Who Was That Boogeyman I Saw You With Last Night, Charlie Boone? - 3. Chapter 3

Kippy stared at the photo of the novel that Charlie's dad had showed him. Charlie had printed it out, so that it would be easier to show to others.

"Now, that's just spooky," his boyfriend decided.

"It's a mystery!" Browbeat exclaimed, hovering over Kip's shoulder.

Everyone had a look at the photo, and everyone had the same reaction. Strange!

"No feeling on this?" Charlie asked his boyfriend. When Kip just shrugged and shook his head, he turned to Adrian. "How about you?"

The other boy frowned. "Nothing concrete. I just feel that we should check it out."

"Oh, I do agree with that," Kip said. But then he sighed. "This book was written so long ago! How do we go about doing this?"

"I already looked up the author in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database," Charlie replied. "He wrote a few short stories, but this was his only novel. And he's still alive, and living in New Mexico."

Rick let out a surprised laugh. "Not in Roswell, I hope! UFO City!"

Charlie grinned. "Actually, he lives in Alamogordo, about a hundred miles from Roswell."

Rick blinked in surprise. "That's almost as bad! That's Atomic City, isn't it?"

"Just what we need for Halloween!" Adrian put in, rolling his eyes. "A chance to glow in the dark!"

Ragal looked from one boy to the next. "What does this mean, Atomic City?"

Rick waved a hand dismissively. "The White Sands Missile Range is outside Alamogordo. They set off the first atomic bomb there, years ago."

"And, geez, did that make us elves nervous!" Max injected.

Ragal's eyes widened slightly. "An open-air test? Near inhabited regions?"

"It wasn't known how dangerous that was back then," Charlie said quickly. "Let's not get distracted."

Ragal and Casper exchanged a look, but then Ragal nodded. "Go on."

"The man is still alive," Charlie repeated. "I want to contact him and see if he'll talk to us."

"We were going to talk to Dick Sternman, too," Kippy reminded quickly.

"Right. We'll go there first. I already called him. He said he'd be out in the shop."

"How will you contact this Ripley Shannon guy?" Rick asked.

"Robin used one of his resources to find Shannon's phone number. I couldn't locate it with our regular online sources." Charlie tossed a smile at the older man, before letting his gaze move back to Rick. "I haven't called Shannon yet, because we need to talk to Dick Sternman first. I can call Shannon from his place, after we're done there."

Rick smiled at Robin. "Nothing is safe from you, is it?"

"Not really." The older man grinned. "Would you have it any other way?"

Rick sighed, but his eyes were bright with humor. "I never want to get on your bad side!"

Kippy rose from his chair. "Are we going, then?"

"I'm ready!" Browbeat called, lifting off from the top of the chair and moving closer to Kip's shoulder. "Do you mind?"

Kippy smiled and patted his shoulder. "Anytime, sweetheart."

Browbeat laughed gleefully, and landed on Kip's shoulder. "You guys are so much fun!"

He and Casper both laughed at that, and Charlie allowed himself one quick, pleasant sigh. It was hard not to absorb some of the enthusiasm that Casper and Browbeat developed for these investigations!

Kippy waved a hand at everyone to come closer. "I'll take us, if you don't mind."

Max chuckled, and smiled at Charlie. "I'm gettin' kinda used to this being a passenger stuff!"

"We still need your talents, believe me," Charlie returned. He looked pointedly at Robin. "You, too!"

The older man laughed. "You lads are coming along famously, if you don't mind me saying." He raised a hand as if to stop Charlie from adding anything more. "Let's go!"

They moved closer together so everyone could touch Kip, and then they were off.

 

* * * * * * *

 

"Tlingit?"

Dick Sternman looked up at them from behind his desk in his shop, the beginnings of a smile upon his features. His eyes, behind his wire-rim glasses, inspected Charlie with interest. Charlie smiled at that, knowing how quick the man was to get involved in a new puzzle.

Shadow, the perfectly named black and tan mix of Rottweiler and German Shepherd, who followed Dick just about everywhere, had made herself comfortable by the desk, and seemed to be listening to the proceedings with a somewhat sleepy air. She seemed aware that if her master went off on some new adventure that she would remain at home to guard the fort, and that was okay by her. Sometimes, a warm and happy spot in the house beat out a road trip in the brisk late-fall air by quite a good measure.

The smell of sawdust and wood filled the shop with a comfortable scent that Charlie had come to find cheery, and seemed to accent the various projects either standing around on the floor or clamped together upon the worktables while adhesive set. Dick often had several projects going at once, each gaining his attention as his thoughts settled comfortably on the next step in their construction. The shop had a busy air to it, and the many works in progress suggested a patience for each one that would only allow its completion at the proper moment.

Dick's hours were usually carefully allotted to his many interests, and Charlie was pleased that their friend always made room for them, no matter the day or time.

"Tlingit?" Dick said again, thinking out aloud.

"The Yakatut Tlingit, specifically," Charlie supplied. "I read that there are a number of tribes under the banner name."

Dick nodded in thought. "It's a little complicated, linking all these different groups together. But that's often the case with the Eastern and Plains tribes, too." He smiled. "Us humans are a messy lot."

Robin whistled softly at that. "Man, that's sure the truth. You wouldn't believe how many divisions have occurred within ethnic groupings just in my time, alone."

"But your time is considerable, by human standards," Dick reminded. "Ten good lifetimes, really. Whole groups of people have come into existence and then vanished again throughout history, in that much time."

"But this is an old people, isn't it?" Adrian asked. "They've been around for thousands of years."

Dick nodded. "But the Tlingit, even within their own subdivisions, are often intermingled with their Athabascan neighbors, leading to complex histories, and making it harder to discern sometimes which people are responsible for which myths and legends."

Charlie frowned at that. "I read that the Alaskan Native American tribes don't have reservations like they do in the lower forty-eight, but that they are organized into corporations that manage their lands and businesses."

"That's the way the laws were handed down under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. It's actually been a neater solution than the deeded reservations down here. In Alaska, multiple tribal divisions can easily maintain their individual lifestyles while sharing the same corporate structure." He frowned. "Tlingit means people of the tides. In the case of Yakatut, that would probably be the Laax̱aayík Kwáan peoples, or, those that live in ice."

"Sounds cold," Rick said, feigning a small shiver. "And requiring a certain twist of the tongue to manage!"

"It's not an easy language," Dick agreed. He smiled. "It's heavy on the vowels and accents."

Kippy sighed. "We found that out when Will pronounced the name of that probability doodad - the Héiýwaa charm." Kippy said the native word slowly and carefully, but it sounded right to Charlie's ear.

Dick chuckled. "That's as good as I can do, and I have some practice with Native American tongues."

Robin, sitting on a corner of the desk, leaned down to look at Dick. "Anything you know of in Tlingit lore about these guys in the blue suits?"

"No. That much I can tell you already. You have to understand that most of the Tlingit that are religious in nature today are members of the Christian church. The inability of their Shamans in the mid-nineteenth century to deal with western diseases like smallpox led to disillusionment with ancient beliefs. Most Tlingit converted to Eastern Orthodox in those times, because of the presence of Russian missionaries among their people. Then there were the problems with the US military after the United States purchased Alaska. Native cultures were suppressed, sometime violently. For a long time the original Tlingit beliefs fell out of favor. Only in the last couple of generations have members of that culture returned to observing some original beliefs as a way of retaining their cultural identity. The old ways are still alive with these people, though the shamanism once practiced among the Tlingit is largely dead now."

Rick grunted at that. "Not according to Will Whitesaw. He said his ability to hide from the blue guys was called ixt, which we are taking as skwish."

Dick nodded. "Ixt, or ixht, is a multi-use word among the Tlingit, as it refers to both the Shamans themselves, and to the powers they supposedly wielded."

"He said he got the powers from his mother's side," Adrian explained.

"No surprise there. The Tlingit culture is matrilineal, with children born to the mother's clan, and property and hereditary roles passing down through the mother's line. Shaman were male, but their abilities and strengths were credited to the mother's line."

Kippy laughed. "There's a cheerful reversal of western ideas."

Charlie smiled curiously at Dick. "And here I was thinking your expertise was largely confined to the Plains and Eastern tribes."

"One must branch out to keep up the interest, Charlie. I am always looking at new things, you know." The older man's eyes twinkled merrily. "Besides, Tlingit is of the Na-Dene family of languages, and is related to Navajo. Any study of the Navajo people and their language will yield a mention of the related Alaskan languages, and provide a link for the curious to pursue."

"I do admire a man who loves his hobby!" Robin winked at Charlie before smiling again at Dick. "Aren't the Na-Dene tongues supposed to be descended from the Yeniseian tongues of central Siberia?"

Dick tapped his chin with a finger and smiled up at the man. "You've read a book!"

Robin laughed, and looked as if he was enjoying himself. "You've found me out! Actually, I do have some interests in the origins of languages."

Nothing ever surprised Charlie about Robin. The man had been around for 800 years. You had to do something to stave off the boredom!

"You're actually right," Dick agreed. "It's the language roots of these peoples that have pointed the way back along their paths to their origins across the Bering Strait."

Kippy waved a hand at that. "We're getting far afield, guys. What about the blue visitors?"

Dick shook his head. "As I said, there is nothing in Tlingit mythology that agrees with your description of these visitors. Though if there were, I would suspect these visitors to be a part of the dark portion of their beliefs, rather than the light portion."

Browbeat, perched upon the desktop near Robin, turned excited eyes to Casper. "That sounds creepy, doesn't it?"

"Deliciously so!" Casper responded, rubbing his hands together. He laughed a squeaky laugh, and Browbeat joined in with with an animated titter.

Ragal smiled at them before turning back to Dick. "Why dark and light?"

"Well - Tlingit beliefs view the world as a system of mutually exclusive halves that form a whole. For instance, the worlds of light and darkness are characterized by the sea, and the forest around Tlingit homes. The sea is wide, open, lighted, and reasonably well defined as to the threats it may offer. The forest is dark, dank, and misty, even on a bright, sunlit day. The perils there are much more hidden, and because they are, far more dangerous. These same appraisals of light and dark apply to their views of people, too. Someone who presents as strong, able, and wise is a person of light, as the sea; while someone that presents as indecisive, weak, and limited in their views is considered a person of darkness, as the forest."

"We were there," Charlie agreed. "It was sort of creepy."

Dick looked interested. "It sounds like a fascinating place. But because these blue people you refer to seem to be of the forest, their presence there would be viewed a little bit askance by the locals."

Rick frowned at that, and turned to Charlie."Will did say the blue guys spooked him. He stayed hidden from them."

Kippy nodded vigorously. "Right! He said he only revealed himself to us because we looked like normal people." He grinned then. "Even Max."

"Aw, Geez!" The elf rolled his eyes, and offered Charlie a mock pained look. "Do I deserve this? I ask you?"

"Put the voodoo doll away, Kip," Charlie said absently, his mind still turning over everything he had heard. "Will called them - and us - spirit folk," he told Dick. "How does that reconcile with Tlingit beliefs?'

Dick nodded. "For the Tlingit, a person is composed of multiple components. The physical body, the kaa daa, is itself composed of the skin, the bones, and the flesh of the body. These components have no life after death. The x'aséikw, which is the breath of the body, and therefore the vital force that motivates it, is a metaphysical force unto itself, and was once thought to pass with the body, but which in some circles of Tlinglit thought now is considered to simply depart it at death for parts unknown. The kaa toowú is the central make-up of the mind - the thoughts and feelings - and while these are considered mortal, they are also linked to the kaa yahaayí, the soul or shadow-self, some part of which can remain after the death of the body in the form of the kaa yakghwahéiyagu, which is your basic ghost."

"So, spirit folks, as Will put it, are just ghosts?" Kippy asked, looking a little bit disappointed.

Dick smiled. "I don't think, in this case, that was what he meant. There are also those considered by the Tlingit to be human or animal in form, and alive with x'aséikw, but associates of one of the three classes of spirits, the keeyek, the tákeeyek, or the tékeeyek. Most potent are the keeyek, represented in the Northern Lights. These are the spirits of those fallen in battle, either against man or animal, and it is when these spirits return to associate with a living person - I think this is what Will meant."

Rick gaped at that. "You mean he thought we were possessed?"

Dick chuckled. "Not exactly. It's a bond of mutual acceptance, where the spirit shares space with the living human soul. The result is a person of power, who can do things like move around from place to place without having to walk from one to the other."

"Teleporters," Kippy breathed. "I get it."

"But these blue guys don't look like humans," Adrian reminded. "How could they be people associated with spirits?"

"They wouldn't be," Dick agreed. "They would still be spirit beings of a sort, just not those connected with humans. And because they appeared in what is considered a dark place - the forest - Will would not be in any hurry to be noticed by them."

Charlie let his breath sigh out. This was a lot to absorb in one sitting. He looked up at Ragal, who noticed his gaze, and smiled.

"You've been pretty quiet," Charlie prodded.

"I wasn't there," the tall alien reminded. "I am taking this in for the first time. As yet, I have not arrived at anything worth relating."

"It's pretty mysterious," Casper agreed. "We don't have anything exactly like these sorts of beliefs among my people. At least, not that I was aware of. But I also was not a real student of my people's history, either."

"These are beliefs associated with a more primitive view of the world," Ragal said, "but they are not to be discounted. Just because ideas are proposed in more primitive terms of understanding does not invalidate the processes involved." He smiled. "As we have already seen by visiting the lower level, ghosts are quite real."

"I'm one!" Browbeat reminded happily. "And I never had this much fun while I was alive!"

Kippy reached across the desktop and patted the flyer's back. "You're still alive, sweetheart, even if your original body is gone."

"That's actually true," Ragal pointed out. He smiled at Charlie. "So, are the ideas of your Tlingit really so difficult to believe?"

"I wasn't disbelieving anything," Charlie returned. "I'm just trying to understand all of this in terms I recognize." He sighed. "I was hoping there would be something in Tlingit lore that would recognize these teleporters, if nothing more than to give us some idea of how long they had been around. But that seems not to be the case. So, for the moment, we don't really need to embrace the Tlinglit system of spirituality, or their beliefs, since it appears these blue guys are not actually associated with any of that."

"Then, who are they?" Kippy asked.

"I don't know. I'm seeing them as power-users, non-native to Earth, capable of teleportation, and perhaps other talents, who may or may not be trying to interfere with something on our world that is possibly none of their business. I want to know who put the probability devices here, and what these blue guys have to do with them."

"I'm with you," Rick said. "I'm primarily concerned with the security of our planet."

"That's the way I see it, too," Max said. "There's something funny going on here, and I want to know what it is."

"You're going back up there?" Dick asked slowly.

Charlie smiled at the man, sensing his interest. "You want to come along?"

Dick looked around the shop, at his many projects, and sighed. But then he smiled at Charlie. "Yes."

Charlie nodded. "We're heading to New Mexico first, though. We need to see someone there. You can come along now, or one of us will come back for you before we head up north."

Dick flashed white teeth in a smile. "I've never been to New Mexico. Home of the Pueblos. I think I'll go now, if you don't mind." He stood. "Let me put Shadow in the house. I think she gets a little upset when she sees me just disappear like that."

Charlie laughed. "We'll wait. Go ahead."

Dick bent down and rubbed a hand down the dog's back. "Come on, sweetie." The dog rose, and followed him out the door.

Charlie pulled out his phone and brought up the number for Ripley Shannon that Robin had gotten for him. He sent the call, and waited while it rang.

It was picked up on the third ring. "Shannon here. Who's this?"

Charlie's eyebrows rose at the way the call was answered. "Uh, Mr. Shannon? My name is Charlie Boone. I wonder if I could speak to you about something?"

There was a moment's silence before the man on the other end resumed. "I don't know you, Charlie Boone. What's this about?"

"It's about Invaders from Limbo. About the people in blue on the cover of your novel."

For a moment Charlie thought the other man had hung up. Silence greeted his words, and he was just about to check his phone when the other man grunted. "I'm listening."

 

* * * * * * *

 

Alamogordo is the largest town in the Tularosa basin, at 32,000 souls. Founded as a railroad town, it became a military town during World War Two, first when Alamorgordo Airfield was opened to train allied pilots, and then evolving later into a military research center as the airfield grew into Holloman Air Force Base. The White Sands Missile Range was also nearby, home of the famous Trinity test of the first atomic bomb ever exploded by the human race. The modern tourism industry tended to play down that aspect of local history just a bit, though many of the older locals still seemed to feel a certain amount of pride at the accomplishment.

The city proper lay between Holloman Air Force Base and the long line of the Sacramento Mountains to the east, an area prone to glorious red skies at night, and which had all the feel of the suburbs of a major city, rather than a city itself. The chief employer was the air base, and if you drove much beyond the city limits you quickly found yourself in the desert, with very little habitation between.

Ripley Shannon lived at the extreme edge of town, in a modest rancher that had managed to find a shady spot within a thicket of Gambel Oaks and Hackberry trees. Random shreds of the midday sun, generated by the trees moving in a hesitant desert breeze, played on the walkway leading to the front door from the driveway, and periodically let strips of errant light strike the tall windows that fronted the house. A twenty year-old Jeep sat in the driveway out front, too clean to have seen much off-road use lately, yet still suggesting an owner that might want to go places others usually didn't want to visit. The house looked comfortable, private, and a fine place to write a novel about alien invaders without being bothered by the neighbors, because there weren't any.

"Lonely," Rick said, taking a look around from the driver's seat of their rental SUV, a black Lincoln with three rows of seats, and tinted windows that gave it a slightly sinister look from outside.

"I'd call it secluded," Dick said, appraising the place with a smile. "I like it."

Because none of them had ever been to Alamorgordo, Charlie had had to use his second presence to find the place and allow them to teleport there. That had been an interesting trial and error job, where Charlie had found the general area he wanted and then traced roadways across the desert landscape until he had actually found the town itself. It helped a lot that Alamogordo had great big signs along the road announcing its presence to interested travelers.

Max had provided new forms for Ragal and Casper, illusions that disguised their true appearances. These bits of skwish magic had turned Ragal into a skinny, basketball player-proportioned young man with curly hair and a wistful look about him, and Casper into a ten year-old boy with bright gray eyes, who somehow had the curious air of a college professor. There had been little to do about Browbeat, and he did not wish to be excluded, so Kip just had him perch on his shoulder and remain quiet. He would be passed off as an AI drone project if Shannon asked about him - which Charlie was certain he would.

"It's nice, either way you look at it," Charlie said, opening the door to climb out. "Come on, let's do this."

They got out of the SUV and crossed to the front door. But they had yet to reach it before it opened, and a man stepped out onto the stoop and held up a hand. "Hold it, hold it. What's this circus about?"

Charlie knew that Shannon should be in his late-seventies by now, but the man before them looked to be fifty, at most. A shock of brown hair streaked with dark grays stood above a handsomely rugged-looking face tanned dark by the desert sun. His blue eyes surveyed them with a mix of curiosity and wariness, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing, and would have actually preferred to have foregone the pleasure to begin with.

"I'm Charlie Boone," Charlie announced quickly. "We spoke on the phone."

The man's gaze fixed upon him. "You didn't tell me you were bringing along everyone you knew."

Kippy chuckled at that, and Charlie did his best not to smile too broadly. "Um, sorry. It's just that we're all in this together, following the leads about the, uh, blue people. We work as a team."

The man looked around at the oddball group once more, until his eyes fastened upon Browbeat, perched on Kippy's shoulder. "What the devil is that?"

Charlie cleared his throat before answering. He hated lying to people, but there was no other choice here. "That's a drone, of sorts. We use it to investigate places from the air, and to look around in areas we can't get to, ourselves. It utilizes an AI system that makes it fairly autonomous."

Shannon's eyebrows went up, but immediately settled down again above a frown. "Really? Why make it look like that?"

"It had to look like something," Kip offered.

Shannon grunted. "It looks like something that escaped from Sesame Street."

Rick made a fairly delighted sound, but managed to keep it from becoming a full-blown laugh. "Its appearance tends to disarm people, if they see it. Everyone knows what a regular drone looks like. People see this and don't automatically suspect someone is snooping."

Shannon digested that, and then actually smiled. "It's a great lie, anyway." He turned back to Charlie. "All this, just because of some old book I wrote? It's been out of print forever. I'm surprised you even found a copy."

On the surface, the man's puzzled reaction seemed honest enough. Could this just have been a coincidence?

"We were curious about the way these blue beings appeared on the cover of your book," Charlie said.

Shannon shrugged. "I just wrote the thing. The publisher hired the cover artist."

Charlie nodded. "But the cover depicts these blue invaders exactly as you described them in the text."

Shannon licked his lips slowly, gave a little nod of his head, and then looked up into the sun-filled trees. "It's warm out here. Come on inside."

He moved back into the house, and held the door while they all entered. Inside, the house was cool, the light low and comfortable. They entered right into a large living room with a wide, screened fireplace and plenty of seating. Built-in bookcases to either side of the fireplace ran floor-to-ceiling, the homes of hundreds of tomes. A desk to one side bore a laptop, open and running, next to which were piles of papers and books, the latter either open or showing bookmarks within the pages.

It looked like a space a writer might occupy, and Charlie smiled as he turned to their host. "I see you still write."

Shannon snorted. "I haven't published anything as Rip Shannon in decades."

"But you still write," Kippy said matter-of-factly, as if it were obvious to all.

Shannon narrowed his eyes, but didn't answer the accusation. Instead he turned and swept a hand around the room. "Find a seat, and let's talk, so that you can get going, and I can have some quiet again."

Everyone found a place. Charlie introduced his group, and their host nodded to each in turn. Then Shannon sat in the office chair before the desk, and swiveled it around to face them. "So, why are you so interested in my book?"

All eyes seemed to turn to Charlie, and he blinked at the sudden attention, before clearing his throat and leaning forward towards Shannon. "The aliens in your book. What prompted the way they look?"

Shannon laughed, and pointed at Browbeat. "They had to look like something. I just made them up as I went along."

Charlie let his gaze move to Ragal. The tall alien gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. Not the truth!

Amazingly, Shannon seemed to catch the look that passed between them, and frowned briefly at Ragal before returning his gaze to Charlie. "Okay. I patterned them on aliens I once met. Does that make you happier?"

Charlie looked at Ragal again; the man smiled, and nodded.

"I believe you," Charlie said.

Shannon looked alarmed, and turned then to look more closely at Ragal. His eyes narrowed and his gaze grew intense, and then he suddenly yanked his head back as if in surprise. "Whoa."

Max sighed. "He's seen through the form."

Shannon's eyes moved quickly around the circle of his seated guests. "Just who are you people?"

Charlie stared at Max in surprise. "You mean he's seen Ragal as he really is?"

The elf nodded. "May as well drop the disguises, huh?"

Max raised a hand, and Ragal and Casper were suddenly themselves again.

Shannon looked outright wary now. "Son of a bitch! Power-users!"

Charlie was stunned at that. And not just him. Amazed looks traveled around the circle of Charlie's friends, before coming back to him.

"We're here as friends," Charlie managed to say, knowing even as he said it that it sounded pretty lame. "I mean, we mean you--"

"--no harm," Shannon filled in rapidly, and laughed a cynical-sounding laugh. "Take you to my leader?"

Silence descended upon the room, and for a long moment they all just looked at each other.

"You got nothin' to fear from us," Max said then. "We really are just trying to chase down these blue guys. You just happen to be one clue in the mystery."

"It's the cover of your book that brought us here," Charlie explained. "Based on your descriptions of these people inside. We just want to know...where have you seen these blue guys before?"

Shannon looked around at the circle of faces, clearly trying to figure out what to do.

Browbeat lifted off Kippy's shoulder then, and moved to hover in front of Shannon, who leaned back in his chair, wide-eyed.

"These guys are okay," Browbeat said. "They're my friends! They won't hurt you!"

Shannon's mouth dropped open, but he immediately snapped it closed again. He stared at the flyer hovering before him, and then around at his guests. Charlie could see the realization dawning in Shannon's eyes that he was dealing with a group of people even more unusual in composition than he had guessed at even a moment ago.

Their host gave his head a shake, squinted as if in concentration then...and promptly disappeared!

"Uh oh!" Max said, jumping to his feet. "Be right back!"

The elf vanished...and then reappeared again a second later with Shannon in tow. Max had one hand wrapped firmly around the man's wrist.

"You gonna stay put?" Max asked him then. "We need to talk!"

Shannon still wore his look of amazement; but it quickly morphed into one of anger. "Why didn't you tell me you were time rangers?"

Max looked over at Charlie, and Shannon's gaze followed.

"What's a time ranger?" Charlie asked.

Their host's eyes narrowed dangerously. He turned back to Max. "You followed me. You, at least can travel in time."

"I'm an elf," Max said, grinning.

"I don't care if you're the Christmas fairy!" Shannon roared. "You shouldn't have been able to bring me back when I resisted!"

Max's grin widened. "You don't have a hernacki named Esmerelda helping you, either!"

Shannon shook his head slowly, and suddenly seemed to deflate a little. He squeezed his eyes closed, as if he had heard enough. "This is crazy."

"It's not," Robin said quietly. "It's simply a most unusual occurrence."

Shannon opened his eyes. "Maybe." He nodded, just a quick one. "Maybe you're right. Maybe...I've just been away from this stuff for too long."

Browbeat, still hovering near Shannon's chair, tittered happily, and swung around to face Charlie. "This guy's okay!"

Charlie stood up and spread his hands in what he hoped was a calming appeal to listen. "We're just here to talk. Not to mess with your life in any way. We just want to know what caused you to depict the blue guys in your book the way you did. So...accurately."

Shannon squinted at him, and then looked suddenly wary again. "Are you saying you've actually seen them before?"

Charlie frowned, and sat down again. "Look. We just want to talk. Max, let go of him. If wants to run away and hide instead of help, let him."

Max nodded and released Shannon, who was digesting Charlie's words with a look of anger. "I wasn't trying to hide. I just wanted time to think. I only went back two hours. If I decided I didn't want any part of what you're selling, I simply wouldn't have answered the door when you arrived."

Charlie's gaze moved to Max. "But we'd already met him!"

Max nodded. "That's why I was in a hurry to go after him. Had he had time to make that change, the loop would have closed and our now would be different."

"I thought there were some rules about that," Rick said. "That you can't go back and kill your own grandfather and make yourself not be born?"

"Entropy stuff," Max agreed. "Those rules are a lot more flexible when you're just talking two hours, though."

Kippy tsked, and favored Shannon with a look of indignation."Gee, you'd think we were a bunch of hostile aliens, instead of the good guys trying to save the earth!"

Shannon was silent a moment, but then suddenly smiled. "I guess there's no reason now to ask you how you got my phone number?"

"A little bird told us," Kippy replied, sensing the man's humor returning now.

"I'll bet." Shannon looked around at the group again, and nodded. "Okay. You're here. I won't leave again, I promise." He turned to the desk chair and sat down again. "What do you want to know?"

Ragal raised a hand. "How do you happen to know of the Leeperi?"

Shannon cocked his head in surprise at the tall alien. "I don't know what they call themselves. Just that they're dangerous." He grimaced. "We always called them poppers, by the way they move around."

"Will you tell us what you know about them?" Charlie asked.

A worried looked seeped onto Shannon's features. "You talk as if you have seen these creatures before." He shook his head. "Where was that? The poppers can't come here. Not to Earth."

Charlie and Max exchanged looks of surprise.

"They've been seen here," Max said. "They are here."

Shannon gasped at that. "That...that shouldn't be possible!"

"They were seen in Alaska," Rick supplied. "Along with a rather interesting device that seems to regulate probability on our world."

Shannon licked his lips carefully. "You know about the probability discriminators, too?"

"I knew that's what it was!" Browbeat said happily.

Max quickly held up a hand. "You said discriminators. So, there is more than one?"

Shannon laid a hand against his forehead and gave it a gentle squeeze with his fingers, obviously having been given too much to digest so quickly. "Give me a moment, please."

He closed his eyes, and looked to be thinking hard about some things. Charlie looked over at Ragal, but the tall alien simply shrugged. Charlie shifted his gaze to Max, but the elf just held up a hand. Wait.

Kippy slid a little closer to Charlie, so that their shoulders touched. Charlie turned to look at his boyfriend, but Kip's eyes only suggested that caution was called for. Charlie nodded, and turned back to Shannon.

The man's eyes popped open then, and he looked slowly around at them. "After all these years, I have learned to trust my instincts. And what I get from you people is that you say exactly what you mean. And that you really do want to help." His gaze turned to Max. "There are seven discriminators on the planet, one for each continent, all in very out of the way places."

Max nodded. "Thanks. And, we're not dangerous to you, as long as you aren't dangerous to Earth."

Their host's expression thawed a bit more. "I am not dangerous to Earth."

"We're not, either!" Browbeat said, moving back to settle on Kip's free shoulder. "We're nice!"

"We're just trying to learn more about these blue folks," Robin said quietly.

"How could this have happened?" Shannon asked himself softly. He looked haunted now. "The discriminators should have disallowed the possibility that the poppers would ever find this world!"

Max shook his head. "Not only have they been seen here, but in the vicinity of one of these probability gizmos."

"That's not good," Shannon said quickly. "That's not good, at all." He turned a haunted look on Charlie. "Which one of you saw them?"

"It wasn't one of us. A friend in Alaska described them to us."

Shannon frowned. "Figures it would be the Alaskan device. What did your friend say the poppers were doing?"

"He said they would appear, seemed to talk briefly among themselves, and then that they would disappear again."

"They didn't stay? They didn't move around?"

Charlie shook his head. "Not according to our friend."

Shannon snapped his fingers, looking relieved. "They aren't actually here, then. They're just trying to get here." He relaxed in his chair a bit. "The discriminators would seem to be compensating for them quickly enough that they can't stay for long. But they are aware of our Earth now, and they are trying to get here."

"Maybe they're just looking the place over?" Adrian suggested. "Like reconnaissance?"

Shannon shook his head. "You don't know these guys. If they could get here and stay, they'd be here."

Ragal leaned forward then. "They're teleporters?"

"Among other things," Shannon agreed. "And time travelers. Power-users."

Ragal nodded. "Do you know where they're coming from?"

"Not exactly. It could be from a variety of places." Shannon winced. "But I do have an idea of when they're coming from."

Ragal looked quickly at Charlie. "And when would that be?"

Ripley Shannon looked around at his guests, as if he really didn't want to say more just then. "You won't believe it."

"Try us," Kippy said, smiling.

Shannon took in the smile, and managed one of his own. "Okay. Well...from what I know about these guys already...I'd say they're coming from about a half-million years in the past."

Ragal made a soft sound that could only be described as satisfied.

Charlie was amazed, but that didn't stop the main question from dominating his mind now. "May I ask...how do you happen to know all this?"

Shannon's smile reappeared. "You won't believe it."

This time, everyone laughed.

"Try us," Kippy said again.

Their host nodded. "Okay. It's a lot harder to surprise you people then I thought it might be. So...here goes. Um...I'm a temporal keeper...a time ranger."

Rick's mouth twitched. "Um...you look it."

Shannon laughed in delight at that. "Oh, maybe not now. When I was a young man, I mean." His eyes twinkled with inner laughter. "I'm retired, these days."

Adrian raised a hand. "You were born on Earth?"

"Sure."

"When?"

"Uh...well, about that." Shannon looked uncertain again.

"We can take it!" Browbeat prompted, following up his words with a tittering laugh. Casper looked up at the flyer, and joined in with his own squeaky laugh.

Shannon stared at the two, and then smiled. "I'm starting to think nothing will faze you people."

"We've been around," Adrian said quietly.

"I'm beginning to see that. Okay...I was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1874." Shannon smiled at their surprised looks. "My momma told me once that it was a very good year for babies!"

 

* * * * * * *

 

"You sure don't disappoint!" Dick told Charlie quietly, as they sat and listened to Shannon and Max move around in the kitchen. The two were preparing drinks for those that wanted them, tall ice teas with a twist of lemon. Shannon had decided that this might be a lengthy talk, and wanted everyone to be comfortable.

Charlie thought privately that their host was still a little overwhelmed by everything his guests represented, and needed time to figure out a course for himself. There was nothing wrong with giving the man time to feel more at ease with the situation. Charlie felt that their combined talents would warn them if anything started to go awry. Shannon was still an unknown quantity, despite their confident feelings about him that he was very concerned with the safety of the planet.

"I never thought this would be more than maybe another cryptid adventure," Dick resumed, smiling. "Well, with alternate earths, maybe, and fun extras like that!"

"Sorry you came along?" Charlie asked, smiling.

"Of course not. This has the makings of an interesting journey!"

Charlie felt a sudden warmth at his chest, as Castor seemed to agree. The entity that resided within the dragon medallion often went for long periods of time without Charlie being really aware of its presence. Castor seemed mostly content to observe the daily goings on of Charlie's life, without making much of a comment. Charlie knew that Castor shared his experiences with his twin, Pollux, back on the Island of Mnidoo Mnis, and possibly with Ian Lewellyn, their human friend there. But this willingness to mostly observe did not mean that the entity would not react when something interesting raised its head.

Charlie patted the medallion through his shirt. "Castor seems to agree with you."

"I just don't know what I can contribute to this foray," Dick continued. "It seems there will be no Native American component, after all."

Kippy, still seated next to Charlie, laughed. "It's too early to say that!"

"I agree." Charlie patted the older man's arm. "Just hang on, okay? I felt it was right to ask you along, or I wouldn't have done it. That tells me you will have things to contribute."

"You'll make Shadow proud," Kip kidded, grinning.

Dick smiled at that. "She's already proud, that she knows so many wonderful and interesting people."

Kippy was enjoying the banter. "I think we've been complimented!"

The older man nodded. "You have. Just don't let it go to your head."

The three of them laughed, and turned then as Max and Shannon returned with trays in-hand. They passed out the drinks, but Shannon paused uncertainly in front of Ragal and Casper. "Uh...this is tea, with a little sugar in it, and some lemon. Is it safe for you to drink?"

Ragal picked up one of the condensation-covered glasses and took a big swig, swished the liquid around in his mouth a moment, then made a show of swallowing it. "It seems to be."

Casper picked up another glass from the tray and rolled his eyes at Ragal before smiling at Shannon. "Don't mind him. He never grew up all the way."

Shannon grinned at them both. "That's okay. I like a good sense of humor in my enigmatic alien visitors."

Ragal and Casper both laughed. Shannon and Max finished handing out the drinks, and then everyone made themselves comfortable again.

Shannon put his hands together, and nodded at them over them. "Okay, I've had time to absorb a little of what you people project, and let my senses run over it all. I have come to the conclusion that you mean well, and are not currently dangerous. That doesn't mean I trust you completely yet."

Charlie looked at Ragal, and the tall alien smiled. "Interesting, as Casper and I have had time to absorb what you project, and have run our senses over that. We feel that you can be trusted rather well, especially when it comes to the welfare of the planet."

Shannon chewed his lip for a brief instant, and then nodded. "Okay. Let's agree to work together for now."

Ragal turned to Charlie. "The first thing I think we should do is to agree to call the Leeperi by Shannon's name: poppers. It will go better if we are all in accord with the language."

"Works for me," Charlie agreed. He turned to Kippy. "I sense you wanted to say something?"

His boyfriend smiled. "You always know." He turned the smile on Shannon. "You have skwish."

That man blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

There was a soft murmur of laughter, but Kippy was undaunted. "I sense it in you. Um, it's an ability to discern things beyond the normal five senses, to where you know and understand things that you might not normally be expected to be able to do. It also allows for things like teleportation, and time travel. Power-using, as you say."

"Oh. You mean, am I a power-user myself?"

"That's right."

"Somewhat." Shannon smiled. "As you already know, I can travel in time."

Kippy nodded. "Anything else?"

Shannon's eyebrows went up. "Isn't that enough?"

Kippy sighed. "I'm not trying to find out all your secrets. But you said you let your senses soak us up a little, and now you think we aren't a threat. That implies some passive abilities, as well."

The older man patted his chin thoughtfully. "Oh, I see. You're right, I can sense many things." He turned to Charlie. "You have no idea how weird it was when the phone rang with your call, and I felt this really intense feeling that something was about to go wrong."

"Something is wrong, if these poppers are trying to come to our world," Robin pointed out. "For that matter, you positively radiate a sense that these are some bad dudes."

"They are." But Shannon immediately scowled at his own definition. "Well, no...I have no idea if poppers even know what is right and wrong by our standards. I can't even say they are evil, despite what I know about their actions. What they are is interferers. They meddle in the business of others, often to very detrimental effect. They...they twist things, and turn things, as if they are trying to see what will happen when they do it. And if what they have done causes problems with the peoples and societies they mess with, it is totally of no concern to them. They simply keep at it, until something important breaks."

Ragal turned to Charlie. "This is very much like what these entities were said to do in my own time."

Shannon stared at the lanky alien. "What do you mean, by your own time?"

Ragal looked over at Charlie, and Charlie offered a slight nod.

"My origins are in the past," Ragal said, turning back to their host. "About a half-million years in the past, for that matter."

Shannon simply stared for a long moment, before looking stunned. "I feel like you're telling me the truth!"

"I am. My race is now extinct. Only I am here, reborn."

"It's a long story," Robin interjected quietly. "Perhaps best saved for later."

Shannon nodded slowly. "But I would like to hear about it, at some point." He turned to Charlie. "So, your friend here comes from the same period in time as the poppers do."

"That's right," Ragal answered. "And in my own time, they were just as you say: interferers. Dark entities that lurked at the edge of our and other civilizations of that period, creating mischief, mayhem, and often, destruction."

"Boogeymen," Adrian said softly.

"I'll say," Shannon agreed. He eyed Ragal with a new respect. "So, you know."

"Yes. If these poppers have taken an interest in this world, in this time, then there is danger for all."

Shannon sighed heavily, and sat back in his seat. "Okay, okay. I'm convinced." But then he leaned forward just as quickly again, his gaze now fixed squarely on Charlie. "The question now becomes, what are we going to do about it?"

Charlie looked at Kip. "Well?"

Kippy nodded. "I feel good about this partnership."

"I do, too," Adrian put in quickly. "We need to do this."

"I agree," Ragal added.

"Me, too," Casper finished.

Charlie nodded, and smiled at Ripley Shannon. "I think the first thing to do, then, will be to tell you a little bit about ourselves. And then, if you don't mind, we'd like to learn a little bit about you."

Shannon sat back again and smiled. "That sounds fine. And fun. But how about if I go first? I'd rather have a chance to amaze you before you amaze me!"

Kippy sighed, and leaned up against Charlie's shoulder. "I knew today would be interesting!"