

# ALEC'S DREAM

### Book One

### of the Series

## GHOSTS OF ANGELS

### by

### Dave Birchbauer

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2010 by David D. Birchbauer

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

* * * *

Of all the hundreds, or maybe thousands of books I've read, I've seldom read about the invention of anti-gravity. Anti-gravity has always been a dream of mine. Like all kids, I dreamed about flying, from watching Superman and the Flying Nun to the many sci-fi movies like Blade Runner and Star Wars. I always fantasized about how life and the world would be changed because of anti-gravity.

Through my years of college, I've been taught anti-gravity is impossible. I guess that is why it is seldom even mentioned in science fiction... sci-fi is about possible futures, not impossible futures. As I've aged, I learned that experts... teachers and scientists do not really know everything, and I now believe anti-gravity is possible.

This book is about people who don't believe the naysayers; it's about people who don't believe the impossible is impossible.

### PROLOGUE – ANTI-GRAVITY

It was just a wooden box, but Alec couldn't take his eyes off it. There was nothing special about it other than being suspended in midair with no visible means of support. It wasn't floating like a balloon, but was steadfast with no strings, propellers or jets... just a box hovering in midair.

He didn't know how long he'd been staring at it, but it was long enough for one of those transparent basement spiders to build a web between his belly and his beard. Wiping it away, he looked around the basement and was surprised to see his wife Jodi, with her mouth half open, standing at the bottom of the stairs transfixed on the box. He thought she looked beautiful standing there, he always thought she looked beautiful.

Turning to his daughter Jessie sitting beside him, he noticed for the first time how much she resembled her mom. She too stared open-mouthed at the box, her finger suspended where she turned on the power before it floated away. His thoughts drifted to their past year working together. It started with her helping him solder some simple components to a circuit board. Soon her eye for detail and rock steady hands found her doing most, well no, all of the intricate handiwork. Not only that, she absorbed technical knowledge like a sponge and before he knew it, she was helping design, or to be more accurate, designing most of the electronics.

"What's holding it up?" Jodi's voice broke the silence. Did I forget to mention there was no noise coming from that floating box?

"Anti-gravity, I think. At least based on our theory of what gravity is," Alec smiled at her. His original ideas on gravity came in a dream. A dream about a fish tank with a round sponge suspended inside, a hole hidden in the center of the sponge let the tanks never-ending supply of water flow into and through the sponge then out of the tank. That was it, a short dream, or more of an image than a dream. It stuck in his mind, and at times dominated his thoughts. As time wore on, he began imagining people living on that sponge, like tiny inhabitants living on a small planet. He imagined how the force of the water pouring into the ball kept the people from floating away. Could that be how gravity holds things on Earth? Could it be that simple? He became determined to prove, one way or another, his dream.

Jodi looked seriously at him. "Do you have any idea what this means?" her soft voice broke the silence again.

Alec's heart raced. He and Jessie had discussed how anti-gravity would change the world during their many hours working together. Now with their creation floating in front of them, his thoughts selfishly turned to his future, to be able to kick back and retire, and no more day job.

"Now what do we do?" Jodi spoke up a little louder not getting any answer to her first question.

Her tone made him look up. "Huh? I'm not really sure. There's no doubt we'll need lawyers," after a slight pause added, "and some halfway decent engineers to figure out what we did. I don't think we could build another," he said only half joking.

"Where do we start?" She walked to him.

"For now, I think we should celebrate," he put his hand to his stomach as it rumbled. "Let's go out, have a nice dinner, spend some of our fortune," he stood stretching.

"How about that new French restaurant?" she suggested leading him to the stairs.

"I was thinking more like pizza, one of the good ones, or maybe tacos," Alec countered. "Or that gourmet burger place, you know the one that puts the eggs on em."

Halfway up the stairs, they both realized Jessie was still sitting at the bench. Laughing they turned back just as a flash lit the basement. Afraid for his new invention, Alec rushed ahead, and to his relief found it still floating over the bench. Jodi joined him as he scratched his head in confusion, then seeing Jessie typing on her phone Jodi instantly knew what made the flash.

"No! Wait!"

Alec caught on just in time to see her post a picture of the box. Their secret was out.

### CHAPTER 1 – THE SCHOOL PROJECT

Jessie sat on a stool, hunched over an old wooden workbench with a thin line of smoke snaking up from her soldering. As always, she was oblivious to the world, oblivious to the construction crews working on the third floor, oblivious to the buildings 75 employees and especially oblivious of Sofie, who was about to storm in toss her backpack in the corner and throw herself into an old office chair.

"He said to use the gravity blanket!" Sofie's smooth oriental features hardly reflected her frustration. She glared at Jessie's back, the lanky fifteen-year-olds shoulder length reddish brown hair hung down around her face and over her work. Years of friendship told Sofie that a response wouldn't be coming until Jessie finished.

Sofie sat in silence. The room was cool even though it was a warm fall day. The thick stone walls helped keep it that way, with the only light coming from a glowing box hovering near the ceiling. On the far wall was the outline of a window, one bricked up ages ago when they converted the grain mill to a schoolhouse. After a few minutes of impatiently fidgeting in her chair, Sofie found herself leaning over Jessie's shoulder.

"I don't see any colors," she said half to herself.

"What colors?"

Sofie's eyebrows rose in surprise, "I heard it said that you see colors in the circuit boards."

"That's not true. It's just that, well, if I concentrate, I can imagine how the electricity flows. Why, did somebody say something?" Jessie dabbed the soldering iron on a sponge before putting it back in its holder.

"I overheard your dad tell mine that you can see electricity in colors."

"You did? When was that?" Jessie looked up.

"The other day when you guys were over for that cookout," Sofie replied with a slight shrug. "I never really thought much about it, until now. So, can you really see it?"

"Well kind of, I don't really see the electricity flowing, see there's no power on this board." Jessie held it up in front of them. "But I can see how electricity WOULD flow through it," she turned to face her friend.

"How?"

"I can't really explain it," Jessie hesitated. The only person she ever told was her dad. She wasn't upset he told somebody else, she never told him not to. She just found it... well, awkward explaining it to people... to admit she really wasn't that smart. She just thought of it as a weird talent, like being able to touch your elbow with your tongue; which by the way was another one of her talents.

Focusing on the board, she continued. "When I look at this, I can see how electricity _would_ flow. It's white when everything is right. If I make it wrong, say like removing this capacitor," she pointed to a small round component, "I can just think about it and see how the flow changes color. It's blue here, red over here and yellow over there," she pointed to the different areas of the board.

The explanation reminded her of when she first discovered her talent. She was helping or trying to help her dad as he'd been struggling for weeks trying to make a 3D electromagnetic field detector. She mostly watched over his shoulder wishing she could do something. Then one day after school, finding her dad not home yet, she had picked up the circuit board and saw the colors for the first time and by the time he came home, she had it working.

Sofie shook her head. "I thought circuit boards were really complicated, built in layers with a lot of tiny electronics stuff inside." She didn't know much about electronics and circuit boards, but by hanging around in a building full of engineers, she had picked up a little.

"I've seen the drawings." Jessie turned away setting the circuit board back down on the workbench.

"You memorized them? You've never been able to memorize anything!"

"No, I mean yes... well, I'm not sure. If you asked me to draw a schematic of this board, I couldn't. Somehow my mind remembers, I can't explain." Jessie pushed her work aside, hoping to avoid any more explanations. "My dad tried teaching me circuits; inductance, resistance, V and I and R. None of it makes any sense to me."

"So, all this time... that's how you've been able to do all this?"

Jessie watched Sofie's expression go from angry, to confused to, well, happy.

"So, you're not a genius after all," Sofie whispered.

"I'm afraid you're still the smart one." Jessie sighed, correctly interpreting her thoughts.

"So, what should we do about the gravity inductor?" Sofie returned to their pending problem.

Jessie's green eye's flashed. "He said to use the blanket? Aw the drone can already fly. We NEED that gravity inductor."

"My dad wouldn't budge. I tried everything, I even cried." Sofie kicked her foot dejectedly before stepping to the work bench to pick up their latest project, a toy drone. Its blades had already been replaced with small shimmery silver disks made of the gravity blanket material. It needed just one more piece and it would be complete, the gravity inductor.

"It won't be any fun without it," Jessie pouted, leaning back in her stool while crossing her arms over her blue lab coat.

"Heyee kids, what's with dee long faces," Eugene Landstroud, the building's young handyman, poked his head in the door holding a large, carved bug twice the size of a football under his arm.

Jessie gave him a suspicious look. It wasn't that she didn't trust him; there was just something about him she didn't like. Sofie on the other hand, thought he was cute, with his mop top hair and crooked smile... if it wasn't for his teeth and crooked nose.

Giving him a sullen look, Jessie answered. "Nothing, really... er, what's with the bug?"

"Bug?" Eugene looked puzzled, "Oh, dis ting. I guess eet does look like a bug." He held up his carving. "I just think I make us some decent looking lights. Dee ones your dad make are too... ah, plain." He pointed his chin at the floating light panel above them that looked like all the others floating about this oldest part of the building. They were needed as there wasn't much electrical in place, which limited the lighting and other modern conveniences. Jessie and Sofie had been relegated to this room where they couldn't do too much damage.

"I just wonder if you kids could add dee gravity blanket part," he set his carving on Jessie's bench.

Examining the wooden bug, Jessie found it oddly beautiful, like all of Eugene's work in a weird sort of way. It was elegant but reminded her of something you would see hanging outside a haunted mansion. A bug shaped gargoyle; oval, about 2 feet long with a small head, body-sized wings, flat back and rounded belly. The intricate detailing made it look incredibly realistic as though it was ready to crawl off her workbench. She gave an inward shudder while reaching below her bench to pull out a small roll of the gravity cloth.

"I don't get how you make dat blanket glow." Eugene watched over Jessie's shoulder as she sized the material over the bug's belly.

"My dad explained it to me, but I don't quite understand it myself," Jessie drew a line around the blanket material. "There," she grabbed a pair of scissors satisfied with her tracing.

"I can't believe that doesn't damage it," Sofie cringed at the uneven cut left by Jessie's struggles with the scissors.

Jessie shrugged, "I guess not, it's just a mesh of really small wires."

"So how does eet work?" Eugene leaned in examining the blanket.

"Well you know the blanket is just a bunch of miniature boxes tied together." Jessie looked up from her work. "You know, like the box me and dad made, the one floating in the conference room."

"Oh," Eugene gave a puzzled look.

"Well anyway, dad said the blanket can make things float because of the macro properties of all the miniature boxes," Jessie explained. Seeing his confusion, she added. "I'm not sure what a macro property is either."

"How do it light up?" Eugene gave the floating light fixture above them a small push making it bounce off the far wall.

"Oh," Jessie said realizing he was asking how it lit up and not how the anti-gravity works. "I'm not really sure. I was messing around with it one day and accidentally inverted the power and the blanket started glowing." Jessie reached under her bench again for some glue and a small black box.

"Is dees a battery? Do dey need replacing." Eugene examined the small box. "I didn't know I should be replacing dem."

"No, this is just the control box; the blankets won't work without one. This one's for the light." Jessie opened the glue bottle brushing glue on the bug's belly.

Examining it, Eugene asked, "So you just need one of dees to make the blanket work?"

"Well, not one of _these_. This is just for making the blanket work like a light. We have other boxes for doing other stuff. There are tons of them; Sofie's dad said it's cheaper to have them made by the thousands."

"So, what powers the blanket?" Sofie asked. "I never thought about how they're powered before?"

Jessie looked up. "Didn't you know? The blankets make their own electricity, just a little, enough to power the control box. My dad said it has something to do with how space or gravity flows through em."

"I thought dat the blanket blocks gravity," Eugene asked but seemed uninterested in the coming answer.

"No, it uses moving magnetic fields," Jessie answered as she finished spreading the glue.

"You mean anteee-gravity is like magnets?"

"No. You see my dad said the universe is filled with something, a substance he calls 'space' and that gravity is created by the flow of it. The flow increases as space nears matter." Jessie put the cover back on the glue bottle. "He says there are holes in matter that space flows through or gets sucked through. The more matter there is, the more of the space material flow into it." She spread the blanket on the bug's belly, smoothing it out.

"Holes?" Eugene scratched his head.

"Atoms are made of electrons, protons, and neutrons. My dad thinks neutrons are really holes into other universes that space flows into." Jessie finished smoothing the blanket and looked at it approvingly.

Eugene's normally confused look somehow looked even more confused. "Uh? Dat's reeely eenteresting, but what's dat got to do wit magnets?"

"Oh. Not magnets, magnetic fields. My dad thinks they're made out of space, or gravity." Jessie almost laughed at his expression.

"Let me," Sofie interrupted seeing the conversation going nowhere. "What I learned is that gravity is space that flows like water and their invention is like a boat propeller"

"Oh," Eugene answered not looking convinced. "but eet seems so simple, so why ees it not already been done?"

"The hard part was finding the right size and shape to make the propellers," Jessie answered.

"So how did your dad figure it ou..." Sofie started asking then her face lit up. "It's the colors!"

Trying to ignore her, Jessie returned her attention to smoothing the already smoothed blanket.

Tapping Jessie on the shoulder Sofie said again. "You see them in colors, don't you?"

"Yes, but don't tell my dad! He just thinks we got lucky." Jessie pleaded.

"I won't. But do you actually see the propellers floating in space?" she asked, staring up at the light floating above them.

"Propellers?" Eugene asked wonderingly while pulling the floating light down to run his hand around it. "I do not feel anything move," he turned it over and let it float back up.

"No Eugene," Sofie said, "You can't feel anything, other than gravity" then looking at Jessie she asked, "But he does have a point, why don't we feel anything, even a little bit of pull or push?"

Putting the bug down, Jessie turned to them. "It only works when we point the propellers in the direction of the flow, kind of like a windmill."

"I don't geet it," Eugene frowned. "You can't use a windmill to fly a plane."

Shaking her head, Jessie answered. "Gravity seems to work differently, don't ask me why."

Narrowing her eyes, Sofie stared at Jessie. "But you can see it, can't you?"

"Well... kind of. I can see when the electronics are right and when I look at the blankets just right, I can see."

"See what?" Eugene leaned in staring intently at her. The look was not normal for him and made Jessie nervous. He always seemed to just accept all the weird floating and flying contraptions without question. "Nothing really, just a little bit of a glow," she turned back to the bug and began working on the bug to release the tension.

Sofie and Eugene stood in awkward silence watching Jessie perform the delicate work of soldering the wires of the control box to the blanket's microfibers. "So, you guys seeem a leetle sad. Is dere anyting I can do?" Another thing Sofie liked about Eugene was his accent. Jessie said he sounded like a bad actor from a bad sitcom, Sofie thought he sounded European. She often wondered about him, he looked young enough to be in high school, but worked all day and never talked about himself or his parents. She felt sorry for him thinking he was probably orphaned, or maybe abandoned and forced to live on his own.

With Jessie concentrating on her work, Sofie tried being coy with Eugene, "we were just wondering where they were keeping those new gravity inductors." It kind of sounded coy.

Eugene raised a crooked eyebrow. "You mean dose blue doodads dat look like spiders? I saw Mr. McCoughe carry a box of dem into dat storage area on dee second floor yesterday. Why what's up wit dem?"

"Nothing really, we were just wondering," Sofie began hesitantly.

"There you go." Jessie interrupted, letting go of the carved bug. They all watched the glowing insect float to a rest near the ceiling.

"That is creepy," Sofie said.

"Thankee Jessie," Eugene grinned as he reached up to give it a nudge. It wobbled a bit but remained lit side down. He pushed pulled tapped and yanked until he was satisfied it was stable. "It work perfect. Does you think you teach me how to add dee blanket myself?"

Giving a sour look, Jessie nodded. "You mean you're going to make more of these?"

"Ya, I was worried dat dee size and shape would balance wrong. Well, now dat I know it OK; I can be making some more of dees lights." Stowing the bug under his arm he ran out the door.

"Jess, he said he saw your dad put a box of gravity inductors in that empty room on the second floor," Sofie whispered after closing the door behind Eugene.

"I heard."

Sofie gave her a long look. "You heard? For a whole year you really heard me when you were concentrating on your work, but ignoring me? For a whole year!"

Shaking her head, Jessie quietly answered. "I don't know. It's just that lately I've been getting better at doing things, I don't seem to need to concentrate as hard anymore." She actually never realized she shut out the world when she worked, until recently. Now she was aware of everything, even more so, as though there were two separate parts of her mind.

"I think we need a plan," Jessie changed the subject not liking to talk about herself.

"For what?"

"To get an inductor out of that storeroom."

"Well why don't we just go to the storeroom and take one?"

"Is that the plan? Just take one?" Jessie expected more.

"The door might be locked." Sofie picked up her backpack, paused then put it back down before heading out the door.

Popping open a hidden panel on the side of her workbench, Jessie pulled out some odd-looking devices. After shoving the last one in her backpack she said, "OK, I'm ready," but the room was empty, and she hurried out after Sofie.

The short corridor outside their lab ended in an open area to their left, which was once the heart of the building when it was an old mill. Faded lines on the floor hinted at its history as a school gym that was later used as a warehouse. Turning to their right, they entered the first of the building's additions. It was made mostly of red brick as it was once a red brick schoolhouse. The corridor they followed stretched the length of the school section where they passed many locked wooden doors hiding unused and unexplored rooms. Open double doors led to the buildings third and newest addition. This section wasn't much different from the others as it still looked and felt old, except it wasn't made with stone or brick but of large wooden beams and thick pine planking. It always felt warm to Jessie, much warmer than their stone lab.

"Hi kids." Stan Jansen, one of the companies' engineers waved as he floated past in a chair suspended from a grid-work of PVC tubing and floating panels. A laptop and a mass of electronics sat on a table suspended in front of him.

"Hi Stan," they curiously watched as his 'vehicle' slowed to a stop a short way past them.

"Mind giving me a push?" he asked over his shoulder. "There seems to be something wrong with the drive control program," he mumbled as he leaned over his laptop.

Jessie and Sofie looked at each other then walked down the hall to help.

"Program crashed," they heard him mutter. "Ahhh, single equal sign in an 'if' statement, it always gets me... there... just need to rebuild."

The girls gave him a push and his contraption slid forward, and as his application restarted, the floating chair jerked to a stop, then after a few more seconds it sputtered forward, making Stan and his table sway like a porch swing. Scratching his full head of gray hair, he stared at his laptop expectantly. "Just finishing its initialization..."

Then without warning, the chair, Stan, and his table shot down the hall, bouncing back and forth off the walls. Forgetting about his laptop Stan held on to his chair with both hands screaming like a little girl. The hallway stretched the length of the addition, and when Stan was halfway down it... his floating experiment began spinning wildly making his scream pitch a bit higher.

Before the girls could move, Eugene sprinted by, seemingly coming out of nowhere. At the speed he ran it looked like he would easily catch Stan before running out of hallway, but unfortunately, that wasn't needed as Stan's flying workstation decided to change direction and speed back in their direction. Sofie yelled a warning but Jessie knew it was too late and she squeamishly covered her face with her hands waiting for the impact.

Instead of being hit, she felt herself being gently tackled. Falling backward, she looked up to see Stan's flying office pass inches above her face as she landed gently on the floor; her head cradled by Eugene's hand. Before she could thank him, he was back on his feet running after Stan again; this time Stan did run out of hallway. Sofie was halfway to the crash site by the time Jessie regained her feet as Eugene was already untangling Stan from the mess of cables and broken equipment.

"Are you OK?" Sofie asked as Eugene held a rag to a cut on Stan's head.

"It looks like my drive control was a little unstable. Fixing that programming error exposed a problem in my control box." Stan said mostly to himself as he pulled his still working laptop out of the tangle of electronics.

"Do you need any help?" Jessie gingerly reached out to help untangle some of the mess.

"Don't worree girls, I clean tings up." Eugene replied. Being the building's handyman also meant he was the janitor and a part-time paramedic.

Jessie eyed Eugene. "Say, where did you come from anyway? I thought you went back in your workshop to make more of those bugs."

"Huh? Well, ah, I was jeest heading to catch up with you. I... ah... was ah... I find your school ID in my workshop. It must fall out of your backpack. I was jeest trying to return it." Eugene fumbled in his shirt pocket pulling out her plastic school ID card.

"Oh!?" Jessie exclaimed slipping off her backpack. "It should be right here!" she unzipped a small compartment on the side and stuck her hand in it. Confused and slightly embarrassed, she grabbed it and shoved it back in the pocket zipping it up tight. "Um, thanks Eugene."

"You are welcome," he replied. "You guys go do what you do, I help here," he turned back to Stan.

Jessie didn't move as something didn't seem right about his answer. She wanted to ask more questions when Sofie grabbed her arm and pulled her through the stairwell door.

"C'mon, we don't have a lot of time. All that commotion will have created a distraction." Sofie urged after the door closed behind them.

"I was just wondering how Eugene got my badge." Jessie followed Sofie up the stairs. "I know I used it at the school library today, and I wasn't in his workshop."

"Oh, maybe he found it in the hallway. You know how he gets things confused." Sofie brushed off Jessie's concern. Opening the door to the second floor she took a quick look. "It's all clear."

As they entered the corridor Jessie spied a maintenance closet. "Wait a sec," she slipped inside. A few moments later she returned to Sofie's questioning look. "We're good," she pointed at the security cameras hanging from the hallway walls and ceiling. Sofie then pulled her down the hall by the front of her backpack strap.

Doors... evenly spaced lined the left wall, but there was only one door on the right, midway down the hall; the door to the storage room. Sofie tried it and found it locked, as expected. "OK Jess, your turn," she stepped away. Like most of the doors in the building leading to 'secure' areas, this one also had a small black rectangular card reader next to it.

Jessie fumbled in her backpack and pulled out one of the devices she took from her desk. In a few seconds, she had placed a small wire cage over the reader while holding a plastic box melded with an old iPod.

"Who should we use?" she asked sliding her finger up and down its screen.

"We shouldn't use our dads anymore. I think they're getting on to us." Sofie replied. "What about Olivia? She has access everywhere."

"Aw, I don't want to get her into trouble. She's so nice to us, and I like her" Jessie was already thumbing up her name on the screen. A second later, the door lock clicked, and they slipped in... not feeling too guilty about using her name.

Surprisingly, this was one of the few rooms they were never in, and it wasn't what they expected. It was an ancient large stone and red brick room stretching the length of the school addition. Aisles of wooden shelves stretched away on both sides, lit only by scattered light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. A large metal door covered the stone wall at the room's back.

"Wow, look at all this old junk." Sofie wrinkled her nose at the musty smell.

"Where do we look?" Jessie asked running down one of the poorly lit aisles. The shelves were full of old cartons, wooden boxes, bins, tools and other old stuff.

"Not here, everything's covered in dust. Nobody's been in these aisles for ages," Sofie observed.

"Oh," Jessie ran her finger over a dust-covered box feeling stupid she didn't see that herself... half wishing her ability with electronics was 'real' so she could be smarter than Sofie, or at least as smart.

Silently they walked the length of the room to the large metal door. It was big, bigger than they thought hanging from a metal track bolted to the ceiling. Sofie gave its oversized latch a pull "Locked. No card scanner here," she stated the obvious. The ancient door still had its original key lock. "OK Houdini, do you have anything in that bag of tricks of yours to open this thing?"

Jessie gave a confused look, "Houdini? What's a Houdini?"

"Never mind, do you have any ideas?"

Reaching into her backpack, Jessie pulled out another device. This one was larger, made up of a box with a high-definition video display and a video game controller attached at its bottom. Reaching into her pack again she pulled out a long cable ending in thin tassels made of the shiny silvery strips of the anti-gravity blanket.

Handing the tasseled end to Sofie she connected the cable to the device and activated it. Immediately, the tassels sprang to life, sticking straight outward... quivering. To Jessie's instructions, Sofie gently slipped them into the keyhole and held them in place. While chewing on her tongue, Jessie worked the controller as she concentrated on the view screen.

After some minutes of struggling with the controls, and Sofie wrestling with the wriggling cable end, Sofie couldn't take it anymore. "Here, give it to me. We don't have all day."

Stubbornly, Jessie held on trying to ignore Sofie's glare. After a few more moments she finally gave in and reluctantly handed it over while taking the tasseled end. Before Jessie could complain about not being given enough time, the lock clicked.

An extremely annoyed Jessie took the device back from Sofie who wore a self-satisfied smile. She had worked it so easily, without even seeing her lock picker before! While stuffing it in back her pack, Sofie leaned into the door handle and slid the heavy door open.

The room behind the door was dark. If Jessie would have thought about it, she would have wondered why the light from the bulb hanging above their heads didn't penetrate the darkness. Instead, she flipped her backpack over her shoulder and stepped in.

Blackness swallowed her as the floor gave out, and she fell into a dark pit. Her yells for help caught in her throat as her fall stopped short. Almost immediately, she felt her feet being pulled outward while she slowly twisted. Looking up she couldn't see the storeroom anymore. Fear filled her along with a strange sense of dread. Taking a deep breath, her panic eased as she realized her backpack had hooked on something and was keeping her from being pulled in any further.

"Jessie! Where are you?" Sofie's voice came out of the darkness above. It temporarily pushed back the feeling of dread as though Sofie's voice scared it away.

"Don't come in... HELP," Jessie yelled back. She tried reaching behind for the strap of her backpack but without luck.

"What's going on?" Sofie sounded frantic.

Before Jessie could respond she felt the sense of dread return, stronger this time. It felt as though there was substance to it as it pulled her legs with more force.

"Pull me out! Grab my backpack! Hurry!" Jessie yelled hoping Sofie could hear.

"I got it!" Sofie's voice sounded muffled as though being covered up. The dread DID have substance and now filled the space around her, seeming to make the darkness even darker. Feeling a tugging on her backpack she reached behind with as much force as she could, and this time grabbed the strap.

Pulling with all her strength Jessie felt the dread increase its resistance as though sensing her efforts. A deep voice then came out of the darkness calling her name, calling for her to let go. "PULL!" she yelled as blind fear filled her, more for herself than for Sofie. Without warning, the darkness released its grip and she found herself flying up and out, tumbling to the floor with Sofie.

"Heyee kids! What ees dees?" Eugene ran up from the room's entrance.

"That room, it's empty, full of darkness," Jessie gasped looking up at him while pointing at the darkened room. "No, don't go in there," she yelled seeing him step into it.

"What's going on?" Olivia Conrad, the company's VP of marketing came running.

Jessie ignored her as she untangled herself from Sofie. "Eugene! He's lost in there. We need to get him out!" she scrambled to her feet. But before she could take a step, Olivia stepped between her and the door grabbing hold of her shoulders.

"Are you OK?" She said ignoring Jessie's pleading.

"I've got to get to Eugene! He'll be swallowed up!" Jessie tried shaking loose but Olivia's grip was too strong. Looking around Olivia's plump frame she was surprised to see the room was no longer a black hole and was now lit by the bare light bulb.

Eugene was bent over picking something up. Standing, he spotted her staring at him, then giving her an awkward smile he slipped a small black stone rod underneath his shirt. "Ah, I do no see nothing wrong here," he stepped out of the room. "Are you girls OK?" he helped Sofie to her feet as she smiled at him. Jessie could have sworn she was blushing.

"Thank you, Eugene, I'll take care of things here. You go back and finish helping Stan," Olivia barked over Jessie's shoulder.

Jessie felt herself begin to shake. "It was horrible... darkness... hate... evil all around me... pulling at me. It was calling my name," she recalled between deep breaths as her memory returned.

Wrapping Jessie in a hug, Olivia stroked her hair. "It's OK Jessie. Perhaps you just bumped your head." After a few moments, Jessie gently pulled out of Olivia's hold. "I'm OK. Maybe you're right. I could have bumped my head. Maybe I was dreaming," she sniffled, though she didn't believe a bit of what she told her. It was real! And she knew it. She also knew Olivia wouldn't believe her and there would be no convincing her. It was something she would need to figure out on her own.

"If you girls are OK, I need to get back to our investor meeting. I'll have Eugene clean things up here once he's done with Stan... now get," Olivia ended with a friendly slap to Jessie's backside.

Once alone in the corridor, Jessie stopped and looked at Sofie. "What did you see?"

"Nothing, I mean nothing," Sofie replied seriously. "It wasn't just dark... it was like looking down a deep hole... and..."

"And what?"

"It was just... you know when you open a hot oven door? When you get a blast of heat in your face? It felt like that, except it wasn't heat, it felt... well, rotten, evil. It was horrible," Sofie shuddered recalling the event. "So, what happened to you?"

"It was like being _inside_ that oven."

"I think we need to tell our dads... they need to know." Sofie decided.

"Well I don't know," Jessie said slowly. "It's kind of like my being able to look at electronics. You know that color thing. I never told anybody cause... well, nobody would believe me."

"I believe you. So, you don't think our dads would believe us?" her disappointment hit Jessie hard.

"They would listen, and maybe even say they believe us. But what would they do about it?" Jessie looked down.

"I guess you're right. Anyway, we'd have to explain why we were there in the first place." Sofie grudgingly agreed.

After a pause, Jessie hesitantly said, "I saw Eugene pick something up from that room when he thought we weren't looking." Her suspicion of him showed in her voice. "He shoved it in his shirt. I looked like a black pointy stick or something."

"Do you think he had something to do with... that?"

"There's something about Eugene I don't like."

"I'm not convinced. I can't believe he could do something bad," Sofie defended. "I don't think he's smart enough... and he isn't evil."

Jessie considered for a moment before reluctantly nodding in agreement. "You've got a point. He sure isn't smart enough."

"When Olivia was talking with you, I went in there to look for the gravity inductor. All I found was this." Sofie handed Jessie a folded sheet of paper.

"What does '8x, -3y, 3z' mean?" she read the paper with Jessie.

"They're coordinates," Jessie said. "My dad used to help me with math by giving me x/y/z coordinates, to find things... like a scavenger hunt." She was too embarrassed to say he did it because she was flunking math. "It was probably left there from when he was helping me. Did you find anything else?"

"I didn't see anything. That room was totally empty except for a box on a shelf where I found these coordinates." Sofie thought a second. "The box was blue, and..."

"And what?"

"The word 'WELCOME' was written on the top of it. I remember thinking it was kind of odd."

"It is odd," Jessie agreed.

"You know the new front entrance they just finished remodeling?" Sofie thought. "There's a big carved WELCOME sign there."

Seeing what Sofie was getting at Jessie said, "If those coordinates are a clue, I suppose that means we have a starting point. But I still don't think they're going to help cause we don't know what directions x, y and z are."

Sofie looked at Jessie. "We can figure it out. Maybe what we need to know is in the lobby."

Jessie grinned as color returned to her face sensing a new adventure. "Well, let's go."

Running through the maze of corridors of the oddly eclectic building, they made their way to the front lobby. The building had a long history; many years past it began as a grain mill built next to a pond. Later it was abandoned as more modern flour mills put it out of business. Over the next few decades, it became a general store, an inn and then a school where its first addition was built. In the heart of the depression a new school in town left this building abandoned yet again. It wasn't until after the economy improved that its final inhabitant moved in, a textile mill. During that time there were multiple renovations and additions as the business prospered but a new automated textile plant outside of town put this one out of business, leaving it empty for the last time. It remained empty for the last ten years until Jessie's dad discovered it, he fell in love with it and it was now the home of their new anti-gravity business, 'GraviTych'.

"What brings you girls up here?" Bea Sanders, a middle-aged receptionist looked up from her book. She didn't get many visitors.

"Oh, a Scavenger Hunt" Sofie answered rushing past her to the lobby's center where she turned in circles. The newly remodeled lobby was in the building's southeast corner. It was once the textile mill's receiving dock. Its large receiving doors were replaced with floor to ceiling glass panels and entrance doors. Bea sat behind an enormous wooden reception desk made from those very doors. A modern couch and chairs surrounded a heavy coffee table near the front of the reception area.

"There's the sign," Sofie pointed to a carved wooden plaque floating behind the couch. Jessie jumped on the couch for a closer look.

Bea looked over her reading glasses. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Did my dad leave anything? Like a sheet of paper or something?" Jessie asked. Bea knew everything that went on in the company; specializing in gossip.

"No, nothing," she answered and went back to her reading as she concluded there was nothing of interest, leaving the kids free to explore.

"I don't know about you, but these carvings give me the creeps." Jessie hopped down from the couch and sat, looking up at the heads of animals and mythical creatures carved into the beams. She shuddered looking at them, just like she did with Eugene's bug.

"That must be Eugene's work," Sofie stared at the carvings stretching to the ceiling, three stories above. Even the cross beams were carved with flying creatures. "I heard he did all this in a week."

"Ugh, it still creeps me out. They look like sick totem poles." It seemed to Jessie that everything Eugene did creeped her out.

Sofie sat next to Jessie surveying the lobby until her eyes rested on 4 large easels across from them. Jessie followed her stare. The easels held artist's rendering of the remodeled building, along with three sets of floor plan drawings, one for each of the floors of the oddly architected structure. They stumbled over each other trying to be the first to reach them.

"Look!" Sofie pointed to the floor numbers printed on each drawing.

"Bingo!" Jessie pointed to the 'You are here' symbol on the first floor's plan.

"Let's see, 8x, -3y, 3z, we have 'z' and an origin." Sofie said thoughtfully, "What about 'x' and 'y'?"

"No, not another math problem," Jessie groaned.

"We have our directions," Sofie pointed to a compass symbol on the artist's rendering that lined up perfectly with the building's dimensions. "If we start in the lobby and head back, in the minus direction... hmmm, I don't see how -3 would match up with anything," she traced her finger on the floor plan.

With the equation fresh in her mind Jessie looked at the floor plans and immediately pointed to a room on the third-floor drawing.

"Huh?" Sofie looked up from staring at the first floor's map. "Oh, you're right, it is the third floor." Then looking hard at Jessie, she asked, "How do you know? We haven't even figured out the units of measure... oh my, the colors again. You can see the equation in colors, can't you?"

"Well, not real colors, I just kinda see... well, when I look at that room it turns white," she blushed.

"Isn't that your dad's new office?" Sofie whispered not wanting Bea to overhear.

Jessie nodded. "I don't think they moved in yet."

The third floor was still being renovated. Their dads had reserved the prime third-floor corner offices overlooking the old mill pond behind the building.

#####

"It's empty," Jessie whispered after closing her dad's office door behind her.

"Bea said they were in a meeting. Let's just go in and get it," Sofie gave her a push.

"I still think this is fishy," Jessie stood firm. "It just doesn't make sense. Why else would my dad leave us clues, unless this was a trap?"

"He's just playing a game with you, just like all those other coordinate games. I'm sure it's OK," Sofie tried again to push her in.

"It still doesn't make sense. It was Eugene who told us about the storeroom, and he just _happened_ to see my dad go in there?" The more Jessie thought about it, the more it seemed wrong. Despite her apprehension she turned back to the door and opened it, this time letting Sofie push her in.

Even though it was late afternoon, the office was dark. It was on the north side of the building and the blinds were shut. In front of the windows a large desk faced them and to their right, a small round table was surrounded by office chairs. They headed straight for the desk.

"Looking for something?" A familiar voice came from a darkened doorway on their left.

Sofie jumped, letting out a small squeal.

Jessie turned and stomped her foot, "Dad!" She recognized the voice immediately, "oh, and hi Mr. Matteson," she added after seeing another tall shadowy figure coming out from behind her dad. Clay Matteson was Sofie's dad.

Knowing they were caught red-handed the girls dejectedly sat down in two chairs conveniently placed in front of the desk. Alec took his place behind the desk as Clay opened the blinds before leaning on a credenza in front of the windows. After an uncomfortable silence, Alec opened his desk drawer and pulled out a small blue ceramic ball with 6 evenly spaced wires poking out its sides. "Is this what you're looking for?" He held the gravity inductor temptingly in front of them. Jessie made a grab for it and he pulled it away. Sofie looked in disbelief at Jessie's brazenness.

"Not so fast," Alec seemed to enjoy the moment. "I think it's about time you tell us how you've been getting into every part of this building."

Jessie shifted uncomfortably... she's been having a bad feeling that this would happen someday. She had never been a good liar and had sensed her dad's suspicions for a while now. It was just that they didn't like being locked out of parts of the building; and there were just too many neat things going on.

After another uncomfortable silence Alec said. "Hand them over," he tapped his finger on his desk.

"Hand what over?" Jessie responded dryly. She worked hard on her secret gadgets. She crossed her arms. As she watched her dad's tapping his finger, she didn't notice Sofie looking imploringly at her, as Sofie was likely in more trouble with _her_ dad and Jessie's attitude wasn't helping matters.

"Ouch, what did you do that for?" Jessie rubbed her ankle looking up at Sofie. She was lucky Sofie was wearing sneakers.

"Give it to him," she whispered. Jessie then saw her glance nervously at her dad and realized for the first time Sofie was in real trouble. Reluctantly, she reached into her backpack and pulled out one of her devices and put it on the desk in front of her dads tapping finger.

"Ahem," he continued tapping.

This time Jessie did notice Sofie's look, and not wanting another kick, she pulled out the second device.

With a smile, Alec picked up the nearest one and held it up. Clay leaned over his shoulder to get a better look, "My old iPod?"

"Is this how you've been getting access to restricted areas?" Clay glared at Sofie.

"Yes," Sofie responded while meekly giving Jessie a pleading look.

Alec and Clay waited silently.

Jessie, feeling the pressure and sensing another kick, started talking "I found your old iPod in the junk drawer at home, and figured I could use it to store everyone's card data." She saw Sofie's relieved look and was relieved herself at avoiding another kick. "We just need to get close to somebody's access card to read it. I think we've got everybody's, even the security guards."

"How did you learn to build this?" Alec asked.

"Well, I just came up with the idea; one of the engineers helped me build it. He used to work for a security company and was able to get hold of the reader and a card antenna. I told him it was a project for school." Jessie was a little embarrassed that she didn't build it herself; especially once she saw how easy it was.

"You have all of our information in here?" Clay reached around Alec, and after fiddling with the iPod he watched the names of their employees scroll down its screen. He frowned in disappointment and Alec nodded.

"What about this mess?" Alec turned his attention to the tassel of gravity blanket material attached to the box with the video screen and game controller.

"I just finished it," Jessie began, "it seems Sofie is the only who can work it," she grumbled.

Sofie winced at the remark that caused her dad's attention to return to her.

"I used our 3D electromagnetic field detector design so we could view magnetic fields created by this," Jessie picked up the tasseled end of the cable. The blanket strips were not connected directly to the cable but to a small round magnet. "It lets us see inside a door lock," she pointed to the small LCD screen. "We control the strips of blanket with this," she added, tapping the controller as the tassels came to life.

Staring at her with a blank expression, Alec nodded with a grunt.

"I had a little help," she said referring to her dad's engineers. "I talked them into it. I told them it was for another school project."

"Don't worry, they won't get in any trouble," Alec leaned back while Clay resumed his earlier pose leaning on the credenza. They sat in silence for a painful couple of minutes.

"Can I have the gravity inductor now?" Jessie broke the silence.

Alec looked back at Clay who shook his head negatively. Turning back to the girls, he opened his laptop and turned it, so the screen faced them. On it was a video from a security camera showing the second-floor corridor.

Jessie and Sofie looked at each other, then curiously back at Alec. He hit a couple of keys and the scene changed showing Jessie and Sofie step into the hallway from the stairwell door. Jessie then slipped into the maintenance room and a few seconds later, Sofie disappeared followed by the maintenance door opening and closing, as though by a ghost.

After hitting a few more keys, the scene changed showing Eugene first, then Olivia, enter the hallway from the same stairwell door to run towards the camera and disappear from view below it.

"What about this?" Alec asked.

Clay leaned on the side of the desk seeing the video for the first time. At first, he looked confused, then angry, "girls?"

Jessie crossed her arms again not wanting to give away her last secret. Sofie looked at her dad and shook her head, indicating she didn't know.

" _Jessie_."

Startled at his tone, she looked up at her dad. She hadn't heard it often and decided that she didn't want to hear it again. "It's sort of like a digital video recorder. I can analyze the picture and erase whatever it is I don't want recorded," she said dejectedly.

"Let me get this straight, you can intercept the feed from the cameras. Then erase images while leaving the background in place, in real time with this?" Alec pulled out a small black box from his lower desk drawer. It was lined with old connectors on its side.

Jessie became even more dejected realizing she had forgotten to remove it after their incident in the storage room, "yes," she said meekly.

"Did anyone help you with this?"

"No one but me knows about it, at least until now," her head hung crestfallen.

Alec grinned from ear to ear. All pretense of hiding his delight at her accomplishments was gone. He couldn't remember being more proud of his daughter, other than when they invented the anti-gravity box. He set the gravity inductor down in front of her and she didn't hesitate to grab the blue marble sized ball. Grabbing her backpack, she flew out of her chair and out the door. Sofie hesitated, but a nod from her dad was all she needed to race after her friend.

"Well I guess we better get back," Alec said sadly. It felt great to get a reprieve from that day-long meeting. Then seeing the sour look on his friend's face, he added, "Don't be so hard on Sofie, it looked like most of the damage was done by Jessie."

"I know Jessie did the technical stuff but don't believe for a minute that Sofie wasn't behind her; pushing her every minute." Clay growled.

"Yeah, they make a pretty good team, don't they?" Alec grinned at his friend of 30 years. Clay turned to the door as Alec thought he saw Clay's scowl turn into a grin just before looking away.

"Wait, what about those?" Clay stopped in the middle of the office doorway pointing back to the desk. Alec stumbled nearly running him over before looking back at Jessie's 'school projects' still sitting on his desk. "I guess I should take them with me, they just might not be here when we get back."

### CHAPTER 2 – NO SALE

Alec sat in the conference room staring out the window wishing he could be helping Jessie and Sofie with that new gravity inductor. He didn't know what they were up to, but it would be a heck of a lot more fun than this investor meeting. With an effort he returned his attention back to the meeting. Sitting on the side of the extra-large conference table giving him a good view of the pond was his only pleasant distraction. Also sitting on his side of a table was his company's executive team of Clay as President, Cleveland Jowers their financial officer and Olivia. Their investors sat on the other side and even though he'd met them many times before, their names always seemed to escape him.

"And now with our upcoming Anti-Gravity Exposition, we'll be introducing our products to the transportation industry. And with that, we'll see our product used by millions, maybe more, of everyday transportation services. That means cars, trucks, trains, planes, buses; the world will be our oyster."

Alec listened to the end of Olivia's presentation. She didn't look much like a marketing VP, at least what Alec thought one should look like; she looked... well, average. She was middle-aged, average height, a little overweight with specks of gray in her sandy hair. She had, like always, presented a promising future, but in reality, business was bad. She had been hired with the expectation of managing the company's image but was now fighting for their very survival. Every company they attempted to partner with couldn't wait to get started, but contracts were never finalized, 'legal complications' were all they said before never being heard from again.

A new approach was needed. If they could get some larger corporations in a room together, then competition, along with their nearly unlimited resources might be the key to overcoming those 'legal complications'. That was the hope for their Expo.

After showing the investors out, they grouped up again in the conference room. Olivia started the planning for the Gravity Expo, but as usual, it didn't take long before she and Cleveland began arguing about the kind of legal issues that could possibly prevent the use of anti-gravity.

Alec leaned over to Clay and whispered, "I still think it's me."

"This problem is way too big, even for your bad luck," Clay chuckled. Alec grew up with Clay. Clay was one of those guys that made everything look easy. Alec, on the other hand didn't have that golden touch, he managed to turn every opportunity he'd been offered into a disaster.

"I don't know, that energy reclamation company fiasco was up there," Alec recalled the time he left a decent well-paying job to run an engineering department of a promising startup. It ended up being sold leaving him out of work. He considered himself lucky when he was offered a junior engineering position at one of his former companies; with less pay, fewer benefits and no vacation.

"If it is you, I'd say it's about time we changed your luck," Clay got up and strolled over to the corner where Alec's original anti-gravity box floated. It changed little other than it no longer had an external power supply; now that it generated its own meager power. Clay gave its corner a push to start it spinning before turning toward the windows. "Hey, what do you think those kids are up to?"

Olivia and Cleveland halted their conversation and joined him. The view was brilliant with the late afternoon sun glistening off the mill pond and the trees beyond turning to their fall colors. It was one of those perfect fall days. On the grass next to the pond, Jessie and Sofie played with a drone. It looked innocent enough, but Alec had a feeling there was more to it than that.

"What do you think they did with that gravity inductor?" Alec whispered to Clay not wanting Olivia or Cleveland to hear. Those prototypes cost thousands of dollars apiece, and they wouldn't be too happy to hear that they gave one to the kids to play with.

Sofie, wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a T-shirt, operated the remote. Jessie, still wearing her blue lab coat, stood on the far side of the pond having just released a small drone now flying high above them.

Alec watched Sofie bring it to a hover over the pond. A questioning grunt from Cleveland mirrored Alec's interest as the smooth surface of the pond ballooned upwards. The room went silent as a spout of water shot up stopping just below the drone. As the lower section of the column of water broke off spilling back into the pond, the upper portion spiraled upwards, like a snake curling in on itself to form an enormous ball of water suspended just a few feet below the drone.

The tension in the room subsided with an appreciative grunt from Cleveland. Alec stepped away from the window grinning at Clay, "Not bad" he started when Clay motioned him back. He returned in time to see Jessie and Sofie wrestling for control of the remote.

#####

Moments Earlier at the Pond

"Hey, it's my turn" Jessie yelled while running around the pond to where Sofie was standing. It had been fun watching the gravity inductor work like she thought it would, but after all the design and work building it, she wanted her chance to operate it. Her frustration with Sofie always being the one to operate everything had been building for some time now.

"Just wait a sec," Sofie brushed her off as she focused on the drone still hovering over the pond.

Jessie stomped her foot, "No! Let me!"

Sofie ignored her.

That was the last straw, as Jessie reached for the remote but Sofie's grip was tighter than she thought.

"Let... go..." Jessie pulled.

"Just wait, I'll let you have it when I think you're ready." Sofie pulled back.

With Jessie refusing to let go, Sofie pulled sideways setting them spinning.

"I'm ready NOW!" Jessie growled.

"I'd trust Stan before I'd trust you with this," Sofie retorted.

The picture of Stan and his contraption spiraling down the hallway came to Jessie. With everything that's been going on, she had forgotten about how ridiculous he looked. She started giggling at the thought. "eeeeeyyyyeee"

"Wha???" Sofie questioned before realizing Jessie was mimicking Stan's scream. She laughed. "eyeyeyeye" She responded with her own impersonation. Then realizing how foolish she was acting, she let go.

Jessie held the remote over her head in victory.

#####

The room's response to Jessie's win was mixed. Of course, Alec cheered, then noticed Clay's frown and guessed he may have been more upset with Sofie's shenanigans than losing to Jessie. Olivia applauded while Cleveland gave one of his patented and overused grunts.

The room went silent as one by one they noticed the drone, still holding the enormous ball of water, hovering directly over the kids. What happened next took only a few seconds. With Jessie holding the remote over her head, both girls looked up at the same time to see the water hovering dangerously above. Unfortunately for them, it was Sofie who first realized their danger and instinctively made a grab for the remote. Little did she know was that during their short tussle, Jessie's thumb worked its way over the 'X' button. Her reaction to Sofie's reach was all it took.

The outburst in the conference room was instantaneous. They roared with laughter watching a soaking wet Sofie chase a soaking wet Jessie back into the building, leaving the drone flying in a slow, out of control upwards spiral.

"Let's get back to work," Cleveland said still chuckling as he settled his large frame into one of the chairs as he dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief before stuffing it back in his vest pocket.

Taking a step toward the table, Alec remembered the drone and turned back to the window in time to see Eugene running out the back door of the old mill section stopping at the pond; remote in hand.

"Where did he get that remote?" Clay asked, noticing the original remote wet on the ground.

"The drone only came with only one," Alec said.

"Eugene's a pretty good building super, but he really doesn't understand technical things. He probably just grabbed any remote thinking that it would work."

Craning his neck to look upwards at the still out of control drone, Alec wondered how Eugene could be so unaware his labors were futile.

As Clay returned to the table, a flash of light caught Alec's attention. Looking up he caught sight of a small sun-like orb diminishing in size until it was nothing but a bright speck, hovering a moment before winking out.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Alec wondered at what he just saw. After opening them again, the sky was clear, and Eugene was gone.

"SIT!" Olivia commanded. He looked around and found he was the only one left standing and he sheepishly shuffled over to sit next to Clay.

"What we just saw was totally new, wasn't it?" She glared at him for a few more moments.

Alec assumed she was referring to the water incident, and that no one else saw the explosion, or whatever it was.

"I've learned enough to know that that was not the effects of the gravity blanket." She paused to examine each of their reactions; focusing mostly on Alec. Not satisfied with his dumb look, she tried another tactic. "I know you are well aware of the cost of those gravity inductors."

The gravity inductors were built on an entirely different concept from the box and blanket. The box worked by redirecting the flow of space. The gravity inductor was able to change the shape of space, allowing it to create bubbles of calm space. This was Alec's idea, theory and design. And for reasons he didn't understand, he was hesitant to tell anyone else about it, even Jessie.

Olivia now stared only at him. He looked impishly back and said. "It was Clay's idea."

Clay joined Olivia's glare. They all knew whose idea it was, Alec just grinned.

"We have dozens of the best engineers in the world. Shouldn't the gravity inductors be reserved for them?" Olivia scolded.

Finally, Clay stepped up to Alec's defense. "You know that was impressive, that ball of water. I would have never thought of that, would you?" he asked. "And you know as well as me, those gravity inductors are prototypes. Once we produce in volume their costs will go down."

Acknowledging she lost the argument, Olivia gave a tight-lipped smile and gathered up her materials.

#####

"Hi, Meester MeeCuf. Hi, Meester Matteeson," Eugene said mopping the wet hallway floor between the back exit and the ladies' room that also connected the old and new mill sections.

"Quite a mess... eh Eugene?" Alec gave him a curious look.

"Ya, dat was quite a dumping of water. I theenk the girls are steeel in the bathroom drying off," Eugene leaned on the mop.

"I was referring to the drone."

"Oooo dat. It seems dat I grabbed de wrong remote," Eugene wrung out the mop. "It look like der must have been a short circuit or sometheeeng. Dat was some blast."

Alec didn't respond as Eugene went back to mopping. Perhaps that was an explosion. The gravity inductor was just a crazy idea, and unlike the blanket, it didn't, or couldn't generate as much electricity; surely not enough to cause that size of an explosion. Except that it wasn't an explosion, it was more like a reverse explosion. Blinking into existence at its full size and then shrinking down to nothing. It didn't make sense, only the blanket could generate enough power to make that size of an explosion, and as far as he knew, nobody else, not even Jessie knew how much power the blanket could generate; unless she figured it out. He decided he'd have to ask her, but once he did, it wouldn't be long before she'd figure it out for herself.

"Alec" Clay interrupted him from his thoughts. "You're holding out on me, aren't you?"

"Like what?" Alec answered, surprised by his question.

"There's more to this technology than you're letting on."

He looked at Clay as though for the first time. He'd been keeping his side research pretty close to his chest, doing it only during weekends and after work.

"What makes you say that?" Alec was curious about Clay's suspicion, was there a spy?

"I've been going over our books and expenditures for our meeting with the investors." Clay answered Alec's unasked question. "I noticed you've been ordering some... well, odd items. Don't worry, I didn't tell anyone. As a matter of fact, I made a few 'corrections' to the books." he added after seeing Alec's concern.

"Thanks," Alec said, then after some thought added. "You know Clay, I trust you with my life. But I don't trust business in general. Companies can be taken over; patents can disappear, and ideas can be stolen. I've had bad luck in the past and if anything would ever happen to GraviTych, I just want to make sure we have something to fall back on."

Clay nodded, "I thought as much." After a few moments of silence, he carefully asked. "You don't have to answer, but what kind of things have you been working on?"

Alec leaned against the wall and crossed his arms before finally deciding to tell him. "I've had a few ideas other than the gravity inductor, like how to generate a bit more power from the blanket material."

Clay just stared, waiting for him to continue and then running out of patience he asked, "How much?"

"I haven't fully tested it yet, but I'm guessing a single blanket could easily power this building."

Clay whistled, "Anything else?"

"Just theories, but I feel pretty good about them... sub-space fields, shields, and a couple of weapons ideas."

Clay's mouth sagged a little, and as he was about to ask more questions they were interrupted by the girls.

"We're ready," Sofie said stepping out of the bathroom easily sidestepping Eugene, who was mopping near the door.

"Oh, sorry Eugene," Jessie said picking up the mop she just tripped over.

"You guys look like a couple of drowned rats," Alec laughed at their still wet and wrinkled clothes looking like they tried wringing them out by hand.

"You have a good night." Eugene smile showing off his crooked teeth.

The girls shouldered their backpacks. "See you Eugene," Sofie smiled and waved. They followed their dads through the darkening parking lot as their dads bent in quiet conversation. When they reached their cars, Clay put his arm over Sofie's shoulder, "see you Sunday."

Ever since their kids were born, they seldom missed the Sunday services.

### CHAPTER 3 – START OF A GREAT RIDE

"I'm bored." Sofie stared out the window, her chin in her hands.

"I wish I was," Jessie stared at her algebra book. "I hate story problems."

"Too bad you can't see them in colors." Sofie regretted saying it seeing the hurt look on Jessie's face. "Oh... sorry, I didn't mean to be mean."

Closing her book Jessie said, "That's OK... I wish I could. Anyway, I don't think more studying is going to make any difference."

They had commandeered one of the empty offices on the third floor near their dad's offices, moving there after being kicked out of their lab.

"Maybe we can help Eugene make more of those bug lights." Sofie looked up hopefully.

"I don't think there's any more left, I guess we could ask." Since the drone episode, access to the building had been restricted, very restricted.

Sofie put her chin back in her hands. "I guess not. We've done so many bug lights I'm getting sick of them. Besides, they're even starting to creep _me_ out."

Jessie joined Sofie at the window.

"I wonder where that drone ended up. Maybe we could fix it or something." Sofie mused.

Jessie fidgeted looking out at the pond.

Sofie stood and stared wide-eyed at her. "You know?!"

Jessie still didn't answer as she unsuccessfully tried acting nonchalant.

"Jessie!" Sofie gave her a shove.

"What?"

"You know? What aren't you telling me?"

Jessie tried to not look into Sofie's eyes. "I... I can't say," she responded after returning her look.

"You've got to tell me, if... if you tell me, I'll help you with your word problems. I can guarantee a B."

The bribe interested Jessie. "You can't guarantee."

"Yup I can. I've been watching, you make the same mistake every time."

"Really? What is it?" She had been doing OK in algebra last year with her dad's help. But this year, with the company taking so much of his time... well, if she could show him, she could take care of things herself, he might ease up on them a little, and stop treating them like trouble making kids.

Sofie waited for Jessie's answer.

It had been hard for Jessie to not talk with Sofie about it. "My dad told me. But you have to promise, I mean really promise not to tell anyone... especially your dad."

"Sure, I promise." Sofie agreed.

Jessie started having second thoughts. "Maybe I shouldn't," then making a decision, she sat down behind the old oak desk and pushed aside her algebra book.

Sitting on the other side, Sofie expectantly folded her hands in front of her.

"The drone blew up."

Sofie furrowed her brows. "What do you mean 'blew up'? A big 'blow up' or a small 'blow up'? I don't remember hearing anything."

"Neither did anyone else. It was a reverse explosion. It didn't make any noise." Jessie replied.

"A what?"

"My dad said he saw a large burning ball just appear out of nowhere. It shrank down to a small dot, and then just disappeared."

"Was he able to explain it?" Sofie asked.

"He doesn't know. He's afraid it might have been the gravity inductor, but it doesn't generate any electricity, nowhere near what the blanket can," Jessie covered her mouth. "Oops," she and her dad spent a lot of time talking. Not just about how the drone could have blown, but also about his new discoveries; like the gravity inductor and producing electricity from the blanket and many of his other ideas. She felt like she let her dad down by making a mess of the drone, not just because it blew up, but because her ideas were so... well, so small compared to his.

"Nowhere near? How much electricity?"

"It can generate a whole bunch more than anybody thought," Jessie said. "And I... uh, wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"Wow. Don't worry, I won't say anything," Sofie said. "So, what does he think might have happened?"

"There's no way the blanket could have blown up. Even if it did, it would just have melted or something. We couldn't find anything left of the drone."

"Nothing?" Sofie hesitated a little. "Where could it have gone?"

"We don't know. Dad locked up the gravity inductors. He's afraid that it might have been caused by some combination of the blanket and the inductor."

"What do you think?" Sofie asked.

"I've got a bad feeling," Jessie started.

"You mean the storeroom?" Sofie concluded. "Did you tell your dad about it?"

"Yeah, it just... it sounded so stupid saying it out loud." Jessie walked over to the window. "I wish I hadn't told him."

"What did he say?"

"He said he was glad we were all right." She remembered the look on his face, like he was talking to a child. It made her feel terrible. "Hey that's the car!" she pointed upwards.

"What? I didn't know it was ready." Sofie ran next to her.

"Let's go," Jessie said forgetting about the drone _and_ her algebra.

Running out the office they barely missed running into Stan. Jessie was the first one out and to her fortune, his new vehicle was better built than his old one and he easily stopped before any damage could be done. His new ride looked like an upside-down drum set. A wooden platform surrounded by an array of shimmering drum sized disks. Harnesses of wires connected them to a control console in front of him.

"Hi girls," he smiled.

The driver's seat was nothing more than a wood backrest nailed to the wood platform. "Need a ride? I was just heading out to watch the test flight."

Jessie gave Sofie a worried look.

"I'll take a ride," Eugene ran up the hallway from behind them. He hopped on the platform and scooted up behind Stan's chair. The platform barely sagged with his added weight.

"Come on, there's plenty of room." Eugene urged.

"OK, if you think it's safe." Sofie gingerly sat on the back edge, dangling her legs off the back.

"Oh, all right." Jessie reluctantly agreed and hopped up next to her.

"Sit tight," Stan said over his shoulder and his flying drum smoothly floated down the hall.

"Your dad's car controls are based on this prototype..." he lectured them on the technical details of his control functions while navigating through turns and down stairways. Jessie half listened as they passed through the school to the textile mill while flying past labs and storerooms filled with failed and partially successful experiments. She caught glimpses of floating globes, chairs; desks, beds, lawn mowers, whiteboards and almost every toy imaginable, even a floating slinky. Smiling, she remembered all the good times working with the company's engineers.

Exiting the building through an open dock door, Stan drifted a dozen or so feet away before descending enough for them to get off. Sofie was the first to disembark followed by Jessie. A small group of employees had gathered near the pond, and off to the side, Olivia leaned against the building intent on her phone.

Sofie rushed to join the crowd near the pond. Jessie followed, then after taking a few steps, glanced back to check on Eugene. Instead of following them she saw the normally graceful Eugene awkwardly trying to climb off the side of Stan's floating drum set. She watched as he placed his right hand on Stan's shoulder while trying to slide his feet between two of the drum-sized disks. Jessie winced as his left foot caught in some wires, and as he reached to untangle it, his hand slipped off of Stan's shoulder, making him fall backwards. As he reached out to catch himself, his hand accidentally brushed against the touchscreen control panel making Stan's contraption inch toward the building.

"Eugene, can you get off me?" Stan grumbled.

Eugene was now sprawled across the front of Stan, pinning him to his seat with his head next to the console.

"Don't worry Meeester Stan, I can do dis," he said tapping his chin concentrating on the control screen. "Ahhh" he reached for the screen, and as usual, whenever Eugene touched anything technical, catastrophe wasn't far behind. Stan's vehicle spun and lurched like a bucking bronco ejecting Eugene while leaving the still buckled Stan in his seat. Free of Eugene, Stan quickly brought the floating vehicle under control.

Jessie watched frozen in disbelief, as Eugene's trajectory took him dangerously close to Olivia, knocking her cell phone to the grass before he tumbled to a stop. The scene would have been funny if it wasn't for Olivia's surprising reaction. Jessie couldn't hear everything she said, but she did make out a few words like " _buffoon_ , _clumsy_ and _fool_."

She looked frantically for her cellphone as Eugene held it up to her. "I'm s... s... sorry Meeess Olivia."

Glaring at him, she unexpectedly slapped it from his hand where it smashed against the brick wall. A shocked Eugene dropped to the ground, scrambling to pick up the pieces as she stormed away down the side of the building in the direction of the parking lot. By the time he gathered the pieces she had already disappeared around the corner. He stood as though contemplating following her, but in the end, he shoved the broken phone in his pocket and sheepishly climbed up the loading dock, disappearing inside the building.

Jessie thought it strange; she had dropped her own phone many times before and it was never a big deal. What would make her so mad as to slap it up against the wall?

"Jess!" Sofie's yell interrupted her thoughts.

Turning towards the pond, she saw Sofie pointing upwards. With all the excitement with Eugene, she almost forgot about the car. Looking up, she saw it hovering high above the parking lot. Her heart skipped a beat seeing the passenger door open with her dad leaning out. After a few moments, a brown stream of goo came pouring down, and luckily for everyone it fell harmlessly to the ground.

What Jessie Missed

Alec had found himself sitting in the passenger seat of their new flying car. A cherry red 1959 Plymouth station wagon with a white top, tail fins and tons of chrome, he thought it was perfect.

"It's just what I imagined," he gently rubbed his hand across the dash while Clay settled into the driver's seat.

"I've got to admit it is nice," Clay said, "Still not as nice as that convertible." He had wanted a 1950 Cadillac convertible over Alec's choice of the station wagon. But common sense ruled the day, as the extra space inside the station wagon swayed the decision in Alec's favor.

"Ready?" Clay asked.

Alec buckled up. The car had been fitted with a set of racing harnesses instead of seat belts.

"Are you sure you want to fly this in the daylight?" Larry Fielding, who ran the receiving area, asked through Clay's open window. Larry, an older bowling ball shaped man, supervised the restoration and retrofitting of the Plymouth. It was his 'baby'.

"Maybe the publicity would do us good." Clay echoed his earlier conversation with Alec.

Alec nodded in agreement. They had a long discussion with Olivia and Cleveland about it. In the end, against Olivia's protests, they decided they were desperate enough to try anything. But more likely, their flight would go unnoticed, just like that picture Jessie posted that first day from their basement.

Alec held tight as the car smoothly lifted and turned toward the open dock doors. Wow, a ride in a real flying car. He had looked forward to this almost from the moment he and Jessie watched the box lift off his workbench. It had taken Stan over half a year to develop the drive controls.

"Hold on, it might get a little bumpy," Clay warned as he accelerated out the dock doors.

It _was_ bumpy. All along Alec had somehow thought that the ride would be smooth. He had ridden with Stan many times on his prototypes and never experienced anything like this. Accelerating upwards, he felt himself pressed against the back of the seat, holding tight as the car jerked and swayed. Two hundred feet above the GraviTych building Clay stopped giving Alec time to catch his breath.

"Man, this _is_ a rough ride," he barely got the words out. The ride was nothing he ever expected, much too rough.

"According to Stan, the gravity plates are too powerful, like a truck with extra stiff suspension. It seems that the drive controls aren't sensitive enough to compensate for the disturbances," Clay said. "He's not sure if he can completely eliminate it, it may be a while before he knows for sure. Anyway, once you get used to it, it's really not that bad... hey, you're looking a little green. Sure, you want to go on?"

Alec nodded, in spite of feeling seasick, or airsick, there was no way he was going to wimp out on his initial test flight of their flying car. Clay had taken it out for small runs in the middle of the night, but this was their first full-scale test run.

Holding tight, Clay put the car through its paces. He had learned to fly in college and his years of experience gave him the confidence to stress the car. Alec wasn't ready for what the ride had to offer. It was more like a roller coaster than a Sunday drive, as Clay performed nose dives and elevator moves, ending with an upwards spiral.

Unexpectedly, Clay brought the car to a stop at the top of the last spiral. To Alec, it felt like the car was still spinning, he was sweating, and it took all his effort to keep his lunch down. Feeling awful, he looked over at Clay to see him staring out the windshield, his hands gripping tight to the steering wheel. Alec tried looking forward, but all he could see through his blurry eyes was blue sky. Closing them, he leaned back in his seat.

"Are you OK? I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually turn green before."

Alec looked over to see Clay staring at him. He had been in boats and planes hundreds of times, and never got sick.

"What's wrong?" Alec barely got out the question as he weakly pointed to the front. Before Clay could answer, Alec's lunch decided it was time to leave. Opening his door, he leaned out but was unexpectedly held back by his shoulder harness. Fumbling and failing to release it, he squeezed his shoulders between the straps and grabbed the armrest and door frame where he leaned out and released his lunch. He couldn't do much else other than watch of a stream of half-digested chef salad float to the parking lot.

"Get back in here!" Clay reached for the unbuckled Alec; hanging from an open door hundreds of feet in the air.

Alec let him pull him back in. Weakly reaching out he closed the door before leaning back in his seat, staring at the car's ceiling.

"Oooo," Alec held his stomach with one hand and his forehead with the other, as Clay descended back to the loading dock, landing as softly as he could.

"Dad, that was so cool, you should have seen it from the ground. The puke came down in one long stream. It just exploded when it hit." Jessie was the first to greet him. His face was still green, and she couldn't help adding. "Wow dad, can you do it again?" It was a heartless thing to say as she and Sofie couldn't stop giggling.

"That's enough girls," Clay walked around the car shooing them away.

Jessie noticed a grin on his face too.

"I'll get the steam cleaner," Larry inspected the side door.

"Thanks Larry, I owe you one," Alec mumbled as he crawled out the car.

"Do you need anything?" Clay helped him to his feet.

"No... No thanks. Where's Jessie?" Alec embarrassingly pulled free from Clay's grip. "I need your help," he hoarsely said to Jessie who was partially hiding behind Clay. Without another word he headed out the doors.

Still giggling, Jessie and Sofie followed.

They trailed him through corridors and stairs to his personal lab on the second floor. But instead of entering, he continued down the hall until reaching a plain looking unmarked door. Jessie had been to her dad's lab hundreds of times and never paid any attention to it, as there were so many unused rooms in this building. Pulling a key from his pocket, he unlocked it and walked in without looking back.

Halting in the doorway, Jessie looked back at Sofie wondering if they should follow. "What are you waiting for... go," Sofie gave her a push.

Holding fast, Jessie wasn't quite sure they should enter.

"Maybe we should wait out here," Jessie didn't finish her thought as Sofie put more force into her shove.

Tumbling into the room, with Sofie nearly falling on top of Jessie, Alec was already rummaging in an open closet on the back wall. It was a large room, larger than she expected. There were no windows, just the closet door on the back wall where the windows should have been. Workbenches flanked the closet door and the side walls were covered with upright standing bins filled with bolts of cloth. Jessie counted 5 different types of cloth; black, gray, dull silver, shiny silver, and a semi-transparent one; 16 bins in all, 8 on each side of the room. The bolts were about 4 feet in length, just big enough to fit in the machine standing in the room's center. It looked like an old lever-operated sheet metal roller, not that Jessie would know what one of those looked like. It was five feet long resting on a waist-high four-legged metal stand.

"Dad, what is this room?" Jessie asked curiously.

He looked over his shoulder with a look of surprise. "Oh... I, ah... didn't realize" he trailed off.

"This is where you make the gravity blankets!" Sofie walked past the bins, touching each bolt of material as she went by.

Astonished, Jessie looked around. She never thought that the blankets were made here. She also didn't expect such a low-tech operation.

"Girls, it's very important that you keep this a secret. Only a handful of us know about this," Alec pulled a stool out from the back bench and sat down.

"Who all knows about this?" Sofie asked.

"Your dad, myself and some other people, like your moms."

"Does Eugene know?" Jessie asked.

"He helped build this. We converted an old sheet metal roller... he's rather good with his hands. Why?"

"I don't know," Jessie said, trailing off.

"Oh," Alec remembered her suspicions about the storage room incident. "You see, he's been very trustworthy and knows a lot of our secrets. He's never let us down, that's why I found it hard to believe he could be causing trouble. I couldn't tell you about this then."

"How come there are so many different bins?" Sofie asked. "I know for a fact that we only need 5 sheets to make the gravity blanket."

Alec turned his attention to her and gave an appreciative look. "Your dad orders 16 different materials from a dozen or so manufacturers. Only he knows which ones are real and which ones are decoys. He alone keeps the bins stocked and leaves instructions on which ones to use. The blankets are made at night."

Jessie looked at Sofie, who was deep in thought. Her dad sat silently staring at them... both of them, waiting for a response. Somehow, she had a feeling like she should be figuring something out, instead she felt like she was flunking a test.

After a time, Alec made to get up when Sofie finally asked. "Mr. McCoughe? Which of the manufacturers knows how to make the real blanket material?" Her expression made Jessie think she figured something out.

Alec grinned, "You're just like your dad," Jessie noticed that his green tinge was starting to fade. "I'm not sure. Only your dad knows."

"I don't get it," Jessie said.

Looking at her like a patient mother, Sofie explained. "You see, we don't want anyone else to figure out how to make the gravity blankets. So, they make a bunch of different materials that look like the real stuff along with the real stuff. So, if anyone tried to steal these rolls to make their own gravity blanket, there's a good chance it won't work."

"What if they're lucky and they get the right material and it does work?" Jessie asked.

Alec watched, fascinated at Sofie's understanding of the situation.

"Well you see, the next time they steal more rolls, there's a better chance that they won't get the right ones." Sofie smiled cleverly. "They need to be able to replicate the gravity blanket in order to steal it. If they're only able to build it once, they wouldn't have much to sell."

Nodding, Jessie still didn't fully understand; her mind was just not devious enough.

Alec turned and scooped up the pile of items he collected and headed for the door with the girls following close behind.

It didn't take long to settle into his work. Jessie, not needing any prompting, joined in and soon both were immersed on a couple of half complete circuit boards. Sofie sat quietly and watched, fascinated at their unspoken synchronization.

"It's time to go," Clay entered the lab an hour later. Sofie stood and stretched in relief.

To Jessie's surprise, she had immediately sensed his entrance and took note of how her awareness of her surroundings had increased lately while she was intent on her work. Unlike her dad who was still absorbed on the circuits in front of him.

Smiling knowingly at Alec, Clay pulled out his phone. A few minutes later he put a hand on Alec's shoulder and gave it a shake. "Alec, buddy, I called Jodi. Jessie's got to go home; you just keep working." Alec lifted his head and slowly focused on him.

Standing and stretching, Jessie remembered all the times Clay had taken care of things when her dad worked on his new inventions.

"Sure," Alec responded. Turning to Jessie he said, "You've got to go home kid."

She wanted to resist but thought better of it and set down her soldering iron. Giving her dad a concerned look, she told him. "Dad... don't even try to solder this; it's way too hard for you," she pointed to a small chip on the board with only 3 of its 14 pins soldered.

Alec gave her a look of defiance that soon softened, as the truth of what she said hit home. "You're right," he replied a little deflated. "I just want to finish up with these sketches and make sure we have all the parts. You go ahead with Clay and tell your mom I'll be home soon."

Before she could respond her dad was already lost in his work. Giving him a hug, she quietly followed Clay and Sofie to the parking lot, lost in thought about her dad's new invention.

#####

The next morning Clay found Stan working with Alec. Like everything Stan worked on, the workbench was covered in a mass of wires. In the middle of the tangle was an open plastic enclosure exposing Alec's new electronics. Stan was busy programming on his laptop which was somehow wired to the mess on the table. "Have you been here all night?"

Smiling, Alec looked relaxed and well rested. "I got home about ten. I called Stan and asked if he could come in early to help." He didn't mention that he needed Stan because he developed the drive controls. "He's no Jessie when it comes to soldering, but he'll do." his comment caused Stan to look up from his programming.

"You're getting old. In the old days you would have put in an all-nighter, and you _never_ would have asked for help," Clay said in mock surprise. "Can you let me know when you're done with whatever it is you're building?"

"You bet," Alec watched Clay leave. He wasn't happy about their test ride yesterday and was more upset than he let on. It wasn't just that he got sick; it was pride about their anti-gravity product. _If he didn't fix it, the expo would be a bust, and probably their company,_ he thought to himself while turning his attention back to Stan's laptop.

It was mid-afternoon when Alec stuck his head in the conference room where Clay was meeting with Olivia and Cleveland. "Clay, when you're done would you like to go for a ride?" He felt bright-eyed, like he had a full night of sleep, or a pot or two of coffee.

Looking up from their discussion, Clay responded with a smile. "So, you're ready to let us in on your new creation?"

Olivia and Cleveland looked on expectantly as Clay had already let them in on his new project.

"We're done here, lead on," Clay joined him.

An interested Olivia and Cleveland followed.

Alec led them to the loading dock to find Stan's feet sticking out the driver's side of the Plymouth, his head buried under the dash. Larry had somehow wedged himself in from the other side of the car where they could hear him fussing about the mess. A minute later Stan slipped out and walked to the other side to help Larry out.

"He wanted to tie up some loose wires," Stan responded to Alec's unasked question.

Giving the car a quick inspection, Alec looked at Clay. "You ready?" he held the driver's door open for him.

Clay settled in behind the wheel as Alec closed the door behind him then walked around to take his place in the passenger seat; barely able to keep his excitement in check. At his nod, Larry opened the dock doors. Clay elevated the Plymouth a few feet and slowly turned the car toward the opening. Hovering in place, he looked to Alec for instructions.

Feeling a bit tentative Alec nodded and pointed forward. Grinning, Clay shot through the open doors, then upwards past and over the trees lining the edge of their property.

Alec immediately knew his new invention was a success. Folding his hands behind his head, he crossed his legs while grinning from ear to ear.

"This is incredible," Clay exclaimed after bringing the car to a hover 100 feet above GraviTych, then looking at his friend he asked. "What did you do?"

"I call it inertial dampening," Alec tried to sound confident, but it came out more like relief. What they had noticed was there was no longer any feeling of movement. No sense of acceleration forward or upward, it felt like they were motionless the entire time. Even now as they hovered, they felt none of the buffeting of the day before.

"I wouldn't think inertia was related to gravity." Clay said.

"I really don't know. I don't think it really matters if inertia is a property of space or not. I thought about that bubble of water the girls made under that helicopter. You see, Jessie created a small container of stable space. Space that didn't flow, that's why the water formed a perfect ball. Without going into too much detail, I just created a larger bubble to encompass the car."

"How come we're not floating inside here?" Clay looked around the interior.

"You see, the static space inside the bubble didn't happen naturally. Jessie had to compensate for it in her circuit. We just needed to make a few small adjustments so we could better control the flow within it. Stan was able to integrate Jessie's bubble controls with the cars flight controls. The flow of space is counteracted by commands from the car's controls." Alec saw Clay not fully understanding, even though he was trying to explain as simply as possible. "For example, when we accelerate, the control circuit detects the 'forward command' and adjusts the flow of space to counteract any internal movement."

"Could this be used for artificial gravity in space?"

His question left Alec dumbfounded. He was so focused on the inertial dampening aspect of the bubble field, he never... "I... uh, never really thought of that."

Clay chuckled and shook his head at how his genius friend could miss such a simple observation. "How much stress do you think this beast can handle?"

"It should be able to handle anything you can throw at it." Alec's response came out like a challenge.

"Well then hold on" Clay accepted his challenge as he invented some maneuvers no one else could have thought possible, except maybe for a roller coaster designer.

The crowd below grew as word of the test flight made it through the building. They ooo'd and ahh'd as the car raced across the sky, accelerating from a hover to instantaneously stopping miles away. The crowd became weak-kneed watching the car shoot straight up to descend in a free fall, stopping just inches from the ground. Not being finished, Clay flew upwards in huge spirals ending with a loop-de-loop.

With the car stopped a few hundred feet above the parking lot, Clay seemed to grip the wheel a little tighter as he slowly rotated.

"What's up?" Alec asked, looking around, something seemed familiar.

"This is where we stopped yesterday."

"What, are you rubbing it in?" Alec now remembered; this was where he got sick.

"No, it's not that."

The tone of his voice jogged Alec's memory. "I remember, you saw something, didn't you?" Just before he got sick, he remembered the look on Clay's face. He had the same grip on the steering wheel. "What did you see?"

"A hole" Clay began.

"An empty black hole?" Alec recalled Jessie's story about the storage room.

"No, it was a blue hole. I could see it was a different shade and it looked... well... like it had depth. If I hadn't stopped, we would have flown right into it." Clay thought a second. "Why did you ask? Do you know something?"

"I'm not sure. Could you do me a favor and not tell anyone, especially Sofie and Jessie." When Jessie first told him about their adventure in the storeroom, he just wrote it off as imagination. A dark, spooky storeroom; heck the light bulb and electrical work were as old as the building and could have momentarily blacked out. But now, this wasn't a coincidence. He was going to have to check out that storeroom and have a talk with Eugene.

"Sure. What is it? Does it have to do with our anti-gravity?"

"I don't think so," Alec's mind was working, putting pieces together; the storeroom, the hole in the sky, not being able to sell anything, the drone's reverse explosion, Jessie's picture of the box going nowhere on the web; even getting airsick. There were too many things going on, and something didn't seem right.

"You sure? You don't look sure."

"I'm certain it's not. In fact, I know there's nothing to worry about. Maybe it was an optical illusion caused by our gravity waves." Alec held back a laugh... gravity waves? He smiled at Clay, who was nodding in agreement.

"Let's get back. I think some celebrations are in order." Alec sat back.

They descend to the cheers of the crowd. Jessie and Sofie were the first to scramble up the dock as the red Plymouth floated through the open garage door. Both Alec and Clay had their elbows resting out the open windows, talking and laughing like they were on a Sunday drive in the country.

Jessie was the first to run up to her dad squealing excitedly, jumping up and down. "It worked! It worked! The bubble worked!"

Piling in from outside, the crowd was abuzz with excitement.

Sofie noticed Alec and Clay weren't buckled into their harnesses. "You weren't buckled! What if it didn't work?" She had learned about the inertial dampening from Jessie while they were in school and knew right off what was going on when they got off the bus as the car was racing about over their heads.

Clay just smiled and gave her a hug, ignoring her admonishment and feeling like a million bucks, no, a billion bucks. This new invention was more than huge, more than remarkable, if this didn't make them all rich nothing would.

### CHAPTER 4 – THE PARTY POOPER

Five-AM and Alec found himself standing on the far side of the pond in GraviTych's backyard. It was cold, too cold even for the crickets. Icy dew soaked his shoes and the moon was long gone with the Eastern sky giving signs of the approaching dawn, and with it, some much-needed warmth. Alec had been chosen to preside over the morning preparations for the Anti-Gravity Expo since Clay, Olivia and Cleveland had spent the previous day taking care of their VIP guests. Now as they slept in, Alec was up before dawn yearning for a hot cup of coffee.

The growl of a truck engine broke the pre-dawn silence, its high beam making him wince as it turned in his direction. As the caterer's truck crawled up the access drive to the loading docks, he blew into his hands and began walking around the pond to meet them; with hopes of coffee and maybe a doughnut,

"Hey Alec, need a ride?" Stan's voice came from out of nowhere startling Alec. Turning, he saw Stan descending on one of their new transport platforms. The flying carts were a joint creation of Stan and Eugene, with Stan providing the anti-gravity controls to Eugene's hand-made platforms. They were typical Eugene creations with ornately carved heavy wooden bases and thick railings covered with gargoyle-like creatures. They were beautifully elegant, but Alec couldn't help but wonder, why not butterflies or bunnies.

"Thanks Stan," It felt good to step off the wet grass. "Let's see what the caterers brought."

After a smooth flight over the pond and through the loading dock doors, Stan landed. They found the caterers busy unloading, and a grateful Alec headed straight for a table where a large urn of fresh coffee was already set up. By the time he finished his first sip, a group of engineers had crowded around him talking excitedly while filling their cups.

"We won't need all the chairs today. It looks like our guest list has thinned out a bit." Alec mentioned to Larry, who just stepped off a smaller platform that was meant to be used mainly inside the building. "Clay left me a text last night. Only about a third of the invitees showed up, we only need seating for about 50." That was only 10 out of the 30 companies that had originally RSVP'd; not good, but not that bad either. Ten companies were better than none. Alec watched a handful of his engineers jump onto the back of Larry's floating platform where he deftly piloted it back into the corridors.

#####

The gym outside of Jessie's and Sofie's old lab was ready for their presentations by the time the guests began arriving. It was freshly painted and lit by dozens of Eugene's floating bug lights. Rows of padded folding chairs faced a newly built stage containing a podium flanked by large video monitors displaying slowly spinning GraviTych logos modeled after Alec's and Jessie's original box; which happened to be hovering behind the podium. Tables covered with many of their experiments and modified toys lined one side of the gym. Stan's flotilla of flying prototypes hovered along the other. At the back, more tables, protected with white linen tablecloths were packed with trays of breakfast food and drink. Caterers dressed in white stood at their sides.

Alec, having changed into his best suit stood at the entrance of the gym greeting their guests as they arrived on flying platforms piloted by Stan and Larry. It wasn't long before Clay, Olivia and Cleveland took over the greeting duty, leaving him gratefully on his own. Standing to the side, he watched small crowds grow around their anti-gravity exhibits. Clay, taking advantage of the opportunity, worked himself into them and was soon into his sales speech about the incredible business advantages of anti-gravity.

Feeling the Expo was starting on a good note, Alec wandered to the back tables to grab another cup of coffee. The lights flickered, making him looked around.

"Did you notice that?" Alec asked one of the caterers standing at the side of the table.

"Notice what?"

"The lights, they flickered." The bug lights made out of anti-gravity blankets should never flicker and not all at once.

Alec surveyed the room. It was windowless, so nothing from outside could have caused the phenomena, then looking down at his coffee he mumbled, "I better lay off this stuff, it's making me hallucinate." Noticing a short oriental man with a long hanging mustache staring at him from the entrance doors, he raised his coffee in a salute thinking he must be the chef from the caterer. The chef smiled back. The lights flickered again making the white chef's outfit momentarily appear like glowing white robes. Shaking his head, Alec dumped out his coffee before settling in the back row of chairs while Clay gathered up the guests for the start of the presentations.

Clay, Olivia and Cleveland all took turns at the podium talking business, markets, money, and how the world would be changed with anti-gravity. Most of the presentations bored Alec to tears, and also most of their guests; all part of the plan. After lunch, it was Alec's turn at the podium, and like a true engineer he filled his coffee cup before taking his spot on-stage to a smattering of polite applause.

Carefully setting down his cup, he started. "My theory of gravity is simple; it is based on the assumption that space is 'something' as opposed to 'nothing'. So, if space is 'something', then by using a little bit of ingenuity, we should be able to figure out how to manipulate it, which is what we did." He looked around at a handful of somewhat curious faces that had just been on the brink of total boredom. Turning to the floating box behind him, he pulled it over, so it hovered next to him.

"So, what is causing gravity?" Alec mused. "The accepted theory is that something in matter attracts matter, but in my mind, I could never accept that theory; how can things 'pull' each other together unless they can somehow 'grab' each other? And if you really think about it, force can only 'push', not pull. So, any theory of attraction just doesn't make sense, at least to me. Now my theory, or should I say my reasoning, is that matter itself contains holes in our space-time continuum allowing space to leak out into some other universe, or continuum. And when you put a lot of matter together, like a planet for instance, the accumulation of those holes attracts a torrent of space pouring into and through them. The resulting current, or flow pushes whatever is in its path along with it, hence we feel the force of gravity."

Most of the faces in the audience had blank looks, a few walked to the tables to grab something to eat. About to continue, Alec was momentarily distracted by that oriental chef again, standing by the edge of the food tables watching him. This time it was the chef who saluted.

Recovering his focus, Alec continued, "Imagine, standing under a waterfall trying to swim up it. That was the problem that I, or my daughter and I, had to solve." He gave a nod to Jessie as she walked into the back of the room with Sofie and their moms, Jodi and Dolores. "But the knowledge that fish can swim up waterfalls, and that sailing ships can tack into the wind, gave us hope. We developed many theories, speculations, and experiments until we amazingly invented this." Alec reached over and gave the floating box a gentle push, causing it to slowly spin; imitating the spinning logos on the monitors. "Our main obstacle was finding a way to touch space. In example, for planes to fly, their wings need to react with air. For fish to swim, their fins must react with water and for us to swim through gravity... well... we needed to find something that can react with space." Seeing a couple of yawns and some concerned looks from Olivia and Cleveland, Alec worried he was losing them, especially with the most boring part of his presentation yet to come. "Taking a step back in our thinking process, we realized that wings do not really react to air, or fish react to water, it is in fact, matter reacting to matter. So, our obvious conclusion was that we wanted space to react to space, but how? _That_ is where one of the biggest mysteries of science came to our salvation; magnets and magnetic fields. Our leap of technical faith was that magnetic fields, or magnetic field lines, are made up of spinning strings of space. All we needed to do was generate a set of dynamically shaped, moving magnetic fields acting like propellers do with air or water, or like a fish's fin, or... well, I think you can come up with your own analogies."

"We spent months trying every arrangement and configuration of magnetic field lines we could think of, but with no luck until Jessie came up with the pattern, which is now our trade secret, which finally made this box fly. By the way, this _is_ our original invention." Alec felt the audience's attention return, just a bit.

With a small sigh of relief, he continued. "So, what do we do with this box? Our team of engineers, the best engineers in the world in my opinion, tried more combinations, patterns, and technologies, but to no avail. It was almost as if our original magnetic field pattern was the only one, or at least, one of a very few combinations that worked. We seemed to be stuck with a floating box as our only product." Unbelievably the audience actually started looking interested. Even the people by the food tables turned and seemed to listen with interest. "You see, this box is fun to look at, but what can we do with it? We could hang things from it or maybe use it to help buoy planes to save fuel. Nothing earth shattering until my daughter came to our rescue. If I remember correctly, her comment was something like, ' _Why can't we just make a bunch of smaller boxes and tie them together?_ ' That was the inspiration we needed, and we ran with that concept, and not only did we make a bunch of smaller boxes, we made thousands, no millions of smaller ones and tied them together." Alec was happy to see their confused looks. Smiling, he reached down behind the podium and pulled out a sheet of anti-gravity blanket; a thin, shimmery silver fabric with a small plastic box attached to its corner. The audience's reaction was perfect silence, with a hint of anticipation.

"This is what we call the gravity or anti-gravity blanket; it consists of thousands of miniaturized boxes bonded and wired together. When this blanket is applied to a flat surface and energized, it not only creates an anti-gravity effect but can actually create a directional gravity thrust." Alec saw the confused looks again. "You see, this box doesn't repel gravity, it pushes the flowing space around it and past it, sort of like a jet; a gravity jet. The reason the box seems to float is because of its size and mass." Alec pointed to the box still hovering next to him. "Once the boxes were miniaturized and tied together, we found their micro properties transformed into what we call the blankets macro properties; properties we're still discovering." This pushed the audience over-the-brink of non-understanding. Alec decided to deviate from the script and try some audience involvement. "I see some confused looks out there, does anyone have any questions?" he asked, enjoying the look of panic on Olivia's and Cleveland's faces.

"Yes," he nodded to a casually dressed woman in the front who had her hand raised. She stood, "What about using the blanket for people to fly?"

Alec smiled, ' _not a bad question'_ he thought. "We found out that unless the blanket is attached to a hard, flat surface, it becomes unstable, like so." He set the blanket on the floor and pressed a button on its control box, then quickly stepped back. The blanket flopped and flipped around like a sheet of paper in a whirlwind, much to the audience's entertainment. After a moment he reached down to shut it off, but it turned out to be more difficult than he anticipated, and he soon found himself on the floor wrestling with it until finally getting hold of its controls. "Looks like I had the power set a little too high." he looked up sheepishly before returning to the podium to the audience applause. Olivia and Cleveland were now pointing at their watches.

Shoving the blanket back behind the podium, he continued. "I would like to finish by introducing our latest product, the gravity inductor." Pulling the blue component from his coat pocket, he held it up as the audience gave a collective shrug. "I will spare you the details this time, but what we discovered we can do with it, is to create a bubble allowing us to control the movement of space within it. We feel there are many new and exciting possibilities to be developed from this. But for now, all we've been able to invent is artificial gravity and inertial dampening." It took a few moments for his comment to sink in and as soon as it did, the room filled with murmurings. The lady who asked the previous question raised her hand again.

"Just what is inertial dampening?" She asked over the talking. A few of the other guests nodded. Obviously, they were not big science fiction fans.

"Inertia is the force that pushes you against the back of your seat when your car accelerates." Alec seemed to have regained the audience's attention again as he started to think that he was pretty good at this public speaking thing. "And it appears that inertia is another property of the flow of space. So, by interconnecting the inductor with the drive controls of a vehicle, we can counteract the acceleration and deceleration effects of a car, plane or even a spaceship." At the mention of a spaceship, Alec noticed at least one member of the audience perk up, a thin dark-haired man with piercing eyes and a very large nose.

"With that, I'd like us to adjourn to our backyard for a demonstration." he pointed to a set of double gym doors leading outside, and at his signal Eugene and Larry slid them open.

It was a beautiful afternoon. The grass was now dry, and more food tables were set up under a tent near the parking lot. The smell of cooking on the grills drifted in as their guests drifted out. Clay stood with Stan on one of the flying platforms hovering near the edge of the pond.

"This, ladies and gentlemen," Clay's intro reminded Alec of a circus ringmaster. "This is our pride and joy." He referred to what was in the center of the pond. Hovering a few feet above the water was another flying platform. This was their largest, and on it rested the sparkling red 59 Plymouth.

Their guests spread out around the pond while Stan dropped Clay off on the oversized platform holding the car.

"Not to worry folks. Clay is a licensed pilot and is fully qualified to fly this car." Alec yelled as the car rose.

For the next ten minutes they watched Clay put on a one-man air show. For the rest of the afternoon Clay gave rides while Olivia worked the crowd. Alec, no longer being needed, let the delicious smells draw him to the food tent. As he neared it, he spied Jessie and Sofie grazing the tables while Jodi was talking with a dark-haired man in a black business suit. Feeling something amiss, he went to see what was up.

"Can I help?" Alec asked without introducing himself.

"Yes, I was just asking these ladies if I could speak with Alec McCoughe."

Alec didn't like his look. His build was smaller than average, and he looked like an accountant. "That would be me. What can I do for you?"

Before the man could answer Jodi interrupted. "Alec, we need to get going, the girls have a school project due tomorrow and we really need to get them home." She gave him a kiss while Dolores collected the girls.

"I would like to introduce myself. My name is Joshua Wells. I represent a substantial private organization." The man stuck out his hand out for Alec to shake.

"I'm sorry, but I don't recognize your name. What company are you with?" He couldn't recall a Joshua Wells on their guest list.

"I'm sorry I was unaware of this event."

"Excuse me, but this is a very important function we are having right now and I don't believe that this is the time or place for what you want to talk about," Alec said feeling uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation.

"I don't want to be an inconvenience, but this is very important to the safety of our planet." Joshua began.

A conspiracy nut, Alec rolled his eyes.

"Please don't write me off that quickly, there are many powerful people within my organization who feel as I do. At first, I was of your opinion, but don't judge us too harshly until you know all the facts." Joshua said calmly. He clearly seemed uncomfortable with this conversation.

"Look, I really don't know what it is I can do for you." Alec wanted this Anti-Gravity Expo to be a success, and to have a couple of contracts in hand by the end of the day. Crackpots like this guy could cause problems.

"We have resources capable of fighting this threat, but without you and your technology, I believe we will not be able to be successful." Joshua waited for an answer.

"Why don't you just give us a contract?" Alec asked.

"I'm afraid there might be some legal issues. What we really need is you, and what you are capable of doing for us." His stare made Alec uneasy. Was he hinting that he knew about his other ideas?

"Look, I am really not interested in your offer, maybe if you can come back some other time when I have time to listen. But right now, as you can see..." Alec gestured to the group hanging around the Plymouth.

"I just need you to come with me. It would be better to show you." Joshua continued.

"Hold it. Can't you understand that I don't want anything to do with you? Will you please just leave me alone?" he bluffed signaling to one of the security guards they had hired; more for looks to make their guests feel safe.

Joshua at first acted like he was going to stand his ground, then after a few moments, his shoulders sagged in resignation. "I am sorry, but I would like to talk again. Maybe you would reconsider."

"I'm afraid not. You need to leave. If I see you again, or if any of my family sees you, I _will_ call the police." Alec struggled to keep his voice low. Joshua stared calmly at him as though thinking to respond then thought better of it. Turning, he walked stiffly back to the parking lot where a black Lincoln was parked.

In an attempt to calm down, Alec grabbed a bottle of water from the food table before returning to the gym to take a seat in the empty back row.

Olivia stood at the podium answering questions for a group of guests sitting in the first few rows. Most questions were business, marketing and legal related. Alec tried listening in on their discussions, but the early start and the stress of the day caught up with him and his head bobbed. Looking guiltily about he worried his small snooze might have been noticed, and to his relief, the question and answer session was still going strong. Reluctantly he decided it might be a good idea for yet another coffee. Making a move to get up, he was startled to see the oriental chef standing at the end of his aisle. This time he knew for a fact the man wasn't there just a second ago, and before he could take another step, the world fell away.

He grabbed at his chair, but it faded from his grip as it dissolved into the floor. Turning, he searched for anything to hold on to and was stunned to see the room and all its contents sink like melting snow into the floor to be replaced by slowly swirling white mist. Looking down, he could see the inside of the gym, the guests, the chairs, food, and tables 'painted' on the floor, like a 3D sidewalk painting. It was odd that he could see slight movements, like watching an old-time 3D movie through colored cardboard glasses.

"What?" He sputtered.

"Hello Alec," the oriental chef and his odd-looking Fu Manchu mustache appeared in front of him, standing with his hands folded behind his back, no longer looking much like a cook. His accent was like an English butler.

"Am I dreaming?" Alec couldn't tell if he was awake, still asleep, or had fallen back to sleep. It was curious since normally one doesn't realize they're in a dream while asleep unless of course, the dream is about being asleep. Perhaps the stress of the past few weeks was catching up to him. _Oh well, I may as well make the best of it,_ he thought. "Ah, hello, and who are you?" Of course, his mind must have retained that little oriental caterer and is using him in this dream.

"I'm sorry... but I don't have a name, or at least a way of identifying myself, that you would be familiar with," the chef sounded truly sorry. He ran his fingers over his long silky mustache, waiting for Alec to do... well... Alec wasn't sure what the chef was waiting for.

"Well, just how do people usually address you?"

The chef just shrugged and shook his head.

What a strange dream he was having, _Alec, through the looking glass_ he thought.

"Can I give you a name?" Why not, it's just a dream. He considered a second. "Would you mind if I called you Shaun?"

The chef nodded at his suggestion. "Yes... Shaun... that will do," the chef, or Shaun, smiled seeming happy at getting a name.

"Well Shaun, just where are we?" Alec slowly turned, examining the white nothingness.

"You are in... ah, what you would think of as the 4th dimension." Shaun stared and tilted his head a little, again as though waiting for Alec to say something inspirational.

"It looks like Flatland," Alec remembered a middle school book about the 2-dimensional world of Flatland; a world where a 3-dimensional sphere attempts to explain to some 2-dimensional figures about the 3rd dimension.

Looking a little confused, Shaun replied, "What you are seeing is your minds translation of your senses. Your mind is not familiar with this dimension of space-time. It converts what you see and feel into something you can comprehend. Your mind is converting 4-dimensional characteristics into 3-dimensional characteristics and 3-dimensional characteristics into 2-dimensional characteristics. Hence that is why you see a 2-dimensional view below you, a truly remarkable trait of humans."

"Humans, are you saying that you are not human? You look human to me. Or is my mind translating your appearance too?" This dream was fascinating, and he wondered how it was going to end.

"No, I have changed my appearance to a form that I expect you would find pleasing," Shaun looked down at himself. "A most humble appearance," he stroked his long mustache.

"So just who or what are you?" Alec asked. Shaun didn't answer, and just as Alec was about to ask another question the painted scene below twisted into a blur. Feeling a sense of vertigo, he looked around for something to steady himself and found nothing but Shaun, who floated just out of reach.

The blur below solidified into a picture of the Earth, with its striking blue oceans, swirling clouds, and brown and green continents. It began to shrink, and in a matter of seconds it was nothing more than a bright bluish dot. The Sun, glowing white hot, with its boiling surface and shooting flares now filled the space. Like the Earth before, it also dwindled away until it was only one of many points of twinkling lights spread out across the floor with blue and red stars sprinkled among them. Comets, asteroids, and clouds of multi-colored stardust permeated the void. He now 'felt' himself accelerating, moving further away. The picturesque scene transformed into a spinning galaxy, full of color and sparkling lights. More and more galaxies joined the Milky Way as they continued on. All the galaxies with their own special beauty made Alec feel he was looking at the universes most incredible Christmas decorations. Curiously, he watched as the galaxies drew closer together until forming one large glittering, brightly colored ornament.

"My existence in this dimension allows me to travel through time and space. As you look around, you can see that we are now near the beginning of creation as you know it." Shaun turned away to look at the boiling creamy white soup flowing around them. Alec followed his gaze. He could have sworn he saw noodles or strings churning within the maelstrom.

"Are you God?" Alec didn't believe it but asked anyway.

Shaun looked puzzled, "God? If you are referring to the Creator of this universe, the one who lives outside of space and time? It is not me. I am like you, one of His creations."

"Do you know Him?" Alec asked struck by his statement.

"I do not know him," Shaun said as the universe started moving again.

"Why show me this, what's this all about?" Alec saw they had returned to the gym and was filled with questions.

"I have been compelled to show you this," Shaun told him and after a moment or two added, "As you may know, every decision and action a person makes, creates a different future for that person, which may, and usually does affect the future of others. These futures or timelines coalesce into larger and larger collective timelines. Through the span of time, many smaller timelines wither away with no effect on the collective timelines. Very rarely, some timelines, even some of the smaller, individual timelines have major influences on all the collective ones. Some can even be so powerful, that they can make all other timelines meaningless at certain critical points."

"What does this have to do with me?" Alec knew about the butterfly effect, but instead of getting an answer he felt himself settling back into his chair. Sitting upright with a start, he half expected to see the chef. Instead, he found himself staring into the face of Clay who was standing directly in front of him. A tall, black-haired man with a healthy beak stood next to him.

"Alec, are you OK? We didn't mean to wake you," Clay held back a laugh. "I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Sheldon Moon, the owner of an aerospace company called Big Sky."

### CHAPTER 5 – STOWAWAYS

"Get your foot out of my face!" Sofie whispered angrily.

"That's not my foot" Jessie grunted back.

"Then what's in my face?"

The storage bench they were hiding in was dark. "Suck it up, only a couple more minutes before we take off," Jessie whispered.

The bench was in the back cabin of the ALEC'S DREAM, the world's first anti-gravity powered spaceship. It was Sheldon Moon, who just 8 short months ago saw the promise of GraviTych's technology and signed with them the day of the Expo. It was fortunate for GraviTych since like usual, negotiations with their other guests had all quickly fallen apart.

Big Sky was a major player in the private sector space race and already had a ship. The first thing they did was to build a modern and beautifully designed hanger in the empty field across from GraviTych. Here, Alec's dream came true as they converted Big Sky's ship, which was more a space shuttle than a ship, into a fully functional spaceship. It was also here that Jessie and Sofie could be found hiding in the back cabin of the ALEC'S DREAM, as it was being prepped for take-off.

"I thought we were supposed to be taking off?" complained Sofie, her back aching from having been crammed in the storage bench for hours. She then sniffed, snorted, coughed and finally wrinkled her nose. "What smells?"

Jessie couldn't stop giggling, "Sorry."

#####

Alec stood outside the ALEC'S DREAM watching the ground crew prep it for its monumental flight around the moon.

"Are you sure they're in there?" Phyllis Young, the ship's co-pilot asked.

"For at least a couple of hours," Alec chuckled. "I watched them sneak in. As far as I know, their plan was to hide in the storage bench in the rear cabin." Unknown to Jessie, he had modified the surveillance system to override her video camouflaging devices.

A passing fork-truck shook the floor. "I don't know guys; I feel really bad about this. Shouldn't we just get them out of there?" Dolores, Clay's wife asked for the umpteenth time. "It was planned all along for you two to go, maybe you should..." she let her question trail off.

Jodi squeezed Alec's arm in agreement. Alec looked at Clay realizing he was mirroring his own frown.

"The ship's been on a dozen flights, and we've doubled the shielding on every system. Besides, if anything did go wrong, you wouldn't find a backup engineer and technician better than Jessie." Alec argued.

"And Sofie could pilot the ship blindfolded," Clay added.

"But what if something happens? How would we help them?" Jodi rehashed the discussion from the previous night after the girls were asleep.

Alec sensed she wanted a better answer. She always knew when he was holding something back. "There's a second shuttle at Big Sky headquarters, it almost matches this one part-for-part" His response took everyone by surprise; for different reasons.

"Wasn't that a secret?" asked Clay

"You guys are the only ones that don't know," he said to the girls. "I think everyone involved would agree that you should be told now that the kids are going to go on this trip." Besides, it was killing him to keep a secret from his wife.

"What do you want us to do with them?" growled Leland Briggs, the ship's pilot.

Alec didn't know how to answer. With the launch just a few minutes away, his anxiety was making him second guess their decision. Looking first at Jodi, then over at Clay and Dolores for support, he decided. "I still think we should let the kids go, if it's OK with the pilot and crew."

The three members of the flight crew huddled. They were an experienced crew and had flown the ALEC'S DREAM many times. Leland was a career fighter pilot for the Marines and resembled a fireplug with a crew cut. Phyllis was an ex-Air Force helicopter pilot and Jade Warren, their navigator, was a highly skilled technician, physicist, and mechanic.

"I, for one, do not want to be a babysitter," groused Leland as he broke away from their discussion.

Jade looked sideways at Leland, "Well, I wouldn't mind them coming along. I like them and I don't think they need babysitting."

"As long as they stay out of the way, I don't mind. Maybe they'll break the monotony, provide some decent conversation," Phyllis added getting an indignant look from both Leland and Jade.

"You've got your answer," Leland gave Alec a half salute before turning on his heel. Phyllis and Jade smiled and waved so-long before taking off after him.

#####

"OK Sofie, I think we can get out no," Jessie pushed the lid open.

"Air, I need air!" Sofie tumbled to the floor as Jessie struggled to keep from giggling.

"Hey, we're still in the hanger, we'll be able to watch the takeoff," Jessie said looking out one of the windows.

"Shouldn't we keep quiet?" Sofie gave a worried look.

"Don't worry, they can't hear us," Jessie said smugly. She spent enough time working on the ship to know that sound just didn't carry very well inside. Maybe it was something to do with the shielding.

They looked out the windows. "I wonder what's taking so long; we should have taken off by now." Jessie wondered.

The girls didn't notice Phyllis's shadow from the doorway. "We simply wanted to make sure our guests were comfortable before we took off."

The girls jumped at her voice. "Hi," Sofie choked, "we were just leaving."

Phyllis's grim expression changed to a smile. "Come on girls, we have some seats for you in the main cabin. You'll find those more comfortable than that storage bench."

"What?" the girls said in unison.

"Your parents knew you were going to stowaway before you even thought of it," Phyllis replied to their puzzled looks. "Why do you think you had chili last night?" she gave Jessie a wry smile before turning back to the main cabin.

Sofie glared at the chortling Jessie.

The shuttle's interior was completely revamped as part of the retrofit. The original two seat cockpit was now a full-sized bridge complete with a raised pilot chair flanked by co-pilot and communications stations. Four large passenger seats were set against the back wall, two on each side of the cabin's entrance. Windows covered the front and side walls giving them a view of the activities in the hanger. Three large view screens suspended from the ceiling displayed ship data.

Leland sat in the pilot's chair talking into a headset while typing on a small keypad attached to the chair's armrest. Jade sat at her navigation console going over their planned course around the moon; her map displaying on one of the overhead view screens. Swinging her chair around as they entered, she smiled. "Hey kids, how was your stay in the storage bin?" Leland looked up from his work at hearing her laughter at their sour faces. Giving them an irritable nod, he quickly returned to his deliberations with the ground crew.

"Where are our dads?" Sofie asked looking around the bridge expecting to see them.

"They thought it might be too crowded if they came along, and didn't want to infringe on your adventures," Phyllis told them as she took her spot at the copilot's station.

"Huh? Why not?" Jessie had really been looking forward to taking the trip with her dad.

"They wanted to come, but thought if there was any trouble, they wanted to be on the ground to help, and I think they didn't want to leave your moms alone. You can see them now." Jade pointed out the front.

From his vantage point on the mezzanine, Alec studied the ship. It was a simple 50-foot long fuselage with stubby wings and tail making it look like a fat bullet train, wheel-less and tapered at the nose. Its shimmering silver appearance was amazing to look at. He could see ribbons of color rippling deep within the sheen of the ship's hull; its skin formed by reversing the polarity of two bonded gravity blankets creating an extremely dense and nearly impenetrable layer of space stronger than any known hull material. With a similar technique with the gravity inductors, the ships anti-gravity bubble now provided another, even stronger layer of shielding.

All in all, the ship's design was simple. In addition to the hull systems, there was life support, communications, and navigation. The main power generator was created from adaptations of the gravity blankets. In addition, there were smaller generators made from the gravity blankets that allowed many of the systems to run independently. Alec felt comfortable that if any problems were to be encountered, it wouldn't be with any of the ship's systems.

He saw Jessie and Sofie wave at him from the nose cone windows. Smiling, he waved back. "Looks like everything's a go," Alec turned to see Clay walking up from the circle of control consoles with Jodi and Dolores in tow.

"I see they let them out of the storage box," Alec pointed to the kids still waving through the ship's windows as the ALEC'S DREAM slowly rose.

The four of them lined up against the railing of the floating mezzanine to watch. Clay, a handsome man with large brown eyes and thinning curly hair graying near the temples, stood next to his wife Dolores. Dolores's ageless oriental features were framed by jet-black hair, and her worried expression mirrored how they all felt. Jodi was nearly as tall as Alec and was a spitting image of Jessie. She clutched his arm as the ship floated even with them where they could see Leland in his pilot's chair through its nose cone windows.

Giving their parents a quick 'thumbs up', Leland returned his attention back to his console. Jessie and Sofie unbuckled and ran to the windows as the ship turned toward the hanger's open high doors. Clay reached over to nudge Alec then pointed to Larry arguing with Eugene near a blue 'Big Sky' pickup that seemed to have backed into the door controls where sparks were flying.

"Let's see what's going on," Clay turned from the railing to jog towards the floating stairs. Alec followed and by the time they reached the floor, Eugene was back in the driver's seat, pulling away from the broken control box; still looking back apologizing and not paying attention to where he was driving.

"Watch out!" Clay yelled seeing the ALEC'S DREAM drifting in front of the truck. The crash reverberated through the hanger leaving Eugene dazed with the passenger side of the truck smashed flat. Reaching Eugene first, Clay pulled him out while the emergency crew covered the truck in flame retardant. Meanwhile, technicians scrutinized the bottom of the ALEC'S DREAM.

"I sorry Meester MeeCuf. It look like I ruined your flight," Eugene looked at them, dazed.

"Nonsense, that hull could handle a brush with the sun. A little bump like that wouldn't leave a scratch." Alec pointed to the ALEC'S DREAM where the technicians had already finished their evaluations. One of them gave Alec an OK sign before jogging off. There wasn't even a paint mark on the bottom of the ship.

A flying platform carrying Olivia entered through the open doors where she quickly took charge coordinating the cleanup; with her arms waving and pointing while yelling into a bullhorn.

"I... I... are you sure?" Eugene stammered. "Shouldn't you check eet out? I worry about Sofie, and Jessie. I don't want my accident to make the trip unsafe."

"Don't worry about that." Alec shook his head.

"How did you know the girls were on board?" Clay cut in.

"I, uh..."

"Eugene! Get over here!" With the truck now being towed away by another flying platform, Olivia was free to concentrate on Eugene.

"I... I sorry, Miss Olivia," he jumped to his feet to run towards her.

"It looks like she has everything under control here," Clay chuckled. "Let's get back to the control center."

"You missed the take-off." Dolores pointed to one of the monitors floating above the control consoles showing the ALEC'S DREAM shrinking away against the blue sky.

"Can we talk to the kids?" Clay tapped one of the operators on the shoulder. A few seconds later their faces beamed at them from one of the consoles smaller monitors.

"Hey dad thanks a bunch for letting us stay cramped up in that box for two hours," Jessie couldn't help but snort at Sofie's glare. "Phyllis told us you knew all along that we were planning this."

"All you had to do was ask."

"Why aren't you guys coming along?" Jessie asked. She really did want them to come.

"I'm sorry honey, it was a hard decision. We just thought that if there was any trouble, we'd be in a better position to help from here."

"Jessie, be careful and we love you!" Jodi pushed Alec aside to get in the picture.

"I love you too," Jessie said as Sofie elbowed in front of her. "Hey mom, dad, are you there?" She leaned her head to the side as though trying to see around Jodi's image.

Jodi stepped aside for Clay. "Hey kiddo, you should thank Olivia for talking me into letting you go on this ride. I was ready to ground you for life when I found out about this plan of yours."

"I know, I should have asked... sorry."

"You know we love you. See you when you get back," Dolores squeezed in.

"I know, I love you too," she replied as her image was replaced by Leland's.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you might like to know we're just about to leave the atmosphere. And in case anyone is interested, we're setting course for the moon. We'll begin acceleration in thirty seconds."

Switching their attention to a monitor above, with a view from the ALEC'S DREAM nose cone camera, they watched the Earths horizon slide across the screen until a half moon settled in the screen's center.

"It looks so far away," Dolores leaned against Clay.

"It is, it's almost a quarter million miles from Earth," Jodi's fact was rewarded with three surprised looks. "I've done some research. I wanted to know where our daughters are off to." She answered their unasked question. "Look!" she pointed back to the monitor. The surface of the Earth began streaking past and in a matter of seconds, the ground dropped from sight leaving only a growing image of the half-moon against a black background. A second monitor displayed the Earth shrinking away behind the ship. The scene was eerily familiar to Alec, as he remembered his strangely realistic dream of many months ago with Shaun, the 4D man.

Clay checked the time. "Well, it'll be another 4 hours before they reach the moon. Let's let them enjoy their adventure. How about some breakfast, I'll buy."

#####

"Space..." Sofie whispered, her elbows resting on the sill of the front window, her chin cupped in her hands.

Jessie, who had taken the same position next to her, nodded in response. The Earth had just disappeared beneath them and they had turned their attention to the moon. "It's all so beautiful, so full of color. I always thought everything would look dull from space."

"How long will it take to get there?" Jessie turned to Jade, afraid to talk to Leland who'd been looking pretty grumpy.

"A normal spaceship would take about 3 days due to fuel limitations, and by how much acceleration the passengers can handle." Jade answered. "But since we have inertial dampening and... ah, well, fuel's not an issue, we'll be getting there in about 4 hours."

"So just how fast are we going?" Sofie looked up at one of the monitors showing the Earth falling away.

"We're accelerating to a final speed of about 60,000 miles per hour; which takes about 20 minutes," Leland answered attempting to be sociable. He was going to enjoy this historic flight, and he wasn't going to let a couple of kids ruin it for him. "Theoretically, we could make it in half the time, but we've never pushed the ship that hard in any of our test flights, so we're playing it a little safe today."

"Hey!" Jessie and Sofie yelped in unison as they began floating.

"I thought we had artificial gravity!" There was a slightly hysterical edge in Sofie's voice.

Jessie began bouncing around the cabin like a tennis ball.

"We only turn the gravity on when we use the bathroom or eat. We prefer flying to walking any day." Phyllis unbuckled and attempted to round up Jessie, to keep her from destroying the bridge.

"Why do we need gravity to eat?" Jessie asked as she easily bounced away from Phyllis's grab at her ankle.

"No reason, we just found it more comfortable. You would just need to drink from the squirt bottles. We've got a great selection of snacks and meals. Why don't you check them out?" Leland's quick thinking worked as Jessie shot out the rear door to the galley, with Sofie tentatively drifting after.

### CHAPTER 6 – CALLING HOME

"Hi dad," Sofie said as she floated in front of the main viewscreen. Clay's picture smiled down at her.

It took a few seconds before he acknowledged, "Hi Sofie."

Dolores squeezed into the display. "How are you doing? Are you OK? How is the ship doing? I miss you." It all came out in a single breath; her look of concern saying it all.

"Hi mom, we're doing just fine. This is incredible. The view of Earth is beautiful, and you should see the moon. We're almost there." Sofie did a small backflip while waiting out the transmission delay.

"We can see it on our monitors. It is beautiful," Clay added.

"According to Jade, we won't be able to talk to you once we're on the other side, but she said it shouldn't be for long."

Pushing off the back wall, Jessie spun upright before reaching Sofie. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Matteson," she said doing one more spin.

"Hi Jessie, see you later Sofie." Dolores waved while stepping aside making room for Alec and Jodi.

"Hey Jess, how does the inertial dampening feel?" asked Alec.

"You can't feel a thing. It's like we're standing still. According to Jade, at the rate we accelerated we should have been squashed flat as pancakes. I wish you guys were here with us."

"I wish we were there too," replied Jodi.

The comment took Jessie by surprise, "Really? I never thought you were interested in space, mom."

Alec piped in, "Why wouldn't she? She's been taking a back seat to everything we've been doing for the past year. She deserves a space vacation more than anyone here, and so does Sofie's mom."

Jessie felt her eyes getting watery, "Gee mom, I never thought about that. Now I really am feeling guilty."

Leland interrupted. "We'll be passing over to the far side in a couple of minutes, so we'll be losing our comlink. Sorry about cutting your conversation short."

Jessie grinned at seeing how hard it was for Leland to be nice.

"We'll talk to you on the other side; we'll be here waiting for..." The screen went fuzzy, then blank in the middle of their goodbye.

"Bye guys," Sofie said to the empty screen.

Jessie gave her a gentle push then drifted to the front windows with their attention on the approaching moon's surface.

"I thought the other side of the moon was always dark?" Jessie asked. Sofie's 'what a dunce' look made her wince.

Phyllis attempted to explain. "The other side of the moon, or far side, is not always the dark side of the moon. It's all about which side of the moon is facing the sun... or facing away from the sun."

"So... as the moon spins, the other side gets lit by the sun," Jessie said after some thought. She cringed as Sofie rolled her eyes. Now she just wanted the conversation to be over with.

Phyllis, undaunted, continued. "There is a phenomenon where the moon spins at the same rate it orbits the Earth, so the same side of the moon _always_ faces the Earth, therefore the far side of the moon _always_ faces away from the Earth. But as the moon orbits the Earth, its angle to the sun changes, causing the lit side of the moon to move a little every day. We don't really notice the moon's orbit because the Earth is also spinning, which allows us to see it every night. But what we do see is the different phases of the moon, as you noticed that the moon was only half lit on the way out here. That means that the far side of the moon is also half-lit."

"So, every day the moon orbits the Earth" Jessie concluded.

"The moon circles the earth every 28 days; the Earth makes a full spin once a day," Sofie corrected before Phyllis could. "That's why there's a full moon once a month."

"There is?" Jessie scratched her head, looking back at them.

Phyllis finally said. "Just trust us that we'll have light halfway across the moon's backside."

"What we're looking at is the far side of the moon... and it's lit," Jessie said relieved that the explanation was over, and she thankfully turned her attention back to the moon's surface shooting past just a couple hundred miles below.

"We'll be entering the dark side soon." Leland pointed toward the beautifully lit moonscape fading to blackness ahead of them.

"Does the moon have a moon?" Jessie was a little hesitant in asking, not wanting another lecture. Everyone curiously looked ahead at what she was looking at; hanging high above the moon's horizon was a small moon.

"No... the moon doesn't have... a... moon," Leland said softly, half to himself. Grabbing hold of the controls he slowed the ship. "This is wrong, very wrong. Phyllis, can you magnify on the main screen?" A small moon-like object appeared on the display.

"Wow, look at that ship!" Sofie said in a hushed voice, almost as though she was afraid it could hear her. "It looks like it's made of rock."

Leland brought the ALEC'S DREAM to a full stop.

"What are those things sticking out of it?" Jessie pointed to metal spikes encircling the ship.

"They look like conning towers," Leland answered.

The ship, if it really was a ship, was shaped like an elongated baked potato. Its skin pockmarked and cracked. One end was flat like someone had cut a slice off. There were four equally spaced rings of metal posts encircling it. In a way, they looked like studded dog collars. The two rings near the ends had smaller studs, while the studs of the two center rings were much larger; those were the ones Leland thought looked like conning towers.

"How big is that thing?" Phyllis asked Jade.

Jade looked at the radar on her console. Jessie drifted to hover behind her. With a few light touches to her console, she transferred the display to an overhead monitor where it showed a large oval-shaped blob at the top of the screen. A few more touches to her console and gridlines overlaid the display.

"According to my calculations, it looks to be about thirty miles long." Jade choked. "And about eight in diameter"

"What are all those other blips?" Sofie pointed to a horde of dots scattered across the bottom of the screen.

"I don't think it's anything, probably just ground clutter; our radar bouncing off irregularities of the moon's surface," Phyllis dismissed. As though on cue, more dots broke from the flat end of the egg-shaped ship.

"Or maybe not... Leland? Jade? What do you guys make of those? I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

"Definitely not clutter, they're moving independently and in unison, with intelligence, definitely ships, yup, definitely ships." Jade sounded rather proud of herself for coming up with that conclusion. "Oh, ships! Those aren't ours, are they? Leland?" she gave their commander a worried look.

"Everybody, back in your seats, buckle up." Leland locked his control panel in front of him. Jessie was the last to reach her seat and by the time she was buckled in, Leland was already accelerating in the direction of the giant ship. He then descended until it felt like they were flying just inches above the moon's surface. The radar image on the front screen changed, now showing a circular grid with the ALEC'S DREAM in its center. The mysterious ship could be seen above them; with dots, dozens of them, all closing in.

The ship lurched in conjunction with a dull echoing thud. Reflexively, Jessie grabbed the arms of her chair. Leland's fighter pilot reflexes kicked in as he banked sharply to the left then rolled back to the right. After straightening out she noticed that one of the dots was flying next to them.

"Damage report!" his tone made Jessie realize they were in real danger.

Phyllis examined the ship's systems from her copilot console responded. "All systems green. Shields are still up."

"That was an attack!" Leland growled. "We're not even armed."

The ship flying next to them looked much like a fighter jet. It had small stubby wings and a bubble-shaped cockpit. There were no visible engines other than the exit hole at the rear of its fuselage. It was black and the crimson markings on its side looked like a cross between Russian alphabet and Egyptian Hieroglyphs. The wings were trapezoidal in shape, wider near the body and studded with many strange looking devices, some were obviously missiles, yet others looked to be straight out of a science fiction movie.

"Can you zoom in on the cockpit?" Leland asked Jade. The main screen switched to the image of the alien ship's pilot. They couldn't glean much since he wore a gray helmet with a black faceplate. But they could tell he was humanoid, with two arms and normal looking hands. If anything; the fingers seemed a little longer than normal, but that could have been because of his suit.

Jessie reached for her seatbelt and looked expectantly at Sofie. Sofie shook her head in a silent ' _no'_ , her face pale. Jessie's buckle clicked open and she silently floated to the side window to get a firsthand look at the alien pilot. He looked back and lifted his face-mask. She saw curly locks sticking out his helmet over his forehead. She thought he looked pretty, almost girlish. With an evil grin that showed slightly crooked teeth, he flew upwards out of sight. Pressing her face against the window, she watched it positioning itself above them for a clear shot. Thanks to inertial dampening, Leland brought the ALEC'S DREAM to a full stop without any damage to Jessie. The alien ship continued speeding ahead as it released one of its missiles, which passed harmlessly by a few thousand feet in front. The alien ship, now ahead of them, slowed. Jessie was able to see the befuddled pilot's head turning, as he frantically looked for them.

Taking advantage of the pilot's confusion, Leland accelerated, overtaking the fighter and passing just a few feet above it. Once in front, he quickly descended in a move to cut it off. The surprised pilot took evasive action banking right and downward. Unfortunately, he was too close to the moon's surface and hit it hard, where it tumbled, breaking apart. In the middle of its third roll, it exploded; not like a normal explosion, but with a flash, bright as a sunburst that quickly shrunk and disappeared, leaving nothing but a trail of broken fighter parts strewn over the moon's surface.

Jessie wanted to cheer but held her tongue noticing everyone else remained silent. Looking around, she saw Sofie staring at the front monitor that showed more ships closing in on them from above and behind.

The blur of the moon's surface let Jessie know that Leland accelerated again, still heading in the direction of the giant ship. She looked questioningly at Leland.

"It's the shortest route to the other side. Besides, they have us blocked off from behind," he said concentrating on the view ahead.

Jessie looked at the radar again. The sky in front was clear and they seemed to be outrunning the ships chasing them. Just as she was beginning to think they were going to make it, more dots blinked into existence from behind the giant ship. They were now being surrounded. Looking at Leland again for some reassurance, he ignored her and kept flying. Then everything went black.

"We just passed into the dark side," Jade said to the startled crew.

"Get back in your seat," Leland barked to Jessie. Realizing she was the only one standing or floating, she flew back to her seat where Sofie helped pull her in. Without warning, Leland stopped the ship making Jessie and Sofie reflexively grab the arms of their chairs.

"I swear, every time he stops like that, I feel like we're going to shoot through the front window," Sofie whispered.

With the ship hovering just a few hundred feet above the moon's surface, Leland began rotating it, searching the darkness. After about a third of the way around, he found what he was looking for and accelerated downwards. Fear gripped Jessie as she knew how close they were to the surface, and there was nothing but blackness out front. All they could do was trust him. A large dark spot, like a pool of ink began growing in the darkness until they were engulfed in it.

Releasing the controls, Leland turned off the cabin lights.

Jessie and Sofie were still holding tight to the arms of their chairs. "Hey, I think we're stopped," Sofie noticed.

The ships inertial dampening had left them with no feeling of acceleration or deceleration, and without being able to see any movement outside, they hadn't realized that Leland 'skidded' to a stop, right below the lip of a crater.

As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they were able to make out their new parking spot. The crater wasn't large, but it was deep, with its sides extending above the moon's surface forming high ragged ridges. Somehow Leland had spotted this small crevice just below the crater's lip where they now hovered, concealed from their pursuers; at least for now.

Sitting quietly in darkness with the glow of the monitors reflecting off the walls and their faces, Leland unlocked his console and pushed it aside. Turning to the girls, he said. "We should be able to hide here for a while and think." Giving Jade and Phyllis a hand signal, they responded with confused looks. Then leaning his head in the direction of the girls to emphasize his hand signal, Jade and Phyllis finally got his point and jumped to comfort the girls.

"Before anyone panics, we should first feel pretty good about what we've discovered." Leland started.

Jessie hadn't even thought about panicking, but now that Leland brought it up...

"I was there when the hull shield was being tested, and I've watched it take heat, cold, lasers, infrared and explosives. We took a hit from a missile and didn't even get a scratch."

"I didn't hear any explosion?" Sofie said, her fear draining a bit.

"Sound can't travel through space; it needs air or something solid," Phyllis answered.

"But how come we heard anything at all?" Sofie remembered the dull thud. Phyllis didn't have an answer.

"Sound _can_ travel through space if the space is dense enough," Jade answered. "You see, I helped Jessie's dad develop the shields. They're made by creating two bubbles with the gravity inductors; one inside the other. When we expand the inner bubble to nearly the size of the outer one, the space between the two bubbles is squeezed until it becomes very dense. The compressed space between the bubbles can keep matter and even energy from passing through; depending on how dense it is. That's why we call it a 'density shield'. What we heard was sound reverberating through that compressed layer of space surrounding the ship. It's kind of ironic, but the stronger we make the shield, the more sound it will let pass.

"How come we felt that bump?" Sofie looked questioningly at Jessie. "I thought we had that inertial dampening thing, didn't it work?"

"The inertial dampening is interconnected with the ship's drive controls, it reacts to our own movements based on the controls, but it doesn't react to movement not caused by us. It isn't smart enough." Jessie felt like giving a smug look but thought better of it.

"We need to make contact with Earth. Do you guys have any suggestions?" Leland asked.

Jessie wondered why he was asking them. "What can Earth do?"

"Yeah, we're stuck up here with thousands of ships trying to shoot us!" Sofie added. Jessie heard panic start to grow again in her voice.

"Sofie, don't worry too much about those ships. I was trying to keep track and counted only about 30. With all our moving around, it just looked like there were a lot more on the radar." Jade tried comforting the sniffling Sofie.

"But what can Earth do?" Jessie asked.

"There is another ship back at Big Sky that's a twin to this one," Phyllis replied. "If we can contact Sheldon, he'll be able to equip it with some weapons."

Jessie looked at Sofie who wiped her nose with her sleeve. Then as only close friends can do, they came to an understanding without saying a word.

"We're ready to help. What should we do?" Sofie turned to Leland. There was no more sniffling.

Leland expression softened. "Being stuck on this side of the moon, we need some way to make direct contact with Earth. Do you have any ideas?"

After thinking about it, Jessie timidly spoke up. "When we were in the back storeroom, I noticed a spare radio and some space suits. I could put the radio in one of the suites and link it up with the suit radio." Jade, Leland, and Phyllis stared back, curiously waiting for her to continue.

"Well, the suit has enough power to last... well, forever. Maybe we could figure out how to guide it away from the moon... and ah... out to where it could communicate with earth. We could talk to the suit, and the suit would retransmit what we send. I think I can wire up the spare radio to the suit radio so it could retransmit both ways."

Jessie began feeling stupid again as everyone just stared at her. "I know... it's a stupid idea, OK I'll shut up," she said awkwardly.

"Kid, if you can wire up a suit, that's brilliant," Leland beamed, so did everyone else.

"You know, I've got that remote control we used to get past the security cameras in my backpack." Sofie realized she just gave away one of their secrets, "oops, sorry Jessie."

Jessie just shrugged, "I think I'm getting out of the sneaking around business from now on." Sofie nodded vigorously in agreement.

"What are you thinking about doing with that remote?" Jade asked having an idea of what Sofie had in mind.

"Maybe we could use the remote to fly the suit past those ships to get clear of the moon," Sofie unbuckled from her chair.

"I think we have a plan! Jade, Phyllis, you and the girls get the radios and suit ready, I'll work out the antenna problems." They were already in the back storeroom before Leland finished giving his orders. Looking around the empty bridge, he shrugged and followed.

It wasn't long before Jessie and Jade had the spare radio wedged into the suit's helmet. Sofie and Phyllis were testing the remote controls by flying the helmet-less suit around the ship; like a headless ghost.

"We need a better camera. It's too hard to control the suit with the view from this stupid camera. It only points straight ahead." grumbled Sofie about the suit camera mounted on its shoulder.

"The ship is full of cameras, inside and out. Just take one." Leland looked up from his antenna assembly. "As a matter of fact, grab two. It might be a good idea to put a camera on the antenna, to give us a view from the ground."

"Jade, is it possible to connect the camera controls to the suit's radio?" Phyllis asked holding out the one she just scavenged off the wall from the mess area.

Jade studied it. Jessie looked up from her soldering inside the suit's helmet. "That's easy, I suppose you want me to wire up the mounting motors too." She asked then returned to her work without waiting for an answer.

Four long hours later, a droopy-eyed Jessie sat on the bench in the back cabin looking at their modified spacesuit floating in the room's center. Leland, fitted in another suit, stood next to it with his makeshift antenna.

Leaning against the door jamb with her arms crossed, Phyllis observed. "You look like a modern-day American Gothic." To Jessie's confused look she added. "You know the painting with the farmer and his wife holding the pitchfork?"

Jessie overheard Jade giggle over the speakers.

"Funny Phyllis, let's just get this done." Leland's growl came through the same speakers.

He turned to the airlock mounted on the back wall. A strange location for an airlock since a normal ship would have its engines mounted on the back. But the ALEC'S DREAM gravity plates rimmed the outer edge of its flat back side, leaving most of the rear wall usable for other things.

Phyllis wrestled Leland and his antenna through the airlock door. It then took Leland another 5 minutes as he struggled to get the antenna out.

"We need to tell Sheldon to make these doors bigger on the next model," Leland sounded out of breath. "You can send my partner out whenever you're ready." he referred to the remote-controlled suit still floating in the room's center. After helping Phyllis guide it into the airlock, Jessie bounded to the front cabin to watch Leland and his antenna fly up and over the lip of the crater; a coil of wire trailing behind.

"Your new best friend is in the airlock," Phyllis said taking her seat at her copilot's console.

"Do you see anything?" Phyllis's asked looking up at the wire leading into the darkness above them.

"It's too dark to tell. I think I see flares from their engines, but nothing near us."

Jessie could feel the tension on the bridge as they waited for Leland to finish. Finally, his voice came over the speakers. "There, this should hold."

Jessie and Sofie ran to the window in time to see him breach the darkness, straightening the coiled wire as he drifted down. He waved as he passed, then disappeared below the ship to attach the cable to the interface jacks used by the ground crew.

"Are you getting anything?"

"Nothing yet, wait, there it is." Jade responded as the main view screen flickered before displaying a crisp picture of the moonscape.

"I had to break the retaining clip off of the connector in case we need to make a quick escape. It's a little loose. I hope it doesn't fall out, how is it now?" Leland's asked.

"Still looks good," Jade responded after the picture flickered. Working the makeshift controls, they were rewarded with the view of the moonscape panning to the left, then to the right. "Controls work fine."

"Looks like I'm finished here," he said as Phyllis bounded into the back cabin to help.

Later, as Leland returned to his pilot's seat, Jessie moved to the front window to look at the empty suit staring back at them from outside.

"Jess... look we're on TV," Sofie said.

Jessie floated back to her seat to watch the main screen showing the view from the suit camera. Leland nodded and Sofie worked her remote and in response, the suit drifted up. At the same time, the view from the suit camera showed the ALEC'S DREAM dropping into darkness.

Jessie could do nothing but sit nervously and watch the monitors. Phyllis controlled the suits camera and Leland the antenna's directional motors and camera. As the suit crested the crater rim the monitor showed the darkened moonscape with the makeshift antenna embedded in the dirt. A similar view of the moonscape was provided by the antenna's monitor.

The plan was to fly the suit back in the same direction they came from. Back into the lit side of the moon and into space where it would clear of the moon and be in radio range of Earth. Their hope was that the small size of the suit would slip past whatever the aliens use for radar.

Hours passed as the suit slowly made its way above the moon's rough terrain. They took turns manning its controls and it took nearly seven hours for it to finally edge past the moon's horizon where they finally saw a partial view of the Earth.

"Just what we hoped for; we have a direct line of sight to mission control. We won't have to wait." Jessie heard relief in Leland's voice. The realization of what he said made her feel disappointed in herself again. It never occurred to her that if their home would have been on the other side, they would have to wait a half a day for the Earth to spin around.

Jade switched the main screen over to the communications display where it showed the words 'no signal'.

"This is the ALEC'S DREAM, please reply" Jade repeated. After only a slight delay, the screen flickered and then displayed unrecognizable pixilated figures. Anxiously, Jessie stood behind Jade. "Mom, Dad!" Sofie's yell echoed hers as the four fuzzy silhouettes sharpened into images of their parents.

"Jessie, Sofie? Are you there? Can you hear us? Please, are you there?" The jumble of voices came from the screen. In her excitement she stepped forward a little too hard, causing her to almost fly into the monitor with Sofie grabbing her ankle just in time.

"Thanks, Sof," she settled to the floor.

After a few seconds, the look of relief on their parent's faces let them know they received their picture. Before Jessie or Sofie could say anything, Leland cut in. "We may not have much time; we're hiding on the moon's surface in order to avoid hostiles. Repeat, there are hostiles out here. At present, we are safe. The ship has not sustained any damage and all passengers are safe and sound."

They waited out the communications delay.

"What hostiles? Sofie, Jessie?" Clay's face now filled the screen.

"We're fine, Dad, we want to come home!" Sofie yelled.

"There is a large ship, approximately 30 miles by 8 miles in size, positioned behind the moon. We have seen it being used as a base for fighter ships." Leland continued. "We are hiding and would like some assistance from the Doppelganger."

Sheldon's image replaced Clay's, "Leland, are you in imminent danger? How long can you hold out?" His long, thin nose looked as though it would come right through the view screen. He pushed his hands through his dark hair while waiting out the delay.

"We're safe for now, no telling when or if they will find us. We've taken a hit with no damage. Our gravity drives and inertial dampening gives us an advantage." Leland responded. "We have air and supplies to last at least a week. If needed we might be able to make a run for it, but with the size of that ship, they may have more armaments than we want to deal with."

"We'll have the Doppelganger up within 24 hours if it's the last thing I do. I'll also notify the authorities, through my private channels of course." Sheldon needed to be careful since their little escapade around the moon was not sanctioned by the military or the government. But he did have high-level contacts within the military.

"Jessie, are you OK?" Sheldon's surprised face disappeared from the screen as Jodi shoved him away. She reached out her hand as if trying to touch her.

Jessie stepped closer to the screen. "We're OK mom, Mr. Leland is a really good pilot, he's almost as good as Sofie and he hid us in a crater and..." Jessie whimpered as the screen went blue, then the words 'no signal' appeared. "No! Mom!" she looked back at Jade who was working at the controls trying to restore the link; she then looked up shaking her head.

"Sorry, it looks like..." her face went to stone as she saw the monitors.

Jessie turned to see what she was staring at just as the ship lurched. Pieces of moon rock and dirt fell past the windows. The ship rocked again. The suit and antenna screens went blank, but not before they saw three alien fighters, weapons blazing, heading straight for the antenna camera.

Sofie dragged Jessie to their seats as Leland locked his control panel in front of him. Another jolt hit as they finished strapping in. Leland accelerated out and up streaking past the attacking ships, straight towards the giant asteroid ship above. The fighters were fast, faster than Jessie thought and caught up to them by the time they reached the big ship.

"Wow, how fast did we accelerate? And they caught up to us?" Jade mirrored Jessie's amazement.

"They must have inertial dampening too." Jessie thought out loud.

"Then why do they need rockets?" Jade wondered. "If they had anti-gravity technology then they definitely wouldn't need rockets. Their physiology must allow them to handle that level of acceleration, at least for a short time."

They all went silent as Leland skimmed above the rock-like surface of the giant ship.

"Why so close?" Jessie croaked.

"They won't fire missiles at us while we're this close, I doubt if they'd want to hit their own mothership if they miss," Leland said, not taking his eyes off the monitor. As though the alien ships heard Leland's comment, missiles began raining down, exploding on the surface all around them. "Or maybe not," he added taking evasive action zigzagging across the surface. "Jade... look for a clear path away from this beast, if we can get past these fighters, we might be able to outrun them. I think it's about time I test out the full speed of this ship."

"There's another dozen ships coming at us from ahead," Jade said. "I can see a path up and out, but we need to get around this group coming at us first, sorry."

Without acknowledging, he suddenly changed course to the base of one of the monstrous conning towers.

"Look at the size of that skyscraper." Sofie stared at the tower that would have dwarfed any building on Earth.

As they neared the tower's base, more ships circled around from the other side cutting off their exit, leaving them with nowhere to go. Jessie squeaked and gripped the arms of her chair as Leland changed direction straight down into a small crevice that seemed to form out of nowhere. It was barely wide enough for the ALEC'S DREAM.

"Why do you think I aimed for the towers?" Leland afforded himself a chuckle even while navigating the small canyon at breakneck speed. Missiles exploded on the surface above, strewing rubble, rocks, and dirt around them.

"Hold tight everyone. I'm hoping this canyon will take us to the far side of that tower. If I'm right, we just might come out behind them." he said without diverting his attention. To Jessie's and Sofie's distress, he hadn't slowed much after entering the crevice. The stark contrast of light and dark playing off the rock outcroppings and turns of the canyon made it feel like a carnival ride. Suddenly, out of nowhere, two missiles entered from above hitting the walls just ahead. Two expanding plumes of rock, dust, and debris erupted and if it wasn't for Leland's trained reflexes and the ship's anti-gravity technology, they would have been destroyed. Stopping, he reversed and moved closer to the right wall where he parked behind a small outcropping. The walls in front continued to slowly crumble with some of the debris floating up and out into space, but most floated towards the canyon floor. As more of the rock separated from the wall, a dark opening was exposed. Without hesitation, Leland flew straight for it. The crew held on, not from acceleration, but more from fear of where he was taking them.

"Whoa, isn't this kind of dangerous?" Phyllis whispered to Leland. In the silence of the ship, they all heard what she said.

He continued plowing through the debris cloud. "It's a calculated risk, if they figured out what we were planning it's a good bet we'll be met by a welcome party when we get out of this canyon, unless they thought we were destroyed by the blasts," he smiled. "I'm sure they'll be looking for wreckage when we don't show up. Hopefully, we can get far enough inside that little cave where they can't find us, and uh, well, hopefully, we don't get buried," he whispered to Phyllis not thinking the girls could overhear, but they did.

As they entered the darkness of the cavern, he turned on the ships outside lights. As powerful as they were, they were not bright enough to reach the back of the cave. He kept moving further in.

"How deep is this cave?" Jade got out of her seat to float behind Leland.

Sofie and Jessie unbuckled and drifted next to her. "Look" Sofie pointed at the back wall as it came into view. What they saw was a jagged hole. It looked like a broken entrance into a subway tube with uneven edges and smooth curved inside walls. Leland came to a stop just outside to examine it. As Jessie carefully floated to the window for a closer look Leland slipped inside without warning.

"Why... why, are we going in? Can't we just sit quietly at the back of the cave?" Jessie looked back at him.

"If we were able to see the cave, they will too, and if they do, we'd be sitting ducks with no way out. This shaft has to lead somewhere. With our anti-gravity drives and shields, we should easily be able to get through this. There's no way those fighters could even think about following. I think luck might be with us," he didn't mention the lights he just saw near the cave opening on the rearview monitor.

The tube seemed to go on forever with many twists and turns. Jessie quickly lost her sense of direction, not knowing up from down or left from right being only able to see a few dozen feet in front of them.

"There!" Sofie pointed at a small dot of light to their front.

"Hold on, I'm going to exit at full speed. It'll give us a head start in case they're waiting for us." The small dot of light quickly grew larger, being their only indication that Leland had accelerated. Jessie was the first to realize something was wrong as they exited, Leland was the second.

"Stop!" She yelled. Leland didn't need the warning as his reflexes brought them to a stop just outside the tunnel's exit. They immediately knew they didn't exit the ship as they stared at the unexpected scene around them.

### CHAPTER 7 – HELP FROM HOME

"You need to get that other ship ready, what's its name? Yes, the Doppelganger... loaded and sent out here as fast as possible. We'll pay or do whatever it takes." Alec knew he didn't need to plead with Sheldon, but he didn't know what else to do. Sheldon ran his hand through his hair, squinting from the setting sun behind Alec.

"Don't worry, I've already sent orders. The Doppelganger is being fitted with weapons as we speak. According to my crew chief, it should be here by morning." Sheldon replied. "As for payment, we can talk about that later. Right now, we need to get the crew and your kids back home."

"Did you notify the authorities?" Jodi asked as they walked out GraviTych's front lobby doors with Clay and Dolores.

"I notified my contacts at the Air Force. They should be getting back to me soon; I've known these guys for quite some time." Sheldon answered. He didn't want to say his connections were curiously apathetic to their situation, even to the fact that there was an alien ship hiding on the other side of the moon.

"Meester MeeCuf. Meester Matteeson. I jeest heard. Eees der anyting I can do?" Eugene yelled from the flying platform he deftly landed just a few feet away. "Maybe I can fly your car up there" he added as he ran up to them.

"Sorry Eugene, the car won't fly in space." Jodi patted his arm. "I don't think there's anything you can do. Is there?" she asked turning to Alec and Sheldon.

"I don't think there is. I appreciate your help." Eugene's look of concern touched Alec.

A black Lincoln sped into the parking lot parking next to Eugene's flying platform. Alec seldom remembered a face, but he remembered the one who opened the driver side door. "We don't have time for your nonsense," Alec growled at Joshua the conspiracy nut, before he was fully out of the car.

"What nonsense?" Joshua looked confused.

"Our kids are in trouble; we need to help them, and we don't have time to listen to your conspiracy garbage." Alec vented.

"I've heard," Joshua's comment stunned Alec silent.

"From who?" Sheldon took notice of Joshua for the first time. "Our communications are encrypted. Everything we are doing has been kept secret. Plus, we only just found out about this a short while ago ourselves."

"Now, maybe you'll listen... Hey, do I know you?" Joshua looked at Eugene.

"Why, uh, I do not theeenk so," Eugene replied meekly hiding behind Jodi.

"There's something about you that's familiar," Joshua's eye's narrowed as he studied him.

"I am no familiar wit you." Eugene glared back then said to Alec. "I shouldn't interrupt your deeescushions anymore, I go back to work."

Joshua's eyes followed Eugene as he jumped back on his platform and flew towards the back of the building.

"Ah, where was I... oh, and as for the Doppelganger, I'm afraid that you'll be waiting a long time for that to show up," Joshua said to Sheldon, "and I am sorry to say that you are no longer in charge of Big Sky." Then to Alec, Clay, Jodi, and Dolores, he said softly, "You may want to come with me if you want to help your children. If you stay here any longer, you may not be able to help them anymore."

"What?" Clay's anger flared at his threat.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Alec stepped between them.

"There is a government supported agency that is aware of what's going on and has taken control of Big Sky. And they are currently on their way here to do the same with GraviTych. You may want to notify your employees and tell them to get out and lay low for a while," Joshua continued calmly.

"Then call them up and stop them!" Alec snapped.

"If I could I would," Joshua replied. "This is the danger I tried to warn you about."

Alec looked at Sheldon, who was now yelling into his cell phone. The conversation ended with a 'yes sir' before he angrily put it away. "Your friend is right. Some unknown government group has taken over everything, and it's not the Air Force or any military group. It's a lot of guys in suits carrying badges, guns and legal documents. My contact with the Air Force is a General, and even he's afraid of these guys," Sheldon looked pleadingly at Alec as though hoping he could do something. "What the hell is going on?"

Alec looked to Clay, Jodi, and Dolores.

"We need to do something," said Jodi. Turning to Joshua, she asked, "Mr. Joshua or whatever your name is. What is it you want from us?"

"I need your husband's knowledge," he responded. "I am part of a group of people that are very much aware of things, and a lot more is going on that you can imagine. We are well funded and ready and willing to fight. We need the technology invented by your husband... and developed by GraviTych for us to even have a chance of success; and to get your families back together."

Jodi studied Joshua's face for a few moments before turning to the rest of them. "We need to go with Joshua."

Alec nodded. Just as he had a good sense with technology, she had an even better sense of people. And when Jodi determined that she could trust someone, he knew that person could be trusted. "I believe in Jodi when it comes to things like this," Alec said in support.

"Is it safe at our house?" Jodi asked Joshua.

"For now, you are. They're not really interested in you yet. Go home and pack. We've got to get going soon. I'll get in touch with you shortly to arrange travel to a safe place," Joshua answered.

"Wait! I don't want a safe place. I want our kids back, _now_!" Alec spoke for all. "You said you have resources, well so do we. We need to get to work and fast."

"You'll be getting to work fast enough, but right now you're in more danger than your kids are," Joshua answered. "They will be safe, at least for a while... long enough for us to work out a rescue plan."

### CHAPTER 8 – MAROONED

"Holy cow," Sofie whispered.

Jessie unbuckled and drifted past Phyllis, Leland, and Jade to the front window where Sofie was already floating. They all stared incredulously at the twilight outside. The ALEC'S DREAM did not exit into space like they thought it would, instead they found themselves hovering inside a hollowed out asteroid, except it wasn't empty, it was filled with another ship.

What they couldn't see was that those skyscrapers protruding outside the ship were just the 'tip of the iceberg', extending far below the ship's surface meeting at its center, four miles below. These structures, or spokes, gave support to a central axle spanning the length of the ship; more than ample support for the three massive barrel-shaped ship sections rotating with it.

Jessie couldn't see all that from their vantage point next to the hull. Instead, in the gloomy space between two of the barrel-shaped spinning ship sections, all she could see was one giant spoke fading into the darkness below. It was similar to its skyscraper counterpart except for the eerie lights emanating from its many windows. Jessie wondered why anyone would want a window looking out into the murkiness of the ship's insides.

It was fortunate they entered between two of the ship sections because if they would have entered _above_ one of them, even their shielding and hull would not have protected them from being ground to dust in the narrow space between the rock hull and the giant spinning metal barrel.

Leland slowly turned the ALEC'S DREAM giving them a better look at the side of one of the spinning ship sections. In the dimness, the speed of its spin made it look like a hazy and colorless fog.

"I think this isn't good." Sofie turned from the window, there was a tremor in her voice. "We need to get out of here; we can't get rescued from in here!"

"We're too exposed. We need to find a place to hide. Then we'll worry about rescue," Leland snapped. Jessie saw the shock on Sofie's face. The grim looks Phyllis and Jade gave him made him soften up. "Sorry Sofie, but we need to fend for ourselves right now, and then worry about getting rescued."

"Why can't we just go back where we came from?" Sofie asked.

"I didn't want to say, but I think I saw ships behind us in the cave," Leland confessed. "It may not be safe to go back."

"Do you think they're following us?" Phyllis asked quickly looking back to where they exited the access tube.

"There's no way I could have navigated that tube with any other ship than the ALEC'S DREAM, and from what we've seen of their ships, I doubt that they could either. Now let's get moving."

He aimed the ALEC'S DREAM down into the darkness below near the base of the dimly lit tower. Minutes passed. "Do you see that?" Sofie broke the silence. Jessie had noticed the blue light but thought her eyes were playing tricks. Leland grunted, but continued forward until the light source was exposed.

"It reminds me of a plasma ball," Jade commented on the blue lightning emanating from a large spherical structure.

"It's beautiful," Sofie said.

The sphere was a meeting point of the six enormous spokes extending from the hull. Blue lightning flared from it, with some of the bolts fizzling away into the void while others snaked their way up along the towering spokes. The sphere was more than a hub for the spokes as it also acted as a large motor housing, a poorly grounded motor housing used to drive the spin of the inner ship.

"Looks like a dead end," Leland ignored the incredible light show.

To Jessie's disappointment he turned back towards the outer hull. "We need to find a place where we can hide. Even though they can't follow us through that tube doesn't mean there's no other way in here."

His comment shocked Jessie's attention away from the mesmerizing light show.

"Maybe we should check out some of those other columns," Leland mumbled to himself after reaching the hull, without finding anything even close to a hiding spot.

"What about there?" Jessie pointed at the outer edges of the blurry spinning ship section. "Doesn't that look like a parking garage?"

"Where?" Leland strained to see what she was pointing at.

"Right there!" Jessie tried pointing harder if there is such a thing as pointing harder. "Right there, near the wall."

Leland squinted as he attempted to make out details of the moving wall's blurred blemishes. Finally, he made out a small lip just a few dozen yards away from the inside of the ship's hull. Above it, he could see a darker line, which just could be a gap or Jessie's garage. "OK, I see it," he made Jessie fidget at his look of approval.

Turning the ship to the other spinning ship sections they found no similar features. "I'm not sure I'd know what we would do if these kids weren't here." he whispered to Phyllis then a little louder he said. "That lip looks like it could be a landing pad, I'm just not sure how I'm going to land on it." He pointed the ship in the direction of the moving wall and accelerated, matching the speed of its spin.

"What are you doing?" Phyllis uneasily held onto her chair.

"I just need to match the speed of the spin." Leland strained at the controls. "Damn!" He said getting dangerously close to the hull.

"Maybe you should try something else." Jade squeaked.

"You're right, this is impossible," Leland said after trying again to match the speed of the spin along with keeping the right distance from the inner curvature of the hull wall. "We need another idea. We've spent too much time messing around out here."

"Instead of starting from the inside, why don't you start from the outside?" Sofie made flying gestures with her hand. "You know, like start near the outside wall and then pick a spot where you want to land. As the spot spins past, you take off at an angle, cutting off the curve to meet it further down. By the time you meet it, you should be flying at the same speed and you can land on it."

"Someday, I just might be as good a pilot as you." Leland gave Jessie a wry glance. Jessie blushed recalling her comment to her mom about him being 'almost as good a pilot as Sofie'.

Doing just as Sofie suggested, Leland maneuvered the ship to a starting position along the outside wall and picked a landing spot coming towards him. As it sped by, he accelerated away at a slight angle from the wall. All he needed to do was match speed to keep up with his moving landing spot. As it curved back towards them, he slightly angled his descent to land the ALEC'S DREAM gently on the platform.

"That was easy. Sofie, you're a genius," Leland grinned.

From their new vantage point, the outer hull now appeared to be the one moving. Leland shut off their gravity controls. The 'gravity' created by the centrifugal force of the spinning ship section pulled them to their seats. By the time Jessie finished unbuckling, Leland was already slipping the ALEC'S DREAM further inside the dark cavernous space leading into the ship section.

"We're less exposed under here," Leland answered their worried looks.

Jessie found it awkward _walking_ to the front window in the new gravity. The inside was much like a parking garage, filled with an endless array of support columns marked with hieroglyphic symbols glowing under the dim lights suspended above them. The garage went on forever and it felt as though they had traveled for miles before Phyllis tapped Leland on the shoulder pointing to their right. Jessie strained to see in the darkness at what looked like a dimly lit ramp running to the ceiling. Turning toward it, Leland brought them to a halt at its bottom before turning to the crew. "What do you say?" His voice being the first sound since they entered the garage.

"I'm not sure about this..."

"Aw Sof, don't be such a worry wart," Jessie said overriding Sofie's common sense. "I think we should go in."

Leland smiled at Jessie, and before Jade or Phyllis could give their opinions, he slid the ALEC'S DREAM up the ramp where it dead-ended in a closed-off chamber, with their only exit being the ramp behind.

"It looks like a cave," Jessie said, standing behind Leland.

"You're right, it does." Sofie moved to stand next to her.

"Now what?" Phyllis leaned back in her copilot's chair.

Then without warning the ramp closed, sealing them in. Before Sofie's fingernails could sink too far into Jessie's arm, a pair of doors to their front slid apart, letting bright white sunlight pour in. Without hesitation, Leland flew through them.

"A jungle... in the middle of space... in the middle of a spaceship" Jade said mostly to herself. An undaunted Leland continued forward until they were safely concealed beneath a canopy of forest growth where he extended the landing gear and set down. Then turning to Sofie he said. "Now it's time for us to think."

###   
CHAPTER 9 – THE CAPTAIN

"Sir, we are not aware of the ship's origins, but we are sure it was destroyed." The young lieutenant said.

M'bron, commander of the Seeker III was irritated about not being told the details of what happened. He studied the squadron leader, Lieutenant Donel, standing at ease in the center of its observation deck of one of the ships many bridges. "I was under the impression that Earth did not have the kind of technology this ship seems to have." He had been studying Earths technologies himself and was curious about what the Lieutenant knew. "Why wasn't I notified when the ship was first spotted?"

The young lieutenant had changed out of his flight suit and now wore the ship's standard uniform of black pants tucked into knee-high boots, a bright blue blouse, actually any colored blouse would do, laced up the front with exaggerated puffed out sleeves. At his waist was his Ga'Bour, a beautiful saber-shaped weapon that not only could be used as a sword, but also provided a deadly plasma discharge.

Fidgeting under M'bron's glare, the lieutenant answered, "Sir, I didn't feel it was important enough to disturb you."

"You mean a ship displaying a technology superior to ours, coming from a planet that has nothing but primitive space travel, not important?" M'bron knew this arrogant young lieutenant was holding information from him, and knowledge is power in this administration. He was tempted to get rid of this threat, but he knew more about this lieutenant than the lieutenant knew about himself, and it would be stupid to throw this hard-earned knowledge away.

"I want you to collect every spec of debris from that ship for our scientists to study. I want it done by the end of the day," M'bron dismissed the lieutenant with a flick of his hand before turning his gaze to the moon they were hiding behind.

Donel turned and sprang from the deck toward the ceiling where he gracefully spun and pushed off to glide downwards through the conning towers hollow core.

With his hands folded behind his back, M'bron paced in front of the wall-sized window pondering the information about this advanced technology; a technology he hadn't seen during any of his travels over the past 100 years. "There is something suspicious about this planet," he muttered. Absent-mindedly, he dug the toe of his boot into the reddish-brown carpet moss, which covered all the floors in the towers. Watching the moss repair itself, as it has done for as long as he's been on the ship, he wondered about the strange semi-intelligent moss that held feet to the floor in null gravity while easily letting go with nothing more than a thought.

Dreading what needed to be done, he let out an inaudible sigh as he walked to the edge of the platform. Spreading his cloak wide, he stepped off, and with practiced movements flew along the massive circumference of the tower's upper level. After completing a circuit, he turned towards the towers center. Then with a vertical flip of his spread cloak, he stopped to float motionless near the ceiling of the towers hollow core. Tier after tier of terrace-like platforms faded into the green-tinged darkness below him; each tier containing rows of workstations monitoring and operating every part of the ship. Twelve towers contained thousands of such stations with thousands of round-screened cathode ray tubes that provided the cores greenish tinge. The dull buzz of the manned stations worked its way to him as he watched the endless movement of brightly uniformed workers flowing up and down through the shaft below.

With a slight movement of his cape, he steered toward an ordinary looking door on the ceiling. Slowing to a stop, he laid his hand over a fist-sized stone protruding from the metal wall. After a moment, he heard the not-so-comforting click of the lock.

The chamber was large enough only for him, and a stone table and chair with an ancient cone-shaped device floating above. Stiffly, he sat then focused on the emptiness emanating from the floating cone. Pulling it closer, he placed his face fully inside it where immediately everything went dark. The familiar sickening feeling of flying, twisting and spinning through space poured over him; he needed to close his eyes to keep his stomach in check. As always, just when he felt he couldn't take anymore, it stopped. Opening his eyes, he found himself in a familiar windowless room, and in it the thing he dreaded. In a corner, the dark foreboding figure of a man knelt with its back to him. Slowly it stood. Spread its cloak to its full width, it turned into a set of shining white wings. With blond hair flowing over his shoulders he faced M'bron, the familiar face smiled as though happy to see him; a kind and gentle face with its sparkling eyes making one feel warm and familiar.

Clasping his hands in front of him he spoke. "M'bron, what news have you brought me?" The voice didn't match his looks; it was ice cold, almost piercing and as always sending a shiver down M'bron's spine.

"The planet, they call it Earth, has many isolated countries and their leadership is disorganized and will not be able to resist our offers. We have already made contact with many of them, and have given the guidelines for our trade agreements, which will divide them even more." M'bron left out the incident with the unknown craft. "Their ancestry is still unknown to us, but I doubt if these are the Children we are looking for. This world is disorganized with too many languages and religions."

"Do not dismiss these people yet, I sense something is amiss. Do you have any specimens I can talk with?" The request sent a chill through M'bron having witnessed the result of his interrogations.

"We will very soon. Plans are being readied," M'bron replied being careful not to show his revulsion.

"I feel that we will soon find the 'Chosen Ones', and once they are found, we will be forever free of our torment," Loomius turned back to his corner.

Bowing his head, M'bron's connection mercifully terminated, launching him on his long journey back, and on returning, he savagely pushed the cone away. It was a friendly meeting on the surface, but the menacing hatred encompassing his god still lingered, making him shudder violently. He could only imagine what an _unfriendly_ meeting would be like. He waited for his shaking to stop, glad there was no one to see his weakness.

### CHAPTER 10 – THE BREAK-IN

"I can't see a thing, why haven't you changed the windshield wipers?" Alec complained. Along with it being dark and gloomy, it was raining, as Clay flew the Plymouth just above the treetops.

"You just can't buy windshield wipers for a 59 Plymouth from anywhere," Clay retorted. "Anyway, I've flown this route hundreds of times, I can fly it blindfolded. And take it easy on that armrest, its original. Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

"I don't consider this a joy ride," Alec moaned not liking their nighttime flight.

"You didn't need to come, I could have gotten everything we needed," Clay said bringing up their earlier argument.

Alec didn't respond as he thought about their mission. It started when Joshua told them about the secret facilities where they'd be able to retrofit a rescue ship. Alec and Clay knew that to do that, they'd need to reclaim some equipment, drawings and technical information that were, at least for now, safely locked away in GraviTych. Even though it was possible to rebuild whatever they needed, time was their enemy.

"Just keep driving, I'll be OK." Thoughts of Jessie and Sofie drove him on.

Slowing, Clay descended to hover just below the treetops in the woods behind GraviTych. From their vantage point they could see black SUV's parked in the employee lot near the side of the building. Slowly drifting through the trees, Clay positioned them where they could watch the front entrance. Two black-suited armed guards were outside the front door, holding automatic weapons; one leaning against the side of the building while the other reclined in an office chair that looked like it was salvaged from one of their meeting rooms.

"Just a couple of night watchmen," Clay said.

Alec thought they looked more threatening than 'night watchmen'.

Clay circled the building where they counted 4 more guards walking in pairs around the building.

"The roof is clear, let's hope that your secret parking spot hasn't been discovered yet," Alec said.

After the Gravity Expo, Clay had taken ownership the car and there wasn't a day gone by that one didn't see him flying to or from work, or just taking a joyride. He even had a covered garage built on the roof.

The guards walking the perimeter weren't very enthusiastic about their jobs and it didn't take long for Clay to find an opening. Alec held tight as they covered the distance in second. It took Clay only a moment to slip under the cover of his rooftop garage. The 'garage' was on the third floor of the textile mill section with its hidden door opening to the second story roof of the old school section, making a perfect driveway entrance. Once in, they flew a long narrow corridor leading to a wider landing pad. He turned the car around before setting down.

"We'll get the blanket press first," Clay recited their plan as they walked to the back of the room. Lifting a metal panel off the floor exposed an access shaft and ladder extending to the first floor.

At the bottom, Alec opened a service panel on the wall where he connected Jessie's device they had confiscated a half a year ago. The device was meant to erase them from the security camera's output streams. "I hope I reprogrammed it right," Alec said, his memory of Jessie's explanation had faded a bit.

"We'll find out soon enough," Clay cracked open the door to the hall. Luckily, the blanket press room was just a couple doors down the hall. "So far so good," Clay whispered as he pulled the key from his pocket to unlock it. To their relief, the press still stood in the middle of the room. This was the riskiest part of their mission; it had taken many months to custom make the press and it would be impossible to make more gravity blanket material without it. Looking at the half-dozen security cameras spread about the room Clay gave a worried look. "Do you think Jessie's security camera override device is working on the cameras in here?"

"If I connected it up right, we should be invisible. I'm worried about the blanket press. I hope security won't think a floating press doesn't seem too unusual." Grabbing hold of each end, they began their journey down the hallway and up the access shaft. It took nearly an hour to horse the press up the access ladder where they finally stowed it away in the back of the station wagon.

"I didn't think it would take this much time," Clay looked at his watch, "We should split up, you get the backup tapes and I'll head to my office for the vendor lists." In addition to the blanket press, they also needed Clay's list of manufacturers who were making the real, not the counterfeit blanket material. Since Clay had to keep the recipe a secret, he had schemed up a series of outsourced and sub-contracted 'shadow' companies that not only kept the real manufactures from being discovered, but also from kept these companies from realizing what it was they were making. He knew the list by heart, but they had agreed that it needed to be kept out of the hands of the new owners. Alec, on the other hand, needed to get hold of their backup tapes containing copies of their servers, desktops, and laptops. These were kept in the IT room.

"Good luck," Alec said as he finished reconnecting Jessie's video bypass device to the third-floor security panel. Slipping out the door Clay headed left towards his office. Alec followed him out, turning right to the IT room. To his relief, the tapes were untouched, and just where he expected them. Stuffing them in a black cloth bag supplied by Joshua, he exited the room locking the door behind him. Then hesitating, he turned in the opposite direction of the car, back towards his office.

It looked untouched, just as he left it, and to his relief, his precious laptop was still open on his desk. Carefully packing it away in its case he turned to his closet. Out of habit, he looked behind making sure no one was around before stepping into it, where he placed his feet over two worn marks on the floor. Pressing his hand on the wall to his right, the back wall began to shimmer red. Waiting patiently, the shimmering faded a bit exposing a door that wasn't there before. With a practiced hand, he grabbed its pull and waited again. This time, for the shimmering to turn green before he safely pulled the door open.

The newly exposed room was small and windowless, with just enough space for a couple of server racks and a table containing some monitors and keyboards. To his right, next to the door, was a workbench covered with computer parts, tools and a half-assembled desktop computer.

Taking a step into the room, he was startled by a voice from behind. "So, you must be the famous Alec McCoughe. Please turn around... slowly."

Alec froze, then turned as directed to see a short man standing at the door holding a gun in one hand, while running his other hand through his greasy, thinning black hair. He reminded Alec of one of those people that no matter how well they dressed, they always looked sloppy. His black suit jacket was unbuttoned, and his loosened tie revealed an undone top shirt button. Even though he was a sloppy dresser, he handled the gun professionally, pointing it at Alec's midsection.

"What the..."

"We've been waiting for you," The mousy voice cut him off.

"We?" Alec tried looking through the door at his empty office.

"We, as in my associate, who is currently waiting for your partner in his office," he answered. "We thought you would come back here today, Mr. McCoughe."

"Why? What do you know?" Alec oddly felt unafraid. In fact, he felt himself getting angry.

"I know that your kids need rescuing, and only you and your odd little inventions can do that," the creep smiled knowingly. To Alec, it looked more like a sneer.

"What do you know about my kids?" his anger bubbled.

"They're missing, just like you and your partner will be," the creep pulled the trigger three times shooting Alec point blank in the chest.

Looking down, Alec saw three holes in his new shirt. Instead of blood, shimmering silver glittered from his exposed vest made of the same material protecting the ALEC'S DREAM. In shock, he looked up to see the gun being raised for another shot, this time at his head. Before he could react, a sickening crack came from behind the creep making his eyes roll back before falling forward, revealing Clay standing in the doorway, holding a bowling trophy.

"Hey, buddy..." Clay began when two quick gunshots interrupted him; he fell back, dropping the trophy.

Alec acted fast jumping on the creep. By the time he knocked the gun out of his hands as the creep lost consciousness again. "Clay!" he ran to him, leaving the creep alone. "Buddy, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I'm OK," Clay tried sitting up. Alec noticed the silver shining through his ripped-up shirt.

"Hey, you're bleeding," Alec said, seeing blood on his arm. Helping him to his feet, he led him to a chair next to the workbench. Grabbing a pocketknife from the workbench he cut up the creep's jacket for bandages. After a moment of thought, he grabbed some tie-wraps and bound the creep's arms and legs.

"Your idea about making vests out of the gravity blankets really saved us buddy," Clay said weakly.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I ran into this guy's partner in my office, he didn't even have the courtesy to introduce himself before shooting me." That answered Alec's unasked question about the mess of bullet holes in Clay's shirt. "He emptied his gun before I got to him. Lucky for me, I keep my codes hidden in my bowling trophy. He never had a chance to reload," Clay grinned. "When you weren't by the car, I figured you'd try to recover your precious laptop. I know how much you love that thing."

"You brought your bowling trophy with you?" Alec looked at it, lying on the floor.

"Yeah, the guy's gun was empty and... well... the trophy worked pretty well," Clay's attempt at shrugging his shoulders made him wince in pain.

"Geez, you got shot in both arms," Alec pulled off what was left of Clay's shirt, exposing his silver vest.

Clay began to shake.

"I think you're going into shock; we really need to get you to a hospital or something." Alec paled as he wrapped Clay's left shoulder first and then his right upper arm.

"You won't get out of here," Alec hadn't noticed that the creepy guy on the floor had rolled over and was now looking up at them, struggling with his bonds.

"Just what do you know about our kids?" Alec could barely control his anger.

"How should I know? I guess they're lost," he grinned, "But I'm sure someone will find them."

"Just what the heck is going on?" Alec growled.

The creep widened his grin.

Alec walked up to him and turned him back on his stomach with a not-so-gentle kick. "I can't stand looking at his face anymore," he said mostly to himself.

Giving Clay a moment to rest, Alec reached over and shut off the power from the partially assembled computer on the workbench. Reaching inside, he unplugged its hard drive.

"I'll be right back... hang in there," he said to Clay. With hard drive in hand, he left for his office picking up Clay's trophy on the way. Returning with his black cloth bag and his laptop case over his shoulder, he said "Come on buddy, it's time we get out of here. Do you think you can make it back to the car?"

Clay's face had grown paler, but he nodded and stood with Alec's help.

"One second," Alec had another thought, and reached past Clay to restore the power to the half-assembled computer. Putting his arm around Clay's waist, he helped him out, stepping over the creep as they left.

Hurrying the best they could, they made it to the maintenance room under the garage without incident. "Those gunshots should have attracted everyone in the building," Alec said.

"These guys look like they have a reputation about them... anyone hearing those shots likely ignored them," Clay answered as he began climbing the ladder. With Alec's help, they reached the top where Clay worked his way to the car's passenger door. "Alec, you know you're going to have to drive."

"I can't drive this thing," Alec half-heartedly protested.

After settling Clay into his seat, Alec took his spot in the driver's seat. He had worked closely with Stan developing the car's controls and knew how they operated but knowing is different from doing.

Cautiously, he guided the car to just inside the open garage door where he stopped to gather his wits and say a short prayer. Seeing it still raining, he turned on the wipers, and as he gathered up his nerve to exit, the thumping of helicopter blades made him pause.

"What do we do? Do you think we can outrun it?" he turned to Clay who didn't look good, his head leaning back, and eyes closed.

"It depends on the type of helicopter. A good military copter could have a speed of almost 250 miles per hour and a ceiling of 5 miles. If it's a lightweight, it could probably do about 125 and about 5000 feet." Clay's voice was barely audible.

"So, what should I do?" Alec asked.

Clay didn't answer as his eyes closed. He weakly shook his head as sweat beaded on his forehead.

With Clay at the wheel Alec would have given them pretty good odds, but now he felt their chances were slim. With his thoughts turning to their kids and knowing that these guys had something to do with what was happening, his determination grew into anger. Nothing... nothing was going to stop him from rescuing them! Gripping tight to the steering wheel, he accelerated out. "If you guys want to play, let's play" he said mostly to himself since Clay wasn't listening anymore.

The helicopter above banked and followed. After flying low over the pond, he ascended just enough to skim the treetops of the woods beyond. The rain smeared his windshield as the wipers didn't help. Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw the helicopter following close. After attempting to adjust his wipers, he checked the mirror again and found it gone, though he could still hear it. A bump on the roof told him where it went as he felt the car being pushed down into the trees. Quickly bringing the car to a stop, the helicopter slipped past him where it also stopped and slowly turned.

Seeing missiles and a machine gun mounted on its stubby wings, Alec realized they were in more trouble than he first thought. Still, his determination and anger bubbled as he reflexively accelerated straight up, and just in time as its machine gun barrels lit up, shooting the empty space he below him.

As the sounds of the guns faded, he slowly turned looking for signs of the helicopter. After nearly 180 degrees, he saw its lights coming up through the clouds. Stopping his ascent, he slowly flew backwards wondering if the helicopter had radar, and whether it could see through the clouds.

His questions were answered as its lights drew level to him through the mists. Reflexively, he descended, turned, and accelerated away as fast as he thought safe. As he drove through the clouds, the thought occurred to him that as long as he was inside them, the helicopter had the advantage. Descending, he dropped out of the bottom of the clouds thinking that at least now he had a chance of seeing his enemy. And luckily, he did, as the helicopter released one of its missiles as it dropped out of the clouds.

Panic is a word that doesn't even come close to describing what Alec felt when he saw that missile barreling towards him. His mind and reflexes switched into high gear causing everything around him to move in slow motion. As the missile drew near, he reacted by flying straight up while banking to the right. The missile tried following, changing its course upward, as it wasn't able to copy his maneuver. It took a few hundred yards to loop back. Accelerating away, he realized he wasn't going to outrun it and wondered how long he could keep avoiding it, or how long that missile could fly before running out of fuel. He didn't wonder for long, as the missile was soon on him again. This time he descended while banking to the left. Alec noticed that the missile made a downward loop in order to change its course back to its pursuit which gave him an idea.

"Clay... CLAY!" Alec tried waking him.

"I'm awake, what's up?" he responded groggily. "Where are we?"

"I'll tell you later, put on your seatbelt... hurry!" In obvious pain, Clay fumbled with it until Alec heard a click.

After performing one more maneuver, Alec needed to act, as it seemed that after every maneuver, the missile got smarter and recovered more quickly. Now heading in the direction of GraviTych, he flew downwards at an angle towards its parking lot with the missile in tow. Reaching the edge of the lot, and as the missile closed in, he stopped and descended nearly to the ground, causing the missile to barely miss above, scraping the cars roof as it passed. Turning, he accelerated along the access road leading out.

As the missile did previously, and as Alec hoped, it recovered its course by making a loop in the direction it traveled; downward. Unfortunately for the guys who owned the black SUVs, there wasn't enough room for it to complete its maneuver... and hit in the middle of them.

As the light from the flames dimmed, Alec was already cruising above the main road winding through the wooded area surrounding GraviTych. The helicopter was nowhere to be seen and he slowed and descended to the ground to take his normal route home.

#####

Clay woke in his own bed, his left shoulder and right upper arm professionally bandaged. Dolores, fully dressed, slept on the covers next to him, her hand resting on his chest. Putting his hand on hers she woke with a start.

"How are you feeling?" she sat up.

"I'm fine, what about you and everyone else?" Looking at his bandages he added, "How did I get here?"

"Do you need anything? Are you hungry or thirsty? Joshua left medicine on the table," she babbled while running around the bed to the nightstand for a prescription bottle. "Joshua said that these are for pain. You've been moaning in your sleep... he said it was a good sign, but I still didn't like it."

Clay swallowed the pills with the help of a glass of water.

"What's all the commotion?" Alec and Jodi poked their heads in the door. "Are you feeling all right? You sure gave us a scare."

"I'm OK, maybe a little tired and sore. I remember getting in the car, but not much else." Clay said. "I take it you got us home without much problem?"

"The car might have a couple of dents," Alec replied.

Clay gave him a pained look as they sat on the edge of his bed. "Alec, how come you didn't tell me about that secret lab of yours?" Clay asked after a few moments.

"That's where I've been working on the other inventions I told you about. I was always worried we might not be able to keep control of GraviTych once it became successful," Alec replied.

"As it turned out, we weren't successful... and we still couldn't keep control of GraviTych." Clay sadly shook his head. "Now what's the plan? Where's Joshua?"

"After bandaging you up and leaving the medicine, he left to arrange our transportation. We're packed and ready to go. Just waiting for you," said Jodi.

"What about Taylor and Rusty?" Taylor was the McCoughe's Golden Retriever while Rusty was the Matteson's cat.

"We've got Rusty in his cage. It took us over an hour to round up that darn cat," Jodi laughed.

"One more question," Clay asked Alec. "What's with all those computers, and why did you take that broken-down hard drive?"

Alec chuckled. "Decoys... all those servers are just decoys; my real work was being done on that broken-down computer. I figured if anyone ever got in the lab, they'd never look at that piece of junk. Anyway, that was the best broken-down piece of junk computer in the building."

"There had to be something on the other computers." Clay wondered out loud.

"Everything on those machines is fully encrypted, and I left a ton of clues. They should have it all decrypted in about 2 or 3 months," Alec said with a grin.

"Why would you want them to decrypt it? What's on them?"

"Anime," Alec responded.

"Anime... what?" Dolores asked.

"Japanese cartoons," Jodi laughed. "You left them Japanese cartoons to decipher?"

"Hundreds," Alec couldn't hold back his laughter while Clay and Dolores joined in.

"Also, once I removed the hard drive and turned that computer back on, it released a program that will clean up any remnants of my activity anywhere on our network," Alec added with a touch of sadness. GraviTych was no longer theirs.

### CHAPTER 11 – COMPANY ZERO

The freshness of a late afternoon thunderstorm hung in the air as Alec leaned against the Plymouth watching Dolores give their front door handle a final tug. Clay waited on their front walk to meet her, where they walked back to the car, hand in hand. Soft light glowed through the house's half-drawn shades in the evening dusk.

Alec opened the front passenger door for Clay who was getting the preferred seat, a perk due to his injuries. Alec squeezed into the back seat with Jodi and Dolores, as Jodi asked Joshua "Are you sure our houses will be looked after?"

Joshua had chosen to drive since Clay couldn't and Alec wouldn't. Besides, Joshua was the only one who knew where they were going.

"Yes, we'll do our best. I'll have someone check them every day or two to make sure there are no problems," he answered over his shoulder. "I'm sure we're all being watched right now and the first thing they'll want to do is search your houses. We'll make sure everything is put back in order." Sticking his arm out his window, he gave a 'wagon-ho' signal and the pickup truck in front began moving. "We're going to keep it on the ground; at least until we know we're safe. And as long as we're on the ground, we have the trucks for protection." Another truck behind them followed as Joshua pulled away.

They traveled southward in nervous silence, listening to the road noises and Joshua's muffled discussions, over his headset, with their escort trucks. Whenever a plane flew over or a truck passed, they held their collective breath half expecting an attack. They drove for hours and as midnight approached, their small convoy pulled into an all-night gas station where they stretched their legs while the trucks gassed up. After a light meal at an adjoining diner, they were back on the road again. Soon, tensions eased enough for them to start asking Joshua questions, and they surprisingly found him talkative.

Alec started by asking the questions on everyone's mind. "Who are those guys, and as a matter of fact, who are you, and what the heck is really going on?" The past two days Joshua had been in and out, organizing and giving curt instructions. They trusted him solely on Jodi's intuition.

"It's a good thing we have a long drive ahead of us, the answers will take some time," Joshua paused collecting his thoughts. "As to who are 'those guys', they are a group that is loosely tied to the government, sort of like a secret agency."

"Like you guys?" Jodi cut in.

"I guess you could say like us, but I'll get to that later. In order to describe who they are, who we are and what is going on I'll need to provide a little background." Joshua went quiet as a semi passed, where he then chatted with the escort trucks. "About three years ago, the aliens from that giant spaceship first came in contact with Earth... or to be more correct, with Earth's major governments, individually. They said they came in peace and wanted to set up trade routes with Earth. They offered technologies, wealth and power through trade agreements."

"If that was three years ago, why haven't we heard or seen anything?" Dolores asked.

Alec perked up at that question. "You know, that's something we've been noticing. It's not like there've been any new technologies lately; it's the lack of technologies. Clay and I have talked about this a couple of times... GraviTych seems to be the only company that has introduced any new technology in what seems like ages. Even computers haven't advanced like they had in the past."

Jodi joined in. "None of this makes any sense. If these aliens or whatever they're called..."

"Kan-ji," Joshua answered.

"So, if these Kan-ji are to be providing all these new technologies, why hasn't anything new been introduced?" Jodi finished.

"You've identified the crux of the situation. Why... why isn't there any trade? Why haven't any new technologies been advanced? Or even why hasn't GraviTych taken off? You guys should be billionaires by now. Haven't you ever wondered why your technology hasn't gone anywhere other than with Big Sky?"

That hit a sore point with Alec and Clay. "We've tried everything, but because of the liability issues that threatened the car companies and even the aircraft industry, they didn't want to touch our stuff. If it wasn't for Big Sky, we'd have gone broke," Clay said dejectedly. "I never could figure it out. I would have bet my life that every company in the world would have been busting our doors down."

"Like I said, it's my fate. It seems that every time I get another golden goose, it dies," Alec said.

"Your lack of business or bad luck had nothing to do with you. The Kan-ji established rules for the governments and GraviTych broke those rules." Joshua paused talking into his headset again. They waited anxiously for him to finish. "It seems that the Kan-ji did not want any new advances in technology, they said they wanted to become familiar with our current technology so they could integrate with it... merge with it."

"What's the big deal, they must be light years ahead of us. It shouldn't take them more than a couple of months to do that," Alec questioned. "Anyway, that sounds kind of lame."

"You're right, nothing adds up," Joshua responded. "The Kan-ji said that in order to set up trade, they needed to wait for the arrival of their 'seeker' ship. The ships the Kan-ji originally arrived in were called scout ships, which are based out of these larger Seeker ships. These scout ships look for planets, or as the Kan-ji calls them, opportunities like Earth. Once found, the seeker ships arrive to finalize the trade routes."

"I take it that was a seeker ship Leland and the kids told us they saw," Alec felt a pang of sadness at mentioning their kids.

"That still doesn't make any sense. If those Seeker ships are so big and slow, what good are they for establishing trade, unless they're nothing but big transport freighters?" Clay questioned.

"I would think that trade ships would be big and fast," Dolores added to Clay's comment. "The only reason a monster ship like that would be needed would be..." she let her thoughts go unsaid.

"There is a group of very powerful and influential people that came to that same conclusion. They quietly formed an organization that's prepared to fight and defend the earth. Kind of noble isn't it?" Joshua gave a gracious smile.

"What about the bad guys in the SUV's?" Dolores asked. "They can't be from the government, can they?"

"Yes and no. All of those governments that were contacted needed to enforce the Kan-ji's rules, so they formed an international agency whose purpose was to quell the development of new technologies. Most of this is done through the courts and by lawsuits. This agency, of course, has the assistance of the governments themselves. And what governments do better than anything else is creating bureaucracies and meaningless laws and regulations that open the doors for meaningless lawsuits," Joshua made it sound so simple.

"I take it that GraviTych was just lucky to get as far as it did," Clay said grimly.

"As a matter of fact, anti-gravity... I mean, come on, that's not just a new technology, that's like the invention of the wheel. That, along with the fact that you guys built such a solid business, and business plan, you were almost untouchable. Their only option was to scare your customers away, and it almost worked if it wasn't for Sheldon Moon. He wasn't scared; in fact, he invited the challenges and threats. He almost did it too, but right now he's fighting for his company's life. I wouldn't bet against him to not just win but to come out bigger than before," Joshua shook his head chuckling under his breath.

"You act as though you know him pretty well," Jodi said interested.

"I don't, but I've been keeping a watch on all of you over the past year. That guy has quite a background."

"If that government agency is nothing but a legal bottleneck organization, what's with those black SUV's and that killer chopper?" Alec asked the question bothering him the most.

"It looks like they've grown some teeth. Now that the seeker ship is here, they need to make sure nothing goes wrong." Joshua sounded grave.

"I'm surprised we haven't had a visit from them yet," Alec was still curious why they haven't personally been attacked.

"These organizations are good at going after groups and companies, they're not comfortable going after individuals. But I think they're learning; besides I don't think they want you anymore," Joshua said. "They've taken over GraviTych and now they think they've hit the jackpot with Alec's lab. But I feel it'll take less time than you think before they find the ruse you left them. Once they find that you didn't leave your secrets behind, they may determine you need to be eliminated. For now, it's likely they just have a tail on us."

"I thought that this place you're taking us to is secret, shouldn't you be worried that they're following us?" Dolores asked.

"Not much, now that the seeker ship has arrived, everything will soon be exposed," Joshua answered then began talking into his headset again, this time ending their conversation.

"Eugene!" The thought occurred to Alec. They'd been driving in silence for nearly an hour pondering what they've learned.

"What about him?" Clay asked.

"You know, there had been some odd things going on. Eugene seems to almost always be in the middle of them, nothing big... just... well strange." he had decided not to tell anyone about the girl's adventure in the storeroom, or the backwards exploding toy helicopter.

"What are you saying?" Jodi grabbed his arm.

"He could be a Kan-ji spy," Alec regretted saying it as soon as it came out. It sounded so juvenile; a spy?

"A spy... Eugene?" Clay questioned. Alec wasn't sure if he was sarcastic or not, "Hey Joshua."

"Yes?" he answered, holding his hand over his headset's microphone.

"What do the Kan-ji look like?"

"Oh... they look human. And like us, they are all unique. But in general, they are, well I would say prettier."

"Prettier?" That was not the word Alec was expecting to hear about a bunch of invading aliens.

"Yes. They are taller, well-formed, statuesque and graceful. Their only flaw seems to be their teeth," Joshua hesitantly answered recalling pictures of them.

"That could be Eugene," Dolores said.

"Yes, but I don't think he's a spy," Jodi said matter-of-factly, "and I think he has taken a liking to Sofie."

"Really?" Alec asked.

"You haven't noticed either?" Jodi asked, seeing the frown on Clay's face. "I also think Sofie likes him back," she added to Clay's obvious dissatisfaction with it.

"I need to have a talk with her," Clay said after a few awkward moments. "I thought we raised her better than that. I always expected her to attract someone more like the president of a company."

"She's young old buddy," Alec slapped him on the shoulder making him wince. "Let her have a little fun. Besides, the first young love never works out," he winced at the kick from Jodi, his first love.

The next night, after spending the day trying to get some sleep at a roadside motel, they found themselves driving alone on a desolate desert highway. After about an hour of not seeing signs of other vehicles, Joshua slowed and pulled over.

"It should be here," Alec heard Joshua say into his headset. After a short pause, he nodded and the truck in front slowly moved ahead. After waiting for it to move some distance ahead, Joshua moved forward staring out at the road looking for something. "Thanks, I've found it," he took off the headset turning onto a small dirt side road leaving their escort trucks behind. It wasn't long before Alec noticed that the jarring ride of the dirt road smoothed out. Looking out, he saw the ground falling away. Glancing off to the side, he spotted a pair of helicopters closing in. "I thought those guys weren't interested in us anymore!" The panic in his voice woke everyone.

"Those are friends," Joshua said over his shoulder as he waved out the window to a helicopter pulling even with them. The pilot responded by signaling them ahead, and it wasn't long before they were hovering above a small desert mountain. Looking down, Alec could see a warm glow coming from a small crevice between two of its peaks. Joshua easily lowered them through the narrow opening onto a hidden helicopter landing pad.

"Welcome to your new home-away-from-home," Joshua brought the car to a halt in a marked parking spot against a wall where some Humvees, SUV's and compact cars were already parked. As they climbed out the car, a handful of soldiers, at least they looked like soldiers, ran up and grabbed their luggage while Joshua led his confused passengers into their new mountain home.

#####

Alec woke in darkness sensing Jodi sleeping next to him. A cool breeze blew across his face from the air conditioning as he heard the familiar sound of his dog's snoring at the foot of his bed. Propping up on his elbows he looked around, the glowing red numbers of a clock showed 8:06. He couldn't tell if it was morning or evening, but the gnawing in his stomach wasn't going to let him get back to sleep. Getting up, he explored their new home, a small apartment with a kitchen, bedroom and living area. The kitchen was small but fully stocked. Every room had a TV. Turning the one in the kitchen on, he filled a coffee maker.

The smell of freshly brewing coffee filling the apartment woke Jodi and she joined him at the small table.

While pouring her a cup, she asked, "How is our being here helping Jessie?" she took a sip.

"I guess we have to trust Joshua. You know what he told us, he said this was our best chance. I just can't see why we had to drive all this way, if they would have put us in a helicopter, we would have been here a day earlier."

"Well we're here now so we just need to get to work."

They sat quietly watching the news while finishing their coffee. Their new knowledge of the Kan-ji and their involvement in the world's governments gave them a different perspective, yet there wasn't anything new to be gleaned, which made it all the more curious.

After dressing, they opened their apartment door and were met by two guards who politely greeted them. To their surprise, one of them asked if it was OK to take their dog for a walk. Getting their blessing, he excitedly led Taylor down the corridor. The remaining guard casually led them to the base's cafeteria where Clay and Dolores were already relaxing at one of the tables.

"Well it looks like we're not prisoners," Clay smiled, "Our doors weren't locked, and it appears that we're able to leave or enter our rooms whenever we want."

"Of course, you're not prisoners. The residents here consider you to be more like royalty," Joshua said from behind Alec. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning, smiling, bright-eyed with a noticeable spring to his step. "I heard you've had a good night's sleep. Are you ready to get to work? Then grabbing a Styrofoam cup, he filled it and disappeared out the door. A second later his smiling face peeked around the edge of the doorway, "Oh, and follow me," he said, and the two couples laughingly followed him out.

"This place is brimming with excitement now that you're here, you can just feel it," Joshua answered their unasked questions. "We've been waiting for you to show up ever since I screwed up our first meeting."

The place reminded Alec of an abandoned military base with its metal walls, 1960's style electrical work and ugly green and gray paint. Signs of its current occupants could be detected by the state-of-the-art security devices, cameras, and advanced door scanners. There were even some plants and artwork scattered about. The halls were crawling with people, not as many dressed in military type garb as he expected, most wore jeans, khakis, T-shirts, pullovers, and button-down shirts. Almost everyone they passed gave a friendly smile. As they neared the outskirts of the complex, they noticed fewer and fewer personnel until they reached a large metal door with a hand scanner mounted next to it.

"Alec, your hand please," Joshua pointed to the scanners' inset hand pad. Alec obliged and the door slid open, revealing a large underground hanger. Joshua stepped aside, waving them in.

Alec was first in looking around in astonishment at the partially lit cavernous expanse. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of parked aircraft, from trainer jets to cargo haulers extended into the darkness. All were partially disassembled, as though waiting for parts to arrive.

Joshua touched a panel on the wall and more of the cavern lit up, exposing more craft along the far wall to their right. These were variously sized transport planes, helicopters, and even a couple of snowcats. All with their engines, wings, and blades removed.

"This is our air force, and hopefully our space force," Joshua bragged.

"Looks to me like they need a lot of work," Alec said in disappointment. He expected to see ships ready to take off. These planes looked like they needed years of work before they would be of any use.

"It's not as bad as you'd think," Joshua responded to his concern. "We've been monitoring your development of the ALEC'S DREAM. Obviously, we don't understand your technology, but we did see how your ship was modified... and we did our best to prepare our ships to take on your devices, and hopefully you have some other surprises for us."

Alec and Clay walked to the fighter closest to them to look it over, and soon fell into a deep discussion. "Before you get too far into this, I must show you the rest of the base. You'll need to meet the people you'll be working with," Joshua interrupted leading them back.

During the rest of the tour they were introduced to the dozens of mechanics and technicians responsible for maintaining the aircraft. By the time they made it to their offices, they were surprised to find that most of the base personnel had gathered to meet them. They were especially surprised to see Stan in the middle of them. "Hi, boss," he said after working his way to the front of the crowd.

"Stan, what the heck... how did you get here?" Alec stuttered in surprise. With all that's happened over the past few days it never occurred to him that without Stan's drive control programming, they would never get off the ground.

"It's a long story, but for now... let's just say that it's been an adventure. We got here just after you arrived," he said shaking his hand.

"We?" Clay interrupted.

"Yeah, three of us made it in last night. The rest of the employees, families too, should be here in a couple of days... Joshua is quite a planner. We can catch up later, I'll let you guys settle in first." He shook Clay's hand before slipping back into the crowd. Alec smiled watching him walk away, remembering all the flying contraptions they made over the past year.

They went right to work. Clay's bowling trophy was already sitting in his new office and Alec's hard drive waited for him on a workbench. The blanket press was already set up and the backup tapes restored. To Alec's surprise, ten more presses were being fabricated. It didn't take long before Clay was fully absorbed setting up the chain of parts suppliers and manufacturers. He quickly had the staff mobilized; contacting companies, writing purchase orders, cutting checks and setting up deliveries before the day was over.

It took a bit more time for Alec to get going. He first needed to do some soul-searching. It was one thing giving them GraviTych's technologies and inventions. It was another thing surrendering his most secret ideas. His hard drive contained notes, drawings, and specifications of them, and that was why he risked his life to recover it. In the end, with their daughter's lives at stake, Alec knew he had no choice but to open up and give out his secrets and hope for the best when all this was over.

Thanks to Stan, the ships in the hanger were fitted with their gravity drives in a matter of days. His engineers from GraviTych had quickly got the sub-space communications and energy generators implemented while Alec buried himself in his lab to work on weapons.

After a long day talking, arguing and discussing with Joshua about switching the base's power over to their new anti-gravity generators, an exhausted Alec arrived back at his apartment. Finding Jodi fast asleep he grabbed a glass of juice and his laptop and settled into a recliner to do a little private weapons work.

He woke lying flat on the ground, having dozed. The last thing he remembered was working out a design on his laptop. Rubbing his eyes, he realized he was back in that odd dream with that 4-dimensional oriental chef.

"Hello Alec," said Shaun.

Like last time, he was surrounded by the familiar white vortex but now it was his apartment that floated below. Carefully standing, he was able to see more of the base; people walking the hallways, sleeping, working in offices and labs; very much like his last dream. "Well, hello Shaun. It's been a year since I've had this dream. I thought I was cured of you."

"What you believe is what you believe. As with me, I must do what I must do," Shaun answered.

The floor between them began to move, growing into a small white upside-down tornado until it was nearly as tall as him. Feeling like he should run, Alec instead followed Shaun's example and stood there concentrating on the small windless tempest. As the white faded, the shape of a person slowly took shape.

"Jessie!" Alec cried wrapping his arms around her with tears streaming down his cheeks.

### CHAPTER 12 – EXPLORATION

"This is very interesting... we seem to be getting deeper and deeper into this," Jade stood behind Leland's pilot's chair. Jessie and Sofie had settled back in their seats.

"We're a million miles from home," Sofie sniffed. "How are we going to get back?" She broke down. Phyllis was first to put her arm around her as Leland shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Look, we're in good shape, we've got the ship, nobody's hurt..." Leland stopped, noticing Phyllis's glare. Getting up, he headed to the kitchen.

"Why a jungle?" Jessie wondered. "Do these aliens live in Jungles?"

They sat in silence until Sofie's sniffling eased. Leland returned balancing a tray holding five cups of hot chocolate. He may not be a family man, but at least he knew when to stop talking and when to make hot chocolate.

"Maybe this is a garden?" Sofie sat by the windows, the chocolate having done its job.

"I would bet this is the ships lungs," Jade concluded standing next to her. "Imagine the size of this ship and the number of people, or whatever they are, living in it. They all need to breathe, and the air has to be replenished and filtered. It works like rain forests do on Earth."

"So where are the people?" Sofie asked.

"Not sure... Leland, can you raise the ship up a little to get a better look around?" Jade asked.

"OK, that might be a good idea," he returned to his captain's chair. A minute later, they were floating above the canopy. Slowly rotating the ALEC'S DREAM, he gave them a 360-degree view of the ship's insides.

"According to our radar, this forest area is about ten miles end-to-end. That means this section is about a third the size of the entire ship." Phyllis read from her console. After one rotation, Leland returned to their original hiding spot.

"Nothing but jungle all around," Phyllis pointed skyward. Being inside a large barrel-shaped ship section, the jungle extended up and over their heads.

"Imagine the amount of land there is inside this giant barrel... what is it? Pi R squared?" Jade asked.

"No, that's the area; I think the circumference is 2 Pi R," Sofie corrected. Leland snorted at Jade being one-upped by a kid.

"Right, so eight miles in diameter times pi, which is 3.14 equals approximately 25 miles around the perimeter, times that with the 10-mile width leaves us 250 square miles of jungle out there." Jade returned Leland a smug look.

"Great, now that we know how much land is in here, what good does that do us?" Jessie dropped down in her chair, arms crossed.

"We need to establish where we are, in order to get out of here," Leland said. "We now know we're in what looks like an unoccupied portion of the ship. That gives us some freedom and some time. But in the same measure, if the aliens don't know where we are, neither do our rescuers."

"We need to get out of here, and back home!" Sofie sat next to Jessie, also crossing her arms.

"Well, any ideas?" Leland said helplessly to Jade and Phyllis. They also looked at each other, crossed their arms and sat next to Sofie and Jessie. "Very funny, well if it's up to me, I'd say we're going to have to do some exploring, and on foot. It's too dangerous to be flying around inside an enemy ship."

"Exploring for what?" Sofie looked confused.

"We know of at least one exit door. Now we have to figure out how to open it." Phyllis answered for Leland.

"Is it safe to breathe out there?" Phyllis asked. "We don't have any equipment on board to test atmosphere."

"That's a chance I'll take," Leland responded. "I think just by the fact that these aliens are here means that the air is breathable, and I would bet they've already been on Earth. Remember that fighter pilot? He seemed human-like, not like a fish or anything."

"That seems probable, the plant life outside looks almost normal, though I don't recognize much," Jade said. "But what about bugs, viruses or diseases we might be vulnerable to?"

"If these guys are already on Earth, then that's a moot point," Leland already had thought of that. "There still could be some nasties, so I don't want anyone but me out there."

Jessie jumped up, so did Sofie, "No way! We've been cooped up here way too long," Sofie said it first. "And haven't we proved we're useful?" Jessie finished.

Looking at Phyllis and Jade for help, Leland didn't get any, as their body language told him they were thinking the same thing. Shrugging, he gave in. "OK, you guys win. But first, let's get some food and shut-eye. I think we're going to need all our wits about us, and it also wouldn't hurt to let things calm down a bit before we start poking around."

#####

"Damn!" Leland mumbled, standing at the top of a cliff. It was really more of an embankment overlooking a stream than a cliff. Jessie stood behind him, along with the rest of the team, trying to look past him through the thick underbrush. After more than an hour of unsuccessfully trying to find a way of opening the cave doors, it was Sofie that suggested that there might be control rooms in the outer walls. Concerned that flying the ship would be too risky, they decided to hike.

"What is it?" Phyllis asked, standing on her tiptoes trying to look over his shoulder.

"I can't believe this, we haven't even gone a mile and we're already stuck," Leland grumbled.

After watching Leland guide them through the Jungle, Jessie had come to the conclusion he wasn't much of an outdoorsman.

"The terrain is much rougher than it looked from above," he added.

"Let's go back to the ship. Maybe we should risk it and fly," Jade agreed.

"Hey, hold on!" Leland shouted as Jessie and Sofie slid laughing down the side of the embankment.

"This is just like the park behind our houses. What are you afraid of? It's just a little creek," Jessie yelled over her shoulder as she and Sofie skipped downstream around a bend.

Turning, Leland looked helplessly at Jade and Phyllis. Jade opened her mouth as to say something, then shut it and slid down the embankment herself. "What's the matter, you afraid of a little water?" she said following the girl's downstream.

Having run out of options, Leland and Phyllis gingerly worked their way down and then hustled downstream after them. Rounding the corner of the stream, they found Sofie poking a stick at something in the water.

"A frog?" Phyllis walked up to them.

"It's green, but its shape is a little off. Look, its eyes are closer to its mouth and it actually has little ears, and its legs are definitely shorter than normal." Jade kneeled next to Sofie.

"Wow, an alien frog" Jessie said. "It's amazing that it looks so much like an Earth frog."

"These aliens must come from a planet like Earth," Phyllis observed. "The plants and even some the bugs look the same... mosquitoes too," she slapped at her neck.

"I thought that evolution was affected by millions of different factors, isn't it impossible for another planet to have almost the same animals?" Sofie wondered.

"I think we have an argument for the creationists," laughed Leland. "One for God, zero for Darwin. At least we won't starve."

"Yuk," The kids said in unison.

"I mean the alien's food, not the frogs," Leland corrected. "In case we run low on supplies we might be able to scavenge some of theirs."

As they continued downstream, it curved and twisted enough to prevent them from seeing more than a handful of yards in front. The thick canopy provided few glimpses of the ship's walls and whenever an opening did appear, they never seemed any closer to the wall. Neither did they find any trails leading away. In fact, they didn't see any trails, and were forced to keep to the stream.

Miles later the forest opened to a flat grassy area with the stream emptying into a large lake. The view was breathtaking with the lakes mirror-like surface reflecting the towering rock cliff growing out of the lake's far side. The cliff itself stretched far to the sides, as far as they could see, likely to the ends of ship section. The lake also stretched wide, but not nearly as far.

They decided to walk the shoreline to the base of the cliff where it seemed the easiest path to the side wall and soon found out they were wrong, as their path was riddled with streams, creeks, and rivers. The water was cold, but there wasn't much current. When they had to swim, they were able to keep their supplies dry in Sofie's and Jessie's backpacks. After about a dozen or so crossings, they sat down to rest and eat.

"Wow, it feels warm like the sun," Jade said lying on her back sunning herself in the grass next to the lake.

"I would swear that's a real sun up there, but I know we're in the middle of a giant ship made of rock." Phyllis looked up at a small glowing mini-sun that was somehow suspended in the sky, or to be more correct, the middle of their ship section.

"It looks like it's wobbling back and forth," Jessie added, also lying on her back enjoying the warmth.

Shading his eyes with his hand Leland observed, "It seems to be rotating around that center axle."

"You're right! I didn't notice that before, I wonder if that thing runs through the whole length of the ship." Jessie focused on a dark line stretching from end to end, miles above their heads.

"Hey, what's that?" Sofie twisted around looking at the woods.

"I don't see anything," Jessie sat up staring where Sofie was pointing.

"I swear I saw a tree move, a little one," her finger still pointing.

Silently, Leland signaled everyone to stay put as he crept to the wood's edge where he looked up and down the tree line. After a slight pause, he stepped into the brush; instantly disappearing from view. A few anxious moments later he reappeared 15 yards to the left shaking his head.

"The jungle is too thick. I couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of me. If anything is there, it wouldn't need to run far to stay hidden," he told them after he returned.

Feeling uneasy, they hurriedly packed up and continued their journey. Their passage didn't get any easier as the rivers and streams continued to hamper them.

"I'd like to know where all this water is going." Leland wondered out loud while walking waist deep across one of the deeper streams. "All these rivers flow into the lake. The lake needs to be emptying out somewhere, otherwise it would keep rising," he looked at the rock wall, now just a few hundred yards away. Even though the remaining distance was relatively short, the terrain now seemed to fight their every step. They needed to rest twice more before reaching the cliff's base.

"It looks like we have a place to set up camp," Phyllis declared seeing that the lake didn't end at the cliff's base. Instead, a huge cavern at the bottom of the cliff extended beyond the side of the lake with the lake disappearing into the darkness of the grotto. As they approached it, Sofie pointed to what looked like a small tree growing in the front of its entrance. "Look, that tree, that's what I saw in the woods."

They slowed, even though the small tree didn't seem like anything but a small tree. Sofie's warning had put them on edge, and they half-expected it to jump at them as they drew near. It wasn't until they were almost on it that they were satisfied that it actually was a tree. Relaxing, they resumed their pace and as they were just about to walk past it, it did move; startling them half out of their wits. It didn't move like a tree, with leaves rustling and branches swaying in the wind, instead its movements were human-like, revealing two arms, two legs, and a head. They stopped in mid-stride not knowing if they should run, be scared or laugh. The creature was tall and slender with a flat, leaf-shaped face with its chin extending to the center of his chest. He was dressed in clothes that looked to be made from woven plants and leaves, that seemed to shift on their own with his every movement; enhancing his treelike appearance.

The creature smiled and spread its arms, or branches, in a welcoming gesture. "You must be Leland... I am pleased to meet you." the alien spoke in a soft rustling tone. "You must be Jade, Phyllis, and Sofie... and of course, you are Jessie." The alien bowed to each at the mention of their names. Jessie felt odd being singled out.

"That's what I saw in the woods," Sofie whispered to Jade. "I knew I wasn't nuts."

"Yes, that was one of us. We have been waiting for your arrival. Now if you please, I would like for you to follow." The alien gestured for them to enter the cavern. Jessie held her ground. So did everyone else, as they waited to see what Leland would do.

"Before we go with you, who are you and how do you know about us?" Leland stood firm.

"My pardon, I am Chander the tribe's elder. Our race is called the Cheorgh. We are, what you might say, the gardeners here. We make sure there is a balance of life in this part of the ship. We have resided here since the ship's construction. But before I say any more, please let's get out of the open and into the protection of the caves."

"You are saying 'we'... I don't see any others..." almost as on cue, movement erupted all around them. The cavern behind Chander and the small grassy field filled with Cheorgh, moving between the forest and the cavern. All bowing their heads in passing, carrying baskets filled with varieties of fruits and vegetables; most of them unrecognizable. "Oh," Leland awkwardly finished. His nod was all they needed to follow the alien into the cavern.

The lake to their right extended to the back wall of the cavern. To their left, the wall curved away, fading into the greenish glow of the cavern lights. Many Cheorgh moved about dressed in different styles of the woven leaves and grasses; in dresses, pants, shirts; even hats and jewelry. When they spoke, their language had a pleasing sound, like the sound of fall leaves rustling in the wind.

"It is late in the day and we would like for you to share a meal with us and stay the night," Chander said.

Before he could say more, Jessie had a thought. "Where are your kids?"

"There are children on our home planet, but we have decided that this ship is not a good place for our young. We need sunlight and rain, not caves." Chander looked straight at her with piercing eye. She felt sadness in them.

Continuing into the cave, Chander angled to their left, toward a wall honeycombed with dozens of doorless openings, all of them unmarked. He led them to a dark cave-like room that brightened as they entered, until it was warmly lit. The stone walls were covered with pale green moss decorated with dark red and brown vine, leaf, and- tree patterns. A large wood table surrounded by flimsy looking chairs made of woven vines filled the room. The chairs didn't look sturdy enough to hold anyone, but they found them surprisingly strong and comfortable, even for Leland's extra weight. More Cheorgh entered, setting the table with wooden pitchers of water and platters of cooked vegetables, odd-looking fruits and bread with a honey-butter spread. Being hungry,, they dug in. Jessie found it all delicious, even the cooked vegetables.

"Do you think it's safe for us to stay the night?" Jessie asked Leland, as they finished up the last of the bread. Chandler had earlier excused himself,, saying he had errands to run, which gave them time to eat and talk in private.

"I would think so,. I don't see anything too hi-tech around here, not even a light bulb,, just this bioluminescent moss. I doubt that they have any connection with those aliens running this ship." Leland saidanswered after some thought. "But of course, I could be wrong; they could be holding us while they're contacting their landlords."

"If they were going to turn us in, they could have done that when Sofie first saw that green alien," Phyllis added.

"How did they know our names?" Jessie picked at the remaining vegetables on her plate. "I mean... like... can they read our minds? That guy Chander looked at each of us and said our names, didn't you guys think that was creepy?"

"I figured he was the same alien Sofie saw. He could have been following us, listening to our conversations. That's how he could have learned our names," Leland explained.

It was plain to Jessie that it also bothered Leland. "Well... I guess so. That kind of makes sense. What do you think Sofie?"

Sofie looked deep in thought. "Maybe,... but I don't think he was the same alien. But they could have talked before we got here," she said without much conviction.

"We're going to have to go on a diet when we get back," Jade interrupted, eating her third piece of bread and honey, obviously not paying much attention to their conversation.

"And I never thought water could taste this good either,." added Sofie, who yawned and leaned back in her chair.

Chander soon returned,. "I hope you enjoyed your meal. We have more fare to offer, but I was not sure what foods you would find palatable or pleasing." Looking at the empty plates, he said. "I am sure you have many questions,, but it is very late for us. So, if you would like to rest for the night, I will be able to answer your questions in the morning."

"How do you know when it's night?" Jessie asked before any of the others could complain.

"Come and see nightfall," Chander led them out to the grassy area. "Watch," he pointed to the small sun. In a few minutes, it began shrinking until it was nothing more than a small star suspended in the 'sky', leaving them standing in the twilight.

"Did it go out?" Jessie asked.

"No, it will return," Chander answeredsaid, leading them back to the cavern, past many more dimly lit, unmarked doorways until entering one at the very rear of the cavern. It first looked like a long, narrow room, with its back wall hidden in darkness,, but as they continued onwards, they realized they were in a corridor, as with the glowing ceiling moss brightened ahead of them, ithe hallway in front of themas though anticipating their progress. Passing by the many closed wooden doors along the way, reminded Jessie of a hotel hallway. It seemed like they walked for many minutes before stopping in front of a pair of doors facing each other. Looking back, Jessie saw the corridor behind had gone dark, making her feel claustrophobic.

Chander opened the door to their right. The room inside brightened, giving Jessie a glimpse of a nice sized bed, a table, and chair. The headboard, made out of twisted vines, was pushed against the far wall with; a simple woven quilt coveringed it. A table in the corner was set with plates, a bowl of fresh fruit, and a pitcher of water.

"What, no mint on the pillow?" Leland asked, walking into the room after a gesture from Chander.

"My apologies if the room is lacking, we have very limited resources," Chander responded.

Leland sat on the bed. "I was just kidding., The room is very nice,. tThanks," he unexpectedly yawned, then stretched out with his eyes shutting. As his room darkened, Chander closed the door. They all began feeling extremely tired as Chander stepped to the other side of the corridor, where he gestured for Phyllis to take an identical room, which she gladly entered. Jade and Sofie were given the next two rooms further down the hall,, leaving Jessie uncomfortably alone with Chander as they continued on to her room. When they arrived, Chander hesitated. "Will you please come with me before you rest?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm really tired," she was tired, and her awkwardness with him was beginning to border on fear, especially being alone in a dark corridor. He reached into a pouch at his belt and handed her a small cherry-sized fruit. "Eat this;; it will take away your tiredness. It is very important that you come with me."

Hesitantly, she took it and nibbled on it. It tasted nutty with a texture of a marshmallow without being sticky; melting in her mouth. Almost instantly she felt refreshed, and oddly, her fear ebbed.

"Wow, you could make a fortune with this,." sShe looked at the remaining fruit before finishing it off.

"If you want, I can provide you with more tomorrow," Chander said leading her back the way they came. She followed him to the now vacant main cavern and into another unmarked chamber. Like the other rooms, it was lit by the glowing ceiling moss. A table surrounded by the vine chairs sat in the room's center, and . aA large, ornately carved wooden cabinet took up most of the back wall, looking strangely out of place. It reminded her of something Eugene would have made.

Sitting at the table, she waited as Chander stepped to the cabinet, pulling a finely crafted metal chain from around his neck. On it were three seemingly identical rings. Slowly, he removed them and placed them on top of the cabinet. After carefully examining them, he put one on the forefinger of his left hand, then placed a second into a depression on one of the cabinet's ornate carvings and ignored the third. Fascinated, Jessie watched as he placed his left hand on the side of the cabinet; where she immediately heard a whirr and a click. Nodding to himself, he lifted the thick cabinetcabinet's thick top and where he reached in to pull out a black and white stone rod, and a small black cloth bag.

"I was given this by someone many years ago who said I would meet you one day, and that I should give this to you when we met. A long time we have waited. Now I fulfill my promise." Chander placed the cloth sack in Jessie's hands before taking a chair across from her.

Jessie held the sack like it was filled with spiders then carefully set it down in front of her. "How can you know that this is for me?" her mind raced. How can this be? How could anyone even know that she would be here? Only through a strange series of events was she here at all; lost on an alien spaceship because she stowed away on another spaceship. Impossible, and yet here was an alien , on an alien spaceship that's who's been expecting her to show up;, and he even had a gift for her!

"The one who gave this to me gave a very good description," Chander said. He examined the other object he pulled from the cabinet. It was shaped like an elongated black pyramid, about 5 inches long and 2 inches square at the base with white markings carved into it. Markings that looked similar to the hieroglyphic writings that they saw on the alien fighters. Holding it out in front of him, he examined it. A smile spread across his leaf-like face and his eyes unfocused as though lost in a dream.

"What is it?" Jessie asked, disturbing Chander out of his reverie. It looked a lot like the obelisk Eugene picked up in GraviTych's storeroom after her fall into that dreaded blackness.

"It is a key to our home," Chander replied. "The same person who gave us your gift also gave us this key. We promised that we wouldn't use it until we fulfilled our pledge."

Jessie wondered if what Eugene picked up from that storeroom was a key too. Only _that_ key opened a door to that evil blackness. Chander pointed to the sack on the table.

"Who was that person?" she wondered.

Chander thought before answering, "Part of our agreement is to not tell you," he hesitated before continuing. "Have you wondered how we know your language?"

"You mean that person was from Earth?" Jessie asked.

"I cannot speak of it anymore," he pointed again to the sack.

and JessieShe opened it it and dumped its contents. A black stone ball with similar white markings rolled out.

"Is this a key too?" she softly gently picked up the stone. It fit perfectly in the palm of her hand and had almost no weight at all, even though it looked heavy.

"I do not know the purpose of your piece. I was told that you would know how to use it when the time came,." he shrugged his leaf-like shoulders.

"How long ago?"

"How long ago for what?" Chander gave her a questioning look.

"You said this was given to you a long time ago," Jessie held the black ball in front of him.

"I cannot say in terms that you would understand," he replied, "But I can say that it has been about two Kan-ji life spans."

"What's a Kan-ji?"

"They are the ones who build and operate these spaceships. They are like your race, but they are longer lived."

"How much longer lived?"

"They live about twice your lifespan."

HJessie wondered how he knew about human life spans and . hHer head perked up as what he said sunk in. "You said _these_ spaceships? You mean there are more ships like this? Are they coming here?"

"Yes, they have many dozens of these ships, but they are not coming here. The Kan-ji are looking for something that I do not know.," he said.

Jessie felt as though he knew more than he said.

"But it is very late now, and you must get some rest." Chander stood, abruptly finishing their conversation.

### CHAPTER 13 – SEEK AND YOU SHALL FIND

"Well?" M'bron asked, studying the abyss from his perch on the bridge deck.

"I have twenty squadrons surrounding the planet in the unlikely event that they did escape. There are a hundred search parties inside this ship. We will find them," the voice behind him was calm and professional.

M'bron turned to look at the young Lieutenant Donel. He wore his black flight suit having arrived directly from his ship, where he led the unsuccessful search for the wreckage of the strange Earth craft. He seemed relaxed and confident, but the slight clench of his jaw and the almost imperceptible shift of his feet gave away his anxiety. M'bron already knew what his answer would be. Deciding to forego punishment, he ordered, "I want to see these Earthlings as soon as you have them."

A slight lift of the lieutenant's eyebrow gave away his surprise. Quickly regaining his composure, he clicked his heels, "I will personally lead the search teams." Turning, he lightly stepped off the edge of the platform to glide away into the darkness.

Turning back to the wall-sized windows; M'bron's thoughts returned to the Earthlings, as they called themselves. Something wasn't right. He found the technology of this planet surprising. Computers the size of fingernails, video and communications more sophisticated than his ships. It would take years to absorb, and . yYet, when it came to space travel, they were archaic, still needing primitive rockets to escape the planet's gravity.

How could his sources not have informed him of this odd new Earth craft? Something was amiss. The Seeker had thousands of agents, which meant thousands of reports. I.It was possible that this information was lost... it was time he got to the bottom of this lack of intelligence.

#####

Cha-Ofanim sat in a room no bigger than a closet, filled with thick wires and cables. He sat in front of a switchboard looking like it came from a 1950's television show. Pushing back the hood of his crimson robe exposed a shaved head sporting a pair of headphones as he listened intently.

The secret room was one of thousands hundreds making up a network of listening rooms capable of monitoring all parts of the ship. Nothing escaped their attention and . nNo one was exempt, just as he was aware that another priest was likely keeping a watchful eye on him right now. Cha-Ofanim was just one of many priests who knew of these rooms. What he was not aware of, was who these other priests were.

Pulling the cord from the switchboard, he leaned back as a yellow-toothed smile spread across his face. He was a priest of the Ocptia, or the Understood, whose purpose is to provide understanding to the High Angel or Chayoth–Ha–Qadesh. The Ocptia serve only the High Angel, the All-Illuminating Loomius, their creator and their guide through life;, the source of their power and knowledge. He will gain the pleasure of Chayoth–Ha–Qadesh, as he, Cha-Ofanim, will deliver these Earthlings himself.

#####

Despite her strange encounter with Chander the night before, Jessie couldn't help but enjoy her breakfast of honey bread and with a drink tasting of coffee and cinnamon. Sofie sat next to her, at a long table set near the cavern's front entrance. Leland, Jade, and Phyllis quietly talked across from them.

"They kind of look like wraiths," Sofie said as she watched the Cheorgh busily walking about carrying baskets and sacks, like the night before. Their movements were stiff, but somehow graceful at the same time.

"I think you mean sprites or elves... ... wraiths are ghosts." Jessie corrected watching them entering and exiting the forest; seeming to appear and disappear at its edge. "Elves, they definitely look like wood elves," Jessie concluded.

"I wonder what all those pipes are about." Phyllis pointed across the lake at the rows of huge ductwork-like tubes extending up from the lake into the rock ceiling above.

"These pipes carry water to the top of the cliff, where the rivers and streams begin." Chander's voice came from the cavern's darkness behind them. "I feel you have some questions for me, let us sit and talk," he took one of the empty chairs.

"The most pressing question we have is... can you help us get off this ship?" Leland asked.

"I am afraid that I cannot help you there, as you see, we, unfortunately, do not have access to this ship technology. We are very much like prisoners here," Chander answered.

Jessie wanted to ask if that key he had, could help them, but kept quiet.

"We searched the area around our ship, hoping to find some sort of controls to open up the doors we came in." Leland continued his questioning. "Do you know of any controls? They would most likely look like big metal boxes."

Chander shook his leafy head. "We know of no such devices in the forests. The ships technologies do not fare well in our forests."

"Can you tell us how we can get into... no, I mean, out of this portion of the ship, into an area where we could possibly find what we need?" Leland continued.

"There are doors along the side walls," he pointed to the ship's sections sides. "They are locked to us. It may be possible that these controls you speak of, may be behind them."

They all came to the realization that he was turning out to be very unhelpful.

"You said you were gardeners,... just what do you do here?" Jade changed the subject.

"Our planet was visited by the Kan-ji a very long time ago,... and in time we became their...... ah, you might call us servants. They have found us useful because of our relationship with nature. Our home planet supplies much food and supplies for the Kan-ji, while some of us are chosen to manage the plant life of these ships." The leafy sound of his voice grew sullen. "We are not fighters, but are long-lived. Someday they will grow bored of our planet and forget us."

"Why is this ship here? What is it for?" Phyllis asked.

"I know they are angry... all of them. They are looking for the spring that feeds their anger, so they can stop it."

"Angry at what? Why are they here?" Leland asked.

"This ship is called a Seeker. There are many of them spread throughout the galaxy. They are seeking the source of their anger," Chander answered. "I cannot tell you much more about the Kan-ji as they treat us like insects and kill us for no reason if we are spotted. All we know is what we overhear."

"I am sorry about your dilemma..... of you being prisoners here,... bBut _we_ are not going to accept being prisoners on this ship," Leland said angrily. "With or without your help, we will find a way off, and if you people want to join us you are welcome."

"Do not worry about us,. oOur destiny is at hand thanks to you,." hHe nodded at Jessie. "As for help, we can provide you with provisions and a guide to the side wall. But as I said, we do not understand this ship technology and cannot be any help once you find it," Chander stood, ending the conversation. Another Cheorgh approached with a basket filled with more fruits, vegetables, and loaves of bread. T. They gratefully loaded their packs.

Leland declined Chander's offer of a guide when he found that a path leading to the wall followed along the base of the cliff. By his estimation, the ship's wall was barely three miles away and figured it shouldn't take more than an hour or so to get there. As they were about to set out, Jessie looked back to see Chander watching her and as their eyes met, he smiled and waved like old friends. She sheepishly smiled back.

With the forest to their left, they walked in uneasy silence along the base of the cliff, and as there were no streams or rivers to cross, they made good progress. "I guess they're not following us." Sofie broke the silence. "I don't think we have to worry about them listening, do we?" They had been continually checking the forest's edge, half expecting to see a tree stepping out. Jessie never bothered to look,, knowing the Cheorgh had other plans.

"I would agree," Jade said. "It does feel like they're standing behind every tree listening to every word we say."

Drawing near the wall, they stopped at a small circle of stones to rest and grab something to eat. "What do you see?" Sofie quietly asked Jessie, who was staring at the cliff wall, at some faded markings.

"Those symbols look familiar.... I'll tell you about them later," Jessie whispered, then turned her attention back to her fruit.

Standing, Leland stretched. "Well, is everyone ready to head out?"

Jade and Phyllis stood, tossing their scraps into the forest behind them. Jessie and Sofie grabbed their backpacks.

"Ouch!" Jessie groaned tripping over a broken rock next to the path. Sitting up, she rubbed her ankle.

"You OK?" Jade asked, kneeling down next to her.

"Yeah" Jessie tried to get up, then fell back to her knees. "I'm good... I just need to walk on it a little... ow"

"It doesn't look broken. I don't think there's any real damage," Jade furrowed her brows examining her ankle again.

"Maybe you should wait here while we check out the wall," Leland said. "Jade, do you want to stay here?"

"Sofie can stay," Jessie said, winceding as she sat back on her rock.

"Well, you should be safe here," Leland looked around. "If you think there's trouble, head back to the Cheorgh camp. We shouldn't be more than a couple of hours."

Jessie and Sofie nodded, as they watcheandd Leland, Phyllis and Jade walked away down the path toward the wall. Sofie sulked silently until they were out of sight. "OK, what's the deal?" She said, kickeding Jessie in her ankle.

"Oooww," Jessie meant it this time.

"What's going on? Don't you want to go with them? How come you faked spraining your ankle?"

Jessie reached into her backpack and pulled out the ball Chander gave her the night before.

"Did you steal it?"

"No! That Chander guy gave it to me after you guys went to bed last night," Jessie said,, offended.

"Why would he do that? Come to think of it, he did seem to take a little interest in you, didn't he?" Sofie gave her a curious look, "I just thought that you reminded him of one of his tree friends."

"It was strange.... Hhe said it was given to him a long time ago, and that he was instructed to give it to me," Jessie then told her the rest of her story.

"Wait, how long ago?" Sofie stopped her.

"Something about two lifetimes of the Kan-ji, those are the aliens who built this ship," Jessie replied struggling to recall her conversation.

"If the Kan-ji live as long as us, ... say about eighty years,... that would be a hundred and sixty years! Wow, that's how long the Cheorgh have been on this ship," Sofie calculated.

"He said the Kan-ji live _twice_ as long as us," Jessie corrected.

"Whew, that would mean the Cheorgh live over three-hundred and twenty years."

"He said they were waiting for me,... and after giving me this ball, they can now go home." Jessie finished.

Sofie examined it, then the symbols on the cliff wall. Giving Jessie a sideways glance she ran to the wall and quickly brushed the dirt awayoff the symbols. There were dozens of carved symbolsthem filling a three-foot square.

"Some of these symbols are the same as the ones on the ball," Sofie said rolleding the stone in her hand. "I wonder if this is some sort of key."

Jessie perked up after studying it again, "Not some... all! It looks like all of those carved symbols are on the wall." She stepped back to get a better look at the wall. "It almost looks like a word search."

"What are you doing?" Sofie watched Jessie touch and push at the carved symbols.

Jessie gave Giving an impish grin Jessie said, "I thought that maybe there's a secret code or something."

Sofie examined the ball again.

"I wonder why that one's circled," Jessie said , looking over Sofie's shoulder at one of the odd symbols circled in white.

"I got it! These symbols on the ball, they stick out, they're not carved!" Finding the same symbol on the ball as the one circled, Sofie placed it against its counterpart on the wall. "It fits perfectly."

Jessie watched in anticipation... nothing. "What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know, maybe a treasure or something...... word search,... you know that's a good idea," Sofie stepped back. "We just need to search for a word."

"How about,..." Jessie picked up a stick and started scratching the symbols from the stone into the sand on the ground. There were 6 symbols in all; front, back, top, bottom, left and right. She wrote two 4-character words starting with the circled one. The first one made from the symbols circling around the top, the second from the symbols circling sideways.

"How do you know if those symbols are right side up?" Sofie asked.

"Duh! I just look at the ones on the wall. They're all right side up." Jessie grinned.

"I knew that," Sofie quipped picking up another stick. Searching the symbols on the wall for the matching words, Jessie jumped in front of her, determined not to let Sofie find the first word. Sofie still found it first with Jessie coming in second, finding it just a moment later. Scratching circles around each word they found, it wasn't long before 14 words were circled.

"I can't find any more, can you?" Sofie asked.

Jessie, chewing on her tongue as she concentrated on the wall, shook her head. "Me neither, now what do we do?"

Taking the ball back, Sofie rolled the ball over a circled 'word',... and waited.d... Tthen tried again and again, for all the 'words'.

"Nothing." she sat in frustration. Jessie started randomly rolling the ball over the circled symbols while chewing on her lip.

"What if the words don't stop at 4 symbols?" Jessie wondered. "See, after you read the last letter." she traced her finger over the front, right, back then left symbols, then traced up and down after that.

"Oh, I see, you can go from the top to the front, then left, then top, any direction," Sofie said,... then looked depressed. "There must be hundreds of combinations; we'll never get them all."

"Wait!" Jessie looked at the ball. None of these words matter, the symbols just need to line up with the letters on the ball; up, down, left and right. We just need to roll the ball starting with the circled symbol depending on the direction where symbols match."

"What if symbols match in two directions?" Sofie asked.

"I guess we'll just have to decide." Jessie shrugged.

Sofie grabbed the ball and placed the matching symbols on top then closely examining the ball for matching symbols, they found that the matching symbols only went up and down. Rolling upwards seven symbols led to a dead-end.

After nothing happening, Sofie sat again, "Now what?"

Jessie grabbed the ball and starting at the center again, moved it downwards, this time it went down three symbols then left two and up one. With nothing happening, Jessie joined Sofie.

"Do

"Not really, all we need to do... is for each circled word, just look for matching adjacent symbols." Jessie concentrated on the wall again, surprising Sofie with her use of the word 'adjacent'.

Sofie joined her, and it wasn't long before they found about 5 more combinations connected the circled words.

"Boy, I would have thought that there'd be more," Sofie said as Jessie rolled the ball over the new multi-directional words. Again, nothing happened.

"I wish we knew what was supposed to happen," Jessie grumbled, trying to find combinations they might have missed.

"What about partial words?" Sofie asked. "Like there." she pointed to a vertical circled word in the center of the puzzle. "You can go upward from the first letter in addition to downward." They both realized that instead of 4 symbol words, they could have up to 7 symbol words that wrap around or just words that can start with any symbol. After studying the symbols on the wall, they realized that they just needed a partial word of the 7 symbols, like if you had the following letters; A, B, C, D, E, F, G, you could have ABCD, BCDE, CDEFGA... just as long as the symbols were adjacent to each other on the ball. This time they worked on modifying the circled words by extending the circles to contain all the concatenated symbols. After half an hour they sat down satisfied with their work.

"Do you think everyone's OK?" Jessie asked, looking down the path where Leland, Jade, and Phyllis had gone.

Sofie didn't respond; she just looked down the path saying a silent prayer. Jessie put her arm around her and joined in.

"That lookeds like a 'J'," Sofie said about the direction of the ball when Jessie following the stones symbols.

said, looking up at the wall in a pattern of words in the middle of the puzzle.

Jessie stared with her mouth hanging open. "Do you think?" She picked up the ball and nervously stepped to the wall. Instead of starting with the circled symbol, she started with the symbol that ended in the upward direction. Following the matching symbols, she rolled the ball down then to the left as she rolled it up to finish the 'J', Hesitantly, she rolled its matching symbols over the 'J'. This time they heard a series of clicks. Catching Their eyes caught a slight movement off to their right, they watched as as aa rocky portion of the cliff wall gently pulleded away.

"This is definitely getting weird," Jessie said, walkeding to the opening.

"Wow, the only way you could see this door is if you were standing by the puzzle." Sofie grabbed their backpacks.

"Maybe we should leave one behind, in case they come back while we're in there," Jessie recommended.

"I think we should wait for them to come back," Sofie dropped her pack. They looked at each other and then at the opening, Jessie swallowed hard and stepped in.

The ancient room smelled musty, with a trace of ozone. Dust covered u. Unpowered control panels filled with analog gauges and dials, switches and buttons that could have passed for old science fiction movie props. Naked picture tubes attached to typewriter-style keyboards lined 2 of the walls and a. A row of bookcases was stacked along the back. with tThe only light in the room comingame from the opening they had just entered.

"This is a bust," Sofie looked around. "It looks like a long-lost storage room, a dump."

"I don't think it is 's a storage room," Jessie said. "A storage room wouldn't have chairs in front of those panels."

Sofie, for the first time, , looked down to see small stools bolted to the floor, evenlyor, spaced evenly along the control consoles.

"Something else seems familiar," Jessie slowly walked to an empty bookshelf at the back of the room. She let out a small gasp seeing a pair of dirty marks on the floor.

"What is it?" Sofie asked, walkeding up behind her to look curiously at the marks.

Putting her feet on them, Jessie hesitantly reached out with her right hand and, placeding it on the inside wall. Almost hoping she was wrong, she waited, and after a few moments, the back wall of the bookcase began shimmering; revealing a simple lever aglow in a red light.

"Jessie?" Sofie asked, reaching for the lever.

"No, wait," Jessie held her arm back, "This is just like the lock my dad put in his secret lab."

"Huh?"

Reaching out, she put her hand on the lever and nervously held it there until the red light turned green. Looking at Sofie, she grimaced and gave it a pull. The bookshelf to her left silently swung out.

"How could that be?" Sofie whispered, astonished.

"Only me... and my dad know how that lock works. I can't believe that those aliens could have built this." Looking back at the antique control panels on the side walls, she added. "There's no way they could."

Taking hold of Sofie's hand, she entered the newly exposed room,, knowing how ridiculous it was hoping her dad would be there waiting. It was empty, except for a huge stone chair in its center. The room lit only by a small bulb wrapped in a wire cage above it. The chair looked like a wide, armed throne made for a giant. The rest of the room was bare, even its walls were smooth rock.

After walking around the room Sofie saidgrumbled, "There's nothing here. Maybe we missed something in the other room,." she and left for the control room, leaving Jessie alone.

Jessie just stood in front of the chair staring at it. All she could think about was that lock; it was built with their anti-gravity technology. Only she and her dad knew how to build it., that means the chair must be something special. Why would a lock, that only she knew how to operate, be guarding it? Maybe it was a way to get back home, like that stick Chander had!

She Sslowly sat sitting inon it, she while gingerly slideing her hands over its arms. FFeeling a soft spot with her right hand,, she wiped away the loose dust, to uncovering a small depression. Examining it, sShe almost froze in astonishment seeing as engraved in the bottom of the depression was some symbols engraved in its bottom. ,and Looking at her stone confirmed her suspicion, the symbols matched. Her mind spun.... tThat 'J' on the keypad puzzle, Chander, waiting for her, and aacting like he knew her, her dad's door lock and now this chair; it had to be more than a coincidence and she knew what she needed to do. LKnowing what she had to do, she lininged up the symbols on the stone ball with the symbols in the depression, and thenshe put set the ball in.it in.

The Instantly the chair instantly dissolvedturned fluid, and with nothing to grab onto, she sank into it until she was fully suspended inside. Panic grew with each failed attempt at wriggling out. Pausing to gather her wits, she looked around the room and saw it was still empty. She wanted to yell for Sofie but realized she was holding her breath. Cautiously, she took a small breath and was surprised by the feel fresh air. Taking She then took a deeper breath, followed by another, then another.... she , she began to relax. Soon to relax, and an overwhelming sense of calmness washed over her, making as her eyelids started feeling heavy. She tried fighting it,, but she soon became too tired to continue and let them close.

She fell into a strange dream, or dreams of alien symbols flying by, scenes of the this giant ship they were in along with thousands of its construction plans and schematics. There were visions of the Cheorgh; their speech and voices sounding of rustling leaves. There were other human-like aliens, speaking with strange, sing-songy, yet harsh voices. The dreams seemed to go on for days, and when they finally ended,, she woke feeling drained;, definitely not refreshed like one normally feels after a long sleep. As her senses returned,, she found she was sitting back on the rock chair again,, shaking and confused.

"No,..." " sShe said under her breath,, looking at the pile of sand under her hand where the rock ball had been. It was gone, the key to their escape!

"What,???" she gasped noticing that the strange symbols of the ball had somehow transferred to her hand; now wrapping around it and her wrist while giving off a greenish-gold glow in the dim light of the room. She tried rubbing them them off, but they seemed to be part of her skin;, like a tattoo; t. The more she tried, the more they glowed. R. Reaching into her backpack for a bottle of water, she tried washing themit off.

, she suddenlyVoices drifted in from outside, sounding like the familiar sing-songy ones of her dreams. "You, girl, stay..." they said. Jessie sprung from the chair to the other room and found it empty. The voices came were coming from outside and when she started toward the hidden door, it silently shut, locking with a soft click. The voices, along with the light vanished, leaving her standing alone in total darkness. As though back in her dream, she felt herself automatically reach out and flip a toggle switch on the side of one of the control consoles and the lights flickered on. Curiously, she noticed that the switch she flipped was not just a single switch, but one out of many rows of them;, filling the entire side of a control panel. A part of her mind watched, as her body seemed to move on its own flipping more switches. The hum of power flowed through the panels and the antique TV tubes began emitting soft, green glows as the room came to life.

Like a spectator, she watched as she stepped to another panel and typed into one of the odd-looking keyboards. Pictures of the campsite appeared on one of the screens, and as though not satisfied, her body walked over to yet another panel to turn a dial and where sound was added to the scenes playing out on the monitors.

Earlier

As Sofie had her head buried in a storage cabinet digging through a box of interesting looking stuff, she had heard the voices outside. Running out, thinking the crew returned, she instantly realized she should have recognized there was something odd about those voices. Leland, Phyllis, and Jade stood in the camp's center; their hands tied behind them with gags over their mouths. Leland's eye was red and puffed and blood welled from a cut on his cheek. Jade looked roughed up with a large scrape or her forehead. The left side of Phyllis's face was red and swelling. They all looked defeated.

A dozen armed men, dressed in brightly colored pirate outfits, surrounded the camp. Their weapons, deadly looking curved swords and large pistol-shaped guns enhanced their buccaneer look even more. Some held weapons threateningly while the others had theirs secured at their sides. One of the pirates immediately turned his attention to Sofie the pointed and spoke in a sweet, yet menacingly harsh voice. Afraid, she slowly stepped back against the rock door and lightly pushed it closed wondering if she just saved Jessie or entombed her. Two more aliens turned and stepped threateningly toward her. As they neared, she noticed their faces for the first time, they weren't vicious at all but beautiful, with a striking resemblance to angels; tall, pretty, and long thick wavy hair. They were so cute she almost wanted to fall into their arms. That feeling quickly faded when they roughly grabbed her arms, dragging her to her bound friends. Callously, the tied her hands behind her back, then gagged her leaving her shaking in fear next to Leland as tears streamed down her face.

#####

Jessie helplessly watched the monitor. "Tell her to be good," she heard one of the aliens tell Leland as he undid his gag. Leland, looking pretty beat up, gave the alien a confused look then quickly turned to Sofie. "Just do what they want. Our goal right now is to survive, and if we don't fight them, they won't hurt us."

The gagged Sofie sniffed back her tears and nodded.

"Just hang in there, we'll be OK," was all he could add before the alien forced the gag back over his mouth.

"Notify Lieutenant Donel," Jessie listened. Then startled, she realized they were speaking an alien language, and she could understand! Then another thought came to her. "The tubes, I've got to shut down the transport tubes!" Looking helplessly at the controls, her body acted on its own again as it began working the controls. This time she somehow understood what she was doing and by the time she finished, she knew she had just shut down all the mechanics on this side of the ship section. More than that, memories of the ship, every detail, every corridor, every elevator and every control panel flooded into her mind. She now knew that since her friend's capturers wouldn't be able to use anything on this side of the ship section, they would be forced to retrace their steps for the opposite wall. Confidence coursed through her, as she now knew she could help her friends. She knew the route they would need to take and also knew about the hidden access corridors running through the ship's section. Energized and feeling in full control of the situation she turned to start preparations for their rescue.

"Going somewhere?" Standing in front of her was another Kan-ji. This one wasn't pretty like the ones outside. He was crooked, with a crooked nose, a bald head and a crooked smile showing yellow crooked teeth; the source of some awfully bad breath. "It looks like we have our Earthling," he said to his two robed companions as they roughly grabbed her arms. The two goons weren't near as crooked looking as their leader but were well on their way.

With her hands bound to a long rope, they half-dragged half-lead her through the control rooms other 'secret' entrance leading to the ship's maintenance corridors; the very same corridors she had planned to use to rescue her friends. "We serve Chayoth-Ha-Qadesh well today," Yellow Teeth, as Jessie now called him, said to his two companions. "Today his thirst for knowledge will be quenched and he will smile on us."

Turning to Jessie, he said. "You will soon be with our Maker. You should be proud," his smile showed his yellow teeth.

Jessie just gave him a confused look pretending not to understand.

"Ah, you will soon understand my child," he mumbled handing the rope back to his two henchmen.

The following hours were a nightmare. Besides binding her hands, the guards tethered her ankles with a two-foot leather strap that shortened her stride. She didn't know why they did it, maybe to keep her from running but she soon decided it must have been for their entertainment. Not only did the strap shorten her stride it caught on everything, constantly snagging on any protrusion, bump or step that almost always resulted in her falling. Once fallen, the guards cursed and kicked her until she climbed back to her feet. This was repeated time and time again. Her only solace was they wore sandals. She quickly learned to keep from sobbing as it seemed to make them put more zeal into their kicks.

As their journey progressed, she eventually learned how to keep her feet. The pain from the falls and kicks were eventually replaced by the growing ache in her legs caused by walking in half steps; and soon decided that the throbbing pain was worse. They walked for what seemed like miles. Her thoughts drifted, gratefully dulling the pain, as she wondered how it was that she knew exactly where they were within the ship's labyrinth of maintenance corridors, stairs and ladders. How did she get to know everything about the ship, about their language and their writing, or how to work the controls? It must have been that chair. The chair wasn't a dream, it was real! She realized she even knew about the giant pumps pumping water out of that lake in the cavern that fed the rivers at the top of the cliff. That must have been the purpose of that rock ball Chander gave her; but who would have thought of giving it to her three hundred years ago?

A harsh tug at her bonds made her fall at the base of a narrow metal ladder. Rolling on her back she enjoyed the small reprieve from the pain while watching Yellow Teeth climb up the ladder to disappear into the darkness above. Her rest didn't last long as a kick in her side forced out a small whimper giving her guards reason to put more force on the rope in pulling her to her feet. The one holding her rope climbed up first, pulling her roughly behind.

The ladder ended in a small dark room and before she stepped off the top rung, the guard in front pulled her to the side, making her fall to a stone floor, as she concluded, again, they really enjoyed causing her pain. The guard behind closed the floor hatch while Yellow Teeth opened a small wooden door leading outside. Bright sunlight poured in. Holding her hands up to shield her eyes, they stepped out into a desert, a real desert with sand, heat, and sun... well, not the real sun, but that fake one. Looking up at it, she now knew exactly what it was and could hardly wait to tell someone, especially her dad. Thoughts of her dad made her choke up making her sorely aware of the mess she was in. It took an extreme amount of effort to keep from breaking down and crying again... she was really getting sick of crying.

She now knew that the inside of this ship section was one big hill, starting at the top of the cliff sloping down around the inside of the barrel-shaped section to the cliff's bottom. The rivers and streams supplied water throughout. With Jessie's newly learned knowledge of the ship, she understood that their nearness to the sun at the top of the cliff, plus the lack of water this close to the cliff's edge, created this small strip of desert.

They walked parallel to the cliff's edge angling slightly downslope. Curiously, Jessie examined strange arrays of stone circles and monuments; some shaped like pyramids and others like stone animals. Looking further downslope, she could see where the water spread out from the pumps, forming a line of green vegetation.

Stopping outside a small stone building, Jessie took the opportunity to sit and rest. Her legs throbbed with pain and her wrists and ankles were chafed from the ropes and straps. The guard holding the rope quickly pulled her back to her feet with a growl.

Pulling out a metal ring of old keys from his robes, Yellow Teeth stepped to the buildings old weathered wooden door and short moment later the door squeaked open. Yellow Teeth entered first and her two guards grabbed her roughly by her arms and half dragged, half carried her in.

Inside was a single room with a stone table, three feet high and six feet wide in its center. Thick metal rings were attached to it's the sides and on the floor. Suspended above it was a cone-shaped device with its large open end facing her; its deep black interior made her feel queasy - the same feeling she had in GraviTych's storeroom a long time ago. She turned away from it.

At a signal from Yellow Teeth, the guards forced her to her knees next to the table. They pulled apart her arms, stretching them around the stone tying them tight to the heavy metal rings. With her chest pressed tight against the stone and her chin resting on the tabletop, they then pulled her legs back, tying her ankles to the rings on the floor, leaving her suspended in the prone position, supported solely by her outstretched arms. The pain in her back was unbearable and she could barely breathe. In tears, she pleaded, "Please..." Yellow Teeth kicked her in the side.

"Keep silent heathen!" he growled. Jessie decided she hated him. He reached for the cone and pulled it toward her, forcing her face into its sickening blackness. She tried turning away but couldn't as he grabbed her hair while sliding the cone forward until she had no choice but to stare into its blackness. The old feeling of dread returned, flowing through her like water. It was stronger, much stronger than she remembered, making her forget the pain. She felt as though she was being sucked through the cone and then dragged like a flag flapping behind an airplane; buffeting, spinning, and flipping.

Terrified and crying, and feeling she couldn't take anymore, the gyrations ceased, and the darkness faded. She was now flying through space, towards a dark ominous planet glowing with jagged red lines of lava filled rivers. Entering its atmosphere, she flew low over its tortured landscape until a dark stone castle grew out of the dark landscape ahead. She slowed but didn't stop as she reached it. Instead, she passed through its monstrous wooden doors, like a ghost, to drift down corridors and stairs until coming to a stop in a dark, eerie, doorless and windowless room, buried deep inside the stronghold.

She screamed or tried to, as the devil approached. It had to be the devil; it was dark red with flaming hair. Its wings stretched outward almost filling the room. As it grew near, Jessie watched it transform into something no longer imposing or frightening. Its red body and wings turned into white robes, the flames on its head changed into long blond hair, flowing over his shoulders. His gentle face looked down at her.

Then placing his hands on the sides of her head, he said, "Now little one, let's find out who you are and where you came from," his sweet voice had a menacing tinge to it.

"I'm from Earth," Jessie replied defiantly. The devil, or angel was momentarily taken aback by her response.

"So, you understand our language. Very curious, yes, yes... we will need to get to the bottom of this." his voice chilled her to the bone. Pain emanated from his hands and burned through her head. "Where did you come from little one?" His voice echoed in her mind and she realized he wasn't talking.

"Earth," She could barely reply... then screamed as pain exploded in her head.

"I know you are from Earth. Who made you! What is your origin?" the voice inside her head dripped with evil.

"My parents are Alec and Jodi McCoughe," she cried hoping it was what he wanted. The pain worsened. "What do mean?" she moaned through the crippling agony.

"Who was the first?" she could barely hear his growling through the pain.

"First what? First who? What do you mean? Like Adam and Eve?" The pain disappeared.

"Yes... tell me more about them," She whimpered as the pain returned, "Just a few more answers and all the pain will be gone." She felt herself grow weak as his power grew, "Just a couple more questions and you and your family will no longer feel any pain at all," his gloating evil voice droned.

"NO!" Anger exploded at hearing his threat to her parents. She was getting so sick of crying and whimpering and decided to stop it, right now! "WHO THE HECK ARE YOU? YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!"

The surprised creature mentally pulled back at her intensity. Anger fueled her as she drove into its mind filled with horrible, hateful, dreadful things; thoughts of death and hideous events she wished she had never seen. Anger kept her diving deeper and deeper and as her strength and anger faded, she became lost and indecisive. Not knowing what else to do, she continued forward until finally reaching the 'end' of his mind. What she saw perplexed her. There was light, pure and clean. She sensed memories of wholesome and noble deeds. She even thought there were memories of God.

Floating in the middle of the beautiful light, she looked around and asked, "What are you?" Instead of an answer, the light swirled, then faded into streaky darkness. Without warning, a flood of his horrible and evil memories and images poured into her. Screaming, she held her hands over her ears in a futile attempt to keep back the torrent. She knew that it wasn't just the creature's memories flooding into her mind, it was the creature itself. No matter where she looked, all she could see was the darkness of his thoughts. She pushed back, but they continued to converge from all sides until she felt she was no more than a small spark of light in a sea of black. Overwhelmed, she felt herself losing memories of her parents, Sofie and Leland. Everyone was disappearing from her consciousness until only one small piece of her mind remained helplessly pushing back at the unyielding psyche of the creature. Fading and exhausted, there was nothing left to do but give in, and let the blackness take her.

As her last shred of consciousness was about to blink out of existence, she felt herself burst out of the darkness as though shot from a canon. Her memories and thoughts followed, instantly coalescing making her whole again. She became aware she was speeding away from the tortured planet, returning to where her body was still tied to the stone.

Lying on the stone floor with her eyes closed, the feel of the cold stone against her face made her realize with a start she was no longer bound to the table. Slowly opening her eyes, she half expecting to see Yellow Teeth standing there ready to give another kick, but instead she found herself surrounded by swirling white mist.

"Oh no..." she moaned thinking she was still in the creature's dream world. As she slowly stood, she realized she was back in the stone building, but something was not quite right. It was as though she was standing on a 3-dimensional painting of the room. Turning, she realized the floor was not a painting, nor was she floating above it. The scene below was almost magical as she could see behind and inside objects all at once if she concentrated hard enough.

"Jessie?" The voice came from behind. By the time she turned she found herself wrapped in a bear hug so tight she almost couldn't breathe.

"Dad!" she broke her promise and began to cry.

### CHAPTER 14 – REUNION

"Jessie, how are you? How is Sofie? The crew..." Alec asked after reluctantly breaking his hold.

"They got them, they got me... dad, I want to go home, but we've got to rescue them! You've got to help us!" her words poured out.

"I am sorry, but I must return you to where you came," Shaun interrupted.

Stepping back, Jessie looked at the almost ageless oriental looking gentleman wearing... a caterer's outfit?

"Dad?" she asked, confused and tired.

"Jessie, Shaun... Shaun, Jessie," Alec introduced, though it wasn't necessary for Shaun.

"Shaun is a dream I've had," Alec started then seeing her pained and confused look, added. "Actually, I don't really know who he is; something about the fourth dimension and being compelled to do what he does."

"You do not have much time before I need to return you," Shaun said apologetically. A picture of Shaun tapping his foot and impatiently staring at his watch flashed through Alec's mind.

"What do you mean dad, you can't come and help me?" Tears formed again.

"Sorry honey, Shaun calls the shots here. I wish I could do more, but as long as we're here now... is there any way I can help?"

Jessie just stared back, tears rolling down her face.

"I'm working with a group of people. We're building ships, lots of them. They'll be ready soon. We'll need to be able to find you. Can you give me any information that can help us rescue you? We'll be there soon, I promise." Alec said.

Wiping the tears away, she stood straight. She _was_ getting sick of crying. "We're inside a giant ship on the other side of the moon. Sofie and... and Leland, Jade, and Phyllis were captured... and I need to free them. Once I do, I can get us out of the ship in the ALEC'S DREAM. They have tons of fighters and other ships that we might not be able to outrun. We'll need protection once we're out... and we'll be leaving from the back end of the ship, so be ready." Her escape plan crystallized in her mind. "I just wish I had some kind of weapon."

Pulling out a small notebook from his shirt pocket, Alec began scribbling as fast as he could. "Jess, I've been developing some weapons. If you can get back to the ALEC'S DREAM, there should be enough parts to build this. I can't guarantee that it'll work all the time... it takes about eight hours to charge between uses," he ripped out sheets of paper from his notebook. As he handed them to her, he saw the strange glowing symbols on her wrist. "What happened to your hand?"

"You don't know?" Jessie held her wrist up in front of them. She had assumed he had somehow known about the chair, as she still believed he had something to do with that lock.

"Huh? How would I?"

"Dad, there's something else. They want to destroy all humans. They're not here just to invade us and take us over... they want us all dead. There's this strange creature, Loomius, he is some sort of leader, not like a president or king, but more like their god. He's the source of their thoughts. He's their... well, like their soul."

Alec looked deep into her eyes and saw that his little girl was gone. "Jessie, what happened to you out there?" he whispered.

Staring back, she felt for the first time how she had changed inside; her capture and torture, plus the things she saw in Loomius mind, and knew she would never be the same again. This is the point where she would have cried again, but her tears dried. "Dad, I'll tell you when I get back, but I'm still your Jessie, you'll always be my dad... I love you. And tell mom, I miss her and love her." That was that last she said as the swirling maelstrom engulfed her.

#####

"I saw her. We talked," Alec said to Jodi as they sat at the kitchen table. "Here... smell," he stood, wrapping his arms around her. Burying her face in his shoulder she sat back, shocked.

"That's Jessie, I'd know that smell anywhere," she choked, "How? Where?"

Alec started from the beginning, telling her about his 'dreams', about his meetings with Shaun; with Jodi questioning every detail.

"Did she say anything about Sofie?" she asked.

"Only that she was captured."

She looked him in the eyes. "What's wrong? You know you can't keep anything from me," she put her arms around him.

"I think Sofie was better off being captured, Jessie was... well, she went through something." Alec couldn't find the words.

"Through what?"

"I saw something in her eyes, she's grown up; she's been through a lot. She said she's planning on rescuing the crew and knows every detail of how she plans on escaping."

Silently Jodi thought about what he said... yes, that wasn't Jessie; their little girl they never thought would grow up. Her heart ached as she could only imagine what her daughter must be going through. About what could cause a carefree 16-year-old to grow up so quickly?

"How soon can we have some ships?" she asked, getting up to fill her coffee. "We need to get moving. I'll talk to Dolores and we'll start making plans. I'm not sitting on the sidelines anymore." There was iron in her voice.

#####

"What do you mean there's nothing for us to do!" Jodi yelled at Joshua. "We've been here for almost a week being nothing but a burden on the people of this base. Our kids are stranded on an alien spaceship... and... and all we can do is _nothing_?"

"Look, we need all our pilots. We have hundreds of ships being fitted with new technologies that need to be test flown. We're working round the clock. I can't spare any pilots to run you two around on a non-escorted space flight. You must understand this is a very sensitive time for us," Joshua tried being reasonable. "We just need another week, please understand."

"What if we found our own pilot, can you spare us a ship?" Dolores asked, taking both Jodi and Joshua by surprise.

"Who?" They asked in unison.

"I was thinking of Sheldon. I'm sure he could pilot a ship, and I would bet that he's just as worried about his crew as we are about our kids." Dolores gave Joshua a hopeful look.

Joshua thought about it, then looking Dolores in the eyes said "I've watched Sheldon for over a year now. I know he can be trusted... but he does have his business to recover. If you can convince him, I'll support that and give you a ship."

Pulling out her cell phone, Jodi said, "Good idea Dolores. Let me get things going." She began typing.

"If we're done here, I also need to get going. So, if you'll excuse me," he placed his hands on the table to push himself up when Dolores set her hand on his. He stopped and looked at her.

"How much time do we have?" she looked at the newspaper on the table. On its front page was a picture of a large alien ship parked at a major airport with Angelic looking aliens dressed like pirates standing outside it. The headline said, 'Friendly Contact'.

"I feel that whatever is happening on that seeker ship is making them play their cards earlier than we expected."

### CHAPTER 15 – THE PILOT

"Here we are," Sheldon nervously stood on a street corner, looking at an old tannery building.

"This is the old slaughterhouse district. They say the streets ran with blood in its heyday." Ernie Simpson looked around at the decaying neighborhood. His huge frame leaning against Sheldon's black Cadillac, caused it to sag a bit.

They were interrupted by a chirp from Sheldon's phone. Curiously, he looked at it and after a few minutes of texting said. "Jodi McCoughe has a rescue ship in need of a pilot. According to her, I'm the only one available," Sheldon said thoughtfully. "I wonder where they got a ship from."

"Do you think it has something to do with that Jake guy you told me about?" Ernie asked.

"Joshua," Sheldon corrected. "If I recall, he said he had some powerful friends. Anyway, Jodi said she would pick us up, looks like she doesn't want to tell us their hiding spot. I told her we'd be at my place by midnight." He slipped the phone back in his pocket.

"Does that mean you don't have to do this?" Ernie looked hopeful.

"C'mon Ern, if there's any trouble, I know your muscles can get us out of it." Sheldon slapped him on the back.

"I'm just a computer geek. You hired me for my mind," Ernie flexed.

Sheldon grinned. Ernie was the epitome of irony. One would think that with his bulk and physique, he'd be an athlete, bodyguard or explorer, but instead turned out to be a computer expert. Nothing got by him. He could work on anything from accounting to propulsion systems. His real expertise was networking and internet; a hacker extraordinaire.

"You know we have to do this," Sheldon shook his satchel containing, of what he called his seizure papers. "I don't believe this should take very long. We'll have a long drive ahead of us when I get back."

A week ago, after the GraviTych takeover, he had flown back to Big Sky to find his front gate blockaded by a half dozen squad cars. His old friend and sheriff, Jack Brady met him.

' _Hi Sheldon, I'm sorry about this._ ' _Jack had said, handing him an_ _envelope_ ' _I asked the Judge if this was all legal. He just told me not to get involved... he looked scared. Just what the hell did you get yourself into?_ ' _On the other side of the sheriff's blockade, Sheldon had seen that a small army had settled into his parking lot with armored vehicles, helicopters and a throng of nasty looking soldiers dressed in black. 'There are more documents at the courthouse.' Jack told him in a low voice. Sheldon took it as a hint to get his butt out of there._

Jack was right about the documents, except he neglected to tell him their volume. Sheldon and his lawyers had spent the next few days digging through the phone book-sized stack. There were eminent domain, expropriation, and seizure of property for the public interest. They covered all the bases; with local, federal and even international laws. It was going to take years to sort them out. Even if he did, with all that artillery and armed men surrounding his offices, he couldn't just walk in and contest them, not without a small army of his own.

His contacts in the Department of Defense, the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security all said those papers were something they didn't use. In fact, they had never even seen anything like them. With Ernie's help, they were at least able to sniff out the paper trail, and it started at this old tannery building.

"You're right. This does look like one of those old criminal hideouts I used to see in the movies. I wonder if the floors are crooked," Sheldon gave an edgy laugh. "You wait here... keep an eye out." A corny thing to say, but their situation was... well, corny.

With satchel in hand, he entered the building through its glass entrance doors. The inside looked like it had been hastily retrofitted into an office space. The sparsely populated directory board showed his destination to be on the fifth floor.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked as soon as he stepped off the elevator. The floor space was an open area scattered with neatly organized desks. Her desk happened to be closest to the elevators. A handful of professionally dressed people bustled about behind her, some on cell phones while others carried papers from desk to desk. To Sheldon, they looked like extras on a movie set.

The receptionist waited patiently for an answer. He noticed she was wearing oversized glasses and just the right amount of makeup to make her look like the perfect receptionist... perfect. Something felt terribly out of place, almost as though he was being set up. But how would they have known he was coming?

"Hello, I'm Sheldon Moon. I was just wondering if there was anyone here I could discuss these with?" he pulled his seizure papers from his satchel and handed them to her. She took them and acted like she was reading them. Giving him a tight-lipped smile, she picked up her phone and punched in some numbers. Sheldon swore he saw her punch 1-2-3-4.

"I have a Sheldon Moon that would like to see you," she said into the phone.

Quickly searching the open expanse of desks for the person she was talking to; he had no success. The actors still looked like they were following their scripts.

Politely she cleared her throat to get his attention and then gave him back his papers. "Please take a seat. Someone will be with you shortly."

Twenty minutes later, after reading a couple of year-old fashion magazines, an imperfect man; actually, one that didn't look like a movie extra, entered the area. He was nicely dressed, wearing a jacket and tie, but somehow still looked unkempt, being short with thinning black hair topped with a bandage. Smiling, he extended a hand. "Mr. Moon, welcome, follow me," he said in a mousy voice. They walked along the wall to a partially hidden corner office.

"Please, take a seat," he pointed to one of two guest chairs. Sheldon noticed that unlike the other desks scattered about the floor, this one was filled with 'real' paperwork, an open laptop and a black office phone. "My name is Jeffery Lewis. What can I do for you?"

Sheldon saw he didn't have a name plaque, nor did he tell him his title or position, or even the department he was associated with. "I've got some questions about these papers I received," he handed them over.

After some minutes of studying them, Jeffery set them down. "These papers look in order, what kind of questions do you have?"

"Well, for one thing, are these for real?"

"Of course, they're very clear. The Big Sky Corporation is now under the ownership and control of our organization," Jeffery leaned back in his chair while pressing his fingertips together. "I am sure that if you look up the company filings, you should see that all the paperwork is in order, such as the titles and ownership papers."

"Which organization are you talking about, I find it unclear," Sheldon prodded.

"The Office of Technology Stabilization, under the authority of the Department of Commerce."

"I am, or once was the owner of Big Sky. I never voluntarily gave it up. It seems that it was forcefully taken from me by a bunch of people with black SUV's, helicopters, and guns."

"Are you calling us a criminal organization? You should be careful Mr. Moon, a statement like that could be used against you in a court of law."

Sheldon thought he saw him sneer. "By the way you guys work, I wouldn't think a court of law would be your style," Sheldon regretted saying it as soon as it left his mouth, realizing he had just cut off any chance he had of getting any useful information out of this venture and Jeffery's reaction was proof of that.

"Well, I guess I'm done here," Sheldon grabbed his papers and stood.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to stay with us a while longer," Jeffery's voice was stone cold, and he now held a gun.

Sheldon froze as he wasn't prepared for this, all his previous experiences with government agencies usually meant dealing with incompetents or bureaucrats. "Hold on there," he said holding his hands in front of him. "No need to get testy, I was just going to leave."

"No need Mr. Moon, you're no problem at all," Jeffery pushed a button on his desk phone and two large thugs entered through a door behind him.

"I need you to collect Mr. Moon's friend," Jeffery pointed with his chin to the window. Outside Sheldon could see Ernie still leaning against his black Caddy watching their building. Jeffery's two friends wordlessly turned and left the way they came.

Jeffery waved the gun in the direction of the window. Sheldon moved to stand in front of it while Jeffery leaned against his desk behind him. They watched in silence as the goons approached Ernie. Ernie stood to his full height, towering over them. After a few words and gestures, Sheldon thankfully watched Ernie follow them back to the building.

A few minutes of silence later, Sheldon asked. "What are you going to do with us?" He cautiously sat back down; secretly glad Ernie came quietly, not wanting to see him lying in a pool of blood on the street. Jeffery didn't respond as he returned to his seat, still pointing the gun at him.

"You've got my business and everything I own. I'm powerless to do you any harm..." Before he could finish, they were interrupted by the sound of something big hitting the door behind him. Turning, he saw one of Jeffery's henchmen fly backwards through the door. His partner followed, landing on top of him.

"Hey, boss..." Ernie stopped seeing Jeffery's gun, "Guns? Since when do government lackeys carry guns?" The two goons climbed back to their feet and roughly pulled Ernie to the chair next to Sheldon.

"Sorry boss, I figured I'd let them lead me to you instead of searching the building myself." Ernie half whispered to him, not really caring if the others heard.

"That's OK Ern, it looks like I've got us into quite a mess," Sheldon said. Then turning back to Jeffery, he continued their conversation. "So, like I was saying, why this? I'm completely powerless, why not just let us on our way?"

Jeffery sat back, "I know that. What I'm really interested in is finding out where McCoughe is hiding. I think his wife would probably know where he is." Jeffery nodded to one of his goons who grabbed Sheldon by his arms. The other searched his pockets until he found his cell phone. Holding it out to Sheldon, he reluctantly unlocked it before the goon handed it to Jeffery.

"Looks like I have an appointment to meet them... your place around midnight?" Jeffery placed Sheldon's phone in his pocket as Sheldon struggled against the guard's grip, while Ernie made to get up. Laughing, Jeffery pointed the gun menacingly at them causing them to stop their struggles.

"You know, you really ought to be more careful with text messages. They really aren't very secure." Jeffery pointed to Ernie. Before the guards could grab him, Ernie was already holding out his phone. They handed it to Jeffery who put it in his pocket with Sheldon's.

Turning to his comrades he said, "I'm leaving. You know what to do. Make it an accident. I'm sure the authorities will understand poor Mr. Moon's despondency and his need to be drowning his sorrows. Too bad he decided to do it in such a nasty part of town," Jeffery laughed.

"Wait. You've got everything I own, why kill us?" Sheldon pleaded. Why? This just didn't make sense. It _was_ like a bad movie. The guards grabbed his arms, tying his hands behind him.

Jeffery ignored him as he continued to muse about Sheldon's situation. "The irony is that you'll be dead because of losing your business, but you never knew that you haven't lost it... yet," he laughed so hard he choked.

"I thought these papers were final," Sheldon said softly. How could he have missed that? How could his lawyers miss it?

Jeffery gloated. "You don't know? With all those high-powered lawyers? You see, the papers have a 10-day void clause, no getting around it. All we were able to do was make it nearly impossible to void them."

"We can get them back? Big Sky? GraviTych?" Ernie asked Sheldon.

Sheldon racked his brains trying to remember anything in those documents that mentioned that.

"Something about a commerce clause..." Sheldon started.

Jeffery nodded. "If you would have looked further into it, the trail would have led you right

to..." he stopped himself before giving the information away, then red faced he got up to leave.

Sheldon couldn't help asking. "Lead to where?"

Jeffery stopped with his hand on the doorknob, then stood for a few moments as though thinking about answering, and to Sheldon's surprise, he did. "I report directly to the Commerce Secretary... I just want you to know how badly you failed."

Sheldon struggled at his bonds.

"Wait till after dark," he told his henchmen as they walked out together leaving Sheldon and Ernie alone.

"Commerce Department?" Ernie asked.

"That's a cabinet position," Sheldon replied. "We need to get to Washington. I think it's time to call in some favors and get an appointment with this guy."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Ernie asked.

"Come on Ern. You should be able to get us out of this." Sheldon said while pulling at his bindings.

"We're in a pretty nice mess here. These aren't your standard ropes. I can't budge them," his arms bulged as he struggled. "Sorry boss."

Their guards returned multiple times throughout the day to check on them; re-securing their bindings each time, very professional; always coming through the back door. No food or water. They didn't even talk, no matter how much Sheldon tried.

As dusk arrived, they came again, this time dressed in black. Cutting their leg bindings, they roughly pulled them to their feet.

"It's time boys. Don't give us any trouble. We can make this trip pretty miserable for you," one of the guards said as he pressed a knife up against Ernie. They left through the door Sheldon originally came in. The office area was dark and empty and as they were led to the elevators, a movement caught their attention.

"Hey, you," the guard behind them pointed his gun at a dark shape rummaging through one of the desks.

The figure stood and faced them.

"Oh, he's one of them," the guard lowered his gun.

The intruder took a few graceful strides in their direction. Then without warning, he lashed out, easily disarming the stunned guards. They had no time to react as the intruder spun and kicked one in the midsection, making him fly against a closed elevator door where he crumpled to the floor. The other guard charged, but the intruder jumped and somersaulted over his head landing behind him. With a blurred hand movement, the second guard also hit the elevator door to collapse on top of his partner.

Sheldon backed away as the intruder turned on them.

"Meester Moon?"

"Eugene?" Sheldon recognized his voice in the darkness.

Eugene pulled out a long, ugly looking curved knife. "What are you doeeng here?" he asked as he cut their bonds.

"I was just about to ask you the same question. Not that we're not happy to see you," Sheldon said looking around the room.

"I beeen looking for Meester MeeCuf and Meester Matteeson. I worry about dem."

"You won't find them here. But I know they're safe," Sheldon rubbed his wrists. "How did you find out about this place?"

"I leeestened when dey took over GraviTych. I stay der and work. Dey not bother me, I not bother dem," Eugene said looking a little guilty.

"So, you spied on them," Ernie said impressed. "That took a lot of guts."

"I not brave," Eugene shrugged. "I glad Meester MeeCuf and Meester Matteeson are safe."

"They might be, but Jodi may be in real trouble," Sheldon recounted his discussion with Jeffery.

"Dat's bad!" Eugene's face turned red. "I stop heeem!"

Looking at their two guards lying on the floor, Ernie asked. "Those guys weren't pushovers. You handled them like they were kindergarteners."

"Kindergarteeners?" Eugene looked confused.

"I mean you beat them up like they were little kids," Ernie restated.

Eugene leaned his head to the side, "ahhh, I surprise myself. I guess I jeeest afraid."

Sheldon eyed him up. Eugene wasn't afraid, those were skilled moves. He knew exactly what he was doing. Strange, how did he know to be here? Well, he had no choice but to trust him and he knew that Alec and Jodi did. "We need to warn Jodi. Jeffery's got our cell phones. Do you have one?"

"No, I weeesh I did, maybe one of dees guys," Eugene pointed to their unconscious guards.

Ernie returned after rifling their pockets. "Out of luck," he said. "Now what should we do?"

Sheldon walked over to one of the desks. "Well, why not try one of these office phones."

Ernie slapped his forehead saying. "Geez, don't I feel stupid."

"Dead, try the others." Sheldon pushed some buttons on the office phone.

"These are dead too," Ernie said after trying a dozen more.

"Just what I thought, this was nothing but a façade," Sheldon said. "I was wondering if you have Jodi's number?" he asked Eugene.

"No, I thought you deeed." Eugene said.

"It was on my cell phone," Sheldon said. "Ern, you wouldn't happen to know it."

"Why would I?" Ernie responded.

"It looks like we have to get back to my house before Jeffery does." Sheldon said. "Think my Caddy can do it?" he looked at Ernie.

"It's at least a 5-hour drive. I can do it in maybe four and a half, maybe four. That's if we don't get stopped on the way." Ernie looked at his watch. "It's already after eight, it doesn't look good."

"I can geet der." Eugene said.

Sheldon looked at him again. There seemed to be more to Eugene than the buffoon he's been pretending to be, "How? Can you fly?" Sheldon said before realizing what GraviTych was all about. "Oh, I suppose you can."

"Yes, I have Meester Stan's platform. Eeets on the roof,"

"You'll need help," Ernie said.

"No, de platform too small," Eugene shook his head.

"Do you think you can handle it?" Sheldon asked then looking at the two guards still crumpled on the floor, he realized it was a stupid question. "You know he's armed."

"I can do eet," Eugene looked Sheldon straight in the eyes, a look Sheldon had seen before, usually from soldiers.

"We need to get to Washington, D.C. I've got to have a discussion with the Secretary of Commerce. It seems we might be able to get our companies back if I get there in time," Sheldon told him.

"Dat's good," Eugene's face brightened.

' _He really cares,'_ Sheldon thought to himself. "Tell Jodi I'll pilot her ship as soon as I'm finished."

Eugene nodded, and as he stepped towards the stairwell door, Ernie asked, "Eugene, what did they mean when they said you were one of them?"

He looked back and shrugged, "I not know. Maybe I look like one of der friends. I go now." He opened the door, leaving them alone.

### CHAPTER 16 – IN SEARCH OF A PILOT

"What happened to it?" Jodi stared wide-eyed at the once classic Plymouth that now looked like a broken-down heap.

"We added a cloaking shield... we didn't have a lot of time." Alec looked proudly at his accomplishment. "I know we trashed the paint job, but we needed to cover up the cloaking material. We only had a box of black spray paint Joshua found in a storeroom."

"But you were so proud of it," Jodi's heart sank remembering how happy he'd been the day it was delivered.

"It's only a car. We need to do whatever we can to get our kids back."

"Hey guys," Dolores interrupted yelling from down the hall as she ran to meet them. Clay lagged behind, still feeling his wounds. It hadn't been easy for Jodi to convince Alec into letting her go on this trip. It was even harder for Dolores. But now they were all in. "Do you have the directions?"

"I texted you the address, did you get the walkies setup?" Clay asked Alec.

"Yup, we only had time to make four, so I gave the girls three; one for each and a spare. I kept one for us, and the guys in the lab are putting more together as we speak. I hope they do the trick. We've only been able to test them at twenty-five miles; from the other side of those mountains to the west. Theoretically, the range should be unlimited, but twenty-five miles are well beyond the normal range of normal walkies, which hopefully proves my sub-space communications theory." He got blank stares in return. Turning to the girls he asked. "Do you know what you need to do?"

"Sheldon said he'd be waiting for us." Jodi looked at the text message on her cell. "We just need to pick him up. I think he has a friend with him."

Joshua shook his head and unrolled a set of house plans on the hood of the car. "I've prepared some contingencies. You know texting isn't very secure and anyone could have intercepted your message."

"You're too suspicious. There was nothing strange about his message," Jodi said but her knees still went weak hearing Joshua had a contingency plan; a contingency plan for what? What could go wrong, they were just flying a few hundred miles and picking up a friend. The thought of having trouble unnerved her, but the thought of her daughter trapped on a spaceship overshadowed that feeling.

Clay shook his head, "I think you should listen to Joshua."

"Thanks Clay, I just want to make sure they're prepared for any situation; that's my job."

They crowded around him as he explained the plan.

"You said he was planning to meet you at his house. If it's being watched, it may not be prudent for you to just drive up and knock on his door. This is a map of Sheldon's property. You can see here that it's surrounded by a security fence with a gate in front. Over here..." he pointed, "is the backyard with a patio and a pool. You should be able to land behind the shed near the back of the property."

"Why don't we just call him?" Jodi asked.

"Call, but don't text. If he answers, ask a few questions only he would know. Give him an opportunity to give some kind of warning, casual questions. Ask inane ones about his wife and kids," Joshua told her.

"He's not married," Dolores said.

"Yes. That would give him a chance to give a warning."

"Are you really sure we need to go through this much cloak and dagger?" Jodi insisted.

"Call only when you get there. If there is anyone listening in, they won't have time to intercept. If he doesn't answer, it doesn't mean he's not there, but it is a sign for you to be extra careful." He set keys and a notebook on top of the drawings. "These are his keys and the codes for disarming his security system."

"How did you get these?" Jodi gave him a reproachful look.

"We've been keeping an eye on him for a while," Joshua continued. "Not in the negative sense, but we would like to recruit him into our organization someday... and as for this..." he pointed to the keys and notebook, "Let's just say we like being prepared."

"I'm not sure about this," Jodi said.

"You see, I have ulterior motives, and that's why I'm letting you do this. If I approached him myself, I would get the same result as I did with your husband, and I don't make the same mistake twice. If you can get him on board, I'll owe you big time... not that I already do."

"When do we leave?" Dolores asked.

"By our calculations, the trip will take about 5 hours. In order to pick him up at midnight, you would need to leave by six. That should give you enough time, in case you have any difficulties. The problem is that it'll still be light when you leave." Joshua said.

"I thought the cloaking would cover us," Jodi asked.

"Well, we didn't have a lot of time to perfect it, you can still see a slight silhouette in the sunlight. Only in the cover of darkness will you be fully cloaked," Alec answered sheepishly. "On the bright side, you don't need to fly over any mountains, and the first half of your trip is over the desert where it is mostly unpopulated. By the time you reach civilization, it should be dark enough for the cloaking."

It wasn't long before the now black Plymouth station wagon flew out of the mountain complex driven by Dolores with Jodi in the passenger seat. After two hours of flying in silence, and with the light fading, Dolores was the first to break the silence. "You can drive us back," she tried smoothing things out. "It's just that Clay has spent a lot of time teaching me how to drive this thing and I've driven at night before." She didn't tell her that even Alec preferred her driving.

"Yeah, I know. I just don't like being thought of as baggage," Jodi replied. "Do you think it's time to turn the cloaking shield on?" she asked, seeing the sun was almost set.

"Are we sure it's safe?" Dolores asked, "I kind of feel weird turning ourselves invisible."

"According to Alec, this is just like the shields they put on the ALEC'S DREAM," Jodi reached for the switch. "Ready?"

Dolores nodded and she flipped it.

After a moment Jodi observed. "I didn't feel anything, did you?" She looked around the interior half expecting to see through the walls and floor and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, look at the hood." Dolores pointed out the windshield. "It's gone."

"You're right." It was hard to tell in the dark. "I can see the lights of the houses through it, incredible." She watched the moonlit landscape pass by below, now glad she wasn't driving.

It was three more hours before they reached their destination. "According to the map, we should be right on top of Sheldon's house," Dolores said looking down.

"No answer on his phone and the house is dark." Jodi sounded worried. "I would think he'd have a few lights on. Maybe he's not home yet." Joshua was right Jodi thought; things really are bad when an over paranoid kook is right all the time.

"I'll look around," Dolores flew low over his house, then around the neighboring houses. "I don't see anything unusual. Maybe you're right."

Spreading Joshua's map on the dashboard in front of her, Jodi tried to figure out where they were supposed to park.

"Look, there's the pool... and there... there's the shed," she pointed down. "We're supposed to park behind the shed."

Dolores descended over the pool and then slowly drifted nearer to the house.

"The shed's the other way," Jodi gestured toward the other side of the pool.

"I found a better spot," Dolores softly set the car down next to the patio doors and shut off the cloaking.

They went right to work. Jodi opened the patio door using the keys Joshua gave them. Dolores was the first to slip inside where she disabled the alarm system.

"He'd better not be here," Jodi didn't feel good breaking into someone's house.

"Well, Joshua said we should check out the house to see if he's already been here," Dolores looked like she was enjoying herself. "You check out the den, I'll catch his office."

The small den was hidden in the corner of the house at the end of a hallway; lit only by a small lamp standing in the corner. It was more of a library than a den with blind-covered windows covering the two outside walls, and bookshelves covering the other two. A couple of comfy chairs with a table between them faced one of the bookshelves containing a large flat screen TV. The rest of them were filled with a mixture of knickknacks, books, and plants. Jodi thought it looked homey.

She headed straight for the table between the chairs. On it were papers, a phone, and a television remote. She examined the papers. Most were Big Sky legal papers and other documents which she quickly dismissed. As she picked up the phone to check out its memory, she was startled by a mousy voice behind her.

"What do we have here? Please turn around slowly."

Standing straight, she slowly turned to see a short man in the doorway. Dark hair stuck out from below a bandage wrapping his head. His black suit jacket was unbuttoned, revealing his loosened tie. He had a gun pointing directly at her midsection.

"What the..." Jodi started.

"You must be Jodi McCoughe. I've been waiting for you," the stranger said.

"Isn't it against the law to break into someone's house?" Jodi quipped, not quite sure why she was antagonizing him. For one thing, she didn't like the fact that he was in Sheldon's house, plus there was something about him that really irritated her; he seemed like a real creep. Then a thought jogged her memory. "You're the creep!" she blurted.

His eyes widened at her outburst as he remembered the last person to call him that. "Ah, so you _are_ Jodi McCoughe. Now all I need is your husband. We have a few things we need to discuss."

"Last time you tried killing him. Are you looking to finish it this time?" Jodi crossed her arms.

"I've found that that would have been a mistake. I have some friends who now want him alive," he said.

"You don't think I'm just going to call him here, do you?" Jodi asked.

"I believe you can consider yourself bait," he seemed happy with himself. Jodi saw movement behind him; it was Dolores swinging a bowling trophy. Jodi's flinch was enough to warn the creep as he ducked and turned with the trophy passing harmlessly over him. Grabbing Dolores by the wrist, he flung her in Jodi's direction where Jodi caught her from falling. The creep pointed the gun at both of them as he reached up to feel his bandaged head with his free hand.

"Ah, and you must be Dolores. I forgot that you might have come along... my mistake." The creep regained his composure. "You don't have any other surprises for me, do you?"

"Well, you never know," Jodi said coyly.

Seeing through her bluff, the creep leaned against the door jamb and smiled. "Ooooo, I'm scared," his mousy voice really irritated Jodi.

Suddenly, a blur behind him was followed by a sickening whacking sound. The creep's eyes rolled back, and he fell forward, hitting the floor face first. Eugene now stood in the doorway with Dolores's bowling trophy in his hand.

"Eugene!" Jodi and Dolores yelled running to him and wrapping their arms around him.

"Meeses MeeCuf, Meeses Matteeson, are you OK?"

"Where did you come from? How did you know we were here?" Jodi questioned.

"I ah, talked with Meester Moon. He said he could not make eet and said I should let you know dey needed to go to Washeengton D.C." Eugene told them. "He said he not be too long and be ready soon."

"Did he say where we should pick him up?" Dolores asked.

"I ah, he never deed say. I am sorry."

"Did he say where? Who?"

"Well, he deed not say, but..." Eugene hesitated.

"But what?" Jodi prompted.

"He said something about the Secreetaree of Commerce to get you companies back."

"Really?" Dolores replied. "Maybe not all is lost."

"Well, I think we should extend our trip to Washington. Eugene, would you like to come with us?" Jodi asked. It felt good seeing him again. She always felt the girls were in good hands with him around.

"I am sorry Meeses MeeCuf, but I need to do other theeengs. I just need to know if Meester MeeCuf and Meester Matteeson are OK... and Sofie... er, I mean your daughters," Eugene said with intensity.

"We don't know about the girls, but our husbands are safe and busy working on getting our daughters rescued," Jodi never saw that look on him before. He seemed in control, no longer like a jester.

"That ees good. Please, you be careful. So, if you eexcuse me," he turned to leave.

"Are you sure?" Dolores pleaded.

"I am sorry, but eet is very eemportant what I must do," Eugene answered.

"You be careful," Jodi gave him a hug.

"Keep in touch," Dolores also gave him a hug.

Eugene, looking uncomfortable, nodded. "Thank you. I will," he turned and left them alone in the dark house.

"I didn't know Sheldon bowled," Dolores picked up the bowling trophy Eugene had set on the table, "We should all go bowling someday."

"Well, it looks like we're through here," Jodi said. "What's next?"

"What about him?" Dolores pointed to the creep.

"He did hit the floor kind of hard," she felt his pulse. "It's probably a concussion, likely his second one," she giggled eying the already bandaged head.

"I'm sure he can take care of himself, let's get out of here before any of his friends show up, then we can give Joshua a call," Dolores said.

After feeling they were a safe distance from Sheldon's, they called Joshua on the walkie-talkie. "OK thanks Joshua, sorry for waking you," she said, as she finished programming the address he just gave her into her phone.

"We've still got a couple of hours of darkness before we need to set down," Dolores changed course according to the newly programmed directions.

"I don't know whether I'm more hungry or more tired," Jodi complained leaning back in her seat, closing her eyes.

Four hours later, as the sky brightened to their front, Dolores brought the car down on a deserted street. "According to the map, there should be a motel nearby," Jodi said doing a search on her phone. They soon found a cluster of small motels lining the next main street. Dolores pulled into the third one, seeing it had the most cars. After checking in, they stopped at a small restaurant across the street for breakfast.

"Maybe we should try again to see if Joshua can free up a pilot. This is starting to seem kind of hopeless," Jodi's tiredness caught up with her.

"We could, but I doubt that Joshua would change his mind. I don't believe he would have told us a pilot wasn't available if there really wasn't," Dolores said between mouthfuls of chocolate cake. Jodi has always been amazed how she could pack the food in and stay as small as she did.

"I don't think Eugene told us everything. Don't you think it was a little odd that Sheldon didn't let us know himself that he wasn't going to make it? He knows my number," Jodi tapped on the cell phone resting on the table next to her.

" _And_ that the creep was waiting for us, then Eugene miraculously saves us?" Dolores added. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea."

"We _need_ a pilot. If Joshua can't get us one, it has to be Sheldon. We have to be out there to help the kids escape," Jodi bemoaned.

"You act like you know something," Dolores gave her a suspicious look. "I feel like we need to do something to help our kids, but exactly what are we trying to accomplish by flying out there ourselves."

"It's hard to explain.... Dolores, you just need to believe me that we need to do this," Jodi said helplessly.

"Jodi, we've been friends for years, you need to trust me. I trust you," Dolores pleaded.

Jodi sat silently struggling with their decision not to tell her and Clay about Alec's meeting with Jessie.

"Do you really think it wasn't a dream it?" Dolores asked after Jodi finished telling her.

"I _smelled_ Jessie on him," Jodi replied. Dolores nodded, now a believer.

"So, you're saying Sofie's been captured along with the crew? And that Jessie has a plan to rescue them?" Dolores sounded a bit incredulous.

"She said that they would be leaving from the 'back end' of the ship and that they were going to need a lot of protection once they get out," Jodi reiterated what Alec told her. "And I plan to make sure they get all the help I can give."

"We need to get Sheldon," Dolores's determination hardened to match Jodi's. "We should leave now. We can travel by road before it gets dark."

"Wait... Joshua said Sheldon's appointment isn't until ten AM, the day _after_ tomorrow." Jodi repeated what Joshua told them, and like usual he wouldn't tell them how he found out. "That gives us plenty of time to get a little shut-eye in a real bed," Jodi said. "Even if we got there early, I don't know how we'd find him, and I doubt if he would want to leave before his appointment anyway."

"OK, that sounds like a plan," Dolores finished the last bite of her cake.

"Then maybe I can drive?" Jodi asked.

Dolores gave a hesitant nod.

### CHAPTER 17 – THE APPOINTMENT

A refreshed Sheldon met Ernie in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Ernie was red-eyed, having done most of the driving the previous day and night. "So, ten o'clock it is," Sheldon said with a grin. "I doubt if the meeting will last very long. My contact assured me he's not associated with that Jeffery character, but you never know..."

"That's some pep talk boss," Ernie said finishing the remnants of his omelet.

"I'm just letting you know; you don't need to stay. Just drop me off and get away," Sheldon lowered his voice. "I really mean it. There's some strange stuff going on. I don't even trust my contacts anymore."

"No way, you owe me three weeks back pay," Ernie wiped the last of the egg off his chin. "I've got to protect the best-paying employer I've ever had. Let's get going."

After an hour of fighting the Washington traffic, Ernie parked on a tree-lined street in front of a nondescript Federal Building. Like most of the older government buildings in the city, it was a three-story Greek revival structure covering half a city block.

"If I'm not out in a couple of hours... well, I don't know what you should do. Come to think of it, you're the genius so I'm sure you'll figure something out," Sheldon shook Ernie's hand before stepping out of the Cadillac.

Once inside the building, Sheldon went through the normal security lines, scanners and intrusions before being granted the privilege of introducing himself to a bored and overweight security guard. After signing in, the guard handed him a visitor badge and pointed towards the elevators at the far side of an elegant marble-floored atrium. The size of the atrium took up the entire center of the building and extended up to a glass roof. Sheldon was amazed at the amount of wasted space, where the only usable part of the building was its perimeter.

The third-floor elevator doors opened to a glass-enclosed foyer facing a large reception desk with a small, but very competent looking receptionist. After introducing himself again, he found himself waiting in a comfortable lobby chair pretending to read a 2-month-old fashion magazine.

"Mr. Moon? This way, please." Another young woman held the glass foyer door open and patiently waited as he put down his magazine. While walking a long hallway, he noticed it was walled up with no view of the atrium; instead, it was decorated with cheesy prints of landscapes. The girl led him through a set of double doors where he yet again found himself thumbing through another fashion magazine. It wasn't until he achieved his ideal personality, by taking a personality quiz three times, was he was finally introduced to the Secretary of Commerce, Jack Fitzsimmons.

"So, Mr. Moon, exactly what can I do for you?" he asked.

Sheldon thought he had the classic look of a bureaucratic; pudgy, sweaty and no color as though he hadn't been out in the daylight in years. Sheldon handed him a copy of his papers. "You see Mr. Secretary, I am... or was the owner of the Big Sky Company. There seems to be some mistake. There is no reason for this," Sheldon pointed to the papers in Fitzsimmons' hand. "I've been led to believe that you have the authority to nullify these actions."

The Secretary gave the papers a cursory glance. "I don't recognize these; as a matter of fact, I don't see any references to the Commerce Department in them. Do you?"

"I've done some research and found that these documents come from an agency associated with the Department of Commerce. It's called the Office of Technology Stabilization... I believe." Before Sheldon could make his case, Fitzsimmons desk phone buzzed. After listening for a few moments, he became noticeably agitated. Hanging up, he returned his attention to Sheldon. "I'm sorry Mr. Moon, but it looks like we're going to have to cut this meeting short."

"Look, you're just going to have to hear me out. I expect a resolution, and if I don't get one, I will go public." Before he could say more, the Secretary's face turned pale as Sheldon heard the door behind him open. Turning to look back, Sheldon saw coming through the door, a tall dark-robed figure followed by an entourage of half a dozen brightly dressed guards. The same ones he saw in the paper a few days ago; Kan-ji. Bustling in behind them were the same two secretaries who had led him in, trying their best to object.

Sheldon focused on the leader who had just brushed back the hood of his robe. The newcomer was extremely handsome, almost saintly with long blond flowing hair. Sheldon sensed something odd about him. His features didn't seem normal, the ears had a slightly different shape and weren't in the right spot. Same with his nose and eyes; he definitely seemed alien. His guards were dressed like friendly pirates, with puffy shirts, pantaloons, and feathered hats, and all armed with curved swords and ancient looking pistols.

"Fitzsimmons, it's time we meet face-to-face," the tall stranger began in a sing-songy, angelic voice, completely ignoring Sheldon. He looked annoyed or possibly angry, Sheldon couldn't tell. "I regret having to meet you like this, but your failures have prompted me to take matters into my own hands."

"I... I... am sorry Mr. M'bron," Fitzsimmons stuttered. "I've been attempting to correct the situation."

"Are you aware of what the situation actually is?" M'bron stepped closer to Fitzsimmons desk.

"Ah, please sit down," Fitzsimmons asked while sitting himself. "I've discovered a slight breakdown in communications. I was just about to send my report."

M'bron remained standing. "I've been doing my own investigations and have tracked it to you and your Office of Technology Stabilization."

Sheldon had casually moved closer to the room's side as M'bron concentrated on Fitzsimmons. The guards ignored him. They spread about the room covering the doors and windows, ' _military guard_ ' Sheldon thought seeing their movements.

"I'm not sure that I understand what you mean."

Sheldon noticed that the Secretary had a habit of not understanding much of what anyone says to him. "That ship you encountered was using a fluke technology... nothing but a toy. We have it fully under our control. It will not be a problem from now on."

That comment hit Sheldon hard and his anger got the best of him. "What? You just said that you had no idea what I was here for! Now you're telling this alien that you are the one who took control of my company? I need an explanation!" Turning to the alien he said, "If you have my crew and the girls in your custody, I demand that they be released."

Sheldon now received the alien's full scrutiny, as M'bron sized him up for nearly a full minute. Then turning back to the Secretary, he said. "I see that you are not as much in command as you are indicating. I want you to deliver the developers of this technology to me by tomorrow. I will leave some of my staff here to make sure there are no problems." He spoke to his comrades in an odd sing-songy language before leaving. Two guards remained and the rest followed him out.

The Secretary sat back down at his desk as color slowly returned to his face. Picking up his phone, he said, "Shelly, can you please send in security." Hanging up, he looked to Sheldon and leaned back. "It looks like you have just saved me from a difficult situation. Now, if you could tell me where your friend Mr. McCoughe is hiding, your detention will be fairly short, at least until you are delivered to Mr. M'bron."

"I have people waiting for me, and if I don't come out of this building, and soon, actions will be taken," Sheldon threatened.

"I believe that your companion waiting in the car outside will be joining you very shortly." The Secretary smiled. Sheldon had a déjà vu moment as the scene seemed to be playing out the same way it did a few days ago. Two human guards entered and joined the Kan-ji in taking him away.

### CHAPTER 18 – THE MEETING

"Get ready to turn... now!" Dolores tried navigating Jodi through their third loop of a roundabout.

"Rats!" Jodi hissed missing their cutoff again as they began their fourth loop through her nightmare roundabout. She glared at Dolores, who was snorting as she tried holding back her laughter. "I wish we could just fly out of this trap."

Dolores had let Jodi drive their last leg of their journey to Washington DC. Their plan was to catch Sheldon before his meeting but had neglected to compensate for their eastward travel. Not only did they lose an hour switching time zones, traveling towards the morning sunrise forced them to descend to the roads sooner than they wanted; as sunrise was also earlier. Now they were just hoping to catch him as he came out of his meeting, never thinking that finding Sheldon would be so much of an adventure.

"Got it!" Jodi exclaimed finally exiting the roundabout, now only blocks away.

"Turn right at the stop sign," Dolores said looking at her phone. "Then we need to find a place to park."

"There, in front of that blue car." Dolores pointed as Jodi sped up.

"It looks like everyone in this city dresses like secret service agents," Jodi observed seeing a man in a dark gray suit and sunglasses jog across the street in front of them. More men and women, all in gray suits, walked along the sidewalks as she slowed near the parking spot. As she was about to stop, a large man jumped into the back of the car, slamming the door behind him, ducking down below the seat.

Jodi froze not knowing what to do.

"Hey!" Dolores yelled. "Get out, now!"

Jodi now wished they had taken the creeps gun before leaving Sheldon's house, as it never occurred to them that they might need it.

"Please keep driving. I'll introduce myself later, just drive, please," he said urgently.

Jodi continued driving, giving up her parking spot. "Do you know how lucky we were to find that spot?" Jodi grumbled. "It'll take hours to find another."

A man in a gray suit behind them yelled. When they turned to look, more gray suits were converging.

"Don't let them catch us, they're bad guys," the man in the back seat sat up, apparently not needing to hide anymore. Jodi accelerated, leaving the crowd of gray suits behind. As she relaxed thinking they were safe, a black sedan pulled out in front of them, blocking the road. Reflexively, Jodi flew the car over it, dropping back down on the other side. The man in the back seat who had braced for the collision stared back at the car they just leapfrogged.

"They're following us, what should I do?" Jodi looked in the rearview mirror seeing more black sedans pulling out from the intersection they just flew over.

"Head straight, I'll tell you when to turn," Dolores said grabbing her phone. Before she could say another word, a third black sedan pulled out in front causing Jodi to make a hard right without slowing down, into an alley. The two chasing cars skidded past the alley entrance. By the time they recovered, Jodi had already turned right out of the alley. They were now on the tree-lined lane they had passed earlier. The sound of screeching tires caught their attention and a car turned on the street behind them while another raced on the parallel road on a course to cut them off at the end of the street. They were going to be trapped.

With Dolores still trying to work the GPS app on her phone, Jodi made a quick turn into an alley behind the Federal Building. Slamming her brakes, she switched on their cloaking and ascended to hover just below the canopy of a large shade tree, out of the sunlight.

"Sweet," said Dolores as she gave up on her GPS app. "I didn't think you had it in you." A black sedan passed below them.

Jodi had forgotten about the man in the back seat until he spoke. "I know of only one car that can do this, and it was built by Alec McCoughe, except it looked a lot better than this one." he said looking down at the traffic passing by. "But I don't remember it being invisible."

Jodi and Dolores turned and stared at him. "So, you might know who we are. But who are you?" Dolores asked.

He smiled, "I'm Ernie Simpson. I work for, or should I say, once worked for Big Sky. I'm a friend of Sheldon Moon."

Jodi's instinct took over as she determined he was telling the truth. "We're looking for Sheldon."

'Yes, you need a pilot. Did Eugene get hold of you?" he asked.

Now Dolores was convinced he was on their side. "Yes, but he neglected to tell us how we could get in touch."

"Oh, yeah, that would have been a good idea. I assumed Sheldon had thought of that. I guess I was wrong."

"I take it he's in his meeting, so we haven't missed him," Jodi said.

Dolores stared at her in astonishment. "Have you thought about why these black sedans are after us?"

"They're after Ernie," Jodi replied. Then her eyes widened. "Oh... if they're after him, that means they've already got Sheldon."

"I would believe that they're also after Alec," Dolores concluded.

"I'm afraid Sheldon may have gotten himself into a bit of trouble. I don't think those agents were planning on taking us out to lunch," said Ernie. "I'm guessing that those limousines carrying that group of rock stars had something to with it."

"What rock stars?" asked Jodi. "What did they look like?"

"They were tall and dressed like pirates." His description sounded corny, even to him. "They were only in there about fifteen minutes. I'm surprised you didn't see the limos, they left in the direction you came from."

"We were stuck in a roundabout," Dolores answered holding back a giggle.

Jodi was getting good at glaring at her.

"I started seeing the troops after that, talking on their radios while trying not to look at me," Ernie added. "That's when I decided to take a little walk. It didn't look like I was going to get very far when you guys showed up and saved the day."

"Must have been the Kan-ji. We've seen enough of their pictures in the news." Dolores sounded a little worried. "That means we need to hurry."

Jodi felt a chill run up her spine. "What do we do now? Should we report this to the police?" No one answered the obvious.

"We need to get Sheldon out of there. But before we can do that, we'll need to figure out where he's being held," Ernie said as they began planning Sheldon's rescue while floated twenty feet above an alley.

#####

"OK, you know what to do. You just need to find where he's being held and get out of there as fast as you can." Ernie went over Jodi's instructions one last time.

Saying goodbye, she stepped out of the Plymouth into the dark alley behind the building. The sight of the car's insides disappearing behind the cloaked door gave her a sense of finality. She could hear Dolores's voice come out of the emptiness where the car had been, telling her to be careful.

Walking down the alley to the buildings back entrance she looked both ways to make sure she was alone before pulling out Jessie's old card reading device; a pleasant surprise they found in the glove compartment - all they needed to do was walk past one of the security guards to get his card when the building closed for the night. After scanning the reader next to the door, she slipped in, quietly closing it behind her.

"I guess I should start on the third floor," she said to herself as the stairwell she was in only went up. Putting Jessie's card device away in her bag, she pulled out a clipboard, hoping her disguise as the cleaning company inspector would work. The stairwell exited into a small alcove off the main hallway. It was empty. Turning left, she nervously walked down the corridor. With clipboard in hand she checked each room. The first was a large area filled with cubicles and desks. She walked through as though doing her inspection, writing on her clipboard and checking the empty garbage cans, for the sake of the security cameras. The next door down the hall opened to a small group of offices where she performed more inspections. Slowly, she worked her way down the hall, finding each room empty while dutifully writing on her clipboard. The hallway circled the building and as she was about two-thirds around, she felt her pulse race as she stood in front of a large set of double doors.

' _If I was a betting girl, I'd say that this room has promise,_ ' she thought. The other side of the doors led to a small empty waiting room. Walking quickly through it, she entered the inner office and found it occupied.

"Excuse me sir, I'm just doing an inspection of the cleaning services, I won't be long," Jodi quickly recovered from her surprise. ' _I should have been more careful_ ' she thought while looking at the garbage cans and floors and writing on her clipboard.

"I thought the cleaning inspections were usually done on the weekends," the rotund man sitting behind the desk looked at her curiously. "What happened to Maria?" he asked.

"Oh, Maria is on vacation, I'm just filling in for the week," Jodi knew she was a terrible liar and hoped she could pull this off as she continued her inspection. Acting like she was done, she headed for the door.

"I didn't catch your name?" he asked, now standing between her and the exit.

"Jodi," she answered forgetting what name she was supposed to use.

"I don't believe you work here," he said almost to himself. "Maybe you're here for another reason; perhaps you're looking for something or somebody?"

She didn't know what to say as she just stood staring at him; waiting for him to let her leave.

"Please sit down," he gestured to a chair by his desk. She timidly sat in a chair while he sat on the edge of his desk.

"Jodi McCoughe, you should have used a different name. By the way, I was just looking up your files and almost like magic you showed up in my office. What should I make of that?"

There was something familiar about him and Jodi couldn't quite put her finger on it. She wondered if she should try to run, but in the end she just sat there.

"I would guess that you're looking for Mr. Moon. I could tell you where he is if you want." He talked as though he was lost in thought, almost like he was arguing with himself.

"Sure, I would like to know where he is." Jodi now recognized him as the Secretary of Commerce. To her surprise, he told her the room number and even described where it was located down the hall. Not knowing what else to do, she stood and walked to the door. As she reached it, she looked back half expecting him to stop her. Instead, he just sat staring back at her, seemingly preoccupied with some internal struggle.

Even though it was agreed that she return as soon as she discovered Sheldon's location, she decided to check out the room first since it was just a few steps down the hall. She ironically noted that if she would have turned right on leaving the stairwell, she would have found Sheldon right away. The double entrance doors led to another small waiting room, just like the one outside the Secretaries office. Trying the door to the inner office, she found it locked, as she expected.

"Sheldon?" she whispered at the door.

"What do you want?" his angry voice came from the other side.

"Are you OK? This is Jodi McCoughe. I'm working with Ernie to get you out of here."

"What? Jodi? Can't you just open the door?" she could hear Sheldon standing next to it.

"I don't have a key, I'll look around," she whispered and went for the only piece of furniture in the room, a desk. She barely had time to rummage through its top drawer when the outer door flew open. Not having time to run, not that there was anywhere to go, or hide, she could only stand and watch as the defeated looking Secretary entered, followed by two gray-suited agents and two ominous looking men, dressed like pirates.

' _Those must be the Kan-ji_ ,' she thought.

The Secretary's head jerked up as he saw her standing there. One of the Kan-ji gestured at her with a deadly looking curved sword and a gray-suited guard opened Sheldon's prison door. She walked sideways with her back to the wall hoping they wouldn't notice the bag hanging over her shoulder. Then, giving the guard holding the gun a nervous smile, she quickly backed into the room. Sheldon, who originally was standing just inside the door ready for an opportunity to escape, had backed up to the far side of his prison room. Jodi continued backing in until standing next to him. Before the door slammed closed, the Secretary was roughly thrown in, landing face down at their feet.

Fitzsimmons stood and looked angrily at Jodi. "I didn't mean for you to try to rescue Sheldon, I wanted you to get out of here with the information."

"I just wanted to make sure you were telling the truth," Jodi defended before realizing she had no reason to defend herself. "What's it to you? Why would you tell me where Sheldon was anyway? You're the one who locked him up?" she shot back.

"The situation was getting out of control and I was trying to put a stop to it, but once the Kan-ji arrived I knew I was next," he sat down on a couch putting his head in his hands. "I was hoping that if you were going to rescue Sheldon, I would be rescued with him." He looked up at her, "it looks like our chances of getting out of here alive are pretty slim. Nobody will be able to get close to this building now."

"Why don't you just bust open the door? It's only an office door. They're usually not much stronger than cardboard," Jodi looked back at the door they had slammed shut behind them.

"Two reasons; one, this door is stronger than you would think. The other reason is that there are guards out there." Sheldon responded rubbing his shoulder.

"There weren't when I came in." Jodi rebuffed.

"That's because they were collecting me." Fitzsimmons cut in.

Sheldon sat on a chair next to the bathroom door while Jodi sat on the couch next to Fitzsimmons. "Jodi, how were you planning on rescuing me? And how did you know what was going on?" Sheldon asked.

"Well, he's right. I was only supposed to find where you were being kept. Ernie was going to make the plans for rescuing you," Jodi admitted.

"So, you've met Ernie? He's safe?" Sheldon sounded relieved.

"Why don't you just ask him?" Jodi asked reaching into her bag.

"This room is RF shielded," Fitzsimmons said holding his cell phone. "These won't work in here."

Pulling out her walkie-talkie, she stepped to the barred window overlooking the back alley.

"Sorry, but that won't work in here either," Fitzsimmons shook his head.

"Dolores, Ernie, you out there?" Jodi spoke into it.

"Jodi... are you OK, the buildings surrounded by agents," Dolores's voice came over the radio.

"What the heck?" said Fitzsimmons, "We spent a fortune shielding this room from RF and you're getting through with a toy walkie-talkie?"

"I'll tell you about it later," she said over her shoulder. Then turning back to her radio, she said. "I'm locked in a room with Sheldon and Secretary Fitzsimmons."

"Can you tell us where you are? Are you near a window?" Ernie's voice asked.

"Ernie, is that you?" Sheldon grabbed the radio from Jodi, "Can you get us out of here?"

"Hey boss, we lost the Cadillac... sorry about that." Ernie was obviously glad to hear from his friend.

"That's OK. I'll just take it out of your next paycheck. What do you need us to do?"

"What do you see out your window?" Ernie asked.

"We're on the third floor, overlooking the alley near the center of the building," Jodi said into the radio in Sheldon's hand.

"Right, we see you; you'll need to stand back. We're going to try pulling the bars off. As soon as they're out, we won't have much time. You're going to have to move fast," Ernie said.

"What do you mean move fast?" asked Fitzsimmons. Sheldon repeated the question over the radio.

"We're going to get as close as we can, but you'll still have to jump," Ernie said and at the same time, the glowing insides of the station wagon appeared, floating just outside their window.

"What in the world is that?" Fitzsimmons gasped, looking out the barred window. The station wagon was cloaked, but once the back tailgate was lowered, it's exposed inside made it look like an eerie apparition.

"That's our ride," Jodi said.

"Can someone try barring the door?" Sheldon realized that the locked door can work both ways. Jodi and Fitzsimmons pushed the couch in front of it. "You realize the doors open outward," Sheldon said.

"Oh," Jodi said and grabbed a coat rack, then tied it across the doorknobs. "Better?" This time she got an approving nod from Sheldon.

By now the inside of the car was backed up to the window. Ernie was leaning out the back with a chain in his hand, attempting to place it in Sheldon's hands sticking through the bars. A gentle toss did the trick as Sheldon expertly wrapped his end of the chain around the bars, securing its hooked end to one of them. Giving Ernie a 'thumbs up', he quickly stepped back.

"If these seat brackets are strong enough... we'll back up to the window. Be ready to jump," Dolores' voice said over the radio. Jodi watched Ernie climb over the front seat. As soon as he was safely in the front, the car shot forward. The chain tightened and with a surprisingly dull sounding crack, the bars broke free falling downwards. Ernie quickly undid the chain while Dolores backed the car to the window. A tense moment later, the chain fell, and Ernie leaned out of the open tailgate with his arms extended.

"OK jump," Sheldon said to Jodi who was already sitting on what was left of the windowsill. Grabbing Ernie's outstretched hand, she pushed off. Landing on the open tailgate she scrambled over the seats to sit next to Dolores. By the time she looked back, Fitzsimmons was rolling into the back seat while Ernie and Sheldon were pulling the tailgate shut.

"Go," Ernie yelled rolling up the back window, making them invisible again. Before Dolores could react, one of the aliens appeared at the window firing at them with his curved sword. It expelled a lightning bolt that covered the car in a blue ribbon of electrical discharge.

"Wow, did you see that?" Ernie said from the back, "Those swords shoot bolts of lightning... pretty cool."

"Not so cool. Our cloaking doesn't seem to work anymore, that shot must have burned out the circuits." Jodi flipped the toggle switch.

"I guess we're lucky they didn't have time to integrate the cloaking into the rest of the controls," Dolores said, looking at the touchscreen control box mounted on the floor under the dash as she flew off into the darkness, flying low between buildings and houses.

"Do you think we're safe?" Jodi wondered.

"I hope you guys planned out an escape route," Fitzsimmons complained from the back seat. "They have a lot of weapons and resources at their disposal, and they're not shy about using them."

"Why did you allow this to happen?" Sheldon glowered at him.

"My orders were to hold back the technological growth for a year, using legal means and not through force. We were working in concert with other countries. It was never clearly defined where our authority started, and others ended. When I found out about the forced takeover of your company and GraviTych, I started digging into the Office of Technical Stability and found that I had become just a figurehead, and it was really the Kan-ji who were in control manipulating us from behind the scenes."

"So why didn't you stop them?" Dolores asked.

"I couldn't, they were in charge of my agents. I don't know what was offered, but it wasn't long before I became a prisoner here."

"Couldn't you talk to the President, or the military?" Sheldon still didn't believe Fitzsimmons was telling the whole truth.

"They wouldn't listen. This whole thing was brought on by secret trade agreements, where we had to give them our technologies so they could integrate theirs with ours... so they said. Once done, they would add us to their trade routes." Fitzsimmons responded. "What do you know about the Kan-ji?"

"That we can't trust them," Jodi replied from the front seat.

"I agree with you wholeheartedly. One thing I discovered is that they are not any more technically advanced than us. They've developed things differently from us, but not any better. But now they have control of your anti-gravity technology." Fitzsimmons went silent as he seemingly checked himself from saying too much.

"They may have control of GraviTych, but they don't have the technology. Anything of technical value was either destroyed or removed before your goons got there," Dolores told him.

Fitzsimmons seemed to perk up from that. "I would guess that not all is lost... so just where is Alec now? Maybe we could get together to form a resistance."

Jodi didn't bite on that as she still didn't trust him, and neither did Dolores. "We've moved in with some old friends of ours. Alec is doing computer repair work until he can find a job. It's hard for someone in his late forties to find a job these days." Jodi looked at Dolores who nodded.

"I'll have to set down on the freeway when it gets light. I hope we can hide in the rush hour traffic." Dolores said changing the subject. "We'll drive in shifts; you guys work out who sleeps and when."

Ernie looked at Fitzsimmons, "Where do want to be dropped off?"

"I... I was hoping you would take me with you. We were supposed to be delivered to some Kan-ji priest or god. Even M'bron seemed afraid of that," Fitzsimmons sounded worried.

"I think I can speak for everyone here; we don't trust you. You're not telling us everything," Jodi said to everyone's approval.

Fitzsimmons sat with his head down as though debating with himself. "They are going to take us over, the entire planet, not just us. While I was trying to find out about your company, I came across some transmissions. Originally their plan was to take us over politically, but something happened over the past few days, now they're gearing up for some kind of military action."

His news was rewarded with shocked silence. "We need to tell Joshua. I've got a feeling he'll want to talk with you," Jodi reached for her bag containing the walkie-talkie.

"Heads up," Dolores pointed to a silhouette of a black helicopter against the moons backdrop flying fast in their direction. She descended to just above a wide highway as they listened to the helicopter fly past them. Quickly, she turned into a subdivision where she hovered between two houses.

"Do you think they saw us?" Jodi whispered.

"I'm not sure. I think I got low enough to avoid their radar. It's dark and the car is painted black. They would have to have pretty good eyesight to see us fly in here." Dolores answered.

"Unless somebody saw us and called the police; they could be monitoring the police channels," Ernie added searching the skies.

"It's starting to get light out we'll need to hit the road soon. Hopefully, we'll be able to blend in with the traffic." Dolores didn't sound confident in her own plan.

As the sky brightened and the kitchen lights of the houses began going on, she was forced to leave their protection. Instead of setting down on the subdivision road, she continued flying, hoping to find a place to land near an entrance to the freeway. Her gamut flopped as out of nowhere the copter dropped from above to hover in front of them; blocking their way. Dolores reflexively accelerated in the direction of the highway. "I guess we've been discovered. No sense hiding now. We might be safer if we're seen." she flew directly above the highway with the black helicopter in close pursuit.

"I can't believe they're chasing us! That's pretty bold of them... to be attacking us in front of witnesses." Sheldon looked down at the morning rush hour traffic.

"They can't attack while we're flying over populated areas, can they?" Jodi asked nervously.

"We can outmaneuver them and don't need to refuel, that's to our advantage. If they do decide to attack, I'll land, and we'll have to go on foot." Dolores decided.

"We seem to be attracting a lot of attention," Jodi pointed to the flashing lights of the police cars converging on the highway ahead. Speeding over them, they left them in their wake.

"We must be some sight... a flying Plymouth station wagon being chased by a black helicopter," Jodi was surprised to hear a couple giggles.

"It would be hilarious if they wouldn't be trying to kill us," Fitzsimmons grumbled.

Jodi thought him to be a real a buzz-kill. What else would you expect from a bureaucrat politician?

"I'm not sure how fast we can go. This car isn't very aerodynamic you know." Dolores said as the helicopter easily kept pace with them. The sun broke over the horizon behind them in the eastern sky. "I wonder what their plan is; they can't chase us forever."

"Whoa, what was that?" Jodi said as an earsplitting roar came from something streaking past them.

"Fighters! They've gotten the military after us?" Sheldon yelled over the sound of the jets.

"That's not our military. Look at the markings." Ernie said, pointing at one of the two fighters as they turned for another pass.

"Holy cow, those are Kan-ji... in our airspace. And nothing is being done about it?" Everyone but Dolores stared at Fitzsimmons.

"I think it's time we abandon our current course of action," Dolores said as she banked to the right looking for a place to land. The fighters turned in their direction.

"Over there!" Jodi pointed to a football field behind a high school. Turning, Dolores accelerated and luckily for them, her quick turn caused a couple of rockets to just miss; they would have been nothing but a fireball if she had stayed her course. The wayward missiles continued on, taking out a billboard.

"As soon as we land, we need to make a run for it, and fast," Dolores said bringing the car down on the edge of the field.

Ernie had already rolled the down the tailgate window and jumped out the back while Sheldon, Fitzsimmons, Jodi, and Dolores all leapt out their doors running for the subdivision behind them. Unfortunately for Dolores, Fitzsimmons was not only a buzz-kill bureaucrat but also a klutz, and he stumbled out of the car. Dolores didn't see him, and as she ran around his open door, she tripped over him, hitting the ground hard. Getting up, Fitzsimmons ran away, leaving her lying there, stunned.

It was Jodi who looked back to see her friend on the ground, and without hesitation, turned and ran back. Dropping to her knees to help her up, she saw Dolores staring upwards past her shoulder while mouthing a soundless 'no'. Looking up, Jodi saw the two alien fighters release their missiles; their vapor trails drawing lines straight towards them. Grabbing hold of Jodi in a feeble attempt to get up, Dolores ended up just holding on, waiting for the inevitable; saying a prayer as the missiles exploded.

"Are you OK?" Jodi looked down at Dolores, who was just opening her eyes. She pointed up and smiled. Turning and looking up, Jodi saw two unmarked shimmering silver fighters hovering tail to tail, with their noses pointing outward. Further up, she could see the alien fighters being chased by two more unmarked silver fighters.

As Jody helped Dolores up, two black boxy shaped vehicles swiftly landed on either side of the parked Plymouth. Clay and Alec leapt out running before their doors were fully open and grabbed hold of their wives, embracing them while the rest of the car's runaway occupants returned.

"Is everyone OK?" Joshua asked, assessing the situation.

"Yes," Dolores whispered, somewhat dumbfounded. "What happened? We were about to be blown to bits."

"You realize that we heard everything you said over your radios. We listened to your rescue. When it became apparent that the agency no longer cared about keeping themselves secret, we knew it was time for us to move."

"But your secret is out," Jodi said, seeing the two fighters return to take up residence next to the ones already hovering in their protective positions.

"Whatever happens... happens," Joshua replied.

Jodi watched a semi-truck sized vehicle land in front of their car. A half a dozen uniformed men poured out the back guiding the Plymouth into its open storage bay.

"Let's get out of here," Joshua gave a hand signal to a tall woman in a blue uniform. Responding with a nod, she began barking orders into her headset, generating a flurry of activity. The ground teams hustled back to the transports while the truck carrying the Plymouth rose, turned west and vanished.

"I know you." Sheldon said to Joshua, "Aren't you that crazy guy we met the day our companies were taken over?" Joshua just smiled as he shook Sheldon's hand.

"Yes, that would be me, Joshua Wells. I'm pleased to meet you Mr. Moon." Joshua said as they turned and walked together to the transport ships. Fitzsimmons followed with Ernie keeping a careful eye on him.

### CHAPTER 19 – JESSIE TO THE RESCUE

Jessie woke face down on a stone floor, her hands and feet free of the ropes. The stone altar was empty and the metal rings holding her ropes were broken. Feeling tears cold on her cheek made her remember her meeting with her dad. It all seemed like a dream.

' _How did I get out of those ropes?_ ' she looked down at her wrists, and then seeing the papers in her hand, she nearly cried again as she slowly unfolded them seeing her dad's handwriting. "It really happened!" She said aloud; her own voice shocking her, making her look around where she thankfully found the room empty.

' _This is real... all of it'_ the thought made her feel uneasy, if meeting her dad was real, then so was her meeting with that creature, Yellow Teeth and his goons and even the Cheorgh must all be real. ' _Sofie and the crew, they need to be rescued!_ ' that was real too, and their lives depended on her.

Running to the door, she found it locked, and then turned to look for another way out. The room was windowless and with only the one door. The walls were made of large stone bricks and there was no other furniture other than the large stone altar. ' _They're probably waiting outside anyway... to take away my dead body_ ' the thought made her shudder as she hopelessly sat on the floor, not sure what to do next. Then closing her eyes, she tried searching her memories of the ship. She examined hundreds of schematics and floor plans and suddenly jumped to her feet where she paced out 7 steps to the right of the door. Dropping to her knees, not totally sure what she was looking for, she wiped away dust and dirt while closely inspecting each brick. "Bingo" she mumbled seeing a small mark on one. Something in her memories told her the mark meant something, but she couldn't recall exactly what. Looking around, she grabbed one of the broken rings and scraped the mortar from around it. The mortar crumbled away easier than she thought, and in a matter of minutes, the brick came loose. This was all so unreal she thought ' _it was like playing a video game and having all the cheats locked away in your head,'_ and just as she expected, she found a chain inside the opening. She gave it a pull. The large altar-stone behind her silently slid aside, revealing a hidden shaft. "Now we're getting somewhere," she said with satisfaction and as she was about to climb down, she hesitated, then taking one of the broken iron rings she looped it around the door handle to lock it shut and then restored the brick; hiding the chain again.

Finding another chain in the shaft below, she pulled it and the stone slab slid back in place. Working her way through the labyrinth of corridors, ladders and crawl spaces gave her time to think. Her memories of the ship, the schematics, plans and technologies had definitely been given to her by that chair. But the knowledge of the chair itself was hidden from her. She tried recalling memories of before the building of the ship, but it was like looking through a foggy window.

She soon found herself on the same path Yellow Teeth had dragged her where she remembered every place she tripped and fell, every kick and her every step. It seemed that not only had the chair given her new memories but had also sharpened her own.

The control room was just as she left it, and she went right to work easily operating the controls as her mind remembered the circuitry behind the panels. Her ability to see the circuits in colors enhanced those memories.

"There," she said satisfied the mechanics on this side of the ship section were still shut down. As she looked to disable the mechanics on the other side, she thought, ' _I wonder why these systems aren't integrated._ ' Then digging through her new memories, she tried analyzing how the ship's systems were tied together, along with and their computer systems... and was shocked with the realization that the Kan-ji were not _computerized_. There was a main computer at the core of the front ship section handling navigation, storage of ship data and communications, but not many smaller computers. No servers, no laptops; just the equivalent of microprocessors, which were by no means _micro_... that worked in combination with hardwired control systems. "How can a spaceship this big not be controlled with computers?" she shook her head in complete bewilderment. With that knowledge, she now realized she wouldn't be able to find where her friends were by just hacking a local computer, or to be able to shut down the mechanics on the far side of the ship section. She now needed to move fast to find a way to tap into the main computer in order to find her friends and to build that weapon her dad gave her.

A switch underneath one of the consoles opened the entrance door, not by just a crack like before, but fully open, filling the entire chamber with a bright light. Finding nothing but some footprints in the sand, she suddenly remembered something and ran back through the control room, into the hidden chamber to grab the backpack she had left there, in what seemed like ages ago. Once back outside, she made the decision to return to the caves of the Cheorgh, hoping that just maybe they would help her. She jogged all the way without rest, surprised at her stamina and wondered if it might have come from their hike through the ship, but in the end, she just attributed it to her fear and concern for her friends.

The caverns were eerily quiet and after searching the chambers, she found no sign of the Cheorgh. In the room where she had her private talk with Chander, she noticed the markings on the wall were different; these were beautifully etched and seemed almost alive, reminding her of waving grasses glinting in the sunlight with hints of animals or insects moving within. She could almost hear the sound of the winds blowing through the grasses as she cautiously placed her hand on them. A feeling of warmth and contentment spread through her giving her with a sense of being home, or more like, going home.

"No..." she said as the etchings faded along with her feelings, leaving her empty and alone. She tried making the etchings return, but after a while her sense of urgency returned, and she reluctantly pushed on. The rest of the chambers were empty except for a larger one near the cavern entrance. In its center was a large patch of light, brightly colored green grass. It almost seemed the grass itself gave its own light. Thinking it strange, she bent to touch it, and as she did, a tingle ran through her hand and arm. The grass quivered and re-arranged itself, forming into a miniature landscape scene. Kneeling, she watched amazed, wondering what it was trying to show... if anything. She touched the map's center and to her surprise, a jagged line formed on the map from her finger to the map's edge; next to what looked like a lake with many rivers flowing into it.

"Wow, a GPS made out of grass," she thought touching different spots on the map, making new lines with each touch. She soon found that if she touched the corners of the patch, the map could be zoomed in or out, and if she slid her hand across the edges, the focus of the map would move in the direction of her movement.

"If only I remembered where the ship is parked," she tried adjusting the map. "It was near a huge rock with a cave nearby." she zoomed the map back out.

"Whoa..." next to a rock outcropping she actually saw a small silhouette of their ship. Zooming in, she could even make out its markings "ALEC'S DREAM" written on its side. Zooming back out, she touched the area where the ship was and saw the line form to the ship. "A path, just what I needed... thanks Chander." Rummaging in her backpack, she found a notebook and did her best to copy the map.

Stepping outside the cavern, a sinking feeling came to her, she would never be able to find her way through that thick jungle, with or without a map. "I wish Sofie's dad was here, he'd know how to get through this jungle." The thought of him made her think of Sofie, and the crew... they _needed_ her. Without hesitation she plowed ahead to the forest's edge. Luckily, a well-worn path appeared just a few feet in. With a renewed sense of hope she lunged forward into the forest.

Another stream. Like all other crossings, the path always seemed to find a spot where the water was wide and shallow. Resting on a log next to it, she nibbled on one of Chander's fruits, studying her map again in despair. She was angry at herself for not having written down more detail as her drawing didn't show half of the rivers and streams she crossed. She had to admit that she was lost and all she could do is keep following the path. Tossing the rest of the fruit in the woods behind her, she happened to spot another patch of the bright green grass along the border between the river and the woods. Curiously, she knelt next to it and felt the familiar tingle run through her arm as she brushed her hand over its top. She watched as the grass formed into another map. "No wonder the Cheorgh were able to get around so easily," she adjusted the map, locating the ship again and found it only about a hundred yards away. An idea came to her and she recreated the path from the Cheorgh caverns and compared it with her map. They matched. "Why should I be surprised?"

Deciding to try an experiment, she set her backpack at the opening of the path she came from. Returning to the grass patch, she made another path to the ship from where she was while erasing the one to the caves. Walking back to her backpack she found the opening to the path she came from was no longer there! The grass patches were not only maps; they actually manipulated the forest itself! Her knowledge of the ship's systems didn't include any of this; this must be Cheorgh technology and wished she would meet them again one day.

Another idea came to her and she refocused the map. After messing with the adjustments, she found what she was looking for, tiny figures moving through the forest, and they were only halfway to the other side! "How can they still be here? It's only 10 miles across. They should have made it in half a day. I wonder what's going on." If this map was correct, she no longer needed to tap into the main computer to find her friends. As she looked at the map again, she realized that unless they follow one of the generated paths, their trek through the forest would be a nightmare, as she recalled their original walk from the ALEC'S DREAM.

"I wonder..." She drew a line filled with twists and turns from in front of the figures to the wall, hoping they would be enticed by her new path. Watching the figures and as they slowly moved through the forest, she saw them take to her roller coaster path. Satisfied, she grabbed her backpack and jogged the last stretch to the ship.

It didn't take her much more than an hour to convert a couple of mini flashlights and some spare parts from the ship, into two of the weapons her dad drawn up. He called it a Gravity Pulse gun which she could only guess at what it would do. She really didn't understand the circuits, but according to his instructions they needed time to build up a charge, mainly because of the small amount of energy generated by the thin strips of gravity blanket she used for power. As far as she knew, it could take anywhere from a couple of hours, to a day to charge.

Satisfied that the weapons were complete, without actually testing them, she stowed them in her backpack. All she needed now was to find another grass patch to map out her route. Stepping outside, she found it had turned dark then realized she had converted their only two flashlights into weapons. As it turned out, the grass was not as hard to find as she thought, as it seemed to glow a bit in the dark, almost as though it knew she was looking for it. Checking again for the whereabouts of her friends she found that her roundabout path was working, as they were still a good distance from the wall and camped, by the looks of it. Looking back at the ship, she thought again about trying to fly it, but soon gave up the idea... not without help. Turning her attention back to the map, she wondered if there was anything else she could do to stop or hamper their progress and after some thought concluded that her only option was to get to them before it got light... and hope the gravity pulse weapons worked. Once her friends were free, the grass maps would give them the advantage.

With her backpack loaded with food and supplies, she left at a full run down her newly made path, trying to make the ten miles to the camp before dawn.

Less than three hours later she was lying on her belly underneath some bushes surveying the darkened camp. She needed to free her friends who were sleeping on the ground, bound and tied together. Four of the Kan-ji sat on a log next to a fire just a few feet away. Remembering there were at least a dozen of them when they were captured, she wondered where the rest were. Slowly, she backed away, and once out of earshot, took out one of the gravity pulse weapons and started a slow walk around the camp. As she passed the Kan-ji on the log, she tried listening in on their conversation, but they were just sitting in silence staring into the fire. She had counted only eight aliens altogether, four awake and four asleep. Four were missing.

This was her chance. Four guards were sleeping and the other four were not paying attention. If she could just sneak her friends away, she could use the green grass patches to cover their tracks. Rumblings from the four sleeping Kan-ji made her back up underneath the bushes again. "Rats," she said under her breath as she helplessly watched them rummage around for breakfast listening to their complaints about another day of trekking through the wilderness. She had to laugh at that.

Soon, all eight Kan-ji were sitting on logs around the fire. "Perfect" Jessie thought seeing an opportunity to try out her new weapon. Crawling as close as she could, she hid behind a tree. Bracing herself, she aimed the flashlight and pushed its switch; nothing happened. She hoped they would have at least been knocked off the log, or something. But _nothing_ happened. ' _Needs more time to charge,_ ' she guessed in disappointment. ' _Well, I guess I go to plan B,'_ she backed out and quietly worked her way back to her friends who were still sleeping.

Hiding under a bush, she threw a small stone at Sofie, who was closest to her. Though not yet daylight it was still light enough for Sofie to see her. Her eyes widened in surprise and she tried inching closer... as far as her ropes would let her. Jessie crawled out from the security of the bush to meet her.

"Jessie, I'm sorry I trapped you in that room, I didn't know if you'd be able to get out," she whispered. Her face was swollen, but she didn't have any cuts or scrapes, at least on her face. By her smile you couldn't tell she was hurting.

"Sof, if you guys can sneak out, I can make sure they can't catch us," Jessie said as Sofie nodded then jerked on the rope to wake up Jade who was on the other end. Then out of nowhere the rumblings of a jet caught their attention, looking up they saw a flying craft dropping down. ' _So that's where the other Kan-ji went_ ,' Jessie thought as she quickly reached into her backpack grabbing her other flashlight weapon.

"Sofie, this is a weapon. I built it about 4 hours ago and it needs to charge at least 8, maybe more. The other one I built didn't work yet, so if you need to use it before the 8 hours are up, it may not work." Jessie placed it in Sofie's hand where she carefully slipped it in her front pants pocket.

"Oh Jess, it's so good to see you, I don't know what they're planning on doing with us, but they're sure not treating us very nice at all," a tear came down one eye. "Can you get help?"

"I've talked to my dad, help is coming. I'll get you guys out, don't worry," Jessie replied.

Sofie smiled but didn't look very confident. Jade sat up just in time to see Jessie backing into the woods waving goodbye. Before losing sight of them, Jessie saw Jade and Sofie lean together in conversation as the Kan-ji guards walked over from the fire.

From her vantage point in a tree, Jessie watched the aircraft land in the camp's center, right on top of the fire the guards hastily tried putting out. As it was, there was no need for them to douse it since the jets from the aircraft obliterated it; throwing sparks, ash and burning wood over the area. Once its engines shut off, Jessie quickly worked her way back to the camp's edge for a closer look. It pained her to watch as the Kan-ji roughly pushed her friends into the aircraft, especially since Sofie needed Jade's support. Before disappearing inside the craft, she saw Sofie searching the woods for her. Jessie wanted to jump up to tell them everything was going to be OK but forced herself to quietly hold her position. Only four of the Kan-ji entered the small craft with her friends; leaving the other four behind. As the last Kan-ji was about to close the door, Jessie overheard one of them yell over the sound of the jets about someone meeting them at the main interrogation cells in the forward ship section. Jessie almost whooped for joy as her new memories contained at least one interrogation room.

Planning out her new route, she slipped away to find the nearest transportation tube.

#####

"You talked to Jessie?" Leland whispered to Jade and Sofie as they were buffeted about inside the small craft.

"Sofie did, I only saw her crawling back into the woods," Jade replied.

"What did she say? Is she able to get us some help?" Leland continued.

"I asked.... she said she talked to her dad and that she was going to get us out of here," Sofie told them wishing there would have been more time to talk. "She was trying to get us away, she said she could make sure that they couldn't catch us," she eyed their guards sitting on benches on the other side of the ship.

"How," Leland probed, "Did she say how?"

"No but she gave me a flashlight. She said it was a weapon she made. She tried one, but it didn't work, she said it needs about eight hours to charge." Her words gave them some hope.

"Keep it hidden, and don't talk about it," Leland whispered. "We'll need to wait for the right time... patience everyone."

### CHAPTER 20 – JUSTIFICATION

"SURPRISE!"

It made Jodi cry. Not from being happy it was a birthday surprise, but because it was her birthday and Jessie wasn't there.

She had been so busy since she got here, she completely forgot today was her birthday, that is, if today was July 11. She wasn't even sure if it was July. So, if today was July 11, then it's been two weeks since the ALEC'S DREAM took off with Jessie and Sofie on board. Two weeks! How could her baby be on her own, on an alien spaceship!

"Happy birthday Jodi," Alec gave her a cup of punch along with a hug and a kiss. Clay and Dolores poked their heads from behind him also wishing her a happy birthday. The cafeteria was decked out with streamers, balloons, signs, lights, and music along with a table full of presents. She hadn't realized that everyone here cared about her so much. It was touching.

"After over a year of being cooped up in this place, the crew will use any excuse to go all out for a party," Joshua unknowingly burst her bubble. She didn't care. It was still very sweet of everyone. The party lasted into the evening with most of the base personnel coming and going throughout the day. No one here worked normal hours, as they've been working around the clock taking breaks only for meals and sleep... and the occasional party.

That evening in their apartment, Dolores, Clay, Jodi, and Alec shared a bottle of wine, a private gift from Joshua. The party was still going strong, and as they left, Alec thought he saw Joshua pouring some spirits into the punch bowl. Joshua did have a heart.

"Did you see the news?" Dolores pointed to the TV showing one of the cable news channels.

"What, more Kan-ji showing off their wares?" Clay waved his hand in dismissal.

"No, they want to meet with our religious leaders," Dolores's comment got their attention.

"Do you think it's that Loomius character? Jessie said he was some kind of god..."

"Why would they want to talk to a bunch of priests?" Clay asked. Then after thinking about it, he added. "Are they asking just for priests? You said religious leaders, didn't you?"

"I've heard they've asked for the major religions, I looked them up. They're Christian, Muslim, Islam, Hindu, and Buddhism," Dolores replied. "I would think that whoever goes to that meeting will likely not return."

"Alec, what is it?" Jodi asked noticing Alec's worried look.

"Joshua told me that he's been asked by his investors to meet with some authorities. He's leaving tomorrow. Do you think it's with the Kan-ji and those religious leaders?"

"I don't get it," Clay growled. "Why would Joshua have anything to do with meeting them? Something stinks."

"Alec, you're holding back, I know you too well," Jodi said.

He gave her a mocking look of surprise knowing it was impossible to keep anything from her, "Joshua asked me to go along." He had thought that since Jodi and Dolores would already be on their way with Sheldon, there was no need to worry them.

"I won't let you go unless I go along," Clay glared.

"I think Joshua has other plans for you. As a matter of fact, I think he has plans for the entire base." To his surprise, nobody seemed the least bit concerned. "Aren't you guys worried for me?"

Dolores and Jodi gave a sorrowful look. "Oh... you poor baby," Jodi patted Alec's head. "One thing about Joshua is that he'll have a plan, a backup plan... and a backup plan for the backup plan. He won't be putting you in danger for anything," Jodi explained her lack of concern. This time it was Alec who could see right through Dolores and Jodi, see they were worried as hell, but they knew everyone had to do what was needed right now.

"Well happy birthday Jodi, we need to hit the hay. Tomorrow's going to be a big day for all of us." Clay finished off his glass of wine. After giving Jodi a hug, he added. "We'll see you bright and early, if there is such a thing as a bright morning in this dungeon of a military base."

Just as Clay predicted, morning came early. They met in the Cafeteria where there were no remnants left of the party, just the usual handful of residents eating breakfast.

"More coffee?" Clay asked getting up to fill his cup.

Jodi, Alec, and Dolores all held their cups up for a refill. "I'll bring a pot," he said leaving his cup behind.

"Hey guys... sit... I'll get you some cups," he said over his shoulder as Sheldon and Ernie walked in.

"Sorry we couldn't make the party, we had a few last-minute items to pick up... oh, and uh, sorry about the car," Sheldon looked at Alec with a guilty looking grin. His eyes had dark circles under them. So did Ernie's.

"Boy, you guys look beat. Are you sure you're OK to pilot the ship?" Jodi asked looking closely at the newcomers. Sheldon was going to pilot while Ernie would stay at the base monitoring communications and telemetry.

"Sure, we're fine, nothing that a couple of gallons of coffee won't take care of," Sheldon said rather unconvincingly.

"Did you get your items?" Joshua anxiously asked as he entered behind them.

"Yup, we've already loaded the ship," Sheldon replied. Their secret overnight mission provided them with some hi-tech communications equipment Sheldon said would let them listen inside the alien ship. Joshua didn't ask where they got it from, and they didn't tell; which was fine with him.

"Is everything else in place?" Joshua asked Ernie.

"It'll be up by the time you guys leave tomorrow," Ernie said of his new communications center using Alec's new sub-space radios incorporating normal radio and Internet allowing their ships to be 100% online.

After helping Clay hand out the coffee cups, Joshua sat at the head of the lunch table to discuss the final details of their plans. Jodi, Dolores, and Sheldon were going to crew the scout ship; their goal was to gather strategic information and transfer it back to the base. Most importantly, to support any escape attempt by Jessie. There were a dozen support fighters available to be deployed in less than an hour with more ships being readied every day, but for now, twelve were all they could count on.

As for Joshua, he was to travel to Washington with Alec and Fitzsimmons for a secret meeting, that was supposedly set up by the group funding their operations. They weren't going alone; they were to bring a reporter along to document their operations. The plan was for them to travel in three modified shuttles with no escort, at least 'visible' escort. In reality, they would be protected by a small squadron of cloaked and armed fighters. In addition, a scout team of ground vehicles led by Clay would arrive first; consisting of cars and commercial trucks modified similarly to the Plymouth, but more advanced, with weapons, cloaking, and shields.

To their surprise, before they got up to leave, Joshua urged everyone at the table to hold hands as he said a small prayer. By the time he said 'amen', they found that the cafeteria staff and its occupants were standing around them. There wasn't much more to say as they left for the hanger, except to say 'bon voyage'.

"I didn't know you were Christian," Alec said to Joshua. In the short time that they knew Joshua they had never seen any indication that he had any interest in religion. Knowing Jodi, Alec was sure she would have dug that part of Joshua's life out of him by now.

"I didn't know I was either," Joshua replied wondering what came over him. He wasn't raised Christian, his parents were Jewish, and he never practiced himself. He always considered himself an agnostic.

"We haven't named the scout ship you know," Jodi said walking over to them.

"The idea for this mission was Jodi's, it's her, well... animus," Alec said.

"Animus, that's a word I haven't heard much, isn't it like malevolent ill will?" Clay asked.

"Yea, I remember reading a definition saying it also means _the inner masculine part of a female personality,_ " Alec laughed. "Either way it works."

"I like it! ANIMUS it is." Jodi nodded, looking grim as they entered the hanger.

#####

Early the next day, Clay and Alec met Joshua in the hanger. Walking the length of it for the first time, Clay stopped and stared. "Wow, I've seen the numbers on spreadsheets, but when you actually see the vehicles in person it's impressive. It's hard to believe you were able to convert so many in such a short time," Clay said of the row after row of converted craft.

"You know we started preparing soon after our first encounter at your Gravity Expo," Joshua answered. "It all would have been for naught if it hadn't been for you two."

Reaching the back of the hanger, they found rows of parked cars and trucks. Thirty team members were being assigned their vehicles. Clay's partner Wilfred, looking not much older than a kid, was checking off his clipboard as the teams loaded up their cars and trucks.

"See you in a couple of days," Alec said to Clay as Wilfred grabbed Clays pack and carried it to their brown and tan SUV.

"Be careful, I don't feel good about any of this. If I'm right, and it's you the Kan-ji want... well... when... or if they start giving you trouble, just run. I'll have your back." Clay had tried to dissuade Alec from going on this trip more than once over the past 24 hours, but Alec felt that if these were the Kan-ji that were holding their kids, maybe he could get some information on them. Or maybe even try to negotiate getting them back, even if that meant trading himself.

Clay was the last one to enter his vehicle, and a moment later Alec watched the eerie sight of fifteen cars and trucks silently drift through an opening in the roof where they disappeared. Alec smiled in approval of his technical team, as they had improved the cloaking so it could now be used in direct daylight without that wavy, flickering smudge effect of his original design.

"Now it's our turn," Joshua said to Alec.

### CHAPTER 21 – THE REPORTER

Carl Dominic stood at the end of a dead-end dirt road somewhere in the middle of a desert, staring at a sign with a large red 'X' painted on it. It was midday and hot, and the surrounding desert was scattered with scrub-brush. In the distance he could see mountains that looked like large dark pimples scattered about the flat desert; late afternoon storm clouds were forming around their tops. Behind him his parked van was still running, and in it, sat his cameraman, peeved at being dragged on this wild goose chase of an assignment.

His being here had started with a meeting with his boss who gave him directions to this very spot. There were no other instructions other than someone would meet him here. That was all he knew. When he pressed for more information, he was simply told ' _to get his butt out there'_. With all the excitement about the arrival of the Kan-ji, the last thing he wanted, was to be sent to the middle of the desert where he would most likely meet with some crazy who's spent his life studying sand. Strange though, how his boss didn't seem very happy about it. His boss hated him and normally would be beaming with joy at sending Carl out on a dead-end assignment. The instructions didn't include the exact time he was to meet his contact, so he settled back into the air-conditioned van to wait.

It was dark when Carl woke with a knock on the side window. He could barely see the shadowy figure standing outside the van. "Kan-ji?" he mumbled wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Ravi, wake up!"

"Wha... What's going on?"

"We have a visitor. I think it's a Kan-ji," Ravi sat straight up eying their visitor outside Carl's window.

"Doesn't look like a Kan-ji to me," he pointed out front to a team of armed uniformed men. Light began pouring from an opening garage door.

"Military! We're on military property! We were sent to a military base? I wouldn't put it past Jamie to set us up like this," Carl moaned. Jamie Fann was his boss and the assignment editor for one of the lowest-rated cable news channels.

"They don't look very threatening," Ravi saw that the soldiers weren't paying them any attention. There was another knock on the window. Carl opened it to a smiling, black haired, olive skinned man. "Hi, I'm Joshua Wells. You must be the reporters we've been expecting."

"Ah... hullo, Carl Dominic and this is Ravi Vilrashna. What's this all about?" Carl started opening his door, but Joshua held it shut.

"Please, I need you to park your van in the back of that transport first," Joshua pointed to the now opened garage door. Carl saw it was really the back end of a large transport helicopter. He wondered how such an oversized helicopter could have landed this close to them without the turbulence that usually goes along with it. Maybe it had been somehow hidden in the flat, scrub-covered desert, but he seriously doubted it and made a mental note to ask this Joshua character about it.

He drove up the ramp, guided by a man in a gray jumpsuit. The opening was easily large enough to handle his van. By the time he shut off the engine, more soldiers showed up securing the van with straps. This time he stepped out without any resistance, heck they didn't even pay him any attention. Ravi climbed into the back to gather his camera gear.

Joshua met him outside. "Where's your partner?"

"He's getting his gear together," Carl replied as he noticed more armed men guarding the perimeter. Joshua called one of them over and said a few words. The guard then jogged up to the van. Carl looked questioningly at him.

"Your van won't be coming with us. We'll help your cameraman... Ravi, bring whatever equipment you need," Joshua told him.

Carl waited, and while Joshua talked into his headset, he had a chance to survey the scene. It was a moonless night, with the only light coming from the open door of the cargo helicopter. Besides the helicopter, there were three boxy vehicles spaced around the area. If Carl didn't know better, he would have thought they looked like snowcats, but instead of tracks, they sat on makeshift helicopter skids. Beyond the perimeter, he could see a small lit area on the other side of the transport. It was difficult to determine its distance in the dark desert night.

Ravi trotted down the ramp with his camera on his shoulder followed by the soldier carrying his equipment bags. The cargo ramp began closing the moment they stepped off.

"Gentlemen, I'm sorry for all this secrecy, but we are not very popular right now," Joshua said as Ravi joined them. A bluish flash lit the landscape beyond the helicopter. It was followed a few seconds later by a crackling sound, like the sound of lightning. Joshua quickly turned in that direction, then saying a few words in his headset, he turned back to them. "We'll have to talk later, follow me," he rushed them to one of the boxy looking vehicles.

Carl looked at Ravi, who smiled back, this wasn't turning out to be the boring assignment they were dreading, and they hustled after Joshua as more blue crackling flashes blossomed in the distance.

Joshua held the door open for them to climb in. Carl counted six chairs facing forward like a private jet, except the seating areas were much more generous. Two of the seats were already occupied by men straining to see what was happening outside. The soldier carrying Ravi's bags dropped the bags at the back before climbing forward to sit next to the driver. Joshua closed the door, securing it from the outside; obviously not joining them.

Ravi sat in the back; a good spot to film. Carl took a seat in front of the passengers and soon discovered why their vehicle was on helicopter skids as it silently lifted. Looking out the window, he saw the transport helicopter and the other boxy transports ascend with them. Not finding a seat belt he reflexively held tight, and after a few moments of no sensation of movement, and seeing his two new companions sitting rather casually, he relaxed. His fellow travelers looked different as night and day; one wore jeans and a light pullover shirt who grinned back at him, while the other had a sour look on his sweaty face and wore an expensive suit that struggled to cover his round frame.

Turning his attention back to the windows, he saw that the shadowy shapes of the other two vehicles were still floating next to them in the darkness. They didn't seem to have any apparent means of propulsion and it was eerily silent. Suddenly, one of the vehicles just disappeared. Carl blinked, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him in the darkness. When he looked again, the rest of them were also gone. He looked back at Ravi to see if he saw the same thing, but he was busy rummaging through his equipment bags. Outside, there was now nothing but starry sky.

"Hi, I'm Alec McCoughe and this is Jack Fitzsimmons, you must be the reporters we've been expecting," Alec broke the silence. Carl looked from the window to see Alec standing next to him with his hand extended. Shaking it, he stood then turned and reached over the seat to shake hands with Fitzsimmons, who just gave him a blank stare. Carl self-consciously pulled back his hand and then looked at Alec, who just shrugged.

"I'm Carl Dominic, this is Ravi Vilrashna," Carl introduced as Ravi pulled his head out from his equipment bag and waved.

"What happened out there? What were those flashes?" Alec asked.

"It looked like lightning, but blue, and not coming from the sky. I noticed there was some sort of camp out there. I hope no one was hurt," Carl said.

Alec smiled, almost in relief. "We just came from there. Joshua set up a dummy camp. He dumped some empty hulls of planes and trucks along with some solar lights. Looks like that decoy camp saved our butts."

"OK, so how did you come by this Kan-ji technology?" Carl realized that this had to be the same organization that made that mess in D.C. a few days ago, and Joshua must be their ringleader.

Alec looked hurt. "This isn't Kan-ji technology, this is our technology. Have you ever heard of a company called GraviTych?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't say that I have," Carl searched his memory, and he prided himself on his memory. "So, what kind of technology is this?"

"You could call it anti-gravity. At least it works like anti-gravity, but in reality, it's more like a gravity jet."

Carl stared at him, anti-gravity? That was far-fetched. He would have heard of somebody inventing it, heck the whole world would have heard of it; if it was real. But something wasn't right. "If this is really anti-gravity, why hasn't this been all over the news?"

Alec acted like he was punched in the gut, his reaction taking Carl by surprise. Alec then told him about his invention, GraviTych, the girls, the Kan-ji and the events leading up to now. Carl took notes, asking questions while Ravi recorded it all. After the impromptu interview, Carl turned to Fitzsimmons. "What about you?" he asked Alec's silent partner. "Alec said your name was Jack Fitzsimmons, you wouldn't be the Secretary of Commerce Fitzsimmons, would you?"

Fitzsimmons looked up from staring at the floor. "Yes, that's me. There's really nothing more for me to add." He went back to staring at the floor, his hands twitching.

"Well, I'm going to try to get some shut-eye. Our plans don't call for us stopping at any motels on the way and it's going to be a long day tomorrow." Alec broke the awkwardness of the moment as he returned to his seat.

Carl didn't mind, it was obvious he wasn't going to get much from Fitzsimmons. Anyway, he was tired and the bags under Alec's eyes reminded him they were all tired. Looking down at his seat, he dreaded another night sleeping in a car seat, or plane seat; that was until he saw Alec reclining to a vertical position.

"I must say, Joshua thought of just about everything... he said they salvaged these chairs from the first-class cabin of a passenger jet they were refurbishing," Alec told him before shutting his eyes.

Carl wasn't ready to sleep just yet. His mind raced. How could anti-gravity be invented, yet no one on Earth cared about it? And how is it that the Kan-ji didn't have anti-gravity themselves, yet be on all the TV and radio stations touting their wares while telling everyone on Earth how much more advanced the world would be once the trade agreements were signed? What about that blue lightning show? Somebody was definitely out to kill them. Those weren't fireworks he saw. And how were they just able to fly away without those attackers seeing them? He looked around the cabin to see Ravi and Alec sound asleep. He couldn't tell if Fitzsimmons was sleeping or not. Fitzsimmons reminded Carl of one of those people who slept with their eyes open and he definitely didn't like his look. He finally drifted off to sleep with thoughts of angelic looking pirates shilling flying cars on TV.

Carl woke with Ravi shaking his shoulder. Looking up, he saw the door open with Joshua standing just outside.

"Good morning Mr. Dominic," Joshua smiled holding out a Styrofoam cup. "You drink coffee?"

Stepping outside, Carl gratefully accepted the cup. Taking a sip, he looked around to find they were parked in the woods, at a campsite.

"I'm sorry for not having more time to talk with you last night, but we had some unwelcome visitors, and a quick exit was in order. I changed our plans so we could spend some time to talk this morning, before our upcoming meeting" Joshua told him as they walked to some folding chairs surrounding a campfire. "Please sit, you too Mr. Vilrashna." Carl was amazed that Joshua remembered Ravi's last name, heck, it took him almost a year to get it right.

"You didn't happen to tell anyone where you were going yesterday, did you?" Joshua asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Carl looked at Ravi then they both shook their heads.

"I sent the instructions directly to your station... to a Mr. Fann. Is that name familiar to you?" Joshua asked.

They nodded.

"Now I know why you got this assignment," Ravi said to Carl. "I always knew Fann hated you, I just didn't realize how much. Oh, and by the way, thanks for bringing me along."

Carl grinned. He and Ravi had been a team for five years now, going from station to station, and he knew Ravi wouldn't have missed this for the world.

"Who attacked us, the military?" Carl asked.

Joshua shook his head. "I'm not sure. It wasn't our armed forces. But those blue lightning flashes were definitely Kan-ji. From what I know about them, those came from their side-arms; that meant it was a ground attack. What I know of the Kan-ji is... is that they don't fool around. They would have attacked with full force... probably an air attack. That leaves Mr. Fitzsimmons' people. What do you say to that Jack?" He looked at Fitzsimmons who was leaning against the transport with his arms crossed.

"I've been locked up in your compound for the past couple of days."

Carl could hear the irritation in Fitzsimmons' voice.

"I'm not accusing you. I was just wondering if you might know if anyone in your organization would have the wherewithal to plan such an attack."

"If that's what you're asking. Of course, there is, and I sure wouldn't put it past them." Fitzsimmons replied as he moseyed over to the fire to sit in one of the empty chairs.

"Do you know of this Jamie Fann?" Joshua asked Fitzsimmons.

"No, not personally; the truth is that we have agents, or at least people, embedded in just about every TV and radio station."

Carl looked at Ravi making sure he was getting this recorded.

"Who do they report to?" Joshua prodded.

"That would be the Office of Technology Stabilization. Elizabeth Savage is in charge. Her number one man is Jeffery Lewis. Alec, I believe you've met him." Fitzsimmons looked at Alec, who had just joined them.

"You wouldn't be talking about that Creep? The same guy who tried to kill Sheldon and capture my wife?" Alec said coldly.

"I had nothing to do with that," Fitzsimmons defended. "As far as I'm concerned, he went rogue. When I heard about it, I tried stopping him... that's when I found out things were no longer under my control."

"Why would they attack us?" Joshua asked.

"I wouldn't know," Fitzsimmons grabbed a cup of coffee, since no one offered him one, before walking away; apparently losing interest in their conversation.

"I baited the other campsite with a transmitter. I've had a theory about the Kan-ji abilities to track radio signals. Remember that they weren't able to find the ALEC'S DREAM, that is until we were in radio contact with them."

"Interesting, so you think they've been tracking us by RF transmission?" Alec asked.

"If so, how come they're not tracking us now?" Carl looked at the headset on Joshua's head.

Joshua smiled, "It's another little invention by Alec." Carl saw Alec blush. "It's called sub-space communications. Alec would have to tell you how it works. Technically, it's all beyond me, but whatever it's made of, gives us an unlimited range of communication without radio waves."

Curious, Carl thought, Wouldn't the Kan-ji have been advertising this sub-space communications? Maybe these guys are for real.

"I want to let you know what our plans are. The five of us will fly in on a single transport, while the other two transports will follow us in. Of course, they'll be cloaked." Joshua was interrupted by Carl spitting out his coffee.

"Cloaked? You mean like radar cloaked?" He didn't want to believe what he was thinking, as he recalled seeing the ships disappear the previous night.

Joshua called over one of the pilots, and after a brief discussion the pilot entered a transport, and a moment later it practically disappeared. Carl could still see a faint distortion, sort of like heat waves, where the transport once was; and was at a total loss for words. Ravi was up and filming the area where the transport vanished and when it suddenly re-appeared, Ravi practically fell on his back in surprise.

"As you may have guessed, Alec has amazed us beyond our expectations."

Alec blushed and they began their adventure.

#####

It was almost noon when their transport approached the convention center, where the meeting was to be held. To Carl's surprise, a small crowd was gathered about its entrance.

"I thought this was supposed to be a secret meeting," Alec mumbled to Joshua.

"I was under that impression. It shows we need to be on our guard. Expect anything," Joshua warned.

Carl watched the crowd separate as their transport glided to a parking spot next to the covered carport. They were besieged upon with microphones and questions as soon as they stepped out. _Reporters_! _Why would they invite reporters along with me?_ he thought. _Perhaps they wanted an embedded reporter? But why not tell me?_ There was a lot more going on than he thought. What surprised him was the venom of the questions, or accusations; accusations of being enemies of the Kan-ji, of stealing their technology and using it against them. Joshua led the way, pushing through the crowd where they were let into the lobby. Security guards locked the doors behind them. Carl looked back to see their transport quietly lifting away.

"Gentlemen, my name is Elizabeth Savage, I'll be your host for this meeting," said a middle-aged lady with gray streaks in her hair. Her eyes fell on Fitzsimmons. "Jack, I was wondering where you went," she said coldly. Turning to the rest of the team she added, "Is there anything I can get you? Do you have any questions?"

"Are those the religious leaders the kanji asked for?" Alec looked at five men standing together at the far end of the lobby.

"Yes, they will also be joining the meeting. Would you like me to introduce you?"

"I'd like to talk with them." Joshua stepped forward. Elizabeth led him by her arm leaving Alec, Fitzsimmons, Carl and Ravi to themselves.

"Did you hear about the priest and the Rabbi walking down the street?" Alec started with a grin.

Carl looked at Alec, "Huh?"

"A mugger approaches them and demands their money," Alec continued.

Carl stared at him as he noticed Ravi filming.

"They both pull out their wallets and begin taking out their cash. Just then the rabbi turns to the priest and hands him a 20-dollar bill and says, 'here's the 20 bucks I owe you." Alec always laughed at his own jokes.

To Carl's relief, a commotion at the door kept Alec from telling another. "Ravi, let's check it out."

As they neared the main entrance doors, the light outside dimmed and a rumbling like thunder permeated the building. "I didn't notice any storm clouds on the way, did you?" Ravi asked, pushing open the front door with his camera still on his shoulder.

"That doesn't look like storm clouds," Carl said as they were buffeted by swirling winds and dust, "and there's no rain." Stepping out from under the carport, he looked up to find it wasn't a storm, but a ship of gigantic proportions, at least the bottom of a giant ship. He could see it was round, but it was difficult to make out any details because of the brilliant white flames spewing from it.

"I bet you're wondering what you got yourself into... hey Carl?" Joshua yelled from beside him.

"Not really, I was just thinking that I won't have to work for Fann anymore." He watched the monstrous sized disk slow. Its five rockets, one in the center and the other four spaced around its perimeter, were deafeningly loud even at its distance.

"What's feeding those engines? That ship must be half filled with fuel." Carl overheard Alec asking Joshua over the roar as he turned his attention to the rockets. They weren't much more than holes in the ship bordered by white rings with white-hot flames spewing from them.

"If they were jets, they would need an intake, possibly from above?" Carl could barely hear Alec, so he stepped closer.

"There's no intakes top side," Joshua yelled back his answer. Carl wondered how he would know then realized his headset must be in contact with those cloaked ships.

"Right, must be rockets. I wonder where their fuel is coming from," Alec wondered.

"How big do you think that ship is?" Fitzsimmons shouted as he walked up behind them with Elizabeth. Both were shading their eyes against the blinding white light of the rocket flames.

Putting his hand to his ear, Joshua talked into his headset. "It's about a half mile across."

"What's it doing?" Fitzsimmons pointed.

"Ravi, what do you see?" Carl asked Ravi, who used the camera's zoom to get a better look.

"There are some smaller ships leaving from underneath," Ravi answered. "Wait, there're more, I don't know where they came from. They look like fighters."

As they got closer, Carl could see three bus-shaped ships flying in their direction, escorted by a dozen nasty looking fighters; all with rockets blazing. The giant ship remained hovering in position.

"Looks like our guest of honor," Joshua said. The crowd dispersing as the rocket flares from the three bus-sized ships hit the parking lot spreading flames and dust.

A dozen armed and brightly dressed Kan-ji came out of two of the transports making a path between the center ship and the hotel entrance. Each guard wore different colored clothes; puffy shirts, pantaloons, and gaudy hats; some with feathers, some without. One thing they all had in common was the deadly looking curved swords and large pistols at their sides.

"Hey, look there," Carl grabbed Ravi's shoulder pointing him and his camera towards the park surrounding the convention center where the fighter jets were landing Harrier style. Dozens more flew slowly in circles above them.

"Those are the swords that shoot bolts of lightning," Alec mentioned. "Sheldon said one of those almost put our car out of commission."

As the last of the guards settled into position, five more Kan-ji exited the transport; two in front, two in back, one in the center. The four guards were dressed similarly, while the taller, golden-haired Kan-ji in the center wore a black, floor-length robe which he held tightly around him.

#####

It was late in the day. The meeting was delayed as M'bron had an affinity for the cameras. The crowd of reporters and cameramen had grown once the Kan-ji ships landed. Carl and Ravi stood to the side when the hotel staff opened up the lobby to the reporters. M'bron was an impressive figure, over six and a half feet tall and handsome; though some would say he was pretty. When he spoke, he was elegant, as though educated at one of Earth's finest universities. His voice was clear with a sing-songy quality.

He mesmerized the audience with his witty interviews and spun tales of swashbuckling adventures searching the galaxy for opportunities. He finished with a story of finding Earth, of all its wonders and trading possibilities while making a special point of mentioning the unprovoked attacks from a renegade Earth organization. Even though Carl knew better, he himself felt sad for the Kan-ji; actually felt sorry for them, even a little angry and disgusted with Joshua's team. ' _Wow, this guy's good,_ ' he thought as they exited for their meeting.

The conference room was smartly decorated, and its large table only half filled it. Elizabeth Savage sat at its head and M'bron sat across from her at the other end. The 5 religious' leaders, Cardinal Nolton, Rabbi Levy, Senior Cleric Abdullah, Maharishi Jamar and a Buddhist monk called Sivathinsorn sat across from Joshua, Alec and Fitzsimmons. Two Kan-ji guards stood behind M'bron while the other two guarded the door. Carl and Ravi were allowed to move about freely to record the meeting.

M'bron was clearly in charge. He began by addressing the religious leaders. "I asked for you because one of my interests is religions. I have been to dozens of worlds and have studied many of their religions. Unlike most other planets, yours has a wide variety of them that I find very fascinating. M'bron paused as he studied them. "Tell me about this Adam and Eve."

Rabbi Levy was the first to reply. "They were created by God in His image."

"Where?" M'bron prompted him.

"In the garden of Eden," Cardinal Nolton said opening his Bible.

"Interesting... just who is your God? What does He represent?"

"He is 'The One' and has gone by many names," Levy responded.

"Some of the names are Elohim, Jehovah, or Yahweh," added Nolton.

"So how does your God communicate to you?" M'bron continued his questioning. Carl noticed that the other leaders were being ignored. Glancing at Joshua, he saw him giving Alec a confused look. Why, in such an important meeting would this M'bron be discussing religion?

"Through prayer or through the Holy Spirit," replied Nolton.

Rabbi Levy added, "at times Angels are sent as messengers."

The hairs on the back of Carl's neck stood up. _Angels_! M'bron... the Kan-ji... they look like angels, at least what he thought angels should look like.

"Ravi... get close-ups of the Kan-ji faces, even the guards," Carl whispered. Ravi furrowed his brows and slowly moved around the table shooting everyone, along with the four guards.

Carl sat in one of the spare chairs set against the wall, away from the table. ' _Those outfits they're wearing, almost carnival-like, maybe even like clowns. Their clothes take away from their outward appearances, almost like they're hiding their real appearance with those distracting outfits._ ' Carl shook his head almost in disbelief. ' _Am I nuts? What do Angels and all this religious mumbo jumbo have to do with these aliens?_ '

"I am sorry for boring everyone else here, but I would very much like to hear more. Would I be imposing if I asked you to be my guests on our ship?" M'bron asked the leaders.

"I would be much honored," said Cleric Abdullah, who has been mostly ignored. The other leaders all nodded in agreement. Carl noticed a look of concern on Alec's and Joshua's faces. Alec leaned over to whisper to Joshua with Joshua shaking his head in response. M'bron then gave a signal to one of the guards at the door who saluted and led the smiling religious leaders out.

M'bron now turned his attention to Alec and Joshua. "So, which one of you is the inventor of this technology I've been hearing about?" M'bron locked eyes with Alec. Carl swore he saw a tinge of anger in his face, on second thought, more like pure hatred.

"That would be me and my daughter, Jessie... maybe you know her?" The look on Alec equaled M'bron's.

"How would I know your daughter?" M'bron was clearly taken off guard.

"Maybe these names would jog your memory, Sofie? Leland? Jade? Phyllis?" Alec began to stand. Joshua gently grabbed his arm.

"I didn't come here to be in conflict with you. I am very sorry if you cannot find your daughter and your friends. Let me assure you that I know nothing about them or their plight," M'bron returned to his agenda. "I would like to know more about this new technology of yours. We have much to offer in trade."

"You know what I would trade for..." Alec started as Joshua held him back again.

"I don't believe we have anything to offer you," Joshua interrupted Alec, to Alec's obvious ire.

M'bron got up and walked to the window where he watched the religious leaders being led to one of the ships. Turning to one of his guards standing behind his chair, he nodded, and the guard casually unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Fitzsimmons. Without warning, a lightning bolt shot out of it, hitting Fitzsimmons square in his chest. With a look of surprise, Fitzsimmons flew back out of his chair, hitting the wall behind him where he collapsed dead. Joshua reflexively put himself between the guard and Alec. Elizabeth looked startled, but not shocked as she settled back in her chair. Carl could feel the statically charged air as his hairs stood on end. All the while Ravi quietly kept filming.

"I believe you do Mr. Wells; he is sitting next to you. Now, I think our meeting is over. You will come with us."

The door opened and four more brightly dressed guards walked in seeming to catch M'bron by surprise. They were followed by a woman and another Kan-ji dressed in black, similar to M'bron.

"Olivia?" Alec looked at the woman.

"Hello Alec," Carl saw the woman look coldly at Alec. Alec stood, his mouth hanging open.

"Donel, what is the meaning of this?" M'bron confronted him.

Carl watched in fascination as this was definitely not part of M'bron's plan. He moved next to Ravi, who continued filming.

Carl and the rest of the humans in the room watched the new Kan-ji in black talk with M'bron in their native language. It was difficult for Carl to tell the differences in their voices; they sounded so much alike.

" _M'bron, you seem to have underestimated my talents,_ " Lieutenant Donel said, no longer afraid of his commander.

" _Lieutenant, you have gone too far."_ M'bron's voice lowered an octave.

Carl thought M'bron growled as he saw him give a hand signal to his guards. He felt the tension as M'bron's guards stood motionless, ignoring him. At a nod from Donel, the guards all moved to stand next to him and the woman Olivia.

M'bron's face turned red and he was visibly shaking, and he reached for his sword. Before he could pull it from the scabbard, Donel stepped back and pulled out his ornately carved gun and fired. The blast was deafening as a fireball erupted from its barrel, quickly expanding until it was the size of a softball, and as it struck M'bron it threw him backwards leaving blood welling from a fist sized hole in his chest.

Olivia calmly turned to Alec, "Alec, I've been wondering where you ended up."

"I... I... don't get it. You've been with us the entire time. What do you need from me? You had access to everything," Alec looked confused.

"So, what if I have a box full of your blankets. I needed your plans. Your partner was the only one who knew the keys to manufacturing," Olivia said calmly.

Alec shook his head, and then looked up at her as though he had a revelation. "Jessie in the storeroom, that weird hole during our test flight and the helicopter exploding... that was you," he accused.

If it wasn't for that bumbling idiot Eugene..." Olivia started to say until she had her own look of revelation. "Eugene? It was him!"

Carl looked back to Alec, who also looked confused. "Eugene?" Alec looked at Joshua, who just shrugged with his own lack of non-understanding.

Olivia quickly got herself, under control. "It doesn't matter now. We now have both you and Jessie."

"Jessie! You have Jessie. Is she OK?" Alec stood. Joshua tried holding him back, but Alec shook free.

"With this man and his daughter, we own his technology. We need nothing more," she smiled at Donel. Carl noticed him watching, no, studying their conversation. The new Kan-ji leader then turned and talked to his guards in his sing-songy language. One of them left and the other two pointed their sabers at Alec and Joshua.

Just as Carl thought he and Ravi were going to be let go, one of the guards pointed his sword menacingly at him and barked something. He then pointed at Ravi, who took the hint and lowered his camera.

"You'll be coming with us," Olivia told them.

"You have me, let Jessie go. You've been like a second mother to her. She loved you." Alec pleaded.

His comment seemed to shake her. "We'll have to renew our relationship once we corral her."

"What? You don't have her? You can't find her," Alec's demeanor improved.

"We may not, but Captain Donel has his men scouring the ship. It will only be a matter of time. She has nowhere to go and we will soon we will have her, the crew and your ship," she turned ready to leave.

"That means you don't have the Doppelganger," Joshua's eyes widened at her slip.

"Of course not, you've..." said Elizabeth, who had been sitting quietly the entire time, and by the look on her face, she was wishing she would have remained silent.

Donel stepped in, "Enough has been said. But in return, we have learned much. What information they may have gleaned will not matter." He gave Olivia a small bow and stuck out his elbow for her to take. Grabbing hold of it, they walked out the door.

Alec, Joshua, Carl and Ravi were ushered out after them, leaving Elizabeth behind to clean up the mess. They were taken to one of the two remaining transport ships. The news crews had cleared a path for them and to Carl's surprise; he heard them cheer at their detainment.

' _I can understand why we're considered the bad guys,_ ' Carl thought remembering how he felt after hearing M'bron's stories. He looked over at Ravi, who gave him a thin smile while glancing downward at his camera. Carl looked and saw it was still running.

The inside of the transport was darkly elegant; ornately decorated with carved wooden chairs and silk trim. It reminded Carl of one of those old-time private train cars. The ride was rough and like Joshua's transport, it didn't have seat belts, but unlike Joshua's transports, they were needed. The powerful rocket engines tossed and jerked the ship with each maneuver. Fortunately, the ride lasted only a few minutes and ended with them rising into an opening in the bottom of the giant ship.

They were met by a small squadron of guards. Carl first thought it was for them, but it just turned out to be an honor guard for their new Captain Donel. After some pomp and circumstance, Donel and Olivia were escorted away, leaving them alone with a small contingent of not-so-angel looking guards with blue strings of lightning dancing over their swords. One of the guards touched Alec with one, causing him to crumple to the floor. Joshua stepped up to push the guard away and got the same treatment. Carl and Ravi raised their hands and stepped back while Alec and Joshua helped each other back to their feet.

"That was like getting tasered," Alec shook his arm trying to get feeling back.

One of the guards growled at him and pointed to the far end of the football field-sized hanger deck filled with dozens of parked ships of all sizes and shapes.

Alec and Joshua needed to lean on each other to keep ahead of the prodding electric swords. They followed a yellow lined path that tracked along the hanger's wall; their footsteps echoing on the metal deck.

"Eugene?" Alec said under his breath as another Kan-ji guard walked up from between two large ships.

Their guards barked at them and they stopped. The new Kan-ji guard walked past Alec and Joshua and began a conversation with their guards.

"Hey, meatheads," Carl heard another voice come from behind them. He turned and saw a human, well built, semi-curly hair and dressed in some coveralls waving at them. The guards turned and raised their swords. Everything then happened at once; Alec pushed Joshua back against the wall and following his lead, Carl did the same with Ravi. And just in time as the new guard turned on the other four with a speed he had never seen before. He first disarmed the two nearest to him and by the time the other human reached them, the last two guards were on the ground, disarmed and unconscious.

"Clay!" Alec hugged the curly haired newcomer.

"It's good to see, you... but how?" Joshua shook his hand.

"It's all thanks to Eugene," Clay turned to Eugene as he returned from hiding the unconscious guard's underneath one of the large parked transports.

"Hi Meester Matteeson," Eugene grinned at them. "I worree you in trouble."

"We ran into Eugene yesterday before you got here. He told us what their intentions were and was adamant about making sure you were safe." Clay slapped Eugene on the back.

"We owe you so much, but just who are you?" Alec asked Eugene. "Olivia... she had some kind of revelation about you."

Carl now realized that this must be the 'Eugene' that woman, Olivia, mentioned... and whatever she figured out about him was definitely an underestimation.

"I am Kan-ji," Eugene admitted the obvious. "I... my friends believe... we believe what you believe."

"What?" Alec asked.

"We need to get out of here. We can talk later," Clay interrupted. "The ship's waiting."

Joshua stepped to the side, putting his headset on. Carl was amazed at the arrogance of these Kan-ji... as they didn't even search them for weapons or communications.

"Ship... where?"

Clay answered Alec's question by pointing to an empty corner at the far side of the hanger.

"Oh."

They followed Eugene and as they neared the wall, the cloaked transports door opened, eerily exposing the ships inside.

"Stan!" Alec's exclamation startled Carl. An unkempt gray-haired man floated out of the shuttle's open door.

"What the heck?" Alec said.

Carl no longer thought much of seeing a flying man after being exposed to all of Alec's gadgets over the past twenty-four hours. As Stan touched down, he noticed the shimmering of the cloaking field under his feet and as he reached forward the shimmering was replaced by a small elegantly carved wooden platform.

"Cloaked," Alec walked up to it examining its controls.

"Yup," Stan grinned as he stepped off. "Eugene wanted me to make a couple of tweaks to the platform. I added the cloaking."

Carl felt Joshua grab his arm. "Come on, he led him and Ravi into the ship. Carl sat in the first row, so he could still see and hear Alec's conversation with Stan.

"Nice," Alec was telling Stan. Then as though realizing what Stan had meant, he looked at Eugene. "You're not coming back with us?"

"No, I go back to Seeker sheep," Eugene said. "I find Sofie... and Jessie"

Alec thought a second, "Then I'll go with you."

"No, you must go back. It not safe for you, I cannot protect you there," Eugene said.

Alec stood silent for a moment, then nodded and grabbed Eugene's hand. "Then come back when you find them. You'll always be welcome with us."

### CHAPTER 22 – THE FIRST SHIP SECTION

Jessie woke up in the ALEC'S DREAM. Her immediate reaction after seeing her friends being taken away had been running to the transport tubes and chase after them. But soon after reaching them, it occurred to her that she didn't have any idea of what she would do once she found them. Needing a place to think and plan, she returned to the ship where she fell asleep in Leland's pilot chair, exhausted.

Time had no meaning on the Kan-ji ship as the days and nights were artificial. She had no idea how long she had slept; it was light when she returned to the ship and it was still light. She may have slept only a few hours or a few days. Coffee, she wanted coffee. Funny, she had never even tried coffee before. But now for some odd reason, she needed it. It wasn't long before she was sitting alone in the galley enjoying the aroma rising from her cup.

While picking at a breakfast bar, her attention drifted to the greenish symbols surrounding her wrist and hand. " _What are these?_ " she wondered rubbing them. " _Really, they're not that bad looking, if they were just a different color... like blue._ " To her surprise the symbols turned a light blue, the same color she pictured. " _Huh_? _What about red?_ " Thinking of bright cherry red, the symbols changed to match.

"Go away!" she said aloud concentrating on the words, thinking she could make them disappear, but they remained red. "Fade away! Disappear!" she tried... still nothing. "Turn the color of my skin." They stayed red. " _Get brighter._ " she thought. The red symbols glowed intensely. " _Fade back._ " They returned to normal. " _They must mean something... they must be there for a reason."_ Her mood went black, so did the symbols.

Thinking of her friends, she closed her eyes to search through her new memories for the ships plans. Concentrating on the front ship section, she was soon flying through its many compartments, levels, rooms, and corridors until finally finding the interrogation area. She found it in the section's middle levels; halfway between the core and the outer edge. Satisfied that was where her friends were being taken, she began working on her plan. Not only would she need to rescue them, she needed to find a way out of this seeker ship after they were freed. That meant finding a way to get the ALEC'S DREAM to the rear ship section. She played her plan over and over in her mind until she couldn't concentrate anymore.

Getting up for another cup, all she could think of was that she was just a little girl, all alone in a giant alien spaceship, needing to outsmart a ship full of aliens and to rescue her friends. Still, she kept at it, her plan seemed simple enough but in the light of day, it just seemed so overwhelming.

The silence was broken by a voice from the ship's radio. She recognized it immediately, "Mom?" She ran to the navigation console.

"Mom!" she hollered frantically adjusting the controls.

"Don't transmit Jessie, they can find you if you transmit honey, just listen." her mom's voice was heaven sent.

Jessie wanted to talk to her so badly. With incredible effort, she took her hand away from the controls. "I love you mom," Jessie said as she flipped the transmitter on before pulling her hand away.

"I love you too. I can't talk long either. We're here where you told dad we should be." Jodi's voice quavered. "I want to know if everything is OK, but just hearing from you says a lot. Remember we'll be here when you need us. This is mom, out for now." The radio went dead. Whistling, she hopped back into the pilot's chair and powered up the console. "I thought I wasn't going to feel sorry for myself anymore!"

Refreshed and ready, she began her mission. Her biggest problem was how to get the ALEC'S DREAM out of the Kan-ji ship. They could try returning the way they came, now that she knew how to operate the airlock, but she had a bad feeling that the trench they came in would have likely been destroyed or at least still be guarded, so she decided that leaving through the rear section was their best chance. Getting there was the problem as she needed to somehow transfer the ALEC'S DREAM to the last section without being caught. Closing her eyes, she evaluated the ships plans again. The middle ship section walls were thick and honeycombed with hundreds of service passages, and her plan required her to get the ALEC'S DREAM inside one of them. She eventually decided on a large chamber near the central axle, where something in her memory made her think that it was once used for transporting material and equipment during the ship's construction. It was a good place to hide the ALEC'S DREAM while she rescued her friends. Unfortunately, the service tunnel was on the back wall near the third section, which meant she would have a long walk to the front section once she parked the ship.

Not being a pilot, much less able to fly a radio-controlled drone, Jessie was well aware of her talent, or lack of it. So, piloting the ship into a small opening in the wall miles above the ground without any help was going to be a problem. She wanted to wait for the cover of night but knew her only chance of getting this done would have to be in the daylight, where she could see; and she needed all the help she could. With a small prayer, she took the controls and the ship shakily lifted off.

The central axle that the three-ship sections rotated around also served as the main, and only, passageway connecting them. The axle was made of a solid core surrounded by many layers of varying sizes of hollowed out channels. Some were used as conduits for ventilation, power and water, while the larger ones were used for moving equipment and freight. Still, others supported magnetic passenger trains. The train stations located in the wall sections intersected with other transport tubes that then spread throughout the walls to various areas of the section.

Jessie's plan was to use one of those larger freight channels to transport the ALEC'S DREAM to the rear ship section, where the seeker ships main hangers were located. She couldn't do it herself and needed Leland and the crew. For now, all she could hope to do was park the ALEC'S DREAM in the abandoned maintenance chamber. In her mind's eye, she pictured the entrance as a large round opening about a quarter-mile from the axle. She found it easy to steer the ship up to the central axis, but once there, it got confusing. She couldn't picture where the opening should be; the walls, massive size and the fact it was rotating made her lose all sense of direction and perspective.

"There it is," she spotted a round shadow on the wall twice as big as the ALEC'S DREAM. To her disappointment, she could see an inner door blocking the way, hence leaving her a parking spot no deeper than thirty feet. It took many tries, bumps, and scrapes until finally landing inside the circular cave. She had to angle in to keep the rear end of the ship from hanging out.

"Holy cow!" Jessie exclaimed, nearly drifting to the ceiling as she stood.

"There must be something wrong with the ship's artificial gravity _._ " she examined the ALEC'S DREAM's console. Everything was turned off, and taking a little test hop, she sailed to the ceiling again.

"I wonder if it has anything to do with being so close to the center?" she wished Sofie or Jade were here to explain it to her. None of her memories prepared her for this. Sitting back in the pilot's chair, she looked out at the closed inner door. Her memories didn't include doors and she guessed they might have been added after the ship was built. But her understanding of the ship's builders told her that there should be a control box somewhere near. Even though she couldn't see one, it may still be there, since parking on an angle didn't give her a good view of the wall. All she needed to do was to climb out and flip a switch.

The exit door of the ALEC'S DREAM was on the side facing outwards. The moment Jessie opened it she was hit with a sense of vertigo. Her knees went weak seeing the ground miles below. With her heart beating wildly, she timidly slid out and crawled under the ALEC'S DREAM to the inner door. It was a large iris style door that was shut tight; searching the walls on both sides of it, turned up nothing. "I don't believe it. Where could they be?" It was dark, but not so dark that she would miss a control panel. Closing her eyes, she concentrated as she called up the ships plans. After some minutes she discovered she was not in the access bay she thought she was in. Worse yet, the controls were on the other side of this door.

Fortunately, there was a maintenance shaft running under the floor leading straight to the other side.

Unfortunately, the entrance to that shaft was on the outside wall below the opening she just flew in. At that moment, Jessie had an idea of a new invention; a personal anti-gravity suit as she inched her way to the opening. Reaching it she looked down, miles down.

With one end of a scavenged cable secured to the ALEC'S DREAM and the other end tied around her waist, she sat with her legs dangling over the edge of the opening. "At least I won't fall that fast in the low gravity," she thought, not realizing how wrong she was. The real benefit of the low centrifugal force was that the small cable she was using would never have been able to support her in normal gravity, but here it could. Taking a deep breath, she rolled over to her stomach and slowly lowered herself over the edge while holding onto the cable. She probed unsuccessfully with her feet for the ladder rung. Lowering herself a little further, she still couldn't feel anything. It wasn't until she slid all the way off the deck, supported only by the cable when she finally felt the ladder under her foot.

"Why would they hang a ladder up here... this is so stupid," she grumbled, lowering herself to the next rung. A couple steps later, she was fully supporting herself on the ladder, miles above the ground and being whipped by the wind. After a few more steps, she found what she was looking for; a closed door 3 feet to her right. It was a square metal door, with a stick handle facing downward. Hugging the ladder with both hands, she reached out with her foot and gave the handle a kick, then another, until it pushed free; but the door remained shut. Climbing down further, she wrapped her left leg and arm around the ladder and stretched where she finally pulled the hatch open.

With her muscles beginning to shake from fatigue, she examined the open hatch. ' _How do I get in there?_ ' she wondered. The opening was barely large enough for her to squeeze into, and she couldn't see inside.

"How did I get into this mess?"

Resting with her eyes closed and her forehead leaning against a ladder rung, she said a small prayer before focusing back on the hatch. Trying not to think of the miles between her and the ground, she let go of the ladder with both hands and reached out for the door. Her right hand found the open door while her other slipped inside as her feet slipped off the ladder.

"This ain't good" she groaned as her left hand felt nothing but smooth floor inside the opening, while hanging from the door with her right hand. Stretching her hand as far as she could, her fingers thankfully wrapped around something that felt like a pipe. With a pull, she slid headfirst into the darkness where she crawled forward as fast as she could. Suddenly, she felt something pull her backwards, and panic nearly overwhelmed her until she realized the cable still tied around her waist. Untying it, she rolled onto her back, waiting for her shaking to stop. "I hate heights," she said to the darkness.

After the beating in her chest returned to normal, she resumed crawling forward wanting nothing more than to get out of the small shaft. She only needed to go a few feet before she found the shafts end. It was closed off by a vent cover, but it easily pushed open where she let herself tumble six feet to a corrugated metal floor. It would've hurt in normal gravity.

Happy to be safely out of the small access shaft, she half skipped, half flew down the corridor not even caring if it was the right one. A few feet later, actually about sixty feet later, she found a ladder leading up, likely to the maintenance bay.

"It looks like my luck is changing," she said relieved. The maintenance bay looked like it had been abandoned for years, maybe since the ship was built. There would be little chance of anyone stumbling on the ship in here. The control panel was next to an iris style door. Pushing its large green button caused the door to spiral open, revealing the ALEC'S DREAM.

#####

"Ahhh," Jessie sighed while sitting in the ALEC'S DREAM's open side door, sipping yet another cup of coffee while enjoying the fact that the ship was now safely in the maintenance bay. "I wonder why I like coffee so much." Finishing it, she stepped back to the galley to rinse out her cup and remove a few things from her backpack. It was going to be a long, difficult and dangerous journey to the holding cells and her backpack would be too much of a burden.

A few minutes later with the ALEC'S DREAM buttoned up behind her, she pried open a small grate on the back wall that gave access to the hundreds of miles of maintenance corridors spider-webbing throughout the ship. She could see them mapped out in her mind, and it wasn't long before she was working her way upwards towards the main axles transport tubes. The gravity quickly grew less as she neared the axle where she finally opened the last hatch to the maintenance channel she was looking for. It was a metal tube about 10 feet around. There was no walkway in it, probably because there was no gravity. Its walls were lined with pipes, cables and wires. It went on forever, in both directions, lit only by small light bulbs spaced every fifty feet or so. It was hot and musty. Taking a drink and eating some of the Cheorgh fruit first, she pointed herself in the right direction and pushed off; glad for the lack of gravity as she remembered Phyllis saying the ship section was ten miles across. She easily made the distance and was glad she didn't encounter any Kan-ji, and after climbing out of the never-ending corridor she found a secluded spot where she settled down to rest before starting the next part of her journey.

"What have we here?" a Kan-ji voice made her freeze. Two Kan-ji, dressed in dark green jumpsuits floated in her direction. One of them pointed a flashlight at a control box mounted on the wall halfway between her and them. Squeezing closer to the wall she listened as they wrestled with the box's insides. After nearly an hour they finally closed it and left in the direction they came. As she watched them float away, she realized that navigating this section of the ship was not going to be easy. It was the Kan-ji living area, filled with corridors, shops, manufacturing and everything they need to live normal lives. All-in-all, there were nearly four hundred levels, extending from the center axis to the outside edge. She was glad for the maintenance shafts as she closed her eyes to review her route to the holding cells.

### CHAPTER 23 – ESCAPE

Sofie sat alone in a dark cell. Leland's was next to hers and Phyllis's and Jade's were across the hall. Her only light came from a small slit window in her door. Sitting with her knees pulled up under her chin, she wondered what was happening to him. She had heard Leland being taken away a while ago; she wasn't sure when, maybe it was a couple of minutes, maybe a couple of days. It wasn't a pleasant thing to hear as it started with boots walking down the hall, then harsh Kan-ji voices and Leland's cursing, followed by a zapping noise that ended with a thump on the floor.

Talking with Jade and Phyllis did little to comfort her, and they soon fell silent worrying about Leland, and about what would happen to them.

The sound of boots returned, accompanied by a dragging sound. Sofie was relieved he was being brought back, which meant he was still alive. But at the same time, she was filled with dread as she wondered who would be taken next. Standing by her door she tried to see through its narrow window, but all she could make out were shadows on the wall. The boots came closer and then stopped. The sound of Leland's cell door opening was followed by a thump and a moan that was cut short.

"Leland... are you OK?" she asked. A guard slammed his hand against her door making her flinch backwards, but she quietly returned.

"Not really, my arm's broke. These guys are a real good time," his voice was hoarse as he struggled to get the words out. "They want to know about our technology. I told them everything I know, but they..." he was cut short as she heard a dull thud along with a few sharp Kan-ji words.

She then heard his cell door slam shut followed by the sound she feared, boots coming closer. As they stopped outside her door, she knew it was going to be her or Phyllis. A sickening fear gripped her as keys entered her door lock. Backing up flat against the far wall, she stared in fear at the door. Terrified and shaking, she slid to the floor wrapping her arms around her knees whimpering helplessly, waiting.

"Use the thing Jessie gave you!" Leland gasped. "Use it, Sofie! Use it now!"

"What thing?" She asked confused, "Jessie?" The thought of Jessie triggered her memory. It seemed like such a long time ago. "Oh, Jessie!" she remembered and reached in her front pocket for the flashlight Jessie had given her.

Her door opened and she needed to shield her eyes from the light as the three guards entered. Two of them remained at the door as the third stepped forward to collect her. Not sure what she was to do with it, she held the flashlight in front of her and turned it on.

Not feeling any vibration or recoil, she thought ' _it didn't work'_ , that is, until she saw the look on the guard's face before everything went dark.

"Sofie!" Phyllis's voice dragged her out of a dream. Opening her eyes, she saw her cell filled with dust, like a heavy fog.

"I... I'm here," Sofie coughed after inhaling a mouthful of dust. She could see Phyllis's silhouette emerge from the fog, followed by Jade. Phyllis stopped in front of her, looking back and forth.

"Down here."

Phyllis knelt to wipe away the dust and debris from her. Jade joined in.

"What happened?" Sofie asked.

"You tell us. We heard Leland tell you to use that weapon Jessie gave you... and you must have... look." Jade answered as she moved aside. As the dust cleared a bit, Sofie could see the devastation. There was a perfect hole in the wall where her door had been. The hole extended sideways through the wall to Leland's cell. The damage extended across the hallway through to Phyllis's and Jade's cells.

"Lucky we were standing behind our doors," Phyllis observed taking in the mess. The prison area they were in had reminded them of a dungeon, with stone walls and heavy wooden doors. Jessie's weapon had blasted the stone walls apart while the wooden doors absorbed most of the blast.

"Where are the guards?" Sofie asked standing up.

"No! You don't want to see," Jade held her back, but Sofie pushed forward anyway. She wasn't as shocked as she thought she would be. They were dead, though there wasn't any blood, it was obvious that most of their bones were broken.

"Leland?" Sofie remembered, then looking into his cell she saw Phyllis already leaning over him, wiping his face.

"Oh my!" Jade said seeing him. His arm was definitely broken, and his swollen face was pale and bleeding. His clothes were torn into rags as though from being whipped. He could hardly open his eyes, and when he saw them, he gave a broken-toothed smile.

Sofie turned away at the sight.

"Can you make some bandages out of their clothes?" Phyllis asked, pointing to the dead guards.

Sofie was glad for the assignment. It took her mind off of the mess Leland was in, and the mess she would have been in if it wasn't for Jessie's little invention.

"I found your pack," Jade's stuck her head out from behind a closet door further down the hall. She dropped it on the floor just as Phyllis set Leland's broken arm. Sofie almost fainted at the sound of his cracking bones being set back in place.

"Look, Cheorgh fruits," Jade rummaged through the pack, seemingly oblivious of Leland's pain. Sofie looked at his face; it was even paler than before and now covered with sweat.

"There," Phyllis examined her handy work. "Now we just need to clean you up." Grabbing a bottle of water and some rags she went to work while Sofie and Jade searched the area, piling what they found in the hall.

#####

"It's time we start moving," Leland slowly got up from his bench, thankful for the lighter gravity.

Sofie thought he looked like a pirate, wearing one of the guards' outfits and covered in bandages. Phyllis and Jade had donned what was left of the other two guard's clothes along with their swords; leaving the guns alone as they weren't quite sure what to make of them. Sofie kept Jessie's flashlight.

"We need to move upwards toward the center axis, that's where we came from." Leland said.

Sofie remembered that when the shuttlecraft dropped them off at a train station, there wasn't much gravity. Jade explained it was because the centrifugal or rotational forces were much less near the center; something about dividing by the square of the radius. Anyway, she found out that the closer they got to the center of the spin the less the force of gravity; or centrifugal force. That's how they knew they were not too far from the center axle, and that's where they needed to go. Looking at Leland she was glad of that, doubting he was in good enough shape for anything else.

"Ready?" Phyllis said stepping to the main door. Putting her ear to it she held her hand up and urgently whispered, "back!" Being the only exit to their cell block, all they could do was back away. As door handle turned, Phyllis and Jade drew their swords. Leland placed his good arm around Sofie and pulled her back, giving Jade and Phyllis room to move. As the door opened a few inches, a hand covered with black tattoos reached around its edge. Phyllis gave a hand signal and Jade positioned herself behind the opening door as the top of a head peeked around the door.

"Jessie!" Sofie yelled. "I'd know that head anywhere." She ran forward and had her in a bear hug before she was all the way in. Jade quickly closed the door and joined in on the hug.

"Shhh," Phyllis peeked out the door and then turned to join in on the hug. After a few minutes, Sofie sat down on a broken piece of rubble and put her head in her hands.

"Sof? Are you OK?" Jessie worriedly looked down at her best friend.

"Now I'm OK," Sofie stood giving her another hug, crying.

"Looks like you guys have everything under control," Jessie examined the mess of twisted metal and broken stone.

"How did you find us?" Sofie asked, looking at her curiously.

"I overheard them talking when they took you away," Jessie said.

"So how did you find us? Did you have a map?" Leland sat on a broken bench, having been forgotten. He eyed her up, "have you figured out how we can escape?"

"I'll tell you about that later, but right now we need to get out of here. I've overheard some guards talking. They said they were waiting for a prisoner. I'm guessing they were talking about you." Jessie hurried to the door and slowly opened it. Signaling them to follow, she disappeared behind it. Following her, they entered a round room with eight evenly spaced doors and a curved desk in front of the door opposite them. Sofie guessed the doors led to more prison cells and that the occupants of this room were now dead in their cell block.

"Shhh." Jessie put her finger to her lips as she slipped to the other side of a desk and cracked open the door behind it.

"There's a room about fifty feet down the hall on the right. We need to go there." Jessie told them. "I'll go first."

Staring at the door as it closed behind Jessie, Sofie noticed there was a definite change in her friend's demeanor. Phyllis placed her ear to the door while counting under her breath. "Leland, can you make the run?" she gave him a worried look. He was pale, but he nodded while giving an encouraging smile. Phyllis placed her ear at the door again then cautiously cracked it open to stick her head out. Then opening it all the way she stepped back to let him out. She closed the door behind him and placed her ear against it again.

"We'll all go this time," Phyllis turned to the rest of them. Sofie saw her concern for Leland.

Phyllis listened at the door again and then sharply signaled everyone back as she stepped away with her sword drawn. They stood in silence as the sound of footfalls neared. Then, hearing the Kan-ji's sing-songy voices, Sofie pulled out Jessie's flashlight and Jade reached for her sword. To their relief, the footsteps faded.

Phyllis placed her ear against the door again. After a minute, she opened it and signaled them to follow.

By the time Sofie stepped into the corridor, Phyllis was already standing next to the door down the hallway Jessie had described. Sofie waited for Jade to close the door behind them then noticing Phyllis staring behind her, a chill ran through her. Afraid to look back, she just kept staring down the hallway behind Phyllis. The corridor reminded her of Eugene's work with ornamental iron works, carved wood, and stonework lined the walls and ceilings; creepy. The hairs on the back of her neck tingled and she sidled against the far wall, still staring in Phyllis's direction. Jade backed up to the door she just closed; both of them afraid to look behind. Sofie finally worked up the courage and was surprised to see three odd looking creatures standing fifteen feet away. They stood, looking at them curiously with their large protruding yellow eyes. Even hunched over, their lumpy heads almost touched the ceiling. To Sofie, they seemed gentle, almost friendly as her fear drained. Without making a sound, the creature closest to them softly stepped forward. Sofie thought he smiled but it was hard to tell with its lumpy malformed face as it pointed its large, three-fingered hand at the door near Phyllis. Taking the hint, Sofie and Jade cautiously made their way to Phyllis. Jade placed herself between Sofie and the strange creatures and as they reached the door, Phyllis pulled it open and pushed Sofie and Jade in before her.

Relieved to get out of the hallway, Sofie took a half a dozen steps into the room before noticing the trouble she just walked into. Her first indication that something was amiss was Leland lying face first on the floor. The other indication was Jessie standing with her hands tied behind her facing a red-robed Kan-ji with a yellow-toothed smile, looking at Jessie like she was his next meal.

Sofie slowly looked around the room. It was unexpectedly large, like a small church. Pews faced a strange looking stone altar in the room's back. Suspended above the altar was a black cone-like device with fluorescent stars, moons, planets, and angels carved into it. She thought it looked a little like Merlin's hat.

The door slamming shut made her jump and she looked back to see two more crimson-robed Kan-ji with swords drawn. Phyllis and Jade raised their hands and slowly walked over to stand at her side.

One of the priests gestured at her with his sword and she also raised her hands. A voice behind her made her look back to see the yellow-toothed Kan-ji making to grab Jessie by her arms. To Sofie's surprise, Jessie spoke back to him in the Kan-ji language. Sofie wasn't the only one surprised as Yellow Tooth stopped his advance. Jessie, taking advantage of his hesitation, kicked him right beneath his robes. He dropped to his knees and as he lowered his head in pain; his face was met by Jessie's knee with a loud bone-cracking thud. Sofie didn't know if it came from Jessie's knee or the Kan-ji's face as his head snapped back and he crumpled to the floor.

"Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow," Jessie cried as she hopped about on one foot.

Her episode with Yellow Tooth distracted their guards, and Sofie sensed more than saw Phyllis and Jade draw their swords. Two sword fights ensued with Jade and Phyllis dressed like pirates, fighting evil looking red-robed priests twice their size.

Sofie backed out of their way to stand next to Jessie.

"Untie my hands," Jessie said hastily.

"What should we do now?" Sofie asked as she struggled with the rope. "There!" she added as the rope dropped to the floor.

"No! Not that!" Sofie saw Jessie pull out a flashlight from her pocket. "That'll kill everyone." They could only look helplessly at each other as the sword fight continued with Phyllis and Jade barely holding their own. It soon became apparent they were out-matched when suddenly the door flew open and a brightly dressed Kan-ji soldier joined the fray. Sofie and Jessie could only watch as the new Kan-ji weaved in and out of the battles. Phyllis spun sideways, hitting the floor. Before she could get up, Jade landed next to her leaving the newcomer battling the two priests alone.

"Eugene!" Sofie yelled recognizing the newly arrived pirate.

"Hi Sofie," he responded as one of the priests folded. A quick flick of his sword and the other one dropped.

"Hello Jessie," he said putting his sword away. Raising his hand for them to wait, he turned and ran out the door before they could say anything else.

"Leland!" Sofie cried seeing Phyllis leaning over a semi-conscious Leland. Jade helped her turn him over.

"Eeyou," Jessie squeaked seeing his arm. Jade and Phyllis paled, Sofie had to turn away. This time his arm wasn't simply broken, it was smashed and bleeding, having twisted under him when he was knocked to the floor. The broken bone broke again, and now poked from his skin.

"You need a doctor," Phyllis said to Leland's pale and sweat soaked face.

"Do the best you can Phyllis, I trust you," he said through gritted broken teeth. His voice was hoarse and shaking. Without warning, Phyllis gave his arm a pull. The crackling of bones setting back in place made Sofie's knees weak. Leland's eyes rolled up in his head while Jade supported it from hitting the floor.

Jessie limped to the stone altar and sat down while Sofie started ripping up robes for bandages.

"Thanks, Phyll, I knew you could do it," Leland said groggily, his arm now bandaged. Jade rolled up some of the robes for a pillow and covered him with the rest.

"We need to get him to a doctor," Phyllis said as Leland's eyes closed. "He's lost a lot of blood and the tendons and muscle in his arm are pretty torn up. He's going to need a lot of surgery... and by the pieces of teeth on the floor; he's going to need quite a bit of dental work."

Sofie noticed Jessie sitting on the altar, holding her knee. "Jade!" she grabbed her arm as she remembered the cracking noise of her knee hitting the yellow-toothed priest in the mouth.

Jessie's knee was purple and swollen. "It should be alright though it might be a little sore until the swelling goes down. You didn't have to knee him in the face you know," Jade said.

"Yes, I did," Jessie responded flatly, a grim smile formed on her face. "And it was worth it," she gingerly flexed her knee.

"So, Jessie, what was this all about?" Phyllis stood in front of them surveying the three dead and unconscious Kanji.

"I think they're like priests, I was captured by these guys and I didn't want to go through another one of their sermons," Jessie replied sarcastically. "I didn't expect them to be here. This is the only room in this section with access to the maintenance shafts." Sliding off the stone, she limped over to the side wall. Then kneeling on her good knee, she slid aside one of the decorative panels lining the wall.

"How do you know this?" Sofie asked walking over to her.

Jessie gave her a self-conscious smile and reached inside the opening. After a few moments, the stone altar slid away from the back wall exposing a small entrance to a maintenance corridor.

"Young lady, you've got some explaining to do," Phyllis said with her hands on her hips as she looked back and forth from Jessie to the opening.

Before Jessie could explain, Eugene returned holding the door open for three of the bulbous creatures. Sofie wasn't sure if they were the same ones she met in the hall, as Jade and Phyllis drew their swords.

"No... no," Eugene held his hands up to them. "They're good. I've brought them here to help clean up."

Cautiously, they put their swords away as Eugene turned and spoke to them in a complicated language of clicks, words, and grunts. The creatures slowly bowed and went to work. One picked up the two bloodied priests like they were small sacks of flour and left. The remaining two went to work cleaning the floor.

"Where did you come from?" Sofie asked Eugene, giving him a hug.

"I'm here looking for you," he responded as Jessie joined in on Sofie's hug.

"But how... how did you get here?" Jessie asked... then a look of understanding came over her. "Oh. You're Kan-ji."

"Yes, but not all Kan-ji are the same," he started to explain.

"You're sure not the same Eugene we knew at GraviTych. For one thing, you've lost your accent," Jade cut in. Eugene smiled giving her a small nod.

"You've been there to protect them all along," Leland said from his spot on the floor. He had been conscious and listening to the conversation for a while.

Phyllis sat on the altar-stone with a look of exasperation. Sofie and Jessie took a few steps back, reassessing him.

Eugene looked at Leland. "Yes. I've been assigned to keep them safe," then looking at the girls he added. "I've enjoyed this assignment. Not often do I get to make such good friends," he glanced at Sofie.

"Who?" Phyllis asked. "You said you were assigned to protect them. Who assigned you? And who were you protecting them from?"

"It is difficult to explain," Eugene answered and obviously had no intention of explaining.

Jessie interrupted. "You mean that black hole in the closet and..." she faded off.

"You thought it was Eugene!" Sofie admonished.

"There were many traps set for you, some I missed," Eugene corrected.

"Traps? Why not just kidnap us? Why set traps?" Sofie questioned.

"It wasn't just about assimilating your anti-gravity technology; it was about using the knowledge of your technology to gain power," Eugene answered.

"Uh?" Jessie looked confused.

Eugene smiled at her. "For Kan-ji, knowledge is power. Misinformation can weaken."

"I don't get it," Jade said.

"When a commander has information his underlings do not, that is power. When the commander thinks the underlings have knowledge they are keeping from him, that causes mistrust. Mistrust will weaken the commander." Eugene tried explaining.

"What does that have to do with traps?" Jessie asked.

"The carefully planned traps provided glimpses of anti-gravity technology to the Kan-ji commander, and to Loomius," Eugene answered. "That generated mistrust which weakened the commander. Olivia is now in command."

"Olivia?" Sofie and Jessie said in unison.

"Yes, Olivia has taken command of this ship. She was the one that planned the interception of you. I learned of your stowing away too late. I could not stop you as she had already convinced your parents," he explained.

"She got what she wanted, she's in command. Why not let us go?" Sofie asked.

"Your technology will make her more powerful. She will search the ship until she finds you," he said to Jessie. "She will use you to get your parents."

"What if she doesn't get us?" Jessie asked.

"Then she will make sure no one else gets it," Eugene answered as one of the large creatures tapped him on his shoulder. He spoke with him, or her. Then he, or she turned and picked up the unconscious yellow toothed Kan-ji and left. The remaining creature bowed to them before closing the door behind him, or her.

"Who... or what are those?" Sofie asked.

Jessie answered. "It's really strange; I don't have any memory of them. I feel that I should, but I don't. It's almost as though something is missing... no... not missing, but wrong," she said more to herself.

Sofie looked at her.

Jessie looked up, embarrassed, realizing her question was meant for Eugene.

"Memories?" Phyllis asked, "What memories?"

Voices in the hall kept her from answering as Eugene stepped to the door with his sword drawn. As the voices faded, Eugene looked curiously at Jessie then at the opening behind the altar-stone. "Very few know about these passageways. It seems you have learned much about our ship."

"I... well, I do. I'm not sure how... well, I know how... but not how," Jessie stammered.

"Do you know where to go?" Eugene asked glancing back from the door with a worried look.

"Yeah, I have the ALEC'S DREAM parked in one of the maintenance bays on the far wall of the center ship section. I'm planning on escaping through one of the portals in the rear section."

Eugene gave her a surprised look. "You feel you can do that?"

"Sure... I think," Jessie answered.

"Can you get back by yourself?" Eugene asked as footfalls in the hallway made him look back at the door.

"Yes..." she started and then looked at Leland. "Well, if Leland can make it to the central shaft. There's no gravity there... but getting there might be kind of hard."

Leland tried getting up as Phyllis and Jade rushed over to help him. "Don't worry about me," he pushed his helpers away to stand by himself.

Eugene looked at him and nodded. "You need to go. I must stay. They will have all their forces searching the ship for you. You'll never make it through the axis unless I can distract them... make them think you're somewhere else. Sofie, can I have your backpack?"

"Ah, sure," Sofie said, taking it off.

"Thanks, I can use this to buy you a little time." Turning to Jessie he added. "I've always thought there was something special about you. My job was to protect you, but now you don't seem to need it. If I can, I will try to meet up with you. If not, may God be with you."

Jessie looked surprised at his mention of God, "God? Isn't your god Loomius?"

Anger flashed across his face. "NO! He is no god."

His response shocked Sofie. Loomius? What was Jessie talking about? She saw Jessie studying Eugene as though analyzing him. That wasn't the Jessie, she knew. What a horrible ship they were in that it would make Jessie grow up so fast, as she wondered how much she changed herself.

"You must go now," Eugene said.

Giving him a hug Jessie turned back toward the opening. Sofie looked him in the eyes. "I miss your accent."

Eugene smiled and squeezed her hand. "I see you again, meees Sofie." She felt tears forming and ran after Jessie. Jade and Phyllis followed, supporting Leland between them.

Once safely inside the passage, the altar-stone slid back, covering up the opening behind them.

### CHAPTER 24 – THE DOCTOR

The trip up, or down, to the central axle was long and difficult, as Leland soon lost his strength and needed to be carried. Luckily it wasn't long before the gravity lessened enough to make lifting him much easier. Once in the central axle maintenance shaft, they were able to float him the ten plus miles to the back wall of the center ship section. By the time they reached their destination, he had regained enough strength to make his own way down to the ALEC'S DREAM.

"Ahhh... coffee," Jessie said as she took a sip of black coffee out of her new favorite cup.

Sofie looked on with dismay.

"So, you say you know how to get us out of here, but how do we get to the rear ship section?" Phyllis gave Jessie a suspicious look. She understood how extreme conditions could change people, but Jessie seemed just... too changed.

"Can't we just leave the way we came in?" It wasn't the first time Sofie asked the question since they had settled in the galley.

"You know that they must have figured out that we entered through that canyon." Jade tried answering as gently as possible.

Jessie could see how delicate Sofie's emotional state was.

"We're all in agreement that they would have sealed up that exit by now, and we don't have any way to blast our way out. But that option is still open to us... if Jessie's way doesn't work out." Phyllis reiterated.

"You need to believe me that I know everything about this ship," Jessie tried convincing them again. "Sofie, you remember that chair we found? When you left that room, it did something to my mind and when I woke up, I was able to understand their language... and I knew how everything worked. I can just close my eyes and picture the entire ship; every detail... if I concentrate hard enough."

"I was there, but I didn't see anything happen," Sofie said. "I can barely remember anything anymore," she put her head in her hands.

"Well, I for one don't have any other ideas." Jade cut in. "And Jessie did find us, and spoke their language, and she navigated those maintenance corridors like she lived in them her entire life. And Eugene seemed to approve."

"I don't want to argue. It's just that so much has happened." Phyllis apologized to Jessie. She put her head in her hands in exhaustion. "We need to get Leland to a doctor _now_! I don't know how long he can last."

Leland was bunked down on a cot and wrapped in blankets in the back sleeping quarters. They had given him what medicine they could to ease his pain, and to help him sleep. Jessie felt Phyllis's concern and wished there was something she could do when a thought came to her from her memories; memories of the Cheorgh. She thought it strange that the Cheorgh were part of her memories. "Hey Phyllis, can you fly us back to those Cheorgh caverns?"

"Sure, if you can tell me how we get out of this maintenance bay." The co-pilot answered.

Jessie, still feeling a bit queasy about the height thing, talked Sofie into opening the iris style door. Phyllis easily flew the ALEC'S DREAM to the Cheorgh caverns, setting them down next to the lake.

"Man, is he heavy," Sofie complained as it took all four of them to carry him out on the ship's emergency stretcher. Jessie led them into the room where she had first found the patch of grass that mapped and controlled the forest paths.

"OK, now what," Sofie asked after setting down the stretcher. They all sat on the floor breathing hard. Jessie moved to the patch of grass and touching it, felt the familiar tingle as it quivered and shaped itself into the 3D map of the ship section.

"So that's how you were able to find us," Sofie slid next to her staring at the grass.

"That's not all, you can pick a spot and the map, and it'll draw a path to it," she touched the map and a small line formed from their position to the point Jessie touched.

"Cool," Sofie said touching the grass, feeling its tingle.

"Not only that, it actually makes a path and there are patches of grass like this all over the place," Jessie told her.

"This is all very fascinating, but how does this help Leland," Phyllis said getting impatient.

"Oh, sorry," Jessie touched the map again, this time working her fingers along its edge. As she pulled her hand away, the grass quivered and forming into an indented pattern of a large hand. "Can you set him down here next to this?" Jessie asked and Phyllis and Jade pulled his gurney closer.

"Now what?" Phyllis knelt next to Leland as he looked helplessly at Jessie.

"Leland, put your hand on the grass here... can you hear me?" Jessie asked hoping she was getting through to him. He nodded groggily and reached out with his good arm. Phyllis helped him place his hand in the indentation. The grass around his hand formed quivering shapes, and after a few moments it went flat.

"What does that mean?" Jade's fascination peaked as she realized the grass was actually a technology, a technology invented by the Cheorgh. Before Jessie could answer, the wall behind them began shimmering and wriggling.

"Those are vines, not rock!" Jade said awed at what she was seeing. "They're not rock, they're living material." She ran her hand over them. "All these rooms are made of it."

The wriggling wall formed into an indentation the shape of a human body, a perfect silhouette of Leland, to be precise.

"We need to stand him up," Jessie didn't need to say anymore as Jade and Sofie were already helping him to his feet and as soon as he was in position, the wall sprung to life with vines wrapping around him until holding him tight to the wall. Jessie saw that his feet no longer touched the floor. Sofie and Jade stepped back, and Phyllis, who was still on her knees, looked on with concern. Then, without warning, the wall completely absorbed him, leaving nothing but a smooth surface in its wake.

"What the hell was that?" Phyllis yelled. "Jessie, get him out of there!"

"We need to wait... I think," the unexpectedness of Leland's disappearance left Jessie feeling not as confident as she had been earlier.

"You didn't know that this was going to happen?" Phyllis asked ominously.

"Don't blame her. She's just trying to help." Sofie stood between them. "Maybe he's been moved to another room."

"I think we need to wait," Jessie peeked around Sofie.

"OK, we'll wait," Phyllis growled, and sat down against the far wall, gloomily staring at the spot where Leland disappeared.

Jade knelt down next to the grass while Jessie sat against the side wall.

"Jessie?" Sofie whispered sitting next to her. "What's with those tattoos?"

"Oh. I got them from the chair. Those are the same markings that were on that ball Chander gave me," she held her arm up looking at them.

Sofie stared. "Do they come off?"

"I can't rub them off... anyway, they kind of grow on you," Jessie admired them, "watch," she said as the black markings turned multi-colored.

"Neat. How do you do that?" Sofie asked.

"I just have to think it. Then they change to the colors I'm thinking of." The markings turned a midnight blue.

"Can you change their shape?" Sofie asked.

"I don't know." Jessie looked at her feeling stupid for not thinking of it herself. Concentrating, the markings changed their shapes, and then began dancing around her wrist, hand, and arm.

"There must be a reason for them," Sofie said.

"Like what?" Jessie asked as the markings snapped back to their original shapes and positions.

Sofie just shrugged.

"Look!" Jade exclaimed examining the grass.

"It's Leland," Phyllis knelt next to her. The patch of grass had now formed into a three-dimensional picture of him. Parts of his body shimmered, his arm, his face, actually, just about everything. Phyllis leaned over the grass silhouette. One by one, the shimmering areas became dull. After an hour the entire map became quiescent.

"It's done, so, where is he?" Phyllis sounded tired; they were all exhausted.

As though on cue, the wall shimmered and shivered. Soon, a vine wrapped outline of Leland squeezed out of it; where they fell away, exposing Leland.

"Leland, how are you feeling?" Phyllis and Jade grabbed him by his arms before he could fall and sat him down.

"Oh... hi Phyllis, hi Jade," he sounded groggy and happy. "I'm fine," he grinned from ear to ear. Looking around the room he said, "Hi Sofie, hi Jessie."

Finished with his introductions, he tried standing up, but Jade and Phyllis held him down. Jessie noticed his smile showed a perfect set of white teeth.

"Leland, how is your arm." Phyllis tried getting through to him. He lifted both arms and showed the front and back of each hand.

"Which arm?" he asked not seeming to comprehend the situation.

"Never mind," Phyllis sat next to him in relief.

"I'm hungry," Leland said.

Jessie thought he was now talking some sense.

"He's right. We should get out of here, back to that maintenance bay. We're way too exposed down here and they're bound to be searching for us." Phyllis's comment hit a chord with them. Being captured again was not a pleasant thought as they helped the still smiling Leland to his feet. He actually started humming while they walked him back to the ALEC'S DREAM.

#####

"What's the purpose of that back ship section?" Sofie asked as Jessie was going over her plan with Leland.

"It's like their garage," Jessie answered glad of the interruption. Leland was relentless, asking tons of questions, cross-examining everything she told him. "The front section is where they live. The middle section gives them food and recycles their air and water while the third contains all their ships. It's also where they store everything they need.

"Let's go over the travel tubes again." After sleeping for half a day, Leland looked like he was feeling normal, even better than normal. Being safely hidden and with Leland regenerated, they had all slept comfortably and were now more than ready to escape this nightmare.

"What good is it going to do us if we get out and there are a bunch of ships waiting for us?" Sofie asked.

"The more I think about it, the more I feel we could have outrun them," Leland sat back. "Jessie, you seem to know more about their technology than us, and maybe more than anyone on this ship. What's your opinion?"

"I don't get it either. I know every circuit on this ship and there's not one plasma screen, LED or microchip anywhere," Jessie answered.

Leland nodded. "That's just what I've been thinking. Their technology is primitive. Their ships have powerful rockets, but they don't have any way of counteracting inertia, or the extreme G-forces of high acceleration. My guess is that their physiology allows them to handle it for short bursts, but not at a sustained level, not like the ALEC'S DREAM can."

"You mean you think we could've outrun them?" Sofie asked.

"I'm afraid so. I just didn't know," Leland shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Phyllis walked up behind him putting her hand on his shoulder. "Your job was to protect us. You did the best you could. Anyway, we're still alive and well... and... pancakes," she stepped back to let Jade place a plate of pancakes on the galley table.

"WOW!" Jessie said as Phyllis laid out the plates, silverware and a syrup-like substance.

"I scavenged some of the MRE's, Cheorgh fruit and some other condiments," Jade answered their unasked questions. "They may not taste homemade."

"They're fantastic," Leland said digging in.

Jade's comment made Jessie think about home. She put her fork down.

"What's wrong?" Sofie asked.

"I forgot to tell you," Jessie said.

"Tell us what?" Phyllis asked. They all stopped eating to stare at her.

"While I was getting ready to find you, mom called me over the radio."

"WHAT?" Leland stood, then looking around, sat back down.

"She said they're right outside the ship ready to help us escape."

"How can they radio us inside the ship?" Leland wondered.

Jessie shrugged. "I don't know. She told me not to talk. She said the Kan-ji can track radio transmitters."

"That makes sense. I've been wondering how they found us in that crater," Leland said. "We definitely need to be careful using radios."

"What did she say? Was my mom with her?" Sofie asked.

"She didn't say, she said they were where I told them to be," Jessie recalled. "I would guess that means your mom too. She didn't want to be tracked so she couldn't say much else."

"You told them to be there? When, how could you have told them?" Jade caught on to her comment.

"Well, it's hard to explain... when I was captured by those priests, they had me tied to a stone altar and put that cone over my head," tears welled up in her eyes. She balled her fist determined not to cry again.

"Never mind, we can talk later," Jade reached out to her.

Jessie sniffed and grabbed a forkful of pancake.

"Can we call them?" Sofie asked.

"We're safe here. I've got a feeling that Eugene had put himself in danger to keep them off our trail. I wouldn't want his sacrifice to be for nothing," Leland said as softly as possible.

"Anyway, we should be out of here in no time," Phyllis said. "Thanks to Jessie's plan."

#####

The first part of their journey went without a hitch. Jessie's plan was to use one of the larger transport tubes that ran along the main axle. They first mounted a scouting mission to monitor the traffic through it, and to their pleasant surprise they found a yellowed and brittle handwritten note taped to the control console, saying 'out of service'; written in Kan-ji of course. The trip through the tube was uneventful, not to say it wasn't difficult and stressful, but in the end, they found themselves safely in the station leading to the rear ship section.

"Are we ready to make our move?" The question was rhetorical as Leland had already given his signal to Jessie, who was standing next to the controls of a closed hangar door. She pushed a large orange button and the doors began sliding apart. By the time they were fully open, Jessie was back in the ship.

"Whew," Leland whistled looking in awe at new ship section from their perch miles above the ground. The nighttime reminded Jessie of a mason jar filled with fireflies, as lights of hundreds of Kan-ji aircraft darted about.

"That's a lot of activity. You wouldn't think there would be so much during the night. I wonder if this is normal," Leland wondered.

The ship's floor wrapped around over their heads and was dotted with clusters of the twinkling lights of small towns. Headlights of ground vehicles could be seen moving between them. Jessie thought it looked beautiful.

"Hey, those look like outdoor movie theaters. Remember, like that old one outside of town we went to last year." Sofie pointed to large glowing bulbs of light sprouting out of the ground near many of the towns.

"No, they're not," Jessie answered flatly.

"What's wrong?"

"There's something else I haven't told you yet," Jessie said hesitantly. "They have a kind of portal technology that gives them instantaneous travel across space."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Jade asked.

Jessie just shrugged. "I guess that there's a lot I haven't told you." After a slight pause, she added. "I really don't know much about the portals. It's like I know about them, and yet, don't know about them at the same time," she tried explaining. "I know about the power supplies and control panels that support them, but I know nothing about how the portals work."

"If they have these portals, why would they need ships?" Sofie asked.

"They use them to transport goods and supplies."

"What about people?" Sofie questioned.

Jessie thought on that, digging through her memories, and then shocked she answered. "They can transfer their ships. They can move them from the Seeker ship to Seeker ship, or even from planets. It gives them a never-ending supply of... well... weapons and people... armies."

"You mean like for attacking Earth?" Phyllis asked. They all looked at her.

"Why would you say that?" Jade asked.

"I remember what Eugene said about Olivia getting the anti-gravity technology... he said something like ' _then she will make sure no one else gets it'_." Phyllis said. "I wondered what he meant by that."

"If that's the case, then we need to tell someone," Sofie said. "We can call your mom."

Jessie nodded, but Jade cut in. "Didn't she say they could track radio communications? I'm afraid we would put them in danger if we tried."

"I agree. I think our only option is to get out of here as fast as we can, then we can warn everyone," Leland concluded.

In spite of his statement about moving quickly, they didn't, as they just stared at the sparkling twilight in front of them.

"Well, it's obvious that the Kan-ji know how those portals work," Leland broke the silence.

"I don't think so," Jessie replied thoughtfully. "It makes sense now. It's those priests. That cone they put over me, it sent me, or at least my thoughts to the other world. It's their secret."

"What other world?" Sofie asked.

Jade stepped up and put her hand on her shoulder, "You don't have to say."

Jessie looked at her then finally said. "Loomius, he is real. I thought he was their god. He has some kind of power over the Kan-ji. It wasn't a dream," she shuddered.

"Those portals; is that how those suns work?" Jade changed the subject pointing up to the now dark globes 'hanging' from the center axis.

"Yes," Jessie's look became one of concern. "That's how they power everything. Suns... that's where they get their power; they somehow are able to transfer energy from suns using the portals." The portals themselves didn't impress her. Her dad's theories explained how they could or might work, but transporting energy from suns, that was scary.

"Power everything?" Phyllis asked.

Jessie nodded, "Yes, their spacecraft, even this ship."

"The rockets that power this ship use energy directly from a sun?" Leland asked.

"Well in a way, there are special portals that are used like power generators. They can convert the raw energy to other kinds of power, like electricity or rockets. I know that the small suns of these ship sections are almost pure sun energy."

"So, they don't need fuel. They have all the fuel they need being pumped in through those portals," Leland sounded impressed.

"They even power the portals themselves. It takes a lot of energy to open one, but once open, they only need a little to stay open," Jessie gave them a lot to think about.

"So those movie screens down there are actually just open portals?" Sofie sounded sad.

Jessie looked at the scene below. It did look serene. She could imagine families down there sitting in their cars watching outdoor movies. "That's how we're getting out of here," she said. "Those portals are used to enter and exit the ship. They don't need doors and airlocks and they can fly right through them."

"Why isn't the air leaking out?" Sofie pointed to one a larger movie screens showing stars.

"I don't really know. I don't know what makes the portals work."

"Is there a portal at the other end?" Sofie asked.

"I'm not sure how it's done, but I know that the controls give options of connecting to other portals. That implies another portal isn't needed. I'm guessing that is how ships leave and enter this ship. That's how we're going to get out of here."

"You don't sound very sure," Sofie said.

"The portals lock down the ends of a wormhole at a particular space and time. The end that creates the wormhole controls the wormhole," Jessie responded.

"Controls it?" Jade piped in. "Up until now I've half-understood, now I'm really lost."

"Well I'm not sure if control is the right word, more like it takes on the space-time properties where the portal is created."

"Wait, space-time? Now you're losing all of us," Phyllis interrupted before Jessie could go any further.

"What I mean is like gravity is part of space-time, and if the gravity is high, then the gravity is high inside the wormhole." Jessie tried explaining. She wasn't sure how she knew this. Her dad's theories seemed to be melding with her new memories.

"So, you're saying there doesn't need to be two portal devices?" Sofie asked again not quite getting what Jessie was saying.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that you only need one portal. But if you create a wormhole between ships you would need two portals because both ends are moving relative to each other." Jessie tried getting her point across.

"So, the ships using the wormholes for power just tap into the sun?" Sofie was relentless with her questions.

"I know that there is a portal in a sun somewhere. I don't know how they're all connected or how it survives inside a sun. It's a mystery to me," Jessie put her hands up in surrender.

"What's the plan?" Leland obviously didn't want to hear any more about portals. He just wanted to know how they were getting out.

"Not all the portals are in use," Jessie answered.

"Great, just point us in the right direction." Leland settled in his pilot's chair. "Let's get going before its light."

"There's a control room in the back wall." Jessie pointed. "It's kind of confusing seeing things for real, I can see the plans in my head; I'm pretty sure it's there."

"Isn't there anything closer?" Leland looked at all the activity. "We'll stand out like a sore thumb."

She thought of the ALEC'S DREAM's shimmering skin. "Sorry... but the portals are controlled and powered through a master control room," Jessie said. "And we'll need to make a new wormhole."

"Won't that control room be a little crowded?" Leland gave her a concerned look.

"No! We're not going to the control room. We're going into a maintenance room that has its backup controls." she gave him one of those 'duh' looks.

Growling, he shook his head and flew the ALEC'S DREAM toward the opening. Jessie, along with everyone else, gasped and grabbed hold of whatever they could as he nosedived straight down, following the contour of the wall.

"I want to stay close to the wall to avoid any radar," Leland grinned at everyone's reaction. "Sorry, I should have warned you." This time he couldn't hold back a chuckle as he watched them slowly recover. "Oh, yeah, and by the way, I turned on the artificial gravity."

"You did that on purpose!" Sofie crossed her arms making Leland laugh even harder.

"Jessie, can you try finding a way to monitor the Kan-ji communications? I want to know what they're up to." Leland asked.

Giving a half salute, she sat down at the communications console.

Sofie looked at him expectantly for her assignment. "Sofie, can you make some coffee?"

Daylight arrived just as they reached the ship's floor. "We're too exposed here," Leland told them. Unlike the center section, this floor was a flat layer of packed sand with no trees or landscaping to use as cover.

Handing him a fresh cup of coffee, Sofie asked. "What's over there?" She pointed to a group of buildings a short way up to the side.

"Jessie?" Leland asked.

"Huh?" She looked up from her work on the communications console. "Oh, those are just a bunch of warehouses. Why?"

"Never mind, you can go back to what you were doing," Leland smiled.

"There doesn't seem to be much activity going on over there." Phyllis stood next to him. "Maybe we can find something in one of those warehouses to camouflage us. At least hide there until it gets dark."

Flying low to the ground, they discovered it to be a small city of two, and three-story warehouses. Leland kept to the alleyways and side streets until finding a building with dock doors big enough to fit the ALEC'S DREAM. As soon as he touched down Jade and Phyllis, still dressed in their Kan-ji clothes, ran to the building. With swords in hand, Jessie thought they looked like a couple of invading pirates, and just as Jessie told them, the side access door wasn't locked. Jade pulled it open, letting Phyllis slide in first. A tense minute later, one of the large dock doors rolled open, exposing Phyllis standing in its center waving them in.

"If we want to travel through this section, we'll need to disguise the ship somehow." Leland said as they sat at the galley table eating breakfast." We'll search these storehouses, maybe we can find some paint or something."

Sofie sank in her seat.

"What's wrong, Sof?" Jessie noticed her mood change.

"I... I... uh, I just don't want us to be split up again, I don't want to be caught again." There was a tremor in her voice.

"You and I will stay together in the ship. Jessie will go with Phyllis and Jade." Leland said.

Sofie nodded despondently, "Sure."

The warehouse was huge. It was filled with aisles of storage racks stretching to the ceiling. Jessie, along with Phyllis and Jade, wandered the aisles that seemed to go on for miles. "This isn't going to work," Jessie grumbled. The markings on the containers were just numbers without any descriptions. "We need to find an office. Maybe it'll have some documents or a computer terminal."

"I noticed stairs next to the access door we came in," Jade replied shaking her head. "I should've thought of that earlier. Follow me."

They did find an office, and it looked like they hit the jackpot as its walls were lined with filing cabinets. Jessie headed straight for a desk in front of a large window. Powering up its antique looking monitor, her fingers attacked the old typewriter style keyboard entering passcodes and protocols to access the systems. Soon the building inventory lists were scrolling by.

"I can't find any paint. Should I check out the other buildings?" The light from the monitor reflected off Jessie's face in the darkened office.

"Can you find any coverings, like tarp?" Phyllis looked over Jessie's shoulder at the screen filled with odd-looking characters.

"Here's some blankets... um... hey, how about some netting." Jessie said while typing in different queries.

"Sure, where is it?" Phyllis straightened up, looking at the aisles.

"I don't know. All I have are these letters and numbers. They could be some kind of coordinate." Jessie pointed at the text on the screen.

"I don't remember seeing any symbols like in the aisles."

"Hey look," Jade said turning to the filing cabinets. On the front of each drawer were stickers with pairs of characters similar to the ones Jessie was pointing to.

"I bet that's it." Jessie jumped out of her chair to study the drawer fronts and soon held up a folder filled with papers. "There's a location; aisle 52, rack 133, level 3," she said, squinting at the handwritten form.

"Level 3, we're going to need some kind of fork truck. Jessie, can you circle those numbers for us and write down the translation?" Phyllis asked.

Rummaging through the desk drawers, she found an odd-looking slender pencil and wrote the numbers on the front of the file folder.

"Jessie, I want you to get back to the ship. We'll get the netting," Phyllis pointed to the ALEC'S DREAM parked on the loading docks.

Following them down the stairs, Jessie watched Phyllis and Jade jog towards the back of the warehouse, then instead of returning to the ALEC'S DREAM, she ran back up the stairs, back to the office.

#####

Seeing the lights of an odd-looking vehicle approach from between some aisles, Leland grabbed his sword. As it neared, he relaxed recognizing the driver's blond hair flowing behind. It was Phyllis.

"Where's Jessie?" Leland asked as Phyllis backed the truck next to the ALEC'S DREAM.

"She's not here? She was with us at the bottom of the stairs; she was to come back here." She pointed to the stairs leading up to the warehouse office.

"Hmm," Jade looked up at Jessie's glowing face in the office window.

"I think we need to see what's going on," Leland said and by the time he arrived at the base of the stairs, Jessie was already running down to meet him, her face flushed.

"They're going to attack Earth!" she said.

"What? Slow down, are you positive?"

"When I was looking up the inventories, I noticed this is normally one of the busiest warehouses. I was wondering why it's so dead here," she told him as they walked back to the ALEC'S DREAM. "I had to go back to find out why. I was worried they would come back and didn't want to be caught here." Jessie caught her breath when they reached the ship where Phyllis, Jade, and Sofie were pulling the netting over its shimmering hull.

Sofie, who was on top of the ship, looked down at Jessie. "Hey, you had us worried. Did Leland let you have it?" Jessie just grinned not wanting to upset her while she was balancing over their heads.

"OK, what makes you think they're at war with Earth? Just because they're not working at this warehouse doesn't mean that they're at war," Leland said as they climbed back into the ship.

"The portals are used for receiving and transporting materials from other planets, and the inventory system lists all the portals. The only things being transported are ships, war type ships," Jessie replied. "That made me dig farther where I found two plans, at least what looked like plans."

"You mean files?" Leland asked.

"They really don't use files; they group their data a little different." Jessie continued. "As far as I could tell, one plan was for occupation, the other was for extermination. The extermination plan is active."

"It looks like Eugene was right," Leland said. "But I don't understand, can this Olivia have that much power to decide to start a war with a planet for the sake of exterminating it? Isn't there some kind of chain of command?"

Jessie sat down looking serious. "You're right, there is."

Jade, Phyllis, and Sofie joined them having finished up with the netting. Jessie caught them up with what she discovered before getting back to Leland's last question. "You see, somehow my mind was transferred to another planet," Jessie said. "There was this creature, Loomius. I thought he was their god but Eugene sure didn't think so. Loomius kept asking me about Adam and Eve." Jessie had to stop and gather herself as memories of the pain returned. Sofie sat next to her and put her arm around her.

"He tried to, I don't know, kill me? Or just overpower me with his mind. I think he was able to read everything in my head." Jessie shuddered.

"You don't have to tell us," Jade told her.

"No, I need to. You see, I could also see into his mind. I think that the Kan-ji has been searching for us, for Earth, for a long time. They have some kind of deep-down hatred for us."

"How can they know about us and not even know who we are?" Phyllis sat across from her.

"I can't say why. It was... just when Loomius was in my mind... there was so much hatred. He was looking for us. I was sure of it. It's my fault. I let him know who we were." Jessie trembled at the thought.

"You couldn't help it," Leland told her.

"Is this Loomius a Kan-ji?" Sofie asked.

"I don't know. I think he's an angel."

"He doesn't sound like an angel to me," Jade said.

"No, I mean a real angel, I saw visions in his mind," Jessie shook her head. "Most of them were dark and horrible, but deep down there was good, visions of God."

"Maybe you were dreaming?" Leland suggested.

Jessie, remembering how her dad treated her after telling him about the incident in the dark storeroom just nodded. "I guess..."

"I thought Eugene said Olivia took command by causing Loomius to mistrust the old commander of this ship." Sofie wondered. "So, who gave the orders to attack Earth, Olivia or Loomius?"

"That's a very good question. I sense a double-cross," Leland answered.

They sat silently for a while in the galley. Sofie got up and made some coffee. Jade made her some hot chocolate.

"Can you get any more information out of that terminal?" Leland asked Jessie.

"Sure. It's connected to their mainframe. The computer doesn't do a lot, but it stores a lot of data that's pretty easy to get at. It's kind of strange that they don't have a lot of security." Jessie said as she grabbed her cup and left for the office with Leland and Jade.

"Funny, I was just wondering where all their portals were," Jessie had been staring at the monitor for the last twenty minutes. "When I ran across one that they're planning on setting up outside our solar system."

"How do you know it's outside the solar system?" Leland asked.

"All the portals have coordinates. Most of them are different by just a decimal point since they're all located in or near this ship. This one is different."

"How do you know where it is?" Jade looked at the odd characters on the screen.

"I just know," Jessie said with a look of amazement. "Wow, my dad had to make up a game for me to learn algebraic coordinates. Now I actually understand spatial coordinates."

"Can you find the reason for the portal?" Leland ran his hand through his shoulder-length hair as Jessie just realized he had a crew cut before going into the Cheorgh healing chamber.

"To bring in ships, lots of them," Jessie continued typing. "I found the orders. It's to bring in all the fleets, even the other Seeker ships, ones like this one... wow," she said as characters kept scrolling by.

"Why put the portal outside of the solar system?" Jade asked. "Why not just put it near Earth? Is there some physical reason for that?"

"I don't understand either. As far as I know, they could open a portal anywhere. But according to these orders, ships have already been sent to open it."

"We're going to need to get hold of Earth. Jessie, do you think you can contact your mom?" Leland asked as Jessie smiled and nodded. "I think we've found enough, let's get back to the ship."

"I can talk to my mom?" Sofie jumped up clapping her hands. Leland wanted to say no, but after what they've been through, he changed his mind.

"Just for a moment or two, remember we need to be quick before they track our radio transmissions," Leland said as hope sprang into the kid's faces.

"Do you know where they're setting up the portal?" Jade asked Jessie.

Jessie nodded. "I know where, but I need to figure out how to tell them the coordinates."

"Can you disguise them?" Leland asked. "If your message is intercepted, they might change their location."

"I'll try," Jessie furrowed her brows.

#####

"Mom?" Sofie called, "Mom, this is Sofie, are you there?" There was no answer. Sofie repeated.

"Sofie!" it was Dolores. "Sofie, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm OK. Jessie helped free us. I can't tell you anymore in case they're listening. I love you mom, see you soon. Here's Jessie." Tears ran down her face. She wanted to say more, but Leland had her rehearse her statement before they called.

"Bye Sofie... soon? How soon?" Sofie wanted to answer but was warned by Leland not to give that information away.

"Mom?" Jessie asked.

"Hi, Jessie," Jodi answered without delay.

"Mom, listen, the Kan-ji are planning on attacking the Earth." Jessie ignored her mom's _'what?_ ' response. "They have a portal technology, sort of like a wormhole where they can transport stuff through space. They're setting one up outside the solar system to bring in the rest of the fleet," she continued past her mom's interruptions. "Tell dad Sheldon's welcome to go to Stan's office at noon on July first. Write that down, dad should know."

"I got it, Sheldon's welcome to go to Stan's office... but I don't understand," Jodi responded.

"See you soon," Jessie said holding back her tears.

"Sorry, but we need to terminate our communications, signing out," Leland interrupted and turned off the radio.

"We need to hurry," Leland said as daylight turned to night outside.

### CHAPTER 25 – THE MISSION

"Excuse me," Alec bumped into a technician pushing a cart filled with electronics.

"I wonder what's going on," Clay said as they walked upstream through a crowded corridor.

"I've never seen the base this busy. It's like rush hour." Alec sidestepped two people as he tried keeping up with Clay.

"The operations room is this way," Clay made a sharp left down a side corridor that was just as crowded. Alec dropped even further behind as he got caught on the wrong side of a desk sized floating food platform being pushed by one of the cafeteria workers.

Grabbing one of the pastries on it he said, "Thanks Mary," she gave him a wink in return.

"Do you really think he'll give us a ship?" Alec asked finally catching up to Clay taking a bite of the raspberry Danish. After returning from their disaster of a meeting with the Kan-ji, all Alec and Clay could think of was to join their wives; and not just to wait for their kids to escape, but to attempt a rescue, and they needed a ship.

"I guess we'll find out," Clay pushed open the door to the operations room. It was filled with people. Most sat at desks working on laptops, computers and communications equipment. They were the same people Clay and Alec had gotten to know over the past weeks. Large monitors along the walls showed news channels along with video communications.

"Dolores!" Clay said looking at a large monitor next to Joshua. Alec looked up to see Jodi and Dolores talking with Joshua.

"Oh, hi Clay," Dolores replied as he stepped next to Joshua.

Alec hurried to stand next to them. "Hi Alec," Jodi said as he entered her view.

Joshua greeted them with a smile, "I was expecting you."

"We want a ship," Clay got right to the point.

"Sure. I've got one ready for you," Joshua answered.

"Huh?" his answer caught Alec by surprise.

"Alec," Jodi said excitedly looking down at him from the monitor. "We've just talked with the kids. They're OK and together. They're planning on escaping."

"Did they say how?" Clay asked.

"We couldn't talk very long. They called us for another reason. We've just been discussing it with Joshua," Dolores answered.

"I'll explain while I show you your ship," Joshua told them. "Girls, will you excuse us?" he said to their images.

"OK, talk to you later," they said together, and the monitor went blank.

"What's with all the activity?" Alec asked as Joshua guided them out. Joshua pointed to one of the monitors. On it was a view of the giant Seeker ship. Around it, groups of dots were moving, like clouds of insects. Alec and Clay stepped up to them for a closer look.

"Oh no," Clay said.

"Look!" Alec pointed to another monitor showing the news. Behind the anchorman, the same scene of the seeker ship was shown. "How are they getting that video? I know it's coming from the ANIMUS. Are they hacking us?"

"We're streaming it on the web. In fact, we're making public most of the data we're collecting," Joshua said. "Follow me, I'll fill you in," he rushed them out of the room.

"Were those ships?" Clay asked.

"Yes. Your wives told us that Jessie found that the Kan-ji are planning an invasion. Those pictures confirm it."

"Who are we flying out there with?" Alec asked, expecting they'd be flying with a squadron.

Joshua didn't answer right away as they worked their way through the crowded corridors on their way to the hanger. "You're not going to the seeker ship. I've got other plans for you," he finally answered.

"We need to rescue our kids. With all those ships out there I think we could sneak in during all the confusion. Maybe we can get some help from Eugene," Clay said.

Joshua remained silent while they neared the once secured hanger doors that were now propped open. A constant stream of people came and went carrying, pushing and pulling all sorts of equipment and devices. Once inside, they found the hanger abuzz with activity. The hundreds of ships that were in pieces just a few short weeks ago were now whole again; shimmering with their new coverings of anti-gravity blankets. Many were flying in and out through a large opening in the ceiling.

Looking around Alec observed. "Even with all these ships, I still find it hard to believe we could make a dent against their firepower."

"We do have a couple of more bases like this one," Joshua told them.

"What?" Alec stopped and stared at him. Clay did the same. He should've known. Joshua always had a backup plan, why wouldn't he have a backup base. Even though he understood Joshua's intent, he still felt hurt his technology was being shared with strangers.

"Well more like three," Joshua corrected.

"That gives us more than a thousand ships," Alec wished the number was more like ten thousand.

"Fifteen hundred," Joshua corrected him again.

"How come I didn't know about these other bases?" Clay quipped. Alec grinned at the thought that Clay had been one-upped by Joshua. He knew Clay prided himself on knowing everything that went on at the base.

"Sorry about that, but we monitored all your activities. We simply made that information available to our other bases. I have very little contact with them." Joshua said.

Alec watched Clay's expression go from angry to hurt to just accepting the fact that Joshua was right in doing what he did.

"Same with you, Alec. We passed along your designs and modifications. We also needed to transfer some of your engineers and techs," he looked at him. "You see, we needed each of these bases to be run independently. We're preparing for the worst, and if any one base is compromised, we need the others to stay operational."

"We're just concerned about our families," Clay said flatly.

"Are fifteen hundred ships enough to take them out?" Alec asked.

"The military told us to stay out of this," Joshua said. "For now, our job is to collect intelligence and do reconnaissance."

"Are you actually going to follow their orders?" Clay asked.

"We need time to retrofit all our ships with the Alec-Blasters," Joshua said.

"What?" Alec said. It was his latest invention; built on a similar concept of the weapon he gave Jessie. "I thought there were only a couple of prototypes made. Didn't we decide that they weren't ready for use?" he asked nervously.

"Sorry Alec, but they're in production and being installed as we speak," Joshua said.

"That's not good," Alec recalled their initial tests. He never expected the devastation, especially from a low power test. After they had fired at a burned-out vehicle, the glowing blast didn't dissipate after destroying it like they expected, the small glowing ball continued traveling until taking out a large chunk of a mountain a quarter mile away. They named the hole in the mountain 'Alec's Pass'. Worst of all they named his gravity pulse weapon the 'Alec-Blaster'. "I thought we decided that there was too much chance of collateral damage."

"Stan figured out how to control its range," Joshua said. "We ran a few more tests."

Alec shook his head. "I thought you weren't going to do any more tests on Earth, we agreed that if we were going to do more tests, we'd do it in space, where we couldn't do much damage."

"Don't worry, we did. You're looking at the test vehicle," he said as they stepped into a natural alcove at the back of the cavernous hangar.

Alec expected to see another of the modified shuttle busses like the one their wives were given, but instead he saw a World War II bomber. Clay brightened and immediately walked around examining it.

"This is a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar," he said in awe. "I've read about them but never seen one in person, sweet."

"You've got a good eye," Joshua smiled proudly. "I found it in an old aircraft boneyard. We replaced the engines with weapons and radar and cut down the wings. It's the best craft we have."

Alec looked at the old plane. It was large with twin tail sections extending back from the wing engines. The main fuselage was monstrous, shaped like a giant elongated egg. There were also four small turrets, two on top and two on the bottom along with clusters of missiles mounted on the wings.

"I don't recall turrets on this model," Clay examined one of the small three-foot round dark glass bubbles attached to the craft's bottom side.

"Alec-Blasters," Joshua said.

"Nice. Four of them I see. That should give us plenty of fire-power," Clay said admiringly.

"Would you like a tour of the REFLECTION?" He opened the side-door of its huge main fuselage. "At one time it could have held over sixty passengers, we modified it and added a galley, a bathroom, and some cabins. Even with all these amenities, there's still plenty of room left in the cargo bay," Joshua said as they walked down the hallway separating the cargo area from the pilot's cabin.

"Very impressive," Clay stuck his head in the pilot's cabin.

The inside reminded Alec of an over-sized RV. "What made you build this?" The detailing of the ship was impressive. Everything, from the interior wood trim to the artfully painted name on the outside must have taken months, or even longer.

"This was to be my command ship. It was our first project," Joshua sounded regretful.

"Nice, really nice," Alec sat at the galley's dinner table. "So, what is going on? What's our mission?"

Joshua sat at the other side of the ample galley table while Clay leaned against the counter. "Your kids told us more than just about the pending invasion."

Alec gave all his attention as Clay sat next to him.

"First, I need to give you a little background." Joshua started. "Do you remember that listening device your wives and Sheldon attached to that Seeker ship?"

Alec nodded. Clay folded his hands in front of him while waiting for Joshua to continue.

"As you know we've found that the Kan-ji technology is in general, not as advanced as ours. As a matter of fact, we have found that it's quite a bit more primitive." Joshua paused letting it sink in.

"I've wondered that myself," Clay said. "I've yet to see anything impressive from them, other than those oversized ships."

Alec nodded in agreement. "But they must have a power source we're not aware of. If you think about it, mankind's main limitation to space travel is not having enough power to leave the Earth's gravitational pull."

"Right, we saw the power of those spacecraft," Clay added.

"I wondered what was fueling them," Alec looked at Joshua for the answer.

"I can't tell you that," he told him. "But we have found they have a kind of transport technology. Jessie called it a portal."

"That makes sense. If they could continually transport fuel to those ships so they wouldn't need to carry its extra weight," Alec sat back thinking. "Those ships we saw gathering about that Seeker ship. If they're arriving through those portals, that pretty much gives them an unlimited supply."

Joshua nodded. "We will need to target that Seeker ship to defeat them."

"No! Not with the girls on board!" Clay stood.

"We won't until they are safe. But we can't stop the military," Joshua said gently.

"What?" Alec asked.

"The military is planning on sending nukes," Joshua told him.

Alec and Clay sat in silence. "We need to rescue the girls," Alec concluded.

"I don't think you need to worry, yet. We estimate it will take at least a day to prepare the missiles, and about 2 more to reach the moon. Also, those missiles won't be cloaked and will likely have radio telemetry, which the Kan-ji seems to be adept at tracking. And mostly, I'm not sure if the nukes would do that Seeker ship any damage." Joshua smiled, "and I doubt they could get past our own ships."

Alec and Clay relaxed... somewhat.

"But if they have that portal technology, why do they need ships?" Clay asked.

"I can't tell you the details. My only guess is that they need ships to carry the portals, or at least start them." Joshua answered. "Actually, we've found it strange that the Kan-ji have never tried trading with Earth for any perishables. Now that Jessie told us that, the ships' inventories and personnel are likely being replenished and refreshed through the portals, it all makes sense."

"Inventories? How did you get their inventories?" Clay asked.

"We need to thank Sheldon and Ernie for their little escapade getting that secret communications equipment. Once set up on the surface of the seeker ship, it allowed us to monitor their internal communications, even hack into their computers. We've found them extremely primitive and oddly enough, not very secure. They must not have discovered viruses yet."

"You learned all of that from their inventory databases? How were you able to translate them?" Alec asked.

"Ernie's been downloading the ships computer cores; he has his own little Internet army and they've been busy translating on-line. The only problem is there's no keeping it secret," Joshua answered.

"So, what's our assignment?" Clay fidgeted.

"Jessie found they are opening a portal on the outskirts of our solar system. It seems to be a big one. Its purpose is to bring in more Seeker ships, and fleets."

"Why? It would seem that they could do the job with what they have from that one Seeker." Clay wondered.

"That I cannot tell you," Joshua said. "I also don't know why it's been set up so far away. But it does give us an advantage; we can stop them before they can open it."

"So that's our assignment," Alec concluded. "But why us?"

"You know the directions. Besides, we need our best pilots here on Earth."

"Directions?" Clay asked.

Joshua looked at Alec. "We believe Jessie gave us the coordinates. She said you would understand." He pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket. "She said 'Sheldon's welcome to go to Stan's office at noon on July first.'"

Alec paused in thought then began to laugh. "We're going to need some maps of the solar system, no, better yet, a planetarium program. But we should be able to figure it out."

"What does it mean?" Clay asked.

"Sheldon MOON," Alec was surprised only he thought of it. He felt a connection with Jessie knowing that their minds worked so much alike.

"Moon? Oh yeah, well no," Clay shook his head, "So what? The moon isn't anywhere near the outskirts of the solar system."

Alec smiled. 'Good' he thought. Jessie's little puzzle was enough to confuse Clay and Joshua which means it might be good enough to fool any Kan-ji that might have intercepted it. "The moon is the starting point; the origin. 'Welcome' is the welcome sign of the lobby at GraviTych while Stan's office is, well, Stan's office. That is the direction, or the vector we follow. We just need a starting point, and that's the moon. Since the moon is constantly moving, we also need a start time."

"So that's the significance of noon on July first," Joshua smiled.

"Right, the Earth is spinning and traveling around the sun, so the vector is constantly changing direction. Noon on July first locks the vector in place. We take that directional vector and place it where the moon will be on that day, and head in that direction."

"That sounds interesting, but..." Clay said gently.

"But what?" Alec looked curiously at him.

"Jessie said that? Didn't she have, well, trouble with math? I mean, that's a pretty sophisticated set of instructions. Anyway, how would she know the position of Earth and the moon and GraviTych on noon of July first?"

Alec had thought about that and about how much she seemed to have changed when they last met. There was something about her that had grown. He trusted her. "I don't know, but I know she's right," he said with confidence.

"Well, let's figure out our direction and get going then." Clay nodded. "I believe we have a portal to blow up."

### CHAPTER 26 – IT BEGINS

"Ninja Master this is Ninja 3; we have the target in sight." Joshua watched the monitor. So did everyone else in the operations room.

"Repeat Ninja Master this is Ninja 3, target in sight. What are your orders?" Joshua felt the eyes of everyone in the control room turn to him. The view on the monitor showed a formation of four large spacecraft surround by dozens of diamond-shaped fighters. It was the first Kan-ji formation to reach Earth, and they were flying over the Atlantic in the direction of New York City.

"Ninja 3, this is Ninja Master, hold your position," Joshua responded. He felt, more than heard a collective sigh of disappointment as the operations room returned to its activities.

"Looks like a destroyer and three cruisers," Ernie said as dozens of images of Kan-ji ships scrolled by on the monitor to their left, images collected by their cloaked observation ships. "Along with forty of their fighters, I guess this would be an attack squadron. I wonder what their plan is."

"Our orders haven't changed; we are still to observe only," Joshua sat at his desk. The monitors around the room began showing more and more formations. Similar requests came in from Ninja 5 and Ninja 12. Joshua gave the same response. Requests soon came in from all their 'observation' ships, more than Joshua could respond to and was forced to give standing orders to his operations crew, leaving them to handle the responses.

"Look!" Ernie pointed to the Ninja 3 monitor. A squadron of Earths fighters and bombers were engaging the Kan-ji formation. Ninja 3 moved up and away, giving them a better view of the action. The Earth fighters had smarter weapons and better maneuverability, but the Kan-ji ships had more power, plus their pilots could handle more acceleration. As the battle wore on, it became apparent that the Earth's fighters had an advantage. Unfortunately, whenever a Kan-ji fighter went down, a replacement would almost magically appear; never to give the Earth's forces a clean shot at the larger destroyers and cruisers.

"Sally, do we have any views of Earth from space?" Joshua asked one of the operators.

"Yep, screen eleven." She pointed to a monitor or their right.

"Damn. Can you magnify?" Joshua asked. As the view of Earth grew, he could see thousands of ships in orbit. Not just circling the equator, but along all lines of latitude.

"That's where their replacements are coming from. There must be a command ship somewhere." Joshua wondered out loud.

"None that we see sir, but space is pretty big, and we do have limited resources," Sally said. She put her hand on her headset. "Sir, they've started... screen four," she pointed.

The scene was devastating. The large destroyer ship was firing an array of white-hot shafts of plasma at the ground. As the ship moved forward, it left a miles wide path of total destruction.

"Ernie, do you have a map?" Joshua turned to the hulk of a man sitting at his side.

"Can do" Ernie typed into his keyboard. "Screen one, it's a partial but it's a pretty good sample."

"Wow." Joshua stood. The plot showed only the formations over North America. There were hundreds, all moving laterally; some east to west, others moving west to east but all laterally. Their starting points were scattered, but it was obvious that once they were done, the entire North America continent would be destroyed in a systematic clean sweep.

"What about the rest of the planet?" Joshua asked.

"Same" Ernie looked pleadingly at Joshua. "I think it's time we step in."

Looking at the monitors, Joshua saw nothing but destruction playing out.

"They sure are arrogant," Ernie said. "There's no strategy, they're just leveling the planet. I wonder why? With that kind of power, why not just blow us up?"

Joshua agreed. "It's as though they're relishing it; like eating gourmet cheesecake at the end of a good meal." They watched helplessly in silence.

"Sir!" Sally turned from her monitor, "We need to do something."

"Contact Ninja 3, take out that destroyer," Joshua told her.

"Aye, sir," she excitedly turned to her console and after giving her orders, she pointed to the screen. A view of the Kan-ji destroyer settled into its center. Still over the Atlantic, New York City could be seen a few miles in the background. Its energy beam was not yet active.

"Ninja 3, firing at power level 5." The voice came over the radio. An elongated bolt of energy appeared from the bottom of the screen shooting towards the destroyer. It dropped from view as Ninja 3 quickly moved to a higher altitude and 90 degrees off to the side.

"Remember that he's cloaked; that bolt just gave away his position," Joshua said to a puzzled-looking Ernie.

Ninja 3 still maintained its view of the Kan-ji destroyer. The bolt tore a hole through its center where it immediately exploded into an ultra-bright white fireball. Pieces of the ship fell to the ocean while the fireball remained in place slowly shrinking in size until winking out.

The Kan-ji fighters scrambled like a disturbed bee's nest, firing bolts and missiles at the spot from where the Ninja 3 fired its destructive bolt. The Earth fighters and bombers quickly engaged finishing off the Kan-ji fighters and battleships in their confusion.

"I think we have a plan of attack," Joshua said. "We take out the larger battleships, the Earth forces take out the rest. Sally... spread the word. Team, you know what to do."

"What about all those Kan-ji reinforcements?" Ernie asked.

"I bet it takes a heck of a lot more time to replace one of those bigger ships... and they have to run out of them sometimes, don't they?" Joshua picked up his phone. "It's time I have a talk with Admiral Davies."

#####

"This is Legion 8; we've lost our cloaking."

"Damn, not another." Joshua's eyes were bleary. It was 15 hours since his forces had joined the battle, turning it quickly in their favor. But the Kan-ji recovered doubling their replacements and sizes of their squadrons. Fortunately for Earth, those efforts were wasted as it gave Joshua's forces more targets... two for the price of one, so to say. The Kan-ji then changed tactics as their fighters filled the surrounding air with blue lightning bolts; the same discharge that came from their swords. Joshua didn't know if they planned it or were just lucky. Even though the discharge didn't do any serious damage to their ships, it disabled their cloaking, just like it disabled the cloaking on their car in D.C. Now only a few cloaked ships remained, and Joshua knew they wouldn't remain cloaked for long.

"Sir, Ninja 15 isn't responding," Sally turned from her console. "That makes 12 ships down."

With their ships no longer cloaked, they were vulnerable; even with their shielding they couldn't withstand the blasts from the destroyer's energy cannons. "We need to pair up our ships," he said to Sally, who had stayed in her position throughout the battles. "Let's realign our forces." Turning to Ernie he said. "That cuts our range in half and there's no sign of them running out of reinforcements."

"What are we going to do?" Ernie asked. "According to my sources, the Earth's military is beginning to run low on weapons."

"Look at the devastation," Joshua pointed to the monitors showing the feeds from the observation ships. "We don't have enough fighters here to protect Earth. We can't afford to send them away to try to destroy a 30-mile long spaceship make of rock." Joshua thought aloud his options.

"That Seeker ship needs to be destroyed," Ernie concluded.

"I promised Alec and Clay that I wouldn't let that happen until their kids are safe," Joshua put his head in his hands. "What's the status of those nukes?" Earth's separate military forces had all fired groupings of modified nuclear-armed missiles toward the giant Seeker ship that was still hiding behind the moon. Some of the missiles have been found and destroyed by the Kan-ji, yet others had escaped detection and were still on target.

"There are 3 groups remaining, and it's still at least 35 hours before they reach the ship."

"Let's hope the kids get out of there in time," Joshua was now racked with guilt at sending Alec and Clay to the edge of the solar system, while their kids were still stuck on that Seeker ship. "I should've let them attempt a rescue," he said to himself.

"What should we do?" Ernie asked.

"For now, we need to prioritize our efforts to take out any threats to major population centers until..." Joshua couldn't finish saying ' _until_ _the Seeker ship is destroyed_ ' with Alec's and Clay's kids on board.

"I hope we can hold out that long," Ernie said.

#####

"Are you sure we're heading in the right direction?" Clay asked Alec for the tenth time as he stared out at the vastness of space.

"I'm positive. We just need to be patient." Alec knew Clay was beginning to doubt Jessie's directions, but something inside told him to trust her, which is what he did. "They've got a day head start on us and we don't know how fast they can travel."

Clay checked the pilot's console, "Should I give us more speed?"

"If we go any faster, we might overshoot them without ever seeing them," Alec warned. "But I was thinking, maybe we could accelerate in small jumps, maybe in distances equal to the range of our radar."

"That might be an idea. But would it really save us time?" Clay wondered.

"Well, it'll at least keep us busy," Alec settled down in the copilot's chair. The cockpit was actually a full-sized control cabin, complete with wall to wall monitors, navigations, weapons and communications stations. Clay sat at the command console.

"But still if we're just a half a degree off, we could miss them by thousands of miles." Clay was being pessimistic and realistic at the same time, and Alec didn't want to hear that.

"We've checked and double checked. You did the measurements at GraviTych." Alec said, referring to their small reconnaissance mission to their now abandoned GraviTych building. He was pleased to find the drawings still on display in the lobby. There could be no doubt about their measurements, only about Jessie's instructions.

"It's just that space is so big and we're so small. Too bad we don't have access to their portals," Clay said it more to himself, staring out at the Milky Way spread out in front of them.

"You know, maybe I could..." Alec's voice trailed off as he left the bridge for the cargo area. Clay checked the controls and followed him.

"You've got me thinking. If the portals are wormholes then there should be some sort of spatial anomaly, where space itself is broken or folded in on itself causing turbulence in the normal flow of space. Since our anti-gravity is based on redirecting and manipulating this flow, I was thinking that we should also be able to observe the flow, kind of like how lightning radar works. I can build a sub-space antenna to 'listen' for any static in the normal space flows, I'll need to connect it up to my laptop." Alec pointed to the laptop that never left his side.

"Anything I can do to help?" Clay asked, knowing there wasn't.

"Yes, pray."

Clay nodded and went back to the bridge to keep looking for that needle in a haystack.

Clay woke with Alec fumbling with an odd-looking shimmering silver dish antenna, obviously built with the anti-gravity material, as he tried connecting it to the navigation console.

"Need a hand?" Clay asked as he sat up.

"Hold this." Alec handed him the dish. Clay grabbed it by its base while Alec drilled mounting holes in the console. "Rats, I don't have any mounting screws. I'll be right back." Alec said.

Clay waited patiently as Alec fumbled around in the back room. He came back a few minutes later empty-handed. "My turn," he handed the antenna back to Alec. Clay replaced the drill bit with a screwdriver bit and proceeded to remove screws from various consoles around the control cabin. "Is this enough?" he held out his handful of new screws.

"What are you waiting for?" Alec replied as Clay mumbled something incomprehensible and finished attaching the dish.

"I know it's a little late to be asking this, but shouldn't this be mounted outside?" Clay asked after tightening the last screw.

"No, we're detecting space anomalies. Matter, or mass, has nothing to do with this," Alec told him as he started wiring his dish to a small circuit board.

"I still don't understand it." Clay said. "I've never really understood your anti-gravity stuff."

"Well, according to our theory of space, you might say that matter is really emptiness while space is full," Alec tried explaining. "The smallest unit of matter is an atom, not the smallest particle, but the smallest working unit. I came up with the idea that somewhere inside an atom there is a hole in the universe. It's either the neutron or just the emptiness between the atom's particles. The larger the atom is, the larger the hole, and the larger the hole, the more space that gets sucked into it."

"How can we feel gravity, if matter is nothing?" Clay asked.

"I think it's the electrons, I think they're the only part of an atom that can interact with space. So, when they spin, they can actually redirect and manipulate the flow of space. According to my theory, that's what a magnetic field is; a line of spinning space caused by the space flowing through a magnet where all the electrons are in line and spinning together. That's what makes iron so unique, the alignment of its atoms creates that rare 'spin tunnel' effect." Alec said as he finished wiring the dish to the circuit board.

"What about other metals, like copper? Why is iron so special?" Clay wondered.

"Since the atoms in iron are naturally so perfectly lined up, all one needs to do is pass an electronic field through it. Once the electrons are spinning together the field becomes permanent, a perfect harmony between the spinning field of space and the electrons in the iron matrix."

Clay was almost convinced Alec knew what he was talking about.

So then how is this dish TV antenna of yours going to find anything?" Clay finally got to his point.

"It all comes down to our anti-gravity blanket material. You know that it's a collection of our original anti-gravity boxes but miniaturized so there are thousands of these boxes per square foot. Up until now, we've been using these boxes to manipulate the flow of space by running an electric current through them. The connecting microfibers of wires create a giant grid, sort of like the 2-dimensional memory chips in our computers." Alec continued as he connected another cable between his laptop and a connector underneath the navigation console. "But now instead of pushing current through it, I'm monitoring the microcurrents coming out of each micro box, currents that are created by the natural flow of space."

"That's not helping. Space is really big, so how can this little 3-foot dish detect anything?" Clay said spinning it around in its mounting.

"Have you ever wondered why you can see a star millions of light years away?" Alec was now typing into his laptop. "You can blink, move a little to the left, or to the right and the star is still there and at the same time, millions of stars or beams of light and energy can be seen coming from all directions. Wouldn't you think that all these light and energy beams would be bumping into each other, causing distortions or canceling each other out, like waves on water?"

"I know I'm repeating myself, but I still don't understand," Clay shook his head.

"Well, my theory is that each 'piece' of space, whatever space is, contains a memory of all the energy passing through it in all directions. Also, each piece of space can transfer the energy going through it to neighboring pieces, in all directions at once," Alec said as he typed into the keyboard of the navigation console. "So, if each piece of space contains this memory of the energy passing through it, wouldn't it also have the same memory of its own flow or potential energy? So, I should be able to get samples from thousands of pieces of space, say one from each micro anti-gravity box of the anti-gravity blanket. Then triangulate the energy flows to determine all the sources along with their distances, there," Alec said activating his new navigation program. The main view screen lit up showing a grid with thousands of different colored specs.

"What the heck?" Alec said looking it. "There shouldn't be that many distortions." He studied his laptop looking for a programming bug.

Clay sat back and studied the monitor. "Alec, look at the pattern of those specs," he said interrupting his debugging. "Those specs are the Kan-ji ships. Look that cluster is from the Seeker ship. And that's the line of ships between the Seeker ship and Earth. Those are the attacking Kan-ji ships," Clay pointed to the various patterns.

Alec slowly looked up from his laptop, realizing Clay was right. "That means that each one of the Kan-ji ships has a portal to fuel their engines just like we thought."

Clay searched the view screen for their target. "There!" he finally said, pointing to a small grouping of specs on the opposite side of the screen. "Now if you could calculate the distances and directions we'll be in great shape."

Taking the hint, Alec bent over his laptop and went back to work.

#####

"I'm getting confused." Jessie stared out the ALEC'S DREAM'S front window. It was dark and they've been traveling the 'roads' for nearly an hour... flying at street level trying to avoid detection from above. In her mind she could see their destination in the back wall, but her memory didn't contain any maps of the roads and alleyways they were traveling.

"Concentrate," Leland repeated. He was doing his best to navigate another dark alley while attempting to avoid any lighted buildings, trucks or Kan-ji.

"I've lost it," Jessie said. "I don't know where to go. It feels like we're going in circles. I can't tell the front wall from the back anymore," she sat, crossing her arms.

"What about the rest of you?" Leland asked.

"I'm sorry, but I'm lost too," Phyllis said in resignation.

"Me too," added Jade.

"Same here," Sofie sat next to Jessie.

Leland set the ALEC'S DREAM down on the road they were following. "Any suggestions?" he asked in frustration.

"I think we need to fly up over the buildings," Jessie said.

"She's got a point Leland," Phyllis agreed.

"OK," he grumbled though he silently agreed with them and abruptly ascended to just above the buildings and quickly flew in the direction of the back wall; still eight miles away. Jessie, along with Sofie, Phyllis and Jade ran to the front windows to help pick out their path.

"How do things look out there? Are we drawing any attention?" Leland asked. He was now standing in front of his pilot's chair while still working the controls.

"All clear," Phyllis answered.

"Looks like clear sailing from now on," Jessie said.

Everyone stopped and looked at her.

"Oh no..." Sofie spoke for the entire crew, and of course it wasn't long before their clear sailing came to an end.

#####

"Alec?" Clay asked looking around at the swirling whiteness around them.

"Huh?" Alec said, seeing Clay standing in front of him. "What are you doing here? This is supposed to be my dream."

"Dream? A dream? That makes sense," Clay scratched his head. "So, who are you?" he said to a stranger standing off to the side.

"Oh, that's Shaun," Alec introduced.

"So, is this the guy you told me about?" Clay looked at the oriental man still wearing his caterer's outfit.

Stepping forward, Clay extended his hand, "Alec mentioned you to me."

Shaun looked questioningly at him, "Gentlemen," he began "I have brought you here for a purpose."

Clay looked at Alec, "You have very interesting dreams," then looking back at Shaun he asked, "Can you tell me where we are?"

"Can't you see were in the ship's galley?" Alec said confused by his question as he could clearly see the ship around them. But he could also tell he was in Shaun's dream world by the swirling mists and the fact that things felt just a bit out of kilter. It was as though he could see through the ship's walls if he moved his head just so.

"No," Clay looked around, then at his feet. "I just see what looks like a painting on the floor, a 3-D painting to boot."

Alec looked around. Funny, he thought that things didn't seem the same as when he first met Shaun. "Clay's got a point. This doesn't look normal, or whatever normal is for your little part of the universe."

"That's interesting," Shaun looked penetratingly at Alec. "You seem to be making the adjustment. I didn't expect it so soon," he said more to himself.

Shaun turned to his left and like earlier, the universe began sliding past. This time Alec couldn't tell if it was him or the universe moving. Shadows flew past and he soon felt like he was flying through space, zooming by thousands of stars and systems, approaching the galaxy's center then passing it. In a flash, their movement stopped, leaving them standing on a small grassy hill.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked Clay. Since Shaun's comment about 'adjusting', he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing anymore. Clay didn't answer and Alec turned in a circle checking out the view. They were standing on a hill overlooking a valley surrounded by snowcapped mountains. It was a breathtaking view. On the slope of the far side of the valley were five magnificent cathedrals. From left to right, the cathedrals grew larger and more ornate. The last one on the right was not yet finished. Its ramparts, arches, citadels, and steeples stood incomplete; ringed by scaffolding, cranes, and stacks of building materials.

"What's this about?" Clay turned to Shaun.

Shaun just pointed at the second cathedral from the right; the one next to the cathedral under construction. Without a word Clay walked down the hill with Alec following. Shaun remained, standing alone on the hill.

Up close, the cathedral was even more impressive. Standing at the base of its massive marble steps leading up to the main entrance Alec asked, "Should we go up?" The wide stairs spread hundreds of feet in both directions and rose nearly thirty feet to a landing.

Clay nodded and they started up. Even though it was a lot of steps, Alec surprisingly noticed he wasn't out of breath when they reached the top. "I feel lighter," he observed.

Clay didn't respond as he was fixated on its large entrance; a five-story stone arch filled with two massive wooden doors. These giant doors were filled with many windows and some smaller doors at their base. High above the arches stood a colossal marble statue of a robed angel looking across the valley with its wings spread wide and hair flowing like in the wind. Its arms crossed.

"I guess we go in, this is sure some dream you're having Alec," Clay stepped forward.

The doors led to a great foyer, and beyond it was the sanctuary where hundreds of rows of pews extended far on both sides forming a half circle focusing on a massive pulpit. Behind the pulpit was an oversized throne looking like it was built for a giant. Above and behind it was another statue; the same stone angel that guarded the entrance but with his arms spread in a welcoming gesture.

"Alec, do you know what those symbols mean?" Clay asked, pointing to etchings in the base of the statue.

"How would I know?"

"It's your dream. Can I borrow your notebook?"

Alec gave his notebook and mechanical pencil to Clay where he meticulously sketched copies of the symbols.

"I'm curious who these people are," Clay said. "I'm also curious why Shaun brought us here."

"Maybe we should ask him."

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, they discovered Shaun waiting for them outside the door.

"The Kan-ji," was Shaun's answer, and as usual he didn't expand on it.

"You mean this is the Kan-ji homeworld?" Alec asked. Again, Shaun didn't answer. It seemed to Alec that Shaun was unsure of himself, almost as if he was doing something wrong by bringing them here making him feel like he shouldn't press him any further.

Clay showed Shaun the symbols, "What does this say?"

Shaun looked at them. "It says, ' _seek God's children'_."

"Seek what?" Clay wondered.

"Us?" Alec scratched his head, "I wonder if it's God's children that they should seek." He remembered his meeting with Jessie about the Kan-ji wanting to destroy them. She mentioned some leader or god called Loomius. "Loomius... Shaun, is that who this angel is?"

He didn't answer. Alec thought more about it, about the religious leaders from their meeting that were taken to the Kan-ji ship; there had to be a connection.

"What's with the other cathedrals?" Clay changed the subject as Shaun seemed to be losing interest. From their vantage point on the upper landing, Alec had a good view of the other cathedrals. The ones to their left were less impressive. Each had statues of angels above their doors, and he noticed that their doors were bricked shut.

"They are no longer needed," Shaun answered his unasked question.

"You mean the angels that those cathedrals represent are no longer alive?" Clay asked.

Clay's revelation surprised Alec. Could that be it? These people, the Kan-ji, have living gods in those angels. _But if they were gods, why do they die?_ "Alive? You mean that these angels exist?" Alec asked.

"No, they are not dead, they are on a... ah... a retreat," Shaun said.

"So, are you telling us that the angel we were looking at is still ruling? Is that Loomius? If that's so, why is there a new cathedral being built?" Clay asked.

Shaun didn't answer.

"That new cathedral is in ruins." Clay just noticed.

Alec looked seriously at it for the first time. The scaffolding was collapsing and the machinery rusting. "It looks like it hasn't been worked on for many years."

Shaun nodded and smiled.

"What exactly is going on with the angel associated with this cathedral, Loomius?" Clay asked.

This time Shaun answered, as though he had been waiting for this question. "No one knows. He has hidden."

"So he doesn't want to go on a retreat like those other angels," Alec surmised. "But Jessie said she met Loomius."

"Wait we're not done yet!" Clay reached out as the world flattened out beneath their feet again.

"So that was one of your dreams?" Clay walked shakily over to the galley table and sat down.

"Up until now, I wasn't sure if I'd been dreaming, or maybe just having visions," Alec said taking a seat across from him.

"It was real. I've just seen it," Clay said. "And you did tell me about your meeting with Jessie."

"Even though, it's still hard to believe it's real," Alec opened a bottle of water.

"Why bring me into it?" Clay asked. "There must be something we need to know."

"He wanted to show us those cathedrals," Alec said.

"What good does it do us if Earth ends up destroyed?" Clay shook his head.

"I wonder, he just may have given it away. Maybe the Earth doesn't get destroyed. He did show me that he can move about in time." Alec said. "And he did seem a little more tentative than usual. Maybe he was breaking some kind of rule."

"Then I think we better make sure we finish what we set out to do before we got sucked into any more of your delusions," Clay decided.

"Dream," Alec corrected. "It was a dream."

#####

"I can't see any either." Leland agreed.

They were now just a few miles from their destination and there were no more secluded routes to be found, plus the ship section was coming to life all around them. The once empty streets and alleys were now lit and filling with vehicles. Ahead, the truck traffic started looking like rush hour.

"We need to get inside before daylight to figure out what our next move is going to be." No one argued with Leland's suggestion. "I remember seeing a warehouse a few blocks back." He turned around and gently parked on top of a large flat building.

"Look at the size of those trucks." Sofie pointed to a lone truck pulling a large canvas covered trailer.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Leland looked at Jade and Phyllis. Phyllis smiled and nodded. Jade looked confused.

"We're going to hijack that truck," Phyllis told her.

Jade mouthed a silent 'oh'.

Leland followed the truck flying low over the building tops while Jade and Phyllis donned their Kan-ji clothes and weapons.

"Look," Jessie pointed ahead at an empty street.

"Good eyes," Leland said. "I don't see any other route that truck can take. Girls, get ready," he yelled to the back room.

After touching down, Jade and Phyllis ran down the street and hid in the doorways of the buildings on either side of the street. Leland remained parked facing the direction the oncoming truck would be coming from. It didn't take long before the truck turned the corner where it halted nose to nose with the ALEC'S DREAM. A burly and irritated Kan-ji truck driver climbed out, grumbling with a tire iron in his hand. He walked menacingly towards the ship, and as he stepped past the front of his truck he was lit by a blue halo of lightning from Phyllis's sword; dropping him to the ground.

Phyllis ran to him while Jade checked the passenger side of the truck making sure the driver was alone. Phyllis dragged the Kan-ji off the road while Jade slipped into the driver's seat. Leland returned the ALEC'S DREAM to the building's roof.

#####

"Jessie, you're going to have to hide behind the seat," Leland told her. It had taken them almost an hour to unload the truck, then another to secure and cover the ALEC'S DREAM on its trailer. It was daylight by the time they hit the road.

The truck's cab was a two-seater. The girls were chosen to ride in the truck's cab since they most resembled the Kan-ji's almost feminine appearance. Besides, Jade grew up driving trucks for her dad. Jessie, being the only one who could read their language, and also being the skinniest, was stuffed behind the seat. That left Leland and Sofie to man the ALEC'S DREAM.

"Good luck," Leland said before slipping under the canvas covering where the ALEC'S DREAM was hidden. Jade put the truck in gear and slowly pulled out of the warehouse. The going wasn't too bad, and the traffic thinned as they neared the far wall, as most of the open portals were now behind them.

"Turn there," Jessie said looking over Jade's shoulder. "There, that's where we want to go." She pointed to a section of the wall between two large pipe-like structures, "Between those elevator shafts."

"I don't believe it," Jade grumbled slamming on the brakes just after making her turn. "A traffic jam; must be rush hour." Before she could back up there was already another truck behind. "Damn, we're stuck."

"Sorry," Jessie said. "I didn't know."

"Maybe it'll clear up." Phyllis hoped.

"I don't think so," Jade said after pulling her head back in from her window. "There are guards checking each truck and we're next." The truck in front began moving away. Jade slowly drove forward, toward a guard standing in the middle of the road. He held his hand over the sword hanging from his belt.

Jade slowed to a stop. Another guard walked up to her window. She turned and smiled. The guard's bored look turned into one of concern seeing her non-Kan-ji like appearance. He reached for his sword, but before he could pull it out, the driver of the truck behind them came storming up yelling and waving his robed arms. The guard signaled them to stay put as he turned to meet him.

"That's Yellow Teeth!" Jessie almost shouted while peeking over Jade's shoulder.

"Not so loud. Who's Yellow Teeth?" Phyllis tried looking casually past Jade.

"Remember the altar room? You know the guy I knee'd in the face."

"I think you should reconsider his name, maybe Saw Tooth." Jade giggled, looking at his mouthful of broken teeth.

"Yeah, I see that the guy's nose is a little out of joint," Phyllis added causing more giggles at the expense of his mangled face.

"Can you hear what he's saying?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, he says he's in a hurry and wants us out of the way. He says he's on a mission from God," Jessie said.

"Wow, he sure is using a lot of words just to say that," Jade said listening to his screaming and squawking for the last few minutes.

"Well, he's saying a lot of words that can't be translated," Jessie blushed wondering where she learned them.

"Our luck is changing; they're waving us on!" Jade smiled at the angry red-faced guard who was now stiffly waving them ahead.

"Hey, isn't that the truck driver you knocked out?" Jessie pointed to a burly Kan-ji being held back by some of the guards behind them.

"Let's just get out of here," Phyllis told Jade. Jade nodded in agreement and sped ahead down the road.

A couple of more turns and it was clear sailing for their last mile. At the wall, the road intersected with another one running parallel to it. "OK, where do we go from here?" Jade asked.

Jessie leaned over the back of the driver's seat. "We're here... let me out," she tried climbing over Phyllis.

"Hold on, let me get out of your way," Phyllis said opening the door. Jessie ran across the road to the wall where she slid aside a large panel exposing a set of controls. Even though she knew what was going to happen, the immensity of the wall sliding sideways was still awe-inspiring. Jade didn't need any prompting as the opening widened enough for her to drive through.

As soon as the truck disappeared into the opening's darkness, Jessie flipped the switch causing the door to slide shut. Closing the panel, she slipped in a service door to her right where she followed a narrow staircase leading to a control room.

From her new vantage point she could see her friends two stories below huddled outside the truck looking around in the dark cavern-like space. Jessie reached underneath the control panel and pulled a large lever. A few moments later the cavern's lights flickered on giving them all a good look of the chamber. It was large and mostly empty. In its center was a large black stone bench about 12 feet long and 3 feet wide and high. The chamber's ceiling stretched farther than they could see. There were small rectangular shaped vehicles, not much larger than their truck's cab lined against the back wall.

"Are you guys OK?" Jessie said into a large microphone attached to the console. She watched her friends looking around for her until Sofie pointed up in her direction. "Hi, Sof."

"Hi Jessie, we're all here!" Sofie yelled back.

"No need to yell, I can hear you loud and clear," Jessie laughed. "Get the ship ready; I'll open up a portal."

"What about you?" A concerned Sofie yelled back.

"Don't worry, once I get it opened, I'll be right down," Jessie responded.

"Where are you going to open the portal to?" Leland asked.

"Outside," Jessie replied. "Why?"

"How close will we be from the other Kan-ji ships?" Leland asked.

"Oh, right. I'll set it up a couple of hundred miles in front of the ship; all the other portals are at the back." Jessie nodded to Leland and went right to work. Normally she would have been overwhelmed with the wall-sized patch board behind her. But with the memories of the ships plans, it only took a matter of minutes to find the correct wire to cross giving her control of the portal-stone below. Turning back to the main control console, she entered what she hoped were the correct coordinates of their exit point using a set of thumbwheels.

"Stand away from that black stone," she said into the microphone. She didn't need to tell them as they were still scrambling around the truck pulling the canvas covering off the ALEC'S DREAM.

The black stone looked more like a stone bench than a piece of advanced technology. It sort of reminded her of that ancient chair in the hidden room. She activated the portal, and a loud hum reverberated through the chamber and looking out the window, she saw blue shards of electric energy pulse along the long stone, moving inwards from its edges. The blue electrical pulses soon became a steady glow and a small black bubble filled with stars began forming at its center. It quickly grew to the size of a house.

Her friends scrambled into the ALEC'S DREAM and it soon floated up off the back of the truck bed. As Jessie turned to run down the stairs to join them, a movement caught her eye. She looked back to see the chamber's entrance door spreading open.

She froze as trucks, armored vehicles along with a small army of Kan-ji soldiers poured in through the growing opening. She then heard footsteps running up the stairs, and without hesitation, she pulled open a small access panel behind the control console and silently slipped through it, closing it behind her just as the Kan-ji soldiers burst in. She hurried through the maintenance shaft to the main chamber where all she could do was watch through an air vent as an army of soldiers closed in on the ALEC'S DREAM.

#####

"We can't fight them," Leland said dejectedly. "And we can't give up either."

"They're shutting down the portal!" Phyllis pointed at one of the ships monitors showing a view of the control room above them, now filled with Kan-ji soldiers.

"We can't just leave her here!" Sofie grabbed Leland's arm, sobbing. Jade and Phyllis pulled her back as Leland, grim-faced, worked the controls and flew through the shrinking portal.

"Don't worry; we'll get back to her," Leland said with determination though he didn't have a clue how. "If she can create another portal, we can come back to pick her up."

"Jessieeeee," Sofie wailed, and in a blink of an eye, they found themselves floating in space, with the Seeker ship two hundred miles behind them. Jade put her arms around Sofie and soon felt the warmth of her own tears running down her face too.

"Sofie?" Dolores looked at her from the main view screen.

"Mom!" She looked up from her crying, "Jessie's still on the ship!"

"I know, Leland told us. We're going to do whatever it takes to get her back. Joshua's sending reinforcements."

"How's her mom?" Sofie asked as Jodi's face showed up next to Dolores.

"Hi Sofie, I'm OK, how was Jessie when you last saw her?" Her eyes were red-rimmed letting Sofie know she really wasn't.

"There they are." Phyllis interrupted, pointing out the window to a ship moving in their direction. It was smaller than the ALEC'S DREAM and boxy but had the same shimmering skin. It came to rest with its nose pointed at them letting them see each other through their windows.

"We're going to need to find out everything you know about that ship," Sheldon's image cut into the screen. "If we want to carry out a rescue, we're going to need a plan and we'll need all the information we can get."

Soon they were all in a deep conversation discussing every detail of their adventures.

#####

"Sofie? Can you guys hear me?" Sofie woke hearing Jessie's voice. She thought she was dreaming. "Sof, hey Sof, pick up." Sofie sat up in her cot, looking around. "Leland? Jade? Phyllis? Anyone?" Jessie's voice continued.

It came from the radio Jessie modified for listening to the Kan-ji's communications. Jade, Phyllis, and Leland followed her into the bridge.

"Jessie," Sofie said, holding down the talk button. "Are you OK?"

"Sofie! Am I glad to hear your voice, they shut down the portal right after you went through. I didn't know if you guys made it."

"We're sorry we left without you," Sofie could only imagine how she would have felt if she was left alone on that ship.

"Don't worry Sof, I was able to hide in one of the maintenance shafts before they got to the control room. They blasted the control panel and left. I think I can reroute it, but it'll take a little time. I'll let you know when I'm ready."

"Let us know and we'll come and get you," Leland said over Sofie's shoulder.

"No need to do that, just look for one of those escape pods that were lined up against the back wall," Jessie said.

"So that's what those were," Jade had seen them but didn't have time to inspect them. "How long will it be before you're ready?"

"Maybe an hour or two, see you later." Jessie signed off.

#####

Yellow Teeth's moment of redemption was at hand. He was about to perform the ultimate service for Loomius. Loomius had planned on personally leading the extermination of the humans, but now because of the insubordination of the ship's new captain, his plans were ruined.

"Damn those guards," Yellow Teeth was still steaming mad at the guards for holding up that truck in front of him. They should have immediately recognized him and cleared his path. Instead, they argued with him; the insolence!

"Leave," he ordered as he entered the main control room. It was an exact copy of the room Jessie was in. The operators looked up in fear, which gave him a feeling of satisfaction. He knew his sect was the most feared because of its close relationship with Loomius, or Chayoth-Ha-Qadesh; the Holy Living Angel that brought fear to all. The operators left in a hurry, averting their eyes, afraid he may incite a curse on them.

With the control room empty, he reached inside his robes for a small book attached to a chain around his neck. Opening it to the chapter fittingly named 'The Great Redemption' he read its final paragraph ' _as the sun nurtured the children of the Holy One, it shall also destroy them... Loomius: 21.1.18.92.1.0_ '. Smiling, he lifted the top of the control panel exposing its electronics. Hidden inside, was a set of thumbwheels where he entered the numbers of the final paragraph giving him full control over all the portals, while also disabling all other panels; including the one Jessie was working on. Closing the panel, he worked the controls entering the protocols to remove the restrictions for opening an unprotected portal into the sun, their source of power; allowing him to carry out his Great Redemption.

#####

It turned out that the control box the Kan-ji soldiers destroyed was not a control box at all; it was just the main power junction box. Luckily for Jessie, the light show it made when the guards shot it satisfied them enough to leave the rest of the panels alone. Like almost all the Kan-ji systems, there was always a backup, and with a simple flip of a switch, Jessie had the control panel powered up again and ready to work. Setting the controls, she waited for the portal to open, and after a few moments she began growing suspicious.

"What?" A quick check of the inventory database on an antique terminal showed the active portals were now closed; all of them! Last time she looked there had to be at least three hundred open portals.

"Something is wrong..." she examined the controls making sure she did everything right, "...very wrong." Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander through the schematics of the control circuitry, "hmm," she groaned as she found a strange circuit. At first glance it seemed benign, but a closer look showed it to be a small override circuit, buried deep inside one of the panels, the panel in the master control room.

Turning back to her console, she tried a few other combinations to check out her theory. Satisfied, she closed her eyes again and examined the rest of the strange circuit. It took a while since it was all analog and she had to trace each of the outputs to a different set of controls.

"Oh no," She wanted to scream. The circuit opened a set of coordinates. It was a complex key requiring a combination of inputs and outputs to be activated in sequence with the final result being a set of coordinates. It was the same coordinates used for fueling their power plants and spacecraft; the center of a sun.

She checked the terminal again. "Someone's trying to blow up the ship. I've got to get out of here now!" she abandoned the control room running in panic to the chamber below. "OK.... relax... what do I do?" Jessie sat on the stone portal base. "I can manually supply power to the stone, but how do I control it?"

Stepping to a control cabinet near the wall, she activated the power to the portal stone. It began humming, but no portal formed. "What's next?" She was finding it harder and harder to keep from panicking. "How can I open a portal?" she put her head in her hands.

"It needs a key," a voice said behind her.

"Eugene!" she turned seeing him holding a small black obelisk in his hand.

"You need to hurry. I can't explain right now. You need to get into one of those pods."

She ran to him giving him a hug. "Someone's opening a portal into a sun! We've got to get out of here."

Eugene looked at her with astonishment. "How can you know?" then shaking his head, he said with more conviction. "It's so very important that you escape... please hurry," he pushed her towards the back wall, to the escape pods.

"What about you?"

"Don't worreee about me. I geet out," he answered falling back to his old accent.

Jessie ran to the pod. There was room for two. Powering it up, she looked out its small front window as Eugene placed the black obelisk into a slot in the side of the stone. He stepped back as blue lightning began pulsing the length of it and as the portal formed, he turned to her.

"Come on in Eugene," she yelled out the pod's open door. "No, I can control it from here!" she yelled again as he closed the door on her and began pushing the wheeled pod towards the portal.

"Come in!" she shouted, knowing he couldn't hear her. He smiled and waved at her through the front window. Without warning, the walls blew inwards with flames pouring in behind. "Eugene! No!" she cried as the flames surrounded them.

#####

"I think Joshua should've sent a real fighter pilot instead of me." Clay had positioned their ship a few hundred miles from the small fleet of Kan-ji ships with the hope they couldn't detect them. And at least for now, they weren't showing any signs that they did. At this distance, the sun behind them wasn't much bigger than a large star. The Milky Way sparkled beyond.

"I can fly a ship, but I've never attacked anything," Clay sounded unsure.

"We need to get this over with so we can get Jessie," Alec said. They had just heard about the ALEC'S DREAM escape and were worried about Jessie. All Alec could think of was getting her back home; missing her more than he ever thought he could miss anyone.

"Alec! Alec!" Jodi's voice screamed over their radio.

"Jodi, what's wrong!" A bad feeling came over him.

"The Seeker ship... it's gone, there's nothing left but small burning pieces of rock!" her voice shook.

"Jessie?" Alec asked, knowing her answer, if Jessie was safe, he'd be talking to her by now.

"She never came out," she whispered.

"How?" Alec's asked falling to his knees.

"Not us, there wasn't any attack from Earth. The missiles are still a half day out. We first noticed that the Kan-ji ships stopped coming out of it... then..." her voice faded. "Alec, our little girl!" she cried out. Alec covered his face, sobbing uncontrollably. Clay kneeled down next to his best friend and helped him into a chair.

"They're dead meat," Alec said after 20 minutes of staring out into space. He was referring to the small fleet of Kan-ji ships as his grief turned to anger. Clay took his seat in the pilot's chair and without a word, accelerated. As they neared, two ships broke away to fly straight for them.

Alec activated the missile systems as Clay easily evaded the fighter's energy blasts. Resuming their course, Alec let loose a missile and they watched the first Kan-ji fighter silently blow apart. The second Kan-ji ship, realizing it was in a real fight, dropped below them in a maneuver to slip behind catching them defenseless. But the Kan-ji pilot didn't realize who he was up against as Clay instantly stopped and turned with Alec firing his second missile. The Kan-ji ship never finished its move.

"Look there," Clay pointed to an enormous bubble shaped abnormality.

"That's the portal!" Alec pointed to their modified navigation screen showing a new spot. As they raced towards it, there were met by 4 of the last 5 Kan-ji ships. These were not fighters but larger battleships. These ships were not as maneuverable but were armed to the teeth and they soon found out just how well armed, being forced to dodge missiles, energy blasts, lasers, and projectiles. Alec quickly gave up on the missiles, as these battleships had more than adequate defenses, and activated the Alec-Blaster. His worries that Stan may have limited their range too much were put to rest, as he easily took out the closest Kan-ji destroyer.

"I think I found our favorite weapon," he said as Clay turned to the next battleship. It didn't take long for them to take out the rest of the attacking ships. "Four down, one to go. Let's get that bastard before any ships can get through that portal."

Clay now focused on the last ship, the control ship, sitting helplessly below its portal. Before Alec could shoot, they saw a small distortion in the portal followed by a ship blinking into existence. Clay looked at Alec, who nodded and changed course to the new ship.

"It's so small, I can't find it," Clay slowed to a stop where he thought the small ship should be. Examining the navigation console, Alec typed into his laptop trying to get better resolution.

"There!" Clay said, looking at the view screen. It showed a tiny dot about a quarter mile behind them. Turning, he slowly moved toward it as Alec returned to the weapons console.

"Let's see that S.O.B." Alec strained looking for the ship. His blaster worked fine but required visual contact.

"There it is," Clay said with satisfaction as they spotted a small boxy ship moving slowly away from the portal.

"Wonder what kind of wondrous evil weapons this ship contains," Alec growled as they closed in on it from behind.

"Hold on a second," Clay said just as Alec was about to fire.

"What's wrong?"

"There's something not right about that ship. What would you think an escape pod would look like?" Clay asked.

Alec just gave him an angry look. "What the heck kind of question is that!" he growled, and as he was about to fire, Clay's question sunk in. "Jessie?" He looked at Clay and then slowly reached out deactivating the blaster. He remembered Jodi telling him Jessie had planned to use an escape pod, and that ship was small enough to be one.

Feeling his hope rise, he stepped from behind the weapons console, slowly walking to the front window. " _Why am I torturing myself?_ " he thought as his confidence faded realizing the odds of finding Jessie in the middle of nowhere, an hour after the Seeker ship blew up wasn't good. In fact, it didn't make any sense at all. Still, he was unable to take his eyes off it as he waited for Clay to rotate their ship to the pod's front window. The distant sun didn't give them near enough light to see inside and Clay turned on a spotlight. Alec's heart sank as he saw nothing but two empty seats. Sadly, he turned covering his face with his hands.

"Not so fast buddy," Clay stepped over to intercept him where he gently turned him around. Alec's knees went weak as he placed both hands against the front windshield, "Jessie." His daughter was alive, and looking out from behind the front seat, waving at them.

#####

"Alec, put on a suit," Clay said.

After the past fifteen minutes of talking with Jodi, Alec had found himself just quietly staring out the window at Jessie.

"What? Why?" he complained as Clay dragged him to the back room.

"I think we can fit the escape pod in our cargo hold," Clay said. "We'll need to open the doors and there's a chance we'll lose our air."

After nearly twenty minutes of wrestling with their suits, they were finally in position. "Ready?" Clay's voice came through Alec's suit radio.

Doing one last check for any loose equipment that could be sucked out into space once the doors opened, he replied "everything looks good from here," he held tight to the door feeling himself lift slightly as Clay turned off the artificial gravity.

"Here we go," the doors began opening.

Seeing them open made Alec think of what alligator jaws would look like from the inside. The view of the Milky Way was beautiful, but the sight of Jessie staring out the window of the escape pod made it dim by contrast.

"There's still atmosphere. It looks like our shields are holding," Alec said. The anti-gravity shields were meant for protection and they had only speculated that the shields could hold atmosphere, until now.

"I'm reducing power to the shields," Clay said.

Their plan was hinged on being able to reduce the shield power enough to let the ship in, yet still contain their limited air supply. The REFLECTION backed towards the pod while Alec swam toward the open doors. As the pod touched the field, it bounced away.

"It's not enough, you need to reduce shield power more." Alec said. A moment later the pod slowly worked its way in, and once in range, Alec reached out and grabbed it.

"This thing is smaller than we thought," Alec said as it didn't even fill half the cargo bay. "We could fit two of these in here." Making sure it was safely inside, he said, "we're in, you can close the doors." Shaking with the thought of seeing his daughter, the Gravity pulled at him and he quickly positioned himself for a perfect 2-point landing.

Jessie was out of the pod before Alec's helmet was off and he wrapped his arms around her, with his face buried in her hair.

"There's someone wanting to talk to you," Clay walked up behind them with a walkie-talkie in hand.

"Mom..." she began, and after 20 minutes of talking, Jessie finally said, "I'll see you later," and handed the radio to her dad.

"Let me finish up here, then we'll head home," Clay said from his pilot chair as both Jessie and Alec turned in time to see him firing their blaster at the last ship keeping the portal open.

"NO!" Alec and Jessie said together seeing the ship being blown to pieces, leaving the black stone portal base slowly spinning away. The portal itself deflated like a balloon until it was the size of a small car.

"What?" Clay gave them a puzzled look.

"We need that portal" Alec started to say.

"It's their one technology that's of any interest to us," Jessie finished her dad's sentence for him.

"Can you match the spin of that thing?" Alec asked as he reached for another hanging space suit. "Put this on," he handed it to Jessie.

"We'll need to make some room first," Alec said, looking at her escape pod.

Soon the solar system and Milky Way were tumbling around them while the once tumbling black stone now floated level with them. After watching the pod disappear into the blackness, being pushed out the open doors, Alec said, "we're ready."

Rotating the ship, Clay lined the stone up with the open doors. Just like with the escape pod, he backed the stone into the cargo bay, and it was soon safely in with the doors closed and gravity returned.

"Is it safe?" Alec asked Jessie looking at a balloon sized distortion floating above an exact replica of the portal stone on the Seeker ship.

"Wait a sec," Jessie said as she brushed her hand over the side of the stone, pulling out a black obelisk like the one Eugene used to activate the portal on the Seeker ship. The stone base crackled as sparks washed across it followed by the small distortion disappearing with a light popping sound.

Clay got up from his pilot's chair after accelerating the ship back to Earth. "There's just one more thing," he walked over and wrapped Jessie in a bear hug trying to keep his tears from showing.

Sitting at the galley table, Alec gave Jessie a good looking over. "How long have you been awake?" he could see how tired Jessie looked.

"I don't know, maybe a day or two," she had some small catnaps, but her last really good sleep had been after Leland's healing in the Cheorgh cave.

"It'll be at least a day before we get back to Earth, so I think you should get some sleep," Alec looked at the dark bags under her eyes. "But maybe you should take a shower first."

"Dad!" she stomped her feet indignantly before heading for the ship's shower.

### CHAPTER 27 – HOME

It was late morning and most of the base had already finished breakfast. Alec and Jodi sat across from Clay and Dolores sipping coffee. Picking at a plate of waffles, Joshua sat immersed in an intense conversation with Sheldon while Ernie was digging into a stack of pancakes. At another table, Leland enjoyed a second serving of scrambled eggs as Phyllis leaned against his side talking and laughing with Jade.

TV monitors showed destroyed cities and countryside's, videos of dogfights, air and ground battles along with interviews with devastated families.

The Kan-ji attack hadn't diminished after the destruction of their Seeker ship. To Earth's surprise, the attacks became more intense. The hatred of the Kan-ji toward humanity seemed to intensify, causing them to attack with abandon. But with the Kan-ji's never-ending supply line cut off, it was no longer a question of whether Earth would win, it was more about limiting the destruction.

Jessie and Sofie entered the cafeteria together, freshly showered and dressed in new jumpsuits. They headed straight for the coffee machine with Jessie taking hers black while Sofie filling hers with flavored creams. As they squeezed between their parents, Phyllis and Jade were already setting plates of pancakes and waffles in front of them.

"Looks like it's over," Clay said watching the TV monitor.

"Our ships will be returning soon," Joshua looked up from his conversation with Sheldon. "We've stepped on a lot of toes out there and crossed boundaries without clearances, along with firing weapons over friendly and unfriendly countries. It's been recommended we lay low for a while."

"What! After all we've done, they should be making statues of us," Jodi complained.

Joshua laughed, "Everyone knows it's all politics."

"I still think it's wrong," Jodi grumbled.

"Ah... it's not really over, you know," Ernie looked up from his pancakes.

"What do you mean?" Leland asked mopping up his plate with some toast.

"They know where we are," Jessie answered for Ernie. "They'll be back."

"Do you mean the fighting isn't over?" Sofie looked up from her pancakes.

"Don't worry Sof," Jessie reassured her. "Their nearest ship is at least two years away."

"Why don't they just portal over?" Sofie asked.

"You need an open one here. We've destroyed the last one," Alec gave Jessie a knowing smile.

"That gives us time to prepare," Joshua stood, stretching, "Right Ernie?"

"We've got the Seeker ship's databases and even more, we've been able to retrieve some of the databases of the ships they had open portals with." Ernie grinned. "It's going to take a while to translate... maybe we can get Jessie's help?" he glanced at her.

"I'm sorry, but right now she's going to be busy with her family," Alec answered laughing.

"Sure, just e-mail me," Jessie grinned.

Clearing his throat, Joshua stood and waited for everyone's attention. "I would like to tell everyone that I've now been put in charge of the Office of Technology and Stability." He waited as the cheers and congratulations died down. "Which means I can officially give you your companies' back," he said as Alec, Clay, and Sheldon jumped up shaking his hand and patting him on the back. "But you will be working for me," their smiles faded, "because we will be signing some pretty significant contracts in a very short while." The rest quickly joined in on the congratulations.

As everyone settled back down at their tables, Joshua continued, "Before we all go off in our separate directions, I've got a few more questions." He pulled out a chair and sat as he gave Jessie a penetrating look. "Just how did you escape? And what did happen to the Seeker ship?"

"Eugene helped me," Jessie answered.

Sofie jumped up. "Did he escape too?" she had thought he died on the ship but was too afraid to ask.

Jessie hadn't told anyone about what happened. Joshua, for some reason, had wanted her to wait until everyone was together. "Yeah, I think he's going to be fine."

With a squeal, Sofie jumped up and hugged her. "He was hurt? How bad? Where is he?" she asked, but Clay pulled her back to her chair to let Jessie finish.

"The ship was blowing up. He pushed my escape pod through the portal. I thought he was left behind, but when I came out the other side, he was still holding onto the pod." Jessie quivered. "He was hurt pretty bad. I thought he was going to die."

"Where is he now?" Sheldon asked.

"Somehow, he opened the portal to the Cheorgh world. Chander was there, almost like he was waiting for us. He took Eugene and put him into one of those healing rooms. He was still in it when I left."

"So, what happened to the Seeker ship?" Joshua brought her back to his original questioning.

"You know, that's really strange. They had a special circuit in the portal controls; it was like a combination lock, once I figured it out," she shuddered as Jodi put an arm around her. "It opened up a portal to a sun. The same sun they use to power their ship, except the portal wasn't protected. The suns raw energy flowed into the ship; nothing could withstand it."

"Why?" Phyllis asked.

"That circuit reminds me of a self-destruct mechanism," Jade speculated.

"I think it was those priests," Jessie said.

"Yellow Teeth," Sofie was the first to come to that conclusion.

"You mean Saw Tooth," Phyllis and Jade giggled.

"I remember that he said he was on a mission from God, you remember when we were stopped by those guards... that's what he said he was... it must have been him... he was evil."

"But why? Why destroy the ship when it was just about to win the war?" Joshua asked.

"Alec?" Clay looked at his friend. "Should we tell them?"

"You go ahead," Alec said.

"I met Alec's dream friend Shaun," he started. Not everyone in the room knew about it and looked questioningly at him. "You see, Alec's been having some weird dreams lately. Now, I believe they're real and ah, well, we were shown the Kan-ji homeworld. They do have gods and we think Loomius was the latest of them. I believe it is a religious thing that is driving them to destroy Earth, or humanity."

Sheldon stood. "That's it," he interrupted Clay. Everyone looked waiting for him to continue. "The double-cross, your ex-marketing VP, what was her name... Olivia, she double-crossed Loomius and he took revenge."

"That sounds reasonable, but for now it's just speculation," Joshua nodded, "but Jessie, I just have one more question. How did you get off the Cheorgh world... to that portal in space?"

Jessie lifted her hand, exposing the band of black symbols encircling her wrist, "these," she said making them move and change colors. "Chander was waiting for me and somehow he knew about the portal, he said it was the last one, but it wasn't open yet, so we had lunch."

"How did he know about that portal?" Joshua asked.

"I don't know. When I asked him, he just smiled, at least I think it was a smile," Jessie laughed.

"How did they know how to connect to the portal?" Alec asked, looking curiously at his daughter.

"With this," Jessie looked at the symbols on her wrist, "Chander told me to think about it," the symbols on her wrist stabilized. "He then had me hold a plain black keystone with this hand. It was weird, the symbols just appeared on it, and he used it to open the portal."

"I've got a question," Clay asked. "Where is Loomius?"

Jessie shuddered at the thought of him. "I... I... don't know. They had these stone altars. That's how they talk to him. The altars can somehow transfer your mind, kind of like a portal, but only thoughts are sent. My... my mind was there." Jessie stopped to collect herself.

"Jess, you don't have to," Jodi said.

"Yes... yes... I do," she said. "This is important. I think Loomius _is_ their God. He is the one that hates Earth... and us."

"I think you're right," Alec knelt next to her. "We've been to the Kan-ji homeworld."

"Yes, Loomius is their God. According to Shaun, he is missing." Clay added. "Do you know where he is? I think he's the key, if we... well, I mean if we take him out."

"You mean kill him?" Sofie corrected.

"Yes. If we can find and kill him... you know, kill their leader. They wouldn't want to destroy us," Clay said.

"I'm sorry. I saw his planet. It was horrible, dark, smoking, filled with lava. It looked like hell would look." Jessie said.

"I think that option is beyond us," Joshua interrupted. "For now, let's enjoy our victory. Our time here is at an end. If you'll follow me, I've got one more thing to show you."

He led them to the parking area inside the crevice where they first arrived, and to their surprise, the Plymouth was parked, and fully restored to its original red paint.

"How did you find the time?" Alec ran over to the car with Clay.

"There was plenty of time; we found this nice little custom body shop in town." Joshua smiled leaving them alone to look the car over.

#####

Morning came early. Clay and Alec had the car packed by the time the girls returned from the cafeteria.

"Here you go guys," Dolores held out two doggie bags filled with pastries.

"Thanks Dolores, just put them in the car. We'll eat on the way" Clay said securing their pets in the back.

"You guys ready?" Alec held the doors open. "We get the back seat, Clay's driving," he said to Jodi and Jessie.

"I can't wait to get home." Jessie jumped in followed by Jodi. Sofie climbed in the front with Dolores. Clay and Alec took one last look around before getting in themselves.

They flew straight up between the crevice's walls into the breaking dawn where Sofie pointed, "look!"

She didn't need to point as they all saw the ragtag fleet of ships hovering around the mountain base. Slowly turning the car, Clay gave them a 360-degree view of hundreds of ships.

"Over there!" Dolores pointed as some ships parted to make room for a flying golden 1950 Cadillac convertible.

"We couldn't let you go without saying a proper goodbye," Joshua's voice came over their radio. They saw him sitting up on the back of the front passenger seat.

Recognizing the unkempt gray hair of the car's driver Jessie said, "Hey that's Stan. I didn't know he was here."

"You guys wouldn't mind a little company, would you?" The surrounding ships began flickering; at least the ones who's cloaking still worked.

"Nice car," Clay said over the radio giving Alec a sideways glance, after seeing that Joshua was driving the car he had originally wanted, instead of Alec's Plymouth.

Joshua led the way with Clay following, along with a couple hundred warships. Jessie thought it neat as she leaned over her mom to hang out the side window, waving at the pilots.

"Hey, what's that all about?" Sofie pointed at a wall of smoke miles ahead.

Joshua, seeing the same thing radioed, "It looks like we're getting our first look at the remnants of the Kan-ji attacks."

"Wow, what's causing all the smoke," Jessie asked.

"Fire," Clay said, "their energy weapons left a trail of fire. According to the news, the fires were the worst part of the destruction, and they're spreading."

As they neared the wall of smoke, Jessie could see the flames billowing below it. "Hey, Mr. Leland," she said into the radio; leaning over the front seat to do so, "can you land up ahead here?"

"If nobody else minds?" he responded as they watched the ALEC'S DREAM come down from above, settling onto an open field. Jessie didn't need to ask, as Clay parked next to it. Even thought they were over a mile away from the fires they could smell the smoke.

"C'mon Sof," she pushed her dad out in front of her, while Sofie waited for her dad to get out first before taking off after.

"What do you think that's all about?" Dolores asked.

"Beats me," Alec said, then seeing their curious looks, "really, how would I know?"

Reaching in the car, Clay pulled out the doggie bags and they nibbled at some pastries while waiting to see what the kids were up to. Without warning, the ALEC'S DREAM lifted off and headed southwest. Joshua, along with some of the other craft now settled down to see what was going on, and before anyone could ask, they saw the ALEC'S DREAM returning.

"What in the world is that?" Joshua squinted at the large round object hanging below the ship.

Alec and Clay laughed, remembering the incident with the girls' toy drone nearly a year ago. "I would believe they've found a way to help put out the fires," Clay said as the ALEC'S DREAM flew over their heads toward the wall of fire and smoke. A crowd grew around them as more of the ships landed, filling the field. All of them curious about what was going on.

"Watch," Alec pointed as the ship reached the smoke. It stopped and hovered a second before letting the giant ball of water drop. The black smoke instantly turned into white billowing steam. The pilots began talking at once.

"I never knew you could do that," Joshua said.

"I completely forgot about it," Alec grinned at Clay. "That was a little project the girls came up with, quite a while ago. It looks their little toy might turn out to be pretty useful," he said as they watched the ALEC'S DREAM return. The girls were running to meet them almost before it touched down.

"Did you see that?" Jessie yelled, "cooool."

"Jessie, could you set my ship up like that?" Scott Cavanaugh, one of the fighter pilots asked.

"Yeah, me too," said someone from behind; before long all the pilots were asking.

"Ah sure," Jessie replied overwhelmed by the number of requests, while looking helplessly at her dad.

Before he could respond, Stan stepped in, "Jess, show us what you did, we'll take it from there." He was surrounded by a dozen technicians. Alec recognized many of them were his own engineers from GraviTych.

"Gee, thanks Stan," she said gratefully, then grabbed his hand and jogged to Scott's ship.

"You wouldn't believe the mess," Sofie held her dad's hand, "nothing's left, just a... it's all destroyed," her voice cracked.

Joshua gave her a long hard look, "Sofie... thank you," he then looked at Clay, Alec, and Sheldon. "It looks like our job isn't over. It's just beginning. Consider yourselves under contract. You'll be receiving the official papers first thing in the morning."

They all looked curiously at him. "I'm going to convert the base into a hospital and shelter. We're currently only using about ten percent of its space. We'll need to staff it with medical people. We'll have to move all our technical development to GraviTych and Big Sky. You'll be in charge of building and maintaining the equipment for our rescue and rebuilding operations."

Looking north at the wall of fire and smoke, and seeing the lights of emergency vehicles, helicopters and planes flying over, Alec noticed for the first time, refugees dragging carts and stretchers.

Jessie ran back as Scott's fighter lifted off flying to the southwest. He could see Stan and his engineers spreading out to the parked ships behind her. More ships gathered above waiting their turn.

"I wish Eugene was here. I've got a feeling we're going to need his help getting GraviTych back in order," Sofie said looking hopefully at Jessie.

"What can I do about it?" Jessie asked.

Sofie looked at Jessie's wrist. Jessie held it up in front of them. The swirling symbols stabilized as she thought of Eugene on the Cheorgh planet, "you think?"

"Joshua, do you think you can give us that portal stone we brought back with us?" Alec asked.

"Sorry, I've been ordered to lock it down," then seeing the looks on their faces, he said, "I'll see what I can do."

"You still need a keystone," Sofie said to Jessie as they climbed back into the Plymouth, their heads together plotting their next venture.

