanted.

His groans got louder and louder until he squeezed me tight. I was beyond caring at this point and I pulled out and pushed in at least a dozen times before I filled his passage.

Camsa's arms collapsed and I bent over his small body and savoured the feelings running through me. I opened my mind to him now and felt love coming from him. This worked with most of my partners but usually it took a lot longer for the effect to work.

As a test I said mentally, "Are you sore?"

I repeated myself a few times until I got the feeling that he was happy just where he was. I held him tight to me and fell on my side. In a moment I was asleep but I would not let Camsa go.

When I woke up in the morning, I found Camsa sitting on my waist as he did squats. He had swallowed me and had a grin on his face.

"Do you really love me?"

I guess he did get to read my emotions. "I've always loved you."

"I knew that even then. You love all of us. I mean do you love me more?"

Most of the time the girls woke up the same way and I used the same answer I gave them. "I love you more than I did. It's something special to feel what you feel and know that I'm bringing you joy. I know that you love me too. We can be happy but we have to share."

"I guess I know that too."

Camsa began to move faster and faster. He pushed himself so I struck his prostrate time and again until he got that funny look in his eye. I got ready too because the end was near.

Camsa sat down hard this time and he stretched to fit all of me. He came up and did it a few more times before he shook. His small prong erupted and he sprayed past my head then down my body as I filled his colon.

It took a while for the feelings to leave us both, then Camsa started to get up but fell back. "I like it here just like this."

"I do, too, but we have to investigate the island."

Camsa finally got up and squeezed his cheeks tight and smiled. I got up and together we raced to the water. I washed him very well until a look came into his eyes so I stopped and we went back to get our clothes. I was getting darker but we could all still sunburn.

We had breakfast and I checked on the ships. Everything was ok. Tonno and his girlfriends looked tired. I guess they had stayed up late but then I remembered he stood watch.

Tonno looked at Camsa and me and said, "It's about time. He loves you and you are just going to have to make room for him. I had a friend like that once and we would still be together except we ran into a man that objected. Anyway, he died and I cried a lot."

"That's too bad. We both know how much it hurts to lose somebody you love."

Later, we explored the island to find its secrets. The paths were made by a group of apes that used the land as much as the trees. Around noon we came back to eat. One young lady took me from Camsa and I had to pay off another debt and it caused me to love another person just a bit more.

The trip home was expected to last almost two months. The Army of the Righteous had not shown up yet, but I still hurried. It was only a matter of time before I would be needed.

Some nights I would think of Lauren, Tiffany, Jonna, Fislu, Selna and Caiti. I also thought of those that had died. I was homesick for my family. I reached out the way I did so many times and tried to contact them even at this distance. Some nights it felt that I was so close. I did feel a contentment in me because I thought they were safe.

On a foggy day the lookout found four ships following us. They were even larger than the Vecta. The crew ran around to prepare for battle and Dale came to me and simply waited.

"We can't leave the other ships and the enemy is probably faster than us anyway. Prepare to come about."

"Yes, my King."

Tonno didn't have to be told and he set up the mortar but this time it was in foredeck position.

At ten klicks they started shooting and this was further than any gun had tried before. The ball fell short and wide. This had to be the Church and it meant they knew about our weapon.

We had to tack into the gentle wind and the four ships were running before the wind. We were closing fast. The cannon balls came a lot quicker but we took our time to get dressed and armed. The closest shot was only three metres to our port side. Their guns were powerful but not accurate at this distance.

I checked the decks and found that Dale had moved nearly everybody below decks or to the remaining ships. Dale changed course on a reach to confuse the enemy and we avoided some balls but one hit us amidship. I could feel pain but I had to keep focussed.

We extended our reach the next time and when the ship seemed stable I called out. "Keep her steady."

"Yes, my King."

With one ship partially obscured by another I pointed to the ship and Tonno adjusted the fuze and dropped it down the barrel. Fillo was the gunner and aimed the mortar. The deck shook and soon I saw a white splash near the ship. Fillo aimed again and called out the time for the fuze. This hit the deck and burst into flame, a flame they would not be able to put out.

A cannon ball hit our bow and stove it in. I heard the damage the ball was doing. The other ships changed course to attack and Fillo impatiently called for a new setting and then adjusted the elevation. Another ball struck us just as we fired and the mortar missed. Fillo ordered a reload right away and this time the mortar fired just before we were hit again.

The ship in the lead caught the willie pete a hundred metres up and the small flames quickly grew. Fillo called for another round this one grazed as the ship moved to the side.

We had one round left and two ships. A cannon ball hit the fo'c's'le and wood flew back at us. Tonno was hit. I rushed in and listened to Fillo as he called out numbers. I set the fuze and Fillo fired. This time the Church ship could not move in time and the shell blew up over the decks showering the rigging and the men with death.

We had nothing else that would reach that distance except our small cannons.

I pointed and Dale changed course on another reach. I wanted to shroud us in smoke and fog if possible. Only the undamaged ship was firing now and we were hit twice more before we entered the smoke. Dale immediately altered course without an order. I heard splashes about us but none hit.

We could see a ship all aflame and in a second it erupted in a tower of flame and smoke as its magazine went off. We came out of the smoke long enough to be hit twice more.

Tonno was being helped up. He had a piece of wood through his arm. Solsa was busy bandaging it. They must all know what was going to happen now but I still said, "We try to ram the ship. It is only a little bigger than us. We can take it."

He smiled but I knew it was for me. More shots were fired but they did little damage except to our sails and rigging. The fires allowed us to see just how close we were to one ship. We veered off to stay away. Behind that ship we saw a sudden explosion as a second magazine went off.

Once past the ship we could see the others and they could see us. I had a quick smile and said to the guys, "We won. We got all of them."

Solsa and Fillo got up to see for themselves. There were two hulks burning near the waterline and two more with their rigging all in flames.

Tonno croaked, "What happened?"

I bent over to hold him so he would not get up. The second explosion must have set the last ship aflame. They are too busy fighting a losing battle. The flames are just too great.

"Let me see."

"Your arm?"

"I want to see even if I die."

All three of us got Tonno up and I saw him grin. Soon there was a third explosion. Dale took us as far away as possible but still upwind. Ten minutes later the last ship exploded. We watched the fire for a moment more and I started to work on Tonno. Dale was already checking onto the condition of his ship and crew.

We got the wood out of Tonno and I saved the piece. If he lived he might want a memento. Crew were being brought on deck and tended. I went from one to the next doing what I could do. In most cases it was nothing.

I worked and cried. There was so much death. Seven of them I had made love too and it hurt like it was me who was stabbed. The Captain and his wives were at work seeing what they could do.

Two hours later I ordered the ship to turn around. The rigging was damaged but we could still sail. It was only a few minutes later that we came upon our carnage and dropped our sails. There were only a few bodies in the water. The men wore armour and sank. These were just women and children.

One boat was a klick away and I saw the other three. We found some men in the water holding onto flotsam. They cursed us vehemently. They would not want or except succour. There were women that were still clinging to wood and life.

We found enough crew to put a boat in the water. A woman survivor refused to be aided but she was pulled in anyway.

The Vecta was blown downwind but the undamaged Niña and the Skussa were better able to help. I heard firing and got out an AK with a scope. The men in the boat were firing into the water.

I aimed quickly and hit one man in the chest, then another. The boat was now rowed as fingers were pointed. I shot again and again as I took out the rowers. The first to go was a man with a sword that was going to hit people in the water.

I opened a portal to the Niña and then the Skussa. People came over to tend to our wounded and I was better able to oversee the rescue effort.

It was dark before we quit. We picked up thirty one survivors but some were sure to die. We salvaged what we could but there were no more chests. Some large beams were still usable for our repairs. We found some sails that had been in lockers and had come loose. They would replace ours.

There was one boat left of survivors. They attacked ours and we simply shot them. They even sat up so we could finish the job so they would not have to die on the open sea.

The next day we had our funerals. We had lost twenty people and ten would be maimed for life. Eight of those we rescued died as well. There was somebody crying all the time and I was one of them. Camsa, Sonna and Porta held me when I would stay still long enough. Serrfa was one of those that had died and so had Bosma who was Camsa's boyhood lover.

The crew were dispirited. Those we rescued may still not live. A few hurled invectives at me as did others before. I let the young people talk to them to straighten them out.

We proceeded as before. We never could put up too much sail because we would outrun the Niña. We pulled into a wide river and worked on the ship. The Vecta was big but we had been hit twenty times. None of the hits were fatal to the ship.

The flotsam that we were dragging was pulled ashore and then put on the deck. It all was assessed for where it would best be used. Most was charred but not deeply. We stayed on the river for three weeks making repairs. When we were done it was not neat but would do to get us back to Mendab.

Lightning had come four times during this period. None of us considered this to be chance alone. I felt that the priests were getting more and more desperate. I had no idea how much work it was to send four lighting bolts or five warships. I could possibly do the latter but I had no idea about the former. Then, again, sending an army was just as easy or hard as some ships.

The people we rescued said that their ships were crewed by Adchek. The Adchek were coming much further south than we thought they would or should. The Anguy were closer. Perhaps it was one last chance for the Adchek to get me. The last part of our journey was through an area dotted with a lot of islands. The archipelago was more densely populated with land than any area I had seen before. At a guess I would say that we would not be out of sight of some land mass for another week.

We had no charts of the area, just the larger islands. A channel may not be safe even if the land was far apart. Nobody on our three ships had sailed this way before, but some had heard of this area. Pirates were supposed to inhabit every island and hide under every rock. There were larger cities but they were known for being lawless. I was not fool enough to trust maps of this area if I bought them here.

Tonno was slowly recovering. His arm was splinted and the wound had not festered much. He was a healthy person. A week after the battle only one more had perished. There would still be some cripples and I had to find a way to allow them to make their lives useful.

We set off for Crottis. The city was not far into the archipelago and we hoped that we would not run aground. This time the smaller size of the Niña was an advantage. The ship drew less water. The lead line was thrown and the depth recorded. A Canadian Tire fish finder would be a life saver now but we didn't have one.

We anchored twenty klicks from the city and I walked the rest of the way with three of the older women. They would act as slaves because they had to carry our weapons hidden in bags. It would look more natural for me to have women but my clothes stood out. It was not the camo but the Lord Crazzic garb I wore. A rich man would not be walking. With us was Princess. I hoped to use him as a weapon or a method of warning us of intruders.

We would have sailed closer but we didn't want the ships spotted. If the Church was after us they could just warn those ahead of us. A fort protected the city and if we entered we may not be able to leave. With no more ammo for the M252 we were helpless. I had more detonators and C4 but that had to be placed close.

We passed some small farms but stayed away. If they had an draught animal it probably was not a horse. We spent our time constructively by communicating with those on the ships with my telepathy and with one of the women in our group. It passed the time in a pleasant chatter.

Three hours later we came to the city. The chatter got less because not everybody could send this far. We were keeping up a travelogue to those that could listen to us.

At one of the gates, two guards looked at me as I passed but said nothing. They might have asked for money but my look said I was pissed off enough to kill at the least pretext. Being rich said that I could get away with this sort of act.

We walked through the city and a lot of people stared at us. Later we went out another gate that led to the harbour. I stopped at a pub for a drink while the rest waited outside.

A proprietor came up to me and asked, "What can I get for you, Milord?"

"Do you have good wine? I'll be upset if it's horse piss."

"We have some, Milord. Three flass."

I looked at him and said, "It better be worth it for that price."

When the wine came I paid for it in gold and said, "I plan on taking passage to Drassic. Is there a ship going that way?"

"There may be."

"Tell me first."

"The Croona will leave when it gets enough cargo."

"And where is the Croona?"

"Down the street and left at the Harbourmaster's office."

I slipped another flass to the man and sipped the wine. It was ok but I left it there and went out and ordered my lazy slaves to pick up their burdens. In a moment we started walking down the street.

Crottis was a city that was no worse or better than any other I had seen. Only those that received a lot of rain tended to be cleaner. People were pigs and it took some determined leaders to change the attitude of the mob. I almost smiled to myself when I figured that I was one of those people. The sheer amount of work was just too painful to contemplate.

We made it to the dock fairly quickly. Some of the streets were narrow and all of us were worried about a robbery or worse. My Earth made guns were concealed and I made do with a fancy set of pistols.

There were three larger ships tied up and the Vecta was larger than any of them. I was concerned with draught. A ship like this could go almost anywhere. If we tried to follow as this ship went to Drassic we may run aground. The information we sought may not be on any chart this ship carried. Surely other ships of our class had to have made a way through this area.

The Croona was not an inspiring sight. There was work to be done on the ship and it had not been completed. It may be for lack of funds but I was sure that some of it was just that the crew didn't do it.

We stopped on the dock and I called out, "I hear that the Croona is going to Drassic."

A man of fifty or so came to the rail. He looked dirty, unkempt, he had florid skin and what looked like bloodshot eyes. "She be, Milord. Can we be of service to you?"

"Perhaps. When do you sail?"

"As soon as we load the rest of our cargo."

"I would like a specific time."

"Would you be looking to book passage?"

"Yes, for me and my people."

"That will be two drak."

"Tell me when you sail."

"When ever you like."

"You would sail this minute if we paid your price?"

"Well, we have to get provisions."

"Then it's not this minute. I would like to see the charts of this area first. How long will it be before we arrive at Drassic? I don't want to be held in some flea-bitten port for weeks as you search out a cargo."

"Perhaps another ship will take you to Drassic, Milord."

"I may charter one."

"Charter!"

"Let me see your charts and we can talk more."

"This way, Milord."

I came aboard alone only to see how unkempt the deck was. There were three charts. They were as dirty as the decks or the Captain. There was nothing to show depth or any underwater hazards.

"If you were chartered, which way would you go?"

The Captain spoke and ran his finger that showed the shortest route to Drassic.

"I have been in two ship accidents in my life. "We hit rocks once and coral another time. This area looks shallow. Show me the route that is safer."

"That would cost more."

"Show me the route and we will talk money."

"A lot of ships get stuck in the mud here and can't get out without a lot of help."

"Are you telling me that you'll get stuck? I thought you knew this area."

"We don't need deep water."

"You don't need deep water but I feel safer if there are no rocks scraping the hull of the ship I'm riding."

"I can get you to Drassic safely."

"Words are cheap. It is my copper and my life. Show me the route that has the deepest channel and I will book passage providing I get a cabin, good food and a speedy journey."

The Captain drew a different route and said, "There it is."

"Is there somebody in this city that makes charts? I want to see depths and water hazards."

"Are you disputing my word?"

"No, but I am not taking your word at face value either. If you look in my luggage you will find charts from all over. I collect them to view for my own enjoyment. The maps you have are good when you have all the facts in your mind. I don't have those facts so they have to be put on the charts."

"Let me see the charts you have so I know what you want."

This sounded fishy but the girls and I were ready. I opened a wooden chest and brought out thirty maps. Some were of where we had been but the charts on top were those I bought that were of other areas of the world. The Captain wanted to hold them.

"I'll hold them. They are delicate."

The man nodded his head and said, "There is a man that sells charts nearby. I'll take you."

"Thank you Captain."

The man went aboard again and changed his coat for a cleaner one but also armed himself far better. Two of his crew members came too. I didn't bother to ask why because robbery happened a lot.

We started out and the other two men hung back. I stopped and so did my entourage.

The Captain said, "What's wrong?"

"I do not like people at my back that are not mine. Keep your guards with you if you please."

The Captain looked pissed but his men moved up. We went up some narrow streets. When our course became complicated for no apparent reason we stopped and I began our retreat. We became blocked by men but my pistols were out and so were those carried by my ladies. The men gave way grudgingly and I heard the Captain hurrying back. Even Princess detected something wrong and growled menacingly.

"What's wrong now?"

I looked at him and said, "Do you think that I am less intelligent than you, Captain?"

"I was taking you where you wanted to go."

"I asked a question, Captain."

His hand got near his own pistol and I aimed mine at his head. His hand stopped. "What's this?"

"You and your men get ahead of me. Back to the ship the same way as you came. I have a drastic method of reminding you if you have forgotten the route."

The Captain was really pissed now but did go by. He hurried and then so did his men. We had to hurry too but we had our packs and chests. It was hard to carry a chest and hold a pistol too. We did get out to the slightly wider streets but the Captain and his men were gone.

Fearful of a bullet in the back we continued the way we had come until the street got less seedier.

I stopped a girl of twelve or so that was obviously pregnant. "We need a map-maker. Do you know of one?"

"Yes, Milord."

"Lead us and I will pay."

I got a nice smile and the girl lead us up the street and over one and stood in front of a chandlery shop and pointed. "Thank you. Are there others that have very good maps?"

"Around the corner is an old man that makes them. He has thousands."

"Will you take us there please?"

The girl did as I asked and after a knock at the door an old man came out.

"Yes, Milord. What can I do for you?"

"Do you sell maps of this area and others?"

"I do, Milord. Will you come in?"

I went to the girl and opened my pouch. I pulled out a flass but also four silver coins. I held the girl's hand easily because she saw the silver. I put the coins into her hand and closed it into a fist. I held out the flass and said, "Here is a flass for you and your child."

"Thank you oh, thank you, Milord."

"Be very careful with that or you may be robbed."

"I will, Milord."



-------

Chapter 22


The women stayed outside because the inside of the shop was small. The girl was right. There were thousands of maps. Many must be just multiple copies but there had to be some of different areas.

The old man presented me with a chart but it was similar to the Captain's. "Do you have any showing depth, water hazards, hills and valleys?"

"I have Milord but they are large and expensive."

"I believe you and I share a love of maps. I'd like to see the best you have."

A smile blossomed on the man's face and he brought out his pride and joys. One large one even had the location of wrecks. I traced the route the Captain pointed out to me but was careful not to touch the map. "What would happen if a large ship took that route to Drassic?"

"Why, you would run aground in three areas. That is why all the wrecks are along that route. This is the way I would take." The man traced a different route and said, "The trading ships go this way."

"Would you be willing to sell me this beautiful map?"

"Everything in my shop is for sale."

After I bought the map I said, "I collect maps. Would you show me what you have of other areas of the world."

"That's a lot Milord."

"I have the time and the money."

There was a small room off of the main one. This room had beautiful wood racks to support the maps so they lay flat. Some were even under glass and glass was expensive. After just a few examples I said, "What would you value the contents of this room?"

"Why Milord, I have no idea."

"Think of a figure if all this is for sale."

"Why, it would have to be perhaps sixty drak but nobody would pay that."

"Does sixty drak include the racks and cases?"

There was a pause and then he said, "Yes, it does. I would have no need of them after the sale of the contents."

"Then I'll pay that sum."

"You would, but — "

"But what?"

"I would be robbed of the money."

"Because you live in this city?"

"Yes."

"What if I gave you passage to a safer city?"

"What about the rest of my maps?"

"You can take them with you."

"My grandchildren are here."

"If they're surviving now they should survive if you are gone."

"That's true, and I could give them some of my wealth."

"If you give them a lot they will be robbed."

"What about the rest of my property?"

"I offered to pay for these maps and carry you and your other maps to a safer city. I'll extend this to some of your property but sixty drak will purchase a lot."

"I'll bring but four chests besides my maps."

"No wives?"

"I outlived them and they were too demanding. I had to do this or that all the time."

"Do you wish the payment now or later."

"Now! Please."

"Fine, but you could get robbed while giving the money out."

The man thought for a moment and said, "You're right. Will you give me twelve drak now and the rest later?"

"I'm an honest man or as honest as I can be. I'll not cheat you, especially if you are being honest with me." I gave the man a dozen one drak coins and he frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"A copper drak is dangerous to have. Do you have silver? Gold is better."

I only had six drak in gold and two in silver with me.

"I have eight but I can have the rest soon. Please take this and when you get back I will have bundled up my possessions and brought you the balance."

I was tenuously still talking to those on the ship and they were seeing me easily in this room. The portal was being readied. The old man took the money and after looking at me worriedly and then his property he left to make his deliveries.

Barely a minute had passed when the portal appeared. The furniture was moved first by the crew and put on the deck of our ship. When there was room, the larger pieces were moved into position and pulled and pushed through. The medallions' use was all second nature now.

We had finished cleaning out the room and even removed what luggage that was now surplus from the ladies hands. Empty chests came back along with the remainder of the money I owed in silver and gold.

The man came back but didn't see the condition of the back room. He did see the chests. I handed him a pouch with four more drak in gold. "Thank you Milord, but where did the chests come from?"

"I asked others to bring them. We will put your charts into them while you give out the rest of your money. I think only to speed our journey."

There was another look and the man said, "If a Lord wishes to pack my charts, he may."

When the man ran off we filled the chests and sent them back to the ships. The remainder of the shop had little of value. We took turns and went back to the ship to eat.

I was summoned back along with the ladies so we were present when the man arrived. He had a cut over his eyebrow and walked with a limp. His stripped shop bothered him and I quickly said, "Your property was sent ahead with mine." I opened a chest with the remainder of his gold and silver.

The man fondled the metal and I asked, "What happened to you?"

"My son knows that I'm selling out and hit me to gain more money. I honestly said I had none because I went to him last."

"That's too bad. What about this shop itself?"

"I pay a fee to use it."

"Then there is only the need to pay the rent that is owing if there is any."

"I pay in advance and I will lose now."

"Look at your chest. You lose very little."

"You're right, Milord."

"Let's get your property and we'll be on our way."

The man looked around and came to the same conclusion we had and left but not before locking the door. We walked into a seedy area once more and acquired a following of hungry men and women. We entered his home and soon learned that the trunks the man wanted were actually hidden not just under the floor but behind a false wall in a hidden basement room.

"Will you help me get this up the ladder?"

"I will help. Is this all you want?"

"Some clothes perhaps."

"Let's get them first."

The man collected his clothes and a few keepsakes and put them into a hide bag. This was left on the floor and the man went down the ladder.

I brought the bag down and the man asked, "Why did you bring this down here?"

"Recently, I found some magic articles and found a way to use some of them." The man now was so frightened I felt he would soil himself. "I'm not a priest or even like them. I will not harm you, steal your property or hinder your free movements. I just mentioned this so that I can open a portal and send your cargo to our ship."

The man didn't move and I called mentally to open the portal. It took a minute and the man still hadn't moved. His eyes got big when the portal opened and then bigger as the crew took the chests and the hide bag.

"We can leave from here or walk out of town and go through a portal. I prefer to not let the crowd know that we came in and never came out."

It took quite a while for the man to come to his senses. "You — you are not from the Church?"

"The Church and I have unresolved issues. As far as I know the Church has done nothing good except gather knowledge. They haven't released that knowledge to the rest of us and that I hate. They take children and warp them to their own ends. They feel that nobody can practice magic other than the Church."

"They will kill you."

"They have tried but I have been the one to do the killing so far."

"You are the one they seek?"

"So the Church did send a message here to find me. I'll bring you into danger and if you stay here the Church will put you to the question."

"Don't leave me here!"

"My word was to carry you and your goods to safety as well as pay you for your charts. I will keep my word."

"We can go at once, Milord."

Everything was put back and the portal extinguished. When we left, there were even more people around the house. The AK's came out now. They knew we were here probably. We stepped out of the building with the rifles and the crowd stepped back but not further. I switched to full auto and stitched the wall of a building in front of us and the crowd dispersed very quickly. We did too.

When we got to the better streets, we still had a crowd behind us but they hung well back. Later we saw a group of soldiers in front of us. This time we took to an alley and I called out for a portal as quick as possible.

One appeared quicker than usual and the man and the ladies went through holding hands to make use of the medallion. I fired a few shots in the air to slow down the steps coming out way then I too went through. The portal disappeared right behind me.

Dale stood before me and said, "We're ready to leave, my King."

"Let's go, Captain."

The old man was speechless. I said to him, "We're going to use your charts to get through the islands. I can drop you off at Drassic or any place along our route to Shreff in Mendab. I'd also like to offer you a job. You make fine maps and I need people to make more and do it my way. The pay will be fair and you get both food and lodging." The man was still stunned so I added, "You can think on what I offer and answer later. You're welcome to just stay in Mendab if that is your wish." With no other reply I put two of the younger girls in charge of him so he could get a meal and a bed.

The Niña took point and cast the lead lines quite often. The Skussa had a deeper draught and did the same thing further behind and a little to port. A long spar was used to let the line be drawn in quickly. It looked like an outsized fishing pole. This duty was tiring and had to be rotated often.

Two hours later we passed the city of Crottis but this could not easily be avoided. The other channels were just too shallow. The fort could do nothing but ships came out. The Croona was among them and I thought about how the captain tried to rob us. I brought out the sniper rifle and started putting bullets through his mainmast. The wind still propelled the ship and the master now worked frantically to avoid us. A second later the mast collapsed onto the deck. After a good look at the Croona and then us, none tried to come close.

We were going slowly and the ships that left Crottis could take alternate routes to get around us. This could only mean that they were searching for help. I studied the charts and there were a few islands close to the deep channel that could mount a cannon. Putting a ship against us was possible too. With pirates all about, there was not much I would put past the denizens of this area.

It took a few hours for the map-maker to calm down enough to talk to us. He was a wealth of information about this area. We found a rocky island with some places to land. Cannon had at one time been stationed here but had been removed years ago. More of this type were ahead of us. I camped on the summit of one of those islands and scanned the area with the spotting scope until it got too dark.

Battery power for our glasses wasn't good with the generator out of fuel. The generator did have a twelve volt battery though, and this was used to assist us for now.

Fires were made around the small island but we stayed away from them. In fact, my mirror and other mirrors were used to cast the light out into the dark. Fires were on the ships so watchers could see that we were vigilant. They picked a time just before dawn to try to sneak up on us. You would have thought that we knew this and pick a time just after midnight.

There were seven boats with sixty men in all. They made two landings in poor places away from the fires and the ships. We used the walkie talkies for communication and we were ready. I was backup and looked for priests but there didn't seem to be any standing out by issuing orders.

We had lots of grenades with us and threw four before firing the AK's. The men were so shocked that one died and only two were even wounded. We had all the old jewellery and it was now used on those we captured.

Tonno could still shoot one handed and walked around the captives. He was in charge of finding information. He was quite successful in the Bejek way of doing this. Only the two wounded men died. One man's intransigence meant he wanted to suffer and die more than anything else. I didn't like torture but it was an accepted practice here. It was not much of an excuse but being a nice guy was stupid when we faced the odds we did.

The map-maker learned a lot more about this area and it was recorded accordingly. We also learned about alternate routes through the islands and where we should expect traps to be set for us. The Church had offered a fabulous reward for me and I figured grandmothers would be ready to use their crutches on me to get the money.

There was news from Mendab but it was all old. The priests were sowing disinformation by saying that I used magic to kill a hundred Habstner soldiers that had come at King Willas' plea for assistance. I raped their women and children before butchering them all. I had murdered the king and his son in their sleep and taken the crown.

I didn't think the attackers even believed this but there were a lot of people in Bejek or Earth that liked to have others do the thinking for them.

We cleaned up then took the boats the attackers came in and towed them behind the Vecta. With the prisoners now cooperative, we treated them well.

The first trap was simple. There were two chains that stretched across a narrow area of the channel. Usually traders paid a tax and were allowed to continue. Our ships would be stopped by the one chain while the other was stretched behind us to cut off possibility of retreat. Then the cannon would be pushed into position to hammer us.

What we found out was that the channel on the other side of the rightmost island was deep enough for us. With a lot of prodding from Tonno we found that we could hammer the offence just as easily.

It was getting dark because a storm was coming. Near mid afternoon we approached the trap. And I couldn't see anything even with the scope. We took the alternate route and cannon fire erupted from the shore. The Niña was small enough to use its oars to get it out of range. The range was long anyway.

We dropped anchor in the channel where we would not be hit by any but the largest cannons. We talked to our prisoners but they could not help. The opposition was keeping all of their options covered.

It started to rain and we used the opportunity to fill our water tanks. Near midnight I saw lightning in the distance but it was too far away to hear yet. We were in danger again because of the silver. We got two boats ready and we started to leave when I had an epiphany.

I had a hurried talk to the guys and went back to the ship. The prisoners were questioned again and they seemed to cooperate. We carried the silver to the inhabited island. There was a place that we could land with difficulty and probably wasn't guarded. It was also dark and raining so they would be hard pressed to see us anyway.

The island must have five hundred men now. It usually had a quarter of that. There were camps on the land and many boats tied up at the shore or to the docks. Our night glasses allowed us to avoid the worse spots until we got to where the powder was stored. This was in three locations and the only doors were well guarded but the back of the buildings were not monitored. The silver was separated into three masses and this was buried near the foundations as deep as we could with a silver wire leading to the air.

On the way back to the ship we found four small cashes of powder that were used to feed the artillery batteries that attacked us. There was close to a hundred men here and we might have killed them all but that was not my purpose. There were some guards stationed here even in the rain and they had to go. When it looked reasonably safe, four grenades went into four ammunition carts and we ran for our lives. It sounded like it was one explosion.

We had groggy men jump up to fight but they couldn't find anybody.

The storm took its time coming and arrived near mid morning. The lighting up to this time looked natural but from a certain point, it started to home in on the island. The second strike set off one of the powder bunkers and a minute later the second one went. The first two were hit repeatedly then the lightning finally hit the third bunker.

A half hour later the lightning hit the water behind us and then the island we were going to put the silver on originally but the ship was spared. It took me a moment to understand that the island was hit seven times in all and there had to be some silver there.

That prospect had to wait because we manned the boats and attacked the inhabited island. Taking the camp that had fired at us yesterday was easy and we had no casualties. There were few people anyway. There was little powder available to them and they had fled. We had brought our own supply.

The captured cannons were pushed and pulled by horses and people until we got near the walls of the city. We were close and soon broke the wall down in spots. Men charged out and died as they came. They could not shoot from the walls without being hit by accurate rifle fire.

Four hours after we stared out in our boats we saw a surrender flag in the city. A delegation of three men came out.

Like it was in the books I read. We were polite. They wanted their city spared any more casualties and I wanted information.

A priest was in the city now and I wanted him or the city would burn. It was now that what the priests had said would benefit me. They claimed I was ruthless so I acted that way.

I wanted the double chain across the channel as a memento even though the two strands would weigh tonnes. All the cannon in the city had to be dragged out here so we could pass safely. We inspected the destroyed bunkers in the daylight and recovered our silver. The explosions had gone upward instead of pushing the foundations aside.

It was late when the city men got back. They said that the priest had fled someplace or gone into hiding. I sent the men back to find a chain and everything else the priest my have left behind. I bluffed and said, "The penalty for not finding it is death for every sixth man."

They shivered and hastened to find what I wanted. Tonno was taking pot shots at the walls to improve his accuracy and to punctuate my commands.

The cannons came out while Fillo and Solsa went in. They had been talking of sacking the city but I hope they were kidding. There were so few of us.

Fillo came out with ten men. They also had four girls and a boy. I wasn't too worried because the guys were smiling.

"What did you find this time?"

"The priest fled but left these here to report to him. He gave them some odd tools and closed the portal. It was hid in an alley the way we did last time but his chain had to stay. He had come by ship and we found a few trinkets there and figure we should keep it too. It's the size of the Niña."

"The cannon?"

"They only had four and they are in the field and spiked as you said. It will be a while before they can be used again. The chains were severed at each end but it is going to be a big job to haul them aboard."

"We have lots of slaves that will work hard to keep their city from being destroyed."

"That works too."

We retreated the way we had come and our prisoners got into their boats and towed us through the original channel. Solsa was the name of our new ship. City men were guarding that so the crew didn't leave. They came under my classification of the priest's property. There had been a guard detail left here but they were dead from AK rounds. The rest of the crew was anxious to join us. They were split up to be watched and a prize crew put aboard.

We tried pulling the chain aboard with the capstan but it was hard. Inspiration struck again and I found the fulcrum and pulled up a metre of chain at a time and the crew only had to keep it from slipping back into the water.

The Skussa got the second chain. We were off by mid morning the next day with our prisoners.

Fillo went back to the other island and could not find any sign of any silver. We had a good supply of silver from what the priest had not been able to salvage. The city provided the chain, two coins, five trainees and some flammable oils. There was one coin on the ship but also a few books and some silver icons.

The five trainees ranged from five for the boy to seventeen for the girls. They were all segregated. I wanted them to tell me about their master but even the youngest would not talk. I had no choice but to pick the boy up and talk to him as I walked around and did my duties. After a while I introduced him to the gang of junior ruffians that patrolled the ships. When the child was urged to follow the boys he actually hung back because he was unsure.

A portal was set up to the Musta and we began to search this in great detail. Tonno didn't have two arms to use but he was in there looking just as hard.

The seventeen-year-old girl reminded me a lot of what Jonna must have been like before she fled the Church. Matra was throughly indoctrinated by the Church. I didn't have the slave icon or I would have used it on her. In the mean time she was watched by three women and chained up at night.

Our school acquired some new books and we went through them trying to find clues to what we had. There was a small silver horn found on the oldest girl. We learned from the books that it was to call her master so I treated this like a cellphone. The coins were always stacked together when not used but now the horn went with them.

Wrestling on the deck was out until I got the carpenter to make some protection for the steps and hallways and moved the heavy chain down to the bilge where the rest of the ballast was. The kids delighted in using the fulcrum to move what men could only dream of doing. There was no need to call this a duty because they all wanted to try. Soon the same thing happened on the Skussa.

I learned that our map-maker was named Loca. I said to him, "I have a lot of maps that you might like to see. Some come close to what you can do but none are better."

"Thank you, Milord. You praise me too much."

"I'm being honest. You're an educated man with a talent for both art and chart making."

"Thank you for the observation and I would be glad to look at your charts."

I introduced him to my books and he picked one up reverently and said, "May I borrow this?"

"You may borrow any but please only one at a time and your name has to go onto the chart. Others read the books, too."

We returned to cartography and I expressed what I needed including a map of all the land beneath the water.

"What would you need that for? The oceans are deep."

"Sound travels well through the water. With the right machines, you can map everything. I want to teach and some studies require knowledge of this planet. Maps are important for this. Fishermen with giant nets can scoop fish to feed a hungry country. I, myself studied to learn about the land and crops. I wanted to feed people and I guess now that I'm a king, I get to farm ideas. This crop, like the youngsters, is the most important resource we have."

"My aspirations were always small. I just worked over my charts and everything seemed fine."

"Since you chose that book, I would like you to join us. I'm not much of a teacher when it comes to magic. I am more likely to learn from the rest. We pick up small hints and then experiment — "

"Experiments are very dangerous!" he blurted. "I have heard horror stories of when they go bad."

"Our experiments were small but we took a lot of chances at the start. Gains can be made only when risks are taken. I'm fighting the Church because I believe that it's corrupt. It has great power but it wants even more strength by controlling us down to our simplest actions. The people I have seen and the countries I have heard about, constitute the real horror stories."

Loca said, "You're right. It is just that I never expected to find a person that could fight the Church so effectively."

"It's my weapons and my friends that allow this. When my mortar ran out of ammunition we were at a serious disadvantage. You have seen us use only the personal weapons. When they run out of ammunition we are on an equal footing with who the Church throws against us."

"You have fearsome weapons then."

"I hear the Church does, too. They can take a man and turn him into a mindless machine bent on killing his friends. I've heard that they can throw lightning. One of my friends was burnt black as if from a lightning strike and he was inside this room. The Army of the Righteous has a shield, I'm told, that protects them from artillery and rifle fire. The Church has used a deadly poison gas on me twice. The Church knows far more about magic than I do and I'm sure they spy on me whenever the can. They now know of you, I'm afraid. We use the coins and they watch what we do."

Loca turned white. I hastily added, "So far, I've avoided their traps. I have good friends in Tonno, Fillo and Solsa. We help each other when the time comes and the Church is defeated each time. We will protect you as you protect us."

"I know of nothing I can do."

"You can watch for danger and listen for threats then voice your opinion at meetings and possibly give us the insight you have on a situation that will allow us to live. Your charts have already saved us much grief."

"I will be happy to be of help."

"That's what I mentioned before about mutual protection. We are much stronger as a group than as individuals."

"Is that why your laws are so odd?"

I had to think for a moment. "My laws are different in that we all have some rights. Now everybody will fight for my cause or be forced to live under the other set of laws. The pirates are the same way. Their laws are designed to allow them to do unlawful acts."

"Fighting the Church would be viewed as an unlawful act."

I had to smile at the man as he jabbed me. "When the Church sends a person to kill me the law of self preservation comes into effect. The laws in most places have the rights of the strong supplanting those of the weak. The truth is that the majority of the population is female. If they are ever stirred up to fight for their rights it would be the men that would be put in their place."

"You wish this?" he said excitedly.

"No, I like the man's opinion to be weighted a bit more than a women's, but the fact of the matter is that many women can think better than men. You have to have a boss like the captain of a ship. A family can be run by consensus."

"The idea's good but would never work. A man wouldn't be allowed to lead. He would be outvoted by his wives."

"The man may not be the best leader. I have seen wives rule a household but they do it subtly and the man believes he's boss. In my household, I'm boss in some things but in others I'm pushed around by the woman. There's not much difference in this than in a group of men running an enterprise. Each rules a portion but there is an overall leader."

Loca was quiet for a moment and so was I until he said, "You may be right. Anarchy is held at bay but only by a thread."

"I thank you for your opinion, but I think the stipulation you mentioned is just caused by the way you grew up and aged."

Loca signed out the book and at the next class he was standing in the back listening. Loca was an enigma. He greatly feared the Church but was interested in magic. He reminded me of Modak Clova, who, like Loca, was old and had fled the Church in his youth. The thought of meeting two people like this felt like it was more than a coincidence. I didn't feel that Loca was a priest that was acting like a humble man to get close to me.

The next trap was scheduled for two days later. We had stayed anchored one night and half way through the morning to allow us to arrive at our engagement during the daylight. We had spent the time making large rafts and piling them with the green boughs from evergreens. When the time came, they would be set afire and allowed to drift toward the enemy ships. Lamp oil, very pungent fish oil and a type of cheap perfume had been gathered. The bottles were provided as tribute from the island city we had defeated. We would have Molotov cocktails when the time came. When the two were used together, the oil burnt well with a lot of smoke and a stink we were glad to get away from.

The prisoners were treated better the longer they were with us. That didn't mean that they weren't shackled at night. Usually, they had a supervised chance to have some exercise and eat with us. We talked about the coming attack and they seemed to be siding with me much more than they had before. I wasn't going to ask them to fight their friends because they could still turn on me when I could least deal with it.

We practised with the muskets and even the arrows. Swords and the stone tipped spears would work well against borders.

We made grenades with black powder and stones. We even tried using a leather thong to throw a dummy grenade. It went much further but we weren't accurate enough yet.

We made the ship ready to repel boarders. The windows in my cabin were shuttered and locked. The mirror was pulled in. Pure juffa cloth was ready to cover our furled sails, but the rigging itself was treated to prevent rot and it would burn.

The other three ships had been almost stripped of deck guns to give the Vecta all she could handle.

Ten klicks before the probable ambush site, I was in my cabin making more Molotovs when Tonno came in and said, "We're about as ready as we can be. The prisoners are free on an island. They won't be bothering us one way or another."

"Good, I could see pictures of slaves shackled to their benches going under when their ship sinks."

"It's bad luck to see that."

"It may be, but it's also possible. We should be humane when we can."

"They're coming around like the young ones."

"The old ones are too set in their ways. Now, how are the other preparations coming?"

"The other ships are ready to drop anchor. The fire rafts are ready. The crews on the boats will do what they must and get away in time. We have lots of grenades but few of the good ones you brought. We have all the weapons ready except yours. The crew is ready to furl the sails and cover them at your order. Basically, we're as ready as we could ever be. Our Captain is running around with his sword waving. He fears that his ship might get scratched."

"Dale is like that. Are the portals set up?"

"Yes. Everybody's out on deck. I think they want to hear a few words from you."

"Since some of us may die, perhaps I should go."

The deck was wall to wall people. The other ships were nearby and people were there to listen. My speech sounded kind'a lame but it was the best I could do. I was not an orator by any stretch of the imagination. When I finished, I just walked among them to touch and be touched. Some I would never see again. My own mortality was included with theirs.

Captain Dale called out in a loud voice, "It's time, my King."

I turned and said, "Thank you, Captain."

Those that had duties on the other ships went through the portals. The other ships dropped anchor but stayed under full sails. Our own sails were furled and then wrapped in pure juffa except a foresail. This was to keep us heading straight. The cannon were all loaded. Both shot and powder were nearby but far enough from the firepots to give us some safety. The majority of the crew left until we had the bare minimum.

The islands we were approaching had tall hills. Ships had to be hiding behind them and ready to attack from all sides. With the scope I could see the tops of some masts waving but no pennants.

I left the next part to Dale. When he thought it best we shifted to port and out of the deep channel in a few minutes the lead lines said we were in shallow enough waters and the captains strong voice had the anchors released. The last small sail was furled and covered.

We were alone now. There was a smaller boundary to defend and the other ships wouldn't be in the way. We only had to wait ten minutes before the pirates figured I was not going all the way into their trap. It was a half hour later that I saw many longboats pulling ships our way. There was a fair breeze and they had to work hard to gain every metre.

At a kilometre we shot at the ships, not the boats that were rowing. Cannon from both sides started to fire. One enemy round hit and broke out three metres of our rail, killing at least five people. Crew grabbed those that were hurt and raced to the portals as fresh crew from the ships came to replace them. I wanted to help but my place was here.

I used my sniper rifle to take out officers or cannon crews. Our own crews were more accurate simply because we were stationary. The pirates had foreseen the use of our weapons and had log shields in place. There were still enough targets that this didn't matter much.

We were soon hit more consistently and the ship rocked. Sand was thrown on the fires and to help traction on the bloody deck.

We were not the only ones hurt because three ships the size of the Niña were already afire. At five hundred metres the rowers didn't want to get closer. We wanted the ships bunched up and left the boats alone.

We were just slugging it out until, by some unheard command, the ships all surged forward. We were handing out a savage beating. We receiving one just as bad. Our own boats pulled the rafts closer. It was a while before the enemy noticed. That was when the fires were lit and the rafts cast adrift. Those of us now with rifles targeted the boats so that the ships could not get away as quickly.

The ships in front of our bow turned and fled allowing their neighbours to do the same.

The ships were close enough now that we could throw the Molotovs. Some had leather thongs on them for extra range. Accuracy now didn't matter because the ships were so close. This weapon seemed to work even better than the cannons. Sailors feared fire above all else. The enemy was in disarray and couldn't get away. All of the bottles were thrown but more were in my cabin, though not ready yet.

Tonno was wounded again but still shooting. Over the noise of the cannon and our partial deafness I said, "I'm going to make some more."

Tonno just nodded and I went to my cabin. The cabin was a mess. All the valuable articles had been transferred to the other ships. But all the nice furniture now was a shambles. There was daylight coming in one side and leaving the other. If a beam had been hit the holes would have been bigger.

I found the bottles and filled seven of them. Tonno came to the doorway and said, "You better come." I got up then carried some of the bottles in my arms. The crew took them from me and I then followed Tonno up to see what the matter was. Tonno looked frightened and I followed his finger. My own eyes got big. It was the biggest ship I had seen yet. Its sails were furled but it was making steady headway against the wind. It had to have motors in it or some magic way of moving it.

Tonno said, "What are we going to do?"

"C4."

"That might work. You better hurry."

I ran back into the cabin. I took a two kilo block, broke it into four pieces and put detonators in them. They had to be timed and I set them for fifteen seconds because of their power.

A light appeared to my left. I figured it for a hole but still looked. A portal was forming. Of all the times for this to happen. Then again this had to be planned. I grabbed the shotgun and called out, "Tonno."



-------

Chapter 23


The portal solidified and I was ready. A few seconds later I saw a snout appear and I felt dread. I fired at the head before the animal got in the room. The scream of pain sent a shiver down my back and almost deafened me. Tonno came to the door just as I started pumping buckshot at the animal. The animal flinched at the gun but the pellets never hit. Magic.

Captain Dale ran to the room and charged the animal as I fired at it. The sword had no effect and Dale was thrown aside by a backhand. I moved around and shot slower. The animal's flinching would give me some time to think. I knew that when I ran out of ammo, I would die. One more animal was coming now and this one was wounded before it passed through the portal. The protection had to only exist in this room.

The first animal was sniffing to find me. It would not bring its good eye my way. This reminded me of the perfume and the fish oil. I threw a unlit Molotov at it and the bottle hit the animals thick chitinous shell and broke. I pumped one more round at the animal and threw another bottle thought the portal at the other animal.

The first had sighted me and charged. I came on and I was ready to use the gun butt to better effect when I heard a bellow. The Captain charged at the animal with the stone headed spear that was near the door. It struck the chitin and then slid to a joint and the point slid in but not much. The animal started after Dale now but Tonno stepped beside him with his own spear. The two men were fighters and the animal didn't get close.

The second animal was in the room now and looking for me. I took the remaining Molotov and put the soaked rag to the lamp that should have already been put out. It burned low at first, then got brighter. I threw the incendiary not at the second but at the room it came from. The flames caught and spread into this room. The second then the first animals caught fire but by then I was using broken furniture to stab at them.

Howls came from the portal. When I had a chance, I took a partial keg of oil and threw it into the portal. The flames got a lot brighter and the screaming increased. Four more of the animals raced into the room and I had only enough time to wound one. All were aflame and they were not interested in me, only getting away.

They raced to the door and both the Captain and Tonno had to give way. The animals raced out of the cabin and then two more came through the portal. This had to stop. There was a half kilo brick of C4. I hit the timer and threw it into the room and around a small bend. I went back and then set and threw the remaining three in. Another animal raced out and knocked me over and fled. It had raked me with its claws where my jacket didn't protect me.

I staggered to the doorway and managed to pull Tonno out of the way when the blast shook the ship. I was thrown across the deck and hit three people. They were knocked like ten pins. I got up as quick as I could and looked frantically for a spear.

I found one and prepared for the animals but I didn't see any. "Where'd they go?" I called.

One of the crew women pointed to the ship almost upon us. I saw two of the animals, then a third, climbing the wooden hull. I looked around and found us surrounded on two sides by fire and off our bow was a ship that had its deck two metres higher than ours. They had slowed. If they hit us they may sink too.

I heard grenades going off on their ship. They had to have been prepared with us in mind. But why?

When the last animal climbed the ship, I had a clue. I said to the woman. "Did they all jump in the water?"

I had to shake her a few times until she said, "They were burning and jumped overboard." I looked around and saw the firepots and the smoke and knew that the animals had not fled us but the flames.

There was cannon fire above us and lots more grenades. The screams of men were heard. Muskets fired almost constantly but I knew that this would not harm the animals. I wanted to get away but we were actually under their guns now. The ship in front of us began to lose headway.

The pirates were ignoring us as they fled or fought the fires. Our youngsters came and dragged away the wounded while the rest of us prepared for the return of the animals or grenades from the ship. We only heard the screaming on the ship but even that got less.

Dale came to me using the spear as a crutch. "What do we do now, my King?"

"We attack. Pull in the anchors."

"What?"

We will come under their guns. We can't take it. Let's move while we have some allies."

"What allies?"

"The animals."

"The monsters?"

"Yes, the monsters."

Bringing in the anchors would take too long. We tied juffa cord with wood floats to the anchor chains and then let the chain fall into the ocean. We drifted the same way the ship was moving. A sail had to be set to give us some headway. When we were close enough, I threw a grappling hook and tied us to the ship.

I climbed aboard with a fresh drum for the shotgun as well as two spears. The deck of the ship was covered with the dead, not all of them Human. There were four dead animals and that left five unaccounted for. The screaming below-deck told me where they were.

There were firepots here. Fire was a good weapon. I called to our ship to throw me some oil. Others were sent to get cloth off of the dead enemy. We made quick torches and then soaked them in oil. They burned well and stunk. The smell was somehow sweet. We started looking for Human and animal enemies.

The passages were wide and the bodies deep. Two of them were animals so we had only three more and I knew where one was.

I came on some men with their backs to me. I just stopped my people and waited. The screaming was louder here. We waited longer and the men ran off to do battle with the last two. Only when I heard the death cry of the last animal did we attack.

Ten minutes later the ship ran aground and both sides were thrown down. I jumped in with my nine millimetre and the 45 because the shotgun was empty. My people followed me and some died in the charge. My vest took the bullets that would have killed me.

Half an hour later the last combatant was found and killed. He would not surrender. The ship had come lose twice and then ran aground again until I found Dale and ordered him to drop the anchors.

We searched for living enemies but found none. We did have some prisoners, though. They were the trainees of the priest. Our wounded were tended as best we could. I searched for another Heart of Opfu or anything similar but found nothing that would work.

When we did all we could do, we searched again for pirates and found none. We began to make repairs to both ships.

The stigga bodies were studied in detail. They were a greyish-brown colour. The chitin on their backs were thick and three to six centimetres wide at the most. It came in bands that reached around to the front but did not meet. This reminded me of an armadillo in a way. The front of the animal did not have these segments but had individual scales like a reptile. Here the colour was a light grey.

The faces of the stigga were fox like but large. Incongruously, they had fur on their faces and a large piece of chitin on the back of their heads. It was difficult to tell them apart by gender. Each had a collar and a medallion on it to get through the portal.

The beings looked peaceful now in death. Their claws had retracted in one individual so this must happen to the rest too. Their paws looked a lot more like six fingered hands with two opposing thumbs.

Any residual shield had left when they died so I cut a few of the beings open. It was not just morbid curiosity but to see where I should aim at some future date to kill or incapacitate.

The crew wanted to put the heads on poles but I didn't allow it. I had seen it done to Humans but that didn't seem as bad for some reason.

It took days to get organised. The Hida was a formidable yacht of a very wealthy member of the Church. He had either been too frightened or too ethical and stayed on the ship to fight to stigga. He had killed five of the animals with a silver weapon that looked like a stylised lightning bolt. There were not enough charges in it to get them all. He left all his equipment as well as three girls. Nine more girls and four boys had died when the stigga attacked.

The ship had been crewed by Anguy but only six were still alive. None of these were soldiers. I figured they would attack as soon as they could stand so they could die honourably.

We had lost twenty seven people so far and four more were doubtful. Tonno was one of the dead. Six of the dead were children that should not have fought or even been close to the fighting. I grieved for each and every one of them.

The Hida was diesel powered. I found some manuals in French and in Ladra. There was a large generator with a big diesel engine providing 550 volts three phase. Some of the lights in the priests room were 220 volts which my transceiver could accept. I searched the dead but found no Earth people that would have tended the equipment. All of the labels on the equipment were removed. I only knew they were of Earth manufacture because it was cast into the metal.

I finally called Shreff and found the girls ecstatic to hear me. They were having problems because they were being attacked from the sea by the Anguy. They had two attacks by the stigga but there were only two or three animals involved. I told them about the use of fire.

The story was long since our last talk and I filled them in on what I did. They cried with me at hearing of Tonno's death. Fillo and Solsa were soon allowed to talk to their family.

Artlam finally came on and asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"Set sail for Shreff. We can do some repairs on the Vecta and the Hida as we travel. When we get close, I'll use the cannon unless you have some shells for the M252."

"Your friend came through and we have some. We can ship them to you."

"If we get close enough we can open a portal and get them."

"You can?!"

"We learned how."

We talked about the war and then I talked to my ladies. Eventually, I had to sign-off. It was just too hard to talk to them about our losses.

Our former prisoners were asked to make some repairs which they did. When the Vecta was seaworthy I gave the men some of the partially burnt wrecks and their boats along with a good pay in copper. They could now rebuild and go home with a good pay for their efforts. Some had expected death and had not come when we called. The erstwhile pirates were at a loss for what to do so I shook their hands and let them get to work on a wooded island.

We sailed past Drassic but the ships there didn't attempt to follow, even though they looked ready. The Vecta had the guns aimed at them and the Hida's guns were at least twenty centimetres. The Anguy crew of the Hida could have sunk us easy but I suspect they wanted what was on the ship or me, personally.

We now used the radio to coordinate our movements. We were just two days away from Shreff when the final plan was made. A day later the students locked onto the coin I left in Shreff. It was now on top of a hill near the shore. We transported eighty men, seventy women and a lot of munitions to the Hida.

My women arrived first and ran to me. My face was scared from the shotgun and from the stigga. Perhaps the doctors could make me pretty again but my mates didn't seem to care.

Lauren got to me first and hugged me so hard I felt my ribs creak. The rest ganged up and I was swamped. Caiti was there and I kissed her and began to cry at the death of her mother and two sisters.

The wives of Fillo and Solsa were there and just as emotional.

I made a lot of introductions. There was a long story associated with each but it would have to wait for a quieter time. We visited the wounded and some competent physicians looked to see what they could do.

Jonna used the Heart of Opfu on me and I felt much better after only ten minutes. She said, "You can let your body work on that and I will see what I can do that the physicians cannot."

I said mentally, "Thanks, Sweetie." Jonna blushed now and this was odd. I looked more closely at her face and she smiled. In a quiet mental voice I asked, "Are you carrying our child?"

She smiled very wide and jumped at me and I got another killer hug. "You knew. I didn't think you would and you didn't peek."

The girls were all happy now, but two stood back when the rest didn't. I used my mind again but they had a block up. This was unusual. Again I looked close at them and I asked Jonna, "Are your two daughters carrying my children?"

All of a sudden Fislu and Selna opened their minds to me and I knew the truth. I remembered Lomma who had died while carrying my child and I quickly clamped this thought down.

We stayed up to socialise but the bed called. I was tired, but the women needed me. I needed them too and it was not just to relieve the pressure but to simply hold and touch.

I started with Jonna and went slower than usual as if I had to remember each touch and each caress I felt in return. She came violently because she was so much in tune with me. With a promise to return, I slipped into her older daughter, Fislu. She had matured since I last touched her and we could sense each other much more strongly. Her own orgasm sneaked up on her but I was yet to go. She, too, got a promise. Her sister, Selna, was next. She was eager for a strenuous mating but I had to worry about what she carried in her womb.

"Faster, Hugh. I need you."

"I need you, too, but this time it has to be slow and painful."

My mind had to open more for her to understand the sarcasm. It took longer but I finally pushed her over the edge.

Lauren was next and I pounded into her as if I was determined to make her carry my child, too. She read my mind and went crazy with me. She came four times before I filled her.

I had just a short respite before Tiffany got the same treatment. She screamed and screamed that she wanted my child then collapsed when I filled her womb.

I lay there a little breathless and saw Caiti. She was still young and out of bounds. She came to bed with some other expectations but I only hugged and kissed her. At my request, Fislu and Selna worked on her as I started again on Jonna.

The next morning came too early. Camsa, Sonna, and Porta had been introduced before but now I opened my mind to all of them. In moments all three were hugged by my ladies as a way of welcoming them into my family.

We came to the wide Cono River that flowed near Shreff. The tributary called the Witt was very navigable but was protected too strongly for the Anguy to try and expect to survive. Instead, the Church ordered that all the habitations along the major river be turned to rubble.

We received reports by a string of walkie talkies and knew where the two major ships were. We cut speed by furling some of the sails and basically waited for nightfall.

We stayed close to the eastern shore because we had a pilot that knew the river. He had never set foot on a ship this big or with this much draught. The current was not as strong here and our diesel engines pushed us upstream at a slow enough pace that the sound they emitted wasn't loud.

The coin had been moved and Artlam wanted to come aboard. It was such an easy matter that I did it myself. I got a quick handshake and a hug. "You did pick up a few nice ships suitable for trading."

"I was thinking of that when I got them."

"Really? I understand you did the same with the Vecta."

I had to drop the smile and said seriously, "The cost was too high for both."

Artlam got serious as well. "Yes, I know. There is always too much death."

"There will be a bit more, soon."

"Hopefully, not paid by us."

I asked, "Is Mantoya prepared?"

"More than prepared. He has two small ships and a hundred and fifty men in longboats coming down the river."

We looked at the map again and Artlam gave a more recent estimate of where our marines were. We were ahead of schedule and had to cut our power just a bit to make us even quieter. Fillo and Solsa had the honour of setting up the mortar for us. We had to throttle back the engines for ten minutes before we got confirmation that Mantoya was ready.

Fillo was a little too far and the fuze wasn't right. Both were corrected and we fired again. It was perfect and we fired a couple more. We shifted targets and it took two shots to find her, then she got two for effect. The last was very close to the deck. We went back to the first and fired again to take out those that had come on deck. We did the same thing to the other ship.

There were seven smaller ships and they were not fired on. They were of far less concern to us and had been left until last.

I concentrated ahead and found a coin that the priest could not hide with his mind. With a smile I called the men and opened the portal right into his chambers. The men were through in seconds and the priest was twitching from a taser.

More men rushed through the portal as my students tried to do the same thing to the other ship.

The Mair was captured easily with us working from both the inside and the outside. The Tron was more difficult and took one more mortar shell. By morning we had two damaged but repairable ships. I also had another priest and all his equipment. The other ship didn't have a priest in residence though it did have the cabin for one.

Mantoya was amazed at how well the operation went. He had fought the Anguy many times and most of those times his side lost.

Artlam said, "Tell us again what you did and fill in the details. You were gone for a quarter of a year, not twenty four days."

I wasn't a fool so I got Fillo and Solsa to fill in for me while I rested my voice. They were simply interested in everything I did. When I looked at it from one side it did look impressive, but I feared for my life many of the times or feared for those that were with me.

There was a lot that had happened here, too. Besides the assassination attempts, the stigga attacks, the attempted armed incursions, there were naval blockades and shelling. By the way, my two newest ships were new indeed and had auxiliary diesel engines made in France, but no manufacturing tag.

I tried to get those that had sailed with me integrated with the rest. That partially meant that some students had to learn seamanship and navigation.

Loca was either a very good actor or an honest man. I decided to offer him a job again as official map-maker. Apart for the fighting, I think he enjoyed himself.

Matra was the seventeen year-old brainwashed woman. I didn't feel bad about using the silver slave girl on her. She changed dramatically but there was still resistance. She knew more about the books and her absent master and gave the information fairly freely. When questioned by a panel of people, she repeated conversations she had heard that effected us. The Church had not felt this threatened before and was ready to do anything. That was before I completed my trip.

The priest we took on the Mair with the taser was investigated with the Heart of Opfu and some growths were removed. More growths had been deliberately planted. The priest was the youngest one seen in recent years and I wanted to see if I could save his life and possibly convert him. His trainees and slaves reluctantly gave his name as Lord Osston Mogvoy. Apparently he was not eminent yet.

The trainees and slaves of the priests were combined and called section M as a joke, but in a way this was serious business. I was no James Bond but these people were the equivalent of anything he had. They read the books and made notes of what they did and found. Loca was put into this group, though not as their leader. I had a suspicion that he was more than he seemed.

One of the projects was to connect enough chains to make a large portal. The large fixed one was great but needed what I called nodes to work. Nodes were places on a planet that assisted the operation of the portal. I assumed that the fixed gates were more efficient of their use of power, but I didn't understand what power they used other than lightning.

When the topic was talked to death and all the references in the book found, I was the one that assembled the silver chain. We had bits and pieces of chain as well as five complete units. The total length was seventy eight metres. The links of the silver chain was very difficult to bend and I now understood the amount of power that was needed to sever the chain when a portion was pulled through.

As I was putting the last portion of chain together a bolt of lightning flew through my hand. I was very lucky to have flicked the chain away. For the next three days, I was nursed by my family and the Heart of Opfu was used on me a lot. I knew for a fact that the heart helped far more than anybody on Earth could ever do.

I went back to the chain as soon as possible and figured that a portion of the chain was assembled in the wrong direction. There must be some polarity to it. I took one section of chain and reversed it and tried again with something besides my hand to absorb the power. The arrangement failed and I had to reverse a couple more sections until it would finally touch without a high voltage arc. I now had a portal that was the equivalent of a square nine and a half metres to a side. It could also be folded up into a small mass. The last chain portal was not altered because small ones could be handy.

Lord Osston Mogvoy was drugged and watched closely as he was going to be near me. His memory was clouded and the drug made him euphoric.

He lay sleeping on a cushion in Artlam's sitting room. Fillo and Solsa were reading books, or at least appeared to be. Artlam was talking inanities until our guest awoke. We tried to appear natural. Our clothing was of the Church and the glyphs said that I was a mid level priest.

Our guest woke up and looked around. The Heart of Opfu was in my pocket and our priest was close enough that I could continue to have some control over his body. This had to be initiated previously with a touch but would now continue without the contact as long as we didn't separate more than a few metres.

"Whaaat?" he mumbled after looking around.

"You're as poor an excuse for a priest as I have ever seen, Osston. Get up and sit at the table before I have to discipline you."

He tried to get up but fell three times until he crawled across the floor and got into the chair. "Where am I?"

"You insolent pup. You owe your life to me. Your training is far from complete. You're barely past the novice stage. From the way you acted you better call me Master."

Our guest did a lot of thinking and then said in a quiet voice, "Where are we — Master?"

"Some careless fool blew up your ship. We arrived the next day and took Shreff."

With my mind I summoned Camsa. He came in with some wine and I caressed his face when he set the platter down. He was dressed as a trainee. I was given a small smile and he said with his mind, "Would you like me to pour, Master?"

"Do so."

Camsa poured the wine and put the jug down. "Is there anything more, Master?"

I replied, "Not now." He bowed and left. The reason for this scene was to show I communicated with a trainee with my mind and he looked up to me. Mental communications could be blocked or selectively sent but I wanted Osston to see and hear this. It would make him feel right at home.

I sipped my wine and said verbally to Artlam, "How is the integration going?"

"As I expected with rebels. The Anguy have had to kill a lot."

"We can shift some surplus population here if we have to kill too many."

"I have some in mind already."

I turned to Osston and said quickly as if this were a test, "What processes would you use to control a single male?" When three seconds passed I said, "How did you get to be a priest? You're slow. Answer quickly."

He was still groggy. "Drugs are the easiest."

I backhanded Osston and he fell from his chair and his wine fell over him. I looked down with hate and said, "I'm your master. Forget again and I will remind you of when you were a rank novice."

Osston was stunned. All members of the church had been through a lot of pain. The priests were no exception. I hoped this treatment would put him back into the way he was trained for the first twenty years of his life.

He got up unsteadily and said, "I'm sorry, Master. What may I do to make it up to you?"

"Sit and learn."

I looked at Artlam and said, "Did you finish your experiments on the chain?"

"Yes, my Eminence. I have combined portions from various pieces of chain taken from the city. I now have a double loop thirty paces long. Tests indicate that there is a degradation in distance for some unknown reason. I am currently working on this."

"Continue with this study."

"Yes, my Eminence."

I looked at Osston again and said, "What icons and procedures would you use to control a strong willed man so he retains his reasoning power?"

"I would use scordine, then powsen to prepare the subject, then use the a muddling icon, Master."

"I want long term."

"Then one of the power icons, but this task has to be handled by a third order priest, Master."

"Have you been tested on this?"

"Only once, Master."

"What was your rating?"

"I was rated at just the acceptable level, Master."

"Let's try again. Get up. We're going to check what we have available." I turned to Artlam and said, "Do we have any of those Anguy fools from the Mair still alive?"

"A few, my Eminence."

"Then let's use them."

"Yes, my Eminence."

We walked out of the room and we saw the members of section M walking around doing meaningless duties. One room in the house was set up as the library and male students were seen reading. Near a door Jonna sat at a desk with Lauren and Tiffany. I used an ornate key to open the room that contained all our silver icons. With the three of us in the room I said to Osston, "What would your first choice be?"

Osston pointed and said, "This one, master."

"Why?"

"It is charged and I'm familiar with the idiosyncrasies of this unit, Master."

My mind was now confused and I had to hide it. I had no idea that there were idiosyncrasies or how to tell if an icon was charged or not. Some like the Heart of Opfu were just started then it was up to the holder to use it correctly but it was the body that was worked on.

"How does this unit differ from a similar unit? Be specific if you hope to pass."

"Yes, Master."

Osston started but then slowed. I had to guess that he was saying something that we should not know.

I said, "Stop."

I called in Camsa and two other older young men and told them mentally, "You are going to be tested on this soon. Listen and listen well."

I heard "Yes, my Eminence," from all of them. They tried to show fear of failure.

With a stern look at Osston, I said "Start over."

"Yes, Master." He began again and didn't slow down as much as before. He was trying to do a lot of thinking while he communicated mentally with us.

When Osston stopped, I said to the students, "Ask your questions and make them thoughtful or I will be displeased."

Camsa started first and asked a simplistic question of Osston but it was not simple to us. Osston looked pissed to answer but did. Other questions were asked by the other two boys. Those in the house were following all this and passed their questions to the three boys when they were not communicating with Osston themselves.

This topic alone took over an hour to answer then I picked up the icon and we went to the basement where some of the captured Anguy were chained to the wall just as the Church would have done it. The boys came along. Jonna, Lauren, and Tiffany followed but stayed back. The men had not seen me nor Artlam before and would probably see us as priests if we were lucky.

Before Osston started I said, "Let's try something nonstandard. Remove their conditioning and then put in that of a personal slave."

"That is against the rules."

I backhanded Osston much harder this time and he fell among the prisoners. Osston got to his knees and I said, "Rules change with the level you attain within the Church, you fool. Your present position is an indication of this. Have you been so conditioned in your own training that you have never seen this fact?"

"I know this, Master. There is just a danger that the new conditioning may not take."

"Then you will try again and again until you get it right. Now begin and tell the trainees what you are doing."

"Yes, Master."

The Anguy were brave and actually submitted to the priest. The procedure was done very slowly and the methods were spoken and documented. I put the Heart of Opfu on the soldier and I tried to follow what was happening as Osston spoke. I saw the changes in the body and mind but little of what was happening in the silver icon. I shifted to Osston and saw how his mind had changed when he did the controlling. Mine must do something similar when I used the heart.

The soldier started to feel some pain which increased a great deal. Osston started to falter and I said, "We will continue this later." I took possession of the icon and we went back to the library room.

Osston was mentally tired. This was good for me but bad for the soldier and what we were trying to do. "You look fatigued. Perhaps this is a good time to check on some of your cognitive powers. Tell me what every one of these icons are for."

He began without the honorific but I let it pass. Osston pointed to the article and gave generic categories for what we had. We also got names for these groups. A few pieces like the lightning had specific names. It was as if he could read invisible writing on them that gave all this information. When he was done, he was told to drink more wine and he soon went into a drugged sleep.

Artlam said, "We learned a lot there. I had no idea this was so complicated. We were just skimming the surface."

Section M had a meeting and we discussed what we had learned. Jonna said, "How come we know so little when a priest the same age as me knows so much?"

Instead of answering I threw it out for discussion. The replies came back covering a wide range of possibilities. Soon a consensus was formed. We felt that the priests must go through some intensive training if they survived long enough.

I said, "There is a possibility that there is some icon that modifies a priest's brain that allows him to learn faster or that imprints some knowledge. It also follows that there is a sort of loyalty conditioning too."

I asked in general, "Who thinks that they could do what Osston has done so far?"

Three people put up their hands and one was Jonna. I asked, "Can you continue what Osston has started and remove the rest of the conditioning?"

Jonna said, "It is like the healing with the Heart of Opfu. The body and brain need time to complete the removal of the conditioning. I see the steps needed to complete the job."

"Would you attempt it on another soldier?"

"He may die."

The Anguy are conditioned to fight and die for the Church. We cannot release them. Their only hope is to be changed back to what they were before the Church took over their country. They had to be much like us at one time. If we were conditioned, I know that we would want the attempt made to remove the influence even if there was a chance of death."

The meeting continued as we discussed some of the revealed secrets we uncovered. Experiments had to be made but they also had to be heavily monitored. They were dangerous tools and only the simplest could be investigated until we had a chance of understanding those that were more complicated.

The use of a portal to transfer the stigga to our homes had been long accepted as a possibility. We also wanted to protect what we had gathered since we knew more about this new threat. We reloaded our shells with a variety of slugs. We used solid gold, silver and copper. The shotguns had stone with a plastic liner to protect the barrel. The team to do the protecting was rotated constantly to keep them alert. Their numbers were large because a conventional attack could come.

Osston was awoken and told to eat and clean himself then he went back to his patient. What Jonna said was correct and the Church conditioning was removed before the new was applied. As a test, the soldier was to be my slave and given explicit orders for who he was to serve.

One of the younger male children was prompted to say, "Why can't you use that one to make him a slave?"

I looked peeved then turned to Osston and said, "Answer the boy."

"That one only works for women or men with the mind of a woman. A man would die after a while."

I added, "Tell him about young boys too." His statement surprised me about the deaths. He didn't know everything because I had found out more.

Osston looked at me strangely and I said, "Boys that have not reached puberty can be conditioned without altering their sexual choice."

"I didn't know that, Master."

"That is why we experiment."

Artlam came to me now and said, "There is a small problem in Limka. I should leave now, my Eminence."

"Serious?"

"Not at all."

"I'm not going to do all this teaching. I have a lot of duties to do besides watch children." I looked at Osston and said, "You have been having an easy time of this. Teach the children what they ask. You are not to discipline any of them. Tell me their names and I will deal with them."

"Yes, Master."

I read from a book that had its title hidden and just listened as Osston was questioned. This too had been planned. The questions started out seeking info about some of the silver articles but soon Camsa said, "What is it like to be a real priest and not a novice?"

"What do you mean?"

"We stay here and learn but as a priest you can go out in the world and fight for the Church. What is it like to suddenly be a priest?"

Osston's responses must have been flavoured because I was here but he said, "To serve the Church is the high point of my life. They give me challenges and allow me to grow. Finding new facts and presenting them to the conclave would be magnificent but so far I have not found anything new."

This was not what I wanted and Osston didn't go into the way he gained the priesthood. The kids tried to worm it out of him, but no direct question was asked. I had learned that this sort of question was frowned on so much death would be warranted.

Osston began again on another prisoner and the students monitored him intently.

As the days progressed, I had to drug Osston more and more. His performance dropped until we were getting almost nothing. I knew that it was time for Osston to go onto the table.

I was the one to do the procedure. Though well rested, I went slow and tried to make this as neat and accurate as possible. I took twice as long as I should. I figured my work was better done than what I had seen so far.

When I finished, my patient was supposed to sleep. I went to see my tamed Anguys. Only three were slaves by conditioning and six had their conditioning removed.

I went to the room where they were kept and one jumped up and said, "What are you doing with us?"

There was a big smile on my face and six of them stared at me. Those were the ones that looked angry. "I'll answer your question in good time."

A large man came to me menacingly and said, "You'll tell us now." The guards in the room were ready to intervene but I flagged them off.

"I like to fight for fun. I will oblige you if you want, but perhaps you would like to listen first."

"What do you have to say?"

"Do you remember what you were like a week, a month or a year ago?"

"What do you mean?"

"A week ago you were men ready to die for the Church or just to die to get away from here. You would not talk to us and would not cooperate in anything even if it was to clean your cell."

"What of it?"

"Look at you now. You are as belligerent as I would like you to be and perhaps thinking your own thoughts for the first time in many years."

"What do you mean?"

"The Church takes your people and changes them to be soldiers. This helps you to focus on your enemy but it doesn't allow you to function as Humans."

"We were always Humans."

"You were controlled Humans. I can show you others of your race that have not had their conditioning removed. You won't like what you see."

"That's a lie."

"Get up, we're going for a ride and you can see for yourself."

"We're getting out of here?"

"Yes."

Six men with three armed guards and I walked out of Artlam's house and saddled some horses. We rode through the streets and the people were staring at the Anguy uniforms with hate. For ten minutes we rode until we came to the Habstner fort. The guards let us pass because I was here.

A compound had been set up with some of our prisoners. Most had Anguy uniforms. Those on the inside ignored me because there was nothing they could do. The commander of the fort came near with two of his officers and saluted.

"Good day, my King. What may I do for you?"

"These Anguy gentlemen were having a disagreement with me. I used a silver icon to remove the conditioning they had. We came out here to see what their people are like after the Church processes them."

The angry man interjected, "We were never controlled."

"Go into the compound and talk to some of your people. You have to come to the opinion that either your people are conditioned or that all of us including you are conditioned. I ask that you think of what the Church said about our people being wild, barbaric, and uncivilised. To me, this means that we are not controlled."

The men were put in with the rest. They didn't look to want to come out just yet so I said to the commander, "If they want out, let them out, but they still have to be watched. I will pick them up when you call me."

"Yes, my King. Might I ask what you are going to do with them? They will not bow to you."

"What if I could remove all the conditioning from a major portion of the Anguy?"

"I don't know, but they would still fight."

"Perhaps I can let them see how badly they have been used by the Church. I suppose they may be angry then."

"I think so, too. The Church controlled us or at least our leaders. They sent us here to fight."

"If I can stir up anger in enough of their people, I can arm them and turn them loose on the Church."

"Now that's a possibility I would like to see come true. That means you have to capture a lot of them and remove their conditioning. Sounds like a very big job."

"It is, but I don't know how to reduce it. It's not like a gun being cocked or not cocked. It's a lot of small adjustments to bring the Anguy mind back to the disorganised way we are. Perhaps you can get those guys drunk and laid. Then they'll see what it's like to be Human."

"The women won't want them."

"Loan them civilian clothes. If the Church took too much away, perhaps your men will have to tell them all the little details they need to know to get the job done right."

The commander smiled and said, "That would be interesting. I'll handle that personally."



-------

Chapter 24


I now had three guards and we went to the port. The damaged ships were being repaired. There was a lot of damage to the two larger ones but fortunately nothing had hit their hulls. We would need a lot of new masts and some had to be very tall. These trees had become very scarce in the heyday of sailing on Earth's oceans because more trees had not been planted. I was going to be different.

A lot of lumber had been cut and partially dried for my ship but I now saw that the design wasn't large enough for a good trading vessel. Still, it would get places that a monster ship couldn't go. Now with the two portals I could bring in truck loads of steel or portions of a hull to be assembled here. I still didn't have the money and I didn't want to be screwed so much for the gold I acquired.

Usually, I only got 65% of the going rate because I had to pay so many people. Gold coins minted in a known country would net me a lot more. I knew the technology to do this and this information was on the DVDs I brought here. It was probably a good time to start making coins if I could find the machinery and get the dies made.

There was a lot of things to do on Earth and one would be to find enough shells for the M198 howitzer. It had kept the Anguy ships at bay. The girls had gone back to pick up more shells when I was away but there were only three left.

My family was the busiest of any group in the city. I guess they had to be to stay alive. People came to them all the time for help. Books were being translated and we helped all we could, but the pace was slow. The understanding we took for granted had to be explained so an uneducated person from Bejek could understand the words if not what they really meant.

That night I ate at the school instead of at Artlam's home. The Section M people were with us and now numbered a hundred and seventeen with the recent acquisitions. The regular students numbered slightly over two hundred. Practical aspects of Earth technology was taught along with English.

The school was far from complete but parts were used as they were. We swept the street for strays and put them to work for food and shelter or they went to school for training. As long as we were growing I could afford to indulge myself in some social activities.

The meal itself was fine and we enjoyed some of the first crops to come in off our farm. We talked about current news, then went into what the regular students could shine at, and finally something from Section M. Competition was good as long as it was controlled.

That night I had to put my foot down. The previous night I had a difficult time. Jonna and Lauren usually arranged who's turn it was sleep with me. Usually menstrual considerations sidelined some of the women but with three pregnant, this problem didn't happen with them. The previous night had been hectic with planning and we only slept. I had a double dose of bedmates wanting their share of a finite resource.

Lauren, Tiffany and Jonna made up the senior section but my slave Matra was always near and hoping. Fislu, Selna, Porta, Sonna and Camsa wanted some attention. Caiti was allowed to visit but she and I didn't interact as I did with the rest.

Jonna had suggested I use the ring for Matra's benefit and if it didn't work we could use the slave icon on her again.

I went kinda crazy like I always do when wearing the ring. The front doors were filled and I had to start the back doors because of Camsa. He got a double dose to compensate. The next day I felt whipped.

Tonight it was back to the old way and I was treated as if I were fragile. I kinda liked it that way.

Artlam and Mantoya had used the trucks, tractors, bulldozer, and grader to improve the roads. Rock was used as the surface material. My idea of putting out bids seemed to work though there were a few misunderstandings and sloppy work had to be repaired. This was all aimed at a quicker and safer route to our side of the portal at Woodland.

We were going to try to use the chain portal to take us home but there was no way of hooking up the sphere and from the hints we got, it would be impossible. The silver chain was only used for short distances and that meant just on one world.

Section M was improving on their range using the portal and we learned an important fact. A portal didn't need to be seen to be initiated. The location had to be remembered in great detail though. We only had two chain portals and both were used to hone the students' skills. Since one was so large, it would be good to cut back to smaller units. Still, some of what I wanted to transport was large and I needed every centimetre.

I went to see Osston around noon. The amount of drugs he had been taking had been allowed to diminish. I still wanted him calm so we could talk. When I came to his room and the two guards stood aside for me. I knocked and waited. Osston pulled open the door quickly and yelled at me, "It's about time you came. You can't keep me locked up here forever."

"Hello Osston. May I come in?"

"This is your prison and I am only a prisoner."

"May I come in?"

"Suit yourself."

I entered and saw the young man pacing back and forth. The remains of his last meal was resting on a side table.

I said, "Recently you were asked to remove the conditioning from some Anguy prisoners and then make them my slaves."

"Yes, I remember that well. You tricked me and I will not forget it."

"We used the same procedure to remove the conditioning from six more. We didn't put any compulsions on them. They are now free, perhaps for the first time in decades — "

"What about it?"

"They are now visiting their fellow countrymen to see what they were like when they were under the same conditioning."

"What of it?"

"I did the same to you."

There was a rather long pause then he said, "What are you going to do to me? Make me a slave?"

"That's up to you. The two Anguy were used so I could learn more about the procedure. I want to remove this conditioning, but only after it's studied. I don't like slaves."

"You would not make me a slave?"

"On my travels, I found a girl by the name of Matra. She was conditioned by the Church — "

"She should have been. You cannot have order if women are allowed to do as they wish. We have to take care of them."

"You sound like the way your instructors talked to you. You were conditioned to believe completely. You are now free to sift through your ideas and find out if you still think the same way. I don't like the way the Anguy or the Adchek live. I don't like the way the Church wants to convert everybody to their way of thinking."

"What's wrong with that? We give order out of chaos. The barbarians are always fighting and killing. At least we have a plan to stop that."

"The plan the Church has is for them to control this world. Guide, I can live with, but not control. As for killing, your Church uses the Anguy and the Adchek to kill when you have exhausted other armies in fighting."

"There is nothing wrong with that. They breed too fast and populations need to be commanded. The Anguy and the Adchek are an example of what could be done."

"Exactly; I will not have that abomination if I can help it. I want to find a way of reducing the Church's hold on those two races so they can be free enough to choose their own destiny. Education is the answer, not brute force."

"I'm not going to help you."

"Yes you are."

"I'll die first."

"You can try but the things placed in your body by the Church have been removed. You can try other ways but I came here to find another solution."

"What?"

"I have the ability to make you my slave — "

"You said you do not want slaves."

"Matra is a slave. I used an icon to make her follow my orders. The process I hope will negate what the Church and her masters have done to her. I have already started to remove my conditioning from her. I want to find a balance where she can express the church's viewpoint if it's valid but still help me."

"That's a foolish notion. We would never do that."

"I'm soft inside. Now we come to you. I want your help even if you are my slave. I came to bargain with you — "

"Bargain! With me? You can do what you like. I will not bargain."

"Hear me out. I'm going to make you my slave. You can be made like the two Anguy or we can talk about what should be done. This will allow you to be free enough to tell me if you believe I am wrong, but still willing to help me when I ask."

"My concerns would never be given a fair chance."

"Am I not listening to your concerns now and asking for a way that keeps you from being a total slave?"

"That's different."

"How?"

He paused then changed the subject. "What do you plan on doing?"

"I want to learn about magic. You know and could teach."

"I would never do that."

"You would as a slave."

"What would I have to teach?"

"The same as what you were taught to become a priest but I will not have the students tortured or killed."

"You have to cull the feeble."

"Camsa and a boy named Bosma were to be culled, as you call it. I took them in. They helped me later and we found out much more about the icons. Bosma died but I think Camsa is now better than he would have been with his old master and it had to do with his teaching methods."

"Killing is best."

"Only in some cases. To promote magic, these boys could have been allowed to breed. Perhaps their progeny would become great."

"We do not want wild talent or the entire population knowing magic."

"Why?"

"Why, they would fight with magic and kill everybody."

"Has this happened before?"

"Yes, twice."

Now this shocked me and I guess it showed. I knew there had been major wars a long time ago but not that magic had been a factor.

Osston said, "Magic almost doomed our people in the past. There were great wars. Not just cities, whole countries were obliterated. It was mainly the scattered barbarians that lived to make up a new population. Many generations later when the population had once more built up, a new war erupted that sent everybody back where they were before. You see the Church has to control magic or there will be death and perhaps this time it will be all of us."

"How can the Church be changed so that they can prevent this type of war but not be as dominant and harsh as they are now?"

"We have to be harsh because the barbarians do not understand anything but death and torture."

"Let's start with the Anguy. Their entire culture is dominated by the Church. There's no fun and no growth. It's stagnant. The barbarians are free but also free to starve. How could the Anguy be more barbaric and the Church ensure that there be no great wars again?"

"Don't allow them to learn magic."

"That's one answer but the Church could still restrict all the major weapons. My guns kill and minor magic may be similar. Let them kill each other but keep the major weapons away from them."

"That's easy to say but impossible to do."

"I do not think it is impossible at all. Your Church wants one government so it can administer laws easily. What if that government made sure everybody got a good education? That education could be used to guide the children to make responsible choices. With good communications, one person can see that a person on the other side of the globe is just a neighbour but simply far away. Isn't education what separates a learned man from a barbarian?"

"They will always fight."

"I agree, but it could be managed better and still allow them to be free. It's more work and the Church has to give more of itself."

"There aren't enough of us."

"Stop killing the young and perhaps they will grow the way you want. You will still be able to promote Church policies."

"The administration would be impossible to manage."

"You need much better communications and I will offer machines that make simple decisions. They can keep track of data like births, pay and class schedules."

"We've heard of those and came to stop you."

"You use iron engines to make your ship move. Have you tried to use computers to assist your organisation?"

There was a long pause and Osston said, "We have used them for minor tasks but they are useless for most."

"The computer is just another tool. The Church is run by old men. I'm willing to bet that it's the old men that don't want to learn because to them it makes their lives more complicated. You need young people that are free to learn to use the machines the way they are needed to be used."

"What else will the computer do?"

"When everybody has a computer and the computers are linked together, the Church can snoop on everyone."

"Is that what they do in your world?"

I guess he had to know. The Church had dealings with somebody in France. They may even have more dealings with others. "Our world is getting complicated. Resources are becoming scarce and growing economies want their share so they can grow to be rich nations. The rich nations are used to living a good life and do not want to reduce their standard of living. Wars are always happening and methods are found that will retain the status quo. One way is to listen to what is said in private conversations. Telephone calls and internet traffic is monitored by computers. If the communications are by computer, the various governments snoop. Sometimes this is followed with arrests and jail. Sometimes somebody quietly dies."

"That doesn't make your world sound good."

"It's not. People can be like a very stupid animal. They will shit in the water they drink and spew poison into the air they breathe. We need a strong government, but not one like the Church. Some in the government will always grasp for more power and that power has to be taken away before it grows too great. Perhaps at one time your Church was like this and there was no way of restricting its hunger for control."

"I have no idea if that is right or not."

"As a first step, where can we get books on history?"

"Not magic?"

"I want to learn and history books can teach a lot. If I have to steal history books, then all books would be hidden and I couldn't learn magic. So I'm asking you, how can we find history books so we can learn without arousing the Church's interest?"

"I'm able to get some books from our library."

"I can't just let you go back and request books."

"Some small branches have copies that might be borrowed. You could impersonate a priest as you have done with me."

A cloak and some handy trainees is not enough. What can I do to make this safe for me?"

"A trainee may borrow a book for his or her master."

"If they restrict what books you get then they will have to have a method of finding out who is getting the book they are loaning."

"Your students know about the local portals. If you do not keep the books long, perhaps you could read them and put them back."

"Not with all the alarms your Church has. I know for a fact that they guard everything with magic and with guards."

"Then I have no idea."

"Let's go back to my original problem. How can I be assured of your complete cooperation without making you completely subservient? I want you to work independent of me and have the similar goals. I'm trying to change you the least possible."

"I have no idea of that either."

"If I made you my complete slave, would you find an answer then?"

There was no answer so I guess that was enough. Osston suspected this too and attacked me. He tried to poke out my eyes and then kick my balls. I picked up his leg and he crashed to the floor. In seconds the guards were in the room but I had Osston pinned.

"Bring me some leather thongs. Osston will have to be a slave before he can be free."

In twenty minutes I had Osston calmed down and I began the procedure. He fought me mentally now. His mind was strong and well structured but I had the icon. In an hour I would have an abject slave that would do absolutely anything for me.

Osston had another sleep and in a half hour he awoke as a simpering slave. When he saw me he quickly got to his knees and said, "How may I serve you, Master? I'm well trained in bed."

The last statement had not been expected. I didn't know Osston's sexual preferences but this may have been how he rose as high as he did.

"I asked a question before about how I may control you without clouding your mind. Do you know of any way we could do this?"

"Many, Master. Shall I list them?"

"After we get more people here to record your words."

One secret after another came out and all of us were excited. With some questions asked a little differently I found that the Heart of Opfu could be used with a silver key to do the same thing as the silver slave and it would work with any gender. The effect lasted longer too. This opened up a can of worms about combined icons.

Later I asked, "Why can't we understand what is written in the books?"

Osston said, "When a man becomes a priest, his mind is altered with many devices. One of those allows us to understand the words as if they were in code. When we write books, they are done so in the same code."

"Give us an example."

Osston read a chapter of a book then went back and chose certain phrases and said what they were supposed to mean. This went on and on. Sometimes it was just what was between two or more key words. One nearby word changed the meaning dramatically. The system was good because it allowed for error on the part of the writer and the reader had to screw up to get the wrong message.

We went back to our silver icons and now I got a different set of answers for what they were. The first were not lies, just not full truths. I got the idea that the silver was something like micro electric devices that did natural tasks within the boundaries of physics. The physics we hadn't discovered yet and the controls were operable by the mind. Telepathy had to be nurtured as mine had been. It then must strengthened as a muscle was developed by exercise to be able to control a device by the use of telepathy. The priests were trained to get to this stage but then other devices were used to allow their minds to work better.

It was when Osston said, "As I prove myself to the conclave I will get the chance to have my mind expanded by further devices."

"What exactly will they allow you to do?"

"There are many things. A young man that has proved himself will be altered to breed with many females. A similar device will make a person stronger and another one will make his reflexes much faster. Other types of devices will open a mind so it may communicate with races that do not have telepathy. Usually, there is a small increase in intelligence and in memory. Secrets are the most coveted though, for knowledge is power."

"What other races are there that don't communicate with telepathy?"

"Yours, for instance, though they could start with enough seeds and some stimulation. The stigga were great thinkers at one time. Now they are close to mindless brutes. We must have troops accompany a negotiator because the stigga are prone to attack at the least provocation."

"Are there more races? What about the Argus, Buttris and the Smorth?"

Osston was shocked and then said quietly, "Those races have not contacted us in many thousands of years. In fact, all of the elder races have abandoned us."

I dearly wanted a history lesson but there were other pressing matters and they had to be handled first. We discussed the powers of the priests and what they could do when they came. Osston had very little knowledge of this but a lot of speculation. When all of us were tired and it was well past time to go to bed, I asked Osston, "Before you became a priest, were you allowed to mate with females?"

I got a noncommital, "Yes, on occasion if I wished."

"Do you prefer males"

I got a big smile. "Yes, Master, very much."

"Did you prefer the dominant or the submissive role?"

"The submissive, Master."

"I want you to sleep with the boys until I find a permanent place for you."

He looked a little glum and he said, "I will happily do as you wish, Master."

Some of the boys were nearby and one was eighteen. Now it was he who smiled and I directed him to take Osston away.

The next day I saw Osston walking funny but apparently happy. The eighteen year-old treated the priest like a woman, that was as an inferior but Osston didn't seem to mind. I could say nothing bad about this relationship because one of my lovers was Camsa. He was not exclusively mine. He had equal time with the rest and I made sure that nobody was shown to get more love except Caiti and that was to compensate for what I couldn't give her.

Osston answered a lot more questions but there was a lot he didn't know. There were huge gaps in his knowledge. We learned that there is a vast power source in the universe. It was tapped with a charged icon and a suitable mind. We couldn't discover why this power couldn't continue to power the icon after it was used or even during use.

The Church didn't use lightning usually. They relied on a device that could tap the primal power and then direct it to the devices needed. In most cases the power was removed from devices that would be stored. Whether this was for safety, poor storage life or to prevent unauthorised use was unknown.

Another fact we turned up was that most of these silver articles were untold thousands of years old. Replacements could be made with a series of devices but it took a remarkable mind and a long time to make each. Usually, these articles were restricted to the upper crust. Presently, some trusted people had to use them to try to thwart my plans.

Osston said, "We were told not to store any of the silver icons in a container made of silver."

I asked, "Why was that said?"

"We were talking today and I remember that I was told not to place the silver icons within a silver container. I now suspect that it will cut off the Mossa. This is the power that permeates the entire universe."

I had to think about this for a while. I learned a lot more about physics in the last few years and a silver container might be the same as a Faraday cage that did not allow electrostatic fields to leave or enter. I worked on this idea for a while and couldn't see any use for this piece of data.

The six Anguy that were allowed into the camp with their friends requested to get out. They had spent four days in there. They came out bruised and disillusioned. The commander of the fort reported that the men were beginning to see the light but they had decades of customs to overcome. They were simply draughted into the Habstner army where I thought they would do less damage and perhaps be happier.

A long overdue trip to Earth was planned. Section M and Artlam would continue with Osston to milk him of all his knowledge. A committee went over all of his words and set up a written database of his knowledge so we could ask intelligent questions.

Artlam or Mantoya kept in contact with Woodland. It was growing fast and there were plans laid out for when the city got large. The planing department of this city was very powerful. I had my ideas and they were unconventional by both Earth and Bejek standards. My upbringing and my love of the land were important considerations.

There had been visitors to Woodland but nothing major. It looked like the Anguy had come a half dozen times but had not tried very hard to get in. They were not just being nice, but biding their time. I had to make use of all the time they gave us.

Instead of using the good road, we used the chain portal after making suitable arrangements. A portal appearing suddenly was a time of panic and preparations for defence. A radio message had to go first. I drove the stake truck that carried our people and a paltry tonne of gold. There were fifteen and a half tonnes more in Shreff but I wanted to convert that to coins for better return. This tonne was worth 26 million Canadian but so far, I was lucky to get 20.

The chain portal was now good for 60 klicks with our best operators but I could only do 20. Camsa was our star and able to do almost fifty. I tried to picture my home while at the node, even to the point of using photos, but I couldn't do anything. I went through the large fixed portal into the barn. From the smell and the telltales we put in, nobody had been here since the girls came back for ammunition and the howitzer.

Closed circuit television had been put in and I went to a small room hidden beneath the floor. I saw nobody in the house and no sign of entry. I was not fool enough to think that it couldn't have been entered. I used the small chain portal and entered the basement of the house then spent a few minutes there before I gave the ok. I went back to the barn and saw nothing amiss. Soon the large portal opened again and the stake truck drove through.

Everybody got out except Porta, Sonna, Matra and Camsa. They had not been to Earth yet and were amazed at the inside of my barn. The old hands got them moving. We used the chain and walked into my basement wearing our medallions. I has happy because this device worked on this planet, too.

I was not sure of the local time but I was glad it was getting near dusk. I fired up the computer and found out it was Sunday the 21 of June. A cell phone call was made to a person that would get hold of an intermediary that would get to Willie.

In the mean time I phoned Mom and said, "Hi, Mom. Your long lost son is home." My voice was a little off. I had only been translating or teaching English and this was the first time I used it for fun in a while.

"Hi, Hugh. Where have you been?"



-------

Chapter 25


"South America and Africa." I had studied a lot of travelogues and talked to people that had been there. Pretty soon I would have to do this for myself just to fill in the gaps in my knowledge.

"My gracious, you were travelling. How's your family?"

This hurt but I was prepared, "Kuenta got called away and took Ronnas and Andis with her. She had some family problems."

"That's too bad."

Mom didn't know that Jonna and Kuenta were mothers never mind that the girls were their daughters. This information would get her wondering what the women were like. She thought them as sisters instead, which in a way that is what they acted like. "So you still have little Caiti?"

"We sure do and she's not so little anymore. I'll put her on."

Caiti ran and got the phone and said, "Hi Grandma. I missed you."

I could read Caiti's mind a little and if I tried hard I could get the other side of the conversation but it wasn't needed.

In a few moments I heard, "I'll ask."

Caiti turned to me and said, "Grandma wants us to go over there now. She'll make us dinner. She promised spaghetti. Can we go, huh, can we?"

"Did you tell her we have your cousins?"

"Yes, I did, and she wants to meet them."

"Tell her we'll be there in an hour."

Caiti was dancing up and down and eagerly told her Grandma, "We can come. In an hour. He probably wants us to clean up but I already had a bath."

The gas had been turned off so the water would take a long time to heat up. I turned it on, then got some clean Earth clothes to wear. I had been wearing the clothing native to Bejek and I found it superior in most ways. Porta, Sonna, Matra and Camsa would go in good clothes from Shreff. I would put it off as their native dress from Romania where my other girls came from. We would be in trouble if we came across a Romanian, though, because we couldn't speak one word in that language.

We left the gold on the truck in the barn and under a tarp. We used the minivan for this trip. We were two seats shy but the younger ones crouched down. This was the first time in a long time that none of us were armed. I had the silver lightning bolt, but that was like using the howitzer. I had tried it once and put it away for later. I figured that Zeus must have had one of these. The girls had decorative swords with scabbards that could be for gifts. As a last resort, they would defend us.

The newcomers were amazed at everything and they had already been in the other trucks, including the pickup. This was different though. They looked out the widows at the lights and the vehicles flashing by as we went faster than they had ever gone before except by way of a portal.

When we pulled up to the house, Caiti was the first out. She ran across the grass to hug her Grandma and then her Grampie. I ushered everyone inside and said my own hellos to my parents. They were hugged by those they knew then by the four they didn't know.

I made the introductions and the four replied in as good an English as they could muster. Mom hugged and was hugged by all of them and she was pleasantly surprised by the way Camsa kissed her cheek the European way.

Mom said, "My, aren't you the smooth one. I know you're going to go far."

"Thank you — Mrs Driscott."

"You just call me Grandma like the rest, Sweetie. You don't mind me calling you that, do you?"

"No, Grandma. I like it."

The food was ready and we sat down to eat. The newcomers had to be taught how to eat spaghetti and use our kind of tableware. They used chopsticks and a spoon just like the Orientals did.

Dad asked, "Where exactly did you go, or is that a topic we still can't ask?"

"I'd appreciate it if that topic was not mentioned."

"When you were growing up I figured you would make one helluva farmer, but it looks like you're closer to double 'O' seven. By the way, you had some people asking questions. They claimed to be old school friends and even showed me their yearbook. Since you told us nothing, I told them just as much."

Strangely, I was not that worried. Compared to people popping out of portals with sarin or magically armoured stigga, this was nothing. "Who did they say they were?"

Dad gave me the names and I said, "They might just be those people or those people could have been asked to find out about me."

Mom asked, "What is this all about?"

"It's business Mom, and it's all legal."

"That's good to hear. I didn't think you'd do anything wrong."

We finished our meal and ice-cream was brought out with some homemade pastries. Nobody said no to seconds or even thirds and Mom seemed happy about that.

Later, Dad pulled me aside and said, "Are you in trouble?"

"I have more responsibilities than you can imagine, Dad. Part of it is the monetary value of what I have and others want a portion of. I can't talk even here because I figure that there may be some bugs on the phone if not in the house now. There is an even better chance that my own home is bugged."

"Why?"

I whispered in Dad's ear, "I have a lot of gold."

Dad whispered back, "I won't ask where or how you got it, but people will kill for that."

"They'll do that for the metal and to stop me helping people."

"You take care of yourself and your family."

"I try Dad, I try very hard."

Old school friends showing up would never have bothered me before but I figured it was too odd to happen now. It may be a government agency of some country or somebody that wants to get in on the gold I seemed to have so much of. All of my family could read my mind and they became a little upset but understood this was small time.

Dad whispered, "I picked up more copper for you. I must have ten tonnes by now. The pile's huge."

"Thanks Dad. It comes in handy." Dad looked ready to ask about the copper again, but didn't. I never told him what it was for.

The younger members followed Caiti to the television as she searched out some DVDs. She actually watched a lot and so did the rest of the population of Shreff. It was a way to learn the English language and do it in an entertaining way. She was looking for new releases. She squealed when she found some and they all sat down to watch.

Lauren, Tiffany, Jonna, and Fislu sat at the table after loading the dishwasher. I said, "How are you feeling, Mom?" I took out the Heart of Opfu.

Mom looked at it and said, "Better than I should for my age." I reached over hand grasped her hand and she held mine. She was still healthy but I tweaked her a bit more. Her joint problems were all gone and she looked to be able to live to be an active woman when she reached a century and a half.

I said, "You aren't that old. Why do you say that?"

Mom blushed a bit and said, "I should feel older than I do."

"Some people have such a positive outlook that they are hard to even slow down."

Dad was next. He had stopped smoking long ago but I still checked for problems. I could find nothing wrong with him. "You look very healthy Dad."

"I feel that way."

I was going to say you will need all your strength with three grandchildren coming but that would bring too many questions now when there may be ears in the house. Explaining how fourteen-year-old Fislu and her twelve-year-old sister Selna were pregnant with my children may be difficult. My comments about pregnancies to Jonna did not explicitly exclude the girls and it was my fault. By Bejek terms they were old women now.

Mom and Dad were given some juffa garments. They were hand made and only coming into style in Shreff now. They both got robes while Mom got a chemise. Everything was handmade and perfect.

Dad's was black and he admired it for a long time until he said, "This is beautiful."

Lauren gave Mom the chemise and it was Dad who whistled. Mom turned red and put it away. She must figure that their child has to be protected from the thought that his parents had sex. Mom did put on her robe and could not stop caressing it. Mom gave a lot of superlatives then kissed all of us.

We went home near eleven. I was looking behind me for somebody following but they would probably have a beacon on the van if they were professional.

That night I checked out the gun cabinet and it was possible somebody had been in it. I had no illegal weapons here but that didn't stop me from getting my guns loaded and ready. Jonna used a bug detector and found three devices in the house. The van had two. If they had investigated the truck they would have found quite a prize.

I was at a loss to know how this happened when I had used the best security I could get. Those that did it had to be very professional.

I thought of going back through the portal and sleep in Bejek but it was still probably safer here on Earth. Sex that night was slow and loving. I had to hope there were no fibre optic cameras on us.

We had breakfast and acted like a normal family, or at least tried to. I checked the phone and saw I had a lot of messages but I didn't want to answer some of them from here. Others I could, and in fact should. I caught up on what was happening with my friends and I was invited to a few parties. Some I had already missed.

Lauren and I drove our vehicles to the store to get groceries and brought everybody. Camsa was using the small chain portal in the van so we could get our weapons at home if the need arose. I didn't know if it was the government or another form of crook that was after us.

At a clothing store I used a pay phone and made a call. There was some excited talk eventually when a pilot named Gus talked to me. "I found two places where your gauges started to go off."

"I'll pay you later when I pick up the locations. At the moment you called me because I was thinking of taking flight lessons."

"Why?"

"I was away for three months and somebody spent that time bugging my house."

"The police?"

"I don't think so. There's no reason. We're working on finding out who did this and why. I have legitimate transactions going on and a lot of people are interested in picking up a piece of the action. Somebody saying they are the police and showing you a badge does not make them the police."

"Ok, Mr Driscott. You wanted lessons. I told you what was involved and you'll get back to me later."

"Good, I'll find a way to get to you in a few days. You better not phone the house either."

"Bugged too?"

"Sure is."

"I'm older than you and I never had this happening to me."

"I'm too young for this to happen to me."

Jake Headricks was next. I said, "Hi Jake. Got more than thirty seconds?"

There was a thoughtful pause as he heard the code phrase. "For you, Hugh, I will give you a minute but it may not all be needed."

"Is it good or medial?"

"Good enough for an excuse to get a free lunch."

"Same place, same time?"

"Ok with me."

"See ya then."

Three more lawyers were contacted but only one was able to answer. They got the cell phones at my request and I was the only one that called them or I was the only one that was supposed to know their number. I found out that I had another million in the kitty but numbers had to be substituted for codes. Using what the Church had would be a lot better but if the Church intercepted the calls then they would know everything. If the Church had dealings with Earth they could buy any help they wanted.

I went back to helping the family shop. The newest members could not get over their culture shock at the store. The girls and Camsa were dressed in Earth type finery and I saw that they had lost something in doing so. The clothing in Bejek was usually drab but could be flamboyant. Earth simply didn't compare to that.

With new clothes purchased, we went to the Goodwill and bought a lot more for those that didn't have much in Shreff. They usually walked around nude to seminude and it now was not because they were not paid enough. It was a cultural thing. The clothes we would bring might be termed glad rags. I had given Artlam some new clothing made on Earth. He had smiled and wore them once.

Groceries were next on the agenda and we stocked up. Anything not consumed would simply go with us when we returned.

I parted company after the groceries were loaded. There were people to meet.

I sat in a booth at our eatery and watched the door. Jake Headricks came in ten minutes later and hurried to our table.

"How are you doing, Hugh? You look fit and even tanned."

"I'm doing fine Jake. I've been working for a living."

"Well, I've been working too. There's a gold refinery for sale in the Dominican Republic. It makes its own coins. The country is a major exporter of gold. If you get this company and you'll have a known coin that can be passed around."

"How much do they want?"

"Ten million, American."

"Do you see any way we could pay in gold?"

"I looked into that and you would get 80% of the value of gold minus my percentage."

"That's half of a tonne."

"Do you have that much?"

"I have to have more if I want to coin the metal."

"You're right. It's hard to think in kilos never mind fractions of a tonne."

"Someone is interested in me. I deal with others besides you and somebody must have talked. My house, phone, and car are bugged."

"Anything I can do?"

"Nothing much except watch out more and buy a good bug detector and use it."

"I did when you suggested it. What about the refiner?"

"As much as you would like a vacation, you better have experts assess the business. Work through intermediaries. I can't own the business on paper and once the gold starts pouring out there will be a lot of people looking."

"I can do that, but it means more expense on your part."

"It always does."

"If you don't mind the question, how much gold do you think you will be processing?"

"Four or five hundred tonnes initially."

Jake sat back and thought of what I said. "That's a lot."

"At the larger figure, it is only 26 cubic metres and worth well over ten trillion."

"I think the entire reserves of the Dominican Republic are maybe that much."

"I guess the estimates will be shown to be wrong then. I want to make imitation Maple Leafs at 99.9999 so they aren't exactly copies. I want to make Krugerrand and other types of coins. That will get me through the first stages, then I can go with the coins from the Dominican Republic. When I have enough made, the refinery can be sold and the owner can disappear. Nobody is hurt and my imitation coins are worth just as much as the originals are."

"That may be illegal but you aren't cheating anybody. I'll start right away. Getting that much into the country may not be easy."

"I can do it with no problem."

He looked at me again and said, "I'll go by what you said. My actual costs should be in the neighbourhood of five kilos."

"I'll send it later."

"Purolator?"

"Why not?"

Jake smiled and said, "Usually, there are armoured trucks and lots of guards, but maybe anonymity is best until you get watched more. It has to stop when I get watched."

"I know. Can you handle another shipment?"

"How much?"

"How much can you dispose of?"

He wanted to know how much I had but said, "I can take — half a tonne."

"I can save myself some money if you can borrow a pickup truck."

"What!"

"I simply pass off half a tonne and you take it from there."

"My god, what am I going to do with it then?"

"The same as you did before."

My phone rang but I only looked at the number and said, "You did say that anonymity is best for now."

"My wife would shit if she found that in the house."

"Then don't let her find it."

"Ok, how are we going to do this?"

"Find a truck first, then go for a drive. I meet you and you have to work for a living to move your cargo."

"I'll rent a good truck this afternoon. I guess that kind of manual work is ok."

We finished our meal and Jake left. There were a few hours to kill and the delivery had to be made. I went to the pay phone and called another lawyer. He only had a quarter million but could handle a hundred kilo if I was not in that much of a hurry to get the cash for it.

My pilot got another call and I found he would be back in half an hour and I had some gold for him as a bonus for finding a site since he had found two.

I got in a taxi to take me to the airport and another call came. I had the taxi take a detour and I found another payphone.

Willie said, "Hi Hugh."

"Hi Willie. How's the high life?"

"It's getting hectic."

"My house, car, and phone are bugged."

"Shit. Do you know where the leak is?"

"No idea. When I nab one of the guys, I'll find out soon enough."

"I hope it wasn't something I said."

"Me too."

There was a long pause and Willie said, "I got some of your stuff but that sort of thing is not something you can walk out with."

"Find out where the stuff is kept and the security arrangements. I have a way of getting it myself."

"How?"

"Willie!"

"Sorry. You wanted a lot so I have to talk to a lot of people. That will cost me."

"And I'll compensate you. I asked before about military vehicles. I can get them myself now, if I know the locations. I still need some inside help but it's not much, just dropping a sensor in the right place. More howitzers would be appreciated."

"How many of each are you looking for?"

"Lots, I'll have to start making the howitzers myself and that goes for the shells. The vehicles are too intricate but I might work from truck frames."

"Shit, this is real big time. The stuff you are asking for is a lot more than protecting somebodies property. The Yanks get nervous when that stuff disappears. They figure they're going to face it sooner or later. If I could get Russian equipment the same thing would apply."

"They won't face their own weapons, and that's a fact."

"They don't know that."

I went back to our other topic and said, "Another of the people that I went to school with came to see what I was doing and talked to Dad."

"Anybody I know?"

"High School."

Willie said, "The people I deal with are curious, too, but I tell them nothing. They simply get paid for delivering a product to me."

"You may find that you get questioned. Maybe some of the guys we know would have been asked if we got in contact with them."

"Military?"

"Maybe, but probably 'entrepreneurs'."

"I'll keep my eyes open."

"Do you need another shipment?"

"I have more than enough." He laughed and said, "I'd need to rent space if I got more."

We arranged for delivery. This time we were going to drive the rental trucks. If we set up the chain portal then we may get the trucks right into the barn and then through the portal to Bejek. If the leak was through Willie then the trucks may be bugged too.

I continued my trip to the airport and found Gus. We shook hands and I said, "Hi Gus, I wanted more info about getting a pilot's licence."

"No problem, Mr Driscott. Come with me and I'll show you the planes." There was a pause and he added, "Do you have my bonus?"

"I do."

"I found two spots."

"I have a double bonus and I'll pay for more if you find them."

Gus had a big smile now and I passed him two lumps of gold about the size of ice cubes. He had already been paid in cash to start the flights.

"Mmmm, they look beautiful."

"To me, it's only metal."

"Oh, the locations, one's the other side of Kingston, on the way to Ottawa. The other is in the southern United States in central Georgia. Your device got across the border both ways easily when I said it was just a scientific experiment about oddities in the Earth's crust."

"That's the truth."

"I know, and it worked well. I have the data the computer collected. This should allow you to pinpoint the locations. I checked out the one near Kingston and there are no nearby buildings. Is this were the gold is?"

"No Gus. The gold is a separate matter. This is secret. If I find you're starting to talk, you lose the contract."

Gus got serious and said, "You only talked to me about lessons and I better give you some now so it looks good." Gus then proceeded to give me the standard info about getting a license. By the time he finished I said, "Maybe I'll take the lessons if you will give me the family plan."

"Family plan?"

"Better call it the corporate plan. I may need to get a good used plane as well. Something mid sized would be best."

"I'll look for you."

I got the data Gus had placed on a USB key I brought with me. On the way home I looked for cars following me and changed taxis just in case.

The family had been listening to my thoughts as I got near. Only Matra was not able to yet, but the way the girls accepted her the time would soon come. We unloaded the truck and put on as near as I could to the amount of gold that Jake wanted. He could rob me easily just doing it a bit at a time, but he also knew that if I caught him he would get no more business from me.

Lauren and Tiffany each left with a coin and then split up. They would get into taxis later and drop the coins out a window on deserted roads. One was just an alternate if we needed it, or just a way back.

The girls got back in time to help set up the chain and then lock it onto the position of one of the coins. At the right time I drove through the portal and onto a road to the west of the city. I stopped and picked up the coin.

I met Jake ten minutes later. He was nervous and excited. We worked quickly to toss the chucks of gold into a hastily constructed wood box now in the bed of the pickup. The transfer was best done by hand because of the weight. The use of the fulcrum icon was a bad idea.

Jake shook my hand vigorously and said, "That was fun. Moving over twelve million dollars was easy. It doesn't even look like much."

"You're right. Not even three quarters of a bushel."

"It's farmers like you that take the fun out of dealing in gold. Bushels sound so — crude."

"What about tonnes?"

He smiled and said, "That's different. I can accept that easily because it's in metric."

"Jake, you're full of shit."

"That's a prerequisite for any good lawyer."

On a different road, a portal appeared and Caiti ran through to retrieve the coin then climbed into the cab for the ten metre return trip. The separate pickup point was a logical way of reducing the chances of being traced.

We spent a quiet night at home. The younger group explored the internet for their enjoyment and the older group used it to make purchases and find ways of adding Earth's knowledge to that of Bejek. I had to study one particular spot in the southern U.S. This could be our in to finding some good military equipment.

Google earth helped me locate both positions but I also found two dozen more locations on the slim chanced that our computers were compromised. I hoped some of my questions would be interpreted as Caiti doing this search.

The next day Lauren, Jonna, Fislu, and I drove west. At Woodstock we pulled off the road and located another seldom used farm road. Fislu placed the coin and waited. This was closer to sixty klicks but Camsa pulled it off for us and the gate locked to the location.

Camsa came running to us for his reward and I picked him up and gave him the kiss he wanted. The girls kissed him too but it was not really sexual. He wanted the acclaim for doing a good job. Camsa studied the site carefully, then returned and the portal closed.

Four klicks away we entered a truck stop to have a meal. This time my rifles were in the car and loaded. I missed my pistols badly and the lightning bolt was no substitute.

Three men I had seen before came in over a period of ten minutes. They sat at a table near us and a hand casually passed us three keys. Tags on the keys matched plates. After we left the restaurant, I used the bug detector with each truck turned off and while running but could find nothing wrong.

I led the caravan to the farmer's road and had to wait for a few minutes as a milk truck went past. Camsa opened the portal and Fislu was signalled. She drove through slowly and the truck disappeared a centimetre at a time. It spent just a few seconds in the barn as it continued its trip to Bejek. One minute later, Lauren went through followed by Jonna. I left the coin and followed in the car.

The trucks were unloaded in an hour and we did the return trip the same way. Two trips had to be made because we dropped off two empty fuel trucks. We would pick them up in a few days for the return trip.

The only difference was that we now had some good protection in the form of a carbine form of AK-47's and some additional nine millimetre glocks. Caiti and the younger ones would like the smaller glock-19s because of their lighter round. I used them too but liked something with more punch.

We drove home because that was the way we arrived in the first place. We just picked up a lot of fried chicken on the way. While at the restaurant, I called Professor Obie. He had modified the previous version of our laptops.

"Hello, Mr Smith. I hope the computers aren't giving you any problems?"

"No, I'm happy with them. I phoned for two reasons. Will you give me a quote for five hundred more units?"

"Five hundred, my god! That's a lot. What do you do with them?"

"All for educational purposes, and they're sent out of the country."

"I can work on that for you. You said there were two reasons?"

"I want to know about the feasibility of a fibre optics cable having a gap of ten millimetres in the cable then the cable continuing."

"An air gap of ten millimetres? Why do you want this?"

"That is my business at the moment. Can this be done without losing a great deal of bandwidth? I'm sure that a laser beam will travel that distance in air."

"I don't see much of a problem. Two nodes close together should solve the problem providing everything is mounted securely and in line."

"Thank you. When might your quote be ready?"

"Three days at the earliest."

"I'll call next Monday then."

"That's even better. I'll try to make a competitive quote considering you already bought the rights to the machines."

Jonna said mentally, "The internet opening in Bejek will tell everybody about the exchange rate for gold and copper on Earth."

"I have to fight the Church. Education is the way. I just have to get the gold first. With enough money I can move Bejek ahead so it can eventually compete with Earth."

"I can see that happening, but only after centuries for us to catch up to where Earth will be at that time. To be honest, I don't think it can be done."

"Earth doesn't move forward all the time. When the oil crunch comes the world economy will collapse. Development of anything other than energy research will take second place. If they find an answer the rest of the world may have to convert or, if we are lucky, just convert to all electric systems."

"So you figure we can catch up a bit then?"

"Possibly."

We had been smelling the chicken for five minutes and the rest had read our minds enough to be at the door to help us get into the house with our burden. I think we all pigged out.

I went out again to get some good boots. Purposely, I used Lauren's car while she and Tiffany were visiting their parents. As I figured, there was a car following me but it was well back and very hard to spot. I got my boots and made a few more calls to my attorneys. Jake got the location to the area near Kingston and he would find out who currently owned the property.

When I finished this talk, I drove over to see Lauren and Tiffany's parents. They were like my in-laws and they didn't bitch about taking both of their daughters.

We had to stay for supper but this was fun, too. The rest of the family was only a thought away and they got to know what was happening, including how good the food was.

I, on the other hand, was uncomfortable because my other girls were pleasing each other and then milking and fucking Camsa with a dildo. It was their way of saying that I should be with them. Lauren and Tiffany were twitchy also and we went home just a bit earlier. Lauren had to drive and bitched while Tiffany got a ride on the pole. At this point, I didn't care who saw us.

I carried a naked Tiffany into the house. She was still attached with her legs and arms around me. Going up the steps was almost too much but I made it to the bed and started to hammer her with a vengeance. She pushed back just as hard and screamed for more.

We came together and I relaxed a moment before I plunged into Lauren who was already playing with her pussy to get even more in the mood. Jonna claimed Tiffany's pussy.

Lauren took more work. We tried three positions before doggie set her off. I was just a few seconds behind and this intensified what Lauren felt. I could feel both my cock and the effect of my cock in her vagina and womb. When this happened I knew I had to pull back or I wouldn't last.

Fislu positioned our slave, Matra, so she was eating Fislu and I could have the slave doggie style again. Matra was actually a shy girl and she liked to take the inferior position. But a slave girl to us was not what a Bejek would have. She was loved like a child though she was the third oldest. Then, again, Camsa was treated the same way and he enjoyed his place in our family.

I pushed hard into Matra and she responded more and more vocally as Fislu pulled her lips tighter to her mons to muffle the sound. When the end came, she simply went unconscious though she couldn't fall.

Fislu looked peeved. I peeked and saw that she was very close and wanted Matra to put her over. I pushed Matra to the side and pulled Fislu to me. She wiggled closer and when I was all the way in I got off the bed and used her body to masturbate myself. My strokes always allowed my pubic bone to brush up against Fislu's clit.

When Fislu succumbed, I placed her face near Matra's opening while I shifted to Jonna.

Jonna was in a violent mode and she demanded sex. I had to slip into caveman mode to counter her. She pulled my hair and thrust her body at me. My back was saved only because I still had my shirt on. We were like two mad animals until she let out a scream that the people in Toronto would hear.

Selna, Porta and Sonna took a lot longer because my ardour had faded, along with untold millions of sperm cells. Camsa was last and I pumped into him as he and Caiti ate each other. Again, this was as close as I would come to Caiti, but I knew this would change as she got older.

We finished around two AM. I was just getting to sleep when the phone rang three times then stopped just to do this over again and again. Somebody knew about my answering machine. I got up quite pissed but answered the phone politely.

"Hello."

"Hello, Mr Driscott. You are certainly a great cocksman to keep those women, girls and the boy happy."



-------

Chapter 26


I thought fast. I had forgotten about the microphones when my testosterone level rose. As quick as I could, I said, "I'm afraid you fell for my plan. I had found the three bugs in the house, the two in the van and the one on the phone. I hope you enjoyed our performance."

"You did not know at all."

"Then tell me how I knew how many bugs there were? Do you want me to tell you exactly where they are? Now that your blackmail bolt has failed, what do you want?"

"We will talk about it later after you think about what will happen when this tape goes to the police."

"That would be interesting because we have the same tape along with this conversation." There was an abrupt disconnection and I checked the display again. There was no caller ID.

Jonna was not quite asleep and reacted to what had almost happened. "What are your plans now?"

"We take out the bugs tomorrow morning and look for more."

"Then what?"

"We wait for their next move while we try to continue with business."

The mood in the house changed. We searched for and extracted the bugs. I had plans to use them ourselves one day. We would now have to put up with somebody following us.

We drove into the city with two cars and we saw that a vehicle had followed us. I spoke on a radio to a man that helped put the security system in our home. Miraculously some kids driving a stolen car collided with the one following us. The kids then fled the scene. A few blocks later we were in two rental car stored in a mall parking lot.

We entered the mall and picked up all the new releases in DVD format for Bejek. With a little dubbing we could have Ladra subtitled. People had to learn more English. The youngsters were shown the arcade and we wasted a few hours but it was fun for me to watch the kids having fun.

Later, we went to Toronto and hit the military surplus stores and bought the toys that would actually keep us alive. Gun cleaning kits we bought by the gross.

The knives were under glass and I usually got a lot of them because they were so useful and much stronger than those made in Bejek.

The proprietor came over and I said, "How many of these knives do you have in stock?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I thought you were trying to sell them. That's fine, we can go down the street."

"I'm sorry, Sir. Let me check on the computer." He came back later and said, "Fifty six, Sir."

"I'll give you twelve bucks each and you pay the tax if you want the deal."

"They cost almost nineteen each."

"I want them all. Now, how many of those others are in stock?"

In a moment he came back. "A hundred and seventy six."

"I'll give you eleven each. Do you have any exceptional knives?"

"Those behind me."

I gave a quick look and said, "Those are for children that like shiny toys. I want quality."

There was a box under the counter with an assortment of knives. I tapped them and then tried to bend the blade under my foot and they looked good. Camsa picked up one and the owner said, "Watch that. Those are sharp."

Camsa tossed the knife and caught it and tried to get a feel for it. The boy commented, "It has poor," he talked to me mentally then he added, "balance."

The owner looked peeved and said, "How would you know?"

Camsa looked at me and got permission so he took the knife and turned swiftly and threw the knife to the back of the store. The blade stuck in a two by four that was used as a post to support some old camo uniforms. Nobody was in the back so this was safe but possibly costly if Camsa destroyed something.

While the owner acted like a fish out of water, Camsa said, "I had to — twist more than needed."

Caiti reached for a knife and she said, "Watch me."

I took the weapon from her and said, "You can play at home, Sweetie. Camsa was explaining that he knows more about knives than the proprietor thought."

"Can I get a new knife?"

"Yes, if we come to a deal here. You have to practice too."

"I will, I promise."

We bought all the night sights the store had and the youngsters wanted canteens, compasses, black face paint, black balaclavas, and Caiti said, "I need a new scope. I want one like you have."

I asked the proprietor, "Do you have any range finding scopes?"

"What gun do you have?"

"It's for Caiti. She uses a match quality AK-47. She loads her own ammo and she can hit what she aims for."

"She looks six."

"She is. She's mean too."

The man had one scope and Caiti looked at the specs and said, "This isn't military grade or even close."

"I'm sorry, but we have no better. If you don't mind answering young lady, how good are you?"

"I can hit man sized targets at five hundred metres."

"That's very good."

Caiti added, "Nine out of ten times it's in the head."

The man stood back now. All of us were fair shots.

The man said, "Did you ever try full auto? No, no. I take it back. I never said that. Is there anything else you would like? Perhaps I can order what we don't stock."

"Gimme your card. We like quality but in quantity."

We totalled up what we got and I stuck to my demands for the knives and got the price. Camsa got the knife he threw but it would have to be balanced.

Caiti got her scope at a specialty store and then the rest had to upgrade as well. This put a real dint in what cash I had. The same sporting goods store had many good fishfinders and I bought quite a few and looked for a discount. My trip through the archipelago was still in my mind. We found better ones later made as sonar for small yachts but I'd have to get these when I had more cash.

We stayed in Toronto that night and we walked downtown. Toronto was usually a safe city but for some reason even the beggars stayed away from us. Perhaps it was the way we walked, looking for threats, that threw them off. We did more shopping the next day, then drove west towards London.

At the truck stop we took the two fuel trucks and drove homeward until we could set up the larger silver chain between two trees on a road. Now it was Caiti's turn and she visualised the barn. We went through and then opened the other portal. The two trucks went through.

I could go through, but they may have our house watched and wondered how the rental car got here. We drove home and took the exit to get our vehicles and then shift over the cargo. Lauren's car was small but the van had lots of room left. When our exit came I decided to continue and drop in on Mom and Dad.

When we stopped, Mom didn't come to the door right away but we hadn't called ahead. When Mom answered the door, I saw the security chain in place before it was opened for real.

Mom hugged us hard and I could hear some sniffles. "What's wrong Mom?"

"Nothing, Your father was hurt a little."

I left her and hurried through the kitchen to the living room. Dad was sitting in a chair holding a cold compress to his face.

"What happened Dad?"

"I had a fight."

This didn't sound right, "About what?"

"Just some hooligans."

"About what, Dad?"

Dad stalled then said, "They wanted to know where you were. One had a bandage on his head from another fight."

"Oh, shit!" I had some thinking to do then said because of the possible microphones, "We found bugs in our house. We put on an act and the people bit and started to try to blackmail me. I had everything recorded including the telephone conversation and the guy hung up."

"What did he want?"

"It had to do with business, I think. He had nothing to threaten me with so he didn't make demands."

"Were you fighting with him?"

"Dad, I outgrew that years ago." My big smile said I was being sarcastic. "Since they had no bugs on our vehicles they had to follow us. I heard an accident behind us early yesterday. If that was them, they might have been hurt."

"Too bad they didn't die."

Mom burst out, "No! Don't say that. Don't even think that."

Camsa came to Mom and in a broken speech said, "I will fight for you."

Mom's face changed and she hugged Camsa to her. Caiti was not to be outdone and went to Dad and said, "You were right. They're not good people. You have to fight those."

I whispered to Jonna and she took my small chain and Lauren downstairs. In a few moments she came back with two of the coins and the bug detector. I handed one coin to Dad but put my finger across my lips. We went to the table and I wrote on a piece of paper, "Keep the coin near you all of the time and I mean all the time. They are like a tracking bug. The alternative is to take a vacation until all this blows over."

He wrote, "What's happening?"

"Someone wants the gold," I replied.

Dad looked at the coin with odd lettering and a strange face then put it in his pocket. I wrote, "In your shoe may be better, under the lining near the toes." Dad nodded.

Mom got a coin then the paper and she put hers in her bra. I wrote, "Go to a jeweller and have him make a silver band to hold the coin to a silver necklace." This time Mom nodded.

We spotted two bugs and pointed them out. Mom held Dad because her home had been invaded. A written conversation asked them to keep the bugs there for a few days because I needed a way to feed the thugs some disinformation.

We stayed the night even though there weren't that many beds. The kids didn't mind the floor and compared to the camping out during battles, the carpet was good.

The girls and I talked mentally. As far as I knew, nobody could tap this form of communication. I wanted to deal with this group of men before they thought up a good plan. Given time, they would also gain strength. This situation had to be defused as soon as possible.

Jonna said to Lauren verbally, "Those guys were not very big to pick on Dad. They were so easy to get rid of that two boys did it. They had no planning other than to put some bugs in the house. The only thing they did with any skill was getting around the alarms."

"Well, we have some people coming in now. They're going to have to go back to their sandbox and find some other boys they can pick on."

I said now, "They're just thugs trying to get a piece of the pie. They went about this foolishly. When Mario comes, the rats will jump ship pretty quick."

"When's he coming?"

"The day after tomorrow. He's finishing a job in Argentina."

"I heard he lost three men there."

"That hurt a lot, but the rest are not lightweights. There's going to be some bodies when the dust settles."

There was a few moments to switch from fermenting a clash with our enemies to change to lust, or perhaps it was mostly love. The hanky-panky started up but I only had fun with Jonna and Lauren. This was being recorded so I had to play safe. The rest were subdued because of Mom and Dad being here. It was fun to make the girls gasp but not make a noise. Of course they got their revenge too.

The house was disorganised the next morning. There were too many people with too many different agendas. The house had an unmistakable odour and had to be aired out. I looked more than a little peaked from my labours but poor Camsa looked thoroughly drained. The bugs let the opposition know where we were. Mom and Dad went off to work and we drove home while looking for an attack.

We shifted through the portal to Bejek and used the weapons we bought from Willie. The new scopes had to be fitted and sighted in but I didn't have to do it.

Camsa and Caiti tested their new knives. I had to take the blades to the barn and do some crude work on them until they liked the balance.

Max had found a beauty from Bejek, too. There were only a few breeds of dogs here. They seemed to be bred for strength and ferocity. The female was bigger than him. I could see no particular breed she would fall into if she came to Earth. The bitch looked a little full but three of my women were carrying my children too.

We met people and some shot with us. This was a social thing to do even if I wasn't a king here. The brass was gathered up like copper to be reused later.

We returned home and showered. A massage was in order but I was the slave here. I did get some attention later. After a meal we left in two cars again so I could make phone calls. People had been turning gold into cash and I directed where I wanted this commodity to go. Usually, it was into numbered accounts.

I made a call to a hit team and they would be ready once more with a method of removing our tail. This time it would be less violent but still give us time to get to the rental cars. Three cars had a minor accident and stopped to check the damage and our tail was left far behind.

We called the airport and found that Gus wasn't busy. We went over for a visit. Gus asked, "Is this your corporation?"

"You can look at it that way. There are a lot more and it may be better to just purchase a plane or two and use them for training purposes."

"We have some good planes for sale."

"Any with folding wings like they have on carriers?"

"Now those are as scarce as chicken teeth. We scrapped the Bonaventure almost forty years ago and there has been no need since. We might have planes that will land on American ships. You'll have to go south to find them I'm afraid."

"Thanks for the advice. Are there enough people here to give this group an off the cuff flight lesson?"

"At the same time?"

"Yes."

Gus thought a few seconds and said, "We can do that. I wish we had a corporate jet or a turbo prop but they cost too much to operate and have to be used all the time to pay for themselves."

Only Lauren and I had flown before but the rest were frightened. Matra was the most scared and she came to me and looked down. "Master, I'm frightened."

She spoke in Ladra which hid the word Master but her tone of voice was enough to get a look from Gus. In the same language I said, "You will be brave for me. It will be necessary to use these devices in Bejek one day and we need people that can fly them. These devices are not dangerous and the need for pilots will be great. We are trying to change a world."

Matra thought about this and said while looking at the ground, "I will try my best for you, Master."

"I knew you would, Sweetie."

I broke the group up into sizes that would fit on the existing planes. At least one of the older ones had to stay with the younger ones. I took off last. I could feel the fear. It was so thick I had difficulty breathing. This made me frightened and there was no need to be. In five minutes the fear was still there but now manageable. In ten everybody was looking out the windows and taking pictures of the ground.

Lauren, Jonna and Fislu got a chance to control the plane from the copilot's seat even though it was hard for them to see out the windshield.

We landed after fifteen minutes only to rotate the copilot's seat and we flew once more. The second time the fear was a lot less and what there was diminished even quicker. This procedure had to happen two more times before all of us had a chance to fly. Matra was able to do this twice and I felt that she enjoyed herself now.

When we landed the last time everybody had questions about flying. I did too, but had to phone people to get supplies for my other life. Used tractors and farm equipment was bought from all over. This would all be exported. Good used trucks, from pickups to dump trucks, were purchased. Keeping them all running was going to be a nightmare.

We had lunch and went to marinas to check on boats. Here we were really looking at providing power to the existing hulls we had. In this case some Volvo marine diesels looked the best. I asked a few questions about French made engines and apparently there were quite a few brands. While I was asking questions, the rest were looking at video clips of boats racing by with skiers behind or people pulling in fish. At no time did we see anybody shooting to save their lives from people with matchlocks and cannon.

After a late meal we arrived home. The light was on the phone but I was going to answer the calls later. The phone did ring when I was in the washroom and Jonna came to me with a worried look and a closed off mind.

I finished quickly and took the phone from Jonna. "Hello."

"Hi, Hugh — "

The voice quickly changed and a voice I remembered said, "Are you ready to talk to us now?"

That was my mother's voice and then the man from a few days ago. I said angrily, "Are my parents well?"

"So are you ready to talk?"

"Answer my question first."

"What if I don't? What will you do?"

"You still want something from me or you wouldn't have done this."

"Your parents are fine. Your father is only bruised a little."

The family was running around now and I had to stall. "What do you want?"

"Why, just to talk to you."

"Where and when?"

"You seem more than a farmer or even a rich farmer so we are going to take this very carefully. Get into your van. We will follow you for a while and eventually guide you here."

"Let me talk to my father."

"Be my guest."

The phone was moved and I heard Dad say, "Don't come!"

"I'm coming Dad, I have to. Don't be worried, they just want me. You would stay quiet to protect the rest of us. Were you hurt?"

"Not much. There's lots of th - "

The next voice said, "That should satisfy you."

"I believe that they weren't hurt much and for that I will be easier on you."

The man laughed and said, "You do that. We will meet before the evening is over." The man then hung up.

Jonna said verbally because she was so upset, "We found them."

Camsa, Caiti and Lauren were using the headbands. I had to match up with Lauren's mind and saw the inside of a basement room. Mom and Dad had their hands tied but looked unhurt.

Verbally I said, "Try to look out the windows or beyond the walls."

Only Camsa was able to do this and it took him time. I saw a field and trees so the house was in the country.

Jonna said, "Are we going in?"

It took me a moment to say, "We need our vests."

Fislu had a portal open to the barn and I opened the portal to Bejek. We startled the people as we ran through and got dressed for war. Harnesses were put on then we strapped on grenades and automatics.

There were requests to help us but I denied this. Soon we were back in the barn. I said, "Fislu, open the smaller gate to the basement of that house. Jonna and Tiffany will come with me. We will put medallions on Mom and Dad and send them back here. Caiti open the big portal when we compress it to stay under the windows outside the house. Don't let anybody escape but try not to kill. We need answers."

The large portal was made short and it opened to the exterior of the basement wall. Lauren and Selna ran through and nodded their heads. The rest came through.

Fislu opened the other portal and I dove through and came up facing two startled men. They went for their guns and I shot them in the shoulders. Shots were fired behind me. I turned to see three other men fall over.

I ran to Mom and put a medallion on her neck before picking her up. I pushed her through to portal then did the same to Dad. Gunfire was heard upstairs and I called to Fislu. "Collapse the portal and come to us." She did not answer but the portal ceased operation.

Jonna and Tiffany followed quickly as we searched the basement for others. We climbed the steps only to have the door flung open. I fired at the head quickly and burst into the hall with the girls right behind. I had to step over the body.

Men were behind furniture. Nobody was standing. The windows were shot out. I pulled a frag and threw it into an unoccupied corner and dropped to the floor. Somebody saw me and rose only to be thrown to one side by the grenade.

I raced into one room and the girls went the other way. Shots were still fired outside but I raced into the room before me and kicked or clubbed men. I had to shoot one. I kicked the guns away and looked outside. There were cars parked on the road and men behind them but the girls were making them keep their heads down. One ran and only got a few metres before his body jerked three times.

I continued to the next room and found a man coming out. I used the gun to poke his larynx and I then kicked him in the crotch. One other man was coming behind but dropped his gun and put up his hands, "Don't shoot."

"Turn around."

"Sure, don't shoot."

I pushed him onto the floor and looked for threats then used a tie wrap on the man's wrists. I gave good advice. "Stay still or die. Your choice."

One man ran past the doorway and I got up and gave chase. He turned to fire and I moved back into the room. Bullets came through the wall so I turned the gun and fired in his direction. More shots followed but they were not aimed at me. I heard the man scream and then the sound of falling.

I heard, "I got him."

Shit, I had not been communicating as I fought. Jonna was looking at the guy and Tiffany was searching closets and under beds. I came out and called to them. "You guys have one chance to live. Put down your guns and raise your hands. Look away from the doorways. If you look threatening, you die."

The shooting intensified outside and I saw a lot of men with their hands in the air. We had to get out of here. A war zone near London was going to draw cops sooner or later.

I went through the prisoners and tie wrapped all but the dead. When I looked outside I saw Caiti and Camsa using short barrelled AK-47's to herd the men this way.

Jonna said mentally, "What are we going to do now? They saw the portals."

In a few seconds I said, "We have some emigrants for Bejek."

We went outside to see the men's wrists being secured. I called out, "Who has the keys for the cars?"

One man said, "I have one. It's the blue chevy. You can have it."

"Where's the keys?"

"My right pants pocket."

I got the keys then found others that had keys. I herded the men into the cars. Fislu opened a portal from here then went back to the barn. In a moment we had more cars filled and the large portal shutdown. The portal was put up on a clothesline and then pushed up with a metal pole from a pool.

In moments the large portal opened and Tiffany drove the first car into the garage and then into Bejek. Her horn was blaring to call attention to her. We did this to all the cars. I had the fulcrum and the Heart of Opfu with me and the former was used to pick up Dad's car and I walked with it through the two gates and then beyond. I came back for a new pickup with its load of dead and wounded.

I heard sirens in the distance and used some gasoline from my shed near the barn to spread in the house. There were a few receivers attached to tape machines that I might be able to use. These went into the portal. I threw a frag and came through the large portal with the smaller chain.

Mom and Dad were watching from the side of the barn. "Come with me. I have something to show you." The receivers were put to one side. When I saw my parents, they were looking to me and then scene from Bejek. They finally followed. We closed down the portals.

Dad mumbled, "I never saw this building on the farm before, Hugh. Who are these people?"

"They're friends of mine. I have to take care of other matters first. We'll talk in a while." I turned to the residents and said in Ladra, "These are my parents. They're upset at all this."

Some of the old women with AK-47's came close and put the rifles over their shoulders and talked in Ladra to my parents. Another sent a message to Artlam and Mantoya about the new prisoners and the cars with bullet holes in them. I did not talk personally but the cars would interest them. The men were my responsibility.

We stripped our prisoners. Camsa used his camera to take pictures. Lauren gathered names. Some did not want to talk so she ignored them. The dead were stripped and photographed before they were taken away to be disposed of. I was working on those that needed medical help. If they needed it, I used the heart on them.

It was hours later that I could take a rest. Reinforcements had to have been called in by the gang we fought. We killed five men and captured thirteen more. One of those had died later. There were still men at large because somebody had to have been ready to follow me when I went to get my parents.

Mom and Dad were sitting at a table sipping tea. The two older women were there and so were some children. The guns were not seen.

I picked up a child and sat in the chair while I put the girl on my lap. They gave me a few seconds and I began. "When Grandma Audrey died I found some silver articles including a mirror frame. I discovered some hidden artifacts when the mirror frame was hit by lightning and more when I moved a bookcase.

"We discovered that if some of the silver articles were combined with the frame we would see new worlds."

Mom said, "Worlds, Hugh?"

"Yes, Mom. You are not on Earth now." Both of my parents were very quiet as I let them digest what I said.

I talked to the children instead, about what they were learning until Dad said, "Tell us more, Hugh. I don't understand any of it."

"The silver pieces work like magic to us, but I believe that it's just super science." I waited and Dad finally nodded.

"Well, Max jumped through the portal when I touched it with a key. This is the world I found. Lauren and Tiffany came here with me to explore. We found Jonna, Kuenta, Fislu, Selna, Ronnas, Andis and Caiti. Some had been raped by an enemy patrol coming through this area. They all would have been raped including Caiti and she was just four at the time. Tell me when you have digested that."

I went back to talking to the children and requested some tea for me. Mom said, "What happened then?"

"We fought the patrol. We killed all but one it seems. If we had abandoned the women and girls here, they would have been tortured and killed to get information they didn't possess. We brought them home instead."

"So they're not from Romania?"

"None of them are. This world is called Bejek. This rough city is one we just started. It's called Woodland. The technology on Bejek is like our late eighteenth century. They have cannon and matchlock rifles. They also have fair chemistry and a good knowledge of medicine. I'll call Jonna over and she can tell you about her life here. Try to remember that the morality here is different. Girls marry young and male births are less than one tenth of the total. The males fight and die so there aren't that many men around."

Jonna came over and talked about her early life. She pulled her punches but still covered everything. She introduced Fislu and Selna as her daughters now. She ended her story by telling about Kuenta, Ronnas and Andis being killed while defending Shreff.

Only a portion of the tale was told and I said, "You can sleep here tonight or in your own beds. You have work to go to tomorrow and perhaps some stories have to be fabricated. What happened at that farm will be in all the news. I ask that you be quiet. We got most of those that were after the gold but not all of them."

Mom asked, "Are you going to let them go?"

"Yes, Mom but not back on Earth for a few years. Look at it as a sentence that is far more lenient than they will get there."

"But, they must have families."

"They didn't think of them when they committed a double kidnapping and then started shooting. They were prepared to kill too."

"That's still not right."

"There are only a few options. They die, they are put in jail until they die or complete their sentence, they work here for their sentence and I send some money to their families with a note that they may not return for a few years."

"That's cruel."

"That's reality, Mom. At least the wives can begin to look for new mates."

"The police could deal with them."

"Do you mean that I should allow the laws of Canada to deal with them?"

"Sure."

Dad backed me up and said, "They'd get off. They would say you and I attacked them."

"Nobody would believe that. This isn't the States."

"Our laws are manipulated just as much. We just don't hear about it."

"That's insane."

I said, "That's the way people make laws. Since the men are here now, I will leave their fate to the government of this country."

"Will they get a fair trial?"

"Yes, everything is based on truth or as much as a Human can see it."

"Ok, I guess I want to go home now."

We headed for Dad's car when Mom noticed Caiti limping. Mom stopped and touched Caiti's shoulder. "What happened, Dear."

"I was shot but it didn't do much. Hugh fixed me up."

"You were shot!"

"Sure, who do you think came to take these guys out?"

"But you're only a baby."

"Don't call me that Grandma. I'm not a child."

"But you could have been hurt?"

"Sure, and so could the rest. Camsa was hurt worse and he's doing ok now."

"Camsa?" Mom turned and hurried to the boy and bent over in front of him. "What happened, Sweetie?"

Camsa started but I had to give him the English words. "Somebody was going to shoot Fislu and I shot the guy in the head. His friend got me. He hit the vest three times then a round grazed my neck."

Mom looked at the bandage and when she touched it, Canmsa pulled away. "I'm sorry, Sweetie. I didn't know."

"The pain is not much now. We fight to protect family. This world is not soft like Earth. You need to be strong to live."

"You and Caiti can stay with us. You can go to school."

"Most of my family is with me now. I learn fast here and I can do something to help. On your world I would be nothing."

"That's not true, Sweetie."

"It's you that see wrong."

Mom turned to me and said, "Tell him, Hugh."

"Mom, laws are a only a set of rules that holds our society together. Customs are like laws, too. These men are parasites eating a weak patient. Earth is weak and soft. Bejek has uneducated people and laws that favour only a few. Camsa, Caiti and the rest are helping make Bejek a better educated place. Perhaps the way people have to be is some place between. A strong Earth is a healthy Earth. It's your attitude that isn't healthy when we have to deal with men like those we met today."

Mom hung her head and Dad helped her into the truck. When Dad went to get in, Caiti got in first and claimed Mom's lap. Camsa got in next and sat on the seat. Dad took a while to grasp this and he got in and closed the door.

Fislu opened the portal and we drove into the garage. Fislu used the smaller portal after closing the main one. We walked into the basement of our home directly.

Mom and Dad were flustered by this but we turned on the radio and the television and waited. We found that a lot of people knew very little about what had happened.

Tiffany said mentally, "We have a problem."

"What?"

"Your mother's coin is not in her bra. I looked and it's in a box with a lot of our shell casings." When I did not catch on she said, "Your mother's fingerprints and maybe yours."



-------

Chapter 27


"Our prints aren't on record."

"What if they pull you in for dealing with guns someday. They'll know you're involved in this."

"Let's get the box."

The box was in the trunk of a police car along with a police shotgun and a spare vest. The trunk opened and this surprised us. More casings in plastic bags were added then the trunk closed. We had not been smart because our fingerprints were on the casings. All the gangsters had to do was tell the cops and I'd be pulled in and fingerprinted.

"Jonna, go get some of the casings we — never mind. Get some cloth gloves, a bowl and a bottle of rubbing alcohol."

When we were ready, we waited until more casings were found. The trunk stayed open a long time as people looked at the evidence. When the trunk closed, we opened up a portal and took the entire box while Caiti monitored the area around the car.

Mom and Dad watched us empty the bags and wipe the casings then put them on the table to be blown dry with a hair dryer. We even cleaned the rounds that were shot at us.

Mom asked, "What are you doing?"

"Your son isn't that smart. We're taking the evidence to clean off the fingerprints."

"Oh."

The box was back in place before more casings were added. Caiti brought the box back again to clean the new batch before returning them. The clean coin had to stay until we got all the evidence. The coin was too valuable to just leave.

Later, the car left with the evidence. We hoped that when more was found, we could trace it with the coin and erase anything incriminating. Mom and Dad slept here tonight. The Heart of Opfu had to help a bit.

Mom and Dad went to work in the morning. Tiffany, Jonna and I followed in another car. The police had no reason to talk to them but some men might. Tiffany and Jonna worked in the store with Mom and Dad, just in case. I had to do something in Bejek.

I had the silver icons necessary to make the men into slaves to any degree I wanted. I wanted answers first. They came in a variety of languages. Most were French Canadian but some were Russian and English. Kapsirko Bakhtin was the main man behind this. He had sold a lot of weapons to Willie that eventually came to me.

Kapsirko lived in Montreal where the main mob stronghold was for North America. Some thought New York or Vegas was, but the American police had whittled the mob's strength down substantially. The lawmen were using the laws used to catch terrorist and the mob families were decimated.

I was not going to get rid of the men threatening my family unless I got the Russian to call them off.

I gathered a lot of details about the minor tsar. I was happy to find that he had a great many more weapons that I could put to use.

The other girls were brought in and they questioned my new slaves. On deeper questioning we found that some had skills I could use. Not all were associated with the military but some were. One happened to be the chief armourer for a mob family.

When I finished with the men, they appeared normal. They saw me as their rightful king. They would do what I wanted until I sent them home one day. Their conditioning would gradually fade and I would have to renew it in a few years. In the mean time, I would have to find a long term treatment if they were ever going to return to Earth.

The evidence box was sorted and checked for fingerprints. Later that day two more AK casings were added and Camsa was able to smudge the prints through the bag and I just hoped it was enough.

When Mom and Dad came home they looked happier. We had cleaned out their house in the mean time and even started a meal. Everybody was sitting around the table now.

Dad asked, "Are you going to continue with the story you started?"

"I have to talk to somebody to get the men here called off."

Mom asked as she looked down the table, "How are the children?"

"Both are good and Caiti has completely healed."

"That's good to hear. I don't know what I would do if they were really hurt or worse."

"Both would like to stay here a few days. You can watch them and they'll help you in the store." The children grinned to show they liked the idea.

"They're children. They don't have to work."

"I remember you saying that I had to work when I was Caiti's age."

"You're our son and had to learn."

"Caiti and Camsa are part of my family and they have to learn."

"Well, ok, just so I can watch them."

The two children left their chairs and kissed their Grandma and hugged her. Mom looked happy to have children around her.

Jonna, Lauren, Tiffany and I flew to Montreal that night and stayed in a hotel. Jonna was less apprehensive this time because the darkness helped to hide our altitude.

The next day, we found Bakhtin. He got out of his limo and entered the building he owned. Around him were three bodyguards, a driver, and a good-looking secretary. Lauren hit me and said, "We are after the man, not the woman."

She could read minds better than most women so I meekly said, "Yes, Dear."

Tiffany added, "She probably checks his sperm count a few times a day."

"The way I try to lick your ovaries from the inside?"

I got a cut off smile and she said, "She's a slut and we're your mates. And don't forget it."

"No, Dear."

We looked for a way of getting Bakhtin alone for ten minutes but nothing seemed to be safe enough. We telephoned the store and talked to Dad and found everything ok. He asked seriously, "Does Caiti have a gun?"

"Her rifle is in a safe place."

"What about a pistol, Hugh?"

"She probably has her Glock. You know how girls like to have their toys. Besides, it's a small one."

"Six year-old girls have dolls. She could get hurt."

"Caiti's six, as you said, but she is also very accomplished in handling a pistol. She handles a mortar quite well too."

"That's not funny."

"Dad, it's true. My girl is growing up in a tough environment. I'm protecting her the best I can and preparing her to take care of herself, too."

"Does Camsa have a gun as well?"

"No, he's a sweet boy." I did not say it because he had three knives.

"Yes, I noticed that. I hope he grows up right."

"You're talking customs again, Dad. Camsa will fit in well in his country."

Later, when it looked like a daylight talk was out of the question I bought a box with a magnet designed to hide a key in a car. When I put one of the coins wrapped in paper inside, neither the metal nor the magnet field affected it. We each had a coin hidden on us in case we were nabbed. We had a few more to work with for the portal.

We waited for Bakhtin's car to arrive. When it approached, Tiffany and Jonna hurried across the street. It was near rush hour and the car was temporarily blocked. Tiffany dropped her purse behind the driver and bent over to pick it up. I watched the man avidly look at the young woman's butt as she picked her property up. It was Jonna that set the coin in place.

The car found its parking spot that had a reserved sign on it from the Montreal Police Department.

The wait was nearly an hour but the same people came down and got into the limo. Flagging down a taxi was not easy until I flashed money. We got in quickly with the girls. Lauren got to sit up front and keep the driver interested.

The driver asked in French where I was going. My high school French was never good so I said, "We're new to the city and want you to just drive for us. Go straight ahead, please."

"Certainly."

I handed him a tip for stopping and that put him in a better mood. The girls chatted like tourists but Jonna and I watched the car ahead of us. It was hard to hide the headband.

The driver asked Lauren, "What are those things?"

"Have your ever heard of pyramid power?"

"Yeah, a few times on the radio. Is that it?"

"Close. It lets these two concentrate better.

"No shit? I mean, really?"

"No shit is good for me."

We got on the express way but the traffic wasn't much faster. Two exits later the car ahead pulled off and after I told Lauren, she said to the driver, "Take the exit after the next one."

"Sure."

Lauren had him make three more turns after that. When we came to an apartment near the area where the car stopped we got the street name from the driver then drove on. The neighbourhood got swankier until we came to a gated community and we turned back.

Jonna mentally asked, "What now?"

"We find the girl and ask her questions."

"Is that all you want to do?"

"I have three ladies in this car that keep me well drained without all the help you get." This seemed to mollify them a bit.

We got out of the car a block from the apartment building and I gave the driver another tip.

Lauren said, "What now? I'm bored of sightseeing."

"Then try to find someone that will tell you the person's name that just got dropped off."

"How am I going to do that?"

"Take out your phone and say you saw the women that got out of a limo drop it."

"You're smarter than you look."

"Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment."

The rest of us walked up and down the block. Lauren had to talk to five people before a young boy gave her the name, floor, and access to the building. She spent a long time with the boy and her mind was closed to us. I noticed this miffed Jonna and Tiffany more than they let on.

Lauren got the boy's name and said she would mention this to the woman. The boy turned red but smiled a lot. If he only knew what a woman took out of a man. My thoughts were interrupted by two women hitting me. I hadn't closed my mind to them.

Lauren came to the front doors and opened them for us. She pointed to the mailbox with the name Christiane Roux on it with some pride. I noticed that there was no Mrs or even as Ms. She may or may not be alone though.

Jonna said, "You took long enough."

Before Lauren could answer I said, "You look smug."

"I guess I am."

"Well, spill it."

"I had Marc wrapped around my finger. He's in love or in lust with Christiane. When I saw the way he was looking at me, I figured it had to be lust."

Jonna said, "Well, what did you learn?"

"The boy gave me her bra size along with the information that today she usually goes out for groceries. The woman is not married and no men go to her apartment. She has women friends come over once in a while. He's sure that she's a model but he has not seen her picture in Playboy, Penthouse or Hustler."

"Now there is a dedicated young man. How are we going to get her?"

"She has a car in the underground parking garage in spot number 721. It's a red Porsche that happens to turn the boy on. The woman is supposed to be taking a shower now. In twenty minutes she is going to get into her sports car and roar off for some groceries. The basement has a video camera but it's not checked unless there's a problem."

I asked, "What's her panty colour?"

"Well, the boy has seen pink twice and white three times."

"Does she shave?"

"Marc wasn't sure."

Jonna said, "Men, that's all they think about."

"I might point out in my own defence that Lauren asked all those questions so she could get the info. What does that say to you?"

"That she's trying to be thorough."

I gave a small smile and she made a face and looked away. Sometimes women were so irrational. This time I had my shields up and they didn't hit me. They did glare because they could guess my thoughts.

We walked into the garage with me kissing Jonna as we walked. Lauren and Tiffany just walked in our shadow until we got passed the camera. I pointed out where I wanted the girls to be when Christiane came out. Until then we had to mark time and stay away from the cars. They had alarms and people got suspicious and angry if there were strangers around their beloved vehicles.

Christiane came out later than usual. There were people around and we had to play this one by ear. Tiffany and Lauren were chatting as they interrupted the woman as she walked down the roadway.

"Hi, do you know Janet?"

"I don't know any Janet, now get out of my way."

I could feel Lauren getting angry now. "Sure, Honey."

They moved aside and Lauren punched the woman. The mugging did not go as planned because Christiane was a fighter. Jonna had to run in and put Christiane in a head lock from behind. Lauren got in and gave the woman a good punch to the stomach. I came in when it was safe. The women now showed real fear. The silver slave was put to the woman's head and she collapsed.

Tiffany fished out the keys to the Porsche and both Christiane and I got in. The other girls straightened their clothing and then used the keys to get into the lobby. We didn't know if there was an alarm on the apartment.

I spent my time looking through the purse. There was a lot of crap but some could be useful when we learned more. Christiane finally awoke and looked at me. There was no fear now. She said quietly in a delightfully accented voice, "Who are you?" The words were in French though.

I said quietly in English, "Your master."

She thought about this but did not react. I said, "Is there anybody in your apartment?"

She replied in English, "No, Master."

"Is there anybody expected?"

"Yes, Master."

"Who?"

"Louise."

"Why is she coming over?"

There was a small hesitation then she said, "We have sex, Master."

"When is she coming?"

"In two hours. I was going to get the meal prepared."

"Use your cell and break the date."

Christiane called Louise and the date cancelled. "Get out of the car, we're going back to your apartment."

"Yes, Master."

Tiffany came to the door to let us into the building proper and handed the keys to Christiane. The apartment was nice and it did have an alarm.

When we all sat down, Tiffany asked Christiane, "Tell us about your lover?"

"Which one?"

This was a little surprising. "List them for me."

Christiane spit out a list of seven women's names. In a moment she discussed her relationships with each of the women. I wanted to learn about my objective but the conversation was interesting.

Christiane was twenty two and had modelled. The girls hit her like a tag-team. She answered all sorts of intimate questions. In the course of forty minutes we learned that she had been raped twice in her youth. She swore off men.

The conversation led to her life today and I saw that she was a prostitute as well as an apparently competent executive secretary since she went to school for that.

I asked, "How did you meet Kapsirko Bakhtin?"

"At a party, Master."

"How come you have sex with him every day when you obviously prefer women?"

"It's part of my job."

"Why did you take a job with him?"

"I had to."

I thought of Bakhtin forcing her and asked, "How did he force you?"

"It was the police, Master."

"Tell me more about this."

"I was caught with an underage girl. I was charged but the next day I was approached by the Sûreté du Québec." This was the Quebec Provincial Police in English. "They wanted me to work for Kapsirko Bakhtin. They arranged for us to meet and how I was to act. The man took me to bed for a few weeks when the police pulled me away. Bakhtin soon took the bait and offered me a job. I have been handling his affairs for almost a year now."

"Which kind of affairs, business or romance?"

"There is no romance. Bakhtin likes young women and to see me have sex with them in front of his friends."

Jonna jumped in now and asked many more intimate questions. Christiane was regularly gangbanged. Drugs helped her some, but not enough. Not long after all four girls were hugging each other on the couch. I could not feel lust in this but just the way people huddled together to convey their deepest feelings.

Lauren said to me, "I want to use the heart on her."

I got up and touched the heart to the girl and examined her body. Soon I had to have her lay on the floor and I lay beside her. She had a fucked-up body even at this age. There were diseases running rampant through her that were different from those seen in Bejek.

When it looked like her body was more actively fighting the diseases, I wondered about the drug dependency. I called the girls in and they linked through my mind to investigate the situation. This sort of affliction was not common on Bejek but it did exist. The girls worked through me because only one person could do this. When we finished, Christiane was curled into a ball.

We made a meal for all of us and soon we had Christiane talking about Bakhtin and his commercial empire. She had intimate knowledge but only of certain portions. The gunrunning and other illegal activities, apart from a little prostitution, were not mentioned. It occurred to me that Bakhtin had only let Christiane know enough to keep the cops happy and not enough to have him convicted of anything.

The girls watched movies that night cuddled together as I sat in an easy chair. Later, they slept together but there was no sex. The girls treated Christiane like their child even though she was older than Lauren and Tiffany.

We woke up at four in the morning and used a taxi to go out for breakfast. At five we were in front of Bakhtin's building. Christiane went to the main door and hammered on the glass until the watchman appeared. He was suspicious but Christiane used a story about forgetting something that had to be done before Bakhtin went into one of his rages.

The man let her in and walked with her to the elevators. Christiane managed to get him to one side then pulled out a gun. The man backed up and Christiane ordered him in no uncertain terms to do as he was told or she would splatter his brains all over the floor and walls. We couldn't hear this but this is what she had to say.

We could see the man arguing with her and she dropped her purse and brought out a knife in her other hand. The man got a few small holes in him and decided he was no hero. The man backed away four metres before Christiane threw him a tie wrap from her purse. The man had to put it on in front so he could use his teeth to tighten it.

A few moments later we heard two shots in the security room. It was a nervous four minutes later that Christiane came alone to open the door for us.

The girls raced to security as Christiane stood before me with her head down.

"Were there any complications?"

"No, Master. There was another man in the office and he needed something to make him do as I asked."

"You are a good slave then."

She looked up and smiled.

I worked on both men for ten minutes. They were now partially my slaves. There was a lot to know about Bakhtin's security and it was fortunate that we did it this way. Bakhtin's offices were monitored by a different set of cameras and recording devices. There were also a lot of buttons that the man could push to summon help.

The tie wraps were removed and we hurried upstairs. The office was opened and we went to the security room. Our entrance had been recorded on both tape and a harddrive. I had to work at shutting down the program and erasing the file. The tape was much easier.

Finding all the buttons was a lot harder. I just cut wires when I found them and hoped that they were not normally closed switches. At six, the guards and Christiane left. The rest of us would stay in the security room when Bakhtin arrived with his guards and Christiane. The girls had fun investigating the room. When they found a wall safe they were excited.

This reminded me of the trunk of the police car and I smiled. "Tiffany, get some tape and stick a coin to the safe."

She thought for a moment then she and the rest smiled. The tape held the coin and I used the headband to see what was within. I gathered enough visual data to make the small chain portal work. Once it was locked, the girls took everything from the safe.

There was a good pile of cash, some books, and a small automatic. If the police raided this place they would find this stuff so it had to be legit. Since we were here to punish Bakhtin, the girls kept the cash and gun and the rest went back into the safe. With this incentive they went looking for more hidden areas. The coin and headband helped peer into the walls and floor.

The girls used the washroom before Bakhtin came. I used Bakhtin's security system to monitor his movements when he came into the room. There was a lot of phone calls and short meetings until around nine thirty.

I heard Bakhtin push a button and say, "Come here, woman."

Bakhtin got comfortable in his chair before Christiane came into the room. She must know the routine by now and walked to him then got on her knees to open his pants. The desk was in the way so we could not see anything. Christiane started to suck Bakhtin into her mouth. In a minute I eased open the door of the room but there must have been a noise because Bakhtin opened his eyes and looked at me. I rushed over and grabbed him. He had time to reach under his desk and push a button but nothing else. He could not even get up because Christiane was holding him tight.

A yell for help would be next so I drove a fist into his stomach. He was a big man and we crashed to the floor where he fought viciously. I hit him where it would not show and soon all four girls were holding him down and I hit him a few more times. A rag that had been waiting for hours went around his head to muffle the sound and tie wraps were used on his wrists and ankles.

We basically sat on him until I could get control of his mind. The man was a fighter mentally too and I treated him as I would a priest. To be extra safe, I took more control than I would normally do.

We finished just in time as phone calls started to come in and were not answered. I groaned like a man ready to shoot. Jonna groaned like she was doing something she loved. If people heard they would suspect the reason for Bakhtin not complying.

Somebody came to the door and knocked so I quickly layed out Bakhtin on the floor in plain sight. Christiane was placed so it should appear that she was still giving him a blowjob. We went back into the security room. The door to the office opened slightly for a moment only to see the two on the floor then the door closed quietly.

As we stepped back into the room, Bakhtin started to wake. He came around quickly and got to his knees with some difficulty. His pants were below his hips.

"Bakhtin, I am angry at you." The man hung his head low. I added, "You have some people in London. I want you to get up, make yourself presentable and then phone them to come back here. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Master."

"Do it."

Bakhtin went to his computer and opened an encrypted file then made the call. "Jackson — Call back the remaining men in London. — It doesn't matter. I will pay just the same." In a moment I heard, "No, I don't have the secret. We lost too many people." There was another pause and he said, "Then it's your problem. You deal with it and you can have whatever you can find."

Bakhtin hung up and said to me, "I have called them back but the contractor is reluctant leave. He believes that there is a great deal of gold to be found."

I should have asked before about the plans. I did now. Bakhtin talked about two more people that were behind him that sought my gold. Jackson was just a temp agency that sent his men where he was paid to send them. Either Jackson wanted this for himself or the two others went behind Bakhtin to bypass the man and talk directly to Jackson. There were five men still free in London and more may or may not be coming.

The phones rang constantly and Bakhtin had them channelled to his people because he was thinking and didn't want to be disturbed.

We talked about the threat to us and how I could negate it the easiest way. Bakhtin's ways usually involved bodies. It shook me a lot to see how much we thought alike. I tried to find some simpler method that would leave people alive as long as it didn't hamper our security.

Some phone calls still came through and I allowed Bakhtin to answer them. One was from a partner in the attack on me. He basically wanted to know why Bakhtin was pulling out.

Bakhtin talked to Gaston Tremblay in French and I had to hope the man was doing what he was supposed to. "The operation was too expensive. I don't care about the men but in how easily they were taken. Jackson has to get paid for each man lost. If we send more people, we'll simply endanger our other operations."

The conversation continued for five minutes and I got a synopses in English. Bakhtin's partners were wealthier than Bakhtin and had more political clout. Gaston Tremblay wondered why Bakhtin pulled out. It was also possible that they figured that Bakhtin found what he wanted and was trying to shaft his partners.

We talked for a while until Bakhtin ordered a large meal be sent in. The secretary was very surprised to see more than Christiane with us because she monitored all the guests that had entered since she arrived. Bakhtin's command for silence didn't work and his bodyguards soon came in to protect their boss. It took a moment to get them settled and we began to ask them questions too. Bakhtin had to order them to tell me the full truth.

Gaston Tremblay didn't have much to do with military weapons but the third partner, Joseph Turpen, did. I got a list of the man's warehouses along with the kind of weapons he dealt in. This was old Vietnam war weapons and I learned that he has a lot of Russian 7.62 × 39 mm cartridges that went into AK-47's. He was reported to have a warehouse full of rockets. They were M72 LAW and RPG-7's. They were not exactly new but reported to still work well.

This turned into a strategy meeting with the bodyguards enjoined to not say anything to others on pain of death. They knew Bakhtin meant every word.

Others were called in and either asked to stay or were dismissed. By four o'clock Bakhtin phoned his two partners and asked to have a meeting. This was agreeable. Bakhtin didn't get to pick the location, though, and it turned out to be at Turpen's home. This would be at seven thirty that night.

We had time to rent a small cube van and gather some weapons. I liked the nonlethal variety but they would not stop a lot of people rushing my position. Bakhtin just happened to have some automatic weapons that looked nasty enough to threaten anybody on the receiving end.

I had no pity on the two men for working with Bakhtin and Jackson in kidnapping my parents. My questioning of my prisoners told me that they were prepared to kill to get what they wanted. This direction had come from all three leaders. This said, they were fair game for me.



-------

Chapter 28


Around seven, I parked the truck in a ritzy area. Bakhtin had to work his magic to get the vehicle past the guards in the gated community. I parked on the street in an area not developed yet so I was safe for a while.

Bakhtin took his limo to a mansion and got out with his guards and two now dishevelled looking women. Jonna and Lauren were escorted into Turpen's home with one of the bruisers holding an arm of each.

Through my link with the girls, I heard, "Who are these women, Bakhtin?"

"They belong to Driscott. I wasn't sure of Jackson considering all the men he lost. I got these two."

"Why did you bring them here? Get them out of the hall before my family sees them."

Jonna mentally said to me, "The house looks nice. Lots of marble. We're following Turpen and Tremblay and it looks like we are going into the basement."

Lauren added, "This place is a lot better of a dungeon than Artlam's house. I could be happy here for a while. Can you see us yet?"

I said mentally, "Talking and focussing on the coins are too hard for me."

Tiffany was with me and she said, "I have both of you."

I could feel Lauren and Jonna relax a bit because this was a dangerous situation. Kidnapping brought a long sentence.

Lauren added, "I see six guards besides Bakhtin's. There were four more upstairs but that may not be all of them." Tiffany used her headband to look around and directed Jonna to a potted plant. Jonna stumbled and fell against the plant. She got back up as the guard jerked her arm and called her a clumsy bitch. A coin remained unnoticed in the soil of the plant.

The procession continued into another room. When everybody was inside, the door was locked. Jonna thought to me, "That sounded like a solid door to me. The walls and ceiling seem to be made to keep screams in."

I said, "It's a meeting room, Honey. We'll make this work."

"I hope so."

Tiffany opened the portal to the basement and we stepped through. The coin was moved to a washroom and Tiffany went back to the truck. The portal collapsed and in a moment reemerged near the coin and out of sight.

Tiffany said, "What now?"

"Let's get Turpen to open the door for us."

"How? Open your mind. — Oh! That way."

We went upstairs instead. I carried an AK simply because it looked so threatening. Tiffany carried a machine pistol. We came onto a group of men in the kitchen. I called out, "Hands up or you die."

There was a scramble as they jumped to look at us but nobody went for their weapons. One man asked, "What do you want?"

"Your cooperation to start. Lean on something solid and spread your legs."

The cook immediately leaned against a freezer and the rest found walls or other surfaces to lean on. Tiffany ordered the men to spread more or lean more. I was the one that removed hardware and searched for more toys while Tiffany looked at the men. I think it was the way she casually carried the machine pistol that told the men she knew what she was doing and wouldn't hesitate to shoot. She did not appear worried in the least. The fact that she had Wonder Woman's head band on must have been noted. I would have to get some silver bracelets and golden rope next.

I had lots of tie wraps and used them on everyone's wrists and ankles. Dishtowels were used for gags and the men were put carefully on the floor. I asked the cook, "Who else is in the house?"

"You're not going to hurt them, are you?"

"I just want to give them bracelets like you have. I want to talk to Turpen and Tremblay without guns pointing at me."

"They're upstairs."

"Who's upstairs?"

"Mrs Turpen and her daughter Janet."

"What rooms are they in?"

"I can show you. I don't know for sure."

"That sounds like a sensible plan." I turned to the men and said, "Turpen's downstairs in his soundproof room. I came here to talk. If I have to start shooting because you boys wanted to be heros, it makes sense that I leave no witnesses. Do I make myself clear?"

There were a lot of vigorous nods. I cut the tie wrap on the cook's legs with some kitchen sheers then took more cloth with me for those upstairs. The cook slowly preceded me up the steps. When we got to the landing, the cook turned toward one large double door. I whispered, "I'll knock and you will talk. Turpen called you and asked you to get his wife. What would he call her about?"

"They have parties all the time."

"Good, do you know what you have to say?"

"Give me a moment." When she nodded her head, I rapped on the door daintily.

We heard, "Yes?"

"Mr Turpen asked me to get you."

"What is it for?"

"There's a visitor at the door. I believe it's for a social engagement."

"I'll be right out, Audrey."

"Yes, Ma'am."

I whispered, "Sit down quietly." I helped the woman to the floor and then pushed her over.

In a moment the door opened and a woman about thirty five came out and saw the cook. The woman gasped and hurried to her. I was behind her and had my hand supporting her jaw so she could not cry out. She tried to struggle but she was already at a disadvantage from bending over.

When the woman froze I whispered, "I have no intention of hurting anyone. Your husband had some illegal dealings with some people that want to harm me. I wish to talk to your husband and explain how it was uncouth of him to attempt this. I'm going to put a tie wrap around your wrists and your feet and gag you. I do not want to do anything more violent. Are you going to cooperate? The alternative is that I punch you hard enough that you get knocked out. This is your choice."

I got a vigorous nod and I said, "Lay on the floor so I can do your hands."

I released the woman's jaw and she didn't yell. Tie wraps were again used.

"I'm afraid that Janet needs to be tied like this too. Will you call her from her room for me or do I have to barge in and possibly destroy some of your property?"

"I'll call her if you don't hurt her."

"You have my word."

The mother thought for a few seconds and called out, "Janet, will you come here for a moment. I need your help."

The other door opened quickly and it was a five-year-old that came out. I stopped my lunge for her and let her hurry to her mother.

"What are you doing, Mommy?"

After a short pause she said, "I was playing a game. Do you want to play?"

"What do you do?"

I hummed to myself to let her know somebody was near her and the girl turned. I came over and crouched on the floor when the girl didn't run.

"Hi, we were going to play war and take prisoners. I got more downstairs. You can play on my side or with the men."

"What are you doing here?"

"You're a smart girl. I'm angry at your father. I want to talk to him so I sneaked in. I just want the rest of the people in the house to not bother us when we talk."

"You can talk to him on the phone."

"It's better to do this in person. I only want to talk to him, then I will go. Will you help?"

She did not answer and her mother said, "Help him, Honey. It gets him out of the house sooner."

The girl turned to me and said with an uncertain voice, "Ok."

"Let's go to your father's room in the basement."

"I can't go there."

I looked at the mother and she said, "You have permission this time."

I put out my hand and the girl gave me hers uncertainly. We walked down the stairs and stopped in the kitchen to see Tiffany trying to cover as much area of the house as possible.

Tiffany waved and smiled to Janet. When she got closer she said, "Hi, Janet. Are you going to join our side for the game?"

"Is this a game?"

"A little like a game. It's serious but not really bad."

We got to the door in the basement and we saw a telephone with no dial on it. I said, "You have to pick up the phone and wait. If it's your father then say that your mommy fell down the stairs. If it is somebody else ask to talk to your dad."

"Are you going to hurt him?"

"I promise to not hurt him or anybody else if they don't fight."

"Ok."

Tiffany said, "There's a tiny camera above the door."

When I saw it, I said to Janet, "We are going to be at the side. Just look at the door all the time and not us."

"Ok."

The girl did as I asked and she said, "Daddy, Mommy fell. She's hurt —. Ok."

She stepped back and we waited. The girl didn't look at us but I knew she wanted too. When the door opened, I played football and ran forward to knock the man over. I was in the room with the AK up and Tiffany right behind me. Nobody had guns out and they didn't reach for any.

"Hands up, high!"

Everybody complies. Janet was crouching at her father to help but Tiffany had him covered.

I used the rifle to point. "Walk to the wall and spread them. Lean on the wall."

Soon I had everybody there and both Jonna and Lauren started removing hardware. Turpen was last and he was bleeding from his fell. I quickly secured their wrists. This included Bakhtin and his men.

"Let's go to the kitchen."

We made the trip with Janet walking beside her father. Jonna and Lauren were now armed. When the men were seated on the floor with the rest, I got the two ladies upstairs and brought them down too.

Questions were thrown around by Turpen and Tremblay. Bakhtin demanded answers to stay in character. When everyone was finally quiet I said, "Hello. You people sent some men to my home and broke in. You then abducted my parents and my two women." This let everybody know who I was if they were aware of the facts.

"This all has to stop. That guy in — my city — is still there. I want him called off."

Turpen said, "I don't know what you are talking about."

"I'm not the police. Do you want to go through a lot of unpleasantness just to make you admit your part in this?"

"No, I guess you're right."

I looked at Tremblay and said, "Are you going to pretend that you are an innocent party?"

It took a few seconds until the man said, "No."

"Good, then we can begin, but I would rather talk in private."

The three major players were assisted to stand and I escorted them back to the soundproofed room. I brought out the icon and worked on Tremblay, then Turpen. They went to sleep and I just waited. Bakhtin stayed silent. He knew what was going on and didn't want to bother his master for foolish reasons.

Janet came to the room and watched me and I said, "You can come in but you have to be quiet." The girl did and sat beside her father.

When Tremblay awoke I gave him the facts of life and he started to tell me some interesting facts that I might be able to use. Turpen's turn came later.

"Gentlemen, I am going to fine each of you for what you have attempted to do." Since they were my slaves, they did not object at all. "Turpen, what is the price you paid for all your military hardware?"

"Twelve million or so, Master."

"Bakhtin, what is the value of all your military hardware?"

"Seven and a half or eight million, Master. I'm not up to date on the latest figures."

"I will call it eight because of your cash. I want you to find some trucks and load up all of your military equipment and ship it to my warehouse in London."

"Yes, Master. At once."

"No need for that. I want only three trucks per day. Turpen will be doing the same thing." I turned to the man in question. "Is that not right?"

"Yes, Master, you can have all of it."

"Good."

I looked at Tremblay and said, "The Russian and the Chinese military are selling their AK-47 rounds very cheaply. I know that you have ways of getting this sort of equipment through customs. I want you to buy shiploads of these shells for me."

"Yes, Master."

"You will spend four million of your own money to buy them. When you are done, you, too, will ship them to me. When that is done, you will gather up another four million and pay Mr. Turpen this sum so that each of you has been fined eight million each."

"Yes, Master. I will do exactly what you wish."

"I want all of you to search out more weapons for me. You can carry on business as usual but devote a tenth of your time to working for me."

I got the right reply from each of them. "Since this may come close to bankrupting you, I will pay you one and a third times what you spent in procuring and transporting the weapons."

They liked that idea, but they would still have done it if they had not been paid at all. Janet went for the scissors and I removed the plastic from the men's wrists.

Jackson was phoned and all three men demanded that he return. His voice was unsure and I was not sure how much he would obey.

We all got to the kitchen to find the men already freed and drinking coffee or tea. Turpen's wife ran to him and hugged him but glared at me.

I said, "I'm done here now. We had our talk. I'm sorry for breaking into your home but the alternative was many times worse."

I communicated to Tiffany and she went to get the coin and collapse the gate. The guns we collected were left in the bathroom.

Janet got my next apology and I said to her, "I'm sorry for frightening you. If there is no reason for me to come back I will not see you again."

"You didn't scare me."

"That's because you're a special girl. You're smart and brave." I rubbed the top of her head and she didn't seem to mind. I apologised to the cook too and I asked her not to think too harshly of her employer.

One of Bakhtin's men drove his boss's car to the van and then we all drove out of the community. I put the truck back at the rental agency, and we were taken into the heart of Montreal.

Just before I got out of the car I told the driver, "Only you and three others knows the truth. If it looks like the secret would slip out, Bakhtin will order you killed to save his hide." This was not true because Bakhtin was still under my command but it would avoid problems later.

"We won't say anything, Sir."

"Then there's no problem. If anybody asks, tell them where you dropped us off."

"Yes, Sir."

Jonna said, "You treated them a lot better than they would have treated us."

"What could I do? I could kill them and then their innocent family suffers. It wouldn't stop any crime, just allow somebody else to move into a power vacuum. At least I can keep those three men from being too nasty."

Lauren said, "Does that make you the Don now?"

"Don?"

"The head of the family, Hugh."

"Me!"

We went to our hotel and found Christiane waiting in the lobby with two men talking to her. I reverted to caveman mode for a split second before I realised that I could not have every desirable woman around nor could I make them happy.

Christiane was polite and hurried over. When she reached us, she just stood and looked at the floor in front of her feet.

With a finger under her chin, I got her to look up. She studied my face and smiled.

"How do you feel, Christiane?"

"I'm happy, Master."

"Then let's go to our room." The smile got bigger.

The girls went for a shower and dragged Christiane with them. I could feel an undercurrent of eroticism though the girls acted like sisters. When they came out, Christiane was laid on the bed and she stayed where she was put.

Lauren said, "Check her again with the heart."

I did as she asked and found her body fairly clean. The areas being fought were now skirmishes. There was just a little tweaking needed before I said, "She is doing well. One more day is all I think is needed."

Lauren looked a little put out but extended her hand to Christiane and the woman grasped it. She was helped off the bed and into some clothes. I had a quick shower and changed. In twenty minutes I was ready to go out for supper.

We ate in the hotel restaurant. Having four good looking young women with me managed to get me a few stares but the girls got more. We had a polite chatter around the table and Christiane had to contribute.

Tiffany said "When are we leaving, Montreal?"

I replied, "Tomorrow is good."

Tiffany said, "I want to keep our latest pet."

Christiane brightened as if she agreed with this. "You have Matra."

"I like her, but I like Christiane as well. She has no future here and she can do a lot of things for us." She added quickly, "She can be our secretary. Our business is getting big."

Now I had to think. Matra was taken because she had been thoroughly indoctrinated by her master. We enslaved her to gather information and then free her. So far, she had not wanted to go when we offered her a chance. Christiane had her problems. We could help her get on her feet enough to avoid the Quebec Police but her record may give us problems later.

"Tell me why you want her?" I said mentally.

"She's sexy but she is so confused and vulnerable. We can help her get over her problems."

"The way you want her means that she will join us in bed. Do you want to share me with one more person?"

All three girls said that they wanted Christiane so I said, "Then she belongs to us." The girls gave delightful squeal and touched Christiane as if for luck.

They told the woman what was decided and she too squealed. There were a lot of things to get settled and one was a way of getting the Sûreté off of her back. This would require a good lawyer. What the police had done wasn't ethical in my mind and I had to find out if it was legal.

We made love that night but Christiane only watched. I slept with Lauren while Jonna and Tiffany slept with their slave.

The next morning after breakfast, I called Dad to find out if there was any problems. He said everything had been calm. He seemed happy with his two guests and I missed them myself.

Bakhtin was called after I had a chance to talk to Mom, Camsa and Caiti. I was put through four minutes later. "Hello, Master. What can I do to assist you?"

"Were you aware that the Sûreté put Christiane Roux into your organisation to gather evidence on you?"

"I suspected that, Master."

"She is my slave now. Do you know of any way of keeping the police from harassing her?"

"I have many lawyers that could fight this in many ways."

"She was accused of a crime nearly a year ago. This was used to get her compliance."

"We may need her sworn statements, Master."

"I'll call later in the afternoon. See if your lawyers can find the best way to proceed."

"I'm sure they will find something or they won't be my lawyers long."

This reminded me of my own lawyers. I called Jake, the one looking for the land that was this side of Kingston.

When his secretary got through he said, "Hello Mr Driscott. I found out the information you wanted."

"Good, what is it, Jake."

"I'm sorry to say that the land belongs to the Crown."

"Any chance of purchasing it if it is found to be suitable?"

"None, I am afraid, unless you get somebody to go to bat for you."

"Is there another way?"

"You could hire a small company to stake a mineral claim to the property. They are required to do three months work each year to show that they are actively seeking some mineral or metal. I believe it is only three years that are required then they would own the property outright."

"I don't want my name linked to the property at all. I'm not even sure if this area is suitable yet. If you have a detailed map, I can lay out what portions of the land I might want. We then need to make a very stringent contract with a very small prospecting company that will do the necessary work for a salary. Again this depends on if the land is suitable."

Jake said, "I may know of just the person. He's a loner and wishes to stay as far from civilisation as possible. He's staked claims before and is very familiar with the procedure and the work involved. I think he's in BC at the moment but his brother knows how to reach him."

I said, "We may be able to offer him the use of a trailer flown or driven into the area and a shipment of food. He may have to clear a road to where I wish to build. Ask him about a suitable salary for his labours."

"Would he get an allowance for machinery?"

"The area has to be surveyed first. I'm east of the site now. Do you have the particulars on the site?"

I wrote what I was told and even the nearest roads along with a place where I could get detailed maps. That afternoon we went to a sporting goods store and purchased what we would need for a short expedition. I had a small solid portal with me so we could test the site to see if it had the same effect as my home.

Later that afternoon the girls took Christiane to see a lawyer. She gave all the particulars. A half hour later she filled out a lot of papers and then signed them. She then paid a dollar to the lawyer and was given a receipt.

We had an early supper and we went to our hotel. The girls cleaned each other and Christiane in particular. She was taken to bed and the all girl orgy continued. I had a chance for a leisurely shower and came out to see four predatory females looking at me.

The girls insisted I take Christiane first. She was a good slave and was ready but I was still big. I warmed her up myself with my mouth and she had what had to be her forth orgasm. When I moved north, she was more than ready. I went very slow. She had been abused by many men and dildos so she was not tight. She was responsive, though.

Tiffany sat on the girl's face to keep her quiet and this spurred Christiane on to more orgasms. I pulled Tiffany away and started to do the same to her and Christiane planted herself on her lover's mouth. It looked like Christiane liked Tiffany more simply because of her age but that might not be it.

Our newest slave went for Tiffany when I emptied into her. I now looked at Lauren and started all over again. I tried to hold out for as long as I could but I was not sixteen anymore.

The beds had been pushed together. Tiffany had me lay down and after she stimulated me with her mouth, she had Christiane straddle me then lay on my chest. The other girls piled on the bed and I tried to sleep this way. Every few minutes Christiane's vagina would spasm and squeeze me until she eventually went to sleep.

The next day, we rented a 4X4 and left Montreal. It was nice to just drive until the girls got horny. Then the smell and the sounds got to me. It was kind of Jonna to climb unto the front seat and relieve the pressure every hour or so but I had other ideas. We hit every truck stop on the way. I found the most secluded area I could and filled one pussy. The girls could then fight over who got to eat it.

The second stop had the girls getting out of the car and walking to the back so they could kneel on the tailgate and I could get some tail.

The third stop had some men nearby watching and this turned on the girls even more.

The forth stop did not look good and we pulled off in a different area. Some truckers had the most private area.

I was sliding into Christiane when I heard the crunch of stones. Four men were coming from the trees near us. I pulled out quickly and zipped myself up.



-------

Chapter 29


The biggest one of the four said, "We came to offer you some help. We heard all about you." The other three were eyeing the women. Christiane had pulled away and started to cry. Tiffany got between her and the men. She was naked and only sixteen.

"Thanks, but I don't need any help. We're doing an experiment to see how many times we can cum while travelling across Canada."

"Well, you see, we were trying to do this politely but we don't have to."

I now had to smile, "You mean to fight me?"

"You're a bright one."

"Well, I have some simple questions. Are you going to use weapons or just fists and feet? The second is this going to be a free for all or do you want some rules?"

"We don't need weapons and we will just take what we want."

"Then come and get it. I haven't had a good fight in a while."

There was a plan because the two beside him went first. The one to my right threw the first punch and I blocked it and hit the guy in the throat. Playing fair with the girls at stake was not in the cards.

The second one got a kick but the leader got in and hit me with his fist. I caught him in the nuts and the fight was on.

When one went down I saw that Lauren had the girls sit on the tailgate as if this were a party. They only helped when they started cheering or booing when punches or kicks landed. With only two I eased off a bit.

I was hit with about eight solid blows and twice that in grazes. The two opponents left were groggy but a third was getting back up. I heard Jonna say in my mind, "Let the guys see Tiffany."

I threw a punch but the guy blocked most of it. There was enough time to turn and I saw that Tiffany had hold of Christiane's hair as the woman ate the sixteen-year-old while she sat on the tailgate. I almost got hit myself so I backed up quickly then moved beside the car.

The four men saw the women and what was going on. They looked at me then at the girls and attacked once more. We were all getting tired and I didn't mind looking at my ladies. Tiffany now had her legs wrapped around Christiane's neck as she screamed that she was coming.

I got a good punch in to a man that paused to look and I was down to two. I boxed with the leader as I tried to stay away from the other. Soon the other one was not looking at me at all. The leader cast an eye at the girls and I had the chance to move in and hit him four times.

When the leader fell, the last guy completely ignored me. I took a look myself and saw Lauren standing on the tailgate pulling her sister's face into her cunt. Jonna was standing on the stones driving a dildo into Christiane's pussy as quick as she could.

Lauren screamed and arched her back. She pulled Tiffany's mouth tighter to her and this set off a chain reaction. When they finally calmed down I was hit in the small of the back and went down. I saw some boots coming my way and then nothing but darkness.

I woke up and it was getting dark. I was sore all over and my mouth hurt like hell. Lauren was driving and all the girls had clothes on.

"What happened?"

"So you decided to wake up," Tiffany said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

I had to wait and ask the question again. Jonna said, "We gave the men something to look at so you could beat them but you stopped to watch. You've seen us in action before. Why did you stop to watch and get sucker punched?"

"Do you think love has something to do with it? I think you're some of the sexiest ladies on two planets."

Jonna bent over and kissed me gently and said, "Well, after you lost the fight," She emphasised the word lost, "the rest of the truckers were coming over to join the fun. If I wasn't carrying your child, I might have enjoyed the action. Instead Tiffany stands naked before twenty truckers with a subgun hanging from her hand. She didn't threaten anybody. In fact she used her other hand to finger herself. We carried you into the 4X4 and we left. I've been using the heart on you off and on for a while."

"What about my four new friends?"

"They were not much interested in us after the fight and even less so when they saw that slut fingering herself."

"That's our slut, Honey."

"Yes, I know. If she didn't suck my clit so well I'd paddle her butt."

"I saw her using our newest slut to distract the guys."

"That one has a wide streak of exhibitionism in her when she knows she's safe." She talked to Lauren and said, "I fear for the morals of your daughter when she's born."

"Last week it was our son."

"I had gas that week. Now I know it's a girl. Now be quiet so I can concentrate. I have to see if you're working right."

My pants were not on me and I was naked. Jonna got me up quickly, took off her slacks, and slid on. Truckers honked horns and Jonna just waved and shook her head as if she were the Queen going to Buckingham Castle in her horse drawn coach. It then hit me that she was a queen in a way and I was the king.

We found a nice motel with two linked rooms. I was feeling better by then and we went out and ate. The girls had me back in the room soon after. Lauren was starting to spot so I had to take her in the shower. The heart had worked on me a lot and I was in great shape and perhaps that was why I didn't die after one night with the girls.

The next morning we picked up the maps for around the area Gus mentioned. We talked to a few locals and drove to the spot that would be the easiest to reach.

We had good packs and equipment. Two hours later the small portal was flickering and this was marked on the map. The land had been beautiful but a fire had burned through it at some time. The portion with the portal had not suffered damage.

Some areas were hard to transverse because of steep inclines or some low areas filled with water. It took another hour until it looked like we reached the strongest area that we could reach. A large room was visible through the portal when enough light was allowed to get in. The packs were put down and we had a meal, then left the camp to continue our search.

I took three sightings and wrote the figures down of the strongest area. We walked until it started to flicker at the same intensity it had at first. By late afternoon we stopped and set up camp for the night. I was disappointed because the strongest point had to be half way to the middle of a tiny lake.

Through all this Christiane had not asked us what we were doing. Part of it was her slave conditioning but there had to be more.

I had purchased a free-standing eight man tent. I owned many of these but they were currently at the school. I stripped off my clothes and sat down with my legs crossed. Christiane was coaxed over to sit in my lap and Tiffany made sure my erection found a warm burrow. When Christiane was sitting and rubbing her pubic bone on me I held her face and kissed her tenderly.

"You were quiet today. Tell me your problems."

I could see her trying to resist but she soon said, "I'm worried that you will leave me in a few months when you get bored of me."

"Honey, I own lots of slaves and they never seem to leave. I feel that it's more than that. Tell me."

"That thing you carry frightens me, Master. It gave off light and when it was aimed at the sun I could see a dark room lined with stone."

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, but it frightens me, Master."

"Why does it frighten you? Be more specific."

"I think it's magic. I read where people are sacrificed to gain more magic. I could be the one but I love you so much I would do this for you if it would make you happy."

"Put your mind at ease. Magic is just advanced science in this case. You are not going to be sacrificed unless I fill with my semen and give you to my ladies."

"I like that part, Master."

"We are all scientists. We experiment to learn more about nature. We made some major discoveries. At the moment, we are just scratching the surface. It will be a very long time until most of this is learned."

"You will keep me then?"

"You belong to me, but more importantly you belong to us. When we get home, Jonna will introduce you to her daughters. You'll love them. Matra is a little younger than you. Since you like young girls, you are going to love Caiti. The only other man that will touch you now is Camsa."

Christiane looked down and whispered, "There may be more one day."

"Nobody will touch you."

Christiane looked even further down and the girls almost beat me for being stupid. I said, "Did you mean a son?"

"Only your son, Master. You own me and can bred me as much as you want. I will serve you faithfully until I die."

I hugged Christiane to me. She was sniffling now.

When Christiane calmed down I got her to move and I grew once more within her. I lay back and pulled her to me. She could not move very well but she tried.

Jonna went through her pack and in a moment started to slip a lubricated vibrator into Christiane's butt. Christiane came alive and I just stayed there and enjoyed myself. Lauren took the opportunity to sit on my face and Christiane tried to get her clit when I released it for her.

When I came, so did Christiane for the fifth time. She was pulled off and one of the other ladies got on. I knew that my semen would not be in her vagina long.

The next day I looked for the logical place to put in a road. Lauren started talking about a house now and this set the girls off. Jonna's mention of a place for a baby accelerated the matter. They tried to be quiet but they had to talk to Christiane verbally.

I had to wonder if Christiane would learn to do what we could do. Most people left the Church because they didn't have the spark. This meant that few people could handle what we did. The chances of Christiane having this ability were not that good.

It was still a long drive home. The topic of the new house had not died but cropped up now and again. Their fit of horniness had not returned by the time we got home. We just had a shower and got dressed so we could go out again. The damage to my face was not that noticeable. We had to see Mom and Dad and pick up two more members of my family.

Dad and Mom were overjoyed to see us and did not question Christiane's presence. I made the introductions and Christiane greeted my parents as if they were her in-laws now. I really didn't mind.

Mom asked, "How did you meet Christiane?"

"Christiane worked for one of the men after my gold. She helped me get into his office so I could meet him without his people bothering us. This man introduced me to his two partners. When we came to an understanding they called a man named Jackson. He's the one that controls the men here. Anyway, he was ordered to leave. I don't know for a fact if that has happened yet, but it may."

Mom dropped this subject and said quietly, "She seems quite attached to you already."

"I get that ability from Dad."

Dad smiled but Mom stayed serious. "Is she going to stay with you too?"

"Yes, she is."

"Are there any more?"

"There are literally thousands, Mom." She looked shocked. "Some are old men or old women. Some are infants in need of food and shelter. I take care of them all."

"Like those people we met?"

"Them and a lot more."

"How many, Hugh?"

"I have to guess and say perhaps three and a half million."

"Million?"

"Yes, Mom."

"How can you do all that?"

"I found some good people and I helped them. The situation snowballed to bring in eight cities but most of the people live on farms. They help me and they gain because I gain. I brought through a lot of weapons but also trucks, buses, a small bulldozer, tractors, and farm implements. Our farm is doing very well."

"And the common people follow you?"

"They do. They are used to cruelty or at best indifference. I provide computers and the start of an education. Their customs are very different from ours and I try to stop the greatest abuses but still let them have their own life. I think law is my greatest gift along with it being used impartially."

Caiti said, "A women usually gets married at ten there."

Caiti was promoting herself now and I was a little worried. I said, "That's true. It cuts short their childhood and thrusts them into adult responsibilities sooner than they should."

"Caiti has killed people and so has Camsa. Isn't that something that they should avoid?"

"Their world is violent. Our youngsters could not cope because they're soft. When our ancestors went to war, their families were in danger. If the children did not fight they would die. Sometimes if they fought they would still die. My family is well armed and protected, or at least as good as can be. If they can survive without killing then that's a plus. Not preparing them for the worse is criminal in my mind."

I cut the cross-examination short by saying I was hungry. We went out to eat at a restaurant. After we were seated, two men came in and sat down to have a meal. I had not seen them before but I felt that they could be part of Jackson's crew. There was no logical reason for this but it stayed with me.

When we were leaving the restaurant I stopped and stared at the two men and they stared back without saying anything. When we got to the parking lot, I saw another two men just sitting in a car. Instead of getting in I walked to the car purposely and the car hurried out of its spot and left by another exit.

I was worried now and checked under the car for a bomb and then in the trunk and engine compartment. My parents were worried when I continued and checked their car too. I found no bomb but I was helpless if there was. I could see why Bakhtin had three bodyguards and a driver.

Mom and Dad should live with us but they would be exposed when they went to work like last time. Furthermore, they would not want to leave their home. We would just have to play it by ear until I could get the men evicted.

On the way back to my home, I asked, "Matra, what is the status of the police investigation into the evidence?"

"We monitor it every hour, Master. We now only work within the box to avoid the chance of them finding it momentarily gone. There has been no new casings found but we did find a lot of plaster castings of our shoe prints."

"Thanks, that could be trouble for us. We will have to send our shoes through the portal and buy some runners."

"Runners, Master?"

"You will find out tomorrow."

"The police have found blood and gathered this too. I fear some will have come from us."

"They have to already have a lot of evidence before they will make us give up some DNA."

When we got home, I went to Woodland and checked on what was happening. The new citizens were meek and mild but their personalities would come out later. If they were nasty on Earth, then they would be nasty here unless I adjusted this. A radio message said that Shreff and the rest of the country were doing fine as well. Artlam was interested in what I found that was new and I just mentioned more supplies of weapons coming in a few weeks.

Radio messages were a pain and we needed better trained people to monitor the traffic for us. With eight major cities and thirty three smaller ones, we could get lost in the calls if trouble came.

When I got home I found that the older girls had gone to bed. The ones that had not been on our latest trip looked at me expectantly. Caiti looked, too, but she had four more years to wait for me personally.

I now saw the reason the older ones had dressed and not abused me too much today. They were allowing me to fight the good battle now. Fislu was first. Part of it was because she carried my child, but so did Selna. Caiti, Porta, Sonna, Selna and Matra worked on each other and Camsa. When I finished filling Fislu I saw the boy plumbing Caiti's back passage. She was definitely not in pain so I was happy. Porta was behind the boy filling his rectum with one of her toys. I needed them to take care of each other. No matter how much the heart helped me I would not have enough.

I moved over to Selna and she gave me her full attention.

After breakfast I saw that Christiane had managed to fit in quite well. She looked in love and was loved. At the moment Caiti was beside her and caressing the older woman's leg. It would not be long before they were making love.

Business called and I again went out to get a public telephone. A survey crew needed to be hired now that the site east of Kingston worked. It would be good to have this prospector go with them if possible.

The next call was to Jake Headricks. He said, "Hi, Hugh. I've people doing that research for you. They're also looking to see how anxious the present owners to sell."

"Good idea. Anything off the cuff?"

"Ten was too high. Eight is about right but we might get it for less."

"Where's the site?"

"I have it here on a map. It's in a city called Santa Cruz del Seibo. Have you heard of it?"

"Never.

"Well if you draw a line from the east end of the island and go west about fifty miles you get one set of points. The island is about forty miles wide there and the city is about fifteen miles from the north coast."

"I get the idea Jake. Didn't you ever learn the way most of the world describes distance? Hell, everybody including the American military have gone metric."

"I learned feet and inches as a boy and I plan on sticking to it no matter what."

"Not very progressive."

"I guess not, but my head is full of facts and I don't want to take the time to learn the other system."

"You worked with tonnes a while ago and that's spelled t-o-double-n-e-s. That's metric."

"I do learn when I'm inspired."

"Good to see it. Do you have an idea when a report will come in?"

"Three or four days for the property and perhaps a week total for the investigation of the property."

There was another call to the people that put in my alarm system. They had claimed to be amazed that it was beaten even by professionals. They would send somebody over with more technology to shore up the system. The same company managed to stop our tails twice but that was not on the books.

Another call went to the university but I had to leave a message that I would call again in the next day or so. A trip was necessary to the warehouse Willie leased for us. Now that we had the chain portals, we needed a way of connecting this building to Woodland through the barn.

I drove the rental car to the commercial district after making sure I lost any possible tails. The building was not large but enough to have two truck ramps. One of Willie's friends had filled out the lease so my name was not associated with it. I did have a key and the code to the alarm system.

After looking at the interior for a while, I figured that if I ran a cord in front of the loading doors then I could put up any of the two portals and simply remove the cargo from a truck and drive it to the portals directly to Woodland. This meant that I needed a fork lift. Some articles were heavy and two trucks may be needed to make the trip. After some guesstimates to the length, I placed a coin. This would be a good place to allow us to leave the farm without being seen. We could have done this the same way by opening a portal from the barn but this way we had some additional range and some flexibility.

A later call was long distance. I learned that the American Coast Guard was selling some of their older ships minus the military equipment. I figured the vessels were in need of a lot of work but that was understandable. If I got one or more of those ships I would not be put in the same position I had been when going through the large group of islands. It would also be understandable that the pirates would tend to flee if they caught sight of us. Getting a ship through the portals would be difficult even if they were sliced up into long sections and welded back together later.

I had to contact another lawyer, but this time he was American. His name was Reynolds and his specialty was in purchasing boats. I listed my wants and he said what he could do and for how much. This was conditional on him getting some cash to start the ball rolling.

Jake Headricks was contacted and told how much to send to Reynolds and to still disguise the route to get it to him. Things would be so much easier if I could buy openly but governments didn't like that unless they got a cut of the action.

I went over to the store and greeted the people. Mom and Dad looked worried until I shook my head. I picked up some groceries and asked Dad, "Would you go to the storage shed in an hour with your coin? I want to establish a portal and then get the copper you got for me."

"I can do that. What's the copper for?"

"It is worth more over there than it is here. That's why I get the other metal."

"Ahhh, I see. I'll do it then."

I dropped off the rental car in the city and caught a cab home. There was a car back of me but it rotated with two others. They were good but I was worried and on the look out.

The family greeted me and the groceries, then began lunch. "Tiffany, will you go to Woodland and pick up a truck? Dad had some copper and he's going into a storage shed in fifteen minutes so that we can open a portal there."

"Ok, Sweetie. You know I would do anything for you."

"I do know that and it sounds like you want something for yourself?"

She gave me the innocent hurt look but her mind was closed to me. I'd just have to wait until she asked me.

Tiffany soon brought back the stake truck and I got the headband. It was easier for me to connect and I thought it was because my father held the coin. A minute later the portal locked and I walked through. Dad was still l little excited at the portal.

"Dad, go to the end of the building about a metre from the wall. We want to come in that way."

"Sure, Hugh."

I walked back and closed the portal then opened it on the other wall. It was easier to see when the coin was near and thus easier to lock the gate. This time Tiffany backed the truck up into the shed but only half way.

Dad was still amazed still and had to move slowly to get out of the way. We used the fork lift to pick up a plywood box used by farmers to gather produce in units of around a tonne or two. We loaded just one on and I said, "We have to unload it. Will you follow us? I don't think you can carry a load with the tires you have, besides, it's raining there."

"Sure I'll help. It's still hard to imagine that I see my shed then your barn and finally another world at the end of it."

"It takes a while to get used to it."

There were lots of spectators to see the truck arrive. They saw a half tonne of simple gold and two tonnes of pure copper. This represented nearly a hundred tonnes of gold to me. Dad was soaked in the rain by the time he arrived but he was happy. The copper came off the truck and went onto the floor where a lot of helping hands placed the copper in a room covered with half inch thick mild steel. It also had three of the best locks made. Almost anyone here in Woodland could cut their way into the room or rip the door off with the vehicles.

Before the next trip, the gold came off and went under a tarp in my barn. Dad tried two boxes this time and it worked with little extra help. I was going to have to pave this area one day and get some forklifts, too.

There was nearly thirteen tonnes because Dad had got more in my absence. This load alone was worth thirteen trillion dollars when the purity and other factors came into play. I avoided mentioning any figures to Dad.

Dad said, "You really need a fork lift."

"Buy a few for me. Get used ones that are in good condition. If they are all the same model then I have less of a parts problem."

"With the money you have, you could buy new."

"Cash is usually my problem. I picked up a half million in Montreal but it gets spent on getting other projects going."

"I wish I could pick up a half million. I wouldn't have to work then."

"Have you really thought what it would be like without a job?"

"Your mother and I could travel."

"Until that gets boring."

"That could take a long time."

"A half million doesn't go far, either."

"That's true."

Dad went to my house and his clothes went into the dryer before he went back to work. Being caught in a heavy rainstorm on a warm bright day would be hard to explain. Soon after he left, the people for the alarm system came.

The owner of the business and his son came in. After a greeting, I said, "Some professional people defeated your alarm. It looks like they had quite a few days here to do what they wanted, then clean up. Any marks they left were hard to find. What can you do to keep this from happening again?"

"All pin locks can be defeated if a professional has the time. He can also just break a window and climb in. You have a nice house and if you want to make it safer you are going to have to compromise."

"How?"

"Make the house look English and put a decorative trellis of flat bars in all the windows. An exterior door of solid steel will slow them down. Further out, you put sensors. This would a problem out here. The larger wild animals could trigger it. Touch sensitive pads would help. There is some new alarms that match an intruder against some photos of animals. If there is a match then the alarm doesn't go to the next stage. If it does, it goes to us and we come out with the police."

"How much?"

"I have no idea. Think expensive. Even the cameras, computer, and software are going to cost a lot."

"Find out for me. And by the way, you guys stopped the bad guys quite well."

"Thanks, I'll pass it on and I'll check the price for you."

When they left, we hurriedly had our meal and went out to get alternative footwear but not before checking for bugs.

The shoes came easy and we purchased different styles with different sole patterns. This led to clothes. The girls went into the change room a lot but Christiane never came out. I could feel something going on but their minds were closed to me. When that unmistakable smell got strong I put a stop to it.

I said to those that could hear me mentally, "What were you doing? This is London, my home. You could cause all of us a lot of grief."

Jonna said sorrowfully, "Did you do something to Christiane? She's one horny woman."

"Not me."

Tiffany said, "She is probably the most healthy she has ever been. She is also free. She's spreading her wings and we have to control her without hurting her personality."

Jonna said, "Maybe we'll have to fuck her silly before she's allowed to leave the house."

I said, "It sounds like more than one young lady is and was horny."

The saleswomen gave us all a long look and so did the cashier. The odour stayed with the girls and effected all of us.

I called the university since we were out and I got to Professor Obie. "I'm glad you called, I got a better quote for the computers. I'm afraid that they alone will cost a quarter of a million dollars."

"How much to do your magic?"

"It works out to a hundred and ten dollars each but if we use and external keyboard the price can drop to forty."

"Can these be purchased through the school to get a tax discount?"

"That can happen like last time. The figure actually works out to $268,000 then."

"I can drop by in fifteen minutes and give you that much."

"That's good, because I couldn't get a loan for that much very easily."

Taxis were called and we jumped in them hoping to leave those watching our cars behind. It seemed to work this time and we drove to a mall near the university. On the way I said to our driver, "People are following us. Tell the dispatcher you are going to the airport instead."

"That's against the — "

I held out a twenty and he shut up. The rest of the drivers were told to say nothing about the destination.

When the taxis left we walked the rest of the way. The Professor Obie's office was easy to find and I stopped momentarily in the restroom to form a portal to the money that was at home beside a coin. It was easier this way and safer too. A few doubled plastic grocery sacks had to do to hold it.

I shook hands with Professor Obie in his small room. Only Caiti and Camsa were with me. The rest had to stay in the hall.

"I'm glad to meet you again Mr Smith. I'm also glad to hear that you found our work acceptable."

"It works very well. Tell me, are the new crop of computers much different?"

"They're the exact same. Different suppliers though."

"Good, I want to remind you that my name cannot be mentioned about this or any of our dealings."

"I cannot see me being asked any questions. I did as you asked and hid my own name too. Will you be paying in cash again?"

"Yes, less hassles and no paper trail." I plopped the bags on his desk and up ended them one at a time. Obie started to twitch because this was more money than last time and it was not in smaller lots. I quickly counted out packets of money and gave him a total of a $360,000.



-------

Chapter 30


"That's more than I asked for, Mr Driscott."

"You had some young people that burned CDs and DVDs for me last time. I want you to have half of the extra $92,000 and the rest I want spent on various pieces of information and programs like you did before. Where I'm going there are no copyright laws. Think of it like I'm going to a desert isle and want to see just what civilisation was all about."

"An eclectic collection like that would cover a lot of material."

"That's why I'm contracting you. I brought a list that's quite long but still not long enough. There's no stipulation on how many you give me but I do what to see some value for my money. Some books have to be scanned but many are already on the net. Concentrate on industry but don't neglect other topics like art."

"I'll accept the job but I've never heard of anything even similar."

"A few months ago I said to assume that I was going to set up a new civilisation on another world. That has not changed. My island is large and I choose to start from scratch."

"Well, I can use the money and so can the students." He looked at Caiti and Camsa and said, "Are these part of your family."

"They are a very important part." I got a hug now from both of them.

When we left the university, Selna said, "Let's get packs like the students. We'll fit in better. I don't like carrying a purse for my gun."

We toured the university and pointed out how I wanted one like this. The family figured I just had to snap my fingers and it would appear. We got packs and the family was happy once again.

We took a bus across town and walked to a grocery store. After stocking up on a lot of food, I called a fleet of taxis to take us to our vehicles. Both turned out to be bugged and we stayed to deactivate them in front of those that had planted them. While one pair was watching us, one little girl minus her gun, purse and pack planted a coin under their car much like what had been done to Bakhtin.

We scanned the house when we got back but found nothing. Caiti was congratulated and I sent Christiane to wash her to make sure my girl was clean. In the mean time we looked into the trunk of the car we had targeted and what was currently behind it but we could not see further.

Hours later the situation had not changed. We figured the car was close to us and monitoring the house. Christiane and Caiti came out naked, the way we usually dressed. Both girls were flushed and looked tired.

Selna kissed Caiti and asked, "May I borrow your slave for a few moments, Caiti?"

Caiti looked at Christiane and said, "She's pretty worn out but she can give you a few and she should have another in her after she gets a chance to rest."

Christiane looked back and forth but said nothing. From the look on her face she was not averse to doing this at all. When the two left, so did the rest, followed by Caiti. The King of Mendab had to stay and tend to supper.

Camsa came back first. He looked bushed. I said, "Did our women abuse you again?"

"Yes, they did. I wish I was like you and able to last a long time."

"You probably shoot more often then me. I save it so I stay hard."

"I tried that but it's not easy. It's better than it was before but I need to learn more. It's fun learning, though." We both had smiles then.

I put the meal on the table and called out, "Come and get it before I throw it to the hogs."

Caiti came first and said, "We don't have hogs."

"We have some piggies that like eating pussy."

I got another big smile and she said, "That's different."

The girls looked tired and some had recently showered. Though they were bushed I still had my duties tonight.

The girls took care of the dishes while I checked the status of the car with the coin. Nothing had changed. We put a detail on this task. All they had to do was focus for a minute every half hour to see if anything changed.

Now was a chance for me to get a work out in the gym. It was hard to really stay in shape with the obligations I had. Making my family happy was only a small part of it. Later the girls might come down, but it was usually only Jonna and Lauren. Today I had Matra and Christiane.

I mentally asked, "Did you send the other two here?"

"They need to get a workout that's not in bed. I don't want them to get fat. Besides, it was not long ago that we had to fight for our lives and reflexes are important."

"Well, loosen up and we can spar."

Twenty minutes later Jonna and I put robes on so we could throw each other. I was only fair at this and not really a good teacher but the girls did improve. Lauren started to teach Christiane the rudiments and Matra a bit that was more advanced.

Later I was sore but a massage made it all go away. The favour had to be returned but it was fun. The girls and Camsa did not cut me any slack but they were already tired from before, along with their late afternoon workout.

It was later that Camsa ran to me and excitedly said, "The car's moving."

I reached out quickly and grabbed him and then threw him over my shoulders as we hurried to the library. Any room would do but this was the room of choice for this sort of surveillance.

Fislu was wearing a band and I picked up the other. It was not quite dark yet but I got an idea of where the car was. Ten minutes later it stopped to pick up some fast food but it soon continued on. When it stopped it was only for a few seconds before the car pulled into a garage and the door closed.

Fislu said, "Did you get the address?"

"Yes."

The car did not have the small jitters that it would with people in it so I went to get my duds on. So did the rest of the family. I said, "Just Jonna and Selna this time. We're going to plant another few coins so we get them all this time."

The portal opened and I crawled out with the night glasses. Enough light was coming in from the street through the cracks to illuminate the place. I put a coin on top of the ledge above the door.

An alarm went off and the car horn honked loud. Jonna was through the portal but Selna had touched the car. "Back through right away."

Selna dove back through with Jonna and me not far behind. The portal closed as the door opened. Two men raced into the garage. I could see two more staying back in the doorway. I was focussing with the coin I planted. They worked like professionals. The lights were turned on and the garage minutely checked. The car alarm was deactivated and they left. Too bad I could not get sound with the coin.

Selna was crying and I went to her and said, "It's ok. I didn't expect an alarm either. I could have touched it except I didn't want to leave fingerprints."

"I could have got us killed."

I looked up and saw Christiane with her mouth open in shock. She wanted to stay with us and now she had to. At least until we found a way of making her control permanent.

Tiffany read my mind and hugged Christiane but she was unresponsive. I said, "We have a few portals that we had not told you about. Don't worry about it. You were going to be told in any case. It just happened as a bit of a shock and a bit early. Tell me honestly how you feel?"

"I was surprised, Master."

"Are you still worrying?"

It took a few seconds and she said, "Only a bit, Master."

"This changes nothing. You belong to us still and always will. The only thing that may have changed is that you will have to learn more about our business and develop ways of protecting the family."

"I will do whatever you wish, Master."

"Then come and kiss your master." She ran to me and kissed me hard. She was still naked and I picked up the cheeks of her ass to support her. Her legs tried to go around me but I was wearing too much hardware.

I put her down and whispered, "There really is nothing to worry about. Our lives are just a bit more complicated than most."

"I'm not afraid now, Master, because I am holding you."

Twenty minutes later we tried again. This time we used the outside of the garage to go to. I stepped out of the gate with my own home as dark as I could make it behind me. I walked around the house as Jonna and Selna followed. I put coins in the ground near the foundations and where open spaces were inside. When I used the headband I knew that some locations were no good because of a furnace, a freezer or storage rack.

We retreated only to set up another portal. This one opened inside the house. The basement was dark with only a bit of light entering from the street. Once in, I listened and heard the sound from the television and some quiet voices. There was a suspended ceiling. I held up a coin until it touched and tried to reach beyond it with my mind. It worked much better with it in my hand and I had not noticed this before.

The talk was of sports and nothing about me or the garage. I went back into the portal and asked Lauren mentally, "Find some of the microphones and recording devices. I have a place to put them."

One mic went into a hole in the upper floor that admitted the hot air vent. This was in the kitchen and very near one man. Another went into the living room and near a phone. The recorders plugged into an extension cord and they were tucked in behind the freezer in the basement.

The coins were recovered except for four so we had video. Then we removed the ones planted around the house. We watched for a while by switching to one of the four coins but nothing was seen that was interesting. The activity had cooled us and I was not abused as much as usual.

The next morning I saw that the car had moved and was now parked near our farm. I knew because I initiated a portal and put my hand through with a camcorder. This was another farm. After a video search I figured that the barn gave a view of our property.

The farm may have been vacant or the owners asked to leave or been killed. The girls were concerned too. I was happy to see that Christiane had come to some terms about the level of technology her family used.

Jonna said, "What are we going to do today?"

"Go to the warehouse and take some measurements. I want to put something like an old fashioned clothes line up for the portal." She gave me a look and I had to describe the line that used two pulleys. She understood using a cord to hang clothes on to dry.

Tiffany and I got dressed. The rest still had work to do gathering data to bring to Bejek. In a moment I said, "Christiane, you better come too. If you stay here you are going to end up making everybody lose their concentration."

She gave me a bit smile and said, "Yes, Master."

The portal was opened after we looked for people in the building. We came out where we had time to get to the alarm to deactivate it. While looking at the job, I saw an easier way of doing this. We could simply raise a wooden bar with the chain hanging from it. This could be lowered later to remove it from the site.

The chain could be crushed even though it was strong. An expansion joint in the floor provided a solution to this problem.

We went back to the house and walked to the barn to gather a long ladder, a long two by four laying in the rafters, a lot of sash cord and some small pulleys.

It took a while to get everything set up. The cord with two knots in it allowed the two by four to come to chest height. When one cord was pulled, it pulled both of the others and the two by four went up to the trusses. The rope was then tied off. We did a dry run with the larger portal and tucked the chain into the floor after we dug out some of the fibre placed between the sections of flooring. There was still lots of slack but there was no need to use it all. Two of the silver boxes would be on the floor and I had to get a hammer and chisel to make holes to accept them. Usually we just had to drive around them. We tested out the system by getting a pickup from Woodland and driving it to the warehouse.

We drove to another pay phone and Christiane called a large real estate company to find if there were any vacant farms in the area to rent or lease. She went into a story about wanting to be close to the city but not have neighbours. Apparently a friend had said one was available but the address was lost. When a phone number was requested, Christiane said she would just call back in the afternoon.

Dad found some lift trucks for me at a place that rented them out. He bought them for me and they were delivered to the store the next day. The units came to me like the farm equipment and were dispersed to the warehouse or to Woodland.

Later in that day, we found that the farm had been rented but we continued to monitor the men the way they watched us. We learned that there were five men. Their plans were for the gold. One had a brother that had gone missing and was currently working in Woodland.

The areas around our receiving site in Woodland was cleaned. Our dump trucks came back and picked up crushed stone in London. For a few weeks we had a lot of trucks moving back and forth out of the warehouse. I even bought a used roller and spreader for asphalt. Some areas needed concrete for strength but this material was easier to use.

At the same time I got Turpen to provide some good but fake papers for my family. Over time I planned for them to get valid identification in Ontario. There was a chance we would need a way to travel abroad and this meant passports and other documents. I sent gold to pay for this and asked how much he could take if he wanted to sell the gold for me. Apparently he had already looked into this and could take it by the tonne. There was also a lot of mob money to launder and this served both parties. He got the gold but each wooden pallet had a coin hidden between two of the boards.

Woodland was growing quite rapidly. Part way down the coast we started a quarry and hauled stone to make buildings. This material was used to build portions of the infrastructure. This meant storm sewers, bridges and public buildings.

We were building apartment buildings and not individual homes. The waste management system I wanted, was the best available on Earth. A Scandinavian company found us as one of their better customers. We bought a large fibreglass tank that was connected to toilets on every floor of the building. The system was odour free and the toilet looked like what we used. It functioned with just eighty millilitres of soapy water to flush. Shit, vegetable scraps, and other organic refuse went in and humus came out. The pathogens in the Human digestive tract could not survive the time in this system.

The cost to a city on Earth to process this waste was enormous. A check of any large city could show how much of the taxes went to pay for this. Urine in our system was leached out and pumped into the fields. The urea in it was a good fertiliser. This made me think of my schooling and I was sure my teachers would be proud to know just how well I was putting my knowledge to work.

The people coming to the city were required to build more apartment buildings and I supplied the needed systems. Grey water was another commodity I used. It came from sinks and showers. This was settled in large tanks and pumped into the fields over six klicks away along with the urine.

The shipments from Joseph Turpen and Kapsirko Bakhtin arrived. I was not an expert on military hardware but I knew some of this equipment was worn out. Much of it was of the Vietnam war era but some was from WWII like my Lee-Enfields. A fifty calibre machine gun was still good even if it didn't shoot as fast or as accurately as the more modern weapons.

The Sûreté du Québec was hit with some charges and Christiane Roux was dropped from their books. Well, I guess their official books. The two suppliers and Gaston Tremblay were negotiating for a ship load of ammunition. So far they had found only a few tonnes but they were looking to acquire a shipload that might end up thirty thousand tonnes. This was going to cost me a lot of money. The AK rounds Turpen owned had already been delivered. We had lots for protection but a real war meant that a few measly tonnes was not enough.

I was told by Bakhtin that the port of Montreal was apparently fairly easy to pass this kind of cargo through. It would be listed as legal ammunition which it mainly was. It would have to disappear quickly because that amount would draw attention from all sorts of sources.

With the three members of the mob in my pocket, in a way, I sent them the remainder of the gold to buy weapons for me or just to convert it into cash. The coins I had sent out came back to me in a pouch so they could be used again. A further two tonnes came from Woodland and this was sent too. I had to give the men a cut of the action to keep them from suffering financial hardships. I would get a slightly better return on the gold even when some of it was cash. Since I had to launder my own funds, I accepted money from the mob that had not been put through the system yet.

At one time I would not have cared but I now saw them as a part of the economic landscape like any other predators such as lawyers, government officials, and insurance companies.

Jackson had not given up. It might have been pride or perhaps it could be that this was seen as the best deal he had ever come across. The recorders had been replaced with transmitters so we didn't have to enter the house much. They talked of gold and the amount they thought I could get climbed daily. The copper I sought was thought to be part of an process used by an alchemist to change it into gold. Others thought that I had a mine and the copper was used in a new process to separate the gold from its ore. My appetite for weapons allowed them to think I might be trading for the gold but they couldn't see how.

My silver transactions, or at least some of them, had been traced. They had not found my deals to purify the metal and form it into wire. This was where the majority of the metal had gone.

Their investigation had also led them to my supplier of the high tech sanitation system. They figured some of the toilets would be used in my mines now that I had one for silver. They had done a lot of work trying to find out where my mines might be but I don't think much gold or silver was currently extracted in southern Ontario.

More toilets, lumber, and steel arrived but now it went to the warehouse. This required us to go and unload it. The forklifts Dad bought allowed this to be done easily and even allowed the drivers to see the inside of the building.

It would be time to go back to Bejek soon. We had set in motion all we could but I didn't want to leave without removing the threat to my family. Jackson was getting more erratic all the time. His men wanted to leave and apparently he had problems with cash flow. This all came down to him doing something drastic to get what he needed. Like last time, I wanted him to rush his plans before he was really ready.

I went to the store and talked to Mom and Dad. "Dad, I would like you to visit our home for a few days."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Jackson is having problems and I want him to rush into one of his plans so we can nab him."

Mom said, "How do you know his plans, Hugh?"

"I followed one of his cars and planted one of his own bugs on him. That was over two weeks ago."

"Does he want his people back?"

"He's angry that we took them and he can use them to fight but they're not his friends."

Mom asked, "Would he go if you send his people back and give him some of your gold?"

Dad was ready to respond but I said, "That's like throwing some raw meat to a shark and hoping it will leave after a taste. It won't happen, Mom."

"Can you get the police?"

"What would I say?"

She thought for a second or two and said, "What are you going to do? I hope it's not any more killing. I don't like it when the children are put in danger."

"I don't either, but they have to have a small part to play. As for what I will do, it's up to Jackson. I want this to be done as quietly as possible and with nobody hurt."

"That's not a plan."

"I know it, but when Jackson gets angry I want you two safe."

There was a lot more talk and I had to use Caiti and Camsa's name to finally get Mom to visit us for a few days. The first night we showed my parents what we were doing. They liked the plans of the buildings so we dressing for possible threats and went to Woodland for a visit. This portion of Bejek was enjoying midafternoon because of the differences in the length of the day.

Dad said, "This place sure has changed. Blacktop in this staging area is a good idea."

Lauren said, "We've also put up apartment buildings. They have clean water, electricity, a great sanitary system and, best of all, the start of a cell phone network."

Mom looked at Caiti and Camsa dressed for war with a bit of distaste and said, "What's so special about phones? We've had them for a long time."

"Not on this planet, Mom. Bejek is just starting, or rather just starting again. Soon we will need microwave or fiberoptics to link cities and countries."

"Why?"

"To educate the people."

"That sounds good."

We did some visiting and Dad said, "The people sure are making a big deal of our visit. I know there are few men here on this planet but I see hardly any of them."

"They're around, just working. Usually the women do the menial jobs but now they get to do everything that a man does here and more."

"What more?"

"Bejek is a backward world in many respects. The technology I am bringing in is being serviced by women. Normally, a man would try to hog all this. Women usually don't fight but they have to here and in the rest of Mendab. They're not as aggressive as men but they think more before doing something."

Mom said, "I don't like women in the military."

"I didn't either until I got thinking about it. If the women of this world want to get an equal voice they had better take all the jobs and then get their voice heard in the government. That means that they have to do their share of making and enforcing the laws."

Knowing mom, I directed the tour to the armoury. Here we had the all of the men we had captured. Machinery was shipped in and we were making our own AKs. A good machinist took years to train but we made do with specialised training in gunsmithing.

Children and many women were all making parts and assembling them. Others were using a gauge on parts to see if they came up to spec. Another area was making steel in small batches for the barrels and other parts.

Mom said, "This is amazing. I didn't know guns could be made in an environment like this."

"Mom, guns are made with a drill made out of a string and a piece of wood. A man uses his feet to hold the gun still. Pakistan, India and a lot of countries in that area have a long history of making guns. Usually they are made of poor steel and poorly made but they do work."

Mom changed the subject. "Where did you get the machines and the electricity to run them?"

"Machines are easy to buy, it's paying cash that's hard. Power comes from portable generators but we plan on damming rivers and harnessing wind power. This area is good for that because it's so near the sea."

"This place looks so peaceful and yet vibrant. It would be nice to live here."

"It's nice here, but the rest of the planet is dangerous."

"Why isn't it dangerous here?"

"We have a militia that uses AK-47s. I just got twelve tonnes of rounds to feed the guns. We all learn to shoot and reload the spent ammo. People come and test our defences on an average of once every six days. They don't make it far. We've started to make our own mortar tubes and shells. Ours are not as good but they still work. Trucks are converted to armoured personnel carriers and have machine guns, a small cannon or mortars."

"My lord, why do you have to do that? People get killed in wars."

"Mom, we have been invaded many times. When an army comes knocking at your door, you have to be ready to tell them to leave and words are never enough."

Dad said, "There is noting wrong with being ready to protect yourself. On Earth, this has to be balanced with some politician that will take his people to war just because he figures he can win. With everybody equal, it's less likely that they will really fight."

I added, "With the recent invasions, militias were started. The poor find a job that feeds her and her children, gives them a home, clothing and the knowledge that if an army comes we can fight them off or at least have the means to die trying."

"You're saying that women and mothers are going to do the dying?"

"Mom, when an army finishes with a country there are few left alive. There is no Geneva Convention. Even if a half million women died, their children would survive. Women have never been given a chance here until I came."

"What does the government here think of this?"

"They're in agreement. They see the trouble we're in and my suggestions, so far, have been good."

"Are you their — Minister of War or something?"

"Yes, Mom, I am."

We checked out the apartment buildings and those that were under construction. Mom liked the toilets and the sinks but noted that they were not in the apartments but on each floor and open to everybody. Shower facilities were coed and most of the adults were only partially dressed. The children were not. Mom had seen this the first time but had too much on her mind to talk about it then.

When we left, Mom said, "Those people look happy but couldn't they live in more — private situations?"

"Mom, the majority are women. They don't have to hide from a man now. Before, it was a man that demanded that the children go naked. This has stuck though they now have the right to clothe themselves. Few of the women had husbands. Those that did, had to share him because there were so few males. The men of this world will usually watch their own family, but not the children they produce with other women."

"That's shameful."

"You're right, and the law now reflects that. Proving a man is the father of a child is a difficult thing to do and most men have little money to support more mouths."

"Then they shouldn't be doing anything outside marriage."

"That's true."

Mom looked at my family and said, "I see a bit clearer now that you have started your own family in the way of this world."

"I'm able to help these people in ways I couldn't do for the people on Earth. I see wrongs committed and try to right them."

We toured more of Woodland and then returned to London. We sat down and some of my girls began supper. Mom looked at the women and said, "Is Fislu one of your women?"

This had all sorts of connotations I didn't want to bring up. I was twenty seven now. Lauren and Jonna could be my wives. Tiffany was sixteen and the rest were younger. Picking up Christiane and Matra may look suspicious, but they were older. Fislu was just about fifteen and very legal for Bejek. A marriage at this age in Canada may be legal but probably wasn't.

I said, "All those here are part of my family. Some I sleep with and some I don't. Fislu is one that I do. She's well into her marriageable years, as is Tiffany. The word mate is used here and not what is used on Earth. There has been no ceremony other than my commitment to protect this family unit. There is a word for this on Bejek but for political reasons I refuse to use it."

"What about children, when they come?"

"A marriage contract is only as strong as the people that are bound by it. Ours is very strong. Can you imagine me abandoning a child even if it were not my own?"

Mom had to think and then said, "No, you are very responsible. Caiti told me that a man can divorce his wives by just telling them to leave."

"That's true, but it rarely happens. Other men would ridicule that man. Seeking confirmation for what was done, is what keeps the Bejek civilisation working. I want to strengthen it but also change it to make men more responsible."

"You did not really answer my question about children."

"I said I would protect and nurture them."

"Fislu looks different somehow."

"Are you asking me if Fislu has a bun in the oven?"

Mom was embarrassed. When she looked up she said, "Am I going to be a grandmother?"

It was Jonna that came forward with a daughter in each arm. She said, "Our man has graced me with his child. He has also done so for my two daughters." While mom sat there shocked, Jonna added, "Lauren and Tiffany will wait a while. Matra and Christiane have just joined the family and want to stay with us, no matter what. Hugh will bow to pressure and give them children too."

When mom caught her breath she said, "That is not done here."

"We read about what happens if a Moslem man visits Canada with his family. If he has four wives, does the Canadian government send three back to their country?"

"No, that's different."

Jonna said, "Hugh has taken to the customs of my world. He may have as many wives as he is able to support, just like any man on our world. He's only visiting Canada with his family."

"But he's Canadian."

"We have heard of people with dual citizenship on the internet. Have you?"

" — yes, but that's different."

"The government of Mendab granted Hugh citizenship. There's no difference except that instead of that person being a stranger, it's somebody you know."

"But he's our son."

"That's what I just said. Your son has many mates or wives. Three of them will give you grandchildren soon and the others later."

"But so many!"

Tiffany said, "Mom, many families are large. You're looking at this from the point of view of a woman on Earth."

"What's wrong with that?"

"We now live on Bejek. We come to Earth to trade and to see our families but our home is on Bejek. Our children will be born there and grow there. They will visit Earth, but again just for a while to see family."

Mom started to cry now and the women clustered around her. Lauren had to hurry to the food to keep it from burning. We ate later and the three pregnant women sat beside Mom and asked about me when I was young as if I were not in the room. When Mom replied, Jonna talked about her babies as if they were not in the room either.

Dad and I sat in comfortable chairs and had a beer and kept our mouths shut.

Jonna talked silently with me and I gave my ok to her plan. She said, "We've decided to build a few homes. This one will do fine when the children come. We want to construct another home between Kingston and Ottawa. We have some ideas but they don't fit together yet."

"Why do you want another home? You have to have one on that other world too."

"We have the money to afford it so we want to build. As our powers grow we will be able to move through the portals as easily as from one room to another. It will be like one house but portions will be all over. We want our children to know their grandparents."

Mom had a big smile then. "With the portals, I guess it's alright."

"There's something else you must know about us."

"What is that?"

Jonna said, "The silver icons are controlled directly by the brain. Using them a lot means that the brain changes the same as an arm if it works hard."

"How does it change? I can see stronger but that to me is smarter."

"All of us use the icons and after a while we can sense what each other is thinking. The more we are together and the more we use the icons the more we can communicate. We can't do it with other people, only those that we love and love us in return."

"Do you mean," Mom had to fish for the word and then she asked, "you're telepathic?"



-------

Chapter 31


Jonna said, "Yes, but only within our group. We cannot read either of you. This is fairly common on my planet. Some people are born with this ability already strong. We are trying to see if everybody could do this with suitable encouragement. So far it's only Lauren and Tiffany. We think it's because they have come in contact with the silver icons a great many times. I think I was the one to trigger the ability in your son and he has encouraged the rest of us to work hard at it."

Mom and Dad did a lot of thinking and looked at me. I said, "I can only read those that have their brain conditioned. That's why we don't need a wedding ceremony. They know I love them and I know they love me."

Dad said, "We went through those portals a lot and you used that heart on us."

"It's cumulative and you both were passive. Neither of you tried to use the icons so you got none of the benefits."

"So we could if we tried?"

"I don't see why not. If the experiment works, then we all learn something. If it doesn't, we learn from this, too."

The questions now changed and I was happy to see that Mom and Dad were not too upset. Christiane had been a bit upset when she had been told a week earlier. She was now eager to learn. In time, perhaps my parents may be as eager.

At midnight we did not go to bed. We got out the headbands checked on the coins planted near Jackson's men. Mom and Dad asked questions and Caiti was the one to answer them.

Near one in the morning, the day shift was getting to bed and two men were now in the barn watching our house. Over the last week, we moved a coin into the upper level of the barn and then moved it to a better place when we used the portal.

Mom kept asking what was happening until I said, "You can start to learn about this but it takes a while to reach a few kilometres. We can do nearly a sixty now. If you try, your mind will alter just a bit until we can talk to each other. You already know that you don't have to talk and you can block off your thoughts. It's situations like this where it's better to be a participant."

"You only have three headbands."

"We need only one. The rest can sort of piggyback and see the same thing but it's not as clear."

There was a pause again but she finally said, "I'd like to try." She said this while looking at Dad.

I turned to Dad and said, "Your love will get stronger, I think. You'll become more compatible. Two brains work better than one. In my case there are eleven of us and soon a twelfth that will go over any problem we have."

"I'll think on this a bit more even though your mother seems to like the idea."

"That's fine, but I warn you that all of my children will try to read your minds if you don't have some sort of shield. You can read theirs though. If you're babysitting them you'll know when to put them on the pot or to feed them."

"That young?"

"I have no idea but it may work."

At one thirty Lauren, Jonna, Tiffany, Fislu and Matra accompanied me to the house containing the three men. They all looked asleep. There were alarms but we were behind them now. We carried pistols with silencers and three juffa nets reminiscent of Hollywood gladiators.

The nets went over the men and only Jackson awoke and struggled violently. I used a sap twice and he quieted down. When the all clear was given, the lights went on and I began working on the leader to make him mine. In half an hour he was bound much tighter than the juffa could hold him. The other two were next.

By three o'clock Porta said to Camsa, "Oh, Mark, is it safe to do it in the barn. I mean there could be mice."

The men awoke more and hurried to the ladder and didn't hear the steps behind them. I jabbed a taser into one man's neck and held his collar. "I have a taser. You move fast and I let go of you and pull the trigger." At the same time Tiffany was saying something similar to her man. Two other voices added their sentiments and poked the men with their guns.

A half hour later we had two docile men that were going back to the house now to go to sleep and meet me at ten in the morning.

We picked up our coins and ported home. Mom and Dad were waiting for us and were more than happy about how well the operation went. I was just happy to get some sleep.

Mom and Dad couldn't both play hooky so they both went to work.

The five men came right on time and I admitted them into the house. They looked and acted normal except they called me Master.

The girls took the men to other rooms and used tape recorders when they questioned them. I found that Jackson was really Melvin Slater.

I said, "I guess your name is what got you into fighting the same as me."

"It did, Master. I still — dislike my father for giving me the name."

"Is hate a closer feeling than dislike?"

"Yes, Master."

Melvin or Jackson began to tell me how much he knew about us and what he could guess. The latter covered a lot of area and his surmises were not even close. We went back further to when and why he was recruited. Willie's name came up three times but it was just because he was dealing in gold.

Like the other men, I found out Jackson's talents. He had been in the Canadian military as a pilot. He reached the rank of Captain before he left. Two senior officers were killed but the authorities couldn't find enough evidence to prosecute Jackson. They did give him an honourable discharge and a partial pension. In his own mind he was a good soldier and just got ticked off at people making fun of him on a constant basis.

He was not currently married. He had two children that he was putting through school. He then gave me his own observations of his men including those that were now in Woodland. I got a clearer understanding of the men but nothing was startling. An hour later the others joined us and we sat down to eat a civilised meal.

I said to Jackson, "I'm going to give you back your men. You are all my employees now. Go home, pay your bills, enjoy your families, but in two weeks I want you to call Bakhtin for orders. Some of you will be returning here to continue your jobs as armourers."

"Yes, Master."

There was lots I could have these men do for me. Collecting copper was beneath them and I guess Bakhtin and his friends could do this for me. I needed people that could use modern weapons and Jackson was one of them. Two of his men had infantry training though they had not excelled. I could use an army of men like Jackson but they would make my life difficult after they had finished their jobs unless I renewed the conditioning on them every year or so.

The men stayed in the house as Lauren went to gather the twelve survivors. They had to get into their old clothes or some of the used clothing I brought. An hour later they showed up. The men were given money to compensate them for the shot up cars they owned or rented as well as for wages. In the latter case they were to say the vehicles were stolen. Additional money was given to help support the families of those that died.

Mom and Dad came by after work and Dad asked, "How did it go? Is it safe now?"

"I let all of the men go including those in Woodland."

Mom said, "Won't they talk?"

"Not for a while. They may need another talk in a year or so but they won't mention where they were to their friends or anybody else."

"They're gangsters and they're bound to talk sooner or later."

"That's right, Mom, but as I said I have to talk to them later."

We had a nice meal and Dad said during dessert, "I've given the idea a lot of thought all day and your mother and I would like to take you up on your offer of teaching us to — read — minds."

"Dad, you're only going to be able to read Mom's and our thoughts and that will happen only when we allow you to."

"That's what I meant."

I said, "There are some icons in Shreff that can open your mind just a bit first to get you started. We can start with them."

"That's fine with me. Ah — I wanted to ask you something. That portal you have, would it allow you to walk into a bank at night and into the vault. You could take all the money you wanted without the gold."

"I'm trying to be ethical. If I steal now, I may never stop. I admit that I have taken money and goods from people that were trying to kill us or take back what we own. In that case they bet their lives and their goods against mine, and lost."

"You didn't do that with the men that were after us."

"They weren't rich enough. They had to have enough resources left to support their families."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. I'd would have liked to see the inside of a bank vault at night just to know that I was there."

"That may be fun too but it's a temptation I don't need."

Mom donned the headband and Dad said, "You should be wearing shorts."

"Why?"

"You look like Wonder Woman."

"I do not!"

I said, "You do, Mom. A rope at your waist and silver bracelets and you got it made."

A small smile crept to her lips but she said, "I'm too old for that and I move much too slow."

Dad quickly said, "You're far from being too old. You move like a girl of eighteen."

The smile got bigger and my girls waded in and told Mom how young she acted. I personally figured she and Dad acted a lot more like they did when young. The bedsprings creaked at night in their room when we were not making too much noise in ours to hear.

The test went well and in an hour they could see inside a paper bag. We had a few breaks but stayed at the task until it was time to go to bed.

Jake Headricks phoned me with a code word disguised as a wrong number. Our negotiating for the refinery and coin making machinery were in the final stages. He had received the go-ahead to buy it under a phony company based in the Bahamas.

The next morning, Mom and Dad had headaches and I used the heart on them. There was something different about their brains and I worked hard to find out just what. This was research so I stayed at it until I could record what I saw. Jonna and Matra checked too and confirmed my observations.

Mom said, "You took a long time. Is there really nothing wrong?"

"You're very healthy Mom. Others will learn to understand what happens in time so I just wanted to start this off with a few basic observations."

After my parents left for work I went back to the large rooms with the stone floors. I chipped out four more of the smallest portals and brought them out. Again I worked at least semi-scientifically and logged everything I did. When I checked the world spheres I noticed that another one looked similar to Bejek. This got me excited.

The frame itself was cleaned and put in contact with the large frame in the barn. We had large lightning rods now that fed their power to the frame and other heavy cables took the power away to be grounded. It got charged regularly and without any extra effort.

When the portal was energised, I saw a view of soil but it had to be soil from someplace on Bejek. Without a key I could not even dig a way through to find out where.

The family were monitoring me and soon they were using all the keys we had to see if the portal could be opened. The three other portals were cleaned and energised. Two were unresponsive as if there was no terminus at the other side. The last was in a dark area similar to what the rest had been. It was another corridor someplace else. The keys didn't work on this one either.

Caiti brought a sphere next and I asked, "Why did you bring this?"

"It looks like Bejek too."

I looked at the silver globe and said, "You're one smart girl. We catalogued them when we removed the other portals but didn't try them." These icons had not been shown to Osston and I wanted to get his opinions about them.

The globe was changed and so did the location. It now showed a cloth covering. On second glance the cloth was juffa silk. The material was in many layers so I hurriedly got a powerful light and shined it into the portal. I could vaguely see the markings of another chain similar to our gates. To one side was a lump that had to be an icon of one type or another.

I had to think about this. I said to our group, "We changed the globe and we got a different place. It looks like a different place on Bejek but I'm not sure. The major concern is why this happened. We used a globe for the small portal and another globe for the large portal and they lead to the same spot more or less. How come our globes don't do this?"

Selna said, "What about what we saw wrapped in juffa?"

"That's important but I think my question is more important."

The ideas came in fits and starts and I wrote them down just in case. It was much later in the day that the ideas started to gravitate to a few basic ideas. My favourite was that the original portal on Bejek was part of a group of portals. Small creatures used the small gates and larger ones used the larger gates. Their focus was close enough that they would work on what was a nearby gate. I really needed Osston to look at the details now.

Mom and Dad came and got a synopsis of what we had discovered. Mom said, "Did you try the keys again on the new site?" I didn't have to answer because the girls took the keys one at a time and touched them to the portal. We soon found that none of them worked.

We closed the portal down when we ran out of ideas. Dad asked, "What did you want the portals for?"

"Light goes through the portals even without a key. I want to introduce the internet to Bejek at some time in the future. If a gate closes then the cable is severed. If laser light works, then we may be able to use a fibreoptic cable to make the transition."

"That sounds like a good thing to do. Will radio waves go through too?"

"I'm not sure but we can try with our own portals. We just have to remove the key. Why do you ask?"

"Two reasons I guess. You could get radio and television in Bejek and it could be rebroadcast in cable or through the air to whoever wants to have it. It also strikes me as a way to find where this cache of silver really is."

"How's that, Dad."

"Use a transmitter to push a strong signal through the portal and then use a receiver on Bejek to get a fix. Do that a few times and you know where the other end of the portal is."

"That sounds great. If I had one of those special transmitters, I may be able to push a signal through the dirt at the other end and find it, providing it was not deep."

Dad said, "I watched an old war movie where the Germans were racing through some place in Norway looking for a transmitter. They had a truck with a loop on top that caught the signal."

"I may have seen that but I was pretty young at the time."

"That's ok because I saw it. Another thing is that your grandfather had an old radio and when I say old I mean old. The antenna was varnished wooden tube about eight inched in diameter. Oh, I forgot you don't know inches. It was twenty centimetres across and say ten in the width of the thin ring. Anyway there was about fifty turns of thin wire wrapped around the ring and varnished so it would stay in place."

Dad paused long enough for me to say, "I saw a picture like that once."

"Good. What I wanted to get at was that you had to aim the antenna at the station. My dad's antenna even had a gimbal arrangement on it. It worked well but was selective to where it was aimed. When the signal came from the side the signal that was received dropped rapidly. That was the trick that the Germans in the movie used. When the edge of the antenna was in line with the signal source there was a rapid decrease in strength."

"I can kinda see that, Dad. I think I can give it a try. My transmitters work best at low frequencies to get around the planet. I also know that an FM station does not work in a metal building very well. We use AM for almost everything."

We tried some experiments right away. We dressed and put on our vests and carried our weapons. The walkie talkie worked with the key removed from the portal and the stronger radio stations came through too. We had surplus military radios and they worked just as well. A small portable television did not work as well when it used rabbit ears.

We used the large military radio to contact Artlam who was now in Limka to work with the militia. All of Mendab was preparing for another invasion because we knew that at some time in the near future the Army of the Righteous would arrive. Preparations were being made to protect all of the cities but I knew for a fact that only a few would be even partially prepared.

A convoy of trucks had left Woodland and distributed the material that had come from Montreal. Mantoya's responsibility was mainly in this area. The last shipment was a considerable number of the old M72 rockets. These particular units weren't as old as those used in Vietnam. They were a variant that carried a high explosive fragmenting head along with an improved launcher assembly.

There were three light field howitzers of two kinds. There were shells for one kind and it happened to be the type we had two of. Old style machine guns had arrived but not nearly enough 50 calibre shells.

We had a chance to check the gun works. The AKs still being produced. We had tonnes of ammunition for the rifles. I hoped that we would have a chance to get enough surplus bullets purchased to fight a real war. The shells were available from China and some of the old eastern block countries. Buying enough, getting them shipped to Canada, passed through customs, delivered to my warehouse, and finally transported through the portal to where they were needed was a daunting task.

Mom liked the industry of the workers but not our product. She did not use words but her expression said enough. I received reports from various managers. In private I heard of some stigga sighted in the forest. At least the trees had been cut back to make good roads so ambushes were going to be less effective. As a precaution I had every sixth woman or man carry a shotgun with slugs made of plastic covered stone. We had no walls around our city and a portal could open anywhere.

We cut our visit short and returned to London. Mom helped prepare a meal with the other expectant mothers. Later we started another lesson using the headband and the coins. The family started playing games as the students had done on the ships. This time Caiti and Camsa hid with a coin and Grandma and Grandpa had to find them. The finder got a hug so the adults liked the game, too. The game was not easy because you had to focus outward far enough to see the portion of the house or the barn they were hiding in.

After an hour my parents wanted to quit. Dad looked upset and I had to corner him in the kitchen. "What's wrong, Dad?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Dad, tell me."

He was hesitant but then whispered, "Camsa gets excited when he hides. He gets an erection all the time. When I look around from the coin I always see it. Don't get me wrong, the boy is beautiful and innocent. I don't think he's trying anything, — it's just that I can feel that he really wants me to hold him."

When Dad didn't continue I said, "And he pokes you." I talked to my ladies to make sure Mom got the talk as well. Dad turned even redder and nodded his head in embarrassment at my observation.

"It's your Earth culture at work. When it's warm, there are few clothes worn. Sex is very common and not hidden away as if it's dirty. On the other hand, it's not linked close enough to the responsibility of the possible outcome of the act. Camsa is just a horny boy, much as I was when young. It means nothing to him and a rational observer would see that this is the way we should be. Another thing to think about is that he is a young boy that needs to be held."

"I can see that and like you say, it's my upbringing too."

"Well, Dad, I took a sea voyage on Bejek. There were three ships at first. The crew were both youngsters and older adults. There were more than the average number of males because of the training imposed by our enemies. They made up the same game you played but the finder got a much bigger reward than a hug."

"You mean they — had sex?"

"They sure did. It put the old 'Love Boat' series to shame."

"What if it was a boy that found a boy or a girl a girl?"

"There are many times more women than men on that planet. The girls don't usually have access to a man so they find female lovers. Males can have anybody they want and sometimes it's other males. It's not looked down on at all. It's only when a group of males meet and talk about who did something wrong that there is any censuring. From my studies, I found that old Rome was the same way. That's what I have to work with when I have to shift a man's thoughts to be more responsible."

"It sounds — like they are always doing it."

"They do it a bit more than us. It's a body function like going for a dump. Two people meet and if the urge strikes a man he will have sex with the woman. Few women will stand up to a man and say no. I also found out that few want to say no."

"What about adult/child relationships?"

"Females marry at ten so what does that tell you? Are they a woman or a girl? When she becomes fertile for the first time, she has been enjoying sex for quite a few years. Rape is not the same. There is less brutality and it's not looked down on the way it should be."

"So Caiti is — sexually active?"

"She is very active, but not with me. Again I have to say that the customs on the other side of the portal are not the same as we have here."

"You can say that again."

"It's not all bad either. People here are too inhibited with sex. The people in Bejek use a group of spices and vegetables that work just as good as our birth control drugs. There, the males eat it too."

"It sure is an interesting world."

"Remember, Mom wanted to live there."

"I wouldn't do that."

"Bejek is beautiful."

"I know that. I meant I would not — take other duties on."

"Dad, I used the Heart of Opfu on both you and Mom. You now look much younger than you should. I see the way Mom looks at children. I know you're young enough to start a new crop of youngsters."

"I want to retire eventually and not spend my time doing diapers."

"You're healthy now and I bet you and Mom will live well past the century mark, baring accidents. I would place you now at about my age. You already know that I have three on the way and my other ladies want a child too. There's enough money to support them and perhaps even enough time to enjoy them as they grow up."

Dad paused then said, "Your mother wouldn't go for that."

"Don't speak too soon. You don't know Bejek at all. It's violent and dangerous and also beautiful and unspoiled. If you emigrated there, perhaps Mom may want to make a few more Driscotts."

I left Dad to his thoughts. Camsa knew what we were talking about and after he got over his possible gaff he found Caiti to work off the excitement. Presently the two were in a sixty nine position and using a dildo on each other's back door. I had to round up the rest of the family before their thoughts made me unable to stay out of the orgy that would occur.

We played a similar game next where the coin alone was hidden. Mom and Dad played but I figured they liked the other game better even if they got poked.

Later there was another wrong number. Some of us took a trip to a phone outside a gas station where Lauren and Matra sat in the car with automatic rifles ready just in case.

Jake picked up the phone on the second ring. I said, "Hi, is Sandy there?"

"Sorry, you have the wrong number."

"Sorry for bothering you."

We drove close to Jake's house and followed him as he drove by. We stopped outside the city and I said, "Hi Jake. How did the negotiations go?"

"Not as good as I hoped. Can I talk here?" He was looking hard at my ladies.

"I trust these women with my life."

Jake looked at the women and the visible weapons and said, "We couldn't use gold to pay for the place."

"How much did it cost?"

"Eight and a quarter plus another quarter for fees including my own."

"Did they accept the side deal for cash then?"

"Yes, they did. For five percent they will launder as much money as you want."

"That takes a load off my mind. Now what about the employees?"

"They will stay on along with the existing management. We found that they had some problems with theft and some people were arrested but I don't think they got them all. I personally feel that some of the theft was by the management."

"I may have a way of fixing that but I have to be onsite. When does the money have to be paid?"

"I put down a half mill for you as a deposit. You have thirty days to get down there. A Dominican lawyer will help you complete the transaction."

We talked a lot more and Jake gave me eight pages of typed details that was just the overview. I was going to digest what was said and written, then talk again at lunch to get the rest of the details.

We got home late but everybody was awake and cheerful now. When it came to sleep, Dad wanted to go to his house. The latest danger was over so there was no problem. I said, "I have to go to the Dominican Republic in a few days. On the way back I'm going to be looking for one or more ships in Virginia. I'll be looking at a plane I saw on the net too."

Mom said, "What kind of ships are you looking for?"

"The American government is selling off their surplus ships. Their Coast Guard has a few vessels that are just over thirty five metres that I can use."

"How big is that?"

"The distance from the house to the barn."

"That's a monster of a ship. What are you going to do with it?"

"Exactly what it's now doing for the Coast Guard. There are a lot of pirates — "

"Pirates?"

"Yes, Mom. I had a few run-ins with them."

"I simply can't see that. Men swinging from ropes and using swords is only in the movies."

It was Dad that quickly said, "Pirates are still a threat in South East Asia. It was in the news and the larger nations are sending warships there. Recently a cruise ship was threatened with a group using a grenade launcher."

While Mom digested this I said, "Some of my friends died in the attacks. They were very close to me. Bosma was Camsa's best friend and he died in an attack."

I felt Casma's feelings and so did Fislu and Selna. They hugged the boy to them. Mom was quiet now and I continued with the story of how the boy died.

Mom said, "You were just sailing home and your enemy attacked you and then killed all those people?"

"That's right, Mom. They attack on land, on the sea, and through portals."

"They are bad people, Hugh. I can see why you're fighting them."

Dad said quietly, "How did you get away? You were outgunned."

"We had a mortar that threw a round further and more accurately than their cannon. It was more destructive too." I went on to talk about just how destructive they actually were.

Mom was in tears and so was I about the opened wounds. My parents still only knew a fraction of what it was like and it was really just a small portion.

In the next few days we gathered a substantial amount of cash that came from the sale of gold through those in Montreal. I picked up the phony papers for the family. More money was coming later because a considerable amount of gold had been sold in Montreal for me. I called Reynolds and he agreed to meet me in a week or so. It had to be left up in the air. A few phone calls went to a firm in Buffalo that had a mid sized turboprop for sale. It belonged to a small regional airline that found the plane unprofitable for them. We were going to pay for a ride and see if it suited our needs. If it did, the Bermuda company purchasing the gold refiners would also purchase the plane.

Getting off the plane and going through customs at Suffolk could be a problem. I had no relatives in the city and I needed a safe place to put a coin. It also had to be within fifty klicks of the airport. I had one solution in mind.

The owner of the security firm was contacted and given an older car to leave in the long term storage of a specific parking garage near the airport. He did not understand about leaving it in a dark corner but he would have it done as there was enough money involved to make it more than profitable. A coin was hidden under the carpet and we would have a chance to enter the vehicle one at a time.

I had a chance to search the net to find ways of triangulating a transmitter. There were some fancy units using a CRT display but I could also use Dad's idea of a loop.

When the time came to leave, we hugged my parents and left for Niagara-on-the-Lake then to nearby Queenston. We left in two cars and a cargo van with no windows. Money was a bulky commodity to carry and heavy in our case.

We had left late to arrive in the dark. I drove alone through customs but I had to wait a long time on the American side. I was pulled in for what they called a secondary inspection. All I had was a suitcase and a bug detector. I waited in the office for four hours and answered questions as good as I could. They specifically asked me about Willie and I said he was just a guy I went to university with.

They finally let me go with a warning not to do anything that was going to get me into hot water. I honestly figured that the rejects that the American police refused to hire were used on the border and they even had much more authority.

I pulled over at a large motel parking lot. I found a bug on my vehicle and after a moment's thought, I placed it on a van similar to mine. I found an area further away that was fairly dark and waited as I thought about my family.

A few minutes later a portal opened and Lauren drove through. Seconds later Jonna came through with the truck. The portal closed and Fislu used some sashcord to hold open the smaller portal. In a moment Jonna came through with a canvas sack containing the large portal and more sashcord.

Jonna asked, "Why did they keep you so long?"

"They figure I might be purchasing guns and ammunition. They put a bug on the car."

"What did you do?"

"Put it on a car with California plates. They may be going to Niagara Falls or home but they're going to be followed."

We split up in the two cars and truck then drove to Buffalo. It was good that we had come early because we would be nearly late by now. The public terminal was not our destination, it was the one used for private planes.

The name of the firm was on a large sign. Upon entering, I was greeted warmly by an older woman and a man in uniform. I was invited into an office.

The owner of the charter service and chief pilot was called Tom Cress. He was around forty five and going bald but he still kept his weight down. This said that he was serious about himself. He said, "Did you have any problems finding the hangar, Mr Smith?"

"No, but some of your north and south street signs point east and west."

"We hear about that quite a lot. A street with the name north in it should go north and south. Are you still interested in the Dash 8?"

"Yes, I am. Its bigger than I wanted but I can fill it easily."

"If you don't mind me asking, you sound new to the business."

"Oh, I'm completely new."

"This plane is expensive to buy and expensive to operate. It's even a bit too big for me. I'm cutting back to aircraft with twenty seats for our business. The charters were not coming in the way we hoped."

"I'm not going to run competition for you. I'm looking for a private plane."

"Again, I don't know how new you are but there are a great many hoops to jump through to fly a plane this large. Even after purchasing a plane it requires inspections that eat up the time it could be flying and earning money."

"I really don't know too much about it as you said, but money usually gets me what I want."

"Would you like to see the plane?"

"Yes, but I warn you I have the family with me."

"I saw them. The younger ones looked polite."

"They are but they like to ask questions."

The family and I looked the plane over and Tom explained about the intricacies of the craft. He soon saw that we were lost. A little later another man showed up. Marc Johnson was introduced. He was about thirty and looked fit too. He was another of the pilots and I guess he came over to see the girls.

In the back of the plane, I sat with Tom and said, "I need a plane, I need a place to park it, a company to service it, and pilots to fly it. You loose money holding onto it. What if a company from the Bahamas bought this plane from your company and hired you to do everything that was needed?"

"That could be done. Would I be able to rent the plane from you on occasion for charters?"

"The answer would be yes but you will have to use your smaller planes to move my people during these times. The plane will not be based here permanently but I don't know exactly where the permanent location would be." I did, but it was not on this planet.

"How long will it be here?"

"I'm sorry but I have no idea. There are many considerations I have to evaluate. We're just going to have to make a chart of the costs of upcoming inspections and rebuilds and I'll pay for what is needed as we go along."

"That's not too bad but having a pilot and co-pilot available all the time may be impossible."

"I would leave it up to you to find the help on a temp basis. I would prefer to only have a small group actually fly the plane that I'm going to be riding in."

"I understand that. Most of my pilots are in the National Guard and get additional flight time at the government's expense."

"That reminds me that I also have to train people to fly but they will start with small planes first. Some will go onto rotary wing aircraft. I hope that someone here has a licence to teach?"

"Three of us have that."

"Now tell me how much you want for the plane? Explain to me how you come by your figures. I'm a reasonable man but I like to see I'm not getting screwed."

Tom went into details of the craft and how long various major pieces of equipment could be used before a rebuild or replacement. The cost involved then were tabulated. He continued with the contract for maintenance, teaching, pilotage fees, and other costs like insurance.

I said, "That figure is steep but I guess planes are expensive toys. Let's write up a contract on the flight and we can get a lawyer to go over it to make sure the loopholes are plugged."

"You accept my price?"

"I can dicker with you and to tell the truth, that's fun. But I don't want you to have problems financially so I am letting you have a cushion. At times in the future that cushion will have to be used but not abused."

"That's fine with me."

"Now will that be cash or do you want this to come through a financial institution?"



-------

Chapter 32


"Cash is nice but the books work better with a cheque."

"Cash I could give now but the cheque will have to wait for a few days I'm afraid."

"You carry almost four million in cash?"

"I have more, the reason of this trip was to buy property."

"Are all those suitcases filled with money?"

"I have quite a bit of cash. Do you have any qualms about carrying it with us?"

"If you're into drugs I can't deal with you."

"Tom, I work hard to remain ethical. I don't like drug dealers. I do not like gangsters either or their methods. Sadly, governments are not much different than the mob in the way they operate. I work in the grey area where I follow most of the laws and skirt a few to assist my people."

"Your people! That sounds like you are a feudal lord."

"In many ways, that's very close to the truth. Now, how do you wish me to pay for the trip?"

"Cash works for me this time."

I paid the man in hundreds and in fact that was the largest bill I could use. Canadians had thousand dollar bills but with drug money perhaps they wouldn't be used much. The pilot got a scanner and ran twenty bills through without a hitch so he put the money in the safe and shook my hand.

I asked again, "Tom, I'm going to invest my money in goods and real estate. It's all in cash. It's just that it's a lot easier to get this into the system if I go to one of those grey areas."

"How much do you have?"

"Almost a thousand pounds."

The man did some mental work and said, "That truck?"

"Yes. Money is bulky."

I had to wait a long time until he said, "I'll take it for you but we can't let anybody else see what we're loading."

"Thanks, Tom. I want to say again that I sold no drugs or stolen property to get that money. What I did to get the money, you would probably do the same."

The girls drove the cars near the hangar. I moved the truck near the hatch for the luggage. Tom and I threw a lot of large heavy suitcases into the plane. When we finished, Tom was sweating. "Was that all," and in a whisper, "money?"

"Sure was."

The family was not as frightened of flying this time even though it was in the daylight. Gus used a portal to detect those nodes and we had our own unit. It took little care other than to make sure it was charged.

We didn't have much sleep and we snoozed for the first part of the flight. We landed for refuelling outside of Atlanta. Tom got some papers and we began to go over the points we discussed in our deal.

Camsa and Porta were close, listening to what was said and when we finished the business I said, "I want everybody with me to try to get a pilot's licence. Some people are not suited to flying though and some would never be intrusted with a plane like this."

"I've met lots like that."

"Then perhaps you could talk about flying in general to us?"

"I'd love to. Why don't you move up toward the cockpit so I can show you. Marc will have a chance to add his comments."

"That sounds great."

We moved up and the lesson began. It hadn't finished by the time we landed near Miami to refuel again. After that, we were over the water.

Tiffany said, "Are we in the Bermuda triangle yet?"

"We sure are," Tom said. "Ships and planes disappeared in this area for centuries. They vanished in the area from Miami, San Juan and Bermuda. A better shape also includes Norfolk as a forth point. I understand we are going there later. Even modern ships with all sorts of navigational aids, radio and alarm beacons have been lost without a trace."

Casma looked so earnest when he said, "Really," that I had to smile.

Tom saw this too and began a talk of pirates and worked up to lost planes in the Sargasso Sea.

We were well rested when we reached Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. A man in a suit accompanied by two military officers met the plane. Our guns were hidden but would not do us much good if these people were hostile. I did have the lightning bolt weapon and the fulcrum which could do a lot of damage if used creatively.

The man came up to me and with a smile said, "Good day, Mr Smith. My name is Federico García. I am assisting your representative, Mr Jones."

I shook the man's hand and said, "I'm glad to meet you. I would like to get out of the sun if we can."

"We have brought sufficient limousines for all of you. They're airconditioned for your comfort."

"That is very kind of you. Are we required to go through customs?"

"I have already taken care of that matter. I was told you wish to see the property before completing the transaction."

"That's true. I understand that it's not far away."

"It is just a hundred and forty kilometres but only some of it is with good roads. It will take almost three hours. Perhaps you would like to rest first and refresh yourselves?"

"Let's stop at San Pedro de Macoris."

"As you wish."

"Tell me about your two escorts."

The men were a Captain and a Lieutenant in the local army. They quickly explained how there were still bandits around. The next words were that we needed protection since we must have the cash to complete the deal. I just smiled and allowed them to feel that they were here for my good.

Our property was taken out of the plane and put in the cars. Sixteen large suitcases full of money had to be stored securely. We found enough room when we filled the trunks and the front seats of the limos. The family kept their pretty packs they had bought to imitate students in the university. Tom and Marc were going to enjoy a vacation for a day or so then take us back.

I sat with the first vehicle with the Captain and García. I listened with my mind to the girls and they told me about the troop truck and a car with army markings on it following right behind us.

This situation smelled so I used the heart and the other icon to get the Captain to nod off before I worked on García. By the time we stopped for a break, I knew that we were heading into a trap.

Lauren said mentally from the car behind me, "What's your plan?"

"It's in the mountainous region before we reach Santa Cruz del Seibo. The Captain and the lawyer are to be called away. We get stopped, I get shot. The Captain likes you girls so you would take a while to die. The soldiers will be pinned down and after the bandits are finished with all of you they will be driven off. I figure some of us move the car behind the troop truck. I will arrange for the column to stop. We use our guns to take the soldiers' rifles so we can use them."

"Who babysits the soldiers?"

"We all use our weapons to keep this civilised. We start up again but all of you are in the troop truck. The soldiers will be a few kilometres back on the road and without any babysitters. When trouble is near, we stop before the trap to let you off and I go forward."

We had a bathroom break in shifts so we could watch the cars and our belongings. Caiti came out with a smile so I knew her guns were handy and ready to use.

We managed to get the lieutenant alone for a moment and I found out his part in this arrangement. The soldiers in the truck were more thieves than soldiers and only knew that we had a lot of money.

It was about forty klicks to the city but the road was in poor condition. The ambush site was only a vague area so the people springing the trap had some leeway.

When we were in the general area, I pulled the 45 out of my holster and prodded the driver's neck. He looked at the weapon in the mirror and started to talk rapidly in Spanish. Our always helpful lawyer told him to slow down and stop. When the car did stop, I got the keys for the ignition and stepped out of the car.

Christiane, Caiti and Camsa, my three 'Cs', stood at the windows of each car with a gun at the head of the driver while the rest hurried to surround the military car and truck. I heard some auto fire and Jonna called out to us, "Nobody hurt, just making a point."

The soldiers were kicked out of the truck as the family confiscated the AK-74s. These weapons were a lighter calibre and we only had a few of them but they were nice.

We kicked the drivers out and had the lawyer drive since he was under my control. We stopped at three possible ambush sites until I saw what looked like a trap. The girls used the truck to block the road behind us. Taking to their feet, they moved up the hill to get behind the bandits.

It took longer than I thought but soon I heard that the girls were ready. The lieutenant drove the front car alone and the other two followed. An explosion blew up in the road ahead of the car and the procession stopped. Men came charging out of bushes or from behind trees. By the time they got to the car the girls opened up with single shots.

There were a dozen men and I scanned the area for reinforcements. The men dropped quickly and took cover behind the car. I used my rifle on full auto and killed or used it to flush out the rest. The girls and Camsa made sure there were no survivors.

A hidden car took off and I used a half dozen rounds on it but it got away. The family came out and tried to shoot too but the road wound around the hill sides. In the distance and below us I saw a road about two klicks away that may be the same as the one we were on. I could hear the roar of the car's engine and then I saw it on the exposed road.

Two klicks was far for a sniper weapon and I only had a rifle. I took out the silver lightning bolt and aimed it at the car. I didn't have time to be exact. I just thought of the car exploding and burning, then I included the gun. The car made it behind a small rise just as the gun fired. The beam shot out of the front of the weapon. The bolt was immediately surrounded by static and smaller lightning discharges that emanated from the main beam. The discharges becoming larger and more potent as the distance increased. As the car went behind the little hill, the beam followed it, cutting through the obstruction between us like a knife. We couldn't see the vehicle at this point, but it seemed to have been hit.

We patrolled the ambush site and found nobody alive including the lieutenant that had been in our lead vehicle.

The girls double timed it back to the truck. The Captain and Jonna drove the vehicle back to pick up the soldiers. Traffic, though sparse, was now starting to back up. The Captain eventually got his men gathered up. Apparently some were not willing to be found. The Captain provided the story of how the soldiers fought off a dozen bandits only to learn that their lieutenant had died in the battle.

The truck returned and the soldiers were given empty guns to hold. Some of the soldiers had seen and heard the horizontal lightning bolt that struck the car and were not interested in disputing anything we said.

The radio in the truck was used to call in a report. This would bring a lot of unwanted attention so we got in the remaining undamaged limos. Our lawyer was now our only guide. We were more crowded with the additional suitcases.

The top section of the hill I fired at was now missing. There must have been at least twenty tonnes of soil and road destroyed to hit the back of the car. There was still steam coming from the damp soil. A reflection of glass was seen all along the cut. When we passed the vehicle I destroyed, we slowed down to see the damage. It was still burning when we arrived and I saw three charred corpses thrown from the vehicle by the explosion. We were just able to drive around it and then past the line of gawkers that had stopped at the fire. If I had directly hit the car with this much power, there would be very little left to see.

I listened on our mental party line as everybody talked about the fight. Instead of being gross like some of the warriors I knew, they talked about their weapons and tactics. Usually it was what we would do different if we had to do it again.

Christiane was overexcited at the battle. Camsa pushed her down to the floor and give her something to nurse on that would relax her. The driver could not see but I was sure he was guessing. Some of the others were excited too, but able to control themselves better. Before too long Christiane's lips were passed to the next one in the car.

With the battle over, I told the rest what I had learned from Federico García. Gerald Hicks was the owner of the business we were purchasing. He was the one that suggested this ambush so he could pocket the deposit and share in the spoils and sell his property to somebody else.

We bypassed our stop so we could get to our destination quicker. There was a turn off before we entered the town and we came to a chain link fence with two armed guards. I looked at their expressions and didn't see any amazement that we had arrived. Then again, the ambush would be kept secret. García got us through and we parked near a two story commercial building.

The drivers took the suitcases out of the trunks and front seats before dutifully carrying them into the building. Caiti always had her hand in her pack as if searching for a doll but actually clutching her Glock 19.

We were ushered into a nice reception room and I saw a man of fifty get up from his chair in an office and hurry to us. He looked at me and then at García. The smile on his face was far from believable.

García did the introductions and Hicks shook my hand and said, "I hope your trip here was enjoyable."

"Actually, it was."

Hicks looked at my face and said, "How so, Mr Smith?"

"We had some entertainment. A group of fifteen or so ruffians wanted my money and I turned my army loose on them. None of the men escaped. A lieutenant in the army sadly died in the crossfire. I got to shoot a few of the thieves for the inconvenience they caused me."

Hicks looked like a fish out of water. "What about the army unit?"

"We were not sure about their loyalty so they were disarmed. We did the job they were supposed to do. To avoid unpleasantness, the army is taking the kudos for killing some robbers."

"You're saying that it was your family that killed them?"

"Let's talk in your office for a moment."

"My people are coming soon and perhaps they should hear this?"

"I can repeat it later."

Hicks, and I entered the office and I closed the door behind us. When I turned around I punched the man. He fell against the wall and slid to the floor. He grabbed under his arm and I moved in and kicked him. I would like to hit him a few more times but he was unconscious.

I used the Heart of Opfu and the muddling icon to get tentative control of the man then deepened the conditioning. The man awoke slowly but stayed where he was as I finished my job.

I said to Hicks, "Tell me about your plans concerning the ambush."

There was some noise of a scuffle and Tiffany said, "It's alright. You won't be interrupted."

"Who is it?"

"Security."

Hicks said, "Your plans for purchasing this property with gold or cash sounded like a way to launder funds, Master. When I discussed this with some businessmen I knew, they indicated that you would not go to the police if you were robbed."

"Was I to be killed?"

"That was the plan, Master. We did not want you to think that we were the ones that would rob you."

"How much is this property really worth?"

"The price agreed to was actually a fair price master."

"Do you own this property?"

"I own ten percent, Master. The true owners wish to hide their identity."

"Are they the business men you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes, Master."

"Why is the company for sale?"

"It's old and inefficient. A new plant is nearing completion."

"Where is this plant?"

Twelve kilometres east of here, Master."

"What can you give me in the form of incriminating evidence that would put the remaining owners in jail?"

"I have books but there is very little evidence at all."

"Do you have the ability to launder cash?"

"Yes, Master."

"To what amount?"

"To almost any amount. We have access to seven banks."

"Straighten yourself out. We are going to see your friends. Tell them that everything is fine."

"Yes, Master."

Hicks went to a small washroom and cleaned himself up. I said to the family, "Can we come out now?"

Caiti said, "Sure, we kept the bad men away so you could play."

"You're taking up too many Earth Human mannerisms, young lady."

I came out behind Hicks. He was dabbing a piece of paper towel to his cut face. He saw the anxious guards and said that everything was settled now and for them to return to their duties. Hicks had to call his lawyer from Santa Cruz de Seibo.

We found a secure room able to hold all of us. I had changed my plans now that I had been attacked. When the lawyer came he brought an accountant. They were quite shocked to see Camsa and Caiti pointing guns at them.

"Have a seat gentlemen."

I learned that this lawyer's name was Marquez and the accountant's was Fuentes. They sat down and I worked on the lawyer first to get his cooperation, then I did the bean-counter. A meal was summoned and we began to ask questions.

Marquez knew a lot more dirt on the two majority owners. The lawyer himself owned two percent of this company.

When I asked Fuentes, the accountant, the answers came back phrased differently. He did not seem to be quite as loyal an employee as his boss.

I said out loud, "Lauren, Jonna, take this man and question him. I want to see if there is a difference in their answers."

Mentally Jonna said "What do you want us to do?"

"He sounds fishy. Dig into his past and his present activities."

Verbally I said, "Go with the women and answer all their questions as fully as possible."

"Yes, Master."

When the three left, I said to the lawyer, "What is the actual cost to your principles to launder say — a billion dollars?"

"I cannot say exactly, Master but it is very little. They just deposit into the bank and transfer the money to whatever accounts they choose."

"That's good to hear. Now at what discount must authentic gold coins be sold at in bulk?"

"I have no idea, Master, but I could find out for you. The accountant is new and may now take care of some of the affiliated companies that would deal in this."

"Could you answer for gold bullion when sold by the tonne?"

"No, Master."

We ate the meal while I thought out my new idea. I would have to meet two men by the names of Ruiz and Torres. That was a very difficult task. They had a high level of security and were presently not on the island.

The two men had homes on the island but they also had others all through the Caribbean. Torres usually stayed in South Carolina while Ruiz called Venezuela home. They were actually big time businessmen or gangsters depending on how they did business. A lot of drugs went through their hands as middlemen for the Columbians. Other pursuits did not usually bring in as much money. One of them was piracy.

Lauren and Jonna did not come back so I said to them, "How's it going, my Sweet?"

Jonna said, "Your Sweet is working hard. This man is an accountant all right but he's working for the national police and for the Americans to put Ruiz out of business."

"Not Torres?"

"The present American administration likes what that man does to move oil from Venezuela. They give him a lot of slack. They dislike Ruiz because he runs guns to Cuba."

"I guess that proves that oil is thicker than politics. Maybe he can run some guns for me?"

"You would not like the man or Torres to deal with. They are not warm and cuddly like Bakhtin and his friends in Montreal."

"Really?"

"These two guys give gangsters a bad name."

"I had an idea of using those two to sell our gold for us and put the proceeds into bank accounts we can draw from."

"They will try their best to stiff you unless you fiddle with their heads."

"I was planning on that after they tried to rob us. Does the accountant know where the men are?"

"Hold on." In a few seconds Jonna said, "He thinks Ruiz is in Nassau. Torres, he has no idea."

"Keep digging. See what the bean counter can do for us. I still want to put this money into the banking system."

"What — you're afraid of being robbed? I'm surprised."

We asked questions all afternoon. When I ran out of ideas, somebody else gave me a new area to pursue.

Jonna soon had a lot of family working with her because she was doing something interesting. Fuentes spent hours on a computer making out more accounts for us and depositing a dollar of his own money into each of them. I had a dozen already but there was not that much money in them.

Jonna said, "Fuentes would put your money in but then he would get in trouble."

"If it's money he wants, then let's use García and Hicks. They were the ones who tried to rob us. Just tell me where you want me to send it."

The two men in question logged onto their accounts one at a time and deposited a million each into the war fund. Hicks also paid back the deposit given him. All the money disappeared immediately. Marquez was dirty but he and Fuentes had not tried to harm us, so they got a free ride.

The banks were going to close soon so Hicks, García and Marquez went with me. For protection I took Porta and Sonna. They were pretty and tended to distract people's eyes from me. We carried in the load with a lot of help. It weighed in at four hundred and fifty seven kilos so I for one was happy to get rid of it.

The money went into a large room with six women and two men so it could be counted by machine in front of us. After the forth time, I deposited the American funds in one account and the Canadian into another. This took hours and the employees got overtime. It was only forty five million but it was a start. When I mentally told Jonna the job was done, the electronic funds just disappeared to other accounts.

Not quite all the money went into the bank because I took the family, Hicks, and García out to eat. It was the least I could do since they gave me a million each. Fuentes was sent home instead because I did not want to draw more attention to him than was needed. Marquez was simply not needed yet. García was released. I had no use for him now but he would come if called. We were put up at the best hotel for the night but it didn't feel safe. The bug detector did not make me feel any better.

Porta and Sonna had Christiane tonight and they finally got the woman to relax. Camsa was asleep the soonest considering how the women kept him drained. I transferred my semen until I was empty but I still slept lightly and lighter than usual. The girls could now charge up the lightning icon but it would take more than one night to do this.

We went shopping in the provincial capital. The family had very few clothes to wear. I had brought lots, but that was simply camouflage. We took pictures everywhere we went just like any tourists.

Marquez, Fuentes and Hicks had to explain how the deal fell through. It was not just about the robbery attempt but the fact that I saw that the plant and machinery were too old. Any suspicions I had that Hicks, the army, and the robbers were working together was downplayed.

They would explain how I was looking for honest businessmen that would process a tonne or two of gold for me and turn it into coins or cash. I would only do this deal face to face.

The money I put into the system was at no charge because Hicks supposedly didn't want to look bad, especially when my family and I had so many guns pointing at him. Fuentes' efforts were not reported because none of the banks he dealt with were of the seven the men were partners in.

At noon, a young man found us at our meal. He presented me with a sealed envelope addressed to me. The note said that Ruiz had heard about the failure of the deal and then the possibility of another even larger deal. There was no mention about a reply so I thanked the young man and sent him off.

I said, "I like it here but we have better things to do with our time than being tourists."

I could feel the reluctance to leave this place so soon. If Ruiz or Torres wanted to talk later they could contact García and Jake would contact him periodically.

Camsa said, "Do you want to try the portal to Santo Domingo?"

"Are you up to that? It's about a hundred klicks." There was a coin on the plane with this in mind.

His face fell a bit and he said, "I'll try."

Tiffany hugged him because I was not close. The boy always tried hard but all of the girls did too. We were all over sixty klicks now and Camsa was a little over seventy. Locking the gate to a location was not any harder though.

We went upstairs and we all worked hard to see the coin. Camsa tried the hardest and he couldn't do it either. I went downstairs and used the public phones to make a long distance call. I had to get a second women that could speak English to help me.

I had the pilot's cell phone number but I did not like to leave a lot of paper trails behind me. A bus schedule caught my eye and I saw that there was a route to the capital leaving soon. Another bus was leaving for Hato Mayor, a city we drove through to get here, in an hour.

The family was ready and had their packs stuffed full. We followed the map by the phone to the bus station and bought our tickets. I regretted not bringing one of the six icons that allowed me to understand any language. All it needed was to have a person that understood it speak it to me. Osston had said these might come in handy but I tried to limit what I carried. It had no use on Bejek though it did when communicating to other races through the portals.

The trip on the bus was a little over thirty klicks but looked twenty on the map. Just as we came to the city I noticed six troop carriers and three staff cars racing back the way we had just come.

The situation had now changed. When we stopped, I called Tom. It was time to get going. Tom picked up the phone quickly. "Tom here."

"Hi, Tom. How are you enjoying your vacation?"

"I didn't like it at all. They're pushing me to leave. They don't seem to care about you."

"Stall as much as you can. We'll be there soon."

"What did you guys do?"

"I'll talk later. We have to hurry."

"I hope to see you later, Mr Smith."

When I hung up the family already knew the situation. Instead of going south the way we had come I planned on going west. The army would follow us quickly but have to split up.

Camsa had the headband on and concentrated hard but it was still too far. I hired three taxis to take us west. This was the quickest we could go.

We were on the road for fifteen minutes before Camsa started to smile. Just before the next major town we stopped and I paid a good tip to each driver for the quick trip. There were farms all over the place and trees, too.

The large portal was simply held by Porta and Sonna. Camsa opened the gate and we fled through. The plane was empty and the hatch was open. Camsa used the small portal to locate the two girls and soon they came through the link with the large chain.

I phoned Tom again.

The voice said, "Hello, Tom here."

"Hello, Mr Cress. We think you should leave now."

"What about you and your family?"

"Don't act surprised. I want you to still complain but you will find that you have some passengers now."

"What!"

"You're acting surprised and drawing attention to us."

"I don't know how you did it because there's a squad of men watching the plane."

"That's just one trick of the trade."



-------

Chapter 33


Tom and Marc came into the plane and pulled the door closed but did not look at us. Fifteen minutes later we were in the air. Tom came back to us while Marc flew the plane.

"What happened back there?"

"This cannot be repeated except to Marc."

"That's fine with me."

"Think about it. My word is very important to me."

"You have mine." From the cockpit I heard the same thing again.

"I'll let Caiti tell you."

She said, "Me!"

"Go right ahead, Sweetie."

She thought then said, "The lawyer and the soldiers were thieves. They led us into a trap with some robbers that set up a roadblock. We suspected this was going to happen so — Mr. Smith stopped the lead car and we jumped out and overpowered the solders in the troop truck. We took their AK-74s and removed the bandits ourselves. When we were done, we handed the empty rifles back and continued on our way."

"Who is we in this case?"

"Why, all of us. I didn't get to go full auto and had to stay single shot. The bandits didn't have flankers and no security at all except the three that fled when the battle was over."

"Did you shoot anybody?"

"Only one, but two others got him too. I'm going to get rid of my old rifle and get a 74."

"Have you killed before?"

"That's not a nice thing to ask a lady."

"Do you really have a Glock in your pack?"

"Sure do. If you show me yours I'll show you mine."

The joke did not go over well. "I think you're too young to go into a combat situation."

Caiti listened to the silent communications and then said, "I think you have no idea what was involved. Tell me what would have happened to all of us if the bandits had won. They were prepared to kill and they did not come masked. We all would have died. Perhaps some of us days later, when the men tired of us. Perhaps, if I got on my knees, they would see that I was a young innocent girl and spare me. Should I have fought to save our lives or accept what some criminal wished to do with us?"

"You have to fight, but others could have done it for you."

"Who? The army was in on the deal. The lawyer and the owner of the business were too. We could only depend upon ourselves. Didn't your own forefathers mention about being vigilant and ready?"

"You should have been left at home where it was safe."

"Fat lot you know. We are harassed on all sides. To stay at home would invite the same thing I tried to avoid with the bandits. I'm not yet seven but I think I have a clearer view of Human nature than you do."

Tom did not reply but he went back to the cockpit. A minute later Marc came to us and said, "There is a storm coming our way and we are going to have to change course. We will still make it to Suffolk ok."

"Any electrical disturbances?"

"Quite a lot actually."

"Stay well away from the storm. I'm warning you that if there is the least chance of us being hit by lightning it will come our way and destroy the plane."

Marc just stared at us then went back to the cockpit and the plane veered even more to avoid the storm he was talking about.

Tom came back later and after the engine noise increased. Tom sat down and said, "How come lighting will strike us?"

I pulled out the silver lightning bolt and handed it to Tom. He saw the medallion still on my chest. He looked at the silver icon in his hands and said, "It looks nice."

Do you remember the old stories about Thor, Woden and Zeus being able to throw a thunder bolt?"

"I liked mythology. I remember the stories."

"With what you have in your hand, I threw a thunderbolt at a car full of robbers. It was over two klicks away. It was the same as if I used a ground to ground missile. The car was destroyed completely and there were three charred bodies in it."

"Why do you think I'm that gullible?"

"Why don't you wait until we are on the ground during a storm? I can safely show you how it works without anybody being the wiser."

"Ok, say I believe you about this. Why avoid the storm?"

"The silver weapon in your hand attracts lightning. It would get hit five or more times during a storm. It would get hit in the air if lightning is anywhere close."

Tom considered this for a while and handed back the icon. He went back to the cockpit and the plane veered even more from it's course. We could now see the brown kelp on the ocean's surface much easier. I pointed out how this area was shallow at only twenty five metres in depth. It was easy to see how this could hide anything that crashed on its surface.

An hour later I heard a double beep and wondered what it was. Matra handed me a case that contained our portal. The light was beeping but the screen was dark. We had found a new site somewhere in the Bahamas. I did not know where it was but the location would be recorded in the computer.

A half hour outside of Norfolk, Tom came back again and said calmly, "I doubt if you got your passports stamped. It's also likely that the police will be waiting to talk to me."

"I'll pay for any inconveniences either of you incur on my behalf. Do not list us as being on board and I'm sure we can avoid any unpleasantness with the authorities."

"The same way you got on?"

"Exactly."

He just looked at me and wondered. We touched down at Norfolk International Airport and pulled into an area for private planes. The family had already started to shift to the car when Tom came back. He did not look hard for anybody because now was a time to use the washrooms and some of the family may be bent over in their seats.

"I hope there won't be any problems in my country."

"I hope so, too. I had hoped there was none in the last country, either. I came as a businessman looking for ships that float in the water, not the air."

"A yacht?"

"A working ship."

"Still three days?"

"It could be less but not much more."

Marc and Tom left but Tom came back after a few seconds and only saw us standing and getting ready. "I'll close up in ten minutes."

"That's fine with me."

We went into the bathroom one at a time and I collapsed the large portal. In less than a minute the smaller portal opened from the parking garage and I stepped through with the larger chain.

Taxis were easy to find and we travelled to a good hotel. Our lack of baggage was attributed to the airline. The family had their packs that looked like they could be carried on. I called Reynolds in nearby Suffolk and got an appointment for tomorrow just before noon.

The phone stayed in use for quite a while as I conducted business. The family ordered a meal and I cut some of my dealings short to be with them.

Matra said mentally, "What do you plan on doing with that spot in the ocean we found?"

"If it's not on land it will be hard to use. Possibly it can be used from a ship."

Jonna said, "I was thinking about the house we were going to build. It may be fun to go to the Caribbean whenever we wanted."

I heard the crack of thunder in the distance and knew that the storm was still on the move. We ate quickly and I bought a raincoat from the shop in the hotel. The rain had only just started when I got into a taxi with a tourist pamphlet in my hand. The Ocean View Golf Course went right to the Atlantic. The rain was getting heavy now and the taxi driver looked oddly at me as I got out.

I lugged out all the silver I brought with me. I went down to the ocean with little difficulty and no witnesses. This area had military bases up the wahzoo and I had to stay away from them. I had to wait an hour and a half until I called Tom and said, "Get up high and look Northwest of the airport. If you have a camera you might get some nice shots."

"Shots of what?"

"Nature's fury, Tom."

"How long do I have?"

"Depends on the storm, not me."

"Thanks."

Tom had lots of time because it was three quarters of an hour later that the silver in the shallow ocean water was hit by gigantic bolts of lightning. There were only four but they were spectacular. I stayed well away and under a bridge until the storm passed. I had to wade out into the water as the tide was coming in. Jonna came to me in a taxi or I was sure I would be picked up by the police for the way I looked. I now had to go shopping to replace my damaged or wet clothing.

The family made sure I was the warmest possible and used body heat. My disposition improved dramatically. Camsa demanded lots of my attention. He loved the whole family, but me more. He was beginning to act a lot more like Porta in the way he responded.

Porta was being held down and her body ravished. Caiti had to keep her quiet with her pussy. She didn't usually last long because she burnt so brightly.

Selna was eating Sonna while Matra was doing the same to Christiane. Everyone was busy pleasing somebody or being pleased. I thought to myself how lucky I was. Not only did I have people to love me but I loved them. My body allowed me to enjoy theirs and not cave-in from the demands made upon it. It was just not my body that saved me but the appetites of my family for each other.

I went to sleep with Jonna sleeping on one side of me and Caiti on the other. The hopes of weaning her off of me and onto Camsa had not worked as I hoped but the results were still favourable.

The next day was sunny and we went on a tour of the town. Near the noon hour I went to see Reynolds in his office.

The man had a florid face and white hair. He eagerly shook my hand as if I was a long lost friend instead of a prospective client or customer.

"How may I help you, Mr Smith?"

"I'm looking for a ship about a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet long. I'm starting a business that trades between Europe and the East. My route includes the Straits of Malacca, Somalia and the Red Sea. All three areas are known for the desperation of the inhabitants. Piracy is common and powerful weapons are available to the attackers. For this reason, I want a military ship with some armour. I, of course, will be putting any weapons onboard."

Reynolds thought for a moment and said, "To be perfectly honest with you Mr Smith, I have to say few of our military ships will be available except those that have seen much abuse. Various friendly powers snap up the better ones and they don't even come to auction. There's a Coast Guard cutter that may suit you. The hull is in a sorry state but the engines are sound. It's not much of a warship but you might be able to find weapons to replace the deck gun and not run afoul of international law and called a pirate yourself."

"Do you have the specifics of this vessel and an idea of the cost to bring the hull back to what it should be?"

Reynolds went into his records and showed me the vessel. The ship was a hundred and twenty feet long and now sported one forward turret. The ship looked fair in that it would work well against Church ships or those of its allies. The cost of repair of the hull was very high. The probable cost of the vessel itself was not bad.

I said, "Could we view this vessel?"

"It's tied up at a dock open to the public at the moment. Since you have paid a deposit, I can send a naval engineer to show you the ship. He can show you what is in need of repair so you get a good idea of what is needed."

"You mentioned before that you would bid for me if I chose to acquire this vessel and then oversee the repairs."

"I have done this many times and the cost of my help at the auction is nominal. My fees for the repairs are fixed so that I am not accused of increasing the price at the expense of my clients."

"That sounds fair. I would like to see the ship."

I was introduced to Martin Crane. He was a man of forty with what appeared to be an overactive metabolism or he had a drug problem. Reynolds assured me that he was very competent.

We rode to the wharf with Crane asking about what I needed. I had to stick with pirate suppression but the pirates I might run into were much more powerful.

We were admitted onto the ship only after my fake ID was checked. My gun was hidden in the car and I only had a folding knife and my lightning bolt.

The interior of the ship looked good to my uneducated eye. Crane pointed out problems that we could not see without tearing out metal. The Navy had already performed some ultrasonic testing and had found some problem areas.

Crane said, "The diesel engines are an old design and the ship is just middle aged. You could do much better with a turbine but it uses much more fuel for the performance gain. A better choice would be to put new and more modern engines in. They are not the problem, though. This was an Island Class Cutter at a hundred and ten feet. The ship was lengthened thirteen feet and this put strain on the hull. That was what caused the warpage we saw before we came aboard. The hull's watertight integrity has been compromised to such an extent that the ship has been decommissioned. The Coast Guard is undergoing a number of problems with its aging vessels."

"What do you estimate the cost of making the ship like new?"

"That is a tall order. If I hazzard a guess, I'd have to say six and a half million for the hull. The latest electronic gear would run two and a half million."

"What other costs am I not considering?"

Crane went into details now and I just listened. Always there was something just a little bit better but more costly. The man loved to talk about ships and the conversation ran into those of the former Warsaw Pact countries.

"They have hundreds of ships that are dirt cheap."

"You could pick up a destroyer if you had the money but I'm afraid somebody else would take it from you."

"Planes too?"

"Oh yes. The Chinese are selling old Mig 17's or what they call J-5's for only thirty grand each."

I knew about this already but I hadn't gone far into it because of transportation problems.

When we got back to Reynolds, the three of us sat down to talk. I was going to use most of Crane's suggestions but stick to the more realistic ones. I wanted some ideas added of my own. I wanted to map the ocean floor so I needed good sonar. I also needed more equipment and other ships to record the echo from their position. Books on every piece of equipment staying on the ship and all the new equipment had to be provided. My expedited delivery time may give problems but there were a lot of shipyards with idle workers. The time required to do the work was still four months at the minimum.

I seemed to like comfort and that meant larger rooms. It was no different from the ships with wooden hulls. The ship was made for war and would probably see action on Bejek so I was careful what I asked for.

When I finished there was a contract made up and signed. I went on the office computer and removed all of the money from one account. If they had software to retain my information, it would get them nowhere because the account had been emptied.

Reynolds went to his own bank and saw that his account was credited along with three million extra dollars and we shook hands one more time.

I met up with the family later and we completed the tour. Sonna asked, "Did you get a ship like one of those in the bay?"

"Only a little like them. Those are big or heavily armoured warships. I got a small one with a little armour. We can go see it but it will be months before it's ready and then I have to find a crew."

Taxis were used again and we saw the ship from a distance or we walked by in small groups. I did not want us remembered as a body.

A public telephone call to Tom got us ready to leave. I listened to his voice and I detected nothing wrong so we checked out the plane through the coin and then arrived openly.

The two men stared at us when we arrived then went about their business. We were in the air within half of an hour. Once in the air Tom came back and said, "I pretended to forget something and came back to the plane one more time. Marc and I had watched the hatch all the time. When I got in, you were gone. Marc came back and neither of us could find you. Are you going to tell us how you did it?"

"We just met. You trusted me and I trusted you. The secret goes much deeper. Let's get to know each other better."

Tom really wanted to know but I said to change the subject, "Let's talk more about our business."

"Ok," he said reluctantly.

"I will complete the deal when you get the forms filled out. You'll get to lease the plane from a company in the Bahamas just as we stated. I heard that there are a lot of Mig 17's or Chinese J-5's around. I wish to purchase a few dozen along with spare parts. They need to be serviced. Are you capable of doing this as well as train others in service and flight training?"

"Migs? I guess. We even had some in our unit but the ones your talking about are too old. Anything modern could knock them out of the air very easily."

"That may be true. I also require you to teach my people how to fly them."

"It wasn't long ago that some other people learned to fly airliners and used them as weapons."

"I have no faith in anything I cannot see, Mr Cress. There will be no war or fighting if I can help it."

"Those planes are only good for fighting."

"That's true."

"Where are you going to use them?"

"To answer that means you have to join our cause. I cannot answer otherwise. When or if you learn the truth, you'll find that I'm of no threat to anybody." I left unsaid that it was no threat here on Earth.

"I can't understand that. The planes are for fighting and you are not a threat. That seems to be an paradox."

"It might. Do you want to throw your lot in with me? I'll pay well and you'll get a chance that only a few others have ever been granted."

"What if I say yes and change my mind?"

"You won't."

"Ok, I'll sign up."

"Thank you. We need good people." I called out louder, "How about Marc?"

We walked to the cockpit and I talked to Marc. He was not quite as interested to join but enough to say, "What the hell, I can use something to spice up my life."

"Good, then I have to say I'm a farmer born and raised in Canada. I found an artifact much like the Star Gate seen on television. So far we only have one planet to visit. All but two of my family now riding with us come from a planet called Bejek. The other two along with myself come from Earth."

I looked at the men and I was fairly certain that they did not take my word for this. "There is an organisation on Bejek that is trying to take over that world. This is a Human condition and of no real problem. They act like what your old propaganda said Russia was like. In this case it isn't a gross exaggeration to stir up the taxpayers to pay more. So far, I have been footing all the bills."

Marc said, "Can you prove any of this?"

"Were you able to see the lighting strikes yesterday?"

"That could have been a fluke."

"Lighting striking one spot four times?"

"Sure."

"How about how we entered and left this aircraft?"

"That's still a mystery. How did you do it?"

There are portals between worlds and I guess on the same world like train stations. We happen to have a portable unit."

"Bullshit!"

I used my voice and called, "Matra, open a portal from you to me please."

The girl came close and looked at where we were then backed up enough to open a portal that extended only four metres. When the apparition materialised, I said, "Watch then." The medallion touched my skin and I walked through and waved at the two men in the cockpit then I stepped through again.

I said, "Tom, care to step through the looking glass?"

It took a few minutes but I waited for him to think. "Yes, I'll give it a try."

When he stood I took off the medallion and put it in my hand. "You have to touch the medallion or a person's hand that is wearing the device. It keeps other people out."

Tom took my hand and I stepped through. Tom saw my hand in his but the rest of my body was four metres back into the plane when he looked above the apparition but right next to him when he looked through it. It took another few minutes until Tom took a deep breath and strode forward one step.

I backed up as he approached and said to him, "That step was short. We usually step uncounted light years. There are a lot more interesting facts to learn. I think you've made a good choice."

"How did I do that?"

"I don't know the physics behind it. We're working toward that goal."

"What happened in the Dominican?"

"Well sit down and I'll tell you."

When we were seated, I felt the heart in my pocket and interfaced with Tom's body. In a moment I used the other icon to alter some of Tom's drives. In reality I just made sure he would be loyal. Getting the story out would be very detrimental to our plans.

Tom slept and I talked for Marc's benefit until Tom recovered. I continued for a few minutes until I said, "Let's go to the cockpit and talk so Marc can hear better."

"Sure, anything you say."

Tom took over the flying even though it was in autopilot. Mark was put under and when he was done I started all over again so both men would hear. talked more about the conditions and the situation on Bejek.

Marc said, "So the ships and planes are to fight the organisation called 'the Church' on another planet, not Earth."

"You're exactly right. As Tom said a Mig 17 is shot down easily on Earth. On Bejek they don't have missiles but they do have weapons like the silver lightning bolt. They have others, too, and they usually work at the speed of light. The opposition has been using the minimum effort to kill me and then increased their power after every failure. Soon they'll bring out the big guns."

Marc said, "We can't train people that never learned to read so they can fly a fighter, even if it is a half century old."

"We try and that's all I can say. I also need a navy. Ours has wooden hulls. A few of the enemy ships acquired diesel engines from Earth. I'm afraid that the Church will escalate and find a source for Earth made weapons. I bought a Coast Guard cutter of thirty seven metres. The only way of getting it through the portal is to cut it into long strips and push them through. On the other side they have to be put back together again. That was how this plane was going to go through."

"How big is the portal that goes between worlds?"

"It's 3.7 metres by 5.2. Big enough for a transport truck and big enough for a plane this size if the wings are completely removed and we pull it through on dollies that allow the belly to just clear the floor."

"What about the tail section?"

"Elevating the nose of the plane will drop the tail."

"That could work. So we will not lease this plane?"

"You can still use it. Buy me a few replacements and we can put those through. A foreign business can ask your company to do maintenance on the planes."

"How are we going to get the plane to wherever you live?"

"We have a much larger local portal that could take the entire plane if we are careful. It materialises fifty to sixty klicks away. The range is dependent on the operator and seventy klicks is our current max. A person trying to kill me came from the other side of the planet. We may be able to do the same in time. For now, I figure we can hopscotch at night four or five times and have the plane in my warehouse in half an hour if we station people along our route."

"That would be fun to see."

We landed in Buffalo and since our last landing was in Norfolk there was no need for customs. We didn't get off the plane, though, until Tom said there was nobody waiting for him or us. At least, not yet. There was still a lot of cash left and I handed Tom a hundred thousand dollars and said, "This is to confirm our deal. It's also a tip for you."

"How much is here?"

"Ten packs of hundreds."

"Geez."

I handed five more packs to Marc and said, "This is your tip. Tom got the same but also a retainer in a way of speaking."

"Shit! I've never been tipped like this before."

"Spend it carefully or the tax man will be on your ass. He might be anyway if those people in the Dominican call up here. If there's a lot of trouble, use a lot of good lawyers. Save the receipts and I'll pay all of it."

Lauren and I drove back to Canada in her car. We had no problem getting in. The large portal had to be set up and the cargo van followed along with the rest as pedestrians. I was going to have to send someone back for my van and they would be stopped at the border for perhaps longer than I had been to explain what had happened. Soon, even this would require passports because of American laws. It seemed their population went as crazy this time as they did last time. That was when the Republican party, and McCarthy in particular, used the threat of Communism to gain power to destroy their political enemies.

Instead of sleep that night, I went to Woodland with the family ready for war. Everything was fairly peaceful, though. There had been one large skirmish in the trees and only thirty Anguy were killed. Some stigga were killed in Limka and three other cities but the militia had killed them quickly. My bounty of ten drak per stigga killed and ten more for their medallion meant that people were not running away, but seeking them out.

We slept in London just to say we were back. The next morning, everybody but Lauren and Jonna went to the store. We showed Mom and Dad the pictures of our vacation in the Dominican Republic and then in Norfolk. They even got a chance to see a few photos of the ship I was trying to purchase. Lauren and Jonna were at the warehouse clearing a backlog of material through the portals to Woodland.

Since the Americans were suspicious of me it was important to be as careful as possible. I went to the local airport and made a phone call to an associate of Kapsirko Bakhtin. Bakhtin would get the message after it went through one more cut out. I had a chance to start the wheels rolling to get a company set up to purchase the Dash 8. Jake thought a different Bahamian company would be better and I left it in his hands.

It took thirty minutes before the phone rang. I picked it up and said, "Hello, Smith here."

"Hello — Sir. What can I do for you?"

"Hello Kapsirko, it's good to hear your voice. I was recently reminded about all the surplus military products in the former Warsaw Pact countries and in China. Instead of smaller munitions and weapons I would like to move up to larger systems. Have you located any player there that is willing to sell us the equipment I requested before and could provide both ships and planes?"

"I have, Sir, but it's the shipping that's the problem. We don't have the flexibility when we use their container ships. The Captains tend to want too much in money because of what they carry. They are part and parcel with the Russian mob we are dealing with. The other captains are not adequate to get some of the containers through customs."

"I put the cash into the system."

"That's good to hear, Sir."

"Would it help if we purchased a container ship ourselves?"

"It would, Sir. I could crew it with my own men in that case."

"How much for a ship?"

"I can only guess. It the ship is old, say ten to forty million depending on size and condition. If it's new, it would be much higher."

"I'll ship you another few tonnes today to start. Find a good ship. If possible, pay in gold. I think a small container ship is best but you make your own choices. If you can find enough low tech equipment then you'll have a cargo. I want a few dozen Migs and a lot of spare parts. Leave any machine guns, cannon and missile launchers with the planes. Putting them in a shipping container is best. If you need more gold just send a message and I'll put it into one of your trucks."

"Thank you for trusting me, Sir. You are making me a wealthy man. Is there anything else I may do for you?"

"Yes, there is, and you're welcome, Kapsirko. I'm negotiating for a small cutter. See what small armed warships I can get in the east. Fifty to sixty metres is what should work best."

"Do the sections have to fit the dimensions you stipulated before?"

"Yes, Kapsirko. No larger than 3.7 metres by 5.2."

Bakhtin and his two partners were getting rich. They had started by losing eight million each but made ten percent of gross transactions and also made more money by laundering the money sent to me. They had made up their losses five times over. The next major transaction would make them very rich.

Bakhtin said, "Jackson is anxious to return. Would you like me to send him?"

"Not yet. You might tell him about the plans for the Migs. He's a pilot too. He can give you some expert advice."

"I'll ask him, Sir."

With this business finished, we only had to wait two more days to transport the shipments that were on the way.

Fuel was one of our problems and the best method of dealing with transportation was to pump it through the portal as if we were a gas station. Using our own trucks and hiring others could work for us but this would require fuel tanks in Woodland. This was just a thought but would need to be addressed soon.

Tiffany said, "I think we need to go to Toronto."

"Why, Honey?"

She pulled me down for a kiss and said, "We ordered all those laptops but the people are learning English. I want standard computers now. This will push them into learning English even faster."

"That make's sense. How many are you getting?"

"I located a supplier with almost eight hundred older units for four and a half each. They will put Linux on all of them for us and pre-load the software we want."

"They must be old computers or the guy's hurting."

"Well, are we going?"

"You're a big girl now. Why not take Lauren to get them? She's of legal age to sign the documents."

Tiffany looked a little disappointed and I put in my thoughts of her trying to fledge and even work independently. We needed a large group to protect ourselves but all the decisions were concentrated here, too. We needed to split up and still find a way to be safe. Tiffany thought about it and smiled and I got a kiss. I knew that she felt better about this and she could grow.

An hour later Lauren, Tiffany, and Selna were off to the wilds of Toronto to get some supplies. I thought of using one of the military radios that came in the last shipment to find where the two small portals terminated but I didn't want to broadcast strongly since I was now probably watched. I could transmit freely in Woodland but the other signal would be there too. The only solution was in the stone corridors of the other portal.

I used the transceiver in Woodland to search for the signal. It was well over an hour that I gave up until night time when reception would be better.

Next, I used the portal that had dirt behind it. I was not very confident about this because it said on the net that radio waves could transmit through the planet and not interfere with reception in the air. It was also true that I could not likely receive if it was transmitted in the soil. It did require a try, though.

Everything was ready in Woodland and I tuned the receiver in. It was not long until I found the thousand Hertz tone. Happiness overcame me and whooped. Those around me thought I had gone daft.

It took a half hour to fashion a directional antenna. I was excited and got people to help. The antenna was disconnected and I used the directional loop antenna to get one fix. I had no idea where the site was just that it was on one side or another of a line I drew on the map.

The family was told of my success and I started to get ready for a short trip. I needed a second point to triangulate from. Going on an excursion was not something to be done lightly. We loaded up some of the vehicles and armed them as best we could. I only took Porta with me as a way of getting the family to work independently.

Forty soldiers accompanied me as we raced down the road towards Kanssa which was the nearest city other than Shreff. The roads were much better and we got twenty kilometres quickly. I took out the military transceiver and turned the loop around slowly until I found the signal. When this was tuned in, the antenna was turned again until the signal disappeared. The process was used again going clockwise looking down. The null spot was in between. I used a compass to find the direction and plot this line on the map. Something must be wrong because the point was near Woodland itself.

After consulting the map we went back the other way toward Mentac, another nearby city. The road was nearly straight and we took a less used side road to get a better fix. When I tried again, I saw that Woodland was again the source of the signal.

I came back to the city and wished that I had something like a bug detector that was both directional and responded to signal strength. It then occurred to me that if we shut off all the radios and computer, a bug detector would not work. If I changed the frequency, though, the signal might not go through the soil. This, then, could trigger the bug detector.

We had to wait for the girls to open the portal so I could get the detector when I saw that Jonna was worried.

"What's wrong."

"CSIS has Lauren, Tiffany, and Selna."



-------

Chapter 34


I was worried now too. Can you reach them?"

Jonna said, "Yes, they're just being questioned."

"About the weapons?"

"Yes, and they have linked us to the gold too. It sounds like they're not sure though."

"Where are they?"

"Toronto."

"They're out of our range."

"Camsa and Christiane are half way."

I concentrated on Camsa and through him I found Lauren. At this distance, thoughts weren't clear but I felt relief that I was now communicating.

This meant that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service would probably come to question me too and perhaps find the rest of my family.

I said, "Get ready to go to Woodland."

Jonna replied, "We have three shipments coming in and you have to send some gold to Bakhtin."

"The warehouse may be watched or the trucks followed."

"So far there had been no problems. They cannot tie the warehouse to us directly."

"We can loose a lot of gold."

"It's not worth much."

"You're right. I want to go to Toronto and they can't keep the girls indefinitely. Selna's papers are as good as Bakhtin could make them."

"They're probably watching the house now. Lauren left from here, not the warehouse. If you go they will question you. You won't make it to the girls. I figure they will have to let you go but not for a while. There's nothing to gain by being taken in."

I had to admit that Jonna was right. Even if I left by the warehouse, there was little I could do unless I was to break them out and that would put us in an entirely different position. Earth may get too hot, or at least London would be.

There was lots to do so I hurried back to Woodland and took our four crates of about three tonnes each of gold and drove them through the portals to the warehouse.

I couldn't just sit and wait for the trucks. There was nothing I could do. Work might help me overcome my worries, so I went into the stone rooms and raised the frequency considerably. The bug detector went back to Bejek with me. It was five minutes until I got a weak alarm. There was no direction here and I had to go by signal strength.

We went in a line long enough to guess that it came from down the coast. Twenty minutes later I came to a upthrust of rock. It was another five minutes until I found that the signal was coming from inside the cracked rock face of the hill. In fact, it was coming from all the cracks in the wall. I followed the major cracks and all of them gave out the signal I was searching for. It couldn't be too deep because the rock would block most of the signal.

The strongest signals came from an area that was thirty metres long. There was a good chance that it could even be further away and the cracks in the planet were directing the waves to me from a distance.

My return trip to Woodland was easier if I stayed at the top of the cliff that lead to the ocean because it had a road on it. When I got near our first portal, I looked far down into the water and again thought that there had to be some silver portals down there someplace.

As I came back, I saw Matra and Caiti driving forklifts in Woodland. A moment later Porta, Fislu, and Sonna followed. This was a shipment of copper and it was going into our strong room. It was forty tonnes and we already had a hundred and twenty stored here with perhaps another hundred tonnes out being used to buy goldmining properties. In a moment I got Fislu and Porta to carry the last of the gold to the truck that came to us from Artlam and Mantoya. There should be twenty three and a half tonnes all together.

The truck driver taking the load knew nothing about the nature of the cargo. Our bill of lading said it was lead shot. He was also one of Bakhtin's more trusted men. I gave the man an envelope for Bakhtin with instructions on what to do with the metal and what to do with the money he got from it. Each pallet had a coin in it for safety but I figured it was not needed. The previous two shipments had them too and the coins came back after Bakhtin received the gold.

A half hour after the gold left, a shipment of old munitions came in. This truck had a steel container and we just took this off and the truck departed. We used two of the forklifts to carry the unit through the system to Woodland.

The next truck had heavy wood boxes and this took longer. As soon as the cargo was disposed of we cleaned out the warehouse. A half hour later we did the same thing at the house. The transmitter had to be moved out and the portal closed.

We stayed in the house and other than eating, we did nothing but wait. It was near midnight when the girls returned. They entered a dark house and we communicated just by thought. The bug detector found nothing but our unit was not able to do everything. I set all three alarm systems and then the motion detectors to record who entered and what they did.

Selna was the most upset but Lauren and Tiffany were not far behind. We simply took them through the portal and shut it down.

It was hours later that the girls settled down. They had been questioned separately and vigorously even though Selna and Tiffany were still young. They stayed strong, they said, because they could communicate with each other and knew we were watching out for them.

We slept late into the Bejek day and called Artlam and Mantoya on the radio to find out the latest news. It was the bad variety. Our enemies were on the move and we had to work faster to prepare.

The eight major cities and seventeen smaller ones had eleven thousand people armed with Lee-Enfields or with the AKs. Other rifles had just arrived including the M1 Garand that was used by the Americans in the second world war. My trouble was keeping the similar ammunition for each weapon separate. Most of the troops were uneducated and the rounds looked the same.

The Anguy were coming and should arrive in three to four weeks. Ships could not transport enough of their men, horses, and materiel to fight a war so they marched. The trouble, from our perspective, was that there looked to be a half million coming.

Artlam looked down at a map and said, "We were going to hit them well before they get here." He pointed to the map and I saw the eleven major places that we could use to inflict the maximum casualties.

Mantoya said, "We're going to have to fight the countries we go through too."

I added, "We've lots of copper. The kings along the way may decide to be off hunting someplace and not even notice that we passed through."

Artlam said, "That would work. We're taking our own supplies but we still have to live off the land. I've been stockpiling here and made contracts along our probable line of march."

I smiled and said, "I like that. When we retreat we tell the natives the Anguy are coming and they will take what remains of their food. The Anguy would then have to have a large baggage train which we can hit."

Mantoya said, "That'll make the Anguy desperate and they'll try even harder to win. They know they will starve otherwise."

"We're trying to survive and I plan on doing everything possible to kill or capture the Anguy. Some methods I don't like but I'm prepared to use them."

Mantoya said, "The Church gas?"

"If I have to."

Lauren had not said anything for a while and now asked, "The sarin?"

"Yes. The Church tried to use it on us twice. If the worst comes to worse, I'm prepared to use it."

On a lighter note I said, "We can boost the morale of our people and our neighbours by videotaping the battles and the aftermath. If the images go onto a DVD then we can show how we are dealing with our enemy."

Now it was Mantoya and Artlam that smiled at this idea. This sort of equipment was easy to pick up in Toronto and I had a lot of units.

When I first came to power, I tried to show that I was strong enough to win battles but not interested in taking over other countries. Representatives had been sent to explain my position. Now we sent heavily armed emissaries. They carried copper and contracts to supply food even though we didn't need it in Mendab but the army on the march would. Our own propagandists talked about the Anguy but failed to say that they were one of the arms of the Church. This institution was still powerful in each city we went to.

Sometimes we sent assassins after the priests and they did the same to us.

I sought out Osston and found him teaching what he knew to the students. At this time his course mainly covered the code that allowed us to read the books. We had transcribed all the books we found into the computers and then shared the files. We were now looking for enough code passages so that we could do new books automatically.

Osston was a popular person. As a slave, he liked to bend over for any male that wished a place to park for a few minutes. This got him into trouble with some of the male students. Osston was theirs and theirs alone.

He taught everything he knew and with complete honesty. This endeared him to the rest of us. The Church took notice of him too and they tried to kill him almost as much as they did me. Now that he was part of a super family, they took care of him, including a full time security unit.

We shifted to Limka, which was normally the capital except that I stayed more often in Shreff. The capital was larger, older and dirtier. The palace was nice for this world.

When we finished making love for the night, we settled into one large bedroom. Though it hurt, we had sandbags put in a ring around our beds. This was now a standard precaution. Mirrors were used to see in more than one direction and perhaps confuse an enemy. Sleeping lightly was now a survival mechanism and a sudden source of light triggered this response.

My eyes flashed open and I could see the grey light of a portal forming.

"Attack," I yelled and reached for my weapons.

The family rolled off their beds and found their own weapons. The first stigga was not shy about coming through. I fired even before the creature got fully through. The plastic encased piece of granite flew out of my shotgun and blasted a hole in the creature's head. Even as it fell, one of the family put another hole into it.

The stigga came charging through four abreast. Shotguns were going off all around me. Their bodies started to pile up in front of the portal but they climbed over or around. I had to stop this. The last time I used C4 to knock out the portal and I had a similar present already prepared.

The stigga bodies came to the ring of sandbags where we were standing to shoot. When the number started to dwindle I went to one of the three piles of rope placed around the walls. These had grappling hooks attached at one end the way Tonna and Fillo had used to take out the portal.

I told the family what I intended and they fired faster while I found a rope with the aid of their muzzle flashes. The hook was not heavy and it went around my head three times then I threw it. It flew three metres behind the portal and hit one of the approaching stigga.

I pulled the rope but not tight. Inside the sandbag ring were more weapons, ammunition, grenades, and two satchels of C4. It was necessary to stay low so I would not get shot as I pulled a satchel out and set the timer for ten seconds. The button was pushed and I backed up and to one side. Lauren, Tiffany and Matra were firing to protect me and hopefully organised our defence.

"Matra, pull the rope hard after I throw this through."

"I will." She grabbed the rope while the rest continued to shoot

Moving back almost made me trip over a body but I made it to the portal in a lull. Only two creatures tried to kill me. I threw the sack in and yelled for Matra to pull. I dove as far away as I could.

There was an explosion in the room from the portal collapsing but it would be far worse on the other side. I got up and the shotguns had not quite stopped yet.

There was gore everywhere and we were splattered with it. I found my shotgun and looked for threats but found none. We communicated by thought because all of us were deaf.

"Is anybody hurt?"

They were too stunned to reply so I went around to each and checked. The stigga had not laid a claw or a tooth on anybody.

I wanted to get out of here. I went to the large doors that were barred and removed the beam. The hallway was filled with armed people ready to give battle. They talked but I could not hear so I said loudly, "I can't hear any of you. I want to get cleaned up."

We left but not before putting fresh drums on the auto shotguns. The palace was in an uproar and it took a long time to get the blood, guts and chitin removed, then to actually get clean. We only washed a few at a time until all of us were done. A new attack could come at any moment.

It was after we were cleaned that the girls started to cry. We kept watch for portals and enemies. We found another spot to sleep and I had to use the Heart of Opfu to heal us and calm us enough to rest. Even then, we had to have armed guards stationed inside the room.

When we awoke, the palace still had not settled down. We had a large group of trophies to our names. There were sixty three and a half medallions because a stigga was severed along with the medallion it wore when the portal closed. We were congratulated with sentiments of good hunting but I could have forgone the pleasure of fighting these beings.

Half of the stigga were female and five of those carried eggs. In an attempt to understand the creatures I ordered the bodies be searched and any eggs found to be incubated and turned. This may be a doomed hope but it was better to try. Finding people ready to take on this job was difficult. Not only did I want somebody that would do a good job but somebody that would show at least some compassion.

It was decided to sleep in a large tent. It also took a few days before our hearing returned to normal. If we had to fight again, fewer people would be put in jeopardy. We still had our sand bags but now we had foxholes too.

A better defence would be some type of optical device that could detect the change in ambient light and signal an alarm. Getting one made would take time and that is what I didn't have enough of.

Mantoya had sent his best sailors to harass the Anguy supply column. They used my extended range mortar to good advantage, then used the LAW rockets to destroy what they could not take back. We acquired a lot of ships and supplies this way and had few losses because of our superior weapons and the vests some of them now wore.

The Habstner were well armed and led by their own officers. I was their commanding officer, though. The army usually just sniped at the Anguy day or night. With the night vision glasses and radios, we suffered few losses and inflicted many casualties. The Anguy were not effective after a few days because they couldn't get a chance to sleep. When not sniping, we used mortar rounds and even willie pete or illuminating rounds.

Five nights after the stigga attack, we found ourselves facing thousands of Anguy trying to enter our camp well within our perimeter. The Habstner officers were quick enough to use first one, then two machine guns and killed the men as quick as they entered. The Anguy were hampered by having to touch their neighbour or suffering debilitating pain because few had a medallion.

A second and a third portal opened and more men poured into our camp. The M72s literally blew them apart until more machine guns and even artillery were used to destroy them. They were coming in a fairly narrow area which helped us a lot.

The butchering went on for almost a half hour and we must have killed five or six thousand men because we had thirty two hundred casualties on our side of the portals. The gates had been closed with rope and hooks again to drag the chain to where it could not go.

There were between five and six hundred wounded and the majority of those would live. The battle was videotaped from five different points and then the camerawomen stayed to watch how we treated our wounded prisoners.

I was worried that the priests would open a portal in front of a cannon so we spread out more and the foxholes were now trenches. Our love life suffered while we concentrated on staying alive.

We had all sorts of artillery now and we practised, but not nearly enough. The militia grew steadily. We had to resort to the standard rifles and cannon used on this world but we could also use high explosive shells with the dynamite we made.

We had daily radio reports of fighting. In some cases we were making great strides and we had to keep our own people from going too fast and far because they would be cut off and killed.

I organised an attack in one of our own offences. A coin was placed near a major Anguy encampment. Our armoured trucks rushed through four abreast. Our infantry were right behind. We fought for two days and killed almost twenty thousand men and captured a further seven.

We overran the officers and the priests' quarters and captured another silver chain, books and icons. This was our forth because three more had been taken from priests sailing on Anguy ships.

A major Anguy army was coming to attack. We fled in an orderly fashion and took everything that the Anguy would think was valuable. I stayed until the last and we used the artillery and eventually snipers and mortar teams.

There were simply too many of them so we retreated slowly until the Anguy fell into a trap we had set with me as bait. Here we used captured black powder and napalm to kill perhaps five thousand in one major battle.

The battle line was not like a conventional war because both sides used portals to get behind the enemy. We had radio and the priests had their own communicators. What worked best was our small unit skills that employed snipers.

The Anguy advance, here and all along the front, ground to a halt at the severity of our attacks and they were still three hundred kilometres away from Mendab.

For the next month we hammered away at the Anguy. The priests could not seem to inspire them the way they had. Select sniper teams, usually with my family as members, found the priests and killed them if they could. Officers were usually the alternative targets.

After two months, the Adchek entered the war to open another front. Radio reports from people flying our drones reported Adchek ships coming our way but were still six hundred klicks away.

Two port cities could be their targets and we sent reinforcements immediately. The cities were not even in our country. Corrdis seemed to be the target. It was the capital city of Nosan. We got to the area but did not approach the city itself. Teams were sent in disguise to take out the priests that would surely warn the Adchek of our presence.

The fighting in the Church was difficult even with our weapons. Grenades and mortars had to be used. Teargas thrown in for good measure. My presence usually drew the priests so I stayed back until it looked like the Adchek were committed.

In the late afternoon we saw a group of ships draw near and drop anchor. There were many more ships than this that had been spotted so they must have had another objective or part to play in this war. They had stopped twelve klicks from the city. This area of beach was hidden behind a wall of rock. This was a good place to make a landing and there were few locals about. Longboats that had been towed here were now filled with men and nearly a thousand Adchek rowed to shore.

Artlam was with me and said, "Kill them while you can!"

"I want to but we have to wait for a quarter of them to get here. The ships are going to get away."

"What plan do you have now?"

"There are seventeen Adchek ships in sight. We have three standard mortar teams, two M198 teams and even a small field gun. We take the soldiers on the water and the few on the land while we shell the ships. I know for a fact that they will be too demoralised to fight back effectively."

"What about the other fleet?"

"They're waiting for something. I figure these guys were going to Nosan. This group has to get in and take the cannon on the walls and then the fort."

Most of the ships were well within the range of our regular mortars when I gave the signal. The ships were hit first with HE-FRAG rounds. The M198s opened up and took out those further out. I wanted to hit these more because I figured the priests would take the safer position.

By the time we started, half of the Adchek were already on the beach. Machine guns and riflemen opened up. Grenades flew only at the few that made it to the rocks seeking safety. The remainder of the boat crews surged for shore but were cut down. Surprisingly none of the crews decided to try to seek safety with the ships that were still taking fire. This was a mini version of D-Day but it was the Adchek that were taking the punishment.

The firing lasted only twenty minutes and we then concentrated on the few men that came out on the decks of the ships. They were within the range of my sniper rifle and I made sure nothing would allow them to escape.

Women and a few men surged into the boats and raced to the stricken ships. There was little shooting until the survivors on the ships found they were going to be boarded.

Two hours later we had all of the ships. There were a lot more casualties than I expected. The longboats were intended to take two or three trips ferrying men and then materiel ashore. The whole fiasco, as seen from the Adchek point of view, was videotaped from many vantage points as had the rest of the war.

A few of us raced for the city. These were mainly the mortar crews and the supply wagons. If the Adchek had met little resistance, they would have reached Nosan by now. I figured that the Church would figure on an hour or two to take the fort.

We came into the portion of the city outside the walls. It was dark now and I could see the Adchek fleet approaching by being drawn by men in longboats. There should have been a chain across the channel but the first ship had no problem getting through.

We hastily set up but not before the fort started to fire on the ships with the ships returning the fire. Our mortars went to work and we hit the Adchek fleet from behind some large rocks. We took fire but the rocks were excellent protection.

We shot illuminating rounds so those in the fort could see where to aim. We took out the ships that were farther out.

By morning, the women we had left to guard the prisoners had arrived in their boats and began to take more ships. By noon we had three sets of visitors when King Bradus came with a forth.

The man was about fifty and I could see that he was used to getting his way. He tried to push the women but he didn't get far. They would have knuckled under before but they now knew their rights and also their obligations.

I went over with my personal guard and nodded politely in the Bejek way and said, "Hello, you must be King Bradus."

"What are you doing invading my land?"

My guard bristled at this and I said quietly, "If I wanted your land I could take it. I came to keep the Adchek from using your country as a supply base when they attack me. It looks like you fired on them and they fired back. To me that makes them the invader."

"That's besides the point. You came here without my leave."

"Then we'll go. The next time two Adchek fleets come, you may have to fight them yourself."

"Two?"

"You missed the fun last night. The other Adchek fleet put men ashore that were probably going to take your fort and walls by stealth. They could have held off your people long enough to destroy the fort and breach the city walls."

"You stopped them?"

"We did and we took their ships. A report says that there were three and a half thousand infantry on the ships. There may be an equal number on these ships."

"I do not believe that."

"Then get on the ships and count bodies unless you think your own eyes are lying to you. You'll then leave the ships because I claim all of them and the prisoners I take."

"You are under my guns now."

"You're mistaken. Your fort and your city are under my guns. In twenty minutes I can turn your fort into rubble from where we now stand."

"You fight with females."

I had to smile now and said, "I sure do. They fight very well. They think first, then act. They may not be as strong as a man but they are dedicated and they can shoot very well. They're so good that I only brought four hundred women and a few men with me to take thirty nine ships and at least seven thousand men."

The man just turned and hurried away. I sent more of the longboats to pull the remainder of the ships into the bay to an area outside the range of the fort's cannon.

More of our people came in the next few days to pull or sail the ships to Mendab. Our money was good in Nosan and we bought supplies cheaper than shipping them here. There had been priests on the ships but they had fled with their trainees. Two priests had died in the shelling but only one of the groups of trainees had seen fit to take the property with them. I had more chains, books and icons now but the Church seemed to have a never ending supply of priests and men.

I sold ten of the ships, a hundred cannon, a hundred tonnes of powder and almost eight thousand muskets to King Bradus for a cheap price. I wanted him well able to protect himself. The money involved was just to save face.

The ships, prisoners, and our own wounded would sail to Mendab when enough sailors arrived to do the job at one time. I pulled the M198s and the field gun before heading for the other front. Fresh Anguy had arrived and they were making a push. We needed our best weapons there.

When I got back, I saw that Lauren and Christiane were here too. Lauren was the sniper and Christiane was the spotter. The rest of the team was composed of women that now looked much stronger then they had even a month ago.

I kissed the two women and said, "How are you two?"

Lauren said, "I'm doing ok but I'm lonely. Christiane is a comfort but I like the family to be all together."

"I do too."

Christiane said, "I miss the family too. I'm not as horny now but that's a good thing. We have little time to play. We're always moving."

"Are the two of you doing this the way I want?"

"Yes, we follow all the rules a sniper team is supposed to operate by. What about you?"

"I'm the same way. I stay away from the main battle and the most I usually do is use the rifle."

The rest of the day was spent planning and sending orders out for what had to be done. Selna had found a trick and the information had gone to the rest of the family. The drone did not need a heavy camera and power supply if we put a coin into it. This gave more room and weight for fuel. We could not see better only that the engine and camera stayed in our hands while the propeller was turned from the location of the plane.

This was only good for finding the coordinates to open a portal. It took a trained mind to see far with the headband. It was not like an eye that could see a star in the sky. Everything beyond a certain range was in a fog. We could see two hundred to two hundred and thirty metres. What a priest could do was unknown.

When I thought about what we had I shivered. It was now possible to use the Dash 8 as a bomber by simply laying out the chain around the bomb or bombs we wanted dropped. There was no need for bomb bay doors now. The idea that frightened me was that the priests could put a portal above us and do the same thing. I hid my thoughts as best I could and hoped that the priests continued to think in two dimensional terms.

That night I had two ladies with me. They didn't need to stir each other up at all. They were both horny as was I. Lauren insisted I take Christiane first.

Christiane took little time to get very excited. When she did, Lauren kissed her lover and pinched her nipples. I pushed long slow strokes into her and she groaned all the time now. When her time came, I just held on for dear life and she responded with all her might. She squeezed me then released her hands only to dig furrows into my back. This really set me off and I pounded into her like an animal.

Christiane screamed out her joy first and I held on for a few more seconds before I too had to release into her. Christiane had her legs around me and did not let me go until she cooled down a lot more.

I felt Lauren's hand on me. She held the Heart of Opfu in her hand and she worked on my wounds. I saw through her senses what had happened. We both cuddled to Christiane then Lauren said, "My turn."

"Maybe it's really my turn again?"

"Ok, it's your turn and mine is later."

"I like that, Honey."

Lauren urged me in and put her heels around me to keep me in position as I slid languidly in and out. After a few minutes of this slow pace, Lauren said, "Hugh, I'm fertile tonight. It's my turn."

"Are you sure? I don't mean that I don't want our child but if now is the right time?"

"It's the right time. Fill me up, again and again!"

It was the right time for me too and I worked hard to fill Lauren. She was bruised but happy after the second time. Now it was Christiane that helped me cradle Lauren between us as I rested before my next match. I could feel Christiane's need to have a child too but she was still a slave and could not quite ask yet.

After some water, I began to kiss Lauren but she just got me between her legs. "That's where you belong. Fill me again."

I started slow but then picked up speed. Christiane suddenly screamed, "Portal."

I pulled out of Lauren in a flash and rolled onto the floor and picked up my gun. I saw a wooden ramp and a barrel rolling down it and then into the room. The portal snapped shut much quicker than it opened. It could only be one thing. I dropped my shotgun and jumped to see the other side of the barrel. A fuze was burning toward a hole in the barrel and I grabbed the fuse seconds before it would have entered the cask.

The fuse was yanked out and I hurried the girls out of the tent. Everybody around had to get in foxholes or run. Ten minutes later a guard went into the tent and rolled the barrel out into the night.

I was not quite in the mood but I picked up Lauren and carried her back to the tent.

"What are you doing?"

"I have to finish making a child."

She was not as responsive this time and Christiane stood guard in her vest and carried the shotgun. The only thing I had going for me was that a brush with death made me think of prodigy a lot more.

We moved camp the next day. Our tent now got a larger trench to stop a barrel of the size that came last night. The new method of attack went over the radio so others would have a better chance of preparing.

Artlam came running to me around noon. Something had to be wrong because he never ran. "What's wrong, Artlam?"

"The Anguy are using AK-47's just like us."

"Shit. We figured this was going to happen eventually. Our only hope is in speed and planning. How many are using modern rifles?"

"One in six or maybe one in twelve. They're not relying on new weapons to win."

"We have to work on their supply train and kill the Anguy before they become good with the weapon."

We discussed what to do but this was a bad situation. We were few in number and had a finite number of weapons and ammo. The Church could draw from many countries the way it usually did to further a war. We could possibly win if we kept our own supplies coming and were able to wait for enough time to train. This would take decades and we did not have this much time if the Church started to fight us with millions of soldiers armed the same way we were.

Artlam had sent out more men dressed like Anguy and, more importantly, taught to act that way too. Their only jobs were to find out where the weapons were stored and where they came from. The latter would be difficult because I could not see any Anguy asking that type of question.

The information went out on the radio and we worked persistently to hit the Anguy as hard as possible. Our losses climbed and these were troops that knew how to use our weapons.

We still won all our battles but the costs in lives and materiel climbed rapidly.

Artlam came running to me again as I studied a map. "We found an ammo dump."

I moved from the map and said, "Where?"

Artlam put his finger well behind the Anguy lines by about a hundred and fifty klicks. He said, "It's not defended that much but all the guards have our guns. They even have what look like Russian machine pistols. That could be a hint to where the weapons are coming from."

"Not necessarily, if anybody makes a good weapon it is copied by everybody else. That doesn't say that you're wrong, either."

"I've got a plan to get there."

"Tell me."

Artlam used his finger and gave words to go along with the point on the map he touched. When he finished I said, "The plan is good but what about when the next shipment comes?"

Artlam had a self-satisfied smile and said, "The Church should open a portal near the bunker. Weapons and ammunition were carried through by trainees and then some of the Anguy will help. It should take about an hour to fill each bunker."

I had missed a lot of sleep and I never claimed to be the brightest. "And?"

"And, we move in and take or destroy the dump. When the next shipment comes we jump through their portal. We will be in a major Church grounds and near a portal leading to your world. We kill the priests and take the keys. They cannot get the weapons from your world anymore."

"That sounds farfetched even for a suicide mission."

"Make it possible for us to survive then."

We worked on the problem for eight days with no real solution. It was when we started to receive artillery fire coming from fifteen klicks away that I knew we had to do something.

In the coming weeks we found ourselves outgunned. More and more modern artillery was being used. We captured some of it. The shells and equipment had Russian characters on them.

We had flown over the compound with the bunker three times. There were now five bunkers, not two. I was afraid of contacting our own people because the other side would have receivers as well. The radios were able to provide encryption but it wouldn't be long before the enemy found a way to break it. Our equipment was old.

Matra was now our best person at using the headband and fixing one end of a portal but she was just over seventy klicks. It was hours later that I remembered that we had Osston and he might do better.

We went back to Shreff in jumps with coins planted along the way. We would jump to a coin already placed along the route then bring through a chain and cast back to pick up the chain we left behind. It was dangerous because we could not see far from the coin and we could fall into an ambush.

When we got to Shreff I had a talk to Osston. "How far away can you see a coin and focus a portal on it?"

"My best was three hundred and seventy kilometres. If I had been practising, I could have done perhaps five hundred by now. Shall I begin to improve this skill, Master?"

"Not yet, Osston. How far could you jump before you were elevated into the priesthood?"

"Perhaps sixty or sixty five kilometres, Master."

This looked like we may be approaching a wall we could not mount easily. "Where are the tools kept that elevate a person into the priesthood?"

"Only in Fargo where our synod meets, Master."

I said, "We are thinking of entering a portal set up by a priest. We have no idea where it may lead us. We think it will be a large ammo dump or to a nearby portal to my world. My question is; will the Church usually provide a direct connection like this or would they have just one portal open at a time?"

"The Church and its priests are very cautious. Many priests have lost their lives in the past in dealing with other worlds. I feel that they will close one gate before opening another."

"What have you remembered or found about opening gates without a key?"

"I have read all the books you have brought me but they shed little light on this. I feel that there may be a way of doing this. We make few large articles like a portal any more. We make keys at the same time the portal is made. I can read some data from a gate but it is not enough to make a key. Senior priests can read more but I doubt if they could make such a key. There was one fluke that happened once and a gate that had no known key was opened."

"What happened?"

"The portal was somehow opened but it led to the world of the stigga. The creatures entered our world and killed the priest and destroyed much of the Church building before they were killed. The gate had to be deactivated but I don't know how the portal was opened."

"So you are saying that somebody did it but there is no way of finding out how?"

"That's correct, Master."

This reminded me of a locksmith or a thief finding a way around the security without a key. This had to be pursued but again I didn't want any of this information to fall into the hands of the Church. "How does a key work to activate a gate?"

"I have been told that it lines up many forces within the gate. I always thought of it as long copper rods that had to be placed just so."

"Any books on this?"

"Nothing, Master."

"Have you finished providing the decoding for the books?"

"Yes, Master. The books are being rewritten as we speak."

"That's good to hear. Is there any information you can give me regarding the opening of the gate that you just mentioned?"

"No, Master. I actually heard two priests talking and I had to leave so I would not be caught."

I said, "Ok, the weapons coming from my world come from a place that speaks a language called Russian. I believe the priests also trade with a country that speaks French. There may be more. It might be necessary to destroy the major portals and this could involve us needing to question people that cannot speak our language. You mentioned that some icons take the thoughts from a person and change them so a priest can understand but he cannot speak back."

"Perhaps this can be done. We converse with the stigga and I don't believe any priest has taken the time to learn the language."

"Show me how the device works then we can try it on me. I speak English."

"Yes, Master."

We called in the students and the experiment begun. I thought in English and in a moment Osston replied in Ladra about what I thought. This was not good because he could already read thoughts if I let him and I could read his. Once a mind was opened it stayed open if the facility was used even once in a while.

There was simply nobody else on the planet, that I knew of, that could speak a second language that had not been altered to read minds. Mom and Dad were as close as the portal but they too had been changed even if it was just a little.

I tried again but this time my shields were as tight as possible. I was happy to see that Osston could still translate. We now worked to get Osston to answer in English. This did not work well at all. A second icon was used but this too failed. The trainees were left with the task and they may even succeed.

Since I was near Woodland, I took a peek into my home in London. There were two systems to monitor for intrusions. The outer one had been improved slightly since Jackson came on the scene. It had not reacted to anyone. The inner system showed men prowling my home. None of them had CSIS on their backs or even CIA. They could also be some other American organisation. I was sure that a lot of them were interested in me.

Getting to Earth was more difficult now. The London terminus was surely watched. The one between Kingston and Ottawa along with the one in the Caribbean had not been investigated yet. The one in the States looked the best but it was in a city called Albany and I had no receiving portal there. There were at least two more that had been used and perhaps I could attack them from this terminal.

I sat down to think this out. I even found some toddlers and talked to them. They did not understand me but they liked the attention. After explaining my problem three times I saw gaps in my logic. I needed to find a lot of portals and use the keys on each of them. Perhaps I could run heavy wire to power them up so they could be viewed through.

There were lots of portals in the stone corridors. All they needed was to get charged. The best that I could do would be to use the silver ingots instead of heavy wire to form a conductor into the corridor. Then I remembered the other source of silver icons in the hillside and possibly in the ocean beneath the old portal location.

We had three backhoes but they were working in other locations. I gathered some people and asked them to help me dig. This was something new and they all followed. The security detail just followed all the time looking for priests, stigga, Anguy, or barrels of powder.

The rock was fractured and some pieces we were able to lever out with long pry bars. I thought of explosives but we needed all we had and I did not have the equipment to plant the charges.

We worked all day and found nothing. The bug detector seemed to work even better though. I went back to my planning and other work. The people digging wanted to see what was behind the rock and stayed. I insisted that they work from the top and remove the overhead rock so it would not cave in and kill people.

It was six days later that and excited girl ran to me. She breathlessly said, "We broke our way into a hole. It was about four metres big. There's something in there."

I brought a flashlight and a few lanterns as we hurried to the cliff. It was as the girl had said and we found a large trunk similar to what a priest had and this was taken out.

The chest was in the open and we investigated it for half an hour then I went into the area it was found in. I searched the walls and roof for clues. It was on the floor that I found a coin. I would have missed it in the dust except that the dust was disturbed by a foot.

This did not explain the portal packed with soil. There was little room so I sent some of the younger girls in to find the portal itself while I investigated the chest.

The chest showed no signs of age. I had no idea how long it had been in the rock but it had to have been centuries. I tried to open the lid but it wouldn't budge and I could not see any locking mechanism. I didn't want to break it, either. It was the coin that I now held that gave me a clue.

I investigated the external portion of the chest and allowed the rest to see what they had found. They deserved the chance since they had worked so hard to pull this out of the hill.

The girls came out dirty and tired so the women made our existing tunnel bigger and forged back in.

One woman came out excitedly and said, "My King, look at this."

I went in and found two other women staring at a wall of rock. It took a moment to see that the rock was actually carved. I used my fingers to wipe away some of the dirt and saw a stylised sun. What else intrigued me was the material. It was not rock but some fused material like clay and the surface was very smooth. It reminded me of the bottom of a ceramic vase that had not been glazed.

"This wall has to be examined. Let's get out and widen the opening a lot more. By the time we get back here we may find a way around the wall or what's behind it."

"We can dig it out, my King."

"Try, but it would be easier to start again and pull more of the wall of rock down first."

A half hour later the women had not got much further so I called them out and many more of us really attacked the rock face.

Word had spread and fresh people came with more tools. The rock was carted away but now I had the pieces inspected to see if they had been manipulated by hands.

It was getting dark. A radio call brought a portal and then electric lights. I would have called it a night except that priests may be able to see us and scoop up our treasure while we were gone.

I used a headband and the coin I found and could pierce the rock and ceramic a bit. As I moved the coin I knew that the wall was large. Security was set up and more were sent for. Others wanted to dig in the dark to see just what we found. Our treasure was taken to Woodland and from there through a portal to Shreff. The trainees were there and they took the chest and hurried off.

Sleep came slowly because I wanted to know what was in the chest and what was behind the wall other than a portal.

When I got up, the trainees were already around the chest. Some looked like they had got little sleep in their efforts to opening the trunk.

I got the headband eventually but I could not see into the trunk even when I moved the coin to different locations. The rest had their chance but none of them had done any better than I could.

One of the older girls hurried to me with the coin between here fingers. "My King, the coin you found is different."

I took the coin and looked at it. It looked the same age as the rest. The face on one side was not even near to a Human's and the writing was in characters that I had not seen before.

I must have looked at the coin for a few minutes then looked at the girl. She was waiting patiently and I gave her a big smile and said, "You did very well. I had not seen this myself and I had used it. Thank you very much."

The girl turned red and tried to get away now but I bent over and kissed her cheek. She turned even redder.

"Everybody, look at the coin and pass it on. See if anybody can find out something about it." I handed the coin to the girl and she inspected it then passed it to the next.

I went back to studying the chest now and looked for some sort of script. Osston came over and said, "I saw those kind of characters before in our books. In fact they are in most books as page numbers."

"Show me." We hurried off to the library and we picked the closest book but had to do two more before I found odd characters at the bottom. They seemed to serve the same purpose as Roman numerals did when used in an index or a preface.

"Are there any more, Osston?"

"Many books have these, Master."

"I meant any more characters?"

"The front and the back of some very old books have a dozen or more characters that I cannot read. Shall I look?"

"Yes."

I helped and I was the one to find the first instance. There was a note at the front in similar characters as what was on the coin. I called for the metal disk and I found four characters that were the same. This did not help much because nobody knew anything about why the book had these characters.

When I went to the door guarding the silver I found the door to be covered in thin silver foil. One of the children were hurrying by but I stopped her and said, "Why is there silver here?"

The girl looked at me oddly and said, "So nobody can see through it."

"Even with a headband?"

"Yes, we were attacked all the time until Osston had the special room made."

"Thanks, Sweetie." The girl liked this name and hurried off.

Osston was summoned and he said, "A silver box cuts off the mossa and we cannot see through the silver. There are small seams so we have an inner box of wood and that is lined with silver too. I think that if we wanted to be very safe, we would have three layers of silver separated by two layers of dry wood."

It took only a few seconds to say, "Do you think our chest is lined with silver?"



-------

Chapter 35


"I thought of that, Master, but this is like a shield. Perhaps it is like what protects the stigga when they attack."

"Have you found out more about that?"

"No, Master. It must be a spell put on just before they enter our world."

Spell was just a term that had no direct translation other than the effect that was put on an inanimate or animate object. I didn't know how physics did any of this.

When all the books had been searched twice, the passages were copied. The chest was brought in and we tried to think of ways to open it without damaging it in any way. It was a beautiful box and I did not want to ruin something that could be prevented with a little time to figure it out.

I tried a sharp knife and found that there was a shield around the chest like Osston said. A stone knife was not any better, though it worked against a stigga. This started a new quest to find what could touch the surface. Wood, hands and living things could do it, as well as bone. Surprisingly, silver and copper were found to work.

I layed a strip of each metal on the chest while I thought more. When I bumped them together accidentally, I got a bright flash of light and heat. I fell over in shock. The rest of the people in the room had done the same thing. When I checked the two pieces of metal, I saw that they were seriously pitted from the arc. This is what it looked like when we used a carbon arc and compressed air to cut steel or burn sections off a surface. Here we used four to seven hundred amps.

The children and even the trainees were frightened. My guards were looking at the chest as a threat.

"Don't worry. The chest contains a lot of power or it did. It acted just like our welding machines."

The chest went outside with a lot of trepidation. I even had to carry one of the handles built into the side. I hoped that I had shorted the shield and it would now open but this was not the case. Perhaps I could bleed off the power to defeat the shield. We could also learn something as we did this.

"Somebody get some clipboards and paper. I need a ruler too."

I passed the now warm silver bar and then the copper one around and said, "Measure the bars for an experiment. Somebody get a voltmeter."

The chest was measured and the metal was put back on. Instead of touching them I used the meter. I had ninety volts but I could have a lot of some other power I could not detect. The amount of contact was measured as well as the spacing between the two bars. I got nearly a thousand volts DC in one pair of spots. Touching the chest with the hand and one bar had no effect. It had to be copper and silver.

All sorts of metal shapes were found and laid on the chest. Gold even worked but it did better with copper than with silver. I thought of the power of a lightning bolt and figured I could bleed it off to remove the shield.

Osston looked just as enthralled by our experiments as the rest of the students.

I looked at the lightning gun. The whole weapon was smaller than a derringer. There was a straight section that looked like the barrel of a pistol but it had a slightly oval cross-section to it. It came to a blunt point at one end with what looked like a lens, but it was made of silver like the rest of the weapon. The angle of the barrel to the butt reminded me more of a rifle because they were nearly in line.

On each side of the icon, among other decorative designs, were what looked like a lightning bolts. The barrel looked smaller in proportion than any pistol I knew of. The weapon was balanced at the middle of the handle. While not uncomfortable, the handle didn't seem to quite fit right, like it wasn't really designed for a Human hand. There was no trigger or trigger guard if this was some sort of weapon. To look at the tiny weapon was to see a decorative blob of metal with no sharp edges. It looked as inoffensive as anything I had ever seen.

"Osston, did you find anything more about this kind of weapon?"

"I haven't used one myself, Master, but I have seen others using it at times. Mostly to practice with. I have watched you on occasion."

"What have your learned about its use. My experiments were crude. I feel that there are more ways of controlling the bolt than I have been using."

"I haven't been trained in how to use it. I never got high enough in the priesthood to learn but others I have talked to said that it is similar to a chain gate. You think of the gun and the target at the same time. Think of the gun destroying the target."

"Maybe we need to get out away from anything we could damage." I remembered what I had done before and the weapon was very powerful. It even blew off the top of a hill to hit the car I wanted destroyed.

We moved near the rocky areas we had constructed to attract an enemy. I held the gun up and pointed it at a large rock about a 300 metres away. I thought about the rock and the beam striking the rock. The bolt shot out startling everyone near me. I wanted a small burst as if it would just wound. This may be like using a howitzer to wound one particular soldier.

"I must be doing something wrong," I said to Osston. "I can't get it to release just a small amount of energy."

"I believe you are thinking of destroying the target."

"Not this time. I just pictured the beam hitting the rock."

"Perhaps if you visualise the beam hitting less violently, Master."

I picked another target, a tree that must have been 500 metres away. "It doesn't look that vicious," I said mostly to myself. I aimed at the base of the tree, trying to get a clear picture in his mind about the tree being struck by the beam and being sheared off, but staying mostly intact. Nothing happened, and I realized I was only thinking about the tree and had not included the gun. I tried again. This time, the beam sprang out, it seemed less powerfully. There wasn't as much lightning surrounding the main beam. It struck the tree where I had pictured and a much smaller explosion blasted the tree off the base. The remainder of the tree had been thrown into the air to land about 5 metres from where it had stood.

"That was better," Osston said. "You might not want to completely destroy a target. It might be too close to something or somebody you don't want damaged."

"Yes, this is a very impressive weapon." I wish I had more time to use it before.

I continued to practice by picking a bigger rock some 600 metres away. I concentrated on the rock being fractured and splitting apart, but not being completely blasted. Then I included the gun.

The beam lashed out. It was surrounded by the usual lightning discharges as the beam travelled the distance to the rock. The discharges became longer and brighter, apparently picking up power with distance. There was nothing near the gun itself. I felt only a small tingle when the gun fired. The rock was hit, a piece being shattered and flung out at the point the beam hit, but most of the rock fractured into fairly large pieces and which were not blown out but not away. This is what I wanted but not exactly. Perhaps it had to do with the flaws within the target.

The only other effect we found was that the ground near me became charged, the more I used the weapon. This necessitated me moving to a new area to fire again or risk being trapped until the charge dissipated.

I had to get back to draining the power of the chest. Our silver icons were brought out first and touched to the chest. They absorbed their charge as if they touched a portal frame. This looked even more important than I thought and called out for more guards and even three machine gun teams. The priests might try to take all of this from me.

There were four lightning bolt weapons thanks to the donation of some now dead priests. The students moved a lot further away and I had to get them even further. My guards had to go, too.

I held one of the weapons to the chest and concentrated on discharging it at an unidentified target in the distance. The bolt leapt out but instead of lasting a split second I kept it working for five seconds until the weapon got too hot to hold. I had used the chest to protect me from the heat.

My eyes had been closed but I still saw the light that had bounced off anything around. The weapon had to be more powerful than a hundred lightning bolts would be.

It took a while for everybody to see again but nobody moved. The ground was saturated with a charge and to take a step could kill us. We were stuck in place for over an hour for the charge to dissipate enough for us to hop away. I was thrown a rope and I pulled a sheet of plywood over. The chest, the silver pieces and me were pulled by seven strong women out of the area. Surprisingly, I had no red skin so I would not even get a sunburn.

The chest seemed just as good as new so the experiment was just a failure.

I remembered the stone lined rooms with all the solid silver portals. This was enough to use the chain portal to Woodland again and then charge the large portal. I do not know how much the portal sucked up but it had to be a lot more than five or six lightning strikes. This chest had to access the power that permeated the universe or have one very powerful battery. The lightning bolts I thought used a small fraction of our power for control of what the priest called Mossa.

The globe for the first world was put in the receptacle. The corridor looked brighter but that could be my imagination. Osston and I carried the trunk in and placed it near the first portal. The nearest portal started to glow faintly and so did the rest of them. There must be a connection between each of them. We waited for twenty minutes until the frames stopped glowing, then walked through the dust to look at the views we found in each portal. The box did not hum or give off heat but I felt that a gigantic amount of power had been fed into this facility.

Some portals were dark but I could make out stars. Some portals showed soil as if they were buried. Some were covered in what seemed to be algae and only one showed a forest, but not one of Earth or Bejek. Most were dark as if the other end of the portal did not exist.

Osston said, "You should shut the viewer down or perhaps set them so you can see through but others cannot."

"I didn't know you could do that. Show me."

Osston explained this to me as he did to his students. He shut four portals down then had me do the next four. I was not a good student but I did manage to do what he did after a long time.

The next four were set so we could see out only and I had to mimic him again. We went back and removed the control on the first four and made them act so we could see through. I also learned how to remove all of the controls. We did all forty seven portals but I did not know about the rooms above and below.

I looked down the vertical openings when I could and up at other times. I could see no light from any portals in the darkness. It also felt funny to lean over the hole. Part of it was fear of falling but this was not all. I put out my arm and surprisingly I did not feel the weight at all. I kicked some of the ever-present dust into the hole but it only fell very slowly as if gravity in the vertical shaft was much less than in the corridor.

It was not long before I had my guard detail in here with me. I threw a tethered tire into the pit and it floated down until it reached the end of the rope. Everybody including Osston was amazed.

A heavy plank was fetched and put across a portion of the circumference of the wide opening. This plank would not be available on Earth because few trees this large were being cut now. The plank settled to the floor because both tends were outside the confines to the opening.

Osston asked, "What is this for, Master?"

"I want to test out a theory, Osston."

"I will walk on the wood, Master."

"I know you would but I want to. Help me get the rope around me."

"Master, I will do this task gladly. I am also lighter than you."

"Thank you, but I want to try."

The rope was tied around me and then held by the now flustered security detail and Osston. I would have liked one of the fall arrest harnesses with it's lanyard but I had none.

I walked onto the plank and it was more and more difficult to walk because I could not put my foot down very well. It had to do with me exerting a force against the rest of my body mass.

Those near me were very frightened for me but my own fright was getting less all the time. When I was a few metres from the edge, I thought of 'up' for a while. When nothing happened I thought of weighting even less than I did now. I stayed on the plank though I seemed to weigh only a few grams.

Osston said, "I feel that you wish to go up, Master."

"That's right, Osston."

"You are already at the top of the opening. Perhaps if you think up and toward us, as if you wish to leave the pit?"

"Good idea. I'll try it." I stayed on station though and moved nowhere. This had to be an elevating device and there had to be a way of controlling it. I did not feel too bad for the security detail waiting because that was their job. It must have been an hour and a half later and after many suggestions that I found myself fifteen centimetres above the plank. A half hour after that I could move wherever I wanted but the detail made sure the plank stayed under me.

I drifted towards the detail and I could actually still float a metre from the opening while everybody else was still rooted by the usual gravity of whatever world we were on.

Osston was only able to gasp, "Master!"

"Let's move over to one of the openings in the ceiling."

We walked across the floor and I stood under the centre of the opening that extended perhaps thirty metres up. Thirty metres looked a long way up and I regretted in a way being so adamant to try this. It took only twenty minutes before I found that I could levitate myself. My fear came stronger this time and I said, "Bring me a shorter plank."

When the plank came back I was on the floor again and the plank pointing upward. I found that I had to join the plank to me mentally or it would not rise with me. I ascended the shaft in ten seconds though I wanted to go a lot faster. Like last time I was able to shift to one side so I had my feet on solid rock.

I called down, "I made it," then I felt foolish because this was obvious. The plank was put across the side of the hole and I used the flashlight to look around. There were forty eight portals and all of them were dark. There was nothing I could do so I picked up the rope a few metres from where it was tied around my chest and threaded it around the plank. I let a bit more out and concentrated on levitating myself. It happened fairly quickly and I drifted over the edge of the pit and tried to hold my fear in check. I came down fairly quickly and had to feed the rope through my hands so I could go down.

When on the floor again I said, "Forty eight portals and another shaft going upward."

Osston looked excited so I used my mind to pass him the information I used to go up and down and then to one side. I did it four times to make sure he had it before tried it. In ten minutes he had a big smile because he was a metre off the floor.

I tried elevating Osston with me while he did nothing and then he did the same to me. Soon we could pick up more and more of the security detail. In a way it was like operating an elevator and it didn't matter who or what was in the device.

This required a lot more thought than I had been using so far. How was I able to float? Even with antigravity, there had to be a way of controlling it so I could go where I wanted. I did not see a Deity waiting here to raise and lower me so it would have to be a mechanism controlling the antigravity. Either a person or a computer was doing this. This implied that my two hours of work was just to find a way of interfacing with this computer or the computer interfacing with me.

My joy of discovery was muted by my wondering how this place worked. When we got more lanterns, we elevated the security detail to the next level and all my mind had to stay on this task. I think the security would have quit now but they would lose face in front of the others. We ascended four levels in total and found there was no upward shaft in the last.

Going down was harder in a way but we mastered it just as quickly. We went past our original level. The bottom was seven levels down from the start, so there were twelve levels in all. Each level was not the same either. Every floor had forty eight portals but they were not always the same mix and the ceiling was much higher in some and others the walls were further apart. Some portals were predominantly small, mid sized or the very large.

Some scenes through the portals were beautiful but not of Earth. I had not seen much of Bejek but I somehow did not think that the scenery was of this planet either.

Some levels had views of mountains just like Earth and I was not sure if this was my home planet or not. Most were views of other large stone rooms like what we already were in. The bottom two levels were different.

These rooms though were like the Sky Dome in Toronto and the ceiling was almost as high. The portals were paced out and I counted twenty seven strides wide and the height looked about the same. The shafts between these last two rooms was a circle of a seventy paces in diameter. It extended a hundred metres down as if it needed the additional strength of rock.

The bottom two levels had all their portals covered in concrete until I got a close look. I could see the small unmistakable shells of coral or other marine like invertebrates. One area had a small crack in the coral and I could see water but not much. It felt frighting to stand in front of a wall like this and of all the water that was behind it.

The giant portals meant very large creatures and I could only think of whales or cephalopods that could use this. A flash came to me of a giant squid attacking Captain Nemo's ship. I did not know what would need such wide portals. Four or five whales could swim through the opening at one time.

The security detail went off duty and I picked up a new group. They looked at those going off shift and wondered how they were so dirty and so white. They soon found out the hard way as Osston and I carried up the chest and charged level after level and then switched the gates to receive only.

The next day Osston and I tackled world #2 while most of the school investigated the corridors of world #1. We worked quicker this time but it still took a long time for the chest to charge each level. The first time seemed to take longer as if it charged other areas we had not detected yet. Some of the students helped us in this work. They deactivated the viewing as soon as possible. Some of the views had to be to the Church and I did not want them to see us.

One small portal on the top level had a lot of light coming through it. A girl student was crouched down staring into what looked like a room in a home. It could have been part of a Human house except the furniture was wrong. I saw a painting on the wall and it looked like nothing more than a thin being covered in hair except for the face. The chairs indicated that the being was very tall. The face had three eyes and a wide mouth with a lot of small sharp teeth. A small tuft of fur was seen behind the person and this could be part of a short tail or just the tip of a long tail. The chairs had a cut out for this portion of the anatomy.

I said, "This may sound like a foolish question, but do you want to come back here after and watch this portal?"

The girl gave me a very big smile and eagerly said, "Yes, my King. I'd love to."

"Good, then do so. Bring a camera and make notes."

"Yes, my King."

We found other rooms on other floors but again many portals were simply not operational. Some that did work were in darkness as if they were in a sealed room but a few were out in the open. I even saw a few with wooden, metal, leather or thick cloth covering them as if whoever had them knew that they could be viewed.

I thought about the dead portals. This could mean that the portal at the other end had been destroyed or possibly just associated with a different mate now.

World #4 was scheduled to be searched in two days but we had to prepare. The atmospheric pressure was lower there. I had a strong airlock built. Even if it leaked some air it should work.

Artlam found time to come and visit. None of the important information went out on the radio unless we used newer military units with encryption.

He patrolled the eighth level of world #1 and the seventh level of world #2 because this is where the portals entered the complexes. So far we had not gone below the seventh of this second world.

"This is marvellous, my King. The view is clearer than through the chain. I heard that the students have found some creatures that act like men but are not."

"I hadn't heard. We were powering up the upper units of this world."

"How do you know it is a world and not some place on our own?"

"The gravity is different. But some are close enough that they may be the same world but in different places."

"Do you still have hopes of finding this French or Russian base?"

"I have no idea. There are more people in this universe than Humans like us. We may find we are linking with other worlds. We know there has to be a way for the Church to get Russian and French equipment but it may be like finding one particular grain of sand on a large beach."

"Why has the Church not come here? I see dust everywhere and they would have surely disturbed it."

"I can't answer that. In fact, I can answer very little. My dream is to gather all of the books the Church has and study them for their secrets."

Artlam said, "The students talk of alien races that came here to help and then left. I think they must have brought these portals."

"I think so too."

"Why did they leave? I don't think that it was just because their work was done."

"We talked before of this with Modak Clova."

"I remember that well."

"I heard of conflict but not much is mentioned. If that is the case, then the aliens may have just left in disgust. If that is the explanation, they could have sealed up these gates or perhaps we just forgot about them. Wars have a way of distracting people for a long time."

"You have not found out how your family acquired the silver artifacts?"

"Not yet. I still only know that we had the mirror frame for three centuries and that it came from Europe."

"Where in Europe? Perhaps the place of portals is there?"

"I've thought of that too. The frame came from France but my family comes from the British Isles. We tended to mix a lot so we're about the most diverse family I know of. We're inclined to move around a lot and in fact we still do. There's no place except in Canada that we have stayed in one place longer than a generation."

We took Artlam down one level so he could see what we were doing but at the first opportunity he claimed to have some urgent business. Not everybody could step off into nothing, especially if nothing was deep.

We finished off #2. There were some interesting developments but there were no portals that said 'Earth'. #3 the next day was similar to the previous two.

#4 had a thick wood enclosure built around the smaller portal. This was easier to contain. We soon found that it was so cold we had to go back for clothing suitable for polar expeditions.

It was now night on this planet. The level we arrived on had a collapsed wall at some time and light could get in. This was evident from the large opening in the wall and the loss of four portals. We saw a mountain range in front of us and I hoped that the planet was warmer and had more air at sea-level wherever that was.

It was hard to breathe but it was possible. Sherpas could do better. We started to energise this level but went back to Bejek to get warm and oxygenate our blood. I would have to get some oxygen bottles used by mountain climbers if we were going to investigate this place.

A simple battery powered radio was used but there was nothing found on the AM, the FM or ten shortwave bands. We took some pictures but these were really just mementoes.

World 4 took two days to do because of the conditions but there was nothing basically different about the base. The beings we were able to see were mainly different but then again some were the same in all three worlds. We discovered some radio waves that appeared to be intelligently produced but we had no way of finding out what they were for or to gain any information from them.

That night I was awoken by an explosion near my tent. I rolled out of bed and into the trench and then left the tent quickly. People were running all over the place and I heard the term Anguy twice.

My security detail was close. All of the icons I was using were now in silver boxes, as well as the chest. Even our tent was lined with silver foil. All this had to follow me everywhere. There was none of the retorts of matchlocks or cannon but I heard the distinctive sound of AK-47s and light mortars.

I put my pistol away and drew out the silver lightning bolt and signalled the two women carrying the chest to follow close. The Anguy were all over and the detail shot them as they found them. In a moment I saw the portal. It was wide and men were running through ten abreast to make use of a common medallion.

I concentrated on the men and fired the bolt of electricity. It hit men like a laser and they stopped dead, literally. When the weapon was getting low I used another one as the women opened the silver box to the chest. This was put in front of me and I rested the gun on it and fired. This way it had much more power and the portal abruptly collapsed.

The remaining Anguy rushed at me but jerked as they walked into the charged area. They were easy to shoot now. I shot more just to extend this area and to attract more attention.

The chest was hit many times and we were trying to dig our way into a foxhole even if we had to use our hands. Inspiration struck and I was tossed the fulcrum and leaver. I pulled out soil and got the girls into a large hole. I was in there with them and I only hoped that they did not turn a mortar on us.

The fighting ended an hour later but we had to stay put until the charge dissipated. I went to sleep and I guess all soldiers learn to do something like this.

There was a lot of cleanup the next day. We found Anguy hiding but this was not from fright but to snipe. We used teargas when we could but usually the Anguy didn't want to be taken alive.

Woodland was used to fighting but not within the city. There had been a lot of death but our people had better training and this showed. One day the Anguy would match us and then a lot more of us would die.

I went back to world 4 much later in the day to finish categorising what was beyond the portals. Two worlds were seen. One lead to a cave entrance. Beyond the cave was sand and rock. The other portal was even more depressing. The view was from what could have been a home. The view was tilted as if the floor had shifted or the portal had. There were dead trees and a stone statue. I could not tell if it was of a Human or not because the statue looked to have melted but dissolved was a better term.

There were more dead or blocked portals but the last one had some light and I got my flashlight out. It was a room like a laboratory but it could have been a hospital or just an elaborate workbench. The surfaces did not look to be metal, plastic, or wood. The best guess was ceramic. Two small lights that reminded me of LEDs were seen but nothing else.

The radio was used on all the portals but the last group gave us nothing but static.

It was the next day that we tried world #5. This is where the cave-in had occurred, and where I salvaged most of the gates. When I stepped into this world again I felt something. The gravity was right for Earth or nearly so. If this were true, then it would stand to reason that some of the portals leading to this place had to come from locations on my home planet.

The portals did not charge as they should and I had to attribute it to the cave-in and the portals that were ripped out. This level had to be done in four places but the time taken for each was short. We eagerly waited to see what became of this but the matching portals were all buried, covered in some sort of material we could not see through, in a dark room, or dead.

Those with dark rooms now got full transparency as we used a powerful flashlight to take inventory. One had old Human bones so I assumed somebody got trapped or wanted to be entombed with a portal.

We went to the top floor this time and worked our way down. Some views were the same as other portals and this similarity was put into a chart. On the third from the top we found what looked like our first Human type room. The reflection off a glass window showed that the portal was disguised as a mirror just as our first one was.

I turned on the radio and found a station where the announcer was speaking with a decidedly Scottish accent. Osston was with me and I told him, "This is in Europe."

Osston nodded and I waited to hear the station. In a few moments I heard that it was Glasgow. I made the adjustment to the portal but the radio kept coming through as I knew it should. It made sense that a nexus should be in or probably near Glasgow since the portal had energised.

Through another portal on this floor I found a large stone room with a lot of tracks in the dust. I could not tell which one it was but it should have been one we were just in. It just occurred to me that the priests could see us in their portals too and they had the knowledge to deactivate the cloaking we had put into place. It may also hold true that some of the stone lined areas could be frequented by the priests and we could spy on them. Knowing how paranoid they were, they would find a way to block us.

On the fifth level, I found coral and some algae. This one would be a target for our radio beacon but we could use a radio first. I went up and down all twelve bands and could not find anything.

There were three more portals leading to corridors filled with dust. On an off chance I used the radio again and I thought I heard some calypso music but it stopped as soon as it started. I worked the area of the band for ten minutes but did not find the station again. It could be a fluke or it could be what my mind attributed to this music type from random sounds.

The portals that were blocked off with various materials could still admit radio and I worked on each one. It took twenty minutes each but I was not going to begrudge the time. Going through the Church controlled portal was a way of getting killed, so my time was well spent here finding a back door.

On the sixth level I found four portals transmitting light. The first was a brightly lit room. I adjusted the portal just before a boy of ten walked into view. There were posters on the wall of musicians.

The boy got on an old computer and in a few moments starting to chat with a friend. The characters on the screen were too far away to see but the radio stations came in loud and clear. This was in Georgia and possibly where Gus had detected a nexus.

One of my assistants gave an urgent call and I hurried to the next portal. She was staring into a room where a girl of eight or so was staring back. The strange girl was frightened so I crouched down and tried to act as non-threatening as possible.

The radio stations were all in Russian. We may have found our location. None of the broadcasts were in English so I had no idea where it was. I mentally said to the girl beside me, "Wave and smile. I'm going to block the gate."

The girl waved and I waved too as I adjusted the gate to one way. The girl on the other side did not go and in fact reached out as if to touch a barrier or even us. She found her mirror instead.

I looked at the girl facing us and then at the room. The room was very large and from what I saw very expensively decorated.

The next two we adjusted right away. A girl in the previous one may well tell her parents. If they were in league with the Church they would tell the priests at the next opportunity.

The next portal showed a jumble of brick and steel as if a building had been demolished and the portal just left there. This one also had access to what sounded like Russian radio.

The forth was a beautiful home but the language was either Spanish or Portugese. I didn't know the difference but tape recordings could be taken to those that did.

This section had a lot of portals that were buried. They were too deep in the ground to admit any radio waves that my radio could receive. Four portals were in a cave and it looked like one of the caves had two portals but I wasn't sure. I tried harder in these locations but had no luck. There may be other waves that I could pick up if I had a sensitive enough receiver.

The second from the bottom level had a minor difference. Instead of the giant portal, there were four units of a forth of the regular size. It only took a few seconds to surmise that this was a substitute for a large portal. The coral and the colour in each panel was the same and even a crack in the coral went from one portal to another. Somebody had substituted four smaller units to make a large one. The mirror portal was a single unit which substantiated that the centre portions did not mean anything when it came to transporting a being.

I think it was the water that made me think of ships and this made me smile.

When we finished the investigation of the complex, I asked Osston, "Do we have a way of finding the spheres in the wall?"

"The coding in the metal should indicate where the globes are. I cannot see very high."

I walked to a wall and away from the centre section. I found I could elevate myself here but I had to do more work. I raised four metres and came down again.

Osston said, "I had not thought to try that, Master."

"Let's go up one level and check the four piece portal."

"Yes, Master."

Osston searched along the bottom first and pointed out what he was able to see. When I reached through his mind I could see it easier. I had been picking up the talent but I was still slow and nearly blind. I had to see with the mind not the eyes.

When it came to go up one side, Osston got excited and pointed out the telltale sequence that was near where the globe should be. We went around the entire frame and located the four areas. None were on the top and none were in the floor. By flipping the portals the globes should be at both sides.



-------

Chapter 36


We missed supper as we chiselled out the areas around the frames. Osston found the first globe and when we finished we saw that there was only one. The rest did not even have the cup arrangement attached to them. This meant that one globe controlled all four gates.

I could see a way of bring warships here now without cutting them up, or at least not much. There was still no key to activate the links and as Osston said it was doubtful I could find a way.

I thought again about the keys. Somebody or some being had to use a key to get through a portal. For all I knew it could be in his home. He came to a place like this and walked into a large room and walked out another portal. That could be to a location on his own world or to a different complex. Perhaps station would be a better word. Eventually he stepped out a portal at his destination. I could not see a conductor accepting the exact change or punching tickets. It had to be the computer or one like it that controlled the antigravity elevators.

Computers had to be fancy if they matched this level of technology. It made sense that if I could contact one computer, I might be able to talk to another. After half an hour nothing happened but I had no real job so I picked one of the nearby portals that were blank and I asked to have the other half activated.

I was getting a headache but I continued. I reluctantly changed my method to ask to be just directed to the nearest operable portal to Earth. My luck didn't help here. Getting the computer to open a portal for me looked a long way off.

The next day we chiselled out all four portals. We could not take them far because of their size. I got a brainstorm and thought of setting up the chain portal and sending a unit to the area where our portal was but the exit was still too small. I guess we could push it out like we had done before. I used a headband and a coin to view the blacktop outside the shed that housed our portal. I reasoned that if we were connected through an open portal then the chain gate may work. Even I was surprised when it did.

In ten minutes we had three of the four pieces in Woodland, then Osston went up and closed the main portal and opened the small original one to this site. The forth portion made it just as easy as the first three.

All this gave us something to consider because it gave us a lot more opportunities to attack the Church.

I got out the measuring tape and saw that the portals I transported were square. The inside dimension was 19.8 metres and I knew the original placement ignored the crossbars so I figured I could pass 40.4 metres if I put all four together.

We had few radios suited for civilian purposes but we found all that were available. The portals in world #5 were scanned and scanned again and again. Short wave worked well at night so we had to try when it was dark there. This meant all the time because we did not know where each portal was except for the few we already found.

Selna, Matra and Caiti arrived the next day. Selna had been wounded but was now doing fine. The family had not said anything to me because of the way I reacted. It hurt to think that something could happen to her. She was so young by Earth standards to be doing any fighting. Caiti had been shooting too and Matra had been their spotter.

"Selna, tell me how this happened?"

"It was stupid and we made a mistake."

"Tell me, Sweetie."

She gave a little smile and said, "An Anguy squad had tried to infiltrate our lines. Matra used her night glasses to spot them for us. While we took out the squad, we had failed to notice that there were two squads approaching. We started taking fire but they were not good shots. They tend to go in auto mode because of the firepower. Our own security team had not seen them, either, but security finished off the group for us."

"Any of your team hurt?"

"A few small wounds. I was hit across the back of the leg. Mom came over quickly and worked on me. It wasn't that serious to begin with."

"Enough to sideline you from having fun tonight?"

Her expression changed rapidly, "Not on your life." I knew she was ok now.

It was fun to show the girls how I could levitate them. There was a lot of squealing and they hung to me tightly as the security detail chuckled. Osston came with us as we investigated this site. I was shocked to see children hurrying to a pit and jumping in. The gravity was low but it still shocked me. Other children stood at the bottom of a tube and shot upward faster than I would have attempted. I still had a fear of falling and could not see the children acting this way.

Selna had seen the children and smiled so I had to tell her mentally how to get up and down as well as sideways. As she tried I had to tell Caiti and Matra the same thing.

Matra was first and she spoke quickly to the other two and in a moment Caiti rose off the floor only to settle back down. There was more excitement in the air and Selna was urged to try harder but it didn't work. I cheated a bit and tried to elevate Selna without her knowing. I did a centimetre and she broke out in a grin and jabbered at the rest.

I said, "I took an hour and a half to elevate. You guys work a lot faster than I could."

Selna grinned at me and said, "Let's find a quiet shaft. We can get naked and you can give me two types of rides at once."

Caiti said, "Try it. If it works then I have to try it with Matra."

"What about our guards?"

"Can they float yet?"

"No."

"Why not?"

That was a good question. The Church found people that had some mental powers and took them. They left the rest. Perhaps with all the use of the silver icons a lot more could do this. I thought of Mom and Dad trying. I assumed a person had to be able to talk mentally to the computer but perhaps a computer was sensitive enough to not need somebody that could use telepathy. If there was any ability in my security detail it would be good to encourage it.

I turned to the detail and said, "Caiti has a point. You will be better able to fight and protect if you can use the grav shafts independently."

Caiti said, "What's a grav shaft?"

"A shaft that has some type of gravity control."

"Did you make that up?"

"Sure."

"Ok, just asking."

I turned back to the guards and I said, "I'll give anybody that can float up as high as my head a copper penny from my land." This got a lot more excitement and the detail got into the centre of the opening.

Only one guard got off the ground and she yelped so loud that she frightened the rest of us. Matra and Caiti went to the top of the shaft and came down only to do it again and again. They were getting more adventurous all the time. Soon Caiti and Matra left the top and I heard the girl say, "We have to try something. We'll be back in a few hours."

Selna almost cried, "What about me?"

"You come up here now and I'll make it worth your while."

I started to go up the shaft and in a moment Selna did too. She wanted to clutch to me but wanted to be independent. I left the security team down below to give them some incentive to try harder.

We made it to the top and I saw Caiti and Matra waiting for us and both were wearing big smiles. The three girls kissed and then I had to get some of that too. I looked behind me and saw two of my team so I was happy for them even though they looked white.

I said to the family, "Go have some fun and learn to use the shafts better. I still have work to do, especially opening that chest."

Selna said, "I'll go with you."

I gave her a kiss and said, "I'll see you tonight. Just save some for me."

I got a bashful smile and said, "I'll save lots for you."

The two women that made it here with me were picked up and we started to descend. I said, "Concentrate on your own bodies."

One said, "We'll fall."

"I won't let you and you got up here by yourselves."

We remained stationary until the two got control of themselves and we went down together. By the time we were down, they had smug looks on their faces.

One of the younger trainees found me and said, "We found something."

I squatted down and said, "What did you find?"

"All sorts of stuff."

"What kind of stuff and where?"

"Where you were digging."

"Oh, then let's go and check this out."

A small chain portal was seeing a lot of use. The detail, my young trainee, and I stepped through to see that the cliff I had worked on was radically changed. The opening was now thirty metres across and extended all the way to the top of the cliff. Wooden scaffolding was nearby but the loose rock had been moved quite a distance away. The ceramic wall was now much easier to see.

The people around were dirty but still excited at their find. More trainees came and one said, "We found two openings. Come and look."

I was shown another wall but this one was only three metres high. The end had been damaged which I could see by broken doors that looked more like a hatch on a military ship. The wall was actually a tube like the Eskimo had to his igloo but this was much larger.

"We're digging here but there is another opening."

"Where is it?"

I was shown the back side. Not all of it had been separated from the cliff and I saw that there was still a lot of rock and soil above the ceramic walls. I got closer and saw the opening. Two girls, about ten and twelve, were using hand tools to dig out some soil where some ceramic had been at one time.

I called the girls down as well as the other students. Most were from the school but not all were from there. I had hopes for the students to eventually graduate.

I pointed to the ten metre portion of rock above the wall and said, "You have done a wonderful job of digging this out but it looks like a building that has obviously collapsed. I want you to completely stop digging into the structure until you remove the rock and dirt that is above it.

One of the young girls said, "It won't fall in."

"How did you get to be an engineer?"

The girl knew she had overstepped herself. She did not answer though. "Remove the rock above first. That's an order."

You would have thought that I had squelched all their fun. I added, "I don't like going to funerals and there have been too many of them. Work safe. You're important to me."

Three adults looked embarrassed and I saw that one was a teacher. Instead of causing a rift, I said, "A true archaeological dig takes a long time to do right. I have some DVDs on this subject and you should look at them first. You do not want to destroy some small clues that you will need later to find out more information. When we first started to investigate the portals, we photographed and made notes of everything we found even if the details were minor. Try that here so you can learn and remember, the information may help save our lives one day."

Everybody seemed to have been chastised enough and I was shown the details that had emerged so far. I was handed a fifty centimetre length of tube that had collapsed. It would be roughly four centimetres in diameter if it were round. The dirt in it was gone and the material was strangely light.

Another exhibit was another portion of the same material but it was broken open. Inside was some green material that looked a lot like copper sulphate. It was in a straight line, though, and I could see more below it.

These facts started to fall into place. I used my knife to scrape the original tube and found it to be black in colour as was the tube that surrounded the copper. I poked out some of the copper compounds and found a streak of pink below that and then I found green and yellow.

This was some type of building that at one time had electric wiring. It now occurred to me that the wars on Bejek may not have kept civilisation from gaining a high level at all. It could have been as good as Earth was now or perhaps higher. I had only seen it as a poorly developed world that had some alien artifacts among the barbarians.

The present scarcity of copper could be because Bejek had little of the metal or over time the existing veins had been mined out. The Iron Age on Earth came about because copper became scarce, not because iron was better. It was actually a poor substitute until it was eventually converted into steel.

I said to those around me, "This site is now very important. The people here used copper wire. It looks like they used electricity like we are now doing. Copper may have been much more plentiful at one time and it was used for common articles in the home. I have no idea how old this place is but it has to be thousands of years at a minimum."

I looked at the teachers and said, "You hold the keys to your past here. If you screw up you will lose it. I know there is a gate in there someplace but there may be something even more important even if we cannot see it right away. Document everything and go slow." The teachers assured me that they would do so.

Before I left, I said, "Keep me posted as to what you find." Again I got assurances that they would.

We searched where the artifacts were found. The tube and the conduit had to be made of plastic. This could mean petroleum but plastics could be made from plant products too.

The doors on the tunnel looked to have been strong and thick but also looked to have been blasted off their hinges.

I stayed for a few hours and left. There was still lots to do and I could not be spending my time as an amateur archaeologist. The chest still had to be opened or at least investigated. The now partially functional portals drew me almost as hard.

I went looking for my map-maker. It would be expected that he would be on Woodland investigating the portals with the rest. I asked a few questions and had to go to Shreff. Loca was in the library sitting at a desk and reading.

He got up quickly when I came in. "Hello, my King. May I be of some assistance to you?"

"I hope you can, Loca. You remind me too much of a man by the name of Modak Clova. He was on the run from the Church but we did not have as much security then as we do now and he was murdered."

The man was worried now and asked, "Why do you think I am on the run from the Church?"

"The way you act when we mention the Church. Like now, you are sweating in fear. I'm not here to harm you. All I want is your help to find out more about the chest."

"I know almost nothing, my King."

"Will you assist me? I'm not asking for miracles, just an honest effort."

"I will try, my King."

"Good, now what are your ideas about opening the chest?"

"To open it may bring destruction on our country if not our world. The power it contains is too strong to imagine."

"Ok, let's start with the history of long ago. I heard that there were great wars that almost destroyed everybody. They happened at least two times. Do you think the chest could have one of those weapons?"

"I don't know, my King."

"Let's be honest Loca. What do you know and can we work from there? I want to learn all I can just as you are trying."

Loca did some thinking and then seemed to collapse within himself. "I was not quite a priest when I was taken in a raid with some other trainees. For fourteen years I was a slave until a chance came when my village was attacked so that I could escape. I ran for years. Partially from the Church and partly from the people that might take me back. I was lost more times than enough and learned the value of maps. I guess you don't want to hear about that but about what I learned from the Church."

"Oh, no. I want to learn about your experiences too."

"Thank you for saying so but I will start with the Church. I believe I was given up by my parents when I was a baby. I have no recollection of them. I learned fairly quickly and was applauded for my dedication. My master said that I was slated to become a priest sooner than most. I probably would have made it at about the same age Osston did.

"I went many places my master took me but I learned nothing that I think can help you open the chest."

I asked, "Then tell me about the Church. What do you know of who runs it and where they live? Were do you think they do the most research and where are most of the books kept? Is there an area where only some people may get certain books? I need information about how to gain all the knowledge I can, Loca."

"I don't know where to start, my King."

"When I have that problem, I start when I was the youngest. List names when you can. Tell me about the places you visited and what you know or what you surmise about them. You can even use a map to tell us where they are or may be."

"Yes, my King. I'll get a map to start. That will help me."

Loca started by recalling going through his first portal. Soon his face softened as he started to reminisce. He talked of countries and cities and then of churches. Usually he lived with his master and his master had three homes. He went into his playmates and adult authority figures. Some were kind and some were not.

The course of his education was tracked and what he had learned of what was now our new science and what he learned of politics and infighting.

Loca pulled out of his near trance. "I'm sorry for rambling on my King. You must be bored."

"Not at all. You've given me an insight into the workings of the Church. Your information may be dated but the same situation must still exist. Let's have a drink and a stretch and I'd like you to go on just as you have been doing."

We started again and Loca was even more relaxed now. He continued from where he left off and soon it led to his abduction. The Church conditioning wore off and the structure that supported Loca fell apart.

Facts he learned or even surmises he deduced were listed. Some were long after his escape.

"Tell me about the silver devices you have run across that may differ from what we have here or what we know about them."

"My, King, I was just a student. Children under your care know far more than I was allowed to learn. I was told half truths at best and sometimes outright lies."

"Could some of the lies be truths that we haven't discovered yet?"

"It's possible my, King."

"Then you and the students have more to study. To me, this topic is very interesting. Too bad we don't know the underlying principles of the icons. A book made for a child of that past time would make all of this so much easier."

"If there is a book, it would be on Kallos Island or perhaps Sennis. That is where the oldest information is kept. My master brought me to both places a few times. There was even some old stonework showing beings giving their gifts to men."

"Can you add anything about the aliens?"

"There were conflicting ideas among the priests. The portal system was used to carry beings from one star to another. The system was to reach all the stars. These stations also spread to individual locations much like you have found in homes.

"When we waged war on ourselves, the portals were closed off, but only after we used them to kill in great numbers. This was not just on our world but on another one as well. The beings that controlled the portals shut them down so we could not carry our war to civilised worlds.

"Our people had some direct portals that did not go through the terminals. Many more were made years after the beings stopped monitoring us. Some portals that once linked to terminals could not be opened but supposedly we could see in. There were no more beings walking through them.

"Some priests believed that the beings that travelled the stars simply died out in a war or because of pestilence. Other priests believe that the terminals were just bypassed. Another group think the portals are still used but the energy is just used to relay the being along the way to their destination. One small faction believe that there was a better way found to travel the stars and that is what is now used."

I said, "Loca, what can you tell me about the weapons used in the war."

"All I know is that they were terrible. There are no facts."

"Could you tell me how to get into the library in Kallos Island or Sennis?"

"No, my King. There were lots of twists and turns and many guards. The books in Sennis are kept in a tall building buried in a flat topped mountain. The library was huge and took up the entire building. It was kept in separate rooms and floors. A librarian had to find a book and he took it personally to a small room that had two guards in it. Sometimes only certain pages were allowed to be accessed. There were even some heavily guarded areas within the already heavily guarded library."

"This sounds like a place I would like to visit and perhaps stay a while. Were there any vertical tubes in the library to get from one floor to the next, like those in the terminals of yours?"

"No, my King."

"I feel that there has to be one or more computers in a terminal that controls what it does. One may control the movement of people in the vertical tubes. What sort of information can you give me to get into this library?"

"None, my King. There are guards everywhere. I would say that there is an army of them. At least there were when I was a young man. The use of what you call coins will be instantly detected and challenged. I believe that if you were to open a portal it would be detected, too.

"Would you be able to draw a rough map of what you saw of the library itself?"

"It would all be guesses."

"Please try."

Loca drew a picture of the areas he had seen and then a picture of the front of the building that led to the library. I took the drawing of the layout of some floors and then I sought dimensions. I was amazed because the building was like a large highschool with wide hallways. The doorways were set wide apart so the rooms holding books were large themselves.

Loca said, "The very lowest floors have the silver icons. I have never been there but I assume it is categorised the same way as the books. I was told that there were even more floors of icons then there were books."

"That's very interesting too. Do you have an idea of how many floors the library used in all?"

"I would guess at twenty four but the building was all below ground. It would be safer this way. Putting it on a plateau would allow rain water to be carried away from the books."

We talked and more details emerged. Loca was surprised that he knew as much as he did. We had a lunch and then we went back to the library to talk.

"Loca, what can you tell me about that island?"

"Kallos Island? Well the buildings there look the oldest of all. They looked more like a fort. The library was built inside the mountain and very secure. Instead of small rooms, the main room is the height of four regular rooms and everything is readily seen this way. Guards walk around watching everywhere and can see everything. Only librarians access the books but we were allowed to watch from a visitor's balcony. The oldest books are on the upper levels of this large room so they can be monitored better."

"Will you draw more diagrams?"

Loca did as asked and drew the view across the library floor and to the left. That was where he was placed so many years ago and he couldn't shift around to see more.

After I asked more questions I altered them somewhat, I asked, "Loca, after we met, we planned on placing our silver on an island before the ship was hit by lightning. We found a better use for it. The island, though, was hit that night by lightning many times. I'm not asking what you have but I am asking how you came by whatever it is."

Loca had been very outgoing but now reverted. After a while he said, "Some icons were taken from my master when we were attacked. They did not all leave the village over the years I was a slave. I tried to find them as the years went by. When the village itself was attacked, I took back what was my master's. Over the years, I have sought out more icons. I did not dare take from the Church but I did find some in cities like Drassic and Crottis. The cities are full of thieves and pirates. They find icons on occasion and I use a small portal to take the icons from them but make it look like the work of a common criminal."

I had a big smile. "You took from the thieves. I love that. If I may ask, do you have anything we do not have or some knowledge about what icons we do have that will assist us. The silver icons you have are yours in any case and we won't take them. I only ask that you make sure they are well protected."

Loca said, "I figured you knew what I had and I always wondered why you didn't take them."

"I told you once that I try to be ethical. If at sometime in the future you wish to sell them, I hope you would consider selling them to me."

"I would give them to you when I die. I do not see the Church as the people that would make the best use of them."

"Thank you, Loca. That's very generous of you. If I had my way I would let you find a lot more as long as we can share."

"I imagine I could take from the Church now."

"I wanted to do the same thing but if I stole even one book or icon, it would alert the Church. I want my first robbery to be the biggest raid ever. I want to take the entire library."

Loca's mouth was open and it took him a while to close it. He finally said, "You want to steal the mountain?"

This was not what I had thought. "I was thinking of going in with a few hundred people and looting the place, but your idea is better."

"My idea! I think taking the books alone would be too much. How could this be my idea?"

"Because you thought of it, Loca."

"I cannot even conceive of robbing the Church let alone one of the two major libraries." In a moment he said, "How do you plan to do this feat?"

"We just found four portals were linked to make one large portal. Perhaps we can take the largest portals and link even more than four to take a large portion of a mountain all in one bite."

Instead of denying the possibility, Loca thought. He said, "I have two matched portals and a key for them."

"How do they help?"

"They may not with this project but you have only one set of portals and one key."

"Where did you get them?"

"Perhaps thirty years ago I packed all three frames in one location. An evil man had killed, a trader, to get them. Two portals happened to be a matched set but the single portal was with them. It had been damaged somehow but I still took it. I came across some icons and assorted keys at other times. They were probably easier to hide from the people collecting for the Church."

"Will you show me what you have?"

Loca was hesitant but said, "I'm trusting you with everything I own."

"You did that before, Loca, and I did not steal anything even after I guessed what you had."

Loca opened a chest with a key and brought out some blankets that went on his bed. A small portal like I used to detect a nexus came next. In a moment a twin came out. After another blanket, a twisted frame came out. Loca looked at this the most and still spent ten minutes looking at them.

One curious article to come out looked like a butterfly. "What's this?"

"I am not sure, my King. The symbols indicate that it heals but I have not been able to get it to work."

"Where did you get it?"

"From Crottis, the city you we met."

"How long have you had it?"

"Two months before we met. A major thief had it. There was no way to ask him where he got the trophy. I just monitor where the thieves hide their loot and one day I saw this."

"What was he going to do with it?"

"Usually the thieves try to sell them to the Church but the priests like to get them for free. It's a difficult situation in dealing with them."

"Nobody else collects them?"

"I have heard of some, but the Church kills them and takes their property."

"Why haven't they found yours?" I still had the silver icon in my hand and because of the fuzz on it I figured it was a moth.

"I used a metal cloth made of silver. It's folded in the bottom of each chest now. The walls of the chest have thin silver foil in it too."

"I could have used that information sooner."

"I am sorry, my King, but I did not want you to learn too much of me. I did suggest this to the students and they told you."

"That's ok then, Loca. Thanks for passing along the information. I put up foil in my tent and I think it helps."

"You're welcome, my King."

"Let's drop the king title. Here in private, we can be Hugh and Loca."

"But, my King, that's not right."

"Suit yourself, but you do not need to be so formal."

"I will try to be, my — Hugh."

Loca opened another trunk and took out clothing and a chain portal so I figured he had to have been faking it on the ship. Lots more icons came out and some I even recognised. Loca went through a verbal description of all of them for my benefit. Some were categorised slightly different than we had them listed.

Loca said, "I was not told of these properties either. It's possible the Church does not know about these icons, the Church does know and doesn't want to publicise the information to low ranking students and priests, or I have some special icons that only look like the ones we commonly see."

I said, "If the other icons act the same way then it has to be the first two choices."

"Precisely."

Another trunk had more clothing and more icons but also a lot of rings, some of which were gold. I picked up one and looked at it. When I looked at a few more, I noticed one that looked like one of the rings Grandma Audrey left me. Holding the ring, I said, "What are these for?"

"They are keys to portals and perhaps other devices. Some are like the keys to your vehicles."

"How do you know this?"

"My — the man that trained me used one to open a chest and another to open a private portal to the Church grounds."

"Could these keys open my chest?"

"You may try but I fear that there is no chance. There are simply too many choices. I was told to think of a key as a very long series of numbers that had to match exactly with what had to be used."

"Well, we can try. Why are some gold?"

"I thought it was for camouflage. Stealing a silver ring may happen but not a gold one."

"That sounds reasonable."

We went through the rest of the icons. Loca went to the first chest and brought out a large silver disk about six centimetres in diameter and a centimetre thick. This one had writing on it. When I looked close I saw that some were like the characters on the coin I asked everybody about. Loca just gave me a weak smile.

"Try this with the coin you brought back. I have not attempted it yet though I was dying to do so."

"What does it do?"

"It allows a person wearing a headband to see the coin easier and set up a portal at a greater distance. I did not know for sure until I came here and you graciously allowed me to use your property."

"Will it reach inside the chest?"

"I have no idea. I was going to try. If I succeeded I would give you this."

"Let's put your things away so they don't get stolen and we can try. Bring the keys so we can rule them out."

"Whatever you want m —, Hugh."

We went to the chest and I charged Loca's moth and the larger disk. Loca put on the headband and placed the coin on top of the disk. He crouched around the chest and tried to peer into it from various angles.

I remembered Jackson's house and said, "Loca, hold the disk and coin as you look. It works better that way."

"I'll try it." A moment later he said, "It works much better. I can see far into the ground but not into the chest."

When Loca gave up I took the headband. I did not think that I was better than Loca at this but I thought of putting the headband on the chest as I tried.

I saw only a grey fog but when I touched the coin and the disk to the trunk I got a sudden glimpse. It was hard to get the image back and it was not clear. The coin and the disk touched the headband too. In a moment their was a second brief look.

I stood up and said, "I saw inside. Loca, do what I did and make sure the coin, the disk and the headband touch the trunk and each other."



-------

Chapter 37


The old man was eager to try and almost at once I saw him smile. When Loca stood the smile had not left. "There are four books, I think some maps, seven icons and a large device I never saw before. There are also three small portals and what I believe is the device that releases the power."

"Do you think we get put a portal to fix in there?"

"I would like to try."

More people came over and there was already a crowd. The guards held the chain and Loca went back to work to fix the end inside the chest. It took a long time and I heard Loca say, "Look now. I have to hold it in place."

The portal was indeed open. Without thinking, I reached in and took out one thing after another until I got to the power supply but I then stopped. I reluctantly stood without the last article.

Loca got up and said, "Why did you stop?"

"You were using the power to see inside the chest and to hold the portal open. If I removed the device, you may not be able the hold the end of the portal fixed long enough for me to get it out. It could be destroyed then."

Loca nodded and said, "That was a good decision I think."

We went back to the library and put down our plunder. The books I went for first but they were all written in the strange language. Loca had been right and there had been maps. We opened them with reverence and found them in beautiful rich colour. They were not done on paper but on a extremely fine cloth that had to be made of extremely fine silver wire.

Loca went over the map and said, "I have never found a map as beautiful or as meticulousness made as this. I can see some very small details."

In a moment Loca said, "I think these are Church lands or at least some are."

I said, "This looks old, very old. Could it predate the Church?"

Loca was shocked at this but then said, "I guess the Church had to grow. The Church may have been in existence but was not as wide spread as now. There are characters on the map, but again I cannot read them, only the coastline."

The maps were of different regions of Bejek we found. There were even notes on the map in extremely small script.

We had a chance to look at the strange icons. Two were a matched set of ants, another icon was a twisted ladder that got me instantly excited and the last was something that looked like a brain because it was convoluted but I could see that it was not in a Human form.

Supper came and we had lots of visitors to see what we found. Before we left to eat, I used Loca's keys on the chest but none of them opened it. I then used those that had been inside the chest but they were no more successful.

The girls now got into the act and looked through what we had found. The pages of the book were scanned and put into memory as was the maps. Photographs were taken of everything and we tried to read the inscriptions on the icons with our minds. Three looked like icons we had seen before. One of these was an exact copy of the Heart of Opfu. The other four icons were new to us.

Loca came to me later and whispered, "The broken portal looks odd now."

I left to see what had happened. I asked, "What's wrong, Loca?"

"My portal was not only twisted but also broken at a corner. It's now a little straighter."

"How did it happen?"

"I don't know."

"Well, if you did not fix it and I didn't do it then who or what did?"

Loca looked into the frame and saw one of the silver insects that looked much like an ant touching it. He layed the ant on top of the twisted portal. I heard a noise so I got down and looked at the two. "May I look at your frame?"

"Yes, my King."

I removed the insect and got close to the portal and placed the silver ant on the portal. I saw a small spark but did not hear any snap this time."

I said, "Energy jumped between them and made a blue spark." I turned to one of the guards to get a digital camera and I photographed the two on a hard flat surface with some short objects in the picture to compare the size and possible change."

I asked, "What's the ant?"

"I am not sure. There are lots of icons in your chest and I only know a little about each. The ants I thought were devices to heal."

I checked the damaged portal and it looked little different than it did before but I had not been carrying it around for years. Loca pointed out where the damage was before.

I asked, "How did you notice that it straightened?"

"It was laying on a flat surface and I knew how far from the surface the twisted portion was. I grant you that it was not much but it was enough for me to see."

I had to think on this for a while myself. An ant was industrious and built. Could the icons be for repair?

An hour of quiet thinking brought no more answers. My eyes caught the three small frames that looked like mini portals. The opening in them was only twenty centimetres I guessed. These were the smallest portals I had seen so far.

"Are any of the keys to one of these portals?"

The girls had come in to sit with us and help. They were the ones that went through all of the icons until Matra found a ring that worked. Selna gave a gasp though.

"What is it, Selna?"

"Both of the other portals activated."

They were on a wood table and I looked. It was hard to see the difference because the background was similar for all three. I picked up pencil on the table and said, "Hold the portals up for me."

The girls did as I asked and we had to separate to get room. I poked the pencil slowly through one of the portals but it started to come out both of the other ones. I reached over the portal that Caiti was holding and held the pencil that was supported by my other hand. I released the first and pulled the pencil through. I got the pencil back but we also had a warped pencil that had fallen from the other portal. We all just looked at it as if afraid to touch it.

Osston was close and said, "How could this happen? Always there is just one portal keyed to another. To do otherwise would cause chaos. One man goes in and two men come out."

Caiti had turned her portal around and I said, "Hold all the portals horizontally."

The girls did as I asked and I put the straight pencil through again and two fell out. I did the same to each of the portals and each one worked the same.

Caiti handed me her glock 19 and said, "Try this."

I had to think about this. The pencil warped when it was not supported and a bent gun barrel was not very useful. The gun had to go through in a straight line and I guess as long as it was supported it should be ok. Even movement to one side or another never caused problems in a portal.

I put the gun down and called for a string. I tied this to the pencil and lowered it through a portal and it looked fine though doubled. When I pulled the string up only my pencil came back. The other two had disappeared.

After checking the pencil I tied the string to the glock and lowered it through. The two replicas were pulled away and I pulled back on the string. The other guns wanted to come back. I wanted to try something but wanted to get more samples first. I released the string and put another copy through the portal. I continued this until I had eight guns when I had only one before.

The next time I did it the gun went through and only one of the copies had the string cut. When I picked my string up, it was severed and one of the copies disappeared.

There was little talk for the last fifteen minutes. I said, "Where did the material for the steel, plastic and bullets come from?"

Selna said, "I read that energy is matter and matter is energy. The portals have a lot of power in them. Could this come from the energy Osston calls Mossa?"

"It might because the serial numbers on the guns are all the same. Converting all that energy to matter is the same as converting all the matter we found and making it energy. I just can't see how the frames can contain that much energy."

Matra said, "Maybe these three portals have their own power source or are linked to the device in the chest."

"That could be true too but the energy requirements are too enormous to contemplate. There must be someplace that has another portal. Somehow it brings the atoms here and assembles them into the objects required. This still uses a lot of power but not nearly as much as complete conversion of matter."

Osston said, "How do you see this, Master?"

"I feel that the sending portal provides the material for the receiving portal to reconstitute a body, a tool or anything else. In this case there has to be a reserve someplace that gets accessed."

"I have never thought of it like that. You may very well be right, Master."

"Let's see how many glocks we can make."

I tied the eight glocks together and slid them through the portal and sixteen came out. The two copied strings were tied together and this was put through but part way through the portal started to get hot so I waited and then put the rest through slowly.

The heat was mentioned and discussed. A standard portal could transport many tonnes per second and it did not get hot at all.

We stayed at the setup until we had over a thousand glocks. They were only the 19 and nine millimetre so I did a few of the 45 calibre version for me. Ammunition if dropped through a few at a time seemed to work fine. We then poured them through faster and faster and there seemed to be no problem. Caiti ran for her sniper weapon and we put this through with a cord. I was not prepared to put my hand into this device yet without a lot of tests.

Before we went to bed I put one of the recently captured chains through and both units seemed to work just fine.

The equipment was put away though everyone wanted to do one more test. Selna was excited about the possibilities of the triple portal and so was I. It was when Matra took off my shirt and started to remove my shoes that I got back to other matters.

Matra was still a slave though she had lost almost all of her conditioning. She did think of me first though but all the women of Bejek thought of the men first. She reminded me of this even more when she took me into her mouth and swallowed me after only a few strokes.

I looked down at the young woman and saw lust in her eyes but there was even more love. After a minute I pulled her head gently away from me and I laid myself on the bed. Selna put her pussy over my face and settled down to ride me. I could feel what she felt through my link.

Matra went back to sucking and I said mentally, "I want to be in you, Matra."

Matra liked this position and climbed on. Caiti got on the bed and the two women worked on me and on Caiti to make her happy. This was the closest I was going to allow the girl to come to me. I knew for a fact that she wanted what the others got, but even with the looser customs on Bejek I was not going to cater to her wishes. What would happen in four years was not completely settled.

Selna pushed her clit harder at me. I felt her go up and down with Matra's motions. Caiti was somehow shifted out of the equation and ended up beside me. I could feel her hurt at not being included but this had to happen with a small group sometimes.

I worked my tongue harder into Selna as I held her thighs tightly to me as if chaining her to my face. I pictured me pushing up into her swollen womb now but I was short enough to stay away from our child.

When Selna recovered I gave her a kiss and said, "Caiti needs some attention, Honey."

Selna held Caiti and gave her a kiss that turned torrid while I turned Matra over so she was on her back and I drove into her forcefully. In just a few seconds she was calling my name and tossing her head from side to side. When it got close, she held me tightly and she drove her pelvis forcefully into my groin. Her scream was muffled only because I was able to put my mouth over hers.

We rested a moment then we went onto round two after we switched partners.

The next morning I found Caiti's hand around an important part of me but I just removed her fingers and climbed over Selna to get to the floor. All the beds now were close to the ground and were surrounded by sandbags. Silver foil was in the walls.

I felt a little sick for the first time in a while but I held it down. A half hour later the feeling got stronger when Selna awoke. She was the one that was sick and I just felt her discomfort.

When we ate I held Selna close because she still felt nauseated. After breakfast I used the heart on her but she was already very healthy. She just had a growth in her that was upsetting her body.

Selna said, "Why don't you make another one of those things so we could have one."

"Let's do it then."

The portals were already in use but I got to the front of the line and copied the Heart of Opfu. I tested both before I put both of them in a sack and lowered it slowly through the portal. These must be very complicated so I gave whatever process that was replicating these a chance to do it right.

With two I made four then eight and eventually I had a hundred and twenty eight. They were all similar to each other and only had to be charged on the chest. Each of my family would get one and I would have one with me all the time too.

There were so many things to investigate that were in the chest. The power unit topped the list but it was in the chest and would have to stay there at least for a while. Number two was the duplicating portals but they were in constant use now. The third were the ants that did the repair work.

Loca was working with Osston a lot more now that his history and abilities had been revealed. I could see that Loca's third frame looked as good as new and they could not test it very well because we did not have the key. Currently it was being tested with globes to find if its matching gate was on one of the worlds we had globes for.

For two hours I talked to various family members by radio. I heard some stories of close escapes and great accomplishments. I told them about the duplicating and the chest and hoped that the encryption on the American military radios would be up to the task of keeping this secret.

Jonna said, "Why don't you make more of the shells for the mortar. We never have enough and they are so effective."

When the rest of the girls agreed I knew that I had to make some. The trainees were making all sorts of things but for the most part they were weapons.

I sent for a mortar squad and it came thirty minutes later in six trucks. They had two light mortars and two extended range units. They were ok with loaning us a shell.

Two portals were put forty centimetres above the ground and a thick cushions was put under each. I simply dropped one through and two hit the cushions. The trainees handed me a copy while one was put to the side. This way we were getting one new one every three seconds.

When I got tired, the mortar squad were happy to take over for me. They worked even faster than we had. In an hour we had more than 1,200 new shells because we rotated constantly. We switched varieties of shells and made willie pete for another hour. We did not need too many armour piercing rounds but we made some anyway. We went back and duplicated the high explosive frags just because they were so effective and one type had a complicated fuze that did such wonderful things to the enemy.

The crew had grenades and these went through as fast as they could pour them through.

Mantoya came over. He had been in the field most of the time and he was amazed at what was happening. I gave up my turn and said, "What do you think of our duplicating machine?"

He did not answer right away but then said, "How is this possible?"

"We only have theories. One is that there is one or more portals someplace that feed raw materials to these portals and they copy what we put through."

"Could it make copper?"

"Yes, but it goes into our weapons. If the copper someplace runs out, we have no way of replacing it."

"But you could make copper!"

"Mantoya!"

When he looked at me, I said, "Would you rather have a kilo of copper or that same amount of copper in the form of shells? Think now!"

"I could use the shells and still have the copper."

"That's right. You get to reuse the shells a few times too. We should be using this device to make radios, icons and portals and delicate instruments to fight the war and not these crude weapons."

Mantoya seemed to pull himself together and said, "You're right, my King. The war effort comes first but what will you do if you run out of copper for the shells?"

"I thought to run the system in reverse. Perhaps I can put a few tonnes of copper in the other two portals and get one out."

"I don't like to see that much copper disappear."

"Copper is only a metal. The form the copper is in now makes it even more valuable to all of us."

"You're right, my King."

Another mortar crew came by and started to fill up their vehicles with the shells. A larger truck came and the shells were sorted and loaded to fill our own bunkers.

We took apart one of the M252 mortars and we were able to replicate all of it except the baseplate and that was simply because of its size. They were not copper and I did not mind making another hundred of these beauties. We would just have to use mild steel and make up the part we needed.

With the security squad so close I took a shotgun and passed this through to get twenty copies. Then I dropped the drum magazines through three times, then decided to make it an even hundred. One of the squad passed me another drum and said, "We could use the stone too, my King."

I took it from the woman and said, "Anything for you."

She smiled and I got busy putting them through and the squad picked them up and passed them back to me. I must have made a few hundred drums when I heard a boom in the distance and then another larger one that sounded different.

It was the sound of an incoming shell that told me that the Anguy had made it through our lines.

The shell landed outside Shreff and the walls were no protection.

The trucks scattered but not before some of the people grabbed some shotguns and the forty round drums.

There were two students nearby and one was Section M. I said, "Move this to the bunker now. The key was removed and the portals shut down. Within minutes the people in the second shift of my security detail arrived in the first of our homemade APCs.

The truck went past me and the second one opened a door for me. I listened to the shells landing and they were getting closer. The shells were large and sounded like 155 millimetres. The rounds came one after the other and the Anguy could not fire very quickly so there must be twenty or so.

Some of the students came out and I said, "Grab the shotguns and the ammo. Now is the time for the Anguy to come here to get us."

The head of my detail said, "Let's get under cover, my King."

"I think we better go after the howitzers instead."

"That is for the army to do, my King."

"There may not be much left if we don't do something." I used the radio and someone was actually able to tell me where the firing was coming from. I knew the maximum range was almost twenty three klicks. Our own units were returning fire but they would not do a very good job, especially as we had only four guns.

I looked on the maps in the car and saw how close the coins were. One was very close to the guns but I felt suspicious about using that one. The other was six klicks on the other side of the guns and to the east.

Mantoya came running to me and said, "You have to get under cover, my King."

"A 155 would nearly breach any of our defences. We need to open a portal to that area and attack."

"They are probably waiting for that."

"We have to try. It sounds like twenty guns not two. This is a major push."

"We will go after them."

"Then follow me. Just push through the portal quickly. We have machine guns and autocannon."

"What portal, my King?"

I sent some of the security detail off to get a small and a large portal, some coins and a headband. I just hope that the trainees did not shoot her by mistake.

The headband came first and I concentrated on the closer coin but saw nothing wrong. When the large portal was set up I quickly changed to the other coin. As soon as I could I anchored the portal and three of our vehicles roared through. There was no shooting so the rest of us followed.

The woman to get the silver, handed me the large disk. She said, "Loca copied this a few times. He said it's yours now."

"Thanks, Sweetie." I did not look but I was sure she was turning red. I was busy getting my weapons adjusted right.

Our radio came alive and I heard our own incoming shells not too far away. I corrected their aim by ear as we raced along a road going in the general direction of the howitzers. There were trails that were closer and we got word for which ones to take. Staying on the road would be foolish even if it were quicker.

Behind us I saw trucks coming after us loaded with troops and weapons. We worked as fast as we could but the shelling of Shreff had continued for at least fifteen minutes.

From ahead I heard our machine guns start and a report that the lead vehicles had engaged the enemy. The enemy was shooting back with the same equipment, though.

We pulled off and started to deploy indirect fire with the mortars. The team fired and a spotter did some corrections. Using the map I directed the cars to form a line.

Mantoya pulled up behind me and I pointed to the positions we had taken and said, "The howitzers are along this line here. We can take some on their flank but they have two to three thousand men and most, if not all, are using AKs."

"Shit."

"That's what I think too. Did you bring any M252s?"

"About a dozen and they're well supplied if I can get the trucks here."

"The Church could cut us off and I don't think they are that stupid."

"We simply don't have enough troops."

"Maybe Osston can get them here with a portal."

"He could if he were in the city."

I pulled the disk out of my pocket and said, "Not now. Let's find Osston and get him here to open a portal to get some reinforcements."

The extended range mortars went to work and they could cover most of the line of Church guns. The willie pete worked best. Mantoya pulled his men back to prepare for the Anguy to cut off our lines.

The portal went down and reformed on our position. Ammunition and troops poured through. We even had a drone in the air. We kept it high because it was taking fire. The optics were not that good but we could still see the positions of the guns. None of them had camo netting.

The operator gave corrections and we began to hit the ammo around the guns. Lightning came our way. In a few minutes I had six of these types of weapons to fight back with. I guess the trainees were supplying me with copies of these too.

The trainees came through the portals and they each had four of the lightning weapons as well as glocks.

We used small portals to move behind the enemy if we were close enough to see well. Usually a practice mortar shell with a coin worked much better.

The Anguy were being hammered even though they were spread out. The drone spotted the larger concentrations of men and we hit them. The priests homed in on our silver but their portals did not do that much good because the trainees were backed up by machine guns and/or the autocannons.

The enemy howitzers went quiet but ours still fired. We shifted our position often and we started to turn the Anguy line. Our people were better trained and more accurate but there was a lot of the enemy still fighting to survive.

Reports came in now about some Anguy units being immune to everything but 50 calibre armour piercing rounds. The shotguns came into play but they were not in the right place at the right time.

Mantoya wanted some of the APC's and I let him have six. They stayed as a unit and made the shielded Anguy take cover. One car took a hit from a lightning bolt. I wanted desperately to take my rifle and see who was doing this but that was not my job. We did get in the vehicles and moved further east to get closer to the action since this area had been cleared.

We had just started to move when another enemy howitzer started up. The round came down near us but the explosion was surprisingly very small. I could think of only one reason. I yelled into the radio, "Prepare for gas attack." I gave the approximate coordinates of the strike and then the wind direction and speed.

Another shell landed and we had to hurry now or be caught. Six rounds were fired before the drone spotted the howitzer outside our area and much further from the city. They were too far for our cannon to reach. This was also part of their trap.

The gas was killing both sides but at least we had the option of moving.

There was a noise in the air now and in a moment we heard a loud explosion at the enemy howitzer. A few seconds later there was another explosion. The drone reported the howitzer knocked out and began to search for more. A lantern light, I found later, lead to a pair of howitzers and in minutes they too were destroyed. I could only think of one weapon that could do this.

Mantoya and I manoeuvred our positions though it cost us. The Anguy were directly downwind of the destroyed howitzer and its shells. We kept the Anguy occupied, then pulled back and used mortars and machine guns from a greater distance. It was only when their closer units started to convulse that they knew what was happening. They tried to break out but we were ready and hammered them as hard as we could.

The trucks and APCs came into view now and laced the Anguy with machine gun and autocannon rounds. They were doing this for almost a minute when the sky lit up and somebody on the radio said, "Priests using lightning. They have a shield over all of them."

I was urgently calling for a location when there was another lightning bolt which cut the reply off in mid word.

After the third bolt I got a location and mortar crews concentrated on this area. I jumped in the nearest car and drove with three guards to see what I could do. In a few minutes I could see a dome about twenty metres in diameter and ten high. Mortar rounds hit it and did nothing. The shield was not easy to see. It was a glowing slightly and there was the look of a thin layer of fog.

The shield dissipated quickly and a bolt came my way. I think it was a mortar round landing near the group of priests that deflected the shot. The shield went up once more.

I yelled into the car, "Aim the machine guns at them and fire a round every second."

The bullets made a flashing light on the shield as the kinetic energy was given to the shield. The energy was transferred the group of seven priests and six Anguy. Mantoya came up behind me and looked at the men about a hundred and fifty metres away.

"Do their shields stand up to the machine gun?"

"They have a single shield around the group."

"How do you know?"

"I can see a fuzzy fog around the whole group."

"I can't see it." He turned and asked those around him but none could see the dome except me.

More machine guns opened on the priests but it did no good. The Anguy held AKs in their hands but did not aim them at anybody. It was as if they knew they were safe.

I said, "Mantoya, call for some of our howitzers. Get them to shoot on the far side of the priests and we can guide them in."

"What, you don't want to risk a few small 155 millimetre shells coming near you?"

"Not today. Gas and lightning are enough for now."

We were near the gas front and we pulled back in stages while still hammering at the priests shield and the Anguy forces. The first shell was close to our old position and Mantoya just smiled at me. He corrected the aim until a shell hit the bubble but did not go through.

Mantoya said, "Damn, now what are we going to do?"

"Did you see how it staggered some of the priests and shook the ground?"

"So? It didn't do anything."

"The bubble shifted five metres away from us in the blast."

"So we moved the bubble?"

"Yes," I said calmly or as calmly as I could when we were in the middle of a battle.

"It moved!" His hand went to his chin then he asked, "How can we use that?"

"This is something new to us but it was mentioned that it happened to others before. We have to experiment — "

"Experiment!" he said explosively. "We have to kill them." Another shell came in but missed the dome. We hunkered down a bit more as the dirt dropped around us.

"Maybe we could get the same shield."

"You can do that?"

"I don't know. We have to find how to defeat it. It is a sure bet that the Church will use a technique that will work on us if we get it."

He looked mollified. "What can we try?"

The methodical firing of the machine guns and even those of ours that were tapping at the dome made conversation something hard to do. "Can we push the shield with a truck?"

"They will use lightning on us."

"The machine gun pounding away is a good incentive to keep the shield up."

"Maybe they can shoot through it?"

"I want to find that out but when they shot at me they almost got killed by one of our shells."

Reports came in and Mantoya checked his map and gave instructions. He then said to me, "You realise that if they killed you, we would lose. The people would not pull together."

"I didn't want to get shot, either. Especially with that weapon. If it's electrical in nature then the steel plate and the steel body should protect the driver. Don't forget it has rubber tires."

Another shell came in and we tried to get even lower in the ground. It hit on the far side of the dome and a small amount of rock came our way.

Mantoya said, "So?"

"Rubber does not conduct."

"Ok. What else?"

"I want to push the shield over a teargas grenade."

"So the ground under them is not protected?"

"I want to find that out."

"Well let's try it."

"There is sarin in the air at the moment and a few thousand Anguy that have to be taken care of."

I got a truck ready and Mantoya called in more artillery but only from one howitzer. Hitting a target as small as the dome is beyond the technology of Earth's military. It is like using a machine gun shell that will go for many kilometres, used to hit one tiny target five kilometres away.

I watched the priests in my scope and it looked like they were not as sure of themselves as they had been. It was possible that this shield had never been beaten before but determined barbarians could do something, even if they died by the hundreds.

The priests suddenly moved as a group upwind. We watched carefully. So far I was the only one to see the shield other than how the bullets and shell fragments hit and made light when it hit the construct.

The Anguy were continuing to push our lines to get out of the gas. We were going through ammo at a prodigious rate and probably gun barrels too. Our mortars sounded continuous while it looked like the mortars the Anguy had were now silent.

The napalm we had made was now going to be used as Mantoya called for two armoured trucks to advance. The truck would instill enough fear to attract all the remaining mortars and this is why it stayed until now.

The units had been used before and I knew the Anguy knew of them because the trucks took heavy fire from the enemy rifles. The APCs advanced to draw some of the fire. In a moment flames shot out nearly thirty metres from a pair of nozzles on each truck. The Anguy that had dug in now fled only to be hit by our troops or the machine gun. The smoke in the sky and the light was enough to push the Anguy back until they started to run. This was the only situation where this was known to happen.

Our own troops advanced but not too far. The gas was still drifting by and there was no way to detect where it was except by its effect.

One of the flamethrower vehicles hit a foxhole and could not get out. Mantoya directed an APC to winch it out so it could continue. None of this was new to us or to the Anguy. In fact, they had learned to build traps just like this.

The priests were trying to flank us and Mantoya called for one of our smaller field guns to shoot from only a hundred metres away. The first shell drove the shield back a metre and the priests put their hands to their ears. Some actually fell over as if in surrender. A second shell pushed the shield back even more until it came to the bodies of the priests themselves. A third shell threw a priest into his mates and I saw blood on them.

Mantoya had taken time to watch this and I saw a smile on his face now. The bubble started to move again. This time it went behind one of our destroyed trucks. A large denuded tree was on the far side of the truck and I saw the shield shrink to fit between the two obstructions.

I had been watching the leading edge of the shield and saw that it enveloped any obstructions on the ground the same way it left a rock or a body on the trailing edge.

An odd thing happened then as the shield started to eat the truck. When it was fully covered, the priests and the Anguy searched through it. I figured they were looking for weapons or ammunition.

More radio reports came in and apparently the wind had changed a bit and our troops had to pull back. The news did not reach the Anguy and they started to die much quicker now.

The flamethrower finally got free and two women hurried to disconnect the winch. A verbal call went out as another portal formed. It happened to be only a few hundred metres from the APC and the flamethrower. The latter backed up only to face the enemy then advanced. Our own field gun that had been hammering the dome now shifted aim. The winch cable was thrown over the hood of the truck and hooked on the rear bumper as the vehicle raced forward.

Mantoya was not frantic because this happened all the time. When the portal opened though the field gun fired right away. Some stigga were racing through only to be blown back by the explosive. The machine guns opened up and this was able to get through their individual shields or kill them by shock alone. I wasn't sure yet.

Some made it through though but it was the dual columns of liquid flame that drove them back to safety. The field gun fired until the flamethrower stopped in front of the portal and poured flame on anything near. Then an odd thing happened. The portal shifted forward and swallowed the truck and then continued. The truck was now on the other side and it raced forward to do battle.

The portal shifted again and tried to reach the priests in their shield. Mantoya wanted to deny them a chance to get away and had the field piece pound at the dome again.

Mantoya called for the flamethrower to retreat and get back to us. He then called up more troops to pour fire into the advancing portal. A pickup arrived with three women. They took out some Russian RPGs and ran to the side of the portal so they could shoot in. The range and accuracy here was not good but they were still effective. Only a few were fired before the door opened in the APC and hands were waved. The firing stopped and the flamethrower reversed through the opening while still firing its machine gun and flame.

Troops moved up and some had LAW rockets. They fired, too. Their range was much further but the massed enemy meant that they weren't going to miss.

I had one smile in this. Smoke and dust in front of the portal was sucked strongly into the opening. If there were any sarin around, they would suck in much of it.

A sapper team ran to the wreck that was still engulfed in the shield. They dug frantically with shovels to plant an explosive charge as close to the edge as they could. It looked like they could not get closer than a few metres. The machine gun from the APC made sure the shield stayed up. The priests and the Anguy inside the shield did not react because they could not see the team.

Mantoya yelled at the radio operator. In a moment the APC closed its doors and advanced to the far side of the shield and pounded away at the shield as its bumper pushed against the shield. The shield actually moved nearly three metres. In a moment the explosive buried in the ground detonated. The wreck lifted a bit and shield went down immediately. The guns stopped as well.



-------

Chapter 38


At least thirty of our people raced in. I could not see what was happening and I only hoped that I got some prisoners.

Ammo trucks arrived and ammunition for the field guns was passed out. Now it was used to shoot through the portal. The flamethrower reversed even more and some brave souls ran to it carrying fifty calibre ammo boxes. One was hit by an Anguy bullet but continued to pull her box to the safety of the truck.

With the dome down, the first field gun changed position. It was pushed by members of the seven woman team. When it started to fire the second field gun moved.

Behind the wreck, I saw people dragging or carrying the priests and the Anguy away. A truck raced up and the prisoners were thrown in. In just a minute it left. The field guns continued to send out punishment to the Anguy on the other side of the portal. The portal closed abruptly and one of our shells passed through where it was and went into the trees a kilometre away.

More orders were yelled into the radio and we moved further from the gas.

We pulled back enough that we did not have to shoot much. When our own people started to get the scent of the gas, we pulled back even faster all down the line. Not everybody died from the gas as the attack in the Tokyo subway proved.

A second drone arrived and the area was policed better. In about an hour, when it looked like the gas had passed, the surviving Anguy dug in even more.

A portal opened in their midst and we used artillery and long range mortars to strike this location. The Anguy were happy to leave but few of them made it through the barrage to get through the small portal.

The portal finally closed and we moved in to tighten the ring around the survivors. There were not enough of them to hold a wide perimeter and they were pushed back.

Mantoya and the rest of us were tired but he reluctantly came to me and said, "Do you still want to take some alive?"

"I have to, Mantoya. I kill when I must but I would hate myself for not trying."

"It's going to cause death on our side."

"I have to risk it."

The refuelled flamethrowers advanced as a pair and the APCs were placed between and in advance of them. The Anguy fled south. Teargas canisters had been placed in this area before they arrived. Our mortars assisted in moving the diehards but it was the fire that stimulated them the most. We funnelled them into a valley with young fruit trees and very little cover. When the majority of them were congregated the canisters up wind of them went off and dense clouds of white gas was expelled. The wind was coming from the southwest this time and the Anguy fled in the opposite direction. Teargas went off in front of them and to both flanks and finally within their ranks.

We stayed back and used a mortar to add more gas where it was needed. Those coming out were usually without weapons. If they had them they were not used. Capturing them was not too difficult and few of our people were hurt.

Troops had come in by portal from other areas and assisted in finding the remainder of the Anguy. Most were wounded but it was difficult to take these people without teargas or the threat of a portable flamethrower.

The area took six days to clean out and a few weeks to bury the dead. Mass graves were the rule and our own were buried the same way. I planned on granite markers to be put up some day to mark the fallen.

This battle, like all the rest, was discussed. We had the videos to go by to jog our memories. While most of this was going on I checked on the priests and the few Anguy found with them.

Jonna had arrived and with the physicians had operated to remove any foreign objects hidden in their bodies. Drugs were administered to keep them asleep while Osston, Jonna, and I worked to make them slaves.

We went by the clothes they were photographed in when captured. This classification was usually the same as age. The youngest one was a few years older than Osston and it was difficult to remove his conditioning.

Stofan took four hours to complete. Three of those hours were in removing the Church's tinkering. After he rested, it was another hour to fit our conditioning in its place. I found if we used the convoluted way the Church used but now substituted me as the object to be venerated the process worked better.

Mokka was near thirty and we had to work as a team to get the conditioning removed. It took nearly six hours just to do this. His brain seemed to have hidden layers after I removed a compulsion, it was replaced by a copy of a hidden command from another place in his brain. At least the time to put in new commands took only an hour.

The next priest, Jossup, looked to be in his mid forties. We worked on him for a day with no success. Stofan and Mokka were called the next day to assist. We tried harder the next time but we must have triggered some sort of mental self-destruct and the man's intellect left.

We rested and tried with the rest but had no better success. Only the Anguy could be processed and they were just a little more controlled than the regular Church soldier.

Stofan was much like Osston. He had not done anything to warrant an improvement but had bettered himself through study and mental exercises. I figured he was young enough to adapt and put him in the hands of his new students.

Mokka was about my age. He had a minor improvement to increase his intelligence. His memory improved with the treatment. He got the same amount of conditioning but did not act quite as servile. I could not find a reason for this but endeavoured to keep him close in an attempt to find one.

Both men were compelled to tell us of their rise through the Church and provide some information on the Church history. This was compared against what Osston had told us and so far there was very little that was different.

Mokka almost drooled when he first saw the trunk. I said, "What can you tell me about this?"

"I was told that you had made a major discovery. That's what we were after. I was not told how to open the container."

I showed him what we had taken from the trunk and he caressed everything with his mind. He would not touch them unless ordered.

"What can you tell me about each of these articles?"

"I can look but I have not been allowed to learn any of the higher mysteries."

Mokka was told to pick up each of the silver articles and he gave us more information than Osston and Stofan had been able to read. None of it was immediately useful or informative.

The maps were brought out and he said, "They are very old."

"What point would you place it in Church history?"

"We believe that the Church has been in existence for twenty thousand years in one form or another. The Church in its present form only started six to seven thousand years ago. This map would have represented what this world was like in that first thousand years. So this would mean that it is five to six thousand years old."

"What brings you to that conclusion?"

"This city has not existed for thousands of years but is on the map. I do not know the exact figure. Some cities of more importance are marked differently and over time this ranking has changed many times. The map reflects this fact."

"Can you read any of the words?"

"Only a few."

This got all of us interested. "Tell us what you know of the language."

"The language is not ours at all but a form of written communication used between us and other beings. It is supposed to be very structured to make understanding easy. To do this there are many shadings of meanings and each has their own word. I regrettably only know a few words or I was told the translation of some passages."

"What can you read on the map?"

Mokka looked on the map and sounded out some of the words. The tiny notes on the map needed a magnifying glass and he talked about cities as if this were part of a diary. It seemed to relate to what side of an argument the particular leaders were on.

The computer was brought in and Mokka went through our collection of this script. The notes were just who wrote the book but, even here, Mokka was not very good.

In the next few days he wrote out all the characters he knew but our collection was longer. He had no understanding of why this was so. Particular letter groupings were chosen and he gave the pronunciation and the meaning to the best of his ability.

He scanned all of our text and picked out only a few words that he knew. He had only a dozen more and these were added to our collection. Grammar must have been very structured because I surmised that this was a constructed language like Esperanto. He told us what he knew and a little about what he guessed along with some words that he guessed at.

The books from the chest were where we found the additional characters. We did not feel that this was a second language because it was intermixed with the other characters.

Mokka was given access to a disk, coin and headband but could not find a way to open the chest. He seemed to be able to do better than everybody else at looking in. He was thrilled to see the generator but could not tell us anything about it that we didn't already know.

He was quizzed on all our icons but added little to what we had found out. When I told him about the configuration I used to transport vehicles to this world, he was amazed.

"I have never heard of that. We are very precise in what we do. There have been many accidents over the millennia. We have learned a lot but the experimentation is left to the experts."

I was interested in the personal shields and the large one that protected the priests. Here, again, is where we needed to experiment to find out how it worked. I watched each of my new slaves carefully when they answered about how this functioned. Neither priest knew that much but they did know the icons. They had listened when one of the now comatose priests had discussed this information openly. I was sceptical about this.

We left Shreff and went to one of the hills we had prepared. This was one that had a silver tunnel beneath it. Stofan walked to the top and slipped the two bands on his wrists and brought them up as if doing a chin-up. He worked alone to create the shield. He couldn't get the icons to work when he tried though we gave him lots of time.

Mokka walked up the hill and tried next. He had a shield form ten minutes later but it suddenly collapsed. Mokka was turned to jelly and the shield disappeared. None of us moved for a minute.

Jonna had stayed near me and whispered verbally for a change, "How did you know?"

"I didn't. Priests don't give out information like that in public. It had to be a trap."

Mantoya heard my reply and said, "I would think that you would have been near the man just so you could control the shield. It would have killed you. This had to be a way to kill you."

"It might have been at that and they sacrificed thousands of men to do it. But I think it was more like a possibility that they were covering."

"So the commands the priest gave were just enough to open the shield and then collapse it violently?"

"That's what I think."

"What did you find out about the personal shields?"

"The medallions they wore provided this protection after they went through a chain gate. It's funny, but neither man knew how to activate this feature."

Stofan was upset as were the rest of us. I said to him, "The priest gave you enough information to set a trap for me. If you had been able to produce the shield this way, you would now be as dead as Mokka."

"I feel that you're right, Master. The Church is very devious."

"Talk to Osston and Loca about what you had to do to open the shield. Some of the instructions had to be true to initiate the process. I do not want you to try this though. Work on the medallions that provide personal protection first. Keep in mind that there are different levels of protection. The stigga can be killed by stone and other projectiles but the Anguy did not have this problem."

"I will do so, Master."

I recovered the icons while I looked closely at what happened. I felt bad about this because Mokka was my slave and I had commanded him to take on this dangerous task. Mokka's bones were not all broken but he had been collapsed to fill in any empty space that had been in him. The shoulders and hips were broken as if to make a shield that was more of a cylinder. The only thing good about the trap was that the death was relatively quick.

On the battlefield, we recovered a lot of weapons including the ammunition. The Russian howitzers were, for the most part, repairable. There had been twenty four that we were supposed to see and three more that were laying in wait for us if we attacked. We replicated thousands of shells. They were nearly the max size the portal could make.

As a test I fed back the same material I was taking from the system to replenish the stock. Even I was surprised when half of the steel and copper disappeared each time it went through the system. Whether this worked or not would only be known when something did not get replicated or did not get replicated properly.

The explosives took a lot of materials from the system and I put back nitrate fertiliser along with common carbohydrates like wood. The lead azide and the lead for bullets required a lot of this basic metal. Scrap steel went in and mortar tubes came out. We tried to make sure we put in as much as we took.

All of the smaller silver articles were duplicated many times and stored in silver boxes. If the priests managed to make off with some of them we would have spares.

I made lots of silver chains and combined them to make large loops. Some were so large and heavy that they could pass a battleship or an aircraft carrier through in one piece. Whether it had enough power to do this or not was a different matter and I planned on having the chest near if not connected. In case this was not possible, I used shorter sections of chain so that I had more silver boxes in a given loop. I hoped these were just to store power but I had no proof one way of the other. We tried other chain with no boxes and these worked but not for as long. Even smaller chains found other uses.

The small silver ants were turned loose on the chains I made before and the recent ones to get them as perfect as possible before they were replicated. Coins and headbands came next and we ran regular classes in them for our soldiers. Everybody had a complete set to fool around with. This may come back to haunt me but I felt that it was the proper thing to do at this time.

Jonna disassembled one of the type of missile used to knock out the howitzers and replicated the individual parts. She and the trainees made thousands of them and then flew them with dummy loads. One was given a copy of Loca's disk as well as a coin. We did not have the expertise to remove the transmitter and camera without rendering the system useless. These would be our main offensive weapon in the coming engagement.

The war never stopped, it just paused in one area or another. The girls tried a new type of sniping by using the missiles. There was only one command station and this had to be guarded very well. Our first target was the ammo dump we had been planning on taking a while ago.

Lauren straightened my clothing and said, "You look ready."

I did not feel that way but I said, "We can do this."

"I know we can, Honey. Now go get Tiffany going. She's always worried before a battle."

"I hope it will just be a one sided battle."

Mantoya and other groups were ready too. Osston, Stofan, and Loca set up a series of portals in a wide crescent that covered eight hundred klicks. At each terminus was a large portal set up and beside it some waiting troops. At the designated time they opened the main portal they were at and proceeded to the next. Our troops surged forward and no doubt rang a lot of alarms.

The family and I went through about the mid way point of the cycle and immediately began to set up our launcher. Our own security followed us and just patrolled the area. We were the only one to not start an attack on an Anguy encampment. In six minutes we had our first missile in the air. We could handle twelve at a time and that is what we launched. Instead of taking out the bunkers first, we went for the homes of the priests.

Buildings exploded all over the large base. As soon as a missile was destroyed, a new one flew out of the launcher. Anything that looked like something related to officers took a beating and more. When all the targets were hit we went back and pounded the areas that looked to house the priests one more time. It was an hour and a half later that we fired on the bunkers themselves. We came in through the main doors when we could.

Throughout all of this fighting we had silver foil and silver parts replacing some made of aluminum. The result was many thousands of silver shreds scattered all over the place. There was now no way that a priest could find one particular silver piece.

The drones had been disassembled and replicated. They watched the destruction for us. Major explosions were seen but we still hit the remains to cause as much damage as much as possible. A drone would drop a coin near the bunkers when the time was ripe.

As soon as we finished, we decamped quickly and returned to our station.

We had missiles left and Mantoya directed us to where we could use them best. This was usually where our people were in trouble. We went from hot spot to hot spot and used up nearly all of our two thousand missiles taking out every major weapon we could find. We also found that there were a lot more Anguy and Adchek preparing for an offensive.

One large camp was actually part of the base we had already hit. While looking for targets I spotted what looked like a large fenced compound. When I looked closer I saw that it held nearly a thousand stigga.

My first reaction was to set up a barrage and take as many out as possible. I thought about the eggs that hatched in Shreff and how the baby stigga reacted no worse than any other animal, including Human children. They were supposed to be intelligent and it was only the Church's word that they were naturally aggressive. The ones in the compound were all in small groups. There were crude shelters but that could be because they had nothing better to build with. If they were aggressive the Anguy and Adchek would have to deal with them. At the moment few of the latter were around. They were fighting more of our units to the east.

Tiffany said, "You're hiding your thoughts from us. Tell me."

"I want to release the stigga and let the Anguy and Adchek have some fun."

"I don't like those things running loose."

"The priests were going to turn them loose on us. At least here there are the people that are in league with those that brought them. They'll fight and the stigga will lose. The only difference is that we will not be the ones dying to get rid of them."

"I still don't like them but I'll go along with you. What do you want to do?"

The compound was a circle with a diameter of well over six kilometres. The stigga stayed away from the fence and the shining tower in the centre of the circle. The fence was actually just a series of thin vertical poles. There may be some wire but I saw none from here. This reminded me of an electric fence used to keep cattle in.

Jonna, Selna and Tiffany released three missiles one after the other. They all climbed for altitude then came down on top of the centre structure in five second intervals. The scope showed that we had done a good job.

Lauren, Fislu, Porta, and Caiti raced missiles in from the west and hit four adjacent pylons on the east side. The trouble was that none of the stigga ran out. They huddled in fear in their groups.

"Lauren one more missile coming from the west and hit the ground well before the pylons."

"How about that building instead?"

"Go for it."

Lauren's missile hit the building but again the stigga did nothing but cower. Tiffany voiced my thoughts by saying, "What's wrong with them? They remind me of slaves."

Matra said, "Maybe they are. They come at us with little reason and that's the way the priests sends our own people against us."

There were a dozen enemy soldiers that came to investigate but did nothing otherwise. The truck that carried our missiles was just about empty. "Load up the launchers. I'm using the truck."

All of the women had a similar opinion of this and I had to start moving missiles myself. I said, "Caiti, Camsa, set up a portal for us." Both tasks were done at the same time.

Everybody jumped on the back of the truck and looked at me. "Fislu, Selna, Porta, man the missiles. Lauren and Sonna, be ready to drive out of here and provide security. The rest can go with me."

The officer in charge of security didn't like this at all but she ordered two cars to guard me. This left the other half of her contingent to watch the command module.

The arguments started but I pointed and yelled. The M252 was used but it took out only the few guards. A dummy round flew a lot further and only had a coin in it. This time I did the honours and fixed the end of the portal. We were through in a minute.

Some of the enemy had recovered and we had to use our weapons on them. I was sure more would be pulled from the front to deal with us but for the moment we were free. Tiffany drove us near the pylons and I carefully poked my finger forward and felt no pain.

The pylons were insubstantial silver rods with no wire or insulators. I said, "Tiffany drive along the gate and knock them all down."

I could feel her heightened fear but she did as I asked. I was in the back looking for threats. Half way around we drove into the camp and the stigga fled to the other side of the camp. They tended to bunch up now and some individuals stood out. These had to be the males if they were from Earth but they could be females with the stigga.

We stopped fifty metres from the group of protectors. At a guess I would say this was roughly a fifth of the camp.

I jumped off the back of the truck. Security and my family were yelling at me. I walked slowly to the stigga group and tried to not look threatening. I could see in my memory how the stigga attacked me. The ones here showed the same mannerisms but they did not charge. I was being covered by the family and security but I couldn't get too close. The stigga could rip me apart even if I managed to use the shotgun if I were alone.

My arm pointed east toward the Anguy and Adchek lines. Speaking loudly I said, "Go!" In a moment I added, "You're free."

The stigga just stared at me. I wished that I had one of the icons used to communicate. Instead I communicated with my family and learned that there was no organised opposition coming yet so we still had time.

This reminded me that perhaps the stigga could communicate the way I now did. I talked to them for a few minutes but mainly I told them to go. After that I began to picture the priests twisting their minds and sending them to fight us. After five minutes there was no response and I walked backwards to the truck and climbed aboard. Tiffany hurried to the end of our portal and I stopped just long enough to pick up the coin I used. We entered the portal and once through, it was collapsed.

Jonna said, "That was an exercise in futility. Why did we go down there?"

"The stigga did not act the way I thought they would. To me they acted like we would if the situation was reversed. I saw them as a village that the Anguy rounded up in our land. They stayed in family units and were too stunned by events to know what to do. They acted aggressive but it was just for show. I wonder a lot about the stigga now."

Tiffany said, "That was a stupid thing to do. You should never have got off the truck."

"I saw that the stigga were acting out of character and I wanted to prove a point if only to myself."

Camsa usually stayed back but he came forward and said, "Did they talk to you?"

"I didn't have a communicator."

"Too bad. The baby stigga aren't too bad but you have to keep your fingers away from their faces."

I said truthfully, "Puppies are the same way, Camsa."

The family and our security contingent went back into the other portal and then to one more enemy camp.

Our offensive must have really stung the enemy. We hit everything worth hitting. In some cases Mantoya had seized heavy weapons.

Mantoya and Artlam talked to us later to sum up what we had accomplished. Artlam said, "We set them back a few months but it only gives us a breathing space. We need those APCs and perhaps some tanks. Mild steel is not good enough armour now."

"I know that. Tanks have thick steel and some have ceramic armour around that. Things are escalating and there's nothing we can do about it. Our problem is going to be maintenance. A tank takes a lot of work for each kilometre it travels."

Mantoya said, "Then get the wheeled vehicles. Their armour isn't as thick but they all come with machine guns or small cannon. Your world has such nice weapons."

I said, "Your world had some impressive weapons too."

"Yes, but they're not understood and beings from another world brought them to us. They'll be ours when I can make them with my own hands and not just copy them with a tool that I don't understand."

"The school dug into the hillside and found a home. They recovered the other side of a portal and a lot of artifacts."

Artlam said, "I've seen what they found. It's simply amazing. There were articles made out of ceramic that are at least as good as the pictures of what Earth has. It looks like the house of a very wealthy person but it's so small."

Mantoya added, "I saw this too. There was a ceramic pistol, or at least it looks a little like a pistol. We couldn't get it to work. If it shoots out a bullet it has to be small. We couldn't find a way of lighting the inside of the building but it had to be there. We couldn't find anything that would emit light. What age do you put this building at?"

I said, "I have no idea. It's long ago for sure because they used copper wiring. To me, that means that over time all the copper was used up and not enough recycled. Now you're living with that legacy."

Artlam said, "Could this home be of your people?"

"I don't think so. It has to be at least two thousand years old to maybe twenty for all I know. My family have not lived on the other side of the portal for that long. The tools are hundreds of years beyond what we now have on Earth and that takes into account that we double our knowledge in a matter of only a few years."

Artlam said, "I hear they found a skeleton. Can't your people find the age of this?"

"You refer to carbon dating but Bejek is not the same as Earth. They would have a sample of a carbon compound from now and hope that the amount of radiation striking our upper atmosphere is not that much different. I think that's too much to wish for."

Caiti added, "The skeleton we found is the same one seen behind the portal in the fifth world. We found the portal you were looking for behind the wall."

Now this was interesting. The house was indeed small. The skeleton was fully clothed and even had some jewellery and what looked like a ceramic sphere that was in the skull of the person. This hadn't killed the person but was probably implanted there. This could serve all sorts of purposes. A skull cap much like what a Jew would wear was found too. This in conjunction with the pellet and the head could be some way of interfacing with a computer or other device. I could happily investigate here for a year or so but there were too many more pressing matters to take care of.

Lauren asked, "What are your ideas about all this hidden equipment? The chest and the portal were hidden in the soil but the house had a portal in it that would have been visible."

I said, "I read the reports and checked out the artifacts myself. There was a mirror in the portal just like we had. I think it was hidden in plain sight. The other artifacts could have been from a collector that wanted to keep them hidden.

"The home was not completely hidden. There were only three rooms showing and the bones were found in another room that was completely hidden, even in a hidden house. It was hidden just like the chest and the other portal.

"The portal I had detected was hidden even more so. It could very well be the Church or a thief that the homeowner was worried about. Some of the ribs showed the unmistakable marks of charing. This meant that the body was hidden and the home forgotten, or it was the owner that was in the room but he had made it to the other room only to die in it.

Lauren quickly said, "Why have two separate places to store this?" She paused slightly and added, "Do you think that whoever had it could open the chest? We can't and we've been trying.

"I can't answer your questions. I can almost see a person going through a treasure house and taking only the best and putting it into the trunk. The replicating portals, the power source, the repair units and the copy of the Heart of Opfu are some very important tools. This infers that everything else in the trunk is at least as valuable."

Lauren said, "Did somebody rob the Church?"

"I have no idea. It's possible that they found a hidden cache like we did and they died for it. Another idea is that this is all from before one of the wars. I get the feeling that the wars were very vicious and weapons far more powerful than ours were used. We may find an answer in the books. This also says that their civilisation may have surpassed what we have on Earth."

I had a sudden idea. "We use computers a lot on Earth. The level of technology in that home was a lot higher than we have. It stands to reason that the house had a computer and a very sophisticated one at that. Has anybody found it? The skull cap may be an interface."

Jonna said, "None of us were looking for that. Computers may be small and there may not even be a keyboard. It could be something accessed by the owner's mind."

"I'd check for automation in the home and trace back. If the owner hid this treasure, it may stand to reason that even more is hidden." I thought for a few seconds and said, "If you take a coin and a disk you could check further into the cliff." I could feel the family's interest peak at another treasure hunt.

Mantoya said bluntly, "When are you going to get the APCs? We need them."

"We may have some difficulties related to my home. A secondary site would be too difficult to get to with trucks. Seeing APCs driving into that location would be much easier and cause too much notoriety. There's a place in the Atlantic ocean and another in the United States and both have possible advantages. We detected a nexus in Scotland and somewhere in the Commonwealth of Independent States. We suspect another is in France or one of its former possessions but we're not sure.

"One of my associates is or has negotiated for these type of vehicles. How successful he was is another matter. The only way to find out is to go and see."

"By all means, find out. I don't know how long we have before the Church mounts another offensive. Our people also have to learn how to use the machinery, whatever it is, before we fight in it."

I thought for a minute and said, "We can go now, I guess."

"My King, your family is needed here for two reasons. They fight like men and the female citizens follow their lead. When they leave, morale suffers. When you were sailing here, the country only managed to repel the stigga and the Anguy because your family fought beside the people."

Artlam looked at me and said, "It's true. The people take heart when you are here to lead them. Your wives provide just as much presence. I know that you fight as a unit on Earth but I am asking you to leave some here this time."

I asked Jonna, "What do you think of this?"

"It's true. We usually have a few meetings to show ourselves and then we lead by example."

I had to think now. I said, "I could do this alone."

Jonna said abruptly, "You are not going alone! You left last time and came back with wives. Some of us will go with you to keep an eye on you."

"That's twice I heard the term 'wives'."

"Are we not wives?" This was said with a hard look.

"Of course you are. It's just easier to think 'mates' when I talk to people from Earth."

"We're not on Earth now."

I saw my error and said, "You're right Jonna."

She looked to be much more mollified then she smiled. "Then we may have to call you Husband."

The word didn't seem to fit me very well but I hid the thought very deeply. I was as committed to the family in any event. A name was only a label. Using a euphemism like 'mate' really didn't matter. "You're right again, Jonna, and I guess my parents might like the term better too."

"That's nice to hear, Husband. I might want to add that the troops look up to your older wives. Selna and Fislu should go with you. Earth is a slightly safer place for them. Caiti can be an asset as can Porta, Camsa, and Sonna. You needn't take all of them if that isn't your wish."

This wasn't good, either. "I better take an adult too."

Jonna quickly said, "What about Osston or Stofan? They're yours, and one could safely go. They may not know how to handle a gun but they have a longer range with the portal."

"Neither of them understands English well, though Osston is better. Maybe if one of the younger ones stay near it could work."

It felt a little like I was getting railroaded but on reflection I knew I wasn't. It did feel that Jonna had a plan about something and it would work better if I was out of the way. It didn't seem nefarious to me, just some family dynamics in play.

After the meeting, I went to see Osston and Stofan to make a decision on which one to take. I was told they were not in the school but out on one of the hills we set aside for the priests. I hurried because it was on one of these hills that Mokka had been killed.

I asked more questions and then concentrated on a coin. My personal portal opened on one hill but nobody was visible. It was the third one that I found them. Both were invisible to me. It was the two silver rods in the air that caught my attention.

When I climbed the hill I stopped because the top of each of the two rods had a silver wristband used to cast a shield. I had told them to be careful but they were experimenting with a very dangerous commodity.

"Stofan, Osston, are you there?"

Both young men popped their head up out of a pit. They looked at me wonderingly then they both stood up. They hurried over and Osston said, "Yes Master, what can we do for you?"

"What were you doing?"



-------

Chapter 39


"The shield is dangerous but it does not go far into the ground. We were below the level of the shield while still trying to energise it."

I had to think on this too. The shield extended past the walls by a metre or so when it struck the ground. There may be no shield on the ground on the inside. If they were down far enough then it may well be safe.

"What have you found?"

"We have energised the shield seven times the way that Mokka did. We were below it and it did not harm us at all. At the moment we are altering our thinking so that the shield does not collapse. We have had minor success with the portal medallions but the effect does not last longer than a few seconds."

"Show me."

"Certainly, Master."

"By the way, where is your security?"

Both men looked sheepish. Stofan said, "We simply forgot them, Master. We were anxious to continue the experiments."

"I am giving you a direct order now."

Both looked worried and said, "Yes, Master."

"You will take security with you all the time, even when you go to the latrine."

Stofan said, "Yes, Master. We already do that."

"Good. Don't forget again. Now show me what you learned?"

Stofan closed his eyes and concentrated and a haze came over him. It lasted for about five seconds then collapsed. "That was the best I could do, Master."

"You did not use the medallion."

"We tried that. The small pain is distracting. We can get the same results without a medallion."

"Does the Church know this procedure?"

"I do not know, Master. I simply tired it and it worked. Currently it works better if I energise Osston's shield and he does mine. I think that's the way they were designed but I could be wrong. I don't believe the stigga energise their own shields. On the other hand, I think the shield was just a way of leaving a portal and having a short period of time to survey your environment without being killed."

I asked, "Have you tried this with your headbands?"

"No, Master. Would you like us to try?"

"Give it a try. I think the headband helps amplify your thoughts."

A portal was present that led back to Stofan's room. Security had come with me and now we returned with the larger group. Both men tried my idea back on the hill. I saw the shield form brightly and then dim but it was still there. After ten seconds the men smiled at me and I knew the shield had to be still in place. I used a stone on Osston's abdomen. He flinched but the stone bounced off.

"Close your eyes Osston."

"Yes, Master."

This time a much larger stone bounced further but Osston was gently pushed back. I felt all over the man. The shield only extended three centimetres from the skin. His voice and hearing did not seem to be a problem. I kept the experiment up for half of an hour. Neither man was showing the effects of using up the oxygen trapped in the suit so it had to be permeable to this gas as well as the carbon dioxide.

I had the men shut the shield down and then energise it again and they got faster the more they did it. It still took fifteen seconds or so but I knew this could be improved.

Security used their radio and I had half of section-M and most of the other students here to watch what was happening. They raced off and came back with their own equipment. Soon some of the students were able to engage the shield. The regular students had silver icons too but these did not succeed. Then again not all of section-M did either.

Osston said, "Master, may we try with the large shield this way?"

"Do you think you will be safe?"

"We were safe before, Master. We were below the level of the ground."

"Then try it."

The two ran up the hill and put the bands on the silver rods until they stopped at the crossbar near the top. The rest of us got far back. I saw the shield form and then collapse but it did so much quicker and it went out much further. There was also a lot of dust stirred up with the displacement.

Two heads showed above the level of the hole. Both were dirty but they both smiled. I should have only risked one in hindsight but often it took two to control some awkward device.

I waited an hour for the men. The shield was produced much more regularly but the effect was always the same. They stopped long enough to be congratulated on what they had done while I went to prepare for my trip. I was not immune to the lure of the smaller shield and I had to practice too. After only ten minutes mine appeared then disappeared even quicker. It was another twenty minutes before I had a shield up as long as I concentrated on it.

Security was watching me all the time so I threw them some spare headbands and medallions. The current head of the group, Moltatas said, "We cannot use these, my King. We do not have the gift."

"My mother and father used the headband to find the coins. Try this first. Think of how well you could do your job if you had the shield. Then think of how your children will more likely have a mother to come home to."

This was hitting below the belt. Orders were given and two tried this while the rest went onto heightened threat posture. I practised erecting the shield quickly.

The shield had to be tested and I already knew that the stigga could be killed by stone, wood and other odd weapons. The Anguy though could only be hurt with a fifty calibre armour piercing round. These only killed by the shock wave and not penetration.

The detail did not like it but they tried to hit me with the side of a stone knife and a stone spear and they succeeded. A regular knife failed. I worked with the medallion trying all sorts of weird arrangements until the stone did not touch me but now the steel did.

The family came in and they were already trying to erect their own shields after hearing the news. We worked mentally for only a half hour until we found what to do but we still continued other procedures. I was able to turn on the other medallions if I was close and they could turn on mine.

Camsa stumbled on one method that did not allow the shield to be de-energised. He was frantic for a while until we found out what he did and how he did it. Backtracking produced how to remove the shield. Camsa immediately tried it again and then removed it.

Jonna just gave him the stare and he defensively said, "I had to try it. We could be in a battle and I need to set this on a person that's unconscious."

I was the one that said, "Good idea, Camsa. We all have to try this."

There was a knock at our door and security answered it. When the door was opened, Loca was allowed in. He had a big smile for me and said, "My King, I have good news."

"Hello Loca. What do you have for me?"

"The large shield now works."

I had a big smile now too and said, "Tell me how the secret was found. Do not leave out your part."

The smile got even bigger. "We had all heard the instructions given to Stofan." There was now a pause so I had to prod him and this is what he wanted.

"Yes?"

I have studied your DVDs on hypnosis and I tried it on Osston. It worked fine. When he awoke I had tried it on Stofan. That was a few days ago. I read more about the process since then and had Stofan repeat everything he remembered that he saw the priests do when they made a shield."

Again there was a pause and I said, "What did you find?"

The priests touch the two bands together briefly before they do their mental exercise. They hide this and try to make it look casual or an accident."

"That's great. What happens?"

"Well the shield goes out twice as far and then collapses even faster."

I was shocked at this. "Was anybody hurt?"

"Only dust and dirt blown around. The trick I found is to keep the arms horizontal when calling on the forces within the bands. The shield forms and then the wristbands can be moved at will with no problem."

"Does it work consistently?"

"So far it has done very well. Nobody has stood up and tried it yet because of your orders."

"I want to go to Earth and this would be something to take with us. It would be even more useful here."

"We currently have four teams working on this. Only the older and more trained individuals are able to control the forces. The way your family works together I think the process will be well understood soon."

"That's good to hear Loca. I think this is the first time we have had to use our hands except to hold the icon."

"Maybe the gesture is just a way helping our minds think about what to do."

"That could be it. Another avenue to pursue is that the smaller shields can be made selective so that stone can penetrate to kill a stigga. It stands to reason that both shields have a great many more secrets in them. We need to find all of them and the disadvantages too. The priests have had centuries to do this kind of research and we have to fumble as we go along."

"I will continue the search for every facet of the devices, my King."

"You and the rest have done a remarkable job so far Loca."

He smiled again and said, "Thank you, my King. I will tell the rest."

"I would like to ask to borrow your portal that has a key. It's the only real test to see if those sites on Earth are functional or not."

The smile dropped but not quickly. Loca thought then said, "You may have them, my King. I have much more to work with now. I will give them to you."

Now it was my turn to be shocked. "Thank you Loca. I think that it is more important to give them to the school and I will borrow the articles from them."

"What is the difference, my King?"

"The school owns them and when I return then everybody gets to use them. Your gift is too big for one person."

This really pleased Loca and he even blushed. "Thank you for being so generous with your praise, my King."

When Loca left, Jonna said, "Have you decided whom you are going to bring with you?"

"That question is a hard one. I guess that I will have to bring all of the ones you suggested."

I had some of the girls running towards me and I just hugged them back. I wanted all of my family with me but realistically this could not happen. The older women smiled at the younger ones. I did not detect jealousy but I did find a bit of wistfulness.

I added, "Osston may be a good choice to take too. He can speak at least some English. He's young and strong. If he can use the shield. That is an important plus. Some of my security detail speak enough English to get along at least for a while."

"Well if you are going to be running off on us, I guess we better get some loving before you leave."

They did not quite have to pull me to bed because I went willingly. The younger members knew that I was not going to take care of them too. They watched but a few found some shotguns to make sure we were not rudely interrupted.

I went to Jonna first and she helped Tiffany to get ready first with a steamy kiss. The silent communications between the women had them working on Tiffany to get her ready first. When Jonna pulled away from her I saw Tiffany open her eyes. There was passion there and lots of it.

I stepped near and my ladies moved out of the way. When I sat on the bed I pulled Tiffany too me for a kiss and I felt her shiver even more than usual. She was very excited and even more than usual. Reading her mind or those of the others was difficult and I had to think on this.

It then hit me. "Are you fertile now?"

I got a worried look and still no mental communications. She did nod her head. I counted back and remembered that Lauren was now three months pregnant.

"Open your mind to me, Honey. I know now."

Her blocks came down slowly and I saw how worried she was. She wanted a child. She was not quite desperate but the maternal urge was strong. Foreplay was not required just because she was so ready. Not sexually ready but more than ready to begin a new life.

My own weapons then clothing was removed but the weapons were always near. I bent over and sucked one of her nipples into my mouth and her hands came to my head as a groan escaped her lips.

"Hugh, do that later. Fill me first. I want to start work on our child now."

There was no sense asking her questions because she told me everything I needed to know with her thoughts. I picked up her legs at the knees and had a taste. She did not fight me in this but I could feel her growing desperation.

Moving forward on the bed, I climbed over her. Tiffany's knees were up waiting for me. I looked into her eyes as I moved a bit further. There was no need for me to hold the one eyed snake because Jonna was there to help us. I pushed forward a bit then retreated some before pushing in further. Tiffany's eyes closed as I moved inward. Her arms came around me as if I would leave. Her hips came up to accept me faster. It was when she tried to lock her ankles around me that I knew she was very ready.

I worked back and forth a few times then moved further in. I was long enough to enter her womb and was always careful of this. When I was as far in as possible, I bent over and kissed Tiffany's lips. Her eyes flashed open and I said mentally, "I hope you know that I love you."

"I love you too, Hugh."

"So my warrior woman wants to give me a child. He or she will be a force to reckon with."

"I know that. She's going to be fast and deadly."

With a smile I had to say, "Not sweet and gentle like you?"

"You better get to work before I show you just how gentle I am."

"Yes, my Lady. Right away, my Lady." I pulled out then pushed in forcefully. Tiffany just groaned and closed her eyes. Producing a child was a special occasion.

The tactic of saving myself for later was not going to be used. Tiffany had her first orgasm and held me tightly to her. Only a moment later I thrust vigorously into her. Her own orgasm had started to flag but increased when she remembered what was happening.

"Ohhh, ohhh, yes — yes."

I slowed down because Tiffany was holding me so tightly to her. She had little twitches that she got when she had an exceptionally good time. I said after she opened her eyes, "No regrets, Honey? A baby is going to slow you down, at least for a while."

"I came too close to dying. I need a baby for both of us."

This was not the best reason but it had been a reason women had used for at least a million years. "That's good enough for me."

The rest of my older — wives — had their turn. Christiane and Matra I had grown to love too and I knew that in a while I would love them just as much as the rest.

The Heart of Opfu helped me live through the night even if I was running on empty. When we slept, Tiffany was cuddled beside me and small twitches continued to go through her body from time to time until she started to dream about our child then she slept deeply. During the night Tiffany woke up and demanded a repeat. I was groggy but happy to oblige.

The next morning was not hectic as it could be. The Bejek day differed from Earth's enough that we would leave here at noon and arrive a little after eight in London.

Mantoya had given me his list of weapons to acquire if I could find them. We had nobody to operate some of the high tech equipment. It was just too complicated. APCs though were not as difficult if we did not use all the fancy gadgets in them.

Osston showed up in his usual Bejek clothing and we had to take him to get changed into Earth style clothing but the cloth was made of Bejek material and with Bejek craftsmanship. Even our packs were made of juffa for strength. The four women chosen from security looked odd in Earth clothing but still good.

Loca was present with the two frames and the ring key for this system.

"Here are the portals I promised you, my King."

"I thank you personally and for everyone that is now fighting the Church. You have given us a great gift."

Loca blushed and gave a bow. I gave him one just as deep to show how I really felt.

When ready, we looked like we would fit in well. It was near the year end and it would be chilly in London. The multiple layers of juffa would keep us very warm and had to look thick just to blend in with the rest of what the inhabitants were wearing.

Caiti opened a portal to Woodland after we made a radio call. Security went through first anyway. We spent an hour inspecting and talking to people before I slipped through to the barn with security while I got things ready. This I knew would take at least an hour.

With a headband on as well as a coin and a disk amplifier, I searched out the immediate area. The barn had been purposely stripped bare just so it looked innocuous. One wall though had a tertiary backup of the security system of the house and parts of the farm. I found out that we had visitors entering the house on five different occasions. The barn had been searched and only a modest alarm system had been allowed to be found. All of the men looked official as opposed to mob but they were not that much different.

I opened a portal to a truck stop west of London where a coin had been hid. A gust of cold air came into the barn. Fislu had stuck close to us and asked, "Who invaded our home?"

"I have no idea, Honey. Let's get our bearings first."

It was December seventeenth and a Thursday. People were going to work. The walk across the wide snow filled parking lot was uncomfortable on my face. The rest of me including my juffa lined leather gloves was very comfortable. It was not this cold in Shreff or any place on Mendab but security took it stoically. Inside the restaurant I dropped in some change into the pay phone.

Bakhtin was phoned indirectly and I had a coffee while I waited for a call. Security was getting anxious being on my planet and I tried to calm them down. They could not speak to me with their minds yet but these girls had worked with their coins and headbands then with some of the other silver icons. Their minds had started to respond but not enough to communicate thoughts. Feelings though came through and I figures that this was a good start.

Bakhtin finally phoned. "Hello, Sir. I have done all I could to assist you but we have had a major setback."

"Hello Kapsirko. What happened?"

"Your last shipment to me was completed. Three of the four pallets were sent off but one was seized by the federal authorities. We tried to follow it and we have an idea of where it now is."

"Did they give a reason for the seizure?"

"They made lots of claims but we believe that it is just because they think it may be used to make your purchases."

I did not like to talk much on the phone. Governments all over the world eavesdropped on telephone calls. That is why they hated encrypted communications and made companies put back doors into their programs. I knew of a few companies that had moved out of the United States just because of the pressure on them to comply. The internet was the best way to communicate with encryption and in some cases it had to be multiple layers because a lot of computing power could be used to break the conversation even without the keys.

"Do you have a paper and pen handy?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good." I spoke a long series of code words. This was the best I could do to convey information. Kapsirko had a prepared text ready and now I had to write down his words. We could possibly use Ladra the way the Americans had used Navaho during the second world war but Bakhtin did not know the language.

When I hung up, I was not that disappointed. Bakhtin had purchased three Russian ships for me. One was a mid sized container ship but still large for our time. The next was a light frigate with a length of 105 metres and then there was a good patrol boat of only 56 metres. There was not enough info to get the details but apparently they were being refitted and they might disappear one night. I had no crews for them and this bothered me a lot. Bakhtin got the codes to let him know that I was coming in a day or so.

I called Gus's home. The phone rang five times before it was picked up.

"Hello."

"Hi Gus. Did you have a late night?"

" — oh! A bit I guess. How are you doing, Mr Smith?"

"Not bad, Gus. Did you get anybody asking you about me?"

I listened carefully and he said, "Nobody asked me anything. I was not disappointed either."

"That's good to hear. Are you busy this morning?"

"I have some work to do at the airport but nothing pressing."

"You interested in being a chauffeur? There are fourteen people and our luggage that has to go to Montreal."

"There may be a plane I can rent."

"Good. I'm at a public phone so how about I phone you back in ten minutes to find out for sure."

When Gus started his calls, I phoned Jake Headricks, one of my lawyers.

The secretary put Jake on quickly and he said, "Hello Hugh. I've been trying to get hold of you."

"Before we start, did you get any visitors coming to ask questions about me?"

"I have and I do not trust this or any phone these days."

"That's probably a wise decision. There's nothing pressing from my end and I just phoned to say hi. You interested in a coffee?"

"Sure."

"Take a taxi to the last place in town that you met me. If you're followed I won't show up and you can go back to your office in half an hour."

"I can do that. When do you want to meet?"

"I'll be there in half an hour."

"See you then."

Moltatas the head of my security detail said, "Are we going into danger, Sir?"

It took her a long time to drop the 'my king' part of her speech. "Possibly, we go and set up a portal back to here and then I will come through and set a portal up to that location. If we have to leave, there won't be anything left behind."

A taxi was called and before it came I tied in with Gus. "There is a plane Mr — but it won't come cheap."

"No problem Gus. I have a debt card that goes well past platinum."

"It's going to take a few hours. It's in Toronto and I have to fly there and get it. They can do the prep work and get it fuelled for us."

The taxi came and the five of us crowded in. I gave the location and the car took off. The women were nervous because this was their first trip to Earth and the first time they had driven on snow. The roads were clear but had a lot of traffic.

We stopped at a strip mall two blocks from the service station I had last met Jake. When we walked to the business, I used a coin to open a portal to the empty men's washroom. Once we were all inside I did as I told Moltatas previously and opened a portal to the truck stop we had left. From back in the trees I put up a silver chain and linked back to the men's washroom.

We spent fifteen minutes waiting for Jake to arrive. The women were well armed with glocks. One had a submachine gun. I was well armed myself. They left the warm room to provide surveillance for us. I could see that they had erected their personal shields just in case.

When the taxi left, I signalled Jake and he came to me. We shook hands outside while the door to the washroom was propped open just enough to not allow the lock to catch.

Jake said, "Hello Hugh."

I ran the bug detector all over him and his briefcase, then said, "Hi Jake. Who were your visitors?"

"They said they were CSIS. What are you into?"

"Nothing immoral or unethical Jake. Somebody swiped my gold and they want to find where I got it. I don't plan on telling them."

"How much did they get?"

"Only about three tonnes I think."

"My god! Do you know how much that is worth?"

"Sixty I guess."

"Yeah, sixty million dollars. What are you going to do about it?"

"That's not something you should know. Did you complete the sale of the Dash 8 with the new Bermuda company you wanted to set up?"

"It went along fine. The old owners are still using the aircraft. They have been after me too but only to set up some details but they may be reluctant to talk to you if they knew everything you're up to."

"Are you reluctant, Jake?"

"Well — I can still work for you but I don't think I can work for or with gold any more. I'm sure they're watching me now."

"Did you sell the gold you received?"

"Yes I did and I want to get rid of the cash too. Eleven million dollars is not something that I can leave around the house, and not something I can treat as cavalierly as you do."

Jake reached into his briefcase and pulled out a large bundle of large envelopes. "These are your documents. I don't want them around the office."

I said, "My cameras detected people entering my home five times when I was gone and I had a good security system. If they wanted to they would have searched your office and your home. They may even have cameras in your offices."

"I sweep it for bugs all the time. They could still get me I guess but any charges would not stand up in court. What they're doing is illegal."

"Will you hold onto the cash for a bit longer?"

"It's safe enough as long as I don't go near it, I suppose."

"Thanks, Jake."

"If I have any advice to give, it would be to stop everything you are doing. They won't leave you alone for years even if you just went back to farming."

"I have much too many responsibilities to quit."

"Well, your friend Ruiz got in contact with me. What do you want me to do?"

I had to think about this for a moment then said, "Ask if he wants to buy gold from me and put the funds into the system. I can send somebody to your office looking like a client. They will deliver my information. I think you should get somebody to open a smut site on the web and put encrypted info into the pictures. We can communicate then."

"Smut site! Me! No way."

"Get somebody else to do it you just alter some of the pictures of the ladies. Use some of the money you have. Hell, it would be a write off in taxes."

"I'll think about it. No promises."

We shook hands and Jake took out a cell phone to call a cab but before he could use it two similar cars pulled in and they may not be here to get gas.



-------

Chapter 40


"You better go now. You were probably followed."

Jake looked worried but then pulled himself together. "Bye, Hugh. I hope we can still work together."

I sent out a mental call for security to walk back to the strip mall. I opened the washroom door and hurried through to the truck stop property then closed the portal. I put the headband on and looked with the aid of the coins the girls carried to see what the situation was.

There was no way to see if Jake had been followed or not and the detail seemed to be getting away.

I had to wait until Moltatas got to the restaurant at the strip mall and went to the washroom. I appeared and whispered, "Was it the authorities?"

She whispered back, "I think so. They stationed themselves around the building but did not approach. I believe they will wait for you to emerge."

The door started to open. I retreated into the stall and closed the door. There was no talking so it had to be a customer. The room was getting very cold with a gate connected to the open air so I withdrew and closed the link.

Later I was able to reestablish gate. We went back to the barn and to Woodland once more.

Fislu came to me and said, "What happened? You were gone longer than you said."

"The CSIS is after me now. I doubt they could do much besides question me. Bakhtin said that somebody, claiming to be the Canadian security, took part of the last gold shipment. We talked in code so I'm not even sure how much they got. Each of the pallets weighted three tonnes. I don't want to abandon that much metal. We have to get it unless something more important comes along."

I found a large table and started to go through the packet Jake gave me. With it were two copies of an encrypted CD of the same information. I now owned a second company in Bermuda. One of them owned the Dash 8. Correspondence with Tom Cress said that he located three other similar planes. Ruiz' message said that he was sorry to hear about my near robbery in the Dominican Republic then that he would like to do business with me. There was lots more I did not know but Jake was not in those loops to find out for me.

An hour later security and I went back to the truck stop. Gus was back and working on the plane he fetched. The family was informed of this and they prepared to leave. We went ahead with a taxi to a mall and linked with the rest of the family in the back of the building. Four taxis were called to reach the small airport. We arrived like an invading army and I guess we knew what that looked like.

Gus did not want to leave his new beauty. It was a Beech 1900 and looked good to me though much smaller than the Dash 8. Gus hurried to me with a wide smile on his face. "We're ready to go any time you want."

"That's good to know, Gus. How did you get this plane? She looks good."

"She sure is. I wish I could afford to buy it."

"Is it for sale?"

"Yes, it is."

"How is it for landing on grass or gravel runways?"

"There's no problem there. Lots of small airlines use these to get to remote places."

"Is it safe as planes go?"

"It has a good track record."

"How much are they asking for it and how much is it worth?"

"They want four million. The craft is almost worth that much. It has low hours."

"What would they take for it?"

"What! You want to buy it?"

"Why not? We need to learn how to fly."

"I'm sure it wouldn't go for less than three point seven."

The family helped stow the luggage and equipment. There was room for nineteen passengers besides the pilot and copilot. Moltatas got the detail to sit but they were deathly afraid even though we had prepared them for a possible flight. Sonna, Porta, Camsa, Osston and Matra were in no better shape but at least they could communicate mentally with us to be reassured.

Gus helped secure the cargo then we went into the terminal and I used a debt card in one of my aliases to pay what Gus paid then I gave him cash for his help.

I sat in the copilots seat and watched the takeoff. As soon as we got in the air, Camsa and Osston came forward to see what we were doing. Both heard Gus's words in English and I gave some definitions mentally. We headed north around Toronto and my or rather our flight training began. It was fun to take the controls though I was far from actually flying this plane.

Gus said, "Do you really want this aircraft?"

"It's roomy enough for small groups and we can have lessons in situations like this."

"The way you talk about the cost is very casual. I noticed that you signed under a different name. Do you have that much money?"

"I have to remain anonymous. There's no trouble with the cost. I only have problems finding competent people."

"What do you need them for?"

"Somebody to teach us and then to service the plane."

"I can do the teaching as I said before."

"Then let's talk about the costs involved." The distance was just five hundred klicks and the trip only took a little over an hour. Getting to the ground took longer than expected.

Gus was as an employee now. The entourage stayed with the plane as we waited for a return call from Bakhtin. He must have been busy because it was nearly a half hour before I answered.

"Hello, Kapsirko. Is it convenient to talk someplace?"

"I am nearly done, Sir. Where are you staying?"

"We haven't found a place yet. I was hoping to start on the recovery operation."

"Oh, in that case I should go to you immediately, Sir."

Bakhtin arrived at the airport an hour later along with his guards. It was fun to see his male security people looking at my female detail.

When we were alone Bakhtin said, "I believe that the gold is stored in Petawawa on the military base. It could have been stored just as easily in a bank vault but it was not for some reason. I don't know the details other then where the building is. I do know that there has been a lot of surveillance equipment added as well as a fifty man special unit stationed nearby. It is actually a strong room rather than a vault."

"I can get the shipment back fairly easily."

"You can?"

"No problem. Did you bring an inventory of what you bought and what you are able to get?"

"Yes, Sir. Here it is." I was handed two more CD's that were heavily encrypted.

"Thanks, Kapsirko. Tell me about the warships you got."

"They are both fairly modern, Sir. The hulls were purchased bare because the former Soviet Union could not afford to complete the construction. The ships were fitted later with the best that could be found. Most of this was stolen from the Russian military. The cost was exorbitant but I got the frigate for two hundred and eight million American dollars. The patrol boat came to twenty seven million. The owner has actually completed most of the improvements in hopes of selling the ships to the Arabs. Our offer was for gold or cash and he chose to deal with us instead.

"There are no deck guns or missile launchers but these units have been purchased separately. The cost for these is a hundred and thirty million dollars."

I assume they would not take gold directly?"

"No, Sir. I tried my best. Getting back to the ships, Russia now uses the smaller vessels to patrol her shores. The container ship could carry the smaller ship but that would be extremely difficult."

I asked, "Do you mean we can just sail into international waters with these ships and Russia wouldn't respond?"

"They look to be warships but have no weapons. The various radar masts are what set them apart from commercial ships."

"Can you produce a crew for the ships?"

"I can. Most would be former Russian military personnel."

"Where are the ships now?"

"Both the frigate and the patrol boat are in a Russian port near the city of Rostov which happens to be on the Don River. Do you know where that is, Sir?"

"Is that the river that pours into a small sea that eventually pours into the Black Sea?"

"That's right, Sir. Just off of the Sea of Azov. The container ship is in St Petersburg. The cargo is stored on the dock until enough is found to load the ship."

"Tell me more?"

"All three ships are presently under the Russian flag. When they get to the open ocean, they will register under the Bahamas flag."

"Will you have to hire people from Bahamas?"

"No, Sir. It's really unnecessary."

"I have a shopping list here from one of my people. He wants APC's and a lot of them."

"I believe we only found five, Sir. My contacts in Russia can search for more but getting them that far west will be difficult. The Chinese have some nice weapons but export licenses are hard to get. Smuggling is usually easier and sometimes cheaper than the bribes to officials."

"That would take too long."

"We may be able to get some from the United States."

"Most of them are in Iraq or other places I'm afraid."

"I will search harder in Russia then. The old republics have a lot of military hardware and it usually comes at a cheap price. I have been offered some tactical nuclear weapons. Would you like me to pursue this option?"

This was shocking. If Bakhtin would be offered them so easily, then anybody could get them. This could also be a trap. "Get what you can. If anything, I want to keep them out of the hands of the terrorists. Their purchase may give us problems if our suppliers think we are now going nuclear."

"I can find somebody else that will purchase them for you. The price is high though."

"How high?"

"A hundred million American dollars."

"Offer forty and I will pay in gold for as many as they could supply."

"Yes, Sir."

Bakhtin talked about details that were not on the CD's.

There was going to be a lot of flack after what might happen. Bakhtin sent a truck to recover the gold but it would take three hours to get into position. He sent us in four limos with people he could trust to keep quiet.

The city of Petawawa was not large and the military camp took up a large portion of it. The gold was here because I could feel the coin and then see the gold as we got closer.

Montgomery Road took us to the closest point and there was even a gate at about mid way in the fence. Today there were men at the gate searching cars fairly diligently so there was no chance for us to get in.

Near a road outside the gate I stopped long enough to make a snowball with a coin inside. We did not have a mortar and this was the best we could do. Caiti and Camsa got out and we drove off with our four drivers wondering what we were doing. It was getting dark already and Caiti was still young. Both of them wore a simple silver chain wrapped four times in a much smaller loop and put around their necks.

Camsa said mentally from behind us, "I'm inside the base and have the coin." In a few seconds he added, "Caiti is beside me now."

Caiti had to say, "It's cold here."

Fislu said to them, "Do up your shield. It will keep most of the wind off of your face."

We drove around the town as the two got closer and closer to the building containing our gold. Ten minutes after being let off, Caiti said, "There are guards walking around the building."

I said, "Can they see you?"

"Not yet. We can probably throw another snowball near the wall."

"How far away is it?"

Camsa said, "Fifty five metres."

Caiti quickly said, "It's fifty seven. He doesn't have the eye I have."

The two started a spat but it didn't last long.

We pulled off at a community centre on Somme Road. A CB was used to contact the tractor trailer. In five minutes I was in the cab of the truck and the driver was in the car I arrived in.

Addas, one of the security details along with Moltatas, came with me as I started the truck up and drove south. We took our weapons and the night vision glasses. We parked in an industrial park off the appropriately named Industrial Avenue.

Everybody knew the plan but security had to be told verbally. A coin was left in the cab of the truck which was good enough to gain entry to the trailer portion. Caiti opened a gate to us and we slipped through into the cold night. We were in a dark area and the snow had been beaten down. Finding tracks suddenly appearing out of nowhere was not a good thing to happen.

Caiti hurried us to her vantage point and we found Camsa watching the building. He said, "Do you think there are alarms in there like our house?"

"There has to be. Bakhtin said that some gold had been shifted already. There was four tonnes of metal placed in the container just before the CSIS got it. That's close to eighty million dollars so they will have lots of security."

"What are we going to do?"

"All the technology on Earth relies on electricity. I'm going to have some target practice."

I threw blank snowballs until I put a coin in one and managed to get it within a metre of the wall of the building. We retreated to a dark building and used a gate to get in. This building was just offices.

Camsa, Caiti and I searched the structure near where the new coin was and found. We could only see offices so far. There did not look to be any alarms or cameras in one paerticular room and we shifted position to our target. When no alarm went off, we retrieved our portal chain.

A bathroom off of the office shared a block wall with the area containing my gold. Another gate was set up so it would open into the large room. This one though was going to be small and very near the floor.

Camsa linked to the coin in the truck while I took my lightning tool and poked my hand through the portal far enough to give a very short blast. The lights went off immediately. The portal was expanded and I rushed in.

There was a fire burning on the far wall. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and put it out. What had caught fire was a birchbark war canoe probably used in some sort of race or ceremony with the locals. It had been stored here because of its size and probably to keep it away from terrorist inspired beavers.

I heard shouting in the hall and I looked around for a way for them to get in. There was a forklift that had probably been used to bring the pallet in. I had the fulcrum and leaver and picked up the truck and put the back of it against the door.

Caiti had the portal open to the back of the truck and I concentrated on using the fulcrum to pick up the pallet of gold. It was not a difficult task to do and in a few seconds I was walking with four tonnes of gold in front of me. The pallet was put down and Caiti and I raced into the truck body. Camsa was last. He had a coin between his finger and thumb.

"You forgot this."

Shit, "Your right Camsa. Thanks."

Moltatas said, "The guards are trying to get through the door."

"Remove all our tracks especially Caiti and Camsa's." Paper towels were used to wipe where we came through the walls and then all the tracks inside the room. This took a few minutes but the lift truck made a very good door stop.

In moments I had started the truck and drove south to Black Bay Road then west to Highway 17 going south toward Ottawa.

Ten minutes later we stopped on the side of the highway. The limos arrived and the truck driver got out. "Did you get it?"

"We certainly did and in the process I destroyed a large portion of the Canadian Navy."

He looked worried so I added, "A large birchbark war canoe caught fire. I put the flames out but its going to take years for Parliament to find the funds for its repair."

The driver said, "We can take up a collection for that."

"The government will tax us a billion dollars so they can form a committee to study the damage. They'll have to construct a building to repair the canoe and another one to house the workers. Since this was obviously an attack by terrorists, the military will have to be issued new muskets. All that costs lots of money."

"In that case I won't start the collection."

The man took over the truck and I went back into the much more comfortable limo. The driver looked at me but I didn't think he knew what we had done. It was very probable that the government and the CSIS would not openly admit that they lost four tonnes of gold one winter night.

We escorted the gold back to Montreal. The truck driver gave code words on his CB and he went to another industrial section. The cars followed the truck until it backed up to a loading dock. The driver waved to us when he got out of the cab and I wished him luck.

It was one in the morning when we checked into a hotel. Arriving in limos got us some decent treatment. We needed our rest because of portal lag. Security stayed awake in shifts until the morning.

Gus had his own room and we all met for breakfast. He whispered to me, "What did you do in Petawawa?"

"I recovered my property. That's all."

"How did it get there?"

"If you want to know more, you are going to have to enter into a non-disclosure agreement with me."

"I think I can do that."

"Let's fill in the document first, then I'll tell you. In the mean time, I've decided to purchase the Beech. A company in the Bahamas will be the one to hold the papers. I just have to telephone the lawyers down there to start the ball rolling."

Gus was happy now and said, "Will the plane be based in London?"

"For the most part, yes."

After breakfast, Gus came upstairs and I took him into the organisation much the same as Tom Cress and Marc Johnson. All of them would just have a lot more loyalty to me when they were pushed to disclose information. They saw me as a person to look up to. I worked hard to stay away from gathering slaves.

When Gus awoke he said, "Sorry, Sir. I must have dozed off there. I was sleepier than I thought."

"That's ok Gus. Now for some secrets. I have literally tonnes of gold. I own fourteen mines at last count. None of the governments know of this. I use some of the gold to fight an evil organisation. I purchase military weapons to fight them. The CSIS found out a little and jumped on part of a gold shipment. It was taken away from me and hidden on the military base in Petawawa. We just recovered it and put it on the transport truck."

"You needed a transport truck?"

"Not really, it was only four tonnes."

"Of gold!"

"Yes, now I have something even more exciting to show you."

"What can top that?"

"Watch." I turned to Caiti and Camsa and said verbally, "Set up a gate for me please."

Both smiled and set one up. Camsa was seen stepping in one end and emerging three metres away and returning. Caiti did the same thing and said, "This is fun but we've been doing this for a long time. Do you want to try?"

Gus did not know what to say so I said, "Get up and try."

Gus was loaned a medallion and went through. The portal was shifted to go through walls. Gus seemed to like this until his face suddenly clouded.

I said, "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing, Sir."

"Gus, tell me."

It took a moment but he then said, "Are you guys aliens?"

"I'm just as Human as you are. Everybody else in this room are Human too but some were not born on Earth."

"They weren't!"

"Nope. There is another portal that goes between worlds. The chains you saw work only on one world at a time but I found that it can be used between worlds if one of the other portals are open. We call the chain portals gates to keep our thinking straight. We don't understand the science here but we do know that it's controlled mentally." I turned to my luggage and brought out my headband and fit it to Gus' head. "You can see the coin with your eyes." I put it on a table and put a sheet of paper over it. "Close your eyes and try to remember what it looked like."

The security team got their headbands on and were doing the same thing. Their grasp of this was beyond what Gus could do but not up to ours yet.

In ten minutes Gus said, "I can almost see the coin in my mind now, Sir."

I drew a small smiley face on the sheet of paper and put the drawing right over the coin. "Tell me what I drew on the paper?"

"I can't see that, Sir."

"Just give it a good try."

It took ten more minutes before he excitedly said, "Is it one of those smiley faces?"

"It sure is." I turned the paper over and Gus smiled himself.

With a few silent suggestions, Caiti took Gus in hand and drew more pictures for Gus to see.

In the mean time, I went through Jakes papers and made notes about how to get the legal firm in the Bahamas to start the offer to buy the Beech. Gus would be their local representative. I may just have to buy it in the corporation's name.

We had two laptops and I used one to read what Bakhtin had sent me. There were lots of pictures of the ships and a long list of specifications. The weapons it usually carried were suited for hitting large armoured ships that had the ability to shoot out of the air any incoming missile. It was overkill when we were going against wooden hulled ships.

The container ship was very large even though Bakhtin claimed it was mid sized. There was a lot of material already to be loaded on it but it was still a drop in the bucket compared to its total capacity.

Getting the cargo to Bejek would be difficult if I had to use my home. There were three alternate choices and at the moment I didn't know if any of them would work. The closest was the one we had taken Christiane to see and at least we were prepared to investigate it further. The one in the States or in the Atlantic had to be checked as well.

One of the women in security as well as Osston left with me. I did not want to talk from a telephone in the hotel I was staying at. Both of my companions thought of the elevator with the same awe as Gus thought of the gate.

Five minutes after leaving the hotel, I was in another hotel using the telephone. I had to introduce myself on the telephone and then give a long password that would be no longer good after it was used. Governments monitored calls like this with a computer and I just hoped to not trip any of the logic by mentioning some of the pertinent words or phrases.

My contact at the office assured me that the documents would be made today and sent by courier to Gus when he returned to London.

When we left the hotel I was bumped by a short man and immediately after Addnas drove her fist into the man's neck. She bent down and pulled out my wallet that had been in my pants and even under my coat.

She said in Ladra, "I watched him because he looked at you for a long time before bumping into you. He's a thief or somebody sent to gather information."

"It seems so. Let's go. Everybody is watching us."

We moved off and I energised my shield and did the same for Addas. Osston did his own. There was a commotion behind us so we turned the corner and entered an alley. We crouched behind a parked car while I called for a gate. The family was nervous when we entered and I told them verbally what happened for Gus' benefit.

I added, "We have to check out one of the locations Gus found for us. There's no other way to get any of our supplies through now."

Gus became our travel agent and found a paved airstrip in Smiths Falls which happened to be close to the remote area we checked before. We boarded the plane and flew to this location. By three that afternoon we had found two passenger vans and a four wheel drive.

The road to the site had been done but it was covered in snow. There was at least one person on the site. The snow was deep and I took only two of the security detail as we went up the road. Twice I had to get out and use the fulcrum to get the vehicle out of trouble. I started to use a coin and a disk in my hand to see where the road really was.

I crested the forth hill when I found a man of fifty with a rifle over his shoulder in front of me. I drove up to him and shut off the engine. Before I could say anything, he said, "This is private property. Leave now."

This took me aback. "I know its private property and the owner sent me here to check out what's being done. Jake Headricks is the man that hired you."

I waited a moment and he finally asked, "What do you have to do? I don't like snoops."

"To tell the truth, neither do I. Let me see what has been done and we will be off."

We drove for another few minutes and we got out. There was a small trailer to one side and a log house beside it. An old pickup was nearby. Around the edge of the property was canvas covered equipment relating to the activities that had to go on if I was going to keep this land.

The girls got out and the first gust of icy wind caused them to want to shield themselves from the blast. I asked, "Do you want your shields activated?" I got two nods and I did this task.

The portal that Loca gave me was in a wood crate. This was pulled to the lake and then over the ice. I put the cup and globe onto the frame from an opening then touched the ring to the frame.

Instantly I saw the room where the other half of the portal was stored in Woodland and I breathed a sigh of relief. I could crawl through the portal but I valued my life. Instead I used a cheap walkie talkie for a while until someone came into the room. It was one of the younger girls. She saw me and smiled then hurried away as a cold blast of air hit her.

In a moment I had a delegation in the room then a few seconds later Loca hurried into the room. We talked into the frame while the prospector looked on from a hundred metres away. He could not see anything unusual from where he was.

Loca said, "Your world is beautiful but harsh, my King. I'm glad I'm here and warm."

"This is a beautiful world when it is not despoiled by people out to get rich. This portion of the Earth is just in the middle of its winter."

In a few minutes I closed down the portal and we walked back to the shore. The old man came to us and said, "What were you doing out there?"

"You mentioned a while ago that you don't like snoops." The man said nothing so I continued, "What did you do to satisfy the government that you were prospecting?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'm closer to the man you signed the contract with than you are. The contract states you have to report and I am officially asking you to."

Charley Fergus reluctantly showed us some frozen ground. He said, "I was able to drill seven holes. About a hundred and thirty feet down I found some silver. I figure it may be rich enough to extract."

The mention of silver started to ring alarms. All of our high tech Bejek equipment was silver and I could now see how the metal was linked to the unknown force that did such amazing things.

"We knew there was something at this location. Is there anything you need to be sent to you?"

"I could use a few cases of scotch if its no problem." This was said with the man's first smile.

There was something similar in Bejek so I said, "I have some homemade hooch. Its pretty good. I'll bring some up the next time I come."

"I'd be obliged if you did."

I got in the car and drove towards the lake then turned around. Five minutes later I had a large clay jug. I called Charley over and said sheepishly, "Hi, Charley. I see the girls stocked the car well and I didn't know it."

I handed a half full ceramic mug to Charley. He took a quick smell and then a good swallow. Tears came to his eyes and he said, "Now that's smooth. I've never tasted that before and I've tried just about everything."

From the back of the vehicle I handed Charley a fifteen litre jug and said, "It's a secret family recipe."

Charlie needed two arms to hold the jug and I got the biggest smile yet.

Getting back to the main road was just as difficult as getting to the node. Next time it would be easier because I put a coin nearby but not close enough for anybody to see our sudden appearance.

When we were back with the rest of the vehicles, Gus asked, "What did you find?"

"Another place suitable for a portal. There's one more near the Bahamas that I want to check out."

"We could fly there in the Beech."

"Let's buy the plane first then you can fly to Buffalo and pick us up. I have difficulty crossing the border. We may be going to Norfolk instead if my ship is finished.

We drove back to Smiths Falls and then flew to Toronto. From Toronto I phoned Reynolds. He said, "Your ship is ready Mr. Smith. We put a rush on it as you asked." He went on and on about what had been done. The alteration of the hull was the most important because it was the lengthening process that caused the original warpage.

"Id like to take it out for a spin. Do you know anybody that will brave the heat of the Bahamas?"

"I'd go if I was of any use."

"Then I'm inviting you. I may need some legal advice. I only want to spend a few days there then find a home for the ship. Will you find a competent crew that may want to stay on. They can be assessed on a temporary basis."

"Most are ex-military."

"That's fine with me. I would rather find some people that are, shall we say, rough around the edges but very competent. I don't want yes men."

"That quality is usually beat out of them early but I will see what I can do."

I had a chance to meet the current owner of the Beech. He asked all sorts of questions but I claimed to just want the plane for personal use.

The next day Gus drove back to London and picked up the documents from the Bahamas lawyers and we finalised the sale. The owner was very surprised when my debt card covered everything.

Gus now had to act as a representative of the company and I was the one that paid for the insurance and other fees. Gus got his own card and he was very surprised to see that he had a million dollars in the off-shore account that would back his purchases up.

Gus flew over the border and landed in Buffalo. The customs agents went through the plane with dogs though they usually did not do this. Gus left the plane and sauntered over to see Tom Cress.

When they shook hands, Gus said, "Can we talk in private?"

"Sure, come to my office."

When they were inside, Gus took out a bug detector and Tom said, "What are you doing?"

"I asked for a quiet talk. Please let me continue."

When he was done he said, "I'm sorry about that but I work for Mr Driscott."

"Where is he?"

"Almost here if you will hold the chain."

"You mean — "

"Yes."

The two held the chain and security stepped through the loop followed by the rest of us. The office was soon very full of people with only standing room.

I said, "Hi Tom. We just stopped in to chat and then be on our way."

He just stared at me for a moment then said, "I had a visit from some government types. I spent four hours answering questions even after I said that I left you behind in the Dominican Republic."

I said, "Your phones are probably bugged. You should be careful of what you say, at least for a while."

"I don't like that."

"Neither do I. Governments talk a lot about the rights of the people until it blocks an arm of the government. We were just flying down to Suffolk again and getting on a ship for a cruise near the Bahamas. Do you feel like going on a busman's holiday?"

"I'm sorry but I got some jobs to do here."

"Too bad, I was going to show you more about what I know."

"You mean about that place?"

"Yes."

"How long are you going to be?"

"The ship has to travel to Bahamas then back again. I figure it can go at least twenty knots or so but fifteen would be more economical. Let's say four or five days down there, a day to scout the area, and the same back. That doesn't include shore time. We'll have to pick up fuel."

"I'm really sorry but I can't take that much time off."

"You could invite your wife."

He did some serious thinking and said, "When do I have to tell you by?"

"We can wait around until tomorrow morning."

Tom was ready to pick up the phone then stopped. He looked at me and said, "They're going to hear this."

"Just say you have a flight and she can come with you. In the air you can give her more info."

It was easy to hear her reply since we were so close. I also heard two names mentioned.

Tom looked sheepish and said, "Do you have room for a boy of eight and a girl of six?" I just nodded my head.

We shifted out of the room and into the Beech. We emerged moments later. We had time to kill so we went shopping. Four women and one young man had not had a chance to get into enough stores yet. We found a hotel for the night after the stores closed.

The next morning was cold and blustery. I got a chance to meet Nancy Cress and their two children, Tom Jr. and Beth. Nancy figured that one of the security patrol was my wife and I did not want to tell her the truth about the others in our party.

The Beech was for short trips and most planes like ours had no washroom. It was good that ours did. Gus and Tom took turns flying the plane and giving us flying lessons. The weather in Norfolk was a lot better but it was still cool. We got hotel rooms first then I called Reynolds.

We no sooner got settled than Reynolds wanted to show us the ship. He gave all sorts of superlatives but the Russian light frigate made this ship look small. Russian electronics was not supposed to be as advanced as the American but from my talks it was really just as good.

It was not long until we boarded some taxis and went to the dock. The ship looked good. The cabins I had asked for were in place and even recently painted.

The engines had been overhauled extensively. The warpage in the hull was gone and much heavier bracing put in.

Reynolds showed me the electronics and said, "I got you the best that I could find. This will be reflected in the price. I did as you said and got the best."

"I'm not worried about the money, I want quality."

He seemed to have been holding his breath and said, "That's good to hear. The missile launching system has been removed but I kept the electronics because the radar and other systems are still useful. I warn you, if you turn them on you might find yourself fired upon."

"Thanks, there won't be any problem. What happened to the deck gun?"

"It was in fair shape but it was scrapped. I couldn't keep it and if you were seen with a weapon like that you might be looked upon as a pirate."

"See if you can find a good replacement. Something that can come out when there is trouble and hidden away after." Reynolds just looked at me wondering about all of this.

There were workmen and some security onboard because the ship was not actually completely done. Security was needed here as there were still a lot of land pirates around.

Reynolds said, "Do you want to meet some of the men I picked out?"

"Sounds like a good idea."

Reynolds made a few calls and men started to show up. Fislu and Selna went out to find bedding for the ship. Reynolds just directed them to the right places to go. Half of the security and everybody else went with them except Tom and Gus. The two men had found a new love I think.

Reynolds said, "It's none of my business but the four older women look out for you a lot. They act like security."

I gave a small smile and said, "They are. They're also very dedicated. They react both properly and quickly to threats."

"Were they armed? They looked it."

"Yes, but only lightly armed at this time."

"They looked very competent."

The men started to arrive. Reynolds had a binder with pictures and some records. The details made all of the men look good to me. We talked to one at a time while the rest toured the ship. I was not just looking for crew for this ship but for the others too. I would prefer Russian since they would be familiar with the equipment on their ships but I also needed overall leadership.

We had hardly gotten through a dozen men when the family got back. I stayed out of their way and let them work while I talked more with prospective employees. We didn't get done until late and still had more to interview tomorrow. Everybody that came though was paid for their time and aggravation.

We settled on a crew while the ship was being domesticated. I had named the ship Kuenta to remember one of those that had died. She was a warrior and this was one way we could remember her.

We had gone out once to test the systems then came back to get fuelled and provisioned. Most of the crew were talented individuals. They found ways to make something work that was not in the manuals. If we broke down, we'd have a good crew to get it working.

Caiti and Camsa worked well with Tom Jr. and Beth. Tom and Nancy toured the ship. Nancy was a teacher and tried to suck up a bit about everything. Gus was also married but I had not invited his wife. Osston looked at the men but stayed celibate. I, on the other hand, did not need to. My cabin was not large but at least it did not have trenches in the floor and sandbags by the walls. The security girls were free to do whatever they wanted but one was always on duty. We would have some very happy crew members too.

We cast off after choosing those crew members I wanted and picking up the provisions.

Reynolds was a wealth of knowledge. As the weather got warmer, he became more relaxed. Captain James Powers sat with us on occasion. I used them as sounding boards to talk about Russian vessels. My own patrol boat was twenty metres longer than the Kuenta. The frigate was three times the Kuenta's diminutive length of thirty seven metres.

I took notes and both men watched me. The Captain said, "Are you interested in picking up Russian ships?"

"Yes, I am. A larger Tarantul class corvette will give me more room and a bit more privacy. We are pushed together now. It's only fifty six metres. A better choice would be a Buyan class artillery ship and it isn't much bigger."

"You would have to have a large crew."

"Their crews are about forty four but I'm not going to war. The military systems are great but not all of them would be needed. I just have an aversion to pirates and people trying to kill me."

"Has that happened much?"

"Too much, I'm afraid. That's why I have a security detail."

Over the course of the trip I tried to talk to everybody. Some were not talkative but I persevered. I was looking for men to fight the Church with me and these men might possibly do. I also took this time to relax and unwind.

We eventually pulled into a marina in West Palm Beach. We had a chance to stretch our legs, refuel and get more provisions. Since it was near nightfall, the crew got shore leave.

I used some cut outs and talked to Bakhtin and Jake. Jake answered first and said, "Ruiz is anxious to talk. He hinted at twenty and we can both guess what the units are." Jake then gave me a number to call that would put me in touch with the man.

Bakhtin called later with an update. He had gotten rid of all the gold and so far there was nothing in the news about any gold disappearing from government custody. There wasn't even any more visits from CSIS but we both knew they were coming.

I called the number Jake gave me and I was transferred to a man with a cultured voice that had very little of his Spanish heritage audible.

"Hello, Mr Smith. I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune with the bandits. I am also sorry that you were not able to complete the deal we started."

I said, "It was a poorly conceived business deal on my part Mr Ruiz. I planned on selling my gold for a better rate of return if they were in the form of coins. When I would run out of gold, I, too, would sell the plant. I had also heard that you were opening a more modern factory nearby. There was then no need for me to learn a new business if we could reach a deal."

"How much gold do you wish to process?"

"That depends upon some factors. I could more readily just sell the gold to you and you put the proceeds into the system. I have my own mines that should produce in the neighbourhood of five hundred tonnes."

Ruiz' voice got excited, "The entire reserves of the Dominican Republic are five hundred tonnes. You must have some very rich mines."

"I do."

"When could we meet to discuss this? I'm very interested."

"A meeting is possible but I would like to hear your offer first. I was frank with you."

"I believe I can give eighty percent of the price of gold and put that money into the system for you at no additional charge."

"The scrap price for gold is seventy five percent but this doesn't put anything into the banking system. Your offer is only marginally better. You net in excess of two billion dollars for depositing the money."

"We should be able to come up with a better deal, Mr Smith. We need to talk like gentlemen."

"You mentioned the unfortunate robbery attempt. My family was forced to take the law into its own hands. I was not burnt but it almost happened. I would only go to a meeting if I knew the situation well and had a reasonable exchange rate to work from. I'm prepared to risk ten tonnes of gold at a time until our agreement is finished."

"I may be able to go as high as eighty five percent."

"If that's not a guess but a real offer, I'll accept it."

There was a pause then I heard, "That's my offer but other details have to be looked into."

"Then I guess we can talk. I'm busy for at least another week. Let's meet at a neutral place. You can bring a dozen armed men and I'll just bring my family."

Ruiz said, "I understand that some are very young."

"Yes, they are. Caiti is seven now. None of my family are older than fifteen and I have four women as my security detail. One young man of twenty five is my consultant."

"How about a hotel in Santo Domingo? I think this would be safe enough for you. I heard a lot about a weapon that I was told you used."

"The weapon usefulness is exaggerated, I'm afraid. Think of it as a super flamethrower," I said, trying to downplay the power and engineering behind the weapon. "On the choice of venue, I wouldn't mind Santo Domingo but I'm afraid the Dominican army is perturbed at me for usurping their authority. I have no doubts that they are interested in taking my flamethrower from me too."

"I can fix that if you wish."

"I would like that if you are able but I would rather not bother going through the formality of customs. Greedy men coming after what is mine might cause some fires."

"How about the town of Miches? It's on the coast about thirty kilometres north of the refinery? There will be no customs."

"That sounds nice. How about near the fourteenth of January?"

"That's suitable."

"Then I'll phone this number again in a few days and get the particulars."

I felt dirty talking to the man. We probably could work together but at some time he was going to try to shaft me. I was just going to have to protect myself. In the mean time I was going to find a way to make him pay when he tried to rob me.

That night was quieter and my lovemaking was even more so. Most of security took Osston to bed and it sounded like he was beginning to like having women around. Tom and Nancy came back later with their children. Gus found one of the ladies a comfort now that he was away from his wife for a while. It was not like the Love Boat we had before but it was getting that way.

The next day, the crew came aboard just before noon and two men that came later had a chat with the Captain. Some additional provisions were loaded and we left the harbour heading east. Freeport on the Grand Bahama Island was in our path but after an hour, we headed northeast. There was no land mass ahead accept Africa. There were a lot of reefs though and our sonar was soon put to use.

We had the GPS coordinates so the area was easy to find. Fislu and Selna were in our room using the portal to locate the area. They eventually locked on but we continued to find the boundaries much like we had done to the farm. We communicated with Woodland and through them to Artlam and Mantoya. Nothing catastrophic had happened on Bejek in our absence.

I noticed the ship pitching. I had been studying the sonar readings and I was trying to fit in how this particular nexus worked. The Captain had mentioned a storm approaching but he had stated that it was a weak disturbance. The wind did not increase but we started to get rain.

We circled the small area and an hour later found a second spot where the portal would function. We had only got part of this area mapped out when we heard a great clap of thunder as lightning struck the ship.

The Captain shouted orders and people got inside if they were out in the rain. Only thirty seconds later we were hit again. Everybody was shielding their eyes and ears. I knew that there would be more. In the next five minutes we were hit four more times.

The rain continued to fall for another hour and a half but we were not struck by more lightning. The captain was amazed and said, "There was no other lightning except what hit us. It was as if God was angry for some reason."

"I think we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," I said to minimize his concerns.

It was starting to get dark and a fog had already begun to form. We did not have much more to check to complete the survey of this area. Twenty minutes later I noticed that the fog was getting very thick and the air was actually getting chilly.

Caiti screamed in my mind, "Pirates, the Church!"

I raced out of the room and went to the stern. Caiti was there and pointing off to the starboard side. There was a large square rigger a kilometre away. It was hard to see because of the amount of light and the fog but the sails had the distinctive sign of the Church on them. The ship itself was as long as we were but looked much more dangerous.

The family came running to assess the danger. Osston said, "Master, look at the air. It seems to glow. It's like the terminus of our chain gate. It has to be two hundred metres in diameter with a third below the water."

He was right. This was circular. I thought the Church had found a way to come after me on Earth and our ship had no weapons apart from our lightning weapons.

Tom Jr. was with us and I heard him say, "Neat!"

I turned to get my weapons and almost bumped into Reynolds. I got around him to see the Captain staring into the fog.

When I got back I had four weapons but they were hidden in my pockets. My shield was up and I was looking for stigga or barrels of powder.

I had to push my way through unresponsive crew until I got near the captain. Just as I reached him we heard the unmistakable roar of cannon.

"Captain, get the ship out of here. Their cannon can reach us."

One ball had fallen only thirty metres away. The other canon started to fire now and they were getting our range. The Captain came to his senses and bellowed orders. Geysers of water sprouted all around us. The engines laboured and we moved ahead faster. A ball struck the water behind us and showered us with water.

I had my weapon out and so did the others but we did not fire. This was not Bejek and there would be untold repercussions if I did. My foolishness about shooting the robbers car still rankled me. The Kuenta picked up speed. On Bejek the wind was not favourable for the Church ship to pursue. She was forced to turn for a broadside and lost any chance of following.

Moments later the glowing opening to the portal flickered. During that time the ship disappeared but the fog remained. The sound of the cannon was suddenly cut off as the portal closed completely and the glow died.

Tom Jr. made it back to us and stared over the stern at the fog. He turned to me and said, "Were they real pirates?"

Camsa was the one who answered. He said, "Yes, they are real pirates and they think they own their world."

"Why were they after us?"

"Because they did not recognize us as one of their own."

"Oh."

I got the Captain to throttle back to our cruising speed. He said with a bewildered voice, "How am I going to report this?"

"Say nothing. You have no proof and the ship has gone."

"How do you know?"

"Check your radar."

He, Reynolds, and the rest of the people in the wheelhouse did. Powers then said, "That was a square rigger and it was shooting at us."

"Captain Powers, we're in the Devil's Triangle. If you reported this we would be tied up for a week. There would be a quiet investigation then everything would be swept under the carpet."

"You're probably right. If I had weapons though I would have sunk her."

"A while ago I mentioned the need for a deck gun. I would have let you use it and forgotten the incident after."

"Forgotten? — Yeah, I understand." Powers thought for a moment and said, "Is that the group that usually tries to kill you?"

"I don't think I should answer that."

"Maybe you already did."

Reynolds said, "Were those people a danger to our country?"

"I can't answer that either."

"You and your family were aiming something at the ship. Did you have a way of destroying it?"

"Again, I can't answer that."

"What can you tell us then?"

"We were lucky to get away. I think they had much more fearsome weapons than black powder and solid shot. How the ship got here is not well understood."

"That was weird because I noticed two small moons behind the ship."

He watched me but I did not move. The rest of the people gasped or inhaled quickly. Reynolds said, "That fact didn't seem to bother you much."

"That's because I knew it was a dimensional portal linking two worlds."

"And this doesn't bother you?"

"Sure it does."

Reynolds said, "I think we came out here for a reason other than to map the ocean floor."

When I said nothing, he said, "If you had the deck gun and we were not around, would you have attacked?"

"I would have attacked without the deck gun if I was alone."

"And sunk the ship?"

"In seconds. The coating on the sails and the wooden hull would burn very quickly."

Reynolds put his hand up to his chin and said, "Are you from this world?"

"I'm as Human as anybody in this room. I will also admit that those on that ship were just as Human, so I will add that I and all my relatives were born on Earth."

Nobody made a noise until the Captain said, "When the ship appeared, you took off like a shot. I heard no alarm. In fact your entire family got there first."

I said, "What do you want me to say?"

"I just want to know whom I am working for."

"I'm somebody not opposed to anything you believe in. I trade to make a profit and then use the money to improve the lives of some oppressed people."

"And you want this ship to help you fight those doing the oppressing?"

"You're right Captain."

"Who are you fighting?"

"I can't tell you until I figure you are what I want and you have signed on."

"Like mercenaries?"

"I want believers in the cause and I pay very well."

"Then are we what you want? I noticed you turned down most of the men that had some family."

"I thought I was being more subtle than that, but you're right."

"What kind of people are you looking for?"

"People with no ties — to this planet," There was a gasp now. I added, "People that can operate modern weapons systems and others that can repair them. The Humans I'm opposing have access to modern weapons but also very ancient weapons that put ours to shame. They are just reluctant to bring them out."

There was a scuffle in the back and a short muscular man pushed forward and thrust a gun at me. He fired off nine rounds as quick as he could pull the trigger.

The Captain fell on the man and the rest of the people wrestled the gun from him. The man had screamed, "Die! Die!" as he pulled the trigger.

I came out of my shock slower than usual. Security was in the back of the room and they pushed their way forward with their guns drawn. Looking at the floor I saw the blood. The bullets stopped or deflected by my suit had hit others.

With my mind, I called for my tools and one of the hearts. The family rushed in and I began to use the heart on the one closest to me. This happened to be the Captain. The bleeding took a while to stop. The bullet had been flattened and slowed but it made an uglier wound because of it. In the last few years I had gained a lot of experience doing this.

The Captain and the Chief Engineer were carried to sickbay. I put a headband on and then searched for the bullet fragments. It was easier to help a person heal if I knew exactly what was wrong.

The patients were in pain so Fislu and I simply caused their conscious minds to shut down for the duration. Their groaning and moving stopped immediately.

Our smallest chain gate was in my instruments and it was soon stretched above the Captain. A medallion was put on the Captain so he would not feel the pain of part of him being transported. I focussed the other end of the portal where I needed it to be. Small portions of lead, steel and copper were removed. I tied off bleeding blood vessels that were not being stopped by the heart.

Cabot, the Chief, was being worked on by Fislu just as I was doing. Security was keeping everybody else out of the room but some could see from the doorway.

A man hired to tend, monitor and repair the radios had been grazed by a bullet. Selna used her headband to check out the wound then clean it of two tiny fragments before holding the man so she could employ the full power of the Heart of Opfu.

Our own repair work only required ten minutes. I took more time to change the Captain the same way I had altered Tom and now Gus. It was not much of a control because they could break it in a few months or earlier with a lot of effort to be free of me. I shifted over to the Engineer as if to check the wound but I did the same amount of conditioning to him. The radio technician was next. Selna had thoughtfully put him to sleep for me beforehand.

The tools were put away and I walked into the hallway and said, "Was anybody else hurt?"

They just stared at me as if stunned. I remembered the band on my head and removed it. "This was like those round mirrors with a hole in it that doctors used to wear. It's easy to find damaged body parts with it after you get used to its operation. Now, was anybody else hurt?"

I got no answer but Tom was in the back. He said, "You were shot, how come you were not hurt?"

"Oh, that. I'm simply wearing a shield. Let me get a spare and I'll show you." I went back into the sickbay and took the medallion. I stretched out the chain and Tom did not even flinch when it went around his neck.

I pinched the skin on Tom's hand and said, "Feel that?"

"Yes."

I energised the shield and tried to pinch again. "Feel that?"

"No. Its like you were pinching the clothing I was wearing."

"Well its not perfect by any means. You have to manipulate the shield to fit your fingers into the area in front of a trigger to shoot a gun. Usually it's better to have your finger in place when the shield is energised."

Gus was nearby and I said, "Gus, give Tom a small jab in the stomach. He won't complain."

Gus did not want to move and neither did anybody else. I asked Tom, "Can I use you as a punching bag. You won't get hurt."

Tom was uncertain but said, "Ok."

I gave a short jab at Tom's stomach. He flinched and was pushed back. When he stood straight he said, "I only felt you push. So this stopped the bullets?"

"Yes, when there is something slow it is still soft and pliable. A bullet is fast and it gets hard. A knife or a spear penetrates a little before it hardens up, but not much. We only recently got these. We had to make do with something like Kevlar before." I turned to the rest and said, "Gus, take a slug at Tom. It's going to make me feel better. It's also going to make you feel better too. It's just a shield, not something magical."

Gus came forward and did what I did and Tom braced himself and even exposed his stomach more. We heard a small exhalation of air when he was hit. The force was spread out if it was not a lot and in the case of a bullet, it was deflected if possible or absorbed.

The rest had a chance to punch Tom until I remembered something. "Hey, who's steering this ship?" Nobody said anything so I hurried to the bridge and found a man sitting in the chair. I said, "I feel better that you're here. I thought everybody was so shocked that they forgot their duties."

The man said, "I did not want to run afoul of a reef."

"Where were you headed now?"

"West Palm Beach."

I thought for a second and said, "Head back to where we saw the other ship. I have more to show you guys and that's a good spot to do it."

The man looked hesitant to do so. I tried to put myself in his shoes. He may have not heard everything I said either. "I'm the owner. Head back as I said. The Captain will be up and around in a day. He will back my orders."

The man did some thinking then said, "Aye, Sir."

The Kuenta turned around in a large curve and headed back the way we had just come. I took the opportunity to check on the man that went whacko. He was tied up in his bunk with two other men watching him. When I entered the two that were sitting stood and the one on the bed screamed, "He's an alien. He's going to kill us. You saw what he did. He can't be killed." When I came closer he screamed even louder, "Stay away from me."

I said to the two men, "Has he been given a sedative?"

They looked at me as if deciding to answer then one said, "He was just tied up. Are you an alien?"

"I already talked about that. I am as Human as you are. I and my ancestors were born on Earth just like you all were. Our friend on the bunk is obviously disturbed mentally. There was no mention of this condition in his records. This doesn't say it was not covered up either. We all run into people that can't handle life or who have a chemical imbalance. In a way I'm glad I found the weak link now as opposed to later when we all have to work our best."

The attacker had not stopped yelling and screaming at me. The man I was speaking to said, "What are we going to do with him?"

"There are hospitals that treat that sort of problem. One of the things I can do now is to calm him down. His body and mind are being thrown into wild swings with adrenaline and other chemicals in his blood."

"What are you going to do?"

"Just calm him. Nothing more."

"How are you going to do it?"

I showed them the Heart of Opfu and said, "I never said that I did not have access to some impressive medical aids."

My patient screamed, "Keep him away from me. Don't let him use anything on me."

I just touched the man's shoulder. He fought me with all of his might but within a minute, his struggles got less and then he went to sleep.

With a littler fear in his voice one of the men asked, "What did you do?"

"I'll tell all of you so I don't have to repeat myself. Will you untie this man? His circulation has been cut off and he needs to get some sleep." The crew had to be brought into the fold, so to speak, and now was a good time. A dozen men was more than enough to run the ship when they did not have to monitor the military equipment or prepare to do battle.

When the man was untied I said, "Let's go find the rest and we can begin."

Security and the crew met me on the bridge. Even those that should watch some of the necessary equipment met here this time. I said, "I'm going to start over again. My relatives, like yours, were born on Earth. The second point I want to make is that I found a way to get from one world to another with some technology far beyond what we know of now. On the world I visited, I found an organisation bent on converting everybody to what your own propaganda said that Communism was going to be like some day. Everybody with me so far?"

They weren't but I gave them time to think on what I said. "I don't like a totalitarian regime. I think most of you would agree with me on this matter. I have fought this organisation with some success because I used fairly modern weapons. But my enemy has some awesome weapons of their own. One is a inter-dimensional gate that can be opened from one point on a planet to another. I learned to partially use this device and made a small version. That is what I used to operate on the Captain and the Engineer. I warped space to find the damage and repair what I could."

The man I had talked to a few minutes ago said, "What did you use on Don?"

"I used what is called the Heart of Opfu. It works by itself but it will do a much better job if it's directed. It repairs a person's body. After a while you can sort of get in sync with it and explore how bodies work. I've destroyed cancerous growths with it and performed other operations, but in Don's case I just made him go to sleep."

"What's going to happen to him?"

"That depends on what is wrong with him. If he can be helped by the heart to bring the chemicals in his body back into balance this is what will happen. If he has other emotional problems then perhaps we can try to get him to face them. At the moment he is still an employee and as such I have obligations to him."

"But what about what he did?"

"He tried to kill me but failed. He's obviously sick so I'm not going to hold that against him. He has harmed others, though, and I can't control what will happen about that. I'll ask those that were hurt to take into consideration his mental state when this all happened."

There was a long pause and somebody said, "What was that ship we saw?"

"That was a ship of the organisation I am fighting. They are currently using weapons that we used in the 1700's. A few months ago they started using AK-47s, mortars, howitzers and large ships like you saw but with diesel engines made in France. This organisation control most of Bejek with treaties but some countries are completely dominated by them. We have had lots of battles where thousands of men died in just one day. We had a technological edge but that is no longer the casse. They can draw on millions of people to fill their ranks while we have very few.

"You see, males are not born as commonly on Bejek, which is the name of their world, as they are here. They represent around ten to fifteen percent of the births. Men also rule the planet and do the fighting. Sometimes there is one man for every twenty women. Our army is made up almost exclusively of women that were not much better than slaves a few years ago."

"How can we believe you? I don't see any of those people."

"Well, I'm going to have to check your eyes with the heart because the three ladies in the room were not born on Earth." Chairs shifted quickly as the men looked at the detail.

I said, "Moltatas, will you come here please?"

Moltatas came to me wondering what this was about. I said in English, "Don't worry, Moltatas." I looked at the men and said, "Moltatas is my head of security. She used to be meek and mild but now she knows her rights. She's strong, aggressive and completely Human. Why male children are not produced is not understood but I think it has to do with the men. They're the ones that determine the gender of the child."

There was no reply and nothing was said by my audience. "You are free to talk to Moltatas. I will tell you that she's still learning English and doesn't have a large vocabulary yet." There was still no questions so I said, "Come, come gentlemen. You have probably spoken to some of the security team since you came aboard. Ask some questions to at least break the ice."

One man put up his hand and asked, "What's it like — where you come from?"

The questions started to come quicker and I had to translate a bit. When it got to the gender disparity, Moltatas said, "Earth had a great many more men and I find them — nicer — than the men from my planet. They are considerate and try to please me." She said this while staring at one man in particular.

The women were all brought up to the front and given chairs to make them look less threatening. Only when the questions got more in depth did I have to do a lot more translation both ways.

Eventually one of the men asked, "How do you make that heart thing work?"

"The heart will work by itself which is how we learned what it did. The major discovery is what I am offering to you men." They were paying attention now. "These futuristic devices are manipulated with our minds."

The men just looked at me. "The headband you saw me wearing lets me use more of my mind. It's like an amplifier. We were using it to trace some silver coins. The coins allow us to view the area around them if we are close enough. A person trained in these devices can do without the headband in some instances and in others he can do without the coin. That's what I was doing when I operated."

Nancy, Tom, and their two children came onto the bridge. The woman looked almost petrified.

I told her, "Don't worry about your safety, Mrs Cress. We're just having a discussion group now and I am explaining some of the technology I've found in the last few years."

She didn't reply and Tom whispered something to her. I continued my talk after I called Caiti to come to me. "I was saying that the devices we use can be partially automatic but will work better if guided with a Human mind. I found two neat pieces of information. The first one is that Humans all have the ability to be telepathic. This may include the entire population but perhaps a few people may not have the talent. More research has to be conducted. The second one is that these devices promote a person to use their mind to control the device."

They were quiet until one man said, "Can you read my mind?"

"No, I can't. You have to work with these devices for a while to get the ability. I could possibly read your thoughts within a few months of you gaining this ability. After that time you develop a way to shield your thoughts and I can't read them unless you allow it. The women that guard my life and the members of my family are learning but they have not progressed far enough for us to communicate very well."

Another man said, "Can you prove any of this?"

Caiti was now in the back of the room and I said, "Sure." I turned to Caiti and said, "Caiti, will you listen to what Tom Jr. or Beth tells you? I will go to the stern of the ship and write down what they say. I'll stand in plain sight and write it down as they say it. If one of the crew will come with me, they can see what I am writing. For that matter, I will tell them and they can write it down. That way any possibility of a trick is eliminated."

I got a crew member to come with me and we went aft with pen and paper. I repeated what Beth said to Caiti as she was talking to him and the crewman wrote it down. Beth had her turn and then Caiti got a couple crewmen to say something. He even got Nancy to say something. I was glad Nancy participated. I was worried she didn't understand what was going on and might cause some problems with Tom. The crewman brought the paper back to the group and everybody could see the writing was word for word what was said.

The sound of the engines diminished so I said, "Not to get off this topic, but does anybody want to see a new planet?"



-------

Chapter 41


Everybody went out to the stern and Fislu and Selna set up a portal on the deck. We had been talking mentally for a while so they knew what I wanted. The portal opened when we applied the key and we used the walkie talkie to get someone to come to the portal to talk.

Soon we had the regular students as well those from Section M. With very little coaxing I got them to come onboard and meet the crew. Children, I felt, would look the least threatening. The anchor was dropped in the fairly shallow water and my own family had a chance to disappear through the portal to talk to the others.

Jonna and Lauren came through and kissed me passionately. Lauren said, "I may not be showing like Jonna but I don't like crawling through that small portal."

I was making lots of introductions and the term 'wife' did not seem as bad as I thought.

Gus climbed through the portal and was gone for ten minutes. When he came back, he said, "The stars are even more beautiful. There is no light contamination. I didn't see any familiar constellations but I did see two moons in the sky."

It was not that long after that most of the rest of the crew wanted to take a look. Few people could honestly say that they set foot on another world. Those who were reluctant at first went after they saw that the other crew members returned with no ill effects.

Tom Jr. and Beth wanted to go but Nancy would not put up with this. Reynolds, on the other hand, had gone and not returned.

Captain Powers and Chief Engineer Cabot were brought out on deck so they could see the portal and meet the visitors.

I went over what I had said to the crew so the Captain and the Engineer knew what I was talking about. "I want to recruit men to fight along side me when we go against the Church. The pay will be good but it comes at the expense of putting your lives in danger."

The Captain said, "The Church! Are they Christians."

"Captain, the Church was around for thousands of years before Christ was ever born."

"If they're not Christians then I'll help you."

Just what I needed, another religious bigot. Next thing I would find out would be that he wanted to convert the people of Bejek to what he believed. "Captain, we uncovered a house superior to anything we have now on Earth that predates Christ. I have no idea how many times a civilisation like this has risen. Some of their tools make ours look foolish and simplistic. The next thing I expect to hear from you is that you want to convert these people to your way of thinking. I am trying to advance the civilisation, not drag us back to a theocratic society."

"Our society is not doing well. Look how it's falling apart," he said.

"On the Appian Way there is a monument with similar sentiments and it was written near the birth of Christ. Can't you see that we are always falling apart? We avoid dissolution only when the assholes that don't give a damn see that they are facing imminent death to their society and decide to cooperate. I'm going to reform my enemy or destroy them. We can then move forward and form a just society based on science."

"That's godless!"

"That's true, and it will remove one more way for some politician to manipulate society. Haven't you noticed that wars are fought with religion held foremost but they are always about power?"

"That's not true."

"We can debate this later. But the debate will be based on fact and fact alone, Captain."

Lauren got me to talk to Nancy to get me away from the Captain. Nancy said, "You don't believe in a god?"

"I believe what is in front of me, Nancy. In other words, facts. I'll concede that the science behind the silver icons has eluded me but we are learning. You're a teacher and hold the lives of many children in your hands. I'm a leader and but I have millions of lives in my hands. I have to be decisive and above all I have to be right. Only a pragmatist can do that."

"I can be pragmatic too. Tell me why you recruited my husband?"

"I need pilots to help me fight a war. One side can draw from the population of an entire world. It also has weapons that even I could not believe in and I have seen a lot. My only hope is that the Church will continue to hide its secrets from its own people long enough for me to win this fight."

"Why must you fight?"

"You don't seem to get it. They are coming after me. I'm defending myself. When I came to Bejek, I fought to throw off an invader. You of all people should be assisting me. Ninety percent of the population is female and are held as slaves. Some were like Jonna. She in turn had to act as a master to control other women. Her employer was the Church."

Her face said I was full of shit. I called to Jonna and said, "Would you talk to Nancy about the plight of women in Bejek and those in the control of the Church?"

"I can do it one more time I guess."

A chain gate had been set up. It used the fact that we had an existing inter-world portal that was currently open. Before Nancy knew what was happening she was in Woodland. Tom and their two children were right behind them.

Reynolds came walking back with a gold coin in his hand. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Sure is. I'm using the plentiful gold in Bejek to purchase weapons here on Earth."

"Some people may object to that."

"That's true, but the rich control the governments and hide or shelter their wealth. In other words, they're hypocrites."

"I am not going to argue that. So this ship was purchased with gold from — Bejek?"

"Basically, the answer is yes. Silver is plentiful here too and I suspect other heavy metals like those in the platinum group."

"You could get wealthy selling that to our planet."

"I'm wealthy now. I'm also trying hard to be ethical. Gaining wealth for the sake of wealth is foolish. Believe it or not, all I want to do is drastically reform the Church, teach better farming techniques to the people of Bejek and perhaps trade some of the crops between planets for the benefit of all."

"You're a farmer!"

"I sure am. I'm not trained for war. Others do that job while I find the weapons to fight with."

"You're a farmer and taking on an organisation as large as this Church of yours?"

"Listen, farmers are tough. We battle the elements and the provincial governments and then take the fight to Ottawa to get some action from some fat cats that have to be shamed into doing what's right."

"So you're Canadian."

"You get too much out of me or maybe I just can't shut up."

"I trained to do what I did."

There was one of those pregnant pauses then I said, "How did you like Woodland?"

"It's amazing. It's rough but sophisticated. I had to check the toilets and I was amazed to find them made on Earth."

"Farmers think of the land. It may be an old term but city slickers are focussed only on money."

"I think you're right. Did you want to recruit me to your cause?"

"I need everybody I can get but I have to worry about bringing a Human disease to Bejek. I don't mean physical ailments, but some of the current attitudes on this Earth."

"The Captain's views are not uncommon."

"I know that."

"What are you going to do with Mr Morgan?"

"Let's go see him."

We returned to Earth and walked through the ship until we found one of my security guarding the sleeping man. I told her, "We have him now. Go visit."

"Yes, my King."

Reynolds asked, "What did she say? I know it was in their language."

"She said 'yes'."

We found some chairs and sat down but I got Reynolds to go to sleep first. He got the standard loyalty indoctrination before I worked on Mr Morgan. The first thing I looked for was some medical reasons for the man to have acted the way he did. Treating the Anguy and the Adchek gave me lots of chances to learn, especially when it was artificially induced by the Church. This man did have some imbalances and I tried to correct them. Since the crew would see him, I had to make his recovery appear normal. My worry was that he would just be an angry man instead of an emotionally troubled man and fight me by going to the Earth authorities or doing something drastic on Bejek.

Earth Humans fighting for me on Bejek would bring me problems. Most people were followers and were comfortable with a politician telling them what to do. Ten percent were not. They may or may not fight the Church but they would want to see what Bejek could do for them. I did not want this to be uncontrolled. Nut cases like the Captain could be a real pain. Business people, especially if they were ethical, would be a benefit. That was almost an oxymoron but I had a way of keeping people honest.

I searched through Morgan's body for problems. He had old breaks in his bones but nothing serious. His joints were wearing and I started his body into repairing them. The man was forty seven and he needed glasses but this would have to wait for later.

Reynold's body was checked and I found a lot more problems. I did nothing to them until he had a chance to ask me to. I woke the man up slowly while I peered at Morgan.

"I must have nodded off there. Did I miss anything?"

"Lots. The Heart of Opfu allows a skilled operator to get within the body of his patient and tweak glands or stimulate what has to be repaired. In Morgan's case he was not within the boundaries of a sane person but he was not that far out. It was his experiences and memories that were most of the problem and I have no way of working on those. He has a body that will allow him to be sane. The rest takes time and I am not about to turn him loose now. He will stay with me for a year. He may recover and in that case he can do whatever he wants. If he's still a nut I'm afraid he will have to be watched."

"What about his family?"

"He has none worth mentioning. If he did, I'd send a portion of his pay to them."

"That isn't legal. How do you justify this?"

"If I use American or Canadian law, you're right. I might mention that your government is detaining people without charges or a trial at this moment."

"But they are a powerful legal entity. You can't do that."

"What makes a legal entity in your mind?"

"An elected body — basically a government."

I had to smile now. "Well, you see, I'm not just a hick farmer meddling in the affaires of another world. I'm a major player, too. The city you were in was the newest one in Mendab. The population of the country is over four million now. People are not fleeing the country but coming to gain a measure of safety. I'm the one doing the guiding of the country. My word is law. You can equate me to your President. He does what he wants but he has more constraints on him."

"You sound like a dictator or a king."

"Walk around Mendab and see if it's the army that's keeping me in power. A man by the name of Mantoya Slako controls the army. Artlam Crytar would make a good living as a lawyer. He's sneaky and runs the spy agency. The term dictator doesn't apply."

"So you're the king?"

"Yes, I am. I got the position by saving my own life. The people think a lot of me. I gave them laws that gave them rights. The enemies I capture are given medical attention and then treated humanely as prisoners of war. The usual practice on Bejek was to kill them, their families, and friends.

"I'm not a lawyer but I own this ship. The pennant on the mast says it is of Bahamas registry. In actual fact, this vessel is just like Air Force One. Morgan is my employee and he tried to kill the leader of a sovereign country. Instead of killing or incarcerating him, his body was medically treated to be healthier. If there is a sentence, it is that he is given parole that will last until I know he's cured."

Reynolds thought for a minute and said, "Well, I've never run across that situation before. I could put in a request to your embassy that he be released but he's guilty as you say. I think I'll withdraw my argument but I would like to be appraised of his situation once in a while."

"Sounds good to me. Do you want to apply for a dual citizenship and take over the job of ambassador between worlds?"

"That job would be too much for me. I'd like to visit your country a bit more."

"That presents some problems. I'm fighting a war now. I need people to help me protect my people. Remuneration for that work can be in gold but I have something even more valuable."

"Platinum?"

"Way more valuable than that. The Heart of Opfu allows me to search within a body. Morgan has problems with his joints. I encouraged his body to do some rebuilding. He has some dormant growths which I left alone. I could trade my labour for services that others could perform for me."

Reynolds was quiet again, then said, "I could find you more ships."

"That's useful but I need them to be warships with modern weapons. The weapons needn't be on the ship when they're in American waters. Does this conflict too much with your ethics?"

"Not really. The weapons will be used on another planet. My country has a long tradition of selling weapons to other countries. The thing is that yours is not an approved country."

"It is not a unapproved country either."

"You're right about that. Finding the weapons and acquiring them will be dangerous."

"Would you do this for me?"

He thought then said, "Yes, I will."

"Then I can do a scan of your body if you wish?"

"Go right ahead. I know you'll find that I've problems."

I did a more through search and decided to start on his heart. I saw scaring. While this was being worked on I got his body to begin working on his own joints.

Ten minutes later I told him what I had done. He said, "I had never had a hope of repairing my heart. I had three significant heart attacks and figured the next one would be my last."

"There's another benefit you could acquire. I'm referring to learning mental communications with of those of us that have had our brains improved."

"So I can't read somebody's mind to find the truth?"

"No, only what the person wants you to know."

"How do I do this?"

"You take a sabbatical to Bejek. You learn about the world, our country, the natives, and how to manipulate some of the icons. In the mean time you see that I'm not a dictator."

"I'm sorry for calling you that."

"No problem. I'd have thought it if I were in your shoes."

Food and drink came from Bejek and I took some time to talk to the crew in small groups. They all got minimal conditioning except the Captain and one other man. I didn't want them to attempt to convert the heathens. Then again, some of the knowledgeable people of Bejek thought that Earth Humans were heathens.

When I was done I got them together and said, "You all hired on as seamen. I'm building a navy and I need some creative people to assist me. Think of this as getting in on the ground floor. We can throw out our old agreement and build a new one. The pay will be better but there will be more risks to go along with it. I am basically hiring mercs. Like the Romans, I will offer you a home on Bejek or one of the other worlds I can get to if you complete your service to me."

One man incredulously blurted out, "What other worlds?"

"There are a few. Some have some odd looking aliens but they act saner than we do. Another world is an unknown because the other end of the portal is high in a mountain. I never got down the mountain to see what it was like but the air was breathable. There may be aliens on this world too. Of course if we go there, we will be the aliens."

This got a bit of a chuckle. "It looks like a long time ago there was a civilisation made up of many different races of beings and each group were aliens to each other. They made a portal system to get from one world to another. For some reason, they all left. The portal system stayed but I think some areas were locked away from Humans. I happen to find two of the keys that make the two portals work."

Another man said, "Can't you force the portals open?"

"The physics used by the portals is way beyond us but we're learning."

"Shouldn't the government be doing this?"

"They have more money and can put more people on this but do you really want a rapacious government to meet other civilizations this way?" The man saw the error and I continued. "Think what is done at this moment in the name of gaining oil. If there was oil and the government came here, we may not be able to survive."

"Have you met any aliens?" one man said.

"Yes I have. The stigga are intelligent. I don't know how much when compared to us. I have met them under two kinds of situations. When they come charging out of a portal where they had no other thought but to kill us. They use no weapons other than their teeth and claws but they have an invisible shield like I wore.

"I raided a base and tried to get the stigga to disperse. I wanted them to kill my enemies but they just huddled in fear. This tells me that they are being compelled to fight me. I have read about other races and I can view some through my portals but haven't met any others."

The dialogue went on for a while then I said, "I want to hire you men to fight for me. The enemy is numerous but usually poorly armed though they have been improving their weapons recently. I will pay a good wage and some of it can be sent home if that is your wish. We have a great medical plan so your diseases, including arthritis, can be cured. When and if the war is won, I will keep you on as the basis of my military. After that period, you would be awarded some land on the frontier just as the Romans did."

"How much land?"

"I have no idea. I'm just starting out. I don't even know how much to pay you."

"What if we want to go home?"

"Then it's like the military. You finish your stint, say an Earth year then you can go home. If you want to come back you can."

"What if we tell the government."

"You mean the American government."

"Yes."

"Well, they may lock you up if they believe you. If there are enough people that are talking and they can't lock them all up then they may not do this. They don't want talk of portals and other worlds. It upsets the bovine voters.

"They could make my life here on Earth a lot more difficult. I need supplies from Earth but I have lots to trade. There are some plants that you would not believe how productive they are or how good they are for you.

"To finally answer your question, you are free to go because you have not signed on. Once you do you are in for the duration of your stint. After that, you can go home with your pay. One other thing I might mention. Everyone of you are single or about to be. The Bejek population is almost all women. You have the option of setting up a family there. The laws mean that you have to support your wives and your children just like on Earth."

There was a lot more talk but a show of hands indicated that everybody was in, providing the contract covered what I already said would happen.

Tom and Nancy came back with sleeping children in their arms. They went to their room and disappeared until mid morning. The children were up earlier and used the portal to visit some new friends. I took the opportunity to give Nancy the same conditioning as what the crew got. She was going to be more of a problem because she was going to be alone when she went home. The crew would reinforce each other. I'd have to hope that Tom would help.

Morgan was roused during the night and he pushed himself against the wall to get as far away from me as possible. "Get away from me."

"We have to come to an understanding."

"Not with the spawn of Satan."

"Ah, so it's religion too. I thought you were just crazy because of a glandular imbalance."

"I'm not crazy."

"You tried to shoot me and you hurt three men."

"I would have killed you except Satan shed his protection over you."

Morgan went to sleep, though he fought me every bit of the way. I worked on him again and made the conditioning much deeper. He did not have the mind of Osston or Stofan. I wanted to keep the man's personality as best as I could but he still had flaws. He was arrogant, vicious and lazy. I now saw that it was the military that had forced him to learn more than the basics.

When Morgan awoke the next time he looked angry but he did not cringe. I said, "Get up and get some breakfast. You can talk to the crew but it will be on your time. You are warned now that if you say too much I will consider you attempting to mutiny. That is a capital offence in my books and I will carry out the execution. Your punishment for attempted murder will be that you perform your duties while on probation. You will not leave the ship or communicate what you have learned to others. Do you understand?"

"Yes — Sir. I won't be trying to mutiny."

Morgan got a lot of stares but he had thick skin and peer pressure would not bother him much.

Much more gold had been brought to Woodland. From there some was brought onboard. Everyone's eyes grew big at the sight of the metal and then grew wider at the amount. Now that we had the Bahamas flag, we put in a gun locker and a lot of ammunition. This was allowed by international law so we could defend ourselves from pirates. I felt better dressed even if I was not wearing any of the weapons.

During all of this I used the Heart of Opfu to search out various infirmities. Those that were not sure were going to be sent to a hospital at my expense to confirm what I had said. Some of the crew members knew of the problems and accepted my knowledge of them. These I treated.

The civilians were treated too. Nancy claimed to have nothing wrong with her and she actually was fairly healthy. Beth though looked to have some future problems but I did nothing other than look. The parents had at least been warned.

We put into port after the holidays. Tom and Nancy would be taking a plane home with their children. She was not opposed to staying longer but my plans had changed.

Reynolds would be doing the same thing. There was little he could help us with and much he could get in trouble for. He also had access to one of my numbered account to pay for what I needed. One of the things I required was a ship to transport fuel. Here I needed diesel fuel and some gasoline for cars and aircraft eventually. Even the smallest oiler was large and it could easily provide for the ships I had coming too.

Oilers were used by the military and as such were too large. There were small tankers, though, that could carry fuel to small ports where a pipeline or a regular tanker could not get. These were what I wanted. All they had to be fitted with was a pair of hoses with a boom each.

I had hopes that the portals could take that kind of mass but I was not sure. If this worked the ships would form floating storage tanks for me.

Gus was happy to stay with us now. In fact he was anxious to help any way he could.

I phoned Ruiz but he was not home. I did get a message about what arrangements had been made. My reply was that the arrangements were satisfactory.

There was a lot of hugs given by the children and Nancy but most were directed to my family and security. I didn't mind and just hoped she could keep the secret she had.

We sailed southeast through the Bahamas. The trip was longer than our fuel tanks allowed, so we stopped in at Nassau. This portion of the trip lasted ten days. This was restful for me but after a while I began to show the crew how to use the headbands and the coins. Morgan and the Captain didn't really try so I just ignored them.

The portion of the family with me discussed the attack by the Church. It struck me as odd that they took so long to fire their cannon. This meant that they were not ready. If they had orchestrated the appearance of this portal then they were inept. The only other possibilities we could think of were that the portal opening was either an accident or an act of nature.

This was debated a long time and I was sure they were thinking of this in Bejek too.

I began to learn a lot more about radio in my idle time. Three of the men were good at this and one was a ham. I soon found out how I had restricted myself by not having a dedicated communications officer. We had fought the war and just used the radio as if it were a gun. The system could be made much more efficient by making just a few basic changes.

The crew used the AK's and Caiti and the girls showed them that they were no slouches. Shooting from a moving boat was challenging but we did have time to go ashore at some of the islands and shoot for a few hours.

When we came to the Dominican Republic we stayed outside their territorial waters until we got near the eastern end of the island. When we pulled up to the dock there were no soldiers or even customs men in evidence.

I went ashore like tourists with my entourage while the ship was refuelled and provisioned. The meeting was at a small hotel and we took our time checking it out. Coins were placed in strategic locations so we could get help from the ship.

Our arrival was a day early and Ruiz would expect us to check out the meeting place. He would not expect us to go south to El Seibo that night. It was easy to find the new gold refining company. It was well protected but not from us. Two coins were hidden in the ground so they would not be seen.

The sleeping arrangements were on the ship with an alert watch. I didn't expect trouble but it was better to not take chances. At noon the next day a messenger came with a note. It basically said that Ruiz would have no problems making the meeting.

The crew now wore medallions under their shirts. They could not get the shields to initiate but some could get it to shut down. They would be ready to both protect the ship and to come to our aid if they were needed.

We took taxis to the hotel but Caiti, Camsa, and Osston stayed on the ship to monitor us. Marquez, the lawyer, came first and he greeted us like old friends. The bug detector was on the table and easily seen for what it was.

I asked him straight out, "Is there going to be some unpleasantness during or after this meeting?"

The man was still my slave and said, "No sir. This is strictly business."

Ruiz came in a few minutes later but a dozen men came in just before. None of us even looked at the group because we had already been informed of their arrival.

Ruiz was a man of forty. He was immaculately dressed and not a hair was out of place. I was wearing my juffa suit which looked just as good as his if not better.

I stood as he approached and he extended his hand. I deactivated my shield and shook his hand. He said, "I'm glad to finally meet you, Mr Smith."

"I'm glad to meet you too, Mr Ruiz. A mutual profit makes the meeting even better."

Ruiz introduced Marquez and I introduced my own people but ignored the Security detail. Ruiz said, "I thought you would have a few more present at the meeting."

"They are back on the ship studying math on the ballistics computer."

"That is an odd subject for people so young to learn."

"Not at all. There is a lot of practical uses for the information. They take to a military education like ducklings learning to swim."

"Interesting. Would you like to talk here or in a quieter room?"

"Here is just fine with me, Mr Ruiz."

We got down to business quickly. Since I didn't know Spanish the contract had to be in English. I made sure both Ruiz and Marquez knew that I wanted the contract in the simplest language possible.

Ruiz' money was tied up but since he was a partner in seven banks, he could negotiate some quick and low interest loans. This meant that I could get paid upon delivery if Ruiz knew how much gold I was going to be delivering.

The timing of deliveries was important and so were a lot of seemingly simple ideas. I was not going to be boxed in by them though. Ruiz could get the army or some other force to hinder me and I could not make a delivery on time.

The contract was about the shortest one Marquez had ever written. He went off to get it typed up. Ruiz said, "Did you bring any gold with you today?"

"You hinted to one of my people that you might like twenty thousand kilograms. Is that too much?"

"That is a lot of gold to be carrying. Then again, you probably don't have much problems from thieves with that weapon you used last time you were here."

"I should not have used it. I was just angry at being attacked."

"Your family was not bothered by the slaughter?"

"Only in that some members did not get a suitable chance to practice their skills."

"Well, I hope to not anger them. Back to your question, twenty tonnes is not a problem. It would take me a few months to get rid of that much."

"Would you like a lessor amount next time?"

"Oh, no. In fact I could take fifty if you are prepared to deal in such large quantities."

"Fifty is no problem. If you had the money, I could do more but I would like it to be in units of say twenty thousand kilograms each. We can complete our business in a few hours providing you have the trucks available."

We had a nice meal but the family ate very little. They had their shields up most of the time.

Marquez came back with some very ornate documents. They all said the same thing and I signed them with my Smith persona.

Ruiz said, "Would you like to do some business now?"

"Sure, if you have the trucks."

"That's no problem." He turned and ordered one of his guards something in Spanish and the man hurried out. It was ten minutes later that the man came back and whispered to his boss. Ruiz said, "The trucks are near the docks."

"Good."

The others took taxis to the Kuenta while I rode with Ruiz in his limo. He chatted like old friends until I said, "We have further business if you have some weapons for sale."

"What are you looking for?"

Instead of answering I took out a shopping list and a USB drive and handed both to him. We got to the docks but Ruiz continued to go over the list. He eventually said, "What you want is very extensive. You could use it to take over a few countries if you had the people."

"I guess I could, but I don't need more responsibilities."

"May I keep this list?"

"You may but even that's the short list. The longer one is on the drive along with a file with the key so we can communicate without hindrance from governments. We should be able to communicate through the internet without problems. You can provide photos and information about the state of the equipment you may find that you wish to sell me. The complete list is on the drive."

Ruiz put both articles away and I directed the trucks to open their doors then back up one at a time to the Kuenta. The crew laboured two hours to fill the trucks. Ruiz did not mind in the least to stay and watch.

Bags were opened at random and the contents checked by a metallurgist. The weight was close and if there was an error, it would be that I give him a little more.

The trucks left and we again boarded taxis. This time we went to a local bank. Ruiz did not have any problem transferring that much money into my account. None of the important accounts were in any of the banks he could influence. Fislu was on the ship now using her computer to break the sum up and spread it around to other accounts.

Ruiz said, "I could get what you want and possibly much cheaper if I was able to mention your weapon and how it works."

"Any information about my weapon would be detrimental to me. Perhaps at some future date the weapon could be demonstrated."

"That's too bad. I was hoping to see a demonstration for my own enjoyment. I'm having a small social gathering this evening. The President of this country will be attending. He can pull the military off your back much better than I can. Would you like to attend? I'd consider it a favour."

"I would like to but I have too many commitments of my own."

"The President would really like to meet you. I'll give your regrets to him."

We left when I got back. We travelled northwest but took a route closer to Cuba. Part of the reason was to see some new sights but to also find more areas where we could connect with Bejek. Gus saw the importance of the sites and he was anxious to find them for us.

I said, "Why don't you fly a grid and take your wife with you. It may be fun and I'm the one paying for the fuel."

"She might like that for a while but I'd rather fly where it's warm. It's no fun in Regina in the winter."

"You're right, but we'll still need a pilot when we come."

"I know some guys that can fly and keep their mouths shut. I heard you asking the rest but you never asked me. Not all my friends are as old as me."

"I'm sorry about that, Gus. Can they fly multi-engine planes? I may need bomber pilots."

"I was wondering when you would do something like that. Bombers are complicated machines and even dropping the bombs is an art."

"Everything in war is complicated. As I told Reynolds, I'm just a farmer trying to do what's right. In the mean time I'm shot at with bullets and harnessed lightning. When not doing that, they used bombs and attacked me with some people with a body like a lobster. Galleons fire their cannons at me. In between times they send entire armies my way. If they got over their hangups about releasing information to their own people they would take me."

"What do you mean?"

"The Church has saved all the artifacts from a very high tech past. They lost lots of knowledge but still do small experiments to learn. They hide all of what they learn and only a few can study a limited number of pages in a few of the books. They must have everything I want to know."

Gus said, "It sounds like the typical government to me. They hide all their dirty linen. If you want to hurt them you have to go in and take their books."

"I've thought of that. It's probably a suicide mission for starters, and second, the Church would finally get off its ass and dig out the big weapons. It's a race now. The Church is starting to use modern weapons and it's only a matter of time before they have enough people trained in their use to take us. We aren't ready to face any super weapons and maybe we never will be."

The Captain came to me and said, "Excuse me, Sir but I think we are being followed by a small ship and some air craft."

I could see Ruiz and other people in the Dominican Republic wanting my weapons. They could possibly want to know where I was going. Finding my 'gold mines' would save Ruiz a lot of money. "How do you know?"

"I took a course through the islands that is not well travelled. We were followed. I took two more turns that looked only partially logical and we were still followed."

"Where are they?"

"Twenty three kilometres off our stern. Radar doesn't show the ship advancing. Seven planes had flown near us but I suspect that some of them may have been used for visual confirmation of our identity."

I said, "I'm not prepared to act openly against them. Do you have an idea of the ship's identity and size?"

"We're monitoring the radio but we have not been able to detect any transmissions. From the top of our mast we can just see the upper rigging of their ship. It may be about our size, maybe a little larger. I have no idea of the name of the ship."

"If they used planes we might be able to get lost among other ships of our size. Let's look at the charts."

Crocked Island, Bahamas, was ahead and so was and Hogsty Reef. The former had a town by the name of Colonel Hill. I said, "If we pulled in here would we be able to get out one of the other channels?"

Captain Powers pointed to the map. "I was never in here before. The charts say we may be able to get through. We'll have more margin if the tide is in."

"Let's go in from the south west passage. We can have a holiday if whoever is following us doesn't follow. If they do then we will get a look at them. I'm hoping to catch them napping and slip away during the night. If it doesn't look that way, we might be able to buy an old fishing net that will mysteriously foul their prop."

The Captain added, "A net with a steel cable in it."

"Captain, you have a devious mind. I like that."

We used the radio until we found someone that would give up more information about the islands we were going through as well as the reefs and the town itself. Apparently there was an airport there and another one on the neighbouring Acklins Island.

It was almost three hours later when we changed course and another hour to navigate through a passage and to the town of Colonel Hill. The bay was disappointing because we were by far the largest ship here. We had hopes of just slipping out the back door but a plane circled us and then landed at the local airport.

Security and I cleared customs and went on a sightseeing mission. The local airport was our first stop.

I located their equivalent of an airline terminal and asked, "Is there a plane that can take me to Miami?"

A jovial black woman said, "There sure is. Would you like me to find a pilot?"

"Not just yet. A friend was going to meet me here but I don't see his plane. Who came in recently?"

She gave me that stare and her hands went on her hips. A twenty dollar bill slid across to her and she took it quickly. "Mr Martiniz."

"Which plane does he have?"

She looked at me then said, "The Cessna beside the hangar."

I slipped her another twenty and said, "You did not hear me asking about him. You only heard me asking about Miami and me mumbling about getting to Mexico City."

"I remember that quite clearly now that you mention it."

Two men of Spanish descent came into the room and the first was startled at our presence. The second reacted almost the same. The woman behind the counter said, "You can connect to Mexico City through Miami, Sir."

I pulled out another twenty and said, "Thank you for the information. I'll stay here for a few days before I go back into the smog. I'll call you when I'm ready to go." When I handed her the money I used my thumb and pointed at the two men and rubbed my fingers together indicating money.

The woman smiled and said, "Thank you for being generous, Sir. It's so hard to put six children through school."

"You're very welcome. If your children are half as talented as their mother, they'll go far."

We got back in the taxi but only toured the area then went back to see the woman. The woman was gone when we entered. It was a few minutes later that she came out from a back room. She looked frightened and hurt. I hurried across the room and helped her to a chair.

"What happened?"

"They were rough.

I could see blood at her mouth. "They didn't want to help your eight children through school?"

"It was only six and you're right. I stuck to my story though."

"Thanks." I fished out two hundred dollar bills and said, "Radio me and when they leave and return."

The woman actually thought for a minute then took the money. "I'll do it."

"Thanks." I wrote out the frequency we would be using and said, "They may hear the broadcast so talk about some other subject."

"What are they after?"

"They are following my ship. There's a ship trailing us and one or more planes are insurance so we don't get lost."

I placed a coin near the hanger before going back to the ship. I gave the report and included the beating. Nobody liked what was done and I figured if the men were seen, they may run into a fist.

The crew were given shore leave but had to take radios with them in case we had to leave quickly. The family was the same way but didn't need the radios. The Captain and I went looking for the availability of old nets.

We got a radio message every two hours. This coincided with a mid sized plane taking to the air and flying so they could see us. We heard no radio traffic to the ship but we could not be on all bands all the time.

Two of our crew got on a rented plane and did some reconnoitring for us. The ship following us was perhaps four hundred and fifty tonnes. This made it heavier than ours with a greater draught.

The flight that should have happened about nine thirty didn't occur so I figured that they were going to spy on us by getting close. We had night vision glasses and the girls were old hands at using them. The crew and I were working on a contract when a portal opened beside me. My gun was out before I knew it.

Caiti's mental communication said, "Sorry, I forgot." Caiti and Camsa were dragging a man through the portal. He was bleeding a lot and unconscious. He was plopped down on the deck only to have Fislu and Selna drag in another one in similar condition. They just left and the portal closed.

The captain said, "What happened to these men?"

"I don't like brutality to women. Maybe to get information in war, but nothing else. My family feels the same way. I'm willing to suspect that they took some vengeance for the woman that was hurt at the airport."

"What are we going to do to them?"

"Why, have a friendly chat. Let's get them to the sickbay first."

The men were made slaves but slaves that could still appear to work for their old masters. Ruiz was behind all of this but the President of the country provided some assistance through coercion or persuasion. There were two other ships involved as well as another plane. Their mission though was just to find out about me or at least that is what it was now.

I healed the men up as good as I could and gave them orders to call one of Bakhtin's men once a week to report what they knew. I would have to make a call to set this up but I did not want to make it from here.

We spent one more day on the island but that night we slipped out when the tide was right. Once past the reefs we opened the throttles wide. A report would go out in two hours stating that we were still anchored in the bay.

We were going nearly thirty knots but this was not fast enough. I took the fulcrum and tried something new. It was difficult to comprehend the mechanics but I got the bow of the Kuenta to rise higher in the water even though I was standing on it. After a half hour and lots of experiments I managed to get the majority of the hull out of the water with the bow higher that the stern. The props were not the most efficient in this way but we were doing nearly sixty knots now.

The family learned the tricks I just learned and they did the same thing. The bow only went down again when dawn was approaching and ships would see us. There was no need to go further. At least not yet because we were at the place where the portal would work again.

The Captain said, "That was amazing. If we had the propellers at the right angle and geared for this way of travelling, we could do a hundred and fifty knots easily."

The Chief Engineer wasn't like Scotty but he did not like the engines tilted that much. He started to talk about needing a dry sump and an improved lubrication system.

We tied in with Artlam and Mantoya. They wanted more weapons and not excuses. We travelled the hundred and thirty kilometres to West Palm Beach. Gus went through customs and found a spot so we could port to his location.

We would be parting company with the crew of the Kuenta. They would be going back to Norfolk to see if they could 'find' some suitable weapons. Chief Engineer Cabot was going to check on what might have happened to 'his' engines and try to prepare the ship and engines for when we had to do it again. Gus was going too. More portals had to be found and we could find our own way if needed.

The portal in Georgia was in a city called Albany. Also in the city was a Marine Corps supply facility. This may be a good source of materials but only a hundred klicks away was Fort Benning. This facility trained infantry and had much of the equipment I wanted.

We took a chartered flight to northern Florida, then a two hour train ride to Albany. This was a small city with only eighty thousand souls. The logistical support unit was actually an integral part of the city.

We made quite a sight pulling into town so we split up. I rented a few rooms in a motel to get off the streets and then rented a car so a few of us could search out the portal. This particular node was large but we still had a difficult time locating it. On my farm the portal was nearly a kilometre and a half across but it was not exactly a circle. This one had a diameter of three klicks, I guessed, but only because I could not explore all of the property. I had no idea why this was so.

This area was still a farm but the other homes near it suggested that it had been broken up. The home in the middle, and perhaps the oldest, was very large. It had gone to pot. Maybe the owners were too occupied to take care of the property or maybe they didn't have the money. The other houses were kept up much nicer.

From the rental car I initiated the portal and used the walkie talkie. Using my mind would work but not everybody could hear me.

I had a map of the city and used it to lay out where the portal worked. Going further into the city I looked for buildings I could use to transship goods to Bejek.

Fislu said, "Are you still going to rent a property?"

"I think that's best. If this place has any APC's that mysteriously disappear they are going to look diligently to find who did it. Renting is best because we will have to abandon the property after."

"Do you think there will be problems with whoever owns the portal here? The boy never used the device and neither did anybody else. They may not know what they have."

"That's what I think. I'd like to buy the portal if that is the case. If they had the key that would be the best. I don't want a back door into Bejek if I can help it."

"You can just take it."

"That is an option but I'm trying to be ethical. If I start to slip I may just continue to do so and become something I don't want to be."

"You wouldn't be like that."

"Fislu, Honey, nobody is immune. I could turn out to be a monster that would be even worse than the Church."

I contacted a real estate agent and said, "I'm looking for a home to rent near the area of Antioch Road and Ozell Williams Road. If I like the community we may relocate here."

After a wait of a few minutes a woman said, "I'm sorry but there are no rental properties in that area but there are some nearby." She talked about where they were and I marked them on the map but all of them were outside the area I marked.

"I had my heart set on this area."

"There's some vacant property for sale, as well as some homes. I can inquire if the owners wish to rent."

"Thanks, but I would rather see what the homes are like from the outside. If any look good enough, I'll get back to you."

I took a second look at the homes in the area. One looked good and was only a kilometre from the centre.

That night we started to search for the portal we had seen. We were lucky because we started in the centre of the area and were going to work outward. Our group all came to the house and those that could used a coin to peer inside. We were at this job for a few hours because we had to check everything.

There were two caches of silver icons in the basement walls. The silver frame was in the boy's room. Osston had been more than diligent and found silver in three other places on the grounds. One was in an unmarked grave, another was buried in a small wooden box and the last was under a very large tree.

None of the silver pieces looked that different from what we had but there was a lizard icon that could very well be the key to the frame. There may be more silver to be found but I hadn't even searched my own property in London this well. It would take time and effort to find more if their was any. With a nexus this large, the entire area had to be searched and that would include other homes.

Since I was going to have to deal with this family we made a survey of who was living here along with any empty rooms. It looked like an extended family that ran to four generations.

We went to the hotel to get some sleep. The next day I sorted through the papers I had and chose another 'Smith' identity. This one lived in Maine.

The real estate woman was contacted and she gave us the details of the vacant home I thought looked good. It was her listing so she knew more about it. The house had belonged to an executive of the Miller Brewing Company. He had been transferred and the replacement had not wanted the home.

Housing prices in the US were cheaper than where I lived in Canada but they were still expensive. After a veiled threat to go elsewhere, I got the price of the home when it had been sold three years ago. A visit to the office was enough for me to tender an offer and put a deposit down.

With this process started Moltatas and I drove to the home with the silver. The family name was Brophy.

A grey haired woman in her mid fifties came to the door. After a polite greeting I said, "I put an offer on your neighbour's house. I was wondering if you had some time later when you could talk to us about this area. The library shows how rich this area is in history."

"Come right in. We can talk now if you like. Would you like some coffee?"

"I don't want to intrude."

"You aren't intruding, I'm inviting you and your wife in."

I could feel Moltatas' mirth. We came in and we were seated in a sitting room. An older women that looked near seventy came into the room and I stood and shook her hand. We learned her name was Sarah.

She said, "My, you're big. You're like the menfolk of our family. Now sit down and tell me about the two of you."

"I'd be happy to. My name is Dave Smith and this here is Moltatas. Her name is unusual and so is her dedication to duty."

"Duty? What do you mean?"

Moltatas said in her poor English, "I work for Mr Smith. I am his secretary. I do not understand your language well yet but I can keep track of what has to be done."

"My, my, I never heard of that before." Sarah looked at me and said, "You must be an important man to have a secretary?"

"I'm not important, just busy. I forget appointments and misplace records. Moltatas keeps me from becoming lost."

Martha, the woman I met at the door, came in with a pot of coffee and some china cups that looked antique. We chatted for a while. I was supposed to own a business in Maine that worked on repairing and manufacturing military equipment. I had come here to interest the Marine Corps in availing themselves of my services. This meant that I would open a shop here in town and bring employment to the city.

Another woman by the name of Gwen was currently working at the Marine Depot as a secretary. Her three children, Gail, Rebecca, and John Jr. were at school. The last resident of the house came into the room and just stood there and looked at me. This was Seth, Sarah's husband. He had been a large man in his youth but now was thin and frail looking.

He said, "Nelson, I didn't know you were coming."

Sarah got very agitated and said, "Come here and sit with us, Seth."

Seth came over with the use of his cane. He never took his eyes off of me the entire time. Martha got him to sit in his chair before she said, "This is David Smith. He may be our new neighbour."

In a stronger voice, he said, "No, that's Nelson."

Both women were flustered and I said, "Tell me about Nelson, Sir. He sounds like an interesting person."

"You're not Nelson?"

"No, Sir."

It took a while for Seth to gather his thoughts. "Nelson was the grandson of Nelson Tift. He was one of our ancestors. He founded this city in 1836."

Seth's long term memory was very good and he went through the family until the present. Martha went and got the photo album and I was treated with some of the pictures. When it came time for dinner we were invited to stay, which I accepted. The family history continued with more detail. Three books were brought out that dealt with the history of Georgia and this area in particular. There were reproductions of very old family photographs that had predated the American Civil War. The blurb under the pictures said that they had been donated to the university.

I had talked just enough to get more information. My reasoning was just because it was interesting. Martha's husband William had been in the Army and had died ten years ago just before he was to retire. Gwen's husband was in the Marines and had died three years ago in Afghanistan. Seth had been a soldier, too, but his medical problems had sucked up most of the available money with the health care system the Americans had.

It was Moltatas that said, "You do look like a relative of Tift. In fact, many of his descendants have the same face and build."

Now it was my turn to fabricate a family history. I only went back three generations and used the correct first names but fudged the surnames. The location was in Maine though.

Sarah said, "I can't get over how you look like family. Are you sure you don't have any other relatives you know of that could trace their family back further? Connecticut is not that far from Maine."

"I'll have to ask and check my own photo albums to make sure but I see a similarity too."

The family was out shopping or acting like tourists. Fislu said to me mentally, "Husband, this family's home sits on a nexus as yours does. The portals are similar if not the same. Perhaps these people are related to you one way or another."

I had been coming to this realisation also and said, "You may be right, but I can't give any more information without saying that I lied to them already."

We had stayed a large portion of the day and Rebecca came home. She was a pretty girl of twelve. She greeted us politely and I saw how her parents had worked hard to instill southern hospitality. John Jr. came home ten minutes later and I knew something was different. I could read his surface thoughts like I could with Moltatas. Either he was a natural or he had been using the silver icons.

When we shook hands I said, "Hello John. I'm glad to meet you." This was said both verbally and mentally.

The boy just stared at me until he got his bearings. "Hello, Sir. I'm pleased to meet you too."

Gail came home later. She looked to be a vivacious girl of fourteen. She, too, was polite.

Martha said, "Gracious, I forgot to start supper. What is happening to my manners?"

I said quickly, "None of you have met my family. I'm afraid that there is a lot of them. We are temporarily in a motel but I would like to invite you to dine with us. Most of the members are young but they are very entertaining when they are not driving me to distraction."

Martha said, "Nonsense, you can eat here with us."

"Ma'am, You have had us as your guests all day. I think it is my turn to provide. It's only fair."

"Restaurants cost so much."

"Ma'am, I have an expense account. Secondly, it may be true that we are related. Third of all, I would like to be the host for a while."

"We haven't — I guess we could have supper with you."

Selna had already done some research and said, "Take them to Marco's. it looks nice."

"I'll ask, Sweetie."

I said aloud, "I heard that Marco's may be nice."

Martha said, "That is so expensive."

"I've never been in the restaurant and I'd like to try it. My company can well afford the small expense."

They agreed to go. My own family started to show up in taxis. It wasn't nice to meet a large group of people in one piece. Osston, Fislu, Caiti, and Camsa came first. They were introduced as family but we had to have some better terms than that. When discussing genealogy the precise nature of our relationship had to come out.

Caiti and Camsa immediately disappeared with Gail, Rebecca, and John Jr. Martha said, "Those ones don't look like you."

"None of the people you will meet are related by blood. That doesn't make them any less of my family."

"Oh."

Gwen came home about fifteen after five and was greeted by five strangers and her family. The woman was in her mid thirties and going a little to pot but not bad.

My own group was downstairs to meet the woman properly. She was worried about going out but had to agree when the rest of the family wanted to go. She had a quick shower and dressed to go to the restaurant.

Taxis came to take us so that Gwen had a chance to talk to the other adults about the people she found in her home.

Outside Marco's was the rest of my family plus the rest of the security detail. I had mentioned this to the Brophys but it was still a bit of a shock.

We spread out when we sat and I managed to get a spot next to Seth. Over the evening, I was able to work on his body as we ate and talked. The only two that didn't talk much were John and Caiti. They were looking at each other a lot and the Brophy women noticed this right off. I had a little smile inside too though it was bitter sweet.

I had to go through all of the questions I had already answered. When the topic of the origin of my family came up, Fislu said, "My mother married this big hunk. The rest of us got picked up because we needed somebody to take care of us."

Martha asked, "Do you really need four secretaries?"

"Well, they protect me too."

"You look big enough to take care of yourself."

"Oh, I can. It's just that sometimes it's better to have others do this, the way a politician has someone chauffeur him around. If there's an accident then the politico doesn't have to defend himself in court."

"They must be good, then."

"I couldn't find any that were better." Security liked the comment and it was true.

It was Seth that said, "Will you come home with us? I haven't felt this good in years. Even my mind has cleared some. I'd like to go through some of the other photos.

Fislu said, "I brought Hugh's album with us." This made me sit up really straight. "I borrowed it from Grandma."

Now it was not just the Brophys but my own family that were clamouring for more information.

I finally got in mentally to Fislu, "What did you do and why?"

"I ported to Woodland then to the farm. Your Mom has her coin and she gave the album to me. Their house is bugged again and I told them about it. They were pissed off. I gave them spare headbands so they can develop. As to why, it's because these people could be your family and family is important."

We went back to the Brophys and all the books and albums came out. It was only ten minutes later that we found a man and a women that were common to both families and a lot of tears started to be shed. One was a very old photo and the other was a recent photo of a painting in Mom and Dad's house. We weren't sure who the couple were but the Brophys knew he was the original Nelson Tift that founded the city we were now in.

We scrambled through books and found other pictures and there was no mistaking the face.

I cut the evening short because I had to do a lot of thinking. The family was quieter than usual because they felt what I felt and I think it was possibly seeing that my roots ran deeper than I thought.

The next day I knew the decision had been made by my subconscious. The executive that owned the house helped by accepting my cash offer. I hired a legal firm to search the title for me. If everything turned up ok then the papers would be signed by the man's lawyer and the house would be ours.

I had the keys and after viewing the house for the first time, I had a security firm come and give me a quote on the best alarm system they could get their hands on. When the papers were signed, they could come in and do the job.

A decorator was found to work with Fislu and Selna about the rooms. The outside of the house was brick and stone but it was going to wear the same garments as the Brophy home and mine. The house had lightning arresters but I had to have better units than I ever had before.

That night we again went back to the Brophy home. We ate supper there and when we were done I said, "I have something to say." Everybody looked at me. "I have security because bad people try to kill me." There were a few gasps. "One of the way to thwart my enemies is to use assumed names. I did not know that you were family at the time and I feel bad about saying that I lied to you about my name."

Seth said, "What is your name?"

"Shelly Hugh Driscott. I used to live in London, Ontario. Its about an hour's drive west of Toronto. Everything else I have said to you is the truth."

Gwen asked, "Why are people trying to kill you?"

"I can't answer all of that. I'm risking my life to tell you what I have."

"What can you say?"

"I'm fighting for the people of a small country. Don't ask me to give you the particulars. The organisation I fight has sent assassins after me on many occasions. There have been pitched battles at times and people killed. A Canadian security group has become interested in me because I seek weapons we can defend ourselves with. My parents' home is bugged as is my own home. I'd love for you to meet Mom and Dad but I can't risk anybody learning where I am now."

"Are you hiding out?"

"I go where I want. They only wish to question me and hope I will divulge all. This would take longer than I am willing to put up with. I'm not prepared to stay in one spot while they annoy me."

Seth piped up, "Are they Commies?"

"No, but perhaps something worse."

Other questions came and I said, "Please, don't ask any more questions on this subject. I told you I don't like to lie and I especially don't like to lie to family. How about going back to our common family history? Maybe some of the names will ring a bell for each of us."

I began with what I knew about my family history in Europe. Seth's history predated Albany and he was able to fill in some of the gaps. The cities and countries I mentioned tied in with his.

This worked well and I felt it was time to say, "My family has a lot of heirlooms from that time. A table with twelve chairs and a silver floor mirror were the oldest. I think they were made around the end of the seventeen hundreds. We had a lightning strike on our property and the mirror was damaged along with some less valuable heirlooms."

Martha said, "Let's get out the bible."

I wasn't a fan of any religion but I was not going to be a poor guest either. A large family bible came out and Martha put on her glasses as she found the right page. The family history was written in some blank pages then it extended to the margins. It gave the dates of births and deaths as well as marriages and other important data. This book must have had more than most because it mentioned travelling to a strange land but no mention was made about where it was or how the travelling was done. I was on pins and needles with the rest of my group. Martha continued until the birth of Tom Jr. and the death of his father.

I was concerned because along the way the word silver was used a lot. There was also an admonishment to keep all the silver within the family. We talked of everything except the silver.

Martha again went out and brought back hand written pages of the same thing she had already read to us. "May I borrow this and photocopy it? Mom and Dad would like copies too."

"You can keep it if you want."

"Thanks, but this belongs here. The paper, though, is turning yellow because it was processed with acid. I'll see if I can get it copied onto paper that will last longer."

Before we left for the night, I said, "We are going on a short trip and we should be back in a few days." When we left that night we exchanged hugs and this felt pretty good to me.

I drove to Columbus with Moltatas and Addas. Fort Benning was almost part of the town if you consider 181,626 acres part of a town or the other way around. The Fort was mainly for training infantry but also had a few schools. What I found that was interesting is that they also had the 988th Military Police Company. The company had sixty M1117 Guardian Armoured Security Vehicles in their inventory as well as the newer FM 3-19.6 Armoured Security Vehicle. This is the modification that has the twin autocannons and is one of my favourite toys.

The information came from Bakhtin and I had a layout of the entire fort. This was something hard to get with the current trouble with Osama bin Laden.

We used the old tried and true method and put a coin into a magnetic box. The box was put under the back bumper of an officer in the police company. The name and address was courtesy of Bakhtin too.

We marked time until the officer went to work that night. The car and coin went through the gate and eventually to a parking lot where his group was stationed. It was a simple matter to form a gate and remove the coin then walk to the building housing the equipment. With the aid of the coin I was able to see through the walls. The building had seventeen of the vehicles in it but there had to be more.

Patrols on the base were fairly common but I didn't think anyone would honestly expect this sort of situation. I did have to make a decision and I opened an unlocked personnel door to get in the building or risk being seen.

From inside I could see out the large open doors. I saw the tarmac just filled with the kind of vehicles I was looking for. It even looked like there were more here than Bakhtin suspected.

I left through the door I had entered and then walked around the building. With a walk that said I belonged here, I made it to the back of the phalanx of vehicles.

Seven coins were placed on the ground at four metres apart. I did not have to say anything because they were all ready. Fislu, Selna, Sonna, Porta, Camsa, Osston and Caiti opened portals almost simultaneously. They were dressed in black and had their personal shields up.

Each picked up their coin and then used a fulcrum to pick up a vehicle and hurry it through their gate. Their destination was Woodland through the other open inter-world portal in Albany. Seventy seven vehicles disappeared in a little over four minutes.

A soldier came to the doorway to have a smoke and looked out into the night. We had just finished and all but Fislu's portal had collapsed. We were about two hundred metres away when I opened my own portal and jumped through it.

Moltatas and Andis were waiting for me. The portal shut down behind me and I heard Fislu in my mind wishing me luck. In a moment her thoughts were gone. She was in Bejek.

We drove out of town and got about fifteen kilometres when we pulled over and took a side road. Our wait was only a few minutes before a gate opened in front of us and we drove through.

We had a party that night. Osston was a nice guy once you got to know him but I still had my qualms about doing anything with him. This was a double standard because Camsa was always welcome. Security took care of Osston quite well even though he preferred males over women.

We woke up late and had breakfast. There was no word about the theft and I did not expect to hear of any. The Army would not want to admit it and the government would not want to advertise that somebody had possession of some powerful military equipment.

At noon that day we signed the papers and I used my debit card to complete the transaction. I kept my lawyer and he got enough money to cover all the bills that were likely to accrue over the improvements and the various charges like taxes.

Sarah, Seth, and Martha were home when we told them that the house was ours. We were going to celebrate tonight by going out once more. When Tom got home from school he greeted everybody but also said, "Can you hear me, Uncle Hugh?"

I was shocked then I had to smile. "I sure can. Welcome to the club. You better get moving or they will think you are stuck in neutral."

"Huh, ok." He ran off to his room.

We kept up the conversation but I also had to talk to the adults. Caiti apparently had been doing some teaching. In a moment I heard Caiti's mental communications. "Tom already used his headband to play with. He's been playing with it for almost two years after he found the headband hidden in the basement wall. Somehow it must have picked up a little power. Since his was not charged I traded it for mine."

"How did he find it?"

"Just snoopy like a boy. His father must have hidden it there or he used an area somebody else made. There was an old magazine dated 1992 with some phonographs of women with no clothes on. Tom likes the pictures but he's too young yet.

Tom left to meet the rest of my family and practice his new method of communications. Rebecca left for the same place but Gail had friends that she had to talk to.

We went out to another nice restaurant that night. It was a lot more like one large family now. Seth now chose to sit beside me. I worked on his body again and even had time to work on his wife, Sarah.

When we got to the Brophy home, Seth said just to me, "I've felt ten years younger ever since you came here and I don't think it's just finding a new part of my family."

"What else could it be, Sir?"

"I don't know. I've been able to cut down on my medications, too."

"Attitude has a lot to do with whether a person's body heals or not."

"It might, but there's something more that I just can't put my finger on."

"Maybe it will come to you one day."

"I hope so."

We talked about in-laws and outlaws to add to our collection of family. I gave the original notes back to Martha as well as three copies on good paper. The girls had taken the phonographs and copied them onto CD's. While I was in Columbus, Martha, Seth and Sarah wrote down who was in each picture and any other data they had to add to it.

We also talked about putting furniture in the new house. Fislu brought out one of my albums showing the furniture I owned when it was appraised in London. I wistfully said, "This one here was hit by lightning and I've been looking for a replacement. They seem to be out of stock in most furniture stores."

"Let me see that photo." He looked at it for a while then said, "Sarah, don't we have something like this?"

"Yes, we do. It's in Tom's room."

Seth turned to me and said, "Would you like to see it?"

"Yes, I would, but only if it's ok with Tom."

Tom looked at me and said mentally, "Do you want to see it?"

I said the same way, "Yes, I do, Tom."

We trouped up to the boy's room and found the bed made and nothing extra on the floor. I said mentally, "You keep a good room. I'm proud of you. Too many boys are slobs."

Tom said, "I know," but it was verbal and he blushed.

I looked at the mirror and the frame and then the cabinetry. It was almost an exact match for mine. I said, "This is what I was looking for all along. In a way I should have guessed because of the family connection."

Seth said, "We were going to sell it a few times but it all came back to what was written in the bible."

"If I remember right, it says that it has to stay in the family. I have people out looking for this and I told them I'm willing to pay a quarter mill for it."

Seth almost fell. "Why that much? It's only a silver antique."

"It's part of my family to me. Would you let me purchase it? It will stay in the family still."

"I don't know. We'll have to think about it."

"You do that, then. You don't have any of the other pieces do you? Maybe you know where I can find them?"

The adults left to talk and I stayed and sat on Tom's bed. I said mentally, "Tom, what do you have besides the headband?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you have that is made of silver that you found besides the headband?"

"Ah, a ring, a big ring and a little ball."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, why?"

I handed Tom six silver coins. "I'm giving these to you. The coins are like a radio transmitter. The headband makes your brain work a different way. One of the ways is to allow you to see what is near the coins."

I put one of the coins I gave him on the floor and put a piece of paper over it. "Use your mind to try to see the paper and the floor."

It took a minuted but the boy jumped off the floor and looked under the paper. "I did it, I did it."

I took the paper and drew a small happy face on it then put the face down and over the coin. It took a minute before Tom picked up the paper and said, "I knew it, I knew it. Do it again."

The next was a similar picture but the character was sticking out his tongue. Tom laughed aloud when he saw it and I had to continue with new drawings.

Seth, Sarah, Martha and Gwen came into the room later. It was Gwen that said, "You would really pay two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for this silver and wood frame?"

"Sure, it's what I've been looking for all along."

"How much would a collector pay for it?"

"It's rare but I don't think they would go as high as I offered. There is about thirty five thousand dollars worth of silver in it alone. You should take pictures of it and send them out to appraisers."

"Would they offer us that much?"

"You should get some competent people to appraise it but I don't think so."

"It doesn't matter, they're not family. We agreed to take you up on your offer."

"Then thank you for trusting me. Now I'm offering you the money in cash so you don't have to pay taxes. If the money goes into the bank then people's tongues will wag."

"Cash is good."

It was Caiti that came into the room and opened her pink bag and took out ten bundles of hundred dollar bills and put them on the dresser. Camsa set another ten bundles down and then Fislu came over and put five more.

Gwen asked, "Do they usually carry the money?"

"All of us have to carry some. Cash gets you places without leaving a paper trail."

It was Martha that finally picked up a bundle of hundreds and checked them. She was not counting, just fondling money.

The mirror stayed in Tom's room that night and seeing that tomorrow was Saturday we took him around to find him a nice replacement. Tom and I went down to the basement just before noon and I showed him how to hold a coin to search. He could not see through the stones yet so I did and removed the lizard, the globe, and the cup. Below this was a lead box that I had not known was there.

We went outside and sat on a picnic table as I used the coin to look inside the box. Tom finally saw through the top and said, "It's a book."

"Yes, it is. Now come with me for a few minutes."

We found a shovel and went behind the barn. We dug up the next silver piece from its resting place a metre in the ground. It was a Heart of Opfu. This was very rare, at least until I started to duplicate them. I showed him my own heart.

"Wow! You have one, too."

"And now so do you."

"For me! But you knew it was there?"

"There's much more that you don't understand, Tom. I bought your mirror and I'm going to keep what I found in the basement. The lizard, cup, and ball go with the mirror. When you get older you can read the book or get a copy of it. Trust me on this. I can teach you what some of the silver things do because all of them are tools. They're not magic but you may think so until you understand them. They require your mind to make them work."

"My mind!"

"Sure. Think of some super science that uses your thoughts to control them. The heart you now have will heal the sick and you can understand what is in the Human body."

I had to reach out and guide Tom's mind to follow my thoughts. My Heart of Opfu was put on his chest and I got him to see how the skin worked. We found a capillary and we saw blood coursing through it.

"That's neat. Can I do it?"

"Yes, but only look. It takes a while to get to understand the tools and what they do to a Human body. It can work like a big sharp hunting knife. If you use it incorrectly someone may die."

After a half hour we began to walk around the property. I stopped in one spot and said, "Beneath my feet is where somebody was buried a long time ago. He has a silver coin but it's one used by your government a hundred and fifty years ago. I don't know who the person is."

"Wow, a real body."

"There is more." I walked to another area and I said, "There are a lot of bones here. They are legs and arms. I figure that a battle was fought here at one time and the house was used as a hospital. I can see lead balls and pieces of lead."

"Can I see?"

Tom's mind piggybacked mine and I went through the remains of the bones. There was nothing to protect them and the Georgia weather was damp. We went to another area and I showed him a lot more bones. These were full skeletons but in another part were ones with some limbs missing.

"These are soldiers but the others I think were servants that died over the years. I have one good thing to show you."

"What!"

"Come and find it with me."

We came to the old tree and I carried Tom's mind to the roots and he excitedly said, "A coin!"

"It's one of the type that I gave you. When you get good at finding this coin and seeing all the roots, I want you to slowly and carefully remove some of the soil to get the coin but don't damage the tree. Put all the soil back and pack it tight too."

"Ok, I'll do that."

"There's something else you have to know and it's important. The silver you have, has been changed and made into a machine. It needs power. If you have this kind of silver in your pocket and walk in the rain, there is a very good chance that you will die because it will be hit by lightning lots of times. That's why your house has a lot more lightening rods than other homes in this area. The silver wants to get charged up. When there is any possibility of lightning you have to stay inside. The silver can stay outside and get charged but people are going to wonder why lightning hit the ground so many times."

"What about the coin under the tree?"

"We wondered that ourselves but they don't need much power to work. Maybe if they are charged they will not attract more lightning."

When we were walking around, Osston took the lead covered book away for me to investigate.

When we came inside Gwen said, "It's nice to see Tom talking to you. He needs a father figure and I've been too busy to go looking for one."

"Tom's a smart boy and you have done a good job of raising him. He's going to leave his mark on people."

"Hugh, what did you do to Grandpa? In fact, all of us have felt a lot better than we have in years. Don't give me that nonsense about meeting family."

"You are all healthy or getting that way. In a few years I'll tell you more about my past. Now is not the time."

"So you made us healthy?"

"Right now I'm saying that what you said was impossible for anybody to do. Wait a few years for more understanding."

That night we opened the lead box. There was a book in it alright but it was a diary. Inside the front cover I saw that it was written by Nelson Tift. The diary covered more than his life. It started in 1821. The printing was small and neat. Months would be covered in one page but sometimes a day would cover a page. He talked about his experiments with the Heart of Opfu and other silver relics.

He talked in a few places about relatives in France, England, Canada, Yugoslavia and Scotland. This reminded me of the one portal in that country. Nelson cured his slaves and was well known as a surgeon even though he had not taken a year out of his life to become a doctor.

I studied his technique and I became excited because he was actually altering the brain like the priests did to each other. Nelson worked on his slaves to encourage intelligence as well. Some he freed.

He altered his own family in small amounts because of the benefits but also because of the possible problems.

The portal was mentioned and how he travelled to see some specific relatives in London, Ontario. I had to think hard but the names did sound familiar to me.

There was no mention of Bejek at all but they traded with another world by the name of Stossco. This world was further advanced than Earth. The planet was not populated with Humans. The natives had lots of merchandise that Nelson wanted but there was very little that he had that they wanted. His description of the beings was very similar to the beings we could see through one of the portals.

When the experiments with the heart stopped making any new discoveries, he worked with the other silver artifacts but here he was not as successful. He, too, found that lightning provided power to his silver articles. He had not done as I did and used the lighting rods on the house but he did not have a large portal to deal with.

The last section of the book covered time in more detail. The Civil War had begun and there was lots of talk of an early resolution. This was not the case. When it looked like the farm could be attacked, the silver was hidden and the silver portal was concealed even better in a hiding hole behind a closet wall.

Nelson now seemed to be writing a will when he talked about his property. He could go to Ontario but he had to stay here and protect his property, family, and slaves.

The final admonishment was that when it was safe the book would be recovered and continued.

It was almost dawn now and I put the book down and went to sleep thinking of my ancestors. When I woke up, Osston was reading the book with Fislu and Porta. When they turned to a new page, a photo was taken of each side.

Fislu said, "It's about time you woke up. Your parents want to meet our new relatives." I liked how she said 'our' new relatives and when she saw how pleased I was she hugged me.

"How do you know?"

"We can't phone of talk so we visit and write notes."

"Do they want a vacation?"

"I think so."

"Let's go see."



-------

Chapter 42


The portal to Woodland was open and we used it to get to the other portal to the barn on my farm. A chain gate lead to my parents home. When I arrived they smiled and came to me. I could not hear their minds very well so they had not progressed that far. With my arms I got them to follow me the way I had come until we were in Albany, Georgia.

I said, "Hi, Mom, Dad. I bought a house here and you can use it. Just use cash all the time."

"Where are we, Hugh."

"Sorry. Albany, Georgia. Only an hour or so from Florida. Let's go meet our relatives."

Mom said hotly, "I can't go like this. I look a mess."

"You should go the way you are."

"But I have lots of photos to show them and the albums are at home."

"Then let's go get them. Little Tom can speak with his mind but you two are not at that stage yet. Nobody else knows anything about silver apart from a portal I bought from them. It was a lot like ours but it goes to a different world."

Mom and Dad were stunned but I got them to turn around and we went back again. Mom dug out all of our photo albums and got her camera. Dad and I did the carrying like any good draught animals would.

From our hotel we got into the rental car and we arrived at the house. Without saying a word the Brophys, they knew who they were. There was mass hugging and kissing from what should be complete strangers.

I ordered buckets and buckets of chicken and the fixings so nobody had to cook and we visited. When Martha said, "Where are you staying?" I had to speak first.

"They were going to stay at my motel."

"You will do no such thing! You'll stay here with us. This house is big and there's lots of room."

We sat and talked and tried to get my own family to go if they wanted but mostly they wanted to stay. The girls were listening about my past and this seemed to be important to them and they listened carefully.

Caiti though took Camsa away and brought Gail, Rebecca, and John Jr. with them. It now looked like two girls were going to try something neat with a headband and a coin.

The pictures were gone through and family traits were picked out if they were there or not. It was the oldest pictures that were of the same family that were the most interesting.

Before it got dark we went out to see what was left of a large plantation. Much of it had been sold off over the years but there was still a good sized farm left.

I managed to whisper to Mom, "What about the store Monday morning?"

"I better go back and make arrangements. I'd like to stay here a week of so."

Mom did go back to her house. Instead of using the phone, she drove over to some other relatives and put the burden on them for a week. When she came back, she packed clothes to suit the weather. I threw a pack of hundreds into the suitcase and Mom opened her mouth to yell at me but then closed it again.

When we got back to Albany I said, "If I'm not here, fly to Buffalo. Don't fly to Toronto. You'd need a passport. Go across the border in a bus or a taxi."

"I'll remember."

The next day was Monday and we were making our preparations to leave. The portal and the parts that went with it were now in Woodland. Dad was going to get the rental car and pay the milage. This way the two of them could get around.

I had not gone after the Marine Depot simply because it was too close to my new home. The city was small enough that all newcomers would be suspect.

Dad and Seth went over to my house and they watched the alarm people put in the best system money could buy. After that the decorator would have an allowance to decorate some of the house. The rest would be done by the family to their own tastes.

We waited until Gwen and the kids came home and we had a final meal. There was a tearful farewell and then Dad drove us to my house where we took the gate to London.

I phoned Reynolds and found that the engines had not been damaged. Cabot, the Engineer, was working on changing the screws and installing an external sump for each of the engines.

Reynolds had located a couple of tankers for sale. Both were small and fairly cheap so I instructed him to purchase both. They had to go through a refit because this kind of work would not be available in Bejek. The hoses, booms, and a helicopter deck would have to be put on. The latter was what military oilers had.

The crew had found seven more men that fit my criteria but I had to vet them before they could join my motley crew. The Captain and even Morgan had not spilled the beans though I had them watched.

Bakhtin was doing better. More of the cargo for the container ship was readied. It was mostly ammunition and weapons. They would still be in port for at least another two weeks. The frigate that cost me so much was now costing me more as the mob found one way or another to wring more money from Bakhtin and thus me. The patrol ship was ready to go and even had some half way serious weapons hidden below deck. If I wanted the ships out of there I would have to go and get them.

Getting to Russia proved to be a little difficult. I left the details to my travel agent, Bakhtin. He had to provide the papers under a new identity. We could not take guns but we took our silver including the portal which now had a painting in it and a piece of wood behind it as camouflage.

We flew to Montreal and stayed overnight but the next day we were on a commercial flight to Odessa, Ukraine. We stopped over in Spain for a few hours then we only stopped once in Milan. We had no guns with us naturally but we were allowed to keep our silver jewellery after it was registered.

Bakhtin had provided visas for us but they were forged. They were enough for us to get through customs. Osston for the first time was able to use the icon that translated though we could not reply in the same language.

With some American cash, I was able to find a pilot willing to take us to Mariupo. This was an industrial city on the north shore of the Sea of Azov. Rustov on Don was only a hundred and fifty klicks away.

We rented a car after a good night's sleep. The border with Russia was only fifty klicks away. Bakhtin's fake papers got us through the frontier but there was a lot of questions and we had to cool our heals for two hours. We had no weapons but the lightning gun and we did not want to use that. The men were just doing their jobs the way they should.

Part of the problem was Camsa and Caiti's ages. We had papers for this but they still had to be checked and then checked again. It was only after we were questioned separately and our stories matched that we were allowed through.

The trip to Rostov was only an hour more. We registered in a good hotel then went looking for Tverdislav Lobodin. Finding a good map of the city was not hard. Finding the Cyrillic names was not easy at all. I bit back on my pride and found the streets by asking a person at the desk. Other addresses were given and I used a pencil to mark them out.

We took taxis to the dock and saw the frigate for the first time. The vessel simply took my breath away. The ships were very modern. One private person had finagled his way to purchasing the bare hull after Russia fell apart. He was going to sell it to a country the same way other large countries sold their weapons. Bakhtin, of course, was not considered a country and I now worried even more that they would try to stiff him and me for the hundred and fifty million we had already put down.

The frigate had cost 208 million and the patrol ship another 27. Armaments was supposed to be an additional 130 million but was now 50 million more. The total cost was up to 415 million dollars and climbing. I did not like cost overruns when the government allowed it and the taxpayers had to foot the bill. I hated it even more when I was the one that was paying.

We drove around to the various addresses to get a feel for the city and the various neighbourhoods. There were three pictures of Lobodin in my collection as well as two of his security men. All three looked hard and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. I knew that this was going to be tougher than getting Bakhtin or the other two.

We could not speak the language and had to rely on others that knew both tongues. I could not trust anyone so I had to limit myself to what I could ask.

The best I could do was phone Bakhtin and ask him to send me somebody he thought would make a good Captain. He was going to provide crew anyway.

Bakhtin phoned me back and said he would send Dimitrievich Sakharov to see me. This would take time because the man was the current Captain of the container ship and now in St Petersburg.

The next day, the desk called our room to say we had a visitor. In a few moments we had a knock at the door and a tall aristocratic man stood there. "Hello, are you Mr Smith?"

"Yes, Captain Sakharov. Please come in."

The man came in as if he were a king and I had to look at what he did so I could copy it myself. I introduced the family and security the same way.

After we got seated, Dimitrievich said, "Do you wish our talk to be — public?"

"I do not hide facts from them."

"Very well. What is it you wish me to do here?"

"A few questions first, if I may?"

"Of course."

"I asked Kapsirko for a crew for two ships. He was to raise another for the container ship. I try to be ethical in my dealings and I am asking you now if you are capable of taking command of the frigate in the bay?"

"I was told about the ship. I have been on ships like that before. The weapons systems are highly illegal but I was assured that you had some strong political backing to protect us from the great powers."

"You will not be bothered by any major powers. There will be fighting, though. Are you prepared to take this ship into battle?"

"I am a soldier. I will do my duty if I am in command."

Caiti had gone to the washroom and when she came back she stood by Dimitrievich. In a moment the man went to sleep and I began to put the standard protocols in but because he would have command of a very powerful ship, I felt compelled to add a few more.

Nelson's book had talked extensively about the Heart of Opfu. I looked into the Captain's body and mind with this new information. I stayed for quite a while just investigating the new viewpoint. Nelson was certainly right but I could see some alternate ways of doing some procedures but now was not the time to try them.

When Dimitri awoke he said, "Was I drugged?"

"No, Captain. I just had to gain an edge. The frigate is a powerful weapon and I don't want an unstable man in control."

"What did you do?"

"It is a long story but I will make it short and you will be allowed to ask questions afterward. It all started with how my grandmother and I saw eye to eye on a great many things." Dimitri heard the story. Other than the portal, a new world, a war with the Church and the gold, I told him little else. He did not scoff at what I said.

"Can you prove any of this?"

I smiled and security held up a silver chain and I stepped through it and into the washroom. I did this a few times before doing it in reverse.

"I believe what I see even though I feel my eyes are not seeing what is real."

I reached into my pocket and brought out the Heart of Opfu and said, "Sit back Captain. I am about to look through your body for disease. This is part of our medical plan."

"I am healthy."

"You may be but I have to check. You represent a great investment and I have to protect it."

Dimitri sat back and I just sat in my own chair and looked through his body. He certainly was healthy but he was not perfect. He had some disk problems and I got his body to start working on them. I checked his brain for tumours and then his teeth. One tooth was odd. Caiti was behind the Captain and used her headband and coin so she and the rest of us could investigate the tooth. It was hollow and presently empty.

I continued my search as Caiti and now Fislu did the same with their methods.

When I was done, I asked, "Captain, you have a hollow tooth. That, to me, is indicative of a person that works for the government and may at some time need to end his life rather than reveal his secrets."

The man lost his cool but he stayed seated. "I was once in the KGB. I hope that doesn't prevent me from being the captain?"

"Do you work for any government organisation or report to any of them?"

Dimitri swallowed and thought. I could see he was ready to jump so I tackled him but he had fast reflexes and met me half way. With our numbers he was pulled down even though he fought very aggressively and very well I might add.

I helped him back into his chair. This time a lot more controls on the man. Nelson's words assisted me again. I breathed out and tried to relax before saying, "Name all the organisations or people you work for, Dimitri? Is Dimitrievich Sakharov your real name?"

"My real name is Ilya Chernovol — Sir. I work for Lt. Gen. Leonid Shengelai of the Federal'naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti." This was the FSB which was the successor to the KGB.

I said, "Tell me what your organisation knows about me?"

"We know you have come across massive amounts of gold. Some of this you sell and the money goes into offshore accounts. You are purchasing small arms and now major ships. Bakhtin has been purchasing old and obsolete weapons that we feel you will use to take over a country. He is now seeking to purchase nuclear weapons."

I said, "The nuclear weapons were just to take them out of circulation."

"That is good to hear, Sir."

"Will the CIS allow me to leave?"

"They will not."

"What about Bakhtin and his ship?"

"His ship will be followed to find where it will go."

"Is it government opposition that is stopping the work on the ships?"

"Only partially. Lobodin wishes to gain more wealth."

"Is your organisation working with any foreign organisations concerning me or what Bakhtin is doing?"

"Only superficially. It is not good to let them know too much."

"How many others are working on the ships or procuring parts for Lobodin, that actually work for a security bureau?"

"I believe fourteen, Sir."

Belatedly I said, "Is this room bugged or do you have one?"

"I have one. The room is clean I believe."

"Shit, where's the bug?"

Ilya handed me the bug and I was familiar enough with this kind to turn it off.

"Is there a person monitoring our conversation?"

"Not likely, Sir. The receiver is in the rental car in the basement."

I felt like a weight had fallen off my shoulders. "Do you have anybody working with you presently?"

"Three in St Petersburg and one here."

"Where is he?"

"She is waiting in the lobby."

"How can I capture her without there being any scene or chance of injury?"

"I can call her up. She will come."

I remembered some of the stupid things I had done with Bakhtin and said, "What did you hope to gain tonight?"

"Only to present a good enough showing of myself and possibly introducing you to Faina."

"Is that the name she will use or her real name?"

"She will go by the name of Mariya, Sir."

"Call her up but act in character."

"Yes, Sir."

Thinking of the hollow tooth I said, "Does she have poison in her tooth or a bug?"

"She will only have a bug."

"Where is her receiver?"

"In my car."

Ilia had to stay as Dimitrievich or Dimitri. If I slipped then Mariya or rather Faina would know that the jig was up.

There was a knock at the door and the bug detector used on the room was hidden away. I opened the door for 'Dimitri' and saw a very pretty girl of around fourteen and I knew then that the Russians were onto me.

Dimitri said, "Hello, Mr Smith. This is my daughter Mariya. I did not want to leave her in the streets as we talked."

"You're right to bring her here." I looked at the very beautiful girl and said, "Hello, Mariya. Please come in."

In a very nice voice but spoken in poor English, she said, "Thank you, Mr Smith. You are a gentleman." This must have been her lines because she was very nervous. Her seductive clothing hid a worried girl.

Caiti acted like a child and held onto Mariya's hands long enough to render her unconscious. I picked the girl up and said to Dimitri, "Get the recording devices, please."

"Yes, Sir."

Fislu said, "I can see what you might do with that guy but what about this one?"

"Fislu, Honey, you're my wife. You're carrying our child. I guess Russia knows or suspects I like young ladies as well as the older ones. She was sent here as bait."

This was not enough it seemed but we could do little now. I used the heart to put as much control on the girl as I had on Dimitri. The new way was simpler and quicker than the way I used before. When the girl was mine, Fislu and Selna went over her with their headbands to find any abnormalities.

Dimitri knocked and was admitted. Caiti used the bug detector again and mentally told me, "He's clean."

I still was not good at clandestine acts and simply asked, "If our roles were reversed, you would ask me many questions. State the answers in order of importance."

"Yes, Sir. There are no bugs other than the two you know of and they are only linked to these recorders. There is no plan to storm the hotel and capture all of you, yet. That may come in a day or perhaps up to a few weeks. Faina was to take you to bed and see if you will reveal your secrets to her as you did to me. When all of you are captured, you will be separated and the authorities will question each of you individually to find out the most possible. Drugs would then be used. None of you will be allowed to leave Russia."

I got off track and asked, "The girl's young. How and why was she selected?"

"You are always with young women and girls. We have four older ones waiting if the previous ones don't interest you. They are all related so they could pass as my relatives. They were selected because the older two were caught dealing in heroin and the mother was arrested for prostitution. We gave all of them a chance to save their family."

"What about their parents?"

"The father abandoned the family and now is in Siberia working in the oil industry. The mother is, as I said, a prostitute."

I had to stay on track. Social injustice had to wait for later. "What can I do to get the ships ready?"

"You have somehow forced me to assist you, Sir. You should do the same to Tverdislav Lobodin."

"I like that idea. Now give me a plan that will keep security from taking any or all of us into custody."

"You can say that a great deal of gold is to be delivered in the next few weeks. You might gain possession of a nuclear weapon but not have it near so it could be seized."

"Is there a chance of Bakhtin actually purchasing some nuclear weapons?"

"There is a very good chance. Bakhtin's people are accepted while ours are not."

"What else would stall an attack on us?"

"Some or all of you could disappear and we would have to re-evaluate the situation. Basically, any delay has to encourage my leaders to believe they will get more by being patient."

"Dimitri, do you mind me calling you this name? I don't want to slip one time and bring attention to us."

"Dimitri is good, Sir."

"Well, again, if our roles were reversed, what would you do to get the ships to the Atlantic?"

"That would be impossible to do with the forces against you."

"Ok, now for more of the truth. I have some devices besides the gates that will do tasks for me." I brought out the silver tools and pointed to them in turn. "This is the Heart of Opfu and it encourages peoples' bodies to heal. I found out that it can do more but all related to the body. This fulcrum and lever will allow me to pick up a ship with no effort. Not only gravity but also inertia is nullified. I used this recently on another ship. The bow was elevated and most of the vessel was out of the water. The engines drove the ship forward at eighty kilometres an hour. My family has a personal shield and we can erect a larger shield that stops most projectiles."

Dimitri did not say anything for a few minutes and this I hoped was encouraging instead of depressing. "Sir, you talked of gates. Can a ship be transported through one?"

"I planned on doing just that when the time came."

"Since you did not suggest that you transport directly to the Atlantic, therefore there must be a limit on the distance."

"You're right. At present we are up to almost ninety kilometres but an eighty kilometre distance is quicker and easier to establish."

"Can you not go through the gate multiple times to reach the Atlantic?"

"We need to see the destination each time to establish the other end of the portal."

This required an explanation of portal technology. I told Dimitri everything I knew and then everything I suspected. As I figured, this took a while to digest.

"You could make a frog like advance if you had a long chain of small boats with those coins in them?"

"I could do that but sliding a frigate or even the patrol craft through would be very difficult."

"With enough time and more of your money, you could purchase four smaller ships. They could have very tall masts. A suitable pole could be used to connect two of the ships. This could be hoisted to the top of the masts to keep them separated and still provide support for the chain."

I had to think on this. "What is the beam of the ship?"

"I believe it is around thirteen and a half metres."

"How high is it?"

"I will have to guess and say about twenty five metres, Sir."

"What could it be reduced to?"

"Perhaps fifteen metres above the water line, Sir."

"So two small ships have to be more than thirteen and a half metres apart to allow the ship to go through?"

"Perhaps not much, Sir. The Snezhnogorsk could remain stationary and the two smaller ships pass on each side of her. There would be less problem with a wake."

A chain the size to pass the — Snezgorsk, sorry, how do you say it?"

"Snezhnogorsk, Sir."

I parsed out Snezhnogorsk and added, "The chain and boxes would weigh three hundred kilos. We could make a frame with wheels that can be supported by the deck. The crew set up the frame at one end. I or someone in my family will fix the far end of the portal. This will allow the patrol ship to sail through. The chain is lowered into a small ship which stays behind. The Snezhnogorsk uses another and smaller chain on the framework to allow the small ship and chain to catch up. This can be repeated many times or until your line of small ships has been exhausted."

"Do you have such a chain, Sir?"

"There is one but it is too heavy to carry with me. I came here to see what I can do to speed up the work."

Dimitri and I talked about the details now and I had to include him and the rest of the family in how to proceed.

He said, "I would suggest that you get word to Bakhtin to load the Astrakhan and get the ship out of Russian waters. There are many good Russian soldiers that could be crew the ships. They have the training and the ability to defend both vessels. These you must compel with whatever methods you have so the men will follow you."

"That sounds good, Dimitri. What about the actual movements of the two ships here?"

"The Snezhnogorsk and the Yeisk would individually go out for trials if you can get the authorities to not act prematurely. Can both ships be levitated?"

"The family can do this, too."

"Then I would suggest that during some dark night and when there is no satellite coverage, the ships speed through the portals like you said and during the time when they will be visible from the sky, you levitate them."

I used my laptop to write a long letter to Bakhtin. I included all of the people working for the navy or security. He had orders to not harm them but to slowly cut them out of the loop. I also gave orders to go after the nukes even if he had to spend more money. All of this was encrypted three times in different types of algorithms. Bakhtin had the keys so he could get the message but the United States or Russia would take years to get it.

The message was quite long and Dimitri was encouraged to advise me on what to suggest to Bakhtin to make this succeed. The computer and the message was taken downstairs and the message put on the net. I just hoped that the Russian security would not be quick enough to stop it. I checked one of my sites and saw that I had nothing important to receive.

There was one more place I had to go. We had recorded the radio broadcasts coming from one of the Russian portals. A person that spoke Russian said that the city in question was Tula. It was nearly a thousand kilometres north of here. If this was right, our trip back to Woodland would be a lot shorter. If we disappeared Russian officials could not very well capture us. This would give a longer time for the ships to be completed.

Tverdislav Lobodin had to be dealt with before I made a trip. Dimitri read the notes Bakhtin made on the man for me.

Dimitri said, "You have not paid the full amount for the ships yet. Lobodin will ask for more money to complete the work so he will be more than anxious to invite you to anyplace you wish to meet him."

"Do your people have bugs on him?"

"He is very security conscious and he actively searches for listening and video devices. We have not had much luck even when we used a laser beam on his windows."

"I'll call him now and set up a meeting. Give me your phone number." I would need to talk to him later.

Dimitri did as I asked and I said, "Take the girl with you. By the way, tell me about your family?"

"My wife died eleven years ago. I have three sons and a daughter. They are married and have children of their own, Sir."

"Do you actually know how to sail the — frigate?"

"I am quite capable, Sir."

Faina had been in the bedrooms with Caiti and Camsa. When they were called out, Faina looked more relaxed. I immediately asked Caiti, "What did you do to her?"

"We just got to know her. She's a virgin, you know."

"That makes it worse."

"What does?"

"How a country used a family and a young woman to try to snare me."

"Oh, she was willing to get rid of that obstruction. Her mother and sisters foolishly thought it was something to save for her husband."

I went downstairs and used a payphone to call Lobodin. It took a few minutes to get to the man himself.

After a greeting I said, "I'd like to have a meeting with you."

"I'd like that, too. Would you join me for breakfast at my home? Say, eight o'clock?"

"How long to get to your home from say, the harbour?"

"A half hour. I can have my car pick you up."

"There are a lot of us and I want to bring a man I hope will be the Captain of the frigate."

"Please, please, Mr Smith. It's not a frigate but a trading vessel."

"Silly me, you're right. It's just a small freighter."

Dimitri was told of the arrangements and he would meet us here at the hotel in the morning.

When we went to bed that night, the room already smelt of pussy so I guess Caiti's statement about getting to know Faina may have been more personal than I thought. I could not begrudge Caiti too much because I was still living in pig heaven. Causing the young woman to go against her principles was rape to me.

"Caiti, what did you do in here with Faina?"

"Camsa needed to relax so I showed Faina how to use the dildo on him. It took a while but eventually she wanted to try. I worked slow and she didn't object when I sucked on her. After that she didn't think too much. We didn't do anything bad."

"That's ok then. If she wants to play, fine, but no forcing."

"Ok. When are we going back to Georgia? I like it there."

I had to hide my surprise and said, "Not for a while. The people are nice there and I think a small town is a saner place to live."

"Me, too, but I like to go to the bigger places sometimes too."

The lovemaking was not as long because we had to get up early. The next morning, we showered and changed. The silver portal/picture frame was hidden in the basement of the hotel through the use of a chain gate. It was too large to carry and I didn't want to bring attention to it. Our chain gates had none of the nodes on them and the chains were wrapped around out necks as if this were one of the many types of jewellery we wore.

After a quick shower and change we left the rooms. It would be a certainty that somebody would sneak in and search when we were gone. Bugs were probably going to be found when we returned.

The arrival of the three cars was relayed to us and by the time I got downstairs Dimitri was waiting. Dimitri and I talked in the car as we drove. The conversation was informative but still suitable for public consumption.

We pulled up to 21 Sotsialisticheskaya Street. The building was impressive. It was made of thick stone and rose to four stories. The stairs led right from the sidewalk to a recessed opening with two large oak doors. Not one doorman but three approached and opened the doors for us.

We were ushered into the building. The ceiling was high. This was not the house that an up and coming bourgeois would own. The girls liked the place but remembered to act nonchalant.

We came to a large door and an equally large man stood in front of it. His much smaller companion used a bug detector on all of us before the door was opened.

Lobodin sat behind his large desk and only belatedly got up. I did not like the way the meeting was going so Selna took out our own bug detector and went over the room. Lobodin looked pissed off but he could not really bitch. In the meantime he came to me with his hand and said, "Good morning, Mr Smith. It's nice to meet you." I tried to interface with him to establish a link but he was too quick.

"Hello, Mr Lobodin. I feel the same way."

Lobodin looked at Selna and told me, "There's really no need for this. I check constantly."

"I do the same. You can't be too careful."

I introduced everybody to Lobodin but he didn't bother to present his servants.

"Would you like to enjoy breakfast first or complete our discussions?"

"We can do both at the same time."

"You wish everybody here to know your business?"

"You would be surprised at how much they contribute."

"Your good Captain, too?"

"My contacts vouched very strongly for him and I'm inclined to seek his assistance. I don't know how to run a ship and I know even less what to ask questions about."

We went to another room to be seated at a large table. Small menus had been printed up in English and two servants took our orders. Lobodin said, "This room was swept just prior to our arrival. Please speak as freely as I will."

I said, "I have looked at the contract and see that the work on the larger ship is behind schedule and the costs are rising."

"Some of the equipment you ordered was difficult to acquire and ended up costing more. Our military is not as soft as those of the West. There is a lot of risk in gathering each and every part. Hiding the capabilities of the ship until later doesn't assist us. The equipment has to be stored below deck and the area where it is to be mounted made correctly then capped."

"What do you not have onsite to complete the order?"

"The missiles and the launchers are kept elsewhere as is the ammunition for the cannon and the various anti-missile guns."

"How long will it take to complete the order?"

"At least five more weeks."

"That is four weeks beyond what you stipulated in the contract."

"I have to deal with workmen and the weather. Then I have supply problems. I require certain articles to be delivered on time but many come too early or too late."

"Let's cut to the quick. What do you want to get the ship completed in two weeks?"

"I need more cash. You could pay a hundred million toward the cost."

"You are fifty million over budget. How much more do you plan to stick me for?"

"I don't like your attitude, Mr Smith. I tried hard but some things are impossible."

"I think you would scream even louder if you were owed the same amount of money."

"This is business, Mr Smith."

"Yes, it is, and I want an understanding."

"I need the additional funds."

"If I pay the funds I am locked even more into the deal. You got what you asked for but I am not getting what I asked for. I'd as soon take the ship to the Black Sea and sink it."

"You would lose a great deal of money."

"I would but I also know this is business. While we are at it I am hiring a crew and I plan on using the patrol boat to test them and the ship. It is listed as ready to go."

Lobodin seemed fidgety now and I quickly said, "This is not negotiable. I need time to get the men familiar with the ship."

"I can have it ready in a week."

"So the report of it being ready was a lie?"

Lobodin wiped his mouth and threw his napkin down. "You insult me, Mr Smith."

"I was already insulted when the contract was breached. You have a hundred and fifty million and I want the patrol craft for immediate training. I may not be a man that knows lots about ships but I can see a scam easily enough."

Lobodin abruptly stood up and said, "The smaller ship will be ready tomorrow. I'm sorry but business requires me to be elsewhere at the moment. I hope the meeting was informative for you."

"It was informative. We will talk tomorrow when the ship is ready, Mr Lobodin."

We were driven back to the hotel and as predicted the rooms were bugged. We just removed them and would add them to our collection.

Dimitri said, "What did all that accomplish, Sir?"

"We got a ship. You can now recruit the men you want for both ships. When you report to your people you will say that this is the best way of stacking the crew. I will go through and throw out half and those will be the ones that are married or supporting children. Security will have something to do and abstain from trying to apprehend us. Lobodin will work faster but try to stick me for the frigate just before I receive it."

"You want me to hire the men?"

"You're the Captain and that's what the Captain would do. I advise you to pick those that are well qualified and respond to discipline well. I find that these people work the best in this situation."

"I will do what I can, Sir."

"I require a way of leaving this city and travelling to Tula. What can you do to assist me?"

"You can take over one of my assistants. Either is well trained and can assist you onto the correct train. One has the qualifications you seek but he is not a sailor."

"How will this hurt you?"

"It will not. He's a good man and will remain so after you change him, unless you do him differently than you have done me."

"Dimitri, you are a very competent man. I'm not hurting Russia much and I am giving you the chance to start a new life or simply come back here. There may be complications with that choice but I will try to assist you as much as I can. Your friend will be treated the same way and given the same respect."

"Thank you for telling me, Sir. I feel better about this now."

Dimitri used the phone and spoke in the Russian language. I needed a guide and the Captain just happened to know of a cousin that needed a job.

An hour and a half later, Vasiliy Berzin showed up at our door. He was a fighter. I could see he took care of his body very well. The way he moved and looked for threats let me know that he would do quite well.

Dimitri introduced us and had his 'cousin' sit on the couch. In just a moment Caiti was beside him and the poor boy had no chance. The girls did their search of his body and grinned because he was apparently well hung. I put my control in and then went over his body looking for problems. I found some and appraised Dimitri of what I was doing and why.

Vasiliy woke up and spoke in Russian asking about what had happened to him. This time I used the translator and listened in on the conversation. Dimitri then gave the same information to the young man that he had been given.

When Vasiliy asked, "Why was this done to me?"

Dimitri replied, "You are young, fit, intelligent and you deserve to represent our country in a new world. Don't worry, if you survive you will be allowed to return here. Think of it like a mission that you are commanded to go on. I, too, will be going and I would like to talk to somebody that is familiar to me."

"What must I do?"

"Simply follow Mr Smith's orders. He also commands me."

"I will do this, Sir."

"I knew you would. You're a good man and Mother Russia will hate to lose you even for a year."

I said to Dimitri, "You did that very well. I'll watch the young man as if he were a member of my family."

"You can understand my words?"

"A device translates but I cannot respond unless you learn to use your mind. I mentioned shields before and I'm going to put one onto each of you. Then I will punch your stomach and you can see how he'll be protected."

He just nodded and I put a medallion on each then activated the shield. I walked up to Dimitri and said, "You will feel as if you were pushed only."

I punched his abdomen very forcefully and he only rocked back on his feet. He had a big smile though. "This is a very useful tool."

"Yes, it is, and you are going to get trained to use your mind so you can turn them on and off. Vasiliy will get one as well."

Dimitri translated my words and Vasiliy was commanded to use his foot to kick his boss hard. Both men had smiles after the strike.

Dimitri and Vasiliy helped us get our property out of the hotel. In moments we were in three taxis going to Bolshaya Sadovaya Street, the city's main concourse. The railway was at the west end. We booked compartments though we could not get them together. Tula was on the way to Moscow so there were lots of trains going this way.

Caiti, Camsa, and Osston had a compartment with Vasiliy and I hoped they would leave the guy relatively alone. In this case I did not have to send security with them. To make sure the guy survived, I gave instructions that the three of them learn Russian or at least a bit on the trip.

We stopped along the way and it was night when we arrived in Tula. A hotel was found first, then we started with a good meal. Caiti wanted to take her 'man' out and find some new clothes for him because he had none with him. If he was lucky or unlucky he would get as henpecked as me.

We stayed in good rooms and breakfast was fancy. Vasiliy called a taxi and he talked to the driver so that he would follow the lines on the map that I had drawn. This way I could crisscross the city to see if the portal was here. There was a bit of negotiating but when I said I was going to pay in American money the deal was struck.

I had Moltatas and Janna of my security detail with me while the rest toured the city to find gifts or dress Vasiliy.

Tula was a city of half a million people. After three hours I knew that I would have to widen our search.

We had a meal and the driver was invited. He liked his vodka, especially when I was paying, but I cut him off after awhile. I didn't want to be in an accident.

I drew new lines on the map and the driver nodded his head. We spent the rest of the day in a fruitless search. The local transmitter was not that strong but would still cover a lot of area when searched by a car.

That night I found Vasiliy dressed up like a playboy. His clothes though were good and flashy and suited his build very well. The girls liked their creation too. Vasiliy now had two suitcases and would probably have more before we were done.

I got across to him about the need for a pilot to cover the area. When he spoke I knew he had the right idea. I just could not reply the same way.

Vasiliy made some phone calls and tomorrow he would take me to the airport to see about the details. A new map was produced and I drew the lines so they were between the roads I had already travelled. We even went beyond the expected range of the transmitter just to be sure. Cash got a better deal and it was accomplished quickly.

An hour and forty five minutes into the flight, the pilot veered to the right and then after a few minutes went back on his course. I immediately thought that it was a no-fly military installation. I noted the place where this happened.

On the return leg the pilot again veered but this time the other way. When I looked to one side, I only saw some very nice buildings and a stone wall around the grounds. It looked to be perhaps ten kilometres each way.

We ate later and I tried to get the pilot to talk about his detour but he would not talk about it. After the meal and refuelling. We finished the remainder of the grid.

I seemed to speak the pilot's language when I waved two thousand dollars in front of his face. I drew a line through the middle of the avoided property and then head around to the airport. The finger pointing to the line and then the money got his compliance. To be sure I pointed to his altimeter and indicated that he had to stay at two thousand metres or less.

It took only one pass for the portal to work but it conked out even before we left the property. We returned to the airport and I gave the man his money and summoned a taxi.

Vasiliy and the rest did not come home until much later. Fislu said, "Did you find it?"

"Yes, I did, but its not going to be easy."

"Why?"

"The person that owns the property has a stone wall all the way around it. There was no way to get close enough to test the portal without flying over it. The pilot purposely avoided the property and I could not find out why. It took a lot more money for him to risk the flight."

"Who lives there?"

"I don't know, but he is very rich. He lives in a real palace."

"Husband, your family owned a large farm to contain the nexus. The government was the one that seized some of it for a road. I think this family had got rich off of trade. It may not be with the Church but we don't know. It could also be from trade with another world like your other family had. This, too, could be your family."

"I was afraid of that all along."

Vasiliy was brought into the conversation. We played twenty questions enough times until he understood the situation. The pilots attitude and the value of the property made sure that very big money was behind this. Big money and especially old money meant that asking questions about the person could have Vasiliy end up dead.

He said in Russian, "I understand the danger, Sir. I was trained to defend myself."

I said in English, "You're getting an escort just in case." I pointed to Caiti and Camsa.

Vasiliy asked, "You want me to take these two with me?"

"Yes"

"It's dangerous you said?"

"Yes."

Vasiliy asked a few more questions that lead the wrong way until he said, "They are to protect my back?"

"Yes."

"I will not disobey you but I don't like doing this."

Camsa pantomimed using a knife long enough for Vasiliy to give him his backup. Caiti was the one that tucked the medallion around Vasiliy's neck and activated the shield. Vasiliy just looked at her until she punched him in the neck. He backed up quickly and smiled.

The three were gone for two hours before they returned and knocked on the door. They came in and took off their winter coats. Vasiliy gave his report. "The family that owns the property is one of the richest in Russia. The home here is a palace and only one place that they live. The family name is Dubkova. Our President's name is mentioned many times when this family is mentioned."

"Is the family home?"

"This was not known and it was not something I could ask one of the locals. They would not know anyway."

Fislu said, "What are we going to do. The other place is probably in Chechnya."

Vasiliy heard the name and asked, "What about Chechnya, Sir?"

It took a while to get this message to Vasiliy, "There's another portal there too. The home it was in was destroyed but the portal was still intact. If we can't use this portal then we may have to travel to Chechnya."

Vasiliy said, "Does the Church gains their weapons from the Dubkova family?"

"We don't know. The location is probably some place in CIS but we're not sure of this either. Perhaps if you listened to the broadcasts or the recordings you could tell us?"

Fislu said, "How far away is Chechnya?"

"It was south east of Rostov by about 800 kilometres but lots of it is in the mountains. A lot of Russians died putting down the rebellion."

Vasiliy asked, "Is there other areas we may investigate?"

"The portals are closed and we can't see through or hear radio through them."

Just then the door burst open with a blast. We were thrown from the doorway and men burst in shooting automatic weapons. Vasiliy rushed them and then so did Camsa. I erected my shield as quickly as I could and charged those approaching. I used furniture and men as weapons. Vasiliy got a gun and started to use it. Security was in the thick of the fight and fought like wildcats. In only a fraction of a minute we had the dead and dying all around us. I went checking our own.

Selna had a wound on her right thigh but she smiled, I think to reassure me that the baby was safe. Her juffa garment had not stopped the bullet but did not allow it to enter. Moltatas had a wound on her wrist but only used a rag to staunch the flow. Caiti was unconscious from a wound to the head and Vasiliy was tending to her. I looked around to see Fislu. She was resting in a chair but her face was pale. She had been hit on her left shoulder and Porta was trying to comfort her. There had only been six layers of very thin material and it could not absorb any of the inertia of the bullet.

We brought out all our hearts and began to do what we could while security monitored the perimeter.

Vasiliy said, "We have to get out of here now. They'll come with stronger weapons and many more men."

He was right. Some of us gathered our property while the rest continued to administer aid. Sirens were heard in the distance. I pointed to Vasiliy and Camsa and said, "Take some guns and ammo and get out of here. Bring a gate so we can get away. The police will do what the President's friend wants."

Camsa stippled the gun and went looking for ammo then pulled Vasiliy with him. I nodded my head in when I bid both of them goodbye. Belatedly I looked for a living attacker to ask questions. The wounded were being looked after and I found two with only minor wounds. I forced myself to give them first aid as I probed their minds. It was a shock to see that they were already controlled and the job was done very well. After a moment I was able to substitute myself for the one they would obey. It was another shock to see that they wore medallions just like we did.

One more man was seriously wounded and I tried to save him. I figured he would not make it but I had a use for him. I changed the focus of his conditioning. I could not talk to him to give him orders. When the police came, I used a pistol to shoot one round. Lots of Russian was spoken but I still fired.

The police had been here for nearly ten minutes and more units had arrived. Lights shone in our windows from the street. Into all this a gate appeared and all of us had our guns ready. It was Camsa that came through with a big smile.

We evacuated the wounded first then all of our silver and those from the attackers. Finally our suitcases were taken through the gate. After one last shot I left and the gate closed behind us.

We were in a warehouse with stacks of wooden boxes. I went to Caiti and saw that she had not awoken yet. I added my own healing but the rest had done just as good a job as I could. I was still numb from the attack and it was only now that the realisation was sinking in. My family was hurt and some were still in danger no matter what I did. I had failed and failed miserably.

Selna and Fislu looked a little better. They were being tended by Porta and Sonna but I was able to get close and hold them without bothering their caregivers.

Fislu said, "I was not fast enough getting my shield up. It won't happen again."

Being careful of her wound I held her tighter and said, "I was not ready either. They came by gate and I'm sure they could see into our room."

Selna looked at the two wounded men and said, "Why didn't you kill them?"

"I can't question a dead man."

Moltatas was giving orders and some were to Vasiliy even though he could not understand them. Soon he was on the ground and Osston was tending to him. I felt bad because I was so busy I didn't know that he was wounded.

I called Camsa and asked, "When did Vasiliy get hurt?"

"It was during the first fight. I put his shield up as soon as I was able. Most of the time he was fighting unarmed and unprotected. When we left the hotel we were followed by a car. Vasiliy shot the driver through the windshield and then two others in the car. I only got two in another car. He's fast. I bandaged him and used the heart on his arm then put the shield back up."

"Thanks, Camsa. You did a good job." I looked at Vasiliy and added, "Your fast actions saved us. Vasiliy's a professional and he can show you the way this has to be done. I'll have to take notes too."

Vasiliy was laying on the concrete floor. Osston had removed the bandage and was holding the wound closed. His eyes were shut in concentration as he used the heart to start repairing the damage. When Osston opened his eyes I crouched down and said specifically to Vasiliy, "You did a good job and saved at least some of our lives. Thank you."

Vasiliy talked in Russian so I had to hold onto the translating icon and he started again. "I think you're thanking me. Those men were law breakers and I did what was necessary. I wish we could talk the same language."

"You will have lots of teachers, Vasiliy."

The sound of police cars approached and then faded away. We were being pursued. I had to think of a way out of here while the chances were good.

I got Camsa up and said, "You did such a good job of finding this place that I want you to find some more. If the police come now we have no place to run to."

Camsa had a smile. "I can do that easy."

"Porta will follow you mentally with a chain in case you have to jump back here."

Camsa checked his gun and I didn't have to tell him not to shoot the police. He was a responsible young man that I was happy to know. Camsa gave me another smile and walked to the wall. He stood in front of the chain we used to get here. I focussed on the coin in his hand and then to the other side of the wall. The gate energised and Camsa stuck his head out to look for threats before hurrying off into the night.

Vasiliy said something and I had to hold the icon. "You people can do some amazing things."

One of the two captives was awake. I pointed to Vasiliy and myself and showed two fingers that were close. I pointed to the two men and showed that they were close too. Vasiliy didn't seem to understand.

I crouched near the two newcomers and said, "Do you speak English?" One must have known some and shook his head but he pointed to the unconscious one and showed a small gap between his finger and thumb.

With a finger pointing, I said, "Talk to Vasiliy for me. Tell him about who sent you and how."

The man didn't understand and said, "You wish me to talk about what happened, Master?"

"Yes," of course this was said in some of the only Russian words I knew."

The man needed help getting up and I assisted him over to Vasiliy and Osston. Vasiliy was getting nervous and ready to fight but I just shook my head at him.

Vasiliy said harshly, "Why did you attack us?"

"I was ordered to do this by my old master."

"Who sent you."

"This time it was Leonid Baich."

"Who is he?"

"He's the man that handles security for the Dubkova family in this area."

"What did he order you to do?"

"We were to step through a chain of silver and find ourselves in the hallway of a hotel. We were to use an explosive charge to destroy the door of room 417. We were then told to enter and kill everyone. Then we were to stay in place and search for anything made of silver. A ring would form and we would leave through it."

"How did the ring get set up?"

"I have no idea. That was the first time I saw such a device. I have worked for a private security company for seven years and heard nothing of such a device. Now I believe that this had to be used other places from rumours I have heard."

"Tell me about them?"

"Nikolin, Berezhnaya, and Sharova were assassinated. They were guarded by many people. The reports could not find a way for this to have been done."

I said, "Who is — Berezhnaya?"

Vasiliy said, "Two of those men were high ranking criminal leaders and the other was a politician that was critical of our President."

"Dubkova?"

"Yes, we have to find out more about that family."

The man talked about the family but most of it was from hearsay or the newspapers. He was not their confidant. He was basically just a tool that was brought out when needed.

The other slave awoke and I went to him. "Hello, I have a few questions for you."

"Yes, Master."

I asked much the same questions but the man knew just as much, or rather just as little, as his partner. His English was not very good but still far better than my Russian. I asked about the palace I had overflown but the man had never been behind the walls. He did talk about what he had heard though. The place had a hundred and thirty eight rooms. The owners used their own stairs and even an elevator and the servants used their own entrances and stairs.

He talked about the outbuildings and one was a carriage house, but it was many times larger than the one on my property. In fact, it was larger than my home. There were some buildings near the walls used for equipment to tend to the grounds. I was also told that there were SAM missile sites near the walls which was probably why the pilot was hesitant to risk the flight over the property.

I let the man rest and I sat with Caiti now and held her. She had awoken and felt a lot of pain. I remembered Nelson's words in his book and worked in Caiti's head to repair damage and to improve her pain tolerance.

Porta opened the gate and Camsa came through. He came over to me and said, "We should move. There are a lot of people searching every building they come across."

"When do you think they will they make it here?"

"An hour or two. They have hundreds of people and a lot go in to check each building."

"Did you get a coin past them?"

I got a big smile and said, "Yes, there were some kids that got chased out of the buildings and I just ran with them. They let me pass."

"You're pretty smart."

"I'm part of Section M, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. When you go home you are going to have them all eating out of your hand as you tell them your stories." Camsa turned red and looked down. I knew I had scored a direct hit.

Camsa opened the gate to his chosen position. Security went in first to check, then we moved through. Once it looked that this was secure enough we ran a gate back to the warehouse to recover the chain and then clean up all the evidence that we had been here. Bloodstains were hard to clean off the concrete. We used the fulcrums to shift the entire pile of crates at once so that they covered the area we wanted hidden.

We had moved to another warehouse. I went around to find doors and look for any security features. The lighting was poor but there was enough.

A dark spot on the floor looked like the blood we had hidden in the last building but was only oil or hydraulic fluid. I started to move on but something bothered me. It took a moment to analyse this and the floor drew my gaze once again. There were tire marks in the dirty floor which was nothing special for this building. In a second I had it. The tire marks went right to the short concrete wall that supported the wood frame of the building. I looked closer and saw that the concrete here was much newer. Stepping back I looked up and saw a wood frame on the wall that served no structural purpose. It reminded me of the steel one I had in Woodland and the wooden one I had in my barn.

I got close to the riser and concentrated on the wood and then beyond. I could see through the material and I found metal links. It was a silver chain. I was so shocked at this that I didn't realise that I had looked through the wood without my headband.

My astonishment passed to the others and they came over. I said mentally, "I didn't need the headband at all."

Camsa said, "Even without the coin?"

"We haven't used the coin for a while if we were close."

"That's neat. I want to try."

He did and he said, "I can do it but I can't go far. I can see the other side of the wall but that's about it."

Sonna said, "Is this to move stuff like we do?"

I said, "It probably is. I can't see the people that own that home having deliveries made there. I don't know why they have the portals here though."

Osston said, "The Church doesn't want more than one portal or gate opened. We have opened portals from a distance but up to now this has not been necessary. The range is less, too. I don't know why this is the case."

"I wonder if we can open the gate and get into their base?"

Selna said, "We have to recover first. We can't fight very effectively now."

"I know that, Honey. I was just thinking of it." I thought more and said, "We have more problems too I think."

Selna said, "What?"

"The FSB was trying to catch us. They may try to seize the ships, including the one Bakhtin has. It looks like the person that is opposing us is very powerful. Nobody else would have tried what they did."

"What can we do?"

"Nothing. If they're going to take the ships then that's it."

Camsa said, "Can't we — get into their house and take their portal? They can't send their stuff to the Church then. We have a gate here already. We just visualise this area and we could come back here or any place we want."

"I understand what you're getting at. They hurt our family and I want revenge but I don't want to get my family hurt any more."

Moltatas said, "We can fight. Our shields are good. You can fire your lightning. If we destroy the portal then the Church is cut off."

We talked a lot more then came back. This time we moved away from the gate just in case it was activated. We set up our camp up on top of the boxes and nobody would be able to see us.

Vasiliy said, "I have a question. If it is importunate then please tell me." I nodded and he added, "Why were you staring at the wall?"

The man that understood some English was asked to translate my reply. "When we use the icons enough, our minds change. We can speak to each other with our minds alone. In a way, we speak to the icons as well but actually just command them."

This was translated and I added, "There are tire marks on the floor that lead me to a hidden chain gate. We believe that the gate leads to the Dubkova home. There we would find a solid inter-world portal leading to Bejek and the Church."

This was a lot to digest but eventually Vasiliy said, "Why would they do it this way?"

"I didn't need the translation and said, "Security, I guess. A gate can open at any time and they don't like seeing the chains around. Perhaps the Church has a defence against the tail end of a gate forming near them. I simply don't know."

Vasiliy said, "Can the Dubkova family do what you can do?"

"They were around for a long time if they have a house like that. They would have a lot of opportunity to learn about their minds. They were able to form a gate to the hall outside our door but not enough to put a shield in place. On the other hand, their control of their slaves was a lot more subtle."

"Slaves?"

"Exactly. The two men with us are now my slaves. I didn't rip down what was there but only placed myself in the position of authority."

"I don't feel like a slave."

"You aren't. I did just enough to get you to trust me. You could break the conditioning if you tried hard enough. I treat you just like I do any others so there should be no reason for you to rebel."

Vasiliy paused for a while to think and said, "I still love my country and want to do the best for it. You are just like my superior officer."

"That's the way I want it. These other two men will be freed at some time. I don't know if they are guilty of any crime because they were compelled to do what they did."

Vasiliy did some additional thinking and asked, "Can we use that portal on the wall to get to their home?"

"We have to visualise the terminus. They have to do something similar and probably a bit more difficult by starting a gate from a distance. We have no idea what the other end looks like so we can fix that end."

"You do this with those coins, Sir?"

"Yes, but the coin has to get into the enemy camp or at least to the wall of the house so we can see beyond the foundations."

"A home like that will have visitors. Deliveries of food and perhaps even mail is dropped off. You could place a coin in somebodies pocket."

"We have done that before with a magnetic box containing the coin. It was attached to their vehicle."

"Could this be used again?"

"I don't see why not, but an attack would prove fatal for some of us. We can't even fight as good as we used to."

"What you say may be true but do you really think that the Dubkovas are prepared for this kind of attack? Their property may be mined, have lasers, or even machine guns but there would be little in the house itself. Perhaps if you captured some important member, you could use them as a hostage to see that you can leave Russia alive."

"That's a good idea but then I have an enemy at my back. I wish I knew more about the family."

"The Dubkova family is always in the news. They rose to power only after the Bolsheviks came to power. The present head of the family is the grandson of the man that brought the family to fame. They must have had party connections at the highest levels to run some of the factories."

"What families owned the businesses?"

"It was only one family. The Duchovnys were well known by the Czar but they were not part of the nobility. They were still executed with the rest."

Selna eagerly said, "Your family, or at least the part that may have lived here, could have been rich. When the war came they would have been killed or fled. The Dubkova just took over and grew."

"That could be the case. The Church would not have traded much with them until recently. There was no need."

Selna added, "Because you forced them to."

"I guess I did but we still have our problems here and now."

Vasiliy asked, "You have somehow gathered my assistance though I feel that I could refuse if it were against my morals."

"That was the way I intended it."

"That's good to hear. You have acquired two men you consider slaves. Could you not do this on a larger scale and arm them with your shields?"

"Men like you I ask first and put less control on. You work for the FSB so you have a bit more instead. My enemies have to be made slaves but some of those have not remained so ardently my enemy. To take slaves I would only take those that would attack me."

"You have two men that can provide names and addresses."

"They are probably out hunting for us at this moment."

"Let's sleep and when the others are too tired to go on they will rest. We could get them then."

Selna said, "That's a good idea. It also cuts down on the number of men the Dubkovas can draw from."

Vasiliy didn't hear our mental communications and I did not enlighten him. I saw the arguments but the best was to stop the flow of weapons to the Church. With enough help it might be possible to beat the Dubkova, at least until they called in the army to assist them.

I helped everybody to get some sleep and took the first watch. After two hours, I awoke one of the security team and went to sleep myself. I had slept more than eight hours and it was nearly ten o'clock when I awoke.

There was noise in the building as gasoline and diesel powered forklifts loaded trucks or removed the cargo from other vehicles. There was also the smell of food nearby. When I looked I saw some cardboard boxes.

Porta said, "Camsa went out and got to the other side of town. Vasiliy went through the gate to get some food. If you want to pee, you have to use the gate to go onto the roof."

"Thanks, Honey. How are Caiti, Fislu, and Selna?"

"They are doing a lot better. One of the men has a bullet in him. We should dig it out with the gate.

"Why didn't you already do it?"

"He was sleeping and we only had some thread from our clothes."

I ate quickly and went to the flat roof to write my name. Napkins helped me after I put a big period at the end. I washed in the snow before getting the wounded man to lay back and I put him to sleep. He still had his medallion so all I needed was the chain.

Vasiliy came over and looked at us. I tried this without the headband and found I was not get close enough so I put the band on. The bullet had mushroomed and then fragmented. I had plucked hundreds of bullets out of people so this was nothing new.

Selna helped me turn the patient over. Two crates and a board between them supported the chain that was laying on it. I pictured the head of the bullet and focussed the gate to just clear the top of it. I reached in with my fingers and pushed the flesh down and pulled out the bullet. This brought about fresh bleeding and I used pre-tied loops of thread to tie off the veins.

The procedure was repeated to get the fragments. After that I used the Heart of Opfu to heal the wounds and to fight disease.

Vasiliy said, "That was very interesting. Do you really think that I could be trained to use my mind so I could do that?" I only nodded because the interpreter was asleep.

Vasiliy was checked over and I saw that he was healing quite well. Caiti was moving around but her smile had not come back. I was sure that anybody else would be on their deathbed if they had received similar wounds.

Fislu had a smile for me but only a little one. She had major bruising and the skin had broken under the impact. Selna was more than willing to show me her leg but I looked at her swollen abdomen more. Both of my children could have died along with two of my wives.

The last to be checked was Moltatas. She tried to hide her problems but she was still healing quite well.

Just before noon, Vasiliy and I questioned the two slaves about what usually happened when they were called to duty. There was a large building in town that Leonid Baich worked from. It had high security and a computer card had to be swiped to get in. Human guards checked papers further in. Cameras and a large security station kept track as well. The men lived in their own homes but there was a barracks when the need arose.

The building was too hard to take unless I was prepared to destroy it. We would just have to take the men one at a time.

Leonid Baich lived in a penthouse suite at the top of the building. He was not married but he had a bevy of women that came to see him. One old woman took care of the apartment and prepared his food.

We figured that we could do the most by taking the top dog first.

Andis, Vasiliy, and I stepped through a gate that led to the far side of town. Vasiliy called a taxi. When one came, I saw that the driver was very nervous. Vasiliy put a gun to his lower jaw and ordered him to drive a few blocks away.

I worked on the man to give him the same conditioning as Vasiliy. When the man came around, Vasiliy asked him for any news about us.

"It was on the radio. We heard that there was a fight when you killed some security men that came to question you. Later, you came to the police station and killed one of the security men you missed and three police officers. There's a large reward for you."

We drove downtown while I sank low in the seat. Andis got out of the car in a parking lot and entered a tall building across the street from the building we wanted. The taxi driver was allowed to leave with a generous tip and the truth about what happened last night.

In ten minutes, I opened a gate to Andis. I used another gate to get onto the roof and avoid damage to a heavy door. Just like in Petawawa, I made a snowball with a coin in it. The snow had to be warmed up inside the building long enough to make it stick together. I threw this across the street and it landed on the flat roof of the building. I had a primary plan but this required a slingshot which I didn't have. The snowball had to suffice.

We retreated the lowest floor and I visualised the coin that was across the street. I could peek through the ceiling but not far enough to see far into the apartment. I opened the gate and stepped out of it onto the roof with Vasiliy. I collapsed the gate as Vasiliy helped string up another chain. In a moment Andis was with us.

I picked up the coin in my hand and could see the apartment below or at least one bedroom. I searched the ceiling and walls and saw nothing unusual. We did the same travelling routine again and we were now in the apartment with all our property.

The coin was put to the wall and I searched until I found the woman. She was cleaning the bathroom. Again I searched walls but saw nothing that indicated microphones or cameras. Then again the man may not want himself captured on film in one of those magic moments.

I removed my shoes and entered the apartment by the door. I spent my time searching what I could until I was warned that the old woman was coming out. The woman found Andis casually sitting on a chair. She was startled and started to yell in Russian. Vasiliy grabbed the old woman and she fought quite hard. It took a moment before I was able to get her to sleep. When I checked the woman's mind I found it just like the two assassins. She had to be my slave now.

The old woman's name was Larisa. When she awoke her head moved quickly in fright. Vasiliy did the questioning and found that we would have a long wait. Baich would not be here until seven tonight.

I opened a gate to the rest of the family and invited them to some better digs. They now had a chance to shower up and eat. Larisa made us a nice meal and we all complimented her. This pleased her. She spent her time sitting with us and sipping tea. Vasiliy was polite when he asked questions and he wrote down the answers like a good policeman or agent.

There was a safe and it was alarmed but we just went through a gate to take everything out. There was a computer but it was networked so we didn't touch it. It would have passwords and encryption anyway.

We stayed away from the main door in case Baich arrived unexpectedly. The girls watched television news and saw how some western gangsters had killed a security unit sent to question them. There were no pictures but there was a good description of each of us. The younger girls were supposedly innocent and used for sex as was Camsa. Moltatas was happy to hear that she was the leader of a gang of female commandos.

Larisa made the meal she was supposed to make for her employer. He had the bad manners to show up an hour and a half late and with two men. The conditioning the men were under made their surrender impossible. Vasiliy and I discussed what to do in various situations including taking care of a bunch of women.

Baich opened the door and yelled at Larisa. She came running to him and didn't look at us behind the door. It was when the door was shut that we attacked. All of us wore shields. We used makeshift clubs. I admired the way Vasiliy worked and I wished I had the time to train like he did.

Three men were laying on the floor in any case and I began to put them out my way. Baich's mind was done with even more complexity and Osston came over to investigate this with me. We debated a long time then moved to the next man instead. He must be high ranking too because his mind was almost as complicated. The third man was almost the same.

Osston and I worked as a team to process the latter two. We learned something from this and it helped us avoid a trap that was engineered into Baich's mind.

I was surprised that we had been busy for three hours. Baich was not complete like the others but he would cooperate. We ate supper and I even allowed Baich to sit at the head of the table and be host.

When the meal was over Vasiliy began the questioning. Baich was not top dog in security, just here in this important location. We got a sample of what the Dubkova family was like. This was the Russian mob at its finest.

Vasiliy asked, "Your mind was altered. How did this happen?"

"Vladislav Dubkova called me to his home nine years ago. Do you want the date? I can find it."

"No, proceed."

"Mr. Dubkova had a man with him. He was dressed oddly. His clothes were of silk but finer. They were not cut like our clothes."

"Tell us what happened."

"I was commanded to sit in a chair and in a moment I fell asleep. I woke up with a headache two hours later. My thinking had dramatically changed. I saw Mr Dubkova as — as almost a god. The strange man was a god."

"Do you have a name for the man?"

"We were never introduced."

"Do you know who this man represented?"

"I only knew that it was a powerful group."

"Did you have a chance to find out what was shipped out of the warehouses by Mr Dubkova?"

"I found some of the articles but not all. It started with old rifles and ammunition then it changed to howitzers, mortars and many more rifles along with ammunition for all of the weapons."

"How is this transported?"

"It is put in trucks and trains and comes from all over the world. It is stored in the warehouses in this and other cities."

"How is this transported out of this city?"

"I am not sure. A ring of light appears on a wall in a warehouse. The drivers are commanded to drive their vehicles through it and place their load in another warehouse. I don't know where it goes from there."

"Do you have any idea where this second warehouse is?"

Baich hesitated for a split second and said, "I think it's on the property of Mr. Dubkova and possibly under his home."

During a pause I said one word, "Duchovny?"

Vasiliy asked, "What do you know about the Duchovny family and what they owned?"

"I was given the task of finding out all I could about the family. I was given books written about them by people before me. This went back to 1840 and even further. The family was very influential and very rich under the Tzar. They were not part of the aristocracy though. Most of the family had been rounded up and executed. Members of the family are still being sought but as of now none have been found."

"Why are you searching for them?"

"I have been given orders to do this."

"Do you know why these orders were issued?"

"I only suspect that they know something valuable that the Dubkova family wishes to find out."

"Do you have a suspicion of what this might be?"

"It may have something to do with the arrival of gold but this metal only recently started to come here."

"When is the next shipment of gold due?"

"It comes four days after we deliver our cargo to the warehouse."

"When was the last time a cargo was sent?"

"Nine days ago."

"When is the net shipment going to be sent?"

"We usually do this every seventeen days. We have had great difficulty finding some of the weapons."

"What weapons are you searching for now?"

"Small yield tactical nuclear weapons."

There was no talk, even mentally, for a few minutes as we digested this. Vasiliy asked, "Have you found any so far?"

"We've located seven. They were worked on by others to make them operational. They should arrive in a few days."

"How are they to arrive?"

"Train, I believe, but it could be by truck."

"Can you find out more without alerting Dubkova?"

"I may if I say that more security may be needed."

I talked to my slave and he said to Vasiliy. "My master wishes you to tell Mr Baich that he is to continue to act as he has before he arrived. He feels that Mr Baich may endanger this group if he does otherwise."

Vasiliy gave explicit orders in my name and Baich said he would comply.

The questions went on. Baich's two guests were to go home for the night and I saw no reason why this shouldn't happen. They were given similar orders to act in character. Tomorrow we would start taking over the rest of the security in the building beneath us.

Vasiliy asked me, "May I talk to my superiors about the nuclear weapons? They can remove them from circulation."

"I don't think so, Vasiliy. If the Church doesn't obtain the bombs now they will search out other avenues to find them. I'm sure they will be used to destroy cities and especially me. The Church must be very worried or perhaps not really care about the casualties."

"Are we to seize the devices?"

"Yes."

"Will you use them?"

"I think I may have to. The Church used sarin on a few occasions and they're escalating rapidly. I need to stop them completely. I had hoped to just change the direction the Church was going but that seems hopeless now."

Baich slept on the floor while we used the available beds. Larisa made us a nice breakfast to start our day.

The processing of the security personnel was fairly simple. Baich ordered the slaves to sit in a chair and we came into the room behind them and began to change their allegiance. This worked well for managers. By the end of the day the lowest ranks were being done but they were not slaves to the same degree and we had some turning around and seeing us. This meant a few scuffles but nobody was hurt.

We had processed a hundred and forty three people. Some of the lower ranks had controls much like Baich. We figured that these were placed in the organisation but reported to Dubkova. This group had to be treated with kid gloves.

Baich was not able to get much info about the weapons arrival and could not push the issue. It was understood that the train, trucks, or even planes would be very well guarded.

Baich sent some of his lieutenants off to Lipetsk, Ryazan, and Moscow to find mercenaries. This would get back to Dubkova so it was done through intermediaries when possible. Shortcuts had to be taken because of the need for speed. They would not be fighting alone if I could help it. The soldiers in Bejek would have to get a chance.

The hotels in the city started to fill. We left town and headed south in a bus. The bombs were probably coming from Kazakhstan or that region. Bakhtin had sought the same weapons in the same region. When Russia broke up the individual regions seized the weapons and installations that were on their soil.



-------

Chapter 43


On the morning of the supposed arrival of the train, Baich had already posted men on all the rail lines to look for special trains. These were not the only ones to report because the men set to watch Baich also had to report but they said what I wanted.

A train from Saratov peaked our interest. The city was about 650 kilometres away. Four hours after the information came in, Baich received a phone call.

"Mr Baich, I want you to gather your primary team and go to Bolokovka to await a shipment."

"At once, Sir. Are their any special instructions?"

"Use the warehouse in that city. There's already a lot of security on this particular shipment. All of you will remain with the shipment until it is delivered to the main warehouse."

"I understand, Sir. Will there be anything more?"

"Have you found any trace of Driscott and his people?"

"No, Sir, but we found where they had first fled."

"Where was that?"

"A small warehouse on Sholokhova Street."

"That isn't one of ours?"

"No, Sir."

"I want those people found. This is a critical time."

"We're doing our best, Sir. Is there anything else?"

"No."

"Goodbye, Sir."

The phone was hung up and Baich said, "I have to hurry to appear to follow Mr Dubkova's orders."

"Then do so, Mr Baich." It stood to reason that with Dubkova's resources he would have learned my name.

Baich sent orders to summon his primary team. The bus we had been using was brought from the basement. In the next fifteen minutes the vehicle was loaded with weapons and seventeen men. Two were Baich and one of his lieutenants.

The men started to come into the apartment. They were going to form the spearhead for our invasion of the house or just supplement it if my plan worked. The ones that were in the lead would wear no kevlar vest but had those medallions that we could spare. It was hoped that those that looked unprotected would get shot at more and take the heat off those with regular body armour.

The city of Bolokovka was nearby and a fraction of the size of Tula. We were all nervous and even Vasiliy showed the strain. Dealing with nuclear weapons was not something most people commonly did.

All of us, that could do the job, monitored the coins that Baich carried with his group. Caiti yelled at us finally when she saw some light. We quickly meshed with her and saw the inside of a steel lined wood box. I could see Baich pointing and acting very adamant. An army officer or a person dressed as one didn't like the situation.

Baich had specific orders and we saw large military boxes being loaded into the one we were watching from. When seven boxes were loaded, the door was shut and no light entered.

Caiti immediately opened the gate. I reached through the gate and found the boxes very heavy. The fulcrum was uses to transport them into the apartment. Vasiliy was a versatile man and unlocked the cases for the seven bombs and we removed them. Good Tula rocks went into the bomb cases and everything was put back as we had found it. It was good that we had hurried because the box was opened to inspect the cargo before it was closed again.

Ten minutes later a cell phone on the table rang twice and stopped. Caiti opened the gate one more time and we stripped the contents out once again. Moltatas and her detail, along with Osston and I, got into the box. I hung a silver chain on two hooks on the back side. The portal frame was hung on the side and once I put the key to it, the portal opened. I could not use a radio but I did use a stick with a shirt on it as I called mentally to Section M.

The box shifted as it was carried out by a forklift. It took less than a minute for it to be set down, while people from Woodland came to my call. Osston and I were looking through the box with our headbands and the coins. I gave my orders and some students were ready to come and join us. The gate connecting this room with the warehouse in Bolokovka was shutdown. The man transporting our box got off the machine and left, going down a concrete lined corridor.

Caiti used a chain gate to link Tula with Woodland through our open portal. She and Fislu gave more explicit orders. Mercenaries were arriving already but it was not time yet to use them.

The large room we were in had no windows or doors but there was one portal and it was smaller than the one we used to transport equipment to Woodland. The walls had television cameras mounted on them and some of them covered our hiding spot. The floor was interesting because it had coloured stones set into it when the concrete was still soft. The floor was then ground to highlight the rock. The pattern in the rocks would be enough to fix a gate when the time came.

Caiti was at the other end of the gate linking the apartment with our box and also just a few metres behind me in Baich's apartment. She asked, "What are they doing?"

Osston said mentally, "Nothing yet. If they can see into the box, we're in trouble.

We were in the box for a half hour until Baich returned to his apartment. Baich whispered to me, "Sir, it seemed to work. The keys were given to the driver. He appeared to think that the steel box was the way they were shipped originally."

I said, "Thank you, Mr Baich. You did very well." The interpreter gave my words in Russian. This seemed to please the man. The smile left the man's face when the phone with the special ringer rang again.

"Hello, Sir. Baich here." There was a pause and he said, "I will be right there."

Baich looked at me and said, "I am summoned to the house. Perhaps Mr Dubkova does not like the box."

I stepped out of the box and into the apartment. "You did a good job. It's possible he will just wonder about it's purpose. Just stick to our plan." The interpreter again gave my words.

The family took turns in the box to check if there was any activity. I had the troops stand down on both worlds. The ones here spread out through the apartment and Larisa served the people what she had available. A few people were summoned from Woodland and now our people had to do the translations. These two teams had to work together.

Baich had a coin in his wallet, various Russian coins and a few of ours were in his pocket. Others were in his shoe and his car. This way we could keep in touch with him through a small loop in a chain.

Snow had fallen and it was not a quick drive to the house. The gates around the property opened for Baich and he drove up the roadway to the house. A man was standing there and directed the car to the carriage house.

Baich said in a whisper, "This doesn't look good. He means for me to stay and I have no reason to do so."

The interpreter said for me, "You're my slave and I value your service. I'll do what I can to protect you."

"Thank you, Sir."

One of the doors to the garage opened and Baich drove in and parked. The door was closing even before Baich got out of his vehicle. A man met him and escorted him down a hall, down some steps, and further along another corridor. This had to be a way for the servants to get to the main house. Along the way I saw a lot of cameras.

Our man was taken into a room and he removed keys, his gun and holster. Usually he was allowed to keep his wallet but not this time. Baich removed his coat just before a man used a wand over Baich's body looking for metal and bugs. This time he went just below the knee and not to the floor.

Baich took his coat and handed it to the man after he put the wand down. I could see a decision being made and the coat was squeezed to feel for weapons. The hands stopped at the coins and then felt them again. Through the partially opened gate I heard Russian. The interpreter whispered to me. "He can put it on."

They walked out of the room and followed the same corridor. There were more cameras and now openings that were probably housing remotely controlled machine guns.

Eventually a heavy door was passed and concrete steps going up were seen. They climbed three short flights and stood in front of a door. It took a minute and I heard some Russian. My interpreter said, "The guard is explaining that it's coins." Baich removed the coins and turned around before he showed the coins to the camera. This time it was a very heavy door that slid to one side into the concrete wall.

We were in the house proper now. There was a stone floor that was polished to perfection. It was a minute later that I knew we were in the area for servants, not guests.

I caught a small glimpse of what a real palace was like. It made my own in Limka look almost shabby. Baich came to a door with two guards. I saw holes in the walls for machine guns. Nobody said anything but in a few seconds the doors slid aside and then closed with a metallic thunk. This was just an anteroom with chairs and two more guards.

Baich walked forward but here questions were asked. One man talked into a transmitter. There was a wait of five minutes before the next set of doors opened. The room was much like a library. A large desk was to one side and a man of fifty with greying hair looked up from his work then back to the papers. Nothing was said until the man signed the bottom of a document and put the sheets in the out pile.

Without preamble he said, "Why did you have the metal box fabricated?" My interpreter did his job so I could understand. The icon would not read the man's ideas through a gate.

"The military boxes clearly stated what they contained. This I thought would happen. The steel box would protect us and keep the contents from prying eyes. I knew this shipment was important enough to warrant this extra precaution. The forks of the truck would be strapped to the box for increased safety."

"You have never done this before."

"Sir, I have never had to deal with a cargo like this before."

I was getting ready to open a gate when Osston said mentally, "The room is lined with machine guns. Their size will defeat our shields." I looked through his eyes and saw that this was true.

The silver haired man said, "I will have the box properly tended to. You may go."

"Yes, Sir."

Baich and his escort left and the man was already looking at the next bit of paperwork.

Once he had passed the two sets of doors, Baich said, "I need to use the washroom."

Nothing was said but they stopped before a door. Baich went in with his escort. In a moment my view changed to a maelstrom of water. I searched for another coin and found the portal opening back in the library. Baich must have put a coin on top of some furniture.

The family was with me and more than a few of those from Section M. I got some of the latter to find the other coins and see what they found. My old coin was now in a dark container full of water and shit. I studied outside the container by the light in our apartment and found a dark passage with dust on the floor. The coin was moving and may just end up in a septic tank outside.

I quickly opened a portal and stepped through. Selna was behind me but could not get past me. "What are you doing?"

"If the coin goes into the septic tank it will be lost. That would still put it outside the house. You heard how the grounds are protected. This is better."

"Then get out of the way so I can get in."

"Just the two of us. You go one way and I'll go the other. We better get some good flashlights. See what you can find. Look for trip wires and cameras."

Selna came through. I said to Camsa, "Monitor Baich for us."

"Yes, Sir."

Selna and I had our shields up and both of us were well armed. We looked around for details in the neighbourhood until we were given some long flashlights.

We made little progress because we went so slow. We concentrated on the walls, floor and ceiling looking for power wires. There were some but they were very old. We both looked for any place it might branch off to power some cameras or other equipment.

Selna reported finding another tank with a pump. This area had been cleaned of most of the dust. My route must not have been used for many years.

Porta had to come in, too, and she went my way because of the dust. When she got close, I said, "Isn't this fun?"

"Yes it is. You take the floor and the right wall and I'll take the ceiling and the left." She was a little bossy but then again she was female.

"Sounds like a plan."

We worked faster but not twice as fast. The corridor branched left and right. Porta took the left and we continued on. Camsa said from his position, "Baich is driving away now. I just put a medallion into his pocket and activated it. Do you want me to stay with him?"

"Why did you put a shield on him?"

"Well, it doesn't cost anything and he was nervous. We have lots of them now. I figured he'd have an accident in the snow."

"Ok, Camsa, stay with him."

"I'll do my duty, Sir."

"I know you will, Camsa. By the way, get the mercenaries equipped with medallions, too."

"Yes, Sir."

It was five minutes later that Porta said, "Husband, I found — "

Camsa interrupted. "They're shooting at Baich. He's going all over the road. His car is being hit."

We interfaced with Camsa's mind and saw what he saw through the small gate and through the coin. Camsa said, "I can get to his car and shoot at the car chasing him."

It was not that dangerous but I said, "Take Vasiliy with you."

I could feel Camsa's joy. He just grabbed the much larger man and pushed him through a gate he made and into the back seat of Baich's car. There was some rapid fire talk as bullets struck the car and the shields of those in it.

Baich's car slowed down and then hit a parked car. The shooter's car stopped behind it and I saw two men get out through Camsa's senses. They hurried to the wrecked car but before they could fire two streams of lead struck them.

The three fled their car and got in the one just vacated by the dead men. I watched what Camsa was looking at. He was looking behind him for pursuit. It took ten minutes for the car to arrive here at the security building. It was ten more minutes for the shaken man, Vasiliy and Camsa to make it through the security systems to the apartment.

Larisa had been told what happened and she got out a water glass and poured vodka into it. She took a healthy swallow before refilling it. By the time Baich made it to us she had the glass ready. He drank the glass in three swallows and then sat down.

"He tried to kill me! Why?"

Vasiliy said, "He doesn't like original thinkers and perhaps you're not acting as servile as you used to do. He was worried that your conditioning was failing."

"He's going to try again. He's going to call his men to come and get me."

Vasiliy said, "Relax. Those men are ours now, not his. You better finish copying all those files."

"That's it! He has some way of knowing that I was copying files."

"You may be right."

"I got the files copied. Others were doing it for me. The records are on disks and I have copied the disks as well."

"Good man. Now don't worry. You did a good job of planting those coins and that was a great idea of using the sewer."

Baich had to smile and then said, "Yes, I guess it was original."

Porta, Selna, and I had stopped when this action was taking place. Selna got my attention and said, "I found something."

"What is it?"

"A hidden passage."

This was a palace and I guess this would be natural. Porta and I met at the juncture and both of us hurried down to where Selna was standing. We put our coins to the wall and saw a corridor separated by about a metre and a half of cut stone. There was not enough detail to anchor a gate. We had to find a thinner section of wall or the regular method.

Ten minutes later, I heard Fislu say, "Dubkova just got a phone call and he looks a little pissed. The interpreter said that he ordered a man to have his spies that work in this building take Baich out."

"Thanks, Sweetie. Keep monitoring the situation please."

"Of course, Husband."

It took almost an hour to find some cracks that went right through the stone and then a levered arrangement to open the door. The back side was just too dark and still too similar to other areas for a gate to work. Sonna and Caiti arrived to help me. I didn't mind the latter coming but she had to be extra careful. A fall would injure her more than us. Two of the security people wanted to come but somebody had to guard our backs. Fislu sent some of Section M in here to do the reconnoitring.

We moved through the house. Everything was stone, brick, concrete or iron. The palace was huge and so were the length of the tunnels. We could see into rooms with the aid of a coin but all the peep holes were painted or plastered over. We found hidden entrances. Some were cemented shut and had steel wedges in them to make sure the hidden entrance was not opened.

There were spiral staircases made of iron that were still strong. We went up all the way and one would even take us to the roof.

It was getting late when we found the barracks. There were fifty men at least and I counted seventy beds. There had to be different shifts. Our people searched for where the officers would stay but could not find this area. We were even able to get near the library but the passage was blocked off and I saw automated guns on the other side of the wall.

A smile came to my face and I strung my chain on the wall and energised it. I then picked out the bricks in front of me the same way I removed bullets from people.

When the hole was big enough I slipped in and put the safeties on seven different guns until I came to another blocked area. In between was an opening to the library that was used to service the guns.

Through the next wall I found more guns and even gas cylinders. The pins for the bottles were conveniently nearby so they could be extracted safely. There was another hidden entrance and this led just behind Dubkova.

I said to the family, "Let's get the troops ready. I can take the top dog from behind."

It was Fislu that said, "Vasiliy wants more time. Osston has been making a map of what we found. Our troops will follow his orders, too."

"How long?"

"He says at least an hour."

"Ok, I'll keep looking but this guy is going to have to go to bed some time."

I opened a lot of passages that had been blocked and found more hidden doors and not all had been wedged shut. Some areas had electronic traps and I warned the others. Getting past this area was as easy as tossing a coin.

An hour had passed and I had not finished my investigation. I guess learning about secret passages was intrinsic to the boy in me. I was the last person in position but I had to travel further. The family went over the plan with me. I saw in Fislu's mind the map and the disposition of troops. It looked good to me and it must have looked good to Vasiliy because he set it up. The girls and the few men from Bejek were anxious to get in and fight. I wanted as little death as possible and this information was passed on one more time.

My chain was hung on the barrels of two guns and I visualised what was only a few metres away. Fislu said, "Vasiliy said to start."

It didn't sound auspicious but I energised my gate and stepped through. Dubkova had been looking into his computer monitor and must have caught a movement. I took no pity and pounded him with my fist and dragged him away from his desk. He didn't get a chance to do much as I started to pound and pound him and then I pounded him some more. I saw Caiti with the head wound, Fislu with the wound to her shoulder, and Selna wounded in her leg. I even punched him for hurting Moltatas.

I pulled myself together and saw that Dubkova was in pretty bad shape now. He was alive though. Gunshots were heard in the house and more outside the door. Again I didn't have any tie wraps so I used a couple of lamp cords. I put my prize in the hidden corridor and came out the hidden entrance with the chain in my hand.

I heard banging on the doors and men's voices. The men outside the door were four of Dubkova's guards. Dubkova must not have allowed the doors to be opened. They were certainly strong enough to resist the men. I wanted to take the guards but not by killing them. The chain was strung up on some furniture and I stepped back into the apartment. The girls were well armed. Everybody but a few were off fighting.

My interpreter was healing well but not really able to fight yet. I said to him, "Come with me." He got up and I added, "Do you have a shield?"

"Yes, Master."

I said to a pissed off Caiti, "Do we have some extra medallions?"

"We do. Why can't I fight? I have a shield and I can use a gun."

"Didn't it occur to you that I love you. You were just injured and you have to heal first. Another reason is that you have to guard our backs."

"Selna's fighting."

"She had a leg wound not a head wound."

Caiti gave me a medallion and the interpreter and I went back to the library. I fished out a bloody Dubkova and formed a shield around him. I gave instructions to the interpreter and he used a commanding voice to talk through the doors. The activity on the back side stopped immediately.

The interpreter found the switch on the desk and the doors could be opened. The four men rushed in with guns drawn but saw their master with a gun pointed at his head. This is where their conditioning was tested. They were commanded to kill me but also protect their master at all costs. The latter command must have outweighed the first and their guns were put on the floor.

The interpreter removed the guns and I remembered again that I had no tie wraps. The interpreter did, though, and tied their hands behind their backs as well as their ankles. They were lead back to the anteroom and the door closed behind us.

We walked through the house and we managed to get some to surrender. Some tried to shoot me and I had to shoot them. Soon I had a detail following me herding the captives.

There were bodies everywhere but not one of them was a mercenary or one of our people. We stayed in the upper floor and came to a place where there was some firm resistance. Section M was getting behind them all the time and dragging one out of the group without even shooting. This didn't stop the defenders from shooting the kids but they wore shields.

It was when Dubkova was shown to them that they finally gave up and our troops moved in to secure them. In the centre of the group were some young women and some children. One I had seen through the portal at one time.

The fighting lasted well over an hour. Our people had flooded the area and this is possibly what had reduced the casualties to the number we had. Two mercenaries had been badly hurt. They had blundered into the path of some heavy machine gun bullets. The shockwave from striking the shield was transferred to the body. Both would live but they needed a lot of attention.

We used the garage and other large areas to house the prisoners. The rest of us worked on saving those we could. Vasiliy was all over the place finding holdouts or just servants that were hiding.

I expected to find the army at the walls or in helicopters but apparently nobody had been instructed to summon the military. Then again, a rich and influential man would not want others to deal in his matters. Caiti eventually was allowed to come to the palace but only after Selna took over her duties. The security building was important to us. Section M went through the house looking for people hiding in the passages we used. I also wanted to find the large room with our steel box in it. If or when it was found nobody was to go in it. The priests could see through the other side of the portal if they had an observer.

The problem with getting the two ships and the container ship released was not as vital now that the house and gate were captured. We could get the long chain delivered that would transport the ships but we may be able to attack the Church through Tula much more effectively.

Bakhtin got another heavily encrypted message but this time it was sent from London. His orders were to get the ship moving.

I phoned Dimitri openly from that city too. Since everybody would be listening to the call I said, "Hello, Captain."

"Hello, Sir. I noticed by the display on the phone that you are no longer in Russia."

"I had a small matter to look into. I'll be coming back in two to four weeks. I trust that the ships will be ready?"

"I am having a great deal of difficulty, Sir."

"Look, Captain! Do what you are paid to do or I will find somebody else to do your job."

"Sir, The ships are not under my control. I have been canvassing for crew and so far I have found few that are suited to paint the deck, never mind take care of the major systems."

"Is money a problem?"

"That is part of it, Sir."

"I'll bring ten kilos of gold for each man that I find suitable. I'll also give five more as a signing bonus."

Dimitri acted shocked and gasped. "You have that much?"

"Four hundred men I wanted. Find them for me or I'll get them in China, the United States or the United Kingdom."

"I may be able to get them if I offer that kind of money."

"Your share will be three times that so don't fail me. Many men would do a great deal more for a lot less. You better tell that fool that I'm going to pick up the ships. If they are not done, I'll sink them in the river and forfeit the money I paid him."

"I'll work at my utmost, Sir."

"That is what I am paying you for. Take the ships out to the Black Sea and test them. This was in our contract. I don't want delays when I come."

"Yes, Sir. On a personal matter, my uncle Yuri asked about his grandson."

"The young man is doing well. I wish you could find sailors as good as he is. He acts odd sometimes and the family is keeping a close eye on him."

"He's from a good family but he had a rough time."

"Don't worry about the man. He's going to get rich just like the rest."

"Is there a way I can contact you with details?"

"No. I'm too busy and never in one place long enough."

"Would you ask Vasiliy to contact his father or his grandfather?"

"He's old enough to not need to be attached to his parents or their parents."

"I'll give my regrets to them and say that he's still too busy."

Yuri was the last code word I wanted. Dimitri was having problems as he said. Part from Lobodin and part was the reluctance of the military to part with some of their better crews to take part in a spook deal.

The grandfather did not exist but was part of Vasiliy's cover story. I was going to have to phone Dimitri tonight and do it from Russia.

Mom and Dad had got back from Georgia by now and they heard what I knew and suspected about the Duchovny family. Mom and Dad were not told about the fight and I could not stay long enough to tell them what they could be told. It would take much too long and I knew only a portion of what I needed.

Loca came to Tula to see the new world but I gave him the job of mapping out the house and the passages. He had never seen so much opulence before so he was happy to do this for me.

That night I pulled out a piece of paper and called Dimitri. I let Vasiliy do the reporting for me so Dimitri would know that everything was probably true.

When the report was over I got on the phone. Dimitri said, "You were certainly active. I live in a dangerous world but I don't have death follow me around like he does you."

"Dimitri, I have something a great many people want and a great many people want me dead."

"Vasiliy said that you contacted — your world."

"It is only mine because I choose to be associated with it."

"What are you going to do with — what you found?"

"They will not harm Russia."

"I hope not. They could do a lot of damage."

"I'm well aware of that. Have your superiors decided to give you the men?"

"Six tonnes of gold was a good inducement. They are now calling up the men I wanted before. I took the Yeisk out. There was some major problems but I was able to put enough pressure on Lobodin to get them fixed. I had only a dozen men with me but we did quite well. The Snezhnogorsk is further behind and Lobodin has had his tail twisted. This means that Lobodin is looking to have me killed."

"You must have twisted hard?"

"I threatened to tell the FSB if the ship was not done on time. My superiors heard this threat and loved the way it was delivered."

I said, "I need to acquire a type of camera used for aerial surveillance. These could be found in military surplus in the United States but they are still rare. Soon I am going to need it to see where we are going to advance to."

"They have fixed lenses so you have to attain great altitude to allow the film to be in focus."

"I will see what I can find. We have military surplus in this country, also."

"I like that. It makes my job easier. When you have time and wish to chat simply phone me. I'm thanking you once more for loaning me a very competent man. He made all of this work."

"He would like to hear that."

"He did but can't understand English yet."

"He knows a few words."

It was another day until we could even get the house to a state of organised chaos. The servants were segregated and their conditioning checked. All of them had at least a little. Now they were loyal to me. The guards were highly controlled and it took a delicate hand to shift their allegiances.

I worked on Dubkova but he had an even stronger case of conditioning. Only the priests had more and I did not have too much hope of converting him. I did go back every few hours to see if I could find out something I could use on him but the priests had done a good job.

Vasiliy got the task of interfacing with the outside world. This meant that he had to deal with a multibillion dollar empire. To make this work, Vasiliy summoned the managers to the palace so we could change who they worked for. I kinda liked the shack we were in and the wealth that Dubkova had accumulated. The fact remained that Dubkova provided jobs for a lot of people and if he failed so would a lot of others. This failure would also bring the authorities here to see what was wrong.

We were lucky in that Dubkova had four managers at the house when we attacked and none of them had died. Three had been wounded one way or another, though. Their conditioning was much like what Baich had and they had to be watched. They had traps as well and each one was just a bit different. This meant that a priest had taken special care of each of them.

Deliveries came to the main gates and the people were admitted. Food had to come and the place has to look normal. There was a lot of broken glass and other damage from bullets. A natural gas explosion had been attributed to the cause.

Artlam took his first trip off Bejek to visit us. He could not stay long because the Church was on a new offensive. The reprieve we looked for had not lasted long. More people came from Bejek and I had to work fast to put some controls on the mercenaries. These people I hoped to have fight for us on our planet. Since the mercenaries were all male and my troops were predominately female I didn't see too much of a problem. Both groups travelled from one world to another nonchalantly but none were allowed to leave Tula.

Section M was a pain sometimes but I loved them. This love got much stronger when they found nearly three hundred tonnes of gold. We knew it was this amount because it occupied almost sixteen cubic metres. This was worth six billion dollars.

They found something that may even be more valuable to me. The library contained books referencing the Duchovny family. All this had been kept safe and even photocopied. Some of the letters were from some of my ancestors so we had a tenuous connection. A family tree was eventually found that went even further back to Europe. One branch went to North America in 1726 but the recent data had not been added to it. If Dubkova knew where we lived then we might have been investigated by them to find out more about the silver icons.

Even though this information was extensive it was a hidden suite below and behind the palace that contained the real treasures. From the looks of the room, this had been set up long before the Russian Revolution. It was last used to hide what should not be found. There was a chain gate on the wall but no other entrances. There was not even any ventilation to give it away.

We found another inter-world portal and the globe was different than any we had seen so far. It also had a key so we now had four such portals that would work. There was another library and all of it preserved under glass and an inert gas. The diaries and experimental investigations were almost equal in number. This Duchovny family had done business with a world I didn't know about. There were many legers indicating what had been traded to the Leprocks for their scientific books and instruments. This trade, by far, benefited the Leprocks. A book had to be traded for large volumes of art or cultural objects.

As much as the information about alien worlds thrilled me, I was even more happy to see a series of maps that detailed nexuses from all over Earth. The one in London, Ontario was well marked out though the property lines had changed a lot in the last two and a half centuries. The site between Kingston and Ottawa was not listed so they had missed it or it was a recent occurrence, but I doubted the latter.

The notes listed the use of an icon that spotted these locations easier than a portal. Osston read this with me but we could not find the device in the articles we found. The location in the Bahamas was not listed but the one in Albany was well documented. Nelson's name was on the map. I believed that somebody recently altered an even older chart. Recently meant only after 1836. Why this piece of fairly recent data was here was a mystery.

There was more data dealing with North America as explorers were sent to find portals as well as commodities that could be sold profitably. Some documents linking a former American President were in this group.

Canada had two more locations. One was in the Northwest Territories near Yellowknife. The other was on the BC coast near Prince Rupert. The States had two more sites. One was in Oregon near Medford. The last was in Wyoming near Cheyenne. One site was listed for Argentina but there had to be a lot more in a continent the size of South America.

There were two areas in Scotland but the one in Glasgow was the only one that was in an accessible area. My portion of this large family came from the UK so it stood to reason that we might have been Scottish. Since we wandered all the time perhaps it was because we were looking for areas to settle and trade.

Many European countries had one or more portals but usually they were in mountainous areas. Again there was no pattern to the placement.

There were a lot more sites in the civilised world, meaning in Europe, and eastern Europe because of the roads that were essential for finding them. One was in the Aegean Sea and quite a way south of modern Turkey. Some notes about this region talked of Midas. This made me laugh because his golden touch may have been exactly like my own. This area had to be investigated more because it may have a link to Bejek.

The sites petered out going east but there was one in Yugoslavia. Many of us looked for a logical reason for the placement of the nexuses but no pattern emerged.

A site near the Caspian and in Chechnya caught my eye. The city name was Kargalinskaya. This gave me a location that might work but a few moments later I found one nearby in the Republic of Georgia. This was near the city of Senaki. The maps showed it very near the Black Sea.

This information was collected and entrusted to Loca. He was even going to put the sites on a globe of Earth just so I could visualise it three dimensionally.

Some of the books and equipment in the room was of extraterrestrial origin. A ledger entry showed a pair of communicators. When we looked inside them we found them to be something akin to military hand-held radios. They were transistorised and they had what looked like integrated chips. They may work with the electromagnetic spectrum but I was not sure. What humbled me was that they had been purchased in 1610.

When traders came to North America they traded away glass beads that may have been expensive to make but they also traded away simple articles. I figured that the radios the Leprocks traded were obsolete at the time.

One wall had a large rack of hand weapons. Some of these were the best that could be had at various times in the past. Some looked modern to me and in fact what I had seen on the Discovery Channel. These were extensively investigated by Section M. They deserved the honour for what they had done for me. The more modern weapons didn't seemed to be made to be used with a Human body. The stock was too long and the sights too high.

There was some ammunition stored below the guns. This all went back to Shreff to be replicated and evaluated. When the rifles were tested we found them better than our best but not by a lot. They were certainly better than anything used in 1668 which is when some of these were traded for.

A variety of ceramic pistols were found. The technology was better than anything made on Earth but very inferior when compared with the silver icons. There was a battery or a capacitor that stored power and this was used to produce lasers. We made copies and then tested them. Many failed to work until we used a high voltage electrical current. The storage units were shot and the chemists in Mendab were looking to find a way to make new units.

Everything else here was astonishing. It had to be photographed and photo copied if it was a book. If it was another type of object then it had to be measured, photographed, and diagrams made to let others know of its inner workings. Not everything worked and we didn't know what everything was for.

The various safes and the hidden caches within the house produced information on what the Church had purchased, what it wanted, and what it was to get in the next shipment. Dubkova found APC's and other heavy equipment for the Church stored in various warehouses in the area. A group of boys or young men, obviously from Bejek, was the team that provided the transportation for the portals. These people had fought us when we took the house. Only a few had been captured alive. They had not been conditioned to protect Dubkova but they still fought hard.

Artlam was very happy to take this equipment. Our portal was used for a long time to get these family treasures to Bejek.

The nukes had not originally been intended for bombs but as projectiles. Dubkova had paid to get them converted to what the Church could conveniently use. I didn't know what to do with them but if the Church was prepared to take out cities to get me then I should use them myself on the Church. Apparently the units were tactical weapons with limited destructive power. Limited was still a lot. The Church had wanted to make sure they got me so they had ordered a hundred and forty four of the devices.

The palace had one portal out in the open. This was the one we found little Sonya in front of one day. Nobody knew that the mirror frame was a portal and no key was found for it yet. What Dubkova knew was not known but I felt that he and his family had known something of this from the past or the family would not be looking so hard for the Duchovny family members.

The mirror itself was very similar to the one in London and Albany. There were some silver icons found in the house. There were three headbands, one chain, seventeen coins and a few odds and ends that we had many copies of already. These were all put away for safety.

The girl's mother was in shock at what had happened to her family. The children were in less shock because I inducted them into the school. The mother went with them. Section M had grown as they acquired some of those that had been ordinary students just a short time ago. My hope was to get all of the students able to communicate like some of us could. It looked like we could only get half of the regular students, though all showed some mental abilities.

Caiti took a liking to Sonya and the two played together like girls. Sonya's mother saw that her children were treated fairly but in a plebeian way. She was used to being waited on and the women that looked after the mother tried to educate her gradually.

Vasiliy came to me with an interpreter and said, "Sir, I'm doing my absolute best but I was not trained in business."

"You are trained to deal with men?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Then load up the others. You watch that they do what's right. Talk of a replacement for you having to be found in the next year and it may be one of them."

"You would give them control of this business?"

"Somebody has to do it."

"The people that Dubkova deals with want to talk to him. They're not taking no for an answer. One of them was the President."

I had to smile at Vasiliy and said, "How many people that were in the FSB can claim that they kept putting off your President?"

"Few that are still alive."

"The President of your country has to be strong. A weaker man would get eaten up. You have too many distinct areas with diametrically opposite points of view. You have to be strong too."

"Could I get some help?"

"Dimitri?"

"He's good at this or at least better than me."

"He may or may not be better but I know he will still have you doing what you are now. I do admit that I like your boss and wish I had a lot more friends like him even if he has been — nudged to work with me."

"I would be willing to accept any help I can get."

"Find some managers in the companies you control and promote them after you tell them to find a replacement."

"I can do that?"

"You have a very powerful position. Use it to your advantage."

"I wanted to talk to you about another matter, Sir."

"What is it, Vasiliy?"

"The Church will want it's deliveries soon. They may attack with that plasma weapon your people use. They may know some of the locations outside of the room well enough to set up a gate to them. Not only will this kill many of your people but this sort of activity will be seen by satellites."

I thought about what he said. "Mantoya, Artlam, and I have been working on this problem for a while. The Church is waiting for the bombs and will come when they appear or when they lose patience. We have to attack when they open the portal and it has to be done right the first time."

"You will do a lightning attack?"

"Yes, just like the German blitzkrieg. This requires that a gate near the portal in the main transfer room be open."

"They will look for this and not open the portal."

"Yes, but we have two choices. We photograph with the television cameras the stone pattern right across from the main portal. We can initiate a portal to that area that the troops will use to race across the floor and into the Church area. Another idea is to build a wall out of paper with an inter-world gate behind it to do the same thing."

"Do you know what you will be getting into?"

"Osston got near the frame this morning. Perhaps nobody has seen him. In any case the portal is now as clear for us to see through as it was for the Church when they were looking at us."

"You can see into the Church?"

"No, we can see into a large building like one of our warehouses. Most of it is stripped out after the last shipment. We can see large doorways. What bothers me, is that we see armed Anguy too. We can see no logical reason for this unless the Church has a lot of dissidents ready to fight. We are now waiting to find enough data to find what longitude they are on."

"I learned about your innovative use of radio. Would it be possible to transmit into the transfer centre and then go to Bejek to search for the source?"

"You're a sneaky man, Vasiliy." He was sneaky but we had already thought of this as our backup plan. Of course there were other plans like organizing Dubkova's fleet of aircraft so they would be useful for us.

We used a chain gate to dig behind the concrete wall and install a plastic pipe. An antenna would go into this and transmit on very low frequency. Vasiliy and Dimitri helped me locate a hundred of these five or ten kilowatt Russian transmitters. The camera had not come through but was on its way. Some of the security people had to go get them. The units were flown in to Tula on one of our Ilyushin Il-78s. These were real workhorses and were usually used for in-flight refuelling but were used for cargo as well.

Some of our co-opted people could fly this plane including Vasiliy. He had an extensive training courtesy of the FSB and I felt good to have snagged him. The wide road leading to Shreff had caused a lot of flack from those that had to make it. Coincidentally it could be used for a paved runway in times like this, though I had been thinking of much smaller craft.

Our chain was long enough to bridge the fifty metre span of the plane and the fifteen metre height. Caiti was able to pick up the plane for us as she moved it through the chain gate to the road on the other side of Woodland.

We were lucky because we could do this at night while it was daylight in Woodland and Shreff. Almost everybody left with the plane. A few of us, including me, had to collect the gate. The disappearance of the plane would not mean much because it had more than one crew that would use it. If they checked to see where it flew off too we would be in trouble. If the camera had arrived we could have used it to take detailed pictures of our target.

I came through about an hour later and by then the plane had been unloaded. It was then loaded with visitors. I could not kick them off because some of them were my family or important people that were helping me fight the war. Another group was Section M. I had learned to allow them a long leash.

Vasiliy pulled me aside and pointed to the road. "We are going to destroy your highway. The plane weights 100 tonnes and the wheels will crush the road for kilometres and then more when it lands."

This was right because the wheels had already pushed their way into the road. This long stretch had been beefed-up with slabs of limestone but the plane was still far too heavy for it.

I said, "Caiti picked up the plane. I picked up another of my ships and I was already in it. Why don't you take some of Section M with you? They will be happy to go and they can reduce the mass of your plane to whatever you want."

Vasiliy did some thinking and said, "I can try that but this craft is designed to carry this weight. It may suffer from being almost weightless."

"Then do it in stages. Get a feel for the plane. Landing may be more difficult but you will be used to it by then."

"I will try this. It may be very interesting."

The AM wave was sent out when the Church building we viewed showed that night was coming. The terminator was plotted on a globe of Bejek and the location of the Church was somewhere on this line.

The Ilyushin take off was frightening. The four engines could develop 472kN of force. With the plane near massless and with very little inertia, it could destroy itself with the power used. Vasiliy shut down two engines and even with the remaining two the plane shot forward as if it was a bullet from a gun. Our radio didn't detect any comments from those onboard because they were just as stunned.

Vasiliy finally radioed, "I am at the minimum settings for two engines. We are exceeding the designed airspeed and I have difficulty controlling this craft." A little later he came back on and said, "Some of our mass has been restored and we have slowed down. The controls improved but still don't respond well at this speed. We will try to maintain this as a test."

The Ilyushin banked and tried some gentle manoeuvring. This lasted fifteen minutes until it flew over Shreff. There was nobody in the city that didn't hear of the plane before this but now they got to see it flash over almost soundlessly. Dusk for Shreff was three hours off yet so triangulating the signal source should not be hard if it could be detected.

Vasiliy radioed that the Ilyushin had gained an altitude of 15,000 metres though 12,000 metres was the nominal ceiling. He wanted to be safe. He had got his first fix of the transmitter but would continue to take a few more to ensure accuracy. I figured he wanted to fly the plane and those in it would back him up.

Mantoya and I compared the bearing we were given and saw that the other end of the portal was in Corinthium. This is where Modak had come from and he had given us some of the details of the Church and the country. If the portal was in Sadieea, then we had a partial map of the city and the port.

Mantoya was taking no chances and called for all the maps we had of this area of the world. Emigrants were paid to draw maps of any city they knew of or at least talk of the city in broad terms if that was possible. Most were just farmers and had little dealings with the urban environments other than the market. Most didn't read and few could draw or had seen a map. I went back to Woodland after reporting the damage to the road. There was sure to be some flack over this.

Dimitri and I had set up a way to communicate on the web. I used his programs and reported what Vasiliy was able to do. I had to smile because this would get Dimitri all stirred up. I needed those aerial photograph of Corinthium but I needed to do it in such a way that the Church would not know what was going on. If they did learn of it our surprise advantage would be negated. The height and the minimum amount of fuel would lesson any contrails that would be formed. A long thin cloud would be just as bad as the Church seeing the plane.

Dubkova's wounds had healed but his mind had not cracked for us. His conditioning made him resistant to all our efforts. There was nothing I could do to gain any further information so he was sent to Woodland to avoid any embarrassment on my part.

Important Earth people came to see him from previous appointments and the new secretary had to claim that the man had to leave for health reasons. Some of those people were given a slight control so they would not bother me again or to prop up Vasiliy if and when he needed it.

Dubkova's family missed him as he apparently was a good father and husband. I had not allowed visits because it would stir both sides up when they had to part. The fact that I was still trying to break the man was the most important consideration.

Some men that came to Tula were in the military and I questioned them extensively. One had been the man that had pointed Dubkova to a possible source of nuclear weapons. This man would continue to work this way but now for me.

The Church's recent push was forced into a stalemate with our use of the American and the Russian APC's. The Anguy and the Adchek people must have been bleed white to provide troops for this offensive alone. The next generation was in danger because of all of the males that had died or would die in the fighting. The battles were still going on, though, and the Church didn't seem to mind how many casualties they suffered.

My wives were still fighting but now they were driving APC's. The front was too far away to hear thoughts even with the thought amplifiers but being king meant I had a few perks. My wives used their perks to send letters. With the possibility of hitting the Church from well behind the lines I could not do what I wanted and had to do what I had to do.

My younger wives didn't get all of my attention either. Our love making was intense and satisfying but always too short and not often enough. I had to be extra careful of Fislu and Selna because they were getting big but so was their mother. Lauren was not far behind.

Any spare time I had was devoted to studying what the Duchovny family had amassed. Almost all of it was recorded in Russian but there was a lot in German, English, Spanish and a few in other languages. All of them had to relate to places with portals.

I found out that others had investigated the nexus points and discovered their high silver content. It was also surmised that it was not just the silver but what had been done to it. With centuries to draw upon, many theories had been put forward. Most linked extraterrestrials to making the silver deposits the way they were.

The reasons usually centred on transportation. The dormant stations with five hundred and seventy six portals were not known to the Duchovny or anybody else. This may have been a guarded secret from my branch of the family or was just not mentioned in letters or books. The stations themselves may still be in operation but beings just passed through as energy and never set foot, fin or tentacle in them.

Dubkova and his ancestors had a passion for finding out more of this science and his computers and books had the results of their experiments. Because of the priests, his research had become very carefully hidden. The priests would not allow this if they knew it existed. The conversations with the priests listed everything done as being the work of a superior being that bestowed his largesse upon those of the Church. Magic was mentioned a lot.

The grandfather of Dubkova had found some of the Duchovny secrets and was compelled to find out all he could. The books his family discovered and the people they had questioned lead to him finding that the Duchovny had traded with people not of this planet. The obsession had gone to three generations so far.

The Dubkovas had theorised about alien portals but had not gone very far with the ideas because they had so little to go on. They did agree that there must be a vast system of portals that covered many star systems if not the entire galaxy.

The Church's arrival here had predated my going to Bejek by a few years so it wasn't my doing that they came to Dubkova. I had to do a lot of digging to find a reason. It looked like Earth had a similar organisation to the Church. From the looks of it, they were not friendly with each other. The group here may have been a part of the Church at one time and separated.

The reason for coming to Earth may be just a way of building up the necessary people so they could take over at some future date. This also meant that I would probably have another enemy after me. I was rocking the boat too much. It also occurred to me that the Church might think that I was an agent of the organisation on Earth sent to Bejek so I could destroy the Church on that planet.



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Chapter 44


Vasiliy came back with a lot of tired but still excited people. He came into the study and stood at attention.

"Hello, Vasiliy. What do you have to report?"

He guessed or figured out what I was going to say and said, "We travelled far enough to be sure that the city of Sadieea in Corinthium is the source of the radio transmissions."

"That's good to hear. I sent a message a while ago to Dimitri to get a camera for photo reconnaissance." The interpreter this time had to do his job.

"I will be happy to do that for you, Sir."

"I know you would. What did you think of the way the plane flew?"

"It is hard to describe. If the plane was strong enough, we could have gone much faster but would have torn the wings off. The skin on the plane heated on the way back but not beyond anything dangerous. If I learned how to control one of those devices, I am sure I could fly a rocket plane into space and back again."

"So you want to be a space jockey on Bejek?"

This took a while for the idiom to get translated but Vasiliy said, "Yes, I wish to be a pilot of a space craft. It was always my goal ever since I was a boy."

"Well, when you go to Bejek you would be an alien, Vasiliy. I promise you that if you can tidy up all of Dubkova's empire then you can design a ship and fly it into space. Be warned that it better be big enough for a lot of Section M or you'll be in trouble." Everybody perked up then and I figured the boys and the girls would be drawing up plans for spaceships within minutes of leaving here.

"Vasiliy, there is a boat used in the swamp with an automobile engine mounted on it. It has a large shrouded propeller used to push the vessel. Are you familiar with this?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Make a design and get people in Tula to make a framework to support an engine and propeller. Section M will find a large flat rock in Bejek. Mount the engine to the rock. Section M will provide lift and control."

"You wish me to fly a rock, Sir?" I could see he was very flustered.

"The mass of the rock and its inertia doesn't matter. You may well need a rudder for turning but I want you to try this."

"I will do as you wish, Sir."

"Don't look so depressed Vasiliy. The rock can just be a test for your space craft. I want to see how well one or more people can control such a vessel as it goes forward. Stability is very important. Talk to Section M to get their input. This will be another interesting job."

The transmitter was shut down and the plane returned to Tula to be fuelled. The log entry had to be falsified to explain the hours on two of the engines.

With Dimitri's help and a lot more from Dubkova's managers we found more war materiel that we could use in Bejek. We bought old tanks and a lot of spare parts, especially the treads and the bogies. This meant tank repair equipment, too.

Dimitri said on the phone, "I've found all the sailors we need and I picked out those that are the most likely to not miss Mother Russia. The Snezhnogorsk is ready for trials. The politicians don't want me to take out both ships even though we outnumber Lobodin's men by a wide margin. I can't see the logic but that's the way they want it."

"Then I'll phone and blister your ear for being incompetent. I'll get more than a few jabs in at your bosses. Do you have any suggestions, Dimitri?"

"You may not be able to budge Admiral Slava. He is an old man that should have gracefully retired years ago. He holds onto his position tenaciously while trying to drag us back into the way things were done in the past. I expect him to want to use black powder some day."

"I've met people like that but I haven't been in the military to appreciate the nuances of the situation."

"Nuances? I'm a career soldier. I have been through the full gauntlet from young officers wanting to make a name for themselves to the old ones that are secure in their positions. Admiral Slava is one of a kind. We also suspect he was far more into the black market than most. It would not surprise me greatly if there was a connection to Lobodin."

"That may be bad. Your admiral could warn Lobodin of the investigation."

"My superiors are aware of that too."

To get the topic back on track, I said, "Lobodin will only give some fuel and he wants a deposit on the ships leaving even if he has armed men on them."

"Did he come through with all his commitments?"

"The navy had to allow him to steal some parts. They were not pleased. Possibly because Admiral Slava had not been able to make any money from this."

"I have a new plan to spirit the ships out of the Sea of Azov and then out of the Black Sea."

"You can't do that unless you put wings on them."

"You take all the fun out of this, Dimitri!"

"Why?"

"That's what I'm going to do."

He was sceptical in the extreme but agreed to mount used jet engines on the sterns of the two ships. This could only be done after I made a more or less public phone call demanding that this happen. Dimitri was supposed to argue strenuously but then give in. The Russian admiralty would like to see what this would do and as a matter of fact, so did I.

The camera was finally delivered along with the equipment to make large positives for easy viewing. The negatives were thirty by forty centimetres. The camera and its frame were mounted in an executive jet in Tula by Russian technicians. The craft was then ported through to Woodland that night.

I made my call to Dimitri. My conversation to him was to his superiors. I called him a poor blind leader with no insight at all. We argued about the engines and how they were to be mounted but Dimitri could only say that he would look for surplus engines.

Next morning I was in Woodland to see the launching of the small jet. We had to time this so we were over our target at the equivalent of nine in the morning. The air was supposed to be clear then and the shadows long enough to see details on the ground.

Caiti and Camsa were on board as crew but the camera was automatic. Vasiliy planned on taking off from Woodland itself. This was what I was after for a space ship or a flying frigate.

The fast executive jet hovered because Camsa wanted to show off in front of his friends in Section M. The nose went up to the vertical position before Vasiliy took the engines out of idle. Caiti was only feeding Camsa data from the gauges to keep the plane trimmed. This is what I hoped would happen. The process was further complicated by the wings that were not really needed except to compensate for torque of the engines. The plane climbed rapidly into the sky. It was only Caiti that had the time for me to wish them a safe trip.

Mantoya and Artlam were pulling front line units back to let fresh units take their place. The crack units included my wives. We would need all of our expertise to win this coming battle.

The Church was impatient, though.

A few hours after Vasiliy left, we saw hundreds of Anguy assemble in the Church so we knew something was up. We scrambled to get ready no matter what happened. Five minutes later a priest went to one side of the portal and in a second the device energised. Another priest and a seven man Anguy contingent came through. Our people ran around for a while and it helped slow us down. Dubkova's people would have to get their boss to greet the visitors. This time it was Baich that did the greeting along with a calculated risk. We sent five members from Section M with him to take the places vacated by the trainees left here. They would be expected to attend. At least the youngsters looked like those that had been here and also know how to act properly in front of a priest.

The priest demanded in accented Russian, "Where is Dubkova?"

"I am sorry, Master but Mr Dubkova is currently talking to our President. He had no idea when you were going to arrive."

"He was to have a shipment delivered days ago. Where is it?"

"If it is the cargo I think you mean, it's being delivered tomorrow. We were only able to find seven units but they are now properly converted to your requirements."

The priest stared at Baich for a full minute then said, "You are one of the men I met years ago. You have done well to raise so high."

"Thank you, Master."

The priest asked, "What about the rest of our order?"

"There have been difficulties in finding suitable goods and then transferring them here. Obtaining the materiel of war means that we are watched closely. My country has a history of armed rebellions and they are usually suppressed quickly and brutally. Mr Dubkova seeks to allay any fears so he may gather more supplies."

With a casual face, the priest said, "Where are the people I left here? These boys are not them."

I thought the shit had hit the fan. We were not ready but we had to go with our backup plan and then hope.

The floor and walls of the Church room were studied in detail. Thankfully one of the young men heard my orders and said, "I can open a gate. I'm close." He concentrated on the floor on the other side of the silver frame and the terminus of the chain gate materialised.

APC's raced through the energised chain and popped onto the Church grounds. I was in the third vehicle.

The machine guns in Tula could not be heard because we were using our own. The Anguy were all wearing energised shields and only the machine guns could harm them with kinetic energy to their shields.

My mental connection to Tula was cut and I turned to see a priest starting to run from the side of the shield. He was the most important person here and we opened fire on him. He was hit many times and I know he was hurt but he made it around a corner.

My driver turned the APC and followed. My hand was on the door and I rolled out and fired my lightning weapon. I caught the man's foot as he turned another corner. I moved the beam to hit more of him even if I set this place on fire.

I got up and ran down the corridor but when I got to the corner, the man was already gone. Security was right behind me but now we had to reverse course. Raw plasma was seen ahead and I blocked the flashes with my arm even though I wore polarised glasses.

The Anguy could not stand up to this sort of punishment. They raced in only to be turned into boiled meat. I ran to one of the entrance ways we had seen from the portal. More Anguy were racing our way. I crouched down and fired as did those of my security detail that could control these weapons.

The soldiers died by the hundreds. They had no thoughts of self preservation at all. They only saw us as a threat that had to be destroyed. This was not new because we had seen this in the early portions of our war.

The air was full of small caliber lead and steel but this didn't effect us much. Soon they would bring up their own heavy weapons and we would then start to die.

Our plan was to spread out because if we stayed, we would die. It also allowed us room to fall back. We would hold the portal long enough for our reinforcements to arrive.

With no visible enemy I took stock of our situation. There was six APC's that made it through, along with an ammunition truck and two troop carriers. This should make about seventy people.

I raced into the area now filled with dead Anguy with my vehicle. I opened the compartment with Loca's portal and energised it. Instead of the customary clear view I saw what looked like snow on a television set with a weak incoming signal.

I called out, "Can anybody see or hear me?"

A face of a young girl came in front of me. "I'm here, my King."

"Hi, Sweetie. Will you try to form a gate to me?"

"That's easy."

It turned out to not be easy at all. More people came and they didn't have any better luck. We were being blocked by a device I never knew about. The opposition was dead and I had to fall back to plan three before more came.

I removed the ring from my portal and carried the deactivated unit to the larger Church portal. This side of their portal was set into stone. There was a cleared area where the key would be set. It took a determined effort to remove enough of the stone to make a contact but in ten minutes we put our portal in contact with the other. I crudely wired them together and then backed up the APC so I could remove the globe from the top of the larger frame.

Renewed bolts of lightning were directed our way, not just outward. I climbed on top of the APC and removed the globe for Earth. Moltatas energised the smaller portal and I popped in a globe for Bejek. The large portal came to life but it was covered in snow too.

The scene before me was of Woodland and there were a lot of people in an electronic snowstorm. The chain portals didn't work. Our portal was shut down and opened to Earth. I could see into the room in Tula and found a lot of activity. The priest and his people were down but they had not gone willingly or without doing damage. The interference continued.

Fighting was getting too close and I had to get down and lead my security to push back the Anguy.

For a while I ignored the portals as I fought to preserve our lives. The only good part of this was that the Anguy could do nothing but die. It was the priests and now the trainees that were fighting us. They didn't have as many weapons either though our weapons would begin to lose their power soon.

Mortars opened up on our positions but these were not good weapons for an urban type of warfare. We retaliated with Law rockets and RPGs. The enemy would be killed with these weapons, too. Only the youngsters that were pushed forward braved this fire.

It hurt me to the quick to shoot girls and boys that were trying to kill us but this had to be done. Women were also pushed into battle by the priests and each one reminded me of Jonna or Matra. My own troops were all women and they didn't have the same feeling I had about shooting women.

The priests should be opening portals to get behind us. We had been trained for this eventuality. It then came to me that the priests could not form a portal either.

We were taking casualties and those that were still alive were moved back to where we started. A large bubble was in place to protect those inside. A lightning weapon would kill them all if it was able to come to bear.

I came prepared this time because we had lots of tie wraps and a few slingshots. Coins flew out and landed behind the piles of rubble. We tried to opened our own portals behind the enemy but the interference effect prevent it. The priests were hidden further back and out of range. A chance detonation of a RPG against a wall got me to shoot at other buildings to bring stone and brick down on those hidden below.

The roofs were made of slate but some were of silver. When one of these roofs crashed to the ground I saw the sheets of silver fall and briefly fly out. The fact clicked into place for another problem.

"Moltatas, we need silver sheets for shielding."

"What for?" There was no formality now.

"Maybe we can make the portal work if we can get around the interference."

"We better do something quick. A third of our people are dead or wounded."

We made a quick plan and fourteen of us pushed forward with fresh weapons. Moving from crumpled wall to crumpled wall through the city we fired at those who were trying to kill us and hating what we had to do. Sadieea was beautiful in its way but it held a disease that we had to remove. It hurt to excise flesh that could be made whole with just a little effort.

The lightning weapons struck nearby buildings to bring them down on us and we shifted to new positions as quickly as we could. Moltatas was hit in the torso and three of us hit her attacker. It was a girl even younger than Caiti and I knew the youngster would die.

To reach our objective we destroyed anything and everyone in our path. We especially looked to higher vantage points but also to hidden places in the rubble. There was a great deal of civilian deaths but most of those tried to stop us even if they had to use their bare hands.

The silver we found was thick and heavy. It was still attached to wood beams. I simply used a fulcrum to drag as much back to our starting point as I could. The pressure on us didn't weaken even when we retreated.

Security reinforced the perimeter as I ripped the roof apart to gather the silver. The Church portal was grounded but also hooked up to conductors for lightning rods. My weapon severed the latter connection. With the silver grounded by touching the gate, I tried to shelter my own small portal but the snow was almost as bad. I tried to make the gaps between the silver sheets smaller. The snow lessoned but not enough to allow the gate to open.

I tried everything again but this time it was inside the metal APC hull. The snow was a bit less again but still not enough to form a portal. I tried to calm down and think of a solution but nothing came to mind.

The building we were in was hit again and again and we had to vacate or die under the rubble. The port sounded good but if we found a ship, we would be an easy target. We pushed west through the city where the buildings were not as high. By finding a way of putting a bubble around our vehicles we made it to the city walls. We were using our ammunition up in an attempt to stay alive.

The wall of the city had to be breached. This structure was nearby and we finally managed break portion of it. We made a hole with less rubble to get over to gain the other side.

What was before us made me lose what little hope we had. An army was camped out there. It took a moment to notice that it was just the buildings and not the men.

We raced forward taking fire from out rear. Here the APC's took the brunt of the lightning bolts. The other vehicles couldn't stand up to this.

We raced down roads and into the camp itself, taking small arms fire. I called a halt and I checked my portal. It still had static. At some time the priests would want to gain their own mobility and would stop this blocking.

By the time we got to the camp, the effect of the silver deposit was lost. The priests and the Anguy were trying to cut us off but we continued on. The lead unit was taking a lot of fire and when we joined up, I found out why. There were bunkers here.

With our vehicles now protected by shields, we advanced quickly. Our machine guns were nearly empty and we had brought a lot of ammo. The Anguy died by the hundreds with no effect on us.

With almost no ammunition left, we broke into the bunkers. There were mortar rounds which fit our units. We used these like there was no tomorrow. The truth of the matter was that this was probably the case.

The priests started using portals now and we could also, but we did it on a much smaller scale. The last bunker had heavy calibre machine gun shells but they didn't fit the American APC's' guns.

We basically set up our own perimeter around the bunkers and did nothing but run for ammo and shoot.

It was near night time when the fighting grew to a lull. The seventy two people that had come with me had suffered. Half were dead and twenty two of the latter were seriously wounded. The hearts that all of us wore was probably the only thing that saved us.

We were all deaf from the fighting but I heard my name called mentally. I called out as loud as I could and I could feel elation that matched my own. The thoughts were jumbled and indistinct but my wives had come for me.

I told those around me what I knew and this cheered them up. It was an hour and a half later that a gate opened with a flag on a long stick pointing through.

I could hear Jonna's tired thoughts as she raced through. She took hits from our own people. We were just too tired to think and could only react. Jonna wasn't hurt and I pulled her to where I had been staying. I just hugged her to me. I think we both cried then.

More people came through the gate and reinforced our perimeter. The American APC's were loaded with machine gun ammo and autocannon rounds. I tried hard to tell the people that we had found a way to put a shield around the vehicle ands they seemed to understand. In a few moments the first one gained a shield and the rest followed slowly.

We fought all night long. Mantoya and my wives had somehow brought up our heavy weapons. The Russian ammo worked in them and we had lots of it left.

It was well after noon the next day that I could not stand anymore and just had to sleep. My thinking had dropped to almost nothing and I was making more mistakes than not on decisions.

When I woke up, I knew the battle was still going on. My hearing had improved but it was the heavy thuds I could feel through the ground. I was in a camp hospital. I managed to find something to eat and drink before healing those I could. Other people were in charge of the battle and they could just carry on for a few more minutes.

I was shocked to see Jonna in a bed. She had serious burns and I worked very hard to do what I could for her and our child. She was too far along to be fighting in a war. I finally had to pull myself away. Other were being assisted. I found Moltatas and she was in even worse shape. I looked to help but her body was doing the best it could at the moment.

Tiffany was here, too, but not all of her. She had lost a leg and her right arm. Her face was blistered and I almost cried at what I saw. Others had been hurt worse but they were not my wives. Her body was doing its best but I looked for any way I could to help. I was thankful now that she had not caught. The chance of another of my children dying unborn was difficult to bear, never mind the death of their mother.

Much later it was Caiti that found me. She was the one that had to pull me away to eat.

"Hugh, snap out of it. We're still in trouble and we need you."

I looked at the girl and knew she was right but I didn't want to lose Tiffany or Jonna. I was seated at a table and given black coffee.

It took a moment before Caiti said, "We're trying to take the city. Some of our units have breached the walls but we don't have enough people. The Church is pressing our country and we can't take more troops from there."

"Did you come through the portal?"

"No. The interference is still being put out. We dropped coins from the plane. Osston and Stofan opened portals and we chased them until they got here. The Church was so busy with you that we were able to get pretty close. Its good that we did because they had gathered a lot of people and were ready to attack."

I didn't want to know but I had to ask. "Did any of my family die?"

Caiti didn't smile but she said, "None died, just hurt."

I began to relax now and thought. "I might have some raw recruits."

"King Randalk?"

"Yes. I figure Buseland has not had as much troubles since we were being pushed so hard."

"We can get you there in an hour or so."

"How?"

"We still have the jet."

"Got enough fuel?"

"Not lots. We keep it up now and it goes a long way with the engines idling."

"The portal — oh yeah. It's still closed."

"We brought up the trunk and the replicators. We could make more fuel if we needed to."

A tanker truck had to be summoned from the airport in Tula. The driver didn't like to be away from his truck but it wasn't gone for long. The truck had already made many trips because it had to fill the APC's and the tanks used against the city.

Lauren found me when she came back for a break. She was weary and just held onto me. When she learned what I was going to do she said, "I'm going, too. We better bring some toys for your friend Marto."

Caiti said, "We have to drop coins."

"You're right, Caiti."

Vasiliy had been fighting but came when called. The remnants of my security detail and quite a few replacements arrived. Camsa came, drenched in blood but none of it was his own.

After we checked on Jonna and Tiffany, we boarded the jet. Caiti now controlled the mass and inertia. Camsa called out the details from the chair of the co-pilot. We shot forward into the air and tried to gain distance from the city as opposed to altitude. Fifty kilometres away, we headed north to Soot. The plane was comfortable and quiet. The noise was even less because the engines were not putting out much power.

Lauren and I monitored Caiti to see if she had any tricks to doing this. Everything looked straightforward. She and Camsa were linked closely to keep the plane flying at just below its rated airspeed. Lauren and I had to release the coins through a gate every twenty minutes. On the ground, Osston was keeping up to us. We could talk to him for a few minutes until we got out of range again.

We buzzed Soot an hour and a quarter later. I dropped three messages on parachutes over the palace. I didn't want to get shot, shot at, or Osston shot either. We could hover with Camsa now controlling the fulcrum. When three flags started to wave over the walls Camsa and Vasiliy took us down like a Harrier but better.

Nobody came near us but there were a lot of nervous people with muskets around. Caiti and Camsa got out first and waved. I hoped this put those that had guns at ease.

A troop of men came charging at us and pulled up. Marto was at the lead. "Hello, Hugh. Is this how you travel in Mendab? How are you doing?"

"Hello, Marto, I'd like you to meet some of my family and friends." I made the introductions and said, "There are some weapons on the plane you might like."

Only one box was opened and Marto was happy to see the well made weapons. "Tell me about these."

"I'm pressed for time, Marto."

"Why is that?"

"It appears that the militant arm of the Church is in the city of Sadieea in Corinthium. They opened their gate to me and we raced through. Not many of us got through before the gate closed. To make a long story short, we made a string of portals from Mendab to Sadieea. Half of our army is trying to take the city and half to defend our country. We could use some help. In return I will give you a lot more weapons like these. One for each man that comes and one more for your army that stays here."

"That could be many thousands of weapons, Friend."

"I know, but I promised them to you and just let's say that I've been busy."

"You must have been busy because we have not been bothered at all."

"I have something more to give you. Is Jassik Worrl with you?"

"Yes, he is. Why?"

"Let me show you." I had a big smile when I said this.

Jassik was summoned. He stood in front of his king and me and said, "Yes, my King?"

"King Hugh has a test of some sort. He wishes you to help him."

"I will help willingly, my King."

I said, "Thanks, Jassik. Remember these medallions we took off the stigga?"

"I do, my Lord."

"Let me put this on you first." I put the medallion around his neck and then actuated it.

Jassik said, "It feels odd."

"You are now protected by an invisible shield. I am going to test it now." I whispered, "I am going to punch you. Don't flinch." The man just nodded.

I took a step back and punched Jassik three times, giving it all I could. The man just rocked back on his feet and stared at me in amazement.

The guard detail went rigid at the unprovoked attack but soon relaxed. Marto had his 45 and I asked him to use it on Jassik.

"I will take your word that the bullets will not penetrate. I'm sure Jassik will take your word too."

"Stone or wood will not penetrate either. A cannon ball will kill but not penetrate the suit. I offer one of these to each man that comes to assist me."

"We would be invincible!"

"I'm sorry, but that isn't true. I have a weapon that shoots lightning. The priests have many of these too. The energy goes through the shield. Only a few of the Church's allies have this shield so muskets or AKs will kill them."

Marto thought for a minute then said, "How many men do you want?"

"All I can get to take the city. I'll be able to continue the war with fewer people and many can come home after the city has been taken. A friend of mine is currently only a few hours away on horseback. We can open a chain gate like the priests but as yet our range is limited. I would like to have him come here. This means he has to open a gate."

"Why doesn't he just come?"

"He wears a shield but nobody likes to get shot at."

"Does he come to provide passage for our men?"

"That is the reason."

"Then have him come."

"Let's have the gate near your barracks. You can monitor the end and your troops have less distance to travel."

"I like that idea."

Vasiliy gave a small tour of the plane and then we got on horses to go into Soot. Vasiliy had a lot of training but he had not been on a horse before. The crowds in the city cheered us and the family waved to the crowd. We came to the fort and entered the grounds. Jassik gave some orders and we waited. In a few minutes, the gate formed. The soldiers were nervous but only Osston came out. He looked around then came to me.

"It's a good sign that they are not shooting."

"A very good sign, Osston."

Marto said, "How do these gates work, Hugh?"

"The setting up of the gate is the difficult part. Using them is easy as long as you wear a medallion or touch someone who is. Otherwise there's a lot of pain."

"Can you show me?"

"I can but we are going into a war zone. You need a shield and you're still not safe."

"I'd like to see."

We had lots of medallions and I put them on everybody. Osston lead the way. We had to take a few steps between portals and we were back in Sadieea in less than a minute.

Marto listened to the sound of the fighting and was able to see both a tank and an APC go by. In the distance we could all see the plasma go horizontally with the double crack of thunder.

Marto weighted his words and said, "You look to have this well in hand, friend Hugh."

"That's not the case. We're besieging the city. We don't have enough people to take it and still protect our own cities."

"Why did you attack, then?"

"We had a plan to form a gate into the heart of the city. We would destroy any weapons and then find the books and silver devices. This was to learn how to use them and deprive the priests of their use."

"So what happened? You are not doing that now."

"A priest came on a surprise visit. We were partially prepared for even this but we found that the Church has a device that stops a portal or gate from being formed. I managed to keep them busy long enough for people like Osston to form a long line of portals to get here from our land."

Marto said, "You can pull back and try again?"

"I could but I found out that the Church is after some very powerful bombs. One bomb would destroy this whole city in the blink of an eye. They almost got seven of them. Soot could get one and there would nobody left to stop the Church from taking over."

Marto looked at the flashes of light in and around the city and said, "They might not do that to my city."

"They were fighting you before I came along. They would use the bombs on my cities and the fighting would stop. They would turn to you if I were gone with at least one bomb and finish all their wars. They would mop up the rest of the countries until they were all the way the Church wanted them."

"It doesn't sound like they got the bombs."

"They didn't get them this time. Others will provide anything the Church wants if there's enough wealth in it for them."

"My people are tired of war."

"If the Church knew that they would walk in and take your country now." In a change of tactics I said, "You can stay neutral and I may win this war. If I lose then you will have to fight alone. The Church doesn't like to release information, even to its own people. They are digging into their knowledge to fight me. What will they decide to dig up if they have time to work on it?"

Marto did some thinking and said, "I know that we have to fight at your side. Gathering enough men will be difficult and take time. This battle may well be lost before enough of us can come to your aid."

Marto and his entourage was escorted back to Soot. Vasiliy, Caiti, and Camsa flew the plane back while the rest of us took the gate route. With us came a hundred and twenty of the palace guards.

The men were warriors but had to learn to use our weapons. This meant they had to learn from a woman. This grated on them until they were challenged to outperform our women.

More men trickled in but I knew that a siege could last for years. The Church would not be idle during this time and would send reinforcements. This had to end quickly.

Howitzers pounded the city and optically guided missiles flew to the taller buildings. The latter group had good success until the priests found a way of shooting them down with lighting. Now only a third made it to a target.

The port was attacked to keep reinforcements from arriving by sea and to deny the Church a way of evacuating. In the process, we found a lot more charts of this area. Perhaps a frigate could assist but its guns were small. Its strengths was in its missiles and its ability to hide from radar.

Harassing enemy positions would possibly reduce the number of reinforcements arriving. There would be no wooden hulled ships that could survive any counterattack.

I worked near the front to let the troops see that I was here. I did no fighting but I did use the inter-world portal to triangulate the where the interference came from. This section was then shelled with everything we had but the static didn't change in the least. The success rate of our missiles improved though and we flew missiles into the city as fast as we could until the priests started to recover.

Every few hours I would take a break and visit Jonna and Tiffany. Both were awake and thankfully the heart removed the pain from burn victims. Tiffany was the most seriously hurt and the most distraught because of the loss of her limbs.

I said, "The heart may give you back your limbs. Nelson's books discussed this. He just didn't have enough time to investigate the procedure. We could also find the answer in the Church books. I'm not going to love you any less because of what happened to you."

Tiffany was too upset to think right. I knew because her mental shield was down. Chaos was the best way of describing what was going on in her mind. Those with me tried to console her but it wasn't working. Even Jonna tried her best and she was a mess herself.

I felt like shit myself because I had to leave. Bakhtin and Dimitri had a lot of weapons for me and if I didn't get them then they would be lost.

Most of my family was going to stay behind this time. They saw that I didn't pick up any new members last time but they were still not convinced.

Moltatas and Andis had survived the fighting and more or less demanded a place. The rest of their group had not made it, though one should pull through in time. I took Camsa, Caiti, Porta, and Vasiliy with me. Seven of us were easier to transport.

The plane was flown back to Woodland but I went through the gates to get there first. I could do some work from this location.

The team was shaping up. When we fought, we fought as a unit with many eyes and hands. All of us were communicating mentally at some level though Vasiliy was just starting. The man was a realist and we didn't have to prove facts to him.

The people in Woodland wanted to hear about our offensive but it was just to hear me. The link to Woodland and Sadieea was used a lot in the last few days and any news I gave them would be superfluous. I did talk and it seemed to help. Moltatas was put on the spot and had to tell about her wounds and how she got them.

We ported to Tula and found it nearly deserted. The mercs were now fighting in Sadieea, so was some of the Russian security group and some of Dubkova's old house security. The servants, though, were not invited or wanted. It took a special person to fight the way we wanted.

My heavily encrypted email had reports from both Dimitri and Bakhtin. The former said he may be able to get the jet engines but his bosses wanted them to be sabotaged just in case. Admiral Slava was anxious to just shoot me and have this matter over with. The Snezhnogorsk was having her trials in the Black Sea. She was closely monitored by the Black Sea Fleet even though the majority of those aboard were Russian Navy personnel. The admiral was the person overseeing this mission. Dimitri was sailing with a double complement of crew so the men I wanted would get some training. The ship looked good.

The missiles I ordered had been altered by the Russian military to make them inoperable but still look good and react properly to tests.

The freeing of the ship necessitated me transferring another hundred and fifty million dollars to Lobodin. He was probably very worried that he was going to lose on this venture. I was still going to try to penalise him for trying to screw me but as yet I didn't know how to do this ethically.

Bakhtin had found a small and nearly new Chinese oiler. It was actually a few metres longer than the Snezhnogorsk and still shorter than the other two tankers Reynolds found. This had to be paid for with cash so he, too, was sent money in the amount of ninety three million. This thankfully would cover the fuel that it would load.

He had also found four nukes and the men would take gold. I was sceptical and thought it was more likely to be the FSB instead. I didn't want to take the chance, though. The Church could find another puppet ready to purchase the nukes for them.

The price was six tonnes of gold. A further ten million dollars was to go to the men who set up the deal for Bakhtin. I had lots of the metal courtesy of Dubkova's dealings with the Church and I was not too worried. I wanted results and had to pay for them. The transfer point was apparently in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan.

Reynolds had sent me some email. The Kuenta's engines had been modified the way Morgan wanted. Weapons had been purchased from the black-market and could be loaded for later installation. I could use this ship too harass the Church even though it was the smallest. The two oilers were not far along in their refit but he was spending money lavishly to get them done as quick as possible.

Jake had been compromised and the CSIS was watching him. We could still do business through the internet if we were careful. He kept me appraised of the work on the site on the other side of Kingston and other ventures, one of which dealt with Ruiz and his crowd. Ruiz apparently had lots of the weapons I wanted and wished to deal. I didn't know if this was worthwhile because of the hassles he caused last time.

When I considered everything, I knew that I had to remove the nuclear weapons from the Church's hands even if they didn't have them yet.

Vasiliy soon landed in Woodland. It took only minutes until I was hugging and being hugged. The near death experiences of Jonna and Tiffany was still with us. This was on top of all the other deaths of friends and acquaintances.

Vasiliy said, "What are we doing now, Sir?"

"We get on an Ilyushin and head for Almaty, Kazakhstan. We are carrying gold. The FSB or home grown criminals have some bombs for sale."

"The FSB will not sell bombs."

"Precisely."

Vasiliy took care of the details then checked up on the health of the business. The managers were doing fairly well in his absence but he had to at least appear to be looking over their shoulder.

The Ilyushin we used before was still in Tula. A simple, though large, truck could carry nine bushels of gold as long as somebody used a fulcrum. We carried six times that just as easy. I still felt a thrill at using my agrarian past to describe this much gold.

Vasiliy filled out a flight plan using Dubkova's name. Two truck loads of our security came to enjoy the trip with us and to guard our property. Dubkova would never go without this kind of help.

In moments, we were on our way. This time we took off normally though the gold was held inertia less. The trip was faster than usual because instead of going at 850 klicks an hour, we were going at 1100 and just under the speed of sound. We were also flying very low. This was legal and we wished to use the chance to find any more transfer points.

Vasiliy landed in Kazakhstan with Moltatas, Andis, and a dozen mean-looking security types. The rest stayed with the gold. Getting through customs was not hard with a gate. Contacting Boris Dyalov was easy too.

Even though we contacted him on very short notice, he was still able to set some time aside for someone representing Bakhtin. He sent over two limos and a van.

When the limo came over, Vasiliy said to the driver, "Mr Nikolaevich wishes me to drive with you doing the directing."

"I was not told that."

"It doesn't matter. If we are going in this automobile it will be with me at the controls."

"I have to get directions," he said plaintively.

"Then get them." We waited just a minute for the call and the driver moved over with a sour expression. In the mean, time we were searching the vehicle with the bug detector and our senses. There was no microphone active but there was one in the vehicle. There was a transponder.

In less than five minutes the driver was ours. We found out that he was just a driver and knew nothing about our dealings. Porta slipped a silver coin under the seat in case we might need it.

We came to a manned gate and in a moment we were admitted. In the house a butler spoke to me in Russian asking for my guards to stay back a few extra metres to make Boris Dyalov happy.

I said, "Sure," in Russian but even that showed that I didn't speak the language. I had an interpreter for when I had to be understood.

The family and Moltatas, Addas, Vasiliy, and my interpreter were ushered into a palatial room designed to awe guests. It was good but the ones in Tula were much better.

Another tall and suave looking man got up from his desk and shook my hand. The last person to be like this was Dimitri and I was even more on my guard now.

"Hello, Mr Nikolaevich. How may I be of help to you?"

"I'm sorry but I am travelling under a pseudonyms to avoid entanglements."

The interpreter spoke my words and Dyalov said in English, "That is fine with me."

I had to smile and said, "I feel humbled that I can only speak two languages at a time like this."

"Please don't feel that way. A lot of business is done in this language. I have been encouraged to learn it or lose profits."

"I have not had the time so far and I regret it. I'd like to introduce my people if I may?"

"Go right ahead."

I listed everybody as family or friends except the interpreter who was with the security contingent. Dyalov didn't introduce the security that was in the room. We were offered refreshments which I accepted. After a few moments to get at ease the man said, "How may I be of assistance?"

"Kapsirko Bakhtin has been contacted to find some military weapons. During this search he was told about some tactical weapons. I wish to purchase all I can."

"What do you want them for? They are very powerful and a destabilising factor in our world."

"You are absolutely correct. I wish to get them off the street in a matter of speaking. I can also use them as bargaining chips when I trade them to the Russian government for favours or goods."

"Dealing with the government is very difficult. I would do this myself but the ownership of the goods is in doubt at the moment. I fear they would take what is mine and pay me in lead."

"I can pay in solid gold and without any surplus kinetic energy."

"How can I know that the gold is real?"

"That's easy. I'll pay ahead of time. You have a day to drill or otherwise sample the metal. When you're satisfied, I get what I hear you offered. If you like the terms I will take all you can deliver."

"I may have more. Some are more powerful. Are you willing to pay according to their power?"

"I'm a wealthy man but I do have limits. What are you offering?"

"I have 86 shells, each with a capacity of 72 tons. I also have 7 that are rated at 740 kilotons."

The shells he mentioned were actually tons because they were not that powerful. These were the same destructive power as the seven I now had. "Do you give a quantity discount?"

The man laughed loudly and we bargained in earnest. The group was sent out as if this was boring but it was to look for trouble. Vasiliy could not understand English but I kept him close. I was sure Dyalov would see him as security.

I didn't like Dyalov but I would not cheat him. A tonne of gold was worth twenty million dollars. The shells were going to cost me thirty million each.

He agreed to a new price to sell me all 93 devices for 25 million each. We shook hands and I said, "Now that this is tabulated, what other toys do you have to sell me?"

"You want more?"

"The bombs are not to be used. I still want missiles, warships and even some APC's if you have any laying around."

"Let's conclude our business first."

"I agree. I will give you 36 tonnes of gold immediately but I would like to check the merchandise first. How about you check, say, 10 tonnes of gold while I do this? You get a chance to check its purity. In six hours you get the balance of 116.25 tonnes."

"You must have a powerful plane to only need four hours and still bring that weight?"

"I do."

"Then I will send a truck."

"If I may be blunt?"

"Certainly."

"Will there be problems with the transfer in relation with the authorities?"

"None at all. They are well paid."

We made the return trip and used a forklift to remove about ten tonnes. Dyalov would weigh this for us. I knew he could cheat me easily.

The rest of us got in limos and trucks and headed north. I sat beside the man and talked. Along the way he fell asleep. His guard was concerned but not unduly. That was because Caiti was putting him to sleep.

There were bugs in the car and we ripped them out. When this was done I asked Dyalov, "Are you taking us into a trap?"

There was a bit of hesitation then he said, "I am not sure. You appear to be unarmed."

"Do you have the goods you agreed to sell me?"

"Most of them."

"What do you have?"

"Twenty three shells."

"Do you know of anybody that has more nuclear weapons for sale?"

"One more man. I believe he has thirty four multiple warheads, each containing seven individual devices."

"Where is he?"

"Some place in Tajikistan, Sir."

"Did you sell seven shells recently?"

"No, Sir. You are my first customer."

"Have you had dealings with Dubkova?"

"Not directly, Sir. He has placed orders through middlemen."

"Did he or his people ask if you had nukes?"

"Yes, Sir, but I denied it."

"Why?"

"I don't trust the man."

I asked a lot more questions until we arrived. The guard awoke and looked worried when he saw what he had done. He grabbed for his gun but saw no threat. He settled back with a very upset face.

Within minutes we pulled into a fenced enclosure. There were guards all over but they stayed out of sight. Local security met us and Dyalov led us into a room deep underground. Bare bulbs gave us light. Caiti, Camsa, and Porta bent down to inspect each of the shells.

I followed what was in their minds and found some problems. The material was not the same as what Dubkova had been given. The material here was somehow 'lighter'. Seventeen of the shells appeared to be ok. Porta left a coin and we left the room empty handed. On the surface we found a lot of men with guns aimed at us then suddenly turn away.

There was no way to read their minds but I had my suspicions. Porta went to a troop truck and went in. While she was busy I asked Dyalov, "How many others around here speak English?"

"Six, Sir."

"Which ones?"

They were pointed out along with the guard that was now ours. I segregated the man and said, "How well can you speak English?"

The man spoke in fair British English by saying, "Fairly well, Sir."

"That's good. We are out of hearing range. Do you have a bug on you?"

"No, Sir."

"Who do you really work for?"

"The FSB, Sir."

"How many others that are here work for them or other departments of the Russian government?"

"Nine, Sir, but six others are in our employ."

"Have you or anybody else tinkered with the shells?"

"Only a few, Sir."

"Why did you not arrest Dyalov?"

"Others will come seeking what he sells. In time the bombs will not work but appear to be genuine."

"What about the fact that the bombs could be taken from you?"

"There are three hundred very well armed men nearby. They have four missile batteries to take out helicopters.

"That's a good thing you're protecting these. I would not leave them in other hands. Now who has black-market nuclear weapons in Murghob, Tajikistan?"

The family and security were moving the heavy shells and I mentally told them to put them back. The FSB had them under control.

"Chingiz Beg, Sir."

"Does he have an FCB detail too?"

"Yes, Sir, but they have to watch from a distance."

"Tell me where he keeps his bombs?"

"He has a mountain stronghold. The villages near him protect him because he provides food."

"Do you have access to maps of the area?"

"Yes, Sir, but not where they can be easily found."

"When is your duty period over?"

"At six tonight if there is nothing that goes wrong."

"That reminds me. Do you know who I really am?"

"Yes, Sir. Shelley Hugh Driscott."

"You had your guns on me. How come I was not arrested?"

"You would be arrested later when your aircraft is seized at the airport."

"Let's go back to Almaty."

When we got back to the house I knew a lot more details about Dyalov. I said, "Dyalov, bring nine tonnes of gold back to the plane as soon as possible."

"Yes, Sir."

When we got to the house I said to Dyalov, "I am giving you twenty million dollars worth of gold. I am also penalising you to the sum of eight million. Find twenty eight million dollars worth of military type weapons and we will be even."

"Yes, Sir."

I rode to a hotel and waited a half hour for the maps and the notes to come to me. I had more talks with the FSB man and so did Vasiliy. We ported to the plane right after. The gold had arrived and the authorities had not stopped us because they believed I was in the city. Our take off was unhampered.

Murghob, Tajikistan was in the mountains and still covered with snow. Vasiliy sweated over the maps until he showed us three mountains with our eyes and the same three on the chart. GPS was good but our ability to set up portals depended upon sight. The spot we picked was in a deep valley and much warmer.

It was getting dark by now and Vasiliy reluctantly shut down the engines. There was a lot of apprehension among the security people now. Some of the plane's mass was put back to keep airspeed so we could manouevre. Vasiliy didn't relax until the plane touched down. It did so as lightly as if he were in an elevator.

The plane opened and we all got out. The passengers just wanted to feel solid ground under their feet. This was actually mud because it was not quite freezing here. The family just smiled at them.

We were in a poppy field though the field was now dormant. Huts were scattered around but we were quiet enough that the dogs that barked were not hysterical as they would normally be.

Tajikistan had a recent civil war when the Russians pulled out. The country was lawless in most ways and the drug cartels enforced their own laws. The police and the military were corrupted by those in the drug trade that mainly fed Moscow.

A kilometre away was a better place to put the plane. Camsa went to the front landing gear and in a moment picked up the plane as if it were a balloon. We all walked in the direction of the trees. Camsa backed the plane in and set it down. I could not see the grin but I knew one was there.



-------

Chapter 45


A bubble was set up around the plane the way that they had done to the smaller vehicles in Sadieea. Necessity being the mother of invention proved true when hidden facts of both shield types came out. We could make a bubble like the one formed by our medallions and it had no Achilles heal in the form of an open bottom. One form of the shield even contained atmosphere as if it were intended for use in space. Another feature allowed selective permeability to specific gases. This made me think of the shields as a tool used by travelling beings as opposed to a device to be used in war.

Caiti was the focus and the other two assisted with all their strength. The shield formed after a moment. This was hard to do when the structure was so large. Usually the barrel of a machine gun and the exhaust pipe poked through the barrier the way they did for the APC's and the tanks. A grill had to be formed that was large enough to allow air in but not bullets or a howitzer shell. This time the shield had to be erected outside the protected object. To do this a pair of wristbands had to stay behind.

We had very little equipment. It was mostly our silver icons, chain and a rifles. The inter-world portal was back on the plane. We were coming at this blind and I relied on Vasiliy the way I did Mantoya and Artlam.

The stronghold was only ten klicks away but it was a lot more than that with the distance up and down we had to travel. The moon was full so we could see enough to get by. Soon we were moving down a road that was not much better than the mud we had been travelling through. The huts were closer and so were the dogs who put up a lot more noise. Nobody came out to investigate.

We began a gradual ascent of the mountain. At one time this area had a lead deposit but it had been worked out. Chingiz Beg had taken over this area and provided schools and medical aid along with food. The people loved him. He also bought local poppies to produce heroin that was destined for Moscow and other wealthy cities. Beg was into military hardware because he at one time was a general in the army and saw the value of a well trained and equipped army to protect his property.

Beg had seized the warheads from MIRV missiles in a daring raid. The Eighteen missiles were later destroyed. Each missile had seven re-entry vehicles rated at or near 350 kilotons each. He had sold four warheads to China. There was no explanation for this sale except to prove that Beg had what he said he had.

There was an uneasy truce now with Russia staying away and hoping to interdict the drugs and possibly get the warheads back somehow. The border had so many security gaps in it that only one drug shipment had been taken and that one had not belonged to Beg.

A field was in front of us with a low wall of stone. From reports, this area was mined. We all wore shields but a large mine could kill us with the shockwave. We stuck to the winding road instead.

Around one o'clock we heard a donkey coming from a small side road. We hurried up to where the roads met and waited. Three men came with two mules between them. All the men were armed with AKs like we had. They weren't expecting trouble. We jumped out at them and they didn't have a chance to get off a shot. I took one man and put my controls on him. Camsa and Porta did the same while the donkeys' packs were searched.

When the men awoke, Vasiliy had to work to gather information. All three men could speak Russian. We got a new appreciation for the mountain base. Beg had enlarged it to the point where he could survive a nuclear war. In fact, there was room for a small city within the mountain.

Two of the men were sent along with the donkeys. They knew less than a third of the base. These men would place coins for us near the locations Vasiliy asked them too. This was a military base but it was not that strict on internal security. Still, some areas were decidedly off limits. This included the area containing the unsold drugs, the armoury and the nuclear weapons storage area.

Porta called to us an hour later as the first of the coins was separated from the rest. It was hid in a crack in the rough rock walls of a corridor. The floor though was poured concrete. It was near three in the morning when the last of the coins was placed.

Vasiliy said, "Caiti, open a gate to the corridor near the nuclear vault."

She smiled at him and said, "Yes, Sir." The gate formed and Vasiliy sent two of his men through with Caiti.

"Porta, the armoury."

"Yes, Sir." She opened the gate and four men went through along with Porta.

"Camsa, the lab."

"Yes, Sir." The gate opened but this time it was inside the target. Three men hurried through as well as Camsa.

I stayed as a reserve and to communicate with Vasiliy. My job was not to lead here and I didn't mind giving up the responsibility to a military man, especially one as bright and talented as Vasiliy.

It was five minutes later that Caiti told me, "We're in the weapons locker." I repeated this to the interpreter and he spoke to Vasiliy.

Vasiliy asked, "Can you begin transport?"

I repeated the question and then nodded my head. Vasiliy said, "Proceed with caution."

Caiti used her chain to open a gate to the plane and she carried a warhead in each hand with the aid of two fulcrums. The men only provided security for her.

Camsa and his team had located flammable substances in the lab. Portia could not get near the stockpile of weapons so Camsa opened a gate to her so she could try from a new position.

All of a sudden we could hear the alarms going off and I could see soldiers running to their stations. Somehow we must have tripped an alarm. As per our orders, Porta and Camsa's groups left to assist Caiti.

I said, "What do you want to do?"

Vasiliy said, "It must be surveillance cameras."

The interpreter gave my words and Vasiliy thought for only a few seconds. "They will be going to the bombs. Let's slow them down."

This time all of us smiled. I chose a location and opened a gate. The sound of the alarm was a lot louder. We set up and fired at the first ones coming around the bend. I would have used the plasma but we would then be in the dark with the electrical system fried.

Vasiliy had us retreat to the surface, only to shift the gate to another area. We were hit by small arms fire immediately after leaving the gate. We continued this until I heard Porta say, "I got in the armoury. There are a lot of people coming at us. You better help."

Vasiliy learned of this and looked pissed. She was delegated with removing the nukes not guns.

We materialised at the entry point Porta had used. We were shot at by at least twenty people. We returned fire. Vasiliy walked forward with his men and just shot the soldiers. Only a few chose to run but they too were shot. There was more shooting going on and we ran to the next area. The hall was full of bodies and we could not get over them. The soldiers had tried to crawl over their own dead and had died as well.

We too climbed this mountain but after telling Porta of our intentions. In a moment we were in front of as large area that could accommodate transport trucks.

Vasiliy demanded, "What's the status of the bombs?"

I thought of Caiti and Camsa and then said to the interpreter, "The nukes are at the plane."

He didn't say anything but he raced into the armoury. There was more firing going on but it was sporadic.

Vasiliy said, "We have to destroy all of this."

I asked, "My plan with a nuke?"

He didn't need a translation and said, "Yes."

"Will it be contained?" I had the interpreter say this so there was no misunderstandings.

Vasiliy said, "It will be safe."

Caiti and Camsa were reinforcing Porta's team. They were using some of the captured weapons to do this. Camsa was tasked with gathering our silver equipment. Vasiliy had to go and inspect the bombs. There were a lot of them. As I started to count, Caiti said, "A hundred and twenty two."

"Thanks, Sweety."

Vasiliy chose a bomb and Caiti carried it back to the mountain. The rest of us went along because now we had to find the controls that would detonate the devices. Detonation was a simple process but a lot of devices were added to the bomb to make it tricky. A partial detonation was the most likely and this would just scatter the radioactive material for a few hundred metres.

We used coins and our senses to find the stolen control panels. They were actually in a room behind the armoury. The panel was taken to the bomb in the lowest area of the base. Where Vasiliy hooked the two together and then to the electrical system.

More soldiers had arrived and I left to deal with them. It was ten minutes later that I felt some accomplishment from Camsa. A whiff of fresh air said that they had opened a gate.

Porta called to me, "Let's go now. Caiti is ready to collapse the tunnel."

We pulled back and Caiti raced to our old position. She concentrated hard as bullets hit her shield. Her hands held fulcrums. In a moment I felt an earthquake as the rock of the mountain shifted. Rock fell all around Caiti and the tunnel ceiling fell in. Rock hit us too and knocked us about.

My mind flew to Caiti. I could feel that she was still alive but trapped. This time Porta and Camsa held a chain as I searched for Caiti. In a moment I had her. I pulled her to me and held her tightly. She held me the same way and said, "We have to go."

We left through a gate originating at the Ilyushin. There was nobody around us and I was reluctant to let Caiti go but we had to get prepared to leave.

I asked Vasiliy, "How long?"

Again he needed no translation. "Ten minutes. It's best to stay here with the systems shut down."

"Is there a danger?" I asked again.

"There will be no mushroom cloud, only a rumble in the Earth and of course the EMP. We are not in any danger. It will destroy the drugs like you wanted as well as the lab."

Caiti collapsed the shield around the plane after finding that she could not open a gate through it. The remaining 121 bombs were placed side by side so they would not shift. Three control systems came along that would communicate with the bombs. Vasiliy called us out and we lay on the ground. I used my mind to elevate the plane and all it contained.

A minute later there was a violent earthquake that sent waves running through the very ground as if it were water. The Ilyushin wobbled in my mental grip but struck nothing but some branches. Violent after shocks shook us. It was a few minutes later that we used a gate to enter the still hovering plane. We had to hurry now because the world, and especially Russia and China, would be on this location as seismographs pinpointed the disturbance. They would have a good idea that it was not a natural earthquake and teams would check it out.

The bombs were all radioactive but we had no place to sit but among them. I continued to focus on the bombs and the rest of the plane. We rose into the air like a balloon until the engines started and pushed us forward.

Vasiliy called out orders and Camsa kept the plane in trim at the altitude our Russian friend wanted. We took a calculated risk and flew as low as possible at just below the speed of sound. The elevations changed rapidly and we spent a harrowing hour getting out of the country by following valleys.

The radio crackled with a commanding voice. Vasiliy was just as frosty in return. Again Dubkova's name was mentioned. From the way Vasiliy sounded I had Caiti and Porta try to put a shield around our plane again but still allow the engines to perform their job. They could not do it.

Two fighters came at us near the midpoint of our trip but Vasiliy again brought about threats with Dubkova's name. The jets actually pealed off and left. We headed toward Tula but instead landed at the house. A gate was opened immediately and our cargo was transferred to Woodland. Once there, it was moved away from the city while we went back and brought the Ilyushin through. There was now evidence of our previous cargo in the very metal of the plane.

Vasiliy said to me, "The numbers on our plane were recorded. Even if they don't know about the bombs, they will come to investigate what would be Dubkova's strange behaviour."

"They knew who I was when we showed up at Dyalov's home. They know I was looking for nukes."

"I think you should move the ships now."

"I do, too."

We went back to Sadieea to see Jonna and Tiffany. Both were sleeping soundly. Lauren and Matra were nearby and awoke as we came in. It was not long after that we went to bed ourselves. Ships or no ships, we needed our sleep and I had already burnt the candle at both ends too much.

I woke up later with Caiti curled up beside me. Matra was above us with a smile on her face and a heart in her hand.

"Hello, Beautiful. Do we need some repair?"

"Actually, the answer is no. There was very little damage to your bodies. The bombs must have been well shielded."

"I hope so. How is Jonna and Tiffany?"

"They are awake. Jonna is feeling better after hearing from Camsa what you had done."

"What about Tiffany?"

"She is still depressed. This will leave in time."

"I hope so."

We had a meal and the team once more left through the gate. Sadieea was no closer to capitulating but we were getting recruits coming through the gate that were sent by Marto.

Vasiliy met me in the house in Tula with an interpreter. He was obviously worried. "My superiors phoned but I had others take the calls. I feel that they will come soon."

"Then we better move the inter-world portal into the hidden room."

"And a few coins scattered around the house?"

"That's the idea. Move the liquid assets to our accounts and then shift them through a few countries. We can pay the bills from current accounts or return some. We have to remove any trace of what Dubkova was doing. What did our lawyers say?"

"They were dubious but they did give me a strategy to follow. I'm exercising our options now just in case. We have people that will swear that they saw Dubkova sell major portions of the business to foreigners. If the government want to seize the business they will put their own economy at risk."

"Good work, Vasiliy."

"Where are we going next?"

"I'm going to Ontario to make some phone calls that will allow people to think I'm in Canada. Dimitri is in the eastern end of the Black Sea or will be tomorrow. I need a way of getting to Georgia. The city is called Senaki near the coast. I gave Dimitri a coin — "

"And we're going to board the frigate?"

"Exactly."

The Duchovny portal was hidden in an outbuilding on the property. The globes were changed and we could use this one since we had a key for it. The Church portal linking Sadieea to here was moved to the hidden room. Everything in it apart from a hidden coin had been removed and sent to Shreff for study.

I returned to Woodland only for security and to slip away again. We then headed to London. As usual, I checked the cameras and not only found we had been invaded again but some people were in the house. It would not be long until they monitored the barn too.

There were coins planted in the city and I used one very carefully. I phoned Dimitri's public number. He had said that the FSB would transfer the call to the frigate.

The phone rang seven times before Dimitri answered it. "Hello, Dimitri here."

"Well, Captain, you don't sound pleased to talk to your employer."

"I don't mind at all, Sir, though I find you abrasive at times for no reason."

"You have a spine at times and I'm grateful for that. How are the trials going?"

"Both ships are very good. Lobodin released both when he got the latest payment. He keeps armed people aboard still. I don't like to have a person with a gun near me."

"I don't like it either. Has everything been loaded?"

"I managed to find some jet engines but there was no time to mount them."

"Are they aboard both vessels?"

"Yes, Sir."

"I may have to be nicer to you, Captain. I would be displeased with any other answer. Get the engines mounted and ready as soon as possible. Work around the clock."

"I am already doing that, Sir and I am anxious to see how well this method of propulsion works."

"I am too. It may only add a few knots but I want to try. Would they be ready for tonight your time?"

"No, Sir. We need at least another day. Your tests could fail because of a job done too quickly."

"You're right, Captain."

"When can I expect you, Sir?"

"I may be able to make it in three days. If the trials are good I can pay off Lobodin and take possession of the ships."

"That is good to hear, Sir. What — "

"I have business to do, Captain. Meet me in Rostov in three days. I want to hear how the engines perform."

"Yes, Sir."

I took a taxi that was waiting for me to the other end of the town and phoned Mom and Dad. This call would lead CSIS to me almost immediately so I was brief. I didn't mention anything about Jonna or Tiffany.

The taxi took me downtown and I just visualised the barn and the portal. I added my own position and superimposed them. It took longer but I got the gate open and we stepped through.

I hurried through Woodland and had the raft with five coloured stones and a coin put out into the water. I may not use it for a few days but I wanted it in place now.

The members of our expedition were ready when I got back. Camsa said, "Did you find anything interesting, Hugh?"

"CSIS people are camping out in our home."

"You didn't kick them out?"

"I could but it would make matters worse. Let's get going."

I asked Vasiliy, "Do you know a way of getting into Georgia?"

"I was thinking about that already. Perhaps flying south to the Black Sea and turning east would be best."

We used a gate to get into the city of Tula. The family was right behind me. The executive jet was ready for us. We boarded by gate just to be sure that we were not seen. We stayed just subsonic the entire trip.

We flew east of Rostov-on-Don. A few hours later we were near Turkey after passing most of the Black Sea. The plane lost altitude and then turned northeast. In a way it was fun to skim the water. It was also very dangerous. Everybody that could, monitored our altitude. Hitting the water at nearly the speed of sound would be fatal even with our shields.

We reduced speed when nearing Georgia and radioed ahead. There were two organisations that needed some warning. P'ot'i was home to a main naval base and headquarters of the Georgian navy. K'ut'aisi was the capital of the western region of Georgia called Imereti. It had an airport and customs which is what we needed at the moment.

We landed normally and Vasiliy paid some fees to park the plane. The customs car came in and found us all at the plane. One man talked to the man at the tower and found we had not tried to leave the area. The man spoke in his language, Kartuli, but switched easily to Russian.

Vasiliy did all the talking for us. When we were asked questions, we could answer in one or two words in Russian. Yes, no and Moscow were all the answers we needed.

The plane was perfunctorily searched. We wore the chains around our necks or waists and only Loca's frame was out in the open disguised as a frame for a painting. The metal was painted to hide the silver. Two one hundred dollar American bills disappeared. Our fake passports were stamped and we were free to go.

Apparently Georgia was a cheap place to have a vacation. Bus travel between cities was cheap and the common way to travel. We took a taxi to one hotel and took another taxi to a different hotel just in case we were followed. Not long after we were directed to where to find a bus. The fifty kilometre trip to Senaki was more like eighty because there was no direct road.

Our group was seen as foreigners but they had no idea how foreign most of us were. When we pulled into Senaki we found two taxis that would give us a tour of the city just as I had done in Tula. Again we had to go far from the city to find the nexus. The map I bought helped me feel less lost and the land was actually warm and inviting as were the people.

I was surprised to see that it was a jumble of rock on top of a hill. Many of the rocks were split by lightning because of the fresh surfaces. We stopped to get out and have a closer look.

Vasiliy knew of my interest and asked questions about the area. Our driver knew little but the other driver said that the place was where witches once lived. With further questions we found it was because lightning struck here so much.

We drove around the area a few times to get a feeling for the place and to place the location on the map. The portal worked just fine but we had company so we could not use it.

When the drivers were paid off, I used a combination of pantomime and twenty questions to get Vasiliy to finally say, "You want to purchase the land? You want to see if foreigners can own property? I think you need a lawyer for that. And you want to know the history of the people that have lived on this land?"

"Yes."

We rented a car and drove back to the property. Our mini survey showed the effect of the nexus was quite large. Like Tula, we found a wall around this area but it had broken down. I could only see earthquakes or people taking stone for construction purposes. The pile of stone was the remnants of a large home that was more like a mediaeval castle than anything else. Surprisingly, none of the stone appeared to be missing from this location. I figured there would be lightning rods and cables to carry away the electricity but those must have been too good for scavengers to pass up.

I used the portal to tie in with Woodland. There was little change in Tiffany so far and the family was staying as near as they could.

Vasiliy had to do all the negotiations with the lawyer for us even though some people would be able to speak English. A lawyer photocopied the area of the map and Vasiliy simply told him to find out who owned the property now because he figured it was owned by his ancestors. A retainer got the man working.

It was getting late so we abandoned looking for the history of the property and hired two taxis to take us to P'ot'i. This was only forty klicks away. The rental organisation didn't allow one way travel with the vehicle we had.

The Georgian naval base was not large as such things go. There was also a public dock and places for fishermen to tie up and unload their cargoes. I used the headband and the disk amplifier. I could sense the coin but not very well.

The rest tried and Camsa claimed to get a better reading but not enough to see well, never mind anchoring a gate. We made do with taking a tour of the city and what we could see of the military base. Vasiliy got us some rooms and we tried to act patient.

Winter was a wet time in this area and I felt a storm coming on. Vasiliy went out and rented a car and we drove out of town. Our silver was placed in a pile in a barren area and the two of us sat in the car nearby.

Vasiliy started to talk but had to quit because I no longer had the translating device. We simply had language lessons where I taught him Ladra and he taught me some Russian.

Every half hour I hurried to the silver pile and searched for Dimitri's coin. It was closer but not enough yet. The lightning had not come either. There was lightning out over the Black Sea, though, and it looked like two strikes were in the same general area though it was far over the horizon.

I took a calculated risk and raced again to the silver ahead of schedule. There was no lightning in our vicinity but there would be soon. I checked and found that I could almost make it. I picked up two amplifiers and found that it actually worked better this way. I saw a cabin on a ship and a coin under a piece of tape attached to the back of the door.

Vasiliy was signalled and he ran to me to hold one of the silver chains. I took two more along with some of the icons. I stepped through and waved to Vasiliy who didn't look happy to leave me or perhaps not talk to Dimitri.

With some gestures I told Vasiliy to collapse the gate and go back to the car to wait. The gate closed and I was alone in the ship. My head was wet from the cold rain but I was dry under the juffa. The ship was warm. I used the coin and the headband to check for people near the door.

I woke up later to find Dimitri over me. He said, "Are you injured?"

I had to think a moment. "I was wearing a headband when I blanked out. The ship must have been hit by lightning."

"The ship was hit seven times. All of them were within the last half hour."

"Help me up will you, Dimitri?"

He got me into a chair and I took off my headband. Dimitri asked "What happened?"

"I was using the coin you put on the door to check the hallway and that is the last I remember. Lightning could not have hit me but something overloaded my mind."

"Will you be alright?"

"I think so."

"That is good to hear. What are your orders, Sir?"

"I want to meet the officers one at a time. Everybody will get the minimum conditioning. Those chosen to go will learn a lot more. My secret is bound to come out but I want to hold it off as long as possible."

"I thought you would have to do this. How do you wish to begin?"

Dimitri invited the off-duty officers into his quarters one at a time. The first few had to be threatened with a gun. After that I just hid in a Russian uniform among my new conscripted officers as I took more men.

I was doing about twenty an hour and found it tiring. The electrical storm had passed and I risked opening a gate to my people even though they didn't have a coin. It actually worked. But a pattern of coloured stones set into concrete could not compare with people I loved.

Vasiliy had not come back yet but thunder was heard through the hotel room walls in P'ot'i. The officers were asked to go through the gate just to see how it worked. They were warned to never do so without the medallion.

The officers returned and called their own men. My family worked as a group to get a few of the ratings. A ship of this size should have a hundred and nineteen men. We had two hundred and sixty and they were packed like sardines. This included twenty three men stationed aboard as a security force for Lobodin.

We were half way through when Vasiliy returned to the hotel room. He was given command of those that were chosen to stay with us. He also took them to P'ot'i for some R&R and beds in the hotel we were staying at. I just wanted room on the ship to work.

The four of us that could use the icons did the rest of the crew. From then on we had to separate the goats from the sheep. Any government organisation was hesitant about trusting anybody so they had informers posted in the ranks. This was true of all intelligence services no matter what the country. The truth was only known to Dimitri, my security, and myself.

We went ashore in a manner of speaking the next morning and processed the bachelors. There were goats in here too. The Russians didn't have military uniforms so they blended in with the rest of the population. With the recent civil war there were a lot of UN troops around to keep the peace. None of the crew looked out of place.

The Yeisk was next and six men from the Snezhnogorsk transferred over. Two carried a coin each and we began the process once more. This time the normal complement of thirty six was seventy eight.

The captain was the first and the hardest. We ended up having to take the entire bridge crew at gunpoint which could have been disastrous. They looked at Caiti, Porta, and Camsa holding AKs and paused. The rest of us had to look just as desperate.

Dimitri left his post to come aboard the Yeisk so he could be in on the interrogation. We found that the Captain had command of explosives in the Snezhnogorsk's engine room in the event if the frigate looked like it would actually be taken. The man's secret orders were opened that dealt with different situations. He had extra orders from Admiral Slava to shoot anybody that even looked like they were going to go along with my plans.

Through questioning all of the men, we had found out what was wrong with our weapons systems and how to fix them. In some cases it was impossible to repair.

The jet engines had been tested previously and I had them do it for me. They pushed the ship along quite well considering their thrust but they would not help increase the top speed unless I could get the ship out of the water.

I was going to drop off all of those that I didn't want and take the rest but this wouldn't work. My light conditioning would break down under the kind of questioning the men would be put under.

As an alternative, Vasiliy and Moltatas drove Caiti to Senaki where she opened an inter-world portal and then a chain gate to transport the surplus men on the ships to Woodland. The goats that had to make periodic reports would have to remain with us. Caiti picked up a few odds and ends including our personal weapons. We had all grown fond of our automatic shotguns.

Dimitri said, "How are you going to get around the fleet?"

"How far away is the nearest ship apart from the Yeisk?"

We were on the bridge so he checked. "The nearest ship is thirty kilometres away and two planes are sixty and ninety respectively."

"Then we have to have another drill. Will you inform the crew that we are going to — levitate."

"Levitate?"

"I can't think of another name."

"Neither can I. The engines will have to be shut down. Cooling water is drawn through the hull."

"I had not thought of that, Captain. By the way, a young man by the name of Vasiliy wants to be a captain, too."

"He does? He's not fully trained for that job."

"We realised that if I can raise the ship, I could raise a large sealed vessel that used conventional rockets to manoeuvre. We should go quite fast without any inertia."

"Ahhh a cosmonaut."

"Maybe a starship captain, Captain."

"I think he reads too many books."

"Perhaps another captain has not had a chance to think on what we could do."

We stopped this line of talk and called the officers to a meeting. A gate was set up that linked the Yeisk. They could hear and participate too. We discussed the simple manoeuvre that would take the ship completely out of the water but not far. The men were incredulous. They also grasped the idea of what Vasiliy wanted even quicker than Dimitri.

The crew were warned by their officers as apposed to a PA system. Dimitri did get to say, "Prepare for levitation," when the time came.

The hundred and two metre ship weighted 140 tonnes less than the 2,090 it would normally weight before going out on a mission. It slowly lifted into the air. I had to concentrate on this to get it right. Dimitri started one jet engine and the ship move forward much faster than the normal three had before.

We reached fifty kilometres an hour and cut back. This was the ship's normal top speed. I tried changing course but found I could only do so by lowering one side of the ship. I had to stop and had no way of doing so. The engines were stopped. I slowly and very carefully lowered the hull into the water. It was hard to keep the ship stable.

Porta did the same procedure but I warned her not to try steering. Her top speed was over a hundred klicks an hour so she caught up to us quickly.

When we settled again, Dimitri said, "I can now see why Vasiliy wants to fly. When can I learn to do this?"

"Dimitri, I think of you as a friend. Part of the reason you are acting this way towards me is your conditioning. Part, I think, is your view that I am not about to hurt your country or any other on this planet. With that said, I have to add that you will learn far more than this in the next year. My problem is that as you become more powerful you could disrupt my war effort and even come back to Earth and attempt to take over one or more countries here."

"You could stop this."

"Yes, but I want you to work because you want to. Your country is very important to you. Even if you didn't try to take over, the people here would use you to do the same thing to further their aims."

"Do you have a solution?"

"Only to add a condition that you return every year or two so your restrictions can be brought back to where it is now."

"I am not conditioned very much."

"That is the way I want everybody. I have to fight my urges or I could become a dictator as well as anybody else."

"How do you do it? I mean, how do you avoid the pitfalls?"

"I'm married to some very intelligent and compassionate women. They're as powerful as me if not more so. We can speak to each other mentally and this keeps me sane. As more people learn this ability I would not be able to stay in power if I were going evil."

"Would I have to gain a harem too?" This was said with a smile.

"I would recommend it. I used the heart on you to get your health back to what it was when you were a young man. Taking on too many — responsibilities — is hard on the body but if you do this gradually then you can stand up to the workloads."

"If I proved to you that I would follow orders, would I be allowed to learn everything?"

"To learn what I can do means that you have to learn to communicate mentally. When that happens you will find that the women will come to you. You will not be able to resist. You will be — domesticated. When that happens, I will have no qualms about you learning as long as you share everything you know."

"Then teach me how to read minds."

We had another meeting about the ships that flew. Both crews were invited to attend by way of the gate. Figures were drawn up about our recent performance. It looked like we could get near three hundred kilometres an hour. We were only limited by wind resistance. I brought up my problems with stopping. Parachutes were suggested and so were sails. The Yeisk had only two engines but was smaller. Figures showed that she might be faster yet. The problem with steering was not solved.

When this part of the meeting was over, I gave the men more facts about Bejek and the silver icons. Going through a gate was shocking but so was a flying frigate. They had to believe what I had to say. They were offered exactly what Dimitri had been offered but I didn't trust them as much yet.

One man said, "If we emigrated, could we bring our families?"

I spoke and another interpreter said, "I don't see why not, but I don't want any enclaves formed. That means your language and customs will be swallowed up by those of your new planet. Trade with Earth and other planets will be regulated with me in charge. In time, I want this to be controlled by a government ministry."

"Can you speak for a government?"

"I hope so. I have been more or less elected to the post of king. People follow me because I have their best interests at heart. I know that not everybody here will think like me but that's good. Alternate ideas can then be pursued."

Another man said, "So we can come back to this planet after a year?"

"Yes."

"Our leaders will think we deserted."

"Not after I tell them what you were doing. I'm afraid they would like to learn how I did what we are doing so they could do it and perhaps keep control." This got them all thinking.

The same man said, "We could start taking over here if we came back."

"You could try but you will not have any silver to help you. You could only talk to those that had been around the silver long enough to acquire the ability."

Still another man said, "The power you have is enormous. You're offering the same to us. What if some of us can't handle that?"

"You will be within a family. The family is like a business. If somebody is not able to handle what is put on their shoulders then the rest of the family will know. The family then could do the regulating."

"That sounds good except a nut could still take over."

"Then the larger family takes over and that's the village or town you live in."

"You make it should so easy."

"I don't mean to because it isn't. If you think about it, the people of the planet Earth are holding everything together. They have always done so. In time perhaps we can cure insanity or at least regulate it."

Reports went out clandestinely to the Black Sea Fleet as well as to Lobodin. The other systems on the ships were checked under various conditions. Not everything was perfect but they were good. There were military transponders that communicated with a Russian satellite. These had to be removed when the time came.

Our stores were not up to par and this was caused by the FSB and the Navy. At the first excuse, Dimitri took the Snezhnogorsk near the Moskva. She was the flagship of the fleet. This ship was 186 metres long compared to our 102. She was a guided missile cruiser.

Admiral Slava wanted to talk to Dimitri and Dimitri agreed. The meeting though was scheduled for as near dusk as possible. He brought aboard an officer and a rating. The rating soon disappeared. Two coins were placed near the weapons lockers and my team of young commandos penetrated the flagship's security. There were 529 crew onboard so they had to be careful.

Entire missiles were transported to the Snezhnogorsk and the Yeisk and stowed away. When we got all we could carry and then we went after the components that had been sabotaged in our weapons.

I didn't want to risk going back to Rostov, so a gate was put into the Moskva's bunkers to replenish our fuel supply. Her sensors had to be fiddled with to hide our theft. The tanks on the Yeisk were topped up as well.

What I was pleased about, were the pilotless drones and the helicopters that were stowed below decks. They were now on or in our ships.

Dimitri made his retreat. I was prepared to get him if the Admiral figured that he was involved.

Dimitri came aboard and said, "Did you get what you wanted?"

"Everything and a bit more."

"Good, because Admiral Slava is pissed off at this duty and wants me to wrap it up today. I begged for one more day."

"Can we do the night exercise you suggested?"

"I had to fight for it but we can."

We worked toward the limit of the Moskva's radar and waited for satellite coverage to lapse. Caiti, Porta, and Camsa donned their medallions, headbands and wristbands and ported to the Moskva. One of the things they lacked was clothing but this was their normal attire. Each carried a lightning gun. They actually made it to the bridge and past the stunned sentries. As a treat for our crews, I used a portion of a chain gate and a television camera to transfer the images.

Admiral Slava came out to see what this was about only to have Caiti give him a piece of her mind in Ladra. The other two were busy searching the walls and deck to see what could be used to assist our plan. It was when the Admiral ordered the three to be captured that Camsa activated his weapon at the bulkhead where a large conductor had been placed. It sliced a long way through the ship but hit nobody. The lights went out. Porta fired from further away and a flash of light blinded everybody. I pulled them through a gate I had set up.

We took this time to increase the fuel to the jet engines. Dimitri ordered in a military voice, "Levitate ship."

With the aid of GPS we knew we were making almost three hundred klicks an hour at full thrust. Our extra weight meant nothing. If we had a streamlined hull, we should have been able to go faster. After forty three minutes, we had to slow down to fifty klicks. The satellites might not be focussed on us and we didn't want to leave a wake for them to see.

An hour later we sped up again but only for twenty minutes. We were near the coast of Turkey. They had a lot of radar stations courtesy of NATO and their own robust military.

Dimitri was thrilled with our progress and even more so with the contents of the admiral's safe as well as the admiral's own computer. The safe had Slava's orders but also a diary/notebook. It suggested but did not say that he was up to his ears in graft and even blackmail. The computer was password protected and there were encrypted files. A smaller notebook had the codes to get in.

I had originally hoped to sail through the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles and then to the Aegean Sea. Dimitri told me that we would not make it through even by flying once they caught on to us. Dimitri knew some weak spots in the radar coverage and we planned on exploiting them.

There was nearly a full moon out but we did have some cloud cover. We broke out the little helicopter from the hold and put it on helipad. Our idea, we hoped, would be something entirely new.

We headed west of Istanbul where the peninsula was still narrow. We dropped back into the water and proceeded at twelve knots. We were now among other ships and Dimitri felt we could hide here as we got closer.

Admiral Slava had got affairs back in order sooner than I thought. He was calling us in coded text but there was no response. He didn't want to speak in the clear because it would alert every other country nearby. I'm sure he must have noticed his computer was missing by now.

At two in the morning the little copter took off of our deck towing a long rope that was just a centimetre in diameter. It gave us a little tug but the water held us even though we had no inertia. I had to give us a lot of lift for us to get off the surface. Porta was with me giving details while Camsa and Caiti were in the Yeisk doing the same thing.

Instead of racing over the peninsula at the speed of a cruise missile, we went about twenty kilometres an hour. We stayed as low as possible. There were a lot of civilian radar stations along with the military ones. Possibly they would think of us as very solid dirigibles.

It was a nerve wracking one hour trip until we settled into the Sea of Marmara. After the chopper landed we headed away from the land and started to make some speed again. We tried for the maximum speed now because the heat from our exhausts would be seen from a satellite or a ship. I hoped they would think we were a plane flying extremely low.

We were seen on radar and radio calls came our way. When it looked like jets would be launched, we settled back into the water but twenty kilometres apart.

Ten minutes later two jets raced by off our port side and then came back fifteen minutes later. We were only making ten knots now. We waited only long enough for the planes to leave before we opened up the engines. Both ships had diesel engines for economy and turbines for speed. This time we used the turbines but only the stern was in the water.

We were coming up to the Gallipoli peninsula where the waterway narrowed. We were going to use the copter again to make the eight kilometre trip but the authorities were already alerted. It took time for them to react and if we went from flying ship to surface ship we might be overlooked.

The jet engines were engaged after the turbines driving the props slowed to a stop. We were making a lot of noise but it was unavoidable. We came onto the land at a fifty klicks and travelled up the rock at just above rooftops. I avoided one mosque and then another but it was by luck. Porta made a bubble shield to change our aerodynamics and shift us.

Camsa was not as lucky and he struck a building a glancing blow. I didn't think anyone was hurt but there had to be some Russian battleship grey along with a radar absorbing material on the roof now. The ship had rebounded and there looked to be some damage to the building.

Caiti said she felt nothing when the ship moved violently to one side. I had to think on this and wondered how there was any paint on the building with there being no inertia. There had to be some even if it were a small amount. Much later I came to the conclusion that we had some mass to keep us from popping out of the sea of air around us. This mass is what we regulated to stay at the altitude we wanted, just like a submarine used ballast tanks.

We hit the water going at two hundred klicks and the ship bounced. We had little inertia and the ship slewed to one side and stopped dead. Camsa had a slightly different course and landed better. We closed down as soon as possible. As the jet engines cooled, they were covered with a framework of steel and then tarps. We were still inside Turkish waters and our outline said 'warship', not merchant.

The front of a ship would usually have glass. Ours was blank to absorb radar waves. A framework was now being put up to make it look like we had ports and appear more civilian.

If we had the time and the information we would try to masquerade as a Greek ship but that might get us shot at anyway. We had to stick to Russian colours and just change our numbers to names. We still had seven hundred kilometres to travel and the sun was coming up soon.

The radio was still abuzz about our disappearance and also about the alien spaceships that had been sighted by hundreds of people. It would not be too hard to put both ideas together for the Russians. We reverted to twelve knot cruising speed and tried to get some sleep.

The Yeisk was taking an alternate course that only roughly parallelled ours. We were buzzed by the Turkish air force. By now we were in international waters with the name Ronnas on our hull. I felt a little choked up about this. The Yeisk now had the name Andis on hers. I tried a bit more to disguise the frigate as a rich man's yacht. I hoped it would pass because it had no weapons and the radar masts were what a civilian ship would have.

The wind was cool but I got Moltatas and Addas to lounge in the protective areas with makeshift bikinis. They would look like the woman a rich man might take with him. The girls didn't mind this, especially when they found a ship full of bachelors looking at them.

Dimitri had to be creative because he was asked questions over the radio. There was no way I could have replied the right way. His English on occasion sounded downright British.

Our destination was Santorini Island. It had once been called Thira. I was pleased and dismayed because the island was a major tourist site. I hoped to hide among a lot of ships but also have privacy to transport the ships through a gate.

It was a hundred and ten klicks north of Crete. It had an active volcano. It was believed that at one time an eruption caused the fall of the Minoan civilisation. A blast of gas sent multiple tsunamis over its much larger neighbour to the south. It was also a possible source of the story of Atlantis.

There were a lot of stories about Atlantis, but most centred around science. It occurred to me that a family that traded with another world, would be seen as very scientifically oriented. I used the Heart of Opfu on people to cure them of their ills. Flying rocks or even flying carpets could be used for transportation if I could find a way of propelling them.

With this last idea in mind, I talked to Vasiliy and Dimitri about the stories of flying carpets. Dimitri laughed immediately but then abruptly stopped as he began to think on this. "Can you do that?"

"I have no idea. Let's get Camsa. He's game for anything."

When Camsa came, he said, "Can we do that?"

"I just told Dimitri and Vasiliy that I had no idea. See what you can do. If you go beyond the stanchions on the ship, wear a life vest."

"Yes, Sir. Ah — where do I get a rug?"

"Vasiliy will find one for you." Vasiliy was surprised but not unpleasantly.

Dimitri said, "You spoiled that man. He was a good agent and now he's — corrupted by your — magic. I know it's supposed to be science but I can't see it yet. He's as much a boy as Camsa is."

"Growing up is hard to do. In Camsa's case, he grew up too quickly. He's still a boy in some ways and I like to let him enjoy himself when possible."

We threaded our way through the Greek islands. At times we may have been able to put on a burst of speed but I was sure that a satellite would detect our rapid change in position which would bring us to notice. We continued our work to change the Ronnas into a yacht. The helicopter pad had a barrier put around it and was painted white. A quarter metre of water was going to be added to make it look like a pool.

A gate was kept open to the Andis and off duty crew could go where they pleased. They had been doing some renovations as well but had less area to camouflage.

Our radar was disguised another way. The Russian military radar was not the same as a civilian variety and this had to be changed. A Russian ship would detect the signals and know one of their ships was nearby. Again this was in what Dimitri knew and I let him do it.

One of the copter pilots took Porta out for a ride. She slowly decreased the mass to see the effect. Like the Kuenta, this was not easily accomplished and a modified machine would have to be made to take advantage of the effect.

We should have had a shield over both ships long before this but one this size was difficult to establish. When the copter came back, Caiti worked on getting a shield in place but still allow exhaust gases out and allow fresh air in. Making the shield allow a rotating object to function was not easy. Even a machine gun on our own APC's was hard not to mention the rotating wheels. Camsa and Porta had to come to assist. It was like building a structure and then locking it in place.

When the shield was established, it had to be modified because the main rotor and the tail rotor would not spin.

My present plan was to get the Ronnas and the Andis to Woodland. From there I would go to London. I would then have to make the trip to the area of the Bahamas to await the container ship, the three fuel tankers and the Kuenta. We would pass through another gate to get to Woodland.

The container ship was dawdling so it would not have to wait off the coast of the US. Two of the tankers and the Kuenta were on the US east coast. The Chinese made ship had been in Indonesia and was proceeding empty towards the Mediterranean. It would fill its tanks in Oman. Both Indonesia and the Red Sea were pirate territory. I was sure that Bakhtin would not pick the delicate sort to work for him. We could possibly wait for this ship but it was too dangerous to linger this near Russia.

We sailed through the night while I made my family happy. Caiti still wanted me and I wanted her but she was too young. The other three of us made sure she was kept as happy as possible.



-------

Chapter 46


Porta asked me, "Husband, you call me 'wife'. I'm past time that I started to have a child."

"What does Jonna say about this?"

"It's my turn."

I could detect a little prevarication and asked, "What exactly does Jonna say about this?"

"I'm getting old, Husband. We all may die at any moment. If you die I have nothing."

"I love you, Porta. We will have our child at the right time. This has to be decided by the family. Timing is important. We are still in the middle of a war."

"We will always be at war."

"No, we won't. Women can normally have children until they are forty or even fifty and some have gone to a doctor and had them at seventy. I want you to enjoy your youth a bit more."

"What about Fislu and Selna? They are not much older than me."

"They have a conniving mother is all I can say."

Caiti crawled across the bed and sat astride my body. She moved her pelvis back and forth on my skin as if by accident and said, "I'm seven now. I want mine too. Lots of girls are married by my age."

I held her hands and said, "I'm trying to stop that. I want a girl to wait to get married until she is at least fourteen."

Porta said, "You can't do that. I'm your wife."

"Yes, you are, Honey. The law has to come into effect slowly and I have to see if I can sway customs so others want to follow them."

Camsa said, "What about me? Am I your wife too?"

"Yes, you are. We are a family but some people have to wait for a while before they can get what they want."

Moltatas and Addas didn't sleep in our room but they had no trouble finding a berth. The next morning I saw that they were their usual cheerful selves when nobody was trying to kill us.

We picked up speed by pulling the hull partially out of the water. The trip to Santorini Island should be completed in daylight so we could do a bit of research to find the nexus. We could not manage a straight line course because of all the islands in our path.

At two hours from the island, the helicopter left with Caiti and a portal. The shield now worked or at least we hoped. This was going to be a test flight in a manner of speaking. They headed north east of the island looking for the nexus. The pilot had to skim the waves so we would be as close to the source as possible. When the site was not found, a concentric search pattern was set up. By the time we got to the area, the copter need to be refuelled and the nexus had not been found.

We avoided going into port. We were not the usual cruise ship and our civilian cloak would soon be discovered for what it was. Patrolling with a frigate would raise eyebrows so we continued with the helicopter and just rotated the pilot and the person monitoring the screen.

The Andis managed to go through the area to complete some of the search pattern when the copter was being refuelled and only the portal had to be transferred. When nothing was found, the entire search was done over again with finer increments. It was three in the morning when a tired Camsa reported to me, "We found it but its too deep or something's wrong with it. We only get a slight reading and only in an area about thirty metres across."

The Andis was closer and it found the position. It was very near where it was reported in the Duchovny papers. We tried lowering the portal with the key attached but even on the bottom we could not get the chain gates to function. I did a lot of thinking and wondered if this was the Church's doing or perhaps it was an interference from Sadieea but we had ported here ok. The only thing I could attribute this to was the earthquakes in this area. Somehow the structural integrity of the silver deposit must have been lost. What was done to the silver was still a complete mystery.

Dimitri said, "What are your orders now, Sir?"

"We could have possibly flown the ships to the site outside Senaki, Georgia. I'm afraid that is out now. We could do the same thing to Glasgow, Scotland or the one to the north that even the seals avoid. Another possibility is to go to the site in the Bahamas and port all of the ships through."

"Do we escort the refuelling ship coming through the Suez?"

"We can but perhaps we shouldn't. There should be nobody taking an interest in that ship. We can sail the distance easily especially if we levitate."

"I have an idea, Sir, that you may like."

"What is it, Dimitri?"

"We have experimented with a hydrofoil ship. The ship is very fast. It had troubles, though, and others were not built. We could construct some hydrofoils that appear to work. As long as we use our props and the jet engines, we could go at top speed openly."

I had to smile. "Vasiliy is sneaky, too, and I like your idea. Let's go to port and arrange to get the hydrofoil made in Italy or France. We can install it ourselves. All it has to do is look strong."

We sailed toward Crete and worked on the design. The next day we landed on the island with the copter. Customs didn't bother us. People that flew a copter from their ship to shore deserved better treatment. I purchased local cell phones and used one to talk to Reynolds on one of his safe numbers.

"I need a hydrofoil made as quickly as possible. If the unit is installed in France or Spain, it gives whoever is making it more chance to respond."

"You sound nervous, Sir. Is there something I should know?"

"The authorities didn't want my property released. They are actively looking for us. I have a difficulty at home that's not going away. And then I have to shift seven ships to the new route."

"The one I visited?"

"That one." I talked about the size of the frigate and the patrol ship for a while. The wing-like structures of the hydrofoil had to be retractable or the device could be damaged in shallow water. It had to look strong enough to support a ship and since the frigate was over 2,000 tonnes they had to appear to be very strong.

Reynolds said, "I have some drawings of an old system the United States navy used. I could scale them up for you."

"All I need is a vertical wing in the water. As long as a diver doesn't take a peek I'll be ok."

"That would be much easier to make but the refit time would be at least a month."

"That shoots down that idea then. Maybe I can get it made and put it on later."

"That sounds best, Sir. Our ship is ready and waiting your orders, Sir."

"I'm afraid I don't know when we will make the shift. What you can do is place a framework on the stern and mount a jet engine to it. I suggest you mount the engine to the finished frame then only mount the frame. This will not bother the authorities as much. The last ride you had worked well but now we can go much faster."

"Any particular engine, Sir?"

"Whatever you can pick up cheap."

"What about the two tankers being refitted?"

"You'll have to tie in with them too. There's one more to make three. We'll be well set for fuel for a while."

Bakhtin was next but I had to wait for him to call me. He would be watched just as much as I was.

Bakhtin said to me, "I have had some difficulties here. The CSIS has questioned me at length three times. I can do very little to help you, Sir. They even impede my own businesses."

"I will make it up to you later."

"There's no need, Sir. I can weather this storm like all the others."

"This one is going to be a lot stronger in a while. Tell me where the ships are give me a way of contacting them."

Bakhtin gave me the details and even some code words to use to indicate that I was entitled to give orders. The container ship was in Lisbon, Portugal. It was faking engine trouble but actually waiting to travel across the Atlantic.

The oiler was plodding along and just finished tanking up in Oman at the refinery near the capital, Muscat.

The two tankers were at American ports waiting for orders. I got a verbal list of what was in the containers. Bakhtin and his people had been very busy on my behalf.

Dimitri said, "I would like to send this CD off to a friend of mine. It contains photographs of portions of Admiral Slava's diary and a listing of what we found."

"If you want to send it then do so. I warn you, though, that there will be far more trouble caused by our disappearance than by what your admiral was up to."

"The CD will be dropped off anonymously and have no fingerprints."

"Then go for it."

"Thank you, Sir. My country needs to be cleaned up and I have a chance to do only a bit at a time."

I just nodded. "Your hydrofoil idea will take too long to install even if it's a fake. We'll have to try this on another trip."

"You want more ships?"

"I have a world to patrol, not a country, Dimitri."

More phone calls were made and I got the various ship moving so they would be near West Palm Beach when we would get there. I had to set up the chain gate to handle the ships but also the crews of each of the ships.

We left soon after. Shipping usually just missed the southern edge of Sicily. We had to go further south to avoid the major shipping lanes. Once it looked fairly safe, we levitated and went at full speed. The Andis was able to hit three hundred and fifteen klicks because of her lower cross section.

We had to travel 2,700 kilometres to get to the Atlantic. This would take us nine hours. We flew during the dark and let people think we had a hydrofoil or we were a plane flying low. During the next daylight period, we reverted to just plodding along.

There were a lot of aircraft around and I asked Dimitri, "Do you think those planes are searching for us?"

"They would not expect us here just yet. Perhaps what happened to Admiral Slava has shaken the military to believe that anything can happen. For sure, everything going through Strait of Gibraltar will be scrutinised."

"We go overland?"

"That sounds like a good idea, but I have no idea where any radar stations are. We would have to stay low. The Atlas Mountains may give us problems."

"How?"

"They're fairly high. I advise taking a longer route that stays within the rift between ranges."

"How long of a trip is that?"

"I'm afraid it is nearly 700 kilometres."

"Why take such a long route? Isn't there a shorter route that will do as well?"

"There are large cities with airports, Sir."

It was well after dark that our two ships sailed casually into the waters separating Morocco from Algeria. Since we were near the national limits, there was nothing said. We were coming up on a Spanish military base so we pulled into a small town. The radio came alive. Dimitri had a crew member that spoke French come on and claim to be a fisherman. The Andis claimed to be a Spanish fishing boat going the same place we were.

The rigging had come down that converted us to a yacht yesterday so we were hard to see. We could pinpoint the radar easily. An inflatable boat hurried to shore with Porta and four men. One of the men turned around and came back to us while the rest continued.

We were trying a new strategy. We could cut the power to the radar but our people might not be able to sneak past the authorities. A taxi was hired to take the group inland. Porta spoke English to the sailors who answered with "Yes," or "no," to the girl's voice.

It was a nerve wracking hour and a half until Camsa opened a gate to the group. The crew surged forward with poles and the large chain designed to pass a ship. This took an hour to set up because the chain was heavy with all the boxes on it.

Caiti floated the ship as the men that were inland pulled on a rope. The Andis popped free of the water and moved over farmland. The Ronnas took longer and we used poles from the deck to push up the chain so we could pass beneath it.

The frame and gate was disassembled and stowed. The jet engines though were only idling. We would be in a built up area for a while yet.

We built up speed when we could but had to reduce it to take advantage of the topology of the land. The land always went up far more than it went down. Dimitri was using the radar to find the best passage. Our charts didn't go far inland and we were almost flying blind.

Most of the time we were flying over rock and sand. The mountain passes showed just more of the latter. We had been over land for two hours when we detected strong radar. Dimitri ordered the engines to stop and the ships to ground.

The plane flew by not fifteen kilometres away. What was odd was that it was flying so low. The conversation was in code so this was an exercise or they had an inkling of what we could do. Again I wished for a shield for the ships

We only got another kilometre before we had to stop again. More planes came our way but also all over the place. Dimitri said to me, "I think we better stay put for a while. We are in a good hiding place and there are not many of them when our ship is as long as ours is."

"If you think that is what we should do then do it. You're the Captain."

"Yes, a Captain sailing his ship over the land and then through a mountain range. Quite an accomplishment."

"Especially without a tsunami to help you along."

We monitored the radio and radar detectors all night. The crew looked for a snug harbour and then pulled the ship with a handline to get it into a good spot. Caiti and Porta removed boulders to make the area under the ship more or less level.

We could have flown the helicopter and set up more portals but the winds were too treacherous in this mountainous area. We could make it to the Atlantic with two more jumps but we had to wait for the other ships to reach where the gate would be set up.

When I got up for breakfast, Dimitri said, "Good morning, Sir. It appears the search has slackened off but not stopped."

"I'm happy to spend some time here. Perhaps we can work on the ship."

"If you wish. Being a soldier, I like to remain unobtrusive."

"Then how about doing some shopping in Marrakech?"

"Can you transport that far?"

"It's not that far from here."

"Helicopters coming out of the mountains are not good to see."

"Then we hitchhike or find a road and flag down a bus."

The crew was kicked off the ship and told to investigate the mountains. They grumbled like sailors but they actually had nothing to do. My family and security had to go with them but only Moltatas and Addas grouched. The two were happy. They had a lot of male friends that kept them satisfied when they were not on duty.

An hour later, Porta told me mentally, "We found a village."

"Any danger?"

"None."

"Can we visit?"

"If you want. Get a pack and take one or more of the men. Pretend that you are just hiking through the mountains."

I felt a mental kiss and she said, "Thank you, Husband."

Dimitri and Vasiliy were not happy with mixing with the natives. Porta solved it by taking Vasiliy as one of the three men that would visit the village.

It was an hour later that Vasiliy came on a young goatherder. He could not understand anything but Porta had a translating device. She answered the young boy's questions with gestures as if she were mute.

Camsa and Caiti greeted the boy too. They even greeted some of the goats. They walked another few kilometres with a radio blaring out music as a way of telling everybody that there were strangers about.

An old man came out of a hut then hurried back in to get his rifle but he didn't point it at anybody. He seemed to relax more when he saw that the men were unarmed. More people came out to meet the strangers and Porta answered what she could with gestures.

The family was invited to eat so Porta reached into her pack. The rim had a silver chain on it so I handed her what she wanted. She gave out some clothing to a girl her size and the girl hurried away to try it on. It was juffa and the style was not that much different from what the villagers wore.

They ate rice and goat meat which wasn't too much different from some dishes in Bejek. With some semi-spare time, I put a headband on Dimitri and got him to find coins. The men that didn't want to explore got the other headbands to do the same thing. They had experimented on the trip but now was a relaxed time to work on this.

Our pastime was only fun until I used the coin to find flaws in the welds of the ship and then it turned into a worthwhile activity.

I practised at using the least powerful setting of my lightning gun. I had hopes of welding and precision cutting with it but I could not get the unit to use a lower setting even when I pulsed the weapon.

Porta told me, "Husband, there is a road three klicks east of here that leads to a highway. This road runs to a town that has bus service to Marrakech."

"Do they have a time frame, Honey?"

In a moment she said, "They figure the bus will come when it's ready."

"No cars or trucks?"

"They have a motorbike."

"Can we rent it?"

"I'll see." She came back in a few minutes and said, "They think it's made of solid copper. I can wave some money at them."

Porta reached into her pack and brought out three one hundred dollar American bills. This was understood but they figured she had a lot more in the pack. Porta had learned how to shop in the market in Bejek and was not taken in. When she asked to have the bike started the owner talked about price until Porta put away her money and closed her pack. We both figured the bike was not usable.

Porta put on her headband and checked the bike. I worked through her mind and saw how the piston was scored and there was no oil in the case. I went back to my own studies and let the others have their fun. Two ladies I knew were having a lot of that with some members of the crew.

Around four in the afternoon, the group left the village and headed further away. An hour later they were back on the ship after I opened a gate for them.

"Did you have a nice time?"

"It was fun. There was some sick people and I took some time to heal them."

"That's nice. Anything else?"

"When Caiti and I were healing, Camsa was playing hide the weenie with one of the boys."

This was what Camsa was like and I accepted it. He was forever horny but so were the girls. My girls had each other to relieve their tensions. Camsa preferred me but he accepted the rest of the family. He was pragmatist enough to know that he should use any port in a storm. He had numerous chances to be with boys but he never chose any of the older ones. I could feel that he didn't want to disappoint me. I loved him all the more for it.

Camsa said in his own defence, "There were not that many in the village. I counted only nineteen. I did find something out though,"

Porta exasperatedly said, "What?"

"I got the carpet to fly."

"So, you did that before."

"But I got it to fly forward."

"Show me."

Camsa went to our room and brought back a simple mat and sat on it with a fulcrum. The mat rose with him but it didn't have the usual piece of plywood under it. The front tilted down just a bit. The mat and Camsa went forward.

I could not see how this worked and said, "Tell me how you found this out."

The boy turned a little red then said, "We were using the mat so our knees wouldn't get hurt. There were lots of rocks so I levitated a centimetre. When I pushed into my friend the mat went forward. He didn't notice so I had to control the lift and I had to pull back when I pushed forward. Before too long I found that we moved quite a way. When it was his turn I did the same thing."

"Did the boy notice?"

"Not really, he was busy. It was good for me because I lasted a lot longer when I was thinking of this."

"Let's go try it outside."

Camsa smiled and took off his pants. I had to laugh at him and said, "To try flying the carpet."

"Can we do both tonight?"

"I never get enough sleep."

Camsa still left his pants off. He wore little clothing when on Bejek. We hurried outside and sat on the deck. In a moment he rose above the stanchions and drifted off of the ship. He had to go forward to the bow to find some room to manoeuvre

Dimitri came beside me to watch the boy fly back and forth. "He couldn't do that before."

"He found a friend in the village and while pushing the friend's backside, he found that the carpet he was on went forward."

"That's one for the books. How fast can he go?"

"We're finding that out now."

Camsa experimented in lots of different positions until he laid on his back. This seemed to work the best. When he came back to us he looked at me and started to grow erect. Caiti quickly reached over and grabbed the antenna sticking up.

Camsa said verbally, "Caiti, I'm tired."

"Not too tired to get hard."

Camsa didn't say anything as Caiti pulled him gently by the prong to our room.

Dimitri held his laugh in until the two entered a hatch. He said, "You have a very beautiful family with no worries about sex. They're so free, even to walking around naked much of the time. I admire you."

"Are the men bothered by this?"

"Not really, your two associates are free with their love and the men have learned to share the two of them."

"There's a whole planet full but we have to make the gate."

Porta and I tried the carpet too. We did even better when I found I used the headband, an amplifier and two fulcrums. My top speed was only twenty klicks until I got Porta on with me and we went up to thirty.

When it started to get dark Porta and I took off our clothes and put them into a sack which was tied to a large carpet. The carpet was on the deck at the bow and the two of us sailed off into the night. At the first opportunity we landed and I got Porta on her back. We both elevated the carpet and moved it in the direction of Marrakech.

Later Porta orgasmed and we lost altitude but we recovered in time. Now it was my time to lay on the carpet like Camsa and Porta had a chance to be the pilot and navigator. We lost altitude lots of times and had to get partially dressed to keep warm. Two hours after starting, Camsa opened a gate to us and we came home after dropping a coin. Porta and I had not ridden the Marrakech Express but our method of travel was much better.

Moltatas and Addas took two dozen men to the market the next morning. She had a large pack that never seemed to get heavy no matter what she put in it. A half hour later another dozen men left on a tour of the city. Each one had a coin in his shoe and some American money to spend. They had Russian notes but we wanted this to be low profile.

My family went later to buy a family sized carpet capable of having the whole family propelling it or just having fun.

That night, the four of us flew the deluxe model back up to the hills rather than take the gate. We didn't get any extra speed but all of us were happy with each other. When Porta screamed her pleasure, more than one shepherd in the area must have heard her. We were even high enough to be seen by some.

The next day the rest of the men got a chance for shore leave. I held Porta and said, "I want to try again to put a shield around Andis."

"If you wish, Husband. Last night relaxed us."

"And it did the same for me."

Camsa and Caiti came to help. There was a lot of talk about what we had to do and why. Nothing was much different than before except the size and the fact that we had to protect the jet engines.

We donned the headbands and wore the wristbands. This time we sat in a ring and held the amplifiers to link us to the next person. This worked better but it wasn't until Camsa said, "Touch the one in your right hand to your headband."

We did as he suggested and I found that contemplating about the shield was not as hard. I didn't take the lead because I had not really made a shield around a vehicle yet. I just watched and helped.

There were a lot of details to monitor. Like the helicopter, we had to allow for the propeller shafts, air intakes and exhausts. Unlike the helicopter we had to put a grill over each of the jet engines and another one over the exhaust that would not let a shell in. In our case a heat seeking missile would go up the old poop chute.

We were tired and took a break to get something to eat.

Dimitri said, "What were you trying to do?"

"Put a complete shield around the Andis. Something like the copter."

"Could you manipulate the shape of the shield?"

"A little, Why?"

"The jet engines would work better if more air came in. The ships would go faster if we were more aerodynamic."

"Well, the second part may make our job easier. We were sticking to the shape of the ship and its complicated. What would help is the removal of the radar and the masts."

"We need them high to see over the horizon."

"You're right, but on Bejek you might be in the air more than on the sea."

"What about the air supply for the engines?"

"I can see a fine grating along the sides of the ship that duct the air toward the engines. A finer one yet has to cover our exhaust."

"Our propellers are vulnerable and produce a lot of drag."

"Dimitri, I'm having trouble forming a shield at all. The more details I put in the harder it is. The shape of a missile may be the best. That shape would enclose the propellers but I don't know about the jet engines."

Vasiliy was interested and soon both crews were contributing ideas. The family got into the discussion but I knew the designs were much too complicated for our minds to grasp.

We tried two more times that day but we were not able to erect a shield though we could do a simple one that enclosed all of the ship.

The next night we moved out but this time we used Camsa's way of propelling us as a test. There was no noise. Dimitri was with me at the bow looking forward. He said, "This is even more magical somehow. The jet engines remind me of technology. When they're quiet, I think I'm in some magical land. The only time it is quiet like this is when we are at anchor. Even then there is the slap of the waves on the hull."

"We can't continue this way. It's too far to the ocean and we're not even doing eighteen klicks an hour."

"I know, but its nice this way and it's not even using any fuel."

"I think we are using a lot of mossa even if we are not aware of it."

The engines were started and we roared down the mountainside and across the plain. When we were near habitations, we cut back on our speed and noise. We had to climb a bit then descend to another plain. We hit the ocean south of Essaouira and continued out for twenty minutes before heading north.

At our best speed we came to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. We used the helicopter this time to land. Vasiliy and another man went through customs. The man stayed with the copter while Vasiliy took a cab to the airport. A moment later a few more of us came through a gate to meet him.

In a simple raid on some local fuel tanks we replenished all the fuel we had used for the ship, the jet engines and the copter.

I left a simple note as to how much I took and settled up in cash with a bonus for the men who were in charge. The fact that I put the money in safes might keep them humble and hopefully honest.

Dimitri searched out and found data on the various planes and actually filed a flight plan for his 'seaplane'. An hour later Dimitri called the airport from closer to the harbour and told them of his position. In moments the two ships were gaining altitude and flying west at three kilometres altitude.

Dimitri said, "Do you really think this will work?"

"They're looking for a ship or one that can go a few metres in the air, not an aeroplane."

We flew long enough to get to the Azores. This was 1300 kilometres closer to our goal and a logical place for a flight controller to have us land. We had no transponder and we had radar absorbing coating on both ships. The tower in the Azores knew we put down on the water to observe marine life so we didn't have to report in because we didn't come ashore.

We sailed west until we could not be detected by radar and became flying ships once more. At noon the next day we met the container ship, Astrakhan. I talked to the captain and gave the code words. He was leery since both of our ships looked like Russian warships.

Three Russians along with Moltatas and Addas came with me in a small boat. Captain Arsov was at the head of the ladder when we came aboard. After he accepted our story, we went looking for transponders. The captain had not counted on this happening and was beginning to worry.

I talked to him in his quarters with one of the men that came over with me. He happened to speak English but not as well as the last man I had before. It was not long after that I got to see the rest of the officers, then the crew. It took only thirty men to operate this ship but most were only used when in port.

The family came over and we assisted in looking for devices that would be used to track us. Dimitri and Vasiliy knew how sneaky the FSB was and used everything at their disposal to find the bugs.

A coin on a string allowed us to get bugs that were on the lowest levels of the ship. The ship was not one of the giants of today but it was a giant of years gone by. It could carry 2,900 twenty foot containers or half of that in the forty foot versions. Nearly every container had something nice. Bakhtin had spent nearly 280 million dollars filling the ship with armaments of one kind or another.

Arsov got his orders spelled out for him and we began to build a framework that we could use to pass the ships through. It then had to be carried over the container ship itself when the time came.

All three ships dawdled west then south. I had a chance to get to the other Georgia now. Getting ashore was easy when the Kuenta and her crew came by and picked up a coin. The men looked at the Russian ships with awe. They were all much more massive than the small Island Class ship. When I said that the Andis could do three hundred and twenty klicks or hundred and seventy knots they were incredulous.

I dropped off a buoy with a coin and a long rope with loops tied to it. The Kuenta could pick this up without arousing much suspicion from the Coast Guard.

The Kuenta put in at Savannah, Georgia, and Cabot found a place so we could open a gate. Within minutes I came ashore and opened another. Cabot followed me to the Ronnas and I introduced him to the chief engineer. There was a little animosity because of propaganda from both countries. All the men had a love of the sea, ships, and engines. Weapons were right up there too and the men were told to share knowledge.

The family and I took a rental van to Albany. We stopped in at the Brophys and shook hands with a much healthier looking Seth. Sarah and Martha looked good. Gwen was apparently out with 'a man'. The family had the money and much better prospects for the future.

Gail, Rebecca, and John Jr. ran to us as soon as they knew we were here. I said hi to the youngsters and got both a mental and a verbal reply. This made me smile as I tried to keep two separate conversations going.

Seth said, "Are your parents coming over?"

"Actually, I'm not sure." We talked about family for a while and then asked, "How is my house coming along?"

"It's all done. The people that put the alarm system in were worried because they never did anything as complicated as this before. Do you want to go and see it?"

The adults got a ride over in the van but the youngsters wanted to walk and talk. The coins I left in the house were still there. I got the code for the alarm and changed it. There was a secondary level of entry and I let the Brophys have this. If they went too far into the house, the alarm would still go off.

The few rooms that we wanted furnished had been done tastefully. We went through the house until the younger generation arrived to do the same thing.

We had to stay and have supper which we happily accepted. I left for an errand and brought the inter-world portal to the house and a larger chain gate. With permission, I made it to Woodland and brought back the Brophy portal. This was altered to go to Woodland from Albany. My second trip to Woodland was only to get to London and then through a chain to my parent's home.

There was a high tech addition to the house. A string went up the wall to a tiny bell. A few small tugs and I called out mentally, "Mom, Dad are you home? I'm in the basement." In seconds they hurried down the steps. We didn't say a word but we did hug.

I said mentally, "Can you understand me?"

It was Dad that managed to say, "I'm trying. I have to get on the right band. We're not used to talking to anybody but ourselves."

Mom tried and tried until I heard, "I can hear but not talk."

"I can hear you now, Mom."

"That's good. It's nice to see you again. Where's your family?"

"Georgia, USA."

Mom asked, "Why do you say the country, Hugh?"

"Because I was just in the Republic of Georgia and I have a lawyer looking into a property there that may have been our families for a long time."

"Tell me about it!"

"First off, do you have time to visit Seth and his family? I'm going to leave the portals open so you can come and go as you please."

Mom said, "I'd love too but we're busy at the store."

I said, "Too busy to hear about our relatives in Russia that were executed in 1920 by the Bolsheviks? I also found records that go back to the late 1500s."

"I'll tell Claire that we have to go somewhere."

"On second thought, I'll close the portals back and you can go to Woodland and someone will open the portals for you. I have visitors in my house that have been there for well over a month."

"Who are they?"

"Canadian and/or American security and now the Russians are looking for me too."

Dad said, "Why, what did you do?"

"Quite a lot. You better get packed, then make a call."

Ten minutes later Mom and Dad walked with me to my house and on to Woodland. I closed down the gates just in case. I stayed for a few minutes in Woodland to learn more about Jonna and Tiffany and found Fislu there in person.

The four of us took the portal to my Albany home. I said, "You could live here but Seth will want you to be with him."

Mom said, "Your home is beautiful but I like Seth's better because it's — lived in."

We drove over to the Brophy home and I explained that I had not been sure Mom and Dad could make it. I gave the excuse that I couldn't get them on the phone and wasn't sure if they were coming or not.

The youngsters ran down the stairs and floored Mom by talking to her mentally. It took her a moment to recover and she hugged all of them tightly to her.

When we got settled down I said verbally, "We found out another large piece of family history but you can't mention it to even your closest friends. First, they will think you're insane. Adults talk some but the younger ones need to have a secret to share with their friends. This is family business and not for outsiders."

I went around to everybody and they gave their word. If Gwen was home she would have to give it too before she learned more.

"We are part of a much larger family. One branch of it moved to Russia in the late 1500s. They were very wealthy and I mean like Bill Gates wealthy. They traded — with a lot of people — and were friends with the Tzars.

"They financed or helped finance exploration. In the latter case the explorers just had to do a few extra chores. One of our ancestors helped Thomas Jefferson. That man sent out Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find what each backer wanted. I have written documentation about the people of the time and they are our ancestors.

"The expeditions found some of what our family wanted. I even have some documents signed by the four principles in this matter. There are in fact three contracts.

"There was lots more that happened but a hundred and ten years later the Bolsheviks came to power. They killed the aristocracy and those that supported it. The Duchovny family appeared to all have died but a few may have survived.

"Lenin, then Stalin, put a man by the name of Dubkova in power over the lands and the business. The current Dubkova is very near the top of the Russian mafia. He's friends with the President. I'm working on getting our family lands and businesses back.

"I have leads to other areas that could have family members but I have no time to chase them down right now."

Seth said, "Why can't we talk about this?"

"I got the documentation from the house where Dubkova was living. It was the home of a portion of our family at one time. There was some fighting and now the Russian security service, called the FSB, is after me. Partially because of this the American and Canadian security services may be after me too. For all I know Turkey is with them."

"What did you do that made them all chase you?"

"Our family for well over 500 years has had some secrets that are still very useful today. They want what is our family business."

"What is it that they want?"

"I'll tell you next time I come but I have a present for each of you and a partial explanation."

I went to Seth and put a headband on him then bands on Sarah and Martha. Gail and Rebecca smiled and put theirs on when I gave the devices to them. John Jr. ran upstairs and came down with his own. I handed Mom and Dad each one and they put them on.

Seth said, "What are these things for? I must look like a princess in one of these." He started to take his off.

John Jr. said, "Don't, they're special."

"How?"

John looked and me and asked and I gave him the permission. "These devices come from another world. "They are made for Humans so we can think better and also talk mentally."

"That's ridiculous. Nobody can do that."

Seth was going to remove his again when Gail said, "No, it's not. I can talk to John and Reb with my mind. I can talk to Mr and Mrs Driscott. I can talk to cousin Hugh and his family. If the three of you and Mom try then we can talk to each other as long as we are not that far apart."

"That can't be!"

Gail said, "We can prove it. We can't talk to others or have them hear us. You just have to learn and it's not hard."

I encouraged Dad to talk and he said, "It's true, Seth. You wear this and play a few games. Soon you get vague feelings then stronger feelings. In a few more weeks you can talk. You can't eavesdrop on others and they can't listen to what you say. It brings the family closer together if anything."

Seth said, "Where did they come from? John said they were not made by Humans."

"My son wants you all to learn in stages. The youngsters know a bit but not much. He says it's like a very large meal. You eat some and digest it before you go after more."

"I'm not a child. I'm the oldest one here."

Mom jumped in and said, "Seth, we know very little but we learn more all the time. Our family has grown strong on patience and hard work. Hugh is giving us what we can handle. If you can't live with that then I'm disappointed in you."

Seth was crotchety and possibly it was from age but he did say, "I'll abide by Hugh's ideas but I don't want to wait months."

Now it was my turn. "What I have to say is very radical. You will need many months to digest even some of the ramifications. You can take my word for it that learning to mentally talk to each other will start all of you on an exciting future."

It took a bit more arguing to get the topic back to mind reading. Caiti hid a coin while the Brophy children were in another room. They raced in when told and went right to the coin. Seth had to hide it and the same thing happened.

It took a few hours but Seth, Sarah, and Martha began to find the coin too. Around eleven, Gwen came home. She had been dropped off at the curb and the man left. When she got in the house, she smiled at meeting us and hugged Mom and Dad and the rest of us.

"You should have said you were coming. I would have made arrangements."

Mom said, "We didn't expect to come and it was a surprise to us too."

We sat down but the youngsters were sent off to bed. Tomorrow was a school day. I turned on my computer and began to talk about some of our family history but talked in generalities.

"Gwen, I can give you more details about our family but it has to stay within the family. That means nobody outside of it learns anything. Can you live with that stipulation? This is very important and don't take this lightly."

"I can keep my mouth shut. What is this all about?"

"A portion of our family was as rich as Bill Gates at one time. This was the Duchovny branch I talked a little about. They helped Thomas Jefferson finance the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They did a lot more but you would not know the people involved."

I brought up graphics of the documents I found and displayed it on my computer to let them see the names and dates. There was one contract in English but the rest were in Russian. Other contracts and documents were shown and their time was centuries before Jefferson was born.

I had to give the information I knew about the documents.

Gwen said, "This is fantastic. Why can't I talk about this?"

"Look at one of the Duchovny homes." I changed graphics of the home in Tula and showed them pictures from many directions including from aircraft.

Gwen was almost breathless. She eventually said, "That's like Buckingham Palace. Our family owned that?"

"One branch of our family. Do you know what would happen if people knew that we were even related to a fraction of this wealth?"

"I guess we would be bothered by people looking for handouts."

"I'm going to show some close ups now." I showed the damage to the windows and bullet holes to the walls.

"What happened?"

"My family and I went to Tula to find out about our history. Dubkova is the name of the family that took over the house and much of the property of the Duchovny family. The man is very rich and powerful. He's involved with the Russian mafia and has a lot of influential friends including the President."

I paused to let this sink in. "We had just started our investigation when seven men put explosives on our hotel room door and burst in. They started shooting immediately. My security," I pointed out Moltatas and Addas, "took out the men. I'm saying that four died immediately."

Seth had his mouth open and I just waited. He said, "What happened then?"

"We gave first aid to the three survivors and fled the scene. Later one of the survivors was killed along with some of the police that got a portion of the truth out of him. From the other two we found that Dubkova was behind all of this. He has the power of the police and the government behind him. We would not get a chance to talk to anybody before we all died."

There was quiet for a long time then Seth said, "What about the pictures on your computer?"

"I hired some mercenaries and attacked Dubkova. What you see is just a small portion of the combat. When the house was taken, we found all the data about our family. We stayed for just a while then left.

"So right now the Russian Police and the Russian government is looking for me."

Gwen said, "You can go to the embassy. They will take care of it."

"That may be true for minor disputes but when it gets big governments cannot be trusted. In my case the Canadian government and the American government want the family property and I don't plan on giving them anything. By now the Russians want the same thing."

Gwen said, "What is it you have?"

"I will only give you a portion of that information but it is a very large portion. You see, I have a device that lets you communicate mentally with others that have had a chance to learn how to do this."

"Bullshit!"

Dad said, "You're wrong, Gwen. We can speak mentally and we have just been practising for a month. Hugh can speak with his family and they with us."

Before Gwen could repeat herself, Mom said, "It's true, Gwen."

Gwen was very quiet then I could see she was getting worried. I said, "We can't read your mind or you ours. You have to learn the technique then learn how to block your thoughts."

"Why did you tell me this?"

"You're family and it's family business."

"There has to be more."

"Your children can communicate this way and the rest of your immediate family are learning to do the same."

"This should be told to the government. They can deal with this."

"They will use and abuse the information. In time I will give everybody a chance. Family comes first though."

"Why have you done this to my family? None of us asked for this? You had no right. You had no right to involve us with your politics."

I said, "Blood is thicker than water. There's a lot more at stake than just us but I'm not going to mention more until you had a chance to think on this."

"What more is there to talk about! I don't want you in my home."

I was shocked at her stance and said, "I'm sorry to have bothered you and your family." I stood and so did Dad. In a second Mom stood too.

Seth said, "Gwen, what is wrong with you? They're family. They never asked anything of us except some understanding. The gift he's giving hurts nobody and can only help."

"What about the mob and the governments that are after him? If they come here we could be shot."

"Why would they come here?"

"Power like that will find a way. I don't want my children hurt or killed in the crossfire."

I said, "I'm leaving as I said. I'm not closing any doors though. This was sprung on you too quickly." I looked at Seth and said, "It was nice talking to you, Sir." I looked at the other two women and gave my goodbyes.

When I walked out so did Mom and Dad. I said, "Thanks for the solidarity but you can still stay. Maybe Gwen will come around."

Dad said, "She might, but not for a while."

My family came with me and we all went to my house. From there I took Mom and Dad to their home.

Mom was almost crying when she said, "What was wrong with Gwen?"

"I'm too hot to handle just yet and I'm going to get a lot hotter."

Dad said, "Why? What else happened?"

"I bought two warships from a person in Russia. They are the same type that Russia sells to other countries. The FSB wanted to know where I got my gold and tried to capture me. They didn't get a chance. I took the two ships though."

"What about the other two governments?"

"The same thing. They want to know about my gold and about why I want the military weapons. When I got the ships I took a tool with me that I can use to pick up heavy objects. I can pick up an entire ship and I can even be inside it. With some jet engines, we flew the ships over the land to get to the Atlantic. I'm sure the Russians are wondering if there are some flying ships and if I'm responsible. If they find out there are, they are going to do all they can to get the secret."

"You mean, that they'll come after us?"

"There is a good chance. That was one of the reasons for setting up the house here. With the way events are unfolding, they'll learn altogether too much about me."

Mom said, "You're working for a government. One on another world. Can't they do anything?"

"That is a wish, not a reality. The people here will do all they can to get me."

We talked for another half hour but I had to leave them. I was still not sure about what Gwen would do. She would probably keep quiet but there was always a chance that she would have to talk about this. The same was true of anybody else I brought into my confidence.

I went back to Albany and thought to John. He was not asleep yet and I said to him, "Hi, John."

"Hi, Uncle Hugh. Is Mom going to say something?"

"Not likely but it could happen. If she does then the government will grab all of you. They will experiment with the silver articles and with each of you. I don't think they will hurt you but you would be celebrities that are kept under wraps until they get a lot more people able to communicate the way you three do."

"What can I do? I don't want to leave my friends."

"Nothing except talk to your mother. Keep the silver away from her and downplay your abilities. She probably won't say anything but I just want to warn you."

"Could we go with you?"

"John, you're my favourite nephew but you still belong with your mother."

"What if the government comes?"

"Then you have to go."

There was some crying and it increased as the two girls added their feelings. I went back to my home and took the Brophy gate back to Woodland. When it was time to return with Luca's gate I found Jonna and Tiffany waiting. Jonna was standing and Tiffany was strapped into a chair.

I hugged both of them. Tiffany said, "We are no good here. We want to go with you."

I could see lots of problems but I could feel her desperation. I said, "Whatever you want, Wife."

We went through the gate but I took the power chest. I was not sure about the silver chains passing a container ship and I wanted to be prepared.

I opened a gate to a coin in Savanna and then another to the Kuenta. Dimitri was surprised at my appearance and then even more so at my company. I did the introductions. Fislu was introduced the same way and Dimitri didn't bat an eye.

I backtracked and drove the rental through a loop and turned the car in. I didn't feel anything bad about Gwen but I was disturbed about how she acted.

The next day, I had a look at the Kuenta. She had a large mounting bracket at the stern and a large jet engine mounted to a frame on wheels. Cabot showed me how the apparatus could be rolled into position and bolted in without really doing it. This kept the jet engine hidden as much as possible.

He said, "This can push us over a hundred knots?"

"Your ship is smaller and the engine isn't as big as ours but comparatively it looks good. You may get a hundred and thirty knots."

"She can fly?"

"She will fly. I picked the hull up before but now there will be no drag. Mass could drop to zero and so will all the inertia. We need to retain some mass to keep from leaving the atmosphere."

He had to think on this and said, "What's it like?"

"Well, it's not like being in a plane. We're not weightless inside but we are a lot lighter. We hit a building by mistake. We were flung sideways but felt as if nothing happened. The building was damaged slightly. I don't know what would happen if we hit something solid."

"You could go to space."

"We already have a Russian that wants to be the Captain. We need a chief engineer. We can call you Scotty as a sort of tradition."

It only took a second for him to catch on and he said, "I can learn an accent if I try."



-------

Chapter 47


The Chi Kuang was the name of the Chinese built refuelling ship. She was actually the only one with the hoses and support arms built into the design from the ground up. She was now a day away from us. The New Hope and the Diamond were coming around the southern tip of Florida but were going slow so they would not be seen as stationary.

Cabot and I went shopping for steel structural components. Captain Arsov needed a structure on the Astrakhan to support the chain. It also had to pivot horizontally so the chain could be dragged over the ship itself. The Astrakhan was still close enough to have a gate and the steel was delivered with some subterfuge that night.

The Chi Kuang was getting close and so were the two tankers but a storm was approaching. The storm would be a better time to slip through to Woodland because we would be lost from radar and presumed to have sailed away. Being in the Bermuda triangle was good too.

There were gates set up between the three military ships and the container ship so we could use the available labour to get the arm built.

I was on the Kuenta again with the family. Jonna asked me, "How come you haven't put a shield up yet?"

The reasons were listed but it broke down to the complexity and size of task. "We can try now. There are more of us."

Jonna started to object and I felt a reluctance to do this but it was quickly hidden. She said, "We can try. It's not like we are doing anything strenuous."

Tiffany was sitting in a chair. She tried standing with the aid of the fulcrum but the ship pitched too much because of the approaching storm. "I'm not feeling up to it," she said.

Jonna said, "Tiffany, I'm not up to it either but it's work to do with your mind."

Tiffany still refused and Jonna got more pushy. Once she got something stuck in her craw, she refused to let it go. Caiti heard the mental argument and came in. She held Tiffany's left hand and said, "Tiffany, we need help. We've tried a lot and we can't do it. It's a lot like a tank but we can't get all the details. You were always good at this sort of thing."

Fislu started before Tiffany had a chance to say no. "The ship will be safer for the children. We may not need it now but in time there will be occasions when all of our lives will depend on having a shield around the ship."

I added, "This will make all of us safer. If we could have done it before we would have. I know what can happen to us with the weapon the Church can now throw at us."

We waited until Tiffany said, "I'll try but I can't do much."

"You can do just as much as before. Your head and brain were not damaged by lightning."

She burst out with a temper and said verbally, "I said, I'll try."

Caiti said quickly, "Thanks, Tiffany. I knew we could count on you for some help."

We took a long time talking about what we wanted and then we invited the officers of all three military ships to a meeting to discuss the designs. Gatherings of this kind were common to us and Tiffany began to act her old self a bit more and I felt a mental smile coming from Jonna.

The Kuenta had to leave port but there were coins in Savanna now so we didn't have to go through customs again if we didn't want to. All of the ships stayed at least a hundred kilometres apart. There was no sense stating our affiliations.

Jonna told me matter-of-factly, "A gate that's set up adequately will stay up even after they move apart. Even further than what we could do to reestablish them."

I had not come to a situation to learn this yet and I was happy to find this out.

"Thanks, Honey. The Church would have done a lot better with you as one of their researchers."

Jonna looked at me in disgust. I could not read her mind because her shields were up. I had not said anything wrong, or at least I thought I hadn't.

It was difficult to concentrate on the ship as it pitched so the fulcrum was used by Camsa. Usually this took a lot of thought but it was not that hard once you got the knack of it.

We tried all morning with no shield being made. We did get partial ones made of different sections to learn how to form the various parts but it was just too difficult to complete the design. The jet engine had to be set up on the stern after a midday meal. We built a partial shield around it so that air could come in and exhaust leave without too much of a restriction.

It was later that afternoon as the winds picked up that I brought out the chest to power up our icons that I decided that we should all put our wristbands and headbands on the chest to see if we could get a boost. It had worked well with the lightning gun.

Tiffany gave us more grief but she tried. With only one arm she didn't use any of the wristbands. This was enough to get us over the hump. The shield pieces were constructed by individuals and added to the whole.

When the shield locked in place, it suddenly got dark. Jonna said, "There, we did it finally."

There was a rapid knock at the door and I used my headband to see that it was Captain Powers. He looked worried.

"Come in."

The Captain entered and said, "The crew's upset. There is no light. It feels like we aren't on the Earth anymore."

All of us got up including Tiffany that was using a fulcrum. In a moment we left the cabin and looked out. The Captain was right. It was pitch black and the only light was coming from the electric lights on the ship. To one side, I saw the gate to the Ronnas. I helped Tiffany to this gate and then used the intercom in our room to call the bridge. In a moment Dimitri came to our room.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Hi, Dimitri. We put a shield up around the Kuenta but its pitch black inside except for electric lights. Will you see what we look like on the outside?"

"I'll do it immediately. Will I be assisted with levitation?"

"Sure."

We skimmed the tops of the waves and in twenty minutes we were in the neighbourhood but there was no ship. I was worried that we had somehow ported the ship someplace except that the Kuenta was now rocking on the storm tossed ocean.

Dimitri used radar to no effect and then Captain Powers tried. He had a white screen and I felt a build up of static electricity everywhere. Dimitri said, "The radar is not penetrating the screen. They claim this will not harm us but I don't believe the military, any military."

The operator was quick to comply and shut off the radar even though his captain had not issued the orders. Dimitri said, "We may or may not have been cooking ourselves. I'd rather not find out the hard way."

We used our last known GPS reading and calculated our probable drift and the Ronnas went to that location. There was nothing there to see.

Everybody had a chance to look and the crew of the Kuenta had a chance to see that they were not trapped. They looked at this with more curiosity now than fear.

Vasiliy said, "If you're here and invisible, why not start your jet engines. We have equipment to find infrared."

Powers didn't have to be told by me and he gave orders that the jet be started. The Ronnas went inertialess just in case. The flames were immediately seen and even heard off the starboard bow of the Ronnas. The jets were adjusted to their lowest setting. Caiti and I used our minds to propel the Ronnas to the Kuenta as we had done with the carpet.

When we were only ten metres away, we could see some distortion of the light but basically the Kuenta was invisible. The spray of the waves momentarily stuck to the shield so we could deduce its shape. The hole in the ocean was the easiest way of detecting our position. To reduce fear even more, the crews of all three ships came to see the effect.

We studied the effect while Powers fretted about the state of his ship. He said, "When is this shield going to be removed?"

Dimitri said quickly, "You have an invisible ship. I sympathise with the fact that you are ineffective but we can learn a lot from your experience."

"I can't even tell where the wind is coming from. We are tossed about like a cork. We're at the mercy of the elements. We even have to cut back on power generation because we are overloading the heat exchangers."

The crew of the Kuenta was transferred to the other two ships while we continued the investigation. Morgan was the most happy to leave. He had done his duties so I could not fault him.

There was no way to tie a line to the Kuenta so late that night we reluctantly tried to remove the shield. This was a lot easier. We immediately tried to reform it with tow points, fore and aft. This time the shield was the same as the normal kind we put on vehicles.

The radar on the Ronnas found it hard to see the Kuenta and the amount of radiation inside the Kuenta didn't allow its use. One of the radar operators on the Ronnas told his Captain an additional fact.

Dimitri came to me and said, "When the shield was placed on the helicopter, there was a reduction in amount reflected radar waves. We now suspect that it was only the openings to the craft and the two rotors that actually reflected anything."

"That's good to know, Dimitri, but I don't understand why we could not repeat the first effect."

"Let's look at this logically, Sir. First, what was the original purpose of this shield?"

"A shield is to protect."

"Yes, but how was it used by the alien people that constructed it? Was it used to protect soldiers engaged in warfare?"

I had to do some thinking here. "The aliens got pissed off at Humans for engaging in war. They left because of that. This leads me to believe that the shield was for protection from backwards races or natural dangers."

Dimitri said, "You mentioned on our trip that you think that the collection of portals you found was probably for trading or for moving people. This sounds like a peaceful activity but at times it could be dangerous. What about the chain gates and the medallions?"

"The medallions, I feel, are a way to prevent unauthorised use of the gate. The shield is personal in case the wearer steps into a dangerous situation."

"There are many kinds of dangerous conditions. The shield will repel anything or just advanced projectiles. It can be actuated from inside and out. It can also be locked into the on position."

"That's true."

Dimitri said, "One circumstance could require invisibility just like what happened to the Kuenta."

"That's probably true as well."

Dimitri said, "Both shields are similar. Why can't they be used in space?"

"They would leak air."

"But those advanced races would have to prepare for this eventuality and have this feature built in. In fact, a poisonous atmosphere may have free oxygen. The suit would have no need of bottled air if the shield were made selectively permeable to that gas and perhaps carbon dioxide too."

This was all true and I sat back to think on it. "It could also work in an aqueous environment? Many of the lower portions of the complex suggest water worlds or a civilisation in the water. In any case the portals are large."

"That sounds reasonable but I postulate that there may be a time when the wearer of the shield may be attacked by people using your plasma weapon. In those cases another expression of the shield would be warranted."

I said, "We never tried going through a chain gate with a large shield formed from the wristbands."

"Could the large shield just be used to protect people and goods?"

"Let's bring the family in to discuss this."

We talked until Caiti was sleepy, then we tried a few experiments with the medallions. We produced a solid shield that kept the wearer immobile. This was initiated outside the shield. I was wearing the shield at the time and I felt stuffy, so we got a oxygen monitor from engineering and tried it again. Oxygen didn't seem to go through.

The storm got worse so we went to bed. Tomorrow, or rather later today, we had to transport the ships. The Kuenta caught up to the Chi Kuang near dusk. I used the portal to get to the former Coast Guard ship and hail the oiler. The storm was starting to weaken and I still had to use the fulcrum to help me get aboard with the use of a small boat. I was soaked from even the short trip.

I talked privately with the captain and then the family came over to put some minor controls on the Russian crew.

We dropped off a coin and I shifted to the Ronnas then to the Andis as she approached the Diamond. This crew and that of the New Hope were American. When everybody was processed, the ships converged on the nexus near the Bahamas.

The giant chain was slung on the beam of the Astrakhan when I arrived with the chest. Captain Arsov quickly said, "We had two low level flybys in the last half hour by military planes. I think this means we will have a visit by helicopters and a ship soon. The winds are diminishing but the rain is just getting worse. That won't stop the helicopters."

"Thanks for warning me, Captain. Let's try to act normal for the next half hour. The Chi Kuang should be here by then." I used the gates to get the Captains to hurry up just in case.

The rain got heavier as time went on. Another jet came by and even circled us. They could not see us well because it was getting dark. We didn't use any extraneous lights to help them. I was sure the pilot was using his Brownie to snap a few photos of us. The radar on the Astrakhan picked up a solid return so we knew that there was going to be some company soon.

The boom was pushed out and two ropes were used to secure it perpendicular to our keel. Camsa and Fislu went to the Diamond and elevated the bow and took most of the two hundred metre bulk of the ship out of the water. She was now going the fastest she had ever gone.

Caiti and Porta did the same to the New Hope. Jonna boarded the Chi Kuang and made it nearly inertialess. I opened the inter-world portal and then concentrated on the raft with the coloured stones in the ocean near Woodland. I tried working from memory but had to use the coin. The gate sprang to life.

The waves from Earth's ocean spilled into the calm seas of Bejek. There was daylight there and it was much easier to see. In a moment the Chi Kuang was at our stern. The engines worked very efficiently but it was still difficult getting the ship through the portal. It did go though. In moments the Diamond went through too. She was much wider and the men on her deck moved the chain around obstacles on their ship at Fislu's orders.

A plane came by just after the ship passed through. I collapsed the gate but the air craft circled four times.

Dimitri was called and told to come too. I had only a little bit of argument. The New Hope passed through the loop as did the Ronnas not five minutes later. The ships approaching us had picked up speed.

The Andis was the furthest away. The family opened a portal to me and we were now on the top of the Astrakhan. Jonna said, "Those American ships are going to give us trouble."

"I know." Just as I said that a military plane rushed by near the speed of sound.

Jonna said, "We can get this vessel through. We can set up the gate on the other side to get the other two through. This cargo is the most important."

"You're right."

The Kuenta and the Andis were coming but they would not make it in time without help. The family split up and I was left here with Jonna. I collapsed the portal one more time and pulled in the chain with the fulcrum.

With the chain in a pile, it was easier to handle. I got to the bow in time to hear a helicopter coming over the noise of the storm. We would have to activate the portal before we cast it out or we would leave a portion of our bow behind. The copter was near now and a loudspeaker said, "This is the United States Coast Guard. Prepare to be boarded."

Jonna said worriedly, "What does he mean?"

"They are going to land on the ship."

"Shoot them. They're pirates. This is international waters."

"Can't do that yet." I thought for a second and said, "Do you have your gun?"

Jonna quickly handed me the lighting gun. She obviously didn't want any toys being used. I thought of this then figured some lightning may distract the pilot.

I got the chest and used it as a barrier as I hid behind it. My hand went over the chest holding the gun. This had to appear to be normal lightning or as close as I could fabricate it. I fired a brief burst then another one. The second went near the copter.

The pilot was almost blinded by the first blast but he did pull the craft away. The copter fled about a kilometre and a half then started to return. This time the lightning was further from them but still seen as dangerous. The helicopter turned again and left. The first ship was only twenty kilometres away.

I energised the gate. Jonna and I each used a fulcrum to hold the chain as we allowed it to settle beside the ship. We walked back toward the stern just as a jet flew by. The pilot turned abruptly probably because of what his instruments were telling him.

We were only a quarter of the way back when he came around again but he was going too fast on a dark night with lots of rain or I hoped that this was the case. Near the mid point I lowered the chain to touch the chest and a burst of some kind of energy flowed across the gap.

I picked up one handle of the chest and Jonna did the other. Our other hands were holding the fulcrums. We were near the stern of the vessel when a line of bullets hit the water just back of the rudder. The Kuenta was close now because she had to take the chain.

The captain was not taking any guff from his countrymen and surged forward. Jonna said, "What are we going to do? Jump in the water?"

"Hold onto, Sweetie. She did and I strengthened the power of the fulcrum while concentrating on the chain, the chest, and the two of us. We floated down and the last of the ship passed through the gate.

I used Camsa's method of locomotion and even without the carpet, we moved toward the Kuenta. The ship had its shield in place and we tried to remove this when it disappeared. Fislu and Porta met us on the small copter pad and brought the heavy chain in with more fulcrums. We helped with the long chain and as soon as it cleared the props I said, "Let's get out of here."

"We can't yet."

"Why?"

"Caiti and Camsa are providing a diversion for us."

"What diversion? What are they doing?" I tried to listen in to Caiti and Camsa but they had me excluded. All I knew was that they were busy. When I could not find anything out, I said, "Let's get a shield up before they put a shell into the ship."

We put up a partial shield with too many openings. We needed radar, at least to receive. The exhaust for the diesel engines and the jets had to be made. Jonna checked on the Andis. We shifted over to that ship and set up a similar portal. This ship was being harassed and some holes were in our bow. A flair had been shot at the ship and the plane had jinked and ran. The pilot thought the heat source was a missile. A radar at the frequency of a Sam did even better at clearing the air. Since this ship had been hit, it got a bit more in the way of shields.

The Captain asked me, "What are your orders, Sir?"

"Move toward the nexus on the jet engines. I going to try to open the portal another way." The man looked at me oddly but now was not the time to talk about it.

We elevated just as the plane came by. It passed us and we opened the jet engines only a bit. We were not far away. The pilot must have us on heat sensors. There was so much fog and rain he couldn't see anything. We were just slowing down when a missile came at us. The Captain turned hard to starboard but the missile still hit. It pushed us forward but we felt very little of the acceleration. In a moment two more came at us. Both hit and pushed us forward. It was like a gust of wind from our stern.

I checked for damage and found none. The shield had taken the abuse and transmitted the force to the mass we allowed the ship to retain.

The Captain wanted to shoot back but all of our weapons were stowed below. The Coast Guard ship fired repeatedly at us. They had some sort of radar lock and they were accurate. They did no damage at all. The crew were less apprehensive when they saw that we were not taking damage.

The inertia was restored along with our mass. We were took a few more hits that did nothing but make the ship quiver a little bit. The guns stopped as if they saw the futility of what they were doing. The noise of the explosions was bad but I somehow felt it would be a lot worse. The shield must absorb some of this energy too.

The Kuenta was only a few hundred metres away but not taking any abuse. This looked to be a case of bias. One ship was a former Russian one and the Kuenta was a former Coast Guard. It was too hot here and we could not try to activate a portal so I ordered both ships to head east. The planes came in again and they began using machine guns and missiles on both ships now.

I called to Caiti and Camsa but they were still busy. I felt that Camsa was also quite angry. "Come on you two. Leave the ships alone. We're leaving." There was no reply. I looked around and saw that Porta and Fislu had disappeared and after I checked, they were not on the Kuenta.

I asked Jonna, "What were Caiti and Camsa up to?"

"They were talking to the men that operated the radar. This was a weak link that could be exploited without any damage being done."

"How — " I knew how they got there. "They can come back now. I want to leave."

"Camsa was hurt and he's angry now."

"What happened!"

I'm not sure but it was only a brief pain. He is not hurt now. He wants revenge."

"They are only doing their jobs. I don't want anyone hurt."

"Camsa is a level headed person even with all his other faults. He will not hurt anybody."

"And the rest went to help him?"

"We're family, Husband."

I noticed that we were not being harassed any more. The radar said that the planes were flying around their ships now. I had to take a second look because the Coast Guard ships were elevated off the ocean's surface and heading west. I felt sorry for the nearly defenceless crews of the vessels.

We changed course and stayed near the ships. The wind had picked up and was blowing them in the direction they were travelling. Smaller ships came at us but they were actually trying to aid their larger brethren. In a few hours, one large ship came back to the ocean but the larger one continued much further inland.

Near dawn I formed a gate and picked up a portion of my family. They looked tired out but somehow satisfied.

I didn't give them any rest and we elevated our ships and fled eastward. It was getting light out and we had not shaken our pursuers. There were only planes now. We slowed down and then reformed the shield. This time there would not be any holes other than the intake and the exhaust for our jet engines. The Andis was done next. It was a larger ship but the shielding was not as difficult. Tiffany was put in charge of this vessel along with Jonna, Porta, and Camsa.

I had Fislu and Caiti with me. Vasiliy had not stayed with the Ronnas and had used the gates to stay behind. He was not part of the Ronnas crew so I could not be angry at him. I was going to leave when I had another thought and called Vasiliy and the interpreter.

Vasiliy stood in front of me and at attention. I figured that he would think he was in shit for moving around. I said, "Coordinate with both Captains. Take us up. I want to see how well we avoid radar."

"Me, Sir?"

"We're going high and probably into orbit."

"But I know nothing about — "

"That's an order."

"Yes, Sir."

The family knew what I wanted anyway. In a moment Vasiliy got over his shock and we shot upward. The streamlined shape, the functional engines and the now completely inertialess ship had us accelerating rapidly. The crew was at a loss because the bow of the ship was uppermost and we were now in both freefall and a vertical posture.

When the engines started to die, Vasiliy talked us into a horizontal position and we were now going forward. Fislu and Caiti were tinkering with the shield to funnel more air into the engines so they would continue to work.

I walked into the strangely quiet bridge to see Captain Powers staring forward. In a moment I said, "What's wrong, Captain?"

"I'm in an Island Class patrol boat that is a hundred and twenty four feet long. I've been attacked by my own country. A crazy Canuck comes to me with some alien ladies and I agree to help him. A crazier Russian gives me orders and now I am skimming the very top of the atmosphere. We have to be nearly into space but the engines are still working somehow."

"How high are we?"

"At a guess, I'd have to say twenty to twenty five miles."

"That's not very impressive."

"It is when the SR-17 can't make eighteen miles. You need a rocket to go higher."

I had to smile now as I said, "Your title may have to change from Captain to Pilot."

"Not me! I'm part of the wet navy and proud of it."

I met Vasiliy in the Andis. He and that Captain stood at attention. "Are you switching over to space navy traditions, gentlemen?"

It took a moment for both to get the idea then Vasiliy said, "This is a momentous occasion. Your family is reconfiguring the scoops to bring in more air. I would like to see just how high we can fly."

"That's fine by me but I want to get to Bejek soon. Dimitri is probably being harassed by Artlam and Mantoya not to mention your friends in Section M."

Those interested in aeronautics contributed their ideas to the redesign of the shield. At eighty kilometres, the engines were not getting enough air even with very large scoops. Since we were this high already, we went weightless and were able to get to what we thought was a hundred kilometres.

We applied mass to the ships and we descended into the atmosphere. We had actually gone quite a distance now and we were over the Pacific Ocean.

We could go to Bejek from many places but I wanted to check the house in Tula and then see how much trouble we had stirred up trying to get through the portal and gate in the Bahamas.

In the mean time I talked to Camsa and those that had seized the American ships. Since a lot of crew were around we used our voices.

"What made you get so angry Camsa?"

I could feel his anger coming back. "I went over there to screw up their radar only. It would hide us and what we were doing. I talked to the guys here and found how well a ball of aluminum foil can block the receiver. Caiti and I took the small ship first and stuffed all three receivers. We got two done on the big one when they started to shoot at us. I didn't mind them shooting at me but not Caiti. We got the last one done and were going to go after the small ones attached to the guns when they started to use the machine guns on us. Those can kill. We went nearly inertialess and they knocked us away from the ship."

"Is that what made you angry?"

"Only a little. We had talked to the Russian guys here and found that the Americans are afraid of Arabs. So some of the Russians wrapped some cloth around my head to make me look like one."

"You would not look very close. Your skin is too light."

"That's not all of it. I dressed like that to frighten them and they shot at me. One man was down there yelling and screaming like he was crazy. He was not so much afraid as he was insane. He was like those people that the Church get hold of."

"Go on."

"Well, I was on my carpet and I buzzed him. He takes his gun out and aims for my head. I had no weapons and in fact all I was wearing was the turban and my silver. When he finds he can't kill me, he calls for the machine gun. I hold onto the mast and the bullets hit the shield. The man really goes crazy and gets a really powerful machine gun that shoots big bullets and a lot faster than anything we ever used. The bullets rip apart the ship around me and some bounce off and hit the crew. I left because they were getting hurt."

"Ok, what did you do?"

"We picked up the ships. The wind was blowing towards the shore so we went that way. I found a way so I could go faster. I leaned the ship over just right. Anyway one ship was put in some type of river that lead to the ocean. The other ship with the crazy guy was taken to a big lake further inland."

"And you just put it down?"

"Well, almost. It was as deep as it would go into the water but I picked it up a bit and let it go. It didn't bob up and down."

"Was anybody hurt?"

"It was like we have when the there's a storm or a bit more."

"Ok, then. What did Caiti do? Was she dressed like a leprechaun?"

"What's a leprechaun?"

"A tiny imaginary creature. What did Caiti do?"

"She helped me mostly. She used her broomstick on the men that were shooting me. She just used it to beat on the front window where they steer the boat."

"Broomstick?"

"Yes, we heard that people used carpets to fly and some used broomsticks. Caiti wanted to try it. It was the Americans that helped us the most with this. They thought it was going to be fun. We could do anything we wanted to the ships but leave the ones with the letters 'CG' alone."

I laughed and said, "Did she have black clothing and a black hat?"

"How did you know? She had a pointy black hat but nothing else. We both made it. She figured the guys would be watching her bum and not their weapons. Most did but that crazy guy wanted to kill us both."

"Did you do anything special to that guy?"

"Nothin'. I tried to pee on him but I had my shield on. All I did was moon him and wiggle my dick at him."

"Where did you learn about mooning?"

"The net. There's lots of good ideas there. I talked to the Americans about this and it sounds like they did it too when they were young."

Captain Powers was listening to the conversation. I asked him, "What lake is near West Palm Beach, Captain?"

"There are a few but the biggest is Lake Okeechobee. There is a lot of swamp in that area too. Some of this may look like a lake since we had some wet weather recently."

"If it was the lake, how much trouble would it be to get the ship back to the ocean?"

"There would be a lot of trouble. There is a canal system but its made for pleasure boats. That ship was 450 feet long. It'll never go through the locks."

"Do you think it was too dark or too much rain to get a photograph of us?"

"They will have our silhouette and know roughly what we are. I'm afraid Mr Reynolds may get into some trouble."

"You're right. He can claim that he just acted as my middleman and worked to get the ship refitted. I'll call him. That also means that the American authorities will soon find out your names."

"I was worried about that but if worse comes to worse, you offered us a home on another world."

"Yes, I did, and don't look so dejected. I have a home on Earth but I like it better on Bejek."

The shields had to be reconfigured for the lower altitude but we still flew west. We had no planes or missiles fly at us over China so they probably could not see us.

Near local dusk, we neared Tula. We landed near the house and I used one of the coins to gain entry. There was a lot of consternation seeing a thirty seven metre and a fifty six metre ship parked just above the front lawn.

There were some Russians government officials in the house. I had not counted on this but it was too late now. I could control them but perhaps it was actually time to come out of the closet. The men had been lording it over the servants until I came and I had them all rounded up. They didn't come willingly, either.

When thirteen men and two women were before me I said, "Who here speaks English?" Nobody answered so I had to find somebody. I then said, "What are you doing here?"

Nobody wanted to speak but one man was looked at more than the rest and I said, "What's your name?"

The man paused for a while then belligerently said, "Aleksei Gorbenko."

"What were you doing in my home, Aleksei Gorbenko?"

"This is not your home. It belongs — "

"You're wrong Aleksei Gorbenko. This house and property belonged to the Duchovny family. I am a descendent of the family and I claim all the property and goods that was stolen from my family by the Bolsheviks."

There was a long pause and the man said, "You have to go through the courts."

"I may or may not do that. The laws of a country are based on that country's strength and the willingness of them to enforce those laws. Now tell me, are you FSB?"

There was the tiniest pauses then he said, "No, I'm a bookkeeper."

"Tell your superiors that I have an army of close to a million soldiers. Furthermore I have seven tactical nuclear weapons that were converted over to bombs. A while ago I went to Tajikistan and recovered a hundred and twenty two MIRV warheads. I used one on the mountain stronghold of the man that stole them." The man was stunned and so were the rest of the people in the room.

The man finally said in poor English, "Can you prove this?"

"I can do more than prove it. I don't want the small bombs. I'll give them to you and even one of the MIRVs. Besides a hundred and twenty is a nicer number."

"You have them here?"

I had to think fast. "They are on my ship."

Caiti and Camsa did the dirty work and hurried back to the ship and set up portals to link to Woodland. They recovered the seven small bombs and one of the larger ones. They were transported to the Andis.

The group was marched out of the house and across the snow covered lawn. They had to climb a ladder to get onto the deck. The hole through our shield had to be quickly made.

The Captain showed diffidence to the guests and led them to the heavily laden hold that now contained a bit more. The people looked at the weapons then got close for a good look.

Gorbenko and all of the guests suddenly pulled guns on us. Gorbenko said, "You are under arrest Mr Driscott on many charges — "

"Save your breath Gorbenko. If you weren't blind you would understand that these two ships were flown here, not sailed here. If you try to pinch my skin, you will find that I have a shield around me. I walked forward and all the guns pointed at me. With my hand sticking out, one man investigated my hand with one of his. He said in Russian, "He has something I can feel but not see.

I gave orders and some of the family retreated and ignored the threats to shoot. In a moment, my guests felt lightheaded because most of their mass had been removed. Not much longer, the jet engines started and we began the two hundred kilometre trip north to Moscow.

The men looked ready to shoot and there were some people here with no shields. Caiti came back and nonchalantly put a medallions on the crew and activated the shields.

I said, "Come out on the deck and you can shoot at me." I just turned and walked away. Three bullets hit my back so I stopped and said, "Do you really want to shoot in a room with the bombs? We are in your country."

Three men followed me out onto the copter deck. They were amazed to see a fog all around them and in a few seconds a very blue sky. One said in Russian, "Where are we?"

My interpreter was allowed to use his own words to answer. The men hurried to the chain around the deck and looked down. In some places they could see the ground far below.

They turned back to me and I said, "We are far from being in orbit but you still have very little weight. That means that we have a method of controlling mass and inertia."

The words were translated but the men didn't seem to understand. Since the secret was out or at least that I had some advanced technology. Porta at this time had us flying in tandem with a turboprop flying north. She and the rest of the family waved to the startled people until the co-pilot caught sight of us then the plane veered sharply away.

Radar had not apparently warned the military stationed in Moscow. We didn't fly across the city because of all the accidents that would be caused by people staring upwards.

Both ships settled in Red Square and the few tourists fled. We walked back to the hold and Caiti picked up the MIRV warhead after putting a shield around it. There were dire warnings but she continued to walk. She was fired at then turned around and gave her feelings on this matter in English.

"Just take it outside, Honey."

"These are ignorant people."

"All people, including us, are ignorant. They're just frightened out of their boots. Think how much questioning they will get when we leave."

I got a smile and she continued. I reached over and took two of the smaller bombs and the guns were aimed at me. This time nobody shot at me as I left. The rest of the family apart from Tiffany helped me carry the offensive cargo to the Square.

It was only with the last bomb that the rest of the group followed me out of the hold. They looked at the ground nearly five metres down and hurriedly descended the ladder.

There was no need to say anything so the shield was reformed and we rushed upward even faster than before. We even bumped up against the ceiling.

"Camsa!"

"It was Caiti, not me."

"Caiti, what are you doing?"

"Trying to get away with — some class."

"Give us back our weight slowly."

We drifted down and then we had to find something to hold onto so we could stand on our feet.

Caiti came to me and said, "I figured we were reducing gravity so I just went a bit further and made gravity push us away. Don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad or perhaps not much. Just warn us first. There is lots to learn but people could get hurt and we could damage our cargo."

Vasiliy said to me, "There is not much more for them to understand about you, Sir. They will blockade your home and try to act legally and use the courts against you."

"I'm not really that worried Vasiliy. I like the house in Tula and I figure I can have the family business run so its more ethical than what Dubkova did. I want to go to Bejek and I figure that the house would be watched by satellite now. Let's go to Chechnya and see about the portal. Maybe we can get through there."

Getting to Kargalinskaya in Chechnya was not hard. There was evidence of a large well built home here and of course one portal. Even though it was dark now, we dug through the ruins and took out the silver frame. We found other silver objects but nothing out of the ordinary. There was no keys or anything could be keys even though we dug through the rubble for a few hours. We could go through here but instead we travelled to Senaki in the Republic of Georgia.

Lightning had struck here many times and we found out why. There was silver hidden in the foundation walls but nothing was remarkable.

We set up the small inter-world portal and after clearance was given, we used the large chain to pass the Andis and then the Kuenta to the sea off of the coast. I breathed easier now even though it was more dangerous here in Bejek.

The ships that had preceded us were all anchored not far away. It took only a few seconds for the radioman to give me messages.

Dimitri was first. He had not gone to harass the Church because there was lots of work to do to mount the guns and the missile launchers. The Astrakhan was only partially unloaded because Section M didn't know some of the innovative ways we had found to move cargo. The younger members of my family raced off to show them what to do and perhaps swagger a bit too.

We had a meeting with Artlam to find out what was happening. The Church had become more desperate and flung more and more troops against our country and more to relieve the siege at Sadieea.

Attacks had been made on Shreff and Woodland recently. They had been so strong that they had been barely driven back. The siege of Sadieea was failing as more and more of the population of the city was thrown against us. It was only our lightning weapons that seemed to help and that was because we had so many more of them.

Dimitri, Vasiliy, Captain Karpenko of the Andis, and Captain Powers were invited to another meeting. Every one of the men were soldiers and I just pointed out what I was after and showed them what I had to do it with. Nobody bitched at what Mantoya had been doing but each person would have done something different.

The meeting went on long enough for Mantoya to arrive and defend himself. He was not a poor soldier at all and knew the people far better than the people from Earth.

We discussed the best way to use the weapons in the containers. There were a lot of Chinese Migs and some old tanks. They were small and weak not to mention falling apart. There were a lot of rifles and ammunition but we had lots thanks to the replicator and our factories.

The Migs had to be assembled and tested but nobody here was really qualified though many were good technicians. The men that had been sent through previously were fighting alongside our people or repairing damaged equipment.

Some of the vehicles we brought were ready to go and these were checked out and sent off immediately. The three warships had a lot of work to do on them even though Dimitri had started as soon as his ship settled in Bejek waters. In place of a crane, Section M personnel were placed on the ships.

Most of Section M was fighting much like the youngsters fighting to help the priests. I pulled some of the abler ones to me and told them about what we had done with the shields.

"See if you can find a way of blocking the lightning beams. I don't care if you absorb the energy or reflect it. This is the weapon that's killing most of us." They needed some encouragement so Camsa went into how we made a shield that was solid and would not pass oxygen. After the group made the shield then they worked on variations.

That night I said to Tiffany. Last time you were fertile we tried to make a baby. If I read you right, you're that way now." I didn't say any more.

Tiffany thought and then started to cry. I hugged her to me and she hugged me back with her one arm. Her sobs didn't stop but her mind became much clearer than usual. She felt inadequate but she could make a difference by making a child. This was not the reason I wanted but the one we had last time was good enough for me.

We had made love on the ship but now it was different. We were actually alone for the first time in a while. I made love to every part of Tiffany including her stumps. Her orgasms recently had been minor but not now. The next day we slept in and nobody bothered us.

After a breakfast with the family, I set off for Sadieea with my security detail. My own people were happy to see me but the Church fought even harder when they found out that I was near. There was a good number of people from Buseland but not nearly the numbers I hoped.

The Chinese tanks were being eaten up as fast as they were put into the field. I thought of more armour but steel didn't stand up. Modern tanks used ceramic. It was hard and shattered when a shell hit it. This is what absorbed the energy of the shell. I wondered if ceramic armour would stand up to the bolts of plasma.

That afternoon a gate formed at the edge of the interference zone and hundreds of stigga raced out at us. We mowed them down and then sent shells through the gate. This was just a diversion though and another gate opened nearby hoping to catch us napping. It didn't happen because somebody from Section M saw what was happening and gave the alarm. She also didn't survive.

That night there was another attack but it was focussed on me. I was playing a shell game because I slept in different tents and all of them had a silver dome in them.

The next day I called for missiles. They came in all day long even through two battles. That night it was our turn to hit the main Church buildings one more time. When a gate cleared for a second we knew where the interference was coming from and we hammered that for an hour but with no success. That night, trucks and tanks arrived that could dispense napalm. After checking the wind direction, these were used on a wide front.

We managed to gain almost half a klick into the city but the rubble blocked our way, preventing further advance.

This city had sewers and we searched these out. Most had collapsed years if not centuries before. When the priests saw us working they threw more soldiers at us and we used the napalm and killed young people the same age as Caiti and Camsa.

In the end we were pushed back. I had two more aces up my sleeve and I planned on using one of them now. We had one Ilyushin Il-78 and now was the time to use it. I sent orders to get the plane ready but prepared our own people to pull back and then take to gates that were just beyond the interference zone.

I wanted to save the books if I could but the city was costing us too many lives. At noon we fired our howitzers even more as trucks and buses shuttled people to the transfer points. The gates just shut down as sixty tonnes of gasoline fell from thirty kilometres up. The fuel would vaporise except it was temporarily enclosed in a thin metal tank.

We were thirty kilometres away when the tank split up nearly a kilometre over the city. The fuel spread out and fell like rain or mist. Even from this distance we could see the flame and then the push of the wind as fuel air bomb was ignited by a flame in the city.

We waited just two minutes then one team raced in. The gate was not showing resistance to forming. There was little free oxygen in the air. We found our coins still in the city and quickly made gates. There were few people alive and we tried to save those we found.

Most of the Church buildings were within a large walled enclosure. At a guess I'd have to say the area was about four hundred by five hundred metres. There was a giant shield over this and there looked to be only a little damage from our previous shelling. If I looked close, the shield extended up to about three hundred metres.

Jonna said, "Shit, what are we going to do now?"

"See if a silver tube will go through it. See if we can visualise enough of the bricks to form a gate or look for a hidden tunnel under the shield."

The silver was easy to form but it didn't work. We looked through the shield. The view was clear enough but a gate could not be formed. People were all around the wall looking down or through the wall for a tunnel. There were a lot of traps but all the tunnels ended in a shield.

Vasiliy and Camsa came to the city to look at the shield. Camsa tried to form a portal but he was just as successful as the rest. I said, "You and Vasiliy have to play the last ace for me."

"What do you mean?"

"I have to destroy this shield and there is an old story about an immovable object and an irresistible force. I want you to drop a rock from as high as you did the gasoline. This one has to hit the centre of the shield."

"I don't think I can do that. We were lucky to hit the city."

"Maybe I can do it. You showed me how."

The endeavour to breach the shield lasted three hours. During this time we investigated the other Church buildings and found no trace of books, icons or even the original silver gate. There were lots of bodies and very few of the living. It hurt to know that I had killed the very old and the very young that had no way of fighting me. I was able to direct at least part of my guilt toward the Church.

Camsa, Caiti, Tiffany, and Vasiliy were going to provide the last ace. I pulled everybody from the city except a few that showed themselves above the walls until the last minute. I was one of those people.

I could hear Tiffany call out that the piece of granite had dropped but Camsa's mind was much stronger. It was fed by fear if not panic. I sent him my thoughts and tried to calm him. I had hoped that all the time spent in near free-fall would have helped.

Camsa was responding though not much. We showed him our love and concern. When I looked up I could not see the rock yet but it was coming. I gave a signal and the rest of the group left the scene quickly. It was now just me and a dozen security people.

Camsa began to function more and push the rock he was on one way or another to stop it from spinning. He had difficulty looking over the edge of the rock because of the velocity of the air sliding by.

It was time for me to go. The shield had not come down so I could fire. This would only have happened if the people inside the compound had detected the Ilyushin and the rock.

I was the last through the portal though I had to fight for this position. The last thing I did was hear that Camsa had ported out too.

From a distance of thirty klicks I saw the streak of ionised gas as the rock plunged toward the city. A split second later the city seemed to bulge upward. It was lit internally with a fiery red light. Rock was flung outward and I knew that the rock had been far too large.

The shockwave through the ground came first then a minute and a half after the strike the sound came. It was a loud roar more suited for lightning but it lasted much longer.

The sound finally stopped but we stayed in shock. It was after that when we found pebbles falling from the sky even at this distance. The rain lasted minutes until only fine sand was left.

I opened a gate to my coin but found it buried and too far from the surface to use. I cast about for another and then another until I found a coin that would work. What I found at the other end of the gate was devastation.

The piles of fallen masonry were not as high now. The debris was scattered for kilometres in every direction. There was a hole near the far edge of the city. It was perhaps twenty metres deep. This had been solid stone before the rock fell. The Church grounds were three kilometres from the impact site.

The Church walls were not intended to keep out invaders and had almost completely fallen. The buildings on the property had fallen in the shockwave but the shield was still intact.

I was angry at all the loss of life, angry at the Church and even more angry at myself. I reached out with my hands and thought of ripping this piece of land apart. I was shocked out of my anger because I felt a quake. When I came to an understanding of what I had done I reached out again but had the fulcrum in my hand and I borrowed another to fit my other hand.

I had to visualise what I wanted lifted and it was the entire twenty hectares of land. My mind followed the portions of rock that had fractured because I didn't want to pick up too much. When I tried to pick this portion up there was just some shaking. I called my family too me and some came to assist. They didn't use the fulcrums but worked through me to make my grasp clearer. The second time I tried I saw masonry fall inside the enclosure. With more family, the land broke free of the planet. I brought it up so the far end was nearly thirty metres high and I released my grasp.

The land fell back into the hole it had come from with a noise and a much stronger quake and finally the shield though went down. We raced in now and I was surprised to find myself in the lead. A large unbroken slab of granite was near and I picked it up easily and ran forward with it.

Some priests had survived the strike and my lifting of the complex. They staggered out of the rubble and fired at us. There were a lot more of us and the priests were cut down but not without losses of our own. I was targeted even more, probably because of the rock I carried.

Security fired at those that shot at me. The rock I carried had been large when I started but was now much smaller. I made it to the pile of rock that had been a building not long ago. The surviving priests and trainees chose me as their target and thus were easier to kill. I was behind the rubble and the rock was being whittled away.

A machine gun opened up and bullets hit all around me until the sound of the lightning guns stopped. I watched the eyes of my own people then slid sideways and got up. None of the enemy were in sight, none that were alive anyway.

I moved forward and security was right beside me. I used all my senses including my headband to see with the aid of my coin. There was a clear area beyond the ridge of rubble and then there was a warren of openings made for sniping.

"Moltatas, toss a few grenades about thirty metres ahead."

She took one out and said, "How many?"

"We may need a lot."

She tossed the grenade and I saw a glimpse of somebody fleeing just before it exploded. The girls started handing them to me and I threw them where they would do the most good. My headband showed bodies flying through the air. Some could get up but not all of them. The grenades were mostly high explosives simply designed for producing a shockwave.

Others were trying to crest the ridge but were being killed by bolts of plasma. I threw the last of the grenades I was given and then I used the fulcrums to pick up the mass of broken masonry and I pushed it forward. Those that could use the devices did the same thing. Soon large blocks of stone were used as shields to push forward.

The strategy was passed around the ring that circled the Church grounds. Soon we had to protect ourselves from those shots that missed the enemy and came our way. Fifteen minutes later the last fighter was down and we swarmed in. Many of the warriors were children and these were taken away if they were still alive. Too many had died since this operation had begun.



-------

Chapter 48


Immediately the Church grounds were searched for artifacts and documents. Those from Buseland were watched. We wanted the articles for study and didn't need some to vanish.

Site security was high because this was the time when we should be preoccupied with plunder. Everything went to a team of Section M people that scanned pages of books and photographed and bagged all of the silver objects.

I was doing my own investigating as I looked for places that may hide more information. I found an extensive mausoleum but nothing inside except old bones. This area had not stood up well to the shaking I had done to it.

Mausoleums were a rare commodity on Bejek. The stonework fascinated me. The priests didn't profess a need to preserve a body like some religions so I had to figure that this set of tombs were older than the current doctrine.

With some lights powered by a generator, I photographed all the details I could. I didn't see any hidden meaning here, just something that was odd.

When a tabulation of all of what we found was made, I saw that the solid portal that lead to Tula was gone. This and its key were valuable. It also stood to reason that the Church had spirited away the more valuable items. This would be the rare silver devices as well as the more informative books. There was still a lot left that had to be studied. We had to push the Church back on other fronts before finding time for this.

In the battle, we had faced a new weapon. It was like our sniper weapon but it shot a beam of plasma. The beam was narrow. The damage showed that the beam had lasted for a while because of the pattern it made on any stonework. It didn't leave anybody alive. So far there were only a few of these weapons and now a defence was needed even more.

We all searched through the database of newly acquired books looking for clues. Research the way the Church saw it was hampered by extreme secrecy and some researchers found something that had been discovered thousand of times previously.

Thanks to Osston and Stofan we could read most of the books but not all. Apparently there were advanced codes and then ones more advanced than the previous ones. These were the books that we felt could give us the most information.

Any references to weapons or shields was passed around and we tried to see what the researchers had found. We found that the medallion could protect the wearer from a vacuum as well as admit oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from a poisonous atmosphere. This is what I was looking for before. The way this was done also suggested other ways the shield could be manipulated.

Tiffany seemed to be happy or at least happier than she was before. We were not sure but we figured she was now pregnant. She could not fight but she pushed herself to do whatever she could to protect the family. This meant shield research first and then weapons. I searched for way of regenerating limbs along with the rest of the family. I had some of those in Section M assist in the research. This would be a boon for them, for the veterans, and especially for Tiffany.

Loca came to me three days after we abandoned Sadieea. "My King, I had two thoughts recently which you may wish to think about."

"You think a great deal, Loca, and I would be honoured to listen."

I got a nice smile and he said, "The Church has access to French diesels and this implies one or more portals where these engines would be available."

"That's true. I hadn't given it much thought since I was dealing with the gate in Tula."

"I just thought it pertinent to bring up. The second point is what you once talked to me about. You can use your silver chain to remove a complete library to where you can study it. This will give you books and icons while depriving the Church of them."

Rubbing my chin seemed to help me think. "We can do this better now with carpets to get into position. I still need a place to port the library to that will not allow the priests to flee with the most valuable articles."

"You have many places on Earth that are in desolate locations."

"Earth has too many satellites. The people will be anxious to make my acquaintance once more."

It took a moment for Loca to see the sarcasm in this. "You have a direct access to a world with no radio. The air on the mountain is thin and cold but pure. Surely the air would be thicker further down the mountain. A priest would not be able to use or even form a gate because he would not have a nexus for a portal or a mental point for the terminus of a local gate."

"That's a possibility. Is there someone that will go to that world and investigate for us?"

"I would like to go, my King."

"You are a free man, Loca. You could have gone at any time you wished."

"I agreed to make your maps and search for secrets. I have not done much of either."

"You have done a lot. Pick a team and work methodically. This may not be a new world, but it's a new world to us."

Loca went away a happy man but I was worried anew. I went through the Duchovny data about France. I also had to look for its present or former possessions. This might even have to be enlarged to cover the neighbours. This took me to Spain which had two portals of its own. The two were in the Pyrenees, one in each side of the border though not close to each other.

France had a nuclear arsenal and it was susceptible to attack if enough gold were offered. Using the silver icons would make it much easier.

Tiffany and Lauren were near and I talked about my new worries. We went over the Duchovny data but it was seriously out of date.

Lauren said, "If you plug this leak will we see more?"

"The Church has a lot of equipment and information. It may have hundreds of portals ready to open for all I know. Finding people to work for gold takes time but is usually successful."

"When will all this end? I don't want my children to grow up in a war zone. I want them free to play, not dodging bullets."

"I agree with you but I might point out that the people on Bejek die violently all the time but are for the most part happy. Canada and the rest of the world may just be too civilised."

"How can you say that? You mean that there is wholesale death all the time and culture has to be devoted to war instead of benefiting the people."

I said, "Earth has a drug problem. They have war and hunger all the time. Their war is usually like ours now. It's at the far end of a rifle. I'm a realist to know that a culture has to be dynamic or it fails."

"So you think we are dynamic?"

"We're just starting to be. When we fail, somebody else will take over the reins. In the short term, our children will live in dangerous times and learn to survive."

Lauren was going to retort when a knock came to the door. Loca came in and he looked flustered. "My King, I found something odd. Did you order the breach in the wall of world #4 repaired?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"I was there to investigate the area to find equipment to descend to the valley. The opening is closed up and there's much more air and its warm. Nobody has had time to visit this complex with the war on and nobody knows anything about the repair."

"Let's go look."

I helped Tiffany up and kissed her. She walked over to a heavier chair with straps and sat down. This one had a fulcrum and she got the chair to elevate and precede us out of the tent. The portal to world #4 was shut down but we put the key to it and entered. We were not sucked in like last time and the room was pleasantly cool.

The former damaged area was nearby. The area looked the same as the rest except that there were still four portals missing and the new material didn't look as old as what had been there before.

We investigated this level and then ascended to the next. After having used the fulcrum so much, it was easy to use the elevating device. There seemed to be no other changes.

When I came back, I sat close to the newly laid patch. There was something else wrong here and I could not see it. I voiced my thoughts and Tiffany said, "The place is clean. No dust, nothing."

"You're right. I don't think the school has been doing the vacuuming." In a moment I added, "This place has a computer, it has to. We can go up and down the tubes. It must have done the repairs too."

Lauren said, "It could be a repair computer and the other one is to move us up and down."

"That could be it, too. One or more computers control this place. Computers, at least the ones I can envision, do not repair. They have machines do the job and they control the machines. Then again, the silver icons can do some wonderful things."

Tiffany was near the wall and said, "Hugh, there is some silver in this hole. It's where the brackets go."

I looked and sure enough there was a thin layer of silver at the bottom. It looked shiny. Whatever was doing this was working small. We might have nanobots here or something even smaller. If there was a computer in this station then possibly we could talk to it like I did to go up and down.

"Hello, Computer. We would like some information about the world we are currently on."

It didn't take Lauren, Tiffany, or Loca long to catch on and they tried too. Tiffany had me remove the fulcrum and she was able to elevate her chair the way I had in the depths of world #5 which I figured was on Earth.

It didn't take long until the school invaded us. Many of the new people in Section M had not been in the complexes yet and had to be shown by the old hands. I was happy to see Mrs Dubkova here as well as some of her daughters. It was not much longer when Caiti and Sonya came in with Porta.

They ran to me and Caiti asked, "What happened?"

"This place was powered up. There has to be a computer that allows us to go to each level but the wall is also repaired. The holes in the wall have silver in them. The computer is building four new gates."

"Neat." She walked over to the wall and inspected the area then put her finger in. I was going to yell at her but it was too late.

"I don't see anything."

"They are probably smaller than a speck of dust. You might have millions on your fingertip right now."

Caiti looked close then Sonya pulled the finger close so she could see it too. Caiti said, "What do I do with it now?"

Let someone get some water and you can wash the end. Bring back some ordinary silver too. If it's building, it needs the raw material."

"Ok."

Some students ran off and then bent over a bowl as Caiti washed her finger very delicately. When she was done she shook it off and popped it in her mouth. I was too late again. I didn't say anything because there was no way I knew if this was dangerous or not.

Porta said, "Let's go down the mountain and bring back the four portals. That's not hard."

I tried to see if something was wrong with this idea but there was nothing. We even had a shield that would not leak oxygen. It was also a goodwill gesture on our part so the computer may be more likely to respond to us.

"You can go if its in the morning here. Loca will be in charge of the expedition. Can anybody see through the walls?" Somebody had their headband and put their head close. In a moment she said, "I can see through but its hard without a coin. There's a lot of light on the other side."

I put my hand on the wall but didn't feel any extra warmth. Loca was talking to some of his people and Porta was right there getting her duties. Students arrived and a gate was set up. We had to close the main portal to keep the air in and then we energised our shields. A small opening allowed the air to leave more gradually. When the pressure was equalised, the gate was opened wide. It was not morning but close to local noon.

The students held fulcrums to elevate themselves then floated through the gate. When there were four of them, they just dove like champion divers into the ocean of air. Four more went through and Loca and Porta were last. Caiti had hold of Sonya and they plunged right after. I was glad the girl's mother was not currently present to see this.

I called for some students and had a silver nail made that could be used to wedge in a crack in the rock of the mountain and still hold a coin. It would be helpful for later.

Porta and Caiti were far below. There was a large area to search and probably centuries of rock on top of any portal if any of them were still there.

The nail and coin was put in for me. The school and the teachers played hookey. Loca was not getting any slack cut for him.

Tiffany didn't like heights but she left with Lauren just to see what was happening. With everybody gone, I went too but I went up. There was a lot of wind and I could not fight it well enough. When I almost got blown away, I went down the mountain with everybody else.

There were a lot of large rocks that had fallen and I saw children picking up thousands of tonnes and taking them away to a safe area. Loca was being careful where he had not been environmentally conscious before.

The world was beautiful. It didn't have the red chlorophyll of Bejek. It had the something closer to Earth but it was more blue. The trees were different again and the younger members were hunting for small creatures since they were already bored about moving rock.

There was a yell later and the students pulled a bent portal from the rock. This was enough to get everybody back to work.

I asked Loca, "Will you stay the night or go back to Bejek to sleep and get more supplies?"

"We have to go back. The young ones came and ate all our food."

"Not much different than when you had children, is it?"

"These are better behaved but still do what they want."

We didn't need the fulcrums to ascend. When everybody was transported to the large room, the gate was closed and the inter-world portal opened. Some of the students studied the portal with Osston and Stofan. It was photographed to find out how much was removed from it when we came back.

I talked to Mantoya and Artlam about plugging up one more link to Earth type weapons. Since we had withdrawn from Sadieea, we had more people to protect. With the arrival of the ships we had more weapons to do this with.

The warships were anchored near a small island seventy five klicks from the shore at Woodland. We wanted them out of range of shore based artillery. When I came aboard the Ronnas I saw that much of the work had been done. Defensive batteries had been put in place first but not all of them had been placed yet. There was a lot of integration that still needed to take place.

Dimitri said, "I almost had a mutiny yesterday." This was said with a smile so he was not that angry."

"What was the crew revolting about?"

"They wanted to go to this new world. I hear it's beautiful but more blue than Earth."

"There are a few differences. A little less gravity, a shorter day and I think there is more oxygen. A fire burns much faster there."

"Will I get my crew back?"

This got me thinking. "I think so but I think you should recruit. In fact, I want you to be the admiral. You know more about ships and weapons than Mantoya and he's not going to bitch about losing some work."

"Me! An admiral!"

"Why not? I need somebody to coordinate what we do on the sea."

"What about the American ship?"

"You're the Admiral. I'll tell them though. I also want you to take apprentices."

"We're at war, Sir."

"All the more reason. You train them in seamanship and they train you in how to use your mind. You have to remember that most of the apprentices will be female."

"That will give us problems, Sir."

"I noticed when your men are off duty they have no problem finding company. The women are looking for a husband."

"I can see duty suffering."

"Perhaps in the short run but your men will fight even harder when they are protecting their families. Your men will have to grow in other ways. I have some square riggers and a few have diesel engines. You are going to have to amalgamate those into your fleet."

"They are a waste of time and effort, Sir."

"A square rigger with a shield and a jet engine is as fast as yours if the masts are removed."

Dimitri had to think then said, "I can try but that means I have to split up my crew."

"You have a double complement, remember."

"I need communications, weapons, radar, fuel, all sorts of supplies."

"The container ship is close. In fact the container ship may be converted to something. If she goes back to Earth, she will be noticed."

"Can a shield go around it?"

"You have the people, so you should try. I'd prefer that your people learn to erect the shield. I have not changed my mind about a space navy."

"One with square riggers?" This, at least, was said with a smile.

"Yes, to catch the solar wind."

"Touché."

"There is another matter. The ships I mentioned have diesel engines made in France. The Church has a link to the products of that country. France has a nuclear stockpile."

"So you are going to sever this link?"

"Yes."

"It could be more members of your family."

"Then I have to convince them to stop."

"There are other portals."

"And I will have to control them, too. I don't see this being over in just a few years."

"What about our one year — enlistment?"

"I'll stick to my word but I'll try to persuade you to stay. If you're determined to leave try to find a suitable replacement."

We checked in on world #4 and found that Loca had already found another of the portals. I asked him, "What did you find out about the other portal you found yesterday?"

"It didn't seem to be altered but the process may be very slow."

"Let's try siccing a colony of ants on the frames? Maybe we can just put them back into place."

"That is a very good idea, my King."

"We have had some minor successes in guiding the ants. It is not like the heart or the medallions but they will work if they are directed adequately."

"Have you heard of any improvements to the shields?"

"You and your family find most of the improvements, my King. We are left with just finding the fine details, like the old weapons we found."

"Which ones are they?"

"The ones found near Woodland. In the hidden home and the ones in Tula."

"What did you find?"

"The ants were directed to repair the weapons. We have not been able to replicate the energy storage units but the ants can do this."

"Why wasn't I told sooner?"

"Vasiliy suggested the idea. He is very dedicated. I think he wanted to present you with a product that we knew everything about."

"How well does it work?"

"It's being tested as we speak."

There was some excitement and I at first thought it was because we found the third gate but it was a girl flying in. She was young and her thoughts were not focussed because of fear. We all went into a defensive posture and the youngest were put into the gate and moved high up the mountain.

An older recruit came to Loca and looked at me. She decided I took precedence and she said, "We found a single stigga nearby."

The stigga were not so dangerous since we got our shields. I elevated myself and flew with half of my security force. The other half could not use their minds well enough to do this yet.

The girl came with us and she showed the tracks in the dirt. The tracks were far apart so the stigga was running. We spread out and followed or tried to get ahead of the creature.

The being was wily in the extreme and knew how to avoid capture but there were simply too many of us. The creature was herded into a place between rocks and it began to dig like hell to get away.

The students moved the rocks and I picked up a large volume of soil and even then he almost got away. Security had guns on it but it didn't understand the weapons or perhaps didn't care. When he wiggled loose, I concentrated on the air that was touching the stigga. This was similar to what I did when I touched a solid object. This medium didn't work as well but I did manage to hold the air and the stigga. As soon as I could, I elevated the creature above ground so he couldn't hold anything to crawl away.

Tiffany had been with us and said, "What are you going to do with it?"

"All we have are babies. I'd like to learn how they communicate. If its mentally then there may be a lot of them ready to come to this ones aid. We should pull back while we can."

We flew back and had to pick up those people that were bound to the planet's surface. The stigga had seen the futility of fighting and stopped struggling. When he was put on the ground, he began to try to flee. I sat on a rock and used my mind to communicate but it didn't seem to work. I could not detect any emotion from him and he didn't react to my thoughts.

Because the creature was struggling so hard, I sent for the young stigga we has raised. As an afterthought I said, "Bring the Human children with them."

Tiffany didn't want to be near the creature but she tried to do what I could not. Lauren did too, then the students had to have their turn. Since we were not harming the creature, its struggles got less until it didn't try to flee.

The mothers I had recruited came with their children and in each case one of the children were stigga. The adult stigga watched intently as the infants were put down. The stigga babies were very mobile. They were not as bright as a three year-old Human but they were a lot younger too.

The infant stigga wandered through our group until they found the adult then ran back to their 'mother'. The young Humans were less frightened though and just looked at the adult that looked so much like their little friends.

The older Humans were asked to move away. The young stigga got over their fright partially but they didn't want anything to do with the adult of their kind. Eating and drinking was a peaceful activity so I summoned some. Since I knew what the baby stigga liked we could guess at what the adults would eat.

The adult looked at the young of both races and at the work still going on. He saw people flying through the air as if this was their natural home. The other half of the time the junior archaeologists carried one or more rocks and took them away to build a stone bridge. There was a wide break in the planet's crust and a strong river flowed perhaps a hundred metres lower.

When the food came, the youngsters were interested and hurried to eat. I took a piece and extended my hand with the tray toward the stigga. I let out a breath quietly as he took a portion and then ate it. The tray went the rounds a few times until the children were full. They were then chased off to play under their mothers' watchful eyes.

I tried again to communicate with voice and then with pantomime. This still didn't seem to work until one of the young stigga fell off a rock. It cried out in fright and the adult raced to it. I could have stopped this but I wanted the interaction.

The child was now very frightened and I heard the stigga speak to it. It had a long one sided conversation until the child was not as frightened. I left the younger members of the school to try now and I just seemed to wander off. I was sure the stigga was weighting its chances to flee but it also knew that we flew faster than it could run in the rugged ground nearby.

When the 'mother' came, the child was not put down but carefully handed to the Human. The Human though did not retreat. She talked about 'her child' and all the trouble he got into and then pointed out her own children and gave a rundown on them. The two walked around the camp taking all the young ones with them.

I flew off now looking for any stigga that could be sneaking up on our camp. I wished I had brought the translating icon so I could have understood what the stigga was saying to the child.

The last two portals were found and taken up the mountain. The bridge Loca wanted built as a project was done though I had no idea how long it would remain. There was rock left over and one large flat piece was used for a roof for a Flintstone's type home. We didn't have a mastodon but we did divert a stream so it went close and even dug a pool to collect more of the water.

The house was stocked with food and some simple implements before we started to leave. The stigga was shown by gestures to go in and it did as long as some of the young ones went in first. The women with the children were the last to leave and I think we left a flustered stigga.

Lauren said, "What was your reason for letting the stigga go, Hugh?"

"It wasn't talking to us. Let it see some friendship and it might. We know that there has to be a few more stigga around and some might cooperate if this one doesn't."

Tiffany said, "That stigga acted odd. It was a loner. The ones we saw in the camp were in family groups. Do you think this one was an outcast or perhaps just old?"

"We have to find out. The Church is still using them for cannon fodder and shock troops. The more we know the better we can stick it to the Church."

"You were talking before about finding a place to put one of the Church libraries. Are you thinking of putting one on this planet?"

"That was my idea. Once the inter-world portal closes, the gates are severed. There is no reference to anyplace so they can't open a new gate."

"They could possibly destroy the library or even float it to someplace they like better."

"They might, but I plan on putting the building as high as I can. The priests will concentrating on breathing, not moving their library."

"I like that. They can't fight and we take them. If they do stay strong then they have the stigga here to help them."

"It's the best I've come up with. There are dead or nearly dead worlds beyond the portals but we can't get to them."

After our meal, Vasiliy came to me with a big smile on his face. I pulled out the icon before Vasiliy said, "Hello, Sir. I heard you wanted a report on the weapons we found in Tula.

"Yes, I would."

"The laser pistol is not as good as your plasma weapon but it is not weak. It also has a mental trigger but it is far easier for me to use. The range is two kilometres at least but it's difficult keeping the beam on target. It looks to be at least equivalent to what the Church is now using but I suspect that ours is better. Their's shoots a pulse and has to charge before the next shot. Ours is continuous and more like a machine gun. If you miss you just sweep the beam over the target."

"How long does the charge last?" When Vasiliy made a face I pointed at my wrist.

"The weapon will fire for ten seconds before getting too hot. With gloves it will last longer but it burns out at twenty three seconds. Using one second bursts that are usually more than enough, the charge will last for fifty three shots. The weapon seems to have a defect worked in. After three full charges, the laser device burns out. I think this was planned to limit the effectiveness of the weapon while still fulfilling their contractual obligations."

I drew a picture of the typical Russian electrical outlet and Vasiliy said, "A high voltage source is required. Six to eight thousand volts. The techs on the Ronnas found it would use direct current too."

"Are they a good weapon for the field?"

We had to get the interpreter now and a lot more detail was filled in. I said, "Issue one weapon to each man under Dimitri's command. Dimitri is either to issue the weapons or put them in the armoury."

"You are very generous, Sir."

"I am thinking of the problems now and when it is time for you and your people to leave. I don't want problems that will upset Earth."

"I understand that, Sir and I think you are doing the right thing."

"Can those weapons make it through airport security?"

"They are ceramic but their shape alone will mark them for seizure."

"I'm going to Earth soon. There's a lot of points to check and I need a competent pilot. Can you recommend one?"

"You deserve the best and I am willing to assist you."

"Good, you better make some copies of the guns so we can have a few."

"I will, Sir. but there was a weapon here on Bejek that was repaired too."

"Tell me about it."

"The weapon uses a strange group of chemicals we have not used before. The ants were able to duplicate this. The projectile is very fast. Its shape is odd and we found it doesn't make the customary sonic boom associated with other fast bullets. The bullet is also carefully crafted. It will stay together through the air and even hit leaves and small twigs but when it hits something solid it fragments after penetrating three centimetres, depending on the target. It then fragments into seven portions. Each sub-projectile then explodes. It will not penetrate a shield but it should kill just with the shockwave."

"You better send these to Dimitri too. He likes toys no matter how straight he keeps his face."

Before Vasiliy left I said, "I mentioned a few times about a station used to move people and goods. I think at least one is on Earth. I want to peak through the walls but I want a better radio so we can find where we are."

"Why not a GPS? They are even more accurate."

"I'm not a soldier, Vasiliy, and that is why I need you. I still want a radio because we can detect radio through some of the portals and this would give us an idea where they are when the sources are inside buildings."

"We have some good people, Sir, and some great equipment."

Later that day we investigated the portals in the station. Vasiliy was with us and had to be elevated to the various levels. He was worried because this was not done with a fulcrum under our command.

With recordings, we found out months ago that the Portugese/Spanish was actually the Basque language. We figured this was the Spanish portal in the Pyrenees. The other Spanish portals and the French ones should be near us in the station but the portals were dark.

The caves intrigued me and Vasiliy as well because he wanted to find out all the particulars.

The next morning, Vasiliy presented us with a lot of small weapons. We ported far enough away from habitation to use the guns. Tiffany refused to stay out of this and she fired both weapons but only the laser was suited to her one legged state.

Both weapons were better than anything I had heard of but I also knew that they were not perfect. The Church's weapons and my lightning gun were not that way either.

The techs appeared later with Osston. They were loaded down with equipment. A burly girl of about five carried a large box of equipment and spare batteries. The three techs took this nonchalantly.

The globes on the portal had not been changed so we went into the station I figured was on Earth. I knew that not all the portals led to Earth locations because one that had once had a mummified corpse behind it was actually in Bejek.

We set up a group of antennas in front of each portal and a computer was used to do the searching for us. There had been 576 portals until I started removing some. We had two units to do the searching and each one took three minutes plus setup time.

After this level everybody was taken to the top level. We tried hard with amplifiers, headbands, and a coin to see outside of the walls. We were almost all the way around when we got an inkling of the outside world. As luck would have it we had gone the wrong way around.

More family had to be summoned and as a unit we were able to form a gate. The wind rushed out and it was Fislu that formed a bubble shield with her bracelets that plugged the gap.

"Thanks, Honey. You were quick."

"It would have been too hard to open the portal again."

Caiti had to run to get a good rope, some silver nails to hold a coin, and a hammer. She pouted when she brought this back until she was asked to go through the portal and mount a coin. Caiti was able to penetrate the shield but she went around because of the rope tied to her. There was a lot of rope played out until Caiti started to pound in the silver spike.

When she came back, I took the safe route and mounted a spike inside the large room.

The techs had set up the radio and one said through the interpreter, "When the portal opened we found broadcasts in Indian and Chinese languages."

Caiti went back out again with a military GPS and brought the unit back in. The interpreter said, "We are someplace in the Himalayas. We have a location but no map to put it on."

The girl that brought most of the equipment was sent to the Ronnas with the GPS so a map could be printed off of our location. I knew from the location of the sun that it was nearly local noon. This was also pretty far from the Pyrenees where I wanted to start. Tula was much closer and the portals were hidden even better.

We checked all the portals on the top level after closing our gate. The Earth style radio was not getting in and that included the extremely long waves used to communicate with submarines deep in the oceans.

The three caves shown in the portal to one in the Basque speaking area indicated that they were on Earth but no location. One operator thought that the garbled speech might be Swiss. The cave with two frames showed a German influence. When the time came we could transmit from here and hope to catch some of the signal on the surface of Earth.

While we waited for results, I tried finding the computer that ran this area. It followed that the computer on World 4 may respond more to stigga if they were ever high enough to use the system. World 5 was definitely Earth so Humans may have the edge. I got as far as I had a few days ago in the other station.

I checked the repairs I had made with cement not that long ago and found it altered subtly. Holes were now in the material and I figured that silver would soon be seen.

Near noon our time, I got a more detailed check of each of the portals. There were a lot more points than the Duchovny family knew of but our places were nearly always general. In some cases we could find out in which direction the portal was facing and then roughly triangulate the location with radio stations. These frequencies were already in the computer along with the antenna location. Apparently the Russians were not going to rely on Uncle Sam continuing to operate the GPS system in the event of a war.

When it came time to go, I found Jonna, Tiffany, Porta, Sonna, four of my security detail, Osston and Vasiliy.

I hugged the girls and went back to Jonna and said, "You are about due to have our child. I want her born here on Bejek."

"For your information I am not that foolish. I was just here to see you all off."

"Thank you for coming."

"It's a boy any way. I have gas again and I'm sure this time. Girls never did that to me."

We could peek with a coin but she wanted to have this as a surprise. "I would like to be back before he arrives but events sometimes don't let me."

"I know, Husband. I would like you here but most times the husband is absent."

Tiffany bothered me and I could not tell her no. She was my wife and could go. I could argue but she was quite fragile now and also quite pregnant.

We were loaded for bear now but the fulcrums were easy to access so nothing was heavy. The rest of the family had been waiting nearby for some reason and I looked to see if they were going too. Matra and Christiane looked like they wanted to go too but they had a lot of work to do here.

Loca was here too. I had given him a list of orders about world 4 including making a small scale map of it. With the computers, cameras and now the ability to fly, he could do this job easily.

Vasiliy went through the portal first and then shifted immediately to a gate in Tula. There were some loads of war materiel here but not much. Business had to go on but now the managers would be watched by the FSB.

Vasiliy went to a payphone and called one of our contacts in what had been Dubkova's security. In a few moments Baich came around in a large car and picked us up.

I asked, "What happened since we were last here?"

"I don't know how to describe it. Working for Mr Dubkova was crazy at times but working for you — is many times more insane."

"That happens to me a lot, Leonid. You should be thankful you only touch on some of the high points."

"I believe you, Sir. To answer your question, the FSB have been here like the Americans call fleas on a dog. We also had naval intelligence, army intelligence, and every other organisation including our President's personal intelligence."

"Delivering eight nuclear weapons to downtown Moscow could do it."

"That is for sure. I was asked many questions about radar and since you were not attacked while going to Moscow then they did not see you. Your rapid ascent had further confused everybody."

"That was Caiti's doing. She wanted to show off."

"She did that very well. We have not seen too many patrol boats in Red Square recently and your was by far the fastest."

Now I had to smile. "I guess we did make a sight."

"You certainly did. Pictures of the ship and the people descending the ladder was awe-inspiring but the fact that your ship hovered a half metre above the bricks was photographed in almost every frame."

"What did they think of our cargo?"

"The population didn't know what they were. Soon almost all of the police and military personnel in the city were in Red Square. It reminded me of some of our old parades. I could almost see Stalin looking down from the platform."

"I guess he wouldn't be pleased."

"He wouldn't but later he may have changed his mind."

"Why?"

"Our press has more freedom than in the past. Some publishers bought rights to the photographs and printed them, much like the tabloids in North America."

"That bad?"

"Yes, they went to extremes. How any person could even partially believe even a portion of what was in print amazes me. I always thought the American public was gullible and led to whatever the western governments wanted them to believe. I see now that my own people are just as foolish."

"What was said apart from the truth?"

"Our newspapers want us to believe that the Russian government was never in trouble with money. We had lots of it but it was all put into research. We have new ships of space but ours are also ships that ply the water too. We thought we were in the lead in this new space race until the Americans showed their hand."

"You mean in the Bahamas?"

"Yes, but it was far worse.

"That was worse but I feel you mean something else."

"I do. First of all, your name was linked to all of this. The Americans are masters of spin doctoring so you are a leading researcher in this new technology."

"That's not too bad. Better then being called a terrorist."

"It gets worse. The American Coast Guard and their Navy were portrayed as fighting an alien probe bent on finding out about Earth and her defences."

This reminded me of the re-runs of the twilight zone. "I thought the Americans would be quick about hushing this up."

"They tried, but the pictures and stories were sold to Europe before they were printed here. The administration could only try to keep its own citizens in the dark."

"What spin did the papers put on it?

"The newspapers were more factual but they have their own agenda. The Guire was attacked first by what was believed to be an Arab terrorist and a witch."

"That's Camsa."

"He wore a turban on his head. The silver band on his wrist was seen as well as the medallion. The fact that he floated on a carpet sent fear into everybody. It was stated that if the Arabs have access to magic then the United States and the Zionists would have to rethink their policies."

"Zionists?"

"It actually said Israel, Sir. The young lady caused quite a stir too. She wore a black peaked cap that was too big for her. It kept coming down over her eyes. This hid her headband but she too was seen with wristbands and the medallion. We have many pictures of her riding a corn-broom. The fact that both were naked shows that they had no weapons."

"I think that was their intentions. How did anybody get pictures?"

"There is something else to say first. There were many fighter jets racing to the confrontation in the Atlantic. This could not be hidden even during the storm. The local military had their leaves cancelled. Ships were sent out. Some people with fast private ships raced out to see what was happening and found the warships undergoing attacks. There are some nice pictures of the ship illuminated by small arms muzzle flashes. Other ships were seen taking extensive fire and glowing eerily."

"That must have been us when the shield reacted."

"The fog hurt the pictures but the light was so bright that the images still came through."

"How does this lead to the photographs?"

"I will get to that, Sir. The news in the United States could not be hushed up quick enough, especially with all the photos that were taken. Apparently the boy and the girl each picked up a ship. The smaller one, the Guire was set into the Intercoastal Canal system. The ship was not damaged. The canal system was to be kept at a minimum depth but budgetary concerns kept this from happening. It will now be of maximal cost to get the Guire free.

"The Stanhope is a different matter. It was the one the boy pulled through the middle of West Palm Beach. He went up the highway at a minimum height. Hundreds of cars were involved in accidents but none of them were damaged by the 450 foot ship. People living along the route took thousands of photographs of a boy in a turban and sitting on a small red flying carpet. His hand was back on the bow of the ship seemingly pulling the heavy frigate.

"There were amateur videos taken of the Captain of the Stanhope ordering the boy and the girl shot. Bullets bounced off of them and hit the apartment buildings on the way. Machine guns from almost point blank range poured lead onto them and the boy only flicked his appendage at those with the weapons.

"The girl came to the rescue and was seen swatting the machine gunners with her broom like a mother would her boys. The men had to run at her vehemence. All the while she was standing in mid air and trying to keep her hat in place so she could see.

"The boy placed the ship in Lake Okeechobee near a well travelled highway. The draught of the ship is almost eight metres but sadly the depth of the lake is only three. The cost to remove the ship should be astronomical.

"A newspaper said that it would cost billions to get the ship out of the lake if it didn't fly."

"The American tabloids were worse than those in Russia or Europe. They even abandoned the proof in the photographs to pursue their own agendas. The Americans are now stated as getting into the same space race. Perhaps someone felt that they were falling behind us since the news from Moscow had come out.

"One reporter stated that it was a faulty component that you had provided that led to the Stanhope being marooned in Lake Okeechobee.

"The National Enquirer states that the Americans would now sail to Mars in a frigate like the Stanhope so they could preserve security against Martians. They further mention that the ship would patrol the canals that crisscross the planet. Baich was not sympathetic about either country.

I learned that every place where we flew or went fast was listed in the tabloids. Many places we had never been were also in the paper. I was now a person that had found this principle of flight but took a fully crewed Russian ship away to think on what to do to improve it. This was looked at as treasonous by the reporter even though I was Canadian, not American.

Baich said, "Your shield is well known now. The fact that the boy and girl were not hurt proves it. The Yeisk is now like the ship on the American show Star Trek, the Enterprise. My country looks on this as a source of pride. The American group called Trekies had become very vocal and is actually swaying public opinion. They are calling on The American government to put more money and resources behind this new space initiative. This had led to mass hysteria. Reports of Klingons, Romulans, and Vulcans, as well as other races came in daily. One even suggested you was really a Vulcan ambassador that came here in disguise."

"Where the hell did you get all this information?"

"I have had people bring me everything in print about you. Most of it sorrily is in the tabloids." Baich made a point of looking at my left and right side then said, "The reports of your pointed ears is in error." He then laughed at my expense.

We had been parked underground for a while to finish the conversation, then went inside the security building. There were smiles and some worry as I was shuttled around the FSB that were currently in the building.

Baich gave me a large pile of periodicals and other garbage that started just before the news came out. My face was in some of the front pages but most were of a naked Camsa flicking his dick in an obvious obscenity at what had to be the Captain of the Stanhope. The Captain was certainly livid as a magnified picture showed. There was a strategically placed black box in the picture to hide that Camsa was male. The Europeans were not as prudish.

The faces of the people that had been with me at the time were put into the periodicals. Most pictures were drawn but there were a few photographs. Vasiliy was listed as a person that may be under a compulsion to follow me. This was the truth but I hoped Vasiliy actually wanted to help.

Caiti was photographed giving a thrashing to the gunners as a man with an M16 aimed at her. Her absence of pubic hair and comparative size showed how young she was.

The Stanhope had suffered a lot of damage but not all of it was at their own hands. The Navy fighters were using cannon on Caiti and this was damaging their own ship. Headlines asked where the 'children' had hid all the weapons that damaged the ships, especially the Stanhope. She had to have been using the larger shield and anchored it to the ship to not have been hurt.

There was even more damage to the buildings in West Palm Beach from ricochets, bullets that missed Camsa and Caiti, or even a few shell craters. There was no mention of missiles hitting buildings yet. The damage was estimated in the millions and the Navy was being sued. The insurance companies were calling this an act of war so they would not have to pay.

One of the most recent tabloids talked about new civil unrest. The Trekies had taken to the streets to protest poor military funding. Another group of Trekies had attacked claiming that the Cardassians were behind all this and some had infiltrated the other faction. Quotes from those involved promised more confrontations until the situation was rectified.

Baich said, "I made a copy of everything we could find in every major and some minor languages. This was put on some DVDs for you to take. We feel that you will still be sought very strenuously but you would have some public sympathy."

Larisa made tea while I ported to pick up the family and security. Larisa acted like a grandmother, especially around Tiffany. The old woman even cried and this brought a few tears to our own eyes.

Baich provided some colouring agents to make my hair blonde. A small fake scar drew people's eyes from my features so I could have a bit more anonymity. The rest of my entourage had to go through similar disguises.

Baich got us a plane and a pilot along with a wheelchair. The pilot was to show a face that was not one that was on a wanted poster. Once in the plane, the family followed along with our equipment. The pilot's name was Roman and he was one of my men already so there would be no problem with security. He spoke some English as a bonus.

We posted a flight plan that would allow us to land a few hundred metres west of here on a grass runway with no tower. The fact that our plane was very fast and had jet engines didn't matter in this case. We did land where we said but immediately the shield we had was reformed to keep out radar. The shield took the stresses that the wings would usually bear. The wings were not needed except to store fuel and support the engines.

Vasiliy sat in the pilot's seat as Roman moved over to his right. The transponder was shut down as if we were parked for the night. We shot upward and then went vertical. The engines were not turned on until we reached thirty kilometres. The shields ducted more air into the engines and we shot forward. Vasiliy tried to act nonchalant for Roman's benefit but he still had to smile.



-------

Chapter 49


Two and a half hours later we landed like the Star Trek version of a Klingon Bird of Prey. We even did it the way it was in the movie with a needless partial turn just before touching down.

Roman said, "You have to let me fly some of the time. How high can we go? How fast?"

Vasiliy whispered but his thoughts came through as if he hadn't. "It's hard to tell Roman. We were flying a 2000 tonne frigate so high that even with the big scoops we could not get enough air. We were so high that we had to be going at least Mach fifteen. Not bad for a light cruiser. Our boss promised me a ship that can leave the atmosphere. I want something small to start, maybe seven to ten million tonnes."

"Tonnes?"

"We have no mass so it doesn't matter. I figure the boss and his family want to go places in style. I can't take them there in something shabby."

"Do you need a co-pilot. My wife can cook."

"We have to build this monster first. I don't know where we are going to get the material."

"That would take years."

"Hell, no. There are kids of three carrying gun turrets for us. You treat them nice and they do all the heavy work. Camsa picked up that hundred and thirty five metre ship with one hand. In a few months, I hope to do the same thing."

"Can anybody learn?"

"The boss is not hiding anything from us. If you learn, you probably will not fit in back on Earth."

It was quiet for a while as they both did some thinking.

We had settled fairly high in the Pyrenees mountains. Winter was here almost year-round. Floating below our stall speed allowed us to find the first nexus. But if somebody looked up they would have seen us hanging there almost noiselessly. There was still a lot of daylight left.

When we parked the plane, Tiffany put covers over the intake and exhaust ports of the jet engines. We floated out to a road that was deeply snow covered but well packed. We looked around but we could not see the plane because of its location. Cars drove by with skis strapped to them. Roman had received his own medallion to exit the plane and a shield was erected to keep him safe.

Our duties were split up so we could carry those of us who could not manage the fulcrums. In case somebody was looking, we slid across the snow as if we were on cross-country skis. Tiffany's wheelchair looked to have skis on the bottom of the wheels.

The village we wanted was only five klicks away. When there was too much traffic, we began to use our feet. This town catered to tourists so we could fit in with little problem. Osston carried our smallest portal trying to find the centre of this nexus. Apparently all of the town was built on this feature.

There was only one really good home in the city and I figured the person to own it had to be rich through the use of the portal. We stopped in at a restaurant and we found someone who could speak English and they could also speak Russian. Why were Europeans like this? Not long ago I only knew one language and many here know three or more.

We ordered a light meal and I got the waitress to sit with us because it wasn't busy.

"This is a very beautiful village. There must be thousands of pictures taken of it."

"Oh, there is. It's even more beautiful in the spring but that's my opinion."

"I can see that. Some of the houses are very beautiful too." I slid over an American twenty and said, "Would you mind letting us have some of your time and tell me about some of them and the history of the village?"

The woman smiled as the money disappeared. "I'd love to."

The village had roots here for at least a few thousand years. It apparently was here far before the Romans. We got the oldest history first then it came to the major wars and to the present.

I asked, "What about the large home? Does the mayor own that?"

"No, it belongs to a wealthy man that never comes here to live in it. The caretaker, his wife and their two children live there."

"Who would own such a home and not live there?"

"His name is Herr Schluter. He lives in Germany. He's so rich he could buy any house in the village. I hear he owns a shop in Hamburg that repairs large trucks."

"Is the house a bed-and-breakfast?"

The woman leaned forward and said, "The caretaker has had a heart attack and they need some extra money. The owner is never home."

"I understand. Would you be so kind and phone ahead and ask them if they can put us up for one night? We'll be discrete. I love old buildings."

When the waitress came back she was not smiling. "Diego is not doing well. Isleta says she would love to help you but she has to spend most of her time taking care of her husband."

I saw this chance slipping away. I quickly said, "I'm a doctor. Perhaps I can help for a stay of one night."

The waitress now smiled and made the phone call. When she came back, she said, "You and your people are very welcome to stay the night. Isleta still warns you that she can do little to help if her husband stays the way he is."

We walked two blocks in the snow and found the large house more inviting. The walks and roadways were the responsibility of the homeowner. These were not taken care of.

The door opened when we approached and a woman of thirty five stood before us. She had a worried look and her hands were being rung in her apron. I smiled and walked forward and the woman backed up to let us in. I didn't need to be too specific when I said, "Diego?"

She ran into the house and I followed in my snow-covered footwear. Diego was in bed and unconscious. I felt his head and pretended to count his pulse while I was using the heart on him. His heartbeat was rapid and his complexion was pallid and waxy. Sonna came in and tried to get Isleta out. She used her fair English and Isleta got the idea to heat water and bring a basin.

Porta found clean sheets and brought them. Diego was in rough shape but we might have got him in time. I was used to severe trauma but I could work on the man's ailments. I used the headband and searched his body looking for additional problems. It was good that I started at his heart because a blood clot was blocking one of the vessels. Very little blood was getting by.

I said mentally, "Porta, stall the woman a bit if you can. I need to have an emergency operation."

"Yes, Husband. I'll do my best."

The stand with a small chain was set up over Diego's chest. I had not tried this before but it may be needed this time. I took control of the Heart of Opfu and used it to stop Diego's heart from beating. As still as I could, I opened the gate and pulled out a portion of the loose scab then I had to close the gate and reopen it to get the next piece. I had a quick look and then worked to get the heart started once more. This took a few false starts until it worked.

Diego's pulse raced for a minute then slowed down. I noticed that his colour was returning. I searched Diego's brain but found none of the conditioning that I had found with people the Church used. I had not had enough time to clean up all the blood when Isleta returned. When she saw the colour she ran to her husband. It took her a moment to see that Diego was doing much better.

Isleta soon looked at me and said, "What did you do? He has regained his colour. He looks to be just sleeping now."

"I can understand what you are saying but I can't speak your language." She looked at me oddly and I added, "Diego had a heart attack. There is something in the blood veins called plaque. This deposit broke loose and plugged up an artery. The area this artery served was starved for oxygen and slowly dying. This area is now recovering. I have strengthened Diego's heart and lungs. To make his life easier I have adjusted his body to start removing the buildup or fatty tissue and plaque in his bloodstream."

She took a while for her to digest these ideas and perhaps deduce what I had said. Her English was not very good but my Spanish was limited to what I had learned on cowboy shows when I was young.

She said, "How could you do this? I see no pills." She looked at the bedside table and found a clean ashtray with the blood clot in it. She picked it up and looked closer. She looked at me and said, "Was this in my husband's heart?"

"Close to his heart."

Isleta pulled down the sheet and opened Diego's bed shirt. There was no evidence of an operation. Isleta looked at me then came to a decision. She started to mumble her catechism. I let her go for a minute but it didn't stop. I didn't want to be a hypocrite any more than I had to.

"Isleta, stop." It took a while for her to do this and I had to put my hand on her shoulder to get her to react to what was here and now. "Isleta, I am not a religious person. You are free to believe just what you want."

She started to understand, I hope, and I added, "I have some special tools that I use a lot to save lives. I can see into your husband's body and found the problem. I then worked with a tool that goes through more than the usual three dimensions to remove the clot. To me, it's simple."

Isleta slid off the bed and got to her knees and used her right hand to make a gesture of the Roman Catholic faith. I had to bend over and pick her up. She didn't want to stand but did after she realised what she was doing.

"Isleta, where I come from I am part of the nobility. You are not in my country and you are not one of our citizens. I am definitely not a deity or an agent of one. I had not planned for you to find out that I cured your husband this way. Now that you know you will have to keep our secret."

"God sent you."

"Isleta!" I said loudly. She was shocked. "I came for other reasons. I have lots of problems with fools and fools being lead by religion. You promised a room for the night if I helped and I have done so."

Isleta was shocked enough that she fell out of her rut and said, "I'm sorry for acting that way. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my husband."

"You are welcome, Isleta. Now let's have a seat in the other room and we can get our coats off."

We hung our coats up and Isleta insisted on helping me. I let her and thanked her. I made introductions. Tiffany, Porta, and Sonna were introduced as my wives. This shocked the woman and pleased my family. The woman could understand the term 'security detail' but not the reasons for it.

She asked, "What is your name? You never told me."

"Hugh."

The woman's mouth opened and her eyes glanced at the television and back again.

I said, "Yes, I'm afraid that I am that one. Do you want us to leave?"

She had to think for a moment then she said, "Are you from the stars?"

"I was born in Canada. I'm as Human as you are."

"What about that witch?"

I had to smile. "That little witch is as Human as you. She learned how to use some powerful tools. The broom was only a broom but she had something that allowed her to float."

"Can you float?"

"Sure, but let's float Diego so he can get cleaned?"

"You won't hurt him?"

"I just cured him. Why would I cause him pain? You will learn a fact and it helps you at the same time."

We walked into the bedroom and Osston elevated the man. Isleta stood shocked until Porta handed her the warm water and the basin. The woman cleaned her husband though she was embarrassed to do so in front of us.

Tiffany said to me, "The woman was shocked enough at this that I believe that she had nothing to do with the Church, at least not the one on Bejek."

"I was looking for that too. It doesn't change the fact that she may have a portal in the house."

"She does, I looked."

"Any icons?"

"Can't see in that detail from this distance. Do you think she's a relative?"

"I can only ask and see what we find."

Diego was cleaned and changed. Then Porta helped with the bed. Osston lowered the man down and then brought up the sheet and blanket. I had kept a tenuous connection to the man. He was going to wake up at the movement but I worked to keep him asleep a bit longer.

Isleta sat in the dining room with us and said, "Thank you for helping me but if you don't mind, why did you come here?"

"I came for a few reasons but I want to progress with some questions of my own first if they are not too difficult."

"I'll answer what I can."

"I'll start off fairly easy. How did the current owner get possession of this house?"

"Why, he bought it."

"Who did he purchase it from?"

"From Rogelio Perez. He is a second cousin of Diego."

"Do you know why it was sold?"

"Rogelio wanted to start a business in Madrid. He didn't need the house and he needed the money."

"What can you tell me about the Perez family history? Please go back as far as you can."

The front door opened and security were instantly on their feet but had not drawn any guns. From the other room we heard clothing being put away.

Isleta said, "I would like to introduce my children."

"We'd like to meet them. Now this is important, I only gave Diego some medicine I had. I'm a doctor from — the United States."

Isleta looked at me as if I were crazy and called her children in. The first was a young man named Vidal of about seventeen. Nina was a short and chubby girl of perhaps fifteen. Isleta started the introductions but the way the two kids looked at me, I guess they knew who I really was. They gave a long look at Vasiliy, Moltatas, and Addas.

Isleta could see that the story would not hold water so I asked, "Can either of you speak English?" I got two nods from heads with open mouths.

"Good. My name is Hugh Driscott. You saw through our disguises fairly quickly."

They didn't look like they were ready to talk so I got them to sit down and I got Isleta to continue with her story. She knew about a lot of the family because almost everybody here in the town was related in one way or another. She didn't know much beyond a hundred and thirty years ago but there was a family bible, or I should say a lot of bibles, with notes on lined pages and more scribbled in the margins about deaths, births and baptisms. Nobody in the village was fantastically rich though Isleta conception of this was far from what mine had been even before I found out about the portals.

"My next question concerns this home. Do you think the present owner would sell it to us?"

"He has only been here five times in seven years. He has said on many occasions that he was going to come but has not arrived. His business occupies much of his life. If I were him, I would sell this place if someone offered a good price."

"What is a good price?"

"He paid 120,000 Euros seven years ago. If he were doing well in business, he would be here more. You might offer him the same amount."

Isleta was now very worried and I could guess why. I said, "If I purchased this property, would you and your family stay on and watch the house? I'm busy with business, too, but I would try to come a lot more than Herr Schluter."

I was going to ask about the portal but Porta told me that the mirror was built into the wall and showed no silver at all. The house was old but we didn't know how old. The frame had to be built in."

Isleta knew little German and Schluter didn't know much Spanish or Basque. Roman and Vasiliy knew German quite well though. Isleta got on the phone and used the number she was given to reach the home owner. After some polite preliminaries, Isleta handed the phone over to Roman. He was now Isleta's cousin. He was getting married to the most beautiful woman in the world and wanted to live in this house.

When Roman hung up, he said to me, "I think he will take 145,000 Euros. If it goes into a numbered account like I promised, it will be a sure bet, I think."

"Good work, Roman. You'll have to sign the papers for me."

"I will gladly do that for you, Sir."

Isleta got in touch with a lawyer in the next village and asked him to represent a third cousin from Russia that wished to purchase the home. The man agreed and was able to have the papers ready by tomorrow at noon.

With all this done, I went in to check on Diego and then allowed him to awake. He surprised his family by coming out and walking normally. His family hugged and kissed him and his wife cried. Diego was surprised, too, and had to go back and change his clothing.

Diego learned that I used a drug on him that removed the clot. He was very happy but not nearly as much as his wife had been. He learned of the agreement and had his wife and daughter prepare a meal. Porta went out to help too.

Diego said in poor English, "What brings you here if I may ask?"

"I'm a tourist. I find your village beautiful."

"I talked to Isleta about Herr Schluter. I like this house and they way you have kept it. I asked Herr Schluter if he would sell it to me. I hope you and your wife would continue to stay here and look after the house."

This was a lot to swallow in one gulp but the man did smile. He was losing nothing by this transaction.

"I think that can be arranged."

With that commitment, Diego nodded off. As an employee, he got the standard treatment. Vidal was sitting with us and he was second. He was too jumpy for us to let him out of our sight. He may not want to turn us in but might want to tell just one friend. This would have the same outcome. We had a nice meal then Nina was done by Porta and Isleta by Tiffany.

We asked for a tour of the house and it turned out to be four tours where each room was looked at four times. The home had a basement which few homes built on rock did. We could find no hidden chambers. But the root cellar was larger than normal. This turned out to have a secret passage that didn't look used for centuries.

Both structures had heavy lightning rods and one of the conductors seemed to go deep into the soil and it was insulated with ten centimetres of pitch.

Our beds were made up and the master bedroom happened to be the largest room. This is the one with the mirror. With the door locked, Tiffany, Porta, and Sonna set up a portal to Woodland. I had some extra guests that night. I changed the other portal for two way viewing and I saw the inside of the room for the station in the Himalayas.

I woke up far from refreshed. Caiti and Camsa ran off with the DVD's to see how famous they were. I knew Moltatas and Addas wanted to see as well.

After a good breakfast, Osston and Vasiliy ported to the root cellar and then behind the wall. I listened to Diego and Isleta talk before Nina and Vidal had to leave to catch the bus for school.

From deep down I heard Osston say, "We found a portal and a key that fits it. There is lots of stuff here but its all rusted or rotted except for the gold and silver."

"You better get Section M to come and take pictures or you two will be in trouble."

"We did, Master. They are bitching about how poorly everything is preserved instead of what we did or did not do."

"It's almost like being married, Osston. You have to toe the line."

We spent the day searching the village for a cave with a portal because the chamber under the root cellar was not it. Section M people had a chance to visit Earth while they assisted in the search. The keyed portal went to a world of blue trees. I figured I knew just which one it might be. The other side of the portal was in another cave. The reason we knew was because Osston went through the portal to find out. I was angry at him because he was so impulsive. I didn't want him hurt. He was very intelligent at times and so stupid at others. I guess I looked at him like a son even though he was near my age.

Roman and an even more disguised Vasiliy got a lift into the next village. Roman sent off an official offer on the property and put 5,000 Euros down as a deposit. The lawyer 'just happened to have a numbered account'. 142,000 Euros went into this from one of my accounts and the lawyer would look after the rest.

Diego had been told our real names but he had been bedridden during the time I became notorious. One of the news programs even had our photos as they explored the possibilities that we had come to Earth to save it. Diego was only a little upset and I showed him how I really cured him.

He said, "Why did you do this, Sir?"

"This property is important to me because of its location. I'm searching for my ancestors. Usually they would find these locations and begin a business. I was thinking that perhaps we are related very distantly. Sometimes I find written documentation but its's hard to find something that can be centuries old."

"I can't help with the books but we have nobody that looks like you here."

"What about 600 or more years ago? The village was here for a few thousand years. I think my ancestors may have chosen this place to settle."

Later that day some of Vasiliy's people came and set up a low frequency transmitter on World #4. At the same time a receiver was set up in the station and a bearing found. Camsa ported the Ilyushin through the portal until a fix was made. The location turned out to be only a few thousand klicks away. Along the way they found cities and other aircraft so they climbed as high as they could and hurried back after plotting the point.

Diego and Isleta were given a paying job to be the village historians. They were to collect all the data they could and build a family tree. A secondary job was to see if they could find some silver icons or any old documents that might shed some light on my family.

Nina and Vidal came home and were given jobs helping their parents put the data on their computer. After a short talk on secrecy we ported to the plane. In a few minutes we were heading along the spine of the Pyrenees again. This time we stayed low looking for more sites that would trigger our portal.

The only spot we found was the one on our map. The area here was just as beautiful as the one we had left but the people spoke French. The buildings were distinctly mediaeval. A town was only a few kilometres away.

Finding a place to put the plane was more difficult and we ended up much further from our objective. We arrived during the last of the daylight. I was surprised to see that the building was a Church dedicated to Saint Gallicanus. The fact that it was a Roman Catholic religion instead of the god Ragnus didn't seem to matter much. I was still worried.

Vasiliy said, "What do you plan on doing, Sir?"

"I don't really know. There is a wall around the place so I get the feeling that it some purpose other than getting married or buried. The wall reminds me of a fortification and that infers there will be a defence."

"This may be a monastery or a seminary. If that is so they may have prayers at regular times throughout the day. I can't see the library being used at all hours. Important books would be in a separate library that could be reached with your gates."

"Bookkeeping ledgers with accounts dealing with Bejek could be easy then. I'd like to find out about family. Most of those books and letters would be written in Latin and possibly some old dialect of French. Can you read those languages?"

"Only a little Latin and modern French I'm afraid."

"I wish I had been born in Europe. There is a lot more opportunity to learn more languages."

I got Tiffany to open a gate to Woodland and we found some students and Section M ready to help. The girls were small and quick. They reminded me of a junior paratrooper squad. When the library was found, we ported in and began our search. I was happy that this place was fairly progressive because I worried that they would not allow electricity in the building.

We found two smaller collections of books but none were ledgers. We looked through walls and searched floors and ceilings. There were some hiding spots but nothing usable or even recent was in them.

There was an alarm system but I had enough knowledge by now to defeat the system with the use of gates. Ledgers may well be kept in the personal effects of the one in charge and this should be the Father or senior monk.

We left before dawn and I thanked Section M and the other students for helping us. I hid the fact that I knew for a fact that they loved this sort of work. It was like a giant treasure hunt.

After those in the buildings had their breakfast, I approached the front door and used the brass knocker. A young man came to the door in the larger gate and opened it. He said in French, "Good morning to you. How may I help you?"

I said in English, "And a very good morning to you too. I would like a few moments to talk to the person in charge if that is permitted."

The young man switched gears quickly and said in accented English, "That would be Brother Arnaud. Will you come with me please?"

"Thank you. By the way, may I ask your name?"

I got a small smile. "Brother Gilbert, Sir."

"Thank you, Brother Gilbert. If more people learned the rules of social interaction then there would not be as much fighting. My name is Hugh and my friend is called Vasiliy."

"I am glad to meet you both." There didn't seem to be any recognition and Vasiliy didn't flinch at any action of Brother Gilbert.

Brother Arnaud was at his desk, and we were introduced in English. I shook hands with the man and formed a link. There was no tampering with this man's brain. Vasiliy shook hands as I thanked Brother Gilbert. This man had no tampering either.

Brother Arnaud smiled and said, "What may I help you with, gentlemen?"

I said, "Brother Arnaud, I recently came into possession of some documents relating to my ancestors. I'm now on a quest to find out more. Would you please donate some of your valuable time to talk about the history of this particular location. In return I will do some good work of my own to recompense your work here."

"You want to know how our order started, Hugh?"

"Perhaps before that. It is the property I am interested in. How was it acquired?"

The man now looked worried. "Why is it that you wish to know?"

"My family has spread out all over the world. We found spots like this to put up our homes. Usually, we begin to trade from those locations. I am after only the information."

"The first building put up here was in 336 A.D. Do you have information back to that time"

"All families go back to the first people. Most of us know so few details. I know nothing of this particular time."

"I believe a family bequeathed this land to our order in 315. The first church was destroyed by Gauls. They looted and robbed this entire area.

"Would you give us the name of the family and as much data as you can on them?"

"It was the Gundegisil family. It is an old Frankish name. If this man is your ancestor then you should be proud. He fought to gain this land for us. The Romans heaped glory on this man because of the way he fought to preserve the empire."

"Are there documents I might view?"

"I'm afraid that everything relating to the family was sent to what was Constantinople at the time. It may well be there or in the Vatican or Istanbul. Is there something you were especially interested in?"

"There are a great many things I'm interest in but mostly it is just old information about my family. The other matter was the shipments of marine diesels and the men that had to be sent to install them into wooden hulls."

Brother Arnaud didn't flinch in any way so I assumed he was a good actor or man that knew nothing about this. He said, "Marine diesels in the mountains. What would they be used for?"

"War, Brother Arnaud, war."

"What war?"

"A war far away. One side wishes to conquer the weak and turn them into puppets."

"Which war are you referring to?"

"You would not know the location in any case. If I offered a suitable endowment would you compile some copies of the documents I wish to see?"

"I'm an old man and I doubt if the people that tend the archives will allow me to delve through their treasures."

"I can help in a way." I extended my hand and Brother Arnaud sat up to shake it. I used the Heart of Opfu to get him to sit back and relax. I now stood and went around the desk and layed my hands on the man's shoulders. This man was old and worn. I began the process of healing the man's body from joints to heart.

It must have been a half hour later that I retook my seat and waited for Brother Arnaud to recover. When he awoke, he said, "What did you do?"

"I am a naturalist that believes in what I see. I assume that you have not discarded your faith by now. I have come into possession of some machines that do some amazing things. One takes control of the portion of your brain and some of your body. My purpose is to rebuild what has been destroyed by age or accident. You will have to take it on faith that these machines were probably not made by man but they could have been."

The man just stared at me with his eyes bugging out.

"Brother Arnaud, I helped you as a reward for your help. Call it a benediction given by some aliens who came here to help themselves and in turn helped man. My family was involved in trade with these aliens and Humans on other worlds. The Christian Church keeps lots of facts and I think you know a lot more that you have not told me."

"I can't get what you wish."

"I didn't think you could get it all. Any Human organisation is bound to have every Human weakness. Your Church is not immune to this and in fact probably has more than the usual amount of weaknesses simply because of its size, complexity and age. I will provide funds for your search and I offer the greatest prize of all if you succeed. I will let you learn a portion of what I know."

"What do you know that I would wish to know?"

I opened a gate to the family that were waiting a kilometre from the lonely buildings. They walked into the room. We were quite cramped now. Brother Arnaud had instantly got to his feet and I used this excuse to introduce those that had arrived.

Brother Arnaud could not reply to this. He was much too shocked. I thought of another idea and closed the gate and activated the portal attached to the back of Tiffany's chair. Another gate was opened to Woodland.

I was able to get permission to enter then security took a step onto Bejek. In a moment I had a hand on Brother Arnaud's arm and assisted him in arriving.

The man looked around at the red foliage. It was hard to see the colour because it was night here. The light from his office was providing the majority of the illumination.

Brother Arnaud weakly said, "Where am I?"

"Just outside your office and also on another planet. If you look to one side you can see two moons in the sky." The man looked and just stood immobile. Security and a few of the locals that allowed us to enter fetched a sampling of greenery that was not green.

I got the Brother back to his chair then redid everything so it was only Vasiliy and I sitting in front of the man.

We waited patiently until Brother Arnaud shook himself and said, "Was I truly on another world?" I got out the samples of leaves and put them on his desk. With a piece of paper I wrote out the sounds of the words in English for each sample as I pronounced them.

"Brother Arnaud, men have always used religion for personal gain. Gather what information that you can and I will allow you to go to that planet. You can learn anything you want but you can't push your views on others. Is that enough of a reward?"

"How could you do that?"

"It is all in the machines I have. I feel like a hypocrite though because I have not found out the physics behind how the machines work. I am actively searching, just as any religious person would, to find the truth."

"I will do what I can."

"Tell me what you know right now."

"Your family had magical devices. Some were weapons used to win wars for the Romans. The family died out in a massacre by the Gauls and the Church took over the area."

"I'm a cynic. I would not put it past somebody to kill the family to take over. That was a long time ago. I'm not looking for revenge if the Church was involved in the killing. If I'm right, then you might find that you are going to go through the inquisition. The Church, like people in general, is not all white and puffy with hope and cheer."

"You could be right, but I have faith in my Church."

"I hope you're right. I expect to see Human faults everywhere but I don't want to see monsters."

The family came to the gates of the Church buildings and were admitted. Brother Arnaud put us up so we could get some sleep. When we awoke, we ate a simple but very ample meal. There was no television or computers around. I used my own machine to show Brother Arnaud what he would eventually find out about me. I had to do a lot of talking to avoid being labelled a demon.

My wives and Section M had found a lot of small secrets and I let them take Brother Arnaud around to show him were everything was. Some lead lined box had love letters between a long dead person in Brother Arnaud's position and a woman in a nearby village. One had a date of 1730 but this was almost modern by some standards.

Brother Gilbert had epilepsy and another man had leukaemia. As a good will gesture these maladies were cured but the two men didn't know why I held their hands so long. Brother Arnaud did.

We were off for the city of Orléans. This was a small city in central France. Landing near the city was even more difficult. There was too much light and too many people to make a clandestine landing. There was a local airport so we came down openly. Roman claimed to have just made a local hop from Toyes. When there was no record, he bitched about inefficiency.

Roman parked the plane and paid some fees before finding us a safe place to transport too. Roman, Vasiliy, Sonna, and Andis took a taxi to tour the city until they found the nexus. I plotted the limits with the information sent us. This took an hour and a half. It was logical to begin our search at the exact centre.

The centre happened to be an apartment building. This was dispiriting when it came to finding family but it was still possible. This area was middle class but also stretched to a commercial district.

When it got dark the rest of the family ported to the area so we could search for a portal or a mind that had been altered by the priests. It was cold here so we had a better chance to hide our features behind layers of cloth.

We walked the streets for a long time. The area over the nexus was large enough to be home to perhaps a thousand families when you considered the apartment buildings. The Church should know about using the chain in conjunction with the portal. If they didn't then the site had to have access to a loading dock and perhaps an overhead crane.

When it got dark, we entered large buildings, searching for a chain that very well might not be there. None of the buildings had the height or enough capacity to remove the type of diesel engine that was in the ships I captured. There was no tag on the engine as if they suspected that this could be traced back to the manufacturer.

Finally an idea hit me and I used the nexus to get us to Woodland. Porta and Sonna went through a gate to Shreff. We were in luck. There was a ship in dock and Porta managed to get photographs of the engine and even the props when the ship was picked up out of the water.

Sonna went back to France and moved the portal to a safer location and we then slept in Woodland though it was not night. After we slept and ate, we travelled back to Orléans. Roman and Andis went to the docks on the Loire River and searched out some people that could identify the engines from the pictures.

Roman spent more money even after he found the manufacturer. Someone would have to have transported the engines here. There was only one large company that would usually handle these engines though others could order them too.

Roman, Sonna, and Vasiliy took a taxi to the marine supply business. I linked through Sonna to understand what was going on. In five minutes they were in the private office of the owner of the company.

Vasiliy said to the owner, "My name is Vasya Berzin. I am working for the FSB." Vasiliy then showed him his credentials.

The man looked worried and said, "What is it you want?"

"There has been some cases of piracy. Three of the vessels captured had the type of engine you usually sell. I want the names of people or companies that have purchased these types of diesel engines from you in the last two years."

"I can't give you that kind of information. Its private."

"Your involvement may not be mentioned. This is a serious matter. A king was almost killed on his yacht. Some of his crew died, defending him. To say he is angry is an understatement. Deal with me or his security people. They are fond of knives and I hear people live for days after."

The man was sweating now and said, "I know nothing."

"Tell me the names. Do it now or I can't help you."

There was some hesitation then the man blurted out, "Étienne Bizet."

"Tell me about Monsieur Bizet."

"What is to say? He bought the engines."

"Bring me the documents to show what he bought and when."

"They are locked up — "

He turned to Roman and said in Russian, "Call the Sûreté Nationale. We aren't getting anywhere. It may save his life."

The owner quickly said, "I'll get them. I'll get them. Just hold on."

The secretary came in with purchase orders and these were photocopied. The ledgers were brought in showing how they were paid.

When this paperwork was all copied, Vasiliy said, "Were you offered gold in payment?"

The owner reacted so we knew he had at least been asked. We got these details and the owner broke down to say that more engines had been sold to Bizet but paid for with gold. The owner was then questioned about what else he had provided. When nuclear weapons were mentioned, the man blanched and had to sit.

Vasiliy said, "My country is trying to recover 120 nuclear weapons. Each is at least a third of a megaton. Eight more weapons have been recovered. If you mention this to anyone your National Security will lock you up."

"Why tell me?"

"I want to impress upon you how dangerous a time we live in. If Bizet is involved in something else, even if you just suspect it, I want to know."

The owner was overloaded and said, "Bizet wanted war ships but I had no way of getting them. He wanted everything and then the men to operate them. The man has gone crazy. Three years ago he was a kind man that helped out in the community. He coached soccer even while operating a successful business. Now he is — only fixated on his goals and they all lean toward the military and fighting. I was worried he was trying to start a civil war but he doesn't have the weapons and the people necessary."

"What about his family?"

"My wife and his were the best of friends. Étienne's wife Josette was going to leave him and take the three children. Suddenly Josette says nothing and we hardly ever see her anymore. It's like there's a spell on her now."

Bizet was supposed to be out of town but that was all that was known. There were some engines ready for delivery. The warehouse was one of three used but they were not even in Orléans but fifty kilometres south and east.

Vasiliy and his team left after more warnings about National Security. He added, "People's lives are in the balance. If word leaks out there may be a lot of angry people from the French army looking for your skin."

"I won't say a word."

We met back in Woodland to discuss this. Artlam and Mantoya had been involved and I called Dimitri as well. Vasiliy did the reporting in Russian. Artlam and Mantoya had progressed enough to use the translating device.

The location fifty klicks from Orléans meant a gate or just a place to keep prying eyes away. Apparently there were never any deliveries made in Orléans.

Dimitri said, "What businesses does Bizet own?"

Vasiliy said, "He has a small warehouse that deals in local tobacco. There is a chemical plant twenty kilometres north of town that he is a partner in. It makes pesticides."

I said, "We were attacked with sarin a few times. The Church knows a lot about this poison. I think we should investigate both sites as well as the house. The warehouse of tobacco looked innocuous but all it needs is a gate put on the wall."

Artlam said, "Why not a gate in a truck? You did it once."

"There are all kinds of possibilities. We need to see what we can find out in Bizet's home and his office. His family or servants may know something. He has to have security people who we could possibly break if we can find them."

Dimitri said, "You need electronic surveillance as well. Your school could come in rotation and monitor some of the locations until we find out what is going on."

I said, "You're more of an expert on espionage than everybody here with the possible exception of Artlam. But I know that we can monitor the office and home and then find out what is happening a lot faster than a camera and a recording equipment could do."

"If you act without adequate information, you are far more likely to fail."

"You're right, but I want to plug this leak as quick as I can. The Church is only fighting us on one front and we are keeping them at a stalemate. We could possibly push harder but then we can't defend the territory we gain. If I can start a second front I don't think the Church can find more troops. If they could they would have used them already."

Section M was summoned for another strategy meeting. Vasiliy was back in Orléans looking for clothing suitable for students at one of the two private schools.

Students walked by all of the locations listed and the premises were entered. I started with the house and found it contained five people. Four were servants and one looked to be Josette Bizet.

I had almost been caught in one of Dubkova's traps so security measures were a lot stronger. To keep resistance down we went in with handheld tasers. This time the people were swarmed by Section M while I took the lady of the house.

We had placed coins all over the house and I was able to get behind the woman and drag her with me to Woodland. She screamed after I removed my hand but I was busy trying to access her mind. She had been controlled but not as firmly as Dubkova's security officers had been. Tiffany took over the job after I lowered the unconscious woman to the ground.

I went back to the house to see what I could find. There were a lot of traps found. And we had to watch where we went. One false move would trigger alarm. There were pressure switches, laser beams and inaudible soundwaves.

The servants had all been controlled too. When we got their allegiance shifted over to me I found that there were some places they could not go without being invited. Dimitri and Vasiliy were right behind us and listened to the reports we brought in.

There was only a single pair of telephone wires leaving the house that was connected to the alarm and there was no radio on the system. We looked for internet access but there wasn't any. When Dimitri gave the ok, we nipped away at the alarm system by floating near an external wall and using a gate to take out a unit on the inside. External units were deactivated from the inside. Dimitri and Vasiliy looked at the control room. Dimitri said, "This is a very good system. In fact, it is probably the best I have ever seen. It did take a farmer and seventeen students to take it out."

We went through the home in detail now. There were no silver icons, gates or portals anywhere. The basement was not deep enough to provide clearance for a forklift with a heavy diesel engine. I even checked the floor for marks left by steel wheels for a unit that you walked behind.

The students went to Bizet's office. It was currently open but there were only three employees. There were cameras in the walls and one was aimed at the pretty secretary while another was aimed at who she whoever she would be talking to. An accountant was working on the books and a women was using the telephone. From her voice alone I knew she was not just a secretary.

We traced the cables back to a junction box and from there a single cable went down to the basement and then under the concrete floor. A student picked it up again and traced it down four businesses to a place with two women that watched televison screens all the time.

This business was alarmed as much as Bizet's home. Near noon, the two women were relieved by two others. One went to the bathroom while the other waited. This was odd because there were three stalls. The women then went and fixed a snack and acted normal except there was no television or radio. They didn't even talk much except to transmit essential data.

I could not believe this so I checked for more cameras here and followed it to some of the televisions the two on active duty were watching.

Looking for the actuating devices, we ran into a computer. It was quite possible that the computer was programmed to respond to something not in its files. I had learned a lot about this and it wasn't new technology.

There were red switches everywhere and they led to wires leading down the street to another building with a radio transmitter in the attic.

Dimitri smiled and said, "Put someone in the attic and disconnect the antenna. We short the other wire then disconnect the power to the transmitter."

We did as Dimitri said but I had to go into the attic because the connector was just too tight. I surveyed the system for problems and just waited. To be on the safe side I used a piece of wire to ground where the antenna was going to be connected. Aluminum foil in many layers was wrapped around tightly and then an elastic was used. When I got the ok, I pulled the plug from the unit.

As a group we moved in on the women and soon had them tied up. Their minds were tightly controlled and I had to call in my wives to help.

Dimitri, Vasiliy, and I walked into Bizet's office while some of Section M gated in from behind the opposition. The staff was removed in seconds and taken to Woodland.

I chose the woman that had been giving orders over the phone as my subject. She was a hard nut and almost as bad as what Baich had been. The accountant was the least controlled and we got him to talk first.

Dimitri asked, "Where is Bizet?"

"I don't know, Master."

"What is he trying to accomplish?"

"I don't know, Master."

"Guess."

"He is doing what his masters are ordering him to do."

"What is your best guess to where he is?"

"Paris, Master, but it is just a guess."

"What do you suspect his Masters are after?"

There was a pause and then the man said, "They were talking about submarines recently but stopped when I came close."

"Did you hear them mention Toulon or Brest?"

"Yes, but only once."

I asked, "What's so special about the two cities?"

"Both are naval bases that support some of France's nuclear fleet including four submarines."

"Could they get a submarine?"

"Could you if you really wanted to?"

I had to think on this. The Humans on Earth were not ready to deal with portals to other worlds or gates to other parts or our own world. I could make slaves of almost anybody. The ones I could not were ones that were already slaves of the priests. I had to admit, "I could, but I would need help."

"Ok, then we have some trouble. Each of the French submarines carry sixteen missiles. Each missile contains six warheads with a power of 150 kilotons. They are not that powerful as nuclear weapons go but six will usually obliterate any surface target."

I was going to ask Dimitri how he knew this but I remembered that he was a spook working for Russian security.

"How would you take the warheads if you wanted them?"

"I don't know how to separate them from the missiles but the crew would. The people we just took could be some of the officers of one ship. If I had time I would wait to segregate individuals until I had the entire crew."

"That sounds reasonable but the warheads are not made as bombs."

"There has to be somebody that could be found that would point the way to someone that could give the information. The Church could gain this information with in a few weeks. I noticed from the Russian shells that all of the safety devices were stripped off the weapon. I imagine they would do the same to any warheads they acquired."

I added, "The crew could possibly do this if they were given the correct instructions. By the way, could you strip the failsafes off?"

There was a small pause and a nod of his head.

Dimitri continued his questioning while I gave my findings to the family and they got to questioning those under their care. Even a chance heard word could give us a lead. All we knew for sure was that Bizet was in the company of two older men, two men in their mid twenties and five boys from sixteen to about ten. They had left five days ago and had not heard from since. The male bookkeeper mentioned that he phoned four times a day to find out if everything was ok.



-------

Chapter 50


The personal plane was not used and Bizet's car was in the garage. This set off a much more feverous search for portals and gates.

Houses were searched now with less regard to security. Most people were at work anyway. The apartment buildings were easier than I thought because we could search a tenanted apartment from above and below. The basements and garages were searched even more thoroughly.

The girls and the few boys ran into trouble from gangs not bothering to go to school. The gang members were not killed but most of them needed hospitalisation. Usually the confrontations were for dominance and rape so I was not overly concerned.

We found a gate mounted in a cube van left in a storage yard of a body shop. It was not active and I was hesitant about tipping my hand by taking it. Dimitri found a place that sold surveillance gear and he mounted two cameras inside the truck.

Dimitri also purchased a device for detecting radiation. We used it on the truck and got a higher than normal reading. The Church had moved one or more bombs through here at one time. I had thought of warning the French but they couldn't do much. The ship would probably be at sea and the Captain would say everything was ok even if it wasn't.

That night we were all tired. One of the banks had some silver that could be icons and Osston had to hurry over and see. Two were, but they were minor pieces and not charged.

The portal was finally found. A silver gate hidden with other silver in a goldsmith's shop was the major clue. A more thorough investigation showed a very elaborate security setup. Deep down and into the bedrock was a water filled room with a large portal at the bottom. The walls and floor had no extra radiation so the portal had to have been moved to some other location.

It was easy to see that the gate could be used to retrieve the portal and then put it away. We searched the shop extensively and found a ring, sphere and cup. The first two were icons. The key was not marked much.

Section M raced to Woodland and then Shreff to get them duplicated and then a set of copies returned. We didn't dare use them until we were ready for fear of alerting the Church.

We put everything back the way we found it and continued the search just in case. I informed Mantoya and Artlam what we had found and we prepared to make another foray into the heart of a Church.

Dimitri set up another few cameras in the shop just to be sure. It was going to take time to get this invasion set up. Tiffany had also been busy. Though confined to a chair she worked hard on the office manager. She was able to get the woman far enough under her control to answer the telephone. Key phrases were passed and it looked like we might not be discovered yet.

The manager knew little but suspected Toulon as Bizet's destination. She did know of talk about conventional military weapons but she was not involved in it at all.

The four girls that did the monitoring were called but they were now ours. Apparently they had been prostitutes that had been pickled up and given a job they could not refuse. They were all single and without encumbrances.

The students found something interesting with the radiation detector. There were a few spots in the industrial sector with some extra background radiation, it was in a warehouse that we had already searched. When this area was rechecked, we found a place that could be used to support a frame and even place it at floor level so goods could be driven through.

Dimitri spent a long time putting cameras and microphones here. This is where we would get the information about where we were going to go. Another student pointed out seven small coloured stones set in the concrete that could be used to fix a gate from memory or a coin. There were no coins or chains in this area.

Troops were stationed in Bizet's home. His children had come home and we found they were treated just like employees. From the way Bizet was at one time I figured that this was the doing of the priests.

For two days we kept constant vigil on the monitors. Teams were stationed at all times and more were ready to pounce. Because of this readiness they had to be relaced every few hours.

At a little after three local time the camera in the cube van came alive. The boys came through first and looked for enemies before the young men came through. A second chain was set up and fixed. Instantly the cameras in the gold shop picked up movement.

In the next few moments the gate was activated and the portal brought up from the water filled room. Once that was done the gate shifted to the warehouse. The heavy portal was taken through with muscle power and no fulcrums. Rope falls hidden behind an office were used for erecting the portal and getting it set into place.

One of the boys backtracked and put everything away and then stepped through the portal into the cube van, only to disappear once more. Two men of around sixty came through with a man I knew to be Bizet. Behind them was a group of men pulling a cart laden with something heavy. The van rocked as the weight was shifted until the cart went through the gate that was now fixed on the warehouse.

Now was the time to attack but we weren't ready. Dimitri whispered to me though he didn't need to, "That is only six warheads. This is what you would find on one missile. We have no idea how many have already gone to your planet or how many are yet to come. Have patients. You have the key."

The view through the portal showed a large stone lined room. This was similar to the Church building I had attacked before but this one was more or less stripped bare. There was also nothing to hide behind.

Messages were sent to Mantoya and Artlam. They were rushing units to us and I had to hope that we would have time. One of the old men and one of the younger ones returned with the soldiers and soon a second load arrived. This time an empty cart was retrieved so I knew that there were more coming.

Osston and the rest of the students were staring through the portal trying to see if they could gather enough data to anchor a gate. When the next load of nukes came through I pointed out how they had information on them. Osston figured he could do it now.

We watched as fifteen loads of bombs went through. I didn't expect more but the one old man had not returned yet. Nobody attempted to close the portal so I was content to have more time for preparation. More and more people were arriving for this major thrust.

The old man and his assistant came back and he was followed by what looked like the entire crew of the sub. The numbers climbed and climbed until twelve hundred men so came through. They had to be what a press-gang had found.

Now was the time. Four gates were quickly anchored to individual bombs. They were out of sight of the portal now. A handpicked team raced through. It was me and my security and some of the better soldiers. We were in some sort of bunker and were able to take four men using rope falls that were removing the weapons.

I threw a coin out onto the ground and a gate instantly formed around it. A truck raced through only seconds later. The rest of the team had to stay and guard the bombs. More trucks were racing through and bullets were started flying. I looked around and found the probable building the portal was in and raced for it.

The air had gotten thick with plasma but it was mostly ours. I made it to a large opening. This time I looked for fleeing priests and nailed three of them. There were a lot of French soldiers still around but they just stayed or ran to the side. They had not been given any instructions to fight us.

We found the portal open. This time the Church had allowed a priest to open a portal here that the Church didn't control. I could see bodies of the soldiers scattered here and there and some of our APC's that came through.

I was not going to take any chances and brought out two fulcrums. I stood outside the building and concentrated on the footings under the walls of the building and worked up to encompass all of it except the area near the portal. This took time but soon I was able to remove enough mass that the building started to creak. I had to take away my own mass too and it was good that I did because the building and I shot into the air. I pushed hard like Caiti did. At the count of ten, I leaned the top of the building over and took it out of the city. Just outside the walls I dropped the building while I restored my own mass.

The planet rushed towards me and so did beams of plasma. I went inertialess just before I struck the ground. Section M did this in training even though I tried to put some safety factors into play. It is good that I watched or I would have been fried while in the air.

Trucks were spreading out of the Church compound. Buildings like mine were flying away and the underground chambers were flying with them. These were the jewels I wanted intact.

Troops kept pouring in and the enclave was being ripped apart. I wanted nothing left that was near the nexus. I had not planned on this but it sounded like a good idea.

We must have brought in a hundred thousand troops and the city was soon ours. The Church had not had time to arm the citizens. It was near dark here and we fought through the night. Priests were to be shot on sight but none were seen. Either they fled or died.

Orléans was in an uproar because of the plasma beams used to take out the priests and they ones they shot back. The steel beams supporting the warehouse had been severed and the roof and walls collapsed. Digging through the mess we found some survivors but they were all hurt. Tiffany and some guards stayed at the open portal but none of the French police did anything. There were at least seventy dead or wounded sailors and we treated all that could use the help.

The people were put to one side because plasma shot through the portal many times. It had to stay open because it was our link for the gates.

When we were getting the city of Coycha stabilised, three French military officers with white flags came through the rubble.

Tiffany called Caiti and Camsa from Coycha. They came literally flying through. Caiti spoke for us when she asked the three officers, "What do you guys want here? This is a war zone."

There was some talk and one officer said, "Leave our land."

"I will when I'm ready. Now move to the side before you get killed. I'll have General Camsa talk to you. The last time a soldier got him pissed off he did a number on their ship. My advice is to be polite."

Camsa was shocked to find that he was now a General but he approached. He, like Caiti, were naked so they didn't look much like soldiers. Caiti didn't stick around but went back to ripping up portions of the building to recover bodies or aid those still alive.

Camsa floated over and stopped. His feet were high enough off the rubble to look the three in the eyes. "Hello, gentlemen. You've come at an inopportune time for a chat."

The officer that had spoken said, "What is happening here?"

I could feel something bubbling up in Camsa. He said, "I'm General Camsa of the Royal Mendabian mil — Space Marines. Who are you?"

The man was taken back because Camsa spoke loudly and leaned forward. "I'm Captain Bilodeau. Beside me are Lieutenants Vachon and Chalifour."

"Is it not normal to include an appellation, Captain?"

The man was worried enough to say, "Yes, Sir."

"Good. I have to assume that your leaders felt that you three were expendable. Now, getting to your question. The conflict on our planet has spilled over into yours. My king instructs me to inform you that we were trying to keep the damage here to a minimum."

"Who are you fighting — Sir?"

"Some followers of Ragnus. They came to Earth to acquire military weapons as we have done but they have escalated to nuclear weapons. We have removed stolen weapons from the system. What I have told you can be confirmed if you contact the Russian government. Some of your own people fell into the hands of our enemies. They had responsible positions and some technical knowledge. They were forced to remove nuclear warheads from your navy. They had no control over their actions. We are presently giving medical aid and attempting to remove the conditioning."

The three men were speechless. Camsa waited patently until the Captain said, "So this group has stolen some of our nuclear weapons?"

"We have recovered many of them but we have no idea how many were stolen. When the current conflict is over, my King instructs me to allow you to see what we have recovered."

"They belong to my country."

"They are on my world, Captain. If and when formal diplomatic relations are initiated then we can discuss this matter more. Now I want you to leave until we get this cleaned up."

"But — "

"Captain, leave now. The information you have been given can rock your country. If and when you are asked to return, bring no hidden devices. They are unethical. You may bring a camera but our people will operate it."

"When can we return, Sir."

"Someone will wave you forward. Sending the military to the portal will be viewed as an act of war and acted on."

"Yes, Sir." The men left very slowly while trying to memorise everything they saw or heard.

Coycha was a port city with a large population. Over the next few days we found that many of the people here were from Earth. Like the others, they had been shanghaied to work for the Church. Most had been encouraged to start new families. There were very few local males around that were not very old or very young.

Caiti floated over to the barriers around the destroyed warehouse in Orléans. Command buildings on wheels were all over the place. Soldiers came alert instantly and held their guns as if frightened. She didn't even have a black hat.

She settled in front of one young man and then saluted. "Well don't be so stuck up. You can salute back. I'm a soldier too."

The man was frightened but he seemed to relax. Others came running over and Caiti said, "See? We can't talk because you are worried too much."

The man didn't have a chance to say anything because Captain Bilodeau arrived and hurriedly said, "Hello — Caiti or do I call you Sir or Ma'am?"

"You can call me Captain but we can just go by first names. What's yours?"

"Guillaume is what my parents named me."

"It sounds like a good name to me."

"Thank you."

"I have a deal for you and your government."

"What is it?"

"We better walk away from ears." Caiti reached out with her hand and the man took it uncertainly. Caiti extended her perception of the envelope that was controlled by the fulcrum. Guillaume became so agitated that he let go of Caiti's hand. It didn't matter now and Caiti lifted off with her captive and flew a metre above the now cleared floor toward the portal. She alighted on the floor near the portal and released her captive. The guards at the door smiled at what they saw.

"Now, wasn't that fun?"

"It — it was interesting."

"It was a partial negation of mass and inertia. I can go weightless and even repel gravity. Sort of make some anti-mass. Good if I want to go into orbit."

"Go — go into orbit, Miss?"

"I thought I was Caiti?"

"Sorry, Caiti."

"Now let me turn so the cameras can't see my lips move." She turned away from the thousands of cameras pointed in this direction. "Well, here is the deal. Bejek has super science for some people and a very simple life for the rest. We're working up to what Earth has for the entire population but that will take a few centuries, especially when your world is going to advance too.

"Now to the request. We want a thousand laptops programmed with Linux. Each has to have a fair to good scanner for books. We need a good military generator and fuel to power everything. You better throw in a thousand desks and chairs too. In return we give you say — a half tonne of gold. You also get five tickets to see the amusement park on the other side of the portal. You can't go everywhere but you get to see the nukes and take pictures of them."

"I can't make deals like that."

"Did your bosses tell you to find out about the nukes?"

"Yes."

"Then there is no problem. Say 'yes' to the deal and you see them. Say 'no' and you don't."

"General Camsa said we could see them."

"Did he say when?"

"No. I must agree to your deal."

"Don't worry, Guillaume. They'll jump at it."

"They should."

"Then turn around and I will take you for a short trip unless you don't like going to other worlds with strange girls?"

"I think I would like that."

Captain Bilodeau was given a short tour. He saw the holes in the ground where we pulled the library and other hidden areas out. None of the bodies were seen. Caiti pointed out the red foliage. There were a lot of people around and most were nude. There was no need for clothing and women were usually not allowed to wear much anyway. The Captain began to react and had to control himself.

The two minute tour ended and Caiti brought the Captain back to Earth. "Interesting?"

"Yes, but I'm going to be questioned for hours about everything I saw."

"I can understand that. Get the deal finalised. If you think of something we have to have just bring it. This contract is vague. We want to scan documents and then use the machines to search the images."

"That is simple enough, I guess."

"WiFi is nice but I don't want you guys trying to tap into our system."

"I understand."

"Good. Then we understand each other. Do you want a lift back?"

"As much as I enjoy your company, I would rather walk."

"Then good bye for now, Guillaume."

"Bye, Caiti."

Captain Bilodeau and then Lieutenants Vachon and Chalifour formed a liaison with the French military. Guillaume came back with confirmation of the deal. Caiti carried a cube of gold about thirty centimetres on a side and put it near one of the trailers. Now it was a military problem to move it.

The family and Section M had set up a perimeter and began processing those with conditioning. The Bizet family was one of them. Étienne had survived the battle with only a few wounds. His mind had been hurt and he reminded me of Baich. I could only do so much for him. He had to want to do the rest.

The French sailors were the cream of the crop. The Church had searched out the best and got them to jump ship when the time was right. Some were dead and some hurt. I only released the bodies to the French authorities.

I dug into the rubble of the libraries and pulled out books. The French came through with the equipment and I had the shanghaied Earth Humans scan the books for me. They were at least familiar with the keyboard. The books were then taken to world 4 and hidden in the cave with the portal we found.

Osston and Stofan were run ragged looking at what was found. Much they had no idea about. The icons were the same way. There were so many new varieties that they were at a complete loss. Some articles were not up to the same par as the icons. They were artifacts from other civilisations. Some were for Humans and some were not. Many, I felt, were made here on Bejek before civilisation collapsed.

Section M people took the five people to the bombs and they photographed to their heart's content. They used devices on them to check their authenticity and some shook. Most had no safeguards other than an enclosed switch and a simple electronic timer.

There was a lot of talk to some six to eight year-old girls about the purpose of the bombs current state. Since they were all linked, the answers came out correctly.

Tiffany met the group and said, "I hope you found all of your bombs or are some still missing?"

They didn't want to talk to her so Tiffany said, "I am not going to run to the newspapers or blab this around. I am trying to trace all of the devices for both of our benefit."

One man said, "Those devices have to be returned to France. They can go off by accident."

"I will inform our king of that. Now do I get a reply to my question?"

"Those recently stolen are accounted for, but three years ago one of our missiles similarly disappeared. It was done much more crudely as if the person had the power but not the finesse."

"Six?"

"Yes."

"We need some of the instruments to detect the bombs. Perhaps they don't know how to detonate missile warheads as bombs."

"Who are these followers of Ragnus?"

"We have a written statement for you. It doesn't answer everything but we are searching for a lot of the answers ourselves."

"What about our people that are held here illegally."

"I don't like your tone, Sir. I can expel you very quickly even if I am missing some limbs. I will not be gentle, either."

"I'm sorry, it's our duty to locate all of our people. We would like to know their location and condition."

"The followers of Ragnus did things to the minds of those they captured. Most will recover but some were deeply conditioned. Even we have problems with these. We will rehabilitate them and also use their knowledge and skills for a short period of time. It sort of pays for our work."

"We have some very famous psychiatrists."

"No offence intended but I understand more about this facet of medicine than any doctor on Earth and I'm not the most educated in this, either."

"But you're Human?"

"Yes, and so are the natives of Bejek. There has been a small amount of drift but that is common among isolated groups, even on Earth. Earth Humans can learn just as fast or as slow as those on Bejek. Since you know about me, how are my parents doing? I didn't phone before because of every Tom, Dick, and Claude listening in on what I said."

"They are being pestered by reporters."

"If I may ask, what function does Shelly Driscott do for the government?"

"He's an administrator. He works with the army and intelligence. He's on the war council. You know that we were into procurement."

"What about you, Miss Hastings?"

"I'm married to the man, for better or worse. I guess he got the bad part of the deal, but anyway, I help Hugh do what has to be done. He's smart sometimes and dumb sometimes but he knows enough to listen to those around him."

"Would you clarify what you have done to the Russian and American sailors?"

"I guess I can. The Americans were recruited. Once agreed, they were given a small amount of conditioning. Your country did the same to you but it was done a different way."

The man said nothing. Tiffany went on. "The Russians were playing a game with us. They wanted us to believe that the men on the two ships were our employees. While they were very competent sailors and fighters they were in fact working for the Russian authorities. We needed the ships and the men so we gave them the same conditioning. In a year the conditioning will have worn off and they will be allowed to return home. They may choose to stay here without conditioning unless they are in the military."

"Can they make a responsible choice when that time comes?"

"We use the bare minimum of conditioning on most. Vasiliy and Vasya Berzin and Dimitri, who is known as Dimitrievich Sakharov but is really Ilya Chernovol, are different. They got a bit more conditioning just because they were such good agents for the FSB. Since then the conditioning has weakened on both men and we have not reinforced it. Ilya Chernovol we call Dimitri. He's in charge of the navy. Vasiliy is working hard to help us because he wants to get into space.

"We have the raw power to push a mountain into space but we don't have the engines yet. You know about our shields but you don't know that they are able to be configured to what the wearer wants. So far, we have not been able to get them to do much. We are aiming at producing a shield suitable for long trips in space."

"France has some very good engineers."

"I know they do. The paper you have doesn't list our goals beyond the suppression or destruction of our enemy. We want the natives of Bejek to be able to handle all the tools we are able to find. This gives one person the power to do great harm. Our research has shown that only three quarters of the population can do this and I expect those from Earth will be the same. Over enough time everybody may be able to do this. To control the devices requires that a person's mind grows. We can speak to each other mentally the same way you can use your voice."

The men didn't look happy. Tiffany smiled and said, "It isn't like that. I can shield my thoughts. I can't read your thoughts because your mind has not grown. Once it has, you could block me out. It is the same as your voice except for a short period when you are learning how to handle the ability."

"How do I know — that you are telling me the truth?"

"I didn't have to tell you anything at all. I gave you information. Simply keep an open mind until you find out for sure."

"Will the people of France learn this?"

"No, but the people of Earth will. Your politicians may balk at this because if they are asked to open their minds the voters will see the truth. Not a pretty sight I'm afraid."

"Will we get your shield and other tools?"

"Yes, but we haven't found all the devices yet or what all of them do. Some may be like the nukes and need to be held by responsible people."

"What time frame do you see?"

"Both of our planets are threatened by the same people. We have to pull their fangs. When that is done, we will bring in a few thousand students from Earth and see how they work. The next year we take a lot more and the year after that even more. We have to build up the infrastructure to accommodate not only our own people but those from Earth as well."

"Earth people are yours, too."

"I've emigrated. I think I am Human first, then a citizen of Bejek. You pushed France, I'm pushing Humans with a bit extra from people on this world because we are so far behind you."

"We could send in workers to put up buildings and even supply teachers."

"We'd be swamped. Better to go slowly, especially at first."

The Frenchmen stayed for a few hours until Tiffany kicked them out. I only heard about this after the fact. I was almost four hundred klicks away looking at one of the oldest Church cities on Bejek.

I was far from alone. Besides my security, there was Dimitri and Vasiliy representing the Russians. Cabot and Jamieson, two of the Americans, and then there were two of the recently shanghaied French. Croteau and Sirois were not quite up to what the Russians were but they were supposed to be good at fighting. Artlam and Mantoya were here to represent Bejek. Jonna and Lauren were here to make sure I came home.

It was hard to communicate. We used English but not everybody was as fluent in it as they should be. Mantoya said, "This place is a real fortress. This must have been erected when there were a lot of wars."

I said, "It looks like it. Those walls are thick and I see sentries at the top." There were sentries all over. This was Sennis. It was near mythological in name when I talked to those on Bejek. The only city with more reverence was the city of Kallos Island, the island was named after it.

Sennis must be home to a few million people. The city proper was within the mighty walls and perhaps had a quarter to an eighth of the population. It was hard to tell. The plateau the city rested on was packed with buildings, including large homes. The johnny-come-lately's had to put up homes on the slopes of the mountain and down to the hills and flat land below. The majority chose the more level plains surrounding the upthrust of rock.

The mighty Svitch River flowed from a nearby range of mountains. There was a spectacular waterfall and four major rapids before it was channelled to flow completely around the city to make it an island. Fourteen gleaming bridges spanned the river and they all looked good even though some were reputed to be almost as old as the city.

The city was reputed to be ten thousand years old but the books we took from the library in Coycha said it was a lot closer to six thousand. The Church had pilgrims coming here all the time and from a sampling they all left with a modicum of Church control on their thinking.

The library had given us much more information but there was little time to evaluate it. The Church still had six nuclear warheads and enough trained Human captives to convert them to six deadly bombs.

The Church had kidnapped thousands of people recently. Usually they were soldiers but engineers were included. They came from all walks of life and from many countries. From the looks of the operation, this had been started a few decades ago. Not everybody had to emigrate right away but they had to gather Earth technology and prepare to leave when they were called. In some cases the youngsters chosen were much older before they were forced to come to a collection point.

At the moment there were a lot of world famous nuclear physicists that suddenly went missing on Earth, as well as a lot of military engineers that specialised in nuclear bombs. They came from most of the countries that produced these weapons but the majority were Russian, American, and Chinese.

We knew little that was for sure but it seemed that those that we converted in Coycha figured that Sennis is where we would find the remaining six warheads.

Dimitri said, "How do you plan to find the weapons in that mass of rock? Even our most sensitive devices will not find them if they are deep enough."

His words were translated and I said, "I was hoping you guys had a good idea. I fight and get weapons. I get some good ideas once in a while. This has to be either a commando raid or something the entire army takes on. I want to destroy the Church now but if they have any bombs ready then we will be the ones destroyed."

Dimitri looked through the telescope and said, "They search the peasants that come to the inner wall. I think they wait for us."

Jamieson was one of the Kuenta crew and had some experience in intelligence. He may not be as sophisticated as Dimitri but he still know his stuff. He said, "They may not be ready now but they will be soon. Whatever we do we have to do it as soon as possible."

Cabot said, "If I were you, I'd just slip in with a few of the French nukes and try to collapse the mountain of rock. I don't like the weapons but I would rather use them first in this case."

Jamieson added, "I don't necessarily agree, but if you, I'd go in with something more powerful than those baby bombs. If you get real close it's another matter. Like I said before, we need to take a peek inside or find someone that has been in there so we have an idea of what we're after."

Artlam said, "Can you pick up a mountain and simply drop it on the city from a great height?"

"I guess I could get a large rock up a hundred klicks but hitting the city is hard. We have no experience and we would probably miss."

"How far can you miss when you are only a hundred klicks away? You simply drop it. If you miss, you drop another."

Vasiliy said, "A fuel-air bomb detonating all over the plateau should kill everybody inside. It causes the least damage yet is very powerful. We also avoid contaminating a world with nuclear fallout if the rock ruptures or detonates the bombs."

Sirois was a recent acquisition by the Church but now he was solidly behind me. I didn't have any qualms about keeping his conditioning and just transferring it to me. He said, "I think you should avoid the nuclear bombs but if you decide to use them then you had best use six of the Russian variety."

He added, "If you wish to hit the city all you need are three transmitters, perhaps lasers would be better. They can either guide some people that ride the rock down or a computer sends information to them suggesting how to steer. You are open to either idea, the fuel-air or the large rock."

Croteau said, "I don't like to take the Church's position but shouldn't we also look to find a way to evacuate the civilians?"

Mantoya said, "I am a man of Bejek. I don't like to see slaughter of this magnitude but I don't think there is a way of doing this and have the Church keep the bombs nearby if they are indeed here. Rocks and fuel-air explosives have already been used. It is only a matter of time until the Church does the same thing to us. I advise that the city be utterly destroyed as quickly as possible and we move onto Kallos Island as soon as we can."

I stared at the man, not in shock but trying to find some way to do this without killing all the people in this city.

We did a lot more talking before we went back to Coycha to talk to others to see if another avenue could be pursued.

Jonna said, "Drop a rock on it and make it big. They are warned and will have something ready."

I said, "What could they do?"

"Who knows what they have stored away. Their shield is strong. The one in Sadieea was not defeated by your rock but by the roof falling on the men controlling the shield. If they had an inner shield, we could still be there fighting."

Tiffany said, "I vote you throw a mountain at it. You have to kill the priests and do it as quickly as possible."

The rest of the family came in on the side of Jonna and Tiffany. I still held off making a final decision until I heard any possible alternatives.

The priests attacked that night. During the height of the attack, Jonna went into labour.

Both stigga and men ran at where they thought we were and carried bombs strapped to them. Some carried sarin and this drifted through our camp. We had few masks but some people were able to give the warning so others could survive.

The Church used artillery at point blank range and we countered with plasma weapons. Anything and everything the Church could throw at us, they did.

It was near noon the next day when we were able to pull enough people from other areas to push back at the Anguy and the Adcheks. The Indonish came at us in force for the first time. They died just as easily, or just as difficultly since they were large and fast moving.

The only thing that drove them back was our use of napalm and our efforts to snag the gate chains and pull them through the link.

We had almost 25% casualties and over half of those were deaths. The portal to France had been closed right away and it was good because the stigga were going trying fight through to this region for some unknown reason.

We counted our dead and came to nearly two thousand. Most of my family had been hurt but thankfully nobody was killed. The area I pretended to use for my home was obliterated many times over.

Mourning had to wait until we cleaned up. One group of bodies I had to do myself. My security detail, including Moltatas and Addas, had died protecting Jonna and my son John.

Dimitri came to me later and said, "You better attack Sennis now."

I was barely holding myself together but I managed to ask quietly, "Why?"

"We were checking the background radiation during the attack. The gate furthest from the one they came through had the highest reading and we hit it as hard as we could. I think they have a bomb ready."

"Shit!"

"Next time, they will bring it through fifty kilometres away and bring it to you on a cart. Do what you are going to do and do it now."

"Can you use radar to guide me in?"

"Yes, I can. The American ship's radar is best in this case."

"When can you be ready?"

"I can have it stripped in two hours and bring a generator."

"Then get it ready. I need Vasiliy."

"Vasiliy is dead. We have other good pilots."

I felt punched again. He was as close to me as my security and almost a family member. When I got myself under control I said, "Get your pilot. I need a rock."

I took a dozen of the older members of Section M and went into the nearby mountains. They were all in shock from what had happened. They had lost friends and family as well. All I could do was feed them vengeance.

Finding rock was easy but finding one large piece was much more difficult. We pulled and twisted to work rocks lose only to find them flawed.

It was near dusk when we worked one rock out. It was roughly a cube a little longer than the frigate. I guessed its weighted at around three and a half million tonnes. I could have gone smaller but I was not about to now.

There was no way we could drag this behind a plane so we made a simple shield around it. We climbed onto the rock and had to wait as more help came. The shield extended a few metres over our heads and I made sure everybody coming could erect their own shield in case of trouble.

We boosted into the air very quickly now. We were being acted on equally but the rock had a lot more resistance even without the bubble of air. We were falling upward as fast as the rock would fall and we kept it up. The rock was pushed toward Sennis at our best speed. It wasn't too fast.

Caiti had been one of those that was hurt more but she was the one contacting me now. "Dimitri says you are high enough now."

"I want a bit more."

"I understand. I'd go for more, too." In a moment she said, "you are going too fast in a westerly direction."

"Where is west?"

In a moment she said, "Look for the cup."

I looked into the heavens and found the stars. They were bright against the blackness of space. I had to link the members of Section M and we slowed down and waited. Caiti said, "Slow down some more." The message was transmitted and we cut out speed again.

"You are not gaining height as fast now. Dimitri says you are at nearly two hundred klicks."

"What does he want us to do?"

"Go a little south and then drop it."

We did the first part and then I had to link a lot harder with Section M to begin the fall. Some were frightened now and the rock was like home in a way.

We fell very quickly because there was little air resistance. We weighted so much that wind resistance would not slow us down a lot. We fell for a minute and we only stabilised the rock so it didn't spin. Caiti said, "You have to go east and you have to push hard."

We didn't ask why but we tried to work as a team to shift the rock while one person looked at the stars to guide us.

All of a sudden I felt the rock shudder. Caiti yelled mentally, "They know what you're doing and they're shooting something at you. Their shield is up."

"What do I do?"

In a second she said, "More east and a bit north but not much." It was hard to even hear mental communication because of the noise of the shield through the atmosphere and the pounding we were taking from some sort of Church weapon.

I said, "We are having difficulty forming a gate. Can you do it from further away?"

"We're trying." A second later she was crying, "We can't do it. The priests are interfering."

"How long to impact?" The answer didn't come so I yelled mentally, "How long until we hit?"

"Twenty seconds."

I had to pull Section M together and get them to crowd around me. I used my mind and said, "Remove the shield now."

It took a few of our precious seconds to do this and the wind hit us hard. We were holding on to each other in an attempt to prevent us from separating. I had to command twice to get a shield set up just around us but it snapped up very quickly.

As soon as it formed completely I pushed against the rock and the planet as hard as I could and we were pushed hard back away from the planet. I just had time to tell everybody, "Close your eyes tight."

A blinding flash came a second later. I was pulling all those to me and tried to hide behind my arm. I pushed sideways frantically but only a few of the group knew what I was doing. I pushed for just a few more seconds until we suddenly found ourselves moving faster than ever and it was upward. I was worried about this and desperately got myself orientated so I could push us back toward Bejek. We started to shake.

I pushed more and more as the shaking got a worse but then stopped very rapidly. We were out of the atmosphere. I pushed as hard as I could and got the rest to help. There was a good chance we were past escape velocity so I got the group to strengthen our push to Bejek as much as we could but the planet's horizons were visibly shrinking.

I had not heard from Caiti for some reason and I was too busy to seek her out. I broadcast to the family and then waited for a reply. I only received scattered thoughts from many people. The people with me were panicking and I had to stop what I was doing and calm them down.

Our attraction to Bejek had risen quite a bit and the shield had to be reformed once more so we could lay down. The attraction rose to as much as we could take. I might have taken more but some were finding it hard to breathe.

When the group calmed down we looked at the stars and I tried to contact the family. I wasn't doing a good job. We were too far away and still getting further. I knew we would get back to Bejek eventually, but the bubble around us only had so much air.

Though it was hard to talk, I was able to communicate mentally with those around me. "We must have destroyed Sennis with that rock."

One young man of nineteen or so said, "It was a lot smaller when it hit. I could feel the rock breaking up from whatever weapon they were using."

"Did you get some idea of what it was?"

Talk slowly started. I hid or tried to hide my own fears and the memories of all the death we left behind on Coycha. I shied away from thinking of what happened at Sennis. It had to be horrific but there was no way to avoid it.

It was an hour after we formed the shield that one young girl said, "Bejek is not getting any smaller."

We eased off on our effort and turned to look. Bejek was the size of a cantaloupe at arm's length so we had to be a half million klicks away. We watched only for a minute and then went back to increasing our attraction again. When we made it back, I was worried about going too fast and bouncing off the atmosphere.

In the next half hour, I deduced that we were finally falling back to Bejek. This gave us all a lot more hope. I now had to think of all I learned about re-entry from watching television. I explained what I knew.

It was a few hours later that I finally heard Jonna calling me. "Where are you?"

I told her but it was five minutes later until I heard her reply. She immediately said, "Dimitri is worried that you are coming back too fast. He can't see you. He's going by what you said."

"I know a little about re-entry but we don't have a lot of air left. We are actually pushing against the planet now to slow down. We weigh nearly four times normal."

"I'll tell Dimitri."

Jonna came back and said, "He can't see you yet. You are over the horizon and probably still coming in too fast. He says that you should slow down even more because we can't set up a gate from here."

"I'll try."

The people from Section M heard what was said and increased our deceleration. Bejek was still growing fast when we started to feel the upper atmosphere. I had thoughts of reforming the shield but we were already slowing down the way we were. I encouraged even more effort and one of the children blacked out. I still wanted more. It was far better than dying.

With only a few hundred kilometres of altitude beneath us I had an idea. We were still much too fast. Thinking of the Yeisk and how Camsa hit the mosque.

It was hard to get the students to trust me when I said, "When I say so, bring the shield to neutral buoyancy. This is when we float."

There were a lot of questions and I just gave this as an order given from a superior officer. The first time I gave the order not everybody responded. The third time worked and we suddenly stopped dead in the air then started to ascend. I gave us back some weight and we began to fall but much slower now.

The little girl said, "What happened?"

"Let's reform the shield and I'll tell you." We worked on reforming the shield to look like a supersonic jet fighter. It has swept back wings but no controlling surfaces. By now we were down to the ocean. A small modification flooded the shield with fresh air and we all relaxed.

I brought us back up to three klicks and called out to the family that we were alright. I could only feel their relief and not hear their thoughts. We were too far away from Sennis. The students pushed us a bit to pick up airspeed and then let us coast. They did this a great many times. When we came in to land we simply found a quiet section and landed. We all needed a lot of water and sleep.

It was mid afternoon the next day when we got to Sennis. Our people were all around. We flew around the city from two kilometres up. It was easy to see where the rock hit. We had almost missed the plateau and just caught the edge. There now was a large lake forming in the hole we made. A good portion of the plateau was no more. Half of the damage was caused by massive holes in the rock and I could only think of a few reasons for this.

Jonna directed us where to land. We stopped a few metres over the top of the tents and then settled down. The shield dissolved and I ran to Jonna. She carried John proudly. Beside her, Selna was standing with a bundle in her arms and a trimmer figure.

I immediately looked for Fislu, asking about for her. I heard, "Your son is coming now."

I bent over and kissed Selna and said, "I'm sorry I missed this."

"You will be around for some of the others."

Jonna had to get her kiss as I picked up my son. He was sleeping. I had a chance to look at the rest of the family before we headed into the tent to find Fislu laying down with her knees up.

Fislu was having a difficult time and I handed John back to his mother and I used the Heart of Opfu on Fislu. She was very healthy but some of her muscles were not relaxing enough. In a few minutes I was able to get the obstruction removed and in a moment I was beside the midwife as my third child came into this world.

Fislu was radiant when I handed her my second son. Selna had given me a daughter. We only had a few moments to admire the children when Mantoya arrived. He was limping from a wound suffered during the attack on Coycha. Dimitri and the rest of my senior staff were right behind. The only one missing was Artlam and I already knew that he was busy.

Mantoya said, "How does it feel to be a spaceman?"

"It was more frightening than anything. Tell me what you found in Sennis?"

"We are just scratching the surface. There were only a few survivors in the city but we are doing all we can. The Church buildings collapsed. There are a few priests still alive and we are digging them out as quickly as we can."

"What about the bombs?"

"None of them went off. Our instruments found some radioactive areas. Section M ripped out what remained of the library and flew it away. Others went in and removed what looked like the remains of the bombs. Some partially exploded. This can be collected, I am told, and returned to Earth for processing."

Dimitri added, "The warheads were of low yield but there is still the same amount of trigger material as a large weapon. Your rock was the equivalent of at least ten megatons. The only reason the city is even partially here is because it was shaded from the majority of the blast by the mountain."

"Any radioactivity?"

"Nothing above background radiation. The bombs were buried deep and remain so."

"Should I have used a smaller rock?"

"Actually you were almost too small."

"Why is that?"

"The Church sprang a new weapon on us. It ripped large pieces from the rock so it fell in a shattered form. Your shield was the only thing that held it together long enough to hit. Their shield was almost strong enough to stop the rock. It failed only after deforming all the way to the surface of the plateau. It is possible that the shield was strong enough to take this force but some other component failed. It might have been as simple as the concussion of the rock hitting the shield knocked out or killed the people controlling it."

"What about the weapon used on us?"

"We have not found it but our people are looking. The weapon itself was a larger version of your plasma weapon or perhaps it was that weapon but somehow modified to release more energy."

"Has the Church retaliated?"

"Not yet. In fact, Artlam had gone to Sofka and found a deserted building."

This as a nearby city that was as large as Sennis but was only a few thousand years old. "Did they leave hurriedly?"

"If you meant did they leave anything behind the answer is very little. We expect to find the same situation in other cities."

"Sounds like they're on the run. Any idea where they are going?"

"Kallos, where they have gone when it got bad before. They may just as easily have chosen another world. They must have access to worlds that have the stigga, the Fasslic cats or the black fighting insects. There may be many more that we don't know of."

Lauren said, "It stands to reason that the Church has posts on all the worlds we can get to. For all we know they may have more portals leading to Earth. We feel that the priests will make a stand here on Bejek but will be ready for evacuation. If too many leave we will have a hollow victory. They would come back when they are much better prepared and decided to dig into their bag of icons."

I could feel the entire family agreeing with Lauren so this must have been a communal decision. It did sound very logical. The next course would be to hit Kallos Island even if that was not their objective. The longer we waited the longer the Church had to prepare for our arrival.

There was a lot of work to do and some of the obligations had to do with the funerals we attended. I cried when my security squad was cremated. My only daughter was now called Moltatas and my second son was Vasiliy. I could do no better to memorialise them.

Vasiliy apparently had been one of those that detected the atomic weapons from behind the furthest gate and made a determined stand to keep the weapons from possibly being used. He had died along with a large number of Russian and French soldiers. If I could, I'd erect a statue, but perhaps there was something better.

I worked hard to keep our army focussed. We were now getting allies or perhaps mercenaries was a better term. It seemed the more Churches we took the more people saw us as an up and coming force. We also ran into fanatics bent on brining us back to the proper level of subservience. Some of these groups were armed by the priests but they could do little against our shields.



-------

Chapter 51


Eleven days after Sennis fell, I was on the Ronnas. A plane had made a few passes to photograph Kallos Island. This area was going to give a lot of problems. The island was fifteen kilometres by ten. The island had very little flat land. It was all mountain peek that must go fifteen hundred metres above the ocean.

There had been extensive preparations for war done over the centuries. A strong stone wall extended out into the sea so there was no place to dock a ship. A small, well defended island had a good harbour and probably connected with a gate to Kallos.

There were seventeen other islands more or less in a circle. Intermixed were a eleven much smaller islands and reefs that were also fortified. The Church had gathered an armada of wooden hulled ships. I was sure they all would be protected with a shield.

The Church had some major weapons. On the last pass of the executive jet, it was hit by a very powerful laser. The laser cut the ship into three portions as if the craft was only a few metres away. The pilot and the two girls from Section M had a secondary shield in place when the attack came. All three fell to the ocean. The girls had separated at the last second and gone completely inert. They hit the ocean and just stopped. They had the foresight to increase their mass and go beneath the waves. We ported them out a few minutes later.

When the girls had recovered, Jamieson said, "That weapon made your plasma gun look like a toy. You're not going to get much of a rock to hit that island."

"I was thinking that myself."

A few minutes later we found out just how accurate the gun was. We went into another of a long string of meetings to see what we could do with the new data.

Cabot said, "You might be able to get close in a small sub. Whether the gates would work or not, I don't know."

Dimitri said, "That was a line of sight weapon. The beams originated near the three summits. They will have a considerable amount of coverage. I estimate that it will be nearly a hundred and forty kilometres at least. If they had waited for our ships to get near we would all have died very quickly."

I said, "What do you suggest?"

"A submarine may be the best choice but the sea is shallow in that area. You could not get near enough to do any damage. It's a foregone conclusion that the island will be covered by the strongest shield they can make. My only alternative is to make a shield to reflect the laser while employing one of equal or more power to destroy the enemy units."

Croteau said, "Can't the plasma weapon go that distance and have even greater power?"

Tiffany said, "They can, but we couldn't keep it locked onto a target for more than a split second."

Dimitri said, "This laser is close to what we already have on Earth. It has far more accuracy and doesn't need a nuclear weapon to power it. It doesn't seem to be in the same class as the silver icons."

Artlam said, "They may be from our first civilisation or the second. We got very high before we fell. The Church would have saved all the weapons and other artifacts they could find. They must have mountains of pieces unless they record the data and destroy the artifact."

None of us liked this idea but it was quite plausible. The idea that the laser was just an advanced Human weapon seemed to please all of us for some reason.

I asked, "What has been used to counter a military laser on Earth?"

The Earth military were working on lasers and they had some minor successes only. The power must have been far lower than what we had found here. The lasers could not make it through a tank for instance but they would heat the metal or destroy the ceramic armour. A reflective surface would help but some frequencies could use x-rays that might penetrate much easier.

Apparently a storm or even heavy fog would cut the power of the laser down considerably. The fact that there were so many lasers and their uncanny accuracy said that all the lasers could conceivably hit one point and stay there until they bored through.

There were other suggestions. Camsa wanted to mount a hundred plasma guns on a rack and use them as one weapon. It didn't sound that good but I let him try to make the device. I'd be a poor leader if he didn't get a chance. Then again, some of the youngsters had come up with good ideas that adults had discounted.

Sirois came up with fast missiles that might flood the defences. Since we had a lot of them I let him plan this. The Selna and the Ronnas had some very nice missiles and it would be nice to get rid of some since we had plundered Admiral Slavas's ship. Sirois could also look to find what was better to take out a laser battery with. Bakhtin had found some Chinese anti-radar missiles but we only got two. These had cost half a million each.

I was afraid that I would have to find a real mountain and drop it on the island. Lasers would only have so much time to prune portions before the mountain hit. The problem was that there would be a tsunami of monumental proportions that would kill innocents all over the world and not those just around the island.

One idea was that we use sappers to dig to the island and then upward. This had some backers but the time taken would allow the priests to find out what we were doing and allow them to set up shop elsewhere.

The photographs we did have suggested that the surrounding islands were armed, possibly with the same weapons. If we went by what Earth navies might do in the future, we had to consider missiles and mines of exceptional power and accuracy but the Church seemed very reluctant to go too deep into its bag of tricks just yet.

I didn't think darkness would help us take out the weapons. The plane taking photos had been very high and using only a minimal amount of fuel to be making much of a contrail when it was hit. This meant that the priests were using radar to find us. The Humans on Earth had made disrupting or evading radar signals into a fine art form. It was also assumed that the long dead natives of Bejek would have done the same thing and found ways around the problems. This tit for tat could be far beyond what Earth Humans had considered possible. The only way to find out was to try.

The school searched out large rocks. They were far smaller than had been used on Sennis. These were only ten metres square and two metres thick on the average. We would fly with two of these rocks so the weight was between a thousand and twelve hundred tonnes. There were enough people to fly fifty seven pairs of rocks.

We came from the west but two units came from the east that were to stay out of the action and observe if possible. Our group had one rock beneath us and one in front. The laser beams lashed out when we were only twenty kilometres away. The shielding rocks took fire from many sources and those in the lead could look back at what was happening to those behind. The shield apparently was able to allow us to remain invisible to the radar used against us.

Our shields had been formed into giant wings much like what a sailplane would have. We would gain altitude and dive to trade it for forward motion. Dimitri was talked into coming with us but I could see that he didn't like this job. Equipment from Earth was used to analyse what radar waves penetrated the shield.

There was a lot of mental communication to let everybody with us and at home know what was happening. When the time came, we guessed and dropped our burdens. We had no idea what damage we did because to look around the rock was to be blinded.

The lasers did very little damage to the rocks so the priests used a plasma type of weapon. This did more damage, even at this altitude. It was not tied in with the radar or a telescope so they could not hold their position for long. I was very relieved when our group came home safe. There were others still out there and this bothered me.

Artlam quickly said, "That proves that you can use a big rock on the shields. Let's get to it as quick as possible."

I countered, "We can't hit anything. It was all a guess. You saw what a rock did to Sennis. If that happened in the ocean, there would be a tidal wave that would kill untold millions around the world."

"Millions died at Sennis."

"They were working for or with the Church. If I could have spared them, I would have. The Church may not worry about a lot of deaths but I do."

"Use smaller rocks."

"The shield is probably stronger if they know a way to do that. There is a mountain in the middle to support part of the shield. In fact, there are three peaks."

Camsa and Caiti came in later and said, "Somebody hit the edge of Kallos and it just slid off. The walls are inside the shield." There were photographs made and even a movie. We saw the shield actually bouncing the rock. One of the smaller islands were hit and it looked like there was some damage but we could not tell how much until later.

Porta and Sonna had formed a shield small enough to contain them and a rock. It was made neutral in buoyancy not with a fulcrum but with the size of their shield. The shape had lots of thin fins that would allow more oxygen to be extracted from the water.

Their craft had gone out much earlier because of its slow pace. I was still worried because detecting submarines was old hat on Earth and it was much older to the Bejek military.

The girls had some serious tasks to conduct. They had to plant coins near some strategic areas including the main shield protecting Kallos. During our attack, the girls were to observe how effective we were if they were lucky enough to see. They were not to use the gates though they had one inside a silver box. I wanted to see if the priests were creating interference, but I doubted it. We were too far away to use the portal. If they thought we were near by, they would act much differently.

Porta and Sonna came home twelve hours later and I was there to greet them. They were not fresh as daisies but I held my thoughts as I hugged them.

Porta said, "They detected us somehow and we had to leave."

I looked at both and said, "Tell me about it."

"We layed a coin or two at every one of the islands. You hit one but we couldn't see what was happening inside. Lots of their ships were sunk though. Sonna layed one coin beside the Kallos shield. I was listening hard with my mind and knew that somebody was very excited all of a sudden. We left quickly and left a trail of coins behind us. We actually got behind a reef and dove. They started shooting into the water with the laser and then the plasma. It was not long before the water was boiling. We moved along the reef slowly instead of using the gate. They didn't know where we were. It was good that we left because they used a very powerful weapon that must have blasted a hole in the ocean. The only thing that saved us was that we were behind one of their islands by that time."

"You two did a great job but you didn't have to risk your lives like that. You should have used the gate."

Sonna said, "We didn't check but I think they put that interference device to work. I don't think they wanted us to get away." That put a new colour to it but my feelings were still the same.

They gave me a lot more details about the area and I liked the deep channel that went close to the area. I was also sure that this feature would be watched even more than other areas.

The girls went off to shower and I sat down and thought about this weapon they mentioned. This would probably not be of the two failed civilisations but something thought of long ago and probably before the Church started.

The operation was discussed with this new information. Porta and Sonna opened their mind to us and we saw and felt what they had gone through. Both were very frightened young ladies but also very brave.

When we took Sennis, we made a quick check of what we could do to protect ourselves. This was being put into our database all the time as more books were scanned and added. They had to be deciphered and this is where the data Osston provided helped a lot.

Weapons and shields were written with a different code and in different languages. The one we had found was just one example. There were some places where we could read the passages and we got hints from other topics about what we were after. We still didn't know how much the Church knew but suspected that everything we found out was hidden in some old books.

There were a lot of history books and they made fascinating reading but we had no time for this. Real spaceships had been made but not necessarily by Humans or even flown by Humans. The space ships were strong and very powerful but still had a shield. In a few places we found that the shield here was very strong and it was not punctured for propulsion or to transport people or goods. It was formed in such a way that you could not port through it. In passing, we found that a ship, along the lines of a shuttle craft, pulled up along side the major ship and the two shields merged to allow the smaller vessel to enter.

Kallos Island may have this type of shield or perhaps it didn't but I was going to assume the worse. This got us working on how to not only make an impervious shield but also to find a way of slipping through it like the ships at one time had. The silver icons we recovered were investigated to find this particular ability. We searched for power sources like the one in our chest but as yet we had not found any. Quite a few icons had been on the lowest levels and all of these were completely new to us.

The history books humbled me in two major ways. Our long ago ancestors were like gods in their power. This is what I was aiming the Human race toward. I was very interested if my proposed route had led to their eventual downfall but this fact had not been found yet. I had little data to go by.

I knew that Humans had achieved relative greatness but they were more or less labourers in a far-flung galactic civilisation. They did much of the scut work but learned all they could while doing it. Even after our race was at its height, our ancestors revered those that chose to elevate them. That put present day Humans very far down the totem pole.

There were centuries worth of work just studying the history books. I had to get by with a short synopsis that some people were able to put together after they read any particular book. These people were usually those that were injured but few of them had the ability to read.

Dimitri came in with Artlam and said, "What are we going to do?"

"We are going to have to go with your plan. I'm worried about this new weapon the girls found. Did anybody see it in action?"

"No, it was shaded by an island and its shield at the time. It gave off a very strong magnetic pulse. It was definitely not a laser. I don't know what kind of weapon it is but its something I have never heard of before."

"The lasers were of Human manufacture but this had to be something made by some advanced race. We can't go into battle against that without knowing its capabilities."

Artlam said, "Dimitri said he can rob the guidance system from one of his larger missiles so it can steer a rock from a distance."

"Let's try it."

Rocks were plentiful but not in the right shape. The regular army had a break while Section M pulled rocks from the ground. We duplicated the guidance system from a 3M82 Moskit cruise missile. This device was what NATO called the SS-N-22 Sunburn.

Bakhtin had delivered a lot of old Migs and we slaved five engines to each of the rocks that weighted five million tonnes. This was a little larger than what had destroyed Sennis.

The rocks this time were shaped more like a missile and the shield that went around them hugged the sides. The shield ducted air from the sides to the engines. This way the engines may have some additional protection.

This work took two weeks and we spent a lot of time looking at the island from much further in space. The French, Russian and American soldiers jumped at the chance to do this.

Somebody on the island knew we were out there and fired the weapon we were interested in. We could see the effect and it was staggering. It seemed to rip the very structure of the air apart. Water in the air was ripped apart into component atoms. The diatomic oxygen and nitrogen were separated and reformed into odd molecules. We could tell this just by analysing the light given off by the weapon. Most of the electromagnetic spectrum was flooded with noise. Xrays were only one component produced. I had no idea if gamma or cosmic rays were churned out.

The chance of hitting the teams in space was minimal but I had them try to remain as quiet as they could. When the teams went over the horizon I ordered them out to two hundred thousand klicks even if this made viewing the island more difficult.

Cabot said, "We can put up an unoccupied rock with a radio transmitter on it. You won't loose much and we can see how sensitive and accurate the system is."

I said, "Then do it."

"All I have to work with are some four and three year olds."

This was a problem because everybody in Section M was in demand. "They can launch the rock for you. They're communicating with the rest so they can do a fair job. When you get high enough, port out to one of the other observation platforms."

"I'll give it a try but this is another one for the books. I don't want to be known for this if it works out."

The rock was easy to find. A transmitter was only a hundred watts and we used gel cell batteries. Regular wet cell batteries wouldn't have worked very well.

The rock made twelve orbits until it was detected at three thousand klicks. This was much further out than we already were. It took one sustained burst to pierce the rock at this distance. The beam played on the rock for only ten seconds before the radio stopped working. The beam soon lost its target but continued to shoot for a half hour.

On Bejek we saw a spectacular display of lighting as the beam lanced into the heavens. The ionised gases conducted spectacularly. We could only give a partial guess to the amount of power being used. Those with some knowledge guessed at between a half to one and a half gigawatts. We saw more of these weapons pointing skyward but they didn't fire.

This development put an entirely new perspective on our plans. When a rock fell into the atmosphere, it ionised the air and produced radio waves among other forms of energy. This would lead the detection system directly to the rock. The only option we had would be to swamp the defences but that would mean we would still get the tsunami that I was trying to avoid.

A day later we examined the rock that had been hit. We didn't dare remove the shield because of all the gases trapped inside. The rock had undergone some strange forces. Part of it had broken down to a dust or perhaps I should say, formed a dust from individual atoms. Others were mixed so well that I knew a lot of new molecules had to have been formed. There was still a lot of heat in the rock because we could feel the energy through two sets of shields.

Dimitri floated near me and said, "What would happen if you tried to access the coins near the islands?"

This had to lead to something so I said, "The locations would be blasted with all they had."

"What would they do if this happened when there were rocks falling on their heads?"

I had to think. "They would wait to blast us when we popped through but this could take some of the pressure off the falling rocks."

"What if the rocks were large but not enough to destroy the island? In other words, they would get a chance to break up the larger rocks."

"Well — they would probably pull in and close the shield until the rocks fell then lay into us again."

"We can fly a Moskit through one of the openings. This alone may get them to close their shields."

"I wanted to avoid nukes, Dimitri."

"What you want and what you have to do may be two different things. The shields are strong. The Moskit can fly at two and a half times the speed of sound and still be less than three metres over the surface of the ocean."

"I don't know, Dimitri."

"My friend, we went to a lot of work to get the missiles and there is no worthy target on this planet apart from this island. They are designed to take out ships on the open ocean. They even have a trick to make them change altitude too fast for the weapons of last resort to follow. They can be controlled by a skilled operator so the body of the missile penetrates the openings."

I had to think again. Many of those in the military wanted to use a nuke. I could not blame them because I had done the same thing recently when I recovered the Russian MIRVs.

Dimitri jumped in and said, "We can communicate with the missile if we use a laser communicator. This extra weight will be offset by the smaller French warheads. They usually carry 200 kilotons. If we can get two of these warheads through the shield, those on the island will die."

"Two! What if you actually get the first one in and they close the shield? You have an armed nuclear weapon with no place to go."

"We can destroy it or capture it. It has a range of a hundred and fifty kilometres which is the limit they can see the surface of the ocean. We can use a rock for a platform to get the missile about fifteen kilometres away from the island. If our backs are to the sun, they will not see the exhaust."

The family outvoted me in this matter. We now had our children to protect and the women wanted this conflict ended. I held out for more tests and one of those was to see how large the openings in the shield were and how well they could be seen at night. I knew that the priests would keep more than an eye peeled for attacks and I hoped to gain a few seconds by attacking during a heavy rain like the one currently falling.

The French and the Americans helped even though the Russians didn't want this. I wanted to share the blame if this turned into a nuclear fiasco.

I sent Camsa alone to the island. He flew two hundred and twenty kilometres then went under water the rest of the way. He had his mental shields up to avoid detection. His orders were to get close to one of the fortified islands and then use the instruments provided him to check out the status of the main island.

Camsa was hugged by all of us when he made it back. He looked at me like a soldier to a commanding officer and said, "Ten of the ports had light coming from behind the shield."

Dimitri asked a lot more questions then sent away the recording equipment. He turned to me and said, "The storm will not last that much longer and the light is favourable. We can come from the setting sun."

I knew there was no sense holding off any longer and said, "Destroy the island, Dimitri, but not our world."

Dimitri was just as serious and said, "It is my world too, Friend."

Three cases were flown near the islands. Ten kilometres outside the ring the group stopped. When they were ready one person from Section M flew far enough away and gave one quick thought of a fish.

I heard the signal and gave the order, "Fire, Dimitri."

Dimitri gave his own orders and I knew that the three canisters belched the cruise missiles on solid fuel boosters. When the main booster got each missile up to speed, a ramjet cut in. This had to be timed critically because we wanted the missiles to be up to speed when they were detected. They flew at twenty four hundred kilometres an hour and I could almost see them hugging the sea.

All of us looked over the operators' shoulders as they followed the progress visually. Everything was grey with sparkles of light. There was no peripheral vision. The active radar had been turned off and there was no GPS to go by. The feature that popped up the missile had been deactivated because we needed full control, especially the last few metres.

We used dead reckoning for the most part. The seconds ticked by and nobody was even breathing. The viewing window had a scale on it similar to what I had used long ago with our own missiles. This system was even better.

I caught a glimpse of a large dome and the operator I was watching quickly aimed for an opening in front of and above him. A half a second later all three screens were dead. We rushed outside and looked in the direction of the island. After ten minutes we didn't see any bright flash or hear any noise. Those far out in orbit were questioned but they had not seen anything because of the storm.

Tiffany said, "Did it work or did they simply plough into the shield?"

"I have no idea." There should have been some conversation with those that carried the launchers. I called to them, "If it's safe, give a report. If not, get the hell out of there."

I heard one girl of ten say, "The shield lit up. Strong light came out all of the ports and we heard a noise I will never forget. The ground shook a few times. The small islands must have been linked because they shot out light and noise."

The rest of the team gave a similar report. I wanted to see for myself. I could not go right away though and had to rely on what the team on location could find out. We activated the gates to the coins but there was no reaction. Teams of Earth and Bejek people went to the islands with equipment.

We spent a sleepless night waiting for more reports. Dawn showed us that the inside of the shields were blackened. Smoke was pouring out of them but not much by now. We stayed upwind all we could.

The entire area was radioactive. There were some surviving ships that fought us until they were set afire. I could not see them even knowing what happened to the island.

An hour later, the Ronnas, the Andis, and the Kuenta flew in and landed. More equipment went out and the soldiers assessed the situation. I would like to have had a robot but this was not going to happen any time soon.

Three months after we took Kallos Island we had not found any trace of an active priest. We swooped in where we could and seized all the Church property we could. There was not much.

The Adchek and Anguy populations would be screwed for a generation or two with the way the Church used the male portion of their people. The Indonish race still had many of their males but the entire country was only the same size as Mendab.

When we came to lands that had been strongly held by the Church, we picked up a Church building and removed it. We were seen as a force stronger than the Church and not to be trifled with. With no priests to push the population to fight us, we had relative peace with little effort.

We had to perform border security because males from nearby countries wanted to get land back that they had long ago which may or may not have been stolen in the first place. Removing Church buildings seemed to get these people to reconsider their actions.

In an effort to unite all of Bejek, I set up gates from some major ex-church sites to others. This network quickly spread to ex-church sites in other countries where gates led to our equivalent of a station. I wanted this to be appreciated because it was the carrot that would encourage all the countries to form a united group of nations. This meant that I had to dig through the info I had to find the charter of the UN. It was this transport system we started up that made me realise why we had not seen any very old roads in Bejek soil.

Dimitri said to me mentally, "How long will you need an Admiral?"

"That depends on what you want to do with your life. I can use good people. What do you want to do?"

"You know that I have very little conditioning left?"

"I've known that for months. I don't like forcing people to do something."

Dimitri seemed to consider this and said, "I feel like a young man now. It had to be the Heart of Opfu and your help that did this. I'd like to see if I could start a new family but it would have to be a lot smaller than yours."

"You're right, I don't need somebody to patrol the seas with the Ronnas." Dimitri looked resigned to this. I added, "I have to normalise relations with Earth and you are my best hope for an ambassador."

"Me? I could not stand up to what I would be put through and this would be from my own people."

"I thought your own people would be natives of Bejek by now?"

Dimitri looked embarrassed and said, "You're right, Hugh, but the job is daunting. I can deal one on one with anybody but not heads of state."

"All you need, Dimitri, is a big stick. Take some of Section M and build a space ship. Park it on top of the United Nations building. A hidden coin or two will make our gate look a little like the portal system on Star Trek. You have one American Engineer developing a Scottish accent."

"Did you put him up to that?"

"I offered Vasiliy the job as captain and that means the ship needs an engineer."

"What about the rest of the characters?"

"Make it a family ship and bring the Stigga."

"You were reported to have pointed ears."

"I'm not smart enough. As for crew, I have to see who wants to be mustered out and who wants to stay on Bejek."

Dimitri said, "I was surprised to see that seventeen percent want to go back but they are mainly the people that were kidnapped by the Church."

"You know that we can't have any silver go back to Earth apart from what you need for your ship. There are just too many agreements that have to be made yet."

"I agree with you."

Lauren gave me a girl while her sister Tiffany was growing larger. The family settled down a bit but the pressure never stopped when it came to the wish for more children.

Tiffany got around now because she learned how to use a fulcrum as if she were born with it. We were still looking for a book to explain regeneration but nothing was put in print. One dead priest we found had a foot growing from the stump on his leg so we knew it was possible.

The portal to Orléans was opened and we found an army waiting for us. The portal was quickly shut down to think. People, including myself, were so dense sometimes.

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Hi

Anybody got some ideas for book 2?

If you are going to suggest then give me more details than what I would get in point form. I find it hard to switch between stories and hard to get back in the groove.




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The End
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Posted:  2007-12-31
Last Modified: 2008-05-09 / 10:46:17 am
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