Storiesonline.net ------- Legion of Light by Sea-Life Copyright© 2006 by Sea-Life ------- Description: The Second story in the world of Light. The continuing adventures of Dave McKesson, Dare, Ginny and the rest of his friends and family. Codes: ScFi rom ------- ------- Prologue I stood in the cool mist of the morning and watched the Sun slowly rise to the East. Thin ribbons of golden light broke through the line of trees at the eastern edge of the grotto, until eventually the Sun was high enough in the morning sky to wash the entire open field in its light. The three alabaster statues, each in a special location surrounding the Tree, lit up like beacons when the morning light hit them. I walked to each in turn, touching each cheek fondly. Grandfather was right, simple headstones wouldn't have honored them as much as these three monuments. I looked down at the base of the monument where I stood, it said simply, Kes — Guardian, Hero, Friend. Whoever had been found to do the sculptures was a genius, the pure white alabaster image was a perfect representation of the ancient Choctowineh. Aya and Beloth's monuments were equally as remarkable. We had been so saddened when we realized, within a few months of their return, that our ancient kinsmen were dying. Beloth explained it best "We have been dying, children, for longer than recorded history. Thanks to you, we are able to come home, to feel the Earth beneath our feet once more, to stand under the blue sky one more time and bask in the golden light of the Sun one more time before we are gone." Even though it was long overdue and welcomed by all three of them, they held on for three more months after it became known. Part of every day during that three months they spent with me. "You have learned of the light, and you have touched it, but you have not lived within the Light as we, your kinsmen and our peoples did. We have things we must show you, and things you must see before we are gone and there are none left who can." And for three months, each morning within the cool mists of the grotto, I would sit with my kinsmen and think and feel and learn, until I could wrap myself in Light, and it was as much a part of me as a drawn breath or a heartbeat. On the eve of their passing, Aya had me sit beside her where she lay watching the sun setting out on the bay. "We have been, Kes, Beloth and I, Guardians and Teachers. We will be gone before the morning light reaches these waters again and then it will be you who must be Guardian and Teacher. To the Guardian I leave words you already know from a great man of your time. "A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'universe, ' limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons close to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from our prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all humanity and the whole of nature in its beauty." "That was Albert Einstein." I said, recognizing the quote. "Let the Guardian you are to be heed those words. Widen the circle of your compassion to include all, and extend your care and concern to all of nature and the universe without favor." Aya squeezed my hand with surprising strength considering how little energy I knew they had left. "These words I leave for the Teacher." "If you want to build a ship don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." "That was Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery" I said. I loved saying that guy's name, it always made me laugh to say it out loud. He was a French Pilot and Poet from the 1920's who wrote 'The Little Prince'. Reading his biography was one of those 'extra credit' assignments Captain Bob had given me while I was studying for my private pilot's license. "For the Teacher that you must become, remember that to Teach is to Guide, you must make opportunities for your people to learn, you cannot learn for them." "Thank you Aya, you have been as good a guide and teacher as you have been a Guardian, and I promise to keep you and your wisdom close." When I went to Beloth's side, I took his hand as I sat beside him, and bent to kiss his brow. He whispered in my ear as I did. "Always remember. Love is the purest feeling, the wisest thought and the strongest reason. Always!" "Thank you Beloth. I love you!" I kissed his cheek and then his brow again as I left him. When I got to Kes, quiet, shy Kes, he was weeping and smiling all at the same time. "You are ready." He said. These were the last words spoken aloud by the Ancient Guardians. Within hours they were gone. ------- Chapter 1: Light Gathered "Dave! C'mon, get with the program man!" I heard Mike say from the doorway behind me. I stood up from where I'd been sitting on the porch steps and flashed him a grin. "Sorry. I just got to thinking about something. Is everything ready?" "Oh Yeah!" Mike answered back with enthusiasm. Inside my parent's house a blur of organization and activity through the course of the day had produced a sea of blue and gold balloons, streamers, and a huge banner that stretched the entire living room, from end to end that said 'Congratulations Virginia Elspeth Parkin, M.D.' Officially, the Parkin family was coming to one of Mom's special luncheons to celebrate Ginny's graduation. Mom had indeed cooked up a storm, and tonight we were set to enjoy a taste of New Orleans, with a Pork Gumbo, craw fish pie, tomato and melon salad and corn fritters, although I remember Mom calling them 'corn oysters' for some reason. Dessert was cushaw pie. A cushaw was a kind of squash apparently, so this was like a pumpkin pie, but it had holes poked in it and filled with a butter rum glaze, and then the entire top was covered with a chocolate butter cream layer. No need for whipped cream with this pie! Well, the food was excellent as always where Mom was concerned, and everyone had a blast springing a surprise party on Ginny. It was still early afternoon, with all the family and friends gone off to get ready for a dinner that evening at Ginny's parent's house and only the Legion of the Doomed remaining, that Ginny and I put into action the plan that this event had really been designed for. I raised my glass. "A toast!" I waited until I had everyone's attention, and their glasses were filled and raised. "I salute the Legion of the Doomed." I toasted. "To the Legion!" They replied in unison. Ginny slid off my lap and stepped out in front of everyone. "This evening has been wonderful, and I thank you for all the good thoughts and wishes I've received today. Today was not really about me though, and it wasn't really a surprise. Davey and I planned this evening as an excuse to get us all together again, right here in the same spot where we last gathered. We have an offer to make you all." I stood then and joined Ginny. "Although we have had only limited contact in the last six years, phone calls and email mostly, Ginny and I have been keeping tabs on each of you, and where you are at in your lives and in your careers. Chet, that would have been impossible without Cyrus' help in your case. Your military career went classified pretty quickly." "I'm gonna hafta lay some 'esprit de friggin corp' on that man's ass next I see him." Chet laughingly answered back. "Mike, you were the easiest of course, since you accepted Grandpa A.J.'s offer to join the McKesson Group's legal division after law school." "Yeah, which he paid for!" Mike shot back. "I knew you had to figure out where that scholarship to Duke came from as well, so I'm assuming it will come as no surprise to you when I say how proud we all are that you've done so well." "Fred, it amazes me to think that of all of us it would've been 'little Freddie Sabarte' that became a TV star." "I just fix up pretty cars man! I can't help it if cable TV will give a show to anyone who can build pretty cars!" And Arden! Bret Harte High School Vice-Principal Arden Anderson! What's this I hear about you getting caught necking with the Biology teacher in the teacher's lounge yesterday?" "Well, she was kissing me pretty hard when the door opened, but it wasn't exactly necking." Arden said. "I had a good excuse for kissing him." Alicia added, blushing. "Yesterday Arden asked me to marry him, and I said yes!" Wow! — talk about the Return of the Chaos Bomb!! When the dust settled from that little announcement, I continued. "well I guess I don't need to say any more about Alicia, and of course we all took time earlier this evening recounting Ginny's successes. That leaves me, doesn't it?" "You're the one who's always missing in action for long stretches, and impossible to reach when you're gone." Fred said. "You're harder to keep track of than Chet, and he's had Uncle Sam helping hide him!" Alicia added. "What kind of work could you possibly do for the McKesson Foundation that you have to disappear down the rabbit hole to do it?" Mike added. "Well, if I told you, I'd have to kill you." I said. Chet fell out of his chair laughing. "Hey, I thought that was supposed to be my line!" "Okay, I wouldn't have to kill you, but I can't tell you anything unless I can get your sworn promise that you'll never tell another soul without my permission. Will you all make that promise to me now?" As I asked, I reached out with my thoughts and lightly touched each of them. "Yes." I got from all of them, both in word and in thought, except Chet. "Chet, I can tell you that Cyrus already is aware of what I will reveal. I know you have reservations, as he did, and I know where they come from." And with that I felt Chet's reservations vanish. "Very well, thank you all for your trust, and faith in me. It is true that I didn't follow the road people thought I should have. I didn't go to college, I didn't become an engineer like my Dad, or a Pilot like Grandpa Carson, although I did get my private pilot's license. The reason I didn't do these things is because I discovered I had a gift. I've known about this gift for about as long as the Legion of Doom has existed. The group of people who I revealed my gift to was very small at first; my parents, and grandparents, and Ginny of course. Later, when I went to visit my grandpa McKesson in North Carolina, I learned that my gift was something that tied into the history of Dad's family, and so the number of people who knew grew again, including Cyrus, and eventually Felicia Poole. Ginny's parents know, but not the rest of her family, although I expect to share this knowledge with her brother Pete in the not too distant future." "Well geez! What is it?" Arden threw in. "You actually some alien from another planet? Those Men in Black guys will be busting down the doors any second now, I'm sure." "Hah! More likely he's some lost crown prince of Finland or something!" Mike added. "Or something." I answered. "The easiest way is to show you." And as I said it, I moved us through to Meadow, back to that same grassy field where I'd delivered so many others for the first time. Birds chirped, the wind moved through the trees, that nearby stream babbled its usual confession. This time I didn't wait for a reaction. "Welcome to Meadow." I said. "Wow!" Fred said. "Jesus Fucking Christ!" I heard from Chet and Mike, almost simultaneously. "Oh my God!" I got from Arden and Alicia. I had moved everyone here, picnic table and all, and had arranged our arrival so that they faced me, looking out into the empty, untouched field. "Meadow, as we have come to call it was the first place I was able to jump to, but this location on Meadow was not the first I learned to get to. Can anyone guess, thinking about our history together, where the first place was?" This got me some silence for a couple of minutes, and then Alicia jumped up. "Ooh! The Ledge!" She said excitedly. "You were always running of to that ledge up on the lake to collect rock samples! "Oh Yeah!" Chet chimed in. "I always wondered what was so damned special about that place. I mean its kinda cool and all, but it wasn't that cool!" "Yeah." I laughed. "Good work Alicia." Alicia had turned to sit back down, and that's when she saw it. "Oh my God!" She said, pointing behind the rest of the group sitting at the table. "Look at that!" 'That' was a big mansion-sized log cabin. The kind you see when you go to one of those fancy wilderness resorts in remote areas, made of cedar or redwood logs, but with all the amenities. This one had huge two story glass windows in the front and huge decks on both sides. Right now the entire thing was lit up from the inside as it appeared every light in it was on. Con had claimed he got the plans from the Internet while at Grandpa A.J.'s and 'had it built' I knew exactly how he had it built of course, because I had to bounce a railroad car sized container to Meadow for him from where he had parked it next to the Seeker world focus. "Lets head to the house." I said. "There are a couple people here I'd like you all to meet." As we headed towards the house I popped the picnic table back into Mom and Dad's back yard. Eru and Pearl met us at the front door, and I made the introductions. "Where is he?" I asked. "In the Garden. Shall I get him?" "No, lets go out there. We're not staying this time anyway, so we might as well save the tour for another time." We quickly went through the house to the back garden, which met the back of the house in a beautiful, quiet flagstone covered patio area. Waiting there for us was Construct. "Con, allow me to introduce you to the Legion of the Doomed." I offered. Construct, in the years since we'd restored the focus had decided he needed a real name, and had settled eventually on Constantine Dedomena Fylakas, and that was how he introduced himself. "Arden, now that you have met Eru and Con, you have indeed met your first two aliens. Con and I have known each other since my sixteenth birthday, and Eru and I since I was eighteen. Con is more than just an alien however, he is an artificial being." There were a lot of wowing and oohing, and general hubbub, but that was broken finally by Alicia "Data!" She shrieked. "His middle name is Greek for Data!!" "Yes." Con laughed. "I originally had no name, and simply called myself Construct, which Dave, Ginny and Eru were quite happy to call me. But once I was able to interact more with the people of Earth, I desired a name that would not seem so odd. I chose Constantine just because it was a real name that resembled Construct. Fylakas I chose because it is Greek for Guardian. Dedomena I chose just to amuse myself and annoy Dave." "You are all going to hear the story that Con has to tell about his and our history. He is, as close as we can figure it, at least four thousand years old. We are unsure how much older than that the history goes, because his creators seemed to have quite intentionally not made any direct references to events on Earth, or other places which we can associate with known human or Earth history, and they did not give Con a sense of time when they created him. Please sit, and listen to Con's story. Get to know each other a little. Ginny and I will be back in about half an hour or so." Ginny and I excused ourselves and walked into the house. As soon as we were out of sight I popped us into my bedroom. I sat Ginny on the edge of the bed and cautioned her to just sit and wait. I took her shoes off and spun her around to sit cross-legged on the bed. I slipped off my own shoes and quickly joined her. Sitting face to face only inches apart on the bed, I gave her a quick, but soft and heated kiss. I held out my hand, palm up in front of her and reached out and moved the little jewelery box through from the gun safe in Grandma and Grandpa Carson's garage. "Blossom, I love you. You are the center of my universe, the beacon in the wilderness that guides me home, the fire that warms me. You have been my heart and my conscience and my comfort, and I've never wanted anyone but you." I opened the little box, and presented its contents to her, my hand shaking just a little. "Virginia Elspeth Parkin, will you marry me?" "Oh Davey!" Ginny said with tears in her eyes. "I have been waiting for this moment almost since that day when you first walked into Daddy's store and came back to the rock and gem counter. If I am the center of your universe, you are the universe. If I am your beacon, you are my Light! If I am what warms you... Oh Davey, you are what heats me. If I am your heart, you are my soul. I love you Davey! Yes, David Alan McKesson, I will marry you." We kissed, and as she slid into my arms, I thought that perhaps it was going to be more the 'or so' than it was the half hour I'd promised the Legion. If only every pleasant interlude in life could end with a long, sensuous shower! I was happy to have this one end that way! As Ginny was dressing, I asked her to look closely at the ring I'd given her. The center stone was a 3 carat round cut diamond, and around it were a dozen 1⁄2 carat round cut diamonds, three white and nine blue, arranged in a very specific pattern. Ginny gasped in recognition of the significance. "Grandpa A.J., Sheb and Violet have all given this their seal of approval to the stones themselves as far as cut and quality, as well as to the pattern. At first I didn't want to find a separate engagement ring because I knew this one would have special meaning, so I'm afraid I went a little nuts. Here." I held open my hand and popped another box into it. When Ginny opened it, it contained a sort of inverse representation of the wedding ring I'd already shown her. This ring had a cluster of nine 1⁄2 carat blue diamonds surrounded by three 1 carat white diamonds evenly spaced around it. "Wear this starting tonight, and I'll save the first one for our wedding day." We managed to avoid another lengthy delay in our reappearance, but just barely. Our return engendered a lot of teasing and laughing, until Ginny held up her ring finger. Alicia and Ginny were immediately fourteen years old again, squealing and hugging and jumping up and down. I looked at Arden as we shook hands. "What do you think the chances are that we'll be hearing talk about a possible double wedding before the week is out?" He shrugged and grinned back at me. Once the celebrating of this latest news had wound down, I got everyone's attention again. "I know it seems like a world of new things have been thrown at you today, multiple worlds of new things. You've heard the history of the Choctowineh and the Seekers, and my story. You know about the Light, and you've seen me use my gift. Moving between the many facets, such as Earth and Meadow is just one aspect of it. There are others." As I said this I Light-lifted one of the large flower pots that bordered the patio into the air and let it circle around us a couple times. After returning it to its place, I smiled at all of them and added I thought to them, and while I did, I bounced myself from spot to spot around them, doing fast flickering jumps between a dozen different spots before I returned to where I started. "There are an uncounted number of worlds to explore, an uncounted number of new things to see and a lifetime worth of learning and discovery. There are gifts left behind that wait to be used and people out there in places yet unknown to us that we can help, just as we will help the people back home when we can." Ginny jumped in now. "We have been keeping close tabs on all of you for a reason. We trust you, and we believe in your intelligence and honesty and your desire to do good. We knew that right now would be our best opportunity to recruit you to join us in this adventure. All of you are finally at points in your lives where you can determine your own next move without obligation or reservation." "That is why we arranged this event today. We could have celebrated the M.D. Behind Ginny's name anytime in the last year. We've been waiting for a chance to ask you all to join us, and here we are. Arden, Alicia, Mike, Fred and Chet. Will you walk away from the lives you are leading now and join us? You must know though, that the ability to move between worlds is not something that can be taught, and at the moment, I am the only one we know of who has the gift. If I were to die while we were off on another facet, everyone with me would be trapped there. Forever." Ginny thought at them all. Phew! Talk about your dead silences! Nobody moved a muscle for a full minute. Before anyone could say anything though, Eru, wise old Soul Diver that he was, interrupted everyone's pondering. "Perhaps you all should spend the evening thinking about this. We will all be getting together in just a few short hours for dinner at the Parkin's. Save your replies for then." "Excellent idea! I said, lets get everyone back home!" And with that I reached out and moved us all back to the patio in Mom and Dad's back yard. I think the stunned faces of everyone as they filed through the house to their various cars was sufficient to tip Mom off to the day's proceedings. "Where's Dad?" I asked Mom. "He's out in the Shop I think." She answered. I thought to him. We got the two of them together in the kitchen, and instead of any kind of fancy announcement, Ginny just held up her hand and displayed the ring. I got hugs from both of them and when Dad asked me about the timing, I confessed that I'd upped the schedule by a few days because of Arden and Alicia's announcement of their engagement. "We need to get over to my house before people start arriving." Ginny said. "I do not want my Mom and Dad to be the last to know about the engagement!" With immediate support from all corners, I bounced us over to Ginny's bedroom, and we were quickly on our way down the stairs looking for her folks. "Mom! Dad!" Ginny yelled through the house. "Out here!" we heard from the driveway. "Silly us, we were waiting for the two of you to pull up in the GTO." Mary said as we came through the door. I stopped and got a hug, but Ginny kept right on moving, and very shortly was screaming and laughing like a fourteen year old again. I turned from hugging her Mom, and saw the reason. Sitting in their driveway was the twin to my GTO, except hers was blue! "Why do I suspect the hands of Freddie Sabarte have been toiling on your behalf?" I asked Paul. "Too true!" He laughed back. "Do you think she likes it?" "Ya think?" I said as I looked at where she lay across the hood, hugging her car. When she recovered, she came and gave her Dad a kiss and a hug, and he handed her the keys. Mary got a hug and kiss as well, and then with the two of them standing there, arm in arm, Ginny slid herself into my side. "Our turn." She said, and once again held up her left hand. ------- Chapter 2: Light Focused The dinner at Paul and Mary's seemed somewhat anti-climactic after the events of the day, but it did give us a chance to share our good news, as well as Arden and Alicia's, with Grandma and Grandpa Carson, Cyrus and Felicia and a few of the other guests who knew all of us. During the course of the evening I saw Chet and Cyrus deep in conversation. I sat watching them, until finally I saw the two of them grin at each other and clasp hands to forearms for a second. Chet looked up at me immediately, and gave a slight nod. I smiled back. When Arden and Alicia both turned to Principal Hornaman, who was now the High School principal, and announced that they would not be returning in the fall because they had accepted positions elsewhere, I knew that they too had made the decision to join us. During the swell in the conversation that happened over that announcement, Mike leaned over my shoulder and whispered in my ear "I'm in." I shook his hand and squeezed his shoulder. That left Freddie, and I knew all along he would be the one who would have the hardest time. His family was a tight-knit group, and very close. It would be hard for him to leave them, knowing he could wind up unable to return to them, forever. He was also the only one of us who had any kind of wide-spread public recognition. Granted it was a short-lived cable TV reality show where people competed to have their cars "tricked out" by Fabulous Freddie Sabarte and his crew, and the show, and the fame that went with it, had been over for more than a year. Dinner had been done with for over an hour, and people were just mingling and enjoying each other's company by the time Freddie found me out by the barbecue pit enjoying the evening sky. "Dave, you make it hard for me." He said immediately. "I knew it would be hardest for you Fred. You're family is too much like mine, too close, too much history and obligation to be able to risk loosing." "You have it exactly. I have thought about what you offer, and I do not know if I can do it or not. Normally these kinds of decisions, of such importance would be something the whole family would decide together." "Perhaps that is the answer then Fred. You and I need to talk to your Father together, and let you decide together, as a family." "I think he would decide to do it, if it was my wish." Freddie said after some thought. "We do what we do because we have found it is something we are good at, and we came to America because it was always Father's wish to live in a country free of prejudice against the Basque people. But it is not why we live, and it is not what we live for. We have lived only for each other, but our honor has always demanded that we seek to help others when we can." "Let's go find him then, and talk to him. I think he was out in the driveway looking at Ginny's 'Freddie Sabarte Special' with Mr. Parkin last I saw him. We will see whether we should reveal more and make the offer. If the two of you together decide you cannot accept it, I'll understand that you can't join us, and I know the secret is safe with you whether you join or not." "Yes, this is a good plan." Freddie agreed. "My father has much respect for you Dave. He will listen when you speak." Formerio Sabarte was a small man, as it seemed most of the Sabarte men where, but when you saw him, he seemed dipped in dignity, and when he spoke, it was always in measured and thoughtful tones. We did find him in the driveway with Paul Parkin, but they had finished examining the GTO and were sitting on the rear bumper of Chet's truck with Chet and Cyrus, smoking cigars. When Fred asked his Dad if we could speak to him in private, I took a chance and suggested that it would be no bother to allow Cyrus and Chet to listen in, as they were both already aware of what we would be discussing. It turned out to be a good idea, because after a lengthy discussion, broken occasionally by a quick incomprehensible question from Formerio in Euskara, the Basque language, and an equally incomprehensible answer in Euskara from Fred. Finally Fred turned to me. "He asked if these two 'formidable gentlemen' will be with us to keep me safe, and I said yes. Show him something now Dave. He should see something so he knows it is real." So I did the old pebble trick again, spinning it around our heads before sending it off like a rifle shot into the night sky towards the lake. I tracked it briefly with my senses to make sure it would cause no harm where it landed. "Pebbles are a small sample. But this does not always have such small uses." I said, and as I did, I reached out and wrapped my mind around Ginny's GTO and lifted it three feet off the ground and slowly spun it around to face the opposite direction before setting it back down. Formerio's eyes went wide at this. I saw him swallow, hard. "What you ask is not an easy thing for a family such as ours, so you need to know that when I say yes, and the agreement is done, you have not recruited Fred Sabarte of the Sabarte family. You have recruited the Sabarte family, who send Fred to represent us. Can you agree to this?" "I expected no less from you, or this family Mr. Sabarte." I said as I offered my hand. "Agreed then." He said and took my hand and we shook. "Eskerrik asko! I said, pulling the Euskara phrase from Fred's thoughts. "Thank You!" When Fred, Chet and I came back in to the party, arm in arm and laughing out loud over his Dad's parting comment to go be young men and enjoy ourselves, it was the sign everyone else needed. We were soon gathered together by the barbecue pit. "The Legion rides together again folks, and we should celebrate..." I started to say. "But we'll do it tomorrow night." Ginny interrupted. "Tonight I have a bit of rewarding to do for my man here for putting this rock on my finger." She said, raising her hand again for the umpteenth time. "So, we will all get together tomorrow, at my house around noon for a little lunch and an 'orientation session', and while we're doing that we'll plan a little celebration for tomorrow night. Sound good?" I asked, as if it had been my original plan. With everyone in agreement, we headed in. We were met by Mary, who was relieved to see us coming in. "I was just beginning to think I would have to interrupt, people are wanting to say goodbye before they leave Ginny." So we went out to the living room, and Ginny and I said goodbye to the family and friends who had come for the evening as they filed out the door. When the were gone it was just Ginny and I and our parents, and her brother Pete. We offered to help with the cleanup, but we were simply laughed at for even suggesting it. With their refusal in hand I decided it was probably time for us to leave as well. "Pete, Mom and Dad, and Mom and Dad" I said, nodding first to Pete, my parents and then to Ginny's. "On behalf of the future Mrs Virginia McKesson, M.D. And myself, thank you!" Ginny and I did a little fancy bow together towards them all. "I have been informed by a reliable medical expert of my acquaintance" I continued, looking at Ginny, "that the presence of Diamonds and Platinum in close proximity on the left hand ring finger of young women is known to cause a severe hormonal and emotional imbalance." After their laughter died down, I added. "I have further been informed by that same reliable source that it is my duty, as the source of the affliction, to make myself available forthwith to administer the only known remedy for this affliction." "I've got a bad case too" Ginny interjected. "Its probably going to require multiple treatments." "there you have it." I finished. "The Doctor has spoken." With lots of hugs and handshakes and laughter, we made our way out to the driveway. I looked at the GTO, then at Ginny. "You're going to want it at my house tomorrow anyway, and you've been itching to drive it all day and haven't gotten to. Now is your chance." The GTO purred, and Ginny was ecstatic at the wheel, but she wasted no time getting us home. "I want one time in your old bed before we head to Meadow for the night, okay?" "Whatever the doctor orders." I said, which I knew would just rev her engines even more. As we headed up the stairs, my eyes locked on the twitch, twitch, twitch of Ginny's perfect ass in front of me, I sent a quick thought off to Eru and Con. Earlier in the day I had given them the image from my memory of the candles and rose petal scene from my sixteenth birthday in North Carolina. I heard Eru answer back. That first 'treatment' of the night was not artistic or elegant, or long and drawn out. It was heated and urgent and very much rooted in the most basic of human needs. We made my 30 minute estimate only because Ginny refused to leave soiled sheets behind for my Mom to find. I had already popped our discarded clothes into the laundry room on Meadow, and when we were done with the cleanup, I picked Ginny up in my arms and jumped us into the hallway outside the door to our Master Bedroom on Meadow. I set her down and kissed her. "More surprises Davey?" She asked with a smile. "Time travel." Was my reply, with a wry smile in return. When Ginny opened the door and saw the room, I believe to this day she orgasmed on the spot. She pulled me naked onto the bed and we once again joined with an intensity and urgency which staggered me. The tub was a sensuous treat, and the quiet, clinging closeness we found in the warm scented water was a marvelous counterpoint to the raw sexual energy of our earlier coupling. Later we made love again in our bed, more gently, more playfully, teasing and rewarding mingled with low talk and laughter. I fell asleep finally with Ginny nestled in my arms, her head on my chest and a leg draped loosely across mine. Twice during the night I awoke with the good doctor's mouth on me and demands for another application of the treatment whispering in my thoughts. The third time, I woke Ginny and wrapped us in the Light. We let our passion carry us outside of time and reality once again. Ginny was the one who kept us there, for an achingly long time, before we collapsed at last, too exhausted to even think. We slept late, for us, not waking until ten in the morning. I flushed the exhaustion from our bodies while we were in the shower, and by the time we were dressed and pouring ourselves coffee in the kitchen, we were feeling pretty normal again. While I was double-checking the supplies in the fridge and the pantry to make sure my lunch plans for everyone were still on track I heard Ginny stretch and sigh. I turned and looked. Ginny in mid-stretch is always worth watching. The sigh and the wicked smile made me ask. "What?" "All I can say, buster, is if this is the kind of performance I get for letting you put this rock on my finger, I'm wondering what you're going to do to top it on our wedding night." I just laughed evilly and did the old eyebrows-in-motion routine. Con and Eru had been conveniently absent during our initial foray into the kitchen, and I suspected Eru had been monitoring things a little, because as soon as we'd settled back into our coffee after that little pronouncement, they both appeared. Dare was wrapped familiarly around Con's neck, but quickly slithered over to me and we spent a quick moment nose to nose saying hi. I went over the plans with everyone briefly. We were having a deli sandwich building contest for lunch. The fridge was loaded with meats and cheeses and a wide variety of vegetables and everything else under the sun you might think to want to add to a deli sandwich. I looked at Eru and Con. "Gentlemen, I owe you my apologies. In the past couple days you've been reduced to acting more like the hired help than members of the team. I promise that once we've got things squared away that will change." They of course spoke in my defense, and insisted that they had not felt in the least put out by the recent situation. Still I had been feeling guilty, and self-confession must be good for the soul as they say, because I did feel better after having said my piece. I reached out with my senses and saw that the 'packages' that Con and I had prepared earlier in the week were ready and waiting. I popped them from the basement, placing each one at a place at the table in the formal dining room. Each was a simple paper wrapped bundle, and each had a name on it. Once things appeared to be well in hand, I jumped Ginny and I back to my room at Mom and Dad's house. We had about fifteen minutes before we expected the gang to begin showing up, and we used that time to check in with Mom and Dad, let them know we would probably not be reachable for most of the afternoon and evening, but that we would check in around dinner time. Cyrus and Felicia arrived first. I had asked them to be a little early, just because they were not part of the original group. Not because I thought there was any chance they wouldn't be accepted, but just to put it out there that the Legion was no longer just a group of kids from school. Ten minutes later I heard a big roaring rumble from in front of the house, and looking through the window, I saw the entire gang, all of them, in the back of the long bed Dodge pickup that belonged to Chet's Dad. They were sitting in two rows along the sides, wearing what had to have been replica German WWII helmets. I yelled to everyone to come out front, and together we watched them pull off a perfect close order drill dismount from the truck. The theme from an old TV comedy about WWII called Hogan's Heroes, was playing from a loud speaker placed on the roof of the truck. The entire performance was tailored specifically with my sense of humor in mind and engineered to score a direct hit on my funny bone. Boy did it! The procession marched up to the porch and stopped in front of me and snapped to attention in perfect military formation, led by by Mike, who in a truly atrocious version of a German accent saluted and said "Achtung! Das Legion, reporting for duty, mein Kapitan!" Oh yeah, I cracked up! I cracked up so hard I fell down! I laughed so hard I cried! When I finally regained my senses, and wiped the tears from my eyes, I hugged and thanked each of them. We waved Chet's Dad goodbye as he drove off, and went into the house. I invited everyone to head out to the patio, and let them go ahead of me. I washed my face very quickly in the kitchen sink and then joined everyone in the back yard. "Lunch awaits." I said as I got there, and jumped everyone from the patio behind my house on Earth to the patio behind our house on Meadow. The big double French doors had been opened up into the kitchen, and everything was set up in buffet style, ready to go. "Lunch today is a contest to see who can build the best Deli sandwich." Ginny announced. In a heartbeat we were digging in. I suspected I would loose, because I was just too much of a pastrami on rye with swiss cheese fan to deviate too much from that. Ginny and Alicia didn't even try to build a winning entry, as they both made simple turkey breast sandwiches, all they seemed to splurge on was the mustard, which was a nice country-style Dijon. Cyrus and Felicia teemed up and made a pretty impressive tower of roast beef and cheese in four layers. The top layer was Felicia's share, and the bottom three were Cyrus' His had the horseradish, and Felicia's had hummus. Arden I swear became a whirling dervish and produced a prodigious tower of edible wonder he called the 'Dagwood of Death'. He had gone to the extreme of actually making a dressing to soak the middle two layers in, using olive oil, balsamic vinegar, freshly chopped basil and a few other spices I didn't catch. It was prodigious and looked amazing, and since it was way more than Arden could eat alone, we all got a taste of the winner, and it was delicious! Once we'd eaten, and gotten the kitchen cleaned up I asked everyone to follow me into the big dining room. They quickly found their places, set with the packages on which each had their name. "These places are not set to indicate where anyone should sit, this was a totally random arrangement. Please, everyone open their package." As they quickly discovered, each package contained a set of clothing, a pair of sunglasses and a bracelet. "You can put the bracelets on now of course, the will stretch to fit over your wrists, but the are what we would call a metallic nano-polymer. Their purpose along with the sunglasses, will be revealed in a bit. The clothes you can all put on now. Ginny will take you ladies off to another room to change of course. We're not gonna make you all go Ripley on us yet." As they headed off with Ginny, Arden shook his head and laughed. "You have got to know the women you're hanging out with are good to go when you spout a reference to the movie Alien and none of them blink an eye." We all changed quickly into the clothes, there were mesh shorts, a mesh t-shirt and a jump suit that looked something like the flight suits that military fighter pilots wore with a ton of pockets on the outside. The difference was that these were all a matte black and more form-fitting, as the pockets and loops were all flush to the rest of the suit until needed. They all featured a decorative circle design of 12 gems on the chest. Nine sapphire blue and 3 crystal white. When the ladies returned there was a brief session of mutual appreciation for the fine figures we cut in our new outfits. Even Eru looked dashing in his outfit. The colors seemed to set of the smoky blue color of his eyes remarkably. We were all amazed at the look of his eyes following the cataract surgery 4 years ago. Ginny speculated openly for weeks about what a ladies man he must have been when he was younger. "Ladies and gentlemen, look around you." I said, getting everyone's attention. "The Legion of the Doomed is no more. From this day forward, let us be known as..." I paused for dramatic effect. "The Legion of Light." "To the Legion of Light!" Con called out. "The Legion of Light!" everyone called back. ------- Chapter 3: Light Fantastic We stood on the inner circle, the nine blue crystal spires rising above us. I had jumped us all through to the Seeker planet only a moment before, and I was giving the Legion a chance to absorb the impact of this new location. Once everyone had a chance to look around and get used to the idea that they were really on yet another world, and an important one in our own story, I got their attention. "Legionnaires!" I called out. When they were all looking at me, I continued. "Radiating from this center platform are four others, each dedicated to a purpose. We will not be going to any of them for the moment however. Instead, I think I'll just go back to Meadow and leave you all here, okay?" And as I said it, I moved myself back to Meadow I reached out with my mind and felt Eru welcome me into his thoughts. I nestled into his consciousness until I was seeing through his eyes and listening through his ears. Sort of the reverse of his old Soul Diver trick of borrowing Pearl's senses. After a moment of silence, Ginny came to my defense. "Well, I'm sure this is supposed to teach us something important. Any ideas?" "If this is intended to make us really feel the possibility of being stranded forever somewhere, its working fine on me!" Felicia added. "I know Dave" Arden offered. "If there is a way for us to get back on our own this would be the way he'd present it. Nothing helps fix information in your brain as well as fear!" "Well, he did say we'd learn about using the bracelet later, do you think that might have anything to do with it?" Alicia asked. "What?" Chet asked. "Are we supposed to grab our bracelets, click our heels and say 'there's no place like home'?" and he mirrored his words with the actions, and poof! He was gone! I pulled myself back from Eru's mind and smiled at the stunned and speechless Chet. Welcome home Chet. I didn't know you were a Wizard of Oz fan!" He stood there with me, wide grin on his face while we waited for the rest of the Legion to appear. It didn't take long. Less than a minute later, all nine of them appeared at the same time. Once the hubbub died, I got their attention again. "First, despite the enjoyable theatrics, clicking your heals together and employing the phrase 'there's no place like home' is not necessary. Grasping the bracelet in your free hand and thinking 'home' is the actual trigger." I bowed to Chet theatrically, to a wave of giggling. "The People which the Seekers and Choctowineh became, and who created Con and left us their gifts, did not leave behind a knowledge of how to build machines which can manipulate the Light in an intelligent way. Instead they left technology like this." I held the bracelet up in front of me. "This device holds a single jump location, permanently burned into it and enough of the Light required to make a single jump to that location. The only way to give a bracelet a charge is for me to focus on it and put that energy and information in." I hesitated then and looked at each person as I went around the table. "The only way!" I repeated for emphasis. "Except for Con." I paused for additional emphasis. "Con is an artificial being, and his creators incorporated the same technology into him with two important differences. The first is that Con generates his own energy. The second is that Con's jump location permanently tracks mine. He can jump on his own at any time, but the only place he can jump to is wherever I am." "This limitation is intentional, we surmise" Con added "Because we believe my creators were fearful of providing an avenue for us to bypass the thousands of years of learning and growth that the knowledge of this technology represents. The ability to manipulate the energies we call Light came at the peak of the Seeker technological advancement, and even then their use of it was crude and rudimentary before the last of the Choctowineh, with their natural abilities to sense and control the Light, joined them." "Welcome to the Staging level. By the way. This is where we will assemble the team's gear and supplies that we will take with us on a mission. This is the destination hard-coded into your bracelets. You will notice the well lit area several hundred yards behind me. That is the access well to the main storage area. Let's walk over and take a look." I turned and led everyone over to the well. It was a 40x40 foot square opening in the floor, with a glowing red strip of lights running around it. This is not a ride at the amusement park, but please try this for yourself." I then proceeded to jump into the opening. Eight pairs of wide eyes watched me drop like a stone and still land, gentle as a feather, on the floor twenty feet below. I landed in the center of a section of floor outlined with recessed red light strips similar to the lighting above it. Con and Eru watched as well, but their eyes were less wide — they'd seen it already. "Go ahead!" I yelled up at them. Hesitantly at first, Cyrus and Chet leading the way all ten of them jumped off into the open air, only to find themselves landing softly on the floor beside me. "Yes, this uses a Seeker variation of the Taluatan Magno-gravitic technology." I walked over to the side of the light strips where I had left a large wheeled cart piled with containers. "Once in the well with one of these special carriers, find and grab the activator handle." I demonstrated each step as I said it. "The carrier will move up on its own. Keep your hand on the activator and jump up with it." I yelled back down at them as I was now already close to clearing the floor on the Staging level. Unseen magnetic grappling fields moved my carrier and I off to the side and set us down outside the strip that marked the edge of the well. I took my hand off the activator and walked back over to the edge of the well. "Yes, you can go up the down staircase." I jumped back over the edge and was quickly among them again. "This is the main storage area and below that is the weapons level." I looked at my watch. "We will not be exploring any more of the basement levels today. Questions?" "Do we have an elevator, access well or other method for moving large items in and out of these levels as well as with access to the outside?" Arden asked. " Good question, Arden." I pointed to the middle of the open room, and while everyone was looking, I moved the cargo container sized building unit that I had originally moved here for Con into the middle of the room. I counted to ten and them moved it back to where it had been. "Just me." "Anyone else?" I asked. "What about training, firing ranges, that sort of thing?" Cyrus asked. "Oh, we've got that covered, you'll see but none of the training or educational facilities are located here. That will be on the agenda for tomorrow's session. Next question?" No questions came. "Follow me." I said, and headed to a door in a column in the center of the room. There was a dark gray plate set at an angle coming out of the wall next to the door. I reached in with my mind and triggered the internal activation switch, and the plate was suddenly outlined in green light. "Ginny, step up and place your hand upon the plate." I said. She did and the light blinked blue for a few seconds and then went out. I triggered it again and called for the next person. We repeated the process until everyone had completed it. I explained that Eru, Con and I had keyed ourselves in shortly after the building was completed. Once the plate had cycled back to its blank unlit state for the last time, I asked someone to put their hand on the plate again. Alicia had gone last and was still standing there when I made my request, so she reached out and did as I requested. The frame of the door itself flashed blue once and the door slid silently sideways into itself, revealing a well lit normal seeming elevator. I ushered everyone into the elevator there were four unmarked buttons and I pushed the 2nd button down from the top. Absolutely nothing seemed to happen for several second, and then there was a 'ding', and the door opened. We looked out on another dimly lit level of the basement. "Tricky! Mike said. "Anti-gravity?" "More or less." I answered back. I touched a panel on the wall near the elevator door and lights came flooding up. The long wide room had doors along each of its long walls. "Welcome to the Personal Storage level by the way. This level contains personal storage areas for each of you. Lets take a look at one." I quickly walked over to the nearest one and triggered the internal activator and the palm plate was suddenly outlined in green. "I know what to do next." Cyrus said without waiting, and placed his palm on the door. The door flashed blue three times and then slid silently open. "These doors will key to only one person." I said, "Whichever person puts their hand on the activation plate first is the person it will key to." With that I reached out and tripped the activators on the rest of the panels. Everyone wandered off to pick a panel to activate. Once everyone had keyed their panels, they gathered back again at the storage area that Cyrus had claimed. I motioned him in, and had everyone follow. There was plenty of room. Each storage area was an open 20 foot by 20 foot room with three walls covered with storage units of all sizes. The far wall opposite the door contained a single storage unit that was also 20 feet by 20 feet. None of these units were keyed, but as we turned to return the way that we had come in, I pointed to another activation panel in the wall six feet from the open door. "This panel is paired with the outside panel. Unless that panel has been activated and the door is open, this panel will not function. Cyrus, if you will?" I asked. Cyrus put his hand on the panel and a small recess opened beside it, and the main door closed. Cyrus reached in and pulled out a white bracelet, similar to the black one everyone now wore. "This is your lifeline." I said. "Each of you has an identical one of these in your storage area. It is charged, and is permanently set to jump you to the safest place on Earth that I could think of to send you. If anything were ever to happen to me, and you can get to Meadow, this bracelet will take you to the Focus in North Carolina. Use it exactly as you have learned to use the mission bracelet. Guys, this system is as close as I could come to getting you all home safely if something ever happens to me, I hope its enough." I held out my hand and Cyrus hesitated at first, but handed me the white bracelet. "you are wise to hesitate. Never let this bracelet leave your control." I put the bracelet back in the opening and the door automatically slid shut. As it did, the main door opened back up. We walked back out to the main room, and I led everyone back to the elevator. I pushed the top button and we were quickly piling out into a hallway on the ground floor. Ginny got everyone organized and they took off to pick out their rooms. There were three bedroom suites on the left and three on the right side of the ground floor. Their were six more bedroom suites on the second floor along with a sauna and exercise room. The third floor was the master suite and belonged to Ginny and me. Each bedroom suite was really designed for couples, with their own bathroom and sitting area. Of course we had only three couples so far. We'd better get out of these outfits before everyone starts coming back, don't you think?" Eru asked. "Good idea." I said. Unlike everyone else I'd popped my regular clothes up to my room when I'd changed, so I simply popped into the room straight from the patio. I quickly changed into my regular clothes, dropped the mission gear into the laundry chute, brushed my teeth kissing fresh and popped back down to the patio. I grabbed a pitcher of iced tea from the fridge, poured myself a glass, and waited for everyone else to return. As folks got settled, rooms selected and clothes changed, people began filtering back into the kitchen and patio area. Eventually, with everyone gathered, there were a few things I needed to find out before we move on. "I'd like to ask for your input on a couple of things guys, before we go." Everyone settled down and I had their attention very quickly. "First, we need to decide if we want to be our own housekeepers, or whether we want to try to recruit some staff to take care of those duties. I'm talking the traditional household duties here, cooking, cleaning, and laundry, as well as yard work and building maintenance. While there will probably be plenty of times when we will be able to do this ourselves, there will definitely be times when we are too busy, or gone for long stretches of time. I could envision us returning to spoiled food, smelly rooms and other annoyances after long missions. Comments or Questions?" No one had thought that far into the new situation yet, but I didn't want to start making assumptions about what how we organized things. I let them think. "I assume you have a pool of secure candidates to recruit from?" Chet asked. "We have two, actually." I answered. "Cyrus will tell you that there are entire generations of McKesson's and McKesson-kin in the area of Chocowinity, North Carolina, that would certainly be secure, and a good number of them are already aware of a good bit of the history associated with what we're doing. They would be our primary pool. The second group is from Eru's world. There are a group of 'faithful followers' who have been maintaining a sacred shrine at the spot of the Focus on their world for the recorded history of the people there. Their entire council of elders saw Eru and I disappear from the shrine in the blink of an eye after thanking them for helping us. We've been back several times, and we are now considered signs of a return to them of the mystical 'Lost Masters'. Since we do not know enough of the 'Holders of the Rehl Stone' as they call themselves, or of their history or legends, we cannot be sure that they wouldn't eventually come to see us as deceivers once they got a better understanding of us and our origins." "Giving their council members a better idea of our origins and goals is on our to-do list." Eru added. "it has been to our advantage so far in our dealings with them that they have, even more than the average Taluatan, a great deal of reverence for Soul Divers, which they know I am. More importantly, they carry that reverence to even higher levels when it comes to Spirit Masters, and I believe Dave is on his way to becoming one. Several members of the Rehl High Council consider him one now, and are our most important allies in dealing with them." "Their entire organization is unrecognized by, and completely outside of, the organized Taluatan society and government. To the government, they are merely a group of law-abiding citizens with a common interest." Con continued. "It is probably not a coincidence that this group of potential allies is also centered around the same geographical area as the McKesson candidates, and involved with their version of the focus in a similar, if less informed way." "While the Rhel Stone candidates prefer to dress themselves in the trappings of a non-technological, close-to-nature lifestyle, they are members of a society that is our technological equal. Their scientists have had breakthroughs in several areas which ours have not, and we have advanced in some areas where they have not." Ginny carried on. "Their numbers are an unknown quantity at this time, but we suspect it will prove to be a smaller group than the McKesson Clan" "Bottom line, I think its in our best interests to involve the McKesson Clan, and we probably want to do it in as big a way as we think is practical. My grandfather has funded everything we've done to this point, and I expect that to continue, at least for the near term." "The organization that has developed around the shadow community of the Guardians of Chocowinity are well funded, reliable, and organized." Cyrus took a turn now. "I was at Bull McKesson's elbow for over five years, so I've seen them in action. They are present in all the fields which will impact us, finance, mining, agriculture, engineering, research, manufacturing and transportation. They are the perfect front for our activities on Earth and the perfect organization to maintain the supply line we will need to keep ourselves supplied." I left it at that and sat, sipping my iced tea while the Legionnaires considered things. "All in favor of recruiting a staff from the McKesson Clan?" I finally asked. "Aye!" Echoed 10 voices in the room. "Great!" I said, checking my watch. "We'd better get moving if we're all hoping to have dinner with our families tonight." "Wait!" Mike said. "Didn't you say you had a couple of things to ask us? That was only one thing!" "Well, yes there was a second thing, but it was more of a personal nature." I hesitated. "Spit it out, goof ball!" Chet demanded. "Okay, okay." I huffed in pseudo-indignation. "Mike, Chet, Arden, Fred — other than Ginny, you are all my oldest friends. I truly expected that when the day came that Ginny and I got married, one of you would be my best man." I paused for a moment as they all watched me. "With that in mind, would any of you be horribly upset if I asked Con to be my best man?" I had seen and felt Con's tears before. I remembered especially the first time I was able to hug my friend, there on the edge of the grotto in Chocowinity. But this time I watched as this artificial being wept! He sobbed uncontrollably when everyone else in the room said 'Here! Here!' and broke into applause at my suggestion. When at last he began to regain some control of his emotions, he stood and hugged first Ginny and then me. He held me close to him for a long time, and I could actually feel him shivering, he was so caught up in the emotion of the moment. "I shall be very pleased to be your best man, my friend. I never dreamed..." He started to say before stepping back from me and turning to face us all. He continued in a louder, but still shaky voice. "My friends, you must remember, that in the thousands and thousands of years that the machine I was, existed, I did not sleep, and I did not dream. There was no joy or sorrow, no hope or fear. If I had a desire, it was merely to complete my task efficiently." Con reached out and took my hand and held it. "The day I first detected the consciousness of young Davey McKesson, torn from his physical body and flung madly into the infinite expanse of the Light with his companion Dare, was the day I first experienced self awareness. The moment when I succeeded in catching and redirecting that consciousness to successfully reunite those two consciousnesses with their bodies, was the first time I knew hope." Con kissed the back of my hand, still holding me tightly. "In the instant when I first saw him, as he jumped to meet me that day on the ledge, that instant was the first time I knew joy. The day I threw myself into the maelstrom, the day I hugged Davey McKesson on the edge of the grotto, on that day I knew friendship for the first time. And today!" Con raised his arms and stretched them out, figuratively embracing us all, and smiled. "Today my friend and savior asked a favor, and in that instant I knew love! I have felt it! It is in me!" Con began crying gently again, with a smile on his face at the same time. "My creators were wiser than we could comprehend, this is known to us. But how great they must have been, how wise and wonderful to foresee this time, and give to me the capacity to know joy and love. How wise and wonderful you all must be, to be able to love this old machine. Thank you all so much!" A pretty much textbook version of a group hug took place then, and we all cried right along with Constantine, our warm-hearted, teary-eyed and ever-so-human friend. ------- Chapter 4: Legion Life Con and Eru came home with me that evening, and we had dinner with Mom and Dad. Dad was of course intrigued at the thought that he could actually eat food. This quickly descended int a rare moment of 'Doctor Dad' rearing his head. When Con began to explain that his physiology did not merely mimic human structures, but duplicated them clear down to the cellular level Mom put her foot down and insisted that there would be no discussing the physiology of artificial alien visitors at the dinner table, no matter how much we loved the visitor in question. Shortly after dinner we were all happily listening to a tongue-in-cheek dissertation from Con on his still totally undeveloped sense of taste, and how, now that he had mastered the simple things like love and hope and joy, he hoped to develop taste buds, and perhaps a fashion sense sufficient to the task of going to the mall to shop for clothes, the obvious pinnacle of human activities. Perhaps it was the dead pan delivery, but Eru and Dad were laughing their asses off. Dad was actually pounding his knee as he roared hysterically. "Its a guy thing." I was saying to Mom's raised eyebrow when I felt my cell phone go off. As usual it was sitting on top of my dresser, but I'd started leaving a little thread of myself connected to it so I didn't have to carry it around when I was in the house. I popped it onto my hand, flipped it open. "Dave McKesson." "Davey, When will you be ready?" It was Ginny. "Ready for what?" I asked "We, meaning the Legion, will be enjoying beer by the pitcher, dancing, bowl after bowl of excessively salted peanuts, and dancing to live music at the Sluice Box tonight. Perhaps this slipped your attention? Oh!" She added. Did I mention there would be dancing?" "I'm sure you did, my love. We were just sitting and letting our dinner digest. Shall I pick you up, or meet you there?" "Pete's volunteered to be the designated driver if we want one, and I think you should invite Con." "Just a minute." I said to Ginny. "Hey Constantine!" I yelled into the room. "Yes Dave?" He replied. "Can you consume alcohol?" "Well certainly Dave, although as a fuel it is terribly inefficient. Still, in pinch I could process it." Ginny heard his answer through the phone and broke into laughter immediately. "No, program! I mean can you drink intoxicating beverages? Look in my mind if you need a reference!" "Of course I can Dave. And don't worry, I have sufficient control of my metabolic processes to avoid the intoxicating effects." "Okay Ginny" I said into the phone, "it looks like we've got two to go here for drinks and dancing!" "Dancing?" I heard Mom say. I thought to Ginny "Mom?" I replied out loud. "Sweetie?" She said to Dad. I saw him sigh and smile. "Sign us up Son." He looked over at Eru, who shrugged, then nodded. Five to go here." he immediately added an "Uh Oh!" "Uh oh?" I asked. "If I'm out on the town, Cyrus is working. He might prefer I stay home so he can enjoy the evening." "Uhhh, Dad?" I said a bit timidly. "What?" "I sort of hired Cyrus away from you today." I actually heard dad snort and laugh at the same time! "Oh Lord! Well, there's a reason to celebrate, I guess! Lets go find our dancing shoes dear!" Pete was driving the Parkin Sporting Goods Van when they stopped to pick us up. It was just Pete and Ginny. They'd dropped everyone else of before coming to get us. Somehow, in a twelve passenger van carrying seven people, Ginny felt it necessary to sit in my lap the entire way! I do not often drink, but I do enjoy a pitcher of cold beer and the company of good friends while drinking it. The dinner-and-dancing band was still playing when we got there. The Rock-until-closing band usually didn't start until 9pm. Mike reminded me that it was winter, and with the tourist season months away, we would be getting nothing but country and country rock for the entire evening, courtesy of 'The Frog-Leg Four' a local band that had been playing in the Angel's Camp area since before I was born. To their credit, they were well-practiced, their fiddle player was top notch, and they did mix a fair amount of country rock and soft rock into their mix. The only trouble we had was when some guy I didn't know asked Ginny to dance. She showed him her ring and said very sweetly that she had gotten engaged to be married yesterday, and all her dances were reserved for her fiance. He began to suggest that perhaps a little time spent in his company would reveal to her that she could be making wiser choices. Chet and Cyrus stood and suggested that perhaps he could be making wiser choices. He very quickly left to go make some of those wiser choices, someplace very far away. There used to be a time, my Dad tells me, when it was very difficult to get anything on tap in a small local club like this except the usual big brewery fare. To be honest, the popular national brands did little for me. I preferred darker, more flavorful micro-brews. The Sluice Box had a rotating tap that changed on a weekly basis, and this week I was delighted to get introduced to a tasty brew called 'Arrogant Bastard Ale' from Stone Brewing in San Diego. To quote a famous Greek philosopher. 'Mmmmm Beer!" Ginny and I danced. A lot! We danced our shoe leather into shoe paper, we danced so much.! Those long-ago dance lessons from her Mom were still paying off all these years later. The slow dances did not involve dance lesson material of course, not with the events of recent days. The slow dances required a parental advisory sticker and ice water! Phew! When my Ginny Blossom get her motor revving she lights up a room, and heats it up too! Maybe it was just the beer talking, but towards the end of the evening a guy I didn't know from Adam came up to me and shook my hand and told me he considered me the luckiest sonofabitch he'd ever met. I pulled my reply straight out of the movie 'Road House' and Sam Elliot's great line, really the movie's only good line. "Exactly right!" I drawled. Eru agreed with me about the Arrogant Bastard, although he couldn't understand our preference for drinking it cold. Later I saw him and Dad with a couple glasses of Guinness, and he looked very happy. I was also totally amazed to watch all the "mature" women, swarming to him like mosquitoes to a bug zapper. Maybe it was those smoky blue eyes, maybe it was just the way he carried himself, his air of cool sophistication, but Eru was a babe magnet and an amazing dancer! I took a quick mental peek at one point, and realized that he was lightly meshed with his partner's mind, making every movement flow seamlessly into his partner's. An awesomely cool trick which Ginny and I quickly adopted. Con, in the meantime, discovered the game of darts. He was having a thoroughly enjoyable time fleecing a large crowd of local ranchers out of their hard earned money. My artificial buddy was amazingly adept at placing the dart exactly where he wanted it. I saw his lip twitch at one point when his latest victim watched him hit three triple twenties in a row to go out and exclaimed in admiration, "Man Dude, you are a machine!" Watching him slip immediately into a dead-on Arnold-Schwarzenegger-as-the-terminator impression and get his circle of victims laughing their asses off was just amazing. And after he'd fleeced the bunch of them he turned right around and spent the entire pile of winnings on round after round of drinks for them. By the end of the night there were at least a couple of those guys I'd have sworn would have taken a bullet for their new friend Constantine. About half way through the evening, I realized that I hadn't seen a lot of Pete. I asked Ginny if she knew where he was, and she pointed towards the kitchen door. Pete, as it turned out had spent the entire evening talking to one Sarah Granger, who spent her evening cranking out orders of bar food for the patrons out front and smiling back at Pete. They shut the ovens and grill down several hours before closing, and when I saw Pete helping Sarah clean up, I mentioned to Ginny that if we helped with the cleanup, Pete and Sarah might be able to get in a little time on the dance floor. That was all it took, and very quickly Ginny, Arden, Alicia and I were in the kitchen rendering aide. With the tricky bits out of the way and only the sweeping and mopping left, Ginny asked Sarah how far away she lived. "I live in the apartment upstairs." Sarah blushed. "This is my parent's club, and I'm taking the job and the apartment until I decide what I want to try to do." She lowered her head a little then and Pete said "Sarah got divorced three months ago, and despite the fact that her ex was a two-timing rat-bastard, she seems to keep trying to blame herself!" "Sarah," Ginny said, "Get yourself upstairs and take a quick shower and throw on a dress and some dancing shoes and join us for the next couple of hours and have some fun!" "Well... Okay, I will!" She said, with some energy, and pulled off her apron and threw it into the soiled linen hamper as she bolted out the rear door. She had been gone out the door for all of two seconds, when she came back in, rushed over to Pete, grabbed his face in both hands and administered a lip-smacking kiss! "I'll be right back!" and whoosh! She was gone out the door again. Pete and I sent everyone else back to the festivities out front while we finished the sweeping and mopping. While we did that, I told Pete that I had recently recruited everyone from the old Legion of the Doomed to join me in a little venture I had just started, but that it required a lot of foreign travel, and some risk. "Are you seriously interested in Sarah?" I asked. "I could be." He answered. "We went to high school together, and She was and is a serious babe, and I always thought a very warm and friendly person, but she was dating someone the entire time I knew her, the previously mentioned recent ex as a matter of fact, so I never had a chance to ask her out. When I saw her in the kitchen here tonight it all came back to me, and I decided second chances shouldn't be wasted." He grinned at me. "Thus my sudden and lengthy absence from the festivities." "Well, I don't want to interfere with that if you see this as something worth pursuing, so I think I should hold off on the offer I was going to make." "What kind of offers are you making to my date?" Sarah said as she walked back in through the rear door. "It was a potential future job offer, but it will require a lot of foreign travel and some risk. It would leave him out of touch with friends and family back home for extended periods. I just wanted to give him time to explore his options and re-evaluate his current situation." "And I just complicated the situation, did I?" Sarah asked. "Yes, you really, really did." Pete said, and then pulled Sarah into his arms and gave her a very passionate kiss. "Oh goody!" Sarah laughed. "Let's dance!" The rest of their evening was a blur of fun. I drank nothing but beer all night, but I drank it slowly, and every time I started to feel even a bit more than bubbly, I would pull a little power from the Light and washed the excess alcohol from my system. Freddy and Arden were a little wobbly when we left, but everyone else seemed pretty steady. Pete handed the keys to the van to Mom, and slid his arm around Sarah's waist. "Sorry to leave you with only the backup designated driver," Pete said with a grin, "but you've been outbid for my services, and I shall be escorting this young lady safely home." Funny how no one seemed to mention to Mom and Dad where Sarah lived. With Mom driving we quickly dropped Fred off first, followed by Arden and Alicia, then Cyrus and Felicia, who dragged Chet with them, telling us he was getting the spare room tonight. Mike was next, and then it was just Mom, Dad, Eru, Con, Ginny and me. As soon as we were back home at Mom and Dad's and safely indoors, we gave Mom and dad good night hugs and I jumped Con, Eru, Ginny and I home to Meadow. We said our good nights and Ginny and I were very quickly in our bedroom. We did a quick strip, followed by an equally quick cleanup in the master bath and dived naked under the covers, where Ginny slid herself up my side to nuzzle my neck with a couple of soft kisses. I slid my arm around her and down to the small of her back, pressing her warmth closer to mine. "That was such a wonderful evening Davey, thank you!" She whispered into my cheek. "Thank you, Blossom." I whispered back. We both lay snuggled loosely together, breathing in and out together slowly as we let the fatigue of the day wash over us. My world faded slowly to black with the faint feel of Ginny's breathe against my skin. The first thing I did the next morning after breakfast was jump Ginny and I to my House. I grabbed my cell phone off the dresser and called Grandpa A.J. while Ginny ran down, grabbed the keys to return the Sporting Goods van that Mom had driven home last night. "Hello Dave!" Grandpa said when he answered the phone. "Hi Grandpa." I said in return. "I need to come have a chat with you about getting some more serious McKesson Clan involvement in my current project. Are you free? Next week sometime?" "I'm always free for you, you know that. Besides, I really am trying to be retired now. I don't really do anything but read status reports and keep my eye out for potential problems or opportunities." "Sounds good, see you Next week." "See you then Grandpa." As soon as I was off the phone I called out to Ginny with my thoughts. I jumped myself into her room as she was thinking this, and she bounced up off the bed as soon as she saw me. "Okay mastermind, what next?" "time to gather the flock, my little angel!" "Shall we?" I said, and jumped the two of us through to Meadow. Eru and Con were waiting for us in the kitchen with a freshly brewed pot of coffee. I spent the next half hour with Con packing our traveling pantry with food and drink and the other items we'd need for the meals we would have while we were away. Thirty minutes later I had everyone together around the dining table. Arden and Alicia had trouble finding a spot back home where someone wouldn't either see them or wonder later why they didn't come back out of where they went in, so they finally wound up driving over to my house, and I jumped them through from there. "What we're going to do today and tomorrow will be more orientation, and should give everyone a much better idea of the resources available to us. Before we start, there are some things that we're going to make part of our regular training, and one of them is morning meditation. I'd like you all to join us for our first group session now." Eru led us into the large open living room at the front of the house. This was where those big two story glass windows were, and the view and the light in the room in the morning was very nice. We all sat in a circle, our knees almost touching. We started with some deep breathing and relaxation exercises. When Eru felt everyone was ready he began. I heard Eru think to us all. At the same time I felt him reach out and wrap the entire group in his own thoughts, building a pool of calm through us all. Ginny and I helped reinforce this with little touches here and there. We sat for almost an hour like this, Eru's deft touch licking at the edges of our consciousness, guiding, calming, building little paths for now. Later we hoped these paths would grow into fully open avenues, and then, like Ginny the rest of the Legion would develop the mental skills we had found so useful. AS those skills began to grow, we would get the added benefit of beginning to share in the knowledge and skills of our teammates. We spent the rest of the time talking about what would be appropriate gear for us to take on this trip, and then packing that gear and assembling it in the staging area. We each had a shoulder bag made from the same dense woven material as our uniforms, as well as a larger, hard-sided case. With the individual bags packed, I popped in the pantry that Con and I had prepared. "Before we head out for our first official off-world session, here's more basic info for you all. Put your hand on your bracelet and hold it." I watched as everyone did as I'd asked. "Each of you should have felt your bracelet tingle briefly. Is there anyone who did not feel a tingle?" Nobody responded. "The tingle means your bracelet has a charge and is ready to go. No charge, no tingle. You need to make this check prior to every mission." I saw everyone nodding at this important tidbit. "Next on the list of important tidbits is the reason for the fancy uniforms. These suits are your second best friend on a mission." I jumped a crowbar from the tool storage and handed it to Cyrus. "Hit me with it." I said, raising my arms clear of my torso. Cyrus hauled back and took a home run swing with the crow bar that almost made me wince, and I knew what would happen in advance! Backed by all the power Cyrus could muster, the crowbar hit my uniform-covered rib cage and bounced! "Your uniform is club-proof, stab-proof and bullet-proof. It will insulate you from extremes of temperature in either direction. It is totally waterproof, and will not react to acids, or other chemical agents." "This is body armor!" Chet said. "Exactly." I insisted that everyone spend a little time giving and receiving blows with the crowbar, as well as a knife Cyrus had already slipped into a leg sheath built into one of his suits legs. They needed to have confidence in their armor, and this was the easiest way to give it to them. When the time was finally up, I knew they felt a whole lot less silly about the uniforms, and a whole lot safer wearing them. With the fun and attempted mayhem out of the way, I reached out to the nearby jump point, and we were gone. ------- Chapter 5: Light Minded I hadn't told everyone where we were going, though Ginny, Con and Eru knew. It became obvious instantly when everyone saw the black, circular platforms and the endless ruined black landscape beyond. "Welcome back to Obsidian. We don't really know what the Seekers called their world before the disaster, it is only referred to as the 'Seeker Home' when we do find mention of it. I'm sure our reasons for naming it as we did are obvious." As I said this, a low, gleaming metal platform came sliding silently towards us. "Ah! Our transportation is here!" I said. Our ride most closely resembled those little tourist water buses that they use in places like the River Walk in San Antonio, or large water parks. There were rows of seats along the sides and a large open area in the middle. The big difference was that where the waterline might mark the part of the craft that was below the surface, this craft simply ended. Below that line was 4 inches of nothing but empty air. The other difference was that there was no rear end on this craft, it was totally open. "I've been calling this thing a 'gravity bus' since I first saw them." I told everyone. "Let's load up." I floated the pantry container in through the rear opening and onto the central platform while everyone grabbed their bags and followed. There was a single drivers station at the front, where Con was sitting, and as soon as we were all seated I gave him the signal and we were in motion. "Our first stop is going to be the residential tower. That building contains sleeping quarters, and a complete kitchen and dining facility. From here you can see that the top of the tower is domed, and that dome covers what we call the 'meditation chamber', and yes, that is where we will conduct our morning meditations whenever we are here." There was very little sensation of motion, other than the visual, and we were very quickly at the entrance to the tower. We left Con to deliver the pantry container to the kitchen area and everyone else followed me. "There are twenty floors in the tower, not counting the meditation chamber. The bottom eight floors are offices and meeting rooms. The middle six floors are what we call the 'barracks'. Each of those floors is divided into 4 large sleeping units, each with 20 beds and separate bath and toilet facilities. The next 3 floors are divided into individual apartments, thirty per floor. Each of these units has its own bath and toilet. The eighteenth floor has 12 larger apartments, the nineteenth floor has 4 apartments and the twentieth floor is a single huge apartment. I will not consider moving into that apartment unless we someday manage to fill all the rest of the apartments. In the meantime, we are considering using it for large social gatherings." "You mean like the office Christmas party?" Mike quipped. "Thank you Mike, we were wondering who was going to volunteer to organize that for us!" I fired back. "For the moment, lets use the eighteenth floor, as it will hold all of us. Later we will probably want to move the married couples to the nineteenth." My description of the tower's layout occupied us until we reached the 'elevator'. Like the access well in our basement, this elevator was outlined in a strip of glowing light. The marked areas was more than large enough for us all to stand in, carrying our gear. "I know this looks like the access well back in the basement on Meadow, but it is somewhat different technology. If you'll all come stand in the lighted area with me?" Everyone followed along, and as each person entered, a holographic representation of the tower flashed into being in front of their faces. "Under normal circumstances you would each touch the floor you wanted, but in this case, I'll select it." I reached out and touched the tip of my finger to the visual representation of the eighteenth floor, then tapped it again. "I hope nobody suffers from agoraphobia." I added. Unlike the floating effect in the access well, here we were lifted up on a disc of glowing whiteness, rising swiftly to the eighteenth floor. The apartments were... odd, I guess would be the best way to put it. They were not designed to in any way meet what would be an Earth human sensibility. Well, an American Earth normal sensibility was all I could compare it to if I was being honest with myself. The beds in the apartments were amazing. The classic anti-gravity bed from generations of science fiction stories I'd read as a teen. You floated effortlessly and in total comfort a few inches above the surface of the bed. Even if you were a restless sleeper and tended to toss and turn, you couldn't find an uncomfortable position on one of these beds, and no matter how active your movement, you never seemed to bump the bed. Ginny and I had tested them extensively during our previous visits. Strictly a matter of research of course. With the sleeping arrangements taken care of and our bags safely stored away, I led everyone back down to the ground floor. I gave everyone a quick look at one of the ground floor offices. All the offices were pretty much the same. Earth human sensibilities or not, it seemed offices were universally bland and boring. The next stop was the dining area. It was arranged in a sort of modified cafeteria layout, with three levels of seating arranged in a pseudo-random layout designed to leave you feeling like you were only eating with 30 or 40 people, rather than the 300 or 400 people the room had the capacity for. With that quick bit of sightseeing out of the way, I assembled everyone in front of the tower. Con was waiting with our 'bus' and with no gear to carry, we loaded in and were off in less than a minute. Within a few short minutes we were disembarking in front of what we called 'The Hall of Gifts'. Without comment, I turned and walked through the entrance. The interior of the hall is tremendous. A single open space a mile long, a thousand yards wide and five stories high. Their were bins and shelves and racks of items, some familiar looking, most not. We walked through row after row, before we finally got to where I'd been heading. A familiar outline of lights on the floor indicated another of the Anti-Grav elevators, and when I stepped into the lighted area everyone followed automatically. This time we were whisked without preamble up all five stories through a small opening onto the roof of the building. The roof of the Hall of Gifts resembled a Star Wars-inspired used car lot. There were thirty or forty different vehicles, ranging in size from sleek, swept-wing single-seat craft obviously intended for combat, all the way up to a huge blimp-shaped craft whose purpose I wouldn't have wanted to venture a guess on. Directly in front of us was the craft we were after however. "Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the Mark I Planetary Survey Platform." I said, waving my arm at the vehicle in front of us. "We don't have any idea if that's even close to what the builders called it, but that is what we intend to use it for." We took the PSP, as Chet was already calling it, out for a little test drive. It was an elongated oval 80 feet long and 50 feet wide, with a slightly curved look to it. It was a totally anti-gravity driven vehicle, and had no aerodynamic flight surfaces. There was room for 6 people at a time to sit in the flight control section, but all of us could fit in if the reminder were willing to stand. Behind the flight section was the main cabin, which held 20 observation/control stations which circled a 'lounge' area in the middle of the craft. The flight controls themselves were deceptively simple. The pilot seat had two 'control sticks' one in each arm of the chair. The one on the right side was a simple 4 way controller for left-right and forward-back. The left side controlled up-down with a rocker action on the grip adding pitch control that allowed the ship to either go nose up or nose down without having any impact on direction of travel or rate of climb or descent. Added to that were some 'soft controls' where certain combinations of movement would be interpreted as flight commands. We gave everyone a chance to try the controls, and then Con took the seat and showed just how you could really fly this thing once you were used to it. We took turns flying her until lunch time before letting Con fly us back to the roof and land. During lunch all the talk was about how amazing it was to fly the PSP. Once lunch was over we headed back to the Hall. We stopped this time at one of the racks along the wall and I asked Chet and Cyrus to grab two tubes, eight feet long and two feet in diameter. They each hoisted one on a shoulder and we proceeded on to the elevator and up to the ship. Before we climbed aboard, I showed everyone how to feed the tubes into the lower storage module. The tubes went in sort of like putting a CD in your car stereo, fed through an external port which caught the tubes as you started to feed them and sucked them the rest of the way in. The afternoon lesson was conducted from one of the observation stations. Con took us up a couple miles and from there I released the sixteen sensor platforms that the two tubes had contained. Obsidian didn't really need them, but from our station I demonstrated first the deployment and tracking of the platforms and then the activation and use of the array of sensors on board. Afterward I summed it up. "We just released and tracked sixteen sensor platforms into what would be high Obsidian orbit, if they actually were in orbit, but they are not. They use their internal anti-gravity drives to maintain an exact position, and remain locked above whatever point they are stationed at. We then tied into one of these platforms and tapped into its still image and video feeds. While doing this we cycled the sensors through the entire electromagnetic spectrum from deep infrared at one end to x-ray at the other end. We could have, but did not, seek to detect signs of other anti-gravity devices, or their magneto-gravitic variants, such as those used by the Taluat." "Could we use these on Earth or Taluat, where we know there are advanced civilizations?" Alicia asked. "Con assures me that these things have stealth capabilities, but I don't think we're going to risk it unless we've got no other choice." I answered. We spent the rest of the afternoon in small groups learning more about the platforms, their sensors and the equipment each monitoring station had at hand for storing and interpreting the sensor feeds. During dinner we discussed how we might use the ship and the platforms to effectively scout new worlds. I dropped a real bomb into the conversation when I mentioned that everything we'd done with the platforms today had involved observation from high orbital- equivalent positions, and purely energy and electromagnetic spectrum analysis. I asked them to consider the kinds of information we could gather doing low altitude surveillance where we were able to look for things like hydrocarbon emissions, and other gaseous and particulate matter. The kind of signs which indicated various levels of industrial development. That sparked off a long round of discussions that lasted well into the night. It was Alicia who finally looked at her watch spoke up. "Hey gang! It is getting late, and I"m sure our merciless task master here will have us all up at the crack of dawn, so perhaps we had better be getting of to bed? Those anti-gravity beds looked pretty um... comfortable." She said. "Oh they are, I can assure you!" Ginny replied, and that got Arden Alicia, Cyrus and Felicia off and gone. The rest of us were not that far behind them. In the morning I roused everyone from their sleep at 7. Once we were all awake and ready to go, I lead everyone to the elevator and we went up to the meditation dome at the top of the tower for the first time. The chamber itself was an inner area of the dome. The outside of the dome was completely transparent from the inside, and the entire outside ring was set up like an observation deck on a tall skyscraper back home. Although we were only 21 stories above the platform, and the platform was itself only a couple hundred feet above the surface of Obsidian, the absolute flat, featureless nature of the landscape made it seem as if we were much higher than we really were. After a quick look at the observation ring we walked through a tunnel into the inner chamber. The chamber was 60 feet in diameter. There were rings of soft padded sections of floor, dark blue against the black of the rest of the floor, running in concentric circles from a single large circle of padded blue floor at its center. We walked to the center of the chamber, and there Eru led us in our morning meditation. As we had done before, Eru wrapped us in the cool reservoir of his thoughts, and we merged ourselves together, probing, exploring, lowering walls and barriers, erasing fears and dismissing doubt. To describe the process is to make it seem more mechanical than it was. But as it had happened with Ginny, Eru, Con and I, we eventually felt that joining, when our consciousnesses combined, and we thought and felt as one. We held it for a long minute. As it seemed ready to collapse I heard Eru in my mind, for just a second. I pulled the light into me and sent it surging into Eru, washing a wave of strength through him. We held another minute, and them a moment longer, before finally our joined consciousness crumbled into the chaos of eleven -thirteen separate minds counting Dare and Pearl. At breakfast, as we ate the last of the fresh food supplies we had brought with us, enjoying a large meal of omelets, bacon and sliced peaches. With a couple cups of coffee to wash it down, I heard the first hesitant attempts to speak mind to mind amongst the group. The couples, Arden and Alicia and Cyrus and Felicia were already doing well in reaching out to their partners with their thoughts. With breakfast finished I sent everyone off to their rooms to collect their gear. With our bags in hand we were soon off to the Hall. Chet drove today. He had joked with Con about his driving Grandpa A.J.'s golf carts back home. Con pretended he merely saw it as an opportunity to teach. The rest of the Legion were not familiar with his pseudo-Spock routine, but I think Arden was starting to catch on. Despite the unfamiliar hand at the helm, our trusty bus delivered us almost as quickly and surely as it had the day before. On our way in we once again stopped along the way. This time we stopped first to grab a couple cargo carriers. These were similar to the units we had in the Storage room on Meadow, except they hovered effortlessly that familiar four inches above the ground. With these in tow we proceeded on to the shelf where we had found the tubes yesterday. "Sixteen of 'em" I said to Cyrus and Chet when they gave me a questioning look. With Mike, Fred, and I assisting, we quickly had both carriers loaded with eight tubes each. I showed everyone the second loading inlet on the other side of the PSP, and they split up into two groups and got the tubes loaded in short order. With the loading done and everyone aboard I took the helm and moved us a couple miles north of the platforms. With the PSP hovering quietly I reached out with my mind, sucking power from the Focus and took us, ship and all, to Meadow. Like the bridges of our favorite Star Trek vessels, our craft did not have 'windows'. Instead there were display panels which by default displayed the forward view, rendered in visible light, by the forward bank of sensors built into the ship. While everyone knew this on an intellectual level, they still tended to treat them like windows, so when the bleak surface of Obsidian was instantly replaced by the familiar hills and trees of Meadow with our log cabin mansion off in the distance, everyone whooped and hollered at being home once again. Since we were sitting so close, I went ahead and popped our gear back into the staging area. "Business first!" I cautioned, and with a quick pull on the controls, 20 seconds later we were two miles straight up. I quickly set the controls to auto-maintain us at this spot and ushered everyone back to the main cabin. Con slid into one of the stations, and quickly began tapping our commands. "Con is right now configuring the deployment of the one hundred and twenty-eight sensor platforms contained in the sixteen tubes we loaded on board earlier. He is setting them up to deploy in two lattices of 64 platforms, a high orbit and a low orbit lattice." I could see the question forming on Arden's face, and to a degree, on the surface of his thoughts, so I headed him off. "Yes Arden, I got tired of explaining that these weren't really in orbit, so I will call them orbits, and you will all agree that you understand what I really mean when I say that, right?" "Right!" They all answered back. I got a distinct memory impression from the 'Mein Kapitan!' performance of only a few days ago as I heard them say it. I smiled. "Con?" I said. "The low orbit lattice is currently really only a mid orbit lattice for now, and the lattice is definitely not laid out uniformly, as we are automatically reducing the platform density by half over open ocean, and increasing the density over land by that number of platforms. By we I mean an algorithm written into the command software of course. Once the high orbit platforms are in position and have made sufficient observations, another program will direct each high orbit platform to direct its associated low orbit platform to the optimal height and location within its area." Con nodded back in my direction. "Full deployment will take approximately an hour. We could stay and monitor the progress, but there is really no need in this case." I spread my arms, to indicate our surroundings. "These platforms are just that. They are intended to be stationed above a planet and used as a permanent base for monitoring the sensors platforms and other survey equipment that might be deployed. Since Meadow is what we are considering our home base however, and is definitely not 'hostile territory', it doesn't make sense to use the typical 'investigating-a-foreign planet' scenario. Let's park this bird." I went back to the pilots seat, and from there, I once again pulled the Light into me and used its power to take us and the ship back to Obsidian. This time I finessed the hell out of it and put us right on the pad on the roof of the Hall. We spent a little time while Con showed everyone how to retrieve the empty tubes from the PSP's loaders. We hauled them, in the two carriers back to the ground floor of the Hall. We got everyone laughing when we showed them where the 'recycle bin' was. "anything you take out of the Hall of Gifts that get emptied, depleted or drained should be returned here. Things that do not, put back where you got 'em." We walked out of the Hall and our bus was waiting for us right where we left it. We've got a couple hours still before lunch, and I was planning on giving you all the choice, like the old game show of choosing between what's behind the curtain, or what's in the box. But this is not 'Lets Make a Deal'. And I am most definitely not Monty Hall, so instead I'm giving the box to Con..." Con disappeared as as I jumped him back to Meadow to prepare this afternoon's surprise. "... and you all are going to get what's behind the curtain." ------- Chapter 6: Knowledge Gained I jumped into the driver's seat of the Grav Bus and waited briefly until everyone was aboard. As usual, we were only a couple minutes in getting to our destination. As the crew piled out of the bus, I stepped between them and our destination. "Welcome to what we call the 'Garden of Knowledge'" I said, waving my hand at the area behind me. Behind me was a shimmering wall of energy. The curtain really existed. I saw Mike covering his mouth with a hand to hide his snicker. I did heard a titter from Felicia, and Fred muttered something that sounded like 'Oh Geez!' under his breath. Passing through the curtain cut off the grumbling about my sense of humor. Behind the curtain, it was a garden! "This area is the best evidence we have, other than Con's development, that the people who left this behind had a sense of humor. This is a real garden, and it takes up almost the entire area of this platform." We stood in an area of paving stones and benches that bordered the more natural looking interior. "The platform is a mile wide circle. Its a big garden. The plant and animal life found here is, we believe, native to the Seeker world, and was returned here, by those who came back. Most of the plants and animals will seem very familiar. For most, but not all of Earth's facets, the flora and fauna are close to identical from facet to facet with only minor differences. Ginny, would you do the honors?" Ginny walked to the edge of the paving stones and stopped. As she did, a figure appeared before her. "Greetings Ginny, welcome back! How may I be of service to you today?" "Greetings teacher, I have come today to introduce new friends to the Garden." She looked back at us. "Each of you will be introduced to a teacher. They all look remarkably similar to Con and to each other. They all respond to the name teacher. Like Con used to be, they are constructs made of Light. They exist to teach. I would like each of you to go with a teacher and spend the next couple of hours getting your first lessons. I will meet you all back here in two hours. Agreed?" "You've been through this already?" Arden asked. "Eru, Ginny and I have. Con obviously did not require it." Fred, Arden, Alicia, Mike, Cyrus, Chet, and Felicia each in turn stepped up beside Ginny and was introduced to a teacher. Each in turn left, walking into the lush garden beyond, deep in conversation, disappearing down this trail or that. Eru and Ginny looked at me. We hadn't really discussed what we would do during the two hours it would take for this session. "You know what Con is off doing. He really loves getting to use that big construction unit. Not that he will need the two hours I've given him to compete his task. I've got a meeting with my Dad to go to. You're both welcome to come with me if you'd like." "I think I'd like to go back to Meadow and see what there is to make for lunch. It would be nice if they didn't have to make their own lunch, don't you think?" Ginny said. "I will accompany Ginny, I think." Eru said. "I have been thinking about making something Taluatan for one of our meals, and I noticed we had some very nice looking pork chops in the cooler which would be a good start on several traditional Taluatan dishes." I jumped the three of us into the kitchen on Meadow, and I quickly went upstairs to change out of my Legion duds and into a shirt and a pair of slacks. With a quick pit stop in the bathroom, I jumped back to the house in Angel's Camp. Mom was happy to see me, and the hug she gave me was a little longer than normal. I called out. The Proto-Tech corporate headquarters were located in a building right on the grounds of their main research facility on the outskirts of Stockton, California. It was a convenient commute for Dad, as he simply got on state highway 4 headed East, and stayed on it until he got to Angel's Camp. What made it attractive for me was that the facility was on a small and relatively isolated private road, which Proto-Tech security cameras only monitored for the last half mile. I climbed into my GTO and started it up. While the engine sat there idling, I reached out with my senses to that road. This time I forced myself to 'see' where my senses took me. Soon I was watching the long stretch of unmonitored road. As soon as I was sure there was no other traffic, I jumped the car a few inches above the road. I put the car into a high gear, revved the engine and let the wheels touch the asphalt. It sounded a little like the sound jets make when their landing. With that transition safely made, I quickly pulled up to the security gate and the entrance to the facility. The guard recognized me and the GTO, but checked my I.D. Anyway. I made a note of the name on the guards badge. Dad deserved to know who the thorough and conscientious employees were. The receptionist at the front desk was prepared for me, and as I walked up, handed me a temporary security card and sent me to the executive elevator. I keyed the pass into the elevator, and it immediately took me to the top floor. Dad's administrative assistant was waiting for me, and with a very polite "Welcome back Mr. McKesson, your father is waiting for you." ushered me into Dad's office. He had been waiting in front of his desk and gave me a nice hug as soon as I got into the room. "That'll be all Dianne, thank you." Dad said. With the door closed behind us, Dad went over to his desk and flipped a hidden switch. "Okay, we're secure. What brings you here with an official appointment and everything Son?" "You know of, course, that my project is under way. Right now the new members of my crew are off getting the last of their basic training." "Yes, your Grandpa mentioned you've been to Chocowinity to set up recruiting a staff for your main location?" "Yeah we took a little trip over, a couple of days ago. It was good excuse to give the new members of the crew a good look at the focus. I think we have a good handle on solving that staffing problem too. I need to get back with Grandpa on that in a day or two." I paused for a moment, trying to decide how to lay out my plans. "Our biggest hurdle, so far, is our inability to unobtrusively transport our team, supplies, support staff and visitors to Meadow and back without compromising our security. In order to achieve that goal, I have a plan." "And that plan involves Proto-Tech." Dad added. "Yes and no." I answered. "Here's what I have in mind." I took a deep breath and began. "I'm going to have Grandpa setup a McKesson Foundation research grant to fund a project called 'Project Obsidian'. That project will be under the auspices of Proto-Tech Industries, who will build or acquire a facility and in turn lease it to the project. It would require a single large building near Angel's Camp with security at least the equal of what you have here." I suddenly remembered the mental note I'd left myself. "By the way, my compliments to Lloyd Spangler, the security guard working at the gate when I came through. He was thorough and meticulous in following all the proper procedures, even though he recognized me, and my car." "I'll make note of that. Its always fun to reward employees who are caught doing good work." Dad said with a smile while he jotted the name down. "Project Obsidian will provide a valid employer for everyone involved at my end, and give us a secure location to make jumps to and from Meadow. We'll have a 'bigger than needed' cafeteria setup, with large walk-in freezer and reefer units. In addition to that area we'll have a large project warehouse, big enough to store everything from a box of batteries to a brigade of armored vehicles." "What exactly will the McKesson Foundation be funding Project Obsidian to study?" Dad asked. "Alternative energy technologies. fuel cells, cold fusion." I paused for effect to let that sink in. "We will have a doting grandfather with more money than he can spend, and a loving father with deep pockets of his own and a recently purchased high tech company, happily indulging their ne'er-do-well offspring and his harebrained scheme by buying him a big building to work in and lots of blackboards and chalk to scribble on. It will seem pathetic and harmless." I sat staring at Dad, letting him absorb what he'd just heard. "Son this is amazingly well considered. I'm jealous! Because you're not talking anything requiring materials restricted by the government, you avoid interference from any military or environmental oversight. Better yet, if they do get a wild hair and come break the door down to investigate, all they've got is a warehouse, a cafeteria, and a few offices with nonsense scribbled here and there on a few blackboards." "So you think its workable?" I asked. "Davey, its inspired! I can't wait to talk to your Grandfather about this." Dad got up from his desk and walked around to shake my hand. "From now on, this is entirely the concern of the McKesson Foundation and Proto-Tech industries. We'll work out all the details and let you know when you can start showing up at your new workplace. Anything you want to add up front that might be helpful?" "Keep Fred Sabarte's family in mind if you're looking for an Angel's Camp face to put on anything. Formerio is aware of the reality of our situation, and in his mind, and therefore the family's, when we recruited Fred we recruited the entire family." "That's good to know, thank you. Will you all be coming back to Angel's Camp tonight?" "I wasn't planning on it. Tomorrow probably. Would you and Mom like to have dinner on Meadow with us tonight?" "Check with your Mom to be sure, but I'd love to, thanks!" I made it back home with 20 minutes still remaining on my self-imposed clock before I had to be back to Obsidian. I checked in with Mom, and she was more than happy to have dinner with us, and asked if their was anything she could bring. "Hang on, Mom. I'll check." I said. I sent to Ginny. "Ginny says she's having trouble making a salad with what we have left there. Can you bring a salad for 12?" "Oh of course, Davey! Ask Ginny what the main course is, would you?" "Mom, it sounds like Eru is making us a Taluatan dinner tonight, so Ginny doesn't have a clue what its called, but its going to be using pork chops, she does know that much." "Thank you Davey, see you tonight. Oh what time!" "Seven. See ya!" I popped myself back into the kitchen on Meadow and gave Ginny a quick kiss. "The wheels are in motion, and I've got Dad's seal of approval on my super-secret plan. He's going to get together with Grandpa and the two of them will take complete charge of this effort and simply hand it to me when its ready." "Have either of you checked on Con to see how he's doing?" "I'm pretty sure he's done. He said something about staying off the surface until the neutrons were finished bonding." I just looked at the two of them. "Well, we were pretty sure he was kidding." Eru said. I went to the side door of the house, where the original plans had called for a two car garage, and looked out at what had once been just another section of the open field surrounding the house. The open field had been replaced by a large, 50x50 foot square landing pad made of the same smooth, matte black surface as the platforms on Obsidian. Two rows of shiny white material defined a path that led from the steps in front of me to the pad. Con was standing on the pad admiring his handiwork when he spotted me. He came running over from where he had been with so much energy and excitement he was practically bouncing. He reminded me of the Disney version of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. I congratulated him once again for his excellent skills at commanding the building unit, asked him how the neutron bonding was going, and before he could answer, told him I had to get back to Obsidian, as 'class' was about to get out for the day. "Just to double check Con, we'll be back in 20 minutes or so. The pad is good to go, correct?" "Correct. Do you need me to go with you?" "No, I think you should stay here and help Eru and Ginny with the rest of the lunch preparations." With that, I had just enough time to jump myself up to the bedroom and change back into my Legion armor, give Ginny another quick kiss and pop myself back onto the flagstone covered waiting area in the Garden of Knowledge. I sat on one of the benches to wait, but it was only a couple minutes before I saw pairs of Legionnaires and teacher strolling back towards me. I sat on the bench and waited for them all to arrive before standing. "Amazing, wasn't it?" I got a simultaneous "Yes!" in return. You will find it best to do only one session a day. A good night's sleep seems to help integrate the lesson more effectively as well. "My teacher seemed to know exactly how to explain things to me so I understood them." Mike said. "That is their true gift. Of course the knowledge they have access to is immense, and they can seemingly teach you anything, but notice they seem to always know best how to lead you to an understanding of whatever subject they are discussing. They are implanting knowledge, its true, but the true magic is in how they then guide you to an understanding of that knowledge." "I know your brains are all full, but we've got lunch waiting for us back on Meadow, and I have a new piece of equipment to transfer over at the same time, so if you'll all head out with me?" I led everyone out to the waiting bus, and we were quickly back at the entrance to the Hall of Gifts. Once inside I showed everyone a new wrinkle, individual hover pads that looked like a Segway without the wheels. We each mounted one, and took off. I could hear the laughter and the chatter behind me as they all realized that they now had a complete working knowledge of how to operate one of these little transports. With lots of zigging and zagging and showing off, they followed me along a new path to the far side of the hall and about halfway down the mile long building. I glided to a stop near another of the elevator pads on the floor and hopped off. "Yes, you have a whole new set of knowledge and skill waiting to be used. Anything that merely requires the re-application of knowledge you already have gets added pretty automatically. Things that require new learning to do, or to understand, that is where the real lessons come in. Lets get upstairs, shall we?" I stepped into the elevator pad, and everyone quickly joined me. I tapped the activator hologram and we zipped right up onto the roof. I heard the ooohs and ahhhs before I could turn around to look myself, but I knew what they were seeing. "We call this 'The Cruiser'. At 40 feet long and 25 feet wide, it is almost exactly half the size of the PSP. The layout is similar and the flight controls are identical to what you've already seen in the PSP. The flight cabin will seat only 4 people, but the main cabin is intended for either carrying up to 50 passengers in comfort, or as ours is rigged, a crew of 12 to 15 people, and all their gear. Unlike the PSP, main access is through the rear." I moved around to the back of the craft and into the cruiser through a large rear opening that looked something like the rear loading mechanism on those old C-130 military cargo craft. Everyone followed with their eyeballs seemingly on swivels as they struggled to catch every new detail. The main cabin was laid out with six long, deep and cushioned couches arranged in pairs facing each other, and two separate tables with seating for eight around each one. I left them to examine the layout and went quickly to the flight cabin and slid into the pilots seat. Fred came in and sat in the co-pilot seat with a wide grin on his face. I lifted us a few hundred feet up and quickly flew us a few miles out from the platforms before I reached out to wrap the ship in the Light and moved us through to Meadow. I did a wide circle, about ten miles out from the house, just because I could, before slipping smoothly in for a landing on the new pad. Home again! Everyone piled out through the rear access, and as I exited last, I reached up and patted the side of the cruiser and said "Welcome home baby." That of course got everyone to chattering again, and by the time we were in the kitchen being greeted by Con, Eru and Ginny, it had been decided that we would have to give the ship a name. Lunch was grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken salad. If that sounds pretty skimpy given the two hours that Eru and Ginny had to prepare it, thats because the only thing skimpy was the description. The sandwiches were grilled cheese, but they were slices of bread with olive oil and Italian seasonings on one side. A layer of cheese, followed by a layer of fresh tomato slices and then a layer of fresh basil leaves followed by another layer of cheese all gets piled on the unseasoned side of one of the bread slices. The second slice of bread goes on top, seasoned side up, and then you grill it, just like you would a regular grilled cheese sandwich. Mmmmm! The chicken salad was actually something Ginny called 'Almond Chicken Salad, and it was a combination of chunks of chicken breast, green grapes sliced in half, and toasted almond slivers as a topping. Of course everything was held together by something, mayonnaise and seasonings, I assume. This combination was surprisingly effective together. The crisp coolness of the green grape halves and the light crunchiness of the toasted almond combined with the chicken to make a salad that was cool and refreshing and not dominated by any one of the ingredients. Yummy! We washed everything down with glass after glass of Hawaiian Punch on ice! I of course had to explain to Con and Eru that this was a commercial beverage which seemed to be a required staple in every young American child's diet at some point, so while we all enjoyed the taste of it, the real appreciation was for its ability to invoke our memories of childhood. ------- Chapter 7: Distant Borders With lunch over, and the cleanup accomplished, everyone turned to me expectantly. "Okay, we're going to get a look at what our sensor platforms have to tell us, but let's meet back here in fifteen minutes. That'll give everyone time to get washed up, brush their teeth, the usual. Meet us in the main dining room." We all got together in the dining room at the designated time. I had everyone take a seat. "Ava?" I asked out loud. "Yes Dave?" a silky smooth female voice said from nowhere. "Opaque the windows, please." "Yes, Dave." Came the reply. At the same time the floor to ceiling windows instantly went opaque. "Legionnaires, I'd like to introduce you to Ava. Her name is a Con-inspired abbreviation of 'Audio Visual Assistant.' She can be called for in any room in the house. Lights off, and bring up the main display Ava, no responses required." The lights went out and were replaced by a glowing holographic display in the center of the table. "Con is actually going to control what we see from here on. Go ahead Con." The display changed to show a slowly rotating globe, full of familiar continents and seas, mountains and deserts. "This is Meadow. The image you are seeing is a composite integration of still images from the entire high orbit network. We, of course, are here." As he said this a glowing red dot appeared on the western edge of what those of us from Earth would be calling North America. "Now we're going to overlay all detected electromagnetic energy sources detected." The map remained unchanged as we watched it through an entire rotation. "Now we're going to overlay all detected sources of industrial output, including high heat sources and pollution." Again the map remained unchanged. "Now we're going to add the output of what we call our 'bronze age' filter. This filter looks for low level energy and particulate output, the patchwork visual effect that you get from farming large areas, and infrared concentrations that would indicate large, concentrated groups of warm blooded animals, human or otherwise." We saw a few fuzzy red blobs in the North American Plains, but the rest of North and South America was unchanged. Europe, Africa and Asia however changed dramatically. "Wow!" I said. I heard it echoed around the table. "Con, can we get one of the low level platforms to give us a visual on one of the sources on this continent?" I heard Chet ask. "I think I know what those are, but I'd like some visual confirmation." "Certainly Chet. I'm tapping in to the nearest platform now." After a few seconds, the display suddenly changed, and we now seemed to be floating above a sea of rough, hairy backs and shoulders." "Buffalo." Chet said. "Buffalo like we thought could never be seen again." "Pan out slowly Con, lets see the whole herd." I said. "Our field of view slowly expanded. We were seeing miles of buffalo, thousands and thousands of them. "Wow!" Someone said again. We watched silently for a while as a living sea of brown moved slowly past our view. "These creatures, in such vast numbers managed to trigger one of the filter parameters." Con said. "Lets go back to the global view." The display in front of us flipped back to displaying the entire globe. "It looks like we've got our choice of places throughout the Eastern Hemisphere. Its indicative of something that we see no signs of anything triggering our filters in any location separated by water from the European/African/Asian landmass." "I've always wanted to see Rome." Alicia commented. "Works for me." I said. "Con?" "lets overlay this globe with a geo-political map of Earth." Con said, and as he spoke, the continents were suddenly outlined in what we all thought of as the traditional map features of Earth's countries and cities. We saw many, but not all of the concentrations of red dots were in the same locations as cities on our Earth. "Towns and cities usually formed near rivers, lakes, where trade routes intersected or near valuable resources, such as wood, coal, clay, salt, tin or other resources." Mike said. "It makes sense that some of the cities would be in the same spots. The same favorable conditions exist in both places." "Oh, look at Sicily!" Felicia said suddenly. "Its the first time we've seen red dots on an island." "Makes sense when you think about it." Cyrus added. "Assuming these people have boats of any kind, they would wind up on the islands close enough to see from the mainland. Even if all that happened was that they got blown there by the wind and the tide. "Lets not speculate too much in advance of actual knowledge. Lets go see Rome!" I said. The display switched smoothly to a still shot of an area of small buildings and roads. "Can we get live video from this platform?" Arden asked. "I'm sorry Arden" Con said. "What we have been looking at from Europe so far are still images captured during the daylight hours. It is approximately 10:30 pm in Rome at this time." We spent another hour checking the still pictures that had been taken of other places. Paris, Athens, Cairo, Barcelona and Madrid, We checked the fertile crescent and all around the Mediterranean. We checked spots in Africa and Asia and they were all the same. In fact they were more the same than they were on Earth! Meadow, based at least on our very unscientific sample, had far less ethnic divergence than Earth. The people here were very similar wherever they were. The Asiatic epicanthal fold did not exist. There were no negroid characteristics in Africa or elsewhere. Nor were there Blond, blue-eyed tribes in northern Europe. The slightly dusky, 'olive-skinned' Mediterranean skin tone seemed prevalent everywhere, and most people had black or brown hair and brown eyes. "If we ever find ourselves with trained cultural anthropologists and geneticists and archaeologists and the like that we can bring to Meadow, and leave them to study. We might, several generations down the line, get some true understanding of the how and why of Meadow's differences. Until then, we at least know that the western hemisphere is free to settle." I said. "Are we going to study these people in the meantime?" Learn their language?" Ginny asked. "Until we can get audio, and arrange to compare what we pick up from a variety of locations, we don't know how many languages we might be dealing with. There could be a single language with tons of local dialects, or their could be distinct languages all over the place, just like Earth. Even if we're lucky, and we discover they share a single language, to match their physical similarities, how easy it would be to learn it is an unknown. Lets table that thought for now." "Speaking of tables." Eru said. " A reliable source tells me we have Dave's parents coming for dinner tonight at 7, and since I'm cooking the main course, I'd like to spend the rest of the afternoon preparing." "I know Mom is bringing the salad." I said to him. "Is there anything you don't have that I could get to make things go better?" "Road trip!" Ginny called. When the dust settled, Ginny, Eru and I were going to get in a little shopping, Cyrus and Felicia were going to stay home to 'rest' and Arden, Alicia, Mike, Chet, Fred and Con were going to take the cruiser for a little 'tour'. "Con, keep it in this hemisphere, and I'm making you responsible for getting them and the cruiser back in time to get cleaned up for dinner. Got it?" Con obviously got it, because he answered with a reluctant "Yes, Mom!!!" With a dead perfect teenager tone of disgust while drawing Mom into a two syllable word. When the laughter died down, the cruiser contingent left, and I stood with Ginny and Eru. I decided to do it the safe way, and jumped us into my bedroom at Mom and Dad's house. When we came down the stairs, we were surprised to discover Ginny's Mom and mine sitting in the kitchen. After Ginny and I had given both of our Mom's hugs and kisses, and I explained that we were making a quick trip to the Save Mart to pick up a few odds and ends for dinner tonight, we discovered that our Mom's had gotten together to discuss starting to make plans for our wedding. They pressed us on setting a date, and Ginny and I looked at each other. "July 23rd." We both said at the same time. It was that day, after my first trip to the ledge, when I'd brought my first rock samples into her Dad's store and we had our first real Dave and Ginny conversation. That was less than two months away, so I'm sure we'd hear arguments against it after they'd had time to think about it. We took off for the Save Mart in Ginny's GTO. She really hadn't had a chance to drive it much at all since she'd gotten it, and who could deny her? The Angel's Camp Save Mart was not what you would call a high-end grocery, but it was pretty good. The manager took pride in her offerings and her staff, and with the tourist season almost set to kick into full swing with the approaching Memorial Holiday weekend, everything was primed and ready. "Ahh, Ginny, if I'd had this!" Eru said when he saw the lamb chops on display in the butchers counter. "We would be having real 'Phrae Duciet' tonight! This is excellent lamb!" It was vegetables, herbs and spices we were after though, and we quickly moved on through the store, acquiring what we needed. Ginny had not been happy with the dessert options back on Meadow either, so when we got to the ice cream freezer she quickly scrapped whatever plans she had and grabbed a half gallon of Vanilla Ice Cream and some cinnamon sticks, saying she had a half dozen ripe pears at the house that would be overripe and unfit in a day or two. We took our bag and headed home. We saw neither of our mom's as we headed up the stairs, and once at the top of the stairs I jumped us all through without bothering to go into my room. While Ginny and Eru quickly got busy in the kitchen, I went upstairs and changed for dinner, then decided to head back to the library and spend a little time with the sensor platforms, poking my nose in here and there. I closed the library door behind me and sat in the big overstuffed chair. "Hello Ava." "Hello Dave." "Opaque the windows and dim the lights, please." "Yes Dave." "Bring up the planetary survey system please Ava." The global display popped into the air in front of Dave. "List available control options, Ava." "Dave, your options are verbal command, and holographic control overlay." "Give me the Holographic overlay please." with a slightly glowing representation of the familiar controls of an Observer station hovering chest high in front of me, I quickly sorted through the views until I hit daylight. Early morning was just starting to wash across the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus Strait. I called up the 'bronze age' overlay that had given us such good information earlier, and used it to key in on what was probably the local equivalent of Istanbul. I pulled the nearest low orbit platform over to the area and switched to close-in video. For the next hour I watched an old man guiding two young boys as they cast their nets into the Bosphorus. The mundane activity seemed so compelling, the three people I watched so alive. In the end I started to feel a little like a voyeur. "Ava return the windows to normal, bring up the lights and shut down the display please." "Yes Dave." I stopped in the kitchen and checked in with the cooks. Everything was on schedule, and they were just putting the chops in the broiler, while the chops were in, they had a window of opportunity to get cleaned up and changed for dinner. I let them run off to do that, and double checked the dining room. The table hadn't been set yet, so I took the opportunity and set it. While I was setting the table I saw the cruiser return, swooping low across the front of the house, and very quickly the downstairs was filled with the babble and laughter of a happy Legion, returning from their joyride. I let everyone know the cooks were upstairs getting changed and suggested they get off to do the same. Once Ginny was back downstairs, hair down and wearing a very pretty sun dress, I let her know I'd set the table and was off to get Mom and Dad. I thought to Dad. He replied. I jumped into the kitchen, where I found Mom just putting plastic wrap on top of a very large green salad in a big bowl. "Perfect timing!" She said, "I just added the last touches to the salad and we are ready to go!" I jumped us into the kitchen, where Mom was quickly involved in the dinner preparations. "Dinner will be in fifteen minutes." we were told, so I suggested to Dad that we make ourselves scarce for a few minutes. "Want to go look at the latest addition to my toy collection?" I asked Dad. "Absolutely!" Dad answered, so I led him out the side door where the cruiser sat, quietly hovering those by now familiar four inches above the landing pad. "Wow!" He said after a long silence. "Can we go for a ride after dinner?" We both laughed at the eager tone that slipped out, and I'm sure I disappointed him at first when I said I had something else planned for after dinner. But I promised him that what I had planned would be worth it. "If you're dying for a ride, perhaps you'd like to go with us tomorrow afternoon for a little cruise?" I offered. Dad jumped at the chance, and with that offer held out, I managed to pry him out of the pilot's seat and back into the house. Dinner was a smashing success. The pork chops which had inspired the meal in the first place had been seasoned and then slow cooked in a crock pot most of the day, and finally roasted with peppers and onions under the broiler. Finally the chops, peppers and onions had been cut into pieces and piled on top of a pile of seasoned rice, and topped with a very savory smelling sauce dotted with little bits of fresh chopped mint and cilantro. Eru said this dish was traditionally made with lamb chops, and was called 'Phrae Duciet' which was a phrase in old Taluatan that meant 'spring prayer'. Mom, being the food goddess that we all - especially Eru, considered her to be, told us all about the wide spread cultural tradition of the spring lamb as a culinary offering. We spent the rest of a very nice dinner talking about culture and food, religion and food, family and food. Fred told stories of his Great-Grandfather Hodei, who actually was a Shepard. He lived in a little stone house with Fred's Great-Grandmother Ametza on the slope of a mountain, miles from the nearest village. Fred's dad Formerio was one of eight children, all of which Great-Grandpa Hodei called 'his little lambs'. I of course filed that little tidbit away for the next time I had a chance to sit and visit with Formerio. Eru received a complete round of compliments and high praise for his fine offering, and we were then treated to coffee and Ginny's dessert. Those pears she had been struggling to use up had been cut up into wedges. The flat edge of each slice had been dipped in a freshly made caramel sauce and placed along the inside walls of a brandy snifter. Softened vanilla ice cream had been added and then a pear and cinnamon topping poured over the top. Mmm! What a finish! The conversation and slow enjoyment of the meal had whiled away a couple of hours by the time we had finished the desert and coffee. "I told Dad I had an after dinner activity in mind, and if none of you object, I think we can let our dinners settle while we view that Roman video we couldn't see earlier?" I got an enthusiastic round of agreement, and as we began clearing dishes and cleaning up the dining area, I grabbed Dad for a second. "Leave this stuff to us. Go show Mom what I showed you when we got here. It'll help her understand what she's seeing." Dad took off with Mom while the rest of us got busy, and as the saying says, 'many hands make light work' We were done very quickly, and even had the dishes prepped and in the dishwasher. By the time we had the kitchen patrol accomplished, and everyone back safely from that mission, Dad was back with Mom from the cruiser. And they took their seats at the table, joining the rest of us. "Wow!" she said. "Does the Legion have more than one of these?" "Not here. Why?" I asked. "Oh, I just thought if you were flying a bunch of these around, you'd have to paint a graphic on the front and call them 'Legion Air'!" She giggled. If a groan can rise to the level of a chaos bomb, this was it. That my mother, of all people cracked a pun at our expense was almost as funny as the pun itself. We groaned, and then we laughed! With order finally restored, and everyone back in their seats, I called up Ava. "Ava, stand by please." I said. "Standing by Dave." She replied. Mom, Dad, everyone else has met Ava earlier today, her name is an acronym for Audio Visual Assistant. Folks, it occurred to me this evening that we are probably under-utilizing Ava. Ginny, excuse me for doing this, but I'm going to jump you up to our room for a moment." I jumped Ginny to the bedroom and turned to everyone else. Now, suppose Felicia, that you are down here setting the table and it suddenly occurs to you you are not sure whether you should be using the lace doilies or the gold inlaid doilies and you want to ask Ginny her opinion. What do you do?" Felicia thought about it for a second. Given the context of the conversation, and that she, like everyone here was a sharp customer, she quickly arrived at an answer. "Ava, please ask Ginny which doilies she thinks I should use, the gold inlaid or the lace." "Yes, Felicia." Ava said in her smooth, feminine voice. There was a short pause. "Felicia," Ava said. "Ginny asks me to inform you that the doilies are reserved for high teas and state visits, and to please use the normal folded paper towels." Everyone laughed, and Felicia even thanked Ava. I popped Ginny back into the room and she took her seat. "Nice answer Ginny!" Felicia said. "I think my little demo proves that Ava is more than capable of assisting us in ways we hadn't previously considered. Con, what do you think of this?" "Dave, I confess to being embarrassed! I'm guilty of a little tunnel vision in my implementation of Ava. She is more than capable of integrating into the house itself and interfacing with the security system, and all the safety devices, as well as all the household appliances. Ava can lock and unlock doors, adjust room temperatures, turn anything electrical in the house on and off, the list is quite extensive, and if you wish it, I will immediately take steps to implement that integration." "Very good." I replied. "Ava, congratulations, and welcome to the staff!" "Thank you Dave." Ava replied. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Arden laughing and shaking his head. "Yes Arden?" "Sorry Dave," Arden said, emphasizing my name, its just that I keep flashing on scenes from '2001: A Space Odyssey' and envision you banging on the front door trying to get in. The line I keep hearing is 'Please open the pod bay doors, Ava!'" That comment set of a good old fashioned Chaos Bomb, just like mom used to make! Everyone calmed down considerably when I pointed out that Ava had been designed by those who created Con. He had made it for many thousands of years, so surely we could trust Ava to last at least a few lifetimes. With that distraction out of the way I had Ava dim the lights and bring up the platform display, shifting control back over to Con. Con gave a quick recap, for Mom and Dad's benefit, of the deployment of the sensor platforms and their capabilities, as well as of our efforts so far in using them. That the entire western hemisphere was empty of human presence, and the peculiar fact that human occupation of the Eastern hemisphere almost completely excluded those areas reachable only by sea left them stunned, as it had us. Like the rest of us, they were totally awed by the vast buffalo herd we had monitored earlier. "Two hours ago, while dinner preparations and cruising the hemisphere had everyone else occupied," I interrupted, "I took it upon myself to do a little monitoring. It was early morning in what would be Istanbul on Earth, and I spent an hour watching two young boys and a man, probably their grandfather, casting nets into the Bosphorus, fishing. It gave me a strange, almost voyeuristic feeling, but I was totally caught up in this seemingly mundane slice of life. Con, why don't you see if you can catch us a slice of Roman morning." Con quickly brought us back to where the still views we had seen this morning had been captured, and we switched over to a live video feed. We saw the same little cluster of buildings and Con followed a cart as it traveled down the road. We were quickly sidetracked by a small knot of people by the side of the road. We watched them for several minutes as they worked on getting a cart full of barrels that had lost a wheel back on the road. They methodically emptied the barrels from the cart and levered the side of the cart up into the air while an older, bald man with arms the size of the barrels they had been carrying first pulled the broken wheel off the axle, then re-greased and mounted the replacement. One of the younger boys grabbed the broken wheel and we watched him mount it in the holder where the replacement had obviously come from. With the new wheel secured, we saw the cart driven empty briefly while the big-armed gentleman watched its performance. Finally the word must have been given because the barrels were reloaded and the wagon once again continued on its way. We had been watching for over an hour! "This is addictive!" Dad declared when I advised everyone of the time. We could dub it in English and sell this as a historical drama!" "It would certainly give a whole new meaning to the History Channel" Mike added. Yet another new thing to think about. Our lives seemed to be teeming with them these days. With the lateness of the hour, we said our good nights and I jumped home with Mom and Dad. I put the freshly washed and dried salad bowl away for Mom and promised Dad that I would be here to get him shortly after 1pm. "See you tomorrow!" Dad called to me before I jumped back home. ------- Chapter 8: Open Doors Our morning began with meditation. The meditation chamber was the optimal location for that activity, so to save time I simply jumped us directly there. The hour seemed to vanish in a swirl of thought and emotion. I felt Eru make an effort at one point, and I fed him energy, as I had before. I felt something opening up between all of us, similar to what had once happened with Ginny, Con, Eru and I. I pulled in more energy once I could sense the opening and reinforced it. We finished the session with a slow withdrawal, as we seemed to have pieces of ourselves mixed in with each other in odd corners of our minds. "I believe that I have, with Dave's assistance, opened a channel to our language centers, reawakening the gift for languages that our minds possessed as infants." "That's not all you did!" Cyrus added. "Did you realize you just said that in Russian?" I rifled through my own mind very quickly. "Eru now speaks 10 languages, just like we all do, including Taluatan. Where did we get all these languages? Fred is obviously the source for the Basque. I spoke Spanish before this, but I think my Spanish is so improved I'm a thousand times better than I was." "I speak fluent Russian" Cyrus added. You know where that training came from. "It was me." Felicia said. Nobody knew, not even Cyrus. I speak five languages. German, Italian, Greek, French, and Korean." "And we now all speak these languages?" Arden asked. "Yes, along with Taluatan, English, Russian, Spanish and Basque. Fred, are you the source of my improved Spanish?" "Si, I mean Oui, I mean yes!" He said. With only a slight twitch to his straight-faced delivery. We sat there for a good quarter hour, just reveling in our sudden linguistic awakening as we spoke back and forth, switching languages in mid sentence. "Let it settle folks, lets go to the Garden and get a little session in shall we?" I jumped us into the Garden's entry. We took turns walking to the edge of the garden and being greeted by our teacher. I went last. "Greetings Dave." My teacher said as he materialized in front of me. "Good morning, teacher." "Let us walk along this path" the teacher suggested, "and while we walk, tell me about the problem that has been gnawing at you in these recent days." The teachers were indeed miracles of design and intent, perhaps equal to the craft and consideration that went into creating Constantine. We talked, as we walked, about the gift of speaking mind to mind, and projecting my consciousness from facet to facet. We had been talking for a while when my teacher stopped on our path and asked me a question. "Dave, what are jump points?" I thought about that for a long time before I answered. "There are no such thing as jump points." I said. "They don't exist." "Then why did you once believe they did?" The teacher asked. "Because I used to think so, back when my talent was weak, and I needed to be near a place where the Light that permeates the universe between the worlds could leak through. It was the availability of the power that let me jump, not the location." "And what is a Focus?" the teacher asked. "A focus is that place on any facet where the Light that leaks into it from those places I used to think of as jump points collects, just like the light from a parabolic mirror focuses on a single point." I had first understood that aspect of the focus during my conversations with the three ancient guardians during their brief time with us. We resumed walking along the path, and as we walked, my teacher posed another question. "Dave, how far away from Earth is Meadow?" "It is no distance away. Earth and Meadow are not separated by a distance." "So when you send your thoughts from Meadow, or Obsidian to someone on Earth, your thoughts travel how far?" "No distance!" I said triumphantly. "Is this a special case, or can you make a generalization?" My teacher asked. I sensed a payoff coming here, so I thought hard on this for a while. "Teacher, there is no special case. Distance is a concept that applies to the physical world. Thought and Light are not physical components of existence, so distance is not an applicable concept." "Very good Dave." My teacher said, smiling at me. I smiled back. The crafty construct was waiting for something. "What?" I said. "If the Light has no physical component, how is it that you are able to move physical things from facet to facet using the Light?" Once again I had to stop and think. This time I spent more than a minute. Much more than a minute. Everything I knew and more importantly, everything I felt about the Light passed through me. Finally I knew I had the answer. "Because the Light has no physical component does not mean a physical thing does not have a Light component." "Very good Dave!" I got another smile. "Before you ask," I said, "There is no special case. Every physical thing has a Light component." "Excellent Dave." My teacher said, and raised his arm in front of us to show me that we were back at the edge of the Garden. "Thank you teacher!" I said with heartfelt emotion, as I stepped onto the flagstones, to discover everyone else waiting for me. I gave Ginny a hug and a kiss and and walked out of the Garden with everyone around me. Once we were outside I turned to everyone. "I'm sorry I rushed us over here before breakfast, but I really think I needed this one! Lets go eat!" One look at the sadly depleted status of our larder convinced me that we needed a breakfast out. "Street clothes folks, You've got 15 minutes! Were eating breakfast at IHOP!" I jumped Ginny and I into our room and I quickly changed. I gave Ginny a kiss and said I'd meet her downstairs, as I needed to talk to Con. I popped into Con's room, where he was just slipping on a Guinness T-shirt that had mysteriously appeared in his wardrobe. We talked for almost the entire remainder of our 15 minute deadline. So close in fact that I popped the two of us downstairs so we'd be on time. "Legionnaires! I'm sending Con off on a little errand for me, so he will not be joining us for breakfast." I said, followed by Con blinking out of existence in front of them. "As for us. Hang on." I sent my senses to the International House of Pancakes near Sonora. There was a stretch of road near there where highway 49 and highway 108 were briefly the same road. Highway 49 ran East-West right into the middle of Sonora before looping back around Sonora and wound up in Angel's Camp. The IHOP was right at the junction with that stretch of 49/108 where a loop road ran around the Western side of Sonora and connected with highway 49 again just as it turned to head to Angel's camp. I'd been there many times, and had no problem finding it with my senses. The parking lot was fairly empty, it was still only spring, after all. I did see two RV's parked side by side, and I could sense nobody in them, so I jumped us all into the space between them. We walked into the IHOP and grabbed two adjacent booths in a corner. I ordered an insanely large tower of blueberry pancakes and watched as Eru, the only one of us with no previous IHOP experience, looked long and hard at the menu before he ordered the Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream topping. Our orders were pretty evenly split between those two choices. Alicia ordered her favorite French toast option and Mike preferred the Swedish pancakes, which I personally could never develop a liking for, but to each his own, and soon we were each buried in our plates. Apparently combining the kind of meditation session we had this morning with a session in the Garden was a real fuel burner, because we all finished everything on our plates. Even Felicia, who was notorious in our group as a picky eater. I paid the bill, and then let everyone filter into the bathroom, the girls all at once of course, nothing odd in that, and then the guys, one at a time, until I was the last one to enter a bathroom stall and wind up instantly on Meadow. Rather than having everyone 'suit up' again, I suggested we spend a little time being Planetary Survey crew. We gathered in the dining room, where there was room for everyone to sit. The sunglasses which had been issued as part of the Legionnaires original equipment had become something of the joke accessory to everyone, but today I finally gave them something productive to use them for. I showed everyone how to ask Ava to link the heads-up display built into the sunglasses into the Survey platforms and how to get control menus that they could use. We quickly divided up the portions of the planet amongst them and they began working, finding and tracking places, people, items of interest, whatever struck them. With everyone else busy with the surveying project I left them to join Con on Obsidian, where I had sent him. Con greeted me warmly when he saw me approaching him. He had my cell phone suspended in mid-air while a variety of beams played across and through it. "I think this will work just fine Dave, but I'm not sure about integrating it into the commercial system if we started making copies. I will have to spend considerable time investigating how to infiltrate their system to get our units to work with their system." "Don't bother." I told him. We'll just buy cell phones for everyone in the Legion, and you can then just replace them with our enhanced versions, one for one." "I've found a solution to the security issue you mentioned as well. I'm keying them to the owner's bracelet. They'll be programmed to cease functioning if they get more than a certain distance from the bracelet. We're going to be making their cases from the same nano-polymer we use for the bracelets and the armor. They'll be pretty much indestructible." "Full use as a cell phone on the existing Earth network, from anywhere?" I asked. That was one of my hopes when I'd mentioned it to Constantine. "Oh yes, and untraceable as well! Since cell phone tracing involves finding the nearest cell towers that are receiving the phone's signal and triangulating the source, such efforts will simply fail. These phones, because their signal is piggybacking on the Light, will appear to hit every cell tower in their network with equal strength." "Beautiful Con. You are an artist!" "You give me too much credit Dave. You were the one who had the idea! Would you like your enhanced version now?" "Sure!" I answered. Con's fingers flew over the control surfaces for the workbench he was at, and suddenly a rectangle of Light formed on the surface of the table, and like a television tube building a picture line by line, so too did a new machine slowly build itself from the bottom up inside that glowing rectangle of force. When the Light faded there was a simple vertical box of the familiar gray-black nano-polymer material that so much of our things seemed to be made of. There was a slot near the top of the box and an square recessed opening in the bottom half. Con grabbed my old cellphone from where it had been held and handed it to me. "Put that in the upper slot. When the lights come on in the recess, reach in with your bracelet hand and grab the new cell phone." I slid my phone into the slot, saw the recess light up seconds after I did, and reached down and grabbed my new cell phone. The phone and bracelet both flashed briefly when I did. I pulled it out and gave it a once over. The new phone resembled the old one, right down to the original vendor's logo, but this one was a familiar dark gray, with smoky blue highlights and trim. I noticed the familiar posts for sitting the phone in its charging cradle. "Is the phone still compatible with the original charging unit?" I asked. "You can safely place the unit on the charger the original came with. However, this unit no longer needs a charger. Since we were using Light to piggyback the signal, I just decided it made sense to tap into that Light to power the phone." "Con, did you just tell me you can make new versions of the bracelets that do not require manual recharging?" "Oh my!" Con said. It was an indication of how much this concept had blind-sided him that he repeated himself a few seconds later. "Oh my!" "If that's a yes, how quickly can you have them?" "Dave, the second 'Oh my!' was for another thought." I looked at my watch. I needed to get going if I was going to get everyone ready for the lunch run back to Earth, followed by Dad's joyride. "Con, do you want to tell me now, or surprise me?" "I should have made significant progress on new bracelets by tomorrow. I cannot say how long it will take for my idea to bear fruit, so please do not expect any more surprises until I've done some research, okay? Leave me here. I'll meet you all for meditation tomorrow morning." Con can get like a bloodhound sometimes, when he's on the trail of something. I've come to believe that it is always a good idea to give him his head when he gets that way. "Works for me buddy. See ya tomorrow!" With that I popped back to Meadow. Everyone was still hooked into the survey system. With their sunglasses on and their hands raised in front of them tapping commands into the virtual console they saw in front of them. They looked like a room full of Ray Charles impersonators. I managed to avoid the snicker that threatened to escape only by jumping up to the bedroom for a quick shower and change of clothes. With the double feature of meditation and Garden visit followed by the quick breakfast, I hadn't shaved this morning, and I ran my hand through the short 'shadow' I had growing. I decided to recruit a second opinion, and left it. By the time I'd finished, I decided for a change just to walk down the stairs like a normal person. I walked into the dining room and cleared my throat. When I got no response I cleared it a little more loudly. Fred was sitting closest to me and popped his head around, finally flipping the sunglasses up so he could see me clearly. "Hi Dave!" He said loudly. Chet popped his sunglasses up on his forehead when he heard this, and seeing me hollered "Ten Hut! Alien Overlord on deck!" That got a laugh, along with everyone's attention. I asked them to save whatever they needed and close down their systems. A few minutes later they were all sitting, sunglasses back in their pockets, staring at me. I held up the cell phone. "Look familiar?" I asked. "Well, it sort of looks like your cell phone, only you've got a new skin for it." Ginny said. She knew I loathed the entire concept of being so fashion conscious you had to dress up your cell phone to suit your whim. "Yes it does, doesn't it?" I said. I flipped the phone open put it on speaker mode and hit grandpa's number on the the quick list. "Hello Davey." "Hi grandpa. I apologize, but I've got you on speaker so the rest of the team could hear." "No problem, I"m just sitting in my office reading some reports. Where are you calling from? I thought you all were on a trip." "Well, we are, although we did have to pop in for breakfast this morning because we've run out of supplies. However, right now we are all sitting in our dining room on Meadow." There was a long silence from his end. I'd already heard the collective gasp from everyone here when he'd answered the phone. "So you've solved the communications problem then. Congratulations!" "Thanks Grandpa. I am going to need to ask you to get me cell phones for everyone here. It would probably be good to get them for Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa Carson and Ginny's parents as well as Formerio Sabarte, if its not too much trouble." I heard his rough laughter coming through the phone. Eventually he came back on. "You must not be the only one in the family with mental powers Dave. The McKesson Group bought the company that makes our cell phones two weeks ago." "Hey Grandpa since I've got you on the line - " "Yes Dave?" "I'm taking Dad for a little joyride, about 5pm your time. Would you like to join us?" "I look forward to it. See you then?" "You bet! See you later Grandpa." I cut the connection and folded the phone up. The room immediately exploded with questions. I held up my hands, motioning for quiet. "First things first I guess. After my training session today I had an idea. I mentioned the idea to Con, and he spent the rest of the morning on Obsidian in the Hall of Gifts working on this." I waved the phone in front of them. "Where is Con?" Eru said. I would have expected him to be here with his happy puppy energy knob slid to the high setting." "He surely would have been," I said, laughing. "but something he said to me when I went to check on him gave me an idea, and when I mentioned it, it gave him and idea, and that led to him asking to spend the night on Obsidian working on our ideas with the intent of surprising you all." "That Constantine!" Cyrus said. "He's one amazing, multi-tasking, artificial sonofabitch! "Better yet, he's our amazing, multi-tasking, artificial sonofabitch!" Ginny said. "Here here!" I cheered! I got a rousing "Here, here!" back! "Other than lunch, whose got anything needs mentioning?" "We either need to shop today, I mean major shopping, not just picking something up for dinner, or we need to stay on Earth tonight." Ginny said. "Agreed Eru said. We have almost nothing left except dried or canned staples. Even our freezer is getting low, and the fridge is down to the condiments, and a single jar of plum preserves that no one has found appetizing." "Dave," Fred said, "I think you should invite my Dad to go on today's joyride with your father and grandfather. He needs to see this sometime, and being with those two will make it easier for him to remain calm I think, at the newness." "Fred, thats probably a very good idea." I said. I flipped the cell phone over to him. "Give him a call." ------- Chapter 9: Pipe Dreams Formerio met Dad and I for lunch at Rodz Grill. Everyone else had decided on takeout pizza, so we phoned in the order and then I jumped Arden over to my house to wait for it to be delivered. I'd jumped him back to Meadow with pizza boxes in hand before Dad and I headed to lunch ourselves. We had an enjoyable lunch, Dad and Formerio talked a lot about local politics, something I had never taken much interest in, local or otherwise. We took our car back to Dad's house, since Formerio had just walked over the couple of blocks from his garage. During the ride he asked where we would be picking up Grandpa A.J. "We'll be picking him up after we get there." Dad told him. "He's still in North Carolina at the moment." I think that casual answer had him speechless for a while, as the conversation screeched to a halt until we got to the house. Once in the house, Mom greeted us and gave Formerio a kiss on the cheek. "Relax!" She said as she patted his shoulder. "Dave has only lost one person doing this, and he was always a little bit not-all-there anyway!" I didn't wait for a reaction, I just jumped us straight to the living room on Meadow. "You do know that Beth was only joking, right?" Dad said as soon as the scenery changed. "Fine time to be telling me!" Formerio answered. "Hang on while I get Grandpa." I said to them. I thought to him. He thought back. I reached out and he was there. Grandpa and Mr. Sabarte had met of course, but exchanged pleasantries anyway. "Ava, where is Fred?" I said to the room. "Fred is out on the patio." Ava answered. "Dad, please say hello to Ava." I asked him. "Hello Ava." Dad said. "Hello Mr. McKesson, welcome to our home" Ava said. "Mr. Sabarte, if you'd please say hello to Ava?" "ehh, Hello Ava. How are you?" Formerio said with uncertainty. "I am fine sir, thank you for asking." Ava answered. "Grandpa? If you'd be so kind?" "Hello Ava, a pleasure to meet you." Grandpa said. "Good afternoon Mr. McKesson, a pleasure meeting you as well." Ava said in response. "Ava, would you please tell everyone that we have arrived, and are in the living room?" "Certainly Dave." "If you find yourselves alone in the house, just ask Ava for help. She can either tell someone where you are or help guide you to where you were trying to go. She will turn lights on or off for you, shade the windows, adjust the room temperature, just about anything that can be tied to a normal household function." The rest of the crew, spearheaded by Fred, who came and hugged his father immediately, entered the living room. I tried to head of the room-filling babble I knew was coming. "Listen up Legionnaires!" I succeeded in heading them off at the conversational pass. " Mr. Sabarte just experienced his first jump, ever, and just met Ava. He's about to see and ride in the cruiser. Lets try and keep things from getting too riled up before we get to that point, shall we?" "Lets get this joyride moving then!" To minimize the congestion, I asked everyone but Fred to go ahead of us to the cruiser. I reached out and jumped three of the white "Grotto" bracelets from my pile of spares in the basement. "Please put these on your wrists." I said. "They look solid, but they will stretch to fit." I waited until they had them on. "In the event something should happen, and I am unable to return you home, grab the bracelet with your free hand and think 'Home!'. You will wind up in Grandfather's grotto in North Carolina, but better there than stuck here forever, right?" "How likely are we to need this, Son?" Dad asked. " I hope never in your lifetime or mine Dad, I really do. But right now it is a better lifeline than I thought I would be able to offer." "Fred, I'll let you lead the way with your dad. Grandpa will want a hand getting down the steps, so you should go first." By the time Grandpa, Dad and I got out the door, Fred and his Dad were standing about halfway down the path to the landing pad. Formerio was rattling on in Basque about the impossibility of this whole situation, and how we must have all slipped into madness a long time ago, or been seduced by the devil, or something beyond human knowing, etc... After quietly enjoying the looks of amazement on Dad and Grandpa, I hollered at Formerio, in Basque. "Old man! You might want to be a little more polite. Everyone here except my Father and Grandfather can understand every word you are saying. You will begin to hurt their feelings soon!" "Old man!" He said, still in Basque, "What makes you call me old man all of a sudden?" "Well, only old men and fools yell at the things they do not understand, and I have too much respect for you to call you a fool!" I answered. He caught himself then, and laughed shaking his head. He switched back to English. "I think I told you once that you were wiser than your years, didn't I? I was not wrong then, and you still are." As Dad and Grandpa caught up with us Dad said "You guys all speak Basque now?" "And Russian." Fred said. "German too." "As well as Italian, French, Greek, Spanish, Korean, Taluatan and English of course." Ginny said, walking up and guiding Dad towards the rear entry to the cruiser. "You will have to convince me!" Grandpa said in very passable Russian. "Certainly, nothing easier." Chet replied in Russian as he came and offered Grandpa an arm to help him up the ramp." We got everyone on board and I decided that instead of cramming the newcomers into the three available seats in the flight cabin, I activated all the side displays in the main cabin. I heard Mike in the back going "Oh Yeah! This is great!" And I knew they'd found this option themselves on their own joyride. "First stop is the big attraction that got all our attention when we first began looking at Meadow through our new survey system." I said over the cabin's intercom. I pulled up the survey overlays onto the nav display, found the red dot that indicated the herd of buffalo we'd been tracking and laid in a course to get us there quick. The heads up display was telling me we were doing 500 mph, and climbing. "We're at 500 mph and climbing rapidly." I relayed. I glanced at the display again. "ETA 20 minutes." Our time with the buffalo herd went as you might expect. All three were in awe of the vast ocean of flesh moving below us. The rest of us were still in awe, despite having experienced it already. I moved us up to a higher altitude so we could see most of the herd at once. The view, and the concept of so many animals of that size, all moving together boggled the mind. "I'll take requests later, but there is one place I've been wanting to go to for a long time now, so we're headed there next." I zoomed the nav display in on the East coast, and set our course for Chocowinity. As soon as I set the course I got a little pop-up in my heads up display warning me that maximum atmospheric velocity was 4500 mph, and asking me if I wished to continue with atmospheric travel or plot an extra-atmospheric route. I decided to stick with the atmospheric travel for now, and laid in the course. The ETA popped up with 23 minutes. I locked the course in and slipped out of the pilot's seat and went back to the main cabin. "ETA is 23 minutes." I told everyone. Since we've got a little time Fred, why don't you explain the survey system we have in place to our guests, and show them some of what we've discovered." I watched Fred give a clear and comprehensive rundown, in 30 minutes, of our survey platforms, their capabilities, and then a little sample of the various observations we'd made so far. Intelligent questions were asked and answered. Dad spotted our audio shortcomings immediately, and that got us back on the topic of language. When we arrived at our destination, I could really feel the pull of the nearby focus, and had no problem taking the controls again and manually navigating the cruiser the remaining distance. I slid the cruiser in and 'parked' it, letting the rear access ramp slide open. I had not told anyone where we were headed, and didn't tell them anything more now, except "We're here!" I slipped out the access ramp first. I had parked with the ramp facing the water, so I had to look around the side of the cruiser and past its bow to see the focus itself. Grandpa, old guardian that he was, sensed it immediately. "This is the grotto!" He said the moment his feet touched the ground. "Yes it is. Meadow's version of it." I replied. "Lets walk up towards the spot and see what we get." "Do we get something?" Dad asked. "I will have seen four focuses now. On my home of Taluat, on Earth, on Obsidian and now this one. Each has been unique and hauntingly beautiful." Eru said in response. Beautiful indeed. The focus on Meadow was a mineral spring that rose from a mound of smooth, glistening stone. The cascade of stone, wherever the water from the spring didn't cover them, was laced with tendrils of wild grape and honeysuckle vines. The soft sound of the water running over the rocks, and the sweet smell of the honeysuckle, already into its spring bloom, was both calming and intoxicating at the same time. Evening was approaching here in the East. We spent a quiet half hour enjoying the warm afternoon sun and the scented air in the calm quiet, but then it was time to go. "Grandpa, do you want me to jump you home from here, or would you like to take the ride back to our house first?" "You might as well send me home from here Dave." Grandpa said, sliding the white bracelet off his wrist and handing it to me. "But I think I'll have to fly out for another visit soon." "We'll be happy to have you when you do come out." Ginny said, kissing him on the cheek. A quick wave and goodbye to everyone and Grandpa was back in his study on Earth. "We've got a few hours of daylight to burn heading West." I said to the crew. "Who wants to show the three of us the Grand Canyon, Meadow style?" Fred took the pilot's seat, and we let his Dad sit in the copilot's seat alongside him. It took another 30 minutes of very high speed travel to get there from Chocowinity, but watching the country zip past you at 4500 miles per hour is mesmerizing. The Grand Canyon at 200 miles per hour is a pretty fun ride as well. I wanted to save the real sightseeing for some other time though. We didn't want to overwhelm Mr. Sabarte his first time out. When we got back to the house and were safely on the landing pad, I asked Dad and Mr. Sabarte what they wanted to do. Mr. Sabarte said he needed to return to his garage, and Dad said he'd like to take me for a little drive once we were home. Everyone else was itching to spend some time with their families back on Earth, so we buttoned up what needed buttoning and I reached out to home on Earth and quickly let my senses feel for anyone in the area. All I found was Mom, so I jumped us all to the patio in the back yard. Arden and Alicia had driven out the house the other day in their quest for a peaceful place for the jump to Meadow, so their car was here. They offered Fred and his Dad a ride. Mr. Sabarte turned to me before he climbed into Alicia's little Honda Civic and shook my hand. "You know how to shake an old immigrant up pretty good, Davey. You keep it up. I've decided its okay. But you do good things, you hear? The Sabarte family is on your team, don't forget." Cyrus and Felicia offered to give Mike and Chet rides from their house, so I jumped them all to the Poole's garage. Dad suggested that the rest of us could accompany him on the little ride he had asked me to take, but Ginny begged off, saying she wanted to get home and make sure there was going to be enough dinner for everyone, since she was planning on inviting her fiance to dine at Casa De Parkin. Privately she sent me a thought I answered. She thought back. I could hear the giggle echoing in her thoughts, even though she managed to keep it inside only. Eru and I jumped into Dad's car, and Dad hit the road. We quickly found ourselves on highway 4, just north of Green Horn Creek, the road Dad took to work every day. When we passed the turnoff to the Tulloch Reservoir and kept heading East on highway 4, I became even more convinced we were headed to Dad's office. I was surprised then when we turned south on an unmarked stretch of asphalt about three miles before we would have hit the Milton Road exit, which was my internal halfway marker on the drive to Proto-Tech. The road we took was relatively new and untraveled. A mile and a half down that straight stretch we had to stop at a gate. A very impressive gate in a twenty foot high security fence with razor wire at the top. There was a guard house, but it was boarded up. Dad got out and looked through a ring of keys he'd pulled from his pocket until he found the right key and unlocked a very large padlock and slid the two sides of the gate open. He drove us through the gate and stopped to lock the gate behind us. A quarter mile past the gate sat a squat, solid looking two story building. Looming behind it was a larger, four story windowless building. The road we were on ran on a curve into a huge loading area on one side of the larger building. We continued straight on a smaller circular drive that did a loop in front of the first building. The inside area of the loop was paved and divided into parking spaces. We pulled up in front, and following Dad's lead, we all piled out to stand with him on the sidewalk in front of the entrance. "This was built for the California National Guard 4 years ago." Dad said. "There was a big push to use the Guard to corral illegal aliens and round them up in detention centers until they could be processed. This was going to be their 'proof-of-concept' facility. It was still being built when the project was canceled." Dad pulled the ring of keys out of his pocket again and began trying keys, looking for the right one to unlock the main door. "With the situation in the Middle East sucking up all the money and manpower that had been intended for the project, and the federal matching funds canceled in favor of whatever the hell the money's being spent on over there, the last phase of construction was never started and what had already been built was mothballed." "So you think we can buy this then? I said. "It certainly looks ideal for our needs!" "I hate to confess, but Proto-Tech already owns it." Dad said. "The State had a fire sale for everything involved with the project that couldn't be transferred to another guard base, and the price, and the location so close to our own headquarters made it a very attractive item for us." "So why is it just sitting here empty then?" I asked. "There were so many things that made it a perfect fit for Proto-Tech that the acquisition team and the executive oversight committee, which I was a member of, failed to notice the one glaring problem with the deal. We had absolutely nothing we could use it for once we had it." "Amazing!" Eru said. "I had been operating under the mistaken conclusion that your society's commerce and government was somehow unaffected by the usual problems that they are plagued with on my own world. I see now that I was wrong." We toured the smaller office building first, which had at least a dozen offices and two very large meeting rooms. The larger building contained the warehouse, kitchen, cafeteria and barracks. The final phase would have been to build the actual prison building. Where it would have gone was a large empty square mile of grass and scrub. We started in the warehouse, and worked our way through, finishing with the cafeteria. The empty barracks areas, we ignored for now. If anything, they would wind up as more storage, but since this entire operation was a front for creating a pipeline to and from Meadow, it really didn't matter. The warehouse, and the office building were perfect, I thought. "Dad, this is perfect. The fact that you already owned it before I even knew I needed it is the kind of spooky coincidence, like Grandpa buying the cell phone company, or our picking Eru, of all the possible people on Taluat to contact, that makes me wonder what forces are at play here." "Davey, I already have trouble understanding what I see you doing, please don't ask me to start thinking about the stuff YOU don't understand!" On the drive home Dad asked Eru if he'd like to spend the night at their house, since I was going to be spending my night at Ginny's. They'd invited Grandpa and Grandma Carson over for dinner and a movie. Dad said they were going to watch the DVD of 'Ray'. "You'll find this movie very interesting, Eru." I said. "It's the life story of a famous Earth musician." With Eru set for his evening, I decided to check in with Ginny. I thought. I heard her giggle in my thoughts at my modification of the cliché phrase. "Dad, if you and Eru are good to go for the rest of the day, I think I'll just jump myself over to Ginny's right now, okay?" A serious smooching, as it turned out, was Ginny-speak for a little grope session that I had absolutely no regrets about after it had happened, especially when Ginny told me that her Dad was off on an errand. Dinner that evening was roast pork, green beans and roasted red baby potatoes. Very delicious. I was not surprised to see Sarah and Pete joining us, nor was I the least surprised at how happy they seemed to be in each other's company. Pete's mom and dad seemed tickled pink to see Pete and Sarah together, and Mary treated her like a princess. Seeing Pete got me thinking once again, but He and Sarah had after dinner plans, so they skipped dessert and were gone very quickly. There was something they called strawberry goobers for dessert, which were actually little tarts with strawberries and cream filling that were very tasty. After dessert, we sat and played cards with Paul and Mary and had a nice visit, getting them caught up on our lives while we did it. I suggested they should come see for themselves soon, where we were living, and what we were doing. "We'd like to do that Dave, but we're pretty busy these days, trying to make enough money to pay for Ginny's wedding!" Paul joked. "I just feel that its not right that some of our biggest backers, mainly you two, my Mom, and Grandma and Grandpa Carson have yet to see what the commitment is really all about." I said. "We appreciate that Dave. Perhaps you can schedule a 'Sunday picnic' or something, and we can all visit at once?" Mary suggested. "That would probably be very workable, and would give us something normal to do while we're there, sort of take the edge off the incredible parts." Ginny offered. I considered my next words very carefully, but I had been mulling the Pete situation over in my head, and needed to get it out. "I've been thinking for quite some time about asking Pete to join the effort." I offered. Mary and Paul glanced at each other, and followed it by a long silence. Finally Paul answered. "We were worried about Pete there for a while, the government grant that had been funding his university research hasn't been renewed, and he hasn't been able to find another. He doesn't want to start looking for work at Sea World or any of the other places out of work marine biologists fall back on when they can't do research, but he is getting frustrated." "Its a good thing He's found Sarah," Mary said. "She's really saved him from getting depressed over the situation, although she is in the same situation." "I remember Pete saying she had a degree, but I don't think he ever said what it was in. Do you guys know?" Ginny asked. "I believe she said she had a master's degree in Anthropology or something like that. Maybe Cultural Anthropology? The only people left who are offering her work are interested in more than her credentials, if you know what I mean." Paul said. Ginny and I looked at each other. Once again it was as if a gentle hand were guiding us along a path we couldn't see. Our night at Ginny's was educational. For Paul and Mary. They took it with good humor though. At breakfast in the morning, Mary handed Ginny a bottle of sore throat spray. "Here dear." She said. "I thought perhaps you might need this today." Ginny had the grace to blush spectacularly, and when her Dad added "My goodness princess, we had no idea you were such a gifted vocalist." she buried her face in my chest, but I could feel her giggling quietly, drowned out by her parent's laughter. ------- Chapter 10: Revolving Doors We made it to the Meditation Chamber right on schedule, and our session that morning was less an exploration and more of a reinforcement of our connection. We joined, briefly, merging into that many-minds-as-one feeling we had grown to recognize during its fleeting appearances. I always felt sharper and more alive after one of these kind of meditation sessions, but this morning I could tell that everyone was feeling the same way, perhaps even more than normal. Con had not joined us, which surprised me at first, but then I decided he just didn't want to risk revealing his surprise prematurely while we were connected. He was waiting for us at the Hall of Gifts, and once again had that 'my-tail-would-be-wagging-if-I-had-one' look. "Good morning Con!" I said cheerily as we spotted him. "How was your day alone?" "Very good, Dave!" He enthused. "Very good indeed!" "Do you then have a surprise for us, as promised?" I asked. "Oh yes, and I am working on more surprises for another day. Not today though, just the one today." The way he was rattling on, I knew he was bursting to get started, so I turned him loose. "Recently," He began, slipping into his 'Spock' persona a little. "Dave asked me to look at the possibility of piggybacking Earth cell phone technology on top of some of the seeker technology, in essence using the Light as a wrapper to conduct cell phone transmissions across the facets. This was achieved, and you have all seen the result of that." Everyone echoed their agreement, and complimented Con on his efforts. "When Dave received his replacement cell phone, he asked me about its power requirements, and that seemingly simple question led to this!" He opened a cabinet door above the workbench he had brought us to. Hung on neat little pegs were a new set of bracelets. "Please, one at a time, remove your bracelet and give it to me." He asked. As each person handed over their bracelet, Con handed one back to them until everyone had swapped their bracelet for a new one. "These bracelets, like the old ones, are hard wired to return you to Meadow, using the procedure previously shown. However these bracelets, Unlike your old ones, do not require a manual recharge from Davey between uses." The entire Legion, to a person stood stunned in their tracks. "You mean I can go to Meadow anytime I want, from anywhere I want?" Ginny asked. "Yes, absolutely. You will no longer need Dave to give you a ride to work." They actually applauded! I asked Con to take a bow. "Please, do not be too appreciative yet." Con said. "This is really only an intermediate solution, which I hope to make obsolete itself once I've gotten a bit more progress on certain aspects of Light signature storage. I will probably need your help for that part Davey." He said. "This is sort of a patchwork solution to a single problem, and will do while I work on more of a 'whole cloth' solution to several problems." "Anything about the new bracelets we need to know?" Chet asked. "Yes, the bracelets require about 5 seconds to recharge after each use. I hope to improve or eliminate that in the future though." Con said. The entire group of us were chatting merrily, congratulating Con on his good work, when my new and improved cell phone rang. "Dave McKesson." I said. "Yes." "Yes." "That will be fine. See you there." I hung up and turned to the group. "I've got to run home quick and pick up a delivery at Mom and Dad's. Once I've got that cleared up I'll meet you all back at the house afterwards." "Good!" Con said, "We will meet you on Meadow!" Everyone stood waiting, and only after they started looking at me questioningly did I remind them. "Well, go ahead! You don't need me for this anymore!" I said, grinning like a banshee. The group of them all reached for their bracelets with smiles firmly in place and one by one they disappeared. I jumped into my room at home and very quickly switched into some clothes I had left there, an old Penguin Computing t-shirt and a pair of ratty jeans a bit too old and worn for anything but puttering around the house in. I threw on an old pair of canvas deck shoes, which I always seemed to have old generations of laying on the floor in the closet. "Hey Mom!" I yelled into the house. "In here Davey!" Mom yelled from the laundry room. "Somebody has a delivery for me, so I'm here to wait for it." "Okay sweetie!" She yelled back. I only had to wait a couple minutes before the doorbell rang. I opened the door and saw a guy about my age, with glasses and a scraggly beard that just barely outdid my initial foray into unshaven status. "Good morning. Are you David Alan McKesson?" He asked. "Yes I am." I answered. "May I see some ID please? I'm not supposed to release these" He said, indicating the box under his arm. "without proof of identity." "Sure! I said, and while I reached behind me like I was pulling something out of my back pocket, I jumped my wallet from the top of the dresser back on Meadow where I'd left it this morning. I showed him my driver's license and my government-issued private pilot's license, which also had a photo, a newer one than the one on my driver's license. Happy, he handed me the box and asked me to sign a delivery completed form. "You must have some connections man, these are not ordinary phones, these are what we call company specials. Already pre-assigned and no billing. Say! He said suddenly. Our company just get bought out by McKesson Telecom. Any relation?" "Yup." I said. "Wicked!" He said. I thanked him, and once the door was closed, ripped the box open. Inside were eighteen cell phones, each wrapped in a sheet of paper with a name on it. Excellent! Grandpa had come through as promised! I went upstairs and changed back into my gear, grabbed the box again and walked out to the top of the stairs. "Bye Mom!" I yelled down the stairs, before jumping myself back to Meadow. When I blinked into existence in the living room, I was surprised to see everyone sitting around, apparently waiting for me. "Uh oh! Beware of geeks bearing gifts!" Mike said when he saw the package in my arms. "Gifts indeed!" I answered back. "Con, do we need to go to your converter, or can I bring it here?" "You can bring it here." He answered, so I reached out to the Hall and moved it from the workbench where we'd left it to an end table next to the couch where Chet was sitting. I had left Con's sitting on top of the pile in the box, intending for him to go first, so I grabbed it and tossed it to him, calling out his name. "Constantine Dedomena Fylakas!" Con grabbed the phone out of the air, and pulled the paper wrapped a round it off with a snap of the rubber band that had been holding it. "Watch this process." I said to the room. "You'll all be doing the same thing in a minute." Con fed the cell phone into the slot on the top of the box, the lower recess lit up and he reached in with his bracelet hand and picked up the new version that appeared there. As had happened with me, both the bracelet and the phone flashed in unison as soon as he did. I grabbed the next phone in the box. "Fred Sabarte" I called out next, flipping the phone to him as I called his name. I slowly went through the pile, pushing the non-Legion phones over to the side as I encountered them. I grabbed the last of them and tossed it to Eru. Each one of them went through the process as I tossed them their phone, until everyone stood in the living room, new, enhanced phone in hand. "I've got more phones in the box for Ginny's parents, my parents, Fred's dad and Grandma and Grandpa Carson." I said. "There's even one in there for Grandpa A.J." That consideration, that there were all these people who we wanted to have access to Meadow, and to us and our new home that set the course for the rest of our day, and the rest of the week. I had brought up the subject of a visit with Ginny's parents, and Mary had suggested a Sunday picnic or something similar. That seemed like an even better idea now. Everyone thought it was a a good idea, and with a consensus, I suggested we concentrate on getting things back to order here, get our groceries restocked, invitations extended, and since it was going to require so much Earth time, attention to whatever personal details everyone had that needed it. Once everyone had gotten changed back into their regular clothes, I Ginny, Eru, Felicia and Cyrus volunteered to head up the shopping expedition. The Poole family van was deemed perfectly suited to hauling groceries, so I jumped the four of them to Cyrus and Felicia's house. I jumped Fred back to his house, and with Mike, Arden, Chet and Alicia and Con left behind, I sat down to talk to them. "Guys, I've kinda saved you till last on purpose," I said. "It bothers me that so many of us have family members who we have trusted with our secret, but I have never really followed up on how you felt about telling your parents. Arden, I've probably known you longer than anyone in Angel's Camp, outside of my parents, so let me start with you." "Dave, I think if you had asked me this a few years ago, I"d have said no way. Not because they would betray your secret... our secret, but because we wold not have been able to give them the kind of concrete evidence that we can today. They would never have been able to stop worrying and wondering about what we were doing, or what might happen to me." "The choice is yours to make then." I offered. "I would like to tell my parents, and let them see the evidence with their own eyes. Thank you for being concerned about this." "Alicia, how about your parents?" "My parents, as all of you know, are kind, loving, and caring people. They want nothing but the best for me. They were and are terribly fond of Arden, and our engagement has made them as happy as I've ever seen them." She looked around the room at all of us, while Arden patted the back of her hand in a comforting gesture. "But my parents are also deeply religious people. Religion holds a high place in both their lives, and they are very much a part of the current 'neo-puritan' evangelical trend. They are rabidly anti-abortion, anti birth control, anti evolution, anti you-name-it. At their church they don't hear sermons about Jesus' love, or about ministering to the sick or the poor. They hear about those who are defiling God's laws, and ignoring the truth of the bible to sin and... it is so terribly hateful and antagonistic!" Arden was hugging her now, as she began to sniffle a little as the emotion got to her. "I can only credit their own natural goodness for keeping that hate out of our house and away from the rest of the family, and our friends. But something like this would be such a complete refutation of those beliefs that they could never condone, let alone keep silent, about what you can do. The instant they learned of this, they would pray for your eternally damned soul, and they would call the preacher." She paused, wiping a couple tears from her cheek. "No. We will not be telling my parents. Ever!" Arden hugged her then, hell, we all hugged her then. "Alicia, every one of us understands, and we will continue to love your parents for the love they show you." "Mike?" I prompted. "Dave, I'm going to have to echo Arden here. If you'd asked me this a couple of years ago, I'd have been very reluctant. Mom's death hit Dad very hard. He barely held onto his sanity, let alone his job. He did the proverbial 'crawl into a bottle' routine. I think what saved him in the end was that he realized the bottle was killing him, not helping him forget. Since he wasn't getting what he needed from it, he quit drinking. That moment of clarity was the first sign that he had made it over the hump. He still misses Mom terribly, and there are the sad days — their anniversary and her birthday primarily. Christmas is more bittersweet than sad." "Mike," Alicia said, "we knew you guys had to be hurting after you Mom passed away, but I can't believe we're just now learning about this!" "I guess I was so busy keeping the shell I'd built for the 'gay guy who can't keep a serious relationship' situation that I never thought to unburden my other problems on anyone. The situation has changed now. My Dad is a whole person again. Whole and honest and loyal." Mike came over and gave me a hug, patting me on the back. "Thank you Dave for somehow getting me to release that. I would feel very good about including my Dad in our secret." "Chet, I saved you for last. I think I know your answer, but go ahead." "Guys, you've been to my house many times over the years. You know what a Science Fiction nut my Dad is. He would eat this up with a spoon and beg for more!" We all laughed at that of course, Chet hardest of all. "My Mom, bless her heart, floats through life oblivious to all except two things. Her sweetheart still loves her after all these years, and a good apple strudel is the cure for all that ails a man. I would feel very comfortable with their being included in the secret." "What about your brothers?" I asked. Chet had three brothers, two older and one younger. The younger brother had graduated from high school only the year before. They all lived and worked on the family farm. "Hank, Leo and Dwight are three of the solidest souls you'll ever meet. Dull and unimaginative to be sure, but loyal, honest, hardworking, dependable and incapable of betrayal. Of course I would trust them." Well then, it sounds like I will be doing a few performances of 'Stupid Davey Tricks' in the near future." After the laughter died, Mike wondered if we should try to get all the 'new victims' together on Saturday, so they could be given the choice of coming to the picnic on Sunday or not. It sounded sensible, so with the understanding that Mike would let us know what the ultimate plan was, I jumped each of them home, though Alicia went home with Arden, not to her own. When I was done, it left just me and Con. "Con, I would guess that your preference is to spend the time between now and Sunday back on Obsidian, working on your new ideas. Correct?" "Before you go, it occurred to me as I was jumping everyone home that if we had two bracelets for everyone, one set for Earth and one set for Meadow, we could take care of most of the routine back and forth jumping, and give everyone even that much more freedom. Would it be wise to ask for that, or will the ideas you're going to work on solve that problem?" "Oh yes, it will solve that problem specifically, and perhaps a few more." "Well if it will make your use of the work area on Obsidian any easier during the interim, get yourself another bracelet and I'll tune it to the Hall on obsidian." "Excellent!" Con said, and I jumped him to Obsidian. And I was alone. I had at least three hours, assuming the shoppers bought more groceries than they could carry with them. Otherwise, I had until Ginny started thinking about dinner. I went into the dining room and asked Ava to give me my usual display and holographic control setup. I quickly zoomed in on the sea of Japan and the Korean coast, where the morning sun was just beginning to rise. I focused on the huge river delta area between what would be Hong Kong and Macau on Earth. This river delta was the confluence of several major river systems in China, and was relatively densely populated, but for my purposes, it was the myriad of small villages that attracted me. With the live video feed I had found a small farmhouse with a clothesline full of clothes the day before while we were all doing our surveying. The folks in this region seemed to dress in rather unisex fashion, with a pullover shirt and trousers and sandals. Sandal making seemed to be a fairly well developed craft here, and everywhere we saw people on Meadow. I had jumped a shirt and pair of trousers from the line and into my personal storage area in the basement. I brought them into the dining room where I was now and tried them on. They were ill fitting and threadbare. Perfect. I carefully made sure I left nothing else on except the stolen clothes, and turning back to the monitor I soon found a muddy stretch of isolated riverbank and jumped myself there. Several dips in the river and rolls in the muddy bank, and I was a filthy beggar. I had pre-selected my next spot. There was a wooden stair that led to the shore beneath a bridge in the middle of a fairly large village near what would have been Hong Kong. I reached out with my senses, and finding no one under the bridge, and jumped to a spot in the dim recess beneath it. I took a deep breath and walked out from under the bridge and up the ladder. The ladder left me standing at the edges of a public market, where the bridge met a pair of roads, one that ran along the shore and one that ran into it from the north. I became a mute beggar, squatting on the edge of that intersection, holding out my hands and bowing my head whenever anyone passed me by. I had watched several beggars during my survey time, and emulated them as closely as I could. I sat crouched there for two hours, my mind wide open to the busy sounds of the market and the hundreds of voices talking, bartering and bargaining. More importantly, it was also open to the swarm of thoughts, memories and feelings associated with the voices of the marketplace. During my time there I even managed to collect a couple coins. Simple copper coins, probably of little value, but actual specimens. To the few people who actually stopped and tried to engage me in conversation, I simply pointed at my mouth and throat and shook my head negatively. My legs began to get cramped from all the squatting, so I finally took my coins and limped, genuinely, due to the cramps, back to the ladder and down beneath the bridge. I jumped myself back to Meadow, took of my filthy clothes and left them in a pile in my storage area. I jumped to the main storage area, where there was a wash down area for returning equipment. A good hosing later, followed by a more normal shower and shampoo session, I had a short sleeve shirt, a pair of jeans and my best pair of ratty old deck shoes on, ready to go. I sent out the thought. I got in reply. I jumped to Con, and as usual found him at a work bench in the Hall of Gifts. He was suspiciously, not doing anything discernible with the equipment on the bench. "You hiding your work from me?" I asked. "Well of course!" Con answered with a huff. "Surprises actually require a level of secrecy. Imagine that!" I laughed and held out my hand. In it were the few copper coins I had succeeded in begging on the streets. "Stealing coins?" Con asked me. "Begging them." I said. Bless him, his little artificial eyes went wide open. "Really?" He asked in a hushed tone. "Yes. I did have to steal some local clothes, and roll around in a mud bank a couple of times to look beggarly, but I just spent two hours standing in the corner of a street market, soaking up as much as my ears and mind could absorb." "You want me to make copies? I don't think you'll get rich that way. These coins don't look very valuable." "I do want you to copy them, and I very much doubt they have much value. They are probably the lowest value coins in use there." "So I will make you copies of these coins but... ?" "Each copy that you make will contain a microphone and transmitter keyed into the survey platforms, so that we can finally start capturing remote audio." "Excellent!" Con said. "OH excellent Dave!" "I'll leave you to your labors then Con, see you soon!" With a wave, I was gone, back on Earth and in my bedroom. ------- Chapter 11: Hearth Stones By the time Saturday finally rolled around, I felt like we had gotten a lot of things done. Our food and other supplies had been restocked, we had the invitations out for our Saturday get-together, and Mike and his dad would be hosting at their house. We had decided to make it a lunch invitation. Thursday morning Dad called me and said the paperwork was completed on what he called 'the DeWitt Road property', referring to the warehouse and office facility that Dad had shown us, and that he had keys for me. Con called me to say he had several hundred copper coin 'spy toys' manufactured. Ginny gave me the final approval to continue with my beard 'project'. I was starting to feel better about it as it began growing in. I had never let my facial hair go more than a couple days in my life, so this was a new experience for me. Grandpa A.J. Had decided to fly out so he could spend a little time and appear in public places without worrying about someone thinking it odd. Aaron and Ambrose were accompanying him, having decided it was high time they got a look at both California, and Meadow as well. All three of them were talking about spending at least two weeks. One thing that still bothered me a little was just how badly I'd misjudged things with Grandma and Grandpa Carson. I stopped in to invite them to the Sunday get together, and while I was there, I tried to apologize to them for what I felt was completely ignoring them through all the recent development and excitement. To my surprise, they laughed! "Davey," Grandpa Bill said, "Your Grandmother and I aren't dead, and we're not in a nursing home, but we are retired. We both had very long, very exciting and very challenging careers. We both went through long periods of time during those careers, longer than you've been alive, where we had to be dynamic, take-charge, balls of fire." Grandma added. "We didn't retire because we had to sweetie, we retired because we were finally at a point in our lives where we could live at the slower pace we both always wanted." "We are still active, energetic people, and we still have things we want to do, but excitement, mystery and drama are not things we look forward to." Grandpa said. "We will be content to experience our excitement and drama vicariously, through you and your friends, but we don't want to experience them with you. We will be there for you when you need us of course, as we were when you needed us to buy this specific house when we moved here. We will do what we can Davey, but we will be your old, retired Grandparent's when we do." "And not to be a pest, dear" Grandma added, "but could you please get that damned gun safe out of our garage?" I was embarrassed of course that I'd forgotten that there was a safe full of weapons in their garage. I jumped it into the storage area on Meadow right then and there. I was surprised that I hadn't already known and understood their feelings on being involved in what I was doing. I decided I needed to socialize more with them as just their grandson, and let them be as involved as they wanted to be. Not accepting my apology was just their way of saying not to worry about it so much. They still accepted the invitation to the Sunday picnic on Meadow. Con, once he knew the details of my adventures as a beggar, had provided me with some excellent disguise elements, even rigging me up a spray booth in the staging area that darkened my skin to that Mediterranean cast that everyone on Meadow seemed to favor. It darkened my brown hair slightly as well, which made it a closer match to the dark brown hair that was the predominate coloring all over Meadow. Not that I didn't occasionally see blond, redhead and black heads of hair. I'd even seen several people with green or blue eyes. I also had a scar appliqué for my throat that required a special solvent to remove. Con gave me a box full of them. Friday evening, while everyone was busy getting things together for the lunch in the morning, I begged off, saying I had some research that I needed to work on, and spent 6 hours in the Meadow version of Hong Kong again. I had my beggar's bowl in hand at first, but I had parked myself this time near a restaurant with a large outdoor dining area, and even though I pretended to be a mute, I wound up washing dishes in the place for over 6 hours. The dish washing experience was interesting. I'd never been a dish washer, and certainly the manual, backbreaking methods used in this kitchen were something I would have been hard pressed to experience on Earth. But the big, barrel-chested cook who first grabbed me off the street didn't trust me with his precious dishes at first anyway. I spent most of my time hauling water and boxes of clean dishes from the sinks and dirty dishes to them. What I loved was the constant chatter. I don't know if its just normal restaurant kitchen behavior, but everyone in the kitchen and boiler areas jabbered at each other constantly. I worked, as much on auto-pilot as possible, and opened my mind to their thoughts as I drank in their words. I started work during a mealtime shift, obvious by the jam-packed crowd out front and the frenzy in the kitchen. The cook fed me something once the rush was over, and gave me time to sit on the ground behind the restaurant, near the big boilers that produced all the water for their cooking and washing. He sat beside me and motioning at my throat, examined my scar. He shook his head and rumbled something that sounded sympathetic. We both ate our meals, a sort of mush with bits of sausage in it. Two bites in, he'd set his bowl down and ran back into the restaurant. He came back out with a handful of tomato wedges and a couple large pats of butter, which he proceeded to divvy up into our bowls. I took my biggest chance then, with the two of us absorbed in our meals, and the cook jabbering at me between spoonfuls. I gathered my mental energies, and entered the cooks mind. As I remembered Eru doing it, I followed his thoughts and words into the verbal centers of his consciousness. We finished our food, I tried to make gestures of appreciation and thanks, and made a few throat sounds, pretending at the application of great effort to do so. He clapped me on the shoulder and we went back to work. We got the kitchen cleaned, and the dishes done, which I actually got to help wash this time, in time for the next meal rush. Most of their dishes were wooden, but they did have some fired clay pottery. The wooden stuff was actually better, as the pottery was pretty crude. Right in the middle of the second rush, I realized I was starting to understand bits and pieces of the chatter around me. The cook's name was Borthun, and he was yelling at one of the waitresses, an attractive older woman whose name I hadn't caught to that point. What he was yelling just suddenly started making sense, as my brain begin to finally integrate things. Somewhere some bits of my awareness lined up finally, and it began coming through. "... care if he wants a rare cut of the lamb shank! If he wants rare lamb, he comes for the midday meal!" I caught. I spent the remainder of that meal rush listening and hauling water and dishes with a big grin on my face. Halfway through, I felt Ginny thinking at me. She said. Borthun caught my pause as I was having my mental conversation, and had also seen my recent grin. "Scarecrow, you are smiling like a boy during his first trip to the brothel. I wonder what is going on in that head of yours?" He said laughingly to me. And I understood the entire sentence! I pointed at my ears, and then pantomimed his words reaching from his mouth to them, and nodded my head and smiled. Then I touched the scar, and pantomimed words from my mouth to his ears and frowned and shook my head. "You can understand me then?" He said. I nodded my head a bit, then shook it a bit, pantomiming a back and forth gesture. "Ah! You understand some?" I nodded vigorously! "Yela! He hollered at the attractive older waitress he'd been yelling at earlier. "The scarecrow can understand what we say a little it seems! I took another chance as Yela came over to 'meet' me, now that they knew they could be understood to some degree. I took both their hands, put them on my chest for a second, and then in the best hoarse whisper I could muster said "Dave". Yela, mimicking my gesture put her hand on her own chest and Said "Yela". Borthun repeated this with his own name. I smiled widely. Just then one of the other waitresses yelled at us, reminding us that we were in the middle of a rush, and we all scrambled back to work. When the meal rush was over, and things had been cleaned up for the night, I looked at the sun lowering itself in the sky. I pointed at it to Borthun and pantomimed walking away, and sleeping. "I understand. You need to go. Probably got a family somewhere who will worry?" I nodded yes at that. He reached into a pocket and pulled out several copper coins, both larger than the ones I'd seen in my previous begging trips. "Come back tomorrow and I'll put you to work. You are a hard worker!" Yela handed me a cloth wrapped bundle as I left, and I waved goodbye, and I took off down the street. My 'safe' arrival area had been a narrow alley between two buildings with high windowless walls. When I returned there it was still deserted, so I quickly jumped back to Meadow. Despite the length of my day, as it was now past midnight our time, I woke Ginny, bubbling with excitement. She took one look at me, still in my beggar's disguise and said "Davey McKesson, have you been keeping secrets from me?" I grinned sheepishly. She got over her upset when I showed her the coins and better yet the cloth bundle, and the small half-loaf of heavy, brown bread and chunk of pork shoulder. The meat was still warm from the spit, and we both ate a little of it while I recounted my day. Ginny made me go change out of my beggar's outfit, and I washed the disguise out of my hair and off my skin, using Con's spray booth. When I returned to our room and slid in beside her, she pulled me to her and kissed me heatedly. "I missed you today. I missed you more tonight. Make love to me!" That night, I received a new 'special' nickname from Ginny that served her well for all our years ahead. When she got excited, as she urged me on, she called me 'beggar boy'. With the late hour of my return home, and the events that followed, we were both a little bleary-eyed in the morning, especially since we had all agreed to meet early so we could still get in a full hour of meditation and a normal two hour session in the Garden, but by the time we were showered and dressed, aided by a reinvigorating wave of Light that I washed us in briefly, we were ready to go. With everyone now in possession of their self-powering bracelets, Ginny and I only had to jump to Meadow to meet everyone before we headed off for our morning meditation. When I jumped everyone through to the meditation chamber, Con was sitting there waiting for us. "Good morning everyone!" He said cheerily. We were all a bit surprised, as Con had been so wrapped up recently in his research that he hadn't joined us in several days, but we were glad to have him, and we quickly formed our circle. "Eru, before we begin today, I have some exciting news, along with a bit of an apology to everyone. During the course of the week, with everything else going on, I've been getting in a little 'observation time' near the area of Meadow which would be Hong Kong on Earth. The difference is that I've been doing it in person, disguised as a beggar on the street." Phew! Talk about Revenge of the Chaos Bomb! I was struggling to think of a way to get things restored a little before I shocked them again, but Con beat me to it. "Legionnaires, please be aware, that through Dave's efforts, we now have an acceptable method of acquiring audio pickup on with our platforms." Con threw a handful of the coins onto the floor between us. I picked up the conversation then. "As a beggar on the streets of Maldre's Crossing, I received these coins. They are certainly the meanest, lowest value coins possible, and thus fairly ubiquitous in the area. Con has created hundreds of copies of these coins, with one slight difference. Each one is a microphone, designed to transmit audio it picks up to the nearest platform." As soon as they had seemed to be accepting this information, I decided to throw the rest of the gas on the fire. I tossed my larger coins from last night onto the floor. "These coins I received last night. Not for begging, but for spending an entire day washing dishes at an inn or restaurant of some kind." "You washed dishes for 6 hours last night, and got paid at the end of the day? How did you communicate?" "Pantomime and gestures mostly." I answered. Arden was quickest this morning and caught it first. "Mostly?" I of course had my mind wide open to the thoughts and conversation around me, and let me tell you, market places and restaurant kitchens appear to me to be places where people just talk non-stop! Between the first and second meals we served of the day, I took a chance and opened a channel into the cook's verbal centers, similar to the channel that Eru opened for us that day when we all so suddenly learned all those languages." "So you know their language now?" Chet asked. "Well, I finally started to understand it when it was spoken to me towards the end of the day." Eru jumped in then. "And so today during our session, we will open those channels again!" And that was exactly what we did for our entire session! When we finished the session and headed for the Garden, we were surprised again to find Con accompanying us. I was a bit surprised, because while the teachers were very deferential and polite to Con, they had never offered him a lesson, so he had stopped trying. Today, he walked up to the border and a teacher appeared immediately. "Greetings Constantine," The teacher said. "Lets us walk in the garden, and you can tell me of what you seek." Con turned briefly to grin in triumph at us before taking the teachers arm and disappearing into the garden. I turned to the rest of the crew with wide, teary eyes. "That is the first time." "This was the first time Con came for a lesson?" Felicia asked. "No, the first time they have offered one." Ginny said. Everyone went silently into their own lessons, thinking about Con. When we finished our lessons, Con was waiting, and I could tell by the flush on his cheeks, and the light in his eyes that his first session had borne fruit. "I must stay today and keep working, but I will come to Meadow when it is time for these new friends to know of me. Tomorrow I will attend the entire picnic, okay?" Of course it was okay, we told him, and watched him practically skipping as he headed towards the curtain. I met everyone on Meadow and once we were all done changing, jumped everyone to the various places back home they needed to go, finishing with delivering Ginny, Eru and I to my bedroom. Mom and Dad joined us and we were very quickly on our way To Mike's. Mike's sisters, Carrie and Callie, were both in college now, attending the University of Washington, and apparently, carving a swath through the entire male population, leaving broken hearts behind like mile markers on the highway. The twins had gone to live with their Aunt in Seattle when things had been at their worst with Mike's dad, and enrolling at UW let them continue to live with their Aunt, who they adored. That left Mike and his dad Owen as bachelors, and they had co-existed as such for a while. The lunch plans were only slightly modified when Ginny and Alicia decided there would have to be some housecleaning done before their 'cave' was fit to host a proper luncheon. Mostly it was this cleaning that I had missed last night while I was busy washing dishes. Fred and his father arrived first, Fred having recruited his dad to be the shining example of someone with old world values who could still accept the reality of our situation. Chet showed up with his dad and mom Oscar and Ellie, and his three brothers Hank, Leo and Dwight, or as he referred to them, due to the coincidence of their initials, 'Huey, Louie and Dewey'. They were obviously used to it. When the cartoon moniker slipped out, Hank laughed. "Yup, that's us, and have you met our lesser known brother screwy?" he said, pointing at Chet. Arden and Alicia arrived next with his parents, Gary and Lisa. His parents both worked at the Angel's Camp Medical Center. His dad was a physical therapist and his mom was an emergency room nurse. The lunch that had been arranged was a pasta salad extravaganza, with Ginny, Felicia, Eru and I serving up four different appetizers, 5 different pasta salads, and a huge heaping mound of fresh cut fruit. Eru remembered our pomegranate ice dessert from our first meal together fondly, and so we had a special experiment for our beverage of choice, which was an icy non-alcoholic pomegranate Margarita. After lunch was over, and the dishes garbage and other paraphernalia were cleared away and dealt with, we all gathered again in the living room. I stood in front of them all and began. "Welcome everyone, and especially our invited guests, Gary and Lisa, Oscar and Ellie, Hank, Leo and Dwight, and a special welcome and thanks to Owen for hosting us. You all know me, once I used to be skinny little Davey McKesson, and you used to see me at your houses, hanging out with your kids and being the geek I was. You all remember how we all came together and became what we called the 'Legion of the Doomed'. I'm sure you never thought then that we were forming a bond that would be so strong and last so long as to have us all be here in our mid twenties, still friends and working together." "What we are about to reveal to you is a secret that has been shared for many, many years by a group of people that has grown larger and larger over time. I have a gift, or talent if you want to call it that. My dad was the first person I talked to about it, as well as the first person to see me use it. Dare, my little furry friend was the first to experience it with me." Dare, who had been sitting curled up in Ginny's lap gave a little squeak when I called her name. She was nine years old now and depending on who you listened to, had already exceeded, or was close to exceeding, her expected lifespan. She seldom traveled with us anymore, preferring to stay curled on my old bed at Mom and Dad's. Her age had begun to deny her the use of her tap into my jumping ability, so I had built her a ferret door so she could spend time in Mom's garden and out on the patio when she was feeling up to it. "The number of people who knew I had a secret quickly doubled as Mom and then Ginny joined the group. Between my 15th and 16th birthday, my Grandpa and Grandma Carson joined the widening circle of people who knew. By my sixteenth birthday that circle grew to include my Grandfather A.J. McKesson and my Uncles Ambrose and Aaron McKesson. Very quickly that number increased due to some dramatic events which caused some concerns for my health and safety. Cyrus joined the group next, followed a while later by Ginny's parents. In the next couple of years the number of people who new I had a secret grew to quite a few because we added a whole bunch of folks back in North Carolina who had been keeping a secret of their own which it turned out was related to mine. The circle has slowly grown over the years to include everyone in this room and their parents, except for those of you here who are learning it for the first time." "What about Alicia's parents?" Mike's dad asked. "I don't see them here tonight." "We were each asked a while ago if we thought our parents could be trusted to keep the secret, so the fact that you are here is because your Son trusts you to share the secret with us. When I was asked this question, my answer was no, that my parents could not be trusted." Alicia answered. "Because of their beliefs?" Chet's dad asked. "Because of the radical nature of their beliefs. Because they are encouraged to hate, not love. Because they cannot look beyond the good guidance a book full of 2000 year old words offers, to see that there are things in the world that 2000 year old words can never explain. They would see Dave's gift, and they would see sin and damnation." Alicia answered. "I have seen this view, in the old world. In the terrorism and persecution of others because of their differences." Formerio said suddenly. "Always it is in the name of God. Always it is because a group comes to see theirs as the only truth that can exist. It is fear and hate. I have seen it kill men standing beside me. When such fear and hate is confronted by a different truth, they must destroy it." "Please let me interrupt here. The open honesty of this discussion does us all credit, but it has turned us from our course here today." Eru said. "Dave, please continue." Heads nodded all around, and I saw Chet's dad reach over and pat Alicia's hand. "In the past, when it was time to reveal the truth, I have often done a specific thing. I will do this same thing for you all today." I looked around the room, checking expressions, letting my thoughts lap at their thoughts and emotions, looking for any sign of a problem. "Would everyone please stand?" I asked. Slowly they all rose to their feet. Once everyone appeared to be standing comfortably, I jumped us all, once again to that familiar meadow. ------- Chapter 12: Calm Front Birds chirped, the wind moved through the trees, the nearby stream babbled its continuous confession. We collectively held our breath and waited for the reaction. Such a strange feeling déjà vu is... Chet's dad got it out first. "What the hell!" "Oh My God!" Mike's dad added. "Fuck!" echoed in simultaneous triplicate from Chet's three brothers. Everyone else just gasped. Chaos Bombs, gotta love em. "Dave, what did you do? Where are we?" From Arden's parents, overlapping each other. I pulled a little Light to me and sent a small blanket of calm over them all. "Where we are is a world we call Meadow. It is another facet of Earth. We are on Meadow because I moved us here with my mind." Slowly, the story came out again. I had help here and there, as those who were there during certain events spoke of them, or confirmed themselves. When I got to the point where I met Con for the first time, I called to him in thought. "Con is still with me today, more than ever, and I'd like you all to meet him now." I raised my arm beside me and jumped Con through into the space in front of it. "Greetings!" Con said to the room. Constantine, my constant companion and co-conspirator for the last eight years told the rest of the story. He told it with passion, heart, drama and an attention to detail that only an artificial, formerly non-corporal alien artifact could. It was several breathlessly dramatic sentences beyond the recounting of my first encounter with Eru that someone caught it. "Wait! Wait! Did you just say Dave first met Eru on another planet?" "Eru? Perhaps you should pick the story up here for a while." I asked. Eru started things off With a nice touch by speaking to them all first in Taluatan. When he switched to English he began to tell them of our combined quest to find our way to the focus in his world, where Con would be able to bring us at last to the Seeker world. He stopped only when we had achieved our goal and stood holding the three ancient guardians in our arms, just having witnessed Con's apparent self-sacrifice. I took over the story again and with my voice full of emotion told them of meeting Con again on Earth, his existence changed forever with the parting gift from his creators of a physical body, and of the feelings I'd had at being able to hug my friend. I ended with the story of the three guardians and their time as my teachers, and their passing. Ginny took over now, and she told of the years since the guardians passed away, up to the present, my quest to learn more of myself, my gift and my purpose. "Dave has a unique gift, gifts really, and there are an uncounted number of worlds to discover, untold numbers of people out there. During this time we have already gained much. Knowledge. Understanding. Fellowship and Friendship." She pointed at Eru and Con for the last. I stood forward again, giving Ginny a brief kiss. "Thank you Blossom. Thank you my friends, all of you. This has been very hard to swallow I"m sure, and you all need time to think. Can I offer a more comfortable place to do it in?" I pointed behind them to the house, our house on Meadow, in all its glass and cedar glory. Of course the fact that just to the side of the house they could see a 40 foot long 'spaceship' hovering just above the ground probably detracted from the impact the house might have made. We spent another couple of hours in the house, showing off its mundane as well as fantastic features. We had an enthusiastic group of new supporters when we dropped them all off at their homes. Ginny reminded them all that we were going to be coming back for a picnic tomorrow at 2pm. When Chet's mom asked if they should bring anything, I was surprised to hear Felicia say that they needn't bother, unless they had a favorite drink, or something special they would like to share, because we were having the picnic catered! Once everyone was gone I turned to Felicia and Ginny. I could tell by the way they were failing miserably in their efforts not to smile that I had been set up in some way. "Okay ladies, spill it. How do you cater a picnic on another planet?" After the fit of giggling died down, Felicia reached into her pocket and pulled out her enhanced cell phone. "Its simple! You just pull out your new, handy-dandy interplanetary communicator and call A.J. McKesson!" I pulled out my cell then and gave Grandpa a call. The plan was for me to pick up the catering crew, equipment and food at Noon, which would give them two hours to get set up. "How many people in the catering crew?" I asked. "Twelve. They will be all the candidates for permanent staff positions that you've been asking for, so this will be a bit of a two-sided interview." "What will all the gear and food be loaded into?" I asked. "We've got one 26 foot cargo van, like the big u-haul types and a 20 foot refrigerated cargo container and an external gasoline powered gen set to power the refrigerated container." "Can I get the power and physical specifications for the refrigeration unit? I may be able to provide power here for it without the noisy generator." "Sure, hold on a second." I heard him talking to someone else, either in the room with him, or on another phone. It must've been another phone, because I soon heard the sound of a fax machine or printer of some kind spitting out a page. "I've Got it in my hand, come get it!" Grandpa said. I smiled to myself and reached out and jumped the page right out of his hand and into mine. "Got it, thanks. Let us look it over, and I'll call you back once I know whether we can provide the power ourselves." "Not that I don't enjoy talking to you, but why not save us both time, and I'll tell Sheb to just assume you've got it covered unless you call him to say you'll need the generator." "Speaking of Sheb, how should I be expecting to pick up the Chocowinity guests tomorrow when the time comes?" "I've been thinking about that actually." Grandpa said. "I know you don't really want to use that fancy ship of yours on Earth, but would you feel safe jumping it to the grotto to pick up the guests there?" I thought about that for moment. I really was reluctant to use the cruiser anywhere on Earth. Grandpa had nailed it though, the Grotto was the one place on Earth I'd feel safe in doing it. "I actually like that idea Grandpa, thanks! Lets plan for that. Have everyone their and ready to go by quarter of two our time. when are you leaving Chocowinity, and when should we be expecting you here?" "Oh, I've left Chocowinity, I"m in the air and will be landing at the Calaveras airport in about 4 hours. Your Mom and Dad are meeting me." "One step ahead of me again I see. Okay, see you tomorrow Grandpa." As soon as we were off the phone I sent a thought Con's way. "Certainly Dave." Con said as he popped into existence in front of me. I must have interrupted something special, because he was wearing an interesting 'suit' of glowing, fuzzy white light. "Nice suit!" I said. "Oh, excuse me, but it was required. What can I assist you with?" I handed the spec sheet from Grandpa A.J. to him. "I need something that can provide power matching these specifications by noon tomorrow. Something self contained, not a Light-tap. Can you do it?" Con looked the sheet over briefly, then waved it dramatically in the air. "Bah! A trifle! Consider it done!" He popped out of existence as he grabbed his wrist and jumped himself back to Obsidian. I turned to Felicia and Ginny. "Well, now that I've attended to the details, I guess we're good to go!" With everyone else having gone home with their family members to spend some time and be available to answer questions, Ginny, Felicia, Cyrus, Eru and I were the only ones left at the house. "Guys, I've been thinking about something that I'd like to get your opinion on. If you don't have any urgent plans, lets go sit in the library and I'll show you what I'm talking about." "Ava, please give us the platform display." I said as soon as we were all soon sitting comfortably. The room's lights dimmed and the windows went opaque as the display shimmered into existence in front of us to show Meadow slowly rotating in front of us... "Ava is the current image being displayed using current data?" "Yes, Dave. The projection is updated with new image data every five seconds." Guys, tell me what's wrong with this picture?" I asked. Nobody spoke up, so I guessed I was going to have to lead them to the answer. "Okay, tell me then, where did we all express the most interest in looking when we first used the survey platform system?" "Europe." Felicia said. "Rome, Barcelona, Paris, those kind of places." "And we couldn't see live video from any of those places when we wanted, could we?" I saw that my audience of four were shaking their heads in the darkened room "Our biggest problem with studying the area we have the most interest in is time. When it is day here, it is night there. If we want to watch someone eating breakfast in the Meadow version of Rome, we have to wait until 10 at night!" This time I could see the four heads nodding in agreement. "The thing that truly makes this a problem is that we are left with very little we can substitute for our primary area of interest. During our normal daylight and evening hours, the area most available to viewing is the Pacific Ocean, the extreme northwestern edges of what would be Russia, and New Zealand. Except for a very sparse population in the Russian northwest, we've found no trace of human presence in these areas." "Ava, give me a daylight still image of the Mediterranean, please." "Yes Dave." Came the reply. We stared at the image together. "Increase the magnification by 50 percent please Ava." "Yes Dave." Ava again replied. "What we need, if Europe is indeed our area of primary interest, is a base of operations. Someplace where we can operate freely, but where we our body clocks can adjust to the same schedules as the people we want to observe." On the display in front of us, isolated and uninhabited in the middle of the Mediterranean were the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. We all stared at it for several long, silent minutes. "Ava, return the room to normal please." The display winked out and the lights and windows returned to their normal condition. "Food for thought, guys." That evening I spent another day washing dishes, hauling water and happily soaking up the fullness of the language With Borthun, Yela and the kitchen staff and patrons all chattering up a storm. I kept up my side of some of the conversations in a halting, hoarse voice I had practiced. During our break between meals today, I sat with both of them while we ate roast rabbit and onions on a plate of bread. "I am getting my voice back." I said at one point. "you are almost speaking normally, I had noticed." Borthun said. "When you first tried speaking to me the words were slurred very oddly, and you had pain as you spoke. The pain seems to be less now, is it not?" "Yes, there is almost no pain now. I shall have my voice back soon, and I can go back to my old life." I said. "Oh!" Yela said. "What did you do before the accident?" "I was a street singer." I said, with a straight face, and tried to hold it. Street singers were the local equivalent, I'd learned, of what wandering minstrels had been in ancient Europe. I almost managed to pull it off, but my mouth twitched just a little and Yela caught it. "He is trying to fool us, it is a joke!" She squealed. I joined them in their good natured laughter. When we had wiped the tears the laughter had brought from our eyes it was time to get back to work, and prepare for the next meal. When it was finally time for me to go again, I took my pay of coins and food and hugged them both. "Thank you for befriending me. I appreciate what you have done more than you can know. I must tell you that I probably will not be back, except perhaps to visit now and then." That earned me a second round of hugs, and even a kiss on the cheek from Yela. Sunday, to say the least, was a busy day for me. We started with our usual morning meditation session, once again spreading and reinforcing the language gains I had made during my late night. The morning session in the garden was interesting for me. Well, its always interesting for everyone, but it was interesting in a different way. My teacher and I walked only a short way before stopping by a small brook. "Would you get a pebble for us from the stream?" My teacher asked. He stopped me as I started to bend over to pick up a stone. "Please, do it with your mind." I stood back up and reached out, fond the pebble with my mind and lifted it into the air between us. "Is manipulating an object like this easier or harder than moving it between the facets?" "It is no different, although I had problems at first when I first began trying to do it." "What do you think the source of your problem was, and how did you overcome it?" "My problem was one of perception. I saw the things I tried to move as physical objects, and I tried to move them as if I was doing it physically. They felt very 'slippery' to my senses as I tried to hold them with my mind. At first I overcame the problem by wrapping them in thought, and lifting them in a container of my thoughts." "Was this your final solution?" I laughed. "No, I realized a while ago that all things are really as much of the Light as they are the physical, and with that understanding I was able to begin moving objects in the same way I jumped them." "You move yourself from facet to facet as you do other physical objects, but you have not tried moving yourself within a facet as you are doing that pebble. Why?" I laughed again, flexed a mental muscle in a way I'd not even considered, and pulled myself up into a cross-legged sitting position — three feet in the air. "Just pure native stupidity I guess." I floated this way as we walked along for the remainder of our chat. As we approached the flagstone border again, and I turned to thank my teacher, he said I was welcome and added, just before he faded from sight. "There are three forces which can create, Dave. Light is only one of them. You should think on the other two." Damn! I hate homework! It distracted me enough that as the rest of the crew returned, I forgot I was floating there in mid-air. "Ooh! This is new!" Ginny said at last. "What?" I said, then realized. "Oh, just an exercise the teacher gave me, sorry." And I let myself return to standing there with them. I let everyone else head back to Meadow on their own, and walked with Con to the Hall of Gifts. "Are you getting close to having something to show me Con?" "I completed the research phase, and I've been building and testing prototypes since yesterday. Safety testing should be completed in a couple of days. Unless I encounter unanticipated problems, we should have a finished product in three or four days." "Awesome! You really have my curiosity up you know? But I assume that is merely a part of your diabolical master plan." "Precisely! I have your power supply you requested, and the 'guest accommodations' you suggested are all in place. I put them alongside the house, facing the cruiser." "Great! I'll call you when I'm ready for the power supply. In the meantime, I've got a few projects of my own to take care of, so I'll be back in the fabber bay for a while." "A project? What is it?" It really was so easy to get Con excited. "Nothing Fancy, we just have about a hundred guests coming for a picnic, and we have no picnic tables. I also need to come up with a good idea for some Obsidian style porta-potties." I of course had to explain the definition of a porta-pottie to Con. "Dave, I think we have a more than acceptable unit already in the data banks. It would merely be a matter of adjusting the fixtures and accessories to match Earth-American expectations. The Seekers and their descendants may have been technologically advanced, but even they were not able to eliminate the need to... eliminate, so of course they would have such items available." The Seeker fabber units, including the portable ones such as those that Con had used to build the house on Meadow, and the cruiser's landing pad, were each linked into a huge database of designs for various things, both large and small, rare and common. I got busy making the things I needed, large and small, rare and common. With everything I could make here completed, I jumped myself back to Meadow, taking a portable fabber unit with me. I arrived on the opposite side of the house from the cruiser and its landing pad. Satisfied with this location, I triggered the anchors on the unit and watched it lower itself to within a couple of feet of the ground and then shimmer briefly as it gravitationally locked itself to the spot it occupied. I popped the control console out of the nearest end and accessed what I called the 'earth mover' tool. A holographic display popped up, giving me an overhead view of the immediate area, and I quickly selected a 30 foot by 25 foot area only ten feet from the side of the house. I selected the option for a hard, level surface and let it run. I watched a foot deep layer of the grass and soft soil beneath it slowly peel away from the house, manipulated by a shimmering white wall of energy. The grass, soil and rocks that were removed left a perfectly flat, but still mostly dirt and mud, surface. Another layer began to peel almost silently away from the house. Finally on the third pass the entire flattened area was down to all flat rock or gravel. The 2,150 cubic meters of surface that had been removed continued to float in a big ball in the air to the side of where it had been removed. I quickly selected what I called the 'surfacing' tool, and selected an option for a foamed carbon pad using the removed material as the source. I selected a raised but level surface, but didn't need any of the fancy lighting features that Con had used in the landing pad, so I locked in my selection and let it go. A hopper unit detached itself from the construction unit, and I watched the ball of matter slowly feed itself in. Once it was all in the hopper glided over to the leveled area, extruded a nozzle exactly matching the width of the area and slowly moved itself from one end to the other, leaving behind a smooth layer of blackness. It repeated the pass in the other direction, followed by two more passes up and down the length of the level area. Finally the hopper moved away from the surface and returned to its spot in the construction unit, leaving a new matte black pad behind. I was still admiring my handiwork when Constantine blinked into existence beside me. "Oh, excellent job Dave!" He said. With Con here it was time to bring my construction efforts from Obsidian. I jumped the stacks onto the ground in front of us. "Ive shuffled the deck Con, why don't you deal the cards." Con laughed and went back to the fabber's console and cycled through the presets I'd programmed in until he found the right one. When he had it selected, he pushed a single button. Suddenly the stack of table tops and stack of seats lifted up and like a series of clay pigeons, shot out over the field, arranging themselves in a nicely spread pattern in front of the house. As each table came to a stop, a row of seats stationed themselves along each side of it. When they all found their positions, I heard a beep from the console. "Suitable?" Con asked. "Perfect." I answered. He pushed another button and I saw the entire array of tables and seats shimmer as they became gravitationally locked into place, just like the construction unit had. "Done." Con concluded. "Nope!" I said. "I want this 'guest accommodation unit' setup along side the wall on the cruiser side of the house." As I said it I jumped the unit I had waiting on Obsidian into the area where the recently departed table stacks had been. "Not a problem." Con said, and after a couple of a moments work at the console, the unit lifted up into the air and began to float slowly across the grass and around the corner of the house. "Perfect!" I said. "There's a water coupling that needs connecting on the back of it, I'll go deal with that now. Thanks for the assist Con" Once I got back from doing that, I brought the last of my tables and their accessories from Obsidian. These four tables were a little narrower and longer than the picnic tables, and had no benches accompanying them. What they each had was an activator. "Trust Con to leave me to do the cleanup." I said to the empty field around me and jumped the construction unit back to its place on Obsidian. ------- Chapter 13: Good Vibrations With my work accomplished, I walked up to the house. The crew had been hard at work and the living room looked immaculate. I'm sure the entire house did. Alicia was walking through the living room putting out bowls of nuts and candy. "Dave!" She said when she saw me. "I put the box of cell phones you left down here up in your room for now, okay? They're on the dresser." "Thanks Alicia." I answered. "Speaking of cell phones." I said to myself, and I pulled my cell phone out and dialed Sheb's number. "Halliday." Sheb said succinctly. "Sheb, its Dave. Is everything ready to go at that end?" "All set here. Do you need us to disconnect our power feed to the reefer unit?" "Yes, go ahead. While someone disconnects that, lets do the cargo van. Anyone in it?" "Nope, do we need a driver?" "No. Hang on a second." I'd started walking down the hall to the side door near the new pad I"d built this morning. When I stepped out the door and could see the pad, I reached out with my senses in Chocowinity and found the cargo van. I jumped it through, onto the pad with the back facing the picnic tables. "Got that one." "So I see!" I heard Sheb sort of whoosh out. I had already let my senses wash over the refrigerated container, and knew exactly where it was. I sensed a knot of people standing near Sheb. I decided to play it safe with the people, and jumped myself to the front of the group. As I appeared, I saw a man about my age walking back to the group from the cargo container. He must've been the one who disconnected the generator. "Is the group with you everyone who's coming over for the catering?" "Yes, that's everyone except Violet, and she's headed here from the back porch right now." I let her join us. As soon as I knew we were all together I jumped everyone through to a spot about 20 feet in front of the pad, between the pad and the picnic area. "Welcome to Meadow!" I said to everyone. "We'll do the introductions in a minute, but let me get that container here first." I reached out and jumped the container through, with the doors facing us and settled it onto the surface of the pad. "Who's been handling the power to the container?" I asked the crowd. Sheb and the man I'd spotted earlier came forward. Sheb introduced me to Brian Aillard. The three of us walked up to the edge of the pad and I picked up the R2D2-looking unit and handed it to Brian. He turned it over, inspecting it from every angle. The connector was on the other end of the container, so we walked to the back. There was a large connector recessed into the surface that seemed to match the flat end of ours. "Go ahead and see if the connector's match." I told Brian. He lined up the two connectors visually at first, and then pushed the unit into the recessed connector jiggling it back and forth slightly to get the final match up, and as he finally got it to slide in, two little handles popped out of the sides. "Ah, perfect!" Brian said and grabbed the two handles and twisted the unit easily, rotating it into its locked position. Indicator lights near the connector on the container unit flicked on to green and the needles on a couple of dials swept all the way to the right. "That's it?" Sheb asked. "Yup, that little bitty thing is a power cell." I answered. "How long will it keep the unit powered?" Brian asked. "You know, I"m not sure! Hang on a sec." I sent my thoughts off. I got back immediately. "One year under constant load." I answered. I think that answer stunned Brian more than being jumped to another planet did. We rejoined the others, and in addition to Brian and his wife Cynthia, I met Walt and Tracey Aldridge, Gene and Olivia Fredrickson, Pat and Dawn Carmichael, and their son and daughter-in-law Wyatt and Abby Carmichael, and Bob 'call me Hoot' Jenkins and his wife Loretta and their two sons Beau and Asa. Once the introductions were complete, I addressed the entire group. "Folks, you have obviously already seen a few things that you've never imagined, and you will see more. You have two hours to get things ready, so I hope that we've built in enough of a buffer to allow for the occasional lapse of concentration. The best heads up I can give you is to get used to seeing things that float, hover or seem to hang in the air. If you can adjust to that, most of the rest will be pretty non-intrusive." I paused for second, mostly to see if what I was saying was really registering. To their credit, none of these people seemed to be too glazed over in the eyes yet. "Questions?" "We've obviously got our storage area defined. Do we have a prep area prepared?" Wyatt Carmichael asked. "I've got four twenty foot tables we can set up anywhere you'd like them." I answered. "Running water?" Loretta Jenkins asked. "There are two taps with standard fittings on this side of the house, beside the stairs. They're labeled hot and cold, and the label is accurate. There's a second hot water tap available on the other side as well, but the cold water tap is already in use. Hot water usage is not a problem, and we do not get an electric bill from the local utility, so do not worry about conserving water or electricity." "Restrooms?" Walt Aldridge asked. "Those are on the other side of the house as well. Tell you what, is there anything that needs getting done immediately? If not, lets make a quick tour of the grounds so you know what's where." I started with the side we were on, walking by the stairs where the outside water faucets and hose were, and then around to the back where the patio was set up, pointing to the kitchen doors. "This is the quick way into the kitchen if you decide you need it. You'll want to check with Ginny or Felicia before anything major happens there though." The back yard and patio area was the most extensively landscaped area around the house, and thanks to some small trees and shrubs still seemed isolated from the goings on around the rest of the house. As we rounded the opposite corner everyone's eyes went to the cruiser of course. "This is the cruiser. We haven't given her a name yet, but she's our local transportation. By local, I mean anywhere on Meadow. I will be using her to pick up the guests from Chocowinity, but that is a special case. We will be offering brief rides to the guests later, and I know you all may find yourselves too busy to take advantage of that so let me make this invitation now. When the picnic is over, tomorrow or the next day, we will have all of you back to have lunch as our guests. We will take a nice long ride then, so please do not feel left out if you do not have time for a ride today." I let them stare at the cruiser a bit before proceeding. "If you'll turn around, you'll see the answer to your question about restrooms. These 'guest accommodations' as we so politely refer to them are the Legion's version of porta-potties. You'll probably be asked about them as you are serving guests, so please feel free to give them a quick inspection." Once everyone was finished with their quick examination, We continued around to the front of the house. This finally gave the crew their first really good look at the picnic tables. "Damn! You weren't kidding, were you?" Hoot Jenkins said, staring at the array of seemingly free-floating table tops. "No, and this is a good chance to get a change of perception established. I know these table tops and benches look as if they are floating in air, but they really aren't 'floating'. Beau, Asa, Wyatt, why don't the three of you go over and try moving something. Feel free to climb on and jump up and down on anything you want." The three younger men took advantage of the opportunity to have a little fun, and were quickly grunting and groaning as they attempted to budge the table tops and benches. "These things are really about as immovable as a thing can get. They are gravitationally locked into this specific spot on Meadow, and it would probably require blowing up the planet to get them to move without the right equipment. Speaking of which, lets get back over to where we started and get those prep tables set up where you want them." When we got back to the spot in front of the container and van, I grabbed one of the 'activators' that I'd left sitting next to them and handed it to Olivia Fredrickson. Olivia was a tiny, petite little thing, which is why I picked her of course. "Olivia, do you see the little blue button?" "Yes sir." she answered. "Okay, before I continue. What's my first name?" "Dave." I got back. "Good, that's what I want to hear you calling me." I turned to the rest of the group. "We are all strictly on a first name basis here. Okay?" "Okay Dave." They answered in unison, and then all laughed at themselves. "Okay, Olivia, put the flat disk on the surface of this table top and push the blue button." I watched as she did as instructed. "Now lift the table." She did, and the table rose up smoothly as she did. "Move the table to where you want it. When its exactly where it needs to go, hit the blue button again." "Lets set up the first table over by the faucet." Violet said, and Olivia led the table over to the side of the house and slowly aligned it to Violet's satisfaction. Once she had it there, she looked at me for a second, then pushed the blue button. The disk separated from the surface and a second later the table shimmered and was locked in place. "Just that easy!" I said. If you decide to move it later, you can just use the activator." "Can you move 'em while they're loaded?" Abby Carmichael asked. "Yes." I said." That got me a smile from Dawn Carmichael. "It sure would be nice to have a couple of smaller ones to use for carts." She said. "Funny you should ask." I added, turning and pointing at the remaining small stack. "These should do. Lets check them out." The 'carts' that I had brought weren't fabbed items, rather they were standard tools in the Hall, and I had just appropriated a few for the day. They were 4 foot by 3 foot flat surfaces with a slight raised lip running around the edge. A handle like you'd find on a piece of luggage hung from the long ends of each, and each handle had a blue glowing button on one side of it. It took only seconds for the crew to have them figured out. "Folks, we've just chewed up 40 minutes of the alloted two hours you have to get ready. I have to do a little more running around myself, so if there is nothing else, I'll be off." After a little self check amongst the group, Sheb said "Nope, that's it Dave, thanks a bunch!" "No thank you all." I said as I looked at the group. "I know that all of you are the candidates for staff positions here, and I appreciate the way you were all willing to pitch in and help with this picnic. Granted, it is a very unusual interview process, wouldn't you say?" They all laughed. "We will be seeing you all soon, thanks again." I couldn't sense anyone in the bedroom, so I jumped there. After changing into my Legion armor — we had started jokingly referring to them as our 'Legion Long johns' - and sent out a thought to Ginny. I jumped down to the Personal Storage area, which we all agreed was just too awkward a name to use, so we'd begun referring to it as 'Level One'. It was, for the most part the only place in the basement levels where we spent much time so far. The meeting room was just that, a room behind the elevator area with a table that would fit about 15 people, nice comfy chairs and not much else. Ginny gave me a kiss and Eru handed me a nice glass of iced tea and I sat with them. "Phew!" I said after a big drink of the ice tea. "Quite the busy day so far, isn't it?" Everyone chuckled at that. "Here's how I expect to see things proceeding. If anyone thinks it should be different, speak up, okay?" "Where's Con?" Cyrus asked. "Con has a pass on the meeting because he's in the middle of some work that I've already interrupted twice today after promising him he was free until the actual picnic. I'll dump my memory of the meeting to him when he's ready." "There's really not that much to go over in the first place. The caterers have the food and service situation well in hand. They were busy getting their service and prep tables set up when I left them. Remember that every person here as a member of the catering crew is someone who is a candidate for the staff positions we've been talking about. They are all here as married couples, or in two cases, married couples with adult children." I sipped my ice tea again for a moment, then proceeded. "Its almost 1pm now. I will be going to get my family as soon as we are done here, and I'd like to see all your family members here by 1:30. To do that, I will jump you through first, and then join you there to bring them here. Who wants to go first?" "I do." Fred said. " I believe Dad is bringing all the adults, meaning my 6 older brothers, 4 uncles, 3 aunts and my mother. My aunt Lucietta is very shy and becomes panicky in crowds, so she has volunteered to stay with the youngsters." "Probably a good idea then. Anything else?" "That will give us about 15 minutes to get the families settled in before I have to go get the Chocowinity contingent. I would like someone to accompany me, mostly to assist with the boarding of the 50 people who will be waiting to make the trip. Volunteers?" "I believe Felicia and I should go." Cyrus said. "Everyone that we will be picking up will know us, and that should make them feel a little more comfortable." "Excellent point. Okay, Cyrus and Felicia it is." "Okay, lets wrap it up with this. I know you all don't need to be told this, but wear the armor while there's even one guest still here and treat it like a uniform. It symbolizes our unity, and reminds everyone that we have a purpose. The reason I want the families here early is to get them comfortable without you nearby. I need you all to circulate and meet everyone. More importantly, I want to make sure everyone has a chance to meet you. They need friendly faces to identify with." One by one I jumped everyone where they needed to be. Cyrus, Felicia and Eru were cleaning up the iced tea glasses and pitcher when I finally popped myself home to Mom and Dad's house in Angel's Camp. Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa Carson, Grandpa McKesson, Uncle Ambrose and Uncle Aaron were waiting for me in the living room. A nice round of hugs later, we were in the living room on Meadow. "I'm going to get Fred's family next. There will be a lot of them, and this will all be new to everyone of them except Formerio, so please do everything you can to make them feel comfortable while I"m off getting the others, okay?" As I said this, Alicia, Cyrus, Eru and Felicia joined them. I jumped. At Fred's house there was total chaos. I pulled some light to me and sent out a wave of calm as I stood there, waiting for the room to settle. Finally Formerio boomed "Enough!" and the room grew instantly quiet. "Are you and your little lambs ready?" I asked in Basque. That earned first me, and then Fred a sharp look, but he grinned and said "Ready!" I reached out and moved us to Meadow to join the others. The remainder of the moves went smoothly. We spent a little time getting the rest of the Sabarte family feeling comfortable. When it came time, Felicia, Cyrus and I headed to the cruiser and I pulled us up 20 feet into the air before jumping us to the grotto in Chocowinity. The group we were collecting were all staying close to the dock area, and so I did a slow spin to face the cruiser's rear towards them and then backed towards the dock slowly until we were about twenty feet away. I let the landing sequence cycle through and lower the entry ramp before I abandoned the control cabin and headed back myself. Cyrus and Felicia were busy hugging and shaking hands with people they knew, and I saw Doc Aillard standing at the front of the group and went over and said hello. "Doc, we need to get everyone here loaded aboard. There won't be room for everyone to sit, but its a short trip the way I do it, so it shouldn't matter." "Okay, I'll do the hollering. Nice suit by the way." I laughed. "Thanks! When you get everybody moving, come sit with me up in the command cabin." It took longer to get everyone on board and then off again than the trip did, as it was indeed very. Once I got the signal from Cyrus that we were good to go I jumped us directly onto the pad on Meadow. I didn't even bother to close the ramp. "Okay, we're here!" I said to Doc. "You're kidding, right?" Doc said. "Nope, but don't worry, we'll be giving free rides in the cruiser later that are actual rides, not me jumping people from here to there." So of course Doc and I had to walk back out of the cabin and down the ramp as if it was the most normal thing in the world. About halfway down the ramp he turned his head back to look at everyone. "Well, aren't you guys coming?" I knew He'd enjoy saying that! The picnic was a rousing success, but its funny how much less of it sticks out to me than do the events leading up to it. Ginny suggests that its because I was just a busy member of the team getting things done before the picnic, and spent most of my time during just wandering around being seen and being a symbol to the people whose commitments we were celebrating. The rides in the cruiser were probably the biggest hit. Fred had decided that it would be a good idea to show how things here were different and still the same. So he set us up to fly to where San Francisco would have been if this were Earth, and do a quick circle of Alcatraz, minus its famous prison. That was followed by a loop through Yosemite and a slow flyby of the face of El Capitan just for the wow factor. It made a nice little 30 minute loop. Con was a major hit himself. People were rightfully amazed to hear that he was a completely artificial being. When we added that he was at least 4000 years old, they were stunned speechless. Slowly over the course of the evening, I dispensed my box of cell phones, and handed each person a small ring, which, like the bracelets, stretched to fit whatever finger they wore it on. The rings were their substitute for the bracelets the Legion wore and served as the phones' activator keys. I watched as each person placed their phone into the 'enhancer' and pulled out the replacement. I still had a dozen of the rings left when the box was empty, and we began adding people who already had the newly acquired company phones, like Aaron and Ambrose, Doc Aillard, Sheb and Violet. We had wanted a typical American picnic, and that was what we achieved. We had hamburgers and hot dogs, watermelon and corn on the cob. There was beer and lemonade and iced tea. Without children at the festivities we left out the balloons and games. What made me happiest was to see the way in which our East and West coast groups mingled and blended. Aaron and Mr. Parkin of all people hit it off immediately when they discovered that they both absolutely abhorred the Dallas Cowboys. For Aaron it was a life-long hatred, and for Mr. Parkin it was a slightly more recent phenomenon that Dad referred to as the post-Tom Landry syndrome. We had set up a horseshoe pit, because it just wouldn't be a picnic without a game of horseshoes going on. Doc Aillard and Formerio Sabarte became the kings of that court and I saw the two of them sitting there on the sidelines at one point, smoking cigars and giving advice to the other players like they had been a team for years. Towards the end of the evening I led Grandpa A.J., Aaron, Ambrose Dad, Eru, Con, Sheb and Doc Aillard over to the caterers area and showed them the power cell that was connected to the refrigerated container. "This is standard Seeker technology, and has been powering this unit since 2:00 this afternoon. It could power this unit, under continuous operation, for a year." "Is this the fuel cell technology you said you thought we could reverse engineer and sell?" Ambrose asked. "Almost. It is for the most part only a few generations removed from the Taluatan version. That version is the one we could reverse engineer and sell." "How would that version compare to this one?" Dad asked. "The Taluatan version would be twice this size." Eru said. "Our version will be somewhere between both sizes I think. We aren't really reverse-engineering the device so much as the scientific and mathematical understanding that led to it." "Can you give a estimate on how much longer it will take to be at that point?" Doc asked. "Barring unforeseen hurdles, four to six months." ------- Chapter 14: Sea and Sky I had spent my time wisely in the month since the big picnic. I had dropped myself deep into the research and study that I needed to create the Earth version of the power cell. All that was left to do now was taking the time and effort to set the scene at the facility dad had found for us that would show the earth version of the research. It wouldn't be too hard, as I had used a lot of normal earth tools during the process. We had our staff candidates/catering crew back for lunch a couple of days after the picnic, and everyone had a good time. We quickly settled on the Jenkins family as our choice, and offered them the position, which they accepted. Fred's Dad and three oldest brothers were going to remain at their garage, but the remaining three brothers, along with 3 uncles and 2 cousins had been hired to be the day to day staff for what we were now officially calling The Obsidian Project Research facility. We also hired a very competent and experienced security team, all former working acquaintances of Cyrus'. With our 'spy toys' we had finally been able to get good audio from the various locations we had been observing through the survey system. The various peoples of Meadow, regardless of location did speak the same language, they did not even have a name for it, but when required to address it would do so as 'the speech'. There were dialects, but nothing so severe that travelers couldn't make themselves understood. When the Memorial holiday weekend came around, and it became apparent that there were various family holiday plans afoot, we declared our own holiday, and everyone took a week to be with family. Ginny was spending her week in San Francisco with her mom, getting fitted for her wedding dress. They had found a wedding planner, a friend on my Mom's actually from her days in San Francisco. They had a very full week planned, and I was never more in love with Ginny as I was when she accepted my offer to accede immediately and up front to all planning decisions. She knew I was interested in the result, not the process and let me off the hook. I spent the first couple days of my week doing a variety of things with Con on Obsidian, stuff we'd both been putting off due to our own researches. The rest of our week was spent island-hopping. I stood on a hill on the island of Montecristo. The Tuscan Archipelago consists of Gorgona, Capraia, Elba, Pianosa, Montecristo, Giglio and Giannutri. Elba and Montecristo are well known of course due to the formers place in history as the site of Napolean's 1st. exile. Montecristo's fame is from the famous novel by Alexander Dumas, 'The count of Monte Cristo'. I had spent some time dwelling on the suitability of Sardinia or Corsica as a base of operations for us in the Mediterranean, but had recently begun looking at these smaller islands. "What do you think Con?" I asked my friend. "Water is the issue, as it seems to be on all these small islands, but we would have no problem processing seawater for our needs. Once again I believe it is a matter of picking one and making a decision. As a location for observers to monitor the region via survey platforms, one can find no compelling reason to promote one over the other." "I agree." I said. "I choose this one then. That leaves picking the spot, and I think this cliff, and that nice, inviting sandy beach below it are ideal." "Are you thinking of using the cliff face then?" "Yes. Something dramatic. Something sticking out of the cliff face with lots of windows. The rest of it can be buried in the cliff itself if we want." "I will need three of the portable fabbers and I'd also like to bring one of the portable modelers as well." Con said. The cliff curved around the little cove I had just selected, and the spot we stood on gave a perfect view of the main cliff face, so I jumped the fabbers through immediately. Con had to give me his memory of the modeler so I could find it in the hall. I jumped it through a few seconds later. "Give me a week." Con said. "We'll have the structure by then, and the basic equipment and features. Should I leave the decorating as a group effort?" "Yes, absolutely, and no furniture. We don't want to deprive anyone with the shopping bug from getting their fix." "Fine, but I'm picking the counter tops and tile!" Con laughed back. I laughed with him, waved goodbye and jumped myself into Level One back at the house. It was 1:00 in the morning here and I had no interest in waking any of the staff, I just needed to change outfits. It was four in the afternoon in Maldre's Crossing, and I wanted to go check on my friends Borthun and Yela. I had not been back since my last day as a dishwasher, and wondered how they were doing. I changed into a set of local clothes, no longer my old beggar's attire, but common clothing of the area. With over a month of growing time, my beard was looking much more respectable, although beards were not a common look in that area judging by the predominance of clean-shaven guests in the restaurant during the times I'd worked there. Dressed for a visit now, I reached out with my senses and found my little alleyway deserted once again, and jumped through. As I exited the alley onto the street I was surprised at how much lighter the traffic seemed today. When I entered the front of the restaurant I was surprised to see only a smattering of patrons, and all of them were dressed in what must have obviously been military uniforms. They all had hard leather armor vests with an interesting image of a green Sun setting behind a green island. I did not see Yela out front, so I asked the server I did see if Yela or Borthun were available. "They are in the back. Are you here to eat?" "I am a former employee and friend, come to say hello." "Borthun!!" She yelled at the top of her voice. "Visitor!!" She returned to the desultory wiping down of the table which my arrival had interrupted. "Yes?" Borthun asked as he walked through the entry which separated the kitchen from the dining area. I let him stare at me for a moment. "Don't you recognize me Borthun? Should I go find some beggar's rags to wear?" I saw his eyes widen then in recognition. "Dave!" He yelled as he walked over and gave me a big hug. "It is good to see you! Come back in the kitchen with me. Yela will be very pleased to see you, and especially looking so much more prosperous than before!" Yela too hugged me and gave me a good look up and down. "You seem to be doing much better for yourself since we last saw you." She said. "Your voice has completely recovered as well I hear!" Borthun added. I looked around the kitchen and realized that we were alone. "What is going on Borthun? I expected to catch you getting ready for the evening rush, but the streets are practically empty, as is the restaurant, and are you trying to run things with just three people?" "It is the war, Dave. The city guard has enlisted all the able-bodied men to defend the city, and many of those remaining have fled. I would be at the border with a spear in my hand as well if it had not been decided that I was more useful feeding the troops." I read the details in their thoughts. The nearby city-state of Yodros was now under the leadership of Lord Glaius, the former leader of their military forces, and he had been quick in waging war against his neighbors. "Maldre's Crossing has always been a city of peace and trade Borthun, it is not well equipped to defend itself! Are you not afraid?" I asked. "Yes, of course we are afraid, and that fear will probably be realized very soon. The Council is trying to hire a mercenary army from Palosa to the south, but I do not think that Glaius will wait for them to raise an army before he attacks. There have been several skirmishes already along the border." I thought about the situation long and hard. "Would you flee if you could?" I asked. "It would mean leaving behind everything we had spent our lives building here. The restaurant itself is nothing, but the ovens and the boilers and the fire pits are all tools that we've built ourselves or had built over the years. Just the cost of the copper in the big boilers alone represents a major percentage of our lifelong earnings." Borthun sighed in frustration as he said this. "But we are not fools, Dave." Yela said. "We will flee when we must, and pray that we are quick enough and lucky enough to get out safely." "The way you ask the question makes me think you have it within your power to offer us safe passage. Am I right in thinking that Dave?" Borthun asked. "Are you a religious mans Borthun?" I asked. "Not so much. Are you a philosopher now Dave?" "No." I laughed. "Do you believe in magic? Do you accept unexplained events as magic, or do you think of them as just something else beyond your understanding?" "I am a pretty practical man, Dave. The only magic in my life is Yela, and she is the only sign I have ever had that a God who looks on me with kindness might exist." That of course earned Borthun a very nice kiss from Yela. "You were not the only one who thought there must be a God rewarding them when our eyes met for the first time." Yela said with a flash of joy in her eyes. "How much longer will you be able to remain here safely?" I asked them. "That entirely depends on the plans of Lord Glaius." Borthun said, "But his advance into the city will be sooner rather than later if his spies have made him aware of the Council's efforts to hire mercenaries." "Do you appreciate education Borthun?" I asked. "Education? Of course. What has that to do with things?" He asked. "Do you think there is a limit to what men may learn over time? Could men learn so much that someday they might seem like gods to those who came before them? That what they could achieve would seem like magic?" "These are strange questions Dave. I am sure you have a point, but short of suspecting you of being one of Lord Glaius' spies, I could not imagine why you are being so circumspect in answering a simple question." Borthun was beginning to get a little peeved at me, I could tell. "I'm sorry Borthun, I am not a spy for Lord Glaius. If I am a spy, it is only for myself." I put a hand on his shoulder. "Yes, I am offering safe passage, but I cannot offer it lightly. If you leave here with me, you may never be able to return here." "Nor is your offer considered lightly Dave. Yela and I will have to think about this." Yela nodded her agreement. "I understand. I will return at this time tomorrow to check on you. My thoughts will be with you in the meantime." We exchanged hugs again, and I left, returning along my usual route. With the streets practically deserted, I didn't even wait for my alley to jump myself home. It was still the middle of the night, so after changing out of the clothes I'd worn for my visit to see Borthun and Yela, I jumped to my office in the research facility. I turned on my desk lamp and picked up the phone and called the guard at the gate. "Front gate." Was all I heard when the phone was picked up. "Good morning Evan, this is Dave." "Good morning Dave." Evan returned. The guards were trained not to identify themselves when answering the phone in the guard house at the gate. The caller's were supposed to know the first name of whoever was on duty and address them by first name. Just a little built in extra security measure. If I had failed to use his first name, Evan would have continued to talk to me, but would have initiated an automated call tracing procedure. "I'm here in the office, trying to burn a little midnight oil. I should be out of here in a couple of hours." I told him. "Okay Professor, give me a call when you're leaving so I won't wonder about you, and if you're going to run way past the couple hours call back and let me know." He said. "Will do." I answered. I had given up on getting the security team to stop calling me professor, I suspected this was a little of Chet's influence. I hung up the phone and sat at the desk. I grabbed a couple pages from a paper on the manifestation of peizo-electric properties in artificial ceramic substrates published by a Dr. Pietr Von Seliewen, a Danish researcher. I quickly began scribbling equations and brief notes into the margins, arrowing to and underlining appropriate portions. Later I switched to an article on Electrospinning of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers by Tong Wang and Satish Kumar in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Applied Polymer Science. I dotted the article with post-it notes full of comments and equations. Little touches like these, intended to show the path of research and the process of day to day research were the last touches I needed. I continued for several hours, and then twenty minutes past that. Suddenly I stopped with my pen poised above a page of output from a recent study done using the particle accelerator at the Laboratorio Nacional de Luz Sincrotron in Brazil. I had covered the crude copy of the printout with line after line of notes, formulas and equations. I had run out of things to write. I looked around the room. There was nothing left waiting to be written on. I was done. I fired up the computer on my desk and turned on my printer. I loaded up and printed one by one the twelve documents I knew I would need, placing each in a separate folder. The stack of twelve folders was almost 2 feet thick when I stacked them together. I put all the folders in a briefcase that I'd purchased specifically for this day. I went back to the computer and began printing another series of files, each one much smaller, until I had a sheaf of 190 pages. I put them all in a single folder. I then printed two copies each of eight more files. I put the first set of eight in a single folder and the second set of eight each went into a separate cardboard manuscript mailer. The labels were already affixed, all they needed was postage. I left them in a separate stack. I called the gate and let Evan know I was done for the night and would be gone in a couple minutes. I went through the area turning of the lights and jumped straight to my room from Meadow. I took a shower, trimmed my beard and put on a clean set of clothes. I grabbed my cell phone and punched up Grandpa A.J. "Good Morning Davey!" Grandpa said. It was close to 8am in Chocowinity. "Good morning Grandpa. Got coffee and a little breakfast on there for a hungry mad researcher?" "Absolutely!" He said over his laughter. "Come ahead!" I jumped straight into a chair at the kitchen table. "Emma!" Grandpa hollered. "We've got a young man here that needs coffee and breakfast!" When Emma saw me, she came straight over for a hug. She tugged a little at my beard and laughed. "No making fun of the beard now!" I said. "You get the breakfast and leave the coffee fetching to me okay?" With a cup of coffee in my hand and breakfast on the way, I jumped the stacks of folders, and the briefcase from my desk in the research center to the kitchen table. I chatted amiably with Grandpa, and then Aaron when he joined us. Both men eyed the items sitting beside me on the table, but both were willing to wait, until I'd finished eating at least, to mention it. I cleaned my plate, and thanked Emma and Grandpa for the meal. I took a nice deep drink of my coffee, and pushed the cup aside. I flipped the briefcase on its side and slid the twelve folders out, fanning them out on the table. What do you bring us Dave?" Grandpa asked, although I think he already had a good idea what it was. "I bring you the future." I answered. "Here are the specifications for our fuel cell, as well as the designs and specifications for creating the new materials used and building all the components needed to create a factory for producing them." "So soon?" Aaron said. "You estimated 4 to 6 months, only a month ago." "I know. I forgot to factor in the possibility of personal inspiration. I just woke up one morning about a week and a half ago, and everything I"d been struggling to absorb just seemed to have made a shift in my brain and it all integrated perfectly into a new understanding. The rest of it was almost literally a matter of writing it down on paper." As they began looking through the folders, I saw grandpa's eyes glance up at me now and then. I slid another folder towards him. "These are patent applications. There are 17 of them. They should be filed immediately. I know you have your own patent people, do not let them sit on any of this." I pushed the last envelope towards him. "These are copies of eight articles that I will be mailing out later today to a variety of scientific and technical journals. These articles discuss the technological breakthroughs and advances to existing scientific theories I propose as a result of my research." I spent another couple of hours in Chocowinity, part of it in a conference call with a team of McKesson Group patent attorneys, before I had to plead exhaustion and head for home. I stripped myself down to my skivvies and crawled into the bed. I was asleep before I could even adjust my pillow. I woke up a little more than six hours later. It was a little after 4:30 in the afternoon local time. I showered and dressed. "Ava who is currently in the house?" "Loretta is in the kitchen Dave." Ava answered. "Let her know I am in the house and that I am headed for the kitchen, would you please?" I headed downstairs. Loretta Jenkins was cutting some vegetables, when I got to the kitchen. She smiled when she saw me. "Good afternoon Dave!" She said. "Another late night?" "Another long day. It depends on what side of the world I'm on at any given moment as to whether it was day or night when it ended. A good day though. I ended it in Chocowinity, handing Grandpa A.J. and Aaron everything they'll need to get us in the fuel cell business." Oh that's wonderful!" She said. "Where's Hoot and the boys?" I asked. It still felt weird referring to Beau and Asa as 'the boys', they were both close to my own age. "They're out working on the Stables." "I told them we could get stables built." I began to say. "OH Hell, Dave, Those boys just enjoy building it with their own two hands. Besides, Con took them out and let them pick their own lumber. Its kind of amazing to think that every forest in North America is sitting here on Meadow, untouched." I went out and said howdy to the Jenkins men. They had what looked like a good start on a traditional pole barn going, and I spent a couple minutes checking on their needs. Listening to their plans, I checked with Loretta on my way back into the house to see if they needed anything, and she said they were good for another 4 or 5 days, but then she'd like to do a quick shopping trip for fresh produce and fruit. I jumped to my office at the research facility, checked to see that my mailers were all where I"d left them. I grabbed the phone again and called the reception desk. "Good morning, Obsidian Project, may I help you?" Dolores answered the phone. She was one of Fred's aunts that had signed onto the project. "Good morning Dolores, its Dave. I'm upstairs in my office, and I'm going to be heading out, but I need to stop by and get a few things metered and stamped for mailing." "Of course!" She answered, and I headed out the door and down the stairs with my armful of mailers. While Dolores was running my mailers through our postage meter, I used my cell phone to call another of our Sabarte project staff. "Nick! Its Dave." I said as he answered. "I need you to take the computer on my desk and image the hard drive and store the image in our secure storage area." "Okay Dave, will do." Nick answered. "Is this a rush job?" "Nope, exactly the opposite, no rush at all. If I"m back in the next couple of weeks, it will merely be to look around, or perhaps escort a few visitors by for a look." "No problem. I'm sure it'll be done in a couple of days at the most anyway." "I know," I said, slipping into Basque, " I don't have much for you to do yet, but things are about to start hopping, Nicolai!" I grabbed the mailers and thanked Dolores as I headed out the door. I slid into the GTO and stopped to consider my options for a minute. I grabbed my cell phone and punched in Dad's number. "Gerald McKesson." He answered. "Good afternoon Dad, did you start your long weekend early, or are you at work?" "I'm in my office, but I was just getting ready to head home. Where are you?" "I'm just leaving the Obsidian Project, and I've got some things to drop in the mail, so thought I might come by and throw them in yours." "We've had our mail pickup for the day, you might be better off just dropping them in the mail slot at the post office in Angel's Camp." Dad said. "Yeah, you're right. Well, I'm going to sit out on the road and wait for you to go by and then I'll follow you home. What does Mom have planned for dinner?" "Aha!" Dad laughed. "Now you reveal your ultimate goal! Missing your Mom's cooking are you?" I laughed. It was only a little true, between Loretta Jenkins and Eru, I was still getting pretty good cooking, but there was nobody like Mom in the kitchen. I waited for dad's car to pass by and followed him home. We stopped at the post office on the way to drop the mailers off. When Dad saw the addresses on the mailers, he raised an eyebrow my way. "Yes, we're at that point. I took everything to Grandpa A.J. At eight this morning Chocowinity time. You two are going to be very, very busy for a while, I think." Dinner, as it always is at our house, was a delight. Mom and Dad were planning on heading down to Big Bear for the weekend, so I jumped back to Meadow. The sleep I"d caught earlier was enough to get by, but I needed more to be really caught up. As soon as I was in bed I reached out with my thoughts to Ginny. We 'snuggled' mentally for a minute, and Ginny saw the recent events in my thoughts as we did. A little more mental snuggling and I drifted off once again to sleep. ------- Chapter 15: Copper Ashes My second sleep session brought me clear back around the clock. When I woke up, I realized I was late for my promised return to Maldre's Crossing. I skipped the shower and began to dress in my local outfit when I decided to do a quick mental check on Borthun and Yela. A wave of fear and panic and the unfocused but razor clear rush of adrenaline-boosted senses hit me the second I connected! I made a quick decision and threw on my legion armor instead, and jumped directly to them. "Borthun! I yelled. Its Dave!" He looked at me wild-eyed for a second, before recognition sank in. "Dave, you're late, and we accept, we accept!" He said with a grin. I knew it was the adrenaline talking, but at least he was not completely panicked. "Where's Yela?" I asked. I could sense her nearby, but the Sun was well set, and it was very much the dark of night now in Maldre's Crossing. "Here!" She said from beneath a nearby table. She was carrying a bundle of possessions wrapped in a table cloth. "Do you both have everything you want to take with you?" I asked. As I asked this, there came a crash from behind me, and I turned to see two men on horses with spears crashing through the cloth wall around the dining area. Before I could react one of them threw a spear. As the spear flew past me I reached out and moved both men and their horses to the first place that came to me, the alley a couple streets over where I usually arrived. I heard Borthun scream as I did. I turned to look at Borthun. The spear had struck him in the shoulder. He lay on the ground now with Yela holding him. A noise behind me made me turn again and I saw perhaps a dozen foot soldiers with spears and swords running towards the three of us. "No!" I yelled without thinking, and reached out, for the first time in anger, and whipped every rock and pebble, every loose object within sight into a hurricane of debris that circled around the three of us. Heavy, light, blunt or sharp, thousands of little pieces of debris began pounding and cutting and whipping our attackers. My whirlwind assault quickly blunting their charge and I walked toward them, throwing chairs and tables and other large objects. Several times I saw spears or swords flashing in my direction, and I jumped myself out of the way. I became my own maelstrom, my thoughts flashing on the image I remembered so well from my first visit to Obsidian. I stopped moving towards the soldiers in front of me and threw the blurred mass of objects in my cloud of debris high into the sky above us, leaving a vacuum of silence around us. With the clear view that gave me, I could focus on the attackers themselves, and with my awareness refocused, I reached out and threw everyone I could see in front of me violently backwards, crashing into the wall of the building, twelve feet from the ground where they fell, breathless, to the ground below. A spear bounced of my armored side. I turned slightly and saw four soldiers charging me from the side. I screamed, and dumped the closest of them into the nearby sea with a thought. I let the closest of them reach me, and ignoring the sword that raked my chest I grabbed him with Light-amplified strength and crushed both his wrists. The viciousness of my act was like a bucket of ice water on my awareness. I was getting too close, letting my anger and the situation get to me. I threw the remaining two attackers into the sea, as I had the other one. Finally with a free second in which to think, rather than react, I wrapped my mind around my friends and took them with me to Meadow. "Ava!" Alert the staff! I'm here and I have a wounded man and frightened woman with me." I called out without waiting for Ava's answer. She answered. I had her beside me before she could complete the thought. She had obviously been in bed, and was wearing only a beautiful pair of blue panties. I noticed this in some basic, back level of my brain, as Ginny began examining Borthun. I had reacted so quickly that the spear was still in him. "Dave, I"m going to need help getting this spear out of the shoulder. Apply pressure here and jump me up to our room!" I did both things, and looked up to see Hoot, Beau, Asa and Loretta all staring slack-jawed at us all. "Loretta, get me some towels or something to put under him. Beau, Asa. I need you both here, Ginny's going to want some strong hands and arms in a minute to get the spear out. I heard Ginny's thoughts and jumped her back to us. She had thrown on her Legion undershirt and shorts and was carrying her 'doctor's bag', a gift from Doc Aillard, which apparently is a bit of a traditional doctor thing. As Ginny began directing Beau and Asa to remove the spear, my head cleared a little more. "This is silly!" I said. "Beau! Stand over there. Asa! You move over there. Ginny keep doing what you're doing and don't touch the spear." I touched the spear with my thoughts, and Jumped it right out of Borthun's body and into Asa's hands. We all flinched a little as we heard Borthun roar in pain. The spear was out, and Asa stood holding it in his hands like it was a living thing. I finally took the time to check on Yela, who still crouched by Borthun's shoulder, clutching him. "Yela," I said to her. "Yela, look at me!" She finally tore her eyes from Borthun and looked at me. "Dave, where are we, who are these people?" "Yela, this is my home. The woman who is helping Borthun is my lover and soon she will be my wife." I told her, as I moved her back to sit on the couch a few feet away. "These other people are my employees and friends who live and work here taking care of my home. Can you remain calm, and accept that you are safe, while I go help my wife tend to Borthun?" She nodded her head, never taking her eyes from her mate. "How does it look?" I asked as I knelt by Ginny's side. She had cut Borthun's shirt clean off him. "He's lucky. The spear managed to miss any major blood vessels or organs, but that spear head left a pretty big hole, and tore up quite a bit of muscle and connecting tissue. He needs a surgeon, not a newly-minted doctor like me." I looked her in the eyes and then kissed the tip of her nose. "Will you try something with me?" "Yes, of course." The love of my life answered that question without a trace of doubt or hesitation. I thought as I reached out and meshed our minds together. I thought. I reinforced our connection, wrapping it in Light. Our thoughts and memories and awareness blurred and blended, and we were joined. As a single consciousness, the world around us seemed to glisten and sparkle with bits of Light, like diamonds and silver at the same time, reflected from everything. My/her gift and her/my knowledge focused our awareness upon the glittering tissues and glowing cells around the gaping wound. I/We poured Light into them, urging them to grow and heal, guiding them as they reconnected themselves into the familiar patterns the body's Light signatures remembered for them. Again and again I pulled the Light into us, and washed Borthun in it, keeping him unaware of his own pain and progress. At last we saw the last little bit of fresh skin seal over, leaving a bright pink triangle of skin on the shoulder. I washed a Light-borne need for sleep through Borthun. We thought to those around us. I/We managed to think before our unified consciousness collapsed in a flash of Light and then light. Then blissful nothingness. I woke up on my own bed, with Ginny beside me. As my eyes flickered open I heard a rustling nearby and turned my head to find Eru looking at me from a chair where he sat watchfully. "Eru. How long have I been out?" I asked fuzzily. "Two hours, Dave. You gave us all quite a scare." I flushed the fuzziness and fatigue from my system. I scanned Ginny from head to toe without having to look at her and with a new understanding and appreciation. She was fine, but still soundly asleep. "How's Borthun?" I asked, getting up. "He is fine. He also sleeps still." Eru answered. "And Yela?" I added as I headed for the shower. "A bit concerned, confused, awe-stricken." Eru said. "At least we had some ability with their language, so we were able to communicate somewhat. I have been able to guide us all to a much better integration of the language in these hours. An active mind thinking in the language makes it much easier." I took a quick shower and got dressed. I followed Eru to one of the downstairs bedrooms where they had put Borthun. Yela saw me walk in the door and she flew into my arms! I let her cry into my chest for a little while, staring at Arden and Chet over her shoulder. They both grinned back at me. I pulled back from her eventually, so I could look her in the eye. "What happened to the Yela I know?" I asked. "She was as tough as any caravan guard, proud and strong!" "I think that woman died amid the fighting in Maldre's Crossing." she sniffled. "Here in the afterworld there is only this crying wretch left." "This not the afterworld Yela," I said, this is just another part of the world you know." "I saw that spear bounce of of you! You were unharmed!" She said. "Just a special kind of armor, that is all." I said reassuringly. "Arden, come here for a minute, would you?" Arden walked over and stood beside us. "This is my friend Arden. Have you two met?" Yela nodded. I pinched the skin on the back of his hand. "Ow!" He said, rubbing the spot. What was that for?" I hauled back and punched Arden in the gut as hard as I could. He smiled. "That was only my fist, and not a spear, but you see how well the armor protected him? That is what it is, not magic." Borthun lay sleeping comfortably, his breathing easy. He had been very lucky indeed, I thought as I scanned him. The spear had struck in an area rich in targets, lung, heart, joints, bones, all were missed. "Have you eaten anything Yela?" I asked. "Yes, a very good soup, and something called a chicken... burger?" she said, stumbling over the English words at the end. "Good! Have you been able to rest?" "No! I had to stay awake to watch Borthun to make sure he was safe!" "He is safe, Yela, and he lays sleeping soundly here in a nice comfortable bed. You should climb up there with him and get some sleep yourself, otherwise Borthun will wake up later to find Yela, all droopy-eyed and barely able to focus." It took a while, and some pleading and promises, but I eventually got her to sleep. Of course I had to endure the third degree from the Legion while I ate something myself. I too had a chicken burger, and the chicken was not the only thing that was grilled. "Cyrus, you're Borthun's closest match in size, would you mind loaning him some clothes? Maybe one of your sleeveless workout jerseys would work best for a shirt, his arms are huge. Loretta, you and Yela are a pretty close match as well, if you've got something we can borrow?" We had fresh clothes waiting for our sleeping guests in short order. Once I was feeling a little more normal, I called Ginny's mom. Our quickly flung thought of reassurance had hardly been reassuring. While she had not exactly panicked, she had spent the last couple of hours pacing her room like a caged beast. By the time I'd gotten her relaxed and feeling better about the situation, Ginny was awake. "Mom, I just woke up from the sleep of the dead, and I'm starving. I'm getting dressed and Dave will jump me back over there and you're taking me to breakfast, okay?" With those reassurances, Mary was willing to hang up and wait for Ginny's arrival. A quick shower later, Ginny and I shared a sweet lingering kiss. We slipped easily into a light meshing of ourselves. "Three days beggar boy, three days, and then you owe me some serious alone time. Okay?" "Absolutely!" I agreed, she did a quick scan of Borthun to confirm that things were fine and then I jumped her back to her mom. With everything that had happened, it was just now closing on breakfast time here at the house. I checked my internal list of things needing to get done. Other than checking in with Dad and Grandpa A.J. Later in the day, I had nothing except personal items on my list. I checked on Borthun and Yela again, and decided they had slept enough. I sent a wave of wakefulness through them, and stood at the end of the bed waiting for them to stir. Borthun opened his eyes first. Seeing me immediately. He started to ask a question, but I directed him with my eyes to the form beside him, and seeing Yela there, beginning to stir herself, the question died on his lips. Then his lips were on Yela, and as she was roused to full wakefulness by those tender ministrations, the kisses became quite mutual. I grinned and cleared my throat. The two of them sat upright, and Borthun even managed to blush right along with Yela. "Move your arm Borthun. How does your shoulder feel?" "Amazingly good Dave!" He said, rotating his shoulder in larger and larger circles adding more vigor as he realized he was not feeling any pain. "It is a miracle! That spear wound should have crippled me if it didn't kill me, and yet here I sit as if it had never happened." "Oh, it happened, my love." Yela chided, and you have a very interesting patch of skin here that will probably always show proof of your ordeal." she touched the fresh pink skin that would eventually settle into an interesting triangular scar. "My friends, it is breakfast time here, and I'm sure you are starving. Let me show you the bathing facilities first, okay?" I walked them both into the bathroom, and of course Borthun spotted himself in the mirror immediately and had to spend a moment examining his shoulder. "Amazing!" he repeated. "This is a shower" I said, pointing to the glass-enclosed unit. I turned it on, making sure they both saw me turn the tap handle. "This controls the water. Blue is cold, Red is hot. The further in that direction you turn it, the hotter it will be." I showed them the soap and shampoo, having to stop and explain the concept of a squeeze bottle first of course, pointed them at the towel rack and told them we would be waiting. "You should have no problems getting into your clothes Borthun. If Yela needs help, come get one of the ladies, okay?" The simple shift and wraparound dress that Loretta had picked out were not a problem for Yela, other than being a bit tight in the chest. Thirty minutes later I greeted them as they came out of the bedroom freshly washed and dressed and looking pleased with their circumstances for the first time since their arrival. We joined the rest of the legion in the dining room for breakfast, and our overwhelmed couple were pleased with the scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausages and fruit we were having. The fresh squeezed, cold orange juice was especially admired, more for its coldness than its freshness though. With breakfast over I left Eru to tend our guests and took a moment to usher the rest of the crew into the library. "Guys, I appreciate the quick response, but I've interrupted all your family plans for the holiday. Let me get you all back to where you were. You've still got three days of holiday time left to enjoy." One by one they blinked out as I located their destinations and sent them off. I spent the entire day with Borthun and Yela on Meadow. Borthun and I pitched in on the construction of the stables, and Yela joined Loretta and Eru in the newly enlarged vegetable garden. Having mundane and familiar tasks to occupy them certainly helped. Borthun was delighted with the concept of power tools though, and fell in love with the big DeWalt cordless drills that the Jenkins' were using. Faced with their irrefutable existence, he was willing to suspend his need to understand how they worked in favor of using them. After lunch I sat down with everyone and asked permission to open up their language channels so that all parties concerned could begin picking up each other's languages. This required further explanation, and it gave me the opportunity to clarify for Borthun and Yela the uniqueness of my abilities, and that most of the differences they saw in the others was due to education and cultural differences rather than special gifts like mine. When it came to explaining the Light, I discovered they had no difficulties at all with the concept itself. The more naturalistic faiths that both had grown up with adapted themselves to that perspective quite easily. "You are like the Rock Cat of Cervenne!" Yela announced in the middle of our discussion. "What is a Rock Cat, and where is Cervenne?" I asked. "The Rock Cat is a mythical beast that exists only on the slopes of Cervenne, the Great Mountain." Yela told me. "It is a magical creature, solitary and eternal. It is said that the fur of the Rock Cat is the key to immortality, and that you will be impervious to harm, and will never age while you wear it." "According to the same legends" Borthun added. "its death signals the end of Magic in the world." "You are like the Rock Cat." Yela repeated. "You are the last of your kind, and if you died, your magic would be gone forever from the world." "I see why you make the comparison." I said. "But unlike the Rock Cat, I am not a solitary creature. I have a mate, and someday perhaps there will be a new generation of people like me, and that gift will flourish again. In the meantime, some of my gifts are capable of being learned, and some are already shared. Ask Eru to tell you of his life's calling from before we met. He too had the gift of mind-sharing. The knowledge of how to open the language channels in your mind I learned from him." It was getting on into the middle of the afternoon, and I needed to be somewhere, and very soon. "Borthun, Yela, I have to leave you for a while. Will you be alright here with The Jenkins? Eru will be here to help with the language problems." "Yes, we will be fine. We will see you for dinner?" "Yes, see you then." I walked up to the bedroom and pulled on the Legion armor. I threw my phone and wallet on the dresser. I was always grabbing them with a quick jump into my hand when I needed them, but I saw that as a character flaw in myself and was trying to do better at remembering to take the things I needed with me. It did make it convenient when I was wearing the Legion armor though. I jumped myself into the Garden on Obsidian. With what Ginny and I had just experienced fresh in my mind, I approached the border and waited until my teacher approached. "Greetings Dave, I can sense your need. We here in the garden are ill equipped to help you with this area of inquiry. But let us take a walk along this path..." Two hours later I was waving goodbye to my teacher and walking out through the Garden's shimmering curtain. My questions regarding the new level of mental joining that Ginny and I had experienced remained unanswered. I did have a couple of leads on where to start in the process of doing with the Taluatan fusion reactor what we had done with the fuel cell. With some time still to kill, I jumped myself to the meditation chamber. If the teachers could not guide me to the answers, I would have to seek the answers within. I settled into a comfortable position in the center of the chamber, automatically going through the relaxation exercises we had all learned from Eru. When I was ready, I focused my thoughts, and dove into myself. ------- Chapter 16: Altered Fabrics It took two weeks for the patent applications and article submissions to make it onto the radar of the major news organizations. It would have probably taken even longer if the McKesson Group hadn't sent out a press release announcing the formation of a joint venture with Proto-Tech industries to manufacture and sell fuel cells. Once it did, I was suddenly the center of a new kind of maelstrom, this time one made of publicity and notoriety. I was getting married in less than six weeks and my life was suddenly under a microscope. I found myself sitting on television sets doing interviews. I did the Today show and the Tonight show, the Early Show and the Late Show. David Letterman was funny, Jay Leno was dying to know if he was going to be able to get a car with one of our fuel cells, Larry King was... old. The major network and TV interview types quickly moved on to other things for the most part, at least until we actually began producing fuel cells, but there did exist that hard core contingent of people, ranging the entire spectrum from local TV and newspaper reporters to technology bloggers to the real hardcore conspiracy theorists. As far as their approaches and understanding went, the traditional news people and the bloggers were pretty much on the same track. It was considered highly amusing to us Legionnaires that the conspiracy theorists were actually closer to the truth. The brief period of the public relations blitz was good for me in a way. It pulled me back into a more normal frame of reference. I was able to put aside the twin discoveries of healing and harm I'd found within myself during Borthun and Yela's rescue. I spent quite a bit of my quiet time exploring these two faces of myself. I leaned heavily on Eru for guidance, and he suggested I ask our warriors how they learned to deal with the emotion of battle and conflict. Chet and Cyrus were a revelation. They understood exactly what I had gone through. Cyrus told me. "Unless you have been trained to be cannon fodder, You leave your emotions behind, so that when the battle is done you can return to them, and return to society still fit to function within it." "Your instincts are good Dave." Chet told me. "You saw yourself getting emotional over the action you were involved in and were able to detach yourself as soon as you realized it." It still took many hours of self inspection before I felt comfortable wearing this new side of me, but I found a place for that new me within myself and gave it room to be. Borthun and Yela were adjusting to their new life, although slowly, and we were already planning on installing them as the caretakers at the Montecristo facility when it was ready for business. Their English was coming along, and as we had seen in the past when we accelerated things with our meditation/mental tricks, their ability to understand came faster than their ability to speak. In the meantime, Borthun had proved to be a treasure trove of old world construction and carpentry skills, and this had given Hoot and the boys cause to rethink the rest of their stable project. Ginny and I had explored the joining that we had managed when we had healed Borthun. We found it difficult to repeat at first, but eventually, with much practice we had gotten to the point where we could slip in and out fairly quickly. It required a lot of Light energy to maintain though, I found myself pulling in waves of light far more frequently than I had for anything else I"d ever done. We also found it almost impossible to interact with people normally while we were merged. We hadn't really had a chance to use our incredible healing ability on anyone else yet, but we hadn't exactly gone out of our way looking for accident victims either. Still, I did have something I wanted to try. Con had indeed completed the basic construction of the Montecristo Island base within a week as he had promised. It had taken the two of us two years to finish and furnish the house in the meadow, and I did not want to take such a leisurely pace with this one, so there were currently a swarm of McKesson clan folks doing all the fit and finish work. Con had assigned certain aspects to himself, mostly the power, computer, security and utility-related aspects, and knowing Con, we would get a few surprises thrown in for good measure. We were taking our time with our Mediterranean observations. Once we were moved into the new facility, however, we intended to ramp things up. In the meantime, we had a wedding soon and another in the planning stages, throw Borthun and Yela's surprise addition into the mix, as well as the chaos surrounding the fuel cell technology roll out, and it had become a busy stretch for everyone. Chet and Cyrus kept us grounded and focused by taking the opportunity to enroll everyone in a series of mini 'boot camps'. The large area behind the Obsidian Project warehouse became our training ground - obstacle course included. We underwent a variety of two and three day sessions conducted by both Cyrus and Chet, along with the help of Evan Granholm, Whit Levine, Tony Herrera and Sylvia Porter, the members of the security team they'd recruited. We were continually surprising the security team with our skill, rough as they seemed sometimes, but of course they didn't know that we were remembering skills that were a part of the memories Chet and Cyrus had shared with us. Today I was surprising them by my absence. Con had called this morning to say he was finally ready to show me one of the results of that 'Oh my!' he had issued back when I suggested the self-powered bracelets. I stopped by my bedroom in Meadow to slip into my Legion armor and let the staff know I might be late for lunch. When I jumped into the Hall of Gifts, Constantine was sitting on a stool in front of yet another work bench. On the work bench were two packages. "Good morning Con." I said as I walked toward him. "Greetings Dave!" Con replied. "Okay, here I am. What have you got for me?" "Strip, and I"ll show you." "Say what!!" "I said strip. Get all your gear off." Con was grinning a mile wide by now. "Your bracelet too!" "You're sense of humor not withstanding Con, I have my reservations, but okay." I said, and began to strip down. Once I'd stripped completely, Con grabbed the first of his packages and threw it to me. "Here you go Dave, try these on for size." Inside the package was a new set of the mesh undergarments. Mike called them our 'Legion Underoos', but everyone loved wearing them. As I slipped this new pair on I was gratified to discover they felt as comfortable as the originals, although the boxer style shorts had been replaced by a longer-legged style, more like bicycle shorts. "Nice!" I said "What makes these better than the original set?" "Patience, grasshopper!" Con replied with a laugh, throwing the second package to me. "Now this please." The second package was a new set of Legion armor of course. I quickly slipped it on. Same fit, same look. "Okay, Con, enlighten me." "Very well. The first set of Legion armor, the Mark I version, was a passive system composed of a complex arrangement of nano-fiber composite structures which provided great protection from extremes of heat and cold, as well as chemical, and physical attack. It had serious limitations however. Primarily, it left the hands and head exposed, and it was a single-purpose device. It was armor." "I might disagree about it serving only as armor. It also serves as a uniform, a unique identifier which distinguishes the Legion from those around them." "While I do agree with your estimation of its usefulness in that regard, that was not a design element, so I did not mention it in discussing its design features." Con said. "Okay, agreed. On to the Mark II suit that I'm wearing." "Very well." Con pulled up a display which began cycling through screen after screen of technical data. While I stared at the information as it flashed before my eyes, he continued. "The Mark II version is powered, using the same system of piggybacking power on the Light that I developed for the Cell Phones. The availability of power allows use of what I call 'Clever Fabric'. The nano composite material used in this suit is not strictly speaking, a fiber at all. It does arrange itself in fiber-like structures where appropriate, simply as a matter of design efficiency." Con hopped off his stool, grabbed the two empty packages from the floor where I left them. "Would you grab yourself a set of Earth clothes? Shirt, Pants, socks and shoes. I know you all are wearing your suit's undergarments pretty much full time, so don't bother with those." I did, grabbing the clothes I'd taken off before coming here, which I"d left laying on the bed back on Meadow. I quickly had them in my hand. "Put them on over the armor please." Con asked. "Okay, now what?" "Do you see the black band running around the left wrist of the Legion armor?" "Of course." "Grab it and think 'Off', in the same way the Legionnaires would grab their bracelets and think 'Home' to use them." The instant I did this, the armor began to... writhe! on my skin, slowly pulling into itself until all that was left was what looked like a standard Legion bracelet on my wrist where I'd touched the black band. "Wow!" I said. "Does 'On' do the reverse?" I asked. "Try it." Con suggested. I thought, grabbing the bracelet. A long second later I was wearing my Legion armor. The shirt, pants, socks and shoes I had been wearing were nowhere to be seen, nor did I feel them beneath the armor. "Wow!" I said again. This time with some feeling! I thought as I grabbed the black band on my left wrist again. Just as quickly, I was standing there once again in the clothes I'd been wearing. "The suit will adapt itself to almost any sort of garment, but I would not recommend doing this while wearing heavy clothing and outerwear. The suit's ability to compensate for their presence is limited. The Mark III suit will not have this limitation, but the development time on that version will measure in years. I spent the next two hours with Con learning all the features of the new armor, as well as assisting Con with the 'finishing touches' that only I could provide. Boy were we going to have fun showing this stuff off to the Legionnaires! "Con, you amaze me as always. You my friend, have been working way too hard for way too long, and I am officially ordering you to take a break." "A vacation? What will I do. Where will I go?" "Good questions indeed. We've got a lunch date first. We're meeting Pete and Sarah for lunch today, and yes, it will evolve into business for a while, but after that, for you at least, perhaps its just a starting point for a few days of fun somewhere." I had called Pete earlier in the week and apologized for not arranging to get together sooner, but with all the fuel cell announcement hoopla recently, he was very understanding. I had asked Pete if he and Sarah would meet me for lunch, and we had a reservation for noon today at the Green Horn Creek golf club's restaurant, 'The Double Eagle'. After a quick stop at the house on Meadow to change, I jumped Con and I to my Obsidian parking space, which was now inside the warehouse. Ostensibly, this was to keep the GTO out of the weather, but in reality of course it was so I could jump to it directly without fear of observation. As usual, the drive to Angel's Camp was quick, and we were soon being ushered to our table. Pete and Sarah were already there waiting. We all shook hands, and of course both already new Con. Our waiter was with us as we joined them asking for our drink orders. It was iced teas all around, and with menus in our hands we spent the time in small talk while we made our decisions. Once the drinks were delivered and our food orders in, I made my offer. "This is going to be a pretty simple meeting guys. I'm going to offer you both jobs with the Obsidian Project as members of our field research team. This team is composed of pretty much exactly who you might think it is, Fred, Chet, Arden, Mike, Alicia, Felicia, Cyrus, Constantine, Eru, Ginny and myself. I will offer you both exactly the same amount that everyone else in this team is getting, which does include a profit sharing plan. I will not tell you what kind of work this entails, nor will I share any other details until we have an agreement." "Agreed!" I heard from both of them, instantly. "With that enthusiastic acceptance, if its acceptable to both of you, I'd like to go ahead and take a drive out to the project facility as soon as we're done here, unless you have something else scheduled?" Of course they didn't, and the rest of lunch was enjoyably relaxed and carefree. In the middle of it I excused myself for a trip to the restroom, which was just an excuse to have a quick mental chat with Ginny. I sent. She knew of course of my plans for today. I got a giggle in response to that, and a nice but brief little mental . I may have taken my time getting the actual asking and accepting of the 'job offer' accomplished, but I'd paved the way for everything that was needed. Gianni Sabarte was on duty at the front gate. He had temporary ID badges ready to go for Pete and Sarah, along with a cheerful 'Welcome to the Obsidian Project'. Of course being only a few years older than either of them, they all knew each other very well from growing up and going to school together in Angel's Camp. Ginny met us at the front door to the office building, and gave her brother and Sarah big hugs. Once inside the office, Dolores quickly and efficiently processed them through getting their official ID badges, disposing of the temporaries in the shredder. "Since you're joining Field Research, I'm sure the professor here will be handling the rest of your orientation personally, so welcome to Obsidian!" Dolores added at the end. Most of this was a very well orchestrated charade of course, but we made every attempt to make our internal and external security measures consistent. We walked up the stairs to my office. The room was exactly as I had left it the day I'd printed out my completed work and taken it to Grandpa A.J. "Wow! Sarah said. So this is where you did all the work on the fuel cell?" Con and Ginny were both grinning at me, as they anticipated what was coming. "No actually, this is just where I put together the pieces of the research that needed to be here to convince skeptics. We don't actually do any work at all here. Would you like to see the Field Research team's real office?" I asked. As soon as I saw them nod their heads I jumped us all through to Meadow, to the same spot which it had quickly become tradition to bring new recruits to. "Welcome to your new home." "Oh My God!" were their simultaneous responses. "How?" Was Pete's immediate follow up. "I have a gift. Gifts, really." I answered. "The gift that allowed me to move us all here is currently unique to me. There are other gifts, some of which can be learned, under the right conditions." "Of course, there is a story, a history to go with the gifts." Con said. "You will hear that story soon." "Lets go to the house and say hello, shall we?" I said, pointing at the house behind them. As we walked towards the house Pete looked at Con and said "Constantine, I've always thought you were a little odd. I suppose I'm going to find out you are some kind of alien, huh?" "Oh, even better than that, Pete." Con said with glee. "I'm not even really flesh and blood. I"m entirely artificial!" "Is that true?" Sarah asked. "Well, Constantine is entirely artificial in the physical sense, but he has emotions which are entirely human and there's nothing artificial about those." In the house, we introduced the couple to the Jenkins, and then to Borthun and Yela. "Here on Meadow we are all aliens. Borthun and Yela however are local, and have become our friends and companions." As we were giving our new recruits the cook's tour of the house, it occurred to me that we were completely out of bedrooms in the house. With the addition of Eru, the Jenkins, and Borthun and Yela, the seemingly generous four extra bedrooms that Con and I had planned for were full already. When we got back to the kitchen I corralled Hoot and Loretta. "Hoot, Loretta, How do you folks feel about living here in the house with us?" "We like it just fine, I suppose. Why do you ask?" "You don't miss being able to walk around in your skivvies in the morning if you feel like it, or being able to rearrange the furniture if you get a wild hair? Things like that?" "Listen Dave, if you're turning us out, we want our forty acres and a mule, just like you promised!" Loretta said with a grin. "I just got to thinking when I realized we don't have room for Pete and Sarah here in the house until Borthun and Yela get moved to the Montecristo station. You are all committed to living on Meadow, so I thought I should ask if you would prefer to have your own house to live in, rather than sharing ours." "Well Damn!" Hoot said. "You do know how to give a man pause!" "Well you folks think about it, and let me know later will you? I've got to get these fresh fish we caught today down into the frying pan." I said as I guided Pete and Sarah down the hall to the elevator. I led our new members through the same process of initializing the security plate to their hand print, and then gave the same introduction to their personal storage areas that everyone else had received. A quick tour and explanation of the other levels followed, winding up back at our starting place in front of the elevator. I thought, and on cue, one at a time the Legionnaires, wearing their armor, used their bracelets to jump into the basement in front of us. They formed a line in front of Pete and Sara, and as the last of them jumped in, Cyrus did a little drill sergeant impression. "What are we?" he barked. "Legionnaires!" everyone shouted back. "Who are we?" Chet he asked. "The Legion of Light!" They shouted in response. The room broke into cheers which were followed by hugs and handshakes and backslapping. Once everyone had gotten a turn at their new teammates, Chet fingered the collar of Pete's shirt "Well team, it seems like our newest members are out of uniform, wouldn't you agree?" As the room erupted with loud agreement, Con and I made quick eye contact, and I jumped the table we'd prepared int the room behind us. "Excuse me Legionnaires!" I shouted into the room. Everyone turned to look. "I believe that you are ALL out of uniform. Wouldn't you agree Con?" "Oh it is a certainty Dave, out of uniform every one of them." I reached down and grabbed my bracelet, with a thought, my new uniform writhed into existence in the blink of an eye. "Perhaps you would all agree?" I said. Whew! Subterranean Chaos Bombs have a bit more echo to them. "New mesh and new armor. Come and get it!" Con said, pointing at the table. "Oh, and please take off your bracelets and leave them on the table." We were collectively so into each other's heads and skins these days, after months of morning meditations and mental meshing, that nobody even thought twice. They all simply stripped where they were and swapped gear. I saw Pete and Sarah go wide-eyed when that happened. I thought to them, letting my sending 'leak' to the rest of the crew so they were aware I had done it. Ginny added. Eru added. Constantine thought. "I'm sorry if this is getting to be something of a mental overload, but there are a lot of new things to share. We will try to keep them from piling up too quickly." I said out loud. "If you would prefer to change in private, please feel free to do so in your storage areas." Pete laughed. Nervously, but he laughed. He exchanged a shrug with Sarah and the two of them began stripping. "To be honest," He said as he was dropping his boxers, "most of my shock was in seeing my obviously very grown up sister naked." Ginny giggled at this. "I must say, you all seem very... fit!" Sarah said. That got more laughs. "You will be fit too, once Chet and Cyrus have run you both through their little boot camp!" Alicia said. With Pete and Sarah finally in their gear, I asked them to go ahead and put their 'Earth clothes' back on over the armor. This allowed me to demonstrate for everyone the ability of the new armor to compensate for clothing, and gave them Con's advisory note about not expecting this to work comfortably while wearing heavy winter clothing or outer wear. "You're in what we consider our uniform, so lets make it official. Ladies and Gentlemen, friends and teammates, allow me to introduce Pete and Sarah, the newest members of the Legion of Light!" When the cheers had died down, I jumped the cell phones that I had ready for them into my hands. I handed each of them theirs. "These are standard Earth-based cell phones, provided by a company owned by the McKesson Group, my family's business. They have been enhanced to work from anywhere we travel, using the Light as a carrier." I explained. "What is the Light?" Sarah asked. "You will gain a very good understanding of the Light once you have heard Dave's complete story." Eru said. "I think of it as sort of like 'The Force' from Star Wars without the whole mystical mumbo jumbo part." Arden said. This drew a laugh of course, and we had to explain to our new pair of teammates that we seemed to be always and forever making references to one Science Fiction movie or another. With that out of the way, I showed Pete and Sarah where to store their cell phones. The Mark II version had a special pocket just for them. With their example, soon everyone had followed suit in placing their phones in the appropriate place. "with your cell phones stored in these pockets gang, they become a part of your equipment. All you have to do is think the word 'comm' " As I sent the mental memory of what it felt like to engage the comm unit. As I did it, and they all followed suit, a holographic, shimmering and semi-transparent ear and mouthpiece flickered into existence on each of them. "All you normal cell phone functions are available, and will respond to verbal commands. The system will train itself as you issue commands, so eventually you will be able to issue those commands silently. The suit adds the cell phone functionality to its own built in communications suite. These are based on the kind of comm gear Chet and Cyrus are familiar with from their military days. You can communicate directly with anyone on the team, or with everyone at once." I decided we had given Pete and Sarah enough to chew on for one day, so I called a break. "Lets go get some coffee and relax a bit in the living room. Elevator or Davey Express?" I asked, knowing the answer. "What's Davey Express?" Sarah asked. I jumped us all directly into the living room upstairs. "Oh! Duh!" She answered herself. ------- Chapter 17: All Souls Under Grandpa A.J. And Dad's careful guidance, Proto-Tech and the McKesson group caused Obsidian Research to spawn Obsidian Energy Systems. We were poised to revolutionize the automobile industry and finally make the electric car a practical object. Early efforts to paint myself as the reclusive mad genius type had paid off, and I was able to minimize the usual endless rounds of PR appearances and interviews. Minimize did not mean eliminate, however, and I spent the month before the wedding very busy with OES appearances and wedding-related activities. It did mean that my fledgling beard had to go though. To be honest, I didn't really miss it. As a practical matter it had been decided that it would be easier, given the number of people who knew Ginny and I in Angel's Camp who were not privy to our secrets, to have the wedding there. The folks from Chocowinity would 'fly in' on McKesson chartered flights, most of which were actually real. The remainder were fictitious flights as select small groups were arriving scattered throughout the week leading up to the wedding courtesy of 'Davey Express'. I woke up early on the morning of Sunday, July 16th, one week away from my wedding, with my bride-to-be in my arms. I kissed the tip of her nose and watched as her eyes fluttered open. While her eyes were still trying to focus, her mind reached out and we merged our thoughts. With eyes focused, and a tender smile, Ginny pulled me to her and whispered in my thoughts A quick scan told me she was ready, and that, along with the mental wave of desire she projected had me ready. I cheated and used my gift to remove her panties and my boxers in a blink. As I moved over her her thoughts whispered again. Oh man! Talk about your incentives! With our desires and dreams driving us, we merged, Bodies, Minds and Souls. Our passion reignited that diamond/silver fusion that we had been able to experience in such fleeting measure since we had discovered it. We were bathed in Light, and as we peaked, for just a brief second it seemed as if we were Light!! And then the world pulled us back, reclaiming us once again. Reality dimmed into its mundane version and we collapsed, gasping for breath and a bit in shock at what we had just experienced. "Oh Davey!" Ginny said out loud. "Yeah!" I echoed, followed by a "Damn!" "What?" Ginny responded. "I just realized how hard this is going to be to top on our wedding night!" We woke a couple of hours later, feeling more alive and energetic than either of us could ever remember. It was as if our joining had charged us both full of life. In the shower, as we played and cleaned and reveled in each other's proximity, I had a thought. We joined, merged and went beyond into a fusion. Once again we saw and felt and lived as a single consciousness — almost. Just a thread of ourselves touched the Light and held. The rest of us, the part that did not quite fuse into a single 'I' remained attached to reality. In this nearly-there, nearly-gone place, the world was not awash in that silver/diamond light. Rather we caught glimpses of it in certain angles, a drip here, a running ripple of it there, The world was itself, and we alive in it, but through our senses we kept catching glimpses of the Light behind and within it. In our almost-oneness, our thoughts were a a new, simple inner dialog. <> <> <> <> I could not tell you where each thought originated, it was simply like thinking to oneself rather than to another person. We got dressed and headed down for breakfast. I caught the thought as we hit the second floor landing. <> The part of us that was Ginny reached out with our gift and jumped us into the kitchen. Loretta, Con, Eru, Chet and Mike were already in the kitchen. The rest of the Legion were in the new Montecristo station, happily building our database of information on the peoples of the Mediterranean region. Pete had been unable to deny his inner marine biologist, and was gleefully taking water samples and doing other basic research on the marine ecology around our island base. We poured ourselves coffee and sat at the table with everyone. We said our good mornings and exchanged pleasantries, until finally Eru spoke up. "I am not sure what you two have achieved, but I am glad I was sitting when you arrived. Looking at you with my internal eye is making me dizzy!" "We are somewhat joined." Ginny and I both said, in perfect synchronization. "So it would seem!" Con stated in his best 'I-am-not-impressed' Spock tone, complete with raised eyebrow. "We are not quite at the place where we went when we healed Borthun's wound, but we have found it possible to keep a part of ourselves touching that place." Once again we spoke in perfect synchronization. We saw that this was causing a slight amount of confusion, especially in Loretta, so we actively tried to pull our speech centers apart a little. "It is a new thing, as of about an hour ago, so forgive us if we seem... odd for a while." I said. "We see that the little stereo act is hard to follow, so we'll work on avoiding that, okay?" Ginny added. "What's for breakfast?" I asked. "I'm starved!" That broke the tension, and we quickly joined the rest of the crew in appreciating the pancakes, fried eggs and sausages that Loretta had fixed. Mike, Con and Chet left well before we were finished, as they were busy helping Hoot, Beau and Asa with the building of the Jenkin's new house. We had 'swarmed' the foundation and framing part of the project with the same crew from Chocowinity that had helped with the finish work on Montecristo. With that kind of boost they had managed to get the roof and walls up in less than a month, and were busy doing interior work, with Con doing a lot of the 'jiggering' as Hoot described it, that allowed some of our Taluatan and Seeker advancements to blend in with the more traditional American construction and furnishings. Mike was actually doing all the hardwood floors, as he had spent most of his summers during high school and college working for a flooring contractor in Stockton. I had taken note of how enthused Asa was to learn the flooring craft, and Mike's willingness to teach him, and how it seemed that this required an inordinate amount of private time. Perhaps Mike was going to find that little slice of happiness he had been looking such a long time to find. But I wasn't going to peek to see. Some of life's surprises needed to remain surprises. With the construction crew off to their work, and Eru headed to Mom and Dad's to help with some wedding preparations, I had the perfect chore for Ginny and I. Ginny agreed as soon as the thought formed in us. Hah!, even I caught myself sometimes struggling with the awkward ways our new state of mind forced us to think and speak in describing things. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and called Grandpa A.J. "Hello Dave! Good morning!" "Good afternoon, Grandpa." I replied. "Up for a little company?" "Of Course! I'm in the library with Aaron, come on ahead!" I hung up and put the phone back in its pocket, and Ginny and I jumped through. "Hi Grandpa!" She said as soon as we were there, bending down to give him a hug. "Hi Uncle Aaron!" She said giving him a hug also. "Couldn't wait until Friday to see me Dave?" Grandpa asked. "Special trip, just for you!" Ginny and I said in synchronization. "You too have been experimenting, I take it?" Grandpa asked. "Yes, in a way." I answered. "Do you remember my telling you about Borthun and Yela, and the night I rescued them from Maldre's Crossing, and how Ginny and I managed to join ourselves in a new way, and heal his spear wound?" "Yes?" They both answered. "We want to take a look at your bad leg, grandpa, and I won't even ask to you to get naked!" Ginny said. Grandpa and Aaron both laughed at that. "Well, you do know how to disappoint an old man, young lady!" Grandpa said. We sat beside Grandpa, one on each side of him, and with a boost from a wave of Light that I sucked into our almost-one consciousness, we were quickly able to move into it fully. With the world once again draped in its silver and diamond mantle, we turned our senses to Grandpa's bad leg. We ran along blood vessels and nerves and tissue until we finally found a place where things were jarringly out of agreement with their Light-selves. We washed them in light and coaxed the cells of bone, nerve and muscle to return to their normal, healthy state. I let Ginny's sure touch deal with other little knots of disturbance here and there while I guided a smaller portion of us to sweep Grandpa's veins and arteries, removing built up plaque and other deposits, and generally 'cleaning out the pipes'. We joined efforts again to guide the Light memories of healthy, calcium rich bones to restore their physical counterparts. As before with Borthun, our efforts had required massive influxes of Light energy, both to feed the healing, and to keep ourselves going as well. With a final wash of Light, to keep us from collapsing as we had with Borthun, we moved back from our fully joined state, in a controlled manner this time, and the bright edges of existence dimmed again. "ahhh!" we both verbalized together as we returned to our new 'normal' state. With our more controlled efforts We had managed to keep an internal eye on the time. We had been crouched over Grandpa For a full hour! "How do you feel Grandpa?" Ginny asked. "Amazing! Its like you managed to sneak the world's best drug into my system somehow!" He said. "The pain in my left knee is completely gone!" "Stand up and walk." I said. Walking was something Grandpa was able to do, but it was always painful, and he wore out very quickly doing it. A couple of quick circuits of the room later, Grandpa was laughing out loud and grinning up a storm! "My God you two!" He said, grabbing our hands. This is incredible! How can I ever thank you?" "No, Grandpa, you don't understand." We said together. "This was us thanking you!" "Will you take a walk with me?" Grandpa asked. "Of course!" We answered in unison again. Together the four of us at first, and joined by several of the staff as we encountered them, toured the grounds. As we returned to the house from the East we saw 'Marko' as he was called, one of Irene's boys, who Irene's husband Nate had saddled with the name Marcus Octavius Filler. They mercifully had begun calling him Marko as a baby and it stuck. We ran into him weeding the herb garden for his mom. "I used to love helping my mom in her herb garden when I was your age Marko. Can I give it a try?" Of course Marko wasn't going to say no to A.J. McKesson, but he did manage a more or less straight-faced "Okay, but if you mess it up I"m telling Ma on ya." Grandpa A.J. got down on his hands and knees and turned a little soil, fingering the leaves of the thyme plant where he had knelt down. He pulled his feet under him and stood back up. "Thank you Marko." He said, patting the young boy's shoulder. As we continued on to the back of the house Grandpa put his arms around both if us and hugged. "I haven't been able to get down on my knees and back up unassisted like that in almost fifteen years. Thank you again." "You're welcome Grandpa!", we both said, and we hugged him back. Back in the house, we prepared to leave and made our excuses. "When we did this the first time, we collapsed unconscious for several hours." We said. I forced a little separation again and added "This was our second time, and we've managed to stay awake, but it has left us very tired. I think we're going to have to go home and take a nap!" I said. Grandpa walked over and hugged both of us again, very tightly. There were tears in his eyes when he told us that he loved us. Back in our bedroom on Meadow, as Ginny and I were undressing to take our nap, I thought how odd it felt to discover how Grandpa's disability had made him feel, and how wonderful it felt to have freed him of the burden of it. Two hour naps seemed to be the new norm for Ginny and I these days, but if they are always followed by a session of baby-making, well sign me up as a charter member. We moved fully into the Light again, although our reaction to it afterwards was not as strong. Of course just like the previous time, all reactions have to be weighed next to those resulting from the emotional high of great sex with the love of your life. Where it differed was in the mutual decision to pull back even a little bit more from the partial fusion that we had settled into earlier. We separated our consciousnesses almost completely but left a small piece in continual contact. It was past the lunch hour by the time we were showered and dressed, and of course Ginny snickered about sleeping from meal to meal, but busy days with this healing stuff mixed in were probably going to be like that unless we could learn how to insulate ourselves from the draining effects of the healing. We were fully charged and feeling a little giddy from the recent activities and I chased Ginny laughing down the stairs. The kitchen was deserted, and as I stood there thinking about scrounging up lunch, I caught Ginny looking at me out of the corner of my eye. "What?" I asked. "Two things. First, I think I prefer this level of separation. Yes, we can be one mind when we need to, but Davey, we're really two people, and it feels better this way." "I absolutely agree!" I said. "I think that's really why we've been so full of energy and in such a good mood since we got up. Our souls prefer it this way, is how I think about it." "Yeah, you've got it I think. Second thing, take me somewhere warm and beautiful for lunch! I want a meal via Davey Express!!" I thought about it for a minute... "Go change into your best bikini, I'll be right behind you." I said, giving her perfect bottom a nice swat as she took off. I sent the thought. He thought back. I heard him laughing in his thoughts as he sent it. I dipped in quickly and caught the details I needed, thanked him and ran up the stairs to join Ginny. Ginny had a new bikini! Apparently my seeing it today meant she was going to have to go shopping again to replace this key item in her honeymoon wardrobe. I slid my regular wallet into my waterproof 'beach wallet' and strapped it onto my thigh. I decided to make a fashion statement and wore my old pair of mesh legion boxers as my swimming trunks. Con had teased us all unmercifully when, as a group, we had refused to surrender our old ones when we got the replacements. I jumped us straight into the high surf in the thick of the bathers in the middle of Condesa Beach. We bobbed to the surface laughing, as if we'd just dove through the passing wave and turned to wade ashore. I kissed Ginny as we stepped onto the warm sand. "Welcome to Acapulco!" I whispered in her ear. We spent a gloriously fun couple of hours enjoying the beach, swimming, running and playing on the sand and eating a variety of items from the beach vendors. We even spent some time walking up and down the Costera, actually the 'Costera Miguel Alemán ' The broad avenue that followed the beach front, souvenir shopping in all the tiny shops. It was fun bargaining in full speed Spanish with the local street vendors too! We had been so wrapped up in everything that was going on recently that this little slice of Earth-normal fun seemed like heaven. Even if it did end with the two of us jumping back to Meadow from a public toilet on the beach. "Thanks again!" I said to Ginny as I held her in my arms in our shower. "You're welcome!" She said. "For what?" "For not only being the center of my universe, but the heart of my humanity. You always find the perfect way to bring me back to myself." Shower time baby making is an excellent option too, trust me. That evening I sat down with and Eru and decided it was time to make another trip to the Shrine of Rhel in Taluat and visit the believers there. With only a week to go before the wedding, I had not invited anyone from that group to attend, and to be honest, hadn't been sure if I wanted to extend that courtesy, but I saw it as the perfect prelude to introducing the leaders of that group to a better understanding of the realities of who I was and what we represented. Master Lev deserved to share in my moment of happiness, if nothing else. Since Con was at the station on Montecristo, I did not have to wait for a late hour meeting to contact those there. Instead I reached Con with my thoughts. With our end of the meeting arranged, I reached out to Master Lev, and placed the certain knowledge that there would be a visitation tomorrow at the shrine into his thoughts. A large group who might enjoy a luncheon feast, I added. So far in our interactions with the Rhellians we had limited our exposure to just Eru, Con and I. I think it was time for them to meet the Legion. We watched a movie after dinner with Eru and Chet. We had not looked too hard at bringing broadcast or cable TV 'live' to Meadow, but if only the folks at NetFlix knew just how far their service was reaching, they'd be stunned! Later, after everyone headed off to bed, there was more baby-making activity. I used my old tried and true Light recharging trick and gave Ginny multiple treatments before we fell asleep in each others arms. ------- Chapter 18: Saint's Feast We gathered the next morning at the house. The crew from Montecristo looking tanned and happy. It was going to be an early dinner for them and a slightly late breakfast for us, but we had done this sort of thing in the past month, 'meeting in the middle' of our time zones for a shared meal. I jumped Eru, Con and I through first, and when we arrived, it looked as if a carnival was in progress. There were tables and tents and what appeared to be hundreds of people running around. The smells and sounds of cooking were incredible. Master Lev spotted us immediately. "Welcome back, welcome!" He said with all the enthusiasm of a believer. "Thank you, Master Lev. We are glad to be back. Please, you know the three of us already, allow me to introduce you to those you have not met." I began jumping Legionnaires in, one at a time. I started with Chet and Cyrus. Cyrus appeared to my left. "May I introduce you to Cyrus Poole." Chet appeared on my right. "May I introduce Chet Alvarado." "I can guess what place these formidable looking fellows have in your group!" Master Lev said with a laugh. "You'd be surprised, I answered. These are versatile gentlemen." I continued introducing the Legion, one member at a time, saving Ginny for last. When her turn came, I jumped her right into the crook of my right arm. She quickly slid in for a hug and a brief kiss. "Master Lev, please allow me to introduce Virginia Parkin." "Please call me Ginny." She quickly added. "Of course Ginny, Welcome!" "This is everyone. We would be happy to partake in whatever festivities it appears you have planned, but Ginny and I would like to sit down with you for a moment before anything official gets under way, if you don't mind?" "Of course!" He beamed at us. Turning to a small knot of onlookers standing behind him, he called out. "Preva! Would you please see to getting our new guests seated at the place of honor? They would enjoy something to drink, I'm sure!" As the matronly woman he had addressed led the rest of the crew off to a large table nearby, Lev led us to a small cluster of folding camp chairs, very similar to what we would find back home. "May I offer you something to drink?" "We're happy to wait until we rejoin the others at the table, thank you." I paused for a second, smiled at Ginny and reached for her hand. She placed hers in mine and smiled back. "Master Lev, Ginny and I are a young couple in love, as I'm sure you've noticed." "All the signs were there, yes." Lev said with a laugh. "We are here today to invite you to our wedding." In Taluatan it translated more accurately as 'the uniting of our souls', but it meant the same thing for all practical purposes. "Oh, wonderful! Congratulations!" Was his instant response. "I have to apologize to you though. The wedding is only five days from now. I took far too long in deciding that I wanted you there to share our happy day with us." "I appreciate your confidence, and I certainly would like to attend." "We understand that all leaders sometimes must deal with politics," Ginny added, "and that there may be others among the Rhel who perhaps should be included in the invitation." "I see you are as wise as you are beautiful, Ginny. This is true." Lev said with a sigh. "There are others I would do well to include. How many addition people will you allow?" "I would like to limit it to five, including yourself. The people we invite must know that discretion is required of them. Not all who will be attending are aware of what we really are, or what we do. Just as all Taluatans do not know of all you do." "I assume language and dress will be a problem?" Master Lev almost brought out into the open his acceptance of our endlessly repeated position that we were from another world, and not deities, spirits or any of the other more wild and exciting alternatives some of the Rhel had suggested. Being a good politician, he did not want to be overheard expressing his true beliefs, lest it drive away some of his supporters. "Language will be. Dress should not, as long as you allow us to meet the people who will be included." I said. "Perhaps we will need to do a little re-arranging of the seating at the table of honor?" That instantly became the official plan, and as we walked over to the table, Lev wanted to give me the names of the other four people who I should invite. I told him to look at each person in turn and think their name in his thoughts, I would call them out as he did. His eyes went wide, followed by a crooked grin. He thought back. We were ushered to our seats at the main table. "Rhellians, may I have your attention!!" Lev shouted into the lively crowd. "Quiet please!!" An organized effort went through the crowd and it was soon much quieter. "Spirit Master Dave has an important announcement!" Lev shouted to the crowd. He motioned to me, and enthusiastic applause broke out in the crowd as I stood. This was a perfect time to use one of the new armor's tools, so as I stood waiting for the quiet to grow quiet again I threw a thought command to the suit. A translucent, barely-there line of glistening blue light flickered into existence, running from in front of my mouth along my cheek to my left ear. "Thank you all. Thank you for this wonderful gathering you have provided for us today." My amplified voice rang out across the entire open field. "It is a different gathering that brings me to you today. I have come to introduce you, my friends of Rhel, to Ginny, who five days from now shall become my soul-bonded mate." Very wild applause and cheering broke out at that announcement, and it was a good ten minutes before they could quiet themselves again. "Although it has never been done before, I have decided to honor our friendship by inviting a small number of those Rhellians I hold closest to attend the bonding." That announcement sent the crowd into a real frenzy, and only my sending wave after wave of calming Light into them kept it from growing out of control. "Of course Master Lev has just been informed of his invitation." I said. "But before you applaud, let me call the others up to join us here at the table. You may applaud them all together when they have been announced." I reached out to Lev, seeing the person in the crowd he focused on through his eyes, and finding the name on the surface of his thoughts. "Mor Grestain" I turned and looked first at each person before I called the name. "Ia Sardic" Each time their eyes went wide as I made eye contact. "Levella Ruk" Small spattering amounts of cheering did ring out, as those seated or standing near those I called reacted to the announcement. "Brin Dolin" Lev must have saved him for last, knowing I would remember him on my own. He had been one of Lev's most stalwart allies, a party to all our previous visits, and the only one of the four already seated at the table with us. I sent a mental command to switch the suit out of comm mode. The other three sudden celebrities made their way to our table, and with graciousness, several of the Rhellians who had been seated there gave up their spots. Everyone got handshakes from me and kisses on the cheek from Ginny. I thanked each of the departing three and asked them their names. As they found their way back into the crowd they were received as minor celebrities themselves for their quick generosity. "Lev," I said turning back to him. "I yield back to you with only this simple comment. I"m hungry!" This brought a belly shaking roar of laughter from Lev and when he was recovered he yelled at the crowd "When the spirit is hungry, we must feed the flesh, the old saying goes. Let the feast begin!!" The next couple of hours were interesting, fun, intriguing, and flavorful. The nearby waters, as they were back home, were a cornucopia of seafood treasures. We had crab cakes and shrimp, crayfish and mussels. There were strips of grilled and seasoned tuna steaks that were so far beyond Chicken of the sea that you couldn't compare the two. We finished off with a delicious sweet potato pie that was as good as any pie I'd ever had. We were treated to performances by dancers and singers and musicians Our hosts would have been happy to continue the revelry through the afternoon and into the night, but we were all operating on different internal clocks. As we were making our goodbyes to the large crowd, I took the five invitees aside for a moment. "I would like to meet with the five of you, and give you a brief preview of what we will be seeing and doing. I am thinking perhaps I will return the favor and invite the five of you to breakfast tomorrow?" An enthusiastic and unanimous affirmative response sealed the deal and I arranged to meet them back here at the shrine at what would be eight in the morning, their time. This actually translated to 'the third bell of Drift'. Eru said he would be quite happy to give me the history behind the Talautan time nomenclature, but did assure me that it was for the most part based on nautical practices. It was not quite noon when I got back to the house, and the first thing I did was call Grandpa A.J. "Hello Dave! What can I do for you this afternoon?" "hi Grandpa. How would you feel about hosting me, Eru and five guests for breakfast tomorrow?" "What's the matter, the cupboard bare again?" "No, the pantry is well stocked these days." I laughed. "What I don't have is the right time zone. These guests are East coasters too." "Ah! Are they from near here?" "Very near!" I laughed again. "They're our supporters from the Focus on Eru's world of Taluat." "Close indeed! Damn!" Grandpa said, shaking his head. "Say! I have an idea..." When I got done talking to Grandpa I was feeling a bit restless. The weird mornings recently had kept me from meditating or exercising. I decided I needed to go for a run. I had been running as exercise for the past couple of months and had discovered that I enjoyed it. I also discovered two other things. First that my Legion mesh made for the perfect jogging gear, especially when I talked Con into making me a pair of Legion jogging shoes that were identical to the boot part of the Legion armor. The mesh was light-weight, sweat-proof and comfortable, as were the jogging boots. Second was the discovery that the firm but forgiving surface of the open areas on Obsidian was the perfect running surface. I ran a lap that started at the doors to the Meditation Tower, down to and completely around the center ring, then up and around the Garden Ring, back down and around the center ring again, and up and around the Hall of Gifts ring, once again back and completely around the central ring, stopping once again at the front doors of the tower. All together it was an eight mile run. As I ran, I sought the Light. As my understanding of the Light and my gift had matured, I had learned that everything physical had a Light component, what I was calling its Light signature. This seemed to hold true down to the cellular and molecular level at least. Certainly Ginny and I had found that true when we discovered our healing abilities. I was equally as certain that this was true for the atomic and sub-atomic levels as well. My instincts told me it was, but my senses were not yet able to 'lock on' to anything at those levels, so in my spare moments I worked on this. I also worked on what I referred to as my Light enhancements. It wasn't something I discussed with the others, but I was slowly eliminating my need for the Legion armor as I developed my own Light substitutes. When Con had introduced the Mark II version, its enhancements included exo-skeletal power enhancements that allowed the Legionnaires to boost their strength, their speed and their endurance. I already had this ability, just based on pumping Light fuel into my cells, to power them beyond their normal human levels. Now I was boosting myself even beyond that by reinforcing the Light signatures of every cell in my body. Beyond those muscle based enhancements, I was working on duplicating some of the Comm Gear functions as well. The public address mode I'd used was a perfect example. These kinds of modifications were very tricky, and I hadn't actually succeeded yet. They required my being able to build things out of the Light. I could do simple structures very easily. Con may have been built of Light and immaterial once, but it did not mean everything built of light had to be immaterial. I was certainly incapable of mimicking living structures with Light constructs, but I was also not yet able to build even moderately complex devices to emulate modern tools, electronic or otherwise. At times like this I worked on that problem. With my active mind working on these problems, and my secondary thoughts busy reinforcing my body's Light signature as I ran, I left the piloting to my subconscious. Not by premeditated intent, but it became obvious that I had when I stopped running and my consciousness focused on reality to discover I was not at the doors to the tower, but rather I was standing in front of the shimmering curtain that led to the Garden. Part of me felt the need for a lesson obviously, so into the Garden I went. "Welcome back Dave, shall we walk?" My teacher said in greeting. We walked, as usual along a beautiful path within the beautiful Garden. As usual we began by discussing minor things, did I think I was making progress understanding this bit of math, or these sets of conclusions. The sort of positive reinforcement about past topics I always got during my walks. We stopped and sat under a large tree and I played little hide-and-seek games with a gray squirrel that came down from the tree to join us. "Dave you mention your growing understanding of Light signatures, and how you are finding them at all levels of your Light awareness." "Yes, and I am working on expanding my ability." "You have discovered as part of your focus on healing the body that you can encourage the body's light signatures to restore the body to the state which the signature 'remembers'?" "Yes, it makes even healing old wounds possible, because we always find the original Light signature untouched, even if the physical part is altered." "So in your efforts to duplicate the functions of physical devices with Light constructs, can you see where your understanding of Light signatures can be applied?" And I did. I had been trying to 'carve' Light into replicas of the devices. What I needed to be trying was to simply replicate the Light signatures of the devices themselves. I thought of several complications and wrinkles immediately. "Thank you teacher. Once again you've led me to what I already knew!" We chatted again about less urgent, older topics as we returned along our path. As we approached the Flagstone border I turned to say my usual goodbye. My teacher, rather than his usual gentle goodbye stopped. His image actually flickered! "Davey, We have just discussed a matter which has triggered a message I must pass on." He said. He then spoke in a completely different voice. "Greetings from the Seekers. We send this warning across time. Do not attempt to use the Light to replicate living objects. All things living have components the Light cannot touch." As my teacher faded away and I left the Garden, I felt pretty good about what I had just discovered, and the message it had triggered. This was exactly one of the complications I had immediately considered. In the meditation chamber I spent an hour examining my own Light signature. In addition to the countless number of individual signatures that cells, organs and other discrete structures had, the Light blended these things together into a single signature that represented 'David Alan McKesson'. In my mind I saw this blending of signatures in the same way I saw an entire page of mathematical formula capable of being 'derived down' into a single simpler mathematical expression. This was more on the order of 'deriving up', but that was the way I pictured it. I spent some time meditating on my own set of mental assumptions and the shortcuts I often took in understanding things, trying to make sure I wasn't developing a blind spot somewhere that would hamper things later. The new path my Teacher had led me along kept me pretty well distracted the rest of the day. Even during dinner I was barely part of the conversation. People had gotten used to seeing me this way while I was in the middle of the fuel cell research, so they took it with a grain of salt. Wednesday morning at exactly 8am Eru and I jumped to the Focus on Taluat. Lev and our four invitees were waiting for us. We made our greetings and I jumped the seven of us from their focus to the Focus on Earth immediately. The shift from their stone spire to our gnarled tree left them blinking silently for several seconds. "Welcome to Earth." I said. "You shrine is what we call a Focus. Each of the many facets, and Taluat is a facet as is Earth, has a focus. Since the various worlds we know are all images of each other, their focus' are always here in this spot, on world after world, each Focus uniquely different, beautiful and inspiring." The five of them examined the tree and talked excitedly to each other for a few minutes, until we all heard the toot of a steam whistle from the waters of the grotto. "Ah! Our ride is here." I said pointing to the dock. As we watched the Chestnut pulling in Lev looked at me. "The similarities between our vessel and yours seem an incredible coincidence." "Yes, we see such little coincidences and receive nudges from Fate now and then that remind us that there is more at work here than we know. Like you, we have been happy to play our part in the greater mystery." I introduced our guests to Grandpa A.J. And to my Uncle Ambrose. Of course Eru and I needed to act as interpreters for both sides of the exchange. Ia Sardic, the only female member of the group of invitees gave Uncle Ambrose what I would have to describe as a predatory stare when they were introduced. She was what I would describe as a 'handsome' woman, a bit sharp featured, but with a brilliant smile and very bosomy. "You'd better keep an eye on that woman." I told Uncle Ambrose when I joined him in the wheelhouse. "She seemed inordinately interested in your old bones." Ambrose laughed and gave me a wink. "I don't see anything there Davey that I would say no to, but I'll keep your advice in mind, thanks!" The house and its grounds impressed everyone, especially Master Lev. "I always wondered what this place would have looked like if it hadn't become a tourist attraction. This is not too far from my imaginings." He remarked. Breakfast was Eggs Benedict with hash browns, orange juice and tiny deep fried peach pocket pies. Conversation was halting, but friendly. The pace of both the meal and the conversation was leisurely. Uncle Ambrose let me pilot the Chestnut on the ride back, joking with everyone that this was what an Uncle's purpose in life was, to let his nieces and nephews have fun with his toys. To be honest, I think he wanted a chance to spend a little time standing near Ia. I thanked them all for their hospitality, giving them all a hug, and they received handshakes as well from the Taluatans. We waved at the departing Chestnut from the shore and then walked back up to stand near the tree. "The Focus, as I mentioned earlier is a special location on our worlds. You have seen two, here is a third." I jumped us all to the focus on Meadow. I thought of Meadow's focus as a particularly soothing and peaceful one, and I think it had the same effect on our visitors. "This focus evokes a very powerful feeling in everyone, as most do. The next focus is quite different, as it was once horribly broken." I jumped us all to Obsidian. We all stared at the blackened and cracked landscape surrounding the now solidified maelstrom. "This is the world of Con's creators. You have heard him tell his story, and you know that terrible forces beyond the comprehension of any of us were applied here. You have heard how we have finally restored this focus to its natural state, but we will never know if this is what the Seekers saw when they walked this world." "I remember hearing Con tell us how the Seekers devastated their own home world, but to see it, black and broken from horizon to horizon, it makes your heart ache at the thought!" Ia said. I jumped us then to the front porch of the house on Meadow. It was well into the afternoon there, and Mor spotted the difference in the light immediately. "We are not on the shores of the Eastern Sea any longer, are we?" "the Western Sea is not far from here by air." Eru answered. With our guests finally at the house we had a quick measurement and fitting session. We found someone whose size matched for everyone but Ia. She was too short to wear any of Yela's or Loretta's clothes, and far too busty to wear any of the other women's. Yela's appeared to be a good fit except for the extra 5 inches of cloth that dragged on the floor. "I can take the hem in, if we can get it pinned and measured." Loretta said. I suddenly decided this hand-me-down approach was ridiculous. "Let's drop this sad effort and go shopping!" I said. Everyone was instantly agreeable, so we got everyone back in their own outfits and I jumped us to the warehouse at Obsidian Research. We had a nice 11 passenger van that was increasingly used to ferry us around in groups between trips. I stopped in to grab the keys from Dolores and we were off to the Meadowmont Center, a mall to the east of Angel's Camp on highway 4. The van was one of our fuel cell prototypes, and of course Brin noticed as soon as we were on the road that the vehicles we saw on the road where all burning hydrocarbons for fuel. This lead to explaining our recent introduction of the fuel cell, and our hopes to eventually introduce a locally engineered version of the Taluatan fusion reactor. "The environmental impact of pollution and industrial waste is a matter of concern for us as well, and we hope to provide some solutions before the need rises to quite the desperate levels your society faced." I explained. The mall was fun, but not all that remarkable for our visitors. They had similar facilities on Taluat, although they said our penchant for cramming advertising everywhere and on everything was amusing. We soon had everyone outfitted in some very nice attire, perfect for attending a wedding, but not so dressy it couldn't be used for other occasions. We ate lunch in the mall, something I had not done in quite a while, and an hour later I left them, clutching their shopping bags, in front of the shrine on Taluat. Two nights later, I awoke in the middle of the night with an immense feeling of dread and pain ringing through me. I did a quick sweep and realized it was not me. I followed the tiny silver thread. It was Dare. I sent the sharp thought into her sleeping mind. She was awake instantly. We were dressed in moments, both of us just throwing on our Legion mesh, and we were in my bedroom back on Earth with Dare. I heard Ginny send to my parents in the back of my mind. I stroked her fur and slipped my face down next to her, letting her too-warm nose touch mine. I heard a weak little 'chirr' and saw her poor body struggling to take quick tiny breaths. I washed a wave of Light through her, removing her pain. Her lungs were clogged with fluid and blood. I flushed them clean, and felt her breathing return to something approaching normal. I flooded her with Light to lend her strength and love to calm her fear. I pulled her into my arms then and cupped her to my chest, nestling her under my chin. I thought to her. Another tiny 'chirr' and I felt her weakened consciousness slip, silver-soft as always, into mine. I felt the still strong love and worship and oneness that we had shared. "I Love you Dare!" I whispered into her ear as I kissed her little cheek. With those words echoing in her heart she slipped quietly away. I lay Dare's poor old body back down on the bed and turned, tears now streaming down my face to see Ginny and my parents, crying also. The three of them took me in their arms, and held me close and let me feel their love as I cried and keened and shook with grief at the loss of my friend. ------- Chapter 19: Death and Life Love and friendship. Of the measures of my life of which I"m proudest, the friendships I have formed over the years run a close second only to the love I share with Ginny. My grief and sense of loss at Dare's passing were deep and difficult to put aside. Dare had not been a pet, she had been a companion and fellow adventurer, the first and truest member of the Legion of Light. And my friend. But it was time to take Ginny's hand and announce to the world our love and commitment, a day I had been hoping and planning for since that day all those years ago at the rock and gem shop's counter. The day whose anniversary we had selected as our wedding day. So I tucked a piece of Dare in my soul to accompany the one I'd always had in my heart and I moved on. I woke up on my wedding day with a light heart and a smile. I had spent the night at home on Earth. The wedding rehearsal and dinner the night before had gone smoothly. Hardly surprising when the majority of the wedding party were Legionnaires with their thoughts lightly meshed together. To say that I had over committed myself with chores on my wedding day would be an understatement. Fortunately Con had anticipated several of the problems and had prepared a few things in advance to make my big day a little less burdensome. I had committed to jumping almost 100 people from Chocowinity, as well as my five guests from Taluat. Getting them to Angel's Camp was not the big deal, but our parents had been worried that returning them to the proper locations would be a big distraction for Ginny and I. Con's solution was 'disposable' jump bracelets. These were single use devices that simply dissolved into dust after they had discharged their single store of Light energy. Then there was Legion Air. Yes, we had finally named our first cruiser Kes. Her twin, which we kept at the Montecristo station, we named Aya. Our first ship, the mighty PSP, we named Beloth. We did wind up with our own 'Legion Air', and that did please my Mother to no end. We started out with a plan to reconfigure Beloth to carry our 100 people, but we chose a simpler strategy. The morning of the wedding, with the Chocowinity guests gathered in the driveway leading up to Grandpa A.J.'s house, I simply reached out and jumped them as a group onto the green of the third hole of the Greenhorn Creek golf course. This green was directly behind Grandma and Grandpa Carson and Cyrus and Felicia's houses, and we ushered them through their two back yards into a fleet of waiting buses to make the short drive to the bridal green where we were having the ceremony. As each of them boarded the bus, a disposable jump bracelet was slipped onto their wrist. They had received instructions on using it back in Chocowinity. Finally I jumped to the shrine on Taluat and found my five guests dressed in their Earth finery and waiting. I jumped them directly into Grandpa and Grandma Carson' house where Mike was waiting. I slipped one of the dark blue disposable bracelets on Master Lev's wrist, and followed with the wrists of the other four. "Obviously when the time comes for the guests to go home I will be busy being the groom. These bracelets are your way back home." I said, touching Lev's bracelet. "When the time comes and you are inside and safe from observation, grab the bracelet with your free hand and think 'home'." I explained. "Once you have made this jump the bracelet will dissolve into dust. You have met the Legionnaires. Eru will be with you during the ceremony, and one or another of them will be with you at all times to act as translator. Enjoy this day with me, and thank you." My transportation duties done, I ran upstairs to the room that had been set aside for the use of the groom's party, and Con and Arden helped me get into my tux. I was wearing a traditional gray cutaway jacket, trousers, shirt and tie that had once belonged to my Great Grand-Uncle Lowell, who was the only McKesson before me who was tall and slender enough to match my frame. Con was wearing Grandpa A.J.'s matching tux, and Arden, Dad, Cyrus and Fred also wore matching tuxes, all loaned to us from various McKesson Clansmen. Con made a final adjustment to my boutonnière and slid his hands up to my shoulders and gave me a brilliant smile. "I have never felt so human as I do today. Thank you again Dave for the honor of being your Best Man!" "Constantine, this is the way it should be. You are closer to me than anyone in all the worlds, except for Ginny and my parents, and of course they have different parts to play in today's events. I only pay you the honor you deserve." With a round of smiles and handshakes everyone headed downstairs except Dad and I. I waited, knowing he would have thought long and hard about what he would say to me when this time came. "Son, your life has led you along paths no one before you has traveled, and to places no other man before you has been. I cannot compare our lives and offer you counsel based on what I know about life. The only counsel I can offer is based on what I know of you." Dad stopped then and hugged me. I hugged him back. You are never to old to hug your Dad. "Son, you have never failed to make me proud. No father could be prouder of their son than I am of you. People offer you their loyalty because you are a man worthy of it. People trust in you because you are trustworthy. You have vision and a sense of purpose and the will to accomplish the goals your vision and purpose set you. That you have a heart that loves so deeply and so completely is what your Mom and I consider our greatest accomplishment as parents. We both love you very much!" When he stopped, it was my turn to hug him. With dried eyes and wide smiles we made our way downstairs and into the waiting limousine that drove us the short drive through the resort to the club house and the bridal green. There had been some debate as to who would perform the service. Both Uncle Ambrose and Grandpa A.J. had often performed weddings back in Chocowinity, a traditional aspect of their respective positions as ship's Captain and head of the McKesson Clan. The minister at Ginny's church on the other hand had been the family's spiritual advisor and a family friend since before Ginny's birth, and had been looking forward to the day he would perform her wedding ceremony since the day he had baptized her as a baby. In the end it was decided that Ambrose would give an introductory speech as part of the ceremony and leave the rest in the good hands of Reverend Spencer. Between the McKesson and Parkin contingents, along with a good number of our friends and former classmates and their families from Angel's Camp, we had a very large guest list, or at least I considered 500 people to be huge. The wedding planner that Mom had introduced Ginny to had been ecstatic, especially when Grandpa A.J. quietly told her that money was no object. A string quartet, friends of Mom and Grandma Carson from San Francisco, were playing classical music near the raised platform where the ceremony was going to take place. People were in their seats and looking expectant as Con and I found our places. The quartet shifted music, and the procession started. Arden escorted Alicia, Cyrus escorted Felicia, Fred escorted Chet's sister Gloria and Dad escorted Sarah Granger. As the bridesmaids and groomsmen got themselves arranged, the music shifted again and I looked up to catch that first glimpse of my Blossom. I cheated a little and used my Light-boosted vision to zoom in on her at the back of the 'aisle'. I can only describe my goddess as shimmering in white lace and beads and flowers, whose angelic face shone like the sun, framed by the gentle swirl of the golden sunrise that was her hair. Beyond that initial impression, her walk up the aisle is something of a blur to me. It was as if I blinked, and suddenly she was before me, and I was transfixed by her eyes and her smile. Reverend Spencer gave a brief prayer and welcomed us all, then introduced Uncle Ambrose, who stood and walked over to stand before us. He smiled and winked before turning to speak to the crowd. "Victor Hugo once said 'There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.' "It is not Grand Spectacle that brings us here today. It is Grand Souls. These two young people have grand souls, and grand hearts! It is their love that brings us here today. Dave McKesson and Virginia Parkin's love for each other and our love of them. Someone dear to Dave's heart once said to him 'Always remember. Love is the purest feeling, the wisest thought and the strongest reason. Always!'" I looked at Ginny. She too saw my memories of those words in my thoughts. "For their love, of each other, of life, of their family and friends. For their love of all of us gathered here to celebrate with them, Always remember!" Ginny and I both were in tears when Ambrose finished. The audience applauded him, and Ginny and I both hugged him. "Thank you for remembering Beloth." I whispered. He looked me in the eye and gave a small nod as we separated. I saw tears in his eyes as well. The ceremony continued on, again blurry and indistinct in my memory, except for the beauty of Ginny's eyes and smile before me. We did not follow the current conceit of writing our own vows, instead before we exchanged vows we addressed the crowd, to quote together, in the perfect unison only two tightly linked minds can, a few words from Kahlil Gibran's 'The Prophet', often used in wedding ceremonies. "Remember that love gives nothing but from itself. Love possesses not, nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love. And think not that you can direct the course of love. For love, if it finds you worthy, will direct your course." I scanned the crowd as we spoke the words, finding faces I was looking for, trying to catch their gaze for just a second before moving on. Borthun and Yela, Eru and the rest of the Legionnaires who weren't standing beside me. Mom, Grandpa A.J., Grandma and Grandpa Carson and Uncle Aaron. Their faces barely had time to register though and were were through the recital and speaking our vows. I remember the moment when I slipped the ring I'd shown Ginny the day I'd proposed on her finger. We both said our "I do"s with strong clear voices. And then I was kissing my bride. A brief brush of the lips at first, and then a full, warm, soulful kiss. Being able to share thoughts is an advantage at times like these. I was able to tell my bride I loved her, even as our lips were pressed tightly together. As we each pulled back slightly, Con whispered, as he had promised. "Okay you two. Take your eyes off of each other for just a moment, turn to the crowd and smile big!" As we did, I heard Reverend Spenser say the words I had been waiting over half my life to hear. "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Mr. and Mrs. David McKesson!" I do remember many moments from the reception with great clarity. We had issued 150 invitations, and expected 200. I was told later that it wound up being 275 at the peak. The first dance with my wife. Watching my new bride dance with her father. Holding my mother in my arms as we danced and seeing the joy and pride in her eyes. The food was delicious, and for once not prepared by anyone I knew. This perhaps explains why I'm not bothering to give you my typical blow-by-blow description. The champagne flowed freely, but I cleared Ginny and I of its effects with a wash of Light towards the end of the evening. The highlight of the evening for me was Con's speech. He had 250 people rolling in the aisles, as he spoke. We officially titled it the "I'm not gay" speech. "I love my friend Dave. Through him I learned to feel love. But I'm not gay! It was in observing Dave that I grew to understand love. But I'm not gay! Everything I know of friendship, emotion, loyalty and caring I learned from Dave. But I'm not gay. I can say without hesitation — I am not gay! Dave though? Sensitive, caring, loving and supportive Dave? About Him I'm not so sure." That was just his opening salvo. He followed with a tour of my life cast from a hilarious point of view that had even the poor folks from Taluat who were getting it via translation laughing so hard they were gasping for breath. As all good Best Men do, Constantine did get a little serious at the end. "All kidding aside, I can tell you from the bottom of my heart. If I had come onto this world needing to be taught what it meant to be human, I could have chosen no better teachers than Dave and Ginny. Ultimately they have done something more remarkable than that. They taught me how to be a good human." With the afternoon quickly threatening to turn into evening, and the last of my few minor transportation duties done, Ginny and I left in the back of a very impressive limousine. Our driver was Sheb Halliday, wearing a big grin and that same chauffeur's uniform we'd seen him in when he picked us up at the airport in Raleigh, just before my sixteenth birthday. He didn't expect us to still be in the back when he got it to where he was taking it, and we weren't. I jumped us to our bedroom on Meadow, Ginny didn't know it, but it was only a brief stop. "Still not going to tell me where we're going, dear husband?" Ginny asked. "Sorry, sweet wife, but the surprise will be worth it, I promise you." I pushed her into the bathroom to change and closed the door. She thought through the door. I thought back, and I jumped all her finery straight off her and into a pile beside me. "oooh! Thank you sweetie!" She hollered through the door. While I kept a mental thread in contact with Ginny, I quickly jumped myself to the 'retreat' Con and I had prepared for this night, used its bathroom, a perfect and exact replica of our own, to clean up a little myself, slipping on the silk boxers I'd bought just for tonight, and then did a quick double check on my preparations. Everything looked perfect. I pulled the chilled champagne out of the cooler side of the little storage unit we had placed here as the only furniture. I added ice to the ice bucket sitting on top of it from the ice bin in the freezer side and then jumped back to our bedroom. "Let me know when you're ready to come out sweetie. Its part of the surprise!" I said through the door. A good ten more minutes passed. "Ready!" She called out. I jumped her, me and our bed all at one to the retreat. "Blossom, you can come out now." I said. When Ginny walked through the bathroom door I stopped breathing and I was instantly erect. She seemed to be wearing several layers of white, wispy nearly-nothing. Through them I could see that she had shaved. The wisps of material that draped across her breasts did nothing to disguise the fact that her nipples were as erect as I'd ever seen them. "Oh Baby!" We both whispered simultaneously. Recovering a little from the initial reaction, Ginny looked around. She saw our bed, the champagne and the fridge/freezer cabinet that it sat on, and beyond that trees and flowers and blooming shrubs. A thick, luxurious bed of grass grew beneath our feet. "Davey? Where are we?" She asked. "Look up." I answered. Hanging in the black sky above us was Meadow, swirls of bright blue and white and glorious. "Oh my God!" Ginny gasped. "Sweetie, on our wedding night I wanted to give you the stars, but in the end I settled for the Moon. I hope you like it." It had taken a large leap of faith and a little persuasion from Constantine to even consider building a little bubble of livable space on Meadow's moon. I saw in Ginny's eyes that it had been worth it. We did not come to our marriage bed as new, fumbling young lovers. We were lingering and leisurely, and only briefly did we climb into moments of urgent need. We spent the evening with our minds and thoughts tightly joined, we sipped champagne, we nibbled on fresh fruit and played games with the chocolate sauce and honey that accompanied them. That concern I'd expressed about not knowing if I could top our sexual performance on the night we achieved mental fusion and slipped into the light proved to be no worry at all. All that effort I'd put into developing physical constructs from the light had not yet provided anything useful as far as my duties as a Legionnaire, but when combined with my now considerable telekinetic skills, provided some very interesting applications when applied to my duties as a newlywed. I'm proud to say it was a four 'Oh Davey!' night. We might have wished for a leisurely and decadent breakfast in bed, but I received my 'wake-up call'. I had left a little bundle of my consciousness sitting in Captain Bob's mind, set to wake me when Bob began his landing approach in Marseilles. It was not one of those abilities I had let anyone know about, except for Ginny of course. She had in the past few weeks, and several times last night alone, been me and I her. She knew everything I knew. It really came in handy, as often as I overextended myself with obligations, to be able to let others help keep track of the details for me. I woke Ginny and told her we needed to get ready for the rest of our honeymoon to begin. As we showered and dressed, I checked on the McKesson Group's Citation, which had spend the long hours through the night, as Ginny and I had been occupied exploring and expressing our connubial bliss, flying across the Atlantic towards Marseilles, France. The crew was within minutes of landing at the Marseilles airport. The minute the jet was on the ground I jumped Ginny and I into the cabin. Tracy Anders, Captain Bob's wife, only jumped slightly when we appeared. "You guys sure do have your own definition of 'jet-setter' don't you?" She laughed. "How was your wedding night?" She asked Ginny, after hugging us both. "Out of this world!" Ginny replied with a coy smile. We did have to go through customs, and our passports got stamped. We were met by a chauffeured limousine, this one most definitely not driven by Sheb. Our chauffeur was a young, well endowed woman who didn't seem to mind displaying her wares to either of us. As we settled into the soft leather seats Ginny giggled and poked me in the ribs. "I suppose if I liked girls, I'd be interested in those." "Well I love you, and I still thought they were interesting." "Tonight maybe I'll let you pretend I'm her." Ginny teased. "No Blossom, I'd rather think that tonight she'll find someone who will let her pretend she's you." WE both laughed, and my comment earned me another poke in the ribs. Our driver delivered us dockside in the harbor of Marseilles, one of the Mediterranean and southern France's busiest ports, and from a large commercial dock we boarded directly onto the 'Magician', a 47 meter luxury yacht. The two week rental of it was our wedding present from Uncle Ambrose. This ship was the very definition of luxury. We had a crew of ten, room for ten guests was wasted on just the two of us. The Magician was 150 feet of world class luxury. The details of our honeymoon do not deserve mention, really. It was a honeymoon - you now what we did. We ate world class meals and made love, shopped and made love, basked in the sun and made love, swam and made love. We met people, local and tourist, saw the sights, just as you might expect. Except... Midway through the second week, in the middle of a sweaty and passionate coupling, me sitting on the floor and Ginny sitting on my lap facing me, riding me slowly. Our minds were fully fused and the world once again dripping diamond and silver Light, we scanned ourselves, sweeping our senses across my body to where my erection sat fully seated in Ginny, up her torso, where the piece of us that was Ginny spotted it first, a blip of Light pinging back into our senses, instantly causing our fusion to crash apart. "Davey, we did it!" Ginny screamed. We certainly did. We were pregnant! ------- Chapter 20: Light Passages When our two week honeymoon was over and it was time to go home again, where to go was a simple decision. We were in the Mediterranean. A daylight jump to the Montecristo station on Meadow would put us there with our clocks already used to the local time. We planned our departure for the afternoon so could make a quick trip home to Angel's Camp before dinner. We had each called our parents the day before and said we'd be popping in at the Parkin's house for a quick visit at 10am this morning their time. Of course they quickly agreed to meet us there. Mary said she'd make some fresh lemonade, and it was set. We performed our arrival trick in reverse for the departure. Captain Bob and the crew had just had a nice two week vacation of their own in Monte Carlo, and were looking tanned, fit and happy. We boarded at 4pm local time in Marseilles. Our chauffeur was the same buxom young woman who had met us at the airport at the start of our honeymoon, and she laughed when she saw the piles of boxes and bags stuffed with the spoils of our shopping trips. As the Citation was taxiing onto the runway for takeoff I jumped Ginny and I to the kitchen in the Montecristo Station. "Good afternoon you two!" Yela said. Her English had only a trace of an accent left. We both got fierce hugs from her. "How was the honeymoon? Can I get you anything? Coffee?" "Coffee would be fine, Yela. We ate lunch shipboard, so we're fine until dinner. Where's Borthun?" "He's with Constantine checking the filters on the saltwater pump for the desalination unit. Apparently they have been clogging at a faster than expected rate." "Everyone else?" Ginny asked. "Pete, Eru, Fred and Chet took the Aya out to collect some water samples or some such foolishness, and today is a festival day in a community called Ureda. Felicia, Cyrus, Arden, Sarah, and Alicia are monitoring it in the survey room." With everyone occupied, and our expected arrival in Angel's Camp still an hour away, we decided to go for a short swim in the little bay in front of the cliff. The sandy beach was just as I'd imagined it would be, and the nifty gravity lift to and from the house that Con had devised was a fun touch. A little sign, obviously a little touch of Con's sense of humor, greeted us as we approached the beach itself Montecristo Station Bathing Facility -bathing suits optional- We opted against, and had an enjoyable time splashing around in the warm, shallow waters until it was time to go. We had a quick shower and got dressed, and just as quickly we were in Ginny's bedroom in Angel's Camp. We arrived in the kitchen arm in arm and found our parents sitting with glasses of lemonade and coffee cake in front of them. Hugs and kisses all around were exchanged and we were quickly served up our lemonade. We both passed on the coffee cake, explaining that we were expected back at the station for dinner in an hour. I handed Dad a 2 gigabyte flash card. "Here's a copy of all the SFP pictures we took. Run off copies for Paul and Mary please." "SFP?" Mom asked. "Safe for Parents." Ginny laughed. "Ginny!" Her mom said. We all laughed, and laughed even louder when Paul said "Be good dear or I"ll go dig up the pictures from our honeymoon that we never showed our parents." "We can't begin to tell you how much we enjoyed our honeymoon, and how absolutely happy we are." I said to them all. "But there is one thing we can tell you." "What's that Son?" Paul asked. "You are all going to be Grandparents in about nine months." Ginny said. Chaos bomb times four! Oh man! We had to wait right there as cell phones were brought out and other family members informed. We warned the rest of Ginny's family not to call Pete, as we hadn't told him yet, and wanted to do it ourselves. Grandpa and Grandma Carson where tickled pink, and wanted to know if we knew if it was going to be a boy or a girl. "We don't know yet Grandma." Ginny said. "Its too soon to know." Grandpa A.J. asked us to come by when it was convenient and get our hugs and kisses. "And I will not respond to the name 'Great-Grandpa until the actual delivery is under way, so don't bother trying it!" he said with a chuckle. We got back to the Montecristo station just in time to help Yela set the table for dinner. Everyone began showing up from their various activities, and we were busy handing out hugs and kisses for a while. When Con and Borthun came up from the desalination plant for lunch, they were brandishing a container of seawater. They got hugs anyway. "Here's what has been gumming up the filters!" Borthun said, pointing at the jar Con held up for our inspection. There was a swirling cloud of tiny, almost too small to see fish, barely visible little needles. "Apparently the shallow waters around the island are swarming with the little creatures." Con added. Dinner was a delicious cool almond and garlic soup, sizzling seasoned strips of lamb tenderloin, grilled on skewers, and an interesting salad where the ingredients were all rolled up in a thin piece of prosciutto and sliced into flat wheels. "Yela has become a TV addict!" Fred said. "She can't get enough of the Food Network. Especially that Italian Chef, what's his name?" "Mario!" Came the reply from everyone at the table, followed by a round of loud laughter. It sounded as if perhaps Yela had been getting teased about this a little already. After lunch we asked about the festival in Ureda, and what they had observed. As the observers began filling us in, Pete excused himself, saying he'd be right back. "It is called the festival of Nemoth." Sarah said. "It is a three day celebration. The first day marks the defeat of an invading army. The second day celebrates Prince Nemoth, who defeated, in single combat, the 'evil and cruel' warlord who led the invaders, Adyx of Esprala. The third day marks the signing of a peace treaty called the 'Uredian Accords'." "From what we can gather, this marks the beginning of what has now been ninety years of peace." Cyrus said. "We were observing the first day's events yesterday. There were athletic contests and races and demonstrations of skill and knowledge." Alicia added. "What I found particularly interesting was that there seemed to actually be as much emphasis on intellectual achievement as on physical prowess. The people of that area are in the middle of something of an 'age of enlightenment'. At least as far as their attitudes towards learning are concerned." "I'd say the enlightened attitudes cover religious tolerance as well as sexual and cultural." Sarah added. "Of course the extremes of cultural differentiation that we are used to on Earth never seem to have developed here." "Tomorrow, the second day of the festival is a day of parades and exhibitions. There are active and organized guilds and trade groups in the city who will try to outdo each other with their parades." Felicia added. "The exhibits are more to show off the latest craftsmanship and achievement. This is also when the local artists display their latest works." "The third day will be the big feast. It is what I would describe as probably the biggest potluck you'll ever see." Alicia added. "Most folks bring something that they've prepared and add it to the table of whatever guild or trade house they are aligned with." Cyrus added. "Every family is aligned with a guild or trade house. Travelers do have a table where they can bring dishes if they want, but for the most part visitors to the city are considered guests of the Innkeepers guild." "Perhaps we should consider attending some of the festivities in person tomorrow?" I asked. Oops! Chaos bomb! I sat back with a small smile of amusement as I watched the chaos. Things had just about settled back to normal when Pete returned to the table looking fit to burst. "Dave! I know why the people of Meadow are shallow water only sailors!" Pete told me. "Why?" I asked. "This!" he said, holding up a jar, which appeared to contain nothing but a little water. "Sea Water?" I guessed. "No! Watch!" He said. "Ava. Tight focus UV light beam on the object I am holding up please." with a beam of Ultraviolet light shining on the jar, I could see a swirling, cloudy mass within it, as if a sheet of fuzzy white film floated in the liquid. "On Earth, there is a creature called Teredo Navalis, or the shipworm, which eats wood." Pete explained. "It is actually a clam, not a worm, but it was the bane of all the world's sailing ships until it was discovered that a thin plating of copper on the a ship's hull prevented them from boring into the wooden hulls. Modern wood-hulled ships use a copper-based paint, which gets re-applied regularly." "That thing is a clam?" I asked. "No!" Pete said. This is not even marginally related to the shipworm of our world, but functionally it plays the shipworm's part in Meadow's oceans." "If we overcame the shipworm on Earth, why wasn't this alternate overcome in a similar fashion?" I asked. "Because this critter is like a shipworm on acid. They are really a kind of chondrophore, a colony organism made of single celled organisms called hydrozoa, like a Portuguese Man-of-War. It's taken an odd evolutionary path compared to what we're familiar with on Earth. This Meadow chondrophore has achieved its own form of immortality, but it has done so by developing a specialized cell that can do two things. Convert sunlight to energy and eat cellulose at a very rapid rate. The dissolved cellulose, or the process of dissolving it must be associated with the reproductive cycle somehow, I haven't figured that part out yet, but it has led to the trait being selected for, and becoming dominant. I call it the Sea-swarm. It has developed into what some would call a super-organism as well. There are not multiple colonies here and there on the oceans of Meadow, there is a single colony that entirely covers the oceans. Almost entirely, anyway." Pete looked at me with an evil grin. "Dave, here's a riddle for you. If the sea-swarms are so terribly efficient, why do we see small boats and rafts in use near the shoreline?" "And the answer is?" I asked. "The other piece of the puzzle." He said, and pointed at Constantine's jar and its cloud of tiny little fish, almost too small to see individually. "Well since you're pointing at Con's filter cloggers, I"m going to assume its because of them?" Exactly!" Pete laughed. "This little fellow and his billions of buddies, basking in the shallow waters of every shore on Meadow, think the sea-swarms are the tastiest treats ever made. They're like little miniature piranha, except without the teeth. What they have are little sucker tube mouths that just suck in tender little things like jellyfish and sea-swarms." "So will copper plating work against the Sea-swarms like it did against the shipworm?" Arden asked. "Yes and no." Pete said. "The copper would be immune to the Sea-swarm's attack, but to work, it would have to be absolutely perfect. The slightest imperfection in the coverage would be almost as bad as no coverage at all." "So deep sea sailing is going to have to wait for steel hulls to be developed?" Ginny asked. "Probably." Pete answered. "Maybe." I also answered. This drew looks of course. Pete finally said it. "Well?" "The ancient Phoenicians and Egyptians of Earth learned how to make glass fiber, and from it glass cloth." I said in my best schoolmaster's tone, which drew a slight smile from my wife. "If we can think of a way to engineer a suitable resin from their current technology, perhaps we can shortcut the invention of the fiberglass hull." "Are we going to start our own little shipbuilding industry then?" Eru asked. "Lets all give it some thought and see what we come up with, okay?" I said. "And I don't just mean the fiberglass idea, but anything that might be a good avenue to help the people of Meadow, short term and long term. We can meet again in a few days and discuss our ideas." Oh, and by the way?" I said, with a wink to Ginny. Their eyes locked on me, waiting. "We're pregnant." We spoke in perfect synchronization. In the process of telling everyone how we had discovered that we were pregnant, and of course Ginny's confession that we had begun our attempts at conception a wee bit before the actual wedding, Mike asked us about the body scanning we'd been doing. "Are you guys going to be giving us our annual physicals soon?" He said it in a tongue in cheek manner, but Ginny and I looked at each other. "Meditation chamber!" We synchro-spoke again. "Will you two knock that off!" Alicia managed to get out before we jumped us all to the chamber. "We're sorry... ... But when we slip into the state we need to do the body scans ... it just sort of happens." We said, alternating back and forth. We settled into our usual positions for meditation, and Ginny and I joined ourselves even more closely, slipping into that less Light-intensive almost-merged state we'd found so useful. We reached out to Eru and pulled him in. We supported him there until he found his own level of stability in it. One after another we pulled each of them in, letting them find their own position and how to hold it there. Pete and Sarah were last, and they were the hardest. They had the least amount of practice with our mental manipulations. Finally though we seemed stable. We/I thought to ourselves. "You are seeing the Light. There is another, tighter merging that we/I call 'fusion'. In that one the entire world is dipped in Light.> We heard echoed by our minds. The little ping of light that were the ever growing bundle of cells that would become our first-born fascinated them, as it had us. We followed the same pattern as we worked our way through each body one at a time. When we got to the knee that had cost Cyrus his chances at a career as a professional football player, we paused. Came the thought from Eru. I thought. Ginny and I eased ourselves out of the mental merge until we were totally out. We reformed our own merge together and then I pumped us up to the full fusion with a large infusion of Light. Once again the world was dipped in silver and diamond. I let the visual effect leak over to the others. Their merge shivered slightly and threatened to break apart, but Eru managed to stabilize it. We dove into the structure of Cyrus' knee and slowly tore down the old scar tissue and told his tissues to rebuild themselves as they knew they should be. The remaining weakness, that the surgeries had not been able to eliminate were eliminated one by one until the knee was completely restored. Ginny and I thought to them. Still ramped up to a full fusion we were able to tap into their merged minds without impacting them at all. The remainder of their sweep was uneventful. There were no other glaring defects to catch. We ramped down our own connection and slowly eased back into their merge. They were much more stable now, and our reentry didn't cause even a twitch. We thought to them. We pulled ourselves individually out of the merge and waited for the rest of the team to pull free as well. When we were finally all 'back' and chatting individually, I spoke up. "Eru should be able to give you all individual instruction on how to strengthen the mental disciplines and perceptions needed for those kinds of activities." I wrapped an arm around Eru's shoulder. "Eru, you may want to spend some time examining this aspect of the gift. I suspect that the actual healing part is possible without tapping the Light for energy, but that it will mean figuring out how to tap you own body's energy reserves, and that could be dangerous if done unattended." "Find a practice partner." Ginny added. "Who besides Dave or I would you consider the most adept with the mental skill set we've been building?" "Felicia, without a doubt." Eru said. "Me??" Felicia said in amazement. "Yes my dear. You are not very aggressive with it, but you seem to be the first to achieve stability with each new level, and you have always been the most precise in your application of what you learn." Cyrus couldn't resist. "See babe! I always told you you were mental!" That earned him an elbow, and a laugh from all of us. Since we were on Obsidian I thought a trip to the Garden was in order, and everyone was quickly in agreement. We got caught up on other happenings in the last two weeks as we walked from the Tower to the Garden. Mike it turned out was developing something of a relationship with Asa, but the two of them were proceeding with a great deal of caution. Asa had experienced as much trouble with his past relationships and finding acceptance as Mike had. We did remind Mike that he had acceptance waiting for him all along, he had just been afraid to ask for it. I spent some time talking with my Teacher about my work on understanding the science and technology behind the Taluatan fusion reactor. It was going to be incredibly difficult to pull this off as a monolithic development as I'd done with the Fuel Cell. Our discussion solidified my thinking on the matter. I was going to have to plant some of these ideas in others and let them make the developments. As we neared the end of our walk, we were talking about the pregnancy. "Dave, I have told you in the past that we Teachers are ill equipped when it comes to offering instruction on using the Light. But we do have access to a lot of factual information regarding the Choctowineh people, and how they lived their lives." "What can you tell me about the Choctowineh in this instance?" I asked. "We know that the Choctowineh were never far from the Light, and that they exposed their children to it from conception. They often spoke of 'living in the Light' as an unattainable goal which they sought. Rather they were said to live connected to the Light, but not of it." "So Ginny and I shouldn't worry about our unborn child's exposure to the Light?" "Based on the entirety of Choctowineh history known to us, you should only be concerned if you think that your child is not receiving enough exposure to the Light. Remember, the unobtainable goal is to live in the Light." "Thank you Teacher." I said, as I saw the border of the Garden a short distance away. "You are welcome, always Dave. Please think on something for me while you are away." Oh boy. More homework. "Yes Teacher?" We have spoken about how you mistook those places where the Light leaked through to the Earth facet as jump points." He said. "Yes." I agreed. "We touched only briefly on how they manifested. Tell me about their manifestation." He asked. "They appeared as crooked lines. Crooked but always vertical lines, running upwards in the corner of my vision." I answered. "Did the lines always appear the same?" I thought about that for a second. I remembered thinking they seemed different then, but I couldn't think now of how they had been, other than in intensity or color. "I believe now that they did appear the same, except for intensity and color. I believe that color had more to do with the surrounding terrain than anything else." I answered. "Think on what those lines might really be a reflection of. Until Next time!" And with that my Teacher was gone, and I was standing on the flagstones at the edge of the Garden. The following day we spent in Ureda, dressed in local festival finery, watching a variety of parades and touring the exhibits. The trade guild exhibits were illuminating indeed, as it gave us a good glimpse into what the various trades and crafts considered 'state of the art'. We decided to skip the feast day when we saw several of the places where the food was being prepared. Borthun and Yela were both incensed at the slipshod practices and the level of uncleanliness. We were content to leave our cooking to them. ------- Chapter 21: Night Moves The biggest problem I faced with any plan to introduce the Taluatan Fusion Reactor to Earth was my desire to leave the bright ideas to others, and let them publish their research and announce their discoveries. I had learned how to set little bundles of my own consciousness in the minds of people I was keeping tabs on, either to monitor their safety or alert me to a specific action or activity on their part. In truth I had little triggers like that set in every person I had ever revealed my gift to. Revealing my secret to someone who that person did not believe already knew it would trigger it, and I would be alerted. I was using this technique to solve my reactor problem. In order to do this I first had to determine who in the world was conducting research in the appropriate areas. Once I had a list of likely candidates, I had to design a bundle of my own consciousness that I could leave behind in theirs that when triggered by the anticipated thoughts or actions would provide the appropriate mental connection. I was calling them inspiration bombs, and they were pretty much at the very edge of my understanding of the human mind. I'd been involved in multiple deep conversations with both my Teacher in the Garden and Eru. In the end it was Eru's many years as a practicing Soul Diver on Taluat that paved the way for me. Much of his treatment of patients involved setting behavioral triggers that needed to release into the patients thoughts in ways similar to what my inspiration bombs were going to need to do. It took almost the entire first trimester of Ginny's pregnancy before I was ready to turn them loose. Yes, Ginny and I were fully invested in the modern childbirth process. We attended classes, we joined groups, we had regular checkups, and 'daddy' was there every step of the way. It was essential for us both, her as a licensed doctor, and me as the undercover wielder of 'alien' mental gifts, to maintain as much normalcy as possible in our public lives. My first candidate for an inspiration bomb was Ramesh Sundri, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work involving the physics of higher dimensions was on a path that could lead him to a method of manipulating energy and high state matter at lowered temperatures. My second candidate was Chen Hsu, of the Chinese institute of High Energy Physics in Beijing, China. My third was Heinrich Brunieva at the Institut für Theoretische Physik at Geissen. I set eighteen other secondary and tertiary inspiration bombs, all designed to be triggered by relevant announcements cascading from one of the three 'prime' candidates. If I hadn't had the good fortune to catch all but three of my candidates attending a series of guest lectures at CERN in Switzerland two weeks earlier, I might have had some problems gaining access to a couple of them, particularly the Chinese physicist, who seldom was allowed out of the country. Six of my secondaries I got during an incredibly fun evening in Boston sitting in the corner of a place called 'The Cold Comfort, ' drinking Guinness and talking high energy physics with a group of eight MIT post-grads in between their efforts to dance with and talk to any one of a large contingent of Boston University coeds at the other end of the bar. All eight of them lobbied me hard for positions with Obsidian Research, and two of them I was actually thinking might make good candidates. "A plan designed with the ultimate goal of providing the absolute minimum financial return." Was Grandpa A.J.'s joking description of what I'd done. Of course their would be no financial return for us on the research these men and women would conduct, but once all the pieces were in place, their discoveries would give me the framework needed to produce a prototype of the reactor. His avowed skepticism of my plan would have carried some weight, if it weren't for the massive amounts of money we were already making on the fuel cell technology. Obsidian Industries signed long-term licensing agreements with with Duracel and Energizer Holdings, Inc., for the production of batteries for the consumer market. We inked a deal with Mag Instrument, Inc. the makers of the MagLite flashlights. Within two years they planned on selling nothing but Obsidian fuel cell powered MagLites. The entire smoke detector and emergency lighting industries were in an uproar as well, as they scrambled to be the first to offer units that were good for the life of the owner. The deals with Sony and Panasonic for the rights to manufacture fuel cells for the digital camera, video and laptop markets was going to be worth billions over the next 50 years alone. The momentum was starting to swing in our direction on the use of our fuel cells in the automotive industry as well. California's recently announced tightening of their already strict emission standards were going to be very difficult and costly to meet for any company trying to do so with standard internal combustion engines. Substituting our fuel cells was an easy fix, as long as the recharging infrastructure was in place. It certainly helped that our fuel cell technology was not chemical in nature and did not depend on the storage or transfer of any reactive or explosive materials. They did not create electricity on the spot by using a chemical reaction with hydrogen as most current fuel cells did. We called them fuel cells, but really they were what we called solid state synthetic crystalline electrical sinks. Grandpa A.J. had been working on a deal with the State to convert their entire fleet of passenger and utility vehicles to the new fuel cell technology, in exchange for the State's assistance with the permitting process and pre-approval of over 500 locations for recharging stations. Our local State legislators were falling all over themselves in Sacramento championing our cause, and who could blame them. We were already employing 250 workers in our Stockton plant, and as recharging stations and retrofit shops began opening it promised more jobs, which meant tax revenues, all on top of an industry that was reducing vehicle emissions and noise pollution. Some of the new materials technology associated with the fuel cells were quickly adapted by Proto-Tech and other companies for use in creating a new generation of high torque, light weight electric motors. The new motors combined with the fuel cells had already completely revolutionized the snowmobile and jet-ski markets. While I still wasn't convinced that the current batch of elected officials in Washington really took the threat of global warming seriously, they did decide to pay it some lip service right away by legislating gas-powered yard machinery right out of existence, as well as a federal ban on anything but zero emission vehicles in all national parks and preserves. Municipal bus services and long haul shippers all across the country had begun converting to our fuel cells, and the pace picked up recently, as federal legislation was proposed which promised tax breaks and other incentives for switching to the new fuel cells. The only way Obsidian Industries could have been making money faster would have been if we were printing it ourselves. In the corporate world, at least in our corporate world, the 'fiscal year' begins on the first day of October. I got Dad, Grandpa A.J. and I together with the Legion at the house on Meadow for a celebration breakfast. After a very nice meal of biscuits and Gravy, I got everyone's attention. "Legionnaires, today marks the start of a new fiscal year, and even though we think of ourselves as 'The Legion' you are all employees of Obsidian Research and Obsidian Industries. As such, it is time to finally discuss money." "About damned time!" Chet hollered. I waited for the laughter to die down. Everyone is aware that the 'package' I have mentioned in the past was an annual salary and profit sharing, as well as full medical coverage. Obviously recent developments have had an impact on what the medical coverage might mean." "Yeah, immortality!" Mike joked. "I have been advised that even the Seekers and the Choctowineh did not achieve immortality." I announced with a laugh. I paused before adding "A new definition of longevity may need to be arrived at, however." That got me some serious stares and a few whooshes. "Fiscally, I am here to tell you that each of you has had a little more than $150,000 dollars deposited into your bank accounts. This represents your yearly salary after income taxes were deducted." That got me a rousing cheer, and a round of high fives swept the table. Not one of them had ever even thought to ask what they were earning. "That leaves only your quarterly profit sharing checks." I jumped the bundle of checks into my hand as I said it. "These amounts could have been deposited into your accounts as well, but we thought it would be more fun to hand them out like this. No fair turning yours over until I say go!" I added with a laugh. I placed a check, face down in front of each of them and walked back to stand beside Dad and Grandpa. "Go ahead!" I said. When they each looked at their check, they saw it was for $4,750,000. "Congratulations! Dad said. "You've earned it!" After the hubbub died down from that little revelation I took the floor again. "We all know that we're not here for the money. If the money eases your mind, or can make things easier for your family on Earth, then great. Thats what it should be doing. Grandpa A.J. has offered you all access to our financial advisors if you are concerned about handling your finances." Grandpa nodded his confirmation of this. "I want to ask you to come up with a plan for handling your money, find someone to handle that plan for you and then put it aside so that we can get back to being the Legion." That prompted a room full of sheepish grins. "We've been in a holding pattern here lately. Our discoveries in the Eastern Hemisphere of Meadow have both captivated us and left us wondering about our process and purpose. Three months ago I suggested we think about what we could do to fix things on Meadow, and we still have not reached a decision. We have a million ways to get things done, but no clear direction. No clear sense of what we should be doing." I paused then and swept my gaze around the room. "It's Monday back on Earth." I said. "Take today for yourselves, get your checks deposited, pay off your student loans, maybe make that official 'I'm a millionaire' purchase you've always thought you'd make someday. Spend a little time with your families. We will meet in the conference room at Obsidian Research tomorrow morning at 10am." Later, with just Dad, Grandpa, Con and Eru left, I asked them. "Do you think they're going to accept what we'll be telling them tomorrow?" "Of course. Its what they need, even if they're not aware of it." Eru said. I waited to enter the conference room the next morning until after everyone was already there and seated. "Good Morning!" I said. "Anyone make any big purchases yesterday?" That got me a good laugh. "Lets get started shall we?" I asked. I sent a quick thought into the next room. The door behind me opened up and Dad, Grandpa A.J., Formerio Sabarte, Oscar Alvarado and Eldo Lev walked out. "Eru?" When I said this Eru rose from his seat and walked to the front of the room to stand next to the new arrivals. "These gentlemen, along with myself, are now in charge of setting our goals and making long range plans. Think of them as your Board of Directors. Eru will no longer be performing field duties, except where his special skills might be needed." I stepped aside with a gesture of introduction. "Ladies and Gentlemen. The Directors." The new group received a standing ovation. Eru had been absolutely correct. I could see the relief in their faces. Lev stepped forward. "As our first action, the board has made a decision regarding our assistance to the people of Meadow." Lev announced. "We are going to establish a Library near the city of Ureda. We will find, recruit and train local Uredans to staff the library. If and when it is considered appropriate, those locals will be made aware of the full truth." Dad added. "It is our hope that this library will serve the people of Meadow as the Garden on Obsidian serves you." "We were guilty, in our attempts to find a solution, of thinking only in terms of results we ourselves would see." I added. "What we need here is to consider the long view." "Legionnaires are not guards, babysitters or teachers." Grandpa A.J. Continued. "Legionnaires are explorers and discoverers. There will be a system in place to take advantage of your skills and training." "The point team for this system is Dave, Ginny and Constantine." Oscar said. "They will be the team making blind jumps to new facets. They will make an initial evaluation which will determine whether a particular facet gets on the list of those worth follow up visits." "The next tier in the system are the exploratory teams." Formerio added. "There will be two four person teams for now. Team One will be Cyrus, Mike, Pete and Sarah. Team two will be Chet, Arden, Alicia and Fred. These groupings are not set in stone, so please allow time for possible adjustments to happen on their own. The exploratory teams will be doing the foot work on new facets passed on by the point team. They will make the initial assessment on whether we can use our planetary survey system, or whether we need to be more circumspect due to a local technological society as on Taluat." "Felicia is not included on a team at the moment because she will be busy studying with me." Eru said. "I'm the first official student of the 'Eru Jehn School of Soul Diving and Mental Gymnastics'" Felicia said proudly. "But not the last." Master Lev added. "Felicia will have two classmates from Taluat that Eru has agreed to take on as well. Twelve year old twins named Riah and Zaia Seco." "Both these girls already show signs of being very gifted. Keeping them free from the judgment of the High Board of Governors was what brought their parents to the Rhel, and seeing their daughters flourishing among us was what made them truly Rhellians." "Questions?" I asked. "Does this mean we've performed construction overkill again with the Montecristo station?" Mike asked. His questioned produced a good laugh from everyone. "Actually, the Montecristo station will continue to be needed as a staging area for all our activities in western Europe and African areas, it also has quite a bit of appeal as a nice sun and sand resort for us and our supporters. I suspect between the McKesson and Rhellian groups we've got 400 people aware of and clamoring for the opportunity to visit that location. In bed that night, Ginny interrupted me as I had been planting a string of light kisses along the nape of her neck. "Will this work Davey?" She was asking the same question I'm sure all the Legionnaires were asking tonight. Ginny just had the luxury of asking me directly. "Yes Blossom, it will work, and better than what we've been doing. No more drowning in unending details." I felt her sigh, a long, slow release, as she relaxed herself around the thought of it. "Okay." She said, snuggling back into me. "As you were beggar boy!" My lips found their place again on her neck, and I resumed placing kisses along tonight's path of discovery. In the wee hours of the night, I woke with a tingle that ran a chill up and down my spine. Somewhere in China a light bulb had just gone of for one of my physicists, and I'd felt my inspiration bomb release itself. ------- Chapter 22: Scenic Byways The mechanism that my gift uses to make one facet seem more 'noticeable' than another is a mystery I"m not sure I'll ever solve, but its one I keep coming back to. If there really are an infinite number of facets out there, then perhaps they come to me randomly, or fate again is playing a part. Having felt the guiding hand of fate in my life before, I was certainly not ready to rule it out. Today's noticeable new facet I was going to label 'Autumn'. We arrived in a forest awash in the falling red and gold foliage of Autumn. A quick scan of the area nearby revealed only wilderness. "Its beautiful here!" Ginny said. We enjoyed the view for a few minutes and then began taking readings. "We have a standard readings across the board. No anomalies in background radiation levels and no sign of activity in the electromagnetic spectrum" Con said. I sent my senses out further, towards San Francisco Bay to the west. My senses were telling me something didn't seem right there, but I felt no human presence anywhere. "Hang on." I said, and jumped us to the top of a small hill in the middle of what would have been downtown San Francisco back on Earth. We could all see it from here. We were looking at the overgrown and ancient ruins of a city. We walked around for a little while, scraping away the overgrowth to examine some of the rubble. "If this was caused by war, it wasn't nuclear." Con said, "Or else it was an incredibly long time ago. There is absolutely no change in background radiation levels." "Time for a Long Ear?" I asked. I got a nod from Con, and jumped one of the little blue/black balls from their bin in the Hall on Obsidian and handed it to him. Con fiddled with it briefly and turned it loose. Its little anti-gravity drive shot it straight up. It reached the mesosphere 30 minutes later and hovered there, 60 kilometers above our heads. All three of us activated our suit's comm functions and tapped into the Ear's feed. The Ear's were limited, carrying only electromagnetic and gravitic sensors, but for spotting signs of technological civilizations they were pretty handy. Our displays were clean. Nothing was putting out anything in the electromagnetic spectrum from anywhere on this side of the planet. The Ear was finding no Gravitic signatures either. My senses kept telling me there was something different here, but I couldn't place it. "Lets go check out the focus." I said. With a quick nod from my teammates, I jumped us there. Unlike the lush green grotto we were familiar with in Meadow, Taluat and Earth, the focus here was a scrub covered draw, surrounded by low rocky hills. At the point of the focus itself we saw a single huge, maple tree, decked out in the same splendid fall colors we had seen previously. The ground beneath the maple's wide spread boughs was littered with a soft rustling nest of fallen leaves and lovely winged maple seeds. "Hang on while I check something." I said. I lifted myself into the air and sent myself east and south, looking for signs of what would have been Chocowinity Bay back on Earth. When I didn't see water right away I lifted myself a couple hundred feet higher, until I did see a glimmer of water in the distance. A quick swoop that direction confirmed that the ocean was indeed there, but that Chocowinity Bay, and apparently all of Pamlico Sound were dry ground. I quickly 'flew' back to Ginny and Con. "It looks like either sea levels are considerably lower, or the landmass in this area is higher than we've seen elsewhere. The nearby sound is all dry ground." "Do we have everything we need here?" Ginny asked. Con and I both nodded and Ginny jumped us to the Hall in Obsidian. Of course she was doing it by tapping into my gift through our link, just as Dare used to do, but it was cool anyway. In the Hall, we all got busy. Con quickly dumped the telemetry and spectral sensor data captured by his suit as well as the Long Ear's feed into a storage unit. Ginny did the same with our suit's combined medical telemetry feeds. While they were doing that I 'burned' 4 new jump bracelets with the new facet locked into them, and then 4 spares. With everyone ready to go I jumped us back to Level One on Meadow. Ginny and Con dropped their data modules into the feeder for our central data storage and I opened an unused storage bin and dropped in the eight bracelets. I coded the bin to display the 'Autumn' identifier I"d picked. We took the elevator up to the main floor and headed for the dining room. Team One was there and already eating. We quickly joined them. "How was Pearl?" Ginny asked Alicia. Pearl was the designation I'd given to the facet they'd been exploring the past couple of days. "Yucky!" Alicia said with a grimace. "I believe the official phrase we decided to use was 'benign tragedy.' Arden said. "The pearly white coat on everything was a petrified coating of ash from a series of volcanic events. Probably one of those 'super volcano' scenarios that scientists on Earth have been suggesting occurred in places like Yellowstone Park or Long Valley, California." "We think we're seeing the result of multiple events, with one location setting off the next in a chain reaction of volcanic events. The event in Pearl's equivalent of the Valles Caldera in New Mexico set off an event in the Long Valley, California equivalent, which set off the truly big one in Pearl's Yellowstone." Fred added. "The ash from the last one at least was very hot when it hit the ground, and the falling particles fused themselves into that lustrous pearly coat that caught your eye." Chet continued. "The pearly coating only covers North and Central America, and not even all of that." Alicia added. "the New England area and Eastern Canada are pretty much untouched by the ash fall, and so is Central America past about where Mexico City would be." "Wow!" I responded. "What kind of follow up are you going to recommend?" Everyone looked to Arden when I asked. I was not surprised to see the rest of his team already beginning to defer to his leadership. He had taken to the new team concept like a duck to water. "We detected an incredible amount of ongoing seismic activity while we were there." Arden concluded. "We think this facet is extremely unstable geologically, and we are going to recommend that the planetary survey either be skipped, or be conducted from orbit." "How was your morning?" Alicia asked us. "We've got a prime candidate for you guys." Ginny said. "Designation Autumn. Ancient ruins all over the place. Our Long Ear didn't find any signs of current civilization, but we all know better than jumping to conclusions where that is concerned, don't we?" "Plus something there makes me twitchy." I added. "That's not in the report, but I felt something there that I couldn't identify." "Okay! Make a note to pack the big guns and a Ouija Board! When we schedule that one!" Fred joked. While we finished our lunches we chatted with the four team mates, mostly about what we were going to be doing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the middle of the conversation, Team Two arrived. That instantly diverted the conversation to details of their explorations of a facet I had designated 'Cloudburst'. "We found those trace indications your Long Ear was picking up." Pete said. "We do have a technologically advanced civilization on Cloudburst." "But you are all going to love this!" Mike added. "They're aquatic! Sea bottom dwellers it looks like!" Chaos bomb time! The din was just dying down when Chet amped it back up. "Geez! That's gotta be every marine biologists dream discovery! I bet Pete must have orgasmed on the spot!" With lunch over for us, we took off. We had six new facets 'in the can' still waiting for an initial visit by one of the teams. Ginny and I had an appointment with her nutritionist, and we were also planning a little fusion work this evening to continue scraping away at Ginny's 'Light-Sense'. Con said he was anxious to get back to work in the Hall pursuing something he'd thought of while working on the new Mark III version of our suits. We went up to our room and had a quick shower, with fondling. The nutritionist we were seeing was in Stockton and a bit of a ditz, so we usually kept it short. We were in the Obsidian Research facility, out the door and on the road in Ginny's GTO within five minutes. We were planning on selling my GTO when the baby arrived. I'd asked Grandpa Bill if he wanted it back, but he said no, the sentimental attachment had been to the original GTO he'd had all those years ago. Five minutes outside of Stockton, I realized we were being followed. "Ginny, we've got someone following us." I said. We usually avoided linking while one of us was driving, just to be safe. "Just keep going, I"ll try to get a mental peek." I sent my thoughts back along the road behind us until I found the car that had tripped my alarm. There were two men in the front seat. I slipped lightly into the thoughts of the passenger. He was watching the rear end of our car off in the distance and thinking about having a GTO of his own. The driver's surface thoughts were equally as uninformative. I switched back to the passenger and slid in a little deeper. The passenger was Special Agent Neil Foster. The driver was his partner, Special Agent Wayne Shipley. Both men were currently part of a team who had been assigned to surreptitiously provide protection to me personally, and by extension my wife and unborn child. This was exactly how Agent Foster thought of it. He was not privy to the details surrounding the creation of the team protecting me, but he had the impression that it was due to a request from our congressional delegation. I slipped out of their thoughts and smiled at Ginny. I thought to her. We finished our ride into Stockton, saw the dietary ditz, and headed back. Now that I was aware and looking, I spotted the agent's car within minutes of leaving her office. I had spent a few minutes, while I was pretending to listen to the nutritionist, building a couple bundles of consciousness which I planted in our protector's thoughts. I knew from agent Foster's thoughts that there were four others on the team, and that they all rotated their duties every three days, so I'd have a chance to plant bundles in all of them eventually. As soon as we got back to the office at Obsidian I called Tony Herrera, our senior security guy. He came up with Sylvia Porter, who was also on our security team. "I brought Sylvia along, if you guys don't mind." We didn't mind at all. "Tony, Sylvia, we picked up a tail on the way into Stockton." "Wow!" Tony said, glancing at Sylvia. "How sure are you?" "Positive. I spotted them again within a couple of minutes of leaving from our appointment. They were with us all the way to the turn off." "How good a look did you get at them?" Sylvia asked. "I didn't see them well enough to tell you what they looked like. For one thing, I didn't want them to know they'd been spotted. All I can tell you for sure was that it was two people in jackets and ties." "How about a license plate number?" Tony asked. "2BZE848" Ginny said before I could even draw a breath. I looked at her in surprise. "I had more excuse to look in the rear view mirrors than Dave did." "Okay, we'll run the plates tonight and see what we get, tomorrow we may ask you to take a run into town so we can run a sweep on your tail." I did feel bad about not passing on everything I'd found out to the security folks, but I wasn't prepared yet to explain just how I was able to get that information. They were aware that people were coming and going from the the offices and warehouse in ways they didn't understand. They were willing to operate on a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy for the comings and goings. It would be foolish of them to extend that policy to these sort of situations, and even more foolish of me to ask them to. 20 minutes after Tony and Sylvia left my office, Ginny and I were running my circuit on Obsidian. Well, I was running. Ginny was floating along side, keeping pace as she tapped into that gift through our link. While she was doing that I was deep in my own light signature, pumping more reinforcement into the stamina, strength and speed the running encouraged. I was running two minute miles now, without providing any Light-boost at all. We had agreed that once we had the baby, Ginny would begin my regimen as well. In the meditation chamber, we quickly stripped, and with Ginny sitting in my lap with her legs wrapped around my back, we quickly pulled into a state of full fusion. As our minds became one, and the Light boosted our senses, we worked to match our brain functions as well. <> <> <> <> <> <> <> We each thought as the fusion broke apart and we collapsed, exhausted. We roused ourselves a half hour later. I pulled some Light in and gave us both a boost of energy. "Can you find the Light Ginny?" I asked. "I don't feel anything!" Ginny said with disappointment. The Meditation Chamber was very well insulated from outside influences, even the Light. If there didn't happen to be a focus nearby I might have had trouble finding Light myself. "Here sweetie, lets try something." I told Ginny, and swept her up into my arms. I was about to jump us over to the nearby focus when I had a thought. I jumped us to the ledge on Earth. I set Ginny down and stepped aside. "Oh! Davey! I feel it!" and she jumped! I joined her, on that other ledge, on Meadow. She was in my arms and kissing me like crazy in a heart beat. "I feel it! I jumped!" She squealed into my ear. "This is how I started, how I felt, back when I was - what? Twelve going on thirteen?" I said. "You've unburied the gift in yourself and are experiencing its first weak, untrained use, just like I did then, but you already know the truth of it, and the path it can lead you along, and you have me!" A long kiss of triumph and joy quickly threatened to turn into hot, passionate sex. Suddenly we both remembered we had been naked all this time. I looked at the dusty, rock strewn ledge and pulled us into the air. We made love floating 6 feet above the ground, and somewhere during the process, Ginny jumped us again to our bedroom on Meadow. We confirmed, with little surreptitious tests throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening, that our work in the meditation chamber had indeed activated Ginny's Light-sense. We would have to work on building up her strength and sensitivity to the Light, but with the benefits we had through our fusion I suspected she would be there very quickly. Halfway through dinner I had a thought. I had 'tagged' my two FBI agents, and so it would be very easy for me to find them again, wherever on Earth they were. It was entirely possible that their other team mates were with them and I could do all my tagging in one stop, as well as perhaps find out more about who was behind their being assigned to me. As soon as dinner was over I pulled up a chair in the library and reached out to find their thoughts. I caught them at their dinner, and yes, they were with the rest of their team. I had the other four people I.D.'d and tagged in seconds. They had been keeping me under surveillance as a team for almost two months now, and I could sense their displeasure at the monotony of it. The four other members were Greg Hardesty, Doyle Smith, Clarence Penders and Robert Gaines, and they also believed themselves to be on assignment as protection at the request of our congressional delegation. Except for Bob Gaines. The moment I touched his thoughts, he was aware of me. I snapped the connection immediately. I sent out immediately. I heard Eru think, and as he was forming his next thought I jumped him to me. Quickly I shared my memories. Everything from earlier in the day with Eru, and once Ginny got there I shared the events of a few moments ago with both of them. "We need to get back there and get more information, but I"m afraid of what this guy might learn if he can slip into my thoughts as we do to others." I said. "We have studied placing barriers in our minds, and walling of our thoughts and consciousnesses from each other." Eru said. "Now it is time to find out if you have been good students." Came Eru's thoughts. Ginny and I slid our minds into his and we formed our usual meditation bond. I said, mentally boosting us all into that tight merge that Ginny and I had found, two steps below our fusion, as tightly merged as we could get without using the Light to boost us. I heard from Eru. In our merged state, we found 'Bob Gaines', standing in the middle of a parking lot, presumably near the restaurant where he had been only a few moments ago. With the boost to our sensitivity that the merge gave us we slid unnoticed into his surface thoughts and listened to the conversation he was having. "I'm telling you it was some sort of mental attack or something. The little alarm you put in there worked perfectly." "The alarm was designed to be triggered by any attempt to access your thoughts. It did not have to be an attack. You should have been able to pick up the name and other information from whoever it was when the trap followed the thought back to its source." "Sorry, but I didn't get anything, just that momentary alarm from the trap and a sense that I was in contact with something, and then boom, nothing!" Did you see anyone looking surprised or upset when you reacted?" "No, we were alone in our end of the restaurant, there wasn't anyone nearby at all, and of those people I could see, none looked my direction at all." There was a long pause before the voice on the other end of the call finally spoke again. "Very well. You'll have to come in immediately to have the trap reset anyway, so we may as well scan you for intrusion at that time." "What about the surveillance?" 'Bob' asked. As the conversation had proceeded, we slipped a little further into the man's mind. His real name was Bob Scarpelli. He worked for a group he called 'The Brothers'. He was rabidly, blindly, unwaveringly loyal. "Keep it up. This guy's got a rich family that goes way back and suddenly developed a way to get richer. That fits one of the profiles. Keep your eyes open and keep me posted." As he was told to report in, we were able to see the location in his thoughts. We already had the cell phone number that he had dialed to speak to the fellow on the other end of this call. Feeling happy with what we'd gotten we slipped out of his thoughts and back into our own minds as we broke our merged minds apart. We sat in silence for a moment. I waited for Eru. "I believe we are facing what on Taluat we used to call 'coercers'." He said finally. "People who have access to a single facet of the gift. They cannot read minds, but they can build compulsions, force obedience, or even build a false sense of loyalty. In its crudest, cruelest uses, men and women had their minds shattered, transforming them into horrid automatons, machines of flesh without a thought of their own." "How do we fight them?" I asked. I knew without having to even think about it that 'The Brothers' were going to be our enemies. "You noticed that our subject had to communicate by phone, and that the person on the other end could not reset the trap that he'd placed across whatever distance they were communicating? Physical contact is probably required for their crude gift to work, and building something that can trace a probe back to its sender and pull out surface thoughts is probably a major undertaking, requiring many, many hours to build. We shall fight them as the Soul Divers and the ancient Spirit Masters have always fought them." Eru said with a cold smile. "By being smarter and more talented. As the old saying goes. 'The madness behind the mindless beast cannot oppose the wisdom of the Walking Spirit'." "Eru, we must begin some 'Spirit Master' classes. I will teach, with your guidance, and you two will be my students. Do not share this information with anyone, but Ginny has been able to reach the part of her mind that controls her Light-sense. She can now touch the Light." "Weakly! Very weakly!" She added quickly. "Beyond touching the Light though, we must get those of us able to use the Soul Diver gifts prepared to be our defenders in the battle that may be coming." "We shall need to include the twins in the Spirit Master classes." Eru said. "You have not met them yet, but they are both rich in the gifts." "We do have one big advantage." Ginny said. "What's that Blossom?" "They obviously know nothing of the Light, and their trap could not follow you beyond the facet of Earth." "Let us pray that that is always so." added Eru. ------- Chapter 23: Spirit Walk The following morning started with Ginny and I being interested observers as Sylvia Porter and Whit Levine, disguised to look like us, took off for Angel's Camp in Ginny's GTO. First thing in the morning I had told Tony Herrera what I wanted. "I thought about this all night. I want these guys to know we know they're there, and that I want them gone. We need to show them that we have our own very good security, and that we can take care of ourselves." I got a big grin in response. And nervous laughter from Sylvia and Evan. "That's what we were going to propose for this morning, but we didn't think you'd buy it. Figures, the way you guys are always surprising us that you'd beat us to the punch with our own idea." We got to ride in a helicopter, and watch from a good distance up and away as our two tails pulled out and began to follow the GTO. A few miles down the road two moving vans sandwiched them, and just as quickly a pair of Dodge Durangos slipped into position, front and rear, to get the FBI car boxed. They then forced them to a stop. Almost immediately Chet, Cyrus, Tony and Evan were in their faces with guns drawn asking for I.D. With their FBI IDs in hand and the two men disarmed and out of their car, Tony spoke into his headset calling the all clear. We heard it on our own headsets, and that was our pilot's signal to bring us down. I felt both pair of eyes tracking Ginny and I as we ran under the helicopter blades to their car. Tony handed me their licenses and I looked them over, but of course I already knew everything they could tel me about the two men. "Special Agent Foster and Special Agent Shipley. You know who I am. You have been following me. As have four other agents." I paused to give them a chance to comment, but I didn't expect them to, and they didn't. "We believe we know why the FBI has me under observation. However well intentioned it might be, I have my own protection. Quite adequate protection, as you can see. We would like this ended immediately. Please pass that on to your superiors. If you are observed again, and be advised, you have been observed from the beginning, we will escalate our attitude and go public." With that I turned with Ginny's hand in mine and walked over to the GTO. She let me drive, and we did a 180 in the middle of the road and headed back to the Obsidian Research facility. It was a week later when we started. We jumped straight to the 'Eru Jehn School of Soul Diving', which was a large area on the upper floor of a warehouse owned by Master Lev in the seaport city of Sheye. The large room was divided into different areas with bookcases and shelves and even a hanging tapestry or two. The floors were bare polished wood, but there were thick, ornate rugs scattered here and there throughout the space. Eru, Felicia and the two young girls, the twins Riah and Zaia were sitting on a large rug in the room's large central area. The West Coast to East Coast hop had brought us through to the early afternoon in Sheye. I sent a little trickle of thought to Eru the instant we popped in, so without looking up, Eru announced our arrival. "Ah! Ladies, we have visitors! Please Greet Master McKesson and his wife Ginny." Felicia rose, walked over to us and bowed. "Have fun you guys!" She said. "I hope the girls don't wear you out!." Felicia kissed us both on the cheek and bowed to Eru before walking away from us and out of sight behind a row of bookcases. In my mind I felt her touch the bracelet on her wrist and make the jump back to Meadow. Eru had obviously coached the twins in advance, they looked at him, and I saw him give them a barely perceptible nod. They both rose and came to stand before us, bowing as Felicia had. "You honor us Teacher!" They said in perfect synchronization. "We open our thoughts to you, that We may learn." I decided it was the perfect time to mess with them, so Ginny and I pulled ourselves into our tight, lightly Light-connected merge. "You do your Teacher honor, young ladies. Thank you for your greeting." We spoke in perfect synchronization. Eru's raucous laughter seemed almost jarring to us, freshly arrived in this tranquil spot, but with the 'serious' stuff over we took off our shoes and sat beside him on the rug. Ginny leaned over and kissed his cheek. Eru looked at me, raising an eyebrow, as if he were waiting to see if I would match her action. This got the girls laughing. When the laughter passed and everyone was settled back in their spots across the rug from us, Eru spoke into our thoughts. Riah's thoughts were clear and clean and rang in my mind like a bell. Eru prompted. Zaia answered, her thoughts as clear and sweet as her sisters. Eru gave me another of those slight nods, letting me know I had the floor. "Come sit closer, join us in our circle." I spoke aloud. The three of them quickly scooted across the rug so that we were each only an arms length apart. The twins said simultaneously. I answered. Zaia asked. I answered. As I did, I jumped us to the meditation chamber on Obsidian. The girls immediately shrieked in excitement and spent several minutes running around, examining things before returning to the center of the chamber where we were waiting. "I have met, as have Eru and Ginny, three living Spirit Masters. Their names were Kes, Aya and Beloth. Some day you will hear their story. It is the story of the end of the Spirit Masters, and how they sacrificed themselves to save all of the people of all of the worlds from a disaster. Those three great souls spent at least four thousand years, but probably much longer, waiting for a new Spirit Master to be born who would set them free." "they had been waiting to be free, so that they could finish living and join their long lost brothers and sisters in the afterlife." Ginny told them. "But they remained among us for a while so that they could teach Dave." I thought at them. We jumped into our full Light-fueled fusion and dived into them. A quick body scan showed us that they were both perfectly healthy twelve year old girls. Eru had said we would be surprised when we saw their minds, and he was right. Both of them were nearly bottomless pools of creativity and mental power. We pumped a large bundle of Light into all three of them. <> We sent to them. We watched them slip quickly and efficiently into that high state we were familiar with, at the peak of what we ourselves could do without touching the Light. <> I/We sent them, washing them in another wave of Light. We turned our senses inward and focused on that Light-sensitive place in our brains. We worked to strengthen it and expand it, as we had been doing every day. Today we had an audience that could at least sense what we were doing, if not see it as clearly as we did. We pulled another wave of light into our own fusion, and slid out of it into that almost-fusion where we were no longer within the light, but in full contact with it. We sent, reaching out to draw them into our merging. Their thoughts danced around and through our union of thought, trying to match us and slip within the bond. There was a single moment, less than an eye blink where I felt them join, and then it collapsed, as they reacted to the success and lost focus. Three groans of frustration echoed through the chamber, and I could sense the exhaustion in all of them. I called, and the five of us were quickly sitting in position. I jumped us back to the Rug in Eru's school room. "That was a very good first day, but I know you are all tired, especially from the excellent effort there at the end." "We found it there for just a moment, didn't we?" Riah asked. "Yes, you did," I said. "and that is an important first step to touching the Light yourselves. Good work, all of you!" Eru sent the girls down to get their ride home for the day, and we waited until they were gone. "Eru, I imagine you are feeling right now as if you have gone from being the teacher to being at the bottom of the class in a new school." "Yes, very much something like that. I find myself struggling to contain my frustration." He answered. "That is why you will be joining Ginny and I every day for our second session." I said. I jumped the bundle I had prepared for him into his hands. "Put these on and meet us on Meadow." I said. In our own bedroom on Meadow, we quickly changed into our running gear. We were there waiting for Eru when he jumped into Level One. He held his arms out and looked down at himself, then at us. "Is this apparel intended to be worn during some sort of... physical activity?" "Yes Eru, we've decided its time for you to stop being the old, slow fellow in the crowd, so we are going to get you into shape!" I jumped us to the front doors of the tower on Obsidian, our usual starting point. I joined Ginny in our Light-touching merge and with both of us focusing ourselves on Eru's physical signature, I washed us quickly in Light. "Let's run!" I said, and we were off. We kept to Eru's pace, while I fed him enough Light to keep him from tiring. I thought to him. We ran. While Eru slid around and around the bubble of our joined minds, trying to feel a way to join us there, we concentrated on Eru's body. We worked on the Light signature that represented him, and sent wave after wave of encouragement to it, coaxing it to remember itself as being twenty five again. After the run we cooled down in the meditation chamber. This time we meshed our thoughts with Eru's in our normal classroom manner and then boosted ourselves into the tighter mesh again and again, each time pulling Eru into it with us, and watching him struggle to find and maintain a place within it. We quit before it got too late for Eru. He was keeping himself on East coast time for his classes in Shaye. We got back to Meadow just in time for dinner. Team One and Team Two had been combined to work on Cloudburst. The high technology aquatic beings that had been found there were still more or less a mystery. Arden summed it up nicely. "They are too deep down for casual surveillance, and only our sensor array's gravity detectors are able to give us much detail. The rare glimpses of anything near the surface we consider the equivalent of finding someone in the desert, or Antarctic on Earth. They are perhaps explorers or adventurers, who do not linger long or machines, 'unmanned craft' so to speak mindlessly going about some scientific or other chore, oblivious to us." "Have you been able to touch anything with your thoughts?" I asked. "No luck there either." Fred added. "None of us have the power to reach that far unless its to a mind we've already contacted." "Have any of you checked with Constantine?" I asked. "He may be aware of something we could use in the Hall of Gifts." "Not yet, we have been under the impression he is really occupied with this new idea he had, so we haven't wanted to bother him." Alicia admitted. "Nothing could be further from the truth, at least under normal circumstances." I said, following it with a thought to Con. "Of course Dave. Greetings everyone!" Con said as he appeared beside us. "Oh! Is it dinner time? Am I too late?" Constantine didn't need to eat, but he enjoyed the social aspects of it, and swore up and down that he would figure out the whole 'taste bud thing' eventually. "Yes, you're in time, Con. But you are aware that nobody has seen or talked to you in almost five days aren't you?" Mike offered. "Oh my! Has it been that long?" He said, he tilted his head in a way that I had come to recognize as Con's consulting some internal process. "I guess it has. My apologies! You will all forgive me when you see what I've been working on though. It is almost ready for unveiling. A couple of days more at most." "We'll all be looking forward to seeing it. Arden, why don't you fill Con in on what you've been doing and what you need. I've got to go sit in on a meeting." I stood and smiled at Ginny. "Shall we sweetie?" I jumped us to our bedroom. "Interesting place for a meeting. Especially since there was no meeting as far as I know." "Sorry Blossom, but the tag I left in our fake FBI buddy Bob Scarpelli's mind just went off. He's on his way to meet his contact in 'The Brothers', as he thinks of them." I explained. "I thought we should sit in on that meeting." We sat cross-legged on the floor, and our minds slid together into our just-touching the light merge. It no longer required any real effort to reach that state, and only that slightly unhappy feeling it left in our souls after prolonged periods of it kept us from staying in it. I found 'FBI Bob' as I'd begun thinking of him - actually my own silent geeky homage to The Simpsons and Sideshow Bob, as he was pulling into the driveway of a very nice home in a gated community near Carmel, California. The front door opened as Bob was walking up the steps to it, and he was ushered inside by some sort of servant. Bob was led to a room where he took a seat and waited. Because we knew that Bob's trap had already been triggered, we slid lightly into his consciousness while we waited. This was familiar routine to him and required no thinking on his part. Shortly Bob was joined by a middle-aged balding man with glasses, a buxom young blond woman wearing next to nothing hanging off his arm. He reminded me of that George character on Seinfeld. We slipped out of Bob's mind when we saw him reach for Bob's hand. Eru had told us that coercers often needed physical contact to touch the minds of their victims. With the newcomer obviously focused on Bob, we slid, feather-light into his thoughts. We quickly spotted the trap that had been set in his mind as well. It was similar to the bundles of my consciousness I left in the thoughts of others, but very crude. Little more than a coiled spring waiting for contact. I modified it with a quick mental touch so that it would no longer respond to my mental contact at all. Without the trap to worry about we slid deeper into this man's mind. His name was Dwayne Boyle. He and his twin brother Lyle were 'The Brothers'. I almost broke our mental merge when I laughed out loud with my real voice, back in the bedroom on Meadow. The feeling of relief was that dramatic. We were not facing some mysterious, world-wide organization of evil telepaths. We were facing two brothers who had been using their meager gifts to get laid and get rich, probably in that order. For the Boyle brothers, Bob Scarpelli was the source of their greatest coup. They were extremely paranoid, and normally avoided contact with any kind of law enforcement types. Bob had sort of dropped into their laps. They'd just acquired a new playmate, and it happened to be someone Bob had been dating. When he came to visit one day, the brothers were waiting. 'Bunny', the new sex toy, had smiled at Bob and introduced him to her 'Uncle Lyle'. A handshake, and it was all over. Bob had only been the stepping stone to their triumph. Three weeks later, Bob introduced Warren Zimmerman his boss and director of the regional office to his 'Uncle Lyle'. Another handshake later and they had two FBI agents! They had been using their FBI pawns to look for new sources of income, as well as investigating potential rival coercers. There had been a few encounters, over the years, with others. They either agreed to move on and find some other part of the world to subjugate, or they became the Boyle brother's latest conquests. As we had been gathering these details from Dwayne's mind, he had given up on his efforts to find any trace of tampering in Bob Scarpelli. "Okay, you're clean." Dwayne said. "Lets go see Lyle and get that trap reset." We rode along in Dwayne's mind now as he led Bob to a stairway leading down into a fully finished basement. Lyle Doyle came through a heavy steel door, closing it after him. In the brief couple of seconds when we could see into the room past him, using his brother's eyes, we saw the nude and bloody body of a young woman struggling against the restraints that held her to the table. Ginny thought. I thought in response. With our legion armor on, we both activated the special mode which added hand and head shielding to the suits. Still joined, we jumped into that basement room. I sent a thought to Bob Scarpelli's brain and he was instantly asleep. When I tried to do the same to Dwayne Boyle he was able to resist, momentarily, but finally he too collapsed in a heap on the floor, sound asleep. "Hello Lyle." I said out loud. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" He demanded. "We are what you and your brother have always feared." Ginny said. "People with more power than you." We dived into the mind of Lyle Boyle, and it was not the strength of his mind that was almost our undoing, it was the utterly evil foulness of it. What we found there sent us reeling for a second, and Lyle attacked. Our suits protected us in a way I don't think Con ever imagined when he designed them. Lyle Boyle reached out to make physical contact with me, to coerce my mind, and all he could touch was the implacable, impenetrable Legion armor that I had always been so proud to wear. I said in his mind. Prepared now for the filth we found there, we re-entered his mind. He struggled to maintain control of his own thoughts, and he was much, much stronger than his brother in his ability to protect himself, but in the end we forced his body to betray him, and told it to lock itself rigid and unmoving as we scoured his mind. We could go no further in dealing with his evil existence until we knew everything he knew about his and his brother's victims. His thoughts screamed, as he revealed his final secret. He too had learned to tap the telekinetic gift. Suddenly a coat rack near the stairs came flying across the room, striking Ginny in the back. Of course the Legion armor prevented her from any harm. I lifted him off the floor with my own gift, pinning his rigid body against the ceiling. <> we said together as we merged now into our full contact fusion. Whether it was anger, outrage or adrenaline, we did something we never had before, and simply reached in and ripped out every thought and experience Lyle Boyle had ever had. Even though we had commanded his body to absolute rigidity, Lyle Boyle's body shuddered when we did this, and then died. Ginny thought, as we dropped back into a lower level of joining. Our own actions had shocked us, as we had not anticipated the results of our act upon him. With the more serious threat of Lyle dealt with, we turned to Dwayne, and awoke him from his sleep. He saw his brother's limp and lifeless body where it lay across the room instantly. "I always knew someone would come some day." He said, as he began to cry. "What we could do seemed too crude and ugly to be a true gift." We let him walk over and kneel next to his brother's body. "I always knew that somewhere there had to be people who had the true gifts and did not use them to feed their own perversions. I knew someday they would find us and kill us for the evil we had done to our victims." We could read what was coming in his thoughts, but we let it happen anyway. During his short tearful speech, and without the fierce resistance his brother had been able to put up, we had read all his memories and thoughts. "I have been preparing for this day all my life." He said, and as he did he pulled two razor sharp knives from his sleeves and spun, throwing them at us, and with the deadly accuracy of someone who had indeed spent his entire life training, the blades struck each of us in the throat. I thought to him as the blades bounced off our armor. I caught them in midair with my thoughts as they bounced. His eyes went wide when he saw them floating there. He did not move when I sent them flashing back at him. He seemed to accept them into himself, and he released a heavy sigh as he died, collapsing onto the floor. The poor girl in the next room was merely a shell, a programmed bundle of reactions that had allowed Lyle Boyle to find the sick satisfaction he needed, even after the poor girl's mind had fled. We let her find the peace she deserved at last. ------- Chapter 24: Deep Thought When we woke him up, Special Agent Bob Scarpelli was cooperative, especially when we removed the crude controls that Lyle Boyle had placed within his mind. Lyle, coercer that he was, did not have the skill or delicate mental sense of perception required to actually alter someone's mind in anything but a minor way without destroying that person's ability to function undetected in public, so Lyle's normal method was to place a layer of compulsion or obedience on top of his victim's consciousness. With those layers of compulsion and obedience removed, Bob Scarpelli was once again a hard charging and dedicated FBI agent. An FBI agent who remembered every command he had been given, every act he had performed while under the compulsions that had been laid upon him. We had to remind him that his boss was still a victim, and still obedient to the compulsions placed upon him. A quick phone call from FBI Bob later, Warren Zimmerman was on his way to us via fast FBI helicopter. While we waited, Ginny and I went through the house, freeing the people we found there from any of Lyle's handiwork. We gave each person a full body scan as well, looking for damage the brother's may have caused. Once Bob's boss arrived, and we had freed him from Lyle's layers of compulsion, we sat down to talk about the future. "Gentleman, we would like to reassure you that we are not prepared to act as the recently deceased Boyle brothers might have. We will not compel your obedience or devotion." "How can we be sure of that?" Director Zimmerman asked. "I know of no way, short of showing you my mind and letting you see for yourself. Unfortunately, with no previous experience with mental contact, you would not be able to make a valid interpretation of what you saw." I said. "What we can tell you," Ginny added "Is that there are other monsters like these two out there. They even knew of some of them." "It our duty to find them and bring them to justice." I said. "You would find this difficult, if not impossible to do yourselves." "Why are you wearing those masks?" Bob asked. "What you see us wearing is armor. It protects us, and our faces and hands are just as vulnerable as the rest of us, so they too are covered." I answered. "We do not go around reading everyone's thoughts and digging out their secrets. We use our gifts to share our thoughts with those like us, and for protection." Ginny offered. "We are no danger to either of you, now that you are free of the Boyle's influence. In fact we could be an asset." "How's that?" Zimmerman asked. "We will be spending a lot of time in the next few months following up on what we learned here. We will be tracking others like the Boyle's, though we can hope that none of them share in Lyle's evil proclivities." I said. "As we do, we are sure to come across information useful to you, and to the agency. We will contact you when we do." "Alright." Bob said. "What's the catch?" "The catch is that we need to be sure that our existence remains a secret." Ginny said. "Are you going to wipe out our memories?" Bob asked. "No, of course not." Ginny said quickly. "I want to do two things, but I will only do them with your permission." I said. "I want to place what I call a 'tag' in your minds. This is a little like the trap that Lyle had placed in you, but my tag only does two things, it allows me to keep track of your whereabouts more easily, and it will alert me if either of you are ever in danger." "What's the second thing?" Zimmerman asked. "I want to place a compulsion, nothing like the kind Lyle used, much more subtle and specific. All it will do is prevent either of you from ever revealing our existence, even under torture or coercion by anyone, even someone else like Lyle." "Damn!" Bob said. "You're asking us to trust you completely!" "Exactly right." I deadpanned. Easy to do wearing a full mask. I read their acceptance in their thoughts, and had both of them tagged and under the effects of my gently placed compulsion practically before they could say it. "Thank you gentlemen, it is done." I said, and jumped Ginny and I back to our bedroom on Meadow. We stripped quickly out of our armor and took a shower. With Lyle Boyle's memories still fresh in our thoughts, the shower did not leave us feeling clean. We lay on our bed afterwards and I let Ginny cry her grief out onto my shoulder until we both fell asleep. When Ginny and I woke up the morning after our dealing with the Boyle brothers we felt much better. We had taken human lives, and though they were deserving of the end they came to, we had felt the need to grieve their end and express, at least to ourselves, our remorse. We woke late for breakfast, but found some sausage links and scrambled eggs that Loretta left in the warmer for us. We polished them off quickly, washing it all down with a couple large glasses of orange juice. A quick trip to the bedroom to brush our teeth and we were off to Sheye. Felicia had already left by the time we got there. Eru and the girls were sitting in the positions we had started in last week, so Ginny and I slid into our spots, and quickly slid our minds as well into their joining. I thought to the group. Riah asked. I said. Ginny thought. Eru said. I thought. We gave our memories of the events to the three of them. They saw what we had seen, felt what we had felt, relived the deaths of the Boyle brothers and our dealings with their victims. As the girls began to stiffen in reaction to the horror that had been Lyle Boyle, we sent a flood of love and caring into them. As they reacted to our supportive efforts, Eru quickly slid into teacher mode, and began highlighting bits and pieces here and there within those memories we had shared. Hell! I thought. We hadn't even realized it ourselves. At that point we were focused on Ending Lyle Boyle's twisted and evil life, and hadn't even noticed his coercive efforts. Eru made them endure the deaths again, including the death of the poor victim we had released from her physical prison. Eru signaled the end of our joining and we all broke apart. Eru leaned forward and kissed the girls on the forehead. "To love life does not mean you must fear death." Ginny said. "Give Ginny's words great weight girls." Eru said. "On earth she is recognized as a medical doctor, their world's version of a healer. The medical sciences of Earth are more advanced than ours in many ways, but those who practice healing there are taught to recognize, as healers here are, that death is not always an enemy. It is not always unwelcome." With that, and hugs and kisses all around, the girls left for home. "They will be fine." Eru said after they were gone. "You've been in their minds and have seen the deep reservoirs of strength they possess. In ones so young, such strength lends endless resilience." "Speaking of endless resilience, you will perhaps be pleased to know we are not planning on going for a run today. We want to take you along for some other mischief." I said. "Did you know that your Legion armor makes for more than adequate rain gear?" Low clouds and a drizzling rain seemed to be a permanent condition on the facet I had designated as 'Cloudburst'. It was not the atmosphere that had our attention, but the Sea. We joined the two teams in the Beloth, our Planetary Survey Platform, which had been pressed into duty as a staging area for our efforts to learn more about the aquatic intelligence we had found to be living in the deeps of Cloudburst's oceans. Everyone in both teams were sitting at the PSP's observation stations. We quickly followed suit and were watching the feed from a probe that was sitting a few thousand yards above the sea floor. In the murky darkness a mile deep, the view was unrevealing. The probe was not using lights, unwilling to risk offending whoever might be lurking beneath. Arden spotted us as we moved over to take up a station, and he came over to greet us. "Hi guys! Glad you could make it!" "Hi Arden. Have we missed any of the excitement?" I asked. "Constantine came through, as you knew he would, I'm sure, and provided us with a deep sea version of the survey platforms we've been using in the atmosphere of other facets. They even load and deploy through the tubes in the same way as what we we're already used to." Arden told us. "We've been making runs, sweeping them lower and lower each time, for about five hours now, and I think we're getting close to making some sort of contact. We're still unsure of how we'll be able to communicate once we do, but we're planning on lowering the probe that you are seeing the feed from on the monitor now until it gets noticed." "I'd like to leave Eru here with you." I told him. "You may need his skills if it appears that our only option is a meeting of the minds, so to speak." "Great! I think it very well may come to that, and yes, Eru would be our choice for making a first contact through mental means." Arden said. Ginny and I left them then, jumping to the Hall of Gifts on Obsidian. I sent my thoughts. He thought back at us. I jumped us to him, and found him just pushing a loading cart away from the little ship we found ourselves in front of. Starting this trip, we were going to be using what we called a 'hopper', A small, 4 person ship, much smaller than Kes and Aya, our two cruisers. Con pretty much had her prepped and ready to go, all I did was pop in the needed supplies for making the tea that had become our drink of choice, after much lobbying by Eru. We sealed her up and I jumped her to the little utility pad I'd built on Meadow for our big picnic a while back. We had been using the area around our house on Meadow as our starting point for our facet discovery trips, mostly because it had meant our 'office' was only a few steps away outside our front door. With the hopper where we wanted her, we stopped to brew some tea and visit with Constantine for a few minutes. "I'm going to need the 12th and 13th of next month off." Con opened with. "Of course! What have you got going on?" I asked. "Do you remember Carl and Arne?" Con asked. "Weren't they two of the guys you met playing darts that one time at The Sluice Box? The ones who took you fishing?" "Yes. Arne's daughter Emily is getting married, and I've been invited to the wedding. I've given them the impression that I spend a lot of time out of the country working, so I've told them I'd try and arrange my travel schedule to see if I could make it." Ginny filled him in a little on the status of our pregnancy. Of course he had questions, some of which would have been inappropriate coming from anyone but Con. We had to give him our memories of our dealings with the Boyle brothers, and this got him distracted momentarily as he asked about finding ways of keeping our friends and family safe from the possible influence of other coercers. Finally I had to ask him to save the thought for another day. "Con, lets save this conversation for some other time, perhaps its something we should be discussing with the Board. Lets get to facet-hopping!" We stowed our teacups and gear, not that we would be worried about spillage or breakage, the way we traveled. The hopper's passenger access was through a door and ramp in either side of the craft. I stood in the open doorway, not focusing on the meadow in front of me, but rather on the Light, and my sense of contact with the many, many facets whose Light signatures came to me through the leakage into this one. Something drew my focus, and we jumped. Something within me, some part of my gift, watches over me during this selection process. I never pick a facet that is inherently harmful or dangerous. I know those kinds of facets are out there, I feel my mind sliding past them during the process, but somehow I always wind up selecting one that is for the most part benign. Since that is what we want to select for anyway, I just go with the flow. Maybe someday we'll button ourselves up in something very sturdy and well armored and go visit some of the other types. Today's first jump took me to a facet I designated 'Kite'. The designation came from the steady cool wind which blew, relentlessly from east to west the entire time we were there. We took some measurements at the meadow location, and as usual I scanned for any signs of people in the vicinity. With no immediate signs I reached out to those areas which were usually population centers on the inhabited facets we've found. San Francisco Bay seemed empty here. We popped a Long Ear out of the can and ran it through its paces, and found nothing within its range to suggest there was intelligent life here. "Shall we write it up and move on?" Ginny asked. "I'd like to take a night side look too, just to be thorough, since there's no sign of anything here worth assigning a team visit. Lets get buttoned up in the hopper and I'll jump us over to the Mediterranean." We were secured and hovering 50 feet up within minutes, and I jumped us to the more or less familiar cliff top on this facet's equivalent of Montecristo. "I don't think we're going to need to look around for something worthwhile on this facet anymore Dave." He answered back. "Come poke your head up here for a second." I poked my head in the flight cabin, and Con didn't need to say another word. Hovering in the eastern night sky was the moon, impossibly close and bright. "Oh my God!" I said out loud. "What?" Ginny asked from behind me. I thought back to her, and opened up my mind to let her in. We had found a facet which must be drawing close to an incredible end. The moon orbiting Kite was so much closer than our moon on Earth. "Do we have anything like a seismographic unit that we can plant on the surface?" Ginny asked. "Not with us." Con answered. "We'd have to find a surface to put it on, I don't think this Montecristo is what we're used to." I looked down, and realized that all but the top of this cliff was under water, and by the look of the surface, the whole island would soon be submerged. "I want to get a Long Ear up from here. Can we do it without landing?" It took Con several seconds to answer. I knew that anything but an instant reply from him implied some serious processing. "No, not the way the hopper is rigged. But we can pre-configure it so we just have to step off and hit the go button." "Show me how to set it, I've got an idea." I told him. With the hopper hovering over the nearly awash surface of Montecristo's cliff top, I felt Con feed me the information I needed to prep the Long Ear. I soon held it in my hands watching the final go button blinking a steady blue. I jumped it out into the air a hundred feet from the hovering hopper and activated it with a telekinetic touch. "We definitely have to get some people in on this!" I said. We monitored the feed for the full 30 minutes, and saw no signs at all. I jumped us back to our starting point on this facet's version of our home meadow. I thought to Con. He thought, giving me the memory from his thoughts. I quickly had the knowledge I needed to find, and use the units. I reached out with my senses to the Hall of Gifts on Obsidian, and saw rows of the ever-present tubes that the PSP and the cruiser used, but our little hopper wasn't equipped to handle them. There were individual units sitting on a shelf above the stacked tubes and I grabbed two of them and jumped them into the rear cabin. While I'd been grabbing the seismic units, Con had set the hopper down. I popped the hatch, and lifted one of the units with my thoughts and let it trail me out. I walked a few feet away and activated its internal initialization routine, and let it plant itself solidly in the ground in front of me. Back in the hopper and the hatch sealed, I called to Con to put us in the air again. As we were lifting, I looked at the second seismic unit and wondered where it might go. The extreme tides caused by this dying moon were not likely to leave any of our usual coastal locations viable. I flashed on a memory of us buzzing through the Grand Canyon back when we were showing off the Cruiser. I jumped us to the spot on the south rim that I remembered. "Take us back from the canyon rim about a half a mile." I asked Con. It was another quick drop and pop maneuver to get the second seismic unit planted. "Time to move." I said, and jumped us back to Meadow. We stopped there for a few minutes while Ginny and I got our adrenaline levels back to normal. "These are the kinds of things that make me wish we could go public with what we're doing." I said. "Imagine what scientists could learn from observing something like that." Once we were ready I settled into my Light sense and pulled another facet out of my hat. Silly I know, but sometimes that's what it felt like. The facet's designation was 'Treeline'. Our meadow was more or less unchanged here from the natural state of our own on Meadow. The only thing that stood out was that the Trees that bordered it on the north were considerably taller and older looking than the trees I was used to seeing. My choice of designators really is a sort of stream of consciousness deal. When I reached out with my thoughts I found people all over the place! The nearest were only a couple of miles away. "We've got people all over the area." I called out. "Give me a quick ground level reading." "Scanning!" Con called back, followed a minute later with "We're clear across the EM spectrum!" After a slightly longer pause he added "No gravitic signatures detected. I can't find any signs of technology Dave." "Okay, we're out of here!" I called and jumped us back to Meadow once again. "Well there's one that gets a priority flag!" Ginny said. "We've got time for one more if nobody needs a potty break." Con called back. "Very funny, Con!" Ginny called. "I think I've still got a ways to go before that becomes a problem." "One more possible before we stop? Three in a morning would be very nice. We wound up with two more. Mudslide and Possum. I'll leave what inspired their designations to your imagination. Both were near duplicates of Treeline, lots of people showed up on my mental detector, no traces of technology. As we walked away from the hopper, headed towards the side door of the house, Ginny looked back at it for second. "Con, you may have to do a little tinkering to get her fixed up just the way we want her, but I think we'd better start thinking of a name for her." We heard laughter coming from the dining room as soon as we were in the door, and made a beeline straight for it. We were a little early, despite the double discovery at the end, we weren't expecting the exploratory teams to beat us back from Cloudburst. The minute we walked into the dining room we were greeted by a rousing cheer followed by gales of laughter. The three of us sat down and waited it out. Arden finally got everyone calmed down with a few well placed 'shushes'. "Dave, have we got a new one for you!" Which spurred another brief wave of laughter. "Ava, pull up the last video loop and replay it please." The room darkened and in the air in front of us we saw a long, oval-shaped purple/black tube. Rings of violet light cycled down its length in endlessly repeating waves. "Guys, let me introduce you to 'Alec', one of the denizens of Cloudburst's deep that have led us on such a merry chase recently." Arden said. "You can't tell from this video, but Alec is traveling at almost 200 miles per hour across the bottom of the Western Cloudburst ocean, a little over a mile below the surface." There was a long pause, and when I looked up, Arden was grinning madly, and it was matched pretty well by everyone in the room, including Eru. "Okay, what's the surprise?" I asked. "I can tell by the way you are all grinning that there's something you're not telling me." "Do you remember the old Tom Clancy novel and Sean Connery movie, 'The Hunt for Red October'? "Of course." I answered. "Oh my!" I added as the possibility struck me. "Alec uses a magneto-hydrodynamic drive like the Red October?" "Even better!" Arden crowed. "Our friend Alec there is a biological version of the Magno-gravitic drive!" You're kidding!" I said. "He's totally serious Dave." Mike said. " The ring of light cycling front-to-back that you see is deceptive. Alec is building a gravity field that he uses to push him across the sea floor, letting seawater flow through his central feeder chamber. The accompanying magnetic field is used both for steering and to force the water towards the inner walls where nutrients are filtered out." "Incredible!" Ginny said. "Are they going to be difficult to study, given the depth they seem to prefer?" "Not only no, but hell no!" That is the correct saying, I believe?" Eru said. "These guys are intelligent, at least to a degree." Fred declared. "Friendly too!" "We did make mind-to-mind contact, first with Alec here, and then with dozens of others." Eru said. "It will be hard to say with authority without an extensive study, but I would provisionally set their intelligence and reasoning abilities as equivalent to those of an 8 to 10 year old human child. They are inquisitive, cooperative and exuberantly friendly." "And they'll work for food!" Pete added. "They appear to have no problem with coming up from the lower depths, even to the surface we think. Their cellular structure, given that these are biological gravity producing organisms let me remind you, is about as pressure tolerant as you could hope for. Combine that with a total lack of lungs, float bladders, or anything else that could cause compression/decompression problems, and its easy to guess that they could tolerate any pressure, or lack thereof. They hang out at the bottom because that is where the food supply is greatest. If we can find them a food source, they'll come up, at least for visits." "Tell me your going to top this day at the office!" Arden bragged. I looked at Ginny and gave her a wink. "Okay, well let us get our data dumped into the system, and then we'll tell you about facet designation 'Kite'... ------- Chapter 25: Still Trying We were at the Palio d'Asti in San Francisco, a warm and inviting locale for someone raised on my mother's cooking. We had offered to meet Dr. Porter Burgess for a lunch appointment anywhere he chose, and this was the place he'd selected. "Good afternoon, Doctor Burgess. Please, don't bother getting up." I told the middle-aged man waiting for us when we were shown to our table. I shook his hand. "Please allow me to introduce my wife, Doctor Virginia McKesson." I introduced, as she came past me to shake his hand as well. "Please sit!" He said, waiving us into the padded bench seat against the wall. "I remember what it was like when my wife was pregnant, a soft cushioned seat was a sought-after commodity." Our waiter already had our drink orders, so he left us as soon as we were seated and we were alone with the infamous Doctor Porter Burgess, PhD. "Not that I would ever refuse a lunch offer at the Palio, especially these days, but what can I do for the famous director of Obsidian Research?" He opened. "Perhaps its better asked, what might we do for each other." I countered. "Well short of the enjoyment I might get by being poked and prodded by the very beautiful Doctor McKesson, I can't imagine what you can do for me, any less than I could imagine why Obsidian Research would be interested in a Cosmologist with six months to live?" "What would you say if I told you we could increase your life expectancy by at least a year?" "Ooh! A whole year!" He laughed. "The last quack I talked to in Guadalajara offered me five years! And I know for a fact that the good doctor McKesson can't open her mouth about such possibilities without fear of loosing her license." "Although I have not seen either the diagnosis, nor the prognosis of the physicians attending you, I am familiar with the inoperable nature of the the tumor that is killing you, and I am not offering any kind of medical advice here, I'm here as my husband's partner." Ginny replied. "I can tell you that what is offered is not surgery and it is not some new miracle drug. It is real, as is the life expectancy improvement." "What do I have to do for Obsidian Research to receive this 'whatever-it-is' that's not a medical treatment." Doctor Burgess asked. "Come to work for us. Sign a non-disclosure agreement, then look me in the eye and swear to honor it. Do that and we'll sign you to a lifetime contract with a five million dollar guaranteed advance on earnings." "That's insane!" He said. "Who'd ever make an offer like that?" We were interrupted by the waiter returning with our drinks. We placed our meal orders and waited for the waiter to leave again. "You're aware of the resources we can bring to bear on anything we're interested in pursuing." I told him. "We are making money hand over fist and we haven't even begun to see the conversion of the personal automobile industry yet, and we both know it is inevitable." "I can't dispute that, but..." "But despite the unlikeliness of it, Obsidian Research does have something that you will love sinking your teeth into, whether you live 6 months or six centuries." I interrupted. "We are interested in having someone with your knowledge and skills, particularly your combination of degrees in Cosmology and Planetary Science. We are interested enough to pay you enough money up front to get your wife and children instantly clear of the massive debt your medical treatment has placed them under. Enough to let your wife live on in your home for the rest of her life if she chooses. Enough to send your children through college after you're gone, if that is their desire." "Think about it over the rest of our lunch together Doctor." Ginny said. "I will add only one thing more. You will someday come to see the incredible nature of this offer as insignificant compared to what you learn and where you learn it." Ginny excused herself to visit the ladies room. Despite recent protestations to the contrary, the pressure on her bladder was beginning to have its effect. Our lunches were being served when she returned, and we wasted no time digging in. Doctor Burgess had ordered the Soup of the Day, which was a delicious Minestrone Genovese, while Ginny and I had the Insalata degli Frutti Stagionali a beautiful Stonefruit Salad of Peaches, Plums, Cherries, Butter Lettuce, Arugula, Red Onions, Almonds, Pecorino Pepato and Champagne Nectarine Vinaigrette. For the main course, Ginny and I had both chosen the Cacciucco Livornese, a spicy Tuscan stew with red wine and tomatoes, lobster, mussels, clams, prawns, octopus, calamari and fish. Doctor Burgess had the Gnocchi con Pesto Genovese, which had house-made potato dumplings, baby green beans and a Ligurian Sauce of basil, pine nuts, garlic, pecorino, grana padano and extra virgin olive oil. Needless to say, there was little conversation beyond appreciative murmurs and the occasional ahhh! Of satisfaction. "Mr. And Mrs' McKesson," The Doctor began, once the dishes had been cleared, and we were sipping our tea and coffee. "I have absolutely no reason, beyond the desire to be remembered as a stubborn curmudgeon, to refuse your offer. As a loving husband and father, I cannot permit myself to say no. I will accept your offer." "When can you start?" I asked. "Sir, I am at your disposal." He said with all the dignity he could muster. "Very well," I said, pulling the standard Obsidian Research NDA from the inside pocket of my jacket. "If you'll look this over and sign it?" I placed a pen on the table along with the form. "This is your standard document for non-disclosure?" "Yes, it is." I answered. He signed it immediately. "I only ask that you look me in the eye and promise to honor what you just signed." "I swear to you, and to all I hold dear that whatever I learn in this capacity, I will carry to my grave unrevealed if that is your wish." He looked me unflinchingly in the eye as he said it. Of course I was reading the truth of his oath in his thoughts. This man understood honor, and had an amazing mind! It was going to be a pleasure working with him! "Well said sir. Will you want your lawyer to look over the contract before you sign it?" I pulled the contract out of my other inside pocket. "I should, but I"m feeling adventurous. Lets get it done. I'm eager to see whether you can deliver on your promise to amaze me." As we each took turns signing the contract, Ginny jumped on her cell phone and called a waiting Grandpa A.J. She spoke briefly with him, too quietly to be heard, before hanging up, out of the corner of my eye I saw her give me a small nod. Of course all that, phone call included, had been something of a charade. All the real communication had taken place within our thoughts. With both our signatures in place, I returned the two documents to the inside pocket of my jacket and reached out to take his hand. "You will want to go home and explain what is going on to your family. Call your bank. They'll want to share the news that five million dollars has been transferred into your account. Pack a bag, just your necessaries and a change of clothes, nothing fancy, we do not run a suit and tie environment. Enjoy the evening with your family, and someone will be by your house in the morning at 9am to pick you up." "Would you like us to arrange dinner reservations for you and the family somewhere? Your celebration tonight should be on us!" Ginny offered. "Do you think I could get a dinner reservation here for this evening on such short notice?" He asked. "This really is the place I've always wanted to be able to bring them." "Sweetie, why don't the two of you walk out and get some fresh air out front. I'll see what I can arrange. Would 7pm be a good time Doctor?" Ginny asked. "Yes, of course." While we stood on the busy sidewalk, in the shadow of the TransAmerica pyramid, waiting for Ginny, I discovered that the good doctor was planning to catch a ride home via the San Francisco transit system. I immediately offered him a ride. Ginny was out shortly, and wearing a very big smile. "They didn't have anything free at seven except for banquet rooms, so I've reserved one for you. You can invite up to 8 other friends or family, in addition to the wife and kids. Its on Obsidian Research." Way to go Ginny! I do love my wife's style! We dropped Porter, as he now insisted we call him at his home in Bernal Heights. We refused to come in and meet the family, telling him we would meet them at a later date. We had to promise him it would happen before he would let us go. "Well, we have our cosmologist." I said as we were driving out of San Francisco, headed back to Obsidian Research. "You're going to love Porter's mind too!" "This recruiting scheme was an interesting approach. Can we afford to keep using it in order to get the scientific staff we've been wanting?" "Blossom, the way the fuel cell is making us money, we could afford to spend that much out of our own pocket every day and our financial guys wouldn't blink an eye. This is Obsidian Research funds were spending here, and those pockets make our personal one seem meager by comparison." "Could we really spend that much every day without missing it?" Ginny asked. "I guess that is an exaggeration. We could spend that much every day for a while before the money guys started to complain, but not indefinitely." "How much could we spend every day and be able to do it indefinitely? We should be doing something charitable with that money if its something we wouldn't even miss." "I appreciate that kind of thinking, and there is something to be said for it. I think though we need to keep things where they are for the time being. Between the two of us, we are already giving somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of our after tax income to charitable causes. The problem with continually donating all the surplus in our pocket is that we can't ever scale up the magnitude of what we're doing beyond personal giving." "I can understand that. I should have known we were already doing something, but to be honest it is nice to be able to ignore the finances and just do what we do." "It sure is, and if I had it in my power to do, I'd make it that way for everyone in the world. Since I can't, I think the world is better served by my efforts to make the world a place where it is increasingly easy for everyone to do that for themselves." Con thought to us. We thought back. He asked. Gianni Sabarte was our driver this trip, so we would have no problem jumping directly from the car. I told Gianni what was going on and Ginny and I were gone and in the Hall on Obsidian in the blink of an eye. "Greetings!" We heard from Con the moment we arrived. "Do I have a surprise for the Legion today!" I looked at the workbench behind him. The displays were all dark, the projectors shut down, and the bench top itself was completely cleared off except for a single square case. "Are you trying to keep us in the dark, Con?" "Oh yes, you need to stay in the dark, definitely. Way more fun that way!" With that, he picked up the square case from the workbench, grabbed his free wrist, and was gone! I laughed out loud into the now empty Hall, and jumped us after him! As we blinked into being in the Staging level of the basement, I saw Con and the rest of the Legion laughing, presumably at my expense. "Last ones to arrive, isn't that refreshing!" I said to everyone. Once we joined them where they stood clustered around Con, I gave him a raised eyebrow and said "You had something else Con?" "Yes, of course, thank you Dave." Con said, stepping slightly away and turning to face us. He waved at the room around him. "You've all seen that we have made some effort to keep the obvious 'mission' side of this facility separate from the 'home' side of it. This was by conscious design of course, but it was done mostly so we would have a sense of being home that wasn't necessarily also a reminder of work." A lot of nods and ah!'s followed this, as obviously not everyone had come to the same conclusions about our layout and design choices. "Given the realities of life as we've discovered them to be in the short time we've been operating within it, the choices were perhaps a bit of overkill. Agreed Dave?" "Yes, I've come to that same conclusion." I sighed. "For that reason, I'm proposing this next surprise gets done upstairs, not downstairs. Elevator or Davey Express?" "Davey Express!" Everyone chimed in. So I popped us into the living room without so much as a blink. "My next consideration was more aesthetic than practical, but it does have its practical applications." Con said, and with that he pulled an orange tube from the case he'd brought with him. "Please remain where you are for a moment he cautioned." Con walked over to stand in front of the fireplace, and rotated the entire round end of the tube in a clockwise direction. We all saw a light begin to glow on the base of it where he had twisted. He quickly uncapped the other end of the tube to reveal a small nozzle tip. He walked up to the stone fireplace and squeezed out a stream of gray paste, laying down a line that ran up one side of the fireplace, across the stones above the mantle, and back down the other side. He completed this procedure by stepping back and rotating the round end back to its original position, and when he did, the gray paste suddenly seemed to sink right into the stone and disappear! "This accomplishes step one of the process. Next I had to pick a good second location, and for that, I've chosen one in Dave's house. If you'd be so kind, Dave?" Con was looking smugger by the second, but I was enjoying this myself, so I just played along, and to save time just popped us all into my bedroom. I guess I had never tried to fit so many people in it before. We packed it! "Perfect!" Con cried out. "This is the very location I was considering. Please open the bedroom door, whoever is standing closest to it." We actually had to all shift a little out of the way to let the door swing open. Once the door was open, Con asked some of us to step out into the hallway. I gave Mom a quick shout out to make sure we didn't scare her. She thought back. Oops, teach me not to check first! With the door open and some of us in the hall, Con had room to work. He reached once again into the case and brought out a blue tube. The cap on the base end got twisted clockwise until the light came on. With the cap removed from the nozzle end, Con ran this tube around the edges of the door frame as he squeezed. Once again the gray paste seemed to disappear into the wood when he rotated the cap back at the end. "The contents of these tubes contain a new idea. A Light-based device, similar in some degree to the bracelets you wear, but in this case made entirely of fluid nano-composites. The device in fact will not work unless there is a bracelet, or equivalent activator present. Now, you all know I cannot jump anywhere but to Davey, unless I am wearing a bracelet, as I am now, correct?" We all nodded in agreement. Nobody had expressed this concept before this, but based on what we knew, it made perfect sense. "Behold!" Con said with an overload of high drama, and he walked through the doorway into my bedroom and disappeared! I immediately sent my senses looking for him. "He's on Meadow, in the living room!" I said to everyone. As I said it, he reappeared in the doorway. He was still in high drama mode. "Felicia, will you walk through the doorway?" Con asked. Felicia, who was standing next to me walked through the doorway and... walked through the doorway into the hall. "Nothing happened. The mere presence of a bracelet will not activate the jump." Con explained. "Mike, if you'll walk through? Be thinking of the location in the living room on Meadow, please." Mike walked through the doorway and disappeared. "See you all on Meadow!" I said, and jumped myself through to the living room where Mike stood grinning. "The gangs gonna be following, better make room!" I said to him. One by one the Legion appeared in the living room. Con arrived last, and when he got there we applauded at first, and then we hugged him! I kissed his cheek, shook his hand and then hugged him! Thank God it was the living room we were in, because we all had to sit down after that. We all sat in total silence for quite a while. Each of us considering how dramatically the way in which we were going to be able to live had altered with this single development. Who knows how long we would have sat there, lost in our individual thoughts if Chet's stomach hadn't grumbled! We hadn't had breakfast yet! "That sounded like a request!" Loretta said from the entrance to the kitchen. "Omelets and Sausage patties with hash browns sound good?" There was instantaneous and unanimous agreement. Breakfast was good, filling, and helped get all our minds back to a more grounded place. We all gathered in the living room afterwards and kicked a few things around. "Who here has a place that they would like to use as a gate?" I asked the room. "Cyrus and Felicia, you two will find a spot in your house at Green Horn Creek somewhere, right?" "Oh absolutely!" Felicia said. "How about the front door?" "How do you know which side of the door you'll come out of, by the way?" Cyrus added. "Of course, the front door would be fine, and the direction of egress is always towards the direction of the applicator, when applied, so under all but perhaps a contortionist's scenario, arrival would be toward the side it was installed from." "Perhaps we can facilitate getting this installed in the variety of places we'll need it if Con can share the procedure with us while we are linked." I suggested. "It would be wise to make sure everyone is familiar with the procedure, even if we were not to do that." Con replied. "There are some issues to make note of. During our previous demonstrations we only had one endpoint at the Earth end. As soon as we place a second, how does the gate on Meadow know which gate you wish to go to?" "Whoosh! Good question!" Alicia said. "How does the gate know which one to go to?" Just as with the jump to Meadow requiring you have that destination in your thoughts for the gate on Earth to work, so too will you have to have your destination in mind when you step through the gate on Meadow." "So I can't go to a gate I don't know exists!" Mike said. "That is correct. Also, even knowing of a gates existence is not sufficient knowledge. You bracelet cannot activate a gate from the Meadow gate that it has not already been through. You either have to go through once from the Earth end, which requires being shown where the Earth gate is, since they are not visible in any way, or else someone who has been there must lead you through. "And once a gate is known, how do you keep your privacy?" Cyrus asked. "We will have a permanently active and open door into our home as soon as we add the gate!" "As I said, there are some issues." Con said, apologetically. "We are developing an entirely new way of living here, and there will be social and moral adjustments. If we cannot adjust, we will have to sacrifice some of the gains in favor of peace of mind. This is a phenomenon as old as life itself." Eru offered. "Lets sit and link ourselves and learn about this new thing together. Eru, would you lead?" I asked. We stat together then in our familiar mediation circle, and with Eru's easy guidance we linked our minds loosely together. Soon Con's memories of the process flowed through us, and together, we gathered them and locked the understanding in our own minds. A quick second look confirmed it was there, and we broke our link. "Man, if only we could learn everything so easily!" Arden said. "I suggest that as our joining have progressed, we have been finding such transfers easier and faster. As we did with our shared languages, we will eventually be capable of passing other knowledge, skills and experience amongst ourselves in this fashion." Eru responded. I had a sudden thought, and rather than share it out loud, I sent a thought to Con. "Folks, I suggest you all get together, decide where and how you might want to get a gate set up, and get to moving on making it happen." I said. "Con throw me a tube of that gray goo will you?" Con did indeed flip a tube to me across the room. I snagged it out of the air. "I think I need to go make an old man in North Carolina happy. I also need to let him know that our staffing issues may have been made a little easier." He thought back. I jumped us through to Grandpa's house. He was sitting in the kitchen drinking tea, having just finished lunch. We went into his study, and with the door closed, we explained the days events, and the ramifications, known and anticipated, and asked if he would like a gate to the house on Meadow. That night, as Ginny and I lay in bed snuggled together and with our minds tightly merged, we watched and felt our baby moving. We had known we were having a boy for some time, but we hadn't shared the information with anyone. When asked by Ginny's Obstetrician if we wanted to know the baby's gender, we'd said no. With the due date barely a month away, we had been sensing a little seed of consciousness there for a while already, so we kept our touch light, and tried only to send love and caring and supportive emotions. Eru told us that according to the lore passed down among the Soul Divers of Taluat, this kind of contact had been common amongst them. Whether or not the kind of Light contact and reinforcement we had been doing throughout the pregnancy was something the Choctowineh had done was lost to us, but it felt right, and I had learned to trust my feelings when dealing with the Light. "Con's surprise today is going to make your life much less complicated Dave, don't you think?" "Yes, I do. So will this guy, eventually, and the others like him that will follow." "They are going to follow too. Felicia told me today that she and Cyrus are expecting. She's a month along already." Ginny said. "Pete and Sara are only waiting until they tie the knot and then they'll begin trying too." "I would guess that Arden and Alicia are not going to waste any time once they are married either." I added. "Speaking of which. We've got only a couple of months left before their wedding. Do you have any idea what you want to get them as a wedding present yet?" I smiled and kissed my wife and laid my head back on the pillow. "What was that about?" She asked. "I think I just had a strong feeling of domestic bliss. It felt good." I answered. When we met Porter Burgess at the front doors to the Obsidian Research offices, he was beaming. As we ushered him through the process of getting his ID badge and paperwork squared away, he regaled us with the story of last night's banquet at the Palio d'Asti. He had indeed taken advantage of the reservations and called four of his friends and asked them to join him and his family. Each brought their spouses and a good time was had by all. "One of my former colleagues even suggested he was willing to suffer some debilitating disease or injury if it meant getting recruited by Obsidian, and he didn't even care what the pay was!" Porter told us. "Porter," Ginny asked. "With your current health an issue, how are you with stairs?" "Not very good I'm afraid. "Although since I've stopped the chemotherapy I have been doing better." "We do not have an elevator in this building, and the stairs to the second floor where my office is may be a bit too much for you right now, so let's go see the warehouse area for a moment, shall we?" "Okay, I'm game." He answered, although he looked puzzled. He was about to get really puzzled. As soon as we were inside the secure warehouse and the door had closed behind us I stopped and turned to him. "Secret number one starts right here Porter. These facilities, the Obsidian Research offices and this warehouse are a front. We do nothing here except provide a convincing staff, who perform a variety of office and personnel duties." "Where do you do your research then, and how do we get there from here?" He asked. "I take us there. Like this." I said, and as I did, I jumped us through to the field in front of the house. It was pretty much smooth level lawn now, but it was the same spot, and a nice set of benches had been placed here to make it a comfortable spot to sit and relax. "Welcome to Meadow." We took him up to the house and introduced him to Loretta, Hoot and the boys. With a cup of coffee in his hand, and tea in ours, we sat on the couch in the living room and gave him the condensed version of the story. "So you have these gifts, and you are all members of a group you call the Legion of Light?" He asked at the end. "Ginny and I are, but the others you've met here so far are not." I stood and activated my Legion armor. Ginny quickly followed suit. Her bulging tummy looked oddly appealing in the Legion armor. "The Legionnaires wear this armor, it serves as our uniform in a way, but it is very much more than either of those labels suggests. Lets get you introduced to the rest of the Legion." I said, and we turned to look at the fireplace while I sent a thought to Constantine. One by one they blinked in, using the new gate and we introduced him to them. Knowing of Con's nature from the tale we'd told him, he gave him a thorough stare as they shook hands. "You look incredibly human for an artificial being." Porter told him. "You look pretty good for an almost dead cosmologist." Con answered back with a grin. "Pack up all your preconceptions Porter. Nothing you encounter from this point on is likely to live down to any of them. Constantine here was the best man at my wedding, he's my closest friend in the world, after Ginny, and he has a truly wicked sense of humor." "Enough meet and greet." Arden said. "I think its time we show the good Doctor what we have for him to work on!" We all began to head towards the side of the house where Kes, our cruiser sat. "How's your energy level Doc?" I asked. "Are you getting tired?" "A little bit. Will there be a chance to sit for a while when we get there?" "Of course, but lets try this." I said, and as I did I washed him in a wave of Light, pumping energy into him and drawing off the fatigue. "Oh my!" He said, as he felt the boost I'd just given him. "You know we said at least an extra year?" Ginny asked, knowing that he would understand exactly what she meant. "Yeah?" He answered. "We were low-balling that estimate." Ginny smiled wickedly at him. Just as he was trying to deal with that stunning announcement we walked out the side door and he saw Kes for the first time. "Is that thing floating in mid-air?" Porter asked. "Yup! Anti-gravity." Chet replied with a matter-of-fact tone. "Not something Obsidian is prepared to bring to market quite yet." Mike said, which got an instant laugh from all of the Legionnaires. With everyone aboard and comfortably seated I switched the passenger cabin to what we referred to as 'tourist mode', which converted all the side walls of the cabin to external viewers. We instantly saw the house and the surrounding area, as Con slowly took us up. "100 feet and holding Dave." He called back over the intercom. "Very good. Jumping now." I answered back, and took us to Kite. "Welcome to Kite, Porter. Con, do we have good data on a night time view?" I asked. "Affirmative Dave. Eastern Europe looks best. Moscow looks very promising." We had pre-spotted some locations to give us more jump options, and Moscow was one of them. I jumped us there. "Target dead ahead." Con called back. "Rotating for viewing." Of course we'd done this on purpose, for the dramatic effect. Everyone in the cabin had their eyes on Porter Burgess as the low hanging moon came into view. "Oh my God!" He said, and then sat in silent awe and stared at Kite's moon, where it was was slowly rising to fill the eastern sky. "Now you know why we wanted a cosmologist so badly." Arden said softly. That night we took Porter to the Meditation chamber, and with Ginny and I fused and fully within the Light, we worked on the tumor that had been growing in his brain. Because the restoration of the normal blood flow and structure of the surrounding brain was delicate and time consuming work, it was probably going to take 5 or more sessions. We would space them a week apart, so we could get a good feel for the stability of our changes. Porter Burgess was the first of what we called our Scientific Residents. He wasn't the last. We planned on slowly building up our community of researchers and other professionals. ------- Chapter 26: Second Chances The plans we had laid out for the creation of a library in Ureda required establishing a local presence first, as we did not want a mysterious building to appear out of nowhere. We wanted this to be something the local Uredans felt they had built. The location we picked for the library was on a promontory a little more than half a mile from the fork in the coastal trade road that marked the turn off to Ureda. At the fork itself, we bought an old building that had been built over 30 years earlier by someone who hoped to establish an inn at what they perceived to be an advantageous location on the trade route. After ten years, when it hadn't become the success they had hoped for, they began trying to sell the business. After five years without so much as a nibble, they simply packed up and moved out, selling the building for next to nothing to a Uredan speculator who had been sitting on it for the last fifteen years. The original two story building was gutted completely, and the entire original first floor became the kitchen of the new inn. While the gutting of the original structure was taking place a crew came in from Ureda to attempt to dig a new well. Drilling was something of an experimental technique, as current advancements in metallurgy and mechanics were barely adequate to the task, but the guild which controlled well-digging had been interested in seeing if the drills could be used to deepen existing wells, so a crew with drilling equipment had been brought out and their cumbersome and noisy operation begun. They dug for three days straight without result, but in the early morning hours of the fourth day they were awakened from their sleep by excited yells. Pressure from beneath the soft clay strata they had been drilling in had forced water up into the hard rock chamber above! A few minutes work with the primitive drill and they had water spurting up from the bottom of the well. They had hit a spring! The crew quickly began fitting and connecting two foot lengths of reinforced clay pipe over the solid drill shaft, sealing one to another as they went, using wax rings and brass clips, until the had a solid pipe that reached a good ten feet above the surface of the old well. A gripping collar was then used to attach the pipe to the drill shaft, and the shaft was hammered down until only three feet of the pipe remained above the old well. With the drill shaft still in place inside the clay pipe, an unending procession of laborers began filling the original well hole with loose rock and gravel. Using mostly debris from the rest of the digging involved in expanding existing cellar from the old in to match the floor plan of the new, expanded inn, it took three more days before a firm and relatively dry well head stood where the original stone well and bucket had been. "I would not be surprised if you had sufficient pressure to pipe your water clear to the roof of your new building and provide running water for every room if you wanted." Guild Master Albru told Borthun and Yela several days later. "It is good water too. Clear and sweet, and very cold. This seam of clay we struck must run clear to the great northern mountains. An incredible stroke of good fortune." Borthun and Yela did not bother to inform the good Guild Master that such amazing strokes of good fortune were common occurrences when their friend Constantine Fylakas was involved. They were sure some odd happenings had taken place beneath the ground, away from Uredan eyes, to deliver their miracle. They had been much more impressed with the speed and efficiency with which the plans had been adapted and resources shifted to deal with the discovery. The plans for the inn were quickly modified, and a 'utility wing' was added that extended the side of the kitchen out the additional eighteen feet to the old well site. The utility wing would have a fourth floor with huge boilers which would allow them to deliver hot and cold water to every room in the inn. The expansion plans were looked on with a great deal of skepticism by the various Guild Masters who oversaw it. But it was a universal axiom of all the guilds that a paying customer was always allowed to be as foolish as he wished, as long as the payment was on time. A casual comment by one of the laborers, that with so much hot water planned for, you could almost consider using it to heat the rooms caused another huddle between the Guild Masters and the new owners. A heated argument broke out between the various guilds about the best materials and methods for delivering the hot water. The dispute was settled when Borthun brought them all out to the gathered wagons of supplies and equipment that they had arrived with, and showed them his two huge copper boilers. When they walked back to the their meeting room, they were all smiles. Especially the Master of the Coppersmith's guild, whose slice of the project had just gotten considerably bigger. Borthun wondered to himself if everyone who hired craftsmen to build something went through the same sea of ups and downs that he was experiencing. Maq blew on the spoonful of seafood stew before he ate it. The piping hot and savory stew, along with the thinly sliced spiced ham and cheese that came with it were not what he had hoped for when he rode out to Borthun's Rest. He had been hoping to get what the menu called a 'Buffalo burger', but the server had told him they were completely sold out of the popular dish, and it would be another couple of days before their next supply wagon arrived with more. Three months ago, Borthun's Rest opened. An enterprising couple named Borthun and Yela had purchased the building at the crossroads. They immediately hired a crew of local craftsmen and laborers from Ureda's craft guilds to renovate the existing space and then immediately added on to the existing inn. Maq was the head of the guild of laborers, and he had been taken with Borthun's energy and friendly manner. The voluptuous beauty of his mate Yela did not hurt either. With the Laborer's Guild's busy season finally past, He had the time to take a coach out the the inn. He had been greeted by name at the door and shown to a very nice table. This was his first meal here, and already he was impressed. The service was quick, efficient and friendly, and yet he did not feel rushed. 'The food is certainly top notch too' he thought to himself as he savored another spoonful of the stew. A sudden slap on the back and a roar of greeting announced Borthun's arrival at his table. "Maq! What brings such a busy and important Guild leader all the way out here?" "Anything on your menu is worth the trip out Borthun, if Yela is doing the serving, but it was really that new 'Buffalo burger' that I was hoping to try. I missed both the expected item and the expected server, so I've struck out on both counts." Maq laughed, then quickly added. "But this seafood stew is very good, and I am enjoying it a great deal!" "It is fortunate that you are here in any case. It saves me the trouble of sending a runner to town. I have a guest who would like to meet you. Lets us move your meal to a private room where the two of you can meet." With the snap of a finger, Maq's food and drink were quickly and smoothly placed on a tray, and he and Borthun followed the waiter carrying the tray into a room at the back of the inn. Having overseen much of the work that went into the building of these new rooms, Maq knew that these rooms had their own connections to the kitchen, so that even large parties could dine in them discreetly. "Maq, allow me to introduce you to Brother Constantine. Brother Constantine, this is Guildmaster Maq." Borthun said. With Maq's food placed at the table, the waiter disappeared and Borthun made his excuses and left. "Please finish your meal, Guildmaster. While you eat, I will tell you of our plans." Maq picked up his spoon once again and began eating while he listened to the mysterious 'Brother Constantine'. "My brothers and I are fanatics and zealots, devout worshipers indeed. What we worship is knowledge and learning. We have dedicated ourselves to advancing our understanding of the world, and in turn sharing all we learn with those who might seek it. In order to further our goals, we have spent several lifetimes searching out knowledge. We have traveled everywhere that it is possible for a man to go. We began searching many years ago for a place where we could gather the knowledge we had collected. A place where people could come to learn and study. We have learned that the people of Eruda are eager learners as well, and for that reason, we have chosen this area to build our Hall of Learning." "Ah! Well, what did you have in mind?" Maq asked. "Here, let me lay out the plans for you. First, there are some parts which we will want to do ourselves, in order to maintain the few secret ways of the Brotherhood. Do you think that would be a problem?" "It will not be a problem if you are willing to pay the fees for a guild membership. As long as the work is done by a Guild member, the details do not need to be made public. This is commonly done." Maq said, glancing at the plans. "These are very nicely done drawings. These plans will be easy to work with." "Thank you. I left several areas, here and here" Constantine pointed two two areas on sheet that he had rolled out on to the table. "as unfinished, and those are the areas I will be doing the work on, it will be finish work that will follow the actual construction." "This is a very workable approach. You say you have a location. Perhaps we should ride out there and take a look at it together?" Maq asked. "Excellent!" Con replied. "I do enjoy working with a man who does not need to be led every step of the way." "you flatter me, sir." "Will it get me a reduced price?" "No, it will not." Maq answered, with a touch of annoyance in his voice. "Good!" Constantine answered. "I never trust those who respond to flattery. Their minds are seldom on the work in front of them. I have a horse for you if you feel up to a ride." The two men, accompanied by four others of the Brotherhood, rode to the promontory. They walked the site, talking and gesturing for several hours. Finally, they shook hands and rode back to Borthun's Rest. The first stone had not been laid yet, but the official history of the Hall of Learning had begun. We were finally going to get to use the apartments in the Meditation Tower on Obsidian. I remembered back when we went through there like kids in a candy store picking out rooms and envisioning ourselves forming a bustling hub of exploration from there. There had been two real problems with that initial vision. One was that at that time we were still completely dependent on my gift to move us to and from Obsidian, or anywhere else. The second problem was that it just required a certain 'critical mass' of people to provide infrastructure and support in the office and living complex at the tower. At the time we just didn't have the manpower, and even if we had, problem number one would have made it difficult to manage the logistics. Now, with our new gates, Ginny's quickly growing abilities to use the Light, and the promise of a new generation on the horizon who will grow up living in the Light, the full promise of the Tower looked like it might finally be realized. In the grotto, in front of the Shrine of Rhel, the Aya sat calmly, four inches above the grassy surface. Two columns of Rhellians, led by the twins Zaia and Riah Seco walked up the ramp and into the cruiser. Fifty recruits sat as the Aya climbed briefly into the sky and disappeared. As the recruits were filing aboard the Aya, the Kes was duplicating the procedure in the Grotto on Earth. With fifty recruits from the Clan McKesson aboard the now hovering cruiser, it too jumped. In the blink of an eye both cruisers found themselves floating above the bleak surface of Obsidian. Nearby, floating in the air was a great black cluster of rings and buildings, dominated by a tall, black tower that rose into the sky above the black and broken planet. The two cruisers slowly swooped in a graceful arc around and into the cluster of rings to settle before the great tower. The ramps were lowered, and the recruits filed out of their respective crafts to mingle cautiously in the open expanse that stood before the doors of the tower. Suddenly the Legionnaires were there before them. "Good morning. Welcome to Obsidian." Arden's amplified voice rang out over the crows. "Everyone here, whether from Earth or Taluat believes in the legacy of the people of the Light, the Choctowineh. Perhaps you called them the Guardians. Perhaps you knew of them as the Spirit Masters. Regardless of the name you knew them by, you are here, as are the Legionnaires, to serve in their place and to carry on the tasks they left us, as you have already been doing on your home worlds. Congratulations!" The recruits cheered until finally Alicia stood forward. "As we call your names, please come forward. Each group called will be shown to their quarters in the tower and assigned an initial time for an orientation course." The first group of names were called, 14 in all, and Alicia led them into the tower. "You all were chosen first because you were recruited specifically to be the kitchen and dining staff, and we thought you would like to take a tour of the kitchen before we went upstairs." Alicia said. This proposal was met with enthusiastic agreement and they were soon. Surveying the nooks and crannies of the tower's kitchen. Soon individual Legionnaires, each with their mixed groups of recruits in tow began moving about the tower, resembling nothing so much as tourists and their tour guides, rushing off to take in the sights. The group gathered at the McKesson home in Chocowinity that night was a large one. In addition to the Eru and Felicia and the Legion members and their Directors, Dave and Ginny's parents were there, as were Dave's Grandmother and Grandfather Carson. "Ladies and Gentle, congratulations are in order. This week we began the expansion of our programs. Obsidian and the Seeker gifts are now a treasure shared by more than just the Legion of Light." Master Lev spoke. "We have enjoyed a fine dinner here tonight in celebration of this new beginning, and there is still no doubt that we are facing a future with unlimited options and unimagined promise. We should take pride in the part we play in this, and remember that what we do here will be remembered by future generations. Some would see that as a cautionary tale, but I see it as praising the character of my friends and companions. I will now turn the floor over to our host, A.J. McKesson." "Eldo spoke to praise you for the hard work you have done, and I join him in that." A.J. Said. "It is my task tonight, however, to speak of the future. Our true future can be found in the bedroom only a floor above us. David Alan McKesson and Virginia Elspeth McKesson are there, patiently awaiting the arrival of their first born child. That child, and those that follow are our future. To some degree, they represent our Adam and Eve, or Ai and Oa, for you Eldo, except that we get to be there and watch the beginning as it happens. Beginnings are what we are here for, and we need to discuss another beginning that we should soon be embarked upon. Emigration. For that, lets all listen to Oscar Alvarado." There was polite applause as A.J. Sat and Oscar stood. "I'd like Sheb Halliday and Brin Dolin to join me for this part." Oscar said. "We have been working together on this plan for some time." He waited until the other two had joined him before continuing. "We have taken it as our first priority to colonize the western hemisphere of Meadow. We are going to want to be able to grow our own crops, raise our own cattle, harvest our own lumber and mine our own resources without having to rely on the economies of Earth or Taluat, and thanks to the advanced technologies available to us from the Seeker gifts, without polluting or damaging Meadow in the process. As fate would have it - and trust me, when you are speaking of fate anywhere in the vicinity of Dave McKesson, you are not speaking of an abstract concept — We still have a group of almost 350 people from both our Taluatan and McKesson groups who would like nothing more than to do this very thing. People with no fear of hard work and living close to the land who have been hoping and praying that they could find a way to personally contribute to the causes we have long secretly kept alive. This many people, when augmented by Seeker technology, particularly the Anti-gravity and clean reactor technology which is an extension of the energy systems already known to the Taluatans, should be able to make a good start. Especially given that a good number of them are large extended family groups." Oscar stepped back and Brin Dolin stepped forward. "In order to do this as efficiently and safely as possible, we are going to require that all our settlers undergo the basic orientation training on Obsidian before they make the move. This will be the same training that our new Obsidian staff will start receiving beginning tomorrow. In fact the Obsidian recruits will become the contact point for our emigrants on Meadow and other facets when we decide it is time. We have spent some time in the past couple of months, with large amounts of guidance from Constantine, in identifying items in the Hall of Gifts which can be used outright, or adapted for use, by the settlers. This includes everything from fuel cell powered plows on up to complete fabbing units, just like the ones that have been used in the past to build our other facilities on Meadow. We will be using anti-gravity transportation exclusively, with the exception of horses as personal transportation for those who want them. We will be using the Seeker versions of the fuel cell technology to power everything mobile, and the Taluatan fusion reactors to provide power everywhere else." It was Brin's turn to step back, and as he did Sheb Halliday stepped forward. "Let me apologize to Eldo and Brin in advance, as I'm going to use the Earth geographic terms, just because they are what I'm used to. We will have ample time later to make sure the regions are properly identified for both groups." Sheb started. "We have identified three North American regions that our settlers will be concentrated in at the beginning. These areas were chosen because we see the growing of our own crops and raising of our own cattle as our highest priority. First is the Eastern Coastal Plain, from what would be Eastern Pennsylvania to Georgia on Earth, from the sea to the Appalachian Mountains. Given our base locations here and on Taluat, this makes sense. The conditions here are familiar to all of our settlers already, and to a degree they will know what to expect. Second will be what is called the Central Lowlands, from Western Pennsylvania to Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. Third will be the Pacific Northwest, from Puget Sound to Northern California. We will be ignoring the Great Plains and the Rockie Mountains for now, just as we are ignoring the Central and South American regions. This is not to say we won't have people in these areas, there will be explorers and researchers looking for new things everywhere it is possible for us to go. We are already using the great Buffalo herds of the Central Plains as a resource for Borthun's Rest. We could open a hundred Borthun's Rests, and serve Buffalo burgers all day every day and not endanger the herds that we've found. As long as we avoid the senseless slaughter and escape the short-sighted actions both our ancestors took on our home facets, this will seem as an almost limitless resource for ages to come." Meanwhile, in a room one story above, and forty feet away from the gathering, Dave and Ginny, with Doc Aillard and Eru standing by, were completely joined in their tightest fusion, fully in the Light. Their combined consciousness was guiding Ginny's body. <> The internal commentary came as they sent the final signals to Ginny's body. As their trigger sent Ginny into full labor, they gave it a moment to fully engage and then acted. With a final infusion of Light, they jumped their newborn baby directly from the womb and onto the birthing sheet that had been prepared for them. <> Doc Aillard and Eru had been told what to expect, and with the baby's first cry moved in and quickly and efficiently dealt with the umbilical and the afterbirth. With the newly born infant wrapped and in his mother's arms, Doc Aillard turned to Eru. "Eru, I don't know if there are anything similar in your facet, but on Earth, the concept of a 'virgin birth' has a very specific religious significance. We both know that this was not the same thing, but we should not allow the details of this delivery to be made public. There are always people who will see what they want to see in it." "I have seen some of what you are thinking of in Alicia Jackson's memories of her parents, and the members of their church. I agree. No one shall know of this from me." The two men shook hands and turned to look at the new family as they rested together. Dave looked up at them and smiled. "My friends, say hello to Andrew Alan McKesson!" ------- The End ------- Posted: 2006-08-07 Last Modified: 2006-09-26 / 12:49:31 am ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------