Geron Kees

I ain't sayin' nuthin!

Thank you!

A subtle reminder to pay you, my agent?

The idea of adding these side stories with Charlie's friends opens up a lot of interesting possibilities for me. Mainly that I'll have arthritis in my typing fingers by the time I retire! Pleased you had fun. That's what it's all about!

If you enjoyed it, that's what matters to me!

Okay. By definition, it can be both. The take out part was just a joke. 🙂

Thank you for the kind words! Well, I'd love to have that month race by for you, except if it does, I won't have time to complete the Halloween story.

Nothing like having friends!

But it's not actually a paradox. It's a logical line of causality that results in the story ending with everyone in the kitchen eating Trichani take-out. 😄

If it had been left at that, it would have been terribly confusing. But I had hoped the next line would make it clear what had happened: Pacha turned his delighted expression upon them. "They left this device here to assist them in their escape from the cylinder ten thousand years from now. Yet when those ten thousand years arrived, they did not escape, because this device was somehow missing from its assigned location. Someone took it." Kontus released a startled laugh. "Us?"

Actually, my feeling is that telepaths would be no more required to tell the truth than people who simply speak to each other. Telepathy couldn't just be a naked expose′ of the mind, as that would simply overwhelm everyone with the mental machinery of those around them. A more practical approach would be that telepathy is simply a purposeful exchange of language by simply going around the speech apparatus and going directly to the language centers of each brain. Like speaking, but without the audible voice. In a scenario where telepathy worked that way, only the things you send would be received, and only by your intended target. So that also means that what you say in your mind is all the other telepath receives. So it would actually be just as easy to lie that way as in speech and action. Nature is an orderly critter. Telepathy, if it actually existed, would likely only work between members of the same race who shared the same brain structure. Other mental forms of communication could easily exist, however, and be more broad in application. A simple feeling that one was hungry, broadcast to a total alien, would be much more likely to be interpreted correctly than a language broadcast of, "where's the eats?" The Hartonin view of the universe is one of surety and clarity. They simply KNOW what is happening around them.

'Spike' is a pretty good name, actually. Thanks!

I don't find any of your questions unreasonable. The Hartonin ship went into a loop of time, which reset at the end of about a minute. Remember the movie GROUNDHOG DAY? Each day at the same time, the clock reset to the start of the day, and Bill Murray had to relive it over and over. The difference there was that he KNEW what was happening. In a true closed loop of time, the moment it reset you would return to the exact same level of knowledge you had when it started. So you wouldn't actually know you were in a closed loop that repeated. For the Hartonin, they lived the same minute over and over, while 25,000 years passed OUTSIDE their loop of time. The people that took the spiky ball the first time were Pacha and the guys! There was no one else. The spiky ball was missing at the ten-thousand-year mark because Pacha and the guys took it just after the Hartonin went into their loop. But they HAD to take it, because the Hartonin were still in the loop back in their present, which meant that the spiky ball had been taken before the 10,000-year mark, and the only way to free them back in the present was to take their own device to them. They couldn't just leave the spiky ball where it was and allow it to release the Hartonin in 10,000 years, because they had ALREADY found the Hartonin ship trapped in their own time, which meant they had NOT been released on schedule. Time stories can be a little hard to get your head around sometimes. But my feeling is that if you didn't get it right off, it's because I didn't explain it well enough when I wrote it. Sorry.

If you enjoyed it DESPITE the techno-babble, I can only say I'm happy!

Max normally sounds a little like a country bumpkin. I had an English professor in college that sounded like he just got off the bus from Stinkville, UNTIL he stood up to speak to the students, at which point he magically transformed into the most articulate human being I have ever encountered. Max is an easy-going type, and tends to be a little lazy in his speech, but when it comes to magic and getting down to business, he can sound like he's a long way from the bus!

Two is always more fun than one!

Or, a pair of ducks!

You got it right!

I have to admit that I tried saying it fast ten times, and it wasn't very hard. It's not quite up to 'She sells seashells by the seashore..."

"Explain," the deep voice continued, as the alien's eyes digested their startled looks. "We will proceed with the test, simply because, in your own time, we already had done so," the gentle voice clarified. "We cannot alter what is to be." Max nodded at the others. "They have to go. Otherwise, we'll have a whopping big causality violation." Pacha squinted at the elf, understanding dawning on his face. "I see! They can't not be where we first found them. Correct?" "What?" Mike aske

Me, too. I just meant, by going out hard, if we had no choice. The way the universe works, you just never know!

Those things are hard on the eyes, I agree. But if you have to go out hard, the brief flash of a supernova as it consumes the planet is a hell of a ride, you must say!

Hope so. I would not be happy if it was going the other way!

The man behind the curtain pulls the levers, and the machinery makes the 'magic'. That is very much what science fiction is all about, isn't it?

Thanks for doing that. Made my evening pretty nice, too!