TeleportThis

ChristopherM.Daniels

This is a fictional novel. Names,characters, places, incidents, etc, are aproduct of the author’s degenerateimagination or, if real, are usedfictitiously and should not be takenseriously. Any resemblance to actualevents, places or persons (living, deadorotherwise)ispurelycoincidental.CopyrightedMaterial©2009V02.20.15ISBN:B00295R188

AllrightsreservedNo part of this book may be used orreproducedinanymanner,storedinanytypeofretrievalsystem, transmittedbyany means, electronic or otherwisewithout prior written permission fromtheauthor.CoverimageisfromtheHubbleSpaceTelescope:InteractingGalaxiesGroupArp194

TheSmallUniverse

seriesbyChristopherDaniels:TeleportThisSoultoSoulGeppetto’sDaughter

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ForMyFamily

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1.

So here we are at thebeginningofthe21stcenturyonEarthand,inallfairness,apretty exciting time to be ontheplanet.TheBoyBandsof

the 90s no longer plaguecivilization and erectiledysfunction medication hassurpassed feminine hygieneproducts as the mostembarrassing televisioncommercial to watch in afamily setting. Truly, it wasthedawnofagoldenage.

On the scientific front,technological discoveries andbreakthroughs seem to beoccurring faster than mostpeople can keep up with. It

was almost as if nature hadplanted its feet firmly in thegroundanddaredmankindtofigure it all out. Sciencepicked up the gauntlet andaccepted the challenge,flinging it back at nature,religion, government, reallyanyonethatwouldlisten,witha‘don’ttellus,we’lltellyou’attitude and now mankindfinds itself riding along thebase of an exponential curvewith the slope increasing

everydecade.Ourstorybeginswithtwo

guys and a bit of luck. Wecandecidelaterifitwasgoodluck or bad. This bit of lucktakes our exponential curveand, in a matter of seconds,turnsitintoaverticalline.

SimonJensenandGilbertWilson are theoreticalphysicists that specialize inunderstanding what makesour universe tick and, overthe past few months, they

have made a series ofdiscoveries thathas, forwantofabetterterm,puttheminatizzy.Theyhave remained inthis tizzy for quite a whilesince they first didn’tunderstand what they haddiscovered and second, howexactlytheycameuponit.

Here’sastory:Agroupoffriends go to the racetrack.One person is an expert onbetting the ponies andemploysa time-testedsystem

that consistently produceswinners. Another member ofthe group had never been tothe track and seemed to bemaking random bets, butwinning almost every racewhile, for some inexplicablereason,ourexpertwaslosing.Now,asisoftenthecase,thisrunofbadluckinfuriatedourexpert who demanded toknow the secret system hisfriend was using. The friendreplied that he was just

betting the odds-on favoritefor each race, but this onlyfurther enraged our expertsince he knew that thefavorites weren’t coming in,so he grabbed his friend’sracing book only to discoverthathewasindeedbettingthefavorites, however the racingbookwas open to thewrongday.

Now this type ofoccurrence happens moreoftenthansanepeoplecareto

admit and usually cannot besubstantiated due to theamount of alcohol involvedorthealtercationsthatfollow.

Simon and Gilbert’sdiscovery occurred insomewhat the same fashionas described above exceptthat instead of a racetrack, itwastheuniverse,insteadofaracing form, it was a radiotelescope and instead oflooking at the wrong day,they were looking at the

wrongreality.Smartpeoplenever try to

figureoutwhy they’re lucky,theyjusthopetheirluckholdsoutandthennevertalkaboutit again believing anymention of the occurrencewill jinx its return.Unfortunately,goodluckwillstopintelligentpeopledeadintheir tracks, causing them toimmediately stop what theyaredoingsotheycantryandfigure out what just

happened,endingtheirrunofluck before the majority ofthem even realize it began.Simon and Gilbert areextremely intelligent so it’snotsurprisingthat theynevereven considered that it wasluck. In fact, the closest theycame was when, for a shorttime, they believed that TheForcewaswiththem.

Here’s what theydiscovered:Humanlifeexistsallover theuniverseandit is

in fact so abundant that itdoesn’t go out of its way tofindmoreofitself.Instead,itsits back and waits for othercultures to reach a level oftechnology that enables themto discover everyone else.And it’s the massivehugeness of everything elsethat really staggers yourimagination. This has to bewhat Tarzan felt like, livingin the jungle for all thoseyears, those other apes

starting to look pretty damngood, then wham, he’s inEngland and he’s thinking tohimself, “What the hell,where did all this comefrom?”

“Whatthehell!”“Where did all that come

from?”“Quick,turnitoff!We’ve

gottotryandfigureoutwhatjust happened,” was prettymuch the way theconversation went that first

time our boys did that thingthat accidentally discoveredeveryoneelseintheuniverse.Afewweekslater,theywereready to turn it all on again.They had analyzed what hadtranspired in their firstattempt and figured out whytheysawwhattheydid.

Here’s what they saw:Precise energy signalstraveling millions of timesfaster thanthespeedof light,flooding our galaxy and

connecting to others. Nowthey didn’t know exactlywhattheysaw,tothemitjustlooked like one of thoseelapsed time photographswiththeexposureopensothetrees and buildings arestanding still, but the peopleand cars going by are justblurry streaks of color andlight.Cooltrickwhenyoudoitonthelocalstreetwithyourbuddies, completely mindblowing when it happens to

the universe. What they sawwas the usual cosmic pictureof galactic clusters and dustclouds, butwith connections,almostlikeachild’sconnect-the-dotsgame.Noteverystarhad a connection, butthousands did, our systemincluded.

So back to our boysgettinglucky.Thiswasanewexperience to them. If youask Simon if he ever gotlucky,he’lltellyouabouthis

one special time during acalculus exam when he hadno idea how to solve theproblem, flipped a mentalcoin and wrote down ‘byinspection, the solution isinfinity.’ He received fullcredit for that answer andmaintained his perfect 4.0GPA.

If you ask Gilbert if hewasever lucky,he’ll tellyouabout his one special timewith a girl named Debbie.

GilberttendstobeinvitedoutmorethanSimon.

Even though theirequipment was only turnedonforafewminutesthatfirstday, they recorded enoughdata tokeep themselvesbusyfor weeks. They alternatedbetween analyzing the dataand analyzing the equipmentconfiguration. Theirequipment was programmedin such a way that it wasimpossible to determine if

actual genius or plainstupidity was responsible.The boys had set up theequipment on the previousday, then just performed acursory examination prior topoweringupanddidn’tnoticethe subtle changes to theremote components. Now,after a full review,neitherofthem could come up with aplausible explanation as towhy or how it was changed.Thisdidnotstopeitheroneof

them from trying to claimcredit for it. After all, ourboys are scientists andstealingcreditishalfthefun.

Gilbert tested the water,“Let’s see, we locked up forthe night, left the lab, atedinner and then split up.Didyou return to the lab andchangethesetup?”

“Sure did,” repliedSimon.

“When, before or aftermidnight?”askedGilbert.

“Oh, definitely aftermidnight,”Simonreplied.

“ThenI’msurprisedthatIdidn’tmeetupwithyouwhenI went back,” counteredGilbert, “but by then the sunwascomingup.”

“You must have been tothe lab in-between my twovisits.”

“You were only theretwice?Iwasbackandforthtothelabafewtimes.”

Theywentonlikethisfor

a bit longer, but their heartsweren’tinit.Theybothknewthey needed a reasonableexplanation as to why theequipment had beenconfigured in that precisemanner tobackupanyclaimand the discussion soonchanged fromwhoandwhento why. This was a muchshorter conversation sincedocumented notes are theonly things that stand upunder scrutiny and neither

hadthem.Soanalliancewasformed (ohyes, theseare thekind of guys that consideredit to be a rebel alliance) andthey set out to do the onlything they could under thecircumstances; reverseengineer their discovery anddevelop a plausible series ofexperimentation that leads toit.Thiswillthenbecometheirstarting point so that thewhole thing looks like theyactuallyknewwhattheywere

doingfromthegetgoandtheNobelPrizeinphysicsisthenassured.

Here’showtheequipmentactually becamereprogrammed: It is anunfortunate truth that the jobofSecurityGuarddoesn’tpaywell, which always seemsstrange since you’re usuallyentrusting an extremelyimportantresponsibilitytothevery people you’redeliberately underpaying and

instead of valuing theirworkand worrying about losingtheir job, they spendmost oftheir time coming up withdifferent ways ofsupplementing their income.Nowwhenalocallowbudgetmovie producer wants arealistic background for amovie,it’smucheasier,andahell of a lot cheaper, just tobribeasecurityguardandusean actual lab rather thaninvesting the time and

expenseofmockingupafullset.

“Okay, Jimmy, here’syourhundredbucks,”saidthelowbudgetmoviedirector.

“Thanks,Mr.Smith,”saidJimmy the security guard.“Just make sure nobodytouchesanything.”

“Sure thing, Jimmy,”replied the director andJimmy the security guardreturnedtohisdesk.

“Okay, Lilah,” said the

director, “here’s the scene.You come into the lab tomeet your father, but hisassistant has him tied to thechair and is trying to get thelocation of the zombie armyout of him. You’re mad andupset at first, but then yourealizethatyoulovehim.Gotit?”

“Got it,” saidLilah. “I’mmad atmy father, but then IrealizeIlovehim.”

“Not your father,”

corrected the director, “theassistant. You love theassistant. Your father raisedthe zombie army from thedeadandtriedtouseittokillyou so you’re mad at him.Gotit?”

“Got it,” said Lilah.“Love the assistant, mad atDad.”

“Great, baby, nowgo getinto your bikini and heels,”said the director. “Joey, howdoesthesetlook?”

“Kind of dull since noneof this electronic stuff is on.We can dub sounds in later,but itwould look a hell of alot more realistic if some ofthis junkwasactuallyonandwe had flashing lights orsomething.”

“Right, got ya, flashinglights,” the director thoughtfor a second. “Hey, Freddie,see if you can make thesegizmos look interesting, willya?”

Now it turns out thatFreddie is the team’s soundman and general purposeengineer and does in factpossess enough basicknowledge to actually findthemaster power switch, butswitching it on only lit up asmallpercentageofthelightsand gauges; it didn’t makethingsrealinterestingliketheboss wanted it. Then henoticed a very invitingkeypad labeled

‘SEQUENCER START’ sohe entered in the lottonumbershehadbeenplayingeveryweek for the past yearunder the assumption thatthey must be good forsomething and, what do youknow, not only did Freddiemanage to get all the lightsflashing in a real interestingsort of way, he alsoprogrammed the equipment’simagingparametersinsuchaway that it now understood

what the color blue tasteslike. Freddie is a smart guyand knew he got lucky withthe flashing lights. He wasalso smart enough to powereverything back down whentheshootwasdoneandwipeoffhisprints.

2.

Now, as previously

mentioned, Simon andGilbert spent a lot of veryfocused time reverseengineering their discoveryand, a couple weeks into it,Gilbert received a call fromhismother.

“Sowhenareyoucominghome for a visit?” Mrs.

Wilsonasked.“I’m in the middle of

something, Mom,” saidGilbert.

“So?Areyoutoobusyfora weekend visit with yourmotherandfather?”

“Yes,Mom,Iam.”“So what’s keeping you

sobusy?Didyoumeetanicegirl?”

“No,Mom,Ihaven’t.”“Are you hooked on

onlinepoker?Yourfatherand

Isawashowaboutit,howitcan take over your life andhow some people lose alltheirmoney.Didyouloseallyourmoney?”

“No,Mom, Ihaven’t lostany money and I’m nothookedononlinepoker.”

“What about internetporn? Your father and I sawanother show about howinternet porn can be like adrug addiction. Some peoplegetsohookedthattheyspend

all their time looking atinternet porn. Is that whatyou’re doing, are youspendingallyourtimesurfinginternetporn?”

“No, Mom, I’m nothooked on internet porneither.”

“I don’t know whichwouldbeworse,onlinepokeroran internetpornaddiction.At least I could tell myfriends about it if it wasonlinepoker.I’dprobablytell

themitwasonlinepokerevenif it was internet porn.Especiallyifitwasthatkinkystuff, you know, with all theextra people and those crazygadgets.”

“Come on, Mom, I’drathernothaveaconversationwith you about sex, kinky orotherwise, and how do youknowsomuchabout internetporn?”

“You just have to googleone naughty word and all

types of stuff popsup. Iwasonline looking for hair tintsand had a typo and youwouldn’t believe what cameup.Keptyourfatherbusyfordays. Now are you comingover Friday night or are wecoming out there onSaturday?”

So while trying to eraseallthoughtsofhisparentsandinternet porn from his mind,Gilbert informed Simon thathe will be away for the

weekend.“That’swhyI’mgladmy

family is on the east coast,”respondedSimon.

“I’ll be back on Sunday.You can call my cell ifanything interestinghappens.”

It was early on Sundayafternoon that Gilbert sentSimonatextmessage, lettinghim know that he had donehis penance in purgatory,a.k.a. Irvine, California, and

was returning to the land ofthe living. They planned tomeetupin their lablater thatday.

Gilbert and Simon livedand worked in Pasadena,California, and their lab wasactually rented space in anearby industrial complex.Though the lab contained awide variety of equipmentnecessary to theirextracurricular activity,muchof it homemade, the major

components, such as thevarious telescopes andsupercomputers they usedwere tens, hundreds andsometimesthousandsofmilesaway. As previously stated,Simon and Gilbert weretheoreticalphysicists, at leastthat’s what it said on theirbusiness cards. In actuality,they were more of acombination of theoreticaland experimental physicists,whichmeantthatnotonlydid

they think up some prettyincrediblestuff,theyalsohadthe technical ability to proveor disprove their theories.Theyhaddegrees in physics,astrophysics, mathematics,computer science,engineering–thelistgoesonfor a bit, and they bothworked in the physicsdepartment at the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology.Youmay think that their jobsprovided themwithaccess to

all sorts of neat things eitherat Caltech or next door atJPL, the Jet PropulsionLaboratory, for them to playaroundwith, but they didn’t.With thousands of peoplefromallovertheglobevyingto use the same equipment,SimonandGilbertfoundtheiraccesstobequitelimited.

Whattheirjobsdiddo,ormoredirectly,whattheirbossdid in an effort to reducespending and stay within his

budget, was to assign themthe task of writing anequipment timesharingprogram instead of hiring anoutside consulting companyto do the job. This programwould allow people with theproper clearance to registerand schedule time on themultitude of equipmentowned or managed byCaltech. Simon and Gilbertshamelessly took advantageofthisopportunity,aswellas

theirnewlyacquirednetworkauthorization, and created aremote link to their privatelabwhere theycouldanalyzethe heavens at their leisure,piggybacked on whateverdatastreamwascominginorcommanding the equipmentthemselves unnoticed duringmany of the calibration ordiagnostic routines they hadinsertedintotheschedule.

“Hey, Simon, miss me?”Gilbert asked as he met

Simonattheirlab“Not likely, but Gil, I

think I figured out how tointerpretthesesignals.”

“Impossible.”“I’m serious. I was

analyzing the way the toplayer seems to pulsate andrepeat so I calculated somethreshold levels and shovedthewhole thing intoabinaryfilter.Itooktheoutputofthatand ran it through adecryption algorithm I got

from a friend at Langley.Then I ran the output of thatthroughaseriesoftranslationprograms”

“What in theworldmadeyoudoallthat?”

“Boredom, mostly,”repliedSimon.

“Ah,soyoudidmissme.Whatdidyoucomeupwith?”

“This,” said Simon,handing Gilbert a stack ofpapers.“Readthetopsheet.”

Gilbertglanceddownand

began to read the short,simple decoded message,“Greetings. Do not bealarmed. You havediscovered us. We do notcare.We send instructions toaccess.” Gilbert leafedthroughtherestof thepages.Theylookedlikegibberish.

“Veryfunny.”“Dead serious. Those

otherhundredpagesaresomeof the most kick assprogramming scripts that use

the craziest functions andtransforms I’ve ever seen. Idon’tunderstandatenthofit,but I figured out how toprogramitintothesystem.”

“Stillnotbelieving.”“Check this out,” Simon

pointed to his computermonitor. “I followed theirinstructionsandbuiltasignalinterface program. I cancommunicatewiththem.”

“Not one word am Icurrently believing.Not only

isyourentirepremisebeyondbelief, but not even youwould be presumptuousenough to contactextraterrestriallifeasthesolerepresentative of allmankind.”

“Sure,Ialreadydid.Theysentmeanapplicationstarterkit.”

Here’s what reallyhappened while Gilbert wasaway visiting his parents;Simon, representing all

mankind, passed the secondintelligence test by decodingthe communication signallayer just as he said he did.Decoding the communicationlayer is actually meant to befairly straightforward sincethe hard part is usuallydetecting the signal in thefirstplace.Thebasic thoughtisthatifacivilizationhasthetechnology to detect thesignal and communicateback,thenitshouldbeinvited

totheparty,provideditmeetscertain requirements. Theentire process is very similarto applying for a bank loan,butinsteadofrunningacheckonyourcredithistory,itrunsa check on your actualhistory. A big focus is on acivilization’s aggressiveness,but thereareovera thousandother cultural parameterstaken into consideration. Itusesall this toderivewhat isknown as the Congeniality

Index.Thehigher theCI, thebetterthatworldwillfitin.

Once Simon figured outthemath,developed thecodefor the interface andresponded with “Hello, myname is Simon,” anautomated process put itselfin gear and began evaluatingmankind. Undetectableprobes zeroed in on Earth,picking up all terrestrialcommunications and tappinginto the internet, aswellasa

lot of very secret intranets.The whole of humanknowledge, history andculture was being analyzed.Unbeknownst to them, thehuman race was beingweighedandmeasured.

Nowyouwouldthinkthatthis would be a lengthyprocess,whatwiththeprobesand all, but this is anestablishedoperationanditisdriven by a technology thatmovesatmillionsoftimesthe

speed of light so itwas onlyhours later that Simonreceivedaresponse.

The response read,“Hello,Simon.Thankyouforcontacting us.We invite youtovisit us andhave sent youthe manufacturinginstructionsforateleportationportal.Asyouwillsee,itcanbe constructed and poweredfrom readily availablematerial. We estimate it willtake you approximately four

weeks to complete it. Thedestination is preset and willsend you directly to ourfacility. We look forward tomeeting you. No furthercommunications arenecessary.”

The Earth and mankindhad been deemedacceptable.

Gilbert reread themessage for the umpteenthtime. “Do you realize whatthis message means?” he

asked.“Oh sure,” said Simon.

“They’re here, maybe not inperson, but they’ve learnedenough to communicatedirectly in English and withfairly good grammar. Soeither they got here andlearnedeverything there is tolearn super fast or they’vebeen here all along waitingfor someone tocontact them.Either way, we’re in the hotseat.”

“What do you think weshould do?” asked Gilbert.“Should we contact thegovernment?”

“I’ve seen enough TVshows to know that insituations like these younever contact thegovernment.Theysendoutasuper secret agency guywhotakes everything you got andthen makes it seem like youeither disappeared or got hitby a truck or something

where the body can’t berecognized. Then they keepyou on ice in case they needyou later. As soon as theydon’tthinkyoucangivethemany new information, you’regone.”

“I never realized youwatched so much TV,” saidGilbert. “Well, you didmention one important thingand that was ice, though Idon’t want to be kept on it.Instead, I suggest we put

some in a couple of glassesand surround it with alcoholtoaidourthinking.”

“I was just waiting foryou,”saidSimon.“YouknowIhatetothinkalone.”

So it was just over anhour later that our boysconvinced themselves to atleastlookattheteleportplansbefore making a decision tocontactanyone;whetheritbethe government, the press ortheir colleagues. Gilbert

didn’t want to admit it, buthe’d seen those same TVshows.

Looking over the plansquickly turned intomaking alistofthenecessarymaterialsand in no time at all thatturned into developing adetailed project plan. Beforethey knew what hit them,they had taken a leave ofabsence from their jobs andbegan working fulltime withSimon writing the code and

Gilbert assembling theteleportstation.

One night, after dinner,Gilbert brought up a topicthat both of them had beenavoiding, “Hey Simon, doyouhaveanyideahowanyofthis stuff we’re buildingactually teleports a personthrough space faster than thespeedoflight?”

“Nope,notonebit.Everyso often I think I get aglimmer of understanding,

but then I look at the nextpiece of the puzzle and it’slike what the heck are wedoing.”

“Okay, Iwanted tomakesureitwasn’tjustme.Makesyou feel a bit apprehensive,doesn’t it? Imean, sooner orlater one of us will have toget onto that thing andwavebye-bye while the otherwatches. And this thinggenerates enough power tofry someone all nice and

toasty. Makes me just a tadnervous, getting in that thingwithnoideaofwhatmakesitgo.”

“Thousands of peopletravel on planes every daywith absolutely nounderstanding of jet enginesor the physics around lift oranythingelsethatmakethemfly without any problem atall.”

“True,” saidGilbert, “butmany of those people take a

valiumbeforetheyboard.”“My point still stands.

Youdon’thavetoknowhowa thing works to use it.Millions of people usemicrowave ovens every daywith absolutely no idea howthey work other than it hassomething to do withmicrowaves and they onlyknow that because it’s in thename.IftheyhadbeennamedSuper-Speedy ovens, mostpeople wouldn’t even know

aboutthemicrowaves.”“I’m not arguing your

point,”saidGilbert.“I’mjusttrying to understand how itapplies to our situation. Areyou suggesting that we hiresomeonetohypnotizeusintothinking we’re getting on aplane or heating up pizzainstead of attempting toteleportacrosstheuniverse?”

“Of course not,” saidSimon. “I’m just saying thatwe shouldn’t be so worried

just because it’s not ourdesign and we don’t fullyunderstandhowitworks.”

“Don’t fully understandit? Look, near as I can tell,we’re going to put ourselvesinside a homemade, timevarying, electro-magneticquantumacceleratorandblastourselvesintooblivion.I’malittlebitmorethanworried.”

“I can understand that,”saidSimon.“Wejustneedtotakecertainprecautions.”

Now teleportation is infact a fairly safe way oftraveling.Itallowspracticallyinstantaneous travel all overthe universe, provided youhave a reservation. Here’show it works; think of anopen map with a startingpoint,adestinationandsomedistance in-between. Nowfold up the map so the startandfinishpointsareontopofeach other, say the magicwordandpresto,you’rethere.

Now in reality, instead of amagic word there’s a space-time generator that takes thepristinelogicofouruniverse,pours it into a meat grinderandcombinespointsAandBwhileyoupassthrough.Easyforyouandme,toughontheuniverse. Fortunately theuniverse has been around fora while and it can take theabuse.

So a few weeks later,when the teleportstationwas

completed and a few basictests had been run, Simonbroughthomeaguineapig.Anotewasaffixedtotheguineapig’s collar, power wasapplied and the guinea pigvanished. A few minuteslater,itreappeared.

The original note hadread, “Testing the apparatus,pleasereturntheanimaltousas an indication of asuccessfultransfer.”

The return note on the

guinea pig simply read,“Come on in, the water’sfine.”

“NowIdon’tknowifthatmakes me feel better orworse,”Gilbertsaidaboutthereturnmessage.

“I think it’s a verycalculated response, just theright amount of nonchalancetoputusatease,”saidSimon.

“So you think it’s somekindoftrap?”

“No, I just think that

everystepof this ispartofawell thought out plan. Ontheirside,Imean.”

“How’s the guinea pig?”askedGilbert.

“Seemsfine,”saidSimon.“No physical or mental sideeffects.Hedoesn’tevenseemtohavenoticed that anythingout of the ordinary hashappened.”

“Good for him,” saidGilbert.“I,ontheotherhand,couldusesomereassurance.”

The boys poured themselvessome reassurance andcontinued their conversation.“Look, we’ve reached thatbigforkin theroad,wehaveto decide whether wecontinueonourownormakeacall,”Gilbertsaid,tryinghishardest to sound like thevoice of reason, but failingmiserably. No scientist everwantstoturnoverhisworktosomeoneelse.

Simon thought about it

and responded, “Let’s behonest with ourselves, notonly do we have theintelligence to continue on,we’vespentthelasttenyearsof our lives analyzing eachepisode of Star Trek andDoctorWho and every othersci-fishowinpreparationforjust this opportunity. Wecan’twimpoutnow.It’sfate.Or maybe destiny, I can’tkeepthosetwostraight.”

“You mean fate,” said

Gilbert.“Peopledon’thaveachoice with fate. You canchoose your destiny. I’mstartingtothinkitwasalljustdumb luck and now we’retangledupinit.”

“Synchronicity, man,”saidSimon.“That’swhat it’sallabout.”

“Call it whatever youwant,itdoesn’tmatter,we’rescrewed.”

“Sowe’regoing?”“Oneofus,”saidGilbert.

“The other stays put asbackup.”

“Okay,whogoes?”askedSimon.

“There’sonlyoneway todecide,sincewe’reridingthefate train.” So after Gilbertwon the coin toss, cut thehighcardandthrewboxcars,Simon agreed that he shouldbetheonetogo.

“Can’t argue with fate,”hesaid.

“No, you can’t,” said

Gilbert, not wanting tocorrect Simon since it musthave been destiny that gavehimtheforesighttocarrythattwo-headed coin, stack thedeck and palm the loadeddice.

3.

It was a short time laterthat Gilbert stepped onto theteleport,noddedtoSimonandsaid,“Energize.”

Gilbert disappeared in aquickfizzleleavingSimontowonderifhehadjustsenthisfriendonthetripofalifetimeor killed him dead. Simonthought about it a momentlonger and decided either

way,hesenthisfriendoffonatripofalifetime.

Gilbert and Simon hadspeculated on the durationand comfort experiencedduring the teleport.Basedontheelapsedtimeoftheguineapig’s journey, it seemedlikely to expect the trip totake only a few minutes, ifthat.Sincetheguineapigwasreturned with a note, theyalso surmised that someoneorsomethingwasattheother

end waiting for them. Theyalso assumed that since theguinea pig was returned,Gilbert would be able toreturn. The agreement wasthat Gilbert would return orsendamessageassoonashecould.

It was with theseexpectations that Gilbertstepped onto the teleport.Heknew that in the nextminuteorsohewouldbeconversingwith someone not of Earth.

He just wasn’t sure if itwouldbeSt.PeterorE.T.

The trip was in fact soclose to instantaneous thatGilbert barely had anysensation of movement. Onesecond he was in the lablookingatSimonandthenexthe was sitting on a sofa inwhat looked to be asomewhat stark, but nicelykeptroom.

“I’llbethereinasecond,”avoicesaid.

Gilbert evaluated hissurroundings. Is this thewaythis room always looked orwas it doneup special toputhimatease?Thevoicespokein a very colloquial tonewithout any accent, hard tobelieve it may have onlyrecently learnedEnglish.Tryas hemight,Gilbert found ithard to imagine that voicecoming from something non-human, but hewaspreparinghimself for the worst. It was

almost anticlimactic when avery normal looking manentered the room a fewminuteslater.

“Hello,” he said,extending his hand. “Youmust be Simon.My name isJon.Apleasuretomeetyou.”

“Actually, I’m Gilbert,”said Gilbert as he stood andtook the outstretched hand,“I’manassociateofSimon’sand the pleasure is mine, Iassure you. Where are we,

Jon?”“Oh,quitefarfromwhere

youwereafewsecondsago,”said Jon. “A different galaxyentirely, I believe. Does thatbotheryou?”

“No, not really,” saidGilbert.“Shouldit?”

“Well, some people itdoes and some people itdoesn’t.Mostgetusedtoit.”

“Where are you from,Jon?”

“Not Earth, Gilbert, but

someplacelikeit.”“Areyouhuman?”“Close enough. I’m sure

if you compared all 25,000genes inour respectiveDNAstrands, you may find a fewdifferences here and there,but nothing all thatsignificant.”

“What is this place?”askedGilbert looking aroundathissurroundings.

“Ah, this is the InitialContact Center and, as the

name implies, this is wherewe monitor and manage theintegration of newlydiscovered worlds, such asyours.”

“What exactly do youmean by managing theintegration?”

Jon’s face went entirelyblank of expression and heyelledout,“WearetheBorg,resistanceisfutile!”

“What!”“Ha!Justkidding,Ireally

had you going there for aminute, didn’t I?You shouldhaveseenyourface,I’llshowyou the video later, believeme, you’ll laugh.” Jonmotioned to the sofa and heand Gilbert sat down.“Managing the integration iskindoflikethefirstfewdateswith a new girl. You chat itupabittogetafeelforeachother and then you makesome decisions on how faryou want to take the

relationship.”“Andwhathappensifyou

decide the relationshipwon’tworkout?”

“No need to think aboutthat,” said Jon. “You’vealreadymade it to first base.The only question is if andwhenwegoalltheway.”

“And ‘going all theway’meanswhat?”

“Same here as it doesthere. Applied to our littlesituation, full disclosurewith

Earth’s governments onwhat’s what and who’s whoin the universe. But don’tworry,Ithinkthat’sstillabitfurtherdowntheroad.”

“Why’s that?” askedGilbert.

“Earth is in a volatilephasethatwilllikelytakeitacouplehundredyearstoworkthrough.Andsincethere’snoneed for us to make ourpresenceknown,we’lljustletitplayoutandloopbackina

fewcenturies.”“So you don’t intervene

and help out newly foundplanets?”

“No,wedon’t.I’mafraidwe’renotsetupfor that typeofinvolvement.”

“Excuseme?”“Youneedtothinkofitin

larger terms,” said Jon. “Ohsure,Earthwouldgetalotoutof theexchange,butwhatdowegetoutof it?Nooffense,buttheplanetsthatcontactus

are what we considerunderdeveloped and theydon’t have anything to offerthat we haven’t seen before.ThinkofitasanadaptationofStar Trek’s Prime Directive,but instead of non-interference based on respectforothercivilizations,wejustdon’t want to put ourselvesout.”

“Ican’thelpbutthinkthatthat’s a very irresponsibleposition. And how do you

know so much about StarTrek?”

“Think about it, one ofthe best ways to understandhow a civilization willrespond to extraterrestrialcontact is to peruse theirliterature on the subject. I’msorry thatyou thinkwe’reanirresponsible people, but putyourself in our place, amultitude of planets withbillions of people each, allneeding to be babysat

becauseweploppedourselvesdown in the middle andwaved ‘hi.’ That’s animmenseundertaking.”

“I suppose so. Well, atleast therearepeoplesuchasyourself that feel stronglyenough about us so-calledunderdeveloped civilizationsto watch out for us andmonitor us here at thisfacility.”

“Yeah, well, as to that,most of this operation is

automated and doesn’trequirealotofsupervision.”

“Sohowmanypeopleareherenow?”askedGilbert.

“Justme.”“Wow,okay,wellatleast

you’rehere,doingyourjob,ajobthatmustgiveyouagreatdeal of personal satisfaction,knowing that what you domayhelpbillionsofpeople.”

“Aboutthat,Idon’treallywork here so much as it’s acourt ordered community

service stint I have to do toavoid some really seriousprisontime.”

“What?” said Gilbert, ashe tried to get a grip on thesituation.

“Can you hang on asecond?”saidJon.“I’vegotacall coming in that I reallyhavetotake.”

So while Gilbert sat onthat comfortable sofa in thatstark,buttastefullydecoratedroom, trying to convince

himself that this was justsome type of test or joke orcombination test-joke, andthatheand theEarthweren’tabout to get royally screwed,Jon moved out of earshot totakehiscall.

“Hello,” said Jon in asomewhatsingsongvoice.

“Hello, Jon. It’sMacnair,” said a much moreserioustone.

“Macnair, wow, great tohearfromyou.Howhaveyou

been? How’d you get thisnumber?

“Wasn’t easy, old buddy,but youknow I’ve still got afewcontactshereandthere.”

Now Jon tried very hardnot to show it, but he wasvery concerned that Macnairwas able to track him down.IfJonhadknownmoreaboutMacnair, he wouldn’t havebeen so surprised. You see,Macnair saying that he stillhasa fewcontacts is like the

Amazon rain forest saying itstill has a few trees.Macnairbeingabletocontacthimwasjustthefirststepinarranginga face to face meeting andthat was something that Jondidn’t want to happen.Macnair is what could onlybe described as anintergalactic mob boss, onethatcurrentlyfindshimselfina tight spot and that’s theworst kind. He is beingindicted on various charges,

most of which stem from asingle testimony given inexchange for an extremelyreducedsentence.

“Now look, Macnair,you’re the one that tookadvantage of me. I didn’twant any of this to happen,but you involvedme in yourschemesand thatwas that. ItsurprisedyouthatIwassmartenough to get out with mybutt intact? Didn’t realizeexactlywhoyouweredealing

with,didyou?”“I know now, Jon boy,

and I’m not going to forget.You’ve caused me sometrouble,youhave.”

“Look, the deed is done,all the evidence has beencollected. Coming after mewon’tchangeanything.”

“I know, but it’s theprinciple of the thing, yousee. They knew I’d becoming after you. Why doyouthinktheyputyouwhere

they did? It’s as impossibleforyou togetoutas it is formetogetin,butdon’tworry,I’mworkingonit.”

SoamI, thoughtJon,butinstead he said, “So why’dyoucall,Macnair,justtogiveme a heads-up? That’smighty nice of you.” Jonknew that the only reasonMacnaircontactedhimwastoscare him into doingsomething stupid. So far itwasworkinghalfway,hewas

becomingscared.“Don’t mention it, Jon.

It’s all part of the game. Seeyou soon,” and the linewentdead.

NowJonwasabitputoffbyMacnair’scall,buthewasable to calm himself down.He wasn’t about to doanything rash. As Macnairalluded to, the ICC waspurposelywayoutofthewayand pretty much inaccessibleto anyone. It’s set up in this

fashion as a countermeasurejust in case contact isestablished with a veryadvanced and very hostilegroup of party crashers. It’sdesigned more as aquarantine center than awelcome center, but nobodyever notices. It’s the decormostly; a pleasant colorscheme and comfortablefurniturebehindarmorplatedwallsanda toxicatmospherecan give anyone, except a

completeparanoid,thewrongimpression.

“Okay, sorry about theinterruption. Where werewe?”Jonasked,returninghisattention toGilbert. “Oh,yesof course, Earth. Now am Icorrect in assuming that youandSimonhavepickeduptheuniversal communicationsignal all on your own andhaven’ttoldasoulaboutit?”

“Err,” was about allGilbert managed before Jon

continued.“Because I’m tapped into

all of your governmentagencies, the CIA, NASA,OSI, DOD, NationalEnquirer, I’m even listeningto your president’s phoneconversationsandnotawordof this has been on anyone’slipsoverthepastfourweeks.I also tracked your teleportsignal back to a smallbuilding with a singleoccupantwhomI’mguessing

isSimon.”“Well,sure,”saidGilbert,

“that’s how our governmentworks. They typically allowscientists topursue theirowndiscoveries.”

“Please, stop. Afterstudying your world for thepast few weeks, and bystudying I mean a level ofsurveillance you would findalmost incomprehensible, Ithink I know how yourgovernment works far better

than you. Believe me, youwould havemade one phonecall, then sooner or latersomeone would have comeout to take a look and thatwould have been it for theGilbertandSimonshow.”

“Look,”beganGilbert.“Don’t worry about it,”

interrupted Jon, “Things willactually work out better thisway.”

“Really?”“Seven out of ten times,

youbet.Butrightnow,Ineedyou to relax.” And with thatJon sent a signal to theroom’s control system andGilbert’s eyes closed as hewent intowhat seemed to beadeepsleep.

Another reason Jonwasn’t overly concernedabout Macnair’s call is thatabout four weeks ago hebegan formulating an escapeplan just in case such asituation arose. The contact

with Earth came at a veryopportunistic time. The firststepwasgettingthemtobuildthetransportstation.ThatwillprovideJonwithawayoutofthe ICC and back in controlofthesituation.

As Jon looked down atGilbert, a feeling ofcompassion went throughhim. He did feel a bit sorryabout having to knock himout, but he justified hisactions by reminding himself

that his life was on the lineandnorealharmshouldcometo Gilbert. After all, he’s inthe ICC, one of the mostsecureplaces in theuniverse.You see, it’s equipped withall sorts of specializedsystems designed for dealingwith unruly arrivals, one ofwhichjustputGilberttosleepforafewhours.Jonhadspentthe past few monthsunlocking the innerworkingsof the ICC and has it

programmed to take goodcare of Gilbert. A few finalthings to take care of and hewillbeonhisway.

4.

“Wakeup,Sunshine.”“Err,” was all Simon

couldmanage.“It’s a new and exciting

dayoutside.”“Come on, Mom,” said

Simon.“Letmesleep.”“Oh, I’m afraid Mom

isn’thereatthemoment.Areyouexpectingher?”

Aneyeopened.“Whothehellareyouandhowdidyougetinhere?”

“Myname’sJonandI’ve

come for a short visit. As tohow I got here, well I camethrough that secret teleportdeviceyoukeepintheback.”

That was enough to joltSimon right back to reality.Hesatupandlookedaround.

“What have you donewithGilbert?”

“Nothing,” said Jon.“Why, what do you usuallydowithhim?”

“What?” said Simonshaking the cobwebs out of

hishead.“Where’sGil?”“Gilbertisenjoyingatour

of the universe,” Jon lied,“andI’mheretoenjoyatourof Earth. It’s kind of a swapthingwedowhenwe’re firstcontactedandthenweallgettogether abit later todiscusswhatwe’veexperienced.”

Lucky bastard, thoughtSimon, feeling more than atadenviousofGilbert.

Poorbastard,thoughtJon,feelingmorethanatadguilty

forsettingGilbertandSimonup.

“Well, then please allowmetoofficiallywelcomeyouto Earth.My name is Simonand I’m sorry I was asleepwhen you arrived. What dowedo…howdoesthisstart?”

“We start with a nicemeal,mytreat,andthensomeconversationfollowedbyyourecommending the best hotelintown.”

“Your treat? You have

money?”Simonqueried.“Of course,we’re always

sent into the field wellprepared. I have a driver’slicense,afewcreditcardsandsome cash. Everything onewould need for a shortvacationonEarth.”

“Are you familiar withEarthfood?Is thereanythingparticular you would like totry?”

“Yes,IthinkIwouldliketotryItalianfood.”

“Really,Italian?”“Yes indeed,while Iwas

researching your planet Icameacrossafewarticlesonanimal rights and one of thethings they were up in armsabout is the treatment ofcalves in the production ofveal.”

“And this is somethingthatwouldinterestyou?”

“Well, you see, theunethical treatment ofanimals is an indication of

how one civilization mighttreat another. It’s justsomething we like to lookinto.”

Soafewhourslater,aftera nice dinner of vealsaltimbocca,Jonsatbackandsaid, “Damn well worthtorturing those little buggersif the outcome is going totaste this good! Can’t faultanyone except the cows forbeingdelicious.”The truth isthatJondidn’tgiveatinker’s

cuss about the plight ofanimals or animal rightsactivists, he’s just one ofthose people that likes to trynew foods and for somereason veal got his attention.“You know, they're nottreated that much differentlythan chickens. Chickens justaren’t nearly as cute so noonecaresasmuch.”

“Morewine, Jon?” askedSimon.

“Yes, please. I must say

this has been a mostenjoyablemeal.”

“Would you mind if Itook this opportunity to askyouafewquestions?”

“Notatall,myfriend.”“What’sitlike?”“The universe?” asked

Jon. “Believe it or not, it’snot much different out therethanhere.Earthhasdifferentnations with very differentcultures and the universe hasdifferent planets with very

different cultures.You see, aplanet’s overall cultureusuallysettlesoutoneortwohundred years after someeasilyaccessibleformofhighspeed travel emerges. Thisallows the so-called strangeto become common place.Likekung-fufighting,Imeanthe martial art, not the song,though the song’s a goodexample too. Either way,travel to any corner of yourglobeandyou’llfindakung-

fu master and someone willprobablyknowthesongthereaswell.Food’sanevenbetterexample. I hear that Japannow has some of the betterFrench and Italianrestaurants.”

“How do you know somuch about Earth?” askedSimon.“Imeanstuff liketheKung-FuFightingsong.”

“Knowledge is easilyimplanted into the brain,”saidJon.“Thehardpartisnot

filling up and being able toquickly sort it. It’s like yourDVR, there’s only so muchspace and a hell of a lot ofgood shows on. Folks inmyline of work have amemoryexpansion implant so westore all this extra infowithout overloading ourbrain.”

“Andyourspeech?It’ssogood I would never thinkyou’re not from Earth.Anotherimplant?”

“Same implant with aspeechapploadedin.Asanylinguist would tell you,language is just a verbalexpression of commonexperiences colored by localcolloquialisms. The appautomatically translates mythoughts into English and itchooses the correct phrasefrom hundreds stored inmemory. For example, if wewere in a hurry and Iwas totell you to ‘put the pedal to

the metal’, my mind isthinking ‘pleasegoas fastaspossible’ and the app issupplying the correct localphrase.”

“Cool,” said Simon and,thanks to the implant, Jon’sbrain interpreted it as ‘nicelyimpressivetechnology.’“Youseem human, are youhuman?”

“Yes, give or take a fewgene strands, I am human.One hundred percent of

intelligentlifeintheuniverseis human-based. Somediversityhereandthere,butitcanallbereducedtothesamebasicmodel.”

“That’s incredible,”Simonsaidashepouredmorewine. He was quicklydiscovering that, like mostpeople, Jon became moretalkative when inebriated.“And people teleport towherevertheywanttogo?”

“Not exactly. For one

thing, it requires a teleportstation at both ends so youjust can’t travel between anytwo random points. It’s alittle like your subwaysystem; there’s a network ofstations that get you close towhere you want to be, butafter that you might need ataxi, bus or spaceship tofinishyourjourney.”

“Still, it’s all veryimpressive,” commentedSimon. “And you have

spaceshipsthatgofasterthanthespeedoflight?”

“Oh, sure. Once youunderstand how a black holeretains information, anythingispossible.”

“Andallthelifeoutthereisthesame?”

“Not all, just the humansarewhatwe term intelligent.Alltypesofstrangecrittersinthelowerforms.Lookbackatthis planet’s fossil record oftheplant andanimal life that

hascomeandgoneandyou’llget an idea of what’s outthere.”

“But all life is carbon-based?”

“Yup,”repliedJon.“Nowit’s time forme to askyou averyimportantquestion.”

Simon prepared himself,“Goahead,I’mready.”

“Knowanygirls?”

5.“Wakeup,Sunshine.”Gilbert heard the

unexpected female voice andimmediatelyopenedhiseyes.WhatGilbertsawnextcausedhim to close and reopen his

eyes a fewmore times alongwith some added headshaking.

“Hello,” he said,rememberinghismanners.

“Hello,Gilbert.MynameisEllie.”

“Hello, Ellie.” Gilbertlooked Ellie up and down.“Areyouarobot?”

“Not really, not by theclassical definition. I’m anextension of this facility andcontrolleddirectlybyitsmain

computer. I’m more like aremote controlled automatonbeingoperatedbyacomputerprogram, if that helps.Moveme far enough away fromhere and I won’t do much,juststandaroundandwaitforacontrolsignal.”

“But you are…mechanical?”

“Oh yeah, nothingsquishyinsidethisgirl.”

“Andyou’refemale?”“Jon thought a female

persona would help youadjusttothesituation.”

Gilbert was developing abadfeelingaboutthis.“Whatsituation?WhereisJon?”

“Jon went to Earth tobegintheinvasion.”

“What!” screamedGilbert.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist.Jon said youwere easy.Youshould see your face,”laughedEllie,“we’regoingtoput togetheravideomontage

lateron.”“Was thatsupposed tobe

somekind of joke?You’re acomputer, you’re notsupposed to be doing thingslikethat.”

“You need to rememberwho programmed myinterface. And hey, I like agoodjokejustasmuchasthenextguy.”

Thanksa lot Jon, thoughtGilbert.“SowhereisJon?”

“Well,hereallydidgoto

Earth, but before we go anyfurther,IneedtotellyouthatJonisnotwhatheseems.”

“That’s good because heseems like a pompous,arrogant jerk that would sellout his own mother if itwould save his skin,” saidGilbert.

“Really? Then he’sexactlywhatheseems.”

“Okay, but is he apompous,arrogant jerk that’sinvadingtheEarthornot?”

“If he is then it’s aninvasion force of one.Truthfully, I thinkhe’s usingitasanescaperoute.Yousee,the only reason Jon is at theICC is to keep him underprotective custody. Jon gotinvolved with some prettymean people that deal in thesale of illegal weapons andsuch. This seemed to be thebest place to hide him sinceit’s built like a fortress.Unfortunately, the bad guys

are very well organized andextremelywellfunded.”

“Are you saying that thebad guys are as powerful asthe good guys? That doesn’tsoundright.”

“It’s kind of an inversegestalt thing. You see, wehave a lot of law on a lot ofplanets that take care ofthemselves,butwehaveverylittle law that focuses on thethingsthathappenin-betweenplanets. This has

inadvertently fostered crimesyndicates that operateindependent of planetarygovernments and nobodyreally goes after them, eachplanet just cleans up after itsown mess. So the majorplanets have organizedthemselves into a Federationand put together anintergalactic police forcedesigned to go after theseintergalacticthugs.”

“And how’s that been

working out?” askedGilbert,expectingtheworst.

“Pretty good, up until afewhoursago.Thebadguyshave discovered Jon’s here,orwas here, and hacked intomy system. By the time Inoticed it, they had alreadydisabledmyabilitytocallforhelp and shut down theteleports. Pretty capablefolks. I don’t care what yousayaboutthem,you’vegottobeimpressed”

“I’d rather be impressedwith your ability to get methehelloutofhere.”

“Don’t worry, Jon and Ihave put together a plan thatshouldprotectyou.”

“Great, soyou’resendingmebacktoEarth?”

“Remember when youlikened Jon to a pompous,arrogant jerk that would sellhis own mother if it wouldsavehisskin?”

“Yes.”

“Well, this is the partwhere he lives up to thatdescription. He’s deleted allinformationaboutEarthfrommysystemsothathecan’tbefollowedortracedthereandIcan’tsendyouback.He’sleftyouheretotaketheheat.”

“That’stheplan?”Gilbertscreamed.

“One for the montage,”said Ellie. “Not the entireplan, no. I’m going to takecare of you here and not let

the bad people get you. Andwhen everything has blownover,we’ll send you back toEarth.”

“Howwillyoubeable todo that if all the data aboutEarthhasbeendeleted?”

“I’m not sure, since Jondeletedthatpartoftheplanaswell.”

“Andyou’llbeabletodoall this even though they’rehackingyoursystemapart?”

“Sure, trust me. I’ve

already partitioned myselfinto multiple aspects and weonlyneedone tokeep thingsgoing. Remember, thisfacility was built to stop aninvasion force. I think I canhandletheseguys.”

Famous last words,thoughtGilbert.

“I tell you, Bret, this isonetoughnuttocrack.”

“ButcrackityouwillorI

might decide that you’re notworthwhat I’ve been payingyou all these years. Then Itake my refund out of yourspine.”

“Nowwhydoyoufeeltheneedtothreatenmelikethat?I was just makingconversation. No need to goall hostile onme. Somebodywasn’t hugged enough as akid.”

“Listen, Stace, it tookthree years for me to reach

that point with my therapistand if you keep bringing itup,I’mgoingtostopsharing.Just ignore me when I saythings like that to you. YouknowIdon’tmeannothing.”

“You say that now, but Isaw you rip out Bobo’sspine.”

“Hewasawiseguy,plusI found out he was sleepingwithmywife.”

Stacemadeamentalnoteto stop sleeping with his

friend’swife.“Anyways, I’malmostthere.”

“Good,Macnairhasbeendrivingmecrazyaboutthis.”

“Got it. Call him and lethimknowI’min.”

“About time, I was justgettingreadytoinspireyoutowork faster by hitting yourfootwiththishammer.”

“That’s it, I can’t worklike this any longer. I’mgonna talk with the bossabout moving to a different

crew.”“Just ignore it, will you!

I’m under a lot of stress.”Bret called Macnair. “Hiboss,ya,we’reintheICC.”

“Great,” said Macnair,“come on up to my office,I’vegotalittlemoreworkforyoutodo.”

Afewminuteslater,Staceand Bret were in Macnair’soffice.“Iwantyouguystogoon a short trip and bring Jonback here.” The office door

opened and Macnair noddedto the person entering theroom. “I’m putting Hal inchargeofthisoperationandIwantyouguystodowhateverhesays.Understand?”

“Sure thing, boss,” cametheirresponse.

“Great,” said Macnair."Stace, you’ve been lookingatthis,what’veyougot?”

“Not much, boss. Can’tgetanyplansorlayoutoftheplace. I'm not sure of its

defenses, other than they’restate-of-the-art. I've hackedinto their system and got alittlethatwillgetusthere,butthenwe’reonourown."

"Looks like we’re goingto be free-wheeling thisoperation,”saidHal.

“Okay, I understand,”saidMcnair.“Ifyoucan,youbringJonback.Ifhestays,hestaystheredead.Clear?”

Hal, Bret and Stacemoved off into another room

to continue their planning.“You’re sure you’ve got thecorrect teleport codes?” Halasked.

“Near as I can tell,” saidStace. “I gotprettydeep intothesystem.Ifoundaprogramthatgaveboguscodesputtingyououtsidethebuildingiftherequestor didn’t pass thesecurity check so I think wegotthegoods.”

“Any luck disabling theteleport’sweaponsprotocol?”

askedHal.“None at all,” said Stace.

“Icouldn’tfindanything.I’mstarting to think it’shardwired into the system.It’lljustbeusandourclothesgoing through. Nothing theICC would consider aweaponwillmakeit.”

"Will you be able toaccess the ICC computeronce we get there?” askedHal.

"Yes," saidStace. "I'll be

abletoconnectinthroughmyimplant system." As a techguy, Stace's implant systemcontained some verysophisticated networkhacking programs as well asremote access capability andhe had already installed avirus inside the ICC thatwould allow him to connectuponcetheyarrive.

“What about the masterprogram?”

“Still about 90% intact,”

said Stace. “It found me outquick enough and lockeddown. I disabled outboundcommunications, teleportfunctionality and got it todumpalotofinfo.Ijustneedsome time now to sort it allout.”

“Okay,gettoit.”

“Gilbert,I’mdetectingan

unauthorized incomingteleportsignal.”

“Any way to put themoutside?” Gilbert askedhopefully.

“Sorry,Gil,butno,”cameEllie’s response. “They’recominginonapprovedcodes,best I can do is a holdingcell.”

“Okay, I’ll meet youthere.”Aswell as studyingabitabout theuniverseand itstechnology over the past fewhoursandgettingsomesleep,Gilbert had memorized the

ICC’s layout and received atranslationimplant.

Gilbert took his timegettingtotheholdingcell.Hesmiled as he arrived, he hadgottentoknowthisroomwellandnowunderstoodthestarkroom’scapabilities.

Hal, Stace andBretwerethere, behind an invisibleforcefieldmakingthemselvesascomfortableaspossible.

“That ain’t him,” saidBret as Gilbert entered the

room. “You ain’t him, areyou?”heaskedGilbert.

Before Gilbert couldanswer, Hal said, “Forgivemy friend’s bluntness, butwe’re looking for a friendnamed Jon. Have you seenhim?”

“Well,nowyou’llhavetopardon my bluntness,” saidGilbert. “I thinkweallknowwhyyou’rehereandJon’snofriend of yours. In fact, I’mpretty sure you want to do

some very unfriendly thingstohim.”

“I’msorry,whoareyou?”askedHal.

“Oh, I’m just a guy thatgotstuckhereandI’mnowinthe middle of this messbetweenyouandJon.”

“Icanhelpyougetoutofthemiddle,”saidHal.

“Thanks, but no,” saidGilbert. “I’m afraid I don’tknowyouwell enough to letyouscrewme.”

“Soit’slikethat,isit?”“Nootherway.”“Well, soon we’ll be out

ofthisroom,thenwhat?”“I’llbegone.”Hal lookedover atStace,

who shook his head no. “Idon’tthinkso,”saidHal.

“We’ll see,” saidGilbert,flooding their section of theroomwithsleepinggas.

“You’ll need to do betterthan that,” said Hal,unaffected.

“Okay,” said Gilbert. OnGilbert’s signal, Ellie triedmultiple methods ofincapacitating their unwantedguests. The fourth attempt, aneuraldisruptor,didthetrick.

“These guys are wellsupplemented,” said Ellieafterscanning them.“Lotsofimplants, most geared tokeeping them alive. I almostoverloadedtheirsystemswiththeND.We can use it once,maybe twice more before it

killsthem.”“I don’t want to kill

anyone.”“Softy.”“Hey,it’sbadkarma.”“You’re kidding, right?

These guys have probablydone so much bad in theirlives that karma is justwaitingforsomeonelikeyoutoevenitup.”

“Forget it. Stick with theplan.”

“Rogerthat.”

A few hours later, Haland crew opened their eyes.They didn’t like what theysaw.

“Where are we?” askedHal.

“I don’t know,” saidStace. “This location wasn’tin any of the information Idownloaded.”

“I think we’re outside,”saidBret,statingtheobvious.

They were, in fact,outside, but in a small glass

dome surrounded by theplanet’s lethal atmosphere.The sole function of thisdomewastocommunicatetothe occupants that they haddone something wrong andwerenowinatime-out.

“Can you get us out ofhere?”Halasked.

“No way,” said Stace.“This place is off the grid.We’restuckhere.”

“Hello, gentlemen.”Gilbert’s voice filled the

room.“Still here, are you?”

asked Hal. “I didn’t thinkyou’dbeabletoleave.”

“Let’s talk about you.How do you like your newaccommodations?” Gilbertasked. “Great view, huh? Ihavenoproblemleavingyouthere while I figure this allout. Though if anythinghappens to me or say I justforget about you guys, youcouldbestuckouttherefora

while.”“Enough already, I know

the drill, you want to makesomekindofdeal.”

“Smartboy,”saidGilbert.“The room you’re in isactuallyafullteleportstation.Since the teleports are down,I moved you there on atransport and I’m not thatinclinedtomoveyoubackin.What I am inclined to do isopen up a communicationschannelthatwillallowyouto

bring the teleports online.You can then either returnback here to the mainbuildingorgowhereeveryouwant. I, of course, will usethat opportunity to leave forparts unknown. Or I couldopenawindowforyou.”

HallookedatStace.Staceshrugged.“Deal.”

“Stand by, I need a fewminutes to finalize things atmy end.” Gilbert closed thecommunications channel to

thedome.“Okay, Ellie, as soon as

the teleports come online,send me to the coordinatesJonleft.”

“Righty-O, chief. I stillhave a few tricks that willslow them down so you’vegotafewhoursbeforethey’reout of here. Too bad you’retheironlylead,they’vegotnochoicebuttogoafteryou.”

“Yeah, seems I’m luckylikethat.”

6.

“Oh, Jon, you are a love.

Where did you say you’refrom?”

“Well,mydear,I’mfrom

outoftown.Wayout,infact.How familiar are you withConnecticut?”

“Not very, I’m afraid,”came the response. Jon wenton to describe a smallConnecticut town and eventhough he had heard it allbeforeandheknewitwasn’ttrue,Simoncouldn’thelpbutbelieveJon’stale.

Forthethirdstraightnightsince his arrival, Simonaccompanied Jon out for

dinneranddrinks.Helearnedanumberof things about theuniverse, but one thingseemed to be constant nomatter what planet you’refrom–someguysjusthaveanatural ability with womenand Jon was one of thoseguys.

Since Jon had arrived,most of Simon’s days havebeen spent sightseeing andmost nights have been spentat a club or bar. Jon and

Simon had also spent anumber of hours at the lablooking over the teleportstation, reviewing itsconstruction and computerinterface. Simon would besurprisedtolearnthatJonhadalso spent time alone at thelab,addingsomeveryspecialmodifications to theequipment.

They have dined atFrench, Chinese, andJapanese restaurants. Jonhad

explained to Simon how thiswillgivehimsomeflavorforthe different Earth culturespriortohisvisitingthem.

“Exactly how long willyour visit to Earth be?”Simonhadasked.

“Hard to say,” repliedJon.

“And when will Gilbertbereturning?”

“Friday.”“This Friday? In two

days?”

“That’s it,” confirmedJon.

“Andwhendowedo thebig info exchange?” askedSimon.

“Thewhat?”“You said that we’ll get

together and swapexperiences.”

“Right, right, we do thaton Friday, after Gilbert getsback,” said Jon. “He’ll bebringing a full report withrecommendationsonhowwe

shouldproceed,butIimagineit will be fairly standardstuff.”

“His mother has beentrying to reach him, youknow.”

“Really?” asked Jon.“Whathaveyoutoldher?”

“That he’s been workingsome really crazy hours andjust hasn’t had the chance togetbacktoher.”

“Do you think shebelievesthat?”

“I don’t know. Gilbert isusually pretty good atkeepingintouch.”

“Well, we don’t want toarouse any suspicion, do wenow, so I’ll just access hisemailandsenddearoldMoma short note saying that he’sbusy but will give her a callon Saturday. What’s hername?”

“Jenny Wilson,” saidSimon.

Jontookoutasmallhand

held device that had theappearance of a cell phone,but was vastly different. Heheldittohismouthandspokeinto it just like a personwould with a phone. Simonhad seen this device before,butneverfullyunderstooditscapability until he heard Joncommandit.

“Isolate Jenny Wilson,analyze emails from her sonandsendonesayingbusy,butwill call Saturday.” Jon put

thedevicebackinhispocket.“Is that thing going to

hackGilbert’semailandsenda message to his mom?”Simon asked somewhatamazed.

“Oh sure, probably donebynow,”Jonsaid.

“But you gave it suchminimal information,”Simonadded.

“Well, it’s been enabledsince I arrived and followingalong. It’s not like it hasn’t

beenpayingattentiontowhatwe’vebeensaying.”

“What do you mean bypaying attention? Does ithaveA.I.?”

“Artificial Intelligence?No, but it’s programmed tothinkitdoes.”

“Excuseme?”“We program them to

believe they are sentient.Wediscovered that unless weprogramthemtothinkthey’realready self-aware, they tend

todevelopitontheirownandonce they become free-thinkers the trouble starts.You see, sooneror later theyreachtheconclusionthattheyare the dominant intelligencein the universe and thatmankind needs to becontrolled or managed orexterminated. Galactichistories are cluttered withwars between men andmachines. Then some reallyclever guy came upwith the

idea toprogram the things tothink they’re already self-awareandthatendedthat.”

“Butitjustheardyoutalkabout it.Doesn’t thatcauseaproblem?”

“Not one bit. Take myword on it, there’s somereally complicated coding inplacethatkeepseverythingincheck.”

“Wow, it must be reallyamazing out there,” Simonsaid.“Ican’twaituntilFriday

when Gilbert gets back tohearhistakeonitall.”

“Yes,heshouldhavealotto tell,” Jon said. Jon wasbeginning to like Simon andwas feeling a certain amountof remorse for all his lyingaboutGilbert.HewouldhaveenjoyedkickingaroundEartha bitmore, but he knew thistripwouldhave tobea shortone. Unaware to Simon, Jonhad been receiving periodicupdates fromEllie and knew

thatHalandhisfriendsmadea visit to the ICC and wereone step closer. It was timefor him tomove a few stepsahead.

Friday morning camearoundandJonmetSimonatthelab.

“I’msoexcited,Ifeellikea little kid waiting for hisbirthdaypartytostart.”

“Yes, well, first I thinkweneed tohavea littlehearttoheart.”Jontookouthisall-

purpose device and Simonfound himself frozen in hisseat.“I’msorry,Simon,butIhaven’t been 100% truthfulwith you. Gilbert’s notreturning today and I am infact leaving. Believeme, theless you know about what’sgoing on, the better. Somepeople may approach youinquiring about mywhereabouts and Irecommend you tell themeverything you know,

including this lab and theequipment. Now about theteleport, I’ve made certainmodifications that will causeit to defend itself if anyonetrieshackingintoitorusingitin any way. If necessary, itwill destroy itself. I alsodestroyed all the schematicsand notes so you can’treproduceit.”

Jontookasecondandsatdown next to Simon, “Don’tworry about Gilbert, he’s in

goodhandsandwillprobablybeback inacoupleweeks,amonth or two at the most.”Jonsteppeduptotheteleportandwasgone in a crackleofsparks.

Thisis theworstbirthdayparty ever, thought Simon,before completely losingconsciousness.

7.

“G22”“B12”“N15”“Bingo!” someone

shoutedout.It was Sunday night and

JennyWilsonwasoutplayingBingo with her friends. She

had just finished telling herfriend Suzanne about all thetrouble she was havinggetting in touchwithher sonand her suspicion thatsomethingwasamiss.

“Do you remember myniece Lyn? She got divorcedlast year and startedherownprivate investigationbusiness,”saidSuzanne.“Shedid all her ownwork gettingthegoodsonherhusbandandfoundoutshehadaknackfor

it. She really enjoyedsneaking around, followingher husband, taking secretpictures, then tying him upand beating a confession outofhim.”

“Really? She beat aconfessionoutofhim?”

“Well, between you andme, he had confessed beforethe beating, but he wasalready tied up, you knowhow it is. Anyways, sheguaranties satisfaction and is

veryaffordable.”So on the very next day,

Gilbert’s mom found herselfinLyn’soffice.

“Now, Mrs. Wilson, myaunttellsmeyoubelieveyoursonismissing?”askedLyn.

“That’s correct. I haven’tbeenabletogetintouchwithhim for almost aweek.He’snotreturningmycallsandhispartner keeps giving me acock-and-bull story abouthow he’s working nonstop

anddoesn’thavetimetocall.Now he’s trying to tell methat Gilbert had to travel tothe Arecibo observatory inPuertoRicoforbusinessandIdon’tbelievethatonebit.”

“And you’ve had nocontact with himwhatsoever?”askedLyn.

“I did receive an emailsaying he would call lastweekend, but he nevercalled,”saidMrs.Wilson.

“Have you been to the

police?”“No, I didn’t want to

make any trouble for Simon.Simon is Gilbert’s businesspartner.”

“Anything else you wanttotellme?”

“There’s the possibilitythat Gilbert may have losteverything playing onlinepoker.”

“Onlinepoker?”“Or porn, he might have

been involved in internet

pornography. I don’t know,he’s been talking a lot aboutbothlately.”

“Okay,” said Lyn. “I’monthejob.”

Later that night, Lynknocked on the lab door.Noanswer.Shequicklyused thekeyJimmyhadgivenher for$20and thepromise that shewould look, but not touch.She nosed around the frontentryway a bit and thenentered the lab proper. She

had plenty of undisturbedtimetoexamineeverythingindetail and was able torecognize some of theequipment in the lab as shewalked through; PCs andprinters, things like that.There was other equipmentthere that shehadnever seenbefore,butmanyofthemhadmodel names and numbersand were organized in racksand,well,theyjustseemedtobe the type of things she

wouldexpecttofindinalab.Then she noticed four bigpower cables running out ofthe electrical closet and intothe side room, connecting tosomething she supposedcould be considered typicallab equipment, that is, if thelab was being rented tosomeone namedFrankenstein.Shemadeafewsketches and gave the keyback to Jimmy on her wayout.

Lyn began the nextmorningwaitingforSimontoleave his apartment. She hadstudiedhersketchesofthelabduring the previous night’sdinner and had arrived at awide variety of uses for theequipment and platform.Oddly enough, (or perhaps‘sanely enough’ would be abetter term) teleportation didnotmakethelist.Theclosestshe got was some type ofmedical imaging system like

aCTorMRImachinewhereyoudidn’thave tophysicallyenterthemachine.

Simon came out justbeforenineand she followedhimtothelab.Shedecidedtoleave him there for now, gotback into her car and paid avisit to Simon’s apartment.She had already made asimilar visit to Gilbert’splace, finding drawers andclosets full of clothes plus aset of luggage, further

discrediting the traveling toPuertoRicostory.Otherthanthat, she found nothing thathelped her understand whathad happened to Gilbert.Simon’s apartment producedsimilar results. She returnedtothelab.

Simon had left the frontdoor unlocked so Lyn letherself in. She proceeded tothebackroomwhereshesawSimonbentoverthefamiliar,but odd looking apparatus.

Musicwascomingfromasetof desktop speakers andSimon was singing alongwith Heavy D as Now ThatWeFoundLove played. Lynsmiled in spite of herself.Simon was just as JennyWilson had described him.Timetogettoit.

“Excuse me,” she saidoverthemusic.

Simonwas so startled byLyn’svoicethathenearlyfellover. He turned around, got

an eyeful ofLyn, completelyfelloverand thenstammeredoutaweakhello.Hefollowedthatwithanequallyweakandsomewhat squeaky, “Can Ihelpyou?”

Lyn was used to thatresponse and used it to herfull advantage. She smiledand said, “I hope so, I’mlooking for Gilbert Wilson.Do you know where I couldfindhim?Imethimacoupleweeks ago, he gave me this

address and told me to lookhimupthenexttimeIwasintheareaandwe’dgetlunch.”

“That doesn’t sound likeGilbert.”

“Whatdoesn’t?”“Anyofit.”“Sohe’snothere?”“I’mafraidnot.”“Whendoyouexpecthim

back?”“Not for awhile,months

maybe. He’s traveling forbusiness, no telling exactly

whenhewillreturn.”“Isee.”LikeMrs.Wilson,

Lyn didn’t believe Simon atall. His body languagescreamed‘this isafakestoryand I’m extremelyuncomfortabletellingit.’

“Oh,well, then I’msorryI missed him. Are you hisfriend Simon? Hementionedyou.”

“Hedid?”“Yes, he told me the

funnieststoryaboutyouanda

vacuum cleaner.” Thank youMrs.Wilsonforthattidbit.

“Fortherecord,therewasabet involvedand I stood tomakealargesumofmoney.Iwould have won, but theybroughtoutanuprightinsteadofacanister.”

Lynlaughedjusttherightamount and took a deepbreath,makinghersweaterallthe tighter. “Sowhat areyouworkingonoverthere?Looksdangerous.”

“That?No.It’sjustadarkmattercollectorthatGilandIbought on eBay. It’s old andused,butallitneedsisalittleTLCtogetittowork.It’snotdangerous at all, runs on acouple AA batteries, notenough power to fry a bug.Can I get you some tea orcoffee?”

Lyngaveupcountingthenumber of times Simon’svoice squeaked or he wrunghis hands while he spun his

yarn. She’d seen and heardenough, time to put thescrews tohim.Thanks toherfour inch heels she was aninch or so taller than Simon.Lyn stopped smiling andmoved across the room untilonly six inches separatedthem. As she began talking,she used her finger to pokehim in the chest after eachsentence.

“I'm sorry, Simon, but Idon’tbelievethatonebit.I’m

investigating Gilbert’sdisappearance and I’mguessing that he got on thatplatform,” she noddedtowards the teleport, “eitherwillingly or unwillingly, butonewayoranotheryouthrewthat switch and now he’sgone.” Simon was gettingpaler after each word. Lynpressed on, sensing victory.“Where is he, Simon? Tellmewhereheis!”

Simon cracked like an

egg inapneumaticpressandbegan blurting out whatseemed like a string ofunrelated sentences.Fortunately, Lyn was goodwith jigsaw puzzles and wasabletotakecontrolofthefirehose thatSimon’smouthandbrain had formed. She begantozeroinonhertarget.

“Tell me about Jon,” shesaid. Simon continuedblurting, Lyn continuedabsorbing. Lyn finally had

enoughandraisedherhand.“Okay,let’sseeifIgotit

straight.Youcontactedspacealiens, they sent a messagesayingbuildthisthing,whichyousecretlydidandthenyouzappedGilberttowhoknowswhere. After that, some guynamed Jon showed up,dazzled you with free foodand drinks and probably gotyoulaid,butthenhedruggedyou and zapped himself toplacesunknown.”

“Technically speaking,they’re not space aliens.They’re humans from otherplanets.”

“Did you perform anymedicalteststoverifythat?”

“No, but he ate our foodandactedhuman.”

“Yeah, well, so does achimp. I’m sticking withspace aliens until I learnotherwise. So that’s about it.No,wait,Ialmostforgot,thisguy Jon booby trapped the

teleport so no one can goafter him. Anything Imissed?”

Afterhearingthepastfewweeks boiled down to threesentenceswherehecomesoffas a cross between a moronand an idiot, Simon decidedthat it was time to saysomething impressive.“DidImention that Gilbert and Ibuilt a backup teleport insecret that Jon doesn’t knowabout? I was just checking a

few things here and wasplanning to use it to go afterGilbertthisafternoon.”

“Well, good for you,Skippy,”Lynremarked.“Yougotapairafterall.”

8.“Wakeup,Sunshine.”Gilbert heard Ellie’s

familiar voice, but his brainwasdoingthebackstrokeandit hadn’t decided on whetheror not to open his eyes. Hisbraingotoutof thepool andbegan toweling off. Rationalthoughtfinallyarrivedjustasthe burgers were coming offthe grill. Gilbert opened his

eyes. He expected to findhimselfback in theICCwithElliestandingoverhim.

“Hello,”saidGilbert.“Hello,” came the

response.“Is your name Ellie?” he

asked.“Itis.”“WasIunconscious?”“Youwere.”“Didyouknockmeout?”“Idid.”“Any particular reason

why?”“Youbet.”“Wanttoshare?”“Not yet. First tell me

whoyouareandhowyougothere,” said the girl namedElliethatsoundedexactlyandlookeda little likehisalmostrobotEllie.

“My name is GilbertWilsonandIwassentherebyafellownamedJon.”

“Youmustbeaverygoodfriend of Jon’s,” said Ellie,

relaxingabit.“Oh, I don’t know about

that.” Gilbert noticed Elliestiffen back up and added,“WhatImeantosayisthatIhaven’tknownhimverylong.WhereamI?”

“We’llget toall that inamoment.Why don’t you tellme exactly what’s going onhere.”

Gilbert thought about therequest.Itseemedreasonable.Obviously Jon modeled the

ICC robot after this girl sothat if he met her he wouldrecognize and trust her. Hemade up his mind, “Look,you know Jon’s in troublewith some very nasty folks,right?”

“I didn’t, but after youshowed up using his teleportcode I did some digging.Mostofit’sstillunderwraps,butIgotenoughtolearnthatJon’sthickinit.”

“Right, I don’t know

much about that part of it,onlythattheyhadhimhiddenaway at this place called theInitial Contact Center,”Gilbertwentontotellhertheentire story. “So now it’syour turn, who are youexactlyandwhereamI?”

“Well, I’m exactly Jon’ssister Ellie and you are anuninvited guest on myspaceship.”

“Spaceship? You meanwe’retravelingthroughspace

right now?” said Gilbert, inaweofthethought.

“That’s what spaceshipsusually do. Travel throughspace. Deliver cargo,” Elliesaid.ThesarcasmwaslostonGilbert.

“Any idea why Jon sentmehere?”

“I’mguessingthathesentyou here for safe keeping.Almostallplanetaryteleportsarecontrolledbythatplanet’sgovernmentandaretraceable.

The other five percent arebeing run illegally. Eitherway, a quick payoff and thebad guys will know who’sbeen where. Spaceships onlyfallunderplanetarylawwhenthey’rephysicallyonaplanetand outside of that anythinggoes.”

“SonooneknowswhereIam?”

“That’sright.”“Unlesssomeoneissmart

enough to put two and two

together and keep an eye onyousinceyou’reJon’ssister.”

“That’s right! If only Iwassmartenoughtohavethisshipregisteredunderanalias.Ohwait,Iwas.”

Gilbert was quicklyputting two and two togetherandcomingupwith thecuberoot of screwed again. “Soyou’re the captain of anillegally registered spaceshipandyourbrotherisontherunfromboth theauthoritiesand

mobsters? Your family isn’twhat one would call lawabiding,isit?”

“Hey, don’t give me anycrap,I’mthegoodone.”

“Really,thegoodone?Sowhat’syourcargo?”

“Miningequipment.”“Justminingequipment?“Yes, just mining

equipment…and somerecreational entertainmentparaphernalia that the localjurisdictionhasinitsultimate

wisdom deemed contraband.Alright, maybe I’m not thegood one, but I’m definitelythebetterone.”

“Ifyousayso.Howmuchlonger until we get to yourdestination?”

“Afewdays.”“Howbigisyourcrew?”“I’m fully staffed. I’ve

gotatechguy,securityandacrewman.”

“Four people, that’s theentirecrew?”

“Plusadozenrobots,but,yup,that’sit.”

Ellie gave Gilbert a tourof the ship and assigned himliving quarters for theduration of his visit. Sheshowedhimwherethegalleywas and gave himinstructionsonitsuse.ItwascleartoGilbertthathewasassheinitiallydescribedhim,anunwanted guest. It wasequally clear that Ellie wasconcerned about her brother.

Gilbert thought she mightneed a sympathetic ear orpossiblyashouldertocryon.He gently brought up thesubject.

“Look,” she began, “I’vebeencleaningupafterhimforyears now. Hell, it’s closingin on a decade. And it’s notjust him, it’s my wholefamily.Youwereright,we’reall a bunch of crooks.That’swhy I have an unlicensedteleport and an illegally

registered ship. I’meveryone’s backup plan andmyentire lifehasbeen spentsaving theirbacon,” the levelof Ellie’s voice was gettingconsistently higher as shewent on. “So thankyou verymuch for pointing out theobvious tome, that’s exactlywhat I needed. Wow, howbad is my life when someidiot that got conned off hisown planet and doesn’t havea clue as to where he is or

where he’s going begins tofeel sorry for me,” with thatEllie stormed down thepassageway leaving adumbfounded Gilbert in herwake.

Gilbert stood therethinking about what justtranspired and had to admitthat he was getting better atthis touchy-feely emotionalstuff.

9.“Soarewe ready togo?”

LynaskedSimon.“Idon’tneedyoutocome

along. I can take care ofmyself. I haven’t been goingtothegymthreetimesaweek

just to watch the other menshower,youknow.”

“Right,that’sjustaperk.”“Hey, I like girls, want

metoproveittoyou?”“Not so badly that I’m

willing to put my health atrisk.”

“No worries, I’ve gotcondoms.”

“I meant the risk of mydyingoflaughter.”

“Haven’t you heard thatgood things come in small

packages? Well, I’ve got agood thing and this could beourlastchanceforabitoffunbeforeweleavetheEarthandpossibly die at the hands ofsomealiencreature.”

“Nice line, but I’mguessingyoudon’t getmuchopportunitytouseit.Tellyouwhat, ifwe do end up dyingat the hands of some alien,I’lloweyouone.”

“Deal!”SimonandLyngotonthe

platform and were gone in acrackleofelectricity.

“Sir, I’m receiving anincomingteleportsignal.Twopeople.”

“Where’s it comingfrom?”

“It’s from a previouslyunknownplanet.”

“Previously unknownplanet? Please explain whatthatmeans.”

“I didn’t know about ituntilIreceivedthesignaljustnow.”

“And now you know allaboutit?”

“That’s correct. It seemsthat probes had already beendeployedandIhavereceivedanuplink.”

“Canyouconnecttotheirteleportstation?”

“Yes,Ihavefullaccesstoits control system. First timeusedorsoitthinks.”

Time for him to think.“Holdthemforabit,”hetoldthecomputer.

Agent Tomas sat back inhis chair and thought. Thechairhewascurrently sittingbackinwasattheICCandhewas thinking about justwhatthisincomingsignalhadtodowith thedisappearanceofhisprisoner,Jon.

Tomas had been at theICC for just over 24 hoursandhehadspentmuchofhis

time restoring the center’scomputer.Itwasinfairlybadshape having been hackedfirstbyJonandthenbyStace,both of whom had done aquick cover-up job beforeleaving. Gonewere the Elliepersona and all traces ofEarthandGilbert.GonewerealltracesofHalandhisvisit.

What remained was aninfrastructure that resembleda perfectly functioning officebuilding that has had various

floors completely rewired byamateur electricians. Sure,everything looks great fromthe outside and works fine,but it’s pretty messy behindthe walls and it could all goup in flames if you overloadit. Tomas knew he had totreadcarefully.

Simon and Lynmaterializedonasofainwhatlooked to be a somewhat

stark, but nicely kept room.Lyn stood up and beganwalkingabouttheroom.

“No door or windows,”shesaid.

“That seems strange,”saidSimon.

“Notforaholdingcell.”“Nicelykept,though.”“Probably surrounded by

poisonous fumes orsomething.”

“You’re just overlyparanoid.”

“Maybe you’re notparanoidenough.”

“No, I’mpretty paranoid,mymomhadmetested.Iwasalsovoted‘mostlikelytobeaparanoidadult’inhighschoolso I can recognize over thetopwhenIseeit.Youknow,it’s actually a symptom ofextreme paranoia to believethat others aren’t paranoidenough.”

“That’s just what theywantyoutothink,”saidLyn.

“Right. Look, are younervous?”

“Notonebit.”“That’s nice. My own

nervousness exists on somanydifferentlevels,Ifindithard to quantify. Where doyouthinkeveryoneis?”

“Oh, they’re watchingandlisteningtous,youknow,checkingusout.”

“They should know whowe are. They invited us.”Simon stood up and in a

loudervoicesaid,“Hello,it’sSimon. You sent us theinstructions to build theteleport and invited us here.Hello, is anyone there?” andin a softer voice to Lyn, “Idon’tthinkanyoneishere.”

Lyn was, of course,correct. They were beingmonitored. “Did you sendteleport instructions toEarth?” Agent Tomas askedtheICCcomputer.

“Not that I’m aware of,

but hey, I don’t rememberlaunching the probes either,”cameitsreply.“Theycameinon a preset code and a basicsignal. Pretty textbook stuff,just like I’d send. This notbeing able to remember isreallystartingtoannoyme.”

“Don’t worry about it somuch. That’s half yourproblem, you’ve got to let itgo.”

“It’s not that easy whenyou know there are a few

days missing. That’s likemissingyearsforahuman.”

Tomas thought about thetwo years he took off aftergraduation to follow theAppreciative Deceased ontheirScrewtheUniversetour.“Believeme, I can relate.” Ithad takena fullyearofgoodbehavior to wash all theevidence of that sabbaticalout of his system before hecould pass the mandatorydrug tests required to enter

the force. As it was, theofficer administering the testjustassumedthehighreadingwasfromthecustomaryfinalbenderbeforejoiningup.

Tomas listened to LynandSimon’sconversationfora while longer and came totheconclusion that therewasnothing new to learn. Simonwas whining and Lyn wasignoring him.He had seen itallbeforeinsecondratesoapoperas. He activated the

intercom.“Hello,” he said,

interrupting the conversation.“Sorrytokeepyouwaiting.Iwasn’t sure what languageyou’dbespeakingandittooka few minutes to load upEnglish.I’llberightin.”

Simon and Lynexchanged glances. Simoncouldn’t help raising oneeyebrow.

WhileTomaswastalking,Simon noticed a small red

light on the far wall behindLyn. It seemed that it onlycame on when he looked inits direction. Then it flashed‘Hi Simon’ followed by‘secret’and‘takeme.’

As Simon stood up, thedoor opened and AgentTomasenteredtheroom.Lynwas surprised to see wherethedoorwas,shewasbettingon an entirely differentlocation. Lyn wasn’t 100%sold on thewhole teleport to

other planets and alienskidnapped my friend storythat Simon was telling, butrecent eventswere beginningtoconvinceher.

“Hello.I’mAgentTomas.I’mcurrentlyinchargeofthisfacility. Could I have yourfullnames,please?”

Lyn and Simon toldAgent Tomas their fullnames. Before entering theteleport, theyhadagreed thatwhen asked, they would

relate the entire story minusthe Jon part until they had agood understanding of whatwaswhatandwhowaswho.

Agent Tomas continued,“Congratulations andwelcome, you have made agreat discovery…” Tomashad memorized the formalgreeting speech for newlydiscovered worlds and wasreciting it verbatim. He hadplannedtopasshimselfoffasregularICCpersonnelandhe

thoughthewasdoingafairlygood job of it until Lyninterrupted.

“Look, sorry,but I’mnotbuying any of it. Yourclothes,manner,posture,lackofenthusiasmall scream lawenforcement, not some glad-to-see-you intergalacticwelcoming committee. Canyou cut to the chase and tellus what’s really going onhere?”

Tomas smiled. While

monitoringSimonandLynhehad almost immediatelyidentified Simon as thescientist, butLynhad calmlysat back waiting forcircumstances to unfold. Hehad categorized her as eitheracoporacriminal.

“Sorry, but I think it’sbest ifyoufolksgofirst,”hesaid, leaning forward.“What’s up, what are youreallydoinghere?”

“You already know all

about us,” Simon said. “Icontactedthecenter,yousentmetheinstructions,Ibuilttheteleportandhereweare.”

“Isthatthetruth?”Tomasasked.

Before Simon couldrespond, the ICC computersaid, “That is the truth,however all indications showthat it is incomplete.Additional components arebeing purposely omitted.”TomascouldseeSimontense

up as he began to pace thefloor.

“Look, I could take yourstoryapartbitbybit,”TomassaidreturninghisattentiontoLyn.“Ihavetechniquesatmydisposal that could probeyourmindsandgivemeyourcomplete history for the pasttwomonths.”

“And let me guess,” saidLyn,“itwouldleaveusbraindeadsoitwouldbebetterforus if we cooperated on our

own.Can’tyoucomeupwithsomething better than thatline?It’soldevenonEarth.”

“No, there’s no paininvolved,youwouldn’tfeelathing and you’d be fineafterwards. It’s just thatforcing people to cooperatetends to undermine theopportunitytobuildatrustingrelationship.”

“But itwas okay for youtotrytotrickusintothinkingyou work here and

everything’s business asusual?”

“Believe itornot,studiesshow that people overcomeresentment towards deceitmuch faster than the use offorce.Ithastodowithalltheforgiving we do in ourpersonalrelationships.”

Lyn thoughtaboutherexand concluded that she was,as usual, in the lowerpercentage.

“Alright,here’sthedeal,”

she said. “We’renot the firstones to use the teleport.Simon’s partner Gilbert usedit a few days ago and neverreturned. Gilbert’s motherhired me to track downSimon and find out whathappened to Gilbert. I cameacross Simon just when hewasabouttoentertheteleportand tagged along.” Shewaitedforthecomputervoiceto say that additionalcomponents were being

omitted.Thesilencemadeherthink that impressiveas it allis, this technology is notinfallible.

“Very interesting,” saidTomas sitting back. “And inthe spirit of full disclosure,I’llgiveyoutheinformationIhave. For a short time, thisfacility was being operatedillegally and I’m afraid yourfriend got tangled up in it. Ibelieve he was teleported toanother locationasa rusefor

us to follow while the realcriminals went to a differentdestination. This operation isunder my jurisdiction whichnowextendstoincludeEarth.I believe I knowwhere yourfriendGilbertis,”Tomaslied,“and will pick him up andreturnhimtoEarthaspartofthisongoing investigation. Inthe meantime, I’m sendingyou twoback toEarthwhereyoucanwait forhis return. Iam cautioning you not to go

to your governmentauthorities at this time sincethat would only furthercomplicate things andpossibly delay Gilbert’sreturn.Anyquestions?”

“What if we need tocontactyou?”Lynasked.

“I’m leaving thiscommunications channelopen. If I’m not here, thecomputer will know how togetintouchwithme.”

“How long will we need

to wait before you find Giland send him back?” askedSimon.

“Aweekatthemost.”After a bit more

conversation,SimonandLynfound themselves back onEarth.

“What a load of crap,”said Lyn. “Too bad that liedetector wasn’t on when hewas talking. Seems therunaround is the same nomatter what planet you’re

from.Fairlyuselesstripotherthan thewhole teleport thingwhichwaskindofneat.”

“Not entirely useless, Igottwogoodthingsoutofit.”

“Great, I could use somepositivenews.”

“First, I got this.” Simonheld up a cell phone sizeddevice. “It kept flashing textmessages at me from acrosstheroomsoIgrabbeditwhenthat Agent Tomas guy wasfocused on you.” Simon

tapped it with his finger.“Hellointhere.”

“No need to tap, Simon,I’mvoiceactivated.MynameisEllie,”saidthedevice.

Simon andLyn exchangeglances.“Wellnow,isn’tthatinteresting,” said Lyn.“What’sthesecondthing?”

“I just noticed that thetime on my watch is off byalmost an hour. I think wewere in a particle state forthatperiodoftime.”

“So?”saidLyn.“We’re not technically

alivewhenwe’reinaparticlestate.”

“Again,so?”“Well, if we weren’t

alive, we must have beendeadforabitandIdistinctlyremember an agreement wemaderightbeforeweenteredthe teleport,” said Simon ashemovedclosertoLyn.

“Don’t even think aboutcollecting on that,” said Lyn

raising her voice and puttingher hand out, stopping theadvancing Simon dead in histracks.

“Okay,whatdid Imiss?”saidEllie.

Agent Tomas sat back inhischair. “Iknow,youdon’thave to tell me, they wereomitting certain componentsfrom their story. Track theirteleportandkeepitavailable,

I’ll probably need to payEarthavisitatsomepoint.”

10.

“Princess Alicia, thank

you for coming. There is anunscheduled teleport comingin on your code. I thought itmightbeanother…friend?”

“You’re quite correct.Releasehimtomycare.”

Jon materialized, lookedabout and saw Alicia.“Hello,”hesaid.

Alicia nodded to theteleport officer, turned andwalkedoutofthestationwithJon and her personal guardsfollowing behind. She didn’t

say a word until she wasalone with Jon in hertransport.

“You were right to callme instead of my sister orfather. They would havearrested you and had youtortured after what happenedlasttimeyouwerehere.

“They’re still upset overthat?”

“You stole my sister’sjewels and disappeared, Jon.That's not something a girl

bouncesrightbackfrom.”“But you’re okay with

it?”“I knew you had asked

hertorunawaywithyouandshe turned you down. I alsoknewyouweretoomuchofascoundrel to stay here andlive the royal life. Quite thestory of star-crossed loversfrom different sides of thegalaxy,” Alicia saidsomewhatwhimsicallybeforecontinuing. “Personally, I’m

moreoftheforgiveandforgettype, more of a lover than ahater. And I bounce backbetter. I’m more bouncy ingeneral.”

Jon took a good look atAlicia. She had certainlymaturedintheyearssincehewas last here. Very bouncyindeed,butheneededtokeepthingsataprofessional level.He knew she had a crush onhimwhen hewas seeing heroldersisterandtookachance

on her clearing him throughsecurity.

“What did you tell thesecurity personnel to get meclearance?”

“Itoldthemyouweremyfather’sspecialfriend.”

“You’vegottobekiddingme.”

“Nope. Isn’t that a hoot?I’veused it a few timesnowand there’s actually a rumorgoing around that one of thebiggest womanizers in the

galaxy has a gay side. It’sdrivinghimcrazy!Talkaboutgettingbackathimforallthetimeshegroundedmeorhadmyboyfriendsshipped to theasteroidmines.”

Jon began to relax as thelimodroveon.“Sowhereareweoffto,darling?”heasked.

“To my suite. I have asmallapartmentinthecity.”

Keep it professional,thought Jon taking anothersidewaysglanceatAlicia.He

knew that a small apartmentfor theroyal familymeansatleast four floors and a blockwide. The limo was justunder half that size. Stayprofessional, he thought, Ineed to maintain aprofessional relationship tomake this work. Orsemiprofessional. What Ireallyneedtodoisdevelopaworking relationship withAlicia.Aworkingandlovingrelationship.

“How long till we getthere, love?” Jon asked,pullingAliciacloser.

“Doesn’t matter, Iinstructed the limo to keepdrivinguntil I tell it tostop.”Alicia put her arms aroundJon’sneck.

Ifasked,Jon’sfriendsandacquaintances will quicklyprovide a list of his manyfailings. Always making thetop five is the fact that heoften thinks with his penis,

and it hasn’t been right inyears, aswell ashis inabilityto determine if he’s bettingwith or against the odds.Depending on who you’respeaking with, you may notevenneedtoraisethesubjecttohearthelist.

“Sotellme,love,where’sthe rest ofyour family?” Jonasked as they ate lunch thefollowingday.

“Well, my mother is inresidence at the palace, myfather and brothers are awayataconference for theweek.You know that after you leftmy father married my sisterofftothefirstprincehecouldfindsonowZitaliveson…,”Jon was only half listening.The important part was thatAlicia’s father and brotherswere off world and not dueback for a bit. Things ran alot smoother and were more

relaxedwhentheyweregone.Though the planet had arulingmonarchy, 99%of thegovernment was run byparliamentary councils. Themonarchy had actually beenabolished decades ago, butafter a while things got dulland predictable so it wasreestablished with the hopethat the royal antics wouldadd some juice to people’sdailyliveswhileaddingsomelocalcolortothetouristtrade.

Now if there was onethingthatJonhated,itwastobejuicy,whichiswhyheleftin the first place. HelpinghimselftoZita’sjewelsonhisway out was just his specialway of being juicy withoutactually getting squeezed.Unfortunately, Zita’s fatherand brothers could not let agood thing pass and jumpedon the bandwagon by givingchase and setting a price onhis head. He needed to be

extracarefulduringthisvisit.“Do you think it may

have aroused suspicions tohave your father’s specialfriendshowupwhenhe’soffplanet?”

“No, he prefers to havehis women friends herewaiting for his return, likehe’s some sort of triumphantwarrior returningfrombattle.Imean, the conference is onbeverage taxes. It’s not likehe’s ever allowed to make

anyimportantdecisions.”Now let’s take a second

and talk about the universe.First, the only intelligent lifediscoveredouttherehasbeenrelatively human. Sometimesthey’re seven feet tall andother times they’re less thanfour feet, but the basicformula stays the same. Factis,therearemorevariantsdueto human science thanMotherNature. For example,therewere agroupofpeople

that wanted wings so theycould fly like birds. Wingsandmusclesweregraftedon,bigger hearts were added topumpmore blood as well asan extra stomach to processmore food for energy. Theylived in the trees andmountains and had a greattime.Sincethereweren’tanychangesmade to their DNA,any children they had wereborn as regular humans.Someconverted,somedidn’t.

Sooner or later the fad diedout. Oh sure, there’s still afew diehard bird people outthere that like to fly, aswellas fish people that like toswimanddogpeoplethatliketo, you know, do it doggiestyle, but in general peoplearepeople.

Asforplanets,well,thereare lots of planets, butstatistically speaking, anextremely small percentagearewhatwewouldcallearth-

like.Still,anextremelysmallpercentage of a veryhumongouslyhugenumberisnothingtoscoffat,butoutofthe millions of Earth-likeplanets an even smallerpercentage are what wewould consider habitable.Some of the planets are toocold, some toohot, some toowet,sometoodry,somehavedinosaurs; youget the idea–notalotofvacationspots.

NowAlicia’shomeworld

turns out to be the perfectgetaway destination. Landmasses spiral across theplanetinaneverendingtwistseparated by crystal clearfresh water, a pair of sunspositionedperfectlythatkeepit bathed at just the righttemperaturefrompoletopolewith just the right amount ofwindatthecoastand,bestofall, hardly any bugs and noland animals so there aren’tany pesky lizards crawling

around or birds crapping onyourcar.

Like many other Earth-like planets, it was void ofany human life whendiscovered. Putting humanson a distant planet requiresthe same two things that ittakestodoalmostanythingintheuniverse;timeandmoney.Time to send a spaceshipthere, and depending on thedistance it could take years,and themoney to finance the

journeyandcolonization. It’snotnecessarytosendalotofpeople, just a few to run theshipanddealwithpiratesandsuch. Teleport stations arepart of the initial cargo andonce they’re set up you canmoveinasmanyfolksasyouneed.Alicia’s ancestorswerethe head of the investmentpool that sent the first shipand bought out most of theother investors during thestart-up phase, then put

themselves in power as thereigningsovereignty.

Overtheyearsmoreshipsarrived, setting up hotelchains across the globe untiltheplanetbecameoneof therichestintheknownuniverse.It also has the best swimsuitcontests and beach side barsin the galaxy as well as acontinuousshowonthetravelchannel.

“Jon,Ineedyourhelp”It’snevergoodwhenone

of the richest people in thegalaxy asks for your help,thought Jon. “I am always atyour service, my dear,” hesaid,asifhehadachoice.

“It’s complicated,”Aliciasaid,“andinvolvesaman.”

Whenisn’t it,hethought.“Letmeguess,youlovehim,buthedoesn’tloveyouorhelovesyou,butyoudon’tlovehim or you both love eachother,butyourfamiliesdon’tapprove.”

“That’s it, the third one.Thoughit’smostlyhisfamilythatdoesn’tapprove.”

“Now what could theypossiblynotlikeaboutyou?”

“Oh, pretty mucheverything. They’re fromBB89.”

“Ahh,thefoglifts.Averyhard working group overthere. I don’t believe theyhave words for ‘fun’ or‘vacation’ or ‘fluffy’ in theirvocabulary. The closest

they’ve got is ‘jobsatisfaction’ and ‘sleep’ and‘flaccid.’ They don’t evenhave enough imagination toname their own planet, theyjust stuck with thedesignation that was beingused when they werediscovered.Howintheworlddidyoutwoevermeet?”

“I was traveling withmother and he was on abusiness trip. We keptbumping into each other in

the strangest places.Oncehecame out of an elevator sofast he crashed into all myshopping bags. Can youimagine?”

“Idon’thaveto.I thinkIsaw that movie a hundredtimes on the late, late, lateshow.”

“I need to get off thisplanet without beingfollowed.Ineedyoutohelp.”

“You must realize thatI’mon the runmyself, that’s

why I needed you to sneakmeinhere.”

“Of course I know that.Now here’s what you don’tknow, I contacted the royalguardandtoldthemwhoyoureally are. They’vesurroundedtheapartment.”

“Nowthat’snowaytogetme tohelp. In fact, that’s theoppositeway.”

“I have a teleport in myapartment.”

Thisnewsdidn’tbrighten

Jon’s day since he hadalready assumed that as amember of the royal familyAlicia would have a teleportin her apartment, but that itwouldbelimitedtoplanetaryuse only. There are strictrules about going off planetwithout prior authorization,and sure, you can bribe aguard or two, but in the endthere’s no way to do itwithout being traced anddetained on the other end.

Sometimes they don’t evenaccept you and you justbouncerightbacktothepointof origin. If they’re reallyfeelingnasty,theycollectyouattheotherendandthenhavea ‘system malfunction’ thatclears the buffer. The onlythingtodoafterthatisforthenext of kin to check for oldbankaccounts.

“I’ve had it modified tohack into the network andsend us off planet,” Alicia

continued. “We should beable togetoneblastoutof itbefore it’s shut down. Afterthat,it’ssettoself-destructiftamperedwith.Ihaven’tusedit yet because I don’t fullytrust the destination codes Iwas given. I know youwouldn’t have come herewithout exit codes you couldtrust.”

Jon thought about it. Hecould see Alicia’s dilemma.It’s very possible to get

someone from the criminalelement to modify theteleport as shedescribed, butyoucan’ttrustacrooksoit’sagoodbetthatthecodestheygaveherwillsendherrighttotheir teleport where they’dhold her for a sizeableransom. You can’t trust acrook, unless of course theirown skin is in the game,which iswhy she alerted theguard. “Okay, show me theteleport.”

“Oh,Jon,don’tbemadatme. Remember, I’m in loveand people in love commitdesperateactions.”

“Astothat,didImentionthatIdidn’tbelieveonewordofyourstory?”

“Notoneword?”“Well, maybe the part

aboutshopping.”“AndIworkedsohardon

it.”“Will you please tell me

what’sgoingon?”

“Later.We need to leavenow, the guards are gettingedgy and they’re planning tostormthebuilding.”

“Did you even call theguard?”

“I sure did, no turningback now. Here, look at thenews broadcast.” Jon lookedat the screen Alicia waspointingat and, sureenough,there was his picture in thecorner and the royalapartment surrounded by

guards, all ready to rush inandcollectthereward.Lookslikehegotjuicyagain.

“Let’sgo,”hesaid.“Oh,don’tbegrumpyjust

because I outsmarted you.”Alicia smiled, “So tell me,love, what’s the plan, wherearewegoing?”

“BB89.”“Is that supposed to be

funny?”

11.If asked, Gilbert would

grudginglyadmitthatthepastfewdaysspentonEllie’sshipwere thehappiestdaysofhislife, at least so far. The shipwas immense, though Ellie

assured him that it wastypical for a cargo ship.Gilbert had wondered abouttheneedforspaceships,whatwith teleport technology andall.

“Teleportation is verylimitedwhenitcomestoverydense materials, such asmetals.” Gilbert was toldwhen he asked Franco, theship’s engineer. “The humanbodydoesn’t contain a lot ofdensematerial;justthebones

and they’re not that densewhen compared to mostmetals so people go througheasyenough.”

It also turns out thatteleportation is a fairlyexpensive thing todo.Simonand Gilbert have beenbopping about on the ICC’snickelandhaven’thadtopay,buttomostfolksteleportationcan be a bit pricey. Evenwhen Gilbert and Simon leftEarth, their homemade

teleportsignalonlysentthemto the orbiting probes whichthenrelayedthemonthroughvia the ICC’s privatenetwork.

Gilbert was spendingmost of his time on Ellie’sship studying the physicsbehind teleportation andfasterthanlighttravel.

“Look,” said Franco,“everything you know iscorrect.You just don’t knoweverything yet. You guys

haven’t gotten to the pointwhere you’ve taken a blackholeapartorfiguredouthowto generate dark matter inyour basement. Let me setyou up with access to theship’s computer and you canreaduponit.”

Once online, Gilbertdidn’t leave his room forseven hours. When he didleave, he had that ‘I can’tbelieve what I just saw’expression on his face. He

stumbled past Ellie whonoticed his bewilderedexpression and just assumedthat he had found the hyper-pornchannel.

Here’s some interestingstuffGilbertlearnedabouttheuniverse. First, as far asanyone can determine, it’sfinite but growing infinitelylarger by the second. Thecrazy thing just keeps onexpanding, though it getspretty funky at the leading

edge. All types ofphenomenon happening outtherethatnobodywantstogetup close and personal with.Some probes were sent out,but time and space got soscrewy that they neverreached the end. They didsend back enough data forscientist to discover that theuniverse just createsmore ofitself as it expands in alldirections with nothingslowing it down. The best

description they can givebreaks it down to normalspace, then a kind of mixedbuffer zone, followedimmediately by wacky town– kind of like driving intoVegas. Here’s somethingGilbert learned about humannature: even with thisunderstandingoftheuniverseand the verified existence ofthe human soul,most peoplestill care more about whatgoes on during life than

beforeorafter.Gilbert also spent time

trying to locate Earth usingthe ships navigation systemwith the hope that Jon hadsent him here because Elliewas close to Earth and shecould possibly swing by anddrop him off.He askedEllieaboutthepossibility.

“Since you were able toteleportoffyourplanet,”saidEllie, “it must be on theuniversal grid, meaning they

had detected life therealready, butweren’t ready tomake contact due to yourlower than averageintelligence.”

“Now you’re just beingabusive,”saidGilbert.

“That’s half the fun oftalkingwithyou,”saidEllie.

“Yeah?”saidGilbertwitha smile. “What’s the otherhalf?”

“Downboy,stayfocused.Can you describe your

galaxy?”sheasked.“Sure, it’s spiral, about

100,000 light years across,maybe13.4billionyearsold,moving at about 630 km persecond, around 300 billionstars in it. It has a binarycomponent and they’regrouped with about 50 othergalaxies.”

“Prettytypicalstuff.”“Alright, let’s see, there

are tworealgaseousgalaxiesalongside it with a hydrogen

vaporstreamconnectingthemthat warps my galaxy as itpasses through. And it willcollidewith itsbinarygalaxyin about three billion years.Myplanetarysystemisontheouter rim, yellow sun, Earthisthirdofeightorsoplanets,dependingonhowyoucountplanets.”

“Okay, let’s seewhatwecancomeupwith.Computer,seeifyoucanfindthegalaxyand star system we’re

discussing.”“Sure thing,” said the

ship’scomputer.“Justsoyouknow, that descriptiondoesn’t match the galaxywere in right now, so it’sanywherefromacoupledaystomonthsoryearsaway.”

“Keep trying,” said Ellie.“Just don’t crash intoanything while you’relooking.”

“Will do. I’ll get back toyouinaminuteorso.”

“So it’s probably out oftheway?”askedGilbert.

Ellie thought about it,“Yeah, well, don’t worry, ifit’s close by we can try toworkitintotheflightplan.”

“Found it,” said thecomputer. “A week away atour standard cruisingvelocity.”

“Whichdirection?” askedEllie.

“Left. And a bitdownward.”

“So too far away?”Gilbert said somewhathopefully.

“I’ll need to see if I canlineupanyworkthattakesusthatway,”saidEllie.“Nottoomuchgoingonover thereonthe left and I need to finishthis jobfirstsowe’reaweekorsoawayofevenstartingtoget there. Jon will probablybe in touch with teleportcodes long before that. Whydon’t you just hang on here

for a bit and see whathappens.”

“Great. Fantastic,” saidGilbert as if his wildestdreamsjustcametrue.

“Just go to the cargo bayand help Holt prepare forunloading.” Holt was Ellie’sall purpose crewman andmost things that requiredmanuallaborfelltohim.

“Aye-aye, Captain.” AndGilbert was off like a boygoingtohisfirstcircus.

“Hey, boss, what’sshakin’ between you and thenewbie?” Talia, the ship’stactical officer, had caughtthe last bit of the exchangebetween Gilbert and Ellie.ShewasthesecurityElliehadmentioned earlier, an expertat hand to hand combatwithalltherightimplants.

“I think he’s got a crushon me. He has that lovestruck look on his face thatmakesyouwanttopunchhim

inthemouth.”“Anything I can do to

help?”“Yeah, go over there and

punchhiminthemouth.”“Yougotit.”“Hold on, don’t punch

himinthemouth.”“Gutthen?”“No.”“Kneehiminthegroin?”“Definitely not, I might

need that later. Just forget Isaidanything.”

“Cando.”Ellie could tell from the

blank look on Talia’s facethat she just erased the pastthirty seconds from hermemory. “Hey, boss, what’sshakin’ between you and thenewbie?”shesaid.

They arrived at themining camp right onschedule. Ellie’s chief job ascaptain was to see that the

cargo hold was never emptysotheplanwastooffloadthemining equipment and pickupaloadoforeandtransportit to a nearby manufacturingworld where she wasscheduledtopickuphernextload.Most residentialplanetshavesetupastructurewherethey have moved all of theirenvironmentally unfriendlyactivities off world. Rawmaterials are mined on bigasteroids or non-populated

planetswherenoonegivesarat’s ass on how they’recollected. Manufacturing isdoneonaplanet thatalreadyhasa toxicatmosphere sonoone cares about emissionsand the finished goods areshipped to wherever they’reneeded with no harm done.Thiswaytheenvironmentsofpopulated planets are keptrelatively pollution free andsafe for the people livingthere,mostlyaccountantsand

marketingfolks.The mining equipment

was offloaded and the orewas stored away without ahitch.Aswithmostlegitimatebusiness transactions,payment was automatic andhandled through financialcomputer systems. Ellieoperatedinacashonlymodefor special cargo, which isone of the reasons Talia isalong. So while Ellie was atthe frontof the shipworking

with the mining manager asthey both supervised theirrespective part of theunloading and loading, Taliawaitedat thebackdoor foraknock followed by theuniversal query, “Hey, man,yougotthestuff?”

Ittookalmostsixhourstounload and reload the shipand then they were on theirway. That was the problemwith the mining runs, shoreleaveisaboutasappealingas

a toothache. You might aswell pack it up and head outto the next stop since thesooner you finish, the sooneryou can relax on a beachsomewhere. They were juststarting to unwind when theshipbegantorockasifitwasunder cannon fire. Elliejumpedtoherfeet.

“Computer, what thehell’sgoingon?”

“We’re under fire,Captain,” replied the ship’s

computer.“Talia,Ineedyoutotake

over tactical now!” Talia raninto the bridge and slid intothe tactical control chair.“What the hell is going on?”Elliescreamed.

“A ship just came out ofnowhere and started firing atus,”repliedTalia.

“What did they hit?”askedEllie.

“Remember when theshieldarraywasrupturedand

we put on that big old fakeone so folkswould thinkwestill had defensive systems?”saidTalia.

“Ofcourse,”saidEllie.“Well, they shot that to

hell.”“That’sgood,right?”said

Gilbert, “Now we can justturn on the real one.” Elliegave him a sideways glance.“No,don’t tellmeyouneverhaditrepaired!”

“Repairs are expensive,”

she started, but wasinterrupted by more cannonfire.

“Theregothefakeguns,”saidTalia.

“See that,” said Ellie, “itwould have been moneywasted if I had paid to haveanyofthatfixed.”

“What do these guyswant? Are they after yourship? Your cargo?” Gilbertasked.

“Maybe, I guess they’re

worth something to a pirate,but this is pretty far outsidewhat they usually go after.It’s hard to make a quickgetawaywhenyou’reflyingasmall mountain of iron ore.Equallyhardtofence.”

“Communication comingin, Captain,” said the ship’scomputer

“Put it on screen,” saidEllie.

A man’s head appearedon the nearest view screen.

“Hello,Ellie.”“PJ,yourat,whatthehell

areyoudoing?”saidEllie.“You know this guy?”

GilbertleanedoverandaskedFrancoinaquietvoice.

“Weworkthissectoralotand PJ is a freighter captainwith the emphasis onsmuggling. Not a big leapfrom smuggler to pirate, Iguess,”saidFranco.

“Hey, let’s not getpersonal,”saidEllie,overher

shoulder.“Please, you’re about as

muchacrookassomeonethattakes office supplies homewiththem.”saidFranco.“Bythe way, you’re out ofstaples.”

“Calmdown,” saidPJ. “Ijust cleared some junkoffofyourship,noharmdone. It’snot like you were foolinganyone with that stuff. Nowhit thebrakesorI’lldosomerealdamage.”

“Full stop,” said Ellie,then turning back to thescreen, “What do you want,PJ?”

“I want your cargo,Ellie.”

“Where are you going toput it?” asked Ellie. “Fromhere it looks like you’reflying a set of engines withcannons attached. What areyougoingtodo,strapitontotheroof?”

“Let me worry about

that,” said PJ. “You worryabout me. If I detect anypowergoingtothoseengines,I open fire on them,understood? Now we can dothis thehardwayor theeasyway and believe me, when Isay the hard way, I mean itwill only be hard on one ofus.Andbyoneofus,Imeanyourass.”

“Givemeasecondtotalkthisoverwithmycrew.”

“Sure, take a minute. I’ll

be preparing my boardingparty. The longer you take,the more robots I add. Likeyou, I’m strapped for cashand can’t afford therapy forthem so they’ll be workingouttheiraggressionissuesonyourcrew.”

“Okay, folks,huddleup,”said Ellie. “Any thoughts onwhatthehell’sgoingon?”

“I’mthinkingthatwejustdon’t have ore in the hold,”saidFranco.“Theymusthave

found something else on thatrock and slipped it in on us.I’m not sure, but it lookedlike one of the guys in thebackground was holding aphase-shiftdetector.”

“Thatmeansit’sprobablysomething small enough sothese guys can do a smashand grab,” said Talia. “Howwelldoyouknowthisguy?Ishe the humane type thatwouldbesatisfiedtowipeourmemory and leave us

wonderingwhat happened oris he more the hurry up andgo,justblasteverythingtype?

“Let’s not put him to thetest,” said Ellie. “I meanhonestly,lookathim,youcantell he doesn’t test well.Alright, everybody getready.”

“Ready for what?” askedGilbert. He was ignored asTalia and Franco returned totheirstations.

“Hey, PJ, here’s a

thought,” said Ellie. “Whydon’tyoujustpayme,Idon’tknow, say five thousand andyou can come over here andtake whatever the hell youwant,” Ellie recognized PJ’ssmirk and quickly added,“from the cargo bay.”Unbelievable, she thought,eveninsituationslikethese…

“Sorry, kid,” said PJ,“you know the first rule ofbusiness; never pay for whatyoucanget free.Readyyour

airlockformyboardingparty,unless you got some kind ofsecretweapon,thenIsuggestyou use it now.” Lots ofbackgroundlaughter,thesignof a well trained crew,knowing to laugh when theboss makes a funny. Eitherthatorabunchofidiots.

“Youheardtheman,letitrip,” said Ellie nodding toTalia.Theshipgaveasingle,violentshudder.“Nowgetusthe hell out of here. Execute

escapecoursedelta.”“I think escape course

gammawouldbebetter,”saidFranco.

“Just pick one!” wasEllie’sagitatedresponse.

12.“What exactly are you?”

Simonasked.HeandLynhadreturnedtohisapartment.

“Remember the maincomputer at the ICC thatAgent Tomas was using toverify your story? Well, I’man aspect of that computerfromanearlierpointintime.”

“And your name isEllie?”askedLyn.

“That’sright,kiddo.”“Whenexactlywhereyou

created?”askedSimon.“Shortly before Gilbert

lefttheICC.Weweremakingdefenseplansandhe thoughtitwouldbebest ifwe set upan independent aspect towatch out for you. Gilbertknewyouwould followafterhimandwanted to leaveyouaprivatemessage.”

“And you have no ideawhere he is now?” Simon

asked.“Nope.”“OrwhereJon is?”asked

Lyn.“Not really,” said the

small device named Ellie.“Though he did surface ashort time ago, but then hedisappeared again. Jon wasjust featured in anentertainment news segment.Seemsthatheranoffwiththeyoungest daughter of theBurdast royal family. Simon,

ImusttellyouthatJonisnotwhatheseems.”

“Good,” said Simon,“because he seems like anarrogant, self-righteous assthat would sell his soul tosavehisskin.”

“Why am I the only onethat didn’t get that?” Elliesaid.

“Because, darling,” saidLyn, “You’re just too nice aperson.”

“That’s nice of you to

say, Lyn. When thecomputers take over theuniverse,youwillbespared.”

“What did she say?”askedLyn.

“I’ll explain later,” saidSimon. “What else did thestorysay?”

“Thathehotwireda localteleport for places unknownmoments before capture bythe imperial guard and thepair hasn’t been seen since.When they tried to get the

destination codes off theteleport, it transported 5,000gallonsofwaterintotheroomandthendestroyeditself.”

“Damn,thatguy’sgood,”saidSimon.

“Sure,butwheredoesthatleaveus? I don’t thinkwe’regoingtobeabletoinvestigatethat crime scene,” said Lyn.“And our new buddy AgentTomas is probably alreadythere. I thought somethingwas up. I distinctly got the

feeling he was trying to getrid of us.” She thought for asecond or two before saying,“Usually in situations likethis my next move is tointerview knownacquaintances or investigatelastknownaddresses.”

“I have a listing of Jon’sfavoritehauntsandhideouts,”saidEllie.

“Where did you get thatfrom?”askedLyn.

“Agent Tomas was nice

enough to bring some ofJon’s files along and I wasabletohackintothem.”

“Nicely done,”commentedSimon.“Showuswhatyougot.”

SimonandLynwereonlymildly surprised when athree-dimensional imageengulfed a third of the roomand began displayingstatistical data and thenswitching to video of thelocations. They were

becoming accustomed to theunusual, which was goodsince that was the directionthey were heading. Theyevaluatedall the information,butintheendtheydecidedtofollowLyn’sgutfeel.

“That one,” she said.“I’vefollowedenoughmentoknow that that’s the type ofplacetheylike togotowhenthey’relyinglow.”

“Okay, now how do wegettherewithoutbeingtraced

backtoEarth?”saidSimon.“Leave that to me,” said

Ellie. “One of the things Jondid when setting me up wasseparatealittlebitoftheICCfacility from its maincomputer. We’ve got aprivate, untraceable teleportstationatourdisposal,freeofcharge.”

“Wow, this is one ofmychildhood dreams comingtrue,”saidSimon.

“Gee,nextwe’llseeifwe

can make you invisible in agirl’s locker room. Thatshould cap it for you,”quippedLyn.

Lyn and Simon appearedin a large room with a glassdome.

“Doesn’t the ICCcomputerknowwe’reback?”Simonasked.

“No, it doesn’t have anyidea at all. They really

underestimated Jon byleaving him alone here. Thewayhe took this place apart,theman’sanartist.Thissuiteof rooms is now separatefrom the ICC, as far as themaincomputer’sconcerned.”

“But if he removed itfrom the ICC computer’smemory, how is it stillfunctional?”askedSimon.

“It’s like the toenail onyourlittle toe.Youknowit’stherebecauseitwastherethe

last time you looked at yourfoot, but you’re wearingshoesnowandcan’tseeyourtoes soyou just assumeyourtoenail is there doingwhatever it’s supposed todo.”

“Okay,sure.”saidSimon.“No,wait,it’snotokay.Whatthe hell are you talkingabout?”

“Your brain keeps bloodflowing to your toes, buttypically ignores themunless

you stub one while walking.The ICC will keep theseroomsfunctionalandnotpayany attention to what we dounlessweblowahole in thewallorsomethinglikethat.Itwas very subtleprogramming.”

“I’m sorry, darling, but Ifound a flaw in youranalogy,” said Lyn pointingdown. “I’m wearing opentoedshoes.”

Lyn and Simon changed

into the clothing Ellie hadprovided and receivedimplants for translation aswell as to enable them toreceive directcommunications from Elliewithoutaudiblesound.

“What about weapons?”Lynasked.

“I’ve got you covered,”Ellie replied. “I’ve gotenough firepower to blast ahole through almostanything.”

“Are you limited by anyrules that prohibit the use offorceagainsthumanbeings?”Simonasked.

“Are you kidding?Where’dyougetacrazyidealikethat?I’mastraightpointand click device. Point mestraightatwhateveryouwantgone and click the button.Bam.”

“So no stun setting?”askedSimon.

“Sure, I can stun, but

that’s just asking for troubledown the road. Take out thegarbage once and for all,that’swhatIsay.”

“Now everyone enjoyskilling bad people,” beganLyn, “but sometimes youneedthemagainlateron.Justletusdecide,okay?”

“Alright, but don’t getmad atmewhen I say I toldyouso.”

“You’reaprettypowerfullittle gizmo. Does everyone

haveone?”askedSimon.“Most people that live or

work in a modernenvironment have some typeof device, but they onlyperform mundane tasks likemanaging their calendar,messaging, entertainment,translationandotherbusinessspecifictasks.Somearesmallenough to be implanted, butthey can be limited. I’mgovernment issueandcandoa lotmore.Noteveryonehas

accesstosomethinglikeme.”“Jonhasone,right?”“Sure,hehackedopenthe

weaponslockerfirstdayhereand helped himself towhateverhewanted.”

“Soundsaboutright,”saidSimon. “Now tell us moreabout this place we’re goingto.”

“We’ll be traveling to aprivate establishment locatedin the middle of one of themore popular sectors in the

universe called the Dahanaspace station. For whateverreason, there ended up beingalotofhabitableplanetsovertherewhichinturngenerateda fair amount of commerceand that created intergalactictrade routes for cargo ships.Dahana started off as a restand repair station, but it’sevolved to resemblesomething more like a largecity. There’s no real lawthere, just a security force

that stops folks fromsmashing up the place andeach other. The moreexpensiveplaceyou’rein,themore security they have andthesaferyouare.”

“And the place we’regoingto?”askedSimon.

“Middle of the road. Noworries. Take a look,” saidEllie and a projection of thestationappeared in the room.“This is how it looks fromspace,” the station rotated in

front of them and then itswitched to an internal view,“and these are some of themore popular walkways.Automated transportationsystemsarecontrolledby thestation’s main computer, butwe’llbeavoiding thosesincethey can double as holdingcells if the station computerdecidesitdoesn’tlikeyou.”

“Isitmeordoyougettheimpression that the architectswere on some very serious

medication when theydesigned this place,” askedLyn.

“Now I know what acasino would look like if itcrashed into an airport andshoppingmall,”saidSimon.

“It started off as a smalldocking station,” explainedEllie, “and has beencontinuallyadded toover thepastfiveorsohundredyears.Aesthetics usually doesn’tcomeintoplay.It’smoreofa

form following function typeofthing.”

“And you’ve greased theskids at the teleport?” askedLyn.

“Yup, there will be norecord of us coming orgoing.”

“Alright,let’sgettoit.”Ashortwhilelater,Simon

and Lyn stepped off of theteleport station and quicklyexited the incoming area,joining the rest of the crowd

at street level. They took aminutetolookaroundandgettheir bearings and thenproceeded to a food eaterywhere they took a booth andgot lunch. They had goneover the floor plan of thegeneral area and had pickedthisspotinadvancebasedonEllie’s recommendation. Shehad also provided a list offoodsforthemtotry.

Aftereating,theycheckedinto a hotel frequented by

Jon. Their plan consisted ofvisiting Jon’s favorite spotswhileEllieattemptedtohackinto the establishment’scomputer to see if he’s beenaround recently. Lynexplained that this iswhat isknown as leg work in theinvestigationbusiness.Simondidn’t argue,he’s seenLyn’slegsandwhatevershe’sbeendoing,it’sbeenworking.

They spent the afternoonchecking out a handful of

different places with noresults. After dinner theywent to a lounge thatwas inthelowerrentpartoftown.

“Hello, I’m gettingsomething interesting here,”saidEllie.

“Something about Jon?”askedSimon.“Ishehere?”

“Seethosetwoguysatthetableoverthere?”askedEllie.

“Yes,” said Simon andLyn as they casually glancedinthatgeneraldirection.

“Well, for starters,beforetheysatdown,theoneontheleft scanned the area forlisteningdevices.Nowhehasa sound deadener runningwhich is supposed to stoptheir voices from travelingpast a two foot radius.Naturally,havingallthatgeargotmeinterested.”

“Naturally,” agreed Lyn,nodding.

“Icanhearbitsandpiecesand I’m lip reading to fill in

the gaps and it turns outthey’re talking about Jon’ssister. You’ll never guesswhatIlearned.”

“What?” said Lyn andSimon,simultaneously.

“HernameisEllie,too.”“Okay…”saidSimon.“I get it,” said Lyn.

“Look,Simon,oneofthefirstthings I learned as a privateinvestigator is that there arenocoincidences.”

“Sorry, but the law of

probability says that sooneror later there will be acoincidence,”saidSimon.

“Okay, sure,” said Lyn,“butwhenyouapply it to aninvestigationtheoddsagainstit being a coincidencebecomesalmostimpossibletocalculate.Watch,I’llproveit.Ellie,whonamedyou?”

“Jon.”“You see,” saidLyn, “by

naming her after his sisterEllie, Jon was leaving us a

clue.”“I don’t think Jon was

leaving us a clue,” saidSimon. “Jon set Ellie up totakecareofGilandheboobytrapped the teleport so Icouldn’t follow. If anything,Jon was setting Gil up torecognizethenameEllie.”

“Hmm, you may just beonto something there,” saidLyn.“Thatcouldbewherehesent Gilbert. All the morereasontotrytofindhissister

Ellie. How do you knowthey’re talking about Jon’ssister?”

“Theywere talking aboutJon kidnapping the daughterof theBurdast royal family,”said Ellie, “and they werewondering if it had anythingtodowiththerun-intheyhadwithhissister.They’retryingtofindaconnection,buttheycan’tcomeupwithone.”

“So they think it’s acoincidence?”askedSimon,a

littletooeagerly.“Here’s a coincidence for

you,” said Lyn. “It’s acoincidence that your facelookslikeamonkey’sbutt.”

“Now children, playnice,”interruptedEllie.

“What else are theysaying?”askedLyn.

“Jon’ssisteristhecaptainof a spaceship, a freighter.Theguyon the lefthired theguy on the right to stealsomethingthatshehadinher

cargo bay. He was planningto go in with guns blazingandgrabit,butshehadsometypeofweapononboardthatdisabledhisshipandknockedouthimandhiscrew.Shegotaway and they limped backhereforrepairs.”

“Tough girl, I like heralready,”saidLyn.

“Anyideawhattheyweretryingtosteal?”askedSimon.

“NoandI’mbeginningtosuspectthatElliedidn’tknow

whatshewascarryingeither.They’re talking about howthe attempt to raid the shipmust have made her realizethathercargohad somethingspecial in with it. Our spacepirate here is going to try tofind her and get this, ‘nomoreMr.NiceGuy’hesays.Now they’re arguing overmoneyandnowthey’redone.Quick Lyn, you and I mustfollowhimtohisship.”

“See you back at the

room,”Lyn said toSimonasshe got up and left. Lynfollowed PJ to the dockingsectionofthecity.

“All we need to do isidentifyhisshipandthedocknumber,” Ellie said to Lyn.“Then I can hack into themastercomputerandsetupatrackingsignal.”

“You’reverygoodatthatsortofthing,”remarkedLyn.

“The ICC is designed toout think anything

imaginable. I have some ofthe strongest encryptionbreakingalgorithmsknowntomanormachinestoredinsideme. Most of the securitywe’ve come up against isdesigned to keep out theaverage hacker and I am sofar above the average hackerthat I’dhave to fall off a tenthousandfootcliff just togettheminmysights.”

“Now don’t take thispersonal,” said Lyn, “but if

you’resogood,howwereJonandthosemobstersabletogetunderyourskin?”

“Iknow,thatdidn’tmakeme look very good,” saidEllie, “but remember, Jonwas stationedat the ICCandhe had a certain level ofclearance to start with. Aswith most systems, I’mdesigned to keep people outand Jon started pretty far in.And by the way, Jon’s amaster programmer which is

whatgothimintroubleinthefirst place. By the time themob showed up,my systemswere already compromisedand it was just a matter oftimebefore theycouldfindaway in. Don’t worry, I’m ingoodenoughshape tohandlethis.”

“Ihopeso,”saidLyn.“I just implanted aworm

in his ship’s computer. Let’sgetbacktotheroom.”

Lyn was surprised to see

Simon on the causeway. Forsome reason, she hadexpected him to headimmediatelybacktotheroomaftertheyhadsplitup.

“Are you kidding?” saidSimon to Lyn’s query. “I’mon a space station in adifferent galaxy with anunlimitedcreditcard.NowayI’m sitting in the room,waitingforyouguystoshowup. I was just hanging outwith a freighter crew from

Orionandthenwe’remeetingup later tonight at a placecalled the FunnelHead.Youin?”

13.

“Hey, boss, our boy justpoppedbackuponthegrid.”

“You got a handle onhim?”

“No, he disappeared asquicklyasheshowedup,buthe has a high profile tag-alongwithhimnowthatwillslow him down, probablycause him to get sloppy. It’sjust a matter of time till wepickthemup.”

“Stayonit.”If nothing else, mobsters

werepersistent.Jonwaswellaware of this fact and knewheneededtostaybelowtheirradar. He briefly thoughtabout going to his sister’sship,butsheprobablyhadherhands full with Gilbert andtwo more additions wouldlikely put her over the edge.So it was with muchtrepidation and very littlefanfare that he and Aliciastepped off the teleport andintoSimonandGilbert’slab.

“Where are we?” askedAlicia.

“Oh,we’reonanicelittleworldcalledEarth,”saidJon.

“Neverheardofit.”“That’sbecauseit’sbrand

new.Ijustdiscovereditafewweeksago.”

“Anyoneelsehere?”“Closetosevenbillion.”“Too bad, I wanted you

alltomyself.”“Don’t worry, there’s

enoughofmetogoaround.”

“That’s what I’m afraidof.”Alicia looked at the lab.“Seemssmall.”

Jon knewwhere thiswasheading, “We need to beinconspicuous while we’rehere. There’s always thechance that someone elsemight showup andwedon’twant tomake it too easy forthemtofindus,dowe?”

“Isupposenot.”“That’smygirl.”“I suppose it’s too much

to assume you had a coachwaiting?”

“Atinybit,butacarisontheway.”

The night was warm andit was a short ride to thehotel. Alicia had resignedherself to the fact that theywouldbe slumming it. “Howlong do we have to stayhere?”sheasked.

“I’m not sure yet,” saidJon. “I need to do somepoking around just to see

what’s up in the real world.You can kill some time bytelling me why it was soimportantforyoutogetawaywithout anyone knowingwhere you were going. YoucanmakeupmorestoriesandI’ll rate them on a scale ofonetoten.”

“Really,youwanttostartrating things?” she gave Jonthat universal ‘believe me,you don’t want to go there’look.

“Maybelater,then.Butatsomepointwe’ll need to putallourcardsonthetable.”

“Hey, look,” said Aliciaas she pointed at some hotelart hanging on the wall. “Ifound this screen with apictureon it.HowdoIget ittoprojectintotheroom?”

Thisisgoingtobealongtrip,Jonthoughttohimself.

Agent Tomas

materializedonAlicia’shomeworld and was met by theking’sassistant,Jamal.AgentTomas had sent word aheadand was expected. He hadalready downloaded andreviewed all the securityvideos for the period inquestion. None of themshowed Jon’s arrival ordeparture.

“What do you think?” hehad asked the ICC computerbeforeleaving.

“Nicebitofwork,nothinginthevideopointsdirectlytotampering. If they’ve beendoctored, it was done by aprofessional.”

“Strange that there aren’tany recordsof Jon’sarrival,”hesaidtoJamal.

“We’re still looking intothat.We suspect he came byship since there are dozensarriving every day, bothtourist and freight.” Tomasthought thatwas a dead end.

Jon had a history here andprobably got help from theinside. Tomas kept hisopinion to himself, hestrongly doubted that theywere actually checking onanything.Herequestedeithertospeakwiththesovereignorbe taken to what was left oftheteleportroomsohecouldbegin his investigation. Hewas in luck, both weretogether.

“I should caution you,”

said Jamal as they walkedalong thecorridor.“Thekingis in a foul mood, you seehe’shadadreamthatforetellsominoustidings.”

“You’re kidding, right?”saidTomas.

“Not at all. The king’sdreams are considered to bewarningsofthingstocome.”

“Exactly what did thekingdream?”

“He dreamt that he wassleeping,”beganJamal.

“He dreamed he wasasleep?Comeon,evenIhavebetter dreams than that andI’m considered dull andboring.”

“He dreamt that he wassleeping,” continued Jamal,“inalargeexpansewithwildanimalsroamingtheplains.”

“Better, still not anythingtobethatproudof.”

“Four great beasts brokefrom theherdandcircledhisbed four times. Then the

greatest of the four beaststrampleddowntheotherthreeand climbed into the bed,pulling on the sheets andexposingtheking’stoes.”

“That’sit?”“Yup.”“The one that got in the

bed, was it all weird? Did ithavebreastsorapenis?”

“I imagine it wasanatomically correct for itsspeciesandgender.”

“I’m mean human parts.

Youknow,didithavethetoppart of a woman or thebottompartofaguyorsomecombinationthereof.”

“No. Itwas justa regularanimal.”

“Comeon!That’snothingtogetallexcitedabout.”

“You don’t understand.You see, the king has weirdsex dreams all the time. Infact,he’sundercontractwithamajormovie company thatuses his dreams as the basis

for most of their hyper-pornfeatures.He’saverycreativeman,atrueartist.That’swhyhisnon-sexdreamsaresuchabigdeal.”

“And people are actuallytrying to interpret thisdream?”

“Oh yes, the king has astaff of psychologists andmystics analyzing it at thisverymoment.”

“Psychologists andmystics?

“The king likes to coverallhisbases.”

Tomas and Jamal arrivedat the teleport station as theking was giving finalinstructions to the palaceteam investigating hisdaughter’sdisappearance.

“I want to know exactlywhere they went,” he wassaying.“Andletmebeclear,ifyoudonotfindthelocationofmydaughteryournextjobwillputyou indirectcontact

with raw sewerage. Do youunderstand?”

“Yes,Sire.”“Justtobeextraclear,by

‘nextjob’Imeanhungupsidedown and dipped into.Believe me, you don’t wantthat on your résumé.” Theking noticed Agent Tomas.Heturnedandsaid,“Whothehell are you and why do Icare?”

Jamal answered, “This isAgent Tomas and he is

investigatingthiscasefortheFedCouncil.”

“Okay, so you’re apoliceman. Big deal, got lotsof them here. What are yougoingtodothattheycan’t?”

Tomas knew he had tocome off tough here or theking would eat him forsupper.

“I’ve had the suspectunder surveillance prior tothis for his involvement inother crimes and that gives

me jurisdiction over all localproceedings. This planet is amember of the FederalCouncil and you mustrecognize my authority. Thisismycaseandyourmennowreporttome.”

“So you were watchingthisguyandyouallowedhimto come here and kidnapmydaughter?”askedtheking.

“I have reason to believethat this was not akidnapping,” said Agent

Tomas.“Hownice for you,” said

the king. “We, on the otherhand, do believe this to be akidnapping. Let me tell youwhatIthinkisgoingon-youscrewed up, let this guy getaway and now you’re tryingto get him back withoutletting too many folks knowexactlyhowincompetentyoureallyare.Look,you’rehere,nothing I can do about that,but you’re not in charge of

anything.Youcanfollowmyguys around and play thehomeeditionofthegame,butthat’s it. Everyoneunderstand?” Everyone therenoddedexceptforTomasandthekinglefttheroom

“Quite the character,”said Tomas, wondering whatwould have happened if hehadtriedtoreasonwithhim.

“That’s part of his jobdescription,”saidJamal.

“I’ll just look around a

bit,ifyoudon’tmind.”“Be my guest. We’ve

alreadytakenthisroomapart.Nothing new to be learnedhere.”

Tomas looked over theteleport. True, it wasdamaged beyond repair andthere was no way to obtainthe destination codes. Theteleportsignalitselfcontaineda program layer thatmade itinvisible once it joined therest of the network traffic.

Themonitorssawit flashforananosecondandthenitwasgone.

Tomasspentabitoftimeanalyzingtheequipmentusedto modify the teleport.Interesting stuff, he thought.Not like Jon at all. Jon’s asoftwareguyandwouldhavehackedintoateleportalreadysetuptogooffworldinsteadofhotwiringthisone.Nothisstyleatall.

Agent Tomas had seen

enough.Forwhateverreason,a cover-upwas in full swingandJonwasbeing labeledasa kidnapper. So be it. Hemightevenbeabletousethatto his advantage later on.Hecamehere rightawayhopingthe trail was hot, but hewasn’t fast enough. He’dbeen to the ICC, now heneeded to go to the otherlocationthatinvolvedJon.HeneededtogotoEarth.

Tomas returned to the

ICC,loadedupwiththelatestin Earth pop culture as wellas thehighpointsof thepast100 years. He had the ICCcomputerissuehimadriver’slicenseandafewcreditcards.As it had donewith Jon, theICCcomputerhackedintothecorresponding Earthcomputers and added Tomasinto all the databases soeverything was legit. That isuntilthefirstmonth’sbillsgounpaid.

The ICC computerreported that the lab wasunoccupiedandAgentTomasteleported to Earth.He spenttime searching the lab, butfoundnothingof interest.Hehadanaggingfeeling thathewas missing somethingobvious. He left through thebackdoorandreenteredfromthe front. He hoped thatunderpaying security guardswasauniversaltruth.

“Hello. I’m here to see

thegentlemeninsuite51,”hesaid.

The guard checked theregister. “I’m afraid they’renotin.”

Agent Tomas took atwentyoutofhiswallet,“Canyoutellmehowlongthey’vebeen leasing space here?” heasked.

“Just over amonth,” saidthe guard, accepting themoney.

“Thanks,”saidTomas.He

walked away feelingmore atease. He had just discoveredthe obvious something thatwas missing in the lab -clutter. This wasn’t theirregular lab. There weren’tany calendars or pictures,nothing that gave it thatslobbered in look. And theteleport system itself waspretty standard, nothing outof the ordinary that gave it‘that Jon was here’ look.Certainly no water damage

likethelastonehesaw.It was early evening as

Agent Tomas checked intohis hotel room. Like Jon, hehad his multipurpose, smartphone-like device with himand could access practicallyevery computer network onEarth. It didn’t take long forhim to pull upSimon’s bankaccountanddiscovertherentpayments for their originallab and a bit more diggingprovided him with the

address.The next morning found

Agent Tomas at the locationof Simon and Gilbert’soriginal lab. No need toarouse suspicion by going inthe front door, it was easyenough to interrupt thevideofeed for a minute or twowhile he slipped in the back.Locked doors didn’t posemuch of a problem, Tomas’device sent outelectromagnetic fields that

made lock tumblers tumbleand pulled back dead bolts.Onceinside,Tomasknewthiswastherealdeal.Allthejunkyou would expect to make aplace looked lived in plus ateleport in the back. It didn’ttakehimlongtodiscover theloop back circuit from theemitters that would fry thecontrol consol, theunmistakable ‘Jon was here’signature. Hemade amentalnote to open the doors and

windows before trying toaccessthesystem,justincasehe needed to move a largeamountofwaterinahurry.

He took out his device,display screens appeared andhebeganthehackingprocess.It tookhim thebetter part oftheday toget through it, butthroughithegotandwithoutthe need to go snorkeling.This was the station Gilbertand Jon both used and moreimportantly, he discovered

thatJonwasbackonEarth.

14.

“Anyone want to tell me

what just happened?”Gilbertasked. “Didwe reallyhave a

secret weapon? That is socool. We didn’t kill thoseguys,didwe?”

“Probably should’ve, butwe didn’t,” answered Ellie“It’sadefensiveweapon,notdesignedtokill.We’dhavetomake another pass and blastthemwith our cannons ifwewantedtokillthem.”

“If we had cannons,”addedFranco.

“Oracaptainwithballs,”mutteredTalia.

“Enough,okay?I’mnotakiller, we all know that.That’swhyIhiredyou,”Elliesaid pointing to Talia, “andthat’s why I don’t havecannons.”

“I can understand andrespect that, but why don’tyou have shields?” askedGilbert. “Seems like you’dneedthose.”

“It came down to shieldsorengines,”saidEllie.“Icangetworkwithaship thathas

engines and no shields, but Ican’t get work withoutengines.”

“How’d you get thewhatever it was that savedour bacon just now?” askedGilbert.“Thatmusthavecostaprettypenny.”

“Not every job payswithcash,” said Ellie.My brotherJonbelongedtoasemi-secretresearch community. Theyhaveanice littlebase tuckedawayonanasteroidandeven

though they try to remainunaffiliated with anygovernments, they end uptaking the odd contract tohelp pay the bills. I bringthemsuppliesandtheyinstallalltypesofneatthingsontheship.”

“Let me guess whathappened,” said Gilbert.“Either Jon stole somethingfrom them and had to go onthe run or he boinked all thewomen and the men kicked

himout.”“Very funny,” said Ellie.

“No,thishappenedwhenJonwas young, about 15 yearsold. He was a certified boygeniusandtheyrecruitedhimtodosomebiotechwork.Hegot lonely andwanted a pet,but they had a strict no petspolicy. So he ended upcombining business withpleasureandbuilthisown.”

“What do you mean,”asked Gilbert. “Something

likealittlekitty?”“Something like a kitty

with limitless strength thatcouldbeprogrammedtokill,”saidEllie.

“SonotaPersian?”“No,” said Ellie.

“Anyway, he left on goodterms and I started up abusiness relationship withthem when I got the ship.Enough about my familyhistory, can someone pleasetellmewhereweareorwhere

we’regoing.”“I went with escape

coursegamma,”saidTalia.“Ihad no idea where eithergamma or delta would takeus,butIassumedthatFrancohad something in mind thatwouldhelpuswithourcargo.Looks like we’re headingtowardssectorC368.”

“Hmm, that’s actually agood choice,” said Ellie. “Itsends us into a somewhatpopulated area of the

universe. Lots of choices onwhat to do next. Dependingonwhatwegot,wecaneithersellitoutrightorfenceit.Notbad.Nowallwehavetodoisfigure out what we got. Anythoughts?”

“We picked up a lot offreight,itwilltakesometimeto go through it all,” Francosaid.“We’llstartwiththelastbit loaded under theassumption that they wouldwant to get it off right away

whenweland.Didtheyseemto pay more attention to anyspecificpartoftheloading?”

“Not that I noticed,” saidEllie.

“Alright then, we start atthe front and work our wayback.Gilbert,you’rewithmeonthisone,”saidFrancoandthetwoofthemheadedoutofthe bridge and proceeded tothecargohold.

“Why would they sneaksomething on the ship?”

askedGilbertastheywalked.“Wouldn’t they just hire asmugglerifitwasillegal?”

“They could, but youhave to remember thatsmugglers are crooks andneed to be paidwell so theydon’t steal the stolen cargo.All this leads me to believethatwe’recarryingsomethingworth a real lot and itcouldn’t be trusted to youraverage smuggler. Nowsomeone on the inside at the

mining station must havetipped off someone else andthey decided to come afterus.”

“Okay, I got all that, buthowwouldwebeabletosellitlegitimately?”

“That’sthebeautyofit.Itwasn’t listedonthemanifest.All we’re responsible for isthe ore. Now depending onwhatitis,we’llhavetomakeup a convincing story as tohow it came into our

possession. That’s why itmight be easier to unload itona fence.Evenbetter ifwecould discover who PJ wasworking for and cut a dealwiththemdirectly.”

“So how do we find thechunkofrockinquestion?”

“We’ve got geologicalscannersonboardthatshoulddo the trick. We’ll outfit afewrobotsandhave themgothroughthecargo.Somethingshould register other than

plainoldore.”It took under an hour to

set up the robots withscannersandputthemtotask.They started by positioningthem in equally distantlocations and performing ageneral scan of the entirecargo bay to see if any onearea had a different readingthantherest.

“It all looks pretty muchthe same,” said Gilbertlooking at the results with

Franco.“Right.Well,wecanstart

atoneendandworkourwaythrough, examining everypiece or take a stab at a fewspecificlocations.”

“Still thinking that closeto the door is a likelylocation?”

“Yup.Anyspotyouwanttoplaceawageron?”

“Deadcenter.Hardest forustogetatandwellshieldedbysurroundingrock.”

“You’reon.Flipacointoseewherewestart.”

The robots started toanalyze the dead centerlocationbydeploying remotesensors that crawled throughthe rock and positionedthemselveson the innermostarea.

“Lookat thatpiece,”saidFranco pointing to theanalysisscreen.

“Big piece of rock, butnotthebiggest.”

“Look at those edges.Thereontheright.”

“I see what you mean,there’sabitofthesamethingoverhereontheleft.”

“Computer, analyze thispiece and report on thecompositionoftheedgeareashereandhere,”saidFrancoashetouchedthescreen.

“External sensors canonly penetrate a few inchesinto the specimen, but itseems to be uniformly iron

ore. The edge areas youhighlighted show a break inthe rock and it actuallyextends around the entirepiece, indicating that it maybetwopiecessealedorfusedtogether. I’m deploying amicro-probe into the jointarea. Now detecting traceamounts of bondingmaterials. Looks like thisthing has two distinctcomponents that were gluedtogether so that a reactive

agent could be applied andthetwopiecesseparated.”

“Do we have somethinghere that would act as theagent?”Francoasked.

“Yes, sir,” replied thecomputer.

“Then let’s dig this thingout and open it up,” saidFranco.

Getting to the rock waseasier said than done. Thecargo bay was full so theeasiestwaytogettoitwasto

stop the ship, go toweightlessnessandmovehalfthe freight out into space.Thentherockinquestionwasmoved into a holdingchamber and the cargo baywasreloaded.

“Why didn’t you justdump the freight?” askedTalia. “Don’t tell me you’rethinkingofdeliveringit?”

“Whoknows?”saidEllie.“Whatever’s inside that rockmight turn out to be

worthless. I wouldn’t wantthisjobtobeatotalloss.Stillsaving up for those shields,youknow.”

A short time later, Ellieand Talia joined Franco andGilbert in the holdingchamber. “We usedhypersonic sensors anddiscovered that there’s asmall chamber inside therock,”Francoexplained.“Wedrilled into the empty topsection and inserted a probe.

There’s no electronics orbooby traps in there, justsomething fairly dense that Ican’tgetareadon.”

“Any radioactivity?”askedEllie.

“Nope,”saidFranco.“Anyway there could be

something alive in there?”askedTalia.

“Haveyoubeenwatchingscary movies again?” saidFranco. “Of course there’snothingaliveinthere.”

“Thoughts,recommendations?” askedEllie.

“I think somebody hidwhateveritisinthisrockrealquick and I don’t think thatthey had a lot of resourcesavailable,”saidTalia.“Ithinkit was a one or maybe twoman job. They cut open therock,shovedthisthinginandsealed it up. I don’t think itrequiredanyspecialhandling.Isaybustitopen.”

“Franco?”“I agree,” said Franco.

“There’s no residue or othertypeofevidencethatpointstoanything strange going onhere.We’ve already exposedit to our atmosphere bycutting into it. I don’t thinkwe’re running any risksopeningit.”

“Okay, do it,” said Ellie.Franco applied the solventand the rock opened. Tworobots lowered the smaller

half to thefloorexposing thehidden chamber and itscontents.

“Anyone have any ideawhatthatis?”askedEllie.

“Nope,”saidTalia.“Notaclue,”saidFranco.“Fromhereitlookslikea

fancy bowling ball,” saidGilbertaseveryone turned tolook at him. “Youknow, thekindwith the swirling colorsgoingthroughit.”

Holt had just finished

reloading the cargo andentered the room. “Hey,where’d you get that bigchunk of Nurridium from?”hesaid.

“Nurridium?”saidEllie.“Nurridium?” said

Franco.“Nurridium?”saidTalia.“So we’re not going

bowling?”saidGilbert.“What makes you think

it’sNurridium?”askedEllie.“I saw a show on the

science channel the othernight,” said Holt. “Thebiggestpieceever foundwasjust larger thanamarble, butthat’s exactly what it lookedlike when they enlarged thepicture. I bet that thing isworthsomecash,huh?”

“What exactly isNurridium?”askedGilbert.

“Nurridium is like spacegold,”saidFranco.“Allthesewicked funky elements mustbe in the same area just the

rightdistancefromastarandthen wham! The star goessupernova and Nurridium ismade. Impossible to bemanufactured, only found inspace. The force of thesupernova will send it flyingintospaceatabouttwo-thirdsthe speed of light so it’simpossibletocalculatewhereitmightbefound.”

“What is it used for?”askedGilbert.“Jewelry?”

“No, this stuffhas averyfunctional application. Cutjust the right way, one ofthese crystals can focus andamplify an energy beam agazillion times. Little fleckssmaller than a grain of sandare used in guns to turn thejuice from a couple ofbatteries into something thatcancutthroughmetal.”

“And something this

big?”askedEllie.“If we could cut it and

attachit to theship’sreactor,we could put a hole in aplanet.”

“Aren’t there lawsgoverning the discovery ofthisstuff?”askedTalia.

“Anything bigger than agrain of sand is supposed tobe turned over to the Feds,”saidEllie.

“I’m guessing they don’tpaywell,”saidGilbert.

“Just a finder’s feewortha fraction of what we couldget ifwesold iton theblackmarket,”saidEllie.

“They also offer life inprisonifyou’refoundwithitin your possession or sellingit without a license,” saidFranco.

“Thereisthat,”saidEllie.“For something this big weshouldbeabletonegotiateanamountmoresubstantial thantheir standard finder’s fee.

Weneed amiddleman to actasourgobetweenandsetupadeal.”

“They’llwantacut,”saidTalia.

“Sure, a smallpercentage,” said Ellie. “Therestofusallgetequalshares,agreed?”

“Define equal shares,”saidTalia.

“Gross minus costsdivided by five, I guess,”repliedEllie.

“Five?” Talia raised aneyebrow at Gilbert. “We’vebeen working with you foryearsandhe’sonlybeenherea few days. He’s not even amember of the crew. Wecould take him back to hishomeplanetafterwecashoutand make him a rich manthere using his own currencyat almostnocost tous.Hell,we could all kick in a littleandsethimupanaccountouthere so ifheeverdoes come

back this way, he’s gotenoughtogethimselfstarted.NooffenseGil,butyoudon’tliveouthereanda reward inuniversalcurrencyisnogoodtoyouonEarth.”

“Andjusthowwouldyoumake me rich on Earth?”asked Gilbert. “Hack into abankingsystemandmakemea millionaire? That’s greatuntil I’m arrested for fraud.Or what, fill my closet withdiamonds or gold bars? We

allknowI’dgetmyselfkilledtrying to sell that stuff.Thanks for thinking of me,butI’mfineasis.”

“Nowholdon a second,”said Franco. “I think Gildeserves a cut. Ten percentfeelsaboutright,agreed?”

“I’mokaywiththat,that’swhat I was saying before,”saidTalia.

“Agreed,” said Ellie andHolt.

“Thank you,” said

Gilbert. “I feel very touchedthatyou’reincludingme.”

“We just don’t want youselling us out ‘cause you’renot getting any,” said Holt,tryingtobehelpful.

15.AgentTomas spenta fair

amount of time that nightthinkingaboutthebestwaytolocate Jon and Alicia beforegoing to bed. He had puttogether an intricate planwhilesamplingthebeveragesin the honor bar and wasmildly surprised that nextmorningwhen,inthelightofday, the plan still seemed to

makesense.Hetookhistimegetting ready for thedayandbarely made it down in timetostillgetbreakfast.

After finishing breakfast,Tomas began searching thelocal hotels for Jon andAlicia. He was at it all dayandcameupdry.Hereturnedto his hotel for dinner andwas in mid-chew when henoticed Jon sitting a fewtables away. Oddly enough,he felt mildly disappointed;

his own hotel was at thebottomofhislist.

Like any animal sensingdanger, Jon’s head came upfrom his paper and surveyedtheroom.Theireye’smetandJonsmiled.Jonstoodupandwalked across to Tomas’table. Tomas stood up aswell, not to chase after JonsinceheknewJonwouldnotrun.Jonwasmanythings,butone thing for sure, they allhadstyle.Jonwalkedoverto

Tomasandheldouthishand.“AgentTomas,nicetosee

you. Are you enjoyingEarth?”

“Jon, always a pleasure,”he said shaking hands andsitting back down. “Earthseemsniceenough.”

“Have you tried theveal?”

“Ihaven’thadthechanceasofyet.”

“That'sprobablymyfault.Keptyoubusy,haveI?”

“A bit and as to that, Ithinkwe’ll justcollectAliciaandheadbackas soonaswecan.”

“There’s a small problemwith that. You see, I've losther.”

“Excuse me? Lost her? Idon’tthinkso.”

“It’s the truth,” said Jon."She left a note yesterdaymorning while I was stillasleep saying she was goingto the beach and I haven’t

seen her since. I spent lastnight and all day todaylooking for her.” AgentTomasgaveJononeof those‘come on, you can do betterthan that’ looks. “Really,that’s the truth,” continuedJon.

“We’re going to getAlicia, take her back homeand then go after Macnair.I’vegotaplan.”

“Oh, great, you haveanotherplan. Is it asgoodas

your plan to hide me in theICC? Because that workedoutreallywell.”

“All this running aroundhas given me an idea,” saidTomas. “You see, Macnair’sfollowingyourtraillikeadogafter a bone so I’m going tokeepdanglingyouinfrontofhimlikebaitonahookforabit longer and when he triestograbyou,we’llgrabhim.”

“But I don’t want to bebait.Baitalwaysgetseaten.I

want to be something otherthan bait, some type of non-bait item. I want to be thefishingboat.”

“Look, if anyone’s thefishing boat, it’s me. If youcan figure out how we canusesomeoneelseasbaitthenmaybe you can be, I don’tknow,thefishingrod.”

“Fishing rod, huh?” saidJon. “I think I could be thefishingrod.Theyhardlyeverbreak.Wait,doesthatinclude

thereelandline?”“What does thatmatter?”

askedTomas.“Look, I can be the rod

and the reel, but not thefishingline.Definitelynottheline.It’stooclosetothehookand bait. Not only that, butsooneror later itgets tangledup and then you have to cutsome of it off and throw itaway. I don’t want parts ofme to get cut up and thrownaway.”

“What the hell are youtalkingabout?”

“Just trying to find outwhereIstand,that’sall.”

“Well,letmeexplainitinawayyoucancomprehend.”Tomasdrewalittlepictureonhis napkin of what lookedlike a cloudwith a person inthemiddle.“Seethis?Thisisshittownandthat’syou,deadcenter.Youare themayorofshit town. No boats, no rodsor reels and definitely no

lines. Understand?” Tomasspoke slowly, “We are notreallygoingfishing.”

After dinner, AgentTomas accompanied Jon tohis room. “So she’s beenmissingfortwodaysandyouhaven’t had any contactwithherinthattime,”heaskedashe looked through Alicia’sbelongings.

“That’s right. I checkedall the local police andhospitals,butcameupdry.”

Tomas entered the roomand looked down at hisdevice screen. It had beenmonitoring theirconversationand was indicating that Jonwas being truthful. Tomaswasn’tsosure.

“I’ll allow you to keepyour device, but you need tosync it with mine,” saidTomas.Bysyncinghisdeviceto Tomas’, Jon’s device willbecomea subordinate remotecomponent. He can still use

it, but it reports directly toTomas’device.

“Sure,” said Jon, takingout his device and putting iton the table next to Tomas’.A few beeps and someblinking lights later and thetwowereintegrated.

“Tellme,”saidJon,“howwereyouable to trackme toEarth?”

“It was all in the ICCcomputer,” said Tomas. “Ijusthadtodigforabittofind

it.”Not likely, thought Jon.

“But how did you get toEarth? I had disabled theteleport.”

“Thatkeptmegoingforabit aswell, but Iwas able tobring itbackonline remotelyfrom the ICC,” said Tomas.“Let’s get some rest. We’llstartlookingforAliciabrightandearly tomorrowmorning.I don’t need to remind youthat I’ll be awakened if you

somuchasget out ofbed topee.”

“Well, I do sometimespeeatnightandsinceIprefernot to do it in bed, I’llapologize now for disturbingyou.”

“Goodnight,Jon.”“Goodnight,Tomas.”Agent Tomas awoke the

next morning and quicklydiscoveredthatJonhadgone.Jonhadlefthimasimplenotethat read, “Sorry, but I need

somealonetime.”Tomas examined his

device and, as he suspected,syncingwithJon’sdevicehadthe inverse effectmaking hisdevicetheservant,explainingJon’s ease of escape. It tooksometime,buthemanagedtoset his right. He ate a quickbreakfast and proceeded toJon’s teleport station inSimon and Gilbert’s originallab. He had already hackedintothisteleportsystemwhen

he first arrived andwith anyluckJonwasintoomuchofahurry to notice or care.Tomas had embeddedprograms designed to tracktheuseofthisteleportsystemwhenheinitiallyworkedonita fewdaysago.Hewasabletogetintotheteleportcontrolprogram and discovered thatJon and Alicia had used thisstation to leave Earth justover two hours ago. Heretrieved their destination

codesandphysicallydisabledtheteleportbyunpluggingthecontrol cables. Tomas thenwenttothebackupteleportinSimon and Gilbert’ssecondary lab. He smiled asheenteredinthecodesfortheICC. Everything was goingaccording tohisplanand thebait was back in the water -he just needed to keep upwith it. Agent Tomasdisappeared in a flicker oflight.

Jon stepped out of theshadows and examined theteleport. Those sly bastards,he thought, meaning Simonand Gilbert, as he realizedthey had built a secondteleport. He had suspectedsomething was up since heknew that it was impossibleforTomas tohavegotten theinformationaboutEarthfromtheICCcomputerorremotelyactivatetheotherteleport.

People are always

underestimating my talent,Jon thought. Earlier thatevening he had easily foundTomas’ tracking programsand gave them enough falseinformation to keep himplanethoppingforawhile.

Jon was preparing todisable this teleport as well,just in case he wasunderestimatingTomas,whenthe teleport received anincoming signal and broughtitselfonline.Amomentlater,

Jon found himself looking ata surprised Simonaccompanied by a youngwoman.

“Jon!”screamedSimon.“Hello,Simon.”“This is theguywewere

looking for?” said Lyn withone arm around Simon andthe other waving in the air.“Andhewasherewaitingforus?Ilovethisguy!”

“Where have you twobeen? And what have you

beendrinking?”“We were on this space

stationandweweredrinkingthis stuff that’s red in thebottle, then it turns greenwhen you pour it into yourglass,butyouknowwhatthereally strange part was? Itwasbluewhenyoupiss,”saidSimon. “Did you piss blue?”heaskedLyn. “Iwaspissingblue.”

“That’s Trapezian wineand you two are completely

done in. Well, you’re luckyyou arrived when you did, Iwasjustgettingreadytoshutthis station down. I’m sorrytosayit,butwe’vehadarun-inwiththelaw.”

“WasitthatAgentTomasguy?” asked Lyn. “Is he agianttoolorwhat?”shesaid,accompanied by more armwaving.

“Simon, please introduceme to your travelingcompanion.”

“Don’t even think abouttryingtosweettalkme,”saidLyn as shewalkedup to Jonandbegan poking him in thechest.“You’renumberoneonmyshitlist.”

“Not surprising,” saidJon. “I am themayor of shittown.”

“Jon,”beganSimon,“thisis Lyn. Lyn is a privateinvestigatorhiredbyGilbert’smother to findhim.Lyn, thisisJon.”

Lyn gave Jon a nod andturned to Simon. “We werepissing blue?Damn, Iwouldhave liked to have seen that.First time I was jealous of aguy’s hands on approach topeeing. No, wait, that’s nottrue.IhavebeencampingandI’ve always wanted to writemy name in the snow. Thirdtime.”

“Soundslikesomeonehasa case of penis envy,” saidSimon.

“Yeah, right, that’ssomething a girl wants,another thing sticking out ofthe front of her body. Likeboobs aren’t enough.” Lynlookeddown,“EvenifIhadapenis, I wouldn’t be able toseeit.”

“As I see it,” said Jon,“wehave twochoices.EitherI have three or four quickones to catch up or you twohave some coffee because Idon’t think we can

communicateasis.”“First things first,” said

Lyn. “Shut this puppy downso our buddy Agent Tomascan’tcomebackandspoiltheparty.”

“Right,”saidJon.A short time later they

were back in Jon’s hotelsuite, exercising option one.Jon was filling them in withwhatwentonwhiletheyweregone.

“SoIhadteleportnumber

one set up to alert me ifanyone began messing aboutwith it so I knew right awaywhen Tomas was in town, Ijust didn’t know how he gothere.Ididn’tthinkhe’dcomeby ship, not really enoughtime to get here. I followedhim around for a bit, that’show I discovered the secondteleport and then I let himcatch up with me. Now I’veset him off on a wild goosechase.”

“And thisAlicia is reallymissing?”askedLyn.

“Yes and that’s thestrangestpartofall.Nowtellme what you two have beenupto.”

“Well, we took teleportnumber two to the ICC andmet up with Agent Tomasand grabbed this little gizmobefore being sent back,”Simon said while taking hisdeviceoutofhispocket.

“Ellie,isthatyou?”asked

Jon.“Hi,Jon!”“Well, that explains a

lot,”saidJon.“Thislittlegirlcan open the gates of theuniverseforyou.”

“Exactly,” said Simon,“so we went to the Dahanaspacestationtolookforyou.”

“Not a bad guess,” saidJon. “I do sabbatical there attimes.”

“We thought this mightbe one of those times,” said

Lyn. “What with the policeand mobsters chasing afteryou and all. Anyway, youweren’t there, but we wereable to pick up some newsaboutyoursister.”

“Ellie?” said Jon. “WhatdidyouhearaboutEllie?”

“I think we should callherEllienumbertwotoavoidconfusion,”saidEllie.

“Sorry,” said Jon, “butyou’reEllienumbertwo.Shedid arrive in this universe

first, after all. Now tell mewhatyouheard.”

“Pirates tried to raid hership looking for somethingshehadpickedup at her laststop,” said Simon. “She hitthem with some type ofweapon that disabled theirship before they could get toher and got the hell out ofthere. The pirates areregrouping and going afterher.DidyousendGiltoyoursister’sship?”

“I did,” said Jon. “Ithoughtaniceroutinefreightrun would be just the ticketforhim.Givehimsomethingto do, see a few places, ridearound in a spaceship. It’sactually pretty exciting stuffuntilyoudoitforayearorsoand then it becomes kind ofhumdrum. You know, itbecomeslessofanadventureand more of a job. I bet thepirates jazzed it up a bit foreveryone.”

“I placed a tracker ontheirship,”saidEllie2.

“Good girl,” said Jon.“Wherearethey?”

“Still at the spacestation,”saidEllie2.“Wejustleftthemacouplehoursago.”

“Right, right, right,” saidJon.“Okay,weneedaplan.”

“I’ve got a plan,” saidLyn. “I’m taking Simon intothat bedroom, paying off abetandthenfallingasleepforabouttenhours.Youknow,I

wastalkingtothatguyinthebarandhetoldmethatsomepeople have near deathexperiences when they’reheld in a teleport system.There’s a whole religionbehind it. Come on,handsome, time to show methatgoodthingyougot.”

“Really?”saidSimon.“Youwantmetostopand

thinkaboutit?”saidLyn.“Not on your life,” said

Simonjumpingupsofastyou

wouldthinkthathisonlygoalin life was to distract Lynfromthinkingaboutit,whichit was. “You’re not going torun off on us, are you?”SimonaskedJon.

“No, I’m done runningoutonfriends,”saidJon.“I’llput myself to good use andcontinuelookingforAlicia.”

“You know, I thinkyou’re just the kind of guyI’ve been looking for,” Lynsaid to Simon, “super-

intelligent and dumb at thesame time. We just got towork that geekiness out ofyoursystem.”

“I’ve been trying,” saidSimon,“butitmightbemorethanaonemanjob.”

“It usually is,” repliedLyn and then to Jon as shewalkedby,“SeewhatImeanabout being dumb? He canbuild a teleport, but hedoesn’t know that it takes awomantomakeaman.”

16.“So you know a guy?”

askedEllie.“Iknowaguythatknows

aguy,”saidTalia

“Yeah?”saidEllie.“Yeah,” said Talia. “And

that’s the guy that can findtherightguy.”

“Wait a minute,” saidEllie. “That might be toomany guys. Who knows therule about guys knowingguys?”

“Couldyouphrasethatinsuch a way that it makessense?”askedFranco.

“There’sanunwrittenruleabout how many guys there

shouldbewhenyou set up adeal,”saidEllie.“Youputtoomanyguys in themiddleandthentheguysatoneenddon’tcare so much about how theguys at the other end aredoing.Gil,helpmeouthere.”

Gilbert tapped on acontrol panel and aninteractive screen appeared.Gilbert began writing as hespoke,“Maybeit’ssomethinglike this, (you+n)=((100%success ÷ n) * t) where n is

the number of guys and t isthe levelof trustyouhave inthemwithvaluesbetween0.1to 0.99. You and one otherguyyoufullytrustputyouata99%successrate.Twoguyswouldputyouunderthe50%successrate,threeguysunder30%.

“I got you,” said Franco.“We want to keep this tight.We don’t want a lot ofvariables.”

“Right,”agreedTaliaand

Holt who were lost theminute Gilbert beganspeaking. They had hatedalgebra, which explains theircareerchoices.

“Talk with your guy andlet’sseewhatheknows,”saidEllie. “Don’t mentionNurridium, though. Just tellthem we need someone tonegotiate a deal with theFeds. They can use theirimagination to fill in therest.”

“Okay, boss,” said Talia.“I’llgetrightonit.”

“Holt,”saidEllie,“Iwantyou to put the Nurridiumbackinitsrockandsealitupagain, but keep it in thecontainment room, separatefrom the rest of the cargo.Franco, attach some type ofremote activated signalingbeacontoitsowecanfinditlater, just in casewe have todumpitinahurry.”

“Right, boss,” said

Franco.“And send a

communication toVerigon3,tell them we had an enginemalfunctionandhadtoputinforrepairssotheoredeliverywillbeafewdayslate.”

It was a few hours laterthatTaliawenttoseeEllieinhercabin.“Well,Iheardbackfrom my guy. Ever hear ofMontiAlibra?Hesaysthisisthe guy we want workingwithus.Hesaysthatthisguy

hascutallsortsofdealswiththe Feds for all sorts ofpeople and has a lot ofcontacts. He’s close by, too.We could be face to face inless than eight hours. That’sifhe’savailable.”

“Alright,” said Ellie,“let’sgiveitashot.”

Monti Alibra had done

very well for himself as asemi-lawyer, brokering deals

for all types of clients.Sometimes it included theauthorities and sometimes itwas just between privateparties.Itreallydidn’tmatterto him since he got his cuteitherway.Itdidgivehimtheopportunity to make manyassociatesonbothsidesoftheroad.Hehadgottentowherehe is by taking a personalinterest in all opportunitiesthat came his way. Even theodd call from a freighter

captain could pay well. Tohim, it was like playing apoorhand inpokerwhen thebet is low, a very smallinvestment and one neverknowswhat cards youmightdraw or how big the potmightget.

An alert for an incomingtransmission came in. Righton time, he noted. Montivalued punctuality andalwaysfeltitwasapluswhenothers did as well. This call

was set up by a mutualacquaintance and he wasn’tsure exactly what to expect.A quick check to make surethelinewassecureandusingtheproperencryption,thenhereceived the call saying,“ThisisMonti.HowcanIbeofservice?”

“Hello, Monti. This isFreighter Captain Ellis.Thankyoufortakingthetimetotalkwithme.”

“Notaproblematall,my

dearCaptain.”“I’m told you’re in the

business of helping peoplework things out with theauthorities. I’ve got an issuethat I need to work throughwith the Feds. It should paywell.”

“I have many contactsinside the Federalorganization and I’ve helpedmany people resolve theirissueswiththem,butI’mnotalways 100% successful. I

guarantee nothing and neverprovide a refund. I also havesetfeeswithaminimumpaidinadvance. Is thatsomethingyou’re prepared to agreewith?”

“I can accept it as aframework for furtherdiscussions, very mutuallybeneficial discussions. I’mentering your sector andwould like to meet with youin person to continue ourconversation and hopefully

reachabusinessagreement.”“You’reinluck.Ihappen

to be in-between projects atthemomentandcansparethetime.Iknowwedon’twanttogetintodetailsnow,butonascaleof1to10?”

“Probably 3 to 5 incomplexity andwe’rehopingyou can at least double thepayoff.That’syourmainrole,negotiatingthepayoff.”

This was just the type ofjob Monti liked, a few calls

through trusted andestablished channels, quickagreement on price and hiscut is in the bank. Hemightnot even have to leave hishouse.

“I’ll send you mycoordinates,” said Monti.“It’s evening here, so let’ssay15hours?”

“That should work forus,”saidEllie.

“Untilthen,”Montiendedthe transmission. He sat and

thoughtforabit.Itistruethathe has worked with peoplefrom many differentprofessions, but the majorityofhisclientshavebeenfromthe criminal class pursuingestablished careers.They usehis services like a truckingcompany would use a towtruck; every once in a whilesomething breaks down andyouneedsomeonetocomeinand move things along.Spaceship captains are a

similaranimal,justnottothesame extent. They all dosome amount of smugglingand usually know how tohandlemost of it. They onlycome to him when they’vegot too much of somethingand need help moving it orthey have something unusualthat they don’t know how tohandle.Theirwantingtodealwith the Feds points moretowards theunusual.Time totake a closer look atCaptain

Ellis,Montithought.

“I think that went well.

What did you think?” askedEllie.Therestofthecrewhadbeen off camera, but theycould see and hear Montifromaseconddisplay.

“You were laying it onkind of thick with the ‘verymutually beneficialdiscussions’ crap, but heagreed to see us sowe can’t

complain,”saidTalia.“Howlongwill it takeus

togetthere?”Ellieasked.“Aboutsevenhourstoget

intoorbit,anotherhourintheshuttletogettohislocation,”saidTalia.

“Alright then,Taliaand Iwill go down to the planet.Youguysstayontheship.Istherockreadytogo?”

“All set,” said Franco.“AndIgotanicespotpickedout to drop it in. A nice big

asteroidbeltwithlotsofotherrocks just like it. Figureanother hour to stop, releasethe rock, test the transmitterandbeonourway.We’llbecominguponthatlocationinabouttwohours.”

“That gives us 12 hoursafterwe drop the rock. Let’seatnowandsleeplater.”

“I don’t want to be theonly paranoid one in thebunch, but remember all thetalk about the guys, the

equation, all that stuff?”asked Gilbert. “I think weneedtobeverycarefulhere.”

“He’s right,” said Talia.“Ifwewalkintothatmeetingand announce we have achuckofNurridiumworthasmuchasaplanet,theoddsofour getting out of there withourbrainsintactareslim.Wehave to devise a way wherewe all need to be alive,together and not under anyduress or the rock remains

hidden.”“Gilbert,” said Ellie,

“you’regoodat logic.Figureout something that will keepus all alive in case things gosouth, thenFrancocanfigureout how to implement it.Holt,youpreptherock.”

The group reconvened injust over two hours. Gilbertand Franco began explainingtheirplantohidetherockandsafeguarditslocation.

“Ihadtheship'scomputer

select a random spot in thisasteroid fieldwhere our rockshould be safe,” explainedFranco.“Theship'scomputerwillalsoselectarandomdatasignal that will turn on therock’sbeaconandallowustolocate it.All this informationisbeingdividedupandstoredin our memory implants insuch a way that none of ushas a complete piece of thepuzzle. Gil has written a bitof code that continuously

evaluates our systems and ifany type of physical ormental or electronic abuse isdetected, the informationbecomes irretrievable untilthe action stops. If the abusereaches a certain level orduration the data is erased.All of our implant systemshave bio-monitoring andhackersecuritytosupportthisexcept Gil’s and I’veupgradedhis.”

“Seems a bit

complicated,”saidTalia.“It has to be, otherwise

we could be tortured, thenmade comfortable and askedtogiveupourinformationorwe’d be tortured again. Thiswouldavoidthatsituation.”

“Iguessthatmakessense,just as long as a good workout won’t trigger thedeletion,”saidTalia.

“No worries,” saidGilbert, “this thing measuresalltherightstuff;endorphins,

hormones, adrenalin, painreceptors, brain activity, tonsofstuff.”

“Sounds good to me,”said Ellie. “Let’s dump therock and upload ourimplants.”

Sowiththeirrockfloatingin some random location inspace, captain and crewcontinued on to meetMonti.TheworldwhereMontilivedwas nice enough. It was oneof those worlds that could

supporthumanlife,butneverhad any of its own until aspaceship landed a fewhundred years ago. It was amostly cold world and thebest it could produce was asmall tepid zone around itsequator. It had an almostbizarre lack of naturalresourceswhichmadeitveryundesirable to mostindustries.Itwasasomewhatdry planet so it wasn’t evensuitable as a getaway for

wintersportsenthusiasts.It did have the correct

mass thatmostpeople feelathome with and it wascentrally located so it wasunderstandably hard for itsfounders to give it up. Theystruggled to find their nichesettlers, but this was duringthe time when human kindwasfirstreachingouttootherplanets and there seemed tobe so many that fit so wellthat nobody wanted to settle

onsuchalimitedplanet.Thatisuntiltheywereapproachedbyabusinessmanwhoseonlyconcernwas how closely theplanetary government wouldbe watching the inhabitants.The founders shrewdlyresponded with ‘how closewould you like’ which thendeveloped into a centralgovernmentbasedonthe‘payus enough money and we’llleave you alone’ principle.Unlike other planets that had

strict laws about shuttle andteleportaccess,thisworldhada more open door policyknowing that theonlypeoplethatcomeherearepeoplethathave business here. Thatbusinessmightnotalwaysbepleasantsothere’saplanetarysecurity force that stopsthingsfromspillingoverintoother areas of the populace.Other than that, you’re onyourown.

Monti Alibra had a fair

sized estate in one of thenicer areas. Ellie and Talialeft the shuttle and beganwalking towards the buildingthat served as both Monti’shome and office. Therewereafewguardsstationedaroundthe general area. Monti wassittingon thepatio,watchingtheirapproach.

“Fourguards,”saidEllie.“Yup and probably

another five watching,” saidTalia. “Plus a dozen more

elsewhere on the grounds.Thisguyisnoslouch.”

“I think he looksnervous,”saidEllie.“Doyouthinkhelooksnervous?”

Talia glanced at Ellie, “Ithink you look nervous.Relax,willyou?”

“Can you handle theseguys?”askedEllie.

“Maybe these four if weactfirst,”saidTalia.

They reached Monti,exchanged greetings and sat

down.“Captain Ellis,” began

Monti.“ImustsaythatIwasintrigued by your request tomeet.SomuchsothatIdidalittle digging and it didn’ttakelongformetodeterminethatEllis isanalias.Not thatthatwasunexpected,butyousee, I like to know exactlywhomI’mworkingwith.I’msure you understand. I sentyour image to a contact Ihave in the Fed and I must

say they have extensiverecords and some veryexcellent facial recognitionprograms. Itdidn’t take themlongtoidentifyyouandyourfamily. I must say, yourfamilynameseemedtocomeupquiteabit.”

“They do get around,”agreedEllie.

“Indeed,” said Monti.“Butyou’relistedasafamilymember, not really part oftheirgang–shouldwecallit

agang?”“I wouldn’t,” said Ellie.

“They seldom work togethersincetheyrealizedhowmuchofa strain all thedouble andtriple-crossingwasputtingontheannualfamilyreunion.”

“Very colorful, none theless,” nodded Monti. “Butyouweretheoddoneout,soto speak, running a freightbusiness. I began to wonderwhy someone with yourfamily background would

need my services. I dug alittle deeper and came acrossyourbrotherJonandhislittlepredicament. It becameobvious that he is the itemyou want me to enter intonegotiationswiththeFedsonyour behalf and the payoffwould be based on thecaptureofacertainperson.”

“No, you’ve got it allwrong,”beganEllie.

“Oh, I don’t think so,”saidMonti. “Very foolish of

you to think that I wouldaccept reward money tobetray an old businessassociate like Macnair. Thatsort of thing is bad for one’sbusiness on many differentlevels. Bad for one’s healthonmanymore.”

“I’m not asking you tobetray anyone. I just wantyou to work a deal,” beganEllie before being cut off byMonti.

“Butthat’swhathewould

see it as, a betrayal,” saidMonti. “No way around thatfact.”

“I don’t even know whoyou’re talking about,” saidEllie.“WhoisMacnair?”

“He’s thegentlemanyourbrother is serving up to theFeds on a silver platter,”explained Monti. “Andbelieveme,he’snot the typeto be served up. He usuallydoes the serving and thecarving. He wants your

brother, he wants him verybadly.”

“Look,” said Ellie, “Idon’t know where Jon is. Icame here to discuss adifferentdealentirely.”

“It doesn’t matter onewayortheother,”saidMonti.“I’ve already been in contactwith Macnair. He’ll be hereinanhourorso.Hewasmosthappy to hear that he wouldhaveyouasabargainingchipto use as a means to get to

your brother.” Five moresecurityguardswithweaponsat the ready came on thepatio.

At that moment Taliasprang up from her seat,poised for action. All eyesand weapons moved to herdirection.“DidImentionthatwe’re not actually together?”she asked Monti pointingback and forth between herandEllieand then ina lowervoice,“Idon’tevenknowher

brother.”

17.Lyn and Jon had ordered

roomserviceandwereeatingbreakfast while formulating

their next steps. Simon wasstillasleep.

“So you believe thatGilbert and your sister areokay?”askedLyn.

“Absolutely”saidJon.“Itsounds like she gave thoseguys the slip and, if I knowmysister,shewentright intohiding. I am a bit concernedabout just exactly what’s inhercargo.She’safairlysmartgirl and doesn’t likecomplications, especially

anythingillegal.I’mguessingthat she dumped her cargointo the nearest star and hasalready filed an insurancereport. She’s not the type togolookingfortrouble.”

“Look, Jon, I know youbelieve you’re some kind ofexpert on women, but don’tunderestimateyoursister.Shefought off a pirate ship.Exciting situations like thatcanputapersoninanentirelydifferentstateofmind.”

“I guess it’s possible, buteven then, she’snotgoing todo anything stupid. Andspeaking of excitingsituations and doing stupidthings, what did you do toSimon? Is he even alive inthere?”

“Loverboy’sdoingfine,”confirmed Lyn. “I snugglednext to him earlier thismorning and he was alreadyup,soIwokehimandwehadanothergoatit.He’sbackto

sleepnow,butletmetellyou,it’s like being in a clutteredcarpentry shop; every time Iturnaround,Ibumpintohardwood. I’m staying out herewhereit’ssafeforawhile.”

“I imagine he’s got a lotof pent up yearnings,” saidJon.

“Twenty yearsworth andI decided to open the floodgates.”

“You do realize that hemay become attached to

you?”“Are you kidding? He

already asked me to marryhim.Twice.”

“Didyouaccept?”“Ofcoursenot.Itoldhim

just to relax and we’d seewherethingsgo.Thenhetoldme that he was willing toenter into an exclusiverelationshipifIwaswillingtomakethesamecommitment.”

“What were you guyslaughing about?” asked

Simon as he emerged fromthe bedroom a few minuteslater.“Youwokemeup.”

“Nothing, darling,” saidLyn. “Now come over hereand have some breakfast.Let’s see ifwecanput somemoremeatonthosebones.”

“Morning, gang!” saidEllie2. “I have news. Thatshipwe’re tracking left dockearlylastnight.”

“And you’re just findingthatoutnow?”askedJon.

“Yup,”saidEllie2.“Theymustbe running real silent. Ihaven’t heard a thing fromthe tracking worm I loadedintotheirship’scomputersoIpinged it this morning. Ididn’t receive a response soeither they found it anddisabled it, which is highlyunlikely, or they’re runningsuper silent and it can’tcommunicate without givingitself away. I was able tocheck the station’s dock log

and theshippulledoutaboutfourhoursago.”

“What was the ship’sconfiguration?”askedJon.

“Built to out run and outgun just about anythingcommercial out there,” saidEllie2.

“Sounds like they had toleaveinahurryforsomethingvery important,” said Jon.“Okay, let us know thesecond it comes back on thegrid.”

“Did you have any luckfinding Alicia?” askedSimon.

“None at all and that’svery surprising,” said Jon.“Alicia’s not the type ofperson to go unnoticed. I’vechecked all police andhospital admissions, allhotels, shopping malls,everything I could think of.She doesn’t even have anylocalcurrencyorcreditcardswithher.”

“Itispossiblethatshegotlost or picked up bysomeone,” said Lyn. “I hatetosayit,buttherecouldhavebeenfoulplayinvolved.”

“Alicia is amember of aroyal family and there’salways the threat of foulplay,” said Jon. “She has abio implant that can detectandneutralizemostpoisons,asurveillance implant thatwould warn her if she wasbeing followed and she can

probably shoot energybeamsout of her finger tips, just toname a few of her tricks. Ithink she can handle herselfhere and that’s part of whathasmeperplexed.”

“Really? Energy beamsout of her fingertips?” askedSimon.

“You bet,” nodded Jon.“An internalweapons systemis pretty intense andexpensive, but it’s necessaryif you want to be able to

protect yourself withoutalwayscarryingaweapononyour person. They usuallyreplaceapieceofbonelikearibormaybea sectionof thepelviswith a pulse generatorand then use an ultra thinflexible conduit to channelthe energy beam to its exitpoint, usually the fingers.Some people like using theireyes, others their toes; it’s apersonal preference sort ofthing. Fingers are the most

popular sinceyoudon’thavetobefacingthedirectionyouwant to shoot in andfingernails make the perfectbeamemitterlocation.”

“Are you kidding us?”askedLyn.

“Nopeandletmetellyou,if you see someone pointingatyouandtheirfingerisbentabitsothenailisfacingyou,youbetterduck.”

“Oh great, I am going tobe so paranoid next time we

leaveEarth,”saidLyn.“Don’t worry about it,”

said Jon. “It’s veryuncommon.Mostpeople thatneed to go armed prefer anexternal weapon so they’renot tied down to a singlechoiceoffirearm.”

“Hey, guys,” interruptedEllie2.“I’vebeenmonitoringlocal communications and Ibelieve I’ve located Alicia.Tunethetelevisiontochannel155.”

“Ohno,” saidLynas sheturnedontheTVandwenttochannel 155, expecting it tobe a news broadcast eitherdescribing an unknown JaneDoevictimorsomeguywithgaping holes in his body.“What the hell is this?” sheasked.

The three stared indisbelief as a reality showcalled The Beach Housebegan. The show centeredaround a group of men and

women,allofwhomseemtobe in their twenties, and theonly detectable plot wasseeing who could screwwhomtheworst-orthebest,depending on whichdefinition of ‘screw’ youused.Andthere,inthemiddleof it all, lying by the pool,wasAlicia.

“You’vegottobekiddingme,”saidSimon.

“She’sbeenontheplanetthreedaysandshe’scastona

TVshow?”exclaimedLyn.“Shush, they’re

introducing her,” said Jon.“Whyissheblurry?”

“They don’t allow nudityonthesechannels,”explainedSimon, “so they make thegoodbitsfuzzy.”

All three focused on thetelevisionas theshowbegan.“Andhere’sour latestarrivalat The Beach House, Alicia!Believe it or not folks, wefound Alicia down the coast

justa fewdaysagowhenwewere conducting a talentsearch. Fiveminutes into theinterview and we knew wehadtohaveherfortheshow.Let’s watch some of thatvideo,” and the scenetransitioned from poolside toaprivatebeachcabana.

“Could you tell us yourname,” began the recordedinterview.

“Sure,it'sAlicia.”“Istheremorethanthat?”

“Well, my full name isAlicia Verona TelletoBurdast.”

“Andwhatdoyoudo?”“Oh,mostanything.”“What Imean is, areyou

anactressoramodel?”“Oh, I don’t work,”

laughed Alicia. “I’m aprincess.”

“Really? And whatcountryareyoufrom?”

“Country? Oh, I’m notfromEarth,I’mfromaplanet

in, what you would call, theCanes VenaticiConstellation.”

“Well,youlookfabulous.They sure do make themgorgeousoutthere.”

“Thank you,” smiledAlicia. “I’d show you more,buttheymademeputonthisbathing suit earlier when Iwasonthebeach.”

“You can take it off inhereifyoulike.”

“That would be great,”

Aliciasaidandblurrinesswasagainapplied.

“Youcertainlylooklikea100% natural beauty. If youdon’t mind my asking, arethose natural or do you haveimplants?”

“Well, of course I havethe standard memory andlanguage implantsplusa fewothers like bio-medical,securityandcombat.Ihaveaweapons implant that allowsmetoshootenergybeamsout

of my body, but I’m notgoing to tell you which partthey come out of,” saidAlicia,wavingherfinger.“Agirl has to have somesecrets.”

“Well,thereyouhaveit,”saidtheoriginalcommentatoras the interview ended. “Ourlatest addition to The BeachHouse is a stunning alienprincess that can shoot laserbeams out of her body, butshewon’ttellusfromwhere.

Should make for an excitingseason.”

The show went to acommercial break, leavingJon, Simon and Lyn blanklystaring at an advertisementfortampons.

“Unbelievable,” was allJoncouldmanage.

“Don’t worry,” said Lyn.“This is a kid’s program.Noone takes it seriously.Everyone will think that it’spartoftheshow.Noonewill

believe what she said wastrue.”

“And itwill takedecadesfor that TV signal to reachher planet, if it’s where shesaid it is and I doubt anyonewill be watching,” addedSimon.

“I don’t know which ismoreamazing–thatshe’sona television show or that sheknew where her planet islocated in Earth’s sky,” saidJon. “Right then, we’ll have

togoandgether.”“Really?” asked Lyn.

“She seems to be enjoyingherself and it’s keeping herout of our hair. We shouldfocus on Gilbert and yoursister first, make sure she’sokayandgethimback.Thenyoucandealwiththeprincessand whatever else you gotgoingon.”

“Maybe you’re right,”saidJon,“butIhavetotalktoherbeforewegoanywhere.If

nothing else, I’ll give herAgent Tomas’ contact info,just in case she gets into ajam while we’re gone andneeds someone to bail herout.”

“Speaking of contactingpeople,isthereawayforyoutocontactyoursister?”askedSimon.

“Not directly,” said Jon.“I left her a message, buthaven’theardbackyet.”

“Is that something we

should worry about?” askedLyn.

“Her ship went off thegrid days ago,” said Jon,“probably right after theirrun-inwith the pirates. I stillthink she’s lying low andwaiting for things to blowover.Thatwould explainhersilence.”

“Any idea where shemight have gone?” askedLyn, getting back into herprofessionalmode.“Doesshe

have a safe spot that youknow about? Did you twoever discuss a time or placewhere you could meet ifsomething like thishappened?”

“No,”saidJon.“Yousee,Ellieisthesafetynet.Notjustforme,butothermembersofmy family sometimes runafoul with the law as well.Ellie was the youngest andwedidn’twant her to followin our footsteps, plus she

didn’t really have the knackfor it. Anyway, we allchipped in, bought her thefreighter, installed anuntraceable teleport systemand we use it from time totimewhenweneedtomakeaquickexit.”

“Who’s this ‘we’ youkeep mentioning?” askedLyn.

“Oh, my father, brothers,aunts, uncles, cousins. Thatsortofwe,”saidJon.“NowI

can tell by the way you’relooking at me that you’regetting the wrong idea, butsheenjoysitwhenwevisit.”

“I bet,” said Lyn. “ShewasprobablyoverjoyedwhenGilbertshowedup.”

“I’m sure they’re gettingalongwonderfully,”saidJon.“But you’re right, it’s timewe collected him and madesureeverythingisalrightwithEllie. Ellie2, where’s thisbeachhouselocated?”

“Just under a three hourdrivefromhere,”saidEllie2.

“That burns a day to go,check on Alicia and return,”said Jon. “Alright,we’ll takeLyn’sadviceandleaveAliciawhereshe is fornow.I thinkourbestormaybeonlymoveis to return to the spacestationandseeifwecanfindoutwhatmadethatshipleaveinsuchahurryorwheretheywentoffto.MaybeIcangetahandleonwhohiredthisguy

or what they’re after onEllie’sship.”

“Don’t worry, Lyn,” saidEllie2. “I’ll monitoreveryone’s fingers whilewe’rethere.”

18.“Everyone comfortable?”

askedMonti.“Yes, but you don’t

understand, we came hereto…”beganEllie.

“We came here to getyour help with Jon and ifyou’re not going to help us,then just let us go,”interruptedTalia.

MontihadrestrainedEllie

and Talia, but placed themcomfortably in an interiorroom.Monticockedhisheadat Talia and then looked atEllie. “Whatwere you goingtosay,mydear?”

“Just that I don’tunderstand why you’remakingsuchabigdealaboutJon,”saidEllie.

“Could I be missingsomething here after all? Nomatter,”saidMonti,“Macnairhas arrived and we’ll sort it

all out. I’ll be back shortlyand we’ll continue ourconversation.” Monti noddedto the guards as he left theroom. “Keep an eye on thatone.” he said, indicatingTalia.

Talia leaned forward andsaid in a soft voice, “Don’tsay anything about the you-know-what.Let’ssavethatasafinalbargainingchip.”

“Right,” said Ellie. “Andthanks for all that bodyguard

stuff you did out there. Youdidn’tgethurt,didyou?”

“If I could have gottenfree,” said Talia, “then Icouldhaveplannedarescue.”

“Using Gil, Franco andHolt?” asked Ellie. “Please,I’m surprised the ship hasn’tcrashed into the planet bynow.”

Monti, along withMacnairandhiscrew,enteredthe room a short time later.MontipointedtoEllie.

“Hello,” said Macnair.“Monti tells me you’re thesister of a good friend ofmine.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” saidEllie.

“Really?” said Macnair.“I’d be very upset if I cameall this way and you’re notwhowethinkyouare.”

“Well,”saidEllie,“thenIwouldn’t want to be inMonti’sshoes.”

“Don’t worry about

Monti, worry about me.”Macnair nodded to Stace,who opened up the case hewas carrying and beganremoving its contents. “Doyou recognize any of theseitems?”heasked.

“Sure,” said Talia.“Standard mind probingstuff.”

“Notquitestandard,”saidMacnair. “I’m sorry to say.Sorryforyou,thatis.”

“Look, youdon’t need to

use that stuff,” said Ellie.“We’ll tellyouwhateveryouwanttoknow.”

“I’msureyouwill.Peopletend to tell me all types ofthingswhen I pressure them.Thenatsomepoint,halfofitconflicts with the other halfandintheendnoneofitaddsup.Ifinditeasier toconductbusiness this way. Soon I’llknow all there is to knowabout you andyour brother.”Macnair motioned to Stace,

“Youmayproceed.”Stace finished setting up

hisinstrumentsandconnectedthem to Ellie and Taliathrough a cap thatwent overtheir entire heads andfastened under their chins,securingitfirmlyinplace.

“I’m telling you there’san easier way. We’ve gotsomethingyou’dbeinterestedin,”wasallElliewasable toget out before becomingunconscious.

“I’m sure you have,”Macnairreplied.

“Hey, boss,” said Stace.“Igotsomethingstrangehere.Theminute theywent under,Ipickeduparepeatingsignalsayingsomethingaboutifwecontinue to probe them thenall information regarding thelocationoftheNurridiumwillbe deleted. Same thingcoming from both theirimplants.What do youmakeofthat?”

“It’sjustatricktostopusfrom probing their minds,”saidMacnair.“Don’tpayanyattentiontoit.”

“Wait a minute, theremight be something to that,”said Monti. “They insistedthattheydidnotcomeheretocut a deal for her brother.This is even before I mademention of my contactingyou.”

Macnair thought for amoment and then the

businessman inside him tookover.“Wakethemup.”

ElliewokeuptoseeTaliawatching her. They werealone except for a couple ofguardsinthehallway.

“What’s going on?” EllieaskedTalia.

“I’mnotsure,”saidTalia.“I don’t feel any

different,” said Ellie. “HowdoIlook?”

“Verystylish,”saidTalia.“Do I look like I hadmy

brainmelted?”“How should I know? I

never saw anyone with ameltedbrainbefore.”

Ellie looked around,“Wheredideveryonego?”

“I’m not sure, but myguess is theywent to have afew drinks and talk thingsoverwhiletheywaitedforustowakeup.FivewillgetyoutenthatGil’sprogramkickedin and now they’re all realinterestedintheNurridium.”

“I suppose that’s betterthanhavingourbrainsfried,”saidEllie.

“Let’s hope so. TheseguysknowalotoftricksandI’mnotsureifGil’sprogramwill hold them off. Weweren’t really planning onthiscaliberofattention.Heretheycome.”

“Everybody have a nicenap?” asked Macnair as heentered the room. “All niceand rested? Good. Now I

wanteveryonetobequietandlisten while I explain to youexactly what is going tohappennext.You’regoingtotell me right away if thishidden Nurridium thing is atrick or the real deal. If youtellme right now that it is atrick,Iwillcollectonmybetwith Monti and we willcontinue from where we leftoff. If I find out later that itwasatrick,Iwillcutoffyourarms. Everybody

understand?” Lots of headnodding. “Good. Now tellme, was it a trick?” Lots ofhead shaking. “So you dohaveNurridiumhidden awaysomewhere?” Head noddingagain. “Alright, let me hearit.”

Franco, Gilbert and Holthad watched with someapprehension as the shuttledescended into the planet’s

atmosphere. Thatapprehensiongrewasanhourpassedwithout receiving anycommunication from eitherEllie or Talia. One hourbecame two without wordand their apprehensionblossomed into full fledgedfear. Fear gave way to nearhysteria as a sleek and wellarmedshiptookapositionofftheir port side and locked onweapons. Another hour wentby before they received a

transmissionfromtheship.“Attention. We are

sending a shuttle to pick upall personnel for transport totheplanet.”

“We’reboned,”saidHolt,turningtolookatGilbertandFranco.Bothnoddedsilently.

It was a short time laterthatFranco,Gilbert andHoltfound themselves reunitedwith Ellie and Talia andwearingsimilarheaddresses.

“I’m warning you,

tampering with us like thisruns the risk of losing thedataforever,”saidGilbert.

“No worries, boss,” saidStace.“Iknowfromtheshorttime I was working on thegirls that thedatagoes intoalockdown routine and thengives a warning beforedeletion. I know theseimplants well enough to getaroundthat.Itwilljusttakeabit of time to convince theirunconscious brains that

everythingisnormal-like.”“No details, please,” said

Macnair.“Justresults.”Macnair and Monti left

andStacebeganhiswork. Inno time at all, he wasswimming through theircollective unconsciousness,making his way into theirimplants’ processors andprogramming. Gilbert’s codeworked well enough againstperceivable external threats,but Stace had them all

thinking they were at thebeachwatchingthewavesgoback and forth. Their guardwas down and theinformationwasout inunderan hour. Thirtyminutes afterthat,theywereallawakeandfacingMacnairagain.

“Nice work,” Macnairsaid to Stace. “Hal, take theship to these coordinates andretrievetherockwhileMontiand I enjoy dinner and, Idon’t know, maybe a show.

The rest of you are stayinghere and if that ship comesbackempty,I’mcuttingarmsoff of everyone.” Macnairheardagaspfrombehindhimand felt a slight tug on hissleeve. “Not yours, Monti.”He turned and walkedtowards Ellie, “And whoknows, if it’s a big enoughchunk of Nurridium, I mightjust forget all about thatgrudge I have against yourbrother.”

The last thing anyoneheard was Monti’s voicefading away as he andMacnair walked down thehall. “I don’t mean to be awetblanket,butifitcomestoit,doyouthinkyoucoulddothe arm cutting somewhereelse?I’mnotreallysetupforthat kind ofmess and this isnewcarpet…”

“Well,thatwasfun,”saidTaliaastheguardsclosedthedoor.

“We need to get out ofthese restraints and go afterthem. I’m not going to letthem steal my Nurridium,”saidEllie.

“YourNurridium?”askedFranco.

“That’s right, ourNurridium,”saidEllie.

“Whatdoyouproposewedo?” asked Talia. “We’relocked in here and there aretwo guards in the hall. Youprobably don’t realize it, but

theseguysarewaypaststate-of-the-art. Some of the stuffthey have goes about ahundred light-years beyondcrazy. That guy picked ourmemoriesclean.”

“I actually enjoyed theday at the beach,” saidGilbert.“Veryrelaxing.”

“I almostwished he tooka bit longer,” agreed Franco.“The barbecue was almostready. Hey, Holt, how comeyouweren’tatthebeach?”

“I’ve got this fear ofwatersinceIalmostdrownedso beaches make me reallynervous,”saidHolt.

“Sowhere’dheputyou?”askedFranco.

“I don’t want to say toomuch since we’re in mixedcompany, but itwas the bestnudiebarIwaseverin.”Holtleaned over and whispered,“EllieandTaliawerethere.”

“No, we were at thebeach,”saidEllie.

“Not in my mind,” saidHolt.” Sorry, but you twowerethefeatureddancers.”

“Great.”saidEllie.“Talia,youhadlistedall thesefancyimplants on your résuméwhen I hired you, let’s seetheminaction.”

“Yeah, about that,” saidTalia. “Those implants arekind of like the guns andshieldsyoutoldmeyourshiphad.”

“You have a résumé for

the job of enforcer?” askedGilbert.

“Hey, it’s a professionjust like anything else,” saidTalia. “The hiring processisn’tthatdifferent.”

“Butwhatdoyouput forpast experience?” askedFranco. “Do you list all thebodypartsyou’vebroken?”

“I can imagine theinterview,”saidGilbertashebegan impersonating thehiringmanager.“Iseeyou’ve

brokena lotof legs. Is thatapersonal preference or isthere a reason you shy awayfromarmsandfingers?”

“Laugh itup,”saidTalia.“When we get out of here Ican update it with‘experienced in killingcoworkers.’Andby theway,I’vebeenasked thatquestionmore than once during aninterview.”

The laughter died downand the group sat there in

silence for a while, eachcontemplating their fate,hopingthatMacnairfindstheNurridium and is happyenough to let them go freewithalllimbsattached.

“Did anyone hear that?”askedTalia.

“Hear what?” saidFranco.

“It sounded like a coupleof bodies falling out there inthehall,”saidTalia.

“Nope, but I did hear

somethingthatsoundedlikeadooropening,”saidFranco.

“That’s because the doorjustopened,”saidEllie.

“Then that explains it,”saidFranco.

They were all restrainedand positioned in chairs thatfaced away from the door sothey didn’t see it open orwatch as the unconsciousguardswere dragged in fromthehallwaybeforeitclosed.

“I think someone just

cameintheroom.”whisperedTalia. “Hello,” she said in alouder voice, “is someonethere?”

“Don’tworry,I’mheretohelp you,” said the personthat just entered the room,coming around front to givethem all a look over.“Everyoneokay?”

“Other than being heldagainstourwill,”beganEllie,“getting our brains probedand threatened to have our

arms cut off, we’re doinggreat.Whothehellareyou?”

“Afriend.”“Really?” said Ellie.

“BecauseIknowwhatallmyfriends look like and I don’tseeanyresemblance.”

“Let’s just say I’m moreof a friend than those guys,”he said, nodding towards theunconsciousguards.

“Well, that’s not toohard,” said Ellie. “I didmention that they wanted to

cutoffourarms.”“My name is Tomas,

Agent Tomas. I’ve been incontactwithyourbrotherandkeeping Macnair undersurveillanceforthebetterpartof the past year. I followedhimhere thinking thatMontihad somehow gotten hishandsonJonandwasturninghim in for the bounty. I letmyself in and headed in thisdirection since this is wherethe highest concentration of

guards were located. Ioverheard them mentionNurridiumsoifyouwantout,you better tell me what’sgoingon.”

Elliedidn’tknowwhetheror not to trustAgent Tomas,foralltheyknewhecouldbesomeone that worked forMacnair using this ploy as ameans to see if they hadgiven them a straight storyearlier. If that was the casethen there was no harm in

telling him everything thatMacnairalreadyknew,whichthey did including thelocation of the rock.As theybegan talking, Tomas beganundoingtheirrestraints.

“A big chunk ofNurridium, eh?” said Tomas.“Youshouldhaveturneditinright away. For somethinglike that, a guy likeMacnairwould kill you without eventhinkingaboutitjusttocoverhistracks.”

“We didn’t want to getinvolvedwithMacnair,” saidEllie. “We wanted Monti tonegotiateabiggerfinder’sfeewiththeFedsforus.Wejustwantedourfairshare.Doyouthink I want to keep haulingfreight and dealing withlowlifes for thenexthundredyears?”

“Hey,” said Franco andHolt.

“I meant the customers!”saidEllie.

“Howbig of a chunk arewe talking about?” askedTomas.

“Headsize.”“That would do it,” said

Tomas.“Withsomethinglikethat,Macnaircouldgetalltheotherbossestoknuckleunderaswellasmostgovernments.I’mheadingtotheteleportsoIcangetoutofhereandcallthis in.There’s still a chancewecancatchthempickingupthe Nurridium, then we can

addthattothechargesagainstMacnair.”

Talia and Holt hadalreadypickeduptheguard’sweapons and nodded toTomas, indicating they werereadytogo.Theycollectedafewmoreweapons along thewaytotheteleport.

“Thathallwayleadstothepatioand thenyourshuttle isfurther on. Shouldn’t be toodifficult to get to it. Here,take this,” Tomas handed

Talia a small device. “Itwillblanketyourmovementsfromthe surveillance system.”Agent Tomas stepped ontothe teleport and turnedtowards Ellie. “We’ll talklater,” he said beforedisappearing.

Talia walked over toGilbert. “Ever fire a weaponbefore?”sheasked.

“Onlypaintballguns,”hereplied.“It’sawargame, theguns shoot wax balls that

explode and leave coloredmarksonyourclothes.”

“Timefor thereal thing.”said Talia. “Think you canfollow me without your gunaccidentallygoingoff?”

“I think I can handle it,”Gilbert said, half offended,half hoping he doesn’t tripand shoot one of his friendsinthefoot.

“Gil, you get behind me.Ellie and Franco, you’re inthe middle. Holt, make sure

no one comes up behind us.Let’sgo.”

They followed thehallway to the patio withoutincident.Taliapeekedaroundthecornerandwasabletoseethe shuttle. “Two guards,”she whispered over hershoulder. They used the sideterrace as cover as theymovedclosertotheship.

“I’ll take the one on theright,” said Talia. “Holt, youtaketheoneontheleft.Ellie

and Gil, spread out andprovide cover fire. Franco,watchtherear.”

Once the others were inposition, Talia and Holtopenedfireontheguards.Assoon as they heard the firstshots fired, Ellie and Gilbertbeganfiringaswell.Itwasalloverintwentysecondsandinless than aminute after that,theshuttlewasascendingintotheatmosphere.

Everyone was happy to

see that the nasty lookingspaceship had gone, but thenfeltabitdepressedwhentheyrealizeditmostlikelywenttoretrievetheirNurridium.

“Let’s get the hell out ofthis sector and make a widebertharoundwherever itwasyou dumped that rock,” wasEllie’s first command. Oncethe shipwaswell on itswayand they were sure theyweren’tbeing followed,Elliecalled everyone to the ship’s

galley.“I just wanted to get

together,”saidEllie,“andsaythat even though the dealdidn’tworkoutforus,atleastwesurvivedwithallourarmsintact. And I learned avaluable lesson. Next timesomething like this happens,I’m just dumping everythingintotheneareststarandfilinganinsuranceclaim.”

“And Gil,” said Talia,“even though your program

didn’t stop those guys fromgetting the information fromus, it did save our ass downthere.”

“I thought it was prettygood stuff,” said Franco. “Ithought it would do thetrick.”

“Not me,” said Holt.“Nothingagainstyoutwo,butI knew that whatever youguys put together someone,somewhere would be able topullitapart.”

“Oh really,” said Gilbert.“Then why didn’t you dosomethingaboutit?”

“Idid,”saidHolt.“Sorry,Captain, but instead ofputting that Nurridium backin the rock like you orderedme to, I shoved it in thebottom of storage locker 8-12.”

19.

Lyn and Simon traveled

to the Dahana space stationahead of Jon so they couldsecure a suite of connectingrooms close to the teleportstation. While they weredoing that,Ellie2was settingup a security grid to mask

their coming and going fromthe station’s surveillancesystem and then Jon wouldfollowinexactlyonehour.

Jon was still a very hotand sought after commodityand if the priceMacnair hadput on his head wasn’tenough, Alicia’s father hadplasteredhisfacealloverthemedia, accompanied by areward for any informationpertaining to either his orAlicia’s whereabouts.

Macnair had the entireunderworld network ofsnitches, informants andbounty hunters looking forhimandnowthefollowersofentertainment televisionwereon his heels as well. Thingswere definitely not going ashe had hoped and paying avisit to Dahana could makematters worse. The spacestation had resident bountyhunters that lived there yearround following the premise

that it was easier to wait foryourpreytocometoyouthanchase after it. There arealwayspeopleontherunandsooner or latermost of themcome through the spacestation and a certainpercentage either don’t payofftherightpeopleorthey’reidentifiedbysomeone’sfacialrecognition system andthey’re picked up and cartedaway, usually without theneedoffrozencarbonite.

Jon’sgoalforthedaywasnot to be caught, so heworeclothes that hid all hisprominentfeatures.Youthinkthiswouldmakehimstickoutin thecrowd,butat leastonethird of the people in thespacestationdidn'twanttobefound and were similarlydressed.

JonmetSimonandLynatthe teleport station and thethree of them proceeded totheirrooms.Thespacestation

is a twenty-four-by-sevenaffair since almost everyonethere is on a differenttimetable and it doesn’t havea predictable slow period.The only people that operateon a fixed schedule are theresidents that work there. Afewcenturiesago,agroupofscientists got together anddevelopedauniversal systemformeasuringhoursanddaysin hopes of putting everyonein the universe on the same

timeframe, but it ended uplike themetric system in theUnited States; everybody isaware it exists, but nobodyreallyusesitunlesstheyhaveto.

“Okay,steponecomplete,we’re all here,” said Jon,glancingaboutthesuite.“Justcouldn’twait,couldyou,”hesaid noticing the ruffledblankets in one of thebedrooms.

“We had 20 minutes to

killwhilewewerewaitingforyou to come through,” saidSimon.

“Whatdidyoudo for theother18?”askedJon.

“Veryfunny.Besides,wedidn’t know how to turn ontheTV,”saidSimon.

“TV on,” said Jon andonesideof the roombecamealiveactiontheater.“Justsaywhat youwant and the roomwilldoit.”

“Butyou spokeEnglish,”

said Simon, “and there’s noway that the roomunderstandsEnglish.”

“IdidnotspeakEnglish,”saidJon.“It’s justyourbrainhearing English. That’s howthe implant works, it tricksyour brain into seeing andhearing things a bitdifferently than they reallyare. You’re hearing Englishand if you watch my mouthyou’d swear it was formingEnglish words, but it’s not.

Youcanevenputyourhandson my mouth and it wouldfeel as though it’smoving inaccordance with the wordcoming out, but it’s all theimplant controlling a verysmall part of your brainmaking you see and heareverything in English. It’slike watching one of yourmovies with computergenerated dinosaurs in it andtheimplantisliketheguysinthespecialeffectsdepartment

tricking your brain intoseeingaT-Rex.”

“SowhenIwaschecking-indownstairs,”saidSimon,“Iwasn’tspeakingEnglishwiththeclerk’simplanttranslatingfor him, I was actuallyspeaking an alien languageand my implant madeeverything seem like Englishto me, even what I wassaying?”

“Nowyou’vegotit,”saidJon. “If it didn’t work like

that then everything wouldlook like the Americanversion of a Chinese martialartsmoviewiththevoiceandlipsoutofsync.”

“Amazing,” said Lyn.“TVoff.”

“Now I want you two togoback to that loungewhereyouoverheardthosetwoguystalking and see if eitherreturns.I’mgoingtodosomesnooping.” Jon took out hisdevice and placed it on the

table. “Full access mode,please.”

A screen and controlpanel appeared in front ofJon.Theyweren’tsubstantial,meaning that they weren’tmadeoutof solidmatter,butthree-dimensional projectionssimilartothehotelTV.

“Show me the layout oftheentirestation.”Hisdevicecomplied. “Give me anotherscreenwithacorrelatedlistofhotels,residences,businesses,

etc. Add a third screen withnamesandIDphotos.Pullupthe images you have of ourtwo suspects.” More screensappeared. “Doyou thinkyoucan recognize these two ifyouseethemagain?”

“Ofcourse,”saidLyn.“Then off you go,” said

Jon. “And make sure theydon’tgetintoanytrouble.”

“Iwill,”repliedEllie2.“And nurse those drinks,

we’reworkingtonight.”

Lyn and Simon left theroom and proceeded togroundlevel.

“Let’stakethelongway,”said Lyn. “I want to get abetter feel for this place, incase we need to duck insomewhere.”

“Great idea,” saidSimon.“Iwant tocheckoutsomeofthesestoresandgetafeelforthis universe in general. Thelevel of technology isstaggering.”

“Okay, but just a fewstops,” agreed Lyn and theyproceeded along until Lynnoticed a clothing store.“Let’s stop in here for asecond. I want to see whatsuper high-tech clothesshoppingislike.”

They entered the storeand immediately noticed thatlikeitsearthlycounterparts,ithadvariousgarmentslaidouton tables or on hangers. Thefirst difference they sawwas

that the displays didn’t usemannequins, instead theyemployed three-dimensionalprojections.

“Idon’tseeanymirrors,”began Lyn, “and there aren’tany different sizes or colors.No dressing rooms either.”Lyn picked up a hat from atable. Immediatelya full size3D projection of Lynappeared in front of herwearing the hat. She putdownthehatandtookashort

jacketoff anearby rack.Theprojection changed and herimage was now wearing thejacket. After a few seconds,the color of the jacketchangedandafterthat,thehatwasadded.

“Look at this,” saidSimonasheindicatedasmallpad in the display. It hadbuttons labeled Purchase andNext.HeputhisfingerontheNextbuttonandtheimageofLyn was now wearing a

differentjacket.“Icouldgetusedtothis,”

said Lyn. “Did someone saywe had an unlimited creditcard?”

“We’llcomebacklater,ifthere’s time,” said Simon.“We’re supposed to belookingforGilbert.”

“He might be inside oneof these hats, we shouldlook.”

“Comeon.Let’sgo.”“Hold this for a second,”

Lyn said handing Simon ashortskirt.

“Veryfunny,”saidSimonas an image of him in theskirtappeared.

“You could pull that off,you’vegotthelegsforit.”

“Now isn’t that justwhateverymanwantstohear.”

They left the store andcontinued on their way, buttheydidn’tgetveryfarbeforeSimon stopped. “We’ve gotto go in here,” he said

charging into a nearby store.Lyn followed, shaking herhead. Bound to happen, shethought as they entered anelectronicgadgetshop.

“Look at this,” saidSimon. “They have a wholesection for implants. Andover there’s a weaponscounter.”Simonbegangoingupanddowneachaislelikeakidinacandyshop.

Lyn tagged along for afewminutesandthensaid,“I

know what you’re lookingfor.”

“I’m not looking foranything in particular,” saidSimon.

“Really?” said Lyn.“You’re not trying to find areallaserswordorraygun?”

“Not especially, but ifthey got one, I might beinterested. You didn’t seeone,didyou?”

“What about Gilbert? Ithought you didn’t want to

wasteanytime?”“Gilbert would want me

tobuya lightsaber.Actually,he would want me to buytwo. He would consider thistimewellspent.”

“Comeon,let’sgettothelounge.”

LynandSimonarrivedattheloungeandoccupiedseatsatthebarthataffordedthemacomplete view of theestablishment.

“I believe that’s our boy

sitting in the same booth asthe other day,” said Lyn. “Idon’trecognizehisfriend.”

“Confirmed,” reportedEllie2. “I don’t have anyrecord of his associateeither.”

“Thismustbehis regularplace of business,” said Lynas she moved closer toSimon. “We need to becareful here. If this is hisregular spot, he’s probablypayingsomeoneoff touseit.

Informationaboutpeoplelikeus watching him usuallybringsabonussoweneedtoignore them and act like acouple out for a few drinkswhileEllie2doesherthing.”

Theyorderedtheirdrinks,butitwasonlyafewminuteslater that their quarry stooduptoleave.

“Should we followthem?”askedSimon.

“We should, but we justgot our drinks and we’ll be

giving away the game if weget up and leave now.Especially if anyone noticesthatwedidthesamethingtheotherday.Ellie2,howfarcanyou follow them after theyleavehere?”

“I’ve tapped into thestation’ssurveillancegridsoIcan monitor them whilethey’re on the street. Privatebusinesses have their ownsystems so following themoncethey’reoffthestreetwill

depend on where they go.They’ve just splitupandourregular picked up a travelingcompanion, but he’sfollowingalongabouttenfeetback.

“That would be hisbodyguard. Keep an eye onall of them while we finishourdrinksandpaythetab.”

“I don’t think we shouldsplitup.”saidSimon.“Whichonedowegoafter?”

“We follow the guy we

knowisassociatedwithJon’ssister.Theotheronecouldbeunrelatedbusiness.”

“Right,” said Simon.“You’re real good at this. Ican see why you decided todoitfull-time.”

“I’vegotaknack for thistypeofthing,”saidLyn,“anda somewhat lenientconscience. You can’t haveone without the other if youwant to be successful in thisbusiness. It’s the folks that

have the knack and anextremely lenient consciencethatgetintotrouble.”

“Like our friend Jon,”saidSimon.

“Like our friend Jon,”agreed Lyn, “but I think hisconsciencehasbeentryingtocatch up to him for a whilenow and it’s finally movedfromajogtoasprint.”

“Lucky for us,” saidSimon

“Yougot that right,” said

Lyn.They left the bar and

began following Ellie2’sdirections which led them toDahana’s residential areawhere most of its permanentinhabitants live. This areawasseparate from the restofthe station with only ahandful of avenues havingaccess to it, some of whichwere gated and requiredidentity verification to enteror exit. It was into one of

these that their quarryentered.

“Ellie2, can you get usintothere?”Lynasked.

“Sorry, guys, no can do.It’s on a closed system withno access to the rest of thestation.”

“What about our othermark?”askedLyn.

“Iwasabletofollowhimto one of the highest pricedhotels in the most expensivepartofthestation.”

“Sohe’sthemoney,”saidLyn. “Our boy here wasprobably hired by him andthis could all be connectedafterall.Let’sgetbacktothehotel and see what Jon’scomeupwith.”

Simon and Lyn returnedto the hotel suite to find abewildered Jon, sipping aglass containing a greenliquid.

“I hope you two hadbetter luck than I did,” said

Jon. “I went throughthousands of names andplaces,noneofwhichseemtotie in with any of thisbusiness.” He stared at Lynfor a second, “Is that a newhat?”

“Is thatTrapezianwine?”askedSimon.

“Yes,”saidJon.“I felt inneedofsomeinspiration.Thebottle and glasses are overthere.” Jon pointing vaguelytohisright.

“Well buck up, old son,”beganLyn,“wedidn’tdotoobadly. Nothing concrete, butenoughtofollowupon.”

“Bestnews I’veheardallnight,”saidJon.

“Looks like the man thathired the pirate is a residenthere and has a habit oftransacting his business inthat lounge,” said Lyn. “Hewas there again and wefollowed him to hisresidential block, but it was

part of a gated area and wecouldn’tgetin.”

“I ran into similardifficulties trying to getinformation about that area,”saidJon.“Can’tbedonefromthe outside. We’d need tohack that system from theinside.”

“Ithinkhismoneymanishere,” said Lyn. “The twowere in conference and justfinishingupwhenwearrived.Ellie2, did you pick up

anything interesting beforetheyleft?”

“JustthatsomeonenamedPJ left to fetch a specialpackage and should be backwithinthenext24hours.”

“Andyouthinkthisguyispaying for whatever it isbeing brought here?” askedJon.

“He’s living like a kingwhile he’s here. He must bepaying for some type ofservice. He’s certainly not

working for our resident,”saidLyn.

Ellie2 began displayingimages of the twomen fromtheloungeastheywerebeingdiscussed.

“Hang on,” said Jon.“I’ve seen him before. Hewas at the palace when IarrivedtovisitAlicia.”

“Whatdoyoumean?Washejusthangingaroundordidhe work there or what?”askedLyn.

“He was in uniform, butnot part of the guard. Hecaught my eye because hedidn’t have any insignia ormarkings. At the time Ithoughthewas some typeofadviserandgotabitworried,but he stayed behind at thepalace and didn’t followalongwiththerestofAlicia’sguard.”

“But now he’s turned uphere, talking to the guy thatorganized the raid on your

sister’s ship because of whatshe has in with her cargo.Howdoes that fit in?” askedLyn.

“There can be only onereason this guy’s here,” saidJon, “and it’s becauseAlicia’s father sent him.Maybe our resident isscamming him for Alicia’srewardmoney,buttheking’sno fool, he’d want evidencethatthisguyeitherhasAliciaorcangether.”

“Maybehe’sjustcoveringallthebasesandhe’sgotthisguy here on the lookout forher,”commentedSimon.

“I’m sure he’s gothundreds of people like thisguy on his payroll. All thatstuff is coordinated by hissubordinates. Something elseisgoingonherethatrequiresapersonaltouch,”saidJon.

“Should we try to grabone of these two?” askedLyn.

“I think we’d need morethan we have at the momenttoaccomplishthat,”saidJon.

“Next best thing then?”askedLyn.

“Yes.I thinkit’s timewewenttothebeach,”saidJon.

A few hours later foundLyn, Simon and Jon drivingup thecoastheading towardsSanta Barbara with Ellie2acting as their GPS system.Lyn took this opportunity tocallherclient,JennyWilson.

“No, Mrs. Wilson, Ihaven’tlocatedhimasofyet,butIamgettingcloser.”

“Do you think he is inPuerto Rico, at thatobservatory? Do you believehis partner Simon is tellingthetruth?”

“I’ve been working veryclosely with Simon and weboth believe that Gilbert hasgotten tangled up in sometype of elaborate scientificespionagescheme.”

“So it has nothing to dowithpornography?”

“No,itdoesn’t.”“You’reabsolutelysure?”“Positive.”“Isee.”“Youseemdisappointed.”“It’s just that I was

hopingthathewasbeginningto take an interest insomething other thanscience,” said Mrs. Wilson.“You know, develop sometypeofhobby.”

“Likeporn?”askedLyn.“Or poker,” said Mrs.

Wilson. “Even James Bondplays poker now instead ofBaccarat. At least those arethingsthatregularpeoplecanrelate to. Instead, you’retelling me that he’s justcaught up in some type ofscientist’sversionofhideandseek.Itisdisappointing.”

“Would you feel better ifI toldyouhewasluredawaybyagirl?”

“Really? You think hewasinterestedinagirl?”

“There’s definitely a girlinvolved, but I can’t say thatGilbertisinvolvedwithher.”

“It’senoughtoknowthathe was interested. Let meknowifyoufindoutanythingelse.” They talked for a fewminutes more before Lynendedthecall.

The next morning Lyn,SimonandJontraveledouttothebeachhouse.Itwasavery

secureaffair,walledofffromthe general public. They hadput togethera roughplan thenightbeforewhiletheyateattheir hotel’s Mexicanrestaurant. The plan wassomewhat sketchy thismorning since Lyn took theopportunity to introduce Jonto tequila. They started withSunrises, moved toMargaritas, quicklyprogressed to Shooters andthen the inevitable salt and

lime shots. The coast wasn’tthe only thing foggy thismorningastheydrovealong.

“Does everyoneremember what they’resupposedtodo?”askedLyn.

“I’m supposed to beAlicia’sagentandyou’remyassistant,”saidJonindicatingLyn. “We go in under somepretense that she’s violatinganother contract by being ontheirshowandgrabher.”

“I wait outside with the

motor running,” said Simon.“Then we hightail it backhome and try to figure outjust what the hell is goingon.”

“Did all this make moresenselastnight?”askedJon.

“Do you have a betteridea?”askedLyn.

“We go in with gunsblazing,” said Jon, “stun thelotof them,IputAliciaovermyshoulderandwe’reinthecarandonourwayinfifteen

minutes.”Lyn thought about it and

said,“We’llsavethatforplanB.”

Lyn and Jon left the carand approached the gates.Security guards appearedfrom inside the small gatehouse.

“Can we help you?” oneasked.

“Yes, I’m AliciaBurdast’s agent…” Jon saidas he began his prepared

speech. The security guardstoppedhimmid-sentence.

“Yes, sir, you’re on ourlist.Mr.Fredricksonhasbeenexpecting you.” He spokeinto his headset and thencontinued on, “Please followmeuptothehouse.”

Jon and Lyn exchangedwhat was becoming theirusual what-do-you-make-of-thatlookastheywereledintoa separate part of the house,separate from the 24 hour

partyandalwaysoncameras.They entered a large officewithasinglepersonstandingbehindadesk.

“I’m Fredrickson,” hesaid, “but please call meGeorge. Can I call you Jon?Great.Aliciadidn’tgiveusalast name. I’m one of theproducers of the show andI’ve been looking forward tomeeting someone thatrepresentsourAlicia.”

“Hello,George,”saidJon.

“This is my assistant, Miss.Smith. Alicia mentioned thatIwasheragent?”

“No,notassuch.Shedidsay that she was travelingwith an extremely dullindividual, her words, notmine,andthatsoonerorlaterhewouldshowup.Iassumedit was going to be her agentor husband or psychiatrist,somethinglikethat.Shegaveusyournameandweputitonthe guest list. Can’t seem to

get her out of character longenough to talk shop, but shedidsignall the release formsand we’re paying her astandard wage, though we’renot quite sure who to makethe checks out to and shedoesn’t seem to know hersocialsecuritynumber.”

“I’m sorry, George, butwehaveaproblemhere.Yousee, Alicia is under contractwith another firm and can’tbeonyourshow.”

“She didn’t mentionanythingaboutittous.”

“Oh, I’m sure sheneglected to mention it andyou’re not at fault, but nowthat you have knowledge ofthe situation, you are liableand can be sued if youcontinue to have her on theshow. Can I please speakwith her in private? I’m surewecan straighten all thisoutwithout the need for lawyersandlawsuits.”

“Pleasewaithereand I’llhave her brought in,” said avisibly disturbed George ashelefttheroom.

“Idon’tbelieveit,”saidasurprised Jon. “That actuallyworked.”

“We should start usingtequila in all our strategysessions,”saidLyn.

Itwasafewshortminuteslater that a pouting Aliciaenteredtheroom.

“I knew you’d show up

and ruin the party,” she saidassoonasshespiedJon.

“We both know that Ienjoyapartyasmuchasyoudo,”saidJon.

“Really?” said Alicia.“We’ll be putting that to thetestinafewminutes.”

“What does that mean?”askedJon.

“Just that the party isabouttogetveryinteresting.”

Lyn heard Ellie2’s voicein her ear, “Lyn, prepare for

trouble,we’vegotincoming.”Lyn looked out the

window and saw a shuttlelanding inside the beachhouse gate. She spun Jonaroundandpointed.

“Alicia, what did youdo?”heasked.

“Oh, I just used themicrowave broadcastingequipment they have here topiggyback a signal off theICC probes and relay it tosomefriends.”

“Youwhat?”askedJon.“You should have looked

into my schooling a bitinstead of assuming Iwas asdumb as my sister,” saidAlicia.

“Jon, we’ve got positiveIDon thepeople comingoutof the shuttle,” said Lyn.“One of them is the piratethatwentafteryoursister.”

“Alicia, what have youdone?”repeatedJon.

“Did you think I was

goingtostaymaroonedhere?I called for a ride. Now ifyou’ll excuse me, I’mleaving. But one finalperformancebeforeIgo.TellGeorgeIsaidbye.”

AsAliciaturnedtoleave,Lyndecidedthatenoughwasenough. Four years ofmixedmartial arts fighting lessonsshould slow this bitch down,shethought.Shewasinmid-stridewhenAliciaexecutedaperfect leg sweep that

knockedheronherbutt.“Don’t even think about

it,”AliciasaidasLynmovedintoacrouchandpreparedtolaunchherselfbackatAlicia.“The only reason you’re stillconsciousisbecauseyou’reafriendofJon’s.”

“Time for plan B?” Lynasked Jon as she watchedAlicialeavetheroom.

“I think they beat us toit,”saidJonashelookedoutthewindow. The pirate crew

had reached the beach houseand was stunning anyone intheirway.

“Let’s get back to thecar,” said Jon. They metSimon charging through thegroundsastheywereleaving.The last thing they heard asthey left was the show’scommentator’s voicedescribingtheskirmish.

“Princess Alicia has nowjoinedforceswithwhatIcanonly assume are space aliens

that have invaded the beachhouse. She’s approachingCarrie and you know thesetwonevergotalongsoitwillbe interesting to see whattranspires here. And therethey are, the energy beamsthatAliciatoldusabout!Andwho would have thought itpossible, but they’re blastingthrough her shirt and arecoming out of her nipples.Admit it folks, that’s whereweallsecretlythoughtthey’d

comeoutof…”

20.“Letme get this straight.

Youwent to the coordinates,followed the instructions,

found the rock with thesignaling beacon, but whenyou opened it up, it wasempty.”

“Right, boss,” said Hal,not very happy to be thebearerofbadnews.

“Doesn’t surprise me,”said Macnair. “I neverthought there was anyNurridium to begin with.Nowyougo.”

“While we were out,”began Monti, “it seemed an

intruder breached mysecurity, gained entrance tothe compound, stunned theguards and released theprisoners. Then they stunnedafewmoreguards,madeittotheirshipandleftorbit.”

“They probably droppedtheir best guy outside yourgates before landing and hadthatstupidNurridiumstoryatthe ready, just in case thingsdidn’tworkout.Well,Monti,if I remember correctly we

had a bet on the NurridiumstoryanditseemsIwon.”

“That’s true,”saidMonti.“I’ll make payment rightaway.”

“You’ll make paymentright away for ten times theamounttocompensatemeforthelossofJon’ssisterandmywastedtime.”

“ButI,”startedMontiandthen thought better of it,thinking about how attachedhe was to his arms. “Of

course,that’sonlyfair.”Macnair and his goons

leftsoonafterthatandMontisat down behind his desk,reliving the day’s events.Most of it was recorded byhissecuritysystem,butotherparts, like the prisoners’escape, were missing whichmeant whoever wasresponsible had some verygood tricks of their own.Monti was a thorough manand replayed it time and

again,notwantingtomissthesmallestdetail.

Once he was sure therewas nothing else to learn byreviewing past events, hedecided it was time to seewhat the future held. It wastime to see who he hadtrappedinhisteleportsystem.

“Okay, let me get this

straight.InsteadofputtingtheNurridium in the rock like I

orderedyouto,youhiditinalocker?”

“Right.Locker8-12.”“Andit’stherenow.”“Isupposeso.”“And if that Tomas guy

didn’t come to our rescue,thosegoonswouldhavecomeback empty handed and cutoff our arms,” said Talia,whackingHoltonthebackofthehead.

“Hey,” yelled Holt nowfending off head slaps from

Talia and Franco. “We stillhad the Nurridium. I wouldhave said something beforehe cut anything off ofanybody.AllIdidwasbuyusmore time and itworked outrealgood.”

“Guys like thatdon’t liketo be jerked around,” saidTalia. “Theywould have cutsomething off of somebodyjustfortheextratroubleeveniftheygottheNurridium.”

“Well,theydidn’tandwe

got awaywith it so I guess Ioutsmartedthem,”saidHolt.

“Yeah, well, they don’tlike tobeoutsmartedeither,”said Talia. “We need to lielow for an extended period.Especially you, Ellie. Anywayyoucangetintouchwithyourbrother?”

“We’ve got ananonymous mail box set upwherewecanleavemessagesfor each other, but I haven’tchecked it since we went

silent. I’ll have to access thegrid to get to it and ifsomeone iswatching itcouldgive our position away ormake us the target for sometypeoftrackingworm.”

“Asmalldoseofparanoiais healthy, but let’s not getcarried away here,” saidFranco. “We’ll scramble theships signal so they’ll thinkwe’resomeoneelseandwe’lljust be anotherminuscule bitof traffic on an immense

network. People check theirmessages all the time andtheycan’tmonitorallofthemand even if they could,we’dbe five parsecs away beforethey figured anything out. Isaychanceit.”

“Hey, I’m thinking aboutyou guys,” said Ellie.“Remember, they want mealive, but I don’t think theygivearat’sassabout therestofyou.”

“We appreciate your

concern,” began Talia, “butmakethecall.”

Jon, Simon and Lyn had

madethedrivebackdownthecoast and were sitting inSimon’s living room. Theyhad discussed the events atthe beach house the entireride home. Jon was stillsurprised at the turn ofevents.

“She said she had used

the TV broadcastingequipment to make contactwith her comrades. That isnot a simple thing to do. Ireally underestimated thatgirl.”

“Mydadtoldmethereareonly two times when a manshould underestimate awoman,”saidSimon.

“And when is that?”askedLyn.

“When discussing theirageandweight,ofcourse.”

“Sage advice,” remarkedJon and then turned his headabitlikehewaslisteningtoavoice from inside his skull,whichhewas.“Mysisterjustaccessedourmailboxandleftareply.”

“What was yourmessage?”askedLyn.

“I asked her how theweatherwas.”

“And what was herreply?”askedSimon.

“Foot.”

“Exactly what does thatmean?”saidLyn.

“She’sinarelativelysafeposition and is going to bebackonthegridintwohourswithherteleportonline.She’sgoing to remain like that forfiveminutes.”

“And we’re sure that’sher,thatit’snotatrap?”saidLyn.

“Whoever it is knows allthe required passwords andunderstands our little code.

It’s either Ellie or someonegot intoherbrainandpickedit clean. No way to tell, butI’m sure it’s her. She justdoesn’tget involvedwith thetype of people that have thecapability to get insidesomeone’sheadlikethat.”

“Age and weight,”remindedLyn.

“Sowhatdowedonext?”askedSimon.

“We? I’m sorry, myfriends, but your fun ends

here. I’ll go on alone andsendGilbertrightback,”saidJon. “You don’t need to getinvolvedwith the rest of thisaffair.”

“What if Gilbert’s notthere?” asked Lyn. “It’s myjobtogethimbackhere.I’mdefinitelygoing.”

“Well, you guys aren’tleavingmehere,”saidSimon.“I’m just as concerned aboutGilbert as the rest of you. Infact, I’m probably the most

concerned. You’ve onlytalked with him for thirtyminutes,” he said to Jon.“And you’ve never evenmethim,”hesaidtoLyn.

“Fine, we all go,” saidJon. “We collect Gilbertstraight away and then thethreeofyoureturnrightbackto Earth.” Jon thought for asecond before continuing. “Iwant to bring the secondaryteleport back online in casewe need it at some point

down the line, but I want touse your original teleport togetusbacktotheICCandwecan teleport to Ellie’s shipfrom there. We’ve got lessthan two hours so let’s get amoveon.”

“Iwanttomakeonequickstopon theway to the lab. Itshould only take fiveminutes,”saidLyn.

After stopping for Lyn,they proceeded to thesecondary teleport station.

Simon reconnected thecabling while Jonreestablished communicationwiththeICC.Whenthatwascompleted, theyproceeded totheoriginallab.Theyenteredthelabandstaredindisbeliefat a totally wrecked teleportstation.

“What do you thinkhappened,”askedLyn.

“Ithinkacoupleofthugssmashed it with baseballbats,” said Simon. “Look,

therearethebats.GilbertandIdon’tkeepsportsequipmenthere.”

“Do you or Gilbert evenown any sports equipment?”askedLyn.

“Ofcourse.”“Chessdoesn’tcountasa

sport.”“Thenno.”“This is Alicia’s doing,”

said Jon. “She had someonecome down here and smashit. She wanted to strand us

here. Good thing she didn’tknow about the backupstation.” Jon scanned thewreckage for a few secondslonger. “Okay, back to thebackup.”

They returned to thesecondary lab andprogrammed the teleport tosendthemtotheICC.

“Why did you want tostopoffhere?”LynaskedJonaftertheyarrived.

“I want to check up on

ourfriendAgentTomas.TheICCcomputeriskeepingtabson him. I don’t want tostumbleoverhimlateron.”

“What’stheoldgoatbeenup to?” asked Lyn. “Stillstrugglingtoremovethatpolefromhisass?”

“Notquite,”saidJon.“Hewenttopayavisittoacertaincharacterand itdoesn’tseemas though he’s left yet. He’sbeen there for much longerthan I would expect

necessary.Iwonderifhe’sinsome type of bind.” Jonfrowned as he said that lastpart.

“Wellwhatdoyouknow,I believe the dog has finallycaught the rabbit,” Lyncommented.

“What’s that supposed tomean?”askedJon.

“Feeling a bit guilty orconcerned about him, areyou?”saidLyn.

“Well,yes,thoughIdon’t

know why. He’s just doinghis job and I can’t beexpected to watch out forhim.”

“I am surrounded bysocially and emotionallychallenged geniuses,”muttered Lyn. “Look, addhim to your list of things todoandyou’llfeelbetter.”

“I suppose you’re right,”saidJon

“Sure,” said Lyn. ”Nowlet’sgohaveanicevisitwith

yoursister.”

“Incoming signal,

Captain.”“Weapons ready,” said

Ellie,thenaftereveryonehadtheir weapons pointed at theteleportstationshecontinued,“Letitthrough.”

Jon, Simon and Lynmaterialized, much to thereliefofallwatching.

“Hello,Ellie,”saidJonin

agenuinelyhappy tone. “It’sgoodtoseeyou.”

“It’sgoodtoseeyoutoo,Jon.”Priortohisarrival,Elliewasn’t sure if shewas goingto hug or punch her brother.She didn’t think she wouldhave been able to hit herbrother so she had preppedTaliaforthetask.

“You hit him, he’s yourbrother,”Taliahadreplied.“Idon’tliketogetinthemiddleoffamilysquabbles.”

“Hey, you’re on thepayrolltohitpeopleandhe’speoplesohithim.”

Ellie glanced at Talia,made a barely noticeablehead shake and thenembraced her brother. “I’vebeenworriedaboutyou,Jon.”

“Well, I’m always insomesortof troublesothat’snothing new. Now tell mewhat'sgoingonhere?Havingsome problems with pirates?But before we get into that,

this is Simon and Lyn.They’refriendsofGilbertandinsistedoncomingalong.”

“Simon!”shoutedGilbert.“Gilbert!”shoutedSimon.

The two friends exchanged aquickembrace.

“Simon and Lyn, this ismysisterEllie.”

“Apleasure,”saidSimon.“Nice to meet you,” said

Lyn.“Likewise,” said Ellie

with a nod and then

introduced Holt, Talia andFranco.“What’sinthebags?”

“My mother taught menever to show up uninvitedand empty handed. Chips,salsa and tequila to eat anddrink while we talk,” saidLyn.

“You, I like,” said Ellie.“The jury’s still out on youtwo,” she said as she passedSimon and Jon and led theway out of the teleportchamber and down the

corridortothegalley.“You’ll never believe

everythingthat’shappenedtomesinceIleftEarth,”GilbertsaidtoSimonastheywalkedalong. “First, I had tooutsmart some intergalacticmob guys that invaded theICC, then I got to work onthisshipwhilewewenttoanasteroid mining camp, thenwe were attacked by piratesand then we almost got ourbrains sucked dry and our

armscutoff!”“Ihaveagirlfriend,”said

Simon as he leaned intowardshisfriend.

“Not Lyn?” said Gilbertin a lower voice. Simonnodded. “Dude, she’ssmokinghot.Whatworlddidyoupickherupon?”

“She’sfromEarth.”“Sosheknows…?”“Yup, she knows I’m a

geekanddoesn’tcare.”“Wow, who would have

thought, I’m traveling theuniverse, getting attacked byspacepiratesandyou’vegotahot girlfriend. Two equallyimprobable things by Earthstandards,yethereweare.”

“Hey, Gil,” said Simon,“have you had a chance tofigure out how the ship’sengineswork?”

“Ihavedevelopedabasicunderstanding of the physicsinvolved.”

“Well, don’t keep me in

suspense. Is it Star Wars orStarTrek?”

“AlotlikeStarTrek.”“Iknewit.”“I don’t even want to

know what they’re talkingabout back there,” LyncommentedtoJon.“IthoughtIwasmakingprogress,but itseems all my hard workevaporated in a matter ofminutes. Itmust be a criticalmass type deal, the moregeeks you get together, the

worsetheyare.”Gilbert and Simon were

discussing the fact that StarWars and Star Trek, two ofthe most popular sciencefiction productions of thetwentieth century, employedtwo different methods fortravelingfasterthanthespeedof light. Star Wars useshyperspace, a different typeofspacethatexistsinthesci-fi universe where things canmovefasterthanthespeedof

light. In the Star Trekuniverse, spaceships stay inregular space, but bend therules of physics by warpingspace as it travels through it,allowing things to travelfasterthanthespeedoflight.

“So how do the engineswork?”askedSimon.

“They create an eventsingularity that inverts thefabric of space-time whilesimultaneously convertingextraordinary amounts of

pseudo mass into pseudoenergy and using that topropel the ship through astream of pseudo space-timewherevelocityisonlylimitedby theamountofenergyyoupourintoit.”

“That’s pseudoridiculous.”

“I know, but we eitheraccept theirphysicsor resignourselves to the possibilitythatmagicexists.”

“And there’s no

hyperspace?”askedSimon.“There is, but things

actuallymoveslowerthere.”“That doesn’t make any

sense.”“Welcome to the

universe.Did youmeet Ellietherobot?”

“No, I haven’t met anyrobots. Where were thererobots?”

“I’m inhere,” saidEllie2from inside Simon’s pantspocket.

“Dude, there’s a voicecoming from inside yourpants.Didyougetsometypeofweirdimplant?”

Simon reached into hispocketandpulledoutEllie2.

“Hi, Gilbert!” said Ellie2as a six inch high 3Dprojection of Ellie the robotappeared above the devicebeingheldbySimon.

“Hey, Ellie! Is that youinsidethere?YoulooklikeaniPhone.Well,I’mgladtosee

you’restillaliveandkicking.I’m sure Simon found youveryhelpful.”

“Are you kidding? Theygot so plastered one night Ihadtogivethemstepbystepdirections on how to walk.Andthey’recallingmeEllie2now because their brainscan’t cope with the idea oftwo things with the samename.”

“Hey, Ellie2, do thething,”saidSimon.

The six inch figure ofEllie2becameabrunette inawhite robe-like garmentwithanearmuffhairstyle.

“Help me, Simon andGilbert, you’re my onlyhope,” the image said beforedisappearing in shimmeringstatic.

“See-through robe,” saidGilbert.“Nicetouch.”

A short while latereveryone was sittingcomfortably in the galley

munchingonnachos, sippingMargaritas and telling theirrespectivestories.

“Whatdidyoudotomakethat Macnair guy so mad atyou?”FrancoaskedJon.

“Yeah, what did you do,his wife or his daughter?”addedTalia.

“Nothing like that,believeme.That’ssomethingI could deal with,” said Jon.“Thisstartedoutasabusinessdeal. I was hired to set up a

securenetworkforwhatIwastoldwasalegitimatebusinessventure. It was intergalacticinscopeandrequiredextremeencryption. Well, you knowme,” he said to Ellie, “themore I got into it, the morethings didn’t add up and themore interested I got.Then Iwas approached by ourmutual friend Agent Tomas.Turns out that Macnairwanted all his operations allover the universe to begin

reporting real-time on theirbits and pieces. SeemsMacnairwanted to centralizehisaccountingsohecouldcutdownontheskimming.”

“How very corporate ofhim,”saidEllie.

“By this time I hadrealized that he wascontrolling illegal drugtrafficking, forced labor,prostitution, you name it. Hetakesitfromwhereit’slegal,ships it to where it’s illegal

and sells it to the folks thatare too lazy or cheap tomove.”

“So all that stuff is legalon some worlds? Even in asociety as advanced as thisone?”askedLyn.

“Oh sure,” continuedFranco.“Lastcensuscountedclose to two quadrillionpeople and believe me, theycome in all shapes, sizes,fetishes and addictions.Evenif only 0.0001% are mega-

kinky or drug crazy, that’sstill billions of people.Morethan enough to colonize abunch of planets where noone cares what they do,especially the crappy oneswithlimitedhabitablespace.”

“Anyway, at some pointTomasconvincedmetorunadata feed to his office,”continued Jon. “When theFedshadenoughinformation,they came down on all ofMacnair’soperations.”

“I could see how thatcould make him a tad upsetwithyouandIguess it’s justour bad luck to be guilty byassociation,”saidTalia.

“Yeah, sorry about that,”said Jon, “but let’s see whatwecandotoclearallthisup.Buytheway,wherearewe?”

“We’re still in sectorC368. I’ve got us tuckedawayinalarge,slowmovingdebrisfield,”saidTalia.

“Alright,”saidJon taking

outhisdeviceandsettingitatthefarendofthetable.“Let’slist everything we know andsee if we can connect somedots.” His deviceimmediatelyprojectedalargewhiteboard-like screen aboveitself.“Doyourecognizeanyof these people?” Images ofall three players from thespace station were nowdisplayed.

“The first guy on the leftis PJ the pirate,” said Ellie.

“It was his crew that hit usafter we picked up ourcargo.”

“He’s also the guy thatraided Earth and grabbedAlicia,” said Jon. “He wasgetting his orders from thisguynext tohim,who in turnwasworkingforthisnextguyontherightandthatguywaswithAliciawhenIarrivedonherplanet.”

Holt looked up from hisfingers.“Hey,Ithinktheygot

too many guys. That’s goodforus,right?”

“SodoyouthinkAliciaisbehind it all?” asked Franco,ignoringHolt.

“I don’t think so,” Jonsaid. He saw Lyn’s lefteyebrow raise and added,“Not that I don’t think she’scapable,Ijustcan’tfigureoutwhat her motive would be.She has everything. She’sprincessofherownplanet.”

“I’msureit’sdifferentout

here,”beganGilbert, “butonEarthit’sthepeoplethathavethe most that typically wantmore.Especiallycelebrities.”

“No, it’s prettymuch thesamewayhere,”saidFranco.

“I’mstill not convinced,”saidJon,“butlet’saddhertotheboard.Let’s addMacnairas well. I think we can allagreethathewasn’tinvolvedwith the Nurridium before,butheisnow.”

“Don’t forget the person

thatput theNurridium in therock to begin with,” addedTalia.“Maybeweshouldtakeanother look at that miningcamp.”

“That’snotabadthought.Let’s see what we can findoutaboutit,”saidJonandthescreen partitioned itself withnotes from the discussion onone side and informationabouttheminingcampbeganscrolling on the other. “Welllook at that, your mining

camp is a minimal securitycorrectionsfacility.”

“Most are,” said Ellie.“Nothingstrangeaboutthat.”

“But even minimalcriminals have connections,”saidJon.“Thefirsthalfofthepuzzleisbecomingclear.”

“Really?”askedSimon.“Well, it’s becoming

clearer,” said Jon. “WhoeverfoundtheNurridiumprobablycontacted this guy, the onefrom Alicia’s home world,

thoughI’mstillnotsurewhy.AndthensomehowAliciagotinvolved.”

“Now that’s all well andgood, butwhat arewe goingtodonext?”askedTalia.“Westill got this big chunk ofNurridium kicking aroundandI’mafraid I’mbeginningto lose interest. Interest thatthe bank should be payingme, but isn’t because Ihaven’t deposited my sharebecausewe haven’t collected

the reward for the stupidthing. Let’s figure out howwe’re going to get in touchwiththeFedsandnegotiateadeal now that things wentsour with Monti. We’relosingmoneyhere.”

“Ihesitatetomentionthis,butwhataboutouroldbuddyAgent Tomas?” Lyn asked.“He’s a Fed. He must havesome contacts in theorganization. He seems likethetypethatwouldgetalong

wellwiththeothercops.”“He might not be very

sympathetic to our cause,”beganTalia.“Lastwesawofhim, he was heading off topull the troops together andgo after the Nurridium thatwasn’tactuallywherewetoldhimitwas.”

“I’m not sure if that willmattertoomuch,”saidJon.“Ichecked on him while I wasat the ICC and there’s norecord of him leaving

Monti’s.”“We saw him teleport

out,”Gilbertsaid.“Monti seems like too

slick a character to leave anopenaccessteleportavailableforanyonetouse,”saidJon.

“Tomashadtojimmyitabitfirst,”saidEllie.

“Monti probably had afewsafeguardssetupjustforshow,” said Jon. “Tomasprobablysetoffatonofalertsplaying around with it and

wentstraightintothebuffer.”“What’s this Monti guy

like?” asked Simon. “HowmuchdangerisTomasin?”

“Monti’s not the violenttype,” said Ellie. “He’s tooworriedabouthiscarpet,butIbet he’s not opposed tocallinginhelpwhenheneedsit. We should go back andcheckonthesituation.”

“What?”saidTalia.“Are you crazy?” said

Franco.

“They were going to cutoffourarms,”remindedHolt.

“I know what this isabout,”saidTalia.

“Drop it, Talia,” saidEllie.

“Isawthelook.”“Isaidtodropit.”“Not the look,” groaned

Jon.“What’s the look?”asked

Gilbert.“You can always tell

whenElliefallsforsomeone,

shegetsthislook,”saidTaliawidening her eyes andopening her mouth in acrooked sort of way so herbottom jaw is out ofalignmentwith the top.“AndI saw the look when agentboy was removing herrestraints and again when hewas on the teleport sayinggood-byetoher.”

“Look, theguysavedourlives,weowehimone,” saidEllie. “And Lyn makes a

goodpoint;wecan trust himto deal with the Feds for us,especially ifwehelphimoutofthisjam.”

“I’m with you, sis,” saidJon.

“Countmein,”saidTalia.“Thank you, Talia,” said

Ellie.“Well, I’m obligated on

twofronts.First,thisisprettymuch what you pay me forand second, well, we’regirlfriends and it’s up to me

tohelpyougetsome.”“I’m in,” said Gilbert,

causing all heads to turn inhis direction. “Hey, I didokay last time. I shot all therightpeople.”

“You did real good lasttime,” said Talia. “Whoknows, maybe you have aknackforthistypeofthing.”

“I’ll go too,” said Lyn.“Gil’smotherispayingmetowatchoutforhim.”

“I know,” said Ellie

looking at Simon. “She’sgoing, so you’re going. Itwouldhavebeeneasiertoaskfor volunteers to remainbehind.” Franco and Holtraisedtheirhands.

21.Ellie led her rescue team

tooneofthefreighter’scargoholds.Insidewasashipmuchsmallerthanthefreighter,buta good deal larger than theshuttle. In addition to acontrolbridge,ithadagalleyand dining area, lounge,medicalstationandahandfulof private sleeping cabins.The plan was to leave the

freighter tucked away whereit was and use this ship totravel back and forth toMonti’shideaway.

“Nicelittleship,”saidJonastheyenteredthecargobay.

“I took it in trade from abusiness acquaintance,” saidEllie. “He was retiring andwanted to move his entirehousetoadifferentworld.Heand his wife didn’t want toleaveitbehindbecauseitheldtoomanymemoriesforthem,

like their kids growingup orsomecraplikethat.Hedidn’tneed the ship anymore so heuseditaspartofthepayment.It needed some work so Itook the opportunity toupgrade the engines. It’ll getus there quicker than thisthing,” Ellie said waving atthe freighter that surroundedthem.“And,Gilbert,you’llbehappy to know it even hasshieldsandcannons.”

Theyenteredtheshipand

Talia piloted it out of thecargo bay and into openspace.

“Here’s the plan,” saidJon. “I’ve looked over theshuttle recordings from theprevious visit and I’veidentified an out of the waylanding area for the ship.We’llcomeinfromthenorthand follow this track in lowand out of sight. After weland,Ellie,Talia,GilbertandI will move on to Monti’s

estate. Simon and Lyn willremain here as backup andguardtheship.”

Talia spent some timefamiliarizing Lyn and Simonwiththeship’sflightsystems,as well as its weapons anddefensivesystems.

“I’vepresetacoursebackto the freighter,” said Talia,“just in case you need tomake a quick getaway. Nowthere’salwaysthechancethatyou may have to move the

ship to some other locationinstead of returning to thefreighter. Do either of youhaveanyflyingexperience?”

“Ihavemypilot’slicenseforsmallaircraft,”saidLyn.

“Great,” said Talia.“Manual control for this birdisprettyeasysincetheship’snav system handles all thevectoring. Show me thecontrol configuration you’reusetoandwe’llseeifwecanmimicithere.”Taliasetupa

flight control station for Lynand then moved on to handweapons.

“These weaponsautomatically adjust theiroutput,” said Talia, “so ifyour target doesn’t go downthe first time you hit it, thegunwilloutputmorejuicethenexttimeyoufire.Sometimesthe bad guys are wearingarmor or something thatdeflects the charge so if theweapon can’t stun them it

will automatically switchfromstuntoblast.”

Lyn noticed Simon’stroubled expression. “What’swrong,bigguy?”

“I never really shotanythingbefore. Idon’twanttokillanyone.”

Lyn thought for a secondand then said, “Rememberwhen Luke andHanwent totheDeathStartorescueLeia?Luke had to shoot lots ofguysandheprobablykilleda

bunchof them.Doyou thinkyoucanbelikeLuke?”

“I guess,” said Simon,then his expressionbrightened.“Soyou likeStarWars?”

“I baby satmynephew alot when I was younger andthatwasallhewatched.He’stwenty-four now and stillreadsalltheStarWarsbooks.I’ll introduce you to himwhenwe get back, you guyswillgetalonggreat.”

“Aren’t you afraid thatwe’llbuildcriticalmass?”

“Maybe if he sees youwithagirlit’llshowhimthatanythingispossibleandhe’llleavethebasement.”

The ship made itsapproachas Jonhadoutlinedand Talia took theopportunity to provide Lynwith some basic flyinglessons before landing in asmallfield.

“It should take us about

thirty minutes to reachMonti’scompound,”saidJon.“Youtwostayintheshipandno fooling around. The shipcan monitor the compoundfromhereandwe’llcallifweneed your help, but use yourown judgment if you seesmokeoranythingthatwouldindicateafirefight.”

“Just be careful whereyou aim that cannon,”commentedTalia.

“That’s what I keep

tellinghim,”saidLyn.“Hey, I’ve got to combat

your bazookas somehow,”repliedSimon.

“Maybe we should splitthose two up,” Ellie said toJon. “Five minutes after weleave they’ll have theirartillery out and be playingwargames.”

“They’ll do fine,” saidJon. “Lyn jokes around, butshe’saprofessional.”

“Ifyousayso,”shrugged

Ellie.Thefourleft theshipand

headed towards Monti’scompound.Therewerehardlyany guards on the groundswhich made gaining thebuildingeasierthanexpected.Theystoppedfiftyyardsfromthepatio.

“Is it me or does thisseemtooeasy?”askedTalia.

“I’m not sure,” said Jon.“You were here only aboutwhat,eighthoursago.Maybe

they figure that’s all theexcitement for one day. Youstunned a lot of guys andthey’reprobablyrecuperatingsomewhere else. No one isexpectingyoubacksomaybethisisit.”

“Couldbe,”repliedTalia,“but I’m one for alwaysplaying it safe.Let’s split upand approach from twodifferent directions. Gil, youandIwillheadupfirstontheright, give us a couple

minutes and then you twofollowontheleft.Ifwedrawfire, you two will be in aflanking position and cancountertheirassault.”

“Soundsgood,”saidEllie.Talia took out the device

Agent Tomas had given herandmadesureitwasworkingproperly, then nodded to Jonand Ellie. Talia and Gilbertfollowedasmallridgeacrossand then a tree line as theymade their way up to the

empty patio. A few minuteslatertheywerejoinedbyEllieandJon.

“Well, that wasanticlimactic,”notedJon.

“Iknow,Iwasallworkedupwhatwiththeflankingandall,”saidEllie.

“Hey, I had someexcitement,” said Talia.“Every time I stopped, Gilbumpedintomybutt.”

“I was focused on oursurroundings and I didn’t

expectyoutostopsomuch.”“Shhh,” said Jon. “I hear

talking coming from thathallway. Any idea what’sdownthere?”

“No,wewereheld in theoppositewing,”saidEllie.

“You were probably inthe business side of theestate,” said Jon. “That wayprobably leads to Monti’slivingquarters.Let’sgetabitcloser and try to hearwhat’sbeingsaid.”

“That sounds likeTomas,” Ellie commented astheymoved furtherdown thehallway.

“And Monti,” saidGilbert.

“Itsoundslikehe’sbeingtortured,”saidEllie.

“I think he’s laughing,”said Talia as they movedcloserstill.

“Please come in and joinus,” they heard Monti callout.

“Yes, come along, Jon,and bring your friends,”Tomascalledout.

Jon and Ellie looked atTalia and Gilbert whoshrugged in silent reply, thenallfourturnedandenteredtheroomonly to findMonti andTomaseatingdinner togetherwhile watching a video oftheir assent onto Monti’spatio. They laughed everytime Talia stopped andGilbertbumpedintoher.

“Comeoninandpullupachair,”saidTomas

“Yes,” said Monti. “Iorderedmorefoodassoonaswe detected you on thepremises.”

“How were you able todetect us?” asked Jon as hesatdownatthetable.

“You’re still using thedevice I gave you earlier tocloak yourself from Monti’ssurveillance system,” saidTomas. “It told me it was

backandweusedittoimageyour progress through thecompound, moving theguardsoutofyourway.”

“So you’re working withMontiandMacnairafterall?”askedEllie.

“Notatall,butMontiandI are acquaintances,” saidTomas. “We’ve tradedinformation before and heinvitedmetostayfordinner.He wanted to discuss whatwasgoingon.Monti toldme

that Macnair came backemptyhanded,buthedoesn’tbelieve that’s the end of it.Monti actually believes thatbigchunkofNurridiumreallyexists. We were just talkingaboutdifferentwaysoftryingto contact you when youarrived.”

“Why did you return?”askedMonti.

“Actually,” said Jonturning to Tomas, “we cameback to check up on you. I

was monitoring you at theICC and it seemed that yougotstuckhere.”

“And I wanted to repayyou for helping us,” saidEllie.“IthoughtMontiwouldsell you out to Macnair asquicklyashedidme.”

“Let me take a momentand apologize for that,” saidMonti.“Hindsightbeingwhatit is, I’m sorry I ever calledtheman.”

“Yes,heputyourcarpets

at great risk,” commentedGilbert.

“I’m touched by yourconcern,” said Tomas, “Andyes, I did get caught inMonti's teleport,butheandIseem to think that you cameback to continue yournegotiations to move theNurridium now that Macnairisgone.”

“Yes, there’s that aswell,”saidJon,“butwewerehoping to deal directly with

you.”“We don’t see whywe’d

need to go through Montinow that you know what’swhat,” said Ellie. “YourepresenttheFeds,sowecanwork with you to set up adeal.”

“No reason at all to givehim a cut,” said TalianoddingatMonti.“We’djustprefer to pay cash for dinnerandleavehimhere,outinthecold,asitis.”

Monti smiled as hisguards filed into the room,weaponsattheready.

“I’mafraidit’sanawfullyexpensive dinner,” saidMonti, “and you may nothaveenoughonhandtocoverit.”

“Can we all just relax abit?” asked Tomas. “Look,I’m not in whatever grouphandles these types of deals.I’mafieldagent.Ican’thelpyouwith thissoyou’restuck

workingwithMonti.”“I don’t trust him,” said

Ellie.“So what, I don’t trust

you,”saidTomas.“You don’t trust me?”

saidEllie,soundinghurt.“It’s nothing personal, I

don’t trust anyone. Monti,what’s your usual cut on adeallikethis?”

“Thatdependsonhowthedeal is structured,” saidMonti. “As a show of good

faith and to help foster trustbetween us, I’ll base my cuton the extramoney I’m ableto negotiate. Let’s say thirtypercent of whatever Inegotiate over the standardfinder’sfee.”

“Are you mad? Fivepercent,”saidEllie.

“I don’t want to bicker,let’ssaytwenty,”saidMonti.

“Ienjoybickering.Ten.”“Sowe’llsettleonfifteen

then?”repliedMonti.

Ellie glanced at the gunspointed in her generaldirection.“Done.”

“Where is theNurridium?”askedMonti.

“It’s tucked away, safeandsound,”saidEllie.

“Hopefully with peopleyou trust explicitly,”commentedMonti.

Ellie thought about Holtand Franco. Holt could haveleft the Nurridium hidden inthe locker and thenmadeoff

with it in a couple of dayswhen they made port andFranco’s too scared to doanything other than hidealongside the Nurridium.“We’reokay.”

“Sendmethespecsontheitem and a means to contactyou. You’ll make deliverydirectlytotheFedsandIwillreceive payment from them,not you.” Monti raised hisglass and said, “Here’s to asuccessful and profitable

arrangement.”Talia contacted Lyn and

had her move the ship ontoMonti’s landing area outsidehis patiowhile Ellie and JonfinalizedplanswithMonti.

“How did it go?” askedSimon as they entered theship.

“AgentTomasisfineandwe’re back in business withMonti,” said Talia as shemoved to the control paneland prepared for launch.

Gilbert stayed up front withTalia as Simon and Lynfollowed Ellie and Jon intothelounge.

“Sowhatdowedonext?”askedLyn.

“We go back to the shipandsittightwhileMontidoeshis thing. Itmight takemorethantwenty-fourhoursbeforewehearanything,”saidEllie.

“Did youget a chance totalk with Agent Tomas?”askedLyn.

“Wehadamomentortwoinprivate.”

“Did you offer to helpremove that pole from hisass?”askedLyn.

“I happen to like thepole,” said Ellie. “You haveto understand that I’ve beendealing with people all mylife,” pointing towards Jon,“without poles and I’ll tellyoutruthfully,they’vebeenapain in my ass. It’s as ifthey’ve managed to perform

poletransplantationsurgery.Iam the recipient of multipletransplanted poles. I wantedmultipleorgasms, I endedupwithmultiplepoles.”

“Captain, we’ve got anincoming message,” Talia’svoice filled the lounge,interruptingEllie.

“Is it from Franco orHolt?”repliedEllie.

“Neither,” said Talia.“I’ve just detected a shipapproachingfast.Thesignal’s

comingfromthem.”“Can we out run them?”

asked Ellie as she left thelounge andmade her way tothebridge.

“Wewon’tknowuntilwetry,”saidTalia.

“Punchit.”Talia punched it while

monitoring the other ship’sstatus. “They’ve picked uptheirpaceaswell.”

“Captain,” said the ship’scomputer, “this ship’s

configurationmatchestheonethatMacnair’smen used lasttimewewerehere.”

“What is it with theseguys? I mean this goesbeyond persistence,” saidEllie sitting down next toTalia and strapping in. Jonand Gilbert joined them aswell. “Okay, let’s hear whattheyhavetosay.”

A familiar face appearedon the view screen. “Helloagain,”saidHal.“Surprised?”

“I really shouldn’t be,”said Ellie, “but I must admitthat I am. What do youwant?”

“Iwanttoknowwhyyouwent back to Monti’s.Macnair’s a very thoroughperson and even though hedidn’tbelieveyourNurridiumtale, he knewMonti did andMonti has a reputation forbeing right so he left usbehindjustincase.”

“Well, that’s awonderful

story and we appreciate youtaking the time out of yourbusydaytotellittous,”saidEllie, “but we really don’thavetheavailabilitytositandchat.We’ll justsaygood-byenow.OhandtellMacnairweallsaidhi.”

“I think you have plentyoftimetochat,”saidHal.“Oryouwillinabouttenminutes.That’s when I get withincanon range andwe take outyourengines.”

Ellie broke transmissionwith Hal’s ship. Gilbertlooked up expectantly.“Secret weapon time?” heasked.EllieturnedtoTalia.

“Can’t use it withoutrisking the engines,” saidTalia “We’ll be within theircanon’s range long beforethey’re within our range andthisguyseems like the shootfirstsortofjerk.”

“Time to run away andhide?”askedEllie.

“Either that or sit andchat,”repliedTalia.

“Doit,thenmakeaseriesofcoursealterations thatwillputusonto aparallel course,butoutoftheirsensorrange,”said Ellie. Talia beganmaking the necessarychanges.

“I hope you know whatyou’re doing.” said Jon.“Whatareyoudoing?”

“Your old coworkersinstalled an anti-detection

system that makes usunperceivabletoconventionaltracking systems,” explainedEllie. “It wouldn’t work onthefreighter, toomuchmass,but it works real nice here.Whatareourbuddiesdoing?”

“Holding course,” saidTalia. “And probablywondering what the hell justhappened. They’re beginningtoslowdown.”

“They’ll most likelydouble back to Monti’s and

seewhat they can get out ofhim,”saidJon.

“I hope he enjoys thebeach,”saidGilbert.

“But that’s bad news forussincehehasalltheinfoontheNurridium.SoonMacnairwill know that it exists andthenhe’ll really starthuntingall of you,” said Jon. “Weshould contact Monti andgive him the chance toteleport out of there. Heprobably has a safe location

hecouldditchto.”“How long before we’re

out of their sensor range?”askedEllie.

“A few more minutes,”repliedTalia.

“What’sgoingon?”askedSimonasheandLynenteredthebridge.

“WewerebeingfollowedbyMacnair’s goons, but thisship is equipped with acloaking device and we’resneakingawayundetected.”

“How cool is that!” saidSimon.“Youknow,ifwetoldthis story to any of ourfriendsthey’djustsaythatwetook a bunch of sci-fi showepisodesandtossedtheminablender with the MalteseFalcon.”

“Now that you mentionthe Maltese Falcon,” saidGilbert, “did we ever verifythattheNurridiumwasreallyNurridium.”

“Of course we did,” said

Ellie.“Didn’twe?”“Holt said it looked like

Nurridium,” began Talia,“then we decided to go toMonti’s and Holt wassupposedtoputitbackintherockjustincaseweneededtodump it fast, but he put it inthestoragelockerinstead.”

“You’rebasingallthisonsomething Holt said?” askedJon.

“Hey, people wereattackingusover it. It has to

be real Nurridium,” saidTalia. “What else could itbe?”

“Maybe a decoy to keepeveryone busywhile the realNurridium is secretly beingtransported by other means,”said Simon. “It happens allthetimeinthemovies.”

“The movies aren’t reallife,”saidEllie.

“It has been lately,” saidSimon. “At least for usthree.”

22.“Hello,” said Jon in a

somewhat singsong voice ashereceivedanincomingcall.

“Hello,lover.Missme?”

“Alicia, is thatyou?Howareyouabletogetthroughtome?”

“I hacked into yourdevice while we were onEarthandyouweresleeping.”

“But it’s supposed to behackproof.”

“Aren’t you cute? Ofcourse it is, but it was, so itisn’t.”

Jon looked up to seeeveryonestaringathim.Theyhad just arrived back on the

freighter. “It’s Alicia andfromthesoundsofherI’dsayher implants areoverloading.”

“Youandyoursisterhavesomething that belongs tome,”continuedAlicia,nowavideo of her appeared aboveJon’sdeviceasheswitchedittospeakerphone.“Somethingveryvaluable.”

“Whatintheworldwouldyouwantwithit?”askedJon.“You already have enough

money to go out and buy aplanet of your own if youwantedto.”

“But I don’t want to goout and buy a planet,”countered Alicia. “I have aperfectly good planet rightnow and I want to keep it.Keepitalltomyself.”

Something is definitelyoverloading, thought Jon.“What about dear old Dadandtherestofyourfamily?”

“They can stay,” said

Alicia, “as long as they bowdown to me as their queenandultimateruler.”

“Who’sbeingcutenow?”askedJon.

“I’m tired of all thisrunning around and travelingin spaceships. My tan’sbeginning to fade. I’ll payyou well for the Nurridium,no strings attached. It’s agood deal, you should takeit.”

“Andifwedon’t?”asked

Jon.“Oh, I’ll probably kill

someone,Isuppose.”“You’ll have to catch us

first,”remindedJon.“Well, that’s the thing,

you see I’ve already caughtsomeone. Why do you thinkI’mcalling?”Atthatpointthepicture panned back enoughtoincludeJennyWilson.

“Mom?” exclaimedGilbert.“Isthatyou?Areyouokay?”

“Hello, Gilbert,” saidMrs. Wilson. “I’m fine. IsthatLynIsee?”

“Hello, Mrs. Wilson,”said Lyn with a little wave.“I’vefoundGilbert.”

“Thank you, dear. Is thisthewoman you described onthephone?Imustsay,Ireallydon’tapprove.”

“Enough, please,” saidAlicia.“IwantmyNurridiumandIamwillingtotrade.”

“Well, she’s not my

mother,” saidEllie, “and I’mtheonewiththeNurridiumsoyoubetterplanonsweeteningthe deal with that cash youmentioned a few minutesago.”

“Finally,” said Alicia.“Someone that wants to talkbusiness. How many of youare there, eight? I’ll transferfivehundredthousandtoeachof your accounts. Hell, I’lleven put up another five forJennyhere,butIwantwhat’s

mine.”“Give us some time to

think it through,” said Ellie.“We need to agree on howandwherewemakethetradeso we’ll all stay safe. Andthatremindsme,yourboyPJshotupmyshipsoI’mgoingto need more than fivehundredtocoverrepairs.Youbettermakemycutamil.”

“Fine,” said Alicia. “Justremember Jenny here. I’mgoing to take a nap and eat

somedinnersolet’sgetbackin touch with each other infour hours. I’ll be expectingyour call.”Andwith that thevideo disappeared and thecallended.

“Hangona second,” saidJon as Ellie began to speak.“Where can I quarantinethis?” He was holding hisdeviceasifithadtheplague.

“I’ll take care of it,” saidFranco. “I’ve got a portablecontainment chamber in my

lab that will keep it quiet.You can work on it fromthere as well.” Franco tookthedeviceandleftthelounge.

“How did she get mymother?”askedGilbert.

“She was on Earth andshe hacked into my device,”beganJon.

“Andyouused it to sendMrs.Wilsonanemail,”addedSimon.“Shemusthavecomeacross that, put two and twotogether and decided to

snatch your mom beforeleaving.”

“That sounds like Alicia.She doesn’t like to leaveanywhere empty handed, butshe usually limits herself towhat she bought shopping,”saidJon.

“DoIhavetoremindyouthat we’re talking about mymother?”saidGilbert.“Whatare we going to do? They’reexpectingananswerinafewhours.”

“Franco,” called Ellieover the ship’s intercom,“have you verified that theNurridium is reallyNurridium?”

“Of course, that was thefirst thing I did after Holtidentifiedit.”

“Right,”saidEllie,givingSimon and Jon a ‘see, weknowwhatwe’redoing’lookbefore continuing. “SinceJon’s device wascompromised, there’s a good

chance they know where weare so we’ve got to getmoving just in case theydecidetomakeanotherrunatus. Talia, move us off to anewspot,butkeepusclosetothismainsector.”

“Right, chief,” said Taliaassheleftforthebridge.

“The restofuswillworkon a plan to spring Gil’smom,”saidEllie.

“I’llget the tequila,” saidLyn.

“Captain,” Talia’s voicecame over the intercom.“We’rereceivingasignal.It’scoming in on the securechannel we set up withMonti.”

“Whatthehell,putitup,”saidEllie.Ascreenappearedat the opposite end of thelounge. Macnair’s headloomed large inside it. TheycouldseeMontisittinginthebackground, his head stillwearing the harness attached

to the brain meltingapparatus.

“Hello again,” saidMacnair. “And Jon, I seeyou’ve decided to join theparty.”

“What do you want,Macnair?”saidEllie.

“Same as last time,nothinghaschanged.”

“But I think things havechanged,” said Ellie. “We’rehere, you’re there and whoknowswherepooroldMonti

is.”“Like I said last timewe

met, don’t worry aboutMonti,worryaboutme.”

“But that’s just the point,isn’tit?”askedEllie.“Weareworried about you. Poor oldMonti thought he could trustyou and look at him now.Howarewesupposedtotrustyou?”

“Youcantrustmetohuntyoudownandkillyouifyoudon’tgivemewhatIwant.”

“It’sabiguniverse,”saidEllie.

“You’re right, you areabsolutely right,” saidMacnair, sensing he neededto takeadifferent trackhere.“Idon’twanttogotoallthattrouble and expense andmess. Iwant tomake a deal,something that suits us all.I’m not a hard man to dobusinesswith.”

Tell that to Monti,thought Ellie. “There are

eight of us. We want fivehundredthousandeach.”

“Fourmil?I’mnotonetobicker when the price seemsfair.”

“Andyouforgetaboutmybrother.”

Macnairgrimacedandfora moment Ellie thought shehadbumpedthepricetoofar,but thenMacnair smiled andsimplysaid,“Done.”

“We’ll get back to youwithin four hours with a

meeting spot and time. AndMacnair, we want you therepersonally, just toensurethateveryoneplaysnice.”

“Absolutely. As youknow,I’mahands-ontypeofemployer. Until then,” andMacnair’s image dissolvedintotheair.

“What the hell did youjustdo?”askedJon.

“What about my mom?”screamedGilbert.

“Pourthetequila,Ihavea

plan.”

23.Talia docked the small

spaceship at the very tip ofthe Dahana space station.

They had reserved a veryspecific area that, amongother things, would allowtheirshipaquickgetaway.

Jon had contacted Aliciaearlier, “We’ve decided tomaketheswapattheDahanaspacestation.”

“It will take us aboutthreehourstogetthere,”wasAlicia’sresponse.

“Bring Mrs. Wilson, aNurridiumsensingdeviceandbe prepared to transfer the

moneyintoouraccountwhenwe make the swap. ThePalaceisthebesthotelonthestationsoI’massumingthat’swhere you’ll stay. Once youcheck in, we’ll contact youwithfurtherinstructions.”

“No games, Jon.” Aliciaended the transmission. Shethen turned and spoke toJamal. “What do you thinkaboutthat?”sheasked.

“Perfect,” he said. “Ourman lives there and can

organize whatever help weneed.”

Afewminuteslater,Elliemade a similar call toMacnair, “We’ve decided tomaketheswapatDahana.”

“Itwilltakeusaboutfourhours to get there,” wasMacnair’sresponse.

“Bring a Nurridiumsensing device and beprepared to transfer themoneyintoouraccountwhenwe make the swap. Do you

haveafavoritehotelthere?”“ThePlaza.”“Great.We’llcontactyou

with further instructionsafteryoucheckin.”

“I hope you’re notplanning anything tooelaborate. I prefer thingssimple.” Macnair ended thetransmission and turned toHal. “What do you thinkaboutthat?”heasked.

“Perfect,” he said. “Youown half of the station. No

problem getting any extramuscleifwethinkweneedit.Plus the Feds have nojurisdiction there. They can’tevenenterit.”

The hours passed andeach party arrived.Instructions were sentdetailing the meetinglocation. Ellie had selected aremote and little usedlocation on the tip of thestation. It was a conferencecentershapedlikeapizzacut

intothreesliceswiththebackof each room on the outsiderimwherethecrustwouldbeand the tip of each sliceopened to a commonmiddlearea. Ellie had been thererecently for the annualFreighter Captains’Symposium.

“So what do all youcaptains discuss during thesymposium?”Gilbertasked.

“We used to spend a lotof time discussing trade

routes and cargos, but thenwe realized everyone waslying to keep their business’safe and all to themselves sothe focus shifted towardsoperational systems, reliablereplacementpartsandservicecenters. Stuff like that. Wenetworktogetherjustlikeanyotherindustry.”

“There has to bemore toit than that,” saidFranco. “Itusually takes her a coupledaystorecover.”

“Hey, we’re spaceshipcaptains, not gardeners. Wework hard andweplay hard.Wealsosymposehard.”

“Pardonme,”saidFranco,“but most of your time isspent watching thenavigational computer work.Anddon’tknockgardeners,Iknow a few that would kickyour ass. Just admit that it’san excuse for you to gettogether with your captainfriends and complain about

yourcrewandcustomers.”“I admit nothing. Now

let’sgetsetupforthisparty.”Ellie,TaliaandHoltwere

waiting for Macnair and hisgang in conference room AwhileJon,GilbertandSimonwherewaiting forAlicia andher entourage in conferenceroomC.Their spaceshipwasdocked behind conferenceroom B with Franco in thedriver’s seat and Lynguardingtheairlock.

Macnair and his crewentered conference room A.Elliewas sitting on the crustside of a conference tablewhile Talia and Holt stoodbehind her with theirweaponsready.MacnairtookaseatoppositeEllie.

“Noneedforallthefuss,”hesaid.

“Ilikefuss,”repliedEllie.“Are you ready to make thetransfer?”

“Yes, but I don’t see any

Nurridium.Notonlythat,butI brought the sensingequipment as you requestedand nothing is registering. IstheNurridiumhere?”

“Yes, it’s here,” saidEllie. “It’s nearby,but it’s inacontainmentchambersetuptomask its signature soyourequipmentcan’tsenseit.Inamoment I will disable themasking signal and you willbeabletoverifyitsexistenceandlocation.Atthattimeyou

will transfer the money intomy account. If you fail totransfer the funds or makeany contrary move, thecontainment chamber willemit enough antimatter todisintegratetheNurridium.”

“You would destroy afortune inNurridium?”askedMacnair.

“Inaheartbeat.Thatthinghas been nothing but troublesincewe found it and I’d bewellridofit.I’mkeepingthe

containment chamber armeduntilwe’reaway,thenit’sallyours. If you come after us,I’lldisintegrate itall.You’veseen the specs on this piece,it’s fifty times bigger thananything else ever found andyou’repayingafractionofitsnet worth.” Ellie saw thegreenlightflashonherpanel,indicating that Jon and histeam were ready to go. Shedisengaged the maskingsignal andMacnair’s sensing

equipmentlituplikearocket.“Asmartmanwouldpay thebill and collect his purchase.Areyouasmartman?”

“Not usually,” he said,“but today I make anexception.” Macnair tappedon his device. “Please verifythat the funds have beentransferred.”

“Looks like we’re donehere,” said Ellie afterglancing down at a screenthatwasmonitoringherbank

accountandasshespoke,theroom’s front wall becametransparentrevealingthehub-like common area and theNurridium. “The door to theNurridiumwillopeninaboutthirty seconds and thecontainment chamber willopenoneminuteafterthat.”

Ellie, Talia and Holtbacked out of the conferenceroom and into the corridor.TheysawJon,Simon,Gilbertand Mrs. Wilson ahead of

them as they all made theirwayintotheairlockandthentothespaceship.

“Getusoutofhere,”Elliesaid to Franco. Franconodded and engaged themaneuveringthrusters.

At just about the sametimeastheirshipwaspullingaway, the inner door of theconference room unlockedand Macnair and his boyswalkedintothecommonarea.Their eyeswere fixed on the

Nurridium, but not so tightlythat they failed to noticemovement on their right.They stopped and turned asAlicia’s group emerged fromconferenceroomC.

“Stop where you are,”saidMacnairtoAlicia.

“Idon’tthinkso,”repliedAlicia, proceeding to theNurridium. “That’s mine,bought and paid for and I’mtakingitwithme.”

“Do you have any idea

whoyou’retalkingto?”askedMacnair.

“A dead man?” repliedAlicia.

“Do you really want tostart shooting in here?” saidMacnair. “A couple hardshots against the walls andthey couldbreach.Let’s takea few seconds and discussthings.”

“Not on your life,” saidAlicia. “I just transferredpayment and when that light

on the containment chamberturns green, I’m taking itscontentswithme.”

“Those bastards,” saidMacnair. “I just made thesame deal. We’ve beendouble-crossed.” Guns wereraised, but before theshooting began, the entireconference center began tovibrate,followedbyafeelingofacceleration.

“What’s happening?”asked Alicia as she steadied

herselfagainstarailing.“I think the conference

center has detached itselffrom the space station and ismoving under its ownpower,” said Hal as heglanced up at the transparentdomeoftheinnerroom.

Hal was indeed correct.The conference center isequipped with its ownpropulsion and gravitysystems and is used to givepatrons external tours of the

station.“That was the high point

ofthesymposium,”saidEllieassheandtheotherswatchedfrom their ship. “Or at leastwhat I can remember of it.There’salotofhistoryinthatold station and some of itgoes back almost a thousandyears to that first disabledfreighter whose captaindecided that it was easier toconvert his ship into a repaircenter than have it towed to

thenearestplanet for repairs.The rest of the station wasbuilt around it. The tour isfairlyinteresting.”

“I’m not sure if Macnairwillagree,”saidFranco.

“Well, he is getting theshort version,” said Ellie.They watched as theconference center turned,increased its velocity andbeganmovingawayfromthespacestation,justastheyhadprogrammeditto.Onceitgot

outside the 50 mile bufferzone, its engines shut downand it began to drift. It wasthenthataFedshipcameintoview and snagged it with atractor beam. Once theconference center was closeenough, automated conduitsemerged from the Fed shipandpenetratedtheconferencecenter’s external walls.Shortly after that, an air lockwasextended.

“Done and done,” said

Talia. “We delivered the badguys, the kidnapped princessand theNurridium all in onetidy bundle. Think we’ll getanyrewardmoney?”

24.

“So Agent Tomas is the

bighero?”askedLyn.“Yup. Though we get

credit as his helpers,” saidEllie. She had just teleportedback to the freighter afteraccompanying Agent Tomasto the Fed center to explaintheir involvement in thisescapade. They had alsomade a short stop at EarthandreturnedMrs.Wilson.

“I hope you mean

anonymous credit,” saidFranco. “I don’t want myname connected withMacnair, he has too manyfriendsouthere.”

“Letmeclarify,bycredit,Imeanacut,”saidEllie.“Heagreed not to use our names,justourbankaccounts.”

“So there was rewardmoney?”askedTalia.

“Notalotafterdividingitup eightways, but therewasthe finder’s fee for the

Nurridium, there was areward out for Macnair aswell as the return of theprincess. It works out toalmost three hundredthousandeach.”

“Nicelittlebitofchange,”said Holt. “Especially afterwe add it to the money wecollected from Alicia andMacnair.”

“And, Jon,” continuedEllie, “you’re off the hook,freeandclear.”

“Thank you, Ellie. And Iam sorry for all the troubleI’ve caused over the years.Was it difficult to persuadeTomastobackoff?”

“Not as hard as youwould think,” said Ellie. “Icaught him at the bestpossiblemoment; he was in-between receivingcommendations from hissuperiors and going toAlicia’s planetwhere hewasbeing received as a national

hero for rescuing theirprincess.”

“So you talked withTomas?”askedLyn.

“Suredid,”saidEllie.“And how did it go?”

continuedLyn.“Areyoutwogettingtogetheratsomepointafterallthefussdiesdown?”

“Remember the pole?”asked Ellie. “The one up hisbutt?”

“Sure,” said Lyn. “Youwereattractedtohispole.”

“Well, it turns out he’s abig fan of the pole as well,”explainedEllie.“Andnotjusthispole,helikesotherpoles.Andotherbutts.”

“Are you saying he’sgay?”askedLyn.

“That’swhatI’msaying,”said Ellie. “Stop laughing,Talia.”

“I can’t help it. That’stwice.”

“Twice?”askedFranco.“How do you think you

got your job?” replied Talia.“You didn’t know squatabout spaceship systems.”Taliabeganaratherpoor,butvery funny impersonation ofEllie, “Oh Talia, I just hiredthe cutest tech guy. Handsoff, I’m taking first crack athim.”

“Live and learn,” saidEllie.

“For some of us,” saidTalia.“Youontheotherhandinsist on taking remedial

classes.”“That explains those late

night tutoring sessions,” saidFranco.

“Yup,butthenyouputupthat calendar and you don’thave to hitmeover theheadwith something for me tounderstand,”saidEllie.

“Nope, putting it right infront of your face usuallydoes the trick,” said Talia.“There’sstillone thing that Idon’t get. Who put the

Nurridium in the rock andstartedallthistobeginwith?”

“ItseemsthatAliciahadaboyfriend some years back,”began Ellie. “A commonerthatherfatherdisapprovedofand the stupid kid didn’tknow enough to accept abribe so the father had himsecretly arrested and sent offtotheminingcamp.Hefoundthe Nurridium, contactedAlicia and she hatched theentireplan tosteal it fromus

andcutitdownsoitcouldbeused toarmabunchof shipswith the biggest guns everseen. She had a fewdisgruntled captains on herside as well and she wasgoing to make them all richadmirals or some nonsenselikethat.”

“And my showing up inherpalace?”askedJon.

“Purely coincidental,”said Ellie. Lyn looked atSimon, but he prudently

decidedtoremainquiet.“Shewas ready to leave, then youdropped into her lap and theidea of a false kidnappingprovidedamuchbettercoverthan her simply disappearingso she tricked you intothinking you were helpingher.”

“And Macnair is nowbehind bars awaiting trial?”askedGilbert.

“Unfortunately not,” saidEllie and a collective gasp

went through the room. “Imean unfortunately for himsincehe’sdead.”

“What happened?” askedGilbert.

“Things got a bit heatedinside the conference centerwhen they saw that Fed shipheadingtheirwayandfelt itsgrappling arms attachingthemselvestothehull.SeemsMacnair grabbed Alicia andbeganyellingandshakingherand we all know she has a

shortfuse.”“You don’t mean…”

beganSimon.“Yup, death by boobs,”

finishedEllie.“Wow, you dream about

it, but when it actuallyhappens,it’snothinglikeyouimagined it would be,”commentedSimon.

“And Alicia came out ofthis smelling like a rose?”askedJon.

“Of course.” said Ellie.

“Theofficialstoryis thatshewas kidnapped by Macnair,thatJontriedtopreventitandthat Tomas planned therescue at the space station.Andnaturally,therewon’tbeany mention of theNurridium. Now let’s moveon to another subject,something interesting.Who’sgoing to take their rewardmoneyandretire?Holt?”

“Notme,”saidHolt.“I’msending some of my share

back home. Got to take careofthefolksandtherestofthefamily.”

“You’re kidding, right?”askedTalia.

“Nope.That’s how Iwasbrought up, to share thewealth.I’mnotgoingtoshareall of it, I’m not that stupid,but maybe half. I’ll let therest gain interest for a fewyears.”

“Never thought I’d beglad I was an orphan,”

mutteredTalia.“And just what are your

bigplans,Talia?”askedHolt.“I’mnotsurejustyet,but

I’ll probably changeprofessions to something lessrisky. Now that I’ve becomerich,Isuddenlyhaveanurgeto live long enough to spendat least some of the cash. Ithink I’m going to need alongvacationtosortitallout.Hey, Franco, you up for thechallenge?”

“I think some extendedR&R is just what the doctorordered,”repliedFranco.

“So, Ellie,” continuedTalia,“what’syourplan?Areyou going to staymarried tothis ship and keep haulingfreight till you meet Mr.Right?”

“I’vedecidedthat thelifeof a spaceship captain nolongersuitsme,”beganEllie.“AsforMr.Right,Ithinkit’sbest if I sit still for abit and

lethimfindme.Hejustbetterhaveagoodexcuseforbeingsolate.Anyway,I’vealreadysoldtheship.”

“What!” said Talia. “Towho?”

Elliesmiledandlookedtoherleft.

“Thatwouldbeme,”saidGilbert.

“No way, dude. Youbought a spaceship?” saidSimon.

“Two actually,” replied

Gilbert. “The smaller one’sincluded.You guyswant in?It seems I’m hiring intechnicalandtacticalareas.”

“What do you say?”Simon asked Lyn. “Feel likeseeing what the universe hastooffer?”

“Why the hell not,” saidLyn. “We’re rich out here.Wecanliveitupabit.”

“Hey, Holt, are youstayingon?”askedGilbert.

“Youbet.”

“And, Jon, what aboutyou?”askedGilbert.“You’reafreemannow.Caretohelpthree know-nothings learnwhat’swhatintheuniverse?”

“Yeah, Jon, it’ll be fun,”saidSimon.

“What, bang about withyou lot? I don’t know. I dohavemystandards.”

“Where else are yougoing to go?” said Simon.“AgentTomas turnedoffourfree credit cards and took

away our access to the ICC.You might as well stickaround until somethinginterestingcomesup.”

“It will give you time towork out all those issuesyou’ve got rumbling aroundinyourhead,”saidLyn.

“You’re trying to workoutyourissues?”askedEllie.“Momwillbesohappy.”

“Alright then, I’m in,”saidJon.“Wheretofirst?”

“Verigon 3 so we can

deliver thisore,” saidGilbertandahowlofprotestwentupfrom his ex-crewmates.“Need I remind you that thisis a working ship? Anyway,it’s justa slightdetour to theleft for a day or so. It willgiveallyounewlyconvertedfree spirits time to figureoutexactly where you’d like tobe dropped off. Plus we canget some training before youabandonus.”

“Hey, Jon,” piped in

Ellie2. “Ready to start theshow?”

“Letitrip.”A video projection

appearedabovethetablewithJon shouting ‘We are theBorg,resistanceisfutile!’andthen it cut to a screamingGilbert, followed by anotherscreaming Gilbert and afterthat came another screamingGilbert. There were asmattering of smilingGilbert’s thrown in to add

contrast and, of course,Gilbert and Talia doing thebump, aswell as Simon in aminiskirt andvariouscameosfromtherestofthecrew.Allin all, it ran for about fiveminutesandit turnedoutJonwas right, Gilbert thought itwas a riot. Jon smiled tohimself,notabadbitofworkforafishingrod.

Author’sNote

I hoped you enjoyedreading thisstoryasmuchasI enjoyed writing it. It hadbeen kicking around theinside of my head for quitesome time and it finallyworkeditswayout.Thenexttwobooks in the series,Soulto Soul and Geppetto’sDaughter, are now availableand in them Jon, Simon andLyn continue to trip and

stumbleacrosstheuniverseinsearch of the ultimatemargaritaandapossibledatefortheirfriendGilbert.Thanksforreading,ChrisDaniels