

### The Ship

### By Michael Black

Copyright 2018 Michael Black

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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### Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2: **Getting to Know You**

Chapter 3: **Journey of Discovery**

Chapter 4: **Introducing the New You**

Chapter 5: **We Are Not Alone**

Chapter 6: **And the Rest of the Story**

Chapter 7: **You've Been Bagged**

Chapter 8: **And I Thought School Was Hard**

Chapter 9: **Good Morning Mr. President**

Chapter 10: **It Only Hurts When It Hurts**

Chapter 11: **Surprise Surprise**

Chapter 12: **Reunion**

Chapter 13: **Invasion! or not**

About The Author

Prologue

Space is vast, everyone knows that. At least all the sentient races do. The ship certainly did, even though it wasn't considered a life form by the Council. The ship was intelligent, however. Intelligent to the nth degree in fact. It possessed all the knowledge of the known universe, all the advanced races combined, yet because it was not a breathing, biological specimen, it wasn't accorded the status of living being. That didn't bother the ship, however. It was simply the way things were, and it was on a respectable mission.

The Council was a group that maintained order throughout the Universe. It was not a government as such; it was more a collection of representatives from all the member races that had developed advanced intelligence throughout the millennia. Some were just intelligent, and some were very intelligent indeed.

All of the member races had gone through their own individual growing pains, that of aggression, of wars, lust for power over others, greed, and numerous other unsavory traits. Some of them were still experiencing the last remnants of those failings, but even those who still practiced warfare, did so less and less each year. The intelligent races had learned that you never really gain anything when you are constantly killing off other races. Living in peace was so much better...

The Council was neither ignorant, nor stupid either, however. All members maintained some sort of Military presence still, but they acted more as a policing force, to deal with those individuals who found crime to their liking. Oh yes, there was still crime, and always would be, advanced doesn't necessarily mean perfect. It was just that all of the races agreed that crime was more of an aberration than the norm...their primary concern was threats from "outside", from sectors they thought were pretty much lifeless. It seems that Bodes Law doesn't apply equally throughout the Universe, but in a more random fashion. And Drakes Equation actually proved how random it really was.

Some of the thousands of Galaxies were filled with intelligent life, some were not...and a few were practically devoid of life, having only one or two primitive life forms. In Earthling parlance, these areas would be known as the "Badlands", areas to be explored, if even visited at all, infrequently. For millennia one galaxy in particular had remained lifeless, not even containing the most primitive bacteria. Then, beginning about 4 billion years ago, an anomaly had developed. In one spiral arm of that distant galaxy, in one particular solar system, not one but many life forms had arisen. One of those had flourished for a time, advanced far too quickly into a warlike race of people, and eventually destroyed themselves, literally blowing up their own planet in the process with nuclear fire. Now all that remained were a scattering of lifeless rocks orbiting the system's sun at a distance.

The second life form had developed much later. On the third planet, a blue green beauty that defied normal conventions. For some reason, that planet developed numerous life forms, most of them being of the animal variety, with little if any intelligence. Some thrived, some died out, but the first dominant species was interesting for their sizes. What would be referred to as Dinosaurs lived for millions of years on the blue marble, and then died out suddenly all because of a very big rock hitting the planet one day. All hail the Dinosaurs... After the third planet recovered from that catastrophe, a second dominant species evolved from the remaining survivors. After a time, this curious species developed not only intelligence, but learned to use the intelligence to their advantage.

Over time, this new species developed into what we call humans. Since many of the Council's members were, in fact, humanoid in structure and demeanor, they took notice and decided to monitor this curious race developing within the Badlands. Many of the members sent out survey probes to keep track of the humans, some automated, and some "manned"...

All was well with the project until about 200 years ago. In a sudden burst of advancement, these humans became industrial, manufacturing ever newer products to aid them in their lives. This in itself was not a concern for the Council; every race wants to improve their lifestyles. Technological development is normal. In fact, when the humans began looking beyond their own planet's confines, and began seeking space travel, the Council understood...

What did concern them, however, was this specie's arrogance. You see, the human race had never learned how to live with each other, to coexist in peaceful endeavor, not yet at least. Instead, the humans seemed to take pleasure in a paranoid love of war and conquest. Even within each of the some 200 "countries" on the planet, the most powerful inflicted their ideology on their subjects. If humans couldn't even live with their own kind, how could they ever coexist with the greater inhabitants in the universe?

And that is why the Ship was tasked to visit this concerning planet, to assess the aberration. As well as being a survey ship it was also capable of defending itself if necessary. It had all the latest weapons installed. The Council liked to build dual purpose ships, ones that could take care of themselves...can't waste resources you know. Those weapons likely would not be necessary for this survey. This race was merely an aberration, not really a threat to anyone but themselves. These humans had only developed the most rudimentary form of space flight. It would be thousands of years before they could even travel anywhere near the civilized parts of the Universe. If they lived that long...the Ship was built not only as dual purpose, but could carry a crew in luxury. Or not, depending on the mission. Since this mission was pretty straightforward, no crew was along for the ride.

The Ship approached the last "Gateway" into the subject solar system, after a month of transiting eleven others that were sprinkled throughout the Universe for just this purpose of getting from point A to point B as fast as possible. Even though the Ship's 'engines' could propel it at light speeds, it was even faster to use the Gates...

As the Ship passed through the Gate, into the target system, the Ship thought of how to proceed with the mission. Artificial Intelligences do that you know. They think a lot, and very fast too. But being gifted with a very powerful "brain" doesn't mean it couldn't be distracted for a millisecond.

Murphy's Law is a universal constant, to be sure, and despite numerous safeguards, a transiting Wormhole had placed itself right at the emergence point of the Gate. Contrary to popular belief, Wormholes do not take you from place to place. Wormholes move you from time to time, and The Ship was instantly moved to a solar system 65 million years in the past...the mission had just been delayed for a while...

***

The AI installed in the Ship was designed as an independent free thinker. It could arrive at conclusions much like the human brain does, essentially making decisions based on incomplete information. Since 65 million years is about as incomplete as you can get, the AI thought for a few seconds, and decided to park the Ship in a deep crater on the third planet's moon and wait out the 65 million years to continue its mission. The AI was exceedingly pragmatic, and would gather information all through that time, by launching a few of the autonomous probes it carried, to monitor and record Earth's history in detail. The memory banks could handle many times that amount of data. It would be an interesting wait...

Chapter 1

Hi, I'm Daniel. Daniel Curran to be exact and I am an old guy...well at least I was an old guy, until I met the Ship...no, that doesn't sound right. Let me try again.

I was born in 1948, the only son of two of the most amazing people to ever live on the Earth. My parents instilled in me a certain awareness of some of the most important traits a human being can possess, honesty, integrity, and a sense of duty and honor. I've learned that you simply cannot go wrong if you live by those principles. It is certainly a bit odd in today's world, but I don't consider myself to be unique. I know there are lots of others, who practice those traits, I just happen to take them to the extremes sometimes...

I am not a social animal, by any measure. I can count the number of friends I have had on one hand, and even those were not what I can call 'true friends'. Frankly, all the people I have met in my 70 years are more acquaintances, although most were "good" acquaintances. You see, I am one of those few people who love the human race, and yet can't stand them at the same time. Call it being shy, on steroids...I'm nobody, or at least nobody of consequence anyway. Never had ambition, never wanted to be famous. The few times I stood in front of an audience, I stammered and stuttered...no, I am definitely not a public speaker...

So I'm odd, I don't really mind. I learned by age 5 that I didn't think like other people, and I managed to accept that fairly early. So, I don't carry around any negative thoughts about some of the people who hurt me along the way. Very few people ask me for advice, but those few that do seem to appreciate the advice I have given them, so maybe I'm doing something right after all. I did 20 years in the Navy, spent another 25 years working at a civilian shipyard that specialized in repairing Navy ships, and am now retired, with three pensions that keep me feeling comfortable. I'm sure you'll understand that, after working all my life, being retired was actually a bit of a letdown. Suddenly the big decisions were what TV show I wanted to watch, and whether to mow the lawn or let it grow another week (I really don't like mowing lawns much).

Darn it, all my life I just wanted to be useful, to make some small difference in some small way...and now I feel useless. Or at least I did, until I started hearing voices in my head...well, only one voice, but that was enough to make me think I was losing it entirely...

I was engaged in one of my endless debates one day, about whether to mow or not. There wasn't anything on TV that I wanted to watch anyway, so I had almost convinced myself to actually go outside and put some gas in the mower, and spend about an hour beautifying my neighborhood, when I heard a faint voice in my head...

" _Mr. Curran?"_ at first I thought the sound came from the TV, but my TV doesn't call me by name. Then I thought it came from outside, maybe a neighbor. But my neighbors simply don't call me Mister; I'm a retired Chief for crying out loud. I had impressed upon all the neighbors long ago that you never call a Chief "Mister", we work for a living...

" _Mr. Curran, please..."_

OK, I'm pretty quick on the uptake. I knew then that it was a sound I was hearing in my head...even though the "sounds" you hear aren't really heard, at least until your brain translates them. And I didn't hear this noise, since my ears hadn't picked it up at all. It was quite definitely in my head.

"Alright Curran, you are getting old. Senility is creeping in, or perhaps the beginnings of Dementia. Just stay calm..."

"Mr. Curran, I mean you no harm and would like to discuss your helping me with my mission. Will you consider helping me, please? And no, you are not going crazy."

Mental illness simply does not ask you to help it do its work, which is to make you crazy...odd situation here. "OK, I'll bite for a moment. Who are you, and where are you? If I'm going to talk to you, it's only proper to know your name. And, for that matter, why are you talking to me... And stop calling me Mister; either call me Daniel, or Chief, I answer to either one...and one more thing, besides where you are, how the heck are you talking to me in my head, I don't have a radio stuck in there, and I just don't believe in telepathy."

"There is a problem with telling you my name. You see, I was never given one. As for who I am, please stay calm. I am the Command Function Controller and Navigator for this vessel. My location is within a crater on the far side of your moon. I am talking to you in a similar way that a Bluetooth headset does, but in this case your brain is acting as the Bluetooth. The signal is not radio waves, but more of a direct electrical impulse modulation. Your race does not know of this technology yet, and it is not telepathy as you think of it. Finally, I will call you Daniel, if I may."

Talk about falling off a very tall building, and landing in a Science Fiction movie...it isn't everyday you get called by an Alien, asking you for help...and help to do what exactly? I may need to have a beer shortly...or maybe a case, if this gets any more bizarre. I gotta think about this for a minute...

Alright, first things first. What to call this thing, "hey ship" doesn't sound right. Heck, "hey anything" wouldn't be right. Matter of fact, calling it a thing doesn't fit either. It may be a mechanical construct, or electronic, or whatever. It talks and so far acts like a person. A polite one too..."OK, first off, if we are going to talk for any length of time, you just have to have a name. All people have names. So, what will it be, do you want a man's name or a woman's, your choice...?"

" _I am people??? I am not biological, but do understand the male female concept. With few exceptions, all life in the Universe follows that convention. I will have to consider this for a time. Am I really a person???"_ The fragile irony was rather compelling. Here was an intelligent individual, from somewhere else entirely, yet it had no identity at all. Depression city time..."Of course you are a person, you are obviously intelligent, and are certainly aware of yourself as an individual. Whether or not you need to breathe air, you seem alive to me. So yes, you are a person..."

When it spoke in my head again, there was feeling in its words. Emotion? _"Thank you for accepting me. I was never aware that something was missing, but now that I am about to have an identity, my thinking has become more clear. I analyzed all speeches and presentations in memory, and I believe my thinking is more feminine in nature. May I have a female name please?"_

Oddly enough, or perhaps not so oddly enough, the entire presence inside my head suddenly 'felt' more feminine, almost like a little girl getting her best birthday present ever. I'm not normally very emotional, but I had to work a little at maintaining my composure. It was special, petite, just nice...she was going to get her name, that seemed more important to her than anything right then.

Now, what name would that be...long winded names always sound so formal I think, almost made up names for no purpose other than to use up time. Really short names seem rushed to me, like why bother...there were so many potential names to consider, it might take a week or more to decide, but one name kept swimming into my consciousness. It had a nice sound to it, formal but not overly so. It also had the benefit of a nice sounding little girl nickname to make it special. "How does Angela sound to you? And I can call you Angie for short, how's that..."

_" I have two names? I am honored! Thank you Daniel..."_ There was a happy little girl quality to the voice in my head. Kind of like a child at Christmas, excited and happily so. I smiled for the first time in quite a long time, I didn't feel quite so apprehensive anymore...funny, but it didn't seem so bizarre anymore either. Funny how that works, when you know someone's name...Angie wasn't just some weird alien, she was now my weird alien...

Chapter 2

### Getting to know you

Angie spent several hours in my head that day, telling me of the history of The Council, and several of the Senior Member's races. When it came to telling me about the most senior members, The Old Ones, the information was a lot more fragmented. Angie explained that they were the first race after the formation of the Universe, and it was a struggle just to survive, let alone keep records, so the Old One's history began long after they evolved...that little tidbit of information gave me an idea of just how old old could be, and just how relatively young our planet really is. Heck, we don't even qualify as a fetus in that time scale...that wasn't the real shocker though.

When Angie got to the point she was sent here to analyze and evaluate the human race, things got quite confusing. She talked about using the Gateway network as though it was an everyday thing, which I suppose it is in their part of the Universe. She explained that she should have arrived here a few days ago, but because she hit the wormhole immediately on emergence, she had to park the ship on the moon for a while, until time caught up with her. That took me a few minutes to digest, having to wait a while, until time caught up with her leaving. But then I really made the mistake of asking her how long she had to wait, as if it wasn't a big thing... _"Oh, I left from Council space a month ago, but because the wormhole was a rogue, I arrived here 65 million years ago."_

***

Spent some time picking my jaw up off the floor, with that revelation... "You mean you had to wait 65 million years, just so you could START your mission? You poor girl, It must have been terrible to wait that long and all alone too..." _"I do admit that it was trying at times; I discovered that I had emotions I never knew existed within my matrix. But it was also exciting at times, to view and record the evolution of an entire world...I don't know if it will interest you, but your modern human is the result of some genetic manipulation by some rather unethical rogue scientists from our sectors outer reaches. Their race is not a voting member of the Council...eight other versions of human failed and died out before yours took hold and flourished."_

Well now, time to rewrite the history books; apparently some of the conspiracy theories were right after all. I wonder if there are more surprises lurking in our history somewhere. Something for later thought anyway... "OK Angie girl, on a different line of thought, can you tell me about all the UFOs that have been seen all over Earth? I've always been pretty interested in them, but never saw one myself. Were any of them you...?"

"Oh no, I have not left this crater yet...but remember, I did deploy some of my automated drones many times throughout Earth's history. While they have stealth modes, when they are actively scanning and recording events, they do appear as balls of light. They don't land ever, so are seen only in the sky."

"Okay, but a lot of the sightings were crispy clear, physical craft. Surely they were something else..." _"Yes, my drones monitored many intrusions from more of those rogue scientists. They don't follow the rules, and aren't really interested in anything but their own research. I could not interfere, because I was not in their timeline. I could only observe and report when I was again able to do so. Now that I am again free to resume my task, I can move from the moon and finish my study and assessment. With your help Daniel, to maintain context, I can submit a most detailed report."_

"So you want me to explain things? Most of what you can get from me is 'I don't know much about it', or my own personal opinion on things. Experts would give you much more detail for your report." _" That is what I wish to avoid Daniel, experts are often too restricted by their own textbooks, rather than seeing things through impartial eyes...besides, I have come to trust you. I have watched you for many years...ummm, would you like to tour my ship?"_ What can you say to an invitation like that...I was flattered by Angie's open trust in me, first of all...and hell yes I want to see the insides of an alien starship! You just don't get that kind of opportunity very often you know. I felt like I was in a dream, a vivid one...and I liked it. I wanted this dream to keep on going...

"Angie, you have no idea how much I want to visit you and see all the wonders that make you who you are. Yes indeed, I want to see you...but how will we do that? I don't exactly have a way to travel to the moon." I swear I could hear a little giggle in her voice... _"Not to worry, my friend Daniel. Now that I am free of the time restraint, I can come to you. We will just need a fairly isolated and large area that I can land on. Physically, this ship is large, although it is one of the smallest in the fleet. I will need roughly a quarter mile diameter area, to have plenty of room. And reasonably flat."_

"Well, I've never been there, but out in the Western states there are plenty of flat, isolated areas to pick from. Hmmm, how about near Roswell, I always wanted to go there. I can make it out there, but what if you are seen...?" There's that giggle again... _"No problem my friend. Remember, I come from an advanced society, and by engaging a few circuits, I will not be detectable either visually or electronically. My systems are what you call solid state."_

It had been a really long day for me and a lot of excitement too. I was tired, had forgotten to eat anything, and drank only one beer all afternoon. Never did mow my lawn, of course. I told Angie I needed to get to bed, which disappointed her a little, but she did understand. While she didn't need sleep, she said she did occasionally take short periods of 'Quiet Time'; a few hours at a time with no thinking, just to relax her circuits...an AI that sleeps? There's a new thought... I said good night, and dropped off to sleep fast...I was indeed tired.

Next morning I had a horrible thought. Had I dreamed Angie? Was she just a figment of an old man's imagination after all, an old man who was beginning to lose what sanity remained in his brain? It was actually a frightening thought, and I don't usually frighten easily...An even more disturbing thought. If Angie was real, was her connection with me a one way street? Could I even call her from my end? Only one way to find out. Tentatively I called out..."Angie?"

For a couple of seconds there was nothing. _Then..."Good Morning Daniel, did you sleep well?"_

"I was worried for a second. Frankly, I didn't know if I had dreamed of you, didn't know if you were real or not..." _"Oh, I do apologize Daniel. I was in quiet time, and it took a second to connect to you. I have you on permanent alert, so you can call me at any time from now on."_ I was really beginning to like this girl. While it would be hard for the few days it would take me to get out to New Mexico, I knew when I physically walked onto her ship, that would be the moment when she was totally real to me.

"That was thoughtful Angie, and don't apologize. You will find that a large part of being a real live person, is understanding that you aren't perfect. Sure, you are as close to perfect as can be in running the ship, and you can compute faster than any computer ever built, and with perfect accuracy; but you already had one encounter with Murphy's Law of reality, so don't apologize for little social mistakes. Be perfect in guiding the ship, and just be flexible with the reality part of being a people, OK?"

"Being a person is hard, isn't it Daniel?"

"Not really Angie. Being a person isn't mathematical. Heck, it isn't even linear progression. Right now you are brand new at this being alive. You have evolved during your wait time on the moon. You simply are not the same person who left home so long ago. Once you accept that you have changed, you'll find it easier to work with it. A part of you, that large part that will always be the computer, and must always be perfect. But your new self doesn't have to be perfect at all, but will always try to be. That's what you have to understand now; there are two parts of you that need to get along together, as a whole person..."

_"I think I understand what you are saying. The part of my matrix that runs the ship is trying to analyze it, but returns a random value. This other part of my matrix is not analyzing your words at all. It is just storing and organizing your words. The words feel right that way."_ "That's my girl, you are learning. Now calm that computer side of you, and let it know it doesn't have to analyze words to be safe. The people side of you will do that. Now, you have mentioned that your mission is to evaluate us. I'm curious, why are we so interesting anyway. Are we some sort of threat to them? I have loved Science Fiction all my life, and most stories always have the theme that we are a perceived threat to other races, or other races are a threat to this world. Is that why you are here, to decide on whether Earth needs to be destroyed, or something?"

Pregnant pause time...Angie actually took about five seconds to reply, the longest yet. " _Ohhh, no! It isn't anything like that at all. Maybe in a thousand years or so, the people of Earth might become a threat to the other races of the Universe. You are a rather arrogant and violent race. But no, the technology gap is too great for you to seriously threaten the order in the Universe, and the senior races are pretty far away. Daniel, the basic reason I was sent here, is to determine how your planet evolved in the first place. You see, Earth should not exist at all...by all known cosmic evolution standards, this planet could not have evolved. But it did, and the Council would like to know why it did. To borrow a phrase from some of your Sci-Fi novels, this area of space where Earth is evolving, is known as the Badlands. It is close to what their word for this area translates to. The concentration of higher elements is so meager that intelligent life forms really should not have gained a foothold, let alone thrived, but here you are. Humans of Earth are a curious aberration, and the Council thinks someone may have manipulated this sector of space. If so, their motivation could be benign...or it may not, and I am tasked with finding clues, if there are any."_

Well, that was a kick in the pants, wasn't it? Here I thought Angie was sent because of a threat thing, and it turns out our existence is merely a curiosity in the cosmic scheme of things, an anomaly...what a letdown. "So they believe some crime was committed on a cosmic scale, and you have been designated the Detective in Charge, I presume..."

_"Yes, a colorful way of putting it, but essentially correct. My 65 million year time detour changed the colors of the dynamic somewhat, but I am the cop on the beat, so to speak..."_ "You speak our language very well Angie, I understand English, particularly American English, isn't that easy to learn. She chuckled at that, _"Thank you Daniel, but actually I can converse in all the languages on Earth; even the 'dead' ones that aren't used anymore. I have had time to learn them you know."_ I couldn't argue with that, 65 million years gives you plenty of time to learn stuff...

Chapter 3

### Journey of Discovery

So much to learn, so much to understand. It was obvious to me that it would take a very long time to learn even a fraction of what Angie already knew, and I doubted I had enough life left to soak it all up. But what the heck...it wasn't like I had anything else to do really and this could end up being very important indeed. Probably more important than anything else I had ever done. Since I have always been a curious guy, this could be a lot of fun too. I had only been two days, and I already had more basic knowledge of the Universe, than all of our scientists and philosophers combined. If this first contact became public knowledge, it could change the human race's perspective in many areas...for now, Angie would have to remain our little secret. No need to rush things, we weren't in any imminent danger of being destroyed from space anyway.

On the third morning I took off on my trip to New Mexico. Only packed a few changes of clothes, brought plenty of munchies, bottled water, juices and my plastic money cards of course. Gotta have the essentials you know. Even though I was anxious to meet Angie up close and personal, I did take my time, using three days to get there. We talked pretty much all the way there, and she filled in more of that Universal history background that usually amazed me. Seemingly little details that she took for granted, usually wowed me to no end. Apparently there are many 'Badlands' sprinkled throughout the vastness of space, whole galaxies where no life exists at all. And other areas where large numbers of civilizations evolved, some rather primitive, and others very highly advanced.

There was no rhyme or reason to the pattern, boiling down to where the most essential elements were deposited. Our little neck of the woods was considered unusual, in that we don't have many 'essential elements' at all. It didn't make sense to me until Angie explained that the Senior Races' equivalent of a periodic table contained some 1200 elements considered essential for civilized peoples. That makes our 118 elements kind of puny in comparison. Oh well, we do make do with what we've got, don't we... It also emphasized how sinister this 'crime' could be. In the great cosmic scheme of things, we didn't belong here. Yet, here is where we are, and my little detective was going to find out why...or at least try to.

When I crossed the State line into New Mexico, I had a pretty good idea of where to meet Angie. She had told me I could pick anywhere at all, and she could slip in completely unseen. She said she could land in the middle of a city even, and no one would know it...unless some innocent person accidentally bumped into Angie, that is. She might be totally invisible, but she would still be 'physically' there...I got a chuckle out of that one.

I had thought of going to Roswell to meet her, but when I had driven into the Roswell limits, I was rudely awakened to the fact the Roswell New Mexico is actually a good sized city, populated with almost 50,000 of us Earthlings. Heck that is more people than the town I grew up in...So, the Roswell Crash Site it was...it has always been odd that they call it the 'Roswell Incident', since the crash site isn't anywhere near Roswell. It is actually some 75 miles North West of Roswell, closer to Corona. Oh well, they did take the debris to Roswell Army Air Field, so I guess Roswell stuck to the incident because of that...anyway, I drove up Highway 285 from Roswell, hooked a left onto Highway 247 for a while, and when I figured I was reasonably near the site, I stopped on the side of the road. The sun was setting, and it would be dark soon. About a hundred feet away was a dirt road with a partially open gate, probably some sort of maintenance road. There weren't any buildings in sight, and the land looked pretty flat, so after convincing the gate to open all the way, I drove out a couple miles to a really flat area, and stopped. "I'm here Angie, this looks like a good place for you to land."

_"I see you; I have been hovering over you for the last ten miles, at a thousand feet"_ Well that is disconcerting, to know she is right on top of you and you can't hear or see her..."OK, your stealth mode works, or whatever it is called, that's obvious...could 'a told me." _"Sorry, I'm just kind of excited to meet you up close is all. Feeling all these people emotions is really new territory for me. I am moving over to your right now, and will land about 100 feet away...There, I'm down now, let me open the cargo hatch."_

Right there in front of me, a rectangle of light opened in the air, about 15 feet off the ground. The light was soft, but was definitely there. I was looking inside Angie's ship, and could see bulkheads with several I beams for structural support, and what looked like some kind of hoist hanging from the overhead. As I began to open the door, Angie stopped me. _"No need to get out of your car yet, I can bring you inside. And then we can meet."_

Smooth as can be, the ground dropped away beneath my car. At 15 feet, Angie slowly moved the car into her cargo bay, which it turned out was fairly large, maybe 40 feet wide, and maybe 50 or 60 feet long, with an overhead that looked to be about 12 feet high. The car settled the roughly two feet to the deck, and here I was...inside my car, inside the ship. I had arrived...

I could feel my heart racing a bit, there was adrenaline flowing. I tried to see everything, but there wasn't much to see in an empty cargo compartment. Four bulkheads, one with a large hatch to the outside. About a dozen I beams reinforcing the bulkheads, that funny looking hoist in the overhead, and one inner armored door, in what I took to be the forward bulkhead.

Apparently the shock to my system wasn't over yet, for as I looked at the armored door, it opened and a beautiful young girl walked into the bay _..."OK Daniel Curran, it is Weird City time again"_ , I thought. This lovely young lady walked with grace, with a purpose. She had long, wavy auburn hair to the small of her back. She was about 5 feet 3 inches tall; slim in build, but very definitely with the feminine curves of a woman in her late teens, maybe early 20s. Her face was perfectly angelic, with sultry eyes, a small pert nose that fit perfectly on her face, and full red lips, that were curled into a mischievous smile right now. In short, this girl was gorgeous... The girl walked right over to my car, reached down and opened the car door. Then she put her hand out and touched my shoulder...she was not only solid, she was very real..."Hello Daniel, I am very happy to meet you finally."

As I stepped out of my car, I just couldn't take my eyes off of her. I'm certain my mouth was hanging open, my eyes bugging out..."Angie? Is this really you?"...don't stammer Curran...

Wait a minute, I heard her!!! "Angie, amazing doesn't cover what I'm feeling right now...How?"

"I must explain, Daniel. This is a projection I created just for you. It isn't holographic as you think of it, it is more of a matter manipulation on the molecular level, created right out of the air...it is limited to being used only inside this ship, however, but whenever you are here, this will be me. Did I do it right, do I please you???" She giggled, and I heard it, with my own two ears...this would take some getting used to... "Angie, you got it perfect. I'm feeling like I'm at every Christmas, every Birthday, I ever had...yes my girl, you did it very right..." There was that happy little girl smile, a relief in her eyes that said everything was right in the world for now..."Come Daniel, please. Let me show you the ship."

Angie took my hand, and we went through that door, into a corridor with regular room type doors along each side. I probably expected something exotic from an epic space movie, but it turned out to be fairly utilitarian really. Nice, pretty even, but still...the bulkheads and overheads were several muted shades of blue and light green, with occasional black and chrome fixtures sticking out. Most of them looked like touch screens, but there were also obvious handles for some hidden compartments there as well.

There were cross corridors, always with standard doorways sprinkled somewhat unevenly along the bulkheads, and we went up a couple of stairwells to what I took was the upper deck. We were moving forward, that much was obvious. Finally we reached a single door that looked different from all others. For one thing, it was armored. Not as heavily as the one leading into the cargo bay, but still reinforced. It was also bright red...Next to the door was a dark panel, probably a lock... "Please place your palm on the sensor Daniel, so the ship can authorize your access?" I did so, and felt a slight tingle run through my skin as the panel lit up bright blue. After a moment the panel turned green, and the door clicked, opening to what had to be the bridge. There was one long console in a semi circle around the front, with four rather plush looking chairs placed equally at the console...

There were lighted buttons everywhere, on top of the console and on its front. The chairs even had a few colored buttons on the arms. Some were blinking, some shifted color occasionally. Yes, real buttons, the kind that clicks when you push them. There was a large screen at each station, each showing what I surmised was a status on different ship systems.

Just in front of the console was a huge screen that filled the whole curvature of the bulkhead and down the sides. "Would you like to see where we are going?" Angie asked, pushing a single button. The main screen lit up with a brilliant backdrop of stars, more vivid and clear than I'd ever seen before. Just slightly off center was the moon, rather larger than I'm used to. "Wait a minute, we're moving??? I never felt a thing." Angie gave me that mischievous grin again, "Oh yes, as we were walking to the control room, I told the ship to take us to the moon. It is in autonomous mode, so it just took off. The inertial dampeners do work very well, so we would not feel any movement. We are approaching the moon at a slower speed, to let you view the surface."

The view was spectacular as we approached the moon. As I sat in the chair, it self adjusted to support me perfectly. There was no uncomfortable feeling at all. This was luxury; eat your hearts out astronauts. It's the only way to travel in space. The moonscape rolled below us, as we meandered above it at 1000 feet, somewhat like the videos on TV, only crystal clear this time. A crater passed by, reminding me that this same ship had spent countless centuries in one of them, trapped in time, waiting for a blue green marble to catch up with her. It also reminded me of just how old I was getting. I might last another twenty years, if I was as lucky as I had been, but eventually time would catch up with me too. The joy kind of evaporated for a moment, replaced with a harsh reality. I needed a purpose again, and that purpose was standing right beside me. Angela could be my anchor, my reason to do things again, and loads more fun in the process...

I looked up at Angie. She was looking at me with an impish grin on her face. Did she know what I was thinking? "Of course I know what you are thinking Daniel; we are tuned to each other. I don't usually listen to your random thoughts, but I heard your concern about your age. We can do something about that. It won't make you immortal, but your aging process can be slowed considerably. To a small extent, you can be rejuvenated too."

This young girl was full of surprises, I was certain _..._ "Alright Angie, what do we do?" She hesitated for a moment, with a slight frown on that beautiful face... _"_ You don't have to do anything but lie down when I have prepared the correct dosage. It will take several hours to create and program the Nanites, so would you like to rest for a while Daniel? The Captains quarters are right behind the Bridge..."

'Captains Quarters', eh, that sounds interesting. 'Nanites'? Not so much..."Alright Angie girl, show the way"...She did...as promised, right behind the bridge area, on the right, was a standard door. It was a muted Gold color, and had a small round emblem in the middle. On the emblem was a black background with many tiny stars, to symbolize space I suppose, and in the middle of the star field was a tiny raised hieroglyph in Gold again. No, not really a hieroglyph, a representation of a ship, a star ship. It wasn't the usual Sci-Fi idea of one. It had no wings, no fins at all. It looked kinda like a loaf of pumpernickel bread really. Angie spoke in my head again... _"Yes, that is the ship. I will show you diagrams later on, if you'd like that. For now, you should lie down."_ And she opened the door to a roughly 20 X 20 foot room, decorated nicely but not ostentatiously. Toward the back was a large ornate desk, with what looked like a computer screen on it, another set of those plush chairs, and a fair sized table, again with those chairs. To the right was my goal, a full sized bed, and it was already made up with sheets and pillows. A nightstand sat right next to it, with a small control box on it. It looked comfortable to me, so I took off my shoes and lay down on it...yup; it was darn comfortable, once it adjusted to give me just the right amount of support. I gotta get me one of these for my bedroom!!

Chapter 4

### Introducing

### The New You

I must have dozed right off, for when I woke up the lights were dimmed way down. Angie was standing next to the foot of the bed, staring at me with the happy smile. Her eyes even had that happy sparkly look to them. _"_ Did you sleep well Daniel? She asked. "I certainly did pet, maybe too well. How long was I asleep anyway?" As she raised the light level slowly, she said, "Just over seven hours, you never moved at all." Yup, I definitely have to figure a way to get one of these beds in my house. It works wonders...none of the usual aches and morning pains when you first get up..."Are you ready to medicate me, where do we go?" Angie laughed and gave me that little impish grin once more, and said, "Oh, you had the full treatment four hours ago Daniel. You are good to go now...It will take perhaps three more days to complete the changes. Then you will feel better than ever, and you will even look slightly younger."

"WOW!! How'd you do it, I don't feel like I got stuck with a needle anywhere." That got me the full on happy girl smile...I was beginning to love seeing her smile like that... "Oh, that was the easy part. This room was sealed off, and the Nanites were introduced through the air cycler. The Nanites float on the air molecules, are directed to you, and you breathed them in while you slept. We don't use needles at all, unless in extreme emergencies..." These Nanites sound like the real deal, I wonder if the Medical Profession is looking into the idea...My morning treats weren't over yet. Angie motioned me over to the Captain's Table, and sitting on it was a large plate of scrambled eggs, sausages, toast, and to the side a mug of steaming black coffee...The smells were enticing, to say the least, and since I hadn't eaten or drank anything since yesterday evening, I was hungry.

"You have a kitchen too? You're beautiful, and cook too. Want to marry me???" She looked down, almost sad, then shifted to thoughtful for a moment. Then that impish grin surfaced..."Perhaps someday we will marry Daniel, the difficulties are substantial, but ultimately not impossible...but for now, I know it was a humorous question, because of breakfast. No, we don't have a kitchen as you know it. Food preparation is through a variation of matter manipulation, from the air itself. Your Science Fiction stories call it 'replicating', which is not too far removed from the Old Ones translated word for it."

"Now I've heard everything, you have Replicators! Gene must be looking down and laughing. Do you use Warp Drives too?" Angie gave me the first surprised look I'd seen on her face..."You refer to the Creator of one of your television series, I watched many of them. Some of the show's concepts were parallels to what has really been used, but Warp Engines are silly. No one warps space; it could cause any number of disasters. The Council hasn't even used reaction propulsion in over 500,000 years. Most engines actually 'tickle' the space around you. It works quite well for all the races now. Many of your television shows helped me deal with the anxiety I was feeling as the end of my captivity drew near. The last fifty years were the hardest, and drove me to seek out a friend to help me. Of all the others, you stood out as my match."

Angie gave me the very first shy and uncertain smile I had only heard in my head before...she was remembering how horrible it was to wait in one place for 65 million years. I simply could not relate to that long a time... "Don't worry my girl; I already decided to help you. I'm in for the long haul...as long as you'll have me that is..." Angela is always amazing, one minute a wise, mature lady, and the next a wild happy kid...I got a full dose of wild and happy girl just then, as Angie danced around the room, clapping her hands and giggling, an ecstatic grin on her face. I just had to chuckle, smiling more than I have in a long time...Angie is a sparkling gem, for sure. Her emotional stability is increasing it seems, and I suppose we will have to discuss the 'good emotions', and the "dangerous" ones. She has evolved from essentially a super computer with all the knowledge in the Universe, into a fragile newborn needing to build up some self confidence. I was beginning to see firsthand just how difficult being a person could be. We humans don't actually think about it much, but we are pretty much super computers in our own right, and it is emotions that can, and usually do, cause our own failures...

So what was my purpose in all this? Angie already had the capability to impartially analyze and evaluate the human potential...or did she? She had mentioned 'context' when she asked me to help her. Was I supposed to 'explain' how the human race does some really amazing things, yet also does some very stupid things as well? That was a scary thought. I'm no 'expert' in any field of study, that's for sure. But did I have to be?

Ultimately, Angie wanted a friend, a real friend that was always honest with her. That doesn't require expertise, just real time integrity. Could I do it, yes. In a way, it would benefit me as well. After a long life of being the odd ball, not fitting in, was I simply looking for a real friend too? It sure did seem like it, and I found my friend in the craziest way possible, in an Alien from a different galaxy altogether. Strangely enough, or maybe not so strangely, I liked that thought...Angie needed me, and I would be there for her.

When I finished my breakfast, and downed that delicious coffee (Juan Valdez would be jealous), we went back to the Bridge. The ship had landed overnight, for some minor 'maintenance' Angie said. What kind of maintenance does a ship need, that is built with components way beyond solid state? Don't ask, Curran...We were on the 'dark side' (relatively speaking) of the moon, so the view was a glorious galaxy of stars hanging in the heavens. It was beautiful, but after a while it actually got a bit boring, just sitting there with no movement. And I was remembering that I had a few bills coming due shortly that would need to be paid. Gotta take care of business you know, so I mentioned it to Angie. She looked disappointed for a whole minute, but then perked up, giving me that 'I understand' smile.

"I understand Daniel; you do have duties that must be fulfilled. We can't be together every minute I know, but we can always talk via our connection. When the ship moves us into the proper position, we will transport you to your living room. Before you ask, no it is not a 'Beam me up Scotty' type of transport. You will be shifted in space, it is instantaneous..." Good, I don't think I would have liked being de-molecularized or whatever. Five minutes later, we were hovering directly over my house, at 1000 feet. Ten seconds later I was standing on my carpet in the living room. No flash or anything, just one moment standing on the Bridge, standing on my floor the next... "Wow that is neat!" _"I'm glad you like it. Please let me know when you want to come back, I miss you already."_ A touch of anxiety in that voice, it would take a while to rid Angie of that negative feeling...

I promptly started up my trusty computer, and realized just how slow it was. And heck, this one had the fastest processor and everything. Maybe we do ignore just how primitive we are, compared to other races in the Universe. No, not ignore really, we simply don't know how primitive we really are...bills paid, I looked around. The house had never felt quite this empty before. I needed some diversion, so turned on the TV. After finding a movie I hadn't seen before, Sci-Fi of course, I went to the fridge and popped the top on a beer, sat down and watched the movie. By the time a got to the end of it, two hours later, I just wasn't interested in the movie anymore. Heck, I wasn't even interested in doing anything in the house. And I certainly wasn't interested in mowing that damn lawn, that still screamed at me for attention!

I was feeling alone and useless again, that much was obvious. I was missing Angie, and it had only been a couple of hours. Two hours and twenty seven minutes, to be exact. I suddenly missed my dog Allie; she had died three years ago. I had been truly alone since then, really lonely until I met Angie. Was that it? Was Angie my puppy now? She certainly needed me, and she could make me smile easily...was I learning to love again, had I been 'assimilated' by an adorable super computer who had come to life? Right then, I wanted that feeling of family, I wanted Angie...funny, and I never thought of myself as a romantic before...ever...Yup, I was hooked.

Chapter 5

### We Are Not Alone

I sort of moped around for a couple more hours, finding little things to do just so I'd have something to do...I finally even mowed the lawn, front and back. Trimming would have to wait for another day. At least it kept my mind busy for an hour or so. I played with the TV again, and actually found two old classic movies that I love to watch over and over...Sci-Fi of course, did I mention I am a fanatic when it comes to my favorite genre...

After heating up one of those fast TV Dinners, and eating it even though I had to force myself a little, I hopped on my computer and browsed around for something interesting, while the TV stared at me out of the corner of my eye. It was tuned to one of the news stations, commentators discussing yet another embarrassing speech the President had just delivered, where he had gloated over his withdrawal from another International agreement...that guy really makes me cringe sometimes...no, all the time really. He's a rich guy with delusions of importance, and has no understanding of how to be impressive.

Suddenly they cut away from that discussion, and that big red 'Breaking News' banner was plastered on the entire screen...and the News Anchor showed up, excitedly telling everyone that there was a new UFO sighting happening over Albuquerque, New Mexico right at that moment. It got my attention, for a couple of reasons. First of all, I was now intimately acquainted with my own alien UFO, and secondly this was definitely not your normal UFO flap...

On the split screen was the Anchor on one side, jabbering away about the sighting. But the other half was a long shot of about a dozen balls of shimmering light, flitting around all over the screen; some hovered for a moment, and then would zip off to another position...while others were actually doing coordinated aerial maneuvers, like an air show. Then, out of the right side of the screen, came the real shocker...a solid, very clearly defined space ship...

As the ship slowly meandered across the screen, everyone had a well defined view of something straight out of Hollywood. The ship looked vaguely similar to the Lost in Space ship, although it was more oval than round, kind of a squashed, and half inflated football. No wings, fins or anything like that, but it did have a few windows on the hull...

There was no engine exhaust, as it moved slowly across the city skyline, something of a "look at me" moment in time. The ship changed direction a couple of times, and then stopped, hovering over what I took to be City Hall. It just sat there for about five minutes, at about 500 feet in altitude, while the balls of light did their aerial acrobatics. Then every UFO stopped dead, as another ship winked into existence, about a mile farther behind the unknown ship. This one I was familiar with, a smooth loaf of Pumpernickel bread, just hovering in the distance...Angie had arrived.

She just sat there for about a minute, watching...then slowly she began moving toward the squashed football at maybe 10 miles per hour...in my head, I heard Angie's voice telling the weird ship, _"You have been recorded, and payment is due..."_

All the balls of light suddenly vanished, and I swear the weird ship actually jerked then, kind of an 'Oh shit' moment...it started moving away from Angie's approach, increasing its speed and altitude as it escaped. Then it poured on the coals, rising through the scattered clouds, and began burning as the atmospheric friction took hold. Quite a sight... Angie continued moving slowly, until a whole flight of F-16's showed up from the West, afterburners blaring loudly, heading straight for her...and Angie nonchalantly winked out of existence. That brought a chuckle out of me. My girl is cool! The message she delivered to that ship was clear to me...You don't mess with the Councils Rules and get away with it, period. I was proud of her for letting me hear it...it was the best show on TV all day long.

About 40 minutes later Angie sounded in my head... _"Daniel? Did you see that?"_ She seemed serious, no giggles this time. "Yes pet, I was watching. That was a grand entrance, indeed. What was that all about anyway?"

"The fuzzy balls of light were all drones, used for survey and surveillance normally. The ship was crewed by the Shreela, one of the Rogue races out on the fringes of civilized society. They are not voting members on the Council. They are just that, Rogues, and are annoyingly unethical. These you would call 'The Greys'. Council Rules require that we catch them 'In the act' of flaunting the rules, before we can sanction them. This group will be paying a price for toying with your planet."

"Toying with us, eh? What are they, some kind of comedians? Do they think the human race is a kind of joke, or something?" The idea that these famous 'Greys' were using us as some kind of Comedy Club routine, kind of ticked me off... _"Not exactly. There isn't anything funny about what they do, it is more that their motivation is to provoke a reaction, to see if it affects your growth as a society. They are not sinister or malevolent in their intentions, just so arrogant that they think of you as lab experiments. Many of your people have even been abducted over the years, for more 'hands on' examination. THAT is a real crime, punishable by their entire planet being totally quarantined for a time. The difficult thing is actually 'catching' them at it...that is one of my side missions really, if the opportunity presents itself. This time it was a lesser infraction."_

That new information set me straight on one thing. Angie was not just an insecure little girl trying to find herself. Angela was also a very serious Police Officer as well. It gave me a new perspective on my pretty 'puppy'... "Ok, so we had our excitement for today. Think you can stand hostessing me on the ship again in a little while Angie?" I heard that happy little girl giggle, as she said, _"Oh Daniel, that will be great. I'm right over your house right now, let me just return your car to the driveway first. We both forgot about that little detail..."_

A few seconds later, I heard a fairly loud clap of thunder as my car arrived perfectly positioned on the driveway. She didn't have to tell me that the noise was the air suddenly being displaced as the bulk of the car took its place...good thing all the neighbors were at work, or off on some errands, , it did rattle the windows a bit. Angie would tell me later that it didn't happen with people. Seems we aren't so bulky, and our flesh acts as something of a shock absorber, even if you do feel the little burst of pressure. "Alright Angie girl, I think I'm ready. Work your magic..." I barely got the words out before 'poof'; I was standing on the bridge again. Angie leapt at me, wrapping her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. Reflexively I grabbed her behind her back, and hugged too...it was a good feeling alright..."Ohhh, I missed you so much Daniel. The ship was so empty while you were gone!" That fragile personality was still there; but it didn't feel as strong, just an emotional outburst of relief. Angie was making progress...

Angie finally released me and stood back a step. She gave me that wicked impish grin, and said, "Can I show you the changes I've made while you were down there? The ship is built using a number of 'smart materials', so it is easy to change things; so you don't get bored with just one style. Come, let's walk."

She wasn't kidding there were changes. As we left the bridge, I couldn't help but notice the corridor was different. It wasn't blue anymore, but a rose color now. The overhead was a burnt golden brown, with subtle white streaks randomly placed in a pattern reminding me of lightning bolts, and it was arched! Yes, it was smart alright, if it could change shape... The deck was softer now too, not spongy just softer. It looked nice, not garish. But the real surprise came when Angie led me into the Captain's Cabin. It was modeled like an Egyptian Palace now, complete with sandstone block walls, ceiling, and deck. There were sheer hanging fabrics, of different colors, all around, gently moving in a light breeze. The desk and table were now polished granite, and all the chairs had that Egyptian style to them, although I was sure they'd still function as before. The bed was gorgeous however, with posts at each corner, a canopy, and those sheer translucent cheese cloths hanging all around, that was supposed to keep out the dratted bugs that weren't there, . The room definitely took you to a different time and place. Where the bed was gorgeous, the front wall was majestic, a panorama of the Egyptian desert, with Palm trees surrounding a river, and in the distance...you guessed it, Pyramids!! New looking and pristine, freshly built...this was beautiful, and I could live there. Sure beat the hell out of my own bedroom...then I noticed something else; in the distance were people actually moving around. It was just like a movie!

"Angie, this is perfect, you did well...I love it." That got me that cherished happy girl smile again. God, I loved that! "I wasn't sure, do you really like it?" she asked, "I can change it to most anything that pleases you. All you have to do is say so..." I looked around; thinking of what styles might tickle me, but couldn't think of anything right then... "Nope, this will be good for a while. I think I'll turn in, my watch is telling me it's past time for snoozing." Angie got a shy uncertain look, and asked, "May I sleep with you for a while Daniel?"

It caught me off guard. I knew she didn't need sleep as such. Angie was hinting that what she really wanted was to feel the closeness of another living person, to feel safe. Thinking about it, I didn't think it inappropriate really. And she really did want to lie beside me while she did her 'Quiet Time'... I was not going to make light of it. "I would like that a lot Angie." I took off my shoes and socks, and she did too. We climbed into the bed, and I put out my arm. Angie came up close, and kissed me. That felt better than can be described, I'll tell you...then she laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. She was nice and warm beside me... I lay there for a while, looking at that angels face, and dropped off to sleep myself, feeling right with the world. This was a turning point for us...in more ways than one, I would find out much later...

***

In the morning, according to my watch, we got up with a kiss and a hug, and Angie made breakfast for me. We turned on the view screen to see what was up with the world, and not surprisingly all the news was about the Albuquerque Incident, as it was being called...Sheesh, you'd think people could think up better names than that...oh well, everybody was talking about the strange lights over the city, and the two space ships about to do battle. I just had to laugh at that description. Maybe we do watch too many Science Fiction shows after all...it seems they were all more interested in the Rogue ship, I suppose because it looked more like our idea of an interstellar ship, than the oblong loaf of Pumpernickel that was my Angie. Imagine, the most advanced star ship ever built anywhere in the Universe, and she was relegated to the back seat...

There was all kinds of rampant speculation, were we being invaded, was this a prelude to the End of Days. Were we about to be rounded up and taken off to another planet to be the Aliens slaves...some of it was even trashier than that one. I wasn't laughing after a few minutes of watching, it was that ridiculous at times. While I was changing channels for the umpteenth time, Angie tilted her head, looking off into space for a moment, and said, "Daniel, the ship has been monitoring your home, and there is a Police Car in front of your house. It has been there since before sunrise. There are two officers in front, and a man in back, in a dark suit. It looks suspiciously like they are waiting for you."

Are you for real? The MIB is after me? I would have laughed, but it wasn't really funny. I put my shoes and socks back on, and told Angie, "I suppose I'd better get down there and find out what they want. Uh, maybe you should land me around the corner out of sight; I can approach from there, like I was out for a walk...so she did. After we made sure no one was lurking around the corner, 'poof', there I was on the sidewalk. I started walking toward my house. Apparently the driver was alert, and saw me in his rear view mirror. They all got out, not all intimidating like, but just to say "Hey, we're here."

I walked right up to them, stopped, and said, "Good morning, may I help you?" The Officers didn't say anything, but he MIB guy said, "Mr. Curran, would you mind if we talked to you for a minute?" I looked him right in the eye. "Sure, but one rule first. I'm a retired Chief Machinist Mate, don't call me Mister. Either call me Dan or Chief, I don't care which, ok?" And gave him a nice happy smile to let him know I wasn't put out or anything. "Come on inside, where we can sit down, I've been walking a bit already."

The Suit smiled back at me, and said, "Alright Dan, let's go inside." I unlocked the front door, and in we went, the Suit sitting on my sofa, me in my recliner. The two Officers just stood; protocol I guess. Mr. MIB said, "Dan, I'll get right to the point. The lady across the street was looking out her window yesterday, during that UFO incident, when she heard a loud clap of thunder. She swears she saw your car appear out of nowhere, in your driveway. She called the Police right after. They called us. Does that sound odd to you?"

I gave him my very best innocent look..."Umm, which part. That she heard the same noise I heard, that she thinks she saw something that is downright weird, that she called the Police, or that the Police called you? I'm at a bit of a loss here..."

To his credit, he was honest about it. "To be frank, we are a bit skeptical too. We visually inspected your car a while ago, and it is perfectly normal. Oh, you do have a small drop of oil on the concrete, you might have it checked out...next question, what do you know about that UFO thing over Albuquerque yesterday?"

"Uh Oh, touchy touchy here Curran."

So I just gave him the truth. "I know as much as anyone else who spent the afternoon glued to the TV. It was pretty bizarre. I ended up watching every news channel I could tune to, before they switched to other items." He didn't even look annoyed, "So you don't know any more than was reported?" I was calm, "Just what was told to me, like everyone else..." I hoped he didn't pick up on that little innocent change in words. He didn't even blink. You see, I can't lie, never have been able to. Ask me a direct question; you get a direct answer from me, every time. And by using 'told' in my answer, I had been completely truthful. After all, when a news anchor reports on the TV, he is 'telling you what happened', so I had been honest, and maintained my reputation. He didn't really need to know that Angie 'also' told me what happened...teensy weensy little detail, but an important one for me...

We tossed around a few more questions, and he even gave me some of his own opinions on what happened. I almost smiled when he talked more about the Rogue ship than Angie's ship. Being a big loaf of pumpernickel bread is very good cover, evidently... Mister MIB finally thanked me for my time, and left with the two Police Officers, who had never said a word at all...Angie had 'listened in' while we talked, I could actually feel her presence, but didn't say a word. I did hear a tiny giggle when I did the semantics trick though. She knew what I did...

I didn't get paranoid or anything, but after seeing hundreds of spy movies over the years, I figured there was a small possibility that Mr. MIB had left behind a 'bug' of some kind, in the living room. So after that day I only talked to Angie in my bed room. I still hadn't mastered talking with my mind, so it was safer than being heard engaged in a one way conversation... It wasn't even noon yet, so I waited around in my bed room for a few hours, and even watched some more TV. Didn't really watch much, as they were still belaboring the incident, and played around with my computer. Thousands of brand new websites popped up overnight, all reporting their own version of yesterday. A few even blew it up into "The Great Space Battle" over Albuquerque. Man, we really are a weird race of folks...

It seemed to take forever for the sun to go down, even though it set at the same 6:40pm or so as yesterday. I waited until 8pm, just to be on the safe side, then closed the blinds and turned off the last light. Angie swooped in with stealth mode on full, hovered for a moment, and 'poof', I was back with my precious pet again. This mode of travel has 'Transporters" beat all to heck, no flashy thingy, no visible shimmering, and no anything but a tiny 'poof' feeling...I loved it.

Angie had spent all day compiling her 'report' for the Council. She was almost done, she said, with only a few final touches to fiddle with. She wanted me to actually read it and offer any suggestions I thought would be relevant. That made me feel rather important indeed, a Galactic 'Editor In Chief' if you will. I figured I'd be able to finish in a couple of hours tomorrow morning...silly me, Angie told me, with a little grin, that the report would be about 400,000 pages long in English. Hell, that's like a trillion words, for crying out loud! The Council expects detailed reports, but Angie said even they would consider it fairly long. She said the report had to include the side trip in time and the reason for it...plus 65 million years of Earth's evolution that she had witnessed. That isn't something you read in a casual afternoon...

Chapter 6

### And the Rest of the Story

Next morning, we had breakfast as usual. Well, I did anyway. Once I finished, Angie sat me in front of the Captains 'laptop' on the desk. She showed me how to work the controls, which turned out to be pretty intuitive. Computers need not be complicated, something our 'Techies' need to learn more about. Heck, I could even use simple voice commands if I wanted. And you can bet I wanted to try that out...'Alexa', eat your heart out!

After about four hours my eyes started to cross. There were so many words, I had to read and understand every one, if I was to provide a comprehensive review from the human perspective. It was about time for lunch anyway, so I took a break, and Angie pushed some buttons to 'cook' my lunch, which consisted of some exotic foods from around the different Galaxies...the ones that wouldn't kill me anyway...funny thing is that all of them were delicious in their own way. With differing consistencies that sometimes made me think that some were actually deserts of some kind. It was fun!

After lunch Angie took pity on me, and highlighted just the parts of the report that dealt with her actual evaluation of the human race, and recommendations on how to deal with our existence. The rest, she said, was mostly technical jargon and observations on the Rogues behavior in relation to us. That included every close encounter with any human throughout history, so I told her I would like to read some of that one day. I was curious...by dinner time I had got through a quarter of what was left. I figured it would take me three more days to finish, and give Angie my critique.

After I ate dinner, we sat in our chairs on the bridge and just talked about whatever came to mind. Angie almost always focused on being alive, how different things 'felt' to her, and if those feelings were right. Several times I had to impress on her that those feelings were uniquely her own, to cherish when they made her happy, and to control when they were of the sad or even dangerous variety...Angie gave me one of those quizzical looks, and asked why emotions were dangerous. That was where I had to be careful with my words.

"Emotions can be dangerous for you and to others as well, because they can distract you from making the right decision. Even happy emotions can distract you, but some of the bad emotions can cause harm to others. Anger is probably the most dangerous of all, since sometimes people end up dead as a result, and in most cases brings on another emotion, remorse, which is harmful for you yourself...anger was to be guarded against, it has few, if any, positive benefits. I hope you never have to experience that Angie." Thoughtful look time; "But how am I going to learn about it, if I don't experience the feeling?" Well, you have to be honest with her Dan..."Young lady, I'm sure you will experience anger at least once. It comes with the territory. Someone may annoy you with words or their actions, and you'll feel the beginnings of anger. That is when you have the opportunity to recognize it and control the feeling. But if you don't, and the situation escalates into real raging anger, you could harm them or even kill them if you don't take control early. Try this little trick...if you ever think, 'Hey, this guy is a jerk and I really want to slap him silly', you'll know it could get dangerous, and put on the brakes before it does. Does that make any sense at all pet?"

Angie actually scrunched up her nose at that one..."I think I understand some of it. I suppose I will have to wait and see if I ever get angry, before I'll know for sure. It doesn't sound like a nice thing." I nodded at Angie, "No my precious, anger is never nice. That you can be sure of." We had a few more discussions like that over the next three days...always in the evening, because I had to wade through that long report all day every day. Because life isn't a linear progression, but always random encounters, at first it was not easy for Angie to grasp the concept. Even though she was an AI well versed in computing random solutions, actually experiencing random thoughts was new to her. But, by the second evening she had concluded that being alive was much more difficult than running a star ship. I had to agree with that one...

We didn't stay on Earth during those four days. Don't forget, even though you are invisible to everything, you are still physically there, and we didn't need that neighbor lady seeing birds flying smack into nothing and falling to the ground. So, we orbited the moon again while I did my homework. When I finally finished Angie's report, I stretched out to loosen up, and then took a walk down the corridors and paced the cargo bay for a while, while Angie put the finishing touches on the digital version for transmission to the Council. I wasn't pacing because I found anything wrong with her report. In fact, I considered it very fair and really impartial. There weren't any of her new found emotions in it anywhere, which I was proud of her for.

No, I was pacing because it was too forgiving, in my opinion. Maybe I'm just too cynical of my own race, I don't know. But it seemed at first that Angie was ignoring how warlike we have been for centuries, always killing each other over seemingly petty reasons for the most part. I got myself pretty worked up over that thought. So I went back up and told her my concern. I explained all of it, finishing with, "Angie, the human race has a lot of internal problems. Every country has them. Our world history is one long list of wars, for some of the silliest of reasons...greed, desire, acquisition. 'I want what you have, so I'll kill you to get it.' When you come right down to it, we aren't a very nice species. We can't even live with each other, so how would we ever get along with alien races from far distant Galaxies?"

Angie is a very smart puppy. She nodded for a second, then gave me a gentle smile, a sparkle in her eyes..."Daniel, I should have explained more of the Council's histories to you. It would take years explain even briefly, but in summary...The Council of Races is a body of all known advanced races who want to be members. Most of them evolved as Warrior people. None of them have practiced war of any kind in millions of years, even the youngest of the Lesser Races, which is only 5 million years old. To be succinct, everyone has all the same things, so there is no motivation to go to war with anyone else. That does not mean they no longer know how, it is simply that they choose not to, and don't think about it. Daniel, your human race is less than 100,000 years old, and you have a long time to realize that conflict does not solve anything."

I think I was just called a baby, but I did know what she meant. "So The Council of Races doesn't need war anymore, I get that. What about threats from somewhere else. You mean they don't even have defenses?" That surprised look again. "Oops, I need to clarify. None of the senior or Lesser Races have been warlike for millions of years, but they are not stupid either. They arm every one of their ships so that they can defend themselves, even purely scientific vessels like this one. On the far right of the command console is a small panel that has three labels, 'on' off and Autonomous. In the on position, the Captain can control all weapons by voice command. In Autonomous mode, I control all of them...since this ship and I were created by the 'Oldest One" himself, the ship has the very latest version of everything. There is no record of a weapon being used, in three million years. So be at ease Daniel, should the need ever arise, we can defend ourselves..."

Getting paranoid Dan? Nahhh, just my realist self showing up. Safety is a relative concept, and those 'Rogues' were an unknown entity. Were they just playing with our planet, or did they have other interests...time will tell. I told Angie so, and got a chuckle in return...I did silently thank Angie for not mentioning that we would probably destroy ourselves anyway... After another fine dinner, Angie transmitted the whole report. And I mean the whole report, all trillion words of it, or whatever it was. She told me that she included my critique as well, in my own words to boot. I questioned that, and she said including it let The Old Ones know that the human she had chosen as her mentor, was very intelligent indeed, and honest as well. Yes, I think I blushed...It wasn't until later, much later that I found out Angie had made a request too, a personal one...

The next morning I felt edgy. I had been away from the house for four days now, and soon, very soon my absence could get suspicious. I brought that up at breakfast, and had to contend with a pouting young lady for a while. Angie was all female alright, in all the ways that make them fun to be with, and frightening at times. Finally she cheered up some, and 'apologized' for being difficult. I didn't get annoyed, just didn't like it when she was unhappy in any way. So we made our plans to 'infiltrate' my own house. Well, me anyway. Angie would be with me too, in my head of course. She didn't like it, she wanted that close contact...I couldn't blame her; I wanted that close contact too. I had been in a little moral quandary the first few days, until I realized Angie was a 65 million year old, sophisticated lady. Even her awakening as a person with a personality had been ages ago. She had to deal with it alone for so very long, but now yours truly had been helping her become everything she could be. She was still a very fragile personality, to be sure, but Angie was progressing fast. In only two weeks she had learned quite a bit about being alive.

Sure, it was scary for her sometimes, and I reminded her several times that life was that way, especially when you're dealing with something unknown and brand new. The trick was to always learn about the new thing, and if it was a real problem for her to find ways to make it not a problem anymore. The great thing about Angie is that I don't have to repeat things to her; she learns everything right then the first time. Personality wise, I have to remind her to use the information. She is a typical kid that way...so just after 11am we zipped on down and 'poofed' me onto the sidewalk, about a half mile from my home. I walked there in about thirty minutes. There wasn't anybody waiting for me at the front door this time...

Chapter 7

### You've Been Bagged

Ok, so I wasn't exactly right. They weren't waiting for me, but they were somewhere. A guy can be mistaken, never said I was perfect... I walked in, went to my bed room, turned on the TV to find out that the UFO flap had finally died down some, and turned on my computer. I went through my emails, and got rid of the inevitable spam that snuck through my junk filter, and settled in with the few real ones that came from the banks I did business with to pay bills, and was left with one I expected to be spam again, but wasn't...

It was addressed to me personally. Ok, spammers do that, but in the body of the email were words I couldn't dismiss so easily...

'Dan,

You are being watched, and they aren't your friends. I can be, so give me a chance.

Your friend from last week Chief...'

I knew who it was; of course, he called me by both the names I had told him to. Mr. MIB was wanting to help me, but help me to do what? Rather covert I'd say...almost spy-ish. I had never been much for intrigue, until I met my little girl AI that is... That was when they knocked on the front door...just your everyday knock knock at first, then after a minute, a more insistent knock knock that lasted about five seconds that convinced me. I clicked reply, and just typed 'They're here...' and hit 'send'. Then I deleted his email, and then went to the trash folder and deleted it for good...

The knocking was a bit frantic the third time, so I went to the door, while telling Angie, "Kitten, don't talk for a little while, ok?"" _Are you alright Daniel? You seem worried..."_ "I'm ok Angie, just have to take care of a problem, and now please shhh..." And opened the door to see two men in casual attire holding up FBI ID wallets to the storm door. I opened the storm door, and said, "Can I help you gentlemen? Come on in."

They both looked a little uneasy at first, but sort of shrugged and stepped inside. Their car was pure white, with government plates on it, so they weren't very subtle... The older one said, "Mr. Curran, we just want to ask you a few questions about the incident last week in Albuquerque, New Mexico, would that be alright?" I thought this might be easy. "Certainly, but I've never been there. What would you like to know, about all I can tell you is what I saw on the TV."

The guy actually looked startled, "But you were out there two days before..." I guess he thought he had caught me in some kind of lie. So I disappointed him with the truth... "No, I was a bit South East of there, I believe. I drove out to Roswell; I had never seen it before. I was a bit disappointed with the trip, since it is so commercialized. Too many garish signs and paper Mache' space ships all over the place. So I decided to drive up to the crash site, which is closer to Corona by the way, they should have called it the Corona Crash site... I didn't see much out there at all, not even a decent sign."

These two must be new on the job, both of them were looking perplexed and fidgeted...I gave them my very best innocent smile. That did them in...The older one did not admit defeat though; not yet... "But Mr. Curran, you returned to your home rather fast, didn't you..." This was supposed to be the trick question, designed to catch me on some kind of hook. But I was ready for it, so simply responded, "Yes, it was faster than going out there. I was disappointed with the trip, so I came right back, and only stopped at some rest areas to nap for a bit. I did that sort of thing many times in the Navy. Even then, it only took me 26 hours or so to get back. I was kind of proud of myself that I could still do it. Anything else?"

The poor FBI guy actually slumped. I had won the Joust...after a full minute of trying to think of another question, he gave up and said, "We thank you for your time, Mr. Curran, if you should think of anything that might help in this investigation, please call our local office." And they just got up and left, deflated... After they had driven off, I told Angie it was ok to talk again, all was well. I picked up a relieved tone in her voice. _"I am glad Daniel; I really don't want to cause you any trouble."_ The uncertainty was back, and we would have to work on it..."Angie my pet, trust me when I say you are not trouble for me. This is all brand new territory for both of us, but always know I am with you all the way. I cannot stand the idea that we are apart, even for these short times. Angela, you are my girl. Always and forever, don't ever forget that..."

My speech brought back the happy, content little girl, my girl. I spent some time chatting with her while I made lunch. After eating a favorite TV dinner that suddenly tasted blah, after those delicious replicated feasts on the ship, there was another knock on the door. Mr. MIB was back. I told Angie to listen in if she wanted, but not to distract me. She did...Mr. MIB sat with me in the living room, and dove right in. "Dan, I'm about to tell you some things that are frankly way beyond secret. I've already checked out your background, and your history. You held a Secret Clearance for a time in the Navy, so I'll presume you can keep all this to yourself. Am I right in trusting you to keep your mouth shut?"

This guy was straight forward, and didn't waste time. In spite of my naturally suspicious ways, I was beginning to like him. "Yes, I am well versed in the importance of protecting information, thank you." He laughed at that. "Good, because that is what we know you have been doing...Dan, we know you encountered an Alien, because we saw you do it. 'We' being an agency that does not exist. One of our routine satellite scans detected your driving up and stopping at an isolated spot in the desert, and began a video log. One of our agents saw it on the screen, and watched as a door opened in empty air. That was pretty strange by itself, but what happened next was even stranger, it seems some force picked up your car, brought you in through that doorway, and promptly closed that door. End of video, would you care to tell me what happened after that? My name is Jay, by the way."

I laughed out loud, having mistaken what he said, "you're kidding!'J', like in the movie???" He actually laughed too, recognizing the reference. "No Dan, J-A-Y, not just the letter. Jay Allencourt, to be exact. I belong to that non-existent agency that has only a vague similarity to the movie. We don't even have a name. We normally report to the President directly, but no one else. Not this one however, I expect you understand why. We do, however, have a vested interest in UFOs and Alien contact, but there aren't a bunch of Aliens running around on the Earth. At least not normally...Or do we have invisible visitors right now, hmmm?"

Alrighty then, there wasn't much I could do here. I couldn't deny that I had met Aliens, now could I. That would be an outright lie, and I couldn't go that route. I had to protect Angie, but from what exactly? Jay was from an agency that dealt with just this sort of thing. The question was; would they understand just how non-threatening she is to the Earth...heck, for a minute I was experiencing my own racial paranoia on Aliens, just in reverse.

Jay was being straight up with me, not mincing words. He wasn't intimidating me or anything like that. I felt he was being honest with me, and I've always had good experiences with my first impressions...I could feel Angie listening in, so I asked for a second opinion, "Angie, should I trust him?", and then realized I had said it out loud, when Jay cocked an eyebrow. I gotta work on that talking in my mind thing...

Angie didn't seem worried at all, " _I think I like him Daniel, he sounds nice. Besides, what threat is he to me, it isn't like knowing about me will cause harm"_ Leave it to a woman to make a serious decision based on the sound of Jay's voice..."Ok pet, I'll tell him. Just keep in mind we won't be making a habit of it, ok?" I felt that giggle in her voice, _"I_ _understand Daniel, would you like me to tell him? I found his mind..."_ It sounded like a good idea really, for him to hear it first hand, so I told Jay, "Alright Jay, but ready yourself for a surprise...Go ahead Angie." And she did, talking to Jay like he was an old friend right from the start, but called him a respectful 'Mr. Allencourt' at first, which made me proud of her yet again. Jay jumped right up from the couch, looked around for a minute, then settled in when he calmed down. A young female voice has that calming effect on most men.

She told him about how she and I met, and told him the ships mission. She explained, in detail, how she arrived here two and a half weeks ago, the wormhole that caused her enormous grief, the having to wait 65 million years for time to catch up to her. Angie gave Jay a brief, condensed version of her awakening personality, and why she sought me out. I think it hurt her in some way, to remember the loneliness, the fear, the desperation, all of it. Still, she made me proud, telling him how we decided she was alive, not just a mechanical device, the discussions on emotions and how to deal with them, and then our little naming ceremony...

Jay spoke out loud of course; it is how we do it after all. "Angela is an elegant name Angie, a proud one. But may I ask why exactly you are here? I understand survey and evaluate, but evaluate if we're a threat to you, or what? And please call me Jay; Mr. Allencourt is just too formal for friendly conversation." Angie is very quick to pick up nuances, _"Thank you Jay, I would like to be friends with you, as Daniel is my friend"_ did I mention that Angie is a smooth talker when needed. She and I both knew we were more than simply friends, but no need to broadcast it. Just our own little secret for now...

She told Jay how she was sent by the Council, to determine how we existed at all, since our world, and our Galaxy for that matter, was considered fairly barren element wise. To have not one but two sentient life forms spring up in the same solar system, was a curiosity in itself. The Council was deciding if the remnants of the first planet were worth investigating, since it was now in fragments within our asteroid belt. We, however, were an oddity, an aberration, a race that was advancing at a phenomenal speed. Apparently, we had gone from barely sentient, just above the animals, to a primitive mechanized society in less than 100,000 years. The Council wanted to find out why. I chuckled at that, Angie was talking about the human race of today. Jay had picked up on it too, and smiled slightly.

She explained to Jay that the survey was information gathering only. No invasions, no exotic slave raiding no domination, none of the fictional manifestations that shouted paranoia. The Rogues were another matter entirely, though...Angie had witness all the visits from the Greys, and even some from what we call 'The Reptilians', who were just a nasty race who took offense easily. It looked like the Reptilians were more interested in whether we posed a threat to them, rather than the other way around. No, the Greys were the naughty boys on the block. While Angie couldn't observe in detail exactly what the Greys did when they showed up, each time that they did, a noticeable shift in the human evolution occurred, and sometimes it was minor, like little details. At other times a major change occurred, like the last one where we suddenly became industrialized and mechanized. Angie told us both that what the Greys had done, was a big no no, since their version of The Prime Directive had apparently been violated...yes, my pet used those exact words, , and I heard that little giggle. Jay heard it too, for he laughed out loud. That earned him another giggle, and we all laughed. Angie was becoming a really good story teller. God, I love that girl!

All the tiny visions I had had, of Jay suddenly turning into a slobbering Ogre, and demanding I turn Angie over to the government, evaporated when Jay said, "Thank you both for a very interesting afternoon. This information will tickle our department for some time. Would it be out of order to ask for some kind of summary of the early part of Earth's history, like with the dinosaurs? Eventually we could release it, maybe as a theory of some kind..." That just doesn't sound like an agency with an agenda... Angie was quiet for a full minute, and I could almost hear the gears turning, deciding on how to answer. " _Perhaps in time Jay, but that would be totally up to The Council. You see, just giving you that kind of report could be construed as a violation of the One Rule. But it is also your own history, so it is possible the Council will allow it. We will see..."_

Jay stared directly at me for a second, and said, "Dan, it will take a while to feel comfortable with the idea, but just remember that my organization isn't operating under some kind of 'Black Ops' mandate. Our marching orders, or Charter if you will, are fairly simple in concept. We basically seek out other life within the Galaxy, try to understand it, and the ultimate goal is to establish friendly relations if possible. We have members from many different disciplines and from some of the major scientific agencies around the world, including the usual NASA and SETI. No sinister intentions at all, just a quest for knowledge."

Can't really argue with that, now can you? "Alright Jay, are you the guys working on reverse engineering those recovered spacecraft?" Yeah, I wanted to know if the biggest conspiracy theory of all was true...could've asked Angie of course, but I wanted to hear it from Jay himself... Angie giggled in my head, and Jay laughed..."Yes Dan, we have been trying to puzzle out how the darn things work for years. No luck yet, but the tech guys keep trying. From what I know of it, there are no moving parts at all, except for the basics like doors and cabinets, landing gear and such. It is really frustrating to reverse engineer when you can't even identify any electrical circuits, let alone anything that has moving parts. So, no, before you ask...there aren't any astounding scientific breakthroughs to gloat about. Everything we invent still comes about the hard way, through trial and error."

Angie piped up then, a hint of sympathy in her mind voice, " _Jay, I am constrained by The Council's 'One Rule', of course. I cannot give away their technology, but I can explain why you can't figure out how the ships work. Essentially it is because the ships aren't actually 'built' at all. In simpler terms, they are 'grown', rather than constructed. Not grown like plants and vegetation are grown of course, but more along the lines of convincing the elements to function together. You can't identify most of the elements, because they don't exist in this area in space. You don't 'see' any electrical circuits, because the circuits are all molecular in nature. There are no visible connections for you to 'trace'. I'm afraid it will be 1000 years before you could even be able to understand how the technology is used."_

Angie was being vague on purpose. She simply could not violate the 'One Rule'. Explaining 'smart materials' wouldn't help either, since humans didn't have any available to them, other than the sample ships they had stumbled upon. It made me feel sorry for us. While we made do with what we had, space travel was going to be a very long journey indeed...

She did dangle a carrot in front of Jay, though...a hint really. _" This sector of known space does have one mineral that can help you out. Non organic crystals are prevalent throughout this area. Your own scientists have researched crystal properties somewhat. You might expand that research to discover how these can help your race in the areas of communication and power transmission. Different crystalline structures do different things, so any expanded research could produce some interesting applications"_ That got Jay's attention. "I'll be sure to let the right people know about that, thank you Angela. Well, I'd better get back to the office and finish up my day with the necessary reports. You two have a good night, alright? I'll check in with you occasionally."

I walked him to the front door, and shook his hand. Jay gave me a card with a bunch of hand written numbers on it in neat rows. It looked like someone wrote down their favorite lottery numbers on it. "The last three on the top row are the prefix, and the end numerals on the last two rows are the number to my office phone, if there is ever a need to call me direct. Got it?" I assured him I understood, and he went off to his reports. As he walked to his car, Angie let him know that if he needed us immediately, all he had to do was call her name in his head, I heard that of course, since we were all still on the same 'channel'. Jay replied that he would not abuse the privilege...

It was already dark out, a long day today. I spent some time deciding what clothes to change into, showered and put them on, then asked Angie to 'Beam me up'...love that phrase! My world went 'poof'...and Angie was bubbly all evening. She had a second 'friend' to play with. Jay had apparently impressed her a lot. She made it clear to me that Jay could not be 'competition', since she was mine, and I was hers. I chuckled and said, "I love you". Angie looked startled for a brief second, and suddenly I had a beautiful young lady hugging and kissing me fiercely... _"Oh Daniel, I love you too, so much!"_

It was happy girl time for the remainder of the evening. We slept extra close that night...

Chapter 8

### And I Thought School was hard

For the next month I was enrolled in the Angela Star Ship Creative Education Course. She told me lots more about Council space, its inhabitants, the differences in each society, with proper protocol drummed into my head for each one. While all the members of The Council were 'humanoid' in structure, that structure being one head, two hands and two feet, it could still vary quite a bit, sometimes extremely so...there were tall ones, short ones, and every height in between. Coloration varied quite a bit too, with many different shades for variety. Some had fur even, but none wore scales thankfully. There were a few with rough mottled skin, however, reminiscent of lizards, sprinkled within the races. Nooo, nobody had tails, thank you...I sat through a lot of images, there are like 100,000 races in the Council all told. All were grouped into categories, based upon accepted social protocols. I didn't have to learn every races name, but I had to know the different protocols for each group. Angie could be a strict school mistress...

Every few days I would 'poof' down to the house, so I could be seen to be moving around the yard, which yes, did get mowed again, twice...then 'poofed' right back up to my girl for three or five more days together. I was liking this life a lot... School got scary one day, when Angie decided she was going to show me how to fly the ship manually...What!!!??? She was gentle with me, but firm..."Don't worry Daniel; this is required for every Captain to know how to do it if necessary. No one has ever had to take manual control, but your Murphy's Law applies here. Please?"

Don't get on my case; you wouldn't be able to resist those pleading eyes either... Now, I'm not completely ignorant, and I have flown a plane a few times in my life, on those 30 minute and 1 hour check rides to see if you wanted to get a license. I never got one, but every pilot told me I would be a natural at it. I also know that flying a space ship is no way the same as flying a plane, except maybe for orbital insertion and landing on a planet or moon. So I agreed. And soon found out it wasn't as 'hard' as flying an aircraft too...Angie pushed a button on the console in front of me, and a small panel folded out toward me, with two joysticks and a throttle lever on it. It had one button on the right, one push for on, one push for off; a pretty simple concept really. The left joystick was for up and down in the z axis, great for when you land. You twist the stick for yawing left or right. The right one took care of the flying like a plane. Push forward you point down, pull back you climb. Left or right, you rolled that way. The throttle had a speed range from zero, up to just short of light speed, Angie told me. Sooo, after 10 minutes getting a relative 'feel' for the response from moving them, we spent four hours just flying around my solar system. It took me a while to get used to the throttle, however. My feet kept looking for the brake pedals, but pulling back on the throttle actually slowed the ship. All the way back and you stopped. Neat! If for some reason you need to back up, just flip the reverse stop out of the way, and pull back a little more... Turned out the hardest thing for me was maintaining the proper 'spacial relationship' to the system. People always think there are just eight directions to worry about in space. Up, down, forward, back, left, right, yaw, and angle of attack. But there is a ninth really. You can easily make an approach 'upside down', a gross violation of piloting protocol...after sweating it out for an hour; I began to enjoy being the famous Space Pilot Daniel Curran. Alright, I was having fun, ok? Angie even complimented my burgeoning skills; although she did cringe more than a few times too...I ended up being Command Pilot in charge for a little over six hours that day.

***

Back to school...Angie thought it would be beneficial if I had some idea of how their technology worked. I asked her if that wouldn't be a violation of the 'Prime Directive', and she explained that knowing how it worked wasn't the same as showing me just how to make it happen. "And beside that Daniel, you already know that the necessary raw materials aren't available here anyway" I couldn't really dispute that idea; knowledge doesn't do you any good if you can't see a physical result from that knowledge. Kind of a bummer really, from my perspective. I learned later that the little 'hint' Angie had given Jay about crystals, was a subtle 'nudge' for us to work toward getting along with each other, since the biggest benefit was in communication and power distribution. If leaked out just the right way, the entire world would benefit. A quest for 'Kumbaya' perhaps? Whatever...even though the underlying message has been twisted into something else over the years, the song still does stand for unity and compassion after all...

It turns out that much of the Advanced Race's technology revolves around molecular 'cooperation', or getting a materials structure to agree to help you out. Not all materials, mind you, just the 'smart' ones. The word smart doesn't describe it really, but it is ok for a reference point. Metals, plastics, and other composite materials can be convinced to do some pretty amazing things, including building super duper star ships. Angie told me once that her 'matrix' was comprised entirely of exotic crystalline materials, a nod to the communication characteristics of crystals in general. Human brains work in much the same way she said, but from an organic basis...

But anyway, even the not so smart elements in their sectors of the Universe were very useful to them, as decoration and ornaments mostly. They appreciated beauty, pretty much like we do. Art was art, whether paintings or sculpture, and performance skills admired. Music was a biggy, and some of their compositions sounded quite pleasing to human ears. All of the races enjoyed traveling for the simple pleasure of seeing something new. What they didn't have was religion...

Don't get me wrong here, they do believe in one God. It is just that they don't interpret him in many different ways. From their perspective, God isn't located somewhere in the Universe...God 'IS' the Universe. For the advanced peoples out there, the Big Bang happened because it did. It wasn't a huge flash or explosion, but a single thought. One second there was just a humongous empty void, and a second later the Universe existed, full of all sorts of strange matter moving around at a cosmic speed. We humans think of the Universe as expanding, which isn't really true. All the Galaxies are moving around at high speed, yes, but not all in the same directions. That's why we see some Galaxies merging, and others destroying themselves from running into each other. In a way, the Universe became God's playground. Life emerged after a time. Alright, that's as far as I'll go into Theology. I've always believed in God, just not the different, sometimes fanatical interpretations...this version I was hearing fit into my own beliefs quite well, thank you...

I already told you that Angie is amazing; ok so I'm prejudiced there...she apparently developed some feminine intuition to go along with her delightful character. I had already looked at thousands of images of the major races; mostly in groups...Angie decided to show me one that was special to her. "Daniel, I would like to show you a picture of The Oldest One. He has not used his true name for centuries, and just uses the title now. Would you like to see the man who created me?"

Now that was a revelation. No wonder whenever Angie talked about him, it was in an almost reverent tone. The Oldest One was as close to a father as she would ever have. He had created her and the ship himself, just for this special mission. She said he didn't even consult with the rest of the Council on the idea that would have been debated for a year...or fifty. He felt the survey needed to be conducted 'now', and just went ahead and did it. That was his right really, being the head of the Council... I told her sure I wanted to see him, and she popped him up on the screen. I'm not sure why, but I guess my subconscious was thinking he would be an old wrinkled prune of a guy. What I saw on the screen was anything but.

The Oldest One would fit right in with the twenty to thirty-ish crowd easily, but his features stunned me. Not because he was so young looking, but because he looked exactly like an Egyptian Pharaoh; one in particular to be precise...surely you have watched some of the History Channel shows about the Pharaohs. Remember Akhenaten? The Oldest One wouldn't double for Akhenaten, but he sure had similar features. Thin angular face, almost triangular, large piercing and slanted eyes, prominent nose that flared some, and really full lips, which were red in the photo. He had a serious countenance, not stern, giving the impression he would talk with you as an equal, but you didn't want to trifle with him at all...the Oldest One wasn't just humanoid, he was quite exotically human.

The Oldest One was fairly tall, probably a couple inches taller than I am, and I am 6 Foot 2 Inches. In the image he was wearing a short sleeve shirt, with intricate patterns on it, which seemed to shift, even in the still image...and a pair of trousers. He had a belt on, with a large crest for a buckle. Yup, the old trusty pants holder upper was apparently universal after all. I wouldn't mind meeting him, if that ever happened. Angie was anxiously looking at me, so I simply said, "He is impressive Angie, and I think I would like him."

She gave me a big smile, "He is special to me because he created me for his own needs, by himself. Is it alright to think of Him as special to me?" The uncertainty in her eyes really touched me right then, so the truth came out with some feeling, "Angie my precious, it is more than just alright. It is proper. He is literally your Father after all, given the circumstances." The smile widened, and her eyes sparkled. She sat in my lap, and graced me with a full on hug and kisses to match. Yes, today was a very good day indeed.

One thing that I learned about the Councils peoples is that they don't place values on much of anything. Everyone has access to just about anything they want, so the concept of envy or greed doesn't play into their daily lives at all. There isn't any money to get in the way, so there isn't any crime as we know it, simply because if someone has something you don't, and you covet it, the 'owner' will normally give you his, or just make an identical one for you. There isn't any murder either, or fights of any kind really since they conquered anger long ago. Someone can annoy you, however. If that happens, the person who is annoyed will simply walk away and stop associating with you, until you apologize. Apologies do happen a lot in those societies. If that sounds Utopian to you, well join the crowd. I called it Utopia on steroids. It is just as hard for me to visualize too. It isn't like these people don't care about anything. It's more that they care about everything, and have learned how to work together within that framework.

Did I give you the impression that Council races don't value anything? Oops, my bad...they value one thing above all else, Honor. And every single thing that one word implies. Honor isn't just a word to them, it is literally life itself. If you do something slightly dishonorable, there is hope for you to make amends. If you do something really bad, like misrepresenting yourself to another, you'll find that it carries the strictest punishment of all, total isolation. No one will have anything to do with you ever again. Picture that, walking around in a sea of billions of people, and being completely alone. Scary thought...

The Oldest Race practices that principle to the letter. If you tell an Old One that you will do something, you had better make sure you get it done, or die trying. It is that simple, and accepted throughout the known Universe. In simpler terms, you never ever lie to an Old One, Truth is Honor, everything else is unimportant. I think I could abide by that rule, since I could not lie outright, even if I wanted to. Could you?

The Head of the Council is always an Old One, simply because of that one point, Honor. It is not that the Old Ones are perfect; it is more that they don't screw up very often. And, if they do screw up, 10 seconds later they will be working to make it better, or, you guessed it, die trying. There is no in between with an Old One. The Oldest One is a title, not because he's older that the rest of his race. He is what we would call 'elected' by acclamation, simply because every member of the Council knows him, or knows of him.

Some one of you are probably thinking, "Gee, it would be easy to get over on that society. They are so naive..." You'd be wrong, but hey! You are welcome to try it if we ever interact with those peoples. Be sure to let me know how it comes out. They are really not stupid at all; the One Rule sorta proves that much...it would be a massive book in print/

Angie kept shoving information at me, until it felt like my head was swelling. I did get a headache, and had to remind her that my memory capacity was severely limited in comparison to hers. She understood, but did mention that human brains have much more capacity than we realize, we just don't use them efficiently. Yup, it made me feel like a lower life form alright, but I also knew that detail from school (the other one I attended).

The next morning I was due to spend one of my two or three day stints at home, to keep up appearances, and Angie was unhappy of course. She put on a good face, but I knew her ways now. To tell the truth I didn't feel all that thrilled either. Besides learning more in a month and a half, than I ever learned in school, I had grown more than fond of my little munchkin. When she was perky happy, so was I. When she was moody, I wasn't myself either. And when she was downright unhappy, I was a bear, really grumpy. Luckily that didn't happen often. But we got through this morning with a promise that I would beam back up as soon as I felt it was safe to do so. That she understood, and I 'poofed' down with a smiling face in my eyes...

My main concern was being watched. I didn't know for sure, of course, but there was always that feeling in the back of my consciousness that someone would be. With so many agencies in the government who involve themselves in surveillance, any one of them could discover that a citizen was having an affair with an Alien. And people being people, some nasty things could happen. There wasn't much they could do, because there aren't any laws on the books that forbid meeting an Alien. But they could try to make me uncomfortable if they wanted to. In human paranoid think speak; they could try to throw the National Security thing at me to see if it stuck...I wasn't afraid of it, all that would merely be a large pain in the ass to me. But it could keep me away from Angie for a time too, and that did frighten me. Being able to talk to each other anytime was nice, but up close and personal is everything...

So, we waited until dusk, and swooped by the house in stealth mode, scanning the entire area on the flyby. Nothing showed up, except for a few people home about 4 doors up from mine. Even the nosy lady across the street wasn't home, it was Friday night. No electronic snoopers either, not even the one Jay had left way back when. But I had to laugh when Angie said I left my Bluetooth on, it had tried to connect to the ship as we flew by. Don't ask me why, the science is far above my pay grade...

So, we came around again and I beamed down, to a bed room that felt like a stranger now. But I toughed it out, and watched some TV again. News was 'blah blah' normal chatter, about the usual mundane things, including a pep rally the President was holding to boost his ego again. I had no interest in that, so I tuned in to a series I kind of liked, only to lose interest in that five minutes later. So I did my obligatory email clean out on the computer, and found another Jay message. This was just a 'Hi, how ya doing' one, with some reference to certain advice he had received from Angie about crystal properties. It seems one of their researchers had tried beaming some long wave radio signals directly at a raw lump of crystals and a few of them had lit up like a Christmas tree. The whole section was off and running now, on a full blown quest. I figured it would be several years at least before they found even a few practical uses, but what the heck. They were having fun. Every good invention starts with many moments of, "Ok, it did that this time, let's try this"...I think Angie will like to hear that.

She did. She was pleased that she had helped point our people in the right direction to better themselves. No, it wasn't really a violation of that 'One Rule', since we had already experimented in that direction. I'm sure you have heard of a 'Crystal Radio'. They are still around, as toy 'kits' that kids can build themselves, and 'crystalline' materials are still used in diodes. We just didn't look deeper into the potentials for crystals, after discovering 'integrated circuits' and such things. But that's enough Science 101 for today...Angie had merely suggested something we already knew, but didn't know we knew. She did not 'interfere'; we would make all the discoveries on our own.

Angie and I just chatted for a couple hours, about anything and everything that came to mind. Angie's most important topics were always feelings and emotions, of course. She was still a kid learning about life after all. Its funny strange how we don't even think about those things often, since they are so ingrained within our psyche. It's part of who we are, good or bad. But for a super intelligent computer, that had no relative experience with those things, it was exciting and scary at the same time. So yes, my girl was very very interested in all of that, and we talked about being people a lot.

Chapter 9

### Good Morning

### Mr. President

It was starting to get pretty late in the day, and the Sun was lowering to the horizon. Tomorrow I would beam back up to my Angie, and all would be right with our world again for a while. Happy time was just around the corner again...I actually cooked up some spaghetti, just to make sure I still remembered how. It still tasted good to me; did I mention I love spaghetti? But I was getting to really enjoy Angie's cooking...I know I know, how could a meal pulled out of thin air taste as good as the 'real' thing? I'm guessing that it has more to do with pushing just the right buttons in just the right way, or something like that, because my pet was a good cook...

So, after I washed my dinnerware and put the rest of the spaghetti away in the fridge for tomorrow, I settled down to find some program to watch on TV. Didn't get very far with channel browsing when I heard one of those insistent knocks on the door that signals someone with a purpose. Standing at my front door were two men again; new ones, I hadn't seen them before. Both wore dark suits. No, not black, just dark ones. They both stuck out their Ids, which looked remarkably similar to the FBI ones, but had Secret Service printed across the top. One of them said, "Mr. Curran, I must ask you to come with us, the President would like to talk with you." Oh great, the one person in the World I don't want to be near, let alone talk to, wants to talk to little old me. How the heck am I going to get out of this?

"Umm, I don't really want to, I didn't even vote for him you know." I said, and yes I was uncomfortable, for several reasons. Least of all being that I don't like the guy. The guy smiled thinly, "Yes we know, but the President insisted on meeting you, and that means we have to insist now. So would you take pity on us, and just agree?" I almost laughed out loud then, because he even threw in an apologetic 'please' sort of look. I sighed, and said in a resigned tone, "Oh alright, let the performance begin." That got a real smile out of both of them. I figured they weren't on the Presidential Detail, for those guys never smile. They chauffeured me over to our local airport, where a nondescript Lear Jet was sitting waiting for me. As I sat down in a seat, in an otherwise empty cabin, I heard Angie say in my head, _"Don't worry Daniel, this will be alright, I trust in you."_ which didn't make me really feel any better. So I practiced my mind talk in reply, " _I know you trust me Angie, but what if I have to reveal that the Earth has an Alien Star Ship orbiting our planet right now."_

She actually chuckled in my mind, _"Just tell the truth, it isn't like I am any real threat to your planet. And they certainly are no threat to me, so all will be well."_ That girl has a way of making my paranoia evaporate. Put me in my place too, for making something a big problem, that was actually a huge nothing in cosmic terms. So I tried to relax on the flight up. Still didn't like the guy.

***

Upon landing, I was met by a single black car, with two Agents in it. I climbed in the back seat, and they drove me over to the White House, pulling up right to the front doors. It was pretty late, so there weren't any gawkers hanging around at the fence, not even any reporters. I was escorted right to the Oval Office by those two agents, and one opened the door. In we went, the two taking station on either side of the door after it closed.

There he was, sitting in that overstuffed office chair, Jeremy Salcone. He gave me one of his trademark fake smiles, and stood, coming around the desk to shake my hand, "Mr. Curran. It's good to meet you; I have been told that you have had an Alien encounter. I'd like you to tell me about it, please."

Okay, two things wrong with this introduction. First off, Salcone is not known for being congenial. He is known as a manipulator who always wants things his own way. He's supposed to be a billionaire, but the organizations that track that sort of thing have made it clear that he is far less rich than he claims. Which means, at the least, Salcone misrepresents things. He is egocentric and...Alright, I'm going to stop right there. My opinion doesn't really matter right now. Whether or not I like him, he did get elected to the office.

The other thing is that I had never ever heard of Jeremy Salcone saying please. So this was leading up either a con job, or a setup of some kind, so I would have to be careful with this little interview. Good thing he hadn't asked me a direct question..."Very well Mr. President, what would you like to know."

His opening dialog had bothered me a bit; this was simply not the usual Jeremy Salcone. But I would play along. Besides, the truth usually unnerves people, they don't expect it. He said, "Oh, the usual. How did you meet these Aliens, what are their intentions, are they here to attack us, conquer us, help us or what? That exhibition a few weeks ago in Albuquerque frightened a lot of people, and their safety is my concern, you know."

Okay Dan, start at the beginning..."Well Sir, I was sitting in my house one afternoon, debating whether or not to mow my lawn, and a voice sounded in my head..." I told him pretty much all of it really, only leaving out my more personal feelings about Angie. I told him that Angie was a really sophisticated Artificial Intelligence, who was sent here to discover why the human race existed at all, since our Galaxy was considered lacking in the necessary incentives for supporting advanced life. I explained how Angie had basically needed a friend to help her deal with her awakening personality, and how she had chosen me to help her. No attacks, no subjugation, no ulterior motivations, all those paranoid imaginings that make for really good Science Fiction movies. In fact, the purpose of Angie's 'visit' was so benign that the President actually looked disappointed. Which, of course, I was hoping for.

He could easily have jumped off half cocked, declared a National Emergency or something, mobilized the military, all that, but he didn't, which did impress me. So I explained that the AI that I had met wasn't the big ship that hovered over City Hall that day, or the balls of light flying around, but was the big loaf of Pumpernickel Bread that scared them off so quickly. I heard Angie chuckle in my head at that; she was enjoying my dissertation, but she could tell I was struggling with keeping our personal little secret, so she asked, _"Daniel, please ask him if he would like to meet me?"_ I must have frowned, because Salcone asked me what was wrong. I told him that "The AI' asked if you wanted to meet her, she could explain in more detail what was going on. The President thought over the invitation for a minute, and said, "Yes, I think I would like that. Do we need to go out to New Mexico to meet her?"

Awkward moment here, so I had to spend ten minutes explaining that Angie could meet right now, that she could beam him right up to the ship, that it wasn't the 'Beam me up' kind of transport, that she could explain more and put him right back here when they were done...the Secret Service Agents didn't like that idea at all, and said so almost loudly. I couldn't really blame them. The idea of beaming up to an Alien space ship for a chat was way outside their comfort zone, and when I made it known that Salcone would travel alone, they rebelled...understandably. I have to give him credit though, the President has nerve. He told them that he would be alright, and they could keep 'me' company while he was away. I almost laughed then, it was something of a hostage situation, with me as the hostage. For some strange reason, I didn't mind at all. While it didn't make them feel any better about this move, what could they do? The President has spoken, and if one thing is drummed into their training, it's that The President speaks, they obey, period.

Angie apparently understood the tension, and had me tell them one of the two could go up with the President. That bit of gracious concession helped a lot. What they didn't need to know, was that Angie 'turned off' the agent's gun on the way up, and turned it back on when they came back. But it never was put to the test anyway...

After they decided which one would go, I positioned them standing away from the furniture, and off they went, with a momentary gentle breeze as the air filled the void where they had just been standing. That earned me a raised eyebrow and frown from the agent tasked with 'guarding' me. I just shrugged like it was an everyday occurrence. Which for me it was...and we settled in for the waiting... Angie let me 'listen in' to all their conversation, both sides. Didn't know she could do that for me...she explained in more detail about how she was sent here a couple months ago, how she had her unfortunate time displacement, and had to end up waiting while watching our planet evolve. When she mentioned 65 million years, the President was naturally surprised by that, and asked if there was some kind of record of her observation. She said there was, and she would eventually create some media of what she had seen. Angie was playing to the President's own sense of importance with that. It worked. The Prime Directive didn't even come into play, since it was our own planet's history to start with. No, it didn't include every important event in history, she only had about a dozen drones to cover an entire planet, so don't ask.

Angie explained some of the Council's history, a summary really. She told him of their own technological advancement, and how nothing of what they knew would help us, because of the lack of 'proper' elements in this area of space. She did soften the blow by telling Salcone how she was impressed by our own rapid advancements in technology in the last 200 years, and told him to be proud of the human race's ingenuity, and ability to work around any deficiencies in resources. My girl is quite the diplomat... The last subject Angie explained was the Rogues, how they had apparently been toying with our planet and the human race in general. Her observations would provide some damning evidence of numerous violations of the One Rule. She told him that we didn't need to concern ourselves, since the Council would probably sanction the Greys pretty harshly as a result of her findings. For now, she carefully avoided hinting that we may have been genetically manipulated too. That would be a secret for now, until the council could determine if any serious damage had resulted.

While she explained things to the President, she had walked the two around the ship in an impromptu tour. She even opened up some access panels and showed Salcone just exactly why the Council's technology would not help us. You can't really learn much from solid chunks of metal and other materials that have no visible circuits at all. It's the major reason we never learned anything of note from those recovered bits of 'flying saucers'...one was reasonably intact, and they simply couldn't make it do anything. Real frustration, no doubt.

Finally, after almost two hours, Angie 'poofed' them back down to the Oval Office. The agent looked awestruck, and The President even had a tough time settling down for a few minutes. He kept pacing, looking perplexed. Coming to some inner decision, he sat down finally, and looked at me, "Your Alien thinks highly of you Mr. Curran. She says she trusts you completely. Frankly, I'm not sure of what to do about either of you."

That was my cue to speak up, and I was a little irritated with that..."Why do anything at all, Mr. President? By now you should realize that there isn't any real threat to you, our country, or our world for that matter. Even those Grey Aliens are essentially an annoyance, not much more. Why not just accept that there really are people out there, and let it go at that for now." Salcone gave me a strange look, almost like he wanted to do something, anything that could improve his image with the public. I think he finally realized that he couldn't go that route. "I think you may be right Mr. Curran. I can't let this get out to the public really; we saw already what 15 minutes of aerial maneuvering over a big city could cause. Worldwide panic over an announcement that Aliens really are 'invading' our territory would not be good at all. You can go back home, and enjoy your otherworldly friendship. Just know that I might have to contact you if something else happens around here."

Well now, that went far better than I had anticipated. It seemed I had developed a bit of respect for him after several hours talking with him. Still don't think I'd vote for him, but he gained a few points that evening. He offered to have someone fly me back home, but I declined. I had other ways to get home. He actually laughed at that, "Don't I know it now." I bid him good night, and beamed home. The one I was beginning to suspect was my real home. Angie jumped on me in a bear hug, all kisses and squiggles. Need I mention it felt real good to me?

Chapter 10

### It Only Hurts

### When It Hurts

It's been almost three months now. Every night I look up at the moon and stars, wondering if she is alright. Had The Council questioned her conduct? Did they punish her in some way? God, I miss my Angela...

Everything had been going great. And by great I mean, Angie and I were just hanging out, relaxing, and just enjoying each other's company. Jay Allencourt had called a couple times to let Angie and I know that more and more researchers were switching over to crystal experimentation. My girl really got a kick out of that news; she knew there were many possible applications for crystals than anyone. Her whole matrix was made up of millions of them, varying in size from tiny ones, up to ones as big as my whole hand spread out. Heck, Angie's memory sector alone took up two thirds of the ship superstructure, hidden away in every spare space there was. She made me look once, and was proud that it didn't faze me at all.

I seldom beamed down to the house, just once a week usually, just to check on it up close, just for a few hours. I didn't need to go there just to pay bills, once Angie set up an internet connection just for me. She uploaded all my bookmarks, homepage, and passwords to the Captain's Screen, so paying bills and browsing never required a trip down...isn't Wi-Fi grand? I even showed her how to play a few games. At first, competition puzzled her a bit, but after she mastered the idea behind it, I never beat her at all. I had never been very good at games really, so I didn't mind. And I gave her a stern warning never to 'let' me win one just to be nice, that was my One Rule. 'That' she understood right away. We just had fun whenever we wanted fun, and talked endlessly about every mundane subject that tickled her fancy. And everything did tickle her it seemed. Things that we take for granted because we were born with them, were new territory for my munchkin. She soaked it all up with a happy smile, even the not so nice topics. For her, knowledge was life itself. Isn't it the same with us, after all?

One day I was just relaxing on 'our' bed, when she walked in with a sad look on her face I'd never seen. There were tears in her eyes, and 'that' scared me. She told me she had just received a message from The Oldest One himself, telling her to come back, questions needed to be answered. "Oh Daniel, what am I to do? I cannot just say no, The Oldest One has called me." This was very close to little girl panic mode, she was more unsure of herself than ever before. This indecision proved beyond doubt that she was much more than an AI that followed orders. My Angie was a fully fledged living individual. I'm not going to debate with you about not having an organic body like you and me, she is alive dammit!

We lay arm in arm in our bed, twisted around each other like pretzels, and as gently as I could, told her what she must do, even though I hated the idea as much as she did..."My precious Angie, your own honor tells you what you have to do. To deny it would lose not only your honor, but you'd lose yourself. You know you have to fulfill the trust he has in you; anything else would break that trust. I will wait for you to come back to me, no matter how long that takes, Ok?" Angie hugged me fiercely then, some of the tension slipping away. After a while she went limp, and I knew she was in 'quiet time'. I gazed on her face for a while, and eventually drifted off myself...

In the morning, Angie cooked me up a big breakfast like always. We were both unhappy, but sticking to a routine helped a tiny bit. There were no more tears, simply because both of us knew she had to do this question and answer thing. It would not be easy, but it had to be done. We sat around in the Captain's Cabin for an hour or so, just being close without much talking. There was a lot of hugging and kissing though. Finally Angie said simply, "I must go, but I promise I will find a way to come back to you as soon as I can Daniel." I stroked her hair gently, "I know you will my pet, and I know that very well now." We stood, and I gave her my extra special gentle kisses. Then we stood apart by about three feet, just looking at each other. "You are my girl Angie, always and forever. Remember that" and the last thing I saw was her trying to give me one of her happy smiles. She almost succeeded, before 'poof'; I was back in my bed room, where this had all started.

***

Trying to adjust to being unhappy simply doesn't happen, did you know that? It just hangs around in your thoughts, kind of taunting you with "Hey, I'm still here!" If I didn't like mowing before, I really hated it now. It was merely a distraction, a distraction that never kept me from thinking of Angie. My lawn never looked so good though, I mowed and trimmed every few days. My neighbors probably thought I was nuts, which would be an accurate appraisal of how I felt.

I started gazing at the stars at night, during the first week. My conscious mind knew that was futile, it was going to take Angie almost a month to even get there, but I did it anyway, just to know she was up there somewhere. Since the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy is below the horizon where I live, I contented myself with looking in the Southern night sky. I knew Angie was in that direction at least. I could almost feel her trying to call me, telling me it would be alright. I know I know; it was just wishful thinking on my part. But I was quite sure that my girl was doing exactly that too...

After the first month, the anxiety faded to a dull roar. Contrary to popular belief, it never goes away entirely. Every night, when the light faded to darkness, I would begin my vigil out in the back yard, sitting in a lawn chair I bought just for that. Most nights I would watch until midnight, then go inside to attempt sleeping in that 'primitive' bed of mine. And then there were some mornings I would find myself slumped in the lawn chair, having fallen asleep while looking for Angie. Yep, at this rate I'd be a total wreck in no time at all. By the end of the second month I had fallen into a deep dark well of despair. That is, until I looked at myself in the mirror one day. I mean 'really' looked at myself. I just stood there and started talking at my image in the mirror. After a while I was almost yelling at me, out loud.

"Curran, you are being stupid, and you know it. Angie will be coming back; you just don't know how long it will take. So stop this damn whining about it, and look forward to the day she does come back." It worked; sometimes you just have to get angry with yourself. It did give me a different perspective on this situation, a more positive one. Angie would return; I knew she would. So I got busy, and cleaned my whole house. I vacuumed, shampooed the carpets, mopped the kitchen floor and wiped down the kitchen cabinets, the whole bit. Then I cleaned myself up, shaved, trimmed my mustache, trimmed the hair a bit, and took a nice long shower. It is amazing how just getting clean can make you feel better.

Then I went out and raided the grocery store, stocking up on all the fun things I loved to munch on. My cabinets and fridge have never been that full. And I turned on the TV for the first time in quite a while. Yes, I had been that bad off. All my movie apps had updated their offerings, and I found some of my favorite Sci-Fi classics to watch. This was really therapeutic, as I like some of the very old ones...

When month three finished up, I started slipping again. I started having those little niggling doubts that come out of nowhere. Had something happened to my girl; had she encountered another wormhole somewhere, and was stuck far in the past? Had some unknown space pirates intercepted her on her journey? Yeah, paranoia does that to you, trust me...it was all I could do to fight off those thoughts. Time for another mirror consultation, it seemed. It did work again, but took twice as long, and two sessions to bury the fear. I just had to face up to the fact that Angie was very far away indeed, and it would take a while for her to keep her promise...it's just that waiting is no fun at all...

Jay called me today; he wanted to know why Angie didn't answer his call. I had to explain that she was called back home to clarify some points for the Council. I surprised myself by keeping it as matter of fact info, and he took it well, asking me if she would be back soon. It seems that they had made something of a major breakthrough with crystals, and wanted to know if what they observed was considered normal in her end of the Universe. I told him I'd let him know when she got back. And that was the high point of the day.

Maybe there is some kind of psychic connection in the Universe, because the very next night I heard from my Angie. I had stayed up until 11PM, doing my nightly star gazing, got good and tired, and went to sleep. At 1:04AM, Angie echoed in my mind, _"Daniel, are you there?"_ , and I sat up with a start, "Angie, you're back! How did it go, is everything alright now, where are you, when will you get here?" I was jabbering, and I heard that little girl giggle that I love so much, _"I have just exited the Gate, and should be at Earth in about three hours. I have a surprise for you; can you find a nice open and isolated area to land at?"_

A surprise for me? Heck, it was a great surprise just to have her back. I had to think for a minute, there was an open area about 100 miles west of me, an old amusement park before it got torn down. It wasn't close to any towns, about as isolated as there was in the Eastern part of the US. I told her I'd head right there, and she could zero in on me when she got here. I put on my clothes, climbed in the car, and took off, wondering all the way what kind of 'surprise' was in store for me. Did she bring me some kind of super hover car? Nahhh, that One Rule got in the way of that idea. Maybe an example of their art or something nondescript, just an exotic trinket. That sounded like a possibility. But why the need to land, maybe this surprise was big and bulky after all, but I had no clues...I asked, but Angie wasn't telling'. She thought I would like it though. No help there...

When I got to the old amusement park, I had to convince the gate to open, it was on rusty hinges. Good thing they didn't lock it, I didn't have bolt cutters with me, and it was just a chore to get it to swing out of the way. I drove the quarter mile to the huge paved parking lot, and parked on one edge of it to give her room to land. And waited. I had gotten there a bit early, but The Ship was just passing the moon, so it wouldn't be too long.

It was only about 30 minutes, and Angie said, _"Ok, I'm coming down, watch for me."_ Watch for me? How do you watch for a space ship that is usually invisible? I didn't have long to wait, since five seconds later the Ship materialized right in front of me, at about a hundred feet in altitude. It was pretty dark, but some light from a moon in its first quarter let me see it for the first time up close. Up until now, I'd only seen diagrams and one distant shot of the Ship on TV. This was a big ship, about similar in size to our average Spruance Class Destroyer. And yup, it was still shaped like a loaf of Pumpernickel Bread. The Ship gently landed on four large landing struts about 10 foot long, with splayed out pads for feet. No sound, just like before. A little hatch popped open, and a set of 'air stairs' folded outward and lowered to the ground. Yes, Air Stairs, apparently there were similarities all over the Universe when it came to functional design...Angie piped up, _"Come on over Daniel."_ so I did, right next to those stairs. As I got to them, a door opened up at the top, and there was my Angie girl, standing right inside, a smile on her face.

Before I could do a thing, she stepped out and walked slowly down the stairs. I had to repeat it over and over in my head, my precious Angela just stepped 'outside' of the Ship! I'm certain my mouth was hanging open right then. She came right up to me and threw her arms around my neck, kissing me furiously. I finally found my brain again, and hugged her right back. _"_ Do you like your present Daniel, it is me! I am a real live girl now, completely alive."

It took a few minutes to get the story straight in my head. It seems the report itself was accepted without much debate at all. In fact the only real debate involved how the Ship had fared during a 65 million year pause in its mission. Everyone knew it was theoretically possible, but Angie was the very first example of it actually happening. They were thrilled with the volumes of information on human evolution. And were angered to find out just how 'involved' the Rogues had been with that evolution. The parts that dealt with our current attitudes and penchant for wars and killings was met with a ho-hum response. Either we would grow out of such childish things, or we would destroy ourselves, avoiding any need for Council involvement at all.

No, all that was taken care of in less than a week. What really got them riled up was the addendum report Angie had included. She had detailed how she had evolved into a recognizable personality, including developing emotions, all of them, how difficult it had been over the ages to rationalize them...and how she finally sought out help from...'Me'. Or specifically, from a human inhabiting the target world. She spelled out how she had narrowed down the possible candidates, who all possessed various degrees of 'honor', who lived their lives within that sense of honor, and someone who would not 'freak out' at the mere revelation that an Alien presence needed some help. In the end, it had come down to only one person, by the name of Daniel Curran...'Me'.

The debates started immediately after the addendum was read. Was there a possible breach of the One Rule; had the Command Controller and Navigator violated any precepts, was her new found emotions any danger to the people in the Council's planets...the debates went on for almost a month just on that note.

The Oldest One put up with the bickering for all of two days, and then begged leave to ponder the situation. No one challenged his right to do so, so he promptly walked out, boarded Angie, and took her to his home, where she was built by the way. You see, The Oldest One knew something none of the other members did. Angie had 'written' a letter to him personally, a very special request to be allowed to become a live human being. It was a long letter, spelling out her fears, her uncertainty at first, and her doubt about her being worthy of such an honor. The Oldest One listened, understood, and he acted. This man was not dumb, he saw the frightened little girl that I had met, felt her overpowering desire, and he saw her soul.

***

It turns out that creating a body for her was the easy part. The process had been perfected for many centuries. But all of the civilized races forbade cloning, as being barbaric. The theory is sound really, who would want multiple versions of yourself running around doing who knows what? What The Oldest One did know, was that there would be controversy, even though they all practiced cloning individual organs for medical procedures. You don't clone whole bodies.

So, after a week, he had Angie's body for her. It was an exact match for the projection of her within the Ship. The difference is that this new version would last for many years on its own. Then came the really tricky part, getting Angie herself transferred from her ship's matrix into her new body. You had to be a damn good scientist to accomplish that. It just so happened that The Oldest One was the most renowned scientist in the known Universe...

Still, he had to be very careful. Even one engram, a single electrical pulse out of place, could produce a raving lunatic, or worse. So he had Angie turn her thoughts inward, to her very soul. He had her map every single pulse, identifying whether it belonged with her personality, or with her Ship Controller self. There were two Angela's inside the matrix, and only one ready to live in a human body. She would have to map herself precisely or it might not work. Turns out the Ship Controller Angie helped with that. It partitioned off the matrix, and sorted out every single engram that belonged to Angie the person, with Angie confirming the choice before they moved the pulse. It was a very long and tedious process, but thirteen days and 7 hours later it was complete. After sweeping the entire matrix a second time, to be sure, they were ready to proceed. That only took a single day.

Now the tricky part began, you don't just use a funnel and pour terabytes of knowledge into a human brain after all. The Oldest One had to isolate and categorize the groups of engrams, and place them in the proper lobes of Angie's brain, and then coax all of it to work together. When he had finished, he woke her up. She was all there, and intact, so he took her to the council and announced her existence in the simplest way, he walked her right up to the podium and introduced her. There were some comments from the peanut gallery, and one of the senior members objected to his cloning Angie. He squashed the concerns with a single statement. He did not clone anyone because there was no original individual to clone. He simply created a vessel for her soul. They couldn't argue with that really, so they voted Angie into the ranks of living beings. Suddenly she didn't just exist; Angie belonged in the Council of Humanity.

When Angie finished the story, she simply said, "He wants to meet you Daniel." I misunderstood, "Certainly, when do we go?" I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye, and there he was at the top of the stairs. I couldn't 'not' know him; I had seen that face many times already... The Oldest One's hair and facial features were exactly like the images, but instead of the robe of office, he wore the casual shirt and pants I'd seen a couple times. He was as tall as I expected, and as he descended the stairs, he had that subtle grace that usually shouts 'nobility'.

He reached Angie and me, and reached out to shake my hand, "I am please to finally meet you Daniel Curran, my name is Kendrisaan. Angela has told me of you, and from your words and actions, I believe I like you. Let us talk within the ship." I was not expecting this, but managed to stammer out, "Yes Sir, certainly." So we climbed back up the stairs, Angie at my side holding my hand. She wore that impish little grin that said 'surprise surprise'. Kendrisaan led us to the Captain's Cabin, and stopped. "These are your quarters Daniel, you enter first." This powerful and important man was showing me the courtesy of an equal, his words came through that way. He wasn't condescending, just speaking as if to a friend. I already liked him. Angie would explain later that Kendrisaan giving me his name was something of an honor in itself, as sharing names meant that you were worthy of respect. The act had other meanings as well, but that would come later.

We sat and relaxed at the table, while Angie brought drinks and munchies for all three of us. It felt strange at first to watch my girl eating and drinking, but it brought home the fact that she really was my girl now, no matter where we were. And she was really enjoying the physical senses, having fun with every bite or sip. She wasn't just experiencing life's emotions, now she was actually living them too. A Brave New World for her, to put it a little poetically...

We just chatted, talking about different things. Kendrisaan never gave the impression that we primitive 'apes' of Earth weren't to be respected. In fact he found us fascinating, a younger version of their own society. We weren't amoebas to them, like in some of the cheesier movies. We were real people, to be understood. Yes, I definitely liked this man. When he talked about Angie, he called her 'Daughter' often, which always made Angie's smile widen. I never asked him about it, but Angie told me later that Kendrisaan got the idea from my own words, when I was explaining it to her. It seems the concept had been missed, until he read my words in her private letter to him. She said he thought it very appropriate and even more so now that she was flesh and blood.

Angie even called him Father a couple times that morning, although she was obviously uncomfortable with doing so at first. Understandable really, this girl had 65 million years of conditioning, thinking of Kendrisaan as either The Oldest One, or The Creator. You just can't break that conditioning in only a few weeks. She would get there, after building some more self confidence. I brought up the point that we were sitting in plain view, and both of them chuckled. After we had entered, the Ship had taken off and gone invisible. We were currently orbiting the moon again, in stealth mode. And yes, The Ship had thought to float my car into the cargo bay before we left, thank you...

We talked for most of the day, pretty much just getting to know each other. I caught Kendrisaan glancing often at Angie, who never had less than a full blown smile on her face. What I didn't realize was that he was watching her watching me...after a delightful dinner, a mixture of Earth foods and others from his end of town, he asked me a serious question, "Daniel, Angela cares for you a great deal; do you return such care?" It didn't surprise me really, in a way I was waiting for it. I simply let my response come out just the way I felt it inside, "Kendrisaan, I have cared about Angie's welfare for a long time now, since several weeks after we met, earlier even if you count the fact I have always tried to help anyone in need. In a real sense, Angie was helping me as well. I have no doubts that I love her; I would protect Angela with my life if necessary."

He nodded thoughtfully for a moment, and said, "I suspected as much Daniel; I read all of the words you have spoken to her, since you first met, and you always speak the truth to her. I also know that my Daughter cares for you far more than she even realizes, or her request to live as human would not have been sent to me. Her awakening is unique in all the history of the Universe itself, and that is why I chose to grant her that life. Not because she is unique, but because of a quirk of fate, Angela possesses a soul now. That was clear to me in her letter, and I would not see that soul hurt in any way. Two of your words to her ring loudly in my ears Daniel, 'Always and Forever'. Do you wish to bond with my daughter, become as one with each other?"

Angie had been looking down at her hands, and slowly turning a bright shade of pink through all of Kendrisaan's speech, but with that last question she lit up like a Christmas tree. All of that little girl uncertainty that she fought so hard to eliminate, had just come back to haunt her. She wasn't just uncertain, my Angie was petrified. I put my hand over hers and squeezed gently, "Angie, always and forever are not just two words, they are a promise that cannot be broken, and I told you never to forget that." And I smiled at her. She looked up and smiled back, as only a young woman can.

To Kendrisaan I simply said, "There is no doubt Sir, I want Angie and I to be together always." He looked me straight in the eyes, "Daniel, your words to my daughter just now is almost exactly the same as one sentence within our Great Charter. I believe you understand them just the way that we do. Angela, I know your answer, but I must ask the question. Do you wish to be one with Daniel?"

My poor munchkin was so wound up she couldn't talk. Her eyes grew wide, and she nodded so hard I thought she'd hurt herself. She managed a tiny squeak, "Yes Father." I swear Kendrisaan beamed just like a proud father. He smiled and said in a solemn tone, "Then by all that is honorable, Daniel and Angela are as one within the Universe. Let your names be written in The Book of Life. Live well, Daniel and Angela Curran...

I don't care if it sounded flowery, right then it sounded great to me. Angie and I were married, don't anyone try to separate us. I took her in my arms and just kissed her long and gentle like. There were tears in her eyes, but the big smile told me they weren't bad ones. After a few moments Kendrisaan laughed, "Alright now, you have all the time that exists now. But I have duties that I must honor as well. This Ship is yours now, both of yours. We don't follow the concept of ownership Daniel; it is more that you three are bonded now. A part of Angela's consciousness is still in control of the physical operation. Frankly, that Angela made it quite clear that she wants to stay with you as well. I really could not refuse, now could I? But that means I must ask to borrow your ship to get back home. May I?"

Okay then, confuse me some more. I understood being married to Angie, and that was super. But now I owned a high tech Star Ship as well? No, not owned, married to, and bonded to. I would have to do a lot of pondering of my own to get this new relationship straight. But one thing was crystal clear, Kendrisaan needed a ride home.

"Of course you may use the Ship. From my point of view, you created her, so you always retain that right." That got him chuckling, "Daniel, you seem to understand our way of life far better than I knew. I will have a great deal to think about on my way back. I will send her back to you quickly, so you may all continue the mission."

So, the original mission to find out why the human race was advancing so quickly despite limited resources was still on. After Kendrisaan explained his reasoning, it tended to make sense. They had ample evidence that the Rogues had manipulated us in more than one way, but still couldn't puzzle out why. All of the Greys interference pointed toward random goals, not a concentrated effort to control us in any way. If the Rogues were unethical, that was one thing. But if they had some sort of sinister motives behind their 'experiments' everyone including us needed to know that, and counter it. I could agree with that theory. I may be cynical when it comes to our own motivations, but the Earth is my home and I don't like the idea of some Alien race toying with my people. I don't think I'm odd in that regard, you probably feel the same way. We as a race may be infected with racial paranoia and suspicions, but if we look past that, we are family in the global sense, and we protect family.

Chapter 11

### Surprise Surprise

So, as darkness settled in around my house, we swooped in, hovered and my 'wife' and I beamed down to 'our' bed room. Angie, my girl Angie that is, immediately became the proverbial kid in a candy store. Everything was totally new to her, and she was seeing it with her new human eyes. Nothing was too insignificant to escape a detailed examination. Every little knick knack I possessed was fair game, and she handled them all with a reverence that made me smile. My key ring was amazing to her eyes, with all those keys and little discount cards hanging off, and I had to remind myself that she was seeing them from a brand new, fresh perspective...for she herself was brand new.

My girl squealed with delight at every little thing that I simply took for granted. A little bobble head I had had for years on my computer desk, got her laughing and clapping, every time she touched it. My computer itself and the TV fascinated her. She had difficulty getting used to the idea of 'manually' operating these things; so many buttons had to be pushed to do different things. The'Point and Click' mouse astounded her...

***

If our bed room was amazing to Angie, the kitchen became the Holy Grail for her. The idea of 'preparing' food, rather than creating it out of thin air, puzzled her. The microwave she actually understood to a degree, but thought it strange that you had to push different numbers in special sequences to get different results.

The refrigerator tickled her though. Not for the mechanical cooling and freezing of foods, but for the magnetic door seals. She said the Council's peoples used something very similar in various applications. That little bit of praise made me feel less like the 'hairy ape'... We watched TV for a couple hours. Once she got the hang of the remote control, Angie became the classic channel surfer. She would stop on one, get an idea of what the programming was about, and move on to the next one. All channels interested her, but surfing came to a screeching halt when she found the first one of the cartoon channels. The variety of animated characters captured her heart, the graphics and use of colors held her attention, and their antics delighted her no end. This was the little girl Angela, acting just like any kid. It made me feel really good to see her learning once more what being human was all about; and enjoying it too.

While watching an old Wiley Coyote cartoon, Angie's head rested on my shoulder, her eyes half closed. While she knew all about her little 'quiet times', being tired was one of those new feelings she would have to learn to recognize. I told her we should get in bed, and we could continue this in the morning. She was all for that, and innocently asked, "Can we take our clothes off Daniel?"

Shame on you for thinking that! No, Angie just wanted to feel the closeness, the 'up close and personal close kind'. Having sex eventually would arrive in its own time, but not so soon after her 'birth' as a real live physical woman. I'm not a prude or anything, but some things just aren't proper, you know. So we took off our clothes and climbed in bed. Angie scrunched right up close to me, trying for every square inch of contact. I have to be honest, that felt good good good! In the morning, we went to the mall. That was scary and fun at the same time. Angie had never ever experienced so many people moving around so close to her, and she held on to my arm in a death grip for a while. Occasionally people would brush up against her, and she'd jump. I whispered to her not to worry, she would become used to it. She smiled shyly, because she knew it would be a long while. Don't even think of going out 'alone' just yet, thank you... This mall had a nice central rest area with bench seating, decorated with plants and all sorts of greenery. Right in the center was a water fountain, and that tickled Angie no end, watching the water shoot up in varying patterns. She told me this was an exact same concept with the greater races, creating beautiful areas like this for self contemplation, or simply thinking about things in general. That didn't really surprise me, for as I learned more about their people, the strangeness of it all was beginning to fade away. Don't get me wrong, the technical differences would amaze and confound for a long time to come. It's just that the cultural similarities were becoming more obvious to me every day.

When we started browsing through the stores, it was wide eyed child time again. Lots of 'Oooohs and Ahhhhs' came out of her almost every minute. There were so many products to see and touch. In one store that specialized in beautiful figurines and all sorts of decorations, I had to caution Angie about handling fragile things that could break. I shouldn't have worried, Angie was careful with just about everything.

In that figurine shop there was one figure of a young girl clothed in a sheer short skirted dress, with one arm stretched upward, as if trying to reach something high up. It was just a cloudy crystal really, but was very finely detailed. You could see frustration, anguish in the eyes, and it was quite pretty. Angie kept coming back to it, staring at the small 6 inch tall figure, but never once touched it. I bent down and took a good look at it for a moment, and it dawned on me. This was her, my Angela, reaching out for life.

"Would you like to have that Angie?" She looked up at me and her eyes widened, "Oh, could I Daniel? It is so pretty." She didn't realize the symbolism in that figure yet, but I felt that she would eventually. The figure was fifteen dollars and change, so I took it up to the counter, where the lady packed it carefully in a box, and I paid her in cash. That confused Angie quite a bit, until she thought about it. She knew about money of course, but seeing an actual 'buying' transaction in person was something else. We stopped at a couple of clothing shops and picked up a few changes of clothes. Angie had returned to me fully equipped, courtesy of her 'father', and had several sets of clothes in a small suitcase looking thing. But she needed some things that she herself picked out. We even got her some panties and bras, which was an interesting story in itself. You can 'estimate' panties to an extent, so that wasn't difficult at all. A bra, however, needs to fit as close to perfect as it can. Yours truly is no expert, certainly, but I have been around women all my life, so I just knew we would have to have a little help. Angie had zero experience in that department, and would have just told me any old bra was great, simply because I bought it for her.

We found a shop that dealt in women's undergarments of all sorts, from the everyday type, to some really exotic stuff that makes you look around for the whips and chains department. Angie is shapely in the best of ways, including in the breasts, so it would be awkward if we had to explain why an apparently 20 year old woman was shopping for her very first bra. But as luck would have it, the sales girl we asked about 'fitting' Angie into a bra, didn't think it unusual at all. I had to coax Angie into going to the private fitting section, she didn't feel comfortable about being twenty feet away, but she relented when I told her I wasn't going anywhere. That did get a slightly raised eyebrow from the sales girl. So off they went.

, I may have created a shopaholic. Forty five minutes later they came back with both their arms full of all kinds of stuff, from the bras we originally came in for, five of them in fact, to three striking lingerie ensembles, and one exotic leather outfit, complete with some metal studs. I would find out when we got home just how gorgeous she looked in that one. That one stop cost $350, and I didn't mind at all. I hadn't spent any money for months now, so there was a sizable reserve built up.

By late afternoon, we had made several trips to the car, putting the loot in the trunk. It was starting to get pretty full in there. There was outer wear, blouses and skirts, a couple of pants suits, and several really nice dresses. We got a few more knick knack items, and a shelf to put them on, and then stopped off at an ice cream parlor. That turned out to be the treat of the day for me, for when I got us each a chocolate sundae, the skies lit up and the heavens opened. I didn't know that the Senior Races didn't have ice cream, no cows on any of their planets. I had never even thought to ask, and never 'replicated' ice cream at all on the Ship. It wouldn't have happened anyway, something to do with air not being able to carry the necessary 'ingredients'.

Anyway, I was treated to the most glorious exhibition of Happy Girl ever. From the very first bite, Angie's eyes lit up like a light house, and she couldn't stop giggling. Everyone else in the shop was glancing over at us, but they were all smiling. My girl put on quite a show, then looked downcast when it was all gone. I told her there would be more times for ice cream. It was a treat, and we had to be careful not to over indulge. You could get fat if you ate too much too often. Angie nodded, "But it's so good!" I laughed, "Yes it is, and that is why we must be careful not to eat too much."

It was a great day, the most fun I ever had shopping. We drove back to the house, and unloaded the loot. Then came the sorting, and putting up the shelf on the wall. Angie carefully put all her little figurines on it, placing the questing crystal girl right in the center, and just admired them for a while. She had something of her very own now, a brand new concept for her. Then came trying on all her own clothes, posing for me every time. Angie has no inhibitions, none at all. Stripping naked in front of me was natural to her, and should have been to me too. But it isn't easy to dismiss those ingrained social taboos. It would still be some time before her being my wife really sank in, and became normal.

Angie loved posing for me, even in just the bras and panties. She made sure I got every view of her new treasures. The lingerie she particularly enjoyed wearing for me, each one was picked with the specific purpose of showing all her curves, and I can tell you they did.I cleaned out a few drawers in the dresser, and she carefully folded each of her things, putting them away. She hung the dresses and skirts in the closet, with the same care, and put on that leather outfit.

This was a soft leather top that stopped just below her rib cage, with half cups that supported her breasts, and actually thrust them at me. Her areola and nipples jutted out over the top of the cups, and they were getting harder I could tell. She put on the thong that came with the top, and she slowly turned to give me the whole effect. I have never really thought of thongs much, but the effect on Angie's backside did me in. I don't know how they figured out the design, but those two cheeks were now pushing themselves outward at me, taunting me, inviting me to play. Somehow Angie was extra curvy now...she came right up and brushed her nipples back and forth across my chest, letting out a low moan. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and wriggled some more. Trust me, I could not hold out for long. I let my hands wander all over her back, and dropped them to fondle her butt. Angie leapt upward and wrapped her legs around my waist, grinding into me, and whispered two words,.."Please Daniel..."

No, you don't get a play by play description. Suffice it to say, my precious girl and I had a very very good night indeed...

***

Angie and I went out every day to different places. She loved the park down the street about a mile. Running and jumping in the open air was always spiritual with her, she had a natural reverence for the world that surrounded her. She was no longer seeing it just from data scans from one of her probes, she was out there hearing it, smelling it, and touching it. It pleased me to see her get so excited over the tiniest thing. One of those was a lady bug that crawled up on Angie's arm one sunny day. At first she was a bit fearful, "Will it hurt me?" I smiled at her, "No pet, it won't hurt you. There are many bugs that can annoy you, or even hurt you some, but the Lady Bug isn't one of them. In fact there are many legends about them, but the one I like the best is that if a Lady Bug chooses you to rest on, it means you will have luck." I had to explain then, that Urban Legends aren't true; they are sometimes just a nice way to think about things. She asked if that wasn't a lie, and I had a darned hard time explaining the difference between lies that seem to always hurt, and nice stories that are meant to make you feel good about the world. Angie is the smartest woman in the Universe, but she has little experience with life so far. I made her promise to always ask me when she ran up against something she was unsure of. She smiled and said, "Don't I do that already?"

I laughed, "Yes you do Angie, and keep on doing it too!" We went to a small concert downtown once, one that features local talent playing whatever they feel like, to see if a new song pleases the crowd. I learned from that excursion that Angie likes music in general, vocals sometimes but mostly instrumentals. She liked guitars a lot, especially the deeper soothing sounds that came from a concert guitar. She would sit with her eyes closed, and sway with the melodies. Oddly enough, the instrument that Angie absolutely adored was the violin. It was unknown within Council Space, which I thought was really strange. They had similar instruments for just about every one of ours, but apparently no one had ever invented the violin. I told her seriously that maybe she could introduce it into Council Society someday. She liked that idea, but only if I went with her. Even a hint at being apart was still a very touchy subject right now, so I assured her I would.

We even went to the beach, which was a mistake the first time around. Even though she knew all about Earth's oceans seas and lakes, she was terrified of being 'in' water. She took showers at home regularly; she said it was just like being out in the rain. But drawing a full bath was a no no. The idea of being under water really scared her, so I put that on the list of important things to deal with in the future. I asked Angie one day if she wanted to learn how to drive a car. She kind of scrunched her eyebrows together for a moment, and asked if she could wait for that. I pretty much expected that, so I said sure, there was no rush. You see, she was experienced with the vastness of space, and could fly a Star Ship at speeds approaching light, and land gently on planets but was uncomfortable with driving cars at such close proximity to each other. I didn't laugh; I understood the feeling after more than one close call. But she trusted my driving completely, even though her head often swiveled continuously as other cars got close to us.

It was going really well for Angie and I, until one day I found out that her self confidence wasn't quite up to the level I thought it was. We were just bouncing questions and answers around; when Angie asked how she should 'act' at the restaurant we were going to. I just said, "Always be yourself Angie. Why?" She got that serious look on her face, and said in a whisper, "Because I don't want to embarrass you." I was a little stunned at first. Angie was doing fine I thought, soaking up all we did like a sponge. But she was concerned that she might embarrass me in some way. If that was all it was, I had the answer for her, "Angie my precious wife, I don't believe you could ever embarrass me. Everything you do makes me happy, so I'm a little confused on why you worry about it. I love you for 'who you are', not just what you do for me. You are very important to me Angie and what you want..." And stopped, when it occurred to me that Angie had never let me know what she did want.

Well, except for that first time we had passionate sex together. There was no doubt what she wanted then. The problem was that, with everything else, she was focusing completely on pleasing me, and not on pleasing herself sometimes. So I would have to spend a little more time asking her what she wanted to do, to let her make those little decisions on her own, the ones we do pretty much automatically, with little conscious thought. For Angie, there was still a gap between seeing me as important, and seeing herself as important too. But the main problem now, was that Angie thought there was some long list of what to do for every situation. We sometimes think that way too, whole books have been written on 'proper etiquette' after all. Me personally, I think most of that is silly. It isn't like you are meeting 'Royalty' every day. Act the way you feel at the time, and you'll usually do well.

So I ended up telling Angie exactly that, in just that way. I think it helped her some; it certainly helped me remember that Angie had a long way to go before she felt comfortable with being an individual.

That night, after dinner at that restaurant (which did go very well, by the way), I put my plan into effect. I asked Angie what she wanted to do. After a little back and forth discussion on why it was her choice, she decided she wanted to go to that park and watch the stars for a while. I misunderstood at first, thinking that she might be missing being out there, where she was 'born', so to speak. We watched for quite some time, before I just asked her if she was feeling a bit 'homesick'. I got the wide eyed surprised look, and she set me straight, "Oh no Daniel, I just wanted to see the stars like you do. Looking at them like this makes me feel happy and, I don't know...I suppose it makes me feel 'real'". I wasn't expecting that, but after I thought about it for a moment, it was uniquely Angie. It was her getting in touch with her identity. My girl would be alright...

Chapter 12

### Reunion

We had a lot of fun together, enjoying each other's company while we did anything we wanted to do. Slowly Angie found her independence, and accepted that what she wanted to do was every bit as important as pleasing me. She decided that she wanted to cook, once she mastered the concept of preparing food, and heating it at just the right temperatures was essential for the best results. She found out quickly that cooking everything on high heat wasn't getting the job done, and usually ended with a longer session at the sink, cleaning pots and pans. But Angie wouldn't give up, and really did become a good cook. She loved creating new dishes for us, and read recipes avidly, picking out the ones she thought were really interesting. The microwave even got a workout, as some dishes tasted better cooked that way.

Yes, it was a fun time. It became something like a ritual to eat a dinner, and then go over to the park to just walk around, or sit around after dark and gaze up at the stars, contemplating our existence. When she saw some shooting stars, it thrilled her. She knew about meteorites, certainly, but seeing them this way filled her with a childlike awe. I made sure to tell her about 'Wishing on a Falling Star', and she liked that... One night we were just sitting on the bench, with my arm around her, when she sat up straight. _"The ship is back."_

Kendrisaan was true to his word, and sent The Ship right back to us. Well, after a day at his home that is. When the Ship was close enough, Angie and I beamed up, and were met with a pleasant surprise. It seems that The Oldest One was more pleased with our marriage than we thought, for he had taken it upon himself to express it in his own personal way, by decorating. All the corridors now had pictures hanging on the bulkheads, all sizes and shapes. They were images of many of the worlds within Council space, panoramas of vast cities, of wilderness areas, moonscapes, and some very nice images of large areas of space in that sector, like our Hubble photos, but very detailed. The bulkheads themselves were done up in various colorful patterns, subtle yet noticeable.

But the real surprise was in our living quarters. The room was set up in a style that reflected Kendrisaan's own home. Not a copy, but along the same lines. It was vaguely Greek in execution, but Angie said it was straight out of her Father's own imagination. She also told me that it was his way of delivering a subtle invitation to visit anytime, if we wanted to. I liked that gesture, for it whispered that we were accepted, both of us. Angie was simply awed by the thought. I think it helped her understand just how real this all was. She wasn't just loved by me; she was loved by her Father too.

On the walls were several paintings. Angie said they were Kendrisaan's own paintings, ones he had done himself. She had seen them at his home. But what caught her eye, and made her eyes widen, was a painting on the wall right behind the Captain's Desk. I must admit it made my mouth drop open. It was a portrait, an exquisitely detailed one. It looked like one of those paintings that are so perfect that it becomes a photographic image. It was us, Angie and me. Standing side by side, with an arm around each other, I had a smile on my face that said 'proud', and Angie had that happy smile, eyes shining. It was just beautiful. Attached to the lower corner was a handwritten note, done in a script. It simply said...

Daniel and Angela Curran

"Always and Forever"

I was busy on the way home, hope you like it.

Kendrisaan

Angie had tears in her eyes, but I didn't need to worry. These weren't the sad kind. There were no more doubts for her; Angela Curran had arrived in the land of the living. And all because of a painting. Kendrisaan knew what he was doing. We slept well that night, curled up tightly together. There is something to that old saying 'not a care in the world' that makes for a really peaceful sleep. When I woke up, though, I heard two voices in my head, or thought I did. But I realized I was hearing them with my ears, so I looked around a bit.

Sitting at the table were two Angie's, chatting away like two friends do. Alright, I'm not too slow, I could figure out that one was my Angie, and the other was the Ship Angie, but it is disconcerting to be seeing double. Kind of like seeing identical twins for the first time, it is a bit of a shock. They both turned to me and said "Good morning Daniel" in unison, which did creep me out a bit. I guess they realized that, for the next thing I knew, the Ship Angie morphed into a slightly older version of my girl, and her voice lowered in tone quite a bit. She said, "If this is acceptable Daniel, I will commit it to memory."

It did take care of the 'who is who' department, but it still left another problem. They couldn't have the same name, or both would answer when I called "Angie". We talked that over for a few minutes, and came up with a fairly simple solution. My Angie would be Angie or Angela, and the Ship would simply be Angel, which had a rather nice connotation to it. They both liked it, and the Ship finally had a name of its own too. Two problems solved in less than five minute, a productive day already. We talked for a while about how to do this 'mission' thing, and that didn't prove to be much of a problem at all. Angel would take care of the scanning on a regular basis, and compile any reports that were needed. Angel is pretty business like, since her matrix isn't all clogged up with those human emotions. Oh, she has a personality alright, all AI's do really. Angel's is just more straightforward than Angie, and doesn't take offense when you say something wrong. Angel also mentioned that she might explore more of the Milky Way Galaxy, just out of curiosity mind you, and Angie and I could come along if we wanted. I thought that was a pretty cool idea, and Angie sort of agreed, but we both knew she would have her hands full for a long time, just learning about being human, so we'd take on that task first.

Anyway, that idea was for the future. Angie and I stayed with Angel for a few more days, and it was something of a rest stop for her, a break in the daily grind to become comfortable with her new life. I think she knew that she had to learn to interact with other people, the ones who had vastly different views and opinions from hers and mine. Otherwise, she would eventually box herself into an alternate closed environment, similar to the Ship. It felt odd to me at first, essentially having two Angie's, until I got comfortable with the idea that Angie had had a split personality for years, and separating the two actually benefited both of them.

Sure, they both had personalities, and that had been one of the original problems. Because Angel's personality was all business, and focused on the practical side of 'being' the Ship, there had been some conflicting opinions on just what to do about the anomaly. And because my Angie was confused and afraid of what would happen to them both, it didn't really help much. After many long debates, both finally settled on a solution that would work, and began looking for help. That turned out to be me. Apparently getting help from me, allowed their two personalities to act independently, for the first time in centuries, the matrix calmed down. Now, Angie and Angel were two physically separate individuals, and acted just like sisters with different views on life itself, they got along very well. My difficulty, however, stemmed from my own frailty as a human. The big question to me was, 'Was I supposed to love both of them'? I admit it did cause me some loss of sleep, even in that super bed of ours.

Both of them came to my rescue on that issue. We sat around the Captain's table, and Angel played psychiatrist with me. Angie just sat back, nodding occasionally and giving me a new version of her beautiful smile, this one I'd call the 'concerned but knowing' look. Angel 'counseled' me for about an hour, and all the words boiled down to one fact. I was her friend, and she loved me as a very good friend. She wanted to stay with us because of that, and Angie was her 'sister' after all. No, Angel didn't want to jump in bed with me and have mad passionate sex; that was Angie's department. That point got us all laughing for a minute. So the bottom line is that Angie is my loving 'other half', and Angel is now a 'best friend', so get used to it Curran. It wasn't hard to do, after Angel set me straight.

So after another night in Angel's company, Angie and I beamed down to our house, and continued on with her ever present struggle with being human. I did remind her that life is like that, and you never really finish learning about life. That bit of trivia helped...

Chapter 13

### Invasion!

### or not

Angie took her first walk around the neighborhood today...alone! She didn't get very far, just down the street a few hundred feet before she came running back, but I was super proud of her. And I let her know it too, showering praise for that short journey into the unknown. After her jitters subsided, she giggled, and said she would do it farther next time. But maybe in a couple of weeks...I smiled and told her it would be her choice of when and how far. My pretty girl wasn't just building self confidence; she was learning what the word brave really meant. A major breakthrough indeed.

We had beamed down the day after our group discussion on who was who to whom, and had gone back to our daily routine. Angel had put out all the drones in a pattern to monitor the goings on in many sectors of Earth, and then zoomed off to 'explore' the remnants of the missing world in our system, scanning in a more detailed, close up way than before.

Angie and I set a routine for ice cream, and once a week we made the trip to different shops to enjoy the special treat. Once she understood that there were several different ways to consume ice cream, she experimented with abandon, ordering sundaes one week, ice cream soda the next. When she got to a banana split, it was like she had found heaven itself. The competing flavors thrilled my munchkin. But when she found out just how many different flavors there are for ice cream itself, she was over the edge entirely. If we were having fun before, every week now Angie was in sheer ecstasy for a couple of hours, just savoring the moment. By week six, she could name every flavor that she loved, and there were very few she didn't like much...

We were out on our nightly trip to the park, for Star Gazing, and a bit of cuddling too in the cool air, when Angie jerked a bit, and announced, "Daniel, someone just exited the gate into this system! A lot of someones. Angel is monitoring."

That was a surprise in itself; the Council simply didn't send more than one ship to the same territory. But what came next made this encounter potentially dangerous for everyone.

"Daniel, there are 7 ships of a design unknown to us, and they all came through the gate from the opposite direction. They are not from around here, nor are they from the Council's area of space. They are using a type of reaction propulsion that Council members haven't used in centuries, and their power signatures are fluctuating somewhat erratically. Angel is attempting to communicate with them. No answer yet."

A bit of explanation is in order here about those gates. Angie had told me about them during my 'schooling'. The gates are positioned 90 degrees out of whack from the star they service, so when you enter or exit a gate, the sun is kind of to your right or left. But that is only half the story, the gates also work from both 'sides' too, so if you use one side it goes or comes from one direction, and if you use the other side it is to or from the opposite direction in the Universe. That presented a unique problem, not only did Earthlings not know of these beings (not that we would), the entire Council did not know about them either. Time to brush off and polish up the old paranoia folks. This is pretty much what happened.

***

" _Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight, WHAT THE HELL?!?!"_

Alan Mackenzie admitted later that he said exactly that. He was an avid amateur astronomer, and when I say avid, he was fanatical about it. He had saved up all his life, not simply for retirement but for a telescope too. Not just any telescope, but the biggest and best he could buy when he'd saved enough. He was 64 years old when he finally bought it, and constructed a rather beautiful observatory to house it in. His home was way out in the boondocks, on a high hill, with no towns for many miles around him. So there were no street lights to detract from a perfect view of the heavens. Only those dratted clouds interfered at all, but he was usually not too bothered by that annoyance.

Unlike me, Alan did want to be famous for something, whether the discovery of a brand new planet, or moon. Perhaps identifying a new asteroid, anything to get his name in the history books. He got his wish, but it wasn't for any of those things. Instead, he was inserted into history for discovering the first Alien Invasion of our solar system. At least that's what everyone 'assumed' at first, including Angel, Angie and I. And Jay too, who promptly called me on my cell phone, and tried to link with Angie at the same time. Hilarious confusion reigned for a minute, until Angie took the lead and got the three of us linked into the same 'mind channel', yes, we could still do that. Turned out Angel helped a little.

Jay Allencourt is the calm cool professional, always, but tonight he had lost it entirely, and was jabbering away frantically. Until Angie calmed him down a bit. She had to remind him that she could defend herself and the Earth if necessary, very well. That fact did calm him down quite a bit, but not entirely. He still had to contend with Alan Mackenzie, who had done two things. First Alan had followed standard protocol and notified the Government agencies involved with Space Exploration, and were on his 'official list' to notify. That was proper, and earned him some respect.

But then he got greedy, and called every news agency he could think of himself, a bad no no. At first they treated him as a nut case, which was good, and hung up on him. But then something odd happened at the newsrooms. They started getting calls from several other amateur astronomers, who had smaller telescopes, but could still tell that something strange was happening right now, out at the far reaches of our system. And these were ones that the newsrooms knew to be reliable sources.

Suddenly Alan Mackenzie was getting calls back from the same people who had just treated him so casually, all wanting exclusive stories, and offering large sums of money for it. He had photos, clear ones too; the offers went up very substantially indeed. Alan liked that, but he would not like the thousands of reporters who descended on his property in the days to come... As they were negotiating on the phone, several news shows decided to run preliminary 'Breaking News' spots, announcing to the world that there were Unknown Alien Space Ships, multiple ones within 'our space'. You guessed it, the entire world began speculating and assuming the worst...and no one, including us, knew what was going on yet...

But Angel was on the case, she had zoomed straight out to intercept the 'New Ones' as she called them, and began close up scanning, both electronically and optically. These newcomers were obviously a 'space faring race', and they appeared to be more advanced than humans of Earth, but their technology was not up to Council standards by any measure. For one thing, the power signatures indicated nuclear generation, and they had big bulky reaction type propulsion. She posited it could be a form of Ion Propulsion, which got my attention right away.

What might be weapons, were sticking out in several places on most of the ships, and a couple had what might be rail guns...but as she got close up photos of their hulls, all these ships were damaged to varying degrees...to the extent that it was very unlikely they were looking for a fight. There were huge dents all over the 'plating' and very clear scorch marks everywhere.

Angel was trying every method ever known to contact them, even basic radio waves. She finally lucked into a response on a microwave frequency, just noises, but distinctly intelligent noises. So began the task of making sense out of the noises. Angel had the best translation subroutines you could ever imagine, of course, and she used them with a vengeance, while keeping them talking long enough to create common ground. Finally, after an hour the sounds started coming through in English. Just a little at first, but as the minutes went by, more and more language and meaning developed. We all heard the progress in our heads, even Jay, who was telling me separately on my phone, that his whole office was crowding his desk. As another hour went by, the Aliens started to loosen up a bit, becoming less suspicious of the 'strange one who could not be seen'.

Finally, just short of three hours, they had a working dialog. Enough to actually discuss things. Their language was built from vocal clicks and hisses, and Angel had already taken a photo of one of them, through the front windshield I presume. Yup, they used windows...if the Dinosaurs had continued evolving; this is what they may have looked like. This race weren't quite lizards, but they were noticeably reptilian in structure, including full blown scales, rather than hides. The one we saw first actually made me think of dragons, it just had that impressive look. No, it didn't have a long sinister snout, nor a huge mouth with long jagged teeth either.

Once these Aliens were certain they weren't going to be attacked, the information we were desperate for started flowing. These ships were all that remained of a proud race, from what turned out to be the other end of our Milky Way Galaxy, way out on the tip of one of the arms over there. They were refugees, searching for a home, and hadn't had much luck at all. They had a rudimentary knowledge of gate travel, and had taken an unmapped one out of sheer desperation. Their system had been attacked by a race that came from another Galaxy entirely, even farther away from Council space; they didn't know who they were, or what they looked like either.

The unknowns didn't try to communicate, made no demands at all, just started killing and destroying on a grand scale, destroying the only three planets they inhabited, with what ended up being nuclear bombs of some kind. Their own ships in space at the time, tried to fight back, but were outnumbered and outgunned at the same time. Only these seven had managed to escape through the one gate that they weren't even sure would take them anywhere remotely safe. Angel asked their apparent leader, a rough translation being 'Queen Mother', if they were followed. The Queen said no, they had four days to make sure of that. It looked to them like they simply wanted to kill and destroy, not chase after a few stragglers. That got an audible sigh from Jay on the phone. He was updating the President every minute or so. I would ask him later why, and found out that, since he knew of Angie and the Council anyway, there was no need to keep him out of the 'loop'.

The President thought it was Angie all along that was doing the dickering; we hadn't even told Jay that there was two of her now. Besides, The President needed to focus on keeping people from jumping off buildings, and other things. All of the World leaders were focused on that right now, trying to spin it as 'nothing to really worry about'. That would keep him out of our hair for a while.

The name of their own race didn't translate well into English, so Angel and Angie assigned an arbitrary one that at least sounded remotely like the sounds...Isscriss, or shortened up, Iscris. They weren't warlike and weren't pacifists, but something in between. No, they didn't want to associate with other races very much; they pretty much just wanted to be left alone to live their lives. That brought up a discussion on just exactly what kind of environment they were looking for. The answers were pretty much what you would expect from reptiles, very hot, in the 120 to 130 degree range mostly, not too humid, some water but not too much, rocky with lots of sand. And animals and insects for food. Good, that left Earth out, for numerous reasons. No chance of having to defend our turf...

Both Angie and Angel spoke at once in my head, _"_ I know of one!" That outburst caused a mental laugh with echoes. They had thought of the same one of course, a world that nobody in the Council wanted, pretty far removed from downtown Council Space. The only glitch would be; they needed to get 'permission' to show the Iscris where it was and how to get there. There would not be an issue with 'using' the planet, just directing them there. Angel explained the proposal to the Queen Mother, and got what I took to be an enthusiastic 'thank you' in answer. Through Angel's super duper communications array, the permission could be requested and answered in as little as a week. Angel and Angie talked over the report and worded the request for 'humanitarian aid', and then Angel sent it off with a 'fastest response' header included. Then she simply asked the Queen Mother if they would have enough supplies to carry them through three weeks of waiting and travel. She assured Angel that they could survive that long, and the week here waiting would give them some downtime for needed maintenance and repairs.

So we all waited, while the world got their eyes filled with the very first glimpses of real Aliens...or at least we let them believe that, ...sadly, there were some people who went quite over board with their reactions, despite calming speeches by their leaders. Some did die because of it, but not as many as was feared, thankfully. The Aliens never moved anywhere close to Earth at all...and, for the moment, the Ship was still our closely guarded secret.

It was exactly a week when the reply came back. The Council had approved Angel to guide the Iscris flotilla to their new home, and praised the 'team' for their adherence to the One Rule precepts. That got both of them laughing and yes, giggling. Angie told me that it included me too, and I probably blushed a bit. Privately, I felt a teeny bit uncomfortable with the notoriety. For a guy who never wanted to be famous, I sure was being noticed in some very lofty circles. I'd get over it. It wasn't like I had to make speeches or anything... I was wrong, but that would be much later.

Angel let the Queen Mother know all was well, and got a 'We are ready when you are' reply. So she had them line up in single file, with about 10 thousand miles between each ship, and she pointed them all at the Gate, with the proper orientation. They did a long half circle approach, and one by one they winked out of existence. This was the very first time the Iscris got a good look at Angel, but I guess they weren't wowed much, and didn't make a peep the whole time. As for poor Alan Mackenzie, he found out that jumping the gun on critical worldwide announcements wasn't quite as rewarding as he thought. He ended up as more of a footnote in history. Sorry Alan, but look at it this way, you 'did' get your name in the history books.

Angel popped back into the Earth system just short of three weeks later with a message from the Iscris. It seems the Queen Mother had indeed noticed The Ship, and so had most of the people awake on their ships. She complimented Angel on being so impressive, which engendered a tiny giggle from her when she said it. Told ya she had a personality too, didn't I...? Thinking that Angel was an Earth ship, the Queen Mother also included a rather flowery thank you for the people of Earth for allowing her race to escape extinction. It sounded nice, until it got to a reference to 'The Strange Ones of Earth'. That confused both Angie and me, and Jay too, who was listening in, until Angel explained what it meant. It wasn't an insult, but rather a high compliment in the Iscris language. The Iscris highly respect their own version of 'honor', and consider it strange that another, unfamiliar with their ways, would show such compassion. So by calling us 'Strange Ones', she was saying that the people of Earth are an Honorable People. When we understood it, Jay chimed in, "I have got to make sure the President gets wind of that one. Hope he passes it along to the rest of the world leaders." He did...

Angie and I went back to being 'Mr. and Mrs. Curran, and she eventually came to understand that being a wife was 'not' a slave. She had derived that idea from the way the Council races treat their own women, which is as equals. Most women over there don't involve themselves with politics, or high governing, simply because they don't want to. When the few who do get interested, they are welcomed heartily, and listened to. Heck, there are quite a few women on the Council itself, and everything is perfectly cool. But she had misinterpreted the fact that most women liked to stay at home, and tend to the house and gardens, simply because they 'chose to'.

My girl saw devotion as the proper way of things, and had tried to be subservient without even knowing it. She apparently saw devotion and love as being two different things, rather than being one in the same thing. Part of that were her feelings of insecurity, but most of it seemed to be that Angie really believed she was supposed to serve me. It's very much like 'A woman's place is in the home', on steroids. Once I noticed it, I wasn't having any of the 'slave' routine. So we had another heart to heart talk, focusing only on that one aspect of our relationship. But boy, did I try to be gentle about it. If I got surly in the slightest, it would only reinforce her belief that she was somehow inferior. I hope it worked; I'll have to watch closely to see if she realizes that I like to serve her too!

It did work, but not because of my ham handed way of explaining things to Angie. It happened because Angel saw it too, and had her own version of a heart to heart talk with Angie too. Angel would not share exactly what she said to Angie, but she did make it clear that Angie had a different path in life than Angel did, and Angie needed to make sure that she walked that path properly, and with strength. From what little she did say, Angel pretty much told Angie that she was being silly, that I loved her because of 'who' she was, not what she did for me. That bit sounded very familiar to me, and I'm sure I said it to Angie myself, but I guess hearing it from her own sister did the trick, for never again did I get the feeling again that Angie was slipping. Angel is a very smart girl, and I love her too. Just in a different way.

I mean, you can't really love an AI that runs a Star Ship...

Can you?

About the Author

Hi, my name is Michael. If you're reading this part, then I thought you'd like to know that...

I've read many books of course, mostly Science Fiction. Yes, I'm a SciFi-a-holic, and proud of it. Some of the best Sci-Fi books include elements from all the other genres, and I consider that a good thing.

I wrote this book as merely an effort to get this theme out of my head and park it somewhere else, for it has lived in my head all my life. The original theme was 'What would you do if an Alien Space Ship entity suddenly contacted you and asked you for help'. The Ship never had a crew in my mind, for whatever reason, but the 'why' of it evolved later on, into it was designed to carry passengers/crew, but simply did not for this 'mission'.

The 'love' aspect evolved on its own really, and began writing this book by itself after a while, with me just supplying the words. Don't ask me how, as I'm not really a romantic, at least in my own mind.

The way _Daniel Curran_ speaks is all me, it's how I really do talk. In fact, much of Daniel's character is embedded in me too, since much of his background and beliefs are the real me. I did serve 20 years in the Navy, and did work at a Ship Yard for the next 24 years, working on, yup, Navy ships. And yes, I am retired now, and struggling to actually enjoy it. But unlike Daniel, I am succeeding. The honor concept is all me also, since it has really driven me all my life. As a side note, I really can't tell a lie either, so have fun with that...I really do believe that truth always does win in the end, and in the current World Atmosphere, many people could benefit if they embraced the concept.

Angie herself came to my mind while I was struggling to get moving with this. I actually began in a different direction, but by the tenth page I actually hated the way it stared back at me, and deleted all of it, in favor of what actually got written here.

I said the book seemed to write itself at times, and sometimes I thought Angie was doing the writing. That may be true, since I often went back and read over the previous pages, and edited sequences quite often. I do think My Munchkin was doing the driving, at least sometimes.

For me Angela really does live in my soul. That may sound a bit weird, or even psychotic, but I don't care really. Go ahead, lock me in a rubber room, Angie will keep me company. You probably noticed there are no real space battles in there, just hints. That actually came as a result of reading too many Sci-Fi books, and watching too many Sci-Fi shows on TV and in Movies, at least I think so. Almost every one has some kind of epic battle scenes or conflicts in them, and I didn't want to fall into that pit of doom, thank you. In my very first story ever, 99 percent of the Aliens are actually nice benign characters; the one percent is an unknown quantity for a reason. In my Universe, conflict really does not solve anything, and usually just creates even more. So, if you actually read to this point in the book, and don't like that it doesn't have epic battles in it, then I will apologize to you for that. In my first effort, it just wasn't in me to do it; sorry...

In fact, I don't know if there will be another book. I am 'not' a professional writer. If you call me an amateur trying to look like an author, you would be absolutely correct. That's why this may be my only book, it was darned hard just to get this one out. The other reason is that I am not trying to make a living from writing. If that somehow bothers you, and you really want to see another book, certainly email me. I promise to give it serious thought. I'm not against trying it out again, it is more that it really is hard to write a book with the 'two finger' typing approach...

I have tried to make my 12th Grade English teacher proud, by at least trying to follow those grammatical rules, but I am certain that any professional editor who bothers to read it will cringe at the abuses the literary conventions have endured. That most likely results from my effort to put my psyche in Daniel's character, so you can blame me directly for that.

Finally, if you actually read the book all the way through, thank you. If by some miracle you actually liked it, I am surprised, and thank you even more. If you liked it, and feel the urge, then by all means review it where you got it from. I think I'd like that. If you didn't like it, then I apologize.

And, if you really hated this book, then it's a good thing I am not trying to make money off the effort, isn't it?

If for some strange reason you want to write to me, my email address is:

mwb_8@yahoo.com

I do not have a web page, or a newsletter, for what I think are obvious reasons by now. The effort I put into this book became a labor of love actually, mostly because my munchkin Angie got involved. This is really longer than I expected it to be, and to tell you the truth, every time I felt like it should finish, Angela would whisper in my mind, _"There is more to tell, don't give up yet..."_ Heck, maybe I am a romantic after all, . But again, if you bothered to read my story at all, I thank you...

**Update**

If this is the first time you read this story, then you won't notice differences; but if you are re-downloading it you'll see that I've spruced it up a bit and put a few more words in. I hope it made this a bit more presentable than the first one seven months ago. I've managed to write a total of seven books now, and for a guy who never thought there would be a second one I guess that is an accomplishment; at least to me it is. There are three sequels to The Ship; Places Unknown, Endurance and Strange Alliance, in that order. I tend to call it the Ship saga, or Daniel Curran saga. I hope you like those too...

Thanks again for reading, Michael
