Is That A Monster in the Closet, Charlie Boone? - 6. Chapter 5

An elevator took them to the building underneath the car, and once again they were presented with a large, very empty room, with what looked like seating all about, though the Athonara had apparently considered comfort a non-essential, as the spare benches had no padding whatsoever. It looked like a fair number of people could sit here, though, surely enough to fill the elevator car.

It was only then that Charlie realized that there had been no seats aboard the elevator car. It seemed unusual that the riders would be expected to stand for the entire journey, so they must have missed something there. Perhaps concealed seating of some kind that had to be activated somehow.

"Now you think of that," Kippy said, giving him a fond push when he mentioned it. "Where were you earlier when we needed that thought?"

"The car's last duty may have been to move something other than people," Pacha said, overhearing. "Certainly any seating would be able to be stowed away to carry cargo, if the need arose." The koala's muzzle quirked in an almost smile. "Comfortable as I was in the cradle of Mike's arm, I did not think to look. My apologies."

Mike rolled his eyes at Charlie, and smiled. "He's gettin' a little spoiled."

They walked about the room, which was well-supplied with windows on the world outside, and finally found that several of the windows were actually doors, that slid aside when they neared them, giving egress to a wide walkway beyond. They emerged as a group, and stood upon the surface of the long-abandoned world. The buildings around them could have been located in any human city back home, the architecture appealing, but also somehow very utilitarian. The buildings all had light sources upon the walls, which lit the street between them as well as any sunlight. But the tall, narrow windows that adorned the facades of each building showed no lights shining beyond, and the doorways in each were equally uninviting. There was an unsettling, unwelcoming look to the place, almost like a black and white photo of the past, looking slightly unreal in the otherworldly glow from the lights on the walls.

Above them, the black, starless sky, endless and indifferent, completed the impression of utter lifelessness and abandonment.

"Nice," Kippy said, looking about. "Next trip we spring for a good hotel, okay?"

Charlie laughed at that, and the act did dispel some of the chill he had felt building. There was something unnerving about standing on a city street abandoned one hundred and twenty centuries past that looked as if it had been built only yesterday. That they were learning new ideas about time scales, that was for sure.

Charlie caught a motion out of the side of one eye, and turned just as something very large rushed by in the distance at the end of the street, between the two very long buildings that otherwise blocked the view in that direction. This time there was a distinct vibration in the ground, and a faint rumble reached Charlie's ears through the helmet pickup.

"Might as well go that way first and see what the hell that is," he decided.

"A transport of some kind," Pacha suggested. "A freight mover?"

"That would seem to be correct," Illia agreed. "There is quite a bit of such activity, all around us. We just cannot see most of it from here."

"That way," Pacha said, pointing down the street.

They started off, maintaining their group. The pavement underfoot even felt solid like concrete, though once they started walking it responded with a mild, rubbery give that Charlie soon determined to be actually caused by the soles of the feet of his suit. They were quite comfortable to walk on, relaxing any fears he might have been nursing about them needing to walk any great distance here.

"Charlie?" It was Murcha, calling over the com.

"Yeah? Everything okay?"

"No. I am losing your group on the scanner. You are fading out."

Charlie stopped, and the others stopped, too. "What do you mean, we're fading out?"

"Your life signatures are diminishing...no, now they do not read at all. I can no longer detect your group. It is as if you are not there at all."

"None of us?"

"No. This is troublesome. The planet registers as lifeless, but if there is something there that masks our scans, then you may not be alone there at all."

"We must continue," Ragal said emphatically. "We cannot let this stop us."

"I agree," Pacha said. "There is a plain feeling here of urgency, but for what I cannot yet say. But we must go on."

Charlie nodded at that. "Murcha? You can still hear me clearly, right?"

"Yes. I would be even more surprised if anything could interfere with the com."

Charlie closed one eye, considered that, and nodded again, making his decision. "We're going to keep going, okay?"

"That is not advisable, but it is understandable, considering the parameters of this mission."

Charlie waved a hand at the group. "Let's keep moving."

At the end of the street, another huge thing went by, this time even time noisier, and with more of a vibration apparent in the ground. Again, in addition to the impression of size, there was the show of yellow and even green lights of some sort, but the speed was too great for much detail. Charlie had decided it was a train of some sort, and so was surprised when they reached the end of the street and found no tracks. Just a wide expanse of a more metallic-looking pavement, that stretched away to their left and right and disappeared into the darkness.

They walked past two brightly colored pylons on either side of the road, and on out to the edge of the metallic roadway.

Charlie frowned at it. "I thought there would be tracks here."

"That's what I was thinking," Ricky agreed. "Seemed like a train to me, a really fast one."

Frit leaned down and stared at the metallic surface before them. "Something strange here."

"It's an enhanced friction surface," Illia informed them. "Whatever travels here probably uses an equally attractive surface, which maintains a perfect grip on this runway. It would allow for high speeds with no slippage."

Ricky lifted a foot and daintily touched a toe against the metallic area before him. "Doesn't feel unusual."

"You would need the right counter-surface to feel the attraction..oh! Step back from the track!"

Pacha lifted a hand at the same time. "Everyone, get back!"

Frit swung an arm in a quick arc, and Charlie felt himself pulled quickly back to the street. The others backed up equally unnaturally, also in the grip of Frit's force. The hand that Pacha had raised wiggled, and a wavy but transparent barrier appeared before them.

Something huge came out of the night to their left and bulleted past them. Charlie had a brief impression of a very long, almost featureless cylinder traveling on a series of immense rollers as it belted past them. The wavy transparency in front of them shook with great force, and the ground beneath their feet vibrated. A rumble of fairly serious proportions accompanied the passing, and despite the length of the strange vehicle, it was gone in an instant.

The wavy transparency in front of them stopped vibrating, and then disappeared.

"That was close," Frit said, sounding a little relieved.

"Too close!' Pip agreed.

Pacha tchick-tchick-tchicked. "I think we're all in agreement there. I suggest we move back even further. The interval between these appearances seems not to be consistent."

"I'm so sorry," Illia said then. "The reach of my passive detection gear is only about four kilometers. At the speed that vehicle was moving, I only had about twenty second's warning."

Mike turned his head to peer over his shoulder, as if he might see the box on his back. "Why are you just using passive sensors?"

"Murcha, Onglet, and I agree that interactive sensing of the planet's surface will attract the attention of the planetary network mind, and we are not yet ready for that. We need more time to burrow within that network before we are exposed."

Mike laughed at that. "You don't think it's gonna see us walking all over the place here?"

'Actually, no, not the network. The mind that oversees this area will certainly take notice of us, but it will not report our presence to the network as long as we don't break any rules."

"And what are the rules?"

"Well, we don't actually know just yet."

Mike grinned at Charlie. "Are we having fun yet?"

"It's not their fault," Charlie said, although he couldn't help smiling. "I already know that all three of our shipmind friends are doing the very best that they can."

"Thank you, Charlie." Illia sounded almost embarrassed. "I suspect that the use of only passive scanners is also why Murcha can no longer detect us. Passive scanning is much less efficient than interactive scanning, and much easier to interfere with. But until we have more of a presence established within the planetary network, it would be inadvisable to announce ourselves with forceful scanning."

Mike sighed, hearing Illia's tone as well. "I know you're doing your best, too. I'm just worried that what we don't know here might bite us in the arse."

"I'm surprised that thing went by so fast," Bobby said, redirecting their attention to the metallic roadway. "I mean, so close to the buildings and all. That would be dangerous to people walking through here."

"There is an air barrier back at the edge of the buildings," Pacha explained. "Much like the one I deployed to shield us from the currents as that vehicle went by. It is activated by strong air displacement to shield the buildings and anyone on the street beyond, but we walked right past the perimeter without noticing. Hindsight, as you people like to say."

"Now he tells us," Mike said, but stroked the koala's fur affectionately. He looked back over his shoulder, and spied the two colorful pylons on either side of the roadway at the end of the buildings. "Those were probably the warning signs, too. What we don't know here may kill us if we're not more careful."

"Point," Charlie said. "Everyone try to take notice of stuff like that, and say something. In the meantime, I guess we ought to get back on the other side of them."

The group turned around, and crossed back to the pylons and stopped on the other side of them.

Ragal came to stand beside Charlie. "We need to go east, Charlie." He raised a hand and pointed to their right. "That way."

Charlie nodded. "Any idea how far?"

The alien looked uncomfortable. "Several hundred miles, I think."

Charlie stared. "Oh, is that all?"

"Yes. I'm sorry that my intuitions don't come faster. But we were bound to have to travel from the elevator. I had no idea how far." The alien smiled then. "Just be glad it's not the other side of the planet we need to get to."

"Oh, I am." Charlie grinned. "Now I'm just wondering how to get us all there."

Ragal leaned closer. "The vehicle that just passed us was going that way. I would presume that the next one to come along will be, too."

"There's an idea," Kippy said. "I've never hitchhiked before, but I always wanted to try it at least once."

Charlie stuck out his tongue, and Kippy laughed. "Well, maybe not. But I'm game this time, if we can get one of the things to stop and let us on."

"What about that, Illia?" Charlie asked. "Can you stop one of these trains?"

"That may be possible. Let me consult with Murcha and Onglet. A moment, please."

Ricky came closer. "You really think these are trains, Charlie? There's only one real long car. And no tracks at all."

"No. It's just the local variant, I guess. But we have to call it something." He pointed back at the metallic roadway. "That's not a track like we would imagine it, but it appears to be what lets the train go so fast. It sticks to the metal road, and doesn't slide off. I was thinking about what Illia said, that her sensors were only reaching four kilometers right now, and her only having twenty seconds warning." He leaned closer to Ricky and lowered his voice. "That means the train car was traveling at something over seven hundred kilometers per hour."

Ricky let out a low whistle. "What's that in miles per hour?"

"Um...like four-hundred and fifty."

Ricky's eyes widened, and then he grinned. "Britannica Brain strikes again."

Charlie sighed. "Am I going to have trouble with you, too?"

The other boy laughed. "Who's giving you trouble? You point me at 'em, and I'll tell 'em where to get off."

Frit and Pip joined them. "Something is strange here, Charlie," Frit said. "Pip and I both feel it."

"Scary," Pip agreed. "Ragal is right. Someone else is here. More than one, too."

The rest of the group crowded around them. "Who is it?" Adrian asked. "Anybody we know?"

Kontus immediately shook his head. "I cannot imagine anyone from our area of space being here. I had no knowledge of the location of this place, and I was privy to most sensitive information on travel, as well as having my own personal interest in ancient empires."

"If we could find this place, someone else could, too," Bobby pointed out.

"Agreed," Pacha put in. "We cannot assume it is an unknown just yet." He looked up at Mike. "But there is someone else here."

Ragal looked about at them. "I am not familiar with the races currently inhabiting your area of space, so cannot offer any insight." He nodded at the two elves. "But I agree with these two that there is something unsettling about the presence here."

Illia chose that moment to re-enter the conversation. "Murcha and Onglet have managed to remove the next vehicle from the travel manifest of the local mind. Control has been handed off to me. I am slowing the vehicle, and it will arrive in about three minutes."

"Now we're gettin' somewhere!" Mike said approvingly. Bobby grinned at him, and Charlie once again could see the attraction and affection between them. He sighed and smiled at Kip, whose eyes twinkled back at him.

"Good job, Illia," Charlie said. "You, too, Murcha and Onglet. How's the decryption of the barrier going?"

"It is progressing," Onlget's voice returned. "We are devoting as many resources to the job as is possible while still looking out for your party on the surface."

"Let us know if there's any change, guys. And thanks."

They stood and watched to their left after that, and soon one of the strange vehicles materialized out of the dark, obviously slowing, making a faint slurping sound as the sticky rollers slowed on the metallic pavement. It came to a stop before them, and the group stared in silence, obviously impressed.

Charlie gazed wide-eyed at the vehicle, amazed all over again at the size of it now that he could get a really good look at it. The nose was rounded, the body cylindrical and featureless, and the distant rear appeared rounded, too. The entire thing rode upon a series of immense rollers, taller than they, dark in color, and absolutely smooth where intuition expected tread would be on a human vehicle tire. The top of the cylindrical body was easily three stories above them, and the length of the mammoth machine sufficient to play a football game on, had it been flat field.

Ricky whistled again. "That's one big rig."

"How do we get aboard?" Bobby asked, looking along the length of the vehicle. "Anybody see a door?"

"The machine is primarily a cargo carrier," Illia supplied. "There is a small maintenance cabin at the fore, and a lift device to take inspectors aboard. One moment, and I will bring it down."

They heard a whirring sound, and a line appeared in the side of the body of the vehicle just behind the nose. A long, straight rod the thickness of a forearm pushed its way out parallel to the body, and suddenly a flat platform descended the rod from above and touched down before them. Brief supports arose all around the platform, creating a sort of guardrail, and the side facing them opened out, obviously to allow admittance.

It was plain that all of them could not fit onto the platform at once. "We'll have to make two trips," Charlie decided.

"I would suggest we do that quickly," Illia said, "as I have no control over the next vehicle, and no idea when it is due to come along."

Charlie gaped, and then was herding people onto the platform. "There's probably safeguards in place, to keep one of these things from hitting another, don't you think?" he asked, as Mike, Pacha, Bobby, Kontus, and the three elves crowded aboard.

"I'm sure there is, for vehicles in the system. This one is no longer recognized, so those safeguards may not apply."

The platform took off upwards, and soon the others vanished from sight. A moment later the empty platform returned, and Charlie pushed Kippy, Ricky, Adrian, and Ragal on, and then climbed on himself. They started upwards, and Charlie felt like he was holding his breath until they arrived at the open doorway in the side of the vehicle. The platform, riding a straight rod, was a good distance from the doorway due to the curvature of the machine's hull, and Charlie was just wondering how they were going to cross when the platform moved closer to the doorway.

"Inside, quickly," Charlie said, waving his arms at the others. It was an unnecessary gesture, everyone readily able to imagine another of the giant machines striking their motionless one at over four hundred miles per hour.

They crowded into a narrow hallway, and the outer door closed behind them. There was a brief shudder that made them stagger and grab at the handrail along the wall, and then they could feel the vehicle start moving. A steady hum began under their feet, increasing in tempo if not loudness as the car accelerated forward. Charlie looked around the hallway, noting again how tall it was, and that the handrail was at shoulder height, too. The Athonara must have been impressively tall people, he decided.

They reached the end of the hallway and entered a larger room than Charlie had expected, from Illia's mention of a 'small maintenance cabin', and Charlie was immediately struck by the view. The nose of the vehicle was transparent from the inside, and they had a view forward and well back along each side. There were lit panels here and there, with indicators of some sort, obviously registering something of importance; but Charlie was lost in the odd script that flowed across the screens and captioned the many controls around them. Whatever was going on, it was lost in the same depths of time as the Athonara language.

And yet, there really was not a lot there. Most of the room was empty, save for several rows of unpadded benches that faced forward. The others had taken seats, their feet swinging just above the floor, again illustrating the height of the vehicle's former masters. Only Kontus seemed at home with the size of the seats.

Mike was the only one standing, just inside the doorway. "There you are. Made us nervous that we could feel this crate moving, and you hadn't shown yet. But Illia said you were aboard."

Charlie laughed. "We are, more or less. My stomach is still back at the crossroads."

Mike nodded. "Quick on her feet, isn't she?"

Kippy sighed happily. "At last! A chance to sit a moment and rest."

Charlie laughed, and patted him affectionately. "Are you tired?"

"No. But I would like to sit a little to take in the sights."

Mike rolled his eyes, but nodded. "It would be nice to feel a proper passenger, for once."

They joined the others, and climbed onto a bench. Charlie could already see by the way the landscape was passing outside that the vehicle was coming up to speed. Whole rows of buildings and other structures flashed past them with insane quickness, and the lights out there were blurs of motion as they rushed towards them and then retreated behind them. The roadway ahead was lit, almost as if it glowed from within, something they had not been able to see from the ground back where they had boarded. The ribbon stretched away from them, into the depths of the night.

But the distant horizon had a kind of glow to it, from the combined brilliance of the lighting everywhere ahead of them, and the effect was eerily disconcerting. The light slowly waned with height, and then vanished completely into the utterly dark sky above the horizon. Strange, dark clumps and vague, mysterious outlines marked the horizon in the light zone between sky and ground, probably more buildings and storage and whatnot; but nothing there was really recognizable. These shadowy objects could not even be named or really described, save for their impressive and undeniable sense of size.

It looked like the landscape from a horror movie, or a science fiction tale set on another world. Charlie could only smile at that idea. He was reminded of an old AC/DC song he had heard, called 'Highway to Hell'. It would have been a fitting anthem for their current travels down this ancient and truly orphic road.

"Spooky, isn't it?" Kippy asked, leaning up against him. "I can't imagine a more fun Halloween."

Charlie squeezed his eyes shut a moment, and then opened them with a smile. "You never cease to amaze me, Kip."

"What? You don't think this is great?" The other boy inhaled hugely inside his helmet, and let the air sigh back out. "I love doing this stuff with you, Charlie."

Charlie nodded, and touched his helmet against his boyfriend's. "I'm dying to kiss you."

"I'm dying to have you kiss me, Charlie."

They stayed close a moment, looking into each other's eyes. "I love you so much," Charlie finally whispered.

Kippy looked touched, and gave out a quick sniff. "I know you do, too. And I love you back just as much."

Charlie let his eyes slide past Kip a moment, and noticed that the others were pointedly not paying attention to them. There was no privacy on the com network, though Charlie imagined there had to be a way to do that. But...to bring it up now might cause a problem. He could imagine some two of them alone on a private channel, exchanging fond words, and missing out on something important. It could lead to disaster, and they certainly didn't want that.

Charlie let his eyes come back to Kippy's. "There'll be time, later."

Kippy nodded, and smiled. "I know." A touch of mischief came into his eyes. "Trick? Or treat?"

Charlie grinned. "I'll take a little of both, when the time comes."

Kippy nodded. "I'll be waiting."

Charlie sighed, gave his boyfriend one more good squeeze, and then sat back. "Ragal? At the rate this thing moves, we'll cross your few hundred miles pretty quickly. Any notions on that?"

The alien gave a small frown. "I sense that our objective is mobile. There is some sort of pursuit happening here, Charlie. The one I sense has others after it."

"I agree," Pacha added, from his perch on Mike's lap. "The closer we get, the clearer the impression becomes. There are others here. One is concerned with escape, and the others with capture."

"Yet I sense no life at all," Illia injected. "That should not be possible."

"Sensors have been fooled before," Pacha countered. "Even the Moth are not perfect."

"Agreed. I will continue to monitor this situation. Maybe as we get closer, something will become detectable."

"Okay." Charlie nodded. "We need to know when to stop this thing, right?"

"I will know when we are close," Ragal told him. "Pacha, too, I suspect."

"And us," Frit put in. "Pip and I can feel this now, too."

"Even me," Keerby said. "And sensing isn't my best skill, either."

"Someone is in trouble," Pip agreed. "Bad guys are after him. We'll help, if we can. "

Charlie smiled. "You'll just walk up and knock them down?"

Both elves laughed. "We don't know who the bad guys are yet, Charlie," Pip said.

"But we will," Frit added, looking determined. "What would Grandpa Max do now?"

Charlie smiled at that question, but didn't say a word. They had managed to make it this far without Max's wonderful powers to bolster them, and he was seeing now that it was good for them, in a way. Charlie, at least, was feeling the stretch of his wings, definitely.

"Hey, fellas," Adrian said, from the row ahead of them. "Maybe you should see this."

They all got to their feet, and crowded together in front of the transparent nose. The band of road they had been traveling on, scarcely wider than their own vehicle, seemed to be merging with something larger. It was a much wider band of glowing roadway, crowding up to theirs, forming a great expanse of glowing white that stretched towards the horizon. They merged onto the larger roadway, and even as they watched, another great train car caught up to them and passed them on the left.

"Whoa," Ricky breathed, his eyes wide. "Check that out."

A fork flashed by on their right, another narrower, single travel roadway, that branched off and then was gone. Ahead of them, the train car that had passed them drifted to the left and began to slow. They caught it again just as it turned off onto another fork, heading away from the main road.

"Just like the interstate back home," Adrian said, shaking his head. "A super interstate!"

It did seem to be that way. Other cars caught up to them and slowly drifted past, keeping to the center of the wide road, and disappeared ahead of them. The separation seemed uniform, and that led Charlie to a question. "Are we going slower than these others for a reason, Illia?"

"Yes. I have no idea where we will need to stop, and slowing one of these vehicles takes a little time. There is no turning around on this route. If we miss our exit, we will need to find a way back. I need some seconds before arriving at a turnoff to make the transition safely."

Charlie turned to Ragal, who looked apologetic. "I don't know where we have to go yet, Charlie."

"That's okay." He turned to Pacha. "You have anything yet?"

"No. Just that we are going in the right direction."

Charlie nodded. "Then we're doing the best that we can."

"We're trying!" Frit said.

"This is tough!" Pip added. "Never felt anything like this!"

"I agree with that assessment," Pacha said, canting his head to one side. "Whatever is present on this world with us, it is not something I have encountered before."

Charlie gave a little shrug, not sure how to answer that. "That could be bad...or it could be good."

The koala gave out a short laugh. "I tend to agree with you, Charlie."

Charlie opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted. A short, pleasant tone played in the air, sounding like a cross between a bird chirping and a cricket scratching. It seemed to come from nowhere in particular, yet everywhere at once.

"Maybe dinner is served," Ricky said, grinning.

"I could eat," Adrian agreed. He turned his head and took a short draw off his nutrient straw.

Ricky immediately sighed. "Young man, are you trying to spoil your dinner?"

Charlie rolled his eyes at that, and turned to Pacha. "Any idea what that was about?"

The Kift closed his eyes, and turned his head slowly side to side. "No...wait. There is another vehicle approaching from behind, gaining ground on us quite quickly. It is smaller, not like our own car."

"I've got it," Illia said. "It is directing queries at us, which we are unable to answer. I am still working on the encryption involved. But my guess is that it is a maintenance vehicle, come to check on why we are moving so slowly compared to other traffic, and outside the designated travel zone."

Charlie frowned. "That's not good. What happens if we don't answer their call?"

"I don't know. But --"

Without any sort of fanfare, the steady hum of the drive of their vehicle cut off, and they staggered forward as the car immediately slowed. They heard a distant whine, as if high-speed equipment was quickly winding down, and then there was a brief moment of almost quiet, before the entire thing reversed. The whine came back and increased, and the car surged forward again.

"They cut our power," Illia said. "I have overridden their command locally, and we are under power once more."

Another tone played in the cabin, this one more insistent than the first.

"I think they want us to stop," Mike said, moving over to the side of the car so that he could look out the window. "They must think this car is out of whack. There they are!"

The whole group joined him to peer outward. Another vehicle had come up alongside them, also cylindrical, but much smaller. It's exterior was also smooth, though there were raised blisters here and there that seemed loaded with some sort of equipment. Lights atop the vehicle glowed green and orange, in a pattern that was hard to miss.

"Shee-it," Ricky said, shaking his head. "That doesn't look like a tow truck. That looks like the cops!"

Several ports opened in the side of the other vehicle, and the slim muzzles of obvious weapons popped forth. An even more strident tone sounded within the cabin then, what could only be a clear demand of some sort. The other vehicle drifted closer, the muzzles of the weapons rising as it did so.

"It's going to shoot!" Bobby said, ducking down.

But that's not what happened. The other vehicle suddenly hopped a few times, and then sailed into the air, rising above even their own vehicle, before suddenly crashing back down to the roadway at an angle to its former direction of travel. Its rollers grabbed immediately, and the vehicle jumped away from them, fighting its new lateral motion. The car came up on the outer rollers, teetered precariously, and then flipped onto its side at over three hundred miles per hour, and careened across the roadway and into a building. And then they were past, and didn't see what happened next.

Charlie immediately turned to Pacha. "You did that!"

"Of course. They were about to use an electromagnetic dampener on us. It would have paralyzed the drive and we would have had no choice but to stop. That was a machine, Charlie. There were no lifeforms aboard. We should have realized that our failure to stay within normal road parameters would draw the attention of road security."

Frit laughed. "You took away their gravity."

Pip nodded. "As fast as he was going, the wind picked him right up. Then you gave him his gravity back, and bam!"

Pacha gave a little wince. "It somehow sounds much more brutal when said that way."

Mike smiled sympathetically, and patted the koala's helmet. "You did what you had to do, Pach. Good job."

Charlie nodded. "Better them than us. What would have happened if they had stopped us?"

"I don't know. But the dampener would have paralyzed this vehicle, ending its use for us. I could not allow that to happen."

"I am detecting another vehicle, larger than the first, overtaking us from behind," Illia said. "I don't think this is over." The shipmind made a small noise that sounded disgusted. "I should have realized that removing this car from the machine manifest would have left an inconsistency somewhere. I have located routing and traffic records that still list this vehicle, and which now do not match with the location and movement timetable. I'm sure that security protocols have been activated somewhere. I'm sorry, but I think I goofed."

Charlie had to smile at that. "It happens to the best of us, Illia. Anything you can tell me about the vehicle coming after us?"

"Its level of shielding is extreme, and its armament seems considerable. No electromagnetic dampeners here. I am detecting directed energy weapons and point-to-point missile launchers. I suspect we are dealing with a military vehicle of some sort now."

Charlie scratched his chin. "Is it possible they know we're aboard?"

"The machines here would have a variety of scanners, and we have made no move to shield our presence here. I would have to say the local mind is aware of us."

"Maybe it thinks we're stealing this train thing," Kippy said. "That's not good."

Another tone played in the cabin, and there was no mistaking the demand there now. Stop, or we'll shoot!

Mike patted Pacha's head. "Can you make that machine fly too?"

The Kift closed his eyes a moment. "Yes. But it will not have the same effect. This new machine is equipped with gravity controls of its own. It is capable of flying without my help."

Mike looked unfazed. "Maybe squish it down some? Make it too heavy to move?"

"No. I cannot stop this one with gravity. I can shield us from the missiles, and from some of the effects of the energy weapons, but not all of it."

Mike frowned. "Maybe you should put up a shield, then."

"I already have."

"I can see it coming," Adrian said, from the window. "It looks like it means business!"

Charlie went to stand beside the other boy and put the side of his face to the transparency so that he could look back behind them. Another large vehicle was coming up on them. This one left no doubt about its purpose. It was hung with launchers of all kinds, and the muzzles of guns seemed to project from every surface not taken up by launchers. It nearly made him laugh, actually, because it seemed so overdone. But there was nothing funny here. That this was the local equivalent of a tank seemed obvious.

"Oh, this doesn't look good," Charlie said. "This thing is armed to the teeth!" Here were two more things about the ancient Athonara to be filed away for future reference: they were a suspicious lot, not tolerant of trespassers; and, they had the means to deal with them when they showed.

Ragal suddenly stood up from his seat. "We need to go to the right, Illia."

"According to the roadway data stream, the next exit is three minutes away at our current speed."

The alien closed his eyes a moment, and then shook his head. "We will be past where we need to go by then. We must turn now!"

Charlie moved away from the window. "Illia, is this vehicle capable of driving on other surfaces than this road?"

"I would say it could, if we reduce the speed to something more reasonable."

"Brace yourselves," Pacha interjected.

There was a pair of deep, loud booming sounds to their rear, and the entire vehicle vibrated. Charlie shifted his feet quickly to keep his balance, and then moved closer to Mike. "What was that?"

"Missiles," Pacha returned. "I was able to direct most of the effects away from us."

Charlie braced for another impact, but nothing happened.

"What happened? They stopped shooting?"

"Probably baffled by my shield," Pacha said. "The Athonara were not power users, and it is not known if they were even aware of their existence. If not, their machines would not be either. To the pursuing car, their missiles detonated, and simply did not produce the expected damage. It will be a puzzle to the mind running it."

"I doubt that will stop 'em," Mike offered.

As if in answer to that, the vehicle shook again, and a different, yet still obviously frantic tone played in the cabin.

"They took out two of the rear rollers on that side with an energy burst," Pacha said.

Again the vehicle shook, and swerved slightly on the road.

"I'm slowing down," Illia informed them. "The missing rollers are destabilizing us."

"If they just keep shooting out the rollers, eventually we'll have to stop," Bobby said. "Is there any way we can shoot back at them?"

"This vehicle is not equipped with any kind of weapons. I'm sorry."

Charlie was starting to feel desperate. "Illia, which is heavier, us or that other car?"

"This vehicle is fully loaded with cargo, and twice the size of the attacking vehicle. Our mass is considerably more."

"Good. Can we ram them?"

"I would not suggest it at this speed."

Charlle blew out an exasperated breath. "Can we slow down and ram them?"

"Yes. But the act will not be without danger."

"More danger than being shot at?"

"Perhaps not. Slowing vehicle."

There was another series of rumbles behind them, and the big car shook, and Pacha informed them that he had deflected more missiles. Kippy came over and stood close, and Charlie put an arm around him.

The three elves suddenly crowded around Charlie and Kip. "If we ram 'em, we can add to that force," Frit said. "We'll knock 'em over."

"You sure?"

All three of them smiled. "It'll be fun!" Pip said. "Bumper cars!"

"We have slowed to two hundred kilometers per hour," Illia said. "The other vehicle is pacing alongside us. It's now or never."

"Then do it!" Charlie said.

"I would suggest that all of you hit the deck, then."

Everyone dropped with a speed that was almost funny, except for the three elves, who ran to the side window. "Go for it!" Frit called.

Charlie felt the big car suddenly swerve, and then a fierce impact. It was a hard knock, to be expected from several hundred tons of metal striking something at least half its own weight. The car shuddered, and there were tearing sounds on the outside, and then an incredible noise as something dealt their own car a sharp return blow.

"Got 'em!" Frit called from the window.

"Blooie!" Pip yelled, his excitement obvious.

"I hope we don't have to pay for that," Keerby said, more soberly. "That would be a whole lot of allowance!"

"What happened?" Charlie asked, rising and drawing Kip up with him.

Frit looked satisfied with himself. "They rolled over."

"Turned sideways and hit us before they flipped off the road," Pip added. "Something exploded."

Their own car shuddered and swerved, and Charlie looked out the front window just in time to see them turn off the road and pass between two buildings. The opening looked too small for the huge transport, and there was another tearing, grinding sound from outside, and the car shuddered horribly. But then they were through, and heading out into the darkness, away from the lights. They slowed even more, and the car bounced as it hit some uneven terrain.

"Where are we going?" he called to Illia.

"Ragal said we must turn right, so I have turned right."

"We need to backtrack somewhat," the alien said, his eyes closed. "And...go some miles out to the south. If you can turn several degrees right and keep a straight line, that will suffice."

A loud thumping noise began behind them, on the side where all the road action had just taken place. The car swerved, and then straightened again.

"The missing rollers," Illia supplied, before Charlie could even ask. "The one in front of the two missing rollers is damaged, too. I don't know how far we can go in this condition."

Ragal looked over at Charlie. "The closer, the better."

"I agree. Illia, just get us as far as you can, okay?"

Ricky frowned, and jerked a thumb back over his shoulder. "That was a pretty lame attack. I'm surprised they didn't just open up on us."

"They were thrown off by our defenses, undoubtedly," Pacha said. "This was a machine after us, remember. After witnessing our defense, it seemed to be testing the limits of its abilities. After the missiles failed to penetrate they tried the directed energy weapons, and were successful in taking out some of the rollers. Then they tried the missiles again, elsewhere. I think, had we not dealt with them first, they would have intensified their assault with the energy projectors as their next step in halting us."

Ricky seemed to agree with that. "I'll bet the mind back at machine central wasn't happy with what happened. Probably have the whole road security force out after us next. I hope we can get where we're supposed to be going first!"

It soon became apparent that by 'some miles', Ragal meant quite a few. After another half hour of travel at their much reduced speed, they still had not reached their destination.

"Because it's moving," Pacha decided, aloud. "Away from us."

The three elves nodded. "It knows we're coming," Pip said.

"What is 'it'?" Charlie asked, getting a little frustrated now. "What are we chasing?"

Pacha looked at him, and then gave out a small sigh. "I still don't know."

Ragal shook his head. "I think it is aware of us, Charlie, just as Pip said. It seems unwilling to offer us a chance to meet."

"So we just keep chasing it?" Charlie returned. Another strange sound occurred to their rear, and the car began to shimmy side to side.

"We've just shed a third roller," Illia said. "I'm afraid we will need to stop."

Charlie sighed. "Do it."

They slowed, and finally came to a jarring halt.

Ricky came over, Adrian in tow. "I'm kind of surprised they're not still chasing us, Charlie. You'd think after we trashed two of their guys, the air force would be out, or something."

"Or the army," Adrian agreed. "These guys gave up too soon for some reason."

"We have passed into another jurisdiction," Illia said. "An area supervised by a different mind. Murcha and Onglet have prevented the mind in the previous area from informing the network of our actions. So we can basically start over again here, I hope."

"It was the least we could do," Murcha said over the com. "We are making good headway on solving the barrier encryption, Charlie. I think we'll have it much sooner than originally expected, and be able to bring the ship down to aid you."

That was good to hear! Charlie smiled. "How long, do you think?"

"About a week," Murcha returned. "That's much better than the original projection of a month, don't you think?"

Charlie simply gaped, and then he frowned, and opened his mouth...

Kippy quickly put a hand on his chest and smiled at him, and shook his head. "That's wonderful, Murcha!" Kip called. "Keep up the good work!"

Charlie closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and forced a smile. "Yes, that's good news. Thank you."

"You're welcome," the shipmind said, sounding pleased.

Charlie opened his eyes, and Kippy was still smiling at him. Charlie mouthed a 'thank you', to which his boyfriend's smile simply widened. "All part of the service."

There was no option but to smile at that, and some of the tension Charlie was feeling ebbed away. Once again he chided himself for worrying too much, and vowed to relax now, come what may. He had to keep reminding himself that he was part of a group that worked very well together, and even though the others treated him like the leader at times, it was a team effort that was going to win the day.

"I guess we should go on outside, huh?" he said, by way of moving on from the moment.

Again they took turns riding down the platform to the ground. As soon as they were clustered there, Illia closed up the big car and said she was going back to scanning their surroundings. Charlie stared up at the vehicle, the exterior of which was lit by running lights and small spots, and not at all hard to see in the darkness. He wanted to see the damage to their vehicle caused by the Athonara road tank, and led the others in a quick hike around the length of the stopped vehicle, to the darker rear. They circled around, and then stopped. A few lights were still working, enough to see what had happened.

"Holy crap!" Ricky got out first, saying it for everyone.

Charlie simply stared at the damage, unable to believe the extent of it. The two last rollers on that side were simply gone, leaving mammoth empty mounts hanging in the air. The third roller was a carcass, with just a few large chunks still clinging to the mount. Obviously, they had been solid, not at all like tires back home.

But it was the damage to the cylindrical body that was most impressive. It was ripped open nearly its entire length, and shipping cases of all sizes hung out through the rents, themselves in varying states of destruction. Some lights were still working inside, and they highlighted the incredible damage. The rear of the vehicle was entirely gone, and they could see the remains of compartments and decks inside, simply full of trash now that the cargo within had been destroyed.

Mike emitted a small, amazed laugh, checking out the remaining rollers. "Big set of boots on this baby! But that tank sure turned our road train into a tip truck!"

"Yeah," Bobby said, shaking his head. "They sure took a pretty good piece out of us."

Mike nodded, and put a protective arm around his boyfriend. "Good thing this beast is so huge, or someone mighta got hurt."

Bobby smiled at that, but just nodded.

"Um...I think I am the cause of some of that damage," Illia said. "When I turned off the road, the gap between the buildings there really was not quite wide enough to accept us."

Charlie laughed at that. "I think we kind of noticed that, Illia. But you got the job done, and everyone is safe, so why complain about a few small dents in the fenders?"

Kippy let out a laugh, and reached over and squeezed Charlie's wrist, grinning. Charlie just grinned back.

"That's the way I saw it, too," the shipmind said, sounding satisfied. "Considering that I have never driven a land vehicle before, I think we managed well."

Charlie turned to Ragal, who had been standing by patiently, watching them. "Sorry. Which way?"

The tall alien turned and pointed off into the darkness. "There."

"Yes," Pacha said. "Our quarry seems to have gone to ground. The pursuers are nearby, too. Caution is in order."

Charlie looked in the direction Ragal had indicated. There were lights off in the distance, but it was pitch dark close at hand. "I don't know how we'll do this without lights."

To his amazement, the darkness before his eyes parted, and a vivid landscape came into being. There were a few startled exclamations from the others, leading him to believe that they were seeing the same thing he was. Charlie stared about, noting the relatively flat lay of the land, but that it seemed to rise off to their right into a series of hills. Nothing grew anywhere he looked, nothing to fall over, nothing to avoid. Just uneven ground, here and there, but now plainly visible.

But it was only the ground that was visible. That, and things like the far off structures lining the horizon. The sky was still utterly dark, a spooky looking black canopy hanging over the world, unrelieved in its complete lack of light by even a single star.

"Ooh, creepy," Kippy breathed, giving audible life to Charlie's own opinion.

"I have activated the imaging function of your helmets," Murcha said over the com link. "After this mission, you really need to sit down and read the manual."

"I will," Charlie said, laughing. "Believe me, I'll do that."

Charlie gave one last look at their former vehicle. The damage was even worse in the clarity of the imager. He shook his head, an old joke his dad had once told him about student drivers coming and going in the back of his mind in a brief second. It made him frown, instead of being funny. Illia's performance had probably saved all of them from injury, or maybe even capture. And now, to leave the evidence of their misdeeds so prominently lit out here in the middle of nowhere seemed incautious. "Um, Illia? Can you turn off the car's lights? It's really very visible out here in the dark."

The lights immediately went out.

They started off, walking two-abreast, placing their feet carefully as they became accustomed to the view through their helmets. Colors were there, very muted, but the depth perception was excellent, and Charlie found he had no trouble at all in walking through the pitch dark just as if it were noon outside his own house back on Earth. Again he was impressed with the technology. The Moth were no slouches in anything, it seemed.

Ahead of them, an uncertain mass on the horizon began to differentiate into a group of cylindrical buildings with tapering peaks, standing on end like bowling pins waiting for the ball to strike. There was easily a hundred of them, maybe more, grouped here and there with gaps between the groups, but all of them obviously part of the same complex.

"What do you make of that?" Adrian asked, pointing. The group stopped to look over the land ahead.

"They look like liquid storage of some kind," Kontus offered, peering ahead through his helmet. He pointed off to their left. "If I am not mistaken, that odd looking shadow along the horizon is a pipeline of some sort, running there to that large group of square buildings."

"I agree," Ragal put in. As the tallest member of their group, he certainly had the best view. "But it is the storage facility we must go to, I sense."

"That is also my opinion," Pacha added.

The three elves, standing together and staring at the storage tanks, all nodded.

"That's where it is," Frit stated.

"No doubt about it," Pip agreed.

Keerby frowned, and looked over at Charlie. "Yes. There is something there."

Charlie noted the puzzled look on the elf's face. "Something else you feel?"

Keerby nodded. "There is something weird there. I'm sensing an...an impending non-specific moment in time. A discontinuity."

Kippy made a face, and turned a questioning look on the elf. "What the heck does that mean?"

Keerby looked thoughtful. "Time is all relative, Kippy. It really only exists right now, as the present. We feel it passing as we move into the newest now, and because we remember these nows passing, we have a sense of the past. But its not really there anymore."

Charlie frowned at that. "If there is nothing but a now everywhere in the universe, how does the Cooee have no time? And how do you manipulate stuff so that we can be out here a week while only a few minutes pass by at home?"

The elf laughed. "I know it's hard to get. But just because we have a now here, it doesn't mean it's the same now back at home. There's what's called frames of reference, and they're attached to each and every spot, everywhere in the whole universe, and move with them. The Cooee is not our universe at all. It has one large frame that doesn't change in respect to our universe, and so time like we know it doesn't pass there. It's always the same now in the Cooee. But there's places even in there where things have happened wrong and the frame is sort of bent or twisted, and the nows jump ahead or fall behind the nows in our universe. Like I said before, it may even be caused by people like me, manipulating time frames out here. That's what happened to Bobby, and why he lost time while he was there."

"He lost time?" Mike asked. "I thought he gained it, by coming back sixty years later."

"Nope. He actually lost time in his frame, because it was slower than the one he came from. When he got back to here, he'd lost those sixty years, not gained them. If he had experienced them normally, he'd be an old man now."

Mike looked briefly stricken at the idea, and turned and smiled at his boyfriend. "I'm glad that didn't happen."

"Me, too," Bobby said, returning the smile. Kippy sighed at the sight of it, and smiled wistfully at Charlie, who just smiled and nodded at his boyfriend's silent praise of romance.

"So what about what you do back home?" Ricky asked. "How can we be here a week and only a little time passes there?"

"I just fix it so that our frame slides past the one at home, and is always falling behind it, until I tell it not to. When we get back home, I'll make it stop." The elf laughed. "Uncle Max is really good at it, too. It kind of runs in our family."

Kippy's jaw dropped. "You're related to Max?"

"Sure. There's actually a couple of greats before the uncle, but my dad is the great, great a few times grandson of Max's brother, Jakos."

"I don't see how that can happen," Charlie said, frowning. "I mean the time frame thing, not that you're related to Max. How does time even out again, if you let the frames slide past each other? What about the energy involved? Wouldn't that kind of manipulation be a violation of the law of conservation of energy, or something?"

Keerby looked delighted. "That's very good, Charlie. Manipulating time frames creates problems with space. It causes it to be stretched in one place, where it isn't in another. Or it might be compressed instead. If the universe was unmoving, it would create problems with the balances of energy between frames. But the universe is expanding, and space is always inflating. So if you stretch it in time in one place, or compress it, there is room for it to react somewhere else in the opposite way. Energy flows between the two affected areas, and balances out."

"We are getting a little far afield here," Pacha reminded, looking off towards the storage tanks.

There were some smiles at that, and Charlie pointed a finger at Keerby to regain his attention. "And this non-specific moment thing?"

Keerby nodded. "We've split up this sense of time moving into seconds and minutes and things, to make life easier for us. Every second is accounted for, and every part of every second, down to the smallest little bit. But time doesn't know that. It's all one as it passes, it's all the right now. The only differences in perceived time to us living things are places in our universe where the frames slide past each other for some reason. That can happen naturally due to speed or gravity, or because some power user made it happen. And the future is not set at all, even though we also think of it with the same words that we see the past. We can say, 'I was there an hour ago', or we can say, 'I'll be there in an hour,' and we see them the same way, as a specific moment in time. But that past moment is an expired now, and the future moment doesn't really exist until we actually arrive at it as now."

Ricky gave out a low whistle. Adrian smiled. "You get that?" he asked his boyfriend.

"Told ya he was a prodigy," Pip said, exchanging a laughing glance with Frit.

"Got a good grip on reality, that boy," Frit agreed.

"And the non-specific part you mentioned?" Charlie reminded.

Keerby nodded. "Sometime soon, we're going to get to a now that may or may not actually exist. I take it to mean that at that...I can't say moment, because it may not be one...but at that now, something will or will not happen, that will affect the flow of nows that comes after."

Pacha turned in Mike's arm to stare at the elf. "Are you saying that this non-specific moment will be like a pivot in time, where the flow can go in one of two directions?"

"Yeah, that's it. But not backwards or forwards. Sideways. Like a branch. What occurs at that pivot will affect the future of the entire universe. Our reality will go one way, or another."

Kontus grunted. "It sounds dire. Does this mean that some action of ours will make the difference?"

"I don't know. But I'd have to say that some action of somebody's will."

Pacha's muzzle crinkled in an almost frown. "We already know about branching realities. Every single event has multiple conclusions, and for each conclusion a new, branching reality is formed. But the number of conclusions is basically infinite, leading to an infinite number of branch realities."

Adrian raised a hand at the koala to get his attention. "Like the reality you sent the Arpathant to, where there was no life but them? That's a branch reality?"

"Yes. I think that one was an extreme case, however. Something --" the Kift paused, and laughed --"momentous occurred, early in the development of that universe, that precluded the rise of intelligent life. In our galaxy there, at least."

"That's what this will be like," Keerby said, nodding. "Branch conclusions are so numerous in the daily life of the universe that it sheds new realities without ever affecting the flow of time. But every so often, there is an event that is so pivotal that it can conclude only one way or another, with no varying branches. Light or dark, right or wrong, this or that, and no other conclusion. I think this is where we are heading here. We will have the main stream of time, and a single branch reality that may become the new main stream, if allowed to happen."

Pacha looked unsettled. "This is quite serious."

"I'm glad there's no pressure, though," Ricky said amiably. "I'd be worried if there was."

Adrian smiled and leaned up against him. "Let's just do our best."

"I kind of agree with that," Charlie said. "We can only do what we are supposed to do."

"But we don't know what that is yet," Ragal said softly.

Charlie turned to him. "You being here must be a factor in it. Something you do here today must make some difference."

"Maybe not just him," Keerby countered. "It could be something that Ragal does in conjunction with things every one of the rest of us does, that make the difference. It may be the effect of all of us, together, that matters."

"So each one of us might have a part to play, that adds up to a whole," Kippy finished. "And we have no idea what it is we are to do."

No one said anything for a moment.

"Maybe you shouldn't have told them," Pip decided, patting Keerby on the shoulder.

But the other elf shook his head. "I had to. It's my nature to say something about anything that may affect all of us. I would have had to tell myself not to do it. You know, make a conscious decision? If I had not acted normal, I might have created the very instant where the universe went the wrong way."

"Wow," Bobby said, shaking his head. "So what do we do?"

Mike shrugged. "Hard to say."

Kippy smiled at Keerby. "How old did you say you were?'

The elf looked nonplussed, but then smiled. "I'm seventeen, actually."

Kippy sighed. "I'll bet you're a real time beast by the time you're twenty-one."

Charlie laughed along with the others, while Keerby blushed. But that the elf was enjoying himself was obvious. Quiet by nature, he was finally coming into his element at this stage of the operation.

Charlie rubbed his chin. "Damn. You know...this is just too complicated for us to think about right now. My inclination is not to worry about all the hard stuff, and just do what we feel is right."

Kontus smiled at that. "It is a plan that has seemed to work fairly well up until now."

Pacha considered the idea, and then inclined his head slightly. "I agree. A very sensible course, Charlie."

"Yeah. I mean, if that's why we're here, just to do what we do, than that's what needs to be done." He motioned towards the distant structures. "So let's keep walking."

They started off again, spreading out a little, watching the storage tanks as they grew larger.

Kippy clasped Charlie's hand as they walked, squeezing his fingers reassuringly. Charlie smiled at that. Kippy believed in a universe of light, and would never allow the shadows that actually existed there to deter him. Charlie had been doing a lot of thinking of late, and coming to see the universe as a much more dangerous place than his boyfriend ever would have liked to admit. Kippy believed in wonders, and magic, and that if you treated someone decently, it would come back to you.

Charlie was feeling more cynical about things since he had caused the deaths of the Beltracians back at their arsenal world, and even though it had been a necessary thing to the peace of the galaxy, it was a price he still could not get over having to pay. What had started as a great adventure for him and his friends had been shown to have real consequences underneath. Ricky and Adrian, and especially Kippy, still saw it all as a grand adventure, one that would always work out in the end for them. Kippy had so much faith in his friends, humans, elf, and alien, that he thought they could overcome all odds.

What Charlie had come to fear was the idea that a situation would arise that they could not handle, one that might cost him any one of - or even all of - his friends. Or even his own life, the idea of which did not frighten him as much as losing one of the others. That he could not control this worry bothered him more than the worry itself. His intellect told him that their chances on each adventure were just as good as the odds they had enjoyed on the adventures before, and his heart told him that they would prevail. But his fears...his fears were something else totally. In fact, he was starting to worry that his fears might incapacitate him at the wrong moment, and that he might, himself, inadvertently cause the very disaster that frightened him so much.

The doubt was wearing him down, adding to his worries that he might take a misstep, might fail when the others needed him the most...

"Stop that," Kippy said softly.

Charlie blinked, and looked over at the other boy. "Huh?"

"You heard me." Kippy's eyes sought out his, and again he squeezed Charlie's hand. "Stop that kind of thinking, right now."

Charlie couldn't help smiling. "Know me so well, do you?"

"Yes." Kippy squeezed his hand again. "Stop worrying."

Charlie knew their conversation wasn't private, but that seemed not to matter just now. "I can't help it. Like Keerby said, it's part of my nature."

"I know, and that's why I'm saying something." Kippy sighed. "I have a good feeling about all this, Charlie, not a bad one. What we're doing is right and necessary. You know I'd tell you if my skwish was warning me. But all it's saying is, 'you're doing the right thing'. Understand?"

"Yes." Charlie wanted to believe. Kippy's skwish had not steered them wrong yet. But it was the nature of worry that it could not be easily ignored, nor kicked away and told never to return. It grew like a weed, seeded by doubt, nourished by what ifs and maybes, until it grew up over the front door of his mind and hindered his step each time he stepped outside to enjoy the view. Disregarding it now would be hard.

Kippy sighed again. "Whatever happens, it will happen to us together, Charlie. All of us. That's what I feel."

Charlie heard Adrian make a soft sound, as if he was clearing his throat. "It's what I feel, too."

"Listen up, Charlie," Ricky said quietly. "You're not by yourself here."

Charlie turned his head to look at the other boy. Ricky and Adrian were walking along, hand in hand, just as Charlie and Kippy were. His gaze moved on, and Mike and Bobby were there, hand-in-hand, smiling at him. Pacha, in the crook of Mike's other arm, seemed also to be sending positive thoughts his way. And Frit and Pip, also holding hands, with Keerby virtually rubbing shoulders with Frit as they walked along. Together.

Kontus moved with easy grace, looking certain that they would handle whatever might come. And Ragal...the alien wore a smile, and for the first time Charlie understood that it was not just a normal feature of the alien's face, but a true reflection of what Ragal was feeling inside. The man had a positive view, one that Charlie could see now was not easily disturbed. Ragal trusted in some part of the universe not to sell him short.

The idea that all of them might be feeling some of the same things that he did - the same worries, the same fears - struck him like a blow then.

"Are you worried?" he asked Ricky, unable not to.

"Sure. I told you before I was. I always worry when we're doing this stuff. But I'm not letting it take the fun away from me. There's too much great stuff to see out here, for me to spend all my time looking inside for things to worry about."

Charlie smiled at that, and then gave a soft laugh. "What a great way to put it." He grinned across at him. "Thanks."

Ricky smiled. "Hey, it's what friends are for."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah."

Kippy squeezed his hand again, and when Charlie returned his gaze to his boyfriend, he saw the twinkle of affection in Kippy's eyes. "Not so hard, was it?"

"A conspiracy," Charlie returned, feigning disgust. "To deprive me of all my hard won demons."

The others laughed at the joke, but Charlie felt immeasurably better somehow for it, and determined to hold onto the positive feelings. He let his eyes go back to their destination, and examined the storage tanks again now that they were closer and larger. Why there?

"Is there something about that place, you think, that has drawn our friends there?"

"I think not," Pacha said, almost as if he had been expecting the question. "I think it is random, and only where the pursued one wound up. The pursuers are close, and now us. It may have felt trapped."

"But we're not after it," Adrian pointed out.

"It may not know that," Ragal spoke then. "I feel it senses us, and knows we are close."

Charlie slowed, and then stopped. "Should we just walk up on it, then?"

The others also stopped, and Ragal came closer to Charlie. "It is distressed, Charlie. Fearful. I think we should hurry to get there before the pursuers."

Charlie didn't waste a moment. He stepped into a trot, and Kippy fell right in beside him. The others joined them, and the entire group crossed the remaining ground to the first storage tanks at a swift pace, yet remarkably quietly, the amazing soles of their suit feet seeming to avoid a solid and noisy impact with the ground.

Charlie and Kippy arrived at the side of the first tank and stopped. Charlie turned, to find Ragal right behind him. "Which way?" Charlie asked.

"Around this tank, and in between, I think," Ragal said quietly.

Charlie nodded, and began circling the big tank, the others following. They entered the area between the first row of tanks and the row behind, and Charlie could see between the next row that there were even more rows beyond. The ground was smooth here but unfinished, looking like ancient dirt simply pounded into submission by time. Charlie kept on, until he had completely circled the tank to the area beyond.

There he stopped.

The great walls of the tanks towered all around them, and they were in what seemed a narrow canyon between, somehow darker than the lands outside. Yet their imagers continued to show the ground at their feet quite plainly, with only the airspace between the tanks seeming uncertainly dimmed. Charlie looked around carefully, trying to figure out what was amiss; and then he had it: the artificial canyon, instead of being lit all the way to the horizon, seemed to fade into darkness only two tanks beyond. Where there should have been a line of tanks going onward, there was only darkness.

"That doesn't look right," he said then.

"The imagers are working correctly," Murcha said over the link. The two Moth shipminds had been monitoring their progress, even while mostly focused on the puzzle of solving the barrier encryption. "I have tapped into your journal recording, Charlie, and the image looks fine."

Charlie shook his head. "It gets dark only two tanks beyond."

"Really? I can see all the way to the end of the row, and even beyond."

"Well, I can't," Mike said, sounding annoyed. "Something isn't right here."

"I can't see the end, either," Bobby confirmed. "It's like there's a dark fog down there, or something."

"It's not real," Frit said then. "Something's fooling our eyes."

"Big time!" Pip agreed. He turned to look at his boyfriend. "Feel that? Down low in the band? Never felt anything like that before!"

"There is another power user here," Pacha said, quietly. "A most unusual one, too."

"This is the one we seek," Ragal confirmed. "This is why I am here, I think."

"I cannot detect anything ahead of us," Illia said. "There is nothing there."

"Nor can I," Murcha agreed. "But my scans indicate an unusual power signature, closing on your position. I suggest a retreat, or at least a consolidation, of your group, until we can..."

The shipmind's voice trailed off amidst a burst of static on the com, and was silent.

"Murcha?" Charlie asked.

There was no response.

"What happened, Illia?" Mike asked, looking back over his shoulder.

Again, there was no response.

Pacha looked around at them. "Can everyone hear my voice?"

There was a chorus of yesses and nods, and the Kift looked puzzled. "Odd that we could be cut off from Murcha. The com communicates instantaneously and directly through a portion of the Cooee. No local force should be able to interfere with it. Certainly not with Illia, who is literally a foot away from me."

"Well, somebody did," Mike said, sounding quite unhappy about it. "And I don't like being cut off from my girl."

Bobby gave out a short laugh at that, and Mike turned and grinned at him. "You know what I mean."

Ricky suddenly waved a hand for silence. In the darkness before them, something moved. Kippy gasped, and Charlie literally felt the hair on the back of his head stand up.

"Crap," Ricky breathed, drawing his vibratory dagger.

For a second it was there, huge, it's outline vague, just enough to reveal an utterly alien and frightening apparition; and then it receded back into the dark mist.

Charlie stared, rooted to the spot, unable now to even describe what he had seen. Yet just the memory of it made him want to run and hide. But something kept him from doing just that - something that also seemed to be keeping the others there around him.

Kippy reached for Charlie's hand again and clasped it tightly. "We're okay," he said softly, even though their voices could only go out by com, and not carry otherwise beyond the helmets. "My skwish is saying we are okay."

Ricky gave a soft laugh. "Let your skwish come out and see that thing, and then see what it says!"

There was some soft, yet nervous laughter at that.

"We're good," Adrian reinforced Kippy's words, but took hold of Ricky's free hand a little worriedly. "Don't start swinging that thing recklessly, okay?"

Ricky laughed. "Who, me?"

"Yes. You."

Ricky immediately sobered. "I won't. I promise."

"Odd," Pacha said. "The mass of the life form I sense does not comply with the size of what I just saw."

"Just tell me it's not really bigger," Mike said, through a tight smile.

"No. Much smaller. Something is not right here."

"Yeah," Frit said. "Somebody's playing games."

"Trick or treat games," Pip agreed.

Keerby looked over at Charlie. "We are close to the possible discontinuity in time."

Charlie almost laughed, hearing that on top of everything else. "Everybody, watch your step," was all he could think of to say.

Again in the darkness ahead, something moved. And then the darkness suddenly advanced upon them, creeping forward with a purposeful, evil life of its own, swallowing the great tanks before them. Charlie heard several soft exclamations over the com, and then Ragal's voice, sounding unusually commanding: "Do not run!"

The darkness reached them, paused just before them. Something large reached out of the darkness at them, a giant, clawed hand, armored and studded like a mace, that swept over their heads and impacted one of the tanks with a terrible, metallic clang. Charlie felt Kippy pull at his arm, but the boy was not trying to run. He was simply pulling away from the tank, as if in fear that it might burst under the impact.

A shriek came from the darkness, an immense, angry, terrifying shriek. Charlie remembered the wristlet weapon he wore now and raised his hand in front of him, realizing then that he didn't even know how to shoot the thing. He remembered that Murcha had said it was a smart weapon, with its own tiny intelligence within, and that it would know how to react to any threatening situation.

And yet, the weapon did not fire.

"Stay calm, everyone," Ragal said, his voice again holding the quality of an order. Charlie found the words oddly reassuring, and took a deep breath and lowered his arm a bit.

Some awful noises came to them then, as if whatever was inside the darkness ahead of them was simply destroying the tanks around it. It was an incredible sound, deafening, and Charlie was suddenly stunned to realize something: he was hearing the sounds as if he wore no helmet at all. Outside sounds could be heard, picked up and transmitted to a sound reproducer inside the helmet; but up to that point the things they had heard had been subject to filtering. Yet now, his ears rang with the level of noise, something that should have been impossible inside the noise-limiting confines of the Moth space helmet.

"Something's wrong!" he yelled then. "The noise is too loud!"

Several of the others gaped at him, but then he began to see comprehension on their faces.

Ragal was beside Charlie then, motioning that they should go forward. "Quickly! Into the darkness!"

The tall alien plunged ahead, leading the way. Charlie grabbed Kippy's hand again and they followed, and the others followed them. Incredibly, instead of being engulfed within the darkness, it receded before them, the tanks appearing to each side as they ran, totally undamaged, until, quite suddenly, the darkness itself vanished.

Before them was a small creature, two-legged, brown of skin, with two short arms, now thrown up in terror before a cone-shaped head that held two large eyes, now closed behind the hands. It was wearing a brown one-piece suit and brown boots, and no helmet at all. They encircled it, immediately sensing its fear and distress, and wondering how this small creature could be related to the terrifying sights and sounds they had just witnessed only moments ago. But even as they wondered, a dozen other creatures materialized from the gaps between the tanks around them, running at full tilt to encircle their own circle. The newcomers were taller than they, wearing green spacesuits with silvery, faceless helmets, and held what could only be weapons in their large, gloved hands, unquestionably aimed at Charlie and his friends. Another of the suited aliens appeared and plunked down onto the ground what was obviously a machine of some sort, and then stood back, and drew a weapon of his own.

One of the helmeted figures stepped forward. "I would advise you all to remain motionless," he said quietly. Charlie was shocked to understand that it was Trichani he was hearing, translated to English by his earpiece. He turned then to look at Kontus, as that one crinkled his brow in suspicion.

"You know these people?" he asked the big Trichani.

Kontus shook his head. "I do not recognize their gear. And there are many bipeds in the five empires."

"Who we are is not important," the alien spokesman said. "We do not want trouble with you. Just step aside and give us the Tarvil, and you may go free."

Charlie turned and looked at the little alien among them, who still was hiding behind its raised hands. It looked terrified, and as if hiding behind its hands would protect it from harm. There was something touchingly innocent about that, and it only firmed Charlie's desire to defend the little alien.

"And if we don't give him up?"

The alien, now obviously the leader of their group, carefully placed his pistol back into its holster, and just as carefully put his hands on his hips. "Then we will need to come and get him, and some of your party may be injured."

Charlie nodded, seeing now a need to gain time. "You'll allow us to discuss this among ourselves?"

The alien offered an open hand to him. "Please. Let us avoid violence."

"This would seem to be a good time to make plans," Illia suddenly said. "I have muted your external annunciators, and these interlopers cannot hear our encrypted coms. What do you want to do, Charlie?"

Charlie was stunned. "Where have you been?"

"I have been right here all along, Charlie. Murcha and Onglet, too. You are the ones that have been absent. We called to you, but you did not answer."

"We've been right here," Kippy said, sounding amazed. "You didn't answer! None of you!"

"On the contrary," Murcha said then. "We have been able to hear every word that all of you have said, and we have been trying to speak with you. It appears you were made not to hear us."

Charlie digested that bit of information, and decided that it didn't matter. They were back in communication with the shipminds now. "I'm not sure what to do."

"There has been some sort of sensor blanket over your entire area, apparently," Murcha told them. "It seems to have been lifted. I am now detecting all of you again, a number of others with you, and a vessel of some sort, several miles away."

"A ship?" Mike asked, sounding surprised. "Down here?"

"Not so surprising," Murcha countered. "Someone else has obviously broken the encryption of the barrier, just as we are working on doing now. I suggest caution until we know more about these others."

Bobby gave a half-laugh at that. "We know they're pointing guns at us. What more do we need?"

Charlie looked over at Kontus. "Can you start talking to them a moment? Ask some questions about how they know your language, or something? So we can talk?"

"If Illia will reactivate my external annunciator."

"Done," the shipmind quickly returned.

Kontus carefully raised a hand, and pointed a finger at the alien leader. "How is it you speak Trichani, if I may ask?"

The other's shoulders turned briefly side-to-side, as if he was exchanging amused looks with his fellows. "We do not. What you hear is the output of a translator. Yours is the only breed we recognize among your group. The others are unknown to us. So your tongue was the logical choice."

Charlie turned away as the two talked.

"Pacha? Frit? Can you disarm these guys?"

"There is a problem," the Kift returned. "That machine they placed on the ground there is a damper, of the sort the Moth use among themselves to keep their own kind from power using. My powers are somewhat reduced."

"Mine, too!" Frit whispered. "Gives me a headache!"

"You can't do anything?" Charlie replied, feeling the first real tug of alarm. Not having the back up of Pacha's and the elf's powers might prove to be their undoing.

"I think I could still disarm all of them," Pacha replied. "Fortunately, the damper seems not intended for us. It operates at brainwave frequencies higher than those that would properly curtail my abilities. It is a distraction, more than a disabler."

Not aimed at them? Charlie turned and glanced briefly at the machine. Then what?...oh...of course! The leader of the aliens had just said he did not recognize the humans or other species in Charlie's group. So they would also not know that there were power users among them. The damper must have a purpose, though. If it wasn't intended to hobble them, then it could only be aimed at...

He turned back and dropped his gaze to the little alien among them. It had not moved, and still hid behind its hands, as if this would actually shield it from peril. There was a heartbreaking quality to its fear, one that made Charlie angry. Who the hell were these aliens, and what did they want with this little one?

His eyes went back to Pacha's. "How about if Frit and Pip and Keerby aid you? All of you, at once, seize these guy's weapons and get rid of them?"

The three elves looked at each other, and Frit nodded. "I think we can do that, if we do it together. It doesn't seem to be a very good damper, and it doesn't reach very far. Whoever made it doesn't know power users very well."

Charlie felt a glimmer of hope at that. "Okay, when I say 'do it', all four of you go after the weapons pointed at us. Got it?"

"Got it." Frit grinned, and Charlie almost had to smile at the elf's excited tone.

"I'll do my best, Charlie," Pacha replied.

Charlie turned back to Kontus and the alien leader. Despite being unable to see through the alien's mirrored helmet, Charlie felt certain that the alien was watching him.

Charlie smiled. "We have a ship up above, you know. Even if you kill us, you'll still have to deal with it on your way out."

The alien leader gave out what was obviously a small sigh of frustration. "We do not wish to kill you. As for the vessel above, we have scanned it. It's unarmed. And, it cannot get through the barrier just yet. I would not place your hopes there."

But Charlie did gain hope from those words. Lollipop's disguise, placed there by Max, had not been breached by these intruders. They thought the vessel unarmed, when in fact it was basically a Moth pocket battleship. If they hadn't detected the deception, then their technology was not exactly superior, and so Murcha would definitely surprise them if they took a shot at him.

Kippy waved a hand at the alien leader. "Why don't you just tell us why you want this little guy, and maybe that will help us to decide?"

"Very well." The alien leader gave a distinct nod of his head. "He is a criminal, wanted on our world for high crimes. We have come to take him back to face those charges."

"What charges?" Ragal demanded, not sounding at all convinced. "You have evidence of a crime?"

The tall alien took a step towards them. "You have seen the evidence for yourself. The Tarvil is a power user, one whose specialty is illusion. This one has used that power to escape our world, and the hand of justice that would deal with him. We were sent to hunt him down and return him for trial for his heinous crimes."

There was something off about that. Charlie couldn't claim one iota of experience with little aliens with pointed heads that hid timidly behind their hands, but imagining the one standing behind him committing 'heinous' crimes seemed almost laughable. But...you couldn't judge a book by its cover, certainly. So how...?

Charlie turned to Kippy. "What does your skwish say about this little fellow?"

Kippy smiled. "That he is the reason we are here. And that we must not let these others take him."

"No way give him up," Adrian said.

"We cannot," Ragal added, with emphasis.

Charlie nodded.

"Charlie?" It was Pacha'ka.

"What?"

The Kift's expression could only be termed suspicious. "I have reached out to sense the weapons these characters possess, to see how much force I may need to carry them away, and...they are not there."

"We don't feel 'em, either," Frit whispered. "They're bogus!"

Charlie's eyes skipped back to Pacha. "Huh? Are they even armed at all?"

"Yes. But...I don't know how to say this, but their weapons seem to be inside their bodies. This leads me to believe that what we are seeing is not the true form of these aliens at all. I suspect we are seeing projections of some sort."

What?

Charlie turned to stare at the aliens again. They were standing still, their arms raised, the weapons in their hands pointed at Charlie's group. The leader still stood with his hands on his hips, as if waiting patiently. "You have made your decision?" he asked.

Charlie smiled. "Almost there. Another minute or two."

He turned back to Pacha. "Can you guys focus on their real weapons, and remove them when I say?"

"Yes, Charlie. There seem to be a number of devices inside each projection. They are smaller than anticipated, so I think we can get them all at one time."

Frit and Pip and Keerby all nodded. "They're little things!" Pip exclaimed.

Charlie let his eyes circle the group. Everyone had been listening, and no one had missed hearing what was happening. Charlie smiled. "On my mark, everyone."

They nodded, promising to be ready for whatever came next.

Charlie turned back to the alien leader. "We've decided."

The man's stance conveyed a sudden eagerness. "You will give up the Tarvil?"

Charlie smiled. "Not quite. Pacha...do it!"

Several things happened at once. The aliens encircling them seemed to suddenly vibrate and shake in an unbelievable manner, and then a flurry of tiny devices erupted forth from within each and went flying in all directions. The suited forms collapsed and vanished, revealing, instead, a small circle of more little brown aliens with pointed heads!

The one standing where the alien leader had been raised its thin arms and shrieked, and Charlie's translator delivered the horrified cry of, "power users!" to his ears.

As one, the little aliens turned to run. Their small legs moved with amazing swiftness, but Ricky and Bobby both dived forward into a chase, and quickly caught and grabbed up the alien leader. It struggled mightily between them, and the two boys carried it back and dumped it at Charlie's feet. In an instant, it had bolted upright again, and only a quick grab by Ricky kept it from diving between their legs and making off again.

Ricky jerked the alien forward then, and Bobby grabbed the other arm and steadied the creature. It suddenly gave up trying to flee, and stared up at Charlie with horror in its gray eyes. "Abominations! Power users! Spawn of evil!"

Charlie was so surprised that he laughed. "Not so tough now, are you?"

The little alien stamped a foot on the ground. "I was merciful! I intended to let you leave unharmed! Why would you do this?" It turned, and virtually spat in the direction to the little alien still cowering by Kippy. "For that...that...monster!"

Ricky pursed his lips and whistled.

Charlie frowned down at the alien. "You said this one is a criminal. What are his crimes?"

"His crimes? He is a crime himself! He is different! He is a power user! He must be destroyed!"

Charlie stared at the creature. "His crime is that he's a power user?"

"Of course! He is a sport, a mutation. They have been appearing throughout the race for years now, impure, defiling us as a people. They are abominations!"

"Oh, shit," Kippy breathed. "Is this guy serious?"

Ricky looked angry. "I could slip and accidentally break his arm."

Charlie glared at him. "One killer is enough, okay?"

Ricky looked surprised, and then embarrassed. "Yeah. Sorry. I'm a little mad, is all."

Charlie nodded. "I understand." He looked down at the alien again. "Has this...man...this member of your species, actually committed a real crime?"

The small alien actually managed to look indignant. "I just said so, didn't I? His evil power was discovered and he was turned in. He was arrested and set to be euthanized, and he then used that abominable power to make his escape. He fled justice!"

Charlie just stared at the creature. "You would have killed him for being different?"

"Of course! Such evil powers are not normal! They are a defect in the genetic line. They must be eradicated, to maintain purity. It is the law!"

Kippy curled his lip. "And you people have spaceflight?"

"I do not recognize your species," Kontus said then, anger quite plain in his voice. "Where do you come from?"

The small alien's face contorted. "I will not tell you. We do not want to associate with such as you. You are not pure even among your own kind. You allow all manner of differences to crop up, and you do nothing about it!. You and your thoughts would only foment disease within our people! Stay away!"

It was the first time that Charlie had ever seen the big Trichani looking really upset. "This one is trouble, Charlie," Kontus grated, shaking his head. "I would not trust one such as this to make an honest deal on anything."

"I gathered that much." Charlie returned his gaze to the small alien. "Makes it hard for me to believe you'd have just let us walk away if we'd handed your boy over."

"I would have. To kill you might have been to bring us to the attention of your people. You are diseased, but you empire people are absurdly powerful. We don't want you finding our world. You would bring death and destruction upon us!"

Charlie pulled back from the alien. "Holy crap." He had read about fanaticism before, but until now the concept was just an exercise in thought. But if this wasn't the real deal, he was Kippy's mother!

"So you were just going to take this guy back and kill him off, huh?"

"We tracked him down and captured him. But the dampener is new technology, and it failed on the way home. This monster made us see the wrong things, enter the wrong course, and we eventually wound up here, where he escaped the ship again." The alien again lunged towards Kippy and the cowering alien, and only Ricky's grip on its arm stopped him.

"So you wound up here, at a world you'd never seen before," Charlie said. "How did you get down here?"

"That one came down the same way you did, on one of the space elevators. We could not follow him that way. We had to decrypt the barrier, and that took a very long time. We were aware that the Tarvil could survive by eating the food offered in many of the buildings here, even though it was not pure. More proof of his tainted nature! But we could not leave, and still hunted for him."

"Very devoted of you," Adrian said, nastily.

The alien leader was obviously of the talkative variety. "We finally broke the encryption on the barrier, and then we were able to bring the ship down, and intensify the search. And still, the criminal's powers protected him, making us do all the wrong things, look in all the wrong places." The alien glared at the other member of his kind, still hiding behind his hands. "Such resistance to the law can only be dealt with harshly!"

Charlie simply shook his head. "Why didn't you just leave him and go?"

The alien gave a small snort. "The law says he must be destroyed. Leaving him here would not be in compliance. So we persisted. And then, you people arrived. More interference! At first we just watched you, but then we understood that you were somehow after the criminal, that you could track him. We suspected then that he had somehow brought you here, to aid him in another escape. So we continued to watch you, and you led us to him. The dampener was repaired by then, and it removed the threat of his powers, and we had him." The alien's face contorted again. "But you are just like him! Power users! We could not foresee that. Abominations!"

Ricky made no bones about being mad now. "I could still break that arm, Charlie."

"No. Let him go," Charlie said, waving a hand. He glared at the alien. "You...get out of here, before I change my mind."

Bobby frowned. "You sure, Charlie?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I don't even want him around."

Ricky and Bobby let go, and the alien immediately turned and ran.

"I'm not sure that was a good idea," Mike said then. "That one's a feral little bastard."

Kippy shook his head, plainly upset. "All they needed to do was go home and leave this one here, and they'd have been rid of him. He'd have been stranded on this planet, all alone. But they were so focused on getting him and hurting him that they stayed." Kippy looked grim. "I don't get that kind of hate."

"It is a disease, itself," Kontus said. "And one of the hardest to cure."

"No doubt," Charlie said. "Pacha, Frit? All of you stay alert a moment, will you?"

"We will!" Frit said, smiling. "You did that pretty well, Charlie. Good job!"

"Releasing the creature was of course the correct decision," Pacha agreed. "But it may bring us trouble later."

"I guess we'll see." Charlie turned to Ragal, and pointed at the small alien in their midst. "Can we talk to this guy?"

He nodded, and sank to his haunches before the frightened little alien. Kippy, standing alongside the small creature, had placed a reassuring hand on its tiny shoulder, and was rubbing it comfortingly. Charlie smiled, knowing how Kippy was in that mode, himself.

Ragal watched the small alien, still hiding behind its hands. "They're gone, you know. You can come out now."

For a moment nothing happened. But then one hand briefly moved to the side and an eye peeked out at the many faces around it. And then the hand whipped back to cover the eye.

Ragal laughed, a very pleasant sound. "It's okay. I know you don't understand my words yet, but these are your friends." Carefully, he raised his own hands, and gently wrapped his fingers about the little alien's forearms. The small one flinched back a step, but made no other move.

Ragal gently rubbed the forearms with his thumbs. "It would be nice to see who is hiding back there. I promise you we will not harm you."

Slowly, one hand lifted, and again an eye stared out at them. Ragal gave a gentle laugh, and smiled. "That's halfway. Let's see the rest of you, okay?"

The eye looked around at them, and Charlie saw everyone respond with a smile. That seemed to embolden the little creature, and the other hand peeled back, and the other eye looked out at them. But both hands stayed against the alien's face, ready to clamp back down over the eyes at a moment's notice.

"Very good," Ragal said approvingly. "What enchanting eyes you have. A pity to hide them away like that."

The eyes focused on Ragal, who simply smiled, and watched the alien, somehow making it very clear that he had all the time and all the patience in the world. Charlie marveled at that, at the way that the small alien's eyes seemed to search Ragal's, looking for answers, and the way that Ragal supplied them, without so much as a single word. The tall alien had said his kind had a gift for absorbing languages and cultures, but Charlie could see it was much more than that now. Ragal had an empathy and sympathy for others that was clear, and an ability to offer peace where it seemed that peace would fear to tread.

"There you go," Ragal said softly, his smile widening.

The Tarvil's eyes moved back and forth, again searching Ragal's, and then the tiny mouth curved into a smile. Kippy sighed, and beamed at Charlie, who simply had to smile himself.

"Charlie," Murcha said through the com, "the alien vessel is lifting off. It looks like it may be heading for your location."

Charlie immediately turned to Pacha. "Can you take all of us back to the ship?"

The Kift waved a hand at the dampener, still standing nearby. "If someone can turn that thing off, yes."

Ricky turned and walked over to the device, pulled his vibratory sword, and swiped it deftly across the length of it. There was a brief hum, and the sound of several beer cans being squashed, and the alien machine fell into two halves.

"It's off," Ricky said, smiling. He returned the sword to its scabbard, and came back to stand with Adrian. "See? I was careful."

Adrian smiled, pulled Ricky's arm into his hands, and squeezed him closer. "My hero."

Pacha quickly waved a hand around at them. "Everybody, come closer!"

Ragal gently picked up the Tarvil and cradled him in has arms. "We're leaving this dreadful place, okay?"

Pacha raised a hand to move them, and Charlie reached out and laid his own atop it. "I need to know something first, Pacha." He glanced over his shoulder at Ragal and the Tarvil. "I need to know that our new friend will not be a danger to us with his powers of illusion."

"No, Charlie, he won't. Powerful as he is with regard to the normal minds of his own people, you yourself noticed that his illusions were not perfect. Now that we are aware of his abilities, neither myself nor Frit and the other elves can be taken in by them."

"That's right," Frit said, "He'll be fine!"

"He'll be happy!" Pip added, laughing.

Keerby just shrugged. "I'm with them."

Charlie laughed, and nodded at Pacha. "Let's go."

There was a rumble above them, and they could see the alien ship as it sped towards them, oddly lit by the imagers in their helmets. It looked like an inverted acorn, and even as he watched, a string of small lights danced along the bottom edge of it.

"Missiles!" Illia called, sounding unbelievably restrained. "Impact in five seconds."

Pacha smiled at Charlie. "A shame we won't be here to receive them." And then he waved his hand.